EBay and You Tube - For anything and anyone !!

There are two incidents that I really wanted to write about when I think about E-Bay and You Tube. They are the typical internet storm creators when it comes to ruling their own mass. There has been no other bidding site that could match the muzzle strength of Ebay and more so we know what You Tube is capable of in it's own way.

First the scanner on EBay, I read an article in BBC on how an unusual item was up for sale: "For sale: Belgium, a kingdom in three parts ... free premium: the king and his court (costs not included)."

Reason for the odd ad being posted by one disgruntled Belgian was because he wanted to protest at his country's political crisis, which reached a 100-day landmark Tuesday with no end in sight to the squabbling between Flemish and Walloon politicians. BTW, if you did not know Belgium wants to be divided as separate land for the Flemish government and Walloon government. And the Walloon's are constitute the French speaking part of Belgium whilst the Flemish the Dutch speaking group.

Gerrit Six, the teacher and former journalist placed the advertisement Saturday, offering free delivery, but pointing out that the country was coming secondhand and that potential buyers would have to take on over $300 billion in national debt.

Six claims that he decided to vent his frustration through the Internet ad and for his act Six' idea got a mixed reaction on the streets of Brussels.

EBay was happy to take Six's advertisement !! However, the company decided to pull the ad Tuesday after receiving a bid of $14 million. This just summed up that "anything and everything" in this universe is salable and there are always some buyers who can manage to do greater than life stunts. I still cannot believe how a website agreed to throw up an ad to sell a country ** Chuckle **

Likewise the other incident is a rather unfortunate one as for as the celebrity cricket player Ricky Ponting is concerned. It was not long ago that he led the team of the invincibles to the land of Kama Sutra - India. And what he had faced was something that he never would have imagined. Being "force" kissed by a straight faced sober Indian and if he thought no one would ever know, he forgot about You Tube ! And this just sums up that "Anything and Everything" can be found in You Tube.

The next day there was this video posted and there goes the pride of the lion. Wonder how I would ever react to some petty incident for that moment to suddenly become a source for being a butt of ridicule to many others. If I was the opposition captain, I would be really tempted to have a go at him and see how he reacts. Interesting world this is !

The plague

The Black Death, or The Black Plague, was one of the most deadly pandemics in human history. No I am not talking about the pandemic, Black Plague that took unprecedented deaths estimated at 75 million people worldwide;I am talking about how my body and soul were connected in the extended break from the blogger world. I wanted to write so many things, so many nicer changes and lots of expectations I have from my life suddenly but my body just let go of me, it was acting like how Joey acts Nonchalant in Friends episode; it knew all it had to do was to cooperate but it was a stranger and I ended up being a stranger to myself all along.

Perhaps, everyone goes through the phase of wanting to say something but unable to do so because they 'feel' they are preoccupied else where and that bug bit me as well and thus the plague alike feeling within me. However, I have now made an effort to make an attempt to write something and start over where I left a while ago, may be long time back.

One of the many things that I wanted to write was my experience in the recent weeks and that being returning back home a few months back this year when I was having so much fun, switching over my job when I was going great guns and that is when I realised how much of a creature of habit I had become with time - unknowingly. By the 25th of October, the known job, the known lunch mates, the known co-worker, the known loyal friends who laughed at any shit I said, the known place - suddenly became unknown and new. Strangely, I felt so vulnerable and realised I was going through this metaphorsis of re-inventing myself again. Steve Waugh, a renowned cricket player from Australia, wrote in his book "Out of Comfort zone" how much you learn when you make an attempt to get out of your zone, out of your known territory and out of the known enemies. I cannot appreciate that liner more than anyone right now.

Now that this ended up being an event and an important one that too, I thought I should start giving it a thought to start writing and continuing from where I left. I know I have not checked what my (few) "loyal" bloggers have had written over time. I will check out and promise to me more orderly now that I have managed to line up my ducks in this long break. With that, if ever you get bitten by the "plague" bug, you know don't feel lonely [:)].

Weekend Book Review - Rich Dad Poor Dad

I usually don't read much of finance advice centric books but this guy Bob Kiyosaki's book had been mentioned by many people who aim to think forward and think big. Usuually so most of the "Self help" "How to" series that I come across, I marginally see it with one eye open and hope not to see the book again, but this one is quite different in a sense that it highly talks about financial freedom and how to do it the wise way. Recently one of my family members too made a mention of this book which set me thinking I should read this book. Oh however, I was quite fascinated by this whole thing that I did a bit of research on this author and seems like there are quite a number of folks who seem to be against this thought - visit this "Site" for details.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad is Robert Kiyosaki's first best-selling book. In it, he advocates financial independence by means of investing, real estate, owning businesses, and the use of finance protection tactics.Rich Dad, Poor Dad is written in what is meant to be an entertaining anecdotal manner to make finances interesting. The most central element stressed by Kiyosaki is the advocacy of owning the system or means of production, rather than being an employee of someone else.

The book takes the form of a story. It is largely based on Kiyosaki's own upbringing and education in Hawaii, although the degree of fictionalization is disputed. Because of the heavy use of allegory, some readers believe that Kiyosaki created Rich Dad as an author surrogate (a literary device), discussed further in the criticism section below. I did a bit of "Googling" to find that many believe that the "Rich Dad" in the book, is actually the founder of the "ABC convenient stores" which is found in the most populated areas of a number of the islands of Hawaii.

The Poor Dad in the story is based on Kiyosaki's real father, a PhD holder and graduate of Stanford, Chicago, and Northwestern University, all on full scholarship, who was the head of the Education department of the state of Hawaii. In the book, he is greatly respected until he decides, late in his career, to take a stand on principle against the governor of Hawaii. This leads directly to Poor Dad losing his job, and his inability to find comparable work ever again. Because he has never learned to handle money, instead depending on the government (his employer) for support, he dies in severe debt.

In contrast to this character is Rich Dad, his best friend Michael's father. Rich Dad dropped out in 8th grade, but became a self-made multi-millionaire regardless. He teaches Kiyosaki and Michael a variety of financial lessons, and insists that the boys learn to make money work for them to avoid spending their whole lives working for money, like Rich Dad's employees, as well as Poor Dad, and indeed most of the people in the world.Anthony Robbins holds a seminar called 'Wealth Mastery'. Some have claimed that Rich Dad was a person named Richard Kimi, the deceased founder of Sand and Seaside Hawaiian Hotels.The book highlights the different attitudes to money, work and life of these two men, and how they in turn influenced key decisions in Kiyosaki's life.

Among some of the book's topics are:the value of financial intelligence that corporations spend first, then pay taxes, while individuals must pay taxes first that corporations are artificial entities that anyone can use, but the poor usually don't know how Kiyosaki says the rich think differently in how they define simple words like assets and wealth, and how they fund their luxuries. He explains that he defines an asset as any item which produces income (such as rental property,stocks or bonds), and a liability as anything which produces expense (such as one's own home, new widescreen TV, exercise machine, new garden tractor, motorcycle, computers, processed foods, swing sets, barbecue grill, tools, letting your property rundown and a new car every two years).No one disputes that the rich buy "income-producing assets". Kiyosaki argues that the poor buy worthless items that they think are assets, which clearly do not earn anything, and may have no market value.According to Kiyosaki, wealth is measured as the number of days the income from your assets will sustain you, and financial independence is achieved when your monthly income from assets exceeds your monthly expenses. Each dad had a different way of teaching their sons.

In the end, I strongly recommend anyone who has an interest to read to just do a light reading without thinking much to it. This book is a wonderful book, critically acclaimed and I think the guy has done good. I give it a 4 star on 5.

Weekday Movie Review - Ratatouille

Ratatouille is a french cuisine in true sense. However, this animated movie is one of the best creations of Disney's Pixar and just goes to show that there are not "many" around to really compete with these guys when it comes to Animations and Toons.

The story is such a wonderful web of the animal world and humans, passion against survival, love against possessive feelings. All this happens in the heart of France, in Paris. Let's see how well I remember the characters in the film, there are a bunch of rats - Rémy, Émile , Django and humans in - Gusteau, Skinner , Linguini , the lady love -Colette. The main ones actually speaking and such a light hearted one too.

I am so tempted to run through the story line as well. So here we go, Rémy lives in a rat colony in the attic of a French country home with his brother Émile and father Django. Inspired by France's recently deceased top chef, Auguste Gusteau, Rémy tries to live the life of a gourmet. Not appreciating his talents, his clan puts him to work sniffing for rat poison in their food.

Rémy and the rats flee the house when the resident, an old woman, discovers the colony. Rémy, separated from the others, floats in the storm drains to Paris on a cookbook by Gusteau, following the chef's image to his namesake restaurant, now run by former sous-chef Skinner. As Rémy watches from a skylight a young man with no culinary talent, Alfredo Linguini, arrives with a letter of introduction from his recently deceased mother, and is hired on to do janitorial duties. Linguini spills a pot of soup and attempts to cover up his mistake by adding random ingredients. Upset, Rémy falls into the kitchen and attempts to fix the ruined soup rather than trying to escape. Linguini catches Rémy in the act, just as Skinner catches Linguini. In the confusion some of the soup has been served. To everyone's surprise, the soup is a success.

Rémy discovers that he can control Linguini's movements by pulling on his hair.

The kitchen's sole woman cook, Colette, convinces Skinner not to fire Linguini provided he can recreate the soup. Skinner orders him to take Rémy away, but he begins an alliance by which Rémy secretly directs Linguini in return for his protection. The two perfect a marionette-like arrangement by which Rémy tugs at Linguini's hair to control his movements and stays hidden under Linguini's toque blanche.

Skinner plies Linguini with vintage Château Latour in an unsuccessful attempt to discover the secret of his unexpected talents. The next morning, hung over and disheveled, Linguini nearly confides his secret to Colette. Desperately trying to stop Linguini, Rémy pulls his hair, making him fall on Colette, leading the two to kiss. They begin dating, leaving Rémy feeling abandoned. Meanwhile, Skinner learns after some sleuthing that, unknown to everyone, Linguini is in fact Gusteau's son and stands to inherit the restaurant. This would thwart Skinner's ambition to exploit Gusteau's image to market prepared frozen foods.

One night Rémy and his colony are reunited. While scrounging food Rémy discovers Gusteau's will which, after a chase by Skinner, he presents to Linguini. Linguini now owns the restaurant, fires Skinner, and becomes a rising star in the culinary world. After a falling out, Linguini decides he no longer needs Rémy, and Rémy retaliates by leading a kitchen raid for his rat colony. Linguini attempts to apologize to Rémy, only to discover and kick out his whole colony. Rémy feels guilty about hurting his friend, and refuses to join them in resuming the raid.

Things come to a head the night of a planned review by jaded food critic Anton Ego. Linguini, unable to cook without the rat's guidance, admits his ruse to the staff when Rémy shows up, leading them all to walk out. Colette returns after thinking through Gusteau's motto, "Anyone can cook!" Django, inspired by his son's courage, returns with the entire rat colony to cook under Rémy's direction, while Linguini, discovering his true talent, waits tables on roller skates. Colette helps Rémy prepare ratatouille; Rémy's new recipe produces a dish so good that, in the climax of the film, a bite of it leads Ego to relive childhood memories of his mother. Ego asks to meet the chef but Colette insists he must wait until the rest of the diners have left. At the end of the service, Rémy and the rats are revealed. A changed man, Ego writes a glowing review, declaring that the chef at Gusteau's is the greatest chef in all of France.

In the denouement Gusteau's is closed by a health inspector, who finds the rats after being tipped off by Skinner. Ego loses his credibility and job when the public discovers he has praised a rat-infested restaurant. Everything is for the best, however; with Ego as investor and regular patron, Linguini, Colette, and Rémy open a successful new bistro called "La Ratatouille," which includes a kitchen and dining facilities for both rats and humans.

Who's afraid of Google?

I just flipped hurriedly through several pages about Google in my Internet trust-site - Economist and it was rather a very interesting dissection of the corporation and the run down of what the corporation intends to do over the period of time. I have had always given two thumbs-up to this corporation and I strongly feel this and Apple are the two interestingly competitive ones on the face of the planet.

Before I go into a mode and start blowing the trumpets hard for Google, I found a few interesting remarks over the period of time on how the 'my shit does not stink' attitude of Google might make it to bite the dust soon if not later. Most of the corporation like Yahoo were humbled before but it is all matter of time, the experts say.

What I felt interesting was the amount of privacy infringement in social networking sites like Orkut, for starters is mind blowing. What happened as a result is couple of murders and folks were linked up as Orkut users and acquaintances blah blah. What has Google done to avoid such events again? Nothing. I was quite surprised that this happened in India because the user group that control the site is mostly from the Latin countries predominantly Brazil, Portugal etc. Wonder what is happening there. I mean on the retract, Facebook seems to be more secured to an extent than Orkut. Anyway, if this was one way of wrong usage. The other one being the infamous Google Maps. In America a phenomenon might claim to have entered mainstream culture only after it has been satirised on “The Simpsons”. Google has had that honor. The Simpson series had a dig at this and I found this way funny. Read this sequence on what happened in the episode -

"Marge Simpson types her name into Google's search engine and is amazed to get 629,000 results. (“And all this time I thought ‘googling yourself' meant the other thing.”) She then looks up her house on Google Maps, goes to “satellite view” and zooms in. To her horror, she sees Homer lying naked in a hammock outside. “Everyone can see you; get inside,” she yells out of the window, and the fumbling proceeds from there."

And that, in a nutshell, sums up Google today: it dominates the internet and guides people everywhere, such as Marge, to the information they want. But it also increasingly frightens some users by making them feel that their privacy has been intruded upon (though Marge, technically, could not have seen Homer in real time, since Google's satellite pictures are not live). And it is making enemies in its own and adjacent industries. The grand moment of Marge googling herself, for example, was instantly available not only through Fox, the firm that created the animated television show, but also on YouTube, a video site owned by Google, after fans uploaded it in violation of copyright !!!

I read an article about the futuristic thoughts in Google. This is exactly what was written - "Google evokes ambivalent feelings. Some users now keep their photos, blogs, videos, calendars, e-mail, news feeds, maps, contacts, social networks, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and credit-card information—in short, much of their lives—on Google's computers. And Google has plans to add medical records, location-aware services and much else. It may even buy radio spectrum in America so that it can offer all these services over wireless-internet connections." SCARY is all I felt when I saw this at first. I mean getting the information on the common plate is one good thing and to know that Google is not the best when it comes to saving the privacy rights and because of this they were ranked at the bottom by privacy intl? Chk this out.. So yea it is SCARY to have every thing in Google and to lose your identity all in one go. Think about it. But Google claims that the risk is minimal because only a “tiny” number of engineers have access to the databases and everything they do is recorded.

But the privacy problem is much subtler than that. As Google compiles more information about individuals, it faces numerous trade-offs. At one extreme it could use a person's search history and advertising responses in combination with, say, his location and the itinerary in his calendar, to serve increasingly useful and welcome search results and ads. This would also allow Google to make money from its many new services. But it could scare users away. Call this innovation and the highlight of this corporation.

Take a look at this. I was stunned to see this and Google has committed itself to “anonymising” the search logs on its servers after 18 months—roughly as banks cross out parts of a credit-card number, say. This would mean that search histories cannot be traced to any specific computer. Second, Google says that the bits of software called “cookies”, which store individual preferences on users' own computers, will expire every two years !

With Google's cashflow and infrastructure, the freedom to do anything it fancies gives rise to constant rumors. Often, these are outrageous. It used to be conventional wisdom that Google would build cheap personal computers for poor countries. This turned out to be nonsense, because Google does not want to make hardware. Now there is talk of a “Gphone” handset. This is also unlikely because Google is more interested in software and services, and does not want to alienate allies in the handset industry—including Apple, which shares board directors with Google and uses Google software on its iPhone.

As things stand today, Google has little to worry about. Most users continue to google with carefree abandon. The company faces lawsuits, but those are more of a nuisance than a threat. It dominates its rivals in the areas that matter, the server cloud is ready for new tasks and the cash keeps flowing. In such a situation, anybody can claim to be holier than money. The test comes when the good times end. At that point, shareholders will demand trade-offs in their favour and consumers might stop believing that Google only ever means well.

Oh thy shall die another day in America...!

AMERICANS' support for the death penalty is waning, one state at a time. States have had jurisdiction over the issue since 1976 and so differences abound. Texas has executed most people; California has most death-row inmates but has executed only a small number. Since 2000, 12 states have suspended the death penalty, including New Jersey, which is moving towards formal abolition. Three have reversed the suspension this year. It seems last year two-thirds of states executed no one. Public opinion is also changing: a slim plurality of people said they would prefer to see prisoners locked up for life rather than executed, according to a recent poll.

The ever trusted, Economist has a good write up on this. The article is "here".

But around the world there may be so many atrocities committed and people may remain rude and arrogant for what they did and finally when law catches up with them and issues "Death Sentence" would you be sad for the person who committed it or would you as a person advocate for a life sentence instead? I mean to come back to the more recent news in India, Sanjay Dutt, I call him a terrorist and Salman Khan, a lewd bastardized crook, the BMW payment murderer, the Muslim terrorists blasting the country and the world, and many more people of such abilities if found guilty, would you sympathize with them and say, " You should get a lifer and no death" or go with the flow by going for the harsher treatment to let the public in the society know that a crime is a crime, no matter how you see and where you talk.

On a completely unrelated note, just to let you know, I read the strange or rather bizarre news in the Outlook this time that "Salman may get about a year or tops two for murdering the payment dwellers and can obviously snuffle in the money in the pockets that yearn and can even go scout free by not serving even a day in the prison for the gruesome murder!"

My take on the capital punishment is that it should be more of situational. I mean, you can bend the arms of the law depending on the crime. If it is a terrorist under question, then it obviously does not make sense to have him behind the bars . He gets to visit hell and death is the only means. For every bestial crimes, like a several years back in one of the failed states of India, Bihar, two men raped a women and now to ensure the "evidence" is flushed, they tried to pull the uterus out to flush the stuff-that-matters. All this happening when the lady was alive and shouting. They were never arrested. I mean such people don't deserve to live a second life when they take the right to run over other people's life. Such people should get the DEATH. The rest should get the lifer.

What is your take on this?

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Funny News & Videos

Oh before I post anything, just a thought a "Dog" inherits 12 million dollars from it's rich posthumous billionaire master in New York. I mean I know he might have liked the dog much but heck does it matter to the creature if it was a Dollar bill or a piece of newspaper =). It was his money he could have done anything but to leave 12 Million Dollars to a "dog", strange for me Sometimes such idiosyncrasies never cease to amaze me so very much. The news is "here".

If this was one event, a big news event was when a tusker rushed into a circus to woo a female =). Funny world this I tell you. News "here".

When the cow in one of the ad's for chewing gum said "Yellow yellow dirty fella, white white orbit white", I thought there was some thing funny with the Cow's showing their teeth whilst snapping a picture. I think people have taken that seriously and folks in Bengal are taking pictures of their bovines but this time the reason is to stop them from being smuggled across border. I mean, what the heck. The cattle is a cattle just cannot pop up an "ID Card" and say "Hey I am in India" you can't smuggle me. I mean all the cows are just going to be same and they can't identify the steak with the photo, can they? Strange News this.

Sometimes such news breaks out we wonder why we can really have a peaceful place to live. Article here and this.

Can happen only in India LOL. Read the article such a funny one.

Funny abuse of the police public protective system. Was really funny the reasons why they call up the cops.

And the last of fun series, a lady torches a man's private LOL. Wonder why? I was reminded of Fergie's London Bridge with all those fire engines sound et al.. Funny world, truly.

Funny videos =)


Photo Mistakes - Funny bloopers are a click away

Amazing facts


Did You Know? Amazing Facts! - Free videos are just a click away

Diwali - Retold

I was checking out a few mails at work that I got when I was in the US (imagine how much I would have been "busy"). This was about Ramayana, an epic in Hindu mythology. The actual story line could be read from "here". However, the modified story line is about a second generation Indian in the US, who is asked by his mother to explain the significance of Diwali to his younger kid brother. I was reminded of this story when I was writing the previous post so was searching my older archives and finally after a good 2 hours I found this bad boy. Quite a funny forward I got in 2004. Very interesting this. This is how he went about with the story..

A word of caution. If you still have a mind to laugh at practicality and haven't lost your funny bone then please go ahead. If you think this might offend the religious sentiments, PLEASE don't proceed further.

So, like this dude had, like, a big cool kingdom and people liked him. But, like, his step-mom or something, was kind of a bitch and she forced her husband to, like, send this cool-dude, he was Ram, to some natural forest or something. Since he was going, for like, something like more than 10 years or so, he decided to get his wife and his bro along. So that they could all chill out together. You know what I am saying.

But Dude, the forest was a reeeaal scary shit. Swear to god man. They had all the monkeys and devils and shit like that. But this dude, Ram, kicked with darts and bows and arrows and slowly learned to kick serious ass. So it was all cool.

But then some bad gangsta boys, some jerk called Ravan, picks up his babe(Sita) and lures her away to his hood. And boy, was our man, and also his bro, Laxman pissed or what. All the gods were with him. So anyways, you don't mess with the gods. Do you? So, Ram and his bro get an army of monkeys. Dude, don't ask me how they trained the damn monkeys. Just go along with me alright.

So yea, Ram, Lax and their monkeys whip this gangsta's ass in his own hood. Anyways, by this time, their time's up in the forest and anyways it 's sorta boring you know. No TV or malls or clubs or no shit like that. So they decided to hitch a ride back home and when the people realize that our dude his bro and the wide are back home,they thought, well, you know at least they deserve lamps they lit the lamps also. So it was quite cool. pretty cool actually. You know will all those fireworks.

Really, they even had some local band play along with the fireworks and you know what dude, that the very first , no kidding... that was the very first music-synchronized fireworks. You know like the 4th of July stuff, but just , more cooler and stuff, you know. And, so dude, that was how, like , the festival started.

And they happily lived ever after. I think this was a cool forward I got and I read this once in a while to have a laugh at the creativity. Anyway, I am off to a beach resort tomorrow and am going to take it easy. So catch ya whenever I get going again.

Girls - What's so special?

God, what ever prompted the segregation and creation of men and women. Perhaps to bring in the great feeling of heterosexual instincts but for that there has been so much mystery about girls. I know they get their maturity and everything else faster than men and obviously their instincts. Knowing me fairly well and how I have lived to trouble everyone around definitely I would not like a clone of me sitting next to me doing what I am doing but what is so nice about the girls even though they travel with their 'baggage'?

There are specific dates to commemorate their existence, docile characters (few exceptions). Oh ! I definitely like them more than men. Men have been good in their own likes mabbe that was why they said each of them came from a different planet all together. The ideologies differ, the 'baggage' they carry is different, men being head strong and practical but having said that we have all have had a good relationship with the opposite sexes perhaps I feeling strongly against my own cult only means I am not a gay. LOL. Seriously there is definitely a bondage between opposite sexes. I mean say the Raksha Bandan. This is an Indian festival which actually epitomizes the relationship that brothers share with their sisters. Heck! there is nothing between brothers mabbe like I said men have a different emotional level and don't really have to explicitly say anything. May be that is one reason why they say opposites attract! But yes coming back to this larger than life event which is being so commercialized these days. Wonder why we really have to commercialize everything around us! See the link "HERE" on how unrelated the whole event has become.

I betcha not many of the new age kids would actually know why they go for this event celebrating the relationship. And I don't blame them either. Because we hardly give a reason to celebrate a festival. We end up being a creature of habit and sometimes mindless in following what we had had been doing for years together. Such is the sorry state of affairs !

It all started in the mythological era, Mahabharata, comes the tale of the establishment of a special respectful bond between Draupadi, the wife of the Pandavas, and lord Krishna.While the Pandava brothers were performing the Rajasuya Yagna, Krishna injured his finger. Draupadi quickly snipped off a portion from the pallu of her silk sari and wrapped it around his finger to stem the flow of blood.Krishna was quite moved by her concern. He announced that from that day forth the tying of the thread/cloth was a symbol of a special deep sister-brother bond between them and that he would be there for her always.

And he was there for her when she was being insulted by the eldest of the Kaurava brothers, the wicked Duryodhana, years later, when the king took her captive. Duryodhana demanded she shed her sari. Draupadi prayed for Krishna's intervention and he magically provided her with a never-ending sari that saved her modesty.

Raksha Bandhan is celebrated to commemorate this magically special bond between brothers and sisters.

Any person would know how it is to have a sister. I would have preferred a younger sister mabbe I would not be much spoilt.

I have a sister and here is a virtual greeting to you sista. I may not have been good in terms of expressing myself most times. Seems like we are definitely from another planet indeed. Remembering you and forever !

Funny pictures

I am yet again posting bunch of pictures that is quite funny indeed.

I think it was meant to be "All requirements under one roof" !


And the latest and greatest sound system the guy could ever get his hands on !


And India's answer to StarBucks :-))


Interesting advertisement. Look with intent: Toilet * Cum bath LOL


Guess the guy got a wee bit carried away post Lord of the rings (ColdRings) and the rest - less said the better !

Betcha you don't want to visit this place - no matter how you feel about yourself. Wonder what these guys think before they come up with such names !


And the point to note is the supposed "Coke and Fanta" dring. LMAO can't believe they still have the board there. For 10 bucks, cheap "coke" :-))

And the hero !

Well actually there is a place called "Kambam" in South India. Incidentally, Wikipedia also has the city as "Cumbum" LOL. The city information is "here".

Travel from faux pas to instant glory.

Back from a small break. I had been silently flipping through several affairs and I was beginning to generalize on an issue and contrary to Vox Populi - Commit a sin, bask in the glory and money follows you then. Reason for me to think about this liner is barely how 'stuff works' these days around the world. I mean look at all the terrorists, the wrong doers they have had their share of resounding success stories. Have'nt they?

I mean look at the 5000 crore scam in Siachen belt, the most treacherous and difficult battlefield in the entire phase of the earth, a 10,000 crore scam in Bihar, the child molester R. Kelly, rapist Tyson, the druggist Snoop Dawg, 50 cents, cheppo ministers of the state, the crook Salman, the poacher Pataudi and son, indiscreet land ownership, Dacoit turned minister, passport scam Monica Bedi, the terrorist Sanjay Dutt and many more such people inculpable of their crimes live a very 'satisfying' life or may be well to do life. Interestingly money seemed to have followed these people big time. Now what would have been the case if you as a common man shop lifted a 100 INR or 10 dollar worth stuff from a store? Mabbe you would be say sent to the county prison. How different are the afore mentioned folks from a common man? Thy look different because thy don't have the ability to mask the rules. The rich echelon folks always have a law for them. And what we see in terms of 'judgement' is just a show down.

More so we forget all that and make a big hoopla out of the situation by 'hero worshiping' each one of these characters despite knowing for the fact that they have done something wrong which cannot be accepted by the society! And at the end of the day, these criminals in their own best come out with statements that they are "Law abiding and trust the judiciary". Is'nt this a joke?

Is'nt the very existence of all these human beings kinda weird? Is'nt the law makers and law in itself a joke? I mean deep down the heart heart we all know a bad person yet we root him because he is a celeb? May be I am troubled so much by these insignificant acts but not sure if this should matter at all. But frankly what do you think about this?

Long live the Freedom. Long live ...

To start off again after the personal 'feel good' milestone, I could not have chosen a day better. Also, the fall out was not for long. I thank you guys for those nice messages. Appreciate it much.

Well then without digressing much, today, August 15th 2007, 60th year of "Free and liberated" India. I have been meaning to write a line to start with but for some reason I had the block when I wanted to pour down my thoughts. Something was stopping me. Anyway, I kept looking around and listening to the passionate speech and patriotic sequences. I thought "What did it mean to the common man", is it another political stunt that everyone were trying to pull out to save their dear vote banks, I don't know. But on a personal note, I was a bit happy for some reason. The reason I am in a free country to express my feeling. An intrinsic feeling and it sums up I think.

Read the article "here" to see how much we should be grateful to this country as long as we live.

On the hindsight, to have survived 60 long years in itself should mean a lot to the people in India. Definitely. From no where up into high way of development and growth with the sheer load of people to carry along and run at the speed we want her to be termed "transforming" economy, I think it is no mean achievement. We have done good thus far. But is there anything more we want and what does this 60th year of Independence mean to a person like me. I mean I know being free is in a way god given that I get to say what I want (without crossing the line), do what I want, be what I am, wear what I want, cuss what I want, go to places and eventually when the immigration officer asks "Were are you coming sir" and when I say "India", he reacts differently and it is easy after that. What more should the country has in it to offer to me? So what moves the Indian elephant? 1/3rd of the nation is still struggling to realize its dreams, its destiny. India still has about 22 percent of its population below the poverty line and has a long way to go to become a developed country.It’s the hope that matters. A hope for a modern India, a shining India.

So many things have happened through from being a bonded slave losing its confidence to even sustain to a growing economy. We should be proud of an independent land where we can thump our heart with pride and say "I belong here". Having started out as an impoverished country, plagued by feudalism, illiteracy, food import dependence, communal violence resulting in Partition and a total lack of industrialization and infrastructure. The last few years have added more meaning to the 60 years of freedom. How much we have improved from increasing our national reserve from 1.5 billion dollars to 240 billion dollars, how much of development amidst the ever increasing population, how much of corruption amidst development, how much of hassles amidst growth and how much of peace inspite of the growing hatred elsewhere. Also, today India is on the way of becoming the fourth largest market in the world, has a comfortable foreign exchange reserve, has developed advanced technology in space, nuclear energy and information technology sectors and is sought after as a strategic partner by major powers. It has managed to sustain its democracy - one of the few in the decolonized world - federal structure, commitment to secularism and an apolitical armed force.This is what I am willing to see more as a citizen of this land.

For a hard core critic like me, what would something ever please me? nah. I am one of those patriotic citizens who keeps pushing and wanting a change and raising the bar for satisfaction which would result in more development. What stands as a benefit to other countries when they developed was that they were less populous then and even now. Whereas we have a billion mouths to feed and the mouth will definitely bite the hand that feeds ! I am one of them. I bite and say my views so that I get to dream, a modest dream. I dream of India as a country in another 20 years having great, prominent leaders - efficient and educated ones leading us to more successes and safe future, more educated they are better they would serve, more and better scientific funding whilst paving way for solution centric improvement, more protection to the citizens in whatever form wherever they are, more R&D capability which will stop us from depending on other countries for anything, more security to young girls, women and children from the wrong doers, able, smart police & army to protect the law from being mauled by the rich people & able ruling body, killing the corruption, doing away casteism and we finally do away poverty and people stop thinking about their existence with the "free food" and finally improve the standard of living of everyone around.

This is not an impossible dream. We can very well do it. When we would be celebrating 80 years free existence, I will revisit this blog note, if I exist and have the same thinking ability, to see how much of my dreams were fulfilled and how much I contributed to this. This is the bottom line why we got the freedom 60 years back. To everyone who participated and lived through the harrowing circumstances, good or bad whoever they fought, however and whatever means they took, we definitely should make this possible coz we owe them this much atleast.

In that high note am humbled to see India at 60 and young, and wish you all a Happy Independence day and wishing that the freedom lasts for more positive developments and god bless all.

Here's dedicating a few videos close to my heart on this day:

1) National Anthem by several popular musicians and champions in their field of work.



2) Inspirational video.

And the moment - my 100th note !

I casually checked the blog note and it is strange and bizarre. This is my 100th note and cannot believe I had so many topics and so much patience to hold on and keep coming back day after day, week after week, month after month. Knowing me it sure is a "WOW" moment. Remarkable indeed. No not as a writer, but you all, who are a bunch of few precious readers generous enough to write in a word either commending or passively agreeing. Either vociferously feeling free to pass on your thoughts which were against my school of thought or scowling me for what I wrote.

Thanks so much to you guys and take a bow.

Now to the pop quiz, which of the centenarians in recent past - Anil Kumble or Yours Truly, is truly exciting and completely entertaining?

Hint: Word starts with "M" ends with "E" and no other alphabets in the middle !

Ristorante Immortale

Top left to right -> Master, Lady Cook.

Bottom left to right -> "Senior" waiter, "Vain Head" waiter, "Rookie" waiter.

"Ristorante Immortale" is depicted as being poised on everywhere and nowhere, between heaven and hell. It is the restaurant that has few staffs that never serve and never sleep. This is a depiction of a place which never closes but never really opens; a microcosm of self-deception and unfulfilled ambitions. And to top it is a silent and masked theatrics performance where the actors wear giant, sometimes sinister masks! A deserted restaurant as this is a scene for a tragic as well as comic allegory of the peculiarities of human existence.

They engage us with the tragic-comic aspects of provincial life through the inconsequential daily routine in an unsuccessful restaurant. In spite of the noticeable lack of patrons, a grumpy cook, a suave maitre de(French word in English means Master) and three clumsy waiters go about their business steeped in the ludicrous rituals of trivia. The slightly over-sized masks delineate character through expression and these are carried over into body language by the five strong cast of accomplished physical actors. This is a tragic tale of hopes gone awry mitigated by an endearing comedy of middle-class manners. Each of the characters in turn comes face to face with his own alter ego as unfulfilled longings are revealed.

All human life is in here, from the vain head waiter who examines his reflection in the silver tray to the aging senior waiter whose arthritic hips mean he can no longer quite keep up, from the grumpy fat lady as the chief chef to the 'rookie' intern who is aiming to make it big. Daily the untiring staff makes all preparations; daily opens its doors for the much awaited customers. No one come any day every day. The thick fat cook, who lives like an ambassador to another world, is depicted as being always behind the door hatch in the kitchen. In a world, in which the life turns only around itself, a fantastic labyrinth of relations, fears and desires develops. The restaurant is the fate of each particular person there, their dream, their memory and eventually the bond between the folks that work there which forces the fat cook and the rest of the jug heads to search for the old man who leaves the restaurant finally one day realizing he had lost everything working in the restaurant. The interesting facet of the play was how the old man gives way to his memories of him as a youngster on the stage when he first came to the restaurant and how easily he got the place in order so soon. And I remember only one visitor, his love, come in once to leave because his heart made him not to flirt with the customer and there he kissed bye to his love life. Fantastic portrayal.

In a nut shell, this play staying just the right side of fey and enjoyable for all the family, the show is deceptively simple but is based on great skill and terrific observational comedy. Like a waiter in a really good restaurant, it is eager to please. And it does leave you satisfied, if not necessarily hungry for more.

Why can't I vs You shouldn't

Ever wondered what it is like when a girl like a boy and vice versa. The rosy picture that life is good and every folly that the other guy did would not bother you much and you somehow seemed to have increased your bar for patience limit. You start singing love bites. You can't breathe when you think about her, you can't speak when you talk about her. First to start when you see a girl that fits your bill you cease to think normal, those adrenaline rush, the heart beating faster than it should, the sleep, the food. Ah ! the dreamy ones.

Oh ho... Wait a minute. Falling in love is no longer fun. These are so so good on paper or on a stage to make your knees go weak and that you feel liberated. The scientists in the contemporary world just seemed to have made an astounding finding - "Falling in love can damage health". Reason - love triggers a range of physical reactions in the body that can seriously damage health.

The doc says the ups and downs of romance cause a range of physical reactions like dilation of eyes, sweating of palms and increase in heart rate. It also leads to high secretion of the hormone adrenaline and that harms the body.

The Daily Mail quoted Martin Cowie, a professor at Imperial College in London, saying that stress related illnesses at work arose from near-identical physical phenomena.

He added that the inability to acknowledge the effects of emotion on our health makes things worse.

"If people are suffering from emotional problems, they need to acknowledge the effect on their health. There is a feeling that talking about emotions somehow makes you weak, but there is a real link between emotions and health".

So if ever you again feel light on your knees and liberated whilst singing Liz Phair's "Why Can't I" number you should remember this - Love byte thrills to end in hurt, in true sense. They said it. Not me.

P.S - This is just not a generalization rather an attempt to link the feeling with the medicine which may or may not be true. So I divulge my thought before I get swatted by Smarty !

Welcome to Andromeda.

Oh well I did not come with that wishful, fanciful name. This was the play of the yester years stage performer. The synopsis of the play is about a paraplegic tries to cajole a nurse into giving him a fatal injection which will put him to sleep, forever. This is a play played by a male and a female nurse. Very draining experience to even see such a heavy intense story worked out by the two in a nice way and subtle expressions. By far the best of the plays in 5 days. Reason - the characters definitely needed to remove their regular lifestyle and get into the character which was demanding. Also, since the action on the stage is minimal it makes it equally difficult and challenge for all the artistes involved. For that matter the day 2 play - To the death of my own family, was an equally demanding role and it being a mono act even more stress and pressure to do well to captivate the audience. Actor from New York, US Farah Bala infact did a great job this time as well apart from her performance in New York.

Coming back to the play - Welcome to Andromeda, a classical play was a playwright of the disabled. The playwright, Ron Whyte was a Quadriplegic and was was born with physical disabilities and both legs were later amputated. Eventually, Ron Whyte, died of a cerebral hemorrhage at his home in New Haven on Wednesday. He was 47 years old. Many of Mr. Whyte's plays dealt with the disabled.

[Information got from the tributes they played before the play started. ]

Knowing the information also meant that the person enacting the role on the stage was a person who suffered downward paralysis and housed serious problems in his body. So this was an equal emotional drain as well. As it is the play ended up being a portrayal of the complexities in a relationship between a quadriplegic and his nurse. The story revolves around this guy and the nurse on his 25th birthday when his mother goes to the shop in the heart of the city to buy him a few things that might interest him for his birthday. So promptly the nurse is more or less a "baby sitter" sort of a role instead of being a full timer as for as he is concerned.

How they start off being strangers to each other - one trying to impose on another, to how they start talking each other through, become buddies and share a drink with a few impressive music selection, to how the guy asks his buddy to do away with her shyness and asks her to show her bosom, to how liberated the lady becomes, to how she talks her way about being doing the job currently. Somewhere in the middle the guy asks the nurse to kill him coz he feels he has had lot of suffering and death to him still seemed a distant future and how overbearing it is for him being a cripple and how his mother seemed to become so obsessed with him. And finally how he manages to make the nurse to inject a wrong injection which eventually relieves his soul from him.

Fantastic portrayal. Not sure if the original playwright performer, Ron Whyte, would have been even better than the performer today on stage. They got a stunning standing ovation and both were so emotionally drained out for enacting about 75 minutes was no mean achievement indeed.

In the end, I am mighty satisfied at the investment I have had made. These plays are definitely worth a watch and I promised myself more of these. Morrow is another day with interesting plays I am looking forward to - The attempted Assassination of Salman Rushdie & The killing time.

Who art thou'?

An excerpt of an interesting article I read today "Professionalism = more than just doing your job". Makes an Interesting read.

I don't like to shop. Clothes shopping, grocery shopping, car shopping; it doesn't matter -- I don't like it. I want to get in, get what I want (fast), and get out. A recent shopping experience, however, was a pleasant surprise.

This experience showcased customer service at its best, and at its most simple. Once again I was reminded that great service isn't about grand acts, it is about common courtesy, artfully delivered.

While on vacation in Chicago, I needed to buy a pair of casual shoes (I had forgotten mine). I found myself in a store called the Walking Company. A friend once told me it was a good store. It was crowded, so I almost left. But one of the salespeople made eye contact with me. It wasn't the kind of eye contact that said, "Oh no, another customer." Instead, it was eye contact that said, "I'll be right with you." It was good eye contact.

So I browsed around for a few minutes and found a pair of shoes I liked. Sure enough, the salesperson came up and said, "Sorry about the wait, let's get you some shoes." I showed her the pair I wanted and asked to try size 10. She said, "Let's measure your foot just to make sure." I know I wear size 10, but her whole demeanour showed that she wanted to make sure I got the right shoes.

She measured my foot and said, "Size 10 is right, but you have a very 'Rubenesque' foot. The type of shoe you've selected won't be the most comfortable for you. I think this other style would feel much better."

Being the sceptic that I am, I looked at the price of her suggested shoes to see how much she was upselling me. Same price. Hmm. With nothing to lose, I tried on the style she suggested, and they were extremely comfortable. I must admit: they are the most comfortable pair of casual shoes I've ever owned.

As I paid for the shoes, the salesperson continued to wow me. She said, "If you ever buy a pair of shoes somewhere else be sure to tell the salesperson that the arches in your foot have fallen a little, and you need shoes with some arch support -- like these."

When I get good service like this, I want to keep it going. I asked her if there is a Walking Company in Orlando, where I live. "Absolutely, it's at the Millennium Mall." Since then I've bought two pairs of dress shoes at the Orlando Walking Company, again with great service. I can't imagine buying shoes anywhere else. And I've sent plenty of friends there.

Now, let's look at what this salesperson did that made this a great shopping experience. I'll analyse the details in a moment, but one word sums up her style -- professional. This lady was a professional in every sense of the word. Her skills would apply anywhere, as applicable in a bank, hospital, theme park, or law office as they are in a shoe store.

Here are four universal traits of a professional in any job position:

1. Professionals are responsive: When I entered the store, the salesperson made immediate eye contact with me. It was sincere eye contact that said she cared that I was there. And as soon as she was finished with her customer she came right over to help me and apologised for the wait.

The store was busy. But I noticed that everyone was being helped. The salespeople had mastered the art of handling more than one customer at a time while making each customer feel like he/she was the only one. None of the salespeople looked frantic, just responsive.

2. Professionals are knowledgeable: This salesperson knew about shoes. On the other hand, I know very little about shoes. Seeing that this was the case, she took charge of the situation and made sure that I was getting shoes that were right for me. I benefited from her knowledge.

There is an art to sharing knowledge, I admit. Some customers may say, "I know what I want. Just get it for me." By briefly talking to me, however, she realised she could make a recommendation for me, that I was flexible. Professionals read the situation and adapt to the personality and needs of the customer.

Of course, all of this means knowing your product. Professionals are constantly learning about their products and their customers. The only way that the Walking Company salesperson could steer me to the right pair of shoes was by knowing shoes and feet. Professionals know their stuff.

3. Professionals care about what they do: My Walking Company salesperson could have easily brought me the pair of shoes I originally asked for. But she wasn't selling shoes -- she was selling the right shoes. That's the difference. Professionals aren't happy just selling a product. They want it to be the right product for the customer.

4. Professionals teach you something: I left the Walking Company knowing more than when I walked in. I now know to ask for extra arch support in my shoes. Not a big deal, but I will always remember that advice.

Think of some of your best service experiences: the waiter who made the perfect recommendation, the computer helpdesk that gave you a tip on how to make an application more effective, or the clothing store employee who helped you coordinate colours.

In most cases of outstanding service, the employee left you more knowledgeable than when he/she found you. The new information might not change your life (though it could), but it does make your life a tad better.

Conclusion: Professional behaviours are simple. What's not simple is the consistent application of them. Being a true professional takes thought and effort. But, once you are truly professional you can go just about anywhere.

The skills are universal, and they are rare. True professionals stand out from the crowd and grow rewarding and satisfying careers. And the customers of the world know when one is at work.

Dennis Snow is the president of Snow & Associates, Inc. He worked with the Walt Disney World Company for 20 years and now consults with organisations around the world helping them achieve their customer service goals. He is the author of the book, Unleashing Excellence -- The Complete Guide to Ultimate Customer Service.

Weekend pictures to think.

I was hurriedly trying to finish up on a few errands, then I chanced upon a bunch of pictures which I just thought that may be a good way to kill time by thinking about these. So here you go.

Picture - 1

Women run in a high-heel race in Moscow, Saturday, July 28, 2007. Some 110 women competed in the race wearing high-heeled shoes with a required minimum height of 9 cm (3.5 inches) for a prize of 100 000 rubles (about US$ 4000).

Women run in high heels ! Crazy but wonder how easy it is to run this fast :)



Picture - 2

A seven legged lamb is pictured on its farm at Methven near Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand, Tuesday, July 31, 2007. Veterinarian Steve Williams said he believed a misprint in embryo formation had resulted in the lamb being born polydactyl, with many legs, a condition that occurs once in several million sheep.

Cannot really believe how this lamb will eventually look like when it starts walking. I guess it would be a really bully in it's clan. All lambs run in 4 legs and this guy would catch up with them using six legs and as he overtakes mabbe would show the finger err.. the leg [:)]


Picture - 3

People wait in line to visit an upside-down house built at the Centre of Education and Promotion of the Region in the village of Szymbark, northern Poland July 31, 2007. The upside-down house created by Daniel Czapiewski is supposed to describe the times of the former communist era and the present times in which we live. REUTERS/Peter Andrews (POLAND)

So funny this but. Very intriguing. Wonder what they would say to their kids - "Go to the ceiling in the basement to get a few things to fit in the basement in the ceiling" LOL


Picture - 4

Michelle Duggar, left, is surrounded by her children and husband Jim Bob, top left, while she holds her newborn daughter, Jennifer Danielle, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007 in Rogers, Ark. Jennifer Danielle was born at 10:01 a.m., weighed 8 lbs 8 oz, was 21 inches long, and is the 17th child born to Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar.

Bob and Michelle - Take a bow for all the perseverance and dog headed dedication for being doing the same stuff with "results" in mind for about this long. Guess the guy had so much time in hands or mabbe was it more like the doctor's prescription for the ailing patient - One time before lunch and two times after dinner :-)



Picture - 5

Manuel Uribe, tipping the scales at 560 kilograms (1,234 pounds) and seen here at his home in 2006, will be listed as the world's fattest man by the Guinness Book of Records, while a loss of 200 kilos (440 pounds) may make him the man who lost the most weight.

Truly gross ! ewwww !


Picture - 6

Bao Xishun (R), 56, a 2.36-metre (7 feet, 9 inches) tall herdsman listed by the Guinness World Records as the tallest living man, and his wife Xia Shujuan, 29, 1.68 metres (5 ft., 5 inches) tall, leave after a news conference in Baotou in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region July 13, 2007. The world's tallest man, whose search for a bride covered the world, ended up marrying a woman from his hometown nearly half his age and more than two feet shorter, Chinese media reported. REUTERS/Jason Lee (CHINA)

Mabbe for his height and her height there is one thing they can do to please each other without much difficulty [:D]. On a serious note, the guy is REALLY tall.




Picture - 7

He Pingping (R), 19, a 0.73 metres (2 feet, 5 inches) man, adjusts his suit as he shakes hands with Bao Xishun (L), 56, a 2.36-metre (7 feet, 9 inches) herdsman listed by the Guinness World Records as the tallest living man, in Baotou, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region July 13, 2007. He is applying for the Guinness World Record as the world's shortest man,local media reported. REUTERS/Jason Lee (CHINA)

On a serious note, the guy is REALLY short. I wonder why? The tallest and the shortest come from the same country. You smell something cooking here?




Picture - 8

This is the scene of the collapsed 35W bridge over the Mississippi River Thursday, Aug. 2, 2007, in Minneapolis.

Sad event that happened. All on a sudden they say. Really sad. The difference now between India and the US would be on how soon the find out the reason and the help the govt extends. Cannot believe we are a "Transforming" economy.




Picture - 9

Oscar, a hospice cat at the Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence, R.I., waits outside a patient's room, Monday, July 23, 2007. Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. (AP Photo/Stew Milne)

They say, save the best for the end. The guy here is so shrewd that he can predict whoz gonna die when in a hospital. I sure want him here so that I can go rich besides there is no dearth for a quack in India so a 11 million + 1 is not going to hurt anyone. However, I am a doc until Oscar is with me and does the manipulations right :-)



That's all folks. Have a good weekend and peace to your tiring minds and take it easy.

The drama unfolds..

Oh this time of the year I am really really looking forward to the theatrics and the dramatics's. The local interests for plays or theatrics have not died down any bit anytime. Just goes to show when I say it is the third edition since it was launched in 2005 and The Hindu MetroPlus Theatre Festival brings a range of acclaimed plays from abroad and from different parts of India to Chennai. This time around it is going to be over eleven days in August, a variety of professional and amateur theatre groups will stage plays that belong to different genres. This time we have eight plays and a mix of groups from Germany, the United States, Sri Lanka and Indian groups from Manipur, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

I am quite excited and did my home work and lined up my ducks for all the shows already. I am really looking forward to a few shows already for this season. I might end up watching To the Death of my Own Family, Butter and Mashed Banana, a Srilankan group, Checkpoint - Three Strangely Normal, a German group, Ristorante Immortale, Black with ‘Equal’ , Andromeda, The Attempted Assassination of Salman Rushdie & Killing Time and finally Immigrants which is the week after this.

The synopsis of the show is also written alongside the play and I hope these come out well.

Until then in a high spirit, Weekends here I come !

Oh! The Prison

I was thinking about several Bombay blast that happened on 1993, a good 14 years back, and the star studded action and the eventual decisions that encapsulated the drama put me more confused and dreamy thinking about the Jails and the life sentences.

We had an actor convicted for his connection to the Bombay Blasts that killed about 800 people. He was convicted for six years of jail imprisonment - rigorous one. And I wonder what rigorous would mean in a jail? However, this actor ensured that there were no dramatic moments by making a big hue and cry. What made me think a little about the jail conditions available for the common man in India - that is poor men? Appalling and disturbing to even think about them. There was a news, a sympathetic one that too - No fan, no bed sheet, common toilets. I don't think so. The jail would have a separate one for the stars even inside the jail and what made me think is the little amenities that the culprits get when in the jail and how would this ever make a change in their attitude? Through out the world there are organizations that say death sentencing should be stopped and more life sentencing should be the decision. But hey, what have we done to improve the life and the thought process for a crime doer in the prison during his stay there? No improvements in anything what so ever. A criminal enters a prison to live there and eventually leaves the prison as a criminal.

If Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton survived a day in the prisons which are available in India then I take my defeat here. The conditions there are so appalling and we expect more life imprisonments. I can't believe this. Compare the prison life style in the US. I will be dog headed and will definitely compare with a better country every small issue. That is the only way we can grow. The county prison ensures that the prisoners actually get everything that the commoners get outside the prison. Change in food menu for a week, gym, work part job, separate cell, the basic amenity. Again, they have their own problems to face with and solve. Do a direct comparison to what we have here. The convict shares his cell with 8 (sometimes) because the jails are getting over loaded these days. And to top it they sleep in concrete slabs, common toilets - which I reckon would not be hygienic and taken care of, no fans for the hot hot seasons, just one woolen bed spread which you use to cover yourself during the harsh winters, a cheap quality slipper to walk around and finally wade through mosquitoes and what not.

How do you expect the guy in these conditions to even survive and then come out with a changed mind and thought? I don't expect him to change one bit. Rather he is going to be out there to do more crimes and be on the hide out, may be on the ironical flip side, he might not want to commit a crime to be stuck in the shit hole - prison for long again ! A straight forward thinking would mean that so much of change has to happen and more money should be spent on developing this state of affairs as well. Improve the bedding arrangements, lights, life inside the prison, make an attempt to alter the thinking of the prisoner so that he does not think that raping, molesting, killing, kidnapping someone is not the way you live your life henceforth.

We become quite emotional when we see the Stars get a common toilet or no bed sheet or no fan situation. I was a bit stirred. But it was not because he was a star. My heart told my brain, "A person who has lived well and rich should never ever get into a situation as bad as that where survival is the toughest" not that they come from a different world all together but it is the life style that hurts. And sadly, that is how the prisons and other life styles are. I empathize the poor who would get accommodated together to make room for a star, if any change has to happen it should now. Jail life is a shady life with no one wanting to dip their hands in the gutter of a mess; so with the skirmish between prison life or life sentence, I would take the life sentence any day coz I die today to live else where not in this world where as in the prison I would die everyday to live ! Or is the prison condition so appalling because of our population? I don't know but I am mighty sad to think about life there. It is a three different world out in this part of the woods it seemed - Rich, Poor and the Prison.

Finally, I think a prison is a deadly pit with poisonous snakes and an experience would cripple a person for his life by taking away the life from you in front of you, hearsay/differences in the opinions when he comes out of the prison is sufficient to tear his existence and importantly with the self confidence bellied, for me, a criminal will remain a criminal throughout the life !