Saturday, January 31, 2009

Its Vasant Panchami


As 'Diwali' – the festival of light – is to Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity, and 'Navaratri' is to Durga, goddess of power and valor, Vasant Panchami is to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and arts. This festival is celebrated every year on the 5th day or ‘Panchami’ of the bright fortnight of the lunar month of Magha, which falls during January-February, (see calendar). ‘Vasant’ comes from the word ‘spring’ as this festival heralds the beginning of the spring season.
Birthday of Goddess Saraswati:
It is believed that on this day goddess Saraswati was born. Hindus celebrate Vasant Panchami with great fervor in temples, homes and even schools and colleges. Saraswati’s favorite color yellow assumes special significance on this day. Statues of the goddess are dressed in yellow clothes and are worshiped by devotees adorning yellow garments. Saraswati is offered yellow colored sweets which are given away as ‘prasad’ to all people attending the ritual worship. There is also a custom of ancestor worship, known as ‘Pitri-Tarpan’ in many parts of India during Vasant Panchami.
The Foundation of Education:
The most significant aspect of Vasant Panchami is that it is also the most auspicious day to begin laying one’s foundations of education – of how to read and write. Pre-school children are given their first lesson in reading and writing on this day. All Hindu educational institutions conduct special prayer for Saraswati on this day. It is also a great day to inaugurate training institutes and new schools – a trend made famous by the renowned Indian educationist Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (1861-1946), who founded the Banaras Hindu University on Vasant Panchami day in 1916.
A Springtime Celebration:
During Vasant Panchami, the advent of spring is felt in the air as the season undergoes change. New leaves and blossoms appear in the trees with the promise of new life and hope. Vasant Panchami also announces the arrival of another big springtime event in the Hindu calendar - Holi, the festival of colors.
Saraswati Vandana: Sanskrit Mantra:
The following prayer is recited on this day:

Yaa Kundendu tushaara haaradhavalaa, Yaa shubhravastraavritha|
Yaa veenavara dandamanditakara, Yaa shwetha padmaasana||
Yaa brahmaachyutha shankara prabhritibhir Devaisadaa Vanditha|
Saa Maam Paatu Saraswatee Bhagavatee Nihshesha jaadyaapahaa||

English Translation:

"May Goddess Saraswati,
who is fair like the jasmine-colored moon,
and whose pure white garland is like frosty dew drops;
who is adorned in radiant white attire,
on whose beautiful arm rests the veena,
and whose throne is a white lotus;
who is surrounded and respected by the Gods, protect me.
May you fully remove my lethargy, sluggishness, and ignorance."

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

How do I get an OpenID?

How do I get an OpenID?

Surprise! You may already have one. If you use any of the following services, you already have your own OpenID:

AOL
openid.aol.com/screenname
Blogger
blogname.blogspot.com
Flickr
www.flickr.com/photos/username
LiveDoor
profile.livedoor.com/username
LiveJournal
username.livejournal.com
Orange (France Telecom)
http://openid.orange.fr/
SmugMug
username.smugmug.com
Technorati
technorati.com/people/technorati/username
Vox
member.vox.com
Yahoo
http://openid.yahoo.com
WordPress.com
username.wordpress.com

Well Known & Simple Providers

If you don’t have an OpenID yet, here are a few which are generally recommended by various members of the community. In the end you should choose a Provider from a company which you trust. We realize this list isn’t perfect and plan to evolve it into a more useful tool. If you’re curious about the technology behind various providers, you can look at a guide comparing provider feature sets.


  • myID.net

    Free OpenID Provider with support for groups and Korean language.

  • myVidoop

    Free OpenID Provider that eliminates passwords with security features, customization, and browser integration.

All Providers

For a list of more OpenID Providers, check the list on the wiki. We don’t make any guarantees about the providers listed, though most are quite good.

Roll Your Own

Of course, you can always use your own URI, blog URL, website, etc as your OpenID. Delegation is the simplest way to get up and running with OpenID and Sam Ruby wrote a great tutorial. Delegation requires nothing more than an OpenID Provider and some basic HTML. If you’re wanting to host your own OpenID Provider, you’ll also need some coding experience. phpMyID is a simple open source PHP script that lets you fully host your own Provider. If you’re wanting to do something more complex, check out our page on OpenID for Developers.

What is OpenID?

OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience.

You get to choose the OpenID Provider that best meets your needs and most importantly that you trust. At the same time, your OpenID can stay with you, no matter which Provider you move to. And best of all, the OpenID technology is not proprietary and is completely free.

For businesses, this means a lower cost of password and account management, while drawing new web traffic. OpenID lowers user frustration by letting users have control of their login.

For geeks, OpenID is an open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity. OpenID takes advantage of already existing internet technology (URI, HTTP, SSL, Diffie-Hellman) and realizes that people are already creating identities for themselves whether it be at their blog, photostream, profile page, etc. With OpenID you can easily transform one of these existing URIs into an account which can be used at sites which support OpenID logins.

OpenID is still in the adoption phase and is becoming more and more popular, as large organizations like AOL, Microsoft, Sun, Novell, etc. begin to accept and provide OpenIDs. Today it is estimated that there are over 160-million OpenID enabled URIs with nearly ten-thousand sites supporting OpenID logins.

Who Owns or Controls OpenID?

OpenID has arisen from the open source community to solve the problems that could not be easily solved by other existing technologies. OpenID is a lightweight method of identifying individuals that uses the same technology framework that is used to identify websites. As such, OpenID is not owned by anyone, nor should it be. Today, anyone can choose to be an OpenID user or an OpenID Provider for free without having to register or be approved by any organization.

The OpenID Foundation was formed to assist the open source model by providing a legal entity to be the steward for the community by providing needed infrastructure and generally helping to promote and support expanded adoption of OpenID.

As Brad Fitzpatrick (the father of OpenID) said, “Nobody should own this. Nobody’s planning on making any money from this. The goal is to release every part of this under the most liberal licenses possible, so there’s no money or licensing or registering required to play. It benefits the community as a whole if something like this exists, and we’re all a part of the community.”

This statement continues to resonate today within the OpenID community.

Grand Finale | Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009

Here is the thing about SRGMP that is so entertaining. It throws up stuff from left field when you least expect it. But allow me to explain.

The finale of SRGMP - all eight hours of it, or so it seemed - was scheduled to climax with Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone, stars of the mega hit CC2C. At least that is how the thinking must have been way back when the stars were booked. Unfortunately, Chandni Chowk went belly up faster than the Titanic and the producers didn't make any adjustments to the show's script.

The first indication of this came when Deepika walked out on stage, looking long and angular in a white saree and had to jhelo questions from Head about her movie. This must have been painful. But Deepika negotiated this moment with grace, calling the audience reaction "mixed" but thanking those that had supported the flick.

Later Akshay showed up. Undeterred by the Deepika awkwardness, Head went hammer and tongs at Akshay with praise of his "hit". A montage of positive audience reaction was displayed.

Akshay looked distinctly depressed and launched into a monologue of how when you are down people throw stones at you, but you should pick them and use them to fortify your own foundation. "I'm telling this to the contestants who are waiting for the results inside" said Akshay. Beshak, my man. Beshak.

More was to follow. Calling Head 'Aditya sahab', Akshay said that by referring to his movie as a hit, Head had shown his badhappan. At this point Head began to grasp the delicacy of the situation - which he indicated by sticking his tongue out. Years of seasoning then prompted Head to ask Akshay to announce the results and move the show along. "The results are already in" wailed Akshay. "I've failed!"

Although I could feel Akshay's pain - and I continue to wish him the best - I couldn't help but chuckle. A lot. I was absolutely transfixed at this drama (when it comes to SRGMP, I entertain easily).

Besides this if there was one moment that really stood out, it was at the very beginning - a moment that veritably defines SRGMP. The grand finale was stage with the recently ravaged Taj as its backdrop. Clearly people had worked hard to deliver a gorgeous stage. The entire setting was beautiful. And it was very touching. Wow, I thought to myself: has SRGMP gone all classy on us?

Then the show started and the three finalists - Soumen Nandi, Vaishali Made and Yashita Sharma - strutted on stage to sing. Fwoosh - a gigantic gush of air blew Vaishali's kameez straight up, threatening to expose the poor girl's midriff. Vaishali cocked her waist and grabbed the flying thing, holding it down while trying to look cool and sing. This little wardrobe malfunction restored my faith in the show instantly.

Although I'm not particularly interested in who wins the competition - I should mention that the steady stream of regional revelation of votes (International votes! North Zone votes! East Zone votes!) had me thinking Yashita might well beat the odds here.

But the West Zone votes came in and Vaishali ended up winning the entire thing. Happily, the remaining two contestants didn't sulk glumly. Yashita joyfully bounced around the stage declaring how khush she was. Well done!

Finally, a word about Head who might well have hosted his last SRGMP episode as a regular host. I loved that all black outfit - clearly a tribute to Batman. Head looked styling throughout the show although his pants were too long (I'm just saying). And when he got dropped on stage via a flaming crane, the pride in dad Udit Narayan's eyes was very cute to behold. Head has gotten better each year. Don't go by that montage they showed of him as tribute - you know the one in which he inexplicably tried to imitate drag queens. Repeatedly. Head was terrific this year. I'll miss him.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Welcome Obama | The Obamas' First Dance!


After a day in which ceremony and historical significance took precedence, President Barack Obama is now confronted with the realities of office.

With the eyes of the world upon him, the 47-year-old former senator was sworn in on Tuesday as the first black president of the United States.

Aides have suggested that he will now waste no time in getting on with the job, with a raft of policy announcements expected by the end of the week.

During his inaugural speech in Washington, Mr Obama alluded to the task before him. In an address which impressed rather than wowed, given its speaker's known oratory skills, the president vowed to address the challenges that faced America, a country in "the midst of crisis", he said.

Laying out the problems, Mr Obama said the country had a "badly weakened" economy and was at war against "a far-reaching network of violence and hatred". He said: "The challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America - they will be met."

He spoke in front of a Washington audience, estimated to be more than a million people. Many, many more were listening around the world to the new president's words.

After all the ceremony of the inauguration the president and his wife had to twirl their way through 10 official dances. They are traditionally held to give as many people as possible the chance to rub shoulders with the new leader.

The Obamas were the star attraction at the first dance, the Neighbourhood Ball, which is held for people who live in the Washington area.

With the president dressed in a white tie tuxedo and his wife in a shimmering white floor-length gown, the couple took to the stage for the first dance with Beyonce singing the Etta James' classic At Last in the background.

The crowd cheered as the president pulled his wife close and they danced a slow two-step, and once more after Mr Obama spun the first lady playfully around. At their second ball, the president pulled his wife much closer, at one point, wrapping both arms around her waist

Friday, January 16, 2009

कल हो ना हो ....

आज एक बार फ़िर सुरज को उगता देखो
और चान्द को चान्दनी रात मे जागता देखो
क्या पता कल ये धरती
चान्द और सुरज हो ना हो

आज एक बार सबसे मुस्करा के बात करो
बिताये हुये पलों को साथ साथ याद करो
क्या पता कल चेहरे को मुस्कुराना
और दिमाग को पुराने पल याद हो ना हो

आज एक बार फ़िर पुरानी बातो मे खो जाओ
आज एक बार फ़िर पुरानी यादो मे डूब जाओ
क्या पता कल ये बाते
और ये यादें हो ना हो

आज एक बार मन्दिर हो आओ
पुजा कर के प्रसाद भी चढाओ
क्या पता कल के कलयुग मे
भगवान पर लोगों की श्रद्धा हो ना हो

बारीश मे आज खुब भीगो
झुम झुम के बचपन की तरह नाचो
क्या पता बीते हुये बचपन की तरह
कल ये बारीश भी हो ना हो

आज हर काम खूब दिल लगा कर करो
उसे तय समय से पहले पुरा करो
क्या पता आज की तरह
कल बाजुओं मे ताकत हो ना हो

आज एक बार चैन की नीन्द सो जाओ
आज कोई अच्छा सा सपना भी देखो
क्या पता कल जिन्दगी मे चैन
और आखों मे कोई सपना हो ना हो

क्या पता
कल हो ना हो ....

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Keep Smiling Always Because You never Know who is falling in LOVE with Your Smile


Keep Smiling Always Because You never Know who is falling in LOVE with Your Smile

15th Annual Star Screen Awards | No Khan in Race | Hrithik, Priyanka and Jodhaa Akbar win big at Star Screen Awards



Full List of Winners

Best Film
Jodhaa Akbar

Best Director
Ashutosh Gowarikar - Jodhaa Akbar

Best Actor (Male)
Hrithik Roshan - Jodhaa Akbar

Best Actor (Female)
Priyanka Chopra – Fashion

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)
Arjun Rampal - Rock On

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)
Shahana Goswami - Rock On

Best Actor in a Negative Role (Male/Female)
Akshaye Khanna – Race

Best Actor in a Comic Role (Male/Female)
Tusshar Kapoor - Golmaal Returns

Best Music
A. R. Rahman - Jodhaa Akbar

Best Playback Singer (Male)
KK - Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno)

Best Playback Singer (Female)
Shilpa Rao - Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno)

Best Lyrics
Anvita Dutt Guptan - Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno)

Most Promising Newcomer (Male)
Farhan Akhtar - Rock On

Most Promising Newcomer (Female)
Asin Thottumkal – Ghajini

Best Story
Neeraj Pandey - A Wednesday!

Best Screenplay
Shiraz Ahmed – Race

Best Popular Actor Award
Akshay Kumar - Singh Is Kinng

Lifetime Achievement Award
Sanjay Khan


Hrithik Roshan was crowned Best Actor at the Nokia 15th Annual Star Screen Awards with Priyanka Chopra winning Best Actress.

Hrithik’s gong came for his portrayal of the Emperor Akbar in the epic saga Jodhaa Akbar while Piggy-Chops bagged hers for the hard hitting flick Fashion.

The night, which saw numerous awards besotted upon Jodhaa Akbar, was marred by controversy as Nokia Popular Viewers’ Choice Award winner Akshay Kumar (for Singh Is Kinng) refused to collect his trophy insisting that fellow actor Aamir Khan should have got it for Ghajini.


Have you seen Official Wedding Photo

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You like her dress????

She doesn't look too fug. And he doesn't look as hot as he used to.

They're even!

Taylor Swift Still On Top, Gets A Makeover!

swift_csi_01_13_09_onlocw-3722.jpg

Taylor Swift has the #1 album in America yet again!

For her SIXTH (nonconsecutive) week, the country cutie holds the top spot on the Billboard 200! Her album is now the first to spend six weeks at the top since the 2005 release of The Massacre by 50 Cent.

As for Lady Gaga, she had a small drop in album sales for The Fame but she moved up in the rankings from number 26 to 14.

And Katy Perry's One of the Boys went down in album sales but moved up from the 23rd spot to the number 15 spot on the chart.

The chart is adjusting to the post-Christmas sales decrease!

As for Swift, she's enjoying her time at the top.

The talented cutie is guest starring on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Swift is playing Haley Jones, a dark teen whose family runs some little motel in Vegas. She was spotted on set (above) rocking the dark hair and alternative look.

Now is your moment, Taylor, enjoy it!

Hello, Madonna Can Make Horses Fly ever!

wueen-of-horses.jpg


To have horses and riding instructors flown out to you at your whim!

Her Madgesty reportedly flying to Florida for the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival, and she's having British eventer Daisy Trayford flown out from England to coach her.

The relationship started when Madonna bought two horses from Daisy, and Daisy's been helping her out with them on and off since then.

Six months ago, Madonna had one of the horses shipped to the States, with the other horse following shortly thereafter.

Daisy describes Madonna as a "dream pupil" because if Daisy had said anything else, Madonna would have given her a right hook with one of those crazy Popeye arms of hers.

Daisy added, "She's very driven, listens to what you say and just wants to do it and improve. You can always get somewhere with someone like that. When I started teaching her she hadn't jumped at all and now she can jump a course of 1.05m. Jumping and hacking are her two favourite things."

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Yahoo’s next plan to be more “Open and Social”

By now, you’ve probably heard about Yahoo!’s Open Strategy, but for most of you, this remains a fairly abstract concept that translates to a new look for your profile on Yahoo!.

Several of you have emailed or commented asking for an explanation of “Open and Social”-so here’s a quick top-line of Yahoo!’s Open Strategy:

Changing what’s under the hood: this is what’s driving the change to profiles. The old profiles system was outdated and not ready to support the capabilities required of a modern social site. We have also developed and deployed a completely new platform for identity and social capability across Yahoo! and the web.

Make it more “social:” For most of you, the term “social” means “social networking” and you instantly think of sites like Facebook and MySpace. At Yahoo!, we see social in a different way.

Yahoo’s CTO, Ari Balogh probably said it best: “This is about making Yahoo! social in every dimension. Social is not a destination — it’s a dimension and it will infuse all aspects of a consumer’s experience on the Web.”

Instead of going to a specific social networking page, social at Yahoo! means taking your activity and identity with you. This means that when you leave a comment on Buzz, Local, or even third party sites (after you grant them permission, of course), your activity can be shared on many of the Yahoo! “starting points”, such as Mail or the home page. This means that you don’t have to visit a specific website to keep up to date on your friends and their activities.

Open it up: A while back Jerry Yang demonstrated the new look for Yahoo! Mail at CES, which includes opening up Mail to developers. What this means for you as a user is more functionality, more features, and more customization. This is enabled by the YOS platform, which allows developers to integrate with and extend key parts of Yahoo!, including Mail, MyYahoo, and others. Check out the Mail demo from CES and the recap over at the Mail blog, here.

All of this means that you will be able to enjoy more social versions of your favorite Yahoo! services and add new features to those services by using 3rd-party applications enabled by the Yahoo Open Strategy.

Your new profile is at the center of many of these social experiences. Adding Connections from your profile will allow you to share and stay in touch with the key people in your life as you and they use Yahoo! every day.

There’s still a lot of work to be done to make these features a reality across Yahoo!, so be on the look out for new versions of several Yahoo! services. Please continue to share your constructive feedback with us, as we know the only way for us to improve these services is with your help.

Melissa Daniels
Yahoo! Community Manager

Monday, January 12, 2009

Good fact : Namma Bangaluru | Did u know "Bangalored" ?


An interesting fact:

Did u know that?

"Bangalored" is a adjective which recently got added in the dictionary. A person is said to be bangalored if he lost his job because the work got outsourced to Bangalore or any other city in India (Asia) .

"He got bangalored last week" is an exa mp le of its usage.

U can also type this word "bangalored" in Google search n see. (Or www.dictionary.com)

Lot of people in US got bangalored that it became an issue during the US Presidential election. That’s exactly when this word was coined.

I searched for this word on 'dictionary.com' an here is the result:

3 IDIOTS SET TO RELEASE ON CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR | Aamir staying in IIM Bangalore Hostel for his Perfection


3 idiots (Chetan Bhagat's novel Five Point Someone, based)

3 Idiots is all set to release on 25th December, 2009. After the stupendous success of Ghajini and Taare Zameen Par, which were released on the Christmas weekend, another Aamir Khan starrer 3 Idiots is gearing up for a winter 2009 release. Directed by Raju Hirani, the film also stars Kareena Kapoor, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Boman Irani and marks the debut of Mona Singh (Jassi fame).

3 Idiots had already completed its first schedule in Ladakh and Shimla in September 2008. The second schedule (33 days) started in early January 2009 at IIM, Bangalore. The cast and crew will be back in February to complete its last schedule in Mumbai. After the Bangalore schedule, the film will be 80% complete.

3 Idiots is written by Abhijat Joshi, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani. The lyrics are by Swanand Kirkire and music is being composed by Shantanu Moitra. The film is being produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra under the banner Vinod Chopra Films

The producer of the film, Vidhu Vinod Chopra has convinced Aamir Khan to do this film. This will be Aamir’s next release after ‘Ghajini’.
The film has an amazing star-cast starring Aamir Khan as Ryan, Kareena Kapoor as Neha Kurein, Sharman Joshi as Alok, Madhavan as Hari and Boman Irani as Professor Kurein.
Ryan, is a handsome and adventurous young man who loves his friends more than anything else. He hates being a book worm like other of his college mates, so always end up getting low grades in college exams. He is a guy who believes doing things in his own way and finally he ends up with five pointers as his GPA.
Alok is a simple guy, who aspire to get good grades so that he can earn money and overcome poverty of his family.

Kareena waited for 5-long years for this day and it was dream come true for Kareena as she started shooting with Aamir Khan today for '3 Idiots'. Kareena and Aamir are currently in Ladakh and are shooting with Director Rajkumar Hirani of Munnabhai fame, Bebo has waited for this day for long and people on the sets were surprised to see the actress get emotional while giving her first shot with Aamir Khan.

Hari, a shy guy who wishes to be as handsome as Ryan. He is average at studies and at times bad or funny in expressing his feelings. He falls in love with Neha Kurein (Professor’s daughter). He always get messed up in his attempts to impress Professor Kurein

The shoot of the film has already begun at Shimla, Ladakh, Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. The shoot is supposed to be over by December though release dates are not confirmed yet.

Kareena enacts the character of 'Neha' in the movie, who is Professor Cherian's daughter played by actor Boman Irani. Kareena Kapoor was in Delhi on 'Saturday' when the bomb blasts occurred, she was there to inaugurate a new spa, luckily the actress was not alone and had Saif on her side when the Bomb blast took place in Delhi. After the chaos in Delhi Kareena is currently enjoying the serenity in Ladakh, the actress admitted that working with Aamir was a dream come true and Ladakh feels like a fairyland for Bebo as she shoots for '3 Idiots'.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Use Technology to Fight Terrorism

To fight the new age of brutal and globalised terror, we need to use modern technology of satellites, defence, software, and telecommunications among others. When terrorists were running up and down at VT station, if we had underground barriers of say 10 feet which could been brought overground to trap the terrorists, the mayhem would not have happened. These barriers are in place at the Parliament House in New Delhi. All important public places as well as private establishments should have such barriers. Even roads in major cities should have these barriers, and gradullay all cities in India should be covered.

We can ask the Indian Institutes of Technology to develop metal detection equipment using Nano technology, and connected to a sateliite. These equipment should cover an entire city. The entire coastline of India should be covered by sonar sensors which the DRDO has already developed, and connected to a satellite.

We should use the traditional method of sprinkling red chilli powder smoke in large quantity with the help of modern technology. If we had red chilli powder sprinklers which could have been activated using sensors on the terrorists running up and down the VT station, the terrorists' mobility would have been lost,and they could have been caught alive.

The Navy and the Coast Guard should have a database of fishermen all over India, and a software which can detect fake ID cards of fishermen. Computers on the ships of the Navy and the Coast Guard should be linked with the different authorities of states such as Police, and the Fisheries. In one click,the Navy and the Coastguard personnel should be able to find out if the details on a smart ID cards of fishermen match with those stored in computers of different states authorities. In case of hijacking of boats, owners should inform the authorities immediately so that quick action can be taken.

Our response time should be quick to deal with the terrorists attack like we had in Bombay. The Army,the Navy and the Air Force should act on its own instead of waiting for communication from the state authorities. States should also create their special commando teams equipped with lethal weapons, modern telecommunications equipment, and helicopters. A helicopter could have used to lift the vehicle of terrorists, on a short notice.

We should have a wide network of CCTV, again connected to a satellite. We should also have a central command to fight the menace of terrorism. This command should act as an authority which can organise forces, and look after the relief.

Slumdog Crorepati [ Slumdog Millionaire ], can u imagine how a chaiwala answer 15th question of KBC!





Slumdog Crorepati [ Slumdog Millionaire ], can u imagine how a chaiwala answer 15th question of KBC!

The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much?

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, as you already know, is making its way into India in January 2009. It has already bowled over almost every critic abroad. So, now it is time for the people that it is based on to have a go at it. And its scintillating Original Soundtrack by A R RAHMAN with contributions by MIA, is releasing in this month itself.

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 drama film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Simon Beaufoy. It is based on the book Q and A written by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup. Loveleen Tandan began as the film's casting director but was appointed by Boyle as a "co-director".Jamal Malik, a former street child from Mumbai, is being interrogated by the police. He is a contestant on Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and has made it to the final question but has been accused of cheating.

The film, shot and set in India, follows a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on a game show and exceeds people's expectations, raising the suspicions of the game show host and law enforcement.

Monday, January 5, 2009

A trip to Sariska National Park (Sariska Tiger Reserve)











The end of our 2-day trip was an overnight visit to Sariska National Park in Rajsthan, India with my Colleagues at IndiaMART Intermesh Ltd. This whirlwind trip lightened our heavy hearts and gave us a chance to absorb some of the country’s natural beauty away from the hustle of Rajsthan. Sariska Tiger Reserve is well nestled in the Aravali Hills covering 800 sq km area divided into the grasslands, dry deciduous forests, sheer cliffs and rocky landscape.

Nearly 90% of the area in the sanctuary is covered with dhok trees accommodating various wildlife species. A variety of other wild animals like the leopard, sambhar, chital, nilgai, four-horned antelope, wild boar, rhesus macaque, langur, hyena and jungle cats are found in the Sariska Tiger Reserve apart from the tiger. The Sariska National Park is home to India's largest population of peafowl, and harbours quail, sand grouse, golden- backed woodpeckers and crested serpent eagles, among other species. Also the Siliserh Lake on the edge of the park has a large number of crocodiles.

The Sariska Wildlife Sanctuary houses the ruins of medieval temples of Garh-Rajor that date back to the 10th and 11th centuries. Also a 17th century castle on a hilltop at Kankwari provides a panoramic view of flying vultures and eagles. The Sariska was declared a sanctuary in 1955 and attained the status of a National Park in 1979.

Sariska park is home to numerous carnivores including Leopard, Wild Dog, Jungle Cat, Hyena, Jackal, and Tiger. These feed on an abundance of prey species such as Sambar, Chitel, Nilgai, Chausingha, Wild Boar and Langur.

Read the Satyam Employee's Mail....amazing

Guys

I feel this script is true ...................................

Its written by a Satyam employee:

At a time when almost 90% of my Satyam friends are cribbing about the fraud and betrayal by Ramalinga Raju, I have a slightly different opinion. It's bold of me to write this in black and white but this comes straight from my heart and experience.

Let me start by quoting an example of 2006. Most of my friends were unemployed with 50-60% plus marks in BTech, with a degree from an average University and hunting madly for a job. Whether people accept it today or not but the truth remains that Satyam was the ONLY saviour and the only mass recruiter who was ready to accept students who had back logs but had cleared them and also it did not put a very strict minimum marks criterion. And this was true not only for my small college at Lucknow but also those across India . Satyam is the fourth largest in IT in India. Looking at India's population I really want to thank Raju for giving some 54000 Indians jobs atleast for all these years . He was the reason for the revival of confidence and the reason for the bread and butter for many a families.

Satyam training was renowned all over India. Their STC training centre created numerous love stories and unexpected rekindling of a youthful environment where girls and boys were more indepenent than their college days . I remember most of my Satyam friends felt that they made better friends at Satyam's three to six months training than those in the four years of BTech.

Unfortunately people forget to thank God in sad times . I understand that what Raju did is deplorable and unpardonable. He should have treated business more formally and not dealt with it like a family affair . He should have been strict a couple of months or years before itself. Why did he hire so many non potential candidates and keep them on bench? When were the managers and the team mates last told that if they dont work hard, they will lose their job? Business cannot be run lousily.

I have been staying with some 200 odd girls for the last 2 years and many of them are from Satyam. Moreover I network a lot and I have lots of male friends at Satyam . I have seen how people tail gate to Satyam, how they give their swipe cards to others to swipe it on their behalf , how female employees have gone home sharp at 6am irrespective of when they landed at office, how employees sit at home for months at a stretch, prepare for all kind of post graduate entrance exams and still enjoy a full month's pay, how often they went for movies at local theatres at office hours, how often employees went to office just to sign on registers in the morning and at evening, how often they faked their certificates , how often they put unlimited fake medical and house rental bills.

How can we blame just one man when EACH AND EVERY person was disloyal ? How can we exclude Auditors like PwC ? How can we exclude the Board of Directors who have washed their hands off so clean? How can we exclude banks who gave hefty loans without true verfication? How can we exclude the Chief Minister of AP who allowed leniency for Raju's fellow businessman? How can we exclude managers who were never able to trace which bench employee under him had been away from office for how long ?

Yet how can people forget this is the same man whose ideas and potentials gave them an identity for the past several years? How many couples found the right match at an IT industry , courtesy Satyam and how many Andhra farmers benefited from their crores of investments in Satyam shares .How can people forget that Satyam launched its offices right at the doorsteps of a residential colony, where people can simply walk to work ?

The most gruesome experience that I can recollect was when a Satyam tag wearing person was waiting to attend an interview and I overheard him saying that he was in a business meeting at the My Home Satyam ( Madhapur) office when he was sitting right infront of me at a totally different company. When employees themselves show such a lousy attitude and dont care a damn for the brand that they carry around their neck, how can they expect others to care?

I am not saying that ALL Satyam employees are bad. I have known very dedicated people too, but my point is very clear, before pointing fingers at others, introspect .There are thousands of people who have completed certifications at the cost of Satyam, got trained at Satyam. Satyam made several freshers stand on their feet to get better jobs elsewhere across the globe and attain onsite exposure through Satyam.

What Raju did was to keep the business of Satyam going at any cost. I see a very smart man in him when he understood that he should rather accept his mistake than be caught by the USA laws . I see a selfish father in him too that he put a lot at stake for Maytas. However, he resigned with a lot of dignity and his letter of resignation shows humility. It takes a mammoth amount of courage to accept your mistake in public at a time when the media is ready to blow everything out of proportion. If humans dont make mistakes who else would ?

My last salute to this man is for creating such mass employment in India for 57k employees and 57k families when even opening a beetle(pan) shop in a lane in India is a challenge !! Thanks to him for creating income for all the thousands of families who benefited through food chains, the tiffin wallahs, the transport people and all those who made money by renting their houses.

I read he donated Rs 12000 crores from his personal pocket to give the January salary of his Satyam employees. Today Satyamites call Raju a FRAUD. The true and loyal Satyamites surely have all the reasons to say this word. But all the rest who sucked every rupee out of Satyam without doing any value addition need to understand - who was a bigger fraud.

Komal Rastogi

Jackie Chan To Star In Karate Kid Remake

wax-on.jpg

The remake is to be produced by Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment and is intended to operate as a starring vehicle for Will's son, Jaden.

Barf!!!!

Chan will star as the eccentric mentor who teaches Jaden's character how to draw on his inner strength to overcome schoolyard bullies.

Production is scheduled to begin this summer in Beijing.

Friday, January 2, 2009

I am...



I am the care freeness of the wild flower,
The madness of a gypsy defines me all the way,
Like the fragrance of sandel(chandan) I can haunt you
Yet unexplainable I remain constant

I am the intelligence of the sages not stage,
The patience of a umpire characterizes me,
Like lightening I can strike you,
Yet a mystery who I am

They tried to confuse me,
Behind shackles of chains,
Tried to silence me,
Amidst explosions of bombs.

Yet, infinite and everlasting
I remain same.
In each birth I reincarnate
Life is what I am.
Life is what I can see.
Life is what No one know.
Life is what like KATI PATANG (Kite).

Money hai to Honey Hai? Is it right?

In this fast moving world, many innovations are taking place. Because of all inventions, we are saying that our country is in such a position like that. Even though INDIA have loan over other countries it is shining because of the inventions. INDIA is giving rice to all other countries which is very important. All these are because of work only. Not because of money if money is given importance than work, then all will concentrate only on loan. But we are thinking about our development.
According to me, money is nothing before work. If we work, surely money comes in our way. But if we have money, work will not be done by itself. To lead life, we need money. But only money is not the important thing. All can live only when all work. Suppose that all have money to certain extent so all stopped to work; then after the money is finished. Think the situation if still all didn’t continue to work. So work is more important than money.
Nothing can be achieved only with the money. We can have self satisfaction, if we have worked. We can get good appreciation if we do work. Somebody will be benefited if we do work. But if we have money, we can earn only false friends. I am not saying that we should not have desire for money. I am saying that the only desire should not be money.

Work is more precious than Money. Whether it is a hard work or smart work by doing work we can definitely achieve the things including money. But with only money we can't achieve. I prefer Work rather than Money.
Hey read this:-
Don't think about your Beauty.
Think about your Duty.
Beauty spoils your Duty.
But Duty increases your Beauty.
Here Duty means WORK and Beauty means Money

Of course WORK…because we work to earn the living
& to live ... it requires money. Both are independent of each other
Work is a KARAM & Money is a PHAL
If we will do our KARAM passionately we will definitely get the PHAL, it’s obvious and natural

For me both are equally important. The main reason everyone works so hard is to earn money. If we don't get money no one will choose to work (of course social workers are exception to it).
At the same time, before I go to my bed every day night, if I think what I have done today? I should get the feeling that "today I have done something worthy". It is the feeling of achieving..... Otherwise, I feel that I have wasted a valuable day for nothing and I don't want that to happen.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Luck by Chance | Rock on again or not!


For a man who began his tryst with Mumbai as a steward in Hotel Sea Rock, Action Director 'Cheetah' Yajnesh Shetty has come a long way. His zest for martial arts led to him training big stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Govinda etc. To add to that he also produced a Govinda starrer Hum Tum Pe Marte Hain. The behind-the-scenes man is now all set to face the camera in Zoya Akhtar's Luck By Chance. "Cheetah plays a fight instructor who teaches Bollywood aspirants the art of action in movies," film's producer and Zoya's elder brother, Farhan Akhtar, disclosed to Bollywood Hungama.

The promos are out and LUCK BY CHANCE certainly looks promising by the look of it. After ROCK ON, expectations from Farhan Akthar are much bigger and a lot depends on his sister Zoya Akhtar's directorial venture. The story of LBC revolves around two prime protagonists – Vikram Jaisingh played by Farahan Akhtar and Sona Mishra played by Konkana Sen Sharma. Both are aspiring actors struggling to make their mark in the Tinseltown. They fall in love with each other and how their aspirations effect their relationships is all what LBC is all about. The other attraction behind these two great actors is the special appearance by Hritik Roshan, who is playing the superstar Zafar Khan (could have been adapted from SRK).

Luck By Chance is said to be a contemporary take on the Hindi film industry something different from both Om Shanti Om as well as Khoya Khoya Chand (films in recent times based on Bollywood). Incidentally, Farhan will be acting in the film as well, for he plays a struggling actor who comes to Mumbai from Delhi. "The other cast includes Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Juhi Chawla, Konkona Sen, Isha Sharwani and a special cameo by Hrithik Roshan," Farhan informed.

NEW MOVIES BEING RELEASED in MULTIPLEXES Through out the WORLD

Please click on image and see the fact of “NEW MOVIES” BEING RELEASED in MULTIPLEXES through out the WORLD