Antigone And Creon Essays (2406 words) - Antigone,

Antigone And Creon Many dramatic theorists have documented their opinions of Sophocles' tragic play Antigone. They have presented their interpretations as to the motives and moral character of Antigone and Creon. I will attempt to encapsulate the basic logic behind the arguments of the critics Brian Vickers, A.C. Bradley (who interprets Hegel), and H. D. F. Kitto, and venture my own humble opinion as to their validity. Brian Vickers clearly favors the character of Antigone. He challenges Hegel and Hegel's view that both Creon and Antigone were essentially right in their beliefs. Vickers sums up Hegel's theories in a single diagram (Vickers 526), showing Creon and Antigone as forces in antithetical opposition. I believe that Hegel's theories of tragedy, as explained by A.C. Bradley, encompass much more than a simple diagram. Hegel thought that Creon and Antigone represented these forces, but not necessarily that they were diametrically opposed. Hegel thought that the tragedy of Antigone was that the beliefs of Antigone and Creon forced them into opposition, because their beliefs were valid and just, though they did not go about practicing their beliefs in a valid and just manner. Vickers presents the notion that Sophocles himself favored the character of Antigone, since Sophocles never criticized her. With this I must disagree; there were many aspects of Antigone's character that Sophocles would not have included had he viewed her as above reproach. For instance, she is dreadfully overbearing and righteous. While Sophocles clearly showed he could paint the picture of a sympathetic character if he so chose in Oedipus the King, I believe that he deliberately made Antigone, frankly, a much more bitchy character than Oedipus. Oedipus displays sympathy and is emotive in ways that Antigone simply isn't, and that makes Oedipus the King much more tragic than Antigone. Here, Oedipus demonstrates his compassionate nature when he tells the plague-stricken citizens of Thebes how he feels for their distress (Sophocles 48): Poor children! You may be sure I know All that you longed for in your coming here. I know that you are deathly sick; and yet, Sick as you are, not one is as sick as I. Each of you suffers in himself alone His anguish, not another's; but my spirit Groans for the city, for myself, for you. Oedipus will not be deterred in his search for the truth, no matter who tries to persuade him to abandon the quest (Sophocles 64): Oedipus: Do you know anything about him, Lady? Is he the man we summoned? Is that the man this shepherd means? Jocasta: Why think of him? Forget this herdsman. Forget it all. This talk is a waste of time. Oedipus: How can you say that, when the clues to my birth are in my hands? Jocasta: For God's love, let us have no more questioning! Is your life nothing to you? My own is pain enough for me to bear. Oedipus: You need not worry. Suppose my mother a slave, and born of slaves: no baseness can touch you. Jocasta: Listen to me, I beg you: do not do this thing! Oedipus: I will not listen; the truth must be made known. Oedipus' conscious choice to pursue and accept his doom makes him a tragic figure. Bernard M. W. Knox, author of The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy, points out that the hero has to choose between his doom and an alternative which if accepted would betray the hero's own conception of himself, his rights, his duties, but in the end the hero refuses to yield; he remains true to himself, to his physis, that 'nature' which he inherited from his parents and which is his identity. (Knox 106) Therefore, one can see Oedipus's unwavering insistence to uncover the truth about the murder of Laius, and then about himself, as proof of the hero's resolute commitment to uphold his own nature. Oedipus' unyielding quest for the truth fits his self image as a man of action, the revealer of truth, and the solver of riddles. Knox adds that the hero's determination to act is always announced in emphatic, uncompromising terms. (Knox 22). Oedipus proclaims his intention of finding Laius' killers by saying, Then once more I must bring what is dark to light. (Sophocles 49). The hero cannot be swayed by threats nor reason; he will not capitulate. Creon, after being accused

Roger Bannister †4 Minute Mile

Roger Bannister – 4 Minute Mile Free Online Research Papers Doctors and scientists said it was impossible. â€Å"Man could not run a mile in less than 4 minutes! He would die in the foolish attempt. It was an impossible dream.† 24 year old Roger Bannister endured thousands of monotonous laps to prove it wrong. To date 955 runners have achieved the impossible dream accomplishing the feat an incredible 4700+ times. Many of life’s barriers and obstacles come from within. Success is a choice to be chosen wisely because the choice you make today will determine your world tomorrow. Perhaps a few words today need to be redefined. There is a peculiar tagline which prints itself on various t-shirts across the world every day. It simply says â€Å"Impossible it self says I am possible.† It would not be an exaggeration if I remark the word needs to be redefined from â€Å"Something which cannot be achieved† to â€Å"Something which will be achieved in the near future†. In this supersonic era our ideas and actions are shepherded with the belief of everything being possible. The generation has moved on from â€Å"I can† attitude to â€Å"I will†. Had I been writing this piece of work half a century decades ago, it might have been flabbergasting. But today the word â€Å"Impossible† rings up memories of all miracles and innovations I have witnessed or heard off. What these innovations have brought in, is a transition in the mindset of people and the passion to re-infuse the chimerical effect of more innovations. The idea is to keep on challenging the limits and continuing to break them. Human mind today has reached a level where it is allowed to wander in all spheres of life leaving it beyond the control of mankind. When I remark â€Å"Nothing is Impossible†, I quote it in an era where the world has found a solution to almost all the problems of the universe. Setting up a news channel- A SATELLITE AWAY Need a cloned cousin- FEW MONTHS AWAY Need detailed information- A SEARCH ENGINE AWAY Need shahrukh like dimples-VISIT THE SURGEON Want your feotus to be a combo of Einstein and Madhuri- VISIT THE IVF CLINIC How did this happen? It happened through a series of actions initiated by a few freaks who believed â€Å"Nothing is impossible†. Passion in a few men who dared to think different made the world we live in today and the impact spread to all areas of the globe. Let us consider the field of science. Had our forefathers thought of gadgets which could keep our heart pumping? Did they ever hear of a chip made to insert in brain? Science has made our globe a better place to live in. There are drugs being developed to fight memory loss, nanotubes which will zap cancer cells and monitors working to test sugar level without requiring blood. My vision is, in a few years from now, we would retire from Earth when we desired and re-appear again when we want. Does all this sound contradictory to the word â€Å"Impossible†? Offcourse it does. A quick peep in technology gives us a further instant feedback. A loved one just a video conference away, live coverage directly from Mars and plastics from medical implants. All this to every couch potato sitting at home. Can we ever smell a perfume or print a taste while shopping online? While you think of the answer someone in the world has already started research for it. Sounds soothing to ears but the experience is just a decade away. While I talk about science and technology, a few other instances haunt my mind. These are those events which have left us feeling passionate, spooky and sometimes even confused. Some call it the power of the world, some call it a supernatural ability, some call it a miracle, the fact is they are here to stay. You can glorify or vilify them but one thing you cannot do is ignore them because they have re-imbibed the belief of â€Å"Nothing stands Impossible Today.† Chris Stewart, an 11 year old boy classified as non-survivable by doctors fights all odds of paralysis, strokes and iron rods to survive. A man from a small village near Tamilnadu lives without water and food since last 22 years. Hellen Keller, a blind deaf woman shows the world that a blind man’s mind can be educated, his hand can be trained and his ambitions can be realized. Warren Macdonald climbs Tasmanias Cradle Mountain, Africas tallest peak Mt Kilimanjaro and Americas tallest cliff face El Capitan using a modified wheelchair. Kishore Biyani starts a small shop to sell tailor-stitched pants known as pantalun at that time which later on emerges as the famous chain of pantaloons. A soda fountain sold by John Pemberton becomes the most sought after drink as Coca-cola round the world. Nadia Comaneci becomes the originator of the perfect 10. The preceding passage gives an idea of how man has broken the limits of impossibility. Though certain instances were far from being impossible, they make the feeling of ambition and vision re-visit our minds and there are simply others which leave us confused as to how it happened. This world, indeed, is not short of miracles. After failing twice, Edmund Hillary quoted â€Å"I will come again and conquer you, because as a mountain you cannot grow but as a human I can†. In this world nothing is impossible when a few humans exist who want to prove their madness right. Be it the idli entrepreneur Sharad babu or the zealous Ratan Tata, the success stories are here to stay forever. What is worth the effort is that how each individual contributes to making everything a sheer possibility. If each human on earth gives his very best to whatever he does, the chances are the yet unsolved mysteries of life could become the thing of past. Its just for the humans to think and to give their best. If each individual can change the way they see the world, they can literally, change the world. â€Å"Think the impossible and the possible will emerge†. Research Papers on Roger Bannister - 4 Minute MileGenetic EngineeringEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenHip-Hop is Art19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraTwilight of the UAWThe Hockey GameMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfDefinition of Export Quotas

Emerging Technology Case Studay Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Emerging Technology Studay - Case Study Example Today, the major challenge of security officers is what to do with hypothetical attacks? Basically, these security attacks differ from using modern and innovative ways and tools of using standard weapons to making use of extraordinary technologies such as lasers to launch attacks. In this scenario, it is the responsibility of security planners to derive organized and justifiable ways to make a decision which hypothetical or unusual threats to worry about and how to prioritize among them (Jackson & Frelinger, 2009). This paper discusses some of the major security risks associated with cloud computing. This paper will also suggest the ways to deal with these issues. Cloud Computing Risks and Solutions Without a doubt, cloud computing is not only changing but also modernizing the way information technology (IT) is used in organizations today. Additionally, the acceptance and implementation of cloud computing are absolutely accelerating and much of this is being directed by always increa sing requirements for organizations to be more flexible and reliable in addressing varying IT needs (Cervone, 2010; Alter, & Harris). Thus, the idea of our medical organization to move its IT support functions to cloud computing is feasible and effective but there are certain risks associated with this transfer. In this scenario, the major problem that our medical organization can face is that clouds are hosted and maintained globally, hence, the tools, applications and data need to comply with the laws and regulations of the host country. For instance, a number of Canadian states have acknowledged it against the law for applications in their state to be hosted in the USA for the reason that the data would then put through laws of the Patriot Act. In the same way, many tools and applications in the USA cannot be hosted out of the country due to limitations in the export of computer system technology (Cervone, 2010; Alter, & Harris). In addition, due to this, the concern in which cou ntry the cloud is located and maintained is significant to take into consideration in the perspective of concerns associated with conformity, auditability, and eDiscovery. In view of the fact that the cloud computing is a distinction in computer outsourcing, our medical organization will need to have a high degree of self-assurance in the security actions, measures and protocols of their cloud computing supplier. Additionally, our medical organization can face a wide variety of issues related to HIPPA, FERPA, PCI, GLBA however it depends on the nature of the applications and hosted location of the cloud. In this scenario, technologists have already identified and categorized a wide variety of data protection and privacy risks that organizations face while using cloud computing. For instance, in case of our medical organization it is possible that its data can be accessed by hackers, released accidentally, mixed with data from their cloud suppliers’ other customers. Moreover, our medical organization must make sure that its cloud supplier can deal with any requests for information associated with authoritarian or constitutional issues (Cervone, 2010; Alter, & Harris). In order to deal with cloud computing risks our medical organ

Intellectual Property Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Intellectual Property Law - Essay Example (Harpwood 2008:408). Due to the absence of any direct or specific provisions in law to sue for intrusion of privacy by press, any claimant has to seek for limited and indirect legal proceedings like the breach of confidence. Customarily, this lies on the proof of existence of any special kind of association of confidence. In UK, relief is available when there is a breach of confidence. For instance, if information leaked during the course of professional or confidential relations like a barrister and a client where information passed on by the client should be treated as confidence, and if there is any misuse of any information or publication of the same, then it may result in a claim of infringement of confidence. These principles were laid down in cases like Prince Albert v Strange2 , Saltman Engineering Co Ltd v Campbell Engineering Ltd3 and this principle was again reconfirmed in AG v. Guardian Newspapers No 24 . Since, there is no specific law or regulation of privacy in the UK, it seems that UK is shifting towards more effective and a comprehensive privacy law immediately after the introduction of the Human Rights Act, 1988. In McKennit v Ash5, where Loreena McKennit, the folk singer succeeded against an appeal filed by an author of a book which she claimed that it infringed her privilege to privacy. It was held in this case that the claimants’ privilege to privacy was upheld by the court under the Article 8 of the ECHR, and the same was overridden by the Art 10 which offers right to the freedom of expression. (Harpwood 2008:409). In 2001, the Mirror Newspaper in UK published a news item about celebrity Naomi Campbell and the Mirror reported that Campbell was a drug addict, and she was actually receiving medical treatment by regularly visiting Narcotics Anonymous. The news item in the Mirror magazine contained some photos, which showed Ms Campbell in a NA meeting and some exhaustive information about the medical treatment received by Ms Campbell, a nd some news items appeared were claimed to be malicious. Vexed with Paparazzi, Campbell initiated legal action against MGN. The trial judge in the case of Campbell v MGN, found for the appellant. The Trial Judge was of the view that publication of confidential news by the Mirror was an infringement of Ms Campbell’s privileges under the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the laws of confidence. Aggrieved by this, MGN appealed and the Court of Appeal annulled the trial court’s findings. However, the House of Lords turned down the verdict of the Court of Appeal and upheld the trial court’s order of ?3,500 as damages to the appellant. The decision in Campbell case is of much significance as the Law Lords were of the view that there are yet no over-arching reasons for invasion of privacy in the UK. The House of Lords’ decision in Campbell case seems to have increased the present action for infringement of confidence by safeguarding the unfair usag e of personal information without the necessity to create a confidential association. (Ajmal & O’Hare 2004). In UK, the law of privacy has been entirely established by the courts and it is growing case by case basis as the Parliament has not yet accorded its serious thought about it. (Davis J 2008). However, the right to

Risk and Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Risk and Risk Management - Essay Example Therefore, a more appropriate term would be country risk management, a practice of which country risk assessment is but one element. Country risk, for the international banker, is the potential for a loss of the assets a bank has loaned across borders in a foreign currency. A loss could be caused by a multitude of factors that renders a borrower unable to service or repay the loan as per the agreement. (Also at risk may be physical assets such as branch offices of multinational banks, but that issue is not discussed here.) The borrower may be a sovereign nation, a local firm, or a multinational corporation of another country. Whatever the case, the loan is papered according to the country of risk, that is, the country from which the repayments will flow (Angelini, Maresca, Russo, 2004:855). Country risk assessment entails the identification; a qualitative and quantitative analysis and measurement of the political, economic, social, and natural conditions in the country in which the borrower operates; and the degree to which these exogenous factors can impinge on the borrower's capacity to conform to the terms of the loan agreement. The risks to be considered are those over which private companies or individual borrowers have no control. Examples of country risk by their broad categories are the following: Political events --history and probability of confiscation or expropriation of the assets of the borrower, occupation by a foreign power, civil disorder, ideological conflicts (often closely linked with religious differences), changes in government (both planned and peremptory), regionalism and tribalism in terms of the internal balance of power, inequitable distribution of income related to ethnic rivalries, unwillingness of a government to honor its obligations, changes in policy that affect the borrower's cash flow, and terrorism Social event --history and probability of civil war, riots, labor union strife, religious conflict, and socioeconomic differences in living standards that result in tension or instability Economic conditions --possibilities of recession, extent of diversification of the economy, attitude toward strikes, effects of increases in the cost of imported inputs and foodstuffs, degree of reliance on a few key exports and the effects of a decline in the worldwide prices of those exports, background of policies and development strategies, taxes on local earnings, restrictions on the transfer of remittances out of the country, devaluation or depreciation of the exchange rate and other capital controls, degree of intervention by the state in fixing prices for inputs and outputs, and frequency of intervention of the government in the money market and the ceilings on interest rates Natural disasters --frequency of droughts, floods, earthquakes, and epidemics and the possibility of famines or wide-scale reduction in the productive capacity of the country as a result; the attitude and the most likely policies of the government

ERP implementation and significance in banking industry

ERP implementation and significance in banking industry The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (i.e., simply ICICI bank of India) is Indias 2nd largest bank (first being State Bank of India SBI) currently with total assets of value more than 3,634 billion which approximately amounts to US $ 81 billion. For the financial year ended 31st March 2010; the Net Operable Profit After Tax was found to be 40.238 billion which is approximately US $ 898 million. To achieve such a financially high value, the bank needed to have a huge network. Today, its network is one of the biggest networks in the country having 2528 corporate branches and about 6000 ATM centers across the country. It is currently present in 19 countries. Besides India (where it originated); the bank has subsidiaries in USA, UK, Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong etc. and representative offices in UAE, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia etc. The company is focussing on more and more growth and further expecting to expand its market structure. The firm i.e., ICICI Bank in the current scenario; offers an enormous wide range of banking products and various financial services to a large number of corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialised subsidiaries in the areas of investment banking, venture capital and insurance sectors. The bank today had multiple number of rewards and its innovative solutions has conquered the minds of customers and managed to win over their hearts. The companys network is the biggest and it had more than 15 million customers by the current year. The growth achieved by the company in the recent few years is noteworthy. ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTIVES As a firm grows, it has certain challenges to face and its profitability totally depends on how it uses various available resources to safeguard itself. The best way to avoid competitors and rivalry firms from sidelining you is to continuously upgrade yourself with latest technology and market trends. The main objective of ICICI bank was to have a universal bank which can provide required value to customers with financial solutions. High technology was required and at the same time, it was necessary to have a proper framework to avoid risks associated. Since, there were various applications involved; the level of vulnerabilities needed to be checked and minimized. Key Business drivers These factors govern the way the firm should manage its business. ICICI bank was established when the economic concepts of liberalizations and globalizations just started in India. Before the arrival of ICICI bank, the banking sector was under control of several state owned and foreign owned banks. But with the arrivals of economic trend like liberalization globalization; Reserve Bank of India (then, apex bank of the nation) had paved the way for private banks to come in. The state owned banks had huge network but no or little innovation involved (focus on service) while reverse was the case with foreign banks. State owned banks focussed on only poor people and gave only simple interface without provoding any special features while foreign banks targetted individuals or corporations with high net worth. So, the only opportunity possible for ICICI bank to grab market share was to target middle class on a larger scale and that too by innovations. Doing this analysis, ICICI Bank decided to position itself as a technology savvy customer friendly bank. Problems with the existing system The existing system had many applications running simultaneously to satisfy the requirements of the customers. But those applications had several vulnerabilities and their weaknesses needed to be addressed before it gets exploited by the customers and competitors. Pravin Vohra, Group CTO, ICICI bank was tensed by the speed of online transactions and he points out that the applications arent centralized enough that makes security testing of applications a highly time consuming task. He wanted to search for proper vendor to organize the given set of applications so that all the security tests can be covered as soon as possible. The main problem was that ICICI had poor risk management and they badly needed some framework to help them assess risk. Secondly the database used in the system wasnt centralized and hence the main task in front of the industry was to have centralized database so that data access becomes simple process. Expectations from the technology Now, the challenge in front of ICICI bank was to have proper framework so that all the weaknesses are corrected at the lowest possible costs. As per words of Chandra Kochar, executive director of ICICI bank; Our objective of creating a universal bank providing end to end financial services clearly required solutions which were based on new generation technology, offered end to end functionality and were highly flexible and scalable. The main problem in the existing system was risk associated with all the applications and most of the applications at that time; needed to be tested continuously so, the bank required a software to manage the testing of all applications autonomously so that the time is not wasted in manually searching for faults and available recovery solutions. To manage proper assessment of risk associated with applications, ICICI needed to have the technology which can test applications and correct problems if possible. In order to penetrate into the market, the bank needed to have the necessary technology to make system strong and to ensure smooth flow of information within the system. The other requirements from the software in India were to have open systems approach, future proof excellent technology and best of breed retail etc. ICICI wanted to achieve economies of scale. Further more, ICICI wanted to have a centralized database to support all applications going on and needed a solution which can boost up its infrastructure in friendly manner. IMPLEMENTING THE ERP TECHNOLOGY ICICI bank had positioned itself as a technology focussed industry. Most of its plants facilities were on the verge of automation and this was mandatory to achieve customer satisfaction and to rival the foreign firms. Selecting the vendor The company had some requirements in front of them and their job was to analyze which vendor would satisfy their requirements. So, they went through brochures of various Application developers and studied software requirements. After studying various features offered by different vendors they decided to shortlist 2 vendors Finacle Core Banking Solution by Infosys and SAP by IBM. ICICI then finalized Fiancle Core Banking solution because it was segmented for financial institutions only. They took Finacle because of its specificity made it suitable for banks, secondly Finacles future proof technology, and extensive corporate banking features, scalable architecture, best of breed retail made it a technology worth selecting. Some of the key technological features offered by Infosys Finacle were: Advizor Helps Banks to deliver services through a self service channel Alerts Provides banks with the capability to alert end users about updates and new services Consumer Relationship Management CRM is a modular, multi lingual application to help bank to have centralized database containing all the customer information want. Core Banking CBS addresses various strategic and key technological processes taking place in a bank. It checks faults associated and corrects them. Direct banking This marketing tool helps banks to directly acquire, track and service customers. E banking Provides high flexibility for customization and robust security features Mobile banking Empowers banking transactions on mobile channels like SMS or GPRS Wealth Management Modular and integrated investment management system for specific purpose Operational data store Data warehouse centralized and secured. Treasury Finacle is an integrated treasury solution covering the entire deal lifecycle for broad range of trading and capital markets products. The major advantage was that Finacle offered so many features at comparative lesser costs compared to other similar technolnogical products. Keeping these many wide and industrial applicable features in mind, the technological software solution used was Finacle and the vendor was Infosys. Problems faced during the beginning The implementation of any technology cannot be successful right from the beginning as risks are involved. The 1st step involved is to make this technological change understandable by humans and hence the challenge was in front of ICICI was to ensure proper training to their employees. For that purpose, special officials were employed. Training were given to employees right from the day when technology was deployed. This was a key step in maintaing vendor relationships. Integrating this technological change with the existing system is the major hurdle which is to be overcomed. The biggest challenge which Finacle had was to ensure Straight Through Processing (known as STP in corporate segment) of various financial transactions. With the ICICI group having many companies under its huge corporate umbrella. Finacle had to integrate with various corporate wide applications like Credit Card, M banking, mutual funds, brokerage, call center and other applications taking place simultaneously. ICICI bank went with a phase of organic and inorganic growth to expand market share. First it bought out Bank of Madurai and then had a reverse merger with parent firm i.e., ICICI limited. Therefore, managing with the technology change was a hurdle for the bank. To overcome this obstacle, ICICI decided to have a strategic partnership with the software vendor i.e., Infosys. That strategic partnership started in 1994 and that close collaboration in 1997 led to many innovations. Getting the benefits during the end Once the problems with the implementation are identifed and corrected via proper planning toolkits, the success and benefits are guaranteed. The major advantage with Finacle was that it was a scalable and open system architecture and this made it a successful implementation. In 2000 only 400, 000 transactions while this figure was more than 2 million in 2005 years so, popularity of the bank drastically increased in only 4 years. The risks associated with people, process and technology was managed and this made ICICI a profitable firm. In 1997, ICICI was the first bank to ensure electronic banking. This made ICICI establish itself as the leader in the e commerce segment. The main advantage of using Finacle was that only 25 % routine transaction take place through branches and remaining through various delivery channels. http://www.infosys.com/finacle/Images/icici_cs_img1.gif Fig: Finacle offering various services in ICICI. Thus, the use of Finacle has helped ICICI in cutting costs and time and managing automatically various transactions that take place on a day to day basis. As shown above, ICICI managed to penetrate into various market segments by the enormous features offered by Fiancle. Today, most of the transactions take place at the bank center by its various distribution channels and not at the branches. CONCLUSIONS After studying the given case, it can be understood that what role the technological advances play in growt A powerful of a bank. A highly scalable and flexible technology platform is essential for organizations to manage growth and compete successfully. Such a software is Finacle. Fiancle, a leading IT Core Banking Solution has helped ICICI achieving its objectives across the network. Though ICICI faced certain problems and challenges in the beginning, they managed to win in the end. Thus, investing in technology helped ICICI get rich dividends. The bank has successfully used the Finacle and has managed to successfully deploy the solution in the areas of core banking, consumer driven e-banking (Electronic B 2 C segment), direct banking, corporate e-banking (Electronic B 2 B segment) and Customer Relationship Management. Thus, Finacle guaranteed flexibility to achieve proper segmentation. This helped ICICI in growing its market and having some edge over the competition. because of its high trust on technology, ICICI Bank is recognized as a leader in the region and has won a large number of awards worldwide for its technology-driven initiatives. The bank has used core technology as a strategic differentiator, thus redefining the rules of banking in India and additionally also showing how technology can do some good in transforming a banks business.

The Moonstone Essay -- essays research papers fc

Alexandra Lloyd What role did 19th Century popular serial novels such as Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone play in British understandings of India? When Wilkie Collins first wrote The Moonstone in 1868, it was not published in the form available today, but was published in instalments in a popular Victorian magazine, All the Year Round. Upon its first publication it was eagerly read by the general British public, for its readership not only included the ruling and upper classes, but the cost and availability meant that a copy would have a wide circulation amongst all members of a household. The tale’s images and ideas of India thus reached many social groups in British culture. To Wilkie Collins, the gem, part of whose history we follow in The Moonstone, the novel of the same name, is the signifier of all things that humanity strives for, material and spiritual. He begins the novel by demonstrating that the history of the Moonstone gem is a history of thefts. In having his initial narrator state "that crime brings its own fatality with it" (p.6 Ch. IV of the prologue), Collins underscores the fact that nemesis attends every worldly expropriator of the Moonstone, which to its temporary European possessors is a bauble and a commodity but which to its faithful guardians, the Brahmins, is a sacred artefact beyond price. The Moonstone is never really English or England's, for the novel begins with an account of its various thefts. It opens in India with Rachel Verinder’s Uncle Herncastle's purloining the gem in battle (the opening lines are specifically "written in India"(p.1)) and closes with Murthwaite, the famed fictional explorer's, account (dated 1850) of the restoration of the gleaming "yellow Diamond"(p.466) to the forehead of the Hindu deity of the Moon "after the lapse of eight centuries"(p.466, "The Statement of Mr. Murthwaite"). The date of Murthwaite's account of the restoration of the diamond may be ironic, for in 1850 a Sikh maharajah, exiled from Indian after the Anglo-Sikh War of 1848-9, presented a gem, which is thought to be the ... ...l conciliation and transcendent faith if India were to arise from bloody, mutually destructive, strife and take her rightful place in the society of nations. Today, Collins's The Moonstone may be viewed not as a response to a national insurgency and/or European determination to keep the native in his place, but rather as a love story between two people who only come to see each other for what they are after misjudgements, misunderstandings, accidental and intended deceptions, and considerable self-sacrifice. Bibliography Page references to passages from The Moonstone come from the Oxford University Press, 1999 edition of the novel. Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999. Sutherland, John. â€Å"Introduction and A Note on the Composition† Wilkie Collins’ The Moonstone. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999. Stewart, J. I. M. â€Å"A Note on Sources.† Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone. Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1966, rpt. 1973. Pp. 527-8. Fraser, Antonia, ed. The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1975. Peters, Catherine. The King of the Inventors: A Life of Wilkie Collins. London, Minerva, 1991.