Categories
Eat

Last day: Grab your reward points and coupon code

PoshVine launches in the city today. Still haven’t signed up for great eating out experiences in Mumbai? Do it today.

Early this week, we featured PoshVine, a restaurant concierge service that is launching in Mumbai today. Prior to the launch, we tied up with PoshVine to offer you, our reader, an incredible eating out experience at a nice restaurant of your choice.

Reward points and coupon code

As reward for being our reader, we gave you the chance to sign up on poshvine.com for free, and use a discount coupon code unique to The Metrognome. You could register and immediately be rewarded with 1,000 points, which are redeemable later in lieu of several dining experiences that PoshVine has to offer. You could book a table and have a complimentary drink served to you and your friends, you could redeem your points for a special experience designed and executed by PoshVine – such as a masterclass with a reputed chef, or a food trail in the city – and for signing up, you could get an immediate offer of a one-time special discount on select PoshVine experiences.

We’re telling you all this because this offer ends today. If you still haven’t grabbed your chance for a wonderful eating out experience, sign up on this link http://www.poshvine.com/auth/register and use The Metrognome coupon code PVRCSON28.

It’s great being of help to you! Here’s wishing you and your family a very happy Diwali.

Regards,

The Editor.

 

Categories
Big story

EXCLUSIVE: Lavasa file destroyed in fire, still not restored

The top priority file had recommended the withdrawal of Lavasa’s special planning authority status on few counts of building norm violations.
by Vrushali Lad | vrushali@themetrognome.in

It doesn’t seem like the dust isn’t about to settle on the already mired-in-controversy Lavasa project.

It may be remembered that four months ago,on June 21, three floors of the Mantralaya were gutted in a major, daytime fire. Along with several important files, the file for the withdrawal of the much-debated Special Planning Authority (SPA) status granted to the Lavasa Corporation Limited (LCL) was also destroyed. And four months later, the top priority file has not been completely restored yet.

Certain parts of the file were restored by the office of the Director of Town Planning based in Pune. After this, the restored documents were submitted to the Urban Development Department (UDD) in Mumbai in July this year. However, there has been no further development on the file’s complete restoration from the UDD end, since August this year.

Why is the file important?

The SPA status of the project, in essence, allows developers to function like planning agencies; they can even sanction building and construction plans in their own authority, and they do not need approval from the municipal corporation and town planning agencies. However, they must submit their sanctioned plan to the municipal corporation within three months of starting work. More importantly, the sanctioned plans thus submitted must fall in line with the Master Plan for that region, and not flout any development control regulation.

The UDD had, last year, recommended to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan that Lavasa’s SPA status be withdrawn – citing alleged violations in the project, such as work on certain portions had been done without a development plan. Also, the Floor-to-Space-Index (FSI) for certain non-buildable portions had allegedly been built upon. Additionally, the UDD had recommended that the SPA status provision for private entities be removed from town planning norms.

And then that file, which was in the Chief Minister’s office, got burnt.

Present status

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has been coming under fire for inaction on this matter, from all quarters. However, it is reliably learnt that after being burnt in the fire, the file has not yet been routed to the CM’s office. The CM is said to have called for the file now.

 (Picture courtesy www.ithappensindia.com)

 

Categories
Event

Dombivali may create Guinness World Record today

Mumbai Pooram event will see a record 3,500 Kaikottikali dancers perform at Dombivali tonight for a shot at Guinness glory.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Dombivali is all geared up for a massive dance show tonight – the KDMC Grounds will witness a historic 3,500 dancers, all of them from different parts of Mumbai and all of them originally from Kerala – where a massive but coordinated Kaikottikali dance performance will be put up on the first-day of a three-day annual cultural fest celebrating Kerala. The show might put the dancers and the event in the Guinness Book of World Records; officials from the organisation will be present to witness the performance for synchronisation and overall presentation.

Interestingly, all ages from years 13 and above are allowed to participate, so the group of dancers will be a motley mix of teenagers, mothers and even grandmothers.

The Metrognome spoke to a participant from Bhandup’s Usha Nagar, Madhuri Prathap (40), a Bharatnatyam dance teacher who, with nine of her students, will perform today. “A college friend of mine was one of the organisers for the event, and she told me to enter as many of my students as I could,” Madhuri said, adding that the call to participate for the event was made by two coordinators, who went to each Kerala samajam in Mumbai to stress on the fact that this time, the event could try for an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records. Interestingly, the feat has already been performed last year and has won an entry in the Limca Book of Records.

“Last Sunday we had a mega rehearsal at Dombivali, where at least 2,000 dancers turned up to practice. We are nervous but very excited to be a part of such a historic event,” Madhuri beamed. “It’s a dream come true to be a part of it.”

About the event

Modelled on the lines of Kerala’s ‘Thrissur Pooram’, Kerala’s most famous temple festival held every year, the Mumbai Pooram is celebrated as a three-day extravaganza with dance performances, laser shows, pyrotechnics, food festivals and exhibitions, among others. Mumbai Pooram is reportedly the biggest Kerala festival held outside that State.

The Kaikottikali is a group dance comprising girls and women dressed in traditional Kerala saris. The mega dance event is called the Dhathri Maha Kaikottikali and has been approved by the Guinness Book of World Records as a viable attempt at creating a record.

(Picture courtesy www.downvids.com)  

 

Categories
Film

In Blade we trust

The Dabanng 2 poster is copied from Blade. And Brad Pitt was recently a body double for another Bollywood actor.
by M | M@themetrognome.in

Salmanbhai is back in action with Dabangg 2. The highly-anticipated sequel is scheduled to release soon and a teaser poster of the film was made public yesterday. Naturally, excited fans lapped it up at once.

While it is too early to comment on the merits and demerits of the film, it is safe to say that Dabangg 2 has some very big shoes to fill. Dabangg was super successful at the box office and the audience’s expectations from this one will be much higher. For now, though, let’s talk about the poster released yesterday – we are happy to note that while it is not a very creative poster, it sure is properly copied.

That’s right. Check out the evidence.

                                               

Clearly the poster is ‘inspired from Blade. Considering how most creative agency meetings go, I am sure the brief for the creative agency that handled Dabangg 2 went something like this: “We want it to look like this (shows Blade’s poster on the iPad), just replace the blade with Chulbul’s goggles and the black man with Sallu… So easy it is na! (laughs at own wit).”

In recent times, the poster for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara was copied from Lords of Dogtown.

 

And that’s not all. Check out the other poster of Dabangg 2.

Notice the slimmer version of Salman? Now, this is not just photoshopping. Since carving away a few pounds at the waistline with an edit brush is very time consuming for Bollywood, many have come up with quicker and easier alternatives.

What you are about to read is a true story.

At a lengthy and pointless marketing meeting for a then upcoming spy film, the film’s poster was in jeopardy. The release date of the film had to be announced that week and a poster was critical for the announcement. The problem was, the actor had wrapped up his shooting schedule and was on vacation with his girlfriend at a non-accessible location. Plus, the actor, who had beefed up for the role, was now out of shape and would take at least a month to be fit for the photo shoot. Given how the industry usually functions, the eventuality of the poster causing trouble was not contemplated when the actor was still in the country and fit enough to be photographed.

So one of the producers, who also happened to be the actor’s business partner, proposed a solution that left most of the people in the room shocked. To be able to release the poster with the actor looking like a million bucks, the producer suggested that the creative team use a body double for the poster and stick the actor’s head on that body.

A body double was immediately arranged for. His name was Brad Pitt, and after said Bollywood actor’s head was pasted on Brad’s body, the poster was released a week later.

There are many who struggle and strive to be as fit as their heroes on screen, sometimes even resorting to bodybuilding drugs, ignoring the side-effects that can even be permanent. Little do they know that not just the concept of the creative, but nowadays even the bodies on the posters are ‘imported’ from Hollywood.

Moral of the story: As long as Brad Pitt is in shape, our actors Khan be too.

Sharp as a tack and sitting on more hot scoops than she knows what to do with, M is a media professional with an eye on entertainment.

(Featured image courtesy www.image.buzzintown.com)

Categories
Learn

Secret key to stop exam paper leaks

Government recommends exam papers be sent online to centres; papers will be encrypted and opened for printing by special passwords.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Come  university exam time, and rising cases of examination paper leaks end up with exams being cancelled or postponed, and students collapsing in a heap of anxiety and frustration. Concerned by a spate of exam paper leaks in Mumbai and the rest of the State this year – some of them pertaining to engineering exams – the Maharashtra State Government decided to draw up a series of recommendations for university exam centres to follow to minimise paper leakages.

A Government Resolution to this effect was passed on July 20, 2012 by the Department of Higher and Technical Education, to ensure that examinations all across the state were undertaken in a secure and fool-proof manner with the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). In accordance with this, an 18-member committee comprising members of the education department, vice chancellors of several Maharashtra universities and knowledge partners was constituted to meet and draw up a set of recommendations for all universities to study and implement as a pilot study prior to final exams in the year 2013.

The recommendations

As per the 207-page report titled ‘Report on reforms in examination system in universities of Maharashtra through use of Technology’, submitted by the Committee to the Governor K Shankarnarayan on November 3, the Committee studied the best practices of over 10 universities (in Maharashtra and outside) that have attempted to minimise or eliminate malpractices and errors in examination practices.

As per the report, “In order to eliminate the threats and challenges faced in distribution and delivery of question papers to the respective institutes, the universities should adopt Information Technology Solution for secure delivery of question papers. The Committee also recommends that each university should implement this system on pilot/experimental basis for exams conducted in first half of 2013. Following this, by 2014, it should become a matter of practice. However, if any university can implement this system fully before the suggested dates, it would be a very welcome step.”

The key suggestion in this regard is: “The question paper once randomly selected/generated from the question paper bank is encrypted and transmitted over a secure channel to the examination centres just one hour before the examination. At the examination centre, it is decrypted with the key/password and printed. This will overcome the leakage of question paper during transportation and printing.”

The Committee hopes that this above objective will be achieved by the all-important ‘secret key’, which “should be generated by the system and delivered securely to the concerned persons before the examination, there should be secret keys for individual papers, there should be a provision to deliver secret keys by email, SMS or using the ITS, and there should be a secret key verification system for printing of question papers. Besides this, there should be a well-defined time duration for question paper upload, secret key delivery and question paper printing.”

There is also a recommendation that by the first half of 2012, “all universities should use OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) and Barcode Technology in cover page of answer booklets of University Examinations on pilot/experiment basis. Following this, by 2014, universities should use this technology for all examinations.” This will curtail such malpractices as dummy candidates taking the exams, or wrong entry of data by the student.

Other recommendations include online registration of students for issuance of hall tickets (details taken will include student’s mobile number as well), question bank or question paper bank generation, digital scanning and onscreen evaluation of answer sheets, online application for re-evaluation and dematting of degrees and certificates etc.

Categories
Big story

Bombay HC will have a General Manager

State okays creating 45 court manager posts for the HC and district courts, GM’s monthly salary will be Rs 76,600.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The Bombay High Court (HC) is about to get a general manager soon.

As per a recommendation by the 13th Finance Commission, 45 new posts for court managers for courts in Maharashtra were to be created; these managers would look after daily administrative tasks to take some of the load off judges. These court manager posts would comprise the posts of General Managers, Senior Court Managers and Court Managers.

As per a notification issued by the Bombay HC in the last week of October 2012, four General Managers were likely to be posted at Bombay HC, and its benches in Nagpur and Aurangabad, while Senior Court Managers are likely to be posted in district courts at the divisional headquarters at Nagpur, Amravati, Aurangabad, Nashik, Thane and Pune. Court Managers are likely to be posted in district courts at any of the district headquarters in the State.

Yesterday, the State Cabinet approved the creation of these new posts, which will cost the exchequer Rs 3,07,00,000; this sum will be granted by the Centre. The court managers will look into such work as sanctioning leaves and maintaining leave and attendance records, among other things.

What’s the pay like?

The GM’s job will fetch a monthly salary of Rs 76,600, and the candidate must hold an MBA or advanced degree in general management, with a personal work experience of eight or more years in a government organisation. Similarly, the educational qualifications for the other two categories remain the same as the GM’s, but Senior Court managers will earn Rs 66,400 per month, while Court Managers will earn Rs 52,900 per month.

To be appointed, candidates will have to sit for written exams and appear for a viva voce. The application fees for general candidates is Rs 1,000 and for reserved category candidates is Rs 500.

(Picture courtesy www.charlesayoub.com)

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