Bangalore gets its Metro

Bangalore. The first metro in the Indian IT hub Bangalore rolls into service on October 20, 2011, a long-delayed and over-budget project to help the city's army of commuting software engineers and call centre workers. Despite its shiny corporate headquaIn this photograph taken on October 17, 2011, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation's Namma metro train does a trial run in rters, Bangalore suffers from the same acute infrastructure problems that ...


In this photograph taken on October 17, 2011, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation's Namma metro train does a trial run in Bangalore. The first metro in the Indian IT hub Bangalore rolls into service on October 20, 2011, a long-delayed and over-budget project to help the city's army of commuting software engineers and call centre workers. Despite its shiny corporate headquarters, Bangalore suffers from the same acute infrastructure problems that blight the rest of the country, with its reputation as a business-friendly high-tech centre already in peril. AFP PHOTO/ Manjunath KIRAN

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation's Namma metro train start its inagural run in Bangalore on October 20, 2011. The first metro in India's IT hub of Bangalore rolls into service, a long-delayed and over-budget project to help the city's army of commuting software engineers and call centre staff. Despite its shiny corporate headquarters, Bangalore suffers from the same acute infrastructure problems that blight the rest of the country, with the ...

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation's Namma metro train start its inagural run in Bangalore on October 20, 2011. The first metro in India's IT hub of Bangalore rolls into service, a long-delayed and over-budget project to help the city's army of commuting software engineers and call centre staff. Despite its shiny corporate headquarters, Bangalore suffers from the same acute infrastructure problems that blight the rest of the country, with the city's reputation as a business-friendly, high-tech centre already in peril. AFP PHOTO/ Dibyangshu SARKAR

Bangalore gets its Metro

In this photograph taken on October 17, 2011, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation's Namma metro train does a trial run in Bangalore. The first metro in the Indian IT hub Bangalore rolls into service on October 20, 2011, a long-delayed and over-budget project to help the city's army of commuting software engineers and call centre workers. Despite its shiny corporate headquarters, Bangalore suffers from the same acute infrastructure problems that ...

In this photograph taken on October 17, 2011, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation's Namma metro train does a trial run in Bangalore. The first metro in the Indian IT hub Bangalore rolls into service on October 20, 2011, a long-delayed and over-budget project to help the city's army of commuting software engineers and call centre workers. Despite its shiny corporate headquarters, Bangalore suffers from the same acute infrastructure problems that blight the rest of the country, with its reputation as a business-friendly high-tech centre already in peril. AFP PHOTO/ Manjunath KIRAN


The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation's Namma metro train start its inagural run in Bangalore on October 20, 2011. The first metro in India's IT hub of Bangalore rolls into service, a long-delayed and over-budget project to help the city's army of commuting software engineers and call centre staff. Despite its shiny corporate headquarters, Bangalore suffers from the same acute infrastructure problems that blight the rest of the country, with the ...

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation's Namma metro train start its inagural run in Bangalore on October 20, 2011. The first metro in India's IT hub of Bangalore rolls into service, a long-delayed and over-budget project to help the city's army of commuting software engineers and call centre staff. Despite its shiny corporate headquarters, Bangalore suffers from the same acute infrastructure problems that blight the rest of the country, with the city's reputation as a business-friendly, high-tech centre already in peril. AFP PHOTO/ Dibyangshu SARKAR

Arnold Schwarzenegger's trip to home land

A statue of Austrian actor, former champion bodybuilder and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is pictured in front of the house he was born in, in southern Austrian village of Thal October 7. 2011. Schwarzenegger officially opened a museum dedicated to his life on Friday. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader (AUSTRIA - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT PROFILE)

Austrian actor, former champion bodybuilder and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (C) points at a 'Terminator' film poster, as he chats with Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann, during a tour of his former home in Thal October 7. 2011. Schwarzenegger officially opened a museum dedicated to his life in the house he was born on Friday. REUTERS/Stringer/Andy Wenzel (AUSTRIA - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT POLITICS)

Sania undergoes surgery

India's tennis star Sania Mirza will be out of action for the next few weeks after under-going an arthroscopic surgery on her left-knee in Apollo Hospital here, according to Imran Mirza, father of Sania.

Imran informed that Sania had torn her meniscus during the US Open Grand Slam tournament in Flushing Meadows last month.

"The surgery was performed by the Orthopaedic Surgeon, Dr. K.J. Reddy. Her cricketer husband, Shoaib Malik was present at the hospital when the operation was performed," Imran said.

It may be recalled here that Sania had earlier undergone an arthroscopy after damaging her ACL on the right knee in 2006 and a right wrist surgery to repair a torn lunate capsule in 2007.

Sania Mirza had broken into the top-10 of the world in women's doubles for the first time in her career when she was struck down with the knee injury during the year's last Grand Slam.

A shining moment for Twenty20 cricket

For about two weeks, the ongoing Champions League Twenty20 failed to attract spectators to the stadiums for most of the matches and it is safe to hazard a guess there weren’t too many takers for the tournament at homes either. This indifference was to be expected considering India’s woeful performance in England and the virtual non-stop cricket that has been played since the World Cup.

The qualifying and group stage matches not involving any of the Indian Premier League (IPL) teams were hardly watched either at the stadiums or on television sets at homes; the ones involving IPL teams fared only a tad better (not taking into account when Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore played at home). Luckily for the organisers, the semi-finalists weren’t determined until the last two days of the group stage and this did help in attracting more eyeballs – both at the stadium and at homes.

That two of the last four matches in the group stage saw some pulsating performances have gone a long way in ensuring this edition of the CL T20 won’t be a damp squib. On Tuesday, David Warner’s scintillating 69-ball 136 not out helped New South Wales Blues knock defending champions CSK out of the tournament. Warner’s knock was one of the best T20 knocks ever and what made it more special was that it came on a slow track at MA Chidambaram Stadium, which until then had proven to be the scourge of batsmen.

If that wasn’t enough to infuse some much-needed life into the tournament, the last group stage match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and South Australia Redbacks certainly did that and much more. The must-win match for both teams saw a terrific unbeaten century, three cracking knocks in the seventies, a five-wicket haul and an outstanding run chase that was capped by a last-ball six as RCB won the match to book their berth in the semi-finals in front of more than 10,000 spectators at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Royal Challengers Bangalore's players celebrate a memorable win that ensured their passage into the CL T20 semi-finals.

Daniel Harris hit 17 boundaries and two sixes in his 61-ball 108* in one of the best-ever batting displays one can hope to see in a T20 match and his 114-run partnership with Callum Ferguson (70 in 43 balls) was the perfect example of scoring runs in the middle overs without taking too many risks and then ending the innings with aplomb. The Redbacks eventually ended with a score of 214 for 2 even as S Aravind of RCB had figures of 4-0-69-0 – the second worst in T20 history.

The Redbacks would have expected an easy victory after posting such an imposing total, but RCB’s opening pair of Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan added 65 runs in 37 balls for the first wicket to set the tone for the hosts’ run chase. What followed next was undoubtedly one of the greatest knocks in T20 history as Virat Kohli hit four boundaries and 6 sixes as he smashed 70 off just 36 deliveries to set RCB on their way to a win. His knock was all the more special as it came in a high-pressure situation and as he himself admitted later it was the most exciting T20 match of his career so far. Kohli was well-supported by Dilshan (74 in 47 deliveries) and at one stage it seemed RCB would easily chase down the tough target, but Shaun Tait (5-32) took three wickets in the 19th over of the hosts’ innings to give the match another twist. RCB needed 15 runs to win off the last over of the match by Dan Christian; and did well to take nine runs in the first five deliveries. The Redbacks would have still harboured hopes of sneaking through, but the hitherto unknown Arun Karthik did a Javed Miandad as he hit a slower Dan Christian delivery for a six over midwicket to send the RCB dugout into raptures.

These two matches have ensured attention is now riveted on the last three matches of the tournament starting with the first semi-finals between RCB and Blues at Bangalore on October 7. The tournament really needs to see good and tight contests in these matches to ensure the next edition gets in more spectators for all matches.

Kapil Sibal Reappears with Mythical Sakshat Tablet for October Launch

The Indian wonder tablet was suppose to be launched on June 2011, to initial testing by shipping it to IIT students.

Then, it disappeared, along with Kapil Sibal, HRD Minister, possibly succumbing to Team Anna's protest.

Now, both of them have reappeared.

At a function in Delhi, Sibal said: "The computer will be launched next month…This is not just a dream, it is a reality," he added. Officials announced that the device will be launched on October 5, 2011. However, Sibal has not spoken about the device's specifications.


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The device's prototype is likely to be a 5/7/9 inch touchscreen gadget, featuring a webb browser, PDF reader, video conferencing, open office, sci-lab, media player, remote device management capability, multimedia input-output interface option, and a content viewer.

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Sibal also mentioned how "corruption…in the recent past will be dealt with through initiative of IT…"… the device.

Sibal hasn't announced any program to institute the tablet for government work, Besides, And, the tablet won't actually be used for any of this - Indian government has issued a directive granting Rs. 50,000 to MPs to buy iPads and Samsung Tabs for parliamentary work, along with training to use the tablet interface.

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The Rs. 1750 price-tag (quoted in dollars by the government) has also been questioned. Even though the tablet is considered, by experts, to be a copy of the Chinese Hivepad tablet, such a low-price tablet has never been invented by the Chinese.

According to PCWorld: "The basic components like a processor, motherboard, memory, display, etc, however obsolete they might be, that go into a computer, would cost more than $35 even if you buy in millions of pieces, which the major manufacturers anyways do…"

Also read: Rent a Computer at only Rs 15 a Day! and How to Have a Smartphone-like Experience on your Basic Java Phone

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