Indicast Podcast Network - Mother Feed

The US financial market is like an avalanche. When things go wrong out there, they bring the world economy down to an extent. Ritika gives a user friendly description of what is the big deal with the sub prime markets crisis! This week, while Anita Roddick of Body Shop passed away, her legacy of eco-friendly practice still lives on. In another news, Starbucks opened shop in Russia, it is contemplating for the nth time to enter India. And SRK's 'Om Shanti Om' is the biggest financial hit of Indian cinema (inflation adjusted) and his biography is selling at a neat 3000 Rupees

It's Ganpati time and abhishek can't get enough sleep because of Himesh Reshammiya. Pune Municipal Corporation has taken a firm stance by asking the 2000 odd Ganesh Mandals to pay up for the damage to the roads, Mumbai should follow the precedent. In other stories, The Twenty20 is on and the 3 hour cricket format is becoming a huge success. We have some random news about what women perceive kissing as opposed to men and Kurkre is goign to UK.

In this talk about telecom convergence and the mesmerising magical world of mobile telephony, broadband, and Internet TV, The Economists Tom orchestrates a perfect symphony by explaining in a jargon free language that the distinctions between these technologies are blurring. He believes utility and substance coupled with stlye and grace in products such as iPhone makes them a beautiful combination. And then, the talk reaches a crescendo when he responds to my diffident accusation that technology is overwhelming us and that we are growing too fast for our own comfort.

Janmasthmi was here a couple of days back the govindas were awesome with their human pyraminds. We talk about how there is method hidden in this chaos and the rules of govindas. We digress and pass by the topic of PDA in mumbai and its limit and the hungarians creating a world record in it. A every important topi was the sad bomb blasts in Hyderbad. WHy do we need extradiction treaties? And from the sports field, India hockey is going crazy.

India's largest bank, SBI which already has a good chunk of the Islamic Banking market feels that India is a largely untapped market. While the aviation industry in India breathes a sigh of relief with steadily increasing fares, in the British Aviation industry, BA faces litigation for fixing the fuel surcharge in collusion with Virgin. Multi million deals are being signed in India with Mallya scooping up Spyker Ferrari and in entertainment, Pritish Nandy signed a 100 crore deal to remake Sholay.

There are bad ads, good ads and then there is the third kind... The controvertial ads! Amul Macho was successful in raising a few eyeballs and more (no pun!) among a few in the Information and Broadcasting Industry of India. Also, RBI has fingered the corporate sector again to check the appreciating rupee. Closer home, the Indian farmer plays David to the Goliath, Reliance. It's right out of a hindi movie!

God must have choreographed Sanjay Dutt's release from the Yerwada jail in Pune where he was slated to languish for six years. The Supreme Court granted the actor an interim bail for dubious reasons! While Sanjay Dutt feeds the headlines for newspapers, Shibu Soren, the former Union Coal minister has been acquitted for a crime for which he was accused in 1994 for lack of "enough" evidence. In another story, the media blamed Orkut for the murder of a 16 year old. Cricket made news for non cricketing reasons again with the BCCI and ICL stand off touching new heights!

This week Thilak who blogs at Tech Buzz joined us at short notice to fillin in for Anand. We talk about Wimax roll out in India, cross linking sites, google phone, Flickr videos and review of Twango. We also spend sometime on Bubble 2.0!

At the stroke of the midnight hour, India turns 60! We do not dwell upon what India has achieved and what it lacks. You'll get that in the newspapers! On the eve of the Independence day, while Rahul Dravid celebrates a series win against England, another celebrity, Sanju baba will cheer for India from the Yerwada jail in Pune here he is serving a sentence. Indicast now allows you to leave a voice message for us! Just drop in a word (literally)!

This week, a familiar news item flashed across all news papers, 'Doha round fails.' Since its inception in 2001, Doha has been a playground of woes where the larger players like EU and USA do not relent to the requests of former kachaa limbus and currently, emerging economies of Brazil and India. Rupert Murdoch, the 76 year old young man has acquired Dow Jones for a neat $5 billion! Kishore Biyani's Future Group is storming urban India with its focus on youth and women!

The sound quality is a bit choppy in this episode since we were both on cell phones but that didnt stop us from arguing about this week's tech stories. The stories includes Nokia's acquistion of Twango, Microsoft's ad based MS Office, China having only 244 MS Vista licenses and ended with yet another Google acquisition.

In this episode we talk about how the Harry hoopla continues to rock the world and how adults and kids alike are hooked onto the book like it were a life saving drug! We wonder why one of the worlds biggest potential publishing markets is comatose. Can only a Harry Potter revive it or will the real Indian authours please stand up! We also discuss why Microfinance is a model that must find place in every economics syllabus. And finally Ritika teaches me a lesson or two in how to make your employees happy!

It was anniversary week this episode. The virus turned 25, blogs turned 10, and the Bra turned 100 The episode also covers the rumours about google and yahoo interested in buying rediff along with our product reviews about Google Gears and Webaroo.

This episode covers everything from our new woman president, Pratibha Patil is India's first woman president! While India finds another reason to celebrate what has been one of the most eventful presidential elections which is normally a dull affair, we wonder whether she would be able to pull of a few stunts that our former prez, Abdul kalam did (Read: oldest co-pilot). We also talk about the richest man on earth (nopes, not Gates anymore) to how to get yourself a job as a condom tester!

Russia will host the Winter Olympics in 2012. The NEWS is more about business than about sports! Also, listen to know how Vladamir Putin managed this coup! Closer home, Delhi will soon be hosting the Common wealth games in 2010 and that's supposed to help the Indian economy surge further. Delhi is already in 5th gear and the cosmetic surgery of the city is in progress. While voting for the '7 wonders of the world' has made news for many wrong reasons, we feel that it was a huge marketing case study! In the car industry, Bajaj debuts the passenger car market and competes with TATA's, Renaut and Honda! Read more to understand the possible strategy behind the decision. Indian Advertising now shifts focus towards women to sell two wheelers! Ritika feels that the ad agencies in India are more contemperory and creative in depicting the new age women than our TV/movies. We'd love to know your take on it.

US senate was disrupted yesterday for having Hindu prayer reciting the senate's invocation prayer. Taj is voted as one of the seven wonders of the world. But is it really? Abhishek says Indians dont deserve it. Rock stars have $1 million ferrari. Big deal, US astraunauts shit in $19 Million camode . Who rocks now!!

iHype has been dominating the technology news for the past 6 months now and finally it was D-day for Stephen Jobs. We discuss how the phone lacks a few basic features so a few of us are waiting. Reliance is rummoured to be in talks with Apple to set up Apple Stores to in India. So they will be introducing the iPhone in India but no dates as yet.Google wants to help you browse the internet while offline with their new product Google Gears but Webarro was the first mover with this idea. how comes google didnt just buy them off? Allofmp3.com is shut down by kremlin but Mp3sparks has cropped up. Same face.. different name!! Tata has launched its chain of Technology stores called Croma having a very urban and professional feel to the whole store.

If there were God in the Indian film industry today, it is unargubly, the Superstar, Rajnikant. His new movie Sivaji , the boss has raked in more moolah than some of the Yash Chopra Films... combined! No one knows who the better half of Reliance is, but, in the entertainment sector, Mukes bhai and Anil bhai , formarly from the same family (oops!) may cross paths. Reliance Industries and Yash Raj will enter into a deal to build Multiplexes and Anil Dhirubai Ambani Group is moving like a live wire in the Film distribution business (among other things). And this episode also marks a discussion on why the rupee is appreciating against the dollar and what is there in it (or not there) for our exportes who are whining! Bio Fuels is the future for India says Branson and co. Listen to know more!

It's Rain time in Mumbai and the city is already fealing the heat! (ironically!) While rains disrupted most of the city's roads, it was the chilly weather of Ireland that got to 9 Indian cricket players . Oops! Back in India, the presidential elections is gaining momentum like never before and USA is warming up for its prez candidates as well! While Sunita Williams returned from her 195 day expedition in space, Aditya wonders why is India celebrating her success! In sports, Lewis Hamilton , the 22 year old lad is shaking history in Formula One!

This was an amazingly lighthearted episode where Ritika and I had a lot of fun covering diverse topics like how Mallya's Kingfisher swooped in to take a controlling stake in Capt Gopinath's Air Deccan and how corporate America and its CEOs are being sacked for non business reasons! Also, how Infosys, the Indian IT powerhouse is deftly tackling attrition with its not so sporting Non Compete agreement which all its employees have to sign! Rupert Murdoch is getting younger and acquiring companies left, right, centre!