Mumbai - Terrorism visits the city again!

I am not going to provide any graphic images or any youtube videoes to this post here, as it is more than apparent that no images can truly convey the horror that the whole of India has gone through ever since this latest episode of terror started.

It seems that the basic premise behind this attack was done specifically to diminish the economic prowress of the Nation as a whole. It is a really idiotic theorey, blow up a building and what, India's economy will falter. These guys are idiots, with no remorse perhaps but at the best,idiots. Terrorism does not make any country's economy falter and what's more with this latest terrorist attack, they have highlighted India in more ways than one. Sure, given the choice, we would rather that this attack had not taken place. But at the end of the day, India's economy will grow and do so for the forseeable future. This attack has but strengthend our resolve and it does not matter which part of India they attack, for the resolve of all Indians is universal, we will not be cowed down by such Cowards!

My heart goes out to the innocents and the young who were killed in this latest batch of terrorism from Pakistan [ The evidence is already there and for those of you who find it hard to beleive, go ahead and watch the news channels],no surprise there. But enough ius enough, one can only hope that the Indian government as well as the president of India cracks down on such contries providing support bases to terrorists. The government should start taking effective action by listing out the evidence and provide the same to all countries from China to the United states, tell them that either you are with us or stand against us - the line used by George bush during the 9-11. This action should not end there but should continue with hot pursuit, eliminating all terror bases either with pakistan's co-operation or not. If Pakmistan wants to survive its economic disaster and prevent the country from fragmening, it should take heed to do the same.

When it comes to reporting, I have to say that I was duly impressed by the reporters online 24 hours a day covering every aspect of this attack. To expect any Indian remain unaffected by this attack or remain objective is not realistic but that is exactly what most if not all the reporters did. They managed to provide up to date info on the attacks, provide arguments as to why these terrorists came from paistan and even aired pakistan's objections to the same. One can see why Indian news channels continue to reap rewards for their hard work and for providing 'objectivity' even under duress.

But is hard to make the same argument when it comes to some of the so called foreign channels from the BBC to CNN. With BBC, though they did provide an objective analysis the reporters were more busy with trying to discredit any theories put forth for this attack then examining the terrorist threat under the scanner. Frankly, it surprised me to see a vetran reporter of the likes of christiana amanpour do her best to discredit the government's theorey that the terrorists came from Pakistan. Sure, she gave 'objectivity' her money's worth, probably all 2 cents of it anyway. What did she think, that the terrorists came from nowwhere and went on this terrp spree for no reason at all. Even the common man can figure it out that these guys came well planned and were in this for the long haul. To listen to this particular reporter from CNN, one would think that it is our fault for being a vibrant democracy and a resurgent economy, implying that we caused the terrorists to attack. Shame on you for being so in-sensitive christiana, I hope that you never get to visit my wonderful country ever again. The government should seriously take some action of some sort against this channel, but then again, we are not China- meaning a police state. Under a democracy, we allow everyone to have a right to say what they want, irrespective of thier affiliations or the India hatred that christiana seems to have developed. Either way, christiana please do not bothe coming down here for we are not interested in playing host to the likes of you. I am glad that it is all over, thank you NSG, Marcos, the Army as well as the Navy including the Police. I am sure that no amount of praises or condolences is going to lessen the pain of the loss, but it is essential that we all remember that 'Tommorow is another day, we shall survive and certainly rise, irrespective of what took place'.
regds one and all.

The mystic mystery!

Of late, the number of God men originating from one state has increased dramatically, from almost none to a count that is getting larger by the day. The number of remarkable discoveries of 'god men' living in the state of Kerala has increased ever since an expose of sorts was carried out against one of the alleged 'god men', who was then found to be guilty of both fraud and criminal acts against minors.

These god men have been in the news, albeit for the wrong reasons, with most of them being guilty of crimes ranging from fraud, embezzlement, rape and even murder. It is sad to see that there are many gullible people who get taken in by such misfits, time and time again.

It seems that 'god man' is indeed a lucrative career for many aspirants, for nearly most of them get away with their crimes as the people are too scared to report them. These god men use the religious beliefs of such people to their own advantage, take for example the latest god man to hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Madhavan, a self declared ascetic, or that is what one thought of him, was proven to be anything but that. For besides indulging in all that a god man should not indulge in, from the pleasures of the flesh to that of alcohol, Madhavan saw it fit to defraud some honest people of their hard earned cash as well.

Madhavan's case should serve as a wake up case for the people all over the world, for such heinous crimes continues to be committed, not just in India but at almost all the places in the world. It is a much better thing to believe in god than in a god man, for man is not perfection!

The IPL comes to a dazzling close!

With all the chaos that seems to have been the hallmark of the IPL auction, one would have thought that the same chaos would permeate down to the IPL matches themselves. But the 2020 went off without a hitch even as a few umpires and quite a few batsmen were held to task for many an issue.
Today, the IPL series for the year 2008 came to a dazzling close and even though both the teams were evenly matched, the Rajasthan Royals managed to claw back from a perilous position to win the IPL tournament for 2008. It was a thriller of a match from the start to the finish, kind of reminding one of the India-Pakistan series, one can definitely look forward to more excitement of the same calibre within a year as more international teams come forward to play in this tournament. The IPL has established itself solidly and cricket has finally evolved from being a staid stale game to one with many possibilities.

The Indian angle!

With the recent Tibet crisis spilling over, the Indo-Chinese ties have come under a huge strain and are tested as they never have been before. Of course, the Americans would like nothing better than to have India and China at opposing ends as the end game for world domination would become a whole lot easier. But with the Chinese realising this better than anybody else, have instead decided to make up and patch things up!

Hayden goes 'nuts' on Bhajji!

We have all heard of the infamous sledging talents of the Aussie cricketers but never has it been proven to be more true than now especially with Hayden calling Harbajan singh 'an obnoxious little weed' on national radio. This is what would pass for the norm by the Aussies but then again, to the rest of the cricketing world, this is a big no-no on so many levels.

When you invite a host team to play cricket in your country, as the hosts, certain behaviour and decorum is expected of you, at the very least. You may not like that team that much, you may even hate a thing or two about the players on that team, but you never ever present that point to the public at large. To the rest of the Aussies, they may accept this as 'sledging' and push the dirt under the carpet, but this is one piece of dirt that is not going to go that way.

Most of the other cricketing nations are already appalled at the boorishness shown by the Aussie players and now the line that should not have been crossed has been crossed. Frankly, with just three more games to play with the Aussies, the Indian team may well decide to stay back and play those games. But the damage to the cricketing relationship between the two nations has already been done. In the end, no matter what twist you give to the whole episode of 'he called me that' and so on, the real loser is Cricket Australia. Whether they realise it or not, it is Indian cricket and in particular BCCI that is holding the reins of the game firmly in their hands and soon Cricket Australia is going to have to kiss goodbye to most of the sponsorship payments.

Pakistan - an election that never was!

It is that time of the year when all the crazies come out of the closet and one of them just happens to be called Musharraf. The recent events has left no one in doubts as to the veracity of the current election, that said, It does make one wonder why on earth is Musharraf conducting an election that is bound to be derided from all corners of the world.

Pakistani politics does always leave one to wonder 'when is the other shoe going to drop'. Well, it is the very query that is bound to go through Musharraf's head more now than later. His position in the country as one of the most hated person’s right after General Zia is not something to be proud of, but then again, that is the bitter truth, one that Musharraf may well have to come to terms with.

With the United States all eager to prove to the rest of the world that Pakistan is a democratic country, one that no one in his or her right mind would accept, has sent in three senators to act as observers. Yeah, right! They are probably observing all that is taking place right from their hotel rooms since it is not safe for them to walk in the streets.

With one of Musharraf's chief allay lagging behind in the polls; Musharraf seems to be at a loss of words as to what is happening. I think that Musharraf must have harbored a secret desire to be crowned as king at the end of the election. I think that we can all say that is not going to happen anytime soon and even if it did, it would probably be as a result of all the rigging.

This is one election that is turning out to be something else altogether. After all the times that Musharraf had commented on the Kashmir polls, as to how unfair they were, the current situation must indeed be galling for him to say the least. India has since its independence, proved to the rest of the world that the spirit of democracy is vibrant at all corners of the nation. And, today just as Pakistan has finished with the election business, maybe Musharaff may take a page from the India book and make sure that at least the next time around, true democracy takes the place of Musharraf's autocracy. In the end, that is what this is all about, power and who acquires it.

The day that Musharraf got rid off the Supreme Court under false charges, the spirit of democracy fled Pakistan. Just hosting an election that is all in name only will not bring it back. It is high time that Musharraf went into exile; maybe he could ask the Indian leaders for refuge status as they have been accepting refugees since time immemorial. Either way, with Musharraf out of the way, may be we can hold a real election!

Sethu today, say goodbye to security!

This concerns the recent proposal to dredge the Palk Strait and to deepen it so as to allow bigger ships to pass through the Palk Strait, thereby cutting the transit time taken by these ships to get around India. As it is, if that plan were to be put into action, it would only make India all the more vulnerable to terrorists and pirates.

The Palk Strait is a place where the depth of the sea is not much. This way, only ships smaller in size can pass through. The deepening of the Palk Strait leaves much to be desired but is the government listening?

Will it or won't it - The Nuke deal!

With the window for the final approval of the Nuke deal getting smaller by the second, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar seems to be quite optimistic about getting the deal through.

As the deal window keeps getting smaller and smaller and with each day the Left parties insisting that the deal will be approved by them only after the current U.S presidential elections, everyone seem to be all on an edge where the deal is concerned.

Most of the educated hoi-polloi does not seem to care either way as far as the deal goes but the major chunk of the Indian electorate want this deal to be passed through as soon as possible.

Kashmir receives the heaviest snowfall !

Kashmir is freezing today with having received the heaviest snowfall that it had seen in the last three years or so. The Snowfall is so heavy that in certain areas it has completely blocked the front door of homes, thereby trapping the people indoors.

Meteorologists are a bit puzzled with the intensity of the snowfall as well as the cold wave as it is mid February and by now things should be heating up and not cooling down. Either way, it seems that Kashmir and the rest of Northern India is bracing itself for a new cold wave, one that just does not seem to know that summer is fast approaching!

Aussies thrash Indians during the T 20 game!

Well, for one, the Indian team that played the T-20 game today was composed more fo freshers than veteran players.That aside, the game was all one sided with the Aussies taking the lead by winning the game with a few overs to spare.

The Indian team had a few veteran players but the fresher far outnumbered them. As it is,this is one defeat that the T-20 champions are not going to forget in a hurry and they would be looking forward to even out the score come september!

Pointing - Charles Darwin wants to talk to you!

The description of Racism has become blurred the last few days thanks to Symonds and Ricky Pointing. These days, calling anyone a ‘monkey’ or even an ‘ass’ can very easily be construed as racism. Probably the monkeys and the asses of real life are feeling a bit insulted that their names can cause so much a flutter.

But now, thanks to Pointing it has gone way beyond the point of no return. One can very easily make out that the India and the Indians are not going to shrug this charge away and that if the right conclusion is not reached, well, the tour will be called of.

For those of you who think that it not going to happen, well, you are smoking the pipe. For one thing, with the fear of elections and the home crowd, the BCCI chairman would have no choice but to be behind his men all the way. If that means calling off the tour, then so be it.

What the Aussies may not realize yet, is that as the country with the largest middle class segment and with a population that is fast matching up to that of China, India has transformed into a homing beacon of sorts for all the corporates, all over the world. Which is why, most of the games that any team plays with the Indian team, nets the largest amount of revenues. In other words, if the tour is called off, for starters, most of the Aussie cricketers would start losing some of the meaty ad contracts that they currently enjoy. And to add to their woes, the Aussie team would no longer be welcome here in India.

What Pointing has single handedly managed to do was to throw the 100 year old cricketing relationship of India – Australia all the way back to the dark ages. It is one thing to tell everyone that you love to win but totally another to say that you will do anything to win the game. Cricket, as a game, is apart from all the other sports, in the sense that it is the one game that still earns its value by being played the right way. It is a game where the cricketers are honor bound to behave with decency, honor and decorum. I think that we can all agree that the Sydney match did not reflect any of that. It is sad to see the Aussie team resort to sledging in order to win the match other than their own talent and to compound their mistake, they had to resort to cheating as well. I guess, Pointing must have thought, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’.

Indians , like any other colonies of the British empire, had been racially abused by the English for a long while. None of us are still able to forget the genesis of our freedom struggle. So, to say that we Indians are capable to racism is downright ridiculous and irritating at its best. We have a history of standing up against apartheid and we do understand what it means to be singled out just because of your skin color, the British gave us the lesson and it is one that we are not going to forget in a hurry.

None of us believe that Harbajan did utter those monkey words and even if he had done so, it must have been as a result of provocation on the part of Symonds. The question that is just begging to be asked is why on earth did Symonds go ahead and talk to Harbajan? Was it because, Pointing had told him to provoke Harbajan so that it will throw him off his batting? Either way, Pointing is going to realize that he will be apologizing exactly on the eve of the Perth match and even if he does so, it is one apology that none of us are ready to accept. Thanks but no thanks, you racist pig!

The online casino affair!

Now days, even down here,in India, the idea of online casino is becoming more and more popular. It is the beginning of the new age and the gaming of the future seems to be all about these gaming sites. Now days, sites like this one is more popular here than a visit to one of the famed vegas casino.
This should not come as s surprise to many, as nearly everyone seems to be busy with their lives and none of them have the time nor the patience to travel all the way to Nevada.
With this site, that is no longer needed, as the Las Vegas has come online now. This site and its design certainly makes you feel as though you are in Nevada itself. This site has over 130 games online and also offers all its members a 320% sign up bonus. This site and its casino games certainly are quite interesting to play with.There are also some of the old fashioned blackjack games available here if you want to play them as well as some of the other old club members as well. All in all this is one experience that I am sure that none of you want to miss out on. So click on the links and come on in!

Monkey madness at Down Under - Aussies see monkeys and Indians go Bananas!

The Sydney match will be remembered for all the wrong reasons and I have to say that this is one match that is going to go down in History as a case of 'Monkey madness'. I am truly puzzled by Symonds obsession with the moniker 'monkey'. After all, a name is just that, a name, so why is all the fuss being made about this?

The match would also be remembered for some of the worst umpiring decisions made in a game of Cricket. As it is, the game started out just like any other game, both teams on the edge and each wanting to best the other. Ricky pointing the ignominious captain seem all too pleased with his teams performance until Sachin Tendulkar started blasting away. All one can wonder is that kind of pep talk did Ricky pointing give his team mates before the second innings? Did he tell Symonds to go and talk to Harbajan shingh and make up the entire story about being racially abused or did he provoke Harbajan and did the mess begin that way?

Either way, halfway during the Indian batting in the second innings, Symonds walked up to Harbajan and had a few words with him. Replies were exchanged fast and it seems to me that both were out of order at the least. After all, if one is provoked to uttering a racial slur, then it is only right that both the person who uttered it and the person who provoked it, both should be taken to task. As it is, that does not seem to be the case here.

And to make matters even worse, the Aussies have proved themselves to be utterly bad sports in the sense that they cannot even begin to understand the concept of the Gentleman's game. Many a call was given against the Indian team in favor of the Australian tea, even a rank amateur could see that on the telly, yet the Aussie players did not behave with the amount of honor that this game requires of all its players.

They stood the ground when they were clearly out and the idiot of an umpire, Bucknor did not even bother consulting the third umpire before giving them the all clear. Then to further compound his mistakes, he gave the Indian team raw deals especially in the case of both Dravid and Ganguly. I have to say that the rules say that when you grass a catch, then, it is considered as a dropped catch, that is the rule, but evidently not where the Aussie team is concerned.

Now, the matter has gone beyond the point of no return, and to say that Harbajan is a racist is laughable at the best. Indians may be a lot of things but the one thing that they are not is that of being a racist.

Racism is a purely western idea and even today, there are many western societies that define people based solely on their skin color. But here in India, we have religion, caste and a whole lot of other baggage except for racism. For most of us, we tend to think of skin color as just that, skin deep, no more,no less.

The Aussies seem to have thought that by accusing Harbajan like this, they can throw off the focus of the Indian team. That may well have been their ploy, but now it seems to have backfired as it should have. The Indian team as well as the BCCI is not in any mood to take this insult and defamation to an Indian as well as to the very idea that India stands for, lying down. This is one foot a bit too big for Ricky pointing to fit into his mouth and he is going to have to eat it all, sooner than later especially with the fury increasing by the ton in the Indian camp.

We all talk to each other every single day, does it mean that by talking to you I can be accused of racism? Where is the due process of justice? Do the Aussies not know that as Indians we have been racially abused by the British for a long time until we fought for our freedom? We Indians have always stood against racism and apartheid, our record in that is truly impeccable. All in all, this does not mean well for the Indo-Aussie relations!

The Rising Rupee!

These days as the U.S dollar seems to be plummeting to new depths, it seems that nothing can hold the rupee back. The exporters cries are getting shriller by the day as the rupee marches head on, becoming stronger by the day.
Almost every day seems to be bringing about the further rise of the rupee, and it is not only the exporters who are being hit, but also the countless number of companies who had moved their operations to India as it was profitable for them to do so. But now, that may no longer be the case, we all want a strong rupee, but not this quickly as it would only deplete our forex reserves and bring about inflation.

technorati tags: indian,rupee,dollar,exim,currency,

India and Israel to co-operate?

In view of the increased activity of the Al-qaida in the Asian region, Israel has obviously decided to ask the opinions of some of the like minded countries, who themselves have been the victim of countless number of terrorist attacks. This is one of the reasons as to why the Director General of Israeli Defence Ministry Brig Gen (retd) Pinchas Buchris held talks with the top brass of Indian military here.
One can understand as to why Israel is feeling a little anxious these days. With the al-qaida having a resurgence of sorts in Pakistan, it is time that many of the countries in the Asian region, both west and south, were more alert so as to be ready to fight the scourge of terrorism.

India and Myanmar - no more weapons!

India, it seems has finally given in to world opinion and it has decided to no longer sell any more arms to the military Junta. This news broke out in the Washington post and it has been independently confirmed by them as well.
Of course, as to the veracity of this news, one can be sure of it, at least until the government here does a turnaround and start selling arms to the Junta all over again.
But this action taken by one of the Junta's closest allies, is bound to send a stern message to the Junta that they cannot do business in the way that they have been doing all these years. It is high time that the Junta realise that anything attempted by force does not last for long and that the reconciliation process between the Junta and the democratically elected leader of Myanmar,Aung San Suu Kyi should be put on the fast track!

The World calls to us and what do we do?

With all the news from the rest of the world with assassinations and misery here and there, I think that it is high time that we all took a firm resolve to help the others out. These days the paper seems to be filled with nothing but bad news on both the news articles and the economical section as well. With the recent nandigrqam fiasco where the ruling government tried to take over the villagers land by force and that led to this huge hullabaloo, It is high time that we all stood up and did the right thing. Thank god that everything did work out for those villagers but that is not the case with a whole lot of other people. We should stop thinking of ourselves and try and do something to help the others and we should do this because we want to help and not for some ulterior motive. That is exactly what Boat Angel is doing with its Boat Donations.

The difference that Boat angel is making in other people lives is tremendous to say the least. We can do the same and all we have to do is to make the very first step and take part in these Charity Boat Donations. If we do not take care of each other, then who will be there to take care of us when we need it the most? I understand that most of us are very busy with our lives as such, but I am sure that we all can do a little bit more, not for us but for the sake of others.

Here at Boat angel that is what they do, they try and make the other people's lives a little better and one of the ways that they do it is by way of these donations. They have already had such a huge impact on the lives of so many troubled people and now it is time for us to something of the same. We get to donate a boat and these donations are for the production and the distribution of the Children's Christian Animations on Free DVDs with shipping totally free and now anyone and everyone can order them!

The auto gizzard!

These days the Oil prices seems to be heading in only one direction and that is all the way up. Naturally as the Oil increases so do the relative costs of all automobiles as well as the cost of essential items. Our savings are n longer just enough to help us purchase the latest car that we want. These days, we often have to go to the bank as well as other agencies to help us out as far as these auto purchases go, by way of car loans.

But with the economical situation having still not improved since the liquidity crunch of the banks world over, the banks are not that comfortable with financing any loans for the near future. There are other agencies that will come forward to give you the auto loan but one needs to be careful so that one does not get taken for a ride in more ways than one.Most of these agencies are there for only one persons benefit and that is themselves so there are a lot of things that one needs to know before signing any auto loan papers.

This site does go a long way in educating the common man about the pitfalls of us signing any paper with some unscrupulous character who is there only for himself. There are certain things that we need to know and this site does point out all of that for us.I have to say that this site is really good in telling us what to watch out for besides providing us with some safe havens for applying for an auto loan. To know more on this particular subject, you can always click on the links above or read their car loan blog. This is indeed a very wide world and there are a lot of people out there who will do just about anything to get their grimy hands on our money, so do read the blog for your own safety.

The lure of gold!

India has always had a very great appetite for the yellow metal for a very long time and all indications are that the consumers will continue this trend. The desire for the yellow metal is partly religious and partly personal, but whatever they may be it is high time that we all took this desire seriously. Since year after year, come Diwali, we all head for the shops to buy as much gold as we want, it is high time that we paid heed as to what we are actually purchasing. The one thing that we should know when it comes to gold and silver is that it is very easy to mix in the impurities in these metals and to the lay person, that is us, it will seem to be pure as snow.
Which is why when we are thinking of investing in valuable metals we should go to the leader, in this case the Monex deposit company[MDC]for advice. Through the MDC,
we can purchase gold as well as silver and the other pure metals in the most purest form that is available in the market today. What is more, through them, we can also get the best price available for this, as they have contacts in almost every gold and silver markets in the world today. The gold as well as the silver that we purchase through them can either be delivered to us personally or be held in an intermediary bank of our choosing. So, if you are looking for investments in the metals market, look no further!

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

The Bikini killer may get away!

It seems that the 'Snake' may soon wriggle out of his prison after all. The Charles shobraj case rocked the world many years ago and it still seems to have that impact all over. Charles Shobraj was captured in Nepal and found guilty of having killed a dutch tourist and his girlfriend. The police managed to tie him down with the confession that the 'Snake' gave to the Indian police while he was a guest of Indian police. He eluded the Indian police and escaped only to be captured later on in Nepal, where he was charged with the murder of the dutch tourist.
He was found guilty by the Nepalese high court but now on appeal to the Nepalese supreme court,the Judges have found that the evidence against the Snake is too flimsy and they have asked the prosecution team to provide more evidence in this matter. Can they do it, will the Snake be sent away for good this time around? Do stay tuned for episode 2!