Instant Justice like Instant Noodles!

Its old news but quite interesting and hence am reproducing it here -

Instant justice for using foul language


Applying the principle of instant justice, Sharjah Police made a woman passenger beat a taxi driver in the streets in public for using vulgar language when she told the driver to drive safely.

This is surely something we can emulate. Especially considering the rude responses one get when one asks a cab driver or an autorickshaw driver to drive sanely.

[Image Source:http://bangalore.metblogs.com]

My First Wedding Anniversary!

Need I say more? :)

Keanu Reeves to be Shri Ram

Yes, Keanu Reeves for Ram, Salma Hayek for Sita and either Sylvester Stallone or Kevin Costner for demon king Ravana! So how would you like that? If you think I have gone bonkers read this report in the ToI.

With a little imagination and a few deft photoshop strokes, this is what it would possibly look like if the film becomes a reality.



Would they be able to recreate the same magic as Arun Govil & Deepika Chikalia? Well, that's for time to tell.

Are There More Cho’s To Come?

If some reports of the world press are to be believed psych drugs could be the reason behind Cho’s mindless killing in Virginia Tech. Shocking but it could be true.

Are meds to blame for Cho's rampage?
Experts say psychiatric drugs linked to long list of school shooting sprees

What is more shocking is that increasingly school children in US are being given psychiatric drugs. Why? Did you know - that the schools receive $400 for each child that is diagnosed as ADHD???

Whats ADHD or Attention Deficit Disorder? - In 1980, the so-called Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), which amounts to little more than a list of behaviors, was voted into existence as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association, so it could be included in the psychiatric billing Bible known as the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, DSM.

In 1987, an H was added to the label and the illness became, "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder." Within one year, 500,000 children in the US were diagnosed with this cash-cow disorder.

On February 10, 2006, the Drug Safety and Risk Management advisory committee said that ADHD drugs should carry the strongest warning label that they may be linked to an increased risk of death and injury.

Here is a first hand account from Linda Danek -

However, here is something interesting. Did you know that the schools receive $400 for each child that is diagnosed as ADHD??? I will post the article shortly.

This really hits home to me personally. I experienced this crap when my son was in junior high. The school thought he was attention deficit and needed an evaluation. So off to the psychologist we go. Ten minute councel with both his father and I (we are divorced) and of course the diagnosis is that he is. Then off to the Psychiatrist so he can prescribe Ritalin.

My son was thrilled as he now was on drugs like most of his friends. His father thought great, insurance covered it and we won't have to deal with anything. Problem solved. I thought, "Something just doesn't seem right." However, I went along with their program for awhile.

To make a long story short, something inside of me bothered me about this whole situation. I went to every session with my son and the Psychiatrist for the little visits for the "med check."

One day, something clicked inside of me and I called the doctors office and I told them I would be over immediately for the transcripts of our visits. I told them it was an emergency.

How interesting it was that the transcripts of our visits were not of what actually took place in our sessions. The whole thing repulsed me. I slowly weaned him off this medication.

In the end, what I want to say from my own experience is that our son road the roller coaster of a divorce and break up. Of both a mother and father focusing on making a living instead of making a life. Our son was like a little bobber on a turbulent sea.

It is interesting how at one time he scored as a genius on school tests and then later was diagnosed as ADHD with a learning disorder.

This is my personal story. Thank you for listening. Below is the article that I would like for you to read.

Sincerely,
Linda,
WI USA

And just to reiterate, the point to be highlighted during recent killing in NASA is - He was unmarried, had no children and apparently lived alone. Another case of induced ADHD?

Take A Break - Indian Cricket Team style!

This time let numbers do the talking. Take a look here on the extraa in(come)nings of our star cricket players -

M.S Dhoni - 8 Crores!
Days spent in Advertising: 75 days
No of Brands - 15 [Reebok, Reliance Comm, TVS, GE Money, Siyarams, Brylcreem, Titan Sonata, Exide, Castrol, Pepsi, Seagram etc]

Rahul Dravid - 13 crores
Days spent in Advertising: 60 days
No of Brands - 12 [ Bank of Baroda, Max New York, Hutch, Britannia, Pepsi, Reebok, Citizen etc]

Virender Sehwag - 5 Crores
Days spent in Advertising: 40 days
No of Brands - 8 [ Adidas, Pepsi, Boost, Hero Honda, Sahara, Britannia]

Yuvraj Singh - 8 Crore
Days spent in Advertising: 40 days
No of Brands - 8 [Microsoft, Pepsi, Seagram, SBI Cards, Reebok, Marico, Trent etc]

Sourav Ganguly - 5 crores
Days spent in Advertising: 35 days
No of Brands - 7 [TCL, Hero Honda, Tata Indicom, Sahara, Puma etc]

Dinesh Karthik - 40 Lakhs
Days spent in Advertising: 5 days
No of Brands - 1 [Nike]

And brace yourselves for the heartstopper of them all:

Sachin Tendulkar - Whopping 40-45 crores
Days spent in Advertising: 70 days
No of Brands - 14 [Pepsi, Cannon, MRF, Adidas, Pantaloons, Sunfeast etc]

So they have all the time in the world to endorse and make money but have nothing but lame excuses when it comes to performing for the country. Remember folks this money is apart from the hefty retainer fee from BCCI and per-match fee's they get.

Why Should India Be "Grateful" to Sachin Tendulkar?

CNN IBN runs an article - 'India ungrateful to Tendulkar'. Pray, tell me why in the name of the good Lord should India be grateful?

He sure has played some good cricket and he has received loads of accolades as well as compensation for the same. He is treated nothing less than a demi god in this part of the world. So if he has given his all to cricket, so has cricket given him everything be it fame or money. So where does the question of being grateful arise?

Sachin does not even bother to play domestic cricket. He has the audacity to ask for a tax waiver for his Ferrari!. And our government hands it to him in a silver platter and makes a proud statement of it to the media too!.

Wow, it surely pays to be a cricket star in India!

This SMS received on the eve of India's shameful exit from the World Cup surmises everything that needs to be said -

Arjun: Mama see baba is on TV
Anjali: Yeah
Arjun: He is hitting many sixes.
Anjali: Must be an Ad beta...


[Statistics source: India Today]

Sales Yoga!

Surely no one these days need to be 'educated' on Yoga. Another 'export' from the east to the western world that has gone on to being one of the most popular activity today.

The practice of yoga helps improve health, mental peace, emotional strength and intellectual clarity. And there are different types of Yoga's that has been spawned to cater to all kinds of audience - Power Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga etc. and one also has a choice of branded Yoga's - Iyengar Yoga based on teachings by B.K.S Iyengar ; Bikram Yoga or "Hot Yoga"

So here comes another "Sales Yoga". Now, why not?

Salespeople need to be creative, resourceful, aggressive, brave, and more importantly enthusiastic. They need to really fight every sale before it translates to income for them. Sales is about pushing oneself against the odds and making the customer feel victorious! A lot depends on how to ask the right questions, listen, analyse, strategize, integrate and believe. And what can be a better training ground than a Yoga that free's the mind and reinvigorates one to face the world.

Now if some Yoga guru does come up with something like this, you surely know where you heard it first! Right?

The "Andaa Tamaatar Jury" & "Purple Nuts Awards"

Since time immemorial we have been aping the west shamelessly, I think there is nothing wrong in taking a cue from them once again. Having been subjected to horrible movies time and again, its about time we have an Indian version of the Razzie awards and honor these film makers with something similar to "The Golden Raspberry Awards".

My suggestion would be to start the "Andaa Tamaatar Film Review Jury" and give away "Purple Nuts" award, earnestly with pomp & show to the worst film-makers!


Hopefully that might teach them to give a little credit to audience's intelligence.

Who is Sanjaya?

Simply put Sanjaya Malakar is to American Idol what Shilpa Shetty was to Big Brother - a lucky 17 year old who found instant stardom after participating in the American Idol season 6.

So what’s the fuss about now, one may ask?

He is not much of a singer. But so are many others who participate in American Idol you might say.
He has funny hairdos. So what? You exclaim!
Well, he is half-Indian. Aah! Now I get it you say.

Here is a little snapshot on Sanjaya –

- Sanjaya & Shyamali (his elder sister) both auditioned for Americal Idol season 6 and both got selected for the Hollywood round. But only Sanjaya made it till Top 8.

- His father is a Bengali Indian while his mother is an Italian American.

- He has JLo for a “fanjaya” for she said, “I like this kid. I love Sanjaya!" after hearing him sing in Spanish in rehearsal, the only one of the remaining 8 contestants to do so

- The real controvery started when Howard Stern, veteran radio and television personality, announced that he was launching a campaign with his listeners to vote for Malakar to win the competition.

- Simon Cowell told Extra, an entertainment news television program, that if Sanjaya Malakar wins, he wouldn’t return as a judge to the show, even though he is contractually obligated to return.

What I get to understand from this is that the new age formula for instant revival of dying television shows is quite simple – 1. Start a new season or series, 2. Get an Indian to participate (whackier the better), 3. Throw in few fans and a thousand opposers. Sit back and watch your fortune soar.


[Image source: Wikipedia & Bodog Beat]

Scientific Verification of Vedic Knowledge - David Osborn

Scientific Verification of Vedic Knowledge - David Osborn

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7678538942425297587
[Time Length:29.30 minutes]

Introduction:

Early indologists wished to control & convert the followers of Vedic Culture, therefore they widely propagated that the Vedas were simply mythology.

Max Muller, perhaps the most well known early sanskritist and indologist, although later in life he glorified the Vedas, initially wrote that the "Vedas were worse than savage" and "India must be conquered again by education... it's religion is doomed"

Thomas Macaulay, who introduced English education into India wanted to make the residents into a race that was: "Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals, and in intellect."

However, the German Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer stated that the Sanskrit understanding of these Indologists was like that of young schoolboys


These early Indologists:

• Devised the Aryan Invasion theory, denying India's Vedic past

• They taught that the English educational system is superior

• They intentionally misinterpreted sanskrit texts to make the Vedas look primitive.

• And they systematically tried to make Indians ashamed of their own culture

• Thus the actions of these indologists seems to indicate that they were motivated by a racial bias.

A vast number of statements and materials presented in the ancient Vedic literatures can be shown to agree with modern scientific findings and they also reveal a highly developed scientific content in these literatures. The great cultural wealth of this knowledge is highly relevant in the modern world



Techniques used to show this agreement include:

• Marine Archaeology of underwater sites (such as Dvaraka)
• Satellite imagery of the Indus-Sarasvata River system,
• Carbon and Thermoluminiscence Dating of archaeological artifacts
• Scientific Verification of Scriptural statements
• Linguistic analysis of scripts found on archaeological artifacts
• A Study of cultural continuity in all these categories

The Vedic literatures contain descriptions of advanced scientific techniques, sometimes even more sophisticated than those used in our modern technological world.

For further reading - Click here

A Roadtrip to Kodai

Here are some details you will find useful if you are planning to take a road trip to Kodai

Distance -
Bangalore to Kodaikanal clocks around 485 kms

Route Decription -
There are two routes with slight variations.
Route 1. Bangalore 43 Hosur 19 Sulagiri 29 Krishnagiri 25 Karimangalam 21 Dharmapuri 26 Toppur 23 Omalur 17 Salem 24 Rasipuram 50 Namakkal 37 Karur 29 Aravakkurichi 33 Vedasandur 23 Ottanchatram 23 Palani 74 Kodaikkanal

Route 2 - Bangalore - Dharmapuri - Madurai - Kodai Road (Here you got to be careful to take the right deviation to the Kodai ghat section else the road actually leads to Munnar)



The roads are motorable for most of the distance till one reaches the Madurai-Kodai road. Lots of development & new road constructions are taking place hence only a single side of the road is available. Night drives should be avoided due to heavy traffic of trucks, bad lights and lack of road space. The ghat section has several hairpin bends and there are constant reminders for drivers to be cautious, slow down and honk at the dangerous bends.

Best Time to Visit -

The tourist season begins from 1st April to 30th June, while it is off season from the 1st july to 31st March
However, its a good idea to visit during the second half of March for the weather remains cool, the tourist crowds are yet to arrive and one can get fantastic deals & service from the hotels.

Accomodation -
We did a little bit of exploring the hotels in Kodai. The best one of course is the Carlton but there are quite a many options available t osuit the pockets of all kind of traveler's.

We chose Hotel Hilltop Towers for a number of reasons. The rooms were decent, the hotel officials were courteous and quite helpful.The service and food was also pretty good and worth a mention. The hotel is located in the center of the town and hence easily accessible to all the different scenic spots. The hotel location is quite important because this is a town that sleeps early, so wrap up your sight seeing as quick as possible and don't you go hunting for some night life here.

This is a place I would'nt mind recommending to my friends. So here it is my friends:
Hilltop Towers, Club Road, Kodaikanal – 624101, Tele. : 04542- 3373532



Here are other options -
1. The Carlton
2. Hotel Valley View Inn
3. Hotel JS Heritage
4. Kodai Resort Hotel
5. Golden Park Inn

So what are the places to visit?...

There isn't much to see in Kodai but for the beautiful sceneries from different view points and for the famous Kurunji flower that blooms once on 12 years. Kodai is the idyllic place to rest one's soul, take in the natural beauty and experience time coming to a standstill. Yet I am listing a few places that one can visit

Kodai Lake or the Berinjam Lake - This is the first and centermost of all activities in kodai. Typical tourist spot with shikara boat rides, chug & pedal boats, pony rides, homemade chocolate stalls. The shikara boat ride surely has its plus points.


Kurinji Andavar Temple - A Lod Murugan temple built by a foreign lady who got converted to Hinduism and married an Indian and came to be called Lady Ramanathan. Quite an interesting tale over there. One can also see the Palani hills at a distance from this hill temple.

Kodai Observatory - Nothing much to explore here except for the beautiful walk inside this Indian Institute of Astrophysics center to a small house that has been converted into a muesuem of sorts. And no, you dont get to see the actual observatory unless you get special permission.

Coakers Walk - A lovely pedestrian path with breathtaking views of the surrounding hills.

Pillar Rock - Three vertical rocks of the height of 120 m stand parallel to one another. It is a very picturesque and romantic spot.

Other spots worth mentioning are - Silver Cascade Falls (which one cannot miss on the main road uphill towards kodai town), Devils Kitchen, Lake view Point etc.

ATM's did u say?
I found a SBI and a Union bank ATM's very near to the club raod. At a walkable distance, just across the petrol station.

Have a nice trip and do let me know your experience too.

Sneakpeek @ Sivaji - Rajnikant's Next Blockbuster

Its been some time since 'Sivaji - The Boss' the next film by the southern superstar has been announced and everyday the hoopla around it just seems to increasingly exponentially. Here are some mindboggling information surrounding this movie:

1. Out of all Director Shankar's movies this is being touted as the most expensive one. And here is the breakup - 68% was spent in location, not surprisingly 12% in graphics, 8% as salaries (no doubt excluding dat of Rajni's) 8% for costumes, 2% for music maestro A.R.Rahman and other techincians, and the remaining 2% on miscellaneous.

2. Amitabh Big B Bachchan is supposedly making his first guest appearance with Rajni in a Tamil movie. And dat is something to watch out for. Rumours say the Big B shot for the movie in 2 days at Pune.

3. Not to stop at Big B..Shankar has allegedly also roped in Malayam Superstar Mamooty for a special scene n the movie.

4. Here are some numbers for you to digest - The distribution rights for Sivaji has been sold to kerala for 6 crores,(an alltime high)- and actor Vineet seems to have bagged the exclusive rights. The movie has found a distrubutor for Karnataka in Ravichandran who sources claim paid a whopping 9 crores and not to be outdone Andhra Pradesh bagged the movie rights for - hold your breath! - 17 crores!


5. Her are some more titbits for the expectant: Sun TV and Reliance are fighting tooth & nail for satelite, dvd, and audio rights. 80 crores seem to be the stake amount for the same with additional 100 mil USD for International rights.

6. International DVD release rights for 9 countries worldwide is being competed by
'Ayngaran International' of Canada and 'Pyramid' of india. Wikipedia has listed Ayngaran as the distributors worldwide, so now we know who bagged the deal.

7. AVM Productions has magnanimously announced that they will give 25% profit to the charity (Sivaji Foundation) if the movie hits silver jubliee, which I am sure his fans will ensure.

8. And as per the cover story of the No:1 Japanese magazine called "Tosho" this movie has crossed the expectation of even hollywood Bond flick "Casino Royale" and this also supposedly makes Rajinkanth the highest paid actor in the world.

9. Tosho magazine also reveals that the total revenue for AVM Productions (if the movie successfully runs for 50 days only in southern India)will be around 430 crores

10. And last but not the least in a series of firsts: This movie is going to be the first to be dubbed in the local languages of Turkey, Hausa, Gonga(South Africa) and kshinola (Argentina).

Scandals not to be withstood Sivaji faced the music when its soundtrack was allegedly leaked in the internet 2 weeks before its actual launch. And a miffed Shankar who swears by the secrecy of his films has decided to re-shoot the songs.

I just hope albiet all the hype the movie manages to entertain the audience like Rajni's past movies did.

Tailender: Much has also been said and written about Rajnikant's popularity in Japan. Here are two pictures of Rajni's popular film Arunachalam hoarding in Japan which would silence the skeptics -






[Image Source: Mid-day Bangalore & Rajninews]