People, places and products

AJIT ISAAC
The Transformer

Five years ago, when PeopleOne Consulting, a Bangalore-based HR Consultancy, was acquired by Swiss staffing giant Adecco, its founder AJIT ISAAC, 42, decided to stay on for three more years before quitting.

This was a company he started as go4careers.com and transformed into a brick-andmortar outfit when the dotcom bust happened in 2001. Now, the former HR head of Essar Group has acquired a controlling interest in IKYA Human Capital Solutions, a HR consultancy in Bangalore. Isaac wants to take IKYA, which offers executive search, recruitment, and learning and development, to the next level.

“I want to make this company among the top 3 HR consulting firms in India and then chart its overseas expansion,” he says. Having charted the successful reinvention, growth and eventual acquisition of his previous venture, few would be betting against him this time around.

ANITA KAUL BASU
Ruling the TRPs

Twenty-one years after Synergy Communications was set up by her husband Siddhartha Basu, ANITA KAUL BASU, 53, holds the reins of the company—be it HR, legal, company dealings, finances or production.

Having left content-related decisions to her husband, Anita is focussing on the five shows that BIG Synergy Adlabs Media Ltd currently has on air —Dus Ka Dum, India’s Got Talent, Sach ka Saamna, Aap ki Kacheri and Godrej Khelo Jeeto Jiyo. Of these, three are raking in the highest TRPs in the non-fiction segment of their respective channels.

Regarding the raging argument over the ‘violation of modesty’ on Sach Ka Saamna, Anita says, “The show does not violate our ‘Indianness’. If moralities are changing then politicians ought to accept it.” Synergy’s success with quiz shows is undisputed and it was shows like Quiz Time in 1986 and Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2000 that altered television viewing habits. As Anita puts it, “You can’t take your foot off the pedal in this dynamic, ever-changing society.”

PRODUCT
Cool It!

Logitech N100
This has to be the coolest laptop accessory ever and we mean that literally. This is a laptop cooling pad that you can place under your laptop to avoid overheated tables or worse still an overheated you! No, we’re not joking — there are thousands of cases of laptop burns across the world each year. The N100 is not the first laptop cooling accessory launched, but it is possibly the best looking and the quietest one. Available Now: Rs 1,995

PLACE
McLeodganj

As the Dalai Lama receives the honorary citizenship of yet another country (this time Poland) and prepares to meet US President Barack Obama in October, it’s as good a time as any to visit the adopted hometown of the Tibetan spiritual leader—McLeodganj. The British-established town in the higher regions of Dharamshala is often called ‘Little Lhasa’, because of its resemblance to the capital of Tibet.

It offers stunning views of Himalayan peaks and tourists can also take short walks to see the home of the Dalai Lama and visit the famous Tsuglagkhang temple. The town offers a variety of cuisine, with eateries serving Italian, Korean, Japanese and Tibetan food . McLeodganj is an overnight drive from Delhi and during the rains it’s the perfect holiday destination.

ARUN MAIRA
A chance to remake India

“This book is a plea of a manager to be given a chance to place his diagnosis and prescription for the country in the public domain,” — Ratan Tata wrote in the foreword for ARUN MAIRA’s book Remaking India.

Last fortnight, the Boston Consulting Group Chairman was inducted into the Planning Commission as in-charge for urbanisation and industrialisation— handing him the perfect chance to administer his remedy. His induction will hopefully spruce up the business-side inputs into the Commission—reducing the gap between planning and groundwork.

“We have to engage city bodies and panchayats from early stages and devolve power to them rather than spell out instructions from ivory towers,” Maira explains. Maira says he felt uncomfortable in the presence of economists before the supremacy of the breed was seriously challenged due to their failure to produce any forewarning to the current global economic crisis. With both the Planning Commission Chairman and Deputy Chairman being economists, it’s probably a good fear for him to have lost.

Contributed by Rahul Sachitanand, Anamika Butalia, Kushan Mitra, Puja Mehra & Dhiman Chattopadhyay