Main Kasab Ban Jaaunga

I know.... I know you all are missing me... and my posts, of course ! Well, I was busy with my exam preparations. Yes, MBA has semester pattern... Matlab university waalo ko saal mein 2 mauke milte hain humaari beizzati karne ke !!

And this one is not my original creation. I read it on Facebook. I liked it very much. Yes ! Its a poem. It is a Hindi poem originally titled "A poem by unemployed youth of India", but I feel this poem not just reflects the sentiments of unemployed youth, but it is a mirror of general Indian sentiments. 

Here you go !

माँ मुझे एक बंदूक दे दे

मै कसाब बन जाऊँगा

दो चार मंत्री को मार

रोज कबाब मै खाऊँगा

यहाँ तो इक चादर भी नहीं

वहाँ नरम बिछौना पाऊँगा

दिन रात मै जागूँ यहाँ

वहाँ चैन की नींद सो जाऊँगा

यहाँ मिले गाली और घूंसा

यहाँ रोज मार मै खाऊँगा

वहाँ मुझे छिंक भी आये

तुरंत दवाई मै पाऊँगा

घर की सूखी रोटी से तो अच्छा

रोज बिरयानी खाऊंगा

और जब मैं अदालत में जाऊ

तो मंद मंद मुस्कराऊंगा

मुझे देख भारतवासी गुस्से से तिलमिलाए

तो उनकी किस्मत पर तरस खाऊंगा

फिर देना जब जनम मुझे

मै ऐसा भाग न पाऊँगा

माँ मुझे एक बंदूक दे दे

मै कसाब बन जाऊँगा

I do not preach violence or killings. But the fact that a bloody terrorist is enjoying the Indian hospitality rather than being hanged hurts me a lot. Kasab is the safest man in India. And we, the citizens of India, are still unsafe !

Thodi kahi, zyaada samajhna !

Such is life.

PS: If the Government of India is citing silly reasons like shortage of hangmen, I would love to play a hangman for Kasab ! Kasam se....

Proud to be a BANIYA :)

Although I don't believe in the castes & the erstwhile caste system which was prevalent in India, but here's something which I couldn't resist posting on my blog. Here's a very very interesting story about India's castes...

A few weeks ago, the prestigious Forbes magazine has put out a list of the world’s 1,210 billionaires. 55 of them are Indians. A billion dollars is somewhere around Rs. 4,920 crore.

A Baniya is a member of the Vaish caste, originating mainly from the states of Rajasthan and Gujarat. They constitute less than 1% of India’s 1.25 billion population.

Here are a few interesting facts regarding the Indian billionaires who feature in the Forbes list of billionaires.

• India’s richest man, Lakshmi Nivas Mittal (Mittal Steel & Arcelor Mittal), world’s sixth richest man with $31.1 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s second richest man, Mukesh Ambani (Reliance) with $27 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s third richest man, Azim Premji (Wipro) with $16.8 billion, is a Khoja.
• India’s fourth richest men, brothers Shashi & Ravi Ruia (Essar) with $15.8 billion are Baniyas.
• India’s fifth richest person, Savitri Jindal (Jindal Steel) with $13.2 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s sixth richest man, Gautam Adani (Adani Group) with $10 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s seventh richest man, Kumar Mangalam Birla (Aditya Birla Group) with $9.2 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s eighth richest man, Anil Ambani (Reliance-ADAG) with $8.8 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s ninth richest man, Sunil Bharti Mittal (Bharti Airtel) with $8.3 billion, is a Baniya.
• India’s tenth richest man, Adi Godrej (Godrej Group), world’s 130th richest man with $7.3 billion, is a Parsi.

 Score: Baniyas - 8, Rest of India - 2.

If we consider the two Gujaratis, Godrej and Premji (from the Lohana caste), as coming from the mercantile communities, then actually Rest of India wasn’t even playing this match so far.

Well, lets continue further...

• India’s 11th richest man is K P Singh of DLF ($7.3 billion). He is the first departure from the trend of mercantile castes. Singh is a peasant (not now though), the most populous caste grouping of India, about 50% of our population.
• From numbers 11 to 20, there are four Baniyas. They are Anil Agarwal of Vedanta ($6.4 billion), Dilip Sanghvi of Sun Pharma ($6.1 billion), Uday Kotak of Kotak Group ($3.2 billion), & Subhash Chandra Goel of Zee ($2.9 billion).
• The non-Baniyas are Shiv Nadar of HCL ($5.6 billion), Malvinder & Shivinder Singh of Ranbaxy ($4.1 billion), Kalanithi Maran of Sun TV ($3.5 billion), Mukesh Jagtiani of Landmark ($3 billion) and Pankaj Patel of Cadila ($2.6 billion).
• Between 21 and 30, there are five Baniyas. They are Indu Jain of The Times of India ($2.6 billion), Desh Bandhu Gupta of Lupin ($2.1 billion), Sudhir & Samir Mehta of Torrent ($2 billion), Aloke Lohia of Indorama ($2 billion) & Venugopal Dhoot of Videocon ($1.9 billion).
• The five non-Baniyas are G M Rao of GMR ($2.6 billion), Cyrus Poonawalla of the Serum Institute ($2.3 billion), Mumbai builder Rajan Raheja ($2.2 billion), Narayana Murthy of Infosys ($2 billion) & Gautam Thapar of Avantha ($2 billion).
• Of the non-Baniyas, three are from mercantile communities: Poonawalla (Parsi), Raheja (Shikarpuri Sindhi) and Thapar (Khatri). Murthy is Brahmin.
• Between 31 and 40 are two Baniyas: Rahul Bajaj of Bajaj Auto ($1.6 billion) & Ajay Piramal of Piramal Group ($1.4 billion).
• The non-Baniyas include three Brahmins: Nandan Nilekani, former CEO of Infosys & present Chairman of UIDAI ($1.8 billion), S Gopalakrishnan of Infosys ($1.6 billion), & Vijay Mallya of UB Group ($1.4 billion).
• Three of the others are from mercantile castes: Mumbai based builder Chandru Raheja ($1.9 billion), Brijmohan Lall Munjal of Hero MotoCorp ($1.5 billion) & Vikas Oberoi of Oberoi Realty ($1.4 billion).
• The last two are K Anji Reddy of Dr Reddy's Labs ($1.5 billion), from Andhra’s dominant peasant community, & Ajay Kalsi of Indus Gas ($1.7 billion).
• Between 41 and 50 are five Baniyas. They are R P Goenka of RPG Group ($1.3 billion), investment banker Rakesh Jhunjhunwala ($1.2 billion), Brij Bhushan Singhal of Bhushan Steel ($1.2 billion), B K Modi of Spice ($1.1 billion) and Mumbai builder Mangal Prabhat Lodha ($1.1 billion).
• The non-Baniyas are Baba Kalyani of Bharat Forge ($1.3 billion), Keshub Mahindra of Mahindra & Mahindra ($1.2 billion), Infosys co-founder K Dinesh ($1.2 billion) & S D Shibulal of Infosys ($1.1 billion), & Yusuf Hamied of Cipla ($1.1 billion).
• The last five, from 51 to 55, include two Baniyas: Mumbai builder Mofatraj Munot of Kalpataru ($1 billion) & Ashwin Dani of Asian Paints ($1 billion).
• Two of the others are from mercantile castes: Parsi Anu Aga of Thermax ($1 billion) & Khatri Harindarpal Banga of Noble ($1 billion).
• Delhi builder Ramesh Chandra of Unitech ($1 billion) ends our list of Indians with a billion dollars or more.

The list has three Parsis, two Muslims and Sikhs in one spot (shared by the Singh brothers of Ranbaxy). Banga is also a Sikh name but Harindarpal is clean-shaven. All of them, except Poonawalla, have inherited their wealth, though in the case of Premji, he took a small firm and made it global. There is nobody from the scheduled tribes or castes.

India’s large peasant castes have some representation (Singh, Patel, Reddy), but not much. There are 26 Baniyas on our list. Many of them inherited their wealth, but just as many (Mittal, Ruias, Adani, Dhoot among others) are self-made.

The list has 16 Rajasthanis, and 13 Gujaratis. Every single Rajasthani is from one caste, Vaish, though they are from two faiths: Hindu and Jain. Only Gujarat is capable of producing billionaires drawn from four different faiths: Hindu, Parsi, Jain and Muslim—and three different castes: Baniya, Khatri and peasant.


This is unique in India and there is something about this secular mercantile culture that produces great men across communities. What is it? Three out of the four biggest leaders of the subcontinent under British rule were Gujarati, and they were drawn from these three castes: Gandhi, Jinnah and Patel. Only 5% of India’s population, Gujaratis don’t have the numbers to dominate its democratic politics. But businesses are not run in democratic fashion. And to rise, you need quality, not quantity.

The heartland of India, where our quantity resides, is missing from this list. Bihar, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh have little or no representation and this does not surprise us. On the list are 10 south Indians, in proportion to their 20% share of India’s population. The famous five from Infosys are obviously self-made. Of the others, four are first-generation wealthy. This is a good indicator for the future, and it restores some balance in favour of Rest of India.

One final observation. India’s greatest businessman is not on this list. Why is that? It is because Ratan Tata owns less than 1% of Tata Sons. He is exceptional in every way.

Proud to be a Baniya. Business is in our genes. We think business. We breath business. We live business. We love business.

With the hope that I make it to this list sometime in the future, signing off.....

"Main Aur Meri Tanhaai" in the times of Economic Slowdown

Main aur meri tanhaai, 

Aksar yeh baatein karte hain. 

Tezi hoti toh aisa hota, 

Tezi hoti toh waisa hota. 

Hum yeh lete, hum woh lete. 

Hum is baat pe party lete, 

Hum us baat par treat dete. 

Main aur meri tanhai, 

Aksar yeh baatein karte hain. 

Yeh kahaan aa gaye hum... 

Yeh raat hai, ya mandi ka aanchal. 

Yeh mandi ka jhonka hai, ya kisi ne Sensex ko thoka hai. 

Yeh toofan ki hai awaaz, ya Broker-on ka rona hai. 

Yeh sochta hoon main kab se gumsum, 

Jab ki mujh ko bhi yeh khabar hai, ki tezi nahi hai kahin. 

Magar ye dil hai jo keh raha hai, tezi yahin hai, yahin kahin....

[ PS : Not my creation, got it as a forward ]

Wildfire !

I remember publishing my last post titled (UN)Happy New Year on 3rd January. The same evening gave me another reason to call the new year even more unhappier ! I lost/dropped/forgot (whichever applicable, as I myself don't remember what happened) my beloved Nokia E63 somewhere in a hurry.

It was like parting with something I have always treasured. It was an irony that someone who couldn't stay without his cell for a minute lost his cell. I never believed in destiny. But of late I have started believing that everything is destined. And this time the loss of my cell was destined !


Well, after a 'mourning' period of 17 days, I bought myself a HTC Wildfire on 20th of Jan. That too within 10 minutes - something that is by far the 'fastest' deal of my life ! And I'm happy to buy this Android.

Initially loaded with Android OS ver2.1 (Eclair), HTC Wildfire with 5 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash comes a great value for mony at Rs. 13,600/- with bill. The upgrade ver2.2 (Froyo) to the OS is available. Although I haven't upgraded it, my brother who took the same cell the very next day has already done it and is loving it to the core !


The camera quality is great. The touch is awesome. Loaded with HTC's Sense UI, Wildfire aptly suits its name. The browsing speed is way way better than Nokia's age old Symbian phones. And even when connected on PC via cellphone, the net gave a lot better speed than its Nokia counterparts.


One thing I loved in Wildfire is the contacts integration with the social networks. The contacts get linked with their respective virtual profiles - be it Facebook, Twitter or Flickr - and then displays their photographs (from FB, Twitter, etc) and their latest status updates at the time of making or receiving a call. Its something unique, as of now.


The in-built web browser is flash enabled making it more attractive. Being from the HTC stable itself gives the quality guarantee. And being an Android, lots and lots of apps can be downloaded from the built in Android Market.


I was wondering why was I stuck with Nokia's age old Symbian OS for so long. And in fact, Google should have named this OS "Sky", coz just like sky, Android has no limits.


Starting with the looks, although it doesn't have some damn attractive looks, it has pretty simple and decent looks which is a HTC benchmark. With four soft keys and a fairly large capacitive touchscreen on the front and the 5MP camera and flash on the back, its a no fuss phone. Coming to the display, it offers SIX different home screens which can have a number of on screen widgets, icons and shortcuts.


The voice quality in calls is fairly good and the volume levels are excellent. The loudspeaker volume is also great. The image gallery offers some great features including slide show, filmstrip view and of course the pinch to zoom feature. The built in video player is a showdown in this package. Not upto the mark for me. And add to it no support for xViD and DiVx codecs. In simple words video files with .avi extension will not be played in the built in video player. To sort out this issue, I have downloaded QQPlayer from the Market. And now I can play almost all video formats on the phone.


The music player is fairly good. Nice interactive interface and easy to use options make it more attractive. The clock, the weather feature which locates your current location (with the help of GPS) and displays the current weather and temperatures on the home screen are some awesome features in it.


The Android Market offers you a wide variety of applications, games and other downloadable stuff. Just look out for what you are searching for and you'll get it in minutes.


The battery life is just ok. With full net usage, it stays up for a day. For some, it might be a good battery back up, but I definitely expected more from it.


THE OVERVIEW
All in all, HTC Wildfire is a great package. In fact its a 'mini' version of the HTC Desire. A competitive price tag makes it a real value for money phone. And with Android OS, it gets a MUST HAVE tag too. Wildfire, although not amongst the cheapest Android phones, is definitely a first timer's Android.

2010 - Tussi jaa rahe ho.... ;)

After reading the title, you might call it a 'filmy' post. But it isn't... Actually even I have no idea what I am going to write in this post. Still, I'm gonna complete and publish it ;)

Actually, of late, I've been very LAZY (yes... you can say that) to devote time to my blog. But I don't know, I'm not able to find something interesting to write. I, myself, have been a bit bored of posting poems one after the other. And I am very much aware that less frequent posting, GFN has lost some valued readers. It is very much evident from the (decreased number of) comments on the (rarely published) posts.

2010 - a year full of ups and downs. Generally talking, a lot of scams came up in this year. I've lost the count !! And since I don't even remember the number of scams, there's no point in starting what I do the best - government bashing !! So, dear Dr Manmohan Singh ji (indirectly Sonia-ji Gandhi-ji Madam-ji), you're safe, at least from my side.

On the personal front too, 2010 has been a year to remember. With a lots of ups and downs, 2010 will always have a special place. 2010 has been good, bad, and also very good for me. I won't enlist all the incidents, not that I don't remember them, but I don't wanna "share" them... :P

Abb aur kya bacha???

New Year Resolution??? Naah... Koi matlab nahi hai yaar... Almost all resolutions made on the New Year are either broken or forgotten within the first four months. So, New Year Resolution is a strict no-no !! I remember myself and my co-blogger Garima Ranawat made a resolution last year to update GFN more frequently. But hua ekdum ulta... Our posting frequency decreased a lot !! So, promise karne ka hi nahi... ;)

Last four months of 2010 have brought some mixed feelings for me - from very very good to some bad moments !! Still, getting a bit filmy, I'll say "2010... Tussi jaa rahe ho?? Tussi naa jaao...." (with the same innocence as Farzaan Dastur in Kuchh Kuchh Hota Hai...) :P

Wishing a very very Happy New Year to all my readers, I'd like to conclude this post. May the forthcoming year 2011 be one of the bestEST in your lives. Cheers !!! Celebrate & Rejoice !!

So where's the PAAAARTTYYYYY !!!

Dear 2011... Welcome hai jiii... 

Be-CAR ki Dilemma !

Folks, I don't know whether this news falls under the category of a "good news" or a "bad news"... I couldn't decide. So I leave it up to you to decide...

The Tata Indigo (recently nicknamed : The Truck!) that I had is now not mine !! Yes, I've sold it off... Although I've been very possessive of my stuff. I've remained upset when I sold my beloved Nokia N72 cell phone (click here for more details regarding this), but this was a totally different ball game. I was happy that its sold. And I am, still. And there are some unmentionable reasons behind this happiness... Samajhdaar ko ishaara hi kaafi hai... :P

And I'm now be-CAR (for those who couldn't understand, wait till the end of the post !). And decision making is one of the toughest job on the planet, especially when all the choices are equally good. And the cars in contention are (in increasing order of prices) :

1. Maruti Suzuki Alto : just for the sake of having an option
2. Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 : almost zeroed in on this one, but then the Chevy exec gave me a test drive of the next two cars
3. Chevrolet Spark : although a bit old, still a great package!
4. Chevrolet Beat : wasn't an option earlier, but the test drive made it a tempting option

So far I'm considering these four options. Although some people also suggested me the following cars. But I rejected them for the reasons mentioned :

1. Hyundai Santro Xing : pretty old and stale, even the new model doesn't offer new features.
2. Maruti Suzuki Estilo : just don't like the model and the dabba-looks
3. Maruti Suzuki WagonR : another dabba-looking car

And now I'm in a dilemma so as to which car should I finalise !

Decisions... Decisions... Decisions... I'm not that good at it ! :(

Dear God, please intervene and make things easier for me ! May be you can use an aakashvaani to enlighten me... ;)

I'd like to mention one more thing, I have not considered any cars from Tata. And its only coz if I wanted another 'truck', I wouldn't have sold the one that I already had ! Again, samajhdaar ko ishaara hi kaafi hai ! :)

PS : For those who didn't understand the meaning of be-CAR, its being without car. Go learn some Hindi. And those who know Hindi, try and learn how to apply a li'l bit of your brains !

Ayodhya

Ayodhya - the word itself revokes many memories - Ram Janmbhoomi, Babri Masjid, 6th Dec 1992, and the communal violence after that are amongst the few.

But Ayodhya dispute isn't that fresh. Its been there for decades. And whatever happened on 6th Dec 1992 can be termed as 'fresh'. The case over the title of the 'disputed' land has been there in the courts for more than 50 years.

And the judgement in this case will most probably be delivered on 24th Sep 2010. Yes, that's less than a week away. The government has appealed to maintain law and order and peace after the judgement is delivered. Now I realise how helpless the government is !!

Whatever the judgement is, it shouldn't be taken as a win or loss for any of the communities - be it Hindus or Muslims. Even if the case is delivered in any party's favour, there should not be any celebrations nor there should be any hatred. It should be taken as the win of the law of the nation.

A peaceful approach in this matter is what is the need of the hour. We don't need more communal clashes. In fact, we can't afford it. I hereby appeal through my blog, to maintain peace to each and everyone.

Let there be peace. Amen.

Raajneeti - Movie Review

Prakash Jha's latest multi-starrer, Raajneeti, is a movie that tries to portray the current political scenario in India. It tries to highlight that politics is now all about money, mind games, dirt and filth !

Prakash Jha has intelligently mixed up a few tried and tested formulae and presented a new dish to the audience. Raajneeti is nothing but a multi-starrer khichdi.

1. The Mahabharata angle:

A major chunk of Raajneeti comes from the epic Mahabharata. If anyone has seen Raajneeti, almost every character has been modelled on some or the other character from the epic.

Ranbir Kapoor's role is based on Arjun who is the key character in Jha's Raajneeti. He is guided by Nana Patekar, whose role is based on Krishna, who guides Arjun (Ranbir) throughout the film. Arjun Rampal's role is modelled on Yudhishthir. Rampal has a soft corner for females while Yudhishthir had a soft corner for gambling. Manoj Bajpai is the Duryodhan. Ajay Devgn (yes, its Devgn, and not Devgan) is the Karna of the film, Arjun and Ranbir's half brother who joins Bajpai's side. Katrina Kaif is almost like Draupadi, torn between Ranbir and Arjun. And not to mention, the whole story has lots of ups and downs like the grand epic Mahabharata.

2. The Godfather angle:

Some of the scenes seem to have been directly taken from the Hollywood flick Godfather. The influence of Godfather on Raajneeti is clearly evident.

3. The Sonia Gandhi angle:

Although the film makers deny this, the politician look (which comes in the end) of Katrina Kaif is clearly based on Sonia Gandhi. The look, the dressing, the gestures, expressions, all of them give an impression of Sonia Gandhi. This angle was added to give the film some unwanted publicity (read :: controversy). But the speech that Katrina Kaif delivers in her maiden political rally seems to be fake. It somehow doesn't give a genuine feel. Audience can not connect to her as a leader. Most of the exhibitors were laughing (or giggling) at that speech.

4. Love Sex aur Dhokha angle:

Politics is all about love for the 'kursi' or power, sex and betrayal. And thats what this film shows.

CONCLUSION:

The movie is well shot, well scripted, well directed, and has some fabulous acting. The first half was excellent, but Jha couldn't carry the same effect in the second half. Ranbir was fab, Arjun was fab (for a change), Nana was superb, Bajpai did a great job. Katrina's role wasn't upto the expectation. Ajay's role also lacked substance. But all in all, its a good movie. Worth a watch.

THE FINAL EQUATION:

Raajneeti = Mahabharata + Godfather + Love Sex aur Dhokha + Sonia Gandhi + Politics

A FEW GLITCHES:

One thing that Prakash Jha showed was a lot of killings of the top leaders of the rival parties. This looked unoriginal. I wish this could really happen in India. Desh ka kuchh to bhala hota. ;)

GFN METER:

On the GFN meter, I'd rate Raajneeti 3.5 on a scale of 5.

I LOVED:

- Manoj Bajpai's acting

- Katrina Kaif's look (in the first half)

- Nana Patekar's fantabulous acting

- the soundtrack, especially Bheegi Si Bhaagi Si and Mora Piya Mo Se Bolat Naahi. I missed these songs in the movie though.

PS: I'm not a professional movie critic, nor I am paid for this review. *sob sob* All the views expressed above are my personal views. Yours may vary.

Exam Time !

Hey guys !


My university has issued a final advisory to all the students to start studying. Actually, the time table for my exams has been announced. And I have to start studying now ! So less frequent blogging on my part. I hope Garima will continue to handle the blogging scenario.

My exams are starting from 19th March. And I'll be having an exam on my birthday too. *sob sob*


Exams end on 8th April. Till then, virtually nil blogging. I don't say I won't post anything, I just mean to say that the frequency of the posts will be very low.


I wish my university gave me extra weightage for bloggers. Then I wouldn't mind blogging with the same frequency. But since it doesn't, I have no option left apart from studying. :(


Wish me luck guys ! I need it badly. :P


Thanks a ton !

Frustration of a sports lover !

Post-Independence, the only thing that we have done with keen interest is to ruin all our national symbols. Be it national bird, national animal, national monuments, and more recently the national game !

Poachers are killing peacocks and we stay silent. The number of tigers are decreasing day by day. I need not highlight on the condition of the national monuments. And the situation in hockey is not hidden from anyone.

Hockey players had to go on a strike to get their dues back. Just before the world cup, the national hockey team had to strike to get their demands met. And the government is still silent.

Hungry warriors never won any battle. And hungry warriors have always revolted. So did the hockey players. I stand with them. The stand they took is totally justified. I don't understand one simple thing. The government has NO money to save what they call their NATIONAL game? Isn't it shameful that the players who represent the country on the international level are not paid and the bureaucrats enjoy on their expense. Wow ! Welcome to India.

Every sports body is dominated by politicians. Lets take the example of Mr Sharad Pawar. Sorry Mr Pawar, but you being the boss (indirectly) of the richest sports body of the nation had to bear the brunt ! So, Mr Pawar is indirectly the boss of the BCCI. He's set to be the next President of the ICC. So he can not devote his entire time to one thing. He has to take care of his party matters. He has to take care of the BCCI. He has to take care of the Agriculture ministry, So while multitasking, one makes mistakes. And so did Mr Sharad Pawar. He has been in foot-in-mouth situations quite a few times. Recently his 'I-am-not-an-astrologer' remark on the rising prices of commodities had made an impact.

There are numerous examples of politicians in sports. To some extent, its good. But as it is said in Hindi : "अति हर चीज़ की बुरी होती है... ". So my dear netajis, since you guys can't devote your VALUABLE time to the sport, please back off ! And let the former sportsmen come forward and govern the sport. After all, its their cup of tea ! You shouldn't be poking your nose everywhere.

Mr Pawar should either become a full time sports administrator or a full time politician. So that either cricket is benefited or the common man is benefited. You know what I mean. Even the Prime Minister should tell him to concentrate on the ministry to reduce the price of per head thaali of a common man.

I'd like to quote another famous Hindi line over here :

हर शाख पे उल्लू बैठा है, अंजाम-ए-गुलिस्तां क्या होगा...

Actually, this line suits the current scenario. Isn't it?

There was a time when India was numero uno in hockey. There was a time when  players like Major Dhyan Chand were national heroes. But today we ponder over it and only say "there WAS a time". Today is the time when hockey is doomed.

I'll ask you all a few simple questions :

• How many hockey players' names and faces do you remember?
• Who's the current captain of the national hockey team?
  
• Name the last five hockey captains of India.
• When did you last watched a full hockey match? Okay.. add the words "on TV" to this question.

Well, I know 99.99% of the readers won't be able to answer it. But if I replace the word "hockey" with "cricket", everyone would be ready with their answers. There lies the difference. We keenly watch cricket, but we don't have any interest in hockey.

We roared when we watched Indian women's team winning the world cup in "Chak De ! India". But we forgot. And we moved on ! Even Shah Rukh Khan forgot. He went on to buy a team in the IPL, just because he saw his profits there. Why just blame him. Everyone's selfish. You. Me. Everyone !

Well... I got carried away. Sorry for that. But all I meant to say is that its high time. We must wake up ! The least we can do is watch the sport ! And we must cheer our national hockey team.

The hockey players are not beggars. Let them get what they deserve ! If we can't respect our own nation, don't expect others to do the same.

CHAK DE !

The Real Idiot !

'Shut Up !!'

This is what Mr Vidhu Vinod Chopra told one of the journalists at a press conference. For those who don't know the details, Mr Chopra, the producer of much-hyped and successful film '3 Idiots'. And the press conference was held to clariffy the producer's stand on the controversy regarding the credit due to Chetan Bhagat, on whose novel 'Five Point Someone' the film is based.

I have seen the film AND I have read the novel. So as per Chetan, I can comment on the issue. To start with, I was shocked to find the mention of Chetan Bhagat and FPS missing in the credit line. Having seen the whole movie, I can say that 3I is largely (and not loosely, as claimed by the producers) based on FPS - roughly 65-70 per cent. And as Chetan says since the producers were contractually bound to give credit to him, they put the name in the closing credits and that too in such a way that most of the people miss it. (I myself missed it and so did Chetan's mother).

So, the controversy is not over credit, its over the 'placement' of credit. In my view, the way the producers gave credit to Chetan is almost the same as not giving the credit at all. 'Coz most of the viewers missed it. For those who have read FPS, its not difficult to guess that 3I storyline is an adapted version of FPS. But what about those who haven't read FPS? They will obviously think that the story and screenplay belong to Raju Hirani and some Abhijat Joshi. And that's what Chetan was fighting for. And he was fighting this battle on 'twitter', on his blog, and at a later stage on TV news channels.

You might have noticed that I have used the word 'was' in the last two lines of the last paragraph. It is actually 'was', 'coz at this point of time, Chetan Bhagat is considering of compromise with the producers.

It is clear and evident that the 3I story is an adapted version of Chetan Bhagat's bestseller novel FPS. And creating a furore over 'moral rights of the author', the story being adapted from FPS or not, Vidhu Vinod Chopra lambasting a journo, Aamir Khan almost abusing Chetan Bhagat, more importantly Chetan Bhagat discussing the issue publicly and not going to the court, and then all of a sudden all of them getting back to compromise. Now, something seems fishy ! Was it an attempt to generate publicity? I had no idea that if this is true, people like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Raju Hirani, Aamir Khan and even Chetan Bhagat can stoop this low just for the sake of publicity of an already hit film !

I can not make a comment on what's true and what's not. I am not taking either side. I'm just expressing my views over the issue.

In the end, I feel that none of the three - Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Raju Hirani, Chetan Bhagat - is an idiot. The real idiot is us - the Indian janta... the audience !

So will you still say 'Better be an Idiot than a stupid?'

Dec 6 - a day to be remembered !

December 6, that's today. Its a day to be remembered, for some bad things, and for some good.

Cut to December 6, 1992.

Ayodhya. Uttar Pradesh. India.

"Raam Lala aayenge... Mandir wahin banayenge !"

Around 1.5 lakh Kar Sevaks gathered with this slogan in what was supposed to be a political meeting. The Babri Mosque was demolished by a large group of Hindus, who had been camped out at the site for weeks. Members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) were part of this large group. The VHP wanted to erect a temple dedicated to Rama at this spot. Many Muslim organizations, on the other hand strongly oppose the building of the temple.

Seventeen years later, the Liberhan Commission, one of the longest running enquiry commission with 48 extensions, submitted a report with no strong conclusions and no recommendations of a strong punitive action against anybody. The commission was to submit its report in three-months' time. But 17 years and 48 extensions later, the result was null.

Most of the Kar Sevaks have become old or are in the mid-ages. They are not as active as they were 17 years ago. And most of the people in young generation don't care about the issue anymore. They don't care even if there's a temple or not. They don't care even if there's a mosque at that place or not.

In fact, basically India does not need a temple or a mosque. Look at the grim situation of education in the country. Why not build up a nice educational institution at that place? I'm sure Lord Rama and Allah (and Mr Babar) won't mind to this idea. They won't have any hard feelings if the people of Ayodhya get good education. Its upto us now to take the decision. Do we still want to fight over the issue and guzzle millions of our hard earned money or do we want a good future?

Back to December 6, 2009.

Brabourne Stadium. Mumbai. Maharashtra. India.

"Jeetega bhai jeetega... India jeetega !"

The slogan has changed. India on the verge of becoming number one in test cricket. At the beginning of the fifth day's play Sri Lanka were trailing by 59 runs in their second innings. And India were just four wickets away from creating a history.

And Zaheer Khan struck. Three wickets in the first twenty minutes. And in the next ten minutes, Harbhajan Singh claimed the final wicket, thus making India numero uno in test rankings.

 This match, filled with ecstatic performances by Virender Sehwag (293 off 254), Zaheer Khan (5/72 in second innings), Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar and he entire team, will be overshadowing the Babri issue, at least this year.

This was something good that happened on Dec 6. And I hope, every year something like this happens, so that people don't remember December 6 as the saddest day in Indian history !

Amen.

Mumbai 26/11 - Bhoole Nahi Hum....

Extraordinary circumstances evoke extreme reactions and therefore need to be handled with extreme caution. The Mumbai terror strike brought death, devastation and shame. The vultures who wrote the script had planned it like this. What more could they have expected. They got round the clock television coverage as they held a nation of a billion plus population to ransom. And even though everything went according to their script what they failed to calculate was the enormous, once in a life time, kind of opportunity that they presented to the mighty Indian nation.

History is replete with examples. Opportunity travels alongside death and devastation. Japan was able to grab it because the death and devastation caused by the nuclear strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were wrapped in shame. America's 9/11 also had shame written all over. And now if those who planned the terror strikes in India are not taken care of once and for all the opportunity that has come alongside the Mumbai shame would also be lost for good.

Of what good is the nuclear deterrent if we can be bled like this. Has the weapon of peace been good to us in any way? Peace sells, but who's buying it? The lives of those who are still lucky to be alive are in no way more important than those who have laid down their lives. Let not a single drop of Indian blood go waste. Those who are coming out on to the streets be ware, it is no candle light party out there. Everything comes for a cost and the cost has to be borne by everyone.

Let's not look up for any kind of action to the Singh who became king by buying votes in parliament. Nor from the BJP that abused the ATS chief a day before his death and later turned up at his residence to offer a compensation of Rs One Crore to his family. Nor the communists for whom shame is a decent word. Only a rabid dog could have said this: not a dog would have visited the Unnikrishnans' house had it not been the slain Major's house. Where and when in history has a martyr's father been treated like this? What could be more shameful than this?

The solution is lying somewhere around in the dark. We needed to act, and we needed to act fast. But we didn't. Who's responsible for this cowardly act? All eyes on Pakistan. All fingers point to Pakistan. We even had the proofs. But we couldn't do anything. We handed a number of dossiers to the neighbor, but no stern action taken till date.

Mr Manmohan Singh, a year is too much. For you, it might be just one-fifth (just twenty per cent) of your term, but to the families of the martyrs and deceased, each day passed as a year. And you didn't care. Only monetary compensation and showing sympathy is not the solution. The solution lies in curbing terror from the root.

Yes !! I feel shame when I have to accept that we have failed. I don't know what others feel. I don't know if Mr Manmohan Singh feels the shame or not, but I do. 'Coz we failed. We failed to provide security not only to our people, but also to foreign nationals. We failed to act against the perpetrators. We are merely watching the tamaasha unfold in Pakistan. We are helpless. We lack the spirit. We shouldn't have moved on with this until any strong action had been taken. But we moved on. India lacks leadership. India lacks courage.

I feel shame when I see the President of India having a gala time flying a Sukhoi, but she has no time to come down to Mumbai on the first anniversary of the deadly massacre. I feel shame when I see pics of the Prime Minister partying in the USA when people are paying homage to the martyrs and the deceased. It happens only in India !!

If India is crying for leadership, this crisis had the potential to throw up one. Only raising slogans against the government and the politicians is not enough. A few of us should have raised from the rubble to become leaders. But we chose to remain silent and protest. Candle light vigils can just add CO2 to the already polluted environment. Let there be no peace till the perpetrators of the Mumbai Mayhem are smoked out of their safe holes.

JAI HIND !!! JAI JAWAAN !!! 

May the souls of the martyrs and the deceased rest in peace....

Amen.

Gunda-Raj Season 2

Almost a year ago, I wrote a post (titled Gunda-Raj) on Raj Thackeray and his party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's stand on the unnecessary fuss over non-Marathis. A year later, the issue has bounced back with the entry of a side hero (or should I say the sidekick of the villain) MNS MLA Ram Kadam slapped Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi for taking oath in Hindi. (watch this video)

Such an incident is a shame on the name of democracy. Its worst than dictatorship. Utter nonsense. I want to ask the MNS-men that is Hindi a language from Pakistan? Or is Maharashtra not a part of India? Is this what the Marathi manoos have reduced to do?
To me, MNS = Makes No Sense !

Even Abu Azmi is no saint. But he's an elected representative. And who says that one form of gundaism can be met with another form of gundaism? Azmi himself has a dubious past. There have been several allegations against him including links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. He was also accused in the 1993 Bombay Bomb Blasts, but was later acquitted by the court. Still, will this incident not make him a hero (at least to some people)?

But that's not the point of discussion. Azmi, being an elected representative, being an Indian citizen, had the right to take oath in any of the Indian languages. And Hindi is no foreign language.

I would like to quote one of Rajdeep Sardesai's tweets :

"linguistic chauvinism is hypocritical. most mns leaders send their children to eng medium schools, ditto with samajwadi party."

I agree with this totally ! Both MNS and SP are taking advantage of this issue now to gain political mileage from the Marathas and the minority communities respectively. But, in the long run, this is going to create a lot of differences in the minds of people over regionalism.

The fact that the MNS bagged 13 seats in the Maharashtra assembly is an indication that Raj Thackeray has succeeded in creating a fear psychosis in the minds of people. And due to this issue, he has also gained sympathy of some. But, his brand of politics would lead him nowhere.

This incident clearly highlights the fact that the basic principle of "Unity in Diversity" lies nowhere. Should we assume that the MNS has no respect for the law and the Constitution? Why should we not tag them as anti-nationalists? Aren't they a threat to the security of the nation? If the UP government can impose the NSA on Varun Gandhi, why can't the Maharashtra government do the same on such extremists?

A lot of questions in my mind. But, from whom should I seek answers?

हिन्दी हैं हम, वतन हिन्दोस्तां हमारा...

Let there be peace !

PS : I'll speak Hindi even in Maharashtra and I am not afraid of Raj Thackeray or anybody !! And as they say in Hindi : 

"जो उखाड़ना है, उखाड़ ले...."