Thursday, November 22, 2007

The hot iceman

He's a man of few words. And when he does say something, it usually is not very interesting but put him in a car and Kimi Raikkonen lets his driving do the talking.

Cold Mountain In the cold and freezing climes of Espoo, on October 17, 1979 an addition by the name of Kimi Matias Raikkonen was made to the world. Just 22 years later, that name became one of the most exciting talents ever to step into the world of Formula One. Born to Puala and Matti Raikkonen, little Kimi had his first glimpse of a racetrack at the age of seven and by 10, he was the king of the karting track, even though it stretched family's already meagre finances. With brother Rami also keen on making a career out of racing, the Raikkonens sacrificed a lot to allow their sons to race. The family had such limited means they lived for years with no indoor toilet this in frigid Finland.

So one of the first things Raikkonen did after he signed the contract with McLaren in 2001 was pay to have his parents' house remodelled. Legend has it that the laid-back Finn was asleep 20 minutes before his first Grand Prix and enjoys his snooze so much that he still needs to be woken up before qualifying and races.

Today he's the highest paid driver in the sport with a salary of around $40 million and is ranked fifth in the Forbes list of richest athletes. Ice runs in his veins Maybe the cold of Finland has something to with his temperament — cool and calculating. He seems to be without nerves and his driving is like that — cold-blooded but fast — which prompted the nickname, 'Iceman', which is cleverly inscribed on his helmet as well. Put him behind the wheel of a racing car and he becomes brave to the point of lunacy. Maybe that's why he enjoyed 'Gone in 60 Seconds.'

The 28-year-old Ferrari driver is taciturn but not colourless. The Eminem-fan may seem like a man with no or little emotion but he's fond of a tipple (though he lists apple juice as his favourite drink), is married to a former beauty queen and is capable of pulling the odd wild stunt.

To Jenni, with love The blonde Finn tied the knot with former Miss Scandinavia Jenni Maria Dahlman on July 31, 2004. Seeing the taller Jenni walk hand-in-hand with 'Kimster' used to be a common sight at GPs but now that Jenni is more involved with her own passion, her appearances have become rather infrequent. Like a loving-husband, Raikkonen indulges his wife's hobby horse-riding and has bought her three horses Liber, McKinley and Caland. To relax after a few hectic weeks at the tracks, Raikkonen and Jenni head to their holiday villa in Porkkala where they jet ski, sail and even cook together, with their pet Alsatian in tow.

Friday, November 16, 2007

One more time....Loose... Loose... Loose Control !!

A.R.Rehman's track from RDB..... "One more time....Loose... Loose... Loose Control !!" will suit perfectly for Sachin Ten(short of 100)dulkar under the current circumstances !!!

If only Sachin Tendulkar had listened to his son, he may have a century of centuries in international cricket now. When the master batsman fell for 97 in the 4th ODI against Pakistan, it was the 23rd time in Tests and ODIs that he has got out in the 90s.

In ODIs, he has got out in the 90s as many as 16 times and in Tests seven times.

He has 78 centuries to his credit - 41 in ODIs and 37 in Tests, and the 23 missed ones would have taken his tally to 101. Unbelievably, he has fallen in the 90s seven times this year. The 42nd century is turning out to be jinxed for Tendulkar who has fallen in the 'nervous 90s' for six times this year (19 matches), and second time in the ongoing series. He fell short by just one run on three occasions.

Tendulkar faced a similar problem at the start of his one-day career and it took him 79 matches to score his first century that came almost after five years since the start of his career. But once he scored his first ton - against Australia in Sri Lanka at Colombo in the Singer World series - he scored centuries at will. But of late, the century has eluded him, and the last time he crossed the three-figure mark was against the West Indies in January this year at Vadodara.

But this is what he has to say after the match.... "I guess I got into this wrong habit of getting out in the 90's. But for me, what matters and counts most is that India won." A real team man !


Tuesday, November 13, 2007

ISB 2 !!

After Hyderabad, it could be Sonepat's turn.

Another Indian School of Business (ISB) is taking shape. Rajat Gupta, the former CEO of McKinsey & Company and now a senior partner in the professional services firm, along with his team is planning to set up a second ISB, this time in the North.

The existing ISB in Hyderabad was Gupta's brainchild and is among India's most coveted business schools. It is spread over 260 acres of land and was set up in December 1999 at a cost of around Rs 100 crore.

A possible site could be Sonepat in Haryana, which is a less than two hours' drive from Delhi. The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) is planning an education city there. When contacted, an official of the state's technical education department confirmed the HUDA move, but declined to comment on whether ISB had approached the state for land. However, HUDA has no plans to allot land at subsidised rates or free to any education body, the official added.

The new school could be an extension of ISB or could have a new name altogether. Gupta and his team are also said to be in talks with the London Business School, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University for an academic partnership with the new school. These schools are existing academic partners of the Hyderabad-based ISB.

"Funds for the new school are already pouring in and are not a problem. Donors who funded the existing ISB are ready to give money for the new school as well,” the sources said.

Besides, new partners are also being looked at," the sources added.

ISB runs postgraduate programmes in management, leading to a Master of Business Administration degree, post doctoral programmes as well as an executive education programme for serving executives. The average domestic salary offered to ISB payouts this year was Rs 15 lakh with the highest domestic offer being Rs 43 lakh. The average international salary was $135,000, the highest being $269,000.

The ISB board comprises top names from the world of business like Anil Ambani, Rahul Bajaj, Yogi Deveshwar, Adi Godrej, KV Kamath and Uday Kotak.

Forget iPhone, the Gphone is here !!

Last June APPLE(one of my DREAM companies) has created waves in the USA by releasing its most awaited gadget---- iPhone! iPhone enthusiasts were literally fighting for the iPhone in market ! & the world just kept staring at USA with jealousy(coz iPhone was not released all over the world)!

After 6months.... NOVEMBER 2007
Google(another DREAM company!)... the nearly $13.5 billion search engine major has officially announced its product--- the GPhone. It is expected to launch this Gphone by mid 2008 in collaboration with Taiwan major HTC, a mobile manufacturing company specialized in making smart phones and PDAs.
The good news is, Google has started talks with service providers in India for an exclusive launch on one of their networks. Talks are believed to be taking place with Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, respectively India's first and third largest mobile telephony operators, and state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam.

Simultaneous launch across the US and Europe is expected, and announcements would be sent to media firms in India and other parts of the world. US regulatory approval, which is expected soon, is the only hurdle that Google is waiting to cross. Google plans to invest $7-8 billion for its global telephony foray!!

Gphone is likely to be a touch screen. The most attractive features should be access to GOOGLE EARTH & GTALK !!

Few sample pics of Gphone for you are here... NJOY !!

































NOTE: The images above are just prototypes. Those are the existing HTC models & need not be original models of Gphone !!