SRK's baggage excesses

The past weekend has added enough spice & drama to the SRK Gate in the US. I find this entire episode and the media circus around it rather strange, for 2 reasons. Firstly what Mr. Khan said "I was hurt and felt humiliated" this to me is perfectly accepted civil behavior and the guy said it in plain and simple english. It is human nature to protest if you are in disagreement with something. My second observation or shock was the section of the media and the Shobha de' s of the world crusifying SRK.

Heres is what I want to know, what is one got to do if you felt humiliated and hurt? you protest in a civilised way or become a human bomb or worse just sulk and become less human.

We live in the age of intense media scrutiny of celebrities and the News makers. The spin and PR machinery work round the clock. The first 24 hours after the 'incident' there was a lot of sympathy and anger amongst the general public and his fans in perticular and then we see this unfolding of SRK bashing and the vicious attacks by a select group of coloumist and TV commentators.I wonder why the such severe criticism of a civilised human reaction.

I like to stretch this to another level too, just like these columist. We do remember how the world was made to believe about Saddam's WMD's don't we? My question to Sagarika Ghosh and Ms De', are you being paid in cash or kind !

Michael Jackson R.I.P

Long Live the King... the greatest entertainer the world has seen and a truely gifted artist.

Dynasty is not a Bad Word

From Kashmir to Kanayakumari, the world of family politics have come a full circle.

A List of the most prominent Political families from across the country, sorry if I left out some, it is purely oversight and not intentional.

The Abdullah’s Kashmir
Badal’s Punjab
Gandhi’s Delhi- India J
Yadav’s Bihar / UP
Charan / Ajit Singh UP
Devi / Chautala Haryana
Bhajan / Bansi Lal Haryana
Sangmas in Meghalaya
Jaswant Singh / Vasundhara raje Rajasthan
Ajit Jogi Chhattisgarh
Soren Jharkhand
Patnaik Orissa
Thackeray’s Maharashtra
Pawars Maharashtra
NTR – Chandra babu Naidu AP
Karunanidhi TN
Karunakaran Kerala
Deve Gowda Karnataka
Gundu Rao Karnataka
Yeddyurappa Karnataka.

The media need not waste time in the studios or newsprint on the issue of Dynasty.
Let us just vote for the best men and women in politics and Hope they deliver on promises.

I don't really hate Australia.

Yeah it’s a shame, we feel outraged and naked at what’s happening to our countrymen down under. The television and the Newspapers are filled with stories on the brutal attacks on the student community. It is a matter of concern, these are times for all of us to come together as a Nation and condemn these dastardly acts whether the attacks were racist or not.

When the Tamil Diaspora protested the atrocities by the Sri Lankan Forces the rest of the PIO (People of Indian Origin) went about the daily routine. The Gujjus and the Panju’s have their own associations the Bunts and the Bengali’s are poles apart. So when and where do we unite as Indians?

It is a nice feeling when we talk about the diversity and the multi ethnic / lingual country of ours, if we scratch the surface I wonder if it is still NICE. This is precisely the problem, our own hypocrisy.

Lets look at our own back yard and do a quick realty check, the Shiv Sainiks do not want the North Indians in Mumbai; the Kannadigas don’t want the Tamils in Karnataka, the Pundits are refugees, worse is when we step into magical Goa, the average goan doesn’t want the ‘Indians’. Each one has something against the other, fundamentally is there a problem “with us” or “them” who ever that might be.

The only commonality most often (NOT ALWAYS) is the color of our skinJ. I mean if I am a Malayalee or an Assamese I would look out for Malayalee or an Assamese to hangout with. There’s nothing wrong in it. We may speak our own tongue share a common culture music and food. This is exactly where the trouble brews too.

We are too comfortable in our comfort zones that most often a large majority of us fail unintentionally to integrate with the ‘locals’. As the world gets smaller we need to take that extra step forward to bridge the gap and learn to adapt and integrate in our very own India and in every country that we accept as our own.

Cheers to Life, Mate.

The Urban Suave Voter: A Bloody Fool is he?

I am not here to negate or belittle the effort of ‘Tata’ tea and Janaagraha trying to bring these sophisticated mythical voters to stand in-line along with their urban proletariat in the same queue. It was an honest attempt to try and bring this urban suave voter to the polling booth asking them to Jaago re, the response was almost zilch.

The intention was right the content was great the visuals were hard hitting but completely failed to read the pulse of the ambitious under 25 Indian. These are the tech savvy, pretentious, credit card wielding populace. This constituency will take part in most of the online surveys and will stand in queue for hours for the 2 minute’s claim to fame on MTV’s roadies. You weren’t serious enough to energize or enthuse this lot to come and vote in an ‘Indian election’.

I am going way over board with my criticism of this citizenry, but I couldn’t help. Let’s just get into their shoes for a wee bit and try to solve this mystery. What appeals to this lot, what are their demands or aspirations? Or do they have any demands at all.

First of all this is a generation which wears “kurta / pyjama/ dhotis” to work and calls it an ethnic day. These Guys and Gals are most comfortable in their Jeans and T-shirts; we will hear them say stuff like ‘Wow, Rahul Gandhi is really cute’ ask them who the local congress candidate in their constituency is, and in all likely hood they will scratch their head. Now whose fault is this?

The political class still lives in the previous century; everyone from Rahul Gandhi to Rajiv Prathap Rudy wears Pyjama Kurta. Our 24X7 television channels add to this cynicism of this aspiring youngistan by contrasting our poll campaigning and candidates to US and Obama. The answer is Obvious; they are going to be more disillusioned since they are unable to identify with any of our Neta’s.

This is the blackberry generation, this voting class expects more, a mere ad campaign will not be enough, they need to see change and quickly, this is the lot that travels in air conditioned cars unlike a generation ago, their holidays might be a cheap Thailand / Dubai or our very own Goa. This is the lot which likes to shop Louis Vuitton wear Prada and eat sushi, even if they can’t afford it, they like to believe that they will one day make it.

We need a miracle and not an ad campaign to bring them up to Vote. Jay Ind !

The Muslim Vote Bank

It’s funny how every passing election; vote bank becomes an issue for the BJP as well as the Congress, one attacking, and the other defending the Muslim Voter.

I have always wondered if the Muslim Vote bank is for real or a myth, the reason as far as I am concerned is, if it is for REAL then there should be Muslim leadership that is in a position to deliver the Muslim vote en block to a particular party in every election.

If we looked around to get a feel of the Muslim leadership in India, it is rather saddening to see that a community of more than 170 million Muslims in this country is represented by Mulayam, Mayawati, Nitish, Lalu, Jaya and Karuna neither are any one of these leaders Muslim nor do they represent the community as a whole.

This is not funny any more, since half these leaders were or are in coalition with the BJP, look at Tamil Nadu where both the Dravidian parties enjoy a fair share of the Muslim vote and both have been BJP’s allies in the past and have no qualms aligning in the future and the Muslims continue to vote for these regional satraps knowing pretty well that post election anything is possible.

It is time for BJP and Congress to shut up and stop fooling each other since neither are going to represent the Muslims, If these National parties want to make a real difference, they have to look at an inclusive growth and carry the Muslims along, If they REALLY mean well for the community and the country.

Tamils under LTTE

Years ago as a young student I've collected funds for the Tamils in Sri Lanka and spoke passionately about the atrocities committed by the Lanka forces. That was a teenager in the mid 80's.

As a young man years later I had an opportunity to live and work in Colombo and Kandy towards the fag end of the last millennium. Those 15 months in Sri lanka had a profound impact on me, such wonderful people, humble polite and courteous, not just the ordinary folks you worked with or you met at a mall or restaurants, it was the army and the police men on the streets, that I'm talking about.

The country was under emergency rule by the Chandrika govt, there were police / army check points all over the city and one was stopped at least twice a week to check the identity cards, but, every time I handed my passport to the security personal, I used to be surprised to see that these young men in uniform return the passport after mandatory check with a smile and say "thank u and sorry 4 the inconvenience". That really amazed me; I'm yet to come across a smiling cop in India.

I remember those were the times where we saw on an average of at least one suicide bombing being carried out in Colombo every month by the LTTE; they killed innocent civilian young and old alike. Tamil (those who opposed armed struggle) and Sinhala politicians, worse School children were not spared. That’s when I really started to talk to the Tamils in Colombo, Kandy and Ratnapura to understand their side of the story.

Tamils are all over the Island nation living / working and making a life for themselves, unlike the once in Jaffna (one hardly hears their side of the story under LTTE occupation), It was also intriguing to find the Tamils from the rest of the country were largely aloof but sympathetic towards the ordinary Tamils living in the north but not the tigers. It was commonly heard in Tamil homes but in hush hush tones, where the tigers were called extortionist and drug runners. It was a rude shock to see what was happening and I felt disappointed and disillusioned. I used to be a big fan of the LTTE and Prabhakaran. I felt stupid to have supported LTTE.

It is unfortunate that even today, the Tamil news media in India continue to write about the Tamil cause and the deceitful politician in Tamil nadu taking the gullible common man for a ride on an emotive issue as Tamils in Lanka suffer at the hands of the TIGERS.

I sincerely believe the sooner the Tigers are finished the better, only then will the Tamils in Lanka be able to live in peace.