Books Review - Eleven Minutes

Eleven Minutes is a novel by Paulo Coelho based on the expleriences of a young Brazilian prostitute called Maria. This novel was published in 2003. Maria a girl from  a village of Brazhil, with innocent brushed with love failures at an early adolescent stage and  hatred for love goes to seek her fortune in Switzerland, only to find that reality is a lot harder than she expected. After working in a nightclub as a samba dancer for a brief period, she realizes that this is not what she wants. After a heated discussion with her manager one night, she storms out and begins to look for a career in modeling. After a long unsuccessful search for a position in that field, and as she starts running out of money, she engages herself for 1000 francs for "one night" with an Arab man. Delighted with the easy money and after compromising with her soul she lands in a brothel on Rue De Berne the heart of Geneva’s  red light district.

There she befriends Nyah who gives her advice on her "new profession" and after learning the tricks of the trade from Milan, the brothel owner, she enters the job with her body and mind shutting all doors for love and keeps her heart open only for her diary. Quickly she becomes quite successful and famous and her colleagues begin to envy her. Months pass and Maria grows into a professionally groomed prostitute who not only relaxes her clients' mind, but also calms their soul by talking to them about their problems. Her world turns upside down when she meets Ralf, a young Swiss painter, who sees her "inner light". Maria falls in love with him immediately and begins to experience what true love is (according to the author, it is a sense of being for someone without actually possessing him). Maria is now torn between her sexual fantasies and true love for Ralf. Eventually she decides that it is time for her to leave Geneva with her memory of Ralf, because she realizes that they are worlds apart. But before leaving, she decides to rekindle the dead sexual fire in Ralf and learns from him about the nature of Sacred Sex, sex which is mingled with true love and which involves the giving up of one's soul for the loved one.

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Books Review - Love In The Time Of Cholera

Love in the time of Cholera is a novel by Nobel Prize winning Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez., first published in the Spanish language during 1985. Alfred A, Knopf published the English translation during 1988. An English language move adaptation was released during 2007.

The main character of the novel is Florentino Ariza and the main female character is Fermina Daza. She becomes enamoured with him during their youth but is forced to stop meeting him by her father. Eventually she weds Juvenal Urbino at the age of 21 (the "deadline" she had set for herself) because he seemed to offer her security and love. Urbino is a medical doctor devoted to science, modernity, and "order and progress." He is committed to the eradication of cholera and to the promotion of public works. He is a rational man whose life is organized precisely and who values his importance and reputation in society to the utmost. He is a herald of progress and modernization. Urbino's function in the novel is to provide the counterpoint to Florentino Ariza’s archaic, boldly romantic love. Urbino proves in the end not to have been an entirely faithful husband, confessing one affair to Fermina many years into their marriage. Though the novel seems to suggest that Urbino's love for Fermina was never as spiritually chaste as Florentino Ariza's was, it also complicates Florentino's devotion by cataloging his many trysts and apparently a few, possibly genuine, loves. By the end of the book, Fermina comes to recognize Ariza's wisdom and maturity and their love is allowed to blossom during their old age. For most of their adult lives, however, their communication is limited to occasional public niceties.

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Business News - 'Stock market may see profit booking

ndian stock indices which posted their first weekly fall this year may see some more profit booking in the coming days on renewed worries over rising global oil prices, say analystsHigher oil prices hit investor sentiment as it could weigh heavily on inflation, and hold RBI from lowering lending rates, marketmen said. Brent crude touched 9-month high of over USD 124 a barrel. "Stock market can see some more selling pressure this week as rising global crude oil prices raises concerns that the RBI may not go for a rate cut," Geojit BNP Paribas Research Head Alex Matthews said. The markets might go into some consolidation for sometime before moving up and the correction that has started after a strong rally in the last few weeks should be used by investors as buying opportunity, analysts said. Weighed down by profit taking, the BSE benchmark Sensex broke 7-week winning spree, tumbling 366 points to finish below the 18,000 mark in view of concerns over rising crude oil prices and higher fiscal deficit.
The Indian stock markets have been attracting lot of FII inflows during the last few weeks.

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Education News - AStudent can inspect evaluated answer sheet: Apex court

The supreme Court held that students have the right to inspect and photocopy their answer sheets after their evaluation under the Rights To Information (RTI) Act.The apex court pronounced its verdict saying that evaluated answer sheets come under the definition of “information” and reiterated the duty of the public authority under the transparency law to allow maximum disclosure as envisaged by the RTI Act.
In 2006, when he sat for the first part of degree examination he secured 52 percent marks. In the second year he got 208 out of 400 marks and got just 28 marks out of 100 in fifth papers. Upon seeking re-evaluation, his marks increased by four in the fifth paper.He contended that his poor marks stood in the way of his getting admission in post-graduation course and applied to inspect his mark sheet under the RTI law which was rejectedThe university said that the answer sheets of an examinee cannot be shared. The high court over-ruled it. The order was challenged in apex court by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, among others.

The case reached the apex court from high court which by its March 28, 2008, judgment permitted a student, Pritam Rooj, to inspect his answer sheets. Rooj was a student of mathematics in the Presidency College.

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Health News - WHO Removed India From Polio Endemic List

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the World Health Organization (WHO) has removed India from the list of polio endemic countries. He announced this at the Polio summit 2012 held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi Saturday.The summit had Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also in attendance. "WHO has taken India's name off the list of polio endemic countries in view of the remarkable progress that we have made during the past one year," Azad said. The heath minister also disclosed that from 2 lakh polio cases a year, the country has recorded not a single polio case in the past one year. 

"We have won the battle but the war is not yet over. Let us continue our efforts with the same vigor, so that India can be declared polio free in the year 2014," Azad said.
The health minister also said that the ministry has put in place an emergency preparedness and response plan which would be implemented in all states in the country. 

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IT News - Toshiba and SanDisk shrink 128Gbit memory chips

Toshiba said Thursday it has shrunk the size of its 128Gbit NAND flash memory chips, in the race to bring more and tinier storage to products like USB storage and memory cards.

Together with partner SanDisk, the company said it is shipping the world's smallest 128Gbit memory chip, with an area of 170 square millimeters. The chip uses a 19-nanometer technology process, one step smaller than a 20-nanometer chip announced by Intel and Micron in December.

NAND flash memory, which holds data even when not powered, is used for storage in smartphones, music players, and increasingly in super-thin laptops such as Apple's MacBook Air and Intel-powered ultrabooks. Smaller chip sizes allow for smaller devices, but also drive down overall prices by allowing them to be more efficiently produced and forcing less advanced manufacturers to cut prices.

Toshiba's newest chip uses a storage method called three bits per cell, which is more efficient but less reliable than two bits per cell, meaning it is likely be used initially in products like memory sticks and cards. A cell is a single unit of storage on a chip.

Toshiba, which is a major supplier to well-known companies like Apple, said it began mass production of the new chip this month.

Toshiba and SanDisk share research and development and jointly invest in manufacturing.

The two companies are in a race with rivals such as Intel, which partners with Micron Technology, and with Samsung to continuously crank out smaller chips, a battle that requires massive spending on production equipment.

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Kollywood - Upcoming Movie Ambuli Trailer 3D

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