Congress has done it again !

I cant find words to describe how the congress party went about choosing the president of our country. All norms of propriety have been left behind. Loyalty has a new meaning. Sycophancy has been taken to new heights. Even though the presidential post is ceremonial it carries a lot of respect and dignity and the UPA has shown utter disregard for the popular opinion. We had a subservient obliging prime minster who does not seem to have any say in his own government and now we will have a submissive president who will be more than willing to dismiss state governments 24/7 and dancing to madam's tunes. UPA has foisted a person non grata on the people of this country. The way the congress party went about choosing the president was very disturbing ... the names themselves don't inspire any confidence ..most of them cant even win a corporator's election.it is very obvious that any tom dick and harry can aspire and become the president of India, the only criteria is to stoop down and bow to the madam

7 race course road is the new temple for the Indian public to pay obeisance what a shame. I am surprised the how come the so called pseudo secularists not supporting. The indian public should never forgive the congress party and its "left front" stooges. Kalam had displayed rare qualities of being upright and not getting cowed down by the machinations of the government - there are
enough examples where the UPA had tried to force him to submission with limited success.

What an image we project to the world - like the caste based quota system which clearly gives preference to the all the other factors other than merit and we repeat the same mistake of having a president who will be undeserving brought into the public lime light by some sheer coincidence which we will never know. It is feels disgusting how the elected representatives of this country take the public for a ride and without any remorse what so ever. The " left front "should be renamed as the " No front " they are spineless and like the dogs who bark but seldom bite. The whole ruling front has gone against Kalam !

God help the country !

Seat Belt

This is my very first video on You tube ..

Voila another landmark !

It missed my quirky eyes .. I have got 1000 hits. A personal blog with some content which only interests me and still managed to reach this landmark is remarkable. The more surprising element is that I have managed to keep it going for so long consistently ... probably this will go down in my personal history as one great event. I realised pretty early that the only way to keep this going was to write for myself and dont bother of what others think. Lot of times the grammar has been bad and out of shape, the thoughts have lingered on without any direction, the articles most of the time seem half finished without getting down to agenda for which it was started or worse have been tangential.

Nevertheless I am still there ... and will keep it going.

Battle at Kruger

A great video though a bit lengthy at 8+ mins.. the end is simply awesome

Hollywood calling bollywood !

Watched Spiderman 3 and POC - at worlds end over the last couple of week ends, both have been spectacular blockbusters across the world shattering box office collection records. One of the most striking feature for both the films in my opinion was the emphasis on the emotions/relationships particularly love angle. Even though the films are a benchmark for their special effects and action sequences - some how in the trilogies the dialogue writers had more work. Love triangles, good becoming bad, bad becoming good all are the forte of Bollywood and now Hollywood has embraced it to good effect atleast financially. Another similarity is that both films have done very well in India. The best movie in this genre was " Mask of the Zorro " - I cant still forget the during the climax when Anthony hopkins actually takes the hand of Zeta jones and hands it over to Antonio - Classical hindi movie ending.

Where as bollywood is on the other way around though the standard fare of song and dance are still very much needed to make it a blockbuster. Krish and Dhoom 2 are prime examples. Krish was a mixture of all western superheroes and still dancing around the trees with a pretty lady in tow. I never understood why Dhoom 2 was such a huge hit - none of the scenes were that great , it had no story thought Ash looked stunning and Abhishek horrible and Hritik continues to amaze me with his dancing skills.

We as a nation have matured. The so called alternate cinema is doing well - Bheja Fry is the latest example what returns on investment a movie of Rs 60 lacs generating Rs 12 crores at last count. It was a short and sweet films with no songs, limited characters , no big star cast. A lot of small budget / cross over films are ruling the marquee. The audience have a choice now and with the multiplex mushrooming all over the place even the film makers can target the discerning junta and do not have to necessarily dish out the tasteless song and dance fare, back in the 80s

The Curse of Being a Hindu in Modern India

I always had similar feelings and wanted to write what Saurabh Saxena has written, in my opinion a brilliant article well articulated without the risk of being branded as communal for the so called pseudo secular glitterati.

A worth while read

Tales Of Mere Existence "Saturday"

Traffic ahow !

No patience. Driving on Indian roads have become traumatic least on Bangalore roads. Probably a new game theory is needed to describe how the traffic moves in most of the Indian cities ( crawls ) in spite of the chaos. Its a actual Zoo on the roads with all kinds of animals. Not surprisingly we have a mainstream Bollywood film called traffic Signal. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to go everywhere leading to now where, people are matching bumper to bumper to get ahead. The horns add to the misery and irritation - wonder why the pressure horns are not band, the decibel levels in the Indian roads are the highest in the world. There is no sense of discipline with the drivers suddenly mutating into blood sucking demons willing to go for the kill without provocation. I always wonder if we had the same gun control laws similar to the US in India. The roads would have got transformed into a killing fields. I remember an anecdote - once a cousin while driving in mumbai nearly nudged a car in front due to a mis judgement , instead of abuses a gun came out from the passenger seat threatening him. He still shudders the very sight of any red Mitsubishi lancer.

looks like folks take all the frustration out on the roads - only place in our cities where you can blow your lungs out. The cab drivers live in their own world and don't have the word "manners" in their dictionary . Auto rickshaws create lanes as they drive oblivious to other vehicles. Two wheelers seem to have converted the roads into a Moto GP race track racing against time very well realising one small mistake can be fatal - luckily some state governments have made the helmet compulsory. Experience any new Delhi signal - very similar to the starting F1 starting grid , the familiar vroom of the engine - with smoking bellowing. How can I miss out the ubiquitous city buses - they are a nightmare come true. The bus drivers seem to be immune to any and everything. My experience tells me never challenge an empty bus or truck.

its a circus out there ! The cars are becoming powerful and the average speed on Indian roads coming down. There are very few stretches in any city left where the needle can touch 80 kmph consistently. The roads have become Gas chambers ..difficult to breath if the AC is not on, the road development has not been able to keep pace with the addition in vehicles. The only solution the traffic administration has today is to make as many road one ways which ultimately results in the traffic piling up on narrow junctions. I cant see any respite in sight.

Blog Party

I happen to see this invite for a blog party on the 9th of June in Mumbai. I was surprised at the open invitation and seems to be free for all. More details at

http://www.thevoiceinmyhead.com/2007/05/23/its-blog-p-a-r-t-y-time/ . Isnt this amazing that a party is being organised for complete strangers. Though I am not aware of the place but as per the invite there is no time limit .... wait before this comes to the knowledge of the moral mumbai police and they gate crash.

Money honey

I dont have a great relationship with Money. Some how the more I want it the more it is elusive. Though this is relative, I never seem to have enough when I compare myself to my peers. In this age of capitalism where materialism matters more than anything else , the instant gratification can only be provided with money and nothing else. The luxuries of olden times have become necessities today. Money has never been flaunted like this . there seems to be no great relationship between how much a person deserves ( probably a perception ) and how much a person actually has. Though a seaming inference may be that my peers are undeserving .. the moot point is that how fast and quickly a person can capitalise on the opportunities can make that vital difference. The obvious example is the ESOPs given by a lot of companies which dollar millionaires out of ordinary blokes who in a lot of cases could not even have dreamt to have made that kind of money in their lifetime. Though this may sound a bit out of frustration on missing the bus but I find this echo with a lot of ordinary junta.

Recently one of my friends mentioned an advt about a housing complex which had the tag line .. what is the difference between "haves" and "have lots" - the houses were meant disbelieving for the "have lots". India is on the way to become a Trillion dollar economy and even the stock market capitalisation is due to touch the magical figure. Though I may sound like a pseudo secularist in the garb of a capitalism desisting animal but the spoils of the stupendous and spectacular growth has been cornered by a select few who have access to all corridors. The most die hard of capitalist countries have social security built into the civil fabric.

More on this to come ...