(Came to JAM via email from Vaishnavi Prasad. Sounds awesome if you ask me!)

A few students from Sri Venkateshwara College of Engineering are organizing an event on 3rd November 2007 to bring together all Chennai-ites. This event, called 3.11pm, is to capture a single moment in the lives of millions of Chennai-ites.

At exactly 03.11.00 pm on 3.11.2007, Chennai-ites are required to click a picture of whatever they are doing, as a part of Chennai life. This montage of pictures, will not save the whales or stop global warming. It won’t even collect money for charity, but it will give the lay man an idea of what life in Chennai is about. Visit http://www.311pm.com more details.

Spread the word, bring Chennai together in a single moment!

(Came to JAM via email from Vaishnavi Prasad. Sounds awesome if you ask me!)
A few students from Sri Venkateshwara College of Engineering are organizing an event on 3rd November 2007 to bring together all Chennai-ites. This event, called 3.11pm, is to capture a single moment in the lives of millions of Chennai-ites.
At exactly 03.11.00 […]

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Naa, this is not a post on Dharam-paaji…here’s a bizarre piece of news in an Arizona newspaper:

“Woman stabs tied-up lover to drink his blood”

It reads straight off a cheesy B grade horror flick, doesn’t it?
Makes you wonder if it was just a crazy halloween prank gone horribly wrong.
It is reported that the woman was under heavy influence of drugs and alcohol when she committed the act.
Well, I reckon she was just bloody horny.
The victim, poor bloke will now have to go around with the not so punny tag “tied and tasted”.
Scarred for life, I wonder what will run through his mind the next time he comes into contact with any woman.
Meanwhile the woman’s defense attorney claims that she suffers from a personality disorder,which was the reason for her ‘batty’ behavior.
Yeah sure ..  she’s half vamp - half vampire.

For the full news article read this

Naa, this is not a post on Dharam-paaji…here’s a bizarre piece of news in an Arizona newspaper:
“Woman stabs tied-up lover to drink his blood”
It reads straight off a cheesy B grade horror flick, doesn’t it?
Makes you wonder if it was just a crazy halloween prank gone horribly wrong.
It is reported that the woman was under […]

Read more...

Six Asiatic wild elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking rice beer in India’s remote northeast, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

Why do we even need to read joke books or see funny movie when life itself is so bizarre? MSNBC has this intriguing story of elephants who went nuts after tippling on barrels of local liquor.

And within moments everyone’s favourite funny blogger, Scott Adams of Dilbert, writes up a rib-tickling blog on the incident in his very own style.

My first reaction to that story was, “I’ll have what they’re having!” You don’t get to use that joke often, and I don’t like to miss an opportunity.

I’m no marketing expert, but if I were the farmer whose beer they drank, I’d start calling it “Shocking Elephant” and I’d design the coolest beer bottles ever. They’d be in the shape of an elephant with his trunk straight out, and that’s the part you would drink from.

How come none of our media swooped on this one? Hmm…

Six Asiatic wild elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking rice beer in India’s remote northeast, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

Why do we even need to read joke books or see funny movie when life itself is so bizarre? MSNBC has this intriguing story of elephants who went nuts after tippling on barrels […]

Read more...

A hilarious AND cute video by Boymongoose, a band out of Brisbane in Australia. Accented and cliched but still howlarious fun to watch.

Apparently MTV India played it during Christmas last year. I don’t remember seeing it anywhere.

So if you missed it, like me, catch it here!

A hilarious AND cute video by Boymongoose, a band out of Brisbane in Australia. Accented and cliched but still howlarious fun to watch.
Apparently MTV India played it during Christmas last year. I don’t remember seeing it anywhere.
So if you missed it, like me, catch it here!

Read more...

Sounds like something that Nayan Mongia would scream from behind the stumps right?

Formula One fans will identify the brand from Alonso and Hamilton’s outfits.

aigo is a reasonably popular Chinese manufacturer of mp3 players and affiliated gizmos and gadgets. Tech2 tells us that the brand is making their launch in India.

This is good news for all those price conscious geeks who expect more than just shiny plastic and coolness from their MP3 players. From what Tech2 reveals the products look like good value!

aigo A208
Now we come to a flash-based MP3 player with a built-in USB connector. It also has a blue backlit LDC display, FM radio, voice recorder and five EQ presets. It runs on a single AAA battery and, according to the company, boasts up to 10 hours’ battery life. The 1GB model is available for Rs 3000.

Break free from the ipod conspiracy I say!

Sounds like something that Nayan Mongia would scream from behind the stumps right?
Formula One fans will identify the brand from Alonso and Hamilton’s outfits.
aigo is a reasonably popular Chinese manufacturer of mp3 players and affiliated gizmos and gadgets. Tech2 tells us that the brand is making their launch in India.
This is good news for all […]

Read more...

The third Sunday in November will no longer be the same. According to news reports, the CAT exam may soon go online and also offer multiple test dates - just like GRE and GMAT. In fact US based online testing company Prometric (which is now part of ETS) is likely to execute the project.

TOI quotes a member of the CAT committes: “It is difficult to conduct and manage the test at different centres across the country. Availability of latest technology will enable us to make an easy shift to online system. So we are talking to a few players and examining feasibility of the same.” The body is working out ways to prepare a question bank that can be used for the online test.

What does this mean? Well, we think the entire MBA entrance exam calendar will undergo a drastic change. As per tradition CAT is the first exam aspirants take - Sunday after Sunday the rest follow. With more CAT test dates other exams too may go the online route and/or offer multiple test dates. Or the option of taking the test whenever you feel you’re ready - like GRE. (NMAT from NMIMS already operates like that).

Of course the question is: With the CAT upgrading itself need we have so many exams at all? Hopefully not. The CAT score should become a universal test score like GMAT. Currently 111 bschools use CAT for entry. Why not all the 1000 + bschools in India?

In any case each school can evolve its own entrance criteria. The CAT score is only one dimension although in India most bschools use it to establish a cut-off point.

Some schools might worry about losing the revenue they earn from holding an independent test. But I am sure an acceptable revenue share can be worked out. As in GRE your CAT score would get sent to say 8 bschools free of cost and to apply to more, you pay a fee.

The downside of all this is that the cost of giving the exam may go up. And in a country like India one does have to worry: by going exclusively online will the test become elitist and exclude those who are not computer-savvy?

Either way, it’s a giant project and will take time. Let’s wait and watch!

The third Sunday in November will no longer be the same. According to news reports, the CAT exam may soon go online and also offer multiple test dates - just like GRE and GMAT. In fact US based online testing company Prometric (which is now part of ETS) is likely to execute the project.
TOI quotes […]

Read more...

Most people still flinch when one mentions the entire Nithari killings episode. Monindher Singh Pandher rapidly became the face of pure evil on TV and in print media all over the country.

While the case, I believe, is still sub judice, a rag tag bunch of ambitious movie makers have decided to make a movie of the whole imbroglio. And going by the Press Release and photos we received at JAM recently it all looks like a TERRIBLE idea. I will let the press release speak:

"D – 5" Nithari’s Cruel Reality on Screen

Every Indian stunned when they heard about sexual abuse and killing of innocents childs at ‘D-5′ Bunglo in Nithari. Producer Sanjeev Kumar Medh and Harish J.Gupta are presenting this blood chilling reality on screen with writer - director Yogi. The most negative roling master Raza Murad is playing Maninder Singh Pandher. The main accused of the Nitari case, Gopal Sing (Trafic Signal Fame) is potraiying Surinder and new comer Aleka playing Payal the call girl & victim. Ali Khan is playing Inspector Rana.

While speaking on his role Raza Murad told that he was very much felt thrill to play such a devil’s role and also exited though he was absorving keenly the original accused right from the start he did not know that one day he would be offer for to play this role. This is a very much eye opener films to the all parents towards be awareness for their childrens safety.

The film is very soon going on to the floor and will completed within two months to release early in the next year.

WTF! Childs? Negative Roling Master? Very much felt thrill? Absorving? Childrens Safety?

Call it for what it is dude! A soft porn flick! Currently this ranks as the leader in our WORST PRESS RELEASE OF THE YEAR contest.

Added bonus were the pics, one of which I will display here:

Something tells me this movie is going to be a must watch for the entire family!

Most people still flinch when one mentions the entire Nithari killings episode. Monindher Singh Pandher rapidly became the face of pure evil on TV and in print media all over the country.
While the case, I believe, is still sub judice, a rag tag bunch of ambitious movie makers have decided to make a movie of […]

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JK Rowling has taken everyone by surprise with her recent announcement that Dumbledore, everyone’s favourite Principal of a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is/was gay. Last night Rashmi sat and watched all the Harry Potter movies again to detect all possible gay undertones when Dumbledore was on screen.

“Clearly he is gay. I do not know how I missed it!” is what Rashmi said when she came in today morning.

Parents of Potter fans are already up in arms of course. How to explain the concept of gay love to ten years olds? “We downloaded you from the internet” is already being used by many parents to avoid the topic of regular sex anyways.

Babychen at Danching with Shadows has a hilarious set of Brokeback meets Dumbledore pics that will make great desktops for a week before you start getting looks from the people in the office:

Click here to see more rib-ticklers from Babychen’s handiwork.

JK Rowling has taken everyone by surprise with her recent announcement that Dumbledore, everyone’s favourite Principal of a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is/was gay. Last night Rashmi sat and watched all the Harry Potter movies again to detect all possible gay undertones when Dumbledore was on screen.
“Clearly he is gay. I do not know […]

Read more...

The fallout of Chiranjeevi’s daughter Srija eloping with Shishir is newsreports like this (in today’s DNA):

As Hyderabad woke up to the news of Srija’s wedding, movie tycoons as well as real estate and corporate groups virtually clamped the shutters on the freedom of their kith and kin. The measures that have come in to force in the wake of the incident include a 24×7 watch on their movements, investigations by private agencies into the background of their friends, discreet surveillance of eating and watering holes, armed escorts to teens and finally house arrests too.

“My parents have cancelled my trip to Bangkok and instead want me to spend my holidays with my aunt at Kolkata”, cribs a scion of a powerful Reddy clan in Hyderabad. The head of a private security agency, who did not want to be named, says he has signed up overnight 12 new clients who not only want their wards “watched” but also to enquire into the backgrounds of people they met and hung around with.

This is in addition to reports of parents hiring detectives to tail their kids during Navratri. Mainly because every year there are reports of increase in abortions right after the festival.

Now all this may make parents feel a bit ’safer’ but there is something horribly wrong about the idea that a parent can control an adult child - that is someone who is over the age of 18. Each of us must live and learn, and even be allowed to make mistakes.

As the poet Kahlil Gibran put it so beautifully:
‘On Children’
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let our bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Words which ring true - hundreds of years after they were written!

The fallout of Chiranjeevi’s daughter Srija eloping with Shishir is newsreports like this (in today’s DNA):
As Hyderabad woke up to the news of Srija’s wedding, movie tycoons as well as real estate and corporate groups virtually clamped the shutters on the freedom of their kith and kin. The measures that have come in to force […]

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This came as a phantom message on my Google Talk. Have no idea what the source of this image. But I assume it is from a British newspaper. While the lady has a pretty interesting problem in life, Miriam’s advice is priceless.

Excellent time to start a pointless Agony Uncle column in JAM me thinks!

This came as a phantom message on my Google Talk. Have no idea what the source of this image. But I assume it is from a British newspaper. While the lady has a pretty interesting problem in life, Miriam’s advice is priceless.

Excellent time to start a pointless Agony Uncle column in JAM me thinks!

Read more...