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

Spain’s new bullet train link

Spain's first high-speed rail link between Madrid and Barcelona has become operational, after years of delay. The AVE train took 155 minutes to cover the 550km from Barcelona to Madrid with hitting speed of 300 km/h. Totally 17 trains each carrying 200 people is operational now. The cost of the trip from Barcelona to Madrid is 108 Euros which competes with air travel. The service is operated by Spain's national train company Renfe. This high speed train link was planned some two decades ago, but the completion of the project was delayed due to administrative and construction issues. One of the interesting facts about this train service is that if the train reaches the destination with a delay of more than half an hour, full money will be returned back to the passengers. Interesting isn’t it?

India wins a nail biting match

Back to form playing from Yuvraj and slow and steady playing from Dhoni helped Indian team to win a nail biting match against Sri Lanka in 8^th match of CB Series in Adelaide today. Kumar Sangakkara’s 128 didn’t help Sri Lankans for a victory.

When Sri Lankans started their play, they lost two early wickets. But captain Jayawardane and keeper Sangakkara played an excellent innings to add a 100+ score to the Sri Lankan score board. This partnership was looking dangerous for Indians. But they found a break through by taking Jayawardane’s wicket. Though Jayawardane left the ground, Sangakkara continued his knock. With his 128 (second highest ODI score for Sanagakkara), Sri Lankans reached a decent total of 238 in 50 overs.

Indian innings started off with a shock for Indians when Sachin went out for a duck. The weak batting line up (an excellent selection from BCCI) started to crash. But Indians regained their energy when the victorious partnership of Yuvraj and Dhoni started their play. Yuvraj cracked many continuous fours and looked dangerous for Sri Lankans. Yuvraj managed to take a blistering 76 before he was bowled out by an excellent Yorker from Vaas. Then Irfan Pathan who joined hands with Dhoni continued Yuvraj’s play. Dhoni gave a nice support. Pathan’s vital 31 also helped a lot for India’s victory. Indians started to bite their nails (including me) as tension started to build up due to three quick wickets. Ishanth managed to give the strike to Dhoni in the last over. Dhoni scored the winning runs for India and also he managed to reach his half century. The interesting fact in Dhoni’s half century is that there were no boundaries in it. Interesting isn’t it????

An end to military rule in Pakistan

I was waiting eagerly for the results of Pakistan elections. The results of Historical elections in Pakistan has been announced and the ruling PML (Q) supported my Musharraf lose as most of the seats were captured by PML (N) and PPP. As a result, the military rule in Pakistan has come to an end. Musharraf who was ruling Pakistan for many years recently lost his support from Pakistanis. First incident is invoking emergency and dropping the judges. Second vital incident is the death of Benazir Bhutto. These two incidents showed a great impact in the election results. The opposition party said that Musharraf will be handed over to the Judiciary and all the changes made by him in the law will be taken back. Musharraf asked his supporters to accept the election results and he urged them not to undergo any violence. What will be the future of Musharraf??????

Australians sign IPL contracts

13 Australian cricketers signed the contract with IPL. Among those 13, 10 are currently playing for Australia and 3 of them are retired stars. Michel Clarke, Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin were the noted absence in the IPL. Michael Clarke didn’t sign the contract due to his personal reasons and the other two wanted to concentrate and improve their international career. It is said that Adam Gilchrist will be one among the most wanted in IPL. It seems that top players will be earning $70000 to $80000 in six weeks. Following are the details of Australian cricketers who signed for playing in IPL.

Nathan Bracken

Adam Gilchrist

Matthew Hayden

David Hussey

Michael Hussey

Simon Katich

Justin Langer

Brett Lee

Glenn McGrath

Ricky Ponting

Andrew Symonds

Shane Warne

Cameron White.

IPL match schedules

April 2008
Fri 18 19:00 local, 13:30 GMT	IPL Bangalore v IPL Kolkata M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Sat 19 09:30 GMT	IPL Mohali v IPL Chennai Venue TBC Mohali
Sat 19 14:30 GMT	IPL Delhi v IPL Jaipur Venue TBC Delhi
Sun 20 09:30 GMT	IPL Mumbai v IPL Bangalore Venue TBC Mumbai
Sun 20 14:30 GMT	IPL Kolkata v IPL Hyderabad Venue TBC Kolkata
Mon 21 13:30 GMT	IPL Jaipur v IPL Mohali Venue TBC Jaipur
Tue 22 13:30 GMT	IPL Hyderabad v IPL Delhi Venue TBC Hyderabad
Wed 23 13:30 GMT	IPL Chennai v IPL Mumbai Venue TBC Chennai
Thu 24 13:30 GMT	IPL Hyderabad v IPL Jaipur Venue TBC Hyderabad
Fri 25 13:30 GMT	IPL Mohali v IPL Mumbai Venue TBC Mohali
Sat 26 09:30 GMT	IPL Bangalore v IPL Jaipur Venue TBC Bangalore
Sat 26 14:30 GMT	IPL Chennai v IPL Kolkata Venue TBC Chennai
Sun 27 09:30 GMT	IPL Mumbai v IPL Hyderabad Venue TBC Mumbai
Sun 27 14:30 GMT	IPL Mohali v IPL Delhi Venue TBC Mohali
Mon 28 13:30 GMT	IPL Bangalore v IPL Chennai Venue TBC Bangalore
Tue 29 13:30 GMT	IPL Kolkata v IPL Mumbai Venue TBC Kolkata
Wed 30 13:30 GMT	IPL Delhi v IPL Bangalore Venue TBC Delhi
May 2008
Thu 1 09:30 GMT	IPL Hyderabad v IPL Mohali Venue TBC Hyderabad
Thu 1 14:30 GMT	IPL Jaipur v IPL Kolkata Venue TBC Jaipur
Fri 2 13:30 GMT	IPL Chennai v IPL Delhi Venue TBC Chennai
Sat 3 09:30 GMT	IPL Hyderabad v IPL Bangalore Venue TBC Hyderabad
Sat 3 14:30 GMT	IPL Mohali v IPL Kolkata Venue TBC Mohali
Sun 4 09:30 GMT	IPL Mumbai v IPL Delhi Venue TBC Mumbai
Sun 4 14:30 GMT	IPL Jaipur v IPL Chennai Venue TBC Jaipur
Mon 5 13:30 GMT	IPL Bangalore v IPL Mohali Venue TBC Bangalore
Tue 6 13:30 GMT	IPL Chennai v IPL Hyderabad Venue TBC Chennai
Wed 7 13:30 GMT	IPL Mumbai v IPL Jaipur Venue TBC Mumbai
Thu 8 09:30 GMT	IPL Delhi v IPL Chennai Venue TBC Delhi
Thu 8 14:30 GMT	IPL Kolkata v IPL Bangalore Venue TBC Kolkata
Fri 9 13:30 GMT	IPL Jaipur v IPL Hyderabad Venue TBC Jaipur
Sat 10 09:30 GMT	IPL Bangalore v IPL Mumbai Venue TBC Bangalore
Sat 10 14:30 GMT	IPL Chennai v IPL Mohali Venue TBC Chennai
Sun 11 09:30 GMT	IPL Hyderabad v IPL Kolkata Venue TBC Hyderabad
Sun 11 14:30 GMT	IPL Jaipur v IPL Delhi Venue TBC Jaipur
Mon 12 13:30 GMT	IPL Mohali v IPL Bangalore Venue TBC Mohali
Tue 13 13:30 GMT	IPL Kolkata v IPL Delhi Venue TBC Kolkata
Wed 14 09:30 GMT	IPL Mumbai v IPL Chennai Venue TBC Mumbai
Wed 14 14:30 GMT	IPL Mohali v IPL Jaipur Venue TBC Mohali
Thu 15 13:30 GMT	IPL Delhi v IPL Hyderabad Venue TBC Delhi
Fri 16 13:30 GMT	IPL Mumbai v IPL Kolkata Venue TBC Mumbai
Sat 17 09:30 GMT	IPL Delhi v IPL Mohali Venue TBC Delhi
Sat 17 14:30 GMT	IPL Jaipur v IPL Bangalore Venue TBC Jaipur
Sun 18 09:30 GMT	IPL Hyderabad v IPL Mumbai Venue TBC Hyderabad
Sun 18 14:30 GMT	IPL Kolkata v IPL Chennai Venue TBC Kolkata
Mon 19 13:30 GMT	IPL Bangalore v IPL Delhi Venue TBC Bangalore
Tue 20 13:30 GMT	IPL Kolkata v IPL Jaipur Venue TBC Kolkata
Wed 21 09:30 GMT	IPL Mumbai v IPL Mohali Venue TBC Mumbai
Wed 21 14:30 GMT	IPL Chennai v IPL Bangalore Venue TBC Chennai
Thu 22 13:30 GMT	IPL Delhi v IPL Kolkata Venue TBC Delhi
Fri 23 13:30 GMT	IPL Mohali v IPL Hyderabad Venue TBC Mohali
Sat 24 09:30 GMT	IPL Delhi v IPL Mumbai Venue TBC Delhi
Sat 24 14:30 GMT	IPL Chennai v IPL Jaipur Venue TBC Chennai
Sun 25 09:30 GMT	IPL Bangalore v IPL Hyderabad Venue TBC Bangalore
Sun 25 14:30 GMT	IPL Kolkata v IPL Mohali Venue TBC Kolkata
Mon 26 13:30 GMT	IPL Jaipur v IPL Mumbai Venue TBC Jaipur
Tue 27 13:30 GMT	IPL Hyderabad v IPL Chennai Venue TBC Hyderabad
Fri 30	1st Semi-Final - TBC v TBC Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
Sat 31	2nd Semi-Final - TBC v TBC Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
June 2008
Sun 1	Final - TBC v TBC Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

Historical Election in Pakistan

Though a peaceful day was found in Pakistan today, many voters didn’t come forward to cast their vote. The fate of Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf will be decided in this election. Yet there were many distributed complaints in many polling booths. An hour before the polling started, many blasts took place in many places of Pakistan. Many candidates were shot dead by unidentified gun man last night. Pervez Musharraf also voted in a school with a tight security. The way Musharraf talked to the press looks like he will lose this election. The results of this election will be out soon. The fate of Pakistan will be decided after the results.

Gillly finished the match with an excellent catch

I used to tell my friends that Indian cricket team will always miss a great chance in International cricket. Indians proved it again by losing the 7^th match vs. Australia in Adelaide. Indians failed to reach an easy target of 204 and they managed to score 153, as a result, Aussies won the match by 50 runs. Michael Clarke was the Man of the Match for his brilliant knock of 79 in a crucial time in the innings.

When the match begun, Gilchrist cracked continuous fours and gave a shock for Indian fans. But Ishanth didn’t forget his job and took the wicket of Gilly. After Gilly’s wicket, Aussies started to collapse. But future captain of Australian cricket team Michael Clarke and Brad Hogg took the responsibility in adding scores to the score board. Their partnership added 72 crucial runs. Michael Clarke left as soon as Brad Hogg left the ground. Aussies didn’t go for an all out and they managed to score 203 in 50 overs.

When Indian innings started, Sachin went out just for 5 runs. Then Gambhir tried to take up India but he left the ground as soon as Pathan left. The strong batting order of Indians started to collapse. Yuvraj and Dhoni joined their hands to add runs to the score board. I thought this partnership will bring a victory for India as this partnership has brought many victories to India. But Yuvraj was caught in the deep when he tried for a six and Dhoni was run out. After these two dismissals, the probability of winning the match reduced a lot. Tail Enders failed to create any impact on the ground. Finally the match brought a victory for Aussies with a brilliant catch from Gilchrist. Now he has become the only wicket keeper to take most number of dismissals against any team.

Paruthi Veeran rocked Berlin

The 2007 blockbuster movie Paruthi Veeran brought great fame to kollywood. 'Paruthi Veeran', directed by Ameer Sulthan, was honoured with a "special mention" from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) at the 58th Berlin International film festival. The Berlin International Film Festival also called Berlinale is one of the world’s leading film festivals held in Berlin, Germany. Paruthi Veeran, one of my favourite movies brought great fame to Kollywood by getting a prestigious special mention in Berlin International film festival. ‘Mounam Pesiyadhe’ was the first movie for Ameer. He created an impact in his first movie itself by giving us a strange story. Next movie was ‘Ram’ in which Ameer didn’t forget to create an impact again. Though ‘Paruthi Veeran’ is a rural story, the story was very interesting with lots of violence and love. The way Karthi acted as ‘Paruthi Veeran’ was excellent. The interesting fact in this is that ‘Paruthi Veeran’ is his debut movie. Youngsters used to act in role of college students in their debut movie, but Karthi spoiled his image and acted in an excellent manner as ‘Paruthi Veeran’. Priya Mani as ‘Muthalagu’ was also equally best in that movie. She acted as a rural Madurai girl with no make up. This movie is the best in her career. Ameer told that he got a visiting card after ‘Mounam Pesiyadhe’ and ‘Ram’. Now he has got a credit card after ‘Paruthi Veeran’.

Unexpected hike in fuel price

I don’t know whether it’s present government’s trend to hike the fuel price. I was shocked to see the news of fuel price hike on Thursday. Cost of petrol is hiked by two rupees and cost of diesel is hiked by one rupee. Strong protests are planned by the opposition parties to withdraw the fuel price hike. As a result of this hike in fuel price, it is afraid that the price of all other food items will rise. Even bus fares and Auto fares are expected to rise. Even I overheard two auto drivers speaking about increasing the auto fares. Following is the details of price of petrol in various cities in India.

Petrol price in Delhi: Old Price: Rs 43.52 New Price: Rs 45.52
Diesel price in Delhi: Old Price: Rs 30.48 New Price: Rs 31.48

Petrol price in Mumbai: Old Price: Rs 48.98 New Price: Rs 50.98
Diesel price in Mumbai: Old Price: Rs 34.94 New Price: Rs 35.94

Petrol price in Chennai: Old Price: Rs 47.44 New Price: Rs 49.44
Diesel price in Chennai: Old Price: Rs 33.31 New Price: Rs 34.31

Petrol price in Kolkata: Old Price: Rs 46.86 New Price: Rs 48.86
Diesel price in Kolkata: Old Price: Rs 32.87 New Price: Rs 33.87

Sensational ton from Gilly in his home ground

The sixth match of CB series vs. Sri Lanka will be a memorable match for Australian wicket keeper Adam Gilchrist. This is the last International ODI match that he will be playing in WACA. In addition to this he knocked a brilliant century in his home ground. This may or may not be his last century in his ODI career as Gilchrist announced his retirement after the CB series. Australia managed to fix a target of 237 for Sri Lanka as all other batsmen other than Gilchrist went out in small figures.

Dhoni's double record

During the fifth match of CB series in Australia, Dhoni was happy though they lost the match. The reason is that Dhoni surpassed two milestones in his cricket career. The 5^th match in CB series was the 100^th match for Dhoni and also he managed to cross the milestone of 3000 ODI runs in his cricket career. Mahendra Singh Dhoni made his ODI debut in Dec 23, 2004 vs Bangladesh. Due to his consistent performance, he moved upto the position of Indian captain. He was also responsible for Twenty20 win in South Africa.

History of Valentine's day

As early as the fourth century B.C., the Romans engaged in an annual young man's rite to passage to the God Lupercus. The names of the teenage women were placed in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men; thus, a man was assigned a woman companion for the duration of the year, after which another lottery was staged. After eight hundred years of this cruel practice, the early church fathers sought to end this practice... They found an answer in Valentine, a bishop who had been martyred some two hundred years earlier.

According to church tradition St. Valentine was a priest near Rome in about the year 270 A.D. At that time the Roman Emperor Claudius-II who had issued an edict forbidding marriage.
This was around when the heyday of Roman empire had almost come to an end. Lack of quality administrators led to frequent civil strife. Learning declined, taxation increased, and trade slumped to a low, precarious level. And the Gauls, Slavs, Huns, Turks and Mongolians from Northern Europe and Asian increased their pressure on the empire's boundaries. The empire was grown too large to be shielded from external aggression and internal chaos with existing forces. Thus more of capable men were required to be recruited as soldiers and officers. When Claudius became the emperor, he felt that married men were more emotionally attached to their families, and thus, will not make good soldiers. So to assure quality soldiers, he banned marriage.

Valentine, a bishop, seeing the trauma of young lovers, met them in a secret place, and joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. Claudius learned of this "friend of lovers," and had him arrested. The emperor, impressed with the young priest's dignity and conviction, attempted to convert him to the roman gods, to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences fully. On February 24, 270, Valentine was executed.

While Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate, he came in contact with his jailor, Asterius. The jailor had a blind daughter. Asterius requested him to heal his daughter. Through his faith he miraculously restored the sight of Asterius' daughter. Just before his execution, he asked for a pen and paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine," a phrase that lived ever after.

Valentine thus became a Patron Saint, and spiritual overseer of an annual festival. The festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. The greeting cards acquired St.Valentine's name.

The Valentine's Day card spread with Christianity, and is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British Museum.

Happy Valentines day

Hi guys... Following are some of the colour codes for valentines day. Decide which one is for you...

♥ Green- I'm free

♥ Blue- I'm waiting

♥ Orange- going to propose

♥ Pink- accepted just now!!!

♥ Black- proposal rejected

♥ White- already booked

♥ Yellow- broke up!!!

♥ Gray- not interested...

♥ Red- leave me


♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Here comes Nokia N96

Nokia launched N96, the successor of N95 in mobile world congress 2008 Barcelona. Nokia is continuously increasing its performance and they went on top of it when they released Nokia N96. N96 has 16GB of internal memory which can be extended up to 24GB using a memory card. There’s an integrated DVB-H receiver onboard offering live broadcast TV. What else? Following is the detailed specification of Nokia N96. Like N95, this phone will also create a revolution in mobile world.

Specifications:-

• Quadband EDGE

• Dualband HSDPA 850/2100 MHz

• DVB-H Class C

• 92 cc volume

• 125 gram weight

• 103 x 55 x 18 mm

• 16 GB internal memory AND a microSD slot; 24 GB total if you spend

• 950 mAh battery

• 6.1 cm (2.8 inch) 320×240 display with 16 million colors

• 3.5 mm headphone jack

• WiFi (802.11b/g)

• AGPS

• 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens that also does VGA video recording at 30 FPS, Dual LED flash that can also be used when video recording!

• S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2 (Flash Lite 3 enabled web browser included)

• microUSB

Do you think police is really our friends?????

I recently came across this news about Tamilnadu police in a newspaper. I thought I can share this news with you.

A woman sub-inspector who was working for Chief Minister’s security was knocked down by a speeding car. This happened just half an hour before CM’s convoy. She was knocked out and she fell on her knees. But with some presence of mind, she managed to note down the registration number of the car. She immediately informed the control room before fainting. Two months after the incident, she recovered from the hospital and now she cannot speak continuously for 10 minutes and she cannot bend her knees as she fell on her knees. Although she was discharged from hospital, she was in a month leave. Even though police officials got a sign from her to register a complaint, the complaint was not registered. After she came to duty on Jan 3^rd, 2008, a senior officer in police took the initiative to start the case. Only thing they have found out is the address of the car registered to a company.

What happened to her can happen to anyone in our country. A Sub Inspector of police was knocked out by a car and no complaint was registered for her until she came back to duty. If this is the state of a police, just think about the state of an individual in this country. Police made no effort to help their colleague. The shocking news in this incident is that the woman SI’s husband is also a police. In the FIR which was filed three months after the incident, the reason for delay in complaint has been mentioned as ‘delayed by complainant’.

Just one message for you, Police is not our friends. So please don’t depend on them in any case. This incident shows the carelessness of police to help their colleague. But what would have happened if the same incident has happened to somebody else?????

22nd Bond movie release date announced

The 22^nd bond movie Quantum of Solace is set to release on 7^th November 2008. Following are some of the details about Quantum of Solace.

Director: Marc Forster

Writers: Ian Fleming (characters) & Robert Wade (adaptation)

Cast:

Daniel Craig as James Bond

Olga Kurylenko as Camille
Gemma Arterton as Agent Fields
Judi Dench as M
Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter

Mathieu Amalric as Dominic Greene
Giancarlo Giannini as René Mathis
Jesper Christensen as Mr. White
Neil Jackson as Mr. Slate
Anatole Taubman
Joaquín Cosio as General Medrano
Fernando Guillén Cuervo
Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner
David Harbour

Software Engineers in India and England

Long back, a person who sacrificed his sleep, forgot his food, forgot his laughter was called a saint. But now he is called an IT professional. This is the case in India, but not in England. I recently met my friend’s brother who is working in one of the leading software company in England. He told me some interesting incidents happened there. Once there was a project to be completed by him. He told his boss that he is planning to complete his work on Saturday. You know what kind of reply his boss gave? He asked him whether he is out of his mind. I was really shocked to hear this.

Indians are the best hard workers in the world. But yet India cannot improve its economic position. The reason is work-life balance is not available for most of the workers in India, that too especially for an IT professional. In England an excellent work-life balance is maintained and as a result there is no tension among the software professionals in England. But in India, a employees performance will be evaluated depending on how many nights he worked in the company.

Most of the software companies give usual project which is not that tough. But the highlight is the time given to complete the project. They will be asked to complete the project in short time period. This is the trick played by all the software companies these days. Due to short time availability, they try to finish their work by working in the night.

There are many USA headquartered software companies which has only one branch in the world. That one branch will be in India. Even I got a job in such a company. Have anyone thought about the reason behind this? It’s nothing but, Indians are hard workers and they will be ready to work even in the night time. Also another reason is the declining value of Rupee against dollar. Since there was a recent increase in value of Rupee against dollar, many IT companies landed in trouble and in order to avoid any loss, they chucked out many employees saying that they underperformed (refer to my previous post of IT employees asked to leave).

According to me Indians in the software field are used instead of utilizing them. Some action should be taken by the government to reduce the working hours of Indian employees. This can reduce the death of software professionals due to over tension. A work-life balance has to be implemented in India to bring India as a leading country in this world.

Please tell me your views about this article….

Mobile phones cleared from brain cancer risk

According to a new Japanese study, usage of mobile phones will not create any brain cancer. Scientists at Tokyo Women's Medical University compared the usage of mobile phones in 322 brain cancer patients with 683 healthy people and found that regularly using a mobile did not affect the chances of getting brain cancer. They also studied the radiation emitted from different types of phones to assess the effect on different areas of the brain. But we should note one thing, Japanese are one of the leading mobile phone manufacturing country. So there are possibilities that in order to increase the sales, they might have given this kind report. So be careful always friends. Too much of anything is not good for our health.

Its time to bring appeal system in ODI

I don’t know whether bowlers have increased their speed of bowling or its umpires who are careless, lots of poor decisions are taken by the umpires these days. Especially this problem started in India-Australia test series. Due to poor decisions of umpires, India even lost a match. Recently Rohit Sharma who was given out by Rudi Koertzen expressed his disappointment to the umpire that he was not out. As a result, Rohit was fined 10% of the match fee. This is a punishment given to him as he didn’t follow ICC’s code of conduct. But what’s the punishment given for poor decision given by the umpire Rudi? Recently Gilchrist was not given out for a caught behind appeal. But Gilchrist himself started walking as he knows that the ball touched his bat. I like Gilchrist in this aspect. He will never stay in the ground after coming to know that he is out. Gilly is really an excellent an example for a good sportsmanship. But the same Gilly was given out in the fourth ODI of CB series vs. India. He knew that the ball touched his bat before touching his pad. But he started walking after umpire gives him out. He was not fined as he didn’t express his disappointment. ICC is not using the high technology available these days. Cameras are available to focus the ball clearly, but even then, these wrong decisions are given.

I have seen a local match in star sports which was played in England. An umpire again took a wrong decision. Immediately, the batsman appealed to the third umpire and he gave him not out. I can’t express you in words about the blush on the umpire’s face. The only solution for these kinds of poor decisions is this appeal system. A batsman should be allowed to appeal if he feels that he was not out. A wrong decision by the umpires can change the result of a match. Even umpires cannot be blamed due to the presence of very fast bowlers like Akhtar and Lee, but its ICC’s duty to fix these kinds of loop holes. It’s bad on their part for not using the technology present these days. Let’s see what is being done by ICC to solve this problem.

Gunal’s death, really a suicide????

Gunal’s death is already a big mystery. Now Gunal’s dad has now poured fuel to the burning fire by telling the media today that he has some doubts over his son’s death. The mystery started when the police came to know that the model cum actress Lavina was in Gunal’s house when he killed himself. Now police’s doubt is on Lavina. Gunal’s wife Anuradha left Gunal due to some misunderstanding and she is staying in her father’s home. Police suspect that Gunal’s wife left Gunal due to some extra marital relationship of Gunal with Lavina. Gunal and Lavina were booked to act in a Bollywood film Yogi. On the day when Gunal commited suicide, director, producer and Lavina were in Gunal’s house to discuss about the movie Yogi. Producer and Director left after sometime, but Lavina stayed in his home. Lavina told police that she saw Gunal hanging when she came back from the bathroom, just in a time gap of ten minutes. Immediately, she informed the watchman and called the police. When police investigated the producer and director, they said they didn’t find any strange reactions on Gunal’s face. But he was smoking heavily it seems. Police also investigated Gunal’s wife Anuradha, she said that Gunal was highly tensed for some days. Police can’t come to any decision till now. Hope their investigation will clear the mystery behind Gunal’s death.

Yahoo rejects Microsoft's bid

The dream of Microsoft has been demolished by Yahoo! as they announced on 10th February, 2008 that Microsoft's bid on Yahoo! is too low. Microsoft announced a huge amount of $44.6 billion i.e $31 per share to takeover Yahoo!. Yahoo! already told that they will perform a deep analysis on this bid and take the decision. Now Yahoo! has felt that $31 per share is too low and they told they are not going to consider any bid which is below $40 per share. Google succeeded in its work by offering help to Yahoo!. Google urged the antitrust regulators to take a hard look at the proposed deal. Even though Yahoo!'s revenue and stock values are coming down, it stands on the top in advertising. Most probably no others will give a bid price for $40 per share. So mostly Yahoo! will be retained by its owners. Yahoo! is expected to announce its decision officially on 11th February, 2008.

Symonds took the winning score for India :-)

Ishanth Sharma shined in Melbourne. Symonds scored the match winning runs for India by bowling a wide in the 43^rd over to bring a victory for India in fourth match of Commonwealth bank series in Melbourne on 10^th February. In the beginning Aussies won the toss and elected to bat first. Sreesanth started the match with a wide ball. But he got a massive wicket of Gilchrist just in third ball of first over. But I think Gilly was sent back due to a poor decision by the umpire. Hayden looked too dangerous and was lucky enough to get two lives due to poor timing in the Indian fielding. His wicket was taken by Ishanth soon. The batting line up of Aussies started to crash until Mike Hussey gave a nice stand. But there were nobody give him a supporting hand. As a result Aussies were all out for 159 in 43 overs. Ishanth took 4 wickets, Sreesanth 3, Irfan 2, Bhajji 1. It was Indians turn now. Indians lost two early wickets but Sachin and Gambhir gave a stand and increased the score. When the team score was in 80’s, Gambhir was caught and went out followed by sachin for 44 and Yuvi in single digit. Now I thought Indians will lose the match. But Rohit Sharma who was given out in the last match due to umpire’s poor decision and captain Dhoni played a slow and steady innings. Those two helped Indian team to reach the target. Indians reached their target in the 44^th over as Symonds bowled a wide ball to score the match winning runs for India. India won the match by 5 wickets. Ishanth Sharma was announced the man of the match for his 4/38. The young man has a bright future.

Yaaradi nee mohini songs

Nenjai kasakkipilindhuvittu pora

Oru nalaikkul yethanai kanavu

Yengeyo partha Mayakkam

Venmegam pennaga uruvanaa

Oh baby Oh baby you are so

Saadhu mirandaa movie review

Cast: Prasanna, Kavya Madhavan, Abbas, Karunas

Direction: Siddique

Music: Deepak Dev

Production: Alka Film Corporation

Siddique, a director of all hits and no miss has given another comedy cum suspense movie Saadhu mirandaa. The movie starts with a bank robbery by Abbas and his brother in daylight. They rob a huge amount of 20 crores in the bank. During this incident, Prasanna’s sister who was waiting in the bank for an educational loan was killed. Abbas flee to USA to make this black money as white money. Meanwhile Prasanna who is trying to take revenge against Abbas kidnaps his brother and takes away Kavya Madhavan who is the girl friend of Abbas. Remaining story is how Prasanna takes revenge against Abbas.

There is nothing new in this story and in some part of the movie, mixing of comedy and suspense ended in vain. Prasanna stole the whole movie by his excellent acting. Kavya’s powerful eyes helped her lot to act in a fair manner in this movie. A few illogical scenes spoil the movie. Overall, Saadhu mirandaa is a movie for time pass in Siddique’s style.

Vishal fallen in love with Priya mani????

I recently saw a strange headlines in many Tamil newspapers that Kollywood actor Vishal fallen in love with actress Priya Mani. There were many other incidents available for front page news in Tamilnadu, but Tamil media gave importance to this news as though this is very important. It seems that he gave a Valentines Day message on the other day and the media people changed the entire story. He expressed his love experience in that message. It seems that in his college days, he was in love with a girl which ended in vain. With his broken heart, he decided not to love anybody else. But after coming to cine field, he again fell in love with a girl. He added that the girl is also an actress in Tamil cinema and he had talked with her many times but he didn’t express his love. He also told that he may or may not express his love to her. If he expresses his love, he told he will tell the media about that girl. From the clues given by Vishal, Tamil media decided that the girl is Priya Mani and spread this news like a forest fire. Vishal has denied this news. He told that Priya mani is a good friend to him. This may be true or may not be true, but a small spark is enough for Tamil media to initiate a forest fire.

Indian Students in USA targeted

On December 13, 2007, Chandrasekhar Reddy Komma and Kiran Kumar Allam from Andhra Pradhesh studying in Louisiana State University were shot dead in their residence near their campus.

On January 18, 2008, Abhijeet Mahato from Jharkhand doing his PhD in North Carolina's Dukes Pratt School of Engineering was shot dead at an off-campus apartment complex.

On January 19, 2008, Mahesh, studying Bachelor in Science in Northern Kentucky University was found dead in his Hidden Valley Apartment complex at Kentucky.

These are the list of Indian students who died in USA due to unknown reason. Autopsy reports said these students died of natural causes. But in the case of death of Mahesh, hospital authorities and university officials gave a conflicting statement. University officials said the death took place off the campus. But hospital authorities said that he died in hospital. Which is true????

There is no security for the Indian students studying in USA.I hope Indian embassy will soon take the necessary actions to provide security for Indian students in USA.

No more Indian doctors in United Kingdom

A Warning for doctors in India, the United Kingdom is going to introduce its new point based system for the Highly Skilled Migrant Visa this month. This news will be shocking Indian doctors looking for PG trainee position in United Kingdom. According to the new point based system, no HSM (Highly Skilled Migrant) Visas will be given to non-European doctors for training positions. It seems that this system was brought to action in order to create some place for UK doctors as they are struggling with other nationals to get a trainee position. The British Borders and Immigration minister told that only those migrants Britain needs can come into the United Kingdom. So it’s a tough time for Indian doctors who are trying to find a trainee position in UK. But a happy news is that this new point based system will not affect the Indian doctors already in UK.

Turning point in Benazir Bhutto’s case

It was said that Benazir Bhutto was shot dead. But now a turning point in her case. Scotland Yard detectives said Bhutto died of a blast. It seems that there was a head injury on Bhutto’s head and the only source for such an injury is a bomb blast. As no autopsy was conducted, Scotland Yard detectives cannot come for a decision and they cannot predict what might have happened. But PPP is refusing Scotland Yard’s statement. They are telling that she was shot dead by someone in the crowd. PPP doubt that some sort of sophisticated weapons were used to kill Bhutto. PPP is telling that Pakistan government is trying to deviate the case by announcing that she died of a blast. PPP wants a UN probe in this case which is strongly objected by Pakistan president. In addition to this one of the television channels in Pakistan aired another video evidence of Bhutto’s death. I don’t know why an autopsy was not conducted after her death. An autopsy would have cleared all kind of mysteries in her death.

Superfast train AGV

The AGV (Automotrice Grande Vitesse) train which can travel at up to 360km/h was unveiled in France. The train was made by the engineering giants Alstom. French President Nicolas Sarkozy attended the launch of a new high-speed train. The AGV is a successor to the TGV. In terms of importance and innovation, Alstom compares the AGV with the Airbus 380. One of the important features of AGV is that there are engines under each carriage unlike TGV which has end to end engines. This makes AGV a high speed railcar. In addition to this, the AGV is built fully by Alstom and they didn’t get any help from the state rail firm SNFC. Previously constructed TGV was built with the help funds from SNFC. TGV’s current maximum speed is 320 km/h. Now AGV can go up to 360 km/h. AGV’s motors energy efficient, innovative, less maintenance and allows more passenger space. It consumes 30% less energy and has 20% extra space than TGV. AGV can carry 700 people seated. Italian operator have already bought AGV and will operate in Italy by 2011.

Force India’s 2008 F1 car

Force India has launched their 2008 Formula One car on 7^th February. They are confident enough that it would mark the start of better performances. The Ferrari VJM01 was unveiled in front of the crowd near Gateway of India in Mumbai. Force India raced as Spyker last season. It was renamed as Force India by Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya. Force India has already already confirmed Italian Giancarlo Fisichella and German Adrian Sutil as their drivers. Budget for this season is set for $120 million. This is $50 million more than last year. No demonstration lap was shown to the crowd even though the drivers were present. The car’s first test run will be made in Barcelona circuit on February 25^th. The first season for this new car is on March 16^th in Australia. India will hold its first F1 grand prix by 2010. A new sports entertainment for cricket crazy India.

Will Aussies participate in IPL?

Australian cricket players are waiting for a clearance from the Cricket Australia to participate in IPL. Recently Cricket Australia asked for a protection for their sponsors in IPL and if this is not given, they told Aussies will not be given with a “no objection” certificate to participate in IPL. I thought BCCI will come down to CA’s level and give them what they want. But for my surprise, this didn’t bother BCCI it seems. BCCI is more aggressive than Cricket Australia and refused to give what they want. All the Aussies are very eager to participate in IPL as it is an opportunity for them to earn crores in single season. Even Ricky Ponting is not happy with the condition given by CA to BCCI. But even BCCI is eager to include Aussies in their IPL squad.

Will Aussies participate in IPL???????

Rajini's Robot

Shankar’s dream project Robot’s budget has been finalized. Robot is budgeted 130 crores and will be made simultaneously in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. The film’s shooting will start by April 2008. We all know that the heroine of Robot is the former miss world Aishwarya rai. This was finalized after lots of gossips. But recently I came to know that Aishwarya rai was booked 6 crores for this film. She is demanding 2 crores in bollywood and 4 crores in Hollywood. By the time when she completes the Robot project, Aishwarya rai will become the highest paid actress in the entire Indian film Industry. Hope the movie comes fine. I will catch you people with next update about Robot

Simran returns

Our evergreen dream girl of South India, Simran is entering into the world of acting again. There were some gossips that she is going to act in the movie kuselan. But latest news is that she is dropped from that project. But its not over, she is going to come to the world of small screen and that too in Jaya tv. She is going to act in a project in Jaya tv which is going to be aired in Jaya tv from March 2008. Name of the project will be announced later. I came to know that writer Sujatha has written 12 stories for the project and Sripriya will direct it. 12 stories in 12 months with one story each month. I am very happy that she didn’t act in any mega serial. It seems that she came to this decision of acting in small screen after seeing many actress coming out successfully in small screen. It seems that the name of the project will be Simranin Kutti Kadhaigal. Even after her absence these many years, nobody came to her place of fame and craze in tamil cinema. She is back to occupy her place.

Gunal passes away

The past lover boy of kollywood, Gunal who introduced himself to tamil cinema in the film Kaadhalar dhinam and acted many other tamil films has passed way today in his apartment in Mumbai. He was found hanging in the fan using a rope. It seems that he was in stress and strain for some days due to his continuously reducing opportunities in the film industry. Since he didn’t get any good chance of acting in any good film in Tamil, he went to Mumbai and acted in many Bollyood movies. He was staying in an apartment in Mumbai. Today morning at around 7 am, he was found hanging in the fan. The actual reason for his suicide is not known. Indian cinema association has conveyed its condolence to Gunal’s family and his fans. Let’s pray god to rest his soul in peace.

Very interesting and informative things part V

1. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
2. The average person laughs 13 times a day.
3. Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are:Mizaru(See no evil), Mikazaru(Hear no evil), and Mazaru(Speak no evil).
4. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
5. German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.
6. Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump.
7. Whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.
8. Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn. Suddenly the pigs, all two thousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and stampeded, trampling the two hapless protesters to death.
9. If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural cause.
10. The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet!!
    
    

Maharishi Yogi dies

The Indian guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who was walking in the path to spiritual enlightenment, has died. The 91-year-old Maharishi died in his sleep on 5th February evening at his home in the Netherlands. It seems that the Maharishi died peacefully in his sleep at around 1800hrs GMT.

The Maharishi announced his retirement and rested into silence at his home in Vlodrop last month. He said his work was done and he wanted to dedicate his remaining days to studying ancient Hindu Vedas texts. He introduced the Transcendental Meditation movement to the West in 1959.

Maharishi was born in the state of Madhya Pradhesh and was a physicist before dedicating himself to the spiritual world. Maharishi taught everyone about reaching the state of pure consciousness through meditation. In 1990 he moved to Dutch village of Vlodrop due to his fragile health and spoke only by video link evn to his closest advisors.

The Maharishi will be always remembered. Lets pray god to rest his soul in peace.

Health tips

Reducing salt in high blood pressure

Add very little salt during food preparation. Do not add salt to food on the table. Read labels carefully and choose food having less salt and sodium content. Avoid pickles, ketchups, chutneys, fast-food and restaurant food.

First aid for chemical burns

Hold under cold running water for at least 10 minutes so that contaminated water drains away freely. Remove all clothing soiled by the chemical and protect your hands from contact with it.

First aid for superficial heat burns

Hold under cold running water for at least 10 minutes or immerse in cold water. Never apply cotton wool, dressings, ointments, fats or lotions or attempt to rupture blisters or remove anything from wound. If burns are not small or superficial, call a doctor.


Baby's first shoes

Your baby's first shoes should be lightweight, made of leather or cloth (breathable material), definitely not plastic with soles so flexible that you can feel the baby's toes through them. Hard soles are out.


Prevent dehydration in your child

If your child has diarrhoea and vomiting, you can prevent dehydration by giving small sips of cold sugar and salt solution available in ORS (Oral rehydration solution) packets at any medical store.

Australian cricket board trying to damage IPL

IPL was happy as they roped many top Australian players. But cricket Australia is trying to damage IPL by exercising a right of veto over the players who signed a contract with IPL. Cricket Australia said that they want to protect their players. Now the players have to get a no objection certificate from Cricket Australia to play in IPL. Nearly 11 Aussies and 60 international players have signed for a contract with IPL. IPL tried to include many international stars in their match in a few weeks, but the Federation of International Cricketers Association has instructed players not to play until they see a proper contract. Mostly the Australian players will not be available for the first two seasons, but the owners will be offered a chance to include them with a long-term contract. IPL has said that all the problems will be sorted out soon.

Word to pdf converter

Instantly convert Microsoft word documents to pdf. This software allows you to covert the word files to pdf in single click. This works very well in office 2007 also. Want to try this? Download from the following link.

http://rapidshare.com/files/51728583/ConvDocPDFWordv350.rar

Samsung G810

Samsung G800 and G810

Nokia will have to look to their rear view mirror always. Samsung is going to release G810 a successor of G800 in Barcelona next week. Samsung G810 will be a decent challenge for Nokia’s N95. A 5 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom might just make G810 a worthy consideration. The cost of this mobile is expected to be 580 Euros. Following are some of the specifications of upcoming Samsung G810:-

• GSM/UMTS/3.6 Mbps HSDPA connectivity
  

• Symbian 9.2 OS with S60 3.1 UI
  

• 2.6” 262k color QVGA TFT display

• 5 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom, anti-shake, face recognition, macro mode, autofocus

• 150MB memory and a microSD memory card slot

• GPS navigation

• WiFi b/g support

• Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, USB 2.0 (microUSB connector)

• 1200 mAh battery

• Dimensions: 104×52x9×18 mm

Very interesting and Informative things part IV

1. The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually the sound of nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.
2. Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.
   
3. It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body.
4. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
5. Most soccer players run 7 miles in a game.
6. The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.
7. Every day 200 million couples make love, 400,000 babies are born, and 140,000 people die.
8. In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it is smiling.).
9. Colgate faced big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself.".
10. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.
    
    
    
    
    
    

IT employees asked to leave

Last week IBM (International Business Machine) asked 700 of its employees to leave and today it’s TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) which asked 500 of its employees to leave. The only reason both the IT companies gave was that those employees cannot meet the performance requirements of their company, a standard reply given by all the private companies. TCS appointed 24729 employees last year and recruited thousands of youngsters through campus interviews.

It is easy for a person to search for some other job if he/she is not appointed by the company. But if they are sent home after working for some period in their company, it will affect their whole career. Consider a man who is chucked out from a company. He may attend some other company’s interview and their first question will be why he was sent out of his previous company? The person should either tell them the truth or he should lie. If he lies, then he will have to face a tough time in future if the truth is revealed. If he says the truth, he won’t be appointed in that company. This is the problem faced by an individual. But what if an employee really underperforms in a company? He will have to be chucked out of the company in order to avoid any loss to the company. Then what is the solution for this problem?

Not only IT companies, all the companies who are recruiting the employees should check a person’s ability and his/her knowledge before recruiting them. The best place to check them is the interview. These days, in order to increase the man power in IT companies, they are recruiting thousands of people and as a result, interviewers are liberal during the interview. This is the place where the problem starts. If they recruit an underperforming candidate, trouble for both the company and the individual.

Most of the IT companies conduct a written test and a personal interview to recruit the students. Clearing the written test is easier these days. Those students who clear the written test will be asked to attend the interview. Interview panels consist of rejection panel and clearing panel. If any brilliant candidate attends the interview in rejection panel, he/she will be rejected even if they are brilliant enough to clear the interview. But if any underperforming candidate attends the interview in clearing panel, then they will be selected even if they underperform.

How many companies have group discussion in their selection process? The answer is very few. Most of the bulk recruiting companies doesn’t conduct any group discussion which is an effective way to check the spoken English of a candidate.

According to me, a candidate can be rejected but an employee should not be rejected from the company. If an employee is rejected from a company, there is a big flaw in the company’s human resource department. They should have recruited the best performers. The companies must conduct as many tests and interviews as they want so that they take only the best performers for their company. Once the candidate enters the company, he/she should not be sent home.

Today its IBM and TCS, but tomorrow?

Anthrax in West Bengal

West Bengal government confirms the outbreak of animal disease-anthrax in the state. Six cows died in Bhojanerchhara village of Cooch Behar district, about 800km from Kolkata. When the dead samples of the cow were tested, it was found that these cows died of anthrax. It is afraid that this disease may have affected many other cows also. As a precautionary measure, all the cows are vaccinated in that area. Already West Bengal suffers from outbreak of bird flu. In addition to this there is an outbreak of Anthrax now.

Anthrax is a disease in humans and animals that is caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Anthrax is a bacteria that can form long-lived spores. When the bacteria's lifecycle is threatened by factors such as lack of food caused by their host dying or by a change of temperature, the bacteria turn themselves into more or less dormant spores to wait for another host to continue their lifecycle.

Anthrax cannot spread directly from one person to another, but anthrax spores can be transported from one human to another by their clothing and shoes. If a person dies of anthrax, the body can be a very dangerous source of anthrax spores.

Yet another match abandoned due to rain

The second ODI India vs. Sri Lanka of CB series was abandoned due to rain. India took 267 in 50 overs. The openers Sehwag and Tendulkar gave a nice start. Tendulkar scored 16000 ODI runs in this match today. But Sachin fell to Malinga for an inside edge. Soon after Sachin, Sehwag went for a mistimed short and went out. Murali came into the attack and took two wickets, Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma. Repairing work started for the Indian team when it was in 83 for 4 wickets. Gambhir and Dhoni joined their hands to bring back Indian team for the attack. Gambhir knocked his 3^rd ODI century. Gambhir was dropped when he was in 10 which proved worth for Sri Lanka. The out of form Dhoni played a nice innings in today’s match and scored an unbeaten 88. Gambhir scored an unbeaten 102. Both these men added 184 in the scoreboard which helped India to reach 267. After the first session, fortunately or unfortunately it started raining continuously and as a result match was abandoned. Both the teams are given with 2 points.

Sachin crosses 16000 runs

Sachin raising his bat after crossing 16000 runs

Sachin reaches yet another milestone. Sachin crossed 16000 runs in his international ODI career. Sachin scored 35 runs for India in the second ODI of CB series vs. Sri lanka in Australia. Sachin now has an excellent record of 16,007 runs in 409 matches with an average of 44.22. India scored 267 with a loss of 4 wickets.

Greatest goal

Shaun pollock says good bye

Shaun Pollock announced his retirement from all sorts of international cricket and played his last international cricket today in Johannesburg. The 34 year old took the winning runs for South Africa to win the final match and the series with 5-0 whitewash against West Indies. Pollock was happy to finish his ODI career with a match and a series win. Shaun Pollock made his test match debut in 1995 vs. England and ODI debut in 1996 vs. England. He played 108 tests and 303 ODIs for South Africa. South Africa will really miss an excellent all-rounder in their team.

Very Interesting and Informative things Part-III

1. The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
2. When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red.
3. When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.
4. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor.
5. The lion that roars in the MGM logo is named Volney.
6. Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros.
7. Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan.
8. It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million to make a film about it.
9. The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples.
10. There are 1,792 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
    
    

Rain saves India

Anil Kumble very correctly said that “experience plays a major role when we play cricket with Aussies in Australia”. The absence of senior players in the Indian team was very clearly seen in first ODI in Gabba. They start of play was doubtful due to heavy rain in the previous day. But with the help of excellent drainage systems available in Gabba stadium, the play started in time. I don’t know whether dhoni’s decision of batting first after winning the toss is a good one or not. But the Indian team lost its only two senior players in the team after the start of the play. Unfortunately Sachin's wicket was a hit wicket when he went for a back foot shot. This is the first time in his career to go out for a hit wicket. Then Gambhir and Sharma managed to take the score upto 92 for 2 wickets. Gambhir was the third wicket. The absence of Yuvraj revealed the middle order to the Aussies. As a result Indian team lost its 6th wicket when the score was 102. Then Dhoni and Pathan managed to add 45 runs on score board. When pathan was run out, Punjab tiger, Harbhajan came in and went for a flurry of boundaries and added another 42 runs with dhoni at a run rate of 8.12 runs per over. This took Indians to a decent total of 194 in the end of the innings.

Australians opened their innings with flurry of boundaries. But rain interrupted the match in 4^th over. After the resumption, wind was blowing towards Indian side. Aussies lost two quick wickets and they were in need of 95 in 112 balls. Fortunately or unfortunately rain interrupted and the match was abandoned. Both the teams were given two points. Next match is India vs. Sri Lanka on 5^th February.

Chennai Metro Rail System

Corridor 1---- Underground line
Corridor 2--------- Elevated line

I was very happy to read this news in the newspaper. By 2013 or 2014, the metro rail system for Chennai will be established. When I went to New Delhi, I went in the metro train. The Delhi metro rail system was excellent with both underground and elevated paths. I went only in elevated path and not in underground path. The journey was awesome. Now the same metro rail system is going to be established in Chennai. Similar to Delhi, both underground and elevated systems are proposed in Chennai metro rail system. It covers many hotspots of Chennai like Chennai central, Egmore, CMBT, Airport etc… The metro plan has been divided into three phases out of which the construction of first two phases will begin this year. The railway line covering the places in anna salai will be underground. The third phase construction will cover areas like T.Nagar. The project cost is estimated to be around 9000 crores. Cost per km of underground line is Rs 300 crore and elevated line is Rs 100 crore. About 20km out of 46 km line will underground line.