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Madoff and Raju. Both guilty of gross financial impropriety. On a scale that boggles the mind. Both confessed readily to the wrong they have done. In fact both the cases came to light because the protagonist confessed to it. The heat became too much and they had virtually no choice but to come clean. But therein ends the similarity. In the case of Madoff, the date was 10 December 2008. He was immediately arrested, but released on bail. His case came to court on 12 March 2009 wherein Madoff pleased guilty. He was sentenced on June 29 to 150 years in jail. So off he went to jail. End of story. Raju's famous letter of confession came on 7 January 2009. After a few days of drama, he was arrested and sent to jail. But then ..... . Nothing. There is still no conviction in a court of law. In fact, there is no sign of a conviction in a court of law. The company, meanwhile, has bee n resurrected in a text book case of brilliant government and management action. They have even settled the

Lord Leverhulme, the founder of Unilever, once said long ago - "I know half my advertising isn't working. I just don't know which half". A century later, this still holds true. Throw helluva lot of advertising and hope that something sticks. That seems to be the motto of the lot who have made watching cricket on TV these days akin to root canal surgery. For those unacquainted with the magic game of cricket, lets just say its a sport about which the billion plus people in India, Pakistan, etc are downright crazy about. Its world cup time (never mind that only 8 or so countries really play the game) and half the nation is glued to their TV sets. The game lasts some 6 hours and you get an advertising opportunity every 2 minutes or so. You can imagine the mayhem that is inflicted on the poor cricket fan. The game seems to be secondary. They squeeze in more and more ads in between overs such that the first ball and the last ball of the over are considered superfluous .

This week The Business is bursting, BURSTING I say, at it's imaginary seams with extra special guests from both "here" AND "there." Along with all the usual, adorable Businessmen (Bucky, Alex, Chris and Sean), check out who we got spitting hot comedy for you this week: W. Kamau Bell is no stranger to The Business by any means (necessary). This visit to our humble show he is hot o ff performing two nights in Oakland with his come ... dy compatriots that comprise Lau ght er Against The Machine, a powerhouse of intelligent and challenging socio-political comed y that is also FUNNY AS HELL. Matt R u by is a funny fellow fr om New York City. He performs hilarious stand-up comedy and writes about hi larious stand-up comedy on his blog Sandpaper Suit. He is also a show producer, a contributor to MTV, a maker of award-wining videos and a veteran of many stages and festivals. Dan Good man is a comedia n and show producer also from New York, not a loc

This blog has some pretense to be a serious one where matters of considerable intellectual weight are analysed and debated. Issues of significant import and with profound ramifications feature here. Adjectives such as inane, irrelevant, flippant, pea brained, etc etc ought not to be applicable. It is in this rich tradition that today's post examines one of the thorniest of problems to face humankind - why are bus routes numbered as they are in India ! For those uninitiated in the ways of public transport, especially in the south of India, here is a primer. Buses of all shapes and sizes abound. They carry numbers such as 342BE and J421K. Why are they so numbered is what I am trying to explore. Take the road opposite my house, The route that most frequents this road is numbered 335E. There is an occasional 335 P or a 335 L or a 335 K . But, as far as I know, routes 1 to 334 do not exist anywhere in Bangalore. So why 335 ?Is it one of nature's unique constants like the pi ?? The

BAP! BAP! BAP! Give it up! One Love for The Business this week as we welcome our two over-achieving guests Grant Lyon and Travis Irvine to the room so dark, they named it the Dark Room. SHABA! Grant Lyon gives it up all over this great land of ours, performing comedy with a hustle most other comedians could learn a few things from. He is a veteran of multiple clubs and festivals and has been a featured writer on the Huffington ...Post. Perhaps his drive comes from his collegiate soccer past? More likely it's because he is a solid stand-up comedian, sketch performer, writer and improviser with the common sense to make sure everyone everywhere knows it. Among other things, Travis Irvine has worked for Senator Charles Schumer, for entrepreneur and question mark enthusiast Matthew Lesko, been an instructor at The New York Film Academy in New York City, he ran for mayor of his hometown in Ohio in 2007, and last year ran for Ohio’s 12th Congressional District seat as a third party candid

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. All of America will come to a halt. Perfectly appropriate time to take a dig at America's favourite sport. For those unacquainted with the sporting proclivities of that great nation, you just need to know that the sport in question is American Football. Don't need to know anything more to suffer through this post. Why this sport is called "Football" beats me. The ball does not touch the foot at all, except once in a while when a team punts (kicks the ball as high and as far as it can) as it has run out of ideas of what else to do. And they call this "Football"" and the real football "Soccer" - proof that in the land of Glen Beck and Michael Moore, logic is not a prerequisite for anything. Be that as it may, let us turn to the protagonists. You have to be a massive hulk to play this game. Muscles bulging and refusing to remain constrained in their allotted places. And what do they do to such monuments to testoster

When Hu Jintao, the leader of China, visited Washington recently, there was a flurry of deals signed. Predictably, most were economic. One tiny deal, lost from the public glare may be far more important than most of the bigger ones signed amidst much fanfare. This was the acquisition by ICBC, the world's most valuable bank from China, of the tiny retail network of the Bank of East Asia in New York and California. All bank takeovers in the US need regulatory approval. Given the circumstances under which this deal was signed, its expected that it would be approved. And therein lies the breakthrough. The regulatory approval is given only if the US believes that the regulatory mechanism in the home country of the bank is "sound". This is classical American overreach of dictating to the world. Now if this deal is to be approved, that is a tacit endorsement of China's banking system, which is entirely state controlled and , to even the most neutral of observers, dodgy. Ame

The Business kicks off the month of February by welcoming back comedian Andy Haynes! Andy has appeared on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon," and at the Montreal Comedy Festival. He's also done two killer appearances on The Business in the past, and this week he returns to kill again. We've also got your usual Businessmen - Chris, Alex, Bucky, and Sean - and if Bucky sees his shadow, we'll have six more weeks of hilarity. I'm not saying you'll have to relive this day over and over again until you wise up and attend this show, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. Just ask Ned Ryerson. You know, Needle-Nose Ned? Ned the Head? 8 PM, five bucks, BYO-Taco.