maadu and sandys visit to minneapolis

Maadu and sandy weekend getaway at minneapolis. Maadu makes contraversial comments upon life sandy and nelli in typical maadu style.. my mokkais shld be prdnd..:D..

DOGGG....too much of media bashin eh?? here is something a bit different...

And as I said earlier, I am back. I just finished reading a very interesting book...well at least for people like me who take a lot of interest in subjects like world politics and more specifically politics of the Islamic world. FRONTLINE PAKISTAN by Zahid Hussain gives you the story of independent Pakistan, may be or may be not the insider story but certainly chronologically lists various events that have shaped up Pakistan and how the growth of Islamic terrorism has taken shape. The book covers areas that not necessarily find space in the media in India which is shocking considering the fact that as a neighboring country, events that occur in Pakistan must be important for us both at face value and strategically. Well the Indian gov has better sources to get "news" on Pakistan but still putting it in a newspaper would do little harm. The book starts off with the regimes that have changed and the policies of these regimes and how islamization of Pakistan starts under general Zia and the whole story after that. The funny part is the islamization of Pakistan has a link to India too…it is the deobandi school of thought that along with the wahhabis of Saudi Arabia is leading the revolution The book extensively covers the terrorist operations right from the anti soviet operations with the CIA in cahoots to today’s jihad and gives lots of insights into the working of militants from let, harkat, al qaeda and all the bunch...and more importantly how they actually are hugely popular organizations...unlike the general mindset we have in India that TERRORISTS HAVE NO RELIGION...TERRORISTS HAVE NO SUPPORT...more importantly the book focuses on the Musharraf regime and how it has been playing the double game of being successful while countering international terrorists and been miserable while countering the growing terrorism back home... no not in terms of Kashmir but the huge sectarian conflicts-not well covered in Indian media-growing clout of madrasas and mullahs, compromises he makes to be in power. The book also goes through the role of the ISI, how it has grown to be much bigger than the government, the islamization that has also got the ISI army and the militants on one platform and increasingly have squeezed out Musharraf. overall pretty good book...seriously speaking very objective in its descriptions that’s why I earlier said the book did not have "insider info"...it is a compilation of events with almost zero bias even against INDIA( something ram guha's book is not... talking about INDIA after Gandhi...ram shows his own biases...just started reading), is a bit sympathetic to Musharraf...well even I am now...because looking at the way things are shaping up with respect to indo-pak and in general how a liberal pak would be more helpful to India’s cause. It is better to have an untrustworthy pro west military leader than an Islamic general who by the way are in the paki army in scores and are waiting to get Musharraf out. And after reading the book I am rather glad that these guys are out of India and not a part of the undivided India, which a lot of my ideologues dream of. Find time to get a copy and go through...

I'm back

just finished with the MBA essay prep yesterday and thought I should get back to posting...and what else could I start off with but the MS university artist freedom issue( sandy... will get back with my thoughts on the women’s rights in a couple of days...have a couple of other issues I want to write on)..Neway let me get to this...so on an eventful day we have an internal art exhibition happening in MS univ but of course other than professors we have art collectors and gallery owners and "eminent ppl" attending...and we have the HINDUTVA BRIGADE...lol...had to use the word considering its popularity with the media and especially how one of the headlines today anchors pronounces it. And as usual vandalism etc and the poor kid is put behind bars. So now arises an important question of how the right wing Hindu is preventing the Indian civilization from progressing in a liberal direction. Let me get to my view...ideally the artist should not even bother anybody. Nobody should be giving damn about what he wishes to potray.but unfortunately we do not live in such a world and it is essential to engage in competitive vandalism to protect ones interests. And why the competitive vandalism? The media in this country (forget the right wing sympathetic papers or the couple of neutral papers we have in this country...they do not count) has taken to Jawahar's policy of secularism where the minority...not necessarily religious...has to be treated extra special while the majority can be kicked a couple of times in its balls. I find it amusing that the Danish cartoons which incidentally portray reality if u ask me (will write about a book related to this...that was one of the other things I wanted to write about) were crude offensive derogatory a threat to civilization and all the crap I can think of. All the media was speaking in the sympathetic voice, condemning it, I could not see a shabnam hasmi or a teesta or artists protesting in favor of artistic freedom. Now let me get to MF who at this age has t live outside his mother land because of the atrocities of......I do not wish to list his paintings but I never have come across one painting where his artistic freedom comes to fore when the subject relates to Moslems. It is these double standards that get me a bit irritated...now let me accept that Modi is behind the hate in Gujarat...by that logic Manmohan must be behind the hate in India as it is the central gov home ministry that has filed cases against MF. Let me finally finish off with this thought. WE ALL MUST ENCOURAGE TOTAL ARTISTIC FREEDOM AS THE ENLIGHTENED OF THIS SOCIETY SAY...THEN WHY NOT PROMOTE PEDOPHILIA AND ACCEPT IT AS FREEDOM OF AN INDIVIDUAL TO EXPLORE INTERESTING SUBJECTS???

p.s.- not that I would love to see pedophiles roam around just an area I wanted to bring up as we often shun it away from public space...considering the fact that Indian children are one of the most vulnerable children in the world and more than 55% have experienced some form of exploitation within the family.

A day of lies, deceit and sycophancy

The celebrations were a two day affair.So my coverage does not end with my previous post. At the Island grounds you saw the UPA in full strength eulogising MK. But what startled me was the extent to which the speakers went to praise MK. Agreed, it was a function to felicitate MK and you can not expect them to lash out at him. But some remarks bordered on shameless flattery.

A few gems:

"....Mr. Karunanidhi was a man who had completely rejected casteism in his personal and political life ...." - I.K Gujral. This is tantamount to praisng Hitler as a statesman.

The DMK thrives in casteism. MK does not even spare his family memners when he chooses to play the caste card. When the opposition charges him for being anti- dalit, he retorts by saying that his daughter-in-law is from that community.

If Subramanya Swamy/Mani Shankar Aiyar/ JJ (or any Brahmin owned Newspaper for that matter) attacks him politically, he dismisses them by terming their allegations "Awaal Budhi".His anti-Brahminism needs no elaboration, he has described his Government as "of non upper castes for non upper castes by non upper castes" in a poem written by him on 2 July 2006 in 'Dinakaran'.

When someone has him on the mat, he uses his Brahmastra.His typical reply will be.. " Just because I am from a backward community, the parties are targetting me"

Recently when anarchy ruled the roost during local body elections, the State Election
Commissioner , Mr Naresh Gupta, came under fire. MK sprang to his support by saying ." Other than the fact that he is an OBC, he has not done any wrong"

These are some of the most recent instances. It might take years for me to compile the complete list of his slurs and I have better business than doing that.

.."Mr. Karat said, he was also a champion of federalism.." .

MK is someone who maintains that the reasons for demanding a separate Dravida Nadu are valid even today. And a person who makes no bones about his separationist ideology is praised as a champion of federalism.

Its intersting to note the reaction of the opposition to this golden jubilee. AIADMK has termed it fake (Jaya TV terms this Poli Ponvizha..). They have a point. MK was elected to the assembly for the first time in 1957. But his tenure has not been continuous. . A look at the DMK website that chronicles his stints as MLA will show that from 1984-89 he was not a member of the legislative Assembly( from 84-86,he was a memebr of the now defunct Legislative council, a state eqivalent of the Rajya Sabha) .He resigned as MLA in 1991 when AIADMK swept to power. He did not attend a single assembly session from 2001-06.I still am at a loss to understand how they arrived at 50 years.

The DMK had invited the president to preside over the function. But JJ raised these points and appealed to the president not to come. When , during her last tenure, JJ invited president Kalam to the assembly, MK strongly objected saying the president should not come and praise the anti-people, anti-democratic JJ government. This government is not any different from its predecessor when it comes to being anti-democratic or anti-people. So it was an opportunity for JJ to take revenge.

President Kalam, after it became apparant that he is not getting a second term , has been remarkably bold. He first returned the Office of Profit bill(that primarily was a Save Sonia bill) , and fearing that he may not give a Bihar- style assent, the Congress refrained from dismissing the UP govt. Continuing that trend, he declined the DMK's invitation to attend the celebrations citing "foreign engagements".

The tamasha did not stop there.In a move that must have sure given Mr Kalam some qualms, JJ mischievously issued a statemnt thanking him for 'entertaining her appeal and declining MK's invitation'. There is never a dull moment when it comes to a spat between JJ and MK.

So in effect, the very fact that he has completed 50 years has been called to question. It is only fitting that a person who has relied on deceit, lies and misinformation for decades to keep him in power has chosen the same to splurge with public money.

Golden Jubilee Gift

The function to mark the 50 th anniversary of Mk's tenure in the legislative assembly passed off peacefully, much to the relief of Chennai. The city was under siege with thousands of buses swarming the city from early afternoon and gridlocking OMR(Old mahabalipuram Rd), ECR and GST road. I had to visit a friend in Thiruvanmiyur and was bracing myself for the worst.

All the IT companies thought they were smart in asking their employess to leave by 3 since the function was to begin at 6. But, the real problem started with them as thier buses combined with those carrying the DMK men in throwing traffic completely out of gear. The trip from Sholiganallur to Thiruvanmiyur depot that normally takes 20 mins took me an hour and a half. Imagine the plight of those who had to reach Parrys.. You had the DMK buses lined all along from the LB road junction till Uthandi on ECR. Their men were atop buses( when the seats inside were empty) hooting and howling. The drivers had contempt for traffic rules and were just honking their way. Well, that could be attributed to cadre enthusiasm and would'nt have been any different had it been a function to felicitate JJ. But, this does not justify their unruly behaviour.

I stayed put at my friend's place till the function started and started at 7.30 wanting to beat the return traffic. But the traffic was no better in the Thiruvanmiyur area. It was still overflowing with buses. It was a nightmare till SardarPatel road. But once past SP road, the traffic was very smooth and well regulated. That motorists and IT company buses chose not to ply at this time greatly contributed. This was the story on the ECR side. But I am told things were much worse on the GST road side with VVIP convoy movement. With the grade separator work in progress at Kathipara, the last thing motorists wanted was a VVIP convoy movement during the evening peak hour. I am told Wallajah Road was closed to traffic. Thank god, I was not anywhere near Kamaraj Salai Or Anna Salai.

There was also a report in The Hindu that the DMK men had a brawl with the owners of an Adyar restaurant and ransacked it(the restaurant was not named).Long Live Democracy.

Dont say sock darling.. Strike is an ugly enough word.

“The Philadelphia story” is a movie that was released in 1940. Why am writing about this romantic comedy.. am I growing sappy being lonely horny and virile.. (proved by the fact that Santosh saw spidey 3 based on my suggestion..;).. lukd like he would hav murdered me if he wasn’t that many miles apart..;)..).. maybe all of that at some level but the main reason is that I found something more as to the roots of the fourth estate. Now I am sure you did not see that coming.

The movie as such has a brilliant script and is extremely comical. The whole satire with very well defined characters is held together with some brilliant acting from three of my all time favorites Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart. If you got till here don’t give up..:).. Jimmy Stewart plays a reporter in the movie who is disgruntled by the fact that he has to cover social events in uptown Philadelphia rather than do some hard hitting factual writing. He is asked to cover one of the most upscale weddings ( Katherine Hepburn’s) and his editor gets him exclusive passage to get the behind the scene scoop on the wedding of the century by blackmailing her EX (Cary Grant) with some info on Hepburn’s dad.

The editor is extremely unscrupulous and will do anything to cater to the public which acts in the form of some justice towards the end of the film. It told me something about the media. This was a movie made almost 60 years ago and the issues of the fourth estate catering to what the public wants to hear was very powerfully said in a very comical storyline given that wasn’t the main storytelling point. On a side note the screenplay was brilliant because it was adapted from a Broadway stageplay .

Do watch the movie if you can find a copy.. I would give it a rating of 4/5 stars.

Really?

What nonsense!?!
The state's exchequer being plundered to the dismay of the taxpayers to honour this guy who has already been honoured enough in the past with golden pen, etc,.
The Hindu is proud it seems. Absolute sycophancy!! And for no apparent reason too.
And as usual major traffic diversions.
Whenever any of my friends in US say they hate India and US is lot better, I argue with them to the hilt. But at times like these, I wonder....

'Media'cre reporting....

Here are some excerpts from a heartwarming news piece I read in The Hindu.

"..it was heartening to see India's top order batsmen play so fluently. Sourav Ganguly exuded confidence with his masterly display of stroke-play, while Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Dravid were pleasant to watch.
Virender Sehwag, who had looked a bit troubled against the rising balls to his ribcage, pummelled Ranadeb Bose twice with savage power.
The nearly two-hour session was fully utilised by the coaching staff to put the boys through drills to fine-tune many aspects concerning the game.
Watched by fielding coach Robin Singh, the players spend almost 40 minutes practising pick-up and throws at a single stump, while bowling coach B.K. Venkatesh Prasad put the boys through high catches and ground fielding.
There the boys had a batting session for almost 90 minutes before coming out to play in the centre pitch.
With Prasad watching, almost all the top-ranking bowlers were pushed into bowling to the top-notch batsmen of the country..."

Indian cricketers had one off day in their WC match against the lowly Bangladesh team and were thrown out of the WC. The pitch was nowhere near the standards of an International game. It was a shocker to see such a turning track in an important phase of a World Cup. India, like any other top teams, had never been exposed to such subversive slow pitches. Our poor batsmen, whose minds were already plagued by the thoughts of the measly match fees they get from the BCCI, were in no position to tackle such horrible deliveries and predictably got out. Then our pace bowlers who were accustomed to intimidate batsmen with scorching bouncers were all at sea when bowling to a bunch of kids who were only an inch taller than the stumps. So even an attempt to bowl a yorker went above the heads of the Bangladeshi batsman which resulted in the umpire calling them as wides (as the balls soared above the heads of the batsmen) and all the batsmen had to do was make sure they did not get out and the match was over with the extras being the top scorer.

The point is Indians were surprised: slow pitch, short opposition batsmen, low match fees and poor scheduling that did not ensure a safe passage to the next stage.
But that is passé. Now our batsmen are wiser from their experience. Judging from the above report, all our worries are over now. Ganguly is back with his flourishing drives, which he unleashed against the club bowlers. Sachin has got more fitter and can now play for ten more years. Sehwag has got back his touch by flogging the bowlers who bowled at him in the nets. Our bowling is now under the careful tutelage of Prasad, who in his hey days bowled out the batsmen with his fiery yorkers delivered at 100mph. By asking the club bowlers to intimidate the batsmen by bowling to their weaknesses, he has also brought the batsmen out of their comfort zone and made them play shots, thereby increasing their confidence levels. And prasad who was an electrifying fielder in his times, had also taken upon himself the responsibility of giving fielding drills to old sluggards like yuvraj singh, dinesh karthick amongst others. The BCCI after 'years' of mindless travesty have also finally yielded to the justified claims of our national heroes and decided to hike their match fees. So our poor cricketers no longer to need to worry about how their families will survive in their absence and can concentrate on matches now. And to make sure the cricketers are not distracted by any off field issues like contracts or advertisements we now have them do yoga. Anyways only a couple of people in the entire squad endorse products. The other team members have declined lucrative offers for advertisements, as in their own words it 'conflicts with their bigger interest of playing for the country'.

Now we are going to tour Bangladesh and will rightly prove to those minnows as well as to the world, that their pipe dreams are over. We will thrash them in all games and show them that their success against a team whose guards were down was just an aberration.Australia who had a smooth sail to the finals primarily due to the absence of India as an opposition, will now feel the heat with as much as 21 matches to be played between the two teams in this year.

Meanwhile, sports savvy reporters like the Special Correspondent from The Hindu will keep us updated with the developments in the Indian team, by fairly reporting their day to day activities without any traces of mindless hero worshiping. They will elaborate to us about the team's practice sessions sans any awe in their tones, thereby laying the foundation stones for the future generations of reporting, which will lay emphasis on truthful reporting and critical analysis. The future reporters will take cue from such examples of thoughtful reporting and will only report news that are really worth reporting, instead of wasting the print space, ink and papers for useless bits of writing.
Ah! The future of the fourth estate is in good hands.