The Prodigal Son

It was during the sleepy afternoons of late eighties when Doordarshan had started the afternoon transmissions for the first time in India as far as weekdays are concerned. In my neighbourhood, these programs were famous as Kanta and Shanta, derived from the names of the hosts.

Needless to say, it was a big hit amongst the bored housewives, and provided a good option to daily siesta. My school used to finish 2'o clock in the afternoon, so I also use to catch some of those stuff.

There was one particular serial which caught the fancy of all and sundry was Kya Banoge Munna. The title song was catchy -

Kya Banoge, Kya Banogey Munna?
Mummy Kehti Bano Doctor, Papa Kehtey Afsar,
Engineer Ban Jao Bhaiyya, Behna Kehti Aksar!

As the song suggests, it was a serial based on a family which was desperately seeking a prodigy out of their only son, putting him on enormous pressure. His homeworks, and grades were excessively monitored. He was constantly pushed for more. And there was a clash of interests between the parents regarding child's future career.

The results were catastrophic on the child. I felt sorry for 'Munna' as I was also of his age, but luckily never faced any such problems. Since it was a serial, where usually all ends well, so later sense drove home in the minds of the family, and they went back to saner levels.

But real life doesn't give a second chance. Take the case of Chennai doctor couple. To achieve the blind fame for which nobody cares two hoots about, they actually ended up committing a crime, and endangered someone's life.

The more shocking was the lethargy with which Chennai Police acted to arrest the couple allowing them to bask in their misplaced glory. The 'prodigy' is on the run. At the time when he was about to shape his career, the sheer lunacy of the parents has destroyed the same. They didn't realize surgery cannot be taught in Masti Ki Paathshala.

Had this doctor couple been a bit more patient, there were 'legal' ways of making their son a surgeon, albeit, not the youngest one in the world. This procedure is followed all over India, and Pune is amongst the shining stars.

Often, doctor as a profession runs in the family. This is no coincidence. Leaving out the deserving few who actually become doctors by merit, many doctor parents pay hefty sums to (almost) all paid seats colleges like DY Patil, Bharti Vidya Peeth etc. These sum start above 20 lakhs to actually reach as high as 50 lakhs. These colleges are pathetic as far as medical facilities are concerned.

After obtaining the "degree", they have their father's nursing home or clinic to start their career and 'practice'. In a few years, they are safely enconsed in the seat. That's the way this profession usually into the family. I have seen live instances in my family, and even otherwise.

Of course, there are honourable exceptions line Sanguine, who has a charted different career altogether, despite the fact that both of her parents are doctors.

Its not that only doctors do that. Laloo 's eldest daughter Misa (named after Maintainence of Internal Security Act during emergency) is a certified doctor. Typical Laloo style, she passed honours by blatantly flouting all norms.

She failed in Class X, CBSE board. Then Laloo got her shifted to Bihar board, and she 'passed' with distinction. Same story followed in Class XII. Then she 'cleared' the entrance for Ranchi Medical College to which she often travelled via helicopter from Patna. Soon Laloo got her 'transferred' to Patna Medical College. She finally passed the course with 'flying honours'.

I still remember one of her teacher's remarks published in TOI after she graduated as MBBS-"Now that Mr Chief Minister's desire to see his child as Doctor is fulfilled, my request would be to spare a thought for the patients, and refrain her from practicing."

Other prodigy which comes to my mind is Tathagat Avatar Tulsi who was the youngest matriculate till Sushma replaced him. He was claimed to be a Physics genius by his father, but turned out to be just a mugger by Department of Science and Technology, India. Please Read this ridiculous account by his father who claims he "programmed his child". Later I read, Tathagat was a wife beater too.

Thank God for not giving me ambitious parents.

A Rogue State

This weekend, I could not watch the India-WestIndies match because my cable operator did not put on Neo Sports channel. Neo Sports is a new kid on the block which has won the terrestrial rights from the BCCI for next four years for a whopping sum of money.

But since past many years, Prasar Bharti and its bosses have introduced a new form of loot against which no FIR can be lodged.

In the name of "public interest", they would forcibly usurp direct feed from any private telecaster. Soon, they would introduce their own "interest", and start putting their own Ads of Ghadi Detergent and Young India to earn easy money.

Later, "public interest" would be heavily compromised by blocking presentation ceremonies, any replays - be it a dismissal, a boundary or an appeal, and even the first and last deliveries of an over.

Meanwhile, nobody would remember the interest of the poor private channel which had bought the telecast rights in hope of some Ad revenues and viewership. Due to DD business, cable operators would boycott them, and advertisements would also fall short of expectation. Ten Sports had almost run into bankruptcy till Zee Sports bailed them out.

And our "public caring" DD would make kill even without spending a single Paisa.

However, Supreme Court woke up and saw the loot. Though holding DD's right to telecast, it forced DD to share the revenues with the concerned private channels. But again, this was peanuts as compared to what telecasters would have originally achieved because cable operators would still boycott them.

But Nimbus stood up to the challenge. They said no to loot. They refused to agree to Doordarshan's terms. Predictably, Prasar Bharti's boss Priyaranjan Das Munshi is hopping mad. Look what he says - "Nimbus is unpatriotic! I will not allow them to plunder India!"

To slightly change the old phrase - "Look who is plundering."

Pathetic, Munshi, pathetic. Its not even laughable. Only an absolute idiot like you would utter such a statement, but then again that couplet comes into my mind - "Har Shakh Per Ullu Baitha Hai, Anjaam-E-Gulistan Kya Hoga."

Also remember, patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel(and plunderer, looter, idiot)! Anyway, a Congressman is the last person who can comment on patriotism. Their only loyalty lies with their Italian boss.

I am not complaining that I couldn't watch the match. I won't watch it on DD. These shameless money launderers have got in habit to feed on other's effort like parasite. Now they are planning to bring a legislature to continue to do that.

In last twenty years, they haven't invested a penny to improve upon the infrastructure. Now they want to have their cake and eat it too. That is what rogue states do. Public interest is the last thing in their mind.

Homage!

Mourning Rajkumar fans, and there seemed to be quite many of them, paid "homage" to his departed soul by burning cars, damaging shops, beating people, and even lynching a hapless policeman to death.

This has baffled me no end. It was a bit understandable, though only a bit, to resort to such a insane behaviour when he was kidnapped by Veerappan. But why the heck at his natural death? Whose fault was his death from the cardiac arrest? He himself surely, and perhaps whoever cooked his food all these years!

And if one is so upset with the death of someone, the most one can do is kill oneself! Why inflict your agony upon others to the extent of killing someone, destroying someone's livelihood, or damaging someone's property. If have the guts, then do all these stuff on yourself!

These extremities always worry me, and so does the larger-than-life portrayal.

When Jayalalitha was imprisoned, a few zealots burnt a school bus which carried small children killing many! At the same time you would have temples of Khushbu, Mamta Kulkarni and Sania Mirza. Bangalore would be under riots for five days on the issue of Kannada and non-Kannada movies!

I bet, all you have to do is land a Tamil/Kannada/Telgu movie! Either there will be a temple of your name or you would be a Chief Minister! Nothing less! Take your pick - NT Ramarao, MGR, Amma Jayalalitha, and even Karunanidhi is from the industry!

I mean these are trivial issues, why should normal public suffer after that. I have seen similar sentiments, though no where near of this magnitude, for Mayawati and Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar!

This blind faith blinding the people, but please spare others who have nothing to do with all this!

Oh Lucknow !

Is this is just the death of Meher Bhargava ? No. With this, I fear, the murder and the death of the city is complete.

And I am not saying this because this is a high profile murder. It is the manner in which its been done that worries me.

The city which had been the beacon of good mannerism, and peace through tides and times, the beginning of its death started seventeen years ago. Before that, Hindus, Sikh, Muslims had been peacefully co-existing in the city through centuries. Perhaps the tolerant Nawabi legacy, and mutual business interest made them do so.

Any city with a sizable minority populace is sensitive. Neighbouring Kanpur is, so is Aligarh; Hyderabad too, even Ahemdabad. Mumbai is most sensitive. But not Lucknow. Last riot took place in 1928.

My immediate neighbourhood had three Sikh family, one Muslim, and four Hindu families. Just three hundred meters away, there was a predominant Muslim locality. Near that, a Hanuman temple and a mosque stand bang opposite to each other. I, myself, was a part of a friend circle of four which included a Muslim, a Sikh, a Yadav, and myself a Thakur.

But never did any national riot hit the sentiments. Nothing happened during 1984 Congress induced riots, nor did anything happened during Mulayam Singh provoked riot in 1990, neither anything happened during BJP inflamed 1992 Babri Masjid riots. Gujarat riots were the absolute non event.

Everything begun to change with the advent of BJP, and even more dangerous, infinite off shoots of Janta Dal. As I said, former was not able to hit much home, but latter multiplied like amoebas. Add to that the potent poison of Mayawati and cahoots, the social fabric of the city begun to decay.

They say in the political circles that the road to Delhi goes via Lucknow. Ever since I begun to understand this adage, I never liked it.

Already, there has never been any economic investment in the state so there is incessant brain drain. What was left was mostly junk, and being the political center didn't help. Further, I could see the further loads of junk landing upon the city - in the name of politicians and their goons.

Ninety nine percent of these are criminals. Seeing criminals ruling and eating away the state, more and more crooks decided to pounce upon the city to extract their pound of flesh. It is not surprising that the guy who killed Meher was a politician's goon, and was an outsider. So was that politician. So are the most of mischief creators over there.

I don't mind quality people moving in there. I am not a foolish like Thackreys to oppose that. The quality people improve the outlook of a city. City becomes vibrant, and gets a refreshing look if incoming people are educated, smart, intelligent and hard working. Crime is also minimal, because there is no need. Moreover, the existing fabric of the city does not get alter in a negative way because the educated people understand that, follow that, and are tolerant towards that.

Cosmopolitan Mumbai and Pune are good examples.

But due to a power center, crooks are flocking Lucknow. Lack of economic activity ensure no educated people are entering the city, and more unfortunately, the local educated people are moving out en masse. So the Ganga-Jamuni local Tehzeeb of the city is disappearing fast. These uneducated goons do not understand that, and don't give a damn about that. And there is no check on them due to criminal-politician-police nexuss.

Therefore, I think the death of the city is complete. Nothing can save it now, unless there is a revolution of the kind of freedom struggle started by Mahtama Gandhi.

Wake up the citizens of Lucknow! Rise against the onslaught or else it will not only be dead, it will be extinct as well, and adjectives like Nazakat, Nafasat, and Sharafat will only be the part of folk lores.

(May be I have gone over board, and have over analyzed it but it is not way far from truth)

Maulana Mulayam

Mulayam Singh holds the dubious distinction of being responsible for the most number of riots in his rule, not even BJP matches him. And the reason is not beyond comprehension.

Proximity to anti-social elements is a minor factor, but the reckless appeasement of minorities is a major one. It's like crawling when asked to kneel.

Recently, there was a full blooded riot in Mau - where Mukhtar Ansari was opulent in inciting the mob. There was no law and order, while Mulayam slept through it.

There was a mini-riot in Allahabad too a little earlier, and who can forget the mass killing of Kar-Sevaks at Ayodhya way back in 1990.

Now a mini-riot even in Lucknow, of all the places, has taken appeasement to a new level. Lucknow has always been peaceful, even at the height of Babri and Gujarat riots, while the rest of the country burnt. In fact, there wasn't even a precautionary curfew during Gujarat riots.

But Mulayam Singh's presence at the helm gives rioters a new found confidence.

10 days back these Danish-cartoons-protesting-zealots damaged CCD and Dominos at the heart of city, in the name of protesting. This happened right at a stone-throw distance from the Chief Minister's house. Police just kept watching.

As if that was not the lesson enough, rioters again struck innocent shopkeepers in the city's biggest market, this time it was Bush's visit they were "protesting". When four got killed, then only authorities woke out of their slumber.

It is in his rule only, when minister issues a fatwa to kill, and no action happens. All you see is a mute Mulayam Singh taking no stands. Why ? Well, this will hurt Muslims, and they won't vote him.

Ex-CM ND Tiwari was earlier was notoriously known as Nothing Doing Tiwari. Mulayam is all set to usurp this title. And the title of Maulana Mulayam too fits perfectly on his head.

But this does not mean that Uttar Pradesh has any better options. BJP, we have all seen how it fared, and Mayawati is sheer disgusting. While other states, their capitals, and tier II cities are forging ahead in terms economic development, there is not even a fading hope for Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, and other tier II cities of the state.

Stop It Himesh!

I don't know how many of you follow Saregamapa Challenge 2005 at Zee Tv, but these days(and earlier too) it is the best programme amongst all the musical shows on the television as far as quality of singers is concerned.

Not that it hasn't had its share of controversies. First there was a fight between Adesh Srivastava and Ismail Durbar which went on to alarmic proportions. Then there were some judges who took the occasion to stamp their undue importance - worst of all was Daler Mehndi. On one episode Adesh Srivastava openly, and rudely questioned the decision of one of the senior and fair judge - Khayyam.

But currently, another controversy is brewing which is soon going to take catastrophic proportions for one of the Himesh Reshamia's talented contestants - Vinit. And it is ironic that Himesh is himself, though unknowingly, causing damage to his prospects in this programme.

Vinit is extremely talented contestant who has always taken a 'green card' on his first attempt. In the voting round as well, he has topped the past two weeks, and this week he is close second. He his definitely amongst top four along with Nihira, Himani and Hemchandra.

But Himesh Reshamia has started over promoting him in this programme. He his paranoid over certain things for eg. the hat he always dons. On every performance he wants Vinit to wear a hat too. Then, he always comes to stage just before Vinit's performance and talks junk about expectations, lucky hat etc. When the performance is over, he will go on to use words like "superb", "fantastic", "excellent".

Initially, he didn't use to do this. This was provoked by the ever-trouble-maker Adesh Srivastava. When Adesh's one of the contestants was outperformed by Vinit in one of the rounds, he begin to question Vinit's singing and voice quality. Himesh got fed up of this tirade, and begin promoting Vinit's talent big way. He has already made him sing the songs of the movie Rocky, and has also promised him three songs of another movie.

So far so good, but his new antics on the programme are beginning to go over the top. People are getting irritated. This is affecting Vinit's popularity and votes. Two weeks back, he got 28% votes, last week 18%, and this week 14%, though he has sung well all along. This way he is going to sink further.

Somebody, please enlighten Himesh Reshamia about this statistic resulting due to his folly. I won't be surprised if Vinit's gets ousted in this contest in next few episodes though I sincerely want him to win among the boys.

India - A Misnomer ?

Sometimes I wonder do we really represent India, or just our respective states ? Does our linguistic status provoke sharper sentiments than our nationality ? By and large, I thing it is true.

See, pride about one's origin is one thing, but taking that to riotous proportions is another.

I had a middle aged, balding colleague in my office, who was from Bangalore. We all use to call him "Babu Ji", because of his Karnataka antecedents. He was very miserable while having to live outside his home city, and I myself a Bhuktabhogi, could connect with his feelings initially. But I soon saw the catch.

Any normal chat about anything under the Sun would invariably lead to Bangalore. So far so good. It so happened that both of us were an avid Cricket fan. A few years back, there were a lot many players from Karnataka who represented India concurrently. But whenever any player from his state was dropped from the team, he use to shout conspiracy!

He will went on to explain all and sundry how Venkatesh Prasad was so good, and how Srinath could still be effective. Why Kumble deserves more chances, and how Vishal Bharadwaj was treated shabbily. It became so irritating when he became a self proclaimed advocate for the cause of that good-for-nothing Sunil Joshi! He would also discuss about some nondescript Karnataka Ranji players who "deserved" chances in the team.

All these talks were beginning to get under our nerves, when one day came the ultimate shocker. For one of the test matches, Anil Kumble was dropped in favour of Harbhajan Singh. This was in West Indies. I heard this person on lunch table saying that he wished that India lose that match. I couldn't believe this!

For him the country deserved nothing! His country was Bangalore, and its denizens were his countrymen. When that didn't happen, then India should lose. After that incident, I never talked properly with him till he was in the company.

Same is true of those "Indians", who booed Rahul Dravid at Eden Gardens, or who cheered every fall of Indian wicket just because Sourav Ganguly is not in the team. From Chief Minister to Sports Minister to West Bengal film industry, everyone has lodged protest, though nobody talks about his form, and attitude on the field.

No doubt he has done a lot for the country, and has an enviable record. But if records were the criterion, then Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev would still be playing in the team. There is a time for everyone. Sourav had his time where he performed and marshaled well despite of his shortcomings.

But now his shortcomings are exposed a bit too much. He still can't play short balls. His strong area - the off side - is giving problems too. He edgy over there. His fielding has not improved an iota. Same is true with the fitness. But fans can't see through this. It pains me no end that their loyalty lies with Sourav Ganguly, not with country.

Also, instead of sacking the selectors, Sharad Pawar should have sacked the groundsman and his bosses at Eden Garden who had prepared a green top to embarrass the country.

All these incidents do make me feel that the unified India is misnomer. It is still diversified.

Laloo and Samosa

Even as there is no Laloo at the helm in Bihar, Samosa still has that quintessential Aloo. People of Bihar, both natives and expatriates, must have breathed a collective sigh of relief.

But the big question is whether Nitish's regime can bring about the change of fortune in Bihar?

Answer is no. Not immediately, I mean. It's only plain to see that a fifteen years of relentless misrule, unthwarted corruption, and state sponsored criminalisation of the society can't be weed out in five years.

In these five years, with supreme political will, the current inertia can only be slowed down, next five years wheels of change can be set rolling in opposite but forward direction, and another five years are needed for the momentum to gain.

But Nitish doesn't have fifteen years. Almost certainly, Laloo will be back after five years. And it will be back to looting days and nights.

I am not too sure about political will either. In order to defeat the criminals from RJD, many candidates of criminal antecedent have been contested by NDA. They will be a huge nuisance for Nitish when he will try to deal with law and order.

Approximately 30% of Bihari men live outside their home state. This number is not expected to come down significantly in near future even if the law and order is improved because investment just won't come for next fifteen years.

Good examples are the still-grappling-for-the-investment states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. Barring a few urban pockets, investment is just in trickles despite of the fact that they are fastly reforming, and infrastructure has been improving at good pace. The bad old BIMARU tag is taking a way long time to shake off.

But one thing is sure. Bihar won't sink any further into a pit. Parasites are gone for a while and host can breathe easy. My worries are for the Railways now. Laloo - the parasite - will change host now. From Bihar to Railways.

Let's see how Manmohan Singh's team can stem this damage. All the best to Bihar.

Chhota Sheher(contd.)

As Priyangini said, I am mighty bugged by this big-small city nonsense. They are not even clear about the geography of these cities, not sure what gives them license to talk like this. I wanted to say more but didn't have much time that day.

It is proven that quality of life almost certainly takes the dip for worse when one moves from one city to other. Until then, you lived in a perfectly protected environment. You had a pretty settled life. You had a good friend circle with whom you spent your leisure time. And you had your family.

Move to another big city. Now you have an employment. But then you will have to house yourself in an apartment one third of the size you are used to live in. Workplace or downtown will be three times as much distant. Food will always be substandard, with a stomach bug perfectly implanted in you intestines.

Cost of living shoots infinitely. Rent will hit you hard, until you pack like sardines. Eleven months deposit is another tale of woe. Food is costly unless you can cook. Traveling cost is phenomenal, and add to that those doctored meters these autowallahs here possess, I am sure there take home is more than mine. You will call home long distance every now or then, and you will certainly send home some money. That's the least one can do.

Now want to buy a property? Take a cool 20-25 lakh loan for the miniscule flat in the remote suburbs of the city. Rest of the lives, they are slave of their vehicles and cellphone. I have seen people driving four KM to buy milk, and making five calls for the elusive plumber. Not to forget that twenty year EMI.

I am yet to know a family who has completely migrated with their sons and daughters. My mother and sister came here, stayed two years, had enough if it and returned back. There is huge difference in comforts and culture. And mind you, this is Pune, still a relatively small city. Had there been a larger city, more the problems.

These guys here have never exactly lived much away from home to understand the pain of getting detached from your roots. Everything they get is on platter. They don't understand what a long distance call is, and what it feels like making a more than twenty four hour journey every two or three times a year.

And yes, those steps are more loaded than the suitcases which we carry when we begin our return journey from home.

Typical on this immigrant situation is the song from the movie Godaan, sung beautifully by Mohd Rafi. Lyrics are in Bhojpuri are by Anjan, and music by Pandit Ravi Shankar. Lyrics are typically rural, but not hard to understand if given second read.

The UP-Bihar Syndrome

Continuing the popular trend of blaming the Siamese twins UP-Bihar for every ill this country suffers from, here is one more reason to blame them.

According to metrological department, the excess rainfall in Maharashtra and Gujarat has resulted in less rainfall in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Had weatherman been 'Mee Mumbaikar' Bal Thackrey and Pritish Nandi, or 'Save Maharashtra' Parimal Sondawale, he would have twisted the above piece of news, and paraphrased it as following -

The less amount of rainfall in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar has resulted in the excess rainfall in Mumbai, hence causing those unfortunate floods.

A bit too cynical, I guess, but I have made my point: If India looses a Cricket match, blame UP an Bihar and breathe easy.

The 'Spirit' Of Mumbai

This post is not there to rake up any controversies. Neither I am trying to be cynical in the moment of crisis. I am just trying to be plain pragmatic.

Despite my dislike for this place's crumbling, rather never-existent, civic infrastructure, and lack of breathing space, there is no iota of doubt that work culture and professionalism of the city is beyond compare. It is almost infectious.

No matter whoever walks into the city, with some initial resistance, one gradually moulds oneself with the environment. There is no other way. The competitive, and hardworking is the only one who would survive. If you are not already, you have to change yourself into one. Remember the movie Gaman by Muzzarfar Ali(Is Shaher Mein Har Shaksha Pareshaan Sa Kyun Hai)?

Due to ample work opportunities, and a conducive work environment, it has been attracting the best available talent in its folds. That enhances the overall quality of the city. The average citizen is better educated, and a more responsible one. However, all this has also added to a strange phenomenon called the 'spirit of Mumbai'.

Terms like - 'this is special about this city', ' they rise to occassion', 'it would never happen anywhere' have become the part of the local lingo. While most of it must be true, but at the same time it is plain ignorance to assume that this is exclusive to this city only.

Seriously, Mumbai needs to step out of this halo because of which it cannot see anything beyond itself. There is a huge country which exists beyond its boundaries which also has some degree of intelligence and existence. This vast hinterland is what feeding Mumbai its talent pool, and all other resources which Mumbai lacks of. Most of those Mumbaikars are not actually the sons of the soil.

Also we must remember that amongst those who are coming to Mumbai, all of them were not exactly dying of hunger at their homes. They have come there because this is the best place where they can perform at their best.

At the same time, those who are not in Mumbai are not dumb either. They are also social. They have faced more adversities through out their lives, than Mumbaikars have faced now. They have much less money. Still they strive hard against all the calamities & hardships.

For e.g. Cyclones, heat waves, rains, draught - each of them has ravaged Orissa. Still they survive, without basking in their little glories. Every year Brahmaputra creates havoc in Assam. Who bothers, and nobody complains. Imagine the situation of Kashmiris. See how doomed Gujarat is. Cyclones, earthquakes, floods, riots -what not? Still, they perform best in the country. And what about those fighters from Andaman & Nicobar, Tamil Nadu, & Pondichery? They literally rose from the dead.

Mr. Pritish Nandy, now everybody knows these statistics that Mumbai pays 40% of direct taxes, & 20% of indirect ones. But that does not necessarily mean Mumbai should be paid in same ratio. By same logic, should Ambanis be treated better than you since they pay more taxes? If Uttar Pradesh produces maximum milk, sugar, potatoes, rice, wheat, fruits, vegetables, then it doesn't mean all of these should stay there only.

You live in your happy world - Mumbai, and that's what you are bothered about. Tomorrow, every Indian will demand better facilities in line with his ability to pay taxes. Poor will be left to fend for themselves. Not withstanding the fact, that much of these poor, and not so poor had spent a lion shares of their income in educating their wards, and sending them to Mumbai to earn big bucks and pay taxes for your city. Had they had there own 'Mumbai' in there states, they wouldn't have come to your city in first place.

Mumbai doesn't need more money. It needs better management. Money is spent in creating a helipad at Chhagan Bhujbal's house. Did anyone ever question that in five years? Nope.

I think I have made my point. I salute the spirit which Mumbai has shown in the crisis. In the same breath, I salute the spirit shown by that young Sikh major who lost his life while saving the lives of people trapped in Upahaar cinema, or those bravehearts who survived Tsunami, and helped surviving others, or those never-say-die Gujaratis. I salute the spirit of our Armed Forces, the spirit, which is there in everyone amongst us.

Another Doomed 26th

After that deluge on 26th July, it's been again raining incessantly in Mumbai since past three days. In Pune too, there has not been a moment of respite. Had the city not been on the slopes of Sahyadris, it would have been almost as bad here as in Mumbai.

26th as the date has again haunted us. 26th January, it was Gujarat earthquake; 26th December, it was Tsunami. 26th July, it was this cloud burst in Mumbai. The life of the people there, as it is clearly evident from the news, is more miserable than the worst of the miseries. Imagining myself there runs a chill down my spine.

But clearly, this unfortunate calamity has shown that in any direction beyond Dadar, except south, the Financial Capital of India is one big slum. In between this slum, there are some oasis of wealth, but largely it's a shabby, crumbling piece of town planning.

But that's what precisely happens with the prevailing builder-politco nexus. The town planning is fed to dogs. Forget a town, there are no sub-towns either. Ok, there are places like Kandivili, but just for locals to stop. Beyond that, there is just a Lokhandwala complex to harp about. Everything else - a slum again.

That's not the way to plan a city. A builder gets hold of a patch of land, and raises a building over there, another builder would do like wise nearby, and so on. That way an unplanned maze is created. On the contrary, one needs to develop a complete township to give that area a planned look.

Three good examples would be Nigdi Pradhikaran in Pune, Rohni in Delhi, and Gomti Nagar in Lucknow. Such colonies have the dedicated facilities for schools, hospitals, post office, parks, markets, and police stations. This has not happened in Mumbai since long. There is always some illegal construction going on there, be it on a hill, near a river or in a slum.

These builders had in fact changed the course of a small river to create illegal constructions. Now the river has come back with vengeance!

Hope this mayhem gets over soon, and normalcy returns.

Movie Dekhne Do Yaar!

Will someone tell these idiots from B(hartiya) J(hagda) P(arty) that Salman Khan's link to underworld, outerworld, or waterworld has nothing to do with the movies he works in. Nor does it affect the average movie goer. So please let us see it.

I must also congratulate Veer Sanghvi for a highly 'successful' launch of Hindustan Times in Mumbai, where they 'exposed' a 'national traitor', and gave BJP members another person to fight against apart from poor LK Advani. This also gave us a peek-in on the future mode of working of this newspaper - sensationalism. Perfect in line with TOINs & Mid-day.

For the record, I must say that, as far as I think, Salman Khan is not a villain in complete blackness, and I have my reasons for that. Having said that, nothing can absolve him for his running over people while drunk, killing endangered animals( against the land of law), and hitting Aishwariya(if at all).

But the way media, politicos, his love life & rest of us has treated him - I still believe he his much saner. I could have lost it further.

The media has targeted him because he is the only Khan, among big three who has an element of controversy, in him. Rest of the two are too boring in their private lives. Still he has got unfair deal, and here are, perhaps the reasons, why !

On his drunken driving, he spent TWO weeks in prison. Same night in a similar incident in Pune, a retired army official ran over and killed a person. He didn't spent a night in jail. But due to misplaced heroics of the then Home Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Chhagan Bhujbal, in an unprecedented scenario, Salman spent two weeks.

This is the law of the land( which does not require a jail remand or detention) I am talking about, not the moral issue. Morally, he was wrong to drive under alcohol.

About the killing of back bucks, I totally agree it is a crime. And he must be punished. But morally speaking, killing and eating a hen or a lamb is as much a sin, as a black buck. All are the animals - endangered or not.

Hitting a person, male or female can never be justified, even more so when s/he is your beloved. That makes Salman a bad person. However, pounding on the door of the lady love whole night makes him possessive but not bad. If my beloved, even half as beautiful as a Miss World, arbitrarily turns the door on me, then who knows, even I may do that in desperation!

When Salman was called for a routine questioning in Bharat Shah case, media jumped the gun by alleging underworld links. When he was called by Enforcement Directorate(ED), again in Bharat Shah case - he was accused by media for violating FERA.

In fact, I remember this clipping from a news channel. Media was already awaiting for him outside ED office. When he ignored media questions, an irritated scribe shouts -"Aishwariya Ne Chhod Diya Kya". This was very distinctly audible on microphone. If this is not a mental torture, then what else.

Now the positive side of him. Every now and then, he donates his bone marrow, and I can vouch for this - it is painful. He donates a lot for charity. He works free for his friends.

In fact, most of the artists in industry vouch for his friendship. When Mohnish Behel's house was burning at 1 am in night, Salman was the only one at his side. By that time, nobody was sure if Mohnish's dad was still trapped inside. It was on Salman's insistence that both of them barged into the burning flat to save him, after breaking the fire brigade cordon. It was then that Mr Behel's charred body was discovered.

Such incidents are galore in the industry, but media never catches them. Just that a channel or a newspaper has to be launched some Bali Ka Bakra is needed. God only knows what would happen at the launch of Daily News & Analysis(DNA) by Zee group.

Trying Hard To Be Rude

Since the advent of Anu Malik in Indian Idol, it has become fashionable to lambaste the participants during the popular shows, as it has become fashionable to have such shows. Latest to join this bandwagon is Zee TV's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, hosted by Shaan.

There is this battery of judges which includes Himesh Reshamiya, Ismail Darbar, Jatin-Lalit, & Adesh Srivastav. There is a twosome problem with these so called artists. The First one is that with a little semblance of success, they begin to assume that they are a better breed than rest of us mortals.

The other problem is the growing insecurity due to cut-throat competition in their field. I can bet none of these gentlemen see eye-to-eye to each other in their private lives. Sometimes, these insecurities come to forefront at the most unlikeliest of the occasions. One such occasion was last Friday's telecast.

The culprit was Adesh Srivastav. A contestant sang the song from the movie Sur - "Aa Bhi Ja...", originally sung by Lucky Ali. While lambasting the contestant, Mr. Srivastav went deliberately overboard, and ridiculed Lucky Ali as well. This is what he said - "Aapne Bahut Besura Gaya. Jaisa Ki Is Song Ke Original Singer(Lucky Ali) Ne Gaya Tha."

This is was so distasteful, but again the upbringing and the insecurities come into the play. But what surprised me was the fact that this was coming from someone who can hardly boast a decent success to his name. Till last year he would get only one song in the films, particularly a Bhangra, and mostly by Amitabh Bachhan's recommendations(Roop Hai Tera Sona -Major Saab, Say Shava Shava - K3G).

Only when Baghban became a hit, that he tasted some real success. That's after being ten years in the industry. By calling Lucky Ali a Besura - he forgot his own past. During his struggling days, inorder to boost his sagging career, he came up with a misadventure-cum-pop-alblum, sung in his own pathetic voice, called - Namaste (opening lines went like this- Pashchim Ki Laila Ko, Purab Ke Chhaila Ka Namaste...arrrg). That would have put even a crow in better light. While Lucky Ali's debut album - Suno was a smashing hit.

What was even more surprising was the fact that Zee TV didn't 'beep' this unwanted comment. They have another cut-throat competition to face with. So any crap would do which could add to a controversy, and in a way to 'popularity'.

I guess, the proverb - Be Good, Do Good should be changed to Be Rude, Do Rude. In these times, it would work well even with the grammatical error.

Father Vs Mother

Like what was happening last year just before Bihar elections when there was this unfortunate windfall of kidnappings in Bihar, outrageous crimes against woman is the shocking flavour of this summer. While the debates about the dress sense, or about death sentence to the rapists continue, still, every instance of any new such incident seems more ghastly than the previous one.

In the thick of such things, the Star News is showing a news story, which is now fast taking the shape of a soap opera. This about the famed Nandi case of Lucknow, where the husband had put a writ application to stop her wife from aborting her child. Some people like Amit Varma are disgusted at the argument of the husband, while I am pained at his situation.

This person is in such a an unfortunate situation, that there is no justice for him. Court was kind of enough to entertain the appeal and even forwarded it to legislation to amend the laws about it. This is a fit case of role reversal. Like there are thousands of cases of men harassing women, here we have this man harassed by his better half.

Imagine a man gets married after months of courtship where his fiancee calls him almost daily. Then together they have a lovely honeymoon, where they decide to plan a baby. Meanwhile wife goes back to her home town to attend a cousin's marriage. When she returns she decides that she no longer can live so far from her parents.There is also an ashram over there where she regularly visits.

She decides to head back to her parent's house. Then arbitrarily she decides to abort the baby. Then she decides ....but hello? Will all the decisions be taken by the lady only? Isn't there a person who has married her only last November; who loves her; who had dreamt of a happy life; with a woman who was perfectly happy with her marriage, with her pregnancy just weeks ago.

So what does the husband do? Please remember he would have done the following. On her first homesick bout, he would have smiled knowingly. Well, who isn't. It will get over. Then she would have raised her pitch about the homesickness. He would have sympathized. Mind you she would be calling her parents daily and vice-versa.

Then she would explode the bomb to the shock of this guy that she can't live without her parents, so far from her city. She is hell bent on that. He is pleading with her. He now gets frustrated at the sight of no relenting. She is stubborn. Come what may, she will go. Fights start, and her parents are summoned. Situation get worsened. And now she decides to abort her child.

Imagine the plight of this guy. Until a few months ago, he had a loving wife, he was expecting a baby. The bliss was doubled, the planning for future had started. And now he has nothing just because the woman was homesick. This man has lost wife, child, peace of mind, and money.

I think this woman is disgusting. Just because the womb is hers, she doesn't get the right to kill that fetus. The right has to be earned. This is not a rape. Nor there is any medical complication. This is for sheer selfishness. This can't be allowed. If there is no such law, then it should be made. The man should also have a say and the court should decide subjectively.

But this poor guy would have nothing. No wife, no child. He is in further trouble. This lady now wants to take the police action on him for - hold your breath - killing her child by kicking her stomach. Not only that. She also wants to slap a dowry case, harassment case, abuse and what not!

This man is finished, in little less than seven months.

Humble Advice

It's one of my favourite saying - 'Humility, that low, sweet root, From which all heavenly virtues shoot'.

I must admit, how-much-ever I try, I am not able to follow it to the 'T'. Often, I do get carried away. But these are the lines which I always remember. To think of it that even the lesser mortals like me are not able to resist the temptation, then it's very understandable how difficult it must be to remain humble for those who really posses some "greatness".

The point is that those who are great in any field must take special care to keep away from sounding boastful, gaudy or narcissist. However, what actually happens is the reverse. The more accomplished one is, harder one finds to keep feet on the ground. Case of eccentric genius or they just get too addicted to adulation they get( or no more get), nobody can tell.

We have a lot of examples around us. One way to flaunt the genius is unabashedly, and brashly without any pretensions. The perfect example is Ustaad Bismillah Khan, the Shehnai Maestro.

In contrast, some try to hide their narcissist tendencies with fake humility. Shahrukh Khan fits the bill here perfectly. Read any of his interviews, and you will notice that first he will tell you very politely how great he his or how much hard he works. Later he would hasten to add a "by the grace of Allah" or "due to love of his fans", to tone down the stuff.

A third breed comprises of those who have the misconception about their greatness. They are either nothing or a spent force, but fail to realize that. Shatrughan Sinha is one such example. Read his the supposedly witty replies in Filmfare. They are no more humorous. They are narcissist, every line of it.

It's not always the black cloud, you would also find silver linings. Amitabh Bachhan is the humility and genius personified. Sachin Tendulkar carries himself beautifully, and Rahul Dravid is the other one who has no airs about himself.

Perhaps this is a human tendency, resulted due to slightly faulty upbringing. I watched three interviews in recent past, and the contrast of them made me wonder. One was Sharukh's interview after receiving Padma Shri, the other was Amir Khan's in Walk The Talk, NDTV 24 X 7, and the last one was Abhishek Bachhan's in Seedhi Baat, Ajtak. Shahrukh was boastful, Abhishek was humble while Amir was some where in between the two.

In the end, Aaga Hashra's these two lines show us the way.

Arz Woh Arz, Ki Jismein Koi Israar Na Ho
Baat Woh Baat, Ki Jissey Koi Inkaar Na Ho

Arz: Request
Israar: Obduracy, Obstinacy or Adamancy.
Inkaar: Refusal.

Analyze This

Tendulkar has another record to his name, while Pakistan has the match.

He is now the top scorer amongst Indian Test Cricketers now, leaving behind Sunil Gavaskar.

Incidentally, this team has the Captain(Sourav Ganguly) who has won the most number of Test matches for India. He has also won the most number of Test matches abroad.

This team has the player(Virendra Sehwag) who has scored most number of runs in an innings for India; the player(Rahul Dravid) who has scored second most numbers of runs in an innings; the player(VVS Laxman) who has scored third most numbers of runs in an innings; the player(Sachin Tendulkar) who has the most number of centuries in the world; the player(Rahul Dravid) who has most number of double centuries for India.

In addition to that, we have the player(Anil Kumble) who has taken the most number of wickets in Test Cricket for India.

Despite of all this greatness bestowed upon Indian Team, Pakistan won this test by 168 runs. India lost to Pakistan, the each and every day of this test , all the sessions except one. That tells some story of the fact that how misplaced the performance evaluation criterion in India is.

And even when all the arguments would fail, we would have highly cliched statement ready - Form is temporary, Class is permanent. Who cares if India lost the match !

Heard this on television. Sunny Deol, in his glorious tribute to his dad - Dharmendra, said something like this. Please brace yourself for the worst.

"Now coming to Sholay. If dad wasn't there in the movie, Sholay would have been a very 'dry' movie".

My ears could hear nothing else for a short while after that. Why? Kyunki Mere Kano Se Dhuan Nikal Raha Tha.

I know Deols is a very closely knit family. They all have nothing but praises for each other. And I love to see such a close binding together between father and sons; although dad's bigamy, and elder son's adultery is highly despicable. But tell you what, even I couldn't imagine such a blinding love. Even fabled Shrawan Kumar would pale in comparison.

There is no doubt that Veeru did a fine a job, but how come such a senior actor who has given some really fabulous performances in Arjun, Ghayal etc can give such a irresponsible, shooting-from-the-lip stuff. I mean this was not some petty dialogue from Gadar, it was suppose to be a serious statement.

Tomorrow Javed Jaffery might pitch in - "Leave aside dad Jagdeep, Sholay was a drag" or some grand son of AK Hangal might make public his take that "Without Dadoo, movie was bland".

Didn't Idiot box have enough idiots working for it or watching it that they are feeling need to import more of them from Cinema ? Yeh Sannata Kyun Hai Bhai!

If Wishes Had Wings ...

If ever I were to produce a movie,

My cast would definitely include Amitabh Bachhan, Irfan Khan and Konkona Sen.
My Script/Dialogue Writer would be Javed Akhtar.
My Director would be Farhan Akhtar or Vishal Bharadwaj.
My Assitant Directors & Editors would be Vidhu Vinod Chopda, and Sudhir Mishra.
My Cinematographer would be Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
My Music Director would be some one new as both Madan Mohan and Roshan are dead.
My Songs would be written by Gulzar, as Sahil Ludhinawi is dead.

I know most of those wishes seem to be preposterous, but as they say - if wishes had wings, I would fly.

Scream Awards

So the farce has begun. First of the award series, The Star Screen Awards were aired last Saturday. If you thought Filmfare Awards are biased, then watch these ones to redefine the intensity of the word bias.

Otherwise, how could one give the Best Story and Best Dialogues award to Veer Zara of all the movies. Whatever happened to Maqbool? Abbas Tyrewala and Vishal Bharadwaj must be feeling mighty pissed off right now.

And one look at Shahrukh Khan's over smiling face gave me enough idea that he is going to get the Best Actor Award. I felt for poor Hrithik on his fabulous performance in Lakshya. I swore not to tolerate these awards that long, but before I could retire, there was this Priyanka Chopra getting Best Performance in a Negative Role making hash of the Irfan Khan's performance in, again, Maqbool.

The Chief Guest, the current chief minister Mr Vilas Rao Deshmukh and his son were also appeased by giving Best Performance in a Comic Role to Ritesh Deshmukh ignoring Arshad Waris in Hulchul.

For a change, Rani was a correct choice for Best Actresses and Best Supporting Actress. Though Best Supporting Actor was a tricky one between Abhishek Bachhan & Pankaj Kapoor. I wouldn't have mind either of them getting it.

What made the evening more ridiculous was the fact that Express group kept on harping on the fact that during the start of the show that these are the only awards which are selected by an august jury. Than there was these neta speeches from Star TV CEO Peter Mukherjee, Indian Express chief Editor Shekhar Gupta, Screen India Editor Ma'am Somaiyya(I don't remember the first name, arrg), and Jaipal Reddy.

I remember that virtually the same stuff was repeated by both the editors(Shekhar & Somaiyya) which they had spoken last year. Jaipal Reddy bored us so much that I almost dozed off. And it was surprising to know that Screen was 50 year old magazine. Never bought one. Never ever saw of it much in the stands either.

I wonder whatever little money they make by selling it, they fritter it away in a sham like these awards.