Sunday, September 28, 2014

Friday, April 1, 2011

Modern Romance

An in-depth look at the changes of romance and love in literature. The author describes the literary romance of the past and compares it to the present, displaying the changes that have taken place over the years.
"A man, a woman, a compelling glance across a crowded ballroom, an attempt to quell the burgeoning passion felt by both, her developing relationship with his children, dashed hopes re-ignited, some sort of tragedy or treachery, and possibly even a lunatic first wife either mysteriously killed or locked up in an attic - - these liberally spiced with a detailed description of her wardrobe (or lack of one) and the hair styling which transforms her from shabby little governess to beautiful woman - - have traditionally been the stuff of romance novels. But, times have changed and love has been swept along on the inexorable tide. Gone are the ball gowns (along with the balls) the first wife isn't conveniently dead (but annoyingly present and demanding child support), and passions are generally openly indulged rather than denied. The course of true love has taken a few detours over the past 30 years or so."

Friday, March 25, 2011

Royally ridiculous Royal Wedding packages





Hotels looking to capitalize on Royal Wedding fever have unleashed a maelstrom of Will and Kate-themed travel packages.

Most offer your standard roster of generic perks - tea for two, wedding viewing parties, nuptial souvenirs - but others push the envelope with coffer-draining rates, risqué themes and creepy amenities. These are our picks for the most outrageous Royal Wedding packages.

Shag like royalty: San Francisco's Kensington Park Hotel takes the focus from the ceremony to the bridal bed with their cliché-heavy "Shag Like Royalty" package. Guests receive union jack condoms, two mini-bottles of gin (when we all know Will's favorite tipple is cider), and a can of spotted dick pudding. God save the Queen.
Alert the treasury: The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park and the Hyatt Regency London The Churchill are currently duking it out for the priciest royal wedding packages. In one corner we have the Mandarin's $30,000 package for two guests with royal-family led tours of historical sites, private dinners at stately homes, and a champagne lunch overlooking the royal wedding parade. In the other corner is the Hyatt's $48,000 package for up to six guests with luxury chauffeur and butler service, a private chef, a lecture from Will & Kate's royal biographer, and the same amenities you'll find in Buckingham Palace (Moyse Stevens flowers, Floris toiletries, Prestat truffles). But the true king's ransom is the Mayfair Hotel's Suite and Sapphire package, including a three-night stay in the Fendi-adorned Azure Suite and an 18-carat sapphire and diamond ring for the princely sum of $336,268.
Sleep like a spoiled brat: Sure, little girls love playing princess, but something about the Swissotel The Howard's "Pretty Little Princess" package rubs us the wrong way. Maybe it's the $4,700 per-night price tag. Or perhaps it's the fact that your wee one is greeted with a bottle of "baby champagne". Talk about a surefire way to raise a royal brat.

If it all makes you feel a little queasy, fear not, you can get sick in style with these Royal Wedding Barf Bags. But the rest of us will continue to embrace royal wedding fever. After all, even us commoners can plan a trip for the big day. Here's how.

Sunny Deol runs away from his set




Sunny Deol’s doing Chandra Prakash Dwivedi’s next and his role requires him to be fluent in Sanskrit. But all that heavy duty Sanskrit took its toll on him one day and he apparently ran away. The unit members couldn’t figure where he disappeared to. We assume he eventually returned to the set and his senses and resumed shooting.
And if you’re wondering where Sunny paaji gets all that superhuman strength from, well it’s junk food. Sunny Deol is a hardcore foodie and a total Jat at that. He totally digs his samosas and vada pavs. And then he works them off by no not dancing (don’t run away) but by badminton or football whenever he gets the time. He is an outdoorsy kinda guy and visitors to his bungalow often find him on the volley ball court.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Ranbir in a love triangle!





It’s time Ranbir made up his mind about which of these overseas beauties he actually wants to be with. It seems the Rockstar actor’s proximity to his co-star Nargis hasn’t been going down too well with Katrina Kaif. The two have apparently decided to call it off at the moment. And the young actor was recently spotted with the Czech beauty at a recent movie screening. Of course best friend Ayan (who btw seems to hang out a lot with all of Ranbir’s girlfriends) was chaperoning them.

Big B is Bhopal's son-in-law?





MR Bachchan has just wrapped a two month continuous shooting schedule for Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan in Bhopal. And he seems to have immensely enjoyed himself. One of his tweets read, “Somebody from the crowd, after seeing me getting wet in rain shot after shot, yelled to director -"Look after our son-in-law, please!” Now there’s a story here. The people of Bhopal consider him to be their son-in-law because Jaya Bachchan hails from there. Oh so sweet. We assure them that there damaat was taken care of properly and has already started work on his next Bhudda Hoga Tera Baap.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Think before you fake your resume




Remember how effortlessly the suave Leonardo Di Caprio as Frank Abignale Jr. slipped in and out of his various roles as doctor, lawyer, a Harvard graduate or a pilot in Catch Me If you Can? None of his employers ever suspected he was a fake when they hired him. That's because as Frank Abignale Jr himself said very rightly: "… people only know what you tell them, Carl."

There are several such Franks at large these days in the country's corporate sector. Whether to keep pace with the peers or beat them at the game, or just to make a few quick bucks, youngsters are resorting to unfair means and "doing up" their resumes. From educational qualifications to projects worked on, everything is a lie.

Cops recently arrested a fake IndiGo airlines pilot, who was the wife of an IPS officer. An India Today report says :

"Gulati allegedly produced the forged marksheets of DGCA Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) test to get the commercial pilot licence."

Ever since, Air India has derostered another 'fake pilot' and according to a latest report in NDTV India may have 4000 fake pilots! Surely, 'Catch me if you can' seems to have inspired a whole new generation, suddenly!

According to a TOI report today, the DGCA has now decided to bring over 10,000 pilots under the scanner.

Fake pilots may be a recent revelation, but faking resumes isn't anything new. A few years ago, around 2007-2008, the IT industry was swamped with such resumes. At least 20 employees were found guilty of submitting incorrect documents in TCS, while Infosys sacked as many as 100 employees for discrepancies in their resumes and Wipro and Satyam have also hunted down those who faked their CVs.

In fact, in 2009, a survey showed that even the banking industry was flooded with fake resumes.

These days, employers are even more merciless when they find discrepancies in employees' CVs. They just terminate their services without any warning.

But it isn't surprising considering there are several online 'how to's to help fake a resume and get your dream job.

The scam assumed such proportions that it spawned a whole new industry of background verifiers as a result.

Companies have now become very cautious and employ specialists to conduct background checks on shortlisted recruits. Ethical compliance and honesty are important aspects of any multinational company.

People might know what you tell them initially, but eventually the culprit does leave behind some 'elementary' clue that could strip him of his dream run.