Overdose of ..... Death !

I have been watching Final Destination and its sequels over the past few days. While I really liked the first part, the rest two appear as if each character was playing with a Rube Goldberg machine whose main purpose was to kill !!

Have a wonderful new year (2)007 !!

Kaun Banega...

Amitabh ka replacement??

Ans: Looks like its going to be SRK!!

So, be prepared for Ka-Ka-Ka-Kaun Banega Crorepathi ;-) style anchoring by our very beloved SRK!!

If only spying was as ....

easy and glamorous as potrayed in our bond flicks, but guess it is not so in real life. Paper detectives defy all odds and emerge winners. But the stark reality is THIS.

Munnabhai meets Hippocrates ??

Hmm no one believed Mr. Murali Prasad Sharma a.k.a Munnabhai when he told that Anand Banerjee was very much alive. Every one including our J .(DOT) Asthana ridiculed Munna saying that he was wrong.. BUT this proves Munnabhai is correct !! Ain't it ?

Lagey Raho MunnaBhai !!

An Ode to Pluto!

Today we stand a bit more farther from the "erstwhile" farthest planet of our solar system - Stripped of its status as a planet Pluto stands out a bit more alone in the space tonight. This must hurt ! I mean having been a member of a family for as long as 76 years and suddenly being told that you never belonged to it by a voting done by a miniscule group of nerds half away across the galaxy, boy that must hurt. My heart goes out for you dear - Pluto ! ( Only the Big B from the movie Laawaris might know how it feels to unbelong)

Let me see - how will the age old mnemonic ("My very educated mother just showed us nine planets") to remember the planet order - change ? Will it soon become "My very educated mother just showed us nothing....." ??

And by the way whoever thought the voting that happened in Prague was fair and free, think of this - there was not even a single representative from any of the other members of the solar system ?? Not even our very own martians! I mean how can this be a democractic form of selection when the entire community is not equally represented ?

The only way out is for Pluto to stand up and get itself counted ( probably start some non-violent movement against this injustice) or give birth to some "Superman" just like Krypton did to get into the solar system's(atleast box office) notice or get adopted to other star systems. I am sure having been a member of the elite "Solar System" for this long must be a wonderful qualification on Planet Pluto's resume! Dear Pluto, Believe me, you are the most eligible planet out there!! Now is the time to sing along the great song of Bob Marley - "Get Up Stand Up".

This will be a trial by fire but I sincerely hope that pluto will come out of this as a better planet and better space citizen. Our prayers are with you Pluto.

But for now it is just Good Bye. Take Care!

Lest we forget!

There are lot of things that the Indian culture boasts of, but as it has been often said - we tend to forget the richness, greatness of our heritage. So when a thought about one of the things I have always been fascinated flashed in my mind, I knew what exactly to do - Blog it :-) !

The thought was "Avadhaanam". Avadhaanam is a sanskrit word meaning - "Concentration". This is a literary feat which WAS famous in Andhra and Karnataka. Avadhaanams have traditionally been staged in poetry, music, dance, astrology, chess and mathematics. A person who performs this literary feat is called "Avadhaani" - meaning a person who has the ability to handle a number of literary tasks at the same time.

A more detailed account of Avadhaanam and its various forms can be found here

Lets imbibe the richness of this art..... lest we forget.

Newspapers - Rated R??

A lazy sunday morning in the, not so distant future, I get out of my bed, open the door of my apartment and there is a the huge ream of newspaper outside my house. As I approach to pick it up - I notice that there is something strange about the newspaper, instead of the usual front page there's a huge white plastic sheet covering the contents of the daily dose of news and the following is written on it:

Rated R*** for depictions/images of intense violence, bloodshed, sexual torture. Not advisable for children. Might result in serious mental disturbance. Discretion advised while perusing the contents enclosed. Please discard in the unwarranted community newspaper dumpster if inappropriate and get your money back!

Disclaimer: Times of Dystopia, Neverland
*** The last PG rated edition of Times of Dystopia can be obtained from your local library.

Sounds strange ? But it does not, atleast to me. It has become very usual to see newspapers ridden with all the news of mayhem all over the world. Last week itself there was such gore in the front pages, that the news left in me a pocket of sadness through the day. I know I am being a "chicken" but the news did disturb me at a very deep level.

So should we start censoring the news that flows into our homes ? I know this sounds absolutely absurd because news is supposed to be stark and absolutely clear to the minutest detail. But our society also has sections who have various levels of acceptance/tolerance levels which need to be catered to.

This might make you question that in such a case most of the citizens of the world might remain uninformed about the exact state of world affairs. Well!! with the advancement in personal liberties and laws... may be we will have a "Right to be NOT Informed". What say ?

Dipping unemployment rates !!

News from really trusted sources states that the unemployment rates in places in and around the metropolitan areas of Mumbai and New York have hit an all time LOW !!

Digging more deep .. I found the real reason...........

Hmm another maha movie of Karan Johar(KJ) - Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna !! True to his trademark he has every guy and his son in this movie ( pun intended!! ). So if you are around NY/MUM and you are still unemployed.. you know whose door to knock ;-) Don't forget to take your family with you for the interview.. because after all, its all about "family" when you are talking about Karan Johar ;-) and BTW have your first name start with K. for example if your name is Vijay you could change that to Kvijay and you have 2000% employability with Karan or perhaps even with other "K-ayo-philes" like Ekta Kapoor :))

Jokes apart.. I am really rooting for this movie.. not really coz I like KJ's style but coz I love Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) to death. Its been kind of a gap since I have seen something big from the King Khan...!! I wish/hope/pray that SRK gives us a HUGE entertainer. Go Go SRK!!

P.S: Just listening to the music of Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. Its OK and stands just above average. ( atleast for now.. ) There are obvious attempts to model it around the "Kal Ho Na Ho" music. Sonu Nigam again gives it all in the title track which I think has the mettle to get on you after some listening though. More updates coming - stay tuned...!!

Reincarnation - Why Believe it ?

Anyone who has seen movies like Karz(Hindi) or the original english version "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud" must have a taste of what the concept of reincarnation is. Simply speaking you come back to this world after you are dead and you remember whole lot of what happened to you in the past life. Hmm Creepy isn't it ?

Now the other day I was watching a review of 'The Incovenient Truth'. This movie tries to potray the damage mankind has done to the ecology and its effects like global warming etc. After watching I just dismissed this dystopian potrayal saying that nothing huge is happening around me atleast during my lifetime.. So why should I worry ? It will be a long long time before some real changes happen that will drastically impact the day to day life of us. So ALL is well atleast for now.

Then I thought what if I am present in the days when the world is a mess!! by a chance reincarnation !!! Then a sudden sense of accountability of my actions seemed obvious.

-Would everyone be as reckless if he/she knows that he will surely be part of the holocaust in the future ?
-Would he/she take more thought before doing something damaging to our home - this world ?

Sounds good right! In times where the school books are hugely influenced by policies of the governments..
-Why don't we instill a sense of responsibility in the people through this concept ?
-Why not have something in the curriculum say if you are being bad to this world - thats going to return to you ?

Mull over this!

In a nutshell:
"What We Do In Life Echoes In Eternity" ~ Maximus in the movie Gladiator

Got a cam phone.. Get into action.. NOW!

Last week I saw lots of mails doing the rounds that there were lots of protests/support marches across India regarding the reservations issue. The surprising element however was that many of the mails stated that main stream media was not covering lot of the news and they are being forced not to ! which I felt to be very disturbing.

If that is true, what can we do to get the truth out to light?

We can do a lot really.. So to speak. The answer being Citizen Journalism. Almost many of us have the luxury/luck/fortune to have simple tools like DigiCams or Phone with cameras.. simple cassette voice recorders. We can always trap the happenings ( good and bad ) and send them to media attention or simply post on sites like http://www.nowpublic.com/ and many more. Ofcourse you can always have your blog featuring this news. I know some blogs have a huge loyal readership. So its not always upto the main stream media to cover or not to cover stories. Now YOU can take control.

So, what are you waiting for.. Go and Get 'em!

Just as they say "If you see something.. Say Something".

Tussle of the masses!

Last few months I couldn't but sit up and take attention of political and economic developments across both sides of the Pacific. I mean the U.S and China. Let me also slip in India.

The striking thing has to be - the tangles between the policies of governments and private companies operating in the land.

In China it all started with big software companies and search companies bowing down to the demands of the government in terms of censoring the internet. There was a lot of uproar against these decisions all over the world.

While in India it was the issue of reservation in the private companies which picked up a lot of dust and ate up lots of newsprint.

More recently in the US, some telecom companies had to provide a huge collection of phone conversation records of their customers to the government as a measure to sense the terrorist activity across US. I believe that there must have been lot of discomfort for the telecom companies to share this info. But this had to done.

From these developments, it follows that the corporate boardrooms across the world have now to start taking the local governments very seriously. Just as these companies have a great say in the political arena, the same holds the other way round.

But the interesting aspect of this entire tussle, is that both the institutions - Governments and the Companies - are democratically represented in many cases. While governements are represented by politicians elected by people, the companies also are in many cases controlled by corporate leaders hugely influenced by the shareholders.

Hence by making this fight more transparent I think the issues of concern can be addressed in the best of the best manner. By transparent I mean each institution be it the Governments or the corporate houses should garner inputs from all the stake holders to make the final outcome the best possible one.

Hmm do I have case here ?

Coincidence!

Another weekend has ended and a real hectic week is staring right at me.

I was just thinking about why I had gone out of my way and promised something to my client by an impossible deadline. I was doing a post mortem of my decision..

Then.. then.. this happened...

I logged on to Orkut to see this as my "Today's fortune":
"Promise only what you can deliver"
I am surprised at the coincidence of this!!

and whether I have done the right thing or otherwise.. hmm only time will decide!! ;-)

Wish me luck :-) and Have a great week ahead!!

Vov!!

I love anything "Wachowski". So I was eagerly waiting for V for Vendetta for sometime now and lemme tell you I was not let down by the maestros. Though I wouldnot rate this alongside the mindboggling Matrix Trilogy, it did stir a lot of my grey cells.

The excellent points of the narrative being
- Awesome potrayal of V by Hugo Weaving and Evey by Natalie Portman
- Symbolisms/allusions - to Number 5 ( which is roman "V" ) [ I always like to see/read stuff which you can keep coming back to and discover something new on each such attempt ]
- Excellent dialogues [ This is NO surprise in W'ski bro' film ]
I will certainly rate the following dialogue to be among the best, which happens when V survives a flurry of bullets from Creedy and his men. It goes like this......

Creedy: Die! Die! Why won't you die?! ...Why won't you die?
V: Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.

Truly it was a fitting adaptation of the comic character !!

Check this dialogue by V while introducing himself to Evey:

"Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V. "

Boy!! a huge dose of "V" !! VOV!! Aint it ? [ Total of 40 words starting with V, the entire dialogue starts and ends with V !!]

For more stuff check out:
Wikipedia Link

Something for the weekend?

Atlast it was really becoming unmanageable and it was effecting my vision and my listening capacity drastically. I needed to do something quick. Desperate situations demand desperate steps... right?

So I finally stepped to a nearby Barber shop....

Well it was my overgrown tress that I was talking about. The experience of getting my hair cut gives me jitters equivalent to yearly appraisals and driving blindfolded on a freeway [ not that I have tried that ;-) ]. The very idea of sitting unarmed + well wrapped inside a tough sheet of tarpaulin when your adversary is all armed with best of razor-edge technology is really frightening. Isn't it ? It is for me atleast.

Though I go through this ritual every 3 weeks its always a bit awkward especially at the end of it as I sometimes feel some of the barbers around my place are a bit against the desi coming in for a haircut.. some of them are prejudiced that there will be no tips! Though I make it a point to reward good service.. but the preconceived notion takes the fun out of it.. they DON'T remember you so even if you tip the barber after the haircut the damage for the day has already been done and you are bound to get the same treatment the next time around!!

But out of all this rather itchy experience I manage to find this Mark Twain's short story on encounters with the barbers very funny and absolutely TRUE!!!

and by the way checkout what it means when the barber says "Something for the weekend?" especially if you are getting your haircut in UK !!!

M

The other day I happened to visit one of the"must-sees" in NYC - The Metropolitan Museum of Art referred to as the "M". I should say that it is really a good place for art lovers.

The major attractions include:

- The temple of Dendur - an Egyptian structure reconstructed in the museum. This monument just will give you a taste of what it is like being in Egypt! The Egyptian galleries contain a lot of sculptures, paintings and engraved pottery of the Egyptians.

[ The front view of Temple of Dendur ]
- The American Art galleries - I will have to say that the paintings section is the best. Some of them are really awesome.
[ Observe the clarity with which the reflection is drawn!! ]

- The Asian art galleries - These are just good in the sense the collection is just OK. You will still get a tinge of the great Indian, Japanese and Chinese art.
[ Lord Vishnu ]
[ A large mural painting of Lord Buddha ]

But by and far my observation has been that any great art be it a huge Chinese mural or a high relief sculpture of European era or a grand painting of Americans or an absolutely stunning sculptures of Indians or a miniature art of the Persians, all of them involve a lot of passion, dedication and something that is above the ordinary human.. Something ethereal .. Something Godly in manner.. Hats off to their artistic genius!

To say it in the true bard's style

"What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!............."