Male Today!

The ads at Delhi airport for the Mail Today are very apt. The positioning couldn't be more apt! Imagine a naked picture of a gay man, back view (send me one if you can find one; I'll put it up here!). Then the copy: Less Length, Less Breadth, More Depth! Male Today!

That's exactly what this new fangled tabloid is from the first glance I got at it. A disease of today's times. No focus on truthful reporting, trying to sell through sensationalisation.

There's this absolute ***** who writes for their b*llyw**d section, called kavita awaasthi. I read two articles by her & came away none the richer. There was nothing in them. Except bile. A lot of bile. The way she waded into Manisha Koirala, the way she was bitching about Aishwarya, made me jump to only 1 conclusion. She has a problem with women that heterosexual men find mouthwateringly delicious! God alone knows why.

One thing I've learnt from reading her crap is that I will tone down my rants. Getting personal is in very bad taste! I will avoid these two pitfalls if possible. Because whether or not I know what good writing is about, I now definitely know what bad writing is about.

The good thing is that both she & the paper she writes for are unknowns. Let's keep it that way! A la Jade Goody: make them disappear fast from public memory.

And to think that this is an offering from the India Today group!! Kisika bharosa nahi raha!

1conoclast's World Peace Awards

With the Internet offering the anonymity that the real world doesn't offer, I often find in my wanderings on the net, a plethora of communal or racist outpourings. Needless to say that these rabid rants are anonymous. It pains the heart immensely to read all that drivel.

Yet, there are people (and views) on the net that gladden the heart and bring back one's faith in human goodness.

It is to honour & celebrate such people and views that I am instituting the 1conoclast's World Peace Award. This will be an annual award & here are the winners of the first edition:

1conoclast's World Peace Award 2007 goes to:

Mukesh Adhvaryu

Amidst the ethnic hatred and religious madness that caught on in some sections of Indian society, Mukesh manages to keep a clear head and is unswayed by the extermism on either side. Just because of this is why he wins the 2007 Award.

The other close contenders were:

Citizens for Peace because for a million reasons. Actually I would've liked them to win the Award but Mukesh's achievement is that he is solo as opposed to the plethora of intellectuals that abound on Citizens for Peace, and that should count for something.
Indian Muslims Blog for presenting progressive, balanced, brave & fair points of view through their blog.
Knownturf, because of it's brilliant analysis of issues that impair peace here, here and here.
Zigzackly because of it's support to a million noble causes.

God Bless the winner & the runner's up; may your tribe increase...

Leave Sania alone!

This one was lying in the drafts folder for some time, but recent events have forced me to complete it.

What is wrong with people around the world? What gives them this bloated sense of self importance? Who are they to demand, ask, criticize another person? Specially one that has so obviously and honestly achieved more than they ever will!

Sania Mirza is a 21 year old girl for God's sake! She is a young girl who is doing more than other girls of her age do. She isn't hanging around college canteens achieving precious little. She's been working harder than most men (and women) who are criticizing her. She is bringing her country (primarily) & community (secondarily) into the limelight. She's making money & spending it all on getting better. Coaches like Tony Roche don't come cheap!

This girl is India's pride. She is representative of young, emerging India. She should be lauded, protected, encouraged, not pulled down the way some jokers are doing! Can we please file a PIL against anyone who tries to pull this kid down? Maybe the AITA & Globosport can do that. After all, they'd only be defending the interests of their player!

Let's count the number of controversies this youngster has pointlessly been dragged into:

A section of radical Muslims targetted Sania for wearing short skirts; exposing clothing which apparently brings disrepute to their version of community. Now I don't understand Islam very well, but Islam was never meant to be hard & fast about anything. Islam is purported to be one of the most practical religions. I have heard that Islam went to the extent of advising it's followers to hide their religion if it meant that their lives were under threat. With that kind of practicality, why can't a tennis player wear clothing that is acceptable in her area of work. This is my viewpoint. I believe that the people targetting her do not have the deep understanding that Islam desired of them.
I have a couple of questions to ask these radicals:
Would you rather have Sania Mirza being known as an Indian Muslim, Modern Muslim, Muslim Achiever or would you rather that people continue to have poor images of Indian Muslims. As ultra-conservative, regressive, underachievers? Don't put so much pressure on her that she cannot achieve more & do her community the service that she is doing.
If these radicals are so concerned about the image of Muslims, why don't they focus on the Muslims who beg. Why don't they teach them & get them jobs? Why don't they get them cleaned up? Get them off drugs?
Why don't they rush to cover up a poor beggar woman who is lying practically naked on the railway platform, who will in all probably be raped every night by people wanting to take advantage of her plight/mental condition? What if she is a poor muslim beggar? Forget muslim, what would these radicals do? Would they try & save her? Probably not. In the interest of practicality maybe? Then they shouldn't hound Sania anymore. Please.

Sania's views on pre-marital sex:
Leave her alone. She's a product of a young India. Also, she's allowed to make as many mistakes as children in any family make. You & I are not perfect. Why should she be expected to be? As long as she turns out OK in the long run, everyone will be happy. Anyway, she's not answerable to you & me. She'll be judged like you & I will be. You keep your hands off her.

Her Dr. getting threats for treating her &
the Mecca Masjid Controversy:
All this is giving muslims all over a bad name. Marat Safin & his sister Darina are Russian Muslim tennis players. They're not pulled up for anything by anyone. Why not? Are Russian muslims more evolved than Indian muslims? Are Indian muslims not concerned with the Safins? Why? Or is just that they don't even know about the existence of the Safins? They're targetting what they know & can see, and can target. The Russians don't give a rat's arse about what they think! So one can safely surmise that Sania too should just not care!!!

National Flag controversy:
Anyone who knows anything about tennis or even sport knows that entering tournaments earns the players money, while entering competitions like the Davis & Hopman Cup, where one plays for one's country & not the money, is done for national pride.
Sania plays the Hopman Cup, plays hard & gets us victories. No one clamours for giving her an award or compensation for the potential financial losses she endured to play for her country. The Bhopali soorma & the liar from Tirupati are both unknowns. They're using Sania to gain a little importance in their respective districts. Maybe it will help their business. Or if there is any truth to the Karma concept, they will lose whatever little business they have anyway. Hey! What an idea! Hit them where it hurts! Their names have been published in the newspapers. Let's all blog about & call for a total boycott of their services for wasting Sania's time, the court's time, newsprint & our time as well! Let's ask the citizens from their hometowns to boycott their services totally until they apologize!!! This should work!
Why did these two jokers not congratulate Sania for her Hopman Cup service? Because they're ignorant. Sania is a potential Olympic medal hope! Can't they see that? This will only distress her & allow her to lose focus. They should apologize & back her unconditionally!

What do these guys want? Do they want her to fail for a more sinister reason?
Do they want her to get frustrated with India & leave her country to live elsewhere like many many other tennis players do?

Can the radical Muslims for a moment not consider this: Sania may have been born into a muslim family, but what if she isn't a muslim by faith. Being muslim is about following the religion. What if she doesn't want to follow the faith she was born into or any religion for that matter? What is she believes that her work is her worship & that she will be judged by her service to her fellow-men, her countrymen? Like I said earlier, who are we do judge? We are mere human beings like her, & definitely not greater than her!

Can the uber-nationalists consider a scenario where Sania gets totally frustrated with us takyanoosi Indians & decides to migrate to Florida, change her nationality & play for the U.S.? Win Olympic medals for the U.S. & not us?

Please leave the girl alone. She has much to give to all of us. Let's sit back & enjoy what she has to offer. And pray for her success!

Note: Ideas that will help us protect this young girl who has made India proud are highlighted in red. Please feel free to use/implement/propogate them.

Bombay ka khula balatkar!!!

The incident outside the gates of JW Marriott on New Year's Eve is to my mind the gangrape of Bombay. Bombay was a safe haven for girls. It was a city where they could have some innocent fun without feeling threatened. But on that night, as Bombay prepared to enter the New Year, she was gangraped!!!

What a terrible start to 2008!

In response to HT's question from yesterday:

Yes. Bombay is becoming another Delhi. While there's always been a Delhi influx into our city, I wonder if it has now reached critical mass! Also, could this be a socio-economic situation? Previously poor, still illiterate Indians, now flushed with disposable incomes, leading to booze fueled molesting sessions? This needs some social research (Tata Institute of Social Work, VV Giri Institute?). And it needs some very stern judicial measures! 50 lashes maybe!

Also, if this makes the sons of the soil wake up & do something... This wasn't the case when the name was still Bombay.

While I'm no HT fan, Kudos to the HT photographers.

Others who have blogged about this despicable incident:
Knownturf

talented debutant

Here's a new entrant to the blogosphere. His interests are diverse and range from poetry to lyrics to films to advertising to social activism. If he can translate his interests into regular posts, this promises to be a very interesting blog. Please sample his work & give him a warm welcome here.

Specially tagging the Knownturf author and other poetically inclined bloggers to visit & provide constuctive feedback.

I've learnt...

Through a fairly painful process called Life, I've learnt a few things. I'm sharing these with anyone who wants to avoid the entire cycle & prosper on borrowed wisdom!

• Not to offer advice unsolicited.
• Never to criticize anyone. It shatters the other person's self-esteem. A gentle word is more important than correcting somebody. The Quran apparently says something to this effect on criticism: "Criticism is akin to eating the flesh of your brother"!
• No matter how many interests I cultivate, no matter how much I know about everything, No matter how much capacity my brain has been blessed with, I've learnt that even that has it's limits. I know now that in order to achieve something big, you have to make sacrifices, you sometimes have to go through trauma.
• I've learnt: that often we’re too hard on ourselves. We judge ourselves too harshly, expect too much, even perfection from ourselves. I've learnt that it's not working for me. I've learnt that we’re as ordinary or just as significant as everyone else. So what I’ve learnt is this: No more judging harshly, and no more totally unrealistic expectations! Ambition yes, but none of the previous expecting the earth stuff!
• I've learnt that I'm as important or as strong and as susceptible as the next guy. So no more fear of bullies. You can tackle them, and with just a little bit of luck superbly! So no more getting intimidated by bullies or unnerved in the face of aggression! Stay & FIGHT! You stand almost as much a chance of winning if you fight. If you don’t fight, then you stand no chance at all!
• We don't understand right from wrong, or spirituality or religion when we are young. We understand these things only later, when we're battered and bruised. After we have sinned(?) and learnt some lessons in humility and in our fragility and impermanence. And we have been thru moh and have realized what a devious mistress it is. And that the devil is a seducer who tempts as depicted so effectively in The Devil's Advocate. How even a virtue can become a vice if taken to extremes.
• Peter sinned before finally tending to the flock. Even Jesus and Mohammad started preaching late in life. Using that analogy we realize that we lesser mortals have stained damans before we begin to receive the first rays of enlightenment. Because it is only the test of fire that makes fine steel.
• Not to worry. Worry leads to anxiety & stress, and these can become lifelong mental & physical conditions is unchecked. After all, there are billions who go through life's ups & downs unpeturbed. What do they lose? They same that everyone else loses! Also, read these two excellent couplets from 2 great poets:

Chinta se ghate chaturai,

Dukh se ghate sharir,

Lobh se ghate laxmi,

Kah gaye das Kabir..*

&

Chinta se chaturai ghate

ghate rup aur gyan

chinta badi abhagini

chinta chita saman

tulsi bharose ram ke

nischint hoyi ke soye

anhoni honi nahi

honi hoye so hoye!*

• I've realized after much misunderstanding & maligning it, that Religion is essentially a school. Or a course therein. Of Spirituality. When you want to learn about Law, you go to Law school; when you wanna learn about God and Spirituality, Religion teaches you.

Note: This list will expand.

Roz subah sirf utho nahin... JAAGO!!!

OK. If you take pride in being an educated, intelligent, humane Indian, here's what you should be reading:

http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/2007/11/14/statement-on-nandigram/#comment-40

http://zigzackly.blogspot.com/2007/11/hitting-gujarat-and-west-bengal.html#links

And need I specify what you should be doing?

I am going to do what Anjan has recommended. For a start, I am not going to shop at Reliance Fresh anymore. Spencer's, a nice secular South Indian company will get all my money. No quarrel with Reliance Retail. They're Headquartered in Bombay. None with Reliance Communications for the same reason. Quarrel only with companies operating out of Gujarat. Reasons below.
No more buying fuel at the Reliance petrol pump in Vashi. Will buy from HP.

If anyone has more ideas to add to this list, we'd love to hear!

Reasons:
A boycott is a time-tested form of protest against the actions of a state (as represented by its "management" or "government"). Think about the Swadeshi movement, for instance - its participants chose not to buy British goods not only as a positive endorsement to India's handloom industry, but also an economic action that disrupted the British textiles supply-demand curve. Were those factories not staffed by people like the employees that you refer to, or run by businessmen whose intention was anything other than to make an honest living - supported by a nation-state that was quietly pursuing its agenda of repression against India? Did the owners of those factories stand up and pressurize the British monarchy to give India its freedom - or did the collective weight of the Indian protests in both non-violent and militant expression drive the British out? We all make choices.
Arvind Mills and the other companies that chose to be where they are made theirs. It is our belief that a widespread boycott will compel them to rethink this - and to put pressure on the state leadership to at least shift away from the politics of hate if they are to retain their economic position.

List of companies to watch for:
The list is rather long and still under scrutiny for accuracy (we do not wish to penalize companies that may have registered their offices there years ago but operate de facto HQs from elsewhere - it is quite a hassle to switch the State for a Corporate office)... still, here are some of the obvious ones identified so far:

Arvind Mills (Healthier Alternative is KG Denim I think)
Torrent Pharma
Cadila Pharma
Zydus Cadila
Gujarat Gas
Hipolin
Paras Pharmaceuticals
Ashapura Mines
Remi Metals
Amul (Britannia/Nestle are alternatives)

Edited: 07.01.2008

Road Rage with a twist

There was another post that spoke of road rage some time back, but it's been some time since then. By God's Grace, I'm older & more mellow now. Or yellow as my twenty something cousin would put it. Here's a couple of my recent responses to aggravation on Poona roads.

I do not try & run Pune-ites off the road anymore. There's no point. They're stubborn & are willing to get their own vehicles damaged if you end up damaging yours in the bargain. So I keep my cool. I cannot overstate the importance of keeping a cool head in every situation throughout your life! Even if you have to defend yourself physically, there's no reason to let your adrenaline take control of your mind. You can do more damage to your opponent if your mind is thinking of vicious ways to do it. But more on cool in another post.
So what I do these days is stay calm & think of ways to cause permanent psychological scarring rather than get worked up, get my blood pressure up, get into a shouting match. Such as:

The Koregaon Park - Mundhwa road is being repaired for the past month. As a result of which, it is now temporarily a one-way. But Pune-ites being the priceless lot they are, break every traffic rule in the book & then some more. They drive right into the one-way, in hordes, causing immense discomfort for those legitimately on that road. Thankfully I realized the futility of trying to shout down 40 motorists. So I called the Traffic Control Room & appraised them of the situation. They're Pune-ites too I guess, so they said they'd take immediate action, but did nothing for a long time. Then one day, as I was driving past the other end of the road, I saw a police vehicle stationed there & a couple of cops. And of course, there were motorists leaning out of their windows, alighting from their vehicles, /begging/negotiating with the cops to be let off. This was my moment! I stopped my car, rolled the window down & in the loudest voice I could muster I hollered to the cops, "GREAT JOB!!! WONDERFUL!!! CATCH MORE OF THESE GUYS! DON'T LET THEM OFF EASY!" And I clapped as well. I wanted to get out of the car & do a little jig, but I was in a bit of a hurry. Plus judging by the response of one of the motorists, I think I had done enough! :-D
But it doesn't end here. As I drove onto that road, a couple of metres ahead, I saw more motorists heading down the wrong way. So I slowed down, rolled my window down, and signalling the errant motorists to stop I said, "Run! There's a police car coming right behind you!" And that sent the Puneri drivers scurrying. Where? Straight into the waiting arms of the cops at the other end!!! LOLOL!!!! BLOODY MADE MY DAY!!!

The Katraj - Hinjewadi Highway is supposed to be just that, a highway. But unlike anywhere else in the country, this highway is littered with Pune drivers, not sticking to their lanes, weaving in & out at 80 kmph, driving at 60 kmph in the right lane, not allowing you to overtake blissfully unaware of rearview mirrors that will tell them that someone behind them is signalling them to move!
Once I got stuck behind one such truck. Normally my response was to honk until the guy moved. That would entail hand on horn for a good 300 seconds and having to put up with that noise yourself! Not to mention the aforesaid blood pressure! But not now... Nah...
So I overtook this guy somehow (didn't slow down near him to wave my fist/finger or anything), and then slowed to 30 kmph right in front of him. Then one deep breath and I decided to drive like that for the next few minutes. Suddenly I saw this car overtake the truck from the left & join me in front of him. Same speed. And he waved at me as if to say, "That's the way to do it"! And then both of us drove like that for the next few minutes, in front of the trucker @ 30 kmph. :-)

As the other car pulled away, I saw his registration number. Bombay car. Gosh, I love those Bombayites! Imagine! Crazy Bombay Stranger-Friend joins me in getting back at a stubborn/deaf/blind trucker.

Apparently I'm not the only one who does this. Quite a few non locals who live in Poona for work adopt this route to get back at their tormentors. As they say in Bombay, "Tension lene ka nahi, Dene ka!"

PS: Did another nice thing that Koregaon-Mundhwa day that I forgot to mention. After the applauding, I called up the Pune Traffic Control Room (whom I have called earlier to complain) and told them what a wonderful job they were doing. I personally believe that they must have been all smiles in that office for the next 10 minutes. I doubt if they have ever received what is called an appreciation call in call centre parlance!

Racist friends...

I have this f(r)iend who's been chewing my brain for the past 6 months on how people from her native state rule India's socio-cultural conciousness. She's from Bengal & they're a people who're traditionally proud of their heritage. But this particular fiend's pride tends towards conceit, tends to get argumentative & tends to talk more than listen. So I'm adopting another route to conversation. One where she can read but cannot interrupt! This is a point by point dissection of her race-supremacy claims:

Bengalis "RULE" India!
OK... By what Logic? Here's a list of Indian Prime Ministers & Presidents. I don't see even one Bengali in here. So what exactly do you mean by "rule"??

Bengalis have the richest culture!
OK, let's use that logic again. What exactly comprises Culture? I take it to mean a mix of a regions Art, Music, Dance, Literature, Cuisine etc. Superiority in these areas will be taken as an indicator of cultural superiority.

Art: Leading Indian Artists are M.F. Hussain, Tyeb Mehta, Raja Ravi Varma. Theirs are the paintings that command the highest prices in the world art market. Any bong names here?

Music: There's Hindustani & there's Carnatic in Indian Classical Music. No Bangali. Exponents are Pandit Jasraj (Haryanvi), Bhimsen Joshi (Kannadiga), Gangubai Hangal, Shobha Gurtu (both Kannadiga). Then you have Pt. Ravi Shankar (after 3 Kannadigas, a Bong finally!), Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia (UP-ite), Ustad Allah-Rakha, Ustad Zakir Husain, Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Bismillah Khan. Any Bengali names there? We'll come to popular, film music as well, but for now I'd like you to retract the statement you made that people from other states of India have contributed very little to India's culture & development!

Dance: Well, India has Kathak, Kuchipudi, Bharat Natyam, Mohini Attam, Odissi, hell it even has Naga! Here's a full list that has Manipuri & Assamese dance forms. But no bong as far as I know. So where does this false sense of superiority stem from? A feeling of inadequacy...?

Literature: Everyone acknowledges Gurudeb's greatness & achievements. But that was over a 100 years back! And if you really wanna go back in History, there hasn't been a greater poet than Ghalib on the subcontinent & may well never be! If you take the current baromater of literary success to be the Man-Booker, then India's winners are from Kashmir, Gujarat & Kerela; Salman Rushdie, Kiran Desai & Arundhati Roy. And with the exception of Arundhati Roy, the rest are foreign nationals actually! Only our desperation makes us claim them as our own. So before you start claiming Dr. Amartya Sen as your own think again!

Cuisine: Mughlai anyone? I rest my case here! Though I will acknowledge my preference for Bengali sweets here!

OK! Moving on to more trivial pursuits, Indian Films! Names like Kishoreda & R.D Burman are thrown at me! As I duck for cover I realize that this is History being thrown at me. Again! My favourite singer is Kishore Kumar. My favourite composer is R.D Burman. But I would be the last one to refute the accomplishments of a Rafi or a Shankar-Jaikishan who Kishore & R.D. themselves held in very high regard!

But to counter my friends arguments, I list Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor & Dev Anand, the trio who ruled the film industry of yore. Yes there was a Guru Dutt, but he was actually either Maharashtrian or Kannadiga. Yes, there was a Satyajit Ray, who I think is India's only Oscar winner. But remember Mehboob and K. Asif? Mughal-e-Azam was not made by a bong. Nor were any of India's 3 Oscar nominees for best foreign language film: Mother India, Salaam Bombay or Lagaan.

Today's top stars are Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan (yes, he's a star; he may be a below-par actor, but even if it's bizzare, he is a star.), Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar & Salman Khan. No bong names here! Aishwarya Rai is the country's top heroine not Sushmita Sen. Bipasha and Lara (though YUM!) are still mere starlets!

The leading composer today is A.R. Rahman. The leading singers today are Udit Narayan (a Bihari/Nepali) & Sonu Nigam. And Sunidhi Chouhan! India's leading drummers/percussionists are Trilok Gurtu & Sivamani.

Yes, I will acknowledge the incandescence of artists like Shaan, Kajol, Rani etc. But your argument that your people "rule", holds no water!!!

The Nobel's too establish no superiority. There's an equal number of Bong & Tam winners & a Punj in the list too! Our desperation is at it's height here. We claim Mother Teresa to be an Indian on the basis of her work in India, but we also shamelessly claim two others who have spent an entire lifetime working in the US & the UK!

And now to tackle that History book that was being constantly hurled at me... Historically, India's greatest kings have been Akbar & Ashoka. There's been a Mughal Dynasty & there's been a Bihari Empire (Magadha, Patliputra). There's been the Chola dynasty down south, there's been Hyder Ali & his son Tipu Sultan. There's even been a minisicule Peshwa rule! Bengal's impact on history in comparision has been zilch!

You see little girl, the larger the scheme of things grows, the smaller our local achievements get. Even on the world stage, we are recognized for our achievements in the English Language. And we're all viewed as Indians. So really, drop this racial supremacy attitude. The last person to use it was Hitler!

THERE... THAT FELT GOOOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why I don't like Shahrukh Khan - the actor

I'd said I'd elaborate upon this quite some time back, but am only getting down to it now. To be fair this should've been done a long time back; one cannot allow the myth to be propagated unabated.

I don't have any problems with Shahrukh Khan the individual. I actually admire him for being well read, his generally civilized public demeanour, his sense of humour, for what he has achieved in life. I believe he is an extremely intelligent human being who would have succeeded in any sphere he would've ventured into. But I do have problems with the public image of the man. And I have serious concerns about the blatant media manipulation behind this public image.

While I will give Shahrukh his due (one must): he is very popular, he is an extremely energetic performer, he has a modicum of sparingly used talent as well; one thing I will not concede to is the myth that Shahrukh Khan is a good actor.

Shahrukh is at best a mediocre actor. Even if you do not compare him to previous greats like Dilip Kumar & Amitabh Bachchan, even if you compare him to his generation of actors like Aamir Khan, Akshay Khanna & now Akshay Kumar, he comes up short. And we're not even going down the Om Puri-Naseer-Anil Kapoor path! So that should really put an end to the argument that he is a "good" actor. He is like I said before an actor who has uptil now displayed only limited range. This may be in part because he has hitherto chosen to deliver only what the Indian movie-going masses required. There may be an actor inside him that he chooses to let out only occasionally. Let us examine that argument as well.

To be fair to him, he has recently attempted genuinely different roles (Swades and Chak De India), and he did put in a fairly decent performance in Swades. But again it is not the kind of performance that will come up while Om Puri's, Naseer's or Amitabh's performances are being discussed.

To every well educated, exposed mind it should be amply clear that while SRK is a huge star in crazy ol' Bollywood, calling him a good "actor" is belittling the other more serious practitioners of the craft. They may be too dignified to say anything, but it must hurt them when such irresponsible rubbish is printed.
Enough said about his acting abilities. Let us move on to more the sinister reasons for my dislike of SRK the "star".

Why is it that one doesn't read the opposite point of view in any form of media about SRK? Why hasn't even a single film journo written about SRK's limited talent? There are multiple magazines (and filmi channels now), and he has been around for over a decade. Are you trying to tell me that not even once in the last 10 years has a fair analysis of him as an actor has been attempted? There has to be a reason for this. And while I don't understand the workings of the Hindi film industry(!) or the media that thrives on it's fringes, one thing is clear enough: There is a filmmaker-filmstar-media nexus that is for the first time in Indian Cinema's history, manipulating the already semi-literate Indian moviegoer to further their cause!

When Anil Kapoor was attempting to fill the superstar shoes for a while, the media went all over town calling him manipulative. But you don't hear the media write anything negative about Shahrukh Khan. There's been talk about SRK buying awards, about doing favours to Filmfare & others to win them over & garner more awards, and I agree that it could be nonsense, but there's no mention of it in the media! Forget manipulative, the media has never even referred to his acting style as cinematic, forget a fair, unbiased analysis of the star! No wonder serious journalists have so much contempt for not just the Stardust/Filmfare types but also the Bombay Times kinds. It's quite a shame actually! In a greater sense, it is a reflection of the morality of the modern Indian. There are hardly any champions of truth left.

Anyway, Filmfare awards are hardly the barometer of acting talent. They're essentially popular awards that are voted for by the unqualified general public and very different from the National Awards that are judged by a jury/panel of experts. And the news is that SRK hasn't won any National Awards, while Ajay Devgan & Sunny Deol have been previous winners. Actors like Mamooty, Anil Kapoor, Mithunda & Amitabh Bachchan have all been winners. But no SRK.

So there you have it: I don't like SRK the star because of these 2 reasons:
. His limited acting ability and
. His being part of this blatant media manipulation.

There is another reason to not like him, but since it's a personal decision that he needs to take, I'll only touch upon it here.

SRK can use his stardom for great causes. He can influence public opinion against the BJP in Gujarat, lead an anti-spitting drive to clean up Indian roads, genuinely bring change about in India. But he hasn't done anything!

In contrast Shabana Azmi and even Aamir Khan recently have at least attempted to give back to society. And they're superior actors as well! When will the Indian public wake up???

And while I'm at it, here's the best review ever of SRK's latest OSO sorry film! Seriously! Best review ever! Looks like some of the movie-going public is waking up.

PS: SRK on being voted Sexiest Asian Man: "I get embarassed when people call me sexy."

Me: "You get embarassed??? I get embarrased when people call you sexy!!! What has the world come to!!!"

What's wrong with the PadmaShri?

While civilian awards are meant to honour citizens with noteworthy achievements, the flawed selection criteria leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the richly deserving kind. How come sportspersons & film-folk are accorded the same honour as literary giants, scholars & explorers???

Sania Mirza is barely twenty & with a fairly limited set of achievements has a PadmaShri to her name. Others such as Leander Paes, Azhar, Shabana Azmi & Sachin Tendulkar too have received Padma Shris. No doubt they've made contributions on the world stage, but these are all transient achievements (with the exception of Sachin Tendulkar). Their work will not live on for years to come and will in all probability have no great social impact.

Compare this to the lifelong work of people like Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Dr. Zahoor Qasim and Ali Jawad Zaidi, giants in their own fields, people who put India on the International map in fields like music, oceanography and literature as opposed to sports!
Others like Kaifi Azmi too received a PadmaShri. As did his daughter Shabana & son-in-law Javed Akhtar. Both of them will willingly acknowledge the superiority of Kaifi's brilliance over their own achievements. Yet the Govt. clubbed Kaifi's literary achievements with their (in comparision) dabbles in art?

I'm not belittling sport or cinema here; I'm just saying that most of civilized society will rate the Sistine Chapel over all of Navratilova's Wimbledon crowns! And over Citizen Kane or any other movie you please! And this comes from a die hard Tennis enthusiast! One who had to confirm the spelling of the aforesaid chapel on the net before hitting publish! Yet I realize that science & art has always held sway over sport for some reason.

So why are our awards lopsided? It's bad enough that we have so-called popular awards. Must our Govt. of India awards pander to popular taste too???

I don't want to make any random allegations, but a close look at the Padma Shri recipients list & Padma Bhushan recipients list does seem to point to the existence of lobbying. The more powerful a recommendation/lobbying, the better your chances of an award. As with everything else in the hands of the Indian Govt, I guess...

There is a story about of Ali Jawad Zaidi being shortchanged because of a recommendation/clerical error. He was supposed to have been awarded the Padma Bhushan but erroneously his name made it to the Padma Shri list. Genuine artists are never bothered by such things & Ali Jawad Zaidi let it go. But shouldn't someone in the department have been bothered enough to correct the error?

Why does everything in India seem so warped to me?

I dunno if ranting bloggers like me will help but I sure hope that leaders like Manmohan Singh, young blood like Rahul, Sachin & Jyoti and initiatives like Lead India bring more fairness & transparency into our system.

Our turn...!!!

Letter I received from a group called Citizens for Peace that I am a passive member of (but I am a member!!!). This one is important. Please read & ACT! They've done their job, it's our turn now!!!

Dear all,

First, thank you for joining this group. I had planned a cheerier first mail to all of you but circumstances dictate otherwise.I'm sending the text below on behalf of the trustees of Citizens for Peace, in my role as consultant on their web presence. But I also endorse the contents as an individual.This is about Tehelka's expose on the perpetrators of the violence in Gujarat in 2002, which you can see here: http://www.tehelka.com/story_main35.asp?filename=Ne031107gujrat_sec.aspThis press statement has been posted here: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/2007/10/26/press-statement-20071026/Press Statement - 26th October 2007The expose showing perpetrators of the 2002 carnage in Gujarat boasting about their crimes is an open challenge to all citizens of India. It is an urgent reminder that we must renew efforts to prosecute those who commit such crimes against humanity.We, Citizens for Peace, in particular appeal to the people of Gujarat to break silence and oppose the politics of hatred and terror. It is possible that many residents of Gujarat may have been unaware of the enormity of crimes committed in their state with open state support in 2002. Others may have hesitated to confront a truth so bizarre. Now, after the confessions, silence is equal to endorsement of the chilling crimes.Justice delayed is better than justice denied altogether. It will make a difference if citizens from all walks of life, across India, stand emphatically opposed to the continuing miscarriage of justice in Gujarat.We urge all citizens to:1. Write to the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister demanding that they take immediate steps to prosecute the culprits of the carnage.2. Write to all national political parties in India asking how and why the constitutional crisis, of a dysfunctional judicial system in Gujarat, is allowed to persist and urging them to address this grave threat to the idea of India with utmost urgency.3. Write to the BJP, impressing on them that this is their chance to dissociate themselves from those responsible for these crimes, and to help this country make a new beginning towards justice for all.For the text of our letters please see these posts on our website: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/category/letters/gujarat-2002/“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”Citizens for Peace is a Mumbai based non-party group of volunteers committed to working for communal harmony and a vibrant secular polity. The Trustees of CFP are: Julio Rebiero, B.G.Deshmukh, Titoo Ahluwalia, Rina Kamath, Tariq Ansari, Dolly Thakore and Cyrus Guzder. The Managing Committee consists of: Titoo Ahluwalia, Tariq Ansari, Dolly Thakore, Dilip D’Souza, Gulan Kripalani, Pervin Varma, Rajni Bakshi and Devieka Bhojwani.In addition, CfP has posted open letters to- the Prime Minister: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/2007/10/27/dear-prime-minister-manmohan-singh/- the Home Minister: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/2007/10/27/dear-home-minister-shivraj-patil/- the BJP: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/2007/10/27/dear-bharatiya-janata-party-leaders-and-members/- all political parties: http://citizensforpeace.in/blog/2007/10/27/dear-leaders-and-members-of-indias-political-parties/Do please pass these links around, discuss them, link to them from your personal websites and blogs, come by and add your comments to them if you like. Please feel free to use the text of these letters if you should choose to write to our leaders yourself.
Thank you

Things I cannot get out of my head...

However hard I try to get rid of them, there are some things that stick with me. Here are some of them. If you know how I can work on getting rid of some of the clutter in my head, let me know.

• My first licking in a street fight in Bombay. It's been 13 years but it still rankles. Though, self admittedly, this one is fairly insignificant, but it's here because it plays upon some small part of my brain occasionally.
• Not getting to meet my Dad before he died.
• Losing our baby: Was quite a shock. The worst shock that I had ever received. I have come to terms with the loss, but it took a while. The aftershocks were more difficult to deal with actually. The event needs to be over-riden with good news I think, but all that is in the hands of the Almighty.
• Job loss: So bloody unfair... While I have come to terms with the fact that the separation had more to do with the company than me, remnants of the event still float by occasionally in my head.
• We'd just moved to Pune after two personal tragedies (we'd lost a baby & my wife had tragically lost her mother a few months later), and both of us had taken up new jobs. My wife was relating to a colleague, the list of appliances we needed in the house. The conversation went like this:

Colleague: Do you have Appliance X?

Wife: No. Need one.

Colleague: Do you have Appliance Y?
Wife: No. Need one.

Colleague: Do you have Appliance Z?
Wife: No. Need one.

Then in an obvious reference to Deewar, the colleague goes: You have a Mother at least?

• Losing my Grandmother

All these things bother me I guess because I couldn't do anything to change their course. I was helpless, powerless. With the passage of time & with some effort, they bother me less each time they flit by, but up until recently they impacted me fairly negatively.

I know this post is in a very different vien from my usual rants, but I figured that the blog was supposed to be a personal diary among the many other things it has since become. So I went ahead anyway.

Tell me what you think.

On Religous Intolerance and Conspiracy

I was sitting in my supplier's cafeteria, happily eating a chicken panini, when again I heard words to this effect: "Sikhism is an offshoot of Hinduism; it originated as a Dalit rights movement and therefore...". For some reason this left me glaring at the speaker, & while I finished my sandwich and walked away, I am still seething half an hour later. I am not Sikh so I wonder why these words rattled me so much. It probably has to do with my abhorrence of the underlying conspiracy (or for that matter any attempts to cover/disguise/mutilate the truth) and the fact that I was face to face with one of it's perpetrators but unable to correct the impressions that his audience of 3 was forming.

Such conspiratorial utterings have also attempted to belittle Buddhism & Jainism. I don't know the root of these conspiracies, but I am told all aggression (veiled or otherwise) is a result of fear.

There is no denying the fact that the prophets of all 3 religions mentioned were originally Hindus, but to claim that they're therefore mere offshoots of Hinduism is as bizarre as claiming that Christianity is merely an offshoot of Judaism!

World over these religions are acknowledged as independent religions, not offshoots or sects of any other religion. Only in India does does one get to hear such nonsense. I am also a more than a little surprised to read that the Arya Samaj (who I previously believed to be a modern, progressive body) was one of the initiators of this thought process.

Read here, what Sikhs have to say about themselves.

And I wish there was a psychometric test that evaluated people for religious tolerance before allowing them into their organizations. And I also wish that the idiot from the cafeteria reads this!

Indian Tennis's contribution to World Peace

My favourite sport is Lawn Tennis. I've followed it eagerly & when I was younger I could rattle off the names of Wimbledon champions for the last 25 years!

Therefore 2 recent developments in Tennis make me extremely happy. They're actually 2 pairings: Sania Mirza-Shahar Peer & Rohan Bopanna-Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.

The Sania-Shahar is a Muslim-Jew pairing that defies religous intolerance; and the Rohan-Aisam pair is an Indo-Pak pair that should gladden all pro-peace hearts both sides of the "original" border.

These pairings bring to light a couple of important points that we otherwise miss:
India despite it's riots is a more tolerant country than some others.
And people who want to achieve something in life (like these 4 people), do not allow their focus to be diluted by trivial considerations.

Interestingly Sania & Rohan are also partners in doubles & do duty for India in the Hopman Cup.

Three cheers to these 4 soldiers of peace & humanity. May God bless them & their mission!

More on Kalam...

Some time back I'd requested this. Recent information reveals that no one is above making mistakes, however great they're otherwise perceived to be.

Apparently President Kalam's presidential term was simply a reward for being supportive of the BJP - including its nuclear agenda.

I present excerpts from a leading national magazine for your perusal:
"Dr. Kalam has been called the People’s President. True, his simplicity has won him a huge fan following. Yet he signed a late night proclamation allowing the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly which the Supreme Court held to be illegal and “a subversion of the Constitution.” Thanks to him, a portrait of Savarkar hangs in the Central hall of Parliament — right opposite the portrait of Mahatma Gandhi in whose assassination he was once implicated."

Compare this with his predecessor, a low-profile, dignified man.

"Just days ago, Ms. Swaraj summarily dismissed President Narayanan, saying he couldn’t be compared with Dr. Kalam. It might have been a Freudian slip by the BJP spokesperson. In office, President Narayanan was a towering figure, twice returning for reconsideration questionable Union Cabinet decisions. He stood his ground on tricky issues — refusing to confer the Bharat Ratna on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and speaking his mind on the Gujarat pogrom of 2002. He called it a “grave crisis of society and the nation” and wrote to Mr. Vajpayee seeking Army intervention to control the killings. The letter, written in his last days in office, ensured that he would be denied a second term."

Read the full article here.

Let's have APJ Abdul Kalam continue as President

Revised since this came to light.

Dear all,

Our honorable president period ends by 2007. Some youngsters of INDIA set a site given below for requesting the Indiangovernment to extend his period for the next five years. If you are willing Dr.APJ to continue as president can enter their support in that website. Hurry UP. Please forward it to all Indians.

http://www.petitiononline.com/apj/

plz help!!!!!!

DONT THINK THAT SOMEONE ELSE SHALL VOTE...

U DO UR DUTY 1ST....

Best comeback line of all times...!

Marine Corp's General Reinwald was interviewed on the radio the other day and you have to read his reply to the lady who interviewed him concerning guns and children.
Regardless of how you feel about gun laws you gotta love this!!!!

This is one of the best comeback lines of all time. It is aportion of National Public Radio (NPR) interview between a female broadcaster and US Marine Corps General Reinwald who was about tosponsor a Boy Scout Troop visiting his military installation.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: So, General Reinwald, what things areyou going to teach these young boys when they visit your base?

GENERAL REINWALD: We're going to teach them climbing, canoeing, archery, and shooting.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Shooting! That's a bit irresponsible, isn't it?

GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see why, they'll be properly supervised on the rifle range.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: Don't you admit that this is a terribly dangerous activity to be teaching children?

GENERAL REINWALD: I don't see how. We will be teaching them proper rifle discipline before they even touch a firearm.

FEMALE INTERVIEWER: But you're equipping them to become violent killers.

GENERAL REINWALD: Well, Ma'am, you're equipped to be aprostitute, but you're not one, are you?

The radio went silent and the interview ended.

You gotta love them Marines!

Rules & us

One thing that bothers me is the inability of our countrymen to follow rules of any kind. We boast of a 4000 year old civilization but our conduct today is definitely barbaric. So while India is shining, we as a people have sunk to the depths of bad behaviour.

We spit, pee & defecate openly in public places. We litter at will. And these are people who claim to want to join the army as it signifies the ultimate patriotic thing to do. These are literate people from CBSE schools who were taught moral science & civics in school.

We insist on cutting lanes, taking illegal short-cuts, one-ways etc to save minuscule amounts of time/fuel. This only points towards either an illiterate or an inconsiderate mindset. I really wonder how we call ourselves superior as a race/civilization to the Brits or the Yanks. They're incredibly considerate people.

I know some of my fellow bloggers who're far more active & therefore far better networked than I am. I wish some of them would take this up as a social cause in their respective cities, and help make Indians more rule-compliant. It's going to come through better understanding and more civic policing. Any ideas on this are more than welcome.

More ridiculing hindi movies...

Very funny forward that I received. Am reproducing here for your consumption...

This is what would happen if a Hindi movie director was to direct Spiderman....

More Proof that Dr. Singh is the Messiah

When a publication of the calibre of the Economist says says it, you have to believe it:

http://www.nasscom.in/Nasscom/templates/NormalPage.aspx?id=43359

Keep this Government in Power, if you want a more prosperous India. An India with better infrastructure & better education. An India with greater social equality.

If you cannot see how that is true, you MUST BE Blind!

Moving Cities...

For the longest time, I said (and believed) that I would never move out of Bombay. My arguments were logically perfect - Which other city offers you similar job oportunities, or entertainment opportunities, the late nights, the bindaas people...?

But I hadn't taken fate into account. Nor the changing face of our cities. Nor my changing priorities.

I moved to Pune last week to take up a job. This was purely a career decision, but Bombay's deteriorating roads & traffic had been frustrating me immensely for the past year. A piddly 4 lane road masquerades as the Western Express Highway, totally ill-equipped to deal with the burgeoning vehicular population. Add to that the auto-wallahs predilection for cutting in front of your car at the slightest opportunity. Driving in the city had gotten increasingly annoying, and my road rage was at it's maximum. I really believe that a city like Bombay that is the financial capital of the country, investment hub for global companies and a city that is showcased to the world should have world class facilities. Instead what it has is global prices & small city amenities! My beloved Bombay had deteriorated so much over the past few years that I was tired of it. I think the last straw was approaching the National Park Flyover in Borivili at 80 kmph and seeing the ambling backside an elephant looming up in front of my car! I really lost it that day! This kind of stuff happens in rural India not in India's Premier City!!!

I'd seen Pune earlier and didn't mind it. It's made up primarily of educated, polite, non shiv sena Maharashtrian Brahmins. It's an education centre that is happily tolerant with it's numerous beef burger outlets. I was worried about it's narrower lanes & crazy two wheeler traffic but I wasn't too worried because I'd have to take the highway to work. But nothing had prepared me for the small town mindset of it's migrant population. Every single day to work & back, I have to brake suddenly at 90 kmph because a dark shape on a poorly lit highway runs across the highway! Not to mention the motorcyclists who believe they have right of way. They'll cut in front of you without using indicators, without consulting their rearview mirrors (if they have any)! I'm really sick of rural India's flagrant disregard for Rules of all kinds!

We had to get the Aquaguard installed. The guy called to say he'll be home in an hour. When he didn't turn up, we called him up & he claimed to be extremely busy and said he couldn't come. We threatened to complain & his words were "Go complain all you like"! This is a mindset common to Pune-ites at all levels. Call Centre agents, Team Leaders, Assistant Managers. The ambition and drive that you see in Bombay is sorely lacking.

But I guess, this is another experience that I will have to learn to live with. At least until Bombay sorts it's infrastructure problem out.

The Enemy Within...

India's biggest enemies aren't Pakistan & China. Although our crooked politicians (who have contributed in good measure to our winning a dishonourable mention in the list of Most Corrupt Nations), would loudly stress that that was indeed the case.

India's biggest enemies are it's social ills (but not one politician has the b*lls to put it to India's populace in those words), and the perpetrators of these social ills, our illiterate multitudes.

And if India is to become a safer, better place to live in, we need to battle this enemy first. If our cities are to feature higher on the list of most livable cities, we must have a populace teeming with knowledge awareness & better manners. The more paan stains we have on our walls & roads, the worse we will fare on international lists.
And this will not come about by embracing all that is ancient Indian as cultural heritage & treating it as sacred. This will come about by moving on from and by discarding ancient, obsolete customs and embracing new world orders.
And that will come about by going into the villages & teaching children & adults alike about what is happening in the modern world. And by changing the medium of instruction to a language that is far more modern in content & context.

Unfortunately a majority of the Indian population is anti-progress. They're anti-MNC, anti-globalization, anti-English education. Their pro-Swadeshi stand is misplaced patriotism. They listen to the wrong sort of leaders and cannot see that the only people who benefit from the populace remaining uneducated are corrupt rulers. (God...! There are so many things to thank for the Congress' being in power instead of the pro-retard (pun intended) BJP!)

Watch the news & you see a posse of Lucknow policemen beating the crap out of a single helpless student. And this is something the news doesn't need to show us. Everyday we see the illiterate policemen vent their frustrations on the hapless public they're supposed to serve in the first place. Why are incidents like this so much rarer in the Western world?

42,000 security personnel are being deployed to ensure smooth assembly elections in 3 Indian states. Why does India need 42,000 security personnel to be deployed during elections?

Read the newspapers and you read about Salman Khan getting 5 years in jail for killing deer sacred to a backward, minisicule community of Rajasthan. Poaching in India is on the rise, and it's common knowledge that poachers are getting away scot-free. But Salman & Pataudi are in jail. 2 poaching convictions will earn this executive & judiciary, respect in my eyes? Never! Their success with the other 40,000 poaching cases will! Their successful conviction of the murderer in the Jessica Lall case will! How do such petty issues assume greater importance that far bigger issues? How is my country so corrupt?

People spit on our streets & walls, people pee & shit on streets & walls in a country that where Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Where Brahmins needed to bathe if they ever got touched by the person of a Shudra (a menial worker).
Eve teasing & rape is rampant in a country whose "culture" boasts of worshipping women as Goddesses!
And nobody even steps up to stop & correct the offenders! So much for nationalist pride.

I'd really like to see advani take up issues like this on his so called "Bharat Suraksha" rath yatra. Their version of nationlist pride is jingoism! And everyone who opposes them probably has the right version in their heads. These are the people with whom hope for the nation lies.

There is another enemy within. Misguided individuals who take the wrong approach to bringing about change. I have dear friends who fall into this category. Friends who I love for a lot of other things, but cannot bear to see them mouth misguided lies. Imagine an educated, Bombay bred, pet loving individual loudly stating that Mahatma Gandhi was an ass & in part responsible for India's woes!!! Also stating that the only way to fix things was to work from within the system, with the corrupt bastards ensuring that they get their cut!!!
How does that change the system? How does that make our country less corrupt?
I wish my friends would respect their education and realize that historically any change that has come about has come about by a revolution. A sudden change that overthrows the existing system! The French & the Russian Revolutions, the American Civil War, Bhutto's ouster, Zia's controversial death, and Mush's bloodless but successful coup d'état... all change has come about through sudden not gradual revolt!
That is the need of the hour. And the only people who can & will bring about this change are people like us: educated, exposed youth. We cannot afford to fall prey to the beliefs espoused by the men who want the system to stay intact! Our future & the future of our coming generations rests on individuals who will bring about a revolution! Anyone who claims otherwise is inadvertenly becoming The Enemy Within!

PIL against the NDA regime for Tampering with History

Doesn't it offend enough sensibilities that the BJP-led NDA regime attempted to tamper with History??? They changed History text books in order to brainwash an entire generation. And they've gotten away scot-free!!!

• Why hasn't someone filed a PIL?
• Why hasn't the NCERT filed a case?
• Why hasn't this matter been taken to the judiciary?

I'd love to see Murli Manohar Joshi behind bars for this treason. It's possible! If HKL Bhagat can be convicted for instigating anti-Sikh riots, it's possible that India will win this case too!
Come on! It's vital that this gets done! Someone should put a stop to this NONSENSE!!!

Reasons why the BJP deserves to fail

It's strange that in our country, whenever a social movement happens it's initiated by individuals like Medha Patkar or by various NGOs. Whether it is tackling the issue of caste killings in Bihar & Madhya Pradesh or it's the problem of Sati in Rajasthan or the issue of rampant rapes all over India; these social evils are being fought by NGOs. So called "Samaaj Sudhaar" organizations like the RSS or it's political front the BJP are nowhere in the picture. When it comes to contributing the improving the social lot of Indians, there seems to be no contribution from the BJP. They simply allow the evils to remain, letting the local police battle it out with no support even if they're the ruling regime.
In contrast the Congress focuses on Education at the grassroots level, more schools, grants to NGOs fighting these causes. The difference between the commitment to India is obvious from the electoral agendas of both parties & also by comparing the list of achievements of both parties while they were in power.
The Congress' approach is long term but one that will hopefully yield results once all of India is educated & developed. Once the common man is educated enough & is more economic-progress focused, he will be able to see through the antics of the BJP. That day, the BJP will be reduced to a 10 member has-been, struggling with very limited appeal, garnering 2 seats like the erstwhile
Muslim League.
I have a theory that excites me no end... Every communal voice in India eventually faces defeat & oblivion. Jaspal Rana, former ace shooter, Nitish Bhardwaj, former TV-Krishna and a couple of others joined the BJP. Despicable I thought at the time. But what gladdens the heart is the fact that today, no one knows where they are! India's ace shooters today are Samaresh Jang & Major Raghavendra Rathore. Men with no evinced political leanings. In contrast, Megastar Amitabh Bachchan joined politics and failed, but he returned to be as successful as he was earlier. The shiv sena has already faced an in-house revolt and is on it's way down. HKL bhagat has already been found guilty of instigating the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. (On that note, I'm convinced that one day narendra modi too will be indicted for the Gujarat carnage)
I like this train of thought. If my guess is right, the likes of dharmendra, vinod khanna & smriti irani are going to disappear into nothingness very soon. Forgotten!!!

Isn't our police force over-stressed?

Heard on the news that the Bombay Police was instructed to investigate the Wardrobe Malfunction at the Bombay LIFW.
Aren't their unsolved Murder cases to solve, missing people to find, intelligence to collect on possible terrorist activities? Don't constables die on duty due to overwork?
Didn't wardrobe malfunctions happen in America? Why doesn't the local police there investigate them? I wonder... Ah! I know! Because they're more focused on letting the police fight real crime. And the Govt. is focused on economic progress instead of protecting archaic laws!

What rubbish!!! The Govt. should be ashamed!

Why Sunil More should've gotten life!

12 years & a fine of approximately Rs. 26,000 is hardly enough punishment for a crime as heinous as rape. And since sunil more was a policeman, the punishment should be harsher. After all the Army doesn't rest at courtmartial. It tries & punishes as well. Similarly more should be tried not only as a civilian but also as a policeman and should get a combined much larger sentence. Life wouldn've been apt.
After all the victim is going to carry the trauma with her throughout life, so why should sunil more get off ofter 12 years?

Bastard Indian Copycats!!!

The one reason why I love Hollywood movies so much & have so much contempt for everything Bollywood is this: Creativity in Mainstream Indian Cinema is Dead. All these so-called Big Banners do is COPY! And they do it so unabashedly. They don't even feel shame at proclaiming themselves as being in the Creative Arts! This is largely the brand of Indian that walks the Earth today: A Lying, Cheating, Unembarrassed Scumbag!

If this post gets read, I'm sure it will ruffle a few feathers, but I dare anyone to prove me wrong. I've heard generalizations are inaccurate (and I agree), but when I say largely I know for a fact that I'm right. Here's a list of why I think so:

Almost every single superhit movie in the past couple of years is aped from the West. Here are a few examples:

The "respectable" Yashraj banner:
Darr: copied from Cape Fear
Hum Tum: copied from When Harry met Sally
Salaam Namaste: copied from 9 Months
Dhoom: copied from The Fast & the Furious
Bunty & Babli: copied from Bonnie & Clyde
The storylines where altered imperceptibly, changing the ends here & there to give it an original feel to them. This is the same Yash Chopra who made Waqt & Deewar...? I'm beginning to wonder. Maybe they were copies too!

David Dhawan:
Mujhse Shaadi Karogi: copy of not one but TWO movies!!! It's a mash of Meet the Parents & Anger Management! I'm pretty sure they're all copies of some movie or the other.

Taxi # 9211: copied from Changing Lanes; and I'm sure anything Mr. Rohan Sippy will produce going forward will be copied or "inspired" from Hollywood.

Sanjay Gupta & Abbas-Mustan (Baazgar=A Kiss before Dying) I'm not commenting on since they are INCAPABLE of original storylines or anything that even remotely resembles creativity. All their crap is aped shamelessly from someone or the other.

And it doesn't stop at film. It extends to TV as well! Jassi, Indian Idol & KBC are legtimate, liscenced copies of the original, but there are copies of English, British & even Spanish soaps competing with Ekta Kapoor's tearjerkers. Right from Zabaan Sambhalke then to Ek Ladki Anjaani Si now. Jet, Set, Go & Business Baazigar(!!!???), are inane copies of the Amazing Race & The Apprentice!!!

This blatant plagiarism reeks of a lack of self respect & a total lack of respect for the image of the Motherland! As long as they're dishing out whatever the audience wants, the makers & the actors have no qualms.

And the media is equally to blame. Instead of interviewing & glorifying the gutsy likes of Nagesh Kukunoor, Ashutosh Gowarikar & Govind Nihalani, they take interviews of idiots like Shahrukh Khan & Ekta Kapoor. Instead of calling the likes of Rakeysh O. Mehra & Aamir Khan the Kings of Bollywood, the bestow these epithets on those with far poorer wares like Shahrukh & Karan Johar! Instead of influencing public thought & opinion, they pander to popular taste.

Disgusting times we live in!

My Favourite Movies: 2

As I'd said in my earlier movie post, this list is bound to get extended.
I recently saw Rang De Basanti and it get's added to my list of favourites. I will classify it under my favourite patriotic movie. There're loads of Bhagat Singh biopics & Nana Patekar/Manoj Bajpai starrers, slogan peppered, with explosions & guns, and with semi-naked Indian girls gyrating to a western beat trying to stir up patriotic fervour in the last decade. But all of them put together couldn't do what a Rang De Basanti did in it's first week of release. When I say this I know that I'm not only speaking for myself; I couldn't sleep after the movie. I lay awake thinking about how futile my existence has been. About how I should stop cribbing about the state of my country & DO SOMETHING! Even if it takes doing what the protagonists in the movie do!
I have always maintained that Aamir Khan is probably the Best New Generation Star-Actor we've had in India for the last decade. His involvement with his films goes beyond acting. And all the film-makers who have signed him in recent times have finally delivered long-overdue winners: Gowarikar, Mathan, Farhan Akhtar and now Rakeysh O. Mehra! The entry of corporates into filmmaking has also made film-makers churn out movies that appeal to the educated class. It's a good sign & may it continue.
Here's to more great movies by Mr. Khan, Mr. Mehra & the likes of UTV.

My Favourite Movies

Here are my favourite movies in descending order. That my tastes are consistent will be apparent once you've read this post. Refer earlier books post.

All of Me:
Steve Martin's best! Any other actor and this comedy would've faded into oblivion within the first few days of it's realease. Instead Steve Martin's antics have held the movie going world in thrall for over 2 decades! I really have no words to describe what Steve Martin has done in this movie (and that is saying a LOT)! You have to see it to agree with me!

Dumb & Dumber:
The Funniest Movie I have EVER seen!!! Packed with gags & each of them funnier than the other. And the gags creep up on you without you noticing until the very last minute; and then you explode in uncontrollable, hysterical laughter! This is also the time when the meaning of term "Rolling in the Aisles Laughter" became apparent to me!

True Lies:
Classic Masala Movie! And I thought only Bollywood made them! James Cameron put together all the elements that draw audiences in and came up with a Masterpiece. Arnold Schwarzneggar- Guns, Explosions, Harriers! Tia Carrere- latino woman, plunging neckline, gown with a slit riding up to the waist! He got Jamie Lee Curtis to do a Striptease, even peppered that with humour! He got Arnold to mouth one liners and even do the Tango!!! He actually made an American James Bond movie that did exceedingly well. Only a James Cameron could've done that & gotten away with it! This man deserves to be the most powerful man in Hollywood!

The Devil's Advocate:
Again purely for Al Pacino's superb portrayal of... Nah! That would spoil your fun! Imagine Al Pacino's acting powers. Imagine a to-die-for role. Put the two together. Enjoy the ride that the man I consider one of the finest actors ever takes you on!

What Lies Beneath:
Robert Zemeckis directs what I found the most spine-chilling movie I had ever seen. Right from the time the movie starts, there is an undercurrent of suspense; that you are going to discover something awful. Zemeckis' use of some great cinematic technique elevates this ordinary script to dizzying heights! I remember the pin-drop silence in the theatre being punctuated by nervous chatter & some whooping... all to no avail. The brave men who were trying to whoop away their nervousness jumped out of their skin exactly when Mr. Zemeckis intended them to!
Not horror-genre, but very chilling!

Kill Bill (Vol. 1 & 2):
Quentin Tarantino returns to the Screen after Pulp Fiction and delivers another great movie. This guy explores different genres, and successfully blends them together and delivers a very stylishly crafted finished product. My personal favourite between them is Vol. 2. I am aware that many have not liked this movie, but then in my opinion their lack of taste renders them insignificant.

Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na:
Kundan Shah's second masterpeice. This man used to be one of India's best directors. And although I despise Shahrukh Khan (more on that in a separate post), this is one movie in which I think he was really good. And that is because he did not try to act in this one. He played himself and it came out really nice & real! The reason why most will like this movie so much is because they will identify with what the protagonist goes through in this movie, but let that not take away from the fact that this "feel good" movie leaves you with a sweet, lingering aftertaste.

As this Blog progresses, this list is likely to get extended. But for now, I'm going to tag Annie to do this on her wonderful Blog.

Road Rage in Bombay

Yes, from the time that I wrote the Autorickshaw post, I have acquired a spanking new car. (It’s on loan of course, and it’ll be a good 4 years before I can call it totally mine, but finances call for a separate post altogether!) And after 45 days of having driven it around in Bombay, last week I acquired a spanking new dent as well!
That has galvanized me into some kind of action, and I hereby post on the woes of driving a new car in Bombay.
The four main hazards of driving in Bombay are: the pothole-ridden roads, the (paradoxically named) BEST buses, commercial transport (trucks & the smaller autorickshaw type of tempos), the autorickshaws and motorcyclists!
I have since gathered enough SELF-control, and stopped driving roughshod over the lousy roads in this great city. I drive slowly, in lower gears not caring about fuel consumption in order to ensure that my new car doesn’t take punishment.
With BEST buses, you really can’t do much. They will drive like they own the road. And one really doesn’t have the time to drag out & beat up each driver who tries to force you onto the divider.
Commercial Transport drivers are bad too since the vehicles they drive aren’t their own & are really low maintenance. But by and large, the truckers within the city are not that badly behaved. It’s the local mini-tempo variety that I’ve come to loathe. They’re the size of autorickshaws and drive in a similar manner. They cut left, they cut right, and they just can’t get it into their thick illiterate skulls that the lanes on the road are not meant to weave in and out of!!! Ditto autorickshaws and motorcyclists.
The accident I had was because one of these mini-tempos decided to suddenly cut to the right, straight into the path of my midnight blue Indigo! I was at less than 40 kms an hour yet the joker managed to dent my fender and chip my headlight! I’m not a violent man, but that day I got out of my car, caught him by the collar and was dragging him out of the offensive red thing he was piloting! I must have sworn at all the women in his family, in my loudest possible voice by the time I came to my senses!
With autorickshaws and motorcyclists I run the same risk. On two occasions, in tight traffic jams, my rear bumper and my rear-view mirror has been bumped into, and the offending motorcyclist has fled before I had a chance to get out of the car. The mini-tempo guy probably got the other two motorcyclists’ share as well!
I think there is genuine value in buying an old Ambassador and getting out on the roads. Every offending driver/rider will then REALIZE the risks of weaving in and out of traffic!!!

the shiv sena splits!

I never thought I'd defile my blog with a mention of these jokers, but since Jay has already done my sacred space that dishonour, I may as well say my piece.If you notice (people who know me well will have), I've not capitalized the first alphabets of the words in my title. Whenever I write, I capitalize whatever I think is of significance, such as the words Mom, God etc. That is an honour reserved for people I deem important. The reverse has also been equally true, but hitherto only in thought. The fact that I am practising it for the first time today will give you an indication of the kind of disregard I have for the subject of this post!

The reason I choose to mention the sena now is because of the recent split that’s been making news. It’s made me happy to see that the gang (I refuse to acknowledge them as a political party) that has been united under myriad pretexts of mee mumbaikar, marathi manus etc., is being split down the middle! And yes, as some of you may feel by now, I’m not one of those who have any qualms about not kicking a man when he’s down.

For a couple of decades now, the so-called sena has been making life miserable for people living in Bombay. South Indians, UP-ites, Biharis, Bangladeshi illegal immigrants, Muslims, Christians... The only people they seem to have left alone were the Gujratis & the Sindhis. And that because they owned the mills and other businesses that employed their Marathi worker support base. And for those of you who believe that their antics didn’t make life miserable for the Maharashtrians, I quote a Mr. Pawar, ex-armyman and now small time businessman. Mr. Pawar believes the sena has destroyed an entire generation of Marathi youth. He claims that an entire generation has gotten used to not working traditional 9-5 jobs, but instead earning their upkeep by living off sena handouts that come from stoning cinemas, buses, overturning cars and beating up journalists & editors! A whole generation!!! So much for them being friends of Maharashtra!

It’s this point that I want to expand upon. The sena was never meant for Maharashtrians! All that was a ploy for one megalomaniac to gain & retain power. The recent split brings this out very clearly. raj thakerey who was the more charismatic of the next generation leaders (read more vocal of the rabble rousers), has been given the short shrift in favour of much maligned dynastic rule.

Hopefully, their support base will wake up now and realize that there is only one agenda to the sena. The same as all political parties have; fill your coffers-remain in power-fill more in your coffers; give non-immediate members of the clan the heave ho (chagan bhujbal, narayan rane and now raj) despite their popularity in order to retain control.

Hopefully this is going to turn out the way all of sensible India has been hoping. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for the sena.

Mulgi Shikli, Pragati Jhali...

Since I'm poor, and to complicate matters, aaram-pasand...... I almost always travel in Bombay by autorickshaw. Therefore I'm about as qualified to have as many posts on Auto's as Annie, but my aaram-pasand nature doesn't allow me to ponder long on such things or get up & blog them.

So what's causing me to resurrect myself now...? Well, recently I've noticed a movement that's motivated me to contribute to the cause.

These days, almost every autorickshaw I see has "Mulgi Shikli, Pragati Jhali" written neatly (and sometimes not so neatly) at the back of the hood. Literally translated from Marathi that means "Girl Educated, Progress Happened".

I'm excited at the humble auto's use as an advertising medium to drive this very simple but extremely crucial social message.

Perenially curious, I made some enquiries with various rickshaw drivers until I got my answer two nights ago. Apparently, the RTO doesn't "pass" any new vehicle that doesn't have this social message emblazoned on it's back.

The best part of this drive is not that every commuter on the roads in bumper to bumper Bombay traffic reads this message & is aware of it's importance. That is only a fringe benifit. The best part is that each poor, semi-literate autorickshaw driver now knows that this is an important message!

The results I guess will be seen only 20-25 years from now, and maybe at that time no one will be able to pin point the stimuli behind the sudden change in India: Literate people, staying away from trouble, creating intellectual & material wealth for their country!

All the more reason to applaud this very noteworthy effort right now. Whoever has initiated the idea needs a sound pat on the back. And if there is a Social equivalent of the Nobel, that as well!

Eagle Sighting!

I think... My limited bird-watching experience makes it difficult for me to tell the difference between Eagles, Kites & Hawks; but I think I saw an Eagle today in the most unlikely of places!
Initially I thought it was a Kite, since I believed Eagles are not native to India, but a little Googling threw up a few Eagle sightings in India so I'm assuming this one was an Eagle after all.
BIG, Confident Bird. Brown, heavily feathered & extremely good looking.
And not in the midst of a jungle, but seated on the scaffolding of my 6th floor office window. It created quite a buzz on my call center floor. Apparently this is the second day that the Eagle has come to perch on the same spot on the scaffolding.
Amidst jokes by one of Team Leaders on how the Eagle has been trained to report on time, and the agents wondering aloud on which of the women the Eagle had lost his heart to, this Team Leader pointed out that the Eagle cannot look inside the building since we have reflective glass. It dawned on my that the Eagle has discovered it's reflection in the mirror and is probably in love with it's own reflection. It sat there braving the rain staring at his reflection as we admired him. I wanted to take a picture of him, but I first need to confirm whether there are any security restrictions on cameras in my building. Let me see. If he returns, I will try & get a picture of him up here.
Watch this space for an update on what happens to our feathered Narcissus.

Re: PS to meme posts

My second post finally happens... This is a tag I wrangled out of Annie. Here goes...

Total # of Books I Own:

Our Family has 3 cupboards full of books. How many of those are mine I do not know. Generally any Reader’s Digest books having to do with the Human Body, “Vanished Civilizations” or Tennis, were ordered by me & paid for by Mom at that time (Yes my interests were different). But they’re still OUR books more than mine. We’ve always looked upon everything like that. It makes it much easier for us to individually claim that we own 3 cupboards full of books. :-)

Last Book I Bought:

I SERIOUSLY have no recollection! Work leaves very little time to read & my very limited tastes are sufficiently catered to by my Sister who picks up a book for me if she thinks I’ll enjoy it. So most of my books these days are gifts.

Last Book I Read:

Who Moved My Cheese? Finished it in an hour. Now trying to plod through the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Boring? Yes. What to do? Being in the Corporate World wreaks havoc with your self esteem and eventually makes you turn to the books once shunned saying “I don’t need these silly self help books!”

Five Books that mean a Lot to Me:

Hmmm… It took me a long time to think of 5 Books that I had read, but I finally have five! :-)
These are truly representative of my reading taste (or lack of it) and have everything to do with my attitude towards life.

Douglas Adams’: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Hilarious! And so original! Made me want to read all the sequels. Managed to give up on the third one eventually!

Tom Holt’s: Paint My Dragon.
Wicked, Wicked Humour! This man is truly a Creative Genius! I intend to read all his books one day! Unputdownable!

Kiran Nagarkar: Ravan & Eddie.
I had long resisted reading any Indian authors foolishly thinking that they dwell only on what is the sad, the destitute and the soppy! Then my Sister handed me this book that had me alternate between throwing my head back in laughter & bowing it in reverence to Kiran Nagarkar. Gave me a bad neck that lasted a damn week!

Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca
I had injured my back & had to sleep on the carpet in the drawing room for a week. That’s when I read Rebecca late into the night. I could look out from the Drawing Room window & see the silhouette of the trees in the dark night. The tone of the novel combined with the setting that I was reading it in makes me remember it as one of the scariest books I read. Marvelously written. Lovely Book!

Alexandre Dumas: The Count of Monte Cristo
Read when I was thirteen, I still remember the thrill it gave me. Fast paced novel in an era where everybody wrote books that seemed to take you eons to trudge through. The adventure, the concept of revenge… Ahhh…!

I will add a sixth book here. This may not be looked upon as being a great book by most, but to me it is one of the BEST I have ever read.

Robert Ludlum’s: The Bourne Identity
Using a real life chase of a world famous criminal as the background, Ludlum penned the Best Thriller written ever! Fast paced, with so many twists & turns that you would need to have a remarkably uncluttered brain in order to keep pace.

Tag Five People And Ask Them To Do This On Their Blogs:
I don’t know 5 people who have Blogs… :-(