Stella Roy

Islam, the Modern World, and the West

2010-06-02T13:58:00.001+05:30

I would sincerely like to apologies to one and all, for not writing more often. The explanation being I moved to Dubai and currently working with a leading News Agency here. It has been two wonderful years for me, travelling to almost every country in Arab and Europe, learning new things, meeting new people and most importantly learning a new religion - ISLAM, from a different perceptive. Something, that I never gave importance to all my life in India.

When first I came to Dubai, I found it awfully fast pace and surrounded by the people who were foreign to me in terms of religion and culture. Even though, I had couple of Muslims friend in my college days, the Indian Muslims are so different from their brothers around the world, conspicuously from Arab nations. The principal difference I find is, in the way, Indian Muslims handles complicated subject pertaining to Islam.

Today when I thought of writing, I could not thing of any other topic then writing about the issue facing the most recent religion of our time. Yes. Islam is just 1500 years old and it has caught the imagination of everybody, from King to Cobbler, West to East, Africa to North America since the time the last Prophet of Islam Muhammad (S.A.W) proclaimed his prophet hood to the Arabs.

Now, when I have huge number of friends who are followers of Islam and watch them practice their religion, I came to conclusion about one thing. This religion and followers of Islam are here to stay and it is not possible to change their belief in one GOD or force them to change their custom. Be it a War, Food for Oil or any nuclear threat. Their belief is so untainted and integral that it is impossible to split it.

Oh’ now when I scroll up, I see that it is already a full page of text and I am yet to begin about the main issue, I wanted to concentrate on. Anyways, I can write it in my next post. So please do read it and give your comments on it.

Is Birthday allowed in Islam?

2010-01-10T02:57:00.000+05:30

Is Birthday allowed in Islam?

Nice topics to talk about and discuss.

Recommendation request for Car modding

2010-01-10T02:55:00.000+05:30

Recommendation request for Car modding

Myanmar-Burma burning with violence

2007-09-28T21:33:00.000+05:30

Myanmar is in turmoil once again after the 1988 protest against General Ne Win's rule. The security force of the country is on the street killing innocent and peaceful protester.

The violence started when hundred of people came out on street to protest the recent fuel hike. This was dealt with the security forces very strictly by use of guns and bullets. The protests is led by monks who pose a serious threat to the administration and raise matter of finance of the country and intensified calls for democracy. People are gathering in thousands and voice their anger against the ruler in various parts of Myanmar.

Some unofficial report coming from Myanmar has put the death toll to around fifty. There are reports that several hundreds of monks are taken into jail. The violence of security forces has even taken life of a Japanese reporter who was shot dead while he was taking images of their brutal attack on innocent monks.

The whole world has come out in protest of such cruel violation of human rights in Myanmar. The British Prime Minister has spoken to American President and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to intervene and put an end to violence in Myanmar. He has called for heavy sanctions on Myanmar.

As I am writing this the Junta has blocked the Internet in Myanmar to prevent news of their cruelty from going to ourside world. What a shame!

The coming week will be a huge test for the people of Myanmar who have shown great courage to demand their right for freedom and democracy. This time all eyes are on Myanmar and hope their will be a permanent solution coming out soon for the people of Myanmar.

Sharing important numbers with you

2007-09-28T16:06:00.000+05:30

They say sharing is essence of life. No feeling is better then helping others or sharing information with others that can help them in some ways. My friend sends me something that I feel like sharing with you all. It can be very helpful to you. Check the below important Toll free helpline Numbers in India. I hope it will be of some help to you and if you have more such information please share it with us in comments sections.

-Air-Lines In India
Indian Airlines - 1600 180 1407
Jet Airways - 1600 22 5522
SpiceJet - 1600 180 3333

-Automobiles
Mahindra Scorpio - 1600 22 6006
Maruti - 1600 111 515
Tata Motors - 1600 22 5552
Windshield Experts - 1600 11 3636

-Banks
ABN AMRO - 1600 11 2224
Canara Bank - 1600 44 6000
Citibank - 1600 44 2265
Corporatin Bank - 1600 443 555
Development Credit Bank - 1600 22 5769
HDFC Bank - 1600 227 227
ICICI Bank - 1600 333 499
ICICI Bank NRI - 1600 22 4848
IDBI Bank - 1600 11 6999
Indian Bank - 1600 425 1400
ING Vysya - 1600 44 9900
Kotak Mahindra Bank - 1600 22 6022
Lord Krishna Bank - 1600 11 2300
Punjab National Bank - 1600 122 222
State Bank of India - 1600 44 1955
Syndicate Bank - 1600 44 6655

-Cell Phones
BenQ - 1600 22 08 08
Bird CellPhones - 1600 11 7700
Motorola MotoAssist - 1600 11 1211
Nokia - 3030 3838
Sony Ericsson - 3901 1111

-Computers/IT
Adrenalin - 1600 444 445
AMD - 1600 425 6664
Apple Computers - 1600 444 683
Canon - 1600 333 366
Cisco Systems - 1600 221 777
Compaq - HP - 1600 444 999
Data One Broadband - 1600 424 1600
Dell - 1600 444 026
Epson - 1600 44 0011
eSys - 3970 0011
Genesis Tally Academy - 1600 444 888
HCL - 1600 180 8080
IBM - 1600 443 333
Lexmark - 1600 22 4477
Marshal's Point - 1600 33 4488
Microsoft - 1600 111 100
Microsoft Virus Update - 1901 333 334
Seagate - 1600 180 1104
Symantec - 1600 44 5533
TVS Electronics - 1600 444 566
WeP Peripherals - 1600 44 6446
Wipro - 1600 333 312
xerox - 1600 180 1225
Zenith - 1600 222 004

-Couriers/Packers & Movers
ABT Courier - 1600 44 8585
AFL Wizz - 1600 22 9696
Agarwal Packers & Movers - 1600 11 4321
Associated Packers P Ltd - 1600 21 4560
DHL - 1600 111 345
FedEx - 1600 22 6161
Goel Packers & Movers - 1600 11 3456
UPS - 1600 22 7171

-Education
Edu Plus - 1600 444 000
Hindustan College - 1600 33 4438
NCERT - 1600 11 1265
Vellore Institute of Technology - 1600 441 555

-Healthcare
Best on Health - 1600 11 8899
Dr Batras - 1600 11 6767
GlaxoSmithKline - 1600 22 8797
Johnson & Johnson - 1600 22 8111
Kaya Skin Clinic - 1600 22 5292
LifeCell - 1600 44 5323
Manmar Technologies - 1600 33 4420
Pfizer - 1600 442 442
Roche Accu-Chek - 1600 11 45 46
Rudraksha - 1600 21 4708
Varilux Lenses - 1600 44 8383
VLCC - 1600 33 1262

-Home Appliances
Aiwa/Sony - 1600 11 1188
Anchor Switches - 1600 22 7979
Blue Star - 1600 22 2200
Bose Audio - 1600 11 2673
Bru Coffee Vending Machines - 1600 44 7171
Daikin Air Conditioners - 1600 444 222
DishTV - 1600 12 3474
Faber Chimneys - 1600 21 4595
Godrej - 1600 22 5511
Grundfos Pumps - 1600 33 4555
LG - 1901 180 9999
Philips - 1600 22 4422
Samsung - 1600 113 444
Sanyo - 1600 11 0101
Voltas - 1600 33 4546
WorldSpace Satellite Radio - 1600 44 5432

-Hotel Reservations
GRT Grand - 1600 44 5500
InterContinental Hotels Group - 1600 111 000
Marriott - 1600 22 0044
Sarovar Park Plaza - 1600 111 222
Taj Holidays - 1600 111 825

-Insurance
AMP Sanmar - 1600 44 2200
Aviva - 1600 33 2244
Bajaj Allianz - 1600 22 5858
Chola MS General Insurance - 1600 44 5544
HDFC Standard Life - 1600 227 227
LIC - 1600 33 4433
Max New York Life - 1600 33 5577
Royal Sundaram - 1600 33 8899
SBI Life Insurance - 1600 22 9090

-Mattresses
Kurl-on - 1600 44 0404
Sleepwell - 1600 11 2266

-Investments/ Finance
CAMS - 1600 44 2267
Chola Mutual Fund - 1600 22 2300
Easy IPO's - 3030 5757
Fidelity Investments - 1600 180 8000
Franklin Templeton Fund - 1600 425 4255
J M Morgan Stanley - 1600 22 0004
Kotak Mutual Fund - 1600 222 626
LIC Housing Finance - 1600 44 0005
SBI Mutual Fund - 1600 22 3040
Sharekhan - 1600 22 7500
Tata Mutual Fund - 1600 22 0101

-Paints
Asian Paints Home Solutions - 1600 22 5678
Berger Paints Home Decor - 1600 33 8800

-Teleshopping
Asian Sky Shop - 1600 22 1600
Jaipan Teleshoppe - 1600 11 5225
Tele Brands - 1600 11 8000
VMI Teleshopping - 1600 447 777
WWS Teleshopping - 1600 220 777

-Travel
Club Mahindra Holidays - 1600 33 4539
Cox & Kings - 1600 22 1235
God TV Tours - 1600 442 777
Kerala Tourism - 1600 444 747
Kumarakom Lake Resort - 1600 44 5030
Raj Travels & Tours - 1600 22 9900
Sita Tours - 1600 111 911
SOTC Tours - 1600 22 3344

-UPS
APC - 1600 44 4272
Numeric - 1600 44 3266

-Others
Consumer Helpline - 1600 11 4000
L'Or e al, GARNIeR - 1600 223 000
KONE Elevator - 1600 444 666
Indane - 1600 44 51 15
Aavin - 1600 44 3300
Pedigree - 1600 11 2121
Kodak India - 1600 22 8877
Domino's Pizza - 1600 111 123
World Vision India - 1600 444 550
Telecom Monitoring Cell - 1600 110 420

Here comes Yuvraj Singh with six 6s in an over!

2007-09-21T11:48:00.000+05:30

The Game that sends a nation into ecstasy. The Game that makes the nation cry. The Game that makes the nation dance with joy. The game that brings smile on 1 billion faces. The game that unites the country. A game that is religion to millions of people and its player a super hero to them. Yes the game is Cricket for India!

Last week the people of India got a chance to celebrate big time. The whole country was talking of only one man Yuvraj Singh. They witness something that whole country will remember for long time to come.

They witness a semi god Yuvraj Singh hitting six 6s in one over of England bowler Stuart Broad. Only once before in an International match this feat has been achieved by the South African Gibbs.

Yuvraj Singh the man from Punjab was always an exceptional talent. The only thing missing was his concentration on the game which sometime is not what you expect of such high caliber batsmen.

But on Wednesday he proved that he has matured and is ready to take the mantle of senior batsmen in this Indian team. And BOY! What a way he chooses to announce this, by creating a world record of hitting six 6s in an over.

The best thing about his six sixes was that it came when it mattered. India needed to win to remain in T20 championship and the charismatic Yuvraj made it possible through his magical hitting. Way to go Yuvraj!

Yuvraj Singh has raised the hope of billions of Indians after their World Cup debacle. Every Indians want to see Yuvraj scores all the time. Yuvraj Singh, you now have to deal with expectations of billions of your fans.

He has the potential to take the Indian cricket to glory. Yuvraj symbolizes the young India who is read to take on the best in any field of life. Here comes Yuvraj Singh, take a bow!

Flying with a good Airline is Fun!

2007-09-18T15:27:00.000+05:30

This summer I had an opportunity to travel with Air France. It was an amazing experience, and one of a kind.

To start with the aircraft was well maintained, clean and tidy. There was this typical aroma sprayed in the aircraft because of which there was no foul smell and felt really fresh.

Both the flight attendants and the flight purser were at their best, customer service was well appreciated by the co-passengers. They were not irritated with the number of times they were called by these few Indians, on the contrary they were all ready to help the passengers in every way they could, unlike the staff of some other airlines who do just the opposite.

Food served for dinner did not smell and actually tasted good. They had a choice of both Veg and Non Veg. Then they played these 4 movies on 4 different screens in the Economy Class. The movies kept all the passengers entertained during their journey.
Seats were really comfortable and not smelly and messy. Not the one that you find in some of our national carrier.

Over all it was a good experience to travel Air France. I would recommend trying out Air France whenever they are planning to go on vacation to Europe.
Your comments on other airlines are eagerly awaited.

Some Of The Best Songs Ever

2007-09-12T14:52:00.000+05:30

Some feel songs are made for entertianment and some feel songs can inspire people. Well I believe there are songs that can and has inspire millions of people. Some of those songs I would like to share with you.

Please forgive me - by Bryan Adams
If your loved on is angry at you for anything, just sing this song for him/her and see how the anger vanishes. One of the most beautiful song written ever. This song was written in 1993 and is the only song of the album So Far So Good which is not featured in any movies yet was number 1.

Leaving on a Jet Plane – by John Denver
This song was written by John Denver in 1967 at the airport of Washington. The original title of this song was ‘Oh..baby I hate to go’, but then later on they changed it to ‘leaving on a jet plane’. John Denver has given many other hit songs which I love listening to but this one is an exception.

Everything I do..I do it for you - by Bryan Adams
This is one of the best songs that Bryan Adams has sung. I really love watching the video of this song, and it really makes me emotional when I listen to this song. This song was co written and performed by Bryan Adams in 1991. It was number 1 song for seven weeks at the United States Billboard Charts Hot 100.

Truly Madly Deeply to you – by Savage Garden
Savage Garden – They are the favorites with the young generation, and is a 1997 song – their recent hit song was “Animal Song”. Truly madly deeply is a romantic song which can be dedicated to your loved ones. This song has 2 videos, and the cheaper of the 2 was the most widely known amongst their fans.

I believe I can Fly – by R.Kelly
This is an inspirational song, which will boost you up and give you an inspiration to rise up in life and reach greater heights.
This song was written, produced and sung by R.Kelly and it has won 3 Grammy awards. A song of its kind. You must hear it at least once. Hear it if you believe you can fly!

You are most welcome to give songs that have inspired you in anyway in life.

Kentucky Fried Chicken Vs McDonald's Burgers

2007-09-03T12:49:00.000+05:30

The young generation of India has drifted towards junk food against the traditional Indian homemade food. People have started to live a fast track life, so much so to that they prefer going to the junk foodies restaurant and pick up a quick grab in just few minutes instead of making lunch/dinner at home and easting 2 to 3 hrs preparing it.

It all started with the invention of McDonald’s in INDIA, junk food has become more popular between the young youth as McDonald’s launched its branch in most of the major cities of INIDA. Along with McDonald’s many other junk food brands started their businesses here.

One of a direct competition to the evergreen business of McDonald’s that recently launched here in Mumbai is Kentucky Fried Chicken 9commonly known as KFC) which is famous for its fried chicken.

Though Non-Veg lovers can have a fest in KFC, the VEG lovers are sidelined and are not taken of that much care; there is no variety for the veggies here in KFC, as much as they have in McDonald’s. In MC Donald’s you get a wide variety of choices for both VEG and NON-VEG lovers.

When it comes to Quality – KFC is far behind from MC Donald’s, they really need to maintain their quality standards well if they want to rise up the ladder and compete with McDonald’s.

Presentation skills also matters – and no one can really beat MC Donald’s for that, they have these different offers from time to time, they have special offers for 12 months of the year for kiddies, they give away free toys etc, all this is really required if you want to win away the masses. KFC does not offer any of those. Presentation skills at KFC are really poor.

So my advice to KFC would be – pay more attention to people management, communication skills, have a complaint box or feedback survey done which will help you know where and what are you lacking behind at – trust me it will really help you a great deal!

The effects of social networking

2007-08-27T17:59:00.000+05:30

Today’s is a HiTech era…and era which belongs to Technology and Internet. Internet has become a fast growing technology which almost all citizens are aware of and are using it in abundance. Life has now started to become impossible without internet.
Most widely used reason of Internet is Communication, and the most targeted audiences for this are the young youth of today.

There was a time when the only way to communicate through Internet is by sending emails, but now we have grown 2 steps ahead and there are Messengers the instant chat rooms, video calls, quick-easy way to call someone sitting far away, and networking sites.

If you talk about networking sites, then the first such site that comes to anyone’s mind today is the very famous for not such famous activities ORKUT. Orkut.com as they call is a site where you can know new people, and meet old lost buddies. You can absolutely exchange scraps with people whom you just do not know, you can upload you photos and videos for others to see, there are communities which are build for all those with common interest can come and share their view etc..

Though there are good points of this site, there are many more bad points because of which it is in news almost every week in Indian newspaper. People are using this site to awaken the communal activists because of which there were riots in few cities, apart from this murderers are using this site to catch their victims, recently there was this murder case of Adnan Patrawala who was yet another victim of being friends with strangers through ORKUT.

I think though we have become HITECH in this era we should be careful enough of whom to trust and whom not. If everyone uses Internet only as a media of communication it will become much safer than it is now.

Are you in favor of such social networking sites? Please give your comments.

Let's Celebrate the Festival of Rakhi

2007-08-21T15:30:00.001+05:30

The Festive season has arrived. Yesterday was Parsi New Year. Ganpati and Raksha Bandhan will follow soon.
Today let me tell you something about Raksha Bandhan. I know most of you are aware ot it but this is for some of my international friends.

This festival is celebrated with much joy and excitement in many parts of India. Rakhi as they commonly call is the thread which is entwined with beads, precious stones, artificial flowers and colorful silk threads which is tied on the wrist of brothers by their sisters.

On tying the Rakhi sisters pray to god to for their good health, to give them more happiness and make them wealthier. At the same time, brothers promise to take care of their sisters for their entire life and to be with them whenever they are in need and to support them in all possible way (if needed). In return the brothers also give gifts to their sisters and wish them good luck.

This festival symbolizes love and bonding between the siblings, apart from this it also brings out the sense of Brotherhood in all the brothers.

This festival originated in the olden days God Idrani was preparing for a war against the demons, while he was leaving for the war, his wife Idrani tied a silk cloth on his wrist and told him that this cloth will protect him from all demons. And this is what exactly happened.

Since then whenever there were such wars all the women of the family tied the silk cloth on their wrists of their men. After which the men won all the battles and brought back home victory.

This ritual of tying the silk cloth has been carried forward since then by all the Indians.

Money, Money and more Money for you!

2007-08-16T17:27:00.000+05:30

The best that could happen to any young entrepreneurs is having the right amount of money at the right time. Money is the basic necessity of life now. We all need that extra money at some point of time in our life to invest in business, further studies, to buy home; some may need it for buying cars etc.

You need extra money but who will give you that until unless you have some rich friends or relatives to lend you money for some time. Not many people though have such friends/relatives. So it’s here that the banks/finance institution comes to our help.

These days they give you loan that you can use for sometime and then pay back on installment. The bank charges some interest and service charge for their money. I guess paying little extra is not a problem for many of us if we get the money at right time.

There are various types of loan you can get from bank depending upon your need. Various types of loans are;

1. Home loan: - These are mainly of two types a) Floating b) Fixed
a) Floating is where you take loan and pay interest depending upon the interest rate. The interest rate may rise or fall depending upon the economy, whereas
b) Fixed is very simple. The interest rate is fixed at the time of taking loan. It doesn’t changes at all.

2. Personal Loan: - This type of loan is very simple to and easy to get from your bank though the amount varies from person to person. You do not have to provide much of documents to avail personal loan. The interest rates on such loan are very high.

3. Vehicle loan: - Need to buy a car/two wheeler then vehicle loan is the one you need. The interest rate here remains constant for your loan period.

4. Loan against property:- Such loans are very helpful in financing your child marriage or higher studies of your children. The interest rates are very reasonable on such types of loan and time period is also decent.

5. Loans against securities: - In such type of loans you do not have to sell your stock/shares but just need pledge your securities in favor of your banks.

In addition to above mention loans you may also go for medical loans, farming loans, consumer loans to finance your needs.

So what are you waiting for? You are just few steps away in getting money to realize your dreams. Apply for suitable type of loan.

Country Is Proud Of You! Jai Hind!

2007-08-15T18:06:00.000+05:30

Today as I write this, the country is celebrating 60 years of freedom from the colonial rule. It was at this day that we called our self the citizen of free India. Sixty years is long time in history of country.

In these sixty years the country has produce hundreds of human being who have made us proud. These are people who have put India into the path of recognition and prosperity. It is because of these individuals that we are looked in admiration by others.

In my own small capacity I will try to put some names that we are proud of. I might miss many names so please forgive me as I cannot include each and everyone due to post limitations.

a) Mahatma Gandhi: – Even after 60 years the man continues to inspire millions of people not only in India but across the globe. Gandhi was the pioneer of Independence fight against British. Mahatma gave us freedom by means of non violence that was so rare. We are proud to belong to land of Gandhi. Salute him!

b) Pandit Nehru: - The first Prime Minister of free India. The man who gave vision and dream to millions of people of this country. The basis of everything that exists today was laid down by Nehru. Till today Nehru-Gandhi family is serving the nation. Their sacrifice for the nation cannot be match in Indian history ever.

c) APJ Kalam: - They call him the missile man. Some prefer to call him as people’s president. If someone has right to say that he has vision of progressive India with a definite plan then it has to be APJ Kalam. The former president of the country has powered the wings of free India to next level.

d) Dhirubhai Ambani: - Will there ever be a man like Dhirubhai? Will there be a business man with the acumen that this man had? The country needs more of such people. He gave a dream to common man of India and then fulfilled them. There are millions of people in this country who made fortune thanks to Dhirubhai and his Reliance group.

e) Kapil Dev: - Without argument he is the first International superstar of modern India. The man from Haryana has managed to accomplish something that is still not match by billions of people of this country. In that summer of 83 Kapil Dev not only gave us World Cup victory but along with it he made other sporting nation to stand up and take note of our immense talent.

There are many others who have made us proud and whose contribution is on par with the names mention above but as you know listing all of them is not possible here.

Some names that need mention here are; Dr. Ambedkar, Indira Gandhi, The Tatas, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakesh Sharma, Rajnikant, MGR, C V Raman, Dhyan Chand, Anna Hazare, Arundhati Roy and many more.

Friends, I would like to know about some more personalities that you think has made difference to free India.

-Stella Roy

Chak De India, we are the best!

2007-08-14T18:17:00.000+05:30

Chak De India…means “Buck Up India or Come On India” - a movie full of inspiration, a movie which makes you feel proud of the company, a movie which teaches you how to fight and win everyone’s heart, a movie which forces you to believe in yourself.

Chak De has shades of failure, anger, hatred, love, passion, leadership, innocence, eagerness to fight back and finally of sportsman spirit. The story of Chak De is of a real-life Indian goal keeper Mir Ranjan Negi.

The Story line starts with a slow pace but then picks up immediately in 30 mins of the start of the movie. Shah Rukh is the coach of a team which consists of 16 girls belonging to different states of the country and who believe that hockey is an individual game and they actually play for their own vestige interests, but Shah Rukh makes them believe that the game is not merely an individuals game but a national game, and that they can win only if they play with the full team spirit and not against each other in rivalry. One by one he starts breaking the ice between the girls and finally reaches his goal to win the world cup.

Second half of Chak De has some excellent locations and sceneries of Australia. You really get the feel of Olympics being held.

This is not much of a song movie, it hardly has any songs. Just the title track is enough for this movie to rock. Dialogue writer of this movie should really win an award; each dialogue is worth listening, and following.

Shah Rukh Khan the lead actor in this movie has done a brilliant job and given an awesome performance. He has played the role of a coach of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team who is preparing to enter the World Cup to compete with other countries.

Through Chak De the producers/director have shown that CRICKET is not the only sport INDIA can do well at, there are other sports too, which no one is interested in and not many citizens are aware of, but if given a try we can really make a difference and win many more gold medals in OLYMPICS for the country and make the country proud.

Chak De is 2.30 minutes long, and is really worth every penny. It is a must watch movie, and do not miss it for anything.

Please comment if you have seen the movie and would like to add more points to it.

-Stella Roy

Get ready to get high salary for your job

2007-08-07T12:05:00.000+05:30

Your salary hike or appraisals are done, but you are not happy with your raise? Your boss/manager did not recognize your work well and hence the raise was very low? Your salary hike was not done as per your expectations?

You feel that your hard work is not fully recognizes, you start to feel cheated. There comes a thought in your mind to shift your job. Hold on before you take such steps. Do you think you will get better salary hike in your next job? Do you feel they will offer you better opportunity then your current employer? Answer all this question before taking any drastic step to change your job.

Well, Salary negotiations can be cumbersome and the most difficult part yet the very important part in ones life. If not handled with care it has many adverse side effects which then will be difficult to bear. First an analyze yourself. Your salary hike is totally dependent on how you present your work in front of your manger.

Here are a few tips on how to tackle this situation:

Go out and research the market pay scale for your kind of job profile. See where you stand, and accordingly decide what you want. If you are already being paid above the market pay scale then negotiating for more raise could be little difficult.

It’s always a good habit to make a list of all the work that you have done at your job, which in some way or the other has helped the company grow or win more clients, this list might just help you get the pay raise that you are expecting.

Try to bring to your manager’s attention the extra effort you might have put in to complete task/project. Reason with him the value you bring to the organization with you.

Be ready with the research proof and let your manager know that you are asking for the pay raise according to your accomplishments and contributions in the past year towards the company.

Make sure that you go with full preparation because there is no second chance given and your manager wont tell you ok come again we will discuss again, remember you are in need and you know that you really deserve it, go with the positive attitude and win your boss and get a pay hike.

Best of luck at your job!

-Stella Roy

Justice or Injustice

2007-08-02T16:59:00.000+05:30

The recent Judgement on Sanjay Dutt has opened a pandora’s box and there is nation wide debate on it.The judgment has left some critical question to be answered by the judiciary in this country. Their job is not yet complete.

a) If Mr. Kode found Sanjay’s crime so immoral, then why was he taken out of strict TADA act?
b) Why other accomplices of Sanjay Dutt were charged under TADA?
c) Why was Abu Salem confession and statement not recorded in connection to his visit at the Dutt residence to deliver the AK-56? And why his case will be heard separately?

With due respect to his highness Judge P D Kode the nation feels that at various times in this case; be it discharging him of TADA or giving him six years of imprisonment Sanjay’s celebrity status did came into consideration. It feels that even Judge P D Kode could not keep himself totally immune from the celebrity status of deadly Dutt in giving out his judgement on the convict number 117 of Mummbai blast case. Justice was done, no question about it, but sadly it was a not a consistent justice.

The Beginning
It all started one bright afternoon. Every thing was going smoothly for Mumbaikars. Businesses were just starting to recover after December – January communal riots. Students were appearing for their examination across various schools in the city. Families were busy making vacation plans for summer. People wwere marching towards mosque for their Friday prayers and as the clock tick to 1:00 PM Mumbai was rocked with series of bomb blasts killing several hundreds of people and destroying property worth millions of rupees. The whole world was shocked. No place looked safe. The fear factor came back to haunt the Mumbaikar once again.

The Players
What followed next was a massive hunt to track down the culprits. Several hundred people were arrested and among them was high profile superstar of Bollywood movies – Sanjay Dutt. He was arrested for having got the AK-56 gun from the people who were involved in the Mumbai blasts. The actor was booked under TADA act then got bail twice and now again he is back in jail for 6 years till he gets reprieve from the supreme court. Some main players like Memon brothers, the fugitive DON Dawood Ibrahim, Dosa Brothers left the country on the D-day.

The Government and the Judiciary
Was the Judge fair enough to the verdict given, or was he pressurized to give him strict verdicts because of Sanjay’s background? Did he give such a strong verdict only to show the nation that no person can get away from law? If this is the case then what about all those politicians who are involved into similar act of crime? Who will keep an account for them? They get away from anything and everything, why are they not given such strong verdicts? Why are they always released on bail?

Government knows how to trouble an innocent citizen, how to harass him from time to time, how to loot him with all the money, etc. but what about the politicians? The real culprit, the real thieves? The real DON? Why is the government not using their brains and energy in catching hold of them? And putting them behind the bars?
One thing that the citizens of INDIA should really ponder upon is “Will the nation gain anything if Sanjay Dutt is behind the bars?” OR “Will the nation gain if the real DON/thieves/smugglers/bomb shooters etc are put behind the bars?”

Sanjay Dutt had done some crime of which he has got enough in the last 13 years, and now still they are behind him and have put him behind bars, but on the other hand if the real smugglers are caught, nation will really gain and who knows by catching them the idea of an awaited bomb blast will be dead?

You may have your opinion on this and I would love to hear it.

-Stella Roy

An offfer not to be miss ever

2007-07-28T22:29:00.000+05:30

What would you say when a book on mafia is referred to Management students in various prestige Management institute across the globe as a lesson in excellent management? Imagine millions of youngster getting inspiration from words spoken by a mafia DON. What rationalization can one have when a movie based on a book about mafia is judge to be the greatest movie ever made in history of cinema? None! right?

But this is exactly the effect of THE GODFATHER written by Mario Puzo has on millions of people. The Godfather is nothing less then words of gospel to all the book lovers. There are parents who teach their children the family values by referring to Godfather.

Godfather is primarily about the fight between the five mafia families in New York. The book mainly focuses on one of the family, the Corleone family. The Corleone family is headed by an aging DON who is referred by many as their Godfather. The entire story revolves around him and his youngest son Michael Corleone; and how the Godfather and his son manage to salvage the lost respectability of Corleone family.

The book tells you about the belief that Godfather has; that every man has but one destiny. The Godfather gives you detail insight of how the mafias use to function in early 40s and 50s. All the characteristic of Michael Corleone’s revenge against his family enemies are marvelously captured by Mario Puzo in Godfather. Each and every page of Godfather teaches you something new.

Mario Puzo has created a work of genius. Godfather is his finest work till date. He could never recreate the magic of Godfather with his other books before or after Godfather, though he tried a lot.

There is also a thrilling movie with same name and story that won many Oscars award with Marlon Brando playing the role of Don Corelone and Al Pacino essaying the role of his youngest son Michael.

If you have not read this book yet then believe me you are missing a classic. I would say that it’s truly a masterpiece and must read for every human being. Let us thank Mario Puzo for giving us a gem like Godfather.

Please leave your comments. I love your comments.

-Stella Roy

Some invaluable moments/quotes from the book;

Don Corleone: I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.

******************************************

Michael: Some people will pay a lot of money for that information; but then your daughter would lose a father, instead of gaining a husband.

******************************************

Cop with Capt. McCluskey outside hospital: The kid's clean Captain, he's a war hero! He's never been mixed up with the rackets...

******************************************

Michael: Luca Brasi held a gun to his head, and my father assured the bandleader, that either his signature or his brains would be on the contract.

******************************************

Michael: My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.
Kay Adams (girlfriend): Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed.

******************************************

Emilio Barzini: [during a meeting with the Five Families] Times have changed. It's not like the Old Days, when we can do anything we want. A refusal is not the act of a friend. If Don Corleone had all the judges, and the politicians in New York, then he must share them, or let us others use them. He must let us draw the water from the well. Certainly he can present a bill for such services; after all... we are not Communists.

******************************************

Don Corleone: I never thought you were bad consiglieri(advisor), Tom. I thought Santino was a bad Don, rest in peace.

******************************************

Don Corleone: What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully? If you'd come to me in friendship, then this scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day. And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies. And then they would fear you.
******************************************

Kay Adams ( Michael’s wife): Michael, is it true? Did you have Carlo murdered?
Michael: Don't ask me about my business, Kay.

******************************************

Tom Hagen: Mr. Woltz, I'm a lawyer, I have not threatened you.
Jack Woltz: I know almost every big lawyer in New York, who the hell are you?
Tom Hagen: I have a special practice. I handle one client (Godfather). Now you have my number. I'll wait for your call. By the way, I admire your pictures very much.

******************************************

Michael: You and I are going to move my father to another room, now can you disconnect those tubes so we can move the bed out of here?
Nurse: That is out of the question.
Michael: You know my father? Men are coming here to kill him, now help me, please.
Michael: Pop...Pop, it's me Michael. Shhhh, don't try to speak. There are men who are coming to try to kill you. But I'm with you...I'm with you now...
Don Corleone: (unable to open his mouth, wanted to say) Michael, why should I be worried now? Strange men have come to kill me since I was 12 years old.

******************************************

Don Corleone ( Meeting with other Don): I'm a superstitious man, and if some unlucky accident should befall Michael - if he is to be shot in the head by a police officer, or be found hung dead in a jail cell... or if he should be struck by a bolt of lightning - then I'm going to blame some of the people in this room; and then I do not forgive. But with said, I pledge - on the souls of my grandchildren - that I will not be the one to break the peace that we have made today.

******************************************

Don Corleone: I never wanted this for you. I work my whole life - I don't apologize - to take care of my family, and I refused to be a fool, dancing on the string held by all those bigshots. I don't apologize - that's my life - but I thought that, that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the string. Senator Corleone; Governor Corleone. Well, it wasn't enough time, Michael. It wasn't enough time.
Michael: We'll get there, pop. We'll get there.

Shah Rukh - The King Khan

2007-07-25T17:48:00.000+05:30

Time Magazine has called him as probably one of the most recognizable actor in the world. Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London has his wax figure along side Prince Charles, the Beckham couple (David & Posh), Amitabh, Saddam Hussein and many other international stars. He is non other then the current Superstar Shah Rukh Khan!

King Khan as they all call him has taken the Bollywood by storm since his debut film Deewana in the year 1992. The boy from Hansraj College in Delhi has excelled in almost everything that he has done in movie industry till now.

Shah Rukh Khan’s initial days were very tough.He had come to Bombay as any other ordinary man from Delhi, with that passion of becoming a actor one day, he used to stay as paying guest as he had no money to buy room for himself. And today here he is, building a multi storey building for himself and his friends to live together.

He started off his career in a TV soap called "Fauji", after which he signed another hit TV serial called 'Circus" - after this serial he gained popularity in the mass and then went on to movies. Since then he has given many hits and has worked with almost all actresses in bollywood (current and some past genre actresses).

He started off with the first hit movie "Deewana" later he went on with negative role in movies like "Bazzigar" and "Darr", where he was liked by everyone. Other hits include "Dil To Pagal Hai" with Madhuri Dixit and "Kuch Kuch Hota Hain" with Kajol and Rani and "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna". Not to forget the classic "Devdas" and "Paheli".

He has been there and done it all. His one characteristic that brought him to where he is today is his believe in “What you do – do it the best and leave it on GOD”. In all he is an amazing actor, a human being despite of all thick and thins he has gone through to reach the top. He will surely rule Bollywood for another 10 years. He really deserves what he has got.

Do watch his upcoming movie “Chak De India” which is showcasing HOCKEY the national game of India. Chak De is the first such glamorous movie being made on HOCKEY. Hats off to this guy in trying to do something different and yet winning peoples heart on whatever he does!

Your comments are most appreciated.

-Stella Roy

Ekta Kapoor save us please from KK....K

2007-07-23T10:44:00.000+05:30

Ekta kapoor…as the name goes….the queen of all serials! Oh God, she is just so amazing at making serials, her serials go on and on and on….they are never ending! I am just wondering how can she manage so many serials with the same story, a little bit of twist here and there, some songs and of course with a different title of each serial- all starting with alphabet K! kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi, kasuti zindagi ki,kahani ghar ghar ki are some of those that taken nation by storm

There was a time, when people used to love watching serials, Television soaps were a source of entertainment, a source of relaxation, and a source of stress reliever, those were the times, when after watching serials like Buniyaad, Humlog etc used to feel fresh, they used to feel relaxed.

These days TV soaps, they portray only hatred, anger, how one woman betrays the other, how only a woman is the cause of all bitterness in the family…how 2 brothers fight over their property, how the fight reaches their businesses and how they split and the family is split, and in the end after 4 years of showing the serials and dragging the story so long, someone dies and then guess what there is a rebirth? Or the dead person suddenly becomes alive…..blah blah blah!
How can one relax his/her mind after watching such serials? Instead people have started growing mad at each other, after watching such serials they have started getting more stressed etc.

I always wonder how Ekta manages such trash coming out of her production house. All these production houses are interested is in increasing their TP rating. It’s high time Ekta Kapoor and others realized the bad effect their serials are causing to the Indian society and take corrective measures to stop making such programs.

Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.

-Stella Roy

The new HOT cell phone

2007-07-12T15:52:00.000+05:30

I owned a NOKIA 6230i for more than 2 years and now thought of changing my cell phone. I was a big fan of NOKIA and all of its products; I have almost used all models of NOKIA phones, and had believed that there cannot be anyone in this market who can give competition to NOKIA when it comes to cell phones. I loved all the features that they gave and thought that a cell phone cannot get better than this with each upgraded NOKIA phone that I bought.

But after 6230i when I went to the NOKIA shop, he started showing me all N-Series and told me after 6230 you can only upgrade yourself by buying N-Series, but then N-Series had drawbacks, software problems, model was bulky and heavy etc .

And there I was in a fix, in a dilemma for almost a month, that’s when I actually drifted my attention towards other cell phone brands that are popular in India. One such brand which caught my immediate attention was Sony Ericsson W810i, it had the most enhanced speakers and provided 1 GB memory, I was dazzled by its look, by the extra features that it gave which I thought only Nokia could give, best feature was the memory and sound quality, I threw away my IPod, because with this cell you need not carry an extra music device with you, this cell has everything you need!

Apart from the above mentioned features it also has 3 games inbuilt in the software. It has a 176x220 pixel wide screen, phone memory of 20 MB, comes in 2 dazzling colors white and satin black.

Other features includes a camera of 2megapixel i.e. 1632x1224 pixels, you can also record video clips up to an hour or more depending on the free memory you have, it has a special video player, a picture editor, image viewer, it has built in hands free, it also comes with 2 external speakers etc

If you compare the high range of features this cell phone offers and its price, definitely you will find this phone much cheaper than any NOKIA phone. I have been using this phone now for about a year and I highly recommend this phone to all.
If you are using Nokia phones, please do not hesitate to look around at the other range of phones that the market is providing, Sony Ericsson W810i is one such best phones in the market.

I can go on and on and on about this cell phone, I am not only in love with it but also in awe with it. This is the best cell phone of the century!

I would like to know which Cell Phone you own. And what do you like about it the most? Please comment.

-Stella Roy

In Love with rains

2007-06-28T12:04:00.000+05:30

Wow, I cant believe that that the rainy season has started, it feels like it was just yesterday when I was out there on the roads with sweat all over my face and quite irritated with the sun, applying of UV rays protected lotions, avoiding to wear black clothes, swimming pool was my favorite past time place and what not! But now all those lotions are in the dust bin, no more swimming pool, I can wear my favorite color black almost everyday now. Wow isn’t rains awesome?

Rains also brings back with it many memorable moments when it comes to food. Corn or what they call as the bhutta bought only from the roadside bhaiya is one of my preferred snacks! Then the famous batata bhaji , isn’t it mouth watering?

Getting wet in the rains is another fun activity that anyone enjoys at any given time. Though rains brings back with it many cherished moments and happiness with every drop that falls on earth, we should also take care because unknowingly it also brings with it many harmful diseases and sickness.

There are few precautions that I would recommend to all who want to enjoy this season an yet remain healthy

1. Do not get wet if you are allergic to cold water.
2. While travelling always carry following with you: Umbrella, raincoat, extra clothes, hand towel, socks if you wear shoes – am sure you don’t want to sit in those wet socks whole day and fall sick.
3. Make sure you have enough money when you travel – you never know when it is in use.
4. Avoid wearing jeans as it takes really long to dry.
5. Carry an extra plastic to avoid your valuable stuff from getting wet.
6. Make up for girls should be to minimum if they are going outdoors. Make sure products you use are waterproof or else you will end up making a fool of your own self.
7. Do not avoid if you feel sick/ill even for few hours, rush to the doc immediately.
8. Try not to eat outside food specially fried stuff.
9. Try not to drink water from restaurants or other places where you suspect they don’t boil the water. Learn to carry your own bottle of water.
10. Last and not the least – when you return back home from outside, take a shower or clean your legs, hands and face with water and soap. By doing this you will let all the germs and illness stay away from you.

So these are some important precautions that you have to abide by if you want to enjoy this season of happiness and fun. I am looking forward to your suggestions and comments.

-Stella Roy

Tennis at Wimbledon

2007-06-27T18:32:00.000+05:30

"If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;"

(The above lines are carved on the wall above the doors that lead to the centre-court at Wimbledon).
There cannot be a better narrative of games played at Wimbledon then the above lines from Rudyard Kipling.

By the time I publish this post the Tennis festival at Wimbledon Tennis Championship would have started.

Wimbledon is known to be the prime tennis tournament in the world. Every tennis player has a dream of playing at the famous center court of Wimbledon once in his lifetime.

Wimbledon is the only major Grand Slam that is played on grass. This Grand Slam takes lot of pride in its old culture that’s why you will find all the players in white clothing. The game on grass is totally different from other surface. On grass the players need to be fully fit and should posses a great serve and volley. (Borg was an exception champion)

Wimbledon has produce some great rivalry in tennis, such as McEnroe-Borg, McEnroe-Connors, Becker-Edberg, Sampras-Agassi, Evert- Martina and the most recent one is that of Federer-Rafal.

Some major facts/records about Wimbledon:-

• The current year is the 121st championship at All England Club
• Boris Becker is youngest champion at Wimbledon at the age of 17 years.
• Bjorn Borg is the only male player to win five successive titles.
• Martina Navratilova is the only female player to win seven successive titles.
• Pete Sampras has won the maximum titles in the last 30 years at Wimbledon. In total he has won seven times.

This year Roger Federer is defending champion and will be trying to emulate Bjorn Borg record of six successive titles. I wish him all the luck.

If you love tennis and have more facts about Wimbledon then please do write me a comment.

-Stella Roy

Exams, results and career

2007-06-25T14:38:00.000+05:30

It’s month of June and time for results of HSC and SSC examination across the country. Depending upon the results people choose their next step in academics. It’s during this period that you choose the path of your career.

Talking to many educationists I have learnt that choosing a career is like choosing your new life.

Choosing a career after Secondary board exams is the most difficult phase of any student’s life. He / She have to be very careful on choosing the right career as this would decide the fate of their future life. Elders should be more cooperative and supportive at this time and should give proper advice and guidance to the students.

There are basically 3 streams that one can opt for after higher secondary exams, they are: Science, Commerce and Arts.

These are entry level for your degree/ graduation. If you want to opt to become an engineer or a doctor you need to move in to the science stream, if CA is your ultimate goal then go for commerce, if teaching is what you want to do then Arts is well suited.

Apart from these there is also a Home Science field especially for girls. There are many courses in it that one can explore.
There are various diploma courses also available as good option for students. There are many diploma courses we have, like in Engineering, mechanical, pharmacy, Mine Engineering, textile engineering, architecture, for girls we have fashion designing, jewelry designing, etc.

You can also study to get into army, navy, or become pilots or air hostess etc.
If you go to see there are many courses available for each field today. It’s always help to take advice from a academic/ career counselor.

Before choosing your career, make sure that this is what you want to do all your life, know the end results, know your capability, explore various fields and colleges, talk to various people of the same field, take advice from elders and only then chose the right stream.

Best of luck

-Stella Roy

Movie Review of Rajnikant's Sivaji - The Boss

2007-06-17T17:51:00.000+05:30

Some people are born to make history. No matter what and how they do, each and every act of their in public becomes a talk about topic for several years. And this Friday 15th 2007 Rajnikant the megastar made history with the release of his movie Sivaji. Well some may argue that every movie of Rajnikant makes history. Hmm! Yes I agree to it. It is Rajnikant's job to deliver hit after hit movies.

Sivaji is supposed to be the most costly Indian movie ever made. It is Rajniknat’s 100th movie till date.

Sivaji - The Boss starts with Rajnikant coming down from USA to India. The aim of Sivaji is to improve the social condition of the country. The first part of the movie is all about how the superstar is cheated and is left virtually penniless.

Sivaji losses the court case on a plot of land and with that he is left with nothing in his pocket. It is here that famous scene of Rajnikant comes to the screen. Suman gives him a 1 Rupee coin and Rajnikant tosses the coin towards the sky and vows to take revenge from his enemies and earn back whatever he has lost till now. The first half of the movie has some good comic scene with Vivek.

The second half is all about how Rajnikant goes about taking revenge from his enemies’ single handedly. The second half has lot of action that is synonymous with Rajnikant’s movies. The next 90 minutes of the movie is what you need to look forward to. It’s Rajnikant all the way in second part of the movie. It’s virtually impossible to hear anything in cinema hall except the chanting of Rajni’s fan.

Now if you analyze the performance the cast then there is not much to talk about except the two legend of South Indian cinema i.e. A R Rehman and Rajnikant. The music of A. R Rehman rocks! With Sivaji A R Rehman proves why he is regarded as the country’s premier musician.

Rajnikant’s performance in Sivaji is not the best of Rajnikant till date but a very inspiring one. Rajnikant is the soul of Sivaji. Take out Rajni from the movie and you have the same old story without any style to it. What Rajni has done to Sivaji is that he has given Sivaji the Rajnikant’s flavor. The same flavor for which the people gave him a demi God like status in South India. Whether it is a comic scene or a song/dance sequence with the heroines, be it fighting with the villains of the movie single handedly, Rajnikant delivers everything with élan and ease.

The songs of the movie are good with ‘Sahara Pokal’ being the best of the lot. Rest of the songs makes the flow of the movie little slow, but the music by the maestro A.R Rehman keeps you on your toes.

The rest of the cast is done good job of supporting Rajnikant. Vivek has done marvelous job in the movie. He has a wonderful comic timing with Rajnikant and others in the movie. The ladies of the movie have not much to do but Shriya looks good and have justified her casting against superstar by Shankar.

All in all a must watch and if you are a Rajnikant’s fan then by now you must have watch the movie at least twice.

I would like to have your comment on Sivaji the movie. And if you like my review please forward it to your family and friends. I would love it.

-Stella Roy

34th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards

2007-06-16T12:50:00.000+05:30

The Daytime Entertainment Emmy awards are awarded in the field of daytime television production. It’s the most reputed award in television Industry for more then 30 years. Every year the Daytime Entertainment Emmy awards are given in more then 50 categories that include best production, best actor and other technical aspect of a TV production.

This year the 34th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy awards were held at The Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.

Bob Barker won his 19th Emmy awards at the age of 83. CBS swept most of the leading awards at 34th Emmy awards night. Some of the winners in the popular categories were;

Category: Best Drama (there was a tie)
Winners: Guiding Light" and "The Young and the Restless

Category: Best Actor in Drama series
Winner: Christian LeBlanc (The Young and the Restless)

Category: Best Actress in Drama series
Winner: Maura West (As the World Turns)

Category: Supporting actress in a drama series
Winner: Genie Francis (General Hospital)

Category: Supporting actor in a drama series
Winner: Rick Hearst (General Hospital)

Category: Younger actress in a drama series
Winner: Jennifer Landon (As the World Turns)

Category: Younger actor in a drama series
Winner: Bryton McClure (The Young and the Restless)

Category: Best Talk Show
Winner: The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Category: Best Talk Show host
Winner: Ellen DeGeneres

Category: Lifetime Achievement Award
Winner: Lee Phillip Bell, co-creator of ‘The Young and the Restless’ and 'The Bold and the Beautiful'.

Let us take this opportunity and congratulate the winner of 34th Daytime Entertainment Emmy awards who keep us entertained all the time.

-Stella Roy

Zahra Amir Ebrahimi and her sex Video

2007-06-13T21:24:00.006+05:30

Zahra Amir the famous actress from Iran is facing the most difficult time of her life. Reason; there are several thousands of CD/DVD of her and her boyfriend (fiancé) showing them having sex and Zahra giving blow job to him. The video was reportedly made in their home some two years back.

So you might be thinking what’s wrong in it. There are several hundreds of porn videos of Shakira, Paris Hilton, Madonna, and Britney Spears circulating in the world in some form or other.

If such videos made star out of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton the same act from Zahra Amir Ebrahimi may cost her life. The strict Islamic law doesn’t allow making of such porn video.

The video was supposedly distributed by her boyfriend who was extradited from Armenia by the law authorities.The guardians of tough Islamic Law of Iran are doing all they can to punish her. Some reports even said that the Iranian actress even tried to commit suicide, the claim that Zahra Amir Ebrahimi denied appearing on a news channel.

The Iranian public is outraged and wants maximum punishment for Zahra Amir Ebrahimi. The Police have submitted their report to the court and a final decision is yet to come on the authenticity of the video tape.

Zahra Amir Ebrahimi has denied ever shooting that video with her ex boyfriend. She says her ex boyfriend is taking revenge with her by using her duplicate in the porn video. The result of this porn video has forced many production houses to ban their programs that featured Zahra Amir.

Your comment on this is most welcome. I tried not to make this long as most of my friends suggested that I need to keep my article short.

-Stella Roy

---Updated on 7th August, 2007-----
I have personally seen the video and no way I found that it was duplicate of Zahra or it was done without her knowledge. She was fully aware of it.
Also check out some interesting comments on Zahra here http://ekhichdi.com/index.php?topic=33.msg53#new

Traveling for girls is not safe?

2007-06-05T13:40:00.000+05:30

The recent acid attack on bar dancer in Mumbai has once again raise the question of security of women/girls in the city of Mumbai. I would like to put across some points that we need to follow while travelling alone.

Traveling – The word itself seems so interesting to some people who have interstes in traveling. Traveling are of 2 types, one is when you travel to another city or country just for a holiday or site seeing, and the other is when you commute everyday from one place to another, be it for work, college or just to meet someone.
Today I am going to talk about the latter part i.e. traveling everyday in and out 24/7 for a purpose. My topic is more micro divided to specially girls traveling that too in the city of Mumbai.

Is it safe for girls to travel in Mumbai alone? Is there any specific time after which girls are not to wander outside? Well Mumbai is one of the boldest cities of India. It just does not sleep at all. There is no such restriction as such for girls to travel in Mumbai at any time of the day but hey there are few precautions that you should always take specially when you are traveling alone.

Make sure you carry enough cash with you when you are traveling alone. It always helps you take another form of transportation if you are stuck with one.
Most common used transportation here in Mumbai are the TRAINS, if you enter any compartment where in only few commuters are there, do not get into the train unless you are in a group of 3 or 4. Be aware of the fellow commuters while traveling in crowded busses or trains.

Also, make sure you guard your belongings well while getting in, out and when you are in the bus or train. Another form of transport which is easily available is the Auto Rickshaws, make sure when you sit into the Auto Rickshaw you know the roads well to the place you want to go in especially if it is late in the night and there is no guy with you. Make sure to write down the auto vehicle number. Same goes with the CABS.

So be aware of where you are traveling, and how you are traveling, when you chose how do you want to travel keep in mind the time you will be traveling and people you will be traveling with. It really makes a big difference if you travel with a group of people you know.

If you have any more suggestion on travelling please write it for me on comment page.

-Stella Roy

The Presidential Race: Your choice?

2007-06-03T18:12:00.000+05:30

As the term of current President His Excellency APJ Kalam is close to ending, the hunt for the next President has gain impetus. All the major political parties have short listed their Presidential candidate.

The BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party) is strongly promoting the name of current vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the names coming out of various congress camps are of Narain Dutt Tiwari, Karan Singh and Sushil Kumar Shinde. The CPM is for its old hand Somnath Chatterjee. The name of former chief of Infosys Narayan Murthy and the reigning superstar of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan courtesy Bade Bhaiya Amar Singh can also be heard in the corridor of power.

In recent days, the race for Presidential candidate has taken a new twist. APJ Kalam has shown no interest to continue for the next five year tenure and has supported the candidature of former Infosys chief Mr. Murthy many a times. .On the other hand in recent press meet, Narayana Murthy has shown his reluctance to join the race for the President ship. This makes all the political party of India to fight it out among them and push their party candidate to the top most post of the country.

The majority of people who have been asked to give their response prefer the current President to continue. Whereas some people and I included have strong objection to candidature of Mr. Murthy and Amitabh Bachchan.

I feel the President post is political to the core and we need someone who knows Indian politics and is aware of problems at the grass root level. The President should be someone who has put his whole life in Indian politics. With due respect to Mr. Narayana Murthy, the former chief of Infosys, I am of opinion that running a $ billion company with top class engineers and managers is much easier a task then running the current Indian Politics that is entirely in appalling state. Our experience with APJ Kalam, a great human being and an extra ordinary nuclear scientist has shown the limitation of a person from non-political background in dealing with political issues like Afzal Guru’s mercy plea and imposing the president rule in Bihar.

Just having great vision will not help the country, we need someone who can implement those vision and in very short period of time. The President post also demand a strong political person who can keep check on all the politicians / parties and can take a path breaking decision to improve the social life of Indians. Right choice should be made.

So who you think should be our President? Should it be Mr Tiwari or Mr Shekhawat? Or do you still prefer a person from totally different field like IT or Movie Industry? Please give your comments. It’s a matter of national importance.

-Stella Roy

Great tips for MS Excel

2007-06-02T19:18:00.000+05:30

Over the last few month I have been working on Microsoft Office for some important assignments. And while working on it I learned some new things that I would like to share with you people.

Below are the tips and tricks to use Microsoft Excel:

Working with date and time in your data: If your data has lots of date and time, you can change the format of the date and time as desired. To do that right click the entire row which contains date and time and click the FORMAT CELLS – hit the NUMBER tab. Popup showing you the possible date formats will be given. Similarly you can work on other data formats also depending on what your data is, for example general, number, currency, date, time, percentage etc.

You have copy pasted the data say from a word file or some website into your excel, but the data is not dumped properly in the excel file. What do you do? Simple copy-paste the data first into a notepad and then from there copy again and paste it into your excel file. Notepad removes all the formatting that goes with the data while copying it from such sources.

You have copied the data from a source to MS Excel, but there are lots of blank cells in between the data range. You want to get rid of these blank cells. How do you do that? Select the entire data range, hit F5 button from your keyboard, a GoTo dialog box will open, click on the button ‘Special’ from the bottom left of that dialog box, you will get many options to chose from, select BLANKS and hit OK, on doing so only the blank cells will be selected, you can now very carefully right click on any 1 of the blank cell (make sure you don’t click anywhere outside the blank cell) and say delete. This will delete all the blank cells from your data range.

The GoTo dialog box selects the data which has the formatting or similar data as the option you have selected in the SPECIAL box. You have many options to chose from here.

There are other mathematical formulas that MS excel can perform within no seconds with just one click like: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division etc.

To add numbers: Select an empty cell, and click on the Summation icon (for those who do not know what summation icon is it is found in the toolbar), and select the data you want to add and hit keyboard enter key and it is done.

For Subtraction: Select an empty cell, type = and then select the first number which you want to subtract and then type the minus sign – and select the second number and hit the keyboard enter key. Same goes for other mathematical operations like multiplication and division.

Well this is just for the starters. There is lots more to come in my next blog, so keep waiting, and yes don’t forget to share your tips and tricks on excel by commenting on this blog.

-Stella Roy

Life of your Laptop

2007-06-01T11:22:00.000+05:30

Just last week Intel launches a new series of ‘Metro Notebook’ that is one quarter inch thicker then the Motorola Razr.

The speed at which the Notebook is getting sleeker day by day, it wont be a surprise if someday we will have Notebook the size of Nokia N95 cell phone. Image yourself carrying Dell, Compaq, IBM or HP Notebook in your pocket with 120 GB HDD space and Intel Duo core processor. I wish I could get such Laptop from Dell or IBM soon. As we try to handle different things in our daily life we always ignore to take care of our computers or Laptops.

In this article, I would like to talk about some tips to keep your Notebook in the best working condition.

• Never expose your Notebook to direct sunlight for more then 15 mins.
• If you are using your Notebook as a desktop machine, it’s better to attach an external keyboard and mouse. This will increase the life of your keypads.
• Make sure that the outer air vents are free of dust. This helps in providing better cooling to the Notebook processor and HDD.
• The LCD of Notebook should be cleaned with non-abrasive cloth or soft towel. Avoid using Newspaper and plastics to clean your LCD
• The Notebook batteries should be charge/discharge periodically to get better longer battery life and better performance. Also configure your power settings to shut off the display after 5 minutes of inactivity.
• Run Disk Defragmenter once in a month. Doing this will give access to your documents much faster.
• Use the best quality carry bag, preferably a leather one that the Notebook manufacturer supplies with the Laptop.
• Use the diagnostic tool that comes with the Notebook to detect any defect in the Notebook at least one in two months.
• Always go for extended warranty. This saves lot of money in case you have a Hardware issue with you Notebook.

There are many more tips to keep your Laptop in great condition but I think that you need to tell me by giving comments.

-Stella Roy

The wealth of health

2007-05-26T23:05:00.000+05:30

The 21st century Indian is Tech savvy. We know how to solve the most complicated of troubles. Indians are making their mark in Silicon Valley in big way. There are huge number of Indians working in Google and Microsoft. We are a trillion dollar economy. Not to mention that we are even a nuclear superpower. Every nation looks upon us with admiration and awe. But my fellow citizens, where are we in terms of our health and fitness? Are we a fit / healthy nation? Can we call our self a healthy person?

• The latest Greenpeace study shows that more then 25 million Indians are suffering from diabetes, with their number likely to double in next two decades.
• Nearly 1 million women and half million Indian men are suffering from deadly disease of HIV / AIDS.
• Over 80 million people in the country, including 35 million children, were suffering from hearing problems according to report from Indian Society of Otology.
• Almost 46 per cent of Indian children under the age of 3 suffer from malnutrition, according to the survey by Unicef.
• And there are millions suffering from heart diseases at very young age.

The health graph of the country is alarming in the sense that it’s not only the people above 60-70 years of age that are facing health issues, but the current young Indian youth is facing it big time too. Only little percent of country youth is health conscious. Many people in rural India are mainly ignorant of their health. The country may produce the best of doctors and surgeon, we can have the best of hospitals but it’s us who need to take care of our own health. Until, unless we do not devote time to our health and fitness we will never be able to compete with other countries on International arena for long time.

Ralph Waldo Emerson rightly said, "The first wealth is health". If you do not have a good health then no amount of money can bring you peace and happiness. Let us all today make up our mind to remain fit and healthy. Our body is the most precious gift of GOD, let us take care of it and help to build a more healthy and powerful India. I wish to see a healthy India, especially the youth of the country. We are the future of our country and let us build a healthy India.

Your comments are most welcome.

-Stella Roy

Online War:Yahoo, Google & Microsoft on the Battlefield

2007-05-18T16:15:00.000+05:30

The big question these days that has kept everybody on the edge of their seat is; Will Microsoft buy Yahoo?

The .com boom has certainly return back with a bang after it burst in the year 2000. The buzz is that, Microsoft the leading software making company has raise their claims from $30 Billion to $ 80 Billion for Yahoo.com. Yahoo is the largest and most visited website in terms of number of hits per day.

The war between the two giants, Microsoft and Google took a new twist after Google acquired Double Click, a online advertising company for $3.6 Billion. It is alleged that Microsoft was deliberately raising the stake for Double click to more then $3 Billion without real intention of buying it.

Now, Microsoft who competes with Google in web application field is going all gun out to get Yahoo.com. It is believed that Yahoo has rejected the initial Microsoft bid. But considering the competition faced by Yahoo from both Google and Microsoft, it won’t be easy for Yahoo to maintain its numero Uno position on the web.

On the other hand, Yahoo and Google competes with each other directly in Online advertising and online search engines arena. Both these online giants have huge share of their total revenue coming from online search and advertising. In fact Google gets more then 98% of its revenue from their Ad words program. The best option for Yahoo.com is to sale out to either Google or Microsoft. There is no way Yahoo can compete with Google in online market alone. They require someone as big as Microsoft to keep them ahead of Google.

My final assumption is, this time it would be difficult for Yahoo to turn down the offer from the Software giant.

Your views / comments are what I look forward to.

-Stella Roy

The five greatest movie of all time

2007-05-17T23:17:00.000+05:30

Every Indian has two universal passions a) Indian Movies b) Cricket

I am yet to meet an Indian who doesn’t like any of the two mentions above. I myself like both; movies and cricket. I watch cricket because I feel we are lot better then many other nations, but just that we need to make smart selection. Like millions of other people of India I too believe we can dominate cricketing world. And I like Indian Movies primarily because it has songs and dance sequences unlike Hollywood movies which is totally devoid of songs.

Here in this article I would like to discuss the TOP 5 Indian movies of all time.

5) Mughal-e-Azam >>>>> The magnum opus from Late K Asif. The movie took more then 13 years to complete and what we had after 13 years of hard work from K Asif was a masterpiece. The movie has the legendry Dilip Kumar and Madhubala, the eternal beauty of Indian cinema in role of young prince Salim and Anarkali respectively. In times to come Mughal-e-Azam was to become a benchmark movie in presenting the clash between Son & Father in Indian cinema. Dilip Kumar gave an outstanding performance which was equally matched by Prithiviraj Kapoor and Madhubala. And who can forget the song ‘Pyar kiya to darna kya!’ which still continues to intrigue the nation from time to time.

4) Darr >>>>> Darr? You said Darr? Which movie is this? Is that your question after reading the name of the movie? Well I would be little selfish here for including Darr in top 5. This is my very personal favorite. I must have watch this movie at least more then 50 times by now and each time I see it I am just left with admiration of Shah Rukh Khan acting talent. The movie has Shahrukh playing a role of possessed lover of Juhi Chawla (married to Sunny Deol) Shah Rukh was in early period of his career but after watching the movie it seems that SRK has been into acting for last 50 years. You need to watch the movie to feel the energy and charisma of SRK. Not a single frame in the movie that has SRK is presence is to be miss. Ohh! I need to stop here or I will keep writing about it for lifetime and still not finish praising this gem from Yash Chopra.

3) Deewar >>>>> There is a Good son and there is a bad son and then there is Deewar (wall) of good and evil between them. The film stars Amitabh Bachan as the evil son and Shashi Kapoor (in a role of police inspector) as the good son. The USP of the movie is the story line by Salim-Javed. Deewar was directed by Yash Chopra and I believe he is much better directing action movies rather then directing love story. Amitabh’s role was based on the life of yesteryear Don of Mumbai Haji Mastan. The other thing that made the movie a huge success was Amitabh’s performance as the bad son of Nirupa Roy. Deewar won all the Filmfare awards for the year it was release. This shows it’s quality, considering that even Sholay was release in the same year.

2) Nayagan >>>>> I rarely watch regional language movies but I was forced to watch Nayagan by one of my friend from Tamil Nadu in the year 2002. Few minutes into the movie and I was completely mesmerized. I never knew South Indians movie could be so powerful and enchanting. This was the time I came to knew about Mani Ratnam and Kamal Hassan. The performance of Kamal Hassan as Velu Nayagan, a don from Mumbai slum area is charismatic. Kamal Hassan essayed a character that was far ahead of his age, at least in the second half of the movie. You can fill a chill down your spine the moment you see him on the screen. It got Kamal the National award for best actor. There was seldom a better choice then Kamal Hassan for Nayagan. After Nayagan Mani Ratnam directed many super hits movie but could never recreate the magic of Nayagan again.

1) Mother India >>>>> I don’t think there would be anyone reading this who must have not seen Mother India. If not then you are missing something that is irreplaceable in your life. It’s a landmark chapter in Indian cinema. Imagine what Indian cinema would have been with out Mother India! A piece of art from the great Mehboob Khan still continues to inspire the generations of Indian movie enthusiast even after 50 years of its first show. Mother India portrays the struggle of a poor village girl and her survival along with her two infant sons without her husband/family. Nargis played the title role in the movie. This was right after her break up with Raj Kapoor. With Mother India she proved to the nation that there was more to Nargis then just being associated with Raj. Every generation of actress wants to play the role of Mother India once in her lifetime. Mehboob Khan’s treatment of the theme was astounding. I still cant’ figure out how a illiterate person with very little academic background like Mehboob Khan can come up with such a classic. I Salute Mr. Khan and thank him for providing us with such an institution in the form of Mother India.

This is my choice; I would like to know your opinion and your choice of top 5 movies of all time.

-Stella Roy

Who owns Orkut.com? India or Brazil?

2007-05-16T22:12:00.000+05:30

Are you looking for your old school friend with whom you lost touch after your Xth exams? Or is it that you want to talk to a gorgeous lady who stays in your neighborhood but you are afraid to approach her. Are you looking to talk to your cousin who stays at Kanyakumari or Siwan? There is only one place to find them all! Yes you got it right! The place is Orkut.com.

Just login into orkut and search for your lost friend, search your neighbors and possibly you will find every Indian and Brazilian on Orkut. I did join recently and was amaze to see the Indian population on orkut. It seems that whole country is member of orkut.com.

What is Orkut.com?
You may find this question very meaningless, but let me explain you in details. Orkut is a social networking website. It’s a Google production. Orkut provides you a platform to network with other people in the form of scrapping. On orkut you can build your private friends list.

Now, let us come back to the most important question of this debate. Why Orkut is so famous in India?
Well there might be thousands of explanation and article written on it, but the one prime reason for orkut to be famous in India was the privacy that gave to its members in its early period. Earlier the registration was only through invitation. Though now they have made it free!

The people of India always care for their privacy on internet and that’s what orkut gave them along with helping them to build a vivacious community of friends. Indian culture teaches us to be very protective of our community and friends and Orkut was perfect tool for them. That’s why you will lot of people uploading picture of movie star in their profile. They don’t want to publish their pictures on Internet.

The other reason that made orkut an enormous success in India is the User Interface of orkut. Indians like things that is simple and that doesn’t require too much of technical competence. If you have used orkut you will agree with me that using orkut is much easier then other social networking/ dating site like youtube.com, meetup.com, ringo.com etc.

Also the scrapping feature is something that caught the fancy of Indian people. Indians love to write small messages rather then typing a big paragraph.

Some other reason that made Orkut a sensation here is the website speed. Lot of people in India still uses slow connection such dial up or 128 kbps connection. The pages of orkut are highly optimize and it loads very quickly thus saving lot of bandwidth money of Indian user.

Last but not the least, the name orkut.com is very easy to remember and sounds like a Hindi word! Don’t you think so?

Well I have given my reasons why we love orkut, and I would love know why do you love orkut.com? Please leave a comment.

-Stella Roy

Events that change India forever

2007-05-09T21:06:00.000+05:30

Many of my friends requested me to write on this topic so here I am trying to fulfill their request. I hope I am able to justify their faith in me.

The word History is described as ‘past events, experiences’ in the Oxford English Dictionary. But to me it means avoiding the mistakes made in the past. Each country has some history to it. There are historians who records facts and happenings of the country so that it can be look upon in future by the next generation and probably learn from it. History of a country presents a mirror to the past. It shows us our tradition, the culture we belongs to and above all the people who made history in pasts. India too has a rich history from which we can learn many important things.

I would like to present to you the Three most important events in Indian history that changed the future course of India.

3. Mughal Invasion,1526 >>>> This is probably the single most event that put India on the world map. This event was responsible for opening the gateway to India to others rulers of that time. The Mughal invasion by Babur made the people around to recognize the rich heritage of India. Mughal came to India and became part of it forever. When Babur came to India, the country was self sufficient in most of the things. It was during the time of Mughal that India was called the ‘Sone ki Chidiya’. Mughal ruled the country for more then 200 years and gave India some very famous monuments like Taj Mughal and Red Fort.

2. Arrival of British in India, 1757 >>>> India may be the only country in history to be ruled by a company. The rule of British rule started in this country through East India Company which came to India to only trade with it. British ruled marked the end of Mughal power in the country. The British ruled for more then 150 years. It was during their time that the seed of divide between various religions were sown. Their policy of Divide between Hindus and Muslims left the country into a hallow mass of land. The country could never recover from their divide and rule policy. Even after 60 years of our Independence we fight on religious matters. The British rule gave us some good things like Railways, Road Infrastructure along Law and Order system.

1. Partition of India, 1947 >>>> This is the most important of all the event in history of India. It divided the country on basis of religion. A separate country Pakistan was formed. Partition made us each other enemies forever. This event took us on the path of destruction. The very soul of the country was hurt and killed. Thousands of people who lived together for centuries were now force to part away from each other. It left millions of people homeless and several millions lost their life due to partition. As a result of this ghastly event we are still fighting with each other.

I do not know what would have happen if this event would have not occurred in Indian history, but the entire above event has its effect now on us. It decided the course of life for millions of people and change destiny of many people. We all should learn from this event and avoid making any mistakes that effect the life of next generation in negative form.

I would be glad to know from you about any other event that you think has much more effect on Indian history then the above mentioned one.

-Stella Roy

Microsoft and Windows Vista

2007-05-06T14:19:00.000+05:30

They say Microsoft is killing competition. Various Big enterprises fear that Microsoft will shut their business in no time. Politicians feel Microsoft is getting bigger and more influential then many governments around the world.

Why you think Microsoft is the number one IT Company in the world? What makes Bill Gates the richest man on this earth?

Bill Gates in his personal admittance to NDTV said that the only reason Microsoft rules the IT industry in a big way is due to it’s particular product named as Microsoft Windows Operating system. Microsoft makes numerous applications and software such as SQL Database, Microsoft office, Microsoft Exchange server, ISA server etc for PC and other high end computers, but it’s the Windows Operating system that keeps the cash flowing for them in big way.

Since the time Microsoft came into its existence, the Windows Operating system is the product that safeguards them against all competition. What makes its Operating system a hit? Many people believe it has many more features then compare to Linux, Sun Solaris or Mac OS. The average user of PC says it’s the theme of Microsoft OS that is very pleasing compare to others OS. Big IT corporations believes that to develop programs on Windows OS is comparatively easier then doing it on other platform. And if I have to summaries it in one word the popularity of Windows OS; I would say ‘The Ease of Use’. Yes that’s what Microsoft does. Microsoft makes life of users very easy. Almost all the daily task can be done withy just by a click of mouse!

Microsoft has recently in the month of January launched the new OS called Windows Vista at Taj President in Mumbai, India. The launch of Windows Vista was a big party with Akshay Kumar and other Bollywood star performing a BKC. The initial reviews of Microsfoft Vista are just fabulous.

Some of the great features of new Windows Vista are:

• Self-healing technology. It identifies the problems and fixes them so you can keep system disruptions to a minimum.

• Windows Flip 3D, it enables you to dynamically flip through your open programs in a three-dimensional, stacked view, so that you can quickly locate and select the one that you want.

• Windows Sidebar and gadgets, which bring real-time information, like weather and news, directly to your desktop.

• Internet Explorer 7 with Tab browsing, Experience internet browsing in much easier and safe environment.

There are many more features that are new in vista, do check them out at Microsft website before you buy them.
Once again with the launch of vista Microsoft has proved that when it comes to building an OS for machines there is just no beating them. They are simply the King.

I would like to know which OS do you use? Please give me your comments on this post. I appreciate it all the time.

-Stella Roy

Videos, songs and YouTube

2007-05-04T12:58:00.000+05:30

Once I wanted to hear to a song desperately, I went to Google and started searching for the song, I got many links which I browsed through, but did not get the result I wanted, that is when I came across this video site YouTube for the first time. I went through it and to my surprise I just dint listen to the song but also watched the video of it within no seconds! That is when I got a hang of the video sites, its easy, fast, and easily viewable! This is story of millions of youtube,.com users who are addicted to youtube.com.

There are many video sites that are coming up these days! Life without a video site is now next to impossible! People are getting so much used to them that they just cant imaging living without one. They now sleep, eat and live on videos…isn’t it?
The most popular video sites of all is the Youtube.com, you will find whatever you want to view on this site, just name it, search it and its there. There has to be at least one video present for the topic you are interested in.

Why has video sites become so exciting? Because they are next to reality, it feels as if you were there and done that. Youtube.com is just one of the sites that is there on the world wide web. Youtube.com is most popular because of their downloading speed, within no seconds the videos are there in front of you, it hardly takes any bandwidth, and most importantly is very user friendly.

YouTube is not only famous in India but also famous world wide. There are so many people from all over the world who come together and upload their videos, it is a platform where there is no racism, no caste or religion and everyone can view everyone’s video, everyone can see and hear to views of thousands of people from all over the world! Yes this is what Youtube.com has made it possible!

Youtube.com is a platform wherein no one is rich or poor, everyone belongs to one religion that is youtube.com, and most importantly there is no charges applied to view the videos.
There are different channels, categories and communities which you can be part of. Youtube.com is the most popular internet television as they call it, and ranks 16 in the most visited websites. This site is even popular then Google videos. In fact Google has acquired it sometime back in a record money.

There was a time when one could watch videos only on TV, but now entire TV can be connected to the computer, these video sites are now more popular than TV, this is because here you get to watch what you want, and that too at whichever time you want. You don’t have to wait for anyone and can also watch the video 110 times in a day!

What is your opinion on such videos website? Please comment.

-Stella Roy

Buying a new home? Check your religion first.

2007-04-29T12:43:00.001+05:30

The constitution of India says all Indian citizens can buy property in any place within India irrespective of cast and religion. Do you believe in this proclamation? At least I used to fully believe in this till last month. It says no one and simply no one can stop Indian citizens from practicing this right given by our constitution with some exception to Jammu & Kashmir.

My friend and colleague Veronica Fernandez was looking to buy a home in one of the very classy vicinity of Mumbai. She had everything set, the money, the loan, family support etc. She thought this is enough to get her good home of her choice, but she didn’t knew the horror that was in waiting for her.

I assisted her in short listing one 3 BHK flat that was right for her funds and family. To make sure that there are no dispute/issues of the flat/room with the society we approached the secretary of that building. This is where we were given shock of our life. The so called secretary bluntly informed us that she cannot purchase the flat in his building. We said why not? We will pay the money to the owner of the flat we will get the name transfers and all dues if any to the society will be cleared by the current owner.

The secretary took more offence to this and said that only people from one certain community can buy flat in his building. I thought he might be joking but in next few minutes we realized that this is true. We kept on telling him that this is not done and he is violating the basic rights of an Indian citizen. We argued and argued with him without any success. And in the end we moved out of it. My friend could not buy her dream home just because she dint’ belong to certain community/religions. The very religion that GOD has chosen for her could not get her a home.

The incident left us infuriated. It has left a dreadful impact on me. We talk about our rights, we take pride in our country’s nuclear power, we call ourselves the largest democracy in the world, we write millions of books on our culture and brotherhood, but when it comes to implementing all this in practice we shy away from it. We give a damn about our rights and freedom.

We made more enquiries regarding this and we found that it has become a very common trend in most buildings in and around Mumbai to sale flat to ONLY members of their own community. In the end she opted for another home in suburbs of Mumbai.

Let me know what you think of this by giving your comments.

-Stella Roy

Looking for a change of job?

2007-04-26T13:56:00.000+05:30

Wherever I go the most common question that is worrying everyone is how to get a good job? Well I have some points that may be helpful to you.

First things first! You need to first make up your mind and decide which field and what position you want to change your job to.

Second most important thing then is to prepare your resume in a similar fashion that is in the direction of the position you want to apply for. Do not hurry while you prepare you resume, that is the most important thing when you are doing job hunting, since your resume is the first impression that the interviewer will have of you.

So first note down all the points, if you want take online help, there are many sites that provide free help in building ones resume.

After the resume is done you need to then post it on all the jobsites available on the net. If you don’t know where to get it from, Google is there to help you out! Just type the keywords in Google and you will get what you want!

Once the resume is uploaded on the many jobsites, you will start getting calls for interviews, which you then need to schedule according to the time that suits you…and you are done! Isn’t it?

NO you are not yet done!

Now that you have scheduled all your interviews, you need to then prepare for them. Ask for information like how many rounds of interviews will be there, what king of interviews? Verbal/Written? So that you can prepare accordingly for the job interview.

Many people get tensed on the big day that is the job interview day. This should not happen, you should always be confident of yourself and go with an attitude that the company is in need of me and not the other way round!

Once you are done with the various job interviews, you need to then sit down and decide which one bets suits your financial and professional needs, and only after much of thinking is done you can opt any one of the offers offered to you

I would like you to add some more points if you have any that can help people out there in getting better jobs.

-Stella Roy

Publicity - Postive or Negative

2007-04-23T19:31:00.000+05:30

A high profile marketing guru once said that publicity, whether positive or negative is good publicity. How many of you agree with him? I was shock when I read that statement from such a smart person. I never considered him as a good marketing mind. What does the companies look for to increase their profits? They want more sales of their products. They want people to build a trust relationship with their product. Well, to sale product/services one needs to market it in a good way. Will you buy a product that has got negative publicity? You won’t, right?

Let us take the very recent example of Pepsi and Cadbury where it was found that Pepsi contains huge amount of pesticide that may harm our body. In case of Cadbury chocolates, it had some insects’ traces to it. The product of both the companies became talk of the town. Every individual was curious to know about these two companies. In fact it started a national debate of such huge magnitude that the government of India had to intervene to resolve the issue.

As of result of all this negative advertising of Pepsi and Cadbury chocolates the sales went down drastically. It affected the profit of both the multinational companies in a big way. To think of it in other sense one may argue that still whatever the sales result; the episode gave huge publicity to both the companies. But was it really a good publicity? This was certainly a negative publicity which did more harm then good. It has been observed that good quality marketing companies are not the one that does the marketing in an aggressive way, but one that knows the pulse of the consumers. They have the best knowledge of their potential customer or consumers.

Publicity has to be positive all the time. Your products or services always require a positive presentation in market. Positive advertising builds a long and trusted association between you and your client. Negative publicity will never get you customer in long run. A customer gone due to negative publicity is very tough to win him/her back. Let us always do positive and good advertising of all the things that deserve so.

Please remember your comments are always of great value to me.

-Stella Roy

Sex in schools

2007-04-22T13:17:00.000+05:30

There is country wide debate going on Sex Education. The education department wanted to make Sex Education obligatory in schools. This is one of the finest steps taken by the HRD department in long time. Everybody believe that this act of HRD will be welcome by one and all, but on the contrary some sates like Maharashrtra, Kerala have banned the sex education from school! There are people who have started to appose it in big way. What a disgrace!

In a country where millions of people are suffering from HIV, where innocent girls are raped every hour, even the capital of the country is not free from it, thousands of cases are registered for sexual harassment against women, we still do not want to educate ourselves and our children on sex. It’s outrageous! And why, just because talking about sex was considered be a taboo in our country till now! In a country where the most well-known form of sex (kamasutra) originated, we feel that talking sex with children will put parents and teachers in a awkward situation. Let the teachers do thier job.

If we cannot talk to our children on such imperative issue then how will we help the humanity to be free of crime against women? Let’s not forget that these students are the future of country. Sexual harassment against women is destroying the very spirit of India. We take pride in an Indian born girl when she walks into space, but we don’t feel embarrassed for sexual harassment against women. Why such dual standards?

We all have gone to schools at some point of time in our life. We know how vital it is to learn the basics fact of life / world at an early phase of our life. There is no replacement for it. Topic learned at early days has enormous impact on our future life. We seldom forget what we learn at school, do we?

If parents can’t teach their kids about sex let the teachers do it. We have immense respect for our teachers. They are the one who nurture us to face the truth of life. If they teach us essentials of sex, do you think the bond between the student and teachers will suffer? Do you think it will affect the pure respect for our teachers? I don’t think so. Let us agree that bulk of misdeed and harassment against women is due to lack of sex teaching. If introducing a new program in school helps us in stopping such atrocious offense against women then why not do it? Why such an outcry against it? Why such appositions form certain segment of our society?

I being women myself understand the importance of sex education in our schools. Believe me India will be much better place if teach our children about sex and reduce the number of rapes and other sexual crimes committed against us. It's our job and responsibility to reduce crimes against women. I bet the future generation of women will be proud of us and will always thanks us for making women life free of sexual crimes. Remember we consider women as Lakshmi in our country and worship her.

I want to know your comment on this. Please comment and support me.

-Stella Roy

Changing behavior of shopping

2007-04-21T09:30:00.000+05:30

There is an old adage that when Women get depressed they go Shopping and when Men get depressed they watch Cricket! I don’t know if it is true for men but it is absolutely true for Women!

There are many shopping malls opening in all the major cities of India. Every place you go you will find at least shopping mall there. People come in malls as if they are going for picnic. They sit and litter the place and make it horrible for people who actually come there to shop! Though theses malls are expensive but the quality that they provide is up to the standards. As in c’mon if you want cheap clothes you can go to roadside shops where you can bargain and get what you want, and if you are of that types then believe me malls is not the place for you to shop!

Apart from quality they also sell branded stuff, it is amazing to see brands like Mango, Marks and Spencer, Giordano, Louis Phillip, Ritu Kumar, etc actually owning shops in these places. People can at least have a look at what brand is, and their cost too! The second best thing about these malls are that they have generated millions of jobs opportunity for Indian people. It is easy to get jobs in shopping mall. They even give part time jobs to people depending upon the business of malls

Apart from malls where one can go and see and shop, in the 20th century online shopping has been introduced. Now people can actually sit at home and shop for their favorite items. Online Shopping is basically for busy people and educated ones. There is a wide range of variety of products that one can shop online. Right from sending flowers to someone or to buying a mobile phone. But then is Online Shopping safe enough?

There are many sites which offer online shopping, some of the famous sites are: ebay.com, yahoo.com, rediff.com, bazee.com etc
Ebay.com is a very famous shopping portal. Many people shop in and out through ebay.
Bazee.com is yet another famous shopping portal, while Yahoo and Rediff have just begun their journey in the world of Online Shopping.

Isn’t it surprising to see how the shopping modes are changing with the changing time? These modes are changing mainly because of the busy times that people are living in, professional people just don’t have time to go out and shop. They want everything to be done quickly, and since they work on computers 24/7 they came up with the concept of online shopping. It is now much easier for them to shop with just few clicks and within seconds they order for stuff and it is at their doorstep.

Gone are the traditional ways of shopping, no more bargaining, no more fighting with the shopkeeper, no more shopping in the hot sun, no more arguing with each other, now you can shop sitting at home with just few clicks or rather even go to some AC mall and try stuff out and then buy. Time is changing, and it is changing for good, isn’t it?

These are my thoughts on shopping, what do you guys think? Your comments/messages as always are welcome!

Lionel Messi - The new Maradona of Soccer

2007-04-20T10:46:00.000+05:30

The goal Lionel scored very similar to Maradona

Soccer has always capture the imagination of people all over the world. With out argument Diego Armando Maradona was its astonishing exponent. The soccer field was his backyard, no trick of this game was untouched by him. Maradona is most prominently known as hand of GOD and I can say Lionel Messi is certainly threatening to take away that title from Maradona.
Lionel Andres Messi was born in the city of Rosario in Sante Fe province, the same place where Che Guevara wa born in Argentina. As with millions of South American country obsesses with soccer Lionel was no exception. He learned his soccer skills on the street of Argentina with the help his father Jorge. By the time the teenage from Argentina celebrated his 13th birthday he was proclaim as the next superstar from South America. People started to compare him with Maradona in his young age. They seem to be proven right now. The famous club Barcelona got him in a record fees since the age of 17 and he has proved himself to be worthy of each dollar spend on him.

In Germany he may not have shown his full talent, but when the next World cup starts he will be the player to watch for. All his fans believe that he can lift the World Cup the way Deigo Maradona did in the Mexico in the year 1986.

And coming to the on going debate on whether Lionel Messi can be called as the next Maradona? Please give your comment.

-Stella

Virginia Tech Killer

2007-04-19T10:59:00.000+05:30

Every year you read that some university student opened fire in university campus killing several student in America. The Virginia Tech university is latest victim of such brutal killing in university campus. America is the only country in the world where gun is consider as a commodity and is easily available.
Cho Seung-hui walked into the Virginia Tech university campus and killed 32 innocent student within an hour. Cho Seung-hui parents are Korean immigrant to United States. Why did he took such step? Was Cho Seung-hui a psychopath? If yes then why did the professors at Virginia Tech university allowed him to continue his studies in such a free manner. Cho Seung should have been put to some community counseling by his professor. It was the job of his family and professor to guide him to some good psychotherapist. Cho Seung-hui was student of English at Virginia Tech University. If you read his poetry and writings it becomes very clear that he was not a normal youngster. The writings of this youngster very clearly gives us hints about his anger and frustration. Cho Seung-hui was a troubled souls and mind. Inside the university campus he rarely spoke to his professor and students. All his classmates consider him a loner and he was never seen with any girls in the campus.
The police found the word Ismail Ax tattooed on his arm. It’s not year clear what the word Ismail Ax indicates. After killing so many people he send some picture to NBC news posing with a gun.

In one of the videos that he sent to NBC he says that

“I didn’t have to do this. I could have left. I could have fled. But no, I will no longer run. It’s not for me. For my children, for my brothers and sisters that you fucked, I did it for them… When the time came, I did it. I had to”

This bizarre incident took life of a Student from Mumbai name Minal Panchal. I pray that God give her family the courage to deal with difficulty time of their life.

-Stella

Look Good Feel Better

2007-04-18T13:41:00.000+05:30

Since the time of Adam & Eve man and women desire to look good all the time. The modern generation spends 28% of their income on it according to the survey conducted by a leading women magazine. Doing makeup has now develop into a fashion. There are people who have made fortune by making others look good. Cosmetics companies like Garnier, Lakme , Revlon, Hindustan Lever, Oriflame have thousands of employees and are making billion every year. Good for them.

There are various types of make-up that you can apply depending on the occasion and time of the day, depending on the climate and the clothes you wear. Always remember if you don’t match your clothes with your makeup you will end up looking foolish.

To start with let me explain you the basic requirements for makeup:

1) Foundation: This works as a base for your makeup and is very important as if you use this; the products that you use don’t affect the skin directly. So always make sure that you use the best quality Foundation, you can use: Garnier, Lakme, Revlon, Oriflame and L’Oreal.

2) Foundation Powder: apart from the foundation crème you can also use the powder. This also helps in the same way.
3) Concealer: Concealer can be used without a foundation and is used only in the acne/pimple/boils areas, and is used to hide them and blemish the skin and make it look even.

4) Eye Shadows: Now eye shadow should match with the color of your dress, for eg if you are wearing a red gown, don’t put a red eye shadow, there are other factors also which you have to consider, like your skin color. So for red if you are fair you can use a silver/gold eye shadow, any dark shades in red will also look good. Make sure you always add a tint of Silver and Gold eye shadows on both the starting areas of your eye. And then blemish it with the color that you want like blue, lavender, maroon, brown etc.

5) Eye Liner: Is a must. If you have big eyes, thin lines of liner should be used, and for small eyes thick lines. Liners are now available in different colors, blue and maroon being very popular. If used without eye shadow, it looks the best.

6) Mascara: Give finishing to the liner by using mascara. Curl up your eyelashes and darken them by using mascara. Try out one from Revlon.

7) Kajal: Traditional Indian eye make up always consist of kajal. Kajal can be used for light makeup’s, for occasions where in you don’t ant heavy makeup.

8) Blush on: After eye makeup is done, you got to work with your cheeks to make it look prettier. Do just that by using a blush on that again match your eye shadow. Don’t use to much of a blush on just a light tint does the work.

9) Sparkling powder: To end it all you can sparkle the sparkling powder all over your face and neck, the best sparkling powder you can get is from Oriflame.

10) Lipstick: Again chose as it suits your skin type. If you are going for heavy makeup, lipstick should be applied dark. You can give your lips curves by using lip liners which should match the lipstick that you use. To end your lips with you can just tap a little lip gloss to give a nice glossy look.

11) Makeup Remover: After the make up is done and you want to remove it, just don’t wash you face with soap, first remove the makeup by using Makeup remover, you also get eye shadow removers in the market. Use it to make your skin look healthier after using makeup.

All said and done, the best way to look god is by just not applying any makeup like my mother and grandmother! Yes this saying is so true; if you want to look naturally beautiful, just don’t do any makeup.

Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. I love them, it makes me feel better.

-Stella

Wedding of the century! My foot!

2007-04-16T18:01:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: In no way the author mean any disrespect to the Bachchan family.

As the wedding date for Abhishek and Aishwarya wedding date draws near all the news channels, newspapers, magazines, news websites are bombarding the nation with their wedding news. Right from what is Ash going to wear, the color of her saree, the kind of makeup she will be wearing to an extent to the number of words they will be speaking to who is present in the guest list!

They have captured all the media sources. Everyone in media fraternity is working overtime to capture the wedding of century as they say. Don’t we have any other job to do? Whoever is in the list of invitees is most sought after celebrity in the country at the moment. Each and every news channel and news paper wants to flash their pictures on front page along with the wedding card. The wedding has not yet started but media has left no stone unturned to cover even the smallest details such as color of Bachchan beard. This all is just waste of time, media is unnecessarily hyping up things and giving importance to unnecessary news, there is much important news that they can focus on rather than focusing on someone’s marriage. They are wasting their time and others too.

Look at Aishwarya, is she Queen Victoria III that she is getting so much importance? These so called beauty of World and Universe go to contest everyone want to be like a Mother Teresa and after winning the title all they do is to sleep with Salman and Shah Rukh Khan in Bollywood movies. Aishwarya Rai is one such girl who now desperately wants to get married in the Bachchan family.

Abhishek Bachchan is also not that great actor. He did manage to give some hits, but most of the movies that he acted in were big time flops. Only because of his father has he able to live in this cinema world, otherwise he would have been kicked out much earlier right after his first movie. Even Abhishek had an engagement with Karishma Kapoor, but that was not hyped so much? Why so? Karishma Kapoor was a well know actress then! But she was not caught by the media people? How come? There must be something behind this Abhi-Ash wedding, because of which this hype – someone is surely gaining lots of money by this. I personally wish them best of luck and happy marriage life but all this unnecessary media coverage is not doing any good to the Bachchan's family.

Instead of all this is the media need to focus on important matters like the development, jobs, unemployment, poverty of India, believe me not only the country will benefit from it and not just by covering a wedding ceremony of son of some high profile parents.

-Stella Roy

The Master Magician - Amitabh Bachchan

2007-04-15T18:04:00.000+05:30

They say the only reason GOD created this Universe was just because HE wanted the human race to witness greatness of Prophet Muhammad. And BOY! We are still witnessing the effect of great Prophet on this world.

Well the same can be said of Bollywood and Amitabh Bachchan in terms of ruling the Bollywood. We can say, Bollywood came into being just to witness the phenomenon name Amitabh Bachchan. Without argument he is the greatest living legend of contemporary India. To me he is in the same league as Brando and Charlie Chaplin. Even at this age when most of us fade away, him continuous to deliver Bollywood runaway successes.

The life of Amitabh Bachchan goes way back to 70s at the time of emergency when he came to Bombay to act in Bollywood movies. When he joined Bollywood Rajesh Khanna was the heartthrob of the nation. Rajesh was enormously adored by girls and women. Initial efforts to make a name for self failed miserably. The industry rejected him by saying that he doesn’t have the look and the physical body to be a Bollywood actor. The man from one of the most populous state of the country was on the verge of break down and wanted to return to his homeland of Allahabad. But as they say destiny had something else in store for Amitabh. After several box office flops Zanjeer was release in 1973. Zanjeer became a stupendous hit and Amitabh who performed the role of angry policemen fighting against the crimes in society took the nation by storm.

After Zanjeer there was no looking back for the young lanky neighbor of Indira Gandhi announced his arrival to Bollywood. The angry young man image suited him to the core. With every movie of his, he made the people of India stand up and applause his acting talent. Giving super hits became a norm for him. Movies like Deewar, Sholay, Trishul, Amar, Akbar & Anthony, Silsila, Mr. Natwarlal and many more ruled the box office fund collection. In no time the reigning superstar Rajesh Khanna was dethrone from his position and country got a new superstar name Amitabh Bachchan. People started to follow each and every steps of this great man. The way he walk, his dialogue delivery the way he moved his famous left hand; every display of his was followed by people like a religion.

Amitabh became such a cult figure in Bollywood that when he met with an accident while shooting for that now infamous fight scene in Coolie the whole nation wept and prayed for his fast recovery. There were prayers in Mosque, mass were performed in churches, poojas were conducted in Mandirs till the time he came out of hospital. The late 90s saw the arrival of the Khan brigade i.e. Shah Rukh, Salman, Arbaaz and Aamir. The Bachchan’s magic slowly started to die away. Amitabh movies no longer pulled crowd to cinema hall. The Production Company ABCL he launched ran into huge losses. ABCL went bankrupt. Everyone had written him off. The star that once shown the brightest among millions of Indians was struggling to save his home from being confiscate to pay the finance company the losses suffered by ABCL. He no longer ruled the 70 mm screen. People no longer applauded his acting. Everything seems to be over for BIG B. But then when going gets tough the tough gets going and when everyone had written him off he bounced back with Kaun Banega Crorepati on Star Plus.

The Show Kaun Banega Crorepati became a rage for the nation. Amitabh was back with a bang. Kaun Banega Crorepati with Amitabh was a delight to watch. After this there was no looking back for Amitabh. All his movies started to dominate box office once again. Everything for him seems to be back as it was some 25 years back when he ruled the entertainment Industry. Since then he has achieved back all that was taken away from him, his super stardom, his Production Company and people’s respect. India salutes this superstar.

Mutual Funds Investment to save tax

2007-04-13T17:31:00.001+05:30

This is little late I guess but I could not stop myself from scripting down my thoughts on it. I called up Mr. Sunil Joshi, finance manager of multinational company for an appointment I could not get through his secretary. I sought to meet a hot shot fashion designer for my cousins weeding dress; she didn’t have time to meet for 3 days. I called up my old school principal, he also was busy for next 1 week. I register a complaint for my new Washing machine buzzer problem, the service engineer was nit available. I asked my maid to come little early for work , even she replied to me in negative. This all was during the month of March. The reason for all this was just one. No not that they all are getting married or are on vacation; all had to fill up the Income Tax. Yes it’s March ending as they say from other side of phone. It seems that whole country is busy in this month to save tax , OOPS! Pay tax, I should say. And I am no exception to it. As a good citizen I also pay tax every year.

My discussion with several mutual fund manager make me feel that every one want to save their funds and avoid paying tax. Your fund manager will present you with some top tax saving mutual fund scheme. Talking to these fund managers I got some ideas of top mutual fund in the market. So in the end even I ended up in investing my money in some open ended mutual fund scheme. There are several pros and cons that one has to look into while investing in these mutual fund. I would share some of my experience with mutual fund with you.

Basically there are two types of mutual fund scheme, i) open-ended and ii) closed ended fund. Mutual funds that save you from paying tax have 3 years of locking period. It means your money is at least block for min. 3 years. These mutual funds are subjected to market risk. All these funds are then invested in buying equity shares and other investment ground. The fund value is calculated on NAV (Net Asset Value) . Your profit depends upon the NAV of that particular mutual fund. In all these the most important factor is the Mutual Fund Manager. He is the one on whose decision the end performance depends. So while investing in mutual fund please get full information of the Fund Manager and also look out for NAV along with last 3-4 years performance of the fund manager. Some of the better knows Asset Management Companies are ICICI Prudential, Reliance Fund Management, Birla Sun life, ING VYSYA, ALLIANCE CAPITAL, HSBC, KOTAK MAHINDRA etc. But please do good research before investing your hard earn money in any of these mutual fund scheme.

In the end I would like to request you all to pay your taxes. It’ this taxes that government utilizes for our benefits by building infrastructures and providing subsidies on important thing.

Your comments and suggestion are welcome.

-Stella

Vacation in Singapore

2007-04-11T12:11:00.000+05:30

I was too stressed out, stressed out of my work, stressed out in my personal life, did not know what to do to rejuvenate myself. At that very moment I happened to speak to one of my very closest friend who is a vacation planner, he recommended me and suggested that I should go out on a vacation! On first thoughts, I was like what a foolish idea, first only I am stressed out and then on top of that my friend was asking me to spend money and go out on a vacation? Was he lost it or what? Instead of going out of my town, I thought I will stay here take holidays from office and relax at home! But then on second thoughts I realized that my friend after all was not wrong! Why not try it out?

The very next week I packed my bags and there I was on my journey to rejuvenate myself. I had decided to go to Singapore. First thing first – I went to the Tours and Travels office, got all the details needed, after all I was traveling alone with no one to guide me there. Got my tickets done through travel website ‘My Trip.com’, they indeed gave me the best deals possible! While going from here I traveled by my favorite airlines ‘Singapore Airlines, they were as usual at their best services.I reached the Singapore Changi Airport, and wow the airport itself was so serene and so beautiful! I stepped out of the airport and reached my hotel. I had booked a 4 star hotel for myself. I had breakfast and dinner free with the package I had taken. Hotel was amazing.

1st day I visited in Singapore is the famous Santosa Island. I remember some bollywood songs were shot there. One famous song from BIWI NO 1 movie was also shot there. I saw many things in the island, like a LIVE cobra! I actually touched it. Bird Sanctuary, famous Water dance fountain. The Dolphin Show – that was just fantabulous. Also the 3D movie theatre, I really loved it. By the end of 2 days I was all exhausted and tired, but at the same time was feeling very relaxed and distressed.

3rd and 4th day was spent in shopping. The famous MUSTAFA Stores gave me best deals in everything that I Bought. You actually get anything and everything out here! Now I know from where did the Mall System developed in India! I got an IPOD for myself, a Digicam, and also Nokia N90. I also went ahead and shopped for some diamond rings. They are the best rings that I have got!

5th day I spent in window Shopping because by then I had very little money left, and could not afford to shop even a small keychain for myself. Oohh How I wish I could buy that!

I was surprised to see many Udipi restaurants out there. And by the way did you’ll know that there is a small town in Singapore that is actually called as Little India? That’s where the Mustafa Stores is located!6th day was spent in the Hotel itself, I went swimming, went for these massages that the Hotel provided. I really pampered myself and spent like thrift! On way back home I had booked the ‘Singapore Airlines’. Service was good, and up to my mark.That was my trip to Singapore that I will always cherish all my life. And I thank my friend who had advice me otherwise I would have not gone anywhere and wasted my holidays just like that! I felt like a Queen – really enjoyed out there, believe me Girls can enjoy alone too! I know all girls will agree with but boys won’t. Tell me your experiences on Singapore if anyone has gone. Also I would love to know other places that you must have visited and loved it, as I am planning my next vacation anytime this year. Your comments and suggestions as always are welcome! If you are to stressed out and want a change in life then the best thing to do is pack your bags and get outta the place you are staying in! And that’s exactly what I did and had lot of fun.

-Stella

My Free Lunch & Fun

2007-04-07T13:55:00.000+05:30

There's no free lunch. Remember that old adage? Well I guess that need to be change when we talk about Email service providers. To me it’s definitely FREE service and website likes YAHOO, HOTMAIL, GMAIL, REDIFFMAIL and INDIATIMES efforts should be commended.

I don’t know how this email things started and why it is FREE? But since the time some intellect came up with email model they are offering basic email service for FREE.

They do have some paid services also which provide better spam filter and many more features that are not included in FREE email accounts. But who requires all this features? At least not you and I.

Initially, Hotmail was the ONLY major player in this field, but in last 4-5 years there are many email service provider that are providing much superior email storage space. Yahoo is providing FREE 1 GB storage, where website like rediffmail.com is providing UNLIMITED email storage. Wow! now you can store your favorite songs, personal photos, important emails, your favorite movies, favorite videos in your email account with out worrying about the space limits in your email accounts.

The other good thing about all these websites is now you can even check your emails from your mobile. I don’t know what next? maybe read your email from your watch! Personally I like all the major websites like YAHOO and REDIFFMAIL but I feel HOTMAIL can still do lot better if it has to retain it’s members. GMAIL and YAHOO continuously keep on coming with new features to out do each other.
All I can say is that in the end it’s the user who are getting all the benefits of for FREE. We would like this war for free email continue till long time, I am little selfish here but I love it when there is healthy war among two big players.

Some IT gurus have written that soon there will be no email service for FREE, I guess till then let us have fun and keep in touch through these FREE emails service. I am always available at stella_ry@yahoo.com and yes I am using the FREE yahoo email account.

-Stella

City of dreams - Mumbai

2007-04-06T21:00:00.000+05:30

Mumbai they say is city of dreams. Mumbai never sleeps; it’s a city that runs 24 hours. Mumbai party’s every night. You will find night clubs at every 1 Km. the city just rocks. Mumbai carries hope of billions of people in terms of providing better prospect and good life style. Mumbai is located at western part of India. History tells us that it is formed by joining more then six island. It’s a dream of every Indian to visit Mumbai once in her/his lifetime.

At one side of Mumbai you have Arabian Sea with lovely beaches. The city has the Stock Exchange centers which makes it very important place in terms of business. The city has in numerous multiplexes for movie follower. Mumbai is head quarter to number of huge business house such as Reliance, Tatas and Birlas. The world renowned movie making industry Bollywood is in Mumbai. Several Bollywood movie stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bacchan,, Kareena Kapoor, Kajol, Salman Khan resides in Mumbai. It is suppose to be the largest tax payer in the country. In Mumbai you will find people from all over the country. The city also has historic importance. Many Freedom fighters were born and brought up here in this city.

Some of the places to visit when in Mumbai are:

• Gateway of India - Located in South Mumbai. It is was built in honor of George V and Queen Mary visit to India in 1911
• Juhu Beach – A beautiful beach on the shores of Arabian sea. Enjoy the local Pani Puri and Kala Khatta juice. It’s very yummy.
• Haji Ali Dargha – The oldest Muslim Dargah in the city. It’s some 800 meters in the Arabian Sea• Mannat - The extravagant house of Bollywood Superstar Shah Rukh Khan located in suburbs of Bandra
• Jijabai Udyan – The only animal zoo in Mumbai
• Fashion Street – A fashion paradise near Churchgate. Here you will get quality cloths in very cheap price. You need to have bargaining talent.
• Enigma – The famous Night pub at J W Marriott
• Hyatt – The gorgeous seven star hotel near domestic Airport

Some of other places that you can visit are Esselworld, Nehru Planetarium, and The Queen Necklace at Marine Drive, The Dome Theatre, Jehangir Art Gallery and Kamla Nehru Park. I just love to be part of this great city.

-Stella

Kashmir - Is this the Paradise on earth?

2007-04-04T14:32:00.000+05:30

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established in 1985 by Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with a aim to improve economic growth and social relations amongst it members

The 14th SAARC meet is going on in New Delhi. Terrorism and Trade are the two imperative agenda for this SAARC summit. When we talk about terrorism the first things that comes to mind is Kashmir and its people. Lets hope this SAARC meet will move forward in solving the Kashmir issue for ever. I really wish they do it now. It’s high time that happiness returns on the faces of Kashmiri people. Let us do it for the people of Kashmir.

The people of Kashmir on both sides of India-Pakistan border have suffered lot for many years. They are not at all interested in a military general or the bureaucratic talk that are going for ages now. All they want is end to their agony. They want love and not hatred. They want their life back which seems to be so alien to them. They wish to be free of terror of guns and bullets. Kashmiri child/youth wants his innocence smile back that has been lost somewhere in these daily fighting between military and terrorist. They want to be part of the 21st century generation. The people of Kashmir wants the world to recognize Kashmir as a self reliable and progressive state. A state free of military interference in day–to-day life. A state marching towards the progressive society along with other states of the country.

India need to be ultra cautious in discussing the Kashmir issue. We need to have some very significant intention in our mind. First an foremost the state of Kashmir belongs to India and it’s people. This have to made very clear to General Mushraff and his team. All these talk about join management cannot success until unless we recognize Kashmir as part of India. Pakistan needs to free up the POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) for the success of any bilateral debate between the two great nations. Let us not talk of hatred as hate can destroy the mightiest of empire as seen in Saddam’ life history. But India should not even go to bed with Pakistan on their terms and condition. The interest of Kashmiri people should be the main aim of any ceasefire.

I believe and I know millions of people also believe that Kashmir is too good a place to be ruined in such a manner. It’s my wish that someday we will completely eradicate all the current erroneous experience in Kashmir. I wish that someday there will be a individual who will resolve their problems . I pray to GOD to give them peace at the very earliest. The Kashmiri people deserves it since longtime.

Your comments, support and love is needed for Kashmir.

-Stella

We Support Kathy Sierra

2007-03-28T11:15:00.000+05:30

Well-known blogger Kathy Sierra has called on the blogosphere to fight the society of mistreatment online.
Kathy Sierra is a famous blogger well know for her blog ‘Creating Passionate Users.’ Her blogs are read by million of people around the world. Recently she got death threats on one of her blog posting. Some crook even posted her head next to a noose and commented "the only thing Kathy has to offer me is that noose in her neck size." Since then Kathy has stop writing blog, she is afraid to even move out of her home. She fears that some one might kill her. The person has cause a mental agony to the writer by his act of ignorance.

And why all this threat? Just because she is a women in male dominated technology field? I say it’s ridiculous . I would like to inform Kathy not to be afraid of such moron and cowards. They are not aware of power of women. Do they think that just by posting some photo they can stop a intelligent women from expressing her opinions? No never. Be it any field be it any challenge and situation women power will never be diminish and we will continue to progress. These threats are not going to stop Kathy in fighting a true cause.

Kathy Sierra you are a brave women and we all are with you. The police should act fast and catch such culprits who doesn’t know to respect a women’s rights to opinion. I request all human being and especially women to support Kathy Sierra in her difficult times. If today we do not fight this nuisance tomorrow it’s going to come back to haunt us for ever. And a threat be it small or big changes your life to very large extend.

Let us pledge our support to Kathy.

Low cost airline dilemma

2007-03-27T15:20:00.000+05:30

There are so many domestic airlines ( Go Air, Sahara Airlines, Kingfisher, Indian Airlines, Air India, SpiceJet, Indigo Airlines etc) in this country, people have so many choices still why do these Air deccan people think they can grab most of Indian passengers towards their airlines?

I had booked my ticket with them, when I went at their counter, there was so much of mess and confusion between their staff members, they were so much in a hurry as if they wanted to go somewhere, I was surprised to know that they don't even give seat numbers, what is the use of the boarding pass without a seat number? Because of this all passengers run at the security check to have the best seat available. It is so disgusting. Their flight had this foul smell when I entered, and I could not believe I have to sit in there for almost 2 hours. The seats were so small, did not even have proper leg space.

Frankly speaking they have nothing to offer, no customer service, no proper in-flight services, the flight is always late, or never have any space left for them to park their airplane at the airport because of which they have this dedicated air buses, these air buses of air deccan are worse then the local buses of Mumbai.
Agreed they are cheap, but still money is money, why will I spend my money on such a airline who has nothing to offer to their passengers. Day by day the number of passengers traveling by Air Deccan is decreasing and still the staff of Air Deccan is not improving.

I honestly think this airline should be banned. They have nothing to offer to their customers. Try out GO Air or Kingisher Airlines instead.

-Stella

Soulcast-A decent approach

2007-03-27T09:16:00.000+05:30

First of all let me stand up and clap my hand for the people who are responsible to have come up with such wonderful site. And secondly a BIG HUG ( rest to your imagination!) to the CEO of SoulCast. I have to still to know lot about SoulCast but of what I have come across till now look like a great work of some bright minds. It gives me so much excitement to come here and read / write about experiences of other user life. I am a part time journalists and hope to become a full time very soon and my other half part I learn how various technology works. I congratulate the programmers, content manager, the QA team of SoulCast who have design such a wonderful website.

The site though in beta state is still well managed. Some of the features are very unique which other blog don’t provide. Well its not that there is no bug or no user usability issue with SoulCast. I think anything on the web has to be a 100% user friendly or it not worth even if your product is 100% QA assured. I really would like to have template for my blog where in I can choose template as per my wish. Also second thing which I would like to have is some content moderation. I have seen people posting irrelevant stuff just to get them some cheap publicity. I am not against posting their views but still it has to be a useful one. I should not feel that I have wasted my time reading such vulgar or bad post by some xyz member. Overall it looks to be a very well designed blog site. But I have some suggestion for the people who are running the show at SoulCast.

I hope I will get some feedback on this from them.

1. Template for my blog
2. Images upload for my post.
3. Direct communication with other blogger on SoulCast
4. How many and who all are online so that I can communicate with them.
5. Let user choose the Google Ad display positions.
6. Show latest 100 blog on ‘recent post page’
7. The default homepage should be of 'recent post' instead of 'feature post' That’s all I have to say as of now.

If there is something that I have missed or have wrongly posted please inform me.

-Stella

Shakira's Hips Don't lie

2007-03-26T14:16:00.000+05:30

Whenever and where the sexy Shakira shakes her hips and belly people go fanatical. The much awaited first concert of Shakira at MMRDA, Mumbai was a scintillating night of dance and music.

I was lucky to attend it the Shakira concert. The show was attended by more then 25k people. Every individual was singing and dancing to her steps. Whenever Shakira move her belly there was huge cheer all over the ground. What a belly she possess. The shows started with a song from her album Oral Fixation. As the show went on people started to sing her name and every time she came to end of her song people wanted more from the Colombian singer. Whenever the ten time Grammy award winner came on stage the heat level went rising beyond expectations. She is just so hot when she shakes those curvy belly of hers. She performed to most of her past hits albums. I spotted celebrity like Farhan Akthar, Shah Rukh Khan, Farah Khan who came to shake hips with the Latin sensation. There was not a single soul at MMRDA who was not fascinated by her dance and voice. The show ended at around 10 PM with her runaway success song Hips Don’t Lie I was spellbound with her performance and everyone in the ground left singing praises for Shakira.

Online dating a bane or boon?

2007-03-24T14:34:00.001+05:30

Every generation has something addictive for fun. If 60s was movies, then 70s was about drugs. And now the current addiction for us is online dating/community. Dating websites such as yahoo chat, myspace.com, orkut.com, inmatch.com, fropper.com Young kids are moving to these websites for dating apposite sex. The whole intention of young kids is to have fun on such websites. There are million of users registered on websites like fropper.com, orkut.com and yahoo personals. The effect that such websites on current generation is incredible. I have notice people giving out false information on dating websites just to catch the attention of apposite sex. What a misuse of resources. The money wasted on such websites can be utilize for better work.

Websites like fropper.com, orkut.com are wasting millions of dollars just to get registered user. As we all know registration is free and you can easily find person in and around your city.These dating websites have more bad effect then good it does. Every day we get to read of people cheating apposite sex with various means available on dating websites. Where will these end and when. I feel now these becoming a harmful virus. We need to have some control management for such websites.

What you feel? Your comments and suggestion is appreciated.

Bob Woolmer and India

2007-03-23T11:05:00.000+05:30

Today is most important day in Indian Cricket. Yes today India needs to win against the powerful Sri Lankan to avoid elimination from cricket world cup.

What if India lose? What if we don’t make it to next round?
Many will say it’s just a game so take it as a game and move ahead.
I disagree with such people. Either they are not Indians or they are ignorant about cricket. For them it may be just a game but for us it is a religion. We worship our cricketers. We adore them when they win we cry out them when they lose. We as the fanatic cricket nation cannot imagine going out in the first round of world cup. We are too good a team to lose so early.

Rahul Dravid has to lead from front. Many players job will be at stake. All the players need to perform together as a team and not dependent on Sachin Tendulkar to score runs for them.

I hope and pray that we win and avoid a Pakistan like situation. Look at the Pakistani team. They are in shambles, their coach Bob Woolmer is dead. Woolmer is murdered according to Jamaican police. Bookies and some players are suspect. Inzamam has retired from ODI and worst of all they are out of the world cup. Woolmer must have never thought in his life that his end would be so tragic and painful. I pray for his soul. May he rest in peace.

-Stella

Problem with cheap Air Fare

2007-03-20T10:37:00.000+05:30

Have you ever travelled with these cheap Airlines like Air Deccan, Sahara Airlines or Spice Jet? If not then please do not even try it. I had an horrifying experience with Air Deccan. These day you have so many websites coming up where you can avail very good discount on air tickets. Websites like makemytrip.com, cleartrip.com, filghtraja.com, yatra.com etc are doing good business in terms of revenue.

I booked my ticket from makemytrip.com in the month of January. I was so happy to get a cheap air ticket from Mumbai to Delhi. But all that change when I arrived at airport to board my flight. The flight was delayed for more then 3 hours with out any reason. The crew was least helpful. There was hardly any leg space between the seats. All in all a horrible experience. My advice to you all is avoid Air Deccan as far as possible. I wrote to Air Decaan as well as to makemytrip.com regarding my experience. Makemytrip.com has replies to me and I am still to get an answer from Air Deccan. These cheap flights really suck.

The only good point regarding the cheap air tickets I came across was online booking of makemytrip.com

-Stella

Cricket World Cup 2007 and Sachin

2007-03-16T11:34:00.000+05:30

The biggest and most important tournament in Cricket has just begun in West Indies. And we all know how cricket and cricketers are treated in India, let’s hope they win the Cricket world cup 2007.

Sachin
Once while walking out of Mumbai International Airport I notice a huge crowd out side it. I thought it might be due to Prime Minister visit to Mumbai and people must have gather to greet him. But soon I was to realize my foolishness and ignorance. Out came a little man with curly hair wearing Sunglasses and the crowd went berserk. Yes you got it correct it was The Great Sachin Tendulkar. The security team had tough time controlling the crowd who wanted to touch him, kiss him, some even wanted to take him to their houses! Such is the charisma of Sachin that he is like GOD to us.

The country adores him and wants him to perform every time ho goes out on cricket field. Soon we will have temple build to his name. The cricket world cup 2007 in West Indies may be his last and we hope he goes out in glory of winning the World Cup 2007. I wish best of luck to him and Rahul Dravid’s team.
Go and get the Cricket World Cup from West Indies. We all support you.
Please see the schedule for World cup matches.

Tue, Mar 13 WI v/s Pak 1st ODI, Group D Kingston, Jamaica
Wed, Mar 14 Aus v/s Scot 2nd ODI, Group A Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis
Wed, Mar 14 Ken v/s Can 3rd ODI, Group C Gros Islet, St. Lucia
Thu, Mar 15 SL v/s Ber 4th ODI, Group B Port of Spain,Trinidad & Tobago
Thu, Mar 15 Zim v/s Ire 5th ODI, Group D Kingston, Jamaica
Fri, Mar 16 SA v/s Net 6th ODI, Group A Warner Park, Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis
Fri, Mar 16 Eng v/s NZ 7th ODI, Group C Beausejour Stadium, St. Lucia
Sat, Mar 17 Ind v/s Ban 8th ODI, Group B Port of Spain,Trinidad & Tobago
Sat, Mar 17 Pak v/s Ire 9th ODI, Group D Kingston, Jamaica
Sun, Mar 18 Aus v/s Net 10th ODI, Group A Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis
Sun, Mar 18 Eng v/s Can 11th ODI, Group C Gros Islet, St. Lucia
Mon, Mar 19 Ind v/s Ber 12th ODI, Group B Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
Mon, Mar 19 WI v/s Zim 13th ODI, Group D Kingston, Jamaica
Tue, Mar 20 SA v/s Scot 14th ODI, Group A Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis
Tue, Mar 20 NZ v/s Ken 15th ODI, Group C Gros Islet, St. Lucia
Wed, Mar 21 SL v/s Ban 16th ODI, Group B Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
Wed, Mar 21 Zim v/s Pak 17th ODI, Group D Kingston, Jamaica
Thu, Mar 22 Net v/s Scot 18th ODI, Group A Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis
Thu, Mar 22 NZ v/s Can 19th ODI, Group C Gros Islet, St. Lucia
Fri, Mar 23 Ind v/s SL 20th ODI, Group B Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
Fri, Mar 23 WI v/s Ire 21st ODI, Group D Kingston, Jamaica
Sat, Mar 24 Aus v/s SA 22nd ODI, Group A Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis
Sat, Mar 24 Eng v/s Ken 23rd ODI, Group C Gros Islet, St. Lucia
Sun, Mar 25 Ber v/s Ban 24th ODI, Group B Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
Tue, Mar 27 Runner up Group D v/s Winner Group A Second Stage Super-8 Series 1st ODI Antigua & Barbuda
Wed, Mar 28 Runner up Group A v/s Winner Group B Second Stage Super-8 Series 2nd ODI Guyana
Thu, Mar 29 Runner up Group D v/s Winner Group C Second Stage Super-8 Series 3rd ODI Antigua & Barbuda
Fri, Mar 30 Winner Group D v/s Runner up Group C Second Stage Super-8 Series 4th ODI Guyana
Sat, Mar 31 Winner Group A v/s Runner up Group B Second Stage Super-8 Series 5th ODI Antigua & Barbuda
Sun, Apr 1 Runner up Group D v/s Winner Group B Second Stage Super-8 Series 6th ODI Guyana
Mon, Apr 2 Runner up Group B v/s Winner Group C Second Stage Super-8 Series 7th ODI Antigua & Barbuda
Tue, Apr 3 Winner Group D v/s Runner up Group A Second Stage Super-8 Series 8th ODI Guyana
Wed, Apr 4 Runner up Group C v/s Winner Group B Second Stage Super-8 Series 9th ODI Antigua & Barbuda
Sat, Apr 7 Runner up Group B v/s Runner up Group A Second Stage Super-8 Series 10th ODI Guyana
Sun, Apr 8 Winner Group A v/s Runner up Group C Second Stage Super-8 Series 11th ODI Antigua & Barbuda
Mon, Apr 9 Winner Group D v/s Winner Group C Second Stage Super-8 Series 12th ODI Guyana
Tue, Apr 10 Runner up Group D v/s Runner up Group A Second Stage Super-8 Series 13th ODI Grenada
Wed, Apr 11 Runner up Group C v/s Runner up Group B Second Stage Super-8 Series 14th ODI Bridgetown,Barbados
Thu, Apr 12 Winner Group B v/s Winner Group C Second Stage Super-8 Series 15th ODI St George's, Grenada
Fri, Apr 13 Winner Group A v/s Winner Group D Second Stage Super-8 Series 16th ODI Bridgetown, Barbados
Sat, Apr 14 Runner up Group A v/s Winner Group C Second Stage Super-8 Series 17th ODI St George's, Grenada
Sun, Apr 15 Winner Group D v/s Runner up Group B Second Stage Super-8 Series 18th ODI Bridgetown, Barbados
Mon, Apr 16 Winner Group A v/s Winner Group B Second Stage Super-8 Series 19th ODI St George's, Grenada
Tue, Apr 17 Runner up Group A v/s Runner up Group C Second Stage Super-8 Series 20th ODI Bridgetown, Barbados
Wed, Apr 18 Winner Group D v/s Winner Group B Second Stage Super-8 Series 21st ODI St George's, Grenada
Thu, Apr 19 Runner up Group D v/s Runner up Group B Second Stage Super-8 Series 22nd ODI Bridgetown, Barbados
Fri, Apr 20 Winner Group A v/s Winner Group C Second Stage Super-8 Series 23rd ODI St George's, Grenada
Sat, Apr 21 Runner up Group D v/s Runner up Group C Second Stage Super-8 Series 24th ODI Bridgetown, Barbados
Tue, Apr 24 2 v/s 3 1st SemiFinal ODI Kingston, Jamaica
Wed, Apr 25 1 v/s 4 2nd SemiFinal ODI Gros Islet, St. Lucia
Sat, Apr 28 1 v/s 4 Final ODI Bridgetown, Barbados

EXPECTATION is the mother of all FIGHTS

2007-03-13T13:18:00.000+05:30

There are so many words for a broken heart...its hard to see and let them all out!!

An EXPECTATION is the mother of all sadness in this world! Everyone has expectations with each other, be it any relationship – Mother – Daughter, Sister – Brother, 2 friends, Girlfriend – Boyfriend, Husband – Wife….in each and every relation we have expectations that we have against the opp. person, and when the opp. person does not fulfill or work against that expectation, fights start, relationship starts breaking, people walk out of ones life..etc…Everyone wants the opp. person to live like the way they want them to…and in that desire they try to change the opposite person…..this is where relationships start to fall apart.

For an ideal relationship I think one should accept the opposite person for who they are and not for whom they want them to be. Trying to change someone by itself is only the biggest crime which is responsible for breaking relationships.
If we sit and think about it if we stop expecting stuff from the opposite persons then the relation will not only flourish but will also become strong and will indeed be long lasting!
I am not saying you should not expect anything from the opp. person….you should! You surely should! But those expectations should be real…should be within the reach of the opp. person to fulfill…and most importantly it should not ask the opp. person to change his personality.

Let people be as they are….let them be whom they are…every individual is UNIQUE…so try and love them for whom they are!!

Think about it in this way….have you ever expected anything from a person? If yes…then it is time for you to sit and think about it!

Take my advice and see how most of your fights in any relationship just vanish!

Gavaskar-Ponting on the battlefield

2007-03-13T11:57:00.001+05:30

What the hell the current Australian captain thinks of himself? Gavaskar is absolutely right in criticizing the sportsman spirit of Ponting and his team. Even the Windies in their super prime were not so arrogant.

Ricky thinks that the Australian team all time great but I agree with Gavaskar's comment on the social behavior of Australian team. This Australian team doesn’t have any sense of this great game and how it is played on best spirit. They will be soon dethrone from their top position by the Indians and South African team.

The World Cup is definitely going to different country this time. We support you Gavaskar. And mind you Ricky you are not even half the player what Gavaskar was and Sachin Tendulkar is.Below is the details of Gavaskar-Ponting controversy
Gavaskar: Australia had been an "awesome" team over the last decade but are "awful in the way they have sometimes behaved on the field.

Ricky Ponting: For Gavaskar to go on about behaviour, not too many captains have dragged their teams off the field. If you are really dominating teams for a long period of time, I don't think you end up having too many supporters around the place.

Jobs for you

2007-03-11T15:28:00.000+05:30

Colleges are the days of fun and more fun. Those are the days of naive adulthood. Those are the day’s whole world seems to be under our control. The only thing that makes us depress is thought when one will be out of college what future course his/her life takes.

This is where we have .com companies like www.timesjob.com, www.monster.com, www.JobsAhead.com, www.clickjobs.com, JobsAhead.com and www.naukri.com coming to our rescue. They are bridge between you and a great job.

An individual just out of college thinks that the only way to get a good job is by posting there resume on such jobs website. What makes them do so? Is it a trust on these companies or it’s a first job syndrome? I guess its mixture of both.

Let us take the TRUST part. Why it’s easy to trust these jobs websites? What makes million of people trust these jobs websites? The only answer to it is the work done by such jobs websites in providing lot of people with the right type of job. Each day you have some job opening mail in your email. Each day thousands of people are moving towards better future with better job opportunity. All this goes a long way in building trust.If you are an engineer, programmer, manager, HRD, finance, journalist, professor or even a watchman looking for job try posting your resume on one these jobs websites and you won’t be disappointed by them, take my word for it.

My personal experience so far with jobs site are excellent. Daily Iget 5-5 opening from monster.com and naukri.com. My personal favorite is clickjobs.com but even monster.com is good. You can try both to start with monster.com as well as naukri.com. I am appreciate effort of all the people responsible for such wonderful idea.

I would really like everyone to have a decent job.

-Stella Roy

Are you a Billionaire?

2007-03-10T10:30:00.000+05:30

The new Forbes list of billionaires are out and it's no shock that the list is growing every year.
Bill Gates remains at the Top for 13 consecutive years! Is there anyone who can dethrone him? I don't think so, unless you have rebirth of our very own Dhirubhai Ambani.

There are 178 newcomers, including 19 Russians, 14 Indians, 13 Chinese and 10 Spaniards, as well as the first billionaires from Cyprus, Oman, Romania and Serbia.

The list of richest Indian are given below.

Lakshmi Mittal
Mukesh Ambani
Anil Ambani
Azim Premji
Kushal Pal Singh
Sunil Mittal & family
Kumar Mangalam Birla
Shashi & Ravi Ruia
Ramesh Chandra
Pallonji Mistry
Adi Godrej & family
Shiv Nadar
Anil Agarwal
Dilip Shanghvi
Indu Jain
Cyrus Poonawalla
Kalanidhi Maran
Grandhi Rao
Savitri Jindal & family
Tulsi Tanti
Subhash Chandra
Uday Kotak
Baba Kalyani
Malvinder & Shivinder Singh
NR Narayana Murthy
Venugopal Dhoot
Anurag Dikshit
Jaiprakash Gaur
Vijay Mallya
Vikas Oberoi
Naresh Goyal
Nandan Nilekani
Senapathy Gopalakrishnan
Rahul Bajaj
Pradeep Jain
Keshub Mahindra

Lets wait and watch who will be in next list of Forbes.

-Stella

Destiny and GOD

2006-07-26T18:22:00.000+05:30

"Destiny is what I believe in" is what everyone says..what we think, what we want, all that is mere our imagination and remains only till us.

But if you strive for your dream and run behind it you can make it come true, but such cases are very rare and almost impossible. People say our destiny is written by GOD even before we were born, what I don’t understand here is, if the destiny was written before hand then why is there so much of violence in the world? Why people hate each other's religion? Why are people dying of poverty?

If someone does a great job and is rewarded for it...everyone says that was his destiny and all the credit is given to GOD, but at the same time when someone kills someone or does a bad job...nobody says that was written in his destiny and that he was destined to kill someone or do a bad job...in fact all blame goes to the person who has committed the crime!!!....why such a big discrimination?

I fail to understand the logic behind this and peoples mindset....Is there anyone who can explain?

Life indeed is beautiful! For WHOM?

2006-07-23T21:34:00.000+05:30

Some people are born with silver spoon in their mouth while some are born with fire in their mouth. Some are born to enjoy life whereas some come into this world to struggle to get a piece of bread for their living.

Everyone belongs to ONE GOD. We all are HIS children then why so much difference in life that he has given us?

Look at people in Middle east, what they get when they come into this world? they get missiles, fire, guns and bullets to play with. In the end its the same weapon they die with which they started their childhood. At the same time children born in Western Countries get all the luxury of life. They get better education system to study and a better toys to play with. I have not seen any child born as terrorist by birth. It ‘s the circumstance that makes him one. If you bomb their houses blast their grounds with military tanks its oblivious they will take revenge when they grow up. What’s happening in Israel and Lebanon today can happen tomorrow with you and your children.

Lets not give them hatred that they don’t value other’s life. Give them love and you will get love in return and if you give them bullets then someday they will give you death. Let us work together to make every life on this planet beautiful . Life indeed is a beautiful gift to us from GOD let’s not waste it on hatred.

-Stella

Love with Reliance and NOKIA MOBILE

2006-07-22T11:15:00.000+05:30

Just came back from an assignment to interview, guess whom? a high profile stock broker! Yes this man they say started dealing in stocks with $ 20 and now he is worth more than $ 10 million! don’t understand what he will do with so much of money. He has only one love in life and that is of Nokia mobile phone. He says its Nokia the company that he would like to invest. I saw around 21 differnt model of Nokia cell phone in his office! Wish he likes me and buy me a private jet! LOL

Today was the big day. The Reliance came up with quarterly results and as expected everything related to money went up at Reliance. No surprise, no thrill its same boring stuff since the senior Late Ambani started RIL. We all know it will do well it has now become a habit. This quarter it went up 10.7% and next quarter again it will go up by certain numeric 3 digit. RIL is growing so fast that one day we will breath AIR provided and maintained by RIL LOL! Nothing much to say just going to get my lunch then will start to give final touch to the interview that I took of this big shot broker.

-Stella

only sex sell!

2006-07-21T21:15:00.000+05:30

ONLY SEX and Shah Rukh Khan ( Indian Movie Superstar) sell in Bollywood, this was comment made by one of the newcomers in movie industry. I would also like to quote one of the yesteryears Hollywood actress who said that working in Hollywood gives you an idea how a systematic and professional prostitution racket works.

Everyone like sex! Some get it for free some pay for it and if you are a movie producer in either Hollywood or Bollywood you get it left, right and center. Young girls who wants to make it big in movie industry are easy targets for sex for big movie producers. They offer them roles /part in their movie in favor of sex! I have personally seen many girls do such act. One of top model is still doing such thing. Well if you want to be a movie star then start preparing for sexual lesson at very early age.

What is your opinion will you sleep with someone in some favor that he may do to you?

-Stella Roy

they sucks!

2006-07-20T13:41:00.001+05:30

Due to recent tragedy in India, the Indian government has banned most of the blog site from India. Such a pity that I can access some of my own blogs. What a stupid thing to do! Hope soulcast is not one in their list of ban. My freedom of speech is curtail and I am disgusted. These politicians just know to enjoy them self and fill their own bank balance.

Do you think by doing such thing the anti social element will stop doing their cowardly act? Such a great country is ruined by such mentally retarded politicians. We have Mr Bush who doesn’t seem to learn lesson from Iraq and continues to interfere in other country ‘s problem to make it worse.

-Stella

Terror has no religion

2006-07-13T15:24:00.000+05:30

Several hours have passed now. More than 200 people have been detained by the Mumbai Police. Some say its SIMI and some believe that its LeT. Whoever it is they should be punish. They should not be allowed to take more innoncent life anywhere else. America or India terror has no takers.

The blast site is almost stone throw distance from my office. Saw so many injured that day. Have you ever been so close to death? Have you been to any hospital where the injured are being treated? Do you know anyone who needs help? Do you know the people who are responsible for such cowardly act. If yes please help the police bt giving them as many clue as possible. We have moral responsibility towards our beSeveral hours have passed now. More than 200 people have been detained by the Mumbai Police. Some say its SIMI and some believe that its LeT. Whoever it is they should be punish. They should not be allowed to take more innocent life anywhere else. America or India terror has no takers.

We have moral duty towards our beloved brothers and sisters who became victim of terrorist. Come forward and help the people in need. There is no better feeling then helping others in time of their need. We all belong to same GOD, we all are citizens of the same world. We might have different names and religion but we have same blood color. If we are united then such terror attacks would hold no meaning.loved brothers and sisters who became victim of terrorirst. Come forward and help the people in need. There is no better feeling then helping others in time of their need. We all belong to same GOD, we all are citzens of the same world. We might have different names and religion but we have same blood color. If we are united then such terror attacks would hold no meaning.

Mumbai after blast back to normal

2006-07-12T14:18:00.000+05:30

It seems that the never die spirit of people of Mumbai makes them so strong that even the hardest of calamity cant keep them down for long time. In recent year Mumbaikar have suffer from natural flooding of July 07, 2005 and the series of blast in Mumbai trains by some anti social elements. Till now no group has come forward to claim the responsibility of the blast.

The Law order situation in the city is looking weak. The police are either helpless / incompetent or it seems that even they are part of all these attacks. Who can explain how this explosives reach into the heart of the commercial capital of the country?
This attack was unlike the one at the US World Trade Center. Every time it has been notice that the country's Intelligence is at fault. The easy excuse for them is to blame with out any proof the terrorist group like Al-Qaida or the Lakshar-e- Toiba. If they are responsible for the act of terror then for what we have all this police and IB?

The spirit of Mumbaikar will never die in those heart which are still alive but go to the home of people who have lost their close relatives and see their spirit. Try to find out if they have the same spirit as others? Nothing can ever bring joy in their life back again. They have to live with the sorrow of loosing their dear ones till they them self one day meet the same fate.

I cant express how hurt I feel every time I hear people talk about the spirit of mumbaikar. It is for me just an excuse to divert your attention from the negligence of the people who are responsible for the security of this country.

Speak up against the authority even if our voice is not heard by them. Let them know that Death doesn’t have any kind of spirit, death only brings sorrow and grief.

Blast in mumbai local train

2006-07-11T19:43:00.000+05:30

Six bomb blasts today rocked the suburban railway service in Mumbai. The Western Railway has suspended its suburban services soon after the blasts. Local telephone lines were jammed as panic-stricken commuters called their near and dear ones to alert them of the blasts.

The police have cordoned off all railway stations on the Western line and strict frisking and checking was being carried out at the Central and Harbour sections of local train services. There is lot of panic among the people of Mumbai. The airport and delhi has been put on high alert. The government has called an emergency meeting to discuss the issue. People are requested not to proceed towards the railway station.

Ridiculous! shameful!

2006-07-10T18:04:00.000+05:30

France captain Zinedine Zidane won the FIFA Golden Ball award as the outstanding player of the World Cup despite being sent off in their final penalties shootout defeat by Italy on Sunday.
The prize is decided by media votes at the tournament. Zidane received 2,012, Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro finished second (1,977) and his team mate Andrea Pirlo was third (715).

What a Shame? A player who kicks his apponent is getting the Best Player Award? What trend it will set for the young players?

-Stella

World cup winner Italy

2006-07-10T17:54:00.000+05:30

In the end it turned out to be the underdogs Italy who clinch the title by beating france. The ever green magician Zidane did stupid thing to end his career with a Red card. Shame on Zidane to do such an act. I would love to see Brazil and Argentina but they were no match for Italy's defence power