I don’t think i need to introduce the movie “Slumdog Millionaire” to you. Few Oscars awards to it’s name, this movie has been super hit across the globe. I personally believe that’s not entirely true. People here in India do not find the movie too great that it could win an Oscar. A slumdog guy making into riches is not a unique concept. There are hundreds of movies in Bollywood that goes on the same concept and many of them actually are better and much more popular than Slumdog Millionaire. However, I do agree that the innovative idea wherein a guy becomes a millionaire via an actual reality TV show was a new concept, but that does not make it a great movie. I think the Americans and Britishers were overwhelmed with the slums and poverty shown in the movie, which is not a rare sight in India, so that bring in the differences between my opinion and those who think it was worthy of an Oscar. Still, i do not want to take any credits from it. It was a good movie and am proud of it that it won Oscars making it the first Indian movie to get such prestigious award.

This however is not the reason i wrote this post. The title of this post, most probably gave you a different picture in mind and that’s what this post is about. If i mention the name, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, that probably won’t ring in your minds. He was one of the child actors that acted in the movie. Probably the picture beside this post will give you a clear indication of who he really is.

Mohammed Ismail And Rest Of Crew of Slumdog Millionaire

Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail’s life never took a drastic change after the megahit Slumdog Millionaire made million bucks at box office. There is a reason why i am saying this and i will explain it a bit later. Anyways, the little guy lives in a city called “Garibnagar” (City of poor) in Mumbai, India. Yesterday, May14th 2009, a terrible thing happened. Azharuddin Ismail lost his home as it was demolished and turned into pile of debris by the Indian municipal authorities. According to the authorities, his home, among 20 other homes were illegally built, so they had to demolish it anyhow. I was just reading this news at CNN.com and a senior inspector of the authority named Rahim Sheikh, who is also in charge of the locality, told the CNN, that “The shanties were brought down as part of a municipal drive to clear encroachments on public land. Bulldozers leveled the slum built on a municipal garden”. So we now have a reason why this step was taken. I am not sure what to say here. It can be said that “Indian rules stand equal for everyone” whether poor man or celebrity which we all know is not true. We all know that Indian rules although laid strictly, but are flexible and corrupted in reality.

Anyways, what may bring tear to your eyes is when you see Azharuddin Ismail sitting between the debris and twisted metal, surrounded by filth on all sides and tears running down his cheeks. It’s little hard to believe specially for a buy who achieved such a success so very recently. According to Ismail, they got no notice for the demolition in advance and they weren’t even allowed anytime to remove their belongings from the house. It’s sad how things go around in India specially with the poor. Ismail family however were strong enough and said that they will return back and they do plan to rebuild the house. I would suggest that you do rebuild your house but take care of the encroachment laws this time around.

I managed to get hold of the video where in Ismail talks about how he feels on the same issue. He cried a lot and of course he expects little respects for his celebrity status which he was denied by the Mumbai authorities. Here is the video courtesy the Associated Press!

I did mentioned before about how his life never took a drastic turn. Ismail’s father is a bit cruel, so to speak. He was photographed beating his son after Ismail begged to rest his jet lagged body after reaching home from Oscars ceremonies in Los Angeles. His father has been trying repeatedly to fish out more money from Danny Boyle (Director of Slumdog Millionaire). It is believed that Ismail was paid $1000 USD (Rs. 50,000 INR approx.) during the filming of the movie. Danny was smart enough to put an amount near about $25,000 USD ( Rs. 12.5 Lacs INR approx.) in a trust which will be accessible by Ismail when he turns 18. Apart from that he pays $30 (Rs 1500) a week to 10 year old Ismail as allowance. Now imagine how this could change the life of a real slumdog kid. But thanks to his father, Ismail will only get money when he turns 18. So no drastic change as on now!

Anyways, i heard Danny Boyle initially offered them a house out of slums worth $30,000 USD. I hope this is the right time for that commitment to come into action. We surely hope the slumdog kid strike some peace in real life too.

BETA BlogRush.com To RIP BlogRush

I was shocked when i got this mail from John Reese.

After so much success with BlogRush, they have decided to shut down the services.

I feel sorry for them. They were doing good and there was absolutely no reason to close it down. But they had their own issues and opinions on the same.  According to them, the primary reason behind this decision were the security issues and abusive users who just can’t appreciate good things.

Now that the services are closed, only one can realize that BlogRush was here for us, people. Not for anything else. They never even sold any advertising spaces, nor did they try to monetize in any kind. They only believed in free quality traffic across quality weblogs. It’s sad that it had to end this way.

And to everyone who might be thinking if they are coming back under different ownership… The answer is no. BlogRush team has declined several offers & inquiries about acquiring BlogRush.com.

Well, i would say that BlogRush widget was best in it’s own way. Besides, it was THE best looking widget on internet. I remember i made a post when my blog was approved by them. I was so excited. And now i am making a post when BlogRush is being killled rather than being shut down!

Anyways, Good luck to the team behind it. And “Thank You”.

P.S. : Here is the blogpost i wrote when i joined BlogRush: BlogRush, I am in.

P.P.S. : If you want to write something to John Reese (BlogRush owner), Then you can visit >> Death of BlogRush.

Consider this as a heads up!

I received a payment from TopSeom.com on AllyDirectory for listing of Dr. Stephen Baker’s website. The listing was added on 3rd June 2008 for the price of $24.95. After checking the site i readily approved it. All went fine. As usual, AllyDirectory started ranking for the keyword and for the site’s url as well. So we were very much ahead of our promise to bring traffic to Stephen Baker’s website by ranking higher in Search Engines. I mean that’s what we take the payments for! Traffic and little help in SERPS.

Anyways, days passed and finally on 1st August’2008, i received a chargeback dispute in Paypal. TopSeom and Stephen Baker’s credit card company (Unknown at this time) chargedback the listing’s price even though it’s clearly mentioned in our Terms Of Service that we will not refund any money whatsoever. Still, you know how Paypal works. It stands dumb and deaf in such situation! I explained the whole situation in Paypal’s dispute! But all fell on deaf ears, blind eyes, whatever.

And now 22nd August’2008, you won’t believe what happened. Chargeback was successful. I lost $24.95. If that wasn’t enough, Paypal charged me $10 as a Chargeback Settlement Fee! I mean, What the hell is Paypal doing! I get a listing in my directory. I approve it, work on it for ranking and then the thief TopSeom and Robber Stephen Baker ask for chargeback. And paypal the burglar robs me of $10 as settlement fee.

I would say it’s a nice way Paypal works. It ensures me that we don’t let anyone do chargeback until we investigate. So obviously i believed the m***********. But this is what i finally got from them.

So this is for everyone who owns a directory or is in all praise for paypal or who is looking for marketing and advertising from TopSeom.com or looking for some cosmetic surgery from Dr. Stephen baker……

Paypal Sucks in Chargeback Settlements!

TopSeom are thieves in disguise. Biggest As****** in marketing!

Dr. Stephen Baker: He is not a professional. He is a thief trying unethical and pathetic ways to promote his website. You can well imagine how he will rob you if you get cosmetic surgeries through him. So my advice, DON’T!

I am off to delete this as*****’s listing from my directory. But i am going to attach the proof for all you guys to know what all i do and what i get!

Ishmeet Singh

This comes as a shocking news.

The recently chosen voice of India, Ishmeet Singh is no more.

This 19 year old singer, with such great talent won the Voice of India in November’2007. At the tender age of 19, he became famous all over India because of his lovely melodious voice. He was a true star!

He was in Maldives on a promotional event with some music company. He was swimming in the hotel pool of Male, Maldives, when under unknown mysterious circumstances, he died. News channels says he drowned in the swimming pool but no one knows the exact reason.

Ishmeet Singh, such a young boy with such great talent was truly a gem. He was so much soft spoken, honest, courteous and a handsome boy. He will be truly missed. Rest in peace dear Ishmeet