I wish for a Brighter Tomorrow

2009-01-02T20:53:00.002+05:30

Saibaba Origins

Origins and First Appearance
Nobody knew the parents, birth or birthplace of Sai Baba. Many inquiries were made, many questions were put to Baba and others regarding these details, but no convincing answer or information has yet been obtained. Practically we know nothing about these matters. When asked about HIS relatives and other details HE gave only one answer: 'From very long.'

Note: These words uttered by SAI BABA have been actually heard by the daughter-in-law of Mrs Bayaja Patal. She was a witness to the dialogue between Mrs Bayaja Patal and BABA who came for Bhiksha at Mrs Bayaja's place.

He first manifested Himself as a young lad of sixteen under a Neem tree in Shirdi for the sake of Bhaktas. Even then He seemed to be full with the knowledge of a Brahman (the only one Universal force or energy governing all matters). He had no desire for worldly objects and pleasures even in dream. He renounced Maya (delusion) and Mukti (deliverance) was at His feet. With His blessings many souls attained liberation by HIS mystic plays and without any 'formal' teaching or philosophical discussion. For all the seekersHE uttered only three words- 'ALLAH ACHCHA KAREGA' by way of HIS blessings. Everything will be fine by the GRACE OF GOD.

One old woman of Shirdi described Him as follows:
This young lad, fair, smart and very handsome was first seen under the Neem tree seated in an ‘asana’ (a Yoga posture). The people of the village were wonder-struck to see such a young lad practicing hard penance, not minding heat and cold. By day he associated with none, by night he was afraid of nobody. People were wondering and asking, when this young chap had turned up. His form and features were so beautiful that a mere look endeared Him to all. He went to nobody’s door, always sat near the Neem tree. Outwardly he looked very young; but by His action he appeared to be really a Great Soul. He was the embodiment of dispassion and was an enigma to all. Nobody knew HIS where about and HIS mysterious behavior (Leelas).

It is said that one day, God Khandoba at Shirdi possessed the body of some devotee and people began to ask Him, "Deva (God), you please enquire what blessed father’s son is this lad and when did He come".

God Khandoba asked them to bring a pickaxe and dig at a particular place. When it was dug, bricks were found underneath a flat stone. When the stone was removed, a corridor led to a cellar where cow-mouth-shaped structures, wooden boards, necklaces were seen.

Khandoba said, "This lad practiced penance here for 12 years." When the people began to question the lad about this, He put them off by telling them that it was His Guru’s place, His holy ‘Watan’ (inheritance) and requested them to guard it well.

The young Baba thus stayed on in Shirdi for a period of three years. Then, all of a sudden, He disappeared. After some time, He reappeared in the Nizam State near Aurangabad and eventually again returned to Shirdi with the marriage party of one Chand Patil, when He was twenty years old.

Return to Shirdi
There lived in the Aurangabad District (Nizam State), in a village called Dhoop, a well-to-do Mohammedan gentleman by the name Chand Patil. While he was making a trip to Aurangabad, he lost his mare. For two long months, he made a diligent search but could get no trace of the lost mare. After being disappointed, he returned from Aurangabad with the saddle on his back. After travelling four Koss (haifa mile) and a half, he came, on the way, to a mango tree under the foot of which sat a fakir (queer fellow). He had a cap on His head, wore Kafni (long robe) and had a "Satka" (short stick) under His armpit and He was preparing to smoke a Chillim (pipe). On seeing Chand Patil pass by the way, He called out to him and asked him to have a smoke and to rest a little. The Fakir asked him about the saddle. Chand Patil replied that it was of his mare, which was lost. The queer fellow or Fakir asked him to make a search in the Nala(small stream) close by. He went and the wonder of wonders! he found out the mare. He thought that this Fakir was not an ordinary man, but an Avalia (a great saint). A queer personality. He returned to the Fakir with the mare. The Chillim was ready for being smoked, but two things were wanting; (1) fire to light the pipe, and (2) water to wet the chhapi (piece of cloth through which smoke is drawn up). The Fakir took His prong and thrust it forcibly into the ground and out came a live burning coal, which He put on the pipe. Then He dashed the Satka on the ground from whence water began to ooze. The chhapi was wetted with that water, was then wrung out and wrapped round the pipe. Thus everything being complete, the Fakir smoked the Chillim and then gave it also to Chand Patil. On seeing all this, Chand Patil was wonderstruck. He requested the Fakir to come to his home and accept his hospitality. Next day He went to the Patil’s house and stayed there for some time. The Patil was a village officer of Dhoop. His wife’s brother’s son was to be married and the bride was from Shirdi. So Patil made preparations to start for Shirdi for the marriage. The Fakir also accompanied the marriage-party. The marriage went off without any hitch, the party returned to Dhoop, except the Fakir alone stayed in Shirdi and remained there forever.

How the Fakir got the name ‘Sai’
When the marriage - party came to Shirdi, it alighted at the foot of a Banyan tree in Bhagata Mhalsapati’s field near Khandoba’s temple. The carts were loosened in the open courtyard of Khandoba’s temple and the members of the party descended one by one, and the Fakir also got down. Bhagat Mhalsapati saw the young Fakir getting down and spontaneously accosted Him "YA SAI" (Welcome Sai). Others also addressed Him as Sai and thenceforth he became known as Sai Baba.

Upon His return to Shirdi, Baba stayed there for an unbroken period of sixty years, after which He took His Maha-Samadhi in the year 1918.

Initially, Sai Baba stayed on the outskirts of the village of Shirdi, then under a neem tree for four to five years at the spot now called Gurusthan, before shifting to an abandoned mosque which later became known as Dwarkamai.

Slowly His greatness was revealed and His fame spread far and wide, until by the end of His life He was attracting thousands of people to Shirdi. In the last decade of His life, Baba was worshipped with all pomp and ceremony and the mosque was likened to a maharajah’s ‘darbar’, yet Baba never changed His simple and austere lifestyle of the Puritans.

2009-01-02T20:50:00.001+05:30

About Sai Baba

Sai baba Introduction

Shri Sai Baba is revered as one of the greatest saints ever seen in India, endowed with unprecedented powers, and is worshipped as a God incarnate. (SAI meaning Sakshaat Ishwar) - GOD THE ABSOLUTE

This mysterious Fakir first made HIS appearance in Shirdi as a youth and remained there throughout His long life. HE transformed the lives of those who met Him and continuously is doing so even after His Samadhi in 1918 for those whose hearts are touched by His love and who pray and call Him at any emergency in life for HIS blessings.

Baba stated that His mission is to “give blessings” without discrimination to all, and He proves it in myriad ways by healing the sick, saving lives, protecting the vulnerable, averting accidents, granting offspring, facilitating financial gain, bringing people into harmony within themselves and with each other and, above all, in effecting the spiritual evolution and transformation of those who came to him as the last resort.

Baba is, as one of His contemporary devotees put it, “The embodiment of the Supreme Spirit lighting the sadhakas (seekers') path by His every word and action”.

To His devotees, Baba is nothing less than a GOD. This has been a matter of experience and not imaginary. “I look at everybody with an equal eye”

An outstanding aspect of Sai Baba is that He is beyond distinctions of religion, caste or creed. He embodied all religions and preached the Universal religion of Love.

Devotees of all faiths find their meeting point in Sai and people from all communities and all walks of life are united by the great love and reverence Baba inspires in them. Baba had great regard for His Hindu devotees and their Gurus and He responded to their needs and permitted worship according to the Hindu and other religious rituals. At the same time His dwelling place was a Masjid (Mosque) and the name of Allah was ever on His lips. HE described Himself as in Service to GOD (ALLAH) and as a soul ever remembering ALLAH -(YAD - A - HAKKA)

People today flock Shirdi in ever-increasing numbers to pay homage to the Divine and to experience the truth of Baba’s promise that He would be active in answering devotees' prayers even from His tomb. Like Ten Commandments BABA has given eleven assurances to humanity for welfare.

Baba said that He was a slave in the service of those who loved Him that He was ever living to help those who turn to Him and that He has to take care of His children day and night. HE then taught values of total surrender to the Almighty Master (ALLAH MALIK EK- The only ONE) and experience his grace.

In coming to Baba’s Shirdi His children experience the truth how BABA unfailingly fulfils His commitments to HIS devotees by coming to their rescue in times of crisis.

2009-01-02T20:44:00.003+05:30

Foot Prints...

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed that he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of Footprints in the sand, one belonging to him, and the other to the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the Footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of Footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life. This really bothered him, and he questioned the Lord about "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of Footprints. I don't understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me." The Lord replied: "My son, My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you have seen only one set of Footprints, it was Then that I carried you."

2008-12-29T22:25:00.003+05:30

Child Marriage

Child marriage is a violation of human rights whether it happens to a girl or a boy, but it represents perhaps the most prevalent form of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls. The harmful consequences include separation from family and friends, lack of freedom to interact with peers and participate in community activities, and decreased opportunities for education. Child marriage can also result in bonded labour or enslavement, commercial sexual exploitation and violence against the victims.

Because they cannot abstain from sex or insist on condom use, child brides are often exposed to such serious health risks as premature pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and, increasingly, HIV/AID S.

Parents may consent to child marriages out of economic necessity. Marriage may be seen as a way to provide male guardianship for their daughters, protect them from sexual assault, avoid pregnancy outside marriage, extend their childbearing years or ensure obedience to the husband’s household.

Facts and figures

• Globally, 36 per cent of women aged 20–24 were married or in union before they reached 18 years of age.

• An estimated 14 million adolescents between 15 and 19 give birth each year. Girls in this age group are twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth as women in their twenties.

• Marriage of young girls is most common in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In Niger, 77 per cent of 20- to 24-year-old women were married before the age of 18. In Bangladesh, this rate was 65 per cent.

2008-10-14T05:15:00.003+05:30

CHILD TRAFFICKING IN INDIA

INTRODUCTION

Thousands of women and children are trafficked every day. Within the overall profile of trafficking in South Asia, India is a country of both transit and destination. There is a considerable degree of internal trafficking as well as some trafficking from India to Gulf States and to South East Asia. Sale of children and their movement across the state borders takes place within the country too. In other words, while there is movement of children through procurement and sale from one country to another, with India being both a supplier as well as a “consumer”, there is internal “movement” of children within the country itself - one town to another, one district to another and one state to another. It is undertaken in an organised manner, by organised syndicates or by individuals,
and sometimes informal groups. Relatives and parents are part of this as well.

Issues of sale and trafficking of children are also closely linked to issues of migration, especially illegal migration. Cross-border trafficking continues to flourish because the issue continues to be ignored by the nation states involved in it. There is lack of coordinated efforts to take effective measures to address this problem at the regional level, between the countries involved.

Individual countries - both civil society and government have been trying to cope with this violation of human rights. Laws have been enacted and international and national initiatives have been launched. This study attempts to look at the extent, causes, manifestation and the interventions made on trafficking of children in the country. There is very little reliable quantitative data on the overall problem of trafficking. This is because there is as yet no common understanding on this issue.

Almost everyone looks at and understands trafficking synonymously with prostitution. As a result, most of the studies, data and activity in the field of anti-trafficking work in the country have focused on trafficking for the sex industry and this applies to child trafficking also. The available information is in the form of news reports and stories published or highlighted in the media or those brought out by NGO initiatives. There is little or no systematic ocumentation on the other purposes of trafficking such as for entertainment, organ-trading, adoption etc. This documentation on child trafficking in India has been undertaken for terre des homes (Germany) – India Programme. It is based on the news clippings, journals/magazines brought out by NGOs, papers and reports prepared by 2 NGOs and UN agencies, donor agencies or individuals on the basis of their experiences and research, information downloaded from the internet, government documents relating to trafficking in women and children, legal/policy documents on human rights/child rights etc.

WHAT IS TRAFFICKING OF CHILDREN?

The problem in dealing with this very complex phenomenon begins with its very definition. There is no single definition of trafficking. In the absence of a common understanding, it becomes difficult to design policies, guidelines or even interventions to tackle this issue. A broader understanding of the issue is that illegal movement of any human being in any part of the world is trafficking. There is as yet no internationally recognised definition of “trafficking in persons”.

¤ The preamble to the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others (“Whereas prostitution and the accompanying evil of the traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution are incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person and endanger the welfare of the individual, the family and the community, ...”) assimilates trafficking with prostitution. The Convention in its very first article makes trafficking punishable, defining it in terms of procurement, enticement or leading away of a person for prostitution or sexual gratification of another person.

¤ The United Nations General Assembly, 1994 (Resolution 49/166) defined it as-“ The illicit and clandestine movements of persons across national borders, largely from developing countries with economies in transition, with the end goal of forcing women and girls into sexually or economically oppressive and exploitative situations for profit of recruiters, traffickers and syndicates, as well as other illegal activities related to trafficking, such as forced domestic labour, false marriages, clandestine employment and false adoption.”

¤ At the World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, “trafficking” was taken to refer to the illegal moving and selling of human beings across countries and continents in exchange for financial or other compensation.

¤ The Global Alliance Against the Trafficking of Women (GAATW), on the other hand, defines “trafficking” as “the recruitment and transportation of (a) person(s) within and across national borders, by means of violence or threat of violence, abuse of actual or perceived authority arising from a relationship, or deception, in order to subject them to the actual and unlawful power of (an) other person(s)”.

¤ Another useful definition is that advanced by the Netherlands Advisory
Committee on Human Rights and Foreign Policy, “The traffic in person could be defined as transporting a person from one place to another in order to subject him or her to the actual and unlawful power of other persons by means of using violence or the threat of violence or by using a position of authority arising from a relationship or by misleading the other person.” Some other definitions are:

¤ “Trafficking is a question that belongs to the broader question of “migration”, nationality and the question of applicability of fundamental human rights to children and any individual irrespective of their religion, race, class, gender, colour or nationality” (UBINIG. 1996).

¤ “The recruitment and transportation of a person(s), within and across
national borders by means of violence or threat of violence, abuse of actual or perceived authority arising from a relationship or deception, in order to subject them to the actual unlawful power of (an) other person(s). An individual may be trafficked for various purposes, invariably ending up captive, in coercive and exploitative or commercial sex sectors, commercial servile, marriage etc.” (Sinha. 1997).

¤ Office of Drugs Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) of UN defines child trafficking as “The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”

¤ The Transnational Training Seminar on Trafficking in Women, held in
Budapest from 20 to 24 June 1998, promulgated the following definition:
“Trafficking consists of all acts involved in the recruitment or transportation of persons within or across borders, involving deception, coercion or force, debt bondage or fraud, for the purpose of placing persons in situations of abuse or exploitation, such as forced prostitution, slavery-like practices, battering or extreme cruelty, sweatshop labour or exploitative domestic servitude. Ms. Calcetas Santos, the Special Rapporteur on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography finds this definition to be the most workable, although she expresses reservations as to whether trafficking always places the victim in a worse position than that held previously.

Clearly, intrinsic to trafficking is the sale and purchase of children, as is their movement from one place to another or issues of migration especially illegal migration. The lack of concrete definitions of both sale and trafficking makes it very difficult in most instances to determine whether a particular transaction is a sale amounting to trafficking. There is therefore a need to examine what the understanding on these issues is to be able to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of trafficking.

Sale of Children

It is difficult to have a definition of “sale of children” since children are not, and should not be, legally and/or morally, the objects of trade or
commerce. The reality of such sales, however, proves the need for a definition. The traditional concept of sale is that it pertains only to property - real, personal or incorporeal - and that the consideration is always price in money. In order to gain a clearer perception of the meaning of “sale” in its commercial application, it may be useful to take a look at some definitions of “sale” in general. Black’s Law Dictionary defines it as “a contract between two parties, called, respectively, the ‘seller’ (or vendor) and the ‘buyer’ (or purchaser), by which the former, in consideration of the payment or promise of payment of a certain price in money, transfers to the latter the title and the possession of property”.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines “sale” as “the transfer by common consent of the ownership of a thing or an interest in land, or in incorporeal property, from one person to another in exchange for a price in money”.
Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn, the first Special Rapporteur on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, defined “sale of children” as “the transfer of a child from one party (including biological parents, guardians and institutions) to another, for whatever purpose, in exchange for financial or other reward or compensation” (E/CN.4/1994/84, Para. 31).
Ms. Ofelia Calcetas Santos, in her first report as the Special Rapporteur to the General Assembly (A/50/456, annex), defined “sale of children” as “the transfer of parental authority over and/or physical custody of a child to another on a more or less permanent basis in exchange for financial or other reward or consideration” (Report of the Special Rapporteur on Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, Commission on Human Rights. Fifty-fifth Session. 29 January, 1999. Para. 18). She adopted this definition in order to exclude transactions that are strictly on a temporary basis, as when a child is “rented” out, in order to obviate confusion as to whether the transaction constitutes sale or pimping, for
example. The confusion created by the lack of a clear definition of what constitutes the “sale” of a child has not helped the members of the working group on the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in dealing with the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. One position taken by the negotiators is that a “sale” must be for the purpose of sexual exploitation; the opposing view is that it is dangerous to limit the definition of the term in that way.

Migration

While it may seem that migration and trafficking are distinct and separate, they are at the same time integrally connected. The pressing need to migrate in search of work creates a fertile ground for traffickers and unscrupulous agents to exploit this need and profit from it. In today’s world, trafficking cannot be seen out of the context of migration as the most common form of trafficking is ‘migrant trafficking’.
A line must be drawn between trafficking and illegal migration in that trafficking, as is currently understood, involves some element of involuntariness, either through deception, force or intimidation, whereas illegal migration often occurs with the free co-operation, if not the instigation of the illegal migrant. There are, however, linkages between the two activities. Contemporary developments have caused population movements due to war, persecution, and violations of human rights, natural disasters, or very poor economic conditions. A number of
countries have imposed more stringent measures for border control and entry requirements and have reduced opportunities for legal migration. Such measures, however, do not alter the demand in these countries for cheaper sources of labour in the informal sector which gives rise to irregular, trans-border movement. The process of ‘migrant trafficking’ occurs in at least two phases - recruitment and transportation, and confinement to the site of work under exploitative conditions; when a migrant and unsuspecting victim is recruited and/or transported and delivered to a site of work which is different from the one promised by the agent involved in it or, when such migrant is subjected to such conditions of work about which she/he had no prior knowledge and therefore did not consent to. A greater number of cases under this category are those that
fall on the borderline of illegal migration, smuggling of persons and trafficking. It is difficult to distinguish between the three as they have certain common elements. One common factor is that the ‘victim’ is invariably a ‘willing’ traveller, though it is well documented that the ‘willingness’ is based on a variety of reasons e.g. promise of a well paying job (which later turns out to be false), deception and fraud. (Sanghera. 2000). Chances are that these illegal migrants fall into bondage.

“The term ‘trafficking’ needs to be distinguished from ‘smuggling’, which refers to services provided in unlawful border crossing, while trafficking includes complex organisation of contacts”. (First Report of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrant Workers. April. 2000). From the above summary of working definitions of sale, trafficking and migration for trafficking, and the above discussion, there emerge some basic elements, which seem to be widely agreed upon. They include:

¤ Some degree of involuntariness on the part of the person being trafficked, either through the employment of deceit or fraud.
¤ Coercion or actual force, abuse of authority.
¤ Involvement of exchange of money or any other form of consideration.
¤ Subjection to situations of abuse and exploitation.
¤ Confiscation of travel documents, or debt bondage.

One question on which the above definitions are in dispute is whether trafficking for other than illicit reasons should give rise to criminal culpability and whether the situation of person is always worse than before? Trafficking of children for adoption wherein they may be adopted by a better placed family is such an example.

The Special Rapporteur Ms. Santos, firmly believes that, as in the sale of a person, trafficking of a person reduces that person to the level of a commercial commodity and is therefore inherently condemnable, regardless of the ultimate purpose for which it is carried out. Thus, the argument that in most cases of adoption the children end up in much improved living conditions, would not in any way justify the trafficking of babies and children. Another issue that still remains unsettled is whether trafficking necessarily involves movement or transportation from one place to another and, if so, if it has to be across borders.

2008-10-14T04:35:00.007+05:30

STOP Child Trafficking- Save the children

India has been identified as a source, transit and destination point in the international circuit; large numbers of children are also trafficked within the country. According to a study conducted by Shakti Vahini in 2006, �Trafficking in India�, 378 of the 593 districts in India are affected by human trafficking. 10% of human trafficking in India is international, while almost 90% is interstate. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are the states from where the maximum numbers of people are trafficked to other states. Intra state/inter district trafficking is high in the states of Rajasthan, Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

States like Delhi and Goa are �receiver� states. Trafficking of women and children from the North-Eastern states of India and the bordering countries in the north-east is a serious issue but has so far not drawn public attention. There was no evidence of trafficking in Jammu & Kashmir. Intra country trafficking has not been documented to the extent that cross border trafficking has been. However, Shakti Vahini conducted a study in 2006: �Trafficking in India�.

The study reports that 378 of the 593 districts in India are affected by human trafficking. India�s porous border with Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh are the major reasons citied for the prevalent high levels of children being trafficked every year.Children are trafficked for several reasons including sexual exploitation; adoption; entertainment & sports (for example, acrobatics in circus, dance troupes, beer bars; as camel jockeys); marriage; labour; begging, organ trade (though only anecdotal evidence of this is available); drug peddling and smuggling.

Trafficking of children usually happens through well organized networks. Family, relatives, friends, community leaders, brokers, the pimps and owners of brothels, the police, political connections and the criminal nexus: all or any of these have been found to be involved in the process of child trafficking.

LEGAL PROTECTION

Though there is an �Immoral Traffic Prevention Act� that exists in India, it only refers to trafficking for prostitution and so does not provide comprehensive protection for children. Nor does the Act provide a clear definition of �trafficking�. There is a UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (the Palermo Protocol) that will, when implemented, give a comprehensive definition of trafficking, but this has still not been ratified.

SAVE THE CHILDREN'S RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHANGE

The UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (the Palermo Protocol) should be ratified to clearly define Trafficking and to cover all its forms.� Effective law enforcement agencies should be set up to work against traffickers and exploiters with appropriate redressal mechanisms and victim assistance programmes. � There should be effective monitoring of trafficking� There should be more coordination between the Ministries of Tourism, Labour and Surface Transport to combat domestic and cross border trafficking.

TRAFFICKING AND CHILD DOMESTIC WORKERS

Homes in urban areas employ �live in� domestic workers, the majority of whom come from West Bengal Bihar, Jharkand; or Orissa. �Agents� provide the links between employers and employees and it is reported that many of these girls are trafficked/bonded in connivance with their parents. The Government of Delhi in 2006 estimated that in Delhi alone there were 700,000 girls working in homes. Children are reportedly trafficked into Rajasthan from West Bengal and Bihar as child labour; and to Surat from Rajasthan to work in the diamond cutting industry. In Orissa, trafficking for labour is concentrated in pockets of districts in the coastal areas as reported in the CRSA.

TRAFFICKING AND CHILD MARRIAGE

Due to a demographic imbalance in Haryana (850 girls/1000 boys), men find it difficult to find a bride. The easy way out has been through a network of touts who help men, young old and widowed men to find wives from West Bengal, Assam and Bihar. An estimated 5000 girls were sold in the Mewat region of Haryana (Tribune 8 April 2004).

CAUSES FOR TRAFFICKING

Economic FactorsPoverty, often cited as a major reason responsible for trafficking in children, is not the only cause. Loss of traditional sources of livelihood, growing unemployment, forced migration, the commodification of children and growing consumerism resulting from globalisation have all contributed to the increase in child trafficking. The socio-economic situation and geographical location of the family add to the vulnerability. While both boys and girls are victims of trafficking, girls are more vulnerable, especially to trafficking for sexual purposes .

Cultural, Religious and Social Factors

Anecdotal evidence suggests that through the outlawed religious practices like the �Devadasi� and �Jogin� sytems, temple priests have used their position to traffick girls for prostitution.
Traffickers sell girls to the Bedia and Bacchara communities who live in Madhya Pradesh, and the border districts of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and to the Rajnats of Rajasthan , families where prostitution is traditional means of earning a livelihood.
A myth that makes young girls vulnerable is the widespread belief that sex with a virgin girl will cure men of STD and HIV/Aids.

Geo-political Factors

India shares a porous border with over seven countries all of which is not fenced. With the connivance of border police on either side, it is not difficult to enter India. Political instability and economic compulsions are reasons for young girls from Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and even as far Uzbekistan, to be sold to traffickers. Trafficking from these countries is a one way route, �into India�.

2008-10-14T00:35:00.004+05:30

Fashion Vs Indian Women

Like it happens in any developing economy, in India, there’s been an apparent growth in aspirations of the people. Today, people aspire to be someone famous. And, to become ‘that someone’, they’re willing to pay a premium for quality, design and exclusivity. Be it the contemporary housewife, a sophisticated or the next generation of working class, they all want the best in life.

"Today people, in one word, want Glamour. Anything written on celebrity, fashion and social revelry etc. is received with great delight. By giving the readers’ what they want media whets their appetite for it. Then follows the vicious circle of desiring more and more. So media goes on providing the same. Let’s take up growing awareness about fashion among youngsters.

Media has given a boost to the fashion industry, to the fashion shows. The fashion industry is at its peak with Indian couture catching the fancy of the fashion gurus all across the globe. Beauty pageants have helped in promoting it. More and more youngsters are getting pulled in by the glamour of lights, camera, grease pint and fame. Young girls are being lured to the show bizz.

Almost every young girl wants to be a slim trim, sexy model dancing on ramp, or wants to get a “Miss ….” Crown on her head. Since the last 4-5 years , the whole scenario of beauty paegents and fashion industry has just turned on. Beauty contests sprout like common weeds today. Every small dance and college wants to organize one and ofcourse everybody wants to participate in it.

Well , from an ordinary looking girl to a “crowned ideal woman “, it’s a long long process. The body beautiful is carefully crafted in the beauty factory, to be sold at a beauty mela. A successful sale helps it to lure millions of other bodies back to the beauty industry. Except for a woman’s height which is non negotiable, everything else can be altered. And do we really know what is the price of a beauty crown? Sushmita Sen had to have her breasts augmented - artificially shaped to please the judges!

Women today are using silicone breast implants their contouring that make men drool. Silicone injections produce the precise lip-chin correction which gives women the ‘sexy pout’ that sells soft porn glossies. Lipo-suction for fat removal, nose jobs, facelifts, and every possible surgical trick In a way we can say that a girl passing through different surgeries is carved into a ‘new master piece’.

Through aggressive advertising the beauty industry has been very successful in convincing women of the ‘Ideal Woman’ myth. It has made the woman’s body into a commodity which should meet a standard i.e. of queen’s. Every woman desires to look beautiful, sensuous and she feels insecure if she does not meet this standard. Perhaps this insecurity persuades women to buy beauty aids with often false claims of "removing wrinkles", "changing skin complexion" or "making one fair".

But there is the other side of the woman, the true Indian woman in picture. The Indian woman, who hopes that her husband's longevity is increased by larger dot on her forehead, who has no idea of her rights. She just knows giving and giving.When we talk about fundamental rights of women. what are these? We all know these include every right being a human being should have in a society. And who wouldn’t want these rights?

These are the fundamental rights that every human being would love to enjoy. Law is there to protect these rights of women in particular. But after 54 years of Indian independence, the condition of Indian woman is even worsened. Of the 15 million baby girls born in India each year, nearly 25 percent will not live to see their 15th birthday. The Indian constitution grants women equal rights with men, but strong patriarchal traditions persist even today.

In most Indian families, a daughter is viewed as a liability, and she is conditioned to believe that she is inferior and subordinate to men. Sons are idolized and celebrated. May you be the mother of a hundred sons is a common Hindu wedding blessing. The rules laid down by Manu in 200 B.C.: "by a young girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in her own house". "In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent." On the contrast, the new generation X asks they have the right to drink or smoke in public, right to wear seductive cloths in public, right to take part in beauty contests, right to sleep with anybody she wishes.

They should not be interrupted in whatever they do. Should all these include in fundamental rights? Don’t you think that these so called new rights only reinforce the 'objectification of women', the feudal and/or the consumerist culture. Whenever any association opposes the beauty paegents or fashion shows , our “Miss India’s and crown girls’ do talk about feminism and women’s rights but has any celebrity model expressed any anguish at the higher rate of infant mortality among girls in rural areas?

Did anyone mention a sharp declining male-female ratio, existing female infanticide and increased selective abortion of the female fetus through sex determination? Did these models even know that every hour a woman is raped and every 10 minutes a crime is committed on a women somewhere in her country? Hard earned money that could have been spent on nourishing food to bring on a natural healthy look is used for buying artificial blushes and skin nourishers.

These artificial aids only worsen the condition if a woman’s general health is bad. Women’s groups and activists are objecting mainly to the ‘commodification’ of women as sex objects. "Women should be free to decide which beauty products to use. They should not be conditioned by advertising and a beauty contest culture. India’s constitution guarantees free primary school education for both boys and girls up to age 14 but India has the largest population of non-school-going working girls. Foremost is the view that education of girls brings no returns to parents and that their future roles, being mainly reproductive and perhaps including agricultural labor, require no formal education.

The "another disincentive for sending daughters to school is a concern for the protection of their virginity. Women work longer hours than men. Still, men report that "women, like children, eat and do nothing. If all activities — including maintenance of kitchen gardens and poultry, grinding food grains, collecting water and firewood, etc. — are taken into account, then 88 percent of rural housewives and 66 percent of urban housewives can be considered as economically productiveMothers breast feed their girl babies the reason of feeding for shorter periods of time reflects the strong desire for sons.

If women are particularly anxious to have a male child, they may deliberately try to become pregnant again as soon as possible after a female is born Conversely, women may consciously seek to avoid another pregnancy after the birth of a male child in order to give maximum attention to the new son." A study in Punjab shows that medical expenditures for boys are 2.3 times higher than for girls. Why a woman does so ? obviously , to fulfill her patriarchal family wishes.Male violence against women is a worldwide phenomenon.

Although not every woman has experienced it, and many expect not to, fear of violence is an important factor in the lives of most women. In recent years, there has been an alarming rise in atrocities against women in India. Every 26 minutes a woman is molested. Every 34 minutes a rape takes place. Every 42 minutes a sexual harassment incident occurs. Every 43 minutes a woman is kidnapped. And every 93 minutes a woman is burnt to death over dowry.

The most extreme expression of the preference for sons is female infanticide and sex-selective abortion. Women are kept subordinate, and are even murdered, by the practice of dowry. It is estimated that the average dowry today is equivalent to five times the family’s annual income and that the high cost of weddings and dowries is a major cause of indebtedness among India’s poor. There are too many contrasts between the Typical Indian woman and modern outgoing Indian woman. Should we say that womanhood has been divided in between two polarities? Between big dot on forehead and the hair style where vermillion finds no place.

The point is not to follow centuries old customs, but to maintain the grace and dignity of womanhood. To maintain herself in such way, her presence gives a feeling of proud of being a woman, no matter she be in any corner of the world. We must learn to accept women in all their diversity - tall, short, thin, fat, white or black....Let’s try to understand in real terms that "Beauty is not in the body but in the mind." Let’s try to improve women’s living conditions in real picture.

2008-10-14T00:01:00.003+05:30

The Temple Women- The Yellamma Cult

In southern parts of India, Goddess Yellamma is known for her abundance strength. She is also known as Jogamma, Holiyyamma, Renuka and by other such names. Her temples are located at Soudathi in Belgaum district, Chandraguthi in Shimoga district and Hulgi in Bellary district of Karnataka State. In neighboring states like Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh there are innumerable devotees of this Goddess.
History of the Deccan tells us that the ritual of temple women (or devadasis) was well established by the 10th century A.D. The Devadasis were invariably women, typically resided in the temples, and were educated as artists and courtesans. It is not clear if the Yellamma cult has its roots in the Devadasi tradition. There are many stories about the origin of the Yellamma cult. The most prevalent one says that Renuka was the daughter of a Brahmin, married to sage Jamadagni and was the mother of five sons. She used to bring water from the river Malaprabha for the sage's worship and rituals. One day while she was at the river, she saw a group of youths engaged themselves in water sports and forgot to return home in time which made Jamadagni to suspect her chastity. He ordered his sons one by one to punish their mother but four of them refused on one pretext or the other. The sage cursed them to become eunuchs and got her beheaded by his fifth son, Parashuram. To everybody's astonishment, Renuka's head multiplied by tens and hundreds and moved to different regions. This miracle made her four eunuch sons and others to become her followers, and worship her head.

The followers of Yellamma, who are mostly poor, and illiterate, take an vow to dedicate themselves, their spouses, or their children in the service of Goddess Yellamma when they are unable to face the hardships of life. The typical situations include life-threatening diseases, infertility, and dire financial troubles.

These are the people who are primarily responsible for propagating Goddess Yellamma's virtues and achievements and glorify the Goddess. An elaborate ceremony is held in order to initiate the Jogathis (female) and Jogappa (male) volunteers in the service of Goddess Yellamma. New followers have to bathe in three holy ponds and proceed to the head priest accompanied by community elders and other members of the family. The priests give them a long sermon on what they have to do please Yellamma. They have to identify themselves with the very poor and unfortunate ones and serve the society. At least twice a year they have to visit the Yellamma shrine on full moon days to express and confirm their obedience. During this semi-annual ritual, they have to observe preferably total nudity. If not, they have to cover their bodies with Neem foliage or scanty clothes. Such rituals, especially in the last decade, have become heavily publicized events due to the oversexed youngsters and tourists who gather around such pilgrimage centers to have glimpses of nude and semi-nude human bodies.

The devotees of Yellamma decorate their forehead by smearing turmeric (Haldi) and vermilion (Kum-kum). Usually they do not go in for expensive ornaments. Crowns, earrings and necklaces are made out of cowries. Some of them do not wear any ornaments at all. The male devotees dress like men, but many Jogappas prefer to dress like Jogathis (symbolic of the sons of Renuka who became impotent), although it is extremely difficult for them to hide their male characteristics. They sometimes engage in female sexual gestures. Thus, wherever Jogappas are around young males hover around them. The public enjoy themselves by hissing, shouting, whistling and calling names at them. The Yellemma followers just ignore them and go about their life.
The Jogappas acting like Jogathis should not be mistaken for natural or otherwise eunuchs (Hijras) who are primarily entertainers. The Hijras move in groups of three to five, play drums, clap, sing and dance for alms. They are born hermaphrodite or neuter. Hence their sexual organs are malfunctioning or non-functioning. But they make different gestures in order to arouse erotic urges among human males. These acts of theirs bring in good deal of money and some groups have made a fine profession out of it. They sometimes kidnap young boys and girls, castrate them and induct them into the profession. At various social functions such as weddings and child births, their presence is desired and hence demand a good remuneration.
Most of the time, the Jogathis carry a metal vessel or a bamboo basket on their head which stays stationary without any support. Hence it looks like it's part of their body. The followers of cult believe that it is their deity's blessings that made it possible. The basket or the vessel is meant to carry a brass bust of Yellamma. It is very artistically decorated with a great variety of flowers. Some Jogathis use different colored cloth for the same purpose. It is a sight to see them dance carrying the icon on their heads. They dance rhythmically in a predetermined pattern. One or two Jogappas play drums.
One of the most mysterious and misunderstood aspect of this extremely religious cult is, their intention to serve their deity by attending the needs of general public which includes fulfilling sexual urges of men around. This has led to the common belief that they practice prostitution. It is extremely unfortunate that the cult members social service has been misinterpreted and exploited as a profession. The various state Governments have since banned the nude parade of worshippers (most of whom were women of low caste) of Yellamma, after violent debates in the society about their rights and wrongs. The ban has resulted in resentment among the followers of Yellamma.

2008-10-13T23:56:00.000+05:30

Mar Jawaan - Fashion

2008-10-13T23:54:00.002+05:30

FASHION- MOVIE TRAILER

2008-10-13T23:54:00.001+05:30

Fashion Movie Trailer - Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut

2008-10-12T17:07:00.006+05:30

FASHION

2008-10-12T15:31:00.007+05:30

FASHION

After impressing the critics and audiences with his hard-hitting subjects like CHANDNI BAR, PAGE 3, SATTA and TRAFFIC SIGNAL the 3 time National award winner director Madhur Bhandarkar is back with a vengeance with the film FASHION, which depicts the dark and positive side of fashion industry. This is Madhur's most expensive film till date which stars Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Mughda Godse, Arjan Bajwa, and Harsh Chhaya primarily.

Apart from them a horde of other B-towners will be seen in cameos namely - Konkona Sen Sharma, Ranvir Shorey, Arbaaz Khan, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Karan Johar, Prahlad Kakkar, Daboo Ratnani, designers Wendell Rodricks & Manish Malhotra and last but not the least of all Madhur himself will be seen in a small cameo. This time Bhandarkar changes his loyalties from his favorite Shamir Tandon (music director of TRAFFIC SIGNAL, CORPORATE, PAGE 3) and tries out with aspiring Salim-Sulaiman for the needful in the musical section.

The lyrics are penned by Sandeep Nath and Irfan Siddique. A co-production of UTV Motion Pictures and Bhandarkar Entertainment, FASHION is all set to arrive in the month of October.

Synopsis:

The journey of the rise and fall and phoenix like re-birth of India's number one Supermodel. Set against the glittering backdrop of the glamorous but ruthless world of haute couture FASHION, this tells the story of one small town girl with a dream and the determination to make it a reality. Meghna Mathur knew in her bones that she was meant to be famous. Ever ambitious and bright with stars in her eyes, even as a girl with conservative parents from a small north Indian town - she dared to dream of bright lights and the big city..

The world of FASHION - the clothes, the colors, the make-up.. all of these form a part of a fascinating world that Meghna longed to be a part of. Meghna never wanted to compromise on anything on her journey to success - as she puts it - whoever said intelligent women couldn't be glamorous? She reaches the peak of her success and rises to walk the ramps for leading designers across India.

The FASHION world lies at her feet - the parties, the brand endorsements, the photographers, the models, the romance and of course - the shows, the shows, the shows! However karma catches up with Meghna as she slowly starts to pay the price for her fame and her journey to the top. Her attempt at a comeback was going to be a near impossibility.. However she was never a woman to turn away from a challenge.. FASHION explores the world of style through the emotional personal journeys of the key people that make the industry - the dream-weavers of that elaborate world of glamour: the models, designers, photographers, businessmen, agencies etc. In the world of image - makers - is it possible to conquer it and remain true to yourself?

Click to download

Aashiyana

Fashion ka jalwa

Theme of Fashion

Kuch Khaas

Mar Jawaan

2008-10-12T15:17:00.000+05:30

Weekly tips to help you and your colleagues become more effective and respected leaders.

Today's Topic: Communicate the Rules of the Game

People become confused when there are no established performance standards, when the rules are contradictory, or when the stated values are not being followed.
For instance, we may communicate that we respect employees’ time, yet we consistently begin our meetings fifteen minutes late – wasting fifteen minutes of everyone’s time. Perhaps we say employees are our most valuable assets, but we hire the first “warm body” we can find to be on the team. Or maybe we tell people that we value excellence, yet ask more and more from our top performers, while tolerating mediocrity and poor performance from others.

Earning employees’ trust begins with clearly establishing acceptable standards of behavior for the team. To do that, managers must first answer the question, “What are the team’s values?” Then they can determine the “rules of the road” and decide which behaviors are “non-negotiable.” If the standards are not clearly established, are continually changing, or are contradictory, you can’t expect to develop personal trust. After all, what would they be trusting?
When people understand the rules of the game, generally speaking, they will do their best to play by the rules.

2008-10-12T15:14:00.001+05:30

Weekly tips to help you and your colleagues become more effective and respected leaders.

Today's Topic: Be a Brand

Your brand is how people think of you. Tom Peters says that “a brand is a trust mark, it’s shorthand, it’s a sorting device.” Think of the well known brands – Coca Cola, Pepsi, Dell, Mac, or iPod. All of them are shorthand for a product. People can be brands, too. Here are several things you can do to ensure your brand is one of high integrity:

Be direct.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing so astonishes men as common sense and plain dealing.” Astonish people with your straightforward communication style.

Admit your mistakes.

We all make mistakes. When you own up to yours, you’ll gain a reputation as a straight-shooter – someone who is as honest with himself or herself as he or she is with others.

Deliver.

Become trusted by doing what you say you’ll do.
Keep confidences. Earn trust by being trustworthy. Avoid gossip. Respect privacy if someone entrusts you with personal information.

Give credit.

Do your job and give credit to others for doing theirs.
Choose associates carefully. Join only those organizations and associate only with those people whose values are in line with your own. If you aren’t comfortable with your surroundings, you’ll have a hard time making a positive personal impact.

2008-09-21T00:44:00.001+05:30

KIDNAP- MITT JAAYE

2008-09-21T00:43:00.001+05:30

KIDNAP- HEY YA

2008-09-21T00:39:00.001+05:30

KIDNAP- TRAILER

2008-09-14T17:07:00.027+05:30

KIDNAP

'Kidnap' is a high-octane edge-of-the-seat drama about a power tussle between a young boy and the father of the girl he kidnaps.Sonia ( Minissha Lamba ) lives with her mother, Mallika ( Vidya Malvade ) and grandmother because her parents divorced when she was ten. A week before her eighteenth birthday celebration, she gets kidnapped.The abductor, Kabir ( Imran Khan ) is interested in speaking only to her father, Vikrant Raina ( Sanjay Dutt ), an affluent New York-based Indian businessman, with whom he has an old score to settle.

Vikrant returns to India to retrieve his daughter from Kabir’s clutches but has to carry out a series of daunting tasks set out by Kabir as a condition to rescue her.At the end of each task is a clue that helps Vikrant in coming closer to Sonia.

Is Vikrant’s mission as easy as it seems? How far will a father go to save his daughter? What redemption is there for Kabir at the end?Imran Khan, who made his debut with the romantic Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na , sheds his chocolate hero image for 'Kidnap'.

'Kidnap' makes for compelling viewing as the big festival release on Eid.'Kidnap' is directed by Sanjay Gadhvi , who has directed Dhoom and Dhoom 2 and has music by Pritam , who became popular after 'Dhoom' .

Click to Download

Haan Ji ...

Hey Ya ...
Hey Ya -remix ...

Mausam ...

Meri Ek Ada Shola ...

Mitt Jaaye ...

2008-09-04T21:31:00.000+05:30

Mumbai Meri Jaan Trailer

2008-09-04T21:27:00.000+05:30

phoonk trailer

2008-09-04T21:18:00.000+05:30

Today's Topic: Improvise to Maximize

Great conversations result when there’s an easy give and take, a go-with-the-flow sensation, along with an acute sense that you are being heard at a deeper level than the normal chitchat. In this instance, good conversations resemble improvisational theatre. Improv actually depends upon all the actors paying close attention to each other and then working with whatever is presented to them. Let me repeat that: pay attention and work with whatever is presented. Select someone you’d like to (or need to) talk to. Open up the conversation by stating either why you’ve initiated the conversation or by asking an open-ended question. Then, practice these techniques:

Encourage talking by saying, “Yes…tell me more.” This means that no matter what is stated, don’t change the subject, get defensive, fail to listen, or ignore the response. You have the opportunity to create new and positive results by building upon whatever is said.
Don’t plan your response while the other person is speaking.

Seek what is provocative, interesting, or new in what you are hearing. There’s a gift somewhere. Trust me. Ask the other person to expand on something that intrigues you – even if it bothers you.

2008-08-09T14:48:00.002+05:30

STUPID QUOTATIONS!

So long as any amount shall remain unpaid under this note, the Borrower covenants and promises to that Bank that the borrower will not permit or suffer to exist any of the following conditions: death of the borrower.
American Security Bank loan agreement.

We're not afraid of challenges. It's like we always say: if you want to go out in the rain, be prepared to get burned.
Anonymous Brazillian Soccer Player

How to store your baby walker: First, remove baby.
Anonymous Manufacturer

Traffic is very heavy at the moment, so if you are thinking of leaving now, you'd better set off a few minutes earlier.
Anonymous Traffic Report

This is no longer a slum neighborhood. I haven't heard of a Cubs fan being shot in a long time.
Anonymous Wrigley Field Neighbor, Chicago, IL

We are unable to announce the weather. We depend on weather reports from the airport, which is closed, due to weather. Whether we will be able to give you a weather report tomorrow will depend on the weather.
Arab News report

Caution: Cape does not enable user to fly.
Batman Costume warning label

Sure the body count in this movie bothers me, but what are you gonna do? It's what everybody likes. At least its not an awful body count--it's a fun body count.
Bonnie Bedelia, actress, regarding the movie Die Harder

Well, I used to look like this when I was young and now I still do.
Yogi Berra, baseball catcher, manager

Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.
Yogi Berra, baseball catcher, manager

The other teams could make trouble for us if they win.
Yogi Berra, baseball catcher, manager

It was pretty good. Even the music was nice.
Yogi Berra, after attending an opera

Congratulstions on breaking my record. I always thought the record would stand until it was broken.
Yogi Berra, to Johnny Bench

What good is the moon if you can't buy or sell it?
Ivan Boesky, inside stock trader

I think "immoral" is probably the wrong word to use...I prefer the word "unethical."
Ivan Boesky, inside stock trader

The Minutemen are not tall in terms of height.
Dan Bonner, CBS sportscaster, during a UMass basketball game

The private enterprise system indicates that some people have higher incomes than others.
Gerry Brown, California governor

Our strength is that we don't have any weaknesses. Our weakness is that we don't have any real strengths.
Frank Broyles, college football coach

All I was doing was appealing for an endorsement, not suggesting you endorse it.
George Bush, US President

It's no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or another.
George Bush, US President

I have opinions of my own -- strong opinions --but I don't always agree with them.
George Bush, US President

2008-07-26T10:18:00.004+05:30

ROCK ON

Farhan Akhtar made a swashbuckling directorial debut with the youth-friendly DIL CHAHTA HAI (2001) that really set ground-breaking rules for modern filmmaking. This time he returns with a promise of holding many flags together in an album that shows the brawn to pioneer the spirits and feel of "hard-rock" music. ROCK ON, his forthcoming home-production marks his acting cum singing debut. The triumphant trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (S-E-L) and renowned lyricist Javed Akhtar makes another consequential outing with ROCK ON. The successful conglomerate made things brighter earlier with musical successes like DIL CHAHTA HAI and LAKSHYA. This time the feel is more experimental than contemporary in its packaging. Will this work? Let's check this out!

The zany electronic and rhythm guitar strumming followed by rigorous drum-beating sets the tempo for a typical "hard-rock" concert stylized number "Socha Hai Kya". Farhan Akhtar makes first sparkling vocal impact that is loaded with motivational wordings that concocts energetically with thriving arrangements. S-E-L makes spectacular use of "speed-enhancing techniques" in guitar works where the tempo and speed is sporadically raised to the highest volume. Farhan makes a confident start to the album with Javed saab's striking lyrical works ("Baadal Neela Kyon Hai...") and really sets the mood for "hard-rock" bonanza for the forthcoming soundtracks.

"Pichle Saat Dinon Main", a blazing rock song triggers off with a bombastic electric guitar strumming and gets accompanied with quizzical wordings ("Mera Laundry Ka Ek Bill...") about things lost in 7 days in a true concert feel style. Farhan makes another "rock star" appearance where the hook-line "Na Na Na Na" and frivolously played concoction of rhythm and electric guitar riffing in its middle preludes makes sound significance. Do play it louder and really feel the impulse of "hard-rock" concert that comes with racy energetic flows. The second version is "feel-good" concert number where vocalist energizes the crowd to sing with him. It picks up well with "Na Na Na" sounds with slower tempo that gets aggravated and finally culminates into a typical rock concert number.

Farhan Akhtar makes the maximum impact with his voice as his thriving vocals find a brilliant match of electric guitars, bass guitars, drums and keyboards in youthfully energized title track "Rock On". Undoubtedly the best number of the album; it signifies the feel of four "rock-stars" as their outrageously bizarre emotions are well emoted with zany "hard-rock" flows. The finely plucked electric cum rhythm guitar strumming followed with rhythmical drum-patterns delivers a harmonic signature feel of the film. S-E-L deliver a gem of hard-rock number that has the firing thrust of setting the concert floors on fire. This highly animated title track is likely to be having maximum takers among urbane listeners and do find it to be scaling high on charts in coming weekends.

Soulful and smoothening feminine textures epitomizing the captivating charms of a delightful evening gets mesmerized to perfection with delightful vocals of Dominique Cerejo in enchanting melody "Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein". This time S-E-L make effective use of delectable westernized arrangements to deliver a "soul" music ambience. The contours of lovable and genteel instrumentation are perfectly usurped with syrupy wordings with "bright as sunshine" vocals making this an everlastingly situational love track.

"Hard-metal" rock music makes its impulsive and animated maneuvers through Suraj Jagan's ferociously vocals, distorted loud guitar, dense bass and drum sounds and bizarre lyrical works in "Zehreeely". The continuous rigorous beat-patterns are ear-splitting where the voice screeches and yells to deliver a venomous feel of the protagonist. It's extra-vociferous and thunderous rendition is more akin to the situational needs.

Farhan Akhtar returns to scenario with a subtle and soft melody, "Tum Ho Tum", where he softens his vocals chords to deliver a mushy romantic appeal. The soft guitar strumming and sluggish percussion followed with a bass guitar lining tries to give it a theatrical feel. In this genteel number, one can feel the throw and flow of Farhan's voice that should work amiably in the tender moments in the film.

The fairy tales of "Sindbad the sailor" finds its motivational significance as "Sindbad" is idolized as stature of determination and dedication in snazzy sounding rock number "Sindbad the Sailor". Farhan finds the company of talented Raman Mahadevan as their voices complements and amalgamates well in tandem with rigorously punched "hard-rock" musical arrangements to deliver another worth-hearing number.

After the enchanting "Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein", impressive sounding Caralisa Monteiro's subtle vocals make mood mushier by ushering out emotions of dreams and hope in the magnificently rendered "Phir Dekhiye". S-E-L makes delectable use of rhythmical guitar and piano works that gel perfectly with silken feminine vocal moves. It's another delightfully gleaming soft number that will be adding dollops of sentimental delights in tender moments and surely will be making the singer proud of her remarkable rendition.

S-E-L deserves all accolades for adding the genre of "hard-rock" music in the marquee as they make aesthetically positive efforts in this album. ROCK ON is a tailor made product for urbane-cool listeners who have passion and understanding for "rock" music. The album's high points are tracks like "Rock On", "Pichle Saat Dinon Mein" and "Socha Hai Kya" while numbers like "Phir Dekhiye" and "Ye Tumhari Meri Baatein" have soulful impact. It's likely to be having major takers among lovers of the pop genre but its acceptance from hoi polloi is still unpredictable.

Rating -3.5

Songs- Click to download

Phir Dekhiye

Zehreelay

Pichle Saat Dinon Mein

Rock on

Sindbad the sailor

Socha hai

Tum ho to

Yeh tumhari meri baatein

Pichle saat dinon mein

2008-07-20T12:49:00.002+05:30

Today's Topic: Managing Performance in the Virtual Workplace

The virtual work environment provides unique performance management challenges. Addressing these proactively will have a positive impact on productivity, morale, and results. At the same time, the virtual workplace offers some distinct advantages to the performance management and evaluation process. Gone are the days of “face time” and the perceived sense that you know they’re working because you can see them sitting at their desk or workstation. In reality, the way you know that someone is working – and doing the right things the right way – is to have clear outcomes. In other words, you don’t really know that work is getting done unless you know what’s expected, how it’s to be done, and how it will be measured. This is where the virtual workplace has a positive impact on your need to manage performance effectively by requiring that clear expectations, behaviors, and measures be defined. When team members work remotely, you can’t totally control how they do their jobs, but you still need to manage their overall performance and results. It can be difficult – for leaders and employees – to discuss performance issues from a distance. Having a clear process with specific steps provides a guide and keeps everyone on track.

2008-07-12T12:42:00.000+05:30

Yaad Teri Aaye Jaaye -- Ugly Aur Pagli

2008-07-12T12:41:00.000+05:30

Ugly Aur Pagli - Karle Gunaah

2008-07-12T12:39:00.000+05:30

Ugly Aur Pagli - Talli

2008-07-12T12:38:00.000+05:30

Ugly Aur Pagli Promo

2008-07-12T11:45:00.000+05:30

Jee karda ~ Singh Is Kinng

2008-07-12T11:43:00.000+05:30

SINGH IS KINNG-BHOOTNI KE TIGER STYLE REMIX

2008-07-12T11:42:00.000+05:30

Behind-the-Scenes look at Singh is Kinng

2008-07-12T11:39:00.001+05:30

SNOOP DOGG - Singh is Kinng - RDB - Akshay

2008-07-12T11:33:00.001+05:30

SINGH IS KINNG

2008-07-12T10:47:00.009+05:30

Ugly Aur Pagli Movie Preview

Love has many takes. You have watched PYAAR KE SIDE EFFECTS, JUST MARRIED, CHAMELI, SHABD and HAZAARON KHWAISHEIN AISI under the banner of Pritish Nandy Communications. All of them explored relationships and gave a new spin to what love is all about. We have all heard of soft romantic comic love stories. But now get set for Pritish Nandy Communications yet another love story with a punch, a thud and some serious arm twisting thrown in with zero bedside manners - UGLY AUR PAGLI. UGLY AUR PAGLI takes the bakery. It's funny as hell. It has its beautiful moments too. UGLY AUR PAGLI is a debut venture for Sachin Khot as a director and PNC where the finest motion picture talent is incubated and has always encouraged realizing the true potential.

UGLY AUR PAGLI is about Kabir (Ranvir Shorey), a carefree guy who has been studying engineering for the last 10 years now, whose life goes for a sixer when he meets the quirky and kinky Kuhu (Mallika Sherawat). Kabir always wanted a girl to love but he never in his wildest dreams thought he would encounter a girl who could make him dance around circles, run semi naked, ride cycles without seats, wear high heeled ladies shoes... Oh trust us it gets worse. Get set for one of the quirkiest love stories of the year!

Characters

Mallika Sherawat

Post her success as the unforgettable Trisha in the biggest and most amazing romcom hit PYAAR KE SIDE EFFECTS, comes back in her new avatar as Kuhu, the'Pagli' of UGLY AUR PAGLI is an obnoxious, strong and witty girl who is totally out of control! She has a knack of reeling you into her life, enamouring you and disrupting your life in a way you never knew possible! Pagli has been going through personal crisis.

And she feels that the only way she can overcome it is to put someone else through what she's been going through. Which means scope out a loser guy, make him fall madly in love with her and then turn his life upside down! Call her'simply irresistible' or'a devil in disguise'; Pagli sure has her way of getting around most difficult situations. And when the devil is after you, all you can do is run! Because if she catches up, you'll be caught in her crazy web forever!

Ranvir Shorey

Kabir, aka the'Ugly' of UGLY AUR PAGLI, is cast in the role of a lifetime. He is rather boring, monotonous soul who has been studying engineering for the last 10 years. If it's one thing that Kabir always wanted, it's a girlfriend. But never ever, even in his wildest dreams (or nightmares) would he think that he would meet someone who would make him dance around in circles, run semi-naked, ride cycles without seats, wear high heeled ladies shoes and tons of quirky, kinky stuff. When Ugly meets Pagli one cold winter night at V.T station, his life gets turned upside down in unimaginable ways. Poor nerdy, goofy, charming, desperate Ugly tries hard to escape Pagli's clutches, but in the process ends up falling even more miserably in love with her! Will he survive all her insane demands and tantrums or will he run screaming for cover? Wait and Watch.

SONGS-CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Kar Le Gunnah ...

Kar Le Gunnah -Part 2 ...

Shut Up ...

Talli ...

Talli -Part 2 ...

Yaad Teri Aaye ...

Ye Nazar ...

2008-07-11T22:25:00.000+05:30

Today's Topic: Coaching the Falling Stars

Here’s something to consider: Even in the very best organizations, almost every manager will have to deal with at least one problem employee – uncooperative, emotionally unstable, chronically late, “just getting by” performance, etc. – each year. It may not make it easier, but you are not alone when it comes to the uncomfortable task of addressing performance problems. Falling stars represent only a small percent of any team. Yet some managers spend a great deal of their time with people in this group.

That means that the super stars and middle stars are not receiving the valuable coaching and other forms of attention from you that they need. And spending so much time dealing with performance problems doesn’t do a whole lot for the coach’s job satisfaction either. Sometimes when a team member consistently underperforms, the manager assumes that he or she has failed as a coach. That’s not necessarily true. A good coach helps employees get to where they need to be. But, ultimately, it’s each employee’s responsibility to decide whether to be a super star, a middle star, or a falling star.

Truth is, you can influence that decision but you can’t control it. If you have established a positive work climate, you have a decision to make with each problem. You can close your eyes, live with the situation, and accept the negative impact of your falling stars’ lower performance. Or, you can conduct a performance improvement session in which the employee will either commit to your standards – or choose to ignore the problem and face the logical consequences.

2008-07-06T12:55:00.008+05:30

SINGH IS KING

Synopsis :

Singh Is Kinng revolves around a gang of crooks transformed by a good man and his selfless love for a pretty girl…

Lakhan Singh aka Lucky (Sonu Sood) is the "king' of the Australian underworld accompanied by his associates (played by Javed Jaffrey, Neha Dhupia, Manoj Pahwa, Yashpal Sharma, Kamal Chopra and Sudhanshu Pande.) Far away, in a small village in Punjab, where Lucky was born, there exists someone more notorious than him – Happy Singh (Akshay Kumar). The village is fed up of his magnanimity, which has resulted in a number of hilariously disastrous situations. Out of desperation, they decide to send him on a long trip (that will keep him out of the village for a while!) to bring Lucky back to Punjab, as his despicable deeds were maligning their image in Australia.

The happy-go-lucky bumpkin, taking his mission a bit too seriously, embarks on his journey accompanied by his friend, Tony Singh (Om Puri), who hates Happy for dragging him into it.
The high point of his journey is his chance meeting with Sonia (Katrina Kaif) with whom he falls in love, but upon reaching his destination, things take a precarious turn as he runs into a series of comic misadventures, leaving him penniless. He is fortunate to find warmth and affection in an elderly lady (Kirron Kher) who helps him meet Lucky.

In a strange turn of events, an attempt on Lucky's life is foiled by a well-intentioned Happy who fights off the attackers by risking his own life. Following the hilarious altercation, Lucky lands up in hospital paralyzed, and Happy, unexpectedly, finds the tables turned on him when he is expected to assume the role of the new "kinng'!

The series of chaos, shocks and comic misunderstandings that ensue eventually result in redemption and an accidental wedding!

Shot in Punjab, Australia and Egypt, Singh Is Kinng marks superstar Akshay Kumar's re-entry into the action-comedy minefield. With plenty of romance, glamour, laugh-aloud moments and chartbusting music, it promises to be one of the most appealing and entertaining motion pictures of 2008.

SONGS- CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Bas Ek King ...

Bas Ek King -remix ...

Bhootni Ke ...

Bhootni Ke -remix ...

Jee Karda ...

2008-07-06T10:24:00.000+05:30

Today's Topic: Set the Example…And the Tone

LEADING BY EXAMPLE.

It’s both a management responsibility and a moral obligation. And, it’s the most powerful tool in your leadership toolbox. You have a strong influence on the thoughts and behaviors of your employees – probably much stronger than you think. Regardless of what appears on job descriptions or in employee handbooks, your behavior is the real performance standard that team members will follow.

They’ll rightfully assume that it’s okay and appropriate to do whatever you do. Why wouldn’t they? So it’s critical that you set the proper example and desired tone…that you model the performance and behavior you expect from others. Do otherwise, and you’re a hypocrite. Ouch!There’s no rocket science here – it’s pretty simple stuff. Just pretend that everyone on your team is from Missouri (“The SHOW ME State”). From conduct to commitment…attendance to attitude…respect to responsibility…work ethic to ethics at work – SHOW your people what you want them to do. Let employees know that, in order to be successful, all they have to do is play a game. The name of that game is…
“FOLLOW THE LEADER!”

2008-06-29T16:32:00.002+05:30

Kismat Konnection Teaser...

2008-06-29T16:30:00.000+05:30

kismat konnection tum hi ho -atif aslam !!

2008-06-29T15:53:00.001+05:30

KISMAT KONNECTION BAKHUDA TUMHI HO FULL SONG ATIF ASLAM

2008-06-29T15:50:00.001+05:30

Kismat Konnection

2008-06-29T15:49:00.000+05:30

Kismat Konnection Titile Song NEW

2008-06-29T15:44:00.010+05:30

KISMAT KONNECTION

After giving year's biggest success RACE TIPS' next KISMAT KONNECTION starring Shahid Kapoor & Vidya balan in principal roles alongwith Juhi Chawla is all set to scorch the screens from 18th July onwards. After months of speculation around romantic rendezvous of Shahid Kapoor and Vidya Balan, audience would finally get a chance to see it all happening for real. Well, if not off screen then certainly on the screen.

The promos of the film have begun and KISMAT KONNECTION turns out to be a refreshing tale. Why refreshing? Because at the helm of affairs is none other than Aziz Mirza, the director of successful films like CHALTE CHALTE, PHIR BHI DIL HAI HINDUSTANI, YES BOSS and RAJU BAN GAYA GENTLEMAN, who has indeed moved on with the times. Major portions of the film have been shot in Canada. The music of this romantic film has been scored by Music directors Pritam and duo talents Sajid- Wajid. The movie is being distributed worldwide by UTV.

Synopsis: In college Raj Malhotra (Shahid Kapur) was numero uno - in academics, sports, dramatics and touted as the next cover of Time magazine. But four years after winning the best-student-of-the-year trophy from his architectural college, he's wondering why a brilliant architect like him, with designs to set the Canadian landscape on fire, is still struggling to find that One Big Chance to showcase his mettle. It's almost as though some negative kismat is following him around because whenever something good is about to happen, it seems doomed to fail. Why else would his alarm refuse to ring, his shower stop midway, his car refuse to start - just when he's in a tearing hurry to reach a crucial meeting on time?

The end result is the same - the deal is dead or the client is dead! Desperate to fight this cussed kismet that's hell bent on playing such mean tricks on him, Raj meets a quirky oracle, Hasina Bano Jaan (Juhi Chawla). She tells him that soon his stars will change his stars and make everything work in his favour; but for all this to happen, Raj has first to find his lucky charm and never let go of it. But she tells him no more, leaving Raj mystified, trying to figure out what this charm could be. Because suddenly his life seems to be on the right track...

He's managed to impress top builder Sanjeev Gill (Om Puri), into giving him a prestigious project... He's succeeded in persuading pretty Priya that he's the Messiah who can save her beloved Community Center from destruction... and also opened her eyes to her philandering fiancé ( Amit Verma). He's even managed to thwart the evil designs of old-college-foe-turned-deadly-professional- enemy Dave Kataria (Manoj Bohra)... Does this mean that Raj has unwittingly discovered his lucky charm?

Has lady luck finally decided to smile on him? Where will his new found kismat ultimately lead Raj - to the height of love or pinnacle of success? Only Kismat Konnection can tell...

SONGS- CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

Bakhuda Tumhi Ho ...

Bakhuda Tumhi Ho -remix ...

Dhak Dhak Dhak ...

Dhak Dhak Dhak -remix ...

Kahien Na Laage ...

Move Your Body Now ...

Move Your Body Now -Part 2 ...

Tu Hai Meri Soniye ...

2008-06-29T15:27:00.001+05:30

LIMCA BOOK OF RECORDS

In 2006 August Chitraloka.com organised a photo exhibition of the stills of Kannada films that has been released starting from Sathi Sulochana released in 1934 to August 11 2006 released films in the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce which elicited a huge response and won lot of laurels for the mega portal. The occasion was Suvarna Karnataka year and the Kannada film industry had completed 72 years of its existence. Now, the portal gets another golden feather in its camp as Limca Book of Records has recognized this feat and has included the achievement in the list that is to be published in 2008 edition under Cinema Chapter. We thank all the channels, newspaper for giving wonderful coverage for chitraloka Photo Exhibition. Chitraloka is giving this video clip which was telectased in ETV Kannada.

2008-06-29T15:25:00.000+05:30

It was a smashing glory as Mohammed Zakir of Bhubaneshwar created a record by breaking open green coconuts with his elbow than anyone has done before. Zakir broke open 200 green coconuts with his elbow in a little over 3 minutes. A feat monitored by the Limca Book of Records.

2008-06-28T22:54:00.000+05:30

SHORT FUNNY QUOTES!!

"Bart, with $10,000, we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like...love!"Short and funny quote by, Homer J Simpson.

"When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car"Short funny quotes, Unknown.

"I'm an excellent housekeeper. Every time I get a divorce, I keep the house."Short funny quotes by, Zsa Zsa Gabor

"I remmember the time I was kidnapped and they sent a piece of my finger to my father. He said he wanted more proof."Short and funny quotes, Rodney Dangerfield

"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world," Calvin.

"Isn't your pants' zipper supposed to be in the front?" Hobbes.Short and funny quotes, Calvin and Hobbes.

"Cheese… milk's leap toward immortality." Short and funny quote by, Clifton Fadiman.

"Never stand between a dog and the hydrant."Short Funny Quote by, John Peers.

"You have a cough? Go home tonight, eat a whole box of Ex-Lax, tomorrow you'll be afraid to cough."- Short and funny quote by, Pearl Williams.

"Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh man....I could be eating a slow learner."Short and funny quote by, Lyndon B. Johnson.

"He's so optimistic he'd buy a burial suit with two pairs of pants." Short and funny quote by, Chuck Tanner.

2008-06-25T22:14:00.000+05:30

Mehbooba Sanjay Dutt's Forthcoming Movie Promo

2008-06-25T22:11:00.001+05:30

MEHBOOBA TRAILER

2008-06-23T21:27:00.003+05:30

Bible

The inspiration of the Bible depends upon the ignorance of the gentleman who reads it. -- Robert Green Ingersoll

Most people are bothered by those passages of Scripture they do not understand, but the passages that bother me are those I do understand. -- Mark Twain

The Bible is a window in this prison of hope, through which we look into eternity. -- John Sullivan Dwight

To say nothing of its holiness or authority, the Bible contains more specimens of genius and taste than any other volume in existence. -- Walter S. Landor

The Bible may be the truth, but it is not the whole truth and nothing but the truth. -- Samuel Butler

The total absence of humor from the Bible is one of the most singular things in all literature. -- Alfred North Whitehead

All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming more and more strongly the truths that come on high and are contained in the sacred writings. -- John F. Herschel

So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence. -- Bertrand Russell

If a man would follow, today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow the teachings of the new, he would be insane. -- Robert Green Ingersoll

John Wesley said that if you give up the witchcraft, you must give up the Bible. He is right. The choice is easy for me. -- Rupert Hughes

The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women's emancipation. -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton

It will yet be the proud boast of women that they never contributed a line to the Bible. -- George W. Foote

2008-06-22T14:18:00.003+05:30

This image has been posted in connection with a Phoenix Mars Lander news briefing on June 19, 2008.The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

2008-06-22T14:12:00.003+05:30

This image from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows the spacecraft's recent activity site as of the 23rd Martian day of the mission, or Sol 22 (June 16, 2008), after the spacecraft touched down on the Red Planet's northern polar plains. The mosaic was taken by the lander's Surface Stereo Imager (SSI). Parts of Phoenix can be seen in the foreground.

The first two trenches dug by the lander's Robotic Arm, called "Dodo" and "Goldilocks," were enlarged on the 19th Martian day of the mission, or Sol 18 (June 12, 2008), to form one trench, dubbed "Dodo-Goldilocks." Scoops of material taken from those trenches are informally called "Baby Bear" and "Mama Bear." Baby Bear was carried to Phoenix's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA, instrument for analysis, while Mama Bear was delivered to Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer instrument suite, or MECA, for a closer look.The color inset picture of the Dodo-Goldilocks trench, also taken with Phoenix's SSI, reveals white material thought to be ice.

More recently, on Sol 22 (June 16, 2008), Phoenix's Robotic Arm began digging a trench, dubbed "Snow White," in a patch of Martian soil near the center of a polygonal surface feature, nicknamed "Cheshire Cat." The "dump pile" is located at the top of the trench, and has been dubbed "Croquet Ground." The digging site has been nicknamed "Wonderland." The Snow White trench, seen here in an SSI image from Sol 22 (June 16, 2008) is about 2 centimeters (.8 inches) deep and 30 centimeters (12 inches) long. As of Sol 25 (June 19, 2008), the trench is 5 centimeters (2 inches deep) and the trench has been renamed "Snow White 1," as a second trench has been dug to its right and nicknamed "Snow White 2".

" The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

2008-06-22T13:51:00.003+05:30

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Delivers Soil Sample to Microscope

June 21, 2008

TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Saturday beamed back images showing that Phoenix’s Robotic Arm successfully sprinkled soil onto the delivery port of the lander's Optical Microscope. Mission scientists said enough of the fine-grained soil sample remains in the scoop of the lander's Robotic Arm for delivery to either the Wet Chemistry Lab or Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer. Both the Wet Chemistry Lab and the Optical Microscope are part of the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, instrument.

"We want to deliver similar soil samples to all three instruments," said Ray Arvidson, the mission's lead scientist for digging activities, from Washington University in St. Louis. The lander's Robotic Arm has been commanded to remain in an "up" position to hold the collected soil in the scoop until it can be delivered to the other instruments. The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of the University of Arizona with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, located in Denver.

International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

2008-06-22T13:38:00.000+05:30

Govt announces lifetime awards for four film personalities

Mumbai: To commemorate the 60th Anniversary of India's Independence, the Government of India will confer the One Time Award for Life Time Achievement to four film personalities - Dilip Kumar, Tapan Sinha, Lata Mangeshkar and Saroja Devi.In the first of the conferment, Sinha would be presented the One Time Award for Life Time Achievement in the field of film direction. In view of his failing health, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, the Governor of West Bengal will confer the Award on Tapan Sinha on 20 June at his residence in Kolkata.

This will be done in the presence of Union Minister of information and broadcasting P R Dasmunsi.The Award citation underlines Sinha's "…amazingly down-to-earth cinematic depiction of the struggles of the common man. His reputation as an uncompromising filmmaker, a celluloid iconoclast, puts him in a class of his own. A storyteller par excellence, Tapan Sinha's films such as Kabuliwala (1957), Haatey Bazaare (1967), Safed Haathi (1977) are well-crafted in terms of structure and technique, exhibiting his virtuosity and capability to handle a range of subjects with equal élan and sensitivity."

2008-06-22T13:35:00.002+05:30

Asha for Education declares India's Film Festival of Hope

Mumbai: Asha for Education announced that it will be hosting the first ever 'India's Film Festival of Hope' on 21 June from 1-9 pm in San Francisco.Through documentary films, photography and arts, this festival will paint the picture of underprivileged kids in today's India with a 'hope' of bringing them a better tomorrow.Asha San Francisco has brought together an exciting line-up of documentaries that include Raju and I, I want my Father back, The New Heroes: India, with Robert Redford, Child in law, Patta Patta Akshar Hoga, Born into Brothels, Calcutta Calling and Fragile Promise.

Born into Brothels won the Oscar for best documentary film, and Raju and I won the best-animated feature film award from the 52nd National Films Awards in India. Together with these films, this year, the festival will also feature photographs taken by the children from the workshops run by the NGO. The festival will also showcase Mithila paintings created by marginalized women in Northern India from PinkMango.

"Our focus is raising great awareness. We endeavour to present these breakthrough films, and offer a window into the real India through the eyes of talented documentary filmmakers. The hope, or should I say 'asha,' is to build a sound future for them," says Asha for Education director and coordinator Hemang Kapasi.

2008-06-22T13:34:00.000+05:30

Karan Johar takes to blogging; announces new Khan movie

Mumbai: Producer-director Karan Johar has taken to blogging. Johar's blog is called www.mynameiskaran.com. Incidentally, his next directorial venture is also titled similarly - My Name Is Khan.On his blog, Johar says, "My film is finally titled My Name is Khan (alvida, 'K') and it stars Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. This is my first official announcement."Incidentally, the names of all Johar directed films till date began with the letter K, namely Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.However, Johar is not the first director to get blogging. Directors like Sudhir Mishra, Anurag Kashyap, Hansal Mehta, Santosh Sivan and Onir have been blogging for long on a website called www.passionforcinema.com, where they discuss issues, put forth their viewpoints and interact with each other. Ram Gopal Varma also tried his hand at blogging.
While among the actors, it was the quintessential Aamir Khan who started the trend in Bollywood, the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and even Salman Khan followed suit.Johar will be posting on his blog as and when he can. However, it is unlikely that the frequency will be as high as that of Aamir Khan's entries on his blog.Johar's Dharma Productions is working on four films at present. Dostana, directed by Tarun Mansukhani, stars Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra with Bobby Deol in a special role. The film is slated for release by 2008 end.The second film is the animated version of his directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hain, which is titled Kootchie Kootchie Hota Hain. This will also be directed by Mansukhani and co-produced with Prana Studios. The film will have voices of Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji.The fourth film, which is yet untitled, will be directed by Rensil D'Silva and star Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi. This film will go on the floors in October 2008.

2008-06-21T14:04:00.007+05:30

AARTI

Aarti is generally performed two to five times daily, and usually at the end of a puja or bhajan session. It is performed during almost all Hindu ceremonies and occasions. It involves the circulating of an 'Aarti plate' around a person or idol and is generally accompanied by the singing of songs in praise of that deva or person (many versions exist). In doing so, the plate itself is supposed to acquire the power of the deity. The priest circulates the plate to all those present. They cup their down-turned hands over the flame and then raise their palms to their forehead - the purificatory blessing, passed from the deva's image to the flame, has now been passed to the devotee.
The aarti plate is generally made of metal, usually silver, bronze or copper. On it must repose a lamp made of kneaded flour, mud or metal, filled with oil or ghee. A cotton wick is put into the oil and then lighted, or camphor is burnt instead. The plate also contains flowers, incense and akshata.
The purpose of performing arati is the waving of lighted wicks before the deities in a spirit of humility and gratitude, wherein faithful followers become immersed in God's divine form. It symbolises the five elements:

1) space (akash),

2) wind (vayu),

3) light (tej),

4) water (jal), and

5) earth (pruthvi).

Communal Aarti is performed in the mandir; however, devotees also perform it in their homes.
Sometimes they also contain snippets of information on the life of the gods. Aarti songs are particular to each deva. The most commonly sung arati is that to Vishnu. Om Jai Jagdish Hare is known as "The Universal Aarti" and is another common aarti song. In Swaminarayan Mandirs, Jay Sadguru Swami is the aarti that is sung. In most temples in India, aarti is performed at least twice a day, after the ceremonial puja, which is the time when the largest number of devotees congregates

GAYATRI MANTAR IS UNIVERSAL PRAYER INVOKING DIVINE GRACE

Om Bhur Bhuvah Suvaha

Tat Savithur Varneyam

Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi

Dheeyo Yo Nah Prachodayat.

Translation

We Meditate on The Glory of Divine Light, Gayatri, Whose Effulgence illuminates the entire creation, embodied in the three states- Earth, Ether, Astral. That Supreme Light, may it remove our ignorance and enlighten our intellect

EKO OMKAR

SATNAM

KARTA- PURKH

NIRBHAY, NIROVAR

AKAL MURATH

AJUNI SAIBAN

GURUPRASAD JAP

AADH SACCH

JHUGADH SACCH

HAI BHI SACCH NANAK, HOSI BEE SACCH

Click to download

Translation

There is only one God- Omkar – Om

His name is always truth

He takes care of everybody and He resides in
everybody

He is not afraid of anybody

He is enemy to none

Time cannot kill Him

He does not come into birth cycle or he does
not take birth

He is self generated or He is born by himself

You meet such God with the grace of Guru

Recite His Holy name always

From the beginning he is the truth

He (truth) is born before yugas (periods of
time) Sathjug, Thretha Dwarpur Kaliyuga

Even now he is truth

Shree Guru Nanak says that he will be truth in
the future too.

He is unchangeable

His name is always truth

SHRI GANESH AARTI

CHORUS

JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH DEVA,
MATA JAAKI PARVATI, PITA MAHA DEVA
JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH DEVA,
JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH DEVA,
LADHUWAN KO BHOG LAAGE SANTH KARE SEVA, (SANT KARE SAVA
EK DAUNT DAYAWANT, CHAR BHUJA DHAREE, (CHAR BHUJA…
MATHE PAI SUNDHUR SOHEA, MUSEA KE SAWARE, (MUSEA KE SAWARE
DHUKHIYO KE DUKH HARAT PARMANAND DEVS,
JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH DEVA,
ANDAHAN KO AAKH DEAH, KOREAYAN KO KAYA, (KOREAYAN KO KAYA,
BHAJAHAN KO PUTRAH DEAH, NIRDHAN KO MAYA, (NIRDHAN KO MAYA,
BHAVA SE PAAR KARO NAATH, BHAJAN KARU THERA,
JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH DEVA,
JO THERA DHIYAN KARE, GIYAN MILE USKO,
GIYAN MILE USKO, GIYAN MILE USKO,
CHOR THUJHE AUR BHALA DHIYAOUN MEIN KISKO, (DHIYAOUN MEIN…
HAY DEVA KIRPA KARO KASHT HARO MERA
JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH DEVA,
JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH DEVA,
LADHUWAN KO BHOG LAAGE SANTH KARE SEVA,
JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH, JAI GANESH DEVA,

Click to download

SATHYA NARAYAN AARTI

JAYA LAKSHMI RAMANA, JAYA LAKSHMI RAMANA *
SATYANARAYAN SWAMI, JANA PATAK HARANA (JAYA)
RATAN JADIT SIMHASAN, ADBHUT CHAVI RAJEY
NARAD KAHAT NIRANJAN, GHANTA DHAVANI BAJEY (JAYA)*
PARAKAT BHAYE KALI KARAN, DHUJA KO DARASH DIYO
BHUDAU BRAHAMAN BANAKE KANCHAN MAHAL KIYO (JAYA)
DURBAL BHIL KATHOROA, JINPAR KREEPA KARl
CHANDRA CHUD EK RAJA, JIN KE BIPTI HARI (JAYA)
VAISHAY MANORATH PAYO, SHRADHA TAJ DINI
SO PHALA BHOGYO PRABHUJEE, PHIR STUTI KINI (JAYA)
BHAV BHUKHTI KE KARANA ,CHIN- CHIN ROOP DHARO
SHRADHA DHARAN KINI, OONAKO KAJ SARIYO (JAYA)
GWAL BAL SANG RAJA, BAN MEIN BHAKTHI KARI
MAN VANCHIT PHAL DHINO, DEEN DAYAL HARI (JAYA)
CHARHUT PRASAD SAWAYO, KADALI PHALA MEVA
DHOOP DEEP TULSI SEY RAJI SATYA DEVA (JAYA)
SATYA NARAYAN KE AARTI, JO KOYEE NAR GAVEY BHANAT DAS SOOKH SAMPATI MANA MANCHITA PHALA PAVEY (JAYA)

AARTI OM JAI JAGDISH HARE

OM JAI JAGDISH HARE, SWAMI JAI JAGDISH HARE,
GREETINGS TO THE CREATOR OF THE UNIV ERRSE, GLORY TO THEE

BHAKTA JANO KE SANKAT, DAS JANO KE SANKAT, KHYAN MEIN DUR KARE (OM , JAI)
HE BANISHES THEAGONIES OF DEV OTEES IN A MOMENT

JO DHYAVE PHAL PAVE, DUKH VINSHE MAN KA, (SWAMI DUKH ...)
OMNISCIENT GOD, DRIVE AWAY ALL OUR ILL FEELINGS

SUKH SAMPATEE GHAR AAVE, KASHTA MITE TAN KAN (OM, JAI....)
BLESS US WITH SERENITY, PEACE, PROSPERITY, DISSIPIATE ALL MISERIES AND DISEASES

MATAPITA TUM MERE, SHARNA GAHUN KISKI (SWAMI SHARNA...)
OMNIPRESENT CREATOR, MY FATHER AND MOTHER WHOSE ELSE’S PROTECTION
CAN I SEEK!

TUM BIN AUR NA DUJA, AAS KARUN JIS KI, (OM, JAI....)
WITHOUT THEE THERE IS NO ONE WHOM I CAN DEPEND ON

TUM PURAN PARMATMA, TUM ANTARYAMI ( SWAMI TUM...)
YOU ARE BLISSFUL SUPREME ; ETERNAL, OMNIPRESENT, OMNIPOTENT

PAR BRAHAM PARAMESHWAR, TUM SAB KE SWAMI,(OM JAI...)
OMNISCIENT YOUARE THE MOST EXALTED SUPREME BEING

TUM KARUNA KE SAGAR, TUM PALAN KARTA (SWAMI TUM...)
ALL BLISS AND MERCIFUL, YOU ARE PROTECTOR

MEIN SEVAK TUM SWAMI, KRIPA KARO BHARTA (OM JAI...)
I AM AT YOUR MERCY, GRANT ME THY GRACE

TUM HO EK AGOCHAR, SAB KE PRAN PATI (SWAMI SAB...)
YOU ARE SELF EXISTENT, INVISIBLE YET EVER PERVADING

KIS VIDHI MILUN DAYA MAY TUM KO MEIN KUMATI (OM JAI..)
GRANT ME WISDOM, I MAY HAVE A GLIMPSE OF THEE

DEEN BHANDHU DUKH HARTA, TUM RAKSHAK MERA( SWAMI TUM...)

FRIEND OF HELPLESS, DISPELLER OF SUFFERING, BENEVOLENT SUPREME

APNA HATH BADHAO, SHARAN PADU TERE, (OM JAI..)
BESTOWER OF ALL HAPPINESS, I SEEK THY REFUGE

VISHAYA VIKAAR MITA-O, PAAP HARO DEVA; (SWAMI PAAP..)
SUPREME BEING FREE US FROM PASSIONS AND TEMPTATIONS

SHRADHA BHAKTI BADAHO, SANTAN KI SEVA (OM JAI...)
GRANT US MIRTHFUL -DEVOTION TO SERVE THEE AND THY DEVOTEES

TANA MAN DHAN, SAB KUCH HAI TERA (SWAMI SAB...)
EVER PERVADING, WHATEVER I POSSES IS THINE AND THINE ONLY, NOTHING IS MINE

TERE TUJIKO ARPAN KYA LAGEA MERA (OM JAI…)

I OFFER YOU EVERYTHING THAT BELONGS TO YOU SELF-ELLUGENT GOD

Click to Download Om Jai Jagadish

Jai Shiv Omkara

Aarti kije Hanuman Lala ki

Jai Ambe Gauri

2008-06-20T20:42:00.000+05:30

Jaan Ve from Haal-e-Dil

2008-06-20T20:39:00.001+05:30

Haal-E-Dil - Theatrical

2008-06-20T20:30:00.002+05:30

Action

Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. -- Thomas Carlyle

Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action. -- Benjamin Disraeli

Good actions ennoble us, and we are the sons of our own deeds. -- Miguel de Cervantes

Give me the ready hand rather than the ready tongue. -- Giuseppe Garibaldi

A man who waits to believe in action before acting is anything you like, but he's not a man of action.. You must act as you breathe. -- Georges Clemenceau

What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Action to be effective must be directed to clearly conceived ends. -- Jawaharlal Nehru

The actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts. -- John Locke

Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen. -- Peter Marshall

Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing. -- William Shakespeare

Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also, in our day and generation, may not perform something worthy to be remembered. -- Daniel Webster

Periods of tranquility are seldom prolific of creative achievement. Mankind has to be stirred up. -- Alfred North Whitehead

You will be better advised to watch what we do instead of what we say. -- John N. Mitchell

Think like a man of action and act like a man of thought. -- Henri Bergson

Every action of our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity. -- Edwin Hubbel Chapin

Thought is the blossom; language the bud; action the fruit behind it. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Positive anything is better than negative nothing. -- Elbert Hubbard

I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act. -- Gilbert K. Chesterton

It is by acts and not by ideas that people live. -- Anatole France

Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame. -- Mahatma Gandhi

The best way out is always through. -- Robert Frost

When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isn't a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking. -- Georges Clemenceau

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Mark this well, you proud men of action! you are, after all, nothing but unconscious instruments of the men of thought. -- Heinrich Heine

Thought and theory must precede all salutary action; yet action is nobler in itself than either thought or theory. -- William Wordsworth

The wise man does at once what the fool does finally. -- Baltasar Graciánn Baltasar

2008-06-20T20:19:00.002+05:30

Achievement

Every man who is high up loves to think that he has done it all himself; and the wife smiles, and lets it go at that. -- James Matthew Barrie

Death comes to all But great achievements build a monumentWhich shall endure until the sun grows cold. -- Georg Fabricius

The reward of a thing well done is to have done it. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mere longevity is a good thing for those who watch Life from the side lines. For those who play the game, an hour may be a year, a single day's work an achievement for eternity. -- Gabriel Heatter

The mode by which the inevitable comes to pass is effort. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified. -- Samuel Johnson

Let us, then, be up and doing,With a heart for any fate;Still achieving, still pursuing,Learn to labor and to wait. -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I feel that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more. -- Jonas Salk

Do not attempt to do a thing unless you are sure of yourself; but do not relinquish it simply because someone else is not sure of you. -- Stewart E. White

2008-06-20T19:45:00.008+05:30

Haal-e-Dil

Introducing three newcomers, ‘Haal-e-Dil’ promises to be a heart-winning romantic movie.The film is primarily the launchpad of Amita Pathak, the doted daughter of producer Kumar Mangat. It also introduces two debutants – Adhyayan (Shekhar Suman’s son) and Nakuul Mehta.

Character Sketches:view Amita Pathak videos (new) as Sanjana

Sanjana may be pretty romantic but she has her head firmly on her shoulder. She doesn’t care a damn whether the man of her dreams is rich or poor. What matters most is that he should come closest to her seven wonders.

Adhyayan as Rohit

Rohit loves and lives kingsize. He holds nothing back. Used to getting his way always, he will defy life itself when kept away from the only girl he loves.

Nakuul Mehta as Shekhar

Shekhar is an incorrigible flirt who seems to take a perverse pleasure in getting beaten up. Although his naughty ways and twinkling eyes may mislead you, when it comes to the girl he loves, he is ready to do whatever it takes to win her over.Synopsis: When love is not madness…it is not love.‘Haal-e-Dil’ is the story of Sanjana for whom love is chaste and sacred. For her love is not part of life, but life itself.

This is the story of Shekhar who keeps falling for every girl he meets and loves to be in the perennial state of love, not realizing that soon he is going to meet a girl who’ll challenge his very definition of love and life.This is the story of Rohit who will love so deeply, so fiercely that nobody and nothing will have the power to keep him away from his love.

This is the story of a girl who finds herself at the crossroads of life where she has to choose between her perfect love and a perfect stranger. What will she do?What would you do? Fall for a man who is completely wrong for you? Or keep faith with the man you have always loved and vowed to love always?

‘Haal-e-Dil’ is the tale of ordinary people who go to extraordinary lengths for the sake of love.Produced by view Kumar Mangat videos (new) and directed by view Anil Devgan videos (new) , the film also has view Ajay Devgan videos (new) and view Kajol videos (new) in a special appearance in a song. ‘Haal-e-Dil’ is slated to hit the theatres on June 20.

Songs- Click to download

Aag Lage Aaj ...

Haal-e-Dil ...

Jeete Hoon ...

Khwahish ...

Oye Hoye ...

Rang ...

Rani ...

2008-06-19T12:34:00.002+05:30

Zindagi Tere Naam- TU MUJHE SOCH KABHI

2008-06-19T12:33:00.000+05:30

Zindagi Tere Naam - Soni Soni

2008-06-19T12:32:00.000+05:30

SUMMER 2007

2008-06-19T12:23:00.001+05:30

SUMMER 2007- TRAILER

2008-06-18T19:06:00.015+05:30

SUMMER 2007

Movie Review

What's wrong with SUMMER 2007? Plenty I guess. For starters, There is no real focus, neither is there a clean stitch in the shift in scenes. The intention is good but the execution is juvenile. I wonder if director Suhail Tatari is in the winter of his career (pun intended). When the movie ends, there is a line saying that this film is a tribute to the farmers of the country.

It also rolls out statistics of farmer suicides and information that the change in government at the Centre did not really bring down the numbers. Fine. But if the intention was to focus on farmers, their plight, and a tribute to the 'Jai Kissan' slogan why deviate from the plot, enter into the campus of a medical college, and take the audience for an almost three-hour ride? Also, why bother showing college politics and student bickering and try to tell 10 stories within one story. In that case, Tatari should have taken the DUS KAHANIYAN route. The movie begins with a disgusting reference to a real case, which happened in Delhi. Just two years ago, the guilty was awarded the death penalty. I think to even mention the name and repeat the dialogue in print would be being insensitive. One of the characters (Rahul) Sikander Kher mouths this dialogue.

If the intention of the director was to drive home the point of the indifference of the youth, he could have used a fictitious name. More importantly, did the Censor Board sleep through this dialogue? Anyways to get back to what's left of the movie... Rahul and his three medical college friends are shown talking about girls and smoking 'joints'. You get a feeling that this story is about 'out of control' youngsters. But it's not. The camera then moves into the medical college, to focus on campus problems and elections.

You then expect some college fest. But before you can say 'Jack Robinson' Rahul and his two friends along with Gul Panag, who is strangely referred to as Mother T (Mother Teresa?) and Uvika Choudhary (is she a twin sister of Karishma Modi, the former Femina Look of the Year Winner?) opt for a training programme in rural Maharashtra to escape the elections. Why? Because of politics, silly.

There they witness farmer suicides and village politics. Again, it is not clear to the viewer what the director is trying to focus on. One particular 'Shankya' (Sachin Khedekar) is suddenly thrown on screen as some sort of saviour who has come out with a new micro something scheme to help the farmers with their loans. And the moneylender (Vikram Gohkale) is not too pleased with him. He wants him dead. What's really the pick of this flick is Ashutosh Rana and his performance. This man here puts in a superlative performance that puts all the other actors in the shade. Simple, subtle, impressive, totally seeped within the character he portrays.... I could go on and on about him. Just for him, go and watch this flick.

Jai Ashutosh Rana

Ratings : 1/5

Songs- click to download

Baalo Mein Sone Wali ...

I Just Wanna Fly ...

Jaage Hain Baad ...

Jaaniye ...

Jaaniye -sad ...

Kash Mein Kaash ...

Summer 2007 ...

Summer 2007 - remix ...

2008-06-16T13:34:00.006+05:30

Zindagi Tere Naam

Mithun Chakraborty has a double bill now

There is a lot happening in the lives of Chakrabortys. A few days back Mimoh Chakraborty finally had a release to his name in the form of JIMMY. The film has turned out to be a colossal flop and is best forgotten by everyone associated with it. However, there is hardly much time for the family to sit back and introspect on the pathetic show of Mimoh's launch-pad since weeks to follow would see as many as two films starring Mithun Chakraborty in the lead. While coming Friday i.e. 23rd May would see Mithun do his AGNEEPATH South Indian act once again in DON MUTHUSWAMI, a week later would see the veteran actor in a mature love story ZINDAGI TERE NAAM.

Coming with a tag line of 'Behind every great story is a love story', the film's USP lies in the pairing of Mithun and Ranjeeta who were once a hot couple in the early 80s. Common factor between both the films though is near to negligible promotion which has resulted in zero hype or buzz. Though each of the two films is set on a meager budget, the way they are being brought to the theaters is nothing less than being suicidal.

Worse, they are coming on the weeks when there are as many as 2-3 other releases happening in parallel. Now it has to be seen which of the three films would turn out to be a better box office grosser - DON MUTHUSWAMI, ZINDAGI TERE NAAM or perhaps JIMMY

Songs- Click to download

Ajnabee Sa Lagta Hai ...

Kya Khatta Ho Gayee ...

Milne Ko Nahi Aaye ...

Tauba Tauba ...

Trishna Trishna Dil ...

Tu Mujhe Soch Kabhi ...

2008-06-15T12:45:00.012+05:30

MISSION ISTANBUL

‘Mission Istanbul’ is an action thriller based on the subject of international terrorism. The film tells the story of a journalist who gets his hands on top-secret information on dreaded terrorists.The movie stars Zayed Khan, Vivek Oberoi, Sunil Shetty, Shabbir Ahluwalia and Shreya Saran in main roles. Abhishek Bachchan makes a special appearance.

Zayed Khan as Vikas SagarVikas Sagar would go anywhere for a scoop, risk his life and limb to get an exclusive story that nobody else can. It’s for this precise reason Vikas is a familiar face watched by six million viewer’s weeknights on TV-24. Ambitious, popular and professional, Vikas is considered one of the most promising journalists in the business.Sunil Shetty as Owais Husain

Owais Husain is a senior producer at the controversial Istanbul-based Al Johara, widely criticized as the mouthpiece of terrorists or as their network of choice. Owais makes Vikas an offer to head the channel’s proposed Indian bureau for an outrageous salary and other perks. Shreya Saran as AnjaliAnjali is Vikas’s divorced wife. She is an equally feisty journalist whose desire to have a baby leads to their separation – because her husband wants her to wait a little longer and seems to be in no mood to start a family. Vivek Oberoi as Rizwan

Rizwan is a former Turkish commando, who knows a great deal about the inner workings of Al Johara channel. He is the man who shows the way to Vikas when the latter finds himself stuck in a deadlock situation.

Synopsis

When Owais Husain offers Vikas to join Al Johara, Vikas almost can’t refuse because of the channel’s controversial profile which ensures that it’s seen by everyone globally, including the White House. It certainly would take Vikas’s career to another level. But little does Vikas know that his life is about to change when he takes the flight to Istanbul on a three-month orientation program at the channel’s headquarters.

While Al Johara is one of the most viewed channels in the world, its reputation has been largely built as the mouthpiece of a dreaded terrorist. Abu Nazir, who is on the most wanted lists of both the Interpol and FBI, is vociferous in his threat to wage war against several countries, including India. A threat he usually delivers via videotapes to Al Johara. On the flight Vikas finds himself seated next to a stunningly beautiful co-passenger who hates flying. Lisa Lobo is headed for Istanbul to attend a medical convention – or so she claims.

In her obvious discomfort, she turns to an amused Vikas for moral support and distraction from the reality of being airborne. Once in Istanbul, Vikas’s initial impression of AL JOHARA is in sharp contrast to its notorious reputation. There is only one word of caution to Vikas and that’s never ever to venture onto the 13th floor known as the Catacomb. As part of his orientation, Vikas gets hands-on experience in the AL JOHARA newsroom where he watches ghastly and exclusive news reports of terrorism.

He learns more about Abu Nazir, who is described as “a one-man organization whose existence revolves around a single person.” Vikas is told that it is extremely difficult to find out any details about Nazir’s private life and his habits because such information would help the secret services who are looking for him. Reeling under the impact of the reality bytes at work, Vikas’s only relief is his flirtatious encounters with Lisa and the lively company of soldier-turned-journalist Owais Husain who is looking forward to quitting his job and settling down with his Irish girlfriend.

But on an assignment to cover kidnapped journalists in one of Abu Nazir’s terrorist camps in Afghanistan, Vikas is shocked when Abu Nazir’s brother, Khalil, brutally executes Owais Hussain just before a UN peacekeeping force mounts a rescue operation. Reeling at this close encounter with terrorism and watching a brutal killing, Vikas returns to Istanbul in a daze and is approached by a former Turkish commando, Rizwan Khan, who hints that no senior employee has ever quit Al Johara without being killed. Rizwan tells Vikas a list of names who have met the same fate as Owais.

Vikas is quickly reminded of Owais Husain expressing the same to him. Rizwan poses a few more questions about Al Johara – like why Abu Nazir speaks only to Al Johara – and leaves quietly.Vikas discreetly runs a check on the names rattled off by Rizwan and discovers he was indeed telling the truth. Five Al Johara staffers before Owais Husain had either died in a car bomb explosion, abducted and killed or simply found dead. It sends a chill through Vikas’s spine. Vikas slowly notices that not everything is as simple as it looks in the offices of Al Johara, especially when he seems to bump into strangers whose faces he soon recognizes as suicide bombers in a couple of terrorist attacks.

The deeper Vikas digs into Al Johara history and operations, the more questions crop up in his mind. And then he makes the cardinal mistake of straying onto the 13th floor.Vikas is tortured for straying onto the 13th floor, double crossed by Lisa and watches wife Anjali narrowly surviving a suicide bomb attack in Srinagar.Vikas has no choice but to ally with Rizwan after he makes a shocking revelation that Abu Nazir is dead but being kept alive by Al Johara through videotapes by using digital images of the terrorist and doctoring old footage.

Thereafter Vikas Sagar steals the secrets locked away on Al Johara’s 13th floor and becomes a man on the run – wanted by Turkish cops, terrorists, the CIA and Lisa Lobo! From wielding a mike before a television camera, he is forced to wield a gun and join Rizwan in a bloody mission against international terrorism.‘Mission Istanbul’ is directed by Apoorva Lakhia . The film has story by Suresh Nair and is produced jointly by Sunil Shetty, Shabbir Boxwala, Shobhaa Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor.

Songs- click to download

Apun Ke Saath ...

Jo Gumshuda ...

Mission Mission ...

World Hold On ...

Yaar Mera Dildaara ...

2008-06-14T18:36:00.004+05:30

Thodi Life Thoda Magic

A promising cast of Arbaaz Khan, Parmeet Sethi and Meera Vasudevan adds the much need spice. What’s the difference between mere existence and enjoying life with all it’s ups and downs? Well, not much but with a little magic even an ordinary life could turn into something great.

Believing in just that, the Lal Dupatta Malmal ka and Bhaghban actor, Saahil Chadha is now out with an interesting and gripping storyline with Thodi Life Thoda Magic. The movie also sees the return of pretty actress Anita Raj. Exploring a premise where the quest for success, fame, money and love is under the scanner, the touch of magic is then brought in by Jackie Shroff. A promising cast of Arbaaz Khan, Parmeet Sethi and Meera Vasudevan adds the much need spice. Jackie meets each of these characters and simply refashions their life.

So much so that they start to enjoy the moments which were passing them by, rather unnoticed. Actor-producer Saahil Chadha dons a new, creative look in the movie and says, This story is about all of us. When we yearn for material gains, we forget to count our little blessings. But surely, sometimes, all we need is a little magic.”

Songs- Click to download

Maana Ye Aaj Hum Ne ...

Thoda Sa Ghum Ho Thodi Khushi Ho ...

Tune Kahi Aur Maine Maani ...

Ye Mast Hawa Jo ...

Zindagi Zindagi Kaisi Hai Tu ...

2008-06-13T20:17:00.006+05:30

Mere Baap Pehle Aap

What happens when a naughty kid gets hold of a ball of wool? He rolls it open and swathes it around the entire house, creating a terrific mess of complicated entanglements and accident-prone tripping zones.Quite a few of Priyadarshan's comedies resemble such a scenario. They are insanely chaotic, and, more often than not, lead to nowhere. That wouldn't really be a valid crib if one got a few laughs and entertained in the process.

Mere Baap Pehle Aap kickstarts with a bikini-clad Mumait Khan soaking in the sun and sand, in the company of a dozen other equally under-dressed nymphs providing drool material for a lustful Om Puri and his tacky wig. It's like the makers decided to pack in as much forced hotness possible, in the first five minutes of the movie itself.The next twenty minutes involve a salacious Puri convince his dough-kneading best buddy Paresh Rawal to help him bride-hunt who hasn't reached her 'expiry date'.

Predictably, the mission goes kaput and they get in trouble with She-Cop [Archana Puran Singh, who else?]. Even as you recover from Singh's volley of bawdy metaphors, Akshaye Khanna comes to the rescue. And I mean that so literally [and gratefully]. The feeling doesn't last too long. Before you know it he's mouthing his own share of 'Bhains ki bachis!'What's worse is that this entire caught 'n' rescued sequence is repeated thrice and in quick succession.

Aesthetics, clearly, have no place in Priyadarshan's latest madness, said to be inspired by Malayalam flick, Ishtam. Having said that, Mere Baap Pehle Aap isn't a complete goner, either.There are moments when you slip into your seat, comfortably viewing the effortless and endearing chemistry between Paresh Rawal and Akshaye Khanna playing an unconventional father-son pair. Paresh Rawal plays the perfectly adorable and compliant daddy to Akshaye's admonishing, authoritarian son.

Besides exuding mutual warmth and taking well-timed cues, both the actors give each other respectful space, all of which is palpable on and off-screen. Oddly, the significance of its title --son marrying off widower father to estranged childhood sweetheart [Shobana] looking elegant as ever and clad in gorgeous saris. Too bad she's only required to frown or sob through the film] -- is realised alarmingly late in the film.On the positive side that provides the romantic track, between Akshaye and the disarmingly lovely Genelia D'Souza, ample screen space to bloom convincingly.

As evident in the super-duper Telugu rom-com, Bommarillu, Genelia, besides her apparent cuteness, brings in tons of freshness and traits to the youthful characters she chooses to play.Speaking of characters, Om Puri is grossly miscast in a role tailor-made for Johnny Lever. The actor known for his electrifying performances takes the standard of hamming to an altogether unexplored level here. And you thought he has done it all in Buddha Mar Gaya. Also, whose idea was it to take so many unflattering close-ups of the guy?

The problem with Mere Baap Pehle Aap is its stubborn display of inconsistency.It starts off like a B-grade version of Basu Chatterjee's Shaukeen, changes into a crazy game of Chinese Whispers, develops into a feel-good tale of a father-son and his fun-loving girlfriend, detours to do some heavy-duty Kerala tourism only to drastically meander into a old-fashioned social melodrama followed by a proverbial 'kahani mein twist'.

Songs- Click to download

Ishq subhan allah

Jaana hai tujhko

Maine hawa ke paron

Mere Baap pehle aap

Shamma Shamma

2008-06-13T16:11:00.003+05:30

Today's Topic: Responsibility

Ever wonder who THEY are? THEY seem to be everywhere. THEY must be a big and powerful group with a great deal of influence, because we sure do talk about them a lot:

“They should know better!”

“That’s their problem!"

“They need to do something about this!”

“It’s all because of them!”

“They’re the ones who fouled things up!”

No need to ask if those sound familiar. Who among us hasn’t pointed a finger at THEM before? “They” and “them” are common pronouns – part of normal, everyday speech. We utter them all the time. And when it comes to building good character and walking the talk, they may be the absolute worst words in our language. Why? Just look at what “they” and “them” mean: OTHER PEOPLE, SOMEONE ELSE. You don’t have to be a genius to know that those words are dripping with non-responsibility.

Maybe it’s time we all did some word switching. Imagine what would happen – think of how our perspectives might change – if we stopped using “they,” “them,” and “their” altogether, and instead used “we,” “us,” and “our.”

Let’s see:

“THEY WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS!”

“THAT’S THEIR OUR PROBLEM!”

“IT’S UP TO THEM US!”

“THEY WE NEED TO DO WHAT’S RIGHT!”

See and feel the difference?

So, the next time you catch yourself starting to say or think the T-word (“they”), use “we” instead. After all, the first step in meeting our responsibilities as adults is acknowledging that we have them. You know, pointing the finger at them probably is a waste of time, anyway. We’re beginning to think they don’t exist. Because…

Every time we’ve gone looking for “them,” all we’ve found is US!

2008-06-10T14:18:00.001+05:30

Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic Trailer

2008-06-10T13:50:00.000+05:30

JAANE TU YA JAANE NA PROMO FT.AAMIR'S NEPHEW IMRAAN KHAN

2008-06-10T13:42:00.002+05:30

Jaane tu Ya jaane na- Pappu cant Dance

2008-06-10T13:41:00.002+05:30

Jaane tu ya Jaane naa Trailer.. - kabhi kabhi

2008-06-10T13:35:00.001+05:30

DE TAALI TRAILER 2

2008-06-10T13:28:00.002+05:30

DE TAALI TRAILER

2008-06-09T12:30:00.002+05:30

Sarkar Raj

2008-06-09T12:26:00.004+05:30

Sarkar Raj Trailor

2008-06-09T11:39:00.014+05:30

Sarkar Raj

Sarkar Raj is widely believed to be the make or break film for Ram Gopal Varma, director of the epic disaster Aag (remake of Sholay). But one must not forget the unforgettable classics like Satya, Company, Rangeela and Sarkar that RGV has delivered over the years. Back to Sarkar Raj, the expectations are high for several reasons.

The Bachchans - Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya - share screen space for the first time since the much celebrated Ash - Abhishek wedding last year.

Sequel to the 2005 blockbuster Sarkar, which was critically acclaimed too.
Ram Gopal Varma is a master in this genre.
So does Sarkar Raj manage to live upto expections?

Sarkar Raj Story

Anita Ranjan (Aishwarya Rai) Chief Executive Officer of the International company, Sheppard Power Plant presents a power plant project before Sarkar, which is to be setup in rural Maharastra. Sarkar disapproves the projects as the land chosen is home to over 40,000 villagers. Shankar Nagre (Abhishek Bachchan) is quick to realize all the benefits the power plant can bring to the people of Maharastra and to the growth of the state.

Shankar convinces Sarkar and embarks on a journey with Anita to the villages of Maharastra to muster public support. But things take a new turn. The controversial project leads to a political minefield. The evil forces gang up to bring down the Sarkar legacy and displace Shankar.

Sarkar Raj Review

With a powerful but not-without-its-share-of-flaws script, Ram Gopal Varma proves yet again, that he is a master at this genre of film making. His execution of the script is praise-worthy. Basically what works for Sarkar Raj is the performances, direction and the twists and turns. Some sequences just hit you hard, the unexpected happens. The second half takes the movie to a different level, its powerful its got a lot of shock value attached to it and the climax is thrilling. Background score is fantastic, the chants of “Govinda Govinda” in the background adds to the overall thrill. The cinematography (Amit Roy) is top notch. The close-up shots, in abundance throughout the movie, have been captured and performed well. The editing is crisp and brilliant.
A few scenes that make an impact.

- Abhishek about to touch Dilip Prabhawalkar’s feet, but is stopped.- The sequences that follow just when Abhishek accepts Aishwarya’s love for him.- When Ash asks Abhishek about his life’s most difficult decision.- The climax. Outstanding!
But Sarkar Raj is not without its share of flaws, more in the script than the execution. (Spoiler Warning). The love-angle between Aishwarya and Abhishek isn’t convincing. More so when its barely days since the tragic death of Abhishek’s wife Tanisha, who is expecting a kid. Aishwarya’s character too is under developed and unconvincing.

Coming to the performances of Sarkar Raj, Abhishek Bachchan’s character demands intensity, but he looks more angry than intense. Overall a good performance nonetheless. Aishwarya Rai looks great, performs well throughout. Tanisha Mukherjee is decent in a small role. Dilip Prabhawalkar is excellent. Every other supporting character actor in Sarkar Raj is brilliant.
But then, one man outshines every other actor who shares screen space. His dialogue delivery and the intensity that he displays, just through his eyes, without uttering a word is mind blowing.

No prizes for guessing. Sarkar Raj is Amitabh Bachchan’s show all the way. Truly truly a Legend!

Overall, Sarkar Raj is a great movie for the weekend. A worthy sequel to the brilliant Sarkar of 2005. At the box-office, the movie is sure to grow with strong word of mouth and should prove to be a winner in coming weeks.
Highly Recommended.
Rating: 4/5

Songs- Click to download

Chaah Bhanwar Trishna ...

Jalte Rawan ...

Jalwa Re Jalwa ...

Jhini Jhini Si ...

Saam Daam ...

Saher Saher Ko Hajharon Sawaal ...

Subah ...

The Govinda Chant ...

The Govinda Groove ...

The Govinda Theme ...

The Govinda Trance ...

2008-06-08T21:00:00.010+05:30

LOVE STORY 2050

Music Review

In last few weeks, music stands have seen the arrival of quite a few albums which have Anu Malik credited as a composer. While he has contributed along with other composers for Woodstock Villa, Anu Malik has run the show entirely for Hastey Hastey and Anamika. However, none of them can be termed as a true blue comeback for the man who once upon a time used to deliver countless chartbuster songs.

His last big album was Umrao Jaan but it bit the dust. Now with Love Story 2050 looking at hitting the screens, one can finally see Anu Malik indeed making a big comeback. Big, because creating a soundtrack for a newcomer is always a challenging task. In Bollywood scenario, music has always played an intrinsic role in deciding the future of a future superstar.

Picture this: - Anand Milind have done it for Aamir Khan (Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak)- Nadeem Shravan have done it for Shah Rukh Khan (Deewana)- Ram Laxman has done it for Salman Khan (Maine Pyaar Kiya)- Rajesh Roshan has done it for Hrithik Roshan (Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai)- Anu Malik has himself done it for Shahid Kapoor (Ishq Vishk) and Abhishek Bachchan (Refugee)

Have he and Javed Akhtar saab done it now for Harman Baweja? Well, to a good extent, yes! Though it could have been a little better, the soundtrack still has enough fodder to chew upon en route to the release of the film. 'Aa Gaya Hun Mein' is the opening track of the album which actually serves the purpose of announcing the arrival of Harman Baweja. Seemingly a stage number with a rock setting to it, this Kay Kay rendered track has an elaborate music arrangement to it but surprisingly the overall tune turns out to be just about average. Even a much spirited Kay Kay is slightly off the mark here as he sounds a little subdued.

Not a kind of number which you expect at the top of the heap, especially when a star is being created, 'Aa Gaya Hun Mein' has it's major hope now lying in the way it is picturised with Harman's dance moves managing to create some impact. There was a time when Alisha Chinoy and Anu Malik had parted ways both professionally and personally. However, off late they seem to have sorted out their differences and started coming together more frequently. In Love Story 2050 they do so for a song which goes like 'Hey You Lover Boy, Will You Be My Toy'!

Now thankfully the number is for an A-Grade project like this because if only such lyrics were heard in a film starring the likes of a Rakhi Sawant or a Sambhavna Seth or a perhaps in a music video of a Nandini Jumani, audience would have got completely different ideas! Coming back to 'Lover Boy Will You', instead of being futuristic it in fact has a 80s feel to it. Perhaps Anu Malik does believe that the music of the era gone by would come back in fashion half a century from now and hence decided to create this moderately paced song which comes with a Western format! Yet again, one looks forward to how director Harry Baweja does something on screen for this tune.

Thankfully, one does hear something really refreshing the moment Shaan and Alka Yagnik get together to croon a dipped-in-mush 'Mausam Achanak Ye Badala Kyu'. Now that's a kind of number that really makes one look forward to what's next on store in Love Story 2050. An out and out melodic number which has both Shaan and Alka Yagnik at their romantic best. And yes, even though there are reference points that one can find with 'Kuch To Hua Hai' [Kal Ho Na Ho], one doesn't mind that at all.

The best song of the enterprise so far! It's the rhythm which comes at the very beginning of 'Milo Na Milo' that turns out to be an absolute killer. The sound which is currently being heard in the promos of Love Story 2050, 'Milo Na Milo' is a good mix of Anu Malik's sense of Indian melody amalgamated with Western arrangements. The spirited effort which was missing in Kay Kay's 'Aa Gaya Hun Mein' is compensated by Shaan in the way he goes about rendering 'Milo Na Milo'. Electronic sound is an integral part of the music arrangements here that adds on to the futuristic feel and setting of the song. This dance number has all in it to 'really' announce the arrival of Harman.

Kay Kay returns to the scene again and one sincerely hopes that this time around he cracks it just right. One always has high expectations from the most versatile singer that we have on the singing front today and there are no reasons why 'Meelon Ka Jaisa Tha Fasla' shouldn't turn out to be an interesting composition. A number about 'distance hardly mattering when it comes to the matter of hearts', it is the sad version of 'Meelonn' which comes first. With Alka Yagnik as his partner, Kay Kay is better here this time around and makes this an overall decent situational track.

'Happy version' of 'Meelon Ka Jaisa Tha Fasla' is double the duration of the sad version and essentially keeps a similar pace. Expect a romantic outing at exotic locations for Priyanka and Harman when the song plays in the movie. It is time to get back into a peppy mood with 'Sach Kehna Sach Kehna' which turns out to be one of the best songs of the album so far along with 'Milo Na Milo' and 'Mausam Achanak'. A Kunal Ganjawala solo about a man wooing his girl, this rhythmic number is core Bollywood in its appeal and in the process works quite well to have been picturised on a youngster.

Kunal is quite effective in the way he keeps the pep factor on throughout with his rendition while Anu Malik too does well in making sure that the urban youth get into a liking for this dance number. Get this song on; it would surely help the sales of the album soar! Finale of the album happens on a high note with the number 'Jane Kaisi Hai Teri Meri Love Story' coming in both the happy and the sad version.

Yet another number which has a core melody feel to it, it has Anu Malik as well as Javed Akhtar saab at their romantic best. Reminding of 'Na Tum Jaano Na Hum' from 'Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai', though strictly in terms of the song's genre and setting, 'Jane Kaisi Hai Teri Meri Love Story' really managed to impress.

Shaan sings in a way that he has perfected over the years and delivers what is expected out of him, both in the happy and the sad version, which is a tad slower. A good ending. It isn't the best of the beginning for Love Story 2050 because neither 'Aa Gaya Hun Mein' nor 'Lover Boy Will You' make you believe that the songs have been composed for a newcomer's launch. However, the moment numbers like 'Mausam Achanak', 'Milo Na Milo', 'Sach Kehna' and 'Jane Kaisi Hai Teri Meri Love Story' follow one after another; you know that the album is only getting better. Makers of Love Story 2050 have done the right thing in bringing on 'Milo Na Milo' as the first song in the film's promotion.

It would help if 'Mausam Achanak' and 'Jane Kaisi Hai Teri Meri Love Story' are the next to follow with 'Sach Kehna' being reserved for the final kill around the film's release.

Click to download

Aa gaya hu main...

Love Story ...

Lover Boy ...

Mausam Achanak ...

Meelon Ka ...

Milo Na Milo ...

Sach Kehna ...

2008-06-05T21:02:00.002+05:30

Today's Topic: Top 10 Excuses for NOT Giving Recognition

“I don’t know how."

No doubt this can be an honest and valid concern. Most folks never receive any type of training on giving recognition. But, it is a skill that can be learned.

“I don’t have time."

For sure, most of us have more stuff to do than time to do it in. But somehow we all manage to do the things that are really important to us. Maybe, you just haven’t made recognition high enough of a priority. Besides, how much time does it take to say, “Thank you”?

“People don’t care about it all that much.”

Yeah, right! Okay, if you look hard enough, maybe you can find one or two people who couldn’t give a flip about being recognized. But for every person like that, there are hundreds who like being stroked for their efforts and contributions. Play the odds.

“It’s not MY job!”

Think that giving recognition is strictly a top-down thing that only bosses are responsible for? THINK AGAIN! It’s one of the biggest reasons why recognition doesn’t happen as often as it could. Fact is, supporting an environment in which people are acknowledged and truly appreciated is everyone’s job.

“I don’t believe in rewarding people for just doing their jobs!”

Me neither! A “reward” is something special and should be reserved for special achievement. But recognition is an acknowledgement, a favorable notice, and a reinforcement that increases the likelihood that people will keep doing their jobs…and making work that much easier for you!

“It becomes meaningless if done too much!”

Maybe so, but most organizations have a looooooong way to go before the meter reads “Too Much Recognition Happening Here.” Actually, it’s insincerity rather than quantity that tends to devalue recognition.

“I’m very limited in what I can do.”

Chances are that you’re limited mostly by untapped imagination.Okay, so you don’t control or even have access to money and formal award programs. Those only represent the tip of the recognition iceberg, anyway. Get creative!

“Sometimes it’s awkward and uncomfortable.”

So was the first time you drove a stick shift! But the more you did it, the easier it got (hopefully). And the more you liked doing it! If you’re uncomfortable with recognition, there’s a good chance you’re not doing it enough. Go forth and PRACTICE!

“People will think they’ve ‘made it’ and stop working hard.”

NOT! Think about it: Do you slow down when others show appreciation for your contributions? Enough said on this one.

“I don’t get it. Why should I give it?”

Because it’s the right thing to do! You know how it feels to have your efforts and achievements overlooked. You know how it feels to be taken for granted. It stinks! Don’t let one wrong become your rationale for doing another.
So was the first time you drove a stick shift! But the more you did it, the easier it got (hopefully). And the more you liked doing it! If you’re uncomfortable with recognition, there’s a good chance you’re not doing it enough. Go forth and PRACTICE!

“People will think they’ve ‘made it’ and stop working hard.”

NOT! Think about it: Do you slow down when others show appreciation for your contributions? Enough said on this one.

“I don’t get it. Why should I give it?”

Because it’s the right thing to do! You know how it feels to have your efforts and achievements overlooked. You know how it feels to be taken for granted. It stinks! Don’t let one wrong become your rationale for doing another.

2008-06-03T22:27:00.004+05:30

101 Amazing Earth Facts (contd.)

41. How much surface area does Earth contain?

There are 196,950,711 square miles (510,100,000 square kilometers).

42. What is the largest lake in the world?

By size and volume it is the Caspian Sea, located between southeast Europe and west Asia.

43. Where do most earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur on Earth?

The majority occur along boundaries of the dozen or so major plates that more or less float on the surface of Earth. One of the most active plate boundaries where earthquakes and eruptions are frequent, for example, is around the massive Pacific Plate commonly referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire. It fuels shaking and baking from Japan to Alaska to South America.

44. How hot are the planet's innards?

The temperature of Earth increases about 36 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) for every kilometer (about 0.62 miles) you go down. Near the center, its thought to be at least 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit (3,870 Celsius).

45. What three countries have the greatest number of historically active volcanoes?

The top three countries are Indonesia, Japan, and the United States in descending order of activity.

46. How many people worldwide are at risk from volcanoes?

As of the year 2000, USGS scientists estimated that volcanoes posed a tangible risk to at least 500 million people. This is comparable to the entire population of the world at the beginning of the seventeenth century!

47. Which of the following sources stores the greatest volume of fresh water worldwide: lakes, streams or ground water?

Groundwater comprises a 30 times greater volume than all freshwater lakes, and more than 3,000 times what's in the world’s streams and rivers at any given time. Groundwater is housed in natural underground aquifers, in which the water typically runs around and through the stone and other material.

48. Which earthquake was larger, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake or the 1964 Anchorage, Alaska, temblor?

The Anchorage earthquake had a magnitude of 9.2, whereas the San Francisco earthquake was a magnitude 7.8. This difference in magnitude equates to 125 times more energy being released in the 1964 quake and accounts for why the Anchorage earthquake was felt over an area of almost 500,000 square miles (1,295,000 square kilometers).

49. Which earthquake was more destructive in terms of loss of life and relative damage costs, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake or the 1964 Anchorage earthquake?

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake tops this category. It was responsible for 700 deaths versus 114 from the Anchorage earthquake. Property damage in San Francisco was also greater in relative terms due to the destructive fires that destroyed mostly wooden structures of the time.

50. Is Earth's core solid?

The inner portion of the core is thought to be solid. But the outer portion of the core appears molten. We've never been there though, so scientists aren't sure of the exact composition. A radical Hollywood-like idea was recently put forth to blow a crack in the planet and send a probe down there to learn more. An interesting bit of recent evidence shows Mars' core may be similarly squishy. Scientists figured this out by studying tides on Mars (tides on Mars?).
51. Does all of Earth spin at the same rate?

The solid inner core -- a mass of iron comparable to the size of the Moon -- spins faster than the outer portion of the iron core, which is liquid. A study in 1996 showed that over the previous century, the extra speed caused the inner core to gain a quarter-turn on the planet as a whole. So the inner core makes a complete revolution with respect to the rest of Earth in about 400 years. Immense pressure keeps it solid.

52. How many people have been killed by volcanoes during the last 500 years?

At least 300,000. Between 1980 and 1990, volcanic activity killed at least 26,000 people.

53. How much of the Earth’s surface consists of volcanic rock?

Scientists estimate that more than three-quarters of Earth’s surface is of volcanic origin-- that is, rocks either erupted by volcanoes or molten rock that cooled below ground and has subsequently been exposed at the surface. Most of Earth’s volcanic rocks are found on the sea floor.

54. Can an earthquake cause a tsunami?

If the earthquake originates under the ocean, yes. Near the earthquake’s epicenter, the sea floor rises and falls, pushing all the water above it up and down. This motion produces a wave that travels outward in all directions. A tsunami can be massive but remain relatively low in height in deep water. Upon nearing the shore, it is forced up and can reach the height of tall buildings. One in 1964 was triggered in Alaska and swamped the small northern California town of Crescent City, moving train cars several blocks and killing several people there. Asteroids can
cause tsunami, too.

55. Are all tsunamis high waves when they strike a coastline?

No, contrary to many artistic images of tsunamis, most do not result in giant breaking waves. Rather, most tsunamis come onshore more like very strong and fast tides. The water can rise higher than anyone along a given shore area has ever seen, however. [Model of an East Coast tsunami]

56. How much of the Earth’s land surface is desert?

About one-third.

57. What's the deepest place in the ocean?

The greatest known depth is 36,198 feet (6.9 miles or 11 kilometers) at the Mariana Trench, in the Pacific Ocean well south of Japan near the Mariana Islands.

58. What is the fastest surface wind ever recorded?

The fastest "regular" wind that's widely agreed upon was 231 mph (372 kph), recorded at Mount Washington, New Hampshire, on April 12, 1934. But during a May 1999 tornado in Oklahoma, researchers clocked the wind at 318 mph (513 kph). For comparison, Neptune's winds can rage to 900 mph (1,448 kph).

59. How much fresh water is stored in the Earth?

More than two million cubic miles of fresh water is stored in the planet, nearly half of it within a half-mile of the surface. Mars, too, appears to have a
lot of water near its surface, but what's been detected so far is locked up as ice; nobody has estimated how much might be there.

60. How old is Earth?

Our planet is more than 4.5 billion years old, just a shade younger than the Sun. Recent
evidence actually shows that Earth was formed much earlier than previously believed, just 10 million years after the birth of the Sun, a stellar event typically put at 4.6 billion years ago.

2008-06-01T02:04:00.011+05:30

Top 10 Most Intriguing Extrasolar Planets

The first planets outside our solar system were spotted in 1990, in orbit around a dying, radiation-spewing star very different from our Sun. In the years since, scientists have turned up even stranger worlds. Starting in 1995 with 51 Pegasi b”the first extrasolar, or exoplanet, discovered around a normal star”planet hunters have found alien worlds that run the gamut in terms of diversity. There are large, gassy giants and small and rocky worlds. Some are two-faced worlds of fire and ice, and some float eerily through space, bound to no star. In the dozen years since the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, the number of known and suspected exoplanets has climbed to nearly 230. Here are some record holders and oddballs.

THE FIRST- PLANET 10

51 Pegasi b was the first planet discovered in orbit around a normal star other than our Sun. The planet, a hot Jupiter, also goes by the moniker Bellerphon,after the Greek hero who tamed winged-horse Pegasus, in reference to the constellation Pegasus where the planet is located.

CLOSEST PLANET- PLANET 9

Epsilon Eridani b orbits an orange Sun-like star only 10.5 light years away from Earth. It is so close to us telescopes might soon be able to photograph it. It orbits too far away from its star to support liquid water or life as we know it, but scientists predict there are other stars in the system that might be good candidates for alien life.

FREE FLOATERS- PLANET 8

There are known exoplanets that have one, two and even three suns. But one bizarre class of planet-sized objects has no suns at all, and instead floats untethered through space. Called â€œplanemos, the objects are similar to, but smaller than, brown dwarfs, failed stars too small to achieve stellar ignition.

THE ZIPPY PLANET- PLANET 7

SWEEPS-10 orbits its parent star from a distance of only 740,000 miles, so close that one year on the planet happens every 10 hours. The exoplanet belongs to a new class of zippy exoplanets called ultra-short-period planets (USPPs), which have orbits of less than a day.

A World of Fire and Ice- PLANET 6

Upsilon Andromeda b is tidally locked to its sun like the Moon is to Earth, so one side of the planet is always facing its star. This setup creates one of the largest temperature differences astronomers have ever seen on an exoplanet. One side of the planet is always hot as lava, while the other is chilled possibly below freezing.

Brave New World- PLANET 5

The youngest exoplanet yet discovered is less than one million years old and orbits Coku Tau 4, a star 420 light-years away. Astronomers inferred the planets presence from an enormous hole in the dusty disk that girdles the star. The hole is 10 times the size of Earths orbit around the Sun and probably caused by the planet clearing a space in the dust as it orbits the star.

A Real Geezer- PLANET 4

The oldest known planet is a primeval world 12.7 billion years old that formed more than 8 billion years before Earth and only 2 billion years after the Big Bang. The discovery suggested planets are very common in the universe and raised the prospect that life began far sooner than most scientists ever imagined.

SHRINKING PLANET- PLANET 3

A year on HD209458b is only 3.5 Earth-days long. The planet orbits so close to its star that its atmosphere is being blown away by gales of stellar wind. Scientists estimate the planet is losing at least 10,000 tons of material every second. Eventually, only a dead core of the shrinking planet will remain.

Sniffed Atmosphere- PLANET 2

HD 189733b was among the first planets to have its air sniffed. By analyzing light from the star-planet system, astronomers determined the planets atmosphere contains thick clouds of silicates similar to grains of sand. Curiously, no water vapor was detected, but scientists suspect it is hidden beneath the clouds.

HABITABLE PLANET- PLANET 1

Gliese 581 C marked a milestone in the search for worlds beyond our solar system. It is the smallest exoplanet ever detected, and the first to lie within the habitable zone of its parent star, thus raising the possibility that its surface could sustain liquid water, or even life. It is 50 percent bigger and 5 times more massive than Earth.

2008-06-01T01:49:00.004+05:30

101 Amazing Earth Facts

21. Where is the lowest dry point on Earth?

The shore of the Dead Sea in the Middle East is about 1,300 feet (400 meters) below sea level. Not even a close second is Bad Water in Death Valley, California, at a mere 282 feet below sea level.

22. Good thing California isn't sinking further, right?

Actually parts of it are, which is so interesting that I snuck this non-question onto the list. In a problem repeated elsewhere in the country, the pumping of natural underground water reservoirs in California is causing the ground to sink up to 4 inches (11 centimeters) per year in places. Water and sewage systems may soon be threatened.

23. What is the longest river?

The Nile River in Africa is 4,160 miles (6,695 kilometers) long.

24. What is the most earthquake-prone state in the United States?

Alaska experiences a magnitude 7 earthquake almost every year, and a magnitude 8 or greater earthquake on average every 14 years. Florida and North Dakota get the fewest earthquakes in the states, even fewer than New York.

25. What's the driest place on Earth?

A place called Arica, in Chile, gets just 0.03 inches (0.76 millimeters) of rain per year. At that rate, it would take a century to fill a coffee cup.

26. What causes a landslide?

Intense rainfall over a short period of time can trigger shallow, fast-moving mud and debris flows. Slow, steady rainfall over a long period of time may trigger deeper, slow-moving landslides. Different materials behave differently, too. Every year as much as $2 billion in landslide damage occurs in the United States. In a record-breaking storm in the San Francisco area in January 1982, some 18,000 debris flows were triggered during a single night! Property damage was over $66 million, and 25 people died.

27. How fast can mud flow?

Debris flows are like mud avalanches that can move at speeds in excess of 100 mph (160 kph).

28. Do things inside Earth flow?

You bet. In fact, scientists found in 1999 that molten material in and around Earth's core moves in vortices, swirling pockets whose dynamics are similar to tornadoes and hurricanes. And as you'll learn later in this list, the planet's core moves in other strange ways, too.

29. What is the wettest place on Earth?

Lloro, Colombia averages 523.6 inches of rainfall a year, or more than 40 feet (13 meters). That's about 10 times more than fairly wet major cities in Europe or the United States.

30. Does Earth go through phases, like the Moon?

From Mars, Earth would be seen to go through distinct phases (just as we see Venus change phases). Earth is inside the orbit of Mars, and as the two planets travel around the Sun, sunlight would strike our home planet from different angles during the year. Earth phases can be seen in recent photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor and the European Mars Express.

31. What is the largest canyon?

The Grand Canyon is billed as the world's largest canyon system. Its main branch is 277 miles (446 kilometers) long. But let's compare. Valles Marineris on Mars extends for about 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers). If added it to a U.S. map, it would stretch from New York City to Los Angeles. In places this vast scar on the Martian surface is 5 miles (8 kilometers) deep.

32. What is the deepest canyon in the United States?

Over the eons, the Snake River dug Hell’s Canyon along the Oregon-Idaho border. It is more than 8,000 feet (2.4 kilometers) deep. In contrast, the Grand Canyon is less than 6,000 feet deep -- a bit more than a mile.

33. Is Earth the largest rocky planet in the solar system?

Just barely! Earth's diameter at the equator is 7,926 miles (12,756 kilometers). Venus is 7,521 miles (12,104 kilometers) wide. Mercury and Mars, the other two inner rocky planets, are much smaller. Pluto is rocky, too, but it's comparatively tiny (and some say it is not a planet at all).

34. How many of Earth’s volcanoes are known to have erupted in historic time?

About 540 volcanoes on land are known. No one knows how many undersea volcanoes have erupted through history.

35. Is air mostly oxygen?

Earth's atmosphere is actually about 80 percent nitrogen. Most of the rest is oxygen, with tiny amounts of other stuff thrown in.

36. What is the highest waterfall in the United States?

Yosemite Falls in California is 2,425 feet (739 meters).

37. What percentage of the world’s water is in the oceans?

About 97 percent. Oceans make up about two-thirds of Earth's surface, which means that when the next asteroid hits the planet, odds are good it will splash down.

38. Which two landmasses contain the vast majority of the Earth’s fresh water supply?

Nearly 70 percent of the Earth's fresh-water supply is locked up in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland. The remaining fresh-water supply exists in the atmosphere, streams, lakes, or groundwater and accounts for a mere 1 percent of the Earth's total.

39. Which of the Earth’s oceans is the largest?

The Pacific Ocean covers 64 million square miles (165 million square kilometers). It is more than two times the size of the Atlantic. It has an average depth of 2.4 miles (3.9 kilometers).

40. Why is Earth mostly crater-free compared to the pockmarked Moon?

Earth is more active, in terms of both geology and weather. Much of our planet's geologic history was long ago folded back inside. Some of that is regurgitated by volcanoes, but the results are pretty hard to study. Even more recent events evident on the surface -- craters that can by millions of years old -- get overgrown by vegetation, weathered by wind and rain, and modified by earthquakes and landslides. The Moon, meanwhile, is geologically quiet and has almost no weather; its craters tell a billions-year-long tale of catastrophic collisions. Interestingly, some of the oldest Earth rocks might be awaiting discovery on the Moon, having been blasted there billions of years ago by the very asteroid impacts that rattle both worlds.