My Two Paise!

Ever since I heard about Anantagiri, it was in mind to go for a bike ride to this place. When I told to my friends about this place, everyone agreed. Goutham had arranged for one bike and we were ready to go on Sunday 9^th March. We started from Madhapur at 8.30AM. Myself and Chandru were in my bike, Anand and Lohit in one bike and Goutham, Prashanth and Muttanna in another bike (yeah, three people in one bike!).

We assembled at JNTU at around 9.15 and started our journey towards Mumbai highway. I had taken the map (Thanks to Google Map) and the route was pretty clear. By the time we reached Patancheru, it was 9.50. We had breakfast at Udupi hotel and resumed our journey at 10.15. Till the outskirts of Hyderabad, the traffic was moderate. Once we reached the outskirts, the traffic was less and we hit 60. Though Sun had started making its presence felt, the cool breeze was enough for us to keep the spirit up and move on! When we reached Sadasivpet, we took a small break to buy some fruits and biscuits. Lohit did quick shopping and we were back on our bikes. From Sadasivpet, we took left turn off highway and proceeded towards Vikarabad. Surprisingly, the road was pretty good and the traffic was less and it helped us to maintain the speed at 60. It was a perfect country side ride passing through villages. After 10-15Kms from Sadasivpet, we found a big lake and we stopped by its side. As the Sun was scorching at its day best, within no time we were in our swim suites! The water was cool and we spent almost one hour in the water. Lohit, Muttanna and Goutham were the only swimmers in the group. The water attacks on Anand and some weird sound from Muttanna while swimming were some highlights!

After a refreshing break, we headed towards Vikarabad. We had lunch at Vikarabad hotel around 2. After lunch, we proceeded towards Anantagiri. Anantagiri is located at 6kms from Vikarabad.

The meaning of Anantagiri is Vishnu’s Hill or Vishnu’s abode (Anantha is the name of Lord Vishnu and Giri means Hill). The temple was opened at 3’O clock. The priest is a Kannadiga and he told the history about this place. The icon (moorthy) of Lord AnanthaPadmanaba is a big saligrama stone. This icon was installed more than 2000 years ago by Markendeya rishi. This temple is surrounded by forest.

After having darshan, we wandered around temple and forest. At 4.45, we left the place and headed towards Hyderabad. We stopped at Sadasivpet to sip tea. As it was getting dark, bright lights of heavy vehicles forced us to drive slowly. We reached Hyderabad around 8PM.

After having a quick bath and heavy dinner, I jumped into bed with the satisfaction of driving 200Kms in my new bike.

I'll post the snaps soon.

After India’s series win against Australia, who has celebrated most? Players? Player’s families and relatives? Or cricket lovers? None of them. It’s media who celebrated most and still it is celebrating.

When I came back home from the work on Tuesday, as expected on all news channels there was only one news, its cricket! I understand the euphoria. But at least it should end at some point. In one channel, it was Siddhu and in other channel it was Srikanth and other cricketers who were talking non-stop. In Aaj Tak, there was a program called “Ma Tuje Salaam” (Mother, I salute you!). They were interviewing mothers of Bhajji and other cricketers.

I understand it was an emphatic win over Australia after all those controversies and spat. But it is not a world cup win. It is just a series win. It is a good start from the young team but there is a long way to go. Media should act sensibly for the benefit of the game and cricketers and not for its own interest. As they say “Too much is too bad”. Media should keep it short and simple and let cricketers concentrate on their game than on their coverage.

Read this article written by Islamabad-based freelance columnist. Only by electing the leaders will not help a country to achieve all these. People should have that mind set to take the country forward.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/editorial_detail.asp?id=85171

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The Indian chromosome By Dr Farrukh Saleem

Twenty-five thousand years ago, haplogroup R2 characterized by genetic marker M124 arose in southern Central Asia. Then began a major wave of human migration whereby members migrated southward to present-day India and Pakistan (Genographic Project by the National Geographic Society; http://www.nationalgeographic.com/). Indians and Pakistanis have the same ancestry and share the same DNA sequence. Here's what is happening in India:

The two Ambani brothers can buy 100 percent of every company listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and would still be left with $30 billion to spare. The four richest Indians can buy up all goods and services produced over a year by 169 million Pakistanis and still be left with $60 billion to spare. The four richest Indians are now richer than the forty richest Chinese.

In November, Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex flirted with 20,000 points. As a consequence, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries became a $100 billion company (the entire KSE is capitalized at $65 billion). Mukesh owns 48 percent of Reliance.

In November, comes Neeta's birthday. Neeta turned forty-four three weeks ago. Look what she got from her husband as her birthday present: A sixty-million dollar jet with a custom fitted master bedroom, bathroom with mood lighting, a sky bar, entertainment cabins, satellite television, wireless communication and a separate cabin with game consoles. Neeta is Mukesh Ambani's wife, and Mukesh is not India's richest but the second richest.

Mukesh is now building his new home, Residence Antillia (after a mythical, phantom island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean). At a cost of $1 billion this would be the most expensive home on the face of the planet. At 173 meters tall Mukesh's new family residence, for a family of six, will be the equivalent of a 60-storeyed building. The first six floors are reserved for parking. The seventh floor is for car servicing and maintenance. The eighth floor houses a mini-theatre. Then there's a health club, a gym and a swimming pool. Two floors are reserved for Ambani family's guests. Four floors above the guest floors are family floors all with a superb view of the Arabian Sea. On top of everything are three helipads. A staff of 600 is expected to care for the family and their family home.

In 2004, India became the 3rd most attractive foreign direct investment destination. Pakistan wasn't even in the top 25 countries. In 2004, the United Nations, the representative body of 192 sovereign member states, had requested the Election Commission of India to assist the UN in the holding of elections in Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah and Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan. Why the Election Commission of India and not the Election Commission of Pakistan? After all, Islamabad is closer to Kabul than is Delhi.

Imagine, 12 percent of all American scientists are of Indian origin; 38 percent of doctors in America are Indian; 36 percent of NASA scientists are Indians; 34 percent of Microsoft employees are Indians; and 28 percent of IBM employees are Indians.

For the record: Sabeer Bhatia created and founded Hotmail. Sun Microsystems was founded by Vinod Khosla. The Intel Pentium processor, that runs 90 percent of all computers, was fathered by Vinod Dham. Rajiv Gupta co-invented Hewlett Packard's E-speak project. Four out of ten Silicon Valley start-ups are run by Indians. Bollywood produces 800 movies per year and six Indian ladies have won Miss Universe/Miss World titles over the past 10 years.

For the record: Azim Premji, the richest Muslim entrepreneur on the face of the planet, was born in Bombay and now lives in Bangalore. India now has more than three dozen billionaires; Pakistan has none (not a single dollar billionaire).

The other amazing aspect is the rapid pace at which India is creating wealth. In 2002, Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh and Anil Ambani's father, left his two sons a fortune worth $2.8 billion. In 2007, their combined wealth stood at $94 billion. On 29 October 2007, as a result of the stock market rally and the appreciation of the Indian rupee, Mukesh became the richest person in the world, with net worth climbing to US$63.2 billion (Bill Gates, the richest American, stands at around $56 billion).

Indians and Pakistanis have the same Y-chromosome haplogroup. We have the same genetic sequence and the same genetic marker (namely: M124). We have the same DNA molecule, the same DNA sequence. Our culture, our traditions and our cuisine are all the same. We watch the same movies and sing the same songs. What is it that Indians do and we don't: Indians elect their leaders.

The writer is an Islamabad-based freelance columnist. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com

Check this amazing underwater video. It explores amazing colorful sea creatures. Don't miss to watch the Octopus at the end of the video.