Yantrakaal

Print on demand is a publishing process that allows an author to publish a book in paperback and then have a very small number of copies -- even a single copy, if necessary -- printed whenever required at a price point that is comparable to traditional offset printing. I had first come across this technology when I had published, The Road to pSingularity , and had explained this new publishing paradigm in a post in 2007 . The trouble then was that these print-on-demand publishers were based in the US and the price of the book was comparable to a US retail price which is quite high for us in India. Moreover the shipping cost was very often more than the cost of the book. Thus the whole process was not quite economically viable. However the arrival of of print-on-demand vendors in India have altered the economics dramatically. Recently, I had the pleasure of publishing the first volume of the VGSOM Management Monograph Series through Pothi and the results were very satisfying. A...

The Doors of Perception is an iconic book by Aldous Huxley where, while exploring  the hallucinogenic properties of certain shrubs and herbs, he came to the unusual conclusion that any cognitive sentient has instant and automatic access to all possible knowledge in the universe. However the neural faculties that are expected to process this information and render them useful in a socio-cognitive context are in danger of being overwhelmed by the sheer mass of data -- as occassionally evident in what we refer to as 'madness' -- and so are protected and isolated from the same by the mind that works as a gate or valve that reduces the quantum of information that the brain is eventually exposed to. This mind or gate or valve is what Huxley refers to as the Doors of Perception : that can be opened wider by the use of mental techniques ( Yoga ?) or the use of hallucinogenic drugs -- to reveal a greater amount of "significance" or meaning to the sterile ream...

Affordability and Quality Students located in remote and economically backward regions of the world are in critical need of good education and yet they are precisely the ones who cannot afford it. Since direct aid is both inefficient and inadequate , Shikshajaal:21 blends cutting edge technology and modern management techniques to  address this challenging goal. Shikshajaal:21 believes that educational services at the K12 level cannot be delivered through fully automated channels because kids would not have the interest or the ability to learn on their own. Human teachers, empowered with tools and technology, are essential. However, competent and motivated teachers are rare in the regions of the world that we wish to target. So the model  uses technology as a “force multiplier” that enables a large number of ordinary people – teaching assistants –  to deliver high quality education to a dispersed student population. The components of the Shikshajaal:21 architectu...

Dzhongs are a unique and integral part of life in Bhutan, the Land of the Thunder Dragon that we had the pleasure of visiting this summer. A dzhong is an architectural structure -- somewhat like a fort -- that brings together the civil and religious administration of the country under a single roof. Most dzhongs have their origin in the military requirements of the local feudal lords but today they contain offices of the district administration and interestingly serve as a residence for Buddhist monks who are responsible for the Buddhist temple that is always colocated in the same premises. Here are two pictures of the Dzhong at Thimpu and this is us in Thimphu, the capital city of this tiny, land locked country wedged between India and Tibet. many of today's architecture in Bhutan is also modelled on the dzongs as you can make out from this picture of the Clock Tower in the central square of Thimphu. After Thimphu, we crossed the Dochula Pass on our way to Punakha Puna...

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The pioneering PPP project gets off the ground in the Indian education sector with the ground breaking for the new IIT Kharagpur, VGSOM hostel by the Director, Prof Damodar Acharya today.

Indira and her band Nayontara presented "Udasi Haoa" an eclectic collection of Tagore songs at the Halo Heritage Art Gallery, Calcutta on 23 May 2010 This div will be replaced

What is expected of an MBA graduate ? An MBA graduate should have the ability to handle uncertainty ! As a manager that is what you are paid for : for the routine stuff, companies have "other ranks" ! So when an MBA graduate walks into an interview the most important arrow in his quiver should be the ability to make sense of an uncertain situation and rapidly formulate a response that is best suited for the occasion. What can a candidate expect in an interview ? To begin with one should be prepared to give crisp, clear-cut answers on all aspects of his bio-data : academics, extra-curricular activities, family background, strengths, weaknesses, goals and career aspirations. How do interviewers evaluate a candidate ? No two interviewers are the same -- after the basic discussion on educational and family background -- each person will take a different approach. Some will go for theory : they will ask you detailed questions on specific topics of the MBA...