Best and Worst of India 2008!

Here is a wrap of the best and worst of 2008:

1. Best Indian achievement in sports: Abhinav Bindra became the first Indian to win an individual gold medal at the Olympic games.

2. Best entertainment of the year: IPL matches (Twenty 20) matches kicked off in India. Aired in Set Max, it was the most watched TV event 2008. Indian premiere league matches commenced on April 18 2008 and culminated on June 1, 2008. The most unexpected team or the under-dog Rajasthan Royal won the IPL series under the captaincy of Shane Warne.

3. Worst natural disaster in India: The 2008 Bihar flood is the worst flood in the history of Bihar. It happened due to a breach in the Kosi embankment near Indo-Nepal border (at a place called Kusha in Nepal) on 18th August 2008. The river changed its course and t he flood affected over 2.3 million people in the northern part of the state of Bihar.

4. Worst man made disaster in India: The terror attack on 26/11 in Mumbai is supposed to be the worst terror attack in India, second only to 9/11. Terrorists from Pakistan attacked Mumbai CST, took siege of Taj hotel and Trident-Oberoi hotel from 11 pm 26th November 2008. Brave NSG commandoes came to rescue and gunned down all terrorists by 30th November' 2008. About 250 lives were lost in the terror attacks with many injured, and property worth 700 crores were destroyed.

5. Best movie of 2008: Ghajini, the Aamir Khan starrer proved to be the biggest hit of 2008. Ghajini is the only movie with the best advanced booking, running to packed houses in the history of Bollywood.

6. Best actor and actress of 2008: Aamir Khan's brilliant performance in Ghajini and Priyanka Chopra in Fashion.

7. Most watched TV reality show : The mother of all reality shows, Bigg Boss kicked off on August 17 th 2008 and ended on November 22' 2008. The high point of the show when Rahul Mahajan, Zulfi Syed, Raja Choudhary and Ashutosh Kaushik-the finalists, ran away from the house to search for food outside. Rahul later quit from the show. Eventually, Ashutosh Kaushik won the show.

8. Most watched TV channel: Colors Channel, replaced Star plus as the most watched channel. It kicked off with the dare devil game show for women: Khatron Ke Khiladi. Close on the heels was the widely watched Bigg Boss. Colors channels also had a good line up of serials like Balika Vadhu, Utran, Jaane Kya Baath Hui, Jai Shri Krishna and Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina. The channel is still going strong with innovative shows like Dancing Queen and Chotey Miya. The year 2008 also show two of the flagship Starplus serials, Kyunki Saans Bhi Bahu Thi and Kahan Ghar Ghar Ki, making an unceremonious exit.

9. Worst crime 2008: Arushi murder case was probably the worst murder case in the sense that it intrigued the police for months. On May 16, 2008, Arushi a 14 year old girl was found murdered with her throat slit her parents' home at Jalvayu Vihar in Noida, a posh suburb of Delhi. Her servant Hemraj who was initially suspected by the police was also found murdered on the terrace of her building. A disorganized, confused investigation by the Noida Police led to the arrest of Arushi's dentist father Rajesh Talwar. Rajesh's wife Dr. Nupur Talwar protested that her husband was frame and requested the UP government to transfer the case to CBI. The team finally arrested accused Krishna, Rajkumar and Vijay Mandal in connection with the murdered and absolved Rajesh Talwar of the murder charge. On August 9 2008, CBI director Ashwani Kumar said that the case is still unsolved, as many important corroborative pieces of evidence yet to be found. This was one murder case which was played to the top by the media and police; both whom were later blamed to giving hasty conclusion and indulging in character assassination of the slain Arushi and her father.

10. Best author of the year 2008: Booker Prize Winner Aravind Adiga made India proud as he became the Booker Prize Winner for his interesting book-The White Tiger.

11. Best achievement in the field of modelling, 2008: Parvathi Omanakuttan won the Miss World Runner Up Prize, at Johannesburg, South Africa on December 13, 2008.

12. Best advertisement of the year 2008: Max New York Life Insurance Company advertisement that has a newly married couple asking their toddler to say "banana" and "Czechoslovakia" became house-hold name.

13. Best achievement in the world of technology:Chandrayaan 1, India's first mission to the moon launched by India's national space agency the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh at 06:22 IST (00:52 UTC).The vehicle was successfully inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.

Is 26 as an unlucky number for India? How terrorists make use of dates 13 and 26

We aint superstitious but planned or unplanned the number or date 26 seems to be unlucky for India. A lot of natural disasters and man made disasters have stuck India on the 26th of various months.


Gujarat Earthquake: 26th January 2001
Tsunami :26th December '2004
Mumbai Rains: July 26' 2005
Guwahati Blasts: May 26, 2007,
Ahmedabad blasts: September 26' 2008

There also seems to be a pattern on which terrorists attacks...the 13, 26 pattern. The Jaipur blasts was on May 13' 2006, then there was a gap of one month and the next bomb blast strike was in Ahmedabad on July 26. There was a gap on the month of August and there again there were blasts on September 13, followed by a gap in the month of October. November 26 witnessed terror attacks in Mumbai. So one can see a 13_26_13 pattern, leaving a gap each month. So, the security should not take any chances on January 13' 2009

City advocate to defend Ajmal Kasab

Arrested Pakistani terorist Mohammad Ajmal Kasab will be getting a lawyer to represent him in the next three days. K B N Lam, a Mumbai advocate who has been a a barrister at London's famous Lincoln's Inn and currently teaches law at Government Law College, Mumbai has moved in an application, showing his willingness to take Kasab's case. Lam says, " every accused has the rightto legal representation. It is not for the people or the police to decide who is guilty as it is the court's job. " Lam says that he has no sympathy for the terrorists who attacked Mumbai but he still felt that Kasab had to be "treated humanely in accordance with the tenets of our society".
He further says "There is no point in beating a man half-dead, no matter what his crime is." He adds that he will also explore if there is any possibility of allowing Kasab's family in Pakistan to come down and meet him. Lam has an impressive record of teaching mathematics and econometrics at the London School of Economics for six years.