Christmas at Avian Media

Christmas brought back memories of childhood, complete with Santa, carols and Christmas trees. It was a wonderful office Christmas party at Avian Media's Delhi office on 23rd December 2011. 

The dress code for the occasion was red, green and white. Secret Santa brought full of excitement to one and all. 

Rum punch, baked vegetables, herb chicken, chicken salad, vegetable salad, garlic bread, nachos with salsa dip and rum cake kept the spirits high.

 

Click on to the video clip and stills below to get a feel of the Day!

 

 Request to be patient for the video clip to download!

 

AVIAN CELEBRATION OF LIGHTS

None of us can escape the raised spirits and exhilaration of Diwali. The aura of celebration surrounds us.

Floors decorated with marigolds, the scent of incense sticks, employees in ethnic wear and the chanting of prayers by the priest mingled with the enticing flavours of the pot-luck lunch to provide unalloyed pleasure.

It was my first Diwali at our Delhi office after I got transferred from Bangalore. Since I am in mourning for my mother, who transcended to the next world ten months ago, I attended to record the occasion on camera, as a part of office work.

Nevertheless, it was really good break from the hectic work where everyone just thought differently and got rejuvenated by the festival of lights – a great unifying force!

Check the stills and video clips below.

Happy Diwali!


Sandeep Acharya

 

 

Obituary - G. W. Lyngdoh

The Master is No More

Shillong has lost an eminent citizen and journalism has lost a symbolic figure with the passing of Gean Willington Lyngdoh. 

Affectionately addressed as Bah-Gean, he was an ace writer who had a deep understanding of subjects, particularly finance and politics. He had an exceptional command over English. In the 1990s some of his reports and articles on banking and finance were hailed as trend-setters.

Bah-Gean's difference was the depth of research he put into his work. During the pre-internet days in early 1990s, he would laboriously go through back issues of newspapers, journals and magazines, making notes in his diary, before interviewing his subject. He could put a person at ease quickly yet had a reputation of shooting the toughest questions.

I still remember the good old days when I was a correspondent for The Observer and Amrita Bazar Patrika based at Shillong. I often visited the press club for networking of stories. There would be this middle aged man, suited and booted, wearing thick black frame spectacles, typing out a clean copy of his story at one go. 

I once asked him how he managed it, as I had to waste paper after paper before a final copy was ready to be sent by fax or telex. He remarked, “…this is a news manufacturing centre… stay here and you will learn the tricks soon…” 

 His cool looks and attire led the Late D. L. Tharuh, ex- news editor of The Meghalaya Guardian to refer to him as John Major II, after the former Prime Minister of the U.K.

Bah-Gean was fond of Jim Reeves, Connie Francis and Elvis Presley. He was a recluse, yet had a large heart and was always helpful. I can still recall the valuable tips he had given when I was making my first weekly news review script for All India Radio. 

The age gap between us never deterred our friendship. In fact, every Sunday at 2:00 p.m., my home phone would ring and a friendly voice would ask me to hurry up to the press club for ‘manufacturing news’ and to polish a drink. 

Hey Bah-Gean, may your soul rest in eternal bliss!

Delhi Grooves at AXE MTV Grind

After a hectic week, Friday 24th June 2011 was a day to remember. All roads in Delhi led to Oodles Hotel Poolside for the live AXE MTV Grind party. The iconic MTV show that captured the hearts of millions has taken centre stage once again! From now on, every Saturday at 7 pm ‘AXE MTV Grind’ will be telecast.


All were dressed to kill. From jeans, capris, micro miniskirts, spaghettis and high heeled stilettos, women sported bright colours wih sparkles and sequins. The no-make-up visage, smoky eyes and tattoos added to their glam quotient. Men were mainly in casual Friday dress.


The party saw the presence of designer Abhishek Gupta, Nandita, Gaurav Guptaa, Tarun Tahillani, Director Home Ministry Neeraj Kansal, designer Puja and Shweta Mahajan, Brand Ambassador for Callaway Akhil Gupta among others. VJ Nikhil Cinappa too was seen at the event giving sound-bytes to the scribes.

Iconic MTV VJ Nikhil Chinappa in the centre

As the attendance was on special invitation, many left disappointed after reaching the venue, if their names did not figure in the list of invitees.


With strobe and psychedelic lights in full action, pulsating remixes of the 70s and 80s, spiced with the MTV signature ambience, party lovers were soon pumping extra adrenalin. As they grooved to the music beats, summer sweat shimmered in their foreheads.


Hosted by MTV VJs Anusha, Sonia, Gabriella, Gaeyln and Ayushman, they belted out remixes of Mehbooba, Laila O Laila, Dum Maro Dum to the latest dance hits like Sheila Ki Jawaani and Munni Badnaam Hi. ‘AXE MTV Grind’ takes you on a journey of heart-pumping Bollywood music and jaw-dropping dance moves clubbed with the ultimate in beach parties and sizzling bodies.


Announcing the show, Aditya Swamy, Channel Head, MTV India, said, “With grind, now you don’t have to go to the party… The party comes right to your home… And when AXE and MTV come together, you can be sure that it’s going to be a party that you wish never ends”.


Hindustan Unilever’s Oral Care & Deodorants General Manager Srinandan Sundaram said, “since Axe has been a popular brand with the young consumers, it was a seamless fit with MTV Grind who is bringing alive the party to their Television sets and Social media”.


The show will showcase crazy youngsters enjoying music under the sun, sand and water. AXE MTV Grind is where the party never stops!

EXL Services Acquires OPI

New Delhi, 02 May, 2011: Exl Service Holdings, Inc. (“EXL”) (NASDAQ: EXLS), a leading provider of transformation and outsourcing services, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Outsource Partners International (OPI), a leading global provider of finance & accounting (F&A) outsourcing services. With this acquisition, EXL establishes itself as one of the leading third-party service providers in global F&A outsourcing. 

Rohit Kapoor, President and CEO of EXL stated “I am extremely excited about EXL’s acquisition of OPI. OPI is one of the largest pure-play providers of complex F&A outsourcing in the market today. OPI has over 3,700 professionals globally, approximately 80 clients, and an extremely talented management team.  By combining EXL’s F&A outsourcing and transformation capabilities with OPI’s end-to-end F&A outsourcing capabilities and proprietary platforms, we will assemble a comprehensive set of F&A solutions.  These solutions will be of tremendous relevance to the CFO’s organization.  The acquisition furthers EXL’s strategic objective of leveraging technology and proprietary intellectual property in our solution offerings. We will also firmly establish our onshore outsourcing presence in the U.S. while enhancing our European and Asian delivery footprint. OPI’s and EXL’s cultures are aligned and customer centric. Our respective high-touch relationship management models are highly complementary and by combining forces we will be able to provide our clients with a broader range of transformation and outsourcing solutions. I am extremely pleased to welcome the entire OPI team to the EXL family, and we look forward to an exciting and successful future.”

Clarence Schmitz, Chairman and CEO of OPI stated “This transaction enables the logical next step in OPI’s growth. I am confident it will bring tremendous benefits to OPI’s clients, as well as enhance opportunities for our employees around the world. We are bringing together OPI’s domain expertise in F&A and EXL’s differentiated transformation and outsourcing capabilities. The combined company will have the ability to meet an even broader range of client requirements and to accelerate our investments in proprietary F&A platforms and solutions. OPI’s clients will benefit from the addition of EXL’s transformational skill sets, a broader geographic delivery footprint, and its strong balance sheet.” 

Clarence Schmitz and Kishore Mirchandani, President of OPI, will join the management team of EXL after the close of the transaction. 

EXL will host a conference call on May 3, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. (ET) to discuss the acquisition and answer investor questions. The conference call will be available live via the internet by accessing the investor relations section of EXL's website at www.exlservice.com, where the accompanying presentation providing additional data on the transaction can now be accessed. Please go to the website at least fifteen minutes prior to the call to register, download and install any necessary audio software.

To listen to the conference call via phone, please dial 1-877-303-6384 or 1-224-357-2191 and enter "58183604". For those who cannot access the live broadcast, a replay will be available by dialing 1-800-642-1687 or 1-706-645-9291 and entering "58183604" from two hours after the end of the call until 11:59 p.m. (ET) on May 17, 2011. The replay will also be available on the EXL website (www.exlservice.com).