The Devil & the Duck ....

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm.









He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods.He practiced in the woods; but he could never hit the target.Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck.

Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile; only to see his Sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch the next day Grandma said, 'Sally, let's wash the dishes' But Sally said, 'Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.' Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?' So Johnny did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, 'I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.' Sally just smiled and said, 'well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help? She whispered again, 'Remember the duck?' So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's; he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, 'Sweetheart, I know.. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.'

Thought for the day and every day thereafter: Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done... And the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)...whatever it is...You need to know that: God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing.

He has seen your whole life.... He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness; He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved. Go ahead and make the difference in someone's life today. Share this with a friend and always remember: God is at the window! When Jesus died on the cross; he was thinking of you!

10,000 - Page Chargesheet, 270 Witnesses, a few Hiccups..

Exactly a year after the Mumbai terror attack, the prosecution in the 26/11 trial is likely to complete evidence against the three arrested accused in the case Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab and two Indian co-accused Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed, charged with conspiring the attack along with 35 wanted Pakistani nationals on Pakistan soil.
Among the charges levelled against them include waging war against the nation, which attracts punishment of death.
The trial, presided over by Special Sessions Judge M L Tahaliyani, commenced in April inside the special court housed inside the Arthur Road prison. The court framed 86 charges against the three accused on May 6. Two days later, the first witness, Bhaskar Kadam, an officer with the D B Marg police station who was part of the team that captured Kasab, was examined.
However, before the trial could begin, there was a major issue who would defend Kasab as lawyers did not want to take up his case on account of 'morals' and political pressures. The court first appointed Anjali Waghmare as defence lawyer from the state legal aid panel, but Judge Tahaliyani sacked her on charges of professional misconduct.
Soon after, the court appointed private lawyer Abbas Kazmi, who had earlier represented the accused in the 1993 serial bomb blast case, to defend Kasab. The court also recommended higher legal fees to be paid to him by the state government and handed over the 10,000-page chargesheet to him. Immediately after taking charge, Kazmi prayed before the court that Kasab was a juvenile, and that his case should be transferred to the Juvenile Justice Board. In reply, the prosecution conducted several medical tests and examined witnesses to prove that Kasab was 21-year-old at the time of the attack.
As the prosecution examined evidence in the form of injured victims and relatives of deceased, Kasab on July 20 made a request to the court for making a detailed statement accepting all charges levelled against him. In a guilty plea given by Kasab over two days, he gave details about training in handling arms and ammunition and intelligence gathering given to him in Pakistan, and also about the directions given to him on executing the attack along with his nine deceased accomplices.
After due consideration, the court took Kasab's plea on record but carried on with the trial. Since then, the prosecution has examined 270 witnesses and is likely to rest its case against the accused today. It is also likely to submit evidence of around 300 formal witnesses in the form of affidavits.
The goof-upsThe evidence led by the prosecution might have made the case watertight, but several goof-ups did crop up while doing so Inspector Prakash Bhoite, who investigated the attack on the Taj Hotel, told the court that the police had found two bombs near the hotel during the attack and one contained a note which said "Ammar Askari". A translator used by the police translated it as "Yeh jang ki or ishara hai" or "This is a pointer to war". However, when the defense lawyer cross-examined the translator Mukhtar Pirzade, an insurance agent in Bhiwandi, it was placed on record that he could not read or write Arabic, and that a friend had translated the note for him.
No further probes were conducted by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch on the identity of Suresh Prasad, who had submitted a fake electricity bill to procure the mobile SIM card that was used by the terrorists in the Taj Hotel to communicate with their handlers in Pakistan.
Police Inspector Manikrao Patil of Colaba police station, who conducted the preliminary investigations at three attack sites (the Taj Hotel, Nariman House and Caf Leopold) and seized various articles handed over to him by the National Security Guards (NSG), failed to recall in the court the accurate details of the seizures made by him.
Patil was also the officer responsible for goof up during the seizure of articles by placing articles seized from the Taj Hotel in wrappers meant for Nariman House and vice versa. He cited work pressure after the attack as the reason behind the error.

TAJ HOTEL FOR ANOTHER 100 YEARS…

Mumbai's iconic Taj Mahal Hotel may have borne the brunt of the 26/11 terror attack, but it's now going to be prepared to last another 100 years. As we take a look at the hotel's collateral damage during 26/11, here's more on the epic structure and the management's plans for its reconstruction...

Karambir Singh Kang, general manager of the Taj Mahal Palace Tower, Mumbai, who lost his wife and two children during 26/11 attacks last year, clearly feels a raw attachment to the iconic property. 'The hotel has never been shut since it opened in 1903; even during World War I, it was converted into a hospital,' emphasises 41-year-old Kang.

After the attacks, the hotel was forced to close completely, though they proudly reopened the Tower Wing within a month. Kang has been orchestrating the reformation of the hotel that suffered severe damages in last year's terrorist attacks and the hotel management has been putting up its best efforts for opening the Palace Wing as soon as possible. Its like 'turning adversity into opportunity by giving the grand old lady a makeover', says Kang.

The Palace Wing, expected to be ready in the next quarter, has employed five different contractors. 'These firms have worked with hotels such as The Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental,' Kang points out proudly. The new Palace Wing will have slightly fewer rooms, upgraded IT systems and ergonomic workspaces.

Interestingly, though the critical wiring and plumbing systems are also being changed; the same would not have been possible if the wing was operational. 'We are thus ensuring that the Taj is prepared for another 100 years,' Kang smiles.

In terms of business, the hotel's revenue had dipped considerably partly due to the attacks and partly due to the recession as the industry as a whole went through tough times. 'Corporate customers depend on the economy; when firms cut costs, they first cut on travel and stay,' Kang explains.

He, however, sees light at the end of the tunnel. He is optimistic as the last three months have seen a turnaround with occupancy rates over 75 per cent. 'We beat internal targets by 15-20 per cent. Our footfalls have increased. And once our contemporised restaurants open, we expect to especially attract customers under 40,' he says, referring to Wasabi, Golden Dragon and The Harbour Bar, which are expected to open before November 26.

When asked about motivating his staff as a leader, Kang compliments his team as any generous leader would do. 'During the attacks, everyone stayed at their posts contrary to the natural instinct to flee; that never happens in any other industry. No staff member has asked to be transferred to any other hotel,' Kang says. For those who had difficulty coping with the loss, counselling centres were set up after a few days, he adds.
Kang has been part of the Taj group for 19 years and is in his second stint at the group's flagship hotel, the first stint was in 2003 as director of sales & marketing and then he became general manager in 2007. Ask him if he is considering moving on to a different role, at all, and he says: 'I plan to stay with this hotel for as long as I can contribute to it.'

Grief & Grit as Indians remember 60 hours of Terror..

New Delhi/Mumbai: Some moments are seared into the collective consciousness of the nation -- like 26/11. The utter helplessness came back to haunt on the first anniversary of India's most wounding terror strike, but with it was a sense of resolve as thousands prepared to gather in various cities to remember the dead and also hope for a terror-free tomorrow.
The trauma started on the night on Nov 26, 2008, when terrorists who came by boat from Pakistan sneaked into its commercial megalopolis to begin a 60-hour siege that ended only on the afternoon on Nov 28. At the end, 166 people were dead, nine of the 10 terrorists killed and India brought to its knees as horrified citizens watched masked gunmen take over a much loved city.
It was terror in a television age played out for the world to watch. Mumbaikar or not, Indian or not, the scenes of terrorists taking over luxury hotels, a crowded station, a buzzing cafe and of top police officials being killed brought the vulnerability home.
Millions fearfully watched their television sets for three nights and three days, till the last of the terrorists were decimated in the Jewish Chabad House. The fires burning from the dome of the Taj Hotel, survivors breaking through glass to make their escape, two-year-old Moshe being brought out by his nanny from Chabad House while his parents were massacred inside... the trauma lives to this day.
As stunned security agencies probed the hows and whys of the most daring non-military attack that penetrated into the country's most elite establishments, the government set itself a roadmap to secure India and found global backing in its war against terror.
In a statement on the eve of the anniversary of the Mumbai attacks, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday: 'The attacks in Mumbai last year were an outrage. No one who watched the events unfold on television will forget the way that those responsible sought to cause the greatest fear and suffering.
'Their misguided aim was to create terror and uncertainty in the region. The government and the people of India were neither cowed nor provoked by these atrocities but stood resolute.'
A year on, the fallout has been changes in the security mindset and the premium put on strengthening internal security. Basic protocols, strategies and tactics for an appropriate response have been listed.
Making the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) - tasked with collecting intelligence in real time - fully operational has been perhaps the most tangible achievement.
'In the last 11 months, we have been able to bust 31 terror modules. Optimising
intelligence flow and coordination between different agencies has helped vastly,' said a senior security official who spoke about the valuable lessons imbibed.
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who Prime Minister Manmohan Singh put in charge of internal security after public outrage over the previous home minister Shivraj Patil's seeming ineptitude, has set for himself a blazing pace to put in place critical strategies and strengthen intelligence systems, admits the country's record has been mixed.
'... there are still critical deficiencies in budget allocations for the police, recruitment, training, procurement of equipment, introduction of technology, and personnel management.'
Pointing to obvious lapses when a police force equipped with old age .303 rifles took on terrorists armed with sophisticated weaponry, Manmohan Singh told police chiefs in September: 'We need a new-age policeman who is more professional, better-motivated, suitably empowered, well-trained, one who places greater emphasis on technology for investigation and other tasks.'
Terrorism expert Ajay Sahni believes more needs to be done at a war-footing.
'Petty offences, which are not taken seriously by security agencies, are often found interlinked to a major terror operation. Our intelligence system should be in place. Effective security systems are needed to counter terrorism,' Sahni told IANS.
Considering that Mumbai not just gripped the country's consciousness but also drew global attention, intelligence sharing with foreign countries has also received a major fillip.
It is because of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation assistance that security agencies have been able to probe the links of David Coleman Headley and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, currently in US detention, who are alleged part of the larger conspiracy behind 26/11.
Terrorism is a beast with an extraordinary ability to transform, and the war has still a long way to go.
But it will be fought with citizens vowing not to be cowed down.
'We have to move ahead in life,' said Priyanka Baliram Uke, a young manager in a private Mumbai company.
Fortified by his grief, 16-year-old Siddhant who lost his father Sushilkumar Sharma when terrorists stormed into the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in a blaze of bullets, is also determined to look ahead.
The family has set up the Shaheed Sushilkumar Sharma Foundation in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, in memory of the assistant chief ticketing inspector.
'We shall have commemorative prayer there Nov 26, organize a few children's events with the theme of peace and anti-terrorism, felicitate people who display bravery and courage in day-to-day life. We shall repeat a similar programme in Kalyan on Nov 29,' said Siddhant.
For long India has managed to absorb the shock and move ahead. The lessons this time are different -- it will no longer be business as usual.

The Making of India's Biggest Airport........ ..

Away from some of the more visible projects in Delhi, one of the biggest construction efforts in the country is about four months away from completion. Over 20,000 workers are working round the clock everyday—among them 100 foreign nationals working in the planning and construction effort—to give wings to one of India's most ambitious projects: Delhi's new airport terminal, T3, that will cater to both international and domestic flights.
Work is on at a frantic pace to meet the March 2010 deadline. About 82 per cent work is over and its developers—the GMR group and Fraport (Frankfurt Airport)—are confident the airport will be ready in the next four months and ready to handle 27 million passengers a year.
With 78 aerobridges, of which 71 are already installed, the new terminal will be one of the few in the world to service all aircraft through aerobridges. Changi airport in Singapore has 64 aerobridges. The terminal building covers an area of about 5 million square feet—just the area of its roof accounts for 20 acres. While the developers have to get the terminal ready by March 2010, it may get operational only by July after all the certifications are in place.
With its scale and size, the new terminal is set to change the traveller's perception. For instance, the forecourt where vehicles line up to drop passengers, will have 10 lanes with dedicated lanes for buses and cabs.
Once inside the departure hall, there will be six check-in islands with 168 check-in counters. This will be an integrated terminal for both domestic and international flights, which will make it easier for transit passengers. However, the plan is to allow only those domestic airlines which fly international to start operations from here. This could put the low cost carriers at a slight disadvantage as they will be located at the recently operationalised Terminal 1D.
So, the check-in area will be common and then the terminal divides itself into two wings. Both sides have a boarding pier each which extends to 1.2 km from one end to the other with 48 boarding gates. Most of these have already been constructed. Given the long distances, some 90 travelators have been installed which includes the longest in Asia measuring 118 m.
Such is the magnitude of the exercise that the developers could not find a supplier who would meet their demand for granite. Ultimately, a vendor was located in Bahrain from where the granite needed for the flooring is being imported. The glass curtains that have to be fixed at a particular angle too had to be brought from China.
Already, delegations from the Beijing airport, Changi airport and Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, among others, have visited the construction site. What has come in for particular praise is the open space called the 'canyon' where a glass roof allows the entire arrival area to be lit up. Bridges, just above the arrival area, meant for departure passengers have glass corridors that permits arrival and departure passengers to see each other.
The one advantage of having boarding piers as wings of what is roughly like a large 'H' like structure means the duty-free shopping hall in the centre is not cluttered because of rush at boarding gates. Besides this, a multi-level car parking facility for 4,300 cars is well on course to be ready by next year.
Recently, Delhi overtook Mumbai as the city handling maximum air passengers with a figure slightly less than 24 million for 2008-09. This terminal will be able to handle 27 million next year and capacity would be enhanced to 34 million by 2012. This compares with some of the best—Changi handles 22 million passengers, Heathrow about 25 million and the new Beijing airport about 45 million. And going by the understanding reached with the government, it should reach 100 million by 2026—the last phase of this construction effort.
The developers claim this will be the sixth largest terminal in the world when it opens, but what is more important is that standards are already being rated. The Airport Council International, Geneva, is said to have been rating the under construction terminal every quarter. Its marking is 4.2 while the quality standard set by the government requires a minimum of 3.5.
While these cannot be made official until the end of the financial year, Delhi, apparently, has already climbed to the 24th position going by its scores. Judgment, however, will have to be reserved till it gets functional. Once the new terminal opens, the plan is to keep the current international terminal (T2) as a buffer, which can be used to step up capacity during special occasions like the Commonwealth Games—like Beijing airport has a buffer that was shut after the Olympics.

Govt. issues advisories to 8 coastal states and UTs over cyclone...

New Delhi: The Government on Wednesday issued advisories to eight coastal States and Union Territories over cyclone Phyan and put the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) batallions in Gujarat and Maharashtra on alert.
The movement of a depression in the central Arabian sea region since early Tuesday morning has been watched very closely by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
Assessing the impact of its movement, in consultation with the IMD, Ministry of Home Affairs has sent advisories to the concerned State Governments of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Union Territories of Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep, every few hours.
Eight such advisories had been sent till Wednesday evening.
"Following the movement of this cyclonic depression and the consequential heavy rainfall caused by it, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Bns. in Maharashtra and Gujarat have been put on the alert," said an MHA release.
"Simultaneously, to meet any emergent requirement of rescue and relief, the NDRF teams comprising about 400 trained personnel with boats and other equipments, have been pre-positioned in Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Another 200 have been kept in readiness for Mumbai. Ministry of Defence has also alerted the Air Force," the release added.
The cyclonic system has, however, moved north-eastwards due to which the IMD has withdrawn the warning from the States of Gujarat and Goa. The IMD has alerted Maharashtra on the possibility of heavy rainfall in Maharashtra region, the MHA release stated.
However, the Ministries of Home Affairs and Defence have kept themselves in readiness to assist in any rescue and relief operations, if required.

Asteroid almost smacked into Earth...

London: Astronomers have revealed that the Earth had a narrow escape from a cataclysm on when an asteroid came within 8,700 miles of hitting the planet.
According to a report in The Courier-Mail, astronomers spotted the object only 15 hours before its closest approach to our planet.
Its orbit brought it 30 times nearer than the Moon, which is 463,000 kilometres (250,000 miles) away.
Although the asteroid passed within 14,484 kilometres (9,000 miles) of Earth, it measured just (7 metres) 23 ft across and wouldn't have dented the surface.
Even had it been on collision course with us, the 7 metre (23ft wide) asteroid, known as 2009 VA, is unlikely to have made much of an impact because it would probably have all but burnt up in the atmosphere.
It was picked up by the Catalina Sky Survey at the University of Arizona, then identified by the Minor Planet Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts as a near Earth object and plotted by experts at NASA.
It was the third-closest approach on record for any asteroid that has failed to make it through our atmosphere.
Earlier, NASA scientists monitored a 30.5 metre (100ft) asteroid that passed 72,420 kilometres (45,000 miles) above our planet's surface on March 2.
An object of similar size hit Siberia in 1908, levelling 1931 kilometres (1,200 square miles) of forest.
By 2020, NASA aims to have detected most large asteroids and comets that approach the Earth.

Festive Season puts Spring Back In Sales of Cars & Scooters..

Automobile manufacturers are certainly feeling the festive cheer with October aiding a sharp turnaround in sales and bringing, alongwith Diwali, a bright growth outlook for the full year. While market leader Maruti's car sales jumped 22 per cent, Hyundai topped sales in the segment with a 41 per cent increase. Tata Motors' sales rose 18 per cent.
"The festive period of the last two months generated strong sales and has given the Indian automobile industry some respite from the sluggish performance of the last few months. It looks that this period of strong sales would propel the industry to a positive double digit growth for the remainder of the year. This might be the turning point the industry has been waiting for," said Arvind Saxena, senior vice-president, Hyundai Motors India.
Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) surprised the market by growing 347 per cent selling 6,909 units this October over 1,546 units last October. While it does have a small base and sales had plunged during last year's lacklustre festive season, the New Honda City is becoming the car to beat in the sedan segment, accounting for 5,129 units of HSCI sales.
Segment leader Maruti Suzuki started the new quarter strongly with a 22 per cent growth thanks to sales of 71,383 units in October over 58,515 units sold during the same month last year. Hyundai, its nearest competitor, sold 28,301 units this October, growing 41.44 per cent over last October's 20,009 units. Despite having been overtaken by Hyundai, Tata Motors has shown consistent signs of a recovery. Where 17,014 units were sold in October last year, 28,310 units were sold in the same month this year, including 3,018 Tata Nanos, giving Tata Motors a 17.61 per cent growth increase.
General Motors registered sales of 7,413 units over the 6,465 units in October 2008. This gives the company a 14.66 per cent growth increase, which GM executives said could have been higher were it not for non-delivery of a number of orders "due to supply constraints of some of the parts". Fiat's new models continue to do well, selling 2,221 units this October. In 2008, before Fiat expanded its portfolio with the Linea and Grand Punto brands they sold 364 units, giving it a disproportionate 508.77 per cent growth. Sales of the Mahindra Logan also continued its consistent decline by 62.42 percent. In October 2008, 1,067 units were sold whereas 401 units were sold in that same month this year.
In the two-wheeler, segment for the first time in over a year, Bajaj appears to be making a comeback and Honda's sales haven't been quite as extraordinary as one has come to expect. Though they continue outsell their nearest rivals by over a lakh units, Honda only grew 0.48 per cent in what has been a very good start to the festive season for everyone else. The company sold 3,54,156 units in October against 3,52,449 units in 2008. Bajaj sold 2,49,974 units this October — a 51.06 per cent jump in sales.

Cloud Computing: The Power Of One..

In their quest to find answers, experts have demonstrated that the future of medical discoveries, environmental challenges, energy deficit, all lie in collaborating through Cloud Computing.
With Cloud Computing, users have been able to access data, share expertise and high-end infrastructure from around the world, and vice-versa. The resources are shared through a public platform like the internet. Several companies like Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, etc have invested heavily as they reach out to users.
Cloud Computing companies have customers of three kinds -
• Infrastructure-as-a-service: Option of renting and utilizing computing power and storage capacity of vendor's quality.
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): Vendors license particular services to subscribers on-demand and once the contract expires, the services are disabled.
• Platform-as-a-Service: Here a developer is given the opportunity to utilize various web-tools to build and host applications.
The Cloud (other computers in the network) does have its pros and cons in this formative stage. Its advantages include,
• Better performance by PCs in the cloud network, as fewer processing will be loading in each individual PC, the rest on the Cloud.
• No more spending on computer upgrades, instead services of another high-power PC can be made use of.
• Lesser hardware and software required, so costs of maintenance are tremendously lowered.
• Permanence of data, as all information stays in the cloud, even if you experience a hard-disk crash.
• Sync with experts worldwide on multiple projects and avail optimum results through the Cloud.
• Work from any PC and on the move, with the availability of internet access.
Cloud Computing also has some drawbacks like,
• The over-dependence on the providers.
• The reliability of the vendors.
• Protection laws in different countries vary. For eg, according to EU data protection regulation, personal information cannot be transferred outside the European Economic Area.
• Threat of unauthorized access to confidential data.
• Requires internet throughout and near-impossible to work with dial-up connections.
The concept isn't entirely new and is evolving even today. In the recent past, several variations have been introduced through 'Grid' and 'Utility Computing'.
- Grid Computing is a virtual super-computer formed by a cluster of computers in concert, each performing complex tasks.
- Utility Computing is a format in which subscribers are charged based on their usage, similar to the way in electricity is charged.
As new developments take place with increasing frequency, your world is on the brink of transition.