Monday 23 March 2009

Jade Goody


I hated this woman when I saw her throw tantrums on Big Brother.

And maybe I started liking Shilpa Shetty more than before because of Jade Goody.  I also did not like the fact that Jade was selling her death. For a moment, I even thought that the whole cancer thing was a fake gimmick to gain sympathy and raise her shattered image.

But I realize how pathetic my thoughts were. My apologies to you, Jade. May your soul rest in peace, and I hope God gives strength to your children to face the world.

Jade Goody died on Mother's day (22nd March 2009) from cervical cancer.


American cancer society :
http://www.cancer.org

Cancer Aid societies in India :

UK cancer society :
http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk

News about Jade Goody's death on Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/jade-goody/5033144/Jade-Goody-dies-after-cancer-battle-bringing-media-circus-to-end.html

Tuesday 17 March 2009

Differences between Driving in India and in the UK

There is such a huuuuuuge difference between driving in India and driving in the UK ! I am fortunate to have the experience of driving in both these wonderful countries, and I thought of jotting down my views about it.

Everyone is in a hurry in my India - the drivers leading us from the front - and everyone in UK are absolutely calm and cool.
In India, driving rules are quite simple - there are almost no rules ! There is no concept of right of way or any such thing . Generally, whoever is faster gets to go first. Whoever happens to think about safety or about getting his car scratched or bumped goes last. I was so used to honking in India - you just cant drive from point A to point B without honking . Honking in India is a way of making your intentions known. Whereas in the UK, you honk mainly on 2 occasions - one - if someone is in extreme danger and you need to make him aware of your presence, and two - if you are annoyed at someone else's driving. Normally, I dont think that you get much occasions in UK to get annoyed while driving...

There is one unofficial trend that exists in both countries - the one that got me into a little trouble in UK. Am talking about a quick blink of headlights. What this means in the UK (unofficially) is something like 'I'll wait - you go'. It was quite hard for me to grasp this the first time I drove in UK because in India, a blink means exactly the opposite - 'You wait - am going' !!
Blinking lights are also used in India on high speeds to make the car ahead to move out of your way.In India, if you come to a narrow road, or a road where vehicles are parked on both sides, its very rare to find a driver who waits for you to pass. Normally both of you are supposed to charge towards each other - a la Sylvester Stallone in one of the Rambo movies, where he bids his tank against a chopper - And when you come to a point where one driver has to back off, thats when you start calling names.

One extremely irritating driving habit in India is seen at nights - driving with headlights on upper beam. Its so hard to see ahead when facing such harsh lights, especially since many of the roads have huge potholes. In the UK, this is an absolute no no.

I really appreciate the way drivers in the UK show concern for fellow drivers. I wish there could be a way to make my fellow Indian drivers see the benefits of driving the way its done in UK.

Maybe I'll someday sit down and analyze the reasons why driving is so bad in India, and write about it... Thanks for reading

Wednesday 4 March 2009

Are we all gonna die soon ?

Hmm.. should we believe him?


The bearded guy in the pic is Nostradamus. For the ignorant amonsgt you, allow me to enlighten you - he is one hell of a fortune teller ! One fine morning, he told his secretary, 'by tomorrow morning, I shalt be dead' ... and he dint live another day ! Now this guy, it seems, has been scaring people with his 'prophecies'. Phrophecies which he wrote down in a book before he died. Though he died like 500 years ago, there are quite a lot of brain deads amongst us who believe every word of what he wrote. Come'on ... that was a looong loong time ago ... just read him as you would a James Patterson, and forget it. And if you hear of any of his predictions come true, assume thats a coincidence.

That was what I used to tell myself whenever I used to hear some of his predictions.
But this one is different. And this one is BIG ! The world comes to an end in 2012, says Mr Longbeard ... December 12 to be precise. And NASA kind of approves his prediction by saying that there's gonna be some major solar storms (whatever that means) that will disrupt the magnetic fields on Earth and create chaotic disruptions on Earth !

hmmm ... scary ! Wonder why no one's yet made a movie of it ... or are there any ? Do enlighten me if you know :)

A R Rahman wins an Oscar

Slumdog Millionaire was a great movie to watch. It kind of kept me on the edge - I liked the pace of the movie. Good movies deserve oscars, and am glad that slumdog did.

Rahman is one of my favourite musicians, and I love all of his compositions. I think, if he got an oscar for Jai Ho, he deserves much more for his earlier compositions !!
Some of the music he composed for Hindi and Tamil movies especially were just out of this world !

Srilankan Cricketers attacked by Pakistanis

Yesterday it was all over the news. Srilankan cricketers gunned down in Pakistan. That was shocking. It talks about how secure you are in Pakistan ! If such celebrities can become such easy targets, God help the citizens ! Six players were injured in the attack, and some security personnels were killed. Chris Broad, an ICC match referee, went on record to say that the police simply vanished when their bus came under attack. "There was not a sign of a policeman anywhere," Broad said after his arrival back in the UK. "They had clearly left the scene and left us to be sitting ducks."

More shocking was the next report ... Pakistan claiming that India was behind these attacks ! I haven't heard anything more hillarious in months!

Thanks for a good laugh, Mr Pak President.

Some CC TV videos of the terrorists can be found here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7924478.stm
&
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7920272.stm
Ok, so I thought of following everyone ... and I thought of starting to blog !
Welcome to my blog and hope you have a nice time