The director/producer of the film might have named the film so that the audience does not leave the cinema halls and keep sitting, watching the film & NEVER SAY GOODBYE. I have not yet seen the movie but the reviews of the film have not been that encouraging for me to go the cinema hall and watch the movie. I would rather wait for it to be broadcasted on satellite television which I think should be done in next 6 months or so as has happened with Rang De Basanti which will be telecasted today around 7 months after its release in January earlier this year.

The reviews that I have got have been mostly negative but there are fans of Shahrukh, Rani, etc. and those who love Karan Johar’s style of story telling have been showering praises about the film. The film has been criticized for being little unIndian as the concept of talking about extra marital affairs does not really attract people at first. This can be compared to film, Lamhe wherein Anil Kapoor was seen romancing with Sridevi(daugther) - Sridevi performed a double role and Anil Kapoor had once a crush on Sridevi, the mother but later married some other guy. The film - Lamhe was not immediately accepted by the audience at first but later went on to do good business.

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehana might also follow road and do good business at least overseas from the beginning. Not only because the storyline can be easily accepted by NRI but also there is huge fan following for Shah Rukh which will attract lot of people.

Amitabh Bachchan has said in few interviews on the television on different channels that this is the best of Karan Johar but this is going to happen everytime AB works with KJ next so there is not much of point in talking about this. But I really like a point of the forum member at rediff site discussing about the film that Karan Johar has tried taking a negative story in a positive manner. I think if a person can do that he is going to be successful and go places.

I had recently booked a train ticket from www.irctc.co.in for Delhi - Jammu - Delhi in 3-tier AC. Due to heavy rush my return ticket was on waitlist and did not get confirmed even on the traveling date. I could not check the status of the ticket and checked it at the Jammu station only as I had just returned straight from my visit to Maa Vaishnodevi Bhawan and Patnitop (I’ll write about the details of the visit soon). I went to reservation counter if the ticket could be cancelled as it was still on waiting list. They guy on the counter told me as this is a ticket booked from internet you need to cancel it from there and the payment you made will be credited to your credit card/debit card account.

When I reached Delhi next day I tried to cancel the ticket from internet, it alerted that this ticket cannot be cancelled from internet as this is i-ticket. Then I checked on the site for more details and found that e-ticket (which you print at your end can be cancelled but i-ticket which is sent to you as a normal railways printed ticket cannot be cancelled online.)

I called up customer care and briefed them about the issue and was told to take this ticket to any computerised booking center, from there you get your ticket cancelled and you will be given TDR (Ticket Deposit Receipt), which further needs to be sent to Chief Commercial Manager, Northern Railways via normal post and then your account will be credited.

My father went to the nearest booking center and was told this kind of cancellation is only done at window no.18 at New Delhi railway station. He went there and got the TDR after standing in queue for 2 hours.

After having gone through such a horrid time and still money is not being refunded. What Indian Railways need to understand that passengers book tickets online because they want to avoid queues and are short of time. They need to have some respect for time of their customers. If they could make cancellation of e-tickets online, it should not be that difficult to do the same for i-tickets. Just hoping Mr. Laloo Prasad and his ministry tries to improve their system of working to cause customers less agony and keep them happy but Indian Railways is a monoply anyways…nobody bothers , customers don’t have a choice.

They also should give an option to customer to book return ticket online at the same time when they are booking their ticket for going to a place. The customer should be charged for courier charges once and should be sent tickets in one courier rather than sending tickets seperately. There mismanagement is causing loss to public and unacceptable gains for courier company.

IN PRISON…you spend the majority of your time in an 8X10 cell.
AT WORK…you spend most of your time in a 6X8 cubicle.

IN PRISON…you get three meals a day (free).
AT WORK…you only get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it.

IN PRISON…you get time off for good behavior.
AT WORK…you get rewarded for good behavior with more WORK.

IN PRISON…you can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK…you get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON…you get your own toilet.
AT WORK…you have to share.

IN PRISON…they allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK…you cannot even speak to your family and friends.

IN PRISON…all expenses are paid by taxpayers with no work required
AT WORK…you get to pay all the expenses to go to work and then they deduct taxes from your salary to pay for prisoners.

IN PRISON…you spend most of your life looking through bars from the inside wanting to get out.
AT WORK…you spend most of your time wanting to get out and go inside bars.

IN PRISON…there are wardens who are often sadistic.
AT WORK…they are called managers.

Thats a nice one !!

Even after being provided so-many facilities nobody would like to avail them…there

Can music-videos on TV herald a revolution in literacy? Yes, believes a young researcher Dr Brij Kothari, who after years of struggle got a chance to take his ideas forward on a wider national level across India. Mr. Kothari has been propounding relies on getting neo-literates to do some reading, and deepen their skills, even while they are glued to the ‘idiot box’ watching film-related entertainment. This can be achieved by subtitling the lyrics of the existing song-based programming on TV in the same language as the audio. Film-music based ‘Chitrahaar’ is India’s longest running film-based programme in the history of television. It is especially popular in the villages. In this way, Kothari hopes to transform India’s ’staple entertainment to edutainment that is “more” entertaining’.

He formed PlanetRead, a non-profit organisation dedicated to reading and literacy development around the world. It was created based on the idea of Same Language Subtitling(SLS) which now has become a globally recognized innovation for mass literacy and reading development on TV. SLS for literacy was first conceived and reserached in 1996 at the IIM Ahmedabad.

Simply by watching, singing, and learning to read, SLS is helping to test the innovative idea that the “idiot box” can finally become the “read it” box.

Janmashtami is the joyful celebration of Lord Krishna’s birth. Major celebrations of Krishna Janmashtami takes place at midnight as Krishna is said to have made his divine appearance in that hour. Fasting, bhajans, pujas and many other rituals mark Janmashtami celebrations in India.

The temples at Vrindavan and Mathura witness a colourful, even boisterous celebration on this occasion, and festivities at these places may extend for several days. Devotional songs and dances mark the celebration. The Rasa Lila is performed to recreate incidents from the life of Krishna and commemorate his love for Radha.

The temples at ISKCON celebrates Janmashtami festival at its various centres all over the world. Discourses and lectures are organised to mark the festival and spread the accomplishments of Lord Krishna. I have witnessed 2-3 celebrations at ISKCON New Delhi temple where an offering of 108 dishes to Lord Krishna known as ‘Bhog’ takes place at midnight and thereafter it is distributed among devotees . The idol is beautifully decorated with flowers. The platform on which the idol is kept is also equally laden with flowers. Abhishek (bathing) of the Lord takes place with milk, milk products and fresh fruit juices. This is followed by Bhajans (devotional songs) sung with various musical instruments in the glory of the Lord, dances are performed by devotees to rejoice the birth of Lord. Finally plays or dramas are held enacting the various phases and leelas of lord Krishna’s life. Reading of Scriptures From Bhagawad Gita especially the episode of Birth of Lord Krishna is a special feature during Janmashtami.

Group Chanting of the Hare Krishna slogan takes place continuously and for a longer period than usual days. This is done to appease the Lord.