All in the game: For game freaks like Microsoft India's Mohit Anand (centre), the line between work and play is non-existent.

When you think of video games, many of you think of young whippersnappers. Kids with nothing much to do with their time but kill aliens with weapons from the 31st century, driving the Ferrari F50 at Schumacher-esque speeds along the French Rivera or even trying to make India win the soccer World Cup utilising every last available resource on their computers.

Sorry to break the cliché of video game users, video gamers today range from three-year olds to 53-year olds. The first generation of gamers, who grew up playing games on the Atari 2600 (the original game console) or playing Pacman, Dig-Dug or Test Drive on their Intel 386 PCs with monochrome monitors are today working their way up the corporate ladder.

Of course, few have a better job than Mohit Anand, Home Entertainment Division Manager, Microsoft India. His job? Selling video games (among other more mundane things), and he gets to try them out, "for free", he adds with a smirk. "Video games are the best stress-buster. I mean, what could be better than shooting some people up or building an empire after a really bad day at office," is his rather compelling argument. "Even in this office, sometimes, when someone just needs to relax, they play a quick five minute game of pinball," he adds.

No surprises then that even at BT, when this correspondent is summoned by the editors (a sadly much-too-frequent occurence) he finds them playing games, in a sort of pre-emptive stress relief operation.

On weekends, Anand, an 'Age of Empires II' fanatic, usually invites some of his peers over for a round of gaming over dinner. "Well we play against each other. Sometimes on the pc, but mostly on my X-Box console," he says. His fellow gamers are all mid-to-senior level managers in companies spanning a whole gamut of industries. "Many people see gaming as a socially destructive force, but I believe that gaming forms rather socially cohesive bonds," he passionately argues. It is obvious that this is a guy that really loves his job.

There is empirical evidence to show that gaming helps reduce workplace stress and in forming social bonds

Sandeep Shetty, Project Manager, I-Energizer, is a long-time game freak. "Games take up most of my waking life." His current game of choice, 'Counter Strike: Condition Zero'. "Every once in a while, I get together with my friends at Reliance Web World stores and play games over the local network. Its fun killing each other in the virtual world," he says.

Last year, when Microsoft organised a competition to promote the launch of their best-selling game franchise 'Halo', Shetty was one the people who organised it. "It was quite a task," he points out. It must have been. Nearly 12,000 people competed for a Rs 1 lakh cash prize and an opportunity to represent India in the Halo world championships. Even though many were working professionals, the top prize was snatched by 13-year old Nikunj Bansal from Mumbai.

Rohit Kumar, Creative Director, Georapid, is another person who considers himself to be a 'hardcore gamer'. The 28-year old who spent the better part of his last weekend finishing off 'Call of Duty', believes games are the best way to give vent to frustration. "Instead of keeping it inside, I take it out on obliging Nazi soldiers," he points out. But he adds that there are times that he even gets inspired by the games he plays.

A senior manager at Reliance Infocomm, who declined to be named in this story (perhaps he does not want his bosses to know that he plays games at work) is an avid gamer dabbling in real-time strategy plays like Command and Conquer and Ground Control, along with the occasional shooter (like Doom). "The user experience with online gaming is very poor, we do not have the connectivity to enjoy really good gaming like in the West; but gaming over the Office network is very popular," he says. However, he does point out that in a corporate like Reliance there "aren't too many gamers as yet". Gamers, according to him, hang around mainly in media-linked professions.

Jayant Sharma, Managing Director, Milestone Entertainment, the distributor of Sony Playstation 2 in India, reckons that there are over 50,000 Playstation 2 consoles in India. "There is a definite shift in age profile. As gamers go from college to professional careers, they carry on with their hobby."

In order to tap that market, Milestone introduced a program called 'Playstation @ Work', where they convinced several BPO outfits to purchase consoles for their employee rooms. "The response to the program has been good; companies such as Wipro Spectramind, Mindshare and L&T Infotech to name a few have purchased consoles from us," Sharma adds. "It is not just a hypothesis. There is empirical evidence from Western companies to show that gaming helps reduce workplace stress and also in forming social bonds," he states.

As more game-addicted young folk step out of college into the professional world, gaming will increasingly move out from the college dorm into the boardroom.

Until then however, this correspondent will get back to playing 'Need For Speed: Underground' where our hero will drive his Lamborghini Gallardo through the twisted roads of Tuscany.

TEST DRIVE
Coolness, Colourised

Apple iPod mini: As cool as it gets

There are few gadgets that have as intuitive a user experience as the Apple iPod. Correction, there are no other gadgets that have such a feel. And it looks cool to boot.

But if white is not your thing, and if you do not have 3,000 CDs to digitise (like the Editor of this magazine does) say hello to the younger brother of coolness-the Apple iPod mini. Small, light and cased in a shiny blue anodised steel case, the mini looks almost too cool to touch-like something out of the distant future.

But, not only can you touch it, you can operate it with just your thumb. Which is a refreshing change from needing to have anorexic fingers to operate the latest gadgets, or other digital music players for that matter.

The iPod mini, which was launched in January (but in India only last week) introduced the touch scroll wheel, an innovation that has made it onto the fourth generation iPod, launched last month. You can store up to a 1,000 songs on the player (it has a four-gigabyte microdrive), which you can scroll down in less than a minute.

The innovation in Apple products is that not only are they great to look at- I stared at the first iMac for over half an hour-they are so easy to use that even the most technologically challenged person can feel comfortable on them. In fact, the player is so easy to use, that it actually makes you want to listen to music. But great hardware can be ruined by pathetic software. And, to put it bluntly, with all due respect to Windows Media Player and Winamp-Apple's media player-iTunes leaves the competition far behind. One click to transfer music from your CD to the hard drive and another to transfer it onto the iPod. Almost idiot proof.

Of course, in the time since I have been testing the iPod, my colleagues and my family have given up verbal communication with me. Notch up another plus for the iPod. The only issue with the iPod mini is its rather obscene sticker price. At Rs 20,500, it is only Rs 7,000 cheaper than its 40-gigabyte bigger brother. And at the same time, both are about Rs 8,000-9,000 more expensive in India than in a friendly foreign nation.

-Kushan Mitra

THE OTHERS

Blame it on Rio: Storing music's never been easier

Portable digital music players have come a long way since the first Rio Riot jukebox came out. Initially, such players were all based on flash memory. Flash memory players have long battery life and are small, but are expensive and cannot store much music.

Buying preferences have recently switched to hard drive based players, which are bigger and drain batteries fast. But they can store immense amounts of music.

But, the competition has caught up with Apple. Rio has come out with two new players, the Karma and the Carbon, which target iPod acolytes with longer battery life, bigger screens and in the case of the Carbon, a 60 gigabyte capacity. Fans aren't convinced, however, saying that Rio has not been able to recreate Apple's amazing interface.

Sony has also created a new hard-disc based player the Network Walkman NW-HD1. With a name like that it can never hope to match the iPod.

TREADMILL
PULL YOURSELF UP

A	B

Much of the mail directed to me at musclesmani@intoday.com is from people who want to flatten their tummies, add some muscle mass or get a broader chest or bigger biceps. Rarely does a reader have questions about strengthening the back muscles. That's a pity because a thick, wide back is essential for a V-shaped torso and apart from aesthetics-I'm told women are attracted to a man with a strong, broad back-it is a building block for a good posture.

Ironically, the best exercises for a stronger back are ones that many people can't do: pull-ups or chin-ups. Both these exercises require no weights just a bar. Try it. Grab a horizontal pull-up bar with an overhand grip that is wider than your shoulders. Now link your feet together and pull yourself up till your chin is above the bar. Hold for a few seconds and get back to the starting point (See Fig. A). Repeat. How many can you do? If you're a newbie, chances are that you'll find the going really tough. Don't despair. Try pull-ups every day and you're sure to progress. On the other hand, if you can do, say, just five, try to add at least one more every day. (Hint: the number you can do depends on your body weight-after all, you're pulling up your own weight in this exercise-and the shape you're in overall).

The pull-up or chin-up using your own body-weight strengthens the latissimus dorsi and teres major-two sets of back muscles that are related. The added benefit is that the exercise also builds your biceps. In the early days of body-building when all those snazzy black and chrome equipment was not ubiquitous, body-builders and athletes used their own body weight to build muscle strength.

A big and strong back can be built by stretching these muscles to the maximum because a stretch works a muscle through its entire range of motion. Here's a back-stretching exercise that can work wonders. Lie on a bench (Fig. B), with your right leg straight on the bench and the other foot on the floor. Grab a dumb-bell in your right hand above your thigh and keeping your arm straight, lift it up and back through a 180-degree arc. Return to the starting position and switch to the other arm and leg. Do four sets of eight reps with each arm.

A little more on pull-ups: The pull-up builds strength not only in the back muscles but also in the fingers, hands, forearms and, as I mentioned before, the biceps. In addition-and this is a serious bonus-the abs get a good workout because of the stabilisation that your core abs muscles have to provide throughout the movement. The best thing about the pull-up is its comprehensiveness!

-Muscles Mani
write to musclesmani@intoday.com

BEATING DIABETES

Today's fast-paced lifestyle entailing a lot of fast food and low exercise (walking from your car to your office and back) poses more health risks than most people realise. Apollo Hospital's Dr. S.K. Wangnoo says that professionals, in particular, are susceptible to diabetes, often called a "silent killer". This is the case because people can be unaware of having it until they develop a severe complication. Wangnoo says regular check-ups to detect the disease early are the only way of keeping diabetes under control.

WHAT IT IS
Diabetes is a condition in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone made in the pancreas. Insulin is a chemical key that lets sugar out of the blood stream to nourish cells. When the blood sugar level is high, it is eliminated from the body through urination.

IF YOU MONITOR IT
Diabetes can be detected through a blood glucose test, and experts recommend that Indians over the age of 35 with a family history of diabetes, or other risk factors such as obesity, should get a check-up yearly and have their blood tested on a regular basis. Diabetes can be effectively controlled with either proper diet and exercise, oral medications or insulin. The earlier it is detected, the better the complications can be prevented.

IF YOU DON'T
Warning signs of diabetes include drowsiness, frequent urination, excessive thirst or weight loss. However, patients with diabetes who don't seek medical help face a 50 per cent increase in their chances for cardiovascular complications. In serious cases, undetected diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney disease and heart disease.

-Sushma Subramanian