Miss you ABBU

Duniya mein aaye bas Nek dil aur haunsla le kar

Bachpan mein nikle kitabon ki jaga hath mein kasla le kar

Kismat ne kuch ulta khel khela

ladakpan mein hi zimmedariyon ne ghera

Kismat se badla aap ne fir yun liya.

Budhape mein jawani ka haunsla dikha.

Manzil door thi, Jaldi bhi jaana hai.

Kashti bhi tooti thi, toofan bhi aana tha.

Chattan si himmat thi, pukhta irada tha.

Aur jaana tha toh bas jaana tha.

Na shikayat ki kabhi, na jataya kabhi,

Na khud gharzi, Na Aalas zara bhi

Sabke saath insaf, Khud le kar pareshani.

Jisne sataaya us se bhi muhayede ki koshish sada ki.

Mehnat aur insaf ki mehz baatein karne walon ne

Naam apna makhmal par fakhr se likhwaya.

Dhoondha bahut aapka naam fehrist mein.

Dekha toh paseene se likha hua mitti par nazar aaya

ilm kitaabon se lete toh mehz zubaan pe aata

Tajarba zindagi ka tha toh Qirdar mein aaya.

Toofan se bacha kar kashti, kinara pe chhod gaye.

Haq ada kiye apne, jald hi laut gaye

Ped laga kar, saaye mein bethne se pehle hi laut gaye.

Yeh Malaal hamare liye ta-umar ke liye chhod gaye.

Befirk the hum, Abbu hi muhafiz the, rehbar the.

Adhoor ho ho gaye ab hamesha ke liye, Aap the toh poore the.

Ghar ke gade ki june jaise aap the.

Kashmakash mein hai Kis simt jaayein, kab aur kaise jaayein.

Dhoondh rahe hai, Abbu ke pau ke nishaan shayad nazar aaye.

Wada karte hai, Insha Allah saath rahenge, 

Aapke hunar, sabak, taqeed aur falsafe honge

Aapke kaam aur Shakshiyat zinda rakhenge

Miss you Abbu

Let's not treat women as Goddesses

There are very few things which make me as angry as news of a rape. If I ever go to jail it will be for killing a rapist. I can still stand poverty, poor education, loot of national resources, criminalization of politics & even corruption. I JUST CAN’T STAND RAPES. While other things make me sad & pessimistic, rapes make me angry & frustrated. Recent rape case in Delhi is a fresh example.

One shouldn't treat a Goddess like a human being so we don’t. We call women as goddesses. We kill girls in womb, we rape them, we kill them for dowry & so called honour. Had we treated them as human beings rather than goddesses we couldn't have done such injustice to them.

Every time there is debate about women safety & social ills against women. We take shelter of our tradition, culture, religion & sculptures.  We proudly explain how well women were treated even in ancient times & how they are given a status of goddess in our sculptures. Boss! It’s not about what status you give women in the sculptures, it’s about how you treat them at home & on streets.

Increase in rape crimes is a cause of concern, this is when only few rape cases are actually reported (mainly due to social stigma). Rape victim's age range from 6 month old to 60 years old. Numerous girls face eve teasing, sexual abuse at home, schools, roads & offices on daily basis. Families discourage girls to confront eve teasers. Girls accepting mild eve teasing as a part of life, something which is there to stay like pollution or inflation, is a dangerous trend.

Solution often lies in problem’s origin. To solve a problem one should focus on its cause (Criminal) more than its effect (victim). But somehow, We debate about victim girl & less relevant Issues like what girl was wearing, with whom she was, at what time or place incident happened, what precaution she didn't take. We ignore major issues related to criminal. We need to debate about those bastards, their upbringing, mentality, their psyche, criminal record, motives and their perception about girls, sex & society. We have failed to raise our boys well. I remember my mother’s old fashioned advice ‘Treat every girl on street like you want your own sister to be treated on streets’.

Let’s not treat women as goddesses instead treat them like a human being who has right to live life with dignity.

Ek Alag si love story! My love story...

It’s a love story & it’s mine.

You don’t plan to fall in love you just do. I am still confused if this love story needs to be told. I am not sure if I can call it a love story in first place. Is it one sided or she loves me too? We know each other for a long time (6 years & 1 day to be precise) we have seen ups & downs of each other’s life. There are moments when I feel I owe everything to her then there are moments when I feel she is not the one for me.

I remember clearly, I first met her on Dec 5, 2005. She celebrated her 34^th birthday few days back. I was little uneasy to interact with her as I am with everything new. She almost ignored me at first. For her I was just another guy. Like anyone else, I found her glamorous & hot. It’s difficult to get the attention of someone who everyone has his eyes set on. A poet has described it beautifully ‘sab ki saqi pe nazar ho ye zaroori hai magar, sab pe saq ki nazar ho zaroori toh nahin’. Cleanliness, hygiene & fast pace were her trademark habits. Those who can’t keep pace with her will found her cruel & emotionless. She treats you nicely once you get her attention. She is not even after your money. She makes you comfortable once she likes you but demands your full attention all the time. I didn’t expect much from her, I didn’t demand anything. She introduces me to strangers many of them became friends. I must confess she is not a natural beauty but she has maintained herself well enough. She can give natural beauties run of their money (Dollar, pound or euro).

 Our relationship was supposed to be professional, just pure business. She was young, beautiful & eager to make her mark in the world. She is very conscious of her looks, she wanted to impress everyone. She was busy achieving professional successes for next three years. Everyone around seems to have their eyes set on her. Every action of her was under scanner, she loved it. Every word uttered by her was like a quote from bible. Everyone was noticing her just like she wanted. She was enjoying all the attention. Life was a long sweet dream. I witnessed the time when all the limelight was on her. She looked too high class for me. In four years, we came to know each other better but our relationship never moved to next level. Monotonous excitement is boring. We started taking each other for granted. Some decision of her & some of the others lend her dream in trouble. She was forced to put her dreams & ambitions on the back burner due to circumstances around. Things were not going as per her plan. God doesn’t follow your plan. When your downward journey starts last to join are the first to leave. They are often the new rich friends attracted to your success not your personality. Rich admirers started leaving her. It was ‘blessing in disguise’ for me. Life surprises you when you expect it the least. All of a sudden, she gave me more attention & respect. Anything which brings you closer to your love is welcome. Her failure was that anything. Failure which brings you close is not failure. She was all praise for me & my qualities many of which I developed in last four years. In last four years, I changed myself to her liking. I wanted to get her attention & her love. I did many things to impress her but failed. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Just when I was losing hope gradually things started getting better. Her treatment of mine changed drastically. It gave me a fresh hope. She started taking over me slowly, she becomes the oxygen I inhale, she becomes the flower I smell. No matter how heart-broken you might have felt for years, just a right look of her is enough to overcome everything. You are bound to fall in love with someone who treats you nicely with respect & dignity. Since last one & half year, we are getting stronger. Many of her fake admirers have left her leaving genuine one like me with her. Time acts as a damper for emotions. It absorbs extreme emotions & makes things normal. It changes things bad or good. Just like time heals the wound, it turns love into merely a habit. In our case, time acted as a catalyst. Our love (or should I say my love?) is getting surprise surprise stronger with time.

Did I tell her name yet, No? She is darling of many. Rishte mein toh wo hamari Mehbooba lagti hai, Naam Hai UAE. Yes! She is UAE (read Dubai). I have fallen in love with this city.

Happy UAE National Day!
PS- I wonder how many of you will read it again keeping Dubai in mind !!!

Rock Star : A Movie Review (***1/2)

Only a movie can undo the damage caused by another movie. Rockstar healed the scars of Ra.One, Expectations were high from Rockstar due to Ranbir Kapoor, Imtiaz Ali & Rehman. Rockstar has not disappointed me, i must say.

Plot: Janardhan (Ranbir) is a lower middle class boy of Hindu college with zero stage presence (read attitude) living in a joint family in pitamputra, diametrically opposite to him is heer (Nargis fakhri), a high class ‘neat & clean’ girl from St. Stephen who can mesmerize any boy around by her beauty & dance. They are literally class  apart. A friend explains to Janardhan, who inspire to become next Jim Morrison how suffering, tragedy & heartbreak are common things in every rockstar’s life. Innocent Janardhan approach heer (hottest & coolest girl around) hoping that she will help him become a rockstar by break his heart. ‘Neat & clean’ Heer is getting married in few months. Before that she wants to break free & do things which upmarket nice girls can only think about like watching Jungli jawani & drinking Desi Daru. Janardhan becomes his partner in crime & help her achieve her goals. They become very close friend. Without any drama, she gets married & goes to Prague. Janardhan is thrown out of home, spent two months at nizamuddin Dargah which brings him closer to his music. He is spotted by shehnai maestro Ustad Jameel Khan (Shammi Kapoor) who recommends him to a top music company. He goes to Prague for concerts, his primary motto for going there being meeting heer (who has become a bored depressed housewife by now). After frequent meetings, long bike rides they kiss.  As they are about to kiss much married Heer try to hold back saying ‘yeh galat hai’ but janardhan makes her agree saying ‘toh galat lag kyon nahin raha’.

Janardhan becomes Jordan. His popularity keep rising so does his passionate love towards heer. Heer decides to break up with Jordan against her own will to save her marriage. Post breakup in two years peroid heartbroken Jordan gets violent with media, goes to jail, do concerts everything that makes him even a bigger rockstar. Heer suffers from bone disease & comes to India, her younger sister brings Jordan back into heer’s life. Heer’s health improves as Jordan looks after her. After getting healthier she accompanies Jordan to a himachal concert, got pregnant & slips into coma. As jordan’s pain intensifies, his music gets better. Movie ends with beautiful lines by Rumi ‘Beyond all the right doings & wrong doings. There is a field, I'll meet you there’.

On the negative side, Incidents of Jordan getting violent with media are repeated many times (5-6 times I guess), some of them could have edited easily. One or two scenes are enough to make your point. Some locations looks familiar (Remember the snow clad road in the song yeh ishq hai from Jab We Met). Second half goes little monotonous. I will go with three & half star.

Performances:

Ranbir: Rockstar belongs to him. It is one of his finest performances. He made transformation of a innocent (mistaken for rudeness sometime) jat boy to a rockstar so convincing. He is not loud, he doesn’t hold back either. He is in total sync with character. He looks charming, funny, and intense at different point. He makes you feel his pain & suffering through his expressions. With Rockstar he has left his contemporaries like Imran Khan, Shahid Kapoor & Ranvir Singh miles apart. Rockstar has arrived. Ranbir might get a title with the movie just like SRK got from Badshah & Big B from Shahenshan.

Nargis Fakhri : She is beautiful & a decent actress (or should I just call actor as they call now). There is nothing extra ordinary about her. Her transformation from a bubbly girl to depressed wife to suffering patient is somehow less convincing. May be due to lack of scenes to show the transformation gradually. 

Music : Apart from Ranbir, A R Rehman & Mohit chauhan are other rockstars in the movie. Music is soul of this film & rightly so. Music is just outstanding be it songs or background music. Good music is quarter a battle won (if not half). Difficult to chose a fovourite from album where almost all the songs are good. Still Sadda Haq, Kun faya kun are my favorites.

Imtiaz Ali: Imtiaz seems to have a soft corner for delhiites & Punjabis (Remember Jab We Met & Love Aaj Kal). He know psyche of middle class delhiites in general & Punjabis in particular better than any other contemporary director. He treat ordinary story with maturity without losing its charm. His dialogues have always been the positive points, so is the case with rockstar. He stuck to his favourite gene & characters. Well Done!!

Editing : Editing is good as films travels back & forth many a times & keeps you guessing. What happened to heer after that, where did Jordan go to keeps popping into your mind. Repeat monotonous scenes (like getting violent with media) could have been edited.

Shammi Kapoor: Yesteryear Rockstar is good in a short but important cameo. He is visibly full of life. Very few have such a charming smiling despite all the pain he suffered due to prolong illness.

Others: Others role (including nargis’ husband) are short. They don’t have much to do. All are just fine.


Duration : Guess Yourself (Hint: I spent as much time writing Rockstar review as i did watching it).

World Bank & IMF : Mission, Functioning & Motives !!!!

I know it feels odd when a person who doesn’t understand his own credit card statement writes about World Bank & IMF. But there are certain advantages when you write about something you don’t know much about. Firstly, as a layman you have the luxury to question the very basics of the system which experts can’t do. Secondly, there is an excitement & sense of achievement when you write something people don’t expect. Thirdly, neither does your opinion matters not will it make any difference to anyone. So you are sort of immune from its impact.

I have always been doubtful & sceptical about purpose, functioning & motives of World Bank & IMF even though I don’t know much world finance (or even word ‘finance’ for that matter). An article about possible candidates for IMF chief’s post caught my attention & encouraged me to wear my thinking cap which has been lying idle for a long time now. Little bit of Google & Wikipedia told me that a) World Bank chief has been ALWAYS an American. b) IMF is headed by a European (with one or two exceptions). Everyone knows it is not a mere coincidence & there is nothing wrong with it as such. This shows how important it is for west to have full control (read monopoly) over these institutions. Little bit of more reading & you are convinced  World Bank & IMF are too critical organisation to be left free & fair by western world.

World Bank describe its mission as 'to fight poverty with passion and professionalism for lasting results and to help people help themselves and their environment by providing resources, sharing knowledge, building capacity and forging partnerships in the public and private sectors’.

Most of us have heard or seen stories how Lala (Rich Lender) in earlier times used to exploit poor farmers in rural india by lending them money (Remember Mother India?). It’s ironic & funny how you can exploit a person by helping him (i.e. lending him the money). Lala’s help was actually his exploitation. Poor farmers were virtually forced to take loan from Lala to fulfil their physical, psychological & social needs. Lala made sure that they remain in debt for rest of their lives.

World Bank (read west) is similar to that lala in more than one sense. Only difference being that Lala was projected (& correctly so) as bad guy & was hated by everyone. West is look upto & seen as role model helping the poor. To start with, I have doubt over money being real itself, it seems like an illusion of money (Virtual, soft, complex). World Bank lends money in the name of development (i.e. Help) to poor countries. Sum is huge enough for developing countries to repay easily & tiny enough for developed countries to affect then economically. Easy inflow of virtual money to developing countries increases inflation, decreases their purchasing power & hence making sure they remain poor (even after regular financial help). This has three major advantages for Rich Countries.

1). They can arm twist poor nations to virtually anything they please since poor nations owe them the money.

World Bank has developed a system where no poor country can sustain without financial help from World Bank. They are left with no choice but to borrow from World Bank to fund development, infrastructure and Social projects. Situation in some poor countries is so bad that they can only survive few months without these loans & financial help (This remind of me Epic Dialogue ‘Lala Mere bachche Bhooke hain’). Rich countries manipulate poor countries politics, policies in their favour indirectly, sometimes to an extent that they takes over national resources of poor countries, utilising their human capital as cheap labour, benefitting from poor countries’ strategic & geographical location in long run.

2). Everything is relative in this world. Ugly people make other people look beautiful. Rich is a relative term too, it has no meaning without poor, same holds true in this case too. Western countries will not be rich if other nations are not poor. Rich need poverty in this world to retain its superiority. This is precisely what World Bank seems to doing keeping poor nations poor.

3). Rich countries pretend to help poor countries & project their 'We care' image & enhance their brand.

Genuine efforts to reduce world poverty are missing. Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen. Can someone explain me why?

These are the things which attract me to Communism sometimes

Thoughts on book i read "A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking"

It is really strange how a single book can change your mind, your perception & challenge your own knowledge about a particular subject. Although cosmology (study of universe) is relatively unexplored branch of physics, I was convinced I know enough of it by knowing the name, density, distance, position of planets.


I was never into the hobby of reading books other than my textbooks or gossip magazines. 4 months back, when I noticed a 210 page book in A5 size at NFC community centre in Delhi. i was not planning to buy that but somehow bought that book as a plan B on my vacation. I was thinking, just in case I have plenty of time & nothing much to do, then i might end up reading few pages of this book. purpose being something to read in free time not to gain knowledge. What I didn’t realize at that time, that this very book will change my perception of universe, time, space & even physics itself. Reading a physics book 5 years after your graduation is damn boring. But this book turns out to be different, this one was without using any equation or complex mathematics. Eistein's famous E=MC2 is the only equation used in the book.


I have been reading (on & off) this Book titled “A Brief history of time” by Stephen Hawking since i bought it 4 months ago. It took so much time because of a). my non-reading habits, b). You need to read it slowly & pause to think after almost each paragraph (in order to understand it fully). Stephen hawking dispite being a world renowned scientist keep it simple to be understood by normal science graduate. whoever is curious to know.

We are yet to understand the concept of time. Time (duration) can be different depending upon its frame of reference. Time has no meaning before Big Bang (start of universe, as per hawking). We need a unified theory of physics which would consider all forces at a time. Currently when we talk about gravitational forces, we ignore other forces (electromagnetic, nuclear & others). Similarly when we talk about nuclear , we ignore other. It has something to do with our inability to workout the complex problems, which is needed if we consider all at a time. Einstein was genius, else how come someone think that Time can be virtually stop if we can travel at speed of light. Those are some issues explained there.
Another thing about the book is that you can’t summarize what you have learned. It is too complex & too vast a subject to be understood fully in small books. You can get the idea, which direct we need to think. A Book which can convince myself logically that what I presume so far, was not right at all. That Book can be called a Good book.
*******NICE READ********

Signs & Science of Growing Old.

I saw an advertisement of Beauty cream declaring “wrinkles, dark spot etc” as signs of ageing to sell their products. It makes me Question what about signs of growing old apart from looks. What can be the Signs of growing old? Here is my list of things which will help you decide if you have past your prime already. If you have than better to admit it & start behaving like grown ups. Teenage in his/her late twenties is just not cool.


You have past your youth prime if

1. Current Heartthrob of Bollywood/hollywood & Sports sensations are younger than you. (Read Ranbir Kapoor, Leo Messi, Megan Fox) (Google their Date of Birth, u will be surprised).
2. You watch movie in theater without passing comments on dialogues/acting.
3. You have made STD call from PCO at night/ sunday at half the price.
4. Your hairstyle has not changed since last 6 months.
5. You often insist & try to see things from others perspective.
6. You insist on paying bill yourself rather than forcing your friend to do the same.
7. You sometime refer to your kid brother/cousin as “Today’s generation”.
8. Luxury Cars attract you more than Fastest Bikes.
9. You are more concern about World Peace/economy than your friend’s problem.
10. Going GYM is not a Hobby but the work you are forced to do.
11. You feel uncomfortable wearing torn low waist jeans or don’t wear them at all.
12. You can watch TV without changing channel for 15 minutes.
13. Your fun is limited to weekend only.
14. You can watch “Food security debate” on NDTV or economy bulletin on BBC for 30 minutes.
15. You start wearing Branded watches (Tissot, TAG heuer, Rollex).
16. You start reading too many non-fictional books (Biographies, History, and Travel).
17. You don’t know the cheapest SMS plans or cheapest night call plans.
18. Your birthday wish to friend includes SMS or firm hands shake. (No physical violence)
19. You find “Success Quotes” motivational.
20. You do many things because “You should do it” & not because “you want to do it”.
21. Money doesn’t excite you that much anymore. You prefer respect/self esteem over money.
22. You don’t ride bike with 2 other friends sitting behind you.
23. Your best friend is someone who doesn’t even know your nickname.
24. You start behaving nicely to your neighbours & relatives.
25. You have many juniors at work (u start working, this itself is signs of growing Old in first place).
26. You had used floppy at some point of time in your life.
28. You have more nephews/nieces than cousins.
29. You can name 5 programs on DD.
30. You remember the 1992 world cup
31. You don’t find this blog boring & you agree on most of the above points.

Did you ask why this list have 31 points? let me help you, it is because my Roll No. in B.Tech was 31. This blog dedicated to my Roll No.

"Economy & Development" or Enviroment : Tough decision for World.

Almost everyone in my company & other organization with whom I interact by email, Use the Bottom line in email which says “Please don’t print this email unless you really need to”. This supposedly shows the concern sender have for environment. But apart from & probably more than environment, everyone is concern about Economy (recession & job market). Once in a while (Mostly when travelling from client meetings to office) when I have any discussion about economy, all of my colleagues support Capitalism, Free market & open economy. As they advocate these things are needs of the hour & very much necessary to pull Millions out of poverty in developing countries (Normally my European colleagues finger point towards me when they refer to Poor or developing country).


But today’s economy is driven by consumption & consumption alone. India & China have huge population (read consumers), that’s the exact reason why they are fast growing economies. More the consumption, faster the economy grows. Having said that, is not over-consumption bad, really bad for environment? It is indeed. So equation turns around to be “more consumption is better for economy & bad for environment”. If a developing nation have to choose what will it choose? Economy or environment?

Not being an expert in economy gives me luxury of questioning the very fundamentals of (open) economy. Once you are expert in a field you can’t afford to question the fundamentals of your field as you will fear making fool of yourself, if you did. There is something seriously wrong with open economy fundamentals. As a thump rule economy & environment can’t move forward together with current rules, Laws & Habits of world. We have reached a point where we can’t ignore any of them. In 17th, 18th century, when industrialisation of Europe was happening, Environment was not the issue. They make mess out of environment to became the develop nation. Now when developing nations need to so the same, it is not allowed. West has already caused enough harm to environment even our share (Quota) of harm has been done by them. Should we correct their mistake by not harming the environment anymore & hence stopping our development? Or we should first focus on development without bothering about environment. Either way there is something to lose. American’s per Capita carbon emission is 10 times more than India’s. Doesn’t it say enough what we should choose? Very basic rule of any civilised society says A have committed a crime, A should be punished not B. (A=Developed nations, B= Developing nations).

Atleast west not need to move from over-consumption. How many pair of RayBan shades are enough? How many Adidas, Nike, CAT are enough? Why we are Proved, encouraged to spend/consume more. When it is known that it is not good for harmony & balance with nature. It is one of the un-answered question in my head. Question are endless, answer are non-convincing. We can think, write what we feel but ultimately we will do whatever is expected of us (i.e. consume more).

Facebooks' "Draw the Muhammad (PBUH) " campaign : A step Backward

This has been very disappointed week after a long time. Not because of Kites but because of other issue namely “Draw Muhammad campaign on Facebook”. Pakistan’s “ban on Facebook” received the aggressive condemnation from Indian media, as expected. Everyone was using key words “freedom of speech” to justify their stand on the debates running on News Channels. Reason behind Pakistan banning the Facebook was campaign “Draw Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)” started on facebook. When everyone blames Pakistan for over reacting, none of them raise the core issue. Core issue should have been “if it is OK to Murder someone’s sentiment on the name of “Freedom of speech” rather than “whether Pakistan did the right thing”. There are so many other things that Pakistan does which affects India. Those issues are more important to us, as Indians. Pakistan banning a website is not an issue of that importance (at least not from India’s prospective).


Coming back to real issue, First of all we, as mature adults, should understand all religions are not same. Because had they call been same, they would not have called the so different in implementation, concept of GOD etc. 1 thing permissible in one might be forbidden in another. It is ok to be different. Problem occurs when we start assuming them to be same. Painting a Goddess is not a big deal in Hinduism, Infact we grow up watching Mahabharata on Doordarshan. Forget about objections about that, it was matter of pride for Hindu Brothers. Hinduism has history of using Idol, Statue, portrait & other visual medium in faith. Similarly, portrait of Guru Nanak is found in most of the Sikh Homes. Church & Christians’ homes have Jesus’ Famous crucifix (Jesus nailed to cross). But it is totally forbidden in Islam to use any visual medium (Idol, Painting, Photo, statue, cartoon, movie etc) for ALLAH or Prophets (including Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)). Infact using any visuals for ALLAH or his messengers threatens the very base of Islam. You will not see a single visual anywhere in Islamic culture (be it place of worship, home or otherwise). Those who are ignorant or not aware about Islam might see this issue as tiny. But followers of Islam will know gravity of situation. One can realize that issues like “cloths person should wear” don’t attract that much attraction from Muslim World, because their gravity is not as strong as “drawing a cartoon of Prophet”. This issue threatens the very base of Islam, & its condemnation is not only overreaction by Muslims but a natural reaction considering the importance of this issues. I have never written about Fatwa being issued daily on “whether one can listen to music, watch a movie & blah blah” as those issues are very minor in magnitude when compared to cartoon issue.

If it is OK to paint, making statue or draw cartoons in one religion, does it mean other religion should follow the same? Liberalisation is when we respect & accept the different point of view from our own. We should stop seeing others from our point of view, instead try to understand the differences very well & live peacefully thereafter. I strongly believe that campaigns like this will further widen the gulf between faiths. It is not Liberalisation, it is exactly the opposite. I know society is changing with time but I am not sure about its direction (Is it Conservative to Liberalisation or other way?), I seriously doubt it is later.

Kites is all Hype(s). Hrithik Roshan as Repeat Roshan (Repeatative Hide & seek)

It is weekend again. The day, I need not to awaken by alarm. Normally working class people in cities live for weekends. Weekend is symbol of freedom for many people. But for me weekend brings mix emotions of Happiness, satisfaction & sadness. On the one hand weekend means no work, No alarm, no deadlines & this blog (Happier side). On the other hand, I feel sad as weekend seems to come too fast now-a-days. It sounds little unusual since most of “Working class” complains of short weekend & not coming fast enough. Sad part of my emotion is, Faster the time (seems to) flies, faster you are growing old & less time left to do whatever you want to do (which I am not even clear about yet). I today’s time there is very little an Introvert, financially not-so-strong, shareef (i.e. decent) guy can do on the weekend. He can sleep, eat somewhere or watch a movie (in theatre). This weekend decided to catch Kites, it was a big release with Hype. I recommended Kites to friends (& as always happen, if you recommend something, you have to arrange for that) I had to book the tickets. We went for 12.15am show, hoping Kites will fly high in sky. But we were left disappointed because we had sacrificed our sleep for that late Kites show (Oops late Night show). I was even more disappointed when my friends refuse to pay me back (for tickets). I got the well deserve punishment for recommending the movie like Hypes (sorry!! I mean Kites). Kites was 40% English, 30% Spanish & 30% Hindi. It was about the Locations, body, beauty, looks, Ishtyle. All looks good even you have story to back it. Audience should feel the emotionally attached to characters to digest such a movie. It was a road chase, Hrithik & Barbra Mori were playing hide & seek LITERALLY. They hide at ten different locations & bad guy/COP always manages to found them & interestingly they manage to escape each time (some fire exchange & similar chase). It was just too repetitive. They repeated the hide & seek plot so many times that i thought it was watching Repeat Roshan & not Hrithik roshan.Funniest part is Kites non-existing story is written by 3 writers. Hope they were Righter not only writers. I love to thrash the movies. After kites, I have concern about Rajneeti now. I am in “Watch or Not-to-Watch” dilemma about rajneeti now !!!!

Rare species : Indian Teenager in Dubai Public Bus

I notice a rare species in Dubai Public Bus Today.i saw an Indian Teenager Boy in bus. In first place, I never realize that that it is a rare thing until today. When i saw a 12 years old Indian boy , it felt little odd. I look around the bus & there was no other kid of his age. I start thinking why it is feeling odd to me. I have to find my answer anyhow, so i wear my (virual) logic cap & lost into deep thoughts & analysis (yes! i do analyse random things often). Then i realizes It is not everyday that you see some indian teenager in public bus in dubai. Next Logical step was to find out the reasons behind it. Most of the people Travelling in bus are 20-50 years old, almost 99% of them. Most of them come here to work. so Naturally more productive age group is 20-50. But normally man in his 40s will be having some teenager kids. Logic was simple & plain. Most of people who travel in bus earn less than say 8000 dirhams PM. So thier families will be back home in India & those who earn enough to support family & kids can definately afford a car. Affording is Car is much cheaper than keeping a family in the city (with school going teenager even difficult). you move from "Can afford a car" to "can afford keeping a family without (school going) kids" to "Can afford keeping a family with teenagers". Time you are in third bracket, you have passed the first bracket (Afford a Car). Hardly a teenager subcontinent whose family does not own a car (it is like saying person having Car in india will be having a mobile also, in all probability). that was the reason why it is such a rarity. My feed my logic hungry mind & get down at next stop. I raised the Question & got answer by myself. In that sense it was even more Satisfactory.(amazing how it do wonder ur your self respect when most of your Question are answered by none other than yourself).

Twitter : New Age Communication medium or Merely a Luxury

Often my weekend time pass also include reading celebrity tweets. Today was a similar day too. After logging, I read tweets to feed my gossip hunger. After that I noticed how one celebrity just mentioned that her phone battery is low. Her Battery status was instantly known by all her followers, including me. Call it Power of technology, Public’s obsession with celebs or whatever. But technology has made it possible & feasible to interact & reach the stars. Indian Metro’s middle class is getting more obsessed to celebrity culture. Technology has removed all 4 dimensions from communication. 3 locations dimension & forth time dimension has been totally eliminated. People in Delhi, Dubai, London, and Germany all are as close as person next to me (i.e. just a click away) so space dimension are obsolete. There is no time frame also, it is all in real time (Instantly). As far as I want, I can know easily about star (as much as celebs/others are willing to share).


All this pushed me into a sort of Moral dilemma. I might be getting closer to those geographically away. But I don’t know where most of my school friends are. Why technology is not allowing me to interact with them. I can’t communicate to my childhood school friends because they are not on twitter, they don’t have internet in first place.

I will love the luxury of knowing whereabouts of SRKs. But first I need necessity of communicating with family & not-so-rich friends through economical & feasible technology. Necessity should always be affordable & available to all. Luxury might be expensive. Which is not the case here. I can’t see a point in knowing about SRK when I had not talked to my sister for 5 days.

This brings me to most important question. Is It Twitter’s fault? Definitely not. It is my decision & my fault (if it is at all). Best possible way will be when I can enjoy both with equal ease. When can we see Pro-poor technology for communication? Is internet sole way for better communication? Can we not make something which is for masses? Something which is not only affordable, easily available but also required minimum skills to operate. Internet might be ‘taken for granted’ thing for few metro based peoples, but it is still a rarity at least in India. Forget about internet, more than 1 billion people in world don’t have access to electricity even today. Most of them are in Africa & south Asia obviously. More than One third of India’s population live below poverty line. They are many decades away from internet. We need something which has more reach than web based communication. Telecommunication is field, in which technology has raised the people’s living standard more than any other technology in last two decades. Indian lower middle class is slowly getting access to mobile phones, thanks to competition open market & tight regulation in the sector. I really wish it keep up the pace & let more be benefitted from it & not only the selected few economically strong. Communication is very important tool for empowerment of people. Government can’t construct roads connecting every village in next 10 years; it is financially & logistically very big. But Communication can be improved much easily & faster.

Long live SRKs. Long live twitte. Long Live India. Long live poors. Long live peace.

Indian Media Test & Results. News Channel or Views Channel.

I took a surprise test of Indian Media today. The moment i was back from Office, i switched on TV as usual. But i made my mind & decide that News channel which will not be running Ayesha-shoaib story will be my Favourite channel. Some channels were not eligible in that. I have high regards for some channels. But Surprise is a surprise & commitment is a commitment.To my surprise Times Now was running the same ayesha-shoaib story, being a channel on my good books. I gave them extra time of 2-3 Minutes & convince myself it might be just coincidense that time when i tuned in channel was running thier 1 minute reporting. But when it continued for more than 5 minutes. I quit & honoured my self commitement. Times Now is no more on my good books by default. It have to earn my respect all over again.
Mood changed, so did channel.Next on radar is NDTV 24x7. They were discussing Food Security with good panel of people. I watched for good 5 minutes, partially because i want to know about food security & mainly because i want to know real mentality of channel. Whether they will come back to same story everyone is running. they didn't. Full Marks.
NDTV india was third under scanner. They were discussing how media is slowly starting to pass judgement. Nice issue raised. Full marks again.

NDTV is my Favourite channel. May be Time(s) to change Now. I will watch News channel who reports. Not Views Channel who give judgement. Media Terrorism is going on. No one can Control. only complains.

Sania-Shoaib-Ayesha : Biggest Entertainer from India Media.

I was busy on my Laptop, catching up some pending internet gossips, which i missed during last 2 days away from Internet due to exams. Friend was watching TV, strange music from TV got my attention, this sound was mix of Suspense music & some romantic song playing in background (weird combination). I turned my eyes to TV to find out more about the sound & music. I could see clip, which i guessed was from latest Romantic Comedy suspense thriller from Bollywood. But Wait a Minute! It is not. Infact it is a News Channel & I can recognize this voice even if i hear it now & than, More than reporter it sounds like a C grade dubbing. After all it is India TV (If you don’t know, u better not). This channel has very been the same, whenever i tuned to India TV (Once in 2 months or so) They were always telling same brand new story, how "World will end in 2012" or "Pak will be finished by 2015". They always present them as Movie with anchors playing actors. Welcome to free & Liberal Indian media, News are scriptted here, dialogue are written to suite target groups. TRP is for a news channel what profit is for a company. It all that matters.

I normally prefer watching IPL matches in the evening. But this accidental discovery changed my mood. Once again today is a day when I watch TV for research rather than entertainment & information. I do this once in a while & see what is going around in media, what my fellow indians are being forced to watch. Has there been any improvement, how things are changing.

I must appreciate the director, script & dialogue writer for their good work in news channels. If models can act why cant anchors. News are not judged for unbiased here, they are judged on presentation & selection of news. So Today's plot is time tested formula of love triangle "Sania-shoaib ki shaadi".

What i saw on screen was anchors dressed with black coats claiming to be the lawyer of Sania & Shoaib (or Ayesha & Shoaib?).

6 persons are sitting *acting* as witnesses/audience/judges/supporters. 3 on each side to be fair to both. Screen behind anchors (lawyers) shows Sania on half portion, Shoaib on other half with their defending lawyers (or Liars?) standing on their respective client side. Most of witnesses were pan chewing Imam's of various Masjids of Delhi. Proceeding started with Shoaib lawyer claiming how his client hasn't done anything wrong & asked one of his supports to intervene. Opposition lawyer corrected him in well directed, well written act claiming she too have her supporters & asked one of the Maulana to prove how Nikah nama is Right.
Enough! I do care for society but there is limit to torchor I can bear. Even most professional criminals can’t bear tolerance. Channel changed & I took a breath of fresh air.

Is it Commercialization of TV, Free Media, Lowest standard of news or Masala News feeding its targeted Audience? Whatever name is given it is really in bad taste.

Channel Changed to some "Live India", if i am not mistaken it is same channel which was banned due to fake string operation. This channel targeted another audience group, It claim to show "Sania's story by herself" titled "Sania ki kahani sania ki zubaani". Reporter start speaking "I am sania, I start playing tennis at 4 etc..." what surprise me more was what was shown on screen. It shows hottest picture of sania available on net. Imagine a sexiest picture of sania in some awkward situation running on screen & voice behind says I start playing at 4. (whats the purpose?). Focus is not on telling sania's Biography (channel knew few will be interested in it). Purpose is showing sexiest sania picture to audience to whom internet is not available.

AajTak claim to sabse fake (or is it tez?). It runs a latest video shoot at sania's residence. Although there is nothing clearly visible in 15 sec long video clip, same Video is repeated for 15 minutes with anchor shouting "you can see here sania....." making u believe her more than your own eyes. It’s only you who can’t see anything other than some shadow, rest can see it all.

Research must go on. so Channel is changed again. End up at Zee News; here some KRK is blaming Sania Mirza of being a deshdrohi. She remind the viewers how Pakistani peoples made fun of Indians when Rina Roy married Mohsin Khan. He repeated how Pakistanis used to tease Indians "Indians can’t take care of their daughters". He doesn’t want this to happen again. No Matter how hard I try to see things from other perspective, I couldn't imagine his argument at all. Free Liberal modern society might not need censorship. But after watching it, I agree with our politicians, we better censor media from showing the crap & claiming it to be News.

I think Sania deserves a royalty form all these channels who has gained 2-3 days of TRP due to her. She deserves it.

I want to close it on Vir sanghvi Quote on same issue "A young girl is getting married. That should be an occasion for joy. Instead we are turning it into an excuse to spew hatred". I agree with him it is not a matter of national Intrest. Its matter of people's personal life.

Irony being People who treat this as personal matter (Vir Sanghvi or Myself) are also one who are writing about it. Discussing it. It will become personal matter the moment its TRP will drop & public will be sort of bored of it. Sachin should not retire as long as he is scoring runs. Similarly It Media should not drop the issue as long as it is scoring (i.e. Geeting TRP).

It is simple Business & economics. GOD Bless Sania (more than Sania, God Bless India & its Media).

Going Green: The IPL Way

When IPL-3 Started, Ravi Shashtri & Lalit Modi were proudly annoucing IPL is Going Green. Unaware of fact that Going Green Doesn't mean Making chearleaders wear green cloths or painting the stadium green. IPL is gone Green by reducing pollution through use of Post match Fire works. But when it comes to IPL, everything is fair. No one can complain not even media. It was BCCI who first outgrown ICC, Now its IPL term to outgrow BCCI.
I wonder if IPL will celebrate WORLD EARTH HOUR by Switching off flood lights on World Earth Day between 8:30 - 9:30pm. Come one IPL you are going green, after all. Non sense. IPL Rocks But It is not Green for sure.

IPL 3 : Cricket, Business & Entertainment (Cricetainess) .

It is time for Biggest entertainment event (Oops Sporting too) of india. Lalit Modi is Better Entertainer than Aditya Chopra. Aditya often fail to entertain People. IPL is like a movie whose ending is unknown but has the guarantee to be superhit. Cricket in India is such a passion if make BCCI overgrow its Parent body ICC. Now i fear IPL will outgrow BCCI. This has surely turnes out to be much bigger than most of us anticipated. Event is so long, 60 matches to be played (unlike World cup where india will feature in max 10 matches), still people doesn't seems to get enough of it. Biggest challenge of IPL were not its marketing or creating IPL a brand, but to retain the brand value. We have seen so many Promising event fading away in matter of days. In true sense, no one can afford a fail or even moderate IPL. No much has been put on stake on that. It has got Glamour of Bollywood, Adventure of Sport & funds of Business. Fact that almost all 8 teams are, more or less of same standard it make all the games close, intense & thriller. It is not only better than daily soaps but Reality shows also. When it comes to TRP, no one can withstand with IPL.
Gone are the days when cricket was Young Men's Passion alone. It is for children, Parents, Grandparents, Girls, ladies...Just everyone. I am yet to find a person who is not happy with IPL (except few parents whose child may be having exams). On politics front, i think Lalit Modi has outgrown Sharad Pawar now by many miles. Modi is one cricket administrator to look out for. No wonder in 2008, sports magazine Sports Pro ranked him at number 17 in the Power List of global figures connected with sports.Time Magazines July 2008, lists him no 16 in their listing of Best Sports Executives in the World for 2008. Not to mention Rs 8700 crores deal with Sony for 10 years. 8700 crores................Huh.............i take few seconds for mind even to process the amount. Only Milestone left is IPL surpassing English football league.
Great going India.

ParliaMENt is ParliaWOMENt now! "Women reservation Bill passed in Parliament".

Parliament has passed the "Women reservation Bill". It is point of discussion everywhere, Is it the Best women day gift or step in wrong direction. Somewhere down i have the feeling that only "Too conservatives" & "Too liberals" are opposing it. Moderate, liberals are supporting it. From Lalu mulayam to Top Women CEOs are opposing it. Conservatives opposing bill is expected & Too Liberals also don’t want women to beg for respect. Earning respect is better than demanding it. By giving reservation government itself is making women feel inferior, women will think of themselves as someone who need to be provide reservation to get enough representation. Reservation is synonym for weakness & inability to compete.


Empowering women is not just about giving them representation in parliament. Power should be in real sense not merely symbolic. I am sure this will trigger the Bahu, beti & Biwi politics. Everyone will be filing their wives for MP. I wonder if tag "Wife of xyz" will ever disappear from our future women MPs.

No. of women in top position doesn’t translate into women empowerment in society neither does lack of it translate into woman non-empowerment. Those who argue that might consider this. USA never had women president in history, till yesterday no female director won OSCAR. On the other hand Bangladesh has been ruled by women in last decade. Top leader of both major parties of Bangladesh are women namely sheikh haseena & Khalida Zia. Both are Prime ministers of Bangladesh more than once.

Does above mention facts make woman of Bangladesh more empowered than those of US, certainly NOT. Our Politicians don’t seems to understand that till now.

We need the respect for woman not the reservations. Having said that, if reservation is not provided for women. Will that change the scenario?

I think reservation might not be the best way to achieve that. But without bill can we expect women empowerment in coming decade.

Either way it is not going to work till mindset is changed socially. Bill is of little help for women in long run (Be it Bill Clinton or Bill of women reservation).

Reservation Bill will not put the women on any disadvantage, but it will not be of great help either.

India has become the first country to pass such bill. Let’s see how it turns out to be.

My Name is NOT Khan & I am an Engineer.

It has been too long since i saw "My Name is Khan (MNIK)". It is almost useless now to write about it since Movie has done its business & Now it is out of news. No one will watch/escape it based on my reviews. But then I question Myself honestly "Had i written this long time ago, could i have change anyone's perception". Answer is NO (No one read my blogs unless forced to). So my review about MNIK will have same effect if written now or even if written 5 years later (i.e. No effect).

Let's salute SRK, Karan for their Noble intensions, bold subject & effort to bring tolerance into society. Movie has offer some good lessons to society for sure. It deals with sensetitive issue & tried to bridge gap between communities. Message is simple & clear "Follow your religion but love everyone". Saddest part is that movie fails on Entertainment front (which is very purpose of all movies). Movie has Noble intensions, No doubt about that. but Noble intensions should not be on the cost of entertainment, which seems to be the case with MNIK. Sorry Karan you are yet to master this art. Raju hirani seems to be best in business when it comes to "Conveying message without compromising entertainement front". Hirani's all 3 offering so far has done that beautifully be it Munnabhi MBBS, Lage Raho Munnabhai or 3 idiots.
Hats off to him, Saddest part for movie is when another movie is praised in movie's review.
It is proved that karan johar is not raju Hirani (atleast to me). Had MNIK not starred SRK, Kajol & not directed by KJo, It am sure it would have not been even a HIT on box office. Call it Charm of Stars or Immaturity of Audience. Quality of movie is not the biggest factor in its success afterall. Movie owe its success to SRK, KJo, Kajol & Offcourse Bal Thakery (Not to its script, Direction or screenplay).
I still prefer 3 idiots over 3 intellectuals (SRK, KJo & Kajol).

A.R. Rehman : Grammy Award Winner (Proud Moment for India?)

SuperMan, Batman, Spiderman all be aside, here comes the Reh-MAN. Now Rehman has won 2 Grammy awards. He won Oscar, BAFTA critics’ award & Golden Globe already. I don’t need to say anything else Award list says it all. Man is really a power house of talent. From "Roza" to "Slumdog millionaire" he has come a long way. That's all the praising words I have for the genius.


Let me confess one thing, I struggle with "words of praise" for everyone. I am natural critic after all. I am more comfortable criticizing the people than praising them.

Let me start. I agree that rehman deserve all the awards given to him. But don't his music well enough in "Roza, Dil se & Taal". But there is a twist in the tale. You need to work in Hollywood movies to get recognition. It is not a bias, just the fact. Like we don’t give Filmfare to "Titanic" or "Brave heart", similarly only one slot is available for all foreign films in Oscars that is "Best foreign films". There is no other exclusive Oscar for "Best music, Best director, Best actor" for foreign film category.

Having said that, music & other art is immeasurable. There is no unit of music. What seems right to me may be good for others.

I am feeling like saying whose silly lines "Proud to be an Indian". But sometime these lines make me feel inferior. If we (Indians) not felt so inferior, Will we repeat it again & again? I don’t think so.

More inferior you feel about your country, more you will utter those lines. I will see more Kenyan saying "We are proud of being Kenyan" than an American saying the similar thing about US.

It doesn't mean "I should not be proud of India", but it should be more from within than on tongue.

India, country of 1 billion people goes crazy when an Indian wins a Olympic gold medal & rightly so as that was first time that India won individual gold in Olympic. On the other hand an American (Michelle Philips) was winning Gold medal everyday in different swimming styles.

Now poet in me whispering into my mind, Importance of a thing lies in its rarity. Isn’t it?

Ishqiya : Movie to watch out for

I watched Ishqiya last weekend. What a pleasure to watch it, Debutant Director Abhishek chobey was excellent, although Vishal Bhardwaj's sign were clearly visible in direction. Dialogue were the soul of ishqiya. My favorite being


1. when Krishna (vidya) tell khalujaan "tum dono mein zameen aasman ka farq hai, Khalujaan replied Hindu musalman ka farq hai". This one dialogue shows how communal mind you have. This signifues that difference between Faith is far more than between earth & sky.



2. when krishna says "zara ka jhoote bhi nahin keh sakte". khalujaan replied "Mard hoon na".

Krishna asked "aurat hote to". Khalujaan clarifies "Pari hoon ya tawayaf maloom hi nahin padta".



3. When Arshad's charactor says "Kya khalu, tumhara isk isk aur hamara isk seyks".


This is just a few. Movie was dark humour with excellent performances & direction. Nice story well told. Only thing is "it should be limited to adults only". It should come with a tag "keep away from children's reach".

Vishal Bhardwaj & director abhishek chobey both hail from UP. It helps them a lot in dialogue writing & portraying the eartern UP nicely. Movie also shows "Upper - lower caste differences well enough to feel it". movie might be little vulgar in dialogue but it is very well told story. which give messages without making it boring. Dark humour , Intelligent movie but with vulgar language.