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

1. Bugatti Veyron 16.4 The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 from France is the world's fastest, most expensive, and most powerful car in the world. It can touch speeds of over 407.5 kmph and can go from 0 to 62 mph in 2.5 seconds. The supercar costs about $1.4 million (Rs 6.3 crore). Bugatti Veyron car is made by Volkswagen's 100% arm Bugatti Automobiles. The car has been named after Formula 1 racing driver Pierre Veyron, who won the Le Mans race in 1939 while driving for Bugatti. The car has a W16 engine, which is the equivalent of two narrow-angle V8 engines fused in a 'V' formation. Each of the car's cylinders has 4 valves making it a total of 64 valves. The engine is fed by four turbochargers. The car also has a fantastic array of electronic equipment. The Veyron can be driven by full automatic transmission. The car's wheelbase is 2710 mm and its overall length is 4462 mm. It is 1998 mm wide and 1206 mm in height. The car's weight is about 1,890 kg. 2. Koenigsegg CCX

The much awaited first diesel car from Maruti, the Swift diesel, was launched on Wednesday with an introductory price tag of Rs 4.68 lakhs for the LDi and Rs 4.96 lakhs for the VDi version. (ex-showroom, Delhi). The engine in the diesel Swift is the 1300cc DDiS engine, a derivative of the Fiat Multijet engine, says BS Motoring. Maruti has a plant in India to manufacture exactly this diesel engine in India - it only seems logical that it will find its way in to the Indian Swift too. Maruti also said that it plans to launch two new models in the next fiscal (2007-08) and a new model for export to Europe by 2008-09. However, it did not give any details of the new models to be launched. Launching the new Swift diesel, Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) managing director Jagdish Khattar, said, “The demand for diesel cars is growing in India and Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) and MUL have made major investments in diesel facilities to serve this customer need.” Asked if more diesel cars from Maruti

No more rental fees ¦ Incoming SMS free ¦ Call rates slashed Some good news for mobile phone users : they will now pay much less in roaming charges, with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ordering a steep cut in the tariffs by up to 56 per cent on Wednesday, and the rental for roaming being removed. At present, any cellphone subscriber who travels out side the home network is charged a rental of Rs 50 for national roaming services. For a GSM subscriber, an outgoing call could cost up to Rs 3.99 per minute while a CDMA user is charged anywhere between Re 1 to Rs 3.99, depending on the distance. The new roaming charges, applicable to all prepaid and postpaid users of any service provider, will be Rs 1.40 for local calls, Rs 2.40 for STD calls and Rs 1.75 for incoming calls, according to a statement issued by the telecom regulator. These changes will take effect from February 15. All incoming SMS would be free while roaming, while charges for outgoing SMS are still under considera

1. Possessiveness : Women always seem to have serous security issues. They need men to hold them, and tell them how special they are. 2. Hopping : Not only is the list end less, they check 10 different stores before finally buying something from the one they first saw. You will won der why she spent so much time roaming around. 3. Never satisfied : They spend hours preening in front of the mirror while you do not see the slightest change. 4. Fashion : Her tastes in fashion change so frequently that you either run out of breath trying to catch up, or end up wondering whether you are too dumb to catch up. At the end of the month you will also wonder why your wallet suddenly looks so empty. 5. They notice the minutest things :Why do women have to criticise everything from hairstyle to shoes? Only a woman can notice something as trivial as the purse not matching the shoes!

HYDERABAD: 84 hotel rooms of VIP standards in four floors, a swimming pool, a recreation centre and three floors of commercial activi ties under one roof. This is not a description of a new mall or boutique hotel coming up in the city, these are a few components of the new state tourism office at Begumpet. The new tourism office aspires to be a landmark in the city and not only because of its brightly painted yellow and blue facade. It is first of its kind tourism office cum hotel to come up in the country. Built on two acres of land in the heart of the city, the building will be centrally air conditioned with ample parking facilities. Defying stereotypes of dusty and mouldy tourism buildings, the top four floors of the seven-storey building will be occupied by an 84-room star hotel with a swimming pool. Shopaholics may enjoy the commercial area which will house handicraft, jewellery and souvenir shops. “This will be good for last minute shoppers. Many people are on a tight schedule an

A study conducted by the Transparency International India has found that the least corrupt States in the country were Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh , in that order. This study was quoted by the World Bank in its appraisal of the AP economic reforms loan-III (also known as development policy loan) of $ 200 million sanctioned on January 11. The Opposition may cry hoarse about corruption at high places but the bank gave a clean chit to the State government. As per the study, Bihar is the most corrupt State, followed by Jammu and Kashmir . The survey assessed corruption using 11 benchmarks, including rural financial institutions, income tax, municipal services, judiciary, land administration, police, schools, water supply, public distribution system, electricity and government hospitals. While police is the most corrupt institution throughout the country, it is surprisingly not the case in AP, where government hospitals and water supply are more corrupt. The State g

Team India coach Greg Chappell was attacked by a member of the so-called “Kalinga Sena” at Bhubaneswar airport on Monday. Chappell escaped unhurt. The superintendent of police of Bhubaneswar, Mr Amitabh Thakur, said some members of the outfit had assembled outside the airport to “highlight the issue that no player from Orissa has been selected for the national team.” One of them turned violent. The Indian team flew into Bhubaneswar on Monday afternoon ahead of the second ODI against the West Indies, to be played at Cuttack on January 24. As the players and support staff came out to catch the team bus, a fanatic forced himself through the secu rity barricade and “stumbled on” Chappell. Orissa Cricket Association council member Kamalanath Pande, who was an eyewitness, said the attacker was seen “trying to take a knock at Chappell.” But the latter “showed quick reflexes, and ducked.” The police came to Chappell’s rescue almost immediately, and the attacker was caught and taken into custo