Facts n Fiction

“Sivaji”, supposedly the costliest film ever made in India releases today. And it casts the south Indian celluloid’s biggest brand – Rajnikant. Yes, the iconic figure of the south Indian filmdom who unarguably has largest and loyal fan following. Almost every news channel has been broadcasting the ‘Rajni Phenomenon’ that has caught fire in the south. People wearing Rajni t-shirts, carrying Rajni handkerchiefs, participating in contests on who can imitate Rajni the best, and so on. I saw on one the news channel people standing in huge queues to get the show tickets and the bookings are full for whole the next month already. Tickets sold in black are seeing a price tag that runs into thousands. Fans have bunked colleges, offices, and even exams to catch the superstar’s show on the first day – simply amazing. The magic this man spreads with his flicks and stunts and dialogues is exceptional. And that is what probably makes a superstar who can stall a huge mass of people to an utter st

I remember having taught since childhood that thinking only about self is not good and it is termed as selfish. One should think about others too and help them in every possible way. It brings more pride and satisfaction of having given someone else more important than your own self. Selfishness is a not a good trait to have and it indeed is true when we look at things around us. With bollywood stars, cricketers, politicians, and other professionals (read lawyers, doctors) getting caught under some or the other scrutiny of investigation authorities, it is evident that being selfish at some point in life is not as fruitful in a long run. However, I sometimes tend to differ and think what the harm is if you want to think about yourself sometime. Certainly, I don’t mean that we go out and get involved in scams and frauds or cause harm to people around us. I usually see people helpless at borrowing some time from their own life for themselves. They are busy shuttling between their work

My long wait to watch a good movie in this year finally ended when I saw 'Metro' in this week. Undoubtedly, the finest movie of the year so far. The movie is adequately packed with right quantities of emotions, practical approach, stress, romance, passion, and humour. However, its not the usual ‘masala’ movie. The stories of different couples are neatly interwoven. I had also seen ‘Salaam-E-Ishq’ and I did find that both the movies run on similar themes – extra marital affairs, heart breaks, deeply in love, and so on. However, ‘Metro’ is a much bolder film with lays down things with more practicality. The actors have portrayed the characters exceptionally well, and Irfan-Konkona pair takes a major chunk of the praise. The Dharmendra-Nafisa couple seemed a little out of place but was required to justify that few good things are happening amidst all the negative impressions around. ‘Metro’ puts you through all sorts of pressurizing situations that can be witnessed in stre

As a normal daily routine, I switched on the television to browse through the day’s news. Watching CNN-IBN has become a ritual and I usually prefer going through the news on that channel. Today I saw the news about the so called ‘Babas’ , ‘Sadhus’ or the ‘Godmen’ involved in money laundering and other such scams. These saffron clad and heavy beard grown personalities were actually criminals in disguise. While the sting operation is still to be authenticated, the thoughts about the need for such ‘Babas’ to come into existence stormed my mind. The sudden uprising of these ‘Godmen’ and their acceptance into the society is a big quandary. I have always wondered what makes people flock to such babas whom they fondly call gurus. I don’t completely disagree with the idea of having a guru. However, it is difficult for me to understand why these babas need to be worshipped, they can just remain content with the respect they receive incase they feel that they are doing some good. I have seen m

Newspapers, News channels these days are flooded with postmortem, analysis, evaluation, and speculation of Indian team’s recent performance at the World Cup 2007. I read and heard a lot of cross fires between the experts, the selection committee, cricket board, coach, and needless to say backed by the opinions of the general public. The team’s failure was supported with many excuses and stained with a lot of blames. While many feel that our cricketers should stop doing ads, there are others who suggest that we should have specialized teams to play different types of matches – 20/20, 50 over match, test match, and so on. Going through all this tittle-tattle I ended up confused with “yes”, “no” or “may be” type of outcomes. However, a little later I was reminded of a hearty laugh that I had had with a friend of mine last week. We were watching the India – Sri Lanka match last Friday on a “BIG SCREEN” and we were frustrated looking at the way our team was taking the game. Agitated and fru

If we look closely everything that we do or intend to do is a decision. Even deciding not to do anything is a decision. And what I have observed is decisions are governed either by determination (I have to do it assertively) or by desperation (I have to do it, there is no other option). Decision by either way is fine as long as you have scored a goal. However, I have observed (even through my personal experience) that desperate decisions are not fruitful in long term and often tend to bring in frustration. The pay-offs of these decisions are short-lived. While determined decisions reap benefits in a slow manner but are permanent. Decisions taken with desperation as a premise take longer to achieve your ultimate goals. These decisions look good short term and console you with initial offerings. However, getting back on track to achieve what you wanted becomes more and more difficult. Similar thing happened with me in 1999 when I had to decide on something out of desperation to survive a

India Growing, Shining, Rising! All this indeed makes me happy and feel proud about my country. IT and ITES is the choicest sector for the private equity investments, retail industry booming, Indian companies acquiring foreign firms, young entrepreneurs venturing into small & medium sized enterprises, and so on are proof of India’s accelerated growth path. However, amongst all these goodies there was something that was bitter, something that was hitting back very hard – the SEZ chaos and its effects on rural India. Yes, the rural India – significant part of our country which is often neglected on the roadmap to growth or remembered only during union budgets or at time of calamities. I agree and accept that I also thought of rural India (or the farmlands) when I was going through all the SEZ chaos that has caught up the entire country. It is saddening to know about the farmers committing suicide to protest against the acquisition of agricultural land to convert it into SEZ and gover