Water

Indian films are making a mark at the international stage and latest of the bunch is Deepa Mehta's "Water". The Film has made it to the Oscar Nomination for Best Foreign Film catagory. Well, this entry is not as an Indian film but a Canadian one.

Although it's set in Varanasi, the Film was shot in Sri Lanka. Earlier it was scheduled to be shot in Varanasi in 2000, but following the Protests from Self declared "Hindu Cultural police" Mehta had to stop filming. She then struggled for years to make the film and finally shot it with a new Cast and Crew in Sri Lanka.

Set in 1938, the Film is based on lives of widows living in Ashrams (Asylums) in Varanasi and the miseries they faced. The Situation is not too changed even today.

As a woman herself, Deepa's efforts and determination stand out, in making the film.

With "Water", Deepa Mehta has completed the Element triology- "Fire" (1996) and "Earth" (1998) and "Water" (2005)- all based on Indian backdrop and all featuring women in lead role.

I wish all the Best to "Water" for a Oscar Success...

Sania Out of AO Mahesh Continues to grow stronger.

So after a very impressive start of the New Year, the Party ended too soon for Sania Mirza.

She is out of the Australian Open- from Doubles as well as Mixed Doubles.

The 20-year-old Indian and her partner Anabel Medina Garriques lost in three sets to sixth seeds Ai Sugiyama and Daniela Hantuchova 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 in the women's doubles.

In her Opening Mixed doubles Match, Sania and her partner France's Fabrice Santoro were beaten by second seeds Mark Knowles of Bahamas and Australia's Rennae Stubbs 7-6, 1-6, 10-7

I think she needs to be a little more consistant and rest will follow. What do you say?

Well at the End of the Day, there's something to cheer...

India's Mahesh Bhupathi and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek advanced into the quarterfinals of the men's doubles. They defeated the seventh-seeded Israeli pair of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 7-6, 4-6, 6-3.

In spite of not committing even a single unforced error, Elrich and Ram were broken during the match at crucial junctures and were finally defeated by the unseeded Indo-Czech duo in just less than two hours.Bhupathi and stepanek will next face second seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi in the quarterfinals

From India to the Moon via the Bay of Bengal.…

An ambitious India is seeing a dream for some time now- The Dream to reach to the Moon... and today, we walked one step ahead on the way to the Moon with the successful recovery of SRE. The Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) after performing experiments in the Space, returned to the Earth and is successfully recovered in the Bay of Bengal.

I wish to congratulate all Indians on this occasion. And my Best of Luck to the Scientist Friends- May you soon prepare the “Chandrayaan-1” and then say “Oh Moon, you are not far from our reach now… “

It’s a moment of Glory for India... And I’m proud of it…
It’s a dream nearing reality and I can’t wait to see it come true...

But while we are reaching such new heights, one question still leaps up in my mind, is it necessary? Are we rich enough to spend huge money on such dreams? Is it fine to try to decode the space when there are several problems lying ahead of us on the Earth?
I am not confused. Yes. Yes it is required. It’s something we must pay our attention to. We may not be wealthy like some other countries, but we dream big and we toil hard to fulfill those dreams- whatever odds we may be forced to face in the process. A prosperous India must be a powerful one and a powerful India must believe in peace and welfare of humanity, not only in the country but in the whole World. And I believe we are capable of doing it. Just to make us more accomplished, we need to make a mark in the space as well. I’m sure we can make it…..

Once again my heartiest Congrats to all and…. Moon, we are coming…!!!

From India to the Moon via the Bay of Bengal.…

An ambitious India is seeing a dream for some time now- The Dream to reach to the Moon... and today, we walked one step ahead on the way to the Moon with the successful recovery of SRE. The Space Capsule Recovery Experiment (SRE) after performing experiments in the Space, returned to the Earth and is successfully recovered in the Bay of Bengal.

I wish to congratulate all Indians on this occasion. And my Best of Luck to the Scientist Friends- May you soon prepare the “Chandrayaan-1” and then say “Oh Moon, you are not far from our reach now… “

It’s a moment of Glory for India... And I’m proud of it…
It’s a dream nearing reality and I can’t wait to see it come true...

But while we are reaching such new heights, one question still leaps up in my mind, is it necessary? Are we rich enough to spend huge money on such dreams? Is it fine to try to decode the space when there are several problems lying ahead of us on the Earth?
I am not confused. Yes. Yes it is required. It’s something we must pay our attention to. We may not be wealthy like some other countries, but we dream big and we toil hard to fulfill those dreams- whatever odds we may be forced to face in the process. A prosperous India must be a powerful one and a powerful India must believe in peace and welfare of humanity, not only in the country but in the whole World. And I believe we are capable of doing it. Just to make us more accomplished, we need to make a mark in the space as well. I’m sure we can make it…..

Once again my heartiest Congrats to all and…. Moon, we are coming…!!!

Finally, a victory agian!

So it's back to the place where it started all a year back. And this time the results are too Happy... India beats West Indies in the first ODI in Nagpur and all the Team played well ;)

I won't say anything else as I couldn't get to see the match, or at least Highlights, due to the raw between Nimbus and DoorDarshan. So sad!

A comment on Roger's match today...

I just read this article:

Federer wins ugly

Without producing anywhere near his best tennis, world No.1
Roger Federer dispatched 14th seed Novak Djokovic 6-2 7-5 6-3 on centre court at
Melbourne Park to reach the quarter finals.

After closing out the first set in typical fashion, Federer
seemingly became distracted, making uncharacteristic unforced errors and
relinquishing the momentum to his young opponent.

At a set and a break up, Federer was careless, spiking a high
ball into the net giving Djokovic the break back.

The set was evenly poised at 6-5 before Federer turned it on
to secure the break and the set.

The respite from the Federer A-game was brief for the 19
year-old-Serb as the Swiss master regained his composure to close the third out
in just 36 minutes.

Federer made 23 unforced errors for the match and while he
still managed the cruise to victory, he will need to be at his best when he
faces number seven seed Tommy Robredo in the quarter finals.

Source: sportal.co.nz/tennis.asp?i=news&id=93673

.........................................................................................................................................................................

I think the Tennis Fraternity knows it well but we can not expect all journalists to be equally clever. They are there to report and not to give opinions, that's the job of the Experts (I mean really expert Experts)

Let whatever a few mediamasters say, Most of the people agree that Roger is a Great Player in Great Form, He doesn't need to proove it all the time, although he does it everytime with his inborne genius. Saying that Roger won it "ugly", means dishonouring the Talent of the youngesters and for that matter, many other opponents of Roger.
It's something like this: Roddic (or Nadal or Safin or....) is a good player of caliber, but he would have been a great one if it's not The Roger Era. This Man, Roger is of so high quality that he really makes all look less good. Agreed, Roger was slightly sluggish during first round.

Agreed, he himself has reached a level that's not easy to achieve for others even for himself sometimes. Not all days and all wins are of equal even for Roger.

And My question to all those (Journalists ) whoe still doubt Roger's form, Do you still think a straight victory is an ugly performance?

Oh, Please, Please, Please Don't forget, Champions win even when they are not at their Best and Roger is a True Champion. So stop 'worrying' about him in that manner.

Mumbai Marathon 2007

So Mumbai Marathon was flagged off today.
And here are the results:

Winner of the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2007: The 42.195 km race
John Kelai of Kenya finished the race in first place in 2:12.28 hours
followed by Ethiopians Gashaw Melese with a time of 2:12.33
and Tariku Jufar with a time of 2:12:50

Video Link:
http://www.business-standard.com/general/broadband.php?videoid=2221

Run, Mumbai Run!

I want to tell you about a race, which has grown up into something more than a Sport. Mumbai Marathon.

The Mumbai Marathon is an annual international event. It is held on a January Sunday since 2004 and has attracted over four thousand Athelets in three short years.

Last year, over 27,500 people participated and the number will increase to 30,000 this time.

Race Categories:

Marathon (42.195 km)

Half Marathon (21.097 km)

Dream Run (7 km)

Senior Citizens' Run (5 km)

The Wheelchair Event (3.5 km)

The prize money

The fastest runners in Men's= $30,000

Women's=$20,000

the fastest Indian citizen in each of these categories=$2,000

The Mumbai Marathon, especially the Dream Run, is a "Run for A Cause".

So at the same time you have lots of Celebrities - from Filmstars to Models, from Sportspersons to Politicians- along with common people running in the Streets of the City of Mumbai. And there are thousands of spectators on the roadsides cheering for the participants. That's what makes it so special.

The Mumbai Marathon is part of "The Greatest Race on Earth", sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank. The other three legs of this four-marathon race are the Singapore Marathon, the Nairobi Marathon and the Hong Kong Marathon.So be there on the this Sunday, January 21st, 2007

Site: http://mumbaimarathon.indiatimes.com/

BTW, Mumbai Marathon means something special for me. I have worked as an Event Executive for MM2005 and also got a Silver Medal as a momento.

A comment Australian Open!

Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Amelie Mauresmo and Serena Williams all posted straight-set victories on Wednesday to advance to the third round of the Australian Open, serving notice they're rounding into form after some opening-match nerves and glitches.

But luck was not on his side for Crowd-favourite Marcos Baghdatis, finalist here last yea. He was defeated by Frenchman Gael Monfils, who won 7-6 (5), 6-2, 2-6, 6-0.

Earlier, top-ranked Roger Federer defeated Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

Sixth-seeded Roddick beat Marc Gicquel of France, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-4 he'l face 2005 Australian Open champion Marat Safin.
Safin benefited from a rain break to rally from a set down to oust Dudi Sela of Israel 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-0 in a match with 20 service breaks.

So both Roger and Safin have had very entertaining clashes.
I am not gonna forget today's matches. I enjoyed them so much!

I was actually doing some other stuff and then my brother came to my room and screamed: "You wanna miss it?, it's a great battle going on over there." He's a great Safin fan (and even I like him) Thanks bro!

Serena Williams celebrated a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Luxembourg's Anne Kremer.

Other Results: courtesy: NDTV

Thailand's Danai Udomchoke upset No. 24 Juan Carlos Ferrero to oust the former world No 1. A former Australian Open champion also tumbled, with 2002 winner Thomas Johansson losing to No. 16 David Ferrer.Veteran Australian Wayne Arthurs beat American qualifier Zach Fleishman, who had his hair dyed in red, white and blue stripes. Other men's winners included No 7 Tommy Robredo, No 9 Mario Ancic, No 18 Richard Gasquet, No 20 Radek Stepanek and No 22 Dominik Hrbaty.Among those advancing on the women's side were former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, the No 3 seed, along with Petrova, No 7 Elena Dementieva, No 8 Patty Schnyder, No 9 Dinara Safina, No 10 Nicole Vaidisova, No 11 Jelena Jankovic, No 15 Daniela Hantuchova.Three seeded women lost: Lucie Safarova beat No 14 Francesca Schiavone, Victoria Azarenko downed No 18 Marion Bartoli and Anastasiya Yakimova ousted No 23 Ai Sugiyama.

An NDTV Story: Tsunami kidney racket busted in Chennai

Tsunami kidney racket busted in Chennai

http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?template=tsunami&slug=Tsunami+kidney+racket+busted+in+Chennai&id=21181&callid=0&category=National

Another Day another place another Cheating and Curruption...

Well, what's happening to this country?

AO:Sania through to the Round two

"Well, I feel a lot fitter, I'm moving lot better.
Probably my serve obviously is the weakest point in my game right now but
it's not exactly a weakness, but it is not a strength.
So it is just a matter of consolidating on that playing.
I guess playing some quality games against some quality players,"

-Sania Mirza.

Sania Mirza started her Australian Open Dream with a straight set victory over Olga Savchuk of Ukrain.
Sania defeated Olga 6-3, 7-5

In other major mathces:

Top-seeded Maria Sharapova got over the heat, the cramps and her own mistakes to enter the Round Two. She beat Camille Pin 6-3, 4-6, 9-7.

Third-seeded Kim Clijsters to beat Vasilisa Bardina 6-0, 6-0 rout. Bardina won only two points on her own serve.

Sixth-seeded Martina Hingis, had a 6-0, 6-2 win over Nathalie Dechy on the second show court.

13th-seeded Ana Ivanovic advanced with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Vania King.

Second-ranked Rafael Nadal bt. American Robert Kendrick 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-2. He played on Center Court with Roof on.

Eighth-seeded David Nalbandian advanced to next round as Janko Tipsarevic retired with heat exhaustion in the fifth set, final scores were 6-7 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0, 2-1.

Robby Ginepri advanced in five sets over Spain's Nicolas Almagro, seeded 32nd.

No. 13 Tomas Berdych beat South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik 6-1, 6-2, 6-2.

No. 31 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland beat Kevin Kim in four.