On the road to recovery...

September 2005 is perhaps the cruelest month in my life. Coz it’s the first time I got hospitalized with multiple disorders. It all started on 6th when I went to a nearby park to take some pics. I spent nearly 3 hours under the sun, capturing the glimpses of nature in its myriad manifestations. The moment I returned to my room, I experienced something similar to an electric shock. I started sweating profusely and my body was writhing in pain. First, I thought it was a sunstroke and took some self-medication. But the problem got aggravated by evening. I didn’t see any point in wasting the time and got admitted to a nearby super-specialty hospital with the help of my cousin.

There were 4 nurses and a doctor tending to me. I was reeling under severe fever, headache and dehydration. It was after 4 hours of intensive care that included lots of injections and other forms of medication, I started creeping back to life. Around midnight, I returned to my room and slept. By the next afternoon, I found myself in a completely emaciated condition and got admitted in the hospital, this time as an in-patient. For almost 6 hours, I battled for life. Though the nurses were quite friendly, I found doctors very unprofessional. They have diagnosed me with abdominal infection. I experienced an unforgettable trauma during my one-and-half day stay in the hospital. My friend Ravi was with me when I was in the hospital and later took me to his home where I stayed for 4 days.

The severity of the illness I experienced is such that I’m yet to recover fully even after 2 weeks. Though the doctors suggested complete bed rest, I managed to work this week with frequent breaks. The saddest part of my hospitalization was not the bill which was quite exorbitant, but I lost a lot of weight and the biceps I worked so hard to build for over 6 months. I look forward to going back to the gym ASAP and pumping the iron so that I could regain the weight and prance back to life.

Business Quiz – 5

1. Which Indian car shares its name with one of the colors in the rainbow?
Ans: `Indigo' from the Tata stable

2. Connect Beltex, Texla, Oscar, Salora, Crown, Jolly and Dixon.
Ans: All are Desi TV Brands trying to make a comeback. These brands suffered a major setback when MNCs hit the market in early 1990's.

3. Which brand gets its name from the Japanese word for `red'?
Ans: Akai

4. The person behind this famous online venture thought of naming his company "Cadabra". But his manager persuaded him to go for another name as he felt "Cadabra" sounds like a "Cadaver". How do we know this new economy major as today?
Ans: Amazon.com

5. Which brand of custard powder was developed by Alfred Bird in the 19th century as an alternative for his wife who was allergic to eggs and could not eat homemade egg custard?
Ans: Bird's Custard Powder by Kraft Foods

6. What do you call a stock market bond that has no principles, no interest, and no maturity?
Ans: Clinton Bond. It's named after former President Bill Clinton and his well documented feats with interns. Such a bond is also known as Quayle Bond, named after former Vice-President Dan Quayle.

Actually, there's no such bond. This is just a hilarious buzzword.

7. Name the company started by Nandita Das recently to make ads on social issues.
Ans: Leapfrog

8. We have heard of white and blue-collar workers. But what do you call workers whose job involves a combination of white and blue-collar duties.
Ans: Gray-collar workers

9. In retailing, what is `Trolleyology'?
Ans: The study of the correlation between the contents of a person's shopping cart (trolley) and their personality.

10. What type of advertising is jocularly referred to as `Pollution on a pole'?
Ans: Billboard Advertising. It's also known as `Pollution on stick'

Business Quiz # 4

1. It's known as `Sure' in the UK, `Shield' in South Africa, and `Reward' in Nigeria. How do we know it as in India?
Ans: Rexona

2. Who are popularly referred to as MDA and ADA in the Indian corporate world?
Ans: Mukesh Dhiruibhai Ambani and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani

3.Identify the personality based on the clues given below:

a). Golfer and gourmet, pianist and pilot, he loves cricket, skiing, and dancing.
b). On the walls of his office, his life has been depicted by a series of cartoons by R K Laxman. In one of cartoons, he was compared to Napoleon Bonaparte.
c). He led an army of 1.1 lakh employees for decades without any trouble.
d). He also holds a record for signing nearly 8 lakh letters during his tenure as MD at one of the Tata group companies.
Ans: Russy Modi of Tata Steel

4.Connect Cast Away, Bowfinger, Runaway Bride, and the Matrix with a brand.
Ans: Fed Ex is advertised in all these films.

5. Name the first company to print nutrition information on its product packages.
Ans: Kellogg's

6. In business, what do you do when you `Napsterize'?
Ans: You share knowledge/information, which increases the perceived and actual value of your service/business

7. According to Fortune magazine, which Indian company publishes its financial statements in accordance with the accounting standards of 8 countries?
Ans: Infosys

8. Allansons and Madhu Jayanti are among the leading exporters of what product from India?
Ans: Coffee

9. If an American puts 420 in his email profile, what's he trying to convey?
Ans: That he smokes marijuana regularly

10.Which San Francisco-based company recently bagged a multi-million deal to reconstruct Iraq?
Ans: Bechtel Group

Business Quiz #3

1.Name the first-ever Indian company to be converted into a bank.
Ans: Kotak Mahindra

2.He was born in Thailand, brought up at Ramana Maharshi's ashram at
Thiruvannamalli, and was credited for designing and selling the world's first portable computer in early 1980's. Identify the personality we are talking about.
Ans: Adam osborne

3. What do you call a stock market issue whose market capitalization is less than Rs 50 crore?
Ans: Ankle Biter

4.What do you call a branding exercise that focuses on simple, crisp message?
Ans: Plain Vanilla Branding

5.It's a day (generally a Friday) when employees are allowed to wear informal cloths to work in most of the companies. In HR parlance, there's a special word for such a day. What is it?
Ans: Dress-Down Day

6. Which fairness cream brand recently launched a foundation under its name to help women across the country gain economic independence through education, career guidance, and scholarships?
Ans: Fair & Lovely

7.In computing, what is a `Rain Dance?"
Ans: A sequence of actions performed in the hope that will solve a computer problem.

8.Which detergent is named after the founder's daughter `Nirupama?"
Ans: Nirma

9. In advertising/marketing slang, who/what is referred to as `Blue hair?"
Ans: Elderly Women Customers. (Interesting Response from a member: making an ad which has night scenes, mostly bedroom scenes etc. named because of the blue light that is used to create a night effect, which creates a blue hair effect)

10.Which car gets its name from the Italian word for `lightning'?
Ans: Baleno

Business Quiz # 2

1. Which automobile brand is named after the Czech word for `pity or hame'?
Ans: Skoda

2.Identify the brand name based on the clues given below:

a. Contains 6 letters and rhymes with Niagara
b. The first 2 letters are the homonym of a word, which means `to fight or compete'
c. The last 4 letters not only evoke `aggression' but share their wording with a city that houses a famous monument in India.
Ans: Viagra

3.Which company's mission statement is "To be All things to all people?"
Ans: Yahoo!

4.Which company has the ticker name "SUN" on New York Stock Exchange?
Ans: Sunoco, Inc.

5.Theater owners in which Indian city cancelled screening of films for 45 days and showed cricket matches on the screen during the ICC world cup 2003?
Ans: OOTY

6.In-film advertising has become common these days. Why the beer brand "Zingaro" was chosen as an in-film advertiser in the film "Jism"? (There's some interesting funda behind this)
Ans: Zingaro is promoted based on the platform of having a "LIGHT-HEARTED STRONG DESIRE." This image gelled well with Jism's theme of a woman having an Extra-Marital Affair (Light-Hearted Feeling) with a Strong Desire (Employing Her Lover To Kill Her Husband)

7.Identify the script in which the Coca-Cola brand name is written.
Ans: Spencerian Script

8.In soft drinks business, what are COBO and FOBO?
Ans: COBO – Company Owned Bottling Operationg; FOBO – Franchisee Owned Bottling Operations

9.Which Indian apparel brand was created by My Noorani and Hasan Taj
over a cup of chai in an Irani restaurant in front of Mumbai's Liberty Cinema?
Ans: Zodiac

10. Which MNC has bagged the rights to treat the sacred waters of Ganga, bottle it and sell it as mineral water in Delhi?
Ans: Suez Dregmont.