I referred to the IPL as the Indian Problem League a while ago. With the air of uncertainty around the IPL clearing, the tournament has been off to a rousing start. Nearing the mid way mark, it is for sure the number 1 chagrin of spouses who are not so clued on to the sport and mothers who are addicted to the mega serials.

The thing that I’ve always liked about the IPL is the fact that it’s been a huge opportunity for a lot of budding cricketers. Yusuf Pathan came into his own here, so did Pragyan Ohja to name a few.

This year’s edition has been no different with most teams throwing up the one or two uncut diamonds – Delhi has Pradeep Sangwan and Rajat Bhatia, Chennai has Sundeep Tyagi and Shadab Jataki, the Rajasthan Royals have Kamran Khan and N Ojha, Mumbai’s Nayar continues to be a shining star and Bangalore is helping Uthappa to some decent form.

Not wanting to be left behind, Punjab’s Piyush and Karan rock and the Deccan chargers have Suman hitting a few away and RP roaring back to form. I keep telling my friends; thank god they are all Indians! That said, I am also appreciative of the contributions that some of the overseas players have made. I think this is undoubtedly the best thing to happen to Indian cricket. Some of the western players wanted to be a part of this IPL seeing the impact that this has had on Indian cricket.

A notable exception to this is of course the KKR – languishing at the bottom of the pile, their drudgery continues, and for this,  I’ll blame the owner, whom I now call Dildo, thanks to the Fake IPL player.

If the owner is expected to call the shots (I disagree with this idea though), he saw trouble brewing when Bukka had this novel idea of multiple captains and choose to support it. Too many cooks spoil the broth is an adage that most Indians have grown up listening to. I fail to understand why Dildo didn’t get something as simple as this. Can you attribute this to the lack of his education? Hmm – Maybe I don’t want to go down that path. Was it his lack of cricketing knowledge? Hmm – but this is common sense. What could it be? Oh well, despite the benefit of hindsight, I still don’t know.

True to the spirit of showing who the boss is, he mediated a truce between the Lord Almighty (this is Saurav and by now, I am sure you know I am addicted to reading the FIPL blog)  & Bukka  only to have Bukka announce that he had his way, on the eve of the tournament. To make matters worse, the Chak De man of Indian movies (read as sports) was there, watching as a silent spectator. Anyone knowing Lord Almighty knows how political he can get. Even in his hay days as the captain of the Indian team, he liked to divide and rule.

There were his boys and then the others which was the pissing point for Guru Greg. He had a chance to fix this with his iron fists and choose not to. (If I were him, I would have sacked one of them). He let the divide in the team go on this meandering path that the boys lost so much of their confidence and the rest is history. If this was bad, Bukka now wants more phoren players in the IPL.

Do we need to remind him that this is the INDIAN PL and not the F (PHOREN) PL? If I was Dildo ( I am so glad, I am not), I would have asked him to shut up and focus on delivering results. The icing on the cake was his walking out because the team wasn’t winning. Public knowledge has it that he just walked away like this angry kid refusing to come back and then asks questions on expenses! ( I must tell you that my 2 yr old son is better behaved)

Here’s the point Dildo – Leadership is about staying the course when times are tough. You’ve got the take tough decisions when you have to and not be in sport for just the money. This is not your movie business where you can recover your losses from one flop with another hit. This is sport where only the committed can survive. I don’t know if your heart is in the right place. Look around the learn from the other folks Dildo – Mallya, from whom you can learn the importance of staying invested, Shilpa & Preity  from whom you must learn that you must let the captain and the coach run the show, good or bad

Shame on you to abandon a ship when it probably needs you the most.

Image Credit: 4dreams

Popularity: 55%

Last couple of weeks I have been a silent spectator watching some interesting news about our politicians and their election promises. While one promises TVs, subsidized rice, wheat etc.,the others are not falling behind – banning computers, English in schools etc. Everyone is there to outscore each other in terms of either idiotic promises or false ones which can never be met, if the party is of sane mind.

In contrast, Meera Sanyal’s campaign has caught my attention. Like many educated and urban politicians, Meera Sanyal seems to have succeeded in getting the right people in place for her campaign and it is showing results.

Look at her website – The site is updated with the latest that is happening with her campaign, her fans are getting daily updates in their mailboxes, facebook campaign is also gaining momentum. In a nutshell there seems to be lot of moving parts, which definitely is a sign of strength.

I just hope Meera Sanyal wins the South Mumbai constituency even if it is by a small margin. That would really bring a lot of cheer and hope for Mumbai, which the city always deserved.

Kudos to the team that is putting up the brave effort, selflessly. I am sure most of them are volunteers and are happy to give their time for doing the right thing, promoting the right candidate. It is very easy to go with the crowd but it takes courage to stand out from the crowd. What the volunteers are doing is nothing short of creating an independent movement of sorts and is worth applauding. Hope it pays!

My message to Mumbaikars

Think twice before you vote this time. What you have seen on 26/11 is proof enough that our current system has failed and failed miserably. What you need is a government that works and leaders that are effective, not those who sit on a pile of cash and promote their selfish interests. We, Indians, have seen the worst of politics and politicians. Time for a change. Meera is the change that you’ve been looking for. If you don’t see it now, it might be too late.

Mumbai – Vote for change. Vote for Meera!

Image Credit: Wiki

Popularity: 42%

Gandhi gave up his life to instill non-violence,
Terrorism is taking lives to defy all sense.

Day in and day out, there’s news reports coming in on extremists’ actions taking valuable lives. From being isolated incidents across the world, this is now stretching to specific regions of the world being isolated. The justification from the perpetrators is that of fulfilling their ideologies but no matter what angle you look at it, there can be simply no reason to consume innocent lives. The extremists or terrorists, however you word them, have no right to take away something they didn’t create, period.

First it was the 09/11, then the London bombings, the Mumbai blasts in between – all gave widespread publicity. Interspersed between these incidents, I am sure there are other cases in lesser known places around the world which did not get the same publicity. Irrespective of the prosperity of the land affected, the bottom line was – human lives were lost. From being a regional menace, the issue on hand became a global problem with the mighty joining hands to eradicate this thorn of society.

There are various theories as to who helped groom the ‘bad elements’ of the respective societies. In some cases it was the local law of the land, in some cases external forces were to be blamed. In a few cases, oppression even was to be pointed at. I will leave the so called analysts and experts to provide judgmental opinions on the cause and effects of allowing this to blossom. The point I wish to make is simply this – there has to be a solution, and quickly at that, for the impact of every such incident has far reaching effects of gigantic proportions. I don’t think there is any disagreement that the majority of such blatant activities originate from a specific region of the world.

As soon as he took oath, the President of the United States, in spite of offering continued economic assistance and offering other support systems to the country in question, minced no words in highlighting this region as the problematic one, in one of his very first speeches. Canada and the United States are still debating how to get out of one side of this very region, and the Canadian premier even offered his honest insight yesterday that it may be impossible to defeat the insurgency there.

The political diplomacy didn’t work, the governments resorted to using coercion and when that didn’t work, they used force. But that isn’t working by any stretch of imagination. What’s the alternative? However controversial it may sound, I would take an “isolation” philosophy and approach to determining a solution – abandon all forms of trade with the region; stop providing economic aid or military assistance.

Isolate the region by preventing anything other than medical or humanitarian support systems to pass through, either inside or outside. Yes, the initial going would be tough for the locals, but the governments’ hands would be forced as its now a solely internal issue, instead of a regional or global problem, and they have to fix it. The most complex of problems have the seemingly simplest of solutions – maybe this does too.

Image Credit: Saital

Popularity: 16%

A most ridiculous incident happened while I was travelling to work yesterday.

High on the Oscar wins, Slumdog Millionaire seemed to be the only topic everyone in the famed Virar locals of Mumbai could discuss. From Marwari businessmen to Gujarati share brokers to Bhayander’s Bengalis, everybody was talking about Danny Boyle’s movie with fervoured excitement. (I just came from a trip to Rajasthan and understand a little Marwari, I am half Gujarati, half Bengali, so I know what these little groups were talking about.) Halfway through the journey, a couple of MNC lads got in and caught the infection.

Now, they had very different things to say about the film. They did NOT like the movie and explained to each other why it was so. And there, the democratic right of free speech gave way to outrage. The Gujarati fellow began first. “You didn’t like the movie. It won Oscars, if you don’t like it, you are either too highbrow or you are simply unpatriotic.” Before the guys could react, another member said, “You guys look like BPO workers. Just because you take your cheque from a foreign company doesn’t mean you don’t respect Indian films.” The second bloke nervously hid his PSP in his laptop bag. By this time, everybody understood what had happened and began discussing the movie and the unpatriotic guys in great detail.

I sympathize with the two guys. I have kept my comments on the topic reserved because as a journalist, you are never supposed to take sides. But this is a blog, so let it be known, I found the hype exceeding the content of the movie. And 8 Oscars was more than I could digest. A friend of mine put it perfectly when she sniggeringly told me, “This is just an outbreak of sympathy for Mumbai because of the terror attacks. Otherwise 8 Oscars for dirt, dust, grime, poverty and maimed beggars just doesn’t make sense.” Befuddled as I was while watching the award ceremony, I too felt she may be a tad bit right. Americans chose a Afro-African President who was sworn in just about a month ago, so an underdog story seems to be the perfect way to compliment the choice of Americans, the Oscar committee must’ve felt.

I am just glad I wasn’t having this conversation with my friend on the local train, else I may too have been called unpatriotic. Such intolerant are the times in which we live.

Image Credit: Ishane

Popularity: 15%

11: 20 PM

Reese Witherspoon comes to present the Best Director Award. And guess who won the award ? It is Danny Boyle from Slumdog Millionaire. What a guy! In his speech he showed humility and apologized for not having given credit to his choreographer but gave his tribute to Mumbai and truly deservedly so.

Danny Boyle we love you.

11:27 PM

Halle Berry and Co comes on stage to present the Oscar for the Best Leading Lady. Anna Hathaway, Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep and Angelina Jolie

Kate cries while she gets praised.

Meryl Streep got nominated for the fifteenth time. And Angelina Jolie was a stunner …But the Oscar went to Kate Winslet…She recollects her shampoo bottle from her bathroom when she was eight years old. Madhavan just told me that her acting in “The Reader” was stupendous.

And now comes the next best category of awards

11:37 PM

Sir Ben Kingsley, Michael Douglas, Robert DeNeiro, Anthony Hopkins and Anthony Roda to award the best Actor’s award.

Richard Jenkins, Sean Penn, Frank Langella, Brad Pitt and Mickey Rourke gets nominated for the best actor’s award.

The Oscar Award for the Best Actor goes to Sean Penn. There was a standing ovation from the crowd. Sean Penn says “ You don’t know how difficult it is appreciate myself”. The words that followed after that was very impressive – a great speech. His humility was seen when he appreciated Mickey Rourke- the comeback kid.

11: 47 PM

Steven Spielberg comes on stage to present The Best Picture.

Frost/ Nixon, The Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Reader are the ones nominated in the Best Picture category.

And the Oscar Award for The Best Picture goes to Slumdog Millionaire. The Producer Christian Colson, along with the entourage reached the stage to collect the award.

What a moment for Slumdog Millionaire, Mumbai and India !

12:00 AM on 23rd Feb’09– Off to sleep. Good night, have to wake up early for office, tomorrow. Have a great week, everyone!

Jai Ho! Jai Ho!

Image Credit: MasterOrz

Popularity: 17%

The admission of Pakistan that the 26/11 attack was carried out by Pakistan based elements is a significant turning point in the geopolitics of the Indian subcontinent. The Indian government can heave a sigh of relief as it can now tell the people that it has succeeded in nabbing the culprits. The Government of India should ensure that the real culprits are brought to justice.

From Pakistan’s perspective, this is a big loss of propaganda war against India. It is not clear if there is going to be a public backlash there. Pakistan is in a very tricky position. On the one hand, it has to show the public that the Pakistan army is defending the eastern border with India. On the other hand, several suicide attacks are taking place across the country.The Pakistan and NATO forces are also engaged in a fierce war against the Taliban in the NWF Province. In fact, it is reported that scores of civilians are migrating from the Swat region(a.k.a Pakistan’s Switzerland) because of the terror unleashed by Taliban. Taliban is getting stronger by the day and it is a worrisome trend for the world.Overall, the Pakistan civilian government is weak and has no full control over what is happening across the country.

India’s immediate task should be to strengthen the hands of the Pakistan civilian government. As a first step, India should wholeheartedly welcome Pakistan’s acceptance of blame and assure cooperation in the investigation to take it to the logical end. The next step should be to immediately stop the rhetoric of tough action. The objective of this rhetoric has been achieved and now i t is time to silently work behind the scenes. India should also continue its diplomatic efforts to get the terror infrastructure dismantled in Pakistan. The government should take all the parties on board and try to explain this strategy.

It is very important for leaders like Narendra Modi to show restraint and stop making vicious comments about the 26/11 attacks. This is critical because India should not be seen as aggravating Pakistan’s apparent humiliation. At this point, by showing more responsibility, India can gain the goodwill of the world community. This will also help Pakistan focus more attention on its western border and worry less about public opinion against India.

India should also take the initiative in restoring bilateral ties. As a positive gesture, Pakistan players should be invited to continue play in IPL and Pakistan artists allowed to perform in India. Other goodwill measures should be restored to reduce Indo-Pakistan tensions.

Cynics will argue that Pakistan is not going to mend it ways when it comes to promoting terror against India. After all, the very existence of Pakistan rests upon its hatred of India. While this argument is very valid, this is the time for India to support Pakistan and the international community in fighting the war against Taliban. India simply cannot afford to watch further weakening of the Pakistan civilian government and allow Pakistan fall into the hands of Taliban. At the moment, India should focus on addressing the weaknesses in the internal security apparatus and strengthen the intelligence gathering mechanisms.

As much as India hates the prospect of supporting Pakistan, India needs to support the current Pakistan government. If we don’t do it now, India will soon be fighting Taliban right across our border. A bad neighbor is better than a worse neighbor.

So India, please help Pakistan.

Image Credit: ElektraCute

Popularity: 15%

Finally, Pakistan showed pragmatism and accepted that the 26/11 attack is largely linked to its citizens. The outcome of India’s diplomatic offensive has striking similarities to the outcome of Kargil war in 1999.

Planning

Both the attacks were executed after careful and lengthy planning and were highly professional. 26/11 has a frighteningly expansive global footprint. If Pakistan is correct, people in Spain, Austria, Italy and USA were involved in the attacks.

Objective

The Kargil war was waged to undermine the Pakistan civilian government and also to destroy the improving Indo-Pakistan relations at that time. The 26/11 attack also seems to follow the same pattern. While the former succeeded in achieving both objectives, we will have to wait to see if 26/11 also achieves the objectives.

Responsibility

Whereas Kargil war was carried out by the Pakistan military, 26/11 was carried out by militant groups with some apparent connection to the Pakistan intelligence agencies. India has accused the ISI of masterminding the attacks. In both the cases, the civilian government was caught unawares.

Strategic miscalculation 

If the masterminds of Kargil went wrong in the assumption that they can occupy Kargil forever before India can counterattack, the 26/11 planners went wrong in their assumption that none of the terrorists were going to be captured alive. The attackers also left evidence behind which turned out to be very crucial.

The aftermath

India suffered significant casualties in both the attacks. Indians were angry and went through enormous anguish, but in both the cases, rallied around each other and showed their outstanding resilience.

US influence 

In both the cases, US played a huge role in normalizing the situation. President Clinton acted very tough against Pakistan and was able to force the Pakistan army to pull back from Kargil. In the case of 26/11, US sent the FBI to India and helped in collecting foolproof evidence that Pakistan could not brush aside. If Pakistan were to divert its army from the Pakistan-Afghan border to Indo-Pakistan border, the biggest problem will be for the US. So it was in US’s interest to ensure that it did not happen.

Strategic implications

If Kargil forced the international community for the first time to acknowledge that India is the victim of Pakistan sponsored terrorism, 26/11 went further. International community, especially US and UK, put enormous pressure on Pakistan to come out of its denial mode and confront the terrorists in its soil. The first global “live telecast” of terror attacks and the killing of the foreigners significantly increased the concerns of the international community.

There is no doubt that while it must have been very painful for Pakistan to admit India’s blame, this is a significant victory for the Indian government for keeping up the pressure on Pakistan with its diplomatic offensive. Kudos to them for resisting the call by the war-hawks to attack Pakistan. That would have been disastrous. The only concern is, our political leaders will start a war of wards to claim credit and squander away the advantages of India’s huge symbolic victory.

One question remains. Kargil ensured electoral victory for the ruling establishment. Will 26/11 have a similar effect? We’ll find out the answer in another 4 months.

And how should India respond now? Read the article “India, please help Pakistan!”

Image Credit: Stuti

Popularity: 16%

The 2009 General Elections are around the corner and the political scene is heating up. These elections will be conducted at a critical juncture and will have a great impact on the country’s economy and society.

The last 5 years have seen lot of ups and downs for the country. India continued to grow as a leading economy but also continued to be the victim of organized global terrorism. Overall, the country remained relatively stable on most fronts. Credit goes to the PM and his staunch supporters within the ruling establishment for the achieving the political stability. But there were also significant failures. The time has now come for the citizens to appraise the performance of this government and decide whether they want a change.

All the political parties have started their preparations for the elections. Coalitions are being formed, manifestoes being prepared and ticket distribution being finalized. The BJP took an early lead in its election preparations. It has projected Mr.Advani as NDA’s PM candidate. On his part, Mr. Advani is trying to replicate Obama’s US Presidential election campaign success and naturally, the theme of bringing positive change is on top of his agenda.

I recently visited L.K. Advani’s website and was impressed to see that development issues were the focus of his election campaign. His website talks about farmers’ upliftment, plans for drinking water to all and rightfully highlighted UPAs failure in the National Highway project. It went on to blame the UPA government for causing the recession and inflation. The accusation about recession was absolute dishonesty on BJP’s part as they very well know that this is a global phenomenon. Despite that, I happily concluded that this election will be setting new standards with regards to the discussion of developmental issues.

Two subsequent events totally shattered my short-lived happiness. First, the BJP party secretary announces that building Ram temple will be the prime election issue, again.If this is the main issue, why was BJP silent about it all these days? Is the BJP not aware that the timing of the announcement alone shows how morally corrupt the party is? This announcement shows their insincerity to voters and is shamefully opportunistic. And what is it going to achieve in improving the lives of millions of poverty stricken people? The only explanation I could think of is that it is aimed at improving BJP’s prospects in UP where it is very weak. But the repercussions of reviving this issue doesn’t look good for the country.

Second, during an election campaign, Narendra Modi hinted that 26/11 had internal support. No doubt about that. But is it responsible on the part of Modi to play into the hands of Pak’s theory about the attacks? The entire Indian diplomatic community is trying to expose Pak’s role in the attacks and here, the “Iron man” of BJP sabotages these diplomatic efforts with extraordinary ease. With leaders like these, do we need enemies?

It is now incumbent upon Advani to clearly state his stance on the election campaign. Does he want to be inclusive and focus on development issues? Or is it business as usual with issues planned to divide people along communal lines? Advani must be the first to admit that this is not the mid 90s when the Ram Janma bhoomi issue was a huge vote generating issue. (IBNLive highlighted this confusion in it’s website)

Since Advani is modeling his campaign along the lines of Obama, he could learn from the US election results that after a period of time, people become tired of the ideological issues and start yearning for real change. In US, the “Right” and the “Left” ideologies were rejected and the pragmatic development oriented centrist policies were welcomed. India is lot more complicated with the caste and regional issues thrown in. However, the overall trend will be in the same direction. The recently concluded assembly elections in a few Indian states are a pointer to that.

Thankfully, a BJP supporter, one Mr.Aditya, has expressed his frustration over this issue and has posted his views in the forum in Advani’s website. He rightly says “NO RAM TEMPLE ISSUE AT THIS POINT OF TIME “.

Mr. Advani, are you hearing?

Image Credit: Bast

Popularity: 17%

Pooja is a good friend of mine who lives in Mumbai. Having worked for me for over a year at an American Bank, she choose to be on her own and has been reasonably successful at that, with her fledgling entrepreneurial venture, her staffing consultancy.

Pooja was on chat with me the other day and said that her neighbor got married. I don’t know who her neighbor was, but wondered what was wrong with her! She went on and said, got married to a lady! I knew for a fact that Pooja had lost it! Wondering whether it was the effect of some weekend partying or the stress of being on her new venture that was getting to her, I kept getting on with work shaking my head in disbelief wondering if Pooja was mad before I hurriedly typed in a few notes to her before running off for a meeting.

I returned after a couple of hours and Pooja had left a series of messages for me. I read through and realized that her neighbor was actually a SHE and she had gotten married to another SHE! Her neighbor was also the HE in the marriage!

Being a very gracious person, she obviously went on to greet her neighbor and also had a chance to see pictures of the wedding. I don’t know if she got invited to the wedding or not, but what she had to say of the pictures she was very reminiscent of any other Indian women. Shaking her head in utter disbelief and wondering what the world was going to, she is a today a worried lady.

Chatting on, I asked her what was so “scary” about the whole thing. She said her little daughter; all of 3 odd years old was that neighbor’s favorite kid in the apartment complex. That put it in perspective for me. To make matters worse for her, her daughter happens to be in that stage of life where kids are all over us with questions! Questions that sometimes put us in a spot as we don’t know what to say when we get asked those questions! The little kid obviously heard that the aunty next door got married and was looking all over her house for the uncle!! No one told the poor kid that the aunty was actually the uncle in the wedding!

The news obviously spreads! In a society that is still waking up to the realities of homosexuality amid law makers around the world who are confused on whether to let this pass or otherwise, Pooja’s maid is one of those who is yet to recover from this shock. Coming from probably the lowest social strata of Mumbai, the maid apparently spent 3 hours in Pooja’s house holding her head in disbelief and wondering whether she needs to continue working for the neighbor, that she’s worked for nearly 3 years now. An educated Pooja and the worried mom that she is, is equally baffled and doesn’t know how to react.

I’m not out to pass a judgment on what is right or wrong! I just spare a thought for a good friend who’s been hit by a reality, a reality that you would typically hear / read of happening in California or somewhere else in Europe, but this time literally at her next door.

I once happened to stray off into the SOHO area of London on my last trip there, a short walk from the Oxford Street shopping area. It was one of those days when I just went wandering aimlessly, (certainly not looking for anything) when I quickly realized that I was on a street very popular for the gay men on London. Young boys were howling and screaming, expressing their love for each other on the streets. Waking alone, I felt my heart palpitating and the fear of being at risk, the risk of being physically assaulted maybe! Something that I’d never ever dreamt off ever. The ensuing 5 minutes were probably the scariest 5 minutes of my life.

More recently, we had an overseas visitor whom we were hosting. As a courtesy, my boss had to take him to dinner one of the days. My boss called me and asked me to join in. It was kind of last minute for me and I asked him why me? He explained that he was gay and my being along made him feel more comfortable! It was a hurried affair and both of us used the first available option to get back home early.

Being able to relate with what Pooja is going through as a result of my 5 minute trauma, I wonder how we are going to start accepting this new world reality. A recent Hindi movie, Dostana had my wife and me in splits. Being a very silent person, I’ve never ever seen my wife laugh so much ever! While the fun part of the movie has us in splits, we need to quickly understand that the changing preferences are probably a new world order. With laws likely to come in around this, we need to understand that people are people at the end of it and we need to respect individual choices. It’s probably a lot like someone smoking or drinking!

Incidentally, Pooja ensures that her doors are firmly bolted at all times and talks about this to all her friends. Amused at what we hear and enjoying a good laugh, we rag her saying “Pooja’s neighbor is gay!”. The trouble however is that the changing world can throw up one such neighbor for you anytime!

Image Credit: TNT Blonde

Popularity: 52%

Thirumangalam Election

There are very strong rumours doing the rounds about the use or misuse of money in the Assembly bi-election held in Thirumangalam, Tamil Nadu a few weeks back. The grapevine has it that Rs.10,000 was the price of a vote. TV’s showed one of the leading political leaders handing over money to a voter openly. Possibly, the Rs.100 crore spent on the election will soon be reclaimed several times brimming over through persuasion or coercion. The winner is now the hero because his guilt has not been nailed.

Raju – From good to bad

Ramalinga Raju was by all accounts very good during the initial years of Satyam. He was known and admired for instilling a culture of quality and efficiency in his company. Then hubris took over, convincing him that he would forever remain the darling of the country and he could do no wrong.

This emboldened him to fashion two pies for his sons, in the form of infrastructure and real estate companies – ventures which require heavy greasing and political patronage to stay in business. He dug deep into Satyam coffers and thus started his descent from good to bad. He was caught and thus became the villain of the nation – and rightly so.

The depth of the Satyam tragedy lies in the fact that people who were in the know of things chose to look on, without seeing, or pretending not to see. The rot was all pervasive and everyone close to Raju became fallen heroes because of their silence and refusal to stand up for their convictions.

Transformation from good to bad

When a young person starts a venture, he is a picture of idealism and healthy ambition. The rat race and greed then begin to take their toll. They bend and crawl, to meet the demands of the political system in the country which encourages patronage, speed money and influence peddling. Expediency takes over moral compulsions. The silence of the co-accomplices is the easiest of things to buy. People who started as good human beings become contaminators of the system – very much like those polluting the holy river Ganges with filth and muck. And sadly, the general public around them becomes immune to the rot around them, accepting them as the way of life.

Nemesis of the bad

There lurks hope amidst all the chaos and murky dealings of people in high places. Perpetrators of crimes are getting caught and brought to book with a heavy hand. Politicians and corporate boards are beginning to realize that the Law of the Universe will mete out to them their dues, multiplied over, and they will all meet their nemesis sooner than later. The Infosys and Wipros of India remind everyone that there is a promise of good things to come for those who remain steadfast in doing the right things, coupled with attention to quality and efficiency.

Cleaning up of the Augean stables

In the aftermath of the Mumbai terror strikes, the media whipped up frenzy, (because danger was at their door, too close for comfort) and forced the politicians to run for cover or mend themselves. They are, with honorable exceptions, unlikely to be partners in the fight against the cancer of corruption and unethical practices because they are part of the devious system, depending greatly on the crumbs, grace and patronage of the political class. Raising a hue and cry depends on you and me, refusing to be onlookers when horrible wrongs are committed right in front of our eyes. And, as Gandhi said, we have to become the change we want to see.

Today, we are entering the 60^th year of our Republic. We owe it to ourselves and the generations to come, to force the politicians to mend their ways. Then, and only then, will the significance of the statement of purpose and vision found in the Preamble to our constitution begin to make sense.

The preamble to our constitution assures the following.

We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic and to secure to all its citizens:

Justice, social, economic and political;

Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

Equality of status and of opportunity;

And to promote among them all

Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation

There is a lot of hope hidden behind those words if we the people of India learn to demand them as our birth right.

For India at 60, you and I are the rays of hope.

Image Credit: Bug A Lug

Popularity: 14%

After having multiple heated arguments with a friend I really felt like putting this article down for thousands of readers who would actually help me decide what’s right and what’s wrong.

We all have been eagerly following the chain of events since the terrorist attack in Mumbai on 26th November 2008.The government is proud of itself today because out of 10 terrorist they have captured 1 terrorist alive! They think it’s an honor.

How many people think that  way?

A bunch of young boys barely in their teens gun down thousands of people in a metropolitan city and make our defense system dance to their tunes of terror for three days.

Can the capture of a lone terrorist alive be called an achievement or is it the biggest mistake of our government?

Now the response of the government would be 1 -2 months of creating anxiety in the minds of the people by interrogating the lone terrorist (Ajmal) and then probably hanging him. But I personally feel the government will achieve nothing by killing a young boy of barely 20 years. He probably wasn’t aware about the horrendous crime he was committing.

I know many people wouldn’t agree to what I would say but I think instead of killing the boy the government should rather rehabilitate him and make him realize that killing people is not the way to get one’s religion accepted in a society. It is just a fabrication of a religion by a few fanatic people.

This would rather set an example on thousands of youth who get strayed by certain organizations which lead them to believe fake facts. By killing Ajmal or by torturing him, do you think the other terrorist are going to get traumatized or stop committing attacks?

Most of the terrorist attacks in the world are carried with the motive of suicide. These people are fearless and emotionless. They are not scared of death since their motive is to die in the name of religion.

We have killed several terrorists in the past but has terrorism stopped?  If we really want to solve this menace, we probably should try a radical way of dealing with this global issue e.g. reverse psychology.

The young people who are trained for such attacks are kept isolated from the world and what they are shown is the world of hatred. They are rigorously trained they are prepared for death. Some of these youngsters are kidnapped or are just threatened or lured into these activities.

So who should be killed – these youngsters or the cruel people who are behind them?

I think right now the government should focus on getting the leaders and the people behind these attacks rather than torturing mere helpless puppets like Ajmal. By using the reverse psychology and rehabilitating the terrorist, they can help show thousands of youth who are lost in the make believe world of certain groups who work for their self motive rather than any other reason to see light at the end of a dark tunnel that they are in.

I know many people might condemn my thought process but I would really like people to spare a minute or two and ponder over this post and voice your opinion.

Image Credit: Tazeen

Popularity: 24%

Pakistan’s untiring denials to accept the truth reminds me this famous saying – when cat drinks milk stealthily, it shuts its eyes assuming that nobody is watching it. Its seems so evident that Pak is acting blindfolded and trying to find excuses to accept the truth in the dossier which was recently been produced by our home minister on Mumbai attacks. Even the British, now approve involvement of Pak militant groups. Until now we have come across short sight, long sight, far sight and hindsight, so what do you call this behaviour? – Ignore-any-evidence-by-India Sight

What could be the reasons making Pak do this?

Being called Terror State

If the culprits are handed over to India, then Pakistan might be having a fear of these culprits letting all secret terror acts disclosed to India. In turn this might call for more pressure from International community, especially USA, to ban all active in-situ outfits and pronounce Pakistan as a Terror State.

Sanctions And Political Coup

A declaration of terror state would have consequences like sanctions of all kinds from the international communities. As it is the economic condition is not in a good state in the country, and such sanctions could lead the nation into another political coup. Result could be another Musharraf kind of era.

ISI Activity going public

We may only have gathered some evidence around ISI links to terror activities all these days. But if culprits are handed over to India, Pak might be apprehensive of having ISI activities being made public. An insecure feeling of having its national intelligence’s activities made public.

Or Simply Self-Esteem

The relations between India and Pak have never been healthy, India has always been considered as archrival by Pak. By handing over the criminals to India, is it in a way succumbing to India and hurting its self-esteem?

But one thing that Pakistan seems to miss the point is – if it hands over the criminals to India, it keeps its honour and respect in the world community, in that helping the community to tackle terror.

Image Credit: Stuti

Popularity: 13%

Slumdog Millionaire! Another face of metro India. This one definitely is yet another Rags-to-Riches story. That’s Slumdog Millionaire.

But there is a difference. There is no villain, or revenge or any romance behind the trees in this movie. The movie released on the 5th of December is directed by David Boyle who has a few movies like Shallow Grave, A Life Less Ordinary & The Beach to his credit. Based on Vikas Swaroop’s story, the entire movie revolves around Jamaal, a poor child who grows up in the slums of Mumbai.

The movie starts with an almost millionaire Jamaal being interrogated in a police station for his suspected involvement in a fraud which is believed to have helped him win the acclaimed game show ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’. Irfan Khan, playing the inspector’s role tries to get Jamaal to confess to the fraud. Jamaal reveals how experiences from his life help him win the game.

Each question takes the audience back into Jamaal’s, his brother Salim’s and his love interest Lathika’s life. Life in slums makes him a beaten slum dog. Experiences like the death of his mother in the Hindu-Muslim riots, a small stint with the tourists in Agra, transformation of his brother Salim into a gangster are the key to his answers in the game show. There is a subtle romance shown between Jamaal & Lathika throughout the movie.

The movie highlights problems in India like begging on streets, life in slums, poverty, child prostitution, betting etc. It shows how children from slums are forced into a life of crime, sex & hatred.

Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla have done a great job. But it’s worth mentioning the work done by the small lot of actors who morphed themselves into the characters of slum dogs. Dev Patel, Tanay Chheda, Ayush Khedekar and Vikas Swaroop play the main character Jamaal.

Music is by none other than A R Rehman. The back ground scores and a few tracks are in sync with the movie’s pace. The album sounds enchanting.  The movie has been edited to perfection and keeps the audience glued to their seats. It’s a gripping 120 minute long movie.

There are a few drawbacks in the movie which can go unnoticed or be ignored. The movie is a definite watch and has been nominated for many international awards. It has bagged Golden globes for best drama, director, screenplay and music score.

A rating of 8 out of 10 for the movie.

Don’t miss it.

Popularity: 30%

Huh, this is my favorite subject these days. All across the blogosphere, you will find stories about how media should follow code of ethics before reporting; verify the facts before they publish, how they should dress up before presentation blah blah. Looks very fine and readable on papers. When it comes to implementation, even the top trips.

Talking about journalism, media and reporting, you can talk about them all day long and you will never be tired.

Basically these reporters can be classified into two categories. One those who make nothing out of stories and the other who make stories out of nothing

The latter are called as Hooh Haah reporters.

Here are a few glossy examples. The report reads “India watches as Satyam goes down”

1. My Home Hub, Satyam

Is India watching the building glass  ? Or some painters, cleaners. Where is Satyam going down here ? In fact I see Satyam being cleaned, painted. That tells me they have additional money for spending on their building. That is a sign of progress   Someone please tell them !

2. A Crisis Situation

It says “people looking at a large screen displaying India’s benchmark share index…..” . I don’t see any benchmark index, nor do I see any large screen. I see a Sardar showing his four fingers. Could it be that the Sardar is a well dressed assistant cameraman? All the ingredients of Hooh Haah reporting, must say.

3. Up In Smoke

I laughed over this one for long. I see four guys posing for the photo graph with cellphone in their hand and some made up expression. Again – Where is Satyam in the picture? Nothing in that photo suggests that the photo is from Satyam.

..And the text talks of “Smoking Break”. Where is the smoke, I ask you ?

4. Out in the Open

What was the intent ? Do you see Satyam ? How do you know from that photo that she is an employee of Satyam ? – May be the Id card, but nothing is visible you see

5. On Guard – So what does it tell me, huh? Are you telling me that a Guard outside Satyam’s office is watching Satyam going down?

6. An Onlooker

Oh ! That’s just a good photograph. Again, where is the large screen as claimed ? How do I know this old man is concerned about Satyam ?. Ditto with The Aftermath Wake up, do some good reporting !

7. Wreckage & Tense Situation

Excellent photos. Monitors do look like trade screen. But considering the credibility of all the above photos, this one fails to impress me besides the quality of photograph.

Welcome to the age of Hooh Haah reporting !

Image Credit: Alex Steffler

Popularity: 14%

Last couple of weeks, two multimillion dollar news/ reviews caught my attention – Multimillion dollar stories of a dog, a shoe and the many games people play.

One was of course of “The Bush Shoe” and the other was the latest movie going the rounds- Slum Dog Millionaire

US President George Bush was attacked with a shoe by a Cairo based Iraqi TV reporter Muntadar Al-Zeidi. The shoe has gained tremendous popularity – in the middle eastern world and the western world. Although shoe throwing is considered as an insult in many parts of the Middle East, this particular incident was an exception of sort. There was allround praise for Mr.Zeidi. In fact I even heard the news of a Saudi man willing to give $ 10 Mln to get his hands to those “Godly” shoes

In his last days as President, Mr. Bush has certainly earned the respect from his followers so much so that it took a shoe for all the talking. Apparently the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al- Maliki had clearly heard the thrower’s accompanying cry of “This is a goodbye kiss, you dog”

Check out the many shoe games that has come to the market post this incident. There are many, here are the top five

1. Sock And Awe

2. Bush Bash

3. Flying Babush

4. Bush’s Boot Camp

5. Can You Throw a Shoe at Bush ?

What a mess indeed, huh ?

Talking of dog and of course the million dollars, it seems Slumdog Millionaire has caught its viewers by surprise.

Slumdog Millionaire is a story of a Mumbai Boy who won the Hindi version of famous reality show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”. The film is directed by Danny Boyle and written by Simon Beaufoy and is based on the book Q and A by Vikas Swarup.

The story sound simple – Jamal Malik  goes into the Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire and wins it. How can the illiterate boy from the slum with zero knowledge win such a prestigious show ? Things get complicated when the producers of the show do not believe that the boy indeed won it fairly.

Will that deter the boy from reaching his ultimate goal ? What is his ultimate goal ?

He loves a girl from his childhood days and has lost touch with her. Now he wants to get reunited with her. He knows for a fact knows that she watches every episode. Inorder to find her he goes to the show and wins it.  What mattered to him was the girl and not the million dollars that were waiting to be taken.

The Director Danny Boyle revealed on MTV Movies Blog that it is a true story. The movie stars Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan. Music is by A R Rahman.

I browsed around to get see what others are talking about the movie. And here are few of those ketch ups

1. Although set in India, Film’s appeal are universal

2. It is a Crowd Pleaser

3. One of the most dynamic and exuberant underdog stories

If you are keen to take a sneek peak, watch the theatrical trailer here.

Image Credit: Wikimedia

Popularity: 19%