28% - Hyderabad, AP

12% - Bangalore, KA

12% - Chennai, TN

Allu Arjun is 27 years old and this is perhaps a good age to get engaged. However, you know that in the movie industry, engagement is not exactly the last thing. Often, people get engaged and then they do not marry.

A high profile engagement that did not turn into marriage was that between Abhishek Bachchan and Karisma Kapoor. They were engaged for four months.

Do you know that cloud computing is going to be the model of future computing. US government and many companies are slowly but steadily moving towards cloud.

I have written a number of entries in my personal Blog about cloud computing. I am giving some of their titles here:

Government Cloud and Google Apps

Google and Cloud Computing: Some Information

Major Benefits of Cloud Computing

I really miss blogging for SouthAsiaBiz and I hope that someday, the blog will come back to business and I can write again.

This is the feeling I got about Sania Shoaib Wedding as it is stealing all the attention for the wrong reasons. Now, it is competing with IPL season 3 as far as catching media attention is concerned. I remember that 3 years ago, the wedding of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan caused similar kind of sensation and people were crazy for many days about it. Now, the same thing is happening. The presence of the first wife of Shoaib Malik in the same city that Sania Mirza lives added the perfect twist in the saga and it just made the wedding even more interesting to the mass people.

Of course, there is the political element as Shiv Sena is strongly against this marriage as they consider Pakistan an enemy country and Shoaib Malik is a Pakistani cricketer. The ruling Congress Party has come forward to support Sania and their leaders felt that it was matter of personal freedom for her.

Sania Mirza also faced criticism from some Muslims clerics for another reason:

In a statement issued on Thursday, Mufti Ashraf Farooqui from the Fatwa department of Deoband, roundly lambasted the couple for their "unacceptable behaviour''. The kind of proximity shared publicly by Sania Mirza and Shoaib before their marriage is un-Islamic and therefore "haram'', the mufti ruled. "It is against the tenets of religion and also culture which has always put high premium on restraint.''

Islam, the mufti ruled, unequivocally prohibits free mixing between opposite sex. The kind of intimacy Saina has developed -- they are living under the same roof -- is highly objectionable. "Nikah ke pahle tanhai mein milna, batein karna, ghoomna-phirna, Islam mein haram hai (Islam bans meeting in isolation, going around and talking before marriage),'' he said. The couple, therefore, need to rectify their behaviour, he said.  

Ayesha Siddiqui was the first wife of Shoaib Malik and she deserves some kind of sympathy at least. Shoaib Malik married her by telephone before and then pretended that nothing happened. Her family tried to get a divorce from Malik and Malik at first refused that he was even married to her. Then, there was complaint filed to the police and a new drama started. Malik in the end accepted that Ayesha was his first wife and agreed to give divorce to her. This headline: Clerics divided over validity of Shoaib-Ayesha divorce perhaps tells us that Ayesha will still continue to be in the media headlines for some days more.

Opinions are however not divided in Pakistan. There, people are very happy that they are getting a very beautiful Indian tennis player as their bride.

Sania Shoaib wedding has attracted a lot of attention and now, many people will be interested to see whether the marriage becomes successful or not. Any problem in this marriage be it so small, will be covered with interest by the media.

It seems that India can be a good place for computer manufacturing too. 

India, Asia’s third-largest economy, needs to spend $1 trillion on roads, ports, power and other infrastructure between 2012 and 2017 to help accelerate economic growth to 10 percent and cut poverty, Singh said this week. Getting computer makers like Dell to invest in India rather than China is “an area where there are immense opportunities,” Singh said in a March 23 speech to members of India’s Planning Commission.

Singh and Dell met a day after Google Inc. started routing China-based users to an unfiltered search service on its Hong Kong site. The move capped a standoff between China and Google, which in January said hackers in China stole data and targeted the e-mail accounts of human-rights activists.

This blog just passed 4 years on 22 March 2010. Incidentally, 22 March is also my birthday. On 22 March 2006, I started blogging here and it is really like my first love in blogging. The blog and the entire Know More Media network fell victim to the mighty economic recession. I understand the decision of owners of Know More Media to shut down the blog network at the end of July 2008. Now, the recession is gone and I hope that the blogs come back to life again.

I am eagerly waiting for SouthAsiaBiz to come back to life again and I hope that I can write here. My co-blogger here was Mehdi Hassan. We both miss it a lot. Every day, hundreds of people came here to read our entries. Our entries got links from many blogs and websites.  

We have not given up hope of blogging here again. May our dream come true soon.

New Zealand has clinched the three-match ODI series against Pakistan in United Arab Emirates following a thrilling victory in the third and the final match of the series in Abu Dhabi. New Zealand won the last ODI by only 7 runs. Chasing a target of 212, Pakistan was struggling after losing 9 wickets at 101. However, a gallant innings from 17 year-old Mohammad Aamer almost took the match away from New Zealand’s grip.

The youngster guided Pakistan to 204, sharing 103 runs for the 10^th wicket along with Saeed Ajmal. However, his brave effort came to an end when Ajmal got out as the last Pakistani batsmen with 5 balls remaining in hand. Aamer played a tremendous innings of 73 not out off 81 balls, hitting 7 boundaries and 3 over-boundaries. Ajmal also supported him very well scoring 33 runs off 44 balls. Jacob Oram picked up 3 wickets, while Vettori got 2 wickets for New Zealand.

Earlier, Daniel Vettori won the toss and decided to bat first. Previous match’s centurion Brendon McCullum played another match-winning innings of 76 off just 78 balls. Ross Taylor scored 44, while 21 runs came from opener Redmond. It was off spinner Saeed Ajmal who helped Pakistan restrict the Kiwis to 211 picking up all the wickets with 21 balls left in their innings. Ajmal bagged 4 wickets for 33, while Aamer got 2 wickets. Aamer’s all rounder performance earned him the man of the match award, despite Pakistan’s defeat.

By the way, did you know that earlier today, ICC World Cup Cricket 2011 Schedule was announced.

Related article:

NZ Herald

AFP reported:

Data earlier this week showed India's industrial output jumped by 10.4 percent in August, its fastest rate in 22 months, stirring speculation that the central bank could adopt a tighter stance.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has warned that inflation could hit six percent by the end of the financial year in March 2010, exceeding the central bank?s forecast of five percent.

Indian government has taken a skeptical stance on this regard in order to ensure that the interest rate would not increase in what could hamper its economic revival. Indian economy is gradually getting over the economic recession.

This should be good news for cricket fans too. Cricket also got hit because of the recession to some extent. Economic recession put an end to Indian Cricket League or ICL. Anyway, after 10 days, India is going to take part against Australia in an ODI series and today the Indian squad was announced.

Before the end of Cold War and Soviet Union, Pakistan was the best friend of USA in South Asia. On the other hand, India has very close relationship with Soviet Union. So, Pakistan received generous aid from USA over the decades. After the fall of Soviet Union, the equation got changed some and Washington has now very good relationship with India too. Anyway, US Congress has approved a bill to increase non-military aid to Pakistan.

BBC reported:

Under the bill, the secretary of state will have to certify periodically that Pakistan is working to dismantle the illegal nuclear proliferation networks.

The US also has to certify that Pakistan is no longer supporting militant groups.

The aid money will be spent on various development projects.

The match between India and Australia has been abandoned due to heavy rain. Winning the toss, Australia chose to bat first and scored 234 for the loss of four wickets from 42.3 overs. However, batsmen could not continue the game due to heavy rain and they had to leave the ground to take shelter from rain. As ground was wet and unable to play because of water, match referee refused. Now, both Australia and India will have to look for their next match to make sure their place in the semi-final round.

Australian skipper Ricky Ponting got run out after scoring 65 runs which was his 70^th ODI fifty. Opening batsman Tim Paine played a potential role. He scored 56 runs before becoming a victim of Amit Mishra. Michael Hussey is another half-centurion of this match. He scored 67 runs from 65 balls. Cameron White and Callum Ferguson remained not out.

Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra got one wicket each.

So, you can easily understand that both India and Australia’s fate will be decided in the next game.

The curtain of ICC Champions Trophy is going to be opened day after tomorrow. You can find the schedule here in this blog. Yes, this is the good part of Internet today. Cricket may not be a popular sports outside of India and there is not that many websites dedicated to this game. However, there are some dedicated bloggers who are there for you. They are writing every day just to bring some news for you so that you don’t have to browse that much. Here, I am giving a list of some blogs that will give coverage to ICC Champions Trophy 2009.

Cricket Updates: It is maintained by a Bangladeshi student in Dhaka, Kamrul Hasan. He studies at Stamford University English Department. There, you can find a lot of news and views and of course live scores of some important matches. Cricket Updates has impressive number of Feedburner Followers. Kamrul’s coverage of the practice matches leading to this event was excellent.

South Asia Blog: It is not basically a blog about Cricket but as you as know, cricket is the most popular game in South Asia. Here, you can find excellent coverage by Biplob Kishore Deb who studies at North South University English Department in Dhaka Bangladesh.

Well Pitched: It is a blog maintained by some Pakistani cricket fans. In fact, in Well Pitched, you can find names and links of some other cricket blogs.

Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra, two of the top actresses of Bollywood, are coming together in a remake of Bride Wars which would be produced by Shrishti Arya. Bride Wars is a romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway. Kate and Anne are two best friends who wanted to get married in the same hotel on the same day and they try to sabotage each other’s marriage.  

Shrishti Arya already bought the rights to remake the movie and production of the movie will start in the coming months. After watching the original both the actresses became very interested and they could also relate to their characters. Producers of the movie are still finalizing the rest of the cast.  

Both Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra are the most sought after actresses in Bollywood today. The movie is going to be special for them because they are working together for the first time. We are also eagerly waiting to see the two Bollywood queens together on the big screen.

Related articles:

India got off to a good start to Compaq Cup 2009 tri-nation tournament as they defeated New Zealand by 6 wickets. With this victory, India ensured their appearance in the final, leaving New Zealand out of the tournament. India will face Sri Lanka on Saturday in their second match of the preliminary stage before meeting the same opponent in the final.

Indian pacers were in dominant form and they were instrumental behind the easy victory. Winning the toss, New Zealand chose to bat first and eventually got all out for 155 runs. From the very beginning they were struggling against Indian pacers. Ashis Nehra, who picked up the wickets of New Zealand openers in his first two overs, got 3 wickets, while Ishant Sharma and RP Singh also picked up 2 wickets each. Yuvraj Singh got 3 wickets, but Harbhajan Singh remained wicketless.

Chasing a mere 155, India never felt under pressure. Opener Karthik failed, but veteran Tendulkar scored highest 46 runs from 55 balls. Raina and Dhoni remained unbeaten at 45 and 35 runs.

Veteran Indian batsmen Rahul Dravid got a recall to India’s ODI squad for the Compaq Cup and ICC Champions Trophy 2009. No doubt, Dravid contributed a lot to Indian cricket over more than a decade and he should be considered among the greats of Indian cricket. However, his recent call up to the ODI squad raised a number of questions and it seems that BCCI and Indian selectors follow double standard in team selection.

If my memory does not deceive me, I can still remember that how desperate Indian selectors became to rule out former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly from Indian team. Their logic was that Ganguly had become old and therefore had nothing to offer to Indian cricket. But the fact is that he was still one of top performers in the team and was contributing a lot to the team. Still, selectors ruled out Ganguly from ODI squad, even though he was one of the very few batsmen who had more than 10,000 runs in ODI cricket. After losing his place in the ODI squad, Ganguly continued to play test cricket for about a year with sheer amount of success before retiring from international cricket last year after the home series against Australia.

Well, now the question is that if Indian selectors want to bring new faces in Indian team, overlooking aged players, then on what basis they recalled Rahul Dravid in the ODI squad? Don’t you feel that the selectors are following a double standard?

I can not understand why Pakistan selectors are in dilemma mood when it comes about selecting the players ahead of the up-coming ICC Champions Trophy 2009 in South Africa. On Friday, the 15-member squad of Pakistan cricket team was supposed to be announced. Yet I don’t know what actually happened after that day. However, chief selector Iqbal Qasim has already completed his consultation with Coach Intikhab Alam and PCB chairman Ijaz Butt.

In a statement, I have seen that seven-member selection committee would give a perfect shape to the main squad. Behavior and attitude will get much importance to get selection in the Pakistan squad during the recently concluded series in Sri Lanka. Not only that but also each player will have to go to strict observation depending on performance.

There was only one player who was left from consultation was captain Younus Khan. Do you expect to see any big change in Pakistan squad?

Related article:

DAWN.COM

(Guest post by Kamrul Hasan of Cricket Updates Blog)

This is a guest post from Kamrul Hasan who is the blogger of Cricket Updates. Cricket Updates is a nice blog and it has around 1270 Feedburner subscribers. So, it is some popular too. Here is his post:

Pakistan all rounder Shahid Afridi has given a victory to his team in his debut T20 match as skipper. He led Twenty20 World Champion team Pakistan in this only T20 match against host Sri Lanka and ended the tour series with a victory. Sri Lanka has been beaten by 52 runs at the hand of Pakistan. The whole R Premadasa stadium was full of supporters.

It was the first T20 match between two teams since the ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2009 in England. However, it T20 match was more exciting because cricket fans saw the two finalist teams of T20 World Cup. As a skipper, Shahid Afridi showed his best performance. He shone both the bat and ball. With the bat he scored 50 from 37 balls and took 1 wicket for 21 in four overs. However, his one run out put Sri Lanka in a huge pressure. We can say that luck was in favor of Pakistan team and captain Shahid Afridi.

Rana Naved and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal both got three wickets each. Though Sri Lanka made good start in an opening stand but they could not continue it. They lost their wickets in a regular basis. Sri Lanka got all out for 120 runs with 11 balls remaining at hand. We can see that only Kumar Kumar Sangakkara tried to make a strong protest with the bat but failed. He scored 38 off 31 balls.

Shahid Afridi was awarded player of the match. He was the player of the match in both semi-final and final at T20 World Cup.

Related article:

AFP