Sunday 13 November 2011

Bollywood's Hollywood connection



 "East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet," so wrote Kipling, but when you look at these stars, you are forced to believe the other way. Meet Bollywood stars' Hollywood lookalikes!

1.Camilla Belle - Katrina Kaif:

2.Bradley Cooper - Hrithik Roshan:

3.Shammi Kapoor-Elvis Presley

Shammi Kapoor’s body language and dancing style reminded many of Elvis Presley.

4.Dev Anand-Gregory Peck :

in the fifties, when Dev Anand ruled, many noted the resemblance he bore with Hollywood actor Gregory Peck

5.Aamir Khan - Tom Hanks:

6.John Abraham - Antonio Banderas: 

The effortlessly sexy look makes us put John in Zorro's league.

 

7.Rakhi sawant -Hafia Wehbe

Rakhi Sawant's doppelganger is not from Hollywood, but from Middle East. Haifa Wehbe - Rakhi Sawant's Lebenese 'twin' is also known for her provocative numbers. It's hard to stay goody-goody when blessed with oomph, that too in abundance.

8.Debra Messing - Pooja Batra:

9.Phillip Rhys - Tusshar kapoor:

10.Alyssa Milano -Hrishita Bhatt:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 









Tuesday 8 November 2011

Top 5 Foods for Healthy Hair

While external care (shampoo, conditioner, keeping the scalp clean etc.) are a must for keeping the hair healthy, a balanced diet containing hair-friendly nutrients is also of paramount importance.
Minerals like iron, calcium, potassium, selenium, magnesium etc. play a vital role in keeping the hair and scalp healthy. Protein is also crucial for ensuring good healthy hair growth.Protein deficiencies or low-quality protein can produce weak and brittle hair, and can eventually result in loss of hair color.

Let’s take a look at five super foods for hair:
Whole Grains
It is widely known that whole grains have more nutrients per unit than their refined counterparts. Add to this the large quantities of fibre they have which makes them really good for our digestive system. They can be easily digested, contain a lot of antioxidants and help keep chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, obesity and constipation at bay. All these qualities also make them ‘super-foods’ for healthy hair.
Top 5 Foods for Healthy Hair

Vitamin C Foods

Top 5 Foods for Healthy Hair
Vitamin C is brimming with collagen, a protein which helps in maintaining hair follicles, blood vessels and scalp. Fruits like oranges, lemons, pineapple, strawberries, guava etc are great sources of vitamin C. Green leafy vegetables also contain vitamin C and iron which is another great nutrient for healthy hair.

Brown Rice

Top 5 Foods for Healthy HairIt is a good source of protein and it gives your hair the shine you’ve always wanted. Apart from this, it makes you feel full for longer durations and helps suppress your hunger pangs. Brown rice is also rich in vitamins and fibre.

Dal

Legumes are widely accepted as rich sources of protein. An ½ cup serving of dal can easily offer about 6 gm of protein. Besides, dals are rich in minerals like potassium and magnesium. However, you should not solely depend on dal for your daily protein intake.
Top 5 Foods for Healthy Hair
Calcium-rich Foods
Calcium is also a key nutrient for maintaining hair health. Now a lot of calcium is used up by daily wear and tear and one needs to consume adequate calcium-rich foods to replenish lost calcium. Dairy products are excellent sources of calcium. So are grains. Calcium also makes your hair shine and not to forget that it also gives you healthy, stronger bones.
Top 5 Foods for Healthy Hair

Sunday 30 October 2011

IS MUMBAI HAUNTED ??

Haunted Mumbai:Guess which well-known hotel is missing a 13th floor


The Trident Hotel at Nariman Point -- a victim of triskaidekaphobia.
 
You can’t get to the 13th floor of the Trident Hotel at Nariman Point because there isn’t one. In fact, it is not uncommon for skyscrapers in Mumbai’s commercial district -- like Hoechst, Maker Chambers and Atlanta -- to exclude 13 when numbering their floors.

However, urban legends and local superstitions in haunted Mumbai go beyond mere triskaidekaphobia.

Stories of ghosts, unexplained serial suicides, abandoned mills, haunted houses and territorial widows in white saris determined to make people’s lives miserable from the afterlife, populate a large unofficial body of local folklore.

Despite the catalog of gruesome urban legends, Mumbai is a city with its head on its shoulders; a city with too much grit to capitulate to ghost stories
 
Grand Paradi Towers.
No one will ever stop driving down the winding road from the Tower of Silence that offers one of the best views of the city; and the price of an apartment at Grand Paradi will surely frighten a Mumbaiker before any old story about spiteful spirits.



A spate of suicides here makes the luxurious Grand Paradi apartments one of Mumbai most notorious residential  …



Arguably the most famous haunted Mumbai house is situated in one of the city’s most affluent areas.

On the eighth floor of the Grand Paradi Towers in Kemps Corner, a series of freakish suicides drew attention to what appeared to be a gruesome pattern of deaths and accidents in the building.

In 2004 an elderly couple jumped out of the window of this apartment. Their children and their grandchild followed suit within the year.

“There was something unacceptable to our rational minds that a whole family, three generations, living in one house should commit suicide in the same way," says a resident who has lived in the building for 30 years. "There have been up to 20 fatal accidents and suicides since the building was constructed in 1976. Many involving children and even a maid who either jumped or fell out of a window."

After the series of unfortunate events the building society began to believe that paranormal forces were at work.
“After the suicides of the family the building society decided to do a puja and a havan (prayer ceremonies) and since then everything has stopped but the flat remains unoccupied," another resident tell us.



 Sanjay Gandhi National Park

You think this gate could keep the phantom hitchhiker out?


Located on the northern fringes of Mumbai, this large protected area is usually where visitors go in search of wildlife.

There are rumors however, that at night people see a phantom hitchhiker.
Dubious as this sounds, forest guards insist it's true.



 Mukesh Mills

For nearly 30 years the derelict Mukesh Mills was used by film and television crews. It's now making way for a …
 

Shut down in 1980, this enormous abandoned mill in Colaba has been the shooting ground for numerous Bollywood films and advertisements.

Deserted and rundown, Mukesh Mills is a ready-made set for horror films and Gothic shows, especially considering the mills are actually considered to be haunted.

Many directors, actors and producers refuse to work here past sunset.

One television actress claimed to have had a particularly bad experience when one of her female co-stars suddenly began speaking in a manly voice, as if she were possessed, telling the crew to leave the premises immediately.

Others say this haunted Mumbai area is jinxed and people are always losing their belongings, wallets and phones.
Mukesh Mills will soon be demolished and replaced by a new high-rise residential and commercial complex and a five-star hotel.


 Tower of Silence


The Tower of Silence, a Parsi temple near Bombay, circa 1955.
 
 

Sounds ominous doesn’t it? The Tower of Silence is actually a Parsi cemetery situated rather picturesquely on Malabar Hill in South Mumbai.

Custom dictates that Parsis leave the bodies of their dead for vultures to feed on.

The graphic images that come to mind lend themselves to all sorts of horrifying stories.

The winding road that leads down the hill is particularly desolate and eerie at night and the place has become recognized as a kind of ghoulish hangout.
The weird happenings at the Grand Paradi Towers for instance, were blamed on spectral forces emanating from this cemetery.

Sunday 23 October 2011

10 facts about Muammar Gaddafi

 

Libya's deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi was injured and captured by fighters of the Libyan National Transitional Council. Here are some facts about Gaddafi:


 
  1. Muammar Gaddafi was born to a Bedouin herdsman in 1942 in a tent near Sirte on the Mediterranean coast. He abandoned university geography studies for a military career that included a short spell at a British army signals school.

  2. Muammar Gaddafi is the longest-serving leader in both Africa and the Arab world, having ruled Libya since he toppled King Idris I in a bloodless coup at the age of 27.

  3. Muammar Gaddafi embraced the pan-Arabism and tried without success to merge Libya, Egypt and Syria into a federation. A similar attempt by him to join Libya and Tunisia also ended in acrimony.

  4. In 1977 he changed the country's name to the Great Socialist Popular Libyan Arab Jamahiriyah (State of the Masses) and allowed people to air their views at people's congresses

  5. Gaddafi was shunned internationally because the West accused him of terrorism, abandoned his programme of prohibited weapons in 2003 to return Libya into international mainstream politics

  6. UN sanctions, imposed in 1992 to pressure Tripoli to hand over two Libyan suspects for trial for the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing over Scotland, crippled oil-rich Libya's economy, dampened Gaddafi's revolutionary spirit and took the sting out of his anti-capitalist, anti-Western rhetoric.

  7. In September 2004, US President George W. Bush formally ended a trade embargo as a result of Gaddafi's scrapping of the arms programme and taking responsibility for Lockerbie.

  8. In August 2006, Gaddafi made a series of speeches scolding his nation for over-reliance on petroleum, foreigners and imports and telling them to start making things people need.

  9. Gaddafi said in an interview that he feared the change of power in Tunisia was being exploited by foreign intervention

  10. He also denied that he had invited deposed Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to Libya. In a speech soon after Ben Ali's departure, Gaddafi said he was "pained" by the violent events in Tunisia, that people there had been too hasty in pushing Ben Ali out and that blood might have been shed unnecessarily.

Saturday 22 October 2011

Five Great Android Apps for Indian Users


Five Great Android Apps for Indian Users
Guess what are making waves among the tech junkies these days? The myriad apps available for platforms like Android, BlackBerry, iPhone etc.
Out of these, Android is gathering steam like anything. Its popularity is soaring over Ios andAndroid Market is flooded with apps.
Below we discuss five great 'desi' apps for Indian users and they're totally free!
Five Great Android Apps for Indian Users

Indian Railways App

This easy-to-use app is designed to make the lives of rail passengers a little less tough. Users can search for trains, look up seat availability, check PNR status, inquire about fares and do all other things which can help them plan a good journey.
Five Great Android Apps for Indian Users

BookMy Show App

This app lets you browse for movies in the theatres in your area and then you can book directlythrough your phone. You can also search through listings for plays and other events. Currently, you can only book for movies and plays and other events will follow soon.
Five Great Android Apps for Indian Users

India Newspapers

This app is your key to unlocking the world of news. It allows you to read newspapers, magazines and news sites from India. The app offers great deal of customization. You can add and delete newspapers/magazines and share news stories with your friends. It also allows access to regional newspapers.
Five Great Android Apps for Indian Users

PaniniKeypad Hindi IME

Amazing app for all those who need to type in Hindi or love typing in Hindi. It also supports a number of other Indian languages.You can switch to the keypad by long-pressing the text input area and then selecting the input method.
Five Great Android Apps for Indian Users

Moneycontrol Market on Mobile

The official app for moneycontrol.com, India's leading portal of finance and stock market and other money matters. One of the best apps to stay updated with what's happening in the stock market. You can get the latest quotes of all the stocks and access other market-related news and advice from experts.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT WINES




You have always  wondered if your red wine would go well with tandoori chicken and if storing it after uncorking the bottle is a good idea. Craig Wedge, renowned wine connoisseur who is visiting at Renaissance Hotel, Mumbai bursts some myths.


Excerpts from the interview:
Why are so many red wines oak-aged?
Oak maturation happens in red wine 95% of the time and there is no partiality when it comes to country, region or variety of red grape.  It is a tool of the wine maker, and the key influences of oak such as colour, flavour, tannins and the texture of the wine, are dependent upon the winemakers use of the oak and the coveted finished product. I further suggest a distinction between the term maturation and aging. Term maturation used for the changes during bulk storage (oak Barrel) and aging used for the changes during bottle storage.

What's the difference between 'New World' and 'Old World'

Old World wine refers primarily to wine made in Europe but can also include other regions of the Mediterranean basin with long histories of winemaking such as North Africa and the Near East. The phrase is often used in contrast to "New World wine" which refers primarily to wines from New World wine regions such as the United States, Australia, South America and South Africa.


How long will the wine keep after it is opened?
Wine should be consumed within 3 -4 days after the bottle has been opened. Once a bottle of wine is opened, the oxygen in the air starts a process that initially softens the flavours and opens up the aromas of the wine. As this process (oxidation) continues over many hours and days, the wine is ultimately made undrinkable.

What kind of wines improve with age?

The ability of a wine to age is influenced by many factors including grape variety, vintage, viticulture practices, wine region and winemaking style. The condition that the wine is kept in after bottling can also influence how well a wine ages and may require significant time and financial investment.
As a general rule of thumb, the following is the ideal guide.


Chardonnay (2—6 yrs)
Riesling (2—30 yrs)
Cabernet Sauvignon (4—20 yrs)
Merlot (2—10 yrs)
Barolo (4—20 yrs)
Chianti Classico (2—8 yrs)
Syrah (4—16 yrs)
Classified Bordeaux (8—25 yrs)
Grand Cru Burgundy (8—25 yrs)




Which wine goes best with Indian food?
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to food and wine marriage. I would suggest keeping your eyes and ears open and always be flexible when it comes to trying new things. As a great starting place, I would suggest for whites a Chenin Blanc from India's newest sensation Fratelli Wines, or a Chardonnay from Chile's Vina Caliterra. As far as reds go, the MTB Malbec from the Argentine producer Costaflores is a fabulous accompaniment to a spicy curry.

Does wine taste different depending on the glass it's served in?

Indeed it does. The shape and volume of the bowl, the width of the opening, the weight of the glass and the edge of the rim, all have an impact on the aroma profile and flavour components and the subsequent overall perception of the variety of wine being drunk.

What food goes best with red and white wine respectively?

The days of red wine with meat and white with fish have happily disappeared. The gloves are off so to speak and the world of food and wine is waiting. Try everything with anything. Sometimes it will work, other times it will fail miserably, but I have to tell you that it is the journey that is important, not the destination. And It can be so much fun.

What does it mean when a wine is sweet or dry?
Dry and Sweet wines are determined by the level of residual sugar left in wine after it has fermented. Other factors such as acidity, tannins and alcohol will affect the perception of what is sweet and what is dry.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

THE WORLD'S LARGEST CRUISE SHIP




                     Allure of the Seas



She’s the newest addition to the Royal Caribbean fleet and the world’s largest cruise ship. With 2,700 rooms spanning 16 decks, the Allure of the Seas is like a miniature city, travelling from Fort Lauderdale to the Carribbean at a comfortable 22 knots. Oh and there’s a Starbucks on board…
Below you will find a collection of images and jaw-dropping statistics in an attempt to put this behemoth into perspective. Enjoy!


THE ALLURE OF THE SEAS

- 225,282 Gross Registered Tonnes
- 1,187 feet (360 meters) long, 208 feet (64 meters) wide and 213 feet (65 meters) high from the water line
- 30 feet (9.1 meters) draft
- 22 knots cruising speed
- 16 passenger decks and 24 passenger elevators
- 4 bow thrusters with 7,500 horse power each
- 5,400 guests (double occupancy) 6,296 guests total, 2,384 crew (From apprx. 80 countries)

Staterooms


- Total: 2,706, Balcony: 1,956, Outside: 254, Interior: 496
- Staterooms with additional berths: 683
- Wheelchair accessible staterooms: 46


A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE

- Standing upright at 1,187 feet tall, Allure of the Seas is 124 feet taller than the Eiffel Tower.
- Allure of the Seas’ length is approximately equal to three and half regulation size soccer/football fields
- Allure of the Seas is 5.11 times longer than a Boeing 747 Jetliner
- Allure of the Seas was constructed out of 500,000 individual parts
- 158,503 gallons of paint was used
- The electrical cables onboard Allure of the Seas would stretch approximately the distance from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to Juneau, Alaska


ENVIRONMENTAL

- Oasis of the Seas is the first cruise ship to have achieved DNV (Det Norske Veritas) Green Passport designation. This is an important part of the voluntary Clean Ship Design certification
- Advanced Wastewater Purification System – Oasis of the Seas was awarded the first Clean Sea Award by NorShipping, thanks to an Advanced Wastewater Purification System, which was designed to be twice as stringent as U.S. Federal standards for in-port wastewater discharge
- Everything and anything that can be recycled, is recycled onboard Oasis of the Seas. The ship boasts state-of the art facilities, complete with shredders, bailers and compactors, as well as crushers for glass, light bulbs, tin and aluminum In addition, Oasis houses the largest cold storage room on any ship in the world to safely store all recyclables, special/hazardous waste, cooking oil, solvents, incinerator ash, etc.

- The coating on Oasis of the Seas’ hull was made of non-toxic, technologically advanced materials that reduce hull resistance, thereby increasing fuel efficiency


ALL INFORMATION COURTESY OF ALLUREOFTHESEAS