Fear Factor-Khatron Ke Khiladi, helping the celebs

"Imagine a world where your greatest fears become reality. Does it sound strange? But, that is what happens in each pulse-racing "Fear Factor- Khatron Ke Khiladi" episode, where contestants are the 13 female models and actresses who perform the nerve-rattling stunts. This show originated from the American Fear Factor which was a game show that took reality shows to a new exciting high.

Jumping from choppers, facing fires and hanging from tall buildings, sounds pretty odd, but this is a part of this reality game, hosted by bollywood action hero Akshay Kumar who wants the women contestants to face their biggest fears. If a player is too afraid to complete or fails a stunt, the player is eliminated. If they succeed, they are one step closer to the grand finale, which is a huge share. "I'm extremely scared of heights, and in this show I've done bungee jumping, and now I am relatively less scared. It was a great experience," said model-turned-actress Dipannita Sharma. The celebrities have to face a terrible time when they have to bear such humongous cockroaches, lizards, earthworms and spiders. It is pretty shocking to see celebrities lying amongst the deadly snakes and struggling with a lock and key. Well!!! that is a part of the game.




The actress, who has worked in movies like My Brother Nikhil and 16 December, was also scared of spiders earlier, but now she feels she has overcome that fear too. Another contestant Yana Gupta, a model and actress, revealed that she won the maximum number of points on the show because she had no fear. For Anita Hassanandani, who is to play the role of Draupadi in Ekta Kapoor's Kahani Hamaare Mahabharat Ki, Fear Factor has truly been a learning experience. "The first stunt on the show was a water stunt and I don't know how to swim. It was really scary!" she exclaimed. "Now I will be taking swimming lessons since I have realised how important it is to know how to swim."

This fear factor women reality show has definitely come up with something new and extraordinary for the female contestants and given them a chance to explore all such things which they were afraid of. These game shows have a long way to go, keeping in mind the rising enthusiasm of the youth.

Written by: Neha Gupta

IT managers making their data centers green

In our last blog the discussion revolved around the significance of the color green in a green data center and how much important is anything that might be done towards going green. Going forward what becomes important is to know how exactly the data centers can go green. For many firms turning green is not about lack of intention but lack of information on how to turn green.

The first step is to become green in the very approach towards IT. Once the attitude is green half the work is done. Then one can move towards chalking out a planned strategy and implementing it. The main motives, technologies and strategies etc. that need to be kept in mind beforehand are:
Reducing the power consumption of the data center
Minimizing the footprints of the buildings
Maximizing cooling efficiency
Using alternative sources of energy

The whole implementation exercise can be broken into different approaches as follows:
Consolidating the servers: With appropriate analysis and consolidation low utilization devices can be combined into a single physical server consuming only a fraction of the power thus saving on costs as well as energy.

Virtualization: It involves moving as many server-based applications as feasible into virtual machines and running one piece of hardware like many. Virtualization can be applied to servers, storage, desktop, applications, etc.

Energy-efficient Machines: Many ultra efficient products are available in market which are either more efficient or consume less power than the usual ones. Ultra efficient and multi-core servers are prime examples of such options.

Storage: To handle the problem of big racks, low utilization, too many redundant copies, etc. virtualization, Information Lifecycle Management (ILM), data de-duplication, green storage solutions like MAID etc. can be adopted.

Layout Design of Data Center: Some of the basic design elements that should be taken into account are hot aisle/cold aisle layout, floor-to-ceiling span, power management, distribution of power racks, etc.

Cooling and Heating Management: Liquid cooling systems have been found to be very effective and should be used in a green data center. Some of the ways of data center liquid cooling are through sidecar heat exchangers, modular liquid cooling units, device mounted liquid cooling, etc.

Green Energy Sources: IT managers should ensure that the power supply to their datacenters comes from sources of green energy like solar, hydro, wind, wave, etc.

Once the IT decisions makers are aware of the ways and methods of turning green they can align their financial goals with ecological intentions. As we discussed in last blog, in turning green to look at just the present only would blind our judgment. We should look at tomorrow and the day after when steps we take today would enable us to reap the benefits, be it cost effectiveness or controlled ecological footprint.

Written by: Rohit Mishra

Mutinous

This is extremely bemusing to me, not that it happened in a day but this morning while getting ready some how the inner conscience pinched in. Though I really hate it to come in the picture and I end up doing something I really don’t wanna do.

I could recall a conversation from the movie ‘Man on fire’ – “A man can be an artist... in anything, food, whatever. It depends on how good he is at it. Creasey's art is death. He's about to paint his masterpiece”. I felt I have painted mine, and then I realized I painted one a few months ago and then I realized I have painted at least 5. So I had to conclude that I am yet to paint one, though each one of them was equally good. I know I am an emotional one and have always got involved to the brim. I know that it is because of my emotional quotient and the capacity to go to the state of empathy. The combination of my pragmatism and problem solving all adds to one ________________deadly combo as they say. Also my ability to patiently listen and wait for the other party to approach and make the final move has always given me an upper hand.

I am sure you can’t understand the dilemma I am having or my reason of talking about it lest I explain it to you. I can trace this back to school days when I had my first ever relationship and the only unsuccessful ever. Unsuccessful in my terms is the condition where in the girl fails to propose. Damn, I shouldn’t have let her go. I really missed her a lot. Believe me, for more than 3 years I missed her and long after she was gone and this is what I concluded and have been constantly preaching- First ones are always gonna stick to you.

It started in Jan 2005. A sweet very decent one, first timer though, studying in a very hap girl’s college. Hap because the girls studying there were meant to be very happening. I was on cloud nine when it happened, though some where I was aware she wasn’t exactly my type. Not very good looking or the ones I wanted to flaunt off within my friend circle, but everything seemed fine. With time came the promises and commitment for a long term and marriage too. But, unfortunately Jan 2007 was the end of it all….I refrain from talking more about her because I am with her again for life time I guess.

I remember getting the Doctor’s number from a school batch mate who was settled in some southern part of the country when I was in Delhi doing my engineering. It was October 2006. Having spent almost 20 months with the decent one with out much action or fun I needed, she came as a delight, though I never had a feeling that she is possible. But, still I talked to her because I knew that she might be the one I was willing to be with. Within no time came the proposal. Far earlier then expected but I guess it was perfect. I got crazy for her. She was a little short than my expectations but the other aspects were good enough to ignore this one. She was amazingly caring which actually was a shock for me and had a medical background i.e. she was doing her physiotherapy. I had always thought about having a companion who is preferably from a medical background since my entire family was a huge engineer fraternity with many engineers that I can actually have a successful engineering college without falling short of the faculty ever.

Then came the golden period of my dynasty with the doctor i.e. Feb-March 2007- That was when I was interning in one of the best possible organization in my field in the world. Everything arranged by dad of course and I happened to stay at 1 Km distance from the doctor’s place. We used to return home together alternate days and spend evenings also together. Everything seemed to be perfect that we actually vowed to stay together for life. She was fashion conscious with plenty of guys vooing her, this used to at times make me feel a mismatch. I used to get over it understanding my stability with respect to my career and future, but not everything was smooth and unruffled till the fateful night when the doctor happened to talk to the decent one and all dreams were shattered. She was done with me by April 07. Reason being I didn’t call her for a week and I still regret not calling her once in that period. Feel like a moron but…………..

Did I mention April? I remember about starting to talk to this decent slim sweet short girl in May 07. Though the first ever girl younger to me but I really liked her a lot. May be her bureaucrat dad was the force acting behind it, but still I was pretty attracted to her and used to love chatting with her. I felt really close and I could actually make out the way she used to feel about me. Nights passed like minutes talking to her and I felt good about her. Staying in different cities we started planning a date though it never happened! I knew she had compromised a lot for me. Coped up in every possible way, just for me, how many guys are this fortunate? Time passed and she could not manage and finally broke up. Fortunately, she had another guy (far more deserving) in her life by the time she broke up. I was happy for her and I did everything possible to let her avoid me. Realized it later that she only wanted me and had loved me far intensely then I ever imagined. She kept coming back to me instead of the guy she was going around. I missed her even badly but wanted to move on, as quickly as possible. Her call or the slightest view of her pics used to make me miss her like a moron. I felt really close to her but was neither willing nor strong enough to take a step forward to be with her.

The decent one made me miss more and more as time passed by, but then I had started going around with another happening Punjabi girl from Delhi. Her parents settled in Canada with a well nourished business was definitely enthralling. I could blame it all to the chemistry with her, or it to our sun signs or something else but she was a pleasure to be with. I longed to talk to her time and again especially when she went abroad to see her parents… continues;


Not that I am a good looking hunk, yes I am a fair, average looking guy from a good family. I went to one of the best engineering colleges in India which is a dream for million of parents in India. I was into sports and was fairly good at everything I played (Badminton, Swimming, TT, Pool, Carrom). I am a party guy and had a really big friend circle from guys to girls; everywhere I went (Various schools, college, office etc).

I wish I had understood the reason for my inclination and the possessiveness for the other half of the society. I know it’s not my libido which takes me to extremes but my inner senses and feelings which keeps me attached.

Written by: Digvijay Singh

Data centers going green....but how???

Growth and penetration of IT services into each and every business has no doubt made our lives easier but has had its own share of pitfalls as well. Datacenters are no doubt indispensable for the whole IT operations. But the inefficient use of resources and adverse carbon footprint implies that a lot of questions are being raised and lots of fingers are being pointed.

Just ponder over two sets of facts; data centers in US alone consume more than 100 billion kW of power in a year that generates a combined bill of $7.2 billion. Also data centers world over produce 17.2 billion tons of CO2 in a year to which if unutilized server capacity is added, the number rises to 100 million tons of CO2.

The alarm bells were rung sometime back and fortunately well in time. There is a definite realization now that the data centers need be converted into green data centers. It’s an altogether different matter that to a CIO/CTO the color green may signify the color of money first before it turns ecological. But good thing is that every one from CIO to vendor has understood that everything is not ok with existing data centers.

If the conversion to green data center is not economically viable then the effort involved may not make good business sense. And it would be unfair to expect IT decision makers to make judgment without giving due importance to financial aspects. The good news is that green data centers initially may appear to be a financial burden but in the long run they definitely make economic sense as well.

And with the corporate world giving due importance to its social responsibilities, there is a mandate to check their own carbon footprint. On the other hand it’s also true that one of the reasons for turning green is to have a green image in the eyes of the clients and the general public. But at the end of the day such a move does imply that there would be less impact on already fragile earth.

IBM’s Project Big Green launched in May 2007 and Sun Microsystems’ Eco Innovation Initiative launched in August 2007 is some of the very prominent projects launched in this direction. Last Friday (18th July) IBM announced the launch of the second phase of PBG (PBG 2.0) in India, and also introduced new modular data centers expected to reduce energy consumption by as much as 50 per cent.

IT mangers can also contribute in this direction by adopting green approach towards IT operations. By using ultra efficient servers and technologies like consolidation, virtualization, ILM, MAID, energy efficient datacenter layout, liquid cooling systems and green energy sources, IT mangers can definitely do their part towards greening IT.

The toss may appear to be between financial viability and environmental sustainability but in long term they don’t remain antithetical, rather it makes absolute sense to green the data centers.

Written by: Rohit Mishra

Are modern football players loyal to their clubs?

Money, money and more money. That’s what all the modern generation players care for. Loyalty for them is a thing of the past. Players like Paolo Maldini, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Francesco Totti are fantastic players and have been loyal to their clubs during their career. They chose to be loyal to the club that made them great players. Unfortunately, it is not the same for modern day players.

What is the reason behind this? ... cash, rich sponsorship deals as big clubs are willing to pay everything to buy players. Perhaps loyalty seems to have gone far off. For the past 3-4 years, clubs like Real Madrid, Chelsea backed by their multi-billionaire owners, have got the players they want by offering huge sum of money.

Let us take the current example of Cristiano Ronaldo, who is so desperate to move to Real Madrid. He has completely forgotten about the club-Manchester United, that made him a star; the fans who stood by his side even after the famous World Cup 2006, a winking incident when the whole country wanted him. He was booed all over England (infact still is) except at Old Trafford where fans supported him. It’s the huge amount of cash Madrid has offered that has made him betray all these things.

Ronaldo, of course is not the first player to have done this and certainly not the last one also. Everyone remembers Ashley Cole’s departure from Arsenal and now Mathieu Flamini, Emmanuel Adebayor, Aleksandr Hleb are following the same path. Is it true to say that money is the passion for players rather than Football? Look at Sergio Ramos, while he was busy playing in European Championship, his agent was in England and claimed that Manchester United was interested in signing him but Sergio himself recently said he wanted to complete his career in Madrid. Agents today can be blamed by and large for player’s lack of loyalty.

But is it such a bad thing? Maybe players prefer to be loyal to their career rather than to their club. So, maybe it isn’t always fair to demand loyalty from players. Clubs are also not always loyal to their players who have served their best to the club. Consider Ronaldinho, he won everything for Barcelona during his prime time, the FIFA world player of the year and European player of the year but it is extremely sad to know that he is not wanted at Barcelona now.

So, why do fans demand loyalty from players? Maybe, Loyalty should also be a two-way street. The only loyalty left today is perhaps of the fans to their club. Unfortunately, for the players, their heart lies with the money.

Written by: Digvijay Singh

ITES – Services, Process, Framework!

‘Information Technology’ has gradually transitioned from a backend, supporting the business to an integral component for delivering business services. This has sent a wake up call to many IT service organizations-big and small for the need to reorganize and reinvent them to meet the emerging challenges. However, the act of restructuring and re-organizing does not by itself guarantee a successful re-invention as an ‘IT service organization’ is capable of providing ongoing quality services. In addition, the IT service organizations are hard pressed to address cost justification issues, resource and productivity issues, particularly since IT is the number two budget item for most businesses. Hence, without a well planned IT process, which includes quantifiable service quality indicators, organizations will fail to provide the ongoing service levels and performance needed to allow the organization to succeed in the new economy.

The other side of the story: The need for a well planned IT process in the organizations has led to the emergence of ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library). ITIL was developed in the 1980s with the goal to bring about an approach that would be vendor independent and applicable to organizations with differing technical and business needs. It is an approach to IT Services Management that is based on industry best practices. ITIL defines the objectives & activities, the input and output of each process in an IT service organization, which serves the concept of collecting, documenting, and maintaining all service management best practices together within one body of knowledge. ITIL provides a framework for ITSM that describes the general structure for organizing service management without specifying every action to be performed on a daily basis. This allows ITIL to be used within service organizations of differing sizes and IT goals. ITIL does not necessarily imply re-engineering an IT service organization. Rather, it provides a structure within the ITIL framework in which to place existing methods and activities. The emphasis is on an approach and the framework for planning the most common processes that has been proven in practice.

Many IT service organizations or individuals within an IT service organization spend most of their time focusing on the technology rather than the business needs that the technology is attempting to solve. The risks of this approach are that ‘IT service organizations’ implement the wrong technology and spend excessive resources “putting out fire.” The ITIL process encourages an atmosphere where the IT service organization implicitly understands the tactical and strategic objectives of the company. They can then make recommendations about appropriate technology to further the corporate objective, which effectively prevents fire rather than extinguishes them. In addition to ensuring that the right tools are employed within the company, this also brings the IT service organization in line with overall corporate objectives.

Written by: Sumit Biswas

Ain’t no power than the power of women

I am not a scientist, I do not have a PhD nor do I conduct research or biological studies, but I read news, I read blogs, I talk to people and I observe. Based on what I have seen, heard, and observed, I truly believe that today’s women surely has some power. Be it the power of intuition, six sense or perception.

Sheets of paper and rolls of films have been dedicated to describe a woman. Many women-oriented books written by Indian authors truly reveal the secret underlying womanhood. Biologists have spent their lifetime decoding the mystery of a woman, but the fact is that women still continue to be an enigma. Her enigma embodies her beauty and this beauty is profound. Many famous quotes and poems have been written about women, which truly explore the qualities underlying women. A charming woman does not follow the crowd. She is herself. Yes, she is herself and the very truth is that she knows her self-worth.

It is important for women to realize their self worth, and should know their value in their life as well as in their counterpart’s life. Women like nature are natural givers so it is essential that they should posses a healthy mind and body, as believed that a healthy mind persists in a healthy body. I have often noticed women sacrificing for their family, living up to the expectations of their spouse and providing each and every materialistic thing their kids crave for. That is what a woman, a wife, a mother does, which truly describes the 3 faces of a woman. So, it is essential that women should take good care of themselves, eat healthy and nutritious food as they have important roles to play in their womanhood.

At the end of the day if we ponder upon the thought or rather, ask women what have they actually achieved in life, many of them would be mum. Socialists have said that women are sacrificing; which is true, as I have seen that in my own family. When my mother cooks our favorite dish, arranges the dining table, serves food and eats whatever is left after serving us. Towards the end, she makes sure that we have our tummies full before going to bed. I remember my mother putting aside her wish to have a new dining table, so that my brother and I can have a study table. Similarly, there have been many instances, which indicate that women can sacrifice their dreams, desire, aspirations and want to the utmost limit.Let us have a quick view and ponder upon the ideal roles which a woman plays and, which adds to a woman’s worth. Women who haven’t realized their worth till date, need to read it for sure, so go ahead and have a look.

Women are powerhouses: Women can tackle just about anything. They work full-time, as working women come home after an eight to ten hour work and then cook or arrange dinner on the table.
Women are creators: Without women, the human race would not have existed.
A woman is behind every successful man
Women are self-sacrificing: They always put their needs second especially for their children, spouse, and family members. A mother will put aside a pair of shoes she has been dying to have so that way her child could have what he/she wants. A woman will put aside her career to start a family.
Women are smart: Women learn all trades of life from working, playing sports, cooking, cleaning, giving birth, raising children, to holding down a full-time job while taking care of her family.
Women are fighters: A woman’s experiences in life may bring her down, but then will bring her right back up again. She knows how to move forward and she knows how to fight for her life and her rights.

Helen Keller, Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi..... If we for a minute go in flashback and realize “What do these people have in common?”. The views that come to our mind are: one, they are women; two, they are successful leaders; three, their lives were full of struggle, but they succeeded nevertheless. There is lot to learn from the stories of women leaders. In the case of Helen Keller, she had to overcome her physical disabilities to fulfill her dreams. Mother Teresa spent her lifetime in India, serving the poor. These are the women of substance--women who fought for dignity, independence, and individuality. Other than these famous women, there have been many other who may not be that well known for their deeds. This is my message to all the struggling women: "Hold on tight and keep it going". I dedicate my first blog to all the women and wish to inspire them through my writing, as there is a lot more to uncover, so hang on…

Written by: Neha Gupta
neha.gupta@evangelists.in

UPSC- A Hallucinogen

From 300,000 to 100 through breaks at 10,000 and 1200, doesn’t ring any bell in your mind, well it won’t in most of us. But to an IAS aspirant it’s the harsh reality that starts with a beautiful dream and for all except those chosen 100 ends with a thud.

Coming out of the best institutions of the country, winners all their lives, cracking all competitive exams, they all believe cracking UPSC would be a piece of cake. When their batch mates and buddies are earning fat salaries, they are toiling for 14 hours a day. Weekends for them are not outings at PVR’s or malls but dingy test hall of some coaching institute where they go to test their weekly effort.

No AC offices, no AC cars and no holiday breaks for them. They live in rooms with exorbitant rents (no income source for them), electricity cuts & nagging landlords; they travel by blueline buses; they spend their parents’ hard earned money in flourishing coaching institutes. At the prime of their lives their dates are not with members of opposite sex but with aspirants with same optional subject.

Their conversations are not about latest bollywood flick but latest national and international happenings. They don’t spend time juggling between fiction and non-fiction but Indian Polity and Modern History. They won’t be worried about a movie’s outcome on an actor’s career but with outcome of the nuclear deal on India’s future.

They go through hell but never complain; simply because they see a light at the end of tunnel, howsoever dim it may be. Every minute of hard work put in brings them closer to only one goal that drives them. Every stage of UPSC they clear brings them closer to that long cherished goal. There is a very thin line that separates them from becoming what perhaps we all would want to be.

Alas! To most of those 300,000 appearing in the first stage of UPSC, that dream would always remain a dream. Only a fraction (literally) would become IAS, for the rest it would approx 5 years at the prime of life with 14 hours of daily toil in a self chosen life of delayed gratification eventually lost in wilderness.

Winner all through ones life, standing at crossroads with a question mark on one’s abilities with no where to go and no one to understand the dilemma; UPSC can crack many a soul, can demolish many confident individuals, can affect many lives, can ruin many dreams; and so it does.

One feels like being so close yet so far. What would an aspirant with unfilled aspirations say, well the answers may vary, attitudes may vary, inferences may vary but what goes unquestioned is that UPSC Civil Services exam is like a psychedelic substance that leads you to hallucinations and abandons you there, what one does about it, well 300,000 aspirants and 299,900 stories.

Written by: Rohit Mishra
rohit.mishra@evangelists.in