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The Story of Nehrus

Those were the days of the decline of the Moghal Empire after the death of Aurungzeb, and Farrukhsiar was the Emperor. Raj Kaul was the name of that ancestor of ours and he had gained eminence as a Sanskrit and Persian scholar in Kashmir. He attracted the notice of Farrukhsiar during the latter's visit to Kashmir, and, probably at the Emperor's instance, the family migrated to Delhi, the imperial capital, about the year 1716. 

A jagir with a house situated on the banks of a canal had been granted to Raj Kaul, and, from the fact of this residence, 'Nehru' (from nahar, a canal) came to be attached to his name. Kaul had been the family name; this changed to Kaul-Nehru; and, in later years, Kaul dropped out and we became simply Nehrus. The family experienced many vicissitudes of fortune during the unsettled times that followed and the jagir dwindled and vanished away. My greatgrandfather, Lakshmi Narayan Nehru, became the first Vakil of the 'Sarkar Company' at the shadow court of the Emperor of Delhi. My grandfather, Ganga Dhar Nehru, was Kotwal of Delhi for some time before the great Revolt of 1857. He died at the early age of 34 in 1861.The revolt of 1857 put an end to our family's connection with Delhi, and all our old family papers and documents were destroyed in the course of it. 

The family, having lost nearly all it possessed, joined the numerous fugitives who were leaving the old imperial city and went to Agra. My father was not born then but my two uncles were already young men and possessed some knowledge of English. This knowledge saved the younger of the two uncles, as well as some other members of the family, from a sudden and ignominious end. He was journeying from Delhi with some family members, among whom was his young sister, a little girl who was very fair, as some Kashmiri children are. Some English soldiers met them on the way and they suspected this little aunt of mine to be an English girl and accused my uncle of kidnapping her. From an accusation, to summary justice and punishment, was usually a matter of minutes in those days, and my uncle and others of the family might will have found themselves hanging on the nearest tree. 

Fortunately for them, my uncle's knowledge of English delayed matters a little and then some one who knew him passed that way and rescued him and the others. For some years the family lived in Agra, and it was in Agra on the sixth of May 1861 that my father was born. [A curious and interesting coincidence: The poet Rabindranath Tagore was also born on this very day, month and year.] But he was a posthumous child as my grandfather had died three months earlier. In a little painting that we have of my grandfather, he wears the Moghal court dress with a curved sword in his hand, and might well be taken for a Moghal nobleman, although his features are distinctly Kashmiri. The burden of the family then fell on my two uncles who were very much older than my father. The elder uncle, Bansi Dhar Nehru, soon after entered the judicial department of the British Government and, being appointed successively to various places, was partly cut off from the rest of the family. The younger uncle, Nand Lal Nehru, entered the service of an Indian State and was Diwan of Khetri State in Rajputana for ten years. Later he studied law and settled down as a practicing lawyer in Agra. My father lived with him and grew up under his sheltering care.

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Volkswagen launches IPL edition Vento sedan

The Europe’s largest selling car manufacturer Volkswagen which had late entry with its flagship brand in India has been very popular for some time now with its Polo compact car and its sedan version Vento. Now it has been reported that it has announced the launch of an IPL edition of its entry level luxury sedan Vento, priced at Rs 7.24 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The model will go on sale from April 8, the day the fourth season of the Indian Premier League kicks off, through its network of dealerships in 57 cities. Since its launch in September 2010, the Vento claims sales of 14,400 units.

Brand Ambassador - Virat Kohli : TVS Sport

TVS Motor Company has roped in Indian cricket star Virat Kohli as brand ambassador for its sports range of motorcycles.

“TVS Motor Company has signed on one of India’s brightest and most promising cricketing talents, Virat Kohli, as brand ambassador for its all new TVS Sport motorcycle. Kohli will feature on all advertising and retail material related to TVS Sport,” the Chennai-based TVS Motor Company said in a statement.

MIT Media Labs’ new logo has 40,000 variations

MIT Media Labs has a new logo, designed by Richard The, with a whopping 40,000 possible variations.

On his website, The explains that an algorithm is used to produce the logos based on just three shapes and 12 different colors. The algorithm produces a logo for each staff member at the Labs, combining personal branding with organizational branding. Despite the unique nature of each logo, they are clearly related. According to the designer, the logo’s varying nature represents what MIT Media Labs does:

Each of the three shapes stands for one individual’s contribution, the resulting shape represents the outcome of this process: A constant redefinition of what media and technology means today.

Below, you can see just a few of the 40,000 variations.

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Reebok Spends More on Its EasyTone and ZigTech Campaigns

Reebok launched global campaign in support of its two products—EasyTone and ZigTech shoes.

Reebok's ZigTech likened to 'an energy drink for your feet'
The campaign will be launched on 27 national markets worldwide and feature world-renowned athletes representing 7 sports including the U.K. boxer Amir Khan, Indian cricketers Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvrag Singh. The spots produced in course of the campaign feature cell animation paired with motion capturing technology.

As far as new Easytone campaign is concerned, it features a group of “Reetoners,” seven ladies each representing a country and being a fan of Reebok’s toning shoes. Easytone is a line of colorful sportswear for ladies that helps keep fit with every step.

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The Story of Howard Head: How One Man Reinvented Two Industries

It was the spring of 1947 and Howard Head was an engineer for the Martin aircraft company. Needing a break from work, he joined a few friends for a week of skiing. By the end of the week, Howard Head was ambivalent about the sport.

On one hand, there was nothing like the feeling of sailing over the snow. On the other hand, he could not deny that his performance was less than stellar. On the way home to Maryland, Howard Head stayed up with a group of friends in their coach aboard their train.

Eventually, the topic of their performances came up. Not willing to shoulder all of the blame for his poor performance, Head explained that, while he was undoubtedly a bad skier, his long, heavy hickory skis hadn’t done him any favors. He then boasted that he could make a better ski out of aluminum, fiberglass, and other aircraft materials. Back at the office, Head began to chew on the problem.

He started doodling. He conducted some quick stress analysis of both hickory and aluminum. It soon became clear that, theoretically at least, he could build an aluminum ski that was as strong as one made from wood but would be both more flexible and weigh only half as much. By August, Head was feeling confident enough about his ideas to tap into his savings, quit his job, and set up a small workshop. He then spent the next 5 months designing and manufacturing 6 sets of skis.

These skis were different from anything that had been seen before on the slopes. Instead of being wooden planks, they were elegant composite structures of aluminum, plywood, and honeycomb plastic. Certain he had revolutionized the industry, Head returned to Stowe that winter to meet with several ski instructors. After spending a few minutes discussing his new skis with them, one of the instructors picked up a ski and flexed it to test its camber.

It broke.

The instructor then picked up another ski and proceeded to break it as well. Within minutes, all of Head’s beautiful new skis lay in pieces in the snow. So Howard Head went back to the drawing board.

Head then spent two more years, and another 20 pairs of skis, developing a running surface that would remain clean of snow. In the process, he also added metal edges to his skis to make them easier to use under icy conditions. The years of work finally paid off in the spring of 1950. By the point, Head had created a ski that was stronger, faster, and easier to use than anything else on the mountain. In fact, they were such an improvement over the state of the art that they earned the nickname of “cheaters.”

However, Head realized his work was not yet done. He knew that amateurs would be most likely to buy his skis if they saw them being used by instructors, the ski patrol, and other professional skiers. As a result, Head spent the next 9 years improving his skis and, by 1959, had created a ski that was adopted by most of the racers in the sport.

The result was that Howard Head sold 56,000 pairs of skis in 1961 sold Head Ski to AMF in 1969 for $16 million.

Howard Head was a crummy tennis player. In fact, the only way his instructor would agree to continue giving him lessons was if he agreed to buy a ball machine and practice every day. Head did as he was told and bought one from the Prince manufacturing company. Ever the engineer, Howard Head grew curious about how the machine worked, so he took it apart. Upon examining the machine, Head was impressed with the ingenuity of its design but found it to be full of bugs. He called the company and ended up driving up to the company’s offices in Princeton, New Jersey to present them with his suggestions for improving the machine.

After working with them over the course of a year, and making a few more trips up to their facilities, Head bought 25% of the company and was appointed both chief design engineer and chairman of the board. The Prince ball machine soon captured half of the market. But Howard Head was still a crummy tennis player.

The improved ball machine didn’t improve his game significantly. Instead, it just allowed him to scatter even more balls around the court. However, Head once again refused to accept sole responsibility for his performance. Instead, he again blamed his equipment and not himself for his poor performance. Retreating to his basement workshop to analyze the

problem, Head quickly determined the reason he was such a “scatterball” was that the racket would twist in his hands if he did not hit the ball within the racket’s tiny “sweet spot.” Head then spent the next two years experimenting with ways to increase the size of the racket’s sweet spot.

But nothing worked.

One night, after months of wrestling with the problem, Howard Head went to bed as usual and awoke from a dream with the insight he needed. He had to make the head of the racket bigger.

Head knew from his familiarity with physics that, due to something called the polar moment of inertia, a small increase in the width of the racket would result in a disproportionately large increase in the size of the racket’s sweet spot. A racket that was just 2 inches — or 20% —wider than usual would be 40% more resistant to twisting.

Howard Head quickly made a prototype of his wider racket and found that it was indeed a significant improvement. The racket was much more stable than his old wood model and his game improved immediately.

After making a few more tweaks to his design, Head took the idea to the Prince board in 1975. While they were skeptical, the prototype convinced them to invest in the development of what was to become known as the Prince tennis racket. Head spent the next year improving the design and proving it was patentable. Remembering the Head ski did not take off until it was made suitable for instructors and professionals, Head spent the next years developing rackets that were suited for the pros. The result was numerous stories of rejuvenated careers, dramatic upsets, and jumps in the rankings by players who used Prince rackets.

This publicity was soon augmented by the word of mouth advertising of amateurs who were saying things like “I’m getting more balls back,” “I don’t have to be as careful,” and “I am beating people I never beat before.”

Prince tennis rackets were soon adopted by more than 700,000 players and grabbed 13% of the market in less than 4 years.

It is an excerpt of a book entitled The Paradox Of Pain which is written by Chris O’Leary.