Melbourne - my dream destination

As I live in India, I grew up knowing Australia as just a difficult Cricket team to defeat. I always thought Australia as our rival, and thus I was always curious to know more about it. Interest in David Boon, Allan Border, Glen McGrath, etc in particular and the game of Cricket in general and the rivalry associated with it drew my attention to the famous cricket ground of Melbourne and thus the city of Melbourne occupied a special space in my mind.

Other than Cricket, Melbourne brings to me the annual sporting extravaganza of the Formula One Grand Prix. It is one of the first few races of the year or you can say that the F1 season starts from Melbourne. Along with these, the 1st Tennis Grand Slam of the year is held in Melbourne. So for a sports enthusiast, Melbourne is the starting point of the year. And for me it is a dream to be here in this city at this part of the year. And the icing on the cake would be a visit to the iconic National Sports Museum located in the famous MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground).

Next on my list in Melbourne would be the balloon flights. Imagining about ballooning and that too in Melbourne pumps up my adrenaline. In my opinion, it is a must must activity in Melbourne. Just think about the tranquility while on the sunrise balloon flight over Melbourne, watching the sun rising slowly and having your glass of wine to enjoy... It gives me goose bumps!!

For all the coffee-addicts, you have a very exciting cafe in Melbourne - Brother Baba Budan. Just to let you know a little about Baba Budan, for those who doesn't know him, he is known as the world's first coffee smuggler. He has a very a significant India connect. He is believed to have introduced coffee to India and thus can be called as the father of India coffee. We have a famous peak in the Indian state of Karnataka named after him as Baba Budangiri. And it is also the place from where I started one of my earliest treks. I trekked from Baba Budangiri to Mulayangiri.

There are so many reasons to be in Melbourne, but what I say is that Melbourne doesn't need a reason to visit. My heart just says to me..."…it's your time to visit Melbourne NOW!" My travel guide would only be my heart and the informative weblink www.visitmelbourne.com/in

What is International Terrorism??

I was reading through a few articles and then just out of curiosity I dig in Google to find a few interesting pieces of articles, links etc. I am sharing those below. These are random but still connected to the topic. There is no conclusion by me. It is for the reader to draw it out for themselves. Internet is full of articles, links etc which could justify either side of the story.

"In a column for the Guardian four weeks before his death, Cook caused a stir when he described Al-Qaeda as a product of a western intelligence:
Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by Western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians."

- source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Cook#Outside_the_government 


The Power of Nightmares - a BBC documentary
2 people mentioned in the above documentary:
Leo_Strauss - Wikipedia
Sayyid_Qutb - Wikipedia

PS: I will update this article if I will find anything else interesting on this topic.

Points to ponder over in regards to RTE

With the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the constitutional validity of the Right to Education law for all schools, some points to came to my mind over the actual implementation of it across India. There might be that a few points / questions which would have arisen because of my lack of understanding of this Right to Education Act. However I think that most of these are valid food for thoughts. I am not jotting these in any order...

• How would a private school find out that a kid is from a disadvantaged family or on the other hand how would a disadvantaged kid's parents would prove their case?

Parents often research for the best school in the city / locality. How would poor parents get this sense or information?

• There would be cases where one's kids would be studying in the same class as that of the kids of their house maids. It would be interesting to see how the parents would react to it. Would they compare their kids class' performances with that of their maids' kids? Their might be cases when the maids' kids carry the same food in their tiffins as that of their bosses' kids. There would be a set of kids with mobile phone, neat clothes,etc and there would be a set of kids with minimal things. This disparity might bring the class-feeling among the kids too.

The parents (employer of the maids) might put the condition on the maids / servants to not send their (maids') kids to the same school as that of their bosses' kids.

• There might be cases when the disadvantaged children are not treat well / equally as the other students. The teachers might not guide them well. The facilities in school extended to other students might not be shared with the disadvantaged kids. In these cases, I dont know whether the Govt. of India has put any provision or not.

• With making it mandatory to the private schools to provide 25% of their seats in each classroom for the under-privileged children, has the Govt. just pass on their duty on to the private school owners? Neither illiteracy among the poor people is not because of these private schools nor it is their duty to think about it. They are actually spreading education, though at a profit. I suppose the Govt. should strengthen their state or central school. The present state of the country is such that no person with enough money to pay private school's fees would send his/her kids to a State School.

• As the compensation from the Govt. for these 25% free seats would be meagre, the private schools would pass on this burden on to the parents of the fees-paying parents. Therefore it can be said that it is actually the fees-paying parents who are paying of the RTE act.

• As this provision of providing free education to the disadvantaged kids is only for under-14 kids, what would happen to them after 14. In India 10th Board exams are very very important and these happen for kids aged around 15. I don't think that private schools would be so kind to continue with this free education even after 14 years and pay for the board exam's fees also. Govt. should think over it. I have got to know that the Govt actually is pondering over extending RTE till 16 years of age.

Zindagi Na Mile Dobara - Poetry

Zinda Ho Tum...

Dilon me tum apni betabiyan leke chal rahe ho, to zinda ho tum...

Nazar me khwaabon ki bijliyan leke chal rahe ho, to zinda ho tum...

Hawa ke jhokon ke jaise aazad rehno sekho...

Tum ek dariya ke jaise lehron mein behna sekho...

Har ek lamhe se tum milo khole apni baahein...

Har ek pal ek naya sama dekhe nigahein...

Jo apni ankhon mein hairanian leke chal rahe ho, to zinda ho tum...

Dilon mein tum apni betabian leke chal rahe ho, to zinda ho tum...

Dil Aakhir Tu Kyun Rota Hai...


Jab-Jab Dard Ka Baadal Chaya...
Jab Gham Ka Saya Lehraya...
Jab Aansoo Palkon Tak Aya...
Jab Yeh Tanha Dil Ghabraya...
Humne Dil Ko Yeh Samjhaya...
Dil Aakhir Tu Kyun Rota Hai...


Duniya Mein Yunhi Hota Hai...
Yeh Jo Gehre Sannaate Hain...
Waqt Ne Sabko Hi Baante Hain...
Thoda Gham Hai Sabka Kissa...
Thodi Dhoop Hai Sabka Hissa...
Aankh Teri Bekaar Hi Nam Hai...
Har Pal Ek Naya Mausam Hai...
Kyun Tu Aise Pal Khota Hai...
Dil Aakhir Tu Kyun Rota Hai...


Pighle Neelam Sa...



Pighle Neelam Sa Behta Ye Samaa...
Neeli Neeli Si Khamoshiyan...
Na Kahin Hai Zameen Na Kahin Aasmaan...
Sarsaraati Hui Tehniyaan-Pattiyaan...
Keh Rahi Hain Bas Ek Tum Ho Yahan...
Bas Main Hoon, Meri Saanse Hain Aur Meri Dhadkane...
Aisi Gehraiyaan, Aisi Tanhaiyaan, Aur Main… Sirf Main...
Apne Hone Par Mujhko Yakeen Aa Gaya...

Patna City Transport - Route information

As many as 70 new city non-ac buses and 7 ac buses have started running in Patna. For all there who do not know Patna, it is a very big news for the city and those who love it (like me).


As far as I remember, Patna still has those over-crowded yellow mini buses. When I used to live there, those buses mainly used to run between Patna Junction and Danapur Junction. And they used to charge 3-4 rupees form Ashiana Mor to Saguna Mor (where my school was). Just for your information, I used to live in Khajpura...and now dont ask me where is this place. All those who know Patna, know Khajpura too. Though it is not a very popular place, but still known by all.




Now back to the news...The new buses have GPS, emergency alarm button, inbuilt fire extinguisher, electronic ticketing machine, music system etc.
The fare of non-AC buses are between Rs 3 and Rs 10.


From 5th August 2011, seven 36-seater AC buses (maroon-coloured Marco Polo buses of Tata Motors) have joined the fleet of existing 70 non-AC city buses. The fares of AC buses are Rs 10, Rs 15 and Rs 30, depending upon the distance travelled.


The non-AC buses ply between 5 am and 11 pm. AC buses plybetween 8 am and 8 pm with a frequency of one-and-a-half hour.


Route Information:


Route #1 (Red Buses, total 12+4): Starting from Gandhi Maidan to Khagaul, via Patna Junction, R-block, Harding Road, Chitkohra and Phulwarisharif.


Route #2 (Blue Buses, total 18): Starting from Gandhi Maidan to Danapur, via Frazer Road, Patna Junction, GPO, R-Block, Income-Tax roundabout, Bailey Road and Saguna Mor.
3 AC buses ply on this route.


Route #3 (Green Buses, total 12): Starting from Gandhi Maidan to Danapur, via Rajapur, Kurji and Digha.


Route #4 (Yellow Buses, total 4): Starting from Gandhi Maidan to Gai Ghat, via PMCH and Tripolia Hospital.
2 AC buses ply on this route.


Route #5 (Orange Buses, total 6): Ring Service from Mithapur Bus stand, via New Bypass, Pahari Mor, Agam Kuan, Kumhrar Park, Bahadurpur, Rajendra Nagar terminal and Chiraiyatand.


Route #6 (Purple Buses, total 6): Ring Service from Gandhi Maidan, via Rajapur, Kurji, St. Michael's School, Alpana Cinema Mor, IAS Colony, Ashiana Mor, Bailey Road, Income-Tax roundabout and Patna Junction.


Route #7 (Sky Blue Buses, total 12+4): Ring Service from Gandhi Maidan, via Rajapur, Kurji, IIT, Patliputra roundabout, A N College, Boring Road crossing, Bailey Road, Income-Tax roundabout and Patna Junction.
2 AC buses ply on this route.


Ladies Special / Family Buses (Pink Buses, total 15): Operate on all the routes after every 1 hour; Males accompanying women are allowed to travel on these. As the govt is incurring losses, it is planning to discontinue this service.


Patna is now turning into a 'City'. After Domino's starting operations in Patna, Cafe Coffee Day has now started at Regent Cinema, near Gandhi Maidan, Patna. Whenever I visit Patna, I usually hangout at Hotel Maurya's cafe to have coffee and spend time with my childhood friends. Though Maurya is a 5-start hotel, they just keep only a few varieties of coffee there. I hope with Cafe Coffee Day opening in Patna, I would have a variety of coffee (my favourite being Latte - king size) there.

Indian Cricket Team: Hot News

It is exciting to read about the possibles changes in the Indian Cricket Team for the West Indies Tour. India would be playing One T20, Five ODIs & Three Tests.

I am jotting down some of the interesting things related to the Indian Cricket Team doing the rounds:

• West Indies are currently ranked No.7 in Tests and No.9 in ODIs. While India is ranked 1st in Test & 2nd in ODIs.
• Windsor Park, Roseau, Dominica will host its 1st ever Test. That would be the 3rd Test of this tour.
• Telegraph India has quoted one of the national selector - 

"Left to us, we’d probably rest only Zaheer Khan, as we can’t do without him in England"

• Virender Sehwag might again require surgery on his right shoulder and may miss the tour completely. He didn’t bowl in the World Cup and hasn’t bowled in the IPL, either.
• There is a speculation that Eric Simons, India’s bowling consultant, will be appointed as chief coach for the Tour. He is believed to have the backing of the seniors in the national team.
• Robin Singh could be the assistant coach.
• Names of Lalchand Rajput, Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher, New Zealander Stephen Fleming and Andy Flower as the Chief Coach.are also doing the rounds.
• Fleming is the current coach of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings which is owned by N. Srinivasan, the Secretary of BCCI. CSK's Brand ambassador is Kris Srikkanth, the current chairman of the National Selection Committee. CSK's Captain is the National Captain Dhoni.
• Latest media reports suggest that Andy Flower has been offered a new three-year deal by England Cricket Board.
• If Seniors of the India Team are rested for the Tour of West Indies then there could be some curious changes in the team like

Ø  Yuvraj Singh might be selected for the Test Team.

Ø  Yuvraj Singh might captain the squad for the Tour.

Ø  Mumbai Indians’ Ambati Rayudu could be included in the ODI squad.

Ø  Kings XI Punjab’s Paul Valthaty could get selected for the T20 game.

• Nike extends Team India uniform sponsorship with BCCI for 5yrs. As Nike had the first right of refusal, no other bid was entertained.

Champions League  updates: BCCI is mulling to include a 4th IPL team in the Champions League. CL will have a total of 10 teams this time. It will have 3 teams from India, 2 each from Australia & South Africa and 1 from England. For the last 2 slots, it is planned to have a qualifying round of matches between the fourth IPL team and a team each from West Indies, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

Indian Grand Prix circuit has been named as Buddh International Circuit

The Formula 1 circuit at Jaypee Integarted Sports Complex in Greater Noida for the Indian Grand Prix has been named as Buddh International Circuit (BIC). 


The 5.14 Km circuit has been designed by Herman Tilke. The 1st Indian Grand Prix will happen on October 28-30 2011. The approximate cost to develop the circuit has been $400 million.

The circuit's official logo has been designed by Prasoon Joshi. The stylized ‘B’ of the circuit’s logo stands for ‘Buddh’ and for ‘Bharat'.


It is said that the initial seating capacity would be 110,000 which can later be increased to 200,000. Jaypee Greens Sports City, where this circuit is situated, plans to host a 100,000 seat cricket stadium, 18-hole golf course, 25,000 seat hockey stadium and a sports academy.

SkyNet has become self-aware

Just saw this message on Facebook:

Beware of electronic appliances around you, Skynet is supposed to be self aware from today :)

For a few seconds I really got a bit scared or you can say I got curious. Instantly I searched it on Google. I found the following things:

• Skynet may refer to: Skynet (satellites), a UK military communications system. And,
• Skynet is the main antagonist in the Terminator franchise - an artificially intelligent system which became self-aware and revolted against its creators.

Finally the mystery got solved when I read a post about it on HuffingtonPost. It is telling that on April 21, 2011, SkyNet became self-aware and began its worldwide attack on humanity.

Read the post on HuffingtonPost @ Friday Talking Points -- Skynet Attacks!

Think twice before opting for the HTML version of email subscriptions

Though I always dislike subscribing to newsletters, I find several times Newsletters from Respected firms sneaking into my Inbox.
You would have noticed that while Subscribing to Newsletters, they ask whether you want plain-text 'boring' Newsletters or 'rich & colorful' HTML version of it. Please never fall for the HTML version. HTML helps in tracking user's activities like which link in the mail has been clicked or whether the mail is getting landed up in the Junk folder or when it has been actually read or not etc etc.

Please read the complete article on Forbes: Newsletters: HTML or Plain Text

Just to add to the story, I had once tried a third-part software which used to go along with a plain-text email in Outlook. The free version of it used to send me exact time when a particular mail was read, the internet service provider etc etc.
So be careful before subscribing to Newsletters from even Well-Known firms.

Bihar roads are better than in many parts of Europe: EU MPs

A delegation of European Union (EU) MPs recently met Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and told that the roads in the state are better than those in many European countries like Belgium and Romania.
Wow!! It seems those days are over when Bihar's roads were compared with the cheeks of Om Puri.

I don't know how much Bihar is progressing or whether it will get counted among the most developed states of India in the near future, however one thing is very obvious that it is getting much good press along with Nitish Kumar.
Recently only Anna Hazare took Nitish's name along with Narendra Modi's name in the same breath while talking about development in India. The initial report of Census 2011 too is showing tremendous progress for Bihar, though still it is trailing behind the rest of India.

People are talking about the Bihar's model of development!!
Lets hope that Bihar progresses fast and uniformly.

Jharkhand Players in IPL 4

I have compiled a list of players I know who are now playing with different teams of IPL's 4th season.

. Name IPL Team Playing Style Profile on CricInfo . Mahendra Singh Dhoni Chennai Super Kings Wicketkeeper, Right-hand bat Mahendra Singh Dhoni . Saurabh Tiwary Royal Challengers Bangalore Left-hand bat Saurabh Tiwary . Varun Aaron Delhi Daredevils Right-arm medium Varun Aaron . Ishank Jaggi Deccan Chargers Right-hand bat Ishank Jaggi . Shahbaz Nadeem Delhi Daredevils Slow left-arm orthodox Shahbaz Nadeem .

Outsmart the Airlines to Get the Best Seat in Coach

The Middle Seat: Outsmart the Airlines to Get the Best Seat in Coach - WSJ.com: "Where others saw tiny tush space, SeatGuru.com saw opportunity. With seat layouts and ratings for 720 different airplanes flown by 100 different airlines, the website has become the authoritative source for cabin information. Using internal research and feedback from fliers, SeatGuru highlights the gems, like seats with unlimited legroom, and flags the duds, like window seats with no windows. Information is so thorough that SeatGuru says airline reservation centers use its site for information on their own planes. (Airlines confirm that.)"

Format of IPL 4 - Group Stage & KnockOut

Format of IPL IV (taken from Wikipedia)

With the introduction of 2 new teams, a new ten-team format was created. This new format consists of 74 matches and was introduced as retaining the previous format would result in 94 matches, significantly greater than the 60 matches from the previous season, where teams compete in a double round-robin tournament. The knockout stage was changed to a playoff format. If a match ends in a tie, a Super Over will be played to determine the winner.

KnockOut Format

Four games will be played in the playoffs:

• Qualifier 1: between the teams ranked first and second in the group stage.
• Eliminator: between the teams ranked third and fourth in the group stage.
• Qualifier 2: between the loser of the Qualifier 1 and winner of the Eliminator.
• Final: between the winners of the Qualifiers 1 and 2.

The top three teams from the tournament qualify for the 2011 Champions League Twenty20.

Group Stage Format

The ten teams are divided into two groups of five. In the group stage, each team plays 14 games: facing the other four teams in their group two times each (one home and one away game), four teams in the other group once, and the remaining team two times. A random draw was used to determine the groups and who plays whom across the groups once and twice.

Each team plays the team in the same row and the same column twice, and all others once. For instance, Pune Warriors will play Chennai Super Kings and the other Group A teams twice but the other teams from Group B (Kolkata Knight Riders, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals) only once. Similarly Kochi Tuskers Kerala will play Delhi Daredevils and the other Group B teams twice but all other teams from Group A only once.

Group A	Group B
Deccan Chargers	Kolkata Knight Riders
Delhi Daredevils	Kochi Tuskers Kerala
Kings XI Punjab	Royal Challengers Bangalore
Mumbai Indians	Rajasthan Royals
Pune Warriors India	Chennai Super Kings

Brazil stares down the US on Libya - Al Jazeera

Brazil stares down the US on Libya - Al Jazeera: "he Washington Post, the New York Times, and National Public Radio, along with a host of other newspapers, cable news commentators, and blogs, all predicted that Obama, the US's first African American president, and Rousseff, Brazil's first woman leader, would find common ground, reversing the deterioration of diplomatic relations that had begun under Rousseff's predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The bad blood started, or so the story went, when Lula refused to listen to the administration of George W. Bush and isolate Venezuela's populist leader, Hugo Chávez. Before long, Brasilia was opposing or, worse, offering alternatives to Washington's position on a growing number of issues: climate change, opposition to the 2009 coup in Honduras, Cuba, trade and tariffs."

Is there anything to cheer about Bihar’s literacy rate?

Is there anything to cheer about Bihar’s literacy rate?: "True, according to Census 2011 data, Bihar’s literacy figure jumped from 47.5 per cent to 63.82 per cent in the last ten years. But this does not mean that there is something to celebrate about as the state has long way to go."

GoDaddy CEO Shoots Elephant, Posts Video: Critics Outraged - TIME

We all shoot vacation videos, but most of us choose to keep them to ourselves — or, at worst, share them with our Facebook friends. Bob Parsons, CEO of the Internet-hosting firm GoDaddy.com, which you know from its lame Super Bowl ads and absolutely nothing else — likes bigger exposure. Parsons recently posted a video of his trip to Zimbabwe, where he shot an elephant.

Check the video in the link:

GoDaddy CEO Shoots Elephant, Posts Video: Critics Outraged

Ferrari of space probes

Goce satellite maps the Earth's gravity in unprecedented precision | Science | guardian.co.uk: "A European spacecraft that skims the upper reaches of the atmosphere has mapped Earth's gravity with unrivalled precision. The map shows how the pull of gravity varies minutely over the surface of the Earth, from deep ocean trenches to majestic mountain ranges."

Cricket diplomacy: Mocking memory of 26/11

Cricket diplomacy: Mocking memory of 26/11 - The Economic Times: "Spanish-born US philosopher George Santayana's saying is particularly applicable to India: 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it'. Ad hoc, personality-driven policy-making has long been India's curse. Pakistan, although widely perceived to be a failing state, is still able to outwit India diplomatically. It is India, not Pakistan, that has climbed down diplomatically and sought a cricket-inspired thaw in relations."

SimpleGeo Launching ‘Storage’: A Distributed Hosted Database For Location Data

SimpleGeo Launching ‘Storage’: A Distributed Hosted Database For Location Data: "The story of SimpleGeo is a familiar one: two founders — Matt Galligan and Joe Stump — set off to create location-based games, only to find that the tools they wanted to use to build their apps didn’t exist yet. So they switched gears and decided to build what they wished they had: a suite of tools optimized for the creation of location-based services (which was probably a good call given the explosion of location-aware mobile devices)."

Did Microsoft leave Hotmail open for Dictators? | ZDNet

Did Microsoft leave Hotmail open for Dictators? | ZDNet: "“always-use-HTTPS option in Hotmail for users in more than a dozen countries, including Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, had been turned off.” This meant anyone using Hotmail in these countries could have their e-mail read by their government-controlled ISPs."