Journalist throws his shoe at Bush!

A television correspondent, Muntadar al-zaidi, threw a shoe at the US president George Bush in a press conference at Baghad. The press conference was being addressed by Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
In the press conference, suddenly the assailant leaped up from his chair, took his shoe out and threw it on Bush who was 20 feet way from him. Bush, however dodged the attack. In Arabic the journalist called after, "This is a farewell kiss, you dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."
Muntadar al-zaidi, is a TV correspondent working for the Iraqi owned station, Al-Baghadadia which is situated in Cairo, Egypt. As soon as the incident occurred he was taken in custody by the security officials and is now under arrest.
President Bush however took the whole incident as a joke. He added ‘It’s a publicity stunt, just to gain attention. It’s just like when you go to a rally and you see people showing their middle fingers to get ‘noticed’. I didn’t even know the guy’.
Al-Baghadadia’s manager however had no clue as to why did Muntadar take an action which will are bound to have bad repercussions on his career and life. He hasn’t been able to reach Muntadar himself and talk to him. However, the station issued a request on the channel, addressed to the Iraqi government to spare Muntadar’s life, asking for the journalists world over to stand by them.
I know that such an extreme action on the part of a journalist has to be condemned, and the journalist punished but irrespective of what the world thinks, I feel that for a person like Bush, the cause of the deaths of millions of innocent people, I’d say that he just missed by what he deserved.

Slumdog Millionaire: Bollywood, Critics' Choice For The Oscars?

Indian movies might not have had a lot of luck in the prestigious Annual Academy Award’s- The Oscars, but the Indian connection to it cannot be denied.
‘Slumdog Millionaire’, a movie by the critically acclaimed British director, Danny Boyle, is being considered as the hot favorite for bagging the well famed Oscars in the Best Movie category. Slumdog Millionaire is a movie based on the novel ‘Q and A’ by the Indian Diplomat, Vikas Swarup. Based on the game show ‘Kaun Banega Karorpati’, it revolves around the life of an Indian boy and his journey through the ups and downs of life. Loss, gain, love, hatred and survival through all of it in the most vicious of circumstances that life had to offer him-which ultimately takes him to the hot seat for the 1 crore question.
The movie stars Bollywood superstar Anil Kapoor taking on the role of Mr. Amitabh Bachhan as the show host, along with another huge Bollywood star, Irfaan Khan. The film also stars Dev Patel, Madhur Mittal and Frida Pinto, who are now paving their way to stardom because of the huge success of the movie all around the world.
The movie is shot in the streets of India- cities like Mumbai and Agra, shooting right outside the Taj Mahal. One third of the movie is in Hindi, adding to the quintessential Indian feel that is espoused in the viewers. World renowned Indian music composer, A.R. Rahman has given the movie its connection to the famous Bollywood music, by using the megahit song ‘Choli Ke Peechey Kya Hai’ from ‘Khalnaayak’. There’s another famous song, ‘Aaj Ki Raat’ from the movie ‘Don’.
But the thing that makes Slumdog Millionaire as the top runner for the Oscars is the coveted best film of the year 2008 award by the National Board for the Review of Motion Picture (NBRMP). The prestigious awards have been considered as the ‘pre-Oscars’ or the first major awards of the Oscar Season.
The Board President, Annie Schulhof said, "Slumdog Millionaire, with brilliant direction by Danny Boyle and incredible performances, shares a passionate story about one man's courage and determination for the woman he loves."
The NBRMP awards are a major achievement adding to the phenomenal awards studded kitty of the film which includes- Best Film, Best Director (Danny Boyle) and The Best Newcomer (Dev Patel) for the lead actor at the British Independent Film Awards; 2008 Toronto Film Festival People’s Choice Award, The Austin Film Festival's Audience Award and The Chicago Film Festival's "Audience Choice Award".
Critics all over the world have already hailed Slumdog Millionaire as ‘larger than life’, ‘a stunner’, ‘unforgettable’, ‘Bollywood-style’, a ‘phenomenon’, a ‘cinematic stunt’ which has presented the ‘real India’ to moviegoers.
Peter Travers, of the eminent magazine, Rolling Stones said, ‘It's modern India standing in for a world in full economic spin. It's an explosion of color and light with the darkness ever ready to invade. It's a family film of shocking brutality, a romance haunted by sexual abuse, a fantasy of wealth fueled by crushing poverty." He admitted that what he felt for the movie wasn’t just admiration, but ‘mad love’.
Well, with that said, it’s time to wait and watch who wins the battle at the Oscars: Bollywood or Hollywood?

Why Not Rap Raj Thackeray For Not Retrieving Mumbai's Peace?

Last month there were a lot of articles written on Raj Thackeray. His solution for ‘retrieving Marathi pride’ by urging for an open war against North Indians in Mumbai were mostly condemned while some were genuinely floored by his fidelity towards Marathi, Mumbaikars and Maharashtra.
In an article, ‘Why Rap Raj Thackeray For Retrieving Marathi Pride’ someone strongly supported Raj for his pro-Marathi and anti-North Indian policies. My article is just a reply to the above mentioned article.
The 4 days of havoc that Mumbai suffered from 26th to 29th November, Mumbai saw no sign of the Marathi and Maharashtra fanatic Raj Thackeray. No comments, no interviews, no consolations, no condemning, no nothing. Now, in this media savvy world, it’s impossible to believe that Raj did not have an option for addressing and communicating with Mumbai. Not a word for his precious mumbaikars and Maharashtra? Many people addressed the terrorist attacks. Rattan Tata through an interview, Amitabh Bachhan and Amir Khan through their blogs expressed their concern, anger, frustration through media while there were no signs of Raj Thackeray. Many people, who genuinely cared about Mumbai came out on the streets out side Taj, Oberoi and Nariman House while the operations against terrorists were going on. While Delhi remained quiet and was saddened because of the terror strikes that took place in Mumbai, the JNU students arranged a candlelight march to mourn for the same. The very same people, whom Raj was always against in Mumbai. Still, there was no clue of Raj, and that too when he was in Mumbai! It’s disconcerting to see that the once, well-known for making public appearances and connecting with people through media, Raj Thackeray had gone missing.
People from all over India have condemned these attacks and are more than willing to help Mumbai in every way they can. We condemn violence against anyone in the country, be it the North or the South, East Or West. India is one and Indians will always support Indians. Diversity is something that we should celebrate and not condemn. This is the true essence of our country. It’s only the Indians who will help Indians. Irrespective of caste, creed, religion or now, region.
But the question is that had Raj Thackeray completely forgotten about his love for Marathi people when Mumbai was in real danger? Do terrorists make him forget about his love for his people and state? Or does he only like to bask in the glory for launching a full fledged campaign against the poor and weak?
People, who were a strong supporter of Raj Thackeray must re-assess him on the basis of his actions. Do you really need a leader who would desert you in the time of need? Who cannot even hold Mumbai together and soothe the people in such crucial times? Who is incapable of encouraging his people when the occasion arises? I guess, it’s time people acknowledge Raj for the real person he is and something he pretends to be to satiate his political and personal desires.

Charging i-pods with onions?

I love my music and what better way to listen to your favorite songs than on an i-pod or your mp3 players? But you know what? I admit that I am a little careless when it comes to charging up the battery. I’m sure there would be many of us who would absolutely forget to get our music players charged in time. And sometimes, I misplace my charger but the worst of the worst comes, when we are out for a hike or there’s a power cut while our i-pods are left with no battery to play. No battery, no music!
Well, as they say there’s a solution for everything. Recently a method has been devised to charge up the i-pod with the help of an onion! Household Hackers in a video on their website, demonstrated the method. All they needed to charge up the device was a USB plug, a screwdriver, a gatorade drink and an onion!
The method was simple; they took a screwdriver and made a hole on one side of the onion, all the way to the middle. Then they repeated the same to the other side of the onion. Next they soaked the onion in the Gatorade drink for about half an hour making sure that it was completely dispersed in the drink. After half an hour they dried the onion to get the excess liquid off. Then, plugged one end of the USB cord in to the i-pod and the other to the onion. In about 15 to 20 minutes, the i-pod was charged and ready to be played!
The concept behind it is even simpler. Gatorade, Red Bull, and other sport drinks contain electrolytes. They are the electrically charged minerals like potassium, sodium, etc. which are used to charge the battery here. Gatorade contains KH2PO4 which is the main salt that is required to charge the cells.
The role of the onion? Onions create ion gradients which gives the cell a charge. The electrolytes (ions in solution) will saturate the cells, greatly increasing the number of ions in the cells, and thus storing more of a charge in them. Onions coincidentally contain a lot of potassium metaphosphate (KPO3), which, when combined with all the water soaked up from the Gatorade, is used to produce even more KH2PO4! That’s how the battery gets charged up and the i-pod ready to go.
Now, obviously you have to take a lot of caution to do this experiment or our dear i-pods would be permanently damaged. The concept is indeed original and innovative. But, if you ask me, I wouldn’t want my device to smell like an onion! Music is my feel good factor, but onions are the complete opposite of it. So I’ll be sticking to my chargers this time, until we find an eco friendly method that doesn’t tampers with my jovial mood. And I’d suggest the same to all of you.

Adventures Of A Chai Lover

I don’t know how many of you out there start your day with a cup of hot tea, but instinct tells me that there would be plenty. The first thing that I do in the morning is prepare my cup of piping hot tea with lots of milk and sugar and not to miss, Indian tea leaves. It gives me just the kind of kick I need to jumpstart my day.
Recently, a friend of mine came to spend a few days with me from Spain. The love for tea is something we both shared. But our idea of it was quite different. While I fancied the strong Indian chai, with milk and sugar, she preferred it without any of it. She was fixated with the herbal and flavored tea.
When a few years back green tea, black tea and the various flavored teas were introduced in India, I tried them. Not to my delight, I found their taste totally bland. Whereas the chai we make satisfies our craving for the beverage, the herbal teas left you feeling empty.
When I shared the same with my friend she called the ‘Indian version’ of tea absolutely unhealthy and the herbal teas nutritious and nourishing. Now, I know the health experts would start arguing about the infinite benefits of the herbal tea in curing insomnia, headaches, reducing weight and what not! While our Indian chai would be criticized for its high nicotine content, the high blood pressure and various other heath issues. But haven’t we been consuming it for hundreds of years and yet my grand mother, her great grand mother and the previous several generations couldn’t think of giving it up. And didn’t they do just fine in their lifetime. They were healthy, fit and fine! Now, I can’t say that the chai is very beneficial for one’s health but what harm can a cup or two of it do?!
Getting back to my friend, I offered her a cup of tea I prepared for myself, just to taste and then decide. On tasting it, she was absolutely baffled. She found the tea delicious. I believe that it’s the way we prepare the tea, here in India, with boiling and mixing all the ingredients that brings out the real flavor. I, anyhow never liked mixing the milk afterwards. It never quite seemed to blend in and bring the flavor out of the tea.
The tea culture in India is being re-defined by various hotels and cafes. They offer a variety of teas which come with an unreasonably high price. One fine day, I ventured into one of such cafe and I was surprised by the vast range of tea flavors they had. So I decided to have something called the ‘English Breakfast’ tea. I was utterly disappointed since I didn’t find the taste any good. It was watery, dull and boring! Moreover a cup of it cost me about 90 Rs. Senseless, isn’t it? After tasting about a dozen of different kinds of tea, from black tea to the berry tea, from the green to the white tea to fruit teas, I have finally arrived at the conclusion that there’s no competition to my indigenous chai.
Talking about tea, how can I miss the mesmerizing dhabbey waali chai. No matter wherever you travel to, in India, you are bound to find the lively dhabbas. I simply adore them since I can find different versions of chai over here. Be it the sweet, aromatic, masaala chai, the elaichi chai, the cinnamon or cardamom flavored tea, they all make for a sumptuous treat. And all for what? Mere 5 or 10 rupees! Divine indeed! The only thing I wish would be for them to take a little more care about the hygiene. But, trust me, no matter how much the globalization has paved way for numerous cafés to open up here, they’re no competition to the ‘dhabba and chai’ culture of India.
I really fail to understand that how can the milkless and sugarless tea possibly compete with the rich variety of chai we have in India?! I can never think of having my tea with lemon, or the ones with flower or fruit flavors.
Now, iced tea would be a different topic altogether, but for the hot beverage, nothing beats the delectable chai. It’s exotic, it’s savory and it’s my instant energizer. So, no matter how much herbal, flavored or healthy tea invade the market, at the end; my pick would always be the yummy Indian chai.

Andrew Symonds And His Addiction With Drunken Breawls

We all know about Andrew Symonds’ love for alcohol, getting drunk and eventually getting into fights. Living upto the expectations, the Australian all-rounder has found himself amidst another one of his drunken brawls and controversies, which never seem to leave him aside.
This time Andrew Symonds has reportedly picked up a fight with a layman in the pub of the famous Normanby Hotel in Brisbane, Australia. On Sunday evening, when he was drinking with his friends and other players to celebrate the 149 run victory over New Zealand in the first test at Ghaba, he got into a physical altercation with a man from the public.
Symonds, however, as usually denied the allegations, stating that he got into the fight only because he had been provocated by the other guy. According to him, at first he tried to walk out of the situation but the fight was caused because of the persistent nature of the other bloke. His claims were backed by the manager of the hotel.
Quite frankly, with the track record Symonds has maintained of getting into trouble, who in the world will find his words worth trusting?! His weird and erratic behavior has kept him in the limelight for reasons one wouldn’t like to be known for.
In the 2007 World Cup, he claimed that he had been set up by somebody, when a guy slapped him in the parking lot and had a camera to record Symonds’ reaction! In 2005, he was banned for 2 matches when he showed up drunk for an ODI against Bangladesh! His immense unpopularity in India was the result of an argument between him and Harbhajan, in which he claimed that the later used a derogatory term, ‘monkey’ for him, this very year in January.
Whatever one may perceive of him, the ‘troubled child’ or the ‘trouble child’ of the Aussie team, controversies seem to ADORE this chap.

Rahul Mahajan, The Manipulator

Rahul Mahajan, the cute, funny, sacrificing and benevolent human being has been judged as the ‘Badey Dill Waala’ of the Bigg Boss house. He won the hearts of many when he opted for the voluntary exit from the show safeguarding the interests of the other three contestants and taking the entire blame for the breakout from the house. Probably, he did deserve the title in this case, but how can one be sure that it was an act of compassion without being driven by any self motive?
Yes, he willingly rejected a sure shot chance at Rs 1 crore. He knew very well that he was the most popular of all the contestants and hence his probability of winning the game show was very high. So his opting out of the game came across as an enduring act to the people. More over he gained respect of millions by asking the public to vote for the poor, dhabeywaala Ashutosh.
But was the motive of Rahul Mahajan, son of Pramod Mahajan (the quite wealthy, late politician, who left him a fortune with which he could lead a luxurious and comfortable life without any struggles) to win 1 crore rupees? Rahul Mahajan is undoubtedly entitled to several crores from the fortune his family has. Money cannot matter to an already extremely rich person!
Rahul’s main motive was to clear up his absolutely crappy public image. After the death of his father he became very unpopular when he was reportedly found involved the drugs abuse case. He was charged under sections 21 (sale and purchase of drugs), 25 (allowing one’s premises for the use of drugs), 27 (consumption of drugs), and 29 (conspiracy and abetment) of the NDPS Act. Section 21 can land him in jail for a minimum of 10 years. Apart from this he had an image of an atrocious ‘wife beater’. His former wife, Shweta Singh Mahajan on the show ‘Zindagi Live’ admitted that he was not the kind of person he was portraying himself as to the public. He was on a show, and he had to create a liking for himself in the hearts of the audiences. That was probably his motive behind being the ‘cute, friendly, calm and tolerant’ person he was. He knew well, that one mistake and he would have to face the repercussions his entire life. Bigg Boss gave him the perfect chance to salvage his public image that he had absolutely destroyed in the past two years. And he did do so nicely! By supposedly ‘sacrificing the money and the title’ and urging people to vote for the poor lad Ashutosh.
How can one ignore his alleged affairs with Payal Rohatgi and Monika Bedi. He was supposed to be in a relationship with Payal at first, but then he got intimate and close with Monika Bedi, ignoring Payal. Later when Monika was evicted, he gave leg and body massages to Payal, which were absolutely cheap! And the when Monika came back, he declared his undying love for her, even though Monika insisted on getting to know each other better first. But after the show, he completely denied being in love with her and said that they were just ‘friends’. Monika made a complete fool out of herself for trusting him! Besides people from the show themselves pointed out that he was a master player. Diana Hayden said that behind his silly and funny habits, his motive was to influence others. Once out of the house, Sambhavana said that ‘he knew the game well. He was not whatever he was showing the audiences’. Debojit also felt highly disappointed with him when he came to know about his two faced nature.
A wife beater and a manipulator, how can one really empathize with him when he deliberately opted out to gain the sympathy of the masses?
I have every reason to believe that it was a calculated move on his part- to glorify himself as a great human being. Money, he did not need, but he was in a desperate need of fostering a positive impression in the minds and hearts of people. A great player indeed, who got what he wanted in the end and emerged as the true winner. Ha!