December 2011

wins the Best Office Architecture of the Year

Read Inside
SANGAM
Meeting of Minds

TCS, Siruseri

Lounge

Drive the BMW X1

the

team

editorial
Dear Readers, Seasons Greetings! Well, it's that time of the year when we look back at the past 12 months and feel nostalgic. In our year-end special issue, we have laid-out highlights of the past 12 months through pictures. The pictures shall help you relive the moments that made 2011 a special year, not merely for the company, but for its 2-lakh + employees. This month's Cover Story is a Christmas gift for all of you. TCS, Siruseri has won the Best International Office Architecture of the Year at the International Property Awards in London, which is the worlds most prestigious property competition. What has made the victory even sweeter is the fact that the Siruseri campus has eliminated regional heats winners from Arabia, Europe, Africa, and America, to emerge victorious. Also, the Cover Story introduces you to the salient features of the building that make it truly impressive. In another special coverage, we have a feature on the grand finale of IT Wiz. The finals concluded a journey which began with over 14,700 high-school students competing for the regional titles across 12 cities during 2011. Read the story to find out the ultimate winners of the biggest school quiz in India. TCS Summit 2011 Australia and New Zealand focused on emerging business trends and exploring new opportunities for growth despite global economic challenges. This years TCS Summit for Australia and New Zealand continued the tradition of gathering together a broad range of senior level executives, distinguished speakers and influential business leaders. Youd not like to miss the exclusive coverage of the summit in the inside pages. In yet another feature, we have a detailed coverage of Sangam, an event at which the TCS top brass expounded strategies to face global challenges. We have all their thoughts covered in our Special Focus section. In our regular feature A day in the life of - TCS Vice President and Company Secretary, S. Mukhopadhyay, talks about his average day at work. The special issue concludes with the Lounge section that includes the BMW X1 drive, must-use Android multimedia apps, Ashok Poojarys definition of Wellness and a travelogue on Karnala Fort. The Editorial Team at.tcs@tcs.com

Associate Editors Anoop Chugh <anoop.chugh@tcs.com>

Neelanjan Dasgupta <neelanjan.dasgupta@tcs.com>

Correspondents Bangalore Shoba Murthy <shoba.m@tcs.com> Hyderabad Nimesh Varma <nimesh.varma@tcs.com> Pune Suchita Mantri <suchita.mantri@tcs.com> Ahmedabad Sanjukta Acharya <sanjukta.acharya@tcs.com> Kolkata Tuli Roy <tuli.roy@tcs.com> Lucknow Dr. Anita Singh <anita.singh@tcs.com> Thiruvananthapuram Smitha Balakrishnan
<smitha.balakrishnan@tcs.com>

LATAM Diego Carambula <diego.carambula@tcs.com> APAC (Singapore, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand) Karen Noronha
<karen.noronha@tcs.com>

Europe Sobha Varghese <sobha.varghese@tcs.com> North America William Thomas <william.thomas@tcs.com> UK Jennifer Stanzl <jennifer.stanzl@tcs.com> MEA (South Africa, Dubai, Kuwait, Bahrain) Anand Sitaraman
<anand.sitaraman@tcs.com>

Saudi Arabia Moinul Hadque <moinul.hadque@tcs.com> TCS Banking and Financial Services Suchita Mantri
<suchita.mantri@tcs.com>

TCS Energy Research and Utilities Sanjukta Acharya

<sanjukta.acharya@tcs.com>

TCS Infrastructure Services Ashok Balasubramanian

<ashok.balasubramanian@tcs.com>

TCS GCP Rowena Pereira <rowena.pereira@tcs.com> TCS GE Riddhi Chakravorty <riddhi.chakravorty@tcs.com> TCS Financial Solutions Anjana Srikanth <anjana.srikanth@tcs.com> TCS Maitree Mehul Kothare <corporate.maitree@tcs.com> BPO Roma Ramanathan <roma.ramanathan@tcs.com> CTO Seetha Srikanth <seetha.srikanth@tcs.com> Distribution Janet Fredrick <janet.fredrick@tcs.com> Design and printing Spenta Multimedia (www.spentamultimedia.com) For Private Circulation Only Send all contributions and photographs to <at.tcs@tcs.com> Deadlines February 2012 Issue - January 15, 2012 Editorial Guidelines Ultimatix > News & Media > @TCS e-zine

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contents
Cover Story
06 Siruseri campus wins the world's Best Office Architecture of the Year trophy
The TCS Siruseri campus is receiving global recognition because of its innovative and spectacular design

10

Curvaceous!

We explore the Siruseri campus, an architectural marvel that inspires more than awe

Lead Story
14 IT Wiz surpasses expectations
A detailed report on the fiercely fought TCS IT Wiz grand finale in Chennai

32

The year in pictures

We allow you to relive moments from the year gone by

Special Focus
18
At Sangam, the TCS top brass presented strategies to tackle global challenges

44

News Bulletin

A confluence of Minds

A quick round-up of the events in and around TCS

Lounge
52 54 Gear View
BMW X1 reviewed

ANZ Summit 2011

26 Action Down Under
The focus of the summit was on emerging business trends and exploring new opportunities for growth

SANGAM
Meeting of Minds

Multimedia apps for your Android smartphone

Machinehead

A day in the life of

28 Suprakash Mukhopadhyay
This TCS Vice President and Company Secretary believes that no other company can match the speed at which TCS works

56 58

Wellness

Ashok Poojary's Wellness mantra

Backpackers

Trek to Karnala Fort

COVER STORY

And the worlds best architecture of the year is

TCS, Siruseri

TCS' Siruseri facility is in the spotlight not just owing to its enormous size but primarily on account of its innovative and spectacular design, which is leading to an increased and well deserved global recognition. A detailed report

Vice-President (Centre), Ravindra J. Shah, receiving the award on behalf of TCS at the ceremony in London

CS Siruseri campus is straight out of a sci-fi movie. The sprawling campus is spread over 70 acres, the biggest software development facility of TCS, designed to accommodate more than 25,000 employees. But, its not the mammoth size of the campus that has attracted eyeballs but the sheer innovation and design that has made the butterfly-like structure the talk of the world. No wonder then that TCS campus at Siruseri has won the Best Office Architecture Trophy for the year 2011 at the International Property Awards held in London. Established 17 years ago, the International Property Awards in association with Bloomberg Television and Google is the worlds most prestigious property competition.

The awards cover residential as well as commercial categories with regional heats for Arabia, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. The highest scoring entries from each category in every region are then reevaluated to establish the winners at the international level, culminating in an annual grand finale. Judging is carried out through a meticulous process involving a panel of over 60 experts covering every aspect of the property business. Not to anyones surprise, TCS Siruseri campus has been adjudged best commercial building (architecture) in the world for the year 2011. While congratulating the team and the architects for the award conferred on

the Siruseri campus architecture, CFO, Mahalingam said, It is no doubt a great piece of architecture. But to do it in India required a company which was willing to take this up in spite of its complexity and cost, a team which steadfastly stood by its design concept, and a construction consortium which brought it into existence. All of us can be proud of our part in this achievement. Innovation TCS has always been very innovative in creating world class facilities for its associates, by bringing different creative ideas from different architects not only from India but also reputed architects from outside India. This is evident by looking at the various facilities TCS has created in

6 | @TCS

different centres in India as well as overseas. However, the Siruseri campus stands apart in many ways not only against our facilities in India and overseas but also when compared to the other commercial infrastructure facilities across the globe. In its journey towards this global recognition, the Siruseri facility was first awarded as the Best Office Architecture in India and won the regional accolades as the Best in Asia Pacific. This automatically qualified it to represent the region at an international level competing against the best entries from the other six regions. To win against them, which included creations from some of the top architects of the world, is something we all can cherish for a long time to come. The Siruseri facility, now recognised as the Best Office Architecture in the World, is not the only strong feature of this facility. A lot of attention has been given for creating functionally rich infrastructure for our associates to apply their creative mind, increase their productivity, showcase TCS capabilities and innovation to our customers, and at the same time enjoy being there. Additionally, care has been taken to introduce a lot of energy saving mechanisms as our commitment to the green movement. While the first phase of Siruseri was awarded a gold rated campus by LEED (Leadership in

Energy and Environment Design) for its green features, the second phase has been awarded a platinum certification, the highest in this category, which not many facilities in India can boast of, said Vice-President, Ravindra J. Shah, who accepted the award on the behalf of TCS at a ceremony in London. As one of the biggest IT facilities in India, perhaps the biggest, with a capacity for about 24,000 associates and well designed elegant interiors with high comfort ambiance work spaces, the facility promotes collaboration, creativity and innovation. A large training centre with about 2,000 seating capacityand an artistically designed inverted cone library structure are added

features for continuous learning and development. A three level auditorium structure, a large amphitheatre, a club house supporting indoor and outdoor recreation extend the uniqueness of this campus. The other features of this campus include well designed energy efficient features, efficient electro mechanical systems, day light harvesting, energy conversation through 100 per cent recycling, dual source of power supply from dedicated 110 KV sub-station, full back up power generation, intelligent building management system,

A distinctive and cohesive layout for such a large innovative campus. The built forms are dynamic with faade and skyline interest. A considerable achievement in innovative sustainable technologies in a difficult environment. Clearer rationale for the campus programme and the design decisions would have helped the entry. An excellent development in a high quality number of entries - A jury member talking about the Siruseri building

The award-winning structure of the Siruseri campus @TCS | 7

COVER STORY

a large rain water harvesting pond with a capacity of 25 MLD of water, extensive water bodies and landscaping. All these have added to the attraction of the campus This sums up a lot in terms of what the state-of-the-art building like Siruseri conveys. It is all about TCS, its commitment, its passion, its thrust for creativity and innovation, whether it is in information technology or any other field such as infrastructure for creating best facilities for its employees. It is a statement to its existing and potential clients that TCS stands tall along with its peers in the global platform. The pride of being associated with such a facility is felt not only by TCS employees but also to all its customers. Customers rest assured that best of the facilities are made available from where they are being serviced and that brings a lot of satisfaction to them and to their standing among their own stakeholders, added Shah. It is clear that through facilities like Siruseri, TCS is conveying to its employees that as they expect the best from all its employees, in return they provide the best possible environment to them so as to foster and promote creativity, innovation, high productivity at the same time ensure their well being. In short, facilities like Siruseri underline what TCS stands for, leadership, innovation,

is already a world leader in Information Technology, however this is another feather in its cap, indirectly connects to the business TCS is in, as it provides best of facilities in the world to its employees, who are the real assets of TCS and emphasises its leadership position. It is a fact that India is a growth story and future of the world economy. At the same time it is acknowledged that TCS has been part of this growth story. Achieving this award and the distinction conferred strengthens TCS as a catalyst in its continued efforts to further this India Growth story on the world stage. Reactions It is amazing to see the varied reactions from one and all when they visit the campus for the first time, whether it is a client, a TCSer or a guest. Nobody is prepared to witness this magnificent and impressive campus and for the shock they are going to get. Sometimes, it is difficult to describe in words the shock and the expressions on the face of many of the visitors seeing it for the first time. A very important and high ranking dignitary who visited this place, just kept looking at the roof top, standing in front of the engineering building gaping and totally unaware of the sight he himself was presenting, recollected Shah. Amazing, out of the world, impressive, not seen anything like this anywhere in the world, fantastic the reactions, though varied convey the thought that they have seen something extraordinary. This award confirms everyones feelings in no uncertain terms. All the clients regardless of new or the ones already being served from here want to be part of this place and grow here only. The TCSers working here enjoy the facility very much and must feel the pride to be here and become others' envy. By Anoop Chugh anoop.chugh@tcs.com

achievement, passion, efficiency, agility, commitment, integrity and excellence. The Award Today achieving this award at an international level, certifying the distinction reached, brings worlds attention on TCS and on this facility, which underscores fulfillment of this vision. It is a proud moment for each and every TCSer. When the architects Carlos Ott and Carlos Ponce De Leon from Uruguay were asked to submit an concept architecture, the brief to them from the management was clear. We want a world class state-of-the-art facility which will become a brand statement for TCS, added Shah. Achieving this distinction means a lot. It is feeling of being on top of the world. TCS

The Siruseri facility, now recognised as the Best for Office Architecture in the World, is not the only strong feature of this facility. A lot of attention has been given for creating functionally rich infrastructure for our associates to apply their creative minds, increase their productivity, showcase TCS capabilities and innovation to our customers, and at the same time enjoy being there

8 | @TCS

COVER STORY

Curvaceous!
The TCS Siruseri campus is a world unto itself. Elegantly built it is a thoughtprovoking architectural marvel that inspires more than awe midday drive through the Old Mahabalipuram Road can be a dusty affair. The sun beating down mercilessly, reflecting off the roofs of speeding vehicles as roadside shops open half heartedly, braving the dryness of the Chennai winter. As you approach Siruseri though, you gradually notice the aridity being replaced by state-of-the-art buildings and swanky IT parks, lush green lawns and broad parkways. IT parks however, in all their grandeur, somehow manage to look the same all over the country. Much like airport runways. So the sceptic in you gives a dismissive eye while acknowledging the progress of modern India. But then you take a sudden right turn and see it. Like the stone mountain of William Wordsworths Stolen Boat, arises a structure straight out of the townships of the world of George Jetson. You watch flabbergasted as it draws closer and wonder if you have found some sort of a port key to transport you to another planet. For in front of your eyes stand massive structures of steel, made as if they are blooming out like flowers to the world. And they are separated by a gigantic concave of steel rods, like a spaceship that is ready to take flight. By the time you enter the gate that proudly says Tata Consultancy Services, you realise that you have been gaping all this while.

The arc in architecture It is, however, not the massiveness of the Siruseri campus that enthrals you, but quite plainly the magnificence. The entire campus, over a built up area of 5,100, 000 sq. ft., is not just all about extravagance and comfort, but even for the untrained eye, there is an omnipresence of art in the way it has been built. Designed by Carlos Ponce De Leon, the world renowned Uruguayan architect, it has already grabbed eyeballs across the world as being one of the finest specimens of postmodern architecture in recent times. Nothing about its architecture is actually straight. From the walls, to the railings to even the design of the granite floors are all curves, says Percival Brooks, member of the administration team of Siruseri. You find it hard to believe of course, so once you are shown around the campus, and actually find truth in the sentence, you gape again. The eccentric sun shades on the roof tops curve like the ones in a football stadium; the Central Spine, a 314 mt concave structure which is equivalent to three football fields and bisects the 12 buildings of General Service Blocks, six on each side, is a gigantic curve. Similarly, you notice that everything from the shape of the passageways to the designs of the staircases has a much defined arc in all of them. Complete and competent The six engineering blocks, are products of step architecture; in other words, the space reduces as one goes up. Built on the model of South Indian temples, each building houses around 3500 to 4000 people. The total number of seats in the entire structure reads a staggering 23, 000, and whats more; plans are already on to house a few more. If you take into account the security and the ground staff along with the employees, once the place is complete, we would have around 30,000 people moving in and out of the campus at any given time, says Percival. And in order to support such a large number, the campus is well equipped with its own substation (110 kv), power backup and the
@TCS | 11

COVER STORY

"A lot of our employees have started relocating to Siruseri with very good reasons."

most proficient security arrangements. The campus has a pharmacy, ATM centres and every other basic amenity one needs to make life easy. With more than an acre dedicated for rain water harvesting for sanitation, gardening etc., the campus has already won accolades and awards as a green building. The architecture of the engineering blocks is such that they encourage a regular flow of wind. The drop in the temperature within the campus is something which is impossible not to notice with a soothing gust of air blowing at all times to give a pleasant feel even at the height of a South Indian summer. Being at least 30 kms away from the city, the problem of transporting the employees to and from the campus is taken care of by more than 150 buses that run every day. Siruseri is fast becoming a thriving IT hub and soon there will be every facility one needs to lead a comfortable lifestyle, says Senior Manager, Naveen Kumar. Sure enough, there is already a mall and a few modern housing complexes by L&T and Hiranandani around

the area. A lot of our employees have started relocating to Siruseri with very good reasons, says Naveen. With the soon to be finished recreational zone which will have an Olympic size swimming pool, gymnasium, basketball, tennis courts and cricket pitches, employees would find very few reasons to miss the hustle and bustle of city life. To work at a place like this is something both fortunate and pleasurable, says Smeetha, a TCSer on the campus, just to look around and see such amazing structures makes us feel very proud. Her friends echo her sentiments as they flock together to have lunch in one of the cafeterias. Just for the information, they have 16 floors of cafeterias to choose from, which by now, would miraculously cease to surprise you. At the very end of the campus, construction is still on to build one of the tallest towers of the country. With a height of 136 meters, it would dwarf the mighty Qutub Minar and would house conference halls and other offices. Facing it would be an eight floor library in the shape of an inverted cone and

"To work at a place like this is something both fortunate and pleasurable."

12 | @TCS

a sprawling Learning and Development centre. Once the entire construction is complete, needless to say it would be something that would change the landscape of the region forever. Sometimes, we find passersby, who do not belong to this building, taking a moment, standing and staring at the campus, says Percival. The best moments are perhaps when clients from abroad come and watch the campus in absolute awe, almost finding it difficult to believe what they are seeing. A perfect blend Even in the midst of its massiveness, not for one moment does the campus lose out on eloquence. From the ashen walls to the muted white of the steel of the Central Spine, everything falls in a perfect rhythm. The six engineering blocks are each shaped like six butterflies, and if one looks at the entire campus from a birds eye view, all the individual structures together would form one large butterfly! The palm trees and the lush green lawns, the roof top gardens and sound of the water from the fountains

make for an experience that makes Siruseri a treat for the eyes and mind. If the fact that it has taken more steel to build the Siruseri campus than it has to build the Eiffel Tower is something that makes it unique, the shadowed lanes inside the campus arching through a continuous breeze and cosy seating areas at regular intervals that promise endless conversations make it precious. Even with its intimidating scale, the structure gives that uncanny feeling of belonging, of being a perfect blend of infrastructural progress and an environment that stimulates personal growth and mental calm. The Siruseri campus is in a way a perfect example of Tatas eternal legacy. When once asked about the idea behind the curves of the structure, Carlos replied that they signify the endlessness of Tata. You take a look now and realise, that as far as tributes are concerned, there couldnt have been one more befitting. By Neelanjan Dasgupta neelanjan.dasgupta@tcs.com

Trivia
Total quantity of steel used: Rebars of 36,000 MT and structural steel of 12,000 MT Total structural steel used is 12,000 MT as against Eiffel Towers 7000 MT Amount of concrete used: 285,000 Cum of piles constructed: 10,787 No. Each floor's area: 58,000 sq feet MVA TNEB power. This is equal to 22 providing power for 50,000 houses MVA back up DG 20 Pipes used in the central spine are of a special grade generally used for oil or gas transportation. These unique custom made materials are procured specifically to meet our structural requirements from TATA Steel, JINDAL and MSL Electrical cables used 1,000 Km Equivalent to the distance between Chennai and Nagpur IBMS Cables of 3,000 km used Equivalent to the distance between Srinagar and Kanyakumari Networking cables: Around 850 KmEquivalent to the ?distance between Chennai and Vizag conditioning capacity of Air 9,900 TR one of the largest air conditioning systems in the country with many energy conservation features Sewage treatment plant of capacity 1.25 MLD Curvature of the building, circular shape, sloped columns and core area concrete walls were the biggest challenges in construction

@TCS | 13

LEAD STORY

IT Wiz Surpassing expectations

The grand finale of the TCS IT Wiz in Chennai proved to be a fiercely challenging competition in which some of the most intelligent young minds from India displayed remarkable poise and determination in their pursuit of scientific knowledge hat Steve Jobs wore turtlenecks is a well-known fact. He, however, started wearing them for a reason. And when one sees a standard nine student stand and explain the reason with the same confidence with which he would probably name the members of the Justice League, you cannot help but be in absolute awe. And not just him, but all those bright students who attended and participated in the grand finale of the TCS IT Wiz at Chennai this December, would very easily steal your heart with their intelligence, knowledge and wisdom.

All the young winners of TCS IT Wiz 2011 are the emerging generation, who can propel Indias future growth and prosperity, said CEO & MD N. Chandra at the event. Events like quizzing are important to create well-rounded global individuals, who can collaborate under pressure as well as compete under the spotlight. The national quest for science and technology knowledge displayed by students across India has been remarkable throughout the competition and validates our belief that Indias talent pipeline in this area is only growing. He also spent some quality

time with all the contestants as they got the opportunity to have supper with him after the event. The fact that he took time out of his busy schedule to give encouragement to these young Turks emphasised the importance of grooming the youngsters of the nation.

Fairness: an integral part

The fact that the biggest school quiz of India has been consistently raising the standard of quizzing in the country is well known, and therefore, the finals always promise to

The participants strike a pose with Chandra after the quiz 14 | @TCS

WINNERS

be a high class affair. What is extraordinary is perhaps the fact that each time, it surpasses the expectations to give the audience something to remember, and most of all, feel proud that the future of India is in such bright hands. This time though, the format of the quiz underwent a change. Unlike the previous edition, there was no semi-final before the final round as all the 12 teams battled it out with the team with the lowest points being disqualified with every passing round. We wanted to make all the students get a feel of the final, said GM Corporate Communications, Shamala Padmanabhan. The fact that they are on stage throughout the contest would give them a much better sense of achievement than holding a semi-final round before a final. Neutrality has always been an integral part of the TCS IT Wiz. In every round, the inimitable Giri Pikbrain Balasubramanium made it a point that the contestant chose the questions so that there was no chance of any partiality. In order to maintain the neutral nature, this time we have even done away with the system of carrying points in the final round, so

Gokul T. Srinivas and Aditthya Ramakrishnan with Chandra and Giri

RUNNERS-UP

Prateek I. and Arul Prakash with Chandra and Giri

@TCS | 15

LEAD STORY

that the teams do not have any unnecessary advantage, he said. And sure enough, all the contestants loved this aspect. This is something that our students look forward to for the entire year, said Anisha Rajan, a teacher. She went on to emphasise that the fairness of the IT Wiz is something that is not only commendable, but also something to learn from.

Making it possible
When you have more than 1000 schools competing from locations across India, monitoring the entire show, is needless to say, no mean feat. One has to be extremely careful about everything and always be aware of all the communications that go through as well as the logistics. A simple mistake can lead to a lot of serious issues and we cannot afford that, said Shamala, who has been leading the venture ever since its inception. This year, with the quiz going international at Dubai, the coordination became that much more complicated. Shamala, who is ably supported by a team of 12 coordinators located at various TCS locations across India, emphasised the importance of team work and effective communication behind the successful running of such a large scale event. The teams effort bore fruit as the contestants, as well as the teachers and parents who accompanied them for the final, were absolutely delighted by the hospitality. Its wonderful to see TCS doing so much to encourage these young minds, said a parent. Not only are they taking care of us so well, but also they provide a lot of encouragement

for others to follow in their schoolmates footsteps, she said.

Preparation, the key

As one came out to the lobby of the Taj Coromandel, one could see students peering into their Galaxy Tabs that they won after winning the zonal finals, preparing and studying with fierce concentration. As students, they made it a point to make use of all the facilities that TCS provided in order to do their research, for as Giri says, winning a contest like this is all about preparation. It is without doubt the best quiz in the country, said Anirban Kundu, from Loyola School in Jamshedpur. It keeps getting more challenging and makes us go that extra mile, he said. His views were echoed by almost all the contestants. The best part about the TCS IT Wiz for me is the fact that it is so fair, said Pranshu from Lucknow Public School. No one, he said, in this format of quizzing has any sort of advantage as it gives an equal chance for every team to win, given that you are prepared enough. The students also made it a point to commend their schools for encouraging co-curricular activities like quizzing and the fact that preparing for the quiz taught them discipline and a lot of patience. In the midst of

IT Wiz would remain incomplete without a tribute to its charismatic quizmaster Giri. Known as Pikbrain to everyone, he was, as usual, a symbol of strength as well as inspiration for all the contestants. What do you have to say about Pikbrain? When faced with this question, quite extraordinarily, the otherwise witty and articulate students struggled to find any words to describe him. He is undoubtedly the best quizmaster of India, said one, he is beyond words. He is just, out of this world, the other managed to stutter. The man himself, however, was as usual an epitome of modesty. The students make me look good, I simply ask questions, said he with the characteristic smile on his face. Suffice to say, that he is the spirit which has almost become synonymous with the legacy of IT wiz.

16 | @TCS

such wisdom, their innocence doesn't lose its way. When asked what the best part of the IT Wiz was, they didnt bat a single eyelid. The prizes! Fair enough.

The contest
The National Finals comprised of 12 teams that won the regional rounds held in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune. The finals concluded a journey which began with over 14,700 high-school students competing for the regional titles across 12 cities during 2011. The top winning teams from each city qualified for the National finals. And even as the teams competed in being the first to identify acronyms, recent inventions, gaming techniques and business logos, the team from SBOA School and Junior College, Chennai comprising Gokul T. Srinivas and Aditthya Ramakrishnan stayed calm, consistently retaining their lead, round after round, to emerge as the winners. Giving them a very close fight were Prateek I. and Arul Prakash from St Pauls English School, Bangalore, who started late in the contest but picked up at an alarming rate.

No matter how much you prepare for the event, this is one quiz that will always manage to surprise you

Apart from the trophy, accolades and an evening with Chandra, the winners also took home an Apple MacBook Pro each, while the Runners-up Prateek and Arul walked away with an iPhone each. Both teams also received Blue ray DVD players, Fastrack watches and personalised coffee mugs - all from TCS. Besides the winners, all the 12 finalists received a DVD player, Fastrack watches and personalised coffee mugs each.

The spirit
No matter how much you prepare for the event, this is one quiz that will always manage

to surprise you, said a victorious Gokul, proudly brandishing the winners trophy. Asked about the strategy they used during the quiz, they attributed everything to a good understanding and combining well. The runners-up also shared their excitement. The format of the quiz is such that it gets tougher with every round, said Arul. The team who showed a bit of class and the importance of being humble by asking their teacher to come on stage while receiving the award from Chandra, complimented each other for knowing each others strengths and weaknesses. What was heartening to see was, at the end of the day, the winner or the runner-up really did not matter. What mattered was the camaraderie between all the students belonging to different corners of India acting like a team, and a very bright team at that. That, perhaps, is one of the biggest successes of the TCS IT Wiz. Not only does it help students get hungry for a neverending quest for knowledge, but also it helps them make more friends, from different parts, different cultures, and hopefully, and soon enough, different nationalities. By Neelanjan Dasgupta neelanjan.dasgupta@tcs.com

@TCS | 17

special focus

SANGAM
Meeting of Minds

TCS senior management, luminaries from the education field, and staff

A confluence of Minds
Sangam was an event at which the TCS top brass expounded strategies to face global challenges and held group discussions, all melded with a healthy dose of entertainment

spectacular, two-day event just drew to a close earlier this month and if you were in on it, congratulations, you came away with oodles of insight and thoughts to ponder over. To give you a glimpse, the conclave attracted dignitaries from academia and was chaired by our own senior management -the VC, the CEO, the CFO, the CTO, the VP and Global Head of HR, the VP of Corporate Communications, the VP of Small and Medium Businesses, the ISU Head for Manufacturing domain, an eminent thought leader and a longstanding advisor to TCS.

Beginning 5th December, with a warm welcome lunch from Taj Vivanta in Pune, the event had all the makings of a resounding success. Post lunch, Pradipta Bagchi, VP Corporate Communications, ushered the guests and led them through the events of the occasion. As the day advanced into the evening, there was high tea and visits to various stalls, pre-organised for demos on some exciting topics that TCS has been working on. The night brought out a shining moon and with it, some bright stars to accompany the mood there was a Hindustani Classical recital by Sanjeev

Abhyankar, a fortune-teller, and even a magician to enthral the distinguished guests and their families. Day two was highlighted by an audio-visual on the emerging Sahyadri Park Campus in Pune, a powerhouse delivery centre that can accommodate nearly 25,000 TCSers at its peak. This was followed by some enlightening group discussions between the guests, divided into three groups for the occasion, to discuss and bring back summaries of their talks on the subject, Disruptive Technologies in Education. Global Head for Talent

18 | @TCS

SANGAM
Meeting of Minds

Vice Chairman S Ramadorai and CEO Chandra in a discussion

Hindustani Classical recital by Sanjeev Abhyankar

Organising staff at the occasion

Acquistion, K Ganesan, then gave the Vote of Thanks, followed by a sumptuous lunch, to draw the event to a memorable finale. To tell you the truth, this was just as far as the event was concerned; but, as an eye-witness, I can tell you one thing for sure you havent seen anything yet! Beginning the proceedings, CEO Chandra set a sombre yet challenging tone by giving some background on the global scenario about the continuing economic crisis and downgrading of the US rating as a bankable national economy, the issues of inflation and default risks being faced by emerging countries, the dipping Eurozone on the global economic horizon, the downgrading of the US rating as a bankable economy, the large scale destruction caused by the catastrophic tsunami in Japan about the game-changing

solutions in the forms of smartphones, tablets and other hi-tech innovations that have been recently taking over the world about the uncertain business environment where organisations are still expected to deliver results and how TCS was wading in such waters in an extremely disciplined manner and focussing on capital allocation, to deliver innovatively.

New Rules, New Opportunities

Bringing forth his experience from meeting with hundreds of CEOs, CIOs, Delivery Partners and industry thought leaders Chandra laid out five rules that will pave the way forward; 1. The Consumer is going digital Mobile computing, signifying anywhere, anytime access is becoming the norm of the day. Rich content, social media are making

CEO Chandra addressing the audience @TCS | 19

special focus

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Meeting of Minds

2.

3.

4.

5.

enterprises play catch up. At the same time, opportunities for personalisation, for enhancing customer experience are being created even as we speak, helping to reach even the most unreachable customer. Rate of conversions from social media sites are on the rise as content becomes increasingly relevant to the customer. Innovation is now collaborative innovation Enablers such as Disruptive Innovation, Technological Ubiquity, and Partner Collaboration present us with the biggest of opportunities to play out. Emerging Markets are the new frontiers for growth Companies deriving value from emerging markets are the ones that will eventually grow. Predicting behaviour with big data Working with data through mobile means helps one to respond in real-time; this is a transformational change in the nature of managing businesses. Driving operational efficiencies Social content in ERP data is being increasingly

used for real-time information, to take a close look at strategy, and to respond quickly. The strategy to face such global challenges would involve looking into intellectual property, non-linear forms of growth, and build on TCS Education spheres. Answering questions from the dignitaries present, the CEO urged them to synergise on a common platform to look into the future.

Creating Centres of Excellence

Vice Chairman, S. Ramadorai, then took centre-stage with a compelling address on Disruptive Innovation. As a Special Advisor to the Indian Prime Minister for the National Skill Development Council, he gave his perspective on the subject by talking about Indias Gross Employment Ratio, how India has worked in a certain way to this day, and the need to introduce more colleges to make education accessible, scalable, and more affordable, especially for the countrys masses that reside in villages. Disruptive Innovation therefore questions all conventional
Vice Chairman S Ramadorai

To face Indias presentday challenges, the need to rethink the role of education in society is pertinent, to commit to a complete disruption

(L-R): TCS SMB Head - Venguswamy Ramaswamy, CTO - Ananth Krishnan, VP & Global HR Head - Ajoy Mukherjee 20 | @TCS

special focus

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Meeting of Minds

approaches what good is eight to nine per cent growth where less than half of the nations people with formal education are contributing to its GDP? What good is an education system that does not provide a customised pace of learning, where rate of dropouts is therefore high? What good is an economy where the Gross Employment Ration in the rural areas is far lesser than in the urban lands? There is a need for connectivity, both, in form, and in medium, to make education relevant to the current social context. Schools must think differently, in a way that doesnt kill creativity but encourages it instead. Universities need to undergo a rethink and reinvent themselves. Under the National Knowledge Network, there is ground for cross-fertilisation of ideas, for learning online, for building such bridges across the 31,000+ universities and colleges in the country. The Vice Chairman exhorted the need for universities to pursue vocational learning; there are none now. There arent any universities that focus on innovation alone for that matter. There is a need to build technical education institutes that include courses on offbeat subjects, ones that teach life-skills, and vocational skills. To realise all of this, there must be a public-private participation in building the education system of the future. And because there will be so many more schools, colleges, and universities in the future, we will fall short of teachers; such an investment can be made in the form of Active Learning learning that is relevant or benchmarked against high standards. He ended with these words, To face Indias present-day challenges, the need to rethink the role of education in society is pertinent, to commit to a complete disruption.

those not in the know - ours is a healthy mix of Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and the Gen Yers; people of several nationalities work in TCS and the average age is only 28 years! With our recruitment and talent management activities having gone up over the years, Ajoy exerted the fact that all commitments have been honoured each time. Ajoy spoke about TCS Academic Interface Programme for the relevance of the occasion; through its 730 workshops, has benefitted more than a 100,000 students till date, especially in fields like ERP implementation, Cloud Computing, and Mobility. In India, 50 Boards of Studies, and nearly 4,200 teachers have benefitted through TCS academic programmes. More than 600 students have interned with TCS and close to 150 students have been awarded for their meritorious

work. TCS has also sponsored 63 Research Scholarships and PhD programmes in 20 renowned institutes in India. Overseas, it sponsors 4 Research Institutes and has awarded 152 students. But the enlightening aspect of this programme is Campus Commune, an ideal academia-students-TCS overlap; a budding online forum, it brings several objectives into its fold such as peeralumni bonding, influencing career decisionmaking, imparting industrial trends, providing technical updates, enabling an industryexpert connect, and other exciting features such as case studies and contests with prizes. Ajoy envisaged TCS to influence indirect employment numbers in IT & BPO to the tune of 30 million by 2020. This is indicative from the fact that besides providing existing services of Application Development and Maintenance, Enterprise Solutions, Business Analysis, Assurance Services and Infrastructure Solutions, TCS now includes Mobility, Big Data and Social Media. He therefore urged the Educational Heads to look into emerging fields of IT services as pointers to raise employability skills of future employees coming from campuses, and their work towards a more effective education system.

The Role of Education in Nation Building

Influential thought leader, Professor Gurumurthy then addressed the audience about the importance of education as a transformational impact on society. Drawing a parallel between nation building and career building, he opined that the Country Brand influenced careers to a large extent on a global scale. Prognosticating India, China, and the US to be among the top three most influential countries in terms of intellectual capacity and economy, he theorised that India would become a top global exporter in the coming years. One needs to look at the purpose, the drive, the role of education; despite domestic economic equilibrium, India is largely a changeless country since the last 2000 years, at least in terms of education reforms; the need for disruption therefore is high.

VP & Global Head for HR, Ajoy Mukherjee

Effective Education through TCS Academic Activities

In his interaction with the educationists, EVP & Head for Global HR, Ajoy Mukherjee brought out aspects of global diversity that makes the environment in TCS an interesting place to work in. Heres a quick snippet for
22 | @TCS

Educational Heads need to look into emerging fields of IT services as pointers to raise employability skills of future employees coming from campuses, and their work towards a more effective education system

SANGAM
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special focus

building essentially means building the character of a nation; it is indeed paradoxical, that keeping all these things in mind, there exists a low unemployment rate among those who are uneducated in other words, the bulk of the graduates today in India are the ones who are unemployed! In the 18 to 64 age bracket, 17 percent of Indians are self employed; the fact that entrepreneurial drive exists even today, just proves that society, and not education systems impart the spirit of entrepreneurship. The thought leader concluded that the education system must therefore do more to unearth hidden talent; it must make efforts to become relevant in the context of the local economies and not operate in an oasis, and that it was urban Indias responsibility to address this gap.

we need to commoditise the country outside India, at a time when the cost of education in India is going up, foreign universities are tapping Indias potential, and faced with several options to choose from now, student exodus is on the rise. Swamy laid out some rules to work in a globalised context; to compete like a global brand in a local market, and, become a supply chain for international markets. There are gaps in the education supply chain; it does not bring the following onto a singular platform - publishers, foreign universities, external courses, distance courses, and the global network. He went on to introduce TCS iON, the Pay-As-You-Go system that provides end-to-end services for faculty management, for students, and an overall business analysis perspective across the several layers of such a system.

Eminent Thought Leader, Prof. Gurumurthy

The education system must do more to unearth hidden talent; it must make efforts to become relevant in the context of the local economies and not operate in an oasis
Several academicians have condemned Indian growth in history, and yet, Asia, and particularly India as a country, presents good standards of living. Mr Gurumurthy asserted that the spirit of India is huge that atomic power weighs heavier than the power of money that post the successful nuclear tests carried out in Pokhran in India, the world tried to put several sanctions on the country. It is a fortuitous development for a country where 25-year-old youngsters working in IT and IT-enabled industries have rebranded India, at a time when India was accidentally facing globalisation! Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment banking and securities firm, has predicted that by 2016, India will save nearly USD 2000 billion in annual cash alone. In a country where 40 percent of the GDP comes from the non-corporate sector, nation
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Education Globalised
The SMB Head for TCS, Venguswamy Ramaswamy introduced himself by saying, If youre not global, youre not local. Swamy presented several insights in the current education scenario in India institutions running on idle capacity is a challenge, - the ability to retain good faculty is a challenge, that faculty spends more time on governing institutions, and not in R&D and academic pursuits is a no-no, - that the country lacks an integrated institution for faculty and students across the board to talk to each other. He said

R&D in the Education Sphere

CTO Ananth Krishnan began with a note about TCS R&D initiatives and its vision for the education system to enhance the nations talent base in Computing Sciences; currently TCS sponsors seven research programmes, provides internships to 72 students, has organised eight visits to its Innovation Labs across the country, and has offered seven Lab Sabbaticals and nine Outbound Lab Sabbaticals. It holds joint seminars, workshops, papers, and conferences. It sponsors a Research Scholar program with 20 institutions for 63 scholars. It also supports 200 PhD students in helping it realise its vision. In his address to the eminent leaders from the education field, the CTO shared plans for TCS R&D along the lines of fostering innovation, indentifying real-world problems, enhancing participation, granting a platform to present research work and networking. He also spoke on several innovation themes on which research and work was being done, such as Adaptive Enterprise Analytics, Managing Impact on Environment, Collaboration, Intelligent Infrastructure, Efficiency & Agility, and Analytics for CIOs.

TCS SMB Head, Venguswamy Ramaswamy

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Meeting of Minds

the said contribution must be measured by the value the graduates add to the economy and not by their compensation. Another luminary debated that the measure of human capital would be the employment generated by the alumni. Nevertheless, the CFO left them with these thoughts to seriously think about.

industry today? He surmised that if we can solve new or emerging engineering problems in the next 24 to 36 months, we would be breeding entrepreneurship today. He then declared that IT-enabled automation is what drives the manufacturing plant of today, and will continue to do so in the future too. Speaking for the occasion, Milind elaborated on how TCS engages engineers need to address complexities by fulfilling IT requirements in Product Development, Sales & Marketing, Core Manufacturing and Skills Development. Basically, the entire gamut of activities from the board room to the shop floor requires end-to-end, manufacturing to delivery capabilities this is the kind of work that associates get to do in TCS. Milind extrapolated this with examples from the industry delivering to a major Japanese auto manufacturer, fulfilling environmental compliance for a building materials manufacturer, providing next-gen infotainment systems for a high-end car manufacturer, and so on. Milind concluded the session with thoughts from his experience; for engineers to succeed holistically in the real world, academicians need to deliver as close to the real world as possible. Academicians must, in turn, strive to evolve specific course curriculum, sponsor special internships in Core Engineering, PLM, Embedded Electronics, Digital Manufacturing etc. They must also inspire graduates to undertake live projects in colleges under expert guidance from TCS, have a continuous dialogue with industry, and identify a common problem where colleges and TCS can work together. From above, itll be thrilling if youre left with some interesting thoughts on the said topic. As lively as the interaction between TCS and the distinguished academia was, you can retain some of the same flavour by putting forth your views, as a welcome addition to the subject. By Kapil Arora k.arora@tcs.com
@TCS | 25

Role of Education in Manufacturing IT

Manufacturing ISU Head, Milind Lakkad, spoke about the challenges faced by the manufacturing industry today; what IT means for manufacturing in TCS, how educationists can help to create the next-generation of employable graduates. He voiced that graduation is one of the career crossover points, where several choices can be made. Talking to the gathering, he asked, Are we leveraging engineering skills for the IT

CTO, K. Ananth Krishnan

In the visits to TCS stalls that were organised for the distinguished faculty, several offerings were showcased in the subjects of SMB iON, CTO Research, Software Engineering Labs, Mobility, Process Engineering Labs and Systems Engineering Labs.

Finding Value in Education

CFO Mahalingam exhorted the need for finding relevance in the education sphere; he hypothesised that the sources of value in an organisation arent really revealed in its Balance Sheet. Aspects like Customer Capital, Structural Capital, and Human Capital are not a part of this. Referring to our content, he said that in a growing organisation like ours, what a programmer learns and works with today may not have relevance later. In the same vein he added, If we continue to reap the benefits of todays need, are we relevant tomorrow? Research to find value in educational spheres must therefore be carried out, so what you (educationists) do becomes meaningful. Educationists must then link their performance with the market value of the services they are providing, and/or, link it to the compensation of their graduates. The Net Present Value of IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) can thus be linked to job creation, IP creation, salaries, and longer term contribution by alumni. This point by the CFO was debated by some of the guests present;

Manufacturing ISU Head, Milind Lakkad

If we can solve new or emerging engineering problems in the next 24 to 36 months, we would be breeding entrepreneurship today

anz summit

TCS Summit 2011

Australia and New Zealand

The Summit focused on emerging business trends and exploring new opportunities for growth despite global economic challenges

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his years TCS Summit for Australia and New Zealand continued the tradition of gathering a broad range of senior level executives, distinguished speakers and influential business leaders. Over 100 key clients, prospects and staff - including the CEO and MD, TCS, N. Chandra attended the 5th annual TCS Summit held on December 2nd in Sydney, Australia. Delegates discussed emerging business trends, critical industry issues and new perspectives focusing on intelligent management concepts and corporate best practices.

From left to right: Client, Deborah Hadwen - CEO TCS Australia and New Zealand, Chandra, CEO, TCS

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Chandra opened the Summit with a keynote session that covered the Summit theme The Growth Imperative New Rules, New Opportunities. Chandras speech focused on five specific technology and business trends. Firstly, the explosion in mobile computing is determining enterprises to play catch up with the consumer. From the shop front to the boardroom, the rapid rise in mobility is turning into an exciting area for many leading companies. Secondly, technology-based innovation is imperative for building a sustainable business and companies will continue to work with TCSs Co-Innovation Network to drive business growth forward. Thirdly, a key focus for large enterprises is emerging markets. TCS has a world-class Global Network Delivery Model that assists clients to enter new markets quickly and efficiently. Following, predicting consumer decisions with real-time data and analytics is essential to develop new business opportunities, which is why data management is one of the key areas for TCS clients in the banking, finance, telecommunication and the retail industries. Lastly, companies must achieve operational efficiency to drive profit with growth. This session was well received and stirred a lot of interest among delegates. Deborah Hadwen, Chief Executive Officer, Tata Consultancy Services Australia and New Zealand, was pleased with the level of executive engagement and networking that the Summit provided to the growing TCS business community. Deborah commented, We continue to receive outstanding feedback from our clients regarding the maturity and growth of the TCS Summit. This outstanding Summit is the flagship event for our clients and staff. As always, we appreciate the effort that our senior level executive team contributed to this event. Keynote speakers and panel members included among others, President Growth Markets - Ravi Viswanathan, President Infrastructure Services - PR Krishnan,

President APAC - Vish Iyer and VP and Head Marketing- John Lenzen. On the client front, speakers and panel members included Chairman of the Board of Directors of Woolworths - James Strong, Chairman of Kathmandu Holdings Limited, a Director of Qantas Airways, and a member of the Nomura Australia Limiteds advisory board. James Strongs presentation focused on the area of organisational change and people management. It also included also a number of insightful sporting analogies, and reminders of some of key attributes in leadership that were particularly interesting.

Bank, AGL, Qantas, Woolworths, Arab Bank Australia, Credit Union Australia, Jaguar Land Rover, Citibank, Lloyds, PwC Australia, SingTel Optus, Suncorp, Superpartners, Synergy, Telstra, CACU, Wesfarmers Insurance and Cuscal. TCS VP, Corporate Communications, Pradipta Bagchi commented in the concluding session that he was pleased with the success of the Summit: Once again, the TCS Summit provided Chandra and the team with a good platform to share business trends and IT strategies that are affecting our clients businesses. Our Summits continue to provide a strong platform that assists to improve customer intimacy and thought leadership. The event concluded with a reception where the guests were entertained by the highly regarded James Morrison jazz band which played a stunning set. His musical range, varying from jazz classics to contemporary tracks, was a great end to the Summit. David Blackhall, Managing Director of Jaguar Land Rover Asia Pacific provided a testimonial after the Summit: Thank you for allowing us to join the team for the Conference last week. We thoroughly enjoyed it and found the likes of James Strong and Richard Rumelt insightful and useful. It is a hallmark of Tata events that thoughtful planning goes into these programs, including a consideration of our important spouses and partners, without whose support the long hours of endeavour would be impossible. Rhonda and I sincerely appreciated being included. We wish you and the entire team at TCS a most enjoyable Christmas and much success in the new year. PS - We thought James Morrison was a great choice for entertainment! By Andreea Marin andreea.marin@tcs.com
@TCS | 27

We continue to receive outstanding feedback from our clients regarding the maturity and growth of the TCS Summit. This is the flagship event for our clients and staff. - Deborah Hadwen, CEO, TCS Australia and New Zealand
Greg Camm, CEO, Superpartners as well as Paul Simshauser, Chief Economist and Group Head of Corporate Affairs from AGL also participated in the Summit, the latter having covered the area of carbon tax in his presentation. Leading academic and author, Professor Richard Rumelt, joined the discussion and provided an interesting and informative session on strategy. Delegates included senior level executives from the likes of Westpac, Commonwealth

a day in the life of ...

TCS is speed!

ot too far away at the historic Wankhede Cricket Stadium in Mumbai, Indian cricket fans were stunned into silence. About two miles from this TCS leaders office, cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar had missed a milestone that the country was waiting for close to nine months his 100th century! And unaware of this near miss was TCS Vice President and Company Secretary, Suprakash Mukhopadhyay, who was busy in a meeting. Yet, when he did come to know about this, unlike a good majority of the India cricket fans, Mukhopadhyay wasnt frowning. That pitch was too much of a batting paradise, and it wouldnt have meant much had he hit his 100th century in this pitch. Id rather have him achieve this feat in Australia or while chasing a stiff target! That perhaps best defines Mukhopadhyay Performing when the going gets tough. also one of the reasons why when he was offered a role as the Company Secretary of TCS in 2008, he didnt think twice and accepted the offer. This VP, however, does not consider the IPO Story as the highlight of his career. The fact that I have been able to put a working process in my department, is what he would consider as his prime achievement here. Ive been able to build up a solid team, which would give comfort to the company that there will be a certainty of delivery and will also have transparency in the operations. Mukhopadhyays role in TCS is not limited to that of a Company Secretary. He also coordinates for internal audit activities, monitors compliance and governance issues within the company. One other achievement that he is very proud of is in the area of fund management. I was able to close the short-fall and improve the yield as far as fund management with respect to employee provident fund was concerned, states the leader. If these responsibilities seem big enough, his team also manages the governance activities of 50 TCS subsidiaries! And for someone who loves to don different hats, TCS is the best place to be. I have loved the fact that throughout my career, my work profile has changed every three to four years. Interestingly, Mukhopadhyay has never worked for any other company other than the Tatas. He joined Tata Steel in the Jharia Division as an Accounts Officer in 1988. From there on, he has never thought of looking beyond the Tatas. The working environment within the Tata companies cannot be matched elsewhere. Besides, there is a lot of comfort and bonding that one enjoys within the group, he says stating the reasons why he decided to stay loyal to Indias largest private sector group.

When TCS went public in 2004, Indias largest listing, not many would know that one of the leading men behind the scenes, making things happen was Suprakash Mukhopadhyay. He was a part of Tata Sons when he was handled the responsibility of coordinating for this mega project. The Initial Public Offering (IPO) project took three years in the making, where despite being a junior in the team, he was one of the driving forces behind what was to become the biggest IPO within the TATA Group. The three-year IPO journey was very exciting, where we had to take care of a lot of things before finally going public. After its success, it gave me a belief that I can do any sort of work assigned to me! Director, Tata Sons, Ishaat Hussain, went up to Mukhopadhyay and told him, This is something that you can proudly tell your grandchildren! It was during this phase that he developed a strong bonding with TCS, having worked closely with CEO N. Chandra (who was then the Head of Global Sales) and CFO S. Mahalingam, besides the then CEO S. Ramadorai. The fact that Mukhopadhyay dealt with a TCS team that was spontaneous, supporting and helpful also made matters a little easier. That was
28 | @TCS

The working environment within the Tata companies cannot be matched elsewhere. Besides, there is a lot of comfort and bonding that one enjoys within the group

However, merely being in the Group doesnt guarantee a successful career. Success, according to me, is 98 per cent do and 2 per cent luck, states Mukhopadhyay. He should know, having had a fairly successful run so far. If anyone ventures out to do something, they should do so with a strong mindset. When I am assigned a job, I do it with utmost tenacity, and dont stop till I have achieved it. According to him, if you just stick to the task despite the roadblocks, things will eventually fall in place. Of course, this requires complete dedication, hard work and attention to detail, which is what I try to achieve, he says. I also reflect and think about the work after Ive achieved the goal to see if there was something that I could have done better. Planning also forms an important part of your success, where firstly, you need to completely understand an assignment. And that two per cent luck is just being in the right place at the right time, he mentions. Its also extremely important to have a trusting work-environment, which can help you succeed, he adds as an afterthought. Mukhopadhyay does find certain differences in the working culture in TCS as compared to other Group companies that he has been a part of. TCS is speed! No other company (and not just Group companies) can match the speed at which TCS works. In TCS, you always need to be on your toes and be prepared. And in this, our senior management leads from the front. While Mukhopadhyay may not follow a rigorous fitness regimen, he makes it a point to walk almost every morning. More than my physical fitness, it ensures to keep my mind fresh and is a perfect start to the day, he says. He keeps his energy levels high by going for a swim on most weekends at the Taj Wellington Mews Gymkhana in Mumbai. He also plays sports like cricket and soccer, where he represents the Tatas and TCS in corporate

tournaments. As one enters his cabin in the Air India Building in Mumbai, you are greeted by a large framed photograph of a bunch of gentlemen holding aloft a trophy. On closer inspection of that photograph, youd see a certain Mr. Suprakash Mukhopadhyay too. He was the captain of the Tata Sons team in the 7-a-side Corporate Cricket Tournament. It is hardly surprising then when he reveals that he had thought of cricket as a possible career option in his younger days. He has also been a part of TCS soccer-winning teams in corporate tournaments. So, while a young Suprakash was a maestro in the sporting field, he says that he didnt bother much about academics at all until his eighth grade. I was rather lucky not to have failed even once, despite hardly studying. He remembers that in his school, he was more focused on his on-field exploits, till his best friend Subrato Roy, who incidentally was a class topper,

inspired him to be serious about his studies. As he passed his class 10th exams with first division, it did surprise his teachers and other classmates. But from thereon, there was no looking back as he stood first in his school and district in Commerce in Class XII and graduated by standing

No other company (and not just Group companies) can match the speed at which TCS works. In TCS, you always need to be on your toes and be prepared

Suprakash Mukhopadhyay with his wife Paromita @TCS | 29

a day in the life of ...

third in his university in Bachelors of Commerce (B.Com), which he did from St. Xaviers College in Kolkata. To top all these achievements, he also stood first in India in the Cost Accounting exam. Sometimes, little incidents can play a huge part in shaping up ones destiny. For Mukhopadhyay, that moment can when he was in this twelfth grade. Not having read the time-table properly, in one of the class tests, for a business management paper, he went prepared for an accountancy paper. By the time he realized his folly, the exams had already started. After ten minutes, he began writing the paper. To everyones surprise, and perhaps his own, he topped the class in that paper outscoring the class topper by 15 marks!

Shreenandini, in her sixth grade, takes keen interest in painting, while Shreemoyee, in her ninth grade, has a natural knack of writing and speaking, so much so that her quality of writing has often surprised her proud dad. And spending quality time with his family is something that Mukhopadhyay himself advocates for his team as well. I have strictly told my team that I dont want to sit in office after 7 pm. While I am particular that they reach on time, but no one should be seen sitting after office hours. They need to go back and take care of their families, he asserts, while also reflecting that he himself often struggles to do so. Yet, a family outing is on the cards twice a year! Recent trips with his family to Bandhavgarh National Park in Madhya Pradesh and Sunderbans in West Bengal are fresh in his memory. Besides forests, I also love the sea, this nature-lover says. Whenever I see water, I feel comfortable and relaxed, he adds. That explains why he chose a cabin that overlooks the vast Arabian Sea alongside the Queens Necklace in Marine Drive, Mumbai. Suprakash advocates reading more than watching television or movies. It helps ones imaginative power and ability to think in abstract, he says. Of late, hes hooked on to some philosophical and inspirational books. Suprakash agrees with Vish Iyer, who had said that the youngsters today can take care of themselves. But theres one very relevant point that this Company Secretary adds. Be your own! Dont try to copy others. Find out what recipe works for you and go do it. Patience is the key! he says staring at an impatient wave crash against the tetrapods lined up all across the Queens Necklace. By Blessen Varghese blessen.varghese@tcs.com

Be your own! Dont try to copy others. Find out what recipe works for you and go do it. Patience is the key

Suprakash is so fond of his best friends Subrata and Sudeep Bandopadhyay that he calls them his role models, and credits them for helping him be relaxed during tough situations. His wife Paromita and daughters Shreemoyee and Shreenandini are the others that complete Mukhopadhyays life. Paromita, who is a primary school teacher by choice, likes to spend time with the children and wants them to pick up art and craft, which she herself is very fond of.

Suprakash Mukhopadhyay with his daughters Shreemoyee and Shreenandini 30 | @TCS

@TCS | 31

The year
JANUARY

Mumbai marathon

On 16 January, 2011, a typical pleasant Mumbai winter morning greeted thousands of runners, both professionals and amateurs, who had come from different corners of the world to participate in the citys biggest sporting event, the Mumbai Marathon. In the fourth year of being an associate sponsor, TCSpresence could not be missed even among the massive flood of people.
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in pictures
FEBRUARY
Blitz 2011
To celebrate the past years success and recommit themselves to an even better new year, over 700 top executives came together at the Hyderabad Convention Centre. The two-day event took place on 10-11 February and included appearances by the Tata Group Chairman, Ratan Tata, CEO, N. Chandrasekaran, an Indian government cabinet minister and a host of other senior TCS executives across the company and the globe.

The launch of iON

Technology enablement of Small & Medium Business (SMB) enterprises across the country took a huge step forward, as TCS launched iON, the first-of- itskind, fully integrated information technology solution for the SMBs.

@TCS | 33

The year
MARCH
mPower
TCS launches mPower, a platform for employees to voice their concerns and queries that ensures quick and effective responses. With the introduction of mPower, TCSers now have a local channel that fosters an environment of trust and transparency to address people issues at all levels. And most of those issues are now resolved in a matter of hours.

The best among equals

TCSers across the globe were given the opportunity to prove their mettle and come out on top. The winners of the Industry Unit driven contests vied to be a part of the prestigious TCS Top 10. The finals took place in the month of March and as expected, it was a high octane affair with teams leapfrogging over each other to be in and out of the Top 10 list. The theme of the Top 10 Global Finals was to produce champions with skill-sets most relevant to the company.

TCS finds its

TOP 10

Maha inducted to CFO India Hall of Fame

CFO S. Mahalingam was inducted into the CFO India Hall of Fame in the month of March. Maha was bestowed the honour by the CFO India magazine in recognition of his exemplary career as a senior corporate leader and his lifetime contribution to the world of finance.

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in pictures
APRIL
$8 bn milestone
TCS crossed the $8 billion milestone in annual revenues as its fourth quarter revenues rose to over Rs. 10,000 crore on strong demand from companies in the US and Europe. The countrys biggest software company continues to shape the adoption of next generation technologies by investing in new areas like mobility, analytics, social media and sustainability solutions.

Chandra named AIMA business leader of the year

CEO N. Chandra was awarded the Business Leader of the year in the second edition of the All India Management Association (AIMA) Managing India Awards 2011 on 20 April, 2011. The announcement was made at an award ceremony in New Delhi with an aim to recognise the contributions of those who have built Brand India.

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The year
MAY
IT Wiz debuts in Dubai
This is a special year for TCS IT Wiz. The biggest IT-based school level quiz show in India, for the first time, went beyond borders as UAE got a first taste of the high-octane quiz show. The quiz received an overwhelming response from the schools of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Fujairah. Over 450 students participated in the first international edition of the inter-school IT Quiz held at Sheikh Rashid Auditorium, Indian High School, Dubai.

35 years in Europe

TCS completes its 35 years of Europe operations. In terms of business growth, TCS Europe is now the companys second- largest operating segment with a presence in 21 European countries accounting for about 25 per cent of TCSglobal revenues. Looking at numbers, over 35,000 TCSers work for leading European firms like ABN Amro, BT, AXA, Bekaert, British Airways, ING, KLM, Nokia Siemens Networks and Ferrari from offshore, near-shore and European locations.

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in pictures
JUNE

TCS World 10K rocks Bangalore

5 June wasnt the usual laidback Sunday in Bangalore. Many race enthusiasts in the capital city of the southern Indian state of Karnataka were spotted early in the morning flexing their muscles and warming up for an exhilarating day at the Kanteerava Stadium, the starting point for the TCS World 10K.

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The year
JULY
2-lakh employees
TCS crossed the landmark of 2,00,000 employees in the month of July, further establishing itself as the countrys largest private sector employer. Now, TCS has more employees than the population of Padova city (Italy) or Hagen city (Germany) or Eindhoven (The Netherlands) to give you a fair idea.

Annual General Meeting

At a glittering event held at Birla Matoshree Hall, Mumbai, the 16th AGM of TCS witnessed scenes of unprecedented jubilation when Chairman Ratan Tata along with the Board of Directors revealed the truly mind-boggling figures from the past year. The dais of the AGM looked almost like a star-studded Broadway show with the presence of heavyweights including Chairman, Ratan N. Tata; Vice-Chairman, S. Ramadorai; Director, Aman Mehta; Director, Dr. Ron Sommer; Director, Venkatraman Thyagarajan; Director, Dr. Vijay Kelkar; Director, Ishaat Hussain; Director, Phiroz A. Vandrevala, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, N. Chandrasekaran; Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director, S. Mahalingam, among other senior management associates.

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in pictures
AUGUST
Amsterdam Marathon tie-up
On 26 August, TCS was appointed as the official technology partner of the Amsterdam Marathon and took the title sponsorship of the event for a five-year period between 2011 and 2015.

Internal Social Network

The online avatar of TCS in-house magazine was officially unveiled in the month of August. It changed your role from a passive reader to an active reader, writer, reviewer, critic and advisor. It also brought a whole new 'experience' of the magazine, which has showcased various aspects of our organisation for so many years.

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The year
SEPTEMBER

FAB

Fab 50

Forbes magazine has listed TCS in its Asias Fab 50 companies list. In a list that was released on 11 September, 2011, our company tops the table in terms of Market Value. TCS is one among seven Indian companies to make the cut.

Ramadorais debut book launch

Chairman, Tata Sons, Ratan Tata, unveiled The TCS Story by S. Ramadorai at a glittering ceremony at the Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai. The book is a must-read biography on TCS long and eventful journey over the past four decades in the words of S. Ramadorai. The whos who of IT and the literary world were present at the event to witness the untold story of the pioneer of Information Technology in the words of the man who had led it for a major part.

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in pictures
OCTOBER
TCS ranked 7th greenest company
TCS has been ranked as the worlds 7th greenest company in Newsweeks Green Rankings 2011. In addition, TCS is the highest ranked Asia-based company and second highest ranked globally in the Information Technology & Services company category.

7TH GREENEST COMPANY

Europe Summit

Around 150 of TCS top customers in UK & Europe participated in the largest and most successful ever TCS European Summit from 19-21 October, 2011. This year, the TCS European summit took place at the luxury hotel, Conrad Brussels, located in the heart of Brussels in Belgium, the capital of Europe.

North America Summit

Sunny Bonita Springs, Florida was the location where more than 400 TCSers and customers gathered from 2-4 October, 2011, to enjoy the seventh annual customer summit. The summit is the key annual customer event in North America and this years event proved to be a huge success.

@TCS | 41

The year
NOVEMBER
Diligenta wins $2.2bn contract
Diligenta won $ 2.2 billion contract with Friends Life. Diligenta, a leading Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provider in the UK and a subsidiary of TCS, assumed administration responsibility for 3.2 million policies for Friends Life, a provider of pensions, investments and insurance. The agreement, effective 1 March, 2012 is worth $2.2 billion (Pound 1.37 billion) over 15 years. Earlier in the year, Phiroz Vandrevala was made MD and VC of the subsidiary.

Chandra co-chairs WEF India

The World Economic Forum India Summit was held in Mumbai for the first time in 26 years from 12 to 14 November at Grand Hyatt Mumbai. Some of the biggest names of India Inc., including CEO and MD, N. Chandra, attended the event. Chandra participated in a discussion about how India is likely to create a talent pool to accelerate economic growth.

SABRE Awards

TCS' Corporate Communications team won the SABRE Awards in the Media relations category for the Launch of iON (strategic unit for Small and Medium Business) at the first ever Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards held at Singapore. This is the second Sabre award won by the team, earlier this year it had won the Gold SABRE Award in the Executive Leadership category at the North American awards.

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in pictures
DECEMBER
Siruseri wins the Best Architecture of the Year award
TCS campus at Siruseri has won the Best Architecture Trophy for the year 2011 at the International Property Awards held in London. Established 17 years ago, the International Property Awards in association with Bloomberg Television and Google are the worlds most prestigious property competition. The awards cover residential as well as commercial categories with regional heats for Arabia, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia Pacific. The highest scoring entries from each category in every region are then re-evaluated to establish the winners at the international level, culminating in an annual grand final. Judging is carried out through a meticulous process involving a panel of over 60 experts covering every aspect of the property business. Not to anyones surprise, TCS Siruseri campus has been adjudged the Best Commercial Building (architecture) in the world for the year 2011.

IT Wiz Grand Finale

The grand finale of the biggest school quiz of India concluded in Chennai. The National Finals comprised of 12 teams that won regional rounds held in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune. The finals concluded a journey which began with over 14,700 high-school students competing for the regional titles across 12 cities during 2011. The top winning teams from each city qualified for the National Finals.

Compiled by Anoop Chugh <anoop.chugh@tcs.com>

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news bulletin

TCS 360

Awards and Recognition

Chandra wins IT Person of the Year
TCS CEO N.Chandra has been conferred the Dataquest IT Person of the Year award for 2011one of the most coveted honors in Indian IT - at a function held in New Delhi, India on 30 November 2011. The award is given by Dataquest, India's oldest and largest IT magazine, every year to an individual for making extraordinary contribution to Indian IT. The jury led by Pramod Bhasin of Genpact (and 2010 Dataquest IT person of the year) unanimously decided on Chandra, who is regarded as the face of next generation leadership in the Indian IT. In the context of most of the first generation leaders stepping down, there was apprehension about a leadership vacuum being created. The jury felt that TCS CEO, through his able leadership has proved that any such fear is unfounded. On the occasion, Chandra said, I am truly honoured and humbled by this award and accept it wholeheartedly not only on my behalf and but also for the 200,000-strong Team TCS that has made this moment possible.

Vignettes of the Assurance Day III in Bangalore

on the range of activities undertaken and the verticals and customers engaged, Assurance Days introduce the various Centers of Excellence (COEs) under ASUs domain along with the in-house tools and accelerators for testing, and instill passion for software testing. Held at Pioneer auditorium in Bangalore on 15th November 2011, it was inaugurated by Jay Natarajan, the ASU Global Delivery Head. She elaborated on the significance of testing in everyday life and traversed all through ASUs journey from a small team in 2000 to the current independent unit boasting of strong presence across various industry verticals as Banking, Financial Services & Insurance, Telecom, Retail, Hi-Tech, Life Sciences & HealthCare, Travel Transport & Hospitality, Media & Information Systems, Manufacturing and Energy Resource & Utilities. The chief guest Uma Rijhwani, Delivery head for BFS Europe3 accounts, highlighted the importance of a separate horizontal for Assurance supporting all industry verticals. Rajni N, the ASU HR head briefed the audience on Careers in Testing and clarified many apprehensions about career paths. Kumaresan N provided insights into the multiple CoEs within ASU - Automation, Niche and Performance Testing. Test Delivery Manager Preetha S explained the challenges faced by Sainsbury and how TCS became the clients Testing partner. Six shortlisted contestants competed in theme based rounds - Quality Assurance and Process, testing tools and test metrics in the Assurance Quiz. With over 150 participating associates getting thoroughly informed on ASU - its capabilities and the different opportunities that Testing as a primary career offers, the Assurance Day @ Bangalore was a phenomenal success.

Around TCS
Bangalore observes Assurance Day 3
Building a mutually enriching association with associates has always been a prime priority of TCS - Assurance Services Unit (ASU). Assurance Day is an initiative through which ASU brings its leadership teams closer to the associates. Apprising associates
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news bulletin

Chennai receives Southwest Airlines CTO

A year young partnership between Southwest Airlines (SWA) and TCS strengthened with the visit of SWAs Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Bob Young, at the Offshore Delivery Center in Chennai from 2nd 6th November, 2011. During his visit, he met the TCS senior management team and discussed the IT strategy, initiatives and objectives for the coming years. He commemorated the one year anniversary by cutting a cake and also distributing the Certificate of Appreciation to the senior management and high performers of the TCS-SWA team.

undergoing training at the center during IRC Week and they participated with enthusiasm in the celebrations. IRC Week has now been entrenched firmly in TCS Overseas. Talent Engagement Manger Head, US Western Region, Bridget Reeves, coordinated the Phoenix Development Center Library IRC Week. An open house of the PDC library and a raffle was organized. Collections from the raffle were donated to the Tata Technologies First Book Virtual Book Drive. At TCS Hungary, Knowledge Officer Budapest GDC, Zita Magori successfully organized a used book market and BookCrossing campaign.

Information Resource Centre Celebrates 7th IRC Week

KACST Customer Visits Bhubaneswar ODC

The Japanese associates engage in activities at Trivandrum

Dr Fayez along with the other delegates

The 7th IRC Week was celebrated with great fervour and enthusiasm at all the Information Resource Centres across India. In addition to the regular book exhibitions, subscription drives, video screenings and regular competitions, many branches came up with new events and ideas to add variety to the celebrations. Mind Map and Know Your IRC at Ahmedabad, Adomania at Mumbai and Advertise a Book at Pune tested various skills of the associates and their awareness of the organization, Bull's Eye at Mumbai and Phrase Up at Pune tested vocabulary and language. Creativity was exhibited in the events like Collage, Books Marks and Posters. While debate and author talks were the attractions in Chennai, a tte--tte in Bangalore on The TCS Story articulated the story of the organization. Delhi had an engaging week with novel events such as Fundoze, Attention Plz and Guesswat and Kolkata had an interesting session on Readings and the Lit List Quiz among others. Trivandrum had a group of Japanese associates
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Kalinga Park was graced by the visit of Dr Fayez, Programme Sponsor from King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), Riyadh, along with Hysham AbdulNoor Sr. Project Manager from AT Kearney. DCH Manoj Panda, MEA delivery head Lax Venkataraman and Program Director, Chandrakant Inamdar offered a warm welcome to the visitors. This was followed by a series of presentations and discussions from Project, EntSol, BPO and others. Key participants included Entsol-MEA delivery head Suranjan Chatterjee, EntSol-MEA delivery manager Brahmananda Patra, and Noor Sayyed (BPO). In his address, Dr Fayez gave a broad picture of KACST which fosters the vision of shifting focus of a natural resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy for KSA and becoming a global leader in STI by 2025. He also set expectations from the TCS Team to be a partner in this journey to make this dream project successful. Dr Fayez paid special attention to each member of the team, spawning energy in them to go that extra mile to make this

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alliance a success. It gave a sense of pride to the members of the offshore team to be associated with a project which is considered highly critical and significant by the government of Saudi Arabia. KACST is one of the largest offshore leveraged projects from Saudi Arabia being currently executed from Bhubaneswar DC. Currently KACST pioneers Saudi Arabias future scientifically and technologically. During his stay at Delhi Dr Fayez met iON team and Varun Kapur (MEA IOU Head). This visit highlights the growth of TCS in emerging markets.

Sports
TCS wins Fusion cup

Sivasubramaniam now IEEE Fellow

Prof Anand Sivasubramaniam, Head, TCS Innovation Labs Chennai has been made the IEEE Fellow effective from 1 Jan, 2012. He shares this achievement with the likes of Dr. F C Kohli and Mr. S Ramadorai. IEEE Fellow is a distinction Prof Anand Sivasubramaniam reserved for select IEEE members whose extraordinary accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest are deemed fitting of this prestigious grade elevation. Prof Anand has been awarded the IEEE Fellow for contributions to power management of storage systems and high performance computer systems. IEEE is the worlds largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community through IEEE's highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. Prof. Anand Sivasubramaniam is a Chief Scientist at Tata Consultancy Services driving R&D on green initiatives. He has been a Professor at Penn State University, USA, since 1995. He has spearheaded several projects on power management of computer systems, Green Datacenters and large scale IT infrastructure management. He has published over 160 research papers in highly competitive conferences and journals. He received his B.Tech from IIT Madras in 1989, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Georgia Tech in 1995. He is an ACM Distinguished Scientist, and has received several awards from the U.S. National Science Foundation, and the IT industry.
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The team in a celebratory mode

TCS won the inaugural "Fusion Cup" held on 10-11th of Dec at Jamia Milia Sports Complex. Starting as the underdogs, TCS surprised all with this win. Remaining undefeated in the whole tournament and TCS beat the likes of Barclays in penalties to clinch the final.

Kolkata gripped by football fever

Members of the team strike a pose with the trophies

Football fever consumed TCSers on 17th December 2011, culminating in the annual event of Momentum 2011 The TCS Intra Football Tournament at the Bidhannagar Municipality Ground. The chilly morning found the eight teams warming up in their colourful jerseys eagerly waiting to take on their opponents. The first round of knockout matches between Infospace vs Victoria Park and GDC vs Eden1 were battled out simultaneously with

Infospace and GDC emerging as winners. BIPL qualified against Omega with Nihit Shah scoring the winning goal. The newly conceptualized Old Bones team led by veteran Subodh Biswas lost out to Eden2. The final showdown between defending champion Infospace and star studded GDC was exciting with each team unwilling to let go even an inch. Finally GDC scored the one and only goal snatching the trophy from Infospace.

Semifinals: Lost to Thakur Volleyball Club A: score 15-25; 23-25 Third Position Match Defeated Dalmiya College: 25-15; 25-21 The TCS Volleyball team, with limited practice opportunities but an abundance of teamwork and camaraderie has so far impressed one and all and has made its name in the Mumbai volleyball circle. Teams which have taken TCS lightly have already paid the price and now come well prepare when they face TCS. TCS has announced its arrival in Mumbai District Volleyball.

TCS clinches 3rd prize at NJMM Mumbai Volleyball Open

It all began with a handful of volleyball enthusiasts coming together to get their old playing days back and gather similar minded individuals who had played the game before. One by one the group's size grew, and as the word spread, the group soon shaped into a team. Though the team didn't look well prepared yet, TCS decided to participate in an open volleyball tournament organized by Dalmia College, Malad. TCS being the only corporate team participating amongst major clubs and colleges, no one really expected us to do well. But as our players settled in, we pulled off some great performances to defeat the top teams. Beating one opponent after the other, TCS surprised one and all by reaching the semi-finals in the first tournament itself. It took some time and a huge effort from the team to taste success once again, as TCS participated in open volleyball tournament organized by Dahisar Sports Foundation. The team realized the importance of sticking to the basics and minimizing mistakes thus picking up good momentum. TCS lost in the semifinals to title winners Thakur Youth Boys, but came back and the thrashed Dalmia College team to clinch the third prize. TCSers Nikhil, Naveen, Vijay, Ajay and Sandeep were in sublime form and took the initiative of striking powerful blows which never allowed the opponents to settle. Setters Aditya Rane and Saif pulled up all their experience providing a variety of moves which were converted by the spikers. TCS never let the opponent teams to come back in the match by their continuous attacks and effective defense strengthened by Amit and TCS marched into the semi finals against all odds. Brief scores: League Round: 1- Defeated Shivaji Club: 25-14; 20-25; 25-13 2- Defeated NJMM Volleyball Club A (Host team): 25-19; 25-12 3- Defeated Malad Boys: 25-22; 25-23

Ramesh Krishnan Coaches TCS Mumbai Tennis enthusiasts

TCS tennis team enthusiasts with Ramesh Krishnan (standing 4th from left)

TCS Mumbai tennis enthusiasts were fortunate to interact with and learn from the legendary Ramesh Krishnan who was ranked number ? in the world as a junior player, and who achieved a career high ranking of 23 as a senior player. Ramesh Krishnan won the mens singles titles at both Wimbledon and the French Open in 1979, reached three Grand Slam quarter-finals in the 1980s, and was part of the Indian team which reached the final of the Davis Cup in 1987. Ramesh is admired for touch, anticipation and all round game and runs a tennis academy in Chennai with his illustrious father Ramanathan Krishnan. TCS tennis enthusiasts reported to the Bombay Gymkhana courts and met with Ramesh Krishnan who was ready to play. He guided our players on the correct way to warm up and played with each player to give individual feedback on what can be done to rise to the next level of performance. He played short sets of doubles with the TCS players, who felt that they were playing against a wall that was returning each and every ball with an increasing degree of difficulty.
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news bulletin

TCS Runs the NYC Marathon

can still be made by going to the Team TCS ADA web site at www.stopdiabetes.com/tcs. This sponsorship builds off of TCS participation in the 2010 and 2011 Chicago and Boston Marathons, and the 2010 New York City Marathon.

Community
Switzerland lends a hand to terminally ill children

The event about to start

The 2011 ING NYC Marathon kicked off on Staten Island for its annual run through the five boroughs that comprise New York City. The marathon goes through Brooklyn, Queens, into Manhattan, touches the Bronx and then finishes back in Manhattans Central Park. This is the 26.2 mile route that all 45,000 runners, including a number of Team TCS runners, had to conquer that day. Words do not do justice to the enormity of the accomplishment and the effort needed to complete the marathon. It was in the faces of the runners as they crossed the finish line that illustrated best that sense of relief, exhaustion, and exhilaration. TCS was proud to be an official sponsor and the official technology partner for the 2011 ING NYC Marathon. You could see TCS signage throughout much of the route. Whether it was along the race course where sponsor signs framed the route or in the hands of cheering fans clanging TCS cowbells, a very popular collectible at marathons, TCS was everywhere. TCS also supported the ING New York City Marathon VIP Blue Line Lounge by making available charging stations for spectators wireless devices. TCS hosted a hospitality suite at the nearby Pierre Hotel, a Taj Hotel property. Customers, Team TCS friends and family stopped by throughout the day to grab some refreshments, and food before heading over to the finish line to cheer the runners on. Team TCS runners raised money in support of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the nations leading non-profit charity fighting diabetes. A major health problem in the US, India and many other countries around the world, diabetes afflicts over 220 million people worldwide and nearly 8% of Americans. Regular exercise reduces the risk of contracting diabetes and helps those with the disease manage the side effects. Donations
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Luginbhl with Heinz Gehri

The Junior Chamber International (JCI) delegate, Luginbhl visited TCS Switzerlands office in Zrich and held a presentation about their organization and its charity work. At the end of the gathering, Country Manager Heinz Gehri presented Luginbhl with a cheque which will be used to fund the last wishes and dreams of very sick children, in many cases terminally ill come true. The fulfillment of those requests is organized by the Charity Organization Wunderlampe (wonder lamp). The Junior Chamber International (JCI) is an independent nonprofit organisation. Members are between 18 and 40 years of age and creative, innovative and open minded young managers. JCI has worldwide more than 200000 members worldwide, 3000 of which are based in Switzerland. Heinz Gehri commented: Corporate social responsibility is deeply embedded in our companys tradition and manifested through sustained activities with respect to CSR across the globe wherever TCS operates. We strive to contribute to the society where we operate. On this particular occasion we are happy to continue this tradition and to make a difference in the lives of these terminally ill children here in Switzerland as well. Looking forward to more initiatives where TCS volunteers can contribute.

LOUNGE

A hulky SUV, or a pretty hatch. The BMW X1 is caught somewhere in-between

We drove the cheapest BMW ever to hit the Indian roads to find out if the X1 really fits the true urban SUV tag? If yes, why you should still go ahead and own one. Looks Attractive to look at, and luxurious? Yes. After the first glance, one would give it a second and a third look. At the first peek, the X1 looks like a compact X model. On a detailed examination of the rising lateral lines that lend the car a dynamic shape, short overhangs and a sloping rear windscreen, I almost pronounced it a sports car. But, zoom out a little and you would realise you are admiring a dwarf X3. It lacks the stature and supremacy of a utility vehicle. At the front, the distinctively shaped hood and the threeeye look of the headlights talk about the

he BMW X1 is truly a modern automobile high on innovation, and little in essence. A luxurious hatch is what the X1 really can be best described as, no way an SUV. Though, it has been bestowed with titles like quasi-SUV, mini-soft-roader, or an urban SUV. It made me wonder, whats an urban SUV all about? Something that offers as much space as a hatch would. Something that costs you four times more than a hatch. Something that guzzles fuel like an SUV. Lastly, something that is luxurious, and attractive to look at.

BMW pedigree, while the L-shaped taillights in conjunction with the horizontal flow of lines visually broaden the rear. Yes, it attracts eyeballs, not necessarily adulation, more of a what-were-they-thinking look. Interior With no sheer competition in the wantto-be-soft-roader category from either Mercedes or Audi, the X1 is the benchmark in interior luxury. Other similarly priced SUVs the Fortuner, or the Endeavour, are no match in interior styling, or comfort or gadgetry for the X1. They are rugged, spacious, and can climb a rock-strewn rough terrain without much fuss. More on performance a little later. Ergonomic design needs no lengthy explanation; it's something you sense immediately. The leather upholstery, a three-series resembling dash all add to the feel-good driving experience. The raised

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GEAR VIEW

BMW X1 20d
Wheels Tyre dimensions Tyre dimensions rear Engine Cylinders/valves Capacity in cc Stroke/bore in mm Max. output in kW (hp) at 1/min Max. torque in Nm at 1/min Power-to-weight ratio (EU) in kg/hp Weight in kg Unladen weight Maximum permissible weight Permitted load Permitted axle load front/rear Performance Drag (cw) Top speed (km/h) Acceleration 0 - 100 km/h (in s) Acceleration 0 - 1,000 m (in s) ToAcceleration 80 - 120 km/h in 4th/5th gear (in s) Fuel consumption Urban (l/100 km) Extra-urban (l/100 km) Composite (l/100 km) CO2 emissions (g/km) Tank capacity in Iitres 11.3 6.4 8.2 191 60 0.32 202 9.7 31.0 9.4/12.2 1,505 1,990 550 915/1,135 4/4 1,995 90.0/84.0 110 (150)/6,400 200/3,600 10.0 225/50 R 17 H 225/50 R 17 H

seating position in the X1 compensates for the lower stance of the wannabe-SUV. The X1 uses the same underpinnings as that of the 3-Series, and hence theres a little compromise on the space; it isnt generous, especially when you stack three adults in the back seat. Ideally, its a four-seater, hence a luxurious hatch. What you lose in space, you gain in gadgets iDrive, push button start and dynamic traction control, and flexible interiors with a multitude of pockets and trays, including a glasses compartment in the driver's side roof liner; a centre console on the dashboard; bottle holders located in each of the front and rear doors; storage nets on the front seat backrests; and up to five attachable cup holders. Though, the rear space isnt what youd expect from a half SUV, the rear seat bench can be split 40:20:40, or completely levelled to create more space. Performance If its a BMW, it has to be a stormer on the road. Early misery, the X1 is no roadster. Not in a way we know the X5, or the 6-Series. Out of the two engine options available 18i (4-cylinder 1.8l Petrol, 150bhp, 200Nm) and 20d (4-cylinder, 2.0l diesel, 177bhp, 350Nm), the latter is a better performing and proven combination, but a tad expensive. And, sadly its no creamy

six-cylinder horse pumping machine. As we found out, the four-cylinder 2.0l diesel engine isnt the most refined way of converting thermal energy into mechanical energy, but again it beats other full-fledged SUVs at basic torque and bhp numbers. But, it would come at a steep Rs 30-lakh price tag. The humbler of the two engines i18, is as ordinary as driving another fourcylinder engine, which youd not bother talking about. It drives you around, sans the BMW joy. Surely, BMW at a bargain (Rs 22lakh for i18), would not fetch you a monster strapped in the hood. Without a roadbanger of an engine and an all-wheel-drive, one ends up only talking about the cars superior agility and manoeuvrability. Youd not write off the X1 completely, courtesy outstanding suspension tuning, optimal axle load distribution and low centre of gravity. After the drive you wonder wheres the BMW in the X1? Positives: Cheapest BMW, posh interiors, best-in-class power, earns you respect. Negatives: Lack of space, disappointing off-roading ability, design (if you aren't an ardent BMW fan).
By Anoop Chugh anoop.chugh@tcs.com

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LOUNGE

e simply f you ar I g your dumpin dia onto multime ne, you our pho y ing out are miss se of niver on the u apps ltimedia mu ndroid on the A market

Android Multimedia Apps:

Rewind, Pause and Play!

n the previous generations, walkmans made portable music a possibility. But with the advent of MP3 players, there was no longer a need to lug tapes or CDs around. With some high-capacity MP3 players, you could carry your entire collection- thousands of songs with you! Well, now that you have invested in an Android phone, you can probably do the same with your phone. And forget a portable DVD player, you can watch as many movies or videos as you want on your phone! Be it through the internal memory or through your SD card, you have access at least 8 GB of space for your music or movies. But if you
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Equip your Android smartphone with exciting multimedia apps that can instantly transform your experience
are simply dumping your multimedia onto your phone and using default applications, you are missing out on the universe of multimedia apps on the Android market that can change the way you use and consume your media on your phone! Winamp (By Nullsoft, Inc.) : For years, Winamp has been one of the more popular music players on PCs because of its visually exciting skins, playlist options and also because it would hang a lot less than the clunky Windows Media Player. Winamp for Android has a number of cool options. The UI itself is light and breezy and pleasing to

the eye. One of the coolest things about this app is if you have Winamp installed on your computer as well, you can sync your music wirelessly through a Wi-Fi network! Also, along with giving you a simple UI to organise your music and make playlists, Winamp gives you access to artist bios and discographies and also lets you stream music from over a thousand internet radio stations using SHOUTcast. Also, you can use the equaliser to tweak the sound so you can hear the music the way you like to. However, Winamp is not without its downsides. This tends to eat into your battery power, especially if you are using Wi-Fi. Also, this

MACHINEHEAD
discover new music from your Shazam Friends and Shazam Tag Chart. MX Video Player (By MX Technologies) : Depending on which Android phone you might be using, there will be certain video formats you can play while other video formats are not supported. A number of Android phones support 3gp and MP4 formats but do not support formats like AVI and DivX. It is here that an app like MX Video Player really comes into handy. This video player can play any format you throw at it and if you cant play it, you are prompted to download the MX Video Player codecs. The clarity of videos on this app is one of the key features since it plays DivX files without you needing to compress them down to MP4 or 3gp formats. Ringtone Maker (By MOBILE17, Inc.): Tired of the usual default ringtones? Well, you can always set any of your favourite songs as your ring tone. But then, you are limited by only the first 40 seconds of

app cannot play videos and has issues with some audio file formats but those seem to have been fixed with the latest updates. Shazam (By Shazam Entertainment Limited) : Ever heard a song when you cant remember the name or the lyrics but its right at the tip of your tongue? Or heard a track you really liked but you didnt know the name or the artist or anything and you kept humming it to your friends for weeks hoping one of them could tell you which song it was? Well, Shazam is the perfect solution to your particular predicament. With this app, you can just hold your phone up to the music being played and you can get all the information about the song and also view the lyrics. You can save a 30 second sample of the track and listen to it again and again! You can even buy the song from Amazon and download it on to your phone through this app. Shazam even has a social element to it, as you can share tags of the music you identify on Facebook and Twitter and also

the song, which can often just be a really slow introduction before your song of the moment hits its crescendo. Well, with this app you can choose which part of the song or sound clip you would like to play as your ringtone. You can use this as your ringtone or for specific contacts or even as an alarm clock! With that, we conclude this issue on multimedia apps in the Android market. Hopefully, you can now load up your Android smartphone into a multimedia powerhouse that it has the potential to be! As always, we look forward to feedback and suggestions from you. We got a few e-mails suggesting some interesting apps after last months article. Keep those mails coming! In the next issue, we will come back to gaming with an article on some of the greatest games on the Android market. By Ashwini Mishra ashwini3.m@tcs.com

Hopefully, you can now load up your Android smartphone into the multimedia powerhouse that it has the potential to be

@TCS | 55

LOUNGE

Changing Strides
Ashok Poojary attributes his success to his mantra of giving equal priority to both sports and work

started with the Copenhagen Walkathon in the year 2004. It was for raising funds for charity. For every kilometre that you walked, Danish Krone was given to charity. I walked 10 kilometres, says Ashok Poojary, a TCSer who reflects his generous motive behind running. But this is recent; Ashok has always been an active protg of sports, no matter the form and least of all the outcome. In fact, he has won several titles in activities as varied as kabaddi, kho-Kho, and volleyball when in school. Then, post graduation, it was lawn tennis and badminton that absorbed his passion. A large part of Ashoks life is not about his involvement with sports, but his attitude. For me, the only way to stay fit is to assign priority to sports and other fitness activities. So, I put as much dedication to sports as I do for my work, he asserts, having experienced the gains from such investments by reaping dividends in his corporate avatar. Ashok feels immensely positive about how this inclination translates into achieving goals at work. Not one to be happy about his past laurels or current form, Ashok likes to mix things up often; he has not just participated in the Mumbai Half Marathon for the last two years, the Thane Half Marathon, and the Mangalore Half Marathon this year, but he has also signed up for three cyclothons in Mumbai recently! For 2012, instead of the usual Half Marathon, he will be changing strides to gear up for the Full Marathon instead. The inspiration, he says, comes from GE ISUs Wellness Programme that kicked off with a Watch Your Heart Beat campaign in February this year. The effort that Ashok put in for thishe has completed 35,

32, and 25 km as practice runshas boosted his confidence further. Whats more, he has gone ahead and registered for the Jaipur and Mangalore Full Marathons for 2012 already! Ashok believes that fitness agendas work well in groups; if people with shared interests, come together, it becomes much easier for members of such a group to play games, exercise, and run regularly. People from these groups, he finds, run marathons across the country, some of them even doing ultra marathons. Ashok has benefited the most from such groups. Being associated with several running groups has given him the courage to take things to the next level that of covering larger running distances. After all, its the spirit of togetherness that exists in the group and inspires us to run. The constant source of Ashoks energy comes from being associated with some kind of sports all the timea stress reliever for someone who works in a high-pressure environment such as in production support projectsso engaging himself in physical activities like outdoor games, running and cycling, give him the much-needed adrenaline rush thats good enough to sustain the pressures that come with a typical Indian IT lifestyle. Probe him about his role model and he is quick to mention Sachin Tendulkarwhether Sachin has been in form or not, whether there are fitness issues concerning him or not, whether there are rounds of retirement talk around him or not the man never loses sight of his objective, that of scoring more and more runs in answer! In good times and otherwise, Ashok turns to the cricketing God for inspiration; as an epitome

of strength, passion, and devotion to the game, Sachin is indeed matchless. Ashoks sporting joy comes from following tennis and cricket, and while at home, he and his doctor wife get busy with honing the skills of their 8-year-old son, both, in sports and in studies. Such persistent support makes him play life on the front foot. He has even encouraged his teammates to take an enthusiastic part in the Wellness sessions organised by his ISU and in marathon events. In my module, all the members have registered for the Half Marathons, he says with pride. So, how does Ashok manage to run a hectic lifestyle of work and games at the same time? Wellness, he says, is a lot about We. While people find it difficult to balance their personal and professional lives and not find time for their favourite sport, in the long run, they fail to realise that investing time in themselves would have eventually provided them with invaluable returns. In living a sedentary lifestyle, we forget to focus on the critical aspect of ourselves our own body. For the simple reason of being fit, one must engage in some form of physical activity or the other; whether we begin these earlier in the day or get them prescribed by the doctor later in life is entirely our choice. Let us all take cues from Ashoks lifestyle thats peppered with sports, set ourselves fitness goals for 2012, and begin with a deep breath! By Kapil Arora k.arora@tcs.com

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WELLNESS

One must engage in some form of physical activity or the other; whether we begin these earlier in the day or get them prescribed by the doctor later in life is entirely our choice
@TCS | 57

LOUNGE

Vertical limit
For this TCSer, scaling a summit is all about quelling one's greatest fears and thereby accomplishing goals

just completed a year with TCS. 1st October was the date when I became an ASE from an ASE-Trainee. And there was no better way to mark it than by conquering a fort. It really gave me a sense of strength and courage to conquer all my fears and achieve my ambitions. For this, I would like to thank all the members and volunteers of TCS Adventure Club and all the TCS associates, who have participated in various treks. When we were planning a trek to Karnala, it initially didnt appeal much to me. I took it as just another simple routine trek in dry conditions. Ascend to the top, take pictures and descend back to the base. No waterfalls, no streams to cross, no rains to protect my camera from, etc. But as usual, I was proved wrong. I am just surprised by how much nature has to offer. There is no end to it. Every trek that I go to gives me something new to talk, think and write about. It isnt only about nature, but also the different people that I meet on treks. No matter how tired and exhausted I am after every trek, I feel fresh, I feel alive, I feel fearless, and my courage and strength increase manifold. As we started from Pune, the spirits were high, like always. And the best part was that I could see a new crowd this time. There were many first-timers. And what appealed the most to me was that this crowd was by far the most energetic crowd that I had ever seen. We played Dumb Charades in the bus, something we had never done before on any treks.

After reaching the base, we had a briefing and started the ascent. We had to make our way through a really dense jungle full of thorny bushes. We spotted giant spiders and rich flora around. We could hear the birds chirping and some of us could even spot a few birds. Now came the hardest part. Being in close proximity to Mumbai, Karnala is hot and humid. This led to dehydration and our stock

of water seemed to diminish every minute. The humidity was taking its toll on us. But overcoming difficulties is what treks are meant to be. We stopped at some points to catch our breath but continued walking through bushes, rocks and thick woods for almost 1.5 hours, after which we reached a flat terrain. It seemed like a relief but the best was yet to come. After a few minutes,

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BACKPACKERS

suddenly, out of nowhere, the fort came into our view. And mind you, this is not a regular fort. It looks exactly like a thumb that is pulled up. It seemed as if nature was welcoming us with a Thumbs Up! And then began the actual climb. It was steep at some points. Though exhausted by now, we didnt give up. The sun was at its peak and the trees were nowhere to be seen. It was so hot by now that my body seemed like it was radiating heat and my eyes had started itching. After such a tedious climb, when we reached the base of the fort, we just lay on the ground. Though I have been on more difficult treks before, I too felt completely worn out. But after having our food, we found ourselves relaxed. However, the next problem was that we had exhausted our stock of water. Like many other forts, Karnala also has water reservoirs that get filled up with rain water. I entered one such water reservoir and filled up the bottles of all the people. This water looked exceptionally clean and soothingly cold. Since our water problem was solved, we were ready to explore the fort. There was not much to explore though. We went up to the end of the fort and wherever we set our eyes, we could see a dense jungle thousands of feet below. However, the sad part was that the smog had made sure that we couldnt see much. Nevertheless, we were running late and decided to begin the descent. The problem here was that at some points, bottlenecks were formed due to the tricky terrain. Once we made it through these bottlenecks, the descent was smooth, less time consuming and less tiring. We completed the descent in less than 1.5 hours. Once back at the ground, we freshened up with the tap water available and had a look at the birds kept in captivity for display. By the time we were back in the bus, it was around 5:30 pm. We had a small stop for a tea break and snacks. After that, I expected most people to relax in the bus since they were obviously tired and exhausted. However, when I asked them if they had any energy left to play some games, all of them agred to join in. We started playing Antakshri, danced and yelled so loud that many of us were left with a sore throat. Now I wonder where this energy comes from. Such zeal is unmatchable. This is what brings out the best in you. This is what gives you the strength to fight your difficulties and conquer your fears. This is why I go on treks. My friends are often amused by how frequently I go on treks. I really feel sorry for them. Sadly, they have never experienced life. Both a movie ticket and a trek costs you the same. In the end, the choice is yours. Do you want to sit in the dark and enjoy the light? Or do you want to get out in the light, and see all the darkness go away? The choice is yours
By Aniket Santani
@TCS | 59

Calendar 2012
JANUARY
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 1 8 15 22 29 2 9 16 23 30 3 10 17 24 31 4 11 18 25 5 12 19 26 Fri 6 13 20 27 Sat 7 14 21 28 5 12 19 26 6 13 20 27 7 14 21 28

FEBRUARY
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 1 8 15 22 29 2 9 16 23 Fri 3 10 17 24 Sat 4 11 18 25

MARCH
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 1 4 11 18 25 5 12 19 26 6 13 20 27 7 14 21 28 8 15 22 29 Fri 2 9 16 23 30 Sat 3 10 17 24 31 1 8 15 22 29 2 9 16 23 30 3 10 17 24

APRIL
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 4 11 18 25 5 12 19 26 Fri 6 13 20 27 Sat 7 14 21 28

MAY
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 1 6 13 20 27 7 14 21 28 8 15 22 29 2 9 16 23 30 3 10 17 24 31 Fri 4 11 18 25 Sat 5 12 19 26 3 10 17 24 4 11 18 25 5 12 19 26

JUNE
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 6 13 20 27 7 14 21 28 Fri 1 8 15 22 29 Sat 2 9 16 23 30

Calendar 2012
JULY
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 1 8 15 22 29 2 9 16 23 30 3 10 17 24 31 4 11 18 25 5 12 19 26 Fri 6 13 20 27 Sat 7 14 21 28 5 12 19 26 6 13 20 27 7 14 21 28

AUGUST
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 1 8 15 22 29 2 9 16 23 30 Fri 3 10 17 24 31 Sat 4 11 18 25

SEPTEMBER
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 30 2 9 16 23 3 10 17 24 4 11 18 25 5 12 19 26 6 13 20 27 7 14 21 28 Fri Sat 1 8 15 22 29 7 14 21 28 1 8 15 22 29 2 9

OCTOBER
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 3 10 17 24 31 4 11 18 25 Fri 5 12 19 26 Sat 6 13 20 27

16 23 30

NOVEMBER
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 1 4 11 18 25 5 12 19 26 6 13 20 27 7 14 21 28 8 15 22 29 Fri 2 9 16 23 30 Sat 3 10 17 24 30 2 9 16 23 31 3 10 17 24

DECEMBER
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu 4 11 18 25 5 12 19 26 6 13 20 27 Fri 7 14 21 28 Sat 1 8 15 22 29

If the global opportunity is enormous in size, the opportunity at home is also enormous in terms of the impact we can have on the growth and development of India. From government to citizen services; from education to health; from urban planning to smart cities, the impact technology can have, as we all know, is tremendous on the growth of the country and the prosperity of the people.

- An excerpt from Chandra's acceptance speech on receiving the DQ IT Man of the Year award

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