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The dancing star of the 1950s and the 60s, the inimitable Shammi Kapoor, is no more. Veteran actor Shammi Kapoor breathed his last at 5:50 am Sunday morning in Mumbai. He was 79 years old. Shammi had been hospitalised for the past one month and was undergoing dialysis thrice a week and he ultimately succumbed to renal failure. He was born on 21st. October 1931.

Shammi Kapoor

Bollywood’s legendary actor passed away at the Breach Candy Hospital at 5.50 a.m. He had been suffering from chronic renal failure. 

The funeral for the Bollywood legend will be held today, August 15th. at 11 am at Ban Ganga crematorium, Mumbai. Shammi Kapoor’s son stated that they were awaiting the arrival of the icon’s grand-son Vishwapratap Raj Kapoor. 

Twitter  was the first to catch the sad news and  has again emerged as the fastest media. (more…)

Puttaparthi: Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the spiritual leader, who died three days ago, was laid to rest at his Prashanti Nilayam ashram with full state honours.  Thousands of devotees bid farewell to him as he had a phenominal following across the globe.

Sri Sathya Sai Baba

The coffin of the 84-year-old was lowered in a grave during the nearly two-hour private ceremony at Sai Kulwant Hall, where the godman used to give “darshan” to his devotees and deliver discourses. The burial was in accordance with the practice for Hindu spiritual gurus.

A select gathering, including family members of the Baba, members and officials of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, politicians and top bureaucrats was present in the hall.
Thousands of devotees watched the last rites on giant screens outside while millions of devotees in India and abroad watched it live over television.

The Sai Kulwant Hall in Prashanti Nilayam, the Ashram from which Sai Baba ran a spiritual empire reverberated with hyma from the Vedas and Chants of “Om Sai Ram” as the last rites were performed. (more…)

Sathya Sai Baba, the 85 year old spiritual leader breathed his last at Puttaparthi super-speciality hospital Sunday after a prolonged illness. He was admitted there on March 28th 2011 for treatment of cardiac problems, kept on ventilator support for a few days and his doctors pronounced him dead at 0740 hours on Sunday. The godman’s body was taken from the hospital to his Prashanti Nilayam Ashram on Sunday. 

Sathya Sai Baba

The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condoled Sathya Sai Baba’s death and said – “I express my sincere condolences to the millions of his followers, disciples and well wishers. His teachings were rooted in the universal ideals of truth, right conduct, peace, love and non-violence”.   

The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N.Kiran Kumar Reddy announced that the last rites of Sri Sathya Sai Baba will be performed on Wednesday with full State honors. He has also announced a full state mourning period of four days. 

According to sources close to Sathya Sai Trust, The President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are also expected to arrive to pay their respects to Baba.  (more…)

After a lull in attacks on Indians and despite several preventive measures taken by the Australian Police to prevent such attacks, a 28-year-old Indian man has been stabbed to death in Rushworth in Australia. 

The victim, Lakhvindar Singh, had migrated to Australia in 2007 and was working as a helper in a farm near Melbourne.  (more…)

New York. The External Affairs Minister, Mr S.M. Krishna, told reporters today that the Indian students of California-based Tri Valley University, which has been shut down on charges of massive visa fraud, should be absorbed into other US universities and not victimised.

“The student who came in good faith, they should not be victimised, and it is necessary they should be absorbed into other universities in the United States and allowed to pursue their studies,” he said. (more…)

Foreign journalists were beaten with sticks and fists by pro-government mobs on the streets Cairo last Thursday and dozens were reported detained by security forces in what the U.S. called a concerted attempt to intimidate the press. They include journalists from India also who are working for various TV news channels and newspapers and have travelled in recent days to Egypt to cover the latest developments taking place there. It is learnt that more are planning a visit in coming days.

Indian Government has now issued an advisory on travel of Indian journalists to Egypt. (more…)

India has still not beeen able to settle the issue of attacks on Indian students in Australia and is now facing similar humiliation in the United States. The US authorities have confiscated the passports of Indian students of the Tri-Valley University, California and have now radio-tagged them for exposing that the University is a fake. Indian authorities have condemned this inhumane act and the MEA has asked that stern action be taken against the erring officials.

The Tri-valley University in the US has been found to be dud then how can the Indian students be penalised for no wrong-doing on their part? They have been radio-tagged like criminals on parole. These people had gone to US on valid visas and had the status of a ‘student’ and suddenly they are being termed as ‘illegal visitors’ for  no fault? Actually it is the racket conducted by the Americans who are running a fake uaniversity and the Indians are being held to take over the responsibility for this mess. Why? (more…)

Memories of the year 2010 give us mixed feelings. Though we are a bit disturbed over some of the happenings we are also optimistic on some of the achievements done so far. Agreed we have to struggle with the problems a bit longer but are nothing that cannot be overcome.

Happy New Year 2011

The best part was that we have excelled in the areas of sports, athletics and Cricket to make us cheerful. The medals tally in the CWG and the Asiad tops the list of this year’s crowning achievements. Sachin Tendulkar’s double ton in an ODI was the best thing that could have happened to India followed by the Opening ceremony of the Common Wealth Games followed by the 101 medals at the CWG games.

In the disappointments India was challenged by the spiraling prices, the 2G scam and the PMs inaction to take the corrupt to task. (more…)

Sriharikota: It’s a jolt to the Indian Space programme that the GSLV-F06 exploded mid-air minutes after lift-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 4 pm on Saturday.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) witnessed a failure when India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) blew up shortly after lift-off. This is perhaps the biggest failure for ISRO so far.

GSLV-F06, powered by Russian cryogenic engine, lifted off from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 4:04 PM on Saturday evening after the 29-hour countdown. (more…)

It was a misty morning with overcast sky when defence personnel and civilians from different parts of the country gathered at the prestigious Indian Military Academy (IMA) to witness the spectacular passing out parade (POP) at the Chetwood Hall, Dehra Dun on December 11, 2010. 

534  Gentlemen Cadets including 4 Gentlemen Cadets from neighbourhood Bhutan passed out at IMA DehraDun.

Amd tight security as many as 534 cadets passed out of thee prestigious Indian Military Acadmey after a two hour parade at the ground outside the Chetwood Hall building. Out of these 518 became the officers of the Indian Army, twelve of them joined the para-military force viz. Assam Rifles. Out of these 102 officers were from Uttar Pradesh, 58 from Uttarakhand and 47 from Haryana. (more…)