Quake: Militants suspend violence

In the wake of the killer quake, the Jehad Council, an amalgam of 14 militant outfits based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, has announced temporary suspension of its operations in the ravaged areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

Salahuddin asked all the constituents of the council to direct the militant cadres across the state to halt their operations in the affected areas and extend possible relief to the victims

http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/oct/10quake15.htm?q=tp&file=.htm

...and once the victims recover, to resume their militant activity killing the same victims.

This weekend is long weekend for me.
Monday is holiday, Columbus Day.
So far this has been...hmmm...what can I say, a very lazy weekend.

Saturday did some shopping in Nordstrom, at the Short Pump mall. I was shopping for some Jeans and Shirts.

I rented and watched 3 Tamil movies.

Aiyar IPS (one of the worst movies mankind has ever produced)
Maayavi (was ok, a different movie little bit)
Englishkaaran (a pretty descent movie, different story)

Will have to watch another movie Chatrapathi.

Then it was like 3am when I went to bed. And slept almost the whole day on Sunday. Wokeup at around 4 pm on Sunday afternoon.

I was watching Sunday Samayal in Sun TV. I noticed that the commercial for Sakthi Masala has changed.
Usually Kushboo will come in that commercial, and today I saw a different girl.
Well...I guess everyone knows why this change was made.

Kushboo has got herself into a bad PR situation.

I don't know what else will change from now. Remove her from mega serials ? I don't know.

Khushboo's sex comment takes political tones

A remark on pre-marital sex and virginity by South Indian actress Khushboo has set off a major controversy. Now, the issue seems to have taken political colors with a Dalit party tacitly backing protests against her.

http://us.rediff.com/movies/2005/oct/06khush.htm?q=mp&file=.htm

Ok...this is where it gets dirty.
What was a simple social issue, is now storming into a political issue.


Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, N Ram said that whether or not one agreed with Khushboo, 'the intelligent and experienced actress' 'forward-looking' views needed to be respected.

Crap.

For everyone's sake, 'forward-looking' is not about losing virginity before marriage. It's about how to develop the one earth and world we have and make it a better place to live.

How tough is it to get that into the head?

The beleagured actress has virtually been left to fend for herself by the South Indian Film Artistes Association (SIFAA).


Since almost all the film artists are in one political party or the other, or having their own party, eh...you can understand that they are just trying to save their own ass.

I feel sorry for Kushboo. Once a social issue becomes a political issue...eh...you are pretty much f**ked up.

The Kushboo story

I wrote this comment in my friend's blog (Echo). It was a nice little story, so I decided to present it here again, in its original form.

Let me tell you something.
Mr. Host invites Mr. Guest to his house warming party.
Guest, buys a nice little painting, which he thinks will go good in Host’s bedroom.
Guest, goes to Host’s home and gives the painting.
Host appreciates it and he starts nailing the wall in living room, to hang this painting.

The guest sees this.
He will say one of the following three things:

1. "No man with a sense for art will hang this picture in living room."
2. "Don’t hang the picture here, hang it in your bedroom."
3. "If I were you, I would hang this picture in the bedroom."

Let’s analyze the above.
(1) is basically insulting the Host. You are literally saying either that Host doesn’t have sense for art, or he is an idiot. Definitely NOT polite and NOT respectful.
(2) is like you go to another persons house, and tell him what he should do in his own house. Definitely NOT polite and NOT respectful.
(3) Is like saying, if it was my house and if it was my painting I would hang it in my bedroom, but hey it’s your house and your painting, you can do whatever you want with it. Definitely polite and respectful.

Things might have changed in India now, but I would say, most of the people in India would have said (2).
Here in US, almost everyone would have said (3).

So does that mean people in US are more civilized than people in India?

If kushboo had said:
“I don’t mind having pre-marital sex” and
“If I were an educated man, I would not expect my wife to be virgin”
(similar to (3))

then that is polite, civilized and respectful.

But Kushboo said:
“No educated man could expect his wife to be virgin”
(similar to (1))
That’s like saying, educated men who expect his wife to be virgin is stupid, or uneducated men doesn’t know anything and he is ignorant.

If an educated girl, who moves in upper class society, behaves this way, what can you expect from poor uneducated people?

This is my opinion.
And that’s just me. Everyone need not be like me :)

So we will agree to disagree and move on to next debate ;)

NOTE : Seriously... Iam running out of stuff to blog :)

Will evolution be able to explain this?

Rebirth: Girl tracks old parents

http://vimaln.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_vimaln_archive.html

Who are we?

Evolution vs Intelligent Design vs Creationism

Evolution is the process by which populations of organisms acquire and pass on novel traits from generation to generation, affecting the overall makeup of the population and even leading to the emergence of new species.

Intelligent Design (or ID) is the controversial assertion that certain features of the universe and of living things exhibit the characteristics of a product resulting from an intelligent cause or agent, not an unguided process such as natural selection.

Creationism or creation theology is the belief that humans, life, the Earth, and the universe were created by a supreme being or deity's supernatural intervention. The intervention may be seen either as an act of creation from nothing (ex nihilo) or the emergence of order from preexisting chaos.

How did we come into existence?

Did we evolve, learning and adapting to the forces of nature?

Are we the products of an experiment by superior intelligent beings, who designed us and make changes to us and other species making us learn and adapt to the forces of nature?

Were we created by God, as said by all religions?

Shibuki - Platinum is the new Gold

Platinum Guild International commissioned a superlatively beautiful platinum necklace to follow in the footsteps of last year's sensation "Aqua". Featuring 158 gms of platinum and 5.52 carats of diamonds, the "Shibuki" (meaning Splash in Japanese) is the second jewel commissioned by PGI to take its inspiration from water - the very substance of life.

Created by Yuka Kobayashi of the Kuwayama Corporation in Japan, the delicate strands of platinum rise up to represent water gushing out of the ocean. The use of diamonds adds to the feel of fluidity, reflecting in the light to look like brilliant droplets of water. This truly unique piece has been specially designed thus to convey platinum's values of purity, rarity and eternity.

Designer Yuka Kobayashi said, "It is very exciting to be involved in the platinum Aqua collection. The splashes shining from the reflected light of the sun were expressed by setting diamonds amongst the platinum to create a sense of different textures,"

This one of a kind piece, is worth US$100,000.

Paheli selected for Oscar

"Amol Palekar's Paheli has just been selected as India's official entry for the 2006 Oscars.

The other films considered for the nomination were Mangal Pandey, Veer-Zaara, Iqbal, Swades, Parineeta, Page 3, Black, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Sachein (Tamil), Anniyan (Telugu), Uttarayan (Marathi), Achuvante Anna (Malayalam), Graham (Telugu), and Kadal (Tamil)."

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2005/sep/26paheli.htm

Sachein ???

What the f**k?
Who shortlisted these movies? Where the hell did Sachein come from ?
Oh you intelligent guys!

No wonder our movies have never won an oscar.

I just noticed that in the last few weeks my hair is falling at an alarming rate. At this rate, in few months, I guess I will be having the hair style of Andre Agassi :)

Looking back I came up with three reasons.

1. I stopped eating meat (sudden cutback in protein)
2. Changed shampoo and conditioner
3. Reduced taking a multivitamin to one third

I think No 1 is the main reason. But Iam not sure.

I talked to my personal beautician about this and she suggested the following.

1. Drink karuvapalai juice
2. Eat goose berry (Nelli kai)
3. Eat a lot of keerai
4. Use the white of an egg bfore u shampoo ur hairdoes good for your hair
5. Eat dates

I wish all the above was mixed and made into a tablet :)

Sivaji - How is it?

Love Is Real Medicine

A good article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9466931/site/newsweek/

"In modern times, no educated man should expect Tamil songs to be in Tamil" - Vimal Natarajan 2005 A.D.

Note: eh...for those who want to protest, you are advised to come after 6.00 pm or during weekends....or....you will just be shouting at an empty house.

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher marries

"Actors Demi Moore 42, and Ashton Kutcher 27, have married, capping their celebrated two-year-long older-woman, younger-man relationship."

CNN Article

Just last week Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney split, after a short four month married life. In fact they will have their four-month-old marriage annulled.

Let's see how long Demi and Ashton go.

I bet they won't last for 1 year.
Anyone wants to bet against me?

Here's your moment of Zen

"Initial claims of the al-Qaeda raid later proved unimpressive. The captured fighters, described as important figures and foreigners, turned out to be Afghans.

The army could not even tell us if they were Taleban and did not produce them for us to see.

And the al-Qaeda base that had been destroyed turned out to be the compound of a madrassa or religious school that has been raided several times. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Kushboo temples demolished

Activists from political parties have demolished Kushboo Temples... some of them as old as 15 years.

Long time supporters KMK (Kushboo Makkal Katchi) and KJP(Kushboo Janatha Party) have vowed to build the temples again at the disputed site.

On other news, Saravana Bhavan has stopped serving 'Kushboo Idlis' from today.
They said they will now be offering 'Jothika Idlis' and 'Simran Idlis',...the thin version.
The representatives of Annapoorna could not be contacted at this time.

Woman can indulge in pre-marital sex: Kushboo

"The actor is now caught in the eye of a storm for reportedly stating that women could indulge in pre-marital sex provided safe measures were followed to prevent pregnancy.

Later, she justified her statement by saying that no educated man could expect his partner to be a virgin.

Some political parties like the PMK, BJP and the Dalit Panthers of India have taken umbrage over the statement that they see as promoting licentious relations.

Significantly, the main political parties - AIADMK, DMK and Congress - have remained mum on the issue."

mmmm...that's because half the men politicians in AIADMK, DMK and Congress are uneducated and the rest ...eh...don't have to feel guilty now.

www.newindpress.com

"No educated man could expect his partner to be a virgin" - Tamil actress Kushboo 2005

Moooooooom...Daaaaaad...Why did you send me to school?

I got a lot of calls and email from dear ones asking about Hurricane Rita. Fortunately, Virginia was spared. Thanks for all those.

It was second time that a second hurricane devastated the gulf within a span of 2 weeks.

Unfortunately, my aunt,uncle and their kids who were living in Houston was asked to evacuate. They were seriously plyboarding their windows, and sticking duct tapes to the glass windows so that they won't shatter. But after seeing the plight of other evacuvees who were stuck in Highway I-45 , they decided that they will stay back home.

In the end it turned out to be a wise decision. As the hurricane was downgraded from Category 5 to Category 3 when it made landfall, the impact on Houston and surrounding areas was very minimal. Unfortunately the levees broke again in New Orleans flooding them again.

I also saw the movie Sishya, starring Karthik and Roshini. It was an old movie. I thought Roshini looked beautiful. I liked her the most among all 3 sisters, Nagma, Jothika including.

I also rented a tamil DVD after a long time. I saw 'Ullam Ketkumay'.
It love story. hmmm...

After coming to US and seeing the culture here...well...one can see the difference when it comes to love.
The way the love is proposed is so different in India and US.

Its surprising that guys in India are still the same. Hesitating to say their love to the girl and giving love letters and cards. It all looks so funny to see now.

But the love itself seems to be the same across the world.
When it comes to relationship, while the guy usually looks at the beauty of the girl, the girl actually looks at so many different things.

The movie itself was good I thought, except for some sentimental dialogues and scenes.

Greg Chappell, Sourav Ganguly and BCCI

Alright.
We now have the text of email that Greg Chappell mailed to BCCI...which by the way, now stands for Board of Cricket Controversy in India.

We are now waiting for a rebuttal from Sourav Ganguly.

I, have always admired the captaincy of Sourav. I believe that he was one of the best captains India ever had. He was aggressive and confident. He knew what he was doing.

But watching him and the events unfolding around him last 2 weeks, I guess Chappell is right when he says Sourav is mentally not fit to lead the team.

One can easily come to the conclusion by watching what Sourav has been doing and talking last 2 weeks.

He really looks like he has lost the confidence in himself and his decisions. The way he handled this whole issue was also immature.

After all this, I think it is time for him to step down from captaincy, or if he doesn't want to do that, move on.

I am not sure if Rahul is a good replacement as a captain, as his records as a captain doesn't seem to impress that much.
But saying that, there is also an allegation that Harbhajan Singh, was asked to underperform under Rahul's captaincy.
Now that is very interesting. We don't know if its true and if so, who else was asked to underperform under Rahul's captaincy.
If that is true, then no wonder India did not perform well under Rahul's captaincy. Poor Rahul.

If true, then its only fair to give Rahul another chance.

IAEA resolution against Iran : Where does India stand ?

Something very interesting happened over the weekend.

I hope you all must have read the proposed India-Iran natural gas pipeline project through Pakistan.

India was about to go ahead with this project ignoring US interests. This, in fact, after the increased India-US relationships since the Bush administration. Bush also had agreed to give co-operation in nuclear energy technologies, including help with the construction of nuclear plants.
Even after that, India was in favor of the Iran gas pipeline project, which had 'disappointed' US. Condoleeza Rice, when she came to India talked about it. When Manmohan visited US, Bush talked about it.
India had insisted that it needs energy to sustain the current growth rate and said it is going ahead with Iran pipeline project.

But now, an IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) resolution drafted by European Union's 3 biggest powers - France, Britain and Germany, and backed by US was adopted by IAEA.

The resolution requires Iran to be reported to the security council over a failure to convince the agency that its nuclear program was entirely peaceful.

22 votes was passed in favor of the resolution, 12(including Russia, China and South Africa) abstained and 1(Venezuela) voted against it.

Now comes the interesting part.
India, which had opposed the resolution, voted in favor of it this weekend.
This has surprised many.
Analysts speculate that India voted in favor, due to US pressure and not to jeopardize the relation with US.
India disagrees that their decision is in no way connected to the nuclear deal with US.

Iran officials say they will review the decisions taken by India and South Korea.

The next few days will be interesting to watch on this issue.

Pakistan on the other hand abstained from voting.

Countries who voted in favor of the resolution:
United States, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Argentina, Belgium, Ghana, Ecuador, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Slovakia, Japan, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, and India

Countries who abstained from voting:
Pakistan, Algeria, Yemen, Brazil, China, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Vietnam

Countries who voted against:
Venezuela

The above 35 countries are the IAEA board members for 2004-2005.