Highlights of Indian railway budget 2008

Following is the summary of Indian railway budget 2008

• 5% reduction in 2nd class fares beyond 50 km
• AC-I fares to be cut by 7%, AC-II by 4%, AC-III by 3%
• Sleeper fare to be cut by 5%
• TV, internet services on trains in future
• Special focus on North Eastern Region
• Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani to run tri-weekly
• Special train between Delhi and Pune for Commonwealth Games
• 10 new Garib Raths to be introduced this year
• 53 new trains to be introduced
• A new rail coach unit to be set up in Kerala
• AC Northern railway main hospital in Delhi
• 50 per cent concession for AIDS patients traveling in trains
• Mother Child Health Express to be started
• Rajdhani, Shatabdi to get modernised coaches
• Modular toilets to be installed in trains
• 6,000 automated ticket machines in 2 years
• Amritsar Garib Rath tri-weekly
• Bagalkota-Jaswantpur train now daily
• Kurla to Howrah train bi-weekly

Future Indian Cricket team storming in Kuala Lumpur

Future of Indian cricket team is cracking the balls in Kuala Lumpur. Yes it’s true. Under 19 cricket team of India stormed into the semi finals by beating England today in the Under 19 world cup. Indians were set an easy target of 147 by England as the Indian bowlers crushed the batting order of England team. Indians reached the target in just 40 overs. Even the current Indian cricket was not aggressive like this. Under 19 cricket is the place where future top class cricketers of Indian team are born. Many players in the Indian cricket team like Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sahrma came from under 19 team. Under 19 Indians will face New Zealand in Semi finals. Hope these teenagers go to finals and win the under 19 world cup.

22nd bond girls photo gallery

Shilpa Shetty, a bond girl?????

It seems that Shipa Shetty has joined the 22^nd bond movie Quantum of Solace team. Her role is not yet determined. Rumors are spreading that she is the third bond girl in this movie. I think the producers thought that the Bollywood and British fame of Shilpa Shetty will help them a lot. Shilpa Shetty’s cast will draw more crowds both in India and Britain. Shilpa became famous in India through Bollywood and she became famous in Britain through a TV show. Her name was found worldwide when she was caught in a scandal with Richard Gere. Hope the movie comes fine. Lets wait till 7^th November….

Birds, also called as missiles

We know birds as a living being flying in the sky. But how many of you know that they are dangerous missiles of war planes? Yes it’s true. Birds can be a dangerous missile for war planes. If a bird collides with a jet plane flying with a high velocity, these birds become a missile. Many accidents in Air Force of many countries happen due to birds colliding with jets. If a plane which is flying at the speed of 900 km/hr collides with a bird, it will create an impact of 25 tons. Many captains died and many escaped in this incident. Even though they escaped, the birds have created a million dollar loss to the air force.

Israel is a country which faces this problem during bird migration seasons. White storks are their enemies. Three white storks once collided with an F-15 Falcon which was flying with a speed of 1000 km/hr. Two of them stroked jet’s body and one was sucked into the engine. Each bird created a collision impact of 40 tons. In seconds, the jet became a fire ball, but pilot luckily escaped using the parachutes.

Indian air force is also one which faced a huge amount of loss due to birds. But now they have found a way to save birds and also save their jets. They have planned to fix a radar system in all the jets which will trace the flying bird’s path. After tracing the path, if the plane goes near that path, they will scare away the birds. This system is most welcome by the pilots and bird lovers as it saves both the life of a pilot and the life of a bird. But the important thing to note is it reduces loss to the government by reducing the jet crashes.

Yet another controversy

I think this Indian tour of Australia is the most controversial tour in the international cricket. In the list of controversies, now a new one has been added. It’s about the fine imposed on Ishanth Sharma for exchanging words with Symonds. Symonds was bowled out by Ishanth Sharma in the 48^th over of 10^th match of CB series. After this dismissal, Symonds exchanged some words with Ishanth before leaving the ground. I think it was Symonds who started the words and Ishanth replied him. I clearly understood what Ishanth told to Symonds from TV replays. Though Symonds started it, Ishanth was fined 15% of his match fee. Now BCCI has complained to ICC about this and they have clearly mentioned that Australians provoked Indians to talk. It seems that in some previous matches, Mathew Hayden sledged Harbhajan Singh. BCCI told Indian players to remain calm even if Aussies sledge at them. I don’t know why Aussies use this kind of sledging techniques in their match. This is not the sign of true sportsmanship.

War against Paes

After sania’s refusal to play in any tennis match in India, now the next hot news of the Tennis world is the war against paes. Davis Cuppers Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna, Karan Rastogi and Prakash Amritraj have written a letter to the All India Tennis Association that they won’t play under Leander Paes if he is the captain of the Davis Cup team. Davis cuppers started to protest against Paes after the Davis cup match against Uzbekistan in which he didn’t allow Prakash Amritraj to play on day one though he was fit. There are many rumors that there is some ego problem between Paes and Amritraj junior. General Secretary of the AITA Anil Khanna agreed to the press that he received the letter. It seems that Davis cuppers questioned Paes’s captaincy in the letter. Anil Khanna clearly told the press that decision will be taken in the best interest of tennis in the nation.

Indians lose a fighting match against Australia

Even after an excellent century from Gambhir, Indian team failed to win the match against Australia in the 10^th ODI match in Commonwealth Bank series (CB series).

I just yelled Oh my god after seeing the way the Aussies started the match with a run rate of nearly 9. Dangerous batsman Gilly went out in 20s after forming a strong base. Hayden went for a quick 50 with skipper Ricky Ponting’s support, but he was unfortunately run out. After Hayden’s dismissal, it was rain in Ponting’s side. I am not sure whether he came back to form because he got nearly 5 life in this match. But the skipper knocked an excellent 123. Then the man of 5 crore, Symonds added 59 to the Australian score board. Again some words were exchanged between Ishanth and Symonds when he was bowled out in the 48^th over. If I am not wrong, it was Symonds who started the word exchange. I hope this won’t come up as a big issue again. Finally Aussies set a Himalayan target of 318 for Indians.

As usual the Indian innings started with lose of early wickets. I have told many times in my blog that Indian team selectors made the Indian batting line up a weak one. As an impact today Indians stood with 51 for 4 wickets. Some of the experienced batsmen failed to create any impact in bat today. Indian skipper Dhoni as usual played a slow and steady innings but only managed to take 36 runs, but gave a good support for Gambhir. Uthappa was excellent today. He managed to take a half century in today’s match with some of the splendid shots which I should mention now. He smashed a no ball and a bouncer from Brett lee to a six which was an awesome shot. Smashing a bouncer from the world’s fastest bowler to a six is really a tough job, but Uthappa just stepped in and smashed it. This youngster really has a bright future. Gambhir scored his first class high score of 113 in this match. Irfan didn’t give any support for Uthappa. But Bhajji scored 20 quick runs with three consecutive fours and left the ground. Finally Indians were all out for 299. Final wicket of Ishanth Sharma was a perfect Yorker from Brett lee. Brett lee shined the match with 5 wickets. Ricky Ponting was the man of the match for his excellent 123.

Now Indians have to beat Sri Lanka to qualify for finals of CB series.

Michael Clarke touched my heart

On the day of IPL auction, one of the worries in the team owners mind was the absence of future captain of Australian cricket team Michael Clarke. Though eight of his team mates signed in the IPL contract, he refused to sign and told the press that he wanted to concentrate in his international career. Even after knowing that a huge amount of bid will be ready for him, he didn’t sign. He is the highest profile Australian player to stay away from IPL.

Michael Clarke today revealed the real reason behind his refusal to sign IPL contract. He told that he wanted to spend time with his father who is suffering from cancer. He also told that he wanted to spend time with his sister and mom. It seems that he bought a fishing carter for his dad and his dad wants him to accompany him. He told that he may play IPL in future. He also told that cricket is a big part in his life but his dad is more than cricket to him. Every dad in this world will pray god to have a son like him.

Filmfare Awards 2008

The ‘Filmfare Movie Awards’ is the most-prestigious annually organized function at Mumbai for recognizing and honoring the best new and old talents in the Indian film industry. Filmfare awards 2008 was recently organized in Mumbai. Here is the list of candidates winning Filmfare awards for important 19 categories.

Best Film (Winner: Aamir Khan for Taare Zameen Par)

Best Director (Winner: Aamir Khan for Taare Zameen Par)

Best Actor (Winner: Shah Rukh Khan for Chak De India)

Best Actress (Winner: Kareena Kapoor for Jab We Met)

Best Choreography (Winner: Saroj Khan for Barso Re (Guru))

Best Actor Critics Award (Winner: Darsheel Safary for Taare Zameen Par)

Best Debuting (Male) (Winner: Ranbir Kapoor for Saawariya)

Best Debuting (Female) (Winner: Deepika for Om Shanti Om)

Best Supporting Male (Winner: Irrfan Khan for Life in a Metro)

Best Supporting Female (Winner: Konkana Sen Sharma for Life in a Metro)

Best Music Direction (Winner: A. R. Rehman for Guru)

Best Dialogue (Winner: Imitiaz Ali for Jab We Met)

Best Screenplay (Winner: Anurag Basu for Life in A Metro)

Best Lyricist (Winner: Prasoon Joshi for 'Maa' from Taare Zameen Par )

Best Playback Singer (Male) (Winner: Shaan for 'Jabse Tere Naina' from Saawariya)

Best Playback Singer (Female) (Winner: Shreya Ghoshal for ' Barso Re ' from Guru.)

Best Cinematography (Winner: Sudip Chatterjee Chak De India)

Life Time Achievement Award (Winner: Rishi Kapoor)

Best Costume Design (Winner: Sujata Sharma for Gandhi My Father.)

World’s smallest personal computer

Fijitsu PC has unveiled the world’s smallest personal computer in Bangalore. It is named as Fujitsu Lifebook U1010. Ultra mobile pc weighing 63 grams with 3.5 G mobile broadband is the thinnest in the world. It is also the world’s lightest A4 size pc. There is also provision for using optical disks in this pc. Besides, the A4-sized LifeBook is armed with long lasting battery life of up to 11 hours with a 9-cell battery, which also has security features that prevent unauthorized access to information in the device. The price of the PC is between Rs. 60,000 (1,496.36 dollars) to Rs. 85,000 (2,119 dollars) and is enabled with mobile broadband. Lifebook is a new revolution in the world of small and mobile pcs.

Delhi light exhibition

From 22^nd to 25^th February, 2008, New Delhi will be illuminated with light due to the light exhibition conducted by Light India International. This exhibition is mainly to indicate the growth of light industry in India in last three years. A Conference will also be conducted in this exhibition. The format of the Conference will be Workshop based. The Workshops will cover areas of interest such as Energy Conservation, Sports Lighting, Outdoor Lighting, Retail Lighting, City Beautification, Hospitality Lighting, Infrastructure Lighting, LEDs, Electronics and Controls.

Date: - 22^nd to 25^th February.

Place: - Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India.

US spy satellite knocked down

The US has successfully knocked down spy satellite with a missile fired from a warship. A spy satellite of United States faced a technical fault and it was heading towards the earth with toxic fuels in it. US navy decided to blast it in the air using a missile. US navy successfully performed this operation today. The operation was done after the return of Atlantis from international space station. 50% of debris may fall on the earth’s surface after 15 hours of the strike. One side, people are happy, but Russians and Chinese are suspecting that US has tested a new anti satellite missile. May be true….

IPL Team details

IPL Chennai

• MS Dhoni
  
• Stephen Fleming
• Matthew Hayden
  
• Michael Hussey
• Joginder Sharma
  
• Albie Morkel
• Muttiah Muralitharan
  
• Makhaya Ntini
• Jacob Oram
• Parthiv Patel (wk)
• Suresh Raina

IPL Bangalore

• Mark Boucher (wk)
  
• Nathan Bracken
• Shivnarine Chanderpaul
• Rahul Dravid
• Wasim Jaffer
  
• Jacques Kallis
• Zaheer Khan
• Anil Kumble
• Dale Steyn
• Cameron White

IPL Delhi

• AB de Villiers
  
• Tillakaratne Dilshan
• Gautam Gambhir
  
• Dinesh Karthik
• Glenn McGrath
  
• Farveez Maharoof
• Mohammad Asif
  
• Virender Sehwag
• Shoaib Malik
  
• Manoj Tiwary
• Daniel Vettori
  
• Greg Shipperd
  

IPL Hyderabad

• Herschelle Gibbs
  
• Adam Gilchrist (wk)
• VVS Laxman
  
• Shahid Afridi
• Rohit Sharma
  
• Chamara Silva
• Rudra Pratap Singh
  
• Scott Styris
• Andrew Symonds
  
• Chaminda Vaas
• Nuwan Zoysa

IPL Jaipur

• Mohammad Kaif
  
• Kamran Akmal
• Justin Langer
  
• Munaf Patel
• Yusuf Pathan
  
• Graeme Smith
• Shane Warne
  
• Younis Khan

IPL Kolkata

• Ajit Agarkar
  
• Sourav Ganguly
• Chris Gayle
• David Hussey
• Murali Kartik
• Brendon McCullum (wk)
• Ricky Ponting
  
• Ishant Sharma
• Shoaib Akhtar
  
• Umar Gul
• John Buchanan

IPL Mohali

• Mahela Jayawardene
• Simon Katich
• Brett Lee
• Irfan Pathan
• Piyush Chawla
• Ramesh Powar
• Kumar Sangakkara
• Ramnaresh Sarwan
• Sreesanth
• Yuvraj Singh
• Tom Moody

IPL Mumbai

• Loots Bosman
  
• Dilhara Fernando
• Harbhajan Singh
• Sanath Jayasuriya
• Lasith Malinga
  
• Shaun Pollock
• Sachin Tendulkar
• Robin Uthappa

IPL showers money on cricket players

As expected, IPL showered billion dollars on the cricket players today. Even the Board of Control for Cricket in India and IPL officials were surprised at the huge amount showered by owners of different teams to get their favorite players in their team. Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are the icon players who will not be available for the auction. They will play for their home team and they will be paid 15% more than the highest paid player in their team. Following is the summary of the IPL auction.

Player	Country	Bought by Franchise	Price (in USD)	Base Price (USD)
MS Dhoni	India	Chennai	1.5 m	4,00,000
Adam Gilchrist	Australia	Hyderabad	7,00,000	3,00,000
M Muralitharan	Sri Lanka	Chennai	6,00,000	2,50,000
M Jayawardene	Sri Lanka	Mohali	4,75,000	2,50,000
Shane Warne	Australia	Jaipur	4,50,000	4,50,000
Shoaib Akhtar	Pakistan	Kolkata	4,25,000	2,50,000
Anil Kumble	India	Bangalore	5,00,000	2,50,000
Harbhajan Singh	India	Mumbai	8,50,000	2,50,000
Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	Mumbai	9,75,000	2,50,000
Kumar Sangakkara	Sri Lanka	Mohali	7,00,000	2,50,000
Glenn McGrath	Australia	-	No bid	3,50,000
Mohammad Yousuf	Pakistan	-	No bid	3,30,000
Ricky Ponting	Australia	Kolkata	4,00,000	3,35,000
Brett Lee	Australia	Mohali	9,00,000	3,00,000
Andrew Symonds	Australia	Hyderabad	1.35m	2,50,000
Michael Hussey	Australia	-	No bid	2,50,000
Daniel Vettori	New Zealand	Delhi	6,25,000	2,50,000
Matthew Hayden	Australia	Chennai	3,75,000	2,25,000
Brendon McCullum	New Zealand	Kolkata	7,00,000	1,75,000
Jacob Oram	New Zealand	Chennai	6,75,000	2,00,000
Stephen Fleming	New Zealand	Chennai	3,50,000	3,50,000
Graeme Smith	South Africa	Jaipur	2,50,000	2,50,000
Herschelle Gibbs	South Africa	Hyderabad	5,75,000	2,50,000
Chris Gayle	West Indies	Kolkata	8,00,000	2,50,000
Shoaib Malik	Pakistan	Delhi	5,00,000	3,00,000
Shahid Afridi	Pakistan	Hyderabad	6,75,000	2,25,000
Younis Khan	Pakistan	Jaipur	2,25,000	2,25,000
Mohammad Asif	Pakistan	Delhi	6,50,000	2,25,000
Jacques Kallis	South Africa	Bangalore	9,00,000	2,25,000
Zaheer Khan	India	Bangalore	4,50,000	2,00,000
S Sreesanth	India	Mohali	6,25,000	2,00,000
Dinesh Karthik	India	Delhi	5,25,000	2,00,000
AB de Villiers	South Africa	Delhi	3,00,000	2,00,000
Mark Boucher	South Africa	Bangalore	4,50,000	2,00,000
Parthiv Patel	India	Chennai	3,25,000	1,50,000
Kamran Akmal	Pakistan	Jaipur	1,50,000	1,50,000
Tatenda Taibu	Zimbabwe	----	No bid	1,25,000
Albie Morkel	South Africa	Chennai	6,75,000	2,25,000
Ajit Agarkar	India	Kolkata	3,50,000	2,00,000
Shaun Pollock	South Africa	Mumbai	5,50,000	2,00,000
Irfan Pathan	India	Mohali	9,25,000	2,00,000
Scott Styris	New Zealand	Hyderabad	1,75,000	1,75,000
Fervez Maharoof	Sri Lanka	Delhi	2,25,000	1,50,000
Tillakaratne Dilshan	Sri Lanka	Delhi	2,50,000	1,50,000
Cameron White	Australia	Bangalore	5,00,000	1,00,000
Yusuf Pathan	India	Jaipur	4,75,000	1,00,000
Joginder Sharma	India	Chennai	2,25,000	1,00,000
Ramnaresh Sarwan	West Indies	--	unsold	2,25,000
Simon Katich	Australia	--	unsold	2,00,000
Justin Langer	Australia	--	unsold	2,00,000
Gautam Gambhir	India	Delhi	7,25,000	2,20,000
Robin Uthappa	India	Mumbai	8,00,000	2,00,000
S Chanderpaul	West Indies	--	unsold	2,00,000
Ashwell Prince	West Indies	--	unsold	1,75,000
VVS Laxman	India	Hyderabad	3,75,000	1,50,000
Wasim Jaffer	India	Bangalore	1,50,000	1,50,000
Rohit Sharma	India	Hyderabad	7,50,000	1,50,000
Loots Bosman	South Africa	--	unsold	1,50,000
Mohammad Kaif	India	Jaipur	6,75,000	1,25,000
Suresh Raina	India	Chennai	6,50,000	1,25,000
Manoj Tiwary	India	Delhi	6,75,000	1,00,000
Chamara Silva	Sri Lanka	Hyderabad	1,00,000	1,00,000
David Hussey	Australia	Kolkata	6,25,000	1,00,000
Ramnaresh Sarwan	West Indies	--	unsold	2,25,000
Simon Katich	Australia	--	unsold	2,00,000
Justin Langer	Australia	--	unsold	2,00,000
Gautam Gambhir	India	Delhi	7,25,000	2,20,000
Robin Uthappa	India	Mumbai	8,00,000	2,00,000
S Chanderpaul	West Indies	--	unsold	2,00,000
Ashwell Prince	West Indies	--	unsold	1,75,000
VVS Laxman	India	Hyderabad	3,75,000	1,50,000
Wasim Jaffer	India	Bangalore	1,50,000	1,50,000
Rohit Sharma	India	Hyderabad	7,50,000	1,50,000
Loots Bosman	South Africa	--	unsold	1,50,000
Mohammad Kaif	India	Jaipur	6,75,000	1,25,000
Suresh Raina	India	Chennai	6,50,000	1,25,000
Manoj Tiwary	India	Delhi	6,75,000	1,00,000
Chamara Silva	Sri Lanka	Hyderabad	1,00,000	1,00,000
David Hussey	Australia	Kolkata	6,25,000	1,00,000