Oscar 2009- The Ultimate Achievement of Indian Cinema...

India, India and India ---- The word for the day at the Kodak Theatre and all over the globe was 'India', as it swept the Oscar stage in some form or the other.

Everyone was for sure blown over with the Oscar mania in this years 81stedition of the Academy Awards held in Los Angeles on 22ndFebruary. It was clear by the time the ceremony ended India was all excited in jubilation with the success of 'Slumdog Millionaire' (Film based in India) and the 8 Oscar Awards it won this year. Glorifying tributes were paid to Indian Cinema at an international stage in the form of individual achievements at the Academy Awards of some of its most artists like Gulzaar saab, A.R. Rahman and Resul Pookutty. There were huge expectations from A.R. Rahman on the Oscar eve and he surely did not disappoint his huge fan base back in India and won not one but two Oscars. He got the first one for Best Original Score and shared the second one with noted lyricist Gulzaar for Best Original Song (Jai Ho-Slumdog Millionaire).

Resul became the first Asian technician to win an Oscar for Best Sound Mixing. He summed up well when in his acceptance speech he said “Thank you Academy, this is not just a sound award, this is history being handed over to me.”

That is not where it ended for India. A 39 minute short documentary titled 'Smile Pinky', directed by an American Director Megan Mylan, based on a 6 yr old Indian girl and set in Dabai village, Uttar Pradesh won the Best Short Documentary Oscar award. And finally A.R Rahman’s spectacular stage performance, first in the history of India where the Oscar event has a Indian show on stage.

Post Budget Delights

Tax Sops from the Finance Minister

Every one can finally heave a sigh of relief at the phone bills, travel expenditures and general household budget as the Finance Minister has finally taken note of both India's corporate and general public at large. Mr. Mukherjee announced a 2% reduction in both the Excise Duty and the Service Tax rates. However, it is yet to be seen if the benefits of the excise duty cuts are passed on to the ultimate consumer by the corporates of India.

There were a lot of expectations before the budget on the lines of similar reductions, but everyone was up for a surprise, as the budget did not address any such issue. Mr. Mukherjee mentioned constitutional constraints as the main reason for not including such measures in his interim budget speech. Now the whole of India is very much pleased with these measures coming on time to address the impacts of the global recession on India. This is sure to increase consumer spending and in turn revive several of the diminishing sectors of the economy

These measures are all well on time and are most likely to be coined as a budget The Finance Ministry has surely touched the right notes at the right time after a heavy pounding it got for its interim budget inside parliament. The cuts in Excise Duty will certainly go down well with the India Inc. and the common man at large whose household budget is set to come down in the wake of these fresh announcements.

Indian Budget Coming

Preparing the budget is a massive exercise and a very important activity in the scheme of things of a government. This activity sets forth upcoming financial policies which shapes the growth of the economy. There are two editions of the Indian budget in the form of its 'Rail Budget' and 'Union Budget' which are unfolded every year in the parliament.

The Rail Budget will be unveiled on February 13th. 2009 by the Railway Minister of India Sh. Laloo Prasad Yadav. In the wake of the upcoming elections there would be lot of schemes announced to woo the voters. Additional trains especially on the lines of Garib Rath which have been a big hit amongst the masses will most likely be introduced. There would surely be a drop in fares of passenger trains as India has always witnessed such populist measures in the backdrop of its elections. Also, in the wake of the recent terror attacks in Mumbai one can expect an increased expenditure on account of security of the railways.

This years Union Budget of India (2009-10) will be unveiled on 16th. February. 2009. by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, who is handling the additional finance portfolio. There are lot of expectations from the people of India in the wake of the recent global economic slowdown. There is a strong possibility of the government dishing out a third stimulus package to boost up the economy. The budget speech in parliament will be closely followed by a lot of analysts who are hoping to see some breakthrough reforms targeted at fighting the job losses and thereby strengthening the economy of the country. Some of the key issues expected to be tackled in this years interim budget include Tax reforms, disinvestment, rising inflation and agriculture.

Both the Rail and the Union Budget will be interim in nature as the new government of India will present a fresh budget superseding the interim budgets after the elections which are due around the month of May.

A Splendid Product By Google

Google has recently launched its updated version of Google Earth which will have a new feature called Google Ocean. Till now we were able to explore every single place on land using Google Earth, be it the deep forests or high mountains; but that only constitutes 30% of the total planet. Now with the feature of ocean, we can easily explore the remaining 70% as well. Even in reality, only 5% of the total water bodies on earth have been explored

Well, I think this new feature is pretty entertaining and fun to use. You can go to your favourite diving spots, and the best lagoons of the world any time you like. Just few clicks and you are swimming alongside schools of colourful marine life and watching closely the coral reefs. Deep sea diving has always been a fascination to me and never even did I ever dream to do that. I still think I cannot experience that in real life, but at least I can see what is there in the depths of oceans using the ocean feature in Google Earth.

As much as it is entertaining, I think it can be used for a cause as well. Oceans are the biggest contributor to any change in global environment; still they are the most neglected ones. Just because the changes are not visible to us does not mean they are not happening at all. Google Ocean will surely help raise awareness among common people about the changes that are taking place in the depths of ocean and give it the due attention.

However, the best feature for me in Google Ocean is the shipwreck feature. You can virtually locate the famous ship wrecks anywhere in the world and explore its surroundings. The information is provided through videos and photographs.

And the information that they provide about the various marine life is simply awesome. I think it is better than any wildlife film as you get to choose your own path and see what you wish to.