With the Olympics round the corner, the city of Mumbai seems to have got the Olympic Fever. Quiz contests and various other events are being conducted all across the city. Recently, a Olympics Quiz programme was held in the city that was attended by as many as 1300 people. Organized by Samsung and Times of India, the show was anchored by Channel V vj Gaurav Kapoor, who made the people burst into peels of laughter. Schools from across the city participated in this event.

The biggest attraction of the show was the performance by the Kaivalya Hoop Dancers of Colorado. It really set the mood for the event. Ronak Nagori, Venkatraman Balasubramanian and Pranav Balachander of Apeejay School, Nerul were declared as the winners of the regional final.They were awarded gold medals, certificates and LCD monitors. The school was awarded a LCD TV.

The national finals of the Olympics Quiz is going tob be held on the 5th of August, 2008 in Delhi. However, they will be broadcasted on August 11th on CNN IBN at 11:30 am. Make sure you watch the geniuses of India compete with one another. Its truly going to be a programme worth watching.

The recent serial bomb explosions in Gujarat have begun to tell upon the fate of the business and trade throughout the state. The worst effected is the diamond industry which has registered a sharp decline in the number of foreign buyers who visit different cities of the state to buy polished and raw diamonds.

Pawan Kumar is a Belgium based dealer of polished diamonds and he owns a brokerage firm in Aura NV in Antwerp. He is so apprehensive of the existing situation in Gujarat that he is giving a second thought to his proposed visit plan to here.

According to him it is high time for business before the Christmas season starts. But the current situation in Gujarat is very scary and he cannot risk his life. So he would postpone his business trip for now and visit Gujarat after August 15.

Sanjay Kothari, Chairman, Gems and Jewelry Export Promotion Council has admitted the sharp fall in the diamond trade in Gujarat. He confirmed that in the wake of the serial bomb blasts in Surat and Ahmedabad a good number of foreign buyers have postponed their business trips.

Jaipur, the pink city of India is also the capital of Rajasthan. It is also the perfect place to shop for jewelry, gems, pottery, carpets, textiles, metalwork leather ware, handicrafts, and antiques. The city has various markets (bazaars) like Kishanpol Bazaar, Haldiyon Ka Rasta, Mahiharon Ka Rasta, M.I. Road, Jauhari Bazaar, Bapu Bazaar and the Nehru Bazaar where various types of items are sold.

Tourists having a keen interest in art should not miss these markets as they offer quality products at reasonable price. Enjoy shopping in Jaipur India!

The Kolkata Airport, officially known as the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport serves as a major transport point of Kolkata and eastern India with other parts of the country and abroad. Located around 17 kms from the main city center at Dum Dum, it handles heavy air traffic and around 5 million passenger traffic all over the year. Around 250 flights operate from the airport daily.

Being the busiest airport in the region, direct flights ply between Kolkata and New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Bangalore, Guwahati, Agartala, Pune, Port Blair, Kochi, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and other cities. Major domestic airlines which operate are:

• IndiGo Airlines
• Indian Airlines
• Jet Airways
• Kingfisher Airlines
• Simplify Deccan
• Spice Jet
• Jet Lite

The Kolkata airport is the only international airport in eastern India and is linked with various parts of South East Asia and other cities in Europe and Middle East. Some premier airlines which operate international flights are:

• Air India (Dhaka, London)
• Biman Bangladesh Airlines (Dhaka, Chittagong)
• British Airways (London)
• Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
• Singapore Airlines (Singapore)
• Thai Airways International (Bangkok)
• Emirates (Dubai)
• Gulf Air (Bahrain, Muscat)
• China Eastern Airlines (Kunming)

The airport in Kolkata is equipped with contemporary facilities. There are advanced runways and air traffic control systems. After landing at the airport, travelers can avail of various transport options like cars, taxis, buses and trains to reach their respective destinations.

As the MPs in the Lok Sabha went on debating over the Indo-US nuclear deal, placing ideas for fossil fuel alternatives, India looked like as if it is getting back to the dark ages. Wondering why? Load shedding of course, that is taking its toll in the metros to remote districts all over the country. The situation has changed from alarming to scary as Bangalore is trying to cope with diesel shortage, most of it being used for running generators. People are creating ruckus and that’s nothing but natural.

Even the remote districts are facing their share of darkness in this load shedding days. The problem has spread from the remote corners right to the capital. MSEB in Mumbai, in its desperation to overcome the problem, had to increase power cut in several industrial areas. Sounds nightmarish but this is what is the present scenario prevailing as the industries and the consumers are suffering massively. 6-7 hours of outage has become a part of everyday routine. Similar is the situation in Uttar Pradesh and the IT hub of Hyderabad is witnessing this thing called power cut for the first time after 10 years. Punjab is also suffering as the south and western areas of the National Power Grid are themselves cobwebbed in the power shortages. West Bengal is blaming coal shortage and technical hitches for the same.

Blackouts surely wouldn’t help the great Indian economy dream come true and a country which is dreaming of running by the nuclear power is failing to live up to the minimum elecrtricity requirement. Just like us, who have nothing more to do other than withstanding these long hours of darkness, at least it is expected that the Government feels the air and does something, to save the nation gripped in darkness!

One of the busiest and largest rail networks of the world, the Indian railways, is the pride of the nation transporting more than seventeen million passengers and two million tonnes of daily freight. Indian Railways was first introduced to the nation in the year 1853.

By the year 1947, the Indian Railways operated forty two rail systems and the year 1951 the systems were nationalized to one unit making it as one of the largest rail networks in the world. In the year 1952 the rail networks were abandoned due to administrative causes and six railway zones were created.

Music lovers of India are shocked at the untimely demise of singing sensation Ishmeet Singh. This 19-year-old singer from Ludhiana had shot to fame by winning the Voice of India reality show on a popular TV channel last year. Ishmeet was marked by his polite nature. He did not show any of the flamboyance characteristic of the reality shows today. On the other hand his decent manners won appreciation from the judges. Who can forget the soulful renderings of Ishmeet for which he was blessed by none other than the living legend Lata Mangeshkar?

            Even in the recently concluded reality show ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar’, Ishmeet had received appreciation of the judges. Popular Bollywood music director duo Vishal and Shekhar as well as the director of Shahrukh starred ‘Om Shanti Om’, Farha Khan comprised the jury.

            Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh expressed shock over the tragic death of the young singer who had started creating a niche for himself in the world of music. Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi and Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans expressed deep sorrow at the sudden death of Ishmeet.

                        The death of Ishmeet is still shrouded in mystery and the government should leave no stone unturned to unveil the mystery.

                                    Let us pray to God that the soul of Ishmeet may rest in peace.

The Government of Goa has banned manufacturing and selling of idols made of plaster of Paris. The decision has come in the wake of the forthcoming Ganesh Festival during which a large number of Ganesha idols are made and worshipped by the devotees. The idols are shaped and modeled with plaster of Paris, a well known pollutant containing chemicals which are dangerous enough to wither ecology and environment. The decision to this effect was recently announced by state power and environment minister Alexieo Sequeira in Panaji in a media conference.

The Government has shown its firm face against manufacturing and selling of idols made of plaster of Paris keeping in view the wide level of damage to the coastal ecology of the state after the idols are immersed into the sea and other water bodies. The idols after being immersed in the water refuse to dissolve or disintegrate posing irreparable threat to the environment. The idols also carry chemical paints, dyes and harmful colors. The poisonous effect of these substances causes harm to the marine lives and when consumed by human can bring about breathing problem and skin diseases.

After the series of blasts that occured in Bangalore and Ahmedabad, the city of Kolkata has been kept on high alert on account of probable bomb attacks in the city. Security has been intensified , especially in public places and crowded areas. A threatening mail that was sent to the media houses of the city on 29th July’08 put the city police on an action mode. The Kolkata IT sector, Calcutta High Court, Assembly House and Central Kolkata, like Park Street,  are the areas that were apparently specified in the mail as the probable areas of this attack. The mail was sent by an Indian Mujahideen.

Its truly a very serious and scary situation that has rattled the residents of the ‘City of Joy’. All we can now do is to enusre that the West Bengal government takes all the steps necessary to ensure safety of the people of the city. Wonder when the terrorist attacks will come to an end.

Next time when you happen to be in Goa, make it a point to visit the recently inaugurated ‘Wax Museum’ designed on the lines of Madam Tussaud’s wax gallery in London. Since its inauguration in the first week of this month, Goa’s very own Madam Tussaud’s has been creating waves among the tourists. The ‘Wax Museum’ in Goa is the brainchild of IT engineer-cum-businessman Shreeji Bhaskaran. The techie undertook the latest venture in the heritage town of Old Goa after getting convincing success of his maiden venture on the hills of Ooty.

Goa is one of the hottest tourist destinations in India and it sees a large influx of foreign tourists. The motive behind setting up the ‘Wax Museum’ in Goa is to introduce to the foreign tourists some of the revered personalities from the Indian political, social and religious arena. The wax gallery houses life size look alike figures of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, to name a few. The statue of Jesus Christ having the Last Supper along with his 12 disciples holds the center-stage of the wax gallery.

Of all the 20 wax statues put on display in the museum, the statue of a drug addict is capturing the attention of most of the visitors. Goa is supposed to be a heaven for drug addicts and people seeking other earthly pleasures. To highlight the evil effects of drug addiction, Shreeji Bhaskaran has conceptualized the topic of drug addiction. The statue of the drug addict has been generating a lot of interest among the visitors and on the other hand it has also been spreading messages against the curse.