Free rein of impulse

Bark when you should and bite when you ought to...

2009-11-23T06:10:00.001+00:00

This is in response to the recent "headline" that Shiv Sena chief has hit out at Sachin Tendulkar on comments made to the media last week.

In the democratic country such as India, every citizen has a right to express. The Master has it, the Old Tiger has it, as well as we have it. So, there's nothing unique about that. What is unique and of special significance is the ability to decide when to express yourself. It is quite special since an averaged opinion of the mass bares a certain relative value in every context.

The Master opined, the Old Tiger opined something completely irrelevant and then we are following the same course. Whatever the Shiv Sena maestro opined becomes the party's stand on the (non-existent) issue and not, mind you not Maharashtra's or for that matter even any Maharashtrian's opinion. And let's not even go into the relevancy of his comments, because it will be a futile exercise.

Having said that, one must recognize that its best not to regurgitate this matter further by discussing about it. Do I mean to say that Shiv Sena is right and that you have no right to express? No! I simply want to say that a line becomes a Headline depending on the stress given on it and the extent of attention it gains. Let's not give any importance at all to any such irrational, absurd, ill-conceived and politically inclined statement by chewing on it further. Be it by MNS-XYZ party, and be it against SRT-ABC individual - if its that irrelevant, its got to vanish in the archives as soon as possible!

Ohh well .. you wuss .. why not speak out? That's exactly what they want you to do. They .. who?? The media, the politicians et. al. Why?? Media - of course for their TRPs and high SEO rankings for their shows and websites and politicos - for divide and conquer! The sad part - the policy makers have turned into "issue" makers!!! They just love making mountains out of molehills - it bodes well for them during elections!

And we are just as much responsible for it as the politicians. Over the past few years, just after the media-boom in India, we have "over-expressed" ourselves a few too many times over trivial and insignificant issues; which has played in favour of political parties and the media in some way or the other. We should have stepped off the gas yesterday and its never too late!

Its probably more important not to discuss and give importance to insignificant issues than discussing the urgent matters. Yes, we are a democracy and everyone has a right to express; but don't forget that those rights come with a certain amount of responsibility. If every one of us recognizes the power that resides in controlled and focussed expression of opinion (irrespective of what the others may or may not do), it won't be too long before we'll see a much responsible media and probably 1 or 2 responsible and respectable politicians!

So .. Let them bark, do not bark back at them and give a false sense of fear that there's a wolf nearby. Let it just get bored in the absence of any response, put its tail between the legs and leave quietly. Focus your viciousness and power on the real wolves and hyaenas lurking in the woods nearby. Bark when you should and bite when you ought to!

Technorati Tags: Shivsena, Sachin, Tendulkar, Opinion, Democracy, Politics, Media, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Maharashtrian, Marathi, Mumbai, Bombay, Comments, Critique, Views, India

The Hurricane: A moving classic

2009-01-25T18:18:00.001+00:00

I wonder how I'd missed watching this and I am glad that I finally got to it.

The Hurricane is a truly delightful piece of cinema that you will ever witness, something so true about the entire life story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter that touches your human side .. carries you with it and wrenches out your guts. This is consummate story-telling at its best.

This is a story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence. Directed by Norman Jewison, famous for Fiddler on the roof. Danzel Washington delivers one of his most scintillating performances ever as Rubin Carter and he portrays the character with immensely dedicated conviction and sincerity.

This movie takes you by the storm! The other movie I remember that moved me so much was Cinderella Man and obviously there is only one common element between the two and that is Boxing. I'd give The Hurricane a 8.5/10 and definitely recommend as a MUST WATCH.

Amar

Technorati Tags: Rubin, Carter, Hurricane, Justice, Movie, Cinema, Racism, Fight, Prison

Note to self - Do not believe Ghajini is based on Memento ...

2009-01-18T21:11:00.001+00:00

I am republishing a note written on Facebook on Monday, January 5, 2009 at 11:35pm .. for the benefit of readers (which I don't think are many, but whatever) and because I would like it to be a part of this ...

Yes .. this is a note before I forget .. you see I have this condition .. it's not amnesia .. i do remember everything .. everything before the "incident" ... :D

... no I am not trying to mock people who may actually have anterograde short term memory loss ..

.. in fact, consider this a mockery of Ghajini ..

The recipe is simple ...

1. Take the Memento plot
2. Remove all the neatly woven complexity
3. Remove the directive brilliance
4. Remove the cinematographic brilliance
5. Convince a GOOD ACTOR who's in search of a different role
6. Better .. show him some southie movie done similarly and just remake it in hindi
7. Gather around a bunch of goons who can best their shoddy work till now
8. Throw in a decent music director .. who wants to go on a vacation .. instead you pay him to make bathroom music
9. Throw in a barby doll actress ... just so that the "Public" are glued by the "angles"
10. Most importantly, the main character .. bloat it up by not just few but million notches
10. a. How? .. Get the ala "Tarzan ka baap look" going for him
10. b. ......... Get him howl and scream every time he remembers the "incident"
10. c. ......... Even better .. to cover all this madness, try to get the skull suture details anatomically perfect ... hahh!
10. d. ......... Weave an unbelievably stupid story around his character to intensify the misery..
11. Now that you have fragmented the plot completely, you gonna need someone who puts it all together and still somehow has no reason whatsoever to feature in the plot .. so, throw in a medical student ... and her story .. importantly, make her run in outfits that will make you forget what she's doing here in the first place !
12. Umm .. the plot still sticks together somehow??? Break the damn thing down with a few songs .. after all we are paying the music director !!!
13. Publicity .. an essential for bollywood movies nowadays ! Here, I remember a dialogue from the movie "American Gangster" .. "How many times have I told you? The loudest person in the room is the weakest !" .. someone please record it and make Mr. AK listen to it ...

....... and there ... You have got yourself a film made named "Ghajini"

.... I would rather take a dump ....

Slumdog, perceptions and fissiparous attitude

2009-01-18T20:46:00.001+00:00

Perceptions .. mysterious and yet so every day phenomenon.

Art, almost all forms of it emanate from the way an artist perceives. Likewise, Cinema - another art form is a creation of perception. It is also a medium of expression - a medium where filmmakers exercise their freedom of expression to create a lasting image of how they see what they see and why they see it the way they see it. That's what writers, poets, painters, sculptors, directors do - they help create a piece that mirrors its true nature perceived by them. That's how it is supposed to be and that's how it may attain greatness if it ought to - by the sheer magnificence of its true nature.

On the other hand, viewers, readers, onlookers - in general the "people" who "view" these pieces of creation possess yet another level of perception. Here, because of the very nature of heterogeneity among "people", the complexity and the inscrutability of perception acquires an unimaginable magnitude of non-linearity. If one decides to stay true to the creator's perception (whatever it may be) and views the piece of art from an unbiased point of view, it becomes easier to focus on the "core" rather than the "skin". Such a stand point allows you to comprehend and appreciate the "art of making" rather than the "art of application". In reality though, the world is far from such ideal views and tangled in its more than a fair share of biases - yet completely and comfortably oblivious to it!

Many have and practice "individualistic" biases. Others exercise "institutional" or "socialist" biases - mostly "anthropological". Some believe in "political" biases. Most ignorant fools though suffer from the chronic "mechanistic" bias syndrome and let themselves be dragged into the social pandemonium full of such muddled idiocy.

Such biases and their existential influence allows mortally ill attitudes in society. Fissiparous attitude is a child of such biases and today's world would be a much better place without it. This is what lets politics (special reservation for Indian politics) be the way it is, this is what lends freedom and power to anti-social elements and this is what forces every mumbaikar into a sleepless night on 26/11 and days to follow.

... OK .. agreed .. almost every independent thinker recognizes these facts .. so, why do I bother the effort of reiterating it and why now???

The reasons are many and by now have become an accumulated pile covered of "Yeh India hai Bhai .. yahan pe aisa ich chalta hai" dust. Though, the current reason and stimulus to such provocative outburst is just one - Slumdog Millionaire, a film directed by British director Danny Boyle and based on a novel titled "Q&A" by diplomat Vikas Swarup.

Over the past few days local newspapers in India and across the world, as well as several online news websites flashed bold headlines that applauded, encouraged, blasted, cautioned, celebrated, or trashed this film in ways that are best known to today's corporate media. The film bagged 4 awards at the 66th Golden Globe awards, including that of the best motion picture ..
...Amitabh Bacchan blasted the film - Four days ago, Bachchan wrote on his blog: "If SM projects India as a Third World, dirty underbelly developing nation and causes pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations."
.. this started a debate and TOI dutifully reported and followed the juicy story ..
.. AB replied "Someone mentioned the film on my blog. Some expressed opinion for it, some against... I merely put both of them up and invited debate." ..TOI.
.. "Yes, we are idiots and you are senile, we get it! Then why write?" - moi ..
..Vikas Swarup replied "Slumdog has my stamp of approval.", "Slumdog Millionaire isn't poverty porn" - again dutifully reported and followed by TOI.
I overheard someone talking about the film saying "It's too anti-hindu".
Me: "Ohh, interesting!" ..

I just sat, read, mused and persisted with the developments .. until today. Today, I write.

People, do you understand that it is a film directed by someone who perceived it in a certain way and that's why it is the way it is? Do you understand the concept of not mixing politics, socialism, regionalism etc. with the pure joy of art appreciation? Have you ever watched a film as a film - a story narrated, acted, directed and filmed by a group pf people from their point of view? Have you ever watched a painting unfold with a pure idea of appreciating its strokes, colours, patterns, and composition rather than thinking about whether its a nude portrait of some hindu deity among the 33 crore of them?

If you have then you will simply laugh at the pettiness of this debate and if you haven't well .. you are probably in accordance with Mr. AB.

For the record and for the sake of Mr. Bacchan I'd like to state a few things:
The world already is fully aware of the dirty underbelly of even the developed nations. There have been numerous films that have successfully and boldly shown the inside view of its existence and just to name one - "City of God" (Cidade de Deus) that showed a true view of the ghettos of Rio de Janeiro six years ago. If this movie is able to evoke emotions such as "pain and disgust" among the so called nationalists and patriots, then we might as well grant Danny Boyle some national level award! He deserves it as he's been successful in causing "pain" - an extremely rare human emotion - in the species known as "Politica rhinocera moronae". I mean cm'on you can't be serious, AB!! And even if we agree that it did cause them "pain and disgust", then where were these jerks in 1988, 21 years back, when Mira Nair directed "Salaam Bombay"?? Where were they in 2001, 8 years back when Madhur Bhandarkar directed "Chandni Bar"??? This is the only time they got struck by the thunderbolt of apathy? or is this the only time when AB got struck with the thunderbolt of cinematic wisdom?? Come to think of it, was it AB who signed up for "Shantaram" directed by Mira Nair or do you find "Wasn't me!" written on his blog somewhere? "Shantaram" based on a novel by Gregory David Roberts portrays an even truer and cut throat picture of India's/ Mumbai's "underbelly" like never before. Sadly though, as of January 2009 the film remains postponed and Mira retains her opinion that the film was still on track and that it would be released by 2011.

For the sake of people who say that this is an "anti-hindu" film -
Cm'on now! This is a film that revolves around the story of a muslim boy. How the hell do you even arrive at such a conclusion?? I don't see you making a hue and cry about films made on the likes of Savarkar, Ambedkar, Sardal Patel et. al. to be anti-muslim?? Actually .. let it be. You just want something to chew on when there's nothing at all. To be honest, I in fact adored the scene where these two young boys - Jamal and his elder brother - are running frantically during the communal riots and come across a young boy who's dressed as "Lord Rama" in one of the by lanes - there's something charismatic about that particular frame when they show Rama - through that single frame the director displays the state of conflict, similarity and yet striking difference between Jamal and Rama , the intensity of influence it may have had on Jamal etc. .. very powerfully! That's the beauty of his direction, cinematographer's view .. appreciate THAT .. don't waste your time in labeling!!!

Coincidently, I found an article written by Khalid Mohamed in The Observer, Sunday 18 January 2009. He's also the national culture editor of the Hindustan Times. I like what he has written - of course in much lessor words compared to me - but then, he's paid to write every word of it and I am not! Big difference!!! I quote him here: "There is no taking away from the team's achievement. All the pros and cons of its cinematic flourishes considered, Slumdog Millionaire is a bloody good, riveting and emotionally rousing film. Somebody had to pull the flush. Boyle did. While others might raise a stink, I'll salute."

And thus, I rest my case.

Amar

Technorati Tags: Art, Amitabh, Bacchan, Films, Cinema, Critique, Views, Comments, Perception, Direction, India, Mumbai, Bombay, Slumdog, Millionaire, Blog, Blogging, Celebrity, News, Papers

Jayyy ho! Slumdog millionaire !!! .. Jayyy hoooooo ..

2009-01-13T20:43:00.000+00:00

Just finished watching the movie ... don't have much time to write about all that I felt while watching it .. in short Brilliant ! Brilliant !! and Super-Brilliant !!! .. Rarely a movie gives you so much joy ...

Rehman totally deserves the Gloden Globe for the Background Score .. why, he would even win the Oscar .. as he himself said "Indian people are crazy about Oscars" .. I think what he forgot was "..and they are crazy about Rehman (or something to the same effect)" ;)

Ayush Mahesh Khedekar .. a real cutie (even when he's covered in all that poop) who plays youngest Jamal .. deserves to be recognized as one of the best child actors of his generation ... that boy has done wonderful piece to acting .. his innocent smile and similarly intense devastatedness steals your heart .. even stops it!

Dev Patel & Freida Pinto .. they have done well with some honest, down-to-earth, and just simple .. really true-to-the character role play .. it was nice to see some fresh and young faces staying with the character throughout .. I doubt if the effect would have been the same with established actors .. barring few exceptions from the gang of "theatre actors" ..

Saurabh Shukla, Irrfan Khan do what they are good at .. nothing earth shatteringly impressive .. just about enough to remain a little out of focus and that is extremely difficult for even "manjhe hue actors" mostly because of their habit of staying in the focus .. this story required Saurabh and Irrfan to remain out of focus and they have done exactly that.

I will not say much about Mahesh Manjrekar, except - "What a waste of talent, Mahesh!"

Lasly, Mr. Anil Kapoor ... considering the kind of character he is put into, it is extremely unfair to say whether he floats or drownes .. but, as my personal openion, they just needed a famous face in the anchor's seat .. it could've been anyone .. Anil, I guess, was chosen mostly because of his age, career length in Bollywood, apparently visible experience on face, his close-to-baritone voice .. and because they needed him ;) ... whatever may be the reason .. he is to me a huge disappointment ! An actor like him should have .. ought to have done a better job at it .. I expect it .. people expect it .. but, again as I said, this may not be a very fair test and a fair opinion.

It was worth staying up till late and finishing the movie! What fun!!

And now I shall rest in peace till tomorrow dawns with afterthoughts to be penned down!

Amar

P.S. : Can you believe it? Within days after its release in US & UK, it has reached to #37 in "Top 250" movies at IMDB. It has managed to beat "Forrest Gump", "To Kill A Mockingbird", "The Pianist", "Saving Private Ryan", "Reservoir Dogs" and many many more .... what a feat!!!

Are the words coming back to me or is it just time?

2009-01-12T17:15:00.000+00:00

Here I am .. for the first time in many days reading some blogposts ... I had forgotten how satisfying it was .. forgotten how bone-chilling it could get ... lettlers, words, sentenses, ideas, concepts, feelings, emotions, dialogues, monologues, stories, conversations .. in the past, I loved them all and they did too ... so, what happened? why am I so bothered today? specially when last few days I spent time posting inane "Diggs" on to the blog ...

The reason is a flashback .. an inspiration .. a blog by a fellow writer .. Swapna's blog

Few days back, I get a link to her blog with a disclaimer that only "good" comments are to be posted .. I took it with a lot of apprehension .. clearly, it wasn't my type of blog advertisement by any means ... anyways, so after some random and stupid surfing I finally come back to her blog ... and get completely blown away by the quality of her writing .. I wonder why she needed such an advertisemant at all ...

Anyways, so this girl .. she seems to be at her creative best in some of her posts .. special mention - "City Lights" and "Passing By" .. brilliant, brilliant story telling .. to some it may seem a little too simple .. or a little too sensitive .. but like I care .. I loved just the way it is and decided to write a post about it.

Reading her posts and commenting on it brought my words, my other side back to me ... it was like a flash of light and there I was among the hurricane of words, thoughts and visions .. thses write-ups acted as catalysts or adjuvants .. whatever it may be ..

I hope to return soon with something worthwhile to spend my "typenergy" on ... till then,

thank you dear Swapna, keep blogging ... the least I could do is to treat you with an acidic black coffee when I come there ...

ScientificCommons.org

2009-01-12T15:52:00.001+00:00

ScientificCommons.org aims to provide the most comprehensive and freely available access to scientific knowledge on the internet.

read more | digg story

Slumdog Millionaire Sweeps Golden Globe ..

2009-01-12T14:47:00.001+00:00

Photonews : From left, "Slumdog Millionaire" Executive Producer Paul Smith, director Danny Boyle, composer A.R. Rahman, actor Anil Kapoor, actress Freida Pinto, actor Dev Patel, producer Christian Colson and writer Simon Beaufoy, pose with their awards for the film backstage at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2009, in Bev

read more | digg story

'Slumdog Millionaire' Sweeps Golden Globes

2009-01-12T14:33:00.001+00:00

With four awards Sunday including best drama, "Slumdog Millionaire" emerged as the potential film to beat at the Academy Awards, an unexpected position for a movie with a cast of unknowns and a story set among orphans and criminals on the streets of Mumbai.

read more | digg story

Scaling Laws In Biology And Other Complex Systems

2009-01-12T01:55:00.001+00:00

Google Tech talksAugust 1, 2007ABSTRACTLife is very likely the most complex phenomenon in the Universe manifesting an extraordinary diversity of form and function over an enormous range. Yet, many of its most fundamental and complex attributes scale with size in a surprisingly simple fashion.

read more | digg story

White Noise

2008-07-22T20:55:00.001+01:00

India Government survives vote to rescue US nuclear deal

WTF? Anyways, as if this is a surprise in Indian politics .. huhh ...

I read some random lines penned by my friend Kaustubh and that inspired me to vent my anger in a similar way .. so, I too wrote something on the same lines. Thanks Kaustubh for the inspiration. Here it goes ..

White noise

when the trumptes were sounded
and the horns were blown
of scarlett and many hues
wondrous dreams were shown
but the trumpets were hollow
and so was their sound
the evil so politikally bound

and the evil lingers on
there's no standing ground
but the seeds of malice go deep
far deep into the very veins
it now bleeds, it now pains
I see no morphine, not even a saw
years have passed and they are dumbstruck
with that same hapless gaping maw

they are coming now, coming thick & fast
with their guns and their bombs
deceiving white shafts of light
masterfully masking everyone's plight
with that same archetypal white noise ...

Amar

Learn about OpenID

2008-06-19T22:42:00.001+01:00

OpenID » What is OpenID?

Jai Shree SiaRamChandra ki .. Jai !!!

2008-05-20T21:09:00.000+01:00

Ahh .. never thought I would be able to post this so soon .. after some dedicated reading for good 4-5 (may be even 6) months .. after office .. on weekends.. at odd times even through the nights ... after spending a good share of hard-earned money on something totally as worth as this .... I have completed reading six volumes of Ashok K. Banker's Ramayana retelling .. and have come to love it! I just finished the sixth and last book few minutes back and rushed here just to type these few lines .. this is not as much an interesting post for you as important a note it is for me and I wanted to mark it well ... because of the sheer volume of text that AKB's Ramayana spans, you almost long to see yourself through to the last page .. not because of compulsion, because of excitement and joy and pure wonder of reading something truly genuine, wonderful and something so related to the very basic indian element within you .. it calls out to you and you helplessly follow it till the end ... truly, it has given me great satisfaction today ..

I will keep writing more about Rama, AKB's Rama, my Rama, the Ramayana and the AKB's Ramayana through a series (I hope) of following posts .. but I wanted to make sure that I put this one first ... so ...

For some of you who are even little interested in finding out about AKB and his Ramayana retelling, please click on the above mentioned link .... even better ... do read the books .. DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS ONE ... one of the best read that you can lay hands on .. ever ...

Jai Shri Ram !!

Contd.

The IIT story : Cheaper by the dozens ???

2008-04-28T18:28:00.001+01:00

This is not my place to comment on IITians or their brilliance .. I lost that right when I chickened out of the JEE preps because it was too much of a load for my pea-sized, biologically inclined brain .. I have always enjoyed math and physics, but not for a 3 hrs of grueling exam .. definitely not! But, it is my place to talk and discuss about the IIT affairs, government policies about IIT - being an Indian citizen, more so even - being a student and thus a product of today's Indian educational policies (or politics??? Well, there was never a fine line ..).

This is about the Sunday special article in T.O.I. written by TNN correspondent Neelam Raaj, titled "IIT versus IITs" that appeared in April 27, 2008's Sunday edition of T.O.I. And here's the glimpse of that article -

You can catch the full version of the article by clicking on its title mentioned in the above para.

So, according to the recent government policies, the existing seven are going on 16. Should we be exuberant about it? Should we accept it merrily? Would it be right to think that this is the way to go and end the big indian hooplah of "Brain drain"? Is the Italian-run puppet show at the south block right about this one? Or are they just trying to please the Left who send out a hollow roar once in a while with their new found "power" (to be the best cry-baby ever!)??

Clearly, I am not in favor of the frivolous expansion. I do not understand the logic behind decentralization of an institute, and that too of IIT's stature - the institute that has enjoyed its glory and renown in being a centralized body. India as an independent country has had this fascination towards decentralized governance for quite some time now and practices the same vigorously at every possible level and strata. It is fine to decentralize when you have to reach out to masses of people for basic education, basic life needs, health awareness, local administration and such extremely sensitive and crucial aspects of democracy. After all, this is a country that enjoys its second place after China in world demographics! It is actually sad to see Indian government executing the decentralization policy in areas that would do good without it - this gives me a creepy feeling of the continuation of "British Raj" at the feeble hands of today's babus and netas - "todo aur fodo" was the main weapon of goras in the pre-independence era and today, even after 50 years of independence, if the leaders of our country are content in executing the same tactic so as to secure vote banks - what good is it, in calling ourselves "an independent nation" - if we haven't learned from that black past? I feel disgusted.

Back to the basics - Why one decentralizes a governing body? So as to have better distributed and outstretched, smoothly functioning pupil-governances within every small pocket of the target population. So, does the original body retain its uniqueness and the global entity that it used to enjoy? Certainly not ! This causes dilution - dilution of the basic structure and concept .. dilution of the uniqueness and selling point .. and dilution of the code of conduct. For the original IITs have been based on these three major pillars that sets them apart from any other institute. Increasing their number would be like widening the narrow aperture at the bottom of the funnel. What good is that? Is future India ready to be content with an average IITian? Can future India then dream of building its own version of the silicon vally or NASA or pentagon or whichever western standard that Indians are so fond of - with this new below-par-IIT-brood? I think not. Now why am I saying this? For the simple reason that we do and will lack resources. What good a smart student without an equally smart and motivating IIT professor? Is central government of India magically going to produce all these brilliant IIT professors out of nowhere for all the 16 IITs? I think not. As Ms. Raaj correctly points out the current deficit in expected and recruited number of professors at IIT-D. If this is the case today then we better not imagine about the future.

The other point is that why not accept the situation that we as a country are confronted with? Why not use the money and the resources in a better way by planning and executing a justified distribution of the available resources? Why not make the existing 7 more stronger and more elite than creating new ones and making a mess of it all? At the end, the point is what does India want - the same unmatchable class of globally shining IITians or the below-par product of a nationwide batch process that would probably struggle to make a mark even in their own country?? I would certainly want the classic IITian and I am immensely proud of being friends with some of such class acts.

The other reason for this IIT expansion could be the increase in population growth rate. ... When will they learn to leave certain sacred things untarnished from their malignant contact? Why literally everything should be diseased with politics? Why can't a brilliant place like IIT remain just an educational body that is unaffected by the malevolent slime of politicians and let students enter, learn, grow and ascend to new heights? Did they really think that IIT was just another senior college that they can expand into a nationwide money making factory? I believe they did too. It is pathetically and pitifully sad to realize thus. I know it is easier to extend and expand the existing brand than to create a new one and be patient while allowing it to grow; but one has to do a bit of logical calculation of the cost. I agree that this will give many a fair chance to enter an IIT and fulfill their dream, but what fulfillment will it be if it is not the same institution anymore? Have you heard of 5 MITs, 8 Stanfords, 7 Harvards, and 6 CalTechs ??? Why aren't there those many? Coz they don't have enough funds? Ohh please .. they would have more than enough to run two countries at a time ... it is because they signify, cherish and capitalize on their uniqueness of quality, talent, and education. And what is wrong in that? Does our history tell us about several "Nalanda Vidyapiths" across the country? No. There was just one and it was unique and world famous ! But, it's not about that anymore .. is it? It's about favoring the reserve quota .. it's about creating and securing new vote banks .. it's about minting money from the civil contracts ... and only THE Manmohan knows what else !

I end this significant post with an excellent message from the visionary of the modern indian education system - Pt. Jawahlal Nehru. This is an excerpt from Jawarlal Nehru's speech on the occassion of the IIT Kharagpur's first convocation in 1956.

And thus I leave my pain to be carried forward and leave a mark somewhere ... Hope you are listening !

Google Web History - No lies ..

2008-04-20T14:55:00.001+01:00

Earlier (much earlier), I had posted a small post regrading my work-cycle through the week and received several comments on the same. One of the comments was peculiarly interesting - by Ms. Pallavi Baruah .. she wondered if that means I have two wednesdays in a week ..

The other day, I was casually looking at my Google Web History results and what struck me the most was the Weekly Trends it showed about the search activity. Let me make one thing clear that my job is all about Google Searches - going through several research papers a day and sieving through the information .. so, trends about my google search activity are as good as my activity at workbench.

It was no surprise to see the search activity profile - exactly the same as I had predicted earlier. It was as if, Google was validating my hypothesis (I wish it wouldn't have ... ;) ). Have a look at the earlier blogpost and the google trend ...

Well, I am not particularly happy showing the world how my work pattern looks .. but it looks as if this is how it works .. so be it ! Until next time ...

At the wee hours of morning ..

2008-04-18T00:12:00.001+01:00

It's almost 4.30 am and I am still awake .. browsing away to glory .. I have no clue why the hell I stayed up for so long .. doing this and that ... now my eyes are all droopy .. head is heavy .. I am imagining my Friday morning at office .. Amar dozing at the desk .. running around the whole office with his magically refilling cup of chai just so that he can drive the sleep away .. and then the traumatic post-lunch session where I am almost on the verge of collapse ... this is not ME ... definitely not the "Friday-me" .. Friday's are supposed to be good .. they are heavenly .. they bring the freshness of a two day long weekend .. Friday's are a boon to the employee of any technology company here in b'lore ... and yet I have a strong premonition that tomorrow, the Friday is going to arrive with Monday-mania .. darn ! this is the first time I would hate to see Friday rise and shine ... die you darm internet .. die thou darn social connectivity sites and die thou inboxes ... die ! die ! die !!!!!

BlogDoc : Blog while documenting !

2008-04-14T20:36:00.001+01:00

I was just wondering about how best to connect and utilize the well-established network of highly efficient Google services. So I did a bit of search on that and came up with more than one ways to do it. I personally use many of Google's services just as many of you do and it has been a pleasant experience. I wonder what the web would have been minus Google .. ha! scary thought ! So, anyways .. imagine you are working on some text document - a short story or your travel log - and you would really like to put the same on the blog too. What you do? Simple - use Google Docs ! It allows you to create, edit, maintain, backup all your important documents online, so that you never loose track. What more it allows you to directly post to your blog too. How? Here's how - this is an article that I came across during my search and it is quite useful. Have a look :

Publishing Google docs to your blog

" ... Once you have a document you want to post to your blog, click on the Publish tab in the far right-hand side of the Google doc, and you will see the option to Publish to Blog. .. "

RACE .. or .. NOT !!!

2008-04-13T21:26:00.001+01:00

I watched "Race" the bollywood movie of the month (so it appears from the newspaper and mouth-to-mouth reviews). I wonder why did I watch it in the first place? - mostly, because my friend here - Shukan, he managed to download the entire movie off the net in the *.flv* format. Some blogsite (in fact it is this : Race FLV Source) had all the files, and enthusiastic that he was, he actually downloaded all. I started watching it at some ungodly hour of night - it must have been 2 or 3 ish. May be because of my mental state (read drowsy) or may be because the movie was actually bad, I did not like it at all ! People have been talking about the way its shot, its plot, the grafical techniques (SFX) they have used and of course the cast - a lot. I did not find it that amusing - in fact not at all.

Ok, so the movie is about 3 guys and 3 girls trying to give us some realtime bolly-ishtyle phun. The plot - how it appeared to me - is a simple mathematical matrix overlap of three different equally pathetic stories. The intermediate co-ordinates of the matrix are calibrated so as to attain some degree of suspense in the movie - or in other words, ispecial bolly-"kahani mein twist" ! There's nothing great about the turning points, as they become quite predictable. After a so called climax, the movie reaches it anticlimax very quickly - where the characters are used to unravel the mysteries in the plot. What I don't understand is that why do they have to use the actual narration by every character to untangle the mystery ? Why can't they just keep it simple and interlace it within the story or "visual experience" itself? Let me explain - You remember Ocean's 11? The way they have treated the untangling of the plot? It's a breathtakingly beautiful treatment to the story and it does enough justice to the pace of the movie as well as the integrity of every character. I think in Bollywood they prefer it the other way so that they get to utilize their overpriced stars well. Actually, there are few good example from the bollywood movies too, that have a better treatment to the mystic element - the three examples that I can recollect well are - 1. Samay (Sushmita Sen) and 2. Ab Tak Chappan (Nana Paterkar) and 3. Sarkaar (Ramu, AB & AB Co.). These are much much better movies according to my opinion.

Anyways, now that the agony and anger is off my mind, moving on to the story. So, there's Akshay Khanna and Saif Ali Khan - the jodi of Ram and Bharat ("sautele" hein !) and then there's Mr. Anil Kapoor (who - I am really suprised - is still standing on his own feet - after all he's been in bollywood as long as Shivsena hasn't been in the driving seat in Maharashtra (that is besides the point - but it's good to let it off once in a while :P)). Then there are these three bollywood dolls - Bips (aka Bipasha Basu - the Bidi fame), Katz (aka Katrina Kaif - the "err something with Akshay Kumar" fame) and Sam (aka Sameera Reddy - the "nothing really substantial" fame). There's Johnny Lever too and there are lots of Horses. I genuinely applauded when some horse or mare (I have no clue how to separate the two .. but still - after all it's the era where men and women are equals) gave a brilliant performance, either at the race or some stable. (I donno why .. but I am straying from the subject a lot - i think even I am bitten by the bollywood story-writer's bug .. darn ! pardon moi ..)

Haan, so .. it's Saif n Bips (or Katz) and Akki n Katz (or Bips) : and this is exactly the whole essence of the movie and about the turning points - yeah, so god damn unpredictable ! *phewww* Anil, Sam n Jonny are on the side plate - you take them you don't, it hardly matters ! The story goes around like this - There's a small guy (Akki) and a Big guy (Saif). Small guy hates to be small (its has nothing to do with his "bedside" manners .. you pervert !) .. and the Big buy gives no rat's ass. The small guy wants to beat the big one in their "race of life" (.. Ohh so sophomoric !) So, he ends up killing the big rat (or NOT) and hogs his insurance money (or NOT) .. and that too a whopping 50 Cr (Chaayla ! Kuthun aantaat asle baap!!! .. sorry I had to do that in Marathi !) In between, to take care of the legal matters small guy marries Bips (or NOT) and the Big guy marries Katz (or NOT) - another turning point ! (Yayyy ! to the writer !). There comes the good cop (or NOT) - Anil and his irritatingly dumb bimbo secretary - Sam. The film makers have also managed to squeeze in few innuendoes like "yeh ganna le aur choos", "yeh le kela aur baith" etc. etc. Now, this is really sad - I mean either be bold (like mira nair (I wonder what happened to Shantaram production?) perhaps or may be american pie) or don't ! Please don't give us your pathetic attempt of showing the controlled indian vulgarity. In real life too no body makes such lewd passes at their secretaries (at least I haven't seen many) - they either bed them or they don't. (pardon me for being so direct - this is for Ms. Sharmila who loves to cut!)

The climax is even more pathetic. The big guy (remember he dies or may be NOT) challenges the small guy for one ultimate race in their life - a car race. He exchanges his sports car with his brother's ordinary one saying that the car does not matter, what matters is who's driving it. Although partly true, but a Schumacher is never a fastest driver in the F1 history without a well-engineered and well-maintained car - but I will give it to them for the emotional edge they have added to the dialogue. Now, this is funny - both can't break ! Small guy is a smarty pants - he's disabled the brakes in his car (which our man shumacher is driving) and Mr. Shummi has implanted a bomb in his sports car (or NOT) (which the squealing rat is driving). The squealer manages to flame himself and Katz (Ohh, Katz you shouldn't have signed this movie - can't see you burning and all :P) and Mr. Shummi - the ever so alert and ahead of the game guy - manages to penetrate through the flames, bang on a line of water-filled drums at the end of the tunnel - that are so meticulously arranged at the very edge of a cliff - and save his beautiful bhabhi (bips) (remember the squealer may or may NOT have been married to bips) along with all the insurance money enough to feed his next 10 generations or so. In all this mess the cop - Mr. Anil - turns out to be Shummi's friend and makes his buck. Tadhaaaa ! You are at the end of the movie - called RACE (or NOT .. bwahhahhhh!) !!!

The special effects - yes, how can I NOT mention that !
1. Saif in accident : His car turning over an uncontrolled trailer and doing a well orchestrated somersault - the usual stuff!
2. Saif and Akki in a car and trying to kill a guy in another car : Their car intersects the path of this guy's car and goes ahead. Saif pulls the trigger, the bomb goes off and the guy's dead. Both of them look back, all happy - that their triggering device that they made in their garage - works ! - I think they haven't heard of the term "Contract Killers" in that part of South Africa or may be they fancy an alternative career possibility ! Special effects : the usual stuff!
3. Bips pushes saif off the edge (oops I let out a secret!) : This is really funny ! The way they have done this - in their "Ohh look we brought the american SFX experts and created this amazing 50 lac worth techno scene, we are so going to hollywood" way - it still (despite of the best efforts of that poor SFX chap) reminds me of some *important & notable* scenes from the spooky TV serial - "Aahat". Bips you should think about an alternate career too. Aahat producers - read : A new spooky-starlet rising !

So, that's pretty much about it. Now you tell me what is so great about the movie and why the hell I waste good half an hour of my life writing about it? What you know - it feels good ... that it's out of my system .. that such movies continue to make it worth the wait and money for good movies like - Namesake, Ab Tak Chappan, Sarkaar, Samay, Ek Haseena thi, Omkara, Taare Zameen par, Being Cyrus, 15th Park Avenue, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Black Friday et. al.

Bacteria, Guinea pigs and science lab

2008-04-11T23:24:00.000+01:00

This is just brilliant sciencemanship and the toonsmanship !!!

Infectious happiness ...

2008-04-11T21:10:00.000+01:00

Today after a long time, I was chatting with a close friend - beyond the point of "Hi, hello, Hows you? Wassup? What else? Nothin' much ya .. cool, see ya then .. gn, tc ..". This was a friend who was really really happy about well nothing ! It was just a feeling of pure happiness and soon i got infected with it too .. apart from the fact that someone was full of joy and spreading it among friends; the other interesting thing was how different people express it differently. It really comes down to what "joy" means to that person and how they want to express it.

I am posting an excerpt from the chat that I had with this exuberant friend of mine. I was amused by the expressions used to paint the joyfulness - not because they were odd, but because they were so unique. There isn't much to read into it. It's just a "happy-happy .. super-happy" conversation that I would like maintain here as a record of a happy memory. I am so glad and fortunate to be friends with such interesting people.

Courtesy : Pidgin & PrtScr

Calvin & Hobbes

2008-04-11T08:03:00.001+01:00

Boy this kid is funny!

Creative Void ...

2008-04-10T02:51:00.000+01:00

Humm .. ok .. so here's the thing ... I am up early today .. just passing time till the moment arrives when I start my daily chores ... lying on the bed ... trying not to think about what happened last night and its just not getting out of my head .. so I decided to write about it ..(I so did not want to start my new gig with an "my bitter truth" article .. but so the time demands .. hell !)

So, I was having dinner last night and suddenly several new ideas just flashed in my brain for a split second ... ideas about poetry .. about a short story .. and I got really kicked about it .... but as soon as I sat next to my machine to put them down and tried to give them some definite form - structure ... there was nothing ...zilch ! .. I could not remember what I was thinking about .. couldn't remember what I wanted to write .. it was just gone in a whiff of time .. as if there was nothing to start with ... now that is just frustrating .. so damn frustrating !!! ... I am creative and impulsive .. not everyday I get brilliant and creative ideas .. and the impulse to write about them ... and today when I had both .. what you know .. I was denied !! ... loosing control over something so seemingly controllable - it clearly angered me .. frustrated me .. I was frustrated on myself .. not the world .. not anything else .. just me ...

Huhh ! One hell of a night .. and one hell of a creative void !! .. Hope THAT never happens again ! ... Or may be .. I am just an idiot with a poor short term memory ... or just another subject of mice's memory experiment last night that they forgot to intimate me about (which I am sure they {mice} will soon try to fix) ... I really .. really hope that it's the mice and not me ... ! :-)

So long ...

Amar