Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Law System, Government responsible for July 13 Mumbai blasts

Of course, some terror outfit is responsible for the July 13 Mumbai blasts (Dadar, Opera House and Mumbadevi). But according to me, it’s our spineless law system and government that is more responsible for it.

Long back, Ajmal Kasab was convicted for the 26/7 blasts yet he is living a problem-free life. A terrorist who killed hundreds of innocent Mumbaikars is enjoying the status of India’s son-in-law with crores of rupees being spent on him.

Naturally, this becomes a confidence-booster for upcoming terrorists. They know even if they are convicted after attacking India, the government and law system are there to make sure they live the rest of their life with ease. So, why wouldn’t they risk committing a terror act considering they are already brainwashed?

In 2006, the TADA court started hurrying up with the 93 blast case only because 7/11 train blasts took place that year. So now because of the July 13 blasts, there might be a lot of hustle and bustle with Kasab’s case. The message is clear – we need a fresh bomb blast to solve the pending blast case. But even then, there is no guarantee that those convicted would be punished (as mentioned above about Kasab).

It seems we need someone like the Common Man from A Wednesday to punish terrorists. People might think I am being filmy but I don’t find any other solution when we have such pro-terror government and law system.

Pic courtesy - NDTV.com

Need a better life? Commit a heinous crime!

Is it Female Viagra?

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In today’s jungle-like situation, it is vital for the ad filmmakers to come up with more and more innovative ideas so as to grab viewers’ attention. Nothing wrong in this at all. But there is a thin line between out-of-the-box thinking and plain idiocy.

Unfortunately, ad filmmakers making ads for various deodorants or body sprays like Axe, Wild Stone, 18 +, etc have crossed the thin line and ventured so far into the idiotic areas that the very basic function of a deodorant (to destroy body odour) is nowhere to be seen in their ads.

Personally, I feel it is an anti-feminine concept which is garnering no protest whatsoever from any of the pro-feminine groups. If I was a woman, I would feel highly offended by such ads.

In these so-called deodorants’ advertisements, all we can see is a girl getting turned on or sexually aroused after smelling a deo from a man’s body. Her sexual excitement goes to such an extent that without watching daayen ya baayen, she just goes physical with the man although she doesn’t know him even a bit!

By showing such a thing in an advertisement, it looks like the makers are hinting that girls are so dumb that they will have physical pleasure with anyone who smells good. If this is not the case, are they giving a hidden message that in the name of deodorants, we are selling Female Viagra?

Have the British really left us?

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The atrocities being poured on the common man of India by our government and politicians often force me to doubt whether we are still living in the British era. But after looking at the way Baba Ramdev was arrested at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan and his non-violent agitation against corruption was forcefully swooped, my doubt is absolutely cleared. Now I am absolutely sure that our leaders and bureaucrats are equivalent to the British.

Couple of major justifications given by our HRD Minister Kapil Sibal for this inhuman behavior towards Ramdev and his supporters:

Baba Ramdev is a Yoga guru so he should not do politics.
He had assured that only five thousand of his supporters will throng the Ramlila Ground in New Delhi but more than 50 thousand people turned up.

Sibal thinks that the people of India are so foolish that they will accept such baseless justifications. If a person protests against corruption, how can you accuse him or her of doing politics? Is it wrong for an Indian to voice his or her opinion and take action in a non-violent manner?

About Sibal’s second accusation, what is wrong if people show non-violent support to a man whom they believe in? It is just that the government got frightened to see such large number of people gathering to support Ramdev and going against them. After all, this could hamper their money-making process, couldn’t it?

It is crystal clear that Sibal or the honchos of our government or other politicians have no answers to these questions. Their cowardly act against Ramdev’s non-violent agitation has proved that corruption is so dear to them that they will crush anyone who voices opinion or tries to take action against it.

Baba Ramdev: ‘Fast’ and Furious!

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Renowned Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev’s indefinite fast unto death from today (June 4, 2011) in New Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, against corruption and the black money stashed away in the Swiss Bank, is met with a thunderous response.

Thousands of his followers have flocked the ground and crores of Indians are glued onto the television to watch the proceedings. There’s no doubt that Ramdev’s act should be applauded by every Indian. But the big question is – will the Indian government, which is thoroughly submerged in corruption, will obey Ramdev’s demand?

There is around Rs 400 lakh crore of black money in the Swiss Bank. Is it really possible that the corruption infested government will bring the money back. If not that, can we really see these crooked politicians and bureaucrats themselves handing over their Swiss account money back to the nation? This looks something more difficult than finding needle in a desert.

And his demand of uprooting corruption from India, looks like even a bigger task! Is it realistic to expect that in India where not only politicians but even doctors, engineers and people from every profession indulge in corruption?

On the other hand, the government is going to have sleepless nights because if it just stays mum to Ramdev’s act, it will face humiliation not just in India but even outside. So the next few days or weeks will surely see some unexpected dramatic events.

Whatever the end result of Baba’s fight, I wholeheartedly support him as he is at least trying to achieve the impossible unlike crores of us who do nothing more than lambasting the corrupt politicians. And if he does achieve the impossible, it will go down as the most path-breaking event in the History of India after the Independence of 1947.

Obama’s Illusion or Indifference?

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After hunting him for 10 long years, finally the US managed to kill world’s most dreaded terrorist Osama Bin Laden at his hideout in Pakistan. The US President Barack Obama broke the news and said, “Justice has been done.” This was enough to start national celebrations across the US. But is this really a reason to rejoice? Is justice really been done?

The way people are celebrating in US it seems as if terrorism is completely wiped out from the world. It will be idiotic to believe that with Osama’s death, terrorism will bow down to its knees. We all know Al-Qaeda is a large and powerful network. And they were also aware that Osama was living a very risky life.

In other words, Osama’s death was always on the cards for them. Al-Qaeda must have always thought about this possibility. Only a fool can think that Al-Qaeda must not have thought about Plan B. They surely have a good number of people readying to succeed Osama.

Plus, apart from Al-Qaeda, there must be thousands of terrorist breeding camps across the world. Finding and finishing them is going to be humongous task even for the most powerful nation on earth. But it seems President Obama isn’t concerned about this as he has made one of the funniest statements in recent times saying, “Justice has been done.”

India along with a number of other countries has been a victim of terrorism since very long. The number of lives lost in these countries is much higher than the lives lost in the 9/11 attack. So, what about the justice with India and other nations who have borne terror attacks and lost lakhs of its innocent citizens? We still need to capture the mastermind who trained and ordered Ajmal Kasab and his comrades for Mumbai’s 26/11 attack. But Obama’s statement clearly indicates he and the US were only concerned about the attack on the US without giving a damn to India and other countries.

This can also be seen from the fact that although US has promised to help India a number of times in solving the terrorism issue, they have hardly done anything practical in this regard. And Obama’s attitude towards Osama’s death indicates that he is either living in an illusion or is plain indifferent to India and other terror prone countries. I have a strong feeling it’s the latter. Well, time will tell us. Till then, let the US celebrate their Diwali.

So Much Turmoil For Justice!

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A wave of joy and relief went through the people of India when social worker Binayak Sen was granted bail by the Supreme Court on Friday April 15. This is a reason to rejoice as there had been lots of people protesting against the life imprisonment granted to him. But is this really a matter of pride for us?

First and the foremost, Sen should not have been arrested and worst, should not have been charged wrongly for sedition. The whole fallacy throws a lot of questions on our judiciary system and our so-called democracy. It took hundreds of social workers, NGOs and common people to come together in order to grant justice for Sen.

Just last week, the Jan Lokpal Bill got a green signal but only after the whole of India supported Anna Hazare and showed its protest against the government in all possible ways. And we still remember the kind of huge protests that were required to punish the culprits in the Jessica Lal murder case, which was about a murder that was witnessed by around 300 people.

And coming back to Sen, he has just received bail. I am wondering what kind of protest will be required to drag Sen fully out of the mess.

So the obvious question is – Will justice be done only when the whole of India madly protests against the culprits or the system? If the answer is yes, may God bless our system, which cannot give the basic right of justice on its own.

Director Ashutosh Gowariker Enthralls Symbiosis Students

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(I was overwhelmed when my dear friend Padmanabh Subramanian aka Pady requested me to post this article of his on my blog. It’s a matter of pride for me that someone considers my blog as a platform to share his or her experience.)

The ‘Lagaan’ director was at Symbiosis Institute Of International Business, Hinjewadi, Pune for a discussion on management & film-making.

By: Padmanabh Subramanian

Leadership skills, ethical practices, effective planning and execution, human relations, emotional quotient, etc. are key managerial skills, MBA students aspire for. Cinema and process of film-making have always been closely associated with these managerial aspects. Such qualities are best-depicted through films and therefore, today movie-scripts are often used as case studies in educational institutes and the corporate world. Director- Mr. Ashutosh Gowariker is one such film-maker whose protagonists Bhuvan (Lagaan) & Mohan Bharghav (Swades) changed our perception of the conventional ‘hero’, by bringing about a revolution through lateral thinking, with patriotism as the backdrop.

On 18th February 2011, Symbiosis Institute of International Business, Hinjewadi Pune (SIIB) invited Mr. Ashutosh Gowariker for a guest lecture on “Management & managerial aspects of films and film-making”. Dr. Rajani Gupte, Director, SIIB and Dr. Vidya Yervadekar, Principal Director, Symbiosis Society, were also a part of the programme.

Mr. Gowariker began the session, with his early experiences as an actor, gradually moving towards film-making, which involved financing, operational issues, film-promotions & marketing, etc. He then spoke about how he zeroed down ‘leading actors’ for his films, based on the character’s temperament. He also threw light on how a film’s success and failure both are equally important for a film-maker.

Highlights of the session:

The simplicity, humility & straightforwardness with which Mr. Ashutosh put forth his points, thoughts, ideas and experiences, wrapped in humour, had the audience in splits.He came down to the level of youngsters which set the comfort level of the audience. The journey of his gradual evolution from an actor to director, director to a producer and finally from a producer to writer, with confusion and chaos at every stage, is something every youngster faces at this point of time, and could therefore connect to the transition process instantly. The interaction was the USP of the show, since people actually came out with frank, open queries, and having most of the questions answered much to their satisfaction.

Overall, it was a highly interactive, humorous and interesting session, and the audience enjoyed every bit of it.

Musical Train Journey

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I have heard people say that music has no language although I always doubted it. In 2001, when I boarded a train for Jaipur from Mumbai Central station, I didn’t have an iota of idea that I would start believing in the saying. Many a times some pleasant experiences have happened with me in the most unexpected situations. This was one such instance.

When our train entered the territory of Rajasthan, I was all excited and eager to reach Jaipur. Just an hour or so before reaching the final destination, an usual sound startled me when I was busy appreciating nature during the journey. Initially it irritated me as I don’t like being disturbed when my eyes are fixed outside the window during a train journey. I saw it was some small time performer playing a musical instrument in order to raise money (I will never call him a beggar).

After half a minute of or so, I realized I started liking the sound. Then came the big splash! The man playing the musical instrument started singing. Within seconds my whole attention was hooked onto him as I was damn impressed by his voice and style.

The passion with which he sang, the pain and anguish in his voice, his dedication, all sent me… (to read the remaining part of the article, please click on this link – http://www.mumbai-localtrains.com/2011/01/guest-article-music-on-rails.html)

Evolution of India’s National Flag

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With the arrival of the Independence Day, the demand or craze for the Indian flag or tricolor suddenly increases. Schools, colleges, homes, office, vehicles, clothes, etc are thronged by our flag of different sizes and materials. But hardly few of us know about the evolution of our flag and also the fact that it went through five different makeovers before getting its final look. So let’s have a look at the evolution of our national flag during the pre-independence era.

I don’t claim the below information to be my own. The information is compiled from the website of Government Of India – www.india.gov.in.

This was the first Indian flag ever which was hoisted in Kolkata in 1906. This flag was composed of three colors, green, yellow and red with the words Vande Mataram inscribed in the centre.

In 1907, the second form of Indian flag was hoisted in Paris by Madam Cama and her group of revolutionaries. Except for a few changes, the flag was similar to the first one.

Do you know what happens to India’s flag after August 15? See here in this beautiful short film HERE.

This was the most colorful version of the Indian flag. This flag was brought out in 1917 when the freedom struggle in India had taken a huge turn. This flag was hoisted by Dr. Annie Besant and Lokmanya Tilak during the Home Rule Movement. The flag consisted red and green horizontal lines and also had the Union Jack at the top left corner.

A youngster presented this version of the flag to Mahatma Gandhi in 1921 during the All India Congress Committee session that took place in Bezwada (now Vijaywada) in Andhra Pradesh. The red and green color in the flag represents two communities – Hindus and Muslims. As per Gandhiji’s suggestion, a white strip was included which indicated other religions and communities and a spinning wheel which portrays the progress of India.

The year 1931 was a landmark in the history of the national flag. The tricolor was adopted as the national flag of India as per a resolution passed. The three colors include saffron, white and green with Mahatma Gandhi’s spinning wheel or charkha in the centre.

The Constituent Assembly adopted the earlier version as the flag of Independent India. However, the only difference carried out was that Gandhiji’s spinning wheel was replaced by emperor Ashoka’s Dharma Chakra. This thus became the flag of Independent India in 1947.

On the occasion of our Independence, let us remember and salute those who sacrificed their lives and also those who borne innumerable pain to make India a free country. Vande Mataram!