In the Nilgiris: Ooty, Coonoor, Wellington and everywhere between them!

My tourist spirits sank as I saw perhaps the first (and hence the oldest!) ATR Turbo Prop of Air Deccan whose age was in complete contrast to the spanking new Hyderabad International Airport from where it was getting ready to fly to Coimbatore. However some good photo ops in the plane and greenery of Coimbatore city cheered me up as we landed at surprisingly small and comfortingly cozy Coimbatore airport.
My plan was to take the Nilgiri Passenger to Ooty from Mettupalayam, a small town at the foothills of Nilgiris and a hub for public and goods transport to the hill towns. This train, popularly known as Toy Train covers a distance of 46 km in 5 hours uphill and in 3.5 hours on return journey. So I took a bus to Mettupalayam in the night itself, stayed there in a lodge (you can find plenty of accomodation there at very economic prices) so that I could take the train in the morning.

Buses ply from Coimbatore to Mettupalayam every half an hour from Mettupalayam bus stand which is very near to Coimbatore's main bus stand,Gandhipuram. Mettupalayam is a small town which is at the foothills of Nilgiris at the doorstep of Coonoor and Ooty. It can be reached from Chennai via Coimbatore by Nilgiri Express which reaches here at 6.30 am. Just in time for you to get the toy train to Ooty which departs at 7.10 am.

Under normal circumstances, I would have got the tickets but since this was a long weekend, there were no tickets available. Normally, the Mettupalayam railway station booking office opens at 5.30 am(!) and you should be there early to book your tickets, but if you are travelling in peak tourist seasons, keep in mind that you need to get your tickets reserved (yes, reserved for a passenger train!) atleast a day in advance.

I thought quickly (which means that after getting a non-commital answer from station master about ticket availability and a very early breakfast of idli-vada in station canteen, I sat for about half an hour!) and decided to take a bus to Ooty and then board the return train towards Mettupalayam. For the entire 1 hour journey till Coonoor I hanged precariously near the gate so that I could get a better view of the mountains and valleys. If you have been to an IMAX theater (where entire view in front of your eyes covered with screen) you would understand how it feels when all you can see is lush green forest covered slope of a hill, unmarred by any tree or telephone wires!

Coonoor is a beautiful town with major tourist attractions and perhaps the largest market among its neighboring villages and towns like Wellington, Arwankad, Kattaji etc. Nilgiri district is famous for tea. You must have heard of Nilgiri tea, which is prominent alongside Darjeeling tea and Assam tea. Coonoor is the headquarter of United Planters Association of South India and has one of the seven tea auction houses in India! The slopes of Nilgiri around Coonoor and neighboring towns are covered with tea gardens which often surround their owner tea factories.

Coonoor is just 19 km from Ooty but due to very bad (and at places dangerously narrow!) road the journey takes about 1.5 hrs. However once I reaced Ooty, all the potholes in the road were forgiven! Sitting undisturbed and unhurried on Udhagamandalam (Ooty) railway station, with Mark Tully's 'The Heart Of India' in hand I thanked God for being so kind to me as to give me such a beautiful experience!

After waiting about 2 hrs,the journey in Nilgiri Passenger seemed a bit of an anticlimax. 10 people were crammed in a space sufficient for 6 and I had much better views of the scenery from the bus (actually, I was hardly able to shoot anything!). However this journey turned out to be surprisingly memorable when one of my co-passengers turned out to be a guy I had met during SSB Bhopal, 9 years ago. He recognized me when TC called out my name (I was the only one to be called, everyone else had got their tickets checked!) and I surprised even myself with instantaneously recognizing him!

I got down at Wellington, a typical military town; crisp, clean and smart. For those who don't know, Wellington houses Army Staff College. My brother was undergoing a course there and I was visiting him. His home happened to be in a location that will make a good hotel proud! Panoramic view of entire Wellington surrounded by hills on all sides covered by endearing silence.

Around 5 km from Coonoor lies 'Lamb's Rock' on the way to 'Dolphin's nose' which is another 5 km. The road to both these extremely popular view points is extremely bad and narrow but provides amazing views. On one side you will see clouds floating in the valley and on the other you can savor the greenery of the tea gardens. On a clear day, which is VERY rare due to mist and clouds hanging around, you can see as far as Mettupalayam. At Dolphin's nose we tasted different types of tea and my pick is 'Chocolate Tea' which actually tastes like hot chocolate and has a special method for preparation. An absolute recommendation. And the famous 'Orange Pekoe' which sells for as much as 600 rs/kg!

I love the smell of tea and though I am not an avid tea conneissour, I love its rich aroma. So while our tea factory guide at Brooklands Tea Factory was showing and explaining various steps involved in the process of making packaged tea from leaves, I was trying to assimilate that wonderful smell for my memories!

Kotagiri is 20 km from Coonoor and believe it or not, I went there just because the road is good and I had a two-wheeler! Facing the gust of wind, you can feel the chill in the air if you pass under shadow of tree even for a few meters. I know I was driving a little too fast and on this road where you can turn about 270 degree without seeing the straight road, this was not wise but no doubt exciting!

There are many more places to visit in Coonoor and Ooty. But if you are a nature lover you will find beauty at every step of the Nilgiris.

Here are the photos:

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Bollywood Trivia: Om Shanti Om

(Courtesy: Picture This, NDTV 24x7)
The climax of Om Shanti Om was lifted from old classic 'Madhumati'. In this movie's climax when Madhumati's look-alike gets delayed, Madhumati's ghost herself appears to seek revenge.

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Handle With Care: India-China Relations!

CNN-IBN has a knack of surprising its viewers. They talked to Saurav Ganguly about his reaction to Baichung Bhutia's decision of not carrying Olympic Torch as a way of showing support to Tibetan movement. I wondered aloud, how the heck does Ganguly come into picture here! Bhutia hails from Sikkim and he said he is a Buddhist and wants to show his support to Tibetan movement. Ganguly is not a Buddhist, he doesn't belong to Sikkim or anyother state that has issues with China (unless you consider Left's Chinese infatuation!) and what's more he was not going to carry the torch!

However I think, had someone asked foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee his opinion about Bhutia's decision, he might have said 'Baichung Bhutia is a respected player of India and we would continue to offer him all hospitality but he should not do anything that will adversely affect Indo-China relations'.

He might have added that newspapers which publish stories about Chinese intrusions in Indian territory or Chinese building bunkers and road along India-China border and LAC (Line of Actual Control) are respected media houses but they are adversely affecting India-China relations.

I don't know if he called up Indian envoy to China Nirupama Rao to tell her that even if Chinese external affairs ministry keeps on calling her at 2 am she should happily go else it may 'adversely affect Indo-China relations'.

But I think he would not be losing sleep over German Chancellor Anjela Merkel's decision to not attend Beijing Olympics opening ceremony or French President Nicholas Sacozy's threat of France boycotting the games since that may not 'adversely affect Indo-China relations'. Also Pranab da should be terribly happy with his colleague Shivraj Patil's ministry which has downplayed Chinese threats to India and protrayed China as a superpower with a great impact on this region politically, economically and militarliy. This would have enforced India-China relations to a great deal!

I hope I won't be told now to stop writing something that 'adversely affects Indo-China relations'!

(If you are wondering what is this about read here)

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Reliance Fresh doesn't believe in Customer Care.

3 bananas, 2 oranges, 1 mango and 1 bunch of grapes. No, I am not going to give a maths question where given the price of each of them, you have to tell my total expense. The sophesticated machines at Reliance Fresh outlets can do that easily and much more!

That is how my fruits and vegetables shopping list generally reads.

Reliance Fresh was blessing in disguise of a store when it opened. The quality of fruits and vegetables was amazing! So fresh, so photo-like! I was happily surprised. It made shopping for groceries and fruits and vegetables not only convenient but also a fun activity.

But it didn't last that long. The store started filling up with general items and fruits and vegetables started taking the backseat. Mostly I buy tomatoes and they were no longer fresh or photo-like but rotten or raw! Carrots were in pathetic shape as well. But I didn't complain, though muttered silently.

Things had deteriorated. You didn't get the freebees if you didn't demand!

Lately they started a scheme where you get sprouts or cut vegetables at 50% off (so that they rot in your kitchen not at their store!). One day I found stuff that was past its Best-Before date. I complained and it was removed from the shelf, but that was not the last time it happened. After that also I found sprouts and vegetables past their usable date.

But the worse was yet to come. My friend found fungus on cut sugarcane which was not even past the Best Before date. He went to return that and complained to the customer care person.The stuff was returned but he was bluntly told that if had problems better he should not purchase from the store. His threats of complaining were blunted with 'do whatever you want to'.


But he could not complain. Because there is no where you can lodge a complaint.

Can you believe Reliance Fresh doesn't have a website of it's own? Or for that matter Ranger Farms? or Reliance Retail? They don't have a customer care email id where you can send in your feedback. You search on internet and you get just a marketing page about Reliance Retail or some unofficial pages about Reliance Fresh.

This is unacceptable and unbelievable that there is almost no emphasis on customer care. I hope Bharti-Walmart and Aditya Birla Group's more will change this scenario and if Reliance does not care for us then may be we too should care a damn for them.

Technorati Tags: Reliance Fresh, Retail, Customer Care

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Trip to BhimaShankar and Tryambak.

(Read it on rediff.com: Visiting the Holy and High Abode of Shiva!)

How I wish that title could be 'A Trek in BhimaShankar and Tryambak'! But illplanning cost us heavily and what I had hoped for a challenging trek trip turned out to be just a little more than travel trip. But nevertheless this was a memorable trip simply because I got opportunity to two of the holiest places in India. Can't feel luckier than that!

Hyderabad-Pune was uneventful, if you discount Narayan's tryst with APSRTC, and we reached Sivaji Nagar in Pune at the promised time. (You will have to give this to APSRTC, they are the most punctual luxury bus operators I have travelled with.) After a brief stopever in a 'lodge',that made us wonder if it was a 'Decent Hotel' (remember 'Jab We Met'?), we took a bus to BhimaShankar from Sivaji Nagar bus stand. This was a big mistake.

If you are planning to trek in BhimaShankar, do NOT take direct bus from Sivaji Nagar to BhimaShankar. It will take you all the way to top of the hills and leave you at almost doorstep of temple! Take the train from Sivaji Nagar railway station to Karjaat. That is where the trekking actually starts.

BhimaShankar is 125 km from Pune and the bus takes 4 hours. Yes 4 hours! The road is extremely bad in most part and the rattle of MRTC bus gave me a headache! You can also get cab to BhimaShankar if you want, though expense will be on a higher side.

BhimaShankar is one of the 12 Jyotirlings and hence I was surprised (or shocked!) by absolute lack of security in the temple. The metal detector was off, the security guys were selling laddoos and I was allowed to go in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple with my bag which was not even touched for checking. However once I was in all my scepticism vanished and I felt blessed that Lord facilitated me to have His darshan! I just thanked God for his great mercy and came out.

And though MTDC has no presence what so ever, the nature gives you an eyeful! View of Sahyadri Hills and the valley is spectacular. The heights are dangerous and enticing simultaneously. The rocks are covered with thick green and you can feel the expanse even in the air. It's a tremendous feeling being there.

You must spend atleast a couple of days here to be able to trek and explore the entire area properly. I was very disappointed that I could not roam around the place at all and tried to lessen that disappointment by taking some photographs!

Next destination was Nasik, where we had to spend the night before moving to Tryambak. After a hopping bus journey (BhimaShankar-Manchar-NarayanGaon-Nasik) described as 'hitch-hiking' by MSR and which saw great enthusiasm from Narayan we reached Nasik. The hotel seemed to be in an old building and musty smell of our room reminded Narayan of his 'ancestral home'!

Tryambak is just 30 km from Nasik and again we had made a mistake in choosing our destination. Instead of staying at Nasik we could have to Tryambak directly since there are lot many hotels and lodges there. If you are planning for trekking in Tryamabak, make sure you start really early. And it's best to stay here only for the night.

MSR and Uday had their sins washed in the 'Paap Nashini Teertham' before we went to temple. (Narayan and I washed the sins of our feet only!) You can't carry even mobile and cameras inside the temple complex and have to keep them in 'lockers' provided by local shopkeepers. There is a very interesting tradition here. Before you enter the main temple which houses the Lord, you pass through a small temple which houses 'Nandi' the faithful bull on which he rides. People whisper their wishes in the ear of Nandi and it is assumed that he will convey them to Lord himself. You see this 'sifarish' culture is embedded deep in our roots ;)

In the main temple, again I thanked Lord for his mercy on me and seeked blessings. However unlike BhimaShankar there was no time to think anything since the security whisks people away almost the instant they appear before sanctum sanctorum!

It was 11 and we still had atlest 4 hours before we needed to start for Shirdi to reach there in time for bus back to Hyderabad. I was hell bent on trekking to BrahmaGiri and though there were faint murmurs of 'not being sufficient time' and 'not being appropriate time' we started the journey. There were various versions of truth: how much time you need for entire journey? The answers ranged from 4 to 2 hours and I set the corresponding targets for our group from 3 to 1.5 hours! (And we did it in 3 hours!)

The trek to Brahmagiri is not too difficult. There are stone steps which can be a little difficult at times and at some places they are pretty steep but hot sun can be your only challenge if you start late. The view along the journey is exhillirating. The feeling of reaching and then going on top of the rock formations which look intimidating from a distance is simply wonderful. We had darshan in BrahmaGiri and ShivJata temples both on the same range about 100 meters apart.

Uday found a special liking for the Nimbu Pani being sold all along the path and he found ready partners in MSR and Narayan and these three brought a lot of cheer to some people that day!

Back to Tryambak town, we took a taxi to Shirdi which got us there in about two hours. Little more liquid diet for the trio (and mercifully some solids as well!) and we were in the APSRTC Garuda ready to start back to Hyderabad!

The photos of the trip:

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Fraternity. Chak De!

If you have seen last year's blockbuster 'Chak De! India' you would remember the match between Indian men's team and coach Kabir Khan's women's team.  The match was ok, but it is what happens after the match that made me writes this blog.

Fraternity. The one word that comes to my mind whenever I see the men's team acknowledging their opponents' performance. The heartwarming ovation from men's team for the girls is truly wonderful and the one that reinforces the spirit of sportsmanship (or 'sportspersonship' ?) since it puts the game above gender differences which is so much inculcated in Indian psyche. How often do you see such sporty moments on celluloid!

I sincerely hope we could emulate this in real life as well.

Shimit Amin and Jaideep Sahni. Thank you so much!

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Why Microsoft can't learn from Mozilla?

"It is strongly recommended that you choose "Restart now" to allow setup to finish. Some programs may not function correctly until your system is restarted."

This is the message you get when you press "Restart Later" button after "installation" of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1. And mind you this restart is system restart not IE restart! Damn it. You download a 14.4 MB exe which will again download God (and MS) knows what for five minutes and then it will check my system for "malicious software" for what seems like an eternity and then install the software. My system is slow (Eclipse is running!) but half an hour for an installation? No way!

Compare it with Firefox which will prompt you for an upgrade, a one click process will upgrade the browser and restart it with your session intact. Not even 5 minutes. And Microsoft can't even give a link to the the IE home page in the IE tool bar, forget update messages and quick updates!

What's more, on the IE home page I clicked to see the demos of new features in IE 8 B1 and guess what instead of a Flash or Silverlight video, you get a .wma file which will be downloaded on your system! Are we living in the Jurassic age still?

And guess what, I was wondering why doesn't Microsoft release this browser for Non-Windows operating systems. I don't know the answer but now I wish they never do that!

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Congratulations India!

OK, I never generally write about Cricket but this moment I really wish I was not writing this but watching the live telecast of the presentation ceremony. Reading live commentary on CricInfo.com makes it look even more enticing. Actually I could hear all the shouts and claps coming from cafeteria, when I was in a meeting with my manager and wished I could run away. But then, if wishes were horses!

With Australia's defeat it proved to be last ODI of the great Adam Gilchrist and believe me he was the only one guy in current Aussie team I loved. One of the greatest wicketkeepers of all times, he definitely would have wanted to retire on a more pleasant note. But then watching Sachin Tendulkar bat like Sachin Tendulkar from close quarters could have been rewarding experience in itself!

I am happy that this tour ended finally after all the controversies which have hogged more limelight than the game itself at times. Harbhajan calling Symonds names ("Monkey" or "Teri Maan Ki", whatever you want to believe. Guess what CNN-IBN had made a joke about Harbhajan using the latter first on "The Week That Wasn't"), Symonds accusing him of racism, BCCI flexing muscles and cornering Cricket Australia and ICC to aquit him of all charges then Haydon again calling him an "obnoxious weed" and inviting Ishant in the boxing ring. Not to forget the great Bucknor-Benson umpiring issue which cost us a match and cost them a few more! Both Indian and Australian media fought pitched battles about their respective (not respected in the other's country!) Hmmpphh that was quite tiring!

And now Indian media would cry itself hoarse praising the team and telling us how experience and youth have done wonders for this team.

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Budget 2008. Who gets what?

Highlights of the budget 2008. (Courtesy: livemint.com and HindustanTimes.com)

• Gross budgetary support rises to Rs 380 billion
• Education gets 20 per cent more to Rs.344 billion from Rs 286.8 billion
• Rural infrastructure scheme Bharat Nirman to get Rs 312.8 billion
• Textile upgrading funding to get Rs 10.9 billion
• National highways to get Rs 129.7 billion
• Rs 440 million to improve infrastructure at 22 Sainik schools
• National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) to get Rs 50 billion to refinance loans
• Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) to get Rs 40 billion to refinance loans
• National Housing Bank to get Rs 12 billion
• HIV/AIDS prevention to get Rs 9.93 billion
• Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission to get Rs 68.66 billion, up from Rs 54.82 billion
• Midday meal scheme for schoolchildren to get Rs 80 billion
• School enrolment scheme Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to get Rs 131 billion
• Rs 400 million for special tea fund. Similar funds to be set up for cardamom, rubber and coffee.
• Rs 200 billion for irrigation
• Rs 5.5 billion for minority dominated districts
• NREGS to get Rs 160 billion, more money will be provided on need
• Farm debt waiver scheme to cost Rs 600 billion. Loan waiver to benefit 40 million farmers. 3 crore marginal and small farmers and 1 crore other farmers to benefit. One-time settlement scheme for other farmers not covered by the waiver scheme
• Northeast development to get Rs 14.55 billion
• Food subsidies at Rs.326.67 billion
• National health insurance for poor introduced. 1,000 crore provided to LIC for Aam admi bima yojana
• Rs 800 crore to be spent on power sector reforms
• Rs 450 crore provided for development of textile parks
• Rs 800 crore to be spent on power sector reforms
• Govt to set up Irrigation and Water Resources Finance Corporation with an initial capital of Rs 100 crore
• Defence spending to rise 10 percent. From Rs9,6000 cr to Rs1,05,000 cr
• Rs 500 crore for corpus fund to subsidise all women Self Help Groups for LIC cover for permanent disability.
• Health spending to rise 15 per cent.

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How I got refund from Ezeego1.com

It all started in September last year.

On September 7th, I booked an Indian ticket (Flight IC 940) using ezeego1.com (Booking Ref. No.: EZR-2007-89284/A) for traveling on 12th November, from Delhi to Hyderabad. The ticket which was bought under an offer from ezeego1.com and SBI Credit Cards cost me 3215 Rs.

On the morning of 12th November, something that I had always read about and heard happening with others, happened with me. Indian had done overboarding on their plane! Simply put they had sold more tickets than the capacity of the plane. I was shocked. This kind of thing which was always associated with low cost airlines, specially Air Deccan (now Deccan) was being done by state owned full-fledged airline. I was not alone however, there were others who were dumped even though they had purchased tickets. Passengers were shouting for information and their boarding passes and both of them were hard to come by. Indian officials were deliberately absent from the counter and one official appeared after some time only to tell us that the plane was on runway and noway we could be accommodated in this flight.

He said that Indian would accommodate us on the next flight which was after 2 hours. However I had a training to attend in Hyderabad and I didn't want to wait two more hours on the airport. I asked him for refund, which he agreed to give most willingly. He signed on my ticket and told that my money would be refunded through my travel agents (in my case ezeego1.com). I had to go to cancellation counter and get my Flight PNR No. set to status 'Denied Boarding'. Here I made a mistake which could have delayed the refund process if not jeopardize it totally; I had taken official's signature on the ticket but there was no official stamp from the airline!

And as (bad) luck would have it, that morning (which was the Monday after Diwali weekend) there was no seat available in ANY flight except SpiceJet, who were selling it more than 6000! Immediately I cursed my short tempered decision of not taking the next Indian flight. I was just going to pay the double of my flight cost. But I had no other option and had to board the SpiceJet flight. I reached Hyderabad at 11 am only to be greeted by my manager's SMS that training had been postponed to next week!

Now began my efforts of getting refund from ezeego1.com. I followed the steps mentioned on their website and sent them the scanned copy of the ticket, signed by Indian Official at the Delhi Airport at email address specified by them: cancellation@ezeego1.com. (According to their rules, the ticket should have been stamped by flight official from the source airport, which my ticket was lacking. And I was afraid of this!)

I got no response from their side and mailed again at complaints@ezeego1.com telling them the whole case and also at enquiry@ezeego1.com asking them the status of my complaint. No responses again.

I also filled the cancellation request form given on the site and got an automated reply acknowledging my request. After this a few days later I talked to their customer care person who asked me to fill the cancellation
form again (even though I told her that I have filled it and got acknowledgment also). She told that it will take 21 days to refund the money and I waited for about a month again after filling the form again. Talking to their customer care is an achievement in itself since you keep on getting message 'All out executives are busy. Please hold the call'. I held the call for 15 minutes maximum before my patience ran out. (During those days only I read a complaint in TOI, Hyderabad that he was made to hold the call for 80 minutes!!! However now this problem has reduced to great extent.)

When I got no response again I talked to the customer care and repeated whole story and was promised that I would be contacted in 48 hours by ezeego1.com, but that did not happen. The same thing happened when I
called them up again on Friday 21/12/07. I sent them a mail again threatening of dragging them to court, but got no reply.

Finally I registered my complaint with CORE (Consumer Online Resources and Empowerment) center, telling them whole story. An endless wait started again as CORE website doesn't give you facility to track your complaint. Then on Jan 17th, a mail addressed to "The Managing Director, Ezeego1 Travels & Tours Pvt. Ltd" and copied to me appeared in my mail box.

And when I had nearly forgotten this mail, on Feb 2nd a mail came from an Ezeego1.com executive informing me about refund of the money!

Finally I had succeeded in getting my own money back.

PS: Just now I got a call from ezeego1.com. The executive had read this review and inquired if my issue got resolved and apologized for the inconvenience.

Good. But I would have liked if they were responsive when I needed them most.

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No surprises in Maharashtra!

Neha wanted me to write about what is 'happening in Maharashtra'. She is surprised that a 'goonda can so easily take on a democratic nation' and feels that 'you have to pinch yourself to believe that it is actually happening'!

Frankly I didn't want to write about this because:
1) This would be playing in the hands of this frustrated political nobody called Raj Thakeray, who did not seem to have any political future till two weeks ago. His 'political' party has failed to make any dent in the vote bank of bigger parties. Even the idea of this violence is a hackneyed plot enacted so many times by Shiv Sena against South Indians, Muslims and North Indians over the years.

2) I am not surprised by any of these happenings! Across the world politicians/goons/crooks have encashed this opportunity to gain power by inciting violence against migrants, however significant their population/contribution to economy may be. E.g. Indians were the target of Idi Ameen in Uganda where they were living since many generations and had earned lot of wealth.

Many in the country however believe that it was media's coverage that gave Raj Thakeray a larger than life platform and hence a motive big enough to hold state to ransom. He was on national TV on primetime and front page of dailies across the country! The man who was nothing more than Bal Thakeray's unhappy and unsuccessful nephew was being talked about in editorials and panel discussions! Ain't that an achievement?

Though to be fair I would say that media (I am not aware of Marathi media) did not try to paint him in positive ever, but his goal was achieved and how!

Vir Sanghvi has written a quite insightful column in this week's Counterpoint (Age of Intolerance, Hindustan Times, 17th Feb, Sunday) about the that is happening daily in this country under different garbs. Be it beating North Indian workers or destroying theaters showing 'Jodha Akbar'. He himself asks questions about media adding fuel to the fire by letting these hooligans gain their five minutes of fame.

But these 'Editors' keep on asking such questions while their correspondents keep on forcing mikes in the faces of grieved and injured asking for bytes, and keep running behind every Raj and Rakhi who cares to give them something to fill the gaps between the ads on their channels.

So unless media stops this policy of running with hare and hunting with hound (by giving ample coverage to such crooks for gaining TRP and criticizing them for being self righteous), don't be surprised by such acts.

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The One that Won!

This photo is of the glass dome of Cyber Towers, an I.T. Park in the busy HITEC City area of Hyderabad. Taken from the ground floor with an Olympus FE 120.

Title: Symmetry

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When Red Gives Blues

This is that time of the year when I wish I could run away and hide somewhere in the caves of Afghanistan or atleast in home of Bal (or even Raj) Thackeray. Anywhere where I can get respite from the carpet bombing that's going to take place in next ten days!

During next week and half, every TV channel, newspaper, radio station and web portal is going to mock my lonely existence on this planet! Valentine’s Day is coming.

The newspapers will have articles about origin of Valentine's day and the modern trends of its celebration along with obviously cooked up financial statistics of card and gift companies. OK, you don't read those but how do you ignore all the full page mushy ads of restaurants, hotels, malls and every other business establishment which will either allow only couples or have special discounts for them!

Stories of all the TV serials will take bizarre turns to include a valentine's day celebration. And you can expect nothing else but romantic Bollywood numbers playing in the background and roses and hearts on the screen. Anyways they don't have much of a story! News channels will cover it with special 'urgency' and will telecast the 'happenings' live from across the country. Nobodies from BJP, Shiv Sena, MNS, VHP etc. will give warnings to couples and ‘perform’ vandalism in front of cameras.

Radio Stations will take on callers and air their stupid romantic messages and play their dedications. (I just wish they do that only for that day and not during whole week!) I have always hated those online ads (made in Flash 7) which fly in from nowhere and now they will come at me with a vengeance with their balloons and hearts and background music. Is any online privacy group listening? Please rescue me.

Some one please save me from this onslaught. On second thoughts (only for girls): be my valentine!

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Right and Wrong!

End of an illustrious career

I hardly ever write about anything related to cricket. Even if it is something as 'big' as Sydneygate. Due to essentially two reasons. Firstly there is hardly anything left to write after reams/TBs have been written/spoken on every conceivable aspect of the issue, and secondly there is a fatigue that grips me due to overcoverage of Cricket!

But I am making this exception to salute one of my most favorite and respected cricketers who said farewell from the game last week, and ironically while all of us were busy lambasting bad behavior on the ground the retirement of one of the most gentlemen cricketers hardly made any news, atleast in India.

I believe you will echo my feelings for Shaun Pollock, who showed us that you can be aggressive and competent without engaging in verbal slur. His records speak for themselves but, it was his onfield persona that made me his fan.

Good bye Sir. The game certainly owes a lot to you!

Correct Me!

A few months ago The Times Of India had a discussion on their edit page on the topic: Is it ok to allow SMS language in exams? The main argument supporting the issue (that yes it should be allowed) was that it is more important for examinees is to write correct answer. What use it is if someone writes a wrong answer in correct English? Fair enough! Only if I could find this supporter I would make him/her read all the crap that we Indians have started pasting all over the internet.

Don't get me wrong. (if you are getting me wrong in first place, that is!) I don't mean to be preachy but reading really terrible language even on technical forums is not a very enriching experience. (Read the comments on Rediff.com if you want to see really ugly face of Indians.) Instead of question you have to interpret the SMS words that poster has used. (Vaibhav and I have tried to be strict about language of questions posted on our C/C++/Java community on Orkut, and have had some success.)

And I am not even talking of grammatical and spelling errors here. Don't they have good old language writing classes in schools anymore? Or the students submit their answers through SMS only?

I think Firefox should start using something more than red dotted underlines to show people that perhaps the word they wrote does not exist in English!!

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Trying 'M-Blogging'

I have never tried blogging from phone. Can't say if it really is mobile blogging. My set doesn't support many blog and mobile specific software like Yahoo GO.I guess this also should be a criteria when selecting a phone when you want to be able to do everything!

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Aditya Birla Group does 'more' to Trinethra

After aviation industry, it's consolidation time in India's retail sector. And if the former has been heavy on our pocket the latter should be friendly to it. Aditya Birla Retail, an Aditya Birla Group company acquired 'Trinethra Super Value', a chain of retail stores owned by India Value Funds.

Trinethra has got a huge footprint in South India with stores named Trinethra in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and Fabmall in Kerala and Karnataka. It has got warehouses in various cities as well.

The new stores have been named 'more' and sport an orange and light green colours.

To be honest I have found 'more' not very different from 'Spencer's Daily'. It is too early to tell how will 'more' diversify. It could be on the lines of Spencer's which has got different names for different size stores:
4000-7000 sq ft: Spencer's Daily.
8000-15,000 sq ft: Spencer's Super
25000+ sq ft: Spencer's Hyper

Ofcourse as the size of stores increases, the variety of items also increases.

Second style is the one pioneered by Pantaloon Retail and followed by Reliance Retail. Having a different brand name and look for different products. Both the retail giants have a flagship store (Big Bazaar and Reliance Mart respectively) and multiple stores which can be termed as niche stores. Reliance has been making lot of noises in this segment with it's Reliance Fresh stores which enjoy deeper reach due to their numbers. Reliance has started a footwear store chain called Reliance Foot Print, a health care store chain named Reliance Wellness and are soon going to start an electronics chain as well. Pantaloon retail however is miles ahead with about 15 brands which include an e-Commerce company (futurebazaar.com), a shopping mall (Central), a medicine chain (Tulsi) and loads of stores having apparels targeted at different age, income and size bracket!

'more' has lots of competition on hand already and coming months are not going to be easier for sure!

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Slogan of the Year 2007: The year that was Part 1

Hathi nahin Ganesh hai; Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh hai (It's not an elephant, it's Lord Ganesha. It is Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh.): Mayawati won simple majority in the politically most important state of India (simply because it sends maximum MPs in Lok Sabha) and formed a single party Government in the state after 17 years!

This slogan puts in 1 line her entire strategy of getting the extremes of Indian society: Dalits and Brahmins under one umbrella.

Consider the about turn that BSP has taken since its inception, its former slogan was: Tilak, Tarazu aur Talwaar, inko maaro joote chaar (Brahmins, Vaishyas and Rajputs should be slammed!).

She won and has her eyes set firmly on Delhi now.

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A question for Gujrat

I don't know if this is the right time to ask this question, now that voting has finished in Gujrat. This question is to open to not only Gujratis but all those people who believe that Narendra Modi is the right choice for leading Gujrat once again.

The most common arguments in favor of Modi are:

1) He is an able administrator who has made Gujrat one of the most developed states of the country and brought unparalleled investment in the state.

2) Barring the attack on temple, there have hardly been any terrorist acts in the state during his stint.

The reason that Modi supporters mostly give for no terrorist attacks is actually a sham and I believe that it has been coined just to suppport Modi's anti-Muslim stance and in a way glorify it. They say that Islamic terrorists don't strike Gujrat because they are afraid of retaliation against Gujrati Muslims.

Why do I call it a sham? Because that's precisely what terrorists want to do! Any state supported (with Modi at the helm of affairs you can be sure of that!) retaliation against minorities ultimately creates more supporters and more breeding grounds for terrorism. So, it is actually an open invitation for terrorists to attack the state. But if this does not happen, I think better thank Gujrat Police and Intelligence rather than Modi!

Now, my question. I won't go in details about how able administrator Modi is and how much development he has brought in Gujrat (however many people actually raise those questions, which Modi supporters tend to brush away with disdain).

Is all that development and those investment dollars worth the communal harmony that Modi's reign of divisive politics has taken the toll of? Everyone can sense the communal divisions that he has created in the state but there is more.

Not much has been reported in the media about his speeches where he address the central Government as 'Delhi Sultanate' and declares Gujrat's economic independence. He challenges the 'Delhi Sultanate' not to take a paisa from Gujrat and Gujrat won't need any thing from 'them'. So now this 'us' vs 'them' is not only with reference to 'hindus' and 'muslims' but also between state and country. Whenever any one raises any questions about Modi's acts or the 'development' either he is declared as a traitor (if he is a Gujrati) or one of 'them';an outsider who is envious of Gujrat's achievements.

Simply put Modi is doing precisely what George W Bush has done: create fictitious enemies and assure people of safety to prove yourself their best bet.

I repeat my question once again: Is communal harmony the price that Gujrat has to pay for its development? And do Gujratis really understand how immense this price is?

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Movie Review: Dus Kahaniyaan

In one of my previous blogs, I rubbished Ram Gopal Verma (and dutifully got the brickbats as well!) for his recent cinematic outings,but who can deny that the man refurbished the concept of multiple ’viewlets’ in single film, with ’Darna Mana Hai’ and then ’Darna Zaroori Hai’. However both the films were constituted of only thriller/horror stories (ok ok, I know we mocked ’Darna Mana Hai’ as ’Hansna Mana Hai’ but that’s another thing!).

Sanjay Gupta produced ’Dus Kahaniyaan’ doesn’t come with this precondition and that’s why is different from RGV’s outings. I won’t say that all stories have got completely different shades but atleast they can be broadly classified in different genres, and also they have been treated as such (read there are cliches at times!)

All the 10 stories are completely disconnected with each other and thankfully the directors have neither tried to stretch the narrative unneccesarily nor tried to bind them in a common ending which often leaves a bad taste in mouth.

Talking about the film as a whole it sounds a gigantic effort: There are 6 different directors at the helm, 14 writers have worked on story, screenplay and dialogues, 8 music directors have composed the music, 8 cinematographers have shot the stories, there are a bus-full of actors and there is only one editor (Bunty Nagi)! A point worth appreciating is the juncture when the story title is shown. A very very clever ploy in story telling, it actually enhances the flavor of the offerring.

Let me get in predictable format and discuss each story separately!

Matrimony: Starring Mandira Bedi, Arbaaz Khan and Sudhanshu Pandey this is definitely one of the best if not the best. Short, swift and crisp, this film almost redefines its title. Without any unneccessary frills the story has been executed very nicely by Sanjay Gupta. Verdict: Amazing!

High on the Highway: Hansal Mehta dons the director’s cap and creates this confused looking tale high on adrenalin and low on content. Jimmy Shergill and Masumeh Makhija star in this hapless story. Verdict: Not Sure!

Strangers in the Night: Sanjay Gupta starts getting in his skin as you start seeing some skin on screen. Full of bad dialogues this story has some real good closeups of Neha Dhoopia. End of the story is so very different that you almost forgive Gupta for featuring awful looking Mahesh Manjrekar. Verdict: Good.

Zahir: If there is one reason I would want you not to watch this movie, this is it. The story is absolutely disgusting and enforces the belief that a bar girl is a prostitute and it’s ok to rape her! Pathetic. There is no sensitivity in Sanjay Gupta’s handling of subject and actors Dia Mirza and Manoj Bajpai sleep walk in their roles. There is a twist in the tale but it makes people laugh rather than feel sorry for any of the protagonists! Verdict: Disgusting

Love Dale: A mandatory offerring in these kind of platters is a ghost flick. Predictable from beginning to end this story and its dialogues are full of cliches (if this was a complete film, I think it would have outdone ’Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’!). There is nothing remarkable in this story directed by Jasmeet Dhodhi. Aftab Shivdasani and Neha Uberoi outdo each other in trying to look cute while Anupam Kher and Anuradha Patel are in a ’blink-and-miss’ roles! Verdict: Skippable.

Rice Plate: Wow! Rohit Roy couldn’t get a better debut platform than this, directing Shabana Azmi and Naseeruddin Shah. Azmi has got her accent just perfect and Shah is very quite yet underlines her performance with his presence. This whole film is worth watching simply for Azmi. Two thumbs up for ’director’ Rohit Roy. Verdict: Fabulous.

Pooranmashi: Father-Daughter duo of Gulzar and Meghna team up here to play with Amrita Singh, Minnisha Lamba and Parmeet Sethi. And though the basic idea behind this one may seem little far-fetched it has been executed quite well. Verdict: Good

Sex on the Beach: No, there is no sex, just a beach where Dino Morea lies and drops his Pepsi. The second ghost story which relies on tried and trusted formulae of scaring you. Tareena Patel is the eye candy and director Apurva Lakhia too makes a guest appearance in the end! Verdict: Average.

Gubbare: How many zillion times have we seen an old man visiting his dead wife’s grave (on second thoughts, how many times have we seen a woman doing that? Not once. May be women actually are more intelligent!) bringing flowers (ok, change that with balloons here!) and a sorry card! There is the trademark yellow tint in this Sanjay Gupta (yes, again) directed story starring Nana Patekar (looking as if he is coming directly from the sets of Yashwant!), Anita Hasnandani (man she looks good!) and Rohit Roy (I guess he was coming here after a bad day at sets, hence in a bad mood :) Verdict: Average

Rise And Fall: Hansal Mehta and Gupta have co-directed this underworld saga. Mehta has filmed the part featuring youngsters and Gupta has worked with his dear friends Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty. Verdict: Above Average.

All in all, the movie is watchable considering that it is hardly 2 hours of running time. My rating: 3 stars.

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Movie Review: Dhan Dhana Dhana Goal

A bunch of part-timers solidifying into a team with sole aim of fighting the 'goras' to save their land. Underdogs beating the champions after the opposition's attempt of breaking the team didn't succeed. Ashutosh Gowarikar's Lagaan? Yes, and director Vivek Agnihotri's latest release 'Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal'.

Underdogs-beating-Champions is a perennial theme in the films of sport genre. You always know that in last 2 minutes the hero (or heroine) will hit the winning goal/claim the last wicket/score the winning run/reach the finish line or whatever and redeem the disgraced coach/fulfill the dreams of the community etc. etc.

What separates one good film from a bad one is everything else that goes on. And there is actually lot of 'else' going on. So much that game gets lost at times.

Goal introduces the UBCD (UK Born Confused Desi, the British counterpart of more famous ABCD, America Born Confused Desi) to Indian audiences, which could have been a good thing, had the director dealt it a little deftly. The film barely scratches this confusion because it is busy in digging up the issue of racism in English society, and this is precisely where it fails.

(My recommendation:watch 2004 Best Picture Academy Award winner 'Crash' if you have to watch a really sensitive film on the issue of racism)

The sensitivity required to portray the issue has been replaced with jingoism and unnecessary sense of nationalism ('Hindustan' and 'Hindustaniyat') which is so excessive (in reel-length if not content) that it puts you off. You can sense there is a problem when you hate the protagonists when they do the foul mouthing. There is hardly any viciousness in English racial slur ('Paki') and the pain in the hurt it causes.

And talk of the clichés. There is a disgraced coach (as I mentioned above!) who agrees to coach the team (and comes directly to ground) after refusing initially but giving in when captain calls him a failure and coward. Yawn!

Writing is at best patchy. If Rohit Malhotra and Vikramaditya Motwane's screenplay is overflowing with cliches and a sense of deja vu, Malhotra and Anurag Kashyap have done pretty good job in dialogues. (But I can't forgive 'alag alag rang ke phhol sath mein kitne achhe lagte hain')

The first half goes in establishing the 'team' and troubles facing them and is almost as lively as a dead turkey. Second half has lot more action in terms of happening on the soccer pitch as well as story movement. But again most of the moments are predictable. Climax is well conceived and executed but a coach and a 'physiotherapist' (-cum-girlfriend of the star footballer) lets him play a match which could be fatal to his life, is beyond my understanding!

But the film has its moments like the one where a child tells Sunny (the star Asian player) that he is his (Wayne) Roony. (Ohh how I wish there was this subtlety throughout and now I realise that this was one of the reasons I liked Chak De!)

Southall has been shot pretty well, but most of the football matches seem a lot to be desired. Casual soccer hobbyists like me may like the scenes of Manchester United club and ground. (You diehard fans would already have seen all this on ESPN-Star Sports!)

Unlike Chak De this film may be about a team game but not about team. There are team-moments but individuals always loom large: Shan, the captain of Southall United Football Club and part time Chef in his own restaurant and Sunny, the professional footballer who is the star. Count others: Tony Singh, the yesteryear great, now coach of this team; wives of everyone, and team members!

Arshad Warsi has been dependable actor mostly and he delivers. I just wish that his character was better written. Why does Shan hate Sunny even when he believes that only Sunny can fulfill his dream of winning Championship? Why does he not talk to his team mates when they don't play well but just keeps on shouting 'idiots'? John Abraham has got Rocky S to make him look good and he does that! He has already played a brat in 'Taxi No. 9211' and he does that here as well. Boman Irani stands out as coach, but his version of '70 Minute' (The pre-climax pep talk) doesn't actually stand out as good as that of Kabir Khan (SRK in Chak De)!

Did someone say Bipasha Basu? I guess UTV guys made director take her at the last moment at the last moment so that they could get a little air-time on channels as a John-Bipasha movie. She does nothing, except wearing a RN jersey and saying things like 'I am sexy and you too are sexy'. Shame. Among others Kushal Punjabi impresses.

To its credit Goal qualifies as a sports film and doesn't merely pass of the sport as a backdrop for the drama, but then it is not able to captivate the viewer throughout its length! Go for it if you don't have anything to do, otherwise better still wait for TV Premiere.

My rating 2 stars.

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When success is a two-edged sword

This article was originally written for and published on PassionForCinema.com on 27th November 2007: http://passionforcinema.com/success-is-a-double-edged-sword/

Some months back I read the book review of 'Orson Welles: A Biography' by Barabara Leaming.

I have always known Welles as the creator of the great 'Mars Attack' hoax on radio. This article however was focussed on Orson Welles, the director of 'Citizen Kane' (for those who don't know, this movie repeatedly tops the list of 'Greatest Movies of All times').

Barabara Leaming has argued that the initial acclaim that got associated with 'Citizen Kane' and hence with Welles has been a double edged sword for the prolific writer-actor-director-producer Welles. On one hand, it established him as one of the 'greatest' creative geniuses in the cinematic world and on the other it robbed him and the world of so much that he could have done. (She says that many film critics feel forced to include 'Citizen Kane' in their favorites' lists because it is 'considered' to be such a great film!)

According to Leaming, after the grand success of 'Citizen Kane', Orson Welles spent many years and many millions (of studio money, ofcourse!) trying to recreate something as grand and successful. But very few of his works after 'Citizen Kane' got to see the light of the day, and they too were hardly a patch on his on own previous work.

I have always thought of similar stories in Hindi cinema where too much early acclaim has had not-so-good impact on the makers.

Mahesh Manjrekar : I have not seen 'Vaastav' (actually I went inside the hall, but had to leave because my sister was with me and I thought obscenities were too inappropriate!) but I remember that almost all the critics hailed Manjrekar as hope of new generation 'aggressive' cinema. He changed gears and delivered 'Astitva' and proved that he could handle sensitive issues as deftly. But after that the downfall started! 16 flop and insipid films tell tale.

Vikram Bhatt: He could have at the top of this list but for an occasional hit like 'Awara Pagal Deewana'. With 'Speed' Vikram just scored his 10th consecutive dud. Sample his recent outings: Speed (2007),Life Mein Kabhie Kabhiee (2007),Red: The Dark Side (2007),Ankahee (2006),Deewane Huye Paagal (2005),Jurm (2005),Elaan (2005),Aetbaar (2004),Inteha (2003).Vikram Bhatt is one of the topmost DVD directors of India and one of his most successful films Ghulam was a ripoff of 'On the Waterfront'. So were 'Kasoor' and 'Raaz'. He is still busy ripping Hollywood but whatever happened!

E. Nivas: 'Love ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega' was bearable, but the man who debuted with 'Shool' seemed to be finished with first outing itself! What followed were disasters like 'Dum' and 'Bardaasht'! Surprising indeed. Let's hope 'My Name is Anthony Gonzalves' and 'De Taali' are better.

Sujoy Ghosh : This may seem pre-mature and I WANT that it proves to be. Because I loved 'Jhankaar Beats'. This was a farm fresh film with a farm fresh attitude and amazing style of narration. Everything that could go right was, and I can watch reruns as many times as they show. But what was 'Home Delivery'? Ghosh got lost in his own style and delivered such a great dud, not only commercially but also creatively that it was almost heart breaking!

Ram Gopal Verma: Ahem! I know you are ready to kick me for this one, but I really think that if someone has been spoilt by acclaim, it is this gentleman. He is supposed to be a 'maverick' and taking risk with new themes and newer talent is his favorite pastime, but has it gone to his head? I think it has. Making inane movies and then remaking them (anyone remember 'James' and then 'Shiva'?) hardly sounds to be the stuff coming from the director of 'Rangeela', 'Satya', 'Company' and 'Sarkar'. But then 'truth is stranger than fiction!'

Also mentioned:
Farhan Akhtar: Surprised? Well, though I believe 'Lakshya' was not as bad as critics made it to be and 'Don' also was ok, I don't think these two came anywhere near the cult status quality that 'Dil Chahta Hai' earned rightfully. But I believe he has still lot to deliver.

You may agree, you may disagree with my list. I am ready for the brickbats, but all I would want to say is that I would be more than very happy if these people make me eat my words!

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Since cricket is of 'national importance'

Now that the euphoria of victory in T-20 World cup has subsided after losing the One day series against Australia, I think this is the time to raise some questions.

If our courts believe that Cricket is such a matter of national importance which made them curb the freedom of private enterprise causing it major losses, then why is cricket allowed to be run like fiefdom?

I am talking about making Neo Sports share their feed with Doordarshan. For those who don't know, honorable Supreme Court had ruled that since Cricket is a matter of national importance, every citizen has a right to watch it. Hence poor Nimbus had to share its feed with DD with a 50% revenue sharing on Doordarshan's advertisements. (So DD gets a cool 50% without doing anything!)

To be honest, I am a supporter of Nimbus. These guys have years of sports coverage and they used to produce some really great programs for DD and other channels. The sudden influx of ads in their recent cricket telecasts seem to be the result of what I said earlier: revenue loss due to feed sharing. (For those who don't know, Nimbus bought 5 year telecast rights from BCCI, of all cricket matches played in India at astronomical prices. And industry watchers have predicted doom of Nimbus since then!)

Now what I wanted to ask is that if Cricket is so important to this country then why is allowed to be managed by non-professionals, called BCCI? What is most shocking is that unlike other sports federations, currently BCCI is not answerable to anyone officially. This is what Times of India reveals about BCCI:

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) -- a private society registered as an association under the Tamil Nadu Society Registration Act, 1860 -- was formed in 1929. It is affiliated to a limited company registered in the British Virgin Islands called the International Cricket Council (ICC). As a private society, the BCCI is not compelled to reveal to the general public its handling of cricket, sponsorship, telecast rights details, income and expenditure statements. The BCCI is accountable only to the Registrar of Companies.

Why is a game of such 'national importance' allowed to run by such a body?

And it is no secret that since BCCI gets fat on telecast rights, the gate money (ticket price you pay when you watch a match in a stadium) doesn't mean much to it and hence India has perhaps worst cricket stadia as compared to other countries. Why are citizen's rights being ignored here?

Media and (publicity hungry) politicians have already sought out ways to gain from our love of Cricket. I just hope judiciary keeps its head in place!

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Tale of Retail

Finally Reliance has decided to close its Reliance Fresh stores in UP and Orissa and move out. I don't know about Orissa but in UP this step was taken after protests and vandalism at Reliance Fresh stores in some cities. Mayawati Government ordered closure of some stores citing 'law and order problems' and gave the local administration in all the cities to order closure wherever they felt any such incidents might occur.

Considering that Lucknow had highest first-day sale as compared to other Reliance Fresh stores across country, this move undoubtedly costs Reliance heavily. What I am not able to understand is why only UP ordered this mass closure, leading to exit of the company?

I understand the concerns of smaller retailers, but I believe that these concerns are not limited only to UP businessmen. Losing customers to big retailer is a problem for shopkeepers across country and there have been protests everywhere, but no other government saw such a massive 'law and order' problem and ordered closure of stores. Whereever required stores and employees were given proper police protection, till the protests cooled off.

Will Government behave in same manner when Reliance or Bharti-Walmart come calling with their retail chains? You bet it will and the lame approach it has taken will only encourage the self-appointed protectors (read local politicians and their goons) of shopkeepers' interests to behave in a more violent manner and polotical armtwisting. But may be this won't happen, simply because these companies won't bother to come to UP at all! There are 25 other states to go!

OK, I am not so much bothered about big retailers, but yes I am miffed with treatment extended to R-Fresh. Everyone understands that declining trend in Agricultural sector can be reversed only if this sector becomes organized and entry of retailers is the only way this was going to happen. Reliance has invested heavily in setting up cold-chains across country and equally on transportation and sale of perishable goods, like vegetables and fruits. This will lead to lesser wastage of food products, a task Food Corporation of India has never been able to do and which is not possible without private funding. The farmers get much better price of their produce and we the consumers get the stuff at lower prices. The local sabji-waala suffers but only for a short-term when spill-over customers start flocking him again. And if he is thela-waala then it gets even better. (Also in Hyderabad, I have seen some small sabzi-walas buying from R-Fresh stores!)

I have witnessed this in Hyderabad, where Reliance Fresh stores debuted. And do you know who is the most stiff competitor of Fresh stores here? 'Fresh @' stores from Heritage, an A.P. Government enterprise, till now in milk and milk-production cooperative business. And I don't know of any protests from anyone here.

Frankly, I see this feet-dragging approach by U.P. Government a politically motivated step and I am afraid that Government will do so, whenever any corporate comes to establish any business in U.P. I remember a Shell project being dumped near Allahabad. Anil Ambani's Dadri project has run in rough weather. With such an unfriendly attitude towards private industry, I definitely believe UP is missing the bus to modern trends which are becoming norms all over the country now. Hum to aise hi hain 'Bhaiya'.

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Chak De! India : The Review

The greatest challenge in reviewing a movie is that when you are writing the review a few weeks after its release, all the choicest adjectives (and expletives) are already taken and you have a dual challenge of not only being honestly critical about the movie, but also ensure that it doesn’t sound cliched! In the case of ’Chak De’, this task is even more difficult, since not only adjectives have been taken, but also all the aspects of the movie have been thoroughly discussed.

And what the heck this movie deserves every ounce of that adulation. So, since I didn’t have anything new to say,I decided to go ahead and find my own stars in this crew. And believe me, it was a very very difficult decision to assign this ranking!

1) Jaideep Sahni: Story,Screenplay and Dialogues.
Writer of last year’s critically appreciated ’Khosla Ka Ghosla’ is in stupendous form this year as well! Sahni dribbles his narrative through so many issues, each bigger than the other, and yet keeps his pace.

He comments on media, which in order of its 24x7 frenzy makes mountain out of thin air, making demons out of errant humans (I really wonder why AajTak agreed to get roped in, for a sequence that clearly shows media on a wrong foot!), on gender inequality and stigma faced by North Eastern citizens (specially the utterly vicious and polluted mindset against NE girls), on the lack of sportsman spirit in this country, which lauds the victors and crucifies the losers (I remembered Chetan Sharma and tried to think what happened to him after that last ball, which was hit for a six by Javed Miandad, in Sharjah), on linguistic divisions and definitely most ruthlessly on the association culture of Indian sports bodies.

And I can write a whole review dedicated only to his dialogues!

2) Amitabh Shukla: Editor
He could very well have been the rank 1 in this list. With longest ever footage canned by a Hindi film, his must have been a mammoth task to cut out the most engrossing 2.5 hours out of it, and he does it so well that he almost gives this film pace of a thriller.

3) Rob Miller: Sports Coordinator, Action Director
Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the man behind those wonderful, edge-of-the-seat action hockey matches. He ensures that the movie has a great energy and the soul of film, hockey is as lively as it deserves to be.

4) Shimit Amin : Director
Ohh well, please forgive me that captain of the ship is not in the top three of this list, but this is just because his technicians are absolutely great. Doing only his second film, let’s hope Amin gives some sane ideas in the head of his mentor, RGV, whose ’Aag’ has been reduced to cinders in one weekend only!
He must have brought smiles to the faces of Yashraj Films’ honchos who were under heavy fire after a miserable year with "Ta Ra Rum Pum’ and ’Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’.
(A stray thought: Having the man whose life you are making the movie on, in your team definitely helps. I am talking about Mir Ranjan Negi, who is the hockey coach of this movie!)

5) Salim Suleiman: Music
Fabulous background score! There is passion and energy in the music which adds thump to the flavor of the film. If ’Chak De’ wants you to pump your fist in the air with joy of victory, ’Maula’ really tugs your heart strings.

Also Rans:
Cinematographer Sudeep Chaterjee who has captured hockey matches, skyline of Melbourne and Delhi’s India Gate with great flourish!
Art Director Sukant Panigrahy : Attention to details, really caught my attention. All the teams play in their real country colours and ball is a real FIH approved one!!
Casting Director Abhimanyu Ray : He is the guy who collected that team of 16!

That brings us to Shahukh ’Kabir’ Khan and his gang of 16! You all have seen them and adored them, so I won’t say much except that my favorites are Vidya Malavde (playing Vidya Sharma) and then Anaitha Nayar (playing Aliya Bose)

And now again I am missing those adjectives to praise this movie!

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6 Faces of India

60 years of freedom, more than 6000 years of existence! India is an enigma which can't be described in words! 6 images can hardly be sufficient! But they are what my camera captured.

India vs Bharat Swanky overpriced malls to over-crowded 'wholesale-price' wholesale markets, everything is available for everyone. And it is this consumerism which makes India supremely confident and conveniently ignorant about the plight of flood, drought and apathy struck Bharat!

33 crore and counting... India seems to be overflowing with Gods of all colors, caste, creed and ofcourse religion! You can see 'samadhis' or 'majaars' bang in the middle of road, where no municipal commissionar can dare to touch them! The deep scars in the hearts of society, made by Vote bank politics in the name of religion, will take generations and definitely a divine intervention to heal.

Color Pallet Ask any foreigner, what hooks them to India. The answer 9 times out of 10 (or as Sunny Gawaskar said, 20 times out of 19) will be "Its Colors"! You can treat these colors as symbol of anything you want, the diversity stays.

Monumental Concern Once a symbol of love, The Taj according to me is now also a symbol of: 1) India being fastest growing market of cell-phones and internet users (how else we catapulted it to 4th rank in 'New 7 Wonders') 2) Absolutely myopic political leadership in India (Mayawati nearly put it on the death bed) 3) The Great Indian Spirit of Survival! (Surrounded by smoke spouting industries and vehicles, The Taj still Lives!)

Gods and Goddesses From Raj Kapoor to Rajinikanth, Indian Cinema (heavily "inspired" from everything else!) makes strides. And mind, I am not just talking about Bollywood or Hindi Cinema, every regional language shines through with its class (and kitsch!). Did someone say anything about 'Bhojpuri Spiderman'?

Hues of Freedom I had the option to interpret this photo in whatever way I want. Millions of children being deprived of education and being forced to work or beg in inhumane conditions or economic disparity being shockingly apparent in our society. But I chose to dedicate this to the smile on the face of child. For me it symbolises the dream, faith and innocence that we have not lost. Well, not completely!

'I' for India!

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Starved of Ideas!

The biggest Bollywood hit of this year as all media has been informing us is debutant Sagar Bellary's 'Bheja Fry'। Made on a shoestring budget of 65 lakhs, supposedly the film has earned Rs. 5 crore, that is nearly 10 times of the initial investment.

No, I am not going to go gaga over, how a 'small, low-cost film' has cracked the code and went on to rake the money while biggies have bitten the dust with alarming and almost clinically precise regularity. My point is a little different.

For those of you, who don't know, 'Bheja Fry' is a copy of french film 'Dinner le Cons' and a scene by scene copy। So, what's new in this? A number of Indian movies are copies of foreign films, why am I singling out this movie? Simply because I don't want to heap praise on a director who debuted with a copy, even though he has struck gold. Did you appreciate the guy in your class who scored high marks by cheating? If not, then why go on tom-tomming about making a hit film that is nothing but a copy? What kind of newer generation of film makers are being escalated into stardom? If people can't be original even in their first film, what do you expect them to do in their next releases when they have got more pressures from producers, distributors and may be critics!

(Just imagine, they copied 'Derailed', itself a flop film, to make 'The Train'. Even its tagline 'Some lines are never meant to be crossed' was lifted from the original!)

So, Sagar Bellary may be the blue-eyed boy of this idea starved film industry which thrives on DVDs of foreign flicks and media may fall head-over-heals reporting the economics of his HIT, I am not flattered.

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China's new horror show!

I had always believed that Indian politicians and bureaucrats are most short sighted people in the world but compared to what China is doing, these people have begun to seem like greatest statesmen! I really don't have words to express my disgust over the news of their building a 108 km metalled road to the base of Mt. Everest. And this is nothing else except showing their muscles at the time of 2008 Olympics when Olympic torch is carried to the Mt. Everest.

Myopic journos and writers infatuated with China's much flawed (in my opinion) gravity defying growth story may harp about how the boom in manufacturing industry has transformed a nation of over 1 billion a decade ago to a global super power now, but my concern is that the way China has destroyed ecological balance in delicate Himalayan region can be compared to worst carnage by mankind ever. You can imagine the intensity of construction activities considering they want the work to be finished in 3 months!

(On this note: The annual floods in north-east India caused by Brahmaputra and flash floods in Nepal,Bihar and West Bengal have been largely attributed to Chinese interventions by Indian security establishments! More)

The glaciers supplying water to major North Indian rivers Ganga and Yamuna have been melting at alarming rates and this new project by China is going to make the matters worse! Burning of fossil fuels, blasting of not-so-stable Himalayan rocks, and cutting of thousands of trees leading to loss of habitat for so many species. I fail to count the horrors!

But even more horrifying is the fact that perhaps nobody is going to be able to China from going ahead with its absurd plans! China's human rights record is so pathetic that anyone who dare protest will face crackdown, possibly death penalty or if he lucky, prison! I don't see any other country, including the all powerful G8, sticking up their nose in this matter. Neither I think is China going to heed to them if they do! Neither I expect any NGO to be able to make China deter from their plans. So forget Greenpeace to stage any dharna in Beijing!

(There has been no response from Greenpeace yet on this issue, and their response to reports that China is causing maximum emissions in the world, has been very weak and lame!)

So China is going to make a mess of one of the most delicate environments on the planet and I don't know what to do!

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Hyderabad Diary: Rumors spreading fast!

And taking the form of 'Unconfirmed Reports'! All the companies have issued travel and safety advisories to their employees. Most of the people have left early to avoid traffic congestions.

There have been 'unconfirmed reports' of a bus being set on fire in Ameerpet and tension in different parts of the city. None of this is true of course!

Central Government has rushed Rapid Action Force in the city. And there has been no other untoward incident.

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Hyderabad Diary: Bomb Blast

There has been a big bomb blast in Mecca Mosque near Charminar in Hyderabad. The death toll stands at 6 by now. 14 people are seriously injured. The timing of blast was aimed to get maximum damage as it coincided with Friday afternoon prayers, between 1.30 - 2 pm. An unexploded bomb was also found. The blast has considerable damage to this historical mosque, which is also the biggest mosque of Hyderabad.

Old Hyderabad is a Muslim dominated area dotted with Hindu population. Though police is not taking any chance, citizens of this part, mostly small businessmen, have shown a notable and worth emulating sense of communal harmony and not giving in to such divisive tactics.

Let's hope this time also, this incident is not allowed to take any political or communal overtones.
The phone numbers of Osmania hospital where injured people have been admitted, are:
+(91) - (040) - 24600121, 24739549, 24600146, 24600122, 24600124

More details:
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/05_2007/blast-at-crowed-mosque-in-hyderabad-40838.html

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/may/18blast.htm

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An advice to M.J. Akbar (and similar self-appointed-cricket-experts)

Anupam is understandably sore after the defeat (so am I!) and so seems M.J. Akbar (He is a senior journo and editor of Asian Age). But Anupam is a true blue cricket fan who loves, respects and understands the game and its nuances, unlike Mr. Akbar who seems to be just one of those self appointed cricket experts who first praise the cricketers indiscriminately and then call for their heads, when they lose.

In his recent article in Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle (Bylines, 25th March "Money and Murder: The Making of a Bloodsport") he calls the minnows of the worldcup as 'Joke' teams, repeatedly. He calls Bermuda players as Jokers and Dwayne Leverock as "a sumo wrestler who defied the laws of gravity just once to take a magnificent catch against India". It doesn't matter to him that he should get his facts right as he believes Leverock is the captain (Irvine Romaine is the captain!).

What exactly he means when he calls new teams as 'Joke'? Even Sri Lanka was also considered to be a joke team till only 4-5 years before they won the world cup in 1996. And who does Mr. Akbar think he is to make fun of the efforts of these cricketers? On one hand we complain that cricket is not played in enough countries and when new countries try to make their mark, cynics like him ridicule them. More than anything else, it is the love of the game that makes these 'cricketers' practice on weekends when they are not working for their livelihood. But what will Mr. Akbar understand? I doubt he has ever played cricket, forget loving the game.

He is quick to blame whole of the world: players, BCCI & ICC, politicians ("not least being the politicians, from Bengal to Jharkhand to Maharashtra to Kerala, who have muscled into cricket space in the hope that it will get them votes"), corporates and even poor commentators, but what about the bunch of 'jokers' Mr. Akbar is heading? He is the president of Editor's Guild of India. Hope you get my drift. Who is flaring this fire of cricket hysteria? Who is annointing the debutant cricketers as youth icons after their first match winning wicket haul or century? I remember well that it was a TOI article which called Dhoni 'rockstar' after his first century. Clap them when they are doing well, slap them when they are not, you will always get audiences.

And in a cricket-crazy nation, it has some other benefits as well. So when CNN-IBN asks you to sms a CHEER to 2622, this campaign is sponsored by LG and there is a revenue sharing with the service providers or when HT's world cup special is sponsored by Nokia and Tata Sky, some one out there is smiling more than due to journalistic pleasure.

Mr. Akbar is a senior journalist so I can understand that he is suffering from what Vir Sanghvi calls 'Editoritis' ("Its symptoms includes an inability to say “I don’t know” to any question") but for some things, he can better keep his mouth shut.

More: Read Seema Goswami's column in HindustanTimes.com here

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Titanic 2 - The Sequel - Jack's Back

Woof!!!
After you have seen it, goto: http://www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/2006/04/titanic-two-the-surface.html

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The Hypocrisy of Indian Media

I don't know if it would have been actually better if ULFA had not called off their boycott of the 33rd National Games being held in Guwahati. Perhaps then there would have been some news coming from Games venue, even if related to security concerns.

I am actually shocked by sort of complete blackout of any news related to National Games! Not even any hint of the event on the news scrollers! Not even a 2 column report on page 13 of any daily! And this is at a time when news of Superbowl is beginning to flood us, not to mention live telecast of English Premier League soccer! How many of us actually care to know if Beckham is going to any Los Angeles club or what was the goal difference between Barca and Chelsea in their last league match?

But the sportspersons playing in Guwahati are our own countrymen and best of them would be representing us on international level. Forget patriotism (it is too much to ask from these hypocrite media organizations!), don't we deserve the news even from a journalistic point of view?

And when these athletes don't win medals in Asiad and Olymipics, 'experts' will be called in the studios to discuss the falling standards of sports in India! All sorts of theories will be given and the fact that media itself is shying of its responsibilities will be conveniently swept below the carpet.

I have come to believe that only big bucks sell. So after cricket, EPL and SuperBowl will come. Indian sports and sportspersons can go to hell.

If you want any information about games, you can visit http://www.33rdnationalgames.nic.in/

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Mint Fresh Upgrades!

Mint Fresh: Hindustan Times Group launched two new brands recently in Delhi market. Their long-awaited business publication "In Association With The Wall Street Journal", which will be available in Mumbai also, is titled 'MINT'. (The place where they make coins, not the Polo or Mint-O, you moron!) Also making waves, or rather sound waves, is Fever 104 FM, launched in association with Virgin, UK.

Lately many media houses have taken the collaboration route to get direct access to global markets, money and content. CNBC-TV 18 was the pioneer in Indian Business channels. Both CNN-IBN and Times Now (Times Group and Reuters collaboration) have completed 1 year and their success shows that the trend is there to say. In print media most of the Indian papers are on content sharing agreements with foreign (mostly US and UK papers like Washington Post, New York Times, Guardian etc.) dailies.

The first impressions of Mint are very good (I have seen the online version!) and it looks very refreshing and inviting. But it remains to be seen if mint is able to make enough money to dent the popularity of leading bizz dailies like ET, Business Standard, Financial Express etc.

'Upgrage': Just read an article in The Guardian that coined a new word 'upgrage', which means 'the uncontrollable anger which occurs whenever a software upgrade deemed to be either essential or beneficial proves to be a pointless waste of your time'.

The article titled, 'The Vista upgrade saga' also says that Vista will render thousands of graphics cards, RAMs, monitors or even whole computers useless as very few computers fulfill the hardware requirements of the new MS OS.

You need to install a software called Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor which will scan your system hardware and installed software to inform you, which Vista variant your system can run (Vista Ultimate, Vista Home Premium or Vista Home Basic) and the reasons (insufficient hardware or 'compatibility issues' with installed programs!) if you can't.

The Advisor goes online to look for updates, so even if you pass the test currently, I don't think you can sleep peacefully for long!

I haven't had the Vista version of upgrage but definitely I have experienced it earlier. When Yahoo! 'highly recommends' upgrades for Yahoo! Messenger which do little from making Yahoo.com your homepage and Yahoo Search your default search engine, if you are using Firefox. Or when Real Player stops playing songs claiming an upgrade is available (ditto with QuickTime) and Acrobat showing popups asking you to download recent upgrades.

I recalled this article by Richard Stallman as I read this report. For long sci-fi writers have painted a rosy picture of independent programs managing themeselves and you without your intervention. Stallman's version puts the future in a different contrast!

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