The extent of risk attached to a journalist’s life can be estimated from figures showing that 42 media workers lost their lives in

Iraq from Jan. 1 to June 26, and a total of 214 were slaughtered while covering conflicts since March 2003.

This is just a small chunk of butchering that is a household affair across the for the media persons. According to

Brussels- based International News Safety Institute, nearly one hundred journalists and media workers succumbed to death on the job in a short span of six months starting from January 2007. This marks an astonishing rise of 32 lives per year in comparison to last year’s estimates, which showed 68 deaths. If the horrendous trend continues at the same pace, 2007 will outshine do 2006 as the deadliest year for the news media.

Another, incident to tell the grim tale of journalist’s non-existent identity is the case of five journalists, who were killed in 1975 in East Timor and are awaiting justice…even after bearing 32 long years of ignorance and insignificance.

Is this the price that the dedicated journalists have to pay for doing what they are supposed to do professionally…spreading awareness?

Just imagine, Swazi authorities have issued a banned against health workers from talking to the media in response to a spate of stories highlighting the impact of a critical drug shortage…now think, who is to be killed? The medical authorities who are hiding the truth from the population, and risking their lives due to lack of medication or the journalists who are doing nothing but making the people aware of the grim reality.

Are you aware that your regular make-up, which polishes your looks temporarily, actually causes everlasting disfigurement? Your transient beauty may catch the attention of the onlookers, but are its detrimental effects to your own skin known to you?

Researchers in the US have observed that the very procedures that are supposed to enhance beauty might actually result in unsightly side effects such as swelling or bumps, especially in people who suffer from allergic reactions.

Researchers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) interviewed 92 women who had problems following the procedure. And just look at the shocking scale- more than nine out of ten women had swelling and tenderness and almost as many complained of itching with more than four out of five experiencing bumps.

In 43 out of 63 cases, the reactions had not healed at the time of the interview and the allergic reaction lasted anywhere from five months to more than three years, reported science portal News Medical.

US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also scrutinized the same results. FDA researchers said that when things go wrong they may be particularly bad because the pigments can be hard to remove.

A tremendous population of women rely on such makeup procedures so as to look more appealing and enchanting, not only in developed nations like US, but now with the ongoing trends, in developing countries like India too.

So here comes a warning for all you women taking delight in such momentary beauty! Because at the end of the day it is health, and not beauty, that matters.
via dnaindia

Yes…the boy is 20 years old Abhishek from bangalore and the show is none other than Sony’s much worshipped and much appreciated music hunt: Indian Idol.

It was immediately after his today’s performance that the show went into flash-back, and all that we could hear was Abhishek’s heavy voice disclosing a truth that his parents managed to keep under sheets not just from him but also from the world, for twenty long years. “I am fortunate enough to have grown up with love of not one but two parents,” were Abhishek’s words. If happiness for getting to meet his real parents was one emotion visible in his eyes, fear of facing people who showered him with love all these years was another. “I don’t know how I will tell my parents that I know the truth.” Cut to the world of reality TV:

With due respect to the boy’s sentiments, I would like to divert the current of emotions towards the practical scene…

I couldn’t find even a single strand of link between the flow of the show and this dramatic revelation, except for the fact that was roped in as a sure shot gimmick to for soaring TRP’s. Otherwise, there was no point in sensationalizing the biggest secret of Abhishek’s parents before crores of audience. And another reason that I could guess is that even the boy didn’t mind cashing upon some publicity aka votes in this case…but I’m sorry to say he’ll be doing that on the cost of his parents’ sentiments.

This kind of weird stuff to raise TRP ratings is not an alien trend for the world of Reality TV.

If Anu Malik tears off meek Udit Narayan on one of them, then there are Aadesh Srivastava’s Walk-outs dhamkies if Alka Yagnik continues as a judge on another popular channel, while on the third rival channel nasalite Himesh Reshamiya doesn’t mind challenging veterans like Asha Bhonsle in the name of getting roti in his contestant’s home.

Cut the crap guys…and get out of this mad race of TRP… there’s more to reality TV than bringing the so called ‘behind the camera scenes’ before the world and cashing upon the clash of opinions of judges …emotions of the contestant and sentimental approach of the Indian audience.

Tags: · Television

Whoop up all you fervent fanatics of Harry Potter!! Because his school of wizardry is here again to galvanize your fun and fervor…

The three celebrated stars, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson and Rupert Grint (who play Harry’s friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley), were out to Japan for the world premiere of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” the fifth movie from J.K. Rowling’s mega hit fantasy series.

David Yates, a Briton best known for the multifaceted TV thrillers “State of Play” and “Sex Traffic” directed “Order of the Phoenix”.

17-year-old Radcliffe, is just too proud to embody the role of Harry as he says, “He’s an icon. He is somebody whose character has gotten his generation of kids into reading. So it’s an honor to play him.” Radcliffe and his co-stars have been at the center of the Potter storm for almost half their lives.

The Harry Potter books seem to be most dominant in the domain of Popular-fiction; not only the best liked but also the most promoted! These books have been translated into 65 languages and sold more than 325 million copies since the first volume, “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” was published in 1997. Just imagine the voluminous devotees of Harry Potter!!

After this movie, the next Harry-related frenzy will be the publication of the seventh and final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” on July 21.

It is the Popular-fiction personas that ensnare the minds of the readers and the viewers. The actual authors and the actors get somewhere clouded by their prodigious fame!! Who do you know more- the well known Spiderman or the real hero Tobey??…the heart-throb Harry or the actor Radcliffe or the author Rowling??…!!

via centredaily

How much can you eat in 12 minutes??…just your breakfast, or a burger and a coke…?? Meet Takeru Kobayashi, who could gobble a little over 53 hot dogs in the same time last year, and is all geared up to register new records!

And his miraculous eating strengths have more to it. He once ate 97 hamburgers in eight minutes! Applauds!!

But just as everything has its pros and cons, so too has Kobayashi, the king of the annual Nathan’s Famous July Fourth International Hot Dog Eating Contest. While he is achieving accolades all over the globe by setting up amazing annals, his health is also being ruined in the process. He can’t even open his mouth more than the size of a fingertip.

But this doesn’t let him lose down his competitive spirit. It’s not diminishing his zest and zeal to participate this year too! Commendable courage!!

via slashfood

Fiery, furious, ferocious king of the jungle is no more the king!! Can’t believe it? Meet Kevin Richardson, the King of the kings!!

Most brutal of all beasts, whose very sight horrifies us, doesn’t terrify him in the least. Cheetahs, leopards and even unpredictable hyenas hold no threats for him. So friendly is his fellowship with these beasts, that mother hyenas even allow him to hold their newborn cubs without pouncing to the rescue.

But lions are his most beloved beings and his most intimate chums. He cuddles and caresses them as little children, and even communicates with them. Lions to him seem to be the substitutes of pet dogs. Not only his unconditional love, but also his dignity and respect towards these animals leaves us dumbfound.

Richardson, 32, who is based in a wildlife conservation area near Johannesburg in South Africa, says, “I don’t use sticks, whips or chains, just patience. It may be dangerous, but this is a passion for me, not a job.”

Imagine a person’s patience over-powering the wrath of the most petrifying beings! Hats off to you Sir!!

via spluch

Those of you, who thought women as only frail and fragile delicate darlings, just sit back and give a second thought about it. After carving a niche for themselves and making their marks in all spheres of life, be it politics, sports, space, literature, arts or theatre, the daring ladies now lined up for the charity challenge.

In the Ladies Water Challenge at Alton Water, women exhibited their bolder facets and took up a number of challenges on water at the weekend to raise money for charity.

The event was organized by Marie Curie Cancer Care and women paid an entry fee of £10 and then had to raise a minimum of £80 in sponsorship.

From wind-surfing to sailing to canoing, they dared to do it all in order to raise funds for the impoverished and the needy. The charity provides high quality free nursing to terminally ill people in their homes.

Sacrifice, patience, tolerance, love etc. are not the only attributes of women, in the moments of crisis, they become as brawny and burly as the situation demands. Women dare, and dare for a commendable cause!

Via eveningstar

There’s more to Yamuna than a floating mass of filth…

Struck in a never ending traffic jam on Delhi’s famous ITO

Bridge built over the sacred river Yamuna, something that caught my eye was a man on the bank of the river performing some religious rituals and then disposing off the dead body of a baby into the river. Till that time all I knew about the river was that it was used as a dumping area by the so called religious souls.

Since many a years Yamuna was being used as the channel to make the offerings reach directly to God, there by piling up the muck in it, making it a floating mass of dirty, stinky and useless things. But that it was also an active crematory for little corpses came as a sheer filthy surprise to me. And the act was not new, but had strengthened its roots deep down the age-old religious Hindu traditions, which do not allow the cremation of corpses of babies and children under 3, like their grown-up counterparts and registered for them a watery grave.

“I don’t know how many babies I have put there, maybe thousands,” says 40-year-old naval Kishore, who has been performing this gruesome task for more than 10 years now, and before him it were his fore fathers indulging in this so called ‘religious service.’ If the religious sects are to be believed, there is no such mention of denial of cremation to babies, but still people blinded by their mad faith in their ancestors are continuing the tradition without paying any heed to what they are doing to the environment.

For a meager sum of Rs.100 or even Rs 50 a man takes the baby in the center of the river, ties a brick to it and set it go in the water. Everybody knows what happens to the corpses, but none is daring enough to realize that they either become food for the organisms breeding deep down the filthy river or dissolve in the water. I don’t think the parents have ever wished for a doom like this for their little ones…what do you say? They definitely deserve something better…at least a decent journey towards the ultimate end…a decent BURIAL GROUND is what they deserve.

Though a court order was passed against the crematoriums to allow the babies to be buried there, but of no use. The capital city Delhi, which is gearing up in full spirits to welcome the commonwealth games has no time to sit back and think for a proper cremation ground for the tiniest members of the society. The adult crematoriums turn away these babies’ corpses leaving them to go no where but to end up making Yamuna a little more murky and enthralling the age old religious sentiments.

Via: CNN

The critics go hand in hand with every form of culture, be it arts, movies, literature, sports or theatre. And just as in Henry Fielding’s view the satirists are to be considered as our physician and the corrective tools to rectify our vices and follies, same way, the opinions, the observations and the comments of the erudite critics should be welcomed in every realm of cultures and life.

A few years ago AA Gill, Restaurant and TV critic, declared: “No aspect of the culture is as badly served by its critics as the theatre is.”

“When talent is picked by reality television and cinema stars guarantee box office, who cares about critics?” he asked before answering that “they’re vital precisely because performers can be picked by reality TV … Every room in the culture needs strong criticism; it needs committed critics to keep the form strong and innovative … Varied and lively opinionated critics isn’t necessarily good for individual productions or artists, but it is good for the genre as whole. If there is no intellectual, aesthetic, political, spiritual, passionate argument about what gets made, then the only arbiters of value are the box office and the phone-in. Bad culture drives out good unless there is someone there to stop it.”

Any work can’t attain the status of being absolute if its not debated and discussed. One should consider the approval or opposition by the critics as vital and gratifying to let their work become masterpiece. Critics’ complements or criticism, both should be equally valued.

As Gill also says, “Critics are culture’s traffic wardens. If you want to be loved, work with puppies.”

via whatsonstage

The hypocrisy of the Indians won’t let them choose one option, or even accept the both. Each and every soul indulge in sex at a certain age and even beyond or before; either after marriage or pre-marital sex, but yet everyone hesitates to talk about it openly.

The recent fuss over the vibrating condoms is yet another authentication of the Indian society’s unvarying perceptions about sex. Kailash Vijayvargiya Madhya Pradesh PWD Minister said, “it’s not the condom it’s the sex toys which is being sold in the market. They are selling sex toys inform of condoms.”

In response to this, television personality Tarrana Kapoor, argued, “So what’s the big deal if they openly being sold here because ultimately the cause is right. It is for to prevent AIDS to basically not have unwanted children.” What is the point of such an opposition when its not only serving the purpose but also providing pleasure?

It seems like we are adamant to let Indian society remain pleasure free society. All the gestures of affection, be it hugs, kisses, holding hands, and now sex too, makes the Indians immediately stand up on their toes and results in all sorts of controversies and debates.

Kailash also said, “Is this government’s job to sell these kinds of sex toys? Government’s job is to give sex education.” But how far has the government taken fruitful initiatives to instruct the people about sex or about what condoms are really for? Even the parents feel uncomfortable discussing about it with their offspring, which all the more enhances their curiosity.

People on the defensive margin will go bla bla over the ancient conservative Indian tradition and culture. But as Prafull Goradia ex-BJP MP, supports, “the ancient India had its Jaganath temple entirely covered with lot of sex so did the Konark temple so do the famous Khajurao temple.

Similarly Kamasutra is written which obviously means that sex was also for pleasure in the Hindu context.” So what’s the point of such an ambiguous response?

When, behind the doors, all Indians savour sex and seeks utmost delight in it, then why do they become bashful when discussions about it comes out in open…??

via ibnlive