Ice Rain in Chennai

At around 3 PM yesterday, got an excited call from my Mom. She gave a live commentary abt Ice rain in royapettah, chennai - a never seen before phenomenon. Harsh sunlight was all that I got when I opened the blinds at my office in velachery. Missed the cool happening. But wonder whatz the cause? Nature just showing off its power?

20(2)0

That was one hell of a match yesterday! A treat to cricket lovers..

BTW, ESPN has just added a cool 200 crore to its kitty. The Ad spots for India-Pakistan final Twenty20 match was at an all-time high of Rs 7.5-10 lakh per 10 seconds - a record highest for Indian TV. They will sure try to maximise their profit, afterall they had bidded $1.1-billion and won the ICC rights for the next eight years. Big Business!!

EconomicTimes reports the numbers.

20(2)0

That was one hell of a match yesterday! A treat to cricket lovers..

BTW, ESPN has just added a cool 200 crore to its kitty. The Ad spots for India-Pakistan final Twenty20 match was at an all-time high of Rs 7.5-10 lakh per 10 seconds - a record highest for Indian TV. They will sure try to maximise their profit, afterall they had bidded $1.1-billion and won the ICC rights for the next eight years. Big Business!!

EconomicTimes reports the numbers.

Pillaiyar

Lets give a break to Ramar.
Varalaaru.com has a very insighful writeup on Pillayar/Ganesha history in TamilNadu. Good Read!

Satham Podathey

Satham Podathey Tamil Movie: A Psycho crime thriller falls flat on its face. Thumbs down from my side..;-((
saving grace : Padmapriya, Nithin Satya

Caste Judgement

"The Supreme Court on Monday said schools in the country cannot compel students to disclose their caste status at the time of admission. Any such disclosure shall be optional, or in other words, it should be left to the discretion of the student to divulge his/her caste identity, a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan said."
Rediff Report
Hmm..But I can't remember the last time I filled a 'Religion' column in any form..So things are much better after growing up..I guess..

Government Backtracks

Union Law Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj has said the government will withdraw the offending remarks from the Ram sethu affidavit and file a fresh one. Also added that Lord Ram cannot be made subject to a debate.

Just like I said in my previous blog - oh my god! yesterday.
"A round of applause..please.. to the brave souls who went ahead & spoke the truth. [popular votebank will defintely get angry over this..I'm sure the govt will now try to balance the theist & the pious lot! by issuing appeasing statements....]"

Long Live the Truth!!

oh..my god!

My eyes really popped out..reading this..

The central government today told the Supreme Court that there was no historical evidence to establish the existence of Lord Rama or the other characters in Ramayana.In an affidavit filed before the apex court, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) rejected the claim of the existence of the Ramsethu bridge in the area where the project was under construction.

All this is happening in a country which witnessed riots & killings after Ayodhya's Babri Masjid demolition in the name of rama's birthplace. This affidavit requires great amount of guts...I thought, they would just submit a report saying there is no man-made structure under the sea and be controversy free. But issuing a statement like this..A round of applause..please.. to the brave souls who went ahead spoke the truth. [popular votebank will defintely get angry over this..I'm sure the govt will now try to balance the theist & the pious lot! by issuing appeasing statements....]

This is really going to be debated like never before..Already the BJP has called it sheer blasphemy. "It's an insult to Hindu faith. We also wonder why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi have been going for the Dussehra festival if their government does not believe in Lord Rama's existence,"

I'm starting to enjoy this ;-))

Sinagara Chennai - Toondoo

god-names

A never ending source of god-names: Try looking at the windshield of the vehicles in TamilNadu (not sure if this is the case across India)..It really amazes me that we have soooooo many gods looking after us! - popular ones would be popular gods - Murugan Thunai [murugan is my protector/supporter], there are these scores of local gods - they come with the location too..kottaipuram bhagavathi thunai , Senkaadu Ellaiamman thunai etc., ..As I said, the list is endless..

But today, it was a refreshing change to see a car that had 'En Thai Thunai' meaning - My Mother is my protector. Hope the gods don't get angry!!!!

Forbes Asia Fabulous 50

The list is out. India leads the tally with 12 companies. The usual suspects are there: Bharat Heavy Electricals, Bharti Airtel, Grasim Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Infosys Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Industries, Satyam Computer Services, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel and Wipro.

But what caught my eye was that Taiwan comes second with 10 compaines. That by itself speaks volumes of good work being done there. If such a small Asian country can pull its act together, India needs to go a long way. Economic times says "Most of the firms represented are from the island's low-profile tech industry and include Hon Hai Precision Industry, which churns out iPhones, PCs and PlayStations. "

General Alert?

"The Tamil Nadu government has been alerted by Central intelligence agencies about a possible terror strike in Chennai prompting authorities to beef up security in markets and all crowded places. "

OK..We understand.

Then comes a statement.."the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had issued a general alert not only for Chennai but for all states about 'certain designs by certain terrorist elements based abroad trying to do some kind of an action that they can take up in India."

Come..on...What does a 'General Alert' to 'all states' achieve in particular? You call this special intelligence?