Saturday, October 08, 2005

The ponytail and the legal notice!

I really like Desipundit, not only because they have brought a whole lot of new readers to this site - even though few of those new readers leave comments - but also because these guys can sometimes uncover some gems of hilarity from the Indian blogosphere. Blogger Gaurav Sabnis has been served a legal notice by the ponytailed management (maybe) guru (joke) Arindam Chaudhari. Now, I know giving space to this persdon is a waste of very valuable (albeit cheap) server space. But this letter is too hilarious. I am still laughing!
Just read this paragraph -
This notice is with respect to your releasing totally false articles about IIPM on the website blogspot.com (reference blogger.com) that has your clear reference and that has been released by you with proven deliberate and fraudulent intentions to harm the image of IIPM and related businesses. The articles have caused unfathomable damage to the reputation of IIPM and to its various operational areas. The articles further have affected innumerable future operations of IIPM. We have legally notarized and logged all the releases and are sending you this email to you as the first notice of proposed legal, judicial and criminal action against you that has already been approved & cleared by the Post Graduate Fellow Programme committee at IIPM. Even though the damage caused by your deliberate and fraudulent intentions cannot be calculated, the proposed filing would involve an immediate damage claim from you of Rs.125 Crores; apart from other various losses (including, but not restricted to opportunity losses, sales losses, legal costs and associated expenses). Corollary claims and subsequent parallel criminal and civil actions are being notified further on.
---
I really don't know whether to laugh or cry! Now all this is because Gaurav linked to an article carried by Rashmi Bansal's magazine JAM - which explored the tall claims made by IIPM. Now, I believe of all Indian bloggers should link to this article and someone should make a mirror of this site as well. Now, something about B-School surveys quickly, because the publication I work for does one - firstly with regard to IIPM - different IIPM's are rated differently - so claiming that IIPM as an institution is #8 or #9 is incorrect maybe IIPM Mumbai or IIPM Delhi got the rank - never IIPM. Two, as JAM says all B-School surveys are dynamic and rankings change every year - #1 in 2003 could become #16 in 2004 - sometimes because schools drop in and drop out of surveys. Plus - always look at how a survey is conducted - some surveys have very dubious antecedents where the person conducting the survey could be tied to a particular B-School themselves (as happens in the ratings of one Business magazine). Two, ratings are always perception based - students, ex-students and recruiters - any survey which looks at data supplied by the school will be incorrect - Infrastructure and papers written by teachers can easily be falsified.All I do know is that IIPM is not recognised by AICTE and that (while not a sin) is never highlighted - so if you want admission abroad it could be a problem. Anyway, blogs aren't safe from legal action - but I think that Gaurav has little to worry about! WWe can all show our support can't we.
PS : If you are a blogger in Delhi - Shivam of Mall Road is hosting the Delhi bloggers meet on Sunday. I would be there but instead I'm sweating in the Big Guava (I was told Big Mango is Bangkok - Damn!).
PPS : I'll just post one last thing before I wind up for the weekend. This was a post about the way the local media reported the Google-Sun Micro alliance. It is quite classic - guess why I don't rely on any of the Indian papers for news, especially tech news. Check these gems out!
The more that is written about the alliance between Sun and Google announced on Tuesday, the less it appears to resemble anything even close to the truth. But the Times of India really takes the biscuit - sorry guys, but how could anyone who listened to the announcement come to the conclusion that Sun and Google have merged?
According to the Times of India, "Google has announced a strategic merger with giant Sun Microsystems, in a deal that is expected to create another dent in arch-competitor Microsoft's monopoly over the Internet."
Many of you will have spotted two pretty significant problems with this sentence. Firstly, Sun and Google announced an alliance, not a merger. Second, Microsoft does not have a "monopoly over the Internet". No-one does. Microsoft may have the lion's share of the browser market, but that's not the same as having a monopoly over the Internet. Besides, the Sun-Google collaboration is not so much about changing the dynamics of the browser market as it is about changing the dynamics of the desktop applications market.
The Indian Express fared slightly better, but they too seem to have witnessed a completely different press conference to the rest of the world. According to the paper, "Google Inc took a big step toward challenging Microsoft Corp's dominance in computer word-processing and spreadsheets with the announcement today that it would distribute Java technology from Sun Microsystems Inc." Wrong again - Sun will distribute the Google Toolbar when people download Java from Sun. So far, Google has not said it will be distributing Java. They are exploring other ways to collaborate, they say, but there is no firm news yet.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

glad to know that DesiPundit brought u more visitors.....some of them will eventually start commenting as well.

Anonymous said...

Arindam Chaudhuri has to be the least deserving of the title management guru of anyone on this planet.

I remember the times when IIPM was a fledgling institute and was lionised in the media when the liberalization-fueled boom in demand for management courses started. They became bigger players and now suddenly Mr. Ponytail thinks he can throw his weight around. Jeez! How he manages to get that pathetic book of his reviewed in major newspapers is beyond me.

Anonymous said...

I believe you will lose your job over this - consult with your editor.

Its happened before, it will happen again.

Quietly shut down your blog and you get to keep your car and feed your family.

You are a tiny, little, pathetic, nobody. You understand? You will br crushed. Delete this lies and nonsense in this blog.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work buddy.

Anonymous said...

If he is a tiny, little, pathetic, nobody..
Then why does his words disturb you so much? Why do you bother to read his Blog? Why comment? Why threaten? Aint you lending credibility to his words.

Anonymous said...

K, I deleted the earlier comment because I didn't want to swamp your commentbox :)! I did some more snooping around at the IIPM website, and here's what puzzles me:

Ponytail's dad claims to have a D.Sc from the Berlin School of Economics. A look at the Berlin School of Economics website shows that they do not offer a D.Sc!

It is probable that they offered one in the past (though very unlikely), but the Berlin School of Economics was founded in 1971, while IIPM was founded in 1973. Daddy ponytail further claims that he worked for HLL after completing his D.Sc. If you put all this info together, you get logical impossibility.

Here's a link to the Berlin School of Economics website:
http://www.fhw-berlin.de/fhw2000/english/introduction.htm

K said...

Thanks for the threat! I'm most flattered.

Anonymous said...

ahahahahhhahhaaa ... this is hilarious !!!

Anonymous said...

hahahaha.. same here. By the way I just visited mediaha. sad how this big bullies threaten the bloggers, but like u said, quite flaterring that it shook the Big Boys enough to threaten and even ty to close some. if they weren't scared of what collective journalism could do them, they wouldn't have been so bothered. keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Why can't Mr Anonymous have the guts to name himself?

K said...

I guess it is because Mr Anonymous is a pathetic little turd himself - anyway I thought about disabling Anon Comments - but anon commenters are the most fun.

Anonymous said...

i dont understand which idiot would serve a legal notice in the email ? what if it was a junk email box i used to collect my spam ? . Gaurav should have ignored those mofos and shoudda let dem burn the thinkpads. thinkpads are most expensive of the laptops. it wouldda been a great loss to those *ss wipes.

is there a legal code that can take action on bloggers ? a blogger can drop his site any moment. cant he ?

i have never heard any blogger being sued over even in states.

K said...

Well, there is the case of Apple Computer taking some technology blogs like Appleinsider 9or something like that) to court because they were 'leaking' confidential information. However, this is another thing altogether. It is freaking hilarious!

K said...

This page is on Page One of Google's search for the ponytail. Damn!

Anonymous said...

Bring out the writer in you! Weave a story! Watch your story unfold with your fellow bloggers.New twists, new turns while this absurd fiction goes places. See your story through virtual eyes.

Visit my blog for more details.

www.bachelorblues.blogspot.com
Story so far...

Bachelor:

It was a crowded raliway platform. Manav looked around in apprehension at the other students bustling around him with their luggage in tow. He weaved around them and looked at anxious mothers kissing their children goodbye and worrying fathers giving out last minute advices. He dragged his torn suitcase behind him and searched for any empty seat. The train was to leave to in fifteen minutes. Finding an empty seat in a compartment, Manav tried to put his suitcase on it and occupy it, but one look at his tattered clothes and the girl sitting there moved to occupy the empty seat. Nobody would let him sit near them and Manav was left standing all alone struggling to stop the tears streaming down his face. And then he saw....

Kay Yes said...

... a woman who looked like his mother! At a closer look, he found it was not his mother! His tears did not move any of the fellow passengers. They looked at him with disgust.

Just a month back, his life too was as cozy as theirs was! His family had gone on a vacation to Kashmir! And just when they were about to leave Uri, the earth quake struck! Everyone of his family was lost in it! He went to Delhi by an Army van. None of his relatives were ready to accomodate him. With no one to support him, whatever little wealth his family had, was split among the relatives! Finally, it was decided that he should stop his studies & get back to Delhi to work in his Uncle's kiraana dukhan!

So he is, in the station, on the way to Trivandrum,with his tattered clothes & torn suitcase, that he has been wearing since last week. He would go to the Sainik school in Trivandram and get back his belongings to join the prestigious job in his Uncle's petty shop!

Suddenly, something struck him! He hit the girl who did not give him the seat, snatched her gold chain, jumped out of the train and ran like a mad fellow, until he was stopped by....

Anonymous said...

Funny letter indeed! IIPM stretched this one out to really hilarious extent!

My supporting entry at:
http://www.desihub.com/blog/page/mihir/20051013#indian_blogosphere_heating_up

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.