Cochin Discussions

[DileepKS]

Politics doesn't play in these things, at least in Kerala. You can't get votes by the masses by claiming that "I got a few IPL matches here". On the contrary, the association with the glitz, glamour and money of the IPL will attach a stigma onto the politicians.

Our blade-torn shirt wearing politicos are smart to know this, so they keep a distance. Tharoor comes from a different genre. He will learn soon enough.

Calicut would have made a great venue. The sportsman spirit of the place is legendary. It reminds me of a humour piece I read long ago.

Cricket was invented at Kozhikode. Even the place name was krikkaDa kreedaa puri (ക്രിക്കഡക്രീഡാപുരി) which was shortened to kukkuTakkuuTam (കുക്കുടക്കൂടം) which is malayalified to kozhikode. It was a royal game, and just like the ministries of the zamorin was hereditary, the team positions were also hereditary. The batsmen family were named 'aTiyOTi' (അടിയോടി), bowlers were eraTi(ഏറാടി). Wicket keeper was a piTaarOti (പിടാരോടി) which later became pisharoTi (പിഷാരോടി).

The twelveth man was veLLOTi (വെള്ളോടി)

[induzcreed]

delete

[sakrishna]

Originally Posted by induzcreed

"which came first, the chicken or egg?"

???? onnu thelichu parayu.

[induzcreed]

delete

[induzcreed]

krishna...i think yu can make out easily...scroll up yu will find

[arunpr]

Posting an incident which happened in Oberon Mall.

One of the my friend's relative died of food poison after having food from Oberon mall. He had some mushroom dish from the food circle in Oberon mall. They are going to court against this. I am not sure whether this news has come in any channel or newspaper.

[arunpr]

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states...icle436289.ece

State heading for a leap in IT: CM


The Hindu Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan. File Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Kerala Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan has said that the State was poised for a leap in information technology sector. The growth rate in the sector now was higher than in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharastra.

In an article released for publication, the Chief Minister said the State was heading for higher growth because of the infrastructure created by the present government. IT infrastructure developed by the government had increased by 81 per cent during the past four years against 31 per cent during the administration of previous government. The developed space grew to 105 lakh square feet against 19 lakh square feet in 2006 and 13 lakh square feet in 2001. The investment in the last two years alone exceeded Rs. 10,000 crore.

Mr. Achuthanandan that software exports from the State would cross Rs. 10,000 crore by 2015. When the present government came to power, the software export was of Rs. 480 crore. During the UDF rule, the exports had grown only by 200 crore while exports from other parts of the country recorded higher growth. During 2006-2010, the export from Kerala increased to Rs. 3,200 crore despite global economic recession. At 80 per cent, that was the highest growth rate in the country.

He recalled that the government had adopted a policy of decentralised IT development with three IT hubs and IT parks around them. This helped to prevent the negative environmental impact of large parks. As infrastructure alone would not bring about development, the government had made efforts for development of human resources. It took the lead to initiate a learning scheme starting with IT@School and ending with finishing schools. To encourage higher studies and research, it had drawn up scheme tilted Speed-IT.

The government had also been able to change the impression that IT was for getting outsourcing contracts. The IT policy now focussed on building a knowledge society.

[arunpr]

Wipro may expand its Kochi base


Company plans to find land for scaling up operations in the city

KOCHI: The Kerala Information Technology Department's efforts to showcase the State as a natural hub for information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services got a boost with Wipro chairman Azim Premji expressing interest to expand his company's footprint in Kochi.

Wipro is a major player in IT landscape of the city with a full-fledged private campus at Infopark in Kakkanad. The 10-hectare campus has a built-up space of 10 lakh sq.ft. It employs 1,900 people and focusses on software development, with domestic and international clients.

Mr. Premji's announcement focussing on business process outsourcing (BPO) ventures in Kochi had only confirmed the speculation to that effect. At the request of Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, during the course of their meeting on Thursday, Mr. Premji agreed to expand the campus with prominence to BPO ventures in the domains of law and finance.

Sources said Wipro had for long harboured massive expansion plans in Kochi focussed on BPO and that could spell good for the job scene in the IT sector recovering from the global recession. The company had plans to find new land for expanding operations here.

The company has room for expanding and accommodating more employees on the present campus. It can easily accommodate another 7,000-8,000 staff there, sources said.

Fruitful meeting

Ajay Kumar, Principal Secretary, IT, told The Hindu over the phone on Friday that the meeting Mr. Premji had with the Chief Minister boded well for the State. “He was happy with the overall investment climate and satisfied with the operation of his Kochi campus. He expressed interest to expand his operations in Kochi and we on our part assured all assistance,” he said.

Sources said the State could attract the company to its smaller IT parks in Koratty, Cherthala, and Ambalappuzha, if it were to go ahead with the plan for launching BPOs.

The State could sell the attraction of cost-effective operations possible for BPO ventures in these parks.

A majority of the companies operating out of the park at Koratty were BPOs, and that was a testimony to this possibility. Proximity to the international airport at Nedumbassery was another selling point of the Koratty park.

[ceeznic pirate]

Taken today. Sry guys I dnt know wat each of these buildings are. So posting here.










Oberon mall


Oberon mall

[sunnythomas.85]

The first two set of bldgs are Hotel Intercontinental Crowne Plaza, a premium five star leisure property. The third image is Jomer Symphony, a premium business/office complex with a supermarket/department store in its first 3 stories. The 4th image is Hotel Holiday Inn, a business class hotel.

I hope its clear for you

Sunny Thomas

Originally Posted by ceeznic pirate

Taken today. Sry guys I dnt know wat each of these buildings are. So posting here.










Oberon mall


Oberon mall

[ceeznic pirate]

Thanks for the info

[Kiru_PTA]

Vallarpadam terminal to make charges competitive

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The Board of Trustees of the Cochin Port Trust, on Tuesday, decided to make vessel-related charges at the International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam competitive, in line with the charges at other transhipment ports in the South and South-east Asian region. The soft launch of the terminal is set for July.

Vessel-related charges

The Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP), which regulates all rates at 11 Union government-owned ports, had recently increased the vessel-related charges of the Cochin Port Trust (effective from May 7) by 40 per cent on the average when compared to the pre-revised scale of rates. The tariff hike had affected Kochi port by making it uncompetitive with respect to its neighbouring transhipment ports, the press release stated.

Handling charges

A statement from the Cochin Port Trust said that DP World, promoters of ICTT through its holding company India Gateway Terminal Private Limited (IGTPL), has also decided in-principle to make the terminal handling charges for transhipment containers in line with that of other international transhipment ports in the region.

Currently, the terminal handling charges fixed for the proposed ICTT is higher by 30-60 per cent when compared to the prevailing rates at Rajiv Gandhi Container Terminal.

The decision to make the tariff competitive is a pricing decision taken by the Cochin Port Trust and DP World with an aim to develop ICTT as a transhipment port and fulfil the promise of developing Kochi as an international transhipment hub for cargoes, the press release stated.

Currently, a substantial portion of Indian container volume is shipped through ports at Colombo, Singapore and Salalah.

The Colombo port handles about two million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of Indian transhipment containers out of the nearly four million TEUs.

The following special tariff for vessel-related charges has been fixed for ICTT for mainline container vessels with international ports of call in the continents of America, Europe, Africa, Australia and any port in China. Port dues per gross registered tonnage (GRT) will be $0.0455. Pilotage charge per GRT will be $0.0865 and berth hire per GRT per hour will be $0.0022. The terminal is scheduled for commissioning in August, and in the first phase it will have a 600-metre quay length.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/26/stor...2661840300.htm

[induzcreed]

NHAI road widening in kerala, is turning out to be a jigsaw puzzle for the politicians...interestingly a wind of change is happening with the surprise and bold statements made( a political summersault ) by 2 LDF ministers ( Mr. Jose Thettayil & Paloli Muhammed kutty) which is gaining momentum now. Opposition leader, Ummen chandy also now confused and changing his previous stand abt multi-polar political consensus for 30metres in his latest comments...
....OMG there are sensible people in politics with steel back-bone

[arunpr]

Luxury yacht cruise company, Compagnie Du Ponant to start India operations in Nov ’10

By Anita Jain | Mumbai


Compagnie Du Ponant, a high-end yacht cruise operator based in France is planning to start operations in Indian waters from November 2010. The yacht cruise company, which operates five high-end yachts across the globe, will be deploying two vessels from its fleet, Le Ponant (32 cabins and 64 pax) and Le Diamant (113 cabins and suites, 226 pax) for Indian operations. Delhi- based 1-Globe has been appointed as the strategic sales representative in India and will target premium leisure segment and is also open to provide the yachts on charter for groups and incentive market. Itineraries of Compagnie Du Ponant cover South America, America, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

Indian operations will commence on November 8, 2010 with Le Diamant offering seven-day cruise covering Marmugao (Goa), Kochi (Kerala), Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) and Chennai (Tamil Nadu) as ports-of-call. Le Ponant will offer Kochi-Male (Maldives) and Male-Kochi packages from December 28 – January 04, 2011 and March 10 – March 17, 2011 respectively. Later in March 2011, Le Ponant will offer a seven-day India package with the cruise starting from Kochi. The itinerary will include Thiruvananthapuram, New Mangalore (Karnataka) and Marmugao as ports-of-call with Mumbai as the final destination. According to Rishi Uberoi, Assistant Vice President, 1-Globe, the approximate price of the seven day package will range between 2,000-2,500 Euros per person.

Talking exclusively to TravelBiz Monitor about the potential of the Indian market, Maarten Tromp, Head – Sales and Marketing, Compagnie Du Ponant said, “In cruising terms, India is a sleeping giant which has just opened half an eye. The size and diversity of the market offers huge potential for all cruise operators. Since we are, in cruising terms, a small company operating at the premium end of the market, we don’t require tremendous passenger volumes that traditional larger cruise companies require. We are targeting the niche and high-end market in India.”

Divulging details about the appointment of the sales representative in India, Tromp said, “In India, we have started carefully by selecting 1-Globe. Along with the company, we have established a plan of action for the Indian market within our limited means and this plan will be rolled out in the coming months.” However, Tromp declined to disclose details of the plan-of-action. “Indian travellers are increasingly turning into high spenders for travel products. On Compagnie Du Ponant yachts, Indians can experience the high-end luxury and explore destinations and ports which are unheard of. We are going to appoint sales representatives in every zone (North, East, West and South) to enhance productivity for the product. Next month we are going to introduce promotional packages for travel trade and end consumers. Since Indians like to travel in groups, we are also open to chartering the entire yacht with customised itinerary requirements,” informed Uberoi.

[samsoninfy]

Great pics, Cochin is the place man

[samsoninfy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlAyP_G-nBY

Navy Queen Contest Cochin

[samsoninfy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViYVc5dpX_k

Miss South India , contest Cochin

[induzcreed]

Kochi, the second largest commercial city in the western coastal lines ranked 7th position among India's 10 most affluent cities.


A Nielsen survey on the Urban Middle and Rich (Umar) estimates a total of 2.5 million affluent households in India.

Of this 2.2 million belong to the Upper Middle segment, 0.2 million households to the Upper Upper Middle and The Rich consist about 0.1 million households.

no surprise... could find a brand new white Jaguar XJ on marinedrive yesterday.

courtesy: Binoj Viswam

Source: http://business.rediff.com/slide-sho...htm#contentTop

[induzcreed]

Pattanam a highly populous small town, Cochin suburb area these days witnessing some surprising hystoric events. Excavations done by the Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR) unearthed the first-ever Iron Age habitation remains from the State.

As per the latest information released; significant details in the form of utensils, tools, fossils etc digged out from the site, depicts the coastal town's very long and ancient hystory of trade and commerce ties with Europian, Arabian, West asian and mezopotomian civilizations, clocks back to 3000years past.

Source:
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/06/08/s...0855510400.htm
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/05/29/s...2960400400.htm

[arunpr]

Website for Vytilla Mobility Hub

http://www.vyttilamobilityhub.com/

http://www.vyttilamobilityhub.com/view-galeery/1/