Fresher vs Work Experience in politics

Whom to choose as your leader - A fresher or a person with political work experience ?

This is a tough question to answer and we might have our own reservations for it, but R.K mentioned a good point in my previous post that has given me the idea for this one. As your community leader should you choose a fresher or a person with political experience.

RK says - I feel for freshers in the politics too. I believe that since it has been very long for us preferring the experience, now the freshers must also be given a chance ;)

I think it entirely depends on the work experienced person. A seasoned person might well know the problems faced by the people and could come up with solutions but will also know the tweaks and tricks of misusing the system. A fresher might make a lot of mistakes, might be influenced by corrupt people and could screw it all up. But on the other hand he/she can also bring about radically new solutions that could be simple and be in sync with youth's demand. A fresher can be associated with change.

In the current scenario, Mr L K Advani has come out in the open as BJP/NDA's prime ministerial candidate, which I think as a strategy could have both positive as well as negative effects. On the other hand, congress, which has the likes of sweet Rahul Gandhi(video below) has not appealed to me as far his parliament speeches are concerned. According to me they have been lackluster as compared to even that of his mother Mrs Sonia Gandhi. So to say that Rahul is exceptionally great in terms of the new generation leader would not be completely correct. I feel he still needs to work a lot on himself. But then congress has an edge over BJP in turms of the number of leaders. BJP has too few leaders and very few young people to actually take the sangh forward. This time with more media coverage, it'll be interesting to see how the polls take shape.

I'd like to know your choice- Work Experience or Fresher ?

One person I'll miss the most is Mr Somnath Chatterjee, but I'll be waiting to read his book.

Work Experience ?

This being the 401th post of the blog (inc the unpublished ones), I thought of beginning it on a positive note. Elections are around the corner and I'll try and refrain myself from the mudslinging that is about to begin between the politicians. We as citizens will have the final say in the country's future and this is our time to choose the right person to lead this 1.3 billion plus population country. It 's time we wake up and critically analyze the role of the ruling UPA and to what is new to offer by the opposition. Friends, I believe this is one of the most crucial junctures in Indian history and we'll have to play an important and pro-active role. With the third quarter growth at 5.3% this period could well determine India's ranking in future.

Kasav and Jadoo

Another flip - this comes from the chief of Pakistan's navy Noman Bashir.

Is Kasav human or not ? That could probably be another question the Pakistani establishment can ask to delay or ...
Maybe all the reports, pictures and videos have been photoshopped and edited so that we have a reason to pressurize Pakistan. This could well be the plot of thrilling novel selling on the railway platform of old Delhi. or...
Maybe Kasav just came out from the Rakesh Roshan's Koi Mil Gaya. This could definately be true.

I'll certainly get a job in a masala journal.

Mr Bashir said that although there is no definitive proof that sea route was used, but even if they indeed came by sea to Mumbai then it is nothing but a failure of the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard.

Almost three months have passed and we've reached no where.
Is this diplomatic pressure or just a staged drama ? Maybe we need some jadoo intervention.

Is India becoming the next china ?

Ajit was sent to jail for having a community carrying anonymous comments saying Shiv Sena is trying to divide this country. SC recently quashed his complaint.

China had the Tienanmen square episode two decades ago, charter 08 this year and the world is happy about the fading of communism. Now here is my country, the world's largest successful democracy without a coup d’ état and now we are somewhere in the grey zone of communism where a number of people with common interests are trying to violate the freedom of speech of the citizens that have played the most vital role in building this country. TOI reports

Outraged bloggers vented their ire in cyberworld against the Supreme Court’s take that they may face libel, even prosecution, for airing their views online. Believing their freedom of expression is in danger, bloggers railed at the SC’s refusal to quash a criminal complaint against a fellow blogger.
At the center of the furore is 19-year-old Ajith D from Kerala. His web community, not blog, on a social networking site, carried several anonymous comments accusing Shiv Sena of trying to divide the country on region and caste lines. The Sena’s youth wing, in turn, filed a criminal complaint against Ajith in Thane police station. After getting anticipatory bail from Kerala HC, Ajith moved the SC to quash the complaint on the ground that the contents did not have defamation value...

So who is to blame, the supreme court, the blogger or the government who could have played a role in influencing the judgment ? I don't know, but all I can say is that the current events are not in the interest of the nation. People can get away by vandalizing places, monuments, igniting public violence but if a person criticizes or even abuses them is sent to jail. Can we say we are living in a democratic country ?
Watch this video of the famous Tank man who dared to stand up against the communist rule. He was finally killed by the secret police.

Bangladesh revolt

Unrest in the world is erupting from small incidents from practically every corner of the world. Now comes Bangladesh where a mutiny broke out in the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) after angry soldiers held hostage the director general and couple of other high rank officers. The soldiers were apparently angry because of low pay scales. That makes me realize that I too live in a country where soldiers are not paid well for their role in taking this nation forward. I mentioned this in a previous post that signs from the top brass of the Army indicate the unhappiness over the governments attitude towards them. Probably the signs are clear for the government to focus attention from jawans from babus.

Read related news

Tata Tele, NTT Docomo and 3G

NTT Docomo got the go ahead from Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)to acquire 27.31 stake in Tata Tele Services Ltd at 12,924 crore making it the largest FDI flow in the telecom sector. This could be a very strategic deal since NTT Docomo was the first to test 3G services in 1996 with the help of Qualcomm, which gives them an experience of 3G and the problems associated with it.

The Department of telecom also recently announced the entry fee for a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO)at Rs 85 crore for a pan India license.
A Mobile Virtual Network Operator uses the services and infrastructure of another existing operator and uses its brand name to target a specific segment. Virgin Mobile is a similar example, which uses the services of Tata Teleservices Ltd.

Lets hope 3G services, high data rate internet and other media applications are implemented soon, with reasonable prices. The prices till now have been reasonable and India, with the second largest number of subscribers in the world has one of the lowest ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)at around $7, with an ARPU of $2 in rural areas. The penetration is less and at around 32%, so this gives our telecom operators good opportunities to earn huge bucks ahead, keeping the quality of service maintained.

Letter to MCD

The roads of Delhi have craters deep enough to bury a man without a single burp. The banana shake in our bodies created by the shake and stir is enough now.

Respected MCD officials,

Being a resident of Delhi for the last 11 years I've seen the city transform from a dusty under-construction hot place to a still dusty, flyoverized place preparing itself for the 2010 common wealth games. I've known it through the highs of flyover and metro trains to the lows of BRT corridor, terror attacks, rapes, murders and thefts, but still I keep living out of compulsion, out of hope. As many say it is tough to live in a metro, the word 'live' makes me laugh at my helplessness, at my fate, still I live, out of hope and compassion for the country I was born in.
You gave me the feeling of moon when I drove my car through the roads of Delhi, those craters and bumps that still echo in my head and all I want to say is thank you for your gratitude.
I behaved like an obedient citizen, followed almost all rules, threw the waste in the garbage bin, seldom did I pee on the road side or spit paan on a public wall but still I am disappointed.
And it is not only me.
Every morning the thought of driving on the city's road with dust, pot holes and excess of traffic enough to put off the mood for the entire day. If the weather is unwilling the situation only gets worse. All this while you are cosily sitting on the tax payers money and enjoying your cup of tea. Every day when millions of us break our back, heads and limbs on the road due to the holes the size of graves, each one of us curses you, and yes we really do, from the bottom of our hearts. And possibly I am talking to deaf ears, but remember a day will come, when your body, soft and vulnerable and with not a drop of free tea, you'll go one the same road, break your bone and curse your own ignorance, for every ounce of work you taught your juniors will come back on you.
Mend your ways, mend the city and help us all live a better life.

Freida Pinto and the career girl

Freida Pinto left her boyfriend Rohan to pursue her career in the glam world. Was she right in crushing love to go ahead ? Was the decision taken in haste ?
The career woman, her dreams, her life and love.

Ok fine, Slumdog won Oscars, congrats, bye bye lets go to sleep.
The next day- Lets look at what took place

Freida Pinto left her boyfriend Rohan, a somebody from Goa, who obviously did not fit in to be Freida's hubby as she overnight became an international diva. So was she right ? Shobhaa De thinks that way. she says

The mistake both of them made was to rush into marriage. Going by press reports, it was one of those hasty decisions which Freida at any rate, apparently regretted soon after. It was too late by that time, as her wedding pictures suggest. She could not have dreamt that ‘Slumdog..’ would happen to her… and because of that one film, her entire life would change so dramatically, practically overnight.

Well all my thoughts about the good and charming pinto are beginning to fade now. Before I read the story of the Rohan breakup, I used to associate Pinto with the lines of Maya Angelou's poem, 'Still I rise'.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise...

What intrigues me is the importance given by the career woman to the people who love her. Shobhaa, I believe is no different. It is more of a use and throw approach that I have problem with. Rohan loved Freida Pinto before she became the 'IT' girl of the global county with marquee awards and people associated to her name. Let us take cue from our bollywood biggies on the other side. Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan and many others stuck to their wives even after they became superstars. Marriages with female having the upper hand usually end on a sorry note. But why ? Why do they crush the love given to them to climb a step higher, when they don't need to ? I believe god too is inadequate to answer this question. Maybe it's always better to stay away from the career oriented women. I'd like to conclude this by the lines from Pablo Neruda's poem, 'If I forget you'

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you...

That is probably the only thing Rohan is left with.
I am not entirely against the career woman, but the crushing of love by few such woman is something I don't appreciate too much. Meanwhile google is celebrating girls day as a part of national engineer's week. I think such efforts should be taken up by TATA, Reliance and other giants in India. It would be a strong statement against the hooligans of mangalore pubs and also a step in bringing this country forward.

Slumdog Oscars

Finally, what a relief!
The Indian film fraternity (Bollywood is considered derogatory ;-)) has made a mark at the Oscars, getting 8 Oscars, for a movie perceived as projecting the wrong image of India to the world. I too do agree that it is a westerner's view of poverty in India.
So why did it win ? I believe this movie had a hidden evil, that of a marketing genius in its name - Slumdog Millionaire. This idea came from this post of Seth Godin, who says "Marketing can cause people to buy something that they wouldn't have bought without marketing, vote for someone they might not have considered and support an organization that would have been invisible otherwise."
The Oscars have been about the Slumdog this year, but another movie that didn't have the marketing evil was 'Smile Pinky'. Although right now I am too devoted to reading about Freida Pinto, who has added glamour to Slumdog.
So does that mean Indian film fraternity aka Bollywood has opened the gates for Oscars à la carte ?
Well, I don't think so, since the number of people speaking English in India is around 5%, so it makes less business sense. But ideas sell, across languages and continents, so an audacious plan could possibly make the cut but it would need a willing person. Remember, Shahrukh refused to play the role played by Anil Kapoor in Slumdog. That kind of mindset is another hurdle.
Talking of A R Rahman, I am very happy for him.( A Bharat Ratna future candidate.) I hope he keeps up this good work.

Oscar 2009 predictions are something to laugh about. Look at this list by oscarfrenzy.com (All Oscars no Gossip) and keep looking at the aberrations, although they did finally manage to correct and claimed 19/24 hits.

CinemaBlend.com author Mark Rawden has criticized Slumdog and says, "Slumdog Millionaire is a sweet little film with gaping plot holes and average acting performances. Let’s not pretend its Annie Hall because we were in the mood for cartoonish happy endings. " Nothing apart from a picture (below) appeals me in his post, since I feel people are finding it hard to digest that a movie with actors speaking immaculate English and 100% western plot did not win the Oscar for best movie. I could be wrong, but lets enjoy this moment when an Indian movie made it big at the Oscars and lets not forget A R Rahman's music and Resul Poookutty's award.
Also watch this cute video where Ryan interviews the young Latika (Rubina Ali - an artist from the slums of Dharavi) of Slumdog millionaire.



Previous Slumdog Millionaire posts
If Slumdog...
Jealous or hurt ?
Slumdog is on the Oscar list

Jai Ho!

Crowded Future

Telecom adds 15 million telecom users in Jan 2009.

Yup, we are growing and growing too fast. It's heartening to see such a growth as India sits high and mighty with the second largest subscribers in the world. Having worked in a telecom company for four months, I believe my friends still working there would be partying and slogging too maintaining the network for an ever increasing user base.
But is the picture all that rosy. My thoughts are particularly influenced (rightly so) by Thomas L Friedman and there is enough reason to believe him.
Imagine 15 million sim cards sold in a month; an ever increasing stress on the production of already scarce resources. But till how long can telecom grow ? India's penetration rate is 20%, that means that rural market is still waiting to be on the consumer list. So if in the 20 years they too join the middle class (stats say by 2016,entire south India will be middle class) and own a phone, computer, car (If a cheaper nano comes) and get into realizing the 'American Dream' Then what ? Telecom will cater to the population growth. What about the moolah then ?

Will the millionaires come from people with Telecom stocks in highly populated countries such as India and China ? Nah! That is were our vision, I believe is lacking.
Those investing in clean technology will be the ones on forbes riches list. Since, they'll be cleaning all the e-waste being generated by our old phones, discarded sim cards and the unusable telecom infra and India (I hope not) will still lag behind as a rich and unhealthy nation . The reason - Not enough incentives given to produce clean technology.

This is our one chance to lead the world in terms of showing the path. Our government needs to promote institutions to promote environment friendly technology. Moreover, petrodictators, who I believe are behind the funding of Taliban will be adversely affected, since by relying too much on oil will be indirectly funding terror. We've done such things in past, like the non-violent movement of freedom and I believe we can and will do it.
ET- What slowdown? Telecom adds 15 million telecom users in Jan

Somnath Chatterjee's honest expresssion

If only a politician deserves some respect, it is none other than the principled and unbiased Somnath Chatterjee. The 80 year old speaker of the Lok Sabha spoke what my heart feels (video below) for the politicians of this country. While tainted fixers are happily joining national politics, I feel sorry for myself and the country for having a dearth of honest and ethical leaders. It would be no surprise to see Mr Ramalinga Raju also joining national politics.
He also said
"You are insulting the people of the country and wasting public money. You do not deserve even a single paisa. You are behaving in a condemnable manner,"
You don't deserve any allowances," ... "I think this house should be adjourned sine die. This is the only way to save public money.

MMS and Media

Today the front page of Hindustan Times carried a news item of another MMS case in Noida that came into the limelight after an email was leaked. The question I'd like to ask is that extensive publicity of such stories is doing good or bad to the society and to the victims of such cases. The matter is worse on TV. Channels fighting for TRPs and sponsors frequently play such blurred clips in the name of news. It can be argued that such highlighting will prevent such acts from happening but what about the victims? But lets also remember the victim is a victim of his/her own crime. The video was shot with consent of the victim and not forcibly done.

DEV.D shows an instance where the father of girl involved in an MMS committed suicide. In a recent real incident a 16 year old Mangalore ram sene riot victim took her life after her clip was aired on practically every national news channel. There is a clear reason to be more sensitive to the victims of such cases, where revealing the identity can have disastrous consequences.

I appreciate the media activism that has definately helped in cases such as the jessica lal murder case or the shivani bhatnagar case, but when it has come to matters related to sex, I've seen some over enthusiastic kids making a mockery of news.

The results of highlighting the MMS controversy are clear in the google trends (pic above), that lists 'noida mms' , which I believe will be up for download on porn websites. The news papers and media sources might get the sponsors and money, but without any concrete regulatory checks and guidelines in extremely personal matters, editors would need better self regulation for safeguarding the interest of victim's future.

Free Viagra and future

The UPA in 2004 came up with NREGA as it had promised its voters before the elections but this time around the story is different. The Vajpayee government had Kargil and the military stand-off to contend with, but the UPA has a massive economic plunge and a rather immature response to terror to deal with this time. In the assembly elections the tea stall talks of distributing free booze for votes was not uncommon, so what else can the congress party do this time. Mexico mayor has a strategy.

HT reports - "Mayor Marcelo has been freely distributing Viagra tablets to the poor above-60 electorate in his sprawling metropolis. The news is that smiles have already been brought to the faces of thousands who have reached the tercera edad — that’s the ‘third age’". Thats not bad for wooing the over-aged voters.

There could be another strategy-Give cold tablets mixed with alcohol. This could be used by opposition as well as the ruling congress to give a bad name, apart from other bad stuff they usually are associated to (Corruption, Communal violence...). The fifth Japanese finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa's resigned because he appeared in an embarrassingly drowsy state(video below) in a G7 conference. The reasons for world's economic troubles I feel lies here - Drunken leaders. While Taro Aso might be cursing his fate, his loosing the election is quite eminent this time.

A third option also exists. Pull in former cricketers (Or gods). - Thumbs up to Amar Singh for having such an ingenious idea. But if the cricketer is Sourav, you better talk privately else it could cost you your own seat in the Lok Sabha Polls.

As Taliban comes closer(to India), I think it is time our old goldies act fast else there would be a day when free drugged cold tablets and Viagra, would be all that would be left and a dream of peace would be burnt out candle lying at each door as an indicator of our inactions and greed.

Single Awareness Day

SAD - Single Awareness Day.
Valentines day, gifts and sene - a perfect cocktail for headache, extra smoking, chicken tandoori and less booze. Yes, I wrote it right, 'less of booze'. My V-day started as a friendship reunion day as I met an old neighbour of mine and we discussed about our career and recession. It was all ok when at 6 PM I realized that I had eaten nothing, and just had too much of tea and cigarette. The side effects of a smoke filled day were clear in the evening. To add salt to my wounds was a cousin who after 3 V-day dates made me wait in an overcrowded CP after an exhausting day. My waiting period coupled with headache made the word 'single' bang my head a thousand times. I was sitting outside Mc Donalds in CP and the aching expression got the spotlight on me when I least wanted it. The first reaction came from a cute looking girl who nodded her head and made an expression that suggested she felt bad about my state. Her thought at that point of time could have been, 'Poor baby, his GF left him'. Such reactions followed. They came from all kinds of people- from amazing looking foreigners, school girls and even from aunties. Amidst all this drama came my cousin Casanova with 3 dates to his name; as if a date meant a medal of honour to him. Well, it did added insult to my injury.
The bomb shell was the queue to the loo at Mc Donalds. If you are in a state of emergency and outside the loo is a long queue that you can't escape, you just curse your fortune. On top of it when you reach the loo, the previous guy has not flushed his crap. Damn!
The relief came when a poor chicken was killed to satisfy my aspirations to have tandoori chicken. Also came daal,roti,paneer and Whiskey. It was tough to drink even a small peg since the Single Awareness Day had simply overstretched me to a point of no drinking.
The day definitely became a forgettable day but the unforgiving part was the tattoo of singleness that came along with it.
I hope you had a good V-day. As I thought it to be in my previous post (Valentine's day gossip), it became my D-day.Moreover the Facebook Captcha proved to be true.
The next post is going to be about a secret of Amar Singh that I and possibly you didn't know. Until then stay connected.

Valentine's day Facebook captcha

This valentines day might just bring a radical change in India and this paradigm shift in thinking of people has just begun - all thanks to a crazy bunch of insane sene. Coming to the captcha part, Facebook seems to have put some creativity behind it. Normally captcha's are boring and a time consuming exercise asking a strange question - "Are you human". And to verify that you have to decode a set of twisted alphabets present there only because a few geeks with good computer knowledge decided to give a set of codes, the human experience. The result - Humans have to bear the code experience. Had those captchas not been present, the 2 seconds spent by each of the millions of internet users decoding such captchas would have translated into meaningful time and saving of bandwidth in return helping the environment.
Back to the interesting captcha (pic below), this is what it read- Confined 14th
Thats a cool one before valentine's day.
Google started the trend of user targeted ads, but it seems Facebook has started targeted captchas.

I am not ashamed to say that I am confined on 14th, but Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder) would be since the contectu controversy and the $65 million settlement that has come out in open. I am also not ashamed to say that I'm jealous of Mark Zuckerberg. The Wikipedia entry reads - "Zuckerberg's Harvard classmates, Divya Narendra, Cameron Winklevoss, and Tyler Winklevoss, claimed that he stole their idea intended for their own site, ConnectU."
Divya Narendra hmm.. an Indian name- Now that is enough food for thought for our hindi news channels to create a mountain of this controversy. But I'm happy for a fact that it was these news channels that brought the case of Nithari forward and finally those cannibals of Nithari will be sent to the hell they deserve.
I'll be back with my opinion on budget after the V-day.

To all hot single females reading this - Happy Valentines day! I'm single.

Related post-Valentine's day gossip

Big Money, big lesson

Today might go down in history as a day when big big money was spent on a select few while others were trying to live on 100($14.63) yuan a week. Freddie and KP managed to fetch $1.55 million each for 3 weeks of work. Recession, salary cuts, millions of job losses,US stimulus package debate...Err Is this true ??? But the bigger set back was for the pup(Michael Clarke). He was reserved for a base price of $1 million, which Mr IPL (IPL chief commissioner-Lalit Modi) said nobody was willing to offer. So to avoid humiliation pup (future Australian captain) decided to rest, atleast for the media. Now thats what I call a hay day layoff and a high ego. Anyways unemployed youth like me are more than happy to write about such tea time gossip.

The western world meanwhile was bickering about the bail out stimulus package when Michael Phelps the marijuana swimmer got kellogged. IPL was giving money and Olympic champ was to have none of it. Kelloggs said that it would not renew the contract with phelps as his behaviour was not consistent with Kelloggs image. I sometimes feel that brand endorsers are like boyfriends to those airy fairies. Thats a lot of cereal for a 23 year old abnormally built god gifted person maiming world records as if he were eating kebabs. My health would make me a perfect brand ambassador of a punjabi dhabba with a menu of dal malkhani,tandoori Chicken, kebab...Any takers?? Seems like too many overweight endorsers have already applied.

Today's event are a reminder of one thing, that one big lesson. What holds true for one aircraft (person/case) may or maynot hold true for another. Sully Sullenberger who managed to successfully ditch the US airways jet liner last month in Hudson river was the first such instance of a success. Before that, ditching a plane meant lots of lives lost and practically all. Now an Australian guy has done that, but that doesn't mean pilots start doing it, although lessons can be learned. So being that million buck guy could be a rare chance as in the case of a ditched plane and doing it might be perfecting an art, but if does not happen as in normal circumstances, better you adopt a safer approach-After all some money is better than no money (Wotsay Pup ?).
And looking at the money generators across the world freezing(Not as in UK) in a cold recession, IPL could face the crunch and might join the list of companies in this(Who Hired All the People Getting Laid Off?) bandwagon.

Valentine's day gossip

With the valentines day approaching the thought - political maniacs going in the streets and beating couples makes me petrified of the fact that if I am spotted with a girl on the V-day, I might just be beaten black and blue and it might become my D-day. And the first timers trying their hand at dating might just stay at home with their family- poor virgins. There is one MP who has given a positive response. Maybe the fact that he has daughters makes his softer on the radical agenda or maybe his female fans. A female fan recently said to him “I love you, Laluji. You have a unique style. I would like to meet you somewhere,”. SOMEWHERE!!!-But where?? Hmmm... Now thats what I call an astute politician.
Another lover who came out in the open was the male muscle of Dostana-John. John Abraham went on record and said that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the sexiest woman by eons and light years and he would love her to death. I wonder what poor Robert might be thinking. It's sometimes best not to have a pretty wife. Arbaaz Khan is another poor victim of his own desire.
But some people have wooed their babes by buying out cricket teams. Raj Kundra brought 12% stake in IPL team Rajasthan Royals for Big Brother's sister Shilpa Shetty. His spendings- $15.4million (around Rs 75 crore). - Love is blind is a euphemism for such platinum spoon sons willing to shell xxx money out for a flop out of business actress.
Media too is cooking a fairy tale in a thorny recession. A picture of Barkha and Prannoy Roy is creating ripples in media sphere. Sometimes the Indian masses (and classes) have a tendency to stretch a thing for too long.
That makes me feel drowsy and take a turn to our nuclear partners. Michael Phelps- that god gifted strangely human kid who won a staggering number of Gold Medals in Beijing and Greece has a pic published smoking a Marijuana Bong. Woah! What a healthy diet. But the leader of the "Yes we can clan" (Barack Hussein Obama) too admitted that he tried drugs as a teen. Is it a tried and tested approach or what ? Maybe Michael Phelps is in the running for the president elections; he might beat his older suit bosses by miles. Obama has also come again in the news for a weight loss comment on Jessica Simpson-The babe who became too heavy. Obama's star power can well take a U-turn on this.
Thats it for today's gossip. Keep reading for more such gossip.

If Slumdog...

Slamming Slumdog Millionaire.
Recently I've managed to read many rantings about Slumdog Millionaire, one came from Dharavi,another from Patna, a strange one from the desk of an MBA seller, and surprising ones from BIG A's and B's. But I'm just waiting for that one moment when it bags the Oscars, and all these incapable people will be Big zeroed by Danny and others.

A hillarious article I read today was that Slumdog Millionaire was to be directed by Sanjay Gupta-That Sanjay Dutt Bhai Bug. If there is an iota of truth in this story then thank god he missed by a whisker. But the good thing in the Bhai Banda was that he recognized that if he would have made the movie it wouldn't have got the international recognition and the awards. Now that is atleast one down to earth person.

And yes there is also a flop director who has opened up school of entertainment as he had to find an alternative career. He has not come out in open since after being a yuvraaj of crappy cinema people are waiting to collect the refund of an overdose of sleeping pill. The teacher at his school says on Rediff - "Broadly speaking, Slumdog is just an olden-day story, the way the whites or the westerners interpret India. It is an on-your-face look at reality. As an Indian, I know we cannot discard poverty. But there is a way to portray it. "
Now tell me which Indian movie has ever potrayed reality and on top of that this one comes from a Subhash ghai employee. Huh! Such hypocrites.

$10 Laptop

Ramesh: Hey you know I got a laptop for $100 (Rs 4800 approx)
Prateek: Oh you got it at 5 times more cost than my new lappy, it's just $20- Sakshat

Ten facts about $10 Laptop (Sakshat)

1. Name : Sakshat
2. Price : $20 (When it comes into mass production, it may cost about $10)
3. Developed by : Jointly developed by several organisations- UGC, IIT-Madras and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
4. Memory : 2 GB onboard memory
5. Connectivity : wireless Internet connectivity. (Wi-Fi and Ethernet capability)
6. Objective : Make it useful for the students, especially in the rural areas
7. Power consumption : 2W.
8. Operating System : Open source simple Linux OS.
9. Speculation : It is a political move by the incumbent congress before very important elections in Indian history.
10. Unveiled by: Union Minister for Human Resources Development Arjun Singh at the Tirupati temple
    

Ref:InformationWeek,Rediff

Submit your story

Hi,
Speak India has been running successfully since july 2007, thanks to your support and involvement. Looking at the current events, we decided it is time to adopt an inclusive approach and hence now you can share your ideas by filling up a simple form(below), which we'll share on this blog. You can share your ideas, blog, or a web item by filling up the form below.Also mention your name in description.

By using this form you can
1. Give feedback.
2. Share your experience/thought/idea.
3. Contact the author.
4. Share a link on the web that you think could be helpful.

---

Data Cards in India

Data cards are going to be the in thing in the coming few days. After the broadband revolution in India, the data cards are going to be on buying list of most corporate executives.

Why use a data card ?

A data card is the same shape and size of a normal USB device and allows you
to access internet from practically anywhere. So it comes in handy without any
need for a wire, provided you laptop is charged.

Data card tariff plans in India

Idea is ahead with attractive plans. I’ve compared tariffs of 3 companies offering USB modems-Airtel,Idea and Tata Indicom. Out of the three Idea is offering the cheapest service giving an unlimited download plan for Rs 849 as compared to Airtel, which is giving it at Rs 999 and Tata Indicom at Rs 1099. Apart from these three operators, Reliance and BSNL are also offering USB Modems.

Idea-Netsetter

USB Modem cost - Rs 2499/- + Plan-Netsetter 849 for Rs 849/- Idea tariffs

Airtel-USB Modem

Modem Cost-Rs2999/- Plan-Surf Unlimited - Rs999/-Airtel Tariffs

Tata Indicom-Plug 2 Surf

Modem Cost-Rs 2499/- Plan cost Rs 1099/- Tariffs

Google goes offline in Tamil Nadu

Internet Bus- Google will be launching a mobile internet bus in Tamil Nadu to spread awareness about Internet and World Wide Web. The reason stated by google guys is that they want to engage directly with the offline population of India.This coupled with the $20 laptop could help India's rural areas get access to some useful resources that could be used to get valuable insight into new agricultural processes and developments.

Mint reports-The bus project is based on four themes — information, communication, entertainment and education, and it would have useful and informative content in English and Tamil, said Google India (Research and Development) Centre Head Prasad Ram.

Google India's blog entry says "The bus is designed to make a simple introduction to the Internet for a new user. With a focus on the four themes of education, information, communication, and entertainment, the Internet Bus will be loaded with useful and informative content in English and Tamil. We'll showcase how the Internet can make everyday life simple through services like search, email, social networking, maps and others. "

It is interesting to see such expeditions coming at a time when Google has shut down some of its projects including its micro-blogging service Jaiku.

The revenues of Google have been on the green. Google reported revenues of $5.70 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, representing an 18% increase over fourth quarter 2007 revenues of $4.83 billion and a 3% increase over third quarter 2008 revenues of $5.54 billion. Also 50% of its revenues have come from its international operations.

Visit website of Internet Bus

Shahrukh Khan on Twitter

Shahrukh khan has joined the twitter tribe and from his profile it seems to be a publicity stunt for Billu Barber. Whether its real or fake is for you to guess. My take : It is real and temporary. (for the promotion of Billu Barber)
Click here to visit SRK's twitter profile.

Thanks Vulturo for breaking the news.

Delhi IGI hijack scare

Delhi IGI hijack scare on a Indigo airlines flight.

Sequence of events that created a panic at the IGI airport in Delhi.

1. 163 passengers of the Goa->Delhi Indigo Flight 6E 334.
2. While the plane was airborne, it was to be an event-less journey
3. Midway a fellow passenger started moving about the aisle a lot, following which an air hostess shouted at him
4. 20 minutes before the plane was to reach Delhi, the pilot made a distress call
5. None of the 163 passengers were aware of this development
6. There was a speculation that the landing was a mock drill or maybe a hijack situation.
7. Passengers had to stay in the plane for over 4 hours.
8. 3 passengers, Jitendar, Sameer, and a female Hardeep were detained by the Delhi Police for questioning.
9. Jitender Mohala has been booked for unruly behaviour and perceived threat

Ref : IBNLive

Billu Barber - Another copy paste

"Another Shahrukh khan movie" would be the reaction of people when they see the trailers of Billu Barber. All the promotional songs of the movie feature Shahrukh dancing around with girls half his age taller than him but the true(hidden) story is that Billu Barber features Irfan Khan in lead role.

The film stars Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta in the lead roles, and Shahrukh Khan in a supporting role of a movie star. The film also features Om Puri, Rajpal Yadav and Asrani in supporting roles with guest appearances by actresses Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra.The film is a remake of the hugely successful Malayalam Indian film Kadha Parayumbol.

Is Bollywood short of talent or is the south Indian film industry much better ? Ghajini was the previous cut-copy-edit-paste.This method seems to be a quick way of producing movies without much input creatively.

What makes it a reject film ?

Initially, these roles were offered to Akshay Kumar and Tabu. However, Kumar didn't find the film interesting and opted out of the project whilst Tabu refused the film as she didn't want to work with Irrfan Khan.The director then offered Kumar's and Tabu's role to Shahrukh Khan and Amisha Patel respectively, and both of them agreed to do the film.Amisha later opted out of the film as she felt her character's role was not substantial enough and sources had indicated that Juhi Chawla was signed on for the role.In April 2008, the director announced that he had signed on Lara Dutta to essay the role of the barber's wife.

Another Dostana...
The cast began filming for the project on April 8, 2008 and according to Shahrukh Khan, "the film is a sweet story of friendship...quite similar to the bond shared between Krishna and Sudama."

Ref:Wikipedia

Sri Ram Sena and Mangalore Pub attack

Shri Ram Sena till a few days back could have been called the vanar sena that went to Lanka to kill Ravana. The maryada purushottam Shri Ram went and killed Ravana by his arrow. This was destined to happen as the destiny of Ravana was written many years back when two guards outside Lord Shiva's gate were cursed by Parvati's (then called as Sati) father. The two guards later became Ravana and Kumbhakaran.

Ram, lord Vishnu's avatar was a protector not the destroyer, for he protected the interests of those sadhus who were troubled by Rakshasas. Looking at the recent Mangalore incident, it wouldn't be hard for any sane individual to distinguish between Rakhshas and lord Ram. Under the masquerade of the name of Shri Ram Sena, have come a group of Rakshas who are hitting defenseless girls. I wouldn't go to the Pub issue right now but I'd like to debate on the righteousness of men in the name of religion abusing females.

When a person on his desire decides to practice religion and renounce the worldly pleasures it is OK, but when they interfere in other people's matters what to do ? Further more, the unabashed Sri Ram Sena chief goes out and says that women his people hit on his orders were his sisters. Where does Hindu religion say that sisters are/can be beaten ? Instead they are given the position of god. Even the greatest of gods in Hindu religion have not dared to disrespect women, and if they did so they had to suffer the curse that followed.

Hindu religion is a creators religion and not the destroyers and that is why Lord Vishnu, the creator enjoys such a high position.
It is necessary that strict action without any mercy be taken against such individuals so that the next time any organization for political mileage tries to play with the freedom of people, they'll think twice.