My Personal Blog - Sarada Ramani

here is this months's event schedule. Date 19th Dec Time ; 6.00 pm - 9.00 pm Veneu - Hotel Breeze, Poonamallee High Road, chennai Schedule 18.00 hrs - Registration 18.30 hrs - Welcome Address 18.33 hrs Briefing about IT SME Association 18.40 hrs Address by Chief Guest - Ms Rajalakshmi, Director, STPI, Chennai 18.50 hrs Presentation ON "Funding of IT SMEs & Hedgin g of Forex Transcations - SBI - SBI, SME Unit, LHO Chennai 19.30 hrs Address - Mr Suresh Raju - TVS Investments 19.50 hrs Q & A 20.00 hrs Vote of Thanks 20.50 hrs Dinner Hosted y IT SME Association EC members Looking forward to meeting you all of you who are interested in our association

This time I am going to talk about the Ripon Building This is a fine example of Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, a combination of three types of architectural styles - Gothic, Ionic and Corinthian. The building is white in colour and is located near the Central station in Chennai. Commissioned in 1913, it was built by a builder named Loganatha Mudaliar. The Building took four years to build at a cost of Rs. 750,000 . Ripon building was named after Lord Ripon, Governor-General of British India and the Father of local self-government. Earl of Minto, the then Viceroy and Governor General of India laid the foundation on December 12, 1909. The building is rectangular in shape and measures 85 metres long and 32 metres wide. The first of its three floors offers about 2,800 square metres of space. Its central tower is 43 metres tall and has a clock 2.5 metres in diameter. The walls were constructed with stock bricks, set and plastered with lime mortar. The roofs are supported with teak w...

From the general perspective lets look at various places that are of importance in chennai and which are to be taken as part of the city tour. The controlling power of the entire state is here - yes it is Fort St George. We still live with our British legacy - what gave them the foothold to expand is now the Power house of our State today housing the Legislative Assembly of the State Government of Tamil Nadu. So essentially, the assembly elections results terms the party that captures the majority votes it as the Winner of the Fort in both figurative form of speech and also the natural form of the capture of the power to run the state. Fort St George is the name of the first British fortress in India, founded in 1639] at the coastal city of Madras. The East India Company, which had entered India around 1600 for trading activities, had begun licensed trading at Surat, which was its initial bastion. However, to secure its trade lines and commercial interests in the spice trade, it felt t...

My city - where I have spent most of my life. Chennai (formerly known as Madras) is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is on the south east part of India situated on the Coast of the Bay of Bengal. With an estimated population of 7.5 million (2007), it is the fourth largest metropolitan city in India. The city was established in the seventeenth century by the British, who developed it into a major urban centre and naval base. By the twentieth century, it had become an important administrative centre, as the capital of the Madras Presidency. Chennai's economy has a broad industrial base in the automobile, technology, hardware manufacturing, and healthcare industries. The city is home to much of India's automobile industry and is the country's second-largest exporter of information technology (IT) and information-technology-enabled services behind Bangalore. Though a late starter in IT scenario, Chennai has really caught up. The population varies from very cons...

I am starting a new series in my blog. This is also something close to my heart - my country. I just Love and I am happy and blessed to be born an Indian, with all its positives and negatives. Yes there are a lot of things I am very very proud of, but, at the same time, there are also a lot of things which make me feel ashamed or sad or helpless sometimes or angry or a mixture of all emotions. But this series is going to be something I am going to talk about the best things of my country. In these past few years as a head of a company, I have had the honor of showing around my city to few of our visitors. Every time, this was one of the best things that has happened to me and to my guests. This has helped me to build a very strong personal bonding with the visitors. If I can showcase a slice of India at its best, then, I feel I am doing something for my country. What a country India is - a multicultural, multi religious, multilingual, multiethinic, multiclimatated - a kaleidoscope o...

We are now a formally registered body under the name "IT SME Association" with growing number everyday and getting a lot of enquiries. for those of who, who wish to become members, please visit the our website www.itsmesindia.com and download the application form. We intend this to be a global forum with local city chapters. So I would request fellow IT CEO to join hands together greater success. Our association first official networking event is going to be held at Hotel Breeze, Chennai on 19th December. there are going to be 2 topics 1. Financial institution's role in helping the SMEs 2. Innovative Strategies for growth - Talk by a successful Entrepreneur who has been able to take his/her company to great heights. We intend to have the 2nd topic as a Lecture Series with each month featuring an Successful Entrepreneur Please join us to be Heard, Seen and Keep growing synergitically

This is just to let anyone who is interested in ITSME Forum to know about this month's meeting schedule. We are having our August month's meeting on 29th Tuesday at Hotel Pratap Plaza, Kodambakkam Chennai, at 5.00 pm. The agenda : 1. Update about the memorandum presentation about the extension of STPI scheme to the Central Minister for IT & Communication 2. Filing for IP rights and copyrights with reference to Software companies All are welcome. Sarada

For us Indian, anything Foreign should be excellent, while our Indian products and services will not be anything to compare against at all. What a wrong notion. Take for instance the air travel. yes because of late, I have been so much flying (one of my family members commented that I would be logging more air miles than even a senior pilot in our domestic airlines!!!!)I am taking this for comparison Some of the key things that are good with our domestic airlines - Hot Food for even a short haul flight - Good flight service (almost) - A little more leg room - Free trolleys - When flights are cancelled some arrangements including hotel accommodation for stranded passengers, food coupons, assistance (of course the degree varies), but almost all the out of town passengers are taken care. The last point becomes very very important as in a visiting city, when you take the flight home you would have wound up your stay arrangements and if the flight gets postponed then it becomes imperative ...

Chak de India - buckle up India WOW! What a film. This film really made me sit up and feel very very happy to see it. This is the best movie I have seen for a very very long time. It is all about Team work - how united we should be to achieve things you want to achieve in life. The entire crew, the filming, the theme presentation, the direction everything is so superb. There was never a dull moment, no way you could divert your attention away from the film. At the end, it was like you were part of the team of Women Hockey players who have won the world cup. I was wanting to stand up and clap my hands as if I was in the stadium witnessing the winning watch live. For once, this movie is without any romance, no duet, nothing vulgar, no double meaning talks, nothing to spoil the atmosphere. Sharuh Khan is superb and so are all the girls who are getting coached by him for the hockey world cup matches. The casting has been done very nicely indeed, with each girl fitting her role and her temp...

Depending on what is your seat location and the company with whom you are in - it is WOW what a travel or Oh My God when is it going to end. For travellers like us - flying from India to United States - By the end of yesterday's flight I have crossed my 30th flight this year - the travel becomes a necessary chore to be done to meet up with our clients. Of course, this time this is different, as we are travelling as a family combining both business and pleasure. We had a long travel - Madras to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Chicago and Chicago to LA. Even before starting, being a seasoned traveller, I had advised my daughters to pack one set of clothes and 2 sets of underwear. The bath at Frankfurt Businss lounge was refreshing and made us fresh after a overnighter. My advice to the family helped them a lot here. In India, as soon as we land, while waiting for customs clearance, we complain about the long queue, the long time taken for immigration and the time to be spent waiting for...

About 7 months back a group of Entrepreneurs from Chennai who had a common thread of running their software companies got togehter to form a cohesive group - The IT SME FORUM - as a Strategy to accelerate their individual growth through synergy. Each one of these entrepreneurs are successfully running their software companies fighting individual battles to keep the company up and running, maintain a steady growth rate, increase their customer base, etc. Running a company in India is not a easy task - it is literally getting pulled in thousands of direction and believe me - A business leader is supposed to concentrate only on Growth - Marketing - Sales. But I have found that typically in the Indian environ, we get pulled into operations and managing to spend some time for the most crucial aspect of the business. This gave rise to the idea - why not have a platform to share the best practices, to learn how to tackle problems, get a better voice and get a big bandwidth in terms of out rea...

Feeling too full after a heavy meal...... Here is a simple remedy 1. Take either a cardamonon (ellaichi) or lavang (karambu) 2. If both are not available take a glass of warm - hot water Both these will help you get instant relief. To have a good digestion day after day - it is a good and healthy practice to have one banana after meals everyday. Especially for those people who eat outside food, it is advisable to finish off their night dinner with a banana. Thsi will help the food digestion very much and once this is taken care off, we can prevent a lot of discomforts

Many of us in IT or for that matter all working people tend to take a lot of tea or coffee. This leads to build up of a lot of poison into the system leading to headache, vomiting, loss of appetite, etc. A simple home remedy for this is to drink Ginger juice. Let me share with you the recipe for making fresh ginger juice at home. Take 50 gms of fresh ginger and try to shave off the skin. Cut it into small pieces and grind it along with water and required sugar say 1 - 2 tsp to get the Ginger juice. Strain the juice and allow the juice to stand for 5 mts. The heavy portion will settle down and you can take out only the lighter portion. Add lime juice (half lime is enough) and drink it fresh. This is best when taken on a empty stomach. But you can also take it before food. Allow at least half an hour to one hour before consuming food. This will help the digestive system to clean itself properly. This can be done in a regular basis say once a month. Wishing a healthy living with nature

What can Indians Do? This question when posed a couple of decades ago would have got an reply with such disdain that we Indians are useless compared to foreigers, etc. But now INDIA as a brand has a high value in almost all walks of life and in almost all countries of the world. This time I am going to write about Indians (whom I know) making difference in their sphere of activities - One such personalities is Himanshu Palsule ... What a Person - A high flying, down to earth person, going places in his mutli billion dollar organization. I am so so proud of him. He has now been elevated as Executive Vice President and handles all the important products of Sage North America. And you should listen to his talk - spell bound audiences are always the norm. All his GM key note sessions are always jam packed. While a thorough professional, he has the Indian roots of taking care of his people with such affection and always trying to help others. Himanshu I am very proud that I have ...

This is going to be a series of write up about people who are not very famous that their name will be instantly recognized, but in their own ways are Exceptionally good. One such person is Badri, who runs a printing press. He has migrated to Chennai from Dindigul. He was doing some printing jobs for our organization like visiting cards, one time greeting cards, etc. He wanted to have an appointment with Ramani, the Managing Director of the company as he had some ideas. Ramani is one great person who encourages everybody to experiment, innovate and succeed - whoever it may be. So promptly, Ramani asked him to come home on a sunday, if it is ok with Badri, since both of us can be party to the discussion. To our surprise Badri had analsyed all our printing materials and came up with the kind of non standards that have crept into the visiting cards, letter heads. He even said, in a very soft manner that Sir your visitor pass that is being given out is the first window to your organizatgion...

Having brought up 2 children, there are a lot of home remedies that has been practiced by me, which I though I would like to share, for those, who can manage to find my blog. My mother in law is a treasure trove of such information. Let me get her help to write this series. Let me start from the common Stomach ache The main cause of it, many a times, when it cannot be explained rationally, is that is due to excessive Heat of the body . So what to do : 1. Soak a small quantity of fenugreek ( methi seeds in hindi - or vendiyum in tamil ) in curd for say half an hour or overnight if possible and take it on a empty stomach. This will bring down the body heat and hence wish away the stomach ache. 2. Apply few drops of Sesame oil or nalla ennai ( tamil ) on the naval and lie for some time. 3. Have a full glass of buttermilk( add a lot of water and make it thin) with salt. All these work very well during summer In earlier times, taking oil bath once a week was helping the body to cool a...

It is going to be a Woman this time yes, I am going to talk about Ms Rajalakshmi, Director STPI Chennai What a personality!!! Working in an Government set up, bound by a lot of shackles called protocols, still has the courage to Dream big and execute the dreams with the help of others. Also, this office is a controlling body for the Software Industry, but by her sheer force, she has made it a developmental agency. I still cannot forget the day I had my first meeting with her in 1998 fag end. We had just started our Offshore Outsourcing for our US Client and I needed to get the invoices certified as export invoices. I had to search out this STP office, which was in Ekkakaduthangal at that time. Immediately, she started asking questions about myself and what I am doing, etc. Then itself a personal bond was established. I could see a person who was genuinely interested in the growth of people as well as the industry. Subsequently she suggested me to go for STP status. Till then I was thin...

this is another person I admire most - Vastu Sastri Raman This is incidentally my father too. I admire him not because he is my father, but for all of the following : the kind of power, the energy level, the helping tendency, the fighting spirit Another of those who is past 70, currently he is 76, still with amassing energy. He travels a lot, but never feels tired after the travel, but bounces out with more energy. His vastu power is amassing. The kind of workable solutions he can provide - is simply great. Of course with Vastu you lose out some amount of aesthetics , but if what do you want most in life - health, wealth, happiness and peace of mind - if these could be got by adjusting here and there, why dont you do it. For me I believe in an All powerful Inherent power of the Almighty who is always trying to help us - so why we take the power to help ourselves to good things in life. If we do all things well - like hard work, smart work, combined positive energy of people to ...

As we age out, does it mean it has to limit us - definitely NO. There are quite a few examples of people who are so vibrant that you get a lot of energy just by seeing them .One such people whom I admire is Dr Bala Balachandran, the founder dean of Great Lakes Institute of Management , apart from his other roles as Professor at Kellogg’s, Chairman of Allsec Technologies, etc.etc. . What an energetic person. At the age of 70, having traveled from Chicago, he still looks fresh attending the great Convocation, Farewell Dinner. Not only this, the next day he is out taking classes apart from spending his time in the evening attending a formal Alumni meet of the Great Lakes Institute of Management - addressing the students with great passion - looking tireless, ageless - bouncing with positive energy - remembering each and everyone of his hundreds of students, enquiring about them, their families, jobs, etc WOW! What a amassing man and what a wonderful creation he has done in starting the G...

Entrepreneurship - Is all about owning your work and taking full accountability for it. This is what it means to me. But technically I am an Entrepreneur, according to the dictionary meaning since I head a Software company. But my attitude of owning my work was what made me ultimately own my company CI. However, I strongly feel that the company is owned by every individual who works therein. But for their dedication, we wouldn't have grown to the place where we are in. Of course, I take the financial responsibility , but still it is the entrepreneurial spirit of the my colleagues which had made the company what it is . I really salute the people who work for CI for all the great work they are doing. I am sure that we will be reaching great heights in the day to come.