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Tag Archive | News
The 81st Academy Awards and Oscar Trivia
I love watching Oscar awards more than any Filmfare or Star Screen or xyz awards and luckily I have been able to watch it every year except when I was in hostel during my B.E. This year, I got up as early as 6.15 am today to watch 81st Academy Awards live on Star Movies from 6.30 am. This was possible only because today is holiday due to Mahashivaratri. I can catch up on my sleep later. 🙂
The host Hugh Jackman’s performance was awesome!! And the new style of presentation like calling previous winners of the actor categories to announce the new winner was good. The performance before Best Song was wonderful too. But the Academy Awards of 1999 hosted by Whoopi Goldberg was the most enjoyable of all the ones I have seen. Hugh didn’t try comedy one liners and digs at people. Instead he gave a wonderful musical performance with Beyonce.
The Mirror,Award Love and Best Post
Yippeeee!!! I am soo happy!! My blog post where I wondered that why Aishwarya was awarded Padma Shree has been mentioned in the Bloggers Park column of the Bangalore Mirror and the Mumbai Mirror newspapers. (I guess both have that section common!). Thanks to Appu for informing me and to Nikhil for being sending me the scan of the article.Here it is :-
Here are the links to the online edition :-
World’s Ten Oldest Jokes
I have subscribed to Reuters Oddly Enough Report via email. In a recent one, I got this news. Through that odd news I came across world’s ten oldest jokes as discovered by a study commissioned by television channel Dave of UK. Here are the jokes.
1. Something which has never occurred since time immemorial: a young woman did not fart in her husband’s lap (1900 BC – 1600 BC Sumerian Proverb Collection 1.12-1.13)
2. How do you entertain a bored pharaoh? You sail a boatload of young women dressed only in fishing nets down the Nile and urge the pharaoh to go catch a fish (An abridged version first found in 1600 BC on the Westcar Papryus)
3. Three ox drivers from Adab were thirsty: one owned the ox, the other owned the cow and the other owned the wagon’s load. The owner of the ox refused to get water because he feared his ox would be eaten by a lion; the owner of the cow refused because he thought his cow might wander off into the desert; the owner of the wagon refused because he feared his load would be stolen. So they all went. In their absence the ox made love to the cow which gave birth to a calf which ate the wagon’s load. Problem: Who owns the calf?! (1200 BC)
All In A Day’s Work
The duties and responsibilities of a technical lecturer comprises of teaching, instruction in laboratory, students assessment and evaluation, assisting in departmental administration and so on. Some may think teaching is a boring and dull profession but the truth is that the nearer one is to the youth, the more exciting life/job is. Now before I narrate an incident you must know that I work in a private college and many influential people’s sons & daughters study on management quota. Few days ago, over a girl; boys of two different streams (IT and Mech) had a fight which led to serious injury to one of the boys (Mech). Police came to arrest the main accused (IT) and our Jt.Director of college is said to have slapped him too. But the student turned out to be the nephew of a big politician and somehow construed the slap as politically motivated. So on 6th Aug around 100-150 boys (goons??) came to college and wrecked the administrative building. They even hit the Jt.Director with stick and manhandled the Chairman and Director. We all thought the repercussion had ended there.
Start Living!!
Life is so fickle. One moment you may be on the top of the world and in next moment you may literally be on the top of the world if you know what I mean. One moment you may be driving back home looking forward to a nice dinner and next moment you may be dead due to a bomb blast. And there can be more examples of how uncertain life is. In the next moment you may never see the people you care about ever again. You may never get to make that pending phone call again or finish those long due stuff on your “to-do” list. You may never get to say that “I’m sorry” or “I love you” ever again. One moment you are making money left and right and next moment you are dead before you could enjoy the fruits of your labor (legal or otherwise).
Education Boom or Education Doom ?
In the coming college session 2008-09 of Engineering, around 10 new colleges will add to the existing 19 colleges in the state of Chattisgarh. Also the number of seats in the existing colleges will go up. That would
mean around 10000 seats for engineering admissions. Similar conditions exist in other states too where day by day new colleges, technical or otherwise, are coming up. Education is the one of the biggest investment areas now in India. Big parties are pooling up their legal or illegal money and setting up colleges. Just by showing basic fulfillment of norms, they are getting approval from the AICTE too. Students getting absolutely any rank or even no rank in the state’s entrance exam can now get admission in Engineering easily. The fees of this state is more than Rs.50000 per year, not taking into account donation money for management quota seats.
The question that arises is whether this education boom is actually a boon or bane? Will it prove useful in the long run for India or will it spell out the doom of Indian technical workforce? These are the important points to be considered before deciding the answer to this question.
Motherhood – Necessity or Choice?
This article came in a Hindi daily on the necessity of motherhood for a woman. The author of the article is a female gynaecologist. One or two sentences in the article seemed to emphasize too much on the importance of motherhood for a woman to feel happy, healthy and to feel complete. “A woman’s body is made in such a way that childbirth keeps her happy in mind and healthy in body”; “A child is an inseparable part of woman’s body, her whole life’s spindle and aim too.”
Tit for Tat
The pettiness of our politicians and religious groups has reached new heights. The J & K government had decided to transfer land to Amarnath shrine board for development of facilities for the pilgrims, but after strong and violent protests and political pressure the government revoked its order. The board also decided against pursing its claim over the land. Now, Hindu fundamentalist groups like VHP have retaliated by calling a Bharat Bandh (India Strike) today. They also demand that subsidies given by government to Haj pilgrims should be taken back.
“Haj subsidy must be cancelled. No flights for Haj should be sent as it is wastage of precious fuel the cost of which has to be borne from the taxpayers,” VHP general secretary Pravin Togadia told reporters.
They also demand that the cancellation order of land transfer be revoked by the government. This is what happens when you mix politics and religion. Its the most harmful cocktail one could think of. Now, I think
The Undesirable Child
A shocking news once again exposed the fact that how desirable sons are in Indian society. And up to what extent many prejudiced Indians are willing to go to get a male child.
At the age of 70 years, this woman went for assisted reproductive technology (ART) to conceive and has given birth to twins, one boy and one girl. The rural couple said in the interview that they have lots of 
property but had no “heir”. Apparently their two daughters can’t inherit it as I suppose they have done a crime by being born as girls. Challenging the limitations set by Mother Nature, a woman risks her life just to have a son because of deep rooted age old beliefs and discrimination against the girl child. The couple is so old that I doubt if they would be able to see their son reach 5th grade. After they pass away who is going to look after the kids? Their sisters or their relatives? I can’t even imagine the embarrassment the daughters must be going through. Imagine the grandchildren going to school where everyone knows their grandma has given birth to their uncle!! Its being ethically justified on the grounds that there is no maximum age limit for ART in Indian Law. Even young women conceive one after another just to get a son and end up having a huge family and losing their health, sometimes even life.
World War 3.0
So now I know how the world is going to end. It will be annihilated by the commencement of World War III. How did I reach to this conclusion? Read on.
There was a bomb blast in Thane, Mumbai on June 4 2008. Some more bombs were recovered live from other places. Two Hindu extremists have been arrested for the same. Supposedly they belong to some Hindu organizations called Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) and Sanatan Sansthan. Read the whole news here. Now after this happened, the Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna ran an editorial in which Mr.BT (the editor) advocated “build-up of Hindu response to counter the ‘growing Islamic terrorism’ in the country while ridiculing members of a Hindu fundamentalist organisation held for low-intensity bomb blasts in Thane.” Of course it doesn’t matter that 7 people died (correction:injured) in the blast and my guess would be all of them were not Muslims. What is the problem if 7 die (correction:get injured) among 13 million population of Mumbai? Sacrifice must be made for the greater good, right? I guess this is the convoluted mentality of these people.
So Mr.BT has commended the creation of Hindu suicide squads as a tit for tat for Islamic outfits. I’ve already expressed my indignation over how irresponsibly leaders speak and behave. But this has crossed the limit. How can a leader in his sensible mind ask his people to form suicide groups for spreading violence? How can he ask them to sacrifice their lives and families to die for his absurd cause or rather I presume his personal vendetta? In today’s world how can a leader champion the cause of terrorism and blood for blood? Our Nation’s Bapu must be turning and tossing in his grave!! (yes, I know he was a Hindu) How can a leader encourage his people to take the law in their own hands?
I condemn such fundamentalist leaders of any country who show the path of violence and bloodshed to their people. Instead of waging wars why doesn’t he encourage people to form cleaning squads to keep Mumbai clean and water logging free?
According to Mr.BT these Hindu squads should go to Islamic countries and carry out bomb blasts there. I guess if this happens those countries will retaliate and US & EU will jump in too in the foray. Taking the opportunity China may attack India from other side. And thus World War 3.0 will ensue. And the world will come to an end.
On second thought, that might be a good thing. Everything will start anew after humans have wiped out each other. Sigh! A 6 yr old kid is wiser than a 80+ adult.
Click to enlarge and read
P.S. Logos credited to northernsun.com
The Final Straw
I suspect that Ms.Ekta Kapoor has finally lost it…gone bonkers…has become raving mad, insane, deranged, unbalanced and sadist. She is planning and in fact has begun shooting of an episode of her popular soap opera Kahani Ghar Ghar Kii based on the sensational Aarushi muder case. The storyline is about a teenager in the serial who is killed by her parents because of her relationship with a boy and they are unwilling to surrender easily. Of course Balaji Telefilms say that they have only been inspired from the real life story. So finally Ekta and her writers (I doubt there is only one writer as the stories are all same with just a change of sequence of events as inferred from input given by my Mom) have run out of ideas to dish up to the viewers and they are resorting to cashing in on such a real life tragedy especially when it has been solved yet. I think all Ekta haters and Indians interested in saving the females of their families should launch a signed petition to close down Balaji Telefilms….”Save Our Moms” campaign. She is literally making hay while the sun shines!! What next? More real life murders and scandals will be incorporated in her various serials?Much has been written about it so I wont rant much here. Just wanted to express my stand.For Aarushi murder case read hereFor news articles on Ekta’s episode read here and hereTo know more about why Ekta is hated read hereP.S. Ok if not petitions then what about supari? It can be done online too!! I’m sorry if I’ve hurt the feelings of any Ekta Kapoor fan out there.Image credited to mangalorean.com
Seed of Discord
Just now one of my colleagues called me to ask for a favour. Her relatives had gone to Ajmer Sharif and are now stranded there. She wanted to know from Internet about bus journey details from Ajmer to Ahmedabad. How distraught rest of the family must be feeling. For most of us its like “None of my near & dear ones are there. So it doesn’t matter”. Not only her relatives but around 50,000 people have been stranded as more than 50 trains have been canceled due to Gujjar women who have blocked the rail routes. Earlier, the men had damaged railway tracks. In fact it has been estimated that India’s corporate sector has lost some $1.25 billion since May 23 and Indian railways suffered a loss of Rs.29.6 million ($696,659) on May 29 alone because of delays and cancellations of trains. Read this here and here. All this because the Gujjars want to be re-classified as a ‘Scheduled Tribe,’ to qualify for jobs and university places reserved for disadvantaged groups.
Do these people ever think of the sick persons, pregnant women, examination/interview candidates, small kids, the elderly or poor people who are stranded due to cancellation of trains? As if terrorists weren’t a big enough problem for all; that now we have Indians causing problems for Indians. We have become so selfish in our demands and so greedy that we ignore everyone else’s inconvenience. Like these Gujjar protests, political strikes in Kolkata etc etc. Satyagraha or rather Gandhigiri is just a celluloid dream. Now the attitude is “If I want something I’ll snatch it by hook or crook”…rather only crook i.e. violence and riots.
My point is that Indian leaders who laid the foundation of a new country 60 years ago just sowed the biggest seed of discord by defining different castes and tribes and making provisions in the Constitution for them; by giving the word “reservation” a whole new meaning; by creating a divider bigger than the Partition. We are just reaping what they sowed. It was supposed to benefit the rural and backward classes who are poor to get education and job. But in reality? A friend of mine who is a Bachelor of Engineering, has own house, very good monthly income and is counted as upper middle class; gets job in public sector using “quota” allotted to his caste. And a kid in a village is still illiterate and a farmer or weaver. So Mr.Leader’s soul, it hasn’t quite turned out the way it should have been, right? Now what do we do?
As for these Gujjars, they want a re-classification!!! I want one too. From being “General” or “No Category”; I want to become “Categorized”. I want to be given preferential treatment everywhere. I want my son/daughter to not do hardwork in studying and to get admission in finest colleges/schools just on basis of caste and to get a job just as easily.
As for these Gujjar women, have they stood up in protest against the rampant use of infanticide against the girl child in their caste? Have they ever raised their voice against abusive husbands or other malpractices against women? Have they protested against the falling sex ratio, unavailability of brides and the resulting polyandry in their caste? Then why now? Out of greed? Even if they are “re-classified” do they assure that they will send their daughters to school too and give them equal opportunity as their sons?
I just pray that may all the people stranded reach their destinations safe and sound. And…
रघुपित राघव राजाराम , पतित पावन सीताराम
सीताराम सीताराम, भज प्यारे तू सीताराम
ईश्वर अल्लाह तेरो नाम, सब को सन्मित दे भगवान
Translation:
- Lord Rama, Chief of the house of Raghu,
- Uplifters of those who have fallen,
- (O divine couple) Sita and Rama,
- Beloved, praise Sita and Rama,
- God or Allah is your name,
- Lord, bless everyone with wisdom.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are entirely mine and I have no intention of hurting anyone’s feelings. Neither do I support nor I oppose anyone.
All images credited to NDTV.
My Random Thoughts 