Ass Lift !! - Swift + Dickey = Swift DZire

Wonder whats happening to car makers these days. Instead of coming up with new designs they are giving their cars an ass lift of sorts by just adding a dickey to a small car already existing in the market. Tata started the trend by introducing the Indigo which is just a cosmetic change to the Indica where they added a dickey to it and kept the remaining part of the car same. They didnt change the engine either. Now Maruti has done the same by introducing the Swift DZire which is a Swift+dickey. The interiors are the same and so is the engine. Tata atleast made the Indigo a little more spacious by increasing the wheel base, but Maruti has kept the wheelbase same which might lead to cramping of legs of the passenger in the rear seat.

The marketing strategy behind this small change is the relatively small change in the cost that the car makers will have to incur. By doing this they hope to price these cars aggressively which will give very tough competition to those mid segment cars which are already in the market. The Swift DZire has been brought as a replacement to the age old esteem which lead this segment for quite sometime. The introduction of the DZire could spell doom to cars like the Chevrolet Avio, the Mahindra-Renault Logan and even Tata Indigo because Maruti has been very aggressive as far as pricing is concerned and the after sales services of Maruti are also excellent.

What ever the market strategy people these days are looking for cars which have a modern design with excellent performance and they dont mind spending that little extra to get a car of that fits their needs. They dont want cars which just got an ASS-LIFT.

Its pay back time!! - Musharraf under the guillotine

Ex-President Parvez Musharraf made too many mistakes while he reigned over Pakistan. He used his power to the max when he dismissed judges who were against him. This act of his lead to his accelerated downfall. This dismissal coupled with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto was what lead to a steep fall in Musharraf's popularity. He was never in the good books of the Pakistanis. He was an ally of the US and was literally a puppet in their hands. He followed all that the US asked him to do and the US in return gave him protection, support and military power. Pakistan has a whole fleet of the very techincally advanced F-16's, while the Americans gave the Indians Sukhoy's and Mig's which are almost on the same level but not as good as the F-16's.

Musharraf tried his level best to not let democracy come into pakistan. He wanted to hold complete control over it by being both the president and also the army general, two of the most powerful positions. He tried all means but the unrest grew to such a level that he had to concede. He risked jeopardizing the whole of Pakistan. Hats off to the courage and determination of the people of Pakistan. They have finally succeeded in ousting Musharraf and restore democracy. It was a costly risk the opposition party took in which process a very dynamic and charismatic leader Benazir Bhutto had to die. Her soul will now rest in peace. Atleast all the efforts that she put into, the solid foundations that she laid and everything she ever dreamt of is finally materialising, although she would have loved to be here in person.

Musharraff is now in such a state that he is literally having to cajole the high powers. He is saying all kinds of nice things to try and gain some favour. He still hold the position of the Army General, the new government formed by the PPP with the PML-N lead by Nawaz Shariff as its ally have nominated Yusuf Raza Gillani for the PM candidate and once he comes into power, he vows to reinstate all the judges whom Musharraf had dismissed when he declared emergency in Pakistan. If these judges are reinstated Musharraf is in for some very harsh treatment. These judges will definitely raise a lot of charges against him for which Musharraf is sure to get convicted and might as well be imprisoned.

Pakistan has sure won a victory of sorts. Now it can avenge all the illtreatment that it had to go through when under Musharraf. The ball is now in the new domocratic Pakistan's court and Musharraf is now on the receiving side. His days are numbered.

Got to see what will happen to Musharraf now....

It happens only in India

This is a cliche that everyone uses to highlight strange things that happen only in India. Of the many such strange things the most striking one would be the fact that we Indians sometimes go totally out of our way to help a complete stranger. This is specially true when it comes to giving strangers directions to places. There are stories that people actually went along with the stranger all the way to where he wanted to go just coz he asked for directions. We Indians are basically very helpful at heart.

I got truck loads of this help when i needed it the most. It was on Good Friday and my family and i were on our way to church. There was a heavy downpour all of afternoon and the evening and the roads were flooded. We were on our way and my driver accidentally drove our car into a pit. He couldn't see it coz it was dark and moreover the pit was submerged in water. The front left wheel of our car fell into the pit and we were unable to drive out of it. There was no traction because of the mud and our car was a front wheel drive. It was kind of a slum area where this happened. All of a sudden, from no where people standing by came in droves to help us out of this predicament. They teamed up and literally lifted our car out of the pit and onto the road. None of those guys were actually strong or well built, it was just teamwork and total coordination. The "Team" included young kids in their teens, guys in twenties and even old people.They gave it one shove and our car was on the road. I was elated and so were they, they clapped and whistled while we drove away. I couldn't contain my joy. I only heard about such things happening but to experience it first hand was amazing. We got all the more help coz the people around were my dads patients. It was still pouring heavily but people did not hold back. It was an example of good will that people had on my dad. It was a moment of pride for me.

One more striking feature in this whole fiasco was the fact that my mom was standing on the road in the rain and a 10 year old kid had the mental maturity to actually give his umberella to my mom and stand in the rain himself. His presence of mind was out of this world. I just could not stop clapping and cheering these guys when they were putting it all out in helping us. They found my way of cheering them up very strange but i didn't mind it. I shook hands will all of them and thanked them for the help they offered. They were happy that i acknowleged their help.

This is one experience i will cherish throughout my life.

5 years of Uncalled for and Unnecessary suffering for the Iraqi's : The end doesnt seem near yet

Its been 5 years since America bombarded Iraq claiming that they had evidence that Iraq was harbouring weapons of mass destruction. The war still goes on. It has lasted 5 years and a ceasefire doesnt seem to be anywhere near. This war has lasted longer than the First World war, the Second World War and even the Civil War.

Current statistics show that there have been in excess of 550,500 deaths in Iraq so far. Another set of statistics puts Iraqi deaths since the US invasion at a whopping 1,189,173. These include both civilian and military deaths.

The cost to the national security has been immense – American military is stretched thin and its reputation in the world is damaged. And now, the war in Iraq has become a threat to the American economy, with its colossal cost to taxpayers taking them more deeply into debt.

Mr Bush, however, dismissed these as ‘exaggerated estimates’ and insisted that “the costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq.”

The war on Iraq was “worth it,” in spite of the “loss of life and treasure,” said Mr Bush. What an imbecile !!

Iraq posed no threat to the people of the United States when it was brutally invaded. This was a war to dominate not only Iraq, but a strategic and oil-rich region.

The United States currently has about 160,000 troops in Iraq but is scheduled to reduce the number to 140,000 by summer. The cost of the war has crossed $3 trillion. This has had a very huge impact on the US economy.

The US has made itself many enemies by going into war with Iraq. It is this fear that is making them spend a lot more in the war and, this is what is making them reluctant in retreating because once the US turns its back... thats is, everyone will pounce on it and beat it to death. The moment they get their troops out of Iraq it will result in a huge backlash. Thats the situation that the US has put itself.

The US has so far spent more than $3 trillion on the war and they are not willing to spend even half of it on health care and education sectors. This has lead to the decline of Bush. The health care sector in the US is pathetic and needs urgent attention. That is the reason why both Hillary and Obama have made innumarable proposals to help bring up the health care system. Hillary had initially supported the war and now she proposes to bring back the troops withing 6 months of her coming into office. But i dont see that happening.

This will be a very difficult decision for the US. The Iraqi's hate the Americans so much that though they actually tried to help the Iraqi's to set up government, they did not come to a consensus.

The whole infrastructure in Iraq has been destroyed. Education has gone to dogs. I feel extremely sad for all the young people who dreamed of a good career and making it big in life but cannot do that now because of the war. I feel really sad for all the lives that have been lost there.


When i first saw the bombing in the news, i thought it was a movie. I could believe that what i was seeing on TV was actually happening. It took me a day to actually believe it. Whats even more revolting is that fact that Bush doesnt seem to have any sense of remorse for having done such an inhuman thing. Bush is actually proud of himself and he wants to consolidate on the gains they made. What gains?

He suspected that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, after the war it proves that America has more weapons of mass destruction than any other country. They caused such massive destruction in Iraq. All the countries of the world must now goto war with the Americans coz now its not a hunch, there is proof that Americans themselves have weapons of mass destruction.

There are graves spread all over Iraq which are so painful to look at. Some graves have tomb stones, these are graves of people whose relatives buried them. There are other graves where unidentified bodies have been buried and a piece of metal is placed as a tombstone. What a waste of life !!!

The people of Iraq are surviving because of their immense faith in God. When a press person had interviewed one of the survivers, they gave their comments on the war and said "Inshah Allah", which means God is in control. That faith is what is taking them forward.

I really hope that somehow Iraq gets back on its feet soon.

Viagra for dogs?

It is seriously strange to see what scientists are doing these days. They perform such strange and never thought of experiments. Wonder what drives them to do this and whats even more appalling is the idea. Dont know how they come up with such strange stuff. Good discoveries and inventions are appreciated. Actually all their work is amazing. Its just that some things that they do are so so strange that you will find these guys to be total weirdos, this coupled with their looks... well cant say much about it. No wonder they are called nerds and are picked on mostly in schools and colleges when in their student days.

I recently read this article in a science column in a news paper that scientists tried viagra on a dog to cure its heart disease. Now thats totally out of this world. Why would anyone in his sane mind want to try viagra on dogs !!! just unimaginable... I blew me away. Viagra is for impotent men... not for dogs... No wonder these guys are such freaks... but kudos to them for having found a medicine to cure a dog's heart condition, if it wasnt for their strange thinking this cure wouldnt have come by.

"Hantuchova beats Sania in straight sets" - Told ya

Well it happened exactly as I said it would. Sania mirza was beaten by Daniella Hantuchova in straight sets. Not so long ago there was news that she stormed through some round. Now she is out.

She is ranked 32 in the world not because she has won major tournaments, but because she came very near to either the Semi-finals or Quarter finals (Not finals).

If Sania really wants to be in the top 10, she has to slim down first and try and make it a little farther into the tournament. Its like crossing 50 in cricket and not being able to reach a 100. Wish her new coach helps her to go that extra mile.

Common Sania!!!

You only need an eye to start a business

Stress has been one of the major reasons for breakdown of a lot of young professionals these days. People are being payed huge unimaginable salaries and an equal amount of work is being extracted from them. People are literally putting their lives on the line. Its a tough world out there with ferocious competition, so people are pushing the physical limits to stay on the top. If all this work is coupled with equal amount of rest, then one can go on for longer. This very concept is being exploited well by a lot of companies who are coming up with all kinds of innovations which remove stress.

A recent and a very unique innovation was unveiled by Google in march. It introduced a ball kind of a thing in which the person sleeps. It cuts out all the light and sound so that the person in the ball can have a peaceful sleep. It is said that even one hour of peaceful and undisturbed sleep rejuvinates the whole body and lets you go on for hours on end. This contraption will definitely help in that cause.


People go to spas, massage centers and to all kinds of places to beat stress. People even take classes to eliminate stress and they charge huge amounts and the people who take these classes are more than willing to cough up that amount.

All that is needed to start a business or make money is a keen and observant eye. Look at what people want or are suffering from and innovate a device or an idea which eliminates it and voila you will be rich in no time.

So be on the look out. Who know you could be the next great inventor who turned a billionaire !!!

Shamshabad Airport - An Architectural Masterpiece

What a proud moment it is for the Hyderabadis. One of the best airports in the world and the best airport in India has been built in Hyderabad. We get to enjoy such amazing facilities that you forget that this is India when you are in the airport. The whole look of the airport is amazing and whats more amazing is how the airport has been built which is almost self sustaining with all the recycling of water and all and also the way in which modern technology has been put to use.

It was very aptly named Rajiv Gandhi airport and not NTR airport. TDP was raising baseless protests by asking the airport to be named NTR airport. How did the TDP contribute in building the airport? they did nothing. From the very inception it was the congress party which came up with the idea and found a very good contract with GMR group who have been making some amazing structures. The entire credit goes to the congress party. What was even more fitting was the fact that it was Ms. Sonia Gandhi who officially opened the airport. It could have been Dr. Manmohan Singh who did the honours, but Sonia Gandhi a very able leader was behind all this so it was fitting that she was the one who inaugurated it .

The airport has been built in an are of 22 sq km, (thats huge) and it has a capacity to handle a whopping 12 million passengers. It is filed for an approval of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), this approval, if it comes by will make all the other airfields across the country go green with envy. The ratings are given on five criteria namely sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials and indoor environmental quality.

The negative pressure area that is present in this airport is amazing. All the major places are having special smoking zones these days. This unique feature doesnt allow the smoke to escape anywhere unlike in the old airport where the smoke escaped through crevices. The best feature of the airport though is the use of glass with low U-value and low shading coefficient which will block the heat while allowing light. The air conditioning with centrifugal fans, insulated roof and walls, use of recyclable material and efficient waste management systems are some other aspects that draw special attention. Lighting per square foot in the passenger terminal block uses only 0.9 watts of energy, very low when compared to the prescribed 1.3 watts by international standards.

It also has measures for storm water collection and recycling soiled water to be used for flushing and gardening. The paints used are low on volatile organic compound which generally causes nausea which is what we experience when we enter newly painted houses. This will not be there. The terminal is continuously flushed with fresh air which mounts to 15 cc/min/person. All these features are what a green field airport should have. Hope this clarifies the doubt that a lot of people have had with regards to what a green field airport meant.

The only negative i see to this airport is the distance from the city. Begumpet airport was the best as it was located in the center of the city and it was also very near to some of the best 5 star hotels in Hyderabad. This is the only drawback. Proposals are being made that adequate transport will be provided to make the travelers reach the airport in a very short time, but that might happen that easily considering the very heavy and unruly traffic of Hyderabad. Hotels are not an issue, a lot of new ones will pop up in no time. The other negative is the fact that the passengers are being charged extra for travel Rs 1000 to be precise. Not much when compared to the money spent on the ticket but a waste none the less. Whats to be seen now is how the government will manage the roads to be more efficient for speedy travel to the airport.

Now everything is in Hyderabad. No need to go anywhere for anything.

Proud to be a Hyderbadi!!

Creativity at its best

Gone are the days of jingles. The famous “Washing powder Nirma” is gone and in came creativity… ads now a days not only display their products, they are coupled with an amazing video and an even more amazing background music. The new Bajaj Pulsar is one such ad. It is amazing, the whole concept of the video, “Pulsarmania”, the stunts performed in the ad and the background score…. just spell bounding. The music is so catchy, you actually sort of head bang with the beat. The ad makes you want to go right away and grab that bike. That’s how ads are supposed to be and Bajaj sets the standards. Right from “It’s a boy”, the first ad for the pulsar to the present “Pulsarmania” ad, all of them have been amazing. Their other advertisements for bikes like the caliber 125 “hoodibaba”, to their Avenger “Be like God”, to the pulsar 200 ad where they drive through buildings, to the exceptional ad for XCD where they literally show the bike being put together, all of them have been exceptional. The captions have been so so good and they have been backed up with exceptional videos.

Not only bajaj, but all the other companies have been making exceptional ads these days. There were days when you immediately changed channels as soon as a commercial was on, that’s not happening anymore. You actually want to see the ad. We have come a long way from the age old advertising techniques which had all those stupid jingles.

A few companies make horribly bad ads, cant help it. That’s when you change channels. But others are too good. You end up laughing your guts out after watching the ad. The ads for the new “Virgin Mobile”, the sprite ad, the ads of Vodafone, Thums Up, Moto Yuva (this ad tops the charts)… and many more are just too damn good. No matter how many times the ad comes on, you don’t get bored. They have such pun in the ads, cant imagine that the ads in the past were so pathetic and also the fact that some companies still make pathetic ads is when there are such beautiful ads doing the rounds is shocking.

According to me, these are some of the best ads doing the rounds on TV

1. Bajaj Pulsar – 220 – Pulsarmania
2. Moto Yuva – The dad scolding the son
3. Virgin mobile – both ads, the one in the traffic where his friend pretends to be his dad and the girl playing dumb that she doesn’t like guys
4. Sprite – The guys saying he’s going to meet his other girl friend
   
5. Vodafone – Listen to more songs
6. Thums Up – The car stunt with Akshay Kumar
7. Axe – The one where the guy throws the coin in the fountain
8. Tata Tea – The politician asking for votes

.3.And heres the list of some of the most dumbest and the most annoying ads :

1. BSNL – Preity Zinta
2. Honda City – “Look who joined us for a ride”
3. IBIBO - Dont be a balti
4. Allahabad Bank
5. Maggi Atta noodles – that really annoying song
6. All the boomer ads
7. Pepsi’s youngistan – so damn dumb
8. Nokia – Shah Rukh Khan

That covers all the ads on television I guess….

Im sure there are going to be even more hilarious, bone tickling ads in the future… So heres to creativity …..

Funny thing about Sania Mirza

Open the sports page of any Indian news paper and if there is a tennis tournament going on anywhere, the first news you see is " Sania sails past so and so and enters the next round". Watch the same space a day or two later the there is news again. This time it says "Sania bows out of so and so tournament" or "Sania out in so and so round". The irony seems funny alright, but it might not augur well for our tennis star. Lots of international coaches have commented on her. They say she has a very strong fore hand and has quite a number of weak points, but everyone has one common opinion. Thats the fact that Sania doesn't have the fitness level to get into the top 10. This is undeniably true. She is slightly hefty and doesnt have a slender body, gets tired very easily, these are areas she need to work on.

On a serious note, Sania needs to work extremely hard on her fitness. She has to work on improving her stamina and on becoming sleek and more fitter and increase the power in her shots. Look at players like Justin Henin, Sharapova, Jankovic, Ivanovic, all of them have amazingly sleek bodies. All of them have huge amounts of stamina and even more power in their shots. Sania must concentrate on all these issues and work on them with deligence if she dreams of getting into the top 10 in the world.

This is how she should aim to become... look how sleek she looks here....


So here's wishing that she will make us proud by getting into the top ten and in the process inspire a lot of youngsters to take up this amazing game of tennis.

Lyrics of the title song from Jalsa - Unbelievablely shitty

The call in the cool cool angry man

Super ANDHRA telusa !I
ts the time for the toll in the beatComeup comeup karo JALSA !!Jalsa!!
Yo ! Yo ! Yo !! Yo !!!Yo !
He is the man !!Yo ! the Jackiechan!!!
He is the king of the ANDHRA..
His spouse is super groovy HYDERABAD
and she is baby girl senderos..
Hey Sarigama pada nisa..
arey karo karo jara JALSA !!
SAA!! JALSA!!!
hey Sanidhapa maga risaarey karo karo jara JALSA!!
SAA!! JALSA!!!
telusa telusa telusaa.. evvarikaina telusa
tsunami eduraga vasthey elaga kanpaduthundho!!!
telusa telusa telusaa.. evvarikaina telusa
thuphane thalupulu thadithe elaga vinapaduthundho!!
arey theliyakapothe chudara baabu !
He is the human tsunami !!
theliyalanukunte DANGER baabu !
you got to believe meeeeeeeeee !!!!!!!!-
Hey Sarigama pada nisa..arey karo karo jara JALSA !!
SAA!! JALSA!!!
hey Sanidhapa maga risaarey karo karo jara JALSA!!
SAA!! ONE MORE TIME !!!JALSA!!!!!!-
height enthuntado kolavalanipisthe
amanthamu ala ala mount everest avuthaadu
fight emchesthado ani saradapadithe
stretcher thanayi sara sari ward ki cherusthaadu
arey gaddi pocha anukoni guchadaaniki vasthe
gaddapaara namilesthaadu!!
gundu sudhi chethikichi danda guchamante
godda thavvi paaresthaaduuuuuuuuuu!!
Hey Sarigama pada nisa..arey karo karo jara JALSA !!
SAA!! JALSA!!!
hey Sanidhapa maga risaarey karo karo jara JALSA!!
SAA!! JALSA!!!!!!

What idiotic lyrics..... The songs is making waves in telugu industry but the lyrics... They are shit... Just read and understand... Sirivennala wrote the lyrics... Dont know what he was thinking when writing the song.... such dumb and man im out of words to describe how nonsensical the lyrics are.... The only saving grace for the song are Baba Sehgals voice and Devi Sri Prasads music. All the other songs in the movie Jalsa have the most idiotic lyrics possible.....
I will try and put in the literal translation soon....

Back to school : Way to go Captain Dhoni

Of all the Super sports persons of India, Captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni is the one, worthy to be called a 'Role Model'. He has one of the best heads on his shoulders. Not only has he been excellent on field, he is now making waves by getting back to school, college in-fact, and set an example to many that education will always help in anyone's future. He plans to join St. Xaviers college and complete his B.Com. Thats amazing. Sachin, though is so popular and extremely rich is only a 10th class pass candidate. Can you believe that? His achievements have more than covered up for his lack of education. This should and can not always be the case though. Education is of utmost importance. You cannot be a superstar and be a dumb guy right? One needs to be circumspect, for that, you need education. Shah Rukh Khan is one such guy. He is so knowledgable that even if some very intelligent guy poses questions to him, im sure he will be able to answer more than 50% of the them and more than that, he will bowl him over with his wit. I just cannot stop praising Shah Rukh. He's amazing.

If all the team members are to be taken into consideration, not many have completed graduation. I cant think of any in fact. The only people that come into mind when a combo of education and career in sports are Venkatesh Prasad and Javagal Srinath. Both these amazing bowlers who played for India have completed graduation and are engineers. Completing education or atleast graduation, (PG is too much to ask for) will help anyone because, not everyone can click in the world of sports. Its a dog eat dog world out there. So even if somebody doesnt click he can always fall back on his education and make a different career.

Dhoni, if he keeps his focus and head straight, could well become a legend. He could be one of the best captains that India ever had.

Way to go Dhoni!!

The Last Supper

There has been an issue about this painting for ages now. I cant believe how dumb people can get. Why dont they think and get some sense into their heads. The first and major mistake that all the guys make is this : Who on earth would ever sit in a single straight line and eat. If you see in the painting, all the disciples including Jesus Christ are sitting in one line and passing things to each other. Now think straight, would anyone do that? Also observe that the room in the painting seems long enough to place the table at 90degress to how it looks in the painting, why did they want to sit all cramped up when there was enough place. Jesus Christ being the head might have sat at the head of the table and the rest of the 12 disciples might have sat 6 on either side of the table. This seems reasonable. This fact is so simple and i dont believe people actually get it wrong. The second wrong fact is that, this drawing was drawn by DaVinci ages after Jesus was on earth, and this painting of his is just an imagination of how he thought it would have been back then. How can people make a controversy out if it saying that the person who is sitting beside Jesus looks feminine and that he/she could have been Jesus's wife and a big story being weaved over it. How dumb...

Now lets get some facts right ....

It was way back in 1406 that an artist named Filippo Brunaleschi who introduced the art of perspective. The last supper was painted before DaVinci, but in all the paintings, other versions i mean, it was a top view. The glasses and food on the table looked as if they were falling off. Then this guy Filippo Brunaleschi was excellent at geometry and brought about a revolution by bringing a perspective to his paintings (he was not awarded the title as the father of perspective though) where in he saw to it that most of his paintings were on parallel lines which disappeared into the background and he made paintings with a first person point of view, that is as if you were actually looking at it standing in front of it. This art of his was adopted by DaVinci and he came up with his own version of The Last Supper. He painted it in between 1495-1498, nearly 100 years after Brunaleschi introduced his new form of painting. DaVinci thought of not drawing the backs of people and so he painted them all in line so that all the faces of the disciples and Jesus could be seen. He then added a unique facial feature to all the 13 people. He chose to draw one of the disciples to look slightly feminine, (dont know why he chose to do that) and thats it.... So called "Purists" weaved all kinds of stories around it. What dumb asses. If you check in Wikipedia it quotes the bible verse where the whole scene is described. Got to give credit to DaVinci for having painted it by just listening to somebody reading it out to him, but a slight observation of the verses brings to light the fact that the place where the Last Supper was taking place was in the top room of somebody's house and the room was also small. It had a table alright, but not big enough where in all the 13 people could sit in line. Dont know how DaVinci got this point totally wrong.

The picture on the left was painted by Filippo Brunaleschi. It is not a painting of the last supper, but this was the basic idea which Brunaleschi brought to the front. Observe clearly that he made it a point not to show anyone's back to the viewer of the picture. This is exactly what DaVinci did in his painting of the last supper .



This here is another version of The Last Supper. This one seems more reasonable and wonder why nobody made an issue out of this?

Common guys, get some sense into your heads. Now we cannot erase the scars created. We can atleast get the facts right and try and fill up the scars. Hope this article comes as an eye opener to many.

Budget 2008

The budget for the financial year 2008-09 is out. All eyes were on our FM, Mr. P. Chidambaram too see what he would bring this time around for the country. This will be the last budget for the Congress party in its present term. He came out all guns blazing. His proposal to waive the Rs.60,000 crore loan that the farmers were facing was the defining moment. It augurs well for the farmers across India because India has been doing extremely well on the technology front and is being touted to be the next super power but it has totally ignored the Agricultural sector.

Year in and year out, different governments have come into power and one of the biggest and common problems they faced was the suicides of farmers. Nothing was being done for them. Inflation has been on the rise and farmers were finding it difficult to purchase fertilizers, seeds, tractors and other machinery they needed. Given the problem of global warming and unexpected and untimely rains have destroyed their crops everytime. The farmers were finding it difficult to make enough money to pay up the loans they were taking from banks. The recovery agents employed by these banks have been heartless and the farmers not able to take the pressure from them have resorted to suicide as the only solution to their inability to pay up the debt. But these banks don’t leave the families behind either.

This present proposal of the waiver has brought joy and respite to a lot of the farmer’s families across India and could help the congress to get a huge chunk of votes to go in for another 5 year term. People are calling this move to be smart “Poll”-itical move. Which government doesn’t want to make a last attempt to retain power before its term comes to an end? This is Congres’s attempt.

The big question tough is, how will our FM clear this Rs. 60,000 crore that he now owes the banks. He proposed that over the next 3 years he will create enough liquidity to be able to pay up this gargantuan amount. I don’t think this is impossible though. He has sustained the year on year growth of 9% successfully and if he has the capacity to do this, im sure he will definitely be able to clear that huge amount. He has been one of the most charismatic Finance Minister’s ever. He has brought a lot of changes to the Indian economy. He has managed to keep the inflation rates low and the growth rate to be nearly consistent and on the rise every year. Now that’s a very difficult task. If he could do this he can definitely clear the amount.

It will be really sad if the Congress party fails to stay on top for another term. The reasons if they don’t make it will be different though. They have been inefficient in taking care of a few policies. Very regrettable. This has been the only government which has shown apathy to the farmers and also have worked on things that were of utmost importance and not just go with the flow. Technological development is of importance no doubt, but that’s not the end all and be all of everything. There are other aspects like the agricultural sector, educational sector and others which require equal attention. The Congress party has maintained this balance very well. There was enough allotment of the GDP to areas like education and infrastructure development and this has led to the overall development of India and have made it a force to reckon with.

There are other aspects to the budget as well like the raising of taxable income to 1.5lakhs for men and 1.8 lakhs for women and other freebies to senior citizens and other things some of which were welcome while others were not taken well, but this waiver is the mother of all proposals. Hope the agricultural sector now develops on par with the technological development. When that happens, India will be on top of the world. Nobody will be able to compete with it.

Obama the Democrat candidate

Barack Obama is coming out as a clear winner in all the primaries and is well on his way to face John Mccain the Republican candidate in the presidential elections. He is pretty convincing with his speeches and policies and his theory of change. People are taking his idea of change very well. He has the charisma and has a very good head on his shoulders to make the change he intends to. He has amazing ideals backing him.

Whats going against senator Hillary Clinton is the fact that she has the name "Clinton" attached to her, the name which, has bad memories in the mind of the Americans, given the fact that Mr. Bill Clinton was a controversial president. Whats also going against her is that she initially supported the war against Iraq. According to Obama, Hillary refuses to concede that it was a mistake on her part for having voted for the war. She is loosing it badly and is throwing personal attacks at Obama which are clear indications of frustration in the face of defeat.

Barack Obama on the other hand is a fresh face. He is young and exudes energy and confidence which is what the Americans are looking for. He remains calm and composed even when bombarded with personal attacks by Hillary Clinton. She is digging deeper into Obama's back ground to get something against him. She wishes to make an issue out of his Kenyan origin. He is a citizen of America now and his background doest hold weightage anymore. I dont think its going to work. It will be a wain attempt on Hillary Clinton's side to try and bring down Obama. He has been delivering punches at the right time and now enjoys a pretty good lead over Hillary which might turn out to be hard to beat for her.

The next two contests at Texas and Ohio are very important for Hillary Clinton. If she doesnt win and get a lead over Obama or atleast get close to Obama's delegate count, then i think its better she stops going on furthur. She would do herself good by doing so. It think its a fair challenge thrown at Hillary by Obama's party. The republican candidates have been wise in doing so. John McCain was emerging the clear winner and the rest of the candidates stopped and conceded victory to him. Hillary Clinton would be wise in doing the same after this last attempt.

Both will create history of sorts by being either the first ever woman president or the first ever black president. The second history making script though seems to be on its way to becoming reality.

Wooden supercar is faster than a Porsche

The world's first wooden supercar has been unveiled - and it's faster than a Porsche or a Lamborghini.

The Splinter can produce 700bhp from its twin supercharged, 4.6 litre V8 engine - almost 300bhp more than a Porsche 911 GT3. And with a top speed of 240mph, it will leave the Porsche and the new Lamborghini Revanton in its wake.

The two seater, which is made from a combination of maple, plywood and MDF, weighs 1,134kg - 240kg less than the lightweight Porsche.

The Splinter, which has a roll cage to protect the driver and stiffen the chassis, has a laminated wood veneer chassis and wooden wheel rims. Suspension is provided through laminated wooden arms and springs made from osage orange wood. It is not made from solid chunks of wood, but rather moulded laminates.

The creators of this amazing new car a hinting at making an F1 car out of wood, the practicality of which is a doubt and moreover getting permission to create such a car i hard to get. The risks of driving such a car at such high speeds are very high so ratifications is difficult.

This adds a new dimension to cars in the world. Recently Tata unveiled a 1 lakh car, not the wooden car comes up which can be a lot cheaper considering the fact that not much has to be spent on the metal used for the body.

Technology seems to be pushing the limits. First came the worlds cheapest car, then the wooden car(yet to be produced though), what's next?

Indo-US nuclear deal

Off late India has been making all the right moves, and is well on its way to be a force to reckon with. As a matter of fact, everything seems to be falling in place for India’s own good. One of the biggest issue was the nuclear deal which India was supposed to sign with the US. Much has been said about the 123 agreement, a part of the nuclear deal, which lays down policies and restrictions which will go against India.

The biggest clause in the 123 agreement is that the Indian nuclear plants will be under constant surveillance by the US and that India will also not be allowed to reuse the nuclear waste produced as a by-product of nuclear energy generation. It also says that India will have to surrender all its nuclear reactors in case India chooses to test a nuclear weapon sometime in the future. This didn’t augur well with the left and there never was a total majority in the parliament to go ahead with the deal. The delay could turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

The US has been very adamant as far as the negotiations were concerned and the UPA government has been putting in its best efforts to make amends to the agreement so that the left’s demands could be met and that it would be accepted unanimously in the parliament. But if seen from a broader perspective, the nuclear energy that our honorable PM Mr. Manmohan Singh has been stressing about adds up to a very less percentage of the total energy generation requirement.

Mr. Prakash Karat has been wise in deciding to postpone the negotiations till the US presidential elections are over. The present policies adopted by the US are very dubious.

They have such subtle clauses in their policies that, they often go unnoticed, and as a matter of fact, put the other country at a disadvantage. This has to be kept in the minds of any country which plans to strike any kind of deal with the US.

After the US elections come to an end, the next president could hold better prospects for India. It is just a hope, but even if the negotiation have to be made all over again, it will be good for India because it can now try and plug the loop holes in the first negotiation when Bush was at the helm. The whole deal could as well turn in India’s favour and nuclear energy will not be a distant dream anymore. US is now forcing India to finish off the deal and has given a dead line to it. India in my opinion should not fall for it and even if it calls for fresh negotiations with a fresh government, it should not budge. It might turn out to be a costly mistake. India should not give into pressure. Nothing can be said now. Lets hope everything goes on well.

Indians on par with the Americans

Indians seem to be on par with the Americans in every aspect. We are competing with the US and are beating them fair and square on the technology front, in fact, we are doing much better than the Americans. We seem to be outdoing the Americans in their lifestyles as well. It is sad to see the things that are happening around and further disheartening to see what we are doing to ourselves. Where have all the values and traditions which we so proudly boast of gone? People are getting married just for the heck of it, having kids and then remarrying. On the other side there are people staging protests on the most flimsiest of issues, like celebrating valentine’s day. They don’t consider it to be Indian culture. What do you call being in multiple relations? Is this Indian culture? Why aren’t there protests when people are not respecting something as sacred as marriage? This is hypocrisy. Yes, there have been kings in the past who had hundreds of wives, but that’s not to be taken as an inspiration. We are partially better compared to the old kings, they had all the hundred of them together, we have one at a time. Yeah right!!

I do not mind being called old fashioned or anything. Its just NOT RIGHT, the things that people are doing today.

The marriage of Sanjay Dutt with Manyata, man that’s horrible. It got huge media attention. Its considered hot news. In what way?!! There are more pressing issues being starved of the limelight they deserve.

Did you know that Sanjay was married thrice before, and that he was still married to Rhea Pillai but not living with her while he was going around with manyata? He even has a daughter named Trishala from Rhea. Whats gonna happen to her? What if tomorrow somebody asks her, who her father is, what would she say? Sad to even imagine being in her position. This also happens to be manyata’s fourth marriage(Awesome! Made for each other ;)). The irony is that everybody seems to be happy for Sanjay. Well, I would have been happy as well if this was his first marriage. In an interview he said he wants everybody’s best wishes. What kind of best wishes? Wishes that he can go on with manyata for “as LONG” as possible? TRY and do ONE better than BEFORE? HOW IDIOTIC!!

I don’t have anything personal against Sanjay. He’s a great person and an amazing actor. It’s just the things he’s doing that are not going down well. Nobody can claim to be better.

Even Saif’s doing the same thing. He was married to Amrita who is older to him, he divorced her, then he was after Rosa and now he’s after Kareena. How long will this ‘changing partners’ go on? People who watch their movies draw inspiration from their onscreen hero’s, and this is the example they set in real life? They show these “HERO’S” working their ass out, getting kicked and all trying to woo ONE girl in the movies, and they get married and well… that’s shown as a happy ending. Why cant they do the same in real life? What a contrast between ‘Reel life and Real life’. Having girl friends and the having the highest no. of Ex’s was considered fashion or in a more contemporary way, its considered IN. It just got better. Having “Ex Wife’s” seems to be IN now. I pity these people.

If there is one person who can rightfully take the position of a real inspiration, it would be Shah Rukh Khan. Call me gay or whatever, I admire this guy. He was nothing, fame and success came knocking on his door, he embraced it with wide open arms. He got married had kids and even after years and crores of money earned, he still remains FAITHFUL (that’s the word to concentrate on) to his wife Gouri. He is never in news for his flings. That’s what a real star should be like. “King Khan”, very apt. He has that charisma and aura around him. His sense of humor, his way with words, his wit…man, its just amazing. Makes you wanna be able to speak like him. Do any of the other actors evoke such feeling? Everyone has their dark side which takes away all the glory from them.

Sanjay, Saif, Salman, Amir, nobody has done anything so worthwhile to deserve all the praise and admiration that they receive. Its just their movies that do the talking. It would be great if they lived such lives. Lot more can be said but nothing seems worth spending time on.

Kudos to the guys who believe in monogamy.

Apple's MacBook Air

Apple has officially announced that in two weeks time, its MacBook Air along with accompaniments, and its Time Capsule will be available in India.

The MacBook Air has been talked and written about recurrently ever since it was announced at the MacWorld 2008. The slimmest notebook in the world, measures just 0.76-inches at its thickest, and a mere 0.16-inches at its thinnest. The Silver Matte colored MacBook Air features a 13.3-inches LED back-lit wide-screen display.

The MacBook Air features Intel Core 2 Duo processor and Intel 965GMS chipset with integrated Gfx using a new miniaturized package technology. It also features a 4,200rpm 1.8-inches hard disk drive with 80GB standard storage capacity, and 2GB RAM. Not bad at all.

The MacBook Air has a built-in iSight Web cam, and a track-pad instead of the conventional touch-pad that works on a platform similar to that of the iPhone or iPod Touch.Though it is the thinnest notebook, it has major shortcomings, this is primarily due to the fact that it gives the conventional optical drive a miss, the Firewire, Ethernet, media card reader, and expansion card slot are also absent from the notebook. Besides, there's only one USB port included in the MacBook Air. This could prove to be very inconvenient as most people now tend to connect their cell phones and other external peripherals like an external mouse to their laptops while on the move.

For the missing optical drive, Apple has reassuringly provided consumers with an option to use the MacBook Air SuperDrive, which would be available at an additional cost of Rs 5,500. This is the similar kind of marketing strategy that Sony adopts. It introduces amazing cameras or MP3 players and other cool stuff and makes them slightly complicated and incompatible with others that, they literally force the customer to shell out extra amount to purchase the software or attachments just like the SuperDrive.

For those who do not want to purchase the SuperDrive for their MacBook Air; they can use Apple's software feature on the notebook called Remote Disk. The feature enables you to "borrow" the optical drive of another Mac or PC on the same network as the MacBook Air.

Apple's MacBook Air is priced at Rs 96,100. It comes with a limited one-year warranty, on completion of which, additional support-warranty can be purchased from the company. This is too much of a price taking into consideration the various other models available in the market with similar or better features from companies like Sony, Dell, HP etc. At 96000, each member family can have their own personal laptops. Only an apple fanatic will think of purchasing it. The MAC OS is amazing to work on.

The Time Capsule I feel is the most practical launch by Apple. It is an automatic data back-up solution that works over a wireless network. It can work as a wireless hard drive for both, the Mac and the PC.

A better pricing strategy by Apple could just boost its presence in the Indian market. The iPod has become a necessity for everyone and its popularity can be attributed to the various models available in terms of the memory capacity, screen size etc. If Apple can do something like this with the MacBook as well, nothing will ever be able to compete with it.

Violence in Mumbai

Is this what our freedom fighters sacrificed their lives for? So that we can fight amongst ourselves? It is pathetic and disturbing to see and hear of the things that are happening in Mumbai. The concept of “Mumbai for the Mumbaikar’s” coined by the Shiv Sena and the MNS is unfathomable. For nearly 200 years great men fought selflessly and many lives were sacrificed to kick the Britisher’s out, so that we can have Our India for Ourselves. Now the same thing is happening again, but this time its for Mumbai (A similar thing is happening down south in AP for Telangana), the difference being the fact that the people are not fighting selflessly for a common cause, but are fighting with a selfish motive and worse, they are fighting with people of the same country. If only people like Gandhiji or any freedom fighter who were in the thick of the freedom struggle were alive today, they would beat their chests and wail unconsolably looking at the current status of the country they loved and deemed worthy enough to lay their lives for.

Poor people mostly from the north had migrated to Mumbai looking for greener pastures. They have taken the risk and have settled down there. Now they are fleeing to their own states fearing loss of life. This is deeply regrettable. According to the Indian constitution, any Indian citizen has the right to move to any part of the country and set up business and earn a livelihood (This is what we learn in Civics at our schools). This is the basic human right which all these migrants are practicing. One of the many issues that people of Mumbai are raising is the fact that when it concerns jobs, the north Indians are given priority over the people of Mumbai. This is so idiotic. If the north Indians are given priority, its just because they are more hardworking and they have earned it.

The news of the death of a person from Nashik and the visuals shown on TV of the people of Mumbai pulling taxi drivers out of their cars and hitting them and destroying their taxi’s and the recent incident of a woman giving birth in the bathroom of the train she boarded to head back home are heart wrenching and inhuman to say the least.

These are the days of “India Shining” and India is all set to become the next world power. Indian economy is growing at an amazing pace and the entire world is looking east towards India as the country of opportunities. Many foreign companies are setting up their plants here and are planning to tap the Indian market. India has the greatest potential and resources in terms of man power. Even Mr. Barak Obama, the democrat contender for the US presidential elections said in a recent speech that he would want to improve the education system in the US so that they can produce students who can be on par with students from India and the China. This is something we should be extremely proud of.

It is said that “United we stand and divided we fall”. People need to get the real meaning of this maxim into their heads. What do people wish to accomplish by wanting separate states and kicking away people from other states? What political mileage do they wish to gain? What good is it going to do for people, and to India as a whole? If India prospers as a united country, who are the ones who will benefit from it? These are the questions which all these rabble rousers like Raj Thackeray, KCR and other miscreants who are against unity, that they need to ask themselves before doing anything . The only solution to this seems to be putting all these trouble makers behind bars, but whats the point, they come out on bail within a few hours giving as surety amounts which are paltry compared to what they make.

For all you know these so called rulers have numerous cases,sometimes even criminal cases filled against them, and these people are the ones who are ruling us and running the country. A very sad prospect, but nothing can be done.

A voice cries out in the distance, nobody pays it any heed.

Valentine's Day virus on the prowl

Anti-virus authorities in China have warned computer users to beware of Valentine's Day computer viruses.

Valentine's Day computer viruses, especially “Vbs_Valentin.A,” spread chiefly through emails or online chat systems; Xinhua quoted China National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center experts, as saying.

According to experts, other viruses like “Worm-blebla.B” and “VBS-ILoveyou” are also likely to attack computers if users open emails or attachments disguised with Valentine blessings for February 14.

Experts have warned users to be wary of unidentified emails, especially those attached with Spanish characters.

They have also alerted Internet shoppers to heed clicks on bogus discount messages from online stores, which may be used to spread viruses.

Suggesting computer users to update their anti-virus software, experts said users must use the real-time computer virus monitoring function while surfing Internet.

Ishanth Sharma – India’s Answer

It was in 1979 that, India produced its first world class fast bowler in the form of the legendary Kapil Dev. He had the capacity to humble the greatest of the players and bring India some of the most memorable victories including the 1983 world cup. Ever since then, India was on the look out for another such talented young pace man who could rummage through the batting line-up of the best cricket playing nations in the world and yet give away very few runs. India seems to have finally found the answer in Ishanth Sharma.

He has all the makings of another legend. The way he handles the new ball is remarkable. He manages to get the right amount of bounce and swing and at such high speeds. He consistently reached bowling speeds of 148, 149kmph, which is exactly what India needs. Ricky Ponting, according to the ICC cricket ratings, is the best batsman in the world, and Ishanth Sharma has managed to consistently get him out and that too, in his own backyard. This feat of his is commendable and he deserves all the praise for being able to put a batsman like Ricky in a corner.

It's now official.... India have arrived as a worthy contender to be the next No 1 team in the world. The main reason for this is mainly due to the wonderful presence and development of its younger players in Gambhir, Sreesanth, Pathan, Uthappa and both Ishant and Rohit Sharma.

India were just fantastic at the MCG on Sunday. Sreesanth started it all by knocking over the dangerous Gilchrist for a duck. What a wonderful start and then came along Ishant Sharma. Sharma found the edge of Hayden's bat... amazing considering I thought Hayden's bat had no edges of late.

Ishant Sharma is the next superstar in world cricket. Sharma has this great ability to get the ball to seam away and bounce from an impeccable length.

The inspirational Ishant Sharma bowled with pace and with some real venom and finished with the well-deserved figures of 4-38. When the lad puts some more weight on and get some strength, then adds some experience at this level, we will see Sharma bowl consistently in the 150s kph when he reaches the ripe old age of 25!

The whole reason for me is why this team is bowling well is because of their captain's leadership in Dhoni. He set strong attacking fields all day. He took the Aussies on. That is the way Dhoni plays his cricket and that's why India will win a lot of trophies in the future.

India are doing especially well in their "New Ball" plays. What I mean by that is that whether India are bowling with the new ball or batting against the new ball they are winning most of the contests. That's how you beat the No 1 team in the World.... take the Aussies on! Any team with positive leadership combined with youth who have no fear can do can do anything!

All that is needed now is to keep these amazing finds in great form and fitness and to train them in such a way that they can keep giving match winning performances always. If India manages to do this successfully and the young brigade manage to have a common goal and stay grounded, they will be world champions in no time and might as well lift the next world cup.

Here's wishing India all the very best.

Separate Telangana : Not a good idea

This issue has been doing the rounds ever since Congress came into power 5 years ago and it haunted them all through their tenure. In fact TRS joined the Congress party with a hope that they will accede to their wish of separate statehood. But what’s the point in wanting a separate state?

A lot has to be changed if a new state is to be established and a lot of challenges will come up. A few major and seemingly impossible things that have to be taken care of are as below:

1. A new cabinet has to be elected -A new set of MP’s, a new Chief Minister, a new set of MLA’s.

2. A whole new police department has to be put in place in order to take care of the law and order problems in the telangana region.

3. Most importantly a new Capital city will have to be chosen for the state of Telanga.

4. Huge amounts of funds that AP has borrowed from the World Bank and other sources for the various development projects, these will have to be divided or worse Telanga as a new state will have to borrow again because AP will definitely not want to share. Paying up these debts will be a herculean task for the new Telangana state as there will be no huge revenue generation in the formative stages and by the time they actually start making formidable revenues, the interest will have accumulated so much that, they will be in eternal debt.

5. A new capital will have to be chosen again for AP and there are rumors that the new capital will not be Hyderabad.

6. A lot of natural resources are also shared between the two, AP and Telangana, these will also have to be shared which on a large scale or for that matter on any scale is not feasible.

7. There is no clear or distinct demarcation between the two regions either. Non-existant boundaries will have to be erected.

8. Jobs will have to be created for the people of Telangana and also a whole new education system will also need to be setup.

I don’t see anything good coming out of this. The Telangana movement itself is divided with two different people wanting the same thing - A.Narendra and KCR. Even if a separate telangana comes into existence, these two fronts led by once good friends , will again fight amongst themselves vying for ownership of the state. While that issue is being resolved “Infant Telangana” will goto dogs.

Andhra Pradesh as a state consists of three segregations – Andhra, Rayalseema and Telangana. If Congress accedes to TRS’s plea or rather demand for a separate state because of the immense pressure being created, Rayalaseema will also come forward and want separate statehood. What’s the end result? A wonderful and peaceful Andhra Pradesh, the 5^th largest state in India by area, known for its rich culture and wonderful personalities it put on the world front, will be split into three. Nothing will hold the capability of being identified distinctly from another as everything will be related somehow or the other to all the three regions.

Y.S.Rajashekhar Reddy had been very smart in procrastinating this issue till the end. The chances of a second tenure of congress in AP seem bleak.Now everything will be left to the next government. My humble plea to who ever is going to handle this issue next, is to please to take into consideration the repercussions the division will bring and instead aim for a united and peaceful Andhra Pradesh.

Rohit sharma finded

Rohit Sharma was fined 10 per cent of his match fee at the Gabba after he "expressed disappointment" at being given out caught behind off Muttiah Muralitharan.

Replays proved beyond doubt that umpire Rudi Koertzen had done Rohit in with a poor decision. There was daylight between Rohit's bat and Muralitharan's delivery.

But the ICC match referee Jeff Crowe, displaying ineptness that match referees have come to be known for, decided to go with the letter of the rule, not its spirit, and turned his back to the grave umpiring error.

Sharma was guilty under ICC Code of Conduct section 1.3 for excessive, obvious disappointment at an umpire's decision and an obvious delay in leaving the wicket.

Sure Jeff. When a young batsman fighting to keep his place in the side gets done in on zero, we expect him to smile back with all 32 and send the umpire a bottle of wine to show his gratitude.

Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds escaped punishment for similar acts earlier this season. Is it one's imagination, or is ICC really not doing enough to shed its anti-Asia image?

Here's a proposal to the ICC: next time, field robots, not human beings. Then, match referees wouldn't have problems controlling their emotions.

Like Ian Chappell said, animosity and anger on the cricket field is predominately caused by poor officiating. Either poor laws and playing conditions, or bad decision making.