I won a Jackpot.. LOL

It was Feb 18th; as usual I came to office logged into my machine and was checking mails. As I was scrolling down I saw one unusual mail, my eye balls literally popped out reading the snippet which said:
YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC (2 Inbox Dear Winner – Dear Winner This is to inform you that you have won a prize of seven hundred and fifty thousand …
I quickly opened the mail to read it. It held this:
Yahoo Msn Lottery Board to info
Dear Winner...
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of seven hundred and fifty thousand Great Britain Pound Sterlings (£750,000.00) for the month of FEBRUARY 2009 Lottery promotion which is organized by YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INC.
We congratulate you for being one of the five person selected. You are to contact the events manager for claims these are your identification numbers:
Batch number.....................(XYZ1234XY)
Reff number.......................( XYZ1234XY)
Winning number...................(XY12345)
However you will have to fill and submit the information’s below to the events
1. Full name..............
2. Contact Address........
3. Age....................
4. Telephone Number.......
5. Sex....................
6.Occupation...................
7..State:.................
8.Country................
9. Your Reference and Batch number at the top of this mail:
{CONTACT EVENTS MANAGER}
Name: Mr.David Mark
E-mail: XYZ.XYZ@COM

I knew it was a spam. But still the amount was very intimidating. At once I googled to find how much it is in INR. It was 5,48,51,456. (5.5 Crore) Wow!!! Naturally I started dreaming how nice it will be if I had 5.5 crore. Awesome!!! After a long list of plans and budgets with the imaginary money, I came out of the day dream and told myself “It’s never gonna happen”.
After few weeks, again I got the abridged version of the same mail. Though I was 99% sure the mail must be a spam, 1% I was suspicious. Cmmm.. The amount was tooooooo big to ignore in seconds. I did a recheck and googled to find what it was. I sometimes think what will happen if google was not found. Life without google seems impossible nowadays. Google crashed my million dollar dream. This mail has been received by at least half a million people. :(
The following week again I got a mail from UNITED NATION TRUST FUNDS saying I have won 650,500.000.00 GBP. This time I was irritated. I just deleted the mail.
Now I am receiving similar mails everyday. Sometimes it’s Million dollars or Rs 60,00,000 “only”. The good part about these mails is that I feel lucky when I open my mailbox and find I have won some xyz amount everyday ;). The bad part is I won’t realize even if I will really win something. LOL…

Poker Face

I was surfing TV for something interesting, I came across a show hosted by Sharman Joshi, one of the guys from RDB. I like his comic roles so I started watching the channel. It was on the new channel “real”. He was hosting a game show called Poker face. Initially I presumed it must be some gambling related show. To my surprise it was talent game show.

“Kaun Banega Crorepati” is my favorite game shows ever. It was aired when I was in my 10th std. My brother, mom and I watched every episode. During exams, we planned our breaks according to the show timings. There had been my other game shows like “Deal Ya No deal”, “10 Ka Dum” and “Paanchvi Pass”. But nothing was comparable to “Crorepati”.

“Poker face” is really good. The concept is very simple. There are 6 contestants every episode. Sharman reads out multiple- choice questions. The contestant are supposed to answer the questions by pressing the appropriate choice button. Every question is for everyone and they earn whenever they answer the question correct. The answers are spelled out after every question is answered. The contestants know just their earnings and they don't have any idea how much the others have earned. Then they are given few minutes to make poker face i.e. show others that they are not the one who have got the least earnings. Then the contestants are called to a podium where there are buzzers in front of each of them and a countdown starts for 10 seconds. Any contestant who pressed the buzzer meanwhile, packs up from the show with his earnings so far in the game. If no one pressed the buzzer, the least earner leaves the game by losing everything he has earned so far. If more than 1 person pressed the buzzer, the earliest one leaves the show with the amount he has earned. This continues till 1 person is left with. The winner earns 10 lacs in every episode and on Sunday all the winners of the week contest for 1 crore.

Best part of the show is Sharman Joshi. He is good composed host. He doesn't speak nonsense, no stupid jokes or discouraging comments. He lets the contestant speak. Next, I liked the questions. It covers many fields, chemistry to math, mythology to cinema, geography to history. And the difficulty level also increases as the game moves on. Next, is the graphics/widgets in the show, the questions/answers are displayed very clearly. After ever question, a small box with a photo of the contestant pops out with a tick/cross symbol below their snap to show if they have addressed it correct/wrong respectively.

I remember the episode of the first Crorepati won by “Harshavardhan”. I was on the edge of my seat biting my nails as if I was seated before Amitabh and as if I was answering the question. The moment he won 1 crore was hilarious. But I doubt if that excitement would ever be brought back.

8 years back, 1 crore was a huge amount. Years have passed so fast that the value of 1 crore sounds cheap for a game shows. Whatsoever, for a common man 1 crore is always 1 crore.

Granny... a girl’s best friend!!!

Today, I read an article in women’s day special edition of Time’s Life, “Granny... a girl’ best friend!” by actress Amrita Rao. It was her tribute to her granny. After I read the article, I thought I will write something about my grannies.

Still I remember those days when I visited my maternal grandma’s house during holidays. Every night I will lie next to her listening to mythological stories. Those where the time I knew who was Krishna, Rama, Hanuman or Vivekananda. Once we shifted to granny’s house, I used to massage her leg/head and tell her all the stupid stories of the day in school. Sometimes she laughed. Whenever it was necessary to warn me, she used to warn in the sweetest way. When I threw tantrums, she will mock calling me “Missy”. Whenever my favourite dish was cooked, she used to save it, so that I can have it after school. When my mom accused I am fat, she will stand by my side to say, every girl should look bubbly not skinny. Every time I felt home for college/work, she will bless me and kiss me on the forehand. Sometimes I wonder will I be able to manage things like her ever.

Talking about my other grandma, I have never been so close with her. Every time we visited her, she will try to make everything we liked. She will pamper us so much that she will even bring the food to bed. Every time we left or we called her, she will speak very little. But I can feel every word is filled with pure love and concern.

I have come across people who hate their grandparents. But its opposite with me, I just love them. May be that is why I always respect the people of old age. They have pure love and concern for us. They are the people who live hundreds and thousands of miles away still thinking and praying all the happiness for their every grandchild. They have made their children the best people on earth taught how we can live our best.

Love you granny always!!!

Episode to Jogger’s Park

As with all, everyday is depressing and stressful. Everyone is in search of the wonderland, where life is just the way we dreamt and where we have the opportunity to live soulful. The search led me to the jogger’s park. My initial aim for this episode was to increase my stamina. We roommates have hit the jogger’s park successfully for the past 3 weeks early at dawn.

The biggest challenge was pulling my body off the bed. It’s like I am chained to the bed and I have to put every strength in my body and battle with every cell to push the blankets and sit up. As such I am an early raiser. A couple of years back, during my school and college, I have got up at 4 or 5 at ease. Once adapted to the most abused “IT Culture”, waking at 6 or 7 seems a nightmare.

But, all these trouble is worth it. The morning breeze rejuvenates and recharges every part of the body. The cold clean breeze has the power to evaporate stress. We now have the chance to listen to the chattering of the birds, not just the horns and machines. Sometime if we are lucky, we get to smell mud. It’s really the heavenly smell.

After all the trouble to wake up and the divine recharge, one hour in office, I am back machine-hood, same computer, same work and the same routine. At least, now I am recharged everyday to face the machine-hood with full tolerance.

Questions Poping out after the Sri Lankan Players were attacked

It was an open firing again and this time Sri Lankan players were the victims. Whosoever the attackers were, their motto is done. They are in the lime light once again. The worst element is none of the attackers were caught. They have just run away.
Is Pakistan favored by the attack? Hmmm.. Pakistan now has a reason to wave off the investigation on Mumbai attacks and can calm down its International pressure.
Is Pakistan trying to clean off its hands on India’s stand on Mumbai attacks? By pointing out “There is a foreign hand”, where are they heading to?
The newspapers said there is an unofficial theory saying “involvement of Indian Intelligence”. So by saying “enemies of Pakistan-Sri Lankan friendship”, Are they indirectly referencing to India?

Looks like we can expect an interesting conspiracy theory behind the Sri Lankan Players attack in near future!!!