New years eve

The New years eve is approaching and like always I don't have a plan. Will it be a party or will it be a visit to some NGO or will it be a drive out of town, I am still not sure. However, this time I am sure that I will usher in the new year with something more constructive than last year. Last year I spent it at home watching TV! Like the last year, I have drawn up my list of resolutions which I hope I will follow. Looking back at the resolutions taken last year, I haven't followed just one. I had actually made two resolutions. I know, thats a bad average! 

So much so for the new year. A few days back I was talking (online) to a friend who stays abroad and had recently visited India. I noticed her profile picture on the networking site. The picture had her posing with 4 street kids and everybody doing a namaste. Somehow most of the time, I see that people visiting India put up pictures like these. This is the image that they carry back, them with street kids, them doing a namaste or them standing next to a famished lady and similar stuff. Wonder if they lack in finding something more enduring or its just the "in" thing!    

Go watch Ghajini

I don't remember enjoying a good hindi action thriller in a long time before I watched Ghajini yesterday. Its a top notch, fast paced thriller from one of the finest actors that we have in the industry. The way Aamir is able to bring out the pain of having lost someone you love and then not remembering a thing about who killed her and how, it is really commendable. At so many places, he let his eyes do the talking. The story is about a millionaire guy pretending to be a regular struggling ad film actor falling in love with another struggling actor and then both of them getting smacked by the same villain. Finally the hero who survived the attack, loses his memory, tattoos the clues on his body and then goes out and takes revenge for his loss. Although the story is not too novel, the execution is fast paced and thats what makes the movie so enjoyable. The music is good, the acting is good and the cinematography is awesome. Aamir has put in a stellar performance and if not anything else, the movie is worth watching only for him. Go watch Ghajini! 

Mumbai under siege

As I write this blog, Mumbai is under siege. The unofficial count on the number of dead is almost 150 and more than 350 injured. God knows what is in store for the people still held hostage in Taj Hotel. I feel like going back to my blog written in September where I had said no place is safe and terrorists can come and bomb any location at will. 

The locations under attack in Mumbai last night are not nondescript places. They are spots frequented by the mumbaikars and visitors alike. These are places in the heart of the city. And yet terrorists were able to walk in with bags full of explosives! This says a lot about the might of our intelligence system. 

I think its just a matter of will. How much are we willing to lose before we start a drive to weed out these terrorists. Look at the Americans, there might be larger motives working behind bombing iraq, but at least Bush came out very very strongly against the twin tower attacks. We don't get to hear harsh words against the terrorists at all. The will to eliminate them is not visible, leave alone an effort. This Mumbai bombing and terror attack is a national calamity and its time we react accordingly.  

So near yet so far!

What a race it was. The final grand prix this year. Before the race started, you wouldn't have put your monies on Ferrari ending 1st and 3rd and yet Felipe Massa losing out on the world championship. Massa won the race but you could see him almost at the verge of crying on the podium... I have never seen anyone so upset even after winning the race. The winner yet the loser. What irony! 

The last 30 seconds of this race have to be the most riveting. First it was Kubica hanging on to the tail of Hamilton and then the breathtaking overtake of hamilton by vettel!!! For a moment it seemed Kubica had handed over the championship to Massa by overtaking Hamilton (even though he was a lap down. what was he thinking!!!). And then finally Glock letting Lewis overtake him (by slowing down) at the final second. So so so unfair. You could see the Massa family celebrating thinking that Massa was the new world champion and then they realised what had just happened. Hamilton was 5th instead of 6th and according to the points he was the new world champion. All in all, a truly nail biting finish. 

Anyways, the consolation is that Ferrari won the Team Championship and they would still lead the pit lane. Go ferrari!!  

Who am I?

I hail from Rajasthan, I have stayed in small towns of West Bengal for most part of life and then I did my secondary schooling in Bihar. My college and higher secondary in Kolkata (which I feel closest to) and finally my Masters in Bangalore, Karnataka. Nope, this post is not about my nomadic past. I am just wondering, what do I call myself. A Bihari, A rajasthani, a bengali or a kannadiga. Because, without one of these tags, I wonder if I would soon be allowed/disallowed entry into the respective states. 

I am writing this post in response to what I see happening in Maharastra and now Punjab. Raj Thakarey has taken ownership of Marathi manoos and is spewing venom about 'outsiders' in Maharastra. As if the divisions based on caste and religion was not enough that we now have another division to live with. And this one shakes the very foundation of a unite, sovereign state. 

The state barriers, just like the caste system is ingrained in our psyche and it keeps cropping every now and then. I still feel that Bangalore, in spite of being so cosmopolitan, has reservations against people coming from other states. I have been in Chennai for a while, and the hatred there is visible. Shiv Sena had come to power in Maharastra with this whole politics of hatred but it had died down in the last decade. Raj Thakarey, for the lack of genuine issues, has again touched upon this sensitive issue and in a way that other states are championing the cause too. See how Punjab also gave a thumbs-up to what Mr Thakarey is doing. Pathetic. 

The government, both at the central and state level is sleeping because it has to keep the Marathi Manoos happy if it needs to come to power in the next general election. And thats why we have fools like R.T who go on rampage and disrupt railway examinations, beat up outsiders and make provocative speeches. In response, students in bihar torched a railway station and several railway coaches. Its the tax payers money which went down the drain!  

This is the worst kind of politics that could be. Its what British practiced - Divide and rule. I condemn the attacks on Biharis in Maharastra and I wish this cause is taken up more seriously. 

Otherwise, the preamble of India will need another amendment and this time it will be on the unity of the states.  I hope I don't ever have to write "We, the Rajasthanis". The strength lies in "We, The People of INDIA".

What's the big deal!!!

Yaar, koi mujhe ye nuclear deal samjha do.  I have read edits on this, have heard hordes of news channels talking about it, heard the politicians speak on it and heard it argued by the so-called experts. But all it has managed to do is further confuse me! 

Mota-moti what I have understood is that the 123 agreement, Hyde Act and the NSG waiver are three separate entities. Post the 1st nuclear test conducted under Indira Gandhi, the US and other NPT countries had imposed sanctions on India and we could not import nuclear fuel nor technology. Now with the NSG waiver, we have ended that sanctions and that we are free to import nuclear fuel and technology from 20 something nuclear states. With this waiver in place, the US will now pass theN-deal from the US congress which will enable India to also trade nuclear fuel and technology with the US as well. 

Thats my understanding. Will anyone now tell me what is the entire debate about and whether my understanding of it is on the right path?

Give me my country back!

I feel like a hostage. In my own country. I feel a sense of chill every time I am in a Mall on a weekend. Why? Because these days, I feel, I am not safe anywhere. Nope, its not because I have a threat on my life but because terrorists are bombing places on will, the major metros of the country. Today they bombed the national capital (once again) and there is very little that Police, Intelligence and our government can do. 

I watched a movie called "A Wednesday" last week and I thought I could relate to it so much. The movie is about a common man (naseeruddin shah) who plants two bombs in Mumbai and then gets the Police to release four dreaded terrorists against the bomb threat. However, the twist is, he gets them released only to kill them. He does that because these guys are responsible for Mumbai/Gujrat bombing and no one is taking them to task. I think the time has come that we all stand up and do something about what's happening around us. We need to stop being not-bothered because its happening to someone else. 

Imagine, some outsiders are coming in our land, staying here and bombing Indian metros and then running away scot free! Even if they are caught, it takes decades to bring them to task. Today it has happened to someone else, tomorrow it might happen to us. Our government needs to stop minority appeasement and stand up to a fact that terror has now seeped inside the very roots of our country. And if we do not deal with them ruthlessly, we would all become hostages in our own land. Whoever they are - Hindu, Muslims or whatever, they need to be punished. They need to be executed. Annihilated. We as a country need to show them that they cannot target us like sitting ducks. We will retaliate, we will catch them and bring them to task. The government really needs to get its act together and either get POTA back or pass some even more stringent bill. Get some more agencies like the Mumbai ATS set up in different metros of the country and then hunt these terrorists down and execute them. Unless, we as a country stand up and resolve that we will throw this weed out of country, they will just keep on multiplying. 

I wish these blasts have woken someone up. Or it might just be too late.