FEW FACTS ABOUT GOOGLE ADSENSE

Actually to know about adsense is little difficult but still i am telling you some ideas of them here so may be that will help or else just go to google adsense helpdesk
AdSense publishers are permitted to click on link unit topics on their web pages, provided that they do not click on any Google ads on the resulting page.

AdSense publishers are paid for clicks on the ads that are linked from link unit topics, but not for clicks on the initial topics themselves.

Participating in Google AdSense does not affect your site's rank in Google search results. While Googlebot does crawl content pages for the purpose of targeting ads, this crawl is not associated with the main index crawl.

If you are unable to save custom color palettes, make sure your browser is set to allow cookies and JavaScript is enabled. Clear your browser cache and delete all cookies before attempting to save your color palettes again.

You may notice that after you place the AdSense ad code on a web page, you do not receive the most relevant ads. The relevancy of Google ads on your pages will improve over time.

AdSense for search top queries are the top 25 queries performed on your AdSense for search box within a given date range. Only queries that receive two or more hits will be displayed in the list of AdSense for search top queries. If your site has a low volume of traffic, you may not see any top queries listed because each query is unique.

The border color of image ads can be customized using your color palette options. The border color will be the same as the border color that you have selected for text ads.

If you see a Google image ad that you feel is inappropriate or misleading, please click the Feedback: Ads by Google link below the image ad.

Public service ads may be served to your first ad unit if targeted ads cannot be served. In this case, the second and third ad units on the page will display as transparent boxes.

The AdSense program uses geotargeting to serve Google ads to your pages - ads are specific to a user's region and language, based on their IP address.

A user viewing a page with 3 ad units and 1 link unit will log 4 ad unit impressions, but only 1 page impression.

Google Adsense customer support doesn't have a telephone number.

If you are not yet 18, you may have a parent or guardian submit an application using their name as the payee name.

Google doesn't allow you to open Google ads in a new browser window.

Reports on impressions and clicks are usually updated every fifteen to thirty minutes.

The multiple ad units system serves ads to each ad unit in order of their appearance in your HTML code.

The eCPM column in your reports will display the effective CPM of your combined CPC and CPM activity.

CPM ads can be either text or image ads, and are always site-targeted. CPM text ads will expand to take up the entire ad unit.

You can choose to run ad units that will display only image ads by selecting the Image ads only option when generating your ad layout code.

If the AdSense code is placed on pages with content primarily in an unsupported language, Google may show public service ads or ads in another language.

Clicks deemed by Google monitoring system to be invalid will appear in your reports. However, since advertisers are not charged for clicks deemed to be invalid, publishers do not receive any revenue for these clicks.

To change the email address associated with Adsense login, publishers should write to Google with 'Login change request' as the subject.

If you believe that another site is illegally copying the contents of your site, you may send a notice of alleged infringement by following the procedure at http://www.google.com/dmca.html. When you have sent the notice, please notify Google and they will take appropriate action.

Most of the information here is available in the extensive Google Adsense online help manual (google.com/adsense/online-help).

High attrition rate hits services sector

Increasing opportunities and employee aspirations induced by robust economic growth have led to an unhealthy attrition rate, exceeding 20 per cent for India Inc, with services sector facing the maximum brunt, a study shows.

An Assocham Business Barometer Survey on 'Attrition problem in a growing economy' has revealed that attrition rate at 40 per cent is alarming in the services sector, while the same in manufacturing was 20 per cent.

Maximum attrition is taking place among employees in the age group of 26-30 years, while those with an experience of 2-4 years are most vulnerable to job-hopping, the survey covering 160 HR heads noted.

Interestingly, women employees were less prone to job changing compared to men.

"For every 10 males jumping the fence there were only two females crossing over. Even if women face the pressure of balancing the management of their families and workplace, they tend to be more stable than their male colleagues," 52 per cent of HR managers surveyed said.

With India joining the globalised world of business, the movement of workforce across national boundaries has also added to the rising level of employee turnover, according to 72 per cent of the ABB respondents.

The immediate gains in salary package was found to be responsible for job change in 61 per cent of the cases, growth potential was also rated quite high as an important reason.

Almost 90 per cent of the respondents said recruitment is an ongoing process throughout the year. The average increase in salaries offered with new placement ranges between 25-30 per cent depending on the salary structure and individual strengths.

Companies that are in the process of expanding face higher attrition rates compared to established firms, going by 65 per cent of the respondents.

Emergence of online job portals such as Timesjobs.com, naukri.com, monster.com and clickjobs.com have contributed to higher employee turnover, as agreed by 68 per cent of those surveyed.

Wipro introduces eco-friendly computers

Wipro Infotech, an arm of Wipro Ltd, today launched its eco-friendly range of desktops, claiming it was the first Indian company to do so.

The new range of products called Wipro GreenWare, which include desktops and laptops, is compliant with RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directive, thereby reducing substantial e-waste.

“At present, eight products - five desktops and three notebooks - are 100 per cent RoHS-compliant. By year- end, we want to ensure that the entire product range of laptops and desktops is RoHS-compliant,” Ashutosh Vaidya, vice-president, Wipro Personal Computing, told reporters here.

Wipro has set up its e-waste management process called Wipro Green Computing, which spans across its product’s life cycle i.e. from designing and manufacturing to the final disposal.

Secret to finding work-life balance

Whenever Jay Reddy takes a vacation, he sends his PDA and laptop on one too.

"I leave them somewhere inaccessible to keep me from constantly checking e-mails," says Reddy, the founder and CEO of ProLogic, a Fairmont, W. Va.-based technology-services firm.

Despite the temptation to stay connected with his business -- and a growing number of high-tech tools to do just that at anytime from anywhere in the world -- Reddy says he's still able to make a clean break with his family for several weeks every year. "In the first three years after I launched the business, I don't think I took a single day off," he says.

Most aren't so lucky. Like a growing number of entrepreneurs, Karen Say, the CEO of Saybr Contractors in Tacoma, Wash., never really leaves her workplace behind, whether she's at home or on vacation. "I'm a business owner, so I'm always connected with my business," Say says.

That means occasionally spending weekends in her home office, or taking her Blackberry along on holidays -- and everywhere else she goes.

When it comes to taking a break, small-business owners are finding that advanced information technology and expanding communication networks that provide round-the-clock access to e-mail, business data, and other systems can be a double-edged sword.

While offering greater flexibility in schedules and access, they're also quickly blurring the lines between the work and play. Within the ramped up competition of a 24/7 business cycle, they say, downtime is fast becoming a four-letter word.

In a recent survey in the United States of more than 600 small-business owners by OPEN from American Express, nearly half considered downtime a guilty pleasure. In continually keeping track of their businesses, many said they were forced to routinely make sacrifices in their personal lives, including less time with family and friends, and even less attention to their health.

It's hardly surprisingly, then, that fewer small-business owners are planning to take vacations this summer -- just 59 percent compared to an average of 67 percent over the past four years, a separate OPEN survey found.

Even among those that manage to get away, the vast majority will be taking their businesses with them. Seventy-five percent said they would check in by phone or e-mail, some as often as once every hour.

In a recent survey of 1,000 small-business owners by Discover, 59 percent said a "day off" meant they were still available for calls and e-mails, and included working a full day from a remote location. Nearly half said they worked through most official holidays.

"Small-business owners are optimistic by nature," says Alice Bredin, OPEN's small-business adviser. "But when they're not in the driver's seat, even if for a few days, they often can't relax."

So what are they so worried about? Most of the business owners surveyed by OPEN said they were concerned customers weren't getting the same level of service from staff while they were away. That, and employees making poor judgment calls or just plain slacking off.

When Mary Derby took her first vacation in three years from pullUin, her Vermillion, S.D., software firm, it happened to fall in the middle of a protracted contract dispute with a client.

"I kept checking in the entire time and it would put a damper on the whole day," Derby says. "It pretty much ruined my holiday," she says.

Now, to get the time off she needs, Derby has officially barred herself from checking any work-related e-mail or voicemail during a vacation. She also lets her staff know there isn't anything that can't wait for her attention. And like Reddy, she now leaves her cell phone and PDA behind. "I found that it's been better for me and for the business," Derby says.

However they manage it, Bredin says it's crucial that business owners recharge their batteries and creativity now and then by taking a clean break.

To do that, Bredin suggests walking employees through the work process and discussing step-by-step instructions to solve issues that might arise while they're away. They should also prepare employees for the worst with viable solutions, while giving them the resources they need to handle day-to-day business affairs, such as key contact information for support resources from your technology providers.

Say adds that it's important to plan ahead for leisure time, even months in advance, rather than wait for a window of opportunity.

"You just have to schedule it," she says, "or it won't happen."

Rowling reveals Harry Potter ending

J K Rowling has leaked the ending of the eagerly awaited last book of her Harry Potter series - to her husband.
Speculation has been rife about who dies in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows since British author Rowling announced last year that at least two characters would be killed off.
She has given no clue as to who they were, and even Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays boy wizard Harry in the Hollywood adaptations of the books, has been kept in the dark ahead of the publication of the seventh instalment on July 21.
"None of us get a preview," Radcliffe told a news conference on Friday to promote Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth in the film franchise.
"I think only J K Rowling's husband has recently found out what happens. I don't think anybody else knows,” he added.

The 17-year-old has previously said he hoped Potter would die at the end of the final book, but he was more cautious this time around.

"A couple of years ago I said I would like Harry to die because I think that is a conclusive ending. But I'm going to steer away from that now because the next day the headlines were 'Radcliffe Wants Harry Dead'," he said.

"I do think it would be fitting in a way, because when you consider the prophecy that was made about him and Voldemort, one of them has to go. I think he might, but that's based on absolutely nothing."

In the latest movie, Harry discovers he and his evil nemesis Voldemort cannot both survive, raising the possibility that one, or both of them could die in the end.

ICE CREAM VAN Publishers have gone to great lengths to protect the contents of the last Harry Potter book until its release, which promises to be one of the biggest events in publishing history.

More than 325 million copies of the first six books have been sold, and the four movies released to date have amassed around $3.5 billion in worldwide ticket sales.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix hits cinemas in early July. Earlier this week, a computer hacker posted what he said were key plot details that he gleaned by breaking into a computer at London-based Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

The publisher declined to comment on the claims. Radcliffe said he was aware of the claim, but that he had not read the posting and would only read an original copy. Emma Watson, who plays Harry's schoolmate Hermione Granger, said she hoped her character would survive.

"I'm sort of thinking that she's going to make it," she said. "I don't know why, but I think she's going to make it. I hope so." She, Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley all said they hoped to continue acting once the Potter movie series was over, probably in 2010.
But Grint said he had a backup plan if his career on screen and stage failed. "Recently I got an ice cream van," he said. "If it doesn't work out I've still got the ice cream van."

How to look good? Hear it from Katrina

From being arm candy to actor Salman Khan, to carving an identity- Katrina Kaif has finally been noticed.

This year, she will have quite a few films releasing starting off with Apne and then Partner. CNN-IBN chats up with her on her latest projects.

Archita Kashyap: You are doing a lot of films now, with Apne, which is a family drama and Partner, which is a comedy film. How do you assess yourself today?

Katrina Kaif: There will be certain films where the film will be beautiful though it may not take you ahead but there will be certain films where you will be appreciated. So there is a balance of that. So you have to see each film individually. Partner is a laugh riot while Apne is a beautiful family film. It’s been a long time since I’ve come to a film like this that is made with quality of such a level.

Archita Kashyap: You have got the support of the best directors: Ram Gopal Varma, Comedy King David Dhavan and others. Do you feel fortunate or have you fine-tuned yourself to come so far?

Katrina Kaif: It’s a mixture of both. You learn from the people you work with and directors and see how you can do better.

Archita Kashyap: Katrina Kaif is always extremely well turned out. A lot of people think you are far more beautiful than Aishwarya Rai. What do you think about that?

Katrina Kaif: I have never heard that so I don’t know what to say.

Archita Kashyap: Do you take special care when you are out in public or is it inherent?

Katrina Kaif: If you are going to a function representing the Indian film industry on an international stage, you should make an effort. It’s not going to be nice if you turn up looking scruffy in jeans and a t-shirt.

WHY NOT TO TALK ABOUT SEX IN SCHOOLS EDUCATION

Its something which most of us do, sex - make love sometimes use a condom. But is sex for pleasure or is it just for reproduction. In Madhya Pradesh there is a serious debate on that. A condom with a vibrating ring is now making the entire state machinery see red.
The Indian society is opening up perceptions about sex and condoms are changing - but is it really true?

Are Indians hypocritical about matters of sex? That was the talking point on CNN-IBN show India 360 conducted by Bhupendra Chaubey with a panel comprising Prafull Goradia ex-BJP MP, Kailash Vijayvargiya Madhya Pradesh PWD Minister and television personality Tarrana Kapoor.

When asked about what the objections against the condom, Kailash said, “First thing its not condom its sex toys. They are selling sex toys inform of condoms. Condom is used for family planning and to prevent AIDS. As per my knowledge it’s not the condom it’s the sex toys which is being sold in the market.”

Reacting about the sex toys being sold openly in the market Tarana said, “I honestly have no idea why they are objecting to something that is obviously a contraceptive and could also give you pleasure so you have fun while doing sensible thing. I have lot of colleagues and friends in a big city like Mumbai and everybody travels abroad and everybody has list of fun sex toys to bring back.”

“So what’s the big deal if they openly being sold here because ultimately the cause is right. It is for to prevent AIDS to basically not have unwanted children. So what’s a big deal in it,” she added.

Why we have this double standard, why we have this hypocritical attitude towards matters related to sex. Whether a condom is used for pleasure or its use for family planning the fact is are we not just comfortable with the idea of sex.
Answering the questions Goradia said, “I think what has happened is that the Hindus in India are confused about their tradition. The Muslims and the Christians are generally clear whether we agree with them or not. The Hindu problem is that the ancient India had its Jaganath temple entirely covered with lot of sex so did the Konark temple so do the famous Khajurao temple. Similarly Kamasutra is written which obviously means that sex was also for pleasure in the Hindu context. “
So why this controversy then and would you agree with the decision which has been taken by the MP government.
“No I don’t agree at all. I think they are on the wrong track,” Goradia said.
Responding to Mr Goradia Kailash said, “What I am saying is that government’s job is development of the society. From next day if some people of society or some doctors say that if someone is weak in sex they should watch blue film so is the government going to show everybody blue film? Is this government’s job to sell these kinds of sex toys? Government’s job is to give sex education.”
Tarrana said that sex toys can’t be correlated to pornography and both are different entity.

you really cant associate pornography with a sex toy something gives you pleasure but the basic purpose behind a condom is to protect you either from a disease or an unwanted pregnancy and you have fun along with it. It certainly nothing to do with the blue films. There is absolutely no correlation between the two,” Tarrana said.

In our country when it comes to matters which are related to display of affection whether its holding hands, kissing in public hugging now sex – we always seem to have a problem. Why do we just want to be a pleasure-less society?

Goradia answered, “We have forgotten our values what was supposed to be at the Hindu priority. As I said the temples today have plenty of these example which distinctly show that sex was pleasure and there need not be any secret about it.”

Talking about the double standard regarding the sex Goradia said, “We are confused by a set of different imported values. We have forgotten our ancient culture.”

Is that a valid assessment is that a correct statement to make that in India its seems that to be happy to gain pleasure is almost like committing cardinal sin. So don’t hold hands in public don’t kiss in public because someone is going to be offended.

Tarana said, “I think its been grilled into lot of youngsters head that pleasure is not really good and you should be thinking about other people that anything gives you pleasure that seems wrong in the eyes of the society its something that is taboo and you shouldn’t be doing it. Hence everybody is doing sex. I know lot of people having sex at a much younger age than my generation and still we will not educate them in school we will not tell them about what condoms are really for.”

TCS, Infy profits hit by rising rupee

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Infosys Technologies Ltd are among Indian computer-services providers whose earnings will be less than expected because of the Indian currency's appreciation, Morgan Stanley said on Friday.

The rising rupee is hitting software and BPO companies so much so that most companies might not be able to stick to their earnings guidance.

The issue stands crucial because 70 per cent of overall IT exports are earned in dollars. That means a 7-8 per cent rise will eat half a billion dollars of the industry's earnings.

Earnings on a per-share basis will be Rs 52.30 ($1.28) for the year ending March 31 for Tata Consultancy, less than a Rs 53.90 previous estimate, Anantha Narayan and Ashish Jain, analysts at Morgan Stanley, said on Friday in a note to investors.

Mumbai-based Tata Consultancy is India's largest software exporter.

Earnings for the full year will be Rs 81.10 per share for Infosys, India's second-largest software-exporter, Morgan Stanley said on Friday.

The previous estimate was Rs 83.60. The analysts also reduced their earnings-per-share estimates for Wipro Ltd and Satyam Computer Services Ltd.

The new forecasts are based on the assumption that the Indian currency will be at Rs 41 to the dollar, the analysts said.

Blair meets Pope to stoke conversion speculation

Prime Minister Tony Blair held private talks with Pope Benedict on Saturday, stoking speculation he might convert to Catholicism after he steps down next week.

Blair's gift to the Pope were original photographs of John Henry Newman, a 19th century Anglican leader who was one of Britain's most illustrious converts to Catholicism.

Blair, on the final leg of his farewell world tour, spoke privately with the Pope for 25 minutes in the pontiff's study and the talks were then enlarged to include Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of England's Roman Catholics.

A Vatican statement made no reference to the issue of possible conversion of Blair who is Anglican. Blair's wife, Cherie, and their four children are Catholics.

Cherie accompanied Blair to the Vatican and was introduced to the Pope with the British delegation at the end of the private talks. She wore a black dress and a black veil.

Pope and Blair discussed the international situation, Europe and the Middle East, the statement said. The Vatican welcomed Blair's intention to work for Middle East peace and inter-religious dialogue after he steps down on Wednesday.

In an interview with the Times Magazine on Saturday, Blair indicated his conversion may not be just around the corner.

Asked if he would convert, Blair said: "I don't want to talk about it. It's difficult with some of these things. Things aren't always as resolved as they might be."

The Blairs gave the Pope a frame containing three period photographs of Newman, who died in 1890. One was signed.

Newman converted in 1845 and was later made a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1991 he was declared "venerable", putting him on the road to Roman Catholic sainthood.

The Guardian newspaper cited informed sources on Friday as saying Blair had been prepared for conversion by a Royal Air Force chaplain who had said private mass for his family for the last four years.

Blair is believed to have taken communion from the late Pope John Paul during a visit to the Vatican in 2003, although the Vatican has never confirmed this.

After the Pope welcomed Blair into the study, the prime minister told him he had just flown in from the European summit in Brussels where European Union leaders clinched agreement on a mandate to overhaul the 27-nation bloc.

"I heard it was very successful," the Pope told Blair.

"Yes, but it was a very long night. We finished up at 5:30 in the morning," Blair said

DNA test shows it's Daddy Murphy

Eddie Murphy is the father of the former Spice Girl Mel B's baby Angel, according to reports.

The singer gave birth in April and named the American comedian as the father on the birth certificate.

He has never publicly admitted paternity but it's claimed a DNA test proved he is Angel's father.

Eddie's spokesman has refused to comment.

Eddie and Mel had a brief relationship last summer.

The 32-year-old singer is expected to be part of a Spice Girls reunion later this year.

PARIS HILTON

Sobbing Paris back in slammer

Judge hauls Paris Hilton back to jail for full 45-day sentence, ending her one-day prison break; heiress in tears, cries out for her mom.

A judge ordered a weeping and trembling Paris Hilton back to jail Friday to finish a sentence for probation violation, overturning a sheriff's decision to let the celebrity heiress serve out her time under home arrest.

Hilton, 26, was led out of the Los Angeles courtroom wailing, "Mom, Mom. It's not right," as she was driven away to serve the remainder of a 45-day sentence for violating her probation imposed for a reckless driving conviction.

It was not immediately clear exactly how many days Hilton, who has has become a symbol America's celebrity culture, would serve.

She had been removed from jail for unspecified medical reasons on Thursday and transferred to house arrest, where she was ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device on her ankle.

She had served only three days of an expected 23-day sentence for violating her probation by driving her Bentley on a suspended license.

The decision caused national outrage and accusations of favorable treatment, although Hilton's original sentence was considered by many to be excessively harsh for the crime.

The slender, blond Hilton, dressed in drab gray sweatpants a far cry from her usual designer fashions, shook and cried quietly throughout the brief hearing but broke into sobs when the judge ordered her back behind bars.

Celebrity Web site TMZ.com said Hilton's lawyer was planning to appeal her sentence as soon as possible.

She turned up at court two hours late after confusion over whether she would testify by video from her Hollywood Hills home, or in person.

Los Angeles city prosecutors had demanded that Hilton be returned to jail and that the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, which runs the jail system, be held in contempt for violating the sentencing order, which expressly barred electronic monitoring of Hilton.

Los Angeles city attorney Rocky Delgadillo said Friday's decision "sends the message that no individual, no matter how wealthy or powerful, is above the law."

Los Angeles Superior Court judge Michael Sauer said in court on Friday he had not been given details of the medical condition that prompted her release. Speculation has ranged from a rash to a nervous breakdown. The judge said he was told that a psychiatrist had visited her in jail but did not go into details.

Photographers and cameramen laid siege to Hilton's home and news helicopters buzzed overhead waiting for the star of The Simple Life reality TV show to emerge from her home.

She was handcuffed and placed weeping into a sheriff's car for the trip to court and later driven back to jail, trailed again by news helicopters.

Hacker claims Harry Potter's alleged ending on Web

The mystery surrounding the end to fictional British boy wizard Harry Potter's saga deepened on Wednesday with a computer hacker posting what he said were key plot details and a publisher warned the details could be fake.

The hacker, who goes by the name "Gabriel," claims to have taken a digital copy of author J.K. Rowling's seventh and final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," by breaking into a computer at London-based Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

For months now, leading up to the book's July 21 release, legions of "Harry Potter" fans have debated whether Rowling killed Harry or one of his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, in the final book.

Gabriel has posted information at Web site InSecure.org that, if true, would answer that question.

"We make this spoiler to make reading of the upcoming book useless and boring," Gabriel said in the posting.

"Harry Potter" publishers have taken great pains to keep the conclusion a secret and preserve the multibillion-dollar entertainment enterprise surrounding the boy wizard.

A Bloomsbury spokesman declined comment on the hacker's claims.

Kyle Good, a spokesman for U.S. distributor Scholastic Corp., would not say whether the posting was accurate, but did warn readers to be skeptical about anything on the Web that claims to have inside information on the book's plot.

"There is a whole lot of junk flying around," she said. "Consider this one more theory."

David Perry, a spokesman for computer security company Trend Micro, said there was a good chance Gabriel's claim could be a hoax.

"We've had hypes like this on the last couple of Harry Potter books," he said. "There is a very high level of spurious information in the hacker world."

But if true, it could be a problem for Bloomsbury. The "Harry Potter" books have been global best-sellers with fans buying some 320 million versions worldwide, and anticipation for "Deathly Hallows" is high.

In April, U.S. retailer Barnes & Noble said advance orders for the book had already topped 500,000 copies, setting a chain record. Scholastic plans to release a record 12 million copies of "Deathly Hallows" to meet demand.

A stolen copy of the sixth Harry Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" surfaced in Britain about a month before its official release in July 2005. Two people were charged after reportedly trying to sell a copy to the London tabloid the Sun.

Four "Potter" movies made by Warner Bros. film studio, a division of Time Warner Inc., have brought in $3.5 billion in global ticket sales, and a fifth film is due in theaters in early July.

(Additional reporting by Bob Tourtellotte in Los Angeles and Kate Holton in London.)

The coming collapse of the US dollar

The skew in the global financial system -- commonly called 'global imbalance' -- seems to be fast spiralling out of control.

For some time now economists have been engaged in the mother of all debates: whether the US dollar would collapse by as much as 40% when compared to other currencies (some are even betting on the US dollar going belly-up) or whether there would be an orderly devaluation -- that is, a gradual revaluation of other currencies vis-�-vis the US dollar.

In effect, the question that is confronting us is not 'whether' but 'when' and by 'how much.'

This global imbalance can be understood in economic terms by simply examining the massive size of America's twin deficits -- trade and budgetary. Put modestly, Americans have been living way beyond their means, consuming much more than what they could possibly afford and, in the process, borrowing far beyond their capacity for too long.

This was facilitated by a policy of maintaining weak currencies across the world, notably in Asia. This policy of maintaining a competitive exchange rate for their currency to boost exports has resulted in a race to the bottom amongst various countries.

Nevertheless, this arrangement suited countries, both Asian (with a huge unemployed population) and American, (as it provided cheap imports for its huge consumption binge).

While the going was good, everyone profited and expected the arrangement to continue indefinitely. Unfortunately, linearity as a concept has limited appeal in real life, much less is global macroeconomics.

No wonder, of late, countries are discovering that this arrangement has its limitations. The current account deficit of the United States translates into current account surplus of exporting countries. To cover this deficit, US borrows: this corresponds to the forex reserves of exporting countries. The crux of the issue is that no other country, barring the US, has such a huge consumption pattern and an ability to absorb this huge export surplus.

In substance, countries are producing their goods, exporting it mostly to the US, and parking the resulting export surpluses with the US to facilitate US to finance its imports!

Clearly, the global imbalance is a by-product of this mindless competition by various countries to devalue their own currencies and the reckless consumption in US. Naturally, it is indeed tempting to blame US consumption for this crisis. However, one must hasten to add that the emerging economies -- notably Asian countries, especially after the1998 currency crisis -- with their fixation for weak currencies, are equally to be blamed.

The net result? Well, consider these facts:

By mid-May 2007, the US National Debt stood at approximately at mind-boggling $8.85 trillion -- i.e. approximately $28,000 for every American.

The basic structure of the American economy is that the deficit of the US government is 4% of the GDP and the household sector 6%, which are offset by a domestic savings of 3%, largely from corporates, leaving a substantial national deficit of 7% to be covered by the capital flows from the rest of the world.

The current account deficit of the United States for 2006 is estimated to be in excess of $850 billion. This approximates to 7% of its GDP. Surely, even for the US, this is unsustainable.

In order to ensure that this money is routed into America and to sustain its gargantuan borrowing programme, the US has repeatedly raised its interest rate to its current levels of 5.5%. While the very size of the US debt makes any further increase in interest rates virtually impossible (as it would make borrowings uneconomical), any cut in interest rates to stimulate its economy and make it competitive would mean that the US may not get the money it requires to sustain itself.

On March 28, 2006, the Asian Development Bank [Get Quote] is reported to have issued a memo, advising members to be ready for a collapse of the US dollar.

Since end March 2006, the US Federal Reserve has stopped publishing the quantum of broad money (that is the aggregate of US dollars circulating in the entire world -- technically called 'M3') in the US economy. This is the worst possible signal that the US Federal Reserve could have sent to the world.

Suspended sense of disbelief

Obviously, what aids and sustains the US dollar is a 'suspended sense of disbelief' amongst countries about the value of US dollar. Yet, common sense tells us that the excess supply will obviously result in a fall in the value of any product. The US dollar is no exception.

Late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was fully aware of this paradigm. Seeking to exploit the inherent weakness of the US dollar, Saddam wanted to trade his crude in Euros, which would have lead to a lower demand for the US Dollar and thereby triggered a dollar collapse. And those were his 'weapons of mass destruction -- WMD.'

And if some analysts are to be believed, Venezuela and Iran too possess the very same WMD. Naturally, it requires some specious arguments and military intervention to protect the US dollar. Never in the history of mankind has a national army protected the national currency so vigorously as the US Army has done is the past decade or so.

What is bizarre to note here is that despite the fact that crude is produced mainly in the Middle East; officially it can be purchased in dollar terms from one of the two oil exchanges situated in New York and London. Obviously, should Iran carry out the threat to commence oil trade in Euros or better still an oil exchange, the US dollar would come under tremendous pressure.

The US dollar is akin to the promissory note of a defunct finance company. It is common knowledge that a currency, when not backed by anything precious is just a piece of paper. When US abandoned the Gold Standard in early 70s, countries habituated by then to the US dollar under the Bretton Woods arrangement continued to accept the US dollar as an international currency without demur as the world was not prepared for any other alternative. Else, the global economy would have collapsed by 1971.

But the diplomatic silence did not solve the problem. It merely postponed it and it has come back to haunt us.

Post gold standard, by a tacit approval of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and strategic manoeuvring, the US had ensured that its currency is implicitly backed by crude, instead of gold. This explains the American 'geo-political and strategic interests' in the Middle East.

But over time even this was found to be insufficient and consequently the oil standard of the 70s gave way to an implicit multiple commodity standard of today. Naturally, commodity prices -- including crude prices -- have soared in the past few years. Unfortunately, this arrangement too is failing the US. No wonder, the US dollar increasingly resembles a promisory note of a defunct finance company.

It is no coincidence that global trade in most commodities, including oil, is denominated in US dollars as the respective international exchanges are located in the US. To what extent are the prices of these commodities manipulated to protect the US dollar is anybody's guess.

However, it may not be out of place to mention that a barrel of oil which cost less than $10 to produce is sold approximately at $70 in the international market.

But as commodity prices go up it has lead to inflation across the globe. No wonder, countries are forced to increase their interest rates to fight inflation.

This has triggered an interest rate hike across continents and the US is finding it extremely difficult to sustain its current borrowing programme: it hardly has any elbow room to manoeuvre.

Doomed if it does, damned if it doesn't

Meanwhile, countries are increasingly realizing that the value of the US dollar that they are holding is fast eroding, whatever be the 'officially managed exchange rate.' And if fewer people want the US dollar -- as for instance when oil is traded in Euro the demand for the US dollar will fall -- it would trigger an avalanche.

No wonder, the US Fed is unwilling to make public the M3 figures, as it does not want the holding position of the US dollar to be publicised.

Interestingly, in such a doomsday scenario, some economists are still betting on central banks of other countries to defend the US dollar. It would seem that the US has 'outsourced' even this sovereign function to the central banks of other countries. After all, should the US dollar collapse, the biggest losers will not be the US but those who have US dollar-denominated forex reserves.

Naturally, countries holding US dollar reserves are caught on the horns of a serious dilemma -- should they seek to correct the global imbalance, it could result in the imminent collapse of the US dollar, and should they continue to defend the US dollar, they would be a long-term loser as the current arrangement has seeds of self-destruction.

While every central banker is conscious of this fact and thereby seeks to postpone the inevitable while nervously looking for his counterpart in any other country to break ranks and thereby trigger the collapse.

Surely, the emperor is without any clothes. There are only two possibilities from here on: Either we are witness a global meltdown of the US dollar, or allow controlled US dollar devaluation (read, revaluation of other currencies). If it is a global meltdown the global economy is doomed, if is an orderly devaluation, it is damned.

Beware! Viruses can wipe out companies

The start of the Atlantic hurricane season has traditionally prompted small-business owners to undertake an annual review of their disaster preparedness plans.

Yet the growing need among businesses of all sizes for round-the-clock access to customer, marketing, and financial data, along with other enterprise applications, is making disaster planning a far less seasonal concern, experts say.

More simply, a company is far more likely to be wiped out by malware than Mother Nature -- and business owners finally seem to be taking notice.

Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina slammed in the Gulf Coast, impacting as many as 125,000 small businesses across the region, a national survey of more than 1,000 employers by AT&T found that 82 percent ranked computer viruses, worms, and other network disruptions as the biggest risks to their businesses.

By contrast, natural disasters were cited by just 1 percent, ranking them last among all potential hazards. Of the 73 percent of business owners who reported having disaster plans in place, nearly every one focused those efforts on Internet security, backup servers, and other network protections.

This shouldn't be mistaken for arrogance in the face of recent severe storms. What's happening, market watchers say, is that the increased reliance on 24/7 access to enterprise applications is leading business owners to treat hurricanes and malware as posing essentially the same risks to network uptime.

How? By rolling disaster-planning efforts into ongoing data-storage protection and business continuity systems with an eye to keeping operations online -- whether or not their physical workplace is submerged under floodwaters or under attack by a malicious virus.

This more centralized approach has big economic advantages, says Sonia Lelii, an analyst with Aberdeen Group, a Boston-based market research firm.

"Ultimately, this should weed out inefficiencies that occur when business continuance, high availability, and disaster recovery are treated as three separate initiatives," Lelii says.

It's also driving an expected boom in the network continuity and recovery services market. Last year, U.S. businesses spent just over $15 billion on network continuity and recovery services, according to Frost & Sullivan, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based business consulting firm. By 2012, they're expected to spend up to $23.3 billion by 2012 as even more Web-based enterprise applications are adopted, the firm said in a study released in April.

"The need to minimize financial repercussions associated with network outages and applications downtimes are driving an increasing number of small, medium, and large enterprises to pro-actively plan for business continuity services," says Imran Khan, a Frost & Sullivan program manager.

It's perhaps telling of this shift that IT managers now place a higher priority on disaster planning than any other company executive -- including the boss.

A recent Harris Interactive survey of 500 executives found that 71 percent of IT mangers identified disaster recovery and continuity as "very important" to business success, compared to just 49 percent of those on the administrative and business side.

"Business executives may not fully understand the interdependencies between corporate processes -- like CRM [customer relationship management] and supply chain -- and the back-end systems responsible for keeping these critical systems available during an unexpected outage or disaster," says David Palermo, vice president of marketing for SunGard Availability Services, a Wayne, Pa.-based software firm that commissioned the survey.

Despite the discrepancies, both groups agree that e-mail, back-office applications, customer service, and telecommunications are among the top systems that would impact the bottom line if they went dark.

Both groups also agree that more than five hours of downtime is unacceptable, regardless of the type of disaster that strikes. Yet they disagree on what applications were the most crucial. Only 29 percent of IT respondents said the CRM applications are a priority, compared to 40 percent of business executives.

Generally, business mangers are more concerned with outages of external, or customer-facing systems, while IT mangers were worried about internal infrastructure.

Palermo says he believes that could have an affect on the types of investments made towards managing disaster planning and recovery processes.

"IT executives may be resigned to 'making do' with the resources that they have, even though there are growing pressures to decrease downtime," he says.

They may consider switching on the Weather Channel at the next budget meeting. Storm experts are warning of another active hurricane season this year, with climatic conditions leading to intensified storms closer to the coast. Three weeks ahead of the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season -- from June 1 to Nov. 30 -- the National Weather Service issued its first storm warning of the year for Subtropical Storm Andrea, which was packing winds of up to 45 mph off the southeastern coast on May 9.

That should have more residents and business owners alike in hurricane-prone areas stocking traditional emergency supply kits with drinking water, flashlight batteries, and other traditional provisions -- let alone worrying about network downtime, says Tim Harden, a network services president for AT&T's Southwest region.

"When it comes to disaster preparedness, there is no such thing as being too prepared," Hardin says.

ABN Amro plans fund with Chindia flavour

Chindia, the new-age word coined to denote China and India, has breached diplomatic circles to enter the realm of funds, courtesy ABN Amro Mutual Fund, which has planned an equity product aimed at investing in Indian, Chinese and other global markets.

The proposed ABN Amro Chindia Fund, which will invest a minimum 65 per cent of its assets abroad, will aim at generating returns primarily from an actively managed portfolio of transferable equities of companies that are domiciled in, or derive the predominant part of their revenues or profits from, China and India.

The fund will identify companies that may benefit from the anticipated long-term growth of the two Asian giants, the offer document filed with SEBI has indicated, adding that direct investments in Chinese and Indian companies may involve specific risks.

As for investments in Chinese and Indian securities, a few beliefs hold good, it is mentioned. Both economies are growing rapidly, driven by structural change and reforms. Their consumption growth is led by positive demographics. Incidentally, Chindia's GDP growth has been twice the global rate over the past 20 years.

ABN Amro Mutual's latest move is in line with the current trend displayed by the asset management industry: funds with marked international exposure. In recent days, two offer documents have been filed - Franklin Asian Equity Fund and Birla Sun Life International Equity Fund.

SEBI notice on ADRs/GDRs


It may be mentioned here that SEBI today issued a circular related to investment in ADRs, GDRs and foreign securities as well as overseas ETFs by fund houses. This may be seen in the context of enhancement in overseas investment limits by RBI - funds can now invest within an overall cap of $4 billion. There will be a sub-ceiling for individual funds, not exceeding 10 per cent of their net assets as on March 31 of each year and subject to a maximum of $200 million per mutual fund.

Birla Sun Life MF launches new capital protection scheme

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, on Tuesday announced the launch of Birla Sun Life Capital Protection Oriented Plan, a capital protection oriented scheme.

Objective


The objective of the scheme is to invest in high quality fixed income securities maturing in line with the tenure of the scheme and seeking capital appreciation by investing in equity and equity-related instruments.

The fund's portfolio will comprise of high quality debt instruments that would mature to the initial value of investment. The rest of the portfolio would be invested in a diversified basket of growth stocks.

"Birla Sun Life capital Protection fund is an apt fit in the low to moderate risk-taking investor's portfolio (investors who look at investing primarily in fixed deposits or small savings), said Mr Mukul Gupta, CEO, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund.

The fund offers two plans with 3-year and 5-year investment horizons respectively. The 3-year plan can invest up to 16 per cent of its corpus in equity/equity-linked instruments while the rest (84-100 per cent) will be held in debt and money market instruments.

Conversely, the 5-year plan can invest up to 23 per cent of its corpus in equities/equity-linked instruments and the balance 77-100 per cent in debt and money market instruments.

The new fund offer closes on July 6 and the minimum invest amount will be Rs 5,000 and in multiples of Re 1, thereafter.

Dividend tax on MFs investing in money markets raised

The Union Budget has marked up the dividend distribution tax (DDT) on mutual funds investing in money market and liquid markets to 25 per cent for all investors.

The Finance Minister said the funds enjoy concessional tax rates allowing for huge arbitrage opportunities.

According to mutual fund managers, though this provision may shift a few to the long-term bond market, investors will still enjoy higher tax benefits vis-a-vis fixed deposits of banks.

Post-tax returns of investors in liquid and money market funds will be hit by the dividend distribution tax rate going up from 22.44 per cent to 28.32 per cent (including surcharge and cess) for corporates and from 14.03 per cent to 28.32 per cent for individuals. However, for non-liquid funds, the dividend distribution tax remains the same.

"This should encourage investors to shift towards long-term debt schemes as compared to liquid funds," said Mr Sanjay Prakash, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Investments in India.

However, the returns, even after the increased tax on dividends, would go up to 5-5.5 per cent post tax, while that on deposits in banks would fetch around 2.5 per cent. This clearly shows money market and liquid funds still offer better returns, said Mr Ramanathan K., Head - Fixed Income, ING Vysya Mutual Fund.

The move is negative say fund managers. "It will impact sales to some extent and the post-tax returns of customers will be hit," said Mr Ajay Bagga, CEO, Lotus India Mutual Fund.

Fund managers said liquid funds are still the best option for investors placing funds in bonds of short duration (less than a week) as they do not have any other alternative. "Money will continue to flow from investors keen on the short term," said Mr Mahendra Jajoo, Vice President, Head-Fixed Income, ABN Amro Asset Management.

"In the longer term, we believe cash funds and bank deposits play different roles and have their own place in treasury portfolios," said Ms Ashu Suyash, Managing Director and Country Head, Fidelity Fund Management Pvt. Ltd.

Brad Pitt pictures

Mariska Hargitay pictures

Kimberly McCullough

ANNE HECHE

Review of Ocean’s 13

In this tiresome summer of tired sequels, it’s a distinct pleasure to be able to tell you that the latest “three-quel” is a terrific comedy-thriller. “Ocean’s 13,” the third Danny Ocean adventure, is a whirlwind caper about taking down Willy Bank (Al Pacino) the egomaniacal Las Vegas high roller who has cheated Danny’s mentor, nice guy Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), out of his half-ownership in the most glorious new hotel-casino in the town’s history.

When Reuben has a coronary as a result, Danny (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) get the old gang back together to exact a fitting revenge from Bank, by ruining his “5-Diamond” reputation and by breaking the bank of his casino on its opening night.

To accomplish that, they’ll need to manufacture magnetic dice, rig all the machines, don a zillion disguises and, of yes, create a real earthquake on the Vegas Strip! Of course, since this is a lightning-paced caper movie, most of the fun is in guessing how all the bits and pieces we’re shown will fit together, to bring down Banks with the help of Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), Frank Catton (Bernie Mac), Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner), Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle), Virgil Malloy (Casey Affleck), Turk Malloy (Scott Caan), plus a few more co-conspirators.

All they really have to do is outsmart a super-smart villain and a super-computer that can think for itself, which should be no problem for a gang whose sense of style and, more importantly, sense of humor have no equal.
While it doesn’t all make sense, “Ocean’s 13″ has so much fun getting us to the inevitable payoff that it easily steals our attention while it also steals 4 1/2 tickets out of 5 on the Mr. Movie Scale.

REVIEW ON CHEENI CUM

HELLO
Advertised as a “sugar free romance” Cheeni Kum – Balakrishan’s directorial debut, is not entirely without sweetness. A film to enjoy with one’s parents, it provides some light humour and ample charm but leaves no aftertaste – it’s just a little too bland.
Buddhadev (Amitabh Bachchan) – a 64 year old NRI chef and confirmed bachelor, meets a vivacious 34 year old career woman from Delhi (Tabu) and they fall in love. Some of the dialogues between the couple are beautifully executed by the actors and stylishly shot. However the screenplay is inconsistent, relying too heavily on gimmicks and easy solutions so that the end product looks good but lacks flavour.

In some respects stereotypes have been avoided. Bachchan’s character – Buddha, has a dry humour and crustiness that make him an interesting choice for a romantic lead. Tabu’s Nina has an intelligent, playful wit which is uncharacteristic of the love interest in Bollywood films. Although female leads in Hindi movies tend to be sweet and innocent and can even be feisty and bold, they are not generally, worldly or amusing. The coup though, is Buddha’s mother played brilliantly by Zohra Sehgal. As is often the case, it’s the life experience one brings to a viewing experience which shapes perception. Buddha’s mother with her eclectic TV viewing tastes and argumentative streak reminded me of my own rather eccentric but wonderfully warm grandmother so I really enjoyed the character. It’s just a pity that these potentially entertaining individuals aren’t given enough scope in the course of the winding 140 minute film. The gossamer thin story is stretched to breaking point and is only held together by the collective charisma of its stars.

The tension in the first half of the film does not grow out of the interaction between the leads. It is grafted on by way of a sub-plot. Buddha has a friendship with a sweet child (here is the sweetness!) who is suffering from leukaemia. The little girl is of the type that is often described as having “an old head on young shoulders” and her discussions with Buddha are supposed to deepen our understanding of his fears and insecurities. This technique works initially but collapses because developments in the child’s life impinge on the relationship between Buddha and Nina; they even detract from Nina’s role in the film. At these points the story is both predictable and contrived so that the resulting emotional outpourings are just a lot of hot air. Nina’s father – Om (Paresh Rawal), who is 6 years younger than his prospective son-in-law, is also largely there as a ploy. He acts as a foil to Buddha’s character but, like the little girl, doesn’t seem to exist in his own right. Om is a buffoon whose function is to bring on laughs. However, his actions DO become pivotal to the plot; they feed into the “real” human drama that’s unfolding. But sadly – because the character is so superficial, there is nothing substantial to which the leads can respond.

In many good Bollywood films songs deepen our understanding of relationships. If the song element is clipped to the point where a Bollywood film resembles a Hollywood film, then there has to be more done to enhance the story-telling technique. The screenplay needs to be stronger and the editing – tighter. Illaiyaraja’s tuneful score has been used effectively but in a film of this duration, it could have played a more significant part in fleshing out the relationship between the leads. There is an absence of physicality where the couple is concerned which makes their relationship seem almost platonic. I guess I’m a traditionalist and miss the fantasy of song picturization as means of describing the emotional terrain that lovers must navigate. It’s what drew me to Hindi movies in the first place so I feel its absence profoundly.

Cheeni Kum is definitely a vehicle for Amitabh Bachchan and this where the emphasis of the film is wrong. It should be a vehicle for the relationship between the characters portrayed by Tabu and Amitabh Bachchan. Other actors should not exist merely to showcase the star; they should be there to contribute to the internal logic of the narrative. As it is, they retreat alarmingly into the background as the spotlight falls yet again, upon the legend whose histrionics are not supported by clear motives and meaning.

REVIEW OF JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM

hello
My expectations were soaring from JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM. The movie reunites Abhishek Bachchan fresh from the success of his blistering performance in GURU with director Shaad Ali Sahgal after the success of SAATHIYA and BUNTY AUR BABLI. The rest of the casting with Preity Zintaa, Lara Dutta, Bobby Deol and Amitabh Bachchan in a guest appearance was also fresh. The energetic promos were a visual treat for the eyes, and the music was superlative, so does JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM live up to expectations? In my humble opinion, YES….! The movie is a full-fledged fun-filled ride with little in the way of a story yet like his previous film BUNTY AUR BABLI he has managed to make an immensely entertaining and intermittently likeable film which leaves the viewer with a big smile on their face right from the very start till the very end…paisa vasool!
The story of JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM was for the majority kept a secret until its release, and that’s mainly because there isn’t much of one at all. The writer Shaad Ali has constructed a film that relies less on story, and more on the charm, charisma and sheer madness of its cast and their comic timing. Ali takes one oldest clichés in Indian cinema yet manages to pack it into a fresh and rather appealing romantic-comedy. Ali’s ability to maintain a fine line between the technical finesse of Hollywood while maintaining the earthy soul of “Bollywood” is evident here again after BUNTY AUR BABLI. But JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM is not a con-caper by any means, yes it does feature yet another “twist-in-the-tale” like Abhisheks previous release Rohan Sippy’s BLUFFMASTER, but here the focus is more on the romance than anything else. The axe in Ali’s story comes from Screenplay writer Habib Faisal who manages to “stop” the movie for certain periods relying entirely on the charm of its stars to take the movie forward (or to the next song!!). Ali’s penchant for putting on a musical score is simply magnificent here yet again after BUNTY AUR BABLI. In-fact, Ali and Faisal turn the movie into a musical for 30 minutes before going back to the story which is a masterstroke of creativity as it elevates to something better than it was, and from there-on the movie really picks up. Post-interval the movie rocket launches into a zany and insane world of two very colourful people which merged with Ali’s creative instinct really propels the movie into pure madness. If KAJRA RE was then, JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM is now, the impact of the song is simply devastating to say the least, and the audience seemed to be loving it!

The movie has no doubt been designed to showcase the various talents of its cast in the movie entertaining way as possible. Amitabh Bachchan’s Sutradhar act started out rather weak for me despite the addictive title song, but as the movie progressed the film started turning more into a showcase for Abhishek Bachchan who along with Bobby Deol, Preity Zinta, Lara Dutta, and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy delivers the goods in the second half. The entire dance competition song with the various infused versions of “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom” catapult the movie into something that can only be called the higest usage of OTT that one can imagine. At times the movie is prepoustously OTT which works in the films favour. The entrance of Amitabh Bachchan in the song just before it ends works like a charm as well, for some strange reason quiet a few people happy to see Amitabh in his get-up which was funky, but all said and done I certainly would’ve loved to see Amitabh in a full-fledged role here, heck I didn’t even mind the get-up after a while.

Abhishek Bachchan delivers yet another sparkling performance! After his Award-Worthy performance in GURU earlier in the year, the Box-office predictions were offcourse already ranging in the 50+ category, but I certainly didn’t expect Abhishek to deliver such a commandingly confident performance, and yet again a defining one. His comic timing is just brilliant here, and it would be an understatement to say that Abhishek Bachchan doesn’t live up and make use of his Rikki Tuggral persona. Right from his entrance, his dialogues, his delivery, and his body language to his eye movements as well as the smashing dance sequences Abhishek delivers the goods…again! One must thank Shaad Ali for managing to retain a sense of Abhisheks “con-man” persona again after BLUFFMASTER and BUNTY AUR BABLI. Folks, this is VERY MASSY stuff, and Abhishek’s confidence in his charm to pull of the role works like a dream here to say the least. Once again this is a performance that will cause the Media something to write about as Abhishek shares quiet a lengthy kiss with Lara Dutta in the movie, sweet revenge for wifey Ashwariya for DHOOM 2? However this doesn’t overshadow anything from Abhishek’s performance which is very much another “moment” for Abhishek after GURU.

Preity Zinta as the leading lady is in fine form again after her rather “serious act” in Karan Johar’s KANK. And lets just say between Rani and Preity…Preity got the better deal. This is the kind of performance that has become the Preity Zinta trademark! Lively, bubbly, spirited, and just generously charming throughout. Theres something so brutally honest about Alvira Khan that you cannot help but laugh, and it would be unfair to say Abhishek dominates the first half alone as Preity matches him step for step throughout. It’s the chemistry between the two which keeps the movie going unlike GURU where the movie turned into a full fledged Abhishek show. The sequences with Lara and Bobby all merged into together well, and both actors make a striking “comeback” of sorts.

A special mention must be made of the chemistry shared between Abhishek and Preity, they’re the perfect foil for each other. Their natural chemistry and level of comfort with each other is evident all the way.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Bobby Deol in true masala form. He’s the kind of actor who can be at times effective depending on who the director is at helm, and in this case Ali knows what he’s doing. His entry infact livens the proceedings in the second half and Bobby manages to surprise with his comic timing, and dancing! His entry in the second half is simply magnificent, and Shaad has made good use of Bobby’s history as well as the movie shares a priceless moment where Rikki and Satvinder(Steve or even Sattu as he gets called in the movie) ride on a bike similar to the ones their father did, and the homage is captured perfectly. Unfortunately Abhishek and Bobby don’ get too many scenes together, though Bobby does manage to match Abhishek all the way in the “musical” dance competition.

Lara Dutta gets to play a rather “crude” character in the second half of JBJ in which she delivers a dazzling act of impressive comic timing. Her French accent in the first half got a bit over-bearing after a point, but her short skirts and cleavage is more than enough to keep the male audiences happy…she look HOT!

A special mention must be made of the utterly delightful Piyush Mishra as

As a director Shaad Ali is in terrific form in my view. Not everyone take extract such brilliant performances from a talented cast, and the manner in which he merges it with his impeccable comic style is just amazing. The movie is laced with so many in-jokes throughout that the movie indeed turns into a “homage” of sorts, this time to the Bachchan family on the “whole” rather than just a homage to his “era” which BUNTY AUR BABLI was. His first movie was a Remake of a Tamil Classic which proved to be successful in Hindi too. Obviously it does help that Yashraj is backing the film, but Shaad Ali’s remake was one that even director Mani Rathhnam approved of, and he was credited with the story and screenplay. His venture was more creative and slightly zany, but with BUNTY AUR BABLI he was lucky enough to have a sound story, here his story (or lack of) does the film slight damage as it does turn into a “showcase” after a point, rather than a movie and though some critics will call this “indulgent crap” I’d beg to differ, the movie is innovative and creative and Ali manages to construct it in a efficient manner. Right from the rather witty and blisteringly funny interactions with Abhishek-Preity in the first half to the completely AWOL second half where Ali lets completely loose with his creative inhibitions completely loose.

Habib Faisal’s dialogues are in sync with what the movie is trying to achieve and have been carefully crafted keeping the actor in mind. Abhishek no doubt gets the best lines in the movie, and Abhishek proves his worth as a Comedian by playing completely to the galleries. This is the kind of performance one usually expects Akshay Kumar to play with-out a hitch, and to see Abhishek proving equally worthy in the genre with his own style is impressive.

It’s been a while since Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music was put to such good use. I wasn’t a huge fan of the song picturisations in DON, and the picturisations in KANK was dull. Here the songs are a focal point, and there were times where I found myself waiting for the next song to elevate the proceedings, and they did. Ali’s indulgence is evident in the second half as he relies entirely on a 30 minute song festival where he splashes colours, stars, money and music around like crazy!

The title track which comes on initially sets the pace going right from the start. TICKET TO HOLLYWOOD and KISS OF LOVE are well merged into the story. The best track in the movie is no doubt the JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM title song which appears in various forms merging various musical elements and styles into one. Pure stroke of genius right from Gulzarji’s ever innovative poetic lyrics to to the outstanding singing by Shankar Mahadevan, Neeraj Shridhar, Alisha Chinoy, Zubeen Garg, Rahet Fateh Ali Khan, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Vishal Dadlani, Vasundhra Das, KK and offcourse Sukhvinder Singh.

Technically the movie is as expected from a Yashraj film, exceptional! Ayanaka Boses’s lens captures the song, dance, mood, flavour, atmosphere and ambience of JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM like a true staged spectacle, and she deserves a standing applause! The absolutely stunning locales of London and France too are mesmerising. The song picturisations, merged with Vaibhavi Merchants mesmerising dancing makes this a true treat for the eyes and ears.

Another standing ovation is on order for Costume Designer Aki Narula who brings an array of staggeringly creative and stylish costumes which again add immensely to the entire “farce” nature of the film.

JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM is fun, refreshing, and more importantly entertaining film, and Shaad Ali once again deserves full-marks for presenting the viewer with something a little new, but still preserving the old as Ali is no doubt at his indulgent best here, and combines so many elements together (as infrequently as they are) that he turns JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM turns into a visual spectacle of homage’s painted onto celluloid by an extremely talented, and creative team.

REVIEW OF BHEJA FRY

Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shourie of the “Great Indian comedy Show” fame, appear in this off-the-wall comedy as Income tax officers with penchants for music and cricket. Both are excellent actors and while Vinay holds good as the main character, Ranvir adds his own special quirks in his short screen time. The film’s story is of music industry businessman Thadani (Kapoor) who along with his friends recruit talent to entertain them on their Friday night get-togethers. When Thadani comes across voluble IT clerk Bharat Bhushan (Pathak) who dreams of making it big with his music compositions, he decides to invite him as the “talent”. Of course Bhushan has no idea that he is an object of ridicule.
However as it happens Bhushan lands up at Thadani’s house, when Thadani has hurt his back and his wife (Sarika) has left him over a dis-agreement. In their efforts to bring back the wife, Bhushan proves himself a helpful, but bumbling fool and invites over Thadani’s nymphomaniac ex-girlfriend (Goswami) (and her dog), Thadani’s wife’s ex-lover (Soman) and honest Income Tax officer (Shourie) among others, thus creating the proverbial mountain out of the molehill. Thadani may never be able to get out of this one . . .

While not absolutely engrossing, this is a new genre of comedy for Hindi films, since it actually relies on situations and some intelligence. The characters are decently fleshed out; I especially liked the small touches – Bhushan’s carrying around the photo-album neatly wrapped in a plastic bag, and tied with a string, which he undoes EVERY time. Add to that his slicked back hair and the safari suit, and you had a perfect mascot for desi babu-dom.

Rajat Kapoor is quite an effective actor, but seems to lose his edge here. Shourie’s caricature-ish portrayal of a Muslim IT officer, if intentional, was beautifully done. Sarika is very good as Thadani’s singer wife. Milind Soman looks quite the music director with his overgrown beard, and has improved on his acting skills too. Tom Alter and Bhairavi Goswami have small roles with little impact.

This film is not in the same league as say, a “Khosla ka ghosla” but is a good effort nevertheless. Besides some laugh-out-loud lines, the film has you enjoying the discomfiture of the characters, and amused at the comedy of errors that can unfold from simple mistakes in life. This might be a remake of the French film “The Dinner Game” but it’s a good one. Truly avant-garde for a desi film, this is the kind of cinema I look forward to.

Priyanka To Lead India Day Parade In New York

Top Bolywood actress Priyanka Chopra is all set to lead the 27th India Day Parade as Grand Marshal in New York in August to celebrate the country's 60th Independence Day. The annual parade, which will be held Aug 19, is organised in Manhattan by the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) and attracts thousands of people every year.

Announcing details of the parade at the Indian Consulate in New York, earlier this week, FIA president Shobhana Patel said that comedian Johny Lever would be the chief guest. The theme of the parade would be "Women's Shakti" (power), Patel said.

Music composer A.R. Rahman, who is on a concert tour of the US, was present at the function

TIME IS MONEY

MY FRIEND TOLD ME TIME IS MONEY AND HERE I EXPLAIN HOW TO RETAIN IT
Why do we lose money? Why are we generally not happy with our financial decisions? Why did it have to happen to me? Why did it happen when I invested my money?

The answer is really simple but it is going to be very hard to digest. Either we are complacent with what we have or it is just that we do not want to take the effort.

This is a plain cold fact. If I had to put a number to this divide a reasonable estimate would be 10 per cent v/s 90 per cent that is 10 per cent people are just complacent while 90 per cent just do not want to take the effort.

What makes things worse is that this 90 per cent people want short cuts. Just quickly give me an investment tip, what’s the best investment, what’s new these days, where can I get the maximum returns, what is safe but can give very high returns?


I have got so and so investment, what are the prospects, what is the future? These are normally the questions most people want to ask. Everyone wants a quick fix and no one is really interested in spending time or effort.

Remember there are no shortcuts and nothing worthwhile in life is ever free. The next time you get something for free just pause to think if there is really much value, commitment and credibility if you were to act upon that piece of information.

Free offerings may be all right in case of groceries and consumables as that is part of promotions but consequences of acting on short cuts and free information in financial matters can be grave.

In my view if you want something you have to work hard for it. Plain and simple! Then you have to spend time and money. There is no other way.

For example, if you want to do things yourself, you have a lot to learn first. Spend money in educational courses, buying software, books, magazines etc.

This is a lot of hard work. Get involved in the process and don’t depend on friendly neighbourhood advice or the advice of your friend’s friend who is a broker or an agent.

Just think if you had to buy vegetables for 50 rupees you would check prices with three vendors. But you would not blink to invest 50,000 on a hot tip!

Now if you don’t have the time and patience to do things yourself the least you can do is invest time in searching and hiring a good financial advisor.

Basically, if you can hire lawyers, chartered accountants, doctors etc for their service why do you want to risk your hard earned money?


Invest time to talk to 10 or 20 or 30 experts if you want but finally choose the one you like and you feel most satisfied and comfortable to work with.

Don’t waste your time with agents and brokers who are merely product distributors.

To do this is also a lot of hard work. But it will be worth all the time spent. Is that too much to do for a lifetime of peace and financial control? Just invest this time once. This is a shortcut you can afford to take.

Do you see why we lose money or are not happy with our financial decisions? For something that we want the most in our lives that is, money and more money we spend the least amount of effort and time.

We want to enjoy spending money but do not do enough to ensure that we have enough of it forever. We are not prepared to work hard; we are not prepared to seek the right advice.

These days information is so easily available and geography is irrelevant. All one needs to do is take the first small step that is to decide to invest time & effort for personal financial matters.

If you don’t take care of money, money will never take care of you. It’s that simple

Common investment mistakes to avoid

hello friends

The other day I got a call from a friend. He wanted to know my opinion on ‘Stock A’, which was proposed to him by an old hand in the stock market. He was told that the stock would double its amount in a few months and the person who had recommended the stock also had bought some. I told him that this stock was crap and unless an operator was running the stock, I did not see strong reasons on why this stock would double. I said this not because I have the ability to spot stocks that will double in very short periods of time, but because I am yet to come across people or experts who can do this feat every time.

So in a nutshell I told him to stay away from this stock. Nevertheless he went ahead and took some exposure in the stock, as the seduction of making quick bucks was very high. Exactly 3 days down the line this stock is 18% down with 10% being knocked off in 1 day. He was now skeptical about making equity investments with the losses suffered in a couple of days. He blamed the stock markets as well as others for his misfortune, but at the same time wanted to participate in the growth of the Capital Markets and our economy.

However, never ever did this friend ponder over the mistake he had committed. I bet there are plenty of people who are guilty of committing the same mistake or others, but never get down to really understand what went wrong and try to learn from their mistakes.

So what are the important lessons for people wanting to create wealth through equities? The cardinal rule is to make as few big mistakes as possible.

Though the list can be pretty long, here are seven common mistakes people make when investing in equities and that you should stay away from.

Mistake No 1: The first and biggest mistake is not to admit making a mistake

People stubbornly hold on to stocks where they are making sizeable losses in the belief that they can exit when the price reaches their buying price. Most of the minds are not trained to acknowledge the fact that they have made a mistake and probably the best thing is to move on. There was this gentleman who had bought a “penny stock” at Rs. 9 following a tip and hoping that it would double in a few months.

The stock first rose by 20% and then declined by almost 40%. He was unwilling to let go of the position with the belief that he will do so only when the price reaches his buy price and it will happen sometime soon. The gentleman is still holding on to the stock and the stock has lost a further 40%. He could have exited the stock with a loss of just 28% initially (considering the appreciation of 20%). Now his losses are around 56% and he is still holding the stock. This happened in October 2005. Even several blue chip stocks have actually doubled or tripled since then.

Brief History Of Insurance Sector In India

hello read this
The insurance sector in India has come a full circle from being an open competitive market to nationalization and back to a liberalized market again.

Tracing the developments in the Indian insurance sector reveals the 360-degree turn witnessed over a period of almost 190 years.

The business of life insurance in India in its existing form started in India in the year 1818 with the establishment of the Oriental Life Insurance Company in Calcutta.

Some of the important milestones in the life insurance business in India are:

1912 - The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act enacted as the first statute to regulate the life insurance business.

1928 - The Indian Insurance Companies Act enacted to enable the government to collect statistical information about both life and non-life insurance businesses.

1938 - Earlier legislation consolidated and amended to by the Insurance Act with the objective of protecting the interests of the insuring public.

1956 - 245 Indian and foreign insurers and provident societies taken over by the central government and nationalized. LIC formed by an Act of Parliament, viz. LIC Act, 1956, with a capital contribution of Rs. 5 crore from the Government of India.

The General insurance business in India, on the other hand, can trace its roots to the Triton Insurance Company Ltd., the first general insurance company established in the year 1850 in Calcutta by the British.

Some of the important milestones in the general insurance business in India are:

1907 - The Indian Mercantile Insurance Ltd. set up, the first company to transact all classes of general insurance business.

1957 - General Insurance Council, a wing of the Insurance Association of India, frames a code of conduct for ensuring fair conduct and sound business practices.

1968 - The Insurance Act amended to regulate investments and set minimum solvency margins and the Tariff Advisory Committee set up.

1972 - The General Insurance Business (Nationalization) Act, 1972 nationalized the general insurance business in India with effect from 1st January 1973.

107 insurers amalgamated and grouped into four companies viz. the National Insurance Company Ltd., the New India Assurance Company Ltd., the Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. and the United India Insurance Company Ltd. GIC incorporated as a company.