Everyone must have tasted dosa and seen Dasavatharam(if you havent or if are waiting to see in Sun Tv, its your wish). This is a small mapping between the 10 avatars and Dosas or Dosai, whatever you call it.

1. Rangaraja Nambi: Ghee Dosa - Ghee Dosa, made in Iyengar's place(Iyengar aathula vaatha Dosa) with lot of karapodi, adding the spice to the character/component. This Dosa, thou is purely a vegetarian food in make, it falls under ashaiva unavu(Non-Veg Food) because it is non - Shaiva,  Anti - Saiva.
2. Govind Ramasamy - Plain or Sada Dosa, may be we can call it a paper roast, since it looks young, it tries hardly to impress people, but it couldn't. Still no one is having any hatred and it serves as the hero of all varieties.
3. Avthar Singh: Wheat dosa - Made out of Punjabi wheat, it actually not needed in the feast, but still it is tasteful for its song.
4. Balram Nayudu: Set dosa - a popular type of dosa in Telgu, which is cooked only on one side(So is the character, arai vekadu, tries to impress with it so called clever wits) and is served in a set of two, hence the name.
5. Christian Fletcher: Vegetable Dosa, may be a Desi version of Pizza. Very spicy and good to watch, but at the end of it, Pizzas are always bad to health.
6. Shin-ken narahache: Chilli Dosa : Hot and Spicy, just a guest appearance, added in the feast just for a fight( to kill our tongue)
7. George bush: Pinja Dosa(Torn Dosa): No one knows, why it is there, may be useful for feeding crows on the roof top.
8. Vincent poovaragavan: Ulunthu Dosa(Made of Urad Dhal-Black) : Though it looks dark, it is very healthy to eat and good for health, especially for bones (of the body and of the society)
9. Krishnaveni Paati: Rava Dosa - Very tasty and fast snack, though looks ugly, it serves it purpose.
10. Kaliphulla Khan: Family Dosa - As tall as it can be, FAMILY is the typical word for this Dosa/Character. Goes well with anything, even under embarrassment it returns good.

Other Important Dosa Characters:

• Asin : Cannot be termed as a DOSA, can be called as kasapu(Bitter) chutney, irritating from the beginning, but what to do , finally we have to eat it with Plain Dosa
• Malika Masala Sherawat: Masala dosa - added for Masala, but the content is very less and doesnt taste great, it just gives the feeling , God when will this Dosa get over. Thank you elephant
• Jayaprada: Ootapam - Thou 2 days(Decades) old, it is pretty good, but just an extra piece again.

If you find any more resembling items, please feel free to add to the feast.

DHAKA (AFP) — Salman Butt and Younus Khan hammered centuries to set up Pakistan's thrilling 25-run victory over arch-rivals India in the triangular one-day series final here on Saturday.

Left-handed opener Butt retired hurt on 129 and Younus scored a brisk 108 as Pakistan posted 315-3 before restricting India to 290 to avenge their record defeat earlier in the series.

India, under pressure after Pakistan's fireworks, were in deep trouble when they lost four wickets for 106, including those of in-form openers Virender Sehwag (two) and Gautam Gambhir (40).

Yuvraj Singh then made a brave 56 and put on 73 for the fifth wicket with Suresh Raina (24) to keep alive his team's hopes of winning the series also featuring Bangladesh.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (64) and Irfan Pathan (28) made a 60-run stand for the seventh wicket, but it came too late to stop Pakistan, whose fast bowler Umar Gul recorded 4-57.

"It's one of the biggest wins of my career," said Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik.

"Younus and Butt batted brilliantly. We worked very hard after losing the previous match (against India) in the league."

The afternoon session belonged to Butt and Younus, who gave a superb exhibition of stroke-making during their record-equalling 205-run stand for the second wicket against India.

Read Full Story

Inspite of economic policies that have destroyed industry in the two states , leaving the populations with no choice but to migrate to other states or out of the country to earn a livelihood , communists still win every election. In West Bengal in particular , the communists are breaking all sort of records and even demolishing the dreaded incumbency syndrome by winning all elections held over the last 3 decades.

I have never been to West Bengal , but saw a BBC program which focussed on the rural areas just a few miles away from Kolkata , the poverty of the people was heartbreaking. Also seen pictures of people in rural Bengal living on the brink of starvation. Massive proportion of the population of Bengal lives well under the poverty line. Closer to Bihar than the rest of India. Other poor states like Rajasthan , MP and even UP have shown remarkable improvement in eradicating poverty to an extent over the recent past, but Bengal has been a huge failure on this front.

Heard gory stories of a Mamta Banerjee led Trinamul Congress supporter having his hands cut off by leftist goondas. Also of stories of massive petty corruption in railways , where a naive TC gets getting beaten out of his life if he demands certain passengers to show their tickets. Muslim dominated colonies that get free electricity and never have to pay any bill of any sort. Married hindu women who get molested at will by the leftist and muslim goons and police and public simply looks the other way.

Managers of factories and tea plantations who get burnt alive in their office by labor trade union members. 90% (just a guess) of factories closed down as a result of militant leftist trade unionism , which basically demands all pay and no work as a fundamental right.

Recently by opposing the US-India defence partnership and organising massive protests against the joint air exercises conducted by the air forces of the two countries in West Bengal , the communists have shown their intent to target India’s vital strategic interests and relationships. So much hatred for US is inexplicable when US is giving India its hand in friendship and emerged as India’s most important trading partner. The communists never protest so much when Chinese or Pakistani head of states visit India….neither have they ever raised a voice in support of the Kashmiri Pandits who were ethnically cleansed from the Kashmir Valley. Worse - I have read reports from a leftist columnist shedding tears over the (muslim) Kashmiris , deamding their right for self-determination and contemptuously referring to our brave Indian soldiers as ‘goondas’ and ‘rapists’.

Muslim fundamentalism and separatism has already peaked in both states and is a huge risk to India’s national security and territorial integrity. But the biggest shame is how this serious problem - a demographic war declared by muslims on India not only gets a wink from the ruling leftist government (or the equally culpable ruling Congress govt. in Kerala) , but is in fact actively encouraged - because of the massive muslim vote blocks consituted by the massive influx from Bangladesh. An asset during election time.

In Kerala , muslims return from a sojurn in the Gulf , many newly converted to the fanatical cult of Wahabbi Islam , turning otherwise ordinary men into fervent anti-national terrorists , bent upon creating a dar-ul-islam (Nation of Islam) out of dar-ul-harb (Nation of War).

These are massive problems that we as Indians have to contend with. The recent furore over the Ganguly issue in West Bengal shows how far removed from reality our people are in that state. Reflects poorly on their sense of priorities. Their state is under attack. Our nation is under attack. Our collective survival depends on how fast we recognise this threat and fight back. First step towards that goal is to exercise our democratic right and vote out the anti-national communists.

Walmart Goes to Washington

I work in Washington DC for part of every year, and am a frequent visitor to the Hill on behalf of my organization, so this report should have had little impact on me. Most Americans are aware that high-priced lobbyists are employed by corporations, businesses and special interest groups with millions of dollars spent each year to influence legislators to "vote their way." However, the video excerpts of Walmart management meetings where it is all laid out, particularly how they raise those huge sums, is unsettling.

The Dalits

Although economic growth in India is moving at an almost breathless pace, culturally little has changed. This is because the country's caste system, India's social pecking order, is still firmly in place.

There is terrible suffering among 10 million peoples in India referred to as "untouchables." They are the Dalits, and at the very bottom of the social scale. The women are dealth the harshest treatment of all, including enforced prostitution and rape. Change is in the wind to better their lives, but it is slow and hard won.

Check your cable listings for broadcast times on HDNet, or you can view it here.

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6733540515777807116&hl=en]

A committee of SSPA members, many based in India, have been working on this project for nearly a year, including participants from Symantec, Cisco, Avaya, Microsoft, Oracle, MeritTrack, EMC, Sun and other companies.  The report will be released at the SSPA Spring Best Practices Conference on May 5th, and a presentation on the findings and recommendations will be given by Dheeraj Prasad, Director, Developer Support, Microsoft Global Technical Support Center, at 10:45am on the 5th.

Here are some findings of the study.

• Technical support attrition rates in India are twice as high as in the US: 13% in NA, 23% in India (SSPA benchmark)
• While there are an estimated 1.2 million graduates with technical degrees being minted annually in India, the percentage of employable engineers to be around 25% when abilities including Verbal Ability, Analytical Reasoning Skills and Process Orientation were analyzed. If spoken English skills are factored in, the percentage drops even further. According to the majority of companies surveyed, support organizations have an average interview to hire ratio of ten percent or less—a huge productivity hit for hiring managers who must devote enormous blocks of time to interviewing candidates and then only extend offers to a minute percent.
• When hiring managers were surveyed, the overwhelming majority, 73%, defined the ideal candidate as having more than two years of experience. However, the expectation for experienced candidates is in conflict with the average years of experience for India’s customer service and support workforce. When managers were asked to give the years of experience for their current support staffs, across all degree and certification types, nearly 50% had less than two years of experience. The ideal candidate, with two to four years of experience, composes only 26% of the current workforce.
• The average tenure of a support engineer is brief, with 48% of companies surveyed saying the average tenure is 12-24 months. Only 10% of support techs stay in a support role for more than 4 years. Not only are experienced reps in great demand by other companies, but the accompanying chart shows that rapidly expanding Indian support centers are cannibalizing the talent pool with quick promotions to management: 30% of management promotions occur after only 12-24 months on the job.
• Customers typically rank accent and language as the #1 satisfaction issue with offshore agents. However, when surveyed, 43% of Indian hiring managers say their company’s accent and language classes are only one week in length—hardly a best practice. Furthermore, at least two-thirds of respondents are pleased with the current amount of training allocated—clearly customer requirements are not factored into training plans.

I think this report will be hugely useful for companies operating support centers in India, or those planning to expand to India in the future. I also think many of the talent management recommendations are applicable to other emerging markets.  Those of you attending the conference can pick up a copy there; the report will also be available for SSPA members to download from our website on May 5th.

A huge thank you to all of the committee members for your hard work--be sure to attach a copy of the report to your annual review this year!

There was an apprehension that the gloomy political situation in the Darjeeling Hills would have an adverse impact on the cake market in Siliguri, for a part of the buyers comes every year from outside, from Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, some areas of Bihar and, of course from the hills. Another factor also accounted for the initial slump in the cake market. It was the factor of prices. As the ingredients have become costlier the prices of the cakes have also become somewhat more expensive. Nevertheless, as the Christmas has approached near the inhibition on the part of the buyers has vanished. The owners and the workers of the famous bakeries are happy with the picking up of the Christmas spirit being reflected in the increasing volume of their sales. Bhibhuti Bhusan Paul Chittaranjan Das, both owners of well-known bakeries, are satisfied with the briskness of their business.

The Christian community in Siliguri is getting ready to celebrate the festival with fervour and devotion. The Christmas-eve Mass, known as the Vigil Mass, would be held this evening to be followed by the main Christmas mass tomorrow morning. Two main Churches in the city, the Roman Catholic Church in Pradhan Nagar and the Protestant Church on the Church Road are illuminated for this occasion.

The priest at the Roman Catholic Church, known as Our Lady Queen Church Valerine D'souza said that the Church campus this evening and through out tomorrow would become a meeting place of men and women. We are proud of this peerless heritage of ours, which teaches man to shed all forms of sectarian narrowness and to embrace all faiths with equal respect and a real sense of belonging. The true universality of the Christmas is perhaps best reflected on the soil of India’, he added.

Tv: 1/100 Sec
Av: 3.5
Focal Length : 454 mm