POTAGA - Reservation for Living

OLD VERSION...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

MODERN VERSION

font face="Verdana" size="2">The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house. Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other grasshoppers demanding that grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter. Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper. The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance). Opposition MP's stage a walkout.Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among ants and grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of the winter.
Arjun Singh makes Special Reservation for Grass Hopper in educational Insititutions & in Govt Services.

The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice". Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice'. CPM calls it the 'revolutionary resurgence of the downtrodden' Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later...The ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi billion dollar company in silicon valley.100s of grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India...

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Indian's Sexiest dream girls

Bollywood flim industry has lot of dream girls, Daily there are new faces coming in bollywood and performing everything from item numbers to heroines. So who are the india's Sexiest dream girls of Bollywood. Sexiest girls of bollywood will always be wanted by Indian fans and hindi flim industry. THey break a lot of laws of traditional women to the mordern ultra women. Let the count down begins.

Mallika Sherawat

In our count down of India's sexiest bollywood dream girls, first comes Mallika sherawat, the Kawashish girl at number 5. Mallika sherawat entered into bollywood after her marriage and broken the myth about indian fans that Indian fans love only girls who are unmarried. Mallika sherawat entered bollywood after marriage (divorce), mallika sherawat's orginal name was reema lamba. after the movie Murder, Mallika sherawat's flim career graph shoot up like a rocket. Flims ran just for Mallika sherawat in bollywood. Her sexiest look gave her the first Bollywood actress to act in hollywood flim, The Myth with Jackie chan. Mallika Admired a lot of people at canes flim festival with her show off dress on her. Even though mallika does not produce any big hits after 2 years of her bollywood entry, Mallika Sherawat started to do everything from item number, expensive stage shows and guest appearence. Now Mallika sherawat is trying to enter kollywood which is the heart of south Indian Flim Industry through Kamal Hasan's Dasavadaram.

Koena mitra

Next in the count down comes our sexiest model Koena Mitra at number 4. Koena Mitra is sexy in looks and entered into bollywood flim industry after winning the Glamdrags contest at 2002. As all bengali girls Koena Mitra was sexy in looks and atracts a wide range of audiences in flims. Koena Mitra was not yet linked with any other actors who looks into career. But Koena Mitra rumored with Director Sanjay Gupta which is a seperate lime light.

amritra rao

Next somes in the list of India's most Sexiest Dream Girls is the latest sensation in MF Husain's painting, Amrita Arora at number 3, This sexy actress, got into M F Husains canvas after the movie Vivah. Amrita Rao entered Flims accidently. Amrita Rao made her cinematic debut in the 2002 film Ab Ke Baras, But Amrita Rao got recoganised after her movie or Ishq Vishk. Amrita Rao's latest Movie Vivah opposite Shahid Kapoor gave a universal success despite its outdated theme.Amrita Her performance was well appreciated from critics.

Priyanka Chopra

The runner up of the India's most sexiest Bollywood dream girls is Priyanka Chopra, This bueaty peagent got death threats because of her contestant in Miss India world contest. Priyanka Chopra first acted in a Tamil film Thamizhan and since then has acted in many Bollywood films. Priyanka Chopra's first Hindi film was the big budget The Hero: Love Story of a Spy which was a flop. Priyanka Chopra became more known for her performance in her next film Andaaz which was a hit. Currently there are rumors going on about priyanka chopra linked with Akshay Khanna, and it is going steady. If the relationshp is going steady why she is not marrying Akshay. R u afraid Priyanka, Indian Fans will accept you after marriage also like we accepted Mallika Sherawat.

Aishwarya Rai

The Winner of the India's most wanted Bollywood Dream girls is again a Bueaty peagent from South India, She has a very big group of fans from Celebrities to common man. She is the most wanted personality in India and abroad. She may be left out in next year list because after Feburary 19, she might become Mrs Bachchan. Yes yes you guessed right, It is Aishwarya Rai the former miss world from india, Aiswarya Rai got linked up with a lot of happening guys, First come Salman Khan with Aishwarya Rai. This went steady for long time and eventually broke after the famous waiting of salman khan for the full night outside Aiswarya Rai's house. Then she got hooked with Vivek Oberoi, the young chap who had given hits before meeting Aishwarya Rai. It got broken after the entery of Abhishek Bachchan in Aishwarya Rai's life. They are going to get married on feburary 19 2007 which is again a big question. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai's on screen romance is not going well, lets see whether the off screen romance later.

Do you have any other list. comment us guys?

Movie review of GURU

A leader in every sense of the word - Guru is based on the life and times of one of South Asia's greatest business minds - Dhirubhai Ambani. The tag-line: Villager, Visionary, Winner... pretty much sums up his story, and a legacy called Reliance. From humble beginnings to an empire worth $15 billion, this guy had one heck of a journey.

The late magnate was reknowned as one of south-Asian commerce's founding fathers, and the ultimate success story - of boy done (very) good. It had the distinction of being the first Indian company to go public, hold AGM's in stadiums, and the only South-Asian company to feature in the Forbes 500 list.

This tale follows the story of Gurukant Desai (Bachchan) a young man from the small village of Idhar in Gujarat, who dreams big right from the start, facing several hurdles and an obstinate system to see his extraordinary dreams bear fruition.

The dubbed versions of the movie in Telugu & Tamil, are also being released simultaneously with the Hindi version.

Synopsis

Guru is the story of a young man in a small village of Idhar in Gujarat, who goes from rags to riches due to his sheer determination and personal drive, despite being faced with many business barriers. Abhishek Bachchan plays the title of Guru Kant Desai in the film the man who is a villager, becomes a visionary and finally a winner. The gorgeous Aishwarya Rai plays Sujata, the wife of Guru in the film.

The veteran Mithun Chakraborty plays Manikdas Gupta (Nanaji), the owner of a newspaper The Independent. Madhavan plays the role of Shyam Saxena, a young and dreaming, a 22-year-old news reporter, who is against Guru and his ideologies. Vidya Balan plays the role of Meenu, a handicapped girl who is the wife of Shyam Saxena but admires Guru. Mallika Sherawat plays a dancer in the film and also has a hot item number to her credit.

Guru started his journey from a modest village in Gujarat to Bombay which was soon flourishing as the financial capital of India. It was year 1958, and those were the days when the rich ruled the world of business and newcomers hardly had any place in the sun for them. But Guru knew it was achievable, and he surely had ways to find a way for himself, whether by hook or by crook.

And the one who was with Guru in his journey throughout was Sujata, who at one point of time was hesitant to marry Guru but it was a matter of time when she fell in love with him after being together as a couple in a one-room chawl. Her relationship with him became so strong over the years that regardless of what others had to say about him, for her Guru was the one who stood for love.

Nananji ran a newspaper called The Independent and years back was pretty impressed with the kind of fire that he could feel within Guru. He knew that Guru was a young lad who had it in him to be successful and though his walk towards his destination seemed too fast, he attributed it to his young blood. He was warned about some of Guru's so-called evil ways but for Nananji, Guru was spotless. Until he realized the truth...a bitter one at that. And now he wanted to fight to bring it to fore for all to see. Even if it threatens to destroy Guru....or even himself.

The same realization had struck Shyam too who didn't really have much love lost for Guru due to the way he worked and wanted him to be punished for his unethical and materialistic ways. He was ready for a fight and was all set to enter the arena for he believes that good should be done to people. He likes it when somebody does something good for the people and society. But he believes that it should be done within the bounds of the law. He believes that there is a reason why there is law and there is a reason why people make laws. He opposes anyone who breaks the law -- without caring who that person is. So, he stands to oppose Gurukant Desai when he breaks laws. This reporter knows the power of words and the media.

Apart from Sujata, Guru also had support in the form of Meenu, a young woman who limped and could be seen on a wheelchair. From her childhood, she had seen Guru and while she could see Nanaji and Shyam being critical of him, for her he was the man to be respected and admired since he was the only one who never asked her about her handicap. Also, she could see that Guru's journey to the top was full of obstacles and hence a lot of things happened en route which in an ideal scenario should not have happened.

Set in the picturesque beauty of the 1958, Bombay, Guru comes to the city as a young man with only two shirts, a wife, a brother-in-law and Rs.15,000 to start a business. But all doors were shut for a newcomer. Indian business and trade were run by a handful of the rich and the privileged. Only they were given the licenses. They had the quotas and they controlled all government trade. It was an exclusive club where it was impossible for an ordinary middle class newcomer to enter, let alone succeed.

Guru had to kick the doors open or cajole them to open. He did both and would not take no for an answer. And that's because he never knew the word 'no'. Despite all barriers, he started his own company called Shakti Trading in a 350 sq feet room, with one telephone, one table and three chairs.

Forty years on, Shakti Corporation became the first Indian company to enter the Forbes top 500 list. People asked him how this happened and he said think big, think ahead and think fast.

Cast: Mithun Chakraborty, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Mallika Sherawat, Madhavan, Vidya Balan, Sachin Khedekar

Producer: Mani Ratnam, G Srinivasan
Director: Mani Ratnam
Lyricist: Gulzar
Music Director : AR Rahman
Cinematography: Rajiv Menon
Choreography: Brinda, Saroj Khan
Action: Vikram Dharma
Visual Effects: Prime Focus
Story, Screenplay: Mani Ratnam

Official website: http://www.guru-thefilm.com/
Release date: January 12, 2007

Source: IndiaFM

Will Aishwarya Rai Marry Abhishek Bachchan

Will Aishwarya Rai marry Abhishek Bachchan? This is the question rounding among bollywood celebrities and flim stars. Why everyone thinks that Aishwarya Rai won't marry Abhishek Bachchan? We have found something fizzy between aishwarya Rai and abhishek Bachchan relationship.

Aishwarya Rai now very close to hrithik roshan after Dhoom 2. That Lip locking kiss in Dhoom2 was soo hot in the flim for which hrithik roshan's wife was soo supportive but Abhishek Bachchan was not that much supportive.

In all the movies of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, there is no cozyness but if it is hrithik roshan and Aishwarya Rai then there is a awesome chemistry through out the flim. This raises many eyebrows in the bollywood flim industry.

More over, if you see Aishwarya Rai, She will be hooked with the persons who are in top in the flim. First it was salman Khan Aishwarya, then it was Vivek Oberoi and Aishwarya Rai, some time back it was Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, now it is hrithik roshan and Aishwarya Rai.

Abhishek Bachchan must start to look rani mukerjee who is in love with Abhishek and more over Amithab Bachchan is also comfortable with Rani Mukerjee.

So is the marriage of Abhishek Bachchan is with Aishwarya Rai or Rani Mukerjee? What r u thinking guys

Twelve from 2006

It's that time of the year for Cricinfo to pick the Test team of the year and so, while the world celebrated the festive season, our staffers burned the midnight oil coming up with their nominations. Those nominations were then tallied and the 11 players with the most votes fitted into a batting order/bowling attack. The choices were largely based on performances through the calendar year - but we strongly suspect some instances of rank personal favouritism.

The openers debate was most hotly contested. In the end it came down to the age-old dilemma - do you go for team flexibility and pick non-specialists or stick to conventional wisdom? All but one chose Michael Hussey as an opener - he bats in the middle order for Australia but has vast first-class experience at the top. There was a tie for picking his partners - Alastair Cook (four hundreds and three fifties) and Rahul Dravid (three hundreds and seven fifties) received an equal number of votes but the fact that one was a "specialist" and the other a "makeshift" resolved the tie.

Ricky Ponting (averaging 88.86 in 2006), Mohammad Yousuf (99.33) and Kumar Sangakkara (69) made it to every list, as expected. Sangakkara, who kept in eight of the nine Tests that Sri Lanka played, was the near-unanimous choice as the wicketkeeper (Gilchrist got one vote). Kevin Pietersen, the second-highest run-scorer in the calendar year (1343 at 53.72), completed a formidable middle order.

Muttiah Muralitharan, with a staggering 90 wickets in 11 Tests, was statistically light years ahead of the rest (Makhaya Ntini was a distant second with 58 victims) and duly made the list (then again, which list won't he make?). Shane Warne, who tormented England in the Ashes and waved goodbye to a magnificent career, joined him in the spin department - he, too, was in everyone's team.

Makhaya Ntini, the fast bowler with the most wickets this year, leads the fast-bowling department. Partnering him is Stuart Clark (42 wickets at a superb 17.76), who began the year with a Man-of-the-Series performance in South Africa and ended it with an impressive Ashes. Mohammad Asif, with 30 wickets in five games, was the third most popular fast bowler but picking him would have meant having five bowlers in the side. One vote behind him was Andrew Flintoff and the jury decided to have him in the side for his bowling prowess, batting ability and sheer size of his heart.

AB de Villiers was the most popular 12th man, owing largely to his outstanding catching and ground fielding throughout the year. That leaves us with the final question - who will captain? No Dravid, no Mahela Jayawardene, no Brian Lara. One respondent went for Shane Warne. That left Ponting and Flintoff and you don't need to be Einstein to work out the overwhelming winner.

Cricinfo's Test team for 2006

1 Alastair Cook, 2 Michael Hussey, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Mohammad Yousuf, 5 Kevin Pietersen, 6 Kumar Sangakkara (wk), 7 Andrew Flintoff, 8 Shane Warne, 9 Stuart Clark, 10 Makhaya Ntini, 11 Muttiah Muralitharan, 12 AB de Villiers.

If you think you can pick an alternative XI or feel strongly about this selection, Send us your comments

From CricInfo.com

World Cup 2007: Review of Cricket Teams - Republic of Ireland

About Ireland Cricket

One of the 2 World Cup debut nations for 2k7, Ireland, surprised the cricketing world way back in 1969 when they bowled out a touring Windies side for just 25 runs winning the tour match by 9 wickets. Ireland, the reigning Intercontinental Cup Champions & European Cup Champions, have a big responsibility for putting up a better show than the other minnows in this World Cup. Having missed the opportunity of playing in the 99 World Cup (they lost the 3rd place play-offs with the Scots), they have come a long way to qualify for the & 2007 World Cup. The Irish Cricket Union announced the squad for the World Cup as early as August last year keeping in mind the time that would take for the team to gel into a good unit.

Win-Loss Record

The Irish team has played 3 ODIs till now and has a record of 1 win - 1 loss - 1 no result. Their first ODI was against England last June in Belfast. The Irish team's guts and courage combining with some poor showing from England paved way for a closely fought match. Chasing the English score of 301/7, the Irish team reached within 38 runs of the target hammering Harmison & Darlymple. More importantly they were not bowled out during the big chase. Their only ODI win was against the powerful Scotland side in the last year's European Championships. The Irish team shocked the Scotland, who was tipped to win the championships, by defeating them convincingly by an 85 run margin. Morgan, the Middlesex south-paw with a splendid 99 and late burst from the lower order (McCallen's 46 from 35 balls) set Scotland a target of 241 in 50 overs. A disciplined bowling effort bundled out the Scottish team to poultry 155, Morgan grabbing the Man of the Match award.

Current team players

Trent Johnston (captain)
Andre Botha
Jeremy Bray
Kenny Carroll
Peter Gillespie
Kyle McCallan
John Mooney
Paul Mooney
Eoin Morgan
Kevin O'Brien
Niall O'Brien
William Porterfield
Boyd Rankin
Dave Langford-Smith
Andrew White

Approach

The challenge for the Irish team before the World Cup will be the ICC WCC later this month. After that, they'll defend their Intercontinental title against the UAE side. All these matches before the World Cup would provide them valuable match practice.

Batting

South African born Botha, middle order batsman OBrien and the southpaw Morgan are their key batsmen. At least two of these three players should bat out of their skins if the Irish team plans to play out their full quota of overs in the international level. Courage & the county cricket experience will come to their aide but the in-experience in the highest level might come to haunt their prospects in the Caribbean.

Bowling

Line & Length and Discipline has been their biggest advantage till now. But when it comes to international cricket, the difficulty level increases and that factor played in their discipline in their 3 ODIs. They have conceded 62 extras in the 3 ODIs. Some more experience and tuning to the level will bring that figure down, hopefully. Their chief attack man will be Langword-Smith who has 3 wickets in each of his 3 ODIs. But if one asks whether they have potential to bowl out international sides, well, don't even think about it.

Current form

Their 3 ODIs doesn't suggest much about their form but when looking closer, their batsmen have applied themselves in all 3 international matches that they played. This fact is evident from their matches as they've never been bowled out in any of their international match. The bowling will be the key factor if they fancy any chance of even winning a single encounter in this WC.

Prediction

Luckily for Ireland, they've been placed in the easiest group of all. Along with them, they have the hosts Windies, the Pakistanis & the deformed Zimbabwe. Their chance of making it to the next round is very bleak but if they play hard, they might pull out a surprise over the Zimbabwe.

Other teams
Test playing Nations : India | Pakistan | West Indies | Sri Lanka | New Zealand | South Africa | England | Australia
Non test playing Nations : Canada | Bermuda | Scotland | Zimbabwe | Kenya | The Netherlands | Ireland | Bangladesh
Who will win Cricket world cup 2007?

Farewell with a Disciplinary Action

SHANE Warne may face disciplinary action and a possible fine for dissent in his farewell Test after speaking sharply to umpire Aleem Dar. Warne snapped at the Pakistani umpire after having an appeal for LBW turned down when he was bowling to England captain Andrew Flintoff. Shane Warne, who bowled 19 overs without taking a wicket on the first day, appealed loudly for LBW to the second ball he delivered on the second day.

The ball appeared to pitch outside Flintoff's leg stump and Umpire Dar turned it down. Stump microphones then picked up the voice of Dar asking Warne not to follow through in his line of vision because he was blocking his view of the batsman.

Warne shot back: "You worry about getting it right at the other end, Aleem, and don't worry about where my foot's landing."

The words Warne chose show he has a long memory. In a Test match against New Zealand at the Gabba in 2004 Warne was frustrated when Dar called wide several times to balls Warne pitched outside leg stump on a turning wicket. When he queried the calls, Dar told him: "You look after your job and I'll worry about mine." The pair also had on-field exchanges over LBW appeals during the Lord's Test of the 2005 Ashes series.

Flintoff was on 76 at the time of Warne's appeal today and threatening to make his first century of the series. But on 89 and running out of partners the England captain charged at Stuart Clark and edged a catch to wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist. It meant the three Australian pace bowlers, Clark, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee each had three wickets while Warne was in danger of going unrewarded on the Australian pitch that most favours spin bowling.

Warne however took the final England wicket, wrapping up the England innings for 291 when he had Monty Panesar LBW for a duck. It was his 707th Test wicket, which, added to his 293 one-day wickets, made Warne the second bowler after Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan to take 1000 wickets in international cricket.

The umpire who raised his finger was Aleem Dar. If Dar decides to report Warne to match officials over their earlier exchange the bowler faces a disciplinary hearing and a possible fine.
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Content source : theaustralian.news.com.au