THE MA_LA_YA_LEE Jokes - Enjoy

Enough of Sardar jokes.................Mallu jokes are here!!!!!!!!!!
1) What is the tax on a Mallu's income called?
IngumDax

2) Where did the Malayali study?
In the ko-liage.

3) Why did the Malayali not go to ko-liage today?
He is very bissi.

4) Why did the Malayali buy an air-ticket?
To go to Thuubai, zimbly to meet his ungle in
Gelff.

5) Why do Malayalis go to the Gelff?
To yearn meney.

6) What did the Malayali do when the plane caught
fire?
He zimbly jembd out of the vindow.

7) How does a Malayali spell moon?
MOON - Yem Woh yet another Woh and Yen

8) What is Malayali management graduate called?
Yem Bee Yae.

9) What does a Malayali do when he goes to America ?
He changes his name from Karunakaran to Kevin Curren.

10) What does a Malayali use to commute to office
everyday?
An Oto

11) Where does he pray?
In a Temble, Charch and a Maask

12) Who is Bruce Lee's best friend ?
A Malaya-Lee of coarse.

13) Name the only part of the werld, where Malayalis dont werk hard?
Kerala.

14) Why is industrial productivity so low in Kerala?
Because 86% of the shift time is spent on lifting, folding and re-tying the lungi

15) Why did Saddam Hussain attackKuwait?
He had a Mallu baby-sitter, who always used to say
'KEEP QUWAIT' 'KEEP QUWAIT'
16) What is the Latest Malayali Punch Line?
" Frem Tea Shops To Koll Cenders , We Are Yevery Where "
17) Why aren't Mals included in hockey and football
teams ?
Coz Whenever they get a corner , they set up a tea shop.

18) Now pass it on to 5 Mals to get a free sample of
kokanet oil.

19) Pass it on 10 Mals to get a free pack of Benana
Chibbs.

Source - Anonymous.

Nominees for the 2008 Laureus World Sports Awards:

Laureus World Sportsman of the Year

Roger Federer (Switzerland) - winner of fifth straight Wimbledon title to equal Bjorn Borg's record

Tyson Gay (US) - winner of 100m and 200m World Championship sprint double

Kaka (Brazil) - leading scorer in 2007 Champions League, FIFA World Player of the Year

Michael Phelps (US) - won seven golds and five world records at World Swimming Championships

Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) - clinched first Formula One World Championship in last race of season

Tiger Woods (US)- winner of US PGA championship and six other US PGA Tour events

Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year

Justine Henin (Belgium) - first tennis player to win ten titles in a season for ten years

Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia) - winner of World Championship pole vault gold medal

Carolina Kluft (Sweden) - winner of third straight World Championship heptathlon gold

Libby Lenton (Australia) - won five gold medals in World Swimming Championships

Marta (Brazil) - won Golden Ball and Golden Shoe in FIFA Women's World Cup

Lorena Ochoa (Mexico) - top women's golfer in the world, won eight tournaments in 2007

Laureus World Team of the Year

AC Milan Football Team (Italy) - winners of seventh Champions League/European Cup

Australia Men's Cricket Team - winners of third successive Cricket World Cup

Ferrari (Italy) - won Formula One World Championship with their driver Kimi Raikkonen

Germany Women's Football Team - became first team to retain FIFA Women's World Cup

Iraq Football Team - won Asian Cup with a team including Sunni and Shia Muslims

South African Rugby Team - won 2007 Rugby World Cup, going

Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year

Alberto Contador (Spain) - won Tour de France for the first time in 2007

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) - at 20, won five times on ATP tour and was runner-up at US Open

Tyson Gay (US) - winner of 100m and 200m World Championship sprint double

Lewis Hamilton (UK) - at 22, became youngest driver to lead F1 World Championship

Oscar Pistorius (Sth Africa) - has carbon fibre limbs, competed in non-disabled races in 2007

Casey Stoner (Australia) - at 21, won World MotoGP Championship, winning 10 races

Laureus World Comeback of the Year

Great Britain Rugby League Team - won a Test series for the first time in 14 years

Christine Ohuruogu (UK) - won World Championship 400m after ban for missing drugs tests

Paula Radcliffe (UK) - won New York Marathon after two years away from competition

Jana Rawlinson (Australia) - won World Championship 400m hurdles eight months after giving birth

Steve Stricker (US) - finished 2007 as World No 4 golfer after recovering from several years poor golf

Jonny Wilkinson (UK) - returned after injury to lead England to Rugby World Cup final

Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability

Daniel Dias (Brazil) - won eight swimming gold medals in the the ParaPanAmerican Games

Darren Kenny (UK) - won two gold and two bronze in the World ParaCycling Championship

Sarah Storey (UK) - collected two cycling gold medals at Paralympic World Cup in Manchester

Michael Teuber (Germany) - won gold for third time in World ParaCycling Championship pursuit

Esther Vergeer (Netherlands) - wheelchair tennis player unbeaten in four years

There are only five nominees in this category

Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year

Daniel Dhers (Venezuela) - at 21, took gold in BMX Park at the Summer X Games

Mick Fanning (Australia) - won the 2007 Surfing World Tour, taking three firsts during the year

Stephanie Gilmore (Australia) - at 19, first surfer to win a World Surfing Championship as a rookie

Aaron Hadlow (UK) - aged 19, won PKRA kiteboarding world tour for fourth straight time

Ryan Sheckler (US) - dominated Park category in skateboarding on Action Sports Tour

Shaun White (US) - won Winter and Summer X Games golds in snowboarding and skateboarding

OSCAR NOMINATION LIST - 2008

Performance by an actor in a leading role

George Clooney in Michael Clayton

Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood

Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah

Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War

Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild

Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Julie Christie in Away from Her

Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose

Laura Linney in The Savages

Ellen Page in Juno

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Cate Blanchett in I'm Not There

Ruby Dee in American Gangster

Saoirse Ronan in Atonement

Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone

Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton

Best animated feature film of the year

Persepolis

Ratatouille

Surf's Up

Achievement in art direction

American Gangster - Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration - Beth A. Rubino

Atonement - Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer

The Golden Compass - Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock

Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

There Will Be Blood Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Achievement in cinematography

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Roger Deakins

Atonement - Seamus McGarvey

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Janusz Kaminski

No Country for Old Men - Roger Deakins

There Will Be Blood - Robert Elswit

Achievement in costume design

Across the Universe - Albert Wolsky

Atonement - Jacqueline Durran

Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Alexandra Byrne

La Vie en Rose - Marit Allen

Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Colleen Atwood

Achievement in directing

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Julian Schnabel

Juno - Jason Reitman

Michael Clayton - Tony Gilroy

No Country for Old Men - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson

Best documentary feature

No End in Sight

Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience

Sicko

Taxi to the Dark Side

War/Dance

Best documentary short subject

Freeheld

La Corona (The Crown)

Salim Baba

Sari's Mother

Achievement in film editing

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Into the Wild

No Country for Old Men

There Will Be Blood

Best foreign language film of the year

Beaufort Israel

The Counterfeiters Austria

Katyn Poland

Mongol Kazakhstan

12 Russia

Achievement in makeup

La Vie en Rose - Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald

Norbit - Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

Atonement - Dario Marianelli

The Kite Runner - Alberto Iglesias

Michael Clayton - James Newton Howard

Ratatouille - Michael Giacchino

3:10 to Yuma - Marco Beltrami

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

Falling Slowly from Once

Happy Working Song from Enchanted

Raise It Up from August Rush

So Close from Enchanted

That's How You Know from Enchanted

Best motion picture of the year

Atonement

Juno

Michael Clayton

No Country for Old Men

There Will Be Blood

Best animated short film

I Met the Walrus

Madame Tutli-Putli

My Love (Moya Lyubov)

Peter & the Wolf

Best live action short film

At Night

Il Supplente (The Substitute)

Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)

Tanghi Argentini

The Tonto Woman

Achievement in sound editing

The Bourne Ultimatum

No Country for Old Men

Ratatouille

There Will Be Blood

Transformers

Achievement in sound mixing

The Bourne Ultimatum

No Country for Old Men

Ratatouille

3:10 to Yuma

Transformers

Achievement in visual effects

The Golden Compass

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Transformers

Adapted screenplay

Atonement - Christopher Hampton

Away from Her - Sarah Polley

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Ronald Harwood

No Country for Old Men - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson

Original screenplay

Juno - Written by Diablo Cody

Lars and the Real Girl - Written by Nancy Oliver

Michael Clayton - Written by Tony Gilroy

Ratatouille - Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird

The Savages - Written by Tamara Jenkins

Chess master Bobby Fischer dies at 64

Bobby Fischer, the reclusive chess genius who became a Cold War hero by dethroning the Soviet world champion in 1972 and later renounced his American citizenship, has died. He was 64.

Fisher died in a Reykjavik hospital on Thursday of kidney failure after a long illness, his spokesman, Gardar Sverrisson, said Friday.

Born in Chicago and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Fischer faced criminal charges in the United States for playing a 1992 rematch against Boris Spassky in Yugoslavia in defiance of international sanctions. In 2005, he moved to Iceland, a chess-mad nation and site of his greatest triumph.

As a champion, he used his eccentricities to unsettle opponents, but Fischer's reputation as a genius of chess was soon eclipsed, in the eyes of many, by his idiosyncrasies.

"Chess is war on a board," he once said. "The object is to crush the other man's mind."

Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion from Russia, said Fischer's ascent in the chess world in the 1960s and his promotion of chess worldwide was "a revolutionary breakthrough" for the game.

"The tragedy is that he left this world too early, and his extravagant life and scandalous statements did not contribute to the popularity of chess," Kasparov told The Associated Press.

Fischer lost his world title in 1975 after refusing to defend it against Anatoly Karpov. He dropped out of competitive chess and largely out of view, emerging occasionally to make erratic and often anti-Semitic comments, although his mother was Jewish.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, president of the World Chess Federation, called Fischer "a phenomenon and an epoch in chess history, and an intellectual giant I would rank next to Newton and Einstein."

Spassky, reached briefly at his home in France, said: "I am very sorry, but Bobby Fischer is dead. Goodbye."

An American chess champion at 14 and a grand master at 15, Fischer dethroned Spassky in 1972 in a series of games in Iceland's capital, Reykjavik, to become the first officially recognized world champion born in the United States.

The match, at the height of the Cold War, took on mythic dimensions as a clash between the world's two superpowers.

Fischer played — and won — an exhibition rematch against Spassky on the resort island of Sveti Stefan, but the game was in violation of U.S. sanctions imposed to punish then-President Slobodan Milosevic.

In July 2004, Fischer was arrested at Japan's Narita airport for traveling on a revoked U.S. passport and was threatened with extradition to the United States to face charges of violating sanctions.

He spent nine months in custody before the dispute was resolved when Iceland granted him citizenship and he moved there with his longtime companion, the Japanese chess player Miyoko Watai. She survives him.

In his final years, Fischer railed against the chess establishment, alleging that the outcomes of many top-level chess matches were decided in advance.

Instead, he championed his concept of random chess, in which pieces are shuffled at the beginning of each match in a bid to reinvigorate the game.

"I don't play the old chess," he told reporters when he arrived in Iceland in 2005. "But obviously if I did, I would be the best."

Born in Chicago in March 9, 1943, Robert James Fischer was a child prodigy, playing competitively from the age of 8.

At 13, he became the youngest player to win the United States Junior Championship. At 14, he won the United States Open Championship for the first of eight times.

At 15, he gained the title of international grand master, the youngest person to hold the title.

Tall, charismatic and with striking looks, he was a chess star — but already gaining a reputation for volatile behavior.

He turned up late for tournaments, walked out of matches, refused to play unless the lighting suited him and was intolerant of photographers and cartoonists. He was convinced of his own superiority and called the Soviets "Commie cheats."

His behavior often unsettled opponents — to Fischer's advantage.

This was seen most famously in the showdown with Spassky in Reykjavik between July and September 1972. Having agreed to play Spassky in Yugoslavia, Fischer raised one objection after another to the arrangements and they wound up playing in Iceland.

When play got under way, days late, Fischer lost the first game with an elementary blunder after discovering that television cameras he had reluctantly accepted were not unseen and unheard, but right behind the players' chairs.

He boycotted the second game and the referee awarded the point to Spassky, putting the Russian ahead 2-0.

But then Spassky agreed to Fischer's demand that the games be played in a back room away from cameras. Fischer went on to beat Spassky, 12.5 points to 8.5 points in 21 games.

Millions of Americans, gripped by the contest, rejoiced in the victory over their Cold War adversary.

In the recent book "White King and Red Queen," the British author Daniel Johnson said the match was "an abstract antagonism on an abstract battleground using abstract weapons ... yet their struggle embraced all human life."

"In Spassky's submission to his fate and Fischer's fierce exultant triumph, the Cold War's denouement was already foreshadowed."

The victory made Fischer the first U.S.-born world champion. Paul Morphy, an American, was regarded as the world's best player from 1858 to 1862, and William Steinetz, an Austrian immigrant to the United States, was an official champion from 1886 to 1894.

Source: Yahoo

New tree species found in Madagascar

A self-destructing palm tree that flowers once every 100 years and then dies has been discovered on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, botanists said Thursday.

The name of the giant palm and its remarkable life cycle will be detailed in a study by Kew Gardens scientists in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society published Thursday.

"It's spectacular. It does not flower for maybe 100 years and when it's like this it can be mistaken for other types of palm," said Mijoro Rakotoarinivo, who works for the London botanical gardens in Madagascar.

"But then a large shoot, a bit like an asparagus, grows out of the top of the tree and starts to spread. You get something that looks a bit like a Christmas tree growing out of the top of the palm," he said.

The branches of this shoot then become covered in hundreds of tiny white flowers that ooze with nectar, attracting insects and birds.

But the effort of flowering and fruiting depletes the tree so much that within a few months it collapses and dies, said botanist Dr. John Dransfield, author of the study.

Dransfield noted that "even for Madagascar this is a stupendous palm and an astonishing discovery."

The world's fourth largest island, Madagascar is renowned for its unusual flora and fauna, including 12,000 species of plant found nowhere else in the world. Indeed 90 percent of its plant species are endemic.

The palm tree, which grows to 66 feet in height and has about 16-foot leaves, is only found in an extremely remote region in the northwest of the country, some four days by road from the capital. Local villagers have known about it for years although none had seen it in flower until last year.

The bizarre flowering ritual was first spotted by Frenchman Xavier Metz, who runs a cashew plantation nearby. After seeing it he notified Kew Gardens.

Puzzling Dransfield is how botanists had missed such a "whopping palm" until now. According to him it is the largest palm species in the country but there appear to be only about 100 in existence.

He also questions how the palm got to Madagascar. The tree has similarities to Chuniophoeniceae palms, however these are only found in Asia, more than 3,700 miles away.

Dransfield suggests the plant has been quietly living and dramatically dying in Madagascar since the island split with mainland India 80 million years ago.

Joy Ride : Republic Day with the Children

26th January 1950 is one of the most important days in Indian history as it was on this day the constitution of India came into force and India became a truly sovereign state.

This day is a solemn reminder of the sacrifice of the martyrs who died for the country in the freedom movement and the succeeding wars for the defense of sovereignty of their country.

But, The Republic day is also a day where we as its citizen redeem our pledge to do all we can to preserve the sovereignty, integrity and long term prosperity of the nation.

Every citizen has in himself the capability and the opportunity to contribute towards taking India towards its rightful place in the world and thereby bringing joy and celebration in the life of its citizen.

Perhaps most of all, it's the children of our great nation who are and will be instrumental in securing and cementing India's future. And with a young population as ours, it is among these children that the greats of our tomorrow reside, and it is them that we must dedicate our attention too.

As we all know, to mark the importance of this occasion, every year a grand parade is held in the capital from Rajghat along the Vijaypath in our capital New Delhi, where the country's diversity, culture, and spirit along with the capability and advancement of our country and its people are showcased to the entire world.

In keeping the great traditional and with the aim of doing something for the children of Mumbai, Bombay Bikers will organize a unique event for the orphan children of Mumbai on the day of Republic day called 'Joy Ride 2008'.

100 orphan children will spend a day along with the members of Bombay riders, where they will be part of a rally from Dadar to Andheri for a day filled with fun and frolic. It will also allow these children to fulfill their passion for bikes, and more importantly allow them to discover one for their 'Motherland' on one of its most important days.

This one-of-a-kind rally will begin from Shivaji Park, Dadar with a total of 250 participants, which will include the children, the members of Bombay Riders'. Also joining them will be a number of renowned social personalities and celebrities, all there to make the day special for the children and to set the right example and spread the right message of patriotism, peace, unity and support amongst its citizens.

This event has already garnered encouraging response from a host of quarters, including the media, social figures not to mention the children and the orphanages themselves and the members of 'Bombay Riders' themselves.

We have decided to leave no stone unturned to make this day a success. All this requires is your support, cooperation and your active participation to provide this noble cause the right encouragement, attention and promotion it rightly deserves.

Here's hoping for a positive and productive response.

Regards

SIMI

Bombay Bikers
www.bombaybikers.com

Date: 26th Jan, 08
Occasion: Republic Day
Event: Joy ride, Jan '08
Venue: Dadar, Shivaji Park, Bombay

Timing: 11am - 4pm

Organizer: Bombay Bikers

Oprah Winfrey getting her own TV network

Oprah Winfrey is getting her own TV network. OWN — for Oprah Winfrey Network — will debut next year in nearly 70 million homes with cable and satellite, part of a deal announced Tuesday with Discovery Communications. It will replace the Discovery Health network.

The announcement builds a media empire that already includes the top-rated TV talk show, a magazine, a satellite radio network, a Web site and TV movies made under her banner.

"This is an evolution of what I've been able to do every day," Winfrey said. "I will now have the opportunity to do this 24 hours a day on a platform that goes on forever."

She will be chairwoman of the network, owned 50-50 by Discovery and her company, Harpo Productions Inc. In return for taking over a network already operated by Discovery, Winfrey gives half ownership of the Oprah.com Web site.

Discovery owns 13 networks in the United States, including Discovery, TLC and Animal Planet. Discovery Health is one of the least successful, and company President and CEO David Zaslav was looking for ideas about what to do with it when his wife handed him a copy of Oprah's magazine.

He approached Winfrey about a partnership, coincidentally shortly after she had come upon an entry for her diary dated May 24, 1992, when she wrote about her idea for creating her own network.

"David came and really spoke about the vision I'd been having for 15 years," she said. "It felt like, `I can't believe you're saying this.'"

Zaslav said that Discovery's core mission is knowledge and curiosity and "this is right in our sweet spot."

Winfrey envisions the programming dealing with issues such as money, health, weight, relationships and raising children. Some of the stable of in-house experts she uses on "Oprah" and the XM satellite radio station might be expected to contribute.

While Winfrey will be the face of the new network, she won't have much of a presence, at least at first. She is under contract to continue on "Oprah" through May 2011, a deal that prohibits the use of reruns on her own network.

After that, she could continue her show on broadcast TV or do it for the cable network, and may reach a deal to allow reruns on OWN. Taking "Oprah" off broadcast TV, however, could reduce its visibility and in turn make the cable network less valuable.

Winfrey said she needed to decide this fall whether to continue her syndicated show beyond 2011.

Winfrey was an early and visible investor in the development of Oxygen, a network for women that was created in the 1990s. She said she quickly determined that Oxygen "did not reflect my voice" and she removed herself from the company's board after a few meetings.

"The difference here is I will have editorial control and there is a vision for what I want to do with this network," she said.

Oxygen was also a startup in an industry where it's becoming harder to introduce new networks, while OWN will have the built-in advantage of already being in nearly two-thirds of the nation's homes with television.

Dozens in Texas town report seeing UFO

STEPHENVILLE, Texas - In this farming community where nightfall usually brings clear, starry skies, residents are abuzz over reported sightings of what many believe is a UFO.

Several dozen people — including a pilot, county constable and business owners — insist they have seen a large silent object with bright lights flying low and fast. Some reported seeing fighter jets chasing it.

"People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it's the end of times," said Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw last week was a mile long and half a mile wide. "It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts."

While federal officials insist there's a logical explanation, locals swear that it was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object's lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. People in several towns who reported seeing it over several weeks have offered similar descriptions of the object.

Machinist Ricky Sorrells said friends made fun of him when he told them he saw a flat, metallic object hovering about 300 feet over a pasture behind his Dublin home. But he decided to come forward after reading similar accounts in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.

"You hear about big bass or big buck in the area, but this is a different deal," Sorrells said. "It feels good to hear that other people saw something, because that means I'm not crazy."

Sorrells said he has seen the object several times. He said he watched it through his rifle's telescopic lens and described it as very large and without seams, nuts or bolts.

Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at the Joint Reserve Base Naval Air Station in Fort Worth, said no F-16s or other aircraft from his base were in the area the night of Jan. 8, when most people reported the sighting.

Lewis said the object may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes. Lights from the aircraft would seem unusually bright and may appear orange from the setting sun.

"I'm 90 percent sure this was an airliner," Lewis said. "With the sun's angle, it can play tricks on you."

Officials at the region's two Air Force bases — Dyess in Abilene and Sheppard in Wichita Falls — also said none of their aircraft were in the area last week. The Air Force no longer investigates UFOs.

One man has offered a reward for a photograph or videotape of the mysterious object.

About 200 UFO sightings are reported each month, mostly in California, Colorado and Texas, according to the Mutual UFO Network, which plans to go to the 17,000-resident town of Stephenville to investigate.

Fourteen percent of Americans polled last year by The Associated Press and Ipsos say they have seen a UFO.

Erath County Constable Lee Roy Gaitan said that he first saw red glowing lights and then white flashing lights moving fast, but that even with binoculars could not see the object to which the lights were attached.

"I didn't see a flying saucer and I don't know what it was, but it wasn't an airplane, and I've never seen anything like it," Gaitan said. "I think it must be some kind of military craft — at least I hope it was."

Plague a growing but overlooked threat: study

Plague, the disease that devastated medieval Europe, is re-emerging worldwide and poses a growing but overlooked threat, researchers warned on Tuesday.

While it has only killed some 100 to 200 people annually over the past 20 years, plague has appeared in new countries in recent decades and is now shifting into Africa, Michael Begon, an ecologist at the University of Liverpool and colleagues said.

A bacterium known as Yersinia pestis causes bubonic plague, known in medieval times as the Black Death when it was spread by infected fleas, and the more dangerous pneumonic plague, spread from one person to another through coughing or sneezing.

"Although the number of human cases of plague is relatively low, it would be a mistake to overlook its threat to humanity, because of the disease's inherent communicability, rapid spread, rapid clinical course, and high mortality if left untreated," they wrote in the journal Public Library of Science journal PloS Medicine.

Rodents carry plague, which is virtually impossible to wipe out and moves through the animal world as a constant threat to humans, Begon said. Both forms can kill within days if not treated with antibiotics.

"You can't realistically get rid of all the rodents in the world," he said in a telephone interview. "Plague appears to be on the increase, and for the first time there have been major outbreaks in Africa."

Globally the World Health Organization reports about 1,000 to 3,000 plague cases each year, with most in the last five years occurring in Madagascar, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The United States sees about 10 to 20 cases each year.

More worrying are outbreaks seem on the rise after years of relative inactivity in the 20th century, Begon said. The most recent large pneumonic outbreak comprised hundreds of suspected cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006.

Bubonic plague, called the Black Death because of black bumps that sometimes develop on victims' bodies, causes severe vomiting and high fever. Victims of pneumonic plague have similar symptoms but not the black bumps.

Begon and his colleagues called for more research into better ways to prevent plague from striking areas where people lack access to life-saving drugs and to defend against the disease if used as a weapon.

"We should not overlook the fact that plague has been weaponized throughout history, from catapulting corpses over city walls, to dropping infected fleas from airplanes, to refined modern aerosol formulation," the researchers wrote. (Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by Maggie Fox and Ibon Villelabeitia)

German experts crack Mona Lisa smile

German academics believe they have solved the centuries-old mystery behind the identity of the "Mona Lisa" in Leonardo da Vinci's famous portrait.

Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant, Francesco del Giocondo, has long been seen as the most likely model for the sixteenth-century painting.

But art historians have often wondered whether the smiling woman may actually have been da Vinci's lover, his mother or the artist himself.

Now experts at the Heidelberg University library say dated notes scribbled in the margins of a book by its owner in October 1503 confirm once and for all that Lisa del Giocondo was indeed the model for one of the most famous portraits in the world.

"All doubts about the identity of the Mona Lisa have been eliminated by a discovery by Dr. Armin Schlechter," a manuscript expert, the library said in a statement on Monday.

Until then, only "scant evidence" from sixteenth-century documents had been available. "This left lots of room for interpretation and there were many different identities put forward," the library said.

The notes were made by a Florentine city official Agostino Vespucci, an acquaintance of the artist, in a collection of letters by the Roman orator Cicero.

The comments compare Leonardo to the ancient Greek artist Apelles and say he was working on three paintings at the time, one of them a portrait of Lisa del Giocondo.

Art experts, who have already dated the painting to this time, say the Heidelberg discovery is a breakthrough and the earliest mention linking the merchant's wife to the portrait.

"There is no reason for any lingering doubts that this is another woman," Leipzig University art historian Frank Zoellner told German radio. "One could even say that books written about all this in the past few years were unnecessary, had we known."

The woman was first linked to the painting in around 1550 by Italian official Giorgio Vasari, the library said, but added there had been doubts about Vasari's reliability and had made the comments five decades after the portrait had been painted.

The Heidelberg notes were actually discovered over two years ago in the library by Schlechter, a spokeswoman said.

Although the findings had been printed in the library's public catalogue they had not been widely publicized and had been received little attention until a German broadcaster decided to do some recording at the library, she said.

The painting, which hangs in the Louvre in Paris, is also known as "La Gioconda" meaning the happy or joyful woman in Italian, a title which also suggests the woman's married name.

Source: Yahoo

Your Signature and You !!!

Signatures & Personality

The various types of Signatures you come across & the attitude of a person are listed below:

# SINGLE UNDERLINE BELOW THE SIGN!!
These persons are very confident and are good personalities. They are a little bit selfish but believe in "Happiness of human life"

# TWO DOTS BELOW THE SIGN!!
These persons are considered to be Romantic, can easily change their fiancées as if they change their clothes. They prefer beauty in other persons & they themselves try to look beautiful. They easily attract others.

# SINGLE DOT BELOW THE SIGN!
These persons are more inclined towards classical arts, simple & are very cool. If you loose faith with them, then these persons will never look back at you. Hence its always better to be careful with these people.

# NO UNDERLINES OR DOTS BELOW THE SIGN!!
These persons enjoy their life in their own way, never pay attention to others views. These are considered to be good natured but are selfish too.

# RANDOM SIGN, NO SIMILARITY BETWEEN NAME & SIGN!!
These persons try to be very smart, hide each & every matter, never say anything in straight forward manner, never pay attention to the other person of what he is talking of.

# RANDOM SIGN, SIMILARITY BETWEEN NAME & SIGN!!
These persons are considered to be intelligent but never think. These people change their ideas & views as fast as the wind changes its direction of flow. They never think whether that particular thing is right or wrong.
You can win them just by flattering them.

# SIGN IN PRINTED LETTERS!!
These persons are very kind to us, have a good heart, selfless, are ready to sacrifice their life for the sake of their near & dear. But these seem to think a lot and may get angry very soon.

# WRITING COMPLETE NAME AS THEIR SIGN!!
These persons are very kind hearted, can adjust themselves to any environment & to the person they are talking. These persons are very firm on their views & posses a lot of will power.

US protests Iran harassment of US ships

The United States has lodged a formal diplomatic protest with Iran over a weekend incident in which Iranian speedboats harassed U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf, the State Department said Thursday.

The protest, which repeats public U.S. complaints about the "provocative" action, was sent to the Iranian Foreign Ministry through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which represents U.S. interests in Iran, deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters. He could not say if the Iranians had actually received and acknowledged receipt of the protest

"We have ... prepared and given to the Swiss a diplomatic note formally protesting this incident," he said. "It reiterates the points that we have made publicly in the last few days."

"We certainly don't want to see the Iranians taking any kind of provocative actions or provocative steps against our ships or against any ships that are transiting what is a primary international waterway," Casey said.

He dismissed Iranian claims that there was nothing unusual about Sunday's incident in the Strait of Hormuz as well as a videotape aired by Iranian television on Thursday that appeared to be an attempt to show that there was not a confrontation between the vessels.

"We all understand what happened in this incident," Casey said.

The Pentagon maintains that Iranian naval speedboats swarmed around U.S. warships in a threatening manner and released its own video of the incident in which a man in accented English says, "I am coming to you. ... You will explode after ... minutes."

President Bush has warned Iran not to repeat such actions, which he said would draw "serious consequences."

Iran denies its boats threatened the U.S. vessels, and accused Washington of fabricating its video. The Pentagon has dismissed that claim and warned that its ships would respond with force if threatened.

The grainy 5-minute, 20-second Iranian video shows a man speaking into a handheld radio, with three U.S. ships floating in the distance. It appeared to be shot from a small boat bobbing at least 100 yards from the American warships. But the footage does not show any Iranian boats approaching the U.S. vessels or any provocation.

The entire incident lasted about 20 minutes, according to the U.S. Navy, and a Pentagon official said that while the Iranian video appeared to have been taken around the time of the confrontation, controversial parts had been edited out.

The clip aired on Iran's state-run English-language channel Press TV, whose signal is often blocked inside Iran. It also aired on the state-run Al-Alam Arabic channel, with an announcer saying the video showed "a routine and regular measure."

The incident, which ended without any shots fired, has heightened U.S.-Iranian tension as Bush visits the region. Bush was in the West Bank on Thursday, and heads next to Arab Gulf nations where he is expected to discuss strategy on Iran.

Source: Yahoo

Tata reveals world's cheapest car

India's Tata Motors on Thursday unveiled the world's cheapest car, a $2,500 four-door subcompact the company promises will revolutionize the auto industry by bringing car ownership within reach for tens of millions of people.

The potential impact of Tata's Nano has given environmentalist nightmares, with visions of the tiny cars clogging India's already-choked roads and collectively spewing millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air.

Industry analysts, however, say the car may do for India and the developing world what Ford's Model T did for America nearly a century ago — deliver unprecedented mobility to the masses.

"It is a potentially gigantic development if it delivers what has been promised," said John Casesa, managing partner for the Casesa Shapiro Group, a New York-based auto industry financial advisory firm.

"I think there is immense unmet demand for a vehicle of this type, because it effectively eliminates the great leap currently required to go from a two-wheel to a four-wheel vehicle," Casesa said. "They are creating something that has never existed before, the utility of a car with the affordability of a motorcycle."

The basic model will sell for 100,000 rupees, or about $2,500, but analysts estimate customers could pay 20 percent to 30 percent more to cover taxes, delivery and other charges.

Company chairman Ratan Tata, who introduced the new car at India's main auto show, has long promised a $2,500 "People's Car" for India — a country of some 1.1 billion where only seven of every 1,000 people own a car. That vow has been much-derided by the global industry which said it would be impossible without sacrificing safety and quality.

"A promise is a promise," Tata told the crowd after driving onstage stage in a white, luxury edition Nano, his head nearly touching the roof. Four company executives emerged from another. Tata says the Nano can sit five.

The company will not say how the price was kept so low on the basic version and won't say how much the luxury Nano will cost until it hits showrooms toward the end of this year. The company also refused to let reporters sit in the car, let alone drive it.

But the basic version is austere: there's no radio, passenger-side mirror, central locking or power steering and only one windshield wiper. Air conditioning that would spare motorists the brutal Indian summer is available only in deluxe models.

The little car, with its snub nose, sloping roof, and slightly bulbous rear, makes it look like another Indian icon — the mango.

The Nano's appeal, though, is not its pedigree but its price — targeting people moving up from the lower ends of India's transportation spectrum, where two-wheeled scooters selling for as little as $900 are often crammed with entire families.

The Nano's closest competitor is the Maruti 800, a four-door selling for nearly twice as much.

In terms of performance it doesn't offer much more than the Model T. The Nano has a two-cylinder 0.6 liter gasoline engine with 33 horsepower, giving it a top speed of about 60 mph, according to Tata. It gets 50 miles per gallon.

The Model T cost $825 in 1909, comparable to about $19,000 in 2006, according to an aggregate of Consumer Price Index figures. And the Nano bests the Model T's 20-horsepower, four-cylinder engine, which topped out at 45 mph.

Analysts believe the Nano could transform the auto industry, forcing manufacturers to lower prices, and perhaps find cheaper ways to sell cars than in sprawling showrooms. French auto maker Renault SA and its Japanese partner, Nissan Motor Co., are trying to find ways to sell a compact car for less than $3,000.

"Most of the other carmakers are watching this development very closely," said S. Ramnath, an auto analyst at Mumbai-based brokerage firm SSK Securities Ltd.

For now, the car will be sold only in India, but Tata said it hopes to export it to developing nations across Asia, Latin America and Africa in two or three years.

Tata initially plans to manufacture some 250,000 Nanos per year. That would be about a quarter of all cars sold in India last year.

The emergence of the Nano has fueled a host of concerns.

With developing countries like India and China putting more and more cars on the roads, it has created a greater demand for fuel, contributing to sky-high global oil prices. India consumed nearly 120 million tons of petroleum products in 2006-2007, according to the Petroleum Ministry, up from 113 million tons the previous year.

And the idea of such a low-cost vehicle has environmentalists petrified, conjuring images of traffic jams at midnight, hours-long commutes and rolling clouds of pollution.

Chief U.N. climate scientist Rajendra Pachauri, who shared last year's Nobel Peace Prize, said last month "I am having nightmares" about the car.

"Dr. Pachauri need not have nightmares," Tata said at the unveiling, promising the Nano met all current Indian emission standards.

Girish Wagh, who headed the design team, said the car has an oxidation catalytic convertor that emits 120 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer.

Tata's promises have not reassured everybody.

"If you're talking about urban environment, it will cause serious problems," said Jamie Leather, a transport specialist with the Asian Development Bank. "The cheaper and cheaper vehicles become, the quicker those pollution levels will increase."

Wish was there a world

With no boundaries to share

no borders to cross…..

no anthems to sing

like paradise full of tales

no paper to buy or sell,

even coins won’t speak

no tears wasted on death

where hatred paid no fear

wrong crossed no one’s path

none lost in rage of gold

wish was there a world

with children smiling all around

laughed and chirped, made some noise

no line drawn between genders

no song of evils to render

colors to celebrate…..not to discriminate

lifeless felt life in art

a brook of lore can go on

no war to run, no leaders shunned

no bullets to eat, no worry to meet

we’ll know how to rule our streets

Wish was there a world.

Cyrstallica

In innocence lies love

Upheld by words

Drowned in emotions

Of lonely existence

Lost in manacled hope

Trying to breathe life

Lured by tomorrow

Today’s mirror smiles

Ghost of hatred coax

Me and myself flamed

Yet comforted by words

Amid murk of lame fate

Love sparkles in me….

Yeah friend

Yeah friend, are you going to tell the truth,

Are you going to show me the way?

I am lost and I know this is the chance

To break free from pain and angst and victory

Just as a human, you can’t survive

You need to be an angel and show me the ray

Lots and lots of friends have come,

lots have decided not to stay.

Yeah friend, are going to show me my way?

This labyrinth isn’t worth running through

These clouds don’t carry water in it

These stories of lore, legends galore

They don’t seep into reality

So where am I going to meet you then

When I know this was just a lost game

My heart is corrupt and lonely, sings and hums,

With not a place to flee.

Yeah friend, are you going to show me the way

Gods are nowhere to meet and air is blank again

Faith was left to fend for itself

But it too’ll get raped and killed today

Lonely am I, lonely was I and lonely I’ll die someday

A friend may come and love me true

And care my wounds and smile unison

Perhaps these words are empty instead,

With hardly anything to match my touch.

Yeah friend, are you going to show me the way

You won’t be reading this to the end….nevertheless; I need to put it forward!!

I’m tired of being what I was always been…….I’m tired of being entitled to everyone’s opinion…..I’m tired of cursing my tormented fate for all! I sincerely need to change my sardonic outlook…..I can safely call myself ‘the biggest choker of all time’…this won’t undermine my indolence nor my idyllic view of my ambience.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be ‘Mowgli’, you know, of jungle book coz I thought it was cool talking to animals & having friends in jungle & use a boomerang as a gadget. Of course that was very naïve of me but we all learn to be what we are rite now. But in my case I chose the other path & ended badly nowhere in between. I’m sick of engineering, I’m sick of my guardian’s hope in me, I’m sick of my responsibility……no option , I’m being selfish & outright foolish in saying but this is what I feel. I am very confident that I should have been in literary world rather than in technological menagerie ….I remember once my dad asked me what I wanted to be in life & like my mother had already guided, I replied ‘good human being’….this was way back when I was a toddler. Today, after 21 years of futile attempt at life, I’m finally getting pieces together. I’m slowly understanding that it doesn’t matter whether I smile at strangers or not, it hardly counts if I stood a good Samaritan…this world has got into a very different mode & I don’t see myself anywhere fitting enough.

Today, everything is very vague for me……this wasn’t the case, say 4 years ago, I was a blue-eyed boy….tentative elder son & role model for juniors…but due to meddling with poems & literary affairs… I digressed!! I wonder how good school days when I was fastidious about everything around, unlike now where it is difficult to distinguish between dream & reality.This whole package of turning from good ol’ boy to hedonistic son feeds my material for writing but not my pockets, sadly! I’ve got a few friends of my own whom I can count on but they too aren’t that much impressed with my ‘progress’……perhaps they are worth their frank opinion. They don’t understand me nor my poems but it indeed isn’t their fault. They r just being mundane & honest.

I’m a huge digger for good cinema…. to me the language hardly matters……

I’ve got 9 papers to clear this year to stay in quest for my graduation….but to speak candid, I’m nowhere near preparation. On the other hand, I’m having a new affair this time & the dame in question is ‘diving’……. ya springboard diving. But I must admit I’m not that proficient in it either may be I should get back to reading Engg books or starting writing drafts for short stories. But you kno what, this thing, in spite of the innumerable bad fall I had, is worth every ache! I also wish to dribble like Gaucho & speak like Mitt Romney……. & ya hang on till I see the whole world & get close to my dream….. Indubitably I’m a genuine dreamer with hardly a thing to lose & hardly a thing to possess. I’ve no leaning towards any philosophy but I’m periodically touched by my Creator’s gestures when an utter unknown helps in a small sweet way….thats life, I guess

My philosophy about Life

First of all, I instinctively believe that life must not be treated in its abstract form. Victory, ambition, dream, dedication are attached, no doubt, but the very essence of life is far too elite…to be expressed. In everyday life, I’ve seen a lot of ups & downs but one thing strikes me through is the way ‘my life’ & ‘I’ is connected. I often wonder what would have been my life was I born some famous personality or so-called stars. But then this is what life is all about! To me, it seems like I was supposed to be a bird but ended up a human. Because I often understand the dissimilarity between me and my other friends who simply don’t take risk. I’m not saying that life is meant to be tested or breath held longer to prove might. All I’m trying to purport is that we are unheedingly sublime as we tend to be since we are socially answerable to the society we are in.

But life could be too short to hold back on our dreams or to choke our urge to express our creativity. These all factors shape our life as we understand every single day of our life that we are here to learn, not to prophesize any event, as we often tend to do.
I am hardly religious and don’t observe fast and other religious obligation. Neither d i stoop to orthodox rituals that don’t stand the test of time. To me, God is within me and I’m trying to find him outside of me so that I can show myself how my creator looks like. That’s my thought on religion and more importantly on God. Friendship, honesty, courage, modesty are something we learn in moral science and of course, within the walls of our home. But to apply these unwritten codes in pragmatic life is assuredly a chore to do. Being human we calculate our risks and needs evenly; in this line we lose a lot of colour. We are abruptly selfish and terminally hypocritical, despite the fact that we are ruling the animal kingdom. And we don’t need to worry of any species taking over us. Yet we are insecure and are fighting among ourselves and all this either in the name of an innocent lord or violent means.


I truly believe that our life is bounded to each other in some way and if we don’t feel that hunch of being connected then we are pathetically growing isolated. My grandmother often used to render stories about battle between good and evil in which evil is always subdued. But my grandma wasn’t aware of the fact that in today’s world these stories mean zilch. Even our schools are tired of these clichéd tales and our kids have grown too big to imbibe these elements.
Eventually, all our actions results in something which could be good or bad or stupid. But seriously who cares? Your parents? Your teachers? To me, it seems that results are fabricated and lose their mettle once the purpose is served. We all are fallacious. We all are fatal. We all are idiotic. So what? Accept it and move. That sounds easy. But trust me. That is the toughest part. To accept the way things are! Some put on their best face and smirk through to get their mean. Some cry foul to achieve what they intended and some simply write poems! Whatever the reasons are, I know for sure that even my life is deserted and hopeless. All parents want their offspring to be self dependent, like any other animal. But we tend to take a lot of time to stand on our own risk. Naturally, we lose a lot of life in it.


Listening to good music is leisure, watching inspiring movies with hard-slap dialogues isn’t going to help our case because little or more everything remains the same.
Today, we as a human race are missing the very fire that ignited renaissance or revolution. We are suppressing our thoughts, lest we may be mocked for our travesty. God forbid, someday we may realize that the kids who were left stranded on the last benches might have us saved or our society or contained aggression. These are just thoughts by which we can debate with whats going on. Since long time, we have turned robotic & worldly affairs are depriving us of our daily leisure. We have stopped living, I guess. Life with all its ingredients including good, bad, ugly and best can deliver back. Of course work is worship and without hard work, we can’t move a inch but at what cost are we providing ourselves these perks of mundane beauty?.......maybe we are paying exorbitantly! We all are different and that’s a good thing because being similar can be monotonous. But we don’t define ourselves by what food we eat, or clothes we wear or beliefs we follow. We just don’t know for real what future holds for us and whether our incumbent action shows any fruit, at all.


I might be too young to comment on issues such as life & death but from whatever books that I’ve reads, movies that I’ve seen and stories that I’ve heard-one thing is for sure, nothing is predictable. We can die any moment and that’s what intrigues me to test myself to the farthest extent. We can’t treat life like a gift because gifts are always smothered and rendered useless. I don’t wish to spoil my life by being corny & afraid. To me, fear is essential until it serves it purpose that is helping us learn. If it is not doing that, then fear is a hindrance, the sooner eliminated, sooner and the good! Sports and school exams teach us that failure is inexcusable but they fail to teach that success is just another side for failure-because a person is winning because someone is out there performing the role of a loser. That is what life duly is! Success can be someone’s curse while perseverance may be someone else’s bliss. We are performers here and we can’t encompass life in its upright form. It is way beyond us. All we can do is stay clear of its tricks and use our brain cells to cope with hurdles. We can be smart or we can dumb but what matters is we realize what we are before its too late. Some people die not knowing the fact that they were utmost gifted because they never realized it themselves and so no one else acknowledged it either.

That’s unchecked tragedy. Some people go kill someone because anger overcomes their cloud of sanity. And some cheat and some embezzle even the strongest of walls. Most of these kinds end up in jail. Some forget how they once were outside those stinking wall while some just can’t give up on their hope. But darkness hardly leaves these unfortunate souls alone. What is the whole point behind standing and kneeling and standing and kneeling before a statue or edifice when we can’t figure out ourselves? We don’t find it cool enough to discuss AIDS, drugs, orthodoxy and other trivial concerns. Because we all know that somewhere within us we are contributing to this bane and we are afraid that we may get caught. Life is this and life is that but what is life if we don’t travel and see for ourselves how the sun looks like on the other side or how the leaves fall. These idyllic truths won’t salvage us. But still without love and calm we can’t go long enough to see things and its beauty. We may too end up like vegetables. For me, this is my chance either I get to do it or never again. Its my choice and I must not regret spilled milk.


These statements are naïve in sense but this is what I feel about life. Like I’ve said earlier life can’t be abstract except in poems or on canvas. There are some folks out there who cry on getting their umbrella wet. They will never learn. Life can’t be dealt with words that soothe but with activities that help us go on and on, tirelessly.

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India

Mute Lane

I’ve seen some places

where hopes are sold

some tears are bargained

and smiles are stored

where dreams are built

and weighed up on scale.

Aims are lowered, prayers are failed

these places are in darkness too

like hearts often do

with nothing left to prove

motioned nowhere

not known where to leave

too scared to ask, downed;

peaceful days are all left back

once you pass this lane

call it a curse or bliss, unchained

you’ll never find yourself sane

these words are just a drop

of endless stories untold

I’ve seen some places

where dreams are sold.

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India

Mistaken - Poem

The sound that grumbles in my ear

are not the voice of song or odes

It is the deep pain of those in fear

out of their home and onto street

No one knows the grave reason

for this disruption and this commotion

yet going through this season

deepened in sanguine ocean…dead

permeated smell of blood on floor

someone, anyone, lets get forward

try out something, anything new

ask the killers to stop their bullets

“let my people on land live!”

the surly fever wraparound me

I hold a pen in my weak fingers

covered in shivers of shrouded cry

asking for kindness to smile.

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India

Possibility - Poem

Ahura Mazda must be quite now and may stay that way for long because there is not much he can do about it

We haven’t seen hope getting deflated for no apparent reason and if we say we did saw this happen and then that may be hypothetically too naïve to compare with those who lost their loved ones just due to their faith, color and status.

World today is different and we can’t change that we always bear this paranoia with utmost integrity that doesn’t allow to accept our mistakes or come in term with our demons. I’m absolutely sure today, mundane won’t let another Bastille happen or another Gandhi succeed.

Word is draining more and more hopeless and we are seeing hope die right in front of us. We are seeing kids smuggling drugs because he/she have no knowledge of pen or its power in fingers. May be we are heading nowhere with out insanity unbounded, eternally.

I remember my dad being the most stoic, most eloquently unbiased when it came to the question of faith. I remember him asking me why I fold hands in front of nothing when I’m supposed to hold my hands out to be there for someone who can’t take of his fate alone. He alleged that God is one and we humans because of our indifferent rationality and ambitious linguistic prowess named him patently, adding some new lessons on him.

Now my dad is not that secular for sure, he is tired, may be of his age or his weak bones, but I do miss that life as a kid with dreams of beauty in our society with religions meant only for infusing holidays, not for culling one another with hatred or blood. May be there are many more like my dad given up hope of reconciling dream and may be there are many kids who may spew on hatred just because their dad gave up hope too.

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India

I - Poem

I’m tired of the face I’ve got,

I’m tired of my heart inside

I’m tired of everything that breaths

I’m tired but I can’t go to sleep…

Better were the days, no more indeed

When I laughed at my present

& cried all night

At least no more was my grief to greet

Wasn’t I the only walking alone?

Slowly the ambience showed its hue

And I lost my sanity to fate……

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India

Friendship Day

No days can match my days with you

filled my life with words and hue

you my friend, you know me good

may not remember the days we ruled

but I do, the moments had sped

we grew up tied up like fools!

had our times in bad and hope

you were there, as it always showed

a friend like you, needed, more than food

though my life has changed much

yet not seen anyone closer than you

your place is in my heart’s door

day to celebrate may come and go

but our friendship won’t escape this truth

we are and we will be as we should

held by breath and goodwill could,

never leave our touch for eternal world!

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India

Forgotten days

‘Some days are meant to fade away

some roads we leave and move ahead’

these words were who consoled me then

can’t say the same right now again!

I do feel good to breath this life,

life that could’ve never touched my sight

but that smile do occurs at night

and that face which can’t lie

flooding my thoughts,

belying my convictions,

stabbing my freedom,

freedom to think the way I like!

Many eyes confronts and moves aside

but that smile stay on, alone

as if to provoke my careless state

and question me for my loneliness

innocence pervades bellicose debate

debate which wins down her gaze

can’t say how much I miss those days

better off like the man they dreamt,

albeit I can’t deny my dismal way

still that ‘sparkle niche’ brings disdain!

my head shuns onto higher aim,

aim to curb this baloney instead!

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India

Flower are alone - Poem

I have a plant in my mind and I want it planted in my heart

I knew this won’t happen with an easy pace

for it takes what I can’t give

my heart has no soil for a plant so nubile

my vein don’t pump a well of water or so

even my vessels are lost in a mid of flow

and this plant will surely die away

I remember my life once while it was innocent and gay

where I lived with and where I played

and a flower used to smile from my garden

but I wanted like that to breeze along in me

and spread its goodness as far as it could flee

I wanted too to do this dream and see it go

maybe that flower stays short in that pot

and wither away with a lasting wane

maybe my heart is not a place for a thing

when its better smiling away instead!

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India.

Everyone has a secret in this town

Everyone has a secret in this town

Everyone walk with a limp around

Knowing the best won’t take their side

They hop around until its too dark

Some are slowly realizing their end

Some don’t want to go silent

This town is a kind of grave in love

it has its skeleton covered with life.

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India.

Ending steps - Poem

This skin will nest maggots on end

No sign of me stays through long

My breath won’t kick dust, no more

Within it will move death inward?

Who was I ever to smell soil?

Besides the token name I’ve got

Few drops of cry won’t last

And some words of tales, lost

Under this cloud I had moved by

Sucked in air and warmth of light

Seen some dreams in dark night

Loved some, hated few all in life

May I’ll never return back in sight

May I’ll never see my face

May this stays the longest time

I’ve ever thought I could make!

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India.

Drunks Don - Poem

Drunks don’t go that far

They can’t move their dreams

They won’t die the day as well

For they wish to stay, not leave

Their friends are ever awake

The glasses, shades and drunk

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India.

Different People - Poem

Different people, different stories

Different battle, different glories

Similar feeling, similar faith

Similar destiny, end in waste

Towards the path of mindless state

Towards the country where no one stays

Lonely houses and lonely yards

Lonely nights with moon afar

None ever came to say hello

None ever had a dream to live

All they wanted to see some land

All they wanted was peaceful sand

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India.

Birthday Thanks - Poem

Some days are long, some go too short,

but in between, a few, keeps the rest apart

very unique, serene and subtle,

These days stands tall on our year' crown

when our friends are born

may be, this day took quite a long ago

lost in the mist of history, left nowhere to go

when the Great Hands thought for a change

this friend of mine happened on such a day

she might have been angelic then

but she hasn't been any less graceful hence

life has its corner, its no empty circle

things take place in a spate of chance

world and its rules leave no time to see,

the beauty behind our birth, its endless mysteries

we are dragged on and we move too fast

having no question to ponder or ask,

we earn a few friends that stand along

some due clouded in mundane stroll

This day is too short to celebrate this gift

every moment's indebts to that heavenly deal

when he thought it right to twist in trends

and let you end up as my lovely friend!

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India.

The Feminie Spirit of Bandra

Stand on Bandra Platform for a while, a train full of boisterous crowd starts it serpentine move towards you. You stand perplexed wondering how come this people gather themselves everyday for this imminent ordeal. Your thoughts are getting stirred with chaotic descent of the people out of train. Now, all you want to do is get yourself off the platform but then you gaze towards the brighter side of the train. Of course, the ladies with their comparable ease can't be overlooked. These fairer creations are quite legendary in hypothetical sense of words. They have knitted a lining for themselves on a fabric called Mumbai.

No big deal if words are scrambling up but today, women are seeing the brighter side of liberty and choice. They don't seem to stumble upon some stupid orthodoxy. Some have even crossed the gender divide and are happily creating niches, belying bias. Education has definitely played a gigantic role here. Without understanding, girls wouldn't have dreamt of being someone, let alone, fight for their right to dream. Life is still difficult on the darker slums where electricity is a luxury. Mumbai is approaching its threshold level of human inhabitation and the cost of aspirations is heavily on due. Amid this, if one stands on a stranded platform, and look around to find a unique subtlety of homogeneity, then that one is surely breathing!

Bandra, for some, beams a blend of colonial essence, metropolitan charm, Christian heritage and modernity. But one of the biggest contributors to this melting pot is the ladies of this town. They were always different, no doubt why British navy cadets found them enticing. These blue-eyed boys' entire holiday used to be spent on approaching and propositioning or plain sight-seeing. Some even went on to never miss the damsels back home! This has nothing to assert that Bandra is a Greek city or aught but it has something else to unfold. This town has always created something new or kept something old as it is. If the stones and walls are worth studying then the women of this town are worth admiring for their gusto uprightness and bubbly zest. They always had this unique way of displaying nonchalance at the most testing time. To an outsider, they always seemed unattached to the ethos of general perception of Indian women who generally show raw emotions with easiest guile. Apparently, some yonder ago, some of these ladies were perceived as imitators of 'memsahibs'! But then, every nuance of admiration was persecuted and slowly we saw Mumbai assimilate every chapter into a grand opus.

These women alighting from trains are teachers, lawyers, designers, secretaries and some housemakers cum officer-goers. The face they carry may not bear the actual flawless grace of colonial era but then this city of ours can wipe any line out and draw any line in, yet their audacity to be so enchanting can't be overlooked. And if peered closer, then you may not miss that smirk which tells how proud they are, to be a part of this happening town and would give up anywhere to stay in here. Moreover, we can easily get the family branch of a matriarchal society quite easily due to the families' reluctance to shift somewhere else.

These women do gossip like anyone else, they too feel the pain of traveling and they too cry in front of TV soaps yet they are different, kind of edgy when it comes to civility. They are the answer to Mumbai's call for absolute metropolis. We will be numb minded enough to ask the 'others' to put up a similar demeanor. That won't happen and even if it does, it would be nothing short of failed trial. Some may find this argument haughty but any other girl or lady, if comes out and try her best, whatever, she'll surely stand corrected. No wonder, why all the people think that even an office going lady might be rich at banks!

As realty booms here, so are the working women's purse and they surely know where to head for a good buy. Be it an estate or a simple garment, they'll do it with utmost refinement. Money doesn't raise a question of choice and they do get the best stuff, be it in a designer showroom or on Band Stand. They don't need their boyfriends or hubbies to accompany them, but then which girl wants to be disturbed. They are no fool with money and that shows in their investment in stocks and how they are actively covering market stats. Life is great, though earned to be that great but if holiday is a perk then Bandra 'naris' know how to harvest it and no way, are they going to spend it watching stupid TV shows or DVDs. Time is to head for relaxing spas and more reinvigorating Botox clubs!

Some may argue that all kitties are the same when it comes to luxury, unrestricted but Bandra ladies have a unique way to do it and they won't be sharing it on a cheap chat.

Now-a-days, the newer crops of small girls who are the genuine torch-bearers of their legendary task of novelty are mixing up with lost identities. That's inter-globalization, if that could be the term. They are quite aware of road side Romeos and they may not know how Bandra got to be the centre stage of exhibitive beauty and grace. These teens are metro in outlook and don't incline to any particular school of thoughts. Anyways, they are not having any cadets looking around the town, aboard on the naval bus. Some things are always appreciative in history and can't be re-distilled in presence but many can still concur to the fact that Bandra is what Bandra was.

Contributed by: Shakti Shetty, Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, India.

MOVIES OF 2008 - Hollywood

After relishing Rajasthan, Madonna lands in Mumbai

After relishing Rajasthan, Madonna lands in Mumbai

Mumbai, Jan 08: Pop diva Madonna, who is holidaying in India with her family, seems to have taken to the local culture, with a vengeance. On a well deserved break from her grueling schedule, the star, her director husband Guy Ritchie and their children Lourdes, 11, seven-year-old Rocco and two-year-old David, finally landed in Mumbai on Tuesday morning in a private jet from Udaipur. After having spent her New Year in the picturesque region of Jaisalmer, Udaipur, known as the City of Lakes, in northwest Rajasthan was the final stop of their Rajasthan leg of their Indian sojourn. According to reports, the family seems to have taken a liking for the cultures and traditions of the country. Madonna attended a host of traditional festivities and couldn`t help but join in with the merriment, singing karaoke for an Indian Maharaja during her low key visit. Absorbing every bit of the scenic beauty and traditional magic of Rajasthan, the ‘Material Girl’ visited the state`s famous Nathdwara temple along with her husband Monday afternoon and prayed at the revered shrine. Madonna, who had earlier extended her stay in Rajasthan, visited the Srinathji temple in Nathdawara, around 50 km from here. She was in Rajasthan for six days, during which she toured Jodhpur and Udaipur, Alwar, Sardarsamand, Rohetgarh and Mehrangarh Forts. "She also went to the temple of Eklingji," a source revealed. Madonna, who reportedly has a fascination for horses, enjoyed riding the royal horses. She also indulged in a two-hour trekking trip in the desert. The trip also saw her reaching to the village folks of a Khandi. From Dec 31 to Jan 5, she was staying at heritage hotels near Jodhpur. She went horse riding, danced the ghoomar attired in traditional folk dress, and joined folk dancers in singing "Nimbura, Nimbura" and other songs. This is not the singer’s first visit to India. Before this, she had visited the holy city of Varanasi for her yoga classes. It is rumored that she may take meditation classes from Sri Sri Ravishankar. Source: Zee Network