Salaam Namaste

Today ends another mundane weekend! I watched a few movies to kill time as a bad head ache was killing me!
Pinjar- this movie stars urmila matondkar, manoj bajpai and a host of unknown actors. The only trouble I faced was understanding all the dialogues/lyrics, because a lot of it was in urdu. The story is set during the partition of India and is well taken because it does not seem to be biased in anyones favor. I felt there were too many songs and the movie was a bit too long. The movie was distributed internationally by the renowned 20th Century Fox. Over all it was a long but good movie.

My Wife's Murder- this movie is a typical 'Andhrawala' Ram Gopal Varma movie, very much like his other thrillers 'Kaun', 'Road' 'Vaastu Shaastra', 'Bhooth' etc.., Even though he did not direct the movie, he is the producer. He has not spent a penny more than the reunmeration for the actors because 90% of the movie is shot indoors. The lead role is played by Anil Kapoor and Suchitra Krishnamoorthy plays his wife whom he kills accidently, the rest of the movie is about what happens after that.

Ashiq Banaya Aapne- I dont know why I took this movie, it was a waste of time. I heard the songs some time back and liked it, especially the title song. I was really shocked to see a hindi movie with so much sleaze, I have learnt that however bad a Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan or any known actors movie may be, it can still be watched with the family. But i you choose to go for a movie with new faces, all you are goin to find are girls wearing skimpy clothes still trying to expose themselves, and guys who cant act, but can flex their muscles well.

I also had the opportunity to listen to some old hindi songs the pick of them was 'Kabhie Kabhie Mere Dil Mein' beautifully written by Sahir Ludhianvi, I tried my hand in translating the poetry..

Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein khayaal aata hai- Ki jaise tujhko banaya gaya hai mere liye- Tu abse pehle sitaaron mein bas rahi thi kahin- Tujhe zameen pe bulaya gaya hai mere liye
(Sometimes the thought comes to my mind- that you've been created just for me- before this you were living in some far off star- and you were called to the earth just for me)

Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein khayaal aata hai- Ki ye badan ye nigaahein meri amaanat hain- Ye gesuon ki ghani chhaon hair meri khatir- Ye honth aur ye baahein meri amaanat hain
(Sometimes the thought comes to my mind- that your body and eyes were mine- your dark hair is for me only- these lips and these arms are for me)

Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein khayaal aata hai- Ki jaise bajti hain shehnaaiyaan si raahon mein- Suhaag raat hain ghoonghat utha raha hoon main- Simat rahi hai tu sharma ke apni baahon mein (Sometimes the thought comes to my mind- just as one hears music of the shehnaiyi on the road- Its the wedding night and I am lifting your veil- you come into my arms all shy)

Kabhi Kabhi mere dil mein khayaal aata hai- Ki jaise tu mujhe chaahegi umr bhar yoohin- Uthegi meri taraf pyaar ki nazar yoohin- Main jaanta hoon ki tu geir hai magar yoohin
(Sometimes the thought comes to my mind- that you'll love me all your life- you will look at me with love in your eyes- I know you are a stranger, but still.. )

Salaam Namste!

Mixed Emotions

Exhausted#:-S
This week has been really hectic, we had to hit some really tight deadlines and had to put in some crazy hours. But the week has seen a lot of highs and lows, so i thought i will go through some of the events and how i felt and reacted to them.

Pain:-&
I had a bad cavity to add to my cup of woes, due to which I could not even drink cold water. I went to the dentist to get it fixed.

Relieved#:-S
In the midst of a very hectic week I received my performance appraisal, which wasnt great and wasnt too bad either, so even though i wasnt totally happy i was kind of relieved to get it done with.

Sad:(
The US open championship concluded last week with Kim Clijsters and Roger Federer winning the womens and mens singles titles respectively, I was cheering for Andre like most fans must have at the Arthur Ashe stadium and across the US, but Andre ended up loosing to the "Boss". He was up a break in the third set and I thought he would pull it off but Roger then raised his game to a whole new level and the veteran could not really do anything. I was really pissed off when the match was over.

CoolB-)
H1bees: this is the name of the music album released by a few south Indian software engineers living in the US. The seven-song, tri-lingual album — in English, Hindi and Tamil — celebrates the life of the immigrant techies starting with their encounter with the US visa officer.'Standing in line, papers in my hand, All my answers, practised and planned, He asked,/ would ya ever come back home?/ Yes sir, I will, but first give me that H-1B!, Give me that H1-B!’ goes a song." The songs convey the sentiments every immigrant goes through at different stages in life. This is a journey of independence from frugality to conformity," says Srikanth Devarajan, a computer engineer who leads the band. Some 600,000 highskilled Indian guest workers are estimated to have come to the US since the start of the H1-B visa programme in the early 1990's.
The following are the songs on the album, and my ratings::
H1bees [English]- **
Thedi Thedi[Tamil]- ***
Dollaril Income/Varavu Etanna[Tamil]- ****
Dhiku Theriyadha Katil[Tamil]- ****
Kanale Ambu Vitu[Tamil]- ****
Engineering Markku[Tamil]- *****
Hibees[Hindi]- ***
There was an auction on e-bay for the items used in the superhit south Indian movie 'Chandramukhi', the first item sold was the sun glass used by the ''Rajni', they were sold for Rs25000, the proceeds of the auction will be used for charitable purposes.
Google launches its new tool specifically for searching blogs at blogsearch.google.com.
Indian teen sensation Sania Mirza hits a career high ranking of #34 on the WTA.

Suprised:-O
Oracle has decided to buy the leading CRM company Seibel for $5.8 billion. After Retek and People Soft, this is going to be Oracles 3rd big acquisition in about a year. I wonder whats next?
Vijaykanth a popular tamil actor launched his own party recently in madurai, the party is called DMDK. The last successful actor turned politician in Tamil Nadu was MG.Ramachandran. Like in his movies, he aims at a corruption free state. He also said the party would go into the general elections without any alliances in all the constituencies.
Microsoft to buy AOL. and two major American airlines have filed for bankruptcy after fuel prices sky rocketed after the hurricane.
The Indian cricket team's captain Saurav Ganguly was asked to step down by the coach Greg Chappel following his recent poor form.

You've got Tag-'d!

7 things you plan to do b4 you die.
Visit the 7 wonders.
Be a sports coach.
Go for a bungee jump!
Do a stand up comedy show!
Be comfortable waking up early!
Be more courteous:).
Play 'JD' in "Satya";).


7 things you can do
Be cool :-)
Be funny.
Be intense.
Be generous.
Be lazy.
Be creative.
Be jack "of all trades".


7 things you can't do
Wake up early.
Remember names, dates and numbers.
Swim in an ocean.
Trek alone in wilderness or forests of amazon;)
Watch cartoons.
Tolerate sob's!
Be part of NYPD S.W.A.T team!(I wish;)


7 things that attract you to opposite sex
"A Secret"
Eyes
Smile
Honesty
Modesty
blah
balh


7 things you say most
Prayers..
Good.
Shi*! (variations.. sheesh etc)
What the Hell/Heck.
Damn it!
Wo!#@
fcuk (..french connection united kingdom;)


7 celebrity crushes
Kavya Madhavan
Kirsten Dunst
Amala Akkineni
Robin Tunney
Catherine Zeta
Martina Hingis
Aparna Popat


7 people you want to take this quiz
SNGanesh
Gaja
RSRaghav
Anup
Thomas
SVAvasarala
Phinu

The Children Of Beslan

As the world mourns 9/11 and 7/7 not many people care to remember one of the worst terrorist attacks ever in history, the Beslan school hostage tragedy. On September 1, 2004, a group of heavily armed rebel extremists stormed into School No. 1 in Beslan, Russia. For three days, more than a thousand children and adults were held hostage in a sweltering gymnasium, denied food and water, and forced to keep their hands over their heads, the harrowing siege ended on September 3 with a series of explosions and a hail of gunfire that killed some 350 people - half of them children. I happened to watch a totally shocking documentary on HBO called 'The children of Beslan' , where the youngest survivors of Beslan tell their story.

Some facts about the Chechen war & the Beslan tragedy:
- Russia sent troops into Muslim Chechnya in late 1994 to squash the region's self-declared independence. The army lost thousands of troops in the fighting that followed.

- Since 1999, rebels have increasingly targeted civilians with suicide bombings and hostage-takings such as last September's Beslan tragedy when 331 people -- 186 of them children -- died after the siege collapsed into a bloodbath.

- The rebel group, which investigators say numbered around 30, drove to the small town from the Muslim regions of Chechnya and Ingushetia on Sept. 1, 2004, passing along some of the most heavily-guarded roads in Russia.

- There is only one surviving hostage taker Nurpachi Kulaiyev, an Islamic Chechenian militant who is currently facing trial.

Googleopoly!

I am back after a brief hiatus, and as I write this 100's of 1000 people in the southern state of Louisiana are struggling to cope with the damages caused by the hurricane Katrina. This morining I was watching an interview of Indian born congressman Bobby Jindal, even he was left homeless stranded in the aerodome where 1000's are being provided with food, shelter and other essentials. Some insurance companies may even close down or file for chapter 11 as damages have crossed the 16 billion dollar mark.

As Katrina unleashed her fury on the oil rich Gulf of Mexico, the gas prices are expected to rise further, some gas stations have put up signs that they are running short or out of gas. AAA has even adivised that people use their automobiles less frequently until the gas situation comes back to normal. Gas prices may touch the $3.5 mark in certain parts of the country, but else where in the world in places like India gas prices are nearly at $4.10 a gallon and closing in on the $5 mark.

Recently I read a statement by George Bush which was totaly ludicrous, blaming India for the rising oil prices, he claimed that India had to find alternate means of energy and its growing demand for oil was the reason for rising oil prices. He fails to realize that U.S.A consumes 22 million barrels of oil a day more than any other country in the world, in comparison to a meagre 2 million barrels a day in India.

On the topic of automobiles and rising prices, about a week back I had a minor repair on my car where I had to replace my brake pads and shoes, this cost me in excess of $500 , something that would have cost me less than $100 in India. On another occasion the rear bumper of my freinds car was damaged and to get it repaired it cost nearly 20% of the cost of the car, so in reality rising gas prices are a very trivial issue.

Onto other stories, the U.S open tennis championship got underway this week with top favourites Roger Federer and Kim Clijsters. In a shocker, reigning champion American Andy Roddick was ousted in the very first round and so was Svetlana Kuznetsova, the reigning women's champion. This years championship might also be the last time we see American veteran Andre Agassi. There is good news for Indian fans as Sania Mania is still going strong, she stormed into the third round to set up a clash with a 42nd ranked WTA player, Sania is now ranked 43 in the world.

Now onto something I have been following very closely for many years now, we might be seeing the most important phenomenon in the world of technology as Google just launched two important programs this week, Google-talk and and its upgraded desktop search program Google desktop-2, being a self confessed Google fanatic, I call this "Googleopoly"! It seems like every industry is on the edge about Google. The company seems to be able to do anything and totally kick butt! Google all of a sudden now looks more powerful that the menacing Microsoft. Google is now pursuing its philosophy of "Google Everywhere" , finding ways to make Google a constant in everyones communications, entertainment and Information handling.

Google is this era's transformational computing platform!