Srinivas Padma: Personal Musings on Life, Growth, and Connections

The ability to locate a person using his mobile phone looks set to get better with new technology pat-ented by TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. The patent ena-bles a wireless subscriber’s location to be determined more quickly and more reliably than traditional assisted Global Positioning System methods, TCS said. It addresses specific geographic constraints that a subscriber may face when trying to secure a location fix. Additionally, the patent technology has the capability to enable wireless carriers to offer a better experience to their customers. How it works : Today, there are 29 satellites in the GPS network, each moving around the Earth approximately six times per day. As a user moves his or her wireless GPS device from one location to another, the locations relative to the satellites change. GPS devices attempting to determine the user’s position can only communicate with a limited number of the total GPS satellites at any gi-ven time. In the past, the time required for lock-i...

New Delhi, Dec. 28: Contrary to common perception, literacy level of Muslims is better than that of Hindus in seven Indian states, says a new book authored by noted demographer Mahendra K. Premi. At an all-India level, while the literacy level of the male population for all religious groups is 75.3 per cent and of Hindus 76.2 per cent, it is 67.6 per cent for Muslims, says the book Population of India in New Millennium: Census 2001. However, in Andhra Pradesh, while Muslim males enjoy a literacy rate of 76.5 per cent, that for Hindu males is 69.5 per cent. Similarly, in Gujarat, while Muslims have a literacy level of 82.9 per cent, it is 79.1 per cent for Hindus. In AP, female literacy level among Muslims is 59.1 per cent as against 49.2 per cent for Hindus. Again in Gujarat, 63.5 per cent of Muslim females are literate compared to 56.7 per cent Hindus. Mr Premi’s book reveals that both male and female Muslims enjoy better literacy levels in seven states — Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,...

New Delhi, Dec. 28: A new Mahabharat circuit is being planned, in the wake of the runaway success of the Buddhist circuit in the country. The Mahabharat circuit runs through Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and has the potential to attract not only domestic but even foreign tourists. Union tourism minister Ambika Soni has agreed to grant Rs 5 crores for the development of the new Mahabharat circuit. The Mahabharat circuit runs through the states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. In UP, the tourism department has taken the lead in developing all the places in the state mentioned in the epic. Kurukshetra, the scene of the epic 18-day Mahabharat war and the scene of the revelation of the Bhagvad Gita, however, falls in Haryana. The Mahabharat circuit in Uttar Pradesh covers Hastinapur, which is present-day Meerut in western UP. There are a number of other places in Uttar Pradesh where significant events connected to the Mahabharat took place. Baghpat and Bijnore are two such examples. A tunnel datin...

Director Suneel Darshan has shot a song for his film Shakalaka Boom Boom, that costs Rs 2.5 crores. The expensive song was shot in New York featuring Upen Patel with a 100 girls. It has been choreographed by South African professional Tyrone Watkins and was shot in four days. Justifying the cost of the song, Darshan said that quantity is not important, quality is the priority. The director was very impressed by Watkin’s musical act Fusion — A Bollywood Love Story. Darshan wants to ensure that this movie turns out to be a big break for the actor-turnedmodel. Hence, he has decided to shoot a special title track for Upen. The music has been com posed by Himesh Reshammiya, who claims that Shakalaka... will outshine the Aashiqui track from 36 China Town. Darshan is also roping in a UK-based artiste to sing the track. Inevitably, the track will be used as the first promotion of the movie. The film stars Upen Patel, Bobby Deol, Celina Jaitley and Kangana Ranaut

The one banner that the stars give anything for is Yashraj Films. After all, didn’t Aishwarya Rai agree to kiss Hrithik Roshan on screen in Dhoom 2? The actress is otherwise very particular about the way she is portrayed on screen and stipulates this clearly in her contracts. Now speculation is rife that Yashraj is keen to launch Dhoom 3 and it is none other than Aditya Chopra who will direct this one. “Mohabbatein was the last film Aditya made and he is now looking forward to taking up direction once again,” revealed a source close to the Chopras. The source added, “Also the success of Dhoom 2 has inspired Aditya to make a roller coaster thriller once again. There are talks currently to pen the third part. It has still to take a solid form.” The news that Aditya is keen to cast Shah Rukh Khan is old news. But he is also keen that Aishwarya Rai be a part of Dhoom 3 too. Will Yashraj Films succeed in bringing about a truce between Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai who had parted ways pro...

SPIN-KING STEPS DOWN - Test cricket’s greatest bowler Shane Warne announced his retirement from international competition on Thursday, drawing the curtain on one of the most celebrated careers in the sport’s history. Saying he wanted to go out on top, the 37-year-old Australian legspinner with a world record 699 Test wickets revealed the two remaining Ashes Tests against England will be his last international matches. “It’s been unbelievable — my ride in international cricket’s been phenomenal,” an upbeat Warne told a packed media conference at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Warne said he had also retired from Australian domestic cricket but will see out the remaining two years of his contract with English county side Hampshire. Fast bowler Glenn McGrath is also tipped to announce his retirement soon, while batsmen Damien Martyn quit suddenly just before the third Ashes Test. Warne said he had considered retiring after the 2005 Ashes but decided to press on after Australia’s shock loss...

Lucknow: Some call it the wedding of the season while others squirm at the idea — but the groom and his brides appear to be perfectly happy with the arrangement. In Mahoba district of UP, a unique wedding was solemnised on Friday last when Deepak, a young schoolteacher from Chattarpur in Madhya Pradesh, married two sisters Sita and Gita at the same mandap. The girls’ father, Kishori Lal, is also happy with this unusual wedding . “What could I do when the girls were adamant on marrying the same man? I tried to convince them, but they would not relent. Even Deepak was keen on marrying both the girls, and so I agreed to get the marriage solemnised. I only pray that there are no problems later on,” he said. According to Kishori Lal, Deepak takes coaching classes after school hours and his daughters were enrolled there when they fell in love with the teacher. Deepak also reciprocated their feelings and the affair continued till they agreed on marriage. Deepak, on the other hand, is equally...

If you thought cartoons were there only to make you laugh, then think again. The cartoon auction organ ised by the Blue Cross of Hyderabad on Saturday night raised about Rs 3 lakhs, half of which will go to save endangered olive ridley turtles in Orissa, People were ready to shell out Rs 5,000 to Rs 11,000 for the cartoons. Cartoons are often conceived as both humorous and deeply serious. Combining both fictional and non-fictional elements, cartoons have been used to comment on and critique various issues. The theme was mobile communication, and the cartoons illustrated how we are increasingly becoming dependent on such modes of communications as the cellphone and the Internet. The cartoon by Shyam Mohan, the president of indianink.org, a website dedicated to cartoons and cartoonists, depicted a dancing couple in each others’ arms, but using cellphones for communication. Despite scepticism on how cartoons would do in an auction, Mr Mohan was confident that the show would be a success. ...

Sreesanth provided a moment of comic drama before the innings ended. After Nel advanced threateningly down the pitch after a bouncer, Sreesanth hammered the next ball for a straight six and ran down the pitch twirling his bat to taunt the South African fast bowler.

UMTS Forum, an international body that promotes uptake of UMTS technology for the roll out of 3G mobile telephony is planning to write a letter to telecom department asking it to reject the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or Trai’s recommendations on the auction of 3G spectrum. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) chairman Jean-Pierre Bienaime said that the Indian government should avoid the auction of the 3G spectrum and the high base price recommended by Trai. “Government should prevent the initial investors from being overburdened and instead of auction government should follow the path of entry price with beauty contest,” Mr Bienaime told this newspaper. Mr Bienaime said that the bad example of auction of 3G spectrum followed in the UK, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands resulted in high price of 3G spectrum and this jeopardised the profitability of 3G telephony. “Instead government should follow the example of France where the midd...

Courtney Cox and Jennifer Aniston want to do a Friends reunion. The two actresses, who played Monica Gellar and Rachel Green in the hit US show, have been talking about shooting a one-off special and are hoping they can convince the rest of the cast to agree. Cox told the website Access Hollywood, “We talk about it because we love each other and we hang out all the time. I’m just saying that I’m not opposed to it. Jennifer said she’s not opposed to it. When we say ‘reunion’, I mean, do a little thanksgiving episode. It sounds like fun.” Although Cox and Aniston are keen on a reunion, the Scream star isn’t sure if the rest of the cast, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow and Matt LeBlanc will be so enthusiastic. Cox added, “It’s a lot of different people to get into the room, so I think the chances of it happening are slim. But Jennifer and I would surely eat some turkey together.”

A Japanese firm unveiled a miniature portable keyboard that helps the blind take notes by listening to sounds of the characters they punch in. The battery-operated keyboard — which weighs 500 grams and includes an MP3 player — keeps the data on memory so it can be transferred to a computer. Created by three researchers at the Yazaki electronics company, the keyboard differs from other devices as it does not rely on Braille script and can be used without being attached to a computer. The user presses combinations of buttons to type in characters either in Japanese, Chinese or Roman script, which are spoken by the 50-by10 cm machine.

When the video-sharing site YouTube.com was sold to Google, many of its users worried that corporate ownership would restrict the con tent of its videos. But now one of YouTube’s partners is changing the ways that users comment on those videos. YouTube, which is host to many official CBS video clips under an October licensing agreement with the network, has changed its layout for some of the Web pages with CBS videos. Most YouTube videos are embedded on Web pages that allow viewers to read user comments, with some of them listed directly below the video. These comments can range from the coherent (“That was hilarious.”) to the, er, less-so (“omg lol!”) to the profane. The comments on many of the videos posted by CBS have now been moved to a separate page; instead of sample comments underneath the videos, a link to “view all comments” takes users to a separate Web page where they can read comments. CBS began moving and filtering comments on some videos shortly after announcing its lice...

It’s not uncommon to find youngsters applying for customer service and BPO jobs for quick pocket money, as the field ensures a lot of monetary benefits without having to go in for specialisation. However, not all of them who apply get the job. “I had a lot of friends who were working at BPOs after college. I thought this was an easy way to make money. But none of them bothered to tell me that there would be at least half a dozen rounds of interviews and interactions before I got the job. All that they said was, ‘It’s very easy. You needn’t prepare.’ I followed their advice and didn’t qualify. I messed up the HR round and also didn’t do too well at the essay writing part,” says Advait Bhanu, an 18year-old degree first year student from New Science College. Advait wouldn’t have done so badly had he given a little thought to preparation. One of the main reasons why students don’t land these jobs is because of lack of preparation. Says Pradeep Manohar, chief recruiting officer, Ace Computi...

Carrying among other things a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a statue of Lord Ganesh and a packet of samosas, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams soared into space on board the space shuttle Discovery toward the International Space Station that would be her new home in the stars for the next six months. Discovery, with six other crew, took off at 8.47 pm EST on Saturday (7.17 am IST Sunday) on a column of fire that briefly dispelled the darkness over the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Strong winds had put in doubt Nasa’s first night launch since the Columbia disaster in 2003 which killed another Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla, but the gusts subsided about an hour before. Bad weather postponed an initial launch attempt on Thursday. “Forty-eight hours makes a tremendous difference,” Nasa launch director Mike Leinbach told Discovery’s crew shortly before launch. “The weather is outstanding, the vehicle’s in great shape, so we wish you all good luck, Godspeed ...

Jackie Chan starred in a porn film when he was a struggling actor. The martial arts expert, famous for his death-defying stunts, appeared in a Hong Kong made X-rated movie entitled All In The Family, 31 years ago when he was an unknown 21-year-old. However, Chan, now 52, insists he is not ashamed of the film and says if you watch it, you will see that is very tame compared to modern pornographic movies. He revealed to Britain’s Daily Express newspaper, “I had to do anything I could to make a living, but I don’t think it’s a big deal, even Marlon Brando used to expose in some of his movies. The porn movies at that time were far more conservative than the current films.” Chan isn’t the only Hollywood action hero with a pornographic past. Before making it in Tinseltown Rocky Balboa star Sylvester Stallone appeared in a soft-core porn film entitled Party at Kitty and Stud’s. The movie which was originally a hardcore movie before the most graphic scenes were cut, was re-released after Stall...

Sentence on hold till Jan. 31 By ASIT JOLLY, Chandigarh: For mer cricketer, flamboyant television anchor and BJP Lok Sabha member Navjot Singh Sidhu has been awarded a threeyear jail sentence for manslaughter. Having already (on Fri- day) found the batsmanturned-politician guilty on charges of beating and causing the death of 65-year-old Patiala landlord Gurnam Singh during a road rage incident 18 years ago, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday also ordered Sidhu to deposit a cash fine of Rs 1 lakh, but allowed him time till January 31 to file an appeal in the Supreme Court. The former player will, however, need to furnish a personal bond of Rs. 10,000 during the next few days. The news that their hero would not immediately have to go to jail evoked loud cheers and repeated volleys of slogans from the many relieved Sidhu fans who had anxiously awaited the court’s ruling on the length of his prison sentence since early in the morning. Earlier, Justices Mehtab Singh Gill and Ba...

Dell Inc., on Tuesday announced the commencement of work on its India manufacturing facility at Sriperumbudur Hi-Tech park, near Chennai. Chief minister M. Karunanidhi launched the project with the ceremonial unveiling of an architectural model of the proposed plant. Dell Asia Pacific president Steve Felice told reporters the $30-million project would be completed by July 2007 and would start shipping desktop computers from Chennai from August 2007. The new facility coming up in a 50-acre land in the special economic zone would be set up in three phases and would have an initial production capacity of 400,000 desktop computers. Desktop computers make up about 60 per cent of Dell’s current business in India. The state government has also allotted 150 acres land adjacent to the plant where the company will house its suppliers. The suppliers are likely to invest $210 million in the setting up plants. Dell has already commenced hiring for the new plant. The new facility will provide 1,000 ...

Style Statement: Newly Launched Maruthi Suziki Zen Estilo in Gurgoan. Estilo, a Spanish word meaning Style, is targeted at young people who desire products with contemparary styling and international appeal, Mr Jagdish Kattar said. The Zen Estilo is Priced at Rs 3.19 Lakh

In a blink of mere months, the mobile “smart” phone has been transformed from pricey corporate gadget to an affordable alternative for ordinary folk. Cingular Wireless has unveiled three devices priced as low as $200. The shift began in May with the ‘Q’ from Motorola that Verizon Wireless introduced for $200 and now sells for $100. But no carrier has gone as wild with consumer-friendlier smart phones than Cingular, which rolled out four such devices since September. I tried out three of them: Nokia E62, the Samsung BlackJack and the Palm Treo 680. Samsung BlackJack: The BlackJack stands out among the three devices, if only because it is compatible with Cingular’s new high-speed wireless Internet network. It’s small and weighs 3.5 ounces. Despite the size constraints, the phone features a slot for removable memory to store music and photographs, as well as a 1.3 megapixel camera. One omission is GPS satellite capability for location-tracking. Nokia E62: The E62 is the first mass-market ...

If you want a glimpse of the future of advertising, you can hire a consultant — or you can travel to Britain. British marketers are embracing new techniques for the Internet. For example, Hewlett-Packard used an email campaign in Britain, to try to attract potential customers to a Website promoting its products. Online advertising is racing ahead in Britain, growing at a roughly 40 per cent annual rate, and is expected to account for as much as 14 per cent of overall ad spending this year, according to media buying agencies. That is the highest level in the world, and more than double the percentage in the United States. There are big differences between the advertising markets in Britain and the United States. In Britain, much of the advertising is national, while there are strong local and regional ad markets in America. Still, some believe that online advertising in Britain provides somewhat of a roadmap for where online ads in the United States and elsewhere may be heading. “The US...

Houston: Sunita Williams is all set to become the second woman of Indian origin after Kalpana Chawla to blast off on a space mission and spend six months at the International Space Station where US shuttle Discovery will leave her on completion of a 12-day repair job. Ms Williams, 41, the daughter Deepak and Bonnie Pandya, arrived at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida for a final stretch of training and preparations for Friday’s shuttle mission STS-116, the first night launch since the 2003 Columbia disaster. The spaceflight is scheduled to lift off at 8:05 on Friday will take along the most rookie crew since 1988 as five of the seven members have never flown in space before. Besides Ms Williams, the crew includes mission commander Mark Polansky, pilot William Oefelein, mission specialists Joan Higginbotham; Nicholas Patrick; lead spacewalker Bob Curbeam; and the European Space Agency’s Describing as having most culturally diverse space shuttle crew, Ms Williams said she was aware of ...

SAINIKUDU CAST: Mahesh Babu, Trisha, Irfan Khan, Prakash Raj, Kota Srinivasa Kamna Jethmalani, Telangana Shakuntala DIRECTOR: Gunasekhar RATING: Average We have seen it all before, you can see it some more. But one more like Sainikudu, the Prince is sure to lose his charm ever more. Sainikudu turns out to be a patchwork culled and cobbled from movies done to date, or even death. Movies such as Streetfighter, Shaolin and from the not-so-recent Rang De Basanti come to the mind. This latest Gunasekhar-Mahesh Babu film is like the combo burger offer minus the free cola. The fizz is surely missing. The story, by Gunasekhar, is about die-hard medical students who want to do good to society. So Sid, Siddharth yaar, played by Mahesh Babu, and his gang go about saving people from floods, eveteasers and goondas, not necessarily in that order. They face a firewall trying to deal with “politricks” when they take on the Chief Minister (Kota Srinivas) and the spoke in the wheel Pappu Yadav (Irfan Kh...

Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysian known as the “Snake King” for his commanding performances with scorpions and snakes over the last 25 years has died after being bitten by a king cobra during a show, news reports said on Saturday. Ali Khan Samsuddin, 48, died early on Friday, three days after he was bitten on the left hand by a cobra while performing in Kuala Lumpur, the reports said, quoting his son, Amjad Khan. The Star daily quoted Khan, 21, as saying that he would continue his father’s work. “This is a trade that has been passed down for five generations. It is our way of life and we can’t imagine doing anything else,” he said. Khan said his father, Samsuddin, called him on Tuesday to tell him that he had been bitten, but the family was not too worried because it had happened “many times before,” including three times by cobras, the paper said. But Samsuddin’s condition worsened on Thursday night and he was rushed to hospital. Khan said his father suffered from diabetes and perhaps his bod...

Lemon must be included in your daily diet because it contains citric acid, malic, potassium citrate etc and is very rich in vitamin C. The abovementioned properties interact with one another and help in the absorption of iron and calcium, improve hemoglobin in the blood and strengthen the bones too. These acids also help in dissolving waste products and excessive fat and cholesterol. Vitamin C plays a major role in the formation of collagen, which is essential to keep the skin smooth and wrinkle free. A deficiency leads to defective teeth and gastro-intestinal disorders. Lemons can also be used to make you look beautiful. Here’s how: 1) To improve your complexion, squeeze a fresh lemon in a glass of boiled milk and add 20ml glycerin to it. Leave this concoction alone for 30 minutes and then apply it to your face and other exposed areas of the body. Let it dry and keep it on for the whole night. By repeating this procedure very night you will find gradual improvement. This preparation i...

There's no room for error when you perform a stunt like this.