Run, don't walk, to the newly launched language learning site, Mango. It's awesome and more than that, it's FREE. It's a flash based audio interactive site with a nice look and feel. The audio quality is very good. A learning course is divided into lessons and each lesson is in turn divided into slides. There are around 100 lessons for each course.

 The slides starts with formal introductory speech to more casual ones and our learning is tested at the end of every slide. The Mango languages available now are

• Spanish
• French
• Italian
• Russian
• Mandarin
• German
• Japanese
• Greek
• Portuguese

I am hooked on to this site for now but at the same time I am also not sure how the site is going to make money in order to provide free lessons. Will they be free for ever or once the beta testing is done, will they charge for the courses? Let's wait and see but until then, this is one of the coolest web sites around.

61%The Movie Quiz

Not bad. I passed. How much do you know about Hollywood movies made in the past 25 years?

Khaled Hosseini has done it again with his second novel 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' , presenting an emotional and beautiful story of two women, Mariam and Laila, set in the backdrop of a troubled Afghanistan starting with the Russian Invasion to Taliban and the American Invasion.

His first novel The Kite Runner was a huge hit. In this novel Khaled Hosseni takes us on a tour of Afghanistan, a country that most of us know little about. He mixes fact with fiction which keeps us engrossed as well as makes the story move at a fast pace.

It is very difficult to keep our emotions in check as he portrays the lives of women in conservative Islamic countries.

The Kite Runner is already being made into a movie and I believe this one will follow suit. However both of the novels portray a lot of emotions and feelings, I wonder if they can be visualized as described in the book.

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a highly recommended and must read novel.

I was searching the Internet for information on the recent change of Hindustan Lever Limited to Hindustan Unilever Ltd and hit upon the below site.

Marketing Practice - Online Resource on Indian brands. Harish, the blog owner, is a marketing evangelist and he has analyzed various Indian brands on his blog from shampoos to mobiles. There are lots of information on the products, the manufacturers as well as the type of advertising used to market them.

Have fun reading about your favourite products and the next time you see the brand on TV, throw some gyan about it to your family.

There was once a king who ruled over his subjects well. All his people were happy and his kingdom prospered. One day the King called all the religious heads of his land. Some were well renowned and well versed in Vedas and Puranas and some in the Bible, and yet others in the Koran and other scriptures. When all were gathered together, the King asked, "Oh holy ones! Today, at the request of my subjects, I wish to declare one particular religion as the religion of my land. I leave it to you O learned ones, to decide amongst yourself and to arrive at a unanimous decision as to which religion deserves royal patronage. However I feel only that religion should be chosen whose teachings are not refused by anyone."

Years rolled past, but no decision was taken. Each felt that his religion was the best, but none of the others agreed.

One day a traveling saint arrived in the kingdom. Upon learning about the king's unfulfilled desire, he immediately went up to the king and said "O! Mighty one! I am willing to show you the religion whose teachings nobody can refute."

The king was delighted. At last after long years of waiting an answer was at hand. "Please tell me soon my dear saint. I am impatient. I have waited for many long years." The saint replied "Be patient my king. I shall reveal the name of this religion to you, only at a quiet, secluded spot. Tomorrow at twelve noon, I shall be waiting for you near the banks of the holy River Ganga. We shall go across to the opposite shore and then I will reveal the best religion."

As decided, the saint and the king met at 12 noon the next day. The king ordered a boat to take them across the river. Immediately a boat was brought. Before the king could step inside, the saint expressed the desire to inspect the boat. "No this boat will not do as one wooden plank at the bottom of the boat is loose," he complained.

Another boat was brought. After close inspection, the saint observed that a few nails were missing along the side of the boat. The king ordered another boat to be brought. After close scrutiny, the saint rejected the boat saying that the paint was chipped. This was repeated many tunes over and over again. The king was slowly loosing his patience and could not stand it any longer

"Respected sir!" he said, "For the past so many hours you have been inspecting one boat after another. You have rejected each one of them. After all, what does it matter whether the paint is chipped or a few nails are missing or a plank is loose? As long as the boat is capable of taking us across the river, I feel that these minor faults should be overlooked."

The saint turned towards the king and smiled. Softly he explained "You have finally discovered that no boat is incapable of taking us across. The religions prevalent in our land are like the boats. Each one of them is capable of taking you to the Lord. To find faults in each other's faith is mere foolishness. Go back to your kingdom and continue to rule wisely, giving each religion as much respect as your own. Live in unity."

The king fell at the saint's feet. When he got up again, he felt himself richer - richer in knowledge and in wisdom, and better able to understand God’s plan.

- From Heart2Heart Magazine.