If "CON" is the opposite of "PRO", what is the opposite of PROGRESS?
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Word?
What word am I talking about? The first two letters mean a man, the first three letters mean a woman, the first four letters mean a great man, and all the letters mean a great woman.
Queens in chess
How many Queens can you place safely on a chess board, such that none can capture any others? Demonstrate.
Egg Puzzle
I have a basket of eggs and give half of these plus half an egg to person A, then half of the remaining plus half an egg to person B, then half of the remaining plus half an egg to person C. My basket is now empty and no eggs were cracked open during the process. How many eggs were in the basket initially?
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Indian software exec pulls a Bill Gates
The storyline sounds familiar: software executive makes billions building his company, realizes that with wealth comes responsibility, and pledges the bulk of his fortune to charity.
But this time it's not Bill Gates. It's Azim Premji, the billionaire chairman of India's Wipro.
Premji, like Gates, has a big focus on education, using his foundation to improve teaching standards and fund schools that are trying new methods, according to a report on Forbes.com. Premji said he is trying to break with tradition in Asia, which holds that wealth is passed from generation to generation.
"Even if I was to give my children a small part of my wealth, it would be more than they can digest in many lifetimes," Premji told Forbes.
During his recent college tour, Bill Gates said he had been talking with many of the wealthy in India and China about the benefits of giving back.
"I'm hopeful," Gates said, as part of his talk at the University of California at Berkeley. "In fact, I've been having meetings with some of the people who have done very well in India and the people who have done very well in China."
Gates noted that there is a fairly good philanthropic tradition in the U.S., but even here only about 20 percent of the biggest estates' money goes to charity.
"That 20 percent should be more like 50 or 60 percent," Gates said. But it's even less elsewhere.
"In India or China today it's very, very small and yet, because there's no tradition--it could go one direction or another," Gates said. "It's clear the best place to capture a fortune for philanthropy is in the generation it was first earned...If you don't get it right at the beginning, if you get this sort of dynastic thinking under way, then it is very difficult."
But this time it's not Bill Gates. It's Azim Premji, the billionaire chairman of India's Wipro.
Premji, like Gates, has a big focus on education, using his foundation to improve teaching standards and fund schools that are trying new methods, according to a report on Forbes.com. Premji said he is trying to break with tradition in Asia, which holds that wealth is passed from generation to generation.
"Even if I was to give my children a small part of my wealth, it would be more than they can digest in many lifetimes," Premji told Forbes.
During his recent college tour, Bill Gates said he had been talking with many of the wealthy in India and China about the benefits of giving back.
"I'm hopeful," Gates said, as part of his talk at the University of California at Berkeley. "In fact, I've been having meetings with some of the people who have done very well in India and the people who have done very well in China."
Click on the image above to see CNET's complete coverage of Bill Gates' College Tour.
"That 20 percent should be more like 50 or 60 percent," Gates said. But it's even less elsewhere.
"In India or China today it's very, very small and yet, because there's no tradition--it could go one direction or another," Gates said. "It's clear the best place to capture a fortune for philanthropy is in the generation it was first earned...If you don't get it right at the beginning, if you get this sort of dynastic thinking under way, then it is very difficult."
Friday, April 23, 2010
Age is just a number after all - Sachin proves it
Isn't it difficult to believe that Sachin Tendulkar enters his 37th year on Saturday? Somehow, it seems only yesterday that he started his international career but we have to pinch ourselves to remind us that it was in Pakistan way back in November 1989.
He started his way out as a curly haired 16-year-old and seems to have drunk from the fountain of youth. Like the evergreen Dev Anand of the silver screen, he seemingly can just go on and on. He has frequently spoken of his one remaining dream to be achieved – to be a member of the World Cup winning team.
He gets the opportunity next year and while conventional wisdom is that he will ride off into the sunset following that Fifty50 tournament whether India wins or not, gamblers will do well to hesitate before placing any bets on this. One would indeed not be surprised if he is still around to represent the country in the 2015 World Cup. So what if he will be 42? Age is just a number after all for cricketers like Tendulkar.
Watching him on the field these days it is difficult to believe that he is the senior most cricketer in the game today. Whether batting or fielding, whether leading the side or sending down his occasional cocktail of leg breaks, off breaks and googlies he could well be the junior most player around. His enthusiasm is boundless and time and age have not withered his skill or lessened his hunger for success.
If anything like good wine, he is getting better with age as his recent performances in all formats of the game clearly illustrates. Moreover, this keenness is infectious as the Mumbai Indians campaign in the IPL has underlined. The players responded spontaneously with the result that Mumbai Indians topped the table at the end of the league stage when it was not necessarily the strongest among the eight outfits in a highly competitive field. A victory on Sunday will be the perfect birthday present for Tendulkar.
Being a living legend has its own responsibilities - and pitfalls. Nothing but the best is expected from you all the time and particularly when you are an Indian the pressures are unthinkable. But, Tendulkar has carried these hopes and aspirations on his shoulders for two decades now whether it is Test cricket, ODIs or leading the side in the IPL.
Twenty20 they said was a young man's game but then they underestimated Tendulkar's sublime skills. He has proved that cricket's newest and shortest format is not just about fours and sixes and big hits but there is a place for strokes that are a blend of timing and placement.
He has based his game on playing cricketing shots and the results are there for all to see – he is the leading run getter in the IPL and with an impressive strike rate to boot. No wonder, there was a clamour for his inclusion in the Twenty20 World Cup side for on form there is little doubt that he can walk into the side.
However, he made it clear three years ago that he wasn't going to play Twenty20 internationals and such is the respect for his views that the campaign for his inclusion soon petered out.
I have never seen the knowledgeable Chepauk spectators in such a fix as they were during the match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians last week. They wanted their team to win which was perfectly natural, but they also wanted Tendulkar to succeed.
It reminded me of the predicament that Neville Cardus found himself in around a hundred years ago when as a schoolboy he wanted England to win but he also wanted his hero Victor Trumper to get a hundred. That's Tendulkar for you. He commands spontaneous respect from every corner of the country.
It is not easy to maintain a squeaky clean image in a game beset by controversies and even scandals. It is not easy to maintain one's popularity for 20 years and continue to be successful in all formats of the game for an extended period.
Let's not make the mistake of writing off Sachin Tendulkar – a mistake that a prominent national newspaper did in 2006 after he had a few failures in the Test matches in Pakistan.
It carried a short news item on page one headlined "Endulkar?'' I am reminded of this every time he goes through a purple patch which he is enjoying at the moment or when he sets a world record which he did at Gwalior a couple of months ago.
The now infamous headline can be summarily dismissed as sensationalism or a vulgarly irresponsible job by a deskman who tried to be too clever but was made to eat humble and distasteful pie.
Tendulkar will go out on his own terms and on a high. In the meantime, let us wish the perennially young man many happy returns of the day, a memorable year and many more years of service to Indian cricket!
He started his way out as a curly haired 16-year-old and seems to have drunk from the fountain of youth. Like the evergreen Dev Anand of the silver screen, he seemingly can just go on and on. He has frequently spoken of his one remaining dream to be achieved – to be a member of the World Cup winning team.
He gets the opportunity next year and while conventional wisdom is that he will ride off into the sunset following that Fifty50 tournament whether India wins or not, gamblers will do well to hesitate before placing any bets on this. One would indeed not be surprised if he is still around to represent the country in the 2015 World Cup. So what if he will be 42? Age is just a number after all for cricketers like Tendulkar.
Watching him on the field these days it is difficult to believe that he is the senior most cricketer in the game today. Whether batting or fielding, whether leading the side or sending down his occasional cocktail of leg breaks, off breaks and googlies he could well be the junior most player around. His enthusiasm is boundless and time and age have not withered his skill or lessened his hunger for success.
If anything like good wine, he is getting better with age as his recent performances in all formats of the game clearly illustrates. Moreover, this keenness is infectious as the Mumbai Indians campaign in the IPL has underlined. The players responded spontaneously with the result that Mumbai Indians topped the table at the end of the league stage when it was not necessarily the strongest among the eight outfits in a highly competitive field. A victory on Sunday will be the perfect birthday present for Tendulkar.
Being a living legend has its own responsibilities - and pitfalls. Nothing but the best is expected from you all the time and particularly when you are an Indian the pressures are unthinkable. But, Tendulkar has carried these hopes and aspirations on his shoulders for two decades now whether it is Test cricket, ODIs or leading the side in the IPL.
Twenty20 they said was a young man's game but then they underestimated Tendulkar's sublime skills. He has proved that cricket's newest and shortest format is not just about fours and sixes and big hits but there is a place for strokes that are a blend of timing and placement.
He has based his game on playing cricketing shots and the results are there for all to see – he is the leading run getter in the IPL and with an impressive strike rate to boot. No wonder, there was a clamour for his inclusion in the Twenty20 World Cup side for on form there is little doubt that he can walk into the side.
However, he made it clear three years ago that he wasn't going to play Twenty20 internationals and such is the respect for his views that the campaign for his inclusion soon petered out.
I have never seen the knowledgeable Chepauk spectators in such a fix as they were during the match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians last week. They wanted their team to win which was perfectly natural, but they also wanted Tendulkar to succeed.
It reminded me of the predicament that Neville Cardus found himself in around a hundred years ago when as a schoolboy he wanted England to win but he also wanted his hero Victor Trumper to get a hundred. That's Tendulkar for you. He commands spontaneous respect from every corner of the country.
It is not easy to maintain a squeaky clean image in a game beset by controversies and even scandals. It is not easy to maintain one's popularity for 20 years and continue to be successful in all formats of the game for an extended period.
Let's not make the mistake of writing off Sachin Tendulkar – a mistake that a prominent national newspaper did in 2006 after he had a few failures in the Test matches in Pakistan.
It carried a short news item on page one headlined "Endulkar?'' I am reminded of this every time he goes through a purple patch which he is enjoying at the moment or when he sets a world record which he did at Gwalior a couple of months ago.
The now infamous headline can be summarily dismissed as sensationalism or a vulgarly irresponsible job by a deskman who tried to be too clever but was made to eat humble and distasteful pie.
Tendulkar will go out on his own terms and on a high. In the meantime, let us wish the perennially young man many happy returns of the day, a memorable year and many more years of service to Indian cricket!
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