Mahashivratri

Greetings to all on the occassion of the Great Night of Shiva.

Indian Budget

The link to this year's (2009-2010) as well as previous budgets. Useful for the financially aware to compare numbers over the years.

Watch out for fakes

The one on top is the original.

The season of apologia

Look how many people are saying sorry. British bankers, American bankers, sportsmen. Even the US President. Hope it helps restore confidence and at least starts getting the world economy out of its present situation.

Valentine War

First, an organization attacks a pub in Mangalore (shamefully, women were beaten) and then issues a bizarre threat. Then, a group of plucky women retaliate, taking a leaf out of Gandhi's book, by launching a campaign to send a particular type of clothing to the said organization. The latter, now responds with a saree as a return gift. For updates, keep reading this blog.

दादागिरी/Dadagiri

The erstwhile Dada of Indian cricket is set to host a reality show on Zee TV Bangla. The Prince will continue to entertain!
Meanwhile, the Pathan brothers -Yusuf and Irfan, clinched victory for India yesterday in the Twenty20 match against Sri Lanka from a near hopeless position. A first, most probably, in Indian cricket history.

Shivratri celebration in Rome

Sunday, 22 February 5 - 6.30pm
Celebrating the festival of 'Shivratri' - the dawn of Truth
'The dawn comes silently from the east, only the wakeful will see it'
Domenica, 22 febbraio - ore 17:00/18:30 - Incontro culturale
Shiv Ratri – L’Alba della Verità
“L’alba sorge silenziosamente dall’Oriente, solo colui che sa guardare la scorgerà”
Il Sole della Conoscenza è da sempre la metafora di quell’ Essere Supremo che, con la sua verità, riesce a sconfiggere le tenebre dell’ignoranza umana. Siete invitati alla festa di Shiv Ratri. Ci saranno letture e performance artistiche, momenti di condivisione e meditazione.
UNIVERSITA’ SPIRITUALE MONDIALE BRAHMA KUMARIS (ONLUS)
Via Laura Mantegazza 59/c - 00152 Roma (Monteverde). - Tel: 06 5342405
E-mail: info@it.bkwsu.org
Sito italiano: www.bkwsu.org/italy
Sito internazionale: www.bkwsu.org

Reality vs perception

Slumdog Millionaire, is not a film made by Indians but is certainly about India and its obvious facets - the have-lots, the haves and the have-nots. As it moves towards the Academy awards (Oscars) having picked up the Golden Globes, SAGs and the BAFTAs, an analysis about its content and relevance in this article.

Formula 1 in EUR!?

The Comune di Roma (city council) has apparently proposed holding a F1 Grand Prix race from/in 2011. The race will be a street race (as in Monaco and now, Singapore as well) and likely to take place in the EUR area. That's about the only encouragement needed for Romans to press on the gas on the Via Cristoforo Colombo!

Windows to drive away mosquitoes

Bill Gates, released a jar of mosquitoes at the TED conference to highlight a major health problem, malaria, that continues to plague poor countries.

A package to encourage car buying

In an effort to help the Italian auto industry, the government has announced a package of measures including a subsidy on Euro 4 or 5 cars and road tax exemption for 3 years.

The perpetual conflict

Is the Middle East situation complex? There's probably no single adjective that describes the messy and tragic situation accurately any more. This column attempts to find a head and tail for it. A tangled skein, as Sherlock Holmes would have put it.

A question of priorities

Google has launched a bus in Tamil Nadu to bring the Web closer to far, flung areas. A laudable initiative although a more pressing issue is the lack of buses to ferry people around as evidenced in this report. On a related note, train services in Mumbai were affected with passengers demanding more trains.

Worrying signs

As the economic recession spreads and deepens, anger is taking ugly forms. An immigrant of Indian origin was the victim of a ghastly attack in Nettuno, 30 km from Rome, last night. Ethnic food joints are being outlawed in some Italian cities. Meanwhile, wildcat strikes in the UK are being called to protest against foreign labor, even from other EU countries like Italy,Portugal and Latvia. In a globalized, heavily interconnected world, these are self defeating actions.