HUMAN PLAY-NET

PATNA: Defying call for a poll boycott by Maoists , around 52 per cent of the 98.44 lakh electorate cast their votes in 45 Assembly constituencies in Bihar in the second phase of elections which was marred by stray incidents of violence. The second phase of voting in crucial Naxal -affected districts of Bihar came to an end on Sunday. Minor incidents of violence though have caused some disturbance as three polling officials have been reported to be missing from a booth in the Sitamarhi district in Bihar. The overall voter turnout was 52 per cent. East Champaran saw the highest voter turnout at 58 per cent. Stray incidents of violence occurred in Sitamarhi, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga districts. The Naxals who had called for a boycott of the polls set fire to an electronic voting machine and other poll material including voter identity cards. Heavily-armed Naxals raided a polling centre at Subaigarh in Runisaidpur constituency and burnt down the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) b...

WHAT do you make out of the Thackerays versus Shahrukh Khan controversy, which has been holding Mumbai to ransom for over 10 days now? Well, it’s all about politicking in the family, which has now spilled on to the public arena. In fact, what we are witness to is a desperate bid of survival at the cost of non-parties. Be it Shahrukh Khan , management guru Arindam Chaudhary , helpless taxi-wallas, hapless cinema hall owners or the innocent cinegoers…all are turning victims of Shiv Sena ’s bid to reclaim the ground lost to Sena chief Bala Sahab Thackeray’s nephew, one-time family member and now his arch rival Raj Thackeray , who has beat Sena at its own game. Post- Maharashtra Assembly election , while the stocks of Raj’s party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) soared following better than expected gains at the hustings, Bal Thackeray and his son Uddhav were left biting their nails and chewing their fingers in view of the relatively poorer performance of Shiv Sena. Since existence...

When I feel lonely, yet in a crowd When all the voices seem too loud When I am searching and feel unloved When I am jostled, pushed and shoved When there is darkness, in spite of light When my very existence feels like a fight When everyone is smiling, yet I cry When my barriers are my only protection When negative is my only projection You lovingly whisper We will be there... The clouds uplift The sun shines through My fears no more exist I feel protected I know I am safe I surrender myself to your loving grace... I know in that instance, I am never alone...

GOD was never before so easily accessible! If you feel like offering prayer, and don’t feel like walking up to the temple, all you are required to do now is just  SMS your wishes to the temple-managed electronic message box. After doing that tough, tedious and tiring job(!), you can rest assured that your prayer has reached the destination, the temple, the God’s abode! And if you thought it’s a joke, dear friend, you are utterly mistaken!  Shree Siddhivinayak Temple  in Mumbai, which is known to be frequented by celebrity-devotees, including aging-Don  Big B  and oft-in trouble  Sanjay Dutt , has struck a deal with a mobile phone service provider. Using this  mobile  service, now  couch potatoes  and those really hard-pressed for time can SMS their prayers to the “wish box” of the temple…to be heard (and acted upon?) by  Lord Ganesha  at His convenience. With around 1,000 SMSes lying to be attended to by the deity in just a week’s time, it seems hi-tech prayer is catching fast! Shree S...

CALL IT fiction paving the way for fact, or the vice-versa…it turns out to be the same. The likely future shape of things, as depicted on celluloid by the acclaimed Hollywood filmmaker Roland Emmerich in his movie The Day After Tomorrow , sent shivers down my spine. It has the potential to kick up a global debate on whether the mankind would actually witness the natural catastrophe that the movie talks about — the Ice Age , a fall-out of man-made environmental pollution . With the Green House fast turning into a “red” phenomenon for the concerned lot, the movie has virtually stirred the hornet’s nest: will the Ice Age be a reality one day? Well, the filmmaker asserts that the depiction of the catastrophe is more than mere fiction, and so do the scientists. An Ice Age occurs when the Conveyor — the massive system of water flow from North to South — shuts down. Besides, it’s is also said to be a fallout of a complicated interaction between various natural elements/celestial events suc...

SOMETIMES, GESTURES SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS: While Mr. Sharad Pawar had set his eyes on the Prime Minister's chair, Sonia Ma'am chose not to elevate the Maratha leader beyond the position of Agriculture Minister...a second time. So, Mr. Pawar's bafflement is understandable. Does the picture suggest this? Well, that I leave for you to decide.

A few days ago, a Facebook  friend of mine forwarded me the lines below. I read them and read them and read them... The poem touched my heart and soul, and I was so badly reminded of my love , who chose to desert me a few years back in pursuit of mirage-like brighter tomorrow. These simple lines reflect the urge to love and be loved, and the need to have a sense of belonging and emotional security in the most sublime manner. However, the beauty of the poem lies in its simple narrative, without using a single complex term, idea or thought. Hope you enjoy it as well. When I worry about the future, You wrap me in your wings and tell me there is only the moment! When I feel insecure, You wrap me in your wings and tell me you are there! When I am unhappy about things I can't control, You wrap me in your wings and guide me in the right direction! When I am lonely and feeling lost, You wrap me in your wings with your empowering love! When I am tearful and sad, You wrap me in your wings a...

YES, you heard it right…the little, sweet Mannu Uncle – a respectable economist-turned-Prime Minister-turned-Gandhi family loyalist (won’t call sycophant yet) – may find it a bit too hard to handle his 78- strong jumbo Council of Ministers . However, the root of the plight of our so-called (Singh is) King does not lie so much in the size of his ministry as much as in the composition of it. Owing to the politics of compromise(s) and appeasement that the Indian democracy is witness to, Manmohan Singh’s Council of Ministers has characters of all castes, creed, regions, religions, complexions, shapes, sizes and age. There are Farooq Abdullahs , Pranab Mukherjees , Sharad Pawars , Veerbhadra Singhs, Mamata Banerjees , Kamal Naths , Ambika Sonis, Kapil Sibals, Jaipal Reddys and Ghulam Nabi Azads, to name just a few, around him to keep pulling his strings from all sides, apart from the bed-ridden, oxygen-fitted ailing M Karunanidhi calling shots from his wheel-chair in Chennai ! How many...

“WHERE there’s will, there’s a way” will perhaps be the best way to say it all. It was a wonder of sorts as investor and philanthropist  Paul G. Allen , in association with  Scaled Composites , flew in the first-ever private manned vehicle beyond the Earth’s orbit. Apart from being an individual rare achievement, this historic event is sure to throw open a whole new world of opportunities for private  space tourism , a term virtually unheard of until a few years ago. The spacecraft— SpaceShipOne —test-piloted by Mike Melvill on the 21st June 2004, reached a record-breaking altitude of 328,491 feet (approximately 62 miles or 100 km), thereby making him the first civilian to fly a spaceship out of the atmosphere as also the first private pilot to earn an astronaut’s wings. On the successful completion of the mission, Scaled Composites founder and CEO  Burt Rutan  said: “Today’s flight marks a critical turning point in the history of aerospace,” adding that “we have redefined space travel...

"THOSE who live by guns, die by guns" is an age-old belief, which may be true in letter but not always in sprit as well. The extent of appeal of the cliche depends on who are "those" being referred to and what prompted this "those" to take up arms. A cold-blooded killer, a hardcore criminal, a roadside robber or somebody akin to a freedom fighter? They may all use arms, but their mens rea - the real intent - may just not have any similarity. No, you got it wrong if you thought that I am here to defend the slain chief of LTTE Vellupillai Prabhakaran and what he stood for. Violence in any form must be condemned, as violence becoming the means of expression can only guide a situation to more violence. But at the moment, the twin crucial questions raising their heads are: "Has the death of Prabhakaran also laid to rest the cause he had been fighting for over 25 years?" and "If he was a terrorist, what should the Sri Lankan army be termed as?...