Words of Kalam - How to manage failure?

Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India's "Rohini" satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.

By 1979 -- I think the month was August -- we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal. It was a big failure.

That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am, and the press conference -- where journalists from around the world were present -- was at 7:45 am at ISRO's satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure -- he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.

The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite -- and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, "You conduct the press conference today."

I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from that experience.

IPL- A grand kick off

The first edition of DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to become one of the richest domestic cricket tournaments in the world offering a whopping winners' cheque of Rs 4.8 crore and an overall prize money of Rs 12 crore.

The much-anticipated kicks off on April 18 and will live upto its tag of being a cash-rich tourney as even the runner-up will be richer by Rs 2.4 crore and even the last-place finisher getting Rs 40 lakh.

"The Rs. 4.8 crore winners' purse makes the DLF IPL truly one of the richest events for a domestic Twenty20 league anywhere in the world," IPL Chairman and BCCI vice President Lalit Modi said.

The prize money distribution is such that even the two losing semi-finalists will earn in crores (Rs 1.2 crore) for their efforts.

The prize money will then be divided among the other teams with the team finishing fifth collecting Rs 80 lakh, while the sixth finisher will earn Rs 70 lakh.

The team finishing seventh on the league table will get Rs 50 lakh.

The IPL will kick off with Shah Rukh Khan's Kolkata Knight Riders taking on Vijay Mallya's Bangalore Royal Challengers at the Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bangalore.

The inaugural season will will have 59 matches spread over 44 days.

China's Olympic Logo

New IIT's and IIM's in INDIA

In a bid to give an impetus to the higher education sector, our Indian government has decided to upgrade some of the state universities to the status of central universities and to establish four new Indian Institutes of Technology and six Indian Institutes of Management. IIT's would be located in Orissa, Madhya Pradesh (Indore), Gujarat and Punjab, the IIMs would come up in Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh (Raipur), Uttarakhand and Haryana.
These new institutions would be part of the eight IITs and seven IIMs proposed to be set up during the 11th Five Year Plan.The government has already announced establishment of four IITs in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh and one IIM at Shillong.The location of the new higher education institutions has been approved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, HRD Minister Arjun Singh told reporters in New Delhi. In addition, he said the government proposed to convert the Institute of Technology of the Banaras Hindu University into an IIT. Singh said it has also proposed to establish during the 11th five year plan period 14 Universities with world class standards and 16 universities in states, which do not have a central university at present. Singh said the establishment of new IITs, IIMs and central universities was subject to state governments offering adequate land at suitable locations, at free of cost. The 14 central universities aiming at world class standards would be located in Pune, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal, Kochi, Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Greater NOIDA and Guwahati.
The locations have been decided keeping in mind the connectivity and the infrastructure which such universities would need, he said. The state governments would be requested to identify adequate land in or near the selected cities, Singh said adding the contour and shape of such world class universities would be defined shortly.

Scariest runways in the world

Tioman Island, Off the coast of Malaysia

Wake Island,Pacific Ocean

Macao International Airport

Interesting facts in English words

>'Stewardesses' is the longest word typed with only the left hand.

>'Lollipop' is the longest word typed with your right hand.

>'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' uses every letter of the alphabet.

>There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: 'abstemious' and 'facetious.'

>'Typewriter' is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

>'Rhythm' is a rare six letter word in English with no vowels in it.

Consequences of drinking cold water

This article is especially for people who drink cold water. It is always nice to have a cold drink after a meal. However, there are some bad effects may result. The cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

A serious note about heart attacks - You should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.

You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive.

Marcus Trescothick Retires

Marcus Trescothick has announced his retirement from international cricket as he is still suffering from a stress-related illness.The 32-year-old has scored 5,825 runs at an average of 43.79 in the test matches.He scored 14 centuries with the top score of 219.
He also played 123 one-day internationals for england scoring 4,335 runs at an average of 37.37 with 13 hundreds and 21 scores of more than 50 runs.He played a vital part in England's ashes victory against their rivals australia in 2005.

The Somerset batsman suffers from a stress-related illness which makes travelling abroad difficult."I have tried on numerous occasions to make it back to the international stage and it has proved a lot more difficult than I expected," said the veteran opening batsman.

TRESCOTHICK'S ENGLAND CAREER

Jul 2000: Scores 79 on one-day debut against Zimbabwe

Aug 2000: Makes Test debut hitting 66 against West Indies

Feb 2001: Scores maiden Test century against Sri Lanka

Oct 2001: Captains England in ODI against Zimbabwe

In 2003: Scores 219 against South Africa

May 2004: Captains England in first Test against New Zealand

In 2005: Finishes victorious Ashes series with 431 runs

Feb 2006: Returns home from England's tour of India due to personal reasons

Nov 2006: Withdraws from Ashes tour due to a stress-related illness

July 2007: Rules himself out of the World Twenty20
Mar 2008: Retires from International cricket.

Present State of India

Salary & Govt. Concessions for a Member of Parliament (MP)

Monthly Salary : 12,000

Expense for Constitution per month : 10,000

Office expenditure per month : 14,000

Travel in g concession (Rs. 8 per km) : 48,000 ( eg.For a visit from kerala to Delhi& return: 6000 km)

Daily DA TA dur in g parliament meets : 500/day

Charge for 1 class (A/C) in tra in : Free (For any number of times)
(All over India)

Charge for Bus in ess Class in flights : Free for 40 trips / year (With wife or P.A.)

Rent for MP hostel at Delhi: Free

Electricity costs at home : Free up to 50,000 units

Local phone call charge : Free up to 1 ,70,000 calls.

TOTAL expense for a MP [hav in g no qualification] per year : 32,00,000 [i.e. 2.66 lakh/month]

TOTAL expense for 5 years : 1,60,00,000

For 534 MPs, the expense for 5 years :
8,54,40,00,000 (nearly 855 crores)

AND THE PRIME MINISTER IS ASKING THE HIGHLY QUALIFIED, OUT PERFORMING CEOs TO CUT DOWN THEIR SALARIES…..

This is how all our tax money is been swallowed and price hike on our regular commodities.......

Imtiaz Patel - New ICC chief

South Africa's Imtiaz Patel was today appointed as the CEO of the ICC , edging out India's I S Bindra to this high-profile post.Imtiaz Patel, a South-African of Indian origin, will succeed Australia's Malcolm Speed, who will step down in July after seven years in office.I.S Bindra, a former BCCI President who was among the two candidates short-listed by the ICC's sub-committee, has been named as the ICC's Principal Advisor."There was an absolute consensus on his choice," said David Morgan, the ICC president elect.Mr. Imtiaz Patel is the CEO of super sport, South Africa.He is a former teacher.He has an record while working with the United Cricket Board of South Africa, first as development director and later as director of professional cricket.He has been offered an initial contract of three years.