ee sanje yaakagidhe

Another whammy by Sonu Nigam in kannada movies. After anisuthidhe, this one will be his next big hit. The number is already being requested frequently on kannada channels. Eee songu yake mugiyithu !!

Kiran Bedi opts for voluntary retirement

Kiran Bedi has applied for volutary retirement. Though her stance has been that she is more interested in social and academic interest, it is very obvious that she was peeved over her being overlooked for the post of Delhi Police Commisioner. Our neta's have for sure ensured that no good deed or person goes unpunished. She was heading the Bureau of Police Research and Development, whatever that post meant.

Its very sad that she will be getting out of the very system that we all hoped she would help clean up. But on the contrary, she will have more freedom to participate in causes that are close to her heart. So we expect this fire brand officer to spew fire for causes that she represents.

Kiran should also consider joining politics. She has a squeaky clean image, is efficient, can haul up the babu's and the neta's in their own lair, she knows how the system works. Isnt she an ideal candidate to represent us in the Parliament ?? We need more people like her getting into politics , probably thats when we Indians can see more of us joining politics.

Kiran Bedi has also excelled in sports, she was the Asian Lawn Tennis Champion at the age of 22. However she will forever be remembered by generations ahead for 2 things,
one for lathi charging the lawyers without battling an eyelid and her reformist zeal to turn Tihar Jail into an Ashram.

May her spirit be there in all of us.

The Darwin Awards

The Darwin Awards

These get scarier and scarier every year. They are finally out
again. You all know about the Darwin Awards - It's an annual
honour given to the person who did the gene pool the biggest
service by killing themselves in the most extraordinarily stupid
way. Last year's winner was the fellow who was killed by a Coke
machine which toppled over on top of him as he was attempting to
tip a free soda out of it.


And the nominees are:

9. A young Canadian man, searching for a way of getting drunk
cheaply, because he had no money with which to buy alcohol, mixed
gasoline with milk. Not surprisingly, this concoction made him
ill, and he vomited into the fireplace in his house. This
resulting explosion and fire burned his house down, killing both
him and his sister.

8. A 34-year-old white male found dead in the basement of his
home died of suffocation, according to police. He was
approximately 6'2" tall and weighed 225 pounds. He was wearing a
pleated skirt, white bra, black and white saddle shoes, and a
woman's wig. It appeared that he was trying to create a
schoolgirl's uniform look. He was also wearing a military gas
mask that had the filter canister removed and a rubber hose
attached in its place. The other end of the hose was connected to
one end of a hollow wooden tube approx. 12" long and 3" in
diameter. The tube's other end was inserted into his rectum for
reasons unknown, and was the cause of his suffocation. Police
found the task of explaining the circumstances of his death to
his family very awkward.

7. Three Brazilian men were flying in a light aircraft at low
altitude when another plane approached. It appears that they
decided to moon the occupants of the other plane, but lost
control of their own aircraft and crashed. They were all found
dead in the wreckage with their pants around their ankles.

6. A police officer in Ohio responded to a 911 call. She had no
details before arriving, except that someone had reported that
his father was not breathing. Upon arrival, the officer found the
man face down on the couch naked. When she rolled him over to
check for a pulse and to start CPR, she noticed burn marks around
his genitals. After the ambulance arrived and removed the man -
who was declared dead on arrival at the hospital - the police
made a closer inspection of the couch, and noticed that the man
had made a hole between the cushions. Upon flipping the couch
over, they discovered what had caused his death. Apparently, the
man had a habit of putting his penis between the cushions, down
into the hole and between two electrical sanders (with the
sandpaper removed, for obvious reasons). According to the story,
after his orgasm the discharge shorted out one of the sanders,
electrocuting him.

5. A 27-year-old French woman lost control of her car on a
highway near Marseilles and crashed into a tree, seriously
injuring her passenger and killing herself. As a commonplace road
accident, this would not have qualified for a Darwin nomination,
were it not for the fact that the driver's attention had been
distracted by her Tamagotchi key ring (pocket animal), which had
started urgently beeping for food as she drove along. In an
attempt to press the correct buttons to save the Tamagotchi's
life, the woman lost her own.

4. A 22-year-old Reston, VA, man was found dead after he tried to
use octopus straps to bungee jump off a 70-foot railroad trestle.
Fairfax County police said Eric Barcia, a fast-food worker, taped
a bunch of these straps together, wrapped one end around one
foot, anchored the other end to the trestle at Lake Accotink
Park, jumped and hit the pavement. Warren Carmichael, a police
spokesman, said investigators think Barcia was alone because his
car was found nearby. "The length of the cord that he had
assembled was greater than the distance between the trestle and
the ground" Carmichael said. Police say the apparent cause of
death was "Major trauma".

3. A man in Alabama died from rattlesnake bites. It seems that he
and a friend were laying a game of catch, using the rattlesnake
as a ball. The friend - no doubt a future Darwin Awards candidate
- was hospitalised.

2. Employees in a medium-sized warehouse in west Texas noticed
the smell of a gas leak. Sensibly, management evacuated the
building extinguishing all potential sources of ignition; lights,
power, etc. After the building had been evacuated, two
technicians from the gas company were dispatched. Upon entering
the building, they found they had difficulty navigating in the
dark. To their frustration, none of the lights worked. Witnesses
later described the sight of one of the technicians reaching into
his pocket and retrieving an object that resembled a cigarette
lighter. Upon operation of the lighter-like object, the gas in
the warehouse exploded, sending pieces of it up to three miles
away. Nothing was found of the technicians, but the lighter was
virtually untouched by the explosion. The technician suspected
of causing the blast had never been thought of as 'bright' by his
peers.

The latest nominee for this year's Darwin Award goes to....

1. Based on a bet by the other members of his threesome, Everitt
Sanchez tried to wash his own "balls" in a ball washer at the
local golf course. Proving once again that beer and testosterone
are a bad mix, Sanchez managed to straddle the ball washer and
dangle his scrotum in the machine. Much to his dismay, one of his
buddies upped the ante by spinning the crank on the machine with
Sanchez's scrotum in place, thus wedging them solidly in the
mechanism. Sanchez, who immediately passed his threshold of pain,
collapsed and tumbled from his perch. Unfortunately for Sanchez,
the height of the ball washer was more than a foot higher off the
ground than his testicles are in a normal stance, and the scrotum
was the weakest link. Sanchez's scrotum was ripped open during
the fall, and one testicle was plucked from him forever and
remained in the ball washer, while the other testicle was
compressed and flattened as it was pulled between the housing of
the washer, and the rotating machinery inside. To add insult to
injury, Sanchez broke a new $300.00 driver that he had just
purchased from the pro-shop, and was using to balance himself.
Sanchez was rushed to the hospital for surgery, and the remaining
threesome were asked to leave the course.

Bara Brost- follow up post

I found a link which has women protesting by going barechested :). They also have a manifesto :). Here is the manifesto

Manifesto!

Bara Bröst is not committed to any political or religious views.We demand: - That women should be allowed to be topless in situations where it is accepted for men to be topless.

- That the breast should not be considered to be a part of the female genitalia.

- That the gender discriminating rules at the swimming pools are removed.

- That the norms that discriminates against women are worked with in schools and at workplaces and so on.

- That the politicians take their responsibility and act in this question.

Our goals:

A gender equal society where

- it is socially accepted for women to be topless in situations when it is accepted for men to do so.

- male and female bodies get an equal amount of space and on the same conditions.

- female bodies are not sexualized.

- no one has to feel like an object.

- women are not being discriminated against.

Who are allowed to become members?
Everyone that supports us are allowed to become members in the network.
For new members who want to do an action it is compulsory to attend a meeting before with the other people who are going to do the action.
To join the network, send an e-mail to barabrost@hotmail.com and tell us a bit about yourself.
————————————————————

Other news:

- Yesterday it was an action taking place in Stockholm. The activists where thrown out, however they got support from other guests in the pool who had heard about the network.

The link to the above manifesto is here

http://crisal1de.wordpress.com/2007/11/23/tutte-in-topless-in-piscina/

bara brost swimmers go topless in Sweden

Metallica - Ecstasy of gold Full Video Live

This is Metallica's version of Ecstasy of gold.

Ennio Morricone - The Good, the bad and the ugly (concert)

The Theme of the movie. Its a timeless classic !

Ennio Morricone - The Ecstasy of Gold (live in concert)

Well, here is live recording of The Ecstasy of Gold (live in concert) from the movie "The Good , the Bad and the Ugly". That movie has been one of my all time favourites. For the uninitiated , this piece of music appears when Tuco runs around the grave yard looking for the grave of Arch Standler.

JD(S) seems to be heading for split

Gowda and Son's antics seem to have antogonised MLA's to no end. A few of them with enough spine , have decided to part ways with the GD(S) party as they feel the betrayal of the BJP, could hurt their chances in the hustings to come. The leaders are led by MP Prakash , who has emerged as an unlikely rebel. Prakash has always been with the Gowda family and this comes as a surprise to everyone. But DG & S have always kept themselves ahead of everyone else. This isnt the first time that someone considered close to the family has walked out. There are other MLA's who have done so. Somanna, the very popular MLA from Binnypet was even called as one of his Son's by no less than Deve Gowda himself. But Somanna was not allowed to proceed beyond a point and he later joined the Congress.

So I am left wondering what will be the net result of this latest split. Will JD(S) remain as it is or will they loose hands down. Only time can tell.

Jeff Dunham - Achmed - Martwy Terrorysta (#6) POLSKIE NAPISY

Well here is a hilarious video.... I was ROFLing all the way

Brett Lee comes to Bollywood

Here is another Indophile. He cant seem to have enough of India, even though he is an Aussie. After cutting an Album with Asha Bhonsle, Brett Lee has taken the next logical step and has signed on for a bollywood movie. He will be shooting for the movie next year for a day and will be playing a cameo. So here is to Brett Lee and his Bollywood debut :). Btw the movie will be called Victory. So will Bret Lee be the victor in Victory ?

Related Links

Bret Lee to make guest appearance in Bollywood Movie

Sachin Tendulkar's another record

I remember posting here that whatever Sachin Tendulkar does becomes a record. Well, here is one more record to his credit. He is now the second highest run maker in the history of Test Cricket. He bypassed Alan Border who had scored 11174 runs today. He is now behind Brian Lara who holds the record for the highest runs scored in test cricket i.e 11,953. With Sachin still scoring runs by the dozens, expect him to break a few more records before he decides to hangup his bat.

Sooner or later Sachin will create another record, a record for breaking all records in Cricket :p

Cheers to Sachin Tendulkar!!!

Related Links

Tendulkar is second highest run getter in Test Cricket

Here is why I love Sushmita Sen

Call her whatever, but she does her own thing. Unlike a lot of Bollywood stars who pay lip service to a lot of causes, Sushmita is one who goes the whole yard in doing what she wants to. She has done it again. One of her staff turned HIV positive and later passed away. She not only went and managed his Funeral , but is now taking care of the staffer's wife who is also HIV positive and also his Children. Thankfully the Children have not tested positive. Now the question is how many Bollywood stars will go to this length despite their professed commitment to various causes. May Sushmita's tribe increase . Here is a complete text of the incident

Trust Sushmita Sen to do the unexpected - the actress has taken up the responsibility of the upkeep of her deceased staffer's HIV positive wife and two sons.

"The one good thing that came out of this whole experience was my rapport with my former staff Ashutosh (name changed) and his wife Namrata (name changed) and their two sons. I'm full of admiration for this woman of 29. She's younger and far less urbane than me, but her wisdom and her acumen in the face of such imminent tragedy just makes me feel so small," Sushmita told IANS.

Thankfully, both the staffer's children have tested negative.

"But the lady is in an advanced stage of being HIV positive. I'm getting her the best treatment possible. Perhaps with the treatment she'll live five-seven years. But her spirit is unbroken."

When you express admiration for her, the actress rebuffs it.

She said: "On the contrary she's helping my conscience to get lighter, I feel guilty that I knew nothing about Ashutosh's illness. He was too scared to tell me. Namrata was warned no one should know about his condition, least of all me. He thought I'd be very upset by the nature of his illness.

"He came to meet me shortly before he died. He looked very ill. I thought he had jaundice. He asked me for financial help. I knew there was something seriously wrong. I tried to get in touch with his wife, but couldn't. The next thing I knew was Ashutosh was in a coma."

However, Sushmita did get to speak to Ashutosh once before he died.
"He got out of his coma long enough to speak to me once on the cell phone. He heard me, and he cried and 24 hours later he died. The next day I flew in from Goa to do his last rites."

The wife and the children had to be tested for AIDS. It was one of the most horrific periods of Sushmita's life.

"I not only had to deal with the death of my staff, I also had to break the news of his wife's illness to her at the cremation itself. This entire harrowing incident was so unexpected."

Today the dead man's wife and children are under Sushmita's care.

"It's hard to keep her free from infections. I'm doing my best to keep her intact. Today, I'm an expert on HIV positive," said Sushmita who participated in an AIDS awareness programme with Hollywood actress Ashley Judd early this year.

On a brighter note, she said, "A look at my daughter's delight as she watches 'Pocahontas' and I regain my spirit. God bless Walt Disney."

Apart from her social work, the actress is currently caught up in the pre-production work of
her period film "Jhansi Ki Rani". She is not only playing the title role in the film but also producing it. Apart from that she will be seen with Shah Rukh Khan once again in "Dulha Mil
Gaya".

Related Links

Sushmita does her best for Staffer's Family

Jinxed Cities for those in Power

Do you know what is common between Chamarajanagar in Karnataka and Noida in Uttar Pradesh ? The answer is both cities are considered as a jinx for those in power especially Chief Ministers. No Chief Minister did visit Noida since 1988, similarly no CM did visit Chamarajnagar since a very long time. All for the fear of losing power. It happened again and again in both Noida as well as Chamarajanagar. CM's visited those places and promptly lost power in no time. To try and break the Jinx, Mayawati did visit Noida recently to visit a wedding in the family of her right hand man Satish Chandra Mishra. HD Kumaraswamy also did visit Chamarajanagar recently. He anyway was due to transfer power over to BJP, which he dint and BJP promptly pulled the plug. So you cannot classify if he has really broken the Chamarajanagar Jinx or not .

Related Links

Mayawati Breaks jinx, visits Noida
I have broken the jinx
Junk the jinx is the cry from Chamarajanagar

Bara Brost- Swimmers go topless in Sweden

A group of Women in Sweden have decided to go on a topless spree while swimming. You want to know why ? They have decided to protest the gender discrimination in swim wear :). The group calls themselves Bara Brost or Bare Breasts. They want a debate to be started about how women's bodies are sexualised. If men can swim bare chested why cannot the women folk do the same.

Frankly I thought swim wear was designed to bring out the beauty in a women's contour's . I would say most Men would have no problem with Women going topless either on beaches or anywhere else. All said and done "What One man can do, a woman can do " .

Related Link
Topless Swimmers make waves in Sweden

Manifesto of Bara Brost and Pictures of people protesting bare chested

Follow up post on my blog

Robert Vadra is not a security risk, but out Generals are a security risk at the airport

In a startling revelation, it has been disclosed that Robert Vadra is not even frisked at the civilian airports, but our Service Chiefs from the three services are still frisked and searched before they can fly. Is this a case of sycophancy on the part of Congress or is it the way our Government treats the men on the Borders. But the moot point is why the hell should Robert Vadra be on the non-frisk list ? Is he a VIP only because he is married into the so called first family i.e for being Sonia Gandhi's Son in Law. What a shame !!!

Related Links

Vadra is not friske but Top Generals are

Now a defnition for a Hindu

All along we thought Hinduism was a way of life and one who follows it was a Hindu. There was no clear cut definition of who a Hindu was and who wasn't a Hindu. Now a school in England has come up with a definition of who a Hindu is,

"Looked after children from Hindu families, 10 nominations by Bhaktivedanta Manor of practising Hindu families, children from practising Hindu families, children from Hindu families who are broadly following the tenets of Hinduism."

The policy defines 'practising Hindus' as those who perform daily prayer and deity worship either at a temple or at home, and accept and follow Vedic scriptures, in particular the Bhagavad Gita. They must also be involved in at least weekly temple-related voluntary work, attend temple programmes at least fortnightly and abstain from meat (including fish and eggs), alcohol, smoking and drugs.

According to the policy, 'broadly following' the tenets of Hinduism are defined as: at least monthly visits to the temple, attendance of key festival programmes (Diwali, Janmashtami and Ramnavami) at a local temple, following a vegetarian diet and avoidance of intoxication."

So now, how many of us would really qualify to be a Hindu then ? If we dont, then what do we call ourselves ?

Related Links

Who is a Hindu ? UK school lists out the qualities

Nataka in Karnataka: Drama in Karnataka: An interesting read

This is an interesting blog entry by DP Satish. An intersting read on the Gowda Family and its good luck.

Nataka in Karnataka - When you Gowda go

Veteran journalist from Mysore K B Ganapathy wonders in his English daily " Star of Mysore, "Sometimes I wonder if H.D. Deve Gowda's success, despite an unstable weak political party, is due to the grace of Gods and Goddesses which he worships with vermilion and sandal paste smeared prominently on his broad forehead or on the bridge of his big nose ".

The moment Congress led Central government decided to end the yearlong trauma of Five and a half crore people in Karnataka by dissolving the Assembly, I heaved a great sigh of relief. At times I was ashamed of myself for being a Kannadiga (a practising Kannadiga!). The Nataka in Karnataka scripted and staged by ' humble ' farmer H D Deve Gowda and company is undoubtedly a blot on the whole state of Karnataka, which has a vast talent pool, resources, eternally vigilant civil society and cultured people. I agree that the politicians don't represent the general public. Their acts and decisions don't represent the majority people. The way Gowda and his ' son ' parivar held the entire state to ransom for the last 41 months have made me to believe that some ' evil ' powers above us indeed blessed them to torment common people. Perhaps they wanted to have some fun by bestowing power on the people like Gowda! The people who voted for him out of sympathy (S M Krishna's Bangalore centric rule also largely helped Gowda to hold keys to power) in 2004 Assembly polls were caught in the crossfire between these political ' militants '(JD(S), BJP & Congress)of Karnataka.

I was flooded with SMSes from across the globe abusing Gowda and sons (some call them ' sins'!) sent by the people of Karnataka. The message was almost the same.

' Kick Gowda out and save Karnataka '. Some of the SMSes were in atrocious, horrid, nasty, nauseating language. It shows the level of anger among the people against the ' first family ' of state politics.

This unsophisticated, so called peasant family which suffers from a siege mentality committed series of political and moral crimes just to retain its supremacy over the state in the last 41 months. Till last October, the world seemed to be divided diametrically between two kinds of people: those who love H.D. Deve Gowda, and those who love to loathe H.D. Deve Gowda. I doubt that we still have the people those who love Gowda! Even his staunch followers from his own stronghold are now distancing themselves from ' son of the soil '.

Whether it is sleeping with Ramakrishna Hegde just to stab in the back to achieve his chief mnisterial and prime ministerial ambitions, filing CBI cases against Lalu Yadav (he now describes him as a black cobra!), ditching Sitaram Kesri, hassling many industrialists and IT czar N R Narayanamurthy on various issues, sleeping with the BJP to install his son H.D. Kumaraswamy as chief minister and ' betraying ' them twice in just 50 days, or cosying up to the Congress to become ' secular ' once again, always putting his mega family above state and its people, Deve Gowda proved beyond all doubts that he is the one and only who can stoop to such a low level in public life.

I would not be wrong, if I say that Gowda is somebody for whom only the end matters, the means be damned? Unfortunately, the ' ring master ' is now at the receiving end. Future looks bleak for both him and his party.

The BJP, which departed before its arrival in the south, is also equally responsible for the political mess and the new low in Indian politics. Their 7 day government imposed on the people has severely dented the image and credibility of saffron brigade. People are convinced that there is no difference between all other political parties and party with a ' difference '.

As I have said in the beginning Gowda and his sons always attribute their success to Gowda's strong star powers and gods. It is now time for the gods and goddesses to disown Gowda and Co in the larger interest of the state! Hope the prayers of the people will fall on the ears of almighty!

Link to the blog entry

Presidents Rule in Karnataka

As expected the Centre has imposed President's rule in Karnataka. Its the second time in a month that President's rule has been imposed in Karnataka. This follows after the JD(S) decided to vote against the BJP's confidence motion. Yeddyurappa had no option but to submit his resignation and which he did promptly. Sooner or later dissolution of the assembly is in order and fresh elections will be held in the due course of time.

Related Links

Karnataka brought under President's rule
Cabinet OK's President's Rule in Karnataka

JD(S) stabs BJP in the back

Trust Deve Gowda to stab anyone in the back for his own gains. He did it yet again to further his Son's and Family's interests both Business as well as political. He thus ensured that he will probably continue to call the shots in any further political developments in Karnataka. His politcal machinations have ensured that JD(S) has enjoyed power for 40 plus months without even having the required numbers in the Legislative assembly. He called the shots when Dharam Singh ruled the state and later ensured his son Kumaraswamy had a smooth ride while sharing power with the BJP. When it came to handing over power to BJP he developed cold feet giving all sorts of reasons.
A master at political survival, he has stabbed enough people in the back for his selfish gains.

First he ensured that the power was never transferred to the BJP in the true sense. Though it was done, it was more of a mockery of the trust that BJP placed on JD(S). All sorts of conditions were placed before BJP. A 12 point MOU was required to be signed by the BJP, which the party flatly refused.

Now it is rumoured that JD(S) has approached the Congress to stake claim for power. I really wonder how Congress could trust a dude like Deve Gowda who has no qualms about ditching everybody when it comes to his survival.

It is equally rumoured that it was on the advise of his personal astrologer that Deve Gowda engineering all the politcal drama. According to the Astrologer ,Deve Gowda's son Kumaraswamy will win the elections if they are held now. Guided by this prediction, Gowda is trying all sorts of machinations so that elections are held at the earliest.

As if to add credence to this theory comes the prediction from the Swamiji of Kodi Mutt who has gone on to predict that Kumaraswamy will win the elections if they are held now. Kodi Mutt infact has a history predicting political events correctly. This includes advising Indira Gandhi to choose the hand as a symbol to advising her to contest elections from Chikamangalur post- emergency to her and her Son's death, this Mutt has predicted it all. Ever wondering how they predict the same ? Well, its all written in the palm leaves in the mutt. They have time and again proved to be very accurate. I shall write about Kodi Mutt on a later date.

But I am left wondering , isnt Deve Gowda playing the game of brinkmanship based on the advise of his astrologers ? Isnt he trying to shape events based around the predictions of his astrologers ? How correct is it to break the trust of an ally just because an astrologer predicts the winner will be Kumaraswamy ? It is a sad scene that public life has degenerated to such levels, from where there is no return.

Related Links

Worst betrayal of my life: Yeddyurappa
Yeddyurappa resigns as Karnataka CM
What next ?? Gowda said to be at Congress doors

CAT in bag of a 56 year old

CAT- Common Admission Test, the test that is held for admissions to the IIM's has been favourite hunting ground for this 56 year old. He has been appearing for the CAT exams for the sheer thrill of solving the problems in the paper, which kinda gives him a big high. Its more of solving the brain teasers that interests him than anything else. He has managed to clear it 3 times until now. Pankaj Srivastava has this unique distinction of appearing at CAT for a mental orgasm. He is in fact a Chartered Accountant by profession.

Related Links

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2551279.cms

Now its Smishing on the Mobiles

Until now we were all worried about the Phishing that has been happening through emails. Now its the turn of Smishing. Cheating on SMS's. Wondering how ? You get an sms saying that you should visit a particular site to cancel a particular subscription , which you obviously haven asked for. Once you logon , you will be asked for various personal details and credit card info etc...

As new ways of communication's have entered into the consumer's life , so have the crooks smartened their approach. In most cases it is a new form of Social Engineering, that essentially makes victims of perfectly innocent victims. Another one scam to wisen up.

Related Links
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/nov/19sms.htm

Left has nothing left in it!

The Left gave in and has allowed the Government to begin talks with IAEA. After so much of hungama, this is a rather tame end to the whole issue. Left seems to blow hot and cold on this issue and I really wonder what the real reason could be for their climb down. Was it Nandigram that tied their hands or was it the fact that Russia refused to build the rest of the Nuclear Reactors that it was supposed to build in Tamil Nadu. Whatever the reason, the change is welcome.

Related links
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/nov/16ndeal4.htm

Stop now, thank you very much !! The Spice Girls are back

The Spice Girls are back in business and will be performing their act soon...

They prove Ronen right- they let him off!!!

Our Parliamentarians have proved Ronen right. They have let off the Indian Ambassador to the USA , with just a word of caution. The Parliamentary Panel has taken a lenient view of the remarks made by Ronen in an interview. In his interview he had called the opponents of the Nuclear Deal as a headless chicken.

The interview can be read here

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/aug/20inter.htm

The news about Ronen being let off with a word of caution is here
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ronen_Sen_let_off_with_a_word_of_caution/articleshow/2546728.cms

Sachin Tendulakar's missed centuries

Anything that Sachin Tendulakar does is a record. So much so when he gets out in the nervous nineties, even that is record. He holds the record for getting out the highest number of times in the nineties. Following him is Andy Flower and Nathan Astle. Strange , if Sachin were to convert all his nervous nineties into hundreds, his total number of hundreds itself would exceed a hundred, tests and ODI's put together. But for someone who has been playing for sooo long in international cricket, it isnt surprising that he will break every record possible.

Related Links

http://cricket.indiatimes.com/Sachin_Tendulkars_tale_of_missed_centuries/articleshow/2545879.cms

Stars without make up

Wondering how all your stars look in real life. In reel life what you see is a powdered, pampered version of the real thing. But the real things will want you just the reel thing. There are as human as you and me, as ugly as you and I can be.... Here is a link I found, that shows all the stars without makeup .. You can find Kareena looking nothing like what she is on screen, Bipasha looking uglier than ever, JLo looking like a Spanish maid, Britney Spears looking like someone on dope and food stamps etc.... Check out the link below...

http://movies.indiatimes.com/quickies/2501407.cms

Here comes number interoperability

Ah, here comes the mobile number interoperability!! If you are tired of the service levels of your mobile operator, but don't want to switch because too many people have your existing number, then here is hope. The Govt of India has announced number interoperability in 4 major cities i.e Delhi,Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkatta. That would mean you can switch your operator , but can retain the same number. Now isnt that good news for a lot of us frustrated with service levels.

Related Links
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/nov/14coai.htm

Family Fortunes

Here is an interesting article on how Family businesses in India, have suffered over the decades because of infighting within the family. Almost every business family seems to have had internal conflicts that have hampered their growth. The only exception seems to be the Ambani brothers, who have since rocked the charts. After the split, it looks like they unlocked a lot of value from a lot of group companies which were being run as subsidiaries. Here is the article from Economic Times

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2532466.cms

When shall we three meet again in thunder, lightning, or in rain? When the hurlyburly’s done, When the battle’s lost and won
---Macbeth (Act I, Scene I)

NEW DELHI: Their saga is as intriguing as a Shakespearean play. The characters equally fascinating, each with a distinct style. Cut to modern times, the kings and the lords have made their exit and today it’s the business tycoons who hold the power to taper the economies of nations or make markets swirl and dance on their boardroom decisions.

They belong to the brave new world and like the kings of yesteryears the world belongs to them. But like the bard’s characters, they too are prone to nemesis — treason and plotting among family members to take over an empire, sometimes leading to a split.

Often, in boardrooms, office cubicles, lounges you may have found yourself debating, discussing and perhaps relating your fortunes with their success. Wondering about the cash-laden barrels stored in their vaults, and what if they were together, united.

SundayET brings to you some families, who if they had not parted ways, today would have been a larger force to reckon with globally. It’s another thing that most analysts say that they have grown only because they have parted. In calculating the net worth of families, we have only taken into account the listed companies.

The first case in point is obviously the Ambani family that easily could have been the world’s richest family. If you sum up the wealth of the Ambani brothers (Rs 419949.50 crore) on current market prices, they are almost double the size of the wealth owned by Bill Gates (Rs 220052 crore).

When the feud was settled between the two brothers in 2005, it left a big scar on the brand Reliance and subsequently group’s performance in the stock markets dipped for a while. Both the brothers today are back on the forefront of the bourses and doing fabulously well.

The Jamanlal Bajaj family case is similar where the entry of a new generation led to ideological differences and dispute reached the Company Law Board. Today if we combine the wealth of Jamanlal Bajaj family, a whopping Rs 9,655.60 crore is what their worth is. The family has stakes in Bajaj Hindustan, Bajaj Electricals, Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Auto Fin, Maharashtra Scooters.

The same stands true for the Birlas’, who as of now are fighting together to claim a stake in the disputed Priyamvada Birla’s Rs 5,000-crore estate, which includes the flagship Birla Corporation and several other companies of the M P Birla group. If the Birla empire, was today united, they could have been worth Rs 53056.94 crore.

Take the Mittal family too. If not for the split in ‘94 between Lakshmi Mittal & Vinod and Pramod Mittals, L N Mittal would have not chased success on international shores. Today, L N Mittal stands proud on the fourth pedestal of Forbes’ richest. The split in the family, which arose due to differences between the father and brothers (Vinod and Pramod), forced him to take over the international wing of Mittal steel business.

Today, if the family had been together, they would have amassed 127929.75 crore, almost all of it belonging to the better known L N Mittal. Would they’ve ruled the world? Well, there’s no answer and though the assumption is hypothetical, the implications surely cannot be discounted. Another business family, the Mumbai-based Piramals decided to walk separate paths recently, with a large part of the chunk going to chairman Ajay Piramal and a relatively smaller portion to his sister-in-law Urvi and her three sons. Similarly, the DCM group, one of India’s leading industrial groups for many decades, lost a lot of its lustre in the late 80s, partly because of a family feud which resulted in the group being divided between various family members. There are many other examples of business families in India — Mirchandani brothers (Mirc Electronics, owners of brand Onida), Modi family, Mafatlal family, Goenka family (RPG group), Raunaq Singh family (Apollo Tyres), Bhai Mohan Singh (Ranbaxy/Max) — where infighting hampered the performance of the businesses as a unit. Some of these battles are still being resolved by courts. Maybe the statistics on the Forbes list of richest people would have been vastly different and there would have been more Indian business families making their presence felt. Well who knows... Ashwin Parekh, national leader (financial services), Ernst and Young India feels that though no one can say for sure whether they would have performed exceedingly well, but being together certainly could have given them an added advantage. “In each of these families, there have been individual leaders, and they with their leadership qualities re-defined the performance of the companies. If they would have been together, they could have exploited each others talent and done exceedingly well. But it could also have been the other way around as the individualistic differences could have bogged them down,” he says. A renowned international consultant cites the example of companies in the West such as Dow Jones. “If you are a large group, it definitely helps as the global markets see what your market worth is. Also, the financial institutions will back you readily,” he says. Agrees, Alpesh Shah, director, Boston Consulting Group (BCG). He feels that if these families were united, they could have leveraged their financial strength and made a bigger impact on the global scenario. But he believes that the break-up was also beneficial. “From the society’s point of view, it has helped to create more jobs, more business and more money flowing into the economy. For instance, Anil Ambani’s business is today growing at a fast pace, which may not have been the case if the two brothers were together. He is trying to prove a point to Mukesh Ambani that he is equally capable of doing what he can or may be better. That may not have been the case had he been in the larger umbrella of the Reliance group,” he says. Sunil Sinha, senior economist and head, Crisil feels that if a family-owned conglomerate can maintain its professionalism in the long run, they are in a better position to dictate the market dynamics. “But if there is no pre-planned hierarchical structure, such disputes are bound to happen because once the patriarch dies the new generation wants to steer the ship on their own. All individuals are looking for personal success as well and this stands true not only for business families but also for a common man,” he says. The debate may rage on for long, but the question which you may still ask and ponder upon is — what if they were together?

Super Chor- This Thief doesnt work on weekends :))

Found an interesting article on Indiatimes.com. This is about a Chor who did not work on weekends. His modus operandi was very simple. He worked only on weekdays, between 9-5 pm and targeted homes of working couples and those houses that were locked during the day. A dapper looking chap, he sometimes even had posed as a business executive doing a survey, but the survey was to identify targets. He had a taste for the good things of life, like expensive watches, homes, cars and as usual jewelery. His monthly income is said to be in the range of 2- 2.5 lakhs per month. Well, whoever said that crime doesnt pay, should eat his words..

Here is the link

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2532277.cms

Subhash Kumar the new ‘superchor’ in the city (TOI Photo) NEW DELHI: A new ‘superchor’ allegedly involved in a staggering 550 cases of theft and burglary over the past seven years in south Delhi has been nabbed by the police. Police say Subhash Kumar, whose exploits rival the original superchor Bunty, was a meticulous planner who would often masquerade as a business executive and survey the colonies before carrying out an operation. And that he only picked up expensive items such as jewellery, laptops and wristwatches. He had three girlfriends. The 30-year-old Subhash was a day burglar who operated between 10 am and 5 pm, primarily targeting the homes of working couples and government employees whose houses were locked during the day. Police say he never committed a crime on weekends or during gazetted holidays. Subhash had allegedly amassed a huge fortune — he built two houses, one in Sangam Vihar and another in UP’s Hathras town. Police claimed to have seized jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh from him; including one kilogram of gold and diamond jewellery and about half a kilo of silver ornaments. A car, seven laptops, eight cellphones were also recovered. If cops are to be believed, his monthly income was Rs 2-2.5 lakh. Hot on his trail, police received information that on November 4, Subhash would come to Press Enclave. A team of special staff of the South Delhi police apprehended him. He was allegedly carrying a kilogram of charas.

Another Bamiyan style operation by Taliban in Pakistan

The Taliban has carried out a Bamiyan style operation inside Pakistan, by destroying a historic 40 metre statue of Buddha in the Swat Valley. There have destroyed the feet, head and shoulder of the statue and have threatened to reduce it to rubble. Pervez Musharaff's writ doesnt run any more in the Swat Valley as the valley has been overrun by bunch of muslim fundamentalists led by Mullah Fazlullah , who is better known as Mullah Radio , because of the FM Radio he runs. Indiatimes.com has run the following article on the destruction of the Buddha statue

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2532282.cms