Facts n Fiction

I was busy reading “Digit” magazine sitting in the balcony of my apartment few hours ago. Suddenly I heard crowd shouting some slogans from a distance. Assuming it must be some event in another building I continued my reading. The voices seemed approaching near and I could hardly concentrate. I finally gave up on my attempt to focus on the article after I was shook by thundering sounds of crackers. In no time my building was surrounded with smoke clouds and the smell of cracker bursts started irritating me. The crackers continued to burst and for a moment I felt it was diwali time. The voice of the crowd had somehow drowned in the cracker thunders and I couldn’t make out anything that was happening. I couldn’t help looking over the balcony edge to find out what was the mega event. It was an election campaign procession for some candidate in my locality. Yes it was election time indeed and rarely seen candidate and the supporters were vividly visible all of a sudden. The crowd continued...

I glanced through the SMS that had flooded my cell phone on the New Year morning. With a heavy head, blurred vision I was trying to read the tiny text that spoke heart felt wishes for the New Year. I popped out of my bed only to become a telephone operator, taking calls every 3 minutes. These calls were from almost the same people who had already wished my “Happy New Year” on SMS. With a toothbrush in my mouth, I was thanking them, wishing them the same, and so on. However, there was something different in the voice wishes and the text wishes. The SMS usually ended in “Happy New Year 2007” with some prologue. The phone call ended in “So, What’s your new year resolution?” with my answer to it as “Nothing” only to result in an outburst from the other end with words like “Why!”, “Why not!”, “What!” and so on. As I sat sipping my tea I was thinking what could be a New Year resolution. Why would one make (or vow) a resolution on the first day of the New Year? I mean to decide something for ...

I was watching news this evening, as usual when one news caught my eye. It was nothing extraordinary. However, the number of times the news & its details were flashed on screen on one of the news channel makes me particularly write about it. Sharne Warne is retiring and there must be too many mixed reactions from cricket lovers and his fans in particular. Warne has surely been an awesome bowler and a wonderful cricket player at times. Also one more wonderful Australian bowler, Glenn McGrath will bid farewell to the cricket career as a bowler. There was very little that was mentioned about McGrath. Sharne Warne seemed to steal the show as usual, not in the right sense though. Let me remind you that I was watching one of the Indian news channel, which are famous for adding sensitivity to any bit of information they have and make it sellable. As I continued watching the news piece, what irritated me most was the repeated telecast of acts with which Warne had disgraced himself. The sca...

Finally the city, lately known for its slums, crowd, traffic congestion, and so on will have something new to talk about. The lost glory of the Mumbai will soon be restored by the new makeover moves that the tourism department has planned. The proposed new setup is to promote Mumbai as a new tourist destination. Apart from the revamp and restoration of existing monuments or places of visits, the tourism department has also plans for economy budget hotels, amusement parks, and get-together centers across the city. Let’s see what the new Mumbai by 2011 have in store for us and its visitors. Forts: The MTDC along with some archaeological experts will take up the restoration and restructuring of six forts viz. Sewri, Worli, Sion, Bandra, Mahim, and Vasai. You will not only find these forts beautified but also furnished with facilities like signboards, seating arrangement, toilets, amphitheaters, and landscape gardens. We should possibly see these forts by 2007 end. Filmcity tours: We will ...

I usually like watching Marathi programs more than any other programs (if I am not watching CNBC or CNN-IBN). I am not a proponet of reality shows but I have found ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ on ZEE Marathi interesting and I have started liking that show. It’s a reality show to search for Marathi singing talent. I have not enjoyed watching any other reality show as much as I enjoy this. One very strong reason is that it is related to singing and it’s a program in my mother tongue. Other reasons why like this program is that the program really looks like reality show, meaning nothing enacted or faked. And most importantly it does not fool people by asking them to SMS and select the best singer. May be later the program might adapt to that strategy but so far everything seems to be good. I particularly liked today’s (31st Oct 06 – Tuesday) program and that’s the reason I give it an exclusive mention here in my post. A contender called Ameya performed remarkably well that impressed the host, the ju...

I was entering Mumbai city one afternoon on a torturous sunny day. The scorching heat was testing my patience. The vehicle I was traveling was air conditioned. However; it somehow could not beat the heat. All I could do was watch hoardings, signboards, and vehicles passing by or cruising ahead of us. As I was trying to keep myself busy, a truck just ahead of our vehicle caught my gaze. I asked my friend to keep the pace such that we are just behind the truck, taking care that we don’t overtake it or lose it sight at any time. The truck carried a lot of cattle in it and it supposedly was heading to some slaughterhouse. I could guess that after taking a close look (as close as I could take) at the animals in the truck. Had been they taken for some constructive purpose they would not have been kept in such merciless conditions. To my luck the truck driver decided to take a halt at one of the dhaba (roadside restaurant) on the highway and I asked my friend to take rest at the same dhaba. W...

Farhan Akhtar’s earlier flicks made me curious to go and watch his latest venture – ‘DON’, remake of Amitabh starrer ‘DON’ made in 70s. I like Farhan as a filmmaker and have liked his ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ and ‘Lakshya’. Though I had got reviews on Don from friends, newspapers, sites, and TV channels, I thought of watching the movie before putting down a verdict. I remember Amitabh’s Don vividly, as I have seen it as many times as it was telecasted in TV channels and cable TV. I had prepared myself not to view the SRK Don with an idea to compare it with Big B’s Don. Let the judgement be on a individual approach than on a relative level. As I walked out after finishing the film, I was disappointed with what Farhan did with his version of Don. It was a mix of Bond movies, Matrix, and Mission Impossible. The plot of the original and new Don is more or less the same with very few surprises. Yes, you do get surprised at moments where Arjun Rampal (modern Pran) scales up sky scrappers when he act...