The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act

The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act 1958 takes care of monuments of historical importance and going by this act/or law, an "ancient monument" means any structure, erection or monument, or any tumulus or place of interment, or any cave, rock-sculpture, inscription or monolith which is of historical, archaeological or artistic interest and which has been in existence for not less than 100 years.

According to ASI here are the following criteria which define ancient monument and the veracity and importance of it. • Remains of an ancient monument • Site of an ancient monument • Such portion of land adjoining the site of an ancient monument as may be required for fencing or covering in or otherwise preserving such monument. Last time I went to the Wikipedia meet at Hauz Khas, it emerged that Wikipedia is seriously doing something about historical monument. And yes they do it. My friend Ankit reminded me. There are over 3650 ancient monuments and remains of national importance, and supposedly protected by the ASI. Over 8,000 monuments are protected by the central government, including temples, mosques, tombs, churches, cemeteries, forts, palaces, step-wells, rock-cut caves, and secular architecture. S Suchindranath Aiyer a thinker from Bangalore feels the need to give importance to such moneuments across India and this memorial in particular, he said, "Its probably a good thing that its inside the golf course and the public don;t know about it. Else it might be banished to the grave yard of marble in North Delhi! "Soldier Sahibs" by Charles Allen gives a lot more on the Battle of Delhi and the men who forged the Empire." Why can not be this War Memorial elevated to a structure of national importance?

Anglo-Maratha War and The Lost War Memorial At Noida

BATTLE OF DELHL Did you know that 207 years ago, in September 3,477 Indians, British and the French were killed or perished in the famous Anglo Maratha war? From the Sector – 44 bus stop, Noida, the upper quarter of this historic monument was passed off as a secret tunnel, sic, by an elderly gentleman who was waiting for his UP roadways bus heading Greater Noida. “Surang hai iske neeche.” Kamla Prasad from Dadri confidently pronounce. 10 out of 10 people when asked about the War Memorial perched within the Noida Golf Course, safely. The rock, an arched monument behind, with specific Victorian architecture is largely unknown to many people.

The memoir of the second Anglo Maratha war is by large off to public and it woudn’t be surprising if many of us would be unaware of the historic battle was being fought dated 11 September also called the 9/11 of 1803 -1805. The win (by the British) formally established the East India Company's presence in India. Battle of Patparganj (1803) – The Base The second Anglo-Maratha war or the Battle of Delhi or the Battle of Patparganj. The Rock, we would call it for convenience ahead, is nestled amidst scenic greens of an 18 hole Golf Course in Noida. Although a well maintained historic structure is of immense significance, it seems that every brick wants to say a little more. I had to ask for direction to reach the monument located near the 17th Tee or Hole by some workers. The Rock emerge out of nowhere, at least for a first timer like me, it seemed. Some members of the ASI and national archives has little concrete idea about this monument and had contrasting views on the same. Which I will write in my next post. The Noida War Memorial It’s an acting tee box for the 16th hole today, sic. Wide steps of the monument are instant reminders of the Raj Era. It’s grand and follows an Edwardian architecture. As I was going for a walk around the course and the sun was melting in the west, its rays shone brightly on this monument which leapt at you out of nowhere. As you stand in front of it, you realize the beauty of the grand structure which has wide steps (in all likelihood built when the monument was built) leading up to it giving it a rather royal look.

Brief History of Patparganj and Present Gharonda neemka bangar, the old name of Patparganj as Shahdara can find it original name in some of the record archives in the MCD - Municipal Corporation of Delhi. Chandrawali was another name of the present Shahdara region. The battle of Patparganj (1803) was also known as the Battle of Delhi. It was a defining victory for the East India Company then, but how did it matter to the locals? The second Anglo- Maratha was fought ‘near this area’. It is a dense cluster of small and medium residential and commercial spaces today, falls under 'high real estate value' category. Residents naturally unaware of a historic battle being fought 200 years ago here, “Forget monument, we do not even know that there is a battle of Patparganj, ever being fought.” Yogesh from Khichdipur says.

The National Archives of India, New Delhi had little or no idea of the story I was chasing and set to uncover. Check this - http://www.archive.org/stream/listofinscriptio00blunrich/listofinscriptio00blunrich_djvu.txt Inscription : — To the memory of the undermentioned gallant officers : — Major Middleton, 3rd Regt., Native Cavalry ; Capt. Mc- Gregor, Persian interpreter ; Lieut. Hill, 2nd battalion, 12th Native Infauiry; Lieut. Preston, 2nd battalion, 13th Native Infantry; Cornet Sanguine, 27th Dragoons ; Quarter master Richardson, 27th Dragoons. The following extract from the order of the Govt, of India refers to the action in which they fell : " The Governor General in Council sincerely laments the loss of Major Middle- ton, Captain McGreggor, Lieut. Hill, Lieut. Preston, Cornet San-guine, Quarter master Richardson and of the brave soldiers who fell in the exemplary exertions of deliberated valour and discipline spirit at the battle of Delhi. The names of these brave men will be communicated with the glorious events of the day on which they fell, and will be honoured and revered while the fame of that signal victory shall endure." This monument was repaired and the tablet which had disappeared was replaced by order of the Lieut.- Govr. of N.-W. P., 1898. The battle was fought on the 11th September 1800. To be Continued - Reference - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Delhi,_1803 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patparganj National Archives

Sachin Rajjak from Veda

He is our friend, like a silent observer. Always ready to do anything for us. I learn some things from him.

Sunday

Wow, what a Sunday, all by myself. Heard Clapton, MJ, current radio, updated myself with the trash, which I dont need anymore, poched an egg, followed by a mushroom soup. Such a blissful experience. Worked, saw Bale's another work, it was good. Read the paper to complete the space. A milky cha in the morning was not bad, a little syrypy, I prefer strong. Goes well with cigarrates too, strong.

Cleaned my room, still messy :. Would see the American Pshycho for sure tonight. Catch you sooner now.

The importance of disconnect

The other day i received an email from our partners in B'lore, followed by a phone call by Apurva. He was telling me to do a host of things, it said, create a team name, create a badge, logo, icons and dont know what. I managed to decode what he said after digging an email from the slumbers.

It read, exactly what he was saying. In 30 minutes we created everything which was required. I was particularly impressed with my designer friend's effort, which paid off in 10 minutes. it's a different case that I had to spend another 30 minutes to explain him what exactly i was looking for.

The subject was on "Zen", later I discovered that zen philosophy believed that nirvana is actually possible in this life. We just need to streamline our activities and lead a more disciplined life. Zenist's also believed in dropping an illusionary vision and live in a real life.

Zen or no Zen, i personally feel that disconnecting from the real world for sometime at regular intervals is important for every one to introspect and take right decisions.

Winds of change

I guess the meteorological department and the national media too are a little bit too hyper about jumping their guns and predictions pertaining to the advent of monsoon. I remember how the meteorological people have tough times to predict monsoon or when or not the rains might arrive. So what if they are somewhat right this time? Winds of change, despite low rains and waging recession. The rain is flirting with us. Delhi recorded 203 mm of rainfall in August alone and 383.2 mm for the total season. the bigger question still is for farmers committing suicides in Chattisgarh and Andhra. Cumulative forces like the recession and rainfall has put brakes in India's development this year. Despite, reports indicating total growth crossing 6% in the 2Q. India still is dependent on the monsoon rains and the lack of it has adversely impacted rice, sugar and cotton. Eventually leading to high prices of eatables.

Can we build a mechanism to check mate low rainfall and of course it's after effects?

Technology grips Management

The IIT’s i.e Indian Institute of Technology are known for imparting quality and quantity education in engineering and technology. MBA (Masters in Business Administration) today can be done from the engineering and technology major IIT. A child today dreaming to make an inroad to the IIT, pulls up his socks right away and starts preparing from standard 8th and 9th itself. It takes an iit-ian more than four years to call himself a specialized ‘hardcore engineer’ from an institute of this standing. Approximately 50% of its students move ahead for a management degree from premier institutes of India.


In today’s era of rat race and a desire of a higher level of achievement motivation is seen and is rising among Indian students. This kind of development is a threat for students coming from non- IIT background. The students of IIT after 4 years of rigorous studies can get easily through competitive exams and finally crack the CAT exams. They somehow stand as one of the road blocking agents of the seats in premier management institutes. “A trend has been seen that a good number of engineering students are able to make their way towards Indian Administrative Services (IAS).” Says a senior officer of the IAS cadre.

A veteran academician and director of a reputed management and technology institute is aware of this development, he corroborates “It is happening due to stiff competition.” To take it this way for example, the IIT’s can retain the best brains of our country and further empower them to go high in the horizontal hierarchy of the corporate world.

These institutes have introduced specialized courses not many management institutes are offering take for e.g the IIT- Kanpur. It offers an MBA in collaboration with the Industrial and Management Department of IIT-K and have courses like infrastructure, system management, manufacturing etc. The idea is to prepare an MBA pass out manage modern enterprise effectively and independently. Similarly IIT-Bombay in its management package offer courses like technology policy, R&D (research and development) management and managing technology transfer. IIT- Roorkee, IIT- Madras, IISC- Bangalore are the other institutes where management courses are available.

To leaf a recent example some private investment and banking companies came to recruit final year engineering grads from the IIT-Delhi. According to sources, the HR persons were eager to hire the iit-ians primarily for their number crunching ability and analytic approach.

Clusterising or grouping subjects has also been seen, engineering subjects like operations management are also taught in the management institutes. It also includes topics like inventory control, game theory, decision making etc which are mathematical in theory but managerial in practice. A media person reacts by saying that even a plain engineering graduate, once in a workplace should know how to work and lead a team to ensure better results. “So, management principles are applied in engineering too.” he completes. “To become a complete package. A combination of technology and management degree is good in terms of career prospects.” reacts an engineering graduate.

According to reports, more than Rs 10 000 crores, circulates among the management institutes, popping up across the country. They somehow fail to deliver quality education. “Disallowing brain drain is the prime idea, I feel. Hence retaining students and money too, in form of fees.” Says an academician.

It is like your neighborhood PCO wallah started offering cyber services also. “With infrastructure and expertise available, no harm in disseminating knowledge from the same campus” Says an education researcher and supports IIT’s coming up with its management programme.

KBF 2010 is an much awaited event

Circa 1976 Kolkata will host the 34th Book fair on 27th January 2010. The theme will be Mexico The three countries. Mongolia, Canada and China will be partner countries. again the annual gala event from 26th of January that lasts well over ten days. The fair has already attracted record footfalls and sales.The ‘Publishers and book sellers guild’ are the organizers of this fair. More than 20 nations are participating this year exuding an international fragrance . A ‘Book fair culture’ has been germinated all over the state, mere mention of the book fair or boi mela in Bengali transcends one to a hysterical maniac. Book worms or not, KBF evokes spontaneous reaction to many a people. Do all visitors are genuine book lovers or wear a makeshift garb. Is the established hype justified? Let us take a look.

It will be hard to describe an annual fiesta held at the cultural capital of India, mecca of intellectuals, pavilion of sports lovers and a state of freakish adda seekers. In Kolkata, unlike all its counterparts in India and the whole of the South Asia, KBF is the most revered and cherished festival to reckon with.

TAKE ONE : Chaos, maddening crowd that jostle to get an entry, frowning octogenarians, svelte and elegant ladies, blaring mikes, bunch of college yuppies, over[enthusiastic] children and section of media trying to catch the best voice over or penning the best story.

TAKE TWO : Steamy syrupy earthern cups or bhar of tea, fish kabiraji, kutlet, discussion on Roger Penrose, or queue up to watch Benjamin Zephanian. What Cuba has to offer now? Or what US is upto?

Avid readers, web surfers, business magnets, movies buffs, celebrities, politicians, educationists, bibliophiles all bump into each other during the KBF. In Kolkata books still talk to people. Despite a changed profile and skyline, buying a book still is considered necessity. A walk around the stall for any regular visitor will vouch, a full fledged exploration, a peregrination with intent . Young poets and writers enjoys their minor celebrity status with a platform of little magazines. France as the focal theme and partner country and the guest country is Spain. Britain, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Bangladesh, Japan, Brazil, Chile, Cuba &other Latin American countries, EU ( European Union ), world bank, WHO and publishers from UK, Denmark, Oxford university press Pakistan, and the Macmillan UK will grace the occasion. The price conscious and a less consumerist Kolkatans religiously streamline into this annual pilgrimage with spirit.
14.5 acres of a total space area is jotted with marquees, tents, makeshifts stall. The Eiffel tower demarcating at the entrance gives an international feel. KBF cut across the regional barrier, enormous mob-movement coaxing with each other exuberates a mixture of happiness and curiosity. The aura is filled with a mixture of different music, dust & ever dominating confusion that consistently prevails with authorities maneuvering crowd movements. KBF is serves a purpose more than just selling a book. Percussionist Bikram Ghosh says, " I love to be at Kolkata book festival. A cultural nostalgia feeling surfaces every time I am there. It is like Durga puja. A festival annually performed." He equated KBF to a large shopping mall where a visitor ends up buying at least something even if he doesn’t intend to. Pradyumna Sarkar, a last year's participant KBF says, " KBF is a platform for young talent like us. The OTS (Oppurtunity to see) of our work is high, but there are few takers." He remembers how he ended up selling terracotta artifacts, which were much in demand than their little magazines.

Book reading and television or websurfing has different dimension altogether. One enhances creative thinking and the later restricts. Actor Sabyasachi Chakraborty says, " Book fairs is a must. The habit of book reading should be inculcated and it happens gradually and specifically from these fairs. CD Roms, PC's are alright, but they do not leave a vaccum if you do not come across them for a day, in contrast of a newspaper."

Oppurtunity to see and Branding

The basic object of positioning a brand is to make people feel that there is no satisfactory substitute of a product. Adapting a strong position is not a sheer passive act, rather it is an intentional effort to influence events. It needs sidelining, ignoring, seated business targets to favour of others.

Post success a product will reap increased sales/profits and a consumer franchise who will finally believe that there is no satisfactory substitute. Dilip Ray believes in branding first and positioning later. He says, “Lots of products have gone haywire over the years. They constantly keep aspiration levels high and reminding that a product is there.”
In a heavily competitive space ME TOO products will hardly make a difference, a product has to get ingrained inside an audience’s mind. Prof Subroto Sengupta an author once said, “a product must find a definitive place in an individual’s perception inside a world of products.” In other words the product should find a strong position and should sit tightly over it. To position a brand requires that helps you make choices and having a position that means that the product will appeal to some and might not to others. Piyush from vedainformatics.com confirms a thought by saying, “a product’s success can define a company’s brand value. Branding is not something which is one size- fits all, understanding a product and their target audience is important. Positioning can happen later along with packaging and finishing that comes as additions.” In broader terms positioning can be done in several ways like offering special benefits, targeting special segments, pricing and distribution.
Being different is essentially important, benefit positioning can be used if the brand is perceivably differentiates in its ability to deliver a specific benefit. Benefit positioning will again depend on how many people really care about benefit and how differently the brand delivers it.
Arthur Cadzo stresses on comparisons, “One can simply flaunt the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of the product. Show the facts and salient features of the product. You are sure of then compare the facts and stats and figures of yours and others.” He meant dotting the dart- know your audience. It requires brand marketing should be focused, precise and targeted on a specific segment. The target audience can vary from demography, economy, geography, ethnic identity and of course attitudinally. To work, target positioning should cause the people in the target to perceive superiority of a brand to meeting their respective needs.
Prodeep K Hui a senior media person asserts, “The strategy of undifferentiated marketing has now changed to focused marketing activity amongst individual sub-group and a defined geographical area.” Markets have always been sensitive to pricing. Prices build brands. It has the ability to put a brand either on the top or bottom of the category. Being the most or least expensive brand in respective category can be an asset or liability in certain cases. Well, there are standalone exceptions like Rolex and Marlboro, if reports are to be believed their sales plummeted dramatically after their promoters reduced their prices. Here the former brands have positioned in the consumer minds in a different league (macho and elite respectively). It purely depends that the particular promotion is done for the masses or the classes. Obviously size of consumers, brand image and profit margins might get affected by this strategy owned.

At times it becomes difficult to depend on a price position, for instance we understand that Mercedes Benz has been positioned as an expensive and conservative vehicle. The implication for the marketing mix -the 4P’s would be that of this premium branded car, a high priced car which is selectively distributed and marketed. For example an Audi or a Porche will never get advertised in a regional or vernacular newspaper, it will choose Discovery, National Geographic or BBC unless the promoters have biased interests. The selective target group comprises of price elastic consumers, segmented on the basis of demography, lifestyle strata and certain rational/emotional core values.
Speaking macro six qualities can result a successful brand position campaign. A product with a face or relevance. Positioning that fails to touch a human chord through which a person can not relate or identify is ineffective. A positioning which is unable to reflect a character of the product is unable to reflect a character of a product is bound to fail. Akshay Kumar’s endorsement of Bagpiper and Thumbs Up reflects a macho image. The legendary Gattu, the painter boy of the Asian paints. Relevancy of the product from a human angle helps positioning a brand successfully.
Plain and simple words can do wonders read clarity. ‘We try harder because we are No 2’ established Avis as a major league competitor quickly. By establishing an underdog position in the mind Vs Hertz. Avis strived to overcome dissonance in the prospects choice situation by triggering an effective route to persuasion i:e evoking a sense of empathy for an honest #2.
A position should be simple enough to comprehend. The message should be loud and clear. Is your product unique or somewhat distinct from others, if not how can be – Discontent, emptiness or a vacuum in a person’s heart is always there. All his need is not satisfied. Hundred of products are scrambling with each other in a limited space. What is that differentiates– price, promotion and expensive strategies that will not build brand equity in long term.
Don’t you think look matters? No matter how good your product is does not create an articulate stroke, you may land up in an unwanted place. If a product is meant for a particular class the class has to be identified first and then accordingly jive up to expectation and be committed.

In the past decade or so the WWW (world wide web) has provided an independent platform to individual users, private firms, government and large organizations to show up and showcase who they are. Here comes the relevance of OTS (opportunity to see). A spiraling growth of the internet and unique users is growing by the day. Blogs/ articles writing is a neo phenomena and SEO (search engine optimization newer). Here is the opportunity that lies, there are approximately 70 Million blog users in the world, how to differentiate? SEO is a rank improvement technique of a site, blog or even a company with the help of existing popular search engines like Google, Yahoo or Rediff. If I talk about businesses relying heavily on the internet, optimization will become indispensable in forthcoming years, for sure. I would like to mention again, your product has to be good and reliable, SEO techniques is like a supplement which can boost immunity and health of a modern organization tremendously. No matter how good you dressed your window, the pane should good or else, sooner than later, it will fall off.
A brand is like a promise--it represents traits of company's products/ services. The brand is also a faith that a consumer reposes and believes that it will change lives.

Religious Intolerance

At the first place i couldn't understand why Sikhs in Mumbai were after a particular so-called self made guru from North India. You can attribute this to my ignorance also that I was unable to read the growing or say it was already there tolerance between the two communities. I failed to understand why both of them are after each other's lives. I don't have many words to describe the events but only can say that no one should be allowed or encouraged to speak against faith, speech, words or actions. The people who created a ruckus and held traffic for ransom should be accounted and charged. If not legally, then a word should come from the PMO. We need to hear what our respected prime minister has to say about the issue and growing intolerance which is just not confined to a freak accident but everywhere.

To smile or not to smile is not the question

People are using emoticons into there day to day lives. The question is do they really mean at times what they say? The American Journal of Sociology authors Daniel A. Menchik and Xiaoli Tian have expressed how subject lines and signatures define what has to be interpreted in formal communication. A new set of interactional skills in short.

It is true that while text messaging, communicating by messenger, sending emails, commenting on blogs, writing an article (formal and informal both) use of emoticons have grown. Why? Besides face-to-face conversations, body-language and context, emoticons are good way to express things. Basically an add-on to writing.

I feel that emoticons can be sometimes, just a way to deceive people, as in, you do not mean what you say. For example a smiley to make the person/s believe that they are good and happy, whereas they are not (maybe).

Effective, online strategies, in short. Like there are other ways of communicating Capital letters, use of quotations, exclamation points, punctuations, bulleted points are a few. I AM BUSY, reflects a new dimension to meaning. A smiley added to the sentence leads to sarcasm.