Just how much money is enough???

This i am sure is quite a common thought that everybody has had at one point in time or the other. I am sure a lot of ppl know and are contented with what they have, and I am sure that there are a few who still think they need more.
Adding a link from rediff below
http://movies.rediff.com/report/2009/may/04/bachchan-gets-sc-notice-on-tax-exemption.htm

I am sure he has a valid reason for asking for tax exemption under some category or the other. First tried to get away by saying he was a farmer, now this. He is an artiste alright :)

Nenjukkul peidhidum maamazhai

In case you havent listened to this song from Vaaranam Aayiram, please do.. what wonderful lyrics and meaning...

I wonder if Surya is becoming our generation Mohan..

Sanjay Dutt to contest in elections!!! Are you kidding me!

The latest (ok, not so latest) news is that Sanjay Dutt has decided to contest in elections.. And of course quickly followed by that or before that was the news that Azharrudin was going to contest in elections. I am not sure what is the reasoning behind them being accepted into their parties. Lets look at a few qualities,
Is it that they are great leaders? Sanjay Dutt may have acted as a union leader or a police commissioner or some gang leader. I think it was the gang leader role that he would have done that qualified him as a candidate. Azharrudin the only leader he was that i am aware of, is the captain of indian team. He was the winningest captain of india until he realized that winning wasnt everything, and became the leader of the pack that took money to lose games.
Is it that they are good orators? I am sure Sanjay Dutt is very good in speaking whats given to him in a piece of paper, coz he has done it for quite a few movies. Azhar though is in a whole different league.. Ask him a question about the team u will get a reply "the boys did well", "i played well in the nets".
Is it their integrity? I am sure this was the reason.. Sanjay dutt is still "out on bail", Azhar is still "out of cricket". I think that simply is the foremost reason behind them joining politics. One for aiding a terrorist to keep guns (or gun) and/or ammo. The other maybe for the same kind of ppl earning money betting on cricket. what a combination? I am sure the future of indian politics is in good hands. If Sanjay Dutt does indeed win then you will see lot of ads coming up in Sulekha saying 6x5 room capable of storing so many guns and so many bullets, blah blah blah..
Anyways thats my two cents on the above two gents joining politics.

my niece

my niece
Originally uploaded by flickrrocks

my cute niece. picture taken at my brother-in-law's house... difficult to get her to pose for a photo. somehow managed to get her attention for this..

First pic with my new EOS450D

First pic with my new EOS450D
Originally uploaded by flickrrocks

first attempt at capturing some flowers at my brother-in-law's place with my new Canon SLR. Its amazing how easy to use it is even for a beginner like me... Lots more to learn and spend before i can use it extensively :)

About Rang De

I just came back from a presentation about Rang De. It is a very good concept that is aimed at trying to alleviate a lot of Indians from poverty. I was thoroughy impressed by the presentation made by the two co-founders (N.K.Ram & Smitha Ram) of Rang De. They were people who had given up working abroad with the thought of trying to make some difference in India. Their concept is not new, in that it is based on micro-financing. There are lots of micro-finance institutions in India which are trying to do the same thing. But what sets them apart is their interest rate and probably the main thing the transparency. Please visit http://www.rangde.org for more information though I will attempt to give you some information that I gathered . They have partnered with a few NGOs in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh and are close to partnering with an NGO in Karnataka. Through the investments by social investors they lend the money to the borrowers in the villages that the partners are associated with. Their concept is to lend money to a group of women and the group is accountable to the amount that is lend. They do write a disclaimer in their webpage that the money lend by the social investor is not guaranteed to be returned by the borrower but they say there is a 98.5% success rate of return.

They make regular visits to the villages to meet with the borrowers to also ensure that the money is being put to good use and that the end-borrower is benefiting from it and not the partner NGO (though their partner NGOs credibility is duly checked before partnering with them). They don't believe in getting huge amount of money from people (though it would help if there were such generous people) but they believe in a lot of people contributing even the minimum amount of Rs.1000. I find this concept pretty neat and the commitment that is shown by the two of them. When asked a question that "what if the other micro-finance organizations (one of their competitors) start to reduce their interest rate?" - one of the co-founders Smitha Ram gives a plain answer that their job is done. Their main motive was to make sure the lesser-priviliged get access to loan at affordable rates. And if the competition reduced their rates to make it affordable their job is done they say.

They are planning to launch another campaign or product of theirs which is meant towards helping children get access to education. I am glad somebody is working towards empowering people with money and providing access to education and all instead of just donating money and making them dependable. I hope to spread the message of Rang De through constant updates about them as and when I get the information. But please do your bit and spread the word even if you are not able to contribute there will be lots of people you can reach out too. I am finally glad that I have had an opportunity to write one useful post in my blog. Thanks to N.K.Ram & Smitha Ram. Will update with their picture soon.

Running beyond dog-tired

I started training to run a marathon a few months back. Ok its not exactly training, since I dont run every day of the week. I just run on Sundays coz thats the only day I can manage to wake myself up early. Anyway I am taking part in the Marg Give-life Chennai marathon (http://givelife-chennaimarathon.com/). So wanted to see if I can push myself atleast close to 21kms. So me and a couple of my friends met up in IIT and started running at 6:45 (planned to meet at 6:30 but I was late since I was searching for my new sneakers, which appears to be stolen). Anyway we started and were surprised to find that a dog joined us. This dog followed us around through IIT running parallel to me mostly. At times it would run in front of me and look back to see how far back we were. Anyway we were kinda struggling to get the first 6kms out of the way and this dog managed to do it with ease at the same time picking fight with other dogs, tracking down two motorcycles and even managed to chase a deer around.

We started on our second round and this dog also came along, I was glad it came along coz I had planned to take a picture of this dog which accompanied us in the run. It ran with us for a total of 9kms and then looked at us as if we were nuts to keep going. Obviously it got tired of running around for 9kms with no purpose. So it said bye to us and went on its own way. We continued going beyond the point of dog-tired :). All the time i was dreaming of finishing first by virtue of photo finish (head first, or hand outstretched). I managed to get to 18kms but took a time of 2hrs30 minutes. I am atleast confident that I can finish the 21kms run on aug 31st, but my hopes of winning the 10lakh first price is gone. Only to find out that one of my friends had a similar thought too :). Anyways how we do on aug31st will be updated later (provided we do good).