The stats are officially out, OSO a.k.a Om Shanti Om is the biggest Indian grosser of all time. The loud one pager ad in times of India confirms this news.
The entire OSO teams deserves applause for they are also the biggest conmen of all time! Look what they have achieved! They could sell the old wine in new bottle! Old and routine "reincarnation" based bollywood script, mediocre songs, equally mediocre acting and still it is the biggest grosser! Bravo. How stupid of us to have fallen for this scam.
But, honestly I am one of the admirers of this movie! I liked it, call it a slick spoof on Bollywood and et all if you wish, but it was entertaining. OSO's main stay was -what else, its age old script! Thats what real Bollywood movies are made of it, its their USP. They got it right.
However, I hope I dont fall for a similar trick from the stables of Farha and SRK again. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
Winds of change!
Since last few months (or is it since I touched the dreaded age of 30 ?) I have seen a marked difference in my reading habits. Like age, even that has matured:) Or maybe it's due to lack of wider choice in my present library which is so poor as compared to my earlier one. It's really hard to say. But albeit poor, my library has a collection of classics. There are rows of books with yellowed pages which are any true book lovers' delight. I have always loved reading fact better than fiction, the last fiction I read being Da Vinci Code and last episode of H. Potter. Pretty mundane and commonplace reading, ain't it? But wait, this has changed.
Since there is nothing particularly interesting to read at my library all I do is randomly scan the book shelves during my weekly visits. But during one such aimless mission I hit upon a shelf of books related to ancient history, India and especially auto-biographes which are indeed my weakness. I had discovered an old treasure! Over weeks I devoured most of the books from that shelf. Following is a summary of the myriad reading done in last few months. Surprisingly, I have read most of these seemingly boring books at un-earthly hours (around 3AM!) thanks to the vigil we have to keep for our sweet pie daughter! Here's the list for the record:
1. Life and times in British India : This book chronicles events and history from 16th century when British first landed on shores of India and until about 1857 when the Queen of England became true empress of the sub-continent. It explains the day-to-day life of Europeans in India during that period with real life stories.
2. Lives of Indian Princess: This book, written in the seventies is extremely well researched and contains first hand interview based accounts of he last few living prince and princesses from the erstwhile princely Indian states under the British rule where they describe the royal past and life styly of their "illustrious" families. It has many rare photographs, some as old as early 1800. It feels almost surreal to read the exotic lives which our ancient kings lived, but at the same time this book was an eye opener that Indian Princess were actually allies of the British and were responsible for their elongated rule in India and they deserved every bit of raw treatment they received from Nehru and Indira's Congress which snatched away their privy purses.
3. Baburnama: I pledge to give a reward to anyone who can complete reading this autobiograpgy of the first Mughal emperor, Babur written in 14th century!! Never in my life have I read a more boring book. The translator himself has written a note inviting readers to drop passages from the book if they feel sleepy:-) I promptly returned it well before its due date. But this book is the only surving literature from that era and describes in great detail day-to-day life of the Mughal emperor and his lineage of that bygone time. A true Indian treasure. The only other boring book which can compete this is Hitlers Mein Kampf!
4. Ancient Egyptians: This book chronicles the history of Egypt from 3000 B.C onwards and covers overview of all important Egyptian Pharaohs and building of Pyramids. I now know exactly who Tutankhamun (King Tut) is!
5. Ancient Indians: This book was another eye opener on the real history of ancient India. I have been raised in my child hood on a staple diet of Amar Chitra Katha, which I believe is the best kiddo book series. It introduced me to ancient, medieval and modern India very early in my life. However the series has a serious drawback that it is based on popular folklores rather than well researched historical facts. This is where Ancient Indians opened my eyes to the hard fact that our great country had lost it greatness as early as 300 B.C, since then it has been ravaged and ruled by foreigners. The last true Hindu king was Ashoka. The books covers summary of our ancestors from 7000 B.C onwards!
6. Ancient Romans: This book is not as impressive as the other two. But it served the purpose by introducing the Roman ancient civilization and their quite modern governance of that era which provided, roads, canals, national laws and even a senate!
7. High Adventure: This auto-biography by Sir Edmund Hillary describes his adventures in Himalaya including his and Tenzings conquest of Everest. It is written in great detail and you climb every step along with him on that behemoth while reading the book. Deep in my heart I have always wanted to be a mountaineer, but my fragile high altitude worthiness never allowed to me attempt that profession. My love at first sight for the mountains began in high school when I trekked 3500 mts Kedarnath peak. The scary Himalaya instantly attracted me, but that love was short lived because by the time I finished my trek and spent the night in sub-zero temparatures at the temple on the peak it was clear that my physique is not made for those altitudes. Though I am quite immune to cold climes, altitudes of over 3500 mts are different game altogether!
8. Our Everest Expedition: Ths book by Sir John Hunt, who was the leader of the expedition in which Hillary and Tenzing conquered Everest is another text book of montaineering. It teaches the planning and leadership skills required to climb such mountains. These expeditions can last for about 6 months from start to finish! So meticulate planning of about one year is a must!! The photographs and trekkers maps are invaluable and of antique value.
9. Ascent of Nanda Devi: This book, printed in 1936 and last issued from the library by someone in 1942 (before I issued it) is yet another text book of mountaineering and describes the first ascent of the in-approchable Nanda Devi by H.W Tillman and his team. From mid 1800 to 1900, Europeans spent lot of time surveying and mapping Himalayas which attracted many talented Alpine mountaineers who were hungry for high adventure. Tillman was one of them. His description of their 3 month trek to the base of the mountain is simply engrossing. The ascent was quite easy as compared to the trek. Nanda Devi was long considered un-reachable but Tillmans team found a way to reach the mountain and also climbed it. All these books introduced me to great mountaineers like Eric Shipton, Hillary, Hunt , Tillman who were real pioneers with lions hearts who dared to climb the Himalayan peaks which remained virgin for so many million years! A recent series on Discovery called 'Everest' which showed the most detailed videographed expedition under leadership of Russel exposes how Everest is now a tourist spot! With the kind of technology available any Tom, Dick and Harry can climb Everest these days. The likes of Russel are actually running a tourist company by helping a legless clmber, 70 year old man and a asthama patient to climb Everest using latest technology! The age of fearless and serious Himalayan climbers is long over.
10. Five past midnight: This book is written by one of my fav historical writers, Dominique Lapier (who wrote City of Joy and Freedom at Midnight) on the worst indutrial tragedy which occured in Bhopal on 3rd Dec 1984. Till date, all those responsible are roaming free and justice evades those 30,000 lives lost due to it. Its a very well researched book which raises goose bumps when you read the chilling accounts of people who died fighting for breath on that fateful night. My parents told me that just about a day after that incident we were on a train which passed Bhopal! What if we had been one day earlier? Probably you would not have seen this blog!
There are still many books waiting to be read from that shelf. But for now its goodbye and G'night
Signing off,
~Amit
Since there is nothing particularly interesting to read at my library all I do is randomly scan the book shelves during my weekly visits. But during one such aimless mission I hit upon a shelf of books related to ancient history, India and especially auto-biographes which are indeed my weakness. I had discovered an old treasure! Over weeks I devoured most of the books from that shelf. Following is a summary of the myriad reading done in last few months. Surprisingly, I have read most of these seemingly boring books at un-earthly hours (around 3AM!) thanks to the vigil we have to keep for our sweet pie daughter! Here's the list for the record:
1. Life and times in British India : This book chronicles events and history from 16th century when British first landed on shores of India and until about 1857 when the Queen of England became true empress of the sub-continent. It explains the day-to-day life of Europeans in India during that period with real life stories.
2. Lives of Indian Princess: This book, written in the seventies is extremely well researched and contains first hand interview based accounts of he last few living prince and princesses from the erstwhile princely Indian states under the British rule where they describe the royal past and life styly of their "illustrious" families. It has many rare photographs, some as old as early 1800. It feels almost surreal to read the exotic lives which our ancient kings lived, but at the same time this book was an eye opener that Indian Princess were actually allies of the British and were responsible for their elongated rule in India and they deserved every bit of raw treatment they received from Nehru and Indira's Congress which snatched away their privy purses.
3. Baburnama: I pledge to give a reward to anyone who can complete reading this autobiograpgy of the first Mughal emperor, Babur written in 14th century!! Never in my life have I read a more boring book. The translator himself has written a note inviting readers to drop passages from the book if they feel sleepy:-) I promptly returned it well before its due date. But this book is the only surving literature from that era and describes in great detail day-to-day life of the Mughal emperor and his lineage of that bygone time. A true Indian treasure. The only other boring book which can compete this is Hitlers Mein Kampf!
4. Ancient Egyptians: This book chronicles the history of Egypt from 3000 B.C onwards and covers overview of all important Egyptian Pharaohs and building of Pyramids. I now know exactly who Tutankhamun (King Tut) is!
5. Ancient Indians: This book was another eye opener on the real history of ancient India. I have been raised in my child hood on a staple diet of Amar Chitra Katha, which I believe is the best kiddo book series. It introduced me to ancient, medieval and modern India very early in my life. However the series has a serious drawback that it is based on popular folklores rather than well researched historical facts. This is where Ancient Indians opened my eyes to the hard fact that our great country had lost it greatness as early as 300 B.C, since then it has been ravaged and ruled by foreigners. The last true Hindu king was Ashoka. The books covers summary of our ancestors from 7000 B.C onwards!
6. Ancient Romans: This book is not as impressive as the other two. But it served the purpose by introducing the Roman ancient civilization and their quite modern governance of that era which provided, roads, canals, national laws and even a senate!
7. High Adventure: This auto-biography by Sir Edmund Hillary describes his adventures in Himalaya including his and Tenzings conquest of Everest. It is written in great detail and you climb every step along with him on that behemoth while reading the book. Deep in my heart I have always wanted to be a mountaineer, but my fragile high altitude worthiness never allowed to me attempt that profession. My love at first sight for the mountains began in high school when I trekked 3500 mts Kedarnath peak. The scary Himalaya instantly attracted me, but that love was short lived because by the time I finished my trek and spent the night in sub-zero temparatures at the temple on the peak it was clear that my physique is not made for those altitudes. Though I am quite immune to cold climes, altitudes of over 3500 mts are different game altogether!
8. Our Everest Expedition: Ths book by Sir John Hunt, who was the leader of the expedition in which Hillary and Tenzing conquered Everest is another text book of montaineering. It teaches the planning and leadership skills required to climb such mountains. These expeditions can last for about 6 months from start to finish! So meticulate planning of about one year is a must!! The photographs and trekkers maps are invaluable and of antique value.
9. Ascent of Nanda Devi: This book, printed in 1936 and last issued from the library by someone in 1942 (before I issued it) is yet another text book of mountaineering and describes the first ascent of the in-approchable Nanda Devi by H.W Tillman and his team. From mid 1800 to 1900, Europeans spent lot of time surveying and mapping Himalayas which attracted many talented Alpine mountaineers who were hungry for high adventure. Tillman was one of them. His description of their 3 month trek to the base of the mountain is simply engrossing. The ascent was quite easy as compared to the trek. Nanda Devi was long considered un-reachable but Tillmans team found a way to reach the mountain and also climbed it. All these books introduced me to great mountaineers like Eric Shipton, Hillary, Hunt , Tillman who were real pioneers with lions hearts who dared to climb the Himalayan peaks which remained virgin for so many million years! A recent series on Discovery called 'Everest' which showed the most detailed videographed expedition under leadership of Russel exposes how Everest is now a tourist spot! With the kind of technology available any Tom, Dick and Harry can climb Everest these days. The likes of Russel are actually running a tourist company by helping a legless clmber, 70 year old man and a asthama patient to climb Everest using latest technology! The age of fearless and serious Himalayan climbers is long over.
10. Five past midnight: This book is written by one of my fav historical writers, Dominique Lapier (who wrote City of Joy and Freedom at Midnight) on the worst indutrial tragedy which occured in Bhopal on 3rd Dec 1984. Till date, all those responsible are roaming free and justice evades those 30,000 lives lost due to it. Its a very well researched book which raises goose bumps when you read the chilling accounts of people who died fighting for breath on that fateful night. My parents told me that just about a day after that incident we were on a train which passed Bhopal! What if we had been one day earlier? Probably you would not have seen this blog!
There are still many books waiting to be read from that shelf. But for now its goodbye and G'night
Signing off,
~Amit
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
15 Nov 2007 !
15th Nov 2007 heralded the arrival of a very integral part and parcel of my life! My daughter and my bundle of joy! She's such a darling. This blog may soon be splashed over with tits and bits of my parenting experiences ;-) They are really blogworthy subjects!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Saawariya review !
He he he haa haa haa ho ho hooooo....
Got it?
Smile and bear, if you dare watch it.
~Amit
Got it?
Smile and bear, if you dare watch it.
~Amit
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Nuovo aspetto (New Appearance) !
Was quite bored with my old template. And always wanted to give my blog a touch of everything Italian. Fortunately Blogger had one template to suit my needs, so I settled on this one which gives a nice antique paper look to my blogs, very Italian rennaisance-ish look right? Anyway my blogs tend to get antique very soon since I am not updating them often. And moreover I am into "old" things these days (mainly books). More on that soon.
Till then Ciao!
Till then Ciao!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Craig Venter - New God ?
Craig Venter, the name doesn't ring any bells for a layman. I too heard of him recently. He is credited for his pioneering effort in sequencing the human genome few years back. I read a news about him in the news papers recently and was shocked by what he and his team claims to have achieved or will soon achieve. Its seems his team has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals. Though these are uncomformed reports it dawned on me that this discovery implies that he can create the first new artificial life form on Earth!!
Here is the extract from the news paper report - "American biologist Craig Venter used his knowledge of the human genome to create Mycoplasma laboratorium, a chromosome that is 381 genes long. When transplanted into a living cell, it is expected to take control of that cell and become a new ‘life form’. Until now, scientists have managed to take the genome out of one cell, put it into another cell and create an altogether new organism. But nobody knew how to create the genome itself. Venter just did that. "
This discovery, if true, will allow "Him" to play God. In time, "He" may be able to experiment with various life forms and can create hedious creatures as we see in ET based movies or create human beings who look like Roman Gods and Godesses.
I am a "limited-aethist". What it means is that my belief in God starts where science ends. There are still zillions of unsolved mysteries of nature which may force one to believe in Omnipresent God at some point. But "creation of life" was one such mystery which I always believed was as unsolvable as "is there after-life". Craig Venter and his team may be on the path to solve this mystery and redefine our concept of God. Who knows some day even human babies will be "made-to-order" in laboratories! And China, the manufacturing hub may overwhelm the world with its low quality "life-form" :-) So I sincerely wish "Him" bad-luck. Hope "He" doesn't succeed. Human life will then be so farcical. What will be difference between us and the "made-in-china" merchandise on display in Walmart?
(Btw, is the saffron brigade listening? Guys, it is not too late to change your concept of God and give up the resolve of building the financially unviable Ram-Setu bridge)
Here is the extract from the news paper report - "American biologist Craig Venter used his knowledge of the human genome to create Mycoplasma laboratorium, a chromosome that is 381 genes long. When transplanted into a living cell, it is expected to take control of that cell and become a new ‘life form’. Until now, scientists have managed to take the genome out of one cell, put it into another cell and create an altogether new organism. But nobody knew how to create the genome itself. Venter just did that. "
This discovery, if true, will allow "Him" to play God. In time, "He" may be able to experiment with various life forms and can create hedious creatures as we see in ET based movies or create human beings who look like Roman Gods and Godesses.
I am a "limited-aethist". What it means is that my belief in God starts where science ends. There are still zillions of unsolved mysteries of nature which may force one to believe in Omnipresent God at some point. But "creation of life" was one such mystery which I always believed was as unsolvable as "is there after-life". Craig Venter and his team may be on the path to solve this mystery and redefine our concept of God. Who knows some day even human babies will be "made-to-order" in laboratories! And China, the manufacturing hub may overwhelm the world with its low quality "life-form" :-) So I sincerely wish "Him" bad-luck. Hope "He" doesn't succeed. Human life will then be so farcical. What will be difference between us and the "made-in-china" merchandise on display in Walmart?
(Btw, is the saffron brigade listening? Guys, it is not too late to change your concept of God and give up the resolve of building the financially unviable Ram-Setu bridge)
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
R.I.P Roger Palmer
Donno, how many of you still remember this stylish and awesome blues singer of the 80s -Roger Palmer. Roger is best know for his song "Simply Irresistible" which had turned into a Pepsi jingle. But there's another song of him, which I had completely forgotten and accidently came across on You Tube recently and I was bowled over once again- "I didn't mean to turn you on" is a blue print of sheer coolness. Roger Palmer at his best. What kind of man can sing this song and boast this kind of effect on Women ? Hear and see it on You Tube to believe it! But I also read in comments that he is dead now! Poor soul...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P2hoO088lc
Here's how the lyrics go:
When I took you out I knew what you were all about
But when I did I didn't mean to turn you on
Now I bring you home
You told me goodnight's not enough for you
I'm sorry baby I didn't mean to turn you on No, I didn't mean to turn you on
You read me wrong
I wasn't trying to lead you on Not like you think I didn't mean to turn you on
I know you Were expecting a one night stand
When I refused I knew you wouldn't understand
I told you twice I was only trying to be nice Only trying to be nice Ooh, I didn't mean to turn you on
Babe now why should I Feel guilty 'cause I won't give Guilty 'cause I won't give in
I didn't mean to turn you on Ooh, I didn't mean to turn you on
When I took you out
I knew what you were all about
But when I did I didn't mean to turn you on No, I didn't mean to turn you on
I didn't mean to turn you on.... (REPEAT TO FADE )
May God forgive the piracy these U-Tube fellas promote and bless their noble souls! Thanks!
~Amit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P2hoO088lc
Here's how the lyrics go:
When I took you out I knew what you were all about
But when I did I didn't mean to turn you on
Now I bring you home
You told me goodnight's not enough for you
I'm sorry baby I didn't mean to turn you on No, I didn't mean to turn you on
You read me wrong
I wasn't trying to lead you on Not like you think I didn't mean to turn you on
I know you Were expecting a one night stand
When I refused I knew you wouldn't understand
I told you twice I was only trying to be nice Only trying to be nice Ooh, I didn't mean to turn you on
Babe now why should I Feel guilty 'cause I won't give Guilty 'cause I won't give in
I didn't mean to turn you on Ooh, I didn't mean to turn you on
When I took you out
I knew what you were all about
But when I did I didn't mean to turn you on No, I didn't mean to turn you on
I didn't mean to turn you on.... (REPEAT TO FADE )
May God forgive the piracy these U-Tube fellas promote and bless their noble souls! Thanks!
~Amit
Friday, June 15, 2007
Reservations Vs Merit
I have never written about "casteism" in my blogspace. It is a very popular and blogworthy subject and thousands of blogs have been written over it. I am just adding my own. A very long one! The recent "Gujjar Vs Meenas" riots in Rajasthan were the catalyst in nudging me to vent my frustration. For the un-initiated, the core issue is that Gujjar's want to be "downgraded" as "scheduled tribes" just so that they can get a share of the pie called "reservations" and "affirmative action". Meenas already "enjoy" that "proud distinction" and obviously do not want to share their spoils with the Gujjars. Hence the riots.
This incident should have been a very big source of embarassment and also eye opener to all those politicians who are championing "reservations" as a tool for eradicating social inequality in my country - India. This blog is an open letter to Hon. Indian minister for HRD, Mr Arjun Singh who I percieve as the current representative of the entire reservations brigade for the purpose of this blog. I should also mention that I belong to the so called "upper castes" and I might be a very ignorant intellectual on this subject but these are just my personal views, whether right or wrong, to accept or reject it is your choice.
Sir,
With the Rajasthan incident as the backdrop, don't you think that it is time to reconsider the merits or de-merits of your strong opposition to withdraw reservations for the "creamy layer", and from instituions of higher learning (read IIM) and private companies (read IT companies)?
Let me place my view points in perspective vis-a-vis yours :
I am Not opposed to reservations if they are designed to help ONLY the needy. My definition of needy is a "person who is oppressed, is poor by Indian standards i.e lacks basic necessities like food shelter and clothing education and finally, lacks access to internet, because then he cannot read my blog and understand his or her rights". In a nutshell reservations must be made available only to the needy and not necessarily to a person belonging to so called "lower caste".
I remember reading your comment somewhere about reservations that it were not incorporated in our constitution for the purpose of upliftment of poor but instead as a tool to eradicate the social inequality. I fully agree with the spirit in which this dictum was written by our national forefathers. HoweverHowever I am now 100 percent sure that our honorable forefathers NEVER foresaw a situation similar to what we recently witnessed in Rajasthan. It never occured to them that the very people for whose upliftment they were struggling would one day desperately want to remain classified as "downtrodden"and all because of this "reservations" policy. Oh I wish they were alive to see this rotten fruit of their labor!
Sir, did it occur to you why this anti-climax happened ? I think I know few reasons why. Listen.
My simpleton 2-dimensional belief is that when ancient Indians flourished they never meant to create caste based society, it was supposed to be a role based society. A potter, a blacksmith, a king, a knight and a teacher are some role based examples. Very logical indeed in those stone age days. Over the years, the teachers, by virtue of learning and Kings by virtue of power flourished and progressed well beyond other fellowmen. The "vaishya's - business men" did not really become "Brahmins" but due to virtue of richness were not really considered "Shudras". The people left way behind in the race were potters, blacksmiths etc, basically unskilled labourer class who finally grew into "lower caste". This disparity slowly evolved and turned the entire society into caste based where somesection of society called themselves "upper cast" and rest as "lower caste". Some of these ancient people nowbelonging to "upper caste" wrote the dictats of the Hindu religion and the vedas and everyone else simply followed it. Thus the one-way wheel of religion and caste was set in motion. Give or take some from this story but I believe thisis the bottom-line of our caste based society. If you need a modern equivalent of this evolution cycle just look at the economic disparity brought by IT revolution, people working in IT can afford the sky while similarly placed public servants cannot! One day this will turn us into another "Class" based society! Who knows....
Note the glaring absence of "omnipotent" GOD from this story. I dont want to complicate it by adding the 3rd dimension that it was GOD who created upper caste (Brahmins) from His forehead and Lower castes (Shudras) from His feet and blah blah...
Presently, it is a known fact that Hindu Religion and Vedas cannot be re-written. It is therefore IMPOSSIBLE to completely eradicate casteism from psyche of Indian people belonging to both castes simply because the provision to upgrade someone from lower caste to upper caste DOES NOT exist in Hindu Religion or Vedas!! So you have to be born a Bramhin to belong to upper caste and if you are born in a lower caste, you are done for life that way. No matter how many reservations you reservefor the lower caste. UNFORTUNATELY this distinction will always remain in one form or other. Period.
So then, what is the real "solution" to this problem? I feel it can only be two pronged:
1. Abolish reservations based on caste, instead make it available only to economically backward. Because as we have seen in Rajasthan it only encourages people from "Lower Caste" to be proud of themselves but it does not really help abolish casteism!
2. Encourage social equality in a very social way, namely through MARRIAGES. Encourage inter-caste marriages AND announce HEAVY reservations for any FAMILY which is wedlocked from lower and upper caste. Provide police and legal protection to such families from harassing and opposing parties.
My challenge to you Sir, is the above. Can you pass laws to make and promote inter caste marriages? Do you have the political guts to incur the wrath of so called "upper caste" and cajole or lure grooms or brides from upper casts to wed someone from lower caste? Only when this is achieved the real social equiality will return to our society. Any other solution is farcical and only politically motiviated.
Now you may call me a dreamer to even believe that such inter caste marriages will gain acceptance. To this I would once again point you back to Rajasthan episode. What Gujjars are doing is out of greed, and greed comes naturally to us Indians !! So if you dangle the reservations carrot to "Upper caste" for marrying their children into lower caste I am sure atleast 8 out of 10 will fall for this carrot sooner or later. Maybe even I would have, had you shown me this carrot before I got married!! The reservation benefits will be obvious and lucrative enough to bend even the most adamant. Divide and rule, buy them if you cant mend them! Havent we learned from Britishers? You may question about the quality of emotional bonding which such marriages born out of greed will have. But that is something we can try risking. Boys and and girls from upper caste will surely think twice before they fall to their greed and they will be mentally prepared before they wed into such marriages. Even if this does not happen in large volumes at least a time will come when even people from upper caste who dont agree to do it themselves will atleast not look down upon other who embrace it. It may take decades but will SURELY succeed. With your current approach, it will never succeed to remove the equality even if it may help people from lower castes to become rich. And that is not what you really want! I believe if my solution is achieved we will not only achieve social equality but it will also promote a merit based society and help the really needy -the economically backward! Its a win-win situation for all. I urge all to think over it seriously.
Say NO to reservations and Say YES to MERIT. Our country needs Merit badly.
~Amit
This incident should have been a very big source of embarassment and also eye opener to all those politicians who are championing "reservations" as a tool for eradicating social inequality in my country - India. This blog is an open letter to Hon. Indian minister for HRD, Mr Arjun Singh who I percieve as the current representative of the entire reservations brigade for the purpose of this blog. I should also mention that I belong to the so called "upper castes" and I might be a very ignorant intellectual on this subject but these are just my personal views, whether right or wrong, to accept or reject it is your choice.
Sir,
With the Rajasthan incident as the backdrop, don't you think that it is time to reconsider the merits or de-merits of your strong opposition to withdraw reservations for the "creamy layer", and from instituions of higher learning (read IIM) and private companies (read IT companies)?
Let me place my view points in perspective vis-a-vis yours :
I am Not opposed to reservations if they are designed to help ONLY the needy. My definition of needy is a "person who is oppressed, is poor by Indian standards i.e lacks basic necessities like food shelter and clothing education and finally, lacks access to internet, because then he cannot read my blog and understand his or her rights". In a nutshell reservations must be made available only to the needy and not necessarily to a person belonging to so called "lower caste".
I remember reading your comment somewhere about reservations that it were not incorporated in our constitution for the purpose of upliftment of poor but instead as a tool to eradicate the social inequality. I fully agree with the spirit in which this dictum was written by our national forefathers. HoweverHowever I am now 100 percent sure that our honorable forefathers NEVER foresaw a situation similar to what we recently witnessed in Rajasthan. It never occured to them that the very people for whose upliftment they were struggling would one day desperately want to remain classified as "downtrodden"and all because of this "reservations" policy. Oh I wish they were alive to see this rotten fruit of their labor!
Sir, did it occur to you why this anti-climax happened ? I think I know few reasons why. Listen.
My simpleton 2-dimensional belief is that when ancient Indians flourished they never meant to create caste based society, it was supposed to be a role based society. A potter, a blacksmith, a king, a knight and a teacher are some role based examples. Very logical indeed in those stone age days. Over the years, the teachers, by virtue of learning and Kings by virtue of power flourished and progressed well beyond other fellowmen. The "vaishya's - business men" did not really become "Brahmins" but due to virtue of richness were not really considered "Shudras". The people left way behind in the race were potters, blacksmiths etc, basically unskilled labourer class who finally grew into "lower caste". This disparity slowly evolved and turned the entire society into caste based where somesection of society called themselves "upper cast" and rest as "lower caste". Some of these ancient people nowbelonging to "upper caste" wrote the dictats of the Hindu religion and the vedas and everyone else simply followed it. Thus the one-way wheel of religion and caste was set in motion. Give or take some from this story but I believe thisis the bottom-line of our caste based society. If you need a modern equivalent of this evolution cycle just look at the economic disparity brought by IT revolution, people working in IT can afford the sky while similarly placed public servants cannot! One day this will turn us into another "Class" based society! Who knows....
Note the glaring absence of "omnipotent" GOD from this story. I dont want to complicate it by adding the 3rd dimension that it was GOD who created upper caste (Brahmins) from His forehead and Lower castes (Shudras) from His feet and blah blah...
Presently, it is a known fact that Hindu Religion and Vedas cannot be re-written. It is therefore IMPOSSIBLE to completely eradicate casteism from psyche of Indian people belonging to both castes simply because the provision to upgrade someone from lower caste to upper caste DOES NOT exist in Hindu Religion or Vedas!! So you have to be born a Bramhin to belong to upper caste and if you are born in a lower caste, you are done for life that way. No matter how many reservations you reservefor the lower caste. UNFORTUNATELY this distinction will always remain in one form or other. Period.
So then, what is the real "solution" to this problem? I feel it can only be two pronged:
1. Abolish reservations based on caste, instead make it available only to economically backward. Because as we have seen in Rajasthan it only encourages people from "Lower Caste" to be proud of themselves but it does not really help abolish casteism!
2. Encourage social equality in a very social way, namely through MARRIAGES. Encourage inter-caste marriages AND announce HEAVY reservations for any FAMILY which is wedlocked from lower and upper caste. Provide police and legal protection to such families from harassing and opposing parties.
My challenge to you Sir, is the above. Can you pass laws to make and promote inter caste marriages? Do you have the political guts to incur the wrath of so called "upper caste" and cajole or lure grooms or brides from upper casts to wed someone from lower caste? Only when this is achieved the real social equiality will return to our society. Any other solution is farcical and only politically motiviated.
Now you may call me a dreamer to even believe that such inter caste marriages will gain acceptance. To this I would once again point you back to Rajasthan episode. What Gujjars are doing is out of greed, and greed comes naturally to us Indians !! So if you dangle the reservations carrot to "Upper caste" for marrying their children into lower caste I am sure atleast 8 out of 10 will fall for this carrot sooner or later. Maybe even I would have, had you shown me this carrot before I got married!! The reservation benefits will be obvious and lucrative enough to bend even the most adamant. Divide and rule, buy them if you cant mend them! Havent we learned from Britishers? You may question about the quality of emotional bonding which such marriages born out of greed will have. But that is something we can try risking. Boys and and girls from upper caste will surely think twice before they fall to their greed and they will be mentally prepared before they wed into such marriages. Even if this does not happen in large volumes at least a time will come when even people from upper caste who dont agree to do it themselves will atleast not look down upon other who embrace it. It may take decades but will SURELY succeed. With your current approach, it will never succeed to remove the equality even if it may help people from lower castes to become rich. And that is not what you really want! I believe if my solution is achieved we will not only achieve social equality but it will also promote a merit based society and help the really needy -the economically backward! Its a win-win situation for all. I urge all to think over it seriously.
Say NO to reservations and Say YES to MERIT. Our country needs Merit badly.
~Amit
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Domestic Tension !
This blog was supposed to be updated weekly. Hence the name weekinmylife. But looks like I will have to change the name to monthinmylife or even quarterinmylife :-) Anyway..."I was busy ay work" is as socially acceptable excuse as "I am running half an hour late" these days as. But I must make sincere efforts to keep this blog active. Hence here is an interesting tit-bit of a blog-worthy subject that I came across in last few weeks:
An Iraqi immigrant Wafaa Bilal in US who is a new age live artist has put up a very innovative exhibit to protest US war in Iraq. The exhibit is called "Domestic Tension". Basically it consists of a small room where Bilal has locked himself up since last few weeks. He feeds live video of himself over internet (www.wafaabilal.com and www.crudeoils.us) 24X7. And now the real crux of the exhibit: The webcam acts as the view finder of a paintball gun! So viewers can see him online and move the gun left or right (not up and down) and shoot him with paintball pellets at will ! So there will be two categories of viewers, one who wish to shoot him and others trying to save him by pulling control and turning arond the gun away from these trigger happy men.
The idea of the exhibit is to show the world the sadist ways of US military might which can shoot at will from thousands of miles away at some target which they cannot see and hear. The light bulb moment came to Bilal when he watched an interview of a US soldier sitting in Colorado shooting missiles remotely in Iraq which he doesnt even know for sure whether they hit intended target or innocent civilians. So civilians in Iraq live in constant fear of some bomb falling over their heads and that is the experience Bilal wants to live through by way of this exhibit. Bilal wanted to name this exhibit "Shoot an Iraqi" but his sponsors and the art gallery for which he works toned it down to "Domestic Tension". Also search for "paintball project" on YouTube for watching and hearing Bilal's daily video blogs.
So pick your choice "Shoot an Iraqi" or "Save an Iraqi"...
~Amit
An Iraqi immigrant Wafaa Bilal in US who is a new age live artist has put up a very innovative exhibit to protest US war in Iraq. The exhibit is called "Domestic Tension". Basically it consists of a small room where Bilal has locked himself up since last few weeks. He feeds live video of himself over internet (www.wafaabilal.com and www.crudeoils.us) 24X7. And now the real crux of the exhibit: The webcam acts as the view finder of a paintball gun! So viewers can see him online and move the gun left or right (not up and down) and shoot him with paintball pellets at will ! So there will be two categories of viewers, one who wish to shoot him and others trying to save him by pulling control and turning arond the gun away from these trigger happy men.
The idea of the exhibit is to show the world the sadist ways of US military might which can shoot at will from thousands of miles away at some target which they cannot see and hear. The light bulb moment came to Bilal when he watched an interview of a US soldier sitting in Colorado shooting missiles remotely in Iraq which he doesnt even know for sure whether they hit intended target or innocent civilians. So civilians in Iraq live in constant fear of some bomb falling over their heads and that is the experience Bilal wants to live through by way of this exhibit. Bilal wanted to name this exhibit "Shoot an Iraqi" but his sponsors and the art gallery for which he works toned it down to "Domestic Tension". Also search for "paintball project" on YouTube for watching and hearing Bilal's daily video blogs.
So pick your choice "Shoot an Iraqi" or "Save an Iraqi"...
~Amit
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Las Vegas & Grand Canyon!
Yet another comeback on the blog with yet another (very long) travelogue! Though it has always been my hobby to travel, but off late only travel and vacation seems to rejuvinate my sagging spirits. Earlier a bottle of beer and music in a pub used to suffice. But that was in some past life. If old age is approaching fast on you then take my word, nothing can uplift your spirits like a visit to Las Vegas - the city of lights. Literally. Read on.
We started off with a flight from Chicago to Vegas where Dear A's bro joined us from Phoenix. Then we rented a car to Grand Canyon on a drive through beautiful desert landscape of Nevada and Arizona. On the way we halted to see the mighty Hoover Dam which is an awesome monster of cement and concrete blocking the course of mighty colarado river. We took a guided tour around its power station. It reminded me of a school trip to Koradi thermal power station in Maharashtra,India many ages ago. Then we continued onward to one of the natural wonders of the world - Grand Canyon! My "visited" list of worlds wonders is fast closing in to completion! It was a scary ride through the nite in the deserts with hundreds of miles of straight-line pitch dark roads with hardly any other roaring engine nearby. Dear A drove all the way from Hoover to Canyon, I was asleep most of the time. By the time we checked in the hotel it was quite late, but we still managed to sneak into the Jacuzzi to wash off weariness of the journey. Next day, we got up at the first light to watch the sunrise in the Grand Canyon. First halt was at a Gas Station and in the 10 min that it took me to fill the fuel my right hand thumb was frozen solid!! I actually had to use other hand to bend it. Then I looked at the exterior temperature meter in the car which showed -24 Celcius!!! Brrrrr.....But still we braved on and caught the sunrise in the breathtaking Canyon, shivering all the time. The snaps are worth a laugh.I really missed hot corn and road side tea stalls that you get in good ol' Lonavla:-) Rest of the day was luckily quite warm and sunny and we spent it seeing various spots in the Canyon. One gets a very natural and breathtaking view of a landscape formed about 6 million years ago. You can neither capture it in cam film or eyes. It can be stored only in your memory! I also bought a replica of an Red Indian musical instrument as a momento. I like to pick up one momento of every place I visit for my collection. Another sign of approaching old age:-))
By mid afternoon we left from the natural wonder to the man-made wonder - Vegas and reached there late evening. After a short catnap we were rested and raring to see the Las Vegas Boulevard - the main street called as "strip". We dressed up in our best Vegas clothing only to be spoiled by bulky winter jackets we had to wear over that:-( Winter in desert is such an oxymoron. Nature is crazy. Ain't it? The first night was, I must admit, badly planned so we basically did nothing more than hanging around and walking up and down the strip in the cold. But I actually wanted to do just that. Hang around and soak-in the spirit and spectacle of Las Vegas. So we just saw things around, visited miscelleneous places and retired by 3AM. The next two days were more organized as we now knew what to see and do. So by end of the trip we kind of covered everything there is to see in Vegas: The free shows, Bellagio fountain, Freemont street experience, Casinos, Buffets (Alladin notably), malls, and et all. We visited all the casinos on the strip in the 3 days but just kinda window shopped. I had come prepared with a resolve not to gamble. Visited Vegas and did not gamble? That would be a natural shocked reaction from you dear reader, but gambling is not my forte and I am never lucky enough to win anything free. But, I spent a small fortune seeing some of the outrageously expensive Vegas shows. If you dont have the big heart required for gambling, then the next best thing to do in Vegas is to watch these shows. Atleast you are guaranteed to win. Each casino has a trademark attraction in form of a comedy, erotic, magic or some other creative art form in their respective theatres and some of the shows have been running uninterrupted for several years. It's next to impossible to see all of them in 3 days, but top 3 on my list were "The Blue Man Group", "Bodies Exhibition" and "Bite".
I had read about the Blue Man Group show in some flight magazine years ago. This show is a must-see for all those in "creative art form" business or even otherwise. The show is basically a comedy without any dialogues. The actors are these 3 bald blue colored men who ooze creativity from every pore and the audience! Yes audience too is actively involved in the show. It cannot be described in words, the show entertains your visual and auditory senses. See it to belive it. Period.
The other unique exhibition that I saw is called "Bodies" and it exibits well preserved human bodies in various states of decomposition!! It would have been a hideous site if it were not for the tastefully arranged exhibits who once were living human beings like us. Visit http:/Also demonstrated are various "components" of human body in entirety or as cross-section dissections. Another hideous exhibit is pre-mature babies from 1- day old to 2 months including a pair of conjoined siamese twins! The best exhibit was a "skeleton" with just viens and arteries which look like a huge mass of entangled wires. Visit http://www.tropicanalv.com/ent_bodies.asp and see the image gallery to get an idea. It is undoubtedly the best exhibition in the world which leaves no bad taste but awe for natures best creation - the human body.
The 3rd show was called "Bite" which is basically a erotic + acrobatic show based on the theme of vampires and their hidden world. Though it was nothing like the Lido show that I saw in Paris, it helped "complete" our Las Vegas "pilgrimage": Been there and done that! We left back for Chicago on the 3rd day with a resolve to come back soon. One can never get tired of that place called Las Vegas!
Cheers!
We started off with a flight from Chicago to Vegas where Dear A's bro joined us from Phoenix. Then we rented a car to Grand Canyon on a drive through beautiful desert landscape of Nevada and Arizona. On the way we halted to see the mighty Hoover Dam which is an awesome monster of cement and concrete blocking the course of mighty colarado river. We took a guided tour around its power station. It reminded me of a school trip to Koradi thermal power station in Maharashtra,India many ages ago. Then we continued onward to one of the natural wonders of the world - Grand Canyon! My "visited" list of worlds wonders is fast closing in to completion! It was a scary ride through the nite in the deserts with hundreds of miles of straight-line pitch dark roads with hardly any other roaring engine nearby. Dear A drove all the way from Hoover to Canyon, I was asleep most of the time. By the time we checked in the hotel it was quite late, but we still managed to sneak into the Jacuzzi to wash off weariness of the journey. Next day, we got up at the first light to watch the sunrise in the Grand Canyon. First halt was at a Gas Station and in the 10 min that it took me to fill the fuel my right hand thumb was frozen solid!! I actually had to use other hand to bend it. Then I looked at the exterior temperature meter in the car which showed -24 Celcius!!! Brrrrr.....But still we braved on and caught the sunrise in the breathtaking Canyon, shivering all the time. The snaps are worth a laugh.I really missed hot corn and road side tea stalls that you get in good ol' Lonavla:-) Rest of the day was luckily quite warm and sunny and we spent it seeing various spots in the Canyon. One gets a very natural and breathtaking view of a landscape formed about 6 million years ago. You can neither capture it in cam film or eyes. It can be stored only in your memory! I also bought a replica of an Red Indian musical instrument as a momento. I like to pick up one momento of every place I visit for my collection. Another sign of approaching old age:-))
By mid afternoon we left from the natural wonder to the man-made wonder - Vegas and reached there late evening. After a short catnap we were rested and raring to see the Las Vegas Boulevard - the main street called as "strip". We dressed up in our best Vegas clothing only to be spoiled by bulky winter jackets we had to wear over that:-( Winter in desert is such an oxymoron. Nature is crazy. Ain't it? The first night was, I must admit, badly planned so we basically did nothing more than hanging around and walking up and down the strip in the cold. But I actually wanted to do just that. Hang around and soak-in the spirit and spectacle of Las Vegas. So we just saw things around, visited miscelleneous places and retired by 3AM. The next two days were more organized as we now knew what to see and do. So by end of the trip we kind of covered everything there is to see in Vegas: The free shows, Bellagio fountain, Freemont street experience, Casinos, Buffets (Alladin notably), malls, and et all. We visited all the casinos on the strip in the 3 days but just kinda window shopped. I had come prepared with a resolve not to gamble. Visited Vegas and did not gamble? That would be a natural shocked reaction from you dear reader, but gambling is not my forte and I am never lucky enough to win anything free. But, I spent a small fortune seeing some of the outrageously expensive Vegas shows. If you dont have the big heart required for gambling, then the next best thing to do in Vegas is to watch these shows. Atleast you are guaranteed to win. Each casino has a trademark attraction in form of a comedy, erotic, magic or some other creative art form in their respective theatres and some of the shows have been running uninterrupted for several years. It's next to impossible to see all of them in 3 days, but top 3 on my list were "The Blue Man Group", "Bodies Exhibition" and "Bite".
I had read about the Blue Man Group show in some flight magazine years ago. This show is a must-see for all those in "creative art form" business or even otherwise. The show is basically a comedy without any dialogues. The actors are these 3 bald blue colored men who ooze creativity from every pore and the audience! Yes audience too is actively involved in the show. It cannot be described in words, the show entertains your visual and auditory senses. See it to belive it. Period.
The other unique exhibition that I saw is called "Bodies" and it exibits well preserved human bodies in various states of decomposition!! It would have been a hideous site if it were not for the tastefully arranged exhibits who once were living human beings like us. Visit http:/Also demonstrated are various "components" of human body in entirety or as cross-section dissections. Another hideous exhibit is pre-mature babies from 1- day old to 2 months including a pair of conjoined siamese twins! The best exhibit was a "skeleton" with just viens and arteries which look like a huge mass of entangled wires. Visit http://www.tropicanalv.com/ent_bodies.asp and see the image gallery to get an idea. It is undoubtedly the best exhibition in the world which leaves no bad taste but awe for natures best creation - the human body.
The 3rd show was called "Bite" which is basically a erotic + acrobatic show based on the theme of vampires and their hidden world. Though it was nothing like the Lido show that I saw in Paris, it helped "complete" our Las Vegas "pilgrimage": Been there and done that! We left back for Chicago on the 3rd day with a resolve to come back soon. One can never get tired of that place called Las Vegas!
Cheers!
Saturday, January 06, 2007
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