New and improved

It is in the nature of all organisms or organisations or bodies to continue to strive to become bigger (unless there are external forces forcing it otherwise). I guess it is similar in the case of products. Every new model of a car is bigger than the previous model. But when it comes to the size of the tablets you have to swallow, you will start questioning the model. To treat my recent bout of pharyngitis, I was given an antibiotic which is 1 gm. Till now I had seen only antibiotics which are 500mg (also called 'forte'for strength). The pharmacist said it is so big because it is a combination drug.

Some interesting news I have recently come across:

IBM is now the second largest private sector employer in India (after TCS) with an esimated 130,000 employees including in IBM Daksh, its BPO arm.

Cognizant (CTS) is in sniffing distance of the big 3 (TCS, Infy and Wipro). CTS has been growing consistently (quarter after quarter) at a higher rate than the big 3 something like China overtaking England, then France, then Germany and now Japan in size. It looks like they have a slightly different business offshore model which is just a bit more frontend than the others and this could be paying off.

Something from an old Economist (which I find is an excellent weekly - I know Baiju subscribes to it - it is too costly in the newsstand) - on the question of health claims of various products. EU is bringing in legislation to create a framework for assessing nutrition claims ('contains calcium' or 'high in fibre') and health claims ('promotes strong bones'). Everybody knows Omega 3 is good for you, but not all are equal. The good ones - long chain- comes from fish, while the less beneficial ones - short chain- comes from flax seed, soya etc. Another catch is something which has an equal quantity of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids may not be beneficial at all.

And lastly something gleaned from the book Gandhi gifted by Radhika. Kasturba Gandhi before marriage was Kasturba Kapadia! Now how many knew that! The only Kapadia I had heard of was Dimple.

Sanju is contemplating Bali next month. Which is a remarkable coincidence as our two good friends, George / Gigy and Dinesh/ Sangeetha also visited Bali in the last two months.

Signing off..