More from This is True.

HOW DO YOU DEFINE LOSER? Oregon state minimum-security prison inmate
Jason Hayes, 29, was doing his assigned job when he noticed the guards
were looking the other way. "He just walked," a prison spokeswoman
says, making an escape. After walking for half an hour he passed by the
state Department of Corrections headquarters building in Salem. As it
happened, a DoC employee was getting into her car and noticed his
prison uniform. Her job: chasing down escaped fugitives. She confronted
Hayes and he ran, jumping over a barbed-wire-topped fence -- landing in
the middle of a training exercise for the police SWAT team. He was
quickly arrested. (Portland Oregonian) ..."Genius may have its
limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped." --Elbert Hubbard
(1856-1915), American author.

Once I wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up - they have no
holidays.
-- Henny Youngman

Bullfighting is the number-one sport in Latin America.
"'That's revolting!"
"No, that's the number-two sport."

Here's something interesting I found floating on the net, about the recent and much hyped visit of GWB to Iraq.

Purported Bush Tape Raises Fear of New Attacks
by Robert Jensen and Sam Husseini
Disassociated Press; November 28, 2003

A tape today surfaced in U.S. media outlets of someone purporting to be George W. Bush at a U.S. military base in Baghdad.

Intelligence analysts around the world are studying the videotapes. "It certainly looked and sounded like him, but we get so few glimpses at Bush in real-life situations that it is hard to tell," said one operative from a Western intelligence agency.

People who know Bush said it appeared to him. "That's him, all right," said one longtime associate.

The tape shows the man claiming to be Bush praising U.S. attacks in Iraq. "We will stay until the job is done," he threatened.

The videotape was delivered to the Baghdad bureau of FOX News by an intermediary courier who has brought material before from the U.S. military, according to the U.S. network.

There were calls for FOX to be banned from some Arabic countries for broadcasting American militaristic propaganda.

While the quality of the tape was not poor, the alleged Bush did appear tired in portions of it, prompting speculation that he is on the run.

The man claiming to be Bush said: "We did not charge hundreds of miles into the heart of Iraq, pay a bitter cost in casualties, defeat a brutal dictator and liberate 25 million people only to retreat before a band of thugs and assassins."

Analysts pointed out that given the ongoing nature of the Iraqi resistance since "the end of major combat operations," that comment could have been recorded anytime in the past six months.

"When the man identified as Bush tells U.S. troops, 'You are defeating the terrorists here in Iraq so we don't have to face them in our own country,' well, it's a little hard to believe that even the Bush White House would try to spin that," said the operative from a Western intelligence agency.

"How could anyone believe, after all that has been disclosed about the lies and distortions used to manipulate the public into accepting this war, that U.S. troops are defending the American people in Iraq? No major world leader would be so obtuse or so low as to try to sell that to people at this stage."

Members of the Iraqi Governing Council who met with the man identified as Bush said they had met with a man identified as Bush and were delaying comment until Paul Bremer was available to tell them what their comments would be.

Omar Ali, an Iraqi in a poor area of Baghdad said: "I don't understand why he didn't stay. Just because the U.S. nearly starved us with the sanctions for 12 years, killed my cousin during the invasion, busted down my door last week and is trying to find a way to steal our oil - does he think that Iraqis would want to hurt him, our great liberator?"

Private Charles Sanders, who has been stationed in Iraq since the invasion said: "I was supposed to be back home by now. It was really getting depressing, but this is great. Sure, I don't get to look into the eyes of my little girl, or hold my wife tenderly in my arms, but the president served me turkey!"

Susan Jones in Pittsburgh, who this morning was driven to tears while watching "Dances with Wolves" on cable TV, said: "I was planning on talking over the Thanksgiving Day table with my family about how we slaughtered the Indians and enslaved the blacks, bullied Latin America and bombed Vietnam, and now were occupying Iraq. I don't know, is it just me, or do we just have this brutal aggressive side to us? But now I guess, well, just talk about Bush's visit instead."

When asked whether she was certain the president had gone to Iraq, Laura Bush said she hadn't noticed her husband had left the Crawford ranch. "I assumed he was out clearing brush," the First Lady said.

Correspondents Robert Jensen and Sam Husseini contributed to this report.
www.zmag.org

This is really heartening news about my favourite past time - quizzing !!

Indian Quizzers Crush British Team on British Topics in BBC Mastermind Quiz
&
Here's your starter for ten: Who was the hottest in Madras?

:-D

This is a nice quiz - Identify who's a software language developer and who's a serial killer!! As if there is much difference :-D

Killer Quiz

History interests me. Not wars and how many kings and queens ruled, but how people lived in olden times. You can say I am interested in Social Geography and Anthropology. There is an irrestible urge in my life to find what people in earlier times ate, wore, how they lived, grew grain and in general how on they carried on their business of living.

I keep reading lots of articles on archealogical studies in New Scientist, a magazine that is almost God-sent for a information-maniac like me. Today I chanced upon a nice site, Roman Britain, that is about how the Romans lived in Britain 2000 years ago. Quite interesting!

Check this out - Very funny!
Are you an E-Bore?

My score in June 2003 was 60 and in November 2003 has climbed upto 64. At this rate, I should be a complete E-bore (a score of 100 points) in August 2007 :-D

Samit - a dear friend - says and I quote:
If you were able to calculate the time to reach 100% then you are already beyond the 100% limit.
Ha Ha :-D

Back to the internet and back to blogging, would start again soon!!

I wonder if I should start Delhi's first flash mob ;-)

First Flash Mob happens in India at Mumbai

Here's one that cracked me up :-D

"I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
--Robert McCloskey, State Department spokesman

Here's a neat one on Answering Machine Madness, the disease that plagues all Americans ;-)

Hi, this is John. If you are the phone company, I already sent the money. If you are my parents, please send money. If you are my financial aid institution, you didn't lend me enough money. If you are my friends, you owe me money. If you are a female, don't worry, I have plenty of money.

Was reading my new dictionary, reached the very last page to see what is the last word in the dictionary and say a word "Zyrian". As is my habit, googled for it immediatly.

Reached this page which is quite something! Some people have all the time in the world to do all sorts of interesting things ;-)

A not so new one, but worth a laugh all the time !

A professor of Linguistics was lecturing to an audience about similarities and dissimilarities found among languages. He pointed out that in Russian, the use of a double negative does not alter the intent of the statement but, in English the use of a double negative renders a statement positive. He then pointed out that never does the use of a double positive in English make a statement negative.

A voice from the back of the room shouted, "yeah, right!!!"

I have fallen in love with Google's News Alerts - check them out here

The best thing about them is the text around the keyword. That helps to understand the context and judge without clicking whether the article is relevant to my keyword or not. Less time spent on evaluation of email.

Have been teaching Verbal Ability and Personality Development to CAT aspirants for nearly two months now. Recently, I bought an Oxford English Dictionary for my English classes. The dictionary was a necessity since it contained Etymology. My work revolves around understanding words and their meanings, and knowing the origins helps a great deal!

Had a niece born on 25th September!!

There's mass indignation amongst Indian internet users. The Indian govt has asked through orders like these, all private ISPs to block access to a discussion group on yahoogroups. This group focusses on some anti-India activities, especially secessionist views. You may try to access this group here. You will be able to see it if you are outside India. If in India, you would get a gateway error or something similar. If you live in India and want to access this group, try Anonymizer which allows you to surf blocked websites. Or try typing the URL (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kynhun) in Google and click on the cached links to see it.

However, that is not the point. If the govt deems some website to be dangerous to the integrity and sovereignty of the Indian Union, and deems to block it, freedom of speech and information be damned, *AT LEAST DO IT PROPERLY*. Most ISPs, including the one that I use, have blocked the complete http://groups.yahoo.com site. Yahoo groups is a major website used by Indian users. I am personally a member of nearly 30 groups on the same, discussing issues as varied as Indian Business and Strategy, Pancham's music, Jainism and Search Engine Optimization. While thankfully we are not suffering from non-delivery of mails, the site's web access is blocked leading to administrative problems. Talk about cutting the hand to stop the accusing finger!

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Here's an interesting letter that is being forwarded to the Indian users. Please help the cause and send the same to the Minister!

Folks!

Due to bungling between GOI and ISPs, for many of us, it is not possible to access the yahoo groups site at all !!!

GOI had asked the ISPs to block access to a particular yahoogroup site, however, many ISPs have blocked access to entire yahoogroups site.
(It may not effect many yahoogroups members, but it does hinder moderators to do their job - and therefore, the effectiveness of the groups)

I am enlosing a copy of a copy of the government GO, which is also available at:

http://corporate.ddsl.net/images/sc1.gif
It is from the Ministry of Communications and IT - LR Cell, signed by Jayant Kumar, Director, LR II (tel # 011 23372601)

It tells ISPs to block http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/kynhun/ - and definitely not to block the whole of yahoogroups.

The only recourse is to send petition to the Hon'ble Minister of Communiation and IT, Mr Arun Shourie, to intervene.

I am pasting a message below, and request you to cut-copy-paste it, and send to his mailids (which are give below)

Please forward this message to as many yahoogroups as you can (and not listed in "To:" above)

thanks for your initiative and cooperation

ciao
madhukar
=================================
Dr Madhukar Shukla
Prof (OB & Strategic Management), XLRI, CH Area (East),
Jamshedpur India 831 001
email: madhukar@xlri.ac.in
webpage: http://www.madhukarshukla.com/
ph: 91 657 2225506 x 300(O)/ 603(R)
fax: 91 657 2227814

============================================================================
E-mail: ashourie@yojana.nic.in, minister@mit.gov.in
Mail Off: Electronic Niketan, Lodhi Road, New Delhi
Fax Off: 24364484
Mail Res : A-31, Westend Enclave, New Delhi-110021
Fax Res: 24100012

______________________________________________________


Sh. Arun Shourie,
Hon'ble Minister for Communication and Information Technology
Government of India

Dear Sh. Shourie,

Sub: Protection of Right to freedom of speech & expression

Please refer to order No. 820-1/2003-LR(Vol.I) dated 10/09/2003 of Department of Telecommunication under your Ministry regarding
directions to block Internet website "groups.yahoo.com/groups/kynhu" .

We believe that the Ministry of Communication must be having necessary reasons to block the above website. Any such censoring in National Interest / National Security is welcome. However it is pointed out that certain ISP's have implemented the said order by blocking the entire domain groups.yahoo.com.

Consequently a number of citizens in the country are not able to access various yahoo groups across the country. It is brought to your notice that the citizens use the free services of yahoo to exchange ideas and remain connected with one another. However consequent to the above order the exchange of free flow of information has come to a halt.

Having known you as a former Editor and champion of Freedom of Speech , it was surprising to know that such an order can come through a Ministry headed by you.

The Intellectuals across the country feel that censoring of Internet may lead the citizens of the country far behind in the fast changing world. Time memorial have proved that no censorship has ever worked in the country. Despite all odds in the country it is this freedom to speech that makes Indian citizens feel proud of their nation. It is this freedom that makes India different from China.

We therefore request you to personally intervene and either ensure the proper implementation of the order whereby only "groups.yahoo.com/groups/kynhu" is blocked by ISP's or alternately withdraw the above order and ensure Right to freedom of speech & expression of all Citizens.

It is further requested that the rules under which the above order was passed may be re-looked and if possible a representative from amongst the Journalist world may be brought in the committee which examines such blockage of website. It should not happen that Bureaucrats/ Politicians use above tool to infringe the fundamental right to freedom of speech of citizens.

With a special appeal to the Journalist in you.

Best Regards,

A Concerned Citizen

Here are some miscellaneous ones.

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Here's a good one from Dilbert ;-)

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And here's a series of two on the IITs - India's premier technology institutes.

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Here are some new cartoons!

Here's a lovely series on spam from Rudy Park.

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Cleaning my drawer, I chanced upon a yellowing piece of paper. A long long time ago, I started to make this list. 50 things I would like to do in my lifetime. Here is what I have written till now, and the status in the brackets!

1. Teach (Doing it, and enjoying it throughly!!)

2. Gardening (Yeah, doing this too and enjoying it :-) )

3. Read Psychology (Umm, not got around to doing this till now)

4. Read Philosophy (Started to do this, but fell asleep! May be I need to start with something simpler than "Dialectical Dissertations on the Existentialistic Musings of Plato and their influence on post-modern Greek Drama")

5. Read Anthropology (Ok, somewhat there, I read a lot of stuff on this on the net and watch on discovery channel, so I have taken the easy way out)

6. Ornithology (Umm, I am sure this meant the winged variety, but my current pursuits are more about the human variety, if you know what I mean ;-) )

7. Trek in the jungles (Unfulfilled)

8. Watch nature closely (Not fulfilled in the way I want it to be, but somehow I manage to do this even in this concrete jungle)

9. Make my own library (Ok, reaching there. Already have a lot of books!)

10. Write short stories (Nope, the world is still spared that torture)

Will add 11-50 (and more!) as and when time passes!!

Just read that to help Delhi's bid for the Commonwealth Games 2010, the Delhi Metro Rail is being projected as a superb feature. Most stadia are either bang on the metro routes, or a kilometer or two away so the metro would help people commute to game sites.

And the surprising gainer in all this could be my home city, the Delhi suburb called Noida. Initially the Noida phase of the metro was going to be completed in 2012, but if the common wealth games come to Delhi then the date would be preponed by three years to 2009! Yeah!!

Now I have another reason to hope for Delhi's successful bid for the games ;-)

Gosh! Life can be so boring sometimes - really in the dumps right now :-(

Meanwhile head to Quiznet on Yahoogroups to experience Indian quizzing at its best. I am a regular member and contribute quizzes as well as answer a lot of quizzes. Enjoy!

Is it just me or has anyone noticed less spam on Hotmail addresses?

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A Realistic Look At Job Descriptions


An ADULT is a person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.

CANNIBAL Someone who is fed up with people.

CHICKENS are the only animals you eat before they are born and after they are dead.

A COMMITTEE is a body that keeps minutes and wastes hours.

DUST is mud with the juice squeezed out.

An EGOTIST is someone who is usually me-deep in conversation.

A GOSSIP is a person who will never tell a lie if the truth will do more damage.

A HANDKERCHIEF is cold storage.

INFLATION is cutting money in half without damaging the paper.

A MYTH is a female moth.

A MOSQUITO is an insect that makes you like flies better.

RAISINS are grape with a sunburn.

A SECRET is something you tell to one person at a time.

A SKELETON is a bunch of bones with the person scraped off.

A TOOTHACHE is the pain that drives you to extraction.

TOMORROW is one of the greatest labor saving devices of today.

A YAWN is an honest opinion openly expressed.

WRINKLES are something other people have. You have character lines.

A BANKER is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining
and wants it back the minute it begins to rain.

An ECONOMIST is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted
yesterday didn't happen today.

A STATISTICIAN is someone who is good with numbers but lacks the personality
to be an accountant.

An ACTUARY is someone who brings a fake bomb on a plane, because
that decreases the chances that there will be another bomb on the plane.

A PROGRAMMER is someone who solves a problem you didn't know you had in a way
you don't understand.

A MATHEMATICIAN is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn't there.

A TOPOLOGIST is a man who doesn't know the difference between a coffee cup and a doughnut.

A LAWYER is a person who writes a 10,000 word document and calls it a "brief."

A PSYCHOLOGIST is a man who watches everyone else when a beautiful girl enters the room.

A PROFESSOR is one who talks in someone else's sleep.

A SCHOOLTEACHER is a disillusioned woman who used to think she liked children.

A CONSULTANT is someone who takes the watch off your wrist and tells you the time.

A DIPLOMAT is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will
look forward to the trip.

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Here's is a sampler of some nursery rhymes with an Indian twist. Enjoy!
________________________________

Laloo Bhai bihari
Went up the pahari
To fetch a bail for court order
Laloo fell down
And lost his crown
But Rabri reigned thereafter.
________________________________
Laxman laxman
Yes pappa
eating money
no pappa
telling lies
no pappa
open yr drawer
ha ha ha
________________________________
samata party is falling down
falling down
falling down
samata party is falling down
falling down
falling down
my fair jaitley (jaya)
________________________________
Wha Wha Black Sheep
Have you pulled the wool?
Yes sir, Yes sir,
Three bags full.
One for my father,
One for my dame,
And one for the CBI
Crying in the lane.
__________________________________
Little Miss Bharti,
Did a Maha-arti,
So the BJP would always hold sway.
There came a big BSP With Mayavati its USP.
And frightened Miss Bharti away.
________________________________
Little Lal Advani
Sat with his TV vahini
Taking his party's rai
He stuck out hist humb,
hoping to pull out the plum,
And said, 'Can I have a slice of Vaj-pie?'
____________________________________
Batsman-bowler sat on the ball.
Batsman-bowler had a great fall,
All the bookies' cookies,
All the bribers' men,
Couldn't put Indian cricket together again.
____________________________________
Bankers and ministers
Sold for a penny
All the swindlers are so many
The envy's green
And the CBI red's
Nail them all, and get
their head, head, head.

Okay, this is quite good. It is not very hard to make but the fact is that someone took the trouble to make it, and made it so well. I got this from the New York Times, where it was featured in a what's new section. It is supposed to be a walking man, who is walking across the world on email. In the email you receive it, you are urged to pass it on. One email I sure will have no misgivings in forwarding.

If you want this, right click on the image, then click on "Save Picture As..." and save wherever you want.

Some cartoons to waste your time!

1. Here's one real gem from recent times :-)





2. I have recently discovered Frank and Ernest and it is fast turning into one of my favourite strips, in addition to Calvin and Hobbes, Off the Mark, Non-Sequitur etc.





3. Non Sequitur is the king of off-beat comics. The humour is dry, witty, sarcastic, cynical and yet very refreshing ;-)





4. Okay, this is kinda OK, but I still enjoyed this. Refers to the recent no-call-list for telemarketing activities in the USA. A good initiative, and the growing pestilence of this breed in India, makes me wonder how soon are we to such an initiative in our country.





5. This killed me, I still can't stop laughing on this one :-)

A definitive site on the Indian army and its operations is Bharat Rakshak. Have a dekko!

Listening to Ali Haider's "Purani Jeans Aur Guitar". It is one of my favourite songs! Although never had most of the escapades and experiences mentioned in the song (I was a good boy!!), I can somehow connect to it.

Listening to this and songs of other Pakistani artists makes me wonder why can't we live in peace. I love the voices of Ghulam Ali, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Junoon, Abida Parveen and Ali Haider. Noorjehan went from India to Pakistan after partition and we lost the best voice in the world, probably even better than our own venerable Lata Mangeshkar.

Peace! That's what we need.

Well I have never been a big fan of Jagjit Singh and his ghazals, but over the years, friends have introduced me to them and I am a fan now.

The best one I like are from Saath Saath and Arth and of course Hoshwalon Ko Khabar Kahan with the lovely video of Sonali in Sarfarosh!

Dial the world for free (8/2/03)

The Web and E-mail are second nature to PC owners. Jeff Pulver hopes the same will soon apply for Internet phone calls. A 40-year-old pioneer in the field, Pulver is a passionate, fast-talking crusader trying to sell a skeptical public on the future of Net telephony. His latest venture is a no-charge service called Free World Dialup (www.freeworlddialup.com).

Here is something interesting!

Rumours are that Aamir Khan might be featured on the cover of TIME Magazine. Photographer Atul Kasbekar has been assigned the job of clicking Aamir for the lead story on crossover films.

Bush and the American's are big time liers, and it is time that these guys were set right for killing Iraqis for no reason. Does the Iraqi experience mean that if I feel that America is an enemy of my country, I can just go and blast them off for no forseeable reason, whatsoever?? I would love to do that!

THE MESSAGE COUNTS: Bob Graham, running for the Democratic nomination to oppose President George W. Bush in the next presidential election, said Bush wasn't truthful about Iraq having purchased uranium from Africa, as claimed in the buildup toward war. Would he say, then, that Bush told a lie about Iraq's push for "weapons of mass destruction"? "I would not use the three-letter word," Sen. Graham replied. "I would use the five-letter word: deceit." (AP) ...Americans need to learn a four-letter word: vote.

From This Is True

And of course, politicians are the same everywhere, the first ones to bake their breads over the funeral pyres of others.

Inspiring, isn't it? I am impressed with this guy's dedication.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON: Comedian Mark Olver got plenty of laughs when he fell down during his stand-up routine at a comedy club in Bristol, England. Almost immediately after coming out on stage, he collapsed in a heap. As he lay on the floor, microphone in hand, he kept telling jokes -- even though he had a dislocated knee and broken ankle."I was in a lot of pain, but managed to do about 15 minutes of material while on the floor, passing out every now and then because of the pain, and then coming round to do the punch line." The audience thought it was part of his act until paramedics arrived and carried him off the stage on a stretcher. Olver didn't take any time off at all: he was back on stage the next night, doing his act in a cast. (Bristol Evening Post)

From This Is True

Some nice ones I came across :-)

An English professor announced to the class; "There are
two words I don't allow in my class. One is gross and
the other is cool."
From the back of the room a voice called out, "Yeah? So,
what are the words?"

***********************************************

A man complained, "Doc, I've been to three other clinics
and none of them agreed with your diagnosis."
The doctor calmly replied, "Just wait until the autopsy,
then they'll see that I was right."

************************************************

Ever notice how it's a penny for your thoughts, yet you put
in your two-cents? Someone is making a penny on the deal.
--Steven Wright

So, you are a Superman fan, eh? Well here's something for you - The First Superman comic, published waaaay back in 1938.

Today I am going for a "Chouka" for two Jain Aryikajees (female ascetics) in our local temple. During the monsoon months, Jain ascetics stay at one place, as compared to the rest of the year when they are constantly on the move from one place to another. So this is more a time for contemplation, meditation, preaching and teaching than any other during the year. The ascetics take very simple food, once a day. This food is prepared by devotees in a very very clean and pure environment. Everything has be very clean and completely pure and this makes it very tough to do this kind of thing. A lot of effort goes into a single meal.

Our family has had a tradition of some "Choukas" in the past, but the recent years have seen no Choukas in past years. Life in a big city can be drastically different from one in a small city and one has much less time.

Noida, where I live is a comparatively new place and this is the first time that some ascetics have stayed for the monsoon months. So there is a great fervour in the Jain community here. Most of the arrangements for the meals have been made at the local temple itself, instead of homes, as is normally done.

I better get going!

I can't believe there is no major Indian cricket match for another 2 months or so. I mean we Indians are so used to our regular shot of cricket, that such a long hiatus after the World Cup has left us completely dry. I just wish October was here sooner and we all get to see New Zealand get a bit of their own treatment, on Indian pitches. I am all for sporting pitches, not just spinning tracks, so that we can show which is the better team. We on sporting tracks, or they on specially-prepared-bad-tracks-not-worth-international-standards? I think we all know the answer.

Indians are having a bad run in the counties, except may be Dravid. Marriage suits him :-)

Recently I read an article in the TOI that speculated whether going to county matches was still the relevant "coming-of-age" ritual for Indian cricketers. Country cricket has lost its charm in the recent years, and Indians are playing a lot more international cricket, than say 20 years or even 10 years ago. But one thing cannot be denied. Where else can you drive around in a 50 mile radius and get to meet so many new quality teams, with good facilities and excellent atmosphere. You get to experience new kind of pitches and varied bowling attacks. So I guess there is some merit in the county-cricket experience.

But that's just me :-)

This is the first step towards the planned recapture of the India market by USA. We should be wary of such moves, and proceed with caution.

In today's world, we cannot avoid partnering with the USA, but one needs to be cautious of their moves, and have enough checks and balances to make sure that we are not caught on the wrong foot by any short-sighted decisions.

In addition we should reduce our dependency on oil. gas, coal, hydel and renewable sources like solar, tidal should be explored in greater depth.

India is a big market for oil, US tells its firms
http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/aug/04oil.htm
S Ravindran & Hemangi Balse in Mumbai | August 04, 2003 07:57 IST

The United States has drafted India into the axis of virtue. The Bush administration believes India is a major energy market.

It wants India to build "strategic oil reserves", which can be drawn upon in case of another oil shock to the world economy.

Specifically, throwing the Enron-Dabhol controversy to the winds, the US government is lending its weight to American firms seeking to invest in India's energy sector.

A task force on the US Energy Policy, constituted by US President George Bush, sees "India as one of the major energy markets."

As part of a policy realignment, the US Department of Energy has offered to support "any industry expertise required by India to create its own strategic reserves."

The US wants India to replicate its model, wherein petroleum is stored in "natural, underground salt caverns."

The US has built capacities to store up to 700 million barrels at four sites. These give it a drawdown capacity of 4.4 million barrels a day, which "at full level (of drawdown) is equivalent to the production of the fourth largest supplier in the world."

Petroleum Minister Ram Naik has apprised Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the recent changes in the US energy policy.

As many as 66 US oil and gas majors have shown interest in the recent roadshows, in which the Indian government invited multinationals to explore 24 blocks under the New Exploration Licensing Policy-IV.

The campaign contained a promotional roadshow for the second round of bids for coal-bed methane blocks, in which 32 US firms, including CDX Gas and Burlington Resources, participated.

The Centre has offered nine such blocks, housing about 400 billion cubic metres of exploitable gas.

With support from the US government, India is likely to see a number of American energy firms descending on its shores in search of hydrocarbons and to set up energy units.

Despite the Enron debacle, the US firms are encouraged by the recent gas discoveries made by Reliance Industries in the Krishna-Godavari deep-water block and by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation in Vasai (off Mumbai), the deregulation of the oil industry and the proposed government divestment in oil companies.

Watched "The Kumars at No. 42" and "Goodness Gracious Me" on Star World yesterday. They are really nice comedies, I can't stop laughing :-D Wish they would make these kind of comedies more in India.

In recent years, there has been a rush of cinema and TV from Indians who are based abroad. And most of it is quite good. Well, this finally proves one thing - Indians can laugh at themselves too!

A really nice website for downloading old Hindi movie songs is Indian Screen.
One for downloading new ones is esargam.
Another site that offers a lot of songs for downloads is Surendra.
A site with lot of downloads is Entertain 123
However, the current daddy still remains Cool Goose

Happy Downloading ;-)

:-D

"I'm having amnesia and deja-vu at the same time...
I think I have forgotten this before..."

:-D

Listening to "Pyar mein dil pe maar de goli, le le meri jaan" :-) - nice song.....RDB is really the tops.

And here is another really great one doing the rounds on the net.

   While suturing a laceration on the hand of a 90-year-old man,
   the doctor asked his patient how he thought George W. Bush was
   doing as President.
   
   The old man said, "Ya know, Bush is a post turtle." Not knowing
   what the old man meant, the doctor asked him what a "post
   turtle" was.
   
   He said, "Did you ever drive down a country road and come across
   a fence post with a turtle balanced on top? You know he didn't
   get there by himself, he doesn't belong there, he can't get
   anything done while he's up there, and you just want to help the
   poor thing down. That's a post turtle."

One of my all time favourite authors of comedy is W. Bruce Cameron. He writes an absolutely hilarious column, mostly dealing with his teenage daughters. Catch him at his website

A nice joke I came across recently!

In an interview with David Letterman, U.S. President Jimmy Carter passed
along an anecdote of a translation problem in Japan. Carter was speaking at
a business lunch in Tokyo, where he decided to open his speech with a brief
joke.

He told the joke, then waited for the translator to announce the Japanese
version. Even though the story was quite short, Carter was surprised by how
quickly the interpreter was able to re-tell it. Even more impressive was the
reaction from the crowd. Carter thought the story was cute, but not outright
hilarious, yet the crowd broke right up. Carter was very flattered.

After the speech, Carter wanted to meet the translator to ask him how he
told the joke. Perhaps there is better way to tell the joke?

When Carter asked how the joke had been told in Japanese, the translator
responded, "I told them, 'President Carter has told a very funny joke.
Please laugh now.'"

Okey dokey - checking out this new software Bloggar for posting to my blogs. May be this will inspire me to post more frequently.

here is the indian version of the evergreen classic, why did the chicken cross the road? i have personally written every entry, last night and today morning and this is NOT copied from some forward floating on the net! i think it is a good effort :-)

WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?

ATAL BIHARI VAJAPAYEE Chicken ke dwara (long pause) bina ijazat (another long pause) road cross karna (yet another very long pause) achi baat nahin hai.

LALOO PRASAD YADAV Arre, ee sab to bakwas hai. Yeh sampradayik taktein chahti hain to des ko chicken aur non-chicken mein baant diya jaye. Hum ekjut hogar aise chicken ke khilaf ladenge aur kisi ko road cross nahin karne denge. Waise bhi yeh chicken bahut kam chara khate hain aur kamai ka koi mauka nahin hota hai.

SONIA GANDHI Congress party, aise kisi bhi chicken ka samarthan karne ko teyar hai, jo hamare saath milkar, road cross karne to teyar hai. Mere pati aur meri saas ne road cross karne ke liye apni jaan de di, aur hamari party aage bhi road cross karne ki koshish jaari rakhegi.

MAYAWATI Chicken, bahujan samaj ka ek pramukh anga hain. Manuwadi taktein, chicken ka shoshan kar rahi hain. Main sabhi chicken ko bharosa dilati hoon, ki hamari bahujan samaj party, unke saath road cross karna chahti hai. Woh Mulayam Singh kya janta hai chicken ke baare mein??

AAJ TAK Aur aaiye ab aage badhne se pehle nazar dalte hain ab tak ki kuch khas aur Aaj Tak to mili exclusive chicken road crossings ki tasweeron pe (loud music starts, drowning all commentary)

EKTA KAPOOR (Saas bahu Serial Maker) Kyunki chicken bhi kabhi egg tha.

PERVEZ MUSHARRAF I tell you that we are completely innocent. We are not helping any chickens cross the road into Kashmir. They are crossing on their own. You may not believe that, but that the truth. Why don't the Indians stop the chicken crossings on their own? We will continue to support morally and diplomatically the Indigenous Road Cross Movement of the chickens in Kashmir and raise the issue at the next UN meet.

MUKESH AMBANI Mere pitajee ka sapna tha ki desh ka ek ek chicken saari ki saari roads, apne aap cross kar lega. Main woh sapna saakar karna chahta hoon.

VIRENDER SEHWAG - Hello Maa, maine chicken mutthi main kar liya hai!

AZHAR - And, you know, that the chicken, is being victimised.

SALMAN KHAN - I tell you that it is the media that is trying to project a bad image of mine. The chicken is just a good friend of mine and we were trying to cross the road to meet him, when he started cross too and we collided. I tell you, I was not even driving.

AISHWARYA RAI - I am telling you, it is all over between us. Whether the chicken is trying to cross the road or not, is none of my business any longer.

ADNAN SAMI - Thodi see to chicken dila de, thodi is to road cross kara de, thodi si toh lift kara de.

a new site for excellent music is coolgoose

i have myself uploaded some music there. have a look at my contributions and my stats here

have resolved to be more regular in posting to my blog now. time to get a new website, and prove to myself that i have the discipline to write a regular blog, a semi-tech one at that!