Trang

The world loves to Dance.

2008-08-17T03:43:00.000-07:00

For all the Bangaloreans upset about the recent ban on dancing in discs here is something which will bring back your spirits... Click the link and see how the world loves dancing, from Bhutan to Brazil. Dancing brings people we never met ... together.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

About song, dance & music in Bangalore

2008-08-16T01:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I passed a Islamic education office and it carried a 'fatwa' against mobile ringtones - no muslim should have one. It says that listening to musical instruments is un-islamic? From my personal view this is outrageous. Is that true? But well, I do not know everything about the world and this is not killing anyone. But then I realised its not as outrageous as it sounds to be. The police in Bangalore have banned all live music, dancing and loud music in discotheques in Bangalore. Maybe it still does not compare with the ringtone 'fatwa' but we are getting there?

India & China are going to be the next superpowers - one feudal and the other a dictator - so watch out, we have some values the world must follow soon! Backed by a 10000 or more year old rich culture... in our heads today. (not on the streets)

LOLz. Hope I did not scare you too much. I love India a lot and am sure that the common man will soon overpower those who think they need to own this country. Hopefully...

If it was Israel would the torch run in India?

2008-04-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

No way. Most likelyAamir Khan would not have found words to explain if it was his choice or the fundamentalists pressure not to participate. For that matter most Indian sportspeople would have chickened out? And the Indian government braver than its today? I hate to compare like this, but I cannot take this off my mind.Please support tibet. Its the only symbol of peace in this world and we have shared our home with Tibetians, so we must morally support them. They are not killing anyone. Every else movement in this world has lost it.

A Brave Indian

2008-04-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

Only Indian sportsperson (and among the very few famous Indians) to express open support to the Tibetian cause - Baichung Bhutia, a famous football player in India. Its tricky when some people think that sports should not be politicised. But we have so many Tibetians living as Indians the issue ought to be more personal for us, in my opinion. But surprisingly there is not much from India. Maybe we do not have to get into Chinese internal affairs but I would hope more such peaceful expressions. Actually China should be proud to have probably the only peaceful protest around the world for decades now. Led by Dalai Lama who promotes peace. Not that I know much about Tibet in detail. But, generally speaking, if Tibet was part of India and I the leader, I would have handled it with kid's glove and with lots of love. How else?

Unfortunately, we all want to get richer. And hope that those who are not able to join the race, keep their mouths shut and let us carry on 'progressing'.

And the saddest part was a statement from our government, via Pranab, who asked Dalai Lama to avoid any political activities. And he mentioned that Dalai Lama is our guest. How insulting... to remind him of that? Dalai Lama is as much Indian for me as long as he is in India. I am so ashamed with that spineless statement from our government... so sad!

We are very outspoken when it comes to morality but when it comes to moral support to others, not many of us have the time or clarity. The world is becoming more and more - hopelessly practical - as of now.

I like India best when it sings!

2008-03-02T09:33:00.000-08:00

Like this song from one contestant Rohanpreet. He and all the kids in the competition 'Little Champs' on Zee TV are awesome!

and another one from Tanmay

Pictures from Bali

2008-02-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

From a recent but very breif visit to Bali, Indonesia.

Police, deadlines and the almighty Bangalore city.

2008-02-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

How do you feel when the people who you are supposed to seek protection from are the ones who will harrass you? So, is the experience I went through today with the police. Its 12 in the midnight and i stand out a restaurant where my friend is. Its illegal for the restaurant to be open because the closing time is 1130hrs in Bangalore. But well he is in, and I am waiting to help him reach home. And suddenly two jeeps full of policemen arrive. Just as soon as they come out, one of them begins shouting to me. Suddenly, from being a good friend, I feel a criminal! I walk a few feet away and stand. 5 mintues after a slightly senior police guy walks up to me and shouts - "what are you doing here!". I say, " I am waiting for my friend" And he murmurs something inaudible and shuvs me away - almost slapping my shoulder. Very disheartening. I am in a street, there are cars, and people walking by and I am not allowed to stand!! Whatever, I am treated immediately in a manner that does not make me feel I am proud citizen of this country or city.

I walk a few metres away where there seems to be some shops open. 5 minutes later this policeman comes to me shouting again threatining to hit me. I am now loosing it. Just when I want to give up and take him on, my friend arrives and takes me away. Not sure what would happen otherwise. Would I have ended up in Jail arguing with him?

This is what Bangalore has become. For people who like to extend there hours. This is probably what India is now. You cannot have your own life. There are multiple worlds in this country and just as we progress economically, they seem to be clashing with each other. One would expect otherwise? But I am afraid we are going some odd way.

You cannot dance in Bangalore. You cannot be anywhere after 1130hrs. Terrorist, thiefs, corrupt people, probably are doing fine. But having Fun is illegal. Shopping, making money, producing chidren is the only great virtue in India even if your children have to travel to the west for that - does not matter if people in that part of the world 'dance'. Thats ok if you are bringing money and status home.

If the terrorist do not bomb us, our own police and other authorities are going to kill the weak.

And then economically progressing India will be even stronger.

I am so so so upset and dissapointed today!

dil hoom hoom kare [male]- by bhupen hazarika

2007-12-09T07:04:00.001-08:00

Bhupen Hazarika is such a singer. I just cannot get him out of my head....! Check this video.

Note: You may have to stop a video playing at the bottom of this page. Do not know how to stop it from self-starting. LoLz.

Free Burma

2007-10-04T11:03:00.001-07:00

Burma - A neighbour in pain and how do you feel?

2007-10-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

Not happy at all with our authorities response to Burma problem. I mean becoming a economic power and all is fine and strategic thinking and business interests are fine, but would you like to be in a world tommorow where your neighbours tell you how we closed our eyes while the people next door were suffering? Thats a lousy personality to carry. Just think of some other nations who behaved so - how badly it affects its people in the long run? I know we have our problems too, but if you hear someone shouting its not so nice to ignore it...

So, anyways, if the authorities do not stand up we can individually, to our capacities? So, please sing the petition at Avaaz. And if you are a blogger follow the plan on the international bloggers day at the http://www.free-burma.org/ site. Here are the links:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/

http://www.free-burma.org/

The New Indian Idol

2007-09-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Amazing that I started watching Indian Idol because of this person's ( Prashant Tamang is his name) voice which I happened to fall upon while surfing channels one day.... liked his voice instantly... and he is now The Indian Idol!!! Coool! I am proud I voted for him too. I think there were others who probably were more technically better singers, but his voice is the kind I like and also his personality. So, I am glad. People have all kind of words about the way he got bulk votes from the police department, which he belongs to, and his region... but the fact is I voted him too and he is the Indian IDOL!!! So I for one have no complaints ....

A point is that we hear great singers everyday... via CDs, movies etc. But there are always some voices and singers you fancy more?

Having said this the person who came second Amit was very very good too. And if he was to become the Indian Idol I would not complain again. He too seems to be a terribly good human being and I am sure he is going to make good in his life!

(Is it only me, or did anyone else notice that the official Indian idol site in the last few days was placing and using text & content with a subtle hint that Amit is the better material? if so, they failed! Maybe its my imagination only... )

And for Prashant, the Indian Idol, I wish him all the best in life. Sure its not going to be easy in the commercial world even after this, but he surely is a fighter and will only get better & better with time... and show us all what India is really about in its heart...

Note: If you want to play the video below and if this page is already playing a number embedded in another post, please go down this page and stop the video. I do not know how to stop auto-start in that code!!! sorry.

Shadows

2007-08-25T06:16:00.001-07:00

Just passing time with my mobile

Rungyal Adrak: the Tibetan who spoke up for Freedom, Truth and Justice

2007-08-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

Magnoys Samsara picks up another valuable information on an issue most of us do not talk off the way we did. Between the growth of two economies, India & China is there a chance for Tibet to find its being? The only non-violent movement I know off, a lovable leader Dalai Lama - and many of us can't see it! These are truly 'Modern times'.

About Rungyal.... A new leader...

If he had not spoken up, the news would not have been made, but the suppression would have continued silently, the pain in the heart of every individual would have remained buried deep in the hearts and never spoken about, and everything would have been “normal”...

3-somes

2007-08-11T21:12:00.001-07:00

Are common in Bangalore. Lol!

Awesome Singers

2007-08-04T08:56:00.000-07:00

I cannot imagine that I have been missing such a fantastic lot of singing, which the entire country is switched on to. Just shows how much I am busy!

The guys and girls on Indian Idol sing so fantastic, its a pleasure. Of course I hate the game plan of chucking people out periodically. Can't stand it! Wish they could find another way to carry this competition... for I like each one I hear... Like Prashanth below...

What makes Haneef so special - Now?

2007-07-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

I am glad that he is innocent and that the efforts of all have gotten him free. The effort means a lot in terms of Haneef's life & future. But I am very preplexed to hear the government offering him a job. I would instead expect the government checking out its own police and authorities and wondering if we are not wrongly accusing/framing/harrasing people in India - and I am not talking about terrorism but about daily life and everyday people.

For me, now that Haneef is free, proven innocent - thats it. Very good job done by supporters and a good message sent. I felt pretty ok about the media's role when seeking answers to Haneef in Australia, but now it seems to be getting to be simple selling tactics for them and they think I am all ready for digesting them? But I say, why does the media keep reminding me of him as a person? Why do they keep talking about Australia as if everything is perfect here? I know for certain from direct experience that there are parts of Australia which can be so. But which country is not? I wish things were different but we as humans still need to evolve. No wonder that things are so difficult in India for so many, because we have this fantastic ability to find someone 'worse' for the moments and feel better? So, nothing really needs to be done on a humane level for the less priveleged. I am not sure if Haneef would have got all this attention if he was not in Australia, but instead in some less developing country than ours?

Next, I am also preplexed that no one spent enough time denouncing the planned bombing in UK which would hurt people. God knows, we got terrorism on our heads. Do we not? Guess, if we can forget about it - it would make our lifes better? Maybe.

Movie time

2007-07-15T00:14:00.001-07:00

Watching die hard 4 right now

Taj Mahal - The SMS wonder

2007-07-09T09:13:00.000-07:00

So, is my view. I never knew the '7 wonders...' title was such a sham. Not taking away from the greatness of the landmarks on the list, but the whole procedure of selection is about national pride and not the monuments in question. And that is wrong.

And really, however great Taj Mahal is, it makes real boring cover pages - its been used over and over again to represent India.

So, I do not love India? I do absolutely, but not via Taj Mahal, even though I see it as a maginificient architecture. But it does not make me wonder. That was one selfish love affair of a king and not the more heroic ones I know of like Heer Ranja and others.

There is a lot more in India, which I see with a chill in my bones and that which makes me wonder....

And think about it. Would Angkor Wat not be a greater wonder. It also relates to the wonder that Indian civilisation once was? Mysterious, unsolved, ancient... I mean so what if it does not lie within our borders? What if Taj Mahal happened to be in Pakistan side before partition and we lost it? Would we have still voted it?

2007-07-07T22:52:00.001-07:00

Aerosmith Yesterday

2007-06-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

Well, it was quite good, but I failed my Aerosmith Exam! I prepared the song PINK & Janie's Got a gun, with all its lyrics and they never sang it - so I was there just shaking my booty! Well, the thing is that I heard a lot of rock in college but for some reason Aerosmith was not in our books and I suspect much the same with many in Bangalore - but for the very real rock fans. Words from other groups like Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, MLTR, Deep Purple, Enrique - who visited Bangalore are more on people's tongue, than the Aero numbers.

But the Band performed real well and Tom & Joey very entertaining and I enjoyed the time.

While the overall organisation was good & easy, what I cannot get is that when one can set up such a fine stage, why not spend good time & money on the crowd & on-the ground management? It took almost and hour or more, entering & standing in Q, to get in and almost the same to get out, even though Palace Ground is huge with multiple entries. And I really wish they had landscaped it to rise towards the back - many short people just saw the backs of others! I think the projection screens were placed too low. And I felt a bit irritated with the kiosk on the walls with their lights being lit throughout the concert with the moon so full, so bright. But that was minor....

All said the crowd was very well behaved, and there was no real problem at all - and it was mostly fun people. Except for this one guy who tried to push his way between one of the girl who accompanied us and me. Later, my friend told me that he was actually seeking me and not her. LOLz!

The rock concert lasted just 90 minutes! Sounds too short to me.

Later, we went to almighty Residency Road for food - the only place its still available after 11 in the night. By 12 the policemen were there shouting at the top of their voices waving lathis - asking for the restaurant to shutdown. Quite rude to the public often - who I suspect they consider as rogues in their own minds?.(not the traffic police... they I think are really patient and hard working while managing the intense Bangalore traffic)

I tell you - the Bangalore Police (in brown) could give Tom a run for his money for the kind of shrieks they can generate.

'Walk this waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyy!"

Aerosmith Tommorow!

2007-06-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Excited Real to attend the concert tommorow in town!

Hope its worth it...

One special Hindu

2007-05-21T08:22:00.000-07:00

He is Rahul Easwar, Grandson of the Head Priest.... in Sabrimala or Guruvayoor. Both associated with traditions which we modern people think obsolete...

But.... now, as I hear him today on TV and once earlier in a discussion on NDTV...

It does not matter that he belongs to a temple in Kerala which is currently being considered controversial - Guruvayoor temple. It does not matter that he is on the receiving end of people who think that sabrimala temple should be opened upto women. Inspite of all my liberal thoughts I think this man has the profound depth in his thought, is from the roots he is talking of, and can visualise the issues with far higher sophistication & sensitivity than the trigger happy religious fanatics, liberals, seculars, and the all other thought processes. I feel it in my guts, that this is one genuine person who knows the purpose, relevance and the essence of what he is dealing with.

While all those protesting the traditions are speaking from without and like to break things. He is from within thinking of change - but with consideration and a clear understanding of the insititutions. That in my eyes makes him a man of much greater worth than all of us sitting on PCs, chairs, and charity posts telling the world how to behave.

Going to keep a watch on him and see how things go for him in this otherwise complicated country. Wish him the best.

Time to destroy all Hindu erotica?

2007-05-13T03:04:00.000-07:00

What the invaders over the centuries could not do to us, we are about to to do onto ourselves?

For long I had thought, but would not express it due to a loss of words, authority and lack of historical confirmation. But I read something today, which echos how I see the current wave of Hindu hardliners taking the task of moral policing - which is so unlike what I understand the common man in India, even the most conservative. Old conservative ladies who I have discussed with - everything under the sun... or is it about the part of the country I live in?

The sentence comes from a line from Mr. Ranjit Hosakote's reaction to the recent 'fundamentalist intrusion into an art exhibition' which led to the arrest of a student, who actually is a son of a carpenter and not one from the 'elite' as the fundamentalist would have wished for. I am quite disheartened to see the flexibility, vastness and variety of Hinduism being appropriated by a section of people who see it in just there narrow regressive manner. And the line I refferred to earlier well sums it up:

"It appears that the champions of a resurgent Hindu identity are acutely embarrassed by the presence of the erotic at the centre of Hindu sacred art. As they may well be, for (their roots) do not lie in Hinduism. Rather, they lie in a crude mixture of German romanticism, Victorian puritanism ...."

One can read more of this article here...

Thank God I am not a woman in Bangalore.

2007-05-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

When I was in college hostel, I remember one girl telling me how sad it is that she could cannot enjoy going out after midnight and enjoy the late night tea and parantha outside our college - something which all the male students relished, especially during exams - unless she was accompanied by other men. That too would be a matter of taking 'care' and worrying about remarks from others.

That was in a city in North India, for the short time I was in that part of the country. South, though still India and with its own worries, I thought, always allowed greater freedom and safety for women.

So, a number of such thoughts were running in my head as I visit New Delhi, the capital of India. And I stand in a corridor when a revulsive manager shouts at a lady executive - for all of us to hear. I think this is some franchisee of citibank. They sound like people working on daily pressures - like the ones I see in american movies ... in a door-to-door sales outfits - loud mouth chief executives, shivering managers and then a loud mouth manager and shivering executives and so it goes down the heirarchy. And I thought to myself - 'Such behaviour would not happen down south.' (even as I feel bad about generalising...)

But today's news I hear from Bangalore is really disheartening. Females will not be allowed to work late into the night. Its a punishable law and the government says its aimed at the companies and not the women and the minister also refers to Indian culture - women are also housewifes and they need their time.

True, many women would also be housewives. Maybe, many women would not like to work late in the night. But if one women does want to - who is the government to decide otherwise?

Sometime ago one lady was murdered in the night. And there are cases of sexual harrasment in the office. But is that not a separate subject to deal with?

Is a democractic world supposed to be meant only for the majority? Because most women should stay home are we supposed to question the one who walks out in the night? Is that the issue?

If I was a woman today I would rebel in my mind. I would find legitimate reasons to be negative. About breaking laws, norms and culture.

I mean... the culture we have, if we have, is because people retain it out of love and choice. Not because of any government ruling....

There ... I start repeating myself again. I was born in a much more free India than its today and its getting worse.

Richard Gere kissing Shilpa scares 'Shilpa's owners'

2007-04-27T10:40:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid movies were raunchier, Bangalore was more happening, people were more tolerant, etc. etc. People laughed about scandals. And Indian culture was very attractive to me in its totality and I never missed a religious movie or the chance to talk to a religious person. Now, very often when FTV, foreigners, NRI happen to enter to this scene a group of people cry on the fall of ' Indian culture'.

You know what I think? These special group of people who protest always had the illusion that they owned all the pretty people in the country - irresepctive of how ugly they themselves were - because of their power or what? Now, they feel scared because they see a world that they are loosing control on. That's why they have suddenly are becoming paranoid - enough to put an arrest warrant on Mr. Gere and Shilpa for kissing!

Culture happens. Its not controlled or created.