accentiatech.com may09
TRANSCRIPT
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Pradeep ViswambharanCEOSPEAK Pradeep Viswambharan
Moonlight in her thrMoonlight in her thrMoonlight in her thrMoonlight in her thrMoonlight in her throat…oat…oat…oat…oat…Generations of Indians found music
within themselves thanks to thevelvety voice of Lata Mangeshkar.
It was the year 1962. The ‘Yellow’Army (also labeled the Red Army!) in-vaded us from across the Himalayas,even as the peace-loving rulers of In-
dia keptchanting ‘Hin-di-Chini BhaiBhai….! It wasan hour ofshock and sor-row for theworld’s largestdemocracy asits valiant sonsfell by theirhundreds tothe bulletsfrom theworld’s largesta u t o c r a c y.Many headsrolled as a
consequence in India’s ruling hierar-chy including the Defence Minister and
several top ranking generals.
A distraught Prime Minister JawaharlalNehru offered to resign but was paci-fied by public opinion and the finalmoment of relief from the shock of adream shattered came when a singerfrom Bombay (now Mumbai) took themike at a commemorative function inDelhi for the fallen soldiers and ren-dered a patriotic song, at the middleof which Nehru broke down and weptlike a child, admitting that this singerhas taught him a valuable lesson: Nev-er overestimate yourself, and never betoo trusting of strangers.
Lata Mangeshkar, who made Nehru weepwas already a household name not onlyin India, but in every pocket of IndianDiaspora anywhere in the world. Thesong “Ai mere watan ke logon” an emo-tional and poetic piece of verse wasspecially written and composed for theoccasion, and even after 45 years of itsfirst rendering, Ai mere watan ke logonstill keeps haunting us with memoriesof a bungled-up war and the precious
lives sacrificed.
Lata Mangeshkar turns80 this year. She is of-ten described as the Queen Nightin-gale of India, A composer’s Dream,God’s Own Voice, and Empress of Mel-ody. The magical quality in her voicewas brought out first when she wasbarely 15, in a Hindi film called Ma-hal, and the song was ‘Aayega aanewala ayega….!’ The entire nation satup and took notice of the birth of thelegend, and with the stupendous suc-cess of Mahal at the box office ‘Lata-ji’ became the feminine voice of In-dia. Even after 65 years of non-stopsinging, the melodious and mellifluousvoice of Lata Mangeshkar still main-tains its sweetness, depth, and emo-tional edge, and continues to be oneof the cementing forces of national in-tegration and patriotism.
Daughter of Marathi playwright andactor Deenanath Mangeshkar, Lata wasnamed Hema at birth, later renamedafter the heroine of one of Deenan-ath’s plays. Her siblings, Asha, Usha,
Hridayanath and Meenaare also established andrecognised singers.
But there is only oneLata Mangeshkar. Andthank God there is one,to take us to a world ofjoyous lilt and rhythm,as no one else can.Asked to name the se-cret of her sweet voice,she once confided:Green chilly. I eat a lot
of them. Soothing mel-ody emanating from hotchillies? That’s a puzzlebiotechnology wouldfind hard to unravel.
There can be no greatertribute to this greatsinger as she turns 80than to recall the titleof a special issue of theIllustrated Weekly of In-dia devoted to her, ed-ited by Khushwant Singhand published in 1974.It said: MOONLIGHT INHER THROAT. Yes, in-deed….!
FFFFFriendshipriendshipriendshipriendshipriendshipThose friends thou hast, and their adoption
tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoopsof steel...Give every man thy ear, but few thyvoice..”
Polonius in Shakespeare’s drama ‘Hamlet’ com-mands on friendship in the above lines. A largecircle of friends is nothing, but a crowd of ac-quaintance. The spirit of true friendship is al-ways absent from this circle. All of them arefair-weather friends. Over the passage of time,each goes his own way.
True friendship is said to be rare in this world,but this does not mean that all friendship is false.It is true that friendship is a channel to achieveselfish motives at times. Sometimes it can beseen that money attracts friends. The richer aman is, the more friends he
will have, and the tie of
friendship ends, in such
relations, when money
ceases.
True friendship is of a dif-
ferent nature. It lasts;
money or self has no role
in it. A true friend adds
charm to life; he/she re-
duces worries of life and
helps solve problems.
It is better to be alone and friendless than to besurrounded by false friends who might desertyou over time. Lucky are those who have notexperienced the agony of betrayal by theirfriends.
A true friend never hesitates to point out ourdrawbacks. It is his duty to see that you do notremain ignorant about your faults. He will behappy if he finds you faultless, but he will behappier if he could help you to remove yourfaults. There is an old usage “the entire worldwill be in hatred of you, but you will never bewithout friends”.
To conclude we can quote some lines which tellus about true friends,
“True friends are like jewels,
Precious and rare
With them you can freely,
Share your heart’s feelings
They will inspire you
To struggle and strain
They will be the corner stones,
Of your success in life
They will cheer you up in tough times
Dhanya V.K, is from Batch 71, Accentia-Trivandrum
Dhanya V.K
The Mangeshkar family. Shudh-hamati (mother), Latha, Usha,Asha, Hridayanath and Meena,with image of late Deenanath (fa-ther) in the background
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EDITORIAL
An Accentia Technologies Update
Managing EditorPradeep Viswambharan
Editor in ChiefRajeev Viswambharan
Executive EditorC.K. Sooraj
Editorial ConsultantMathukutty J. Kunnappally
Associate EditorSheeja Shivkumar
Layout and DesignShaji Kumar G.P.
www.accentiatech.com
MUMBAINo. 4 BSEL Tech ParkP. No. 39/5&39/5AVashi, Navi MumbaiIndia 400 705T: +91 22 2527 6077F: +91 22 2527 6184
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM# 233-241 Nila,Technopark,Trivandrum,India 695 581T: +91 471 270 0964F: +91 471 243 2250
Rajeev Viswambharan
AAAAAccentia in Calcutta….ccentia in Calcutta….ccentia in Calcutta….ccentia in Calcutta….ccentia in Calcutta….In what is aptly described as the
‘Greatest Show on Earth,’ India isvoting these days to elect a new gov-ernment, and hopefully, a new orderof things. Election campaigns in thisland are always a lot of entertain-ment. Even as the politicians slug itout, the common people are puzzledas to where India is heading to. Patri-otism, as we understand, and nation-al integration, as we attempt to prac-tice, are the two main pillars on whichwe pin our hopes so that India remainswhat it is. In this context, it is appro-priate that we recall those days whenIndia stood up against the militaryonslaught of a neighbor and survived,despite a spell of initial debacle.CEOSPEAK in this issue deals with amusical icon of patriotism and nationalintegration, namely Lata Mangeshkarwho turns 80 this year, and the onesong that she sung to invoke the soulof India over the need to stay united,
Editor in Chief
even as our armed forces were fightinga valiant battle across the Himalayas.
It looks as if Accentia is opening a newproduction centre every month in somecity or the other in India. If last monthit was Chandigarh, this month it is Cal-cutta (or Kolkatta!). Senior Vice Presi-dent - Corporate Planning, Mr. RaviShankar, in his Corporate Affairs Cor-
ner on page 8 reports on the welcomedevelopment in the City of Joy.
As Jereen’s Column on Managementpenned by Vice President-Operations,Mr. Jereen Mathew completes one yearof publication, it continues to attractreadership that is laudatory as well as
critical. HR Executive inBangalore, Ms. NirmalaV. adds her thoughts tothe communication aspect of Jereen’sColumn in a piece carried on page 8of this issue, proving that Accentianstake a keen interest in language andcommunication, the very bread andbutter of our everyday operations.
vyganews.com, a web portal dealingwith development, in a recent editioncarried what could be described as anup-to-date assessment of Accentia’srole in the global HRCM segment. Thefull text of the write up is carried onpage 4.
The bandage was wound around the wound.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
He could lead if he would get the lead out.
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to presentthe present.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
I did not object to the object.
The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
After a number of injections my jaw got number.
I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Let’s face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant orham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffinsweren’t invented in England or French fries in France.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find thatquicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig isneither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
Have noses that run and feet that smell? How can a slim chance and a fatchance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
Your house can burn up as it burns down.
You fill in a form by filling it out and in which an alarm goes off by going on.
English was invented by people, not by computers, and it reflects the cre-ativity of the human race. That is why, when the stars are out, they arevisible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
Compiled by Dhanya D, Batch 71, Accentia-Trivandrum
Reasons why the English languageis so hard to learn
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Kicking off dream:Kicking off dream:Kicking off dream:Kicking off dream:Kicking off dream: A leading web portal’sA leading web portal’sA leading web portal’sA leading web portal’sA leading web portal’sassessment of Aassessment of Aassessment of Aassessment of Aassessment of Accentiaccentiaccentiaccentiaccentia
MEDIA WATCH www.vyganews.com
A young man, driven by the principle of Smart
Work, sits at the helm ofaffairs as one of the mostprominent healthcare re-ceivables cycle manage-ment (HRCM) players in In-dia. With operations acrossthe globe, Accentia hasturned out to be a company
that has stayed on thegrowth track even when theglobal economy saw irri-tants in the form of a slow-down. Pradeep Viswambha-ran, CEO, Accentia Technol-ogies, talks on how heachieved his goals.
A little over 10 years ago, ayoung chemical engineer,just out of the REC Srinagar,went about his quest for agovernment job on the ad-vice of seniors in the familyand landed himself a job atthe public sector HOCL. Thecorridors at HOCL, howev-er, failed to enthuse theman armed with ambitionand a spirit for smart work.Floating a new venture ofhis own ruled high in hismind and the look-out foravenues would be easierwith a degree in businessadministration, he thought.Enrolling for an MBA in In-ternational Finance/Mar-keting followed and by thelast semester, he was readyand raring to go.
The young man, PradeepViswambharan, went aheadand gave shape to his busi-
ness process outsourcing (BPO) firm,christened GeoSoft Technologies on6000 sq ft of space in India’s new-est information technology park –the Thiruvananthapuram Techn-opark. The birth of Pradeep’s questtoward being a prominent player inthe information technology space inIndia thus materialized in themonths of January-February in year
1998. Outsourced jobs in med-ical transcription space camecalling by the dozen and Ge-oSoft saw itself take off witha Rs 2.5 crore investment.“While I invested half-a-croreinto the business of mydreams, banks pumped in theremaining Rs 2 crore,” he says.
Even as GeoSoft was on theway to celebrating its firstbirthday, Pradeep began think-ing of bigger goals. Thus wasborn Iridium, a product basedcompany with roots firm onthe healthcare outsourcingground, in 1998. However, thescene took a major turn south-
ward as 1999 dawned. The first sixmonths of the year saw his dreamson the verge of being shattered asthe dotcom economy kicked off intoa plummeting mode.
DOWNTURN BLUES
The 1999-2004 tenure brought in ill
omen. Profitability levels touchedrock bottom. Pradeep was pushedinto a stage where he saw himselfneck-deep in trouble. Plans for list-ing in the stock markets went awry.The company, which by that period,had offices in Bangalore and Hydera-bad was forced to close down thetwo units outside Kerala. The badphase was, all the while, threaten-ingly closing in as if to devour theentire setup.
Pradeep had to step on the sell modeand he did. “Almost 60 per cent ofshares had to be sold off in year2003. But then, the economy pickedup like never before and I was ableto buy back all the shares sold in thevery next year,” he adds.
HRCM GETS A MAJOR
As CEO, Pradeep had by then setsights on expanding across horizons.GeoSoft and Iridium as a single en-tity went for the kill. Investmentbankers such as Edelweiss offeredthe much needed support and Pra-deep initiated an open offer for the
Mumbai-based Hightech En-tertainment Ltd and pocket-ed the company. Thus wasborn Accentia Technologies,and then on it has been adream run for the young manof 38.
Accentia, today, is a listedentity and has been doingwell on the bourses. WithExim Bank loans totaling $2.5million and ECBs from ICICIBank to the tune of $6 mil-lion, the HRCM player hasover the years bagged quitea handful of deals. In 2006,Accentia bought out threecompanies in the US. Addingto the numbers, it wentahead to acquire two more inIndia and then four more ;two American and two Indianplayers in 2007. The compa-nies acquired were players inthe same HRCM space, andwere majors in different lev-els of the medical transcrip-tion process. This in effecthas helped in Accentia’s con-solidation of its expertise invarious levels of the HRCMcycle, says Pradeep.
NORTHWARD BOUND
What next? “We have lined upa whole new set of acquisi-tions in the near term. Oneof them, a US major, has al-ready been bought out. Onein the UK, one in Canada, andthree more in the US are inthe Accentia radar. We arejust waiting for the currenteconomic phase to pass,” headds.Accentia has been in themidst of commendable reve-nues over the years, eversince existence. The compa-ny, which posted a turnoverof Rs 34 crore in year 2007,went on to make Rs 133.5crore in 2008. This is expect-ed to increase significantlyduring fiscal 2010.
Vyga News (www.vyganews.com) is a novel concept, a complete
news portal, unique, and fresh in all respects. The portal regularly
portrays the success stories of individuals and organizations that
have defied conventional wisdom, swam against currents, and at-
tained success beyond their own imagination. In this series,
vyganews.com recently carried a feature on Accentia and its Found-
er-Managing Director & CEO, Mr. Pradeep Viswambharan, which is
reproduced here.
Woman has always been an enigma to the world. She has been an ob-ject of beauty and veneration, love and adoration, innocence and temp-tation; all at the same time. Well, it just isn’t easy to be a woman in aman’s world.
The Bible: “Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman thatfeareth the lord, she shall be praised”.
Margaret Thatcher: “No women in my time will be prime minister orchancellor or foreign secretary- not the top jobs”.
John Keats: “I have met with women whom I really think would like tobe married to a poem and to be given away by a novel”.
George Eliot: “I’m not denying the women are foolish. God almightymade ‘em to match the man”.
Susan B. Antony: “Men their rights and nothing more; women theirrights and nothing less”.
Steve Ruben Stein: “Women speak two languages, one of which is ver-bal’.
Samuel Butler: “Brigands demand your money or your life; women re-quire both”.
Erich Fromm: “Women are equal because they are not different any-more”
Compiled by Rekha S.I., of Batch 71, Accentia-Trivandrum
Thy name is WOMAN
Sheeja Shivkumar
5
PPPPPatriotism in modern Indiaatriotism in modern Indiaatriotism in modern Indiaatriotism in modern Indiaatriotism in modern IndiaOPINION
In the current scenario, when tornadoes of communalism and terrorism sweep away the serenity in our lives,
the essence of national integration, in its true spirit, en-gulfs our minds and souls.
National integration is a positive aspect. It reduces socio-cultural and economic differences or inequalities andstrengthens national unity and solidarity, which is notimposed by any authority. People share ideas, values, andemotional bonds. It is the feeling of unity within diversi-ty. National identity is supreme. Cultural unity, Constitu-tion, territorial continuity, common economic problems,art, literature, national festivals, national flag, nationalanthem, and national emblem etc. promote national in-tegration.
The euphoria of independence was short-lived as parti-tion brought disastrous consequences for India in the wakeof communal conflict. Partition unleashed untold miseryand loss of lives and property as millions of Hindu andMuslim refugees fled either Pakistan or India. Both na-tions were also caught up in a number of conflicts involv-ing the allocation of assets, demarcation of boundaries,equitable sharing of water resources, and control overKashmir. At the same time, Indian leaders were faced withthe stupendous task of national integration and econom-ic development.
India has many races, nationalities, castes, sub castesand communities but as far as the soul of India is con-cerned, it is one. It is true that societies that have beenintegrated into bonds of unity have always enjoyed peace,stability, prosperity and permanence. And those torn bymutual disruptive tendencies among various sections ofthe society have always been short lived and become non-existent. The national integration is the process of unit-ing different people from all walks of life into a singlewhole. The most serious problem being faced by India inpresent circumstances is how to develop an atmosphereof national consciousness among so varied a people.
DOG EAT DOG WORLD: Dogs are not cannibalistic, at least that’s whatI learnt from Animal Planet. Why blame the poor canines when it istheir arch rivals-the cats- which exhibit the trait of eating their ownspecies?
MOMMY KNOWS EVERYTHING: Well, this mommy doesn’t. Why doesthe sun always rise in the east? Can’t it change course once in a while?Why can’t the school teach only football? If the early bird always catchesworms won’t it get a tummy ache? These are the questions my boyspose which leave me baffled and incapable of giving the right answers.
IT’S GREEK TO ME: Why target this particular language? Aren’t theretougher tongue-twisters?
APPLE OF MY EYE: An apple is kind of heart-shaped at the top andtapers evenly to the bottom. Since the pupil is a perfectround, shouldn’t it be the “orange of my eye?”
ON CLOUD NINE: If you are happy and elated and feel likeyou’re floating in air, do you have to be picky about num-bers? And what’s so special about the ninth could anyway?
FILTHY OR STINKING RICH: Rich people are usually well-groomed and only exude fine scents of expensive perfume
and exotic cologne. How can they ever be filthy or stinky?
10 Phrases I don’t understandEnglish language has always been considered the communicator’s
delight and the treasure house of great expressions. But, thereare also many puzzling and contradiction-inducing usages that havebaffled the simple minded for long. Here are some of them, pickedout by leading Middle East writer, Ms. Zennifer Khallel and carried inthe Friday Weekly of Dubai recently.
THE CIRCLE OF LIFE: A circle starts and ends at the same point. Sincenothing in life can ever come back to the same point, shouldn’t wesay a ‘spiral of life’?
COMMON SENSE: The biggest misnomer of all. It is the basic instinc-tive knowledge that is supposed to dispel all doubts but unfortunate-ly, it is not very common. The correct term should be ‘partial sense’.
MONEY CANNOT BUY HAPPINESS: Of course it can. If I hadthe money and could afford to live in a luxury yacht with apersonal butler, cook and masseuse, I’d be the happiest wom-an on earth.
NEW AND IMPROVED: If it’s new, how can it be improved? Ifit’s improved, how on earth is it new? (There had to be some-thing to be improved upon!). Biggest conundrum: does thephrase apply to the product or just the packaging?
Communalism, linguism, and regionalism are the main challenges tonational integration in our country. These are negative terms.
In communal riots, the people forget that they are Indians and the onesthey assault are also Indians. They are not influenced by national identity.Religious fundamentalists and fanatics guide them. Thus, communalismis a threat to national integration.
Lingual loyalty is against the feeling of oneness among the people of anation. In linguism, people forget their national identity and attach moreimportance to their lingual identity.
Indians already have suffered, for long periods, the pangs of enslavementand servitude. It is India, in the whole world, that had to suffer underforeign rulers for more than seven hundred years. The separatisttendencies among people and kings have always resulted in the fall ofour kingdoms. Our country was always divided into large number of smallkingdoms which were mostly at daggers end. There has been a lack ofnational consciousness.Then the British were able to create rifts betweenvarious kings and princes and thus established their supremacy. It wasonly overthrown when Indian nationhood joined together by unparalledacumen of some great Indian leaders who became creators of history.
There is a need to make efforts for creating emotional integration or asense of unity. The need of the hour is national integration. It should betaught at the very beginning, in all schools and colleges all over thecountry that India is one and only one. The difference between variouscultures is just superficial and basically it is only one. What are neededare superior interpretations, synthesis of the power of the mind that cangive rise to a vision of the whole and oneness. The school and collegeteaching material should be suitably revised wherein importance andneed of oneness should be emphasized.
To bring about national integration, there are many techniques. It canbe forced out, or can be made to strengthen fromwithin the core of hearts. The result by way of exerciseof power would always be weak, unsuccessful and itwould be for a temporary phase only. But when thesense of national integration stems from within, itwould be strong, stable and ever-lasting.
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Challenges to National IntegrationChallenges to National IntegrationChallenges to National IntegrationChallenges to National IntegrationChallenges to National Integration
6
JEREEN’S COLUMN
PPPPPursue Qualityursue Qualityursue Qualityursue Qualityursue QualityJereen Mathew
Some time ago we talkedabout the importance of
quality and looked at the bestway to understand what itmeant to deliver goods as perthe quality expectations of theclient.
Just like any other goal, oncewe define ourobject ives,we need tomake plans toreach there.Just like weplan to reachour produc-tivity targets,we need tostay focused to reach ourstandards in quality objectivesas well. It is like any other planof action, we cannot reachthere overnight. We cannotreach our targets by not plan-ning for it; we will neitherreach there by being ignorantof our shortfalls. The first andmost important step is to un-derstand what our current sta-tus is in view of delivery ofgood quality. The next step isto have a drive to reach ournew objective, in this case,good quality as per our clientexpectations. The past fewmonths we have built our cli-ent confidence with severalaccounts by raising our deliv-ery standards from all time lowto winning the cheers of cli-ent account managers. Thisjust goes to prove that deliv-ering good quality is not likeshooting arrows in the dark andit should never be. A confidentmarksman knows what the out-come of his efforts is before itreaches a target. Like I said
earlier, it will not happen over-night but requires a deliberateeffort by you as a team leader/manager.
Root Cause Analysis
It is important to do a root causeanalysis whenever you fail inachieving what you set out to do.
Often we do somekind of gap analy-sis (the gap where-in we missed ourtarget) or we do a‘failure to deliver’analysis which isidentifying the ob-vious reasons wefailed but not go-
ing deeper to find out the linkedaspects which contributed to thefailure. Root cause analysis willhelp us understand the maincauses of a series of failureswhich come our way even whenwe seem to be taking steps tocorrect ourselves. Let me cite anexample, often we see that thequality audits produce poorscores for some teams, whileaudits have different reasons forfailure (major errors, tough dic-tator etc), the root cause analy-sis will help us understand thatthe issue may be a lack of basicreading skills which is the hid-den cause of service delivery.
Resources: Gap AnalysisLack of good resources whichcannot be used to manage thechallenge in front of us is some-times the most relevant. Theseresources can be technology,skills, experience, or evenknowledge. As a good manager,you should ensure that you takeall the necessary steps to closethe gaps that exist in our re-
sources. If your team doesnot have enough knowl-edge or exposure youneed to find a channel toget them this informa-tion. We handle hundredsof doctor dictations eve-ry day and while eachdoctor has his/her owndictation style, it is notpossible to always have asingle staff manage a par-ticular doctor. We haveteam structure which en-ables us to pass knowl-edge from one MT to an-other so that every MT isequipped to handle thedictators. New dictators
come up to our work flow aswell, which is why we ask forsample of reports of particulardictators. As a manager or ateam leader, it becomes a goodmanagement practice to ensurethat your team has the rightresources so that they can de-liver good quality. The conceptabout pursuing quality is thatyou, as a leader, do not leaveany stones unturned or any-thing to chance. You cannotafford to get complacent, butbe on your toes always. Evenif you are confident of yourteam and their skills, you as ateam leader can become anasset when you put in your ownskills into it. Remember one ofthe aspects of resources man-agement is that you are thebest resource/ asset in ensur-ing the final delivery is notcompromised.
Advancing by learning-
We should all agree that whenwe have clients with higherstandards of expectation, wemay take a longer time to getto the level of service deliverythat they are satisfied with.
Once you be-gin to pursueclient satis-faction youwill not stop until you reachthere if you plan to survive inthe long run. Every mistakeyou make becomes your step-ping stone in advancing yourknowledge. There is a conceptof ‘failing forward’ which isessentially learning from yourmistakes and turning them intostepping stones to move for-ward. It does not matter whereyou were yesterday, what mat-ters is where you are today andwhere you heading to tomor-row.As an organization, an individ-ual or a leader you earn therespect of team members orclients by the standard of de-livery. Not many rememberhow many lines you producedlast month or six months ago.But when they know you foryour good (or bad) quality,they remember you. Brandingyourself in this way will cre-ate the respect and demandfor your services.
T hinking about getting a pet for stress relief? If you are going to be the main caregiver, make sure you know what is
involved in caring for the pet of your choice before you decideon getting one.
Owning a pet isn’t for everyone. One person’s idea of stressrelief is another person’s idea of stress. For example, somepeople find taking a dog for a walk a good way to obtain stressrelief, and knowing the dog needs to be walked is a good moti-vator to get the exercise they both need. For others, it is achore – the thought of having to walk the dog produces stress,rather than relieving stress. If they don’t take the dog for awalk, they feel guilty. This isn’t my idea of stress relief.
In general, people who own pets have lower levels of stressthan those who do not own pets. However, people who ownpets usually have made their decision to get a dog, cat or oth-er pet because they enjoy animals and the stress relief is justan added bonus.
Having a pet has many benefits, both mental and physical.Besides stress relief, pets provide entertainment, companion-ship, and comfort. Pets provide a distraction from one’s ownproblems and can relieve depression and anxiety and even phys-ical pain. Petting a dog or cat usually relaxes both the pet andthe person petting it, providing stress relief and feelings ofsatisfaction. Interacting with a pet even produces physiologi-cal changes such as decreased blood pressure and heart rate.With pet ownership come responsibilities. If you’re seekingstress relief, make sure your decision to get a pet is well thoughtout.
PPPPPets for Stress Rets for Stress Rets for Stress Rets for Stress Rets for Stress Relief?elief?elief?elief?elief?Sheeja Shivkumar
Wedding Bells....
Shabeer & Amreen: an in-house allianceShabeer & Amreen: an in-house allianceShabeer & Amreen: an in-house allianceShabeer & Amreen: an in-house allianceShabeer & Amreen: an in-house alliance
Mr. Shabeer Ahmed (Team Leader, Accentia-
Bangalore), son of Late Abdul Rauf & Fatima Rauf
married Ms. Amreen Sultana (MT, Accentia-
Bangalore), daughter of M. Ansar & Arifa Sultana on
April 10, 2009
7
GREETINGS
Thunga DivisionSUPRIYA S: MAY 19, USHA C: MAY
20, SHIVA KUMAR S: MAY 24, SAN-
DEEP SURENDRANATH: MAY 24,
KEMPRAJ H.S: MAY 27, ANTHONY
PRAVEEN KUMAR: MAY 31
These are the Bangaloreans who celebrate the big day this month:
Asscent DivisionPUNITH N: MAY 3, BEENA JETLINE: MAY 4, MARY KAVITHA F: MAY 6, VISMAYA
KAVALI: MAY 8, RISHI BRINE: MAY 12, DR.R A HANNAH: MAY 12, P SREEJA: MAY
13, MARY JACINTHA: MAY 17, S SAMEER AHMED: MAY 19, SHEEJA T.S: MAY 23,
ELAYARATHUNAM R: MAY 23, DEEPTHI B.G: MAY 25, EJAZ AHMED: MAY 26, UMA-
RANI VIJAYKUMAR: MAY 26, GURPREET KAUR: MAY 27, MINIMOL THOMAS: MAY 30
Accentians in Trivandrum with the big day in May 2009:
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
MAY BIRTHDAY BOYS AND GIRLS OF HYDERABAD AND BHUBANESHWARBIJAYA KUMAR N: MAY 1, SUHASINI M: MAY 1, SONTOSH KUMAR MOHANTY: MAY 1, JAGAN MOHAN T: MAY 2, TAPAS
KUMAR DASH: MAY 2, KIRAN KUMAR P: MAY 2, PADMAJA T.V: MAY 3, PRADYUMNA KUMAR DAS: MAY 3, SUJEET
KUMAR S: MAY 5, JAYALAKSHMI SARABANI: MAY 5, NISHANTH DAPPULA: MAY 5, MOHIT VARMA: MAY 6, SUDHAKAR
MATUKUMALLI: MAY 7, HIMANSHU SEKHAR NAYAK: MAY 8, NARASIMHA SWAMY N: MAY 9, NAZIA BEGUM: MAY 9,
SHANKER S: MAY 9, SUSANTA KUMAR PRADHAN: MAY 9, DEEPA P: MAY 9, MANOJ KUMAR PANIGRAHY: MAY 10,
RAJANI DEVI: MAY 10, RAJESWARI J: MAY 11, SRISHA C: MAY 11, PHANI KUMAR GUDIPATI: MAY 11, VINAYA E: MAY
11, SRINIVAS M: MAY 14, JOTHI LATHA V: MAY 14
And, here are the Cochinites in celebration:SREELEKHA ANILKUMAR: MAY 1, PRIYA M.S: MAY 3. RAMDAS M.R: MAY 9, ROSHID. P: MAY 16, MAXON M. 17,
ADV.MEERA SIDHARTH: MAY 20, VIJAYAN V: MAY 25, SURAJ K.S: MAY 26, NOBY: MAY 26, AMBILI: MAY 28, BEENA
KRISHNAN: MAY 29, SAIFUDEEN C.M: MAY 30, DHANASREE M.P: MAY 30, AGNES B: MAY 31, JYOTIS. T.V: MAY 31,
AMBADY LAKSHMAN: MAY 31, NIZAR AHMED: MAY 31, SANDHYA C: MAY 31
CORPORATE AFFAIRS CORNER
Accentia’s growth chart extends to Calcutta
Ravi Sankar
8
New prNew prNew prNew prNew production centre in ‘oduction centre in ‘oduction centre in ‘oduction centre in ‘oduction centre in ‘The City of Joy’The City of Joy’The City of Joy’The City of Joy’The City of Joy’Accentia opened its in-
nings in the cricket cra-zy city of Kolkata by launch-ing its operations in the firstweek of April 2009. Thisstate-of-the-art officeis poised to be a majorhub for Accentia’s off-shore development.
Kolkata is the 3rd larg-est city in India and theworld’s 8th largest met-ropolitan area. Thepopulation of Kolkata ex-ceeds 15 million and is locat-
ed in eastern India on the banksof the river Hooghly.
The name Kolkata has its rootsin “Kalikata”, the name of oneof the three villages in the area
before the arrival of the Brit-ish. Its official name was
changed from the Englishname ‘Calcutta’ to ‘Kolkata’ in2001. Kolkata MetropolitanArea is spread over 1,750 sq.km. and comprises 157 postal
areas. Kolkata has a tropicalwet-and-dry climate, with an-
nual temperatures rangingbetween 7 and 40 degrees.
Calcutta served as the capi-tal of India during the BritishRaj until 1911. Once the cen-
tre of modern ed-ucation, industry,science, cultureand politics in In-dia, Kolkata haswitnessed intensepolitical violence,clashes and eco-
nomic stagnation since 1954.Like other metropolitan citiesin India, Kolkata continues tostruggle with the problems ofurbanisation: poverty, pollu-tion, and traffic congestion.Kolkata is noted for its revo-lutionary history, ranging fromthe Indian struggle for inde-pendence to the leftist andtrade union movements.
Kolkata Metro, run by the In-dian Railways, is the oldestunderground system in India.It runs parallel to the RiverHooghly and spans the north-south length of the city cov-ering a distance of 16.45 km.Kolkata is India’s only city tohave a tram network, operat-ed by Calcutta TramwaysCompany. The slow-movingtram services are restricted tocertain areas of the city.
Kolkata is known for itssports-crazy population and isthe home of two large stadia.The Eden Gardens is one ofonly two 100,000-seat crick-et stadiums in the world andSalt Lake Stadium is theworld’s third largest capacityfootball stadium.
We are now in the process ofbuilding up the team at thiscentre. Ashim Gon and ParthaSaha are leading the team andin the coming months, I amsure we will be hearing a lotabout the Kolkata centre.
Let us take this opportunityto welcome all Kolkata Accen-tians to the family!
Ravi Sankar is Accentia’s Sr. Vice
President–Corporate Planning,
based in Bangalore
Jereen’s Column: An addendumJereen’s Column: An addendumJereen’s Column: An addendumJereen’s Column: An addendumJereen’s Column: An addendumWe have been reading a series of articles on
‘Communication’ by Mr. Jereen Mathew.They have been very illuminating and enlight-ening. I would like to add some more informa-
tion to what has already been presented.Many of us are not immune to the all - roundeffect of the “spoken word”. In addition to theactual words spoken, a vast amount of informa-tion is available along with the actual meaningof the words. Communication is a skill not de-termined by choices of words alone but also bythe accent we use, the volume of our speech,the speed at which we speak, andour tone of voice. All the featuresfall under the category of paralin-guistic communication. It is true
that some people are better atcommunicating than others. Whilea good vocabulary does have astrong role in communicating, itdoes not necessarily mean one hasthe ability to effectively commu-nicate an idea. On the flip side,miscommunication takes placesometimes because the ability tointerpret correctly what is beingsaid to us varies greatly with eachindividual. Another feature that plays an impor-
tant role in Communication is the accent of thespeaker. In a place like Bangalore where thereis a flourishing B P O sector, it is not uncommonto find youngsters walking around talking a brandof spoken English hard to place. Each one of usspeaks with an accent. It is not possible to dootherwise. Our accent quickly tells the listenerwhere we come from —also which part of thecountry. It could also reveal the perceived classof the speaker. However, the information we de-cipher is not always accurate. Accents tend toreflect existing prejudices towards people we
hear using them. We tend to judge each other,irrespective of the content of what has been
communicated -on the basis of the place weassume a person is from, or a value we holdbased on our perception of that person’s statuson society. Another communicable aspect of a
person’s conversation is the degree of loudnessemployed. A lot of assumptions cloud our judg-ment. For instance, it is assumed that extro-verts talk louder than introverts, that men talklouder than women, that people speaking soft-ly might be doing so to cover themselves delib-erately from others…. could be for any reasonranging from secrecy, tenderness to embarrass-
ment. It has also been noticed thatpeople with hearing impairmentstend to speak loudly, presuminglack of comprehension on the part
of the listener.The speed at which one talks alsois a reflection of the speaker’smood or personality. Other messag-es that a listener gets are voicequality, the tone of the voice usedand the deliberate or non deliber-ate use of pauses, hesitations, rep-etitions, etc. To put it broadly, thevoice quality tells us about thephysical attributes or health of the
speaker, the voice tone informs us of the speak-er’s feelings towards either the topic of con-versation or the listener, and the continuity ofspeech is particularly revealing of the speak-er’s nervous state of mind, as well as indicatingfamiliarity with the listener and the languagespoken.As such the paralinguistic messages provide alot of useful information about the speech. It isalso not too difficult to judge a person’s age,sex and feelings from the above clues. The termCommunication, then is akin to a big banyantree and incorporates strands of various behav-ioral patterns including emotions and feelingsthat govern our day to day activities.
From Nirmala V, HR Executive, Accentia-Bangalore
Accent on joy: Calcutta Accentians at it in their new produciton centre in the City of Joy