More blasts in Mumbai, more people dead and all our politicians seem interested in is blaming each other and giving speech after speech telling people to remain calm, stay at home, not worry. My question is why we should remain calm, why should we sit at home and not worry. I watched someone on CNN-IBM say last night that “it is the fundamental right of every citizen to feel safe in their country”. Why aren’t the people we elected protecting this right? Why are we as citizens not getting more pissed off at them?
I remember after the 2008 attacks in Mumbai the entire nation had come together and there were marches and candle light vigils all over. CMs, deputy CMs, Home Ministers lost their jobs but nothing has changed. We are as vulnerable as before. Just like the fight against corruption is an on-going and never ending effort so is the fight against terrorism. So what is the solution? Should we also go the US way and start attacking countries that breed and support terrorism? Can India even handle that kind of war against terrorism? And even if we can, should we be taking this course of action? Aren’t we the country of Gandhiji who taught us non-violence?
Too many questions and I don’t have the answers. But this has to be stopped at the roots. We need to secure our borders; we need to educate our youth in the right way. Communism, the attitude that we are better than others, that my religion is better than yours, that my way of life is better than yours, discrimination, these are the evils we need to root out because these are the root causes.
I want the youth of the country (you and me) to get up and say that we are not going to stand for this. We want accountability but more than that we want to see action and tangible proof that action has been taken to secure our country and its citizens. Give out contracts and privatize the army if the Government is unable to deal with corruption and give us results. They protect themselves, there crores of rupees spent on security for even minor politicians. But these are not the people who are attacked. We are the vulnerable ones. Why not form a committee similar to the Lokpal committee to fight against terrorism. If civilians cannot be involved in the strategy at least we have a right to know where and how the money is being used. There has to be a an investigative report to account for the failure to prevent these recent blasts. Do not give us platitudes and play the blame game because we are not stupid and tired of getting killed in blasts every few months.
Thursday 14 July 2011
Wednesday 13 January 2010
Over Load of thoughts
Have you ever had the feeling that your brain might explode because there are just too many thoughts in there?
So many things out there in the world. So much happens. So much to think about.
I read in Salmaan Rushdie's book, "The things that affect your life the most, happen in your absence".
I have a communication problem. I get so involved in myself that I have a hard time communicating what I think and feel to other people. I give the wrong impression. But then I wonder what is the right impression.
People say all the time be yourself. What does that mean?
What if being myself involves pretending or being fake with some people or in certain situations. Not being myself is also a part of me being myself. So in what situation should i adhere to the advice to "Be Yourself"?
Maybe what it means is to be whoever you are comfortable being in any given situation. The true self is really relative isn't it. I am a different person when I am being a friend and different when I am being a daughter, sister, girl friend. Which one of these personas is me? Well all of them. What about the core? At heart there must be me being me and not anyone's sister, daughter etc. I am not sure who that me is. We are so busy being all these different people..employees, employers, lovers n wives that we never take the time to find out what makes me.
And then there is this thought that comes to my head..OHH MY GOD!!! ME..ME..ME how selfish and self centered can you get. There are people in the world who don't get food everyday. Women who don't have basic rights. And I am sitting here whining about not getting the time to figure myself out.
So many things out there in the world. So much happens. So much to think about.
I read in Salmaan Rushdie's book, "The things that affect your life the most, happen in your absence".
I have a communication problem. I get so involved in myself that I have a hard time communicating what I think and feel to other people. I give the wrong impression. But then I wonder what is the right impression.
People say all the time be yourself. What does that mean?
What if being myself involves pretending or being fake with some people or in certain situations. Not being myself is also a part of me being myself. So in what situation should i adhere to the advice to "Be Yourself"?
Maybe what it means is to be whoever you are comfortable being in any given situation. The true self is really relative isn't it. I am a different person when I am being a friend and different when I am being a daughter, sister, girl friend. Which one of these personas is me? Well all of them. What about the core? At heart there must be me being me and not anyone's sister, daughter etc. I am not sure who that me is. We are so busy being all these different people..employees, employers, lovers n wives that we never take the time to find out what makes me.
And then there is this thought that comes to my head..OHH MY GOD!!! ME..ME..ME how selfish and self centered can you get. There are people in the world who don't get food everyday. Women who don't have basic rights. And I am sitting here whining about not getting the time to figure myself out.
Saturday 29 November 2008
Terrorist attacks in Mumbai
After three days the mayhem is finally over. I have been watching the coverage on T.V, thanks to the media we have been kept informed and constantly updated about the situation. There have been so many stories of bravery, of people’s disregard for their lives in trying to save others. Prominent amongst these people were of course our own Mumbai police (who have done a commendable job), the NSG commandos, the army personnel and last but in my opinion the most heart touching and bravest were the staff of both the Taj and the Oberoi. All of these people have laid down their lives so that we and our loved ones could live to see another day.
Now that this is over, it is time for us, not just the citizens of Mumbai but of India and stand together (be it Hindu, Muslim, Catholic, Sikh anyone, any Indian) and give these terrorists the message that they have messed with the wrong country. Let them know that they will not be tolerated.
We the people need to ensure that the security of our country of every single city in our country is not allowed to be politicized. We need to inform our leader that unless very strong and satisfactory measures are not taken to safeguard our borders, safeguard our cities from such attacks we will not vote for anyone. We do not want leaders who come on television and give us verbal assurances that action will be taken, that this will not happen again. Because time and time again there have been attacks in spite of such baseless promises from all our leaders.
Now that this is over, it is time for us, not just the citizens of Mumbai but of India and stand together (be it Hindu, Muslim, Catholic, Sikh anyone, any Indian) and give these terrorists the message that they have messed with the wrong country. Let them know that they will not be tolerated.
We the people need to ensure that the security of our country of every single city in our country is not allowed to be politicized. We need to inform our leader that unless very strong and satisfactory measures are not taken to safeguard our borders, safeguard our cities from such attacks we will not vote for anyone. We do not want leaders who come on television and give us verbal assurances that action will be taken, that this will not happen again. Because time and time again there have been attacks in spite of such baseless promises from all our leaders.
Monday 4 December 2006
Dhoom II
Glamour unlimited is the only way to describe this movie. Though for me it was more like glamour overload. The sole two enjoyable moments in the movie are the two times when the title song “Dhoom Machale” two plays, once at the beginning of the movie and once at the end of it.
The movie is a collection of physics defying stunts( I am so sure all the great physicists are currently turning in their graves) and hot women with long legs in short skirts. Oh and I almost forgot lots of gadgets and really cool vehicles. I am not so sure what the women were doing in the movie especially Bipasha Basu. I think she was just there so the men could have something to ogle at, because every man likes a woman with a gun and the ability to use it.
The movie is just what one would call pure entertainment, every twist in the movie is predictable. It would have been more enjoyable if they had had less chases, excellent but unrealistic slow motion action sequences, less songs and more detective work. More of trying to get into the thief’s head and figuring out the message being relayed. But that only constitutes less than about 5 minutes of the movie.
Hrithik Roshan plays the super intelligent thief who no one can catch and of course his counterpart is Abhishek Bachhan who is an equally super intelligent cop working for our very own Amchi Mumbai police force. It takes Abhishek just 5 minutes to figure out the pattern that Hrithik follows in stealing the things which are priceless and impossible to steal. Even though there are some questions about how Hrithik manages to dispose off these priceless goodies that he flicks, it somehow gets lost in the glamorous chase which takes the entire cast from India to Brazil. No where in the movie does anyone think about where Hrithik gets the funds to finance the kind of gadgets, face masks, cars, bikes that he uses for stealing these things. If he does get it from his profession how does he manage to dispose off these priceless objects which are apparently renowned in the world. But of course the director and script writer have taken into account the fact that the people watching this movie are super intelligent just like their protagonists and will of course know that Hrithik has a super secret network which does all the selling for him .
And then there is the ever present Uday Chopra who is the only other character apart from Abhishek that made it to Dhoom 2 (there’s the Bengali wife but she’s just around for two minutes even less than she was around in Dhoom). He of course plays the stupid, woman crazy, not really into his job kind of cop to Abhishek’s serious and intelligent persona. He is still in search for his life partner so to say and begins dreaming of a happy family with four kids (I guess that’s his lucky number) anytime anything with a XX chromosome comes within 5 feet of him.
The movie was very similar to the original Dhoom in terms of the basic theme and there was really nothing new added to the story except the new stars. The story just seemed to keep dragging and stretching to a point where I thought this movie will never end. As is usually the case I would take Dhoom any day over Dhoom 2 and John Abraham’s presence in it is just about 10% of the reason.
All in all if you like hot babes, crazy action sequences, some decent dialogue delivery, fast bikes and all the masala that a blockbuster Bollywood movie generates my guess is you will enjoy this movie. But if you are looking for a story and strategies which make sense then you might be better off spending your time and money else where like shoe shopping or you could write a script of your own.
The movie is a collection of physics defying stunts( I am so sure all the great physicists are currently turning in their graves) and hot women with long legs in short skirts. Oh and I almost forgot lots of gadgets and really cool vehicles. I am not so sure what the women were doing in the movie especially Bipasha Basu. I think she was just there so the men could have something to ogle at, because every man likes a woman with a gun and the ability to use it.
The movie is just what one would call pure entertainment, every twist in the movie is predictable. It would have been more enjoyable if they had had less chases, excellent but unrealistic slow motion action sequences, less songs and more detective work. More of trying to get into the thief’s head and figuring out the message being relayed. But that only constitutes less than about 5 minutes of the movie.
Hrithik Roshan plays the super intelligent thief who no one can catch and of course his counterpart is Abhishek Bachhan who is an equally super intelligent cop working for our very own Amchi Mumbai police force. It takes Abhishek just 5 minutes to figure out the pattern that Hrithik follows in stealing the things which are priceless and impossible to steal. Even though there are some questions about how Hrithik manages to dispose off these priceless goodies that he flicks, it somehow gets lost in the glamorous chase which takes the entire cast from India to Brazil. No where in the movie does anyone think about where Hrithik gets the funds to finance the kind of gadgets, face masks, cars, bikes that he uses for stealing these things. If he does get it from his profession how does he manage to dispose off these priceless objects which are apparently renowned in the world. But of course the director and script writer have taken into account the fact that the people watching this movie are super intelligent just like their protagonists and will of course know that Hrithik has a super secret network which does all the selling for him .
And then there is the ever present Uday Chopra who is the only other character apart from Abhishek that made it to Dhoom 2 (there’s the Bengali wife but she’s just around for two minutes even less than she was around in Dhoom). He of course plays the stupid, woman crazy, not really into his job kind of cop to Abhishek’s serious and intelligent persona. He is still in search for his life partner so to say and begins dreaming of a happy family with four kids (I guess that’s his lucky number) anytime anything with a XX chromosome comes within 5 feet of him.
The movie was very similar to the original Dhoom in terms of the basic theme and there was really nothing new added to the story except the new stars. The story just seemed to keep dragging and stretching to a point where I thought this movie will never end. As is usually the case I would take Dhoom any day over Dhoom 2 and John Abraham’s presence in it is just about 10% of the reason.
All in all if you like hot babes, crazy action sequences, some decent dialogue delivery, fast bikes and all the masala that a blockbuster Bollywood movie generates my guess is you will enjoy this movie. But if you are looking for a story and strategies which make sense then you might be better off spending your time and money else where like shoe shopping or you could write a script of your own.
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