Alas! It's too Late

This story is set during 1940s decade. Dharini was sitting in her courtyard day-dreaming. The courtyard was lit up with lights, the flowers were spreading its fragrance and the aroma of the freshly-made samosas was filling the courtyard with a pleasant evening smell. The house had been cleaned up and the people in the house were running around in urgency & shouting out instructions to each other.

“Dhariniiii, check if you need any last minute touch-up. They will be here any moment” shouted her mom from the kitchen. But Dharini was lost in her own thoughts and imagining as to how would the guy look? Will he be tall, fair, or have a good job or be romantic? She was too engrossed to pay heed to her mother’s remainders. Being a rich girl and educated in a convent school, Dharini was excited to meet the guy to check if he matched her expectations.

Finally, an hour later the guy and his parents arrived. Dharini’s mom ushered her into the room and ensconced her in front of the guy’s family. A nervous Dharini, with her pallu pulled over her eyes was smiling when her mother said that the guy belongs to a well-to-do family. She thought she now did not have to compromise on her standard of living after marriage. The guy’s parents demanded to see the girl’s face and when the veil was pulled off her head, Dharini was disappointed to see Bakul - a short and stout guy with dark complexion and thick dark circles that made him look like a panda. However, it was love at first sight for Bakul. Since the girls were not allowed to decide in those days, Dharini was married off to Bakul without knowing her wish.

Post-marriage, Bakul started gifting Dharini with a hand-made doll made with a rolled-up paper every day. Though it seemed strange, Dharini remained silent but never bothered to give the doll a careful look. She just tossed them into her cupboard without even noticing it. Though Bakul was very loving and good guy by heart, Dharini could not come over the fact that she being a beautiful girl, she was married off to an ugly, uneducated, school dropout village brut who could not even manage to speak English. As the days passed, she realized that Bakul’s mother had the final say in the house and no one dared to disrespect her decisions. Bakul was so enchanted by his love for his mother that he did not realize that Dharini was going farther and farther from him. She felt that his mother dominated him because of which he could not come up in life or take his own decisions. He was totally crippled without his mother when it came to decision-making. He was so busy running errands for his mother that it left no time for the couple to spend time together and get to know each other. One day, when things got out of control, Dharini tried to explain to Bakul that his mother’s constant interference was causing discomfort in the house and she could no longer take and to add fuel to the fire Bakul was a BIG ZERO in the romance department.

Bakul continued to shower the same kind of love to his mother but started giving Dharini her share of attention and things started warming-up between them. They had just started falling in love with each other when Bakul passed away because of a snake-bite. Dharini’s life became empty now. After spending two months like a crazy person, she took out the dolls. Those were the only gifts he left for her since the day they got together. She started counting the dolls. She then slowly started unwrapping the paper dolls and found that there was a letter on each paper/doll. The letters said how happy Bakul was to have Dharini as his wife and how he understood that she was feeling uncomfortable that she was sidelined in terms of attention. Some of the letters had questions to be answered. Dharini now understood as to why Bakul sometimes looked lost in front of her. He expected the answers from her but…

When she unwrapped the last doll, she was surprised to see I LOVE YOU in bold letters on top of the letter. This letter had some surprises in store for Dharini:

• He was trying to learn English secretly so that Dharini didn’t feel ashamed to hang-out with him in public
• He had made efforts to be romantic and learned to say I LOVE U from his friend but never had the courage to say it with Dharini’s cold reactions towards him
• In the letter he said sorry for being totally dependant on his mother and not giving her enough attention even though he understood what Dharini was going through
• In the end, he mentioned that he had bought a house for them without telling his mom and Dharini did not have to tolerate her mum-in-law’s constant interference and finding faults. He said it was A GIFT TO HIS WIFE. Now they could live happily in that house and start their own family

Fainted! Dharini collapsed on the floor. Finally her husband’s death had taken a toll on her and the fact that she read those letters but it was too late.

Chota Venice - Holland

Mein aur meri tanhayi aksar ye baatein karte hai (to my sapno ki nagri – Bambai), ke tum yun hoti toh aisa hota, tum yun hoti toh waisa hota. But real life mein (back from my dreamworld) kuch bhi nahi hota.

Before this phrase adds some more fodder to your already corrupt brain, let me take you through this tour.

This Wow! Effect belongs to Giethoorn, a small town in Holland. It is also well known as "Venice of the Netherlands”. It was founded in 1230 by a group of fugitives. The specialty of this village is that it has no roads - bad news to the automotive-addicts.

All the transportations are done by boats. Yes you read it right. In place of roads, there are water canals and with the help of 'punters' (typical boats from Giethoorn) you can go from iss paar to uss paar. Offlate they have also introduced cycling tracks next to the water canals.

Imagine – You are going to meet a friend of yours. You come out of the house and instead of hailing a rickshaw or a passing taxi; you hail a passing by boat to reach your friend’s house. Exciting!!!

Marnese pehle meri aakhri iccha – Someone please sponsor my trip to this place

Hippies’ Haven - Trip to Goa

Goa!!! Here I come. After 14 hours long stuffy bus ride and fives bags filled with my puke:), we finally reached Goa on 20^th May 2010. Oh I forgot to introduce. We matlab me and my other tanhayees - Suyash, Manish, Wendy and Ravi.

After checking-in to our hotel, we splashed straight to the in-house pool for some full-body hydration. We bonded over a game of water volleyball and some under water breath controlling race (surprisingly I won even against the boys). After some unsuccessful attempts in teaching swimming to the girls, the boys succumbed to the pressures of necessity-for-stomach syndrome. Bhukkhads. Damn! I could have competed in the CWG in Delhi :(. Anyways without wasting any further time, we freshened up and headed towards Brittos for a lavish brunch. The view was straight out of my dreams – eating delicious food with beaches and water as a backdrop. Bachpan have had panipuri and bhelpuri in Juhu beach with human feaces and dog shit as extra design to the already clean beach (sarcasm to be noted!).

Once done we stepped out to Baga beach, collected shells, took pictures, and all of us got the same tattoo done one our arms. Team Spirit!!! After loitering around for some more time, we headed towards our rooms, again did some keedas and got ready for a late night party to Tito’s (famous club in North Goa). We danced the entire night to our glory. Day 1 ended.

Next day we got up on time for breakfast, filled our stomachs and headed for Infantaria café for a brunch. Post which we headed for the Basilica of Bom Jesus church. The church was enormously huge. We also had a peek at the mortal remains of St. Francis Xavier. We dawdled around the town on our hired bikes, shopped for clothes and sea shells and headed for a nice dinner at Britto’s. Days 2 ended.

Our last day in Goa arrived. We had an early start for Calangute beach. And here we had our fun of our lives. We did jet skiing, banana ride, Water scooters and Parasailing. Now came the best part of the fun. The gang decided to just dive into the mid-sea with just our life jackets on and no one around for help. We dived into the water, floated for sometime waiting for a boat to arrive to take us to the shore. While heading back towards the shore; we again jumped into the water and swam to the shore, Boy that was fun! With our tummies ticking for food we went to Infantaria for a brunch and beer session. Took some rest and set out for Morjim beach. Played games on the silver sand, did some dryfruits shopping and headed for a sumptuous dinner of togetherness. Last day in Goa comes to an end.

Nest day we catch an early morning flight and head back to our office :(

A bike ride to a blissful journey

A famous Bollywood film stated that 'it’s easy to find a partner in your best friend but not too easy to find a best friend in your partner'. However, Ambika was lucky to find a best friend and a life-partner in Karan. Karan and Ambika had lot of things in common which made it easier for them to get along well with each other like a house on fire.

They both met at a social event for the first time. Though Ambika was outspoken and made friends easily, it took time for them to befriend each other all thanks to Karan being an introvert. Time passed-by and gradually phone numbers were exchanged and thus their road to discovering each other started. They used to chat for hours over the phone without realizing the time.

And one day a common group of friends decided to go for a stay-over jaunt. Karan and Ambika had best of fun during this trip with ganging up against each other, pouring water over their sleeping friends, applying toothpaste on their face etc. They were inseparable through out this trip. The trip not only got them together but also made them the best of friends. In spite of developing a fondness for Karan, Ambika did not take it too seriously without realizing that Karan had already fell in love with her. Two days after coming back from the trip, it happened to be a common friend’s birthday. So couple of friends decided to go to Marine drive for a late-night bike ride. Ambika joined Karan on the pillion and thus the love-struck Roadies set out for their bike ride.

It was exactly 12.00 midnight, cool air was blowing on their face, empty roads with Queen’s necklace (Marine Drive) in the background, and Karan popped up the million dollar question to Ambika leaving her astounded. It was the most romantic & beautiful idea of proposal any girl could have asked for. The bike was whirring past the clear roads, ripping apart the cool breeze with strings of street lights lit up and Karan saw a blushing pillion rider through his rear view mirror. Ambika could not stop smiling that night. It was the most beautiful moment she had experienced. But the happily-ever-after is yet to come.

Ambika was recuperating from a bad past and was not ready for a new commitment. Hence she kept rejecting Karan’s proposal as she had by now made up her mind to be single. It took Karan almost a month of patient persuasion to get Ambika accept the proposal. Life went on well thereafter with Karan and Ambika still being more of best-friends than a couple. They hardly fought and even if they did, the fight hardly lasted for an hour. Karan was the sweetest and perfect guy for the pursuit of a loving man. He dealt with Ambika’s bad temper and mood swings effortlessly. He was a romantic at heart and they both loved each other truly. Ambika was fond of dogs but was not allowed to have one at home. So Karan created a story of an imaginary puppy and they both used to talk about it everyday. Daily Karan used to describe about the pup’s antics to Ambika and she would burst into peals of laughter.

Few months later, Karan went abroad for further studies and Ambika got a new job offer in a new city. Life was going on good for them with Ambika giving enough space for Karan to enjoy his new life and showering him with her constant care. Karan also reciprocated her emotions by standing up for her during testing times. They decided to get married with their parents’ blessings after Karan got back from US.

It’s been 3 years now. Ambika is still waiting for her knight-in-shining armor to come on a horse back and take her away along with him. But Karan is nowhere to be seen. With mehendi on her hands and the rituals going in full swing, Ambika is hoping that her hero would make it on time to the wedding. Yes it’s their wedding tomorrow and Karan’s flight got delayed and hence the long wait only to live happily ever after.

What's in a Name? Therez lot in a Pet Name

Sexypear! Oops I means Shakespeare has rightly said that what’s in a name. People took it seriously and started referring to each other using pet names. Couples calling each other cutie pie, janoo, shweetu…, parents calling their kids chunnu, munnu, tunnu…, friends referring to each other with their own versions is quite common. And one such pet naming ceremony happened in our office too on Wednesday. Even I was given many pet names. Not that I didn’t have any before.

Bachpan mein my brother’s friends used to call me Naana Spot (coz there was a villan named Spot Nana in yesteryear’s Bollywood flick) as I used to be a trouble around them. Then came the petname DJ bestowed upon me by my college friends for reasons better known to them. And on Wednesday I was given some more names by my colleagues.

It so happened that a contest kinda was rolled out for our team wherein you are supposed to name your neighbor in a funny way. So it was decided that the placement would be such that no one crosses the limit of mocking some one’s name or surname. So it was decided as Name_(petname given by your neighbor)_Surname. And today when I came to my desk I was surprised to see four funny names for me which I thought I would share with you:

• Sangeeta “Main apni favourite hun” Iyer (the famous dialogue from Jab We Met)
• Sangeeta “Enthu-Cutlet” Iyer
• Sangeeta “91.0000 FM” Iyer
• Sangeeta “Meow” Iyer (though this I am not sure why meow”

It was fun. A good welcome for me to start a grumpy day :)

Ladder of Love – Life is but a journey

Love is as much of an object as an obsession, everybody wants it, everybody seeks it, but few ever achieve it, those who do will cherish it, be lost in it, and among all, never... never forget it.

- Curtis Judalet

It’s a very famous line in Bollywood movies that “mein tumhare pyar mein kuch bhi kar sakta hun”. But very few people live up to their promise. The moment a hot chick passes by, the dogs run after the meatJ. Ha ha ha. In today’s materialistic world filled with different options to lead your life, people have somewhat forgotten the real meaning of LOVE. It’s high time that we flip through the pages of the dictionary to reach the word LOVE.

There is a famous Greek saying - A heart that loves is always young. And this has been proved right by 70 year-old Liu Guojiang and his 80 year-old wife Xu Chaoqin in China. Over half-a-century ago, a 19 year-old boy fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother only to be criticized by friends and relatives because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children. Hence the couple eloped far off and decided to live in a cave to live and love each other in peace. The couple had to face numerous hardships. Sometimes Xu felt that she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him, 'Are you regretful? Liu always replied, 'As long as we are active, life will improve.'

As a token of love and the best gift a husband can give to his wife, Liu began and continued for over 50 years, to hand-carve the steps. And it was a surprising discovery that the wife was gifted 6000 hand-crafted steps by her husband so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.

However like any other love story, this love story also came to an end when 72 year-old Liu returned from his farm work and collapsed and passed away in Xu’s arms. The love for his wife even after death is seen when no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife's hand even after he had passed away. 'You promised me you'll take care of me, you'll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?' Xu spent days softly repeating this sentence and touching her husband's black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.

WOW! Such kind of incidents does force you to believe in love, commitment and beauty of relationship.

P.S. You can see their story through this video too

Guide To All Future Parents

Paul makes Totaram jobless

I guess the picture says it all.

Child Prodigy

One more day of feeling like a loser. Yes you read it right. i sometimes get this bout of low-lying attacks :) Today I happened to see L'il Champs - Dance India Dance in the afternoon and there came the first contestant from Mumbai - Ananya Kurup all of just 5 yrs old performing to a Bharatnatyam piece. Watch this video and you will be surprised:

Ananya's audition video - Link

She is all set to make it to the Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest classical dancer. She started dancing at the age of one when i dont even remember what loserpankti i was into when i was a year old. She is just in Junior KG student but has mastered all the 10 dance items required for an arangetram (graduation of classical dance) for which people usually finish at the age of 11 yrs old.

Aur ek jale pe namak: She is also a scholar and good at studies and aims to become a doctor. Wow already nishana maar liye itni choti umar mein. And look at me. Still clueless what to do with dis useless life :) Forget having talent, I am toh not even good at studies. My mother still looks at my marksheets to confirm that i have reached till doing my PG. She had lost all hopes. She was to marry me off after eight std. Imagine i was such a big DUH.

On a serious note its good that these talent shows are giving chance to both performers (to showcase their talent) and viewers (to wake up and notice the richness of talent in India).

Marriage Mirage leads to Sex Change

Many things has been said and done about the institution called MARRIAGE. Majority of the public want to take admission to this institution for a secured future (or sometimes for reasons better known to them) while some might want to stay out of it. And I am one of them (well at least as of now). Whoa! Good this article wont be read by my parents else I am screwed up.

Well the word Marriage is highly debatable and I am writing this article in favor of No- Marriage-required section of the society. With increasing competition and peer pressure to stay ahead in the rat race, it leaves very less room to this sometimes demanding commitment to people who cannot balance many cups on their already filled trays. It’s high time that parents stop succumbing to societal pressure and force their kids to bend down to this herculean obligation when the kid is not prepared for it. Many parents treat marriage as a mammoth responsibility that they want to shed off asap not realizing the kid’s agony. Many people who are unable to deal with this, ends up giving up on their lives or mess up with their now married life or retort to ways that would stop the wagging tongues.

One such case that I read was of a woman lawyer from Puri, Orissa. This lady in her mid 30’s took a desperate step of changing her sex as her family was forcing her to get married. She was not prepared for marriage as she did not want a family life which is being forced on girls in our society that is dominated by males and girls have no voice of their own. As a result of this, she did not inform her family about this and also threatened to commit suicide if she was not allowed to have the surgery done.

The woman submitted an affidavit stating her willingness to undergo the Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) operation that was performed on 29th June 2010. During the operation process that went on for 7 hours long, her female organs were removed and male organs were set in her body. She was injected with hormones to develop masculine attributes like a male voice, beard and moustache. The lady seems to have stated that “I feel free now. No one can force me to marry. It is better to become a man to get rid of sufferings met by women”.

Well I hope at least one parent (having a narrow approach) whose daughter/ son is of marriageable age reads this article and stops bugging their children. The only message I would like to give to the parents (including mine) is that: Wake up!!! Stop succumbing to societal pressure because at the end of the day society is not going to be there when you need help while your children would be there by your side. Support them. Don’t push them into what they don’t want to get into. The son/ daughter is your child not your source of duty fulfillment.

Monkey - Man

“Until he extends his compassion to all living things,

man will not himself find peace”

- Dr. Albert Schweitzer

The other day there was this one particular forward mail in my inbox that was really touching and made me think about the difference between man and animals. And now after this mail I was forced to place animals on the top in terms of compassion.

The two blind men in the photo were thirsty and wanted to drink water at the RagiGudda temple, Bangalore. However, they were unable to operate the tap.

This mother monkey opened the tap for them, allowed them to drink water, drank some water herself and then closed the tap before leaving the scene. Not only did the monkey have brains to help the needy people but also close the tap after use thus avoiding water wastage (either of which humans fail to do most of the times).

This is the most wonderful story that I have read in a long time and to think that there are still people in this world who don’t believe in the ‘humanity’ of animals. And worse of all, there are still so-called educated people who exploit these animals in the name of experimentation.

But, animals, for the most part, seem far more advanced than humans. We human beings are so involved in all this caste/ creed system that we fail to understand the word HUMANITY. However, animals don't have any kind of caste system. Maybe some day we human beings will learn from them. And its high time that humans recognize animals as equal though different, intelligent and emotional and compassionate!

wieder zurück - I am back again!!!

Finally I am back (hopefully) with a bang!!! (not that my readers were missing me :). After a long-time fight with the internet service providers, I am now having a connection working in proper condition. Hope it continues to stop hindering my blogging abilities.

It's 12 O'clock!

The other day I was reading a forward mail about Sikhism and the story behind Sardars. I felt that all the jokes and fun targeted towards this community been over-hyped and can hurt religious sentiments and it’s high time we start respecting the SIKHISM religion just like we respect our own religion. It is very common that whenever we think of foolish jokes, SARDAR JOKES get the maximum votes. In this process we fail to realize how beautiful this religion and the Sikh people are. I have never heard of a case wherein a Sardar has looted someone or raped someone or have indulged in any wrong doings. All this is because of their staunch faith in their teachings and their Gurus.

We keep teasing Sardarjis that “Barah Baj Gaye Kya?” but this particular forward mail made me realize what kind of losers we are. This mail tells the story behind Sardars and their connection with the time 12 O’Clock. The story goes this way:

During the 17th Century, when India was ruled by Mughals, all the Hindu people were humiliated by the Mughals treating all Hindu women as their own property and forcing the Hindus to accept Islam else kill them on refusal. That time, the 9th Guru, Sri Guru Teg Bahadarji came forward, in response to a request of some Kashmir Pandits to fight against all these cruel activities. Guruji told the Mughal emperor that if he could succeed in converting him to Islam, all the Hindus would accept the same. But, if he failed, he should stop all those activities.

Inspite of lots of torture to Guruji and his fellow members, the Mughals failed to convert him to Islam and Guruji along with his other four fellow members, were tortured and sacrificed their lives in Chandni Chowk. Thus Guruji sacrificed his life for the protection of Hindu religion. This is the reason he is still remembered as "Hind Ki Chaddar", shield of India. For the sake of whom he had sacrificed his life; none of them came forward to lift his body, fearing that they would also be assassinated.

Seeing this incident the 10th Guruji, Sri Guru Gobind Singhji (Son of Guru Teg Bahadarji) founder of the Khalsa made a resolution that he would convert his followers to such human beings who would not be able to hide themselves and could be easily located in thousands. At the start, the Sikhs were very few in numbers as they were fighting against the Mughal emperors. At that time, Nadir Shah raided Delhi in the year 1739 and looted Hindustan’s rich treasury and nearly 2,200 Hindu women along with him. Sardar Jassa Singh who was the Commander of the Sikh army at that time heard this news and decided to attack Nadir Shah's Kafila on the same midnight and rescued all the Hindu women and they were safely sent to their homes. Hereafter, whenever an intruder tried to loot the Indian treasury or women, the Sikh army although fewer in numbers but were brave hearted and attacked them at 12 o'clock midnight and rescued the women. After that time whenever a similar incident occurred, people started contacting the Sikh army for their help and Sikhs used to attack the raiders at Midnight, 12 o'clock. But, these "smart people" and some Sikh enemies who are afraid of Sikhs spread these words that at 12 O'clock, the Sikhs go mad. So that’s how the “Sardarji Barah Baj Gaye Kya?” became famous.

Sikhs are one of the hardest working prosperous and diversified communities in the world. There is this one more beautiful story shared to me by Gayu. Once a group of young boys visited Delhi. They rented a taxi for local sight-seeing. The driver was an old Sardar and boys being boys, these pals began cracking Sardarji jokes, just to tease the old man. But to their surprise, the fellow remained calm. At the end of the sight-seeing, they paid the cab hire-charges. The Sardar returned the change, but he gave each one of them one rupee extra and said, "Son, since morning you have been telling Sardarji jokes.. I listened to them all and let me tell you, some of them were in bad taste. Still, I don't mind coz I know that you are young blood and are yet to see the world. But I have one request. I am giving you one rupee each. Give it to the first Sardar beggar that you come across in this or any other city." And till date, the one rupee coin did not shift hands as they couldn't find a single Sardar begging anywhere.

MORAL:
The secret behind their universal success is their willingness to do any job with utmost dedication and pride. A Sardar will drive a truck or set up a roadside garage or a dhaba, put a fruit juice stall, take up small time carpentry, but he will never beg on the streets. They also have strong values instilled in them.

Cartoon - Part 4

Superb Salsa

Here are two of my favourite Salsa dance videos different and amazing in their own ways.

Video 1: Janette Manrara & Romulo Villaverde giving a SPECTACULAR salsa performance in So You Think You Can Dance show. The tricks in this salsa routine are just superb!!!

Video 2: Khushboo and Salman earn salutes from Terence Lewis and Mithun Chakraborty for their phenomenal indianised salsa routine on Arre jaare natkhat song in Dance India Dance.

Eye-watering Grenade Masala

Ever wondered how red chilli powder can be so useful? Right from adding spice to the food, to self defense equipment to (now) a national defense weapon.

Yes. The Indian Army is planning to introduce the Chilli Bomb for the war on terror. Imagine what impacts will an 81-mm grenade packed with red hot chilli powder ‘bhut jolakia’ of Assam , pepper and phosphorus create when it explodes in front of the enemy. WOW!!!

Bhut Jolakia has been recognised by the Guiness World Records as the hottest of all the spices. The hotness of this mirchi is measured in Scoville heat units was 1,001,304.

The mix of spices and phosphorous chokes the enemy's respiratory tract, leaving targets barely able to breathe for a time. It creates an effective smoke screen ninety metres away within five seconds from being fired by a grenade launcher.

This curry bomb will be used both as a hand grenade by police and armed forces, and as a tank-mounted device

Cartoon - Part 3

Connected World!

Ultimate Dream Job!!! Urgent Openings - Apply now

Today I was reading the newspaper and came across this really interesting job profile with an awsom pay package. 3 log would be the most happiest logs in this world after reading this news - mein, gayatri and Wimpy (popeye ka friend).

Anyway, the news is that a company called Proactol Ltd in Britain is looking for a worker who has to do nothing, except eat - and the salary will be nearly 24,000 pounds a year. The worker should have a hearty appetite and be happy to eat 400 extra calories every day - to test the fat-binding properties of a weight loss product.

The job advertisement kuch iss prakaar hai: "We know it's incredible, but it's true. We are willing to pay you £23,750 a year to continue doing exactly what you do every single day, and all we ask in return is that you eat 16% more calories a week - or 400 more calories a day - whilst introducing Proactol into your diet.

The condition is that, the candidate should not be on a diet but eat a healthy balance of carbohydrates, fats and proteins and be prepared to increase their existing calorie intake by 16% a week by eating fatty foods such as Chinese takeaways, fish and chips, pizza or McDonald's.

Cartoons - Part 2

Peacock Dress For A Whopping 1.5 Million Bucks

Yes you read it right. And for those who are busy in shopping for their wedding day and reading this piece please don’t feel bad or have second thoughts about your already purchased wedding dresses.

Apna desi and extravagant Indian wedding dresses bhi will feel shy. Imagine the reaction of the other minimalist white versions popular in other countries) at the sight of this new Peacock wedding dress. It was showcased on March 2009 at the wedding expo held in Nanjing, the capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province. Made with around 2,009 pieces of peacock feathers, this dress was finished in two months with eight handicraftsmen working on it busy day and night.

Imagine wearing a wedding dress with the peacock motif will definitely make you look like a million bucks just like the price of this dress i.e. $1.5 million bucks (don’t even try to convert this amt. into INR else you are sure to get a heart ache.)

Though this dress is beautiful no doubt, I personally feel the feathers looked prettier when on the peacock. Imagine how many peacocks would have been naked for making this one dress…poor peacockssss…

Journey to the Billionaire Club

I think I am turning into a feminist as I am writing only about women with power this week J. Well in this article I am talking about Isha Ambani, aapdo Mukesssss Ambani nu chokri che.

The 2008 Forbes list of The World’s Billionaire Heiresses (To Be) has ranked Isha Ambani, daughter of Mukesh and Nita Ambani as number two on the list. She is the youngest of the top ten females ranked by Forbes. No. 1 position goes to Vanisha Mittal Bhatia, daughter of Lakshmi Mittal, the fourth-richest person in the world as of March (psstt…jiske shaadi mein her dad blew up a whopping amt. of $60 million. Woops.)

At the age of 18, Isha already has her own stake in the family's Reliance Industries, worth about USD 80 million (Haila!!!). She is in the final year of her International Baccalaureate programme.

I am just wondering if Mukesh Ambani has any plans of adopting one more daughter after he marries off his own daughter. I can apply for the post of his daughter. Sorry dad. Hope yopu don’t feel bad after reading this article.

Women of Worth

Last week was a clear victory for Nari-Shakti. The week started off with the women's reservation bill being passed by the Rajya Sabha and ended off with the High Court judgment allowing women permanent commission in the Indian armed forces. This was an outcome of a petition from around 20 women officers who had moved to court stating gender discrimination.

Till date, women could serve the armed force only for Short Service Commission (SSC) lasting maximum for 14 years as compared to their male counterparts who could get into Permanent Commission (PC) after 5 years. This also meant that women officers were deprived of pension and other financial benefits. But now the Court has granted permission for permanent commission to all the interested women officers. This also meant recalling of all SSC women officers who had retired earlier back into the Indian army.

However this judgment comes with some limitations wherein the rule is applicable only to those officers who were recruited before 2006 when the government decided to stop shifting men and women officers from SSC to Permanent Commission across the board. This also comes with an additional task to the Indian army of reworking on the promotional activities.

BUT, women will still not be allowed on the war frontline because of the fear that they may fall prey to the enemies, creating additional logistics to accommodate women and issues of sexual harassment. The argument that if the current policy of non-induction of women in combat arms should continue given the cost that will incur to safeguard the women officers or be given chance to participate in the combat zone will continue. Whatever may be the reason, it should never be forgotten that the primary responsibility for the constitution of the armed forces is to ensure security of the country which they have carried it out beautifully till now and hope to continue in the future also.

Way to Go guyssss. Jai Hind!!!

Dumb Celebrity Quotes

The other day i was surfing the net and got this idea of putting together some idiotic quotes by famous personalities. It made me feel better and realise that i had many friends who do not make sense like me :). Pesh hai aapki khidmat mein:

• Dan Quayle (former U.S. Vice-President):

1. "The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century."
2. "It isn't pollution that is hurting the environment, it's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it"

• Arnold Shwarzenegger (Actor/Governer of California): "I think gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman"
• Christina Aguilera (Singer): "So, where's the Cannes Film Festival being held this year?"
• Jessica Simpson (singer/actress):

1. "I'm not anorexic. I'm from Texas. Are there people from Texas that are anorexic? I've never heard of one. And that includes me."
2. During her Geography class, she was asked about the names of the continents, and her reply was A-E-I-O-U!".

• Bob Dole (Republican presidential candidate): "The internet is a great way to get on the net"
• Bill Peterson (Florida State football coach): "You guys, line up alphabetically by height"
• Greg Norman (Golfer): "I owe a lot to my parents, especially my mother and father"
• Yogi Berra (Baseball player): "Predictions are difficult. Especially about the future"
• Chuck Nevitt (North Carolina State basketball player): "My sister's expecting a baby, and I don't know if I'm going to be an uncle or an aunt"
• Winston Bennett (University of Kentucky basketball forward): I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body
• Keppel Enderbery (Former Australian cabinet minister): Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas
• Lou Duva (veteran boxing trainer): He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in the morning regardless of what time it is
• Mickey Rivers (baseball player): Pitching is 80% of the game. The other half is hitting and fielding
• Paris Hilton (hotel heiress): "Wal-Mart... do they like make walls there?"
• Donald Rumsfeld (former US Defense Secretary): Once during a press conference, he said: "Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know."

There is a chance that you might be able to answer a Phoenix's riddle, but this Rumsfeld quote, no way!

• Namrata Shirodkar (Bollywood actress): Her answer at the 1993 Miss Universe contest to a question asked by Jackie Chan - "I would not want to live forever because I don't believe that one can live forever. And so, I don't think I would want to live forever

Gods of SEX - The New Religion

It was a bad week for sleazy godmen. Many popular so-called and dhongi swamijis were exposed and quite literally with disgusting stories that have come to light.

Case 1:

One such recent case that took away the major piece of the cake was that of Swami Nityananda who was caught in a compromising position with a south indian actress Ranjitha. This spiritual guru's sex tape was aired on SUN TV on 2nd March giving rise to a major panga and danga in South.

Case 2:

Second story revolves around Anup Kumar Sahai alias Swamiji who kidnapped a 25 yr old girl in Ghaziabad after she rejected his marriage proposal। The moron started line marofying on Priyanka Srivastava (an MBA graduate pursuing a PhD) and wanted to marry her despite the fact that he has a wife and a seven-year-old daughter. Wow!!!! what a joke is happening out here? When Priyanka and her family rejected the psycho's proposal, he offered them Rs 1 crore. Jab tabhi bhi nahi maane (how filmy), he gave dhamki and all saying he would kidnap the girl and marry her forcibly. And jiska darr tha wahi hua. He abducted the girl on February 15 (just a day after valentine's day. Shiv sena manoos jaago. Kaahi kara hi mulgi saathi). But our great police filed the case for this only on 6th March.

Case 3:

Another case that came into the open involved a pimp guru and a self-styled godman of Chitrakoot, Us mahaan aatma ka name is Shiv Murat Dwivedi who earned his money from real estate, money-lending, prostitution, donations from foreign countries and special religious programmes। He operated four accounts in Delhi (inspite of slogging for 12 hrs decently, we are left with no money in our one and only account. wat a life). He used to handle his prostitution business in Delhi, and the NCR. He has forced many girls (some volunteered on their own while majority of them were from vulnerable background) into sickening flesh trade.

Till now i thought that swamijis are were supposed to abstain from all these worldly pleasures!!! Has this rule become just on-papers nowadays?

Cartoons - Part 1