Monday, April 25, 2011

National news channels - Dream ON... India

What makes a news channel - National ?

Is it awareness about national issues ? Being aware of the different regions, religions and culture of India ? Who are the leaders that have shaped the identify and politics of different states ? Why so called “National parties” are struggling outside of the BIAMRU region ? Awareness about that ?

Nope. There is a simple set of Rules. You news reporting should be in English. You should pretend ignorance about other regions outside of the Hindi belt. Even other Indian names whether it is individuals, places or whatever…

Recently, it was really comical to watch the soldiers of the NDTV brigade struggle to pronounce the names of the trustees of Satya Sai Baba’s trust.

Guess the following name: Adee Kesaa Voo Loooo Nay Dooo !

Give up, it is Adikesavulu Naidu. I bet the same morons, will have no problems pronouncing “Silvio Berlusconi” or “Jacques Chirac” etc. in all their native glory. It would be really hilarious to see how many of these morons answer the question who is “Andhra Kesari”.

Welcome to the NDTV brigade of “national anchors”, we all should have seen the writing on the wall, when you realize NDTV stands for New Delhi Television. Yes, they have no intentions of paying attention to other regions of India… :-(

Friday, April 22, 2011

Mr. Perfect, a perfect movie

After a ridiculous supply of pseudo western trash, which is still continuing in the form of Dum Maro Dum, it was highly refreshing to watch Mr. Perfect a Telugu movie. This movie continues a fairly distinguished line of movies in Southern Cinema, particularly Telugu industry which cater to the whole society right from elders to kids, with very good issues in our society picked on analyzed and a definitive judgment made in terms of a choice to make in life.

The story line deals with a very delicate question that youngster of today faces, which is whether to marry someone who aligns with everything you desire/have/aspire. Or should you in some sense be accommodating for the overall health of the relationship. Such a simple yet very important theme has been woven into a beautiful movie with life in India portrayed as to how we are all social animals and the relationship across generations and families is a very important thing in an “Indian Marriage” is told exceptionally well indeed. Even with my fairly limited understanding of the Telugu, I found the dialogues touching and to the point with not an unnecessary word spoken anywhere in the movie.

All the characters have their space in the movie and have delivered the performances with aplomb with no overacting anywhere. How the human interactions we have with others are in some sense dependent on the beginnings we make in our interaction with individuals is beautifully portrayed. Prabhas and Kaajal have excellent on screen chemistry. Kaajal has delivered the performance of her career so far, portraying the emotions of hatred in the beginning, upon listening to her father how she goes about (re)judging Prabhas and falls hopelessly in love with him is beautifully portrayed.

Prabhas has portrayed the daring of the youth very well. His decisions based on the firm belief of no compromise in life in your wants and desires in life isl well etched. His run-ins with Prakash Raj are all very well done. This is a movie without any villain, with every character crucial to the eventual outcome. Even the seemingly sentimental scenes early on how they are brought out with relevance in the end is simply too good. Finally he settles on Taapsee, as a no compromise choice but to win over the family what all he has to do and become-- form the basis of the eventual outcome. How marriage is a truly family occasion is brought out very well indeed.

Writing anymore would give the plot away, so watch it and thoroughly enjoy. It is a movie that reinforces the romance with your spouse as well as the value systems you espouse for your kids which are “Old Fashioned” for them. My family enjoyed it thoroughly…..

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Why white skinned people only buy apartments in India ?

India through the AdWorld….

I have been observing lot of Ads (courtesy of world cup coverage and now continuing with IPL) the following things that I didn’t know are readily obvious to me….

1. Most Indian Kids study in convents, with all their class teachers named “Rosie Miss”..
2. All Indian college Girls party after college invariably in bikinis possibly for a wet t-shirt contest
3. Most new apartments are purchased by “White” families, with the girls preferably blue eyed and blonde
4. Most indian marriages take places in churches with the girls invariably in white gowns
5. Nobody other than families with White Mom/wife in Capris and sleeveless tops, white dads in Khaki shorts buy apartments and furniture, in India
6. It appears that all swimming pools in India are reserved for whites only and so do all the resorts that are shown in Ads…

Surprised at that, well you shouldn't be if you watch the ADs. We clearly need a dose of reality check for the Ads. I remember, the Malaysian government under Mahatir Mohammed, criticizing the media there and asking them why do we need whites in our ads, are the products sold in Malaysia are for Malaysians are for Whites only ?

It is time Indian ADWorld went through such a critical look by one and all. We need products sold for Indians portraying the Indian customer, not a totally unconnected race. This extends to all the spheres. E.g. even during IPL ceremonies under Lalit Modi, white wal-mart trash used to occupy prime slot showcasing “their talent”. E.g. where was the need for Bryan Adams during our world cup ceremony ?. When a world cup happens in Australia etc. I don’t see them going out of the way to show case Indian culture, and India is the Real Money bags for these events ! It is not enough to just have have Military power or Money power. The most important one is soft power, where in people showcase your culture, race and habits and mimic them. E.g. USA is the most successful nation in this “soft power”. It is a shame that Indian ad world is hell bent on destroying our soft power potential, with this shame less subservience to white skin….

Please where is our pride and most importantly, self-respect ?

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Watchout for the Civil Society - Part 2

Crocodile tears for constitutional rights….

The Italian Maatha sponsored “pseudo civil society” has come out of the woodwork, again. Last time, they went around the country after the Ayodhya verdict, now they are doing the lecture circuit, opinion planting in allied news channels etc. about a big danger posed to the nation by the victory of the “real civil society” under the leadership Anna Hazare.

They usually raise concerns, as to how constitutional safeguards are being breached ? How unelected and unaccountable folks will draft legislation, make laws and worse prosecute people. The constitutional rights of the people who the lokpal bill will go after is being violated etc. This is nothing but total bullshit.

First, Consider this -- I am the master and I instruct my servants to do something, which is their routine job, then I am violating their constitutional rights ! Believe it or not, their argument is this non-sense. The people of India who are the real masters are now instructing their servants (in parliament) to enact a law to check corruption, which they should have done out of their own volition long ago and for that we are now violating the constitution. All that is being done is a bill is being drafted with eminent citizens and it will be the passed by the parliament. There is a club of thugs, thieves and the corrupt in the lok sabha and even if by a stroke of lightning the law gets passed we have Italian Maatha’s next ally - the murder/fraud accused doormat (also know as Prathiba Patil) as the president. When push comes to shove, these “safeguards” will kick-in for the Maatha at that time you can bet that the “pseudo civil society” will be shriller and even more non-sense, if that is really possible !

Second, let us look at the “Victims” of this bill. Who are they ? They are people against whom primafacie evidence of corruption is established and by prosecuting them with alacrity ensuring swift and severe punishment we are violating their constitutional rights ! They are being convicted with due process law with the loop holes closed and routine adjournments etc. not allowed. Yet somehow, this is violating their constitutional rights for the “pseudo civil society”.

Right now, we have the following “eminent personalities” from the government in the committee:
1. Kapil Sibal: Who doesn’t see any corruption in the 2G scam, worse defends, obfuscates all the criminality of Raja
2. Veerappa Moily: Who underwent prosecution for having delivered suitcases full of cash to topple Rama Krishna Hegde government in Karnataka and also killed the potential and teeth out of the present lok pal bill
I don’t even have to look at anybody else, the presence of these two is proof enough that we need someone committed to counter balance these crooks. Even with civil society folks in I will bet on these two bastards to use all their “legal skills” to stand in the way. Perhaps, Anna Hazare’s request to public telecast the proceedings of the committee is not that far fetched at all.

So when you see someone shedding tears for violation of your constitutional rights, watch out….

PS: It is not that the bill proposed by the Anna Hazare camp is flawless, in fact it is biased in some cases towards the likes of Medha Phatkar and Arundati Roy et al and could become a platform for the anti-development motley crew. If a decision is not corrupt then it should be totally outside the purview of lokpal. Similarly, corruption by anyone in any branch of the government should be under the ambit of the lokpal, if there are constitutional amendments needed to make that happen, they should happen.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Getting dead serious about education....

I dropped of my daughter for her IITJEE exams today and observing the people over there was an illuminating experience in judging how dead serious we are about our child's education. We all have seen our education minister, deride the IITs as intellectual and have seen him make several half-baked attempts at “reforming” the process. He should really come and see for himself how “elitist” the folks whose children take the exams.

I even saw a father pedalling on a simple bicycle with the son on the carrier in the back. With moms who laid out picnic blankets and were waiting in the 39 celcius temperature with lunch laid out for the kids. They stayed from 8am to 5pm providing the nurturing the ecosystem for the kids. Finally, the kids for whom a good college admission is a meal ticket to prosperity, trooping in and out of the exam hall.

The expectations were written all over the faces of the parents as much as the students. Our policy makers really need to visit these centres interact with the folks and then maybe better plan things for the future. I propose a simple formula, an IIT, AIIMS, IIM in each state followed by a NIT & Medical College in each district, with 2-3 polytechnic and nursing colleges as well. In addition to ensure that locals benefit for each of these institutes 50% should be domicile admission as well. That way each area will have a good shot at pursuing education locally or nearby. The all India institutes can be totally merit based over time as well. One thing that can be done today itself would be to make all PG admissions totally based on merit. This will ensure that those that get left out for bachelors will get another chance to pursue their heart for PG.

Sometimes I wonder as to how come such simple common sense proposals elude our government and in particular our education minister…

Please, visit such educational entrance exam sites to understand the real India, only then you will automatically give up such nonsensical ideas such as grades etc.

Friday, April 8, 2011

More than Lok Pal we need Patrika Pal Bill...

It is time for a “Patrika Pal” bil…

We all have had our fill of the agitation for a “lok pal” bill with teeth spear headed by Anna Hare. While it is an occasion of joy for us all that finally the government had to agree to it, the media coverage of the event begs some serious answers to very serious questions.

The TV media particular the Anglo kind have been openly partial to any ruling dispensation that professes “secularism” even the “pseudo” kind. E.g. they carried time and again sound bites and interviews with their darling “Kapil Sibal” never once asking him the following questions and demanding answers.

1. Why can’t government involve people outside in legislation drafting for corruption when for all things including Gujjar reservation the government reacts favorably ?
2. How can people like him, who do not see any corruption at all in 2G issue as the minister responsible for the ministry now, be expected to be responsible and enact a legislation.
3. The present law minister who was an active participant in 1983 in the (in)famous suit case cash scam, to topple RK hegde’s government and who worked overtime to make the present lok pal bill that is on the table even more toothless (if that were really possible it is a monumental feat in itself) be in a committee to enact a “strong lok pal bill”
4. Finally, why the huge reluctance on the part of the Government to make the joint committee involving citizens official ?

For reasons, best known to themselves the media somehow didn’t ask these probing questions and get answers. If they had done all these, then you know what we wouldn’t have needed a Anna Hazare to begin with. The media will now probably find some way to credit the Italian Maatha for the government being brought to its knees by Anna Hazare.

The India median has been subservient to the ruling dispensations, so far. Unless and until there is TRP potential they hardly report anything. They seem to wake up when only a ruling dispensation that is some what fair in being secular is in power (e.g. BJP). E.g. while the Anna Hazare media mela was going on how many of you saw reports of Ram Jethmalani’s findings where were submitted to the supreme court ?

1. The Italan Matha’s personal political secretary (ahmed patel) writes letters to the government aiming to influence the probe into Hasan Ali’s finances
2. The IIT Delhi professor who is part of the petition and complained to the PM about the ED’s director himself enjoying hospitality provided by Hasain Ali, in all his resorts and hotels while the investigation is going on… is being hounded out.
3. In fact, the SC found the two incidents to be so alarming and so blatant that it has asked the CBI to invsestigate and report.

Now that the black money investigation is inching closer to 10 Janpath (aka Italian Maatha’s residence) there is an allergy amongst the media to report in detail on that.

To a lay man like me the need of the hour is to ensure that the corruption in Media is eliminated first and possibly ahead of everything else. There is a Press Council of India and NBSA. I myself have written to them about biased reporting in several programmes, so far they haven’t even been acknowledged… They are worse than the lok pal envisioned by our criminal law minister Verappa Moily..

Yes, we may have our lok Pal in the end but without a “patrika pal bill” which imposes huge penalties and fines on the media our democracy would be incomplete… indeed.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

It is time we threw this bastard out of TN politics once and for all…

It is election time in TN and my sincere appeal to people is to judge the failure of the DMK government on all fronts (other than some freebies). New benchmarks have been set for corruption and lawlessness. Murder and kidnappings are a significant industry now, with police negotiating ransom and getting kids released !

Raja is given protection and clean certificate, his aide commits suicide the chief forensic physician who gives the “suicide” certificate after autopsy resigns and contests on behalf of the DMK. Yet with a compliant ally, the CBI only does enough to escape SC’s wrath. E.g. they have now filed a chargesheet saying that Raja acted alone, no mention f the 200Cr loan that mysteriously found its way into Kalaingar TV.

Leave out all the issues, the singular issue that should weigh in on peoples’ minds and enough to throw out this bastard along with his allies, is the fact that his government is not secular at all. It is blatantly pro-minority and even that is forgivable, what is unforgivable is that - it is blatantly anti-majority. Consider the following:
1. He openly insults Rama
2. Time and again demeans all Hindu symbols
3. Installs a statue of Periyar in front of Srirangam temple
4. His utterances and daring removal of “Tamil New Year” from Chithirai month and installing something else is deserving of contempt.

He through is actions is successfully driving a wedge between religious factions in TN. Similarly, the rise of the caste based groupings is proof that the Dravidian idea of casteless society is a total failure. If anyone still thinks that he wants only a secular new year, consider this. He has no problem declaring a state holiday for Ugadi, which is a new year for Telugu/Kannada Hindus, as he needs their vote...

In a state where still 75% of the people are Hindu, it is shame on them that such a bastard can continue his brand of politics.

So please unite and throw this bastard out once and forever… you simply can’t go wrong choosing anyone else…..