Saturday, May 8, 2010

Gas companies in India!!



well well here im  with  some unique people around me whose Fuel for coooking (ie., the gas) which they use doesnt comes in a proper manner...Say the  gas corporation asking their customers to Book the gas before 21 days of end of the fuel gas.. but the case here is diffrent even if you do call up and inform the prior authority requesting for the LPG still the havoc caused has to be faced.. but they(LPG Coporation) dont seem to take care of.. and if we go straight to them and talk over it 4 requesting one its seems like are the owner of the company barking at us like dogs .... that there will be delay.. instead of polite manner..


My question was what people(ie., the gas agencies do).. why is there a so much of a delay is reaching its customers
the answer i got from some of the home makers are

 1. they sell those gas cylinders to other commerical places like  restuarats  for a lower price.. say our indian goverment always gives a percentage of LPG to commerical use will is 17.7 Kg LPG Cylinders.. but in domestic they give around 14.7 is guess .. but the thing si here on India they sell those Gas Cylinders in to others Commerical agents say if the price of  dosemtic gas is 500 Rs and commerical LPG is around 750 they sell the  domestic one to commerical agent for 600.. so advatyage  for both LPG agency as well as the commereical organisation

 even thought several Different sorts of raids are going on to Bust out this  sort of spams but what the  use.. this spam is growing and still growing..Unless the authority takes over this issue under consideration

What is the only solution for this Sort Of trouble ???/
 My answer would be Pipelined LPG

Why Do We Need Piped LPG?

If all goes as budgeted  by 2015 eleven cities in Rajasthan will get LPG (Cooking Gas) delivered to their homes by pipeline. The eleven cities are Bharatpur, Alwar, Nimrana, Jaisalmer, Udaipur, Bhilwara, Bhiwadi, Jaipur, Sriganganagar, Jodhpur and Ajmer. I am sure the authorities have studied the issues regarding the  safety and the  price of the  gas to the end-user in-depth and seeing no downside  are going forward with the proposal.

Bottled LPG is familiar to all of us it is more or less safe and more or less easily available.  An infrastructure is in place and functioning more or less well. So why do we need to spend millions of rupees  on putting in place  a new delivery system which will be as useless as the system it is replacing as soon as we run out of CNG. As we all know the CNG supplies are finite. They will be gone soon enough and who knows what fuel or technology we will be using to cook our food by then.  Further more the new gas delivery system will make a lot of jobs redundant. What will they work at? There is little need to ape the west in all it has done. There will be many studies showing where they went wrong. Why not take it from there? By pass their mistakes and adapt the technology to our local needs.
If a bloc of Flats wants to opt in for piped gas let them do so thru their society and bigger tanks. These societies will  be vigilant about the safety of  their own homes.
We ought to have more CNG and LPG fueling stations in Jaipur for our vehicles. It might improve the  city air some.
Every Jaipur resident’s main concern is the supply of water to the city. What happens when the tubewells  run  dry? Now is the time to plan for that eventuality. Why not use the funds from the piped gas project to improve the prospects of  water supply to the city and to improve and broaden  the existing LPG distribution network.
Why not encourage people who keep animal husbandry to put up   bio-gas plants  to supply bio-gas as cooking fuel to    nearby localities. That should get rid of bio-degradable waste and also produce manure. Milk giving animals are any farmers   prized possessions. They will be cherished even in their old age if we can find a use for having them around even  after they stop giving milk.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Things I hate about S.U.M.M.E.R

Well, haven come from this Hot place (Chennai), you cant image how it becomes when summer seasons starts of....But despite of the heat.. there are certain things which makes everyone in  India feel uneasy some of them.. are mainly my own irritating things are

5.Heat
Man u feel so much of heat that literally you feel Yourself burning.. with out fuel..


4.Sweaty
Ok You move out in hot sun say 12 Pm noon and u stand ur feel ur streams of sweat falling all from Your   body.. that the worst..even more worst is your armpits stinks !!


3.Itchy
Just because of this damn sweat u get all sort of infections and shit.. u feel itchy and scratchy that u look like a Dog scratching  body all the time..




2.Cold
The funniest part is this .. where some people get cold in summer..Some times even i get.. throat infection.... i would be like what in the hell..I dont fall sick even in winters where its Cold man!!

1.Power Cut

In my city where you find power cut is more often.. here in my city .. there is no proper logic . with in people head especially Electric Board.. when we feel that we could need electricity ie., during winter where it will be always a bit chill.. they wont cut the damn power.. but when we in the need c of own they would .. turn it OFF.. the worst part is power Cut during Night.. My God!!!

World's Oldest Museum: Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology



The Ashmolean Museum (in full the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology) on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum. Its first building was built in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities Elias Ashmole gave Oxford University in 1677.

The interior of the Ashmolean has been extensively modernised in recent years and now includes a restaurant and large gift shop. The Sackler Library, incorporating the older library collections of the Ashmolean, opened in 2001 and has allowed an expansion of the book collection, which concentrates on classical civilization, archaeology and art history.
Between 2006 and 2009, the museum was extensively rebuilt and expanded to the designs of architect Rick Mather and the exhibition design company Metaphor, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The rebuilding resulted in five floors instead of three, with a doubling of the display space as well as new conservation studios and an education centre. The renovated museum re-opened on 7th November 2009.

Collections

Highlights of the Ashmolean's collection include:
1.The Alfred Jewel
2.Drawings by Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci
3.Watercolours and paintings by Turner
4.Paintings by Paolo Uccello, Piero di Cosimo, John Constable, Claude Lorraine, and Pablo Picasso
5.Arab ceremonial dress owned by Lawrence of Arabia
6.A death mask of Oliver Cromwell
7.The collection of Posie rings that supposedly inspired the One Ring in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings[citation needed]
8.The Parian Marble, the earliest extant example of a Greek chronological table
9.The ceremonial cloak of Chief Powhatan
10.The lantern that Gunpowder Plot conspiracist Guy Fawkes carried in 1605
11.The Messiah Stradivarius, a violin made by Antonio Stradivari
12.The Minoan collection of Arthur Evans, the biggest outside Crete
13.The Narmer Macehead and Scorpion Macehead



He present Ashmolean was created in 1908 by combining two ancient Oxford institutions: the University Art Collection and the original Ashmolean Museum. The older partner in this merger, the University Art Collection, was based for many years in what is now the Upper Reading Room in the Bodleian Library. The collection began modestly in the 1620s with a handful of portraits and curiosities displayed in a small room on the upper floor. In 1636 and 1657, Archbishop Laud and Ralph Freke added notable collections of coins and medals, later installed in a strong room of their own and now incorporated into the Ashmolean coin collection. The objects of curiosity included Guy Fawkes’ lantern and a sword said to have been given by the pope to Henry VIII, both now in the Ashmolean, as well as a number of more exotic items, including Jacob’s Coat of Many Colours, long since lost. However, as there was a museum for curiosities of this kind in the University Anatomy Theatre, objects like this tended to go there or to the Ashmolean, after it opened in 1683, leaving the Bodleian gallery to develop as a museum of art.
Elias Ashmole (1617-92)
Elias Ashmole (1617-92)
In the 1660s and 70s, the collection grew rapidly. It was, at first, a gallery of portraits of distinguished contemporaries but from the mid 1660s, it began to acquire a more historical perspective with the addition of images of people from the past: college founders, scientists, soldiers, monarchs, writers and artists. Several painters donated self-portraits. In the eighteenth century, they added a number of landscapes, historical paintings and scenes from contemporary life. Other donors, former members of the University, added collections of Old Masters so that by the early nineteenth century, it had become an art gallery of general interest and an essential point of call on the tourist map.
John Tradescant the Elder (d.1638)
John Tradescant the Elder (d.1638)
The public was admitted on payment of a small charge. Catalogues, written by the janitor, were available at the entrance and the paintings were well displayed in a large, panelled gallery. It was only with the gift of a collection of ancient Greek and Roman statuary from the Countess of Pomfret in 1755 that the need for a new art gallery became urgent. The Pomfret statues had formerly belonged to the Earl of Arundel and they joined a group of inscribed marbles from the same source which had been given to the University in 1667. The marble figures were too heavy to place in an upstairs gallery and were installed in a dark ground-floor room in the library quadrangle pending the creation of a new museum. Funds, however, were not forthcoming. In the 1830s, a sum of £1,000, bequeathed by the Revd Francis Randolph in 1797 towards building a museum was added to a much larger sum bequeathed to the University in 1788 by the architect, Sir Robert Taylor, for the purpose of building an institution for teaching modern languages. Because of this, the new building, designed by Charles Robert Cockerell and built on the corner Beaumont Street between 1839 and 1845, combines an art gallery in the western half and an institute for teaching modern languages in the east.
John Tradescant the Younger (1608-62)
John Tradescant the Younger (1608-62)
When the new museum opened in 1845, the Pomfret sculptures were transferred to galleries on the ground floor and in the basement and paintings from the Bodleian Picture Gallery were hung in a large first floor room. There were fine things among the paintings. Works by Batoni, Reynolds and Van Dyck which were at one time in the Bodleian, still count among the more noteworthy works in the museum. But the average quality was meagre and over the years, the original collection has given way to more important acquisitions. Even before the new museum was finished, a major group of drawings by Raphael and Michelangelo, formerly in the collection of Sir Thomas Lawrence, was purchased by public subscription for the new galleries, establishing, from the start, the importance of the Oxford museum as a centre for the study of Old Master drawings. In 1861, John Ruskin, in an act calculated to emphasise the importance of contemporary art alongside the Old Masters, donated an important group of watercolours by J. M. W. Turner. The collection was further enriched in 1863 by the addition of a collection of prints and drawings which had been bequeathed to the Bodleian in 1834 by the antiquarian, Francis Douce. The new museum also attracted gifts of paintings. In 1851, the Hon. William Thomas Horner Fox-Strangways presented a collection of early Italian paintings which included Uccello’s Hunt in the Forest, one of the museum’s major works of art, and many other works of importance and charm by artists of the 14th and 15th centuries. A fine group of paintings, bronzes prints and drawings was added by Chambers Hall in 1855. These included oil sketches by Rubens, paintings by Canaletto and Guardi and drawings by Claude Lorrain and Leonardo. Finally, in the last major benefaction received by the Galleries before they merged with the Ashmolean, Mrs Martha Combe bequeathed an important group of Pre-Raphaelite paintings which had been collected by herself and her husband, Thomas Combe, printer to the University and a major figure in 19th-century Oxford society.
Old Ashmolean, c.1760
Old Ashmolean, c.1760
Had Elias Ashmole (1617-92) not stipulated that his collection of curiosities and antiquities should be placed in a custom-built museum, it would have been installed in the Bodleian or in the Anatomy Theatre. In the event, Ashmole’s benefaction was placed inside a small but imposing building adjacent to the Bodleian which opened its doors on 24th May 1683 with much fanfare. The collection presented to the University by Ashmole was in origin already half a century old by this time, having been founded by John Tradescant (d. 1638) and displayed to the public (for a fee) first by him and later by his son John (1608-62) in their house at Lambeth, widely known as “The Ark”. The contents were universal in scope, with man-made and natural specimens from every corner of the known world. By the time it passed to Ashmole by deed of gift, the Tradescants’ collection of miscellaneous curiosities had grown in scale and stature to the point where its new owner could present it to the University as a major resource. When it opened in Broad Street under its first curator, Dr Robert Plot, it was designed to be an integrated, three-part institution, comprising the collection itself, a chemistry laboratory for experiments and rooms for undergraduate lectures. From the time of its opening members of the public were admitted to the Ashmolean as they were to the Picture Gallery. This measure was noted with disapproval by one German visitor in 1710 who expressed his surprise at the numbers of “ordinary folk” who were allowed to run free in both institutions.
The Alfred Jewel
The Alfred Jewel
In the course of the eighteenth century, the bonds that linked the various elements of the Museum were progressively loosened and the collection of specimens lost a great deal of their academic relevance. Important acquisitions during this time were few with the notable exception of the Alfred Jewel, donated in 1718, mineral specimens and antiquities from the Cornish antiquary, the Revd William Borlase and a collection of ethnographical materials collected on Captain Cook’s Pacific voyage of 1772-5. Meanwhile, the inevitable processes of decay took their toll on the original collection with the result that when John Duncan too office as keeper in 1824, he found that “the skins of animals collected by the Tradescants had fallen into total decay, that cabinets for those objects which were liable to injury from time were wholly wanting, and that the apartment dedicated to the exhibition of them had become much dilapidated”.
The ground floor of the Ashmolean in 1836
The ground floor of the Ashmolean in 1836
Under John Duncan and his brother Philip who succeeded him in the keepership in 1829, the collections were comprehensively redisplayed according to the tenets of “natural theology” with the declared purpose of demonstrating that they were “the media of divine manifestation”. Natural history specimens were acquired in large numbers by the Duncans to illustrate this belief and man-made “curiosities” were relegated to a secondary role. The character of the Museum was established in this way until mid-century when the University established a new Natural History Museum (now the Oxford University Museum of Natural History) at which point all the natural history specimens from the Ashmolean were transferred to the new institution.
Arthur Evans
Arthur Evans
Having lost what had become the most important element in its collection, the Ashmolean was to find a major new role in the emerging field of archaeology. The first important tranche of material of this kind had been received as early as 1829 when the Douglas collection of Anglo-Saxon antiquities from Kent had been presented by Sir Richard Colt Hoare. In the decades that followed, collections of material from local excavations were added, antiquities from Rome arrived by way of one of the keepers, J. H. Parker, and numerous pieces were purchased in Egypt and the Near East by the Revd Greville Chester.
C D E Fortnum
C D E Fortnum
With the appointment in 1884 of Arthur Evans to the keepership, the Museum was driven ever more energetically in this new direction. Some 2,000 new acquisitions a year from Europe and the East Mediterranean were being made under Evans’ regime when the prospect of an even bigger coup presented itself – the acquisition of the collection of classical and Renaissance bronzes and ceramics belonging to C. D. E. Fortnum. The original Ashmolean could not cope with the influx and Evans persuaded the University to build a new structure at the rear of the University Galleries on a site ear-marked for the expansion of the Galleries. The key to this move was a promised donation of £10,000 from Fortnum to fund the new building.
Present Museum, view from St Giles
Present Museum, view from St Giles
The transfer of material to the new extension was completed in 1894 and, after co-existing for several years, the two institutions were merged in 1908 to form the present day Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology. The founding Departments of the new museum, The Department of Fine Art (since divided into Departments of Eastern and Western Art) and the Department of Antiquities remain relics of its dual origin. In 1922, the coin collection from The Bodleian Library was transferred to the Department of Antiquities and became the basis of a new Department in 1961 with the creation of the Heberden Coin Room. In 1961, the collections of the Indian Institute were amalgamated with the Islamic, Japanese and Chinese materials already in the Ashmolean to form the Department of Eastern Art. The cast collection, which had grown vigorously as an aid to the teaching of classical archaeology, was likewise separated from the Department of Antiquities and installed in a space of its own in 1959. The creation of these Departments brought about a new emphasis on scholarship in these specialised fields and also gave a new impetus to collecting in the different areas of interest covered by the Departments. It is this which accounts for the wealth and variety of the present collections. As a result of the merging of the two very different institutions, the present Ashmolean contains both art and artefacts from across a wide range of cultures: early stringed musical instruments, objects from Minoan Crete, Worcester porcelain, Chinese Shang bronzes, Japanese ceramics, European Paintings and drawings and many other specialist collections.
The Atrium
The Atrium
One consequence of the union of 1908 was to create a vacuum in the centre of the museum administration. This was rectified in 1973 by the creation of a post of Director which has given the Museum a greater sense of unified purpose than was previously the case while the Departmental structure provides an essential basis for the work of scholarship and education which have, since the beginning of this history, justified the existence of a museum at the heart of the University.

Histroy Of Stonehenge

The stones we see today represent Stonehenge in ruin. Many of the original stones have fallen or been removed by previous generations for home construction or road repair. There has been serious damage to some of the smaller bluestones resulting from close visitor contact (prohibited since 1978) and the prehistoric carvings on the larger sarsen stones show signs of significant wear.

Construction of the Henge
In its day, the construction of Stonehenge was an impressive engineering feat, requiring commitment, time and vast amounts of manual labor. In its first phase, Stonehenge was a large earthwork; a bank and ditch arrangement called a henge, constructed approximately 5,000 years ago. It is believed that the ditch was dug with tools made from the antlers of red deer and, possibly, wood. The underlying chalk was loosened with picks and shoveled with the shoulderblades of cattle. It was then loaded into baskets and carried away. Modern experiments have shown that these tools were more than equal to the great task of earth digging and moving.

The Bluestones
About 2,000 BC, the first stone circle (which is now the inner circle), comprised of small bluestones, was set up, but abandoned before completion. The stones used in that first circle are believed to be from the Prescelly Mountains, located roughly 240 miles away, at the southwestern tip of Wales. The bluestones weigh up to 4 tons each and about 80 stones were used, in all. Given the distance they had to travel, this presented quite a transportation problem.


NEW - More information on the Stonehenge Bluestones! Click Here.


Modern theories speculate that the stones were dragged by roller and sledge from the inland mountains to the headwaters of Milford Haven. There they were loaded onto rafts, barges or boats and sailed along the south coast of Wales, then up the Rivers Avon and Frome to a point near present-day Frome in Somerset. From this point, so the theory goes, the stones were hauled overland, again, to a place near Warminster in Wiltshire, approximately 6 miles away. From there, it's back into the pool for a slow float down the River Wylye to Salisbury, then up the Salisbury Avon to West Amesbury, leaving only a short 2 mile drag from West Amesbury to the Stonehenge site.

Construction of the Outer Ring
The giant sarsen stones (which form the outer circle), weigh as much as 50 tons each. To transport them from the Marlborough Downs, roughly 20 miles to the north, is a problem of even greater magnitude than that of moving the bluestones. Most of the way, the going is relatively easy, but at the steepest part of the route, at Redhorn Hill, modern work studies estimate that at least 600 men would have been needed just to get each stone past this obstacle.Once on site, a sarsen stone was prepared to accommodate stone lintels along its top surface. It was then dragged until the end was over the opening of the hole. Great levers were inserted under the stone and it was raised until gravity made it slide into the hole. At this point, the stone stood on about a 30° angle from the ground. Ropes were attached to the top and teams of men pulled from the other side to raise it into the full upright position. It was secured by filling the hole at its base with small, round packing stones. At this point, the lintels were lowered into place and secured vertically by mortice and tenon joints and horizontally by tongue and groove joints. Stonehenge was probably finally completed around 1500 BC.

Who Built Stonehenge?
The question of who built Stonehenge is largely unanswered, even today. The monument's construction has been attributed to many ancient peoples throughout the years, but the most captivating and enduring attribution has been to the Druids. This erroneous connection was first made around 3 centuries ago by the antiquary, John Aubrey. Julius Caesar and other Roman writers told of a Celtic priesthood who flourished around the time of their first conquest (55 BC). By this time, though, the stones had been standing for 2,000 years, and were, perhaps, already in a ruined condition. Besides, the Druids worshipped in forest temples and had no need for stone structures.

The best guess seems to be that the Stonehenge site was begun by the people of the late Neolithic period (around 3000 BC) and carried forward by people from a new economy which was arising at this time. These "new" people, called Beaker Folk because of their use of pottery drinking vessels, began to use metal implements and to live in a more communal fashion than their ancestors. Some think that they may have been immigrants from the continent, but that contention is not supported by archaeological evidence. It is likely that they were indigenous people doing the same old things in new ways.

As Legend Has It
The legend of King Arthur provides another story of the construction of Stonehenge. It is told by the twelfth century writer, Geoffrey of Monmouth, in his History of the Kings of Britain that Merlin brought the stones to the Salisbury Plain from Ireland. Sometime in the fifth century, there had been a massacre of 300 British noblemen by the treacherous Saxon leader, Hengest. Geoffrey tells us that the high king, Aurelius Ambrosius, wanted to create a fitting memorial to the slain men. Merlin suggested an expedition to Ireland for the purpose of transplanting the Giant's Ring stone circle to Britain. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, the stones of the Giant's Ring were originally brought from Africa to Ireland by giants (who else but giants could handle the job?). The stones were located on "Mount Killaraus" and were used as a site for performing rituals and for healing. Led by King Uther and Merlin, the expedition arrived at the spot in Ireland. The Britons, none of whom were giants, apparently, were unsuccessful in their attempts to move the great stones. At this point, Merlin realized that only his magic arts would turn the trick. So, they were dismantled and shipped back to Britain where they were set up (see illus. at right) as they had been before, in a great circle, around the mass grave of the murdered noblemen. The story goes on to tell that Aurelius, Uther and Arthur's successor, Constantine were also buried there in their time*.

Present Day Stonehenge
Situated in a vast plain, surrounded by hundreds of round barrows, or burial mounds, the Stonehenge site is truly impressive, and all the more so, the closer you approach. It is a place where much human effort was expended for a purpose we can only guess at. Some people see it as a place steeped in magic and mystery, some as a place where their imaginations of the past can be fired and others hold it to be a sacred place. But whatever viewpoint is brought to it and whatever its original purpose was, it should be treated as the ancients treated it, as a place of honor .

The modern age has not been altogether kind to Stonehenge, despite the lip service it pays to the preservation of heritage sites. There is a major highway running no more than 100 yards away from the stones, and a commercial circus has sprung up around it, complete with parking lots, gift shops and ice cream stands. The organization, English Heritage, is committed to righting these wrongs, and in the coming years, we may get to see Stonehenge in the setting for which it was originally created. Despite all its dilapidation and the encroachment of the modern world, Stonehenge, today, is an awe-inspiring sight, and no travel itinerary around Britain should omit it.

Source: www.britannia.com

Maurti Kizashi




Maruti is now planning to enter the D segment of cars with its new offering Kizashi. Expected to be launched in the early 2010, the car is expected to compete with the likes of Honda Civic, Toyota Corrola, Skoda Octavia and the upcoming Volkswagen Jetta. The Kizashi concept car was showcased at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2007 and at the Auto Expo in New Delhi in 2008. Expected to be priced around Rs. 10 lakh, it will have many innovative features, and is likely to be powered by a 2 litre turbo diesel engine. Kizashi is also likely to have a six speed transmission and large 21 inch alloys. The car is likely to be produced at the company's Manesar facility in Haryana.



Maruti Kizashi is expected to be the first all-wheel drive sedan in the luxury D segment. The car will carry an advanced four-valve turbo-fired two-litre petrol, Euro V engine, which will also be premiered at the same time. Kizashi is also likely to boast the first six-speed transmission from the Suzuki stable. A crossover sports sedan, Kizashi, which depicts an athlete in motion, is likely to sport 21” wheels. Maruti Kizashi is expected to roll out from its Manesar plant. Kizashi will be positioned in the Rs 10 lakh-plus price band and will compete with the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Sonata, Skoda Octavia and Volkswagen Jetta besides other cars that will debut in the next three years.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Even RAW agents have been found compromised

Madhuri Gupta, the 53-year-old second secretary at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad who has been arrested on charges of allegedly spying for Pakistan, was hoping for a plum diplomatic posting in either London or Washington.
"I should get London or Washington," a confident Gupta had told PTI a few months ago. Gupta had earlier served in the Indian mission in Baghdad and admitted that she was looking forward to another good posting sometime later this year.
Gupta made friends easily and could make great small talk. She could talk about clothes, hair styles or Pakistan's Urdu press -- 'where the real news was' -- with equal ease.
"English newspapers are boring. They always pick up news a day late. If you want to read real news, real gossip, read Urdu newspapers," she told PTI.
Gupta learnt Urdu in New Delhi  shortly before she was posted to Pakistan in late 2007. She hired a Muslim woman as a private tutor to teach her.
"She taught me from scratch. I didn't even know my alif-bays," said Gupta, who had earlier learnt another foreign language at Jawaharlal Nehru  University's school of languages.
Gupta spoke perfect Urdu and could have easily passed off as a Pakistani because of her accent. Like locals, she was always well dressed, her make-up was in place and her hair was coloured
"I bought this in Lajpat Nagar on my last trip to India," she said when friends recently praised her stylish new coat.
Gupta sometimes came across as brash and fearless, especially when she regaled friends with tales of driving to India via the Islamabad-Lahore motorway, often at breakneck speed.
"I did the Lahore motorway in three-and-a-half hours," she would tell friends, most of whom admired her guts for driving to and fro alone.
Most Indian diplomats travel in groups or with their families on such drives to the Indian border.
The small Indian community of diplomats and staffers of the High Commission in Islamabad would also bank on Gupta for getting them firecrackers or Holi colours during her trips to India.
"I will get natural colours, they won't harm your skin," she announced before a planned Holi celebration to those who didn't want to play with colours.
On a picnic to the picturesque Pir Sohawa viewpoint overlooking Islamabad sometime ago, she decided to be the spokeswoman for a group of Indian women, when a Pakistani woman entered their bus in the parking lot and asked if they had a cassette of 'bhajans'.
While most of the women were wondering how the Pakistani lady had figured out that they were Indians, Gupta dealt with her politely but firmly, ensuring that she got off the vehicle. "You give us your address and we will send you a cassette," Gupta said, taking the woman's address.
When she returned from her last trip to India, she told friends, "I am so tired. There is so much to do when you are in India. There is no time to relax. I feel I am back home now."
Gupta was quick to notice the expression on her friends' faces following her remark. "Home is where you live. Good or bad, this is home," she laughed out loud.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 Strada Pictures



m-street-091
lamborghini gallardo gt3
Reiter Engineering is known for their rediculously awesome Lamborghini Murcielago R-GTwhich I saw at the 2008 Essen Motor Show. They have now created a Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 Strada and squeezed out another 10hp out of the already monstrous and beautiful 5L V10 by engineering their new central mounted high-flow exhaust (as implemented on theirMurcielago R-GT).
lamborghini gallardo gt3

The Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 will loose about 10kgs (22lbs) via it’s new custom carbon fiberbody. She will also sport a giant GT wing on the back, a new lowered suspension and three-piece alloy wheels wearing Michelin Pilot Sport tires. Reiter Engineering has said that this will be the only one manufactured for sale, however for the right price I am sure they would build you one. Their custom central mounted exhaust will most likely be available for sale.
lamborghini gallardo gt3


reiter_engineering_lamborghini_gallardo_gt3_002-1227-950x673 reiter_engineering_lamborghini_gallardo_gt3_006-1227-950x673 reiter_engineering_lamborghini_gallardo_gt3_008-1227-950x673


lamborghini gallardo gt3
lamborghini gallardo gt3

Cursed Movies – Fact Or Fiction?

Urban myth or is truth stranger than fiction? You decide…

The Excorcist
The Excorcist
Regarded by most as the scariest film ever, The Excorcist has had its share of creepy bad luck. Various sources have it that up to nine people died during filming including Jack McGowran who had just finished his final scene when he suffered a heart attack. ‘Proof’ that satanic powers were at work occured during the Italian Premiere at the Metropolitan Theatre in Rome when lightning destroyed a 400-year-old crucifix.
Superman
Superman
The original Superman George Reeves was found dead with a gun shot wound. An apparent suicide, but none of his fingerprints were found on the gun. A later Superman Christopher Reeve was left paralyzed after a riding accident and Margot Kidder, his co star, suffered a very public mental meltdown.
The Omen
The Omen
No film has had worse luck than The Omen. Before filming began Gregory Peck’s son killed himself. Two different planes carrying cast and crew were struck by lightning. The crew hotel was bombed by the IRA as was a restaurant they were all due to dine at. A plane scheduled for use in the film, which was rescheduled and used for a commercial flight instead, crashed and killed everyone on board. Most remarkable of all was the fate that befell SFX guy John Richardson. On Friday the 13th of August 1976, Richardson crashed his car in Holland. His assistant was sliced through by the car’s front wheel. Scrambling out of the wreckage, Richardson looked up and saw a road sign: Ommen, 66.6km.
Rosemary’s Baby
Rosemarys Baby
Director Roman Polanski suffered the tragedy of art inspiring real-life as his pregnant wife Sharon Tate was stabbed to death by the Manson Family. The film’s composer died of a brain clot just as a character in the film had done.
Rebel Without a Cause
Rebel Without a Cause
James Dean’s tragically short life was brought to an end the same weekend the film opened in cinemas. Co-star Sal Mineo ended up a murder victim and female lead Natalie Wood drowned in mysterious circumstances.
The Poltergeist Trilogy
The Poltergeist Trilogy
Four main actors from the films died early – child actor Heather O’Rourke died after a bout of flu, Will Sampson died during a routine operation, cancer claimed the life of Julian Beck and finally Dominique Dunne (who played the oldest child in the first film)was strangled to death by her boyfriend.
The Conqueror
The Conqueror
For mass bad luck this John Wayne classic is hard to beat. First the entire cast and crew were nearly wiped out in a flash flood. Female lead Susan Hayward survived an attack by a black panther, but worse was to come. The film was shot in the Nevada desert downwind from nuclear test facilities. The actors were exposed to 13 weeks of fall-out at the site of 11 atomic bomb tests. Over the next few years, 91 of the 220 crew members developed cancer, 46 died including John Wayne, Susan Hayward and the director. One of the film’s other stars, Pedro Armendariz, committed suicide when he found out his cancer was terminal.
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight
Heath Ledger – the Joker – overdosed after what many think was mental stress caused by filming. Morgan Freeman suffered a car crash and broke his arm. During stunt tests for the car scenes a technician was killed and finally Christian bale was arrested for the assault of his family just before the UK premiere.
The Crow
The Crow
Brandon Lee had premonitions that he would die on the set just as his father Bruce Lee had done. The film had had many fires and accidents prior to the tragedy, but it is the death of Lee that has lead to The Crow’s legendary cursed status. A film made by Bruce Lee the year he died has a scene where he is shot with a gun he thinks is unloaded. How coincidental is it that Bruce’s son, Brandon Lee, was shot and killed when a gun supposed to be loaded with blanks actually contained live bullets. To this day, nobody knows how a real bullet found its way onto the set