Khushwant Singh's take on the partition

"Indians were never an integrated society. Besides caste and language divisions, the greatest was the Hindu-Muslim divide. They got along reasonably well but kept their distance from each other. There was never any real mixing of families visiting each other’s homes or even contemplating matrimonial relationships. The British fostered the feeling of separateness between the two. As the time neared for the British to leave, Muslims began to feel uneasy at the prospect of living in a Hindu-dominated India.

National divisions of India had been made before. Lala Lajpat Rai had made a rough map dividing India along communal lines. Later, Chaudhary Rehmat Ali coined the word Pakistan. Allama Iqbal, who at one time composed patriotic verses including Saarey Jahaan Se Achha, spoke of a Muslim state. Jinnah’s contribution to separateness was evolving the two-nation theory that Hindus and Muslims were two separate nations which would not live together in one state.

The feeling was echoed in the minds of middle-class Muslims across the sub-continent. After that no one, neither Gandhiji, nor Nehru, nor Sardar Patel nor Jinnah, could stop the process of religious cleansing of Hindus and Sikhs from Muslim-dominated areas. It may be recalled that as early as March 1947, Hindus and Sikhs were being driven out of towns and villages in north-west Punjab. There were communal riots in many Punjab cities, including Lahore.

By August 15, 1947, the migration of Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan had become a bloody exodus. Sikhs and Hindus of east Punjab made sure that this was not going to be one-way traffic: they drove out Muslims from east Punjab with double the violence. It was the most catastrophic exchange of populations in the history of mankind, leaving a million dead and tens of millions homeless.

Pointing accusing fingers at Nehru or Patel or Jinnah serves no purpose. Not one of them, nor indeed all of them put together, could have stopped the process of Partition. They were helpless against the tidal wave of hatred generated by history. They were the real causes of the wars we have fought against Pakistan and the continuing conflict over the future of Kashmir. "

- The Jinnah Legacy, Khushwant Singh, Hindustan Times
Link: http://www.hindustantimes.com/The-Jinnah-legacy/H1-Article3-448406.aspx


My Take: Perfectly put, couldn't agree more.

State of the news media

Summer Divine

It was a tough sem in spring,
Barely managed a three point nine,
Most guys, to India fled,
I mostly hung out at a buddy's of mine

Me and some guys from school,
Setup a LAN, we played real hard,
...
...
...to be continued

No Comments

Fingers Crossed

Our team manager is leaving soon. Real nice guy and real nice manager. I have written to the team asking to be considered for the position. Let's see. I think being in that position will help my game. Although the way I have been playing lately, anything and everything I do will only help my game. Can't perform worse.

On a different note, am still awaiting my Speed Secrets book to arrive. Should be an interesting read.

Baby Step 2

2 games this weekend. League game with FXI against Hulks on Saturday. Semifinal with Cats against Acers on Sunday.

Goals for the weekend - If opening against Hulks, stay for atleast 12 overs. Score 1 run an over.
Notes:
Use backfoot to reach the line of the ball. No premeditated lobs over infield.

Actual performance -Opened against Hulks. Bowled for 1 off 7 balls. Saw the empty leg side boundary and expected a short pitch delivery. Ball was full length instead.

Rotated out for the Sunday game. Hope to play the finals on Saturday.

Baby Step 1

Personal goal for game this Sunday - Atleast 2 dismissals while fielding; atleast 10 runs while batting

Actual performance - 8 runs off 33 balls. Game called off due to permit issues

Notes - Don't plant backfoot in the ground. Use the crease to reach the ball

The Number Cruncher

Team performance after 4 games this season -

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Does my vote really count?

I didn't vote in India. Never felt that it made any difference whether I did or not.

According to me, a situation where a candidate loses an election by one vote will never occur. So I don't understand why my vote is so important. I also don't believe that the guys at the polling booth would cheat and cast a vote in my name, considering that I live in a decent constituency in Bombay, which is not very poor or uneducated, or known for such activities.

It may also have been that case that I didn't really like any of the candidates, or their party affiliations at a larger level, to make myself go through the trouble of getting dressed and going to the polling center and casting my vote as a sign of confidence in the system and the candidate's ability to run the system effectively.

What I want to talk about here is why I think my vote does not make a difference. Also why I think that all these campaigns sprouting up one after the other to encourage people to vote are well-intentioned, but they wouldn't bring about a change in the election results, or the type of candidates who contest.

Take a case where three candidates are contesting an election - Mr. Criminal, Mr. Filmstar and Ms. Women's-Quota. Let's assume that I don't vote and the three candidates get 1000, 800 and 200 votes respectively. Now, in the case that I had voted for Mr. Filmstar (if he was on a Congress ticket), then the tally would have been 1000, 801 and 200. Not much of a difference I think. Hence - my vote does NOT make a difference, and I did not need to go through so much trouble to find this out (yes it is too much trouble, and I don't necessarily like to make use of all my rights. You can now be ashamed of me).

The only case in which my vote would make a difference, is when someone else's decision to vote or not vote is tied to my decision. If someone says that they'll vote only if I vote, then I will definitely go out and vote, because now my vote DOES make a difference. Oh and by the way - I would make sure that we are voting for the same candidate, otherwise the two votes will cancel each other out and it will again be an exercise in futility.

The other point is about the campaigns. The average voting percentage in India is around 60%. Now, considering that the supporters of the various parties are evenly distributed across the country, statistics says that if 60% of the population votes, the results are going to be no different than those if 100% had voted. So, even though it's a noble cause, maybe we should use our resources more in trying to get better candidates to choose from, so that people will have a reason to leave their work and stand in line and vote.

Your points of view will be much appreciated.

DMS - Web Documents Error

Error: BSP exception: Application sap\cvaw_document_search can not be started. Create an application node using transaction SICF (on clicking the search button in Web Docs)

Fix: See SAP note 1038797 and use the report 'BSP_UNLOCK_LONG_APP' to unlock the former BSP pages. You have to execute the report in SE38 and enter the page name 'cvaw_document_search'. After pressing F8 the page is unlocked again and should work in WebDocuments.

Note: Also use the above report to unlock these other pages:
CVAW_DOCUMENT_CREATE
CVAW_DOCUMENT_CHANGE
CVAW_DOCUMENT_STATUS
CVAW_DOCUMENT_DISPLAY
CVAW_VIEW_DOCFILE (to view original files)

DMS - Digital Signatures Error

Error: Current digital signature process has been terminated

Fix: Check that you have a first name and surname for the user populated in SU01. Digital Signatures require both fields to be populated or it will give you this error.

Shukriya Meherbani Karam

Things to be thankful for -

• Wonderful parents - liberal and trusting dad; doting, sacrificing and caring mother
• Valid US visa
• My job - keeps the bills paid, and lets me indulge in good food without feeling too guilty
• ...

Mission Accomplised

Went out to watch a vintage car race today with the sole intention of coming back with a good shot which shows the car in focus, and everything else in blur, implying motion. Here are my fav shots:

Maula Mix

Here are my favorite songs with God as their central theme. I could listen to this mix all day long.

Arziyan - Delhi 6

Piya Haji Ali - Fiza

Haan Raham - Aamir

Khuda Kay Liye - Khuda Kay Liye

Maula Mere Maula - Anwar (This one is not so much about God)

Mere Maula Karam Ho - Khakee

Maula Mere Le Le Meri Jaan - Chak De India

Maula - Zinda


P.S. - People with a communal bent of mind please don't bother commenting.

>(

Mental State - Annoyed

Opponent: MB
Game1:
Result: Lost 15-10
The good: few good shots; few good serves
The bad: did not return serves well - too many weak returns allowing him to build a quick lead; shots not very accurate - too many kill shots hit into the ground
Extraneous factors: energy levels running low after 5 doubles games
Mental note: Serve hard and into the corners - he has problems returning those; need to keep him back a lot more - play more ceiling shots

Khuda Kay Liye - Please Watch, for God's sake!

4 stars for concept...2 for execution...

The situations are real in some cases, but absurd in most. The Brit accents are unintentionally hilarious..the climax courtroom drama makes you wonder if its a court or a TV debate...thankfully the heart is in the right place, and message the director tries to send out comes across clearly, no thanks to the screenplay.

Production value fluctuates from big budget to classroom project. Music is superb. Acting - only the elder brother, the radical maulana and naseer leave any mark.

Watch the movie cuz its one of the most important messages coming out of Pakistan today.

(oh and make sure you brush up on your Urdu before sitting down, or get a subtitled copy)

Cool Pool

XO

Mental State - FURIOUS!

Opponent: TG
Game1:
Result: Won 15-11
The good: hit some good shots; overhead smash from back wall to corner worked well.
The bad: was up 14-6 before losing 5 points in a row to some good serves.
Extraneous factors: none
Mental note: Watch the serves carefully; try to keep him in the rear left corner; work harder towards the end to finish off games.

Game 2:
Result: Lost 15-6
The good: none
The bad: very bad shots; shots from back wall went into the ground a lot; complete lack of concentration; trembling arms
Extraneous factors: Energy level took a deep dive at end of game 1.
Mental note: Eat bananas half hour before leaving, not earlier; don't go over 10 minutes in cardio


Hopefully the new racquet will help.

Drool Quotient - High

Journey of a few strings

Ordered a racquetball racquet and shoes recently. Being a cheapskate who believes that shipping charges should be made illegal, I opted for free ground shipping which takes FIVE BUSINESS DAYS to arrive!! While I wait for the package hoping that the contents would automagically elevate my game to atleast a C minus from the ZZ minus minus level natural talent that pitaji has proudly passed onto betaji, here is its journey so far...


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I Spy

I think I'm an idealist, and a very stupid one at that
Tall women freak me out; I find short women endearing
I've had the good fortune of having wonderful managers throughout my short career and I'm very grateful for it
I hate shampooing; it always reminds me that I'm losing hair
I love to sing and wish I was better at it
Whenever I get into a nice rhythm at work I take a break to watch a sitcom or read the news; this habit is proving to be very bad for my career
I wish I knew myself better
I'm always cold and I hate ceiling fans
I still think of myself as too young and immature; this sometimes prevents me from having an intelligent conversation with people
I am a comedy freak and love to watch sitcoms. I watch them over and over again until I know every dialogue from every episode from every season by heart
I'll be the quietest person in the room until the conversation shifts to politics or movies
I get emotionally attached to people and workplaces and this makes me take irrational decisions sometimes
I listen to a song I like over and over and over again until I can't listen to it anymore.
I wish I would get a chance to act in a play, but am too scared of doing anything about it
I think men are just better at driving than women
I get annoyed when people keep saying they will go back to India to settle but never do
I wish I was more organised
I think that I am in the wrong profession
I wish I could write better; I'm jealous of people who write interesting blogs
I avoid confrontation even if I'm convinced I'm right; this has led to some unwanted complications
I sometimes judge people too quickly
I spend 20 hours of my day in front of my laptop; I'm aware I need to get a life
I hate it that I keep postponing getting back into shape; I'm using the word 'back' liberally
I love New York and call it home even though people make fun of me for it
My favorite song is 'Chaiyya Chaiyya'. I have been listening to it atleast once a day since it released in 1998. That works out to approximately 3650 times so far
I don't subscribe to any religion; I don't like it when people automatically assume I'm a Hindu. I think its disrespectful to Hinduism
I think jokes based on race are hilarious
I did NOT like Swades. SRK ruined it for me
I was a huge SRK fan in the 90s; I have grown up since
I am very competitive and find it difficult to just 'take it easy'
I can come across as very cynical
I hate it when someone hijacks my conversation
I am stubborn, I refuse to conform and I don't listen. I want to do my own things, take my own time figuring the rights from wrongs and in the process discover myself. My life in the past few years has been a journey of self discovery and self realization, a journey at breakneck speed
I think I have a light skin fixation
I believe every person should read "My Experiments with Truth" by Gandhi atleast once. It changed my outlook and thinking for the better
I hate people who blame Gandhi for India's problems
I continue to await that phone call that will tell me that everything's ok with the world; I'll wait as long as I have to

Chha Gaya Mujhpe Jaadu!

A Rajasthani folk number from Dev D. Makes for very soothing listening on long drive. Enjoy in high quality!

Devdas learns to Rock

Woke up one fine morning and did the first thing that I do each day - open up timesofindia.com. Scrolling down to bottom left, I saw that the review of Dev D was posted. I had high expectations from this movie, considering it was made by Anurag Kashyap and had Abhay Deol in it. I had just finished watching Oye Lucky Lucky Oye a few days back and was very impressed by the guy. So I click on the review and to my utter surprise, Dev D got 5 stars. The last time a movie got 5 stars in the Times was Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. This was 10 years back. I follow reviews by the Times religiously. They are very close to my taste. I especially like the fact that they are generous in their ratings, and, like me, appreciate the hard work that goes in making a movie. Even crappy run-of-the-mill movies get atleast 2 stars, unlike Rajeev Masand who is very mean. Anyways, after the review, Dev D was a movie that I was NOT gonna miss for anything in the world.

After waiting for about a month, I finally got a chance to watch the movie, and that too in a theatre. Was really excited.

Now for the review - long story short, the movie deserves 5 stars. Fantastic movie, brilliant acting, awesome music, and a happy ending! There is not a single thing more I could ask from a movie. The movie falls in the musical category with not less than 18 songs in it. But relax, they are not your typical song and dance routines. Instead they are playing in the background most of time time, and fit in really really well in the movie. My favorite song incidentally is Dhol Yaara Dhol, which is also very well picturised on the pretty Mahie Gill. Ok, coming to Mahie Gill - what a find! This woman can seriously act. She is very attractive, has good screen presence, and is confident. She oozes this raw sexuality without wearing any revealing clothes or mouthing explicit lines. Abhay Deol is turning out to be the poster-boy of alternative/multiplex cinema. The guy can act, likes to take risks, and does it all without seeming to have to try very hard. He plays the modern day Devdas better than anyone else could have. Kalki Koechlin does an awesome job as well. The movie is written to perfection. Looks trippy to perfection. It avoids cinematic pitfalls and shows perhaps the most honest version of Devdas so far. Some scenes that stand out are the ......ok I don't think I'm doing enough justice to how good this film really is. So here is a review that I really liked and says everything that the writer in me wanted to say -

I've always thought Devdas could only be told in black and white. For it is a bunch of flabbergastingly unidimensional characters -- drunkard, pining lover, courtesan -- that populate Sarat Chandra Chatterjee's essentially simplistic story, remarkable only for its wonderfully amoral, irredeemable titular protagonist.

Ushering colour into these monochromatic silhouettes has proved to be disastrous thus far, but Anurag Kashyap trailblazes in with a defiant new version that has only one aim, that to make your jaw drop.

Coolth drips from every frame, but we already knew this director as a man of extreme visual flair, and with trusted cinematographer Rajeev Ravi by his side, there was never any doubt that a film about a drugged-up Dev would look trippy beyond belief.

Kashyap's real surprise lies in the way he makes the story work, about how he avoids cinematic pitfalls and makes perhaps the most honest version of the character. In Dev D, Abhay Deol isn't charming like Dilip Kumar or melodramatically tragic like Shah Rukh Khan, but he is the character as he should be: the scumbag.

Nine minutes into Dev D, you realise that the director isn't aiming at an emotional connect with the hero, but instead trying to alienate you from him entirely. Gulping down that fact (with Thums Up or Coke, as you prefer) helps you kick back and revel in this utterly unconventional, marvellously immodest film.

Look, it's not as if you don't connect with any of them -- both the women traverse extreme character graphs -- but Dev himself is a wastrel you're really just meant to feel sorry for, and kinda sidle away from if he tries to borrow fifty bucks off you.

On seeing raunchy JPEGs of Paro on his computer, Dev breaks into a grin and Anurag stealthily switches languages, having his hero say 'Paro, main aa raha hoon' instead of its English, inevitably innuendo'd counterpart. Vile and violent are both muted and amplified unpredictably in the film, and a dialogue-switch like the one above shows us a director not just confident of his script, but trusting enough that his audience get the line without actually saying it and making them wince.

Enough such behind-the-obvious cleverness abounds in the film, and while there are many that might cringe at the film's three-hour running length, the best way to consume this long tall glass of cinema is by staying chilled. Dev D's real hero is responsible for this, and despite what the posters might tell you, that isn't Abhay Deol but the film's musicman, the astonishing Amit Trivedi who constantly juggles angst and allusion, profanity and pensiveness to make an awesomely heady cocktail that elevates the film itself to another level. The film's 18-song soundtrack is the narrative, really, bestowing the film with depth and nudging us, as viewers, in the right emotive direction even when the actors and lines themselves fail to get the job done. He's a master, this Trivedi, and the way Kashyap's used his songs is wonderfully appropriate, especially the rock version of Emotional Atyachaar.

Invariably sensory as the overall experience is, the film has its share of drawbacks. Stopping well short of revealing little scenes and details the joy of which should ideally be experienced first hand, I must wholeheartedly recommend you going to see this movie before pointing out its warts. Flaws hide in occasional lines, snatches of dialogue that seem forced, especially in a film that stays so close to the ground.

It's a stylistically arched world and not the one you and I live in, granted, but this is exactly why any deviation into filminess jars so painfully on the nerves. Let us not forget the film's Chanda, Kalki Koechlin and her strained dialogue delivery, responsible for the film's weakest moments, and even though she grows on you in the second half when bouncing off Abhay, she does let the film down.

Mahie Gill, on the other hand, is absolutely super. As Paro (short for Parminder), she creates a character to connect with and admire, a ballsy free-spirit well in touch with her sexuality and delightfully unbridled of tongue. Naive at first, her Paro goes from eagerly laying mattresses in fields to giving Dev the cruellest of verbal spankings. Utterly befuddled here stands Dev, a broken man helplessly in love with a married woman, and Deol plays this reasonably well. Reasonably, we say, because the man truly does not have much to do. Abhay takes on an admittedly brave role and does it adequately, but save for a couple of scenes -- watch out for a particularly priceless moment with a bus ticket -- all he has is substance-abuse, chewing gum and, well, gham.

Greatness in terms of character-building, however, lies in the delectably smarmy pimp, played by Dibyendu Bhattacharya, a man who hands Dev his drugs and literally carries him to the courtesan's fuchsia bed. Chunni, they call him, and the character is the coolest analogy the film draws alongside the original text.

Hubris dominates the overall proceedings -- remember, this is not a bad thing by default -- but while Kashyap excels when he's going all-out, there are sequences when he decides to slow down, to explain, to simplify. Evidently he gives the audience credit but not quite enough, and looking at his track record, it's easy to see why.

Even so, this is a rather radical project, a film that could well have done more but accomplishes far more than enough, and I think the only reason we expect even greater things is that it really, really whets our appetite.

Randomness happens often in our newly-experimental cinema, but it's always great to see a film where no detail is an accident, where the director gets to execute his vision exactly as he wants -- and this seems pretty darned close.

See Dev D once, get bombed, see it again.

Yes. I will see it again. Soon.

Uncalled-for Personal Attacks

A distinct trait shown mostly by 'desis' is their habit of converting any discussion into a personal attack. I was looking around for a good example of this before writing anything just to see whether it was just a personal feeling or whether it is actually happening to people all around.

So this friend of mine writes a blog about how she liked (loved) Delhi-6 and Saawariya, two movies that haven't found favor with the critics or the audiences alike. A friend of hers (her?) reads the blog, and leaves a comment which starts with the words "Have you gone mad??" Now I really don't get why an opinion about a movie should be turned into a question about whether the person is mentally stable or not. The movies were not that bad (I loved both the movies quite frankly, and agree with the writer's reviews), but even if they were, the fact that the person loves the movies does not in any way reflect on the 'madness' of her mind. (the two may be best friends in real life, and I'm not trying to make a statement about their relationship at all. This is just a social observation).

When you discuss politics with another desi, it invariably turns into a yelling contest. Its the law of the jungle out there when you meet someone with different political views than yours. A harmless discussion about a current affairs topic will, in most cases, turn into a personal attacks contest ranging from "tum saale pseudo-secular log", to "tum logon ko gulami ki aadat pad chuki hai", to other colorful ones which will not be printed.

I have learnt, after years of being put down because of my taste in music, movies, sitcoms, political views, world views, hairstyle, dressing style, affections, posture, cooking etc. that its best to keep your opinions to yourself. Its rare to find people who will not stray from the topic, and not take a personal offense to anything and everything that comes out of you. I am fortunate to have a few friends like this in my life, and its a pleasure talking to them and having light hearted banter with them, and then going out for tandoori chicken afterwards. With the others, I follow the policy of non-confrontation, and non-discussion.

10 years on...

This goes out to you -

Tum ho to, hai sab haasil,
Tum nahi, to kya hai yahan,
Tum ho to hai sapnon ke jaisa haseen ek samaa

Oh My God

Last week, my sister, who lives in Calcutta, got stuck in a massive traffic jam on the way back from school. The reason she was stuck was that a bunch of people, who unlike my sister, never did go to school, were protesting against an article that The Statesman had reproduced from the UK's Independent. The protesters claimed that the article had insulted the Prophet.

Now, as you would know, this is somewhat of a recurring phenomenon. Every few days Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs or barbers pop up out of nowhere claiming that their sensibilities have been hurt. And, more often than not, our government either capitulates or the goons beat up everyone in sight so that there’s a de facto ban on whatever these chaps were protesting against.

Now, there are a number of reasons why this should not happen.

Firstly, we have the London bus argument: "There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life". However, in all honesty, this is a futile argument not only in India but in almost all parts of the world including most of the western countries. Also, I am a bit sick of the Dawkins fanboys and their I’m-more-rational-than-99%-of-the-world expostulations.

Secondly, we have this: clock:time::religion:God.

A clock helps us to tell the time but a clock does not define time. So, if my clock is two hours slow or has stopped, it doesn’t mean that Time is two hours slow or has stopped. Time is impervious to the clock.

Similarly, at best religion can be way for us to understand God, but nothing that mortal men and women do on this Earth can ever affect God. A fair argument, if you ask me.

Therefore, it’s quite preposterous to think that an octogenarian (or is it nonagenarian?) painter can insult the very embodiment of Shakti or that a newspaper columnist can insult God’s chosen Prophet.

Incidentally, I’ve discussed this point on online forums (yes, I have too much time on my hands) and I’ve been met with one stock response: "Would you not feel hurt if somebody insulted your mother? It’s a similar case when our God is insulted."

Now, the thing is that, while my mum is somewhat of a remarkable woman (she can teach History to a bunch of unruly girls and make the best chaanp ever) she is hardly a god—in fact she’s, unfortunately, quite mortal. She is neither omniscient nor omnipotent and, in what is cinching proof of her imperfectness, she likes to listen to ABBA.

Hence, it’s not a similar case at all and if you do insult her I should and would feel a bit pissed.

Last and, well, least we have free speech. This has unfortunately taken such a beating in our country that I feel it futile to waste time writing about it.

Having enumerated (some of) the reasons as to why this stuff should not be done, it is instructive to try and understand why these things are done, nonetheless.

In one word, the reason is identity. Religion, in our part of the world, and, in fact, in most parts of the world, is an intrinsic part of our identity. It’s who you are. In effect, insulting symbols of your religion is taken, almost instinctively, as a personal insult.

So, when the chaps in Calcutta were ostensibly protesting against a columnist insulting the Prophet, what they were really protesting was a newspaper columnist insulting them.

In fact, a corollary of this would also explain the Ram Sena’s actions (as opposed to the more commonly held they-are-fags argument).The Ram Sena (and the other Senas) primarily consists of people who would charitably be called lumpen. Here Hindu culture, or their definition of it, gives them a lovely little make-believe world to hide in. A world in which they are actually better than the pub-hoping sahebzaadas zipping around in their fancy cars. That these people are largely Hindus in the first place matters little, because by the new terms of engagement, the Ram Sena chaps are the "better" or "truer" Hindus which makes them leapfrog in social status over the harlots who frequent bars and what not.

So, what do we do to remedy the situation? Well, quite frankly, I don’t know. Yes, we could make people richer; the whole cut-at-the-root-of-the-discontentment rigmarole—admittedly our best bet. But, sometimes, even that doesn’t help—the eagerness of the residents of Punjab to murder their own daughters is proof enough.

However, if you do think of something, scribble it onto a pink chaddi and send it to Muthalik. In the meanwhile, I suggest we follow Mark Twain’s advice:

"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained."

--Shoaib Daniyal, OutlookIndia.com
Read the article here

Love Mere Hit Hit

A catchy song from the recently released movie Billu. Deepika Padukone looks like a million bucks. Love her smile. SRK on the other hand looks quite sad serenading a woman half his age. He needs to reinvent himself, like now! The movie was nice, funny for the most part (watch out for that brilliant scene where the guesthouse manager is trying to remember his dialogues). A big applause for the Irfan Khan who delivers a heartbreaking performance as the poor barber whose life is turned upside down because of his famous friend. He silently suffers as his children, his wife and his entire village force him to get them a meeting with the star, and then turn against him when he is unable to. Watch him in the scene where he searches for his stuff in the trash after some angry villagers take down his shop. Here is an actor who doesn't need dialogues to communicate. A special mention for Lara Dutta, who looks gorgeous in the most simple of sareers and has matured tremendously as an actor. Great screen presence! The movie though, like most movies these days, ends up being a bit longer than necessary, especially the painfully long manipulative speech at the end by our man (watch out for the closeup of his hideously ugly stained teeth).

Anyways, drool... (don't forget to tun on high quality in the menu)

Cyclical upheavals, routine shock

Every few years, we have a downturn. This is not a very surprising thing to say for history has taught us that periods of prosperity are
interspersed with those of economic tightness. This means that ever so often, good times will give way to bad, economies that were booming will stagnate (Japan for the last 15 years), companies that were star performers will struggle (Sony) and countries that were superpowers will find themselves going through a rough patch (Russia after the end of the Cold War). Sometimes these changes in fortune will be of a longer duration and occasionally, we will see a change in the order of a more permanent kind.

Things move in cycles. This is a simple truth. Then why is it that we find ourselves in such a tizzy when we come across a routine, frequently recurring phenomenon? Why are we so unprepared both commercially and emotionally, to face the transient challenge of economic hardship? In India's case we are not shrinking, merely slowing down our rate of growth. But even if we were to talk about the developed world why do we find ourselves in such a state of desperation today? The idea of the market is that there will always be losers; the market celebrates the unequal nature of the world and sees it as the reason why individuals are driven to achievement.

For everyone who is buying when the price is low, someone is selling at the same price. Why do we celebrate the discriminatory nature of the market in good times and run to the referee the moment the market as a whole takes a dive. Isn't that too part of the market mechanism?

More importantly, we know this will pass. Just as we knew this would happen, but for a large part, chose to believe otherwise. Experts told us that the growth would be sustained for longer. The story seemed compelling then just as today the recession story seems equally inevitable. Of course, this had to happen; hindsight loves inevitability, just as foresight skirts around the cyclical nature of reality.

And yet, the story of humankind is nothing but a sustained battle against the stubborn inevitability of Nature. For nature imposes its bloody-minded gods on us that do not allow any event or phenomenon to continue unhindered. Night foils day, winter shrivels summer, good monsoons get rudely interrupted by droughts.

Civilizations flourish and tumble, species multiply and die, mountains become oceans and grasslands turn to sand. Which is why the idea of progress is based on pushing back the constraints imposed on us by nature. Culture seeks to harness biology as well as to thwart it. The manmade replaces the god-given as we set out to dismantle the power of natural phenomena, physical constraints and cyclical upheavals.

Technology has helped us erase the experience of most cycles. Electricity has turned night into day, air-conditioning has made summers quilt-friendly and cosmetics and medical science have postponed both death and age. Viagra has reduced the consequences of age while contraceptives have eliminated the tyranny of the fertility cycle. Menstruation continues its reign, albeit with a little less certitude and it is only a matter of time before this cycle too, is tamed.

The rebellion against cycles and the belief in an unbroken journey towards more reveals itself in other arenas of life too. Classical music, with its carefully extended rhythm and its spirally unfolding structure, works over too long a period of time to be popular. Cricket too leans towards the T20 format with its compression of ups-and-downs. In the West, most marriages do not survive the first emotional downturn that couples encounter and the quest for unbroken excitement creates a sweeping disregard for the psychic debris that is gathered in its wake.

So why should business be any different? Why should it not pretend that the market should perpetually rise and why should it not judge individual companies on a consistently upward performance every single quarter? Why prepare for bad times when you can sack thousands ever so often? Why not feed into the huge anxiety that such downturns generate and cadge a few billions from panicky governments?

The animal kingdom understands the rhythm of cycles and works to create a sustainable future for itself. Mating, breeding, feeding and migration occur cyclically and are all geared towards long-term survival. The male emperor penguin spends 115 days without a meal while incubating its offspring while its mate spends the winter at sea. It does not see deprivation and abundance as two separate phenomena but recognizes that they are part of a single process, something we seem curiously unable to do. We react to these two phases as if they are unrelated and need to be managed independently. We do not prepare in good times for bad and vice versa.

So right now we believe that we need to do something dramatic to get out of this cycle. It's almost as if we don't believe in the market any more. For India, the disconnect is even greater as we rush to embrace somebody else's reality as our own. Eventually things will get better. And then we will again forget that they will, very soon get worse again.

- Santosh Desai, TOI
Read the article here

If you ever feel lonely

One of my favorite moments from television...

Carrie is supposed to meet Mr. Big before he moves from New York (sigh!) to Los Angeles because of his job. When Carrie shows up at his place at the appointed hour, this is what happens

Slumdog Gazillionaire!!

...coming soon

Sapnon se bhare naina

Jaise ke din se rain alag hai
Sukh hai alag aur chain alag hai
Par jo yeh dekhe vo nain alag hain
Chain toh hai apna, sukh hain paraye

Jai Ho

Love these lines from the song from Slumdog Millionaire. The song itself is magnificently sung by the inimitable Sukhwinder Singh, and brilliantly composed by God himself - A R Rahman

Ratti ratti sachchi maine jaan gawayi hai

Nach Nach koylon pe raat bitaayi hai

Ankhiyon ki neend maine phoonkon se udaa di

Gin gin taarey maine ungli jalayi hai


(I tried translating it in English, but it makes no real sense and neither does it rhyme, hence omitted from the post)