Shoptalk

IT’s Happening Here
The recently-ousted Taliban may have taken Afghanistan back to the Stone Age but there are efforts—thanks to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)—to instil a chip of confidence in the land-locked nation. And what’s that? It’s nothing short of setting up an Information Technology Park on the outskirts of Kabul. The move, initiated by Afghan foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah, has found ready support with the MEA, which has asked for presentations from Indian IT giants like Infosys and Wipro. Kabul feels the move—besides ushering in an IT revolution in the country—will also send the right signals to the West about Afghanistan’s new future in step with the world.

Fizzical Rivalry
This will arguably be one of the biggest Indian advertising campaigns ever. The client is Pepsi, the filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar and the models Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar. Shot in Jodhpur, the campaign is slated for release by February end. And what’s happening in rival camp Coca-Cola India? A damage control exercise is on in full swing after the barrage of reports in the media about Coke’s troubled relationship with its bottlers. Invites have apparently gone out of the Coca-Cola India’s Gurgaon office to a select bunch of editors, asking them to witness the forthcoming Winter Olympics in Utah in the US in February. Jo chaho ho jai, Coca-Cola enjoy, right?

Wired? Weird
India’s attempt to make the mba admission test an on-line event (like GMAT of the US) has come a cropper. In its inaugural run on January 6, three out of seven centres—Delhi, Allahabad and Varanasi—reported computer glitches forcing a cancellation of the proceedings. Up to 24,000 students were taking the new format tests where, instead of sheets of paper, candidates faced computers with questions put in such a manner that there could be no possibility of unfair play. To make it fault- and corruption-free, answers were to be evaluated instantly, automatically ruling out any intervention. As they finished the two-hour test, examinees would be told just how they had fared.

The initiative came from six reputed B-schools: XLRSI Jamshedpur, XISS Ranchi, XIM Bhubaneswar, the Loyola Institute Chennai, Mount Carmel Bangalore and aicar. But VSNL connectivity meant new exam dates are to be announced.