Our very own rollicking MB Mumbai author, Ideasmith was recently featured in a Hindustan Times special on Women Bloggers.

Click here to see the full image and read the text.

Way to go Ideasmith. You rock baby !!

Jeffrey Archer on Landmark tour!

..proclaims a hoarding on Andheri Link Road a few feet before Infiniti Mall which houses the Landmark store. The lower two floors look fairly sane, I think to myself as far as weekdays go. Even the second floor which looms into sight as the escalator rides up looks remarkably normal. Then I notice the mountain of bags lying at the entrance. And I’m stopped by the polite but firm female guard who shakes her head almost sorrowfully and tells me that I cannot carry my battered copy of As the Crow Flies in.

I push my way past the jewelery counter, the New Releases rack and past the music section. Voila!! What’s a celebrity without the crowd? Archer has succeeded in drawing the mob to the store on a weekday. It’s so crowded that people are stepping on each other’s toes even among the magazines racks that signal the start of that heaven that is Landmark’s book section.

I slither through the crowd in a manner perfected by years of Mumbai train travel and end up right at the back, smushed up against Movies while Jeffrey Archer regales a crowd from a stage in what is otherwise the aisle between Maps and Language.

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With the world celebrating Mother’s Day this weekend I realised that the dynamics of motherhood has taken a huge leap. Today Mothers are no more those who are stuck up in the kichen in front of the hot stove cooking sumtious meals for their family, its the age of hot mama/mom in bikinis.

Gone are the days when moms looked like moms. Now its mom who look like their kids elder siblings. Tube tops, off shoulders, capris, backless are the latest fashion trends for the moms in the city. So on this Mothers Day lets meet some of the hottest moms who have flaunted themselves in many front pages.

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Mumbaikars are always in a hurry and are constantly running for something. Weather it is catch the 8.40am local or the BEST, to reach the office on time, to catch a rick, or simply just to escape the peak hour traffic jam and reach home early. This weekend the city will run but this time it will be for a cause. With all the daily running, Marathon seems like a cakewalk. It’s the Marathon Weekend.

Yes around 30,000 runners, including 40 of the world’s 100 top athletes, will be participating in the fifth Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, on Sunday. Thousands of Mumbai residents will line the over 20-km-long route from CST to Bandra Reclamation to see these super shuttles run.

The stars of the tinsel town, the biggies of the business world and also the highly sophisticated, prim and proper socialites will also be sighted running a pace or two. And I suppose that will be just enough for the media coverage. But can’t deny the fact that their brief presence will surely motivate the other runners.

Last year, the marathon raised almost Rs80 million for various charities involving 150 NGOs. This year, the organizers hope to raise almost Rs100 million. The Mumbai Marathon, which is the richest marathon in Asia and also features among the top ten marathons in the world, has emerged as the single largest charity event in India.
This year, the prize money has been raised by $10,000 to $240,000.

The Mumbai marathon includes five categories: the full marathon (42.195 km), the half marathon (21.097 km), the dream run (six-km), the senior citizens run (4.3-km), and the wheelchair event (2.5-km).
Did you know that our city has some professional marathon runners? Well I never had a clue so until I came across this website; click here to read his blog. I also read somewhere that there are some very senior citizen runners (90+ yrs old) too. The city never ceases to amaze me and this is one of the reason I love this city.

The dream runners will include celebrities like John Abraham, Vivek Oberoi, Rahul Bose and Suchitra Krishnamurthy (all Bollywood actors) and Revathy Menon, Madhavan, Khushboo and Rohini (from the celluloid world of the south).

So Are you ready to run ?

PS: Don’t forget your running your shoes :D

Cricketer Yuvraj was presented with the 911 Porsche by BCCI Vice-President Lalit Modi following his six sixers in the T20 and will now drive this car. Hence his Emerald Gold 2001Honda City (CH03-E0907) is up for grabs on eBay to the highest bidder. The bid started on October 15 at 7:45 pm and will end on October 25 at the same time. The money

The starting price is Rs 10,000. Proceeds from the sale will go to the NGO Bharmour Development Agency working towards the development of tribals in Himachal Pradesh. The key handing function will be held in Chandigarh or Gurgaon in November. Yuvraj will hand over the car himself.

So all you fans of Yuvraj can go online and start bidding. Good Luck ! Did I mention that the money recvd from selling this car will be donated to charity? Keep it up Yuvi Boy.

On the other hand MTDC has pulled out a cheap stunt. They are offering tourists a drive in the bus that carried the T20 world champions from the airport to Wankhede stadium. MAHARASHTRA Tourism Development Corporation Ltd (MTDC) is trying to cash in on the T20 cricket fever and has offered tourists a drive in the bus that carried the T20 world champions from the airport to the Wankhede stadium.

Nilambari and Vibhavari, the two buses will make round trips from The Oberoi Hotel and tourists can be a part of the historical bus for Rs 90. They can also book this bus for any occasion they wish to celebrate. MTDC inaugurated the services on October 13 and clims to have recieved a big reponse on Saturday when India took on Australia in the T20 match at the Brabourne Stadium.
I mean common yaar its not like the men in blue toured in this bus for a entire series / career. It was just a couple of hrs and who would want to spend 90 bucks just because the men in blue sat on the very same seats for a couple of mintues. ( I say this cause half the time the team was standing and waving to people on the roof of the bus) .

Content courtesy – Mid-day

One of the most popular dance reality shows on television, Nach Baliye 3 will hit the screens on Star Plus today at 8pm .
Though the judges have not been announced yet, Subhash Ghai, Ishaa Koppikar and choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant are likely to be roped in.
Let us take a look at the 10 couples in the show:

Rakhi Sawant and Abhishek Awasthi
Rakhi and Abhishek first met on the sets of a shoot and later, during gym sessions and stunt classes.
Abhishek proposed to Rakhi in South Africa but she didn’t take him seriously. She finally said ‘yes’ during the celebrity reality show, Bigg Boss.
“Abhishek is not just a great dancer but a great cook as well,” Rakhi says. Incidentally, he had his own dance academy in Kanpur during his college days
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Okay, I know he hasn’t been arrested as yet but it’s just matter of sometime now.

Sessions Court in Jodhpur which upheld the five-year jail term for actor Salman Khan in the Chinkara poaching case, turning down the actor’s appeal against his sentencing last year. The actor failed to appear for the hearing, saying he missed the flight to Jodhpur from Hyderabad where he is currently shooting.

Salman will now be arrested unless he surrenders before the court himself. [IBN Live]

It’s astonishing isn’t it, the way our thinking works? When Sanjay Dutt was handed with 6 years prison sentence, I felt a little bad but overall was happy with the outcome. As they say, “Justice had prevailed”, though I know there are many who would argue with me on this.

But the thing that bothered me the most since Sanjay Dutt’s punishment was what would become of my favorite Salman Khan. To make things clear, no I am not delusional – I am well aware of the fact that many across the nation are more sympathetic towards Sanjay but not Salman. To the actor’s disadvantage, his past (besides the crimes committed) has a lot to do with it as well – troubled relationships, scandals, (rumored) underworld connection, dadagiri and the likes.

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Mumbai – City of dreams and nightmares. Everyday hundreds flock here to realize their dreams, be it for success, fame, money and many a times as grim as feeding their hunger. Known to be ruthless in its ways, to succeed here one needs have two very important necessities on their side – the survival instinct and the Lady of Luck.

With a number as high as 15 million, there are only a handful among its population who have managed to standout and make a place for themselves in the hierarchy of our dubious society. And keeping in mind the “7 Things about Mumbai” theme, here is my list of 7 most popular citizens of this city, who in very real terms ‘Live Life King size’.

Bal Thackeray – When you mention Mumbai and Politics in the same breadth, the one name that immediately makes its presence felt is, Bal Thackeray, the man behind the now “tainted” political party, Shiv Sena. Often referred to as the ‘Tiger’ by his followers, the cartoonist turned politician has been a center point of many controversies ever since he founded the hardline Hindu party more than 35 years ago. Frankly speaking, I completely detest this man and his party’s so-called philosophy of “sons of the soils”. The reasons are innumerable – their intimidating and (often) violent campaigns, fanatic beliefs, self appointed moral police behavior, vandalism and last but certainly not the least, Mr. Thackeray’s role in sparking anti-Muslim violence in Mumbai, which led to more than 1,000 deaths.

However, no matter how corrupt and immoral his actions have been over the years, the fact still remains that even today Bal Thackeray is described as the uncrowned monarch of the western Indian state of Maharashtra.

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Okay, now before you get the wrong impression – it’s not that I have some personal vendetta against actor Sanjay Dutt and so what if I get teased (a lot) as his long-distance twin. What truly bothers me here is the lengthy time-line taken by our judiciary system, to come to a decision. But then again this isn’t just a one off trail; the same “delay” continues to be smacked upon tons and tons of cases nation-wide.

Hopefully July 31^st would put an end to the ever-going Sanjay Dutt Trail – either the man’s probation plea gets rejected or he is allowed to walk off with freedom for good.

Judge Kode had earlier declared that Dutt was not a terrorist but had found him guilty under the Arms Act for illegal possession of an AK-47 and other weapons. If the actor’s probation plea for suspension of sentence (on grounds of good conduct) is tossed out, then he could be sent behind bars for a maximum term of five years.

And if one takes into account Judge Kode tough stance, he has sentenced as many as 11 convicts to death; the above scenario seems to be the most likely outcome. Plus sitting behind Yakub Menon in the TADA court while he was handed with “death sentence” must have surely done some damage to Dutt’s moral.

Personally speaking, I think Sanjay Dutt’s probation plea should be rejected. Since he has been convicted under the Arms Act, he needs to be suitably punished for it. As they say – You do the Crime, You do the Time. Obviously the sentencing should take into account his 18 months already served in prison, I guess a slightly lenient term of a year sounds more appropriate.

On the other hand, if Dutt is set free, this decision may not go down well with the certain sections of the society and many others prosecuted under the 1993 blasts case.

Now whether his blue striped shirt and denim pants would help clean out the voodoo off him (and Bollywood), well only time will tell – me just praying for an end, once and for all.

Frankly speaking I feel that this is the most over hyped wedding I have ever heard of. I agree that lately fame has gone to the head for Bachchan’s but we cant balme them alone. Ok Amitabh may have tried to cover the weddingexpenses by giving the full wedding coverage rights to a UK firm for 5 crores, (infact its very smart of him) . But our media is the main culprit for all the uneccessary importance to this event. Coming back to selling the right of the wedding coverage, this is something which is very very common in countries like US and UK where celebrities try to give the rights of the first photoshoot (Brangalina’s child) , or the rights to document the wedding ( there are a zillion celebraties who have done this) , life after wedding ( Remeber Britney Spears??.. and Jessica Simpron And Nick etc..). But this trend is farely new to India, there are few cleebraties who have done this, infact Bachchan’s are one of the first few.

Right now I think this all I found intersting in the Ash -Abhi wedding… the rest is all OK.

Anyways here are some pictures of the couple. Apparently someone who had been to the wedding circulated these pictures. Am sure Mr Big B must grinding his teeth seeing these pictures all over the media.