Dada dropped !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After a great come back performance, Dada was dropped from the one-day triangular series in Australia. I am a BIG fan of Kolkata Prince. I admire him as a successful captain and I love his square cut. In the last one year+, he proved that he has the good game with him even at the age of 35. He was able to fight with the youngsters, and very few had better average than him in both the test match and one-day matches (during his come back period).

It is time for him to say good-bye to one-day matches, as we have to give chance to youngsters. I feel this is not the time to do the experiment, but at some point of time senior players should give way to youngsters.

Kolkata Tiger showed his talents both batting and bowling. He took some critical wickets in the last two series. He has introduced the fighting spirit to the Indian team. The aggression in the field, the command and the control over the game and the tactical decisions during critical stages made him as the most successful captain of India.

Will he come back again to One-day matches? It is a big question. The answer depends on the youngsters like Raina, Rohit and Uthappa for whom the selectors given a big chance.

Yahoo layoff

Yahoo is going to lay off 10% - 20 % of their work force. It was expected some time back itself. The previous CEO Terry Semel took charge in 2001 and during his period Yahoo last its value and importantly Google grown to the peak.

They are having the higher traffic compared to google, their revenue has not gone up. The Yahoo finance is good, they have not done anything new there. They acquired Overture to compete with the AdWords. They were not able do anything in spite of their traffic volume (Even microsoft's AdCenter attracted). Innovation is dead in Yahoo!

Now it is a challenge for Jerry Yang (Present CEO) to bring back the value it has in late 90s. He has taken the first step by firing some of the workforces. He has to bring in more young talents and should do things creatively to compete with Google.

Development in TamilNadu

Yesterday I met one of my friends Ponsekar. He came for the pongal holidays from Bangalore by car. He was telling Chennai city drive is very comfortable compared to Bangalore. We were talking about the roads in Tamil Nadu.All the roads are very good and govt. is continuously concentrating on the infrastructure.

Many activities are happening in a professional manner like widening roads, developing highways and improving street roads etc. Also the Chennai planning is very good. All the IT industries are moved to OMR and Chengalpattu and the other engineering industries are developed in Sriperumputhur area. The planning is good not in City alone even we are planning to develop the other Towns. There are few corporation parks looks neat and maintained properly. The development that are happening here are really great.

We have eight municipal corporations in Tamil Nadu and we are developing all the corporations by moving business to all the places. Now IT industries are moving to other southern corporations.

Also we are having all the Govt. information online. Starting from school text books online to information about the various department (Education, Transport, EB, PWD, etc.. ) activities like the tender in various departments, completed tenders, etc... are available online. Thanks to "The Right To Information Act'.

The Right To Information Act, 2005

An Act to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Tamil Nadu is following it and you will get all the details online. Looking at the development happening in Tamil Nadu, and if other states follow at least Tamil Nadu (There are few states far better position than Tamil Nadu) we will become "Super Power" even before 2020.

Pongal Varisai

Today my parents went to my sisters house to give "Pongal Varisai". In our family all parents will give Pongal Varisai to the married daughters. The pongal varisai will have two important things. One is Ghee and the thread (Thiri). This is used to light the Vilakku(lamp). In addition, they give fruits, nuts, and money.

I was wondering how these people remember and send it every year. My mother is still getting it from my uncles by post. This tradition is still continuing in most of our families. I was asking the meaning of this tradition to my Aunt(mother in law). She said that the girl should light the Vilakku with the Ghee and the Thread sent by her parents/brothers in her "Puguntha Veedu" (in her house).

Note: At the end my aunt said some sentimental statements and I was a bit emotional.

Perpetual vs Annual Subscription

Various on-line down loadable products are sold in the internet with different Licensing Model. All the products are only subscribed by the users. No one product is purchased completely. There are two types of licensing. One is Perpetual Subscription Licensing model and the other is Annual Subcription Model.

For Perpetual Subscription Model the pricing can be with the support and maintenance or the price includes first year support and for the subsequent years we have to pay the support and maintenance. Some products will have additional price for upgrades.

For Annual Subscription Model, we have to pay the same money every year (the pricing includes the support).

Book Exhibition 2008

Sunday I went to Chennai book exhibition with Don, Chithu and Ranjith. It is great to see more people are visiting the exhibition. There are more Tamil publishers displaying their books. It is good that more crowd in their stalls. I am happy to see more Tamil lovers in Chennai. We came to know there are so many publishers in TN. But many were unknown publishers.

There were lot of philosophy and Astrology books. Ranjith saw only one book on Astrology and moved away fast!!!!!! I thought he will see more books there.

Ranjith purchased "The 12 Universal Laws of Success" by Herbert Harris. I looked only Children book shops. Even that we are not able to complete 50% of the stalls.

I purchased books for kids and one book for me. I got two books for Krithi (Science experiments & Sudoko) and few books for Guru. I purchased "Execution" by Ram & Larry. This book I liked very much(I borrowed from Shailesh and returned the new one to him).

I saw today in News that Karunanidhi went there to release a book. This is a grand mela for book lovers and I am visiting there for the fifth time.

I was not able to visit completely. I have to go one more time there. It was boring for Don.

Get toghether - Annamai PG 1990 - Part2

I had a nice sleep for almost 8 hrs. Morning I walked on the road towards Walparai to check for any water resource to take bath. There was a canal, which is from upper Aliyar and store the water in the lower Aliyar dam. The canal was very narrow and the water was flowing in a high speed as the reservoir was few yards from that place. Chock annan, Sekar, MS, Manoj & Sugi joined me.

We went towards the upper Aliyar along the canal bed to see a safety place to take bath. We had a nice bath there. The water height was neck level. We swim in the canal for some time. It was really a new experience for all of us.

We went to room and went to Vethathiri Maharishi temple. It was calm place. We spent one hr there and went to Aliyar dam in the van. Took some photos and started towards Kerela. On the way we went to Masani Amman temple. It was almost noon.

After having the Dharisanam, we went to Malampuzha dam. We had lunch there. It was not so good. The we went in the cable car ride. In Malampuzha, there is a water game place. Kids were very much interested in going there. Especially Kanmani, Manoj, and Krithi. Some of us not interested in it.One group went to the water games and the other group went to the dam park.

Guru, Sathish and MS went for a ride in the toy train. Praba, myself, Mrs. Sekar, Aruna and Geetha went inside park and also visited the hanging bridge. We started from there at 7:00 pm and reached Pollachi at 9:00. Mrs. Sugi and Masha joined us in the hotel. Chock annan cut the cake (get togethar cake) and we had some fun. Mani arranged a buffet and every one enjoyed the dinner. It was a nice dinner.

MS. family and Sekar family left to CBR as they have booked the return ticket for Saturday. Mani and Chocks requested them to stay back every one until Monday. But they wanted to go back home. They also convinced Kodi to stay back until Monday. (As we have booked the rooms in Top Slip on Sunday night). I told them if I get flight for Monday, I was ready to stay.

We gave send off to MS and Sekar families and took rest in the hotel. Next day morning I tried ticket through yatra.com and I booked flight for Monday Noon from CBR. Prabakar planned to return on Sunday morning, said he will come with us for the Thirumoorthy fals and from there he will go to CDM. We went to Thirumoorthy falls. We walked for 20min. (2km.) and reached the falls.

Thirumoorthy hills was not too steep and the height of falls is normal (it is betterthan the monkey falls). The water was very chill and great force. We took nice bath there and went to Thirumoorthy temple situated at the foot of Thirumoorthy hills. The temple has a Amalingeswarar Idol, which looks like a nacked kid doing sirasasanam.

Prabakar also decided to stay back and decided to come with us to Top Slip. We went to Pollachi room, had lunch and vacated the room. It was almost 4:00 pm so we have decided to send one van back. We started in one van and two cars.

I went with Prabakar in one car to get dinner (Sungam Biriyani). One van and a car left to Top Slip. They reached there in time. On the way Sugi called his brother and arranged for accomodation. It was realy great that Sugio got a dormatry for us. We had only two room booked before that(32 people!!!!!!!!!!!!).

After reaching ther we saw Elephants, Deer. Kids were playing throw ball for almost two hours. Then we went to the room to finish our dinner as the night saffari was delayed. We went for night saffari at around 9:30 pm. It was a thrilling experience in the night. We saw elephants, bisons and deer.

We went to bed around 11:30pm. Morning we got up at 7:00 am and started in JPS car to CBR. It was a pleasant tour organized in a short duration and every one enjoyed it. Thanks to Mani, Prabakar, Sudhakar, Mani, Sekar, MS, Kodi, Sugi, Chock Annan for making this trip grand success. We will arrange similar trips at regular interval so that we will relax from our routine work.

I was telling my friend Shyam(he is now in India) that we can go for a family trip during Dec. end. But I made a different group trip and I missed to meet him with family.

How to Terminate Employees

http://www.restaurant.org/legal/law_termination.cfm

I was looking for a document to get to know how I can handle a situation like this. This doc clearly explains when to terminate an employee, how and what to talk to him and how to handle the post termination.

When to fire an employee

The first step is to know when to fire an employee. You must know for sure that all other options have been taken before going ahead with the termination.

• Be sure you have given the employee all of the advantages that you promised in the hiring process. If you made no promises or promised no job security, then the decision to fire is much easier.
• Warn employees of unacceptable behavior and the likelihood that it will lead to termination if continued. Then document the warning on the employee's file and have the employee acknowledge the warning in writing.
• Never fire employees on their birthday, anniversary or before a holiday.
• Never fire employees on a Friday. The best day to fire them is early in the week, to give them sufficient time during the work week to seek other employment opportunities.
• Avoid terminating an employee on the spur of the moment. An angry attitude by you will provoke an angry response by the employee.

Once you have made the decision to fire an employee, you must choose your words and actions carefully in the termination meeting. The next step will help you get through this difficult time.

What to say and do during the termination

The key to proper employee termination is to be succinct and to have facts that justify the firing. Here is what to say and do:

• Give concrete examples of poor performance. Don't tell the employee, "It's just not working." Failure to give actual examples could be grounds for a wrongful-termination lawsuit.
• Tell the employee the effective date of the firing, whether it's today or two weeks later.
• Tell the employee the benefits, severance pay and unused vacation time that he or she is entitled to, if any.
• Limit the conversation to 10 minutes.
• If the individual being fired has access to sensitive information or computer files, terminate the person immediately and give him or her two-weeks'-notice pay. Consider changing passwords and codes when such an employee is terminated. Offer this employee outplacement counseling, if possible.
• Resist tears and begging from employees, or else word will spread that you can't fire anyone.
• Don't get into a shouting match with the employee.
• After the firing, call all remaining staff members together and explain the termination. Tell the employees how the firing will affect them, the responsibilities that will be shifted and when you plan to hire a replacement.
• If you hold an exit interview, focus on facts that led to the dismissal, not on the individual. Conduct the exit interview in private and at the close of business.
• If you suspect the employee might turn violent, arrange to have law-enforcement personnel on standby.
• Treat the employee courteously and do not publicly embarrass him or her.
• Don't sugarcoat the termination; your words can come back to haunt you.

Following these steps will make your job as manager easier. There are a few final steps to take to ensure that your firing is legal.

How to make sure the termination is legal

Botched firings can quickly escalate into a lawsuit against your restaurant. There are steps you can take to prevent an unlawful-termination lawsuit:

• Review your employee handbook and make sure it includes an employment-at-will statement, which spells out that the worker can quit at any time, or be fired at any time.
• Do not have statements in your handbook that say employees will be terminated only for good cause.
• Do not tell new hires that they will be employed for as long as they perform satisfactorily, because that is essentially a promise of lifetime employment.
• Establish clear position descriptions.
• Institute a system of evaluating job performance.
• Consider whether the employee is a member of a class or individuals protected on account of race, sex, religion, national origin, age or disability.
• Have a third party present at the termination who can serve as a witness, if necessary.

By taking these steps you can make this difficult act as painless as possible for you and your employee. In addition, following proper firing techniques could ward off a lawsuit and a decline in employee morale.

Get toghether - Annamai PG 1990 - Part1

We had a pleasant get together of Ten families in Pollachi between 27th Dec. and 31st Dec. Mani and Sudhakar organized the trip and everyone enjoyed it. It was planned in ashort duration and it was a grand success.

Ms, Kodi, Rajasekar and me stared from Chennai by train on 27th night. We reached Coimbatore in the morning. Sugi and his br. in law's son joined us in Coimbatore. I arranged a van there.

Mani, JPS, prabakar and Chock annan were there in pollachi on 27 th night. Sudakar joined them in the morning. We went to Pollachi and joined the group. We refresh ourself there and started in two vans from Pollachi to Aliyar. We directly went to Aliyar Dam. Everyone went to the dam top in the hot sun.

There we arranged the lunch. We asked the hotel person to give the lunch as parcel. But It was not ready. We went to monkey falls and sent back one of the vans to get us the lunch. We had a nice bath there in the falls. Geetha came out with the snacks and a monkey snatched the mixture pocket from her.

We spent almost two hours there and then started towards Walparai. On the way we stopped at 9th bend and visited "Lomes View Point". We had the lunch around 3:00 pm. The food was very good. We had a photo session there. It was fun in getting everyone at one place and take the photos.

It took almost one hour for us to reach "Balaji Temple". The road was very bad and we reached there around 4:30 pm. The temple was nice and calm sourrounded by hills. It is a private place. We had a nice dharisanam. We played throw ball for 30 to 45 min. It was really interesting evening. We wanted to go to walparai from balaji temple. The CBR driver was not comfortable in going to walparai as he felt it was already very late. He suggested to get back to Aliyar room.

Meantime we missed the route and at last we have decided to get back to the hotel. On the way we had coffee in a local tea shop. Mrs. Rajasekar liked the coffee there.(sekar was telling me that she won't take tea/coffee in local shops). We reached the room around 9:00 pm. We had the dinner (Paratta & fish) . Some went for a walk. It was not good climate. We expected it will be very clod but we felt hotter compared to chennai. JPS was telling that for the first time he is not seeing mist in the walparai!!!!!!!!!!