Wings of Fire - APJ simplified

With a 3 day break from office work, I decided to catch up on the books which I had piled up with the expectation that I would read them ( and I bought into the fact that reading fiction is a waste of time, and now I see myself surrounded by non-fiction books, mostly dealing with globalization, flattening, roundening and all kinds...). First in line was the semi-autobiography of my alumni - the great APJ. Having bought the book back in August-08 at a book fair in my office, I had been reading this book in fits and starts. I graduated from the same institution from where APJ found his calling, and naturally I expected to get an insight into his college life from this memoir. This time I did end up finishing the book and was glad I started off with a simple, but powerful and informative piece of non-fiction.

"Wings of Fire" is very simple in what it covers :
His personal life - 20%
His professional life - 60%
His philosophical leanings - 10%
His managerial learnings - 10%

Unique features :
Haiku type poems, either quoted or self-scripted.
A summary of the inception and progress of Indian space and missile programs
Simplified way of building a team and motivating them


APJ pays ode to his parents, close family, his mentors at college and work, his colleagues and all. He traces his humble beginnings, and how that laid the foundation for his quest to achieve rarefied heights. However, he does make a brief mention about his colleagues who envied the success which he achieved in his work sphere, but with no vitriol. At times one might not be able to really feel his inner urge to reach out to the Almighty.

This book has a very Indianness feel in its writing, in the sense that there arent too many fancy words to confuse the non-literati ( if ever there is such a word ) ;-). However, it caters to definitely 3 groups of people :
Youth - It is a must read for the youth of this country, who would have the time on their side to implement or follow the learnings outlined by APJ
The Curious - Has a narrative running through the length of the book chronicling the development of the Indian space and missile programs
Managers and Leads - A distilled version of management mantra for building and fostering an ultra-productive team.

Brand Equity Chennai 09 - Uncorked - Prelims

After few years of forced sabbatical from quizzing, I ventured to the second quiz held in the city, now officially christened as the "quizzing city" - iDEA Brand Equity Quiz 09. Given my now famous directional sense, I somehow managed ( albeit with generous help from my co-passenger ) to reach Green Park Hotel in Vadapalani. The traffic was chaotic on the 100ft road : I would have been naive to expect anything less.

With no prior preparation ( both real and mental ), it was rather foolhardy to think of trying to ask the company's HR folks to sponsor our team to the tune of 4K, especially at a time when cost cutting is the mantra across the board. This self realization didnt dawn upon truly yours, but courtesy of a more accomplished quizzer.

While the audience were shown their places ( the back rows ), the 24 teams made it to the front rows ( organizers did a good job in settling the crowd alike ). The quiz master, Derek O Brian, tried hard to convince us that he felt nervous conducting prelims which he hadnt done for last 7 years. He sure didnt lose his touch, when he started belting out the below questions :

1. Which minister featured as a senior lawyer in the infamous Dabhol Power Project case?
2. Which of the following brands can be related back to Sir William Thomson, a physicist and a baron ?
Kelvinator
Allwyn
Vaseline
3. Which beverage has flavonoids ?
4. Which brainteaser with roots in Japan, is now fast becoming a rage in the western world ?
5. Which country has the highest ratio of engineers and scientists as a ratio of the total population ?
6. Audemars Piguet, the legendary swiss watch makers, have signature watches as a tribute to the centuries of which cricket player ?
7. iChew is the chinese website of which popular product ?
8. Which British PM is the grandson of late New York financier - Leonar W Jerome ?
9. Which Indian movie had to alter its title after a protest was launched by a community which accused the producers of hurting their community ?
10. Which of the following country uses the label "Garments without Guilt" to drive home the message of not using child labour in its operations ?
Nepal
Sri Lanka
Bhutan
Pakistan
11. In marketing parlance, L-class is used quite frequently. What does "L" stand for ?
12. Which piece of clothing has links to the word "Atome", which is french for atom, one of the smallest particles then known to the world.
13. RBI was the central bank for which country other than that of India and Pakistan prior to 1947 ?
14. During the 1970s and 1980s who was known by the sobriquet "The third brother" in the advertising world ?
15. What is the election symbol of RJD ?
16. March 15 was declared as the world consumer's day by which 20th century US president ?
17. Lauren Weisberger's best selling novel was translated into a movie, which was nominated at the Oscars. The movie name has a very famous designer brand in it.
18. Only state in India to have a transgender welfare board ?
19. Guardsmark - a very famous US company offering security services, derives its workforce from which other organization primarily ?
20. Legendary Sam Walton said " most of everything I have done is what I have ------"
21.In 1720, a year after the south sea bubble, Alexander Pope used two four letter ( in singular ) words in his poem, which we cant escape in the daily economic times ?
22. Which helicopter services provider has got the largest orders for the sorties as part of the election campaign in 2009 ?
23. In 1911, more gasoline was sold in the US other than which other petroleum derivative ?
24. Which famous New York Retailer goes by the tag line "Little Blue Bag" ? Clue : very expensive place.
25. Which is the business term to describe the act of one company stealing the market or traffic knowingly from another company ?
26. Pix of Asin ( No fancy questions, even as the audience went gaga if Derek was really asking just the name of the actress in the vogue cover he showed )
27. Pix of a van carrying the slogan "Explore the world of internet" seen in TN. Which company carried that slogan ?
28. Pix of Sari ( which type of sari ). Probably to test the predominantly male quizzers who probably were expecting a googly.
29. Logo of Shankar Netralaya
30. Levi's Logo with tagline "America's -------- Jeans". Fill in....

Thats for it folks for now...typing this out at 12 in the night, after the long return trip from Vadapalani. The answers ( if you havent googled it already ) and the final rounds, the teams that made it to the dias....all in the next post.

Ensoi Maadi !!