Saranya Mohan of Yaaradi Nee Mohini Fame on New Releases, Nayanthara and Fazil
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A BYTE OF LIFE Wednesday, January 28, 2009 03 05 POWER OF GREEN WINDOW SHOPPER E-learning makes inroads Uniq for accessories FREE CIRCULATION Vol. 3 No. 16 New hit on the block Saranya Mohan of Yaaradi Nee Mohini fame on new releases, Nayanthara and Fazil » PAGE 10 PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN 02 NAMMA CHENNAI ERGO Wednesday, January 28, 2009 View from Ladakh Wander Lust – an exhibition of photographs on canvas by Varun Gupta during his travel to Ladakh – will open today at Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan. The exhibition is on view till February 14 at Goethe-Institut, No 4, Rutland Gate 5th Street. Ph: 2833 2343/ 1314 How about some quick lunch? S.R. Foods’ light and tasty meals are a hit with office-goers DEEPA VENKATRAMAN Movie mania [email protected] t’s a blessing to have a restau- rant around one’s neighbour- 1takemedia calls all hood or office, especially Imore if it serves food that aspiring filmmakers tastes like home food. S.R. Foods ou love films? And one day aspire to at Karpagam Avenue in R.A. Pu- Ybecome a filmmaker? Here’s your chance. ram is located amidst a residen- 1takemedia.com, an entertainment jobs and tial area. resource portal, has launched the The joint was started in 2005 by 1takemedia.com film competition. Dhayalan Divakar mainly for of- The competition is open to all aspiring fice goers, where he started by filmmakers who wish to make in-roads in serving only South Indian break- the entertainment industry. The competition fast, lunch and dinner. will be judged by filmmakers like Ketan “I chose this area Mehta, Vikram Bhatt, John Mathew because I knew there Matthan, Jabbar Patel and Mike Pandey. was a huge potential There are three categories to the for corporates and our competition: Segment 1 (under 10 minutes), first client was ICICI Segment 2(10 to 30 minutes) and Segment 3 Bank (corporate of- (30 to 60 minutes). So if you have a fice), which is down handycam and an idea, just go on. the road,” says Diva- Entries must reach by March 31. For entry kar. “Within a year’s forms and details log on to time, our business www.1takemedia.com picked up and we PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN started getting many North Indian clients too from TVS Infotech, Sundaram Towers, and onion dosai are the most pre- years, says, “The food is tasty and Tripple C Constructions and a ferred.” While the South Indian very homely. I liked the dry pota- few more. So we introduced thali is priced at Rs. 30, the North to sabji, raw banana chips and North Indian thali for lunch.” Indian one is Rs. 35. payasam. The service is very fast In the evening, they have and the price is reasonable.” Food galore snacks like samosa, kachori and They also do catering for the When it comes to breakfast, boiled chundal (lentils). The din- British Council library, Judicial A- you have idlis, dosas, vada, pon- ner is very light when compared cademy and Ashok Leyland. Ask gal, suji kichdi, puri with potato – to the lunch. Divakar adds, “We Divakar about his future plans, served with coconut chutney. change the menu every day to and he says, “We plan to start Plus, chutney made of ginger or add variety.” cafeterias in offices and venture onion urud daal and sambar. The What I liked about the food is into outdoor catering soon.” ■ breakfast is priced from Rs. 12 to its preparation – it is not oily or (Too Good for Critics is a weekly Rs. 25. spicy but very light, served in suf- column to celebrate Namma Divakar says, “The podi dosai ficient quantity. Vinod Kumar, re- Chennai’s ‘Kaiyendi Bhavans’ and lationship manager at ICICI small eateries. If you can think of a Bank, who has been a regular similar place, mail us at to the place for the last two [email protected]) How to get there: Walk straight from ICICI Corporate office, located at R.A. Puram. It is on the 3rd street of Karpagam Avenue Best time to go: From 8 a.m. to 10.30 a.m., they serve breakfast. Although the lunch starts at 12.30 p.m., and you are busy in a meeting, don’t worry as this is one outlet where you get lunch till 3.30 p.m. My favourite: Potato palak and payasam Phone: 4203 5000/ 4210 0551 Wednesday, January 28, 2009 03 At a time when companies are finding it difficult to keep purse strings tight, green Green learning only promises to show the way IS IN LIFFY THOMAS [email protected] icture this: Motorola is launching a new mod- el, before which it wants to train its em- ployees across the world about the Pnitty-gritty of the new handset. The typical scenario: A team from the company’s headquarters flies down to each of their major loca- tions to take the staff through gruelling hours of Power Point presentations, written notes, discus- sions and so on. That’s the traditional classroom training each of us has got accustomed to. The new scenario: The mobile major decided to cash in on something more cost-effective. It got an e-learning tool developed, which it installed in its main server whereby all the sales staff were asked to take les- sons and also undergo tests after that. While for the staff it was flexi and interactive hours of training that could be taken at one’s pace and convenience, for the company it was channelising money, energy and time on a long-term initiative. Green 2009 Welcome to green IT or green 2009 – a mantra most companies are chanting these days to combat recession or as a cost-cutting measure. E-learning has increasingly been found to be an effective train- ing tool companies have resorted to in these tough times. “Green learning has been part of the Indian psy- che since years, but what is more interesting is to see companies convert from the traditional Instruc- tor Led Training (ILT) to e-learning, thus saving on the training cost, reducing carbon footprint, among others benefits,” says Dr. Prabal Mall, content head, Expertus Infotech. “On an average, a company spends between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. one lakh on a trainer. In e-learning, around four hours of ILT training is converted into an hour of interactive learning.” BPOs, IT services, technology and pharmaceu- tical companies have adopted e-learning in a major way. The Tatas have embarked on green learning in a big way. “Almost all major companies have implemented green learning initiatives, but it is still at a nascent stage in India. It has to gather momentum,” says Shailesh Mehta, CEO, Gurukul Online Learning So- lutions. “Today, over 15 corporates have adopted green learning enterprise wise or division wise.” Go green seems to be the way ahead! ■ Go Green… ■ It reduces use of paper and manual work as everything is online ■ Reduces cost incurred in classroom training, which requires companies to invest on travel, stay, etc. ■ E-learning content is reusable or can be modified, thus reducing cost of learning material ■ It is fun and interactive. Also, there is no compulsion to sit in a classroom – one can take it according to one’s pace ■ Social networking sites or blogs can also be used for training purpose 04 KALEIDOSCOPE ERGO Wednesday, January 28, 2009 Cheesecake world record The world’s largest cheesecake has been made in Mexico City. 55 cooks spent 60 hours making the massive two ton cake that contained almost a ton of cream cheese, the same amount of yogurt, 350 kilograms of pastry, 250 kilograms of sugar and 150 kilograms of butter. World’s only immortal creature n what is the first case of immortality in a living organism, scientists have recog- nised Turritopsis nutriculaas as the only Iknown animal that is capable of rejuv- enating itself. According to a report in the Times, jellyf- ish usually die after propagating, but Turri- topsis reverts to a sexually immature stage after reaching adulthood and is capable of rejuvenating itself. The 4-5mm diameter creature, technically known as a hydrozoan, is the only known animal that is capable of reverting to its ju- venile polyp state. Theoretically, this cycle can repeat indefi- nitely, rendering it potentially immortal. Found in warm tropical waters, Turritopsis is believed to be spreading across the world as ships’ ballast water is discharged in ports. Though solitary, they are predatory crea- tures and evolve asexually from a polyp stage. The switching of cell roles is usually seen only when parts of an organ regenerate. However, it appears to occur normally in the life cycle of the Turritopsis. ■ ANI S2000 Hackers steal details of 4.5 million from Monster job site ackers gained access to cies have risen. confidential details pro- Monster.com refused to com- vided by 4.5 million peo- ment on how much information Hple to Monster.co.uk, the had been taken but The Times online recruitment site. understands that the personal It is the most extensive breach details of millions of people can of confidential data since HM be downloaded in under an Revenue and Customs lost the hour once a hacker has gained details of 25 million child bene- access. fit recipients in 2007. Security analysts told that the The victims are mainly pro- plundered data from the site fessional staff seeking work in would be used by organised the economic downturn. gangs to open fake bank ac- İ Customers gaze at Japanese auto giant Honda Motor’s convertible sports car Registrations at the site, counts or take out loans in the S2000 at the Honda headquarters in Tokyo on Tuesday as Honda announced the which allows employers to names of unsuspecting custom- company will discontinue production of the S2000.