Take time to Stretch

Sitting at a computer for a long time often causes neck and shoulder stiffness and occasionally lower back pain. Do these stretches frequently throughout the day or whenever you feel stiff. Also make sure you get up and walk around the office whenever you think of it.

Be Fit, Be Healthy !!!

The making of India’s retail king

Kishore Biyani could have stayed in his father's firm, continuing the family's safe way of doing business, but the risk-taker dreamt of other ventures. In less than three decades, he has gone from family employee to head of India's largest retail conglomerate.  His company, Pantaloon Retail, has roughly 1,000 stores across the country and had 47 billion rupees (Dh3.75bn) in sales last year. That success made Mr Biyani the main attraction. His peers at the National Retail Federation crowned him retailer of the year. The Indian press has called him the king of retail. When Mr Biyani went into business, few thought his venture would survive, he says. He wasn't backed by a family corporation, and peers dismissed him as a compulsive risk-taker.

 

Mr Biyani who grew up in Mumbai's Malabar Hill area, was not born into old money. But his middle-class family was anchored by a line of businessmen, starting with his grandfather, who moved to Mumbai from Nimbi, a village in Rajasthan, to open a wholesale shop selling dhotis and saris. When Mr Biyani visited Mumbai's Century Bazaar as a teenager, he saw retailing being conducted on an immense scale. He decided then that he would create something similar - but better, he says.

 

Mr Biyani's first venture on his own came about by a fluke. It was the early 1980s, and he noticed that his friends were wearing trousers made of "stonewashed" fabric, a popular material at the time. In the next six months, he found a local mill that made the fabric and sold a few hundred thousand rupees worth of the material to a few garment manufacturers and shops in the city - giving him his first profit and his first taste of entrepreneurial success.

 

He then launched his own brand of fabric for men's trousers. He called it WBB - white, brown and blue. When demand for the fabric was at its peak, In 1987, Mr Biyani started a new company, a garment manufacturer called Menz Wear Private Ltd. The garments were sold under the brand Pantaloon, which Mr Biyani chose because it had the trendy feel of an Italian fashion house but was close to the Urdu word for trousers, patloon. The first Big Bazaar was opened in Kolkata in 2001. Within 22 days, he opened two more. Now there are 100 throughout India serving about 2 million customers a week. Part of Mr Biyani's success, he wrote in his book, is attributable to luck - being in the right business at the right time, in the right country.

 

Today the Future Group Chairman Kishore Biyani is determined to prove to the world that life goes on even without foreign direct investment (FDI). The retail pioneer has announced his newest business initiative, Big Bazaar Direct, with a teaser campaign that says, "1 Lakh Outlets, Zero FDI. The Future of FDI is Coming Soon".

Helen Keller – A classic inspiration

It was a cold winter afternoon in 1920. A large number of people were gathered in a hall to witness a different show. The curtains went up. A majestic middle-aged woman introduced herself to the audience. It was Anne Sullivan. Anne made a brief speech. Everyone listened attentively to her sweet-sounding words. Later another woman, beautifully dressed and pleasant-looking, walked on to stage. Anne introduced the women as her student.

Then the women started speaking. She struggled hard to let out each word. The audience too struggled to grasp what she said. Still they, kept their ears strained and sharp. The audience were immensely touched by her speech. Her words could be summed up this way: “My teacher told you how her one word touched the darkness of my mind and how I woke up to the bliss of life. I was dumb; now I can speak. I am obliged to the hands and hearts of others for this achievement. Through their love I came to see my mind; I could see God, I could find happiness. In fact, we all live for helping others and for being helped. By remaining united we can do a lot of things. Only love can break down the walls that stand between us and our happiness. The greatest commandment is to love one another. I would like to thank God at the top of my voice for all the love, happiness and hope that would be coming to me.” The lady was none other than Helen keller, the American author, political activist and lecturer who was deaf, blind and dumb.

The audience there had come to get a glance of this ‘living miracle’ much more than hearing a lecture. Most of them were curious as if they were viewing a rare creation. But Helen Keller’s glory lies in the fact that she suffered all such humiliations and fought bravely for the rights of the physically handicapped people. Even today, the life of Helen who successfully conquered obstacles in life is indeed a source of inspiration and zeal for millions of people.

The eventful life of Helen Keller has ever been an inspiration for the physically disabled and for those who suffer discrimination of any kind. She advocated and struggled for their rights till the end of her life.