Don’t even think about it or initiate a water cooler discussion. A B’Tech Grad from Madras was just signed at Rs. 65 Lakh p.a by Microsoft.  Srinivas Balasubramanian is the guy, and he is from the National Institute of Technology – Karnataka (NIT-K) confirmed, really?  The geek is yet to complete his grads (concludes in the summer of 2012) and by July same year. He will be bossing around at Redmond by September 27, 2012. He should be pockeying around the MS dev center, Redmond and work on Bing.

Bing, bing, binga

Srinivas, in-case you stumble around this blog anytime, do respond and congrats for the MS stint.

• Ek do teen chaar band karo ye brastachar.

• Down Down Corruption

• NO NO Jokepal, We want Janlokpal

• Jo Kala Paisa Rakte hain, Wo Janlokpal se darte hain

• 101 Number Lokpal Number Lao , CBI ko sarkar se hatao.

• I am Anna

• Inqalab Zindabad

• Anna Anna Anna , Hum denge MP ke gharke aage Dharna.

• Govt Corruption Promotion Bill nahi chahiye, Jan Lokpal Chahihye.

• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star , Anna is our Superstar.

• Main Bhi Anna , Tu Bhi Anna , Abto sara desh hai ANNA.

• anna nahi ye aandhi hai, desh ka super gandhi hai

• Anna tum aage badho ..desh tumhare saath hai !!

• Thanda Thanda Cool Cool…….Anna Hazare Wonderfull!!!!

• Brastachar jao jao ,Jan Lokpal Lao lao!!

• Pehli ladai goro se … dusri ladai choro se

• Jitna Hai Faasla Utna hai Hosla, Nahi Pass Karonge Janlokpal Bill to Chalta rahega yeh silsila.

• Anna ek ummeed hain, Hindustan ki jeet hain!

• Main bhi Anna, Tu bhi Anna! Ab to saara desh hai Anna!

• Anna hain hum, watan hain, ye hindustan hamara!

• Anna suno, Anna samjho, Anna jaano, Anna pehchaano!

• Maa ka pyaara! Raaj dulara! Anna hai hamara!

• Jo kabhi na haare wo hai Anna hazare

• Main Zinda hoon, Main Anna hoon!

• Main amar hoon..main anna hun

• Anna jab jab aayega, sabko sabak sikhayega!

• Sare bolo sri sri 1008 anna ji maharaj ki jay

• Hazaron aaj Hazare hain, Bharat Maa ke pyaare hain!

• Anna se jo takrayega! Choor Choor ho jayega!

• Anna ke aage jhuk gayi, saari sarkar phuk gayi!

• Ab saara desh Anna hai, 24 ghante chaukanna hai!

• ANNA HUM AAPKE SAATH HAI..AAP BADE CHALO

• Abhi nahi to kabhi nahi

• Anna ka ubaal, Sarkaar badhaal!

• Anna ka toofan, Sarkar pareshan!

• Sarkar mujhe kuchal sakti hai, mere iraadon ko nahin!

• Main zinda hoon, Main Anna hoon!

• Anna ek ummeed hain, Bharatvarsh ki jeet hain!

• Anna nahi ye aandhi hain, Dusre Mahatma Gandi hain!

• Apne aandar ke aana ko jano

• Jan jan pukare …..Anna Hazaare Anna Hazaare

• Jwala jo seene mein jal uthi hai…usse yun bujhne na denge

• Anna Hazare reaches Tihar, Ironical! Whether you’re corrupt or against corrupt, you’ve the same place to stay Tihar Jail!

• Anna tum badhte raho, aage chalte raho

• Anna aaye re

• Anna badhte chalo, chalte chalo.

• Hum tumhare saath hain

• Hum badhte rahenge Anna ke saath

Friday night:10 PM, Manak Vihar, New Delhi.

I see a man quietly, crossing the road and eyeing one of the hundred flower pots meant for beautification purposes (hastily done by the Sheila Dixit government). Aghast, I see him actually picking up one of the earthen pots and without any fear (not even the cops sitting just next to his LML Vespa) place the pot infront of him.

I am still looking at him with utter disbelief, on the other side of the illuminated road. The scooter grumbled, and so did the inner me. I crossed the road and challenged him. He stared back, I was no less. The middle aged, slightly bald man questions back, “tujhe kya problem hai.” I retort, “yeh public property hai, aap nahi le jaa sakte.” He abused me. I didn’t care. This man, wearing a white shirt, pulled the gear of his scooter. In a fraction, I decided not to let him go. The only worry was the 2 Smirnoff Vodka bottles, in one hand and helmet on the other. I chased him and pulled back the scooter. I tried hard, but my will to stop him was much more than the machine. I didn’t let him go.

This time I looked directly, in his eye, I barked, “apne baccho ko kya sikhayenge?” A young man, came from the sideways took away the flower pot from the scooter and placed that back it deserved. The cops continued to watch but refused to intervene (their vanilla ice-cream was melting btw).

The stare, the middle aged man gave, had a lot of questions.

Could be

1. who the hell is he?

2. What’s his problem in life

3. He should just get lost

4. I quick pick, just went off hand (because of this bugger)

People like him are there everywhere, “if only’ all of us become a little more aware and identify, what’s acceptable and what’s NOT. By the way, that man, looked, decent and fairly educated. Why did he steal something which belongs to the public?

Wow, since morning I have not received any TD or BM messages, I am sure you are experiencing the zen effect too. Thanks to the government which has banned bulk sms and mms across India, for 72 hours in the wake of the Ayodhya verdict.

Every week I allocate, 30 minutes only to delete these unwanted spam sms’s. More than informative, I have started finding them irritating. I am trying to concentrate, suddenly the vibration near my desk indicates an important information coming, no, they are selling Insurance.

The 57th National Film awards were announced last night and Bollywood’s got reasons to cheer about.  Amitabh Bacchan’s stands tall & surpassed his fellow mates by winning his third national award on his stupendous performance on Ad film maker R Balki’s ‘Paa”.

In this National award, Big pictures backed projects have received 14 trophies. The clear winner appeared to be Malayalam film “Kutty Srank: The Sailor of Hearts”- a story of a lonely and short tempered, boatman from Kochi - won five awards including best screenplay (original) and cinematography for P.F. Mathews-Harikrishna and Anjuli Shukla respectively.

Cutting it all short, go through the list below

• Best Actor – Amitabh Bacchan – Paa - Hindi

• Best Actress - Ananya Chatterjee  Abohoman, Bangla

• Best Direction- Ritoparno Ghosh  Abohoman

• Best Film Award - Kutty Srank– Malayalam

• Best Hindi Film - Paa

• Best Music award – DevD Amit Trivedi

• Best Editing - Arghyakamal Mitra Abohoman

• Best Make Up – Paa - Christein Tinsley and Dominie Till

• Best Supporting Actress - Arundhati Nag – Paa

• Best Film providing wholesome entertainment -  3 Idiots

• Best Cinematography - Kutty Srank

• Best Costume - Kutty Srank

• Best Screenplay - Kutty Srank

• Best Film by a Debutante – Lahore

• Best Background Score - Ilayaraja  for Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja

• Best Supporting Actor award Farooque Shaikh Lahore

• Best Lyricist Swanand Kirkire ‘Behti hawa sa thha woh’ from 3 Idiots

• Best Playback Singer male - Rupam Islam for Kolkata in the Bengali film Mahanagar

• Best Playback Singer female - Nilanjana Sarkar for Bengali movie ‘Houseful’

• Special jury recognition award - Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kaminey, Malayalam film Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, Kutty Srankenjoyed – Malayalam

• Malayalam film, Pazhassi Raja , Mammooty starrer Kutty Srank.

• Best Film on social issues – Shyam Benegal’s Well Done Abba

• Best Film on national integration - Delhi 6

• Best children’s film award - Putaani Party Kannada and Keshu  in Malayalam

• Best child actor award - Jeeva and Anba Karaus

• Best film award - non-feature category – The Postman and Bilal

Established in 1954, the National awards are widely appreciated and certainly the most prominent film award administrated by the Indian government’s Directorate of Film Festivals since 1973.

A national panel is appointed by the government where the awards are given away by the president of India, in New Delhi.

Learn’t from the papers that the North Korea or as they would like to call themselves the DPRK threatened to wage a “sacred war” against the imperialist US and its so called the “puppet force” and a distant cousin. Saw a great AFP photo where a North Korean soldier peeps through the window trying to make out what Hillary Clinton might be saying at the demilitarised zone (DMZ) or what her husband and former US president Bill Clinton called “the world’s most scariest place.” Tipped as the world’s most secretive diplomatic zone where every action is watched and every “comment” analysed.

I wonder how will one of the and off course world’s very few centrally planned economy and it’s people will be able to achieve amid of sanctions (past and upcoming). It is despite the fact that the North Korean economy did well in comparison to its capitalist neighbor South Korea. As the Chinese manufacturing companies spread deep inside the Western world, the government’s open support to the North Korean regime is no secret at all. The Chinese finds a strong ally in it’s North-East region. Now how much is the Chinese economic and military support to the Dictator regime will only be clear in the next 2 weeks or months. In wake of the US-S.Korea joint naval exercise on the Sea of Japan, this time it could be worser than the 1950-53 Korean war. A slight mis-judgement can risk lives of 10’s of million people in Seoul and Kim Jong-2’s comrades do have the muscle indeed.

In the past six months there have been cautious exchanges of peace process from both the ends, sans the North Korea alter their nuclear programme. Lifting UN sanctions against North Korea should be talked as the world should be a freer and a better place. While there should be no harm in the naval exercise which the US and South Korea are starting today i:e 25th July, the six-party talks (which hasn’t happened since Dec - 2008) should resume with constructive agendas in mind.

As the economy sighs a better breath worldwide, it’s no time for animosity instead bringing back meaningful diplomacy right back in place and if it wasn’t then reinstate .

If you are suffering from a midlife crisis visit Rishikesh, I don’t say this infact the Lonely Planet declares. My midlife is far and crisis hasn’t arrived as of now, touch wood. By the way, it was a tough choice between choosing an office outing that happened after a long time and the other place in subject. Cherry and I had zeroed in the time and spot long time back. Going by the plan, we’d be pushing one day early to the promised destination.

Googling in Office

Not sure about where to stay, I did some google search. A tip free for travelers hunting an affordable stay. Step one - Type in your destination’s name, hotel and currency you are comfortable with like for instance ¥, Rs, $, ₤ etc. Your search becomes easier after this exercise. Yes, I spoke to the manager who also happens to be a Bengali, got me a place where I intended to stay, a Ganga facing “view”. Cherry was naturally more excited than me. We had 2 nights and 2 days in hand. Step two - remember, always do some research about any place you visit. Things like local fooding, culture, weather and things to do and other things. Plan your outing and think like a tour operator. You should have a flow chart ready.

Bus Adda

We moved as per the plan and boarded out bus as per the plan from Kashmere gate at 3 PM. The journey was shaky but the excitement was palpable. We reached Rishikesh only after 11 PM. Pretty late and we were wondering if the hotel was shut for us. There were cops for obvious reasons. To my surprise the manager was awake and waiting. After completing registration formalities we were guided to our Ganga ‘facing’ room. I was dead tired and very soon crashed on my bed.

Day One

The morning next day was refreshing and the first cup of cardamom tea was very soothing. A fresh wisp of air was constantly beating my face. Smell of incense sticks, sounds of mandir bells together was making the moment more heavenly. Rishikesh is a peaceful place with lot less noise made by piligrims. Atleast much less than its cousin Haridwar. Can you believe it the CM of Uttarakhand intends to run for a nobel prize for organizing a record shattering Kumbh mela this year? At least I know what does it takes when you submit yourself to the state transport department for traveling purposes during this time of the year.

Anyways, I decided to make a move to Neelkantha. We were lucky to get a jeep in this off season. The journey to Neelkantha was equally fascinating. The serpentine route and my trekker (the jeep) were racing against the young and furious Ganges coming from badri almost moving parallel. Phenomenal.

While returning back, we decided to offload ourself from that jeep and take a 12 kilometer trek back to Rishikesh town. Now, that was a sort of an adventure. We saw things like the purple coloured butterfly, that rare small bird, tasteless wild berries, the unnamed brook (which quenched my thirst), the friendly tea shack wala and the breeze. Another highlight of that small trek was that the road was much less traveled and that proved good for us, no unwanted glances or stares. We were given friendly smiles from absolute strangers, mostly foreigners and that little girl- Lata.

We somehow managed to come back to our hotel. Nonetheless, our legs were aching and stomach empty. We had a hearty lunch from a Vaishnav bhojanalya. It was 5 PM by now and we decided to spend the evening near the ghat. Rishikesh is replete with its temples and innumerous ghats making it a peaceful and spiritual place of interest.

Day Two

I and Cherry Window shopped and she wanted the pick of the day one ‘Afghani pyjama’. According to her it’s the “in” thing. We straddled between the shops checked out the pearls and metal jewellery. I was looking for fancy bags and artifacts. You will find a lot of junk lined on the streets. I sometimes wonder what pulls a lot of Israeli tourists here in Rishikesh? Anyways, out of question and my imagination.

In the evening I prefer hanging out in ‘Devraj German Bakery’, apart from the best view of ‘Laxman Jhoola’ they have an exiting menu on the platter spicy grilled vegetable pasta, potatoe cakes, salad, apple struddle (never tried and don’t know what that means), . cinnamon roll, Italian pizza, croissants, German brown bread with peanut butter, hold on you can have Yak cheese for Rs 30 and most of the dishes I have mentioned are hand picked whatever I could remember from an eight paged menu chart. Much to choose from here. I had this opportunity to have one of the best French onion soups ever @Rs25. What else? The evening was spent near the Parmarth Ashram. The arti along the ghats are magical and surely transcends you to a different world. The night dropped and thought crept slowly. We had to leave tomorrow. Sad but worth it – our trip that was. It was Holi-the festival of colours. Some people were having fun along the bonfire near the ghat, till late night.

Day Three

The next day morning, the manager asked us if we liked their services, I agreed with him
and also told him that I’d recommend my friends who would plan a visit to Rishikesh.
There is a lot more than I can mention in this piece to do in Rishikesh. The stays was relaxing and believe me, you’ll come out a different person from Rishikesh.

I was surprised to see how locals as well as our foreign guests were playing holi without any inhibitions. They mingled with each other freely.

It feels good. Rishikesh has definitely changed since the Beatles arrived and it’s not the hippie and yoga happy yappie destination anymore. It’s more than what you think, not just spiritual but developing a premier adventure sport destination count in the river rafting and bungee jumping. Laying my eyes on the river ganges and the untold changes I undergo is something that pulls me again and again to this mystical place. Inspite of sights like the hungry cow or the snappy monkey or for that matter every make-you-believe ‘guide’ appears to be a yoga expert and guarantees you how to attain nirvana, Rishikesh will remain close to me and I will keep coming time to time, irrespective of any time and space I am in.

More than 25 dead Olive Ridley turtles were sighted near Prayagi and Arjipalli this week. One of the main reasons for their untimely deaths has been attributed to an oil spill from a ship near Gopalpur port, Orissa. Over seven thousand litres of commercial oil had spilt from the MV Malabika an Essar-owned vessel on Tuesday evening. Worse, that there has been no official word of the vessel owners.
To begin with, the Olive Ridley’s are one of rarest species and are endangered ones and also listed in the US Endangered Species Act.

We are fortunate that in India, we have an opportunity to nurture them. According to trusted sources over 1,50,000 Olive Turtles were either killed in the last one decade. These poor creatures are either killed for their meat, skin or their shell. All of us, should take responsibilities of our actions. The organization in question is the entity owning that vessel. If the reported incident and the people responsible for the mishap is true then I fear that the consequences are far more frightening. The spill can cause cutaneous toxic reactions and extreme suffocation for the marine turtles. Some marine scientists have also slated that the planktons and smaller sea animals near the beach will be affected through the spill.

“Tea is a Cup of Life” - Unknown

Historically serving Tea has always been associated with get together, meetings, parties, house warming sessions and many other social events. Throughout the world people have been drinking tea in innumerous ways and methods, some of them having respective meanings and connotations.

That’s all right but why do I drink tea?

# I want my day to start with a cup of hot tea, why?? I do not know, maybe my body clock needs that beverage.

# I have a cup of tea in the middle of the day as well as night to re-energize my system.

# A cup of tea can be consumed among old and rekindle old memories associated with tea at the same time rekindle new friendship and association with new ones, I have done it

# Nothing beats a cup of tea, when you are traveling in the mountains and stop for a break, I do it.

# In a wintry evening, mid-monsoon or even the evening office snacks - tea and samosa (a stuffed pattie -an original Indian snack,) go pretty well.

Reference of tea has been clearly mentioned in Ramayana as Sanjeevani buti, however commercial consumption and distribution of tea expatiated after the British East India company. Going by the history, Tea perhaps was mentioned first in the Gilgamesh epic, during 3000 BC or something. Other important story dates back at around 2737 BC, in China. Shen Nung, the second emperor who also happened to be a creative scientist. Nung had a habit of boiling his drinking water. During this process some tea leaves accidentally fell in his tea pot. The rest is history. Today, tea is the most-popular beverage in the world. India and China are the biggest market for tea.

Below are some great tea facts (or tea trivia) to read through while enjoying a cup of tea.

• A cup of black tea has half the amount of caffeine than a cup of coffee.

• Drinking milk may mean stronger bones, but the same goes for a cup of tea!

• In a single day, an experienced tea picker collects around 70 pounds of tea, which is equivalent to create 14000 cups.

• There are four types of tea: white, green, oolong, and black. Interestingly these four types can turn into thousands of varieties depending on the influence of culture and usability.

• Tea plants come from a common plant, Camellia Sinensis.

• If left to grow unchecked this evergreen plant can reach a height of over 30 feet.

• Tea drinking can abate your appetite.

• It takes three to five years for a tea bush to grow and ready for harvesting.

• According to recent studies one cup of tea daily can fulfill over 15% of minimum daily requirement of calcium, 10% of folic acid and almost 45% of manganese.

• Used tea leaves also double their usability as manure and it improves garden soil considerably.

As I have expressed before, a cup of tea is not what it looks like in its physical form. It is my source of adda, my thoughts are laced in that one whole cup.  Well, if you still think what is so special about this drink, worse if you have never tried. Try a cuppa “T “and let me know what do you think after …..that.

Chay ya phir thanda????

My friend baba says they go wherever there is public interest. They did it with WW-1, WW-2, Nam 1962/68, 9/11, now Iraq, Afpak is left. Anyways, I wanted to share final results about the Oscars, 2010. There were many first’s this time. War movie “The Hurt Locker” stole the thunder on Sunday by winning six of the film honours which includes the best movie and director. Kathryn Bigelow the director of “The Hurt” happens to be the first woman to win. Icing on the cake? The film also took credits for the best original screenplay, film editing, sound editing and mixing. It was all in the family, ex-family whatever you mean it. Ms Bigelow was at logger head with her ex-husband, James Cameron, whose Avatar was a hot favourite, before the final announcements at the Kodak theatre, LA.

Sandra Bullock gets an Oscar in the best actress category in a lead role for The Blind Side, she plays a motivational lady.

Jeff Bridges is the Best Actor of the world, he wins the Oscar in a leading role for “Crazy Heart”, Jeff plays a laidback country singer, whose life changes somehow after meeting someone.

Actor Christoph Waltz who plays a Nazi officer in Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds took home the best supporting actor.

African American actress Mo’Nique bagged the best supporting actress for role as an abusive mother for “Precious” based on novel Push, at the 82nd annual Academy Awards, Los Angeles.

Geoffrey Fletcher wins the Best Screenwriter award for film “Precious”

Balloon adventure “Up” of Disney Pixar won the best animated feature.

The Best Original Song for ‘Crazy Heart’ went to Ryan Birgham and T Bone Burnett

Logorama won the Best Short film.

Director Gregg Helvey’s short film “Kavi” lost to the New Tenant in the category of live action short.

Prudence music won the documentary short subject award.

The best make up Oscar award went to Star Trek.

The best costume award was bagged by Sandy Powell for “The Young Victoria”

Avatar finally for its due for outstanding art direction and Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg won the award for Outstanding Art Direction for “Avatar” and  Mauro Fiore won Best Cinematography Award. The sci-fi alien masala also won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, very true. I always felt Avatar was one of the 1980’s Dharmendra pot boiler, it had everything action, romance, comedy, drama.  Anyways, let us proceed. Micheal Giacchino won the Best Original Score Award for balloon adventure “Up” and the “Cove” won the Oscars in the Best Documentary Feature section.  The best foreign film went to Argentinean film “The Secret in their eyes” The movie is on a retired prosecutor.