No news is good news!!!!

Mumbai came down on its knees on Wednesday and it was quite depressing to see what was happening out there. What was more depressing was the media's attitude towards it. CNN in the US was covering it as a breaking news the whole afternoon here and the headlines went like - "Mumbai under siege - Americans among targets". I could atleast understand that as a country would be more concerned about its citizens. As a part of the coverage, they called a woman who escaped after hiding in the Oberoi Ballroom and asked her important questions like which cell phone she used to talk to her family and how the mobile reception was in Oberoi ballrooms. CNN folks were also baffled how the "omnipresent" US Intel never had a clue about this. They called some terrorism specialists around the World to ask why and one bright gentleman proclaimed that this was an attempt to convey a message to President-Elect Obama. But of course, all that happens in the World can be categorized into
1. that do Good for America and 2. that do bad for America.


I obviously expected Indian media to be different. I drove home desperately to get to NDTV and IBN India online to see to what happened to the lesser mortals like Indians who were amongst the victims. It was shocking to see them priase the intelligence and presence of mind of the fire department in rescuing the foreigners. Yes, they were rescued without their clothes not getting dirty, yes their breakfast would be served in the lobby as usual in the morning, yes, the Unilever CEO was absolutely safe. The terrorist attacks in CST, Cama Hospital and other 8 places were bearly covered, perhaps because there weren't more important or glamourous lives at stake there. I thought perhaps Hindi channels would be more desi and concerned about such things and switched to Aaj Tak. The reporter there was very busy marketing his first hand video of a victim who had suffered minor injuries and all that he had to say was that "this is the most dramatic video you can ever get to see of the Mumbai terror attacks".

Surprises me that with 100s of people dead and many injured would I look for Drama on the news coverage? Can I just not have an objective real report of what is happening? Isnt that what news is supposed to be? Am I asking too much?!

The US masala

I saw Indiana Jones and the kingdom of crystal skull (may not be the exact name..its too long to remember). Come to think of it..the mainstream entertainment industry here too makes masala movies....Indiana Jones was an utterly predictable english masala movie. its always the same...the protagonist always bumps into the heroine during his adventure..who he falls in love with..or when he is too old to fall in love originally..(like nicholas cage in National treasures or Harrison Ford in this one) then they bump into their ex's and fall in love all over again. There is always a greedy traitor (alakkai...) who dies in the end..and there is always a large door that closes down in the end..and the hero always rescues the team first and manages to scrawl through in the last second..there is always a car chase and the gold treasure when found always crumbles.Indiana Jones was such a rehash of all the treasure hunt movies we have seen before..and a boring one at that..such crap that even spielberg couldnt rescue.. :(
am so cooked up with conspiracy theory movies and super hero movies and animal movies...room pottu ena super power vara vazhaikalam nu yosikkaranga..spiderman...batman..superman..jumper.. If you get one such idea..like spiderman.or batman..or find some weird creature..like king kong or panda or dinosaurs..you are done for your life..keep selling the same wine..in recycled bottles..batman 32...spiderman 55...terminator 22..star wars 182...super..but one thing that needs to be appreciated..when spiderman worked out...they made another movie with spiderman in it and called it spiderman 2..and chronicles of narnia with the girl next door..and likes...they atleast accept it..

thinking of it...if kollywood had the integrity..vijay's movies would all be called marubadiyum gilli..vikram's movies would be called "thirumba thirumba dhool.."..not kuruvi or bheema..

Shooting yourself in the foot

You can almost bet on a few people / teams to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory almost every single time with amazing consistency. I have just about included two parties to that list. One back home, sporting a lotus and other touting a donkey in the United States of America.

BJP, back home, has kind of reinvented the art of losing an election over a period of time. A party which once rose to prominance on the platform on being a "Party with a difference" and "discipline", proved to be anything but. I used to be a fervent supporter of the saffron party, solely because I was hoping against hope that they would prove to be an antidote for the Cancer that had maligned India.I guess I have myself to blame for such stupid optimism, as BJP proved to be yet another mutation of the very same tumour.

But, I still believe that anything, any alternative, is better than the Congress malice. The third front is a mysterious mythological creature which rears its head once in a while, only to go back into a prolonged hibernation at the first sign of defeat. And that would probably explain my disappointment when I see BJP refusing all the blatant attempts by the ruling coalition to hand power over to them in a platter. This must be the weakest BJP organisation since 1980s and the days of Jan Sangh. They continue to make blunder after blunder, with even the normally dependable Advani making a complete fool of himself with his remarks about Kandahar. I think the party is ripe for extremists like Modi to take over. They have perfected the art of allying with parties which harm them more than help them. All in all, even though Congress is trying its best to get out, like Nasser Hussien in the famous Natwest Final game, BJP would simply not accept the catches coming their way.

If you think that this epidemic is prevelant only in India, please do think again. The Democratic Party is proving to be an American version of the BJP. Incredulous as it may seem, Bush has been in power for 8 years now. The approval ratings of his Presidency had dipped to single figures. Four months back, polls showed that any of the Democratic Parties nominees would thump any eventual Republican party nominee in November. A Hundred and Twenty days though is a long time in politics. While John McCain has emerged as unlikely nominee from the Republican party, the Democratic Party is actively engaged in digging its own grave. Obama and Hillary continue to beat each other up, helping no one other than McCain. I have to say here that I certainly don't have any party affiliation. But I like Obama, especially after he gave The Speech on race, and it is once again disappointing to see some one who seems different, head down the road to defeat.

May be they should learn from the current Indian cricket team on how to win agaisnt all odds. And if they have to do it, they better do it soon, for the Indian team tends not to remember its winning ways for too long. :)

Sankar

Moments and Metaphors

Tonight,
when you gaze at the sky
you will find the constellation of togetherness.
Trace the silhouette of your new caravan
and wrap the infinity with your happiness.
wouldn't you?,
wouldn't you share even the syllables
and slice silence?
Dream of sharing the seasons,
summer into two
winter into three
Dream of transcending numbers to seasons
two into summer,three into winter.
Let every moment of your life
sublime to a metaphor.
When memories are the only left overs
of existence
you would also have
shared silence,seasons,numbers
And
collective dreams.


____________________________________________________

This was the poem that Mathi, gifted us for the wedding. The most lyrical gift that we have ever received.

There is a bit of interesting history here regarding Mathi's writing. For those among you who don't know Mathi, he is a Nobel laureate in the making. Or a Booker winner, or a Pulitzer or something like that for sure. We knew this right from our good old college days. So myself and Subri, did something to cash in on his genius :). Like all smart business men of the past, who have feasted on the brilliance of the creators, we made Mathi sign an agreement, giving us exclusive printing privileges on anything that he creates.

CopyLeft :D.

Sankar

Ippadikki Bharathi

I have been following Ippadikku Rose on Vijay very regularly. However, the programme on IT - how IT has affected our cultural and social life (yes...everyone wants to talk about this...) was terribly anti women, backward and judgemental. taking a moral high stand comes so easy to our people and one of the guests, Sivakumar (from madurai) is such a great example. He was talking of some sensational team building exercise that attempted at demonstrating how degenerated we have become..and it ended up demonstrating how pervert he was. It was about a bed sheet spread and about 100 people.."guys and girls together "cramming and of course..people who don't stick well enough and don't stand on the bedspread are out.. and Sivakumar was pissed that women agreed to do this... first nowhere have i heard such team building exercises. And that was just a pervert way of looking, evident from the number of times he emphasised on "guys and girls together" when he talked. Has it never happened that women get squeezed with men in buses, involuntarily that too? And preethi and Sivakumar talked as though they had no option but to take these team building and go to these parties to be accepted. CRAP. You will get fired if you don't go to parties only if you are a Page 3 reporter in magazines. Nowhere else.



Preethi was very proud of our people being ashamed of sex and embarrassed of sex...bingo..send her to AIDS campaigns..(contradictory to this a previous ippaidkki rose programme brought out nicely that most problems in India relating to sex has been due to oppressed sexuality).. oh of course we were very ashamed to only "talk" about sex...did anyone say..india has second highest number of people affected with AIDS. Preethi seems to be working in some weirdo organization ( I think its Kekhra and mekhra in Dubai kurukku sandu) , where people talk about sex openly, make love in breakout areas. She was just sensationalizing I suppose.



Has there never been Sexual harassment? Magalir mattum discussed sexual harassment in Garment companies years before computers came to India. Poor women they never had any Anti sexual harassment wing either those days. guys who have only seen girls are objects...as "figures" are the ones that need to be fired. ....But sadly though, even in major IT companies which employ only professionals (BE/ MCAs) in a metro like chennai, girls cant play badminton or basket ball in the court without ten guys staring at her..that The other side of the coin was of course kept in the dark in the discussion.



Sivakumar is like Mozhi's Bhaski. He is still in 1980s and gets a pat in his back from Rose for being so "clear" about staying in 1980s. He turned red talking of striptease and nude bars and was blushing. Someone please take him to his own town's suburbs and educate him about "record dance" (our answer to cabaret). Did IT bring that too? Why do we talk as if we are so morally superior.Doesn't Sivakumar watch Tamil movies? Am not saying its wrong but why blame an industry for that? I at least expected the girl to project a better image. She says 80% 0f the IT people are spoilt.. "80% kettupoitannga.." how can a woman who is hardly maybe 26 (so I would say about 4-5 years in IT) working in a IT cum Media (not even completely IT) take a judgement call about 80% of the entire IT population which runs in Millions? And how did she substantiate -changed to western clothing clothing and going to parties..??? They talk as if IT companies have rave parties or some such thing. All that It companies do most of the times is go for a bowling game and then a dinner.. maybe she would like to keep our culture there and have parties on aadi perukku in the beach and we can let guys play cricket and girls play paandi...or both can play catch catch but of course a guy shouldn't touch the girl when attempting to catch her..Dah...Rose should have said something here at least. She was wearing Western clothing herself. What is wrong? Gimme a break.



Ask them if they would marry within IT and both don't have the guts to raise their hands. Preethi doesn't realise that more Sivakumars in the IT industry would reduce her probability of getting married itself. Sivakumar would find some kudumba kuthuvillakuu who would make steaming filter coffee when he returns home. What would preethi do? marry someone outside IT "anti IT" guy and he would blame her for being culturally degraded cos she is in IT. Talk about Cultural degeneration due to IT and we all have only women to blame. Guna (another husband who lost his wife to IT) comes shamelessly says that his mother was "afraid" when his father came back from work and his wife wasn't. his wife went to places by herself and spent money by herself and dared to become "independent" . How drastic.



What is cultural degeneration according to these guys? - this is - That women don't pack their bags at 6pm and go home like they used to do in Banks? That women these days know that they don't have to be branded as prostitutes just because they wear western clothing, or they don't have to be afraid of their husbands or just married only because they have to feed themselves and their kids? Our whole society predominantly "including women"are male chauvinists. The happier side sadly exists...that parents don't worry if they don't have sons..their daughters would earn enough to afford them a good lifestyle in their retirement...without looking up for a budget sanction from her in laws or husband..that most girls earn good enough to fund their own marriages.. The bottom line is that, a person (guy or gal) who wants to take less moral ways would take it in any industry. IT industry has better work than running brothels.

Us

This is our first attempt at blogging...together.. :)) Sankar and I...! We want to write all trash that we can think of...from playstations to feminism..from cricket to ilayaraja..from history to oor vambu.. everything.. :)