NDTV Now Cheats!

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NDTV_Imagine_300 goldsafe_logo

Well not NDTV directly but there is a program airing on NDTV Imagine titled “Guess The Celebrity” from a company Gold Safe which is probably the biggest rip off that I have encountered on the TV till date. The show itself is very simple, a celebrity’s face is shown partially and viewers (participants) are required to call and identify the celebrity and if they answer correctly they will win Rs. 90,000 (yes the lure of easy money always works).

Looks easy right, but beware of anything that looks too good to be true which is certainly the case with Gold Safe’s Guess The Celebrity. First the callers have to dial a number 5664464 (even SMS works) but the call rates are like Rs. 12 each minute (more than ISD). Next the caller is put on hold and never ever gets through (this on a live show) and you can be put on hold for anything from 50 minutes to more. Even more perplexing is that all this while a multitude of callers keep calling in but never ever guess the celebrity correctly.  On both the days I saw the show, the celebrities were Preity Zinta and Katrina Kaif, but not a single caller got them correct. Surprising right considering our entire nation literally hero worships its celebrities.

Not surprisingly I searched on Google and found a number of complaints regarding the show and the gist of it was that the real callers never ever get through but are always put on hold (thereby shelling out exorbitant mobile bills) and the “fake” callers are from Gold Safe itself who will call using different names/aliases and never ever give the correct answer. The short end of it, the viewers are scammed out of their hard earned money with the lure of winning Rs. 90,000 on a single telephone call which never ever gets connected.

Gold Safe I don’t know, but NDTV I do know and probably every Indian does.  I certainly did not expect this from NDTV (never mind its Gold Safe the program is still airing on NDTV Imagine). Social justice like in the case of Jessica Lal are one thing, but if your own viewers are getting scammed and in your own backyard and nothing is done about it, then NDTV is just as good as the scammers and cheaters it talks about fighting.

PS – I will email NDTV with a link to this blog post at response@ndtvimagine.com, lets see what comes out of it. If anyone knows details about India’s TV Watchdog to whom we can report such instances then please share the details or report so that others are warned and Gold Safe is investigated.

Making Time For God!

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The other day I was at a midnight prayer meeting at Bro. Duke Jeyaraj’s home and we had a really powerful time.  There were prophecies, interpretations of tongues, a powerful time of praise and worship and a Rhema Word from God preached by Bro. Duke and it was indeed a blessed time for all who participated.

A couple of days later I was all alone at home and instead of wasting time with the TV (IPL and all that) or even the PC and the internet I spent time with God and I mean really spent a lot of time with God Almighty Himself. Yet again I had a visitation from God and I really heard a lot of things from God. Ditto for today too when my wife was out shopping with her mother.  I just locked myself in my room and had a powerful time.

You might wonder what this is all about? Well I’m just letting you know that God is available and I mean available always (all the time). The question is are you available and making time to be with God? Many would love to hear from God or even feel His Presence. They would love to have a Word from Him, especially a Word that will solve their problems. I have shared the instances of just this past week when I heard from God powerfully. I can share many, many instances over the years. But in all of them I had to make time to be alone with the Father.

It really does not get any more simple than this.  God is willing and available (always). The only question that needs to be asked is are you willing and available for God? If you are and will make the time, you will have your breakthrough and the answers you are seeking.

Varudu Movie Review!

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At the outset let me say I had a good time though not primarily because of Varudu itself, but because it was a family outing and a large gathering to boot. Now coming to the movie itself, definitely could have been better and for sure not up to the expected mark of a director like Gunasekhar who seems to be having a hangover of his Okkadu and Arjun with the hero yet again fighting a truckload of goons with the heroine in tow (more on that later).

The story is simple, the hero Allu Arjun is going to the U.S. for 5 years on work and his parents want him to get married before he leaves. Allu Arjun agrees and leaves it up to his parents to decide on the girl, yes an arranged marriage. He however has only one condition, that the marriage should be performed on a lavish scale and spread over 5 days with all relatives attending and also the hero meeting the girl (and even seeing) the bride only on the marriage altar for the first time (yes an arranged marriage to the core). The heroine when she learns of the hero's decision to marry her without even seeing a photo of hers also decides to do likewise. All set for the marriage (of the year) and everything goes as planned until the heroine is kidnapped right on the marriage altar just before the formalities can be completed. Everyone is clueless as to who the kidnappers are and the police as expectedly are of no help either.

Allu Arjun is advised by all to forget the heroine and carry on by himself to the U.S. or to get married to another girl before he leaves (this advice even given by the girl's parents), but our hero decides to stay back and find the heroine because he feels a sense of responsibility and believes his marriage has taken place. This sets the stage for the entry of the villain Arya who kidnaps the heroine primarily because he is a psychopath and also because of a slight she had done him in the past. Lots of fights and action sequences later things reach their predictable end and Allu Arjun and Bhanu Mehra (the heroine) get married (yet again).

The concept of Varudu is good, but the execution is bad. I really like the idea behind what Allu Arjun conveys in that marriage is a commitment and a responsibility and that one should not jump ship at the first sign of trouble (which unfortunately most people do these days). Things like companionship, taking care of each other and watching out for each other are stressed which yet again is missing in our "take what you can" or "I want it all" society of today. But the message itself is messed up in the way it is conveyed by director Gunasekhar who has the hero on the run with the heroine and battling a truckload of goons just like in most Telugu movies of these days.

Music is different and the emphasis is more on melody than cacophony which does say a lot. Allu Arjun is an excellent dancer and really raises the bar in the intro song Saara Jahaa. The action in the movie is fast and furious, but the surprise package here is the Tamil hero Arya who does a great job and is in fact taller, broad shouldered and more muscular than the hero. Heroine Bhanu Mehra is so so in her debut movie. It was also good to see Suhasini and Ashish Vidyarthi as Allu Arjun's parents. In a nutshell, Allu Arjun fans will be disappointed but still stand by their hero, the rest will not so much.

Playing FarmVille Can Get You Fired!

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Here is a news account of a politician getting fired for playing FarmVille while on the job in Bulgaria.

http://government.zdnet.com/?p=8678&tag=nl.e620

Apple’s iPad Is An Amazing Device!

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It seems iPad is the device to own right now.

How To Legally Rob A Bank…

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No, not in India but it seems possible for Bank Of America customers and that too at the bank's behest.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/03/26/how-to-legally-rob-a-bank.aspx

Eating Chicken Noodles…

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Mmmmm. Digging into some really delicious chicken noodles made by my very beautiful wife. Will post the recipe soon. For now here is a picture…

Nokia Bots – The Future Of Mobile Phones…

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That's what I need, a mobile phone that will learn from what I do and then begin to make suggestions accordingly…

Cannot wait to get my hands on it.

 

 

Unboxing The iPad

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After many months of waiting by many (quite a few of them my very dear friends) the iPad is finally here.  Here are (possibly) the first pictures of an iPad being unpacked and very possibly the future of mobile computing is here.

More details at http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362093,00.asp

Socially Review! Social Networks On Your Symbian Smartphone!

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I was looking for an all-in-one solution to post status updates and also check posts and status updates from different social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz on my Nokia E72 smartphone.  I’m not much of a social networker but I do check in from time to time to exchange notes with my friends and when on the PC I use Digsby = IM + Email + Social Networks which pretty much sums everything up for me (barring the new kid on the block Google Buzz).  I have been on the lookout for something similar for my Nokia E72 and the closest thing I have found to date is Socially, which covers social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.  Apart from that it also integrates the mobile phone’s address book with Facebook and will pull data from Facebook and import them to the contact’s details.  What this accomplishes is that when your friend (who is on Facebook) calls Socially will display his Facebook profile picture, his latest Tweet and other relevant data.  That apart Socially will also show you when was the last time they called and if it’s a new number then Socially will give location based information like the city from where the call originated. Another useful feature from Socially is you can blacklist a particular number and it will block that caller/number with your phone not even ringing (useful for blocking sales calls). Yet another nifty feature of Socially is its desktop mode which can be turned off or on, but when turned on will notify you of the latest Tweets and status updates at a time interval of your choosing. My only grouch with Socially as of now is it does not cover Google Buzz but hopefully that should come along soon too.  Do check Socially out.