Archive for General/Daily affairs
{ December 23, 2008 @ 1:52 pm }
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{ Business, General/Daily affairs, India, Media, People, Politics/Current Affairs }
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one of my articles..
Our Bureau MUMBAI
TRIDENT, one of South Mumbai’s iconic hotels, will resume operations from Sunday, after it suffered damages in last month’s terror attacks. Taj Tower, a part of the Taj chain of hotels, will also reopen on Sunday evening.
“All rooms and restaurants at the Trident will be in pristine condition to welcome guests,” said Ratan Keswani, president, Trident Hotels. Around 100 rooms out of the total 550 rooms have been booked and will be occupied from Sunday. Of the 100 bookings, around 50-60% are Indian guests. Mr Keswani said traditionally, the Christmas and New Year period is a lean season when the inflow of foreign business travellers takes a dip. “We will understand the actual dip in bookings by the first week of January,” said Mr Keswani at a press conference on Saturday.
Trident is a part of EIH which also operates the Oberoi Hotel. Although, the company did not talk about the opening of the Oberoi Hotel, which was also devastated on 26/11, industry sources said it would take another six-seven months.
The popular restaurants at the Trident such as India Jones, Opium Den, Frangipani and Verandah are learnt to have around 50-60% bookings for Sunday. Both the hotels were insured against business loss due to terrorism with United India Insurance Company and New India Assurance. EIH said it had received Rs 25 crore as advance from New India Assurance.
Since the restoration work at the Trident was minimal, the hotel has managed to open doors for Christmas. According to initial estimates, the restoration work at Trident will cost around Rs 40-50 lakh, while it may be around Rs 40-50 crore for the Oberoi. Mr Keswani added that the company is assessing whether there is any structural problems at the Oberoi.
EIH is constantly in touch with its business partners, the Hotels Association of India and the Tourism Department of the India, to see how the hotel chain can offer value to its guests. The EIH group is also working with a renowned international security agency to add more security measures across all of its properties. Some of the new measures at the Trident include physical frisking of every guest’s bag and submission of a copy of the guest’s identification papers with the local police authorities. Mr Keswani added that for the moment, armed security guards will be positioned at the hotel and some parts of the hotel will be barricaded. Trident would not stop walk-in bookings at its restaurants. However, the hotel would insist on reliable identification proof of the guests, Mr Keswani said.
The Trident has decided not to hold special celebrations for Christmas and New year. However, the restaurants in Trident will have special menus on the festive occasions. The EIH group has also established ‘The Oberoi Care Fund’ in partnership with Give India, an NGO. The fund has been set up after many of the hotel guests and team members expressed a desire to contribute financially to help the families of employees who lost their lives in the tragic events. The Oberoi and the Trident currently contribute to 35% of the inventory and 45% to the topline of EIH.
{ August 8, 2008 @ 9:40 am }
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{ General/Daily affairs, Media, People, Personal, Politics/Current Affairs, Sports }
{ Tags: Olympics 2008 }
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I just read a recent report online which said how Beijing wants it’s citizens to watch the Olympics opening ceremony indoors. China wants the streets to be clear of traffic and less polluted due to which this measure has been adopted. But isn’t that unfair!! ?
This kind of opportunity is something which people will experience once in 100 years! SO many people would have made plans to watch the ceremony and their dreams have been shattered. Is showcasing your country’s abilities and grandeur only reserved for outsiders?
If i was in Beijing right now, the most exciting thing for me would be the whole hype around the opening event. Already thanks to a fake Olympic ticket scam many Chinese citizens have been denied the chance to watch any event at the Olympics. This new move would only demoralise people more. Understandably, many Chinese citizens are not excited about the games. After all if the government is going to be so rude who would be interested in the games!
There are people actually buying mini TV sets to watch the Olympics at their homes! That’s such a touching gesture..wish things were otherwise
{ June 19, 2008 @ 12:53 pm }
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{ General/Daily affairs, India, Media, People, Personal }
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Just pondering over this question from a very long time…what kind of blogs do people actually read? I wrote about Stephen’s quota yesterday and i have hardly had anyone checking the post.
On the other hand the post i wrote last year about a young Mumbai woman being molested in public garnered so much attention, that till today people check the post! Are blogs also going the newspaper way? We choose to read something sensational, revealing, controversial or gossip from tinseltown!
Is the blog post about Abhi-Ash more interesting to read over the Stephen’s quota? Or is it just that quota is a long, old and ‘done with’ news peg? Any pointers people?
{ June 18, 2008 @ 5:24 am }
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{ General/Daily affairs, India, Media, People, Personal, Politics/Current Affairs }
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One of the country’s premier educational institution St. Stephen’s College has decided to impose a 50% Christian quota for its students. According to the college since it is a Christian institution it is justfified in imposing this quota.
This decision is goign to come as a blow to students who want to get into the college based on ‘merit. I still don’t get the concept of quotas. I don’t feel the need for them for any particualr community. It just classifies a certain section of people as priviledged and who get into the best colleges even if they have relaly low scores. No wonder students in our country are dillusioned with the educational system in our country. This is one of the primary reasons behind the ‘brain drain’ phenomenon.
No wonder people want to go abroad, study and settle in jobs there itself. After all whichever job or college you go, you can be rest assured you will eb denied an opportunity not because of low grades but because of your ‘caste/religion.’
{ June 16, 2008 @ 6:23 am }
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{ General/Daily affairs, India, Media, People, Personal, Sports }
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It’s soon going to be a month since the cricket extravaganza IPL has got over. But I am still proud of the losing finalists Chennai Super Kings. They played really well and the game could have gone anywhere in the last over.
I know this post is quite old and should have come earlier. My appologies for the same since i was tied up with work and could not blog earlier.
What I liked most about Dhoni was his spirits even after loosing. Immediatley after the loss Dhoni and his teammates huddled together and he pepped them up by telling them to be proud of themselves. Even after the loss Dhoni was proud of his team and never treated them harshly. Neither did he question them for the loss. Of course one cannot take anythign away from the Rajasthan Royals, they are a brilliant team. But my loyalties lie elsewhere!
Dhoni rocks and so does Chennai Super Kings! I shall continue to support them for rest of the IPL’s!
{ May 30, 2008 @ 10:46 am }
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{ General/Daily affairs, India, Media, People, Personal, Politics/Current Affairs }
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It’s been exactly two weeks since 14-year-old Aarushi Talwar was brutally murdered at her Delhi residence. Yet the poilc ihas not made any substantial breakthrough in the case. The brutality in which the young girl was murdered like her skull was broken open makes us wonder what is happening to our mentality? the police say that Aarushi was found in a compromising position with her maid servant.
The police made a blanket statement without thinking what damage it would do to Aarushi’s reputation. Aarushi was not even an adult at the time of her death. According to Indian laws and guidelines laid by Women & Child Welfare Ministry it is illgeal to make such statements about minors especially girls.
It is all the more horrible to believe that Aarushi’s own father could murder her so brutally. It is unbelievable that the parents slept soundly through the entire duration of their daughter’s murder. The murder weapon is yet to be recovered. Just couple of days after Aarushi’s murder happened, her mother Nupur Talwar appeared on national television. She was pleading her husband’s innocence in the case. It is surprising that she so quickly recovered from her daughter’s murder to appear confidently on national tv and plead for her husband.
I just hope the actual culprit in Aarushi’s murder is arrested soon. Till then Arushi’s soul will not rest in peace.
{ May 27, 2008 @ 2:06 pm }
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{ Business, General/Daily affairs, India, Media, Politics/Current Affairs }
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due to oil prices touching almost 135$ a barrel and inflation woes the government is planning to increase the price of petrol and diesel by 15-17 rs per lite. my point is the government taxes the fuel companies heavily and earns good profit from them, thanks to the high prices. yet the government is thinking of increasing the fuel price rather than reducing the various excise duties and taxes.
why does the common man have to suffer while the government coffers get filled with money? the governmenn cannot be so selfish. if the prices are hiked, it will be a big blow for the government in elections time. already the congress has lost bangalore elections and if the hike does come into existence it will only go against them in future.
one has to remember petrol price hike will trigger a series of other hikes. our daily spendings will increase. vegetables, groceries, other food products all hike their prices thanks to the expensive transportation. and at the end of the day the household budget and savings go for a toss.
{ May 17, 2008 @ 6:24 am }
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{ General/Daily affairs, Humour/Jokes, India, Media, People, Personal, entertainment }
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The usually quiet Bollywood actor Aamir Khan is stirring up many new controversies these days. He ahs started blogging recently. in one of his recent blogs Aamir talks about his dog which is named Shah Rukh Khan. Aamir defends himself saying the dog came with the house he brought. The house owner named the dog Shah Rukh since apparently the the actors shot for an ad in the same house.
What i don’t understand is how can Aamir be so downright rude and insulting? Shah Rukh has never commented ever on Aamir’s films or life. What does Aamir want to prove? Just because Shah Rukh doesn’t make serious/hard hitting movies like Aamir that doesn’t mean he is not a good actor.
And Aamir hasn’t just stopped making comments on Shah Rukh. Recently he has composed a song targeting Salman Khan. The song talks about Salman’s love for fast bikes, watches and women. SO what’s the big deal? They are Salman’s personal interests and Aamir has not right to comment on them.
What scruples does Aamir have? He divorced his wife and married his long-time girlfriend, who he started seeing when he was already married. Aamir should bow a step down and reduce his arrogance.
{ May 12, 2008 @ 10:10 am }
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{ General/Daily affairs, India, Media, People, Politics/Current Affairs }
{ Tags: Bush, Food }
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I find it really ridiculous that US President George Bush and also Condolezza Rice say that India is responsible for the global food shortage. How can our country be blamed for it? There is a shortage of food rains in our country itself!
Thanks to the collapse of the Public Distribution System in our country many food grains are unable to reach people who fall under the Below Poverty Line (BPL). thanks to the rising inflation people cannot even afford the basic fruits and vegetables! and here bush talks about our country being a major culprit! Our country is used to having famines and starvation deaths especially in rural areas who do not have access to even one meal a day.
Earlier also he had made a silly statement saying that India and China are responsible for the rising oil prices. uf…When will Mr. Bush use his brains and speak some sense!
If he is so concerned about food shortage, why doesn’t he prevent countries like Thailand who plan to form a rice cartel? he rice cartel would be a group of exclusive countries who would be involved in the trading of rice between each other only or people whom they like.
{ May 12, 2008 @ 9:54 am }
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{ General/Daily affairs, India, Media, People, Personal, Politics/Current Affairs }
{ Tags: Mother's Day Special }
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Before you make any judgments and pounce upon let me just tell you people that this is not a blanket statement made by me. In fact it is the conclusion of a survey conducted by an American organisation.
the survey looked at hardships faced by mothers across 71 lesser-developed countries and India is ranked at 66th in the list. its a sad fact that 1 in every 70 women in india faces the risk of dying during child birth.
it is relayy sad that while economically the rupee is today stronger than the dollar, our country cannot get its basics right. many women do not have access to medical facilities especially in rural areas. mothers till today are ill-treated sometimes even thrown out of the house for not bearing a male child.
i don’t get the concept of people in our country hating the girl child. why don’t people get the point that the way things are women might become an extinct species soon and the whole chain of births will come to an end and so will the world.
the report also says that girls in India are given a minimum 10 years of schoolgirls compared to 17 years in the UK and US. in many cases young girls are forced to work as labourers at home or in hotels, streets depriving them of education.
unless India takes concrete steps to improve women’s conditions we can never be a global giant
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