Last year on this day, 7 blasts ripped through passenger trains in Mumbai causing the gruesome deaths of 187 individuals and injuring countless. It was a shocking incident for every Mumbaikar and revived the memories of the serial blasts of March 1992. No city in the world has been a frequent target of terrorist attacks then Mumbai and yet on the streets, life goes on as usual and people move on with the scars left behind.
On that evening of 7/11, I was homeward bound on the 6:14 Borivli fast local which got stranded between Lower Parel and Elphinstone Road railway stations for unknown reasons. Just then I received a cell call from my colleague in office, informing me about the serial blasts which I could barely believe. The only option left was to get home somehow, so I walked up to Elphinstone Road station on the tracks and then onto the road when it started raining heavily. There were no buses or other conveyance which could afford to take me to my destination and then I found 2 guys in a cab who lended a helping hand on that fateful night. We then picked up 2 more persons on our way; one of them an elderly woman and started off to our landing-place. It was only after 6 gruelling hours that I reached home — I was the last person to get off the cab after paying him a handsome fare. Unfortunately my entire account for that day was wiped out in the database crash that occured last year. I would like to thank Sameer and his friend, who helped me out with the taxi service on 7/11 last year.
I see little practical changes on the ground in terms of securing our city from another attack. Somehow one gets a feeling that internal security is not on the priority list of this governement. The action items after the blast — A few CCTVs hang above our heads, a few constables relaxing on stations and most foolishly; luggage racks being removed from train compartments for some reason, causing utter discomfort to the waiting passengers. There are families of the departed who are still grieving the loss. It feels sad to see the sorry state of affairs in our city but Mumbai lives on with us, scarred and scared.
Technorati Tags: Mumbai, Train Blasts, 7/11
July 11th, 2007
Being an admirer of all things
Google, I couldn’t keep myself away from writing this small update (you all have got a whiff already by now). In a major move to counter
Microsoft’s influence in the business application market,
Google has acquired a security software outfit called
Postini. A few basic queries are answered below:
What does Postini do?
Postini’s services helps businesses to encrypt and monitor on-line information which include e-mails, instant messaging and other web communications. It also helps enforce corporate policies from a single hosted location. A leader in its field, Postini serves more than 35,000 businesses and 10 million users and was one of the first partners for Google Apps.
How does this acquisition help Google?
The acquisition will strengthen Google’s array of services called the Google Apps Premier Edition that includes Gmail, Calendar, GoogleTalk, Docs & Spreadsheets, and Personal Start Page and offer greater on-line security to its customers.
How much did it cost Google to acquire Postini?
This is its third biggest acquisition after DoubleClick and YouTube. Google has paid $625 million in cash to acquire Postini as per the official press release on its website.
Why is it considered a breakthrough deal for Google?
Google is eyeing a chunk of the $12 billion market of business applications which is dominated by not only Microsoft’s Office applications but also IBM Lotus and some compatible tools from Apple [read here]. According to this press release, hosted services like Google Apps and Postini will enable organizations to perform business effectively without the expense and hassle of traditional on-premise tools (like Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.).
Reference Links:
› Google Press Release on the Postini Acquisition
› Googleblog post by Dave Girouard, Vice President & GM, Google Enterprise
› Businessweek.com article on the take-over
› A list of FAQs from the Postini website on the Google acquisition
› List of Google acquisitions on Wikipedia
Technorati Tags: Google, Postini, Google Apps
July 10th, 2007
This was truly the most happening event of yesterday. I had got passes to the ‘KK Sensational Nite’ concert organized by
TCS along with it’s social service foundation called
Maitree. The event was held at the Shanmukhananda Hall at King’s Circle in Mumbai, attended by young TCSers who rocked the house completely.
KK sang a few of his hits from his album Pal including Yaaron, Aap Ki Dua and (of course) Pal. Then he moved onto sing his film songs. Just a small list in random order -
• Bardhasht Nahi Kar Sakta (Humraaz),
• Tadap Tadap (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam),
• Dus Bahane (Dus),
• Kya Mujhe Pyar Hai (Woh Lamhe),
• Tu Aashiqui Hai (Jhankar Beats),
• O Humdum Suniyo Re (Saathiya),
• It’s the Time to Disco (Kal Ho Naa Ho),
• Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe (Dil Chahta Hai),
• Sach Keh Raha Hai Deewana (Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein),
• Awarapan Banjarapan (Jism)
• Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai (Gangster) etc. etc.
He did not sing a few of my favorites like -
• Bas Ek Pal (Bas Ek Pal),
• Aashayen (Iqbal),
• Alvida (Metro),
• O Meri Jaan (Metro)
• Soniye (Aksar)
• Dilnashin Dilnashin (Aashiq Banaya Aapne)
• Teri Yaadon Mein (The Killer) and many more…
I couldn’t resist jiving and moving my feet to his songs, even singing aloud at times with him. When he began Tu Aashiqui Hai, the crowd went completely berserk, singing along with such melody and tempo which prompted KK to appreciate them. By the time the show reached its climax, the young crowd had already gathered near the stage, dancing merrily to the beats while KK prodded them to continue. He later went on to sing Summer of 69 (Bryan Adams) after announcing that he felt he was back in college after seeing the enthusiastic youngsters. Just like them I guess, KK also had a gala time as well. The most notable thing about this performance yesterday was he sang ALL the songs without referring to any sort of written lyrics whatsoever and I think that shows how much he loves and respects his music. Also at times he was guiding the sound engineers in the auditorium to manage the sound output in some loudspeakers to suit his rendition and the mood.
He’s truly a great singer and a performer of our times and I have always admired his talent. I wish KK all the best and let’s hope he comes back with more hits for us in the future.
Technorati Tags: KK, Bollywood, Pal, TCS, Maitree
July 7th, 2007
After all the hype created (the staff at a local multiplex was dressed up in the movie costume) and fueled by the Daler Mehndi
controversy, Shaad Ali Sahgal’s (
Saathiya, Bunty Aur Babli) latest film
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (Dance Baby Dance) turned out to be an all-gloss-no-substance film. Neither a romantic comedy nor a musical, basically there’s no story to be told here
per se. Expectations from Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music were heightened after their previous hit with
Bunty Aur Babli (remember
Kajra Re) but they fail to make hearts go
Dhadak dhadak this time. And Amitabh, he’s been wasted. Wearing a colorful tapestry coat with a feather hat, strumming a strange guitar and prancing to the title song at a railway station, with dancers juggling around. Ultimately, by not uttering a single sentence in the movie, we are left wondering what role was Amitji enacting anyway?
Lottery loving Rikki Thukral (Abhishek Bachchan) and British born Alvira Khan (Preity Zinta), are both engaged to Anaida Raza (Lara Dutta) and Steve Singh (Bobby Deol) respectively have come to receive their partners at the Waterloo station. The train delay meant they spend time in describing to each other their corresponding love stories in detail (yawwn). By the time the slow mo first half reaches a drowsy conclusion, both Rikki and Alvira start liking each other wondrously. Nothing more could be said about this film even as an insipid revelation sequence was needlessly stuffed right at the end. The 2 hour experience compels me to say Fume Barabar Fume.
A few bright spots of show - Abhishek doling out exquisite north Indian one liners (not to mention his new look) and Piyush Mishra as Habibchacha with eloquent Hyderabadi hindi. For the information geeks, Bobby Deol and Abhishek Bachchan are opposite each other for the first time. There’s also that famous Sholay (their fathers Dharmendra and Amitabh acted in it, remember?) motorbike version rehashed with Bobby and Abhishek riding in police helmets (what!?). As for you, catch Bunty Aur Babli on DVD instead.
Technorati Tags: Yashraj Films, Shaad Ali, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
June 16th, 2007
Current users might want to take note of this latest development. Yahoo! has decided to shut down it’s photo sharing service Yahoo! Photos and focus on its other twin,
Flickr. I read this bit of rather surprising news on the
Yodel blog. Curtains will formally come down on September 20, 2007 and the all the current users will be moved to a photo sharing service of their choice - Flickr, Kodak Gallery, Shutterfly, Snapfish, or Photobucket. For a complete list of the FAQs, you can
click here or visit
this page.
Technorati Tags: Flickr, Yahoo, Photo-Sharing, Community, Photos
June 14th, 2007
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