A Tryst with Destiny: Bhindra Burns through Beijing!

Phelps all the way (Source: CBS News)

Bhindra Burns through Beijing (Source: LA Times)

Even though this post is largely out of schedule, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Abhinav Bhindra on his stunning performance at the Olympics. I also hope that our three boxers Akhil, Jitendar and Vijender Kumar do well and make India proud in Boxing (as they are our medal hopes).

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UPDATE: I also congratulate Michael Phelps (USA) on his world record for securing the most number of medals (8) in a single olympics (16 in all), beating the earlier Spitz who has 7 medals to his name.

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C.R. Aditya

The Elite Window

August: A Tryst with Destiny

A Tryst with Destiny

Happy Independence Day! 61 years of Indian Independence have passed. India is a free country, developing rapidly, expanding, conquering all that comes in its wake. The Elite Window will be celebrating this glorius occasion with a month of Indian Independence stories, and incidents that have shaped up India today in August: A Tryst with Destiny, all this month, here at Elite.

Once again, wishing all the Indians in the world a Happy Independence Day.

Yours,

Aditya C.R

The Elite Window

Gadget Gossip: iPhone- Are you Crazy?

iPhone- iCrazy?

Guys, the iPhone is coming out on August 22nd via Airtel and Vodafone. I told you all in the previous Gadget Gossip ( http://craditya.blogspot.com/2008/08/gadget-gossip-iphone-3g-exclusive.html ) that it may cost around 20000 Rs but unconfirmed sources are popping up saying that one or both carriers will in fact be selling the iPhone for Rs 31139 (at current rates 750$) which is really a blown-out-of-proportion cost, exorbitant and not worth it at all for its small camera (without auto focus and flash) and its incorrigible Bluetooth and SMS functions. IF the rumours are true (as we will get to know in the coming week on the 22nd), iPhone will not sell even 10 phones in the first month of its release. It will be highly unpopular, reducing image for Apple and its iPhone as well as the two carriers; personally I would recommend HTC Touch Diamond/ Touch Cruise or the N 96 from Nokia. If otherwise priced at the nominal 16000-25000 range it will be a hit in India like in all other countries who recieved the phone on 11th July. What do you plan to do?

To know more about the iPhone SMS IPHONE [space] INFO to +919962302293 or if you are a Vodafone/Airtel; customer and want to PRE-REGISTER/BOOK the iPhone with them SMS IPHONE to 56789 for Vodafone subscribers and IPHONE to 54321 for Airtel subscribers.

Aditya C.R
The Elite Window

One World, One Dream.

Colour Fest at Bird's Nest

That is the slogan or theme of the Beijing Olympics which had a spectacular opening on 08/08/08 at 8:08 pm at the National Stadium or Bird's Nest which was splashed with a million colourful hues amidst crackling fireworks. The theme of the opening ceremony was China's 5000 year history which was potrayed with a touch of Chinese technology on a an electronic paper scroll. Then a huge ball symbolising the earth on top of which Chinese popstar Liu Huan and British popstar Sarah Birhtman sang the Official Olympic song. Then it was the turn of all 205 nations which are taking part to walk the ramp into the centre of the stadium. The President of the IOA then gave his speech after which the Chinese president Hu Jintao declared the games open in Chinese. The Olympic torch was finally lit by veteren Olympian who won the first Chinese gold medal, Li Ning by flying around the whole stadium with pictures of Olympic torch lighting displayed as he flew around the stadium. All in all it was one spectacular show with approximately 4.5 billion viewers all over the world. The event was truly superb and can really be summed as- "when the heaven and earth looked at Beijing Olympics- the best Olympics yet."

When the world watched Beijing

Aditya C.R

The Elite Window

iSpy: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Movie

iSpy, The Elite Window's spying portal, gets you info on things which are months away are too exciting to wait that long. iSpy quenches youre thirst for info. This month we are looking at the next movie installment in the Harry Potter series that is HP & HBP. The trailer was released on 29th July via AOL and satellite. The interesting part is that each movie gets darker and more serious than the previous one. You can make this out from the trailer which you can view below- it contains (SPOILER WARNING- highlight to read the next few lines) Young Tom Riddle speaking about his seemingly ábnormal abilities of magic which Dumbledore realises and comes to offer a seat in Hogwarts. The movie as reported by Warner Studios contains never before seen new scenes which have been improvised and added along. They were described as emotional scenes involving Harry, Dumbledore, presumably after Dumbledore's tragic death grusomely expected to be potrayed in the film. Meanwhile, enjoy the trailer for now, we will keep you updated.

"I can move things without touching them" - Tom Riddle, Half Blood Prince


Aditya C.R
The Elite Window

Website of the Month: AURA India

Hey you all, this one is for the Astrophysics geek! This site is cool with all the latest quizes, trivia and news on Astrophysics. There are even contests which you can win prizes in! Also, get new from the International Year of Astronomy 2009 here. So go ahead and visit the site at:

AURA- Astrophysics Union of India
http://www.astrophysics.org.in/

Aditya C.R.

The Elite Window

Weekly Western/ Just For Laughs: America, America!

Fine, weekly western is not so weekly but yes, its still western news. I came about this video when being broadcast in one of my foundation classes at college and I thought you should have a look at it. Bombay Jayshree was involved in this video and she has done such a hilarious job! No offence America!

America, America!



It literally criticises the US for its ill behaviour saying "America, America, America War Paar Da!" which means "America, America, see the American War" in Tamil colloquial language in Tamil Nadu, India. Enchaai (Enjoy!)

Aditya C.R
The Elite Window

Living in the Present: Guru Gyan #2

This story has a nice message in it. Read on.

One day, a Swami was having a conversation with Lord Shiva one day and said. 'Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like. Lord Shiva led the Swami to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the Swami looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the Swami's mouth water. The people sitting! around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.
But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The Swami shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.
Lord Shiva said, 'You have seen Hell. They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man's mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The Swami said, 'I don't understand.'

'It is simple,' said Lord Shiva.

'It requires but one skill. You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.'

I hope you have learnt the simple, yet powerful message the story delivers. So be kind and generous to all to keep away from a fall.

Aditya C.R
The Elite Window

Poll of the Month: Can India host Olympics by 2020?

The results of the previous poll are out and I'm glad to say that I'm happy!

81% [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] Fab!

19% [][][][][] Good!

0% Poor!

0% Bland.

I thank everyone who voted profusely for your judgement. Also, I am proud to announce this month's poll - Can India host Olympics by 2020? You can either select online and vote on the right hand side banner or you can also send an SMS to +919962302293 - the Elite Window number with SMS service. Text POTM [space] YES if you agree and POTM [space] NO if you do not agree. Please keep voting and coming back for more exciting stuff on India's (and eventually) the World's best entertainment blog.

Aditya C.R

The Elite Window

Living in the Present: Hues of Homage

Hues of Homage
I think we should all spend a minute on this article as we pay homage to the people who have died in various terrorist attacks around India, Israel, China and Afghanistan. May all of them rest in peace.

C.R. Aditya
The Elite Window

88888 Lights Out!

LIGHTS OUT

Global Warming: is a pretty well spoken about term in every field- economic, environmental and basically Mother Earth's future. This is in response to the sights being telecast callously all over the media- like for the instance when a New York sized Ice sheet melted and broke off from the Arctic Shelf, and how Greenland is truly becoming more greener as the ice receeds. It is forecast that all coastal cities are in great danger around the world as the ice melts, raising sea levels, decreasing salinity (causing species extinction), raising water levels by around 8m which will submerge Mumbai, Chennai and other coastal cities on India's 7000 Km coastline. The main contributers to this progressive doom are GHG's (Green House Gases) like Methane (from cow dung 18%- it has to be tapped properly), Carbon-di-oxide (from vehicular exhaust- use public transport and your own legs as much as you can) and ultimately fossil fuel burning. 60% of India's electricity comess from burning of coal. It is predicted that this will all come true by 2025 so to prevent this you can do so in your own ways. Starting from this month. If we all pledge to switch of the lights and fans and tv's for 8 minutes on 8th August 2008 at 8 pm it will save lots of electricity and we could tide over the power cuts too! This campaign is carried out by Exnora International all over India similar to Earth Hour in Sydney, Light's Out in London and Batti Bandh in Mumbai. So you can do your bit by helping in a small and simple way. Also tell all your freinds and family- its simple and it will do good to the world. Don't forget that we hven't got time left and i'm serious! Do it quick NOW!

Save the world and not only yourself,

Aditya C.R
The Elite Window

Beijing Beckons: Olympics Draws Nearer!

Beijing Beckons

The Olympics are drawing nearer to its grand inaugral opening on 08/08/08, Friday in Beijing's National Stadium (Bird's Nest) amonst pomp and glory. It is said that Beijing spent more than 40 billion dollars on the Olympics (translates into 1680 billion Rupees roughly) which is a pretty tedious amount. Although it is expected that Beijing will recover all that and more with ticket sales and Infrastructural sales (Metro, Airport). Beijing has built the world's largest dragon shaped Terminal 3 (A, B, C) in addition to the first two terminals at Beijing's new Capital International Airport. It is connected to the newly built railway lines which go into the terminal for quick transport to the Olympic venues. The structure is gigantic just like the National Olympic Stadium or the Bird's Nest which is a framework of criss-crossing steel bars which can host around 90000 seating with a floating capacity of around 30000 people. Even the National Aquatics Centre or the Water Cube is quite large, situated next to the National Stadium and can house 3000 people with 6000 floating capacity. Also the CCTV towers, National Theatre (The Egg) have all been built to create a sense of what Beijing really can do to prove its International standards. Around 3.6 billion people will watch it on TV from all over the world and 1.2 billion people will visit Beijing during the Olympics itself. India will bid for the Olympics in 2020 when its capital New Delhi will be a world class city with the other metros Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore following in its wake. With only four days to spare, all eyes will be on Beijing to witness one of the grandest and costliest Olympics of Olympic History.

Aditya C.R

The Elite Window

National Stadium (Bird's Nest)

National Aquatics Centre (Water Cube)

Beijing Capital International Airport

CCTV Towers, Beijing Central

Gadget Gossip: iPhone 3G Exclusive! August Release!

Iphone 3G in India

Date of Release: Apple confirmed that, in its quarterly financial conference, 20 more countries will get iPhone on 22nd August, including India.

Price: Well thats a big question! Expected to be around 16500-20000 Rs (without applying taxes and import duties and without plan charges)

Plan Charges: Expected to be starting from 299 Rs per month for the basic plan and upwards.

Features: Plenty more than iPhone 2G!

1) A-GPS/Maps/cellular tower positioning/Wi-Fi positioning

2) Multi-Touch screen

3) Accelerometer and Proximity cum Light sensors

4) 2 MP camera (a let down as it does not have flash nor autofocus)

5) 3G speeds

6) Mobile Me (Push Mail)

7) Wi-Fi

8) Bluetooth 2.0 Sync

9) Flushback Headphone jack

10) Improved sound quality with Stereo Speakers

11) App Store with more applications to choose from (in Indian Currency)

12) iPod and Safari integrated

13) Cover Flow

14) Intelligent Keyboard

15) Home button

16) Scientific Calculator

17) Youtube App

Carriers: Vodafone and Airtel.

Network: 3G network will come later around mid-2009. As announced by Andimuthu Raja, Telecommunications Minister on 29th July, 3G spectrum will be auctioned for a price of Rs 2020 crore and above for local players and Rs 3705 crore and above for foreign players like AT&T who want to enter into the Indian market with a licence. It will take 2 months fo 3G to be auctioned to Vodafone and Airtel but BSNL and MTNL already have a spectrum reserved in Delhi and Mumbai circles which can have only one more GSM operator while the other areas can have around 10 operators. It is said that BSNL and MTNL have an unfair 3 month advantage over the other bidders.
Website: www.apple.co.in/iphone

Yours techno,

Aditya C.R

The Elite Window

Enchanting Eclipse in Totality

Eclipse Enchants Everyone

It was an awe-inspiring sight for many all across Europe, North America and Asia where one could see the Friday total solar eclipse in all its glory. The event was telecast live on the internet from Novosibirsk, Russia. The path of totality ran through Canada, Greenland, Siberia (West) and finally into China with a 200 Km radius. In india the maximum eclipse at peak was around 54% in New Delhi and around 30% in Chennai. Although, as a member of TANASTRO, I was at the Birla planetarium, rain played spoiltsport till just as the sky cleared at around 17:17 when the eclipse was at its peak 30%. We were a lucky lot (those who came to the planetarium at 17:17 till 18:04 when it finished). Although people got to see a partial eclipse in India and will see a total Lunar Eclipse on August 17th in the wee hours of the morning, on 22nd July 2009, India (and Chennai of course) will get to see a total eclipse. So hurrah about that!! Tune in for more astro news.

Aditya C.R

The Elite Window