Actually I am a little confused and ready to be termed a cynic but really I want to know what you think about this.Could anyone of you please help me understand exactly why Sachin Tendulkar, Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai are nominated for all the 'Indian of the Year' awards, every year? And if Amitabh Bachchan is not the Indian of the Year then he is 'Urban Indian of the Year' (NDTV, 2005). And...
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Hyderabad Diary: Traditions in a Modern City
Sabarimala Sojourn: If you are in Hyderabad (or anywhere in South India) and you see your boss wearing all blacks (and I don't mean 'The Matrix' attire), an ordinary full sleave shirt and a simple pant and barefooted, don't passout! He has no plans of going to any asylum nor is he mourning, he is just planning a trip to the shrine of Lord Ayyappa in Sabrimala.He will call you 'Swami' and you will...
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Life in a hidden city
Allahabad is one of the best places to grow up ,if you want to see and understand India's middle and lower middle class society wihout the glasses provided by bullish management gurus betting big on these millions of people for their ability to act as 'consumers', and from a viewpoint that is unmatched for clarity. After all you will be one of those millions, whom you want to understand.Fortunately...
Saturday, November 11, 2006
The toughest question ever!
The train from Mumbai to Lucknow was choc-a-bloc, and despite having a reservation, Nakul and I had to adjust with three others sharing the berth with us. The day had just started and conversation was about to.And it did and predictably veered to the familiar territory: politics and ultimately terrorism. In India, commuters won't discuss about politics only if they are daily passengers, commuting...
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Hyderabad Diary: Traffic tremors and Biryani jolts
The traffic nightmare: When I landed up in Hyderabad about 8 months back, I used to leave in the morning, with a prayer on lips and hope in the heart that I will be able to survive city's traffic and come back alive.Thankfully things are not any worse now. the fear has gone from the heart, but wading through traffic is still a nightmare.Hyderabadis lack even the basic sense of commuting as far as...
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
A realization and an apology!
The euphoria about 'Gandhigiri' had initially turned me off!I am one of those who firmly believe that media has got yet another buzzword to fill the bulletins and telecast 'specials' about.And as I have understood over the years that there is no buzzword more powerful than that given by a superhit movie. Afterall it's a win-win scenario. The movie rises above its reel life and aquires a halo as we...
Friday, September 22, 2006
Why is Oscar a 'Paheli' for us?
There was a very lively discussion on NDTV 24*7 about 'Whether India sends its best films for Oscar Awards' yesterday (21st September). Hosted by Sonia Singh, the panel had Prasoon Joshi (who needs no more introduction, but for those who don't know still, he is the guy behind 'Thanda matlab CocaCola', Creative Director (South and South-East Asia) McCann Ericsson and lyricist of 'Rang De Basanti'),...
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
High education, Low politics
Every other week there happens some thing or other that says that more the things change, more they remain same. The places may vary, the faces may change but the shock value, the insensitivity stays unchanged.As if Jessica Lal, Neetish Katara or Priyadarshini Mattoo tragedies were not enough, Ujjain shot up for its claim to shame with murder of Professor Sabharwal of Madhav Singh College. Having...
Monday, August 07, 2006
Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land
I think you too have got a mail comparing Indian and Israeli responses to attacks on them. Though I have replied to that mail with appropriate reasons, this video presents the other side of the story. Watch it, how the hunters are posing as hunted and this massive PR machinery is churning out complete lies.The text below is courtesy Google Video. Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides...
Friday, August 04, 2006
It's hot outside. We'll go on strike!
What is surprising in this demand? It's too hot and I don't feel like working so why am I being 'forced' to work?What? How dare you suggest that I face a pay-cut for not working? It is my birth right to have a government job and even greater right to protest and go on strike for every will and whim of mine and since Left Front is in Government, no Government can dare to ban strike.Supreme Court? Oh...
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
An evening with Tiwi art
This saturday I went to an art exhibition. Ami was absolutely adamant about going but I convinced him somehow and after having savoured one vegetable biryani each (he ate a paneer paratha as well!), which ensured that our stomachs were more than full, we took an auto for State Gallery of Fine Arts....
Thursday, July 27, 2006
The World Is A Small Place
The world is such a small place, we keep on being reminded and we keep on forgetting!The latest reminder comes in form of Israel-Lebanon conflict which has claimed hundreds of lives, the majority being on the Lebanese side. The rights and wrongs are being discussed, will be discussed and after sometime (hopefully) this war will end. But by then how much would be lost!And the reason I have been jolted...
Saturday, July 22, 2006
The spirit is lacking
The latest topic of discussion in Indian media, specially English, is about Mumbai's 'spirit' and 'resilience'. As usual after the frenzy of terrible blasts, the media was back next day with spirited stories about Mumbaikars' resilience and how the city's spirits are not subdued in spite of the heavy losses, and I am not talking about monetary losses. These are the losses that no one would be able...
Friday, July 14, 2006
Mumbai on NET
I tried to compile some of the good articles on the Mumbai Blasts. Here are they:Rediff.comIndia needs to be ruthless in its vengeanceEnough is enough!This is phase II of Pakistan's proxy war against India'The dead have been forgotten'Mumbai, show me the wayJust what is SIMI?The 5:54 death train, a day laterThey call us resilient?HindustanTimes.comMadhya Pradesh is a hub for Pakistani spies Good morning,...
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Salaam Bombay : Letter from Mumbaikar
(I got this in a forward, but as most forwards are ultemately deleted, I wanted to preserve it. Because this open letter to the terrorists and those behind them, shows the undomitable spirit of Mumbai and its people.)SALAAM BOMBAY!Dear Terrorist,Even if you are not reading this we don't care. Time and again you tried to disturb us and disrupt our life - killing innocent civilians by planting bombs...
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Why we don't need an IIFA?
I don't remember the exact words in that article, but what it meant was that rather than going to foreign industry leaders and governments to invite them for exploring investment opportunities in their state, it would be better if our chief ministers, ministers and beaurocrats set their own house in order. With broken down (or non-existent) roads, illusive power supply and administration and law and...
Friday, June 23, 2006
Finally something to cheer about!
Neha mailed to ask me if I had followed an NDTV story about "children getting ill and not enough facilities being there...again irony being the chief minister himself is a qualified doctor", and since I am working hard to earn a tag of 'Media Basher', she added "thought u might be interested to know, coz the media brought a worthy issue in front of ppl as compared to rakhi sawant and mika's kiss issue."I...
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Life mein Twist!
Scene 1:"This MMTS is a good thing yaar. Within half an hour and for just 5 Rs. we can reach Necklace Road directly. It's so much better than bus.""Ya, we can come here, every weekend. Have an icecream and roam around and then be back in time!"Scene 2:"My relatives are leaving their flat after a month or two. We can shift to that one, it is cheaper and has markets nearby. Only problem is that it's...
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
India. Is That Really Bharat?
(I really don't know whether I want you to read this blog till the end or not. Ofcourse I want you to, but if you don't, then you prove my arguement correct.)I am writing this blog on the day when the news of Rahul Mahajan's possible arrest is headline of all the newspapers and all the 24-hr news channels. Almost every media outlet packaged this tragedy in most 'informative' (read attractive) and...
Sunday, May 28, 2006
The results are out...
So after the tense exam season, even more tense result season is here. And you will admit that the nervousness, tension and high drama are at their respective peaks in the metros. Partly due to the higher career consciousness and cut-throat competition between students. Partly due to the social structure in these cities where the educational institute (school/college) and academic standing of their...
Friday, May 26, 2006
The Great Indian Robbery
Let me clear at the very outset, I HAD great respect for the PM, Manmohan Singh. I believed and trusted the CEO-Chairman relationship between him and Mrs. Gandhi. I thought that even though he is not a great statesman like Vajpayee, atleast he is professional who knows that he has to deliver and deliver within certain timeframe. He started well, and even though his boat was occasionally rocked by...
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Rang Dala Basanti!
See the photos of Police Tyranny in MumbaiI had watched Rang De Basanti (now more popularly known as RDB) in the latter half of my ILP in Bhubaneswar. And though I had loved the movie I had maintained a strong opinion that almost complete second half of the movie was superficial and director and writers...
Thursday, May 18, 2006
The postcard just got faster!
As I was writing to Nakul about mailing, I suddenly remembered Amul Surabhi.Every sunday 9pm Doordarshan National used to telecast this programme which was a potpourri of National Geographic Channel, Animal Plannet, Discovery Travel and Living and Doordarshan Bharti all rolled into a thoroughly enjoyable half-hour refresher course on the hidden (and known) aspects and facets of India and the world.One...
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Watching 'Pokiri'
I had said yes to my coming to 'Pokiri' with my telugu friends and colleagues and had decided to take it as another experience, but this confidence had started waning off when Kaycee told me that you won't understand a word!So there was some jitteriness when I settled in my comfortable chair in PVR Hyderabad. There was a sense of deja vu. I remembered watching umpteen movies in Noida multiplexes....
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Death of a Human Being
As I sit in my cubicle (on a saturday!) listening to songs on my friend's new Video iPod, not-so-comfortable thoughts haunt me. This week has been terrible, no not for me personally, but for the country as a whole, perhaps the world! Should I give you an account of tragedies in this week? OK, these are the ones that caught my attention:Armenian Plane crashed killing 113 onboard.Militants killed 35...
Sunday, April 23, 2006
A tale of two states
Last week I watched two different news stories. First was about the election promises in Tamilnadu election on CNN-IBN and second was an NDTV story on children dying of hunger in Maharashtra.Tamilnadu's electoral scenario revolves around the promises of freebies being doled out. So if we have one party offering rice at Rs. 2/kg then the other is ready with rice (why don't they offer any other grain?)...
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Congress and BJP vs Bhagwati Patidar and Aamir Khan
Finally Congress and BJP have got something common to burn effigies of. And it’s none other than film actor Aamir Khan! He has become the target of violent protests (Congress workers stopped screening of ‘Rang De Basanti’ in Vadodara, Gujrat) because he visited the protest site of Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) activists in Delhi.But for once, forget these political activists. I was reading comments...
Demanding right to live
We all are aware of the plight of Kashmiri Pundits. The natives of Jammu and Kashmir who were displaced due to terrorism in the valley in 1990s and then got nothing from any government except false promises and assurances. They lost their homes, their property and their land. They lost everything.And the history is set to repeat itself. Not in Jammu and Kashmir but in the western part of country where...
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Country / politics=0
Flashback to 1990s: Mandal Commission recommends reservations in jobs. Despite wide-spread anger and protests, V.P. Singh government passes the bill and India changes for ever.Now back to 2006: Manmohan Singh government increases the reservation in educational institutes to 50% and introduces reservations in private sector jobs. India is nomore left to be changed!The worst thing in this issue is that...
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