72 Days and counting?

It’s been 72 days since i last made an update to my blog. I realized that it was high time to stop the count. I guess, the last few (unapproved) comments, made me change my mind and come back to my blog to start blogging all over again. Last few comments being questions like “Are you alive?” “Is it a shutdown?” “Are you selling this site?“….etc etc. To answer a few, Yes i am alive and kickin. In fact i have never been in a better health since last three or four years. So thanks for asking! And God no! I am not selling this site! Who in the world can buy a personal blog? Where the hell do you come up with such questions anyways? LOL

A lot happened in my life since i last made a post. Some of which i should mention, probably in the up coming updates on this website. By the way, i turned 27 this July 11th. I did celebrate my birthday in style. Had lunch with my love of my life, Simran. Followed by dinner with my family. And the following next day had dinner party with my friends. So yes, it was a great birthday this year.

I have watched lot of movies as well. If you are a movie maniac kid just the way i am, you’ll be amazed to read the list of movies that i have watched this summer. I really cannot name all of the movies that i have seen but i think total should come close to 35 movies in all, in last 70 days. That makes it a movie in two days. Not bad, haan! Okay, so just to name a few (specially the ones i super-liked) movies that i watched this summer : Angels n Demons, City of God, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fast & Furious 4, Kambakht Ishq (Hindi), Madagascar – Escape To Africa, Night At The Museum – Battle of the Smithsonian, New York (Hindi), Notorious, Paying Guest (Hindi), Pink Panther 2, Quantum of Solace, Terminator Salvation, The Reader and many many more. I guess the best of these all were “City of God“, a 2002 movie which i guess is a must watch movie for everyone. I think it’s a little on the 18+ mature audience side as the movie has lot of bloodshed and shocking violence. Another movie is the John Abraham starrer “New York“. I think it was great movie and it perfectly shows how Muslims were treated back in USA, after the 9/11 incident.  The brutality and torture to Muslim communities in America surely brought tears to eyes and of course John Araham did a fine job in the movie. Another must watch movie!

Moving on from entertainment to my health stuff. Well, i have been a little health conscious this time around. I am exercising enough to get back into shape. Hopefully the results will be seen very very soon, i hope. I do wish to shed some 10 kilos by two months! God willingly, it should be an easy task!

As for my spondylitis problem, i guess it’s here to stay. It’ll stay as long as i do not lose some weight and get my body weight in to right proprtions. After that i guess only time will tell if i can really get rid of spondylitis. Even now, as i am writing this post, i really feel heat in my neck and pain in the spine.

I have lot more to say, i even bought some new gadgets in last few days. I’ll blog about them pretty soon! Till then, i’ll have to say goodbye and take care!

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.

I am sorry for such a stupid title to this thread. But since it’s first post in the year 2009, i couldn’t work up my mind to get a better title.

It’s 10 days since i last posted. So i feel sorry for my blog and myself. As Amit Bhawani says, i am creative and talented but wasting my talent. I totally agree with him. So i think, i would be posting more on this blog and other blogs of mine once i am totally fit and good enough to take daily toll of blogging on my health.

I recently talked by my ill health in probably last two blog posts. Fact is that i haven’t still fully recovered. I am still ill. But i don’t want my blog to turn into some kind of health blog, so, i am going to stop elaborating on my health issue and move onto other important things!

In entertainment, i have recently watched few movies this year. I guess that would make one movie a day. To name a few i watched Juno, Jumper, Ghajini, Mementos, Rab ne Bana di Jodi, Cloverfield, Hitman and 21. Juno was a great movie about a 16 year old girl getting pregnant and actually going ahead and giving birth to the baby. Jumper is an okay super-hero kinda movie. Ghajini is a bollywood movie starring the perfect Aamir Khan while Mementos is the actual english version of Ghajini’s story. Both are good movies. Rab ne Bana di jodi is another good movie. Cloverfield is a very realistic movie. Nice story, nice concept. Takes time to get interest in it but once you have it, the movie beomes enjoyanble. As for Hitman, well i already watched it befor but it was nice to watch it all over again. Lastly, the movie named 21, as the name would suggest all gamblers is a blackjack based movie. It’s all about card counting and beating the dealer.

Coming onto my online business. Since this post i have started posting on my blog. I have been more active on my other blog named 1 Main Street. That blog is turning out to be the first Affiliate marketing blog i ever made. I hope i can learn rapidly and make it a sucessful blog. Onto directories, well my two directories are doing alright, those being Ally Web Directory and Strongest Directory. I have one directory of directories called Top Directory List and apparently it looks like it gained PR in this recent google pagerank update. That leaves one free directory at XHII.com. The directory was receiving lot many submission recently and i had to temporarily disable all kind of submissions. I have nearly 22000 listings to review in there. It’s a tough job maintaining a good free directory that actually follows tough submission rules that i have on the that directory. Honestly, not many free directories follow it’s own submission rules and majority approve all the listings they get. So XHII is an exception but it looks like Google is unwilling to give PR back to XHII. Although i do have good rankings for keyword “free web directory”. Last i checked i was on 9th rank in Google but hufff… the fluctuation in results never let me stay i same position.

Google

As for Google, i see them getting a new logo. Which is actually better than before. I am posting the new favicon but it’s not best of quality by any means. However congratulation to Google team for finally getting a better favicon.

Anyways, moving onto some other niche. Well, let’s say friends. Nothing much happening. It’s cold. I go out at 8 in evening and come back at 10. That’s what i have been doing recently. I played snooker thrice in the first 10 days already and i guess i will be heading today again after i complete this post. It’s weekend and i like to play snooker. Yesterday i went for a party as my very close friend Amit Aggarwal celebrated his birthday. Today, i am again going to some party of my other close friend, Sumit Bahl, who will be celebrating his birthday today So that makes two borthdays in two days!

Happy Birthday To Amit Aggarwal!

Happy Birthday to Sumit Bahl!

I have to really rush now as Sumit Bahl, the birthday boy is waiting for me at Snooker bar already. And before he becomes fast and furious, i think i should be there. Besides, i think will be losing to him today in Snooker. I think it will be fair if i let him win today on his birthday.

Okay, will come back and blog more later but sooner! Goodbye

P.S. i was lying about me winning in Snooker. Usually i lose to him very often!

I am just back from the nearby Fun Republic cinema. Normally i do not blog about all the movies that i watch. But i had to blog about this movie in particular.

Heroes is not an ordinary movie. It’s all about patriotism. It’s all about finding the true inner you.

Star Cast is huge. With likes of my favorite Salman Khan, his brother Sohail Khan, and the two “Punjab di shaan” brothers: Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol, the movie was bound to do good at box office. Very rarely i find Preiy Zinta doing exceptionally well in a movie. She acted like a true Punjabi and i liked it. Dino Morea had a very little role to play in the movie, so i will pass on his acting comments. Surprise package in the movie, however was Vatsal Sheth. I last saw him in a movie named Tarzan. It was really a forgettable movie. And i thought it was end of career for Vatsal. But he is back with a bang. He looks mature now, with lighly trimmed beard and long hair locks. No more Mr. Cute! Good for him. He acted brilliantly as well. Salman Bhai played a Sikh Army soldier in the movie. He is always good. But main credits for the movie goes to Sohail Khan. Mind blowing acting i would say! He is good, isn’t he!

Anyways, there is no point telling you the story of the movie. If you can just trust me, then let me tell you. It’s a must watch movie. Atleast for each and every Indian!

The summary of the story is however very simple. “You do not have to be a soldier to love your country”. Many will understand what this line means. If you didn’t then it’s time to book your tickets for the next how of “Heroes”.

Heroes - The Movie

I am sorry i haven’t been blogging, lately. As i see it, there hasn’t been a post this entire month. So i thought i would summarize the whole of September in one go. So bear with me.

Rock On!!!

Early September : I somehow made it possible to get second day first show ticket of the movie “Rock On“. I must admit, it’s a great concept, brilliant story, good acting and a fantastic movie. It’s a story about 4 guys who started a rock band in their college life (As we all probably did at sometime in college life). Anyways, the college life was good. They thought they had the world on their feet dancing on their music. I am sure every college going chap must have felt that one time or another. However soon they grow up. Realize what hard and cruel world has to offer. So they start their own businesses/ find jobs, etc. Only to go their separate ways forever. Until after ten years of separation, rock star Purab (known as K.D in movie) thinks of a reunion. Two of the four had some differences between them coz of the past things. But who cares. Eventually they get back, talks over their life and finally decides to start the rock band again. So they did. And it’s a movie, so you can expect success for them eventually. But i won’t take away any credits from the stars of the movie. Specially Purab, Farhan Akhthar and dashing Arjun Rampal. Arjun is a guitarist in the band and he is a hunk. I am not mentioning much about Luke Kenny or Prachi Desai, because hey, you guys had a very less role to play. So wasn’t much impressed. Anyways, the movie was great and if you haven’t watched it, i insist that you please do! You can visit their official site : Rock On!!

I had a serious laugh at Purab’s beard style in the first half. Nice going. Purab! You are the man!

8th September : WordPress comes with yet another update. Now, I am not even surprised that there is a new wordpress version. As if i am used to it. This time it’s WordPress version 2.6.2. Some bug fixes again. But hey, don’t be excited as WordPress is planning to bring out WordPress 2.7 very very soon. And that would be lot interesting as they plan to put in some kinda of Navigation column. Humm.

14th September : It was my Dad’s birthday. He is a doctor and he is the best guy i have ever met. He is my inspiration, my idol and no one can ever take his place as “The Most Important Man In My Life”. Thanks for being there for me always Dad.  I love you! A very very Happy birthday dad! God Bless you!

23rd September : It has been a month since i reported Dr Stephen Baker, MD and TopSeom as the people who robbed me of a small amount. But robbery is a robbery. i don’t care about the amount. But it’s always good to let the world know about people who don’t deserve to have good name!

So how do i punish them. Well, as my friend Amit Bhawani does it. Start ranking high for their name. So that world can know. Now eher am i for their names? Well, if only Google can stabilize their search engine ranking algorithms i could precisely tell you where i rank. Sometimes i am number two right after their official sites. And sometime i am lying somewhere in second page of the search results. In anycase, i am sure i am doing some help in someway or the other by letting people know about them. I hope Google can give good rankings to my blog in time to come.

Google PoorRank

27th September : That’s today. Well, Google PoorRank is updating again! and as you can imagine, i am very disappointed with the results. For all my hard work and ample amount of information i put all day on AllyDirectory.com, Google has been kind enough to grant me PR2 instead of the previous PR3. I wonder if there is anything i could do so that Big G can fix their PR determining algorithms and for Christ Sake, can they stop punishing the sites which actually have better things to offer than their competitors running just a simple directory? I saw a simple tag cloud site today, showing up PR7 on toolbar. Earlier it was PR6. Is that what you call informational content? It’s just a paid links and keywords on the whole site. What’s the point in that? He will now earn more by selling paid links on even better Pagerank. i, on the other hand, put so much efforts, so much content, just to make my site become more of information bookhouse rather than just a simple ordinary directory and this is what Google gives in return. Google is Bloody Demoralizers on the net, when it comes to Pagerank!

At least the Ally Directory’s sitelinks are still there, but then i never said Google is bad when it comes to anything except Pagerank.

In September : Well, i love free templates. Iam launching ten free phpLinkDirectory templates in September itself. You can check AllyDirectory’s PHPLD Templates section for those ten templates. At this point of time, three templates have been launched already. Rest all will be launched by 30th September. Hopefully

Well, i guess that was little about September. Obviously i have missed lot of things i did this month but maybe they are not good enough that i can even recall them!

P.S. : I almost forgot. No matter how much you hurt us webmasters with your Pagerank stuff, we would still like to wish you Google, a Happy Birthday. Many happy returns of the day. May God bless you with lot more success and some BRAINS in pagerank department!

Happy 10th Birthday Google