Saaz – the songs

I put my iPod in shuffle mode today and came across this extremely uplifting Hindi song sung by the Pandit Suresh Wadkar from the film Saaz (1997). Watch, listen and enjoy!

And if that wasn't enough for you (wasn't for me!) Here’s the female version of the same song sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy

Other songs from the same film – almost all of them have been sung by Kavita Krishnamurthy

• Raat Dhalne Lagi
• Nindiya Hai Sapna Hai
• Kya Tumne Keh Diya (Music by and starring Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain)

The man who tried to kill Hitler

I first wrote about the movie based on the actions of Col. Stauffenberg, the man who unsuccessfully tried to assassinate Hitler, way back in 2007 (see original post). The movie – Valkyrie was released in 2008 and stars Tom Cruise (as Col. Stauffenberg), Kenneth Branagh (as Maj. Gen. Tresckow) and Bill Nighy (as Gen. Friedrich Olbricht) among others.

Today I managed to finally  watch the movie  after much delay. And I must say that it was certainly worth the wait! Although I feel there could have been better actors to play the role of Col. Stauffenberg, Tom Cruise has put in a decent performance. The rest of the cast is just marvellous. What struck me the most was the feeling of being able to look back in time, at the sights and sounds of the then Nazi Germany.

What moved me in particular was the actual story. I don’t know how faithful it is to the original, but it has been put in quite a gripping fashion. The name of the film is drawn from Operation Valkyrie (Unternehmen Walküre in German) – an emergency plan to ensure continuity of government operation developed by the German territorial army. This plan is central to the story behind the film.

The fact that Hitler survived this plot is general knowledge. But I found the story gripping enough to make me forget that until almost the very end. I couldn't help but finish watching this movie with a sense of admiration for the conviction of the leading characters.

Another highlight of this movie was the background scores. My favourite is the title track named  “They’ll remember you” by John Ottmann.

For those who enjoy watching historical war-time dramas, this movie comes highly recommended – from me.

See also: Valkyrie – the Norse legend.

Image Credits: Wikipedia.org

Can a NRI vote in the Indian Elections?

I was looking at a news article about Indian elections and the thought suddenly popped into my mind – can any NRI (short for Non-resident Indian) cast his or her vote living outside the country?

Strangely, I could not find a single website run by the Indian government that could answer this question (please let me know if you do!). So I turned to my attention to Wikipedia and found the answer there:

As of now, India does not have an absentee ballot system. Section 19 of The Representation of the People Act (RPA)-1950 allows a person to register to vote if he or she is above 18 years of age and is an ‘ordinary resident’ of the residing constituency i.e. living at the current address for 6 months or longer. Section 20 of the above Act disqualifies a non-resident Indian (NRI) from getting his/her name registered in the electoral rolls. Consequently, it also prevents an NRI from casting his/her vote in elections to the Parliament and to the State Legislatures.

The Representation of the People (Amendment) 2006 Bill was introduced in the Parliament by Shri Hanraj Bharadwaj, Minister of Law and Justice during February 2006 with an objective to amend Section 20 of the RPA-1950 to enable NRIs to vote. Despite the report submitted by the Parliamentary Standing Committee two years ago, the Government has so far failed to act on the recommendations. The Bill was reintroduced in the 2008 budget session of the Parliament to the Lok Sabha. But no action taken once again.

Source Article: Absentee voting in the Indian elections

So, in a nutshell, until section 20 of the RPA (see above) is amended – the answer to my question is – NO.

Video of the week

A wonderful song that features in my top 10 favourites of all times

Security Issue with Lycatalk

Lycatalk is a popular international calling service offering calls to different countries at a competitive rate. I have been a fairly newish but a happy customer – so far.

But today morning I was on the phone with their customer services and was going through the usual identity checks. I was quite surprised to hear the support person ask me to verify my account password! When i asked him whether he could see my account password, he replied he could (!?!). He was actually able to confirm my correct password for me?

Now, given the fact that most people tend to have the same password for almost all their accounts, it is very disturbing to know that someone can see you account password AND have access to the rest of your personal details such as address, card numbers, etc.

This is also generally against standard security practices. Thinking for the worse, what is to stop a rogue/ex employee using your details on just about any other popular services like Gmail, facebook and even your bank? I will leave the possible consequences to your imagination :-(

Here are a few suggestions for fellow Lycatalk customers:

1. IMMEDIATE: Please change your Lycatalk password to something that is NOT associated with other accounts.
2. Consider dropping Lycatalk an email complaining against this situation (i am still trying to find out an email id to do this, the only one I have at present is -- info@Lycatel.com)
3. When asked for the account password, REFUSE to provide this and ask to be authenticated using alternative means (Cardinal rule of phone-based support - NEVER provide your password to anyone else - EVEN the service provider employees).
4. If none of the above works, consider switching (anyone has any possible alternatives?)

At the time of writing this post, I have yet to speak to anyone else from Lycatalk or email them about this matter. The last person I have spoken to has been the customer support agent today.