Infosys co-founder, board director resign

BANGALORE: Infosys co-founder K Dinesh and board director TV Mohandas Pai have resigned from the IT bellwether in pursuit of their future endeavours, the company said on Friday.

"Dinesh, who will retire by rotation at the company's annual general meeting (AGM) to be held on June 11, has expressed his intention not to seek re-appointment," the company said in a statement here.

Pai has also decided to relinquish the position of member of the board and has requested the board to relieve him of the responsibilities after the AGM. Pai said that it was important for young leaders to take over and was contemplating to quit for a long time.

Infosys' board of directors will meet on April 30 to finalise plans for the company's leadership as chairman NR Narayan Murthy retires in August 2011.

Former Microsoft India head, Ravi Venkatesan was appointed as additional director on the board. In the middle of its biggest management transition ever since Infosys was founded, the company is aiming for a larger share of revenue from retail, banking and healthcare customers by shifting the roles of leaders handling multiple business units.

Pai had been in a finance role as Chief Financial Officer of Infosys since 1994, and later took responsibility for the critical functions of human resources and education. He is also a well-known public face and has been part of various committees such as the Kelkar committee for reforming direct taxes and is currently on the SEBI board.

Pai was with Bangalore-based transport firm Prakash Roadlines before he was reportedly picked up by Narayana Murthy to join Infosys in 1994.

More recently, Pai was criticised for iRace, a human resources initiative, which resulted in around 4,000-4,500 employee demotions. It de-moralised employees and the move backfired on Infosys when demand for IT services returned in October 2010.

Infosys Technologies , India's second-largest software services exporter, missed market expectations despite a 13.7 percent rise in quarterly profit, hurt by higher expenses in a seasonally weak quarter.

Kicking off the results for the nearly $60 billion Indian outsourcing sector, Infosys reported net profit of Rs 1,820 crore ($408.5 million), up from Rs 1,600 crore a year ago.

K K Mital, Head of Portfolio Management at Globe Capital, says: "Guidance especially was not upto expectations. I am hopeful they will revise guidance later in the year and that it will improve. Also, some announcements like the resignation of Mohandas Pai is not perceived well in the market. Management clarification on guidance and board members will give some moral boost to investors."

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BlackBerry tablet called 'half baked' product

TORONTO: The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet has received mixed reviews before its launch April 19.

The New York Times calls the PlayBook a "half baked'' product, adding that "it seems almost silly to try to assess it, let alone buy it.''

The BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has touted the 7-inch PlayBook as a rival to Apple's 10-inch iPad 2 . Its initial only-Wi-Fi version comes in three models, featuring 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of storage at $499, $599 and $699 respectively.

Though reviewers have praised its all-new QNX operating system, Flash-capable web browser (which Apple doesn't offer) and smart interface, the tablet has not found much favour because of lack of apps as compared to the iPad 2.

Further, the PlayBook is only Wi-Fi and it cannot connect to mobile networks, unlike the rival tablets from Apple, Motorola and Samsung.

As a result, important apps like email, contacts and BlackBerry Messenger will be available only when the tablet is linked with your BlackBerry smart phone through BlackBerry Bridge. So if you are not a BlackBerry user, forget about using email or other important apps on the tablet.

Criticizing RIM for not putting such crucial apps on the tablet, the New York Times review says that "at the moment, BlackBerry Bridge is the only way to do e-mail, calendar, address book and BlackBerry Messenger on the PlayBook. The PlayBook does not have e-mail, calendar or address book apps of its own. You read that right. RIM has just shipped a BlackBerry product that cannot do e-mail. It must be skating season in hell. (RIM says that those missing apps will come this summer.)

"Unfortunately, there's no video chatting app, as with Android tablets and the iPad. Similarly, the tablet has GPS, but without turn-by-turn navigation software, it's not good for much other than the built-in Bing Maps app."

The review adds, "For now, the PlayBook's motto might be, 'There's no app for that.' No existing apps run on this all-new operating system, not even BlackBerry phone apps.''

RIM claims to have received about 3,000 submissions from developers to supply apps to its all-new app store for the PlayBook. But this small number of apps won't convince people to buy the PlayBook, says the review.

"Remember, the primary competition is an iPad - the same price, but much thinner, much bigger screen and a library of 300,000 apps. In that light, does it make sense to buy a fledgling tablet with no built-in e-mail or calendar, no cellular connection, no videochat, no Skype, no Notes app, no GPS app, no videochat, no Pandora radio and no Angry Birds?''

In its review, Bloomberg is also not sure whether RIM's "gamble'' to put a device without "promised features and apps'' is "going to pay off. But it (the PlayBook) has already succeeded in important way - it has made BlackBerry relevant again.''

Since RIM has promised more software apps and Android compatibility this summer, Engadget says in its review, "So, what we see at the moment is a framework with solid fundamentals but a framework that is, right now, unfinished. We have hardware that looks and feels great but isn't being fully served by the software.

"Right now, the BlackBerry PlayBook is a tablet that will come close to satisfying those users who gravitate toward the first word in its name: BlackBerry. Those who were more excited about the 'play' part would be well advised to look elsewhere, at least until Android compatibility joins the party.''

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When Lord Indra answered the call of Vedas

Panjal (Kerala), April 15 (IANS) The primal Vedic chants that ring across the rolling greens of this village in Thrissur district are a ceremonial invitation to Lord Indra, the god of rain, to join the ancient fire ritual of Athirathram.

Towards the evening, thunder rumbles in the distance, almost as if Lord Indra is responding to the call of the 18 Vedic priests. And it rains. The priests have been chanting round-the-clock for the last three days to build up the energy level.

Panjal, 30 km from Thrissur town, was teeming with humanity on the 11th day of the ritual Thursday evening. For most tourists, it was a cultural and spiritual pilgrimage covering the Kerala Kala Mandalam, near the venue of the ritual, and the Guruvayoor temple in Thrissur district.

The village of 32,000 people has drawn nearly 300,000 visitors in the last 10 days. The footfall is likely to touch 500,000 Friday when the sprawling 380-square metre venue is set afire to mark the end of the 12-day fire ritual for peace, purification, fertility, health and rain.

It has been organised by a local non-profit group Varthathe Trust to revive dying Vedic traditions in the country.

Panjal is one of the key bastions of the 'Samavedis' and 'Rigvedis' - practitioners of the ancient Hindu scriptures Sama Veda and the Rig Veda - who have kept the two living traditions of Vedic chants and 'yagnya' (worship of elements) alive for nearly 4,000 years.

Five families each of Rig Veda practitioners and Sama Veda practitioners preserve the tradition.

The village has played host to four major Athirathrams in 1901, 1918, 1956 and 1975.

In 1975, noted Dutch Indologist Frits Staal documented the ritual in a two-volume Vedic treatise -- "Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar".

Staal, 81, who has returned this time, watched the proceedings from behind a barricaded enclosure. "Not much has changed. The ritual is alive and well. But it is a real pleasure to be back to Thrissur," he said.

A team from Harvard University led by professor Micheal Witzel is also studying the Sama Vedic chants. "It is one of the oldest living Vedic traditions and has not changed much," Witzel told IANS.

The ancient fire rite is an elaborate avatar of 'agnihotram' and 'somayaga' - fire worship and offering of the 'soma' rasa to the ritual fire - prescribed in the Vedas.

It's said to symbolise the creation of the world with a ball of fire from the big bang, scientists studying the phenomenon say.

Athirathram is the most complex of the Vedic fire 'yagnas', first documented in 1100 BC and continued till 600 BC across the northern Indian river plains after which it disappeared from the northern part of the country.

A Vedic community of Namboodiris Brahmins in south India, however, clung to it.

"It combines chants and rites from the Rig Veda, Sama Veda and Yajur Veda," said Nellikaatilmamanul Vasudevan Namboodiri, one of the oldest Sama Veda practitioners of Panjal.

Yajamana Ramanujan Akkhithiripad, a priest from Chembra in Mallapuram district, presided over the rituals assisted by a team of 17 Vedic priests. Ramanujan's wife - known as the 'yajman pathni', has been camping at the 'yagshala' - the venue of the rite - for the 12 days with her husband as part of the rituals.

The yajamana (presiding priest) and his wife carry the scared fire home in pots and keep it burning for the rest of their lives, Vasudevan Namboodiri said.

At the heart of the ritual is the sacrificial fire that burns in a blaze of fragrant wood and herbal smoke. The ritual hearth resembles the white-crested red eagle found in the area.

"Sighting an eagle is a good omen," says priest Sivakaran Namboodiri.

However, the ritual that generated maximum curiosity was the pressing of Soma stalks or 'somaabhishavam' on the 10th day to be offered as oblation to the fire god Agni.

The 'soma' - an intoxicating creeper that grows in the Western Ghats - is ferried to the venue in special donkey-drawn 'soma' carts in a recreation of the Vedic era.

Over 300 women, decked as brides, partook of the special offering, 'soumyam, (prasadam)', a dish of clarified butter and rice -- for healthy childbirth and conjugal happiness. And an 'annaydanam (food offering)' kitchen fed 40,000 people everyday with traditional Kerala platters of ponni rice, poreal, avial, sambhar, pickles and payasam.

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Sathya Sai Baba stable but critical

Spiritual leader Sathya Sai Baba continues to be stable but critical, doctors attending on him said on Friday. According to the medical bulletin issued by Sathya Sai Super Speciality Hospital at Puttaparthi in Anantapur district, where he is admitted, most of his vital systems have shown positive re sponse to the treatment being given to him, but the response is slow. 

"All his clinical parameters of health are nearly normal and are showing improvement over the previous values. He continues to be on assisted ventilation and on intermittent dialysis," said the statement by hospital director A N Safaya.

"The panel of doctors is satisfied with the response shown by him to the treatment. However, his condition continues to be critical," it added.

The 85-year-old Baba, who has millions of devotees in India and abroad, is suffering from multi-organ dysfunction.

He was admitted to the hospital March 28 with pneumonia and breathing problems. The doctors implanted pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat.

Meanwhile, hundreds of devotees of Baba in the pilgrim town of Puttaparthi continued to hold congregations, praying for his speedy recovery.

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Ghising, Tamang's wife giving tough fight to GJM

Subhash Ghising-led Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) and the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL), led by the wife of slain party chief Madan Tamang, are giving a tough fight to the Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) in the Darjeeling Hills in northern West Bengal that goes to the polls April 18.

A total of 16 candidates of different parties are in the fray in the three hill constituencies - Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong.

In picturesque Darjeeling constituency, the fight will be mainly between Trilok Dewan of the GJM and Bharati Tamang, president of the ABGL.

Bharati succeeded her husband Madan Tamang as party chief after he was stabbed to death allegedly by GJM supporters May 21 last year.

The other three candidates contesting from the constituency are K.B. Wattar of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Nakul Chandra Chettri of the Congress and Bim Subba of the GNLF.

According to political observers, the main factor in the elections will be the vote of the Tamang community. Madan Tamang's murder led to the downfall of the GJM and the position of the ABGL has strengthened in the constituency.

Bharati Tamang is carrying out an intense campaign, banking on the emotions linked to Madan Tamang's murder. She said: "We are demanding Gorkhaland and punishment for those who murdered Madan Tamang."

The tribal Lepcha community has called for boycotting the polls, alleging that no development had been done for them. This could work against the Bimal Gurung led-GJM.

Five small and regional parties, including the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist (CPRM), have decided to support the ABGL in the Darjeeling constituency.

The GJM's Trilok Dewan, a former Andhra Pradesh chief secretary, is contesting his maiden election.

The GJM said it will resume the Gorkhaland movement again after the completion of the polls. The GJM said it will not accept an "Interim Council" in the hills on which several meetings were held among the party, the central and state governments.

The GNLF, which had spearheaded the demand for Gorkhaland from the mid-1980s to early 2008 when it was sidelined by the GJM, is getting good public support in its campaign this time.

The party is demanding that the entire hills be included in the Sixth Schedule and more power be given to the Darjeeling Gokha Hill Council.

In a public meeting here, Subhash Ghising alleged that the GJM's movement for Gorkhaland had failed.

There are 21,2354 voters and 231 polling stations in the Darjeeling constituency. Altogether 228 constituencies are hyper-sensitive. The country's highest polling station - Sirikhola primary school (altitude 2,800 m) - is located in the constituency.

In the Kurseong constituency, the fight will be mainly between the GJM's Rohit Sharma and Pemu Chettri of the GNLF.

The other four candidates in the fray are Deepa Chettri of the CPI-M, Chhabi Chandra Rai of the Congress, Shiva Kumar Pradhan of the ABGL and Independent candidate Bhupendra Lepcha.

The GNLF has a strong support belt in the village and tea garden areas of Kurseong. The party has a formidable base among tea garden labourers.

The GNLF carried out its biggest election campaign in Mirik April 9 with Ghising addressing a huge gathering.

In a reaction, the GJM also held a meeting in the same area the next day in which Gurung allegedly warned that Ghising would be forced to leave the hills.

Political observers feel the GNLF will put up a tough fight against the GJM in Kurseong.

The total number of voters in the constituency is 193,942 and total polling stations 237.

The number of hyper-sensitive booths is 230.

In Kalimpong, the fight will be mainly between GJM press and publicity secretary Harka Bahadur Chetri and Prakash Dahal of the GNLF.

The other candidates in the fray in the constituency are Shanti Kumar Sharma of the Congress, Tribhuban Rai of the ABGL and Bikram Chettri of the CPI.

Ghising is scheduled to hold a road show in the constituency.

GJM chief Gurung held a big public rally in the constituency Wednesday.

There are 165,224 voters in the Kalimpong constituency and the total number of polling station is 210. Altogether 200 booths are hyper-sensitive.

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Honking, monuments, greenery...Dilliwala at home in Lahore

Lahore, April 15 (IANS) There’s something about Lahore that sets any Dilliwala pondering over the similarities between the two cities. Right from the Mughal architecture, the imposing colonial buildings to the strong Punjabi accent, the resemblance is too strong to miss.

As you walk down the streets of Lahore, the lush greenery, over-bridges, flyovers and the wide roads will make you believe that this city and the Indian capital are identical twins separated a long time ago.

The Urdu signboards and advertisements bring you back to the reality of walking around in a Pakistani city and not Delhi.

But a visit to the old city, and there are more reasons to indulge in some kinship. What is popularly called ‘shehr’ is a replica of Old Delhi, and is also known as the ‘walled city of Lahore’. There is an old world charm to the place, which is always full of activities and a lot of hustle and bustle.

Donkey carts, truck-art embedded autos, roadside eateries, innumerable congested lanes — this part of the city is always alive with eateries serving well past the wee hours.

The place also boasts of Mughal era architecture. The most prominent of all is the Badshahi mosque which has a striking resemblance to the Jama Masjid in Old Delhi. Built in 1673 by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, it is the second biggest mosque in Pakistan with a capacity of accommodating as many as 55,000 worshippers in one go.

Unlike other Mughal buildings, the intricate work on the walls and the roof has been rightfully preserved.

Then there is the Lahore fort, very similar to the Red Fort, but in rather bad shape. It’s a Unesco World Heritage Site, and restoration work is going on to preserve the beautiful ‘Sheesh Mahal’ inside. The fort gives interesting insights into how various rulers used a particular building as per their convenience.

But the real experience of watching these breathtaking sites for a visiting IANS correspondent is from Cucoo’s Cafe or Andaaz restaurant off Fort Road, and that too at night, which gives a rare view of the extraordinary architectural marvel frozen in time.

With the gentle breeze, delightful food and a great view, Lahore is quite the place to be.

Coming to life in the city, to someone from Delhi or even from Karachi, it could seem a bit conservative. You won’t come across many girls clad in jeans and kurtas – though in high-end society, girls in short dresses or jeans are not a rare sight.

Lahore has a lot to offer in terms of recreational activities as well — parks, markets, cafes and high-end fashion boutiques can be easily sighted.

And just like Dilliwallas, people here too believe in showing off their best outfits. So you won’t miss men clad in Gucci suits and women carrying Jimmy Choo bags at parties.

Coming over to traffic, again we have something in common. The honking, the impatience is just so Delhi-like. And getting stuck in a traffic jam at peak hours is a routine people here have got used to.

Located a little over 400 km of each other, Delhi and Lahore have a lot more in common than just a shared history.

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Compassion, not censure, restores harmony at workplace

Washington, April 15 (IANS) Even a single act of support or compassion by a manager or co-worker can ease workplace tension.

If management shows "an active interest in addressing underlying issues that prompted employee anger, perceptions of improved situations increase significantly", says a new study from Temple University Fox School of Business.

Challenging traditional views of workplace anger, Deanna Geddes, a Fox School professor, suggests that even intense emotional outbursts can prove beneficial if responded to with compassion, the journal Human Relations reports.

In a study of 194 people, the researchers found no connection between firing an irate employee and solving underlying workplace problems, according to a Temple statement.

Geddes and her co-author Lisa T. Stickney also found that even a single act of support by a manager or co-worker can ease workplace tension.

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