Found this article where Amit Varma writes
"......... Indians, in general, have never shown much passion for individual rights, looking for ways to bypass the laws that curtailed their freedom instead of questioning the laws themselves. In fact, it has been a default assumption that giving offense is a crime, and every week some group or the other protests something that offends its sensibilities. Protests have sprung up in the last few months against: an art exhibition in Bombay that portrayed sex; the screening of The Da Vinci Code; an actress who said that pre-marital sex was acceptable; and Valentine's Day. As India opens itself up to the world, there is a backlash from traditionalists of different kinds in denial about the changing world, as well as politicians looking to use identity politics to make themselves relevant."
Read the full article here
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Being inDifferent is not being Different
Hitler's Cross, now thatz the name of the new restaurant opened in mumbai. In a country where there are so many minorities that the government doesnot have the time to handle any issues for the majority at large but just resolve issues related to offending the minorities, be it the national song or a movie or a slogan and if those were not enough there are a few more controversies like the stupid ISP blockings or the autobiographies provide fodder for good laughs as well.
Recently, Times reports
A new restaurant at Kharghar has been named Hitler's Cross. A huge poster of the Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler, adorned the inauguration function of the eating house, much to the surprise of the invitees. The signage at the entrance also showed the Swastika encircled by the letter O in Cross. "We are not promoting Hitler. But we want to tell people we are different in the way he was different." But India’s remaining Jews say they are outraged by the gimmick.
"This signifies a severe lack of awareness of the agony of millions of Jews caused by one man," said Jonathan Solomon, chairman of the Indian Jewish Federation, the community’s umbrella organisation.
"We are going to stop this deification of Hitler," he said without elaborating.
I also hear
Israeli consulate officials also indicated that they might take legal action against the restaurant.
How welcoming is that?? Make it more interesting and put up Osama bin Laden too besides it and send him an invitation to come welcome the guests personally, he surely would be delighted, what say??
Now the jewish community in India has been a very silent one, almost to the point that this issue reminds me of their existence. Now was there a need to probe them as well. And I wonder now what would be the Menu at Hitler's Cross be like "Bloody Tomato Soup", "Jewishly roasted Chicken". I am sure they have sent an invitation to Mr Adolf Hitler in his grave. The Red swastik, The word "CROSS" I can see a huge wave of issues following. I guess this is calling to be wipped by the Hitler to get a taste of Hitlers Cross (for being so insensitive and indifferent).
Recently, Times reports
A new restaurant at Kharghar has been named Hitler's Cross. A huge poster of the Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler, adorned the inauguration function of the eating house, much to the surprise of the invitees. The signage at the entrance also showed the Swastika encircled by the letter O in Cross. "We are not promoting Hitler. But we want to tell people we are different in the way he was different." But India’s remaining Jews say they are outraged by the gimmick.
"This signifies a severe lack of awareness of the agony of millions of Jews caused by one man," said Jonathan Solomon, chairman of the Indian Jewish Federation, the community’s umbrella organisation.
"We are going to stop this deification of Hitler," he said without elaborating.
I also hear
Israeli consulate officials also indicated that they might take legal action against the restaurant.
How welcoming is that?? Make it more interesting and put up Osama bin Laden too besides it and send him an invitation to come welcome the guests personally, he surely would be delighted, what say??
Now the jewish community in India has been a very silent one, almost to the point that this issue reminds me of their existence. Now was there a need to probe them as well. And I wonder now what would be the Menu at Hitler's Cross be like "Bloody Tomato Soup", "Jewishly roasted Chicken". I am sure they have sent an invitation to Mr Adolf Hitler in his grave. The Red swastik, The word "CROSS" I can see a huge wave of issues following. I guess this is calling to be wipped by the Hitler to get a taste of Hitlers Cross (for being so insensitive and indifferent).
Monday, August 21, 2006
Do you have a good snap??
Can you guess whoz this cute lady? Though there is lots to say about the lady in the snap but thatz not my reason for the blog. Its the snap.
Falstaff writes here:
"In all the fanfare about her achievement and the lessons we can learn from it, everyone, it seems to me, is overlooking a key variable. The ability to have good passport photographs taken. No seriously. Go look at that picture again. Notice the neat hair, the eyes open and intelligent looking, the natural smile, the ever so slight tilt of the head. Do you or anyone you know have a picture from your past where you look even half as human?"
Its "The Tilt of the head" that interested me. Photogenic is just Aishwarya and handful of people and the remaining like me always try their luck with tilted heads and crooked smiles with great backgrounds but never quite make it. As the above blogger says I dont have half a decent photograph of me but I do attempt at it regularly whenever I have to click one and the tilt happens naturally to me. "Smile please" and I will go ..tak ....10-20deg tilt and smile...click. So in most of my snaps except for the visa snaps (where they keep telling you ...thoda idhar...thoda aur...) I have a tilted head .... Thinking about it I have no idea why I tilt my head probably to get a sympathetic look but then thatz not why I am posing for a photograph, or then probably ....(blanks). I have no idea why I do it except for I do it every time someone tells me to say "cheese". So as evidence, my snap on the blog, TILTED.
Here is an another snap of us friends. You cannot see a single face clearly but due to different attributes you can always makeout who each one is. Now there are 2 of us tilted to glory and I know who the other one is, competing with my tilted head.
And if you havent guessed already, the cute lady above with the right tilt and close-up smile is Indra Nooyi.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Potholes - For A Cause
Potholes in Pune is such a mundane topic. Nobody discusses it. Because of them my ride from home to office & back have increased by a good 10 mins if not 15. So according to my research which goes on while I am driving trying to dodge potholes I conclude
Potholes is the PMC's answer to "Naturally" curb population and traffic.
Curb population has been a slogan since times known, but these feminists group and human rights group do not allow sati or killing of the foetus and modern science is all about prolonging life. So how would the PMC curb population???? .... So Potholes
1) If you hit one well, therez a good chance you gonna be bedridden for quite sometime so you and your vehicle off the road.
2) If you die, no one's to be blamed .... you cant put a bloody porthole behind bars
Smart move .... And you thought they just werent listening.
Potholes is the PMC's answer to "Naturally" curb population and traffic.
Curb population has been a slogan since times known, but these feminists group and human rights group do not allow sati or killing of the foetus and modern science is all about prolonging life. So how would the PMC curb population???? .... So Potholes
1) If you hit one well, therez a good chance you gonna be bedridden for quite sometime so you and your vehicle off the road.
2) If you die, no one's to be blamed .... you cant put a bloody porthole behind bars
Smart move .... And you thought they just werent listening.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
KANK- Review
Not a regular film reviwer bcoz I dont watch many movies and second its boring doing reviews be it movies or projects or career. Anyway, since I saw this one today I just thought I might as well give it a shot...so here is it....
1981 - SILSILA... Amitabh & Rekha are soulmates but for sake of "farz" and brotherly pyaar he has to marry his bro's fiancee. He flirts with rekha who again got married to a nice man. I wonder how do all these people manage to find nice people, I loved sanjeev kapoor in it. he was such a cutie. Anyway halfway thru you are thinking should amitabh leave jaya for rekha or rekha for jaya but the movie adhered to the audience's sentiments and gave greatest importance to the institution called marriage ... soulmate or stalemate ...met before marriage....who cares... but stick to your marriage was the mantra... mangalsutra mein bahut taakat hoti hai .... you have heard that 101 times
2006 - KANK.... Shahrukh and Rani are soulmates (though they look pretty stale). Both are married and both are shown to have their share of problems but this time the mangalsutra slogan doesnt comein anywhere ... its all about muhabbat and pyaar and some kaboottar. so in the end Rani dumps our cho chweet Abhishek for shahrukh. As far as the movie goes I think Abhishek & Preity looked more like soul mates and make a cool couple but alas karan had diff plans. anyway, so with 2 broken houses and a pretty little boy and all, the soulmates meet and make the movie stale.
So if you ask me or even if you dont, I couldnt quite agree with the part where SRK & Rani get togather with all that rumbles behind them but I was so much with Priety when she slaps her wayward husband and asks him to leave with her no-nonsense attitude. Also with Abhishek who lets Rani go bcoz he couldnt trust her anymore. Karan very smartly tried to make the broken families look more happier, got Abhishek to marry a Catherine (Catherine, the name always reminds me of Sr. Catherine from our school) and then let the stalemates meet but the magic didnt quite work on me.
I am moving loyalties from SRK to Abhishek. Was a SRK loyalist since FAUJI, thatz like almost 20 years if not more .... comeon people dont even remain married for so long these days ... Its about time I moved on :-).
Honk Honk
While driving my Honda Activa around here in pune, I never get to honk and I wonder why does it need a horn. I know many of you might be actually raising your eyebrows ...does she have her license yet?? ...does she know to drive?? ...can she take a u-turn ??... ignoring all those I_have_nothing_better_to_ask ppl out here .....I think two-wheelers shouldnot have a horn at all.
let me explain, first of all, Why do we honk?, ok it probably means "Excuse me pls" but do you really get excused is the question. Now who do you think will excuse you? lets start with the famous cyclists ....these are the ones who are never listening and these cyclists usually come in all sizes but the most are in between the age group 8-18 years(the ones who cannot get a license and whoz parents are arrogant enough to get you into trouble if you happen to even touch them) and so you will be actually taking immense care not to bang into them, so even if you honk or not you take all the precausions anyway. second are the fellow-two-wheelers, they dont care and anyway when you hear a honk you have no idea, is the guy gonna pass thru your left or right so after I hear a honk all I do is keep driving as I am driving and leave it to the honker to take over. Thirdly the four-wheelers, they dont give a damn and might choose to honk at you in return ...like some kind of a honking languagge ...
TW: Honk Honk ..."Excuse me pls"
FW: HONNNNNk HONNNK .... " What the hell, you arent suppose to be driving in this lane
so on ...u c ... you can have some pretty creative honking language with the length of each honk and no of honks and most puneites are very familiar with it . Long honks usually invites a look behind and calls for explanation that too thru the mirrors. if caught in a traffic jam, these can be pretty entertaining too.
Once at a signal with a friend who was driving, there was this guy who kept honking ... now thatz a single long honk ..so ofcourse he was calling for attention ..so my friend told him to pls fly over thru the mirror ofcourse.
And lastly the demonly buses and truckwalas of pune, you wouldnt dare honk at them anyway and even if you do ....you actually invite more trouble than space for yourself.
so why do you need that honk ...oh you would say the pedestrains .... and I would want to laugh the famous amrish puri laugh ...ha ha ha ha hee haaa haa haa ....who are you kidding.
So honking is basically something you do to get satisfaction out of driving, like while in the US, where honking is rude, every desi surely would have been honked at and you wait and wait till you get a chance to honk back and you do it with grace and mumble couple of your favourite ryhmes too and thus take your revenge on the country.
After scratching your brains further you might add ... the herd of buffoles or donkeys ...oh yeah, they.... they do stop midway ..look at you.....acknowledge your honk......probably even nod at you if you stand longer and then continue by then you would anyway have to slow down and wait for the dirty-ugly-fat-black buffalo to cross the road.
Now the "DIRTY-UGLY-FAT-BLACK BUFFALO" reminds me of a fierce discussion we had over coffee couple of years back on the terrace of my previous office. I think it was bcoz someone took offense at calling a nice healthy buffalo as dirty-ugly-fat & black.And that explains the "Previous office" for most who were part of that debate.
let me explain, first of all, Why do we honk?, ok it probably means "Excuse me pls" but do you really get excused is the question. Now who do you think will excuse you? lets start with the famous cyclists ....these are the ones who are never listening and these cyclists usually come in all sizes but the most are in between the age group 8-18 years(the ones who cannot get a license and whoz parents are arrogant enough to get you into trouble if you happen to even touch them) and so you will be actually taking immense care not to bang into them, so even if you honk or not you take all the precausions anyway. second are the fellow-two-wheelers, they dont care and anyway when you hear a honk you have no idea, is the guy gonna pass thru your left or right so after I hear a honk all I do is keep driving as I am driving and leave it to the honker to take over. Thirdly the four-wheelers, they dont give a damn and might choose to honk at you in return ...like some kind of a honking languagge ...
TW: Honk Honk ..."Excuse me pls"
FW: HONNNNNk HONNNK .... " What the hell, you arent suppose to be driving in this lane
so on ...u c ... you can have some pretty creative honking language with the length of each honk and no of honks and most puneites are very familiar with it . Long honks usually invites a look behind and calls for explanation that too thru the mirrors. if caught in a traffic jam, these can be pretty entertaining too.
Once at a signal with a friend who was driving, there was this guy who kept honking ... now thatz a single long honk ..so ofcourse he was calling for attention ..so my friend told him to pls fly over thru the mirror ofcourse.
And lastly the demonly buses and truckwalas of pune, you wouldnt dare honk at them anyway and even if you do ....you actually invite more trouble than space for yourself.
so why do you need that honk ...oh you would say the pedestrains .... and I would want to laugh the famous amrish puri laugh ...ha ha ha ha hee haaa haa haa ....who are you kidding.
So honking is basically something you do to get satisfaction out of driving, like while in the US, where honking is rude, every desi surely would have been honked at and you wait and wait till you get a chance to honk back and you do it with grace and mumble couple of your favourite ryhmes too and thus take your revenge on the country.
After scratching your brains further you might add ... the herd of buffoles or donkeys ...oh yeah, they.... they do stop midway ..look at you.....acknowledge your honk......probably even nod at you if you stand longer and then continue by then you would anyway have to slow down and wait for the dirty-ugly-fat-black buffalo to cross the road.
Now the "DIRTY-UGLY-FAT-BLACK BUFFALO" reminds me of a fierce discussion we had over coffee couple of years back on the terrace of my previous office. I think it was bcoz someone took offense at calling a nice healthy buffalo as dirty-ugly-fat & black.And that explains the "Previous office" for most who were part of that debate.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
So Whatz up??
Risha calls me from UK ...
R: Hey Hi... Whatz up??
Me: Hi ... nothing much .. you tell me .. howz fleet??
R: the same re ..you tell me Whatz new??
Me: hey, you know Joyce held her hands today
R: what??
Me: yaa she was lying down and she was playing with her hands and she held it
R: So?? (in a very confused tone)
Me: oh ... thatz the news at my end
R & Me: laughed togather...
Latter when she came down and saw Joyce at work .. She got on board with me.
So, I have tons of news but I am just not sure if thatz what you wanna hear. So let me just put up some of the news I have in my world.
Joyce has started playing with her legs now. You put her down on her back and she will bring her legs right up where she can see it and then try to hold it with her hands or try to touch or pick each of her little toe. When she has her socks on, she tries to play with the lace on them or tries to find her toe. The expressions of amuzement on her face is so heart warming:).
While learning to turn over was equally fun to watch bcoz she would go sideways and had to flip downwards but the flip wasnt easy and she had to put in some extra effort or strength, and that she drew from sucking her thumb furiously. So she would go side ways and start sucking her thumb pretty loudly and try the flip successfully. So she has mastered the art of falling on her tummy by now, but the fun is when the hand gets stuck just below her,then in that awkward position she will try her crawl and when she is holding herself on her knees, that fraction of a second is when she will remove her hand.
About trying to crawl, the "trying-to-crawl" act is worth a watch. So she is on her tummy and now wants to move forward, so she starts folding her knees and keeps arching forward but the moment she folds her knees the head goes rigth down and she hasnt yet realized she needs to get support from her hands as well to move ahead so Joyce trying to crawl right now looks like this, her face down where she is rubbing her nose on the mattress and her bumps are all up bcoz she is folding & unfolding her legs one after the other in an attempt to crawl.... after a few mins of this tedious exercise she starts yelling as if in frustration or as if thatz exactly whatz missing & will make her crawl. And we just cant stop laughing.
These days she needs someone on her beck & call all the time. Its Grandpa & Grandma doing the honors turn by turn. She has learnt to make different sounds with variations at different decibel levels as if she is talking to us or responding to us. She can do this continously for half an hour and you would be absolutely delighted. Once she is tired talking for long ...she would sleep for a good hour or two.
After I joined office last week, when I return home she doesnt usually show any kind of recognition, she does smile but then she smiles at everyone all the time but y/d since I was a little wet from the rains, I didnt pick her up and just went ahead to change and there she started yelling ..oyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... (this is not crying) .... as if "Now where are you going without me" ... you have no idea what that does to you, boosted up my energy level a trillion times.
She smiles a lot but laughs rarely. But thoes rare laughs, the sound of the giggle is better than the best music you have heard so far....so adorable, you just want her to continue but she doesnt. Something that amuzed her & made her laugh today or now doesnt work the next day ..... Sometimes we almost feel like clowns dancing in front of her to make her smile, laugh, yell, talk and watch out for anything new she might do.
Another thing is the way she looks at her father, Its with absolute awe as if she is seeing a super man himslef which does invoke a pinch of jealousy, but more pride within me(both emotions ...I wonder why?). The look on her face when her dad is around is so different, the smile and some of the gibberish talks (which actually is just various sounds) and the twinkle in her eyes are all so so different. Looks like shez gonna be a Daddy's girl.
These small small things from a four month old can really overwhelm you.Even the slightest hint of recognition can do tons to your ego. Sometimes I wonder, is she nurturing us or are we nurturing her. Whichever way, its fun & I am enjoying while the joy ride lasts :) because I know once shez achieved her feat & starts crawling she is gonna drive everyone to the limits of their boosting energies & patience but till then ........ I am smiling :)
R: Hey Hi... Whatz up??
Me: Hi ... nothing much .. you tell me .. howz fleet??
R: the same re ..you tell me Whatz new??
Me: hey, you know Joyce held her hands today
R: what??
Me: yaa she was lying down and she was playing with her hands and she held it
R: So?? (in a very confused tone)
Me: oh ... thatz the news at my end
R & Me: laughed togather...
Latter when she came down and saw Joyce at work .. She got on board with me.
So, I have tons of news but I am just not sure if thatz what you wanna hear. So let me just put up some of the news I have in my world.
Joyce has started playing with her legs now. You put her down on her back and she will bring her legs right up where she can see it and then try to hold it with her hands or try to touch or pick each of her little toe. When she has her socks on, she tries to play with the lace on them or tries to find her toe. The expressions of amuzement on her face is so heart warming:).
While learning to turn over was equally fun to watch bcoz she would go sideways and had to flip downwards but the flip wasnt easy and she had to put in some extra effort or strength, and that she drew from sucking her thumb furiously. So she would go side ways and start sucking her thumb pretty loudly and try the flip successfully. So she has mastered the art of falling on her tummy by now, but the fun is when the hand gets stuck just below her,then in that awkward position she will try her crawl and when she is holding herself on her knees, that fraction of a second is when she will remove her hand.
About trying to crawl, the "trying-to-crawl" act is worth a watch. So she is on her tummy and now wants to move forward, so she starts folding her knees and keeps arching forward but the moment she folds her knees the head goes rigth down and she hasnt yet realized she needs to get support from her hands as well to move ahead so Joyce trying to crawl right now looks like this, her face down where she is rubbing her nose on the mattress and her bumps are all up bcoz she is folding & unfolding her legs one after the other in an attempt to crawl.... after a few mins of this tedious exercise she starts yelling as if in frustration or as if thatz exactly whatz missing & will make her crawl. And we just cant stop laughing.
These days she needs someone on her beck & call all the time. Its Grandpa & Grandma doing the honors turn by turn. She has learnt to make different sounds with variations at different decibel levels as if she is talking to us or responding to us. She can do this continously for half an hour and you would be absolutely delighted. Once she is tired talking for long ...she would sleep for a good hour or two.
After I joined office last week, when I return home she doesnt usually show any kind of recognition, she does smile but then she smiles at everyone all the time but y/d since I was a little wet from the rains, I didnt pick her up and just went ahead to change and there she started yelling ..oyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... (this is not crying) .... as if "Now where are you going without me" ... you have no idea what that does to you, boosted up my energy level a trillion times.
She smiles a lot but laughs rarely. But thoes rare laughs, the sound of the giggle is better than the best music you have heard so far....so adorable, you just want her to continue but she doesnt. Something that amuzed her & made her laugh today or now doesnt work the next day ..... Sometimes we almost feel like clowns dancing in front of her to make her smile, laugh, yell, talk and watch out for anything new she might do.
Another thing is the way she looks at her father, Its with absolute awe as if she is seeing a super man himslef which does invoke a pinch of jealousy, but more pride within me(both emotions ...I wonder why?). The look on her face when her dad is around is so different, the smile and some of the gibberish talks (which actually is just various sounds) and the twinkle in her eyes are all so so different. Looks like shez gonna be a Daddy's girl.
These small small things from a four month old can really overwhelm you.Even the slightest hint of recognition can do tons to your ego. Sometimes I wonder, is she nurturing us or are we nurturing her. Whichever way, its fun & I am enjoying while the joy ride lasts :) because I know once shez achieved her feat & starts crawling she is gonna drive everyone to the limits of their boosting energies & patience but till then ........ I am smiling :)
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