Chalte-Chalte

Yes! It's time for vacation. So Chalte-chalte I wish happy holidays (thanksgiving) and thanks for visiting my lonely planet. See you back around X-mas. Till then happy reading.

A Game

Natwar Singh resigned and who asked the resignation? politician those are corrupt as corrupt as one could be, those who don't have any spine, those who always stand to oppose. At this moment these politicians should be unite and support the government until the allegations are proved in court. A person is not guilty untill unless his crime is proven in the court. That's why most of the politicians in our country has career in politics, inspite of their wrong doings known by public. They are free because it's not proved in court yet.

Do they Know, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan's son Kojo's name and his business dealings are also in the report.

Proud to be an Indian

I got this in one of the FWD e-mail, don't know the accuracy but content was good enough to show self pride. So sharing here.

Subject: Proud to be an Indian.. letter from IIT Dean , Madras...

Dear Friends,

Here is a personal experience, as well as a moment of national pride, which I want to share with you. Hope you find it worth the time you put in reading it :

"In the middle of 1965 India-Pakistan war, US govt - then a close friend of Pakistan - threatened India with stopping food-aid (remember "PL-480"?). For a food deficient India this threat was serious and humiliating. So much so that in the middle of war, Prime Minister (Late) Lal Bahadur Shastri went to Ram Leela Grounds in Delhi and appealed to each Indian to observe one meal-fast every week to answer the American threat. As a school boy, I joined those millions who responded to Shastriji's call. I continued the fast even when the war was over and India became self sufficient in food. Hurt deep by the national humiliation suffered at the hands of the US govt, I had vowed to stop my weekly fast only when India starts giving aid to USA.

It took just 40 years. Last week THE day arrived. When Indian ambassador in Washington DC handed over a cheque of US$ 50 million to the US govt, two plane loads of food, medical aid and other relief materials were waiting to fly to the USA. Time to break the fast ? With no bad feeling about the USA, and good wishes for the Katrina victims, this humble Indian feels proud of the distance India has covered in 40 years.

Let's celebrate a New India !

Vijay Kranti.
Dean - IIT Madras

Terrorism: Explosions in Delhi

One after another there was three or four explosions in one of the busy evening of the year in some of Delhi's busiest places. Is this a gift in return of helping earthquake victims? By this time it's sure and definetly a terrorist activity as accepted by officials. It was supposed to be happiness, joy and love all around but sadness, horror and agony took the front seat. Our so called (excuse me for this word) friendly neighbor had express their sympothy but is this enough? - no definetly not. If they really feel that way then they should hand over at least one or two terrorist from the list given by Indian government, if they can't hand over all, Otherwise just leave the 'Play of Words' for someone else. I don't know if still people of Kashmir (both sides) will silently support to those who are trying to cut those hands came to help their own people at the time of need (earth quake victims).

Can some one tell what they really want? Israel left the Gaza in search of peace and what they got in return - one more suicidal attack. On top of that someone says (you know what I mean) that country (Israel) must be wiped out from the world-map. There is still some more time for every nation to come together and fight against terrorism. If some countries think they are safe nothing is going to happened there then it will be a mistake.

Now the big question is- do we still need to discuss about the opening of some portions of LOC (by this time it looks politcians almost agree). It shouldn't be like got the heavy storm (category 7 or 8) while wished for the drizzle (light rain). Just remember We have to survive to help others who needs support or help (it's essential and required). Politicans must be aware that if they use words to play then this game just going to extend but will not end. Resolving this problem is good for public as well for the world and Sooner the better. It's better if people of all religions come together and fight agianst terror otherwise the face or cause of terrorism could change.

True Love or S (with letters ex)

While reading a news (rediff.com) I saw this picture pasted twice on the same news, and this ad was taking quite a good place. Even animal can understand they can not find true love if follow this ad. What do you say?

Berlin: Blockade which results into AirBridge

We need a second Berlin airbridge, and if they could do that in the end of the 1940s -- set up in no time a lifeline to millions of people -- we should be able to do that in 2005," he told a news conference in Geneva, referring to the U.S. airlift set up in 1949 to keep Soviet-blockaded West Berlin supplied

Today when I read this, in one of the news (yahoo) then, I thought let's find out what's this all about. And outcome was interesting to read. If interested you can read too, right here.

Awards and Exception: Peace vs Movie

Wondering! what's the relation among them, ok I will tell you, there is one missing link for each and that is 'Nobel Prize' for peace and 'Filmfare awards' for Hindi movie. How? Well, Nobel prize for peace, and there couldn't be better example than M. K. Gandhi to describe peace. You know what, Gandhi never got that (Nobel Prize for peace). That's how and why I said exception. But here what I wonder is, why? Why? Why not Gandhi? (Just for a record Bush was nominated for peace prize last year, correct me If I am wrong).

I was under impression that Peace prize is for those who achieve their mission through peacefull solution or contribute to keep peace in the world, One way or another.

And, there was a man whose motto was 'Ahinsa param dharm'. Who had always opposed any kind of violence in his whole life. Who fought without using any weapon to get independence for his country. But who was never be considered as candidate for nobel peace prize.

I always wonder why it was not given to Gandhi. Below is a list of winners during 1939 to 1949, when M. K. Gandhi could get the awards:

1939-1942: Of the prize money for this period, one-third was transferred to the Main Fund and two-thirds to the Nobel Institute's Special Fund.

1943: Reserved.

1944: One-third of the prize money for 1943 was transferred to the Main Fund, and two-thirds to the Nobel Institute's Special Fund.

1944: Reserved.

1945: The prize for 1944: The International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva. Founded 1863.

1945: Hull, Cordell, USA, 1871-1955.
Former Secretary of State. One of the initiators of the United Nations.

1946: The prize was divided equally between:
Balch, Emily Greene, USA, 1867-1961.
Former Professor of History and Sociology. International President of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom;
and Mott, John Raleigh, USA, 1865-1955.
Chairman of the first International Missionary Council in 1910, President of the World Alliance of Young Men's Christian Associations.

1947: The prize was divided equally between:
The Friends Service Council, London. Founded in 1647; and
The American Friends Service Committee (the Quakers), Washington. The society's first official meeting was held in 1672.

1948: Reserved.

1949: One-third of the prize money for 1948 was transferred to the Main Fund, and two-thirds to the Nobel Institute's Special Fund.

1949: Orr of Brechin, Baron John Boyd, Great Britain, 1880-1971.
Physician, nutritionist, leading organizer and Director General of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, President of the National Peace Council and the World Union of Peace Organizations.


Ok that was about Peace and now move to Movie. Similar kind of thing happened to one of the great movie of it's time. And that movie was 'Sholay'.

Do you know it took decades for Filmfare Awards (or/and others such group) to recognize that sholay was the masterpiece. Sholay and Deewar both released in 1975, nobody can deny that both were very good movie. But when awards were given for 1975 release then Sholay got None.

Filmfare Awards 1975 - Best Film: Deewar | Best Director: Yash Chopra (Deewar) | Best Actor: Sanjeev Kumar (Aandhi) | Best Actress: Lakshmi (Julie) | Best Actor in a supporting role: Shashi Kapoor (Deewar) | Best Actress in a supporting role: Nadira (Julie) | Best Performance in a comic role: Deven Varma (Chori Mera Kaam) | Best Story: Salim Javed (Deewar) | Best Music: Rajesh Roshan (Julie)

Ans that's the end of this post, there is always an award but none for exception.

Note: This year Nuke watchdog wins Nobel Peace Prize

Tagged again...23rd and 5th

I was tagged by Meenal ...

something about picking up the 23rd blog entry from the archives, find the 5th sentence and post it:)

My 23rd post was called "Virtually There" and here's the fifth sentence: Wondering How? I will explain here.

Here's a link to that blog entry. Once there then scroll little bit and stop at "Virtually There"

I will tag Keshi, Avik, Prasad, Neelima and Kroopa [will spare Akhil & Mona this time ;)].

Did you notice this is just CCP post. Until you realize Read this interesting story.

Crime makes Cry-me

The former U.S. education secretary-turned-talk show host said Wednesday that "if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose -- you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett quickly added that such an idea would be "an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do." But, he said, "your crime rate would go down."

Bennett's comments came Wednesday, during a discussion on his talk show "Morning in America." A caller had suggested that Social Security would be better funded if abortion had not been legalized in 1973 because the nation would have more workers paying into the system. This is a HOT topic now-a-days in political circle. While his comnent was totally absurd but instead of criticising I thought it would be a good idea to dig on google. And rest of this post is what I found while digging.

Crime in the United States accounts for more death, injuries and loss of property then all Natural Disasters combined. The Disaster Center is pleased to be able to provide you with access to the statistics of crime compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

the victims and their relatives often experience financial problems, and time is often lost from work to handle the legal, insurance and personal problems associated with being a victim. The trauma associated with any crime often makes it hard for victims to cope with normal daily routines. And the victims of crime are frequently blamed by their friends for not being more careful. The trauma continues as victims of crime often find themselves ignored by law enforcement, and confused by the court system

Here are some statistics that demonstrate this:

1. Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted.
2. In 2002, there were a total of 4,854 cases of aggravated assault in Washington DC. On a daily basis, this computes to 13.2 aggravated assaults a day.
3. In Maryland, there were 3,228 cases of larceny and thefts per 100,000 people in 2002. This is one-third higher than the national average rate of 2,445.8 cases per 100,000.
4. In Detroit, there were 41.79 murders per 100,000 people in 2002. This is alarmingly way above the national average rate of 5.6 for the same year.
5. In 2002, with the exception of burglaries, Philadelphia led all crime levels which were above the national average rates for murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assaults, larceny/theft and motor vehicle theft.

This is interesting to read Race and Crime in the USa. But I didn't include part of it because this article had the data between 1994-1999. So If you go by this then it wouldn't be hard for Bennett to defend himself, but past is a past and no one should be judge based on this old data.

Based on recent data it looks like there is some improvement. Here is some data what I found for recent time.





The intimate homicide rate has fallen for blacks in every gender and relationship category while the rate for whites has not declined for all categories
The intimate homicide rate --

1. for white girlfriends was about the same in 2002 as it was in 1976
2. for white wives and ex-wives has declined but not as much as that for white husbands and ex-husbands
3. for black husbands and ex-husbands was 16 times greater in 1976 than it was in 2002
4. is higher for black girlfriends than any other group in 2002, although it has declined 58% since 1976

In general, guns are most often used in intimate homicide but weapon type varies by relationship. From 1990 to 2002 --

1. Over two-thirds of the spouse and ex-spouse victims were killed by guns.
2. Boyfriend victims were more likely to be killed by knives than any other group of intimates.
3. Girlfriends are more likely to be killed by force than any other group of intimates.



And at the end, here is data for Murders (per capita) per country



India is 26 on this list (0.03 per 1000 people).

what I believe, We should not judge a race or religion or nation based on wrong doing of handful individuals or groups. Because our comment or decision can lead other innocent people of same race or religion or nation to get suffer.

Source: Uniform Crime Report">, Bureau of Justice Statistics, country based data

Professors - Lost in Translation

This is what happening in one of to be super power's (as few people, I mean Indian media believe so) university right in the heart of country, ie. her captial and that's for national language. Isn't it shame? Any doubt? Read More

I got to know about this from my hindi blogger fellow hindini.

Is this thing in Google yet

If you Googling and don't find the article or thing you googling for, then go right here. How useful is this I don't know so figure it out by yourself.

I do, You don't

Zellweger, Chesney split. That was the news I read today in CNN and it force me to write a post about this.

Oscar-winning actress Renee Zellweger and country singer Kenny Chesney are seeking an annulment after five months of marriage, a spokeswoman said Thursday. Publicist Nanci Ryder confirmed that Zellweger and Chesney, who stunned the entertainment world in May with a marriage on a beach in the Caribbean, had split. In court papers filed Wednesday, Zellweger listed "fraud" as the reason for the breakup but did not elaborate, The Associated Press reported.

One thing which I don't understand why and how much time you need to understand a person. Usually Here before marriage couple spent lots and lots of time together, living or dating bla bla bla and when they realize (I believe so) they know each other they get married. In spite of all this, it's suprize me that more time couple takes to get married compare to time they take to get divorce after marriage. It's obvious that is not true for every one here in this country but most of them, especially I think all Celebrities.

I read and noticed lots of people of this country asked how you guys (We Indian or asians) can do or do arranged marriage without even knowing or meeting someone. For them My question is how it's possible to get divorce from a person with whome you get married after living or dating so many days (montha or years) and after realizing this is the one made for you. If you get answer of this, you will know other too.

Do you know? There is no word in Hindi for english word Divorce (at least I am not aware of it, FYI 'Talaak' is urdu word).

Indian's Death Toll 585 - Encephalitis

Since Hurricane Katrina slammed gulf coast of USA, hundreds of article or post has been written about how USA handled the relief effort even most of the Indian papers and bloggers have written criticism about it, some known so called columnist also expressed their point of view or criticism. The offical death toll is around 400. While in India, 585 the number of deaths (all children) reported so far related with encephalitis Details here, China View. And this number is quite higher than katrina's present toll. It seems no one care about this in India. It seems Kids die let them die they are of poor villagers kind of attitude. Wake-up guys.....and stop saying that India is going to be next super power. Every day or week 8-10 children are dying and what government is doing - nothing. At least increasing count gives the same feeling.

I heard that media is a very powerful medium but it seems NOT IN INDIA. USA will overcome with her situation in New Orleans, they will find out who screwed this thing and that person or persons will get punsihed for this. So it's better for India or we Indians to worry about our problems where no politician or powerful personality get punished for their wrong doing. So what you guys waiting for....when that count reach 1000 then will start thinking something. Don't wait for that, start writing your views. I will appreciate if instead of writing comments on this post if you post same comment in you blog as a new post. Spread this thing same way as encephalitis spreaded in North India.

update: Today health minister said those kids will get vaccinated against the mosquito-born disease but when he didn't mention. In the news in miami hearld, officials in Uttar Pradesh state say they lack money to do it and have sought help from the federal government and the World Health Organization. What rubbish, This government have enough money for the personal use for politicians and big officers but not for those poor children. Stop bagging every time infront of others, and then make your cut out of it.

Gmail Now in Hindi

Gmail is now available in Hindi too. To do this login into Gmail account, click on settings select language as hindi (there is option of other different language too) and Gmail is all set to display links and menu in Hindi. Even after this when you go to google.com, you will see hindi links there too.

Katrina's Fury

Katrina became TSunami for city of New Orleans. Last year I was in Florida and was witness of three hurricanes within 3-4 weeks period of time. It was horrible and aftermath was worse but we survived.

Now this year I saw what Hurricane Katrina did to Gulf coast and after watching this I can only say we were lucky and that was not even close to horrible, we were in far better position than people of gulf coast.

This is the worse natural disaster in US history. More Detail. Want to help

Sehar - the awaited dawn!

Sehar is a film inspired by real-life incidents. Sehar is a urdu word that means Morning or Dawn. I think, this is the first film ever to be made on the Mafia of UP, based on factual incidents and characters. Sehar is about the origin of organised crime in North India and the steps taken to bring it under control. The film is in flashback with an interesting narrative style.

Sehar moves in and around Gorakhpur-Lucknow-Benaras and terrorises every living soul in the vicinity and ends at Delhi.

Now, You will say every third crime movies have a plot like this. But believe me this is different with a good story, very good acting by Arshad Warsi, no useless un-neccessary songs...a simple film without filmi glamour, which makes this "Real" rather than watching "Reel".

Arshad plays a police officer (Ajay Kumar) who pays the price for his honesty by getting transferred often. And this film shows in Real Life Police officers are not hero as it depicts in other movies but there determination is. Story looks like written after doing a quite research. The film is set in 1997; cell phones were still a new phenomenon then. It makes sense when Pankaj Kapur, who plays an expert in cell phone technology, joins the STF.

Editing of Sehar is brilliant, A lot of thoughts and hard work display into the cinematography and costumes as well. Seher definitely brings out the seriousness of the issues it talks about, though this does give the film a slightly arty feel, and that's why this will appeal to a very thin segment of moviegoers. Kabeer Kaushik's direction is good too, it's daring to make such movie in early in his career. Last but not least, the Climax is different and at one point you get the hint about this too.

It's unforunate, Sehar happened to be a flop film in Box-Office. All in all, Sehar is a good film, worth to watch.

it's shame! being a human

The death of a Muslim woman, who was caught in a blaze as the locals refused to allow entry to male fire-fighters to rescue her. ‘‘We have a problem with women of Muslim community who do not want to be rescued by male fire-fighters even when they are on the verge of death. This has prompted me to think of raising a women force,’’ said Pratim Chatterjee, Minister for Fire Services.

Government need to be strong in certain matters. Until these kinds of issues are not solved in the country no matter where we are listed in powerfull countries, I and probably other countries too believe we still a weak and un-educated country who can not defend her people from people itself.

This is really shame for being a human.

Read Detail News

Encephalitis claims 90 lives in Gorakhpur

90 children have died in the last 15 days in eastern Uttar Pradesh around Gorakhpur. Encephalitis is endemic to eastern UP and cases have been reported practically every year since 1978 when 720 children had died. Still no Vaccination campaign by government, what does that mean. It means poor people in India just born to die and help country to control the population. Every year or alternative year 100's of children die since 1978 because of same disease still "India shining" not able to control this. Hello! people who live in villages and in small towns in rural area are also Indians. But who cares for them.

I am not surprize I got to know about this news first from local radio station news (EBC) here in NJ (yesterday, Aug 18, 2005 at 9 am). After reaching at work I checked almost all Indian newspaper and news channel website but didn't get a single word of news about this, And today I see this in NDTV's site. I thought USA is almost 11 hours behind India timewise but it looks otherway round newswise or is this India media got news from International media, or they are more interested what's happening in metros rather than what or how villages of India doing. just wondering!!!

Civilization: Conquest of the Month - India

India has always been an invader's paradise, No matter how many Persians, Greeks, Chinese nomads, Arabs, Portuguese, British and other raiders had their way with the land, local Hindu kingdoms invariably survived their depradations, living out their own sagas of conquest and collapse. All the while, these local dynasties built upon the roots of a culture well established since the time of the first invaders, the Aryans.

Game starts with 7 preset, bloodthirsty rivals as in reality, in this game too Gandhi and his India not only survived but got the victory too. Game start with this tiny portion of visible land, and Gandhi's settler first found Delhi and India started exloring the world.



(1786 AD center part of the India - Purple portion in the small window at the bottom is map of India)


Confused? What's going on? What Gandhi is doing here? ok! let me start from the beginning. I am here talking about a turn based strategic game named Civilization, I am a big fan of this game or should I say addicted to this game. This game is basically very very broader version of chess with the twist and turns of world history. Game starts from 4000 BC and you as a one civilization have to explorer the world and meet with new civilization. As the game continue you have to dominate the world either diplomatically or becoming a leader in tech race (space race victory) or conquest (as British did in the past) one small mistake or wrong move can give AI (computer) a good chance to invade or distroy your civilization.

So this month's Conquest of the month civilization was India. Month of august and COTM India, I couldn't stop myself and started playing the Game. And by the end of 1786 AD, Gandhi's India won the diplomatic victory


Here is the results


And that win was possible because of India built United Nations in Delhi


At the end of the game, this was the score card:


check this for more detail about civilization, Also you can check more pictures by clicking on Flicker window in the right, if interested.

The Rising: Ballad of Managl Pandey

This rising is not only about a man named Mangal Pandey but also about the rising of India. It's a very good team effort, a very well work done in all areas whether it is acting or Himman Dhamija's cinematography or Rehman's Music or Javed Akhtar's lyrics or Ketan Mehta's direction. And the song "Mangal Mangal..." is astonishing, amazing simply superb sung by Kailash Kher. If you are down in life or feel no energy then watch or listen this song.

This is a movie about friendship, social issues (like sati, casticism, corruption), East India Company's opium trade and ofcourse about the beginning of independence of country and of people. clips or plots of social issues were fit into screenplay very nicely. Film also rich in color and music too. Inspite of little avaiablity of the writings in the subject Ketan and team managed to come with a very good end product. Some time may be you feel movie is little slow or little stretch but by the time you realize it you will see picking pace again. There are couple of movies made on India's independence but very few also depict social issues of that time. Rising is one of them.

Only disadvantage what I see for this movie is the label of period film. So everyone knows the end but isn't it true for 99% of bollywood movies. Climax is really great and voice of Om puri in narration reminds me of 'Bharat ek Khoj'.

Overall a movie worth to watch but still not that par for a good actor to dedicate himself on this movie for 4 years. And beware if you are hard core fan of chopra's or johar's style of movie then it's better to sit at home and wait for DVD to release otherwise if you feel a movie should be good to watch in theater then stop readig this, Go and "Halla Bol!".

You can listen Rising's songs right here

A Secular ReThink

I came to know about this from Debashis, There is a nice essay competition being organised by the Indian Express group. So if you think you can write then here is a chance for a secular re-think. The winning entry can win prize of Rs. 50,000 as well as publication in Indian Express (English) and Jansatta (Hindi). One last thing submit before Aug. 15 this year.

Details are Here

Note: Because of time crunch not able to visit other blogs but thanks to those still stoping by.

An interview with Medha Patekar

Last month I posted and asked if anyone have any questions regarding an interview with Medha Patekar, unfortunately because of short notice I didn't get questions from readers.

Now interview is done and has been published, if anyone is interested, here is the link.

Street Fight: Police vs Worker

Now-a-days I am not getting time to read or write any post. But today while working at Gym this news just popped-up in TV screen infront of me at CNN. After watching all this couldn't stop myself to write a post. That police guy was literally bagging for his life (today ball was in the other court).

Don't have much time to read all about this, so can't figure out answers for where, why, when, how kind of questions. But it's really shamefull to see such thing. Couple years back I got chance to see how productive or un-productive these workers are and like everybody else me too know little bit about Indian police. So my comment for this whole episode is "Tu Daal Daal Mein Paat Paat" (तू डाल डाल मैं पात पात) until that unbiased committee comes with.....oh forget it.

Utha Le Inko

When I saw this picture first time in Sashi Singh's blog I couldn't believe. But believe it or not it's true. Anybody...'jara inhe bhi lift kara de.......few inch more utha le". A math question: A dead man goes in four shoulders can anyone tell how many men short here? Detail News Here

Live 8

Twenty years after a scruffy one-hit wonder first demonstrated his gift for lofty dreams and grandiose statements, hundreds of the world's top performers and more than 1 million fans united for 10 free concerts across the globe aimed at fighting African poverty. Bob Geldof claimed Saturday's shows would be "the greatest concert ever," and it was hard to argue with him after the unprecedented gathering drew everyone from Snoop Dogg to Bill Gates, Mandela to Madonna.

In Edinburgh, Scotland, more than 200,000 campaigners formed a human chain around Scotland's medieval capital, demanding that the world's most powerful nations lift Africa out of poverty. Launching a week of demonstrations before the G-8 summit, Saturday's "Make Poverty History" march piles pressure on U.S. President George W. Bush and other leaders to end the misery of millions in the developing world. Philadelphia's Live 8 attracted hundreds of thousands.

"Mahatma Gandhi freed a continent, Martin Luther King freed a people, Nelson Mandela freed a country. It does work. They will listen," Live 8 organizer Bob Geldof said. But the ultimate success of the Live 8 extravaganza will be judged by whether the world's most powerful leaders, gathering next week for the Group of Eight summit meeting, listen to Geldof's demands for debt forgiveness, trade concessions and $25 billion in aid for Africa.

"We're not looking for charity, we're looking for justice," Bono said. "We cannot fix every problem, but the ones we can, we must." I disagree with him because it's not a crime of developed nation if developing countries and their people are poor. Charity is MUST in this case, if someone really want to solve this problem. There is need to come with nation specific idea to overcome this problem with new development projects. Two thumbs-up for those who organized and performed in this event.

Live 8 is supposed to be world's big concert organized to fight with poverty. Hundreds and thousands people united at different places around the world. It's a good cause and I really appreciate it. But if you really think about the crowd or people gathered for this or about whole this thing, one question come in my mind. People were united to see or watch world's top performer live at stage for FREE or those people really do care about poverty. My bet is 50-50.

Music's over, now time for action people. Let's wait and watch what will be the outcome of GR-8 summit.

What's the Matter

Read about this in "Khalis hindi" in Nithalla Chintan.

Standing Against Odds

In June 2002, a council of elders in Meerwala ordered Mai's rape as punishment for her 13-year-old brother's alleged affair with another woman. Mai says the allegation was fabricated to cover up a sexual assault against the boy by men from the woman's Mastoi clan.

Eschewing a culture of shame that often surrounds rape victims in Pakistan, Mai spoke out, leading to the conviction of six men, who were sentenced to death. Eight others were acquitted.

Mukhtar Mai, A woman who has asked the court to reinstate the death sentence against five men who gang-raped her on the orders of a village council. Since her assault, Mai has become a prominent women's rights activist. Although she grew up illiterate herself, Mai has helped set up a school for girls in her village, mainly with donations from supporters, many of them in the United States. (Read Detail News Here)

In the same news I read "The Islamic court (Shariat) then reinstated the original convictions. But the Supreme Court struck down that ruling and said it would hear Mai's appeal itself". I am just wondering if anyone knows about existence of such court (relegion based court such as Islamic Court) in any other relegion.

Ask Medha and Rajendra

Hey Guys do you have any question for these two persons. See FWD below, if yes send the question to me in mail or as comment or directly to the address given at the end of post. And sorry for delayed posting.

We are glad to announce that Nirantar will soon feature a unique interview with renowned activist Medha Patkar and rain man Rajendra Singh in which you, the readers, can also participate.

Rajendra Singh left his government job at Jaipur to jump into social service. He has received international acclaim for making dry rivers and ponds run with water in the Alwar district of Rajasthan. His pioneering work of building small water harvesting structures to trap rain water and recharge ground water also earned him the Magsaysay Award.

Over the past two decades the struggle against dam projects has grown into one of the world’s largest non-violent social movements. Activist Medha Patkar has been at the center of these struggles. For this work, Patkar and her colleagues were given the Right Livelihood Award (often referred to as the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize) in 1991 and in 1992 won the Goldman Environmental Prize. Patkar has served on the World Commission on Dams, an independent global body, and currently leads the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NBA), a network of more than 150 political organizations across India.

Send us your questions at "patrikaa at gmail dot com" for Medha and Rajendra and we would compile and ask these questions to them. Please remember to write "Ask Medha and Rajendra" in subject of your email. Only questions received till June 25, 2005 will be included.

Believe it or Not

Lions free kidnapped girl! don't believe this but it's right. Hey "Manav" (human) learn something from those animals. ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Police say three lions rescued a 12-year-old girl kidnapped by men who wanted to force her into marriage, chasing off her abductors and guarding her until police and relatives tracked her down in a remote corner of Ethiopia.

The men had held the girl for seven days, repeatedly beating her, before the lions chased them away and guarded her for half a day before her family and police found her, Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo said Tuesday by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, some 560 kilometers (348 miles) west of the capital, Addis Ababa.....more on this.

Temple to Shoes

Today I came across with this news about the use of Hindu God's picture on shoes sold by French retailer Minelli. If anyone saw or heard any comments from our secular government please let me know the link. If same thing happened with any other religion's feeling, I think by this time everyone in the world knows about it. I believe in one god but not in photos i.e. I am not a 'murti poojak', neither a "Hinduvadi". But I can't be secular for such incidents. Such dipiction "shows how trivialisation of Hinduism leads directly and indirectly to abuse of Hindus, all over the world," the HHRO website mentions. Minelli had selected picture of Lord Rama, venerated by millions of Hindus throughout the world on their designer shoes.

Earlier, Roberto Cavali had depicted Hindu Gods and Goddesses on his designer fashion underwear while CafePress.com had imprinted Hindu Gods and Goddeses on lingeries and thongs. In the latters case, American Hindu Association spearheaded the campaign for withdrawl of disputed company products, and which met with success.

In both the cases, parties involved buckled under Hindu pressure group demands, withdrawing those products. But still it shows how the west respect the feelings of east. I believe in protest only when such thing happens very first time AND for every other occurence it should be dealt with 'tit for tat'.

Want to know more about This or "Minelli shoes" on google.

If anyone of you reading this, believe on respecting individual's feeling or ideology then spread your anger or views across the globe with the help of today's powerful tool 'blog'.

I am Tagged

First time I am tagged in this Blogworld.

A. Total number of films I own on dvd/video:
aprrox. 31 (11 DVD, 20 VCD), could be more than this I don't remember but Only 1 in Hindi.

B. The last film I bought:
Right now I don't have that much of money to buy a film but when I have, will prefer to do travel around the world. Last DVD I bought "Home Alone 3" and the next will be "Madagaskar" (I know I know, next film was not asked in the question)

C. The last film I watched:
"Bunty Aur Babli" (first hindi film I watched in theater after 3 and 1/2 years), I wish it could be some other film better than this.

D. THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. In second thoughts what's in a name.

E. THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
Tarun, Awara Dost and Maharaja

F. THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
I don't know, whenever I think, it looks like grass on the other side is GREENER than mine.

G. THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON’T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
I don't know, whenever I think, it looks like grass on the other side is WORSE than mine.

H. THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
IT's HER AGE (HER-IT-AGE), joke apart I think I don't know. But you can read more, what does Heritage actually mean? Right Here

I. THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
Accidents, Accidents, Accidents

J. THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
Khana, Peena Aur Sona (Food, Water and Sleep). Isn't it for everyone. And ofcourse toothpaste is pre-qualification for Food, there is post-qualification for food too.....come on turn on your tubelight.

K. THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
Smile, Attitude and spectacles

L. THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
If RELATION(is)SHIP then Beauty, Music and Fun Otherwise Trust, Compromise and Respect

M. THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
It's not morning otherwise first would be Get up early in the morning. It's not night either, otherwise first would be Sleep early in the night. So here we go -

1. Digitised my World, means can't wait to start exploring my new digicams (still as well as video), I just bought from Circuit City
2. Want to go home, Weekend almost here
3. oh Boy, third is Pee.

N. THREE CAREERS YOU’RE CONSIDERING
1. People Estate (just like term Real Estate), so that I can sell dirty politician out of country and buy Good one for country
2. Dictator (to teach people that Democracy doesn't mean to do anything what they want and to realize them importance of Democracy and it's only possible when they will really feel what's the Dictatorship is [Tanashahi])
2. Still considering my current career in case first two doesn't work

O. THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO FOR A VACATION:
Alaska
Europe
New Zealand

P. THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Want to do or finalize one language for country (I do believe in one nation one language concept), one cast for country (again one nation one cast) and no more than 3 political party nationwide (no regional or local party and no party based on religion) so either join one of them or be individual or look for another career). Alka is going to take care of punsihment part so I took out from my list.
2. Computerized God's City (Swarg, Narak or any other) so that I can have my career there too
3. Want to expert on the art of flirting and also want to try on couple of girls here, if it works as it should then I can try on Apsara's there in God's City and live happily there too.


By this time, almost everyone is already infected with this new kind of virus. So if anyone still didn't get taggy virus, please get it right now. As per my limited knowledge, following could still do needful honors

Mona
Akhil
Sangeeta
Divya

I am done.

Busy Days

Now-a-days, kinda busy but mean time read Sun Mere Maula in my Hindi Blog.

Who is most Beautiful

.....And the miss universe is Ms. Canada. She was getting her crown from last year's Ms. australia, and I was thing this - who is the most beautiful Ms. Universe or Ms. World. Ans what the heck difference between these two? Is there any other world out here other than our own? In both beauty pageants, girls from same countries took or takes participate. I know there is one third beauty pageant too. For me these are just marketing propaganda for beauty products. These pageants were not enough that's why these people started Mrs. World too. I don't want to count or mention other small beauty pageants here. Last but not least the latest pageants I heard (In fact have seen clips in news) about was for little kids (toddlers I think), who even dosn't know the meaning of this.

Now in developed country (here I mean USA), girls would be more happy being called beautiful instead of being called graduate. So there is no need to select any american as Ms. universe or Ms. World. Any takers to tell me the last ms. universe or ms. World from USA.

Sing a Song

गा मेरे मन

update: Listen this song here, Thanks to SV
Today while coming to office I heard one of my favorite song in desi FM, a very old one. Infact it's कव्‍वाली (kavvalli). No it's not a love song. This song's lyrics are reality of life. It's not "गीता सार" (geeta saar) but it gives the same kind of message. That Kavvalli is something like this......

आज जवानी पे इतराने वाले कल पछतायेगा,
चढ़ता सूरज धीरे धीरे ढलता है ढल जायेगा...

(Aaj jawani pe itrane wale kal pachtayega
charta suraj dheere dheere Dhalta hai dhal jayega...)

Getting Married

In this country (USA), if you are famous one way or another, I would say media famous then there is good chance you could get a television network (TV media) as a sponsor for your marriage.

How and Why? I don't know but here is 2 TV media sponsored marriage of the month.

First of a student and Teacher (spent 7 years in jail for having illicit relationship with her student: when Teacher was 34 the boy was 12, they have two girls with this relation, and teacher also has 4 kids from first marriage (one girl and boy is of almost same age as this teacher's student). Inspite of all this, media favorite and their marriage sponsored by insider (entertainment media). Marriage shot, clips and news coming everyday for 5-10 minutes in the same program since last 2-3 weeks. Place: Seatle, WA

Second is of a Rob and Amber (couple took part in two reality show Amazing show and Survivors). I don't like this guy et al because of his attitude towards other people.
Lost in both the shows but still media (CBS network) favorite. Whole marriage looks sponsored by CBS and this media network showing whole marriage, from preparation until I do in 2 hour program. Place: Atlantis, Bahamas (I have visited this resort, it's too expensive for normal people)

Both couple seems got merried without spending a penny. Isn't it Amazing Survivor? Sky is the limit here for media and they can go to any extend (if you allow) to show reality program. Any takers?

I didn't have time also didn't want to watch any of these marriage but had glimpse of these two media sponsored marriage in between programs while surfing)

Few Drops

Couple of months back I wrote these simple thoughts today I just want to re-post here.

Once a while
Two is a pile
Smile a mile

Random expressions
never live in depressions
leave good impressions

Get set Ready for Another World

Hunt for extrasolar planets turns to Earth-size worlds. Ten years after finding the first planet outside our solar system, scientists say they may be ready to move into a new phase of planetary exploration -- one that examines distant worlds for signs of Earth-like life.

So far, astronomers have discovered some 145 so-called extrasolar planets orbiting stars besides our sun. [Read more]

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome

Yesterday I watched this in news, they were telling the story of couple of kids having SJS. Some of them it was due to reaction of over the counter medicine having ibrufonie. Story was really scary and before that I didn't know all about this. Today I am writing about this to spread awareness about this among we people.

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), also called erythema multiforme major, typically involve the skin and the mucous membranes. SJS can also affect the eyes. While minor presentations may occur, significant involvement of oral, nasal, eye, vaginal, urethral, GI, and lower respiratory tract mucous membranes may develop in the course of the illness. GI and respiratory involvement may progress to necrosis. SJS is a serious systemic disorder with the potential for severe morbidity and even death.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) is an immune-complex–mediated hypersensitivity complex that is a severe expression of erythema multiforme. List of symptoms of Stevens-Johnson Syndrome: The list of symptoms mentioned in various sources for Stevens-Johnson Syndrome includes:

• Skin lesions (painful)
  
• Skin blisters
  
• Mucous membrane lesions
  
• Mouth rash
  
• Mouth blisters
  
• Throat rash
  
• Throat blisters
  
• Anus rash
  
• Anus blisters
  
• Genital rash
  
• Genital blisters
  
• Conjunctival rash
  
• Conjunctival blisters

Click here to see detail about these symptoms.

Click here to read more on this, You can also check Stevens Johnson Syndrome Foundation.

I just watched 'Fallen Idol' aired in ABC, it looks like another Shakti Kapoor kinda episode but in this case it's other way round and well planned from both the parties. Let's see the reactions in coming days specially next American idol episode, because person involved in this case is one of the judge.

One Byte Personal

I was quite busy since last couple of weeks so didn't get chance to post or read anything. Did I write before I am addicted to civilization (will write more on this later). So now-a-days playing as India and leading among all the countries. I am also trying to write a story (Kahani), it's in Hindi so if you know hindi, can read hindi and want to read it, here is link. Will appreciate your comments and suggesstion, will visit your blog later.

if you can't see Hindi Click Here

Who is most Religious

Before writing anything further on this post I have to say something totally un-related. I just watched Amazing Race (India episode) and after watching this and previous episodes I would like to say, Rob is the worst and rude (badtameez) american I ever saw, this guy doesn't know how to behave and talk with others.

Finally today new Pop (265th) is elected, I saw the crowd waiting outside of Vatican (city). It was un-believable. Now-a-days Vatican city was getting most of the news media coverage in USA. Most of the religions in the world have at least one head leader (who leads to rest of the priests or clergy). I think Shankaracharya is such leader for Hindus, Dalai lama for Buddhist and same way there are leaders for Muslims, jews etc. I don't remember if I ever saw or heard such thing in this scale for other religious leaders. And this question just poped-up in my mind, who is the most religious community.

I conclude this post with two other question, why artificial birth control not allowed in christianity (Catholics). Based on their population I can say definetly they use some other method or way (natural) to control the birth. Then why not artificial, because at the end result is same and if it's killing of life or something then it happens either way. And last what stem cell research (Science) has to do with religion.

I would like to hear views from lonely planet's visitors, what they think?

Just a Question

For today's post I have just one question. Name the first country which gave voting rights to women? Do I know this....hmm, yes I do.

Crack-it

That is what BCCI need to do with our Indian Cricket team to get the consistent performance from them. These players play in the same manner as government employees work. And they do because they know their job is secure. Win or lose is the part of the game but the problem with Indian team is the way they lose.

If you compare these two teams (Pak & India), Indian team have more heavy-weight players than pak. Our players must know that we win a team game only when we play for the team not for self. In the 3rd ODI the way sachin, ganguly, yuvraj got out was horrible and that's not the first time they out like that, why they don't learn from mistake.

I believe media, our sentiments, sponsors also responsible for their performance. Because in one match they play 'tabartor' (means they really play) and then for next couple of days becomes "headlines" everywhere. If we see the record book the only consistent player in Indian team is Dravid (touchwood) and this guy was never a media favorite.

BCCI should learn from Australian cricket board, they laid-off Waugh even after making a record tests win in a row for australian team. If this would be BCCI then this guy (waugh) remain as captain until he can stand on his feet. BCCI seems more interested in making money than giving a champion team.

In my views, if someone doesn't perform in 4-5 matches in a row we should have his replacement. I feel our players are not enough strong mentally. First in test match they lost after leading and now it looks like same thing could be happened in ODI (until 4 ODIs it's already happened). If a team can not defend 300+ target then that team must be aware that there is something really wrong. And it seems India is in the way to make this their habbit (as they lost earlier too while defending 300+).

Even after writing all this I am again going to watch next 2 matches....WHY? What can I do, "Dil hai ki manta nahi"

(I was planning to write this post once all ODIs played but after reading Prasad's post couldn't control myself)

Black

Even though by this time lots of good things already written for this movie but still I want to add few more words of appreciation. This sunday I finally watched Black and will say it's really a very good movie. All the characters of the movie have done their parts very well. Considering the first movie for a little girl (who played Rani's childhood), I will say she is best in the movie. Big-B and Rani have done a great job too. I will be surprised if this movie doesn't represent India in next foreign film category for Oscar. Sanjay L. Bhansali have made a really beautiful movie, a sentimental one. One of the dialogue is going to be a permanent part of lonely planet....Any guess? (If you have already watched this movie).

Do Aankhen Barah Haath, in colour!

Do Aankhen Barah Haath, a classic movie directed by V Shantaram, will be colourised and digitalised following the success of K Asif's epic Mughal-e-Azam.

An Australian company (TimeBrush), is going to revive this movie digitally and will colourise too, which was made in black and white in 1956 (theatrical releases in 1957). If the colourisation schemes work, the film would release in India this Diwali (end of November).

I have seen this movie, very long time back when I only liked the action movie even then I really really liked that movie (and today it's in my favorite movie list), concept was very good, song was good....., "Ae Malik tere bande hum aise hon humare karam........" Who can forget this famous song from this movie. Waiting egarly to watch this movie again but this time in color.

Amazing Race

This TV program is very interesting but this time (on March 29) it was really amazing. This episode's race was in south africa. Two teams had really hard time but they survived at the end. One was old aged couple, first they forgot their clue inside a very narrow cave and then when they went back in the cave to get the clue, old lady fell down inside the cave and got hurt in head but instead of worrying about her head she was asking her husband whether he got the clue or not. Came last but survived for next round with heavy penalty. Managed to get 5th in next round with the help of other teams and still in race.

In the same round the team running first (brothers) had horrible accident (I think cameraman got hurt badly) almost every team coming behind stopped and/or asked if they are fine (believe me place where accident happened was real lonely planet) except one team (engaged couple Rob & Amber, 3rd team to reach at accident point). According to this team, "they can not afford to stop or ask if other team is doing ok or need any help" I still can't believe if someone can do this just to win a race.

At the same time, team which was 2nd (Lynn & Alex) they stopped and stayed with them for a while. Definetly in such situation I do same what Lynn & Alex did. Still those two brothers managed to come in 6th place and survived for next episode or round.

Isn't it amazing to see different attitude or behaviour or nature of persons with each other when huge money is involved for a winner in a game. In the same race I saw one determine old couple, one self-centred selfish couple and one caring and helpful couple friends who even didn't think by stopping they can lose the race.

Kumaoni Holi: Festival of music and color

Whenever holi comes it take me down to memory lane, way back when I was kid. Most of the best holi I ever had when I was a kid and all those holi I celebrated in my native place (Uttaranchal). It's unique because the Kumaoni Holi lies in being a musical affair, whether it's the Baithki Holi, the Khari Holi or the Mahila Holi. I remember those baloons filled with colored water, hitting those baloons to each other or persons visiting in neighborhood. We also used to have a steel or iron hook tied with a rope or one strong thread and then one kid goes to roof of a house and other kids just hang around in the road. As soon as any person wearing hat or holi cap crosses our kids-zone, one kid hooked that hook in the hat and by the time anybody thinks what happened their hat hanged in the air. Most of our target used to be 'Dotiyal' (Nepali Kooli) and 'huliyar' (holi singers) and they also enjoyed it some time. But those days are gone now. OK, let me tell you something about our Kumaoni holi.

The Baithki Holi and Khari Holi are based on the songs which have touch of melody, fun and spiritualism, these songs are actually based on classical ragas. The Baithki Holi begins from the premises of temples, where Huliyars (the professional singers of Holi songs and they sport traditional Kumaoni Cap, Churidar Paijama and Kurta) and also the people gather to sing holi songs.

Every night for one month before holi, you can hear the villagers, sitting next to the fire and singing special holi songs in the local Kumaoni language. According to the local customs, one week before holi, the famous Kumaoni 'Khari holi' starts with people finally standing up to dance to the mesmerising tunes of the holi singers. Usually it happened at night in and around 'Cheer' (like a x-mas tree but not actually x-mas tree). Finally, the last day of the holi (actually night before this day), burn the 'cheer' (called 'holika dehan') and singing all night. On this night dancing troupes or Holi teams, who have already been going around in groups to various villages or city negiborhood to collect funds (usually every night for one week), visit villagers on request, matching their step on the ‘Jhora’ dance and singing at their doorsteps. On the final day also known as ‘chaleri’ ('duhlendi' called in other parts of India), there is a riot of colours, lots of sweets and of course ‘bhang’, a drink made from cannabis seeds.

In nut shell, The joy and happiness is reflected during Holi which is celebrated with great fun for one week. People singing and dancing all around on the tune of Dholak and Majeera is a common sight seeing in kumaon these days. Holi is an unique musical affair in Kumaon. It seems that every child, young, old, man, woman is a perfect classical singer. Melodious songs are sung at Baithaki (sitting) Holi, Khari (standing) Holi and Mahila (Ladies) Holi. Each song is based upon some Raga with touch of humor and spirituality and these songs should be sung based on the time. For instance, at noon the songs based on Peelu, Bhimpalasi and Sarang ragas are sung while evening is reserved for the songs based on the ragas like Kalyan, Shyamkalyan and Yaman etc. I wish in one holi I will go back and see if same masti (fun) and music still there or lost with the time.

I wish all the visitors of lonely planet a very happy and Colorful Holi !!!!

One More Tehelka: Shakti Kapoor

This case looks like an inning of our own cricket team. A very good start but at the end lost the match. Or let me put this way, A story, news chanel starts under the name of 'Breaking story' and after few days or months they really break the story in tiny tiny pieces. Journalism is not a page-3 (as said by atul kulkarni's character in movie page-3). But in today's world it looks like it is page-3. Just couple years back we had Tehelka using the same method, But today I don't know about it even most of us don't know about it and our so called journalist don't care about it and punishment for those (politicians), who involved - are you kidding?. How many times any news related to Tehelka printed on newspaper or in news channel after that news first came in limelight. In our country, news channels are like volcano, suddenly erupt, throw hot lava and then thats it, that eruption becomes cold case. Before the release of this hot video interview, there was one hot audio release, some one-two years back...remember. Phone talk taped not by journalist but the persons responsible for law, order and investigation, people involved on it was from same industry. And then there is one music director accused of murder of a person from the same industry and now sitting in london and composing music for the people of same industry. Why go back, recently one of the girl accused one young director for the same 'casting couch' (unforunately or fortunately she was not the reporter), what was the truth behind that who knows.

For any news story (investigative journalism) in my views there is four important words: What, Where, How and Why. What happened, Where happened, How happened and Why happened. Any verdict should be given only after these four words or points are fully explained. In this country, Law order and verdict is only for poor and medium class. I read in internet version of some newspaper that Guild association or something similar to this (association of producers) said that they will ban SK, but in the very next line same association also said if SK apologises then there wouldn't be any such ban. They know better than us that 'In bath tub, all of us are naked.' so if they start banning like this then their business will be in trouble.

Now on the latest case (I have seen that video), recent act by SK made him real life villain from reel life. Whatever he said or asked was totally shameless. He did a shameful act for himself and for his family. I can guess he is not the first who did this kind of 'casting couch' and I can imagine he wouldn't be the last too (don't even try to think that I am a passimist). He is one another scapegoat there is no doubt about it and he should only blame to himself for that. But there are some open questions? Whatever that journalist did, was that legal or appropriate? What's the gaurantee if the person sitting in front of him or her not recording their conversation using hidden camera (every big fish will have this doubt now on). Why SK? Hardly anyone knows if he is making any movie or not. After how many months she got this meeting scheduled and after how many phone calls? If it took 6 months or more as I read somewhere then what's the guarantee it was not a trap but still it doesn't give clean chit to SK for what he said. If SK mentioned some name for whatever reason isn't it the responsiblity of the same journalist or group to investigate further before releasing this news or interview. And if a girl arrange a meeting at night in hotel room and serve you alcohol and ask a role (as it looks like in video) then it's difficult to judge the reaction of other person specially if he is linked with glamor world. And finally, exactly what has this story achieved?
Long time back I have read in one of Osho's book which was something like this, 'everybody steal something big or small in some moment of his or her life but we are not a thief until we get caught'. This is very true in today's scenario and this time SK got caught. Now ball is on India TV's court let's see if this was real story or just saas bahu serial kind a reel story which looses it's viewership as months passed by.

(Read SK as Shakti Kapoor)

Old is Gold

Last weekend by chance I did watch a very old song on tv, and that song was "chup chup khare ho jaroor koi baat hai........." and believe it or not that was torture to me (atleast), torture to song too. Confused! because that was the remix version. Now-a-days, these remix version of old songs are coming like "pan shop" in every corner of street. One out of hundred could be watchable or good to listen and all others just crap. You don't need to have good voice for these kind of remix songs, if you sing at bathroom you can sing these songs too.

So what 'old is gold' about it, today someone is getting his or her bread-butter beacause of those old songs that's why I said old is gold (Someone here is not one it could be hundred or thousand). What's in there? Old song, not so good voice, loud music and lots of skin (the most important part). These are the main ingredients of remix songs. I think most of us always lost in the skin part of it and never realize what actually we are watching. Picturization of all so called pop/remix or x-generation... whatever is like that only, all the presentation is limit upto skin. Now-a-days This trend is getting very popular in India.

Poor remix fellow what can they do if there is shortage of lyric writers, they have to take old stuff and refurbish it. Who like stale food (bassi khana) until it's not fried with hot spices. Indian and hot spices made for each other even all world know about it. Confused? if this is written in favor or against, me too. I think I am 'Lost in Translation' to write from what I had in my mind. Period.

Advertisement

I got this link from Beautiful Life's Blog. This is actually an advertisement of telecom company. Can you guess who could be in lead? Amitabh...no..Shahrukh...no, not he....Aish baby nah....then who? Ok, why don't you check urself.

WWW: A Long Journey

In today’s world surfing is a very common world, by surfing here I mean net surfing and that we do in Internet, and when we say internet, we actually talk about the World Wide Web from the past eight or nine years. But, if you see back in history then it goes back a lot further; all the way back to the 1950s and 60s.

So, here is brief timeline of www, highlighting some of the major developments over the past 41 years.

1958 President Eisenhower requests funds to create ARPA. Approved as a line item in Air Force appropriations bill.

1961 Len Kleinrock, Professor of Computer Science at UCLA, writes first paper on packet switching, ("Information Flow in Large Communications Nets.")

1962 1. J.C.R. Licklider & W. Clark write first paper on Internet Concept, "On-Line Man Computer Communications." 2. Len Kleinrock writes Communication Nets, which describes design for packet switching network; used for ARPAnet

1964 Paul Baran writes, "On Distributed Communications Networks," first paper on using message blocks to send info across a decentralized networktopology(Nodes and Links)

Oct. 1965 First Network Experiment: Directed by Larry Roberts at MIT Lincoln Lab, two computers talked to each other using packet-switching technology.

Dec. 1966 ARPA project begins. Larry Roberts is chief scientist.

Dec. 1968 ARPANet contract given to Bolt, Beranek & Newman (BBN) in Cambridge, Mass.

Sept. 1, 1969 First ARPANet node installed at UCLA Network Measurement Center. Kleinrock hooked up the Interface Message Processor to a Sigma 7 Computer.

Oct. 1, 1969 Second node installed at Stanford Research Institute; connected to a SDS 940 computer. The first ARPANet message sent: "lo." Trying to spell log-in, but the system crashed!

Nov. 1, 1969 Third node installed at University of California, Santa Barbara. Connected to an IBM 360/75.

Dec. 1, 1969 Fourth node installed at University of Utah. Connected to a DEC PDP-10.

March 1970 Fifth node installed at BBN, across the country in Cambridge, Mass.

July 1970 Alohanet, first packet radio network, operational at University of Hawaii.

March 1972 First basic e-mail programs written by Ray Tomlinson at BBN for ARPANET: SNDMSG and READMAIL. "@" sign chosen for its "at" meaning.

March 1973 First ARPANET international connections to University College of London (England) and NORSAR (Norway).

1974: 1. Intel releases the 8080 processor. 2. Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn publish "A Protocol for Packet Network Interconnection," which details the design of TCP.

1976: 1. Apple Computer founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. 2. Queen Elizabeth II sends out an e-mail. 3. Vint Cerf joins ARPA as program manager.

1978: TCP split into TCP and IP.

1979: Bob Metcalfe and others found 3Com (Computer Communication Compatibility).

1980: Tim Berners-Lee writes program called "Enquire Within," predecessor to the World Wide Web.

1981: IBM announces its first Personal Computer. Microsoft creates DOS.

1983: Cisco Systems founded.

Nov. 1983: Domain Name System (DNS) designed by Jon Postel, Paul Mockapetris, and Craig Partridge. .edu, .gov, .com, .mil, .org, .net, and .int created.

1984: 1. William Gibson writes "Neuromancer." Coins the term "cyberspace". 2. Apple Computer introduces the Macintosh on January 24th.

March 15, 1985: Symbolic.com becomes the first registered domain.

1986: 5000 hosts on ARPAnet/Internet.

1987: 1. 10,000 hosts on the Internet. 2. First Cisco routershipped. 3. 25 million PCs sold in US.

1989: 1. 100,000 hosts on Internet. 2. McAfee Associates founded; anti-virus software available for free. Quantum becomes America Online.

1990: ARPAnet ends. Tim Berners-Lee creates the World Wide Web.

1992: "Surfing the Internet" is coined by Jean Armour Polly.

1993: 1. Mosaic Web browser developed by Marc Andreesen at University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. 2. InterNICcreated. 3. Web grows by 341,000 percent in a year.

April 1994: 1. Netscape Communications founded. 2. Jeff Bezos writes the business plan for Amazon.com. 3. Java's first public demonstration.

Dec. 1994: Microsoft licenses technology from Spyglass to create Web browser for Windows 95.

May 23, 1995: Sun Microsystems releases Java.

August 24, 1995: Windows 95 released.

1996: Domain name tv.com sold to CNET for $15,000. Browser wars begin. Netscape and Microsoft two biggest players.

1997: business.com sold for $150,000.

1998: US Depart of Commerce outlines proposal to privatize DNS. ICANN created by Jon Postel to oversee privatization. Jon Postel dies.

1999: 1. AOL buys Netscape; Andreesen steps down as full-time employee. 2. Browsers wars declared over; Netscape and Microsoft share almost 100% of browser market. 3. Microsoft declared a monopoly by US District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson. 4. Shawn Fanning creates Napster, opening the possibilities of
peer-to-peer file sharing and igniting a copyright war in the music industry.

January 10, 2000: AOL Merges with Time-Warner. AOL shareholders take 55% stake in newly formed company.

February 2000: A large-scale denial of service attack is launched against some major Web sites like Yahoo! and eBay, alerting Web sites to the need for tighter security measures.

July 2001: A federal judge rules that Napster must remain off-line until it can prevent copyrighted material from being shared by its users.


After this day, it becomes part of our day to day life.

Source: Webopedia

Little Brush

Just a moment ago, I was away for a while from my computer when I came back... my 3 & half year old little monkey was sitting in front of computer and drawing this (ms paint was open when I left)



and when I asked what you did, he replied I am a picture taker.

my First हिन्दी Blog

I have been thinking to start a blog in my own mother tongue since a very long time. Today finally that day arrived and I started my first hindi blog निठल्ला चिन्तन. It will take a while for me to familiar with hindi keyboard but still I am happy because finally I have started my own hindi blog.

Smoking! Is this addiction or Allergy?

Chiropractor Dr. John Crandall has very unusual approach to treat people who want to stop smoking. He believes smokers with a tough addiction to cigarettes are actually allergic to tobacco, so he treats smokers with an allergy elimination technique. Dr. Crandall, who has offices in New York and Connecticut.

If you'd like to contact Dr. John Crandall, you can visit his website: N.A.E.T. of New York City. If you'd like more information on the allergy elimination you can visit Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques.

Valentine's Day! What's the History Behind?

Every February, all over the world, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of Valentine. But few of them know that it's actually St. Valentine, who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday? We do know that February has long been a month of romance (as well my birth month too). So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient rite? Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.

According to the some stories that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men -- his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.

Some says, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl -- who may have been his jailor's daughter -- who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.

In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. By the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one's feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine's Day greetings. Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America.

According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (First is Christmas with An estimated 2.6 billion cards.) Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women.

(Source: History Channel)

A Beginning of new Planet

Better to mark today's date on your memory book as new planet is found in this universe or should I say technology is so advance that I am able to move my planet from other part of universe to right here in this side of universe..............or whatever! Welcome to my Lonely Planet.