Being an Indian 2

From wrongfully venting anger by some to peeing in the pants by others! The Taslima Nasreen issue is truly an embarrassment for the UPA government. "A secular state is a state or country that is officially neutral in matters of religion, neither supporting nor opposing any particular religious beliefs or practices. A secular state also treats all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and does not give preferential treatment for a citizen from a particular religion over other religions." But this government seems to bend to every whimper that a particular organization , claiming to represent a minority, produces. I would have expected the government to stand up to the insane protests by certain biased groups, and assert it's initial move to keep and protect Taslima in Calcutta. But it is evident from recent developments that this is just another spineless bunch of politicians! She is not a terrorist! She is not a criminal! She wrote some anti-islamic stuff( which i think is mere personal opinion - applaud it or condemn it - don't run around hunting for her blood!)! She has also retracted some portions of her book after incessant protests over the years! And she can't lead a normal life in a free democratic country like India? What utter nonsense. Are we really the great democratic nation where everybody's rights (not their outrageous wishes) are respected and protected? Add to this the violent protests and innumerable court cases against actresses expressing their personal opinion about pre-marital sex! it is like we have the freedom of speech as long as we say what some people want to hear! condemning a statement is perfectly fine! But all this effigy burning, violent rallies, lawsuits, 'fatwas' etc? Maybe Saddam's regime was fairer?

Being an Indian

I was always proud to be an Indian. It always fascinated how such a heterogeneous society survives as a nation despite all differences in language, religion and views! But of late, i've got my doubts if India is the happy 'Unity in Diversity' nation that has always been projected in our textbooks. We have so much hatred in our country! North vs South, Hindu vs Muslim, Tamil vs Kannada, Upper Caste vs Lower Caste and many others! Every nation has it's differences.But the differences in India seem to always cross the words sphere and spill out onto the streets and affect the common man. Politics is not an easy job. Governing a group of people,be it of any size, is a momentous task. But many politicians seem to play petty mud slinging games to garner votes. They don't understand the horrific implications of their words and actions. The Godhra incident is one such example. A train full of innocent people was burnt. It was full of hindus! Till today nobody has effectively proved who did it. But since the victims were Hindus, it was assumed the perpetrators were muslims. Then all hell broke loose. The handful of miscreants , muslim or any other, might still be roaming the earth. But hundreds of innocents had no idea what was going to hit them when an politician brain washed army of saffron came and slaughtered them. Many politicians and educated youth, till date, shamelessly support this action as a fitting reply to the Godhra incident. They think this will silence the islamic militants once for all! What they don't understand is that while the actual terrorists have not been punished , they have successfully turned hordes of innocent people into extremists. They have just played another bloody episode of the vicious circle of violence! We might have to witness many more of these insane retaliations and counter retaliations which will result in huge human casualties. I don't know how the hindutva feel they are any different from blood mongering terrorists like Al Qaeda! The biggest shame is that the people who participated in this crime, are considered to be true guardian angels of Hinduism! Is this what they learnt from the Bhagvad Gita? I think a murderer in any guise is still a criminal! Let him be Hindu or Muslim! I salute all the doctors who save lives regardless of caste, creed, race or religion! Taking lives is very easy. Saving a life is extremely difficult. When you lose respect for a fellow human being's life your religious beliefs & education come to a naught and you cease to exist as a human. Today in our country, we're so busy defending our religion, caste, race, language, community, that we have lost any sense of Indianess! God, whom we don't see, is able evoke such emotions in us which are not stirred a bit looking at our fellow human beings who are very much visible! Why? Like in the movie , 'Apocalypto', THE END OF A CIVILIZATION DOES NOT COME FROM OUTSIDE BUT FROM WITHIN! We have supposedly the most learned civilization on earth! But witnessing these horrors, I'm afraid our golden ages are over!

Sights & Sounds of Deepavali

Well, it is my 7th straight deepavali in the US! And yes it has never matched the kind of fervor we experience back in India. Every year i crib having missed the New York south seaport fireworks. This year was no exception. Stuffing myself with sweets, i tried to celebrate the festival as much as possible. And of all the things to do, i had to choose Vijay's ATM to watch on the big screen. Unlike in the movie's plot, i did not need the gift of ESP to predict a terrible movie experience. I took the risk anyway and my fears were confirmed. In a way it was funny with all those outrageous stunts and stuff. At the end of the movie, it was like a 10000 wala had just finished bursting inside my head! So there you go, fireworks sans pollution but seriously harmful to your mental health. After this debacle, I slept most of the weekend with the satisfaction of having contributed very little towards global warming by not getting out.

Misbah misses, Dhoni kisses

So, finally a world championship for India! I really don't care what form of cricket now! Tired of seeing the Aussies grab it all. And what an epic final between the Indus rivals!! The Twenty20 world cup was like a perfectly executed blockbuster script. Great action (BIFF!POW!BANG! with sixes), energetic item dances (cheerleader gyrations), sensational twists in plot (Australia lost 3 games) and a riveting climax (India/Pakistan final) where the hero ultimately won (at least for us Indians!!)! India won both the encounters with Pakistan. In both the games , only one man threatened to take the game away from us - a previously unknown warrior named Misbah. In both the games, he brought the pakis into the game but failed to finish. On the second occasion, it was purely due to a quixotic shot he attempted. At that point, thanks to some very ordinary bowling from Joginder, he already had one hand on the cup and the Indians were getting ready to resign to their fate. This moment reminds me of the last ball six of Javed Miandad. Yes, the results were different. But in both the cases, they depended solely on the batsman and the 21 others were mere spectators! Maybe that is the difference between being brilliant and being almost brilliant. But apart from that moment, India was totally in control throughout the tournament. We were never fancied to become the slam bang champions of cricket. Australia, Sri Lanka and maybe even Pakistan were considered. But definitely not the land of Gavaskar and Dravid. Twenty20 is an amazing concept for marketing the game. 3 hours of this is far more exciting than 3 hours of Baseball! And i think the spate of changes effected upon the One Day game could have been introduced here instead. This form of the game definitely provides the minnows with a glimmer of hope. This doesn't require the patience, temperament, elegance or classical textbook skills that Test matches and to some extent ODIs require. Overall, it was exciting and fun. Mission accomplished - for Indians and the organizers!

A bridge that widens the gap!

The furore across the nation regarding the sethu samudram project is one instance highlighting the extremities of thought existing in our country today. The UPA claims that Lord Rama never existed and Ramayana is mere fiction. The traditionally atheist dravidian DMK supports this. The hindu fundamentalist BJP and it's allies believe Ramayana is not only a symbol of hindu faith but also a true story with abundant physical evidence. TV, websites and newspapers have been ripped apart with heated arguments and counter arguments! I personally would not side with any of these sides. I believe our perspectives are totally messed up. At one end, we are passionately defending physical evidences for religious beliefs. At the other end , we try to quash all matters of faith by proclaiming there is no god. The believers should try to channel their energies and thoughts towards following the spiritual morals of their religion and the atheists should work towards humanitarian ideals since they are aware of the human existence as opposed to that of god. There is more of questioning each other's beliefs rather than following one's own ideals. Most of our politicians (Islamic fundamentalists, pretentious & seemingly 'moderate' UPA, hindu nationalist BJP/VHP, all opposing communist and caste driven dravidian parties) are mere opportunists! It doesn't really matter what they believe in! It is the struggle for power which they are interested in. As for the Ram Sethu bridge, it's existence or non-existence , has not affected millions of people who have read the Ramayana and understood it's essence. Nor will it in future. How many of us have seen it? Has it ever affected our faith? Religious fundamentalism or atheism should not be reasons to oppose or support the project. My concern would be more from a scientific perspective. Would the destruction of this natural barrier have any ecological/geological effects? I think it would, and that is what has to ascertained. I'm opposed to destroying nature for mere human material gain!

Scintillating Soccer Sorcerers

India wins an international football tournament! This headline is so simple yet has been so elusive! The resurgence of indian football's blue boys, hopefully, is the beginning of a sporting renaissance in this cricket crazy nation. I was a fervent fan of indian football till I came to the US. After that, due to lack of opportunities for me to watch and enjoy Indian international and domestic games, there has been a steady decline in my interest. This probably was one single major reason for the lack of popular support for the game in our country. Zee Sports has done a commendable job in whipping up this passion once again by injecting a new zing! Far removed from the dull 'Dour'darshan telecasts, Zee has successfully marketed the sport to today's youth. Ofcourse there is more distance to be covered to even provide a semblance of competition to Cricket, but they are right on track. Coming to the Nehru Cup win itself, it was great! After eons, finally our team looked like a well oiled international side worthy of respect. Earlier , we would have minuscule sparks of brilliance but no cohesive plays and good finishes. But now it seems Bob Houghton has been able to train the team to accumulate all the lessons preached by the innumerable coaches who preceded him, and put them to practice. But I should admit, motivation for these players is not easy to get. They entered and survive in this sport, knowing it is regarded as a second class sport in this country. It can't even be compared to Hockey, since hockey is our national sport and we have 8 Olympic golds (though none of them won recently) to show on the international scene! The 'World's most popular sport' tag is the only one keeping it a rung above Volleyball, Basketball, Handball etc. This victory is a fitting tribute to Bhaichung Bhutia, the face of Indian football in the last decade! He achieved that rare endorsement worthy stardom that eluded players like IM Vijayan, Bruno Coutinho and Jo Paul Ancheri! Every sport needs a star to stir support amongst the masses. Dhanraj Pillay for hockey, Limba Ram for archery, Jaspal Rana for shooting, Leander paes & Sania Mirza for Tennis, Prakash Padukone & Gopichand for badminton, PT Usha for athletics, Malleshwari for weightlifting, Geet Sethi for billiards etc etc etc! Bhaichung filled that gap for football. The scores of cash incentives announced after this victory should continue as this will secure the financial futures of the players. Zee Sports' coverage of the National Football League (NFL) , has brought the game out of the traditional enclaves of Bengal, Kerala and Goa. Cue should be taken from the USA, where even little league baseball games are telecast on national networks. Watching sports in a stadium, bar or home should become a major pastime like going to the movies. Hope there are several more such revivals in sports such as Athletics, Boxing, Gymnastics & Swimming.

Jail and Jelly Beans...

The 1993 Bombay Blasts case has finally come to the verdicts stage. 14 years is a pretty long time. I don't know what slowed the process down....political/judicial red tape or lethargic investigation. I can't believe that it just takes this long to complete an investigation and handout a verdict, since the part of nabbing the accused was over pretty quickly. The time period gives an opportunity to miscreants to distort evidence or harm witnesses. Depiction of the circumstances during the incidents also gets fuzzy. The victims and their kin had to endure this excruciating wait for closure. The common man ignored all the verdicts except one. Sanjay Dutt a.k.a Munnabhai. He got 6 yrs rigorous imprisonment for trying to conceal an illegal weapon. Everybody was so shocked with the verdict, calling it very harsh. But i was happy that he was treated as a regular person and given the sentence his crime deserved. He might be a good and more importantly popular human being with a not-so-long rap sheet.But I think he had no business having the weapon and above all an illegal one. I couldn't think of one possible rational explanation! I just hope this serves as a deterrent to all the ultra rich celebrities who think they can stretch their money power well beyond legal limits. Moving from weapons to wickets, India snapped up a tremendous Test victory at Trent Bridge. The lovely conditions for seam bowling were exploited thoroughly by Zaheer and RP. When they were bowling in tandem, it reminded me of the Srinath/Prasad combo! This is one test in a long long time, that we won purely due to bowling. The batsmen did their bit, but the bowlers really nailed it. This will be named the famous 'Jelly Bean' test thanks to the dumb prank played by the english cricketers. Guess they were just 'spilling the beans' that they had officially 'lost it'!I wonder where their cheerful naughty selves disappear during the Ashes! Hopefully we go on to win this series.

Sivaji The BOSS - (B)ox (O)ffice (S)uper (S)tar

I was one of the lucky few to catch Rajini's 'Sivaji' the first weekend, here in NJ! ***THOUGHTS JUST BEFORE THE SHOW - Man, it can't get bigger than this. Rajni, Shankar, Rahman! it is going to be soooo different from the other Rajni flicks. innovative story, racy screenplay, awesome visuals and Rajni's new stylish look! ***THOUGHTS IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE SHOW - hmmmm! usual masala formula. No innovative screenplay. Great visuals but some graphics were a trifle overdone. RAJNI ROCKZZZ! The movie as such was definitely a disappointment considering the tremendous hype and the story being kept under wraps with great difficulty. It was an outright Rajni formula flick with attractive eye candy being the only contribution from Shankar. We all know Rajni's movies are for pure entertainment and not masterpieces. Those who are shocked by the physics defying stunts are just too naive. We need such movies to relax from our already complicated lives. And there are others like Kamalhassan and Manirathnam to provide thought provoking, revolutionary and uplifting cinema. Variety is the spice of life. Rajni as usual plays to the gallery and enthralls his fans. His electrifying screen presence especially in the climax is unmatchable. The first half was definitely a drag. Comedy seems forced into the script, but Vivek props up this section with his own punch dialogues! The scenes involving Rajni and Shreya too were ill scripted and boring. But i've got to say Shankar definitely knows how to project his heroine as the epitome of glamour. She is smokin' hot in the songs. At the interval, i felt a little let down by shankar, the man who provided the engrossing and equally entertaining 'Anniyan'. Now it was left to the superstar to provide an explosive second half... and that he did. The 'Athiradi' song and the mottai boss fight were amazing. Wish the whole movie was like this! Blaaze's rap number at the end was great. at the end of the day, one gets the impression that Shankar played it too safe and tried to preserve the Rajni formula. I respect Manirathnam for making a gripping movie like 'Thalapathy' despite ignoring this same formula. But what shankar achieved was to cater to the tastes of true Rajni fans. Action, Drama, Comedy, Dance!!! The movie displays the highs and lows of technical finesse! As with many of shankar's earlier films, cheap overdose of graphics like the rocket flying into Shriya's home and the drivein theater fight sequence provide a picture quite in contrast to the 'Style' song and the climax fight. The message that he tries to deliver about 'Black Money' gets lost in the sheer frenzy of the Rajni phenomenon. It didn't make an impact anywhere near shankar's earlier movies like 'Mudhalvan' and 'Anniyan'. It seemed like it had to be there to preserve Shankar's trademark. Maybe the director himself felt that too, as he stuffed the ending credits with his novel ideas, rather than let the hero mouth them. My Verdict (if it matters at all) - Does not justify the hype but projects a suave and explosive Rajni! Let the box office be inundated!

PS: Dancing and Shrieking Fans are an integral part of the Rajni film, and you have got to experience it at least once!

Its Rahmania!!!!!!

Finally finally, a chance to see the 'Mozart of Madras' live in action. The musical genius and his equally talented entourage fired up the passions of thousands of NY area desis. He lives barely a 5 min. walk from my home in Chennai! yet this is the first time i saw him in flesh and blood (though from a few hundred yards away)!The 3 hr traffic congestion ridden drive from jersey to Long Island was really worth it. The moment we reached Nassau Coliseum , we realized the reach of Rahman's music. We could hear a multitude of languages on our way to the entrance. it is true. music transcends barriers! The almost jam packed stadium roared as if on cue, when Rahman appeared for the first time. And then what followed was 3 hours of bliss. There were a few things though which proved to be dampeners. The acoustics were really not worthy of a Rahman concert. Due to last minute changes in the schedule, the troupe had to do a concert in Dallas friday night and perform again Saturday night here in NY.The voices of all the singers sounded strained. And then there were no fireworks.....literally! But despite all this , the kind of energy that flowed amidst the audience more than made up for these! Chanting, Shrieking, tapping, clapping, dancing.....the crowd was alive and kicking! As Rahman was delivering one hindi hit after another, the enormous 'SI-VA-JI' chant thundered! and Rahman yielded. It was pure madness after that! Rahman left out most of his 'staple' hits from movies like 'Lagaan', 'Rangeela', 'Minsara Kanavu', 'AlaiPayuthey', 'Gentleman', 'Kadhalan' ....etc!!!But then u can deliver only so much in 3 hours. Besides, he had to cover his recent hits like 'Guru', 'Sivaji' and 'Rang de Basanti'! He had a generous share of tamil hits to satisfy a big number of tamil fans in the crowd. But if you are a true Rahmaniac like me , you wouldn't care about languages! Blaaze and Sivamani added colour and energy to the show. Neeti with 'Mayya Mayya' left the crowd spell bound. Hariharan did some crazy antics but singing wise he was spot on as usual! Sukhwinder was good but he really has to know when to stop. the white guy with his 'jathi' was awesome!My picks for the best renditions of the night were 'Mayya' and 'Secret of Success'! At the end of the show I wondered if any other musician can cast a spell over the entire cross section of Indians (across languages, regions, musical tastes, age...!)like Rahman did. He is GOD of MUSIC..at least for the current Indian generation!

Howdy Spidey?

I reluctantly trudged to the cinema to watch spiderman - 3! For me the second installment dulled the hype! Part 2 was more of a 'Karan Johar' type sob saga!Spidey 3, thankfully, had more action. yes there were several melodrama spills along the way, but in the end was my money's worth. The visual effects were as expected stunning. Tobey had to bring his histrionics to the fore in this one without his famed mask. He did a decent job till the climax. The supposedly tear-jerking scenes in the climax though, had the audience in splits!Even TR would have bettered that. He was crying for his friend Harry. It looked more like he was crying for candy snatched out of his hands!Bryce Howard looked stunning with her blond URBAN transformation from 'The Village'! The noises made by the Eddie Brock (Venom) character, was more like he was preparing to spit!The phrase 'Spitting Venom' makes sense! In the end, the movie was not a bad watch. But the spiderman cartoon i used to watch back in India , is still my favorite!

Violence : A way of life?

Cho had schizophrenia! But what about the hundreds of others who meticulously plan murders for monetary gains, revenge, etc..! How would you classify killing spouses for insurance money, mob hits, armed robberies, prison cell torture and not to forget all the cruel wars! Violence has existed in human brains right through his evolution. Earlier either there were fewer individuals who went over the top or due to the lack of world wide media communication, many went unnoticed. But you would come to expect some progress in human behavior with the aging of civilization. These events seem to suggest otherwise. Terrorists say they have a cause to achieve! Psychopaths say they have suffered social rejection, abuse or isolation! Mobsters say they grew up in brutal surroundings with little to live on. These feelings are shared by many of us in all walks of life. the difference is....these guys dared to take the deadly next step. So why them and not us. Education, relatively better life, religious faith, closer family ties, fear of sin and plain common sense! Lack of access to weapons is an undeniably significant reason too. We have to realize that understanding our fellow humans' troubles and fears can play an important role too.Society is not about each man for himself. it is also not about just your family! Society is the entire world, humans, plants and animals. All criminals are not born mad people who inexplicably flipped all of a sudden. Circumstances are the most important ingredients in these recipes for disasters. we have to examine our thoughts, actions, beliefs which create these circumstances. Let us all strive together to erase violence before we get used to it!

Blood over Books!

Campus massacres! Austin clock tower, Columbine, University of Iowa, Montreal, Amish school and now Virginia Tech.....! More and more blood is being spilled on the campuses. The formula is simple! Bullying, social rejection, drunk/divorced parents, sex abuse in childhood lead to dejection, isolation and violent thoughts! These often combine with easily available guns/ammo and culminate in terror & tears! While everybody is brooding over campus security measures, I think the problem is ..... no prizes for guessing ..... the gun! Stricter gun laws, better student counseling, clamping down on domestic abuse and bullying etc. Now those are ways to curb bizarre mass killings. We have to realize, seemingly petty things like bullying can have serious implications on a child's psyche! The aftermath of such incidents and natural disasters are just terribly maddening. The victims' families never achieve closure! There is no sane individual or group to be blamed, tried in a court of law, made remorseful and punished. They can just clutch their hearts and wait for the pain to subside, which seldom does. They can only blame their fate! The guy in this particular case has been described a loner who left a note condemning 'rich and deceitful charlatans'! But in some cases , the perpetrators belong to seemingly normal families who just flip suddenly! I don't know how anybody could ever identify such individuals and prepare a plan of action for such events in advance! All we can do now is pray for the dead and their bereaved families and hope this never happens again!

Men in 'Cricketing Blues'

Greg Chappell's controversial Indian affair has finally ended. A coach who 'might' blame senior players for their haughty attitude, senior players who 'might' testify against Chappell and his arrogant ways, a captain who 'might' incur the wrath of the rest of the team by siding with the coach and finally the sport's governing body who 'might' turn this board into a Fortune 500 firm. All these 'mights' , collectively known as the Media Might, have knocked the nation's most secular religion in the underbelly and the whole nation is gasping for air. Add Woolmer's mysterious murder with suspicion on the betting mafia to this mix and you have got u'rself a .................Bollywood movie!!! Chappell woos BCCI with his laptop and wins her hand. They have high hopes for their family, the Indian team. Their kids Ganguly & Sachin turn against dad even as BCCI reaches dizzy heights in her career. Chappell unable to stand his kids, divorces BCCi and his family. BCCI feels betrayed by both her kids and Chappell and is worried if this is going to affect her professional life. She comes to know Chappell got scared coming to know of his friend Woolmer's fatal end to his marriage with PCB. The betting mafia don wiped him out before his kids got him. Did the don threaten Chappell to leave? Will BCCI and her kids settle their differences? Will Woolmer's killers be brought to book? Will the Gavaskar-Ponting comedy track integrate with the main plot?...............for the answers , keep watching.......SABSE BADA 'BAT'MAASH! The MEN IN BLUE now wish they were MEN IN BLACK, who could erase their memories in a flash!

India wins the WC.......................Woe Cup!

Well Well! My fears were confirmed. India is out of the world cup. Actually this is good news. I don't have to see the men in blue being bashed black and blue by the Aussies, proteas, kiwis etc...!Thank god, Bermuda didn't beat Bangladesh! imagine the humiliation then - India pipping Bangladesh to enter the super 8s thanks to Bermuda! As is the norm per our 'Culture/Kalaachaaram/parampara', the effigy burning has started again. Dusshera should really be our national festival. This has become all too common. Falling on the feet before the event and pulling the feet after the disappointing results. The Indian bowlers never looked menacing & the batsmen were too timid! It's all in the head! There is just no 'Killer Instinct'! 'India has the strongest batting line up on paper' - well , seems like some donkey had that paper for lunch! It was just baffling to see Tendulkar, the leading ODI run getter, nervous and unsure at the crease like a debutant. Ganguly did his best, Sehwag peaked too late, Yuvraj was great till it mattered, Dhoni was dismal, Uthappa was too carried away, Dravid had nothing special, Harbhajan was not incisive, Zaheer was a meek spearhead, Agarkar kept undoing his own work, Munaf could'nt hurt a fly and Pathan/Karthik never got a chance. After the first game, i expected a GIH (Great Indian Huddle). I got that but unfortunately it was for consoling each other! For millions of Indians, it was WAKE UP, FORGET THE DREAM and GO BACK TO WORK!

Budget ramblings, Cricket Fever.....

Budget 2007 drew a slew of criticisms especially from business houses and the salaried middle class. Tax exemptions or the lack of , seemed to be the biggest dissapointment! Well, agreed it was not a dream budget ( a la 1997), but had many bright points. I was just wondering if India would get consumed in it's enormous corporate growth and sideline several other life lines of the nation. But , benefits for farmers, duty cuts for agricultural equipment, increased funds for educational schemes & AIDS research etc... allayed my fears a little. We have all been so fascinated with mega malls, international brands, IT firms, cell phones, credit cards etc., that we seldom spared a thought for the masses in the villages and towns. I thought this budget atleast took a step in this direction. Was impressed with Lalu's railway budget too. Good to know he is planning to channel some of the profits towards sanitation. Train toilets have been the biggest deterrent for customers. With the domestic airline industry booming, Railways has to match international standards to draw not just the people who cannot afford air travel but also those who do (ofcourse if time is not a major issue!). The World Cup is almost here. The men in blue are raring to go...and so are their faithful followers!lets hope they atleast match the 2003 performance if not better it. I would probably miss most of the games since they are all day games though! :(! But the games i do catch, would be great on 50". WOW! can't wait! The large screens on the Chennai beaches are clinchers though!

I'm Back!

Knew this was going to happen! a looong break. so wats been happening all these days. India won ODI cricket serieses against windies and the lankans. The games they lost were the only ones i watched live. Darn it! The last time i watched complete India games and they had a winning streak, was World Cup 2003. Hope it happens this time around too. Rahul Dravid got slammed for endorsing.............'Surya Namaskar'? Since when did that become a sign of religious fundamentalism! Back to politics, The cauvery issue! Don't know about 'Cauvery', but there should be free flow of 'Kalyani'!Hope the TN govt. fights for beer/liquor from other states. I get more Indian brands in New Jersey than in Chennai! It's below freezing here in NJ and it is driving me crazy. i'll take heat boils over frost bites, ANYDAY!!!

Big Bother

The whole 'Big Brother' issue, in my opinion, has been blown out of proportions! Yes, Jade abused Shilpa and the place she came from. This happens everywhere every day. How many of us have abused our own countrymen. Dumb Sardar, Stingy Gujju etc,etc! Doesn't mean we don't have sardar or gujju friends! The attack on the show ,i feel, was on a personal level. She never said ' you f***ing brown skinned indians'!!!The claim of 'Racism' was not appropriate. We indians practice a form of racism ourselves...casteism. For heaven's sake, we have government backed caste based reservations!desis abroad, ridicule and abuse goras and blacks behind their backs. we have northie-southie clashes amongst ourselves! We have language & religion fanatics. I sometimes pity the whites. They are the only ones kicked for racism and other forms of discrimination, while almost the whole world practices it. and burning effigies? i think there is a well-structured industry out there manufacturing custom-made human effigies, dedicated institutes for educating people on 'Basics of burning effigies - 101' and professional 'Dharna' activists available for hire (resumes on Monster.com - minimum 5 yrs experience - BURNING STUFF!!!). Kushboo, Greg Chappell, Aamir Khan, Jade Goody....you name them, we've burnt them! and some minister warning Channel 4.....dude, do something for the people who voted for you! But kudos to Shilpa, not for surviving 'Racist' abuse, but for carrying u'rself with dignity amidst all this filth! and hey!, they gave you free worldwide publicity and paid you on top of that!your stars are aligned perfect!

Villager, Visionary, Winner........Mani, Movie, Magic

It is not his best film. But is way ahead of the current crop. 2 successive Januaries, 2 awesome films. Rang De Basanti & Guru. Both won accolades as much for the story as for the technical aspects. After the YUVA debacle, everyone thought either Mani will return to tamil or film a commercially viable subject. But the story of probably the most famous Indian business magnate?Mani's forte has always been Drama! Abhishek wore the skin of the character and transformed himself into it. Nowadays, acting as a mad man or crying all over the place is considered tremendous acting. He proved otherwise. If Kamal started a trend with NAYAGAN, then Abhishek has started his own with GURU.The cinematography and background music are awesome. Dialogues were amazing. just the right mix of emotions, humour, sarcasm...! but i really thought the climax could have been more powerful. It could have been a sequence of scenes instead of just a courtroom scene. But in the end, you feel you have watched your money's worth. BOTTOM LINE : I liked the movie.

Chennai Chronicles ...

just returned from home base! Boy, how the city and country have changed! India Inc. is evident everywhere!

Striking points....

1) Planes are outnumbering mosquitoes!'Standing' ticket costs less.
2) Chennai city limits.......don't exist! Awaiting Pondicherry as a suburb!
3) 'Earn in Rupees. Spend in Dollars' is the norm!
4) Basic amenities include water, electricity and cell phones...
5) At Last...no Auto fare bargaining. Pay double or get lost!
6) Saravana Bhavan Meals - Rs.100+! I think i'll settle for a 'Subway' sandwich!
7) Pizza Hut family size pizza........good appetizer
8) 'Park and Ride' in T Nagar - park far away and take an auto to the shops!
9) Billboards = skyscrapers
10) We have our own DOWN UNDER , thanks to all the FLY OVERS
11) Hmmm...what FM station shall i listen to today?

The city is growing, maturing, opening up and bubbling! it is an intriguing mix.
What will 'Arasi', 'Lakshmi', 'Kasturi' & 'Ahalya' do in tonight's episode of 'Sex and the City'?

Let the blogging begin...

After countless discussions, arguments & quarrels on anything we see, hear or sense with friends, family and strangers, I finally decided to take my thoughts and opinions from the comfortable confines of my home and spill them onto the wide wicked world on the net. Will be back with more after i get any enlightening thoughts under the influence of alcohol!