Saurav Ganguly Back In Indian Team

Ten months after Sourav Ganguly was unceremoniously dropped from the national side, the former India captain was on Thursday included in the Test squad for South Africa.

Chairman of Selectors Dilip Vengsarkar said the Indian batting had failed in the one-dayers in South Africa and that is why "experienced players have been brought back".

V V S Laxman, who was rushed to South Africa to replace an injured Rahul Dravid, was also named as vice captain of the Indian test team.

Other players who have found a place in the Test squad include Delhi opener Gautam Gambhir and Punjab pacer V R V Singh.

Buddha smiles

Ganguly last played for India against Pakistan earlier this year. Reacting to his inclusion, the Bengal Tiger said, "I hope to do my best and just go out and play."

"We have played well on bouncy wickets and have been successful. We did well in Australia and the same group of players are back," he added.

Pointing out that he had played well for the past 10 years, Ganguly maintained he would take one series at a time and was happy that he had got his place back in the team.

Elsewhere, in Kolkata, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee expressed happiness at Ganguly's return and said the move should have taken place earlier.

"That's great. It's a very good news. But I feel he should have been taken back earlier," said Bhattacharjee, an ardent fan of Ganguly.

The first Test of the three-match series starts on December 15.

The team: Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Wasim Jaffer, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, M S Dhoni, Dinesh Karthick, Sachin Tendulkar, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth.
(With PTI inputs)

Stop Online Child Abuses ....!!

Do not misunderstand its only a request

The innocent victims of Internet child abuse cannot speak for themselves

But you can.

With your help, we can eradicate this evil trade.

We do not need your money.

We need you to light a candle of support http://www.lightamillioncandles.com

We're aiming to light at least One Million Candles by December 31, 2006.

This petition will be used to encourage governments, politicians, financial institutions, payment organisations, Internet service providers, technology companies and law enforcement agencies to eradicate the commercial viability of online child abuse.

They have the power to work together. You have the power to get them to take action.

Please light your candle at lightamillioncandles.com or send an email of support to light@lightamillioncandles.com.

Together, we can destroy the commercial viability of Internet child abuse sites that are destroying the lives of innocent children.

Kindly forward this email to your friends, relatives and work colleagues so that they can light a candle too. Please spare a minute for this cause.

For http://www.lightamillioncandles.com

'Prithvi' Test Launched

November 19th India : 'Prithvi' test launched : -




Balasore (Orissa), Nov 19 (PTI) 'Prithvi', India's sophisticated surface-to-surface medium range missile, was test fired from the integrated test range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea, about 15 km from here, today.

Mounted on a mobile launcher, the indigenously built single-stage missile was test fired at 0955 hours from the launch complex no. 3 of the ITR, defence sources here said.

The missile has a range of 150 to 250 km which can be enhanced with a reduced payload.

Today's flight trial of Prithvi was carried out as "part of the country's air defence exercise", according to a defence source.

Some more trials of the missile, as a target missile, may also be conducted in the coming weeks, the source said.

The 8.65 metre high and one metre thick missile has already been inducted into the Army and two specially trained missile groups had been raised to handle the sophisticated missile.

With a launch weight of 4.6 tonne which included payload of one tonne, Prithvi can use both solid as well as liquid propellant.

The missile takes 300 seconds to reach the target located at a distance of 150 km.

As a safety measure, the Balasore district administration had temporarily evacuated 600 families (2786 persons) from villages located within a two km radius of the ITR launch pad to two large shelters this morning.

Other informations : -

• Prithvi-I has a 150 km range and a 1,000 kg payload. It has been in army service since 1994.
  


• Prithvi-II has a 250 km range and a 500-750 kg payload. It is currently in Air Force service. It was first test-fired on January 27, 1996.
  


• Prithvi-III, which has a 350 km range and a 1,000 kg payload, is currently under development. It is a longer-range, naval version of the Prithvi and is also referred to as the Dhanush. Prithv-III was first successfully tested September 21, 2001, and according to statements made by India's ministry of Defense, it will soon be operationalized and integrated into the Indian Navy

Thanks to : PTI

TAJ MAHAL - Serving to India's Pride For Centuries

Wah !! Taj Boliye

Talking about India Tourism, We start with Taj Mahal. Some believe it as the eighth wonder built here on EARTH. Its a wonderful sight to see TAJ at mid-night in a full moon night. If you have a chance to see TAJ, just go for it.

View of Taj Mahal from front-side

The Tāj Mahal (Hindi: ताज महल; Persian/Urdu: تاج محال) is a monument located in Agra, India, constructed between 1631 and 1654 by a workforce of 22,000. The Mughal Emperor Shāh Jahān commissioned its construction as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Arjumand Bano Begum, who is better known as Mumtāz.


The Taj Mahal (sometimes called "the Taj") is generally considered the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements of Persian, Indian and Islamic and The Taj Mahal has achieved special note because of the romance of its inspiration. While the white domed marble mausoleum is the most familiar part of the monument, the Taj Mahal is actually an integrated complex of structures.

Origin and inspiration

Visiting Agra in 1663, the French traveller François Bernier gave the following description of the Taj Mahal and Shah Jahan's motive for building it.

"I shall finish this letter with a description of the two wonderful mausoleums which constitute the chief superiority of Agra over Delhi. One was erected by Jehan-guyre sic in honor of his father Ekbar; and Chah-Jehan raised the other to the memory of his wife Tage Mehale, that extraordinary and celebrated beauty, of whom her husband was so enamoured it is said that he was constant to her during life, and at her death was so affected as nearly to follow her to the grave."

Threats !!

Interest in Mehtab Bagh has been piqued by increasing concern for the Taj and its grounds, which are threatened by urban sprawl, too many tourists, and air pollution that eats away at the shrine's marble exterior.

Two historians pointed out the Taj Mahal may already be tilting and could crumble or sink if the government of Uttar Pradesh, the state in which the Taj is located, did not pay immediate attention to the monument's immediate surroundings.


Of particular concern is the Yamuna river, which flows close to the Taj Mahal and now trickles rather than flows.

The classical ZIZU (Zinedine Zidane) Head - BUTT Part 1

The classical ZIZU (Zinedine Zidane) Head - BUTT Part 2

Now how you view the whole thing depends largely on your national perspective, as nicely demonstrated by a viral email i received this morning... Just scroll down and check it

As seen by the Germans

As seen by the French

As seen by the Italians

As seen by the Americans

As seen by the press

Do you have time to laugh
Please comment

Does RELIGION mean something away from HUMANITY ?????

The United States has determined that Osama bin Laden is the orchestrator of the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden, and finally, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center which killed over 3000 people. This man who has declared holy war on the U.S. -- a wealthy Saudi Arabian exile believed to be hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan with a $5 million bounty on his head.

LOOKING BACK : -

Al Qaeda was founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden to consolidate the international network he established during the Afghan war. Its goals were the advancement of Islamic revolutions throughout the Muslim world and repelling foreign intervention in the Middle East.


Bin Laden, son of a billionaire Saudi businessman, became involved in the fight against the Soviet Union’s invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, which lasted from 1979 to 1988 and ended with a Soviet defeat at the hands of international militias of Muslim fighters backed by the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Together with Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood leader, Abdullah Azzam, bin Laden ran one of seven main militias involved in the fighting. They established military training bases in Afghanistan and founded Maktab Al Khidamat, or Services Office, a support network that provided recruits and money through worldwide centers, including in the U.S.


Bin Laden and Azzam had different visions for what to do with the network they had established. Bin Laden decided to found Al Qaeda, based on personal affiliations created during the fighting in Afghanistan as well as on his own international network, reputation and access to large sums of money. The following year Azzam was assassinated. After the war ended, the Afghan-Arabs, as the mostly non-Afghan volunteers who fought the Soviets came to be known, either returned to their countries of origin or joined conflicts in Somalia, the Balkans and Chechnya. This benefited Al Qaeda’s global reach and later helped cultivate the second and third generations of Al Qaeda terrorists.


Following the first Gulf War, Al Qaeda shifted its focus to fighting the growing U.S. presence in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s most sacred shrines. Al Qaeda vociferously opposed the stationing of U.S. troops on what it considered the holiest of Islamic lands and waged an extended campaign of terrorism against the Saudi rulers, whom bin Laden deemed to be false Muslims. The ultimate goal of this campaign was to depose the Saudi royal family and install an Islamic regime on the Arabian peninsula. The Saudi regime subsequently deported bin Laden in 1992 and revoked his citizenship in 1994.


In 1991 bin Laden moved to Sudan, where he operated until 1996. During this period, Al Qaeda established connections with other terror organizations with the help of its Sudanese hosts and Iran. While in Sudan, Al Qaeda was involved in several terror attacks and guerrillaactions carried out by other organizations. In May 1996, following U.S. pressure on the Sudanese government, bin Laden moved to Afghanistan where he allied himself with the ruling Taliban.


Between 1991 and 1996, Al Qaeda took part in several major terror attacks. Al Qaeda was involved in the bombing of two hotels in Aden, Yemen, which targeted American troops en route to Somalia on a humanitarian and peacekeeping mission. It also gave massive assistance to Somali militias, whose efforts brought the eventual withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1994. Bin Laden was also involved in an assassination attempt against Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia in June 1995. Two major terrorist actions against the U.S. military in Saudi Arabia, a November 1995 attack in Riyadh and the June 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, also fit Al Qaeda’s strategy at the time, but their connection to Al Qaeda is not entirely clear. There is little evidence to suggest a significant connection between bin Laden and the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.


After moving to Afghanistan, bin Laden escalated his anti-American rhetoric. In an interview with the Independent in July 1996, bin Laden praised the Riyadh and Dhahram attacks on U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia, saying it marked “the beginning of war between Muslims and the United States.” He did not take responsibility for the attacks, but said that “not long ago, I gave advice to the Americans to withdraw their troops from Saudi Arabia.” On August 23, 1996, bin Laden issued Al Qaeda’s first “declaration of war” against America, his “Message from Osama bin Laden to his Muslim brothers in the whole world and especially in the Arabian Peninsula: declaration of jihad against the Americans occupying the Land of the Two Holy Mosques (Saudi Arabia); expel the heretics from the Arabian Peninsula.”


In February 1998 bin Laden and several leading Muslim militants declared the formation of a coalition called the International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders to fight the U.S. Member organizations included Al Qaeda, the Egyptian Islamic Jihad led by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian Islamic Group, and organizations engaged in Kashmir and Bangladesh. Bin Laden was appointed to head the Front’s council (shura). The militants signed a fatwa (religious opinion) outlining the Front’s ideology and goals. The fatwa was published in a London-based Arabic paper, Al Quds Al Arabi; it called on all Muslims to “kill the Americans and their allies - civilians and military,” wherever they may be.


Subsequently, Al Qaeda escalated its war against the U.S. In August 1998, Al Qaeda bombed two U.S. embassies in East Africa (Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) killing more than 200 people, including 12 Americans. In retaliation, the U.S. attacked targets in Sudan and Afghanistan. In October 2000, Al Qaeda bombed the U.S.S. Cole, an American guided-missile destroyer at Aden, Yemen, killing 17 American servicemen. It committed its most devastating attack on September 11, 2001, when 19 Al Qaeda operatives hijacked four passenger planes and drove two into the Twin Towers in New York City and one into the Pentagon; a fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attack.


Thanks to

Anti-Defamation League and wgbh educational foundation

SYNOPSIS : -

Not moving into any issues about who was wrong let me conclude by saying that these assassinations resulted in death of thousands and if not lakhs. Many of them didn't even know OSAMA BIN LADEN or his JEHAD. How long can this continue ???


Are we not becoming a fear machine ???


Once activated we start praying for our own. When will we understand HUMANITY. Or is it a BIG JOKE FOR THIS CENTURY ???? Are we guided only by RELIGION and not by the BLOOD, which itself says that the colour is INDIFFERENT. Its a question to this society and the fear guns from this society itself ?????
How long will it take to answer ???


Please comment to tell about your views ....

Will justice be done? ........

Celebrity crimes hog the headlines for a while and then disappear ... just like the victim and the likely perpetrator.

WHAT do Natasha Singh and 900 people in Gujarat have in common? They are all dead, murdered in cold blood. But a macabre ending is not the only thing they share.
It's understandable if you ask, "Natasha, who?" Her CV is brief, for she was young and just setting off on life's journey. She came of Jordanian-Indian parentage, studied at St. Stephen's College, did a brief stint in modelling and teaching before deciding that photography was her true calling. The only notable thing she did was to marry Jagat Singh and when the marriage started to unravel, have the temerity to cross him.


The police believe that Natasha Singh committed suicide by jumping from an upper floor of a Delhi hotel; her family believes she was pushed. There is enough evidence to support both sides. But even if she did kill herself, it's likely that she was pushed. Not literally, but figuratively: Natasha Singh and her boyfriend had been physically attacked (the latter publicly by her ex-husband), she had received a stream of abusive messages, allegedly from Jagat Singh and she was embroiled in an ugly custodial battle with him over her two children. She had even lodged police complaints citing threats to her life.


But it's unlikely that her death will be investigated seriously; the suicide theory suits Jagat Singh and so, after a routine investigation, the case will be closed. After all, Jagat Singh is the son of Natwar Singh, political bigwig, AICC member, former minister and Gandhi family confidante.


The Natasha Singh "suicide" will then join the roster of celebrity crimes, which hog the headlines for a week or two and then disappear, forever, from public view. The victim is forgotten, except by the immediate family. What is worse is that the likely perpetrator of the crime is forgotten by the police, the prosecutors and by the law. He resumes, as if the interruption never happened, his position of power and influence in society.


The list is very long, but just the more familiar names will do. Nitish Katara, the executive allegedly murdered by a Punjab politician's son because he was romantically involved with his sister; the rape and murder of law student Priyadarshini Mattoo ; the killing — in front of a roomful of eye witnesses — of model Jessica Lal ; the gruesome Tandoor murder ... Then there is the BMW hit and run case where the son of a retired navy admiral ran into and killed a number of policemen on duty but was given the freedom to study in the United States; the Puru Rajkumar case in Mumbai where the actor's son ran over and killed several slum dwellers and got away with a light fine.


And the murder of badminton champion Syed Modi, whose alleged killer was not only set free because of insufficient evidence but married Modi's widow and became a minister. And now, hot off the presses, the Gulshan Kumar murder in which 18 of the 19 accused have been let off for lack of evidence.


What the judge said on freeing the accused in the Priyadarshini Mattoo case sums up the whole sorry state of affairs. "Though I know," he said, "the defendant is guilty, my hands are tied. As a judge, I can only go by the evidence provided by the investigating agencies." The Mattoo case was in Delhi; the Gulshan Kumar case in Mumbai. Two distinct investigating agencies in two of the biggest and most developed cities. The end result is the same. A rapist and murderer walks free in one case; in the other, the hired gun gets caught and convicted. The people who hired him will live happily ever after.


This, then, is what Natasha Singh and the victims of the Gujarat carnage have in common besides their unnatural deaths. Any hopes their families may have of getting posthumous justice rest with the investigating agencies. Any thoughts that may cross their minds that the killers will be punished for their crimes depend on the evidence unearthed by the police. Any faith they may have in the judicial system isn't tested because even the fairest judge can only weigh the proof that's presented to him. And the proof and the evidence is never adequately presented. In some cases because of incompetence; in cases involving the rich and the powerful, because of wilful neglect.

But these are post facto considerations. The rot starts much earlier, right at the beginning. Because what Natasha Singh and the Gujarat victims also share is the same milieu; an atmosphere where there is no respect for law and order. Natasha Singh may not have been murdered, she may have been merely pushed, nevertheless the ones who did the pushing knew that they could "influence" the investigations.


Jessica Lal was murdered, but her killer knew that his connections would ensure that even an open-and-shut case could be shut. The people who killed and burnt and raped in Gujarat felt similarly empowered too. They knew the police were on their side; they knew State Government was on their side; they knew that even the Central Government was with them. Why would they, then, be afraid? That's why no one, not one single individual who is rich or powerful has been put into jail in the last 50 years.


That's why no rioter, not a single one has been punished for the communal disturbances that have broken out in our country every few years. And when these killers walk around freely like you and me, a time will come when some of us too will become like them, killers who walk free.


Originally published by Mr ANIL DHARKER @ The Hindu
Reposted here to urge common mass whats happening ??

Clash Of The Titans : ICC Champions Trophy 2006 Finale

Will it be them ?????



or

Will it be them ?????





Australia are the defending world cup winners whereas the West Indians are the defendinng mini-world cup winners.

Australia is yet to win this tournament and at the same time West Indians though have fought well had to qualify for the tournament.

Ponting or Lara .. who's going to smile ..

Gayle or Martyn ... Whos going to be K.O. man

Everything waits for us. Its just days left. For the time being why dont you express your views.

Umrao Jaan 2 On Move

Genre : Period Drama
Co-Starring : Shabana Azmi, Abhishek Bachchan, Suniel Shetty, Divya Dutta, Himani Shivpuri, Puru Raaj Kumar & Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Director : J.P. Dutta
Date of Release : November 3rd, 2006

How will it be ??? Will it be like the old legend or will it move pass everything ....

So what are you waiting for. Comment ....

Shah Rukh Khan turns 41

First of all let me wish you Happy Birthday.

We all call him Shahrukh King Khan. The first time he was introduced to the Bollywood industry, he was a stammering lover boy hero with "K...k...k...kiran" image. Its years and ages now. The best thing about him is that he has matured a lot with time. The last film i saw was "DON". Its rocking.

Today, November 2, Shah Rukh Khan turns 41.


Its a tribute to the hero ......


Shah Rukh Khan Filmography (Thanks to apunkachoice)

Don ( Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Isha Koppikar)
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna ( Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta, Abhishek Bachchan, Arjun Rampal, Kiron Kher)
Paheli ( Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Juhi Chawla, Amitabh Bachchan, Sunil Shetty, Anupam Kher)
Swades ( Shah Rukh Khan, Gayatri Joshi, Kishori Ballal, Master Smit Sheth)
Veer Zaara ( Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee)
Main Hoon Na ( Shah Rukh Khan, Sunil Shetty, Amrita Rao, Naseeruddin Shah, Sushmita Sen, Zayed Khan)
Kal Ho Na Ho ( Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Saif Ali Khan)
Chalte Chalte ( Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee)
Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam ( Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Salman Khan)
Devdaas ( Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit)
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham ( Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Kajol, Kareena Kapoor)
Asoka ( Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Danny Denzongpa, Hrishitaa Bhatt, Rahul Dev)
One 2 Ka 4 ( Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Jackie Shroff)
Mohabbatein ( Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Uday Chopra, Jugal Hansraj, Jimmy Shergill, Shamita Shetty, Kim Sharma, Preeti Jhangiani, Aishwarya Rai)
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai ( Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Salman Khan)
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge ( Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol)
Pardes ( Shah Rukh Khan, Mahima Chaudhary, Amrish Puri)
Koyla ( Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit)
Dil To Pagal Hai ( Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Karisma Kapoor, Akshay Kumar)
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani ( Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Shakti Kapoor)
Hey Ram ( Kamal Haasan, Rani Mukherjee, Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah)
Josh ( Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Priya Gill, Chandrachur Singh, Sharad Kapoor)
Baadshah ( Shah Rukh Khan, Twinkle Khanna, Rakhee Gulzar, Amrish Puri, Johnny Lever)

Hey everybody what are you waiting for. Give me some comments.