Wednesday, April 30, 2008

twerp!

This is one thing I have to get out of my system. You come across all kinds of animals in the blogosphere, but some of them get your goat so bad that despite being unworthy of even a whisper, happen to merit special mention. One such absolute twerp is shaan khan.

I don't know much about the bounder but by the looks of it he is a mulish, wet behind the ears, galling gadfly.

I'd rarely say anything so venomous about anyone, but this one like I said deserves special mention. He also contributes to a theiving site that reproduces my posts without permission, he freely deletes comments from the comments forum if the views don't agree with his. It is impossible to have an intelligent conversation with him (partly because of the absolute lack of intellect on his part) because he deletes any comment that proves his point of view wrong. Like a little schoolboy tearing out pages from a rival's homework!

One look at a few of his posts (please do forgive me for forwarding you there) shows how biased his writing & reviewing is. He has the temerity to be disappointed with Khuda ke Liye, he constantly writes lewd posts about Abhishek-Aishwarya (no well brought up boy would say all that), he considers Jodha-Akbar to be a bad movie, he has an irritating contant anti-Bachchan stance, he can't even spell stellar right! And worst of all, he considers the movie that murdered the sweet memory of Karz, OSO a better film than the ones we just mentioned!

So once all of you have gone through the links & read his puerile vomit once, please do stay away from his bullcrap!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

11 match ban??? Is that all???

Looks like the Pakis have more balls than us!

Shoaib Akhtar is handed a life ban for hitting a colleague.

Shane Warne was out of the game for 2 years(?) in his prime because of a drug-related charge.

And Harbhajan gets a piddly 11 match ban?????????

We're truly a nation of losers!

Ban the offie for a minimum of 1 year from all forms of the game! That's the minimum punishment he deserves! 2 would be really nice!
That's the ONLY thing that will teach him a lesson! That's the only thing that will ensure that when he comes back, his temprament has undergone a change. Let him use the free time to undergo anger management lessons!

He has shamed all of us and totally embarassed us in front of the Aussies!

Monday, April 28, 2008

Ethnicity, Politics or Progress?

Thankfully the discussion on this Blogathon is around a pet topic, one that will not unduly tax the limited resources at my disposal.
Ever since we gained some social consciousness, through newspapers & DD Samachar, thanks to the GK & Current Affairs awareness drives in school, it was amply clear that politics in India was inextricably intertwined with the despicable religion-caste-ethnicity mix! So one didn't react too much to the situation as we didn't know any better!
Until PV Narsimha Rao became India's Prime Minister! & appointed Dr. Manmohan Singh as the Finance Minister! For the first time since my socio-political awakening, I was witnessing a period where the Government focused solely on development issues. Every move of theirs, every newspaper article was chronicling globalization, open-markets, economy, growth, development etc. The leading opposition party (as is their wont) tried to drag PVN Rao into political debate, into religion & caste issues, but Rao didn't bite the bait. He had his agenda right. He would give his country something new to talk about! That was the first time that everyone in the country was talking about Development! That was the first time that the Finance Minister was a bigger hero than the Home Minister & the Defence Minister combined! That was the first time that we heard of the Montek Singh Ahluwalias of the world. Suddenly uma bharti, ashok singhal & the shahi imam(?) ceased to exist in socio-political conversations! WOW!!!
This is something that Dr. Singh has tried to replicate in his tenure as PM. Unfortunately this is something that he or his party cannot do alone. If the opposition is truly nationalist, then they must join hands in this movement & commit to keeping the discussions around areas that pertain to development. Maybe someone needs to put a code in place, the way an EC code exists?
I was recently talking to one of my ex-bosses about the state of India's affairs, and he said the very same thing! He pointed out that there was only one thing that made us shift focus from politics to development. And that was Economics! And now that the Commerce juggernaut has started to roll, it will only gather more momentum! Once people in the villages realise that it is development that will feed them, clothe them & educate their young, they too will cut ties with parties focused on petty religious-caste-ethnicity centred politics! And that day, a new India will rise!
In my humble opinion, India needs a unifying force. And that unifying force will be Economics! When the money starts to roll in people forget about caste differences. I am certain that India's BPO industry is replete with examples where the reporting structure has shattered caste or gender norms! And not one subordinate whether upper caste or male, has the guts to say anything! His newly acquired lifestyle is at stake!
So let Economics rule! Let Commerce rule! And watch a unified India take shape!

Jai_Choorakkot's Question

Jai seems to be fairly popular in the blogosphere despite his own blog not having been updated for years now! This is the second post one of this comments has inspired, and I'm happy to answer the question he raised here:
http://indianmuslims.in/amar-akbar-anthony/
Jai,
Your reference to the propaganda on the right-wing site intrigued me a lot. I wanted to speak to the more learned elders in my family to learn more about this, but didn't get the opportunity. So I looked it up on the net.
One only needs to know the name of the Prophet Muhammad's so-called "child-bride" to get the right results in Google. Her name was Ayesha.
http://www.guidedones.com/metapage/frq/Aisha.htm
The comments here are from the likes of Dr. Annie Besant, not indoctrinated mere nobodies.
Most interesting is Geoffrey Parrinder's comment. Or should I say the non-reaction of the Church to his comment. This is what I find admirable in Christianity & the West. You can lampoon anyone, burn the flag if you please, depict Christian sects as evil, but it will not elicit a violent reaction, nor stupid PIL's, nor despicable fatwas! We really should learn all this from them instead of importing high-fat burger chains from them. Don't you think?

Friday, April 25, 2008

Cinegod...!

With everyone from A to Z in Bollywood being given some epithet or the other, with ALL of them being referred to as superstars or megastars, where does that leave those who are head and shoulders above the rest?
If hrithik is a greek god, if srk is king khan, what does one call Mr. Bachchan? A superstar? Just another superstar? Where's the distinction?
To be fair, Rajnikanth did say that there is only one Shahenshah & that is Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, but the press isn't given to using too many epithets with Mr. Bachchan. This may have to do with his earlier relationship with the press, but boy do those guys hold a grudge!

So coming back to the point of this post: What does someone address a Supernova of Mr. Bachchan's stature as?

I cannot think of a better suited word than Cinegod!

Awaam ki raae...?

The men with the silvern touch...

Not Midas obviously, but close. This is a person whose antics I have resented in the past (with valid reasons at that point in time), but with more maturity & a calmer disposition, not anymore.

Shahrukh Khan. Much of what I said about him previously on this blog & in conversations, I still stand by; but one thing I cannot take away from the guy... practically everything he touches turns to silver. Despite limited acting, he still draws in the crowds; despite doing the same type of movies repeatedly, he still manages to set the cash registers ringing (largely). His touch seems to worked with the Calcutta team in the IPL circus, and the KBC debacle (and the DON damp-squib) notwithstanding, by the looks of it, he is set to romp home with his latest quiz show on TV.

Not that others don't outdo him in all these areas. Aamir, Saif, Hrithik etc. are better actors (and with probably better track records); Akshay reportedly is paid more than him these days. Shekhar Suman's rip off of Jay Leno did better than Khan's KBC... Yet Shahrukh makes all the news. And I am past blaming his PR machinery for that. They're only doing a good job of what they're hired to do!

On a separate note, it is sad that Shekhar Suman doesn't get the celebrity he deserves. The man is probably older than Khan, built up a great physique before Khan, recorded an album (in the process adding to his already long list of many many talents!), yet it was Shahrukh's apparent six-pack that made the news! Quite a shame actually.

Yet, it isn't all of that that I admire the man for. I have very little respect for SRK the actor, but I have immense respect for the man.
To the casual observer, he seems blessed, a modern day Midas (that's why I said silvern. I wouldn't wish that on anyone!); but anyone who has delved a little deeper will realise that he has had more than his share of misfortunes. His parents died young, his sister apparently still suffers from the impact of those early blows. He's had a serious spine problem. He has to face critics like me, worse probably, all the time. Yet the man carries on bravely!
It is this trait that I admire most about him. His ability to keep on moving.
He has got to a point where he doesn't let criticism bother him too much, and this is a trait very few men can develop. He is content to be who he is, and make himself successful with his limited means. Very admirable traits!

So, all the best Shahrukh. Keep on moving!

Similarly, Hrithik. Leads an apparently perfect life, looks like God sculpted him with His own hands; but look a little closer and you'll see. Hrithik isn't perfect. For all his God-made looks, he has two thumbs that give the impression of a claw. And the man has developed the guts to flaunt it on screen. His father was shot at by goons. He was unsure of the industry, unsure of whether he'd be able to make it, yet he hung in there, dug deep and gave it his best shot! And look what he came up with! Again & again!
No one is perfect, no one has it easy, everyone has to stand up & be brave, face his fears, & fight to come out a winner. Hrithik has done all of that and handles immense pressure. Till now. And my he continue to do so. All the best dude!

And who knows pressure better than Sachin Tendulkar? Who has people writing him off time & again? And who slams cricket ball after cricket ball deep down the throats of his critics to silence them again & again? Despite 20 years in the game having taken a toll on his body & mind, despite numerous surgeries, despite recent recurrent injury enforced hiatuses from the game, who comes up trumps again & again? Sachin Tendulkar! Absolutely Saluteworthy!

To these men of mettle...

I'm a fair man

I never thought I'd get round to doing this, so never say never again.
I saw Chak De a few days back. And I'm going to retract part of what I said earlier. And I don't do this grudgingly, I do this with a touch of respect & admiration.
SRK is not a bad actor as I may have sometimes over-aggressively claimed. He is an actor that decides to do good work in patches. Chak De has him in probably the 2nd best performance of his career. Mr. Bachchan's influence over filmdom's collective conciousness is evident even in SRK. In the scene when he's talking to the 2 warring forwards before the final, there are not just shades of Mr. Bachchan, but it almost seems like Mr. Bachchan has taken on a shorter, younger body! ;-)
To be fair there are some scenes that could've been done better. For example the coach pep-talking the team scenes were a little insipid in comparision to Hollywood sports movies. Remember the Titans? But for that one has to talk to the director. Can't blame SRK for everything. I'm actually a little tired of blaming him now. Yes he could've turned the scene around if he wanted to, but compared to what he has been doing recently, this will do just fine. Yes, this will do very well!
Kudos Shahrukh! If only we got to see more of this stuff.

Friday, April 18, 2008

more on balatkar

I was going through sitemeter's stats recently to check details of the incoming traffic to this blog.
Would you believe that about 35% of all people who come to this blog are sent here by Google searches for the word "balatkar"!!!
It just gives you a idea of the number of wierdos that abound on the net.
Probably explains why we encounter so many wierdos in the comments section on the Mutiny...! ;-)

Maybe I should publish IP details of all the people who visited via the "balatkar" gateway... Interesting thought...

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Why can they not leave the Nehru-Gandhi clan alone?

What is it with people in this country? Why're they obsessed with the Nehru-Gandhi clan??? And WHY on earth are they obsessed with the negative?

Sonia Gandhi commutes Nalini's sentence from death to life and there's no applause from her detractors. Maybe because her detractors are killers by nature and have no respect for greater virtue...

Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra visits her father's killer in jail, in an attempt to bury the ghosts that may have haunted her for years and what do I see the next day? Yahoo India carrying a poll on their home page, submitted by a lowly user, asking whether Priyanka's visit is a pre-election stunt???

Only the lowly can think so low.

Crossposted

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

History & lies

Recently, whenever I quote from History, I have often been told that History is written by the ruler or the victor, therefore implying that whatever I know about India or the world is a lopsided even untrue view of things.

It is this claim that I seek to challenge with my post.

If History is indeed written by the victor or the ruler, how is it that we remember the 1857 Mutiny as our first war of Independence? We lost the damn war didn't we? Yet, we seem to have very clear accounts of the heroism of Mangal Pandey, Rani Laxmibai, Tatya Tope, Tipu Sultan etc. How come we've never heard of the Britishers heroics in that war?

We seem to have very clear memories of Porus conversation with ol' Alex & ensuing honourable discharge; despite Alexander being the victor.

We remember Siraj-ud-Daula as a hero despite his loss at the Battle of Plassey. Mir Jafar who won the battle for the British is remembered as a traitor.

How is it that the Indians heroism is well documented (including Sitting Bull's victory over Custer, an American war hero) despite them having lost overall to the marauding early Americans?

History is fair. It isn't only commissioned by the ruler. There are independent scholars who write it as well, taking into account a number of facts.

So where does this recent phenomenon of lamblasting known History come from? Where does this lamblasing of our schooling as British fed or Congress fed (or Macauly led!!!) come from?

I'll tell you. It's the recently English literate right-wing. After centuries of wallowing amongst dead languages, they've given up & adopted the medium of instruction that will give them access to PR machinery and media (in addition to better paying jobs). And they're using it to further their evil purposes!

I've heard that the Purana Qila excavations have unearthed artifacts about 2500 years old. Great news! I've yet to see a news item that boldly proclaims that 5000 year old remains of Indraprastha have been found! But rumours abound...

Soon, I guess there'll be a theory propogated that the Taj Mahal was actually built by a descendant of Chandragupta Maurya, but the ruling Mughals tampered with History & usurped his claim to it.

That's it ladies & gentlemen... the difference between History & lies!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Another time, another country, another martyr...

This was supposed to go up on the Mutiny, but their editors seem a trifle busy at the moment (with more contributors than they can handle!).

I sometimes wonder why we don't celebrate World Martyrs. We speak in glowing terms about Gandhiji (and we should!); there was recently a post on Bhagat Singh (and a well deserved one!). There was a wonderful live-blogging experiment to commemorate the martyrs in India's first war of Independence!

If this is so because the Mutiny intends to focus only on issues that concern India & Indians, maybe I have my answer; but the kind of people that started & run the Mutiny, and my conversations with them, makes me believe that they don't intend to limit the remit of the Mutiny to only what happens in India.

So again, are only our martyrs deserving of remembrance? Not to me. Those kind souls who have been reading my comments, posts and blog will know that national boundaries, concepts of race, birth, origin etc. mean nothing to me. So here's remembering one of the world's foremost men, on the day he was martyred.

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 to April 15, 1865):

Anyone who has read anything about the man cannot help being inspired by Lincoln. He was a colossus who strode through the consciousness of the American public then & continues to inspire thousands more today. (Thankfully, no imbecile can blame this on Macaulay!). He is remembered primarily for his abolishment of slavery in America, (and as it often happens to people who fight for equal rights for the underdog) for being the first American President to be assassinated. He is remembered for his leadership during the Civil War, despite his thorough dislike of of the ills of war. Quite a contrast from his trigger happy current day counterparts. One can't even speak of them in the same breath!

I present a few links that will give an insight into the mind of a man of strong values, a leader of men who fought when the cause was right, a man who believed in the equality of man irrespective of colour, region (among other bullshit) etc., and a man of immense humility:

Lincoln's letter to the Headmaster of the school his son went to.

Lincoln's letter to a lady who lost her sons in the Civil War. What other man would do/has done something like this?

Not many people know that Abe was not formally schooled as a young boy. He educated himself & went on to qualify as a lawyer. Not many people know that he single-handedly & successfully defended himself against a band of robbers once. The attack left a telltale scar that is visible in his photos. Not many people are aware that he had a string of failures (as a lawyer, as a businessman, as a Vice-Presidential candidate) before he finally made it as President, and the most respected President in America's history ever! Very few people realize that often it takes time to realize one's true potential, but when one does...

Don't we too need a leader like him that does away with the differences in our society? Even at the cost of a civil war? Maybe not, then again maybe...

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Airtel Indictment!!!

Link from a post that I put up on the Mutiny.
Mutiny uses Wordpress, which has some amazing features, but it's pro-tech-savvy approach sometimes makes the most simple tasks like linking to a photo extremely difficult. So here's the original photo in a more viewable format. Enjoy!

Spread the good word!