Small Boy!

And now after reviews and views, it’s time for some purview! Lost and found my phone in the bustling city of Mumbai which shows that honesty is still alive in humans. This incident reminds me of a story that my friend told me that happened on hills in a chaiwallah cum restaurant shop of kumaon region. In his words,”On a cold frosty morning;

A friend: Mahesh da, adhrakh waali chai bana do 4(make 4 ginger cups tea).

Mahesh da: bas ready hain sir!(its almost ready)

Costing 4 rupees per cup, it was one of the tastiest and a good bargain tea that one can ask for.

Mahesh da shop is popular there and with a wife and a 6 year old cute son (deepu) a happy ideal family indeed.   

Whenever we visit that shop, deepu would sit with us, play with all the confectionery items that his father shop hold and as k us questions from movies to geography!

And then suddenly one day he came to us and say,” I want a clean shaven head”!(clean shaven head in the region is mainly associated with mundan and barpan(for happier times) and with death of some family member in mourning. “Please ask my dad, he is not listening to me”. On enquiring with Mahesh da we all reject it as one night fancy or ghazni effect (popular movie that time) that affect the child heart! He cried, insist, argue and with his sudden develop fancy finally Mahesh da succumbs to it and one day lo! Our deepu has developed a no hair skull!

What followed next was deepu has become brand ambassador of ” ganju patel,teri khopdi mein tel” song to make fun of shaven head! Now six year deepu studies in a good school of that town and with shaven head, red sweater of school uniform and that yellow bag with ben 10 cartoon pic inscribed on it, he looks cute at best, And then on one usual evening after finishing the classes, the friends again goes to sit there to have maggi and chai and a car stops in front of Mahesh da shop! A lady, a man and a shaven boy wearing similar uniform to deepu steps down and looks for deepu!..Mahesh Da thought probably deepu has done something wrong (fight or so) in school and then with the anger in his voice goes inside his home (behind the shop) and shouting “deepu deepu” angrily. Deepu sheepishly came out from the room and Mahesh da almost dragged him to the front of his shop and speaks,” sorry behenji, for whatever he has done”

Lady: you are his father!

Mahesh da: yes. I know he has done something wrong.

Lady: meet my husband. Namaste exchanged. And my son rohan.deepu and rohan are classmates.

Mahesh da: So deepu has picked up fight or something.

The friend group was there listening to every word carefully whether with shaven head deepu thought himself like aamir of ghazni and beating his friends in school!

Lady,” No no, in fact you must be proud of your son!

Mahesh da (now little surprised),” what has he done”?

Lady,” My son has been suffering from leukaemia. And his treatment is still going on. Due to this he has a shaven head. But due to fear of being everyone fun and stingy remarks about his shaven head, my son feared to go to school again. Then deepu consoled him and promised him that he would shave his head too so that whatever remarks the school children will make he absorb half of them, and now my son happily go to school and deepu and rohan has a great bonding too now!”I came here to thank you and deepu that you again bring the light on my son  life and lift his spirits’ to live, to fight.

It was dead silence for one minute and then deepu took rohan away to play cricket merrily! He doesn’t feel proud or something, for the “ganju patel” it was no big deal or incident! The rest grown up stands there thinking......    

Sakshi ne kiya dhoni ke 12 inch ka khulaasa!!!

Wonder this is the true breaking news in our beloved bhoot prêt, mahavinaash TV..India TV. I still didn’t understand if any foreigner sees this TV what images he makes up of india. Though daily one can get loads of entertainment by watching this great channel by Rajat Sharma but some of my personal favourites Breaking news(it breaks in every ten minutes) according to the rankings are:

7.Reincarnation of Amitabh Bachhan: india Tv superbond investigative paranormal(abnormal it seems) experts went to Usa to research that Amitabh  in former life was Mr.Booth. If you found this is ridiculous then sample this, they even declare booth first wife  reincarnation is rekha and second wife reincarnation is jaya bachhan.. Just looking at the statement of anchor..” aaj pesh kareingein hum saboot amitabh ke punrjanam ka” after spending one hour of viewing senseless repetition they screamed” Mr.booth was a left hander and has a daughter and a son..Amitabh possess same characteristics:P:D..Now being left handed is really rare and so is having two children it seems…On the hindsight..poor rekha..

6.The half human god will speak today(narsimha avatar):a sphinx like statue is found in Babylon and our glorious reporters sensationally attributed the same as reincarnation of narsimha avatar. The use of arrows in the dark pictures and the circles over the google maps makes news a real drama.They even go on to claim the battle of hirnakashyap and narsimha(mythological figures) to the exact pinpoint location with arrows and circles. Sample of reporting” on an anonymous balcony(every palace has this thing)..isi balcony mein vadh hua tha hirnakashyap ka” 

5.Onion witch(pyaaz maangne waali chudail): if there is one species who are happy with india that is the species of chudail,shaitaan,pretaatma etc etc. Such a exotic coverage from kapde churane waala bhoot to paatal ka bauna that one can feel threatened how many species reside on this earth. Sources said that the up down of the onion prices is directly proportional to the pyaaz hafta of chudail.When they screamed yeh chudail aapke saath bhi ho sakti hain..many married man looks to their wives with popped eyes:D

4.Staircase to heaven:If you are fed up with “hoga ab mahavinaash line”..”maha” word adding more power to the statement, the super reporters have searched the solution to escape that…a staircase to heaven..when you really look the pic it is just rough landbut wait as explained above with the help of arrows and circles a rough land can take you upto heavens..P.S.Mayans are alreading cursing themselves why they get bored in making calendar and stopped to lead such super theories and solutions !

3.Live rape on TV: imagine there is no prior video trailer..just a bottom line ..aaj dikhaeyngein aapko live balatkaar tv par…many testorone charged girl starved boys and men have been waiting for this with tongues wagging out in the hope thoda toh dikhaaeyegein ya blurred karke dikhaayengein and our esteemed channel show silencer act 6 month after the movie releaseJ..such a high ethics channel..

2.Alien will steal your cow(alien churate hain aapki gaiy):

Just 3 4 punchline in this 2 hr special report:

1.alien bhi peete hain gaaiy ka doodh.acha hua maa ka nahin peete:/

2.a cow went missing in jungle and our reporter says it get abducted(probably was in lion stomach).

3.this is best’ with special sound track” kya bhaarat ki gaayein hain nishaane par”..aayee baat karte hain madan maharaj se and poochte hain kaise raksha kar sakte hain apni gaaye ki.he spoke some mantra and offered tabiz for gaey:P   ..milk becomes 40rs litre after thatL

  

1 and the best:..Sakshi kareingi pardafaash dhoni ke powerful baarah inch ka:P:P

Now after seeing this tagline the first person to have a heart attack was MS dhoni…he scratched his head so much ki kisne pics out ki hain that no hair left on his head from thereon. All the Indian men were cursing or being jealous from dhoni that day..And when khulaasa comes it was dhoni bat that was being talked about ..high point of that report” pehle 1.5 feet ka tha dhoni ka:D:D….

   

woman in my life!

And i run for the peace,

finding destination to reach,

In those fragile hands she holds me,

hiding harsh realities undone breach,

for under the advent of life,

the simple lane of success and failures,

she's the one that pushes me,

prepare the food of character of love,

she walk equal footsteps till i learn to run,

and now she left behind like a pillar of strength,

she feels the pain of my bruises,

balming it with her soothing heart,

and waters my dreams to grow,

not letting them to fall apart..

she let her engulfing emotions,

when i prepare to leave,

she hides her tears with a smile,

and standing in front of the door,

till i was away quite a mile..

and now like a old oak tree,

she become weak but grounded at roots,

and for all the shed that she shower,

listening with childhood anticipation my crazy journeys,

 in come of joy many arrives,

but she was there to share the sorrows,

and before i lost in multitude of life,

i dream of gifting her an indelible imprint,

and in stretches of imagination you knit my sweaters'

and now i want to knit my life.

for that i never was able to say,

but yes mother i want to grow old with you.......

Needless to say i am a movie freak so yesterday watched back to back movies in a multiplex where tuesday rates are cheaper than cola:P(competition in mumbai:D).Me and shivaji(my friend) sets on a journey to multiplex at 8pm and broadway is just a 5 minute trip from our flat.Heis not a past movie freak(got this habit now in my company:P) so he even doesnt know till interval who vinay pathak is!!! well now about the something about movie.. Many Hindi movie plots involve an actor and actress who are forced to travel together and who realize along the way that they’ve fallen in love. Friday’s release “Chalo Dilli” (Lets Go to Delhi) is also based on a journey–but not of the romantic kind. Instead, it’s a light-hearted “air, road and rail” trip story that brings together two people from very different economic backgrounds.instead our hero and heroine are bhaisahab and behenji to each other(one of its kind).

Mihika, played by actor Lara Dutta, is an uptown investment banker from Mumbai, who misses her flight to Delhi. She travel from the budget class to Jaipur and our hero manu too and takes a taxi from there. he taxi driver spent much time in sleeping and screaming everytime about his gareebi.In Jaipur, she meets a local salesman, Manu Gupta, played by actor Vinay Pathak, who has a small shop in Delhi’s squarely middle class Karol Bagh, who also needs to get back to Delhi.

The two travel together back to the capital, passing through small towns and dhabas along the way, and along the way Mihika discovers India, which seems like a lot to accomplish in a journey of less than 300 kilometers. The trip to delhi involves all what a northern rustic heartland has too offer. The dhabha food, travelling in a truck and also a dilwale dulhainya le jaayenge type of running to the train by heroine where our hero is saying" take my hand". Though in this scene our hero pulls chain to stop the train. The bribe to TC and subsequent experience of a regular jatt dabangai in village is also evident. Then a trip to red tomato hotel which is loud and boisterous with vivid posters on walls and everywhere sharply represents rusty honeymoon suites of villages. With our hero doing everything wrong which leads to curfew, and his characteristic "konsi badi baat ho gayee behenji' the fun journey ends there.Akshay kumar has a cameo as dutta husband and last 10 minutes are quite emotional due to vinay personal problems. Add yana gupta raunchy "laila mein laila number" and this movie qualifies as one time watch.The narrative has a sweet simplicity which transports you into the onscreen journey and makes you a willing witness to the bond-building between ‘bhaisaheb’ and ‘behenji’.Watch it for vinay pathak..this guy with his loud mouthness and simplicity(jugaaduness) makes one laugh. Second half is sort of dull as comparable to first still worth the money.

As far as franchise films go, The Fast and Furious series seem to be hitting the ground at top gear, with this installment not showing signs of slowing down, but prepping a new direction for future films to take, shifting gears from a film showcasing hot bodies (not solely just car chassis) and fast nox-enabled cars into the classic heist genre, given that it had that as its underlying premise from the first film, and now with a growing ensemble, are ready to give Ocean's Eleven a run for its money.

Rio De Janeiro provides the backdrop in which this installment takes place in (quite a popular location for films recently too), with the chief villain being Reyes (Joaquim de Almedia), a mobster with a businessman front, with his tentacles of vice and influence extending toward every part of the city. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and the former's sister Mia (Jordana Brewster) hide out in the city as fugitives having broken Dom en route to prison at the end of Fast & Furious, and with the kind of money available for the taking to start a family of their own with Mia found to be pregnant, they decide to assemble a team, not to pass up the opportunity of robbing Reyes blind.

So in comes a whole host of characters whom we have seen in past films, such as Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Ludacris), Gisele (Gal Gadot), and even Han (Sung Kang) whom we know what happened to in Tokyo Drift, hence putting the chronology of the films at 1, 2, 4, 5 and 3 (five films in 10 years is quite consistent), which is now sometime in the not so immediate future. Director Justin Lin takes on his 3rd film of the franchise and together with writer Chris Morgan have managed to introduce new elements to surprise audiences and fans up until this installment, keeping with the usual action laden elements, while bringing on new characters into the franchise, this time with Dwayne Johnson coming in as a no nonsense, dogged and persistent FBI operative Hobbs, with an arsenal of technology and attitude to aid him and his team in tracking down Dom and his crew.

And of course who cannot wait to see two tough guys in Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson go one on one with each other in a fisticuffs, especially since their time with family friendly films have taken a backseat to put them both firmly back into the action genre. It sets up new rivalry, while keeping the old between Dominic and Brian with the latter always keen to prove who's the better driver. And like most ensemble films, it's make or break given the character's appeal, and I'm glad to note they share this incredibly chemistry this bunch of highly skilled cons who each bring their know-how to the table in trying to pull off mission frickin' insanity, and everyone possessing a mean driver's license to power souped up vehicles.

And if it's action you're seeking, it's action you'll get in this film too, putting aside the rather rote and superficial theme of family and trust. There's no lack of races and wheels on the roads although I do note that there's not too much of signature cars to go around this time. Even a would be street race was unceremoniously cut off, although we do get it compensated with a four way race down two traffic lights amongst Roman, Dom, Brian and Han which was more of a fair competition since they were all essentially driving the same model. Then there's the big bang finale that you would have seen in the trailer, with Dom and Brian yanking a bank vault and travelling down the streets of Rio at top speed, in what would be a fittingly noisy last act destroying everything, and I mean everything, along their path, that has to be seen in a cinema to enjoy this guilt trip in sense surround glory.

Needless to say I am a fan of the franchise, and am excited about the direction this film would be going even if it would mean limiting the number of cars on the roads, since the film had already shown the potential of that chemistry between the cast and characters, and I'm eagerly anticipating more. From one fanboy and an action junkie to any other, this of course would be recommended fare.

Stay tuned while the end credits roll, and you'll be treated to a stinger that reaffirms and teases what's to come in the next film, with no less than two surprise appearances. But no, with the timeline, it'll take a while before Lucas Black will be able to link up with the guys. For an adrenalin pumping high octane entertaining film outing, Fast Five is that opener to a very noisy and crowded summer season to come.

We want to win this world cup for jadeja

Its only one person whom Team India wants to dedicate this world cup its there ex-team mate and India’s most prominent and legendary  all rounder Ravindra Jadeja. After giving many press statements regarding whom the world cup should be dedicated persons varying from sachin tendulkar to poonam pandey and for whom the team should strive hard the team finally came to a conclusion that it should not be the master blaster or team India fans but it should be there legendary ex-team mate to whom this cup should be whole heartedly dedicated too.

While speaking to press on behalf of whole Team Indian Skipper MS Dhoni said “Every single media person was asking us for whom we should win. This being almost the last world cup for si rsachin we thought it should be dedicated to him, but looking at the form and fitness sachin is in I think I am not sure about my place but he will definitely play the next world cup. So we decided to dedicate this world cup to someone who inspired us to win it and whose biceps are strong enough to lift sachin paaji when the next world cup will be held up in australia so legendary sir ravindra comes to my mind;.

“After lot of team meetings and making a list of all the BCCI members, Ex-Indian players, our old team mates and legends like dada, rahul and VVS, our parents, wives, girl friends, actresses with whom we had an affair or were linked for having one, we finally decided to conclude its sir RJ.

“Jaddu undoubtedly was more than an inspiration for us, in whatever time he spent he always tried his best to raise our game. His flamebuoyance make our game look better in the team and he takes all the blames for everytime we falter. He sacrificed his own skills of becoming one of legendary players to play this noble game, only to make this team capable of winning this world cup.

India’s stylish left hander and the strongest contender for man of the series Yuvraj added “In all those hard times I was sitting on bench wondering about quitting it was only Rj who helped me explore my inner talent and overcome my weaknesses. He made me realized how much better bowler I can become like sir jaddu himself is. He proved his point to me that my bowling can become my primary weapon to stay in this team and through my bowling itself i can stay in the team for many more years. It was not that he was incapable to hit a ball out of the 30 yard circle, its just that he proved it to me a player can purely stay in the team on his part time bowling merits.

“He was more than an institution for me, certainly a life time experience. He made me realize if I focus on doing well how easily I can be inside the team.”

The legend himself Master blaster sachin tendulkar took the opportunity to say few words about the person who made him aware of his responsibilities and the his current form “He played as our 7th batsman. The way he was scoring made me more responsible. Look at veeru he hardly hits ball in air. Its all thanks to Rj. He made us more responsible and harder working. He did not score runs at the cost of loosing us two T20 world cups only to make our batsman more responsible and technically sound to face any opponent. He made us realize why we should not trust the lower order to win us matches. All these 100 ton’s 18000 ODI runs completely is Jaddu’s Credit. I was only the medium, he was the source.

Sehwag propelled,"My dip in form from 175 in the starting match to duck in the final is due to absence of Jaddu sir because time and occasions his slow scoring rate means i play with more attention as a batsman.

The line of evening has been given by Virat kohli,"for 21 months, jaddu sir carried the burden of making our 7th batsman and 5th bowler nullified but now due to extreme competitive environment created by jaddu sir, yuvi has improved his bowling and so is raina.

The Indian Coach and ex-Protean player Gary Kirsten too could not hold himself back in singing praises for the person whom he thinks should be nominated for Dronacharya award by BCCI. “He had that impact which even sachin failed to have sometimes on the team. I still remember after T20 WC in Windies. He gave a very important lesson to our players if they don’t perform the same fans who take them on there heads can bang there heads on our chest. For teaching the guys an important lesson he himself gave them a live example. Since that day Dhoni has always tried his best to maintain his perfect 50 average.

“I think he has a lions share in making this team Fit to win world cup. He is the most worthy person who comes right now in our mind to dedicate this cup. Infact after what he taught to the team I have decided this team doesn’t need me and I should spend more time with my family. I have already written to BCCI, without any second thought make him the coach of this team which is inspired by him.

BCCI sources have confirmed the above development. An undisclosed source also quoted “Gary was just a dummy. We were loosing our team badly this is when Pawarji drafted Rj inside the team. If this team wins the World Cup, Pawarji have complete plans to encash Rj in next Lok Sabha elections.

An undisclosed source at center also quotes “Madamji has decided if we win this world cup, which we are bound to win with all the hardwork put in upon the team by Jadeja, our government will pass a bill to put Ravindra Jadeja on our currency note’s and to declare Ravindra Jayanti a national holiday on the auspicious day of sir’s birth.

RJ got a call up from Pakistan to be part of their national team. While RJ confirmed to media that he was contemplating the decision, current Australian captain Micheal Clarke and James Sutherland went to RJ's house and persuaded him to join Australian Cricket Team, owing to their woes to find a spinner. RJ confirmed about the approach and told to media that decision on PAKISTAN's or AUSTRALIA's FATE will be taken in a couple of days time. Its also confirmed that Cricket Australia went one step further by offering RJ full-time one-day and test captaincy. Its believed that Ricky Ponting suggested his name for captaincy, in a hope that history would repeat as Sachin suggested Dhoni's name earlier. 

In the end Navjot singh siddhu has aptly put,"Jaddu is a legend who never use his weapons, he cannot bat and he cannot bowl but he still manages to be in team for 21 months due to the calming influence he has on this team.

Leaked sources said Poonam pandey has already done what she was supposed to be done at jaddu home  due to the fact that Sir Jaddu is equal to the whole team>D

why orkut lost to Facebook!

Why orkut lost out to facebook??

Only 2 years back, i didn't have a facebook account. But i did have an orkut account and all my friends(at least most of them) were pretty active on it.
And today,most of my friends quite like me, wont even check their orkut accounts and thats certainly not because there was a sudden realization they should be spending more time with their friends in person rather than 'scrapping' them.I have completely forgotten my orkut password! Its just that they decide write on their 'walls' instead.

Social networking quite clearly, is here to stay. I read a statistic somewhere that if facebook where a nation, it would be the second largest. Kids from primary schools to old -retired -grandpas have facebook account today.

It also now holds the credit for lending out a helping shoulder to the Egypt revolution. After all, it was all triggered by a 26 year old lady who shared a video of herself asking people to come to Tahrir square. What happened since is history.

So why did orkut loose out to facebook?? Quite clearly orkut had an early lead. The same thing happened when gmail was launched. Most of the people who had yahoo mails then switched to gmail and this was despite of the fact that gmail then really have any extra features to cause such mass migration.It was the brand effect. However in this case, brand effect was just one of the many reasons

Lets analyze some of the reasons why facebook overshot orkut in terms  user popularity.

1. Psychological factor:

Any human would want to be noticed. Thats human nature.
The only way you would be noticed in orkut is putting up your snaps. If that be removed, orkut is just about saying hello to your friends.
Facebook on the other hand presents you with ample of opportunities to be noticed. You write on your wall, which is liked or commented upon. The comments and like tempts similar people to do the same. And we being humans, its always nice to be noticed.

2. Games:

I joined facebook just to play Mafia wars. It was the same with lot of my friends. Like with anything monotonous, i gradually lost interest and so did most of my friends, but now i had a facebook account and as such i started logging in once in while, untill i became a daily user.
The whole point is that though you wouldn't have the same interest in those online games after a while, it serves its job of bringing more users. And once they join, the other features of facebook ensures that they stay.

3. Better brand:

I am not aware of a single celebrity who has a orkut account. On the other hand, there were many tv anchors, actors both big and small had facebook accounts. And as such, it has come to define a class in itself. Today  its  fashionable to say 'i am not on orkut, but am there on facebook'.  And who would mind if you get a better brand for without having to pay anything.


4. Better product:

Facebook is a far more quality product than orkut is. Many of the users who aren't active commentators on facebook just login to see the videos shared by other users. And once you share a video, it appears as news-feed so you don't have to each of your friend's wall to see what they have done. And that's just one of the feature. Facebook has got plenty of them and  that is perhaps the most important reason why its way ahead of orkut today. You can have all the above mentioned things in your favor, yet if you don't have genuinely good product, it will eventually not sell.

5. Regular Upgrades

Even the mightiest fort wouldn't survive if they don't adopt to changing trends and keep itself repairing. Not that Orkut didn't do, it was just that facebook was far better foresighted than them. They kept fixing their privacy issues, bought better games, better interface and they still continue to do it at a faster pace than their counterparts.


The above mentioned factors would pretty easily be the reason for any company's success over its counterpart. Kodak lost out to its peers because they were able to foresee the changes in the field of photography. Not just they didn't foresee, they refused to accept the changes even as its peers were busy spending millions of dollars on the new technology.

I read somewhere, that there is a lot of room at the top, yet no place to sit down. Orkut sat down for a moment and it lost out.

proziumtalks: Tough love for Aam aadmi and agricultire!

proziumtalks: Tough love for Aam aadmi and agricultire!: "In 2010-11, Rs 5.02 lakh crore was provided by way of tax exemptions to industry. This is nothing but a subsidy for the rich. Tracking bu..."

Tough love for Aam aadmi and agricultire!

In 2010-11, Rs 5.02 lakh crore was provided by way of tax exemptions to industry. This is nothing but a subsidy for the rich.

Tracking budgets is not easy. While the finer points in any budget get drowned in the chorus that rises to appreciate the finance minister only when more sops are doled out to industry in the name of strengthening economic growth, I have begun to realise that a budget for the ‘aam aadmi’ comes only when elections are around the corner.

You can accuse me of being anti-growth, but the fact remains that unless the government pumps in money to pull out the poor from the clutches of poverty, following the indirect route to sink in money to industry, hoping some of it will trickle down to the poor, remains a faulty assumption. I have always said that if the government launches a direct assault on poverty, the GDP grows.

Well, it has taken several years for the government to realise that farmers need short-term crop loans at a lower rate of interest. The National Farmer Commission had made this recommendation four years back. Pranab Mukherjee has lowered the effective interest rate for farmers who pay back in time to 4 per cent. In addition, the total quantum of agricultural credit has been enhanced by Rs 1 lakh crore, from Rs 3.75 lakh crore in 2010-11 to Rs 4.75 lakh crore in 2011-02. It is time however to differentiate between what the farmers receive and what the agribusiness industry gets in the name of farmers.

With five states going for elections, Mukherjee has reasons to remember the ‘aam aadmi’. Although economists call such concessions ‘populist’ measures, I think these concessions for the poor and marginalised are in reality true economic measures that spur growth. A special relief package of Rs 3,000 crore to the debt-ridden weavers, for instance, has come about only because the UP elections are around the corner. Rahul Gandhi had led a team of weavers from UP to meet Manmohan Singh a week before the presentation of the budget. Whatever the reason, weavers are in crisis and the debt-waiver will benefit 3 lakh weavers working with 15,000 handloom cooperative societies.

A few months back, health minister Gulam Nabi Azad was gheraoed by angry ASHA workers when he visited Jaipur. They were protesting against the paltry wages — Rs 950 per month — they were getting for delivering basic health services and awareness to rural population. These low wages have been in continuation for several years now, and no one took care. I am not sure whether these workers also come in the category of aangadwadi workers. But thanks to the coming elections, the finance minister has doubled the monthly salary of aangadwadi workers who too get Rs 1500 per month, a move that will directly benefit 22 lakh ‘aanganwadi’ workers. There is a need to still raise their salaries. He has also extended the benefit of health insurance that was given to NREGA workers last year, to unorganised labour in several areas.

Integrated development

At the same time, Mukherjee has provided Rs 30 crore for integrated development in each of the tribal districts in the naxalite-affected areas. This is a delayed recognition of the exclusion that almost all budgets have maintained all these years. With a little more vision, he could have launched several sustainable agricultural, health and education initiatives in the red corridor to revitalise the rural economy. If only he knew that agriculture is the first line of defence against Maoism, I am sure he would have thought on those lines.

In the name of inclusive growth, it is only industry and trade that have always walked away with the cake. In many ways the budget is simply an annual ‘maalamal’ exercise for the rich and the business community. Take the tax concessions that are doled out to industry every year and clubbed in the category of ‘revenue foregone’. In 2010-11, the finance minister provided Rs 5.02 lakh crore by way of tax exemptions to industry. This is nothing but a subsidy for the rich. Since 2005-06, the total subsidy being showered on the industry and business sector amounts to a whopping Rs 16.45 lakh crore.

In Budget 2011, Mukherjee has cleverly hidden the annual subsidy dole given to industry, but has in addition to Rs 5.02 lakh crore given last year provided another Rs 1,38,921 crore as corporate and personal tax exemptions this year. Since the economic stimulus that was being given to the industry for tiding over the recession has still not been withdrawn, we can safely compute the total subsidy to the industry at over Rs 6.4 lakh crore. Considering that the annual budget is an exercise involving Rs 12 crore, the massive subsidisation of business and industry has never been questioned.

On the other hand, subsidy on fertilisers, food and fuel has been reduced by Rs 20,000 crore this year, over the revised estimates of last year. This is exactly what Noam Chomsky meant when he said we live in times of ‘tough love’ — love for the rich and tough for the poor.

The finance minister could have easily made a drastic cut in the ‘revenue foregone’ category and thereby made more resources available for making cheaper food and fuel available to the masses, for rebuilding the shattered economy of the naxalite-affected regions, and also for programmes he spelled out for promoting millet cultivation, fodder development, and for sustainable agriculture. These are excellent initiatives, but the budgetary allocation is too low to make any significant impact. More so in case of fodder cultivation, which has remained neglected through the period when a lot of emphasis was given on increasing milk production.

Deccan Herald, Mar 3 2011.http://www.deccanherald.com/content/142494/times-tough-love.html

The Life of Pi!

---

has a long and interesting history!

The ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle is constant (namely, pi) has been recognized for as long as we have written records.

A ratio of 3:1 appears in the following biblical verse:

And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it about. (I Kings 7, 23; II Chronicles 4, 2.)

The ancient Babylonians generally calculated the area of a circle by taking 3 times the square of its radius (=3), but one Old Babylonian tablet (from ca. 1900-1680 BCE) indicates a value of 3.125 for pi.
Ancient Egyptians calculated the area of a circle by the following formula (where d is the diameter of the circle):

This yields an approximate value of 3.1605 for pi.

The first theoretical calculation of a value of pi was that of Archimedes of Syracuse (287-212 BCE), one of the most brilliant mathematicians of the ancient world. Archimedes worked out that 223/71 < < 22/7. Archimedes's results rested upon approximating the area of a circle based on the area of a regular polygon inscribed within the circle and the area of a regular polygon within which the circle was circumscribed.

Beginning with a hexagon, he worked all the way up to a ploygon with 96 sides!



Archimedes's method for approximating the value of pi.
The approximate area of the circle lies between the areas of the circumscribed and the inscribed hexagons.

More pi history:
European mathematicians in the early modern period developed new arithmetical formulae to approximate the value of pi, such as that of James Gregory (1638-1675), which was taken up by Leibniz:

/4 = 1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + . . . . . . . . . . .

One problem with using this formula to calculate the value of pi is that you would have to add 5 million terms to work out a value of /4 that extends to 6 or 7 decimal places!

In 1706, another mathematician named John Machin developed a refinement on Gregory's formula, yielding the formula still used today by computer programmers to compute pi:

Using this formula, an Englishman named William Shanks calculated pi to 707 places, a labor of many years, which he published in 1873. (Only 527 places were correct, however!)

A novel way to compute pi:
An eighteenth-century French mathematician named Georges Buffon devised a way to calculate pi based on probability. Buffon's method begins with a uniform grid of parallel lines, a unit distance apart. If you drop a needle of length k < 1 on the grid, the probability that the needle falls across a line is 2k/. Various people have tried to calculate pi by throwing needles. Depending on when you stop the experiment, you can obtain a reasonably accurate estimate of pi.
You can try Buffon's needle experiment for yourself (virtually) at http://www.angelfire.com/wa/hurben/buff.html
Some ants apparently actually use this algorithm to measure the size of potential nest sites!

The symbol for pi:
was introduced by the English mathematician William Jones in 1706, who wrote:

3.14159 =

This symbol was adopted by Euler in 1737 and became the standard symbol for pi.



Having fun with pi:
Some people are just crazy about pi!
There are pi poems . . .
There are pieces of music based on the digits of pi . . .
There is a web site where you can find your birthday in pi . . .
There are people who have memorized 1000+ digits of pi . . .
Pi has earned a spot in "The Useless Pages" . . .

Pi Day 

March 14th is Pi Day

Pi Day is a holiday held to celbrate the number Pi. Since 3.14 is a rough approximation of the constant Pi and the American date format for March 14th is 3/14 it was only logical to choose March 14th as the perfect date for Pi Day.
The Pi Day tradition started in 1988. The founder of Pi Day is physicist Larry Shaw also known by his prolific nickname: the "Prince of Pi."

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Fruits and Vegetables are humans too!

Ever wondered why somebody called you a cabbage man! the following post make you acquainted with some fruity and veggie metaphors so that you can become an apple in the eye of big banana peachy daughter!
Starting with fruit and vegetable; the two generic words which you may have already known; yet so contrast in meaning.. 
1.Fruit: Fruit and fruitcake (as well as many variations) are sexual terms which have various origins but modern usages tend to primarily refer to gay men and sometimes other LGBT people. Usually used as pejoratives, the terms have also been re-appropriated as insider terms of endearment within LGBT communities.
Add the term forbidden and we get forbidden fruit which is the term the term most generally refers to any indulgence or pleasure that is considered illegal or immoral and potentially dangerous or harmful, particularly relating to human sexuality.

2.Vegetable: this term is equal in degree of pejorativeness alongside fruit. It usages tend to primarily refer to a unconscious or quadriplegic person who cannot do anything. though nowadays someone lazy and stupid who does nothing of physical activity or who does not make use of brain is decorated with this term.

3.Cabbage: Feel proud if someone calls you that. Cabbage generally refers to dollar bills and if you are called cabbage that signifies others think you have a lot of money!

4.Apple or apple of the eye, noun  According to the Oxford English Dictionary, at least since the ninth century, English-speaking people have referred to the black dot in the middle of the iris at the center of the eye as the apple.  Apple was a generic term for many fruits of similar shape, in much the same way that corn was the generic term for many types of edible grain.  Apparently people thought that what we now call the pupil was a globular solid, like an apple.  From a very early period, the apple of the eye also served as a metaphor identifying the person on whom the eye gazed with pleasure.

            At about the time that people in England realized that the black center of the eye was not a solid but an opening, they began using the word pupil, from the Latin pupilla, meaning a little girl.  (The word pupil indicating a student comes from the same Latin root, pupillus in the masculine, which could be used for an orphan who was a minor and consequently a ward.)

5.Pumpkin:It is basically a term of endearment to a cute child; remember how girls called their boyfriends as you are my pumpkin chumpkin:D.Though if somebody calls you a great pumpkin that means they have a firm belief in your potential yet you have not done anything to show the world what kind of potential you have!

6. Peach: Peaches are sweet so are pretty girls!..I didnt find any sweet or perhaps pretty girls are quite bitter on me thats other story but if your girlfriend is peach you are lucky! it directly means the sweetness and prettiness that she possesses1

7.Banana: invariably this innocent fruit bore the burnt of sex related stories. Think what kind of sex emotions generate when you see your hyper boss.Zilch..so that contradicts the sex relation of banana,a big banana usually means a boss who goes bananas(means overly excited and hyper now and then)! a banana republic on the other hand denotes a politically unstable country.

8.  Cherry: as the fruit so the term.The fruit that evokes pleasure(purely stomach related i am not going below that)..relates to a extremely sweet girl who is virgin too!

9.   Potato:  See the shape guess the meaning: refers to someone who does nothing!..if it sits on couch...couch potato!..though hot potato generally refers to a topic too hot to handle.