What more does Indian Cricket need :D

So its official, Whatmore is a strong contender for coaching the Indian Cricket Team. How good he is only time can tell. But given the politics that run rampant in the BCCI, wonder how long he will last !!!

Pastafariasism and the Flying Sphagetti Monster

A new religion in born, Pastafarianism...a parody religion called "The Church of the Flying Sphagetti Monster" . Founder by Bobby Henderson to protest against the inclusion of Intelligent Design in Education.

Here is what I found on Wikipedia

The Flying Spaghetti Monster is the deity of a parody religion called the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.[1] The religion was founded in 2005 by Oregon State University physics graduate Bobby Henderson to protest against the decision by the Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. In an open letter sent to the education board, Henderson professes belief in a supernatural Creator called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which resembles spaghetti and meatballs.[2] He furthermore calls for the "Pastafarian" (a portmanteau of pasta and Rastafarian) theory of creation to be taught in science classrooms.[3]

The link on Wikipedia is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster

The one on the right is the holy god of Pastafarianism....

Glass and Glass

A friend of mine is hosting her first show of fused glass this month. Nirmala had to face innumerable jokes from us about her passion for fused glass. Well, she has put it behind and come up with stuff thats exciting.

Here is the invite to the same. The event will be on at Raintree, 41, Sankey Road, High Grounds on May 25th and 26th and at Prathibha Jewellery, Richmond Circle Bangalore 25.

Rahul Gandhi's impact in UP Elections

The Congress Party has released a report on the impact of Rahul Gandhi's campaign in the UP Elections. His performance ensured that the Congress gained by some 65000 votes ...

Here is the report

UPCC report shows little Rahul impact


New Delhi, May 20: A detailed study on Rahul Gandhi’s campaign through 133 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh prepared by UPCC president Salman Khurshid and his team has arrived at the conclusion that the Gandhi scion helped the party notch up a mere 68,755 votes. A large number of these votes came from former Independents, who were given tickets on the basis of their individual popularity.

The “Impact Analysis of Rahul Gandhi’s Tour” across the Hindi heartland stretching from Saharanpur to Varanasi was prepared for the benefit of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The paper looks at the “positive” impact of Mr Gandhi’s intervention and how much this translated into actual votes. The 2007 voteshare has been compared to the number of votes the Congress got in 2002. But no attempt has been made to put a figure to the party’s losses in these 133 constituencies.

Congress detractors point out that almost 50,000 of the votes being attributed to Mr Gandhi’s intervention were votes won by candidates who were Independents prior to the election. This has been the case in the Puranpur and the Pipraich constituencies. In the former constituency alone, the candidate brought in 41,926 votes.

In several seats, the voteshare of the Congress has fallen dramatically. The study highlights how a key constituency like Aligarh, won by the Samajwadi Party candidate, saw the Congress voteshare halve from 47,801 (41 per cent) in 2002 to 23,066 votes (19 per cent) in 2007. Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of Delhi, also saw the Congress voteshare decline from 64,760 (35.72 per cent) to 48,797 (17 per cent), with the seat being won by the BJP.

The Congress did not succeed in winning any of the four prestigious Lucknow Assembly seats (East, West, Central and Cantt) and was also defeated in Varanasi’s three segments of South, North and East. However, campaigning by the Gandhi scion did ensure a voteshare rise in these cities. Lucknow East saw the Congress bag 13,786 votes, Lucknow West 11,011 votes, Lucknow Central yielded 14,123 votes and Lucknow Cantt saw 19,280 votes, as against 9,728, 8,363, 13,513 and 20,527 votes respectively in 2002. Varanasi also registered an increase of 19,788 (Cantt) and 19,319 (South) votes, as opposed to 18,041 and 11,705 votes respectively in 2002, but Varanasi North saw a decline in the number of votes — from 6,729 to 4,068.

Mr Rahul Gandhi could not reverse the Congress rout in what was once his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru’s constituency of Phulpur, where the voteshare plummeted from 44,560 (33.71 per cent) to 20,260 (15 per cent) in the last five years. The Congress also lost Allahabad South though the party managed to win Allahabad North thanks to the stalwart fight put up by the local Congress candidate. But both the Allahabad seats saw the voteshare rise to 34 per cent and 20 per cent respectively, as opposed to 5.44 per cent and 14.32 per cent in the last elections.

Glossing over these embarrassing details, the study highlights the point that the Congress gained votes in 80 seats. Of these, in 43 seats the Congress vote increased by over 5,000, while in 18 others the Congress vote went up by over 1,500. All told, the Congress won 13 of the 133 constituencies, whereas in 2002 it had won only three seats.

Sameer Sudharshan

If you are wondering who is this dude I am writing about, try watching U2, the Kannada music channel at 10 pm everyday. He is the VJ for that show. A very wisecracking, humourous character , he really steals the show. His PJ's are top class and he has an amazing comic sense of timing.

Wont say more, but check out the show everyday at 10 pm on U2. Belive me its worthwhile !!!