HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2011

England Take Lead of 1-0 in Ashes

QUESTION: What will be losing a test match in Ashes like?



ANSWER:

20 Things About Web!

Here is a well-narated ebook titled "20 Things I Learned about Browsers and the Web" which the Google Chrome team came out today, illustrated wonderfully by Christoph Nieman. Covers jargons such as Web apps, HTML, Java, CSS, cookies, malwares, cloud computing etc. etc. Won't be much useful for experts but certainly a good read for novices like me. Appreciate it Google!.

CLICK ME

ACT NOW

A few sentences spoken by Sonia Gandhi yesterday caught my eye. Without looking into it from any political angle, I felt these sentences sort of picture today's India. Well realization is of course the first step towards correction, but should be followed by action. Not from one person, we as Indians, from each one of us. Let's not think what good will it do if I am good when the whole world is bad. A beginning has to be made, but from where and when is the question. "Who" is already answered....Us and only us. Here are the excerpts...


“India’s contrasts” marked by the emergence of “more millionaires...alongside millions who struggle for two square meals a day.”

“We are right to celebrate our high rate of economic growth. We must do all that we can to sustain it. However, let us not forget that growth is not an end in itself. Much more important to my mind is what kind of society we aspire to be, and the values on which it should be built. Our economy may increasingly be dynamic, but our moral universe seems to be shrinking. Prosperity has increased but so has social conflict. Intolerance of various kinds is growing. Graft and greed are on the rise. The principles on which independent India was founded, for which a generation of great leaders fought and sacrificed their all, are in danger of being negated.”

News Muse

Now this is ridiculous........

READ HERE

News Muse

Today it's another India growth story... This time on the DTH front...
CLICK HERE

News Muse

Thought of sharing links of news which are certainly not the headlines and which we might miss. Here is one about a tunnel in Mumbai post office....via BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11586210

A Few From MTV

These are from MTV Ticker...




Which bollywood actress doesn't have any friends?
Koi-na-Mitra!

What did Dharmendra say proposing Hema Malini?
Ring-de-Basanti!!


What is one-fourth of Harbajhan Singh called?
Pav Bhajji!!

Few Onliners

No one has ever complained of a parachute not opening..


My father is so old that when he was in school, history was called current affairs.


No one is listening until you make a mistake.


The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach.


To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research. And this compilation is a research :-)


There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.


Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly, and for the same reason.

Tik Tok Tick Tok Tic Toc

Hmm...well here is Kesha singing Tik Tok.....the one which SONY is using for its walkman ad... But don't ask me how do we wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy....though I do wake up Giddy at time..

Lyrics

Kesha lyrics - Tik Tok lyrics

We Are Sorry...

Bapu, you are remembered today by our nation for the struggle you have undergone to give us the freedom which we are utilizing bribing and getting bribes, being involved in scams, killing our fellow countrymen, extorting, enough...the list goes on. Yes, we are proud that we are following you - albeit your pic that we have beautifully printed on what we call CURRENCY. And we are equally proud that we are following your ideologies at least 10% which we hope to bring down to 0% by 2020. Anyways, we are also sorry that you are only rememberd this one day and that's the only day your statues get a bath and then you need to wait for a year to get yourself cleaned from the dust and crow droppings. Sitting there you might feel if you had wasted your life in giving us this freedom. But BAPU, please don't curse us...We are unrepairable. Forgive Us.

Here is the Trunk

When the branch is that, can the trunk be different. Our CM here...

Proud To Be a Keralite

Here our is minister health department of Kerala English little talking funnily....

SONY DSC-H55

 

>>14.1 MP
>>10x optical zoom.
>>Approx. 20x digital zoom.
>>Sweep Panorama.
>>3.0 inch Clear Photo LCD
>>720p HD movie recording.
>>Approx. 170g weight.

Quote For the Day:

"Oney nam, no ball ekak dana puluwan"

                                           - St. Dilshan.

Suzuki GS 150R

Take A Note Please...

Finally a solution for the partially torn and soiled bank notes. RBI is planning to come out with polymer notes of Rs. 10 denomination by the end of 2010. Polymer notes are plastic notes which doesn't get mutilated or soiled. These notes would have an average life span of five years compared to one year for the paper-based currency notes (although most of the paper-based notes that are circulating now are more than five years old!!!). Based on the results of this, it will further be extended to other denominations.

Already countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, New Zealand are using polymer notes. In fact, Australia was the first country to issue polymer notes.

In a country which tops the tourism charts, it's a shame where tourists develop a phobia to touch our currency to avoid infections! The condition of paper-based currency notes are so pathetic that it is quite welcome that RBI woke up from the deep slumber to act on this issue. Indeed quite a welcome move....

MobNews...

One of India's antivirus solution providers, Quick Heal, has launched what is claimed to be the world's first mobile phone virus scan - PC2Mobile Scan.


The mobile can be scanned once connected to the PC or laptop using an USB cable or via Bluetooth connections if both the PC and mobile are Bluetooth-enabled. It works on phones with Symbian OS, Windows Moblie OS and other Linux based mobile OS.

Currently it costs Rs 2,000 for one year. Customers will get a 30% discount for renewal of license after one year. Now that's not a big amount considering the fact that already 20-30 different variants of mobile viruses circulate in India and with the advent of 3G services and increasing number of smartphones, this threat is only going to increase.

Chor! Chor!

It's everybody's knowledge that Bollywood gets a lot INSPIRED by Hollywood in terms of the story line and also music. Music directors like Bappi Lahiri, Anu Malik and nowadays Pritam gets too much INSPIRED by Western hip-hop and rock numbers. But it was new to me that they get INSPIRED to Hollywood posters too. Just have a look at the poster of Anjaana Anjaani slated to be released in September. And then maybe you can change all the occurances of the word "INSPIRED" in this para to a much more apt term.

HANG THEM!!

For all those who watched the previous video, here is an addendum to it......Please CLICK HERE and read this.

What Do I Need More?

Was thinking what do I need more? Make my home AC, buy a car, get a Nokia N900, a DSLR camera, a target-less bank balance, gold, a few acres of land.....list goes on....but will all that content me? Don't think so... A new list will take shape....hmmm idiotic ME.....

Visa, MasterCard, and...........IndiaPay

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), with the support of Reserve Bank of India is actively engaged in the development of IndiaPay, a payment processing platform, which is expected to be up within the next 18-24 months. This is going to give Visa and MasterCard an unusual competition from India. Once launched, IndiaPay is going to affect the dominance of Visa and Mastercard, at the same time, bringing down transaction charges for the banks. Every time a cardholder uses credit or debit card, banks have to pay fees to Visa and MasterCard for facilitating the processing of such transactions. With the increasing use of plastic money, banks will be more than happy to give a thumbs-up to this platform, which will obviously be quoting a much lower transaction charge. The NPCI is promoted by major Indian banks including ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, as well as global banks like Citibank and HSBC. Indeed another INDIAN development story.

EPIC 1.1

Hidden Reflex, a Bangalore-based company had launched the first India-centric browser, EPIC, about a month ago, which is based on the Mozilla platform. Recently they have come up with the next version of it, Epic 1.1. Now, I am no geek to review something like this. But yes I can talk about it from a layman's point of view. I have been using this browser right from the day of launch and now using the version 1.1.

First of all, what's new in this? The major ones are the side bar and the built-in antivirus. Frankly after using other browsers, it took some time to be comfortable with this, you know to get that "used to" kind of feeling. But once I got used to it, was very comfortable with this. One mental hindrance with the side bar was the feeling that it took space from the viewable portion of a page, a feeling that you get by watching a 12 inch Tv after watch 32 inch regularly. But if you really see, the side bar doesn't take much space after all.

Now what does this side bar contain. It contains buttons - a one-click access to a host of applications like news, gmail, yahoo, orkut, facebook, twitter, cricinfo etc. and it is customizable. You can choose from your interest. Also there is a collection of more than 1500 India-centric wallpapers to choose from to give your browser the look you want. Of course, you can access your folders in your computer from the "My computer" button on the side bar. The browser supports 12 Indian languages. The "to do" and "timer" options on the side bar also attracted me. Next, you have a full-fledged word processing software, where you can write in English and get the text transliterated to a language of your choice. When you research online and when you find something useful, you just have to highlight the text and drag and drop it into the Epic write tab.

The anti-virus has options to scan your whole system for viruses and malware as well as automated scanning of downloaded files and provides anti-phishing protection too. It warns users when they’re about to visit a potentially dangerous website.

Then you also have a one-click private data deletion button which also deletes Flash cookies. And if you don't want to save any browsing information, you have the private browsing mode button for that. There is a zoom button on the right-hand bottom part whereby you can zoom a page that you are viewing.

And I think the rest, one can download and explore further. For I would say it's worth a thing to try out. One of thing I had felt was the time it takes to load, but even that has been rectified to an extent in version 1.1. So, go ahead and give this INDIAN product a try. JAI HIND....

LAUNCHED!

Well for all those who were waiting their dream car to be launched (minus me) to buy one, Mercedes Benz launched the Gull Wing, Super fast, Sports Coupe, the majestic SLS AMG in India.


>>>Horse power = 571 on 6.3 L V8 engine.
>>>Top speed is 317 kmph.
>>>Started production couple of weeks ago in Germany.
>>>Will be delivered with waiting period of 6-8 months.


PRICE: Rs. 2.0 - 2.5 crore ONLY.

Flying Colors

In continuation to my post dated June 20, 2010....

Watch out for the battle between Dev and Beera......

Mani Rathnam's RAAVAN premiers on Colors this Sunday...August 1, 2010 at 8 p.m.

Of course, this movie has a distinction of getting both the extreme reviews. One group who has said so good about it, and another who has said no good about it. Whichever side u take.....

If ads don't irritate you..... here is something to hang on with...

How I Wonder What You Are!

Frankly speaking I had never heard about Prahlad Jani Mataji (male he is!) until two days ago when a program was aired about him in Vijay TV. That instilled a curiousness in me and it led to a little bit of research about him.

He claims to have lived without food and water for the past 82 years or so. Inedia or Breatharianism has references dated years back, but his claims are yet to be fully studied.

Two extensive testings were conducted on him by the doctors and researchers of Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Science (DIPAS), a branch of India's Defence Research and Development Organisation within the Indian Ministry of Defence. In 2003 and then this year, 2010, a team of 35 doctors kept him under 24-hour surveillance for fifteen days. The team reported that he did not consume any food or water during this time. Only thing he did was gargling and bathing and doctors had measured the fluid that was spit out. But they did not comment on his claim of being able to survive this way for several years. The study concluded that he was healthy without food or water, and had passed no urine or stool and no dialysis during this period.

Anyway until all results are published in a scientific journal, we will have to wait for the genuiness of these claims.

An excerpt:
 
 

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner made its first international flight on Sunday and landed in the UK to participate in the Farnborough International Airshow.

When its competitor Airbus went ahead with its large model the 880+ seater, Airbus A380, (called superjumbo now), Boeing stuck to its plan with a medium sized one, of around 330 seats. But Boeing has not been able to keep up its dates with the delivery of the first Dreamliner. It was due two years back, but it seems that the first delivery to Japan's All Nippon will be delayed further to maybe 2011.

But that does not seem to affect Boeing in any way. They are quite confident that once launched, they can give Airbus a run for their money. It seems despite the delays, the Dreamliner already has more orders than the rival Airbus A380 as of date. The advantages vs. A380 according to Boeing is that one, cost advantage. The A380 costs $326m vs. $180m for dreamliner. Two, many airports need to be extended to accommodate the A380, which is not the case with the Dreamliner. Anyway who will emerge victorious, only time can tell.....

Rupee Font - Free Download

The good news is that Foradian Technologies, an Indian company has come up with the rupee font, and it is now available for download for free.


1. CLICK HERE and download the Rupee Font Version 2.0

2. Copy the font, go to START--SETTINGS--CONTROL PANEL -- FONTS, and paste it there.

3. Open MS Word, go to INSERT -- SYMBOL and select RUPEE FORADIAN from the drop-down menu, select symbol, insert.

4. In case you don't find the symbol, the first time, open MS WORD, go to FORMAT -- FONT, Select Rupee Foradan from the Font drop down menu, click ok and then click ~ key [the key above the tab key].


 
The only limitation now is that it works only on computers where this font is installed till unicode accepts this.
 
Kudos to Foradian for coming out with this so fast!!

Rupee - New Symbol!

We now have a symbol for the Rupee. So far what was represented as Rs. and INR has now a symbol, thanks to an IIT postgraduate, D Udaya Kumar, whose design was selected from the five shortlisted. The design has part of letter R, or can be seen as the Hindi letter Ra (Devnagari) and an "equal to" sign which represents a part of the national flag or symbolizes that Rupee is no less inferior to any other currency.

In Malayalam, there is a saying "Ammayey thalliyalum randunde abhiprayam." Didn't get the equivalent in English, but it simply means that even if you slap ur mom, there will be two different opinions.

Opinions like what good will it do? Will it remove poverty? Will it do this, will it do that? Well our Rs. 500 in the bank account will surely not devalue. So, if there is no harm, why the hue and cry? Some said the symbol looks like a twin blade shaving razor. Well it's the perception. Then I can see the Japanese Yen as an old catapult which has lost its elastic!!

So, let's leave it there yaar. This negativity is unwarranted. Let us take pride in the fact that our currency has a symbol now. I am sure that it's going to give the Dollar, Pound and Euro a run for their money in another 20 years along with Ruble and Renminbi. So, ending with this wish to see the 3Rs ruling the world!! Jai Hind.

Soapy

I am sure it has happened with all of us that we see a lot of information here and there but when we need it we might have to do a search all over again. Thought of just sharing certain things that might be useful for us in the future. By the way, I am no expert in any of these things. A little bit of research and an article on it. To start off, let me start with bathing soap.

What all we need to look at before buying a soap? Most of us just look at the fragrance and cost and take a decision.

The BIG thing to look at is the TFM percentage mentioned on the wrap.

TFM - Stands for total fatty matter. It's an indication of the percentage of fatty (oily) matter available in a soap. It is this oil that can make the skin supple. The higher the percentage, obviously better the soap is. Roughly this should be above 75% to be considered good. Worldwide, that is still grade-2. To qualify for grade-1 it needs to be above 80%, not seen in many soaps here in India. But below 75%, better not to go for it because it will cause a dry feeling after bath and is not good for the skin.

10% of a soap is water/moisture; so also look at date of manufacture before buying. As it can lose moisture and hence weight too making it a hard stone.

Of course, do not just look at cost alone. Look at the weight too. Many companies have big box cover and when you go home and open, the soap might lie in one corner of the box. Let's not get cheated by attractive and big covers.

So do check in the following order:

1. TFM
2. Date of Manufacture
3. Fragrance
4. Weight
5. Cost.

Happy soap buying!! :-) :-)

SO SPAIN IS THE FIFA WORLD CHAMPIONS

CONGRATS..........................


Paul too will be remembered......

The next wait begins...2014... Brazil

HP and the Deathly Hallows - Part II

The second part of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is slated for release on July 15, 2010. The first part was released in Nov. 2009. So, Harry Potter fans eagerly waiting for the last movie in the series!

A Short Break

Time for a short break -- I will be back tomorrow!!

FIFA WORLD CUP - SEMI FINAL-2

So, it's Spain Vs. Netherlands final. And the winner? Well we have to wait two more days. Right now only God and Octopus knows the answer :-)

FIFA WORLD CUP - SEMIFINAL-1

So, this time the FIFA World Champion is definitely from Europe. The last of the Latin-American team Uruguay was defeated 3-2 by The Netherlands in the semifinals yesterday.



Let's wait for the second semi final today - Germany Vs. Spain to decide the other finalist!!

Dhoni - (Married)

Was wondering why nothing else came out other than strictly the marriage news. Finally got it. We ought to have it. Just have to search. The search ends......Read on....


http://www.bollywoodmantra.com/news/dhoni-s-affair-with-deepika-leads-to-secret-wedding/6034/

Quote for the Day

Today, I was just thinking of a few quotes that I sometime use in my conversations, and never really think about who actually said those. Of course, when we use a TV, we don't think about John Baird all the time; neither of Galileo when we use a thermometer. That made me think about starting something like Quote for the Day, just to make a mention of the people who said those and remember them. To start with I chose for today a famous one:


A Thing Of Beauty Is A Joy Forever - JOHN KEATS


This is the beginning line of his poem Endymion published in 1818, and it received a lot of criticism after its publication. But it mentions things of beauty like trees, rivers, shepherds, sheep. The poet finds solace in nature, yet the pain and sting of ill health is still written repeatedly among nature’s beauty throughout this poem, thought something to do with the tuberculosis that he was suffering from, at the age of 20. John Keats just lived 25 years, but gave the world a collection of good poems, and was considered a romantic poet.

Hozzat?

Not all get the opportunity to tie knot to their sweethearts! Lucky are those and doubly lucky are those who get their dreamgirl as their birthday gift. Well, if the news is not a rumour, Indian cricket team Captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is getting married to his childhood friend Sakshi on 4th of July and reception for the same scheduled for 7th of July, his birth date. Best Wishes Dhoni!

FIFA WORLD CUP - SEMIS

This might be a rare world cup where you don't have any of France, Italy, Brazil, Argentina in the semis. Brazil and Argentina has a good fan following in India and most might have awaited a final between them. But it was Brazil's turn to disappoint the fans first, after being beaten by The Netherlands 2-1. Next day, it was the turn of Argentina to bow out, this time beaten by Germans 4-0. Superstars like Messi too seemed a cat in front of the Germans. In the other matches, Spain was victorious against Paraguay, defeating them 1-0. And Uruguay defeated Ghana in a penalty shootout 4-2. Thus, no African team even this time in the semis.


Well, now we are just three matches away from getting the FIFA World Champions - 2010. Semifinals are scheduled on 7th and 8th of July:


7-7-10 Uruguay Vs. Netherlands
8-7-10 Germany Vs. Spain

FIFA World Cup - Quarter Finals

So now we have got the Top 8. Quarter final matches schedule for 2nd and 3rd of July:


Date Matches
02/07 Netherlands Vs. Brazil
02/07 Uruguay Vs. Ghana
03/07 Argentina Vs. Germany
03/07 Paraguay Vs. Spain

Keep Going Saina

Hearty Congratulations to Saina Nehwal for clinching the Singapore open and Indonesian Open Badminton tournaments within a span of two weeks, improving her ranking to World No. 3 in the process. Her humble nature is definitely going to take her further, provided the media doesn't spoil her as was the case with Sania Mirza. Let Ads and Media maintain a distance from her and allow her to focus on and play her natural game, though I don't think she will be bogged down by both, looking at her nature. And in a country where cricket rules, making a mark with Badminton is by all means a great achievement. With commonwealth game so close, all wishes for her and prayers that she will be able to make India proud at Delhi and also in the many years to come.

Sri Lanka Test Series - Team Announced

The team for the upcoming test series against Lanka beginning on July 18 has been announced. With the regular "Test"ies, Dravid, Laxman back in the side, plus Sachin, the team looks formidable.

Yuvraj is also back in the team. I like this fellow a lot, especially when he gets going. The only question in my mind is "why did the selectors drop him from the Zimbabwe tour and the Asia Cup?" The possible answers are lack of form or lack of fitness, or his overall attitude, or maybe all three. But if these three were the reasons, why is he back now? Has he proved his form? He has not played even gully cricket after being dropped. So where did the selectors see him playing? I think the same hold true for Sreesanth. Maybe even Ishant!

So one thing is for sure. The selectors just had to find some scapegoats for the T20 debacle. The bar issue at the Windies was something that everybody wanted to avoid. By this step, BCCI managed to keep the media's mouth shut for sometime. Now everybody has sort of forgotton those episodes. And bang....Yuvi is back.

All in all the team really looks good, at least in paper. The rest will be proved over the next two months. Let's keep our fingures crossed!

The Squad:

MS Dhoni (Capt), Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag (Vice Capt), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, M Vijay, Yuvaraj, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, and Wridhiman Saha.

Thank God! I am in your Country!

Dear Fellow State Citizens,

I don't know how proud I am to be in God's (don't know if I have to read that backwards) own Country. I am delighted to have a government which is so empathetic with its people that we today had a Hartal Utsav. Why? Well, what a question, do we really need a reason?

But this time we have a reason. The center increased prices of petroleum products from midnight yesterday and we all are very much affected here. What did I hear? That it has also affected you? But we are different my dear fellow state citizens. We are citizens of the most-literate state. So, we are not like you. We will react. We don't suffer silently. Pardon me? What did we gain? Lots dear, lots....

1. No government institutions worked today - so what's new? It’s just like any other day. Well, jokes apart, at least if they open, an hour's job will nevertheless be done in a day!! Today, we couldn't. Sad. Really Sad.

2. None of the educational institutions worked. We all lost a day's session.

3. None of the private firms worked - A real loss of crores of Rupees to the exchequer.

4. I know at least one marriage - that of one of my relative’s today. Forget that people might not have been able to reach for the same, but as a result at least 500 meals must have been wasted in a country where a large number of population hardly gets a times food in a day. This is just one, I don't know how many marriages took place today in Kerala. Just spare a thought.

5. People must have been stranded wherever they are, not able to proceed for urgent meetings etc. losing one man-day of their life.

6. The sick would have had a really tough time going to the hospitals, pregnant ladies et al.

All these are not gains? Sorry, sorry, I had tell you the gains...

The gain is Drunkard's own country (not sure that you know that our state has this record - of being the largest liquor selling state in India) may have made at least 50 crores today. People in my state enjoy this day. The moment they hear the news of a hartal, they thank the government (or the party), run to a bar, stock up liquor and chicken for the next day's party, and see how much the government made out of this, offsetting all the above loses!!!!

Ok ok so what's the ultimate result of the hartal?

Well, the latest I heard is that our PM (who is currently abroad) was shivering out of fear hearing the news of hartal in Kerala, and has called up his ministers to maybe propose doing away with the hike immediately at least only for Kerala.

Well jokes apart here is a fact:

Kerala has the highest ad valorem VAT (something in the hands of the state government) for diesel in India!!! and not too behind for petrol too (close to 29%)!! That is almost one-third (Rs. 15) that you pay for a liter goes to them.

What? Yeah I said they have great empathy for us. So what? What? So why are they not cutting down on that VAT to help you out?

Well who really wants?? They just want to show their care for us. I mean only Show, not care!!

Regards
Citizen of Kerala.

Petroleum Products - Price Hike

The Indian government has increased the prices of petrol by Rs. 3:50, kerosene by Rs. 3:00, diesel by Rs. 2:00, and cooking gas cylinder by Rs. 35.

Now, nobody likes prices going up and hitting their monthly budgets. But let me congratulate the team at the Center for this bold move. One, for the mere fact that this was a bold move, per se. How many parties can think beyond votes and take such a measure which is definitely not a populist one. There are parties who give cows, goats, hen to people and try to get votes. I really salute you for taking such a bold decision.

Now if you are asking, Ramesh, have you gone mad. Wait a minute. I did a little research and found out various details. Let me discuss those. Let me just break up this news further.

Before I begin, let me also tell you that I don't support any political party in particular. Will write about everybody - good if they’ve done good, bad if they’ve done bad. Of course, individually I do like a few politicians from all the parties. Okay, let me leave that for another day.

Weren't we all very happy when recession did not hit India at least the way it did US, Europe and others? If we need to see that again in the future, we need to bear these small pains. India's fiscal deficit last year was around 8%. Right now one of the prime targets for the Center is to bring down this to their 2010-11 target of 6%. Yes, the government did win a lot to its kitty via the 3G and wireless broadband bids. Now this is another way for them. And this news has been doing rounds since long. But who will bell the cat was question. Just like nobody dare to touch the caste reservations (though all know it is high time to take them off - but votes!!!!), this also was something like who will do it. Finally, Team Pranab Mukherjee has done the so call inevitable.

Indian government has been subsidizing petroleum products spending to the tune of $16 billion a year. Something like a shopkeeper buying an item for Rs. 10 and selling at Rs. 7. How long will he be able to run is business is anybody's guess. Of course, petroleum companies were also bearing the brunt. OK, now something is subsidized to help the poor, not the rich. Let's scrutinize each of today’s news separately and see how it affects the poor.

1. Increase in cylinder price by Rs 35:

The Kirit Parikh Committee actually has recommended Rs. 100 increase per cylinder to the government. I guess the remainder is on the way. How many of us know that around Rs. 250 subsidy is given by the government for each cylinder? Does this subsidy help the poor? Less than half of India's population uses cooking gas. And that of course will be the middle class and upper class. So what logic in this subsidy?

2. Petrol Price increase by Rs. 3:50:

What point in giving subsidy to people who own cars and bikes and who get this subsidy? Where does the poor come into picture here???

3. Kerosene price increase by Rs. 3:00:

Here of course, poor comes into the picture, but again not much. Most of the kerosene is bought by middleman at subsidized rate and sold again at higher rates outside the government's control. Yeah but of course a small (very small) number of poor people will be affected by this move. The govt. should consider this fact. Though remember, the really poor still use firewood today.

4. Increase of diesel price by Rs. 2:00:

One of the issues that this Govt. is trying to tackle (and they have been failing miserably) is the issue of inflation. When food inflation maintains an upward trend, this move might further take it up. This is an area govt. needs to be really careful. It's all better if govt. takes this back for the time being, wait till the inflation drops, and then take an appropriate decision.

5. Deregulation of petrol prices:

Meaning companies will now have the say on the price of petrol and that will be directly related to the international crude price, a move intended to bring down heavy loses incurred by the petroleum companies, which of course is a good thing. But was just wondering if we will get to see some price tariff wars between the companies and consumers finally emerging the ultimate winners, just as what has happened in the telecom industry! Well we’ll have to wait and see.

So, all in all, not bad moves, though some, as I mentioned, needs a re-look at this time.

Kudos TEAM INDIA

Kudos to Team India for bringing back the Asia Cup after 15 years. Boy that was too long a wait. Anyhow India overcame the jinx of bombing in finals and also beating Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka is no joke. On the finals, they really played like champions, with contributions from every member, doing good in all departments of the game. Rarely we see India in a Final so dominating. Keep it up boyz....


Image Courtesy: IB Times

Colored Kites

Watch out for Kites on June 27, 2010 on Colors Channel at 8 p.m. After failing at the BO, this movie premiers on Colors within a month of its release. Gaurav Gandhi, Chief Commercial Officer & Head - International Business, Viacom18 says, "At COLORS we endeavor to bring the biggest Bollywood blockbusters to our viewers, right in the comfort of their homes. The next six to eight months are going to be a pure treat for the viewers as we plan to showcase a series of big and recent blockbuster films. With Kites, we begin a long and potentially fruitful association with Reliance BIG Pictures with whom we have signed a much larger deal and will be showcasing a whole range of popular movies from their library in the days to come."


Movie: KITES

Date of Release: May 21, 2010

Director: Anurag Basu

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut, and Kabir Bedi.

Producer: Rakesh Roshan

Characters:

Hrithik Roshan as J.
Barbara Mori as Natasha a.k.a. Linda
Kangana Ranaut as Gina
Nick Brown as Tony
Kabir Bedi as Bob, Gina and Tony's father
Yuri Suri as Jamaal, Bob's family chauffeur[1]

So stack your kitchen with pop corns & coke (which most of us already done, thanks FIFA World Cup Soccer) get ready for the next eight months!!

NAXALISM VS. TERRORISM

I am a common man. Not intelligent enough to go on to the root causes of various issues. One thing I don't understand is why the government is not going ahead with using our Air Force and Army against the Naxals? Why this soft corner? What is the difference between a terrorist and a naxal in common man's language? Both kill innocents. A lost life is an Innocent's. And a life is life. So our blood only boils if the crime is committed by a person from our neighboring country? We make a hue and cry even if that attack kills 2-3 people. And here our own guys if they can derail a train and kill 138 people, we feel they are our brothers? Well I can't differentiate a terrorist and a naxal. Sorry I am a common man. I don't know why the terminology is different at all for the two cases. I don't want to know the cause for why innocents are killed in either case. Being an Indian, I feel I am helpless in the hands of people whom we elect!!!!!

BUS STRIKE - KERALA

Thought of sharing some of my views on the recent private bus strike in Kerala. The private bus owners' association went on strike in the state demanding four things. Increase the bus fare, increase student's concession rate, ask government-owned KSRTC buses to run on alloted timings, and to stop harassing them on speed governance.

It has been accused that there was an understanding between the association and the government. It seems the government had asked the association to go on strike so that a few days later they can increase the charges stating "there was no other go." And the government's benefit in this? CAN INCREASE KSRTC BUS FARES TOO, WHICH IS RUNNING IN A LOSS.

This accusation holds good in my belief. If you observe, they went on strike following a three-hour discussion, and they withdrew the strike following a 10-min discussion where nothing new was assured to them. It all went wrong for both sides when the HIGH COURT of Kerala intervened during strike saying "Bus fares should not be altered unless they withdrew strike and start services." The earlier nexus went for a sixer now!! There was no other go for them but to withdraw the strike.

Today High Court went ahead and added "DO NOT INCREASE FARES WITHOUT OUR DIRECTIVES."

The end result? Public was fooled, put into all sorts of trouble by both the association and the government. Who cares for the public now? At least at this point in time where there are no elections? The day elections come we can see them again wagging tails in front of public for votes!!.

Well, well, well, I would definitely like to see more of court interventions in the future. What else to do if the government is a shameless one?

FINAL POINT: Heard that the government is planning to increase the minimum fare from Rs. 3.50 to Rs. 4.00, which I believe is a good move as it does not harm both the bus owners and the public in any ways. How? Well, try giving Rs. 4:00 to a conductor and how often do you get back the 50 paise? So in any case, they are taking Rs. 4:00 and we are giving Rs. 4:00. But don't ever think that 50 paise has no value today. It has. Try giving the same conductor Rs. 3:00 and he will stare at you or may even ask you to get down. In short 50 paise has value for a conductor but not for the passenger!! Amen!!

Back To Blogging

September 8, 2006. Yes that was the day when I last posted something....It has been more than three years since. But things are changing and once again I see an opportunity in front of me to return back to regular blogging. Yes, I foresee that happening soon in 2-3 months time. But yes, there will be posts at least weekly till then.....I thank God for this opportunity to come back.....Hope to see you soon....