Monthly Archives: November 2012

Fitness priority for Jeevan

Records, All, Sports

 

Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan

Having played in all the four junior Grand Slams, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan is now creating ripples on the ITF senior circuit.

After clinching the national championship this month, the Chennai lad went on to win the ITF Futures title in Mumbai last week.
This was Jeevan’s fourth Futures win in two years, the earlier ones being at Pune, Kolkata (2011) and Madurai (April, 2012) .
The 24-year-old, who returned to tennis after a long lay-off due to multiple injuries in August-September 2012, won the Mumbai final in just over an hour.
“I took advantage of my opponent’s nervousness, quickened the pace of the rallies to make him commit unforced errors,” Jeevan said.
Jeevan twisted his ankle in the Gandhinagar Futures in August before tearing a stomach muscle at a Futures event in Iran that put him out for a month in September.
Not ready to give up, a determined Jeevan now wants to improve his rankings and has set his eyes on the Pune Futures title, that is under way this week.
“I just want to stay healthy and playing more and more ITF Futures and ATP tournaments in order to improve my ranking,” the 398th ranked Jeevan said.
Grandson of veteran Tamil Nadu politician V.R. Nenduchezhiyan, Jeevan was expected to go the family way.
“I was always interested in sports. I was into athletics and like sprinting alot. There is no plan to join politics right now… Only time will tell,” said Jeevan, who has four titles in as many final appearances in Futures events.
At the recently-concluded nationals in the capital, Jeevan lived up to his top billing.
“Coming in as the top seed I knew I had a good chance. But my goal was to stay healthy and complete the tournament without my chronic muscle problem coming up,” he said.
A graduate from the University of Washington, Jeevan was an active tennis player in his college days and also ranked as high as no. 9 in the ITF junior rankings.

source: http://www.AsianAge.com / Home> Sports> Tennis / by Age Correspondent / November 01st, 2012

BPOs work harder

Business & Economy, World Opinion

Around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, R. Ganesan, was waiting desperately for an auto to slow down near Kasturibai Nagar MRTS station.

“Unlike a lot of people who are going back home, I am going to office. There will be lot of work,” said the employee of a voice-based BPO in Velachery.

With major banks in New York opening yesterday after two days of holidays owing to Hurricane Sandy, and many businesses opening today, BPO employees in Chennai who offer tele-calling  services to them faced an avalanche of work on Wednesday, and hence remained open throughout, despite howling winds and rains due to the cyclone here.

“Most of us who cater to banks and retail stores abroad had to work two shifts today,” said Arun Gopinath, a tele-caller with a BPO in Perungudi.

There are nearly 400 BPOs in Chennai that provide services for clients in the United States, including major firms such as Sutherland, Genpact and Allsec among others. “My work  normally ends at 7 p.m., but I will have to put in one more shift from 10 p.m. to 8.30 a.m.,” said Arun.

While the bigger BPOs offered pick-up facilities, the smaller ones did not do so. Thus, employees were seen stranded at many railway and bus stations. IT employees, however, could leave by 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

While bigger companies such as Cognizant, TCS, Verizon, HCL ensured that most of the buses in their fleet were plying, the smaller companies failed to do so. The suspension of MRTS services from 3.30 p.m. greatly added to the crowd waiting for buses and autos. “We got mails from our employer stating that all buses will leave between 3.p.m. and 3. 30 p.m.. To make sure everyone leaves, the office server in local offices was kept shut down,” said P.R. Sukanya, who works in Siruseri. In many firms, evening and night shifts were also cancelled.

While offices in Olympia Tech Park, on Rajiv Gandhi Salai and GST road were shut down by 3 p.m., most employees of firms in Tidal Park left by 5 p.m. Additional facilities for recreation in many tech parks were also kept closed.

“Though I left at 3 p.m., I could reach home only by 6 p.m., considering many roads in Alwarpet, Anna Salai and Velacerry were blocked due to falling of trees,” said Deepika Madhusudhan, an employee in Mahindra World City. Bus drivers, attendants and helping staff in IT companies too had a tough time getting food, with most roadside eateries and smaller restaurants having downed shutters.

“Many travel agencies have not sent their vehicles and drivers today, so some of us who drive company vehicles have to make extra trips,” said Mohammed Karim, a driver attached to a company on ECR.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> Chennai> News / November 01st, 2012