Mumbai massacre-The Psychological Impact

10+ terrorists, 200+ MARCOS, 200+ civilians dead(20 foriegners), 300+ casualities... It all got over. The stains may dry in days but the doubt of leading a common life and having a common death haunts everybody. 

The confidence on a common man's security has come down since the last 60 hours. However,after seeing the might of the NSG and MARCOS (as we don't often see them in live action),it should help us keep up our spirits.

Its the media that brought us closer to the terror and made us feel scared though we were locked in our homes. It would be great on their part , if they helped to re-instill the lost confidence by showing the people (later) more about the security measures available like the modern arms and ammunitions that the Defence team possess, the technologies in use, an insight into the training and the way the strategies are planned, more case studies, etc.( something like "Future weapons" on Discovery channel). This not only peps up the confidence in a common man but also cultures a sense of fear among those anti national elements.

The Government should also make use of the upcoming Republic day parade to show our power and pride in a way thats never done before such that it sends a shock wave across the neighbours and also the world !   

CHEAT CODE FOR ATTENDANCE

For long I wanted to document the fraudulent approaches that we take or see others take during our college life . With all due respect to my teachers and to my college , i have started to document it on the Teacher's day, say ,as a sign of confession. Below are listed some of the cheats that we used for the purpose of avoiding Attendance Shortage during college days.

CHEAT CODE FOR ATTENDANCE:

1. Its not a cheat ,but a kind of warm up exercise. Try switching roll numbers between you and your friend when called for attendance. Like, you could call out your friends number and the friend will call out yours.

2. Traditional method of Proxy. Make sure that you do not sit in the same seat daily, so that the teacher will not recognize you easily.

3. If you want some of your foe(say,his no. is 32) in the class to lose attendance, then make the guys in roll number before(no.31) and after(no.33) the foe's to call out their numbers consecutively, fast and loud such that your foe's voice gets masked and thus he shall be marked absent.

4. Depending on whether the attendance is taken at the beginning of the class or at the end, different approaches can be made.

(Prerequisite: You should sit as close to the door as possible )

First, if the attendance is taken at the start, make use of the time taken by the teacher to settle down after taking the attendance. In this time gap , slide out through the door fast. To be on safer side , just walk to the door casually as if you wanted to throw a waste paper into the dustbin(which should be near the door). Or you can also use the MENTOS AD method.

5. Similarly, if the attendance is taken at the end of the session,then bunk the class in the beginning and jump in only for attendance. Here, you make use of the time gap availed by the teacher to rest and clear the doubts of the students after the day's class. Excellent time maintenance is required for this and it can be achieved by SMS ing the guys in classroom about the situation. Once the conditions are favourable you go near the door (outside the class), make your friends on the other end of the class to draw the attention of the teacher by calling him/her towards them to ask for a doubt and then slide in to be present for the attendance.

6. Arrange some of your friends from the other class or department to come to your class (after the attendance is taken for you) and call you out for some reason.Some of the reasons may be like...
a. "Your parents have come."
b. "HOD called." (no one questions the HOD)
c. "Called by the Administrative Dept." (To look genuine, prepare a list of your friends whom you want to take out and call them out by their numbers and not name, also ask them to come with their ID cards,etc.)
d. Any cultural or technical event happening in the college.

Be as dramatic as possible !

7. More often than not, you have group of guys from other departments and classes coming to your classrooms in the middle of the session to campaign about their function. They shall hand out flyers to be pinned in the class notice board to the first benchers. Now you take the responsibility of pinning it to the board(this should happen as everybody's focus is on the guy on the stage who's yelling nonsense) and thereby get camouflaged among them and move out with them.

8. The first benchers are considered to be studious and genuine by the teachers and often , after the attendance is taken the "attendance slip" is kept in the visibility of them. Occasionally he could help us by striking out our number from the marked list of absentees.

9. In a class, there are always some 5 members who are regular in coming late to the class. If the attendance had already been taken ,they are simply allowed into the class and the attendance is filled only at the end of the class. You(The bunkers) could make use of this opportunity to join them just at the end to claim attendance.

10. Besides all these , if you still lack in your attendance, make use of the facility of OD forms. For this , you need to apply for OD when and where possible, even if you dont need it.Also, keep track of all the hours and days you bunked the college. Manipulate the dates in the OD form to favour your needs.

If you have any more ideas on it , do post it.

Abhinav Bindra, the Hero we Need

After watching the incredibly impressive, stupendous Opening ceremony at Beijing, I was awestruck. And seeing the chinese contingent, i cultivated a respect for the chinese people. Also i was deeply worried if we, Indians could be able give a similar performance ? What would be reason for the poor contribution from a country like India despite its sound resources ?

• Is it just politics ?
• Is it lack of resources ?
• Is it lack of encouragement?
• Is it lack of Hope?
• Is it lack of interest?
• Is it the culture,that makes us to stick to academics?
• Or is it Cricket, (some say so)?

Whatever !

We should be Men of Action ! Lets stop complaining about the past and find a way to excel in par with our neighbouring countries.

Remember "Enemy at the Gates" ... If you haven't seen the film, take some time to watch this clip from the movie, a truly inspiring and philosophical one.

Its too metophorical that we ,Indians , are in the same situation as the USSR . We are in desperate need of a Hero, an Example , a Hope . And today, we got Abhinav Bindra, just like Sergeant Vassili Zaitsev. At this point of time he is not just a Olympics Gold Medal winner,but He means something...something bigger than himself ! The whole country is looking at him !

As said in the film, we must use the way of love of the Motherland, we must tell magnificient stories, stories that seed hope in parents to let their child excel in sports, we must make them believe in victory, fame and pride. WE NEED AN EXAMPLE to follow.Its not still 1942 , to rely just on print and radio . With the extensive reach of the satellite News Channels and the internet, Make Abhinav famous , Give him credits that no one expected , declare Tax exemptions for the winners and also for the sponsors of the winners, announce special reservations for them and do what all you can to make them feel great. There is nothing more attractive than fame and respect . People will start to shift paradigm. Everything will fall into places. Here is that historic moment in Indian Sports.

Lately I felt happy to see the advertisements for the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth games in NDTV . Lets wish it all success. Lets prove the
world !

Singh is King ! ! !

Can anyone beat this resume ?

I got the following resume in one of my email forwards.

RESUME

EDUCATION /Qualification:

• Stood first in BA (Hons), Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh,
  1952.
  
• Stood first in MA (Economics), Panjab University, Chandigarh,
  1954.
  
• Wright's Prize for distinguished performance at St John's College,
  Cambridge, 1955 and 1957.
  
• Wrenbury scholar, University of Cambridge,
  1957.
  
• DPhil (Oxford), DLitt (Honoris Causa); PhD thesis on India's
  export competitiveness.
  

OCCUPATION /Teaching Experience:

• Professor (Senior lecturer, Economics, 1957-59.
  
• Reader, Economics, 1959-63.
  
• Professor, Economics, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 1963-65.
  
• Professor, International Trade, Delhi School of Economics,University of Delhi, 1969-71.
  
• Honorary professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University,New Delhi,
  1976 and Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi,1996 and CivilServant.
  

Working Experience/ POSITIONS:

• 1971-72: Economic advisor, ministry of foreign trade.
  
• 1972-76: Chief economic advisor, ministry of finance.
  
• 1976-80: Director, Reserve Bank of India.
  
• Director, Industrial Development Bank of India.
  
• Alternate governor for India, Board of governors, Asian Development Bank.
  
• Alternate governor for India, Board of governors, IBRD.
  
• November 1976 - April 1980: Secretary, ministry of finance (Department
  of economic affairs); Member, finance, Atomic Energy Commission; Member, finance, Space Commission.
  
• April 1980 - September 15, 1982: Member-secretary, Planning Commission
  
• 1980-83: Chairman, India Committee of the Indo-Japan joint study
  committee September 16, 1982 - January 14, 1985: Governor, Reserve Bank
  of India.
  
• 1982-85: Alternate Governor for India, Board of governors,
  International Monetary Fund.
  
• 1983-84: Member, economic advisory council to the Prime Minister.
  
• 1985: President, Indian Economic Association.
  
• January 15, 1985 - July 31, 1987: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission.
  
• August 1, 1987 - November 10, 1990: Secretary-general and commissioner, south commission, Geneva.
  
• December 10, 1990 - March 14, 1991: Advisor to the Prime Minister on
  economic affairs.
  
• March 15, 1991 - June 20, 1991: Chairman, UGC.
  
• June 21, 1991 - May 15, 1996: Union finance minister.
  
• October 1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha from Assam on Congress ticket.
  
• June 1995: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha.
  
• 1996 onwards: Member, Consultative Committee for the ministry of finance.
  
• August 1, 1996 - December 4, 1997: Chairman, Parliamentary standing
  committee on commerce.
  
• March 21, 1998 : Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha.
  
• June 5, 1998 : Member, committee on finance.
  
• August 13, 1998 : Member, committee on rules.
  
• Aug 1998-2001: Member, committee of privileges 2000 onwards: Member,
  executive committee, Indian parliamentary group.
  
• June 2001: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha.
  
• Aug 2001 : Member, general purposes committee.
  
• May 22, 2004 onwards: Prime Minister of India.
  

BOOKS:

India's Export Trends and Prospects for Self-Sustained Growth -Clarendon
Press, Oxford University, 1964; also published a large number of
articles in various economic journals.

OTHER ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Adam Smith Prize, University of Cambridge, 1956
  
• Padma Vibhushan, 1987
  
• Euro money Award, Finance Minister of the Year, 1993;
  
• Asia money Award, Finance Minister of the Year for Asia, 1993 and 1994
  

INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS:

• 1966: Economic Affairs Officer
  
• 1966-69: Chief, financing for trade section, UNCTAD
  
• 1972-74: Deputy for India in IMF Committee of Twenty on International
  Monetary Reform
  
• 1977-79: Indian delegation to Aid-India Consortium Meetings
  
• 1980-82: Indo-Soviet joint planning group meeting
  
• 1982: Indo-Soviet moni toring group meeting
  
• 1993: Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Cyprus 1993: Human
  Rights World Conference, Vienna
  

RECREATION:

Gymkhana Club, New Delhi;

Life Member, India International Centre, New Delhi

DOB: September 26, 1932

Place of Birth: Gah (West Punjab)

Father: S. Gurmukh Singh

Mother: Mrs Amrit Kaur

Married on: September 14, 1958

Wife: Mrs Gursharan Kaur

Children: Three daughters

Name: Dr Manmohan Singh

Our Prime Minister seems to be the most qualified PM all over the world.

Contours of Leninism, by Nandan Mani Ratnam

Nandan Mani Ratnam 16-year old, son of ace director Mani Ratnam student of the American International School in Chennai has written a 27-page pamphlet on Leninism titled “Contours of Leninism”.

Nandan is a Red Volunteer at the 19th All India Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) held at Coimbatore. “Contours of Leninism” booklet written by him is available for sale at the venue along with many other popular communist literatures.

When talked to, Nandan said that his interest in reading has attracted him to Marx and his principles. According to him, Marxism is the most cogent, comprehensive and highly developed complex of theory and practice. To a question on his parent’s reaction to this, the teenager was not very sure of the same.

Mani Ratnam's Next

Lajjo is a forthcoming film to be directed by Mani Ratnam. Produced by Ratnam and Bobby Bedi, the film's score and soundtrack will be composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics by Gulzar. The film is expected to release in 2008. The story is an adaptation from the story Lajjo by Ismat Chugtai.

Hindi version will have Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai in the lead. The Telugu and Tamil versions will have Vikram and Aishwarya in the lead.
If media sources are to be believed then Mani Ratnam’s own production Madras Talkies is in deal with Anil Ambani ADA Group Reliance Media & Entertainment, for negative rights for a new film in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi versions. IndiaGlitz reports that deal could worth of Rs.120 Crore.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince trailer

The new Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince trailer is here for you to see and things are getting darker.




Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts turns out to be quite the exciting year. First off is the arrival of a new teacher at Hogwarts, Horace Slughorn, who is a bit more useful to Harry than he realizes. Next, Harry obtains a Potions book which used to be belong to the very mysterious Half-Blood Prince. Harry finds that the Half-Blood Prince's ancient scribbles are written along the margins of almost every page, giving Harry advice on how to improve greatly on his Potions work, and also teaching him a few helpful (and dangerous) spells along the way.

Amidst this, Harry is starting private lessons with Professor Dumbledore, during which Harry learns the dark secrets of Voldemort's past, hoping that they could use these secrets to find a way to defeat him.

Harry's year gets even more stressful with the suspicious actions of Draco Malfoy, who has been sneaking around the school doing, so Harry assumes, Voldemort's bidding. Harry quickly becomes determined, and slightly obsessed, to find out exactly what Malfoy has been up to and putting and end to it.

Yet, during this time, Harry and his friends go through daily life, busy with school work, Quidditch, (in which Harry has been made captain of the team) and of course, romance. Ron has found a new girlfriend, Lavender Brown, a perky (if not obnoxious) Gryffindor student, and Hermione is not happy about it. Ron and Hermione's friendship takes a toll throughout the school year and Harry, as usual, is stuck in the middle. Harry, meanwhile, is facing a romantic dilemma of his own: he realizes he is falling for his best friend's sister, Ginny Weasley, who is unfortunately dating Harry's classmate, Dean Thomas. Harry's pining for Ginny and Ron's hilarious relationship with Lavender give this story a large dose of reality.

Throughout all the school drama, however, the obvious darkness of Voldemort's impending rise to power is always apparent. The incredible action-packed climax is sure to leave the audience stunned and, inevitably, prove that you shouldn't trust everybody who you think is good and also prove that not everyone can manage to survive.

The Bush Movie: A Film About George W. Bush

The cast that will portray President George W. Bush's inner circle in Oliver Stone's upcoming political biopic W is starting to come together. Elizabeth Banks (Definitely, Maybe) will join star Josh Brolin (pictured) as First Lady Laura Bush, James Cromwell is in negotiations to play George Bush Sr., and Jeffrey Wright (Casino Royale) is in talks for the role of Colin Powell. But at press time, it was still unclear who will take the role of Vice President Dick Cheney.

W, which was penned by Stanley Weiser (who co-wrote Wall Street with Stone), aims to explain how Bush went from being a hard-partying college student to the most powerful man in the world. Stone has said that he wants to make "a fair, true portrait of the man," but controversy will likely dog the film, which is described in an internal positioning statement as follows: "W is the improbable story of a man who went to the White House despite getting fewer votes than his opponent; who became commander-in-chief despite having avoided military combat himself; and who became the least popular president ever elected to a second term. W will shock and surprise you and leave you questioning everything you believe to be true."

Kuselan - A Review

First of all, as Satyaraj says in his film "Maganadigan" ,

>>>"why do producers take a film ? "

>>>" In order to pay the debt of the previous film and also because of the avalability of dates of the top heros..."

This is one such film.
Kuselan is not the regular superstar film.

Its not a movie in which,

• A Financially poor hero becoming a rich person overnight...
• A noble wealthy person all of a sudden becomes poor because of some villain... and re-emerging successfully fighting all the barriers...
• A hero born to a wealthy father but for some circumstances he will be brought up in care of some poor couple(knowing or unknowing about his background)...

It is just a film with superstar and on superstar. Its a soppy drama with the shooting of a Superstar film being a mere backdrop. It doesn't have a fight. Imagining a superstar movie without a fight is really a disappointment for the Rajini fans. But still it has its advantage...

Rajinikanth's critiques will definitely like the film as there is nothing that is blown out of proportion except for the marketing of the film , using the " SUPERSTAR " factor.
With commentable work by Pasupathi and Meena, and joined by Vadivelu to catch his own group of audiences, and also Nayathara added for spice, its a complete Masala though it claims itself to be an art film. In "THE HINDU" style,

Genre: Sentiment

Director: P Vasu

Cast: Rajinikanth, Pasupathy, Nayantara, Meena, Vadivelu, Mamta Mohandas, Sneha

Storyline: As Rajnikanth says, “Matha Pitha Guru Nanban Dheivam” >>>its a movie about two friends , one rich and other poor.

Bottomline: Not a Superstar movie , may be a super movie.

Preface

Hello Cruel world,

For a very long time, say, long ago... so long ago...no one could say how long ago... i wanted to enter the blogosphere to share my views on something or the other. Not until today was i able to start one. Im one another software engineer who got passed out in 2008 and still waiting for the call letter.

"What 'd i blog about???" was the question i asked myself in the first place. Then i picked "MOVIES" for which i had spent most of my time in the last 4 yrs besides sleep,eating and classroom time... And i realized tat i did not want to restrict myself with films but also extend my views on TV shows,music,books,video games,sports and other stuffs that make the News.

And , here is "ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT" aka "EQ" for u , promising 100% unadulterated fun in the world of entertainment.

Alas, My children! This is the day you shall always remember as the day that I almost started blogging...