Friday, May 26, 2006

Don't aid spam...beware of the hoaxes!!!

Hello friends,

Some of you might have received my personal emails... informing u about the orkut hoax.. or some related hoaxes. Here I am putting up some common hoaxes / spam chain mails floating on the web, so if you get any such kind of emails.. plz. delete and ignore them instead of sending them to everbody or atleast 12 people or some related kind of crap. Below are listed some common hoaxes that I frequently see. Plz. dont believe these mails.. be rest assured that nothing untoward will happen just because u didnt forward some god's photo to 12 person.. a girl with some rare heart disease who is 5 years for the last 5 years will not be saved if you forward the mail .. u will get no free cellphone or dollars from microsoft.. ur orkut or yahoo account will not be deleted.. the list goes on.. I've tried to list below the format of common ones... readers are also encouraged to visit http://www.hoax-slayer.com/ for the latest scams and hoaxes.. thanks!!!

1. Orkut Deleting your account

------------------------------------------------
Important

Dear user because of sudden rush of people signing upto orkut is come

to an attention that we are vastly running out of resources so with in

a week any one who does not receive this scrap will be deleted of our

server . We know that you are still using this account We

want to find out which users are actually using their orkut accounts so

if you are using your then please send this scrap to every orkut user

that you can if u do not pass this scrap to anyone then we will delete

your account

Just follow these simple steps.
1. Click on the "Messages Tab" in your account.
2. Click on the "compose mail" option which is the last
one of the four icons you see together.
3. Select "all friends"
4. Cut and Paste this mail
5. Send it........

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2. Rohypnol drug and permanent female infertility
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A woman at a Gas nightclub (Mumbai) on Saturday night
was taken by 5 men,Who according to hospital and
police reports, gang raped her before

Dumping her at Bandstand Mumbai. Unable to remember
the events of the evening, tests later confirmed the
repeat rapes along with traces of rohypnol
http://www.4woman.gov/faq/rohypnol.htm in her
blood.

Rohypnol, date rape drug is an essentially a small
sterilization pill.

The drug is now being used by rapists at parties to
rape AND sterilize their victims. All they have to do
is drop it into the girl's drink. The girl can't
remember a thing the next morning, of all that had
Taken place the night before. Rohypnol, which
dissolves in drinks just as easily, is such that the
victim doesn't conceive from the rape and the rapist
needn't worry about having a paternity test
identifying him months later.

The Drug's affects ARE NOT TEMPORARY - they are
PERMANENT. Any female that takes it WILL NEVER BE
ABLE TO CONCEIVE. The weasels can get this drug from
anyone who is in the vet school or any university.
it's that easy, and Rohypnol is about to break out big

on campuses everywhere.

Believe it or not, there are even sites on the
Internet telling people how to use it. Please forward
this to everyone you know, especially girls.

Girls, becareful when you're out and don't leave your
drink unattended.

(added - Buy your own drinks, ensure bottles or cans

received are Unopened or sealed; don't even taste
someone else's drink)

There was already been a report in Singapore of girls
drink been Spiked by Rohypnol.

Please make the effort to forward this to everyone you

know.

For guys - Pls inform all your female friends and
relatives.

"Your life is God's gift to you. What you do for
others is your gift to God" I had been forwarded this
mail you SHOULD do the same
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3. Some rare mail / file with rare virus.. which will completely destroy ur C drive
--------------------------------------------------
Please be extremely careful especially if using internet mail such as Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and so on. This information arrived this morning from Microsoft and Norton. Please send it to everybody you know who accesses the Internet. You may receive an apparently harmless email with a Power Point presentation " Life is beautiful. pps ". If you receive it DO NOT OPEN THE FILE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES , and delete it immediately. if you open this file, a message will appear on your screen saying: " It is too late now, your life is no longer beautiful ", subsequently you will LOSE EVERYTHING IN YOUR PC and the person who sent it to you gain access to your name, e-mail and password. This is a new virus ! which started to circulate on Saturday afternoon WE NEED TO DO EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO STOP THIS VIRUS. AOL has already confirmed the severity, and the antivirus Software's are not capable of destroying it. The virus has been created by a hacker who calls himself " life owner ". PLEASE MAKE A COPY OF THIS EMAIL TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS and PASS IT ON IMMEDIATELY.
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4. A Rare God photo u need to send to atleast 12 people
--------------------------------------------------
I forgot the exact structure. .but its something like u will see a rare pic and are requested to send it to atleast 12 or some other number of people.. else something bad will happen to you.
--------------------------------------------------

5. Money from Microsoft
--------------------------------------------------
From: Sankhala, Suresh Singh
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 12:48 PM
Subject:
UK Requirement

Dear Friends,
Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates is sharing his fortune. If you ignore this you will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test.

When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period.

For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00, for every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, you will be paid $241.00. Within two week! s, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a cheque.

Regards.
Charles S. Bailey
General Manager Field Operations
1-800-842-2332 Ext. 1085 or 904-245-1085 or RNX 292-1085

Charles_Bailey@csx.com
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Well the list could go on... but i think its intuitive as well.. so I'd request the readers to think a little before intentionally or unintentionally spamming ur friends.

thanks a lot!
-Vinod

Monday, May 08, 2006

Memoirs of a vaishya... (oops Geisha!)

This is a post long due... and might have lost its significance with a significant passage of time since the release of the movie... anyways, guess I'll give it a try and vent out some of my feelings and reactions!!!
Needless to say... the movie was well picturized and typecasted... had beautiful and artistic cinematography.. a bit different from the tastes of characterisitic bollywood cinema but still good. Of course, those who have seen might agree and the critiques might differ!
The definition of 'geisha' as stated in Merriam Webster online dictionary says "a Japanese girl or woman who is trained to provide entertaining and lighthearted company especially for a man or a group of men".. however those who have seen the movie know that this was not the case .. and this prompted me to write this piece.
We can draw similar parallel in the Indian society .. where there were women were supposed to entertain men in a gathering... (particularly, "tawaif" who were supposed to earn patronage and support by practise their art and not by prostituting themselves) .. however, whats supposed to be and whats true are different!
Interestingly, strikingly similar is the case with 'Geishas' who though supposed to practice art.. but occasionally are forced to do prostitution to eke out a living.
Now, a few doubts arise in my mind... one how is the situation in the two cases (there may be more in other societies which i am not aware of) similar.. is it because of a traditional male dominant society with the women being dependent for their needs and livelihood .. and being treated as material entities by the society? Secondly, parallels need to be cited in other societies .. otherwise it could mean a negative portrayal of Asian / mid-east / oriental cultures :-) .. and finally how come the names "vaishya" and "geisha" sound similar .. any more connection than a figure of speech?

P.S. Comments invited... and the movie is worth seeing!

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

A pillar collapsed...

Shocking as was the news of Pramod Mahajan being shot by his brother... it is distressing to know that Pramod Mahajan has unfortunately succumbed to bullet injuries... and India has lost a prominent politician.
Prominent figures and personalities may be granted a high grade security but who would suspect the evil snakes amongst the family?
Enraged!
-Vinod