Avoid Giving PAN Card Details For Job Interviews

Today, many companies, including top IT companies and MNC (like IBM) ask people to give their PAN Card number along with their resume, for shortlisting for interview. As many people are desperate for a job in these times of recession, most people give their PAN Card numbers, even though they know that companies should not be asking for PAN card number, before hiring for a job. People suspect some hanky-panky. Well, what exactly is this hanky-panky that companies are up to?

Well, some companies, especially IT companies, need to show certain minimum number of employees, to get contracts from foreign companies or government agencies. They collect resumes together with PAN Card numbers, and show this to prospective clients, telling them that these are our current employees on our rolls. These companies have no intention of hiring anyone. They may call you for an interview, but don't conduct it, or conduct it in a lackadaisical manner.

For example, IBM calls people for an interview to their Gurgaon office, when you get there, they say go to Noida office, when you reach there, they say go to some other office in Noida. This is the way prospective job candidates are irritated, so that no interview is held, but the PAN details are collected. Placement consultants keep demanding the PAN number when they call you. When asked, they say it will be used as an identification number to process your application.

Companies can use any system of identifying candidates, or numbering them. Why ask for the PAN Card, which is a government document, whose number is not supposed to be given out? And then, not even holding the interview...This is my personal experience with IBM, that's why I can say it. They called me three times for the IBM interview and written test, and all three times changed the location, saying the concerned HR contact person was in the other office location, at the time. This is when IBM is supposed to be a leading IT company, in the computer and laptop manufacturing business...

Do not divulge PAN card number for job interviews

My friends later told me that companies that do this are actually doing some hera-pheri with the PAN card. While some may use your PAN Card details just to show strength of non-existing employees to prospective clients, others may use it for worse purposes like benami transactions, making you fake director of a company, buying property in your name, taking loans in your name (if they ask for photocopy of passport etc), and changing black money to white money.

Hence, please do not make the habit of giving your PAN Card number to companies, even MNCs, for job interview purposes. Companies are taking advantage of the bad job situation, to bully people and get them to divulge their PAN Card number and photocopies of vital documents. This can be used for various types of identity theft and other nefarious activities.

You can get into solid trouble with the Income Tax department for this. They will ask you questions, if they find anything wrong. So, please don't give your PAN Card details at the time of job interview to anyone. You can only give it to them when you are finally selected, for salary and income tax purposes.

Have you ever been asked for you PAN account number by a recruiter/HR/placement consultant to get selected for an interview? What did you do? Why do you think they are asking for your identity details?

Contracting Foreign Coaches For Indian Sports Teams

Scheme of Exchange of Sports and Physical Education Teams/Experts

The recruitment of foreign coaches to train Indian sports teams has had mixed results. Since, India began participating in international sports events, various foreign coaches have been recruited for training jobs in India. Whether cricket, football or hockey, foreign coaches have been contracted to train sports teams, and share new sports techniques.

The scheme for the exchange of sports and physical education teams/experts has enabled wide sharing of sporting skills. Under this initiative, the Central Government invites and hires foreign coaches for training various sports teams. These foreign coaches are usually paid air fare, salaries, travel allowance, medical expenses and local transportation.

Foreign coach Gary Kirsten being carried by Indian cricket team members

The Indian cricket team has had many foreign coaches. While John Wright and Greg Chappell were not very successful trainers, Gary Kirsten (of South Africa) was the coach that inspired the Indian cricket team to win the World Cup in 2011. Other foreign coaches that have trained Indian sports teams are Bob Houghton for football, Herman Kruis for the Indian women's hockey team, and Joaquim Carvalho for the men’s hockey team.

The Indian Government has continued to hire foreign coaches for disseminating better training to various sports teams, under the scheme for the exchange of sports and physical education teams/experts.

Bushy – Feeding A Baby Indian Palm Squirrel

I was worried that Bushy was not eating any of the treats I had given him. That’s when I realised that my biggest challenge would be feeding him. The Internet talked about re-hydrating the baby squirrel with Pedialyte solution. As that is not available in India, I substituted it with my all-time favourite Electrol. Bushy sipped a bit of the Electrol solution, seemed to get drunk, and became hyper-active.

Next, I tried a bit of milk with a little sugar in it. I dipped a cotton ear-bud in the solution, and then put the milky ear-bud into the baby Indian Palm Squirrels mouth. This worked, Bushy drank hungrily. The only drawback was that Bushy kept grabbing the cotton with his claws, and getting entangled. When I tried to separate his little hands from the cotton, he would get stressed. So, I just let him keep some of the cotton, which I think he later ate. He soon got tired of having the sweetened milk, and began refusing it. That’s when I knew that I had to find another solution, or Bushy would starve.

I turned to my best friend Google, and yes, a kindred soul had mentioned Nestle’s Cerelac as a substitute for kitten formula. I also liked the idea of using a syringe for feeding a baby squirrel (seemed cool), so I thought I’d buy one and give it a try. I stuffed some money into my pocket, and ran down to my neighbourhood chemist.

At the neighbourhood chemist, I had to face a barrage of questions. The chemist was an overweight, be-spectacled man who seemed to think that everybody’s business was his own. I knew this was not going to be a cakewalk.

I said, “Can I have a small syringe?”

He raised his eyebrows, firing question after question, “Who is it for?”, “Why do you need it?”, “Is someone sick?”, “I hoped you will not be using it for drugs?”.

I shook my head. I lied, “My father wants it for his diabetes problem”.

The chemist looked at me sceptically, shrugged his shoulders, and placed one small syringe on the table. Folding his arms across the counter, he offered me a questioning look, waiting for me to name the next product.

The syringe seemed too big to fit in Bushy’s mouth. I examined it carefully and said, “Don’t you have a smaller syringe? My father usually uses a smaller syringe”.

He looked at me incredulously, and shook his head, “This is as small as syringes get” he said.

I thought I’d please him by naming another product, and asked him for Nestle’s Cerelac, a common brand of baby food.

He turned around, and swept his eyes over the shelves behind him. He surprised me with his next question, “How big is the baby?”

This was the first time I was buying baby food, ever, and I thought that the chemist was just being conversational. Bushy was about four inches long, discounting his tail, but I couldn’t very well say that. Instead, I held up my hands about one and a half feet apart, to show him the general size of a baby.

He shook his head vigorously, and there was the sceptical eyebrow-raise again. He rephrased his question, “How old is the baby?”

Bushy must have been around three weeks old, but I couldn’t very well say that either. Thinking quickly, I replied, “three months old”.

The chemist heaved a giant sigh, shrugged his shoulders and went to the back of the store. He soon returned with a packet of Nestle’s Cerelac, and handed it to me mutttering, “Babies should have mother’s milk. Such food should be given only after a year, if ever”.

That’s when I noticed that the Cerelac packet had ‘six months and above’ printed on it. I hurriedly stuffed it into my bag, paid the bill and left.

On reaching home, I read the instructions on the packet, and prepared a small amount of Cerelac in a bowl. I made it sort of liquidy, so that it would be easy to draw it into the syringe. I then turned to Bushy, my baby Indian palm squirrel, with the syringe.

Bushy seemed excited by the smell of the Cerelac, and was running around his cage in circles. That’s when I knew that the Cerelac would work. I put the syringe to Bushy’s mouth, and watched him hungrily suck the baby food. He looked so cute, with his tiny hands holding the syringe, like it was a baby’s bottle.

The syringe, however, did not work as well as it was touted on the Internet. When I pressed down on the plunger, baby food squirted all over Bushy and his box, creating an awesome mess. Bushy seemed to get miffed.

Next, I tried feeding Bushy the Cerelac with the cotton ear-buds, but his claws kept getting stuck in it, and messing up the place. Finally, I decided to feed him with my finger. I placed some baby food (a bit thicker paste) onto my index finger, and put it near Bushy’s mouth. The baby Indian Palm Squirrel grabbed my finger with his little hands, and began gobbling up the Cerelac. Issue finally solved!

I kept feeding Cerelac to Bushy everyday, until he grew big enough to eat other foods. Even then, Cerelac remained his favourite.


Read More About My Baby Indian Palm Squirrel

• Part 3: Feeding The Baby Indian Squirrel
• Part 2: Taking Care of the Little Squirrel
• Part 1: Tales of an Indian Palm Squirrel

Sports Legends Of India

India is a country in which a variety of sports disciplines are practiced. The origins of many sports, such as karate, wrestling, hockey, archery, fencing and even weight-lifting, can be traced back to India too. Sports personalities or legends are sports persons who underwent rigorous training in the past, to perform outstandingly at the national and international level. There are numerous such sports legends in India, who have left an indelible mark in their respective sports disciplines.

The discipline of cricket has seen many sporting legends till date. Some of them are:

• Ajit Laxman Wadekar: He was a left-handed batsman, and scored 4,288 runs from 73 matches, during his tenure of 17 years. 
• Kapil Dev: He was one of the best bowlers and hitters of his time. During his time, he achieved the  world record of taking the highest number of wickets in test matches: a giant 432 wickets. Kapil Dev also captained the Indian cricket team, to a memorable victory in the 1983 World Cup.

Athletics also has many sporting legends, who have brought national and international laurels for the country. Two sports legends from the athletics are:

• Milkha Singh: Known as the 'flying sikh', Milkha Singh set up unbeatable track and field records in the National Games and Asian Games. Singh still holds a record of 20.7 seconds for the 200 meters race.
• Charles Borromeo: This athlete entered the sports hall of fame with his outstanding performance in the 800 meters race at the 9th Asian games. He also won the Arjuna Award in 1982, and the Padma Shri in 1984. 

Yet another sports discipline that witnessed legendary sports performances is hockey. One of the leading hockey legends in India is Dhanraj Pillai, who played at the center-forward position, in over 250 international  hockey tournaments, during his tenure of nine years. Dhanraj Pillai has received national honours like the Shiv Chhatrapati Award in 1991, the Arjuna Award in 1995, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1999, and the Padma Shri in 2001.

Sporting legends are role models for aspiring players, and have been known to inspire them to perform to great levels. Some of the other sports legends who have performed brilliantly at international tournaments, and went on to inspire generations include:

• Vishwanathan Anand in chess
• Dhyanchand in hockey
• Geet Sethi in billiards
• Kartar Singh in Wrestling
• Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in lawn tennis
• Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and Bishen Singh Bedi in cricket
• PT Usha in athletics
• Baichung Bhutia and Peter Thangaraj in football
• Jaspal Rana and Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in shooting. 

History Of Traditional Sports In India

The history of sports in India goes back to epic times. During those ages, physical fitness was given prime importance. The Hatha Yoga (of Vedic times) represented strength, stamina and ultimate control of body functions. The combination of meditation and physical movement was the core concept of every sport.

Many of the sports practiced today have their origins in ancient ndia. Wrestling in Vedic times was called Mall-Stambha, while weight-lifting was known as Bhrashram. Kalari Payattu is one of the oldest forms of martial arts in India. It was taken to China by a Shaolin Monk, and given the name of Wu-Shu, which was in turn changed to its present name of Karate in Japan.

During the era of the Rig-Veda (Ramayana and Mahabharata era), men were well-versed in chariot-racing, archery, military ploys, swimming, wrestling and hunting. Archery, the javelin (toran) and the discus (chakra) were frequently used during the Indus valley civilization (2500 - 1550 B.C). Swimming, sword-fighting (fencing, at present), wrestling and ball games were also immensely popular among the students of Nalanda and Taxila. The Pranayama or breathing control technique, which is an important feature of Taek-wan-do, Karate, Judo and Sumo wrestling, was one of the many techniques spread in the Far East by Buddhist pilgrims from India. In addition, Kabaddi is a traditional Indian sport that is more than 4000 years old.

Kirip is a form of wrestling, which is popular with the Nicobarese tribe. In this sport, wrestlers grip each other from behind, not loosening the grip till the end of the game. Dhopkhel is an ancient indigenous game of Assam. This game requires strong physical fitness-speed, stamina and acrobatic skills. It is played during the state's Spring Festival, known as Rangoli Bihu. Hiyang Tannaba (a boat racing sport) is the native game of Manipur, and is played during their vibrant festival of the Lai Haraoba. This seasonal game is played only by men.

Insuknawr or rod-pushing is an aboriginal game of Mizoram, which is played only by men. It has also been declared as the 'Mizo National Game' by the Mizoram State Sports Council (MSSC). This sport is a test of sheer strength and stamina. The Kang Shanaba is a native Manipuri game played on the day falling between Manipur's New Year Day and the Ratha Jatra festival. The kang literally means a round object, while the art of throwing or pushing it is called Kang Shanaba.

All of the above-mentioned games are ancient games of India, and reflect the importance of given to sports in India, since early times.

Bushy - Taking Care Of A Baby Indian Palm Squirrel

The baby squirrel had soft grey fur, tiny heart-shaped ears, and a curved, slightly fuzzy tail. His dark eyes stared out at us, trying to guess our next move. We knew we couldn’t keep him in the plastic bag for long, without running the risk of him suffocating. So, I began looking for a small box to temporarily house him, before I found him a more comfortable home. My eyes fell on a small plastic box used for packing grapes, and I promptly slid the baby squirrel into it, quickly shutting the lid before he could react. The box already had little holes all around, so I knew the squirrel would be able to breathe comfortably. I named the baby squirrel Bushy, as I believed that one day he would be the proud owner of a very bushy tail.

Thinking that he would want to be fed, I pushed in some treats, which I know squirrels enjoy munching on. This included a grape, a piece of carrot, half a peanut and a teaspoon of boiled rice. I also placed a bottle cap filled to the brim with fresh water. However, the baby squirrel showed no interest in eating this food. In fact, he slightly sniffed them, before turning up his little nose in disgust, and huddling in a corner.

I realised that taking care of a baby squirrel was going to be much more complex than I had thought, and turned to the Internet for help. I googled ‘taking care of a baby squirrel’, and began reading a few of the resources that came up. Most of the pages were about rehabilitating foreign baby squirrels, like the red and grey squirrels found in North America and Europe. They talked about re-hydrating the baby with Pedialyte solution, keeping it warm, feeding it kitten formula, before taking it to a wildlife rehabber. Unfortunately, we don’t have these things here in India, so I began searching for alternatives.

I soon learnt that the little striped squirrels found in India are known as Indian Palm Squirrels. They are found all over South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka). Unlike the adult Indian Palm Squirrels, Bushy was a mousy grey colour, and did not have the cream and chocolate stripes, characteristic of his species. I could not find any information on the Internet about Indian Palm Squirrels being born without stripes, and getting stripes later on in life.

When I found a photo of a new-born baby squirrel with stripes on Flickr, I seriously began to doubt whether Bushy was a squirrel or a mouse with a rather hairy tail. Bushy was much bigger and healthier than the squirrel in the above picture, but he had no stripes.

As if he had heard my thoughts, Bushy let out a ear-piercing squirrel yell, seemingly to tell me that he was indeed a squirrel. I switched on a bright light, and on closer observation noticed faint white lines running across his back. That’s when my long wait for Bushy’s stripes began.

Read More About My Baby Indian Palm Squirrel

• Part 3: Feeding The Baby Indian Squirrel
• Part 2: Taking Care of the Little Squirrel
• Part 1: Tales of an Indian Palm Squirrel

Bushy - Tales Of An Indian Palm Squirrel

17th March, 2012

Well, life is full of interesting happenings - some just disappear with the sands of time, while some are written into stories which are read and treasured by generations of folks. I believe that Bushy’s story is one such story. Okay, I may be exaggerating just a bit, but Bushy's story is definitely well worth a few reads.

Bushy came into my life on a wonderful spring morning. The sparrows were chirping, the bees were humming between the leaves of the jasmine bush on my balcony, and the butterflies were revelling in the warm sunshine on the special marble rocks I had set out for them in my butterfly garden. I was reading the morning paper, when I was startled by the sudden cawing of crows, as they swept through the swaying branches of the peepal tree overhead, indicating that something was up down below.

I jumped up for a peek at what the commotion was all about. Three stories below at ground level, I could faintly see the crows diving in greedy excitement at a creature so tiny and dainty, that it surely was a frail mouse…or maybe not. The little creature, however, was in no mood to be an early crow breakfast. Dark eyes glinting, it dodged about in a rather astonishing zig-zag manner, startling the swooping crows by standing up on its hind legs.

However, this didn’t impress one crafty crow, who dove down and grabbed the little creature in its razor-sharp talons. That’s when the mousy animal uttered a shrill ear-piercing scream, as it struggled with all its might to break free. No rat would ever yell like that. In fact, I recognised the scream as the screech of a squirrel, when faced with a dangerous predator. The startled crow dropped the squirrel like a hot brick, and slunk away, seemingly stunned by a bolt of grey lightning. Promptly scurrying away, the squirrel hid in the safe haven of a nearby darkened drain.

I knew that the drain was filled with rats, and was afraid that a feisty rat might attack the baby squirrel. I told my father about the squirrel. He said he had always wanted a pet squirrel, and maybe now was the right time to get one. He picked up his scooter gloves and a plastic bag, and we went downstairs to catch it. We waited a long time outside the rat’s hole, but the baby squirrel didn’t come out. The crows continued to sweep up above, looking for a chance for a quick meal. Disheartened and worried, we turned back and went upstairs. However, we continued to take turns watching the rat hole from our balcony.

A few hours later, my father saw a tiny head peek out. The baby squirrel was on the move, and so were the excited crows. This time we made up our mind that no crow would lay his creepy talons on the little squirrel. My dad rushed down the stairs with his gloves and a plastic bag, sheer determination written all over his face.

The squirrel was looking around, a bit distracted by the raucous cawing overhead. Chased out by the sewer rats living in the drain, he seemed perplexed by the bright daylight and the fluttering of wings. That’s when my father quickly grabbed him, and tossed him into the plastic bag. He struggled a bit, but soon gave up, as the bag did not do him any harm.

We took the plastic bag upstairs and laid it on the sofa. The baby squirrel was tired by his morning excursion, and did not seem to be in the mood for any more play. He seemed to know deep down that he had been rescued from near certain death.

Read More About My Baby Indian Palm Squirrel

• Part 3: Feeding The Baby Indian Squirrel
• Part 2: Taking Care of the Little Squirrel
• Part 1: Tales of an Indian Palm Squirrel