Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative ( DNDI )

Cholesterol, Heart Attack, Hypertension, Diabetes, Cancer

This is the main focus of the developed countries and the Pharmaceutical companies. Most of the research today is done in these areas only.

What about Malaria, Filaria, Dengue, Chikungunya etc. which mostly affects the poor and the third world countries / under developed countries ?

Who cares ! How many people in the developed nations would even know what Filaria is or Chikungunya is. ( I did read that the US Army has a vaccine for Chikungunya ! What a shame that it is not available to the countries where this disease takes its painful toll )

I was thrilled to read about DNDI in some magazine. I am glad such organizations exist today.

In 2003, seven organisations from around the world joined forces to establish DNDi: five public sector institutions – the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation from Brazil, the Indian Council for Medical Research, the Kenya Medical Research Institute, the Ministry of Health of Malaysia and France’s Pasteur Institute; one humanitarian organisation, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF); and one international research organisation, the UNDP/World Bank/WHO’s Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), which acts as a permanent observer to the initiative.

I'd like to appeal to all of you to support organizations like this who hopefully will do something about the neglected diseases.

தசாவதாரம்

Photo courtesy: Dasavatharam.net

அவியலை நம்பி வாழும்

திரை உலகில் ( ஒவ்வொறு முறையும் )

புது படையலை படைக்க நினைக்கும்

கலைஞனே - வாழ்க!

கை காலாட்டி

மாயை செய்யும்

பொய் வாழும் திரை உலகில்

மெய் காட்டல் - இனிக்குமா?

நோய் போக்கி மணக்குமா?

அரைத்த மாவுடன் - கொஞ்சம்

இலை தழை சேர்த்து

வெள்ளை வாடையுடன்

தின்னப் படைத்தால்

போதுமே எமக்கு!

ரசிப்போமே

குதிப்போமே

ஏன் இந்த அறிவியல் ஆயுர்வேதம்?

இட்லி தோசை தின்னு வளர்ந்த

தேகமைய்யா - உம்முடைய

வல்லாரை துவையல்

ஒவ்வுமா ? .... அல்லது

(PRODUCERஐ)

கல்லறை கொண்டு செல்லுமா?

Why Himesh Reshamiyya ?

Photo courtesy: Business week

Dasavatharam music is just average.

I have a question for Mr.Kamal hassan.

Why did you choose Himesh Reshamiyya when you could have chosen one from the great talents we have here ?

Ilayaraja, A.R.Rahman, Vidyasagar, Harris Jeyaraj, Vijay Antony, Srikanth Deva, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Karthik Raja, Deva, Sri Devi prasad, Bharadwaj, D.Imman Joshua Sridhar, Sirpy, Mani Sharma, Pravin Mani, Sabesh Murali, S.A. Rajkumar

Harbhajan needs Anger Management

News & Photo courtesy - Cricinfo

பாகைக்கு பின்னால்
சோகையா ஹர்பஜா?

பின் ஏன் இந்த
முன் கோபம்?

ஒரு முறை கண்டம் தாண்டி
தவறு செய்தாய் - ஆனால்
தப்பித்தாய் ! ( BCCI கிருபையில்)

இ.பி.கோ அனைவருக்கும் பொது - அதனால்
சப்பிக்கோ கையை - கோபம் வந்தால் !

-இப்படிக்கு-
உன் விசிறி

தசாவதார பாடல்கள்

Photo courtesy: Dasavatharam website

கருப்பை வெளுப்பாக்கி

வெத்தை வெங்காயமாக்கி

சத்துக்கு சதை சேர்த்து

குத்து பாட்டுடன்

நாட்டை கலக்கிய கதையை

நேற்று தானே பார்த்தோம்!

ஏனையா கமல ஹாசனே

இந்த கனவு ?

எதையாவது சாதிக்கணும் என

ஏன் இந்த வெறி ?

பல முறை அடி வாங்கியும்

சிலை போல

ஏன் இந்த மாயை!

தசாவதார பாடல்கள் புஸ்வாணம்!

படம் எப்படி பார்ப்போம்!

IPL Cheerleaders

Almost all Desi magazines in the net today reported about Cheerleaders in IPL and the grunts of some people who want to ban them.

What's wrong about cheerleaders ? Afterall IPL is 100% commercial , with actors and actresses as team ambassadors. Why not have the cheerleaders and make it even more glamorous ?

Why are these politicians and narrow minded public barking here, when Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood and other woods in India come out with movies with a lot of flesh ? Even worse, most of them even get a clean rating by the authorities.

I recently watched two movies in Tamil. BILLA and SIVAJI. The heroines in these movies wore skimpy outfits and exposed flesh to the maximum ! Those of you who saw those movies would know what I am talking about.

What was the rating of those two movies? Did any politician open his / her mouth about it? Did anyone write about it ?

Why cry wolf about Cheerleaders now?

HYPOCRITES

Sivaji - The Boss - on DVD

Finally, bought the 3 DVD pack of 'Sivaji - The Boss' this evening at Raaga in Sunnyvale. I usually buy AYNGARAN DVDs for their quality. As I expected the quality of this DVD is also superb. Cost of the DVD - 24 USD.

I am happy, I didn't pay the 15$ tickets that they charged at the theaters here. Now, I can watch whenever I want and whatever I want....heck I can even watch the 'Making of Sivaji' and the '175 day celebrations' that came as bonuses for 24 USD.

About the movie now:

I enjoyed it ! Worth a watch once. KV Anand's cinematography is superb. Sujatha's dialogues ( He had a fascination for the tamil word 'Ahppu' ) were very good. Songs were very well done by ARR. Vivek made me laugh along with Rajini. Shankar was good in pieces. Felt sad about Raghuvaran and Sujatha !

I will never pay 15$ to watch a movie in theaters, no matter what.

C O O L - C O O L - C O O L

8% Economy - Beneficiaries

Photo courtesy: The Hindu

The city is eight years behind in complying with the Municipal Solid Waste Rules of 2000, which stipulate segregation and processing of waste. Garbage dumping in the Perungudi - Pallikaranai marshland has also harmed the ecology of the wetland and burning of wastes has polluted the air.

You too Maestro ?

Photo courtesy: Onemovielinks


Never in my dreams did I imagine that IR would have lifted all these.

Well , can these be called 'Inspirations', I bet that's what IR would say.

You too Maestro ?

PS - Thanks Vichu for sending me this.

'உட்லண்ட்ஸ்'

பல வருடங்கள்

'உட்லண்ட்ஸ்' உணவை உண்டு

ஏப்பம் விட்ட

அரசியல்வாதிகள்

இதோ

'உட்லண்ட்ஸ்' ஹோட்டலையே உண்டு

ஏப்பம் விட

தயாராகி விட்டார்கள்!

செறிக்குமா?

காலம் தான் பதில் சொல்லும்!

எனக்கு ஏனோ....நெஞ்சம் கரிக்கிறது

PIERCEY TOYOTA MILPITAS - ROCKS !!

How often do you enjoy you car service experience? I did last week...probably for the first time in several years.

Thanks to my cousin Vichu who recommended Piercey Toyota's service, I decided to try them out on Saturday at their new showroom in Milpitas.

I called them and they asked me to come-in. I reached there around noon and I was simply flattered by their service.

As I drove my car into the service ramp, service advisors came like vultures, greeted me, took my keys, took me inside the showroom, gathered details of the service and requested me to wait..all in less than 15 minutes.

The waiting hall was like a hug Mall, wonderfully designed. There were play areas, Big screen TV's, all kinds of ( New ) magazines and newspapers and wonderful sofas to sit and relax.

Coffee, Tea, Expresso etc were free in the coffee machines. Free bottled spring water was a nice to have.

The best was the Internet service. There were 3 workstations with High-speed Internet. It was superb.

When they called me and gave the car back, I felt bad that I had to leave. I felt like getting out of a SPA...not a car dealership.

PS - The service was done well. I liked the car wash which is a perk these days ( atleast in places I've been too ).

PIERCEY TOYOTA leads the way. Hope others follow.

MagicJack - 40$ an year - Amazing !

I was reading Newsweek today when I stumbled upon MagicJack.

I immediately signed up for 1 year. Lots of good reviews.

40$ per year is just too cheap !

Give it a shot and let me know.

I'll also review MagicJack, once I get the device and use it.

Sachin enters politics ?

I was shocked to see this headline in Indian Express today. When did Sachin join politics ? Without announcement ?

Read on...!

Ex CEC Gill, Scindia in ministry; Sachin left out

Cricket in the USA

Stickcricket

Is cricket the second most popular sport in the world? At least, that's what the fans say - according to this article in New York Times today.

The game is similar to baseball, but with differences that can make it difficult for Americans to follow. Players run with their bats in hand; balls are bowled, not pitched; spit balls are allowed; fielders are not permitted to wear gloves; there is no foul territory; and bowlers (pitchers) sprint before releasing the ball, which typically bounces and picks up spin before reaching a batsman.

I grew up playing cricket. Fun days..indeed, looking back. We used to make the stumps out of tree branches, bats from Coconut trees. We came out to play in our best outfits..whatever we had. We played with a lot of enthusiasm.

Our heroes those days were Chandrasekhar, Gavaskar, Viswanath, Engineer, Brijesh Patel, Pataudi to name a few.

We had matches where the captain of the losing side would sign a paper saying 'We lost our match today'. We had our arguments, our fights, our moments of joy. We cried when our team mate died in an accident. We 'booed' when our team mate joined the opposite team !

Time passed, we moved on. Some of us got a chance to play for Perungalathur CC which finally made it to the Leagues in Madras. Then, most of us quit playing.

I play at times here locally, but end up with some painkillers in the evening. But..Cricket still remains close to my heart. I've lost the passion for Test cricket, 20-20 is too short I feel...I love the one day games.

Glad to see Cricket being talked about here in the USA. I doubt it..but who knows, one day Cricket might become as popular as Baseball, Basketball, Football here !

All for Water

Courtesy: Sify

These are the things the politicians do:

Create animosity
Induce violence
Create panic
Damage property
Damage lives
Cause inconvenience
Disrupt normal life

Chennai: Even though the dates for Karnataka Assembly elections have been announced, the state has locked horns with Tamil Nadu over the Hogenakkal water issue.

Tamil Nadu saw stray incidents of violence and a black out of Kannada channels on the issue and not just the Central Government, even Tamil cinema's superstar Rajnikanth is in a tight spot.

What the politicians can't ( will not ) do:

Try for a permanent solution
Desalinate sea water
Connect rivers where water flows into the Ocean
Deepen tanks, lakes
Remove encroachements in lakes to store water

USE THEIR BRAIN FOR CONSTRUCTIVE PURPOSES.

Dear Mr.Kaif

Photo courtesy: Cricinfo

My Dear Mohammad Kaif,

How are you ? Long time no see !

Welcome back to the Indian team. You got lucky didn't you. And, I won't blame you, that's the trend these days ! Do you remember how Ishant Sharma got in? Do you know that Dinesh Karthik is praying for Dhoni to be injured. Hope you understand.

I know your domestic season has been good and that you are a good fielder too. I laugh at your batting stance..but that's alright as long as you score runs.

Now, do me a favor - I know you will try hard. ( This is a do or die chance for you ) Somehow manage a 100 or atleast a 50 ! If you do that ...the selectors will have a nightmare..wondering whom to drop when Mr.Sachin comes back !

Good Luck Mr. Kaif.

Best wishes,

Narayanan Venkitu