Fun & Friendship

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

India Inc - India's next big business: Modern art

India Inc - CNNMoney
It hasn’t taken long for India’s fastest growing retail chain, Reliance Retail, to catch up with the country’s fastest appreciating consumer durable - modern Indian art. Launched last year by Reliance Industries - one of India’s two largest business groups - local Reliance Fresh supermarkets have been rolled out at a rapid pace, electronics shops were started last week [April 24] and 50,000 square-foot hypermarkets are expected soon. No surprise then that Nita Ambani, wife of Mukesh Ambani who controls the group, has suggested that “affordable” modern Indian art should feature as part of the company’s offerings.
International demand for modern Indian art has boomed in the past few years, pushed initially by demand from non-resident Indians (NRIs) in the United States who were (and still are) anxious to display their new-found wealth where it can be seen - on their walls.
Now modern art is becoming a “must have” commodity for many 30- and 40-something executives in India with surplus cash from lucrative occupations in the IT and allied sectors, as well as older collectors and some business houses. Prices have gone up more than 20 times in the past six years, and at least nine works by artists such as F.N.Souza, V.S.Gaitonde and Tyeb Mehta have fetched between $1 million and $1.55 million each in New York and Indian auctions over the past 18 months.
These are mostly veteran figurative artists, many in their 70s or older, but new generations are following, led by people such as Subodh Gupta and Atul Dodiya whose representations of modern Indian life - especially Gupta’s paintings and installations of pots and pans and bicycles - have been wowing experts in Europe and the United States. Modern and contemporary Indian art sales last month at Christie’s and Sotheby’s auctions in New York totaled some $24 million, but India can’t yet challenge China’s modern art prices, nor its coordinated displays like Hong Kong’s ArtWalk, which brought several thousand people to special shows a few weeks ago.
Art galleries have mushroomed across India’s main cities as demand - and prices - have risen and at least three art investment funds have been launched. So great is the activity - and the profits - that even the income tax authorities have become interested - and suspicious. On April 17, two leading auction houses, plus fund organizers and galleries in Mumbai and Delhi were raided by the Indian government’s tax inspectors. In a coordinated exercise, about 30 organizations were targeted. Groups of six to a dozen tax enforcement officials arrived unannounced at peoples’ homes, offices and galleries, demanded access and took away records for examination.
New buyers are at the mercy of gallery owners and artists, who demand high prices - even if the artists are little known and their work is not of sustainable quality. So what could be nicer than a chain of customer-friendly outlets that provide quality works by emerging artists, with good impartial advice, at what could be described as “affordable” prices - maybe from Rs10,000 to Rs100,000 (roughly $200 to $2,000) - plus limited edition prints of more expensive works?
That is the challenge that Mrs. Ambani, who advises on the softer side of Reliance’s businesses such as retail store designs, has set for her husband’s executives. One solution would be for Reliance to carve out a sizeable floor area in its hypermarkets, but demand would vary widely from one area to another, and the prices would inevitably exceed the budgets of most hypermarket customers. So an alternative being considered is to open a chain of Reliance art shops. That could bring affordable art to a broader public than currently frequents more upmarket and expensive galleries.
It would also enable Mrs. Ambani to upstage her sister-in-law, Tina Ambani, who is married to Anil, Mukesh Ambani’s younger brother. The two men split their mammoth group in 2005 and there is now intense rivalry. The wives are said never to have gotten along with each other which, many businessmen in Mumbai believe, hastened the split. Tina has led the family’s art interest and her annual Harmony Art show was opened in Mumbai at the end of March by Palaniappan Chidambaram, India’s finance minister, with 250 works by 128 artists. So let’s see what the other Mrs. Ambani can do.

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Be Indian, buy American: U.S. brands in India - May. 1, 2007

Be Indian, buy American: U.S. brands in India - May. 1, 2007: "Be Indian, buy American"

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Monday, April 30, 2007

Drunk groom's brother takes his place - Peculiar Postings - MSNBC.com

Drunk groom's brother takes his place - Peculiar Postings - MSNBC.com: "Do you take this drunk guy’s brother ..."

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Saturday, April 28, 2007

Bones of prehistoric camel found at Wal-Mart site - CNN.com

Bones of prehistoric camel found at Wal-Mart site - CNN.com: "Bones of prehistoric camel found at Wal-Mart site"

Friday, April 27, 2007

Dusty Document Reveals First European Voyage up Delaware River - Yahoo! News

Dusty Document Reveals First European Voyage up Delaware River - Yahoo! News: "Dusty Document Reveals First European Voyage up Delaware River "

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Cottage Living - Food - Gourmet in a Hurry

Cottage Living - Food - Gourmet in a Hurry: "Gourmet in a Hurry"

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

India is on everybody's map now

India is on everybody's map now: "India is on everybody's map now"

Riggs named most 'Beautiful Bulldog' - Yahoo! News

Riggs named most 'Beautiful Bulldog' - Yahoo! News: "Riggs named most 'Beautiful Bulldog' "

The strange existence of Ram Charan - April 30, 2007

The strange existence of Ram Charan - April 30, 2007: "The strange existence of Ram Charan "

rediff.com: Sanjaya's advice: Go for it!

rediff.com: Sanjaya's advice: Go for it!: "Sanjaya's advice: Go for it!"

Monday, April 23, 2007

Sanjaya: `I'm not just a musician'

Sanjaya: `I'm not just a musician': "Sanjaya: `I'm not just a musician'"

Sanjaya: `I'm not just a musician'04/23/2007 3:37 PM, APSanjaya Malakar is so famous, he can't walk anywhere without getting noticed.
"It's really weird. I mean, I'm just Sanjaya from Seattle," the 17-year-old "American Idol" cast-off said Monday on "Live With Regis and Kelly."
"It's paparazzi (who) get at you," he said, "and fans come up and try to give you hugs and get autographs. I would love to just be able to hug everyone and give autographs and take pictures, but you can't."
Malakar was voted off the Fox talent competition last week after a long and unlikely run in which he outlasted better singers and captivated millions of TV viewers with his goofy charm and ever-changing hairdos.
He wants to be a triple threat: singer, actor and model.
"Like, I really — what I want to do is experience the whole entertainment business because, I mean, I'm not just a musician, I'm an entertainer," Malakar said.
Fresh off "American Idol," the lanky teen/media It Boy is in demand. Another stop on his post-show publicity tour was David Letterman's "Late Show" on CBS, where Malakar was to read the "Top Ten" list Monday night.
On Saturday, he attended a White House correspondents' dinner in Washington as a guest of People magazine.
"It was really weird because the governor of New York came up to me and said, `I'm a fan, I vote,'" Malakar said.
"That's fantastic," said Kelly Ripa, co-host of the syndicated daytime talk show.
"It was really weird," Malakar said.

Study: Gender gap hits after graduation, widens later - Apr. 23, 2007

Study: Gender gap hits after graduation, widens later - Apr. 23, 2007: "On payday, it's still a man's world"

On payday, it's still a man's world
Study: Females earn 80 percent of what men earn one year after graduating from college; falls to 69 percent 10 years later.
April 23 2007: 9:11 AM EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A dramatic pay gap emerges between women and men in America the year after they graduate from college and widens over the ensuing decade, according to research released on Monday.
One year out of college, women working full time earn 80 percent of what men earn, according to the study by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, based in Washington

Ten years later, women earn 69 percent as much as men earn, it said.
Even as the study accounted for such factors as the number of hours worked, occupations or parenthood, the gap persisted, researchers said.
"If a woman and a man make the same choices, will they receive the same pay?" the study asked. "The answer is no.
"These unexplained gaps are evidence of discrimination, which remains a serious problem for women in the work force."
Specifically, about one-quarter of the pay gap is attributable to gender - 5 percent one year after graduation and 12 percent 10 years after graduation, it said.
One year out of college, men and women should arguably be the least likely to show a gender pay gap, the study said, since neither tend to be parents yet and they enter the work force without significant experience.
"It surprised me that it was already apparent one year out of college, and that it widens over the first 10 years," Catherine Hill, AAUW director of research, told Reuters.
The choice of fields of concentration in college was a significant factor found to make a difference in pay, the study found.
10 Best-paid executives: They're all men
Female students tended to study areas with lower pay, such as education, health and psychology, while male students dominated higher-paying fields such as engineering, mathematics and physical sciences, it said.
Even so, one year after graduation, a pay gap turned up between women and men who studied the same fields.
In education, women earn 95 percent as much as their male colleagues earn, while in math, women earn 76 percent as much as men earn, the study showed.
While in college, the study showed, women outperformed men academically, and their grade point averages were higher in every college major.
Parenthood affected men and women in vividly different ways. The study showed mothers more likely than fathers, or other women, to work part time or take leaves.
Among women who graduated from college in 1992-93, more than one-fifth of mothers were out of the work force a decade later, and another 17 percent were working part time, it said.
In the same class, less than 2 percent of fathers were out of the work force in 2003, and less than 2 percent were working part time, it said.
The study, entitled "Behind the Pay Gap," used data from the U.S. Department of Education. It analyzed some 9,000 college graduates from 1992-93 and more than 10,000 from 1999-2000.

India Recipe:- Today's Special

Today's Special
Mukhwas
Poori (fried Indian flatbread)
Sambar Masala
Green Chicken Pulao
Sabudana Vada (sago patties)
Step-by-step instructions
Samosa
Discovering Indian Cuisine
East Indian Cuisine
North Indian Desserts
Andhra Tomato Pickle
Nimbu ka Achaar (lime pickle)
Sindhi Kadhi
Dosa/ Dosai
Chicken Dhansak
Masala Daal
Hara Masala (green spice mix)
Mango Lassi (yogurt drink)
Poha
South Indian Cuisine
Kashmiri Dum Aaloo
Chole (chickpea curry)
Dry Beef Curry
Chatpata Nimboo Pani
Mutter Paneer
Lemon Rice
Lobia (black-eyed bean curry)
Tomato Kadhi

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Lemon Chicken with Potatoes and Tomatoes on Yahoo! Food

Lemon Chicken with Potatoes and Tomatoes on Yahoo! Food: "Lemon Chicken with Potatoes and Tomatoes"

1. Ingredients
YAHOO.Food.sprites.preload('ingredients-heading')
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 lemon - peeled, seeded and diced
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
3/4 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch dice
2 tomatoes, cut into 1-inch dice
1 small sweet onion, such as Vidalia, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons snipped chives
2 thyme sprigs
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Nutrition Info
Per Serving
Calories: 241 kcal
Carbohydrates: 27 g
Dietary Fiber: 4 g
Fat: 9 g
Protein: 15 g
Sugars: 5 g
About: Nutrition Info
Powered by: ESHA Nutrient Database
2. Cooking Directions
In a small glass baking dish, combine the lemon juice with the water, mustard and 2 tablespoons of the parsley. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium baking dish, toss the potatoes with the diced lemon, tomatoes, onion, garlic, chives, thyme, 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the remaining 2 tablespoons of parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Bake the potatoes for about 40 minutes, or until tender.
Preheat the broiler. Transfer the chicken breasts to a small baking sheet and brush with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and broil 8 to 10 inches from the heat, turning once, until golden and cooked through, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes. Broil the potatoes for about 2 minutes, or just until golden. Thinly slice the chicken. Spread the potatoes on plates, top with the chicken and serve.
Yield: 4 servings

FYI, 13yo skool grl is nu US txt mssg chmpN - Yahoo! News

FYI, 13yo skool grl is nu US txt mssg chmpN - Yahoo! News: "FYI, 13yo skool grl is nu US txt mssg chmpN "

by James Hossack Sun Apr 22, 3:57 AM ET
NEW YORK (AFP) - It's a sport only for the fleet of thumb with a ruthless dedication to punctuation.
And while competitive text messaging may not have quite gained Olympic status, the hundreds of mostly teenagers who took part in the US championships in New York Saturday could think of little but the 25,000-dollar prize money.
Some 250 challengers shunned the warmest day of the year for a dark ballroom where they battled it out for a chance to take on the reigning West Coast champion, 21-year-old Eli Tirosh, for the title of US Texting Champion.
Contestants had to stand with their hands behind their backs until a bell sounded and a message appeared on an overhead screen. The winner was judged on whoever's message -- checked for exact punctuation -- reached the judges first.
The text tests ranged from "faster than a speeding bullet..." and "what we do in life echoes in eternity" to the less poetic "OMG, nd 2 talk asap," which for those over 30 means "Oh my God, need to talk as soon as possible."
The 250 competitors were quickly whittled down to eight semi finalists, one of whom, Anne Finn, 24, of Allegany, New York, said the pressure was too much.
"It was so nerve wracking. My hands started to shake. I couldn't get my apostrophe," she said.
In the end, 13-year-old Morgan Pozgar faced off against Michael "Cheeser" Nguyen in the east coast final, with Pozgar slipping past her challenger to face west coast champion Tirosh, a law student from Los Angeles.
"I just wasn't fast enough," said Nguyen, a 23-year-old engineer from Pennsylvania. Asked how it felt to take second place, he was clearly disappointed: "I just got beaten by a teenage girl, but you know."
Tirosh, who said she practiced with her friend and trainer Amy, who threw out random words or symbols and even motivational Buddhist quotes, admitted to feeling a certain pressure due to the home side advantage.
Wearing a satin boxing robe before her championship bout against Pozgar, she said success would come down to who could marry lightning speed and accuracy.
"It's all about the thumbwork," she said. "It's about balance." She said she owed her success to relaxation and deep breathing.
So dedicated is she to the art of the text message that Tirosh apparently unwittingly uses abbreviations such as BTW (by the way), TTYL (talk to you later) and LOL (laughing out loud) in her normal speech.
Pozgar said she trained by sending on average 8,000 text messages a month to her friends -- an astonishing rate of one every five and a half minutes. She pays 10 dollars a month for an unlimited text package on her cell phone.
In a tense championship final, Tirosh seemed to have won after putting down her phone first, only for judges to rule she had made a 15,000-dollar typo in the lyrics to Mary Poppins song "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."
Pozgar, who says she wants to work in fashion when she's older, had no hesitation about how to spend her prize money -- 10,000 dollars for the east coast championship and a further 15,000 dollars for the national award.
She said she was going to hit the stores in New York City.
Her mother Shannon, who had driven five hours into New York from Pennsylvania on Saturday morning for the event, said she would let Morgan spend some of the money but was eyeing the rest for her college fund.
Asked if she would describe herself as a geek, Pozgar rolled her eyes and said no. Her brother, who had separately won a television, seemed to disagree.