Lad Hu Was

What happens inside your body when you say 'cheers'

2011-10-04T12:23:00.005+05:30

After a hard long week at work most of us want to unwind, meet friends, sip a few drinks and end our week on a HIGH note.

While we have a good weekend, our body has a real bad one.

Find out how each drink affects our body and it's functioning.

Yes, it's true - alcohol affects us differently, depending on our size, gender, how quickly we drink, whether on an empty stomach and other personal factors like mood etc..
(So never match up to your friend's pace - your body is different)

Alcohol absorption, distribution and elimination (body considers it as waste) are processes that begin shortly after you take a drink.
As it is absorbed, the alcohol is rapidly distributed in the body through the bloodstream. Major organs, such as the liver, kidneys, lungs and brain, absorb more alcohol.
Within a few minutes of taking a drink, alcohol reaches the body's organs though your blood.

Poor Liver

The body can't store alcohol – it's the liver's job to break it down ('metabolise' it).
The liver can only metabolise a limited amount of alcohol at a time. If you drink too much, the liver's store of glutathione runs out, leaving the toxic acetaldehyde to build up in the body. When this happens, the additional alcohol remains in your body tissues and bloodstream until your liver can process it.
It can take 3 hrs to remove the alcohol from just one drink (30ml) from your system

The more you drink, the longer it will take. There's nothing you can do to speed up the rate of metabolism.
Thousands die of liver Cirrhosis every month (due to alcohol consumption)

Kidneys

Kidneys filter our blood – all our blood will be filtered about 20 times a day. The kidneys also work to keep the volume of water in your body constant. Alcohol is a diuretic. If you drink too much, your body ends up eliminating more water than it absorbs – and as a result, you can become dehydrated, with dizziness and a headache (in other words, a hangover).
Prolonged heavy drinking can cause kidney failure.

Lungs

About 5% of the alcohol is eliminated from our body in our breath as we exhale.
When the alcohol in the bloodstream reaches the lungs, some of it passes into the lungs' air sacs and then evaporates into the air. It is then exhaled and eliminated from the body.

This is the alcohol detected by breathalysers and that can be smelled on ones breath

Brain

Alcohol affects nerve cells in the brain. This means it interferes with how the cells function and how the brain communicates with all other parts of the body.

Alcohol acts on the central nervous system, affecting emotional and sensory function, judgment, memory and learning ability.

Different parts of the brain control different processes. Alcohol affects each of these areas.

The cerebral cortex processes information from your senses; it also controls how you think and the movement of your muscles. When alcohol affects the cerebral cortex, you take longer to process information from your senses, become less inhibited and don't think as clearly.

The limbic system is the part of the brain that controls memory and your emotions. When it is affected by alcohol, your emotions become exaggerated – for example, you could get more giddy, sad, or upset – and you start to forget things.

The cerebellum coordinates fine muscle movements, including the muscles that help you keep your balance. As alcohol affects the cerebellum, you can become shaky and uncoordinated and unsteady on your feet

The hypothalamus controls sexual arousal and performance. When it is affected by alcohol, sexual arousal increases, but performance decreases.

The brain stem controls automatic body functions such as breathing, heart rate and consciousness. When alcohol reaches the brain stem, you become sleepy and, depending on how much alcohol you drink, you may even lose consciousness. As the concentration of alcohol in your blood increases, it may affect your heart rate, breathing and consciousness and can even lead to death

Some Facts

1. If you have 4 large drinks – your liver works for at least 24 hours continuously, removing alcohol from your system.

2. On a typical weekend, one would give more work to one’s liver before it has finished its previous day’s task of eliminating alcohol.

3. Alcohol damages the cells lining the stomach and intestines – That’s what screws your digestion the next day.

4. Alcohol leads to impotency and/or infertility in men and menstrual irregularities and infertility in women.

Tip

I know you won’t give up or even reduce drinking after reading this but do ensure you do the following:

- Keep your drinks SMALL and no NEAT

- Sip slowly and enjoy your drink: no BOTTOMS UP

- Have a glass of water after every drink – this MAY help liver in some way

- Don’t compete with others : drink at your own pace

- DO NOT drive after drinking: you don’t want it to be your last drink, do you?

Source: various websites and my own experience!

Crazy pictures from the web - Laugh it out!

2011-08-26T18:16:00.004+05:30

Kareena is marrying him!
(No image morphing here)

Imran's Hashmi's more relevant last name

Everything that you must know about Single Malt Scotch

2011-08-26T14:26:00.017+05:30

Someone infused so much of curiosity in me about this topic, hence this blog post. Have tried to keep it short & simple and you all will know a lot more when you finish reading.

Single Malt Scotch

- Scotch means it has to be from Scotland (Yes, I know you know it)
- Malt means it is from a single malted grain, barley in case of Single Malt Scotch, always. (Usually whiskeys are made from Rye and Wheat grain too)
- Single refers to the fact that it has been distilled in a single distillery.

Regions where Single Malts are produced (It is actually 5!)

1. Highland Single Malts, further categorized into:

- Island Single Malts (A sub-section of the Highland region)
- Speyside Single Malts (The north-eastern coastal area of the highland region)

Some popular Highland Single Malts are Ardmore, Balbair, Dalmore, Glenfoyle and Glenturret

2. Islay Single Malts - These are known for their Smoky flavor.
Some popular Islay Single Malts are Ardbeg, Laphroaig (I had this one recently), Lagavulin, Bowmore and Caol lla

3. Lowland Single Malts
Some popular Lowland Single Malts are Bladnoch, Glenkinchie and Kinclaith (one of the most expensive)

4. Campbeltown Single Malts
Some popular Campbeltown Single Malts are Longrow, hazelburn and Springbank

The Making

Key ingredients : Barley, Water & Yeast

Key Processes :

- Malting : This done by soaking barley gain in water for 3-4 days and allowing it to germinate In some cases smoke (peat smoke) is introduced to give a smoky flavor to the Scotch Smoky flavored Scotch are traditionally from Islay
- Fermentation : By using yeast on the malted grain, alcohol content(5%-7%) is produced (Like in case of beer)
- Distillation : The fermented mixture is heated in special copper pot still , vapour is collected and submerged in cold water. This increases the alcohol content to 20%-40%. A second round of distillation increases is to 60%-70%. Lowland Single Malts are distilled thrice, thus more alcohol content.
- Maturation/ Ageing : un-aged whiskey is placed in oak casks (because oak wood is highly resistant to fungal attack) for years. Upto 20 years in some cases

Some noteworthy points

1. To be called a single malt Scotch, a bottle should contain whisky distilled from malted barley produced at a single distillery only.
2. If the bottle is the product of single malt whiskies produced at more than one distillery, the whisky is called a vatted malt or a blended malt
3. If malt whisky is mixed with grain whiskey, the result is a blended Scotch whiskey regardless of whether the malt is from a single distillery
4. Unlike wine, the maturation process for whiskey does not continue in the bottle. Therefore the age statement on a bottle of single malt Scotch is the number of years the whisky spent maturing in cask.
5. Under Scotch Whisky Regulations, Single malt Scotch must be distilled using pot stills.
6. By law, all Scotch whisky must be aged for a minimum of three years in oak casks in Scotland.

So, next time don't just enjoy your single malt with wasabi peas and smoked cheese, have a good conversation too!

SONIA GANDHI: Shocking revelations

2011-08-25T12:43:00.003+05:30

SONIA GANDHI: Shocking revelations

By Dr. Subramanian Swamy

Ms. Sonia Gandhi’s background as is publicized by her and her Congress Party today, is based on three lies to hide the ugly reality of her life.

First, her real name is Antonia not Sonia. The Italian Ambassador in New Delhi revealed this in a letter dated April 27, 1983 to the Union Home Ministry which letter has not been made public. Antonia is Sonia’s real name in her birth certificate. Sonia is the name given to her subsequently by her father, Stefano Maino [now deceased] following his return from Russia where he had been a prisoner of war. Stefano had joined the Nazi army as a volunteer. Sonia is a Russian not Italian name. While spending two years in a Russian jail, Sonia’s father had become quite pro-Soviet; especially after the liberating US army in Italy had confiscated all fascists’ properties including his.

Second, she was not born in Orbassano as she claims in her bio data submitted to Parliament on becoming MP, but in Luciana as stated in her birth certificate. She perhaps would like to hide the place of her birth because of her father’s connection with the Nazis and Mussolini’s Fascists, and her family’s continuing connections with the
Nazi-Fascists underground that is still surviving since 1945 in Italy . Luciana is where Nazi-Fascist network is headquartered, and is on the Italian-Swiss border. There can be no other explanation for this otherwise meaningless lie.

Third, Sonia Gandhi has not studied beyond High School. She has falsely claimed in her affidavit filed as a contesting candidate before the Rae Bareli Returning Officer in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, that she qualified and got a diploma in English from the prestigious University of Cambridge, UK.

The truth is that Ms. Gandhi has never studied in any college anywhere. She did go to a Catholic nun run seminary-school called Maria Ausiliatrice in Giaveno 15 kms from adopted home town of Orbassabo . Poverty those days forced young Italian girls to go to such missionaries and then in their teens go to UK to get jobs as cleaning maids, waitresses and au pair. The Mainos were poor those days. Her father was a mason and mother a share cropper.

Sonia thus went to the town of Cambridge and first learnt some English in a teaching shop called Lennox School [which has since 1970 been wound up]. That is all her “education” is — learnt enough English language to get domestic help jobs. But in Indian society education is highly valued. Thus, to fool the Indian public, Sonia Gandhi willfully
fibbed about her qualifications in Parliamentary records [which is a Breach of Ethics Rules] and in a sworn affidavit [which is criminal offence under IPC, severe enough to disqualify her from being MP].

In popular parlance, this is called 420 or 10 “numberi” [not to be confused with 10 Janpath].

These three lies indicate that Ms. Sonia Gandhi has something to hide, or has a hidden agenda for India . We need to find out more about her.

III

Ms. Sonia Gandhi upon learning enough English became a waitress in Varsity Restaurant in Cambridge town. She first met Rajiv when he came to the restaurant in 1965. Rajiv was a student in the University, but could not cope with the academic rigour for long. So he had to depart in 1966 for London where he was briefly in Imperial College of Engineering as a student. Sonia too moved to London , and according my
information, got a job with an outfit run by Salman Thassir, a debonair Pakistani based in Lahore , and who has an export-import company headquartered in Dubai but who spends most of his time in London . This fits the profile of an ISI functionary.

Obviously, Sonia made enough money in this job to loan Rajiv funds in London , who was obviously living beyond his allowances [Indira herself expressed anguish to me on this score in late 1965 when she invited me to a private tea at the Guest House in Brandeis University ]. Rajiv’s letters to Sanjay, who was also in London then, clearly indicate that he was in financial debt to Sonia because he requested Sanjay who
obviously had more access to money, to pay off the debt.

However, Rajiv was not the only friend Sonia was seeing those days. Madhavrao Scindia and a German by name Stiegler are worth mentioning as other good friends of Sonia.

Madhavrao’s friendship continued even after Sonia’s marriage to Rajiv. Scindia in 1982 was involved in a traffic accident near IIT, Delhi main gate while driving a car at 2.00 am. Sonia was the only other passenger. Both were badly injured. A student of IIT who was burning midnight oil was out for a cup of coffee. He picked them up from the car, hailed an autorickshaw and sent an injured Sonia to Mrs Indira Gandhi’s house since she insisted in not going to a hospital.

Madhavrao had broken a leg and in too much pain to make any demands. He was taken to hospital by the Delhi Police who had arrived a little after Sonia had left the scene. In later years, Madhavrao had become privately critical of Sonia, and told some close friends about his apprehensions about Sonia. It is a pity that he died in mysterious
circumstances in an air crash.

The circumstance under which Rajiv hastily married Sonia in a Church in Orbassano is controversial, but that was his personal matter that has no public significance. But what is of public significance is that Indira Gandhi who was initially dead set against the marriage for reasons known to her, relented to hold a registry marriage with Hindu
ceremonial trappings in New Delhi only after the pro-Soviet T.N. Kaul prevailed upon her to accept the marriage in “the larger interest of cementing Indo-Soviet Friendship”. Kaul would not have intervened unless the Soviet Union had asked him to.

IV

Such has been the extensive patronage from the beginning extended to Sonia Gandhi from the Soviets. When a Prime Minister of India’s son dates a girl in London , the KGB which valued Indo-Soviet relations, obviously would investigate her and find out that she was the daughter of Stefano, their old reliable Italian contact. Thus, Sonia with Rajiv meant deeper access to the household of the Indian Prime Minister. Hence cementing the Rajiv-Sonia relations was in the Soviet national interest and they went to work on it. And they did through their then existing moles in the Indira Gandhi camp.

After her marriage to Rajiv, the Soviet connection with the Mainos was fortified and nurtured by generous financial help through commissions and kickbacks on every Indo-Soviet trade deal and defence purchases. According to the respected Swiss magazine, Schweitzer Illustrate [November 1991 issue], Rajiv Gandhi had about $ 2 billion in numbered Swiss bank accounts, which Sonia inherited upon his assassination. Dr Yevgenia Albats, Ph.D [Harvard], is a noted Russian scholar and journalist, and was a member of the KGB Commission set up by President Yeltsin in August 1991. She was privy to the Soviet intelligence files that documented these deals and KGB facilitation of the same. In her book, “The State Within a State - The KGB in Soviet Union”, she even gives the file numbers of such intelligence files, which can now be accessed by any Indian government through a formal request to the Kremlin.

The Russian Government in 1992 was confronted by the Albats’ disclosure; they confirmed it through their official spokesperson to the press [which was published in Hindu in 1992], defending such financial payments as necessary in “Soviet ideological interest”.

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, things changed for Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Her patrons evaporated. The rump that became Russia was in a financial mess and disorder. So Ms. Sonia Gandhi became a supporter of another communist country to the annoyance of the Russians.

The national security ramification of this ‘annoyance’ is now significant: The President of Russia today is Putin, a former dyed-in-the-wool KGB officer. Upon Dr. Manmohan Singh’s government taking office, Russia called back it’s career diplomat Ambassador in New Delhi and immediately posted as the new Ambassador a person who was the KGB station chief in New Delhi during the 1970s. In view of Dr. Albats confirmed revelation, it stands to reason that the new Ambassador would have known first hand about Sonia’s connections with the KGB. He may have in fact been her “controller”. The new Indian government which is defacto Sonia’s, cannot afford to annoy him or even disregard Russian demands coming from him?

They will obviously placate him so as not to risk exposure. Is this not a major national security risk and a delicate matter for the nation?

Of course, all Indians would like good normal and healthy relations with Russia . Who can forget their assistance to us in times of need? Today’s Russia is the residual legatee of that Soviet Union which helped India . But just because of that, should we tolerate those in our government set up having clandestine links with a foreign spy agency? In the United States , the government did not tolerate an American spying for Israel even though the two countries are as close as any two countries can be. National security and friendship are as different as chalk and cheese.

In December 2001, I had filed a Writ Petition in the Delhi High Court with the photocopies of the KGB documents, and sought a CBI investigation, which the Vajpayee Government was refusing. Earlier, Minister of State for CBI, Vasundara Raje [now Rajasthan CM], on my letter dated March 3, 2001, had ordered the CBI to investigate. But after Sonia Gandhi and her party stalled the proceedings of Parliament on this issue, the then Prime Minister Vajpayee cancelled Vasundara’s direction to the CBI.

The Delhi High Court issued a direction to the CBI to ascertain from Russia the truth of my charges. The CBI procrastinated for three years, and finally told the Court without an FIR registered the Russians will not entertain any such query. But who stopped the CBI
from registering an FIR? The next hearing of the case is on September 8th.

————–

V

After Sonia married Rajiv, she went about minting money with scant regard for Indian laws and treasures. Within a few years the Mainos went from utter poverty to billionaires. There was no area that was left out for the rip-off. On November 19, 1974, as fresh entrant to Parliament, I asked the then Prime Minister Ms Indira Gandhi on the floor of the House if her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi was acting as an insurance agent of a public sector insurance company [Oriental Fire & Insurance], giving the Prime Minister’s official residence as her business address, and using undue influence to insure all the officers of the PMO while remaining an Italian citizen [thus violating FERA]? There was uproar in Parliament, but Mrs Indira Gandhi had no alternative but to cut her losses. She made a rare admission that it was so, and that it was by mistake, but that Sonia had resigned from her insurance agent status [after my question]. But Sonia was incorrigible. Her contempt for Indian law continued to manifest.

The Justice A.C. Gupta Commission set up by the Janata Party government in 1977 came out with a voluminous report on the Maruti Company then owned by the Gandhi family, and has listed eight violations of FERA, Companies Act, and Foreigners Registration Act by Sonia Gandhi. She was never prosecuted, but can be still prosecuted because under Indian law, economic crimes not subject to the statute
of limitation.

In January 1980, Indira Gandhi returned as Prime Minister. The first thing Sonia did was to enroll herself as a voter. This was a gross violation of the law, enough to cause cancellation of her visa [since she was admittedly an Italian citizen then]. There was some hullabaloo in the press about it, so the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer got her name deleted in 1982. But in January 1983, she again enrolled herself as a voter! Such is her revealed disdain for Indian laws and that is her mindset even today.

VI

The bottom line observed in Sonia’s mindset is that she can always run back to Italy if she becomes vulnerable at anytime. In Peru, President Fujimori who all along claimed to be “born Peruvian”, faced with a corruption charge fled to Japan with his loot and reclaimed his Japanese citizenship.

In 1977, when the Janata Party defeated the Congress at the polls, and formed the government, Sonia with her two children, abandoned Indira Gandhi and ran to the Italian Embassy in New Delhi and hid there. Rajiv Gandhi was a government servant then [as an Indian Airlines pilot], but he too tagged along and hid in that foreign embassy! Such was her baneful influence on him. Rajiv did snap out Sonia’s influence after 1989, but alas he was assassinated before he could rectify it. Those close to Rajiv knew that he was planning set things right about Sonia after the 1991 elections. She did too know of it because he had told her. Ever wonder why Sonia’s closest advisers are those whom Rajiv literally hated? Ambika Soni is one such name. Ever wonder why she asked the President of India to set aside, on a mercy petition, the Supreme Court judgment directing that Rajiv Gandhi’s LTTE killers be hanged to death, when she was not similarly moved for Satwant Singh who killed Indira Gandhi or recently for Dhanajoy Chattopadhyaya? The explanation for this special consideration for the LTTE lies in what Rajiv had told her in 1990.

Those who have no love for India will not hesitate to plunder her treasures. Mohammed Ghori, Nadir Shah, and the British scum in the East India Company made no secret of it. But Sonia Gandhi has been more discreet, but as greedy, in her looting of Indian treasures. When Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were Prime Ministers, not a day passed when the PM’s security did not go to the New Delhi , or Chennai international airport to send crates and crates unchecked by customs to Rome . Air India and Alitalia were the carriers. Mr. Arjun Singh first as CM, later as Union Minister in charge of Culture was her hatchet man. Indian temple sculpture of gods and goddesses, antiques, pichwai paintings, shatoosh shawls, coins, and you name it, were transported to Italy to be first displayed in two shops owned by her sister [i.e., Anuskha alias Alessandra]. These shops located in blue-collar areas of Rivolta [shop name: Etnica] and Orbassano [shop name: Ganpati] did little business because which blue collar Italian wants Indian antiques? The shops were to make false bills, and thereafter these treasures were taken to London for auction by Sotheby’s and Christies. Some of this ill-gotten money from auction went into Rahul Gandhi’s National way into the Gandhi family account in the Bank of America in Cayman Islands .

Rahul’s expenses and tuition fees for the one-year he was at Harvard, was paid from the Cayman Island account. What kind of people are these Gandhi-Mainos that bite the very hand of India that fed them and gave them a good life? How can the nation trust such greedy thieves?

Since I failed to persuade the Vajpayee government to defend India ’s treasures from plunder by the Mainos, I approached the Delhi High Court in a PIL. The first Bench of the court issued notice to the Government, but since the Indian government dragged its feet, the Court directed the CBI to seek Interpol’s and Italian government’s help. The Italian government justifiably asked for a Letter Rogatory for which a FIR is a pre-requisite. But the Interpol did oblige and submitted two voluminous reports, which the Court directed the CBI to hand over to me. But CBI has refused, and has claimed privilege! The CBI has also been caught lying in court by telling the judges that Alessandra Maino is a name of a man, and Via Bellini 14, Orbassano is a name of a village [not the street address of the Maino's residence].Although the CBI counsel had to apologise to the court stating he made a mistake, he has been promoted to Additional Solicitor General by the new government! The Vajpayee-Sonia mutual assistance pact is in full view. The case now comes up on September 8th.

But the most sinister aspect of Sonia Gandhi’s character is her connection with terrorists. I am still working on it, but she has had long connection with the Habash group of Palestinian, and has funded Palestinian families that lost their kith and kin in a suicide bombing or hijacking episode. This, Rajiv Gandhi himself told me and was confirmed to me [the funding] by Yassir Arafat when I met him in Tunis on October 17, 1990 at the request of Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi and I were good friends from 1978, but became very close buddies after V.P. Singh had betrayed him in 1987. We met practically every day, mostly in the early hours from 1.00 am to 4.00 am. It was at my suggestion that he made Chandrashekhar the PM. And contrary to public impression, he was not mainly responsible for the fall of Chandrashekar government in which I was a Minister.

Besides the Palestinian extremists, the Maino family have had extensive business dealings with Saddam Hussein, and surprisingly with the LTTE ["the Tamil Tigers"] since 1984. Sonia’s mother Paola Predebon Maino, and businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi were the main contacts with the Tigers. The mother used the LTTE for money
laundering and Quattrocchi for selling weapons to earn commissions.

Sonia’s conduit to the LTTE has been and is through Arjun Singh who uses Bangalore as the nodal point for contact. There is a string of circumstantial evidence pointing to the prima facie possibility that the Maino family may have contracted the LTTE to kill Rajiv Gandhi. The family may have assured the LTTE that nothing would happen to them because they would ensure it is blamed on the Sikhs or the evidence so much fudged that no court would convict them. But D. R. Karthikeyan of the CBI who led the SIT investigation got the support of Narasimha Rao and cracked the case, and got the LTTE convicted in the trial court, and which conviction was upheld in the Supreme Court.

Although on the involvement of Congress Party in the assassination, DRK soft peddled on a number of leads perhaps because he did not want political controversy to put roadblocks on his investigation as a whole. The Justice J.S.Verma Commission, which was set up as the last official act of the Chandrashekhar government before demitting office on June 21, 1991, did find that the Congress leaders had disrupted the security arrangements for the Sriperumbudur meeting. The Commission wanted further probe into it but the Rao government rejected that demand. In the meantime under Sonia’s pressure, the Jain Commission was set up by the Rao government, which tried to muddy the waters and thus exonerate the LTTE. But the trial court judgment convicting the LTTE came earlier, and that sinister effort too failed.

Nowadays, Sonia is quite unabashed in having political alliance with those who praise Rajiv Gandhi’s killers. No Indian widow would ever do that. My investigations into Sonia’s involvement in Rajiv’s assassination is therefore still on. I am also author of a best seller titled Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Unasked Questions and Unanswered Queries [published by Konark in 2000] in which I have given some indications.

Is it not significant that the political career of Sonia Gandhi advances concomitantly with a series of assassinations and apparently accidental deaths? How did Sanjay’s plane nosedive to a crash and yet the fuselage not explode? There was no fuel! Why was there no inquiry conducted? Is it not a fact that Indira Gandhi died because of loss of blood from the wounds and not directly due to a bullet impacting her head or heart? Then is it not strange that Sonia had insisted that the bleeding Indira be driven to Lohia Hospital — in the opposite direction to AIIMS, which had a contingency protocol set up for precisely such an event? And after reaching Lohia Hospital , did not Sonia change her mind and demand that they all drive to AIIMS thus losing 24 valuable minutes.

The same kind of mystery surrounds the sudden deaths of Sonia’s other political roadblocks such as Rajesh Pilot, Jitendra Prasad, and Madhavrao Scindia. Such things happened in the dark ages in Italy . Should we allow it India like dumb cattle?

What Can We Do?

We have to ensure that the Maino clan does not stay in power. Dr Manmohan Singh may be PM, which is a small relief, but he is not a fighter. The real power in government today is wielded by the Maino mafia gang. Can they be dethroned?

In Indian democracy, only a shocking scandal can unseat a government other than by losing majority. Today’s priority is not for toppling the Congress government as such since Manmohan Singh is a decent and scholarly person, but in driving the Maino clan out of India . It will however not be long before Sonia will give Manmohan Singh marching
orders, and he will march out meekly. We should not expect him to resist. With Sonia’s defacto government in place, it is also unrealistic to expect that I can get an early victory in the courts on the KGB and antique smuggling cases.

The most potent weapon therefore to dislodge the Maino clan [including Rahul and Priya nka] is by exposing their Italian citizenship. In 1992, Sonia revived her citizenship of Italy under Article 17 of the Italian Citizenship Law [Act 91 of 1992]. Rahul and Priya nka were born Italian citizens because Sonia was Italian when she gave birth to them [Italian law based on jure sanguinis]. Hence, they continue be Italians since they never renounced it. Both have been traveling abroad on Italian passports. They may now acquire Venezuela passports since Rahul’s girl friend Veronica is a Venezuelan. That means one more foreign bahu for us tolerant Indians. The Maino-Gandhis are certainly getting globalized. So what can patriotic Indians do?

There is an urgent need to document these facts on notarized paper, for which we need a network in London , Milan , Hong Kong and Venezuela . Those persuaded by my above stated facts and arguments may join in and help set up this network.

I

Patriotic Indians should thank the President of India for having the courage by citing a legal hitch to dissuade Ms. Sonia Gandhi from staking her claim to form the government in May this year. She therefore did not as expected on May 17th become the Prime Minister of 1 billion plus people of India . It can now be said that the nation has been saved from a monumental, devastating, and permanent injury to India ’s national interest and patriotic psyche of Indians. And therefore every effort that can be made in a democracy should be made to ensure that Ms. Sonia Gandhi is permanently out of reckoning for any public office. For those who instinctively understand that, this Note is to explain the factual basis for this conclusion, and suggest what patriotic Indians can do now.

My opposition to Ms. Sonia Gandhi is not merely because she is Italian-born. In other democratic countries, including in Italy , such an issue [of foreign-born aspiring to be head of government] would not even arise at all because the issue has already been settled by law, that a person cannot hold the highest public office unless he or she is native born.

In India there is no such law, but the President according to my knowledge, correctly acted on a proviso to Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act [1955] which empowers the Union Home Ministry to lay down conditions that apply to Indian citizenship acquired by foreigners by registration, which conditions would be based on the principle of reciprocity, viz., in Ms Gandhi’s case such of those conditions that apply to Indians on becoming citizens of Italy would apply to her.

The President reportedly told her that if she insisted on being invited to form the government, he would want first to clarify, on a reference to the Supreme Court, whether in view of this proviso her appointment as PM could be successfully challenged in the court. It is fair to assume that this report of the President’s decision, is correct since the President had before him my petition dated May 15, 2004 making just that point— that Ms. Gandhi’s citizenship is conditional, and in particular she cannot be the PM legally. The President had also given me an appointment at 12.45 pm on May 17, 2004
to explain my submissions in person, which I did. I also told him that I would challenge such a constitutional appointment in the Supreme Court just as I had in 2001 when the Tamil Nadu Governor illegally swore in Ms Jayalalitha as Chief Minister.

In that case, the Supreme Court had after hearing me and many other institutional luminaries, upheld my contention that mere majority in the House is insufficient for being sworn in to a constitutional office. There must be no disqualification as well. Ms. Jayalalitha had therefore to step down because she was disqualified by a conviction handed by a trial court in the TANSI corruption case filed by me as private complaint [she subsequently was acquitted by the Madras High Court, and hence became eligible the next year]. I also cited to the President a 1962 Allahabad High Court case, which held that this proviso in the Citizenship Act was binding and lawful.

The nation in the Sonia matter has thus got an unexpected but temporary reprieve, a reprieve received not only because her citizenship of India by registration is not equal to one by birth even by Indian law, but also a reprieve more because of what national
security risk was averted. To comprehend that risk, we must first understand who Sonia Gandhi really is and what danger she, her family and her friends in Italy hold for India ’s national security.

Even for an Indian born citizen, we find it difficult to know a person’s true background, but for an Italian born it is extremely hard because of the remote access for most people to Italy in language and familiarity. This note is about that danger that Sonia represents to the nation, which the people need to know

Wondering who is Dr. Subramanian Swamy? see here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subramanian_Swamy

Watch him speak on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84fkL6yB1X8&feature=player_embedded
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYwQkhWMXIQ&feature=player_embedded

Socialism #fail

2010-01-09T14:23:00.000+05:30

As the late Adrian Rogers said, "you cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
This man is truly a genius!

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before,
but had once failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".
All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D!
No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that.

Fast changing goals

2009-04-11T13:26:00.001+05:30

Loved this one!
i would have preferred it the natural way though

Bug on Facebook!

2009-02-07T10:59:00.008+05:30

This is unusual,

Sharon wrote on my wall on facebook, wanting to reply on the same conversation I clicked on 'wall to wall'.
I replied and my comment appeared below with a time stamp of 'tomorrow'

See screenshot above:
It says tomorrow for comments made today & yesterday.
How the hell is tomorrow possible?

After Google it's Facebook with a human error!

Human Body

2009-02-05T12:12:00.002+05:30

I dont like not blogging.

Arrrrgh! just no time

I hate it even more to know that i havent been able to spare 5 - 10 min to write, last post was a month back.

Just got this mail - don know how true is it, but interesting enough to read once atleast: so putting it down here

Some Facts about your body

Scientists say the higher your I.Q. The more you dream.
The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm.
You use 200 muscles to take one step.
The average woman is 5 inches shorter than the average man.
Your big toes have two bones each while the rest have three.
A pair of human feet contains 250,000 sweat glands.
A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball.
The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razor blades.
The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as theEncyclopedia Britannica.
It takes the food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.
The average human dream lasts 2-3 seconds.
Men without hair on their chests are more likely to get cirrhosis of the liver than men with hair.
At the moment of conception, you spent about half an hour as a single cell.
There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.
Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil.
The enamel in your teeth is the hardest substance in your body.
Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born.
When you are looking at someone you love, your pupils dilate, and they do the same when you are looking at someone you hate.
Your thumb is the same length of your nose.

Sure you guys will try the last one.

Tx Ankit

Wedding Rings

2008-12-17T13:20:00.001+05:30

O Man is it true?

Certainly yes! Being close to the Beniwal family i had the privilege to be a part of the ring ceremony:bringing you this ultimate Kodak moment!

Such a beautiful couple they make.

On 6th Dec Arun calls and breaks the news, i almost jumped out of my seat "what???"

I could sense hesitation & happiness in his voice when he told me about the engagement (which was to be on the 9th) - it indeed is a big affair in one's life.

And knowing Arun for over 14 years now, I personally think it is one of the best decisions of his life.

And let me also tell you the wedding day isn't too far.

So what are you waiting for? Congratulate him now (9999-33-0661) know more about his fiancee and lets party everyday... lets celebrate! I am so so happy.....

Another friend Mani got married recently so happy he was on the day - these weddings are so much fun

.......

My Take on Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!

2008-12-07T18:13:00.006+05:30

Fantastic movie for a Sunday afternoon, good 2 & half hours spent after a heavy brunch.

Cast: Abhay Deol (this guy is improving), Archana Puran Singh (as witty) & Paresh Rawal (true actor) & others - don't know their names but m sure they would definitely shine after OLLO!

Starts off really well from a sardar family living in one of those crowded bylanes of Delhi. Lucky is from this typical lower middle class family: wanting to impress a girl, would flick money from dad'd kurta, lead his gang of friends to mischievous acts etc... naughty & nasty but smart - street smart.

He is an aspiring individual who loves the good things in life and is inspired by the lifestyles of the rich and affluent Delhi families, flicks anything he gets his hands on.

The end - i think is the weakest part of the film, could have been better but since its based on a true story i guess the director did not have much of a choice.

Abhay Deol impresses with his performance yet again, Paresh Rawal is brilliant.

Music is catchy - specially the punjabi rap that keeps playing in the background, it's really nice - got to hear that once at least.

All in all it's worth the money - If you liked Johnny Gaddar u'll like this one too.

Let me know what you feel about the movie - wanna know if our tastes match!

Maj Sandeep Unnikrishnan - Hero (Operation Black Tornado)

2008-12-05T13:14:00.011+05:30

It has indeed moved me to know what an officer of the Indian Army, who served in the elite National Security Guards (NSG) gets on sacrificing his life while fighting terrorists in the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, a braveheart soldier of the Indian Army chose to wear the uniform to protect India and more importantly it's citizen from evils of the world - and he certainly did it even when it came at the cost of his life.

I mean just imagine, he also could have chosen an easy life like ours - e-mailing friends, chatting about the attack, discussing unnecessarily , blogging, etc... but he chose to beat the daylight out of those sons of bitches (pardon my language - got no better words for them) and for this the entire nation salutes him today.

But the question is how long would you & me remember this name and what about his family?

I m not sure if u remember even 1 name from the list of martyrs in Operation Vijay - if you have a defence background you might remember 1 - that's the case, we forget with time.

About his family, he was the only child - can't even fathom the pain his parents are going through. His mother's tears would weigh more than what I have cried in 24 years and i bet you too. Go here and see how the Chief Minister reacted post his death - will shock the wits out of you.The Kerala government did not send any representative to attend Maj Sandeep's funeral.

Another thing that comes to my mind is the compensation to his family - can you guess it?

Let me give you a hint on the kind of money our govt gives to our heroes - Abhinav Bindra got 3,00,00,000 (INR 30 million) on winning a gold for the country - indeed a moment of glory.

Maj Sandeep Unnikrishnan's family gets only 5 lakhs.

I am sure his family doesn't want money, the point i am trying to make here is about our govt -

'A gold medal is valued 60 times more than a soldier's life sacrificed at war-zone.'

I salute all heroes of Operation Black Tornado:

You are the real men of honour - sons of the soil

Upload your phonebook online : Easy & Safe

2008-11-26T12:52:00.003+05:30

Have you ever lost your mobile and with it all the contacts?

Have you faced problems transferring the entire phonebook to your new phone?

If the answer is yes then you need to visit zyb.com now!

Using ZYB you can

You can create a back up for the entire phonebook on your mobile.
Zyb automatically updates your contacts, on the phone and internet, whenever you or your friends change or add information.
Also, you can view updates from your social networks like facebook, twitter, myspace, YouTube, etc...

Hats off to these guys for putting up such a neat site with awesome UI and 'out of this world' site navigation - this is by far the best example of web 2.0 for me and i am yet to meet someone who would disagree on this.

let me tell you these guys won the award for outstanding digital service design, presented by the Prince of Denmark - view here

Also what zyb encourages is the concept of open id - basically open id lets you use the same username and password on many different websites like flickr, yahoo, wordpress, basecamp etc... so less confusion and easy to remember - coz its only 1 username and password that you need to memorise.

Barclaycard sucks!

2008-11-12T11:54:00.009+05:30

Had a good start to the day, went to the airport to drop Jasmine (O by the way she is very excited about an auto expo / fair in Bombay for which she would be representing her company, Apollo Tyres) and on my way back it was a nice highway drive, also i spoke to RJ Sarthak...hit 95 fm and played the nine second nail biter - in which i had to unjumble a word in 9 seconds - was done successfully.

But it was only for a couple of hours that i was happy until i got a call from barclaycard executive.... now the story starts..... lemme tell you how Barclaycard sucks!

I have been a Barclaycard holder for almost 2 yrs now with a decently high credit limit.

My total outstanding amount on 3rd nov was around 12k, so logically speaking if i subtract 12k from my total credit limit, i was still left with a healthy available credit limit. Keeping this in mind i went shopping and i was billed for about 15k. The sales person at the store was also very happy to serve me as it was a good enough billing from a single customer and that too early in the day.

I happily took out my Barclaycard, pushed it over the counter and went back looking at some more stuff that i intended to buy next week / month for winters. And usual he started up-selling......

About 5 min passed - poor chap on the counter kept trying and finally asked me "sir koi doosra card hoga? Decline dikha raha hai"

Highly embarrassed barclaycard holder had no other card and obviously not that much cash, finally managed with online money transfer but with immense pain.

Why do i hate Barclay's -

I receive my bill after the due date - so i am charged a heavy late fee
No sms / email on purchases - this is a simple service which even a small enterprise uses.
There is no way you can contact Barclays customer support. try their helpline (0124-6752222) i bet you cant connect.
There is no way you can find out your outstanding amount due or the available - nothing based on sms, Internet, voice.
The only time i have spoken to Barclays representatives is when they have called me - so its a one way communication.

Simran, if u happen to read this - i apologise man! just dont like the company you working with.

Breathtaking riverside

2008-10-27T08:18:00.004+05:30

Every time i promise my self to blog daily - i fail to find time for it.

Since my last post (which was actually the first in this series) till today - lots of things have happened, will dump it all in this post.

Barog trip (7 - 11th oct) - was full on adventure, started from office late night in a bus that was well stocked with chilled draught beer and other substances of intoxication. We were a big gang as teams from all other territories had flown in for this trip + the sales review + most importantly it was the final chance for most people to spend time with Kumar Apoorv but not me. haha!

Barog is really a beautiful place, but only if u love nature, are prepared not to bathe under the shower - rather jump in a river. Just try and imagine this:

You go from a place like Delhi which is hot and humid
Land up at the river side where water is so clear that you can see the pebbles on river bed
You step in the chilling water, Ly down.... cold water streams stiffening your muscles....above you is the clear sky with hills running on both sides of the river and the reddish sun going down the hills.....my one hand holds a beer and the other one helps me trip!!

Trippy Barog it was !!

Bang !

2008-10-08T14:56:00.003+05:30

About 3 hrs back, brijesh & me were happy over something.

In his car on are way to office, just 100 m away from office is a crossing which brijesh always thought was dicey and accident prone.

We must have been at 50kmph - sounds slow for a lancer but when it bangs side on with a honda city at the same speed the damage tells the story.

Though it wasn't as big as other accidents i have been involved in - i surely had i heart in my mouth for a simple reason that had we been a bit faster say @ 55 k's or the honda city had been slower say @ 45k's, the co-driver in our car:which was me would have seen everything fading away....

God's grace!!

Re-start

2008-10-04T11:43:00.004+05:30

Hi guys,

Its been very long since my last post (you cant see them as i deleted all).... hmmm... i guess it was more than 6-8 months back or may be an year! But the time has come to start afresh!! here i am.

Have deleted my last 8-10 entries (anyways they were crap) since i wanted to be a sensible blogger this time. So this one's gonna be about what i learn everyday, my likes, my dislikes, my interests - technology, gadgets, internet & mobile space - startups and lots more..... hope it makes sense!!

You'll see the first post soon.
Now time for some tea with a stick.