Rock On! and Jaane Tu...

I know when I write about Rock On!, I would not be the first one (or the last) to write about it. At this coming at the time when I should be writing about the Bomb blasts in Delhi and Pakistan or the Bajranj dal hud-dang in the name of protecting Hinduism. May be, I am writing this because a friend's wife told me that she thought of me when she saw Farhan Akthar (I wonder why no unmarried women is telling me this!!!). Or maybe because of the wide eyed, sugary sweet Prachi Desai.

But really, I just had to write about it. So obviously, it seems that I liked the movie.

I think people have written peans about the movie. How they liked the characterization and the plot and the script. Some people felt that the movie was long.

I am writing this because this movie brought back the memories of all those live performances that I have been to. Rock and non-rock. I think there is something about being in presence of music that you can connect to. The sound track of the movie is great. Farhan is no great singer but Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy do a great job of making him pass off as a rocker! And the soundtrack, it just keeps coming back to you. Also, because I believe that there is a huge market for Hindi Rock. I am secretly hoping that some good Hindi rock bands will take the cue and dish out some nice music. And someday, the Hindi rock scene would rival the Japanese rock scene as well (Am telling you some of the Jap songs are just awesome!!)

I also saw Jaane Tu... [I am running a huge backlog on Movies, so please bear!] Again, since this movie has been written about to death, I won't even try to write anything about the movie. I just wanted to mention that this movie has a great music as well. The classics from this album for me are Tu Bole, Main Boloon and Kahin to Hogi woh. I especially love the Rahman's rendition of Tu Bole. I think the last two songs that he has sung were just about ok (Khwaja mere -Jodhaa Akbar and Tere Bina - Guru) - as far as his singing is concerned. But with Tu bole, its pure Magik!

Recommending

Would really like to recommend the Faking News blog. Really loved its coverage of the contemporary news items.

Actually wished that I were writing all that. But guess, I have been taking myself too seriously for sometime now.

Reading Two Books in Seven Days

I have started reading again. I mean I am always reading something or the other but lately I have felt have my attention span has been waning. Over the years my concentration has deteriorated and my interest levels have dwindled. At times, I have blamed it on my context and at times on the lack of familiarity with the context of the book and its characters. At times, I think, it might have been sheer fatigue with the written word.

May be I read too much of the dark/sad stuff and the poison slowly seeped into me from the pages. At times, I fear that I am becoming (have become?) one of those lamenting, numb characters from one of those books that I just love. I think therein lies the appeal of those profoundly sad books. They touch something somewhere inside you. And you are startled by it - and if you are lucky, you discover something about yourself. Anyway, as I said, I might have been reading too much of this stuff. So on purpose, I have been laying off such books.

I have changed the kind of books I read. And I think I like this change.

I read the Maltese Falcon and then the City of Djinns. Nice books both of them. I think the vagabond in me liked the city of Djinns. And the Falcon was ok. Then, I started the Moviegoer. It is a book that I have wanted to read for a long time. But as I started it, I realized that it is another of those self-discovery books. Nothing wrong with it. As a matter of fact, it is one of the Time's top 100 books from the last century. But just that these days, I am not in the frame of mind where I can ingest, digest and love such books. So I gave it up mid-way. Maybe, i will pick it up again. Someday!

Then, I started 'The Day of The Jackal'. I told you that I am loving the inane these days. But Forsyth tires me easily. Not with this book but he has done that with aplomb in the past. So for no reason, I gave up reading this book midway. Certainly, no reflection of how interesting the book is. Am clarifying here as I do not want any hate mails from the ardent lovers of this book. Like the one who loaned me this book. May be, I will also turn into those who swear by the Jackal sometime down the line!

But last week has been phenomenal. I read two books. And to the readers of this page, I would like to recommend them. Its Not About The Bike by Lance Armstrong and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Murakami.

The former has a significant amount of American showmanship. But even if you normalize it for that, it is a wonderfully inspiring story. And what delights you is the fact that most of what is being said in that book happened. I never knew that Lance came back from death (His Doctors had pegged his chances of survival at lower than 3%!!). You feel the climb up the col du la madone and the chaos from The Tour de France lands right into your room. It sure did fire my imagination in a way that no book has done in a long time.


Then there is the Murakami book. This is a usual Murakami book if you have been reading him for some time. But as a runner ( :-) I think I have earned it!), this book is just delicious. There are things in that book that only runners will understand. And like me, he is also a re-creational runner (Though it seems that he trains harder). So at times, it seems like an intimate conversation. How often do you get that in a sheaf of papers bunched between two hard boards?

The Slight

It might have been so slight that it went unnoticed. Or may be, people did notice but decided against bothering themselves with it.

The Games, as usual, have their own diplomatic element in full flow. It seems so, at least, on the set of things that are close to India. It started off with the invite for the opening ceremony going to Sonia and Rahul. Reaching out to the power center but a slight of no small dimensions to our sovereign head. Of course, this was extensively chronicled and discussed in the media. More in the Hindi/regional newspapers and with a small mention in the English newspapers.

But this thing with Nepal can become disturbing. Deuba, the newly elected president was to go for the closure ceremony of the Olympics. But as soon as, Prachanda (of the CPN - Maoist) was elected Prime Minister, an invite was forwarded to him for attending the closure ceremony. How does it matter?

Nepal has had a strong dependency on India for a lot of things. From trade to defence, India has had a major (not to the liking of the likes of Prachanda at times) role to play in Nepal's affairs. With this kind of change in the leadership in Nepal, things were to change. It seems that China is trying to precipitate the change. We might have to take appropriate diplomatic steps to keep Chinese 'encroachment' under check. The MEA might want to make some right noises that this point in time.

Bhutan is turning into a democracy. It is a state where we have had a strong (at times, intrusive) role to play. It might be a good idea to play our cards right to ensure this relationship does not go the Nepal way.

And what do we do with the slight? Forget it, not sure if anything can be done on that part. Apart from biding our time and taking the odd chance when Taipei is under discussion.

Hopes Of A Golden Olympic

Twenty four years back, China won her first ever gold medal at the 1984 LA Olympics. It was at a shooting event (50m rifle). Will we be the leaders in the medal tally some 24 years down the line? Sounds wishful, at best.

In the year 1984, China took back another 15 gold medals. Of this an amazing six were bagged by Li Ning. Yes, the guy who flew to light up the torch this year. I guess he was the man for the task. It seems that the Chinese had been training for the 1984 performance for years. It was talent supported with a lot of planning, resources and a belief that national pride is strongly co-related with performance at such events.

In contrast, Abhinav Bindra was a lot of ambition supported by a wealthy father. The three boxers, who have given a lot of hope of taking the medal tally beyond the solitary medallion that we already have, have come out of our own sporting system. But at most other sports, we just suck!

May be the time is ripe for privatisation of sports. At some level it is happening anyway. With the LN Mittal Champions trust supporting Archery, Prakash Padukone's Baddy institute is also flush with funds, Apollo tyres supporting tennis and then Hindujas are supporting shooting. Hopefully, other sports will also see more corporates participating in their development. May be, we will be the generation that will be able to tell the generations to come that it all started with the golden moment of 2008.

We may not be the leader at the 2032 Olympics but we would be a force to reckon with. This is dedicated to the hopes of that Golden Olympic!

इंडिया टीवी जिंदाबाद

The enclosed piece was reported over and over again on India TV. Not sure if it was classified as breaking news or not. But if you go by the past record of India TV when saas ne bahu to chappal se maara has been breaking news, this incredibly hilarious news item would have been a day hogging breaking news as well.

Sit back, relax and enjoy!

May be this is based on this 'news item' that was aired on channel 9. Guess someone on the content team of India TV saw this and has become a source of 'sensational' humour for compulsive channel surfers. [I wanted to write - surfers on the boob tube. But the flat panel/ LCD TVs have taken away the most pleasing way of deriding the television].

India TV was at its crass reporting best when they showed some sonographic imprints claiming them to be of the unborn foetus that was in the recent abortion controversy. I guess all this and the Talwar episode would make the News channel develop some kind of self-regulation. I am all for free journalism but this make me feel that some regulation (Self??) might be of help. Hope the present state of freedom in news reporting will not be used by the government to put a regulator in place.

Its high time that the channels wake up to the events and people behind all the breaking news and put some kind of guiding journalistic ethic in place!

The Magical Machine At The Railway Station

So I was at a railway station this month after a long time. And it was such a relief so see the familiar bedlam thrown at myself. After confirming with one of the coolies that the train I was there for is delayed by a good 50 minutes, I decided to buy the platform ticket. But I just could not find the ticket window that sells the platform ticket. As I was running to the other end of the foyer, I saw a bright red machine. I stopped with the relaxed manner that can posess only a person whose sense of haste has just been snatched by a railway coolie.

This machine was such a delight. An automatic platform ticket vending machine. No cash and no credit cards required for Airtel and Relaince customers. For the first time in the last two years, I felt good for being an airtel customer. [Would have written peans about the sad signal quality of airtel in Koramangala if this were a different post]


Simply:

- Send an SMS with text 'pftkt' to a 5-digit number
- Get a code in an SMS from the service provider
- Key the code in the machine and the machine prints out the ticket for you

It was just magical!

The Blasts

Nine explosions in a matter of 15 minutes! One casualty and about a dozen injured. Pathetic is the word. While there is this rude realization that the neighbourhood is not safe, I feel pity for the perpetuaters of this dastardly act. This one feels like an act of haste. Almost as if it has been executed against a almost forgotten deadline.

I do not understand the idea of conducting blasts in the middle of the immigrant country. People from other parts of the country will continue to migrate to Bangalore or any other equivalent city as long as they offer good career opportunities. What objective do they achieve? No bold statement made/ no mass panic. There was a lost of few hrs of productivity at offices but nothing close to what the city saw after rajkumar's death. I really hope this is not some amateur group trying to find it way into 'main-stream' terrorism.

Anyway, I hope that we will spring back in the morning and turn into the ever hungry weekend-consumer of material good and services. A quick recoil to the state of normalcy!

About a Muslim & An Indian And the transformation of an academician

Brilliant Speech by Omar Abdullah supporting the Confidence motion. A speech that lasted hardly 5 minutes but conveyed a lot.

Also, check out the speech of Manmohan Singh. The video will be devoid of audio because our elected representatives did not bother themselves with the task of hearing him out. As a result, the speech was drowned in the boo-ing and demands for his resignation. But this speech is a must read. He takes on Advani, Karat and gang with great finesse. And nothing, absolutely nothing can take away the sharpness (and at times, acerbic) of the speech that ended with the following:

The greatness of democracy is that we are all birds of passage! We are here today, gone tomorrow! But in the brief time that the people of India entrust us with this responsibility, it is our duty to be honest and sincere in the discharge of these responsibilities. As it is said in our sacred texts, we are responsible for our actions and we must act without coveting the rewards of such action. Whatever I have done in this high office I have done so with a clear conscience and the best interests of my country and our people at heart. I have no other claims to make.

Do lookup some of the links on speeches of LK Advani and Pranab Mukherji. Very interesting reads indeed. Advani was all over the place. Though some will claim that he spoke of everything that mattered, I would like to say that his line of thought was unable to find enough buyers. Pranab Mukherji was brilliant. Especially in the way he took on all the allegations head-on and managed to avoid the rhetoric.

When?

When will the tides in the ocean stop...
And, When will I go for that dip!