Pearson disappears from Patparganj

Thursday 30^th April 2009 was the last day when the residents of Patparganj Industrial Area last saw their only dazzling neighbors spending the days work. Pearson stayed for their over 5 years and provided industrial area all characteristics to this place to be in the limelight. Mainly those three to four refreshment kiosks are the worst hit for their brisk business of food, refreshments, tea and not the least cigarettes where the Pearsonians used to throng during their breaks.

 

While everyone outside Pearson were sad and low but the scene inside was completely different people grabbing all the hottest deals offered to them at throw away prices. Some of them even revolted when they realized that best of the lot was already reserved and there were some emotional faces who recalled all those sweet days they spent since its inception but they were high in spirits anticipating the experience of all new lavish workplace. All those left behind only wish if anyone ever could replace this landmark that Pearson Education was for Patparganj Industrial Area.

 

Ciao Patparganj Industrial Area…….

 

 

Amit Chauhan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye 482

You were a happy office, unfortunately in the armpit of the city. You served us well, and we did really well as a company while we were with you. I'm sure you will be missed by many, as we get used to a new location with new features, but much less of the quirky nature you had.
With the rushed day I had today, there was no opportunity to say goodbye properly, but I wish you well, and hope you bring luck and happiness to your new tenants, and that they treat you well in return.

As for me, I am headed off to our new office, which I hope will be a happy location. Stay well.

Vivek



Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

As a part of a series of events to celebrate 'World Earth Day', Pearson Longman and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) organised painting competitions for kids at Shopper's Stop outlets in GIP Mall, Noida Metropolitan Mall, Saket and Ansal Mall, Khelgaon in which children's of different age groups expressed their concerns for environment issues and nature by painting beautiful pictures with vibrant colours and patterns. The topic was 'Save Our Beautiful Earth'. The paintings were not only visual treat of vibrant themes but also had emotional appeal through their simple yet heart tugging message, asked all of us to re-think our environmental priorities and do something Mother nature which has been suffering in numerous ways from our rampant consumerism and reckless development on global scale.
Pearson Longman also gave away prizes to best paintings which included child specific TERRAPIN books. Here are some pictures from the event along with some of the lovely paintings by the little participants.

- Gitesh

Goa story

Once upon a time, there was a magic tribe that lived on a beautiful island. Quiet and peaceful, they enjoyed their lives, not knowingthat it was all going to change soon.

For, another tribe had heard about this magic land and wanted to see what it was all about. Determined to get the magic, they planned…

And read big books…

And finally, got on the box-on-wheels to reach this island

Once they reached the magic island, they were puzzled. Where was the magic and why were the people on the island so happy?

Then,they got enlightened…

And they realized—the magic was in just chillin’ and enjoying life

Once they discovered the secret, they realized they could go home…and they were happy

As for the island, it breathed, “Till we meet again!”

Jonaki

" Don't mess with me! The spirits kept me up!"

Since everyone is talking about ghosts, i thought i'd mention that some cameras did manage to capture the hotel's resident spirit...a form in black, carrying a lamp. Here she is!

-Shabnam

This time it was Goa

 

Now that Amit has set the ball rolling with an account of the ghostly experiences at the Higher Ed NSM in Goa, let me also contribute my bit. Alas! All the spirits I saw, heard and experienced were the firmly earthbound ones. The trip started (for most of us) early on a Sunday morning at the Nizamuddin station. Amazing that all of us made it on time.  Even more amazing that we made it in one piece to the resort Cidade-de-Goa, considering that the journey took 26 hours and we had a hectic week of preparations and winding-up before we started. Most amazing that Ashish (Alexander) went with us instead of missing the train as expected! There were the usual energetic antaaksharis and card games to keep us occupied (our co-passengers looked really happy to see us getting off at Madgaon). Some of us had brought along books which did not leave our bags. There was a down side though. Our windows were blocked by the Airtel advertisements and we could barely see anything of the lovely countryside we passed through. To add to my misery we ended up watching a bleak and disturbing movie on the Kurdish people, set just before the war on Iraq, called Turtles Can Fly. Others were wiser and stuck to Bollywood blockbusters. Well, we reached the resort, tired, hungry and on the verge of collapse when we spied the beach and magically our spirits revived. A private beach leading up to the beautiful sea—here was luxury indeed! The general presentations took up half of the next morning—Pearson India had achieved its targets for 2008 and was all geared up for 2009. There was a sense of achievement and pride among all present in the conference hall. After lunch, we got divided into several teams for the rest of the presentations, B&E, HSS, PTG and ESM. The highlight was of course ‘Kaun Banega Salespati’, a game show conducted by the ESM team (No Amitabh Bachchan or Shah Rukh Khan here, but I am told a hit nevertheless!). Then, after two days of staying at the beach till wee hours into the morning and getting up at 6 a.m. the same day, the presentations were finally over and it was time to hit the dance floor. Oh! Before I forget, the awards for special achievements were presented to the truly deserving candidates. Everyone got up from their seats to applaud Tapan Saha for receiving the President’s award. Also, the editorial for the first time got its share of awards. To put a proper end to our trip, we went on a beach-hopping spree on the last day which ended with a lovely cruise on the Mandovi River. There were many brave and intrepid souls who went para-sailing and rode water scooters. I will leave them to tell their own tales. The staff at the resort was wonderful and gets kudos for putting up with our exuberant lot. That’s about all for now.

Someone suggested a photo-blog with appropriate captions. Seems a good idea. Interested, anyone?

 

 

Anindita

 

Experience at the Goa NSM

The day when it was announced our NSM destination will be Goa, there was flurry of ghost stories started doing rounds within the office. Most of them have already heard the ghostly experiences of the school team who toured Goa for their sales meet. The stories were very usual, one of them found suspicious object in the room, hearing of footsteps in the corridor during the night and only the most weird of all was when one found there doors and window all open when they woke up in the morning. Isn’t this enough to jolt any body to shivers? The historical Dona Paula suicide episode and her spirits still being seen on the full moon nights added thump to everyone’s imagination on how it’s going to be there in ghostly abode. Knowing all this and getting there again was anything but a sequel of horror film like I know what you did last summer – which is supposedly called I still know what you did last summer.

 

It was our Chennai Super King (I use this title because I am writing this while watching the IPL) first chance who got the honor of Ghost visiting his room and playing with his hand kerchief and finally ripping it badly using the roommate’s blades. It was the joy on the face of the guy who instead of panicking showed the coveted piece of torn kerchief to everyone who though scared but still liked to have a glimpse at it anyways. As this was not enough to leave the poor ones who were already shaken Phew! News came in that one of the new inmates of the hotel read names written on the mirror. Guys, there was a point to note the spirits were not only pranksters but knew writing.

 

On the same night I saw one of them reciting Hanuman Chalisa and shouting Jai Hanuman slogan through out the night. I and my roommate got calls from these guys to come in and stay in their rooms as they were scared of ghost who might visit them. Anyways we did not respond thinking they are doing this just for fun which wasn’t, the next day we learnt that they asked Binit to be their saviour….bravo Binit. I knew even few of the ladies followed the same trick with 06-07 of them staying together to escape the fear of ghost when they are alone. They were happy as their plan did work in favour of them and ghosts lurking inside empty rooms enjoying the benefit of night stays without being charged by the hotel.

 

Like any climax which has to be spine chilling or nerve jerking we heard the story from one of the inmates saying here packed luggage was opened by the ghost and one the dresses flew outside the room and found in the parking area and this time around it was again our Chennai folks who were the victim of the silly ghosts prank. It doesn’t end there blood stains were visible but only through camera lens, thanks to Amit K  who was there to give expert reason behind why the marks are seen only through the camera.

 

Personally, it was indeed haunting to me at times but I followed the advice of my friend I got intoxicated every night and had heavenly sleep. Overall this years the NSM was surrounded by spirits and horror stories being the topic of discussion with most of them and likely to be treated only as a gossip otherwise we would not have seen the people enjoying on beach and dancing in the party. This was my fourth NSM and the experience has always got better why not? I got my first award and also won a bottle of wine for participating in NSM theme contest. I thank for having me at the NSM and hope the fun continues….

 

Amit

 

 

Learning Online

I wanted to post this yesterday as a response to Vivek’s earlier post.

 

Closer home the Centre For Distance Engineering Education Programme (http://www.cdeep.iitb.ac.in/) , IIT Bombay offers live webcast courses for free. CDEEP also offers a value-added mode that offers additional features like video on demand, learning management system etc. Each value-added course is priced at Rs 1000.

 

What opportunities does it raise for an educational company like ours? It is probably an indicator that digital learning is in, and there are takers. The immediate results may not be too grand, but we need to keep working at it.

 

Since this concept is still in its nascent stage, it is important that we keep ourselves updated. For this purpose, I would like to introduce the Digital Learning Blog (http://pearsoned-digitallearning.blogspot.com/). If you stumble across anything that you think that we ought to know in the field of digital learning and if you have any ideas, please do drop in a few lines to gbanerjee.b.digilearning@blogspot.com. Let’s see where this takes us.

 

The next contest

It seems that it needs a prize to get you to write! Does anyone have anything to say about the few days the Higher Ed team spent in Goa?

I am running low on my stocks of wine, so maybe for this one, I will make it a dinner for two at a nice restaurant, let’s not get carried away with 5 star.

Articles which carry pictures of Vivek Govil dancing are immediately disqualified.

 

Folks from the school team, or others who were not at Goa will have to think of a topic of their own in order to participate. Maybe how nice the office is with half the people missing.

 

Oh, and I got my prize for contributing to the NSM theme, thank you very much. It felt good.

 

Vivek Govil