Creation of more states in India

Is it even needed? There is already too much chaos. Nobody would want more states to add to the clutter.

I was reading a popular online tabloid and I stopped at this heading. The source of the news is quoted as PTI. The news reads as ‘Demand for creation of 10 new states before home ministry’.

What surprises me is the petty politic behind all this. Creation of a new state bleeds the economy and the Taxpayers hard earned money goes for a spin and lands into the greasy palms of some politician.

As per news, the demand is for creation of ‘atleast’ 10 more new states. The list includes the following:

1. Mithilanchal in Bihar

2. Saurashtra in Gujarat

3. Coorg in Karnataka

4. Telengana in Andhra Pradesh

5. Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh

6. Harit Pradesh in Western UP

7. Mithilanchal or Mithila in Bihar

The good thing is that no action has been taken by the Home Ministry and I hope that none would be taken in the future. We are already too fragmented and there is no need of dividing the electorate again. Hope that no new state would be formed.

But alas, knowing Indian politics, it will take a miracle to save India from another such event.

Windows 7: Screaming Deals

Microsoft has revealed Windows 7 screaming deals. These screaming deals are nothing but an ugrade option to Microsoft's latest OS Windows 7.

This deal opened up today in US, Canada and Japan. For UK, France and Germany, the offer will open on July 15^th. The discount is 50% or more over the normal estimated retail price (ERP) of the two mainstream consumer editions. In the United States, you'll be able to buy a Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for $50 or get Windows 7 Professional for $100. Outside the U.S., Microsoft says, "the special low pre-order price will vary by country."

Estimated retail prices for packaged retail product in the United States are as follows:

Windows 7 Edition	Upgrade	Full license
Home Premium	$120 (was $130)	$200 (was $240)
Professional	$200	$300
Ultimate	$220	$320

This might be Microsoft's answer to the amazing USD 29 upgrade offer by Apple on its latest Leopard OS.

Sent from My N82!

Firefox 3.5 Have you tried the RC yet?

Have you tried the RC3 of Firefox3? I have and I’ve fallen head over heels in love with this browser all over again. It has implemented most of what I thought was needed and then some more. This new release has completely bowled me over. I’m eagerly awaiting the release of the full version of FF3.5. I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

Some of the select features that I liked the best in this release are following:

1. Undo closed windows and closed tabs as well (10 out of 10 on this)

2. Selective history clearing for sites (I always wanted this)

3. Private browsing (here’s a lift off from IE 7/8)

4. New Java Engine – TraceMonkey

Awaiting the full version of Firefox 3.5 to hit the download links with bated breath.

Michael Jackson

I'm among the countless hundreds and thousands who have are mourning the loss of this great artist. I regarded him highly as an artist.

I still remember the days when I was maybe in class 8^th or 9^th and heard of Michael Jackson's album named 'Bad'. I started saving my pocket money to be able to buy a cassette of this album. Before this album I'd been presented Michael Jackson's 'Dangerous'.

I pay him my obeisance. May his soul rest in peace.

Sent through my N82!

Ever heard of DhanaX?

I recently heard about it from a blog that I regularly follow. Before I start writing about it, let me make it clear that I donot use the service as of now. I just heard of it very very recently and liked it. So decided to write about it.

dhanaX is an online-offline person-to-person lending platform that allows Indians to lend and borrow money from each other. For a lender looking for a social investment, or a borrower seeking an affordable loan, dhanaX is the best forum. Broadly the process is something like this:

1. Borrowers form themselves in Self Help Groups (SHG). These SHGs are formed on the basis of affinity, profession, location etc. These SHGs take loan under joint guarantee.

2. These SHGs approach Dhanax for Micro Credit.

3. DhanaX does a two step due diligence:

1. Due diligence on the SHG - Some of the checks done on SHGs include:

• Verification of their passbooks
  
• Number of years of existence
• Maintenance of proper ledgers and other books of
• Frequency of meetings and mechanism of operation
• Leader's credentials

1. Due diligence on individual members of the SHG - DhanaX checks each member's credentials on an internally developed 40 points parameter. Some of these parameters
   

• Their residence history
• Their financial position
• The purpose of the loan.
• Other outstanding loans

4. The profile of these borrowers is displayed on the website. Lenders can see the profiles of the members and decide which SHG they want to lend to.

5. Lenders then lend the money to the SHG that they have chosen either online or offline.

6. The borrowers then make regular monthly repayments by cheques which is collected by us from their doorsteps and deposited to the lenders account.

7. The lender earns back his money with an interest rate of 14% (reducing EMI method) with repayments every month.

If interested then find out more about the same here:

https://www.dhanax.com

Kal Kisne Dekha

Cast

* Jackky Bhagnani
* Vaishali Desai
* Archana Puran Singh
* Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail
* Rubina Ali
* Shah Rukh Khan (cameo)
* Rishi Kapoor (cameo)
* Juhi Chawla (cameo)

I watched this movie recently. Of course one of the reasons why I watched the movie was this damning all standoff between multiplex owners and producers and/or directors.

I don’t know who was harassing whom, but one thing I’m pretty sure of is that the end users were bearing the brunt of their fight. The worst part was that our dear Govt. of India refused to intervene, citing some impertinent reason. What amazed me was that the same government feels most inclined and obliged to become part of every irrelevant discussion like say for example a temple/mosque/church etc. But not this. This is the great Indian politics. It is unparalleled by far.

Anyways, coming back to ‘Kal Kisne Dekha’. This was the first movie that was released this last weekend (20^th and 21^st June ’09). And like many other I and a select group of friends decided to give this movie a go as we didn’t have anything better to do. From the onset I was very apprehensive about how the movie would be, considering that I did not like the promos that were doing the rounds on almost every TV channel.

To be honest, I was not disappointed and this actually surprised me. First things first, the story line was nothing to brag about. It was about a guy from rural India (Punjab) who has dreams in his eyes. His dreams are not commonplace. Like other people and like other movies, he doesnot dream about making it big in life, instead he dreams about meeting his soul mate in the nearest town. And that is where he is headed. Lols, can you imagine heading to town to see if you can meet up with your soul mate.

Anyways the story line was predictable but watchable. Songs were pathetic and this actually added to the misery.

Overall Score:

4/10 – watch at your own risk :p