Aabhas Sharma visits a website that&rsquo;s collecting desi lingo from across South Asia.

Samosa chronicles

Business Standard

When Bollywood cutie Imran Khan files a PIL in the Bombay High Court challenging Maharashtra government&rsquo;s decision raising the legal age limit for consuming alcohol from 21 to 25 years, he is only one in a long list of actors who have embraced causes.

Of actors and causes

He headed India&rsquo;s largest IT services provider, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), for 13 years from 1996 to 2009. During his tenure TCS grew from $1 billion to over $6 billion in annual revenue, to figure among the top 10 tech companies in terms of revenue. S Ramadorai, now TCS&rsquo;s Vice-chairman, documents these changes and more in The TCS Story... and Beyond.

'No one ever wrote a book about TCS'

Far from the shores of India, in an outpost of the Empire over which the sun did set, two Sikhnis have kept an even earlier legacy dynamically alive. Amrit and Rabindra, Liverpool twins, who have only occasionally been shown in India (the National Gallery of Modern Art did them a commendable show, and they were a noticeable presence at the last India Art Summit) have become this country&rsquo;s ambassadors, chroniclers and experimenters of its tradition of miniature art.

The Singh Twins

From finding the perfect cast to the perfect location - how Midnight&rsquo;s Children went from book to movie.

Approaching midnight

John Vickers needs to write a thank you note to Kweku Adoboli. On the face of it, they have very little in common. Vickers, silver-haired and a knighted academic, is a far cry from the 31-year-old party-loving Adoboli of African origin. Still, they are in the spotlight this week and inextricably linked. Adoboli&rsquo;s trading action earlier this week, that caused a $2 billion loss at Switzerland&rsquo;s largest bank UBS, has just cemented Vickers&rsquo; argument for ring-fencing investment banking operations from retail. Vickers plea for isolating high risk is something regulators worldwide can no longer afford to ignore.

The high-risk game

A football academy near Kolkata is giving children of sex workers the courage to dream.

Game for change

The rain-swept waves lashed against the tripods at Marine Drive, Mumbai&rsquo;s C-shaped boulevard. Parts of the drive appeared skewed, overwhelmed by the grey sea. How many dreams have lived and died on this edge? A new phone app called &lsquo;The Time Machine&rsquo; promises to answer this question to a certain extent by allowing users to view the modern, techni-colour art deco buildings facing Marine Drive in their erstwhile sepia glory.

Time traveller's  museum

As Indians pay more attention to hair styling and nail buffing, international chains set up shops in the country to woo the style conscious consumer. The latest to foray into India is the UK-based salon chain Saks which has set up a 6,000 square foot location in upscale Bandra, Mumbai.

Saks: Beauty of business

The top 10 business bestsellers

Foreign education has become a big draw over the last decade. The US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have become big draws. Australia and Canada have been aggressive in wooing students from India.

KIT: Foreign placement consultants

    This idea first surfaced in the work of US leadership theorist Warren G Bennis.

The Strategist Quiz (#219)

    Name the model of this luxury brand that bears the suffix &ldquo;nine eleven&rdquo; and has undergone a recent design change to make it lighter, more economical and powerful. It was originally launched in the early 60s.

Answers to last week's quiz (#218)

Ra.One, the most expensive Indian film till date, could end up becoming the most advertised film as well.

Bollywood's longest promotion

Over the last few months, Razi Healthcare has been on an expansion spree, setting up primary healthcare clinics in Hyderabad and elsewhere in Andhra Pradesh. But it also wants to ensure that all its patients receive the same standard of medical services at all its centres.

Branding the cloud

If you own one of the touchscreen tablet PCs, you would know that typing can be a restrictive exercise on a device with no physical keys. But there are plenty of tablet PC accessories that promise to make typing as easy as it is on a laptop or desktop.

Key  to getting your hands on tablets 

Art mimics life. Advertising is no different. Advertisers continuously strive to come up with that one incisive insight to talk in a way consumers will instantly agree with. From carefully crafted stories to celebrity endorsements, advertisers have an arsenal of techniques to convince the consumer. There is a new addition to that arsenal &mdash; real users of their products.

People like us

The World Gold Council (WGC) wants to handle the three &lsquo;i&rsquo;s in gold jewellery &mdash; intelligence, innovation and image &mdash; at a time when gold prices are scaling new heights. The Rs 80,000 crore Indian gold jewellery market, the largest in the world, however, refuses to slow down despite the price rise. For WGC managing director (jewellery) David Lamb, the challenge lies in hooking a new set of consumers to the yellow metal. Young women, who depend on their mothers to introduce them to gold at their weddings, are the ones who can help drive innovation and the image of gold as well as demand for higher margin jewellery. On their part, jewellers should not wait for their wedding to reach out to them, Lamb tells Sayantani Kar.

Q&A: David Lamb, MD (Jewellery), WGC

Personal finance solutions websites are increasingly becoming popular by helping users cut on their spending and providing high security levels.

One stop shop: Track your money online

As markets become increasingly cluttered, the power is shifting to the hands of the consumer. Thus, FMCG companies are going the additional mile to study the target consumer through innovative ways that are up close and personal.

Consumers lead the way

Three years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers produced worldwide financial disruption, advertising agencies continue to face significant challenges. But Madison Avenue is, by and large, in better shape than many of the industries for which it creates ads.

Uncertainty on Wall Street, big deals on Madison Avenue

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