Guys ,next week I will be buying a car.I have zeroed in on Santro Gls,Zen Estillo and Chevrolet Spark.A bit of compromise on performance is ok but I need good mileage and decent comfort.What do you guys suggest?

Recently I came across a wonderul hillarious book titled Why Men Can Only Do One Thing At a time.....And Women Never Stop Talking, written by an Aussie couple Barbara and Allan Pease. Some excerpts to lighten your mood.

Why Women ask your opinion and then tell you you are wrong when you give it?
Why men can never find anything in fridges or cupboards but can always find their way to the nearest pub?
Why Women can spot a blonde hair at twenty paces but will hit the garage door when they park the car?
Why men can never watch TV without channel hopping?
Why Men don't listen and why can't women read maps?
Why Men lie so much and women cry so much?

One more
How many men does it take to change a roll of toilet paper?...........It's unknown,it's never happened.

I saw it in the news yesterday that CERN(an association of the world's best scientists) are going to start a land mark experiment today to explore the real reasons for the creation of Earth.They are going to recreate an environment which is the same as was just before the Big Bang(provided it actually happened).

When I heard this I was amazed for 2 reasons.First ,of course was for the rapid strides modern Science has taken so as to be able to perform such deeds which till now have only found place in science fiction.

The second reason is Dan Brown.Whoever has read "Angels and Demons" will remember that the exact same thing was depicted there.When I read that book I thought CERN and the whole experiment is fictional,but how I have been proven wrong.Turns out that this project has been going on for 14 years.More details are welcome.

Once a student in the languages department of Cambridge university really stunned one and all by his answer in a written test.In the annual written test there used to be one or two questions which carried 30 marks each(the total being 100).The general answer to such question was about 6-8 pages long with a complete subjective approach.

One such question was Define courage.

To which the student answered

This is courage.(and he left it at that)

Now that's what I call real out of the box thinking, wotsay?

If you were the examiner how much would you give him out of 30 for this answer?

For those of you who still haven't got the news Abhinaav Bindra of India has won a gold medal at the Olympics in the 10 metre air rifle event.This is India's first gold since the 1980 gold medal won by the hockey team and the first ever individual gold.

I wrote a preview(http://www.mouthshut.c
om/review/Athens_2004_Olympic_G
ames-148026-1.html) on the Beijing olmpics some days ago where I had expressed hope of listening to the "Jan Gana Mana" being played more than a couple of times at Beijing.Well,thanks to this champion shooter it has now happened once.It's an enormous achievement which even dwarfs India's world cup winning effort in 1983.

But this ,I feel is just the beginning.A lot more events haven't yet started where there are some real promising Indian medal prospects.This sure is a shot in the arm for all Indian sportspersons of present and future.And more than anything else this is a moment for us Indians to finally swell with pride and shed our indifference towards non-cricketing sports once and for all.

The IAS Interview

One young man went for an IAS Interview.


"When did India get independence?" He was asked.


"The efforts began a few years earlier and final result was in 1947" He replied.


"Who was responsible for our independence?"


"There were so many. Whom to mention? If I name one, it will be a injustice to another." He replied.

"Is corruption the number one enemy in our country?"


"Some research is going on the subject and I can answer with certainly only after seeing the report" He replied.


The interview board was very pleased with his original and thoughtful answers and asked him not to reveal the questions to others, since they were planning to ask the same questions.

When he went out naturally others were curious to know what was asked. He politely declined, but one persistent Santa would not leave him. "At least tell me the answers" he pleaded, and our friend obliged.


Then it was the turn of this Santa. When he went inside, since his resume was slightly illegible, the board member asked him." By the way, what is your date of birth?"


He replied, "The effort began a few years earlier and final result was in 1947."


Somewhat puzzled, they asked another clarification. "What is your fathers name?"


He replied, "There were so many. Whom to mention". If I name one, it will be injustice to another".


The interviewer was incensed.


"Hey! Are you mad or what?"


He replied. "Some research is going on the subject. I can answer with certainty only after seeing the report."

I wrote your name on sand it got washed.

I wrote your name in air, it was blown away. then

I wrote your name on my heart & i got Heart Attack.



******

God saw me hungry, he created pizza .

He saw me thirsty, he created Pepsi .

He saw me in dark, he created light .

He saw me without problems, he created YOU.



******

Twinkle Twinkle little star

You should know what you are

And once you know what you are

Mental hospital is not so far.



******

The rain makes all things beautiful.

The grass and flowers too.

If rain makes all things beautiful

why doesn't it rain on you?



******

Roses are red, Violets are blue

monkeys like u should be kept in zoo.

Don't feel so angry you will find me there too

not in cage but laughing at you.

Most of us are familiar with this lovely soothing Louis Armstrong number which goes like

I see trees of green........ red roses too
I see em bloom..... for me and for you
And I think to myself.... what a wonderful world.

I see skies of blue..... clouds of white
Bright blessed days....dark sacred nights
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world.

The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky
Are also on the faces.....of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands.....sayin.. how do you do
Theyre really sayin......i love you.

I hear babies cry...... I watch them grow
Theyll learn much more.....than Ill never know
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world

The colors of a rainbow.....so pretty ..in the sky
Are there on the faces.....of people ..going by
I see friends shaking hands.....sayin.. how do you do
Theyre really sayin...*spoken*(I ....love....you).

How many of these lovely components of our wonderful world have you noticed and really felt lately?

Recently I hapened to read a mail where there was listed 10 strict No-Nos after you have a meal.No smoking,No lying down,No aerated drinks(cola shola),not even cold water,no tea,no alcohol,no brief walks,no fruits,(the funniest one) no lightening of belt,no this no that.I was amazed to see that I indulge in around 8 or 9 of these activities(I am sure they studied some people exactly like me) and am still pretty much hale and hearty.Well going by the impressive "scientific reasons " provided for every don't by them I should have been either dead or handicapped by loss of kidney or liver or God knows what.So I said to myself let's give it a try and I tried to weigh out the pros and cons.These are my conclusions.
A nice hot plate of Hyderabadi Chicken Biriyani never tastes the same without the customary accompaniment of Sprite/Coke.
Sunday Afternoons are never the same if I don't take that 2 hours nap (which I miss the whole week) after nice home cooked lunch.
When it's cold or raining outside and I am all set to dig into steaming Pakoras the meal is never quite over till I have had the tea/coffee.
In summers when I have juicy mangoes substituting for deserts I can hardly wait for my main course to get over so that I can devour them.

I could go on.

So what should we really make out of these "Valuable" Dos and Don'ts that we are bombarded with so regularly these days.First it used to be about what should (or rather shouldn't be which actually encompasses almost 90% of what we eat.) in your meal and now what you should do after a meal. won't be surprised if some research scholar come out with some on how to prepare for a meal and I am not talking about the cooking part of it.

As a responsible citizen I have cast my vote everytime I was required to (4 times till now) and in my own small way contributed to the great democratic process of our country that we are so proud of.But having witnessed the scenes a couple of days ago in the parliament I don't have any motivation left to do that again.All the times I have cast my ballot I have gone for the "lesser evil"(in my opinion) but now I don't think there is any political party left in this country which can be put under even that category anymore.
I am shocked at the way these MPs conduct themselves at the parliament even in the process of such an important debate.They have no respect whatsoever for the speaker who was haplessly trying to bring some decorum to the proceedings.It's not that I have seen it for the first time but somehow I felt really ashamed as an Indian citizen this time.Pathetic mud slinging at each other,heaps of cash getting unfolded in full public view,everyone so remorselessly involved in one up manship.I mean is there any limit to how insanely these people can betray the very purpose of our constitutional democracy.What is the message that goes through to the future generations and the world at large?