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Oasis Of The Seas- An Unforgettable Experience

Saras — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:35:14 +0000

Oasis of the Seas, the World’s largest, most exclusive, luxurious liner is all set to sail for its maiden voyage on December 1st.

With a height of a 20 storeyed building it is an architectural marvel. All kind of facilities and recreations are provided to the passengers.

With a capacity of 6,296 passengers, and 2,160 members of the crew, it is 5 times the size of the Titanic.

With lofty cabins, sprawling luxury rooms and spacious balconies which overlook the sea, this $ 1.5 billion marvel is also equipped with a 750 seater amphitheatre, a golf course and an ice rink.

There is something for every one. A basketball and volleyball court, nurseries for kids, boutiques, restaurants, bars, name it and you have it there.

The pool and the sports section of the ship, also hosts the ships largest fresh water pool, with a sea spa and fitness center, besides 4 swimming pools.

The luxuriant gardens with 12,000 plants and 56 trees offer tranquility to the guests. Attractive shopping arcades with coffee shops and restaurants make it a shopper’s paradise. Strolling down the Boardwalk is a great recreation for the entire family.

As you bask in the ultimate luxury of the Oasis of the seas you tend to forget your days and dates, but the carpet panel provided on all elevators reminds you of them.

And you realize that your journey has ended and it is time for you to return.

In its 7-day cruise it is scheduled to visit to St Marten, St Thomas and Nassau in the Bahamas, for the first 3 days and the rest of the 4 days will be spent at Haiti, at the Royal Caribbean port resort of Labadee.

The Oasis of the Seas promises an experience of a life time.

Abandoned!

Saras — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:26:08 +0000

The hand that could have rocked a cradle had to abandon that very child in her arms under dubious circumstances. The agony that she must have suffered is unfathomable. But “Why did she do this? Why did she abandon me?”

This is David Stevenson, who was abandoned outside a flat in London when he was just a few days old.

As he stood before the red brick mansion where he had returned after 49 years, he tried to imagine what could have happened that day, way back in 1960.

Holding back his emotions he walked those corridors where his mother must have walked, carrying him her arms for the last time, clinging him to his bosom, and then abandoning him forever, never to see him again.

He gazed at the cold concrete floor, outside flat no 39, where he was found by one of the female officers Wpc Tegwen Curl

I t was the 15th of December 1960. The police station at Golders Green received a call at 5 pm on a cold winter evening that a newborn baby was found abandoned in West Health Court.

For him his life begins at this point. From the time he was taken in the safe custody of officer Curl.

On receiving his adoption papers in 1990, he tried to explore his identity. He went through all the newspaper reports published at that time and was surprised to find that he had shared the front page with President John F Kennedy. He was nicknamed “rainbow baby” by the ‘Daily Mail’, because of his colored clothes.

He could not find his parents, but when he held his child to his bosom, he felt the warmth of a blood relation for the first time in life.

Today David Stevenson, a software product manager is a happily married man, who lives in Watford with his wife and 3 sons.

At his wife’s insistence he traced Mrs. Curl. It was a tearful reunion. She is like a mother to him now.

Many of his questions are left unanswered, yet David is amongst those lucky ones who were taken care of.

He holds no grudges against his mother except that he feels a little incomplete.

David just a piece of advice from our side why waste your time looking for someone who did not need you. Instead live for those you love you and need you.

Blood is not always thicker than water!

Choosing the Right Mobile…

Saras — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:48:58 +0000

Mobile industry has revolutionized the concept of modern telecommunication. Today mobile phones are not a luxury; they are a necessity and even more an ‘Addiction’.

But before you go on to buy a handset, a few guidelines might help.

Display – A phone with an Active matrix screen or TFT (thin film Transistor) is preferable over LCD phones. Samsung provides UFB (ultra fine and bright) and OLED (Organic light emitting diode) in its X430, X100 and E700 models respectively. Besides, the resolution, size and color resolution should also be taken into consideration.

If photography is your passion then opt for camera phones which offer 1 or 1.3 Mega Pixels. Some high end phones also offer 2 Mega Pixels.

Polyphonic ringtones are the in thing. Choose a handset with a built in MP3.

One of the most important pre-requisite of a good handset is its memory. Memory cards are available in 128, 256, and 512 MB and 1 GB denominations. They include Memory Sticks, RS-MMC Cards and Multi-Media Cards.

Battery – ensure that your battery has a decent standby time, so that it does not let you down when you need it the most. It is usually music, videos, back lights, colored screens and cameras which tend to use up your battery fast.

And ofcourse it should suit your budget. Entry level phones are available within Rs. 5000, which can fulfill your basic requirement of conversing and messaging.

Mid range phones provide better features like a camera, MP3 and FM facility, GPRS or EDGE and Bluetooth or Infra-Red for better connectivity. These may range from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 15,000.

High end phones range from Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 25,000. They include latest advanced features like Touch Screens, Huge Displays, 2 MP cameras, etc.

And finally the PDA phones which are highly advanced, are as good as computers with a proper operating system and a WI-fi facility.

So pick the one that is best for you.

Twin Tower-A Transformation!

Saras — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:49:57 +0000

Thousands of people gathered at the waterfront of the Hudson River as the USS New York sailed in. They watched with moist eyes as the ship’s 21-gun salute boomed in the air, honoring those they had lost in the 9/11 attacks.

The USS New York warship contains 7.5 tonnes of steel retrieved from the rubble of The World Trade Center.

At the ship’s summit stands a replica of the Twin Towers, painted in colors denoting the different departments which were the first ones to respond during the catastrophe, in which more than 3000 lives were lost.

As it sailed in, it brought with it the memories, the anguish and the tears associated with Twin Towers. As the guns fired the crew stood to attention near the deck.

Amongst the ones watching were those that had lost their kith and kin. There were mothers, wives and sisters of fire fighters, who stood and fell in the service of the nation, and the members of the emergency services.

Rosaleen Tallon who had lost her firefighter brother said, “It’s a transformation from something really twisted and ugly. I’m proud that our military is using that steel.”

The‘New York’ warship which was built in Louisiana 3 weeks ago, will be officially commissioned on Saturday.

A transformation indeed!

The molten Steel has risen from the rubble of Twin Towers and has become a sturdy warship.

Robots Have Emotions!

Saras — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:19:15 +0000

A robot with emotions? Does it not sound like a science fiction?

Since childhood we have learnt that ‘robots’ are machines which can work and think like human beings but lack human emotions.

But now with the assistance of neural networks, this is possible! These machines can be programmed to think and feel like us. Such programmable robots that respond to human interaction are called Emotibotes.

A Science Museum in London exhibits such robots, the most popular ones being the Heart Robot and the Hexapod Robot.

The Heart Robot is half robot and half puppet which reacts to affection like any other child. If he is scared or startled he clenches his fists and his heart starts pounding.

Because of this the visitors have started ill-treating the little puppet. They caress him and when he responds to their caresses and soft soothing tones (for which he has been programmed) they, suddenly jolt him with a shriek or a loud noise which sends his heart pounding as he clenches his fists in fear.

The Hexapod Robot resembles a six-legged metallic spider, equipped with a camera in its eye. It catches people’s gaze, downloads their photographs which can be seen on a plasma screen, and at times even fastens itself to visitors and moves around with them.

Children love to interact with these robots which respond to them. Some cuddle and hug them while some love to scare them.This was an experiment conducted by the scientists of the University of the West of England in Bristol, to explore and study the emotional interaction of machines with humans.

M F Hussain- The Homecoming

Saras — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:44:53 +0000

The Legendary Artist M F Hussain, who is on self-imposed exile, due to threats to his life from Hindu fundamentalists, has always yearned to be back to his homesoil.

He had hurt the national and religious sentiments of multitude of Indians and Hindus by depicting Bharat Mata and Hindu Deities in the nude, and was booked under ‘Prevention of Insults to National Honour ‘Act for his offences.

Although he had withdrawn those paintings from the auction after apologizing, yet the fury and the hostility of the fundamentalists, who attacked his house and vandalized his paintings, forced him to flee. Since then he has been staying in London and Dubai. At present he is at New York.

But now the Indian government has decided to quash off all the cases against M F Hussain. With his chances of homecoming becoming bright, he is aspiring to be back at his earliest.

On conversing with PTI he said, “If right now I get a call from Mr. Chidambaram (Union Home Minister), I will take the first flight to India and congratulate him that the government has done really good.”

He is currently working on his book, ‘Voyage of Discovery’ which is a reflection of his experiences spread over a span of 60 to 70 years.

Indira Gandhi- A Flashback!

Saras — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:02:57 +0000

It was in 1984.

Indian Prime Minister Shot dead. As people heard in disbelief, the news spread like wild fire. The attackers were her personal body guards. It was in retaliation for storming the Golden Temple, the holy shrine of the Sikhs.

The attack had left a thousand people dead. She had received many death threats.

The night before her assassination, she addressed a political rally. Her words, “I don’t mind if my life goes in the service of the nation. If I die today, every drop of my blood will invigorate,” became immortal.

And then followed a spree of unabated violence as the Hindus massacred the Sikhs, who were blamed for the assassination.

The army was called in to curb the violence. Thousands were homeless as their houses burnt; many lost their kith and kin. Most of them had migrated during the partition and settled in business. With everything destroyed in these riots, one of the victim remarked, “we have become refugees again”.

Within hours of her death , her son Rajiv Gandhi was sworn in as her successor.

Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh, the men behind her assassination, were hanged to death on the 6th of January 1989.

25 years have passed since then. Rajiv Gandhi was also assassinated in May 1991.

Sonia Gandhi, his widow, led the United Progressive Alliance to a thumping victory in 2004 in the Lok Sabha elections.

Today the nation remembered her again and paid floral tributes to Mrs Indira Gandhi. The Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi in whose arms she breathed her last, her grandson Rahul Gandhi, along with political dignitaries paid their homage at the ‘ Shakti Sthal’, her memorial.

On this day the nation recalled her historic decisions which were praised and condemned in equal measures.

The declaration of emergency in 1975 is considered as one of the darkest period in our political history, when the freedom of press and civil liberties were severely curtailed. The country’s 19 –month nightmare was the cause for her humiliating defeat in 1977.

Shortly after that in 1980, she came back to power with a landslide victory.

The people, who had ousted her out, brought her back with a thumping majority.

Her courage to face the most adverse of situations, her ability to take the toughest of decisions left her critics and opponents dumbfounded.

Mrs Indira Gandhi was an influential leader and a symbol of feminism in a predominantly male dominated society.

In the Indian Premiers words, “Even 25 years after her martyrdom, her legacy remains as strong and durable as ever and her vision still guides and inspires us and it will continue to do so for ages to come.”

Tattooed Memoir

Saras — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:43:03 +0000

“What better way to express myself than by designing a tattoo of my son using some of his ashes.”

This is Mark Richmond, a father who still has not got over his son’s death. Ayden was two years and four months old when he died in 2005, suffering from a rare ailment, where his body could not absorb the fats.

Mark Richmond and his wife Lisa wanted to do something different as a lifelong tribute to their son.

The couple owned a tattoo parlor in Greater Manchester. Richmond had once tattooed the portrait of Sophie Lancaster, a 20 year old who was murdered in a park. Her father

who could not bear the pain of losing her, wanted to heal his scars by getting her portrait tattooed on him.

Richmond was inspired to do the same. As ashes contain carbon which is an important ingredient of tattooing ink, he decided to mix the ashes of his son in the ink and get his portrait tattooed on his chest, to keep him always close to his heart.

His wife, who is expecting a fourth child, will get a portrait of her son tattooed on her arm after the child is born.

David Beckham is one of the celebrities who has been to their tattoo parlor at Cheadle Hulme.

Richmond who plans to have him tattooed soon said, “Some people might think it’s a bit morbid, but until they have been through what we have, I don’t think they can really judge us.”

It’s Halloween Time!!!

Saras — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:15:58 +0000

It is the 31st of October and the much awaited Halloween is here. With its origin in an ancient Celtic festival also called Samhain (pronounced sau-an), it is a secular celebration which marks the end of the ‘lighter half,’ and beginning of the ‘darker half,’ of the year.

Also known as the Celtic year, it is a celebration which involves the colors black and orange. Black depicts the darkness of the light while orange denotes the color of fire, as it appears in the jack-o’- lantern.

It was a common belief amongst ancient Celts that, on the day of the Samhain, the passage between life and death was easily accessible to all kinds of spirits whether good or bad. On this day the ancestors were honored and the evil spirits warded off. And so these weird costumes and masks came to be worn, with the purpose of looking evil to ward off evil.

Halloween also includes ghost tours, telling scary stories, visiting haunted places, scaring people and watching horror movies. Children enjoy trick or treating. It is a customary celebration in which children go door to door asking for treats which is usually candy or money. They ask the question “trick or treat?” which is more of a playful threat.

Bonfires are also a very integral part of the festivities. As it is time to store food supplies for winter, people slaughter livestock. The bones are then thrown in the bonfire. The fire of all the houses is doused off and their hearth is lit afresh from the bonfire.

There are games for people of all ages. Forms of divination, a traditional game is played between future spouses. In yet other game, unmarried women, sit in a dark room gazing into a mirror, on a Halloween night, waiting to see the face of their future husband. However the appearance of a skull indicates that the girl will die unwed.

Narrating ghost stories and viewing horror films is another fixture of Halloween parties. The release of horror films is also timed during Halloween to encash the spirit of the atmosphere. Television serials and programmes based on Halloween are specially aired for the children

Haunted entertainment venues are an added attraction. Venues specially designed to thrill and scare patrons is a booming business at this time. United States draws around 400,000 patrons with a business of around $300- 500 million every year. Sophisticated hayrides, corn mazes and haunted houses with highly technical special effects good enough to beat any Hollywood film are a part of this flourishing industry.

Although there are mixed opinions about Halloween throughout the world it is the time for merrymaking and fun.

So Happy Halloween!

Madonna’s Charity For the Underprivileged

Saras — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:55:47 +0000

Women have the potential to achieve whatever they desire in life, provided they are educated. But we find young girls deprived off even this basic necessacity in underdeveloped countries. On her visit to Malawi, Madonna realized the importance of all the facilities she had enjoyed as a child and the happiness she had derived from it.

On meeting the young girls there, she felt the dire need for a proper institution where these girls could be educated so that they could serve their people and their nation in future. She wanted to give them opportunities; she had the faith that if given a chance they can become successful leaders, doctors, scientists and lawyers in future. She believed in them.

It was this belief in them that she decided to build an Academy for the underprivileged girls in Malawi. The foundation stone for ‘The Raising Malawi Academy for Girls,’ was laid down in a small ceremony attended by her children, including her adopted children, 4 year old David and Mercy aged 3 years. The Academy which will supposedly cost $15m, will take around 2 years to be completed.

She always wanted to do something for the underprivileged girls. In her words, “I realized how much they deserve to be educated and so for me the best thing I could do was to build a school, a unique school that will create future female leaders, scientists, lawyers and doctors. If this school is successful it will be used as a model to replicate it in other countries.”

By this charitable institution, she aims to provide free accommodation, education, food, clothes and all the basic essentials of life, to all the underprivileged children and orphans of Malawi. The school which is on the outskirts of Lilongwe, their capital, will accommodate 500 girls from the 28 districts of southern Africa.

The Head of the institution will be Anjimile Mtila Oponyo, an academician from Malawi.

Her trip included a meeting with President Bingu wa Mutharika, and a visit to the orphanages supported by her.

Beviga » Featured

Oasis Of The Seas- An Unforgettable Experience

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Abandoned!

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Twin Tower-A Transformation!

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Robots Have Emotions!

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M F Hussain- The Homecoming

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It’s Halloween Time!!!

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