:)

Why worry and have Wrinkles,
when you can smile and have Dimples :)

(~copied)

aye..!!

“ People are made to be loved and things are made to be used. The confusion arises in the world when “people are used and things are loved”.

‘Get used to being used .. because if nobody uses you, it means that you are really useless’…!!

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Just finished watching the movie "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly".

No doubt that it's a nice movie. The real story of Mr. Bauby who suffers a stroke and lapse into coma. After 20 days of coma, he gets mentally awake but physically paralyzed. He can only see through one eye and there is some movement in his head. A transcriber recites the letters to him until he chooses the letter with a blink of left eyelid. With the help of 200,000 blinks, he gets his book written.

The book gets published in March 1997. It receives excellent reviews, gets 150,000 copies sold in the first week, and become a number one bestseller across Europe. Ten days after the book gets published, Bauby dies of pneumonia.

The movie at times gets slow. I almost loose my patience and feel like pressing "forward", when the trancriber repeats reciting the same order of alphabets, but then I try to connect myself to the character and feel the helplessness.

n I feel depressed.

Happy Lohri !!

Lohri, my favourite festival, is celebrated on the last day of the month of Pans to mark the end of winter. It is said that the forefathers formulated a sacred mantra which protected them from the cold. This mantra invoked the Sun God to send them so much heat that the winter cold would not affect them. And, in thanks-giving to the Sun God, they chanted this mantra round a fire on the last day of Pans. The Lohri fire is symbolic of the homage to the sun.

This is particularly a happy occasion for the couples who are together on Lohri first time after their marriage. Also, the tradition is to ask God for your special wishes on the parv of Lohri.

A few years back, I remember, all my neighbours prayed that I should not be with them on the next Lohri, meaning, I should get married and it actually happened :) The next Lohri my Mom served special sweets to all of them to celebrate my absence :)

I really miss all that today, the family, the friends, the neighbours, the togetherness, the sweets, the gossips, the dances around fire n everything..!!

It seems all these colourful festivals for me have just been concised to emails. I wish I could be with family today and sing with all:

Sundri Mundri Hei! Hoi!
Tera Kaun Bechara! Hoi!
Dullah Bhatti wala! Hoi!
Dullah Di Dhi viyahi !Hoi!
Sher ShaKar pai! Hoi!
Kuri de Mamme aaye! Hoi!
UnaNe ChuRi Kuti! Hoi!
Jimidari Lutti! Hoi!

Company whai company
Campa wale aayenge
Doso teer chalayenge
Ek teer mai mang laya
Chhota sipahi mainu tang laya
Wadda sipahi mainu marega
Dilli kaun sawarega
Dilli di do morniyan
Jeevan sab diyan Jodiyan !

Apple Introduces New Laptop With No Keyboard :)

Obama's Economic Rescue plan

President Elect Barack Obama said the U.S. economy is "bad and getting worse". He predicted lawmakers would approve hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending and tax cuts within two weeks of his taking office.

"The economy is very sick," Mr. Obama said after meeting with Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid. "The situation is getting worse... We have to act and act now to break the momentum of this recession."

Mr. Obama also mentioned: "This is not a Republican problem or a Democratic problem at this stage. It is an American problem and we're going to all have to chip in and do what the American people expect."

Mr. Obama's proposal to stimulate the economy includes tax cuts of up to $300 billion, including $500 tax cuts for most workers and $1,000 for couples, as well as more than $100 billion for businesses, an Obama transition official said. The total value of the tax cuts would be significantly higher than had been signaled earlier.

"I expect to be able to sign a bill shortly after taking office," Mr. Obama said. Pressed on the timing, he said, "By the end of January or the first of February."

"The reason we are here today is because the people's business cannot wait," Mr. Obama said as he arrived on Capitol Hill for talks with Rep. Pelosi.

The tax cuts for individuals and couples would be similar to the rebate checks sent out last year by the Bush administration and Congress in a bid at that time to boost the slowing economy. A key difference is that the tax cuts this time around may be awarded through withholding less from worker paychecks. That provision would cost about $140-150 billion over two years.

For businesses, the plan would allow firms incurring losses last year to take a credit against profits dating back five years instead of the two years currently allowed.

Another provision brought to the negotiations by the Obama team would award a one-year tax credit costing $40-50 billion to companies that hire new workers, and would provide other incentives for business investment in new equipment.

"We've got an extraordinary economic challenge ahead of us," Mr. Obama said. "We're expecting a sobering job report at the end of the week."

Mr. Obama has insisted that bold and quick action is necessary if the nation is to rebound from the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. He has said repeatedly he wants a plan that will create 3 million new jobs.

"Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don't act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double-digit unemployment and the American dream slipping further and further out of reach," he said in his Saturday radio and YouTube address.

(ref: wsj.com)

Craigsphone brings Craigslist to the iPhone !

This is for all my friends, who are all time fan of simple and fulfilling classified site Craigslist and possess the cute iPhone.

There are quite a few iPhone apps featuring Craig and his list out there (including a few with prices on them), but one that can be real useful free app is Craigsphone. It has all the features of Craigslist made mobile, and then some -- you can see your history, post and call directly from the phone, and even use the iPhone's location to see craigslist entries nearby (It works in San Fransisco and Manhattan).

If you spend lot of time on Craiglist, or just want to while you're out and about, Craigsphone seems like a good way to do it.