Tushar Mangl

It has been quite a while, since I had included donating blood in my things to do, before I die list. I don't earn much, and whatever I earn I splurge in vanity. That leaves almost nothing for charity and I never like to donate cash, anyway. But blood donation is different. Money, the charity people can corrupt with. But I don't think they can swindle blood. Even if one fine day I realize that they were selling my blood for money, well someone needy would surely get it. It is with such thoughts that I was one day surfing around the net and came across Salaam Zindagi foundation, an NGO working for Thalassemia , by conducting blood donation camps. I recall that at that time, I had filled out some form or something, indicating that I would be willing to donate blood. Now, many months later, few days ago I received a sms from them to come down for a camp. Then I got a call from Mr. Nagi of the organization, who told me that it was the third annual day of their NGO on 13th of Feb, ...

Simply put; this is the movie of the year. Very entertaining, great performances and a good story line to go with the humor element. Phas Gaye Re Obama has it all. The only thing, I felt that the director Subash Kapoor left out was the typical dance number (something that was earlier called a cabaret and now an item song) maybe because of the low budget with which the movie was made. In fact, this low budget thing works out well for the movie. The director and his crew, seem to have not wasted any one's time, and the speed at which the film moves is quite fast. This is also important, as the plot and story line of the movie is such, that can be prone to slack or slowness. Also, with low budget, there are virtually no huge stars, no huge media hooplah, that keeps in check the viewer's expectations from the film. Sanjai Mishra, Rajat Kapoor and Neha Dhupia are the only recognizable faces in the star cast. Nevertheless, the performances have been super. So go watch this movie. I ...

The salary hike Bill is one more taint on the already receding image of politicians who run our country. The bill, seeking to raise the salaries of MPs three fold has been unanimously passed by both houses of the parliament, leading to a furor among the people. To worsen the situation, Opposition demanded a fivefold hike, and was unhappy with a threefold increase. Of course, when compared to their counterparts in developed countries, our MPs receive less salaries, but they do not do the equal amount of work. Most MPs visit their constituencies only during election campaign visits. The provision for raising salary, daily allowance and minimum and additional pension would involve a recurring annual expenditure of Rs.103.76 crore . With problems like price rise and farmer suicides facing the nation, this is the most inappropriate time to hike salaries of MPs. When there are criminal charges, pending cases, corruption charges against the MPs, they absolutely do not deserve a pay h...

Media people have been often accused of being biased and partial. Many a times, they organize glittering award functions and hand out award to politicians, who in turn recommend them for government awards like the Padma awards. But, Open magazine's claim that Barkha Dutt, managing editor of NDTV was seemingly involved in deals, to sew up Congress and DMK alliance in May 2009. In fact she played the role as a mediator and even discussed what portfolios who will get, and details of the deal. If you listen to the tapes here , you would be sure that it is Barkha's voice. We hear from her all the time, when she is on the news, so it is unmistakable that it is her voice. But it is shocking to note that a senior media personality is involved as a mediator between deals of two political parties. It is blatantly clear that she is a congress agent, and her being an impartial media person is out of the question. These varietyof tapes aggregating over 30 , clearly prove that Barkha Dutt wa...

How many more such building collapses would make govt. systems wake up?!! Source: TOI

Obama's state visit to india is largely a success- more for yankees and less for indians. Obama came here as a salesman in disguise and was pretty successful in his pitch. He signed 20 different deals worth US $10 Billion. india is buying all kinds of stuff from US starting from Military transpost aircraft to passenger aircrafts to jet engines to oil and gas equipment. He claims that he created 53670 jobs for americans. Well quite true! But most of the americans still think that india is taking out their jobs. As obama pointed out, these are "old stereotypes and old concerns ignore today's reality". But what india got? Nothing solid but assurances that US will back india's quest for UNSC permanent seat and will use its leverage on pakistan to bring 26/11 responsibles to justice. Out of these two,UNSC is definately more important and interesting. 26/11 is gone and Ajmal kasab has already been through trial and the world knows that pakistan is now the epicentre o...

I always had a trouble looking for a camera bag that could meet all my requirements. It has been an ongoing problem for so long now… But during my stay at Pittsburgh, I was enthused to purchase a Tamrac Velocity 8X Camera Bag (Model Number 5748) and I must confess that I’m utterly pleased with my purchase. You can view the Tamrac webpage in order to browse the features of this bag but I just can’t help myself from recommending this bag to anyone who is in search of a comfortable bag that can carry wide angle lens, a flash and a camera as huge as my Canon EOS 5D series II (telephoto lens attached). There’s a pouch right at the front which can cater small commodities like spare batteries, memory cards etc. In fact I fit in my wallet and glasses there too.