A play school is a child&rsquo;s first step out of home and into the world. Which is why it&rsquo;s important to ensure that the child is safe and protected against abuse.

Beyond child's play

Business Standard

One doesn&rsquo;t drink rum, one gently sips it to savour all its delicious flavours, believes&nbsp;Strategic Human Resources Management India CEO and MD G Ravindran. While his liquor cabinet is stocked with the world&rsquo;s best single malts as well, it is rum &mdash; especially dark rum &mdash; that has caught his fancy for the last ten years.

The Rum Diary

Ashwin Mehta, a Mumbai-based entrepreneur, was fascinated by horses for as long as he could remember. &ldquo;I used to ride as a child, and would read any material on horses that I could get my hands on,&rdquo; he recalls. From riding, he went on to buying horses and entering them in races. But a few years ago, the cost of thoroughbreds skyrocketed, making it difficult for individual owners like him to indulge in their favourite pastime, says Mehta.

The saddle club

Almost four decades ago, they were used to alert citizens about looming air attacks during war. Today, they are merely alarm clocks in a bustling city.

When the sirens wailed

F-Bomb

Golfer Shiv Kapur makes no bones about two things: that cricket, and not golf, is his first love and that he wants to make golf a &ldquo;sexy&rdquo; sport. Perhaps that&rsquo;s why the 30-year-old has brought the two together with a T20 version of golf: the Golf Premier League (GPL).

Is behind golf's 'IPL'

When Gulu Lalvani thought of developing the Royal Phuket Marina, he was confident that a lot of overseas investors from Europe would be among his top buyers. To Lalvani&rsquo;s pleasant surprise, Indians have emerged among the top ten buyers in Phuket.

Home in on Phuket

It was a lonely, moonless night. The three-member film crew walked into the cremation ground on the banks of the Ganges. In a distance, surrounded by the flickering light from a pyre, they saw the Aghori sadhu, meditating next to the human skull in which he cooked and ate his meals. Laid out ceremoniously before him was a corpse, a lone lamp shining inside its hollowed-out torso. They were witnessing an ancient, secret ritual of necromancy in which the Aghori was invoking his lord Kapileshwar.

Sadhu struck

The month of December has been hectic for Kamal Haasan. He has been flying across the country in a private jet to promote his forthcoming film, Vishwaroopam (as the cosmic form of god is referred to), but more than that the actor-producer-director has been talking to producers, theatre owners and direct-to-home (DTH) companies.

Controversy king

It was a simpler, happier time five years ago. Five Januaries past, India&rsquo;s growth story was unimpaired. The United Progressive Alliance had a comfortable majority, with Left support, and Manmohan Singh looked firmly in charge. Bear Stearns was still in business, and Dick Fuld was running the invincible Lehman Brothers like a gorilla, with an insatiable appetite for risk. Coal was just lying around for the taking, you just had to ask the sarkar nicely.

Swing and roundabouts

    This agricultural products company, based in the US, is the world&rsquo;s largest in its category. Beginning in late October, its staff strength swelled to about 700. They work 16 hour shifts with about a half a dozen helicopters.

Answers to last week's quiz (#286)

While experts believe that digital marketing services can improve car sales, consumers await auto companies to offer better customised online experience (Click on graphic)

Online marketing to boost auto industry

It&rsquo;s been quite some time since the Indian manager has been able to approach a new year with unflinching optimism. The year 2013 might just be different. Not convinced? Here&rsquo;s a list of things that could make life easier for the Indian manager this year. Read on and you will change your mind.

20 Reasons to be optimistic

A new book, Taming the Big Data Tidal Wave, explains how radio frequency identification enables on-the-fly asset identification, brand protection and supply chain efficiencies.

The tag factor

Ramadorai, under whose stewardship the company&rsquo;s annual revenue grew from $160 million in 1996 to $6 billion in 2009, tells Sayantani Kar what it takes to build an enduring business.

We have never been shy of investing in our people: Subramaniam Ramadorai

&ldquo;The coffee with life in it. Made in just 5 seconds&rdquo;. That&rsquo;s how Nescafe announced its entry into India, in 1963. Before the ad campaign hit bill-boards across the country, Indian coffee lovers were stuck with the idea that coffee is something that takes minute attention to prepare and cannot be instant.

Nescafe's early-bird advantage

In a world where snap judgements by consumers can make or break a brand, packaging form and aesthetics have a crucial role in deciding if the product will make it to the shopper&rsquo;s trolley.

Winning at the place of purchase

Is the glass half full or is it half empty? A popular question asked to gauge your attitude. Well, another year coming to an end and itâ€™s time to look back at the various happenings that transformed the marketing, advertising and business sectors. I see the glass half full and will be embarking on the journey for 2013 with a lot more optimism.

The end of good things & the beginning of great ones

For photographers and photo enthusiasts selling pictures online or having an independent profile online has limited options. They either can work with stock photography agencies, where they get paid a certain percentage of the pictures sold. The other option is to create a website, which if done independently, is a long-drawn process.

Click all the way to the bank, virtually

Environmental impact has become one of the biggest selling points for brands when striving to gain consumer attention. Whether intentional or not, the potential to mislead consumers regarding the environmental benefits of a product or service (that is, greenwashing) and the legal risks associated with it has also grown.

Lure of the green card

Its been some months since Windows 8 was launched. And while reactions have varied from &ldquo;oohs&rdquo; and &ldquo;aahs&rdquo; to the unprintable, here&rsquo;s what my experience has been over the past few months.

Living life with Windows 8 

- Find Specials News, Features, Analysis and more at Business Standard. Full coverage of Goafest 2014

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