This morning was a little sloggy for me as I had slept late last night. All was as per daily routine. I left for work early and today unknowingly, I started for office immediately after turning the engine-on. I had no idea what was in store for me ahead.

So, here I was heading towards 40th St. to go to my office. I was waiting for my turn to head on to the road from the side road. I started hearing screams of a cat or a kitten (I didn’t know what it was until then). By the time I reached the next signal, the cries became stronger and consistent (as I assume the engine was getting warmer by the second).

So, I pulled up at the nearest spot after the crossing and decided to check out on a hunch that a cat’s caught in my car.

And, true to the hunch, I found a kitten crouched on top of the engine (covered by insulation). I was dumbfounded at first. I must admit.

After recovering my consciousness, the immediate thought generated by my brain was to pickup the kitten and set it on the ground near by and go on to office like nothing happened. Acting on this impulse, I tried to grab the kitty and was scratched in the process when li’l kitty did not agree with my plans at all! Instead, it just gave me the scratch and jumped inside the engine, settling in some unseen corner and crying again.

I immediately looked around for someone to help me in dealing with this situation but couldn’t find anyone. No animal rescuers here in Saudi Arabia yet! So, the next best option available to me was to somehow drive back to the nearest service station/workshop or go back home and get the security guard at the building to help me out. So, I drove back. Very, very slowly… Mindful of the fact that the kitty was screaming and the engine would get hotter as the minutes flew by.

It took me about half an hour to reach back home, which would normally take just over 5 minutes give or take some.

After reaching home, things started happening pretty fast. The guard (called Haaris here in arabic), promptly came to the car and began devising ways to pull the kitty out of the hiding place. And soon enough, he managed to bring it out.

And, the ordeal for the kitty was finally over (and don’t forget me too!). We, then, dropped the kitten at a far off garbage dump.

Then, I dropped the guard at home and went off to the office.

Take a look at the pictures of the kitten being rescued at my photo blog…

You know it’s funny that while researching the vestigial tail that I saw on Jason Alexandar’s character in the movie, Shallow Hal, I came across an article that outlines strange and rare congenital defects and/or abnormailities.

It really is a surprising sight I must say. But, the fact that these conditions really do exist out there is enough to convince us to thank the Creator for making us what we are.

Well, for once, I never thought that the happenings as described fictionally in the Samuel Jackson thriller, “Snakes On A Plane”, would ever come true. Well, until now. Just as I was viewing news on Times Of India’s website, I came across this article called, Snake on An Air India Plane which describes the strange incident as follows:

Crew on an Air India passenger jet discovered a snake coiled up under a seat and were unable to catch it as it slithered around the plane, the airline said on Thursday.

The snake was disturbed during a routine check on the Air India A319 aircraft, which had landed at Delhi airport after a domestic flight from Srinagar.

I believe the next thing we are going to see now is Horses On a Galloping plane. Right?

Lucknow's Iconic Rumi Darwaza

A great snap uploaded by my friend, Faraz Ali, on his photogallery that shows the famous iconic Rumi Darwaza (A grand gateway) monument in our home town of Lucknow. Known for it’s great food and hospitality and the royal treatment meted out to visitors, Lucknow has a host of great monuments built by grand rulers of the historic province of Awadh, called Nawabs. The Nawabs built monuments which are part of the national heritage of India now.

786

What does this number denote to you? Well, for us Indians, this is a number considered to be an auspicious and lucky one.

Now, before you come to any conclusions, I would like to give you a brief idea of where this number came from. This number is in fact a numerical calculation of the following line:

“Bismillah Ar Rahman Ar Rahim” which means: “In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful”

It is actually with this line that muslims in India have derived this number: 786.

In our great nation, you will find not just the muslims but also people from other religions who respect, use and actually benefit from this very number: 786.

Cars, bikes, trucks and Holy God! if a house is numbered with just 786 or ending with it, it is worth a lot of money.

It is a blessing for us. So from now on, remember if you see any Indian acting respectfully or vying with one another to get something with this number on it, you know where you read about it.

Well, there some good news in store for those of you who love to rock the web! There is a new socialnetworking portal called In.com on the webizon (web horizon anyone?). So, let’s take a look at what this new portal’s got to offer. I must warn you that the review might get a bit long. So, here we go then. Grip your mouses and click more below .

While the whole World maybe smitten by the style, features and brand statement of the iPod (and more recently the iPhone and the iPod Touch), there still are worthy opponents of this one sided playing machine out on the market which are worth the money, provided you are willing to overlook brand Apple.

A monkey which was hoaxed by three men, two barbers and a butcher, is one of the many exhibits that are on display at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI)’s Mini Museum.

The trio had planted the dead monkey on the Highway after chopping it’s tail, removing it’s fur and painting it green!

Here’s another interesting 10s Collection. This time it is for the 10 worst cars of the world!

The Austin Allegro has been described by most Brits as the world’s ‘worst car ever’

According to a survey conducted by iMotormag, nearly one in four Brits picked the Allegro as the worst car, even though production of it ended 25 years ago.

The world’s ten worst cars are as follows:

Yesterday, 27th Of July 2008, was the finale of Kya Aap Panchvi Paas Se Tez Hain?. For those who don’t know, Panchvi Paas is the Indian version of “Are you smarter than a Fifth Grader?”.

Coming back to the finale, Shahrukh Khan had none other than our very own Lalu Prasad Yadav for company. It was really a great show and had Lalu chugging through the whole episode and answering all the questions without much hesitation.

Or perhaps the show’s questions were setup that way? Who knows. Anyway, I pretty much enjoyed the show and was thoroughly entertained by our very own Railway Minister who has an ear to the ground!

With TRPs or ratings running low for the show mostly due to the Indian Premier League debuting side by side, I am doubtful if the show will return for a second season. Although SRK was optimistic about it and was saying that this is the season finale episode.