The apex body of this nation, Supreme Court (SC), couldn’t have come up with a better verdict than directing the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to continue with the sealing of illegal establishments built and operating in residential areas of Delhi. To start with, let me clarify, neither I am a current resident of Delhi nor have I spent enough time living in Delhi previously. So why am I so concerned about something happening to a class of traders and that too in a city which is not my place of residence. I will answer this question later in this write-up.
Delhi, the Indian national capital, is a beautiful city giving breathing space to both commercial and residential establishments which are in abundance. Though Delhi trails behind the financial might of trade carried out in Mumbai, it is flooded with small time traders existing profitably for decades now. As they say, “all hell broke loose” for the traders in Delhi when the SC came out with a directive to the MCD asking them to clamp down on trading establishments functioning in the residential areas of Delhi. MCD was asked to seal off the illegal establishments preventing them to continue further trade. What it meant was the saree shop that an aunty might be running profitably or a corner shop selling pirated DVD’s or the wholesale garment shop, they were all to be sealed off by the MCD.
Now, the whole point of “illegal establishments in residential areas” is an argument in itself and at this time, disputed. Majority of the traders claim and which is a fact as well that they were never stopped by the MCD before and in fact the MCD was annually collecting the tax on these properties, so the question is how does then these establishments become illegal?
As I previously said “illegal establishments” is an argument in itself and getting to the root cause of the mushrooming of these illegal establishments, rampant corruption in MCD, red tapism, demands several pages of writing. The core issue right now is, and I refer to an article written earlier by “Vir Sanghvi (Editor, Hindustan Times)”, that we just don’t care about things until it affects us. We constantly crib about residential areas clogged with vehicular traffic, no safe areas for children to roam about, less amount of parking, no clear air etc and yet we won’t raise a voice as long as we are able to let out our terraces for billboards or our basements to operate as shops/warehouse. So as it seems we will be all foul mouthed or up in arms if the neighbor’s drainage pipe is opened outside our house or if the neighbor has tried to capture a bit more area during his recent renovation but we will not come out and speak about something happening just a few blocks away from our house.
It is not just Delhi where one sees such trading establishments being operated but it is rampant across the nation. The unplanned growth of our major metropolis is a serious concern. The reason why Delhi is highlighted is that to a certain extent things have gone overboard (well, Mumbai passed this staged quite early). I mentioned it at the start of my article as to how it affects me and the point is I don’t need to be a resident of Delhi to see this nonsense happening but I can be in any part of India. No wonder, we just don’t have residential suburbs anymore but houses in the backdrop of big malls or a cluster of shops.
There are numerous households which will be affected due to the sealing as a lot of traders are going to go out of business, do we feel sympathetic towards them? Sure we do, but their fault is much bigger in the first place. They are for sure victims of the government machinery itself which initially promoted them illegally to operate fearlessly, but then to repeatedly do something wrong does not make it right.
The traders have voiced their opposition to the sealing drive and a number of protests have turned into mob violence, looting and destruction of public and private property. The police and politicians are in a fix coz these traders are the same people who were giving regular hafta or chanda (bribe) to them and now the police need to take action against them.
It was a shame to see that the police of the city was not able to prevent large gatherings of crowd and control the violence which marred the city for couple of days. It was more shameful to hear from the city’s government about their argument in favor of the traders and them admitting that it is very difficult for the police to control the violence if the sealing continues. The only thing I could think of was, “Is the police drawing a salary from the government or the traders”?
When the Supreme Court judges’ bench a few weeks back took strong exception to the Government's stand and announced, "You (Government) think that 25,000 people (traders) by putting dagger on the throat of someone (authorities) can hold entire peoples' right, life, liberty and property to ransom and the government is helpless," I felt like standing and applauding. There are a lot of lives which will be affected due to the sealing but many more if this menace of unplanned growth of metropolis is not controlled. And as the SC put it aptly, the law is above everything. The traders can’t take the city hostage to coerce the court in changing its ruling. For the time being the verdict stands, “Seal them off”.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Indian Film Industry…. Bollywood…….The Phenomenon
It’s been 5 years and I’ve lived and or worked in 5 countries (including India) and still measuring the impact and reach of an industry which we call Bollywood. Though to the purists the term “Bollywood” is derogatory but whoever coined it has managed to localize it internationally. In this globalized era where Indian companies such as the Infosys, Tata’s, Wipro’s etc have been trying to break the geographical barriers and make their presence felt on the world stage, for Bollywood it seems, it has been there done that.
Amitabh Bacchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee are discussed and adored in the remotest corners of countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, US, UK and should I mention the rest of the world. Religious festivals and occasions such as weddings are celebrated Bollywood style nowadays. If you are tourist in a foreign country or within India itself, rest assured the guide will let you know where Shah Rukh took Priety Zinta in her arms or where Hrithik Roshan danced with Amisha Patel. Yes, I was told at Golconda fort (Hyderabad) first about where Salman Khan (Indian film actor) shot for a scene in one of his movie rather and only later where the Kohinoor diamond was extracted from. So what really makes Bollywood click all across the world?
An average Indian has never traveled as much before as he has in the last decade or so. I recently put down the list of my Indian friends and their respective locations and to my amazement 80% of them are either permanently based outside or constantly globe trotting. Their locations also include countries like South Africa, Romania, Libya etc. Indian people admit it or not are gripped to the magic of Indian cinema and it is the only medicine to cure homesickness when you are away in far distant land. When Sunny Deol shouts “Hindustan Zindabad”, we all shout in unison; when Priety Zinta sings and dances in the Mumbai rain, we are with her in that moment, feeling the rain fall on our own body. If the Italians introduced their truly wonderful Pizza’s to the world we are introducing our cinema. Previously we were regarded as the people who came from the land of Taj Mahal and snake charmers, we now are known from the country of IT and Bollywood.
I read a book recently called “Maximum City” by Suketu Mehta and also quite agree with the author’s observations on the success of Bollywood or Indian cinema. He with his discussions with various Indian film stars, directors etc notes that the biggest draw of Indian cinema’s success is the fact that the audiences just love the fact that Indian movies are family oriented. It’s a potpourri of various human emotions. On the other hand though highly experimental, original and unique, Hollywood has been primarily showing them images of alien land and people but missing out on showcasing of what we call celebration of life.
The colorful dresses, extravagant set, dancing and romancing, all help create an Indian movie a
super spectacle. It definitely creates an intriguing image which holds foot in the minds of the audiences nationally and globally. Indian cinema/Bollywood has created a niche for itself globally and is much talked about around the world, be it in media or the social circles. India as a destination has enchanted many people globally and the Indian films are just helping the cause on the way.
I am a big critic of Indian cinema myself as I think around 80% of the movies made each year are just a waste. They are there to waste the time of the audience coming to watch it. Long melodramatic scenes, unnecessary dance sequences, the hero single handedly managing to kill an army of goons, loose special effects, there just seem to be no limit to it.
To me all the stuff mentioned above may be absurd but for an Indian (either living in India or abroad) it is the only source of entering some sort of a fantasy land where the good will always win over the evil, joint family system always works in the end and in approximately 100 Rupees or 10 dollars will be able to travel to 10 different countries. And especially for the Indians living abroad Indian movies represent the contemporary India and one of the ways in which they can track the changing nature of things back in their motherland.
Hate it or Love it, Indian films are creating ripples all across the globe. With some new breed of directors, Indian cinema has off-late started experimenting with new themes and concepts and an increased use of the English language has also helped draw the western audiences to the theatres. Films such as Water, Omkara through its box office success and recognition at various film festivals have shown that Indian cinema has entered a new phase.
It is not just the films but Indian actors are also going global. Actors such as Om Puri, Naseerudin Shah, Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai and many others have worked for Hollywood productions. And why just talk about Indian actors going global or Indian film makers involved in Hollywood film making, big production houses of the west are investing like never before in producing Indian films.
India produces maximum number of films every year and thanks to our over billion mark population and a booming economy the time is not far off when we dictate the world the kind of cinema we want to watch. So Tom Cruise get ready to do learn the Govinda jhatka’s and Lindsay Lohan, the Aishwarya matka’s (a bit extreme scenario but we’ll get there :) )
Amitabh Bacchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukherjee are discussed and adored in the remotest corners of countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, US, UK and should I mention the rest of the world. Religious festivals and occasions such as weddings are celebrated Bollywood style nowadays. If you are tourist in a foreign country or within India itself, rest assured the guide will let you know where Shah Rukh took Priety Zinta in her arms or where Hrithik Roshan danced with Amisha Patel. Yes, I was told at Golconda fort (Hyderabad) first about where Salman Khan (Indian film actor) shot for a scene in one of his movie rather and only later where the Kohinoor diamond was extracted from. So what really makes Bollywood click all across the world?An average Indian has never traveled as much before as he has in the last decade or so. I recently put down the list of my Indian friends and their respective locations and to my amazement 80% of them are either permanently based outside or constantly globe trotting. Their locations also include countries like South Africa, Romania, Libya etc. Indian people admit it or not are gripped to the magic of Indian cinema and it is the only medicine to cure homesickness when you are away in far distant land. When Sunny Deol shouts “Hindustan Zindabad”, we all shout in unison; when Priety Zinta sings and dances in the Mumbai rain, we are with her in that moment, feeling the rain fall on our own body. If the Italians introduced their truly wonderful Pizza’s to the world we are introducing our cinema. Previously we were regarded as the people who came from the land of Taj Mahal and snake charmers, we now are known from the country of IT and Bollywood.
I read a book recently called “Maximum City” by Suketu Mehta and also quite agree with the author’s observations on the success of Bollywood or Indian cinema. He with his discussions with various Indian film stars, directors etc notes that the biggest draw of Indian cinema’s success is the fact that the audiences just love the fact that Indian movies are family oriented. It’s a potpourri of various human emotions. On the other hand though highly experimental, original and unique, Hollywood has been primarily showing them images of alien land and people but missing out on showcasing of what we call celebration of life.
The colorful dresses, extravagant set, dancing and romancing, all help create an Indian movie a
super spectacle. It definitely creates an intriguing image which holds foot in the minds of the audiences nationally and globally. Indian cinema/Bollywood has created a niche for itself globally and is much talked about around the world, be it in media or the social circles. India as a destination has enchanted many people globally and the Indian films are just helping the cause on the way.I am a big critic of Indian cinema myself as I think around 80% of the movies made each year are just a waste. They are there to waste the time of the audience coming to watch it. Long melodramatic scenes, unnecessary dance sequences, the hero single handedly managing to kill an army of goons, loose special effects, there just seem to be no limit to it.
To me all the stuff mentioned above may be absurd but for an Indian (either living in India or abroad) it is the only source of entering some sort of a fantasy land where the good will always win over the evil, joint family system always works in the end and in approximately 100 Rupees or 10 dollars will be able to travel to 10 different countries. And especially for the Indians living abroad Indian movies represent the contemporary India and one of the ways in which they can track the changing nature of things back in their motherland.
Hate it or Love it, Indian films are creating ripples all across the globe. With some new breed of directors, Indian cinema has off-late started experimenting with new themes and concepts and an increased use of the English language has also helped draw the western audiences to the theatres. Films such as Water, Omkara through its box office success and recognition at various film festivals have shown that Indian cinema has entered a new phase.
It is not just the films but Indian actors are also going global. Actors such as Om Puri, Naseerudin Shah, Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai and many others have worked for Hollywood productions. And why just talk about Indian actors going global or Indian film makers involved in Hollywood film making, big production houses of the west are investing like never before in producing Indian films.
India produces maximum number of films every year and thanks to our over billion mark population and a booming economy the time is not far off when we dictate the world the kind of cinema we want to watch. So Tom Cruise get ready to do learn the Govinda jhatka’s and Lindsay Lohan, the Aishwarya matka’s (a bit extreme scenario but we’ll get there :) )
Monday, October 02, 2006
Lage Raho Munnabhai………..a piece of art
It’s 11:00 pm and I’ve just returned back after seeing Lage Raho Munnabhai and couldn’t help but quickly get on to write my take on the movie. The movie released very recently but I could see the excitement it was creating as early as couple of months before its release. After its release in India it became a rage. I couldn’t believe that people were calling me up and telling me to go watch it. I got lucky and the movie was screening in a theatre nearby so I did go and watch it.
My take on the movie….well…..how can so many people be wrong. I loved the movie. Mr. Hirani, why did you make such a short movie? I would have happily sat in the theatre and watched such a movie easily for 8-10 hours. I still remember watching Krrish for 3 hours in the theatre and my bum all numb after it. But Munnabhai was like a breeze.
I think the highlight for me in the movie was that it was very simple. No complicated dialogues, plots, locations, scenes, everything was just simple and beautifully executed. I’ve always liked Sanjay Dutt’s acting and screen presence and I think he’s raised the bar really high this time around. Arshad Warsi, well he has been fantastic from his very first film, “Tere Mere Sapne”. He is a brilliant actor, dancer and now a class apart comedian. The female lead in the movie, Vidya Balan, has displayed her acting talent and beauty to the maximum.
The central characters of the movie, Munna (Sanjay Dutt) and Circuit (Arshad Warsi), two lovable goons take you on a laugh riot in this movie. Munna who’s in love with Jhanvi’s (Vidya Balan, who by the way looks stunning in the movie) voice over the radio finally ends up meeting her pretending to be an expert on Mahatma Gandhi’s historical background. He is just drawn slowly towards the Mahatma’s way of dealing with things in life and starts practicing “Gandhigiri” as opposed to “Bhaigiri” practiced by him previously. The theme of the movie that of invoking Gandhian values in today’s world is a very unique concept and does provide every viewer some food for thought.
We all live in a difficult world nowadays and it is so easy to get away by portraying a false image of things. I think meaningful cinema like this raises the question that, is all what we do in our daily life right and true? Can’t help but think myself, how many times I have lied to get out of difficult situations. Have I felt good after all that??….I am not sure but certainly not too happy.
Truth and Tolerance were few of Mahatma’s teachings and the movie shows us how well we can use these two powerful virtues in our daily lives. So, it won’t be a bad idea to try out these and many other Gandhian teachings in our lives. I’m game for it and thanks to meaningful Indian cinema like this for provoking a thought like this in me.
Some quick reference to the Gandhian values from the movie:
My take on the movie….well…..how can so many people be wrong. I loved the movie. Mr. Hirani, why did you make such a short movie? I would have happily sat in the theatre and watched such a movie easily for 8-10 hours. I still remember watching Krrish for 3 hours in the theatre and my bum all numb after it. But Munnabhai was like a breeze.
I think the highlight for me in the movie was that it was very simple. No complicated dialogues, plots, locations, scenes, everything was just simple and beautifully executed. I’ve always liked Sanjay Dutt’s acting and screen presence and I think he’s raised the bar really high this time around. Arshad Warsi, well he has been fantastic from his very first film, “Tere Mere Sapne”. He is a brilliant actor, dancer and now a class apart comedian. The female lead in the movie, Vidya Balan, has displayed her acting talent and beauty to the maximum.
The central characters of the movie, Munna (Sanjay Dutt) and Circuit (Arshad Warsi), two lovable goons take you on a laugh riot in this movie. Munna who’s in love with Jhanvi’s (Vidya Balan, who by the way looks stunning in the movie) voice over the radio finally ends up meeting her pretending to be an expert on Mahatma Gandhi’s historical background. He is just drawn slowly towards the Mahatma’s way of dealing with things in life and starts practicing “Gandhigiri” as opposed to “Bhaigiri” practiced by him previously. The theme of the movie that of invoking Gandhian values in today’s world is a very unique concept and does provide every viewer some food for thought.
We all live in a difficult world nowadays and it is so easy to get away by portraying a false image of things. I think meaningful cinema like this raises the question that, is all what we do in our daily life right and true? Can’t help but think myself, how many times I have lied to get out of difficult situations. Have I felt good after all that??….I am not sure but certainly not too happy.
Truth and Tolerance were few of Mahatma’s teachings and the movie shows us how well we can use these two powerful virtues in our daily lives. So, it won’t be a bad idea to try out these and many other Gandhian teachings in our lives. I’m game for it and thanks to meaningful Indian cinema like this for provoking a thought like this in me.
Some quick reference to the Gandhian values from the movie:
- The path of truth though always difficult assures guaranteed success and respect.
- To err is human but to apologize is divine. It takes great courage to make an apology and no person becomes small by doing it.
- A person’s worth is measured by how he treats people poorer in resources than him.
- Restraint is always better than retaliation. Practice loving even your enemies and win their hearts rather than fighting them.
- Hatred and Untruthfulness are diseases and one needs to cure himself if affected by it.
Friday, September 29, 2006
Stop the nonsense!!
No, I am not debating here about the claims that the Pakistan military ruler makes in his newly released book. General Musharraf is in New York for the release of his book and prior to his visit there he briefly met up with the Indian Prime Minister in Havana. It has always been a brilliant photo opportunity for the journos whenever the leaders of the two nations, India and Pakistan, meet up or even forcibly made to shake hands at various world events.
Though the journalists present at most of these meetings are interested in only one thing, “Kashmir”. It is really annoying to hear the same question being asked by different journalist and it goes in something like this format, “So, did you had discussions regarding the Kashmir issue?” C’mon guys being journalists you can do better and if the leaders really had a breakthrough talk and feel the need to disclose it to the media, they would do so.
I think Manmohan Singh and Musharraf should also try and be innovative and not repeat the same phrases which goes something like, “we had a good discussion, the talks are moving further, both nations are co-operating……………”.
Someone gotta stop this nonsense. After a long day at work, I don’t want to switch on my tele to watch this.
Though the journalists present at most of these meetings are interested in only one thing, “Kashmir”. It is really annoying to hear the same question being asked by different journalist and it goes in something like this format, “So, did you had discussions regarding the Kashmir issue?” C’mon guys being journalists you can do better and if the leaders really had a breakthrough talk and feel the need to disclose it to the media, they would do so.
I think Manmohan Singh and Musharraf should also try and be innovative and not repeat the same phrases which goes something like, “we had a good discussion, the talks are moving further, both nations are co-operating……………”.
Someone gotta stop this nonsense. After a long day at work, I don’t want to switch on my tele to watch this.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Taking Religion too seriously
It was a lazy Saturday afternoon and after waking up in early afternoon, I was just getting ready to go out. I was in the toilet and suddenly the phone rang, was happy to know that it was from a good friend in India. She sounded disturbed and very much not at ease. I could draw reference to the fact that she was getting married soon and that something has gone wrong in that area. My friend practices Islam and comes from a devout Muslim family. She fell in love with this other friend of mine who is a Hindu and like her he comes from a devout Hindu family. The problem….well the parents don’t support their very decision to get married.
This wasn’t the first time that I was dealing with a situation like this. A couple of years back two of my other friends, after a long courtship, decided to get married. The only problem was that though they both being Hindu came from different caste. The girl’s family though modern in living had strong age old beliefs and was not ready to have the marriage happen at any cost. The result……both of them sacrificed their love life and their beautiful relationship for the sake of their respective families. They never wanted to hurt their parents and separated their ways.
I’ve been thinking about these two instances for a while now and not being able to understand the reasoning behind the parent’s behavior in both cases.
The family pride and a good social standing is always a prime concern for an Indian household. No parents want to hear from their relatives or friends anything bad about their children and their respective conduct. But, does a parent’s kid getting married to a different religion/caste person that big a deal? Who are these society people anyways? Do they help you when you are sick or in financial trouble? Are they there supporting you unconditionally? The answer is NO. Then why care about the society. Today’s children are an educated and responsible lot and the days of eloping are certainly gone. The parents need to respect their children’s decision and counsel them if they sincerely think they’ve made a wrong decision.
The other thing that I’ve heard from a few parents is that, “if he/she comes from a different religion, how they’ll adjust with our rituals and beliefs”. Well, there is for sure a whole lot of difference between various religions/caste but are they bigger than human relationships. We are not given a choice when we are born to pick our religion and all of us as kids just blindly follow the rituals and religion that our parents have been following for years. So, does it make a difference if some people go to a mosque to pray or some to a church or some to a temple? I don’t think so.
We are living in a globalized world and geographical boundaries are fading away. The world in itself is becoming a cultural fest and to be successful in professional and personal life one has to be tolerant about various cultures and religion. Parents need to teach the same thing to their kinds from the very beginning.
I still remember being in Mumbai couple of years back and how desperately I wanted to go to Haji Ali (a religious place for Muslims). I was just so drawn by the beauty and tranquility of the place. I was visiting Mumbai with a Sikh friend of mine and when I floated the idea of going to Haji Ali, he didn’t contest it. We reached Haji Ali and he refused to come along with me inside the shrine. He talked his heart out later and told me how he’s been so angry with whatever the Muslims did to his religion people in the Delhi riots of the 1980’s. He was a small kid then and how he and his whole family had to survive in those dangerous times. Everything was either destroyed or looted of his family belongings and then there was the reconstruction phase.
I posed a question in front of him, so because some miscreants of the society (believed to be Muslims) created trouble for your religion people for which do you consider the whole Muslim community at fault? Also, is he teaching the same hatred to the young kids in his family? To my nightmare, his answer was Yes.
Well, the above is not true with my Sikh friend’s family only, this is a reality in various households in India. From a very young age kids are told which religion or caste children they need to mingle with or which one’s to stay away from. Kids are never given an opportunity to explore on their own the circle of friendship and love which can be made up of different race, creed or religion.
To believe in something as beautiful as God is fantastic but it is time we stop bothering about which form of God we believe in or the rest of the world. I just hope that my Muslim friend and my Hindu friend end up marrying each other soon and become an example of tolerance through their beautiful relationship.
This wasn’t the first time that I was dealing with a situation like this. A couple of years back two of my other friends, after a long courtship, decided to get married. The only problem was that though they both being Hindu came from different caste. The girl’s family though modern in living had strong age old beliefs and was not ready to have the marriage happen at any cost. The result……both of them sacrificed their love life and their beautiful relationship for the sake of their respective families. They never wanted to hurt their parents and separated their ways.
I’ve been thinking about these two instances for a while now and not being able to understand the reasoning behind the parent’s behavior in both cases.
The family pride and a good social standing is always a prime concern for an Indian household. No parents want to hear from their relatives or friends anything bad about their children and their respective conduct. But, does a parent’s kid getting married to a different religion/caste person that big a deal? Who are these society people anyways? Do they help you when you are sick or in financial trouble? Are they there supporting you unconditionally? The answer is NO. Then why care about the society. Today’s children are an educated and responsible lot and the days of eloping are certainly gone. The parents need to respect their children’s decision and counsel them if they sincerely think they’ve made a wrong decision.
The other thing that I’ve heard from a few parents is that, “if he/she comes from a different religion, how they’ll adjust with our rituals and beliefs”. Well, there is for sure a whole lot of difference between various religions/caste but are they bigger than human relationships. We are not given a choice when we are born to pick our religion and all of us as kids just blindly follow the rituals and religion that our parents have been following for years. So, does it make a difference if some people go to a mosque to pray or some to a church or some to a temple? I don’t think so.
We are living in a globalized world and geographical boundaries are fading away. The world in itself is becoming a cultural fest and to be successful in professional and personal life one has to be tolerant about various cultures and religion. Parents need to teach the same thing to their kinds from the very beginning.
I still remember being in Mumbai couple of years back and how desperately I wanted to go to Haji Ali (a religious place for Muslims). I was just so drawn by the beauty and tranquility of the place. I was visiting Mumbai with a Sikh friend of mine and when I floated the idea of going to Haji Ali, he didn’t contest it. We reached Haji Ali and he refused to come along with me inside the shrine. He talked his heart out later and told me how he’s been so angry with whatever the Muslims did to his religion people in the Delhi riots of the 1980’s. He was a small kid then and how he and his whole family had to survive in those dangerous times. Everything was either destroyed or looted of his family belongings and then there was the reconstruction phase.
I posed a question in front of him, so because some miscreants of the society (believed to be Muslims) created trouble for your religion people for which do you consider the whole Muslim community at fault? Also, is he teaching the same hatred to the young kids in his family? To my nightmare, his answer was Yes.
Well, the above is not true with my Sikh friend’s family only, this is a reality in various households in India. From a very young age kids are told which religion or caste children they need to mingle with or which one’s to stay away from. Kids are never given an opportunity to explore on their own the circle of friendship and love which can be made up of different race, creed or religion.
To believe in something as beautiful as God is fantastic but it is time we stop bothering about which form of God we believe in or the rest of the world. I just hope that my Muslim friend and my Hindu friend end up marrying each other soon and become an example of tolerance through their beautiful relationship.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Is India going into Flashback?
I must admit that the news on television for past couple of days has been disturbing and probably with my understanding of the issues, I conclude that maybe our country is going into flashback. The news doing the rounds include the Reservation Quota increase, the Supreme Court bench coming out with a statement stating excerpts from Article 47 of the Indian Constitution about how States should seriously think about Prohibition in relation to alcohol as it leads to abuse and violence and finally the increasing menace of police brutality (lathicharges, un-necessary arrests etc).
To start with, the issue of increase in the SC/ST and OBC reservation seats in educational institutions. My question is what is the rationale behind it? Arjun Singh and some other party members understand it nobody in the civilized educated world does, so are we fools? Is reservation the only way out? How is a scenario which promotes a person not to be competitive, not fair well amongst peers and still be able to attain the degree/certification, justified? India is a democratic nation and is a nation which probably has the maximum youth population in the world. It is a jungle out there and the survival of the fittest is the way to go. If you are good, there is no stopping you. And for god sake the government should focus on improving the basic educational facilities to provide a platform to young deprived children so that they can compete with the privileged ones.
Instead of having seat reservation impart education for these sections of society at free of cost, at least the government can do that. The governments in India (no matter formed by which party) are running a vote bank politics and would do anything to attract votes to stay/come to power. A country like India needs a strong focus on promoting intellect, no matter what the source is, and should be gearing up to take on the world. Decisions like reservations are a step backward and certainly are not invited.
Prohibition of any sort has not done well anywhere and in any circumstances. It provides an excitement of sorts to willfully break the norms and enjoy the forbidden more. The story is the same with alcohol which is a tabooed item to be discussed at homes and especially the consumption of it, and yet given a chance young teens enjoy a drink or two every now and then. India is on its way to become a global economy and people’s lives are experiencing a tremendous change. It does not support an argument that to be trendy and hip one need to consume alcohol. This nation has a young and educated youth who understand what is good for them and what is not. It is a choice which a person makes and not a whimsical politician warming his back in the parliament.
Surely excess of everything is bad and alcohol is no different. The availability of cheap alcohol in our country has ruined a lot of homes. Take the case of a laborer who earns 50-60 Rs a day and still manages to buy a bottle of country liquor for 20-25 Rs. Now why does the government sponsor such things? The government provides license for the sale of this liquor and an uninterrupted supply. Why doesn’t the government take a step and ban the sale of this cheap country liquor of which nobody is sure of what standards are maintained to actually produce it. Isn’t the fact known to everyone that it is the families with poor socio-economic backgrounds where alcohol related violence and abuse is rampant? If the government can fix the maximum retail price on liquor why can’t it fix the minimum retail price for any type of alcohol? Make it out of reach of people with poor economic backgrounds. The only problem which may arise is bootlegging but it is the responsibility of the states to clamp down on such establishments.
This is to again stress on the point that, India is a democratic nation which provides it people the freedom of choice. It is the person and only the person himself who decides what is good for him and no one else.
The people having authority in this country have always abused their powers. The police have always topped the list followed closely by politicians and bureaucrats. No wonder we hear on the news every now and then of fake encounters, lathicharges, extortion by policemen etc. The police commissioner of Mumbai was very recently making a comment of a national news channel saying, “there was no lathicharge ordered on the protesting medical students (against the reservation of seats for SC/ST in medical institutions), the police had to use a little bit of physical force to remove them from the Rajbhavan and in that scenario some people fell and had been injured” and on the other hand there were images being shown of the police brutally hitting students and arresting them.
There is almost a sense of fear in every citizen with anything related to the police. Reporting anything to the police just seems to be getting yourself into trouble situation. There is an urgent need for government to take up these critical issues and let the people of this nation enjoy their freedom and not suppress it.
India as a nation needs to stride forward and tackle with issues effectively and efficiently. The reverse brain drain has just started and Indians should be provided every bit of motivation to stay/return to our motherland and not venture out to the west seeking a better life.
To start with, the issue of increase in the SC/ST and OBC reservation seats in educational institutions. My question is what is the rationale behind it? Arjun Singh and some other party members understand it nobody in the civilized educated world does, so are we fools? Is reservation the only way out? How is a scenario which promotes a person not to be competitive, not fair well amongst peers and still be able to attain the degree/certification, justified? India is a democratic nation and is a nation which probably has the maximum youth population in the world. It is a jungle out there and the survival of the fittest is the way to go. If you are good, there is no stopping you. And for god sake the government should focus on improving the basic educational facilities to provide a platform to young deprived children so that they can compete with the privileged ones.
Instead of having seat reservation impart education for these sections of society at free of cost, at least the government can do that. The governments in India (no matter formed by which party) are running a vote bank politics and would do anything to attract votes to stay/come to power. A country like India needs a strong focus on promoting intellect, no matter what the source is, and should be gearing up to take on the world. Decisions like reservations are a step backward and certainly are not invited.
Prohibition of any sort has not done well anywhere and in any circumstances. It provides an excitement of sorts to willfully break the norms and enjoy the forbidden more. The story is the same with alcohol which is a tabooed item to be discussed at homes and especially the consumption of it, and yet given a chance young teens enjoy a drink or two every now and then. India is on its way to become a global economy and people’s lives are experiencing a tremendous change. It does not support an argument that to be trendy and hip one need to consume alcohol. This nation has a young and educated youth who understand what is good for them and what is not. It is a choice which a person makes and not a whimsical politician warming his back in the parliament.
Surely excess of everything is bad and alcohol is no different. The availability of cheap alcohol in our country has ruined a lot of homes. Take the case of a laborer who earns 50-60 Rs a day and still manages to buy a bottle of country liquor for 20-25 Rs. Now why does the government sponsor such things? The government provides license for the sale of this liquor and an uninterrupted supply. Why doesn’t the government take a step and ban the sale of this cheap country liquor of which nobody is sure of what standards are maintained to actually produce it. Isn’t the fact known to everyone that it is the families with poor socio-economic backgrounds where alcohol related violence and abuse is rampant? If the government can fix the maximum retail price on liquor why can’t it fix the minimum retail price for any type of alcohol? Make it out of reach of people with poor economic backgrounds. The only problem which may arise is bootlegging but it is the responsibility of the states to clamp down on such establishments.
This is to again stress on the point that, India is a democratic nation which provides it people the freedom of choice. It is the person and only the person himself who decides what is good for him and no one else.
The people having authority in this country have always abused their powers. The police have always topped the list followed closely by politicians and bureaucrats. No wonder we hear on the news every now and then of fake encounters, lathicharges, extortion by policemen etc. The police commissioner of Mumbai was very recently making a comment of a national news channel saying, “there was no lathicharge ordered on the protesting medical students (against the reservation of seats for SC/ST in medical institutions), the police had to use a little bit of physical force to remove them from the Rajbhavan and in that scenario some people fell and had been injured” and on the other hand there were images being shown of the police brutally hitting students and arresting them.
There is almost a sense of fear in every citizen with anything related to the police. Reporting anything to the police just seems to be getting yourself into trouble situation. There is an urgent need for government to take up these critical issues and let the people of this nation enjoy their freedom and not suppress it.
India as a nation needs to stride forward and tackle with issues effectively and efficiently. The reverse brain drain has just started and Indians should be provided every bit of motivation to stay/return to our motherland and not venture out to the west seeking a better life.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Australian Cricket
I’ve been a true patriot each time the Indian Cricket Team has taken field and in the worst of the match status, I have backed them. I have also never been able to praise another team for playing well but have never missed a chance to criticize the bad performance of our Indian Cricket team. Well there is only one reason why I am confessing all of this and that is to pay tribute to the world class Australian Cricket Team.
In the summer of 2003-2004 in Adelaide (Australia), the Indian team came out victorious of the test match played against the home side. The IND-AUS test series 2003-2004 ended in a draw, each side winning one test a piece and the last test was drawn. India previously had defeated Australia at home in the Test match series. The critics who wrote off Indian team’s winning odds every time they toured outside the country, were beginning to find good things to write about the team. Many thought across the world that this is the beginning of the sporting rivalry which will make people forget the Indo-Pak or the Ashes encounters. For a moment even I thought that the Indian team is actually comparable to the Aussies.
Australian team all of a sudden was looking a bit fragile. Steve Waugh’s retirement was seen as an end of a golden era for them. In came Ricky Ponting to take charge of the test team. The purist believe that Test cricket is the ultimate test of a cricketer and one needs to prove his mettle in those 5 days to come into reckoning, and I fully subscribe to the thought. Australia toured India soon after and won the test series against the home side. The final frontier, India, (as remarked by Steve Waugh) was crossed.
Some teams have managed to fair well against the Aussies in the recent past and when arch rival England won Ashes 2004, doubts were again in the air of the Aussie team’s deteriorating performance. Well, the English played out of their best abilities but a comparison with the Aussies is just not possible. Pull out the records and see how many tests England has lost against the Aussies and by how much margins.
“Consistency” is what the Australian Cricket team is all about. There are world class performers in every International team be it the Tendulkars and the Dravids in India, Smiths and the Kallis in South Africa or Inzamams and the Akhtars in Pakistan. But the delicate balance of fusing individual brilliance in a team environment is best achieved by Australia.
The cricket governing system in Australia deserves a lot of credit for maintaining professionalism in the game from the very club level. A lot of exposure is given to young kids and no wonder the bench strength in Australian Cricket can easily field a separate International team in world cricket.
A lot of credit also needs to be given to the coaches at state level and to the selectors for bringing forward talents like the Chappels, Borders, Healys, Warnes, Pontings, Gilchrist and the list goes on.
A killer attitude and a desire to win every time they play make the Australian team and is a joy to watch them play for any cricket lover. Australian Cricket has raised the bar really high and I just hope some International team is able to get close.
In the summer of 2003-2004 in Adelaide (Australia), the Indian team came out victorious of the test match played against the home side. The IND-AUS test series 2003-2004 ended in a draw, each side winning one test a piece and the last test was drawn. India previously had defeated Australia at home in the Test match series. The critics who wrote off Indian team’s winning odds every time they toured outside the country, were beginning to find good things to write about the team. Many thought across the world that this is the beginning of the sporting rivalry which will make people forget the Indo-Pak or the Ashes encounters. For a moment even I thought that the Indian team is actually comparable to the Aussies.
Australian team all of a sudden was looking a bit fragile. Steve Waugh’s retirement was seen as an end of a golden era for them. In came Ricky Ponting to take charge of the test team. The purist believe that Test cricket is the ultimate test of a cricketer and one needs to prove his mettle in those 5 days to come into reckoning, and I fully subscribe to the thought. Australia toured India soon after and won the test series against the home side. The final frontier, India, (as remarked by Steve Waugh) was crossed.
Some teams have managed to fair well against the Aussies in the recent past and when arch rival England won Ashes 2004, doubts were again in the air of the Aussie team’s deteriorating performance. Well, the English played out of their best abilities but a comparison with the Aussies is just not possible. Pull out the records and see how many tests England has lost against the Aussies and by how much margins.
“Consistency” is what the Australian Cricket team is all about. There are world class performers in every International team be it the Tendulkars and the Dravids in India, Smiths and the Kallis in South Africa or Inzamams and the Akhtars in Pakistan. But the delicate balance of fusing individual brilliance in a team environment is best achieved by Australia.
The cricket governing system in Australia deserves a lot of credit for maintaining professionalism in the game from the very club level. A lot of exposure is given to young kids and no wonder the bench strength in Australian Cricket can easily field a separate International team in world cricket.
A lot of credit also needs to be given to the coaches at state level and to the selectors for bringing forward talents like the Chappels, Borders, Healys, Warnes, Pontings, Gilchrist and the list goes on.
A killer attitude and a desire to win every time they play make the Australian team and is a joy to watch them play for any cricket lover. Australian Cricket has raised the bar really high and I just hope some International team is able to get close.
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Indian Sport…… Northbound
Indian sport is at an all time high. Be it the splendid performance of athletes at the recently concluded Melbourne Commonwealth Games or the Indian Cricket team’s series win over arch rivals Pakistan. A country where Cricket is by far the most popular sport and cricketers treated as gods, sports like Formula1, Tennis, Chess etc have off-late shared the limelight.
Cricket has long been accused of a sport that gains maximum media attention also resulting in huge corporate sponsorships not just for the game but also for the players. The point to be noted here is that it makes business sense for the media and corporates to back a sport in which our countrymen are doing well. You can’t expect to win a big sponsorship deal for an Indian hockey team for which you got to jog your memory to recall the last win or for our football team which never qualified through the regional league also.
Sania Mirza, Vishwanathan Anand, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupati, Narain Karthikeyan are some of the names which are doing the rounds selling you a PC, colas, car etc. This clears one point which is that if you are good enough to perform at the world stage there are people to back you up.
Though there is another point to note which is that even being a country of a billion people, we struggle each time to win a single gold in Olympics. There is a huge need to promote sport in our educational institutions and within corporate organizations. There is a lot of stress upon students to do well in academics and sport always take the back seat. Sports are looked down upon by parents and majority wants their kids to grow up and take up a regular office job. The attitude needs to be changed; parents should realize that sports are not just a good career but also a source for developing the overall personality of the kid.
All the athletes who have done our country proud deserve a pat on the back and we should all promote our sportsmen, So the next time you are sitting with an American friend never forget to mention a Arjun Atwal or a Mahesh Bhupati to an Englishman or a Narain Karthikeyan to a European.
Cricket has long been accused of a sport that gains maximum media attention also resulting in huge corporate sponsorships not just for the game but also for the players. The point to be noted here is that it makes business sense for the media and corporates to back a sport in which our countrymen are doing well. You can’t expect to win a big sponsorship deal for an Indian hockey team for which you got to jog your memory to recall the last win or for our football team which never qualified through the regional league also.
Sania Mirza, Vishwanathan Anand, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupati, Narain Karthikeyan are some of the names which are doing the rounds selling you a PC, colas, car etc. This clears one point which is that if you are good enough to perform at the world stage there are people to back you up.
Though there is another point to note which is that even being a country of a billion people, we struggle each time to win a single gold in Olympics. There is a huge need to promote sport in our educational institutions and within corporate organizations. There is a lot of stress upon students to do well in academics and sport always take the back seat. Sports are looked down upon by parents and majority wants their kids to grow up and take up a regular office job. The attitude needs to be changed; parents should realize that sports are not just a good career but also a source for developing the overall personality of the kid.
All the athletes who have done our country proud deserve a pat on the back and we should all promote our sportsmen, So the next time you are sitting with an American friend never forget to mention a Arjun Atwal or a Mahesh Bhupati to an Englishman or a Narain Karthikeyan to a European.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Efforts……..but all in vain
Let me clear this out before you go ahead and read the whole story, I am absolutely frustrated, angry and feel helpless when I am writing this. The story is about my own experience of dealing with the government machinery (to be specific the Police and the Passport Authorities) in the state of Andhra Pradesh (AP).
People like us who belong to northern India have this rosy picture about how good things are in Southern India. We believe in South, the government is efficient, the literacy rate is on higher side and use of computers has made efficiency levels really high in all government departments. How about this when I say this is all CRAP….. SHEER NON-SENSE……BULL SHIT.
In the month of January I decided to get a Police Clearance Certificate (required for a Visa) from Hyderabad and I got all the applications ready. I went in to the Passport office and with a hard day’s struggle I managed to file my application and was also asked to submit my Passport along with it. A week passed by and I got no communication from the Passport office and no police verification happened. Another week went by and I started to get a bit anxious. I could wait no more and as suggested by a friend, I called up the local police station to inquire about the status. The police personnel on the other side responded and agreed to meet me the next day. He did come and did the verification and boasted aloud about how big a favor he has done to me by coming over for the verification.
Wait a minute, I did pay Rs 300 as fees to the Passport Office to get the certificate, so is this my BLOODY duty to run after the police guy to get the verification done. Oh, one critical thing I forgot, my first experience with corruption. I get a call from the police guy the next day that he wants some additional document and I have to personally go give it to him. I met the guy and I felt really nice that he gave me a ride back to home on his scooter but on our way back he kept giving me subtle hints of how less his salary is and that he doesn’t get any conveyance re-imbursement and he went on and on and on. As he dropped me near my place, I knew that he wanted money from me and clearly conveyed in his tone that if I don’t pay him, my case isn’t getting anywhere. I took out 200 Rs and gave it to him and he assured me that my file will go through in two days time. I confirmed with him after two days and was assured that the file has gone.
It has been another two weeks since then and I didn’t hear anything from the Passport office and I started to wonder if that police guy actually submitted the report or not. I called him again and after a week of following up was told by him and I quote “I did my job, bade sahib (senior officer) didn’t sign for this long that is why the report hasn’t gone as yet”. Hang on…. I paid the guy and he told me the file is gone…… Are u kidding with me that the file has still not gone. Could I do something?? No way. Who wants a bad Police Report.
The police guy asked me to come over to the Police Commissioner office and let me tell you the reason why, the police guy wanted to show mw that he has done his job and is forwarding the file to the clerk to finally dispatch it to the passport office. I had to leave office early and traveled 15 kilometers to see the handover….. WOW. On top of that the clerk asked me to come personally to take the dispatch number. I requested that it would be difficult to leave office early again and if I could call him for the number, he plainly refused.
I went to the Police Commissioner Office the next day to meet the clerk and no surprise he was missing from his desk. To find a government official on his desk is like finding an oasis in the desert. After an hour long wait, I did find my oasis, I mean the clerk. I thought for a second that this looks like job done at the police end and there came the shock.
This is very important stuff. As the clerk was scribbling on the post-it to write the dispatch number for me, he said and I quote “kya kucch paise denge kya? (will you want to give me some money?). I was shocked and for a moment I thought, how he sitting in the Police Commissioner office dare can ask me to pay him a bribe. I knew there is no escape and was about to take out my wallet and he whispered and I quote “yahaan nahin senior officer dekh rahe hain” (not here as the senior officers are looking on). Eventually the clerk let me go without taking any money and I felt a bit victorious with getting away without paying anything.
Now, I thought I can get after the Passport authorities to give me the certificate as I had the dispatch number of my Police report. With this hope I went to the Passport Office and stood in line for 2.5 hours to meet a Public Relations Officer who looked into her system and told me the report hasn’t come as yet. I gave her the dispatch number and told her that I need my passport for urgent travel so please issue me the Clearance Certificate as well. I was told and I quote “the report hasn’t come if you want you can take your application back along with your passport”. I really needed the Passport and told her to give back my Passport.
After 2 long months, expenses on taxi, bribes and time, I came out a big Loser of the whole episode. I feel humiliated and have been treated roughly. I have developed a hatred for Andhra Pradesh government officials and would not advice anyone to come and live in this place. I have a lot to write but would end here and follow this story with some other incidents in detail.
People like us who belong to northern India have this rosy picture about how good things are in Southern India. We believe in South, the government is efficient, the literacy rate is on higher side and use of computers has made efficiency levels really high in all government departments. How about this when I say this is all CRAP….. SHEER NON-SENSE……BULL SHIT.
In the month of January I decided to get a Police Clearance Certificate (required for a Visa) from Hyderabad and I got all the applications ready. I went in to the Passport office and with a hard day’s struggle I managed to file my application and was also asked to submit my Passport along with it. A week passed by and I got no communication from the Passport office and no police verification happened. Another week went by and I started to get a bit anxious. I could wait no more and as suggested by a friend, I called up the local police station to inquire about the status. The police personnel on the other side responded and agreed to meet me the next day. He did come and did the verification and boasted aloud about how big a favor he has done to me by coming over for the verification.
Wait a minute, I did pay Rs 300 as fees to the Passport Office to get the certificate, so is this my BLOODY duty to run after the police guy to get the verification done. Oh, one critical thing I forgot, my first experience with corruption. I get a call from the police guy the next day that he wants some additional document and I have to personally go give it to him. I met the guy and I felt really nice that he gave me a ride back to home on his scooter but on our way back he kept giving me subtle hints of how less his salary is and that he doesn’t get any conveyance re-imbursement and he went on and on and on. As he dropped me near my place, I knew that he wanted money from me and clearly conveyed in his tone that if I don’t pay him, my case isn’t getting anywhere. I took out 200 Rs and gave it to him and he assured me that my file will go through in two days time. I confirmed with him after two days and was assured that the file has gone.
It has been another two weeks since then and I didn’t hear anything from the Passport office and I started to wonder if that police guy actually submitted the report or not. I called him again and after a week of following up was told by him and I quote “I did my job, bade sahib (senior officer) didn’t sign for this long that is why the report hasn’t gone as yet”. Hang on…. I paid the guy and he told me the file is gone…… Are u kidding with me that the file has still not gone. Could I do something?? No way. Who wants a bad Police Report.
The police guy asked me to come over to the Police Commissioner office and let me tell you the reason why, the police guy wanted to show mw that he has done his job and is forwarding the file to the clerk to finally dispatch it to the passport office. I had to leave office early and traveled 15 kilometers to see the handover….. WOW. On top of that the clerk asked me to come personally to take the dispatch number. I requested that it would be difficult to leave office early again and if I could call him for the number, he plainly refused.
I went to the Police Commissioner Office the next day to meet the clerk and no surprise he was missing from his desk. To find a government official on his desk is like finding an oasis in the desert. After an hour long wait, I did find my oasis, I mean the clerk. I thought for a second that this looks like job done at the police end and there came the shock.
This is very important stuff. As the clerk was scribbling on the post-it to write the dispatch number for me, he said and I quote “kya kucch paise denge kya? (will you want to give me some money?). I was shocked and for a moment I thought, how he sitting in the Police Commissioner office dare can ask me to pay him a bribe. I knew there is no escape and was about to take out my wallet and he whispered and I quote “yahaan nahin senior officer dekh rahe hain” (not here as the senior officers are looking on). Eventually the clerk let me go without taking any money and I felt a bit victorious with getting away without paying anything.
Now, I thought I can get after the Passport authorities to give me the certificate as I had the dispatch number of my Police report. With this hope I went to the Passport Office and stood in line for 2.5 hours to meet a Public Relations Officer who looked into her system and told me the report hasn’t come as yet. I gave her the dispatch number and told her that I need my passport for urgent travel so please issue me the Clearance Certificate as well. I was told and I quote “the report hasn’t come if you want you can take your application back along with your passport”. I really needed the Passport and told her to give back my Passport.
After 2 long months, expenses on taxi, bribes and time, I came out a big Loser of the whole episode. I feel humiliated and have been treated roughly. I have developed a hatred for Andhra Pradesh government officials and would not advice anyone to come and live in this place. I have a lot to write but would end here and follow this story with some other incidents in detail.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Television (Tele) Round-up for the week
It was Friday evening and unlike any other Fridays’, I had no plans for the evenings to go out. I reached home, had a quite dinner, watched a bit of tele and went off to sleep. I realized that I didn’t have much too do on Saturday as well or rather I was not in a mood to do much. Here comes the idea, why not just stay in bed and watch tele for the whole weekend. It was going to be nothing but a disaster. The following is a list of some of the stuff that I watched on the tele over the weekend.
News on the Cartoons: There has been a global protest over a string of cartoons of Prophet which have published in a Danish Newspaper. People have been out on the streets and protesting in smallest of the cities of India such as Ajmer, Jodhpur, Ghaziabad etc. A simple question, how is a protest (violent in nature) by some irresponsible people who have no idea what the cartoons look like is going to solve the purpose. On top of it, in an instance in Jodhpur, at a place where Salman Khan’s court case hearing was going on and the protestors were passing from outside, the protestors forgot the agenda and mobbed the court shouting “Salman Zindabad” slogans.
Channel V Big Concert: I was thrilled coz few of the good bands I like performed at the concert and I was eager to catch a bit of the gig. What do I see, Aryans, a band was performing and OH MY GOD, there I see a band member, with not a single hair on his head but pretty much everywhere else visible through his sleeveless t-shirt. Not to mention that he had a big belly and the band performance was pathetic. The concert started early in the day and the organizers being smart kept the minnows performance in the start when there were not too many people around. Anyways, few bad hours I spent watching it.
Cricket: Though India won the One-day cricket match series and the match as convincingly as you would have seen before, the pre-shows and the post shows killed me. I love to hear good comments but Please only from people who have played good cricket and have contributed to the game. Here is the scenario; Atul Wassan (played International cricket for one season and was a terrible performer) is cribbing about some Indian Strategy on one channel and so are some of his counter parts such as Saba Karim, Ian Bishop and many more about other cricketing issues. Dude, you have no right to pin-point at Sachin, if missed out in one innings or if Irfan Pathan gave away too many runs. Please go home and check your career statistics and see what you have done in your career.
Stardust Awards: A mega set, huge gathering of film stars and all of them swearing that this is the most prestigious award (which they do at every award show). Was just wondering, how many stardust would be selling in India that they come up with this kind of a mega show. Malaika (Malai-Kha) Arora was looking stunning but hey she was just boring with her long worded sentences and boring dialogues (even my dog would have slept hearing that). Ritesh Deshmukh (son of Vilas Rao Deshmukh, Maharashtra CM) collected the award for Best Supporting Actor for the movie Kya Kool Hain Hum and spoke “that the award came as a surprise” Yeah Right!!, pays off to be son of a CM ain’t it otherwise how can you justify non – recognition of Naseerudin Shah’s and Amitabh Bacchan’s performance.
It all was turning out to be a bit of mess so I decided to go out for a movie on Sunday, Wedding Crashers, and was a good reprieve from the Television disaster I was facing. I swear to God, I will derive some other means for spending time constructively than watching television.
News on the Cartoons: There has been a global protest over a string of cartoons of Prophet which have published in a Danish Newspaper. People have been out on the streets and protesting in smallest of the cities of India such as Ajmer, Jodhpur, Ghaziabad etc. A simple question, how is a protest (violent in nature) by some irresponsible people who have no idea what the cartoons look like is going to solve the purpose. On top of it, in an instance in Jodhpur, at a place where Salman Khan’s court case hearing was going on and the protestors were passing from outside, the protestors forgot the agenda and mobbed the court shouting “Salman Zindabad” slogans.
Channel V Big Concert: I was thrilled coz few of the good bands I like performed at the concert and I was eager to catch a bit of the gig. What do I see, Aryans, a band was performing and OH MY GOD, there I see a band member, with not a single hair on his head but pretty much everywhere else visible through his sleeveless t-shirt. Not to mention that he had a big belly and the band performance was pathetic. The concert started early in the day and the organizers being smart kept the minnows performance in the start when there were not too many people around. Anyways, few bad hours I spent watching it.
Cricket: Though India won the One-day cricket match series and the match as convincingly as you would have seen before, the pre-shows and the post shows killed me. I love to hear good comments but Please only from people who have played good cricket and have contributed to the game. Here is the scenario; Atul Wassan (played International cricket for one season and was a terrible performer) is cribbing about some Indian Strategy on one channel and so are some of his counter parts such as Saba Karim, Ian Bishop and many more about other cricketing issues. Dude, you have no right to pin-point at Sachin, if missed out in one innings or if Irfan Pathan gave away too many runs. Please go home and check your career statistics and see what you have done in your career.
Stardust Awards: A mega set, huge gathering of film stars and all of them swearing that this is the most prestigious award (which they do at every award show). Was just wondering, how many stardust would be selling in India that they come up with this kind of a mega show. Malaika (Malai-Kha) Arora was looking stunning but hey she was just boring with her long worded sentences and boring dialogues (even my dog would have slept hearing that). Ritesh Deshmukh (son of Vilas Rao Deshmukh, Maharashtra CM) collected the award for Best Supporting Actor for the movie Kya Kool Hain Hum and spoke “that the award came as a surprise” Yeah Right!!, pays off to be son of a CM ain’t it otherwise how can you justify non – recognition of Naseerudin Shah’s and Amitabh Bacchan’s performance.
It all was turning out to be a bit of mess so I decided to go out for a movie on Sunday, Wedding Crashers, and was a good reprieve from the Television disaster I was facing. I swear to God, I will derive some other means for spending time constructively than watching television.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Rang De Basanti – A treat to watch
26th January. A hot afternoon and the first day of the movie, one can sense the motivation we had to watch the movie. The movie previews have been intriguing and it was getting difficult to guess what this movie will be all about. The movie starts with a fantastic bit of graffiti fusing together the Indian freedom movement and the contemporary India.
The storyline talks about the heroics of the martyrs of the Indian Freedom Movement especially the young brigade such as Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Chandrashekhar Azad, etc and how the memories of these are alive in a young, Sue, through her grandfather’s memoirs. Sue comes to India from Britain to find actors to shoot the documentary on the young martyrs and soon finds them in the form of Aamir, Soha Ali, Kunal Kapoor and gang.
The movie takes you on a journey of a beautiful and culturally tolerant India where the old generation is still caught up in the chains of caste and creed but the new generation is living drawing up their own rules. Though as normal Indian youth, they too believe that the Indian political and social system is so corrupt that they can’t do anything to change it. A sudden death of a common friend, a MIG fighter plane pilot who always believed that the youth of India can bring about the change if they wanted to, brings forward the hidden fire in all of them. They decide to take a step forward and kill the corrupt people behind the purchase of defective parts for the MIG machinery (which I think was an extreme scenario).
The story telling is one not seen for quite some time in Hindi cinema and all characters have a reason to be part of the film and not stuffed in to fill reels. The movie provokes a thought in all young Indians to contribute to the nation in whichever way possible. I think people are in for a joyride in the movie with moments of hilarity and on the other hand moments where the heart would go heavy a bit. Kudos to the artists who have worked on the film and believe me there is no stopping this film to become a big box office success.
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