Ginger Chai

Blood Donors – Just a click away

Lakshmi Rajan — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 07:24:46 +0000

At times of dire emergency finding blood donors may be very difficult and if the blood happens to be rare types it becomes a grim situation. I have had first hand experience since my father who is a cancer patient needs blood every month and his is AB negative , a rare blood group. I have seen people treating blood as commodity taking advantage of the situation. If you are in such situations and looking out for blood donors now they are just a click away. Here are two websites well managed to help you find blood donors. IndianBloodDonors.comKhushroo Poacha is a man who has saved 100s of lives because he cared for human life. Many of us have heard of people dying due to non availability of blood, few of us might have witnessed it and forgotten it. But Khushroo Poacha did not forget when he saw someone dying as no blood was available on time. Khushroo Poacha was not a millionaire, he had a family to look after in his limited salary, but his love for human life and pain he felt on watching people die made him do something extraordinary. He launched http://indianblooddonors.com/ from his own pocket in Mid [...]

Ed Wood – Review

Mani Padma — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:47:40 +0000

Tim Burton and JohnnyDepp combo is always guaranteed to give you something different .Example? – Edward Scissorhands, Sweeny Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Ed wood… Oh you haven’t heard of Ed wood? Well then, Ed wood it is today, but before that let me give you a few background details. Ed wood is a biopic. A biopic or a biographical picture. And now who was Ed Wood. Jr- A hero? A great martyr? Rock star? Freedom fighter? Ah no! There lies the first “it’s different” point. He was no hero rather Ed Wood was voted the worst director of all times and a cross dresser to boot. 2nd “its different “point is that though it is a 1994 movie, it has been made in black and white to give the feel of the 1930s and forty’s to which Ed Wood belonged . The costumes, mannerisms, sets bears no resemblance to its ninety’s production period. There are other ‘it’s different’ points too, but we will come to that later This Tim Burton directed movie starred along with Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker and was commercially not well received, but was critically acclaimed and won the Oscar for Martin Landau and for [...]

We lost everything to fire but not the spirit…

Mani Padma — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:13:41 +0000

What does a 16 year old girl normally converse about? School? Career? Dresses? Movies? Music? Boys? Well, when I and Astha Srivastava (name changed), a sixteen year old from Bal Bharti School, resident of Saraswati Vihar, Delhi had a chat, none of the above topics were discussed. She instead narrated to me an incident or rather an accident of her life which left a deep impact on her mind. The night of 24th May 2010 had progressed as usual, – dinner, easy banter with her brother- in other words family time. The first signs of unusualness was noted when the electricity started fluctuating erratically, but they thought it to be some power problem in the electricity board, and ignored it. At around 11.45 pm, call it divine intervention or a miracle, the door bell went off. Her brother opened the door to see who it was but surprisingly there was no one at the door. He was just about to shut the door when he noticed smoke coming out from the outer room in the portico, the room where the electrical meter box was placed. He screamed for his father, who then rushed into the room to find the meter box on [...]

We are family – review

Lakshmi Rajan — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 03:49:33 +0000

Stepmom was a wonderful movie of its time and still evokes emotions. Karan Johar has taken the official rights for adaptation of the movie but he missed out a point that much reels have flown since Stepmom’s release. In Kal Ho Na Ho again a KJo’s production, we have seen enough of melodrama and wasted many tissues to hide the tears while watching Shahrukh undergo a slow death while making us smile inbetween. So We are family does not evoke the emotion it intends to and ends up bit out dated for current audience. Maya (Kajol) is a single mother of three kids – A perfect mom for picture perfect 2 daughters and one son. A happy family who dreams of living happily ever after… Inspite of the divorce the kids still love their dad, Aman (Arjun Rampal). Aman wants Shreya (Kareena), a career oriented upcoming fashion designer, to get into good terms with his kids. The drama starts from here and heightens when Maya is diagnosed terminally ill and Shreya tries to fill in the shoes of Maya on her behest and climaxes with over dose of sentiments and typical Kjo family drama all in picture perfect Australian setting. It’s a [...]

Practical Spirituality – The regulative principles

Ambi — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 02:12:34 +0000

Everything in this universe, except for the Supreme Lord, has to follow rules and perform the prescribed duties. But Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that though he is not bound by any rules, he still executes his duties so as to set an example to all the souls. BG 3.22: O son of Pṛthā, there is no work prescribed for Me within all the three planetary systems. Nor am I in want of anything, nor have I a need to obtain anything — and yet I am engaged in prescribed duties. BG 3.23: For if I ever failed to engage in carefully performing prescribed duties, O Pārtha, certainly all men would follow My path. Spiritual practice can be a different experience depending on which path one takes. In general, the best path to take would be and should be the easiest one, is it not? This applies to spirituality as well. But easy does not mean “no rules”. There is a common misconception that is going around that you can do anything you want as long as you say a few prayers and ask for forgiveness. Some even go to the extent to say “Oh, Krishna is like my friend. He just [...]

Delightful Dubai

Anney Thomas — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:41:21 +0000

It was a hot summer morning and I had a day off; smack in the middle of the week…this meant just one thing – Girls day out. “Get ready to go wild!” I said as I scanned the paper for the weather report. Anjali hopped up and down… “Are we going shopping? Can we go to Deira City Center? Can we go to the movies? Will we go in the metro today? Can you buy me bubble gum? Will we get to the bear store?” The questions were endless. I sighed. The July and August were two of the hottest months in the year. The temperatures soared up to 48⁰C during the day and humidity of up to 70% in the night. A day out in Dubai meant packing light, drinking tons of water, dressing sensibly and lots of sun. Dubai has two sides; Bur Dubai and Deira. Both are well populated and known for different things. Both has Creek parks, Souqs (Markets), shopping malls and places to hang out. Since we had the whole day, I decided to explore both shores after all Dubai is SHOPPER’S PARADISE. “The plan for today…Mall hopping, shopping and more shopping” I said as a loud [...]

I Paid A Bribe – Have you?

Lakshmi Rajan — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:10:31 +0000

Bribed? Didn’t bribe? Powerless? Victimized? Angry? Now you have a place to vent your anguish, anger, opinions and simply your story. IPaidABribe.com is Janaagraha’s unique initiative to tackle corruption by harnessing the collective energy of citizens. You can report on the nature, number, pattern, types, location, frequency and values of actual corrupt acts on this website. Janagraha is a Bangalore based NGO that works with citizens and government to change the quality of life in India’s cities and towns. Along with the reporting stories, the website also helps you in understanding how the government setups works and how you can avoid the corruption maze.The website is well made with neat looks and functionality. The Tell us your story link has 4 options: • I paid a bribe • I didn’t pay a bribe • I didn’t have to pay a bribe • I don’t want to pay a bribe And the link also has the view bribe reports to browse through all the reader’s entries. I didn’t want to pay a bribe takes us to the FAQ section where it details the procedures and requirements in various department so as to enable you to avoid the bribe sharks. As of now the site FAQ are for Bangalore and even [...]

First Blood

Gayatri — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 05:40:08 +0000

She was scared. He came close to her, she felt the puncture wound, he started taking in her blood. She was aghast, but his handsome face eased her pain. She was prepared to face the outcome of this unavoidable ritual. He looked deep into her eyes, said “come tomorrow to collect your blood test results”. For more about 55 fiction click here Related Posts:Blood Donors – Just a click awayAnother adult annihilated!The Quest for BloodBPL Teams – Name and LogoThe Law of Parent’s Approval

Alto K10 – review

Sanjiv Vakharia — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 06:12:32 +0000

When the going gets tough, the tough gets thinking. Well, the going is definitely a rat-race in the Rs. 3.5 – 4.5 Lakhs car segment with Beats, Figos, i10s, Sparks, A-stars among others vying for the road space. Bring more range of cars and grab a big slice of the pie is what Maruti’s mantra appears to be. Already, Alto is the largest selling car in India and Maruti has spruced up its flagship model to bring out a new variant to carve a new segment in the entry level hatchback. They have given a new wardrobe and a heart to the 10 year old Alto and christened it Alto K10. Let’s get into the body and soul of the new baby in the road.No one can question the brand value of Alto, it has numbers on its side. So Maruti decides to smartly ride on the brand success instead of bringing out a new car with a new name. The design team has added some 125 mm to the front of the car to nest the 1000 cc K-series engine. The front sports an eagle eye shaped head lamp with an amber colored turn indicators. The body colored bumper [...]

Dear Old, Dirty Jeans

Pranjal Srivastava — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 02:49:44 +0000

Dear old, dirty jeans, I love you. You know I do… I really do. I have loved you, still love you and will keep loving you. You have been there with me through thick and thin… you have shared my grief and joy. You cried with me when I did and rejoiced in my happiness… we were inseparable… we were exuberant… we were loud… we didn’t care or in our language- we didn’t give a F. I still remember how our affair started… 7th of august 2006- I joined room no 218 in Bhabha Hall of residence, NIT Jamshedpur. I knew this is the start of a new life with all that build up being made up about college life by the people around me- my family and friends but little did I knew this was the start of a whole new affair. You were with me even then but till then I had been at my home… the safe world where parents took care of the every single need- from toothbrush to examination forms. In that safe world I didn’t notice how beautiful and wonderful you were… besides you were not exactly ‘old and dirty’- my mother made sure that any [...]