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It has been a tough year for all of us. I completed my engineering after 4 years of Exams, travel and mindless mugups and surprisingly it was a successful endeavor and yes with the tensions, copy pastes, deadlines, attendance problems etc... The world economy has been hit badly; a million job cuts; fire-hire dramas; bankruptcy ... It all started with the Lehman Brothers which saw the full fury of the unforgiving consequences of mismanagement and the year now ends with Satyam and its board in rough seas. I don't want to talk much of terror . It is only tears and sorrow and I want to be happy while welcoming the first sun rise of 2009. Although, we'll talk about tackling it as the year 2009 begins. Israel's attack on the Gaza strip is a complete no-no but I appreciate their efforts to get rid of the problem of terrorism. Maybe they could've waited for 2009 and celebrated the new years party. In the spur of the moment we do things that do not always give the best resul...

Israel bombed the Gaza strip for the fourth day today killing over 300 people in Gaza. Hamas had ended the cease-fire with Israel after they fired rockets over Israel. Israel’s general has indicated that they are going for an all out attack to capture the Gaza strip. Hamas (terror threat), the largest party now faces oblivion at the hands of Israel. India faces an Israel like situation today. If Hamas dictates terms LeT and JuD and its leaders do the same in Pakistan. Pakistan indirectly has kept attacking India, but our reaction has been soft after a certain point. I have no reason to believe that government of Pakistan is actually interested in uprooting terrorism. Their only motive as of now is to gain political advantage. This was very evident from Imran Khan’s reaction on India needing to give substantial proof on Ajmal Kasav. I am not in favour of war, but the way this war hysteria has been created by Pakistan without any provocation (when our defense minister said against it) ; ...

This is not my personal opinion, it is the voice of Google sultanate. Jiah Khan, despite being over powered by the strategies of Aamir Khan and Asin's dominance in the promotion of Ghajini, she has come over and above Ghajini and its "Star Power" to win the vote of the internet user. In my opinion, the vote swung in favour of Jiah, more because of her hot maxim photo shoot (see below) rather than the mound of star power and deliberate drowning. But it could be the other way also. The harder you throw a ball, the more it bounces back, newton's third law. That could be the case also. What matters is popularity. I guess the producers should give a serious thought to these results as they could be useful for casting in future. Another interpretation of these stats can be on a curiosity index. People want to know more about Jiah Khan and her role in Ghajini since she has been kept under the wraps,they simply want to see more of her. It is next to impossible to nail down ...

You've heard it right. Ghajini, the copy of a Tamil movie, or a remix of a Tamil movie has been branded and is now selling like hot cakes with free gold biscuits. Ghajini earned Rs 32 crore on the first day at Box Office. Singh is Kinng lost to it by a mile and if you compare the King Shahrukh's movie Rab ne Bana Di Jodi, you'll see an old man running in a 100 meter race who has just managed to run the first 10 meters. Like the USAIN BOLT of Box office collections with Ghajini, Aamir Khan has proved that he is the best atleast for now, whether it is quality cinema (Taare Zameen Par) or Masala Vada type cinema like Ghajini. The thing, I want to discuss here is that 32 crores were actually spent by the Indian public on one day. Two weeks ago, they spent 10 crores on the first day of Rab ne Bana Di Jodi. That becomes 42 crores in 2 days, which is 21 crores per day. Now if three shows are running per day, this comes out to be 7 crores per show and roughly 2.33 crores per hour f...

Barack Obama is a classic example of a "good" politician and there are many things our Indian counterparts can learn from him. I wouldn't be going into the moral aspects. I was just surfing the internet when I found out a video of Barack Obama surfing with his family. The man is fit, healthy and has a fab body. He does not look like a muscle machine nor is he an over weight pig. The perfect person for the most stressful job in the world. A healthy mind in a healthy body is an adage our esteemed super heroes of Lok Sabha can learn from. The day after he won the presidential elections of 2008, he was back at the gym, getting in shape to reshape the world. Also Try reading 10 reasons why Obama is the right man US Elections: Time magazine covers

Nokia Maps, a feature of the Nokia GPS phones (Also known as Navigators), have made a blunder by showing Kashmir a part of Pakistan. Nokia is one of the most trusted mobile phone brands of India and has risen in popularity because of its easy interface. I too use a Nokia Navigator phone and it has been essential in navigating me to unknown places in Delhi and Mumbai. Nokia Maps is a software that uses the GPS receiver of your GPS enabled phone and helps you show directions, and virtually guides you through every lane. The designers of Nokia have done a fabulous job as far as the technology is concerned but they have gone wrong with the facts of Kashmir. The reactions to this mistake have also been over the top. BJP protesters raided a NOKIA store in jabalpur and set it on fire. I am pro-BJP person, but I think such violent reactions are just not needed. We live in a civilized society and we should behave accordingly and not like hooligans on the street. Destroying hoardings and burni...

The highest life expectancy amongst all South Asian countries is in Srilanka with 69 years on an average for males and 76 years for females. When I started collecting the stats for life expectancy, I never expected Srilanka to be on top of that list. There are other strange facts in the list. For instance Pakistan's life expectancy for males is 2 years more than Indian males. The lowest life expectancy was no surprise with Afghanistan being light years back at 44 years for both men and women. The Republic of Maldives is at second spot with Pakistan at the third spot followed by Bhutan. India fares low in life expectancy at fifth place among the 8 countries with Bangladesh, Nepal and Afghanistan below it in that list. Stats Full name: Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Life expectancy: 44 years (men), 44 years (women) (UN) Full name: People's Republic of Bangladesh Life expectancy: 63 years (men), 65 years (women) (UN) Full name: Kingdom of Bhutan Life expectancy: 64 years (men)...

There are times when your observation ( predication ) goes thoroughly wrong and is the cause for a major public embarrassment. I have been through such situations so many times that the word "embarrassment" does not embarrass me any more. But if you multiply an embarrassment by a million, there are chances that your stay at the embarrassment villa might be longer. Simi Garewal is such a lady whose stay at the E-Villa has been long, infact much longer than I expected. I was watching the debate on NDTV hosted by an already unpopular journalist when she uttered her comments about the Pakistani flags, which "She" could see in a slum from a suburban restaurant. In reality those were not flags of Pakistan. Oops! what a Blunder and that too on National TV (When the world is watching you). There was instant reaction on that show too, when a person actually rushed towards her to punch her face. At that point I knew this would be in the news tomorrow. But the story has cont...

My eyes were numb and my heart was all praise for the brave as the mist of bullets, confusion and horror settled over India’s chilliest winter days in the recent years. As the smoke rose above I could see red in eyes of red in my mirror, my country. I wish I had the sword and courage to go take revenge, but I didn’t, I wish I had the power, luck and determination, I didn’t. All I had was anger, distrust that blinded me in my own room my own land. With me were those who came out on streets and lit the candles of faith, candles of unity, candles of peace, as the truth with its sweaty fabric of red stains showed us the dim light to go ahead. Today those candles still light like the endless sun, burning till we get justice. A step taken forward have healed the wounds but the scars still remain as the royalty and pride stands high asking the world to come, sit, have a cup of coffee and watch the long shadows by the evening sun as the waves caress the shores of a wounded city. Reopening of ...

" Rahul Dravid has finally struck form ".These were the lines that were flashing on almost every news channel as he scored a fifty after a million ducks. No I don't want to be cynical but he has just gone back to his old formula. Gautam Gambhir, who is considered more aggressive than Virendra Sehwag (By Viru humself, a modest confession) did not do any favours either. A lack luster day on the first day of the second test at Mohali. Although the play stopped short by 18 overs and the winters made the day even longer, the former estranged captain never seemed to get out of sleep. It was when the bowlers dozed off, he decided to go for a few shots(His classic cuts). I know fans of Rahul Dravid reading this would have their canons pointing towards me by now. You can call your shots once I am safe in a bunker (Rahul's way). It's good he has found form, but it is bad that his finding of form is being portrayed as if the world has just jumped back from recession and a bi...

It is not the first time this has happened, but Aamir khan has got into a tattoo trouble. There was a tattoo of a phone number on his body and while the promos of Ghajini went on air, the crazy fans of Aamir, noted down the number and started calling it. The result was that Aamir's doctor became the first target of his fans. Now it is film distributor Trilochan Singh. His number too has been flashed and he is getting crazy calls. It is really surprising to see that when there are crores being spent on the movie and the world goes gaga about his 8 packs, the producers did not buy 2 numbers to flash it. What say! Is this an after effect of recession ? I hope other filmakers learn a lesson from this. Apparently Trilochan Singh has filed a lawsuit demanding Rs 50 Lakh as damages. Now this will hurt. Recession won't help it either. Looking at it the other way, Trilochan could have done all this as a publicity stunt to get into limelight. You can never say anything about the Indian F...

An unfortunate incident has become a craze on the internet. I was surprised by the quick reaction of the internet community to come up with some many games, animations and videos on the shoe throw incident that happened in Baghdad recently. I really feel sorry for George Bush, but he has provided a lot of fodder for stand up comedians during his 8 year stay at the white house. This sort of a farewell is very sad and not deserving for the person who removed a dictator of Iraq. I have compiled of whatever I could get on the different flash games and animations. Flash Games Bush Boot Camp BUSHOES Animations George Bush avoiding shoe in Matrix fashion Pokemon being thrown at George Bush A big foot being put on George Bush's head George Bush as Santa being thrown by a snow ball Video

This is a security advice to all the readers of Speak India. If you are browsing the web through your Internet Explorer browser, change your web browser right now. BBC reported that this security flaw could allow criminals to take control of your PC, steal your passwords and damage your system. The flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer could allow criminals to take control of people's computers and steal their passwords, internet experts say. Microsoft urged people to be vigilant while it investigated and prepared an emergency patch to resolve it. BBC You can switch to a new web browser. You can try switching to Mozilla Firefox or Google's Chrome for a safer web experience. I would suggest you use Mozilla's Firefox, since chrome is new and prone to bugs.

As our esteemed politicians were busy maligning each other in the parliament today, Naxals attacked and gutted down the office of BSNL and tower of Reliance communications in Kanker,Chhattisgarh. After the attack on Mumbai on 26th November, it seems that the intelligence and policing is still lagging despite all the tragedies that have taken place. According to business standard, the Naxals had held many villagers as hostage and finally burned the building of BSNL and destroyed a tower of Reliance Communication (Rcom). As they were leaving, they cut two trees in such a way that they fell on 33KV lines supplying power to about 300 villages, plunging them into darkness. Destroying communication equipment is a way of crippling a nation as without communication it would impossible to conduct swift action. These strategies were employed effectively during world War II. But it is still shameful that such acts are taking place with ease in a country that hopes to be all powerful in this world...

This incident will remain in the memory of George W Bush as the shoe that narrowly missed him and insulted his policies that had donned the fate of Iraq for 7 years. An Iraqi journalist threw his sweaty shoes at George Bush, the US president, in his last visit to Baghdad, shouting: "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog." One of the shoes narrowly missed the president's head and slammed into the wall behind him.Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, tried to block the second with his arm. Throwing shoes at somebody is a supreme insult in the Middle East and the history of shoes goes down when senior Bush was the president.After Gulf war, Iraq's dictator Saddam Hussein had put a mosaic outside Iraq's Al-Rashid hotel. After that incident the battle of shoes was full on. The US president George W Bush took the revenge of his father's insult and went ahead with the Iraq war to bring an anarchy to the ground. The result was a death of hundreds of inn...

Saina Nehwal (The Indian teenage Badminton champ) did not get a passport issued in time and her playing finals at World Super badminton series masters final in Malaysia was in jeopardy. She gave the passport officials 8 days for the renewal of her passport. Isn't this too soon for them. I remember, when I had applied for the passport, I was told to forget about it. 3 months later a man came at my house, with a nasty smile, took bakshish (Bribe) and then handed over the passport. WTF! And she expects that she should get it within 24 hours. Whoops!! To much for them. While I was reading the article in Times of India, I got the feeling that the passport officials did not treat her properly or give her the respect or attention. Obviously, being a cricketer has its own privileges. She says "I play tournaments almost every week and so I can't wait for two weeks, they should issue the passports within a 24 hours. I never speak against any sport but I am deeply hurt by the way I...

An actress who does not have a god father, is not a beauty contest winner, nor has plum role is a beauty in desperation. And what does she decide to do. Go nude. I don't know the name of the princess in need, but she was featured on BaKwaas Balwaan TV . I'm sure BOSS would be more than happy to see her, but I don't really think, the censor board is going to help the producer. When they can chop of the word condom from Hello after going gaga about it on TV, chopping or ripping the scene apart wouldn't be tough. There is no shortage of perverts in the film industry. As far as the beauty in need is concerned, Desperation has many speakers. From MTV to blogs. Can't really say, whether it's a publicity stunt to call in some directors (predators looking to do a favour).

Israel and Russia have told their citizens to avoid visiting Goa as there is a possibility of a terror attack during the New Year Celebrations this year. There have been reports of an Al Qaeda threat too. With Israel's Counter Terrorism Bureau issuing a "concrete" warning asking its tourists to stay away from Goa this season and the subsequent caution to Russian tourists, Goa's tourism party for the year 2008 could just end in a whimper. This is India, a place where Birds don't fly, a place where people don't party and a place where foreigners are raped. Our streets are forts and our coast is place where police sleeps. This could be a hard lesson for the politicians, security and Intelligence agencies of India. As for the people, it's a bad time right now.

I was just checking about a website, Wikimapia , which is a map service of wikipedia based on its concept. I started by searching "Wiki Maps" on Google and successfully found the website, but there were things that surprised me. Along with the search results were the search results of the most popular entries, as is the case with every website. So got the answer of who is Mr Popular " Megastar Chiranjeevi's " There is no Sachin tendulkar, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, George Bush and many others. It's the megastar.

The CNG autos did a lot good for the people of Delhi and this effort by the government has been a commendable one. It did reduce a lot of pollution and the air has become less polluted than it was a few years back. The sight of fumes coming out of an auto is a rarity now. Although it is common in goods tempos, norms for them too need to be regulated. The mad rush to buy vehicles continued thanks to the new jobs created due to the BPO industry. Salaries increased and so did the standard of living. I have nothing against it but yes as it did deteriorate and we have no right to complaibnt about it since we are partly responsible for it. But looking at the auto rickshaw, the have gone through a lot because of the impositions on them by the government. Yes, the cheap gas also gave them better margins. Long queues at CNG stations and waiting of almost 3 hours at CNG station was there, but the tribe went through all that to make the metropolis better. The yellow and green brand of this trib...

There have been lay offs , salary cuts and the whole world has been taken by storm. People are running to the east, to the west, north, south everywhere, not to search for god, but a job. Whoa! BOSS would have preferred to die hungry than to do all this. Anyways the hardworking (mehnat pasina) individual is busy to prove himself worthy of his role and salary in his/her cash stripped organization. To add to the tension is inflation. Inflation has acted like a magnifying glass to project the tension on our minds as ten fold. Before I talk more, let me tell you that I am not going to discuss about the fiscal stimulus or economic policies. I'll just be highlighting the ten fold tension to try to show you the preception of an unemployed youth about the current scenario. No it is not skewed, it is just tension free. The sugar free sweetner that diabetic patients use can be used as an analogy to the current scenario. We need a tension free life. The biggest problem is that people have exp...

A cause to support the Indian Army has been started on Facebook . While such causes are genuinely required at the international level, creating awareness among ourselves helps too. There are hate campaigns, Love campaigns and senseless campaigns too. With over 7500 members, when I last checked.The aim of this campaign is two fold. World wide Support for Indian Army Awareness amongst fellow countrymen There might be overwhelming number of supporters for this cause in future but the exceptions can't be ruled out.I'll be searching for such exceptions on the social networks and if you find some please comment. But there are few people, one like the BOSS, who have a negative perception about such things. I managed to reconcile with BOSS after the sting operation . All it took were some sweets to satisfy his black hole like stomach. BOSS says that it is impossible to curb corruption and terrorism and says, "Tum Bachchalog itna mat uchlo " (You kin...

Hey, I was on a secret sting operation, which I am breaking now on my blog. I've been following BOSS for the last few days and today, I captured the images of his dirty PAAN spit across the newly built subway near my house. These images won't be new to you if you were in India and would be more common in Northern India. People especially from UP and Bihar have a habit of chewing PAAN and they spit it in any corner they find. But BOSS being an astute, crooked individual, came to know of my sting operation and he came after me. I managed to save myself but he took out his anger on the community rickshaw, breaking its wheel. It seems I'll have to manage my relationship with BOSS to get more of such sting operations to you.

Statutory Warning : You might just fall asleep or have a nervous breakdown while reading this post The one interesting thing that happened today was a comment by possibly a Pakistani, who called me a stupid for calling the Pakistan PM a joker in a previous post and suggested an alternative career for me. Better you sell sing outside a bus stop or railway stations rather than posting your meaningless scraps here. I was watching Fantastic 5 on MTV today and Cyrus Sahukar (the anchor), shared 5 alternative careers for 5 " celebs " including Shilpa Shetty, Raja Choudhary, Irfan Pathan,Upen Patel & Subhash Ghai. I have my own list of five celebrities, who have performed abysmally and I strongly feel that they need to search for an alternative career, for the betterment of everybody. 1. Rakhi Sawant : This twat has now become a sore in the eye and a pain in the ear. Its advisable to press the mute button on TV when she is on air, and those implants of her occupying maximum...

The word panic has donned the headlines of papers like the dust in a house near a busy road. The dust in my house, just takes the life out of me. The word “absolute panic“in the Times of India was referred by a person who had gone there to drop his son. The word playing like déjà vu in the minds of most Indians, atleast the upper classes of the society is PANIC. Like a disease, it has spread swiftly through the air, catapulted by the media, especially television. While some people have started active campaign against some prominent journalists (Barkha Dutt), there still seems to be a slim chance of the media being under control, until another vociferous medium comes in, which is highly unlikely. But there is a need, a strong one to get some panic killers, to relieve the panicky pain, temporarily. I don’t think the crappy stuff of Headlines Today, such as over the top Bigg Boss shit that it continuously keeps airing or the internet videos that keep rolling indicating a dearth of conte...

It's rather strange that a country's top minister was made to look like a fool, act like a joker in the international arena. He let down a billion people(of Pakistan), who “elected” him, to head a democracy by the so called “people's” party. A prank caller called him and said, “I’m Pranab, you better act fast, else we’ll attack you”. It took this much for Pakistan to start their act consisting of an elected army of jokers, like a cracker that bursts as it is lighted. Now consider the competence and the intelligence of the person who is known for his playboy reputation and his ability to handle a crisis that has developed with (or without) his involvement. I feel sorry for him and his country of tatterdemalions with their fanatic and irresponsible behavior. They just seem to have gone too far, after they crossed the threshold in 1965. As for poor Pranab, and the other congressmen, they just prayed to their gods, before the media put their guns (their microphone and cameras)...

Misleading headlines often make it difficult for a reader to actually sort out the relevant information from the rest from an ocean of information on the web. I recently was reading stuff about finance in my google reader when suddenly, I came across this headliner : A software to estimate the time of death? Now firstly, the wrong headline in a wrong category, but an info hungry web surfer will not think twice before clicking on it. Thanks to the money hungry internet service operators, the slow speed of the internet gives you the time to think about the stuff that you are just about to encounter. And yes, I;m talking to you. What do you think is going to be there? A software with some arcane statistics that can precisely tell when you going to say goodbye to your family, friends and the evil terrorists of Pakistan. Well if not you are some strange exception, but atleast that’s what I thought. And what did it turn out to be ? Any guess ? It turned out to be Software that, using some i...

Hidden behind those fenced cages, lies a dragon of truth, That weeps fire for me to drown, Lay those in its belly that fed the behemoth, When the men in green, hung on to the bells of a forgotten temple. With a piece of metal, used by a butcher, I knew behind the lighted screen, was a dragon, Far ferocious than the dwarfed horror shown in my room, The world sat, and watched in a truth that was doomed. Like the pin drop, it blew again, in those agonizing hours, To say, I was lost, I would not lie, to say, I was afraid, I would not lie, Righteous were those men hanging on in green, As were those behind the scene. Like the allies of 1939, like the Jew in a Nazi camp, Came back the time, when I wanted them to be stamped, With the blood of those, who had nothing to do, With the bodies of those, that lay silent... With the tears of those whom the dragon had gulped, The blood and tears would still be a less to heal, Of what I have lost, in the mangled steel, But I know, your god and my god. B...

Another day of terror gloomed on the front pages of Times of India, HT Mint and all other leading dailies as the saga of horror, tragedy, mystery and ignorance refuses to die down. The impact has been global and the reactions of condemnation in plenty, but India’s actions have still been in the closet. The resignation of three ministers was a consequence, a reaction to the ripples, like high tides, that sunk the islands of luxury, corruption where our ministers (those 3 and many more) were enjoying a perfect tropical holiday, while the country was being attacked. The so called phase of a knee-jerk reaction is over. Now it is time for action, not exactly combat, but a firmer stance, backed by some thought and possible future consequences. It is true that we will not get any military backing from USA and Israel as there was a significant change in colours of the statements of condoleezza Rice after she went to Pakistan. The truth is that we are self sufficient nuclear power (the truth th...

Youtube’s content policing norms are getting stricter. Youtube, since it gained popularity has been subject to pornographic material from various sources with commercial interests. It has been long used as a promoter for certain adult websites and blogs. With its efficient flagging system, the viewers used to flag videos, which were then reviewed by the youtube staff. With $15 million expenditure in bandwidth, this stricter policy of nudity, which generates a lot of hits, will be reduced. Youtube team had recently mentioned a certain points on its blog on 2nd December. When are videos considered ‘sexually suggestive’? Videos featuring sexually explicit content like real sex acts are not allowed. Other content like nudity and dramatized or implied sexual conduct may be considered sexually suggestive depending on whether or not it is intended or designed to arouse viewers. Nudity includes exposed or partially covered genitalia, buttocks, or breasts, as well as sheer clothing. Videos fea...

It may not be long before the notorious MIGs may take off from bases in North India and bomb Lashkar hideouts and camps in Pakistan as the international squeeze on Pakistan is getting tighter, tight enough to suffocate the terrorist camps. What makes this evident are the international reactions more so from the United States nad Israel. I'd like to quote a few lines from the Times of India. ‘‘Rather than simply begging the Indians to show restraint, a better option could be to internationalize the response. Have the international community declare that parts of Pakistan have become ungovernable and a menace to international security,’’ Robert Kagan, an influential analyst with the Carnegie Endowment, said. ‘‘Would such an action (strikes) violate Pakistan’s sovereignty?’’ Kagan asked in an op-ed, and answered, “Yes, but nations should not be able to claim sovereign rights when they cannot control territory from which terrorist attacks are launched.’’ US sets stage for strikes on c...

Today, more than 1 lakh people gathered near the Gateway of India in Mumbai and organized a rally, a sign of protest against all those responsible for the terror attacks, not only in Mumbai, but all over India. Such rallies, on smaller scales could be seen all over India (more in metros) and the images were being telecast on almost all news channels. As I watched these images, at around 8:15 PM, I felt the need to join the protest in Delhi, but sadly couldn't find one. In the end at 11 pm, after contacting, Hindustan Times, India today and TV today, I, with my supportive friend Deepak, were standing outside the central park in CP. We decided to light the candles near a tree and with the help of a local guard, managed to light few candles and offer our homage to the people who lost their lives and their families. In the end, it gave me and friend huge satisfaction and finally we decided to leave a note, and with nothing more than the envelope of an invitation to the annual function ...

Kerala CM’s obscene remark about the father of Sandeep Unnikrishnan makes me feel contaminated that I was born in a state that is now headed by a CM whose soul sucks to the core. Had it not been Sandeep, not even a dog would have visited them – Kerala CM V S Achuthanandan This is not an insult to the martyr or his family but an insult to all Indians as Major Unnikrishnan and his family is part of all the families of India and we are highly indebted to him and his family. Political mileage on a person who was the only son of a family and has a small child disgusts me. People like V S Achuthanandan who souls are sold to the lust of power and the greed of money should be banned from the country and should be sent to Andaman as he rots to the core. I think we need some policing in this country and a big brother to give a one tight slap to these politicians to teach them what their parents forgot. I am angry, I am sad, but what should I do, but what can I do, can I shoot one of them, Can I ...