How internet is helping art buyers in India

NEW DELHI: E-commerce sites are changing the way people buy art in the country, says Dinesh Vazirani, CEO of India's biggest online art auction house Saffronart. The e-buyers are aggressive, confident and wide in demography.

"The e-commerce sites and the penetration ofinternet have thrown up a new segment of art buyers who are savvy with technology and confident. E-commerce is a budding platform in the country through which one can access buyers all over the world. It is very nascent in India but important because people are looking at the Indian art market," Vazirani told IANS in an interview.

"The buyers, mostly upwardly mobile, bid very aggressively on the mobile phones because it affords them anonymity and flexibility. The physical auction room has limitations," he said.

The bids get more layered on the digital platform. "You get a cross-section of demographic mix on the online platform," Vazirani said.

Studies cite that the Indian art market is estimated at over Rs 2,000 crore (Rs.20 billion).

Saffronart is offering a niche collection of modern and contemporary art for its autumn online auction Sep 21-22. The collection featuring 70 lots by 32 contemporary artists is estimated at about Rs.35.2 crore.

The selection includes works by masters like Jehangir Sabavala, Tyeb Mehta, M.F. Husain, S.H. Raza and Arpita Singh.

Vazirani said buyers will be bidding online and on their cellphones.

"There has been convergence within technology. Hand-held instruments like mobile and ipadsare integrating with the internet on one platform, the mobile phone, to help more and more people conduct their lives through technology, organise them. One can see all kinds of transactions on the internet, including art," Vazirani said.

India has more than 500 million mobile users, estimates by telecom regulatory authority TRAI say.

Auction bids on the mobile phone and the internet are more confident, Vazirani said.

The online art buyers are younger, he said. "Younger people are so comfortable with the technology all around. It has changed their behavioural pattern," Vazirani said.

Vazirani said "the dynamics of the art auction market have changed since the meltdown".

"During boom time, investors had become speculators. But the meltdown has changed the buying outlook. The market is drawing serious collectors who are a lot more aware and educated. They look for provenance (history and authenticity) of the art they are buying," Vazirani said.

Vazirani predicts that the consolidation of the collectors' market and e-commerce in art will lead to a "next phase of infrastructure building".

"Many new private museums and archives modelled on the Kiran Nader Museum and the Devi Art Foundation will come up in the country. It is a very positive way to go," Vazirani said.

Buying during the phase of infrastructure building will evolve further, he said. The astute nature of transactions by the art collectors, who are opting for quality and branding post-meltdown, will become more research-based, Vazirani predicts.

Private museum owners will demand better provenance of the art works they acquire, longevity, exclusivity and value of money, Vazirani said.

The culture of auctions will become proactive, he said. Saffronart has introduced small 24X7 auctions and small theme-based auctions every month to create a new segment of buyers and promote awareness about quality in purchase, he said.

Vazirani said, "The three major trends that will guide the Indian art market in the next decade are a new emphasis of art infrastructure, globalisation of Indian art and emergence of serious collectors."
Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Why engineering grads go for MBA

MUMBAI: Every year lakhs of Indian students apply for admission to engineering colleges. And a large majority of graduating engineers apply for admission to business schools.

It is as if the realities of yesteryears, when medical and engineering careers used to be the top two priorities, has not entirely rubbed off but has been slightly modified. With more and more engineering graduates turning towards managerial careers, it is no wonder that some of the top Bschools, such as IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta, have more than 90% MBA students with engineering backgrounds.

What is the reason for the same? Are engineers not excited about a technical career anymore, or is it the demand of the workplace that drives them towards management careers?

Vijay Mhaskar, Vice President, Information Management Group, Symantec elaborates the job market situation. "With increased pace of innovation and global competition, technical talent in India has been groomed to meet the requirements of global coordination and collaboration.

The demand for managing large scale projects required technical talent to take on the role of project managers. This eventually led to the need for management skills and people were hired for their technical knowledge coupled with management skills. The Indian software industry, for instance, has witnessed a tremendous evolution - from piece-meal development to complete product ownership."

While engineers have shown an increasing preference for managerial roles, at the same time the need for technical expertise has not diminished. In fact, it has increase further as countries, including India, are realising the importance of developing innovative engineering solutions indigenously.

For this reason, engineering talent must not completely be devoted to managerial positions. "The industry requires both - technical and management talent. In order to encourage engineers to follow their passion for technology through a career on the technology side an eco-system needs to be established.

From the colleges where engineers learn, to the software firms where they put learning to practice, should provide guidance that moving to the management track is not a default option. With great compensation in technical profiles, engineers can pursue careers without giving up their passion for technology," adds Mhaskar.

The other side of this debate is that engineers who turn into managers and leaders in organisations need not completely give up their technical creativities. Often, it can be a mix of both. A high ranking manager can also be a technology expert. This is the exact basis of Symantec's Techtracs programme, in which they encourage and build upon technical talent of engineers. In this programme, they have very senior positions for Distinguished Engineers and Fellows, apart from Senior Technical Directors.

Mentoring and guidance, whether for a managerial or a technology based career, is a critical success component. An engineer, who is capable of giving an organisation or a country the next breakthrough in technology or in an architectural design, should not be wasted on a pure management role.

At the same time, one cannot follow a deterrent approach where you stop them from completely moving to management. Instead, it should come more as an encouragement to pursue engineering roles. Higher designations and pay packages is only one side of the coin. Engineers will only be truly engineers when they are in it for the love of it.

Source :  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Smart Approach to Weight Loss

Everywhere you look these days there are ads for weight-loss programs offering to produce impressive results.  If you want to attain your ideal body weight, your energy of calorie intake should be equal to the energy expended during the day.  This is the concept of "energy balance" as referred to in nutrition books.  Not many people are content with their weight.  Make this time be realistic about your looks.  If you need to loose a few pounds make that your goal.  When you notice you are gaining weight reduce your calorie intake.  It is much easier to remove excess in the early stages.

           

Does sweating make you lose weight?

You do loss weight when you sweat a lot but that’s all water, not fat says a fitness instructor.  The fat comes off when you burn off more calories than you take in-mainly through diet and exercise.  However, if you don’t replace all the liquid you leave yourself open to cramps, dizziness, constipation, kidney problems and other complications.  The secret: Drink plenty of water before during and after strenuous workouts or activities that make you sweat says a fitness expert.

Does caffeine help you lose weight?

Studies show that caffeine tends to suppress your appetite; and make you feel more active.  Research says a coffee only temporarily controls craving.  Once the high caffeine wears off, your need to feed will come back.  Research has shown  that the caffeine from three cups of coffee still has stimulating effects on the body eight hours later.

            

Know some smart approach to weight loss from a famous dietitian.  How to lose weight:

• Don’t copy the diet of other.  What works for someone may not work for you.  After all, each individual has a different metabolic makeup.
• Low fat diet.  That doesn’t mean deprivation, but that doesn’t mean over-indulgence, too. Cutting out red meat and alcohol and everything else in moderation could mean a healthy weight loss overtime.  What’s important is to stop cheating on yourself.  Ask for skin to be removed on chicken dishes such as chicken rice, or simply remove the skin before eating.  Leave behind the gravy, especially coconut-based ones.  This help to reduce the saturated fat by as much as 50 percent.  And look for items that are roasted, grilled, steamed, boiled or stewed.  These items are prepared without excess fat.
• Benefits of vegetables.  Select a serving of vegetables.  This will help fill you up and add thirty-five percent more dietary fiber to the meal.
• Balance your calorie intake. You have a high-fat or high-calorie item, balance it off with items that contain lower fat and calorie the rest of the day.
• Balanced diet. Eat balanced diet.  Dietitian revealed that choosing "good foods" over "bad" foods doesn’t make any difference if you consume plateful after plateful.  As long as you eat in moderation and try to stick for balanced diet, you can eat everything.

            

             Balanced diet

• Eat only when hungry.  If you often find yourself eating when you are not really hungry, try to figure out what your feelings are.  Ask yourself- are you eating because of boredom, loneliness, sadness or anger.  Do something more constructive instead of filling your emotional emptiness with food like you can surf the internet, or go for a walk or have a talk with a friend.  The minute you are full, stop eating.  It’s easy to forget that you have been munching for hours when you are watching TV.  Let your tummy tell you when it’s enough and listen to it.
• Eat less, lose weight.  Put less food in your plate.  Dish out the food in the kitchen and bring the plates to the table, don’t serve meals in family style.
• Oil measurement.  Get into the habit of measuring the oil you use while you cook, rather than just pouring it out of the bottle.  It will be much easier to moderate the amount of use.
• Benefits of olive oil.  Use olive oil for cooking when appropriate, it adds to the taste of the dish and is better for you.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

            

            Use a stair instead of elevator

• Don’t try to get the closest parking space at the mall.
• Do power dancing.  Instead   of just standing there looking like a scarecrow, wriggle, bend, swing your arms, power dance to music.

Resource:

               Abraham, Edward, "Why Women Gain Weight Than Men,"  Women’s Journal 8 Sept 01

               Anonymous, "The Easiest Way Ever to Lose Weight."  Women’s Journal 24 July 04

Source : http://factoidz.com/

Do teachers hold an esteemed position in the society

It is clear at the outset that Humanity survived by its cultures, traditions, customs, the rules and the norms of the societies. In all of these, societies survived by one more important factor which we cannot leave out, “The Teacher”. Who teaches these cultures, traditions, customs, the rules and the norms of the societies directly or indirectly? No doubt, society is made and shaped by humans. Every religion in the world lives on because of the extraordinary teaching of some of the teachers. Many things play an important role in the foundation of the society and one of them is the Teacher. Teachers are the most important layered of our society. We can say that in one sense teacher is the transformer of the society.

Let us see, who is, “Teacher”?

Teacher is someone to whom we can look up to. Whose life is exemplary, whom we always want to follow. Teacher is someone who can give the hope to the hopeless who illumines the darkest heart through the light of the knowledge. So, teacher is the one who lead us to the path of the success in one sense it can also be called as ‘Transformer of the life’. We have very good example of the great teachers like Jesus Christ and Buddha. Buddha spread the message of humanity on the surface of the world. Jesus Christ spread the message of love and the forgiveness on the surface of the world. For they makes us try to be a better person in the world.

 If we see the ancient history of the India, we can say that teachers were considered as the god’s agent who used to spread the light of knowledge in the dark ignorant world. In the ancient India teachers were called as ‘Guru’.  In the ancient Indian history Maharishi Krishna Dewpayan Vyasa is considered as the greatest teacher who have complied the Hindu Sacred scriptures called Vedas and still we celebrate the festival in the respect of this great teacher called ‘Guru Purnima’. Even the Kings appoint the teacher in their court for advices and also to give best education to their princes e.g. ‘Hitopadesha’ was especially written for to teach about morals and the tactics of the society, even they were responsible for the peace in the kingdom. This carries a very important place in the ancient Indian Society.

Teachers’ contributions for the societies were so much immense and countless in every aspect, economically, socially and politically.

Man growth from barbarism into civilisation is supposed to be the theme of History but sometimes, looking back at the great stretches of History, that we are very much civilised or advanced. This is the greatest contribution of the Teacher.

Teachers gave her/his level best for the students or for the world to know from the bottom of the bottom of their heart, sacrificing time, energy, body and soul. Here, we can see in one of the Old Sanskrit books there is a verse by one teacher said, which may be translated as follows: “For family, sacrifice the individual, for community, the family, for the country, the community, and for the soul, the whole world”.  What a soul is, few of us can know or tell, and each one of us can interpret it in a different way, but the lesson this Sanskrit verse teaches us is the same lesson of sacrifice for the larger good.

We, as a human being had forgotten this Sovereign path of real greatness for many a day. But again we seem to have glimpses of it and all the country is astir.

How wonderfully it is to see men and women, boys and girls, smiling going ahead in India’s cause and caring about any pain or suffering! Well, may they smile and be glad for the joy of serving a great cause is also great. They will also be fortunate enough to get the joy of sacrifice.

One has rightly said that on Saturday 11 June 2011, in the Times of India, (Bombay Times), in the column of Back to Basics, in the topic, “A Teacher for Everyone”. Here, it talks about the five typical kinds of teacher’s every time. The angry Professor, the Roaming Professor, the Professor friend, the Mother Professor and the Ideal Professor. In all of these, the Ideal Professor will never have any bad gossip about. The Ideal Professor is everyone’s favourite since he knows exactly when to let student be impulsive and have their way, and when to control them. His ways are so right that students can’t help but agree with everything he does. The Ideal Professor is the kind to always become a mentor for everyone.

Teachers sometime may easy to predict, but each one of them has their own unique way to leave a mark in the student’s life. And no matter however much they are criticised, they only work for the betterment of students.

After knowing this much about teacher the question comes that whether teachers hold the esteem place in our society or not? The answer is in both yes and no. On one hand teachers do hold the powerful and the respectful position at the same time there are some whose voices are unheard. Who have become the victims of injustice and bad politics? There are example of the killing and raping of the teachers. We can say that coin has two sides both good and evil. We also see the teachers getting respect in the society and holding a great position in the society in today’s world.  But still we can say that in our Incredible India. Teachers are considered as god and they hold a bigger respect in the Indian society. “Teachers are like an Anchor in our life and help us find direction, giving us a sense of assurance in each step, that we are on the right path.” Teacher rightly deserves to hold an esteemed position in the society.

We can become god when we teach the truth, if we do our only job which is assigned to us, not to cross the bare boundary, I meant to say, let us teach the subject which is assigned to us and not to disturb others business. Let us be in our business of teaching of our subject.

Let’s conclude by reminding of our First Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in which he said, “The Greatest ambition of greatest men on this planet Earth has been to wipe away the tears of the many”.

So, let us serve for our students, be in “servant hood leadership”, let us wipe one person tears even if we can’t wipe the tears of the many people in our short life span.


Newme Alanpou Noel.
Music Teacher