Children International
Charity begins at home.....

I think I wrote about Children International a while ago as one of the charities I support and recommend.

I have been supporting Children International since 1997 by sponsoring children.

Today, number of my sponsorships is 4 with 2 children in India, one in Columbia and one in Zambia....Small donations but pooled together with the resources from org like Children International makes a big difference.

I have been quite happy with Children International and their professionalisms...They keep the sponsor updated on every sponsored child and send reminders for special ocasions for birth days....etc....

They have a very good web presence and make things easier to manage your accounts....No hard pleading for funds etc...all for you to decide...

My principle has been to increase the amount of charity everytime something good happened to me or just felt I was ready to give a little more....It feels good to know that you are maing a difference however small it may be....

So, if you are looking for a charity to contribute to...please take a moment to see if children international appeals to you... I hope it does and you also become a sponsor and experience for yourseld the joy of knowing that you are making a difference in some child's life....

www.children.org.

Cheers !

Don't swaet the small stuff
Topic: Audio Book
Don't swaet the small stuff.....nice boook...

Good tips to reduce stress in life.....as one matures you see things and pick up wisdom not to sweat small stuff.....this book reinforces......very good. As I said in my previous post.....reinforcing uncommon common sense is very important.

Good quote - TGIT- Thank God It's TODAY....meaning live in the present without worrying too much about the future or brooding over the past. Makes a difference from TGIF or TGIM.....

Cheers !

Chaos
"Chaos is the law of nature; Order is the dream of man"

Make peace with Chaos and be happy:)

Flight of the buffalo.....
Topic: Audio Book
Flight of the buffalo......another management pep talk book.

Book starts off with saying that buffalos are lead by a lead buffalo and follow the leader blindly....kill the lead buffalo and rest of the herd goes clueless and you can butcher the entire herd.....so goes the story how buffalos were killed in the Americas in the past.....

Same analogy applies to organizations with lead buffalo like leader who makes all decisions without empowring his people...

On the contrary.....geese too have a leader but the leader takes different positions in the pattern without affecting their soaring performance....

So on and on it goes with many management tit-bits....

Common sense is so uncommon that you tend to benefit by listening to such books....They help to reinforce time tested uncommon common sense....

Very rarely you will come across a book on leadership or management which is revolutionary....Most of them are uncommon common sense in different flavors.....good to listen to as many of them are possible....that way it starts becoming part of your psyche.......

I do not think I would have been successful reading and completing this book but listening makes it much easier.......

Overall, an okay book.....

The Jerk
Topic: Movies
The Jerk....starring Steve Martin etc.....

Decent movie but Martin could have been utilized better......looks like it is director's fault to have made him over-act.....Otherwise....Martin could have delivered a decent comedy.....

2 Starrs......

AK-47
Topic: Movies
AK-47......if you like action movies.....surprisingly well made low budget.....low profile movie....no big names........but still an entertainer.......

Fight Mater Ram Shetty.....deliveres a decent movie ....as a director.

True to Shetty's original forte.....full of well done action sequences.....

Om Puri deliveres a nice powerful performance as a tough cop in a short role.....

New comers do a decent job. Aashish Vidyarthi acts well as baddie......Supporting actors like Satam, Mohan Joshi, Amrapurkar contribute their might as well....

Item song is really good :)

Way to go Shetty !

Anara - back in soup
Somewhere some conspiracy......

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Nightmare begins afresh for former beauty queen

Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, February 10, 2005











Advertisement

Just when she thought it was all over, former Miss Jammu Anara Gupta - accused of starring in a porn video only to have her name cleared by a forensic laboratory - finds herself dragged into the controversy again.

A Hyderabad laboratory gave a clean chit to Anara, but now forensic experts in Chandigarh claim they tallied 60 of her photographs with the porn video attributed to her and found "mostly similar" features.

Her family, which had heaved a sigh of relief after weeks of "police harassment", now finds itself pleading her innocence again.

"My daughter is innocent and can face any trial because she has nothing to hide," Raj Rani, Anara's mother, told reporters here.

"How did this Chandigarh laboratory report surface?" asked Raj Rani.

The Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory (CFSL) in Chandigarh Wednesday said Anara's photographs were tallied scientifically with the facial features of the girl in the video. The girl could be Anara as features tallied with her photographs, it said.

CFSL director R.S. Verma said the tape and pictures were sent to them by the Jammu police on January 27 and the findings were sent back Feb 7.

The Chandigarh report gave the Anara case a new turn barely four days after police withdrew their cases against her.

The report that the girl in the porn video could be Anara contradicts an earlier report by CFSL Hyderabad that her features did not match those of the girl in the video.

The Hyderabad-based CFSL, however, stands by its report, giving a clean chit to Anara.

"I can't say anything on this. May be the tapes and videos they examined were different," said laboratory director K.P.C Gandhi.

Defending the Hyderabad report, he said after five hours of detailed study they found that the girl in the CD was not Anara.

"We compared the CD as per forensic biometric studies from head to toe, including the fingers and toes and the hairline," he said.

"Two CDs or any two forensic samples examined under the same conditions by using the standard methodology will bear the same results," Gandhi said, implying that the Chandigarh laboratory may have examined other tapes.

Anara and a cable operator were arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police on November 4 for allegedly producing pornographic movies and were later released on bail.

Ash Rai on David Letterman show
Ash is in the US to promote 'Bride and Prejudice" which releases here this Fri....

She was quite witty on letterman show.....Avi downloads are available on the net. Google and go to groups....

You will also find her apperance on 60 minutes soome time back......

Trivia - what is common betwenn Ash and Sush other than being beauty queens......

Both are SCORPIOs.....Danger !

Creative way to celebrate Valentine's Day
Check out the creative dudes from Hindu College.

Last time I was impressed with dudes from Hindu college was during many OASIS fests in Pilani. They were indeed very creative....be it street plays or antakshrai or drama......

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Hindu College's whacky Valentine's Day ritualAdd to Clippings
RATI CHAUDHARY

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 09, 2005 11:01:52 PM ]
Sign into earnIndiatimes points
NEW DELHI: Every Valentine's Day, a unique tradition is observed at Hindu College. A group of male students, mostly hostel residents, offers prayers to "Damdami Mai" and celebrates a female icon who it feels has hogged headlines for all the wrong reasons.

As college japes go, this February 14 "ritual" is just a little more whacky than some others. Last year it was Janet Jackson with her nipplegate at the Superbowl who grabbed the honours.

This year, unless there is a last-minute challenger, it could be former Miss Jammu Anara Gupta who has been in the news for porn CDs, said college prime minister Sandeep Kumar.

According to college students, the tradition of Damdami Mai ki puja is self-invented. She is supposedly the goddess of girls and the puja is performed by male students to please her on this special day.

Given the fact that the female "star" has to be someone who has gained some notoriety, the choice is made carefully.
The male students take out a procession in the college with one of them dressed up as a pandit carrying all the material for aarti in the lead, and another student carrying a semi-nude poster. Each year the portrait is further embellished.

The popular virgin tree in the college campus is then decorated, not with buntings or streamers but with condom balloons.

Amidst the reverberating sounds of drums and dhols and slogans of 'Damdami Mai ki jai ho' , the aarti progresses. Words of the aarti are changed every year by the students and they are definitely not for the bashful.

Now when there is an aarti there has to be prasad too. Of course, the prasad contains doses of bhang for the special touch.

Also, there is lal mirchi teeka which causes a burning sensation on the forehead if applied. If freshers are warned by a senior, they can escape. If not, even Damdami Mai cannot save them.

Fiorina outta HP
HP's board today ousted Carly Fiorina.....much news available anyway on the internet.....

Only woman to hold CEO, President and Chairman titles at the same time....

From what I have read in the business press,'execution' was not Carly strength. She did a great job of developing a new strategy for HP but sarted, it appears, faltering in its execution. Anyway, she is a very smart executive to go and fix similar problems elsewhere.

But, her grit and ability to withstand all the pressure during Compaq merger as documented in 'Perfect Enough' is simply astonishing.......

Walks away with $21 mil in severance.....what a deal....

Cheers !

God bless MTR
There is a proverb in Sanskrit-"Annadata sukhi bhav" meaning " may the food provider be happy and hearty".

I wish this to our MTR people for making all sorts of Indian foods avilable so far from home. Be it tasty Navrathan Koorma, or Channa masala or many other entrees.

Saves people like me.

All those people engaged in providing food services be happy and healthy.....

Cheers !

Good old PJs
Opposites:

Goswami - Comeswami
Gopalkrishna - Comepalkrishna
Govind - Gone with the wind !
Arvindsawmy - Arvind did not see me !
Made in India - Destroyed in Pakistan


Nag Pachmi - Nag Punch Me

I can not stand it. OK, no problem. Try sitting it. !

Anyway, too many PJs.

Eight Steps to Seven Figures
Topic: Audio Book
Eight Steps to Seven Figures.....audio book....on investing.....

Nothing new for a well informed investor.....more like a sermon for someone who is not sure if he/she should invest.....

No new techniques etc.....talks same thing about long range investing.....importance of getting into market early....etc. etc.....

ok.....the book was like 'preaching to the choir'

Only for beginners.....

Congrats to Pats
Congratulations to New England Patriots, Boston's football team, on their victory in superbowl championships.

I am not a football fan but being New England resident I have obligation to say - GO PATS (whatever that means)

Cheers !

Shankar Guru
Topic: Movies
Shankar Guru - old Kannada movie from 1978.

Starring Raj Kumar (3 roles), Padma Priya, Jaya Mala etc.

Simple, nice movie. After seeing 'Usire' movie made last year, what a refreshing movie is this. That's why I said in my previous post that they used to make good movies in the past.

Twin brothers...estranged father due to circumstances...some goons....from mysore to Kashmir....pretty girls....some drama...all ends well...

Simple formula...some good songs.....evergreen Raj Kumar......

Cheers !

Usire
Topic: Movies
Usire- Kannada movie- starring Ravi Chandran, Rachana etc.

After a long time got to see some Kannada movie. Kannada movie industry is pretty small and not many times get DVDs or cassettes.

Anyway, I am not a big fan of these run-of-the-mill movies. Only rarely very good movies come in Kannada. It was not so before, majority used to be good ones. May be now since most of the people have taken to Hindi, Tamil, Telugu movies, they are making Kannada movies to suit C and D centers.

Prakash Raj shines.....

Body double
Topic: Movies
Body double - time waster thriller.....what an arbit concept and a movie....no story.....nothing....

Don't know why so much hype around this.....

Blackmail
Topic: Movies
Blackmail- Suneil Shetty, Ajay Devgan, Priyanka Chopra etc.

What a waste a movie?

Weak story......

Suneil and Priyanka can not act. Ajay does not have a meaty role.

Kid really irritates. why on the earth they select over acting child artistes....

All in all totally disappointing.....

Anubhav
Topic: Movies
Anubhav- ah, very oldie movie (1971) starring Sanjeev Kumar, Tanuja directed by Basu Battacharya.

Sanjeev Kumar is one of my all time favourite. I probably have seen most of his movies multiple times. What a great actors he was.

Movie is so so. Nothing much about it. Married couple with no steam left in the marriage.....old lover of the wife appears and starts working at her husband's office and you know the emotional tug of war.........

Sanjeev Kumar delivers a memorable performance as the husband too busy with time for nothing but work.

Tanuja looked no better any other time.

It saddens me even today to remember untimely death of Sanjeev Kumar in 1985. He was only 44. Only if he had survived a few more years, how many more nice movies he would have delivered. I can not even think about the losss.

Sanjeev Kumar was one of the most unfortunate actors in Bollywood....he was always after woman who did not love him...be it Nutan or Hema Malini. He never cared for women who loved him like actress Sulakshana Pandit who cared for him till his death. It is said with his food and drink abuse he would have not lasted even this far without Sulakshana's care....God bless his soul....

Some trivia-

Hari Bhai Junjunwala - Sanjeev Kumar's real name
Tanuja - sister of Nutan another great actress, daughter of Shobana Samarth famous actress in her own self and mother of Kajol
Sulakshana Pandit - niece of Pandit Jasraj. She and her sister Vijeta were quite popular for a couple years in bollywood.

Cheers!

Page 3
Topic: Movies
Page 3- movie directed by Madhur Bhandarkar

Very good movie....like other Bhandarkar movies this is one is also quite 'hat ke se'(unusual).

Page 3 refer literallly to the 3 page which is full of glam sham party warty etc.

In nutshell, the movie exposes the rotten elite society in Indian metro. If you have read, Mohan Deep's 'It is my life' novel, you know much of all this....

There is one line in hindi -kala dhanda gore log-meaning black business white people.

All show off socialites their unusual fetishes, superficaility etc. are very well caught.....

Koena Mitra does pretty well as the reporter for page 3.

Boman Irani, Atul Kulkarni shine as editor of the paper and crime reporter......

Very well captured scenes leave you thinking about the society which breaks any kind of moral fabric and makes newcomers mold into its dirty cast....

Casting couch, celebrated but corrupt cops of B'bay, pedophiles etc. are really well shown.

All in all, Madhur Bhandarkar pulls off another really good 'hat ke se' movie after Chandni Bar, Satta, Aaan.....

Worth watching once at least !