Are we Unfair to our National Sport?

I have always tried to inculcate in me a feeling of love, pride and passion for the game of Hockey but unfortunately I have failed every single time in my efforts. If on one hand the laurels of the past have always made me feel inspired and motivated about this game. Then on the other hand I have also experienced a sense of dejection and helplessness, seeing the sorry state of our national team players or the disarray of its main governing body. But even in this state of dilemma I have always figured it out that these feelings aren’t of true love for the game but they are feelings of mere infatuation. So amidst all the ongoing hoopla surrounding the Indian Hockey Team and the Hockey World Cup being staged in India, the big question is ‘Does the current generation render a step motherly treatment to the game of Hockey or are we too overawed by Cricket and its multimillionaire superstars?’ The answer to this controversial question is both Yes and No. YES, because to a good extent we don’t actually care about what is going on in the world of Indian Hockey and if at all we do give an ear to the game, it is only when there is yet another sad story showcasing the sorry state of affairs about the game. We are in a habit of discussing Hockey only if we have to make fun of the game or self-depreciate our team to share a few laughs amongst ourselves. On the contrary the answer to this dubious question is NO also, because we react and behave on what we see and come across in our daily lives. We do pamper and idolize the cricket stars of our country because they give us a constant reason to do so every now and then. They make us feel proud by achieving something, breaking some world records or consistently beating the best teams in the world. And this adulation is not just confined to cricket only (vis a vis Hockey). We pamper the likes of Sania Mirzas, Saina Nehwals, Abhinav Bindras, Vijender Singhs and Raghvendra Rathores we the same intensity and vengeance too. I believe the current generation is a fast food generation, they endorse anything which brings them instant fun, quick returns and satiates their taste buds, they are not the ones to get hooked to something, just dwelling on the past laurels a game might have brought to the country.

The state of Hockey and its following is so bad in our country that people aren’t even aware about the rules of the game, leave apart knowing the names of the players in our national team, at best they know about some ‘Dhanraj Pillai’ and a few older and wiser ones might know about ‘Major Dhyanchand’. And it’s a pity that most of us aren’t even aware of the captain of our national team, though the more hockey literate guys can recall him as some Singh, wisely guessing between Singhs and Pillais, as they are the safest bet in the world of Indian Hockey. But thanks to the recent awareness campaign in the media and to Dr Google as well, most of us know Rajpal Singh is the man leading our nation in the Hockey World Cup. Similarly, the administrative setup and the internal politics amongst the officials of Hockey Federation of India is so dirty and cheap that it hardly adds to the progress of the game in our country, no wonder we stand at a distant no.11 in the world stage and we have qualified for the World Cup by the virtue of being the host nation and not on the basis of merit. So with a weak governing body, weaker financial support and a consistently poor string of results by our hockey team in recent times, how can we expect the current generation to follow and support the national team to raging levels? Its not that the current generation is being partial towards Hockey and unnecessarily biased towards other sports. If the support towards other sports is better, its not that it has been achieved overnight, it has been a slow and a gradual process. There was hardly any following for Cricket before 1980’s, only after India won the Cricket World Cup in 1983 and the sport started producing heroes like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar who claimed all the records in the cricketing world and resurrected India as a cricketing super power, that the support and following for the game gained momentum and gradually reached its peak. Similarly the rage for tennis in India wasn’t attained over night either, it was the diligence of the likes of Paes, Bhupathis and Mirzas who kept the tricolor flying high and garnered support from all corners. Same was the build up for the games like shooting, chess, weightlifting and boxing, courtesy the great sportsmen like Rathore, Bindra, Anand and Vijender. The younger generation is watching these mortals sweating it out and turning into immortal heroes by the virtue of their consistency and perseverance. The support and the following for a particular sport are directly proportional to the string of successes, consistency of performances and the level of Iconization related to it. So it would be utterly unfair to blame the current crop of youth for showing no interest towards the game of hockey because I doubt this disinterest will persist if we start winning more often and if we produce world class players like Bindra, Vijender and Tendulkar in the field of Hockey.

Another thing which I find very illogical is the concept called ‘National’. We say Hockey is our National Sport, but by logic and common sense a national game should be the one in which that nation excels and a majority of that nation plays that sport. But is it really the case with our nation? We stand way below on the excellence barometer and Hockey is certainly not the most widely played game in the country either. Understandably, when these national jargons were declared, at that point Indian Hockey was at its zenith, but things do change and evolve with time, Bombay is Mumbai now, Madras is Chennai, so what’s wrong in reviewing (say every 50 years) and changing the national sport to a sport in which the nation actually excels and plays extensively? Similar is the state with our national animal, will we continue to take pride in calling Tiger as our national animal, say 20 years down the line too, when in reality there won’t be any Tigers left in our land? So I believe there is nothing wrong in adjusting and acclimatizing with the changing world and also there is no directive from United Nations either that you can’t change any of your National Icons once you have declared them. Ironically, the way we have treated our national icons, be it our National Sport or be it our National Animal, has been absolutely horrendousJ. However, this is an entirely different issue; the state of the game can’t be improved by such cosmetic changes. For a stronger Hockey in India, we need changes from the grass root level, we need a complete overhaul of the administration and the Hockey Federation, we need a solid financial backing from the government and various private agencies, we need a constant string of wins, we need a set of icons, we need a real life coach like SRK to motivate the team and explain them the importance of ‘sattar minute’ but most importantly we need a Lalit Modi who can revitalize this sport in his own way, only then we can expect a mass youth following for this beautiful sport.

Chak de India, Chak de Hockey!

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200 Carat Gold - Sir Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!

Mamta Banerjee is upset today because she gets only one day in the year to grab the headlines and that has been snatched from her, Saeed Anwar is upset because the sole reason of people remembering him has been erased, Charles Coventry’s far stretched honeymoon is also over, as a gentleman also sometimes known as, Sachin Tendulkar, has done something which no one has ever done before in the history of this game. You would have hardly realized about this great feat if you would have just gone by his post match comments, where he was still praising Karthik, Pathan and Dhoni for their exceptional batting and talking as if it was just another day in the office for him and dedicating the double ton to the ‘people of India’, What a subtle snub to the regional chauvinists (would dearly love to hear T Company’s reaction on this great featJ). And very similar was his reaction after achieving the echelon of double hundred, no jump in the air, no fist pumping and no aggravated celebrations. Emotionless as ever! Epics has been written about the greatness of this man, comparisons have been made between him and every possible artisan who has excelled in any possible form of art across the globe but this man still stands out above all, not just for his impeccable records but more so for his humility and the way he has conducted himself amidst insurmountable success he has seen over the years. Phenomenally balanced head on his shoulders! I have never seen this man claiming himself as the no.1 or considering any opponent as an ordinary one, he is still as grounded as a below poverty line rickshaw puller may be. Never talks over ambitiously about his feats or anything bad about the opposing contemporaries, if at all some talking is done from his end rather fulsome talking, it is always his bat which does so. Kudos to his upbringing! Amazingly,Pre-budget blues have seen almost all stocks go flat over the past week or so but one scrip which has zoomed sky high is Sachin Tendulkar!

Ever seen the entire nation cursing Dhoni for hitting sixes and fours of every ball in the slog overs? Ever seen the whole of India cheering for Amla for stopping a probable dhoni boundary and converting it into a single? Ever seen an office cafeteria more crowded at 5.45 in the evening than at the lunch time? It all happened today, because nobody was interested in Dhoni’s hard hitting or working in office cubicle or doing anything else other than watching their beloved champion take strike and accomplish a feat which has not been achieved in 2960 matches played over 40 years. Such is the impact of this man on this sport, on this nation and on the life of a common man. When he is on song even the Pakistanis enjoy, cherish and hail his craftsmanship.Each and every ground in the Australia stood for this man both when he entered and left the field. Salute to the Maestro!

I have spent a considerable amount of my life arguing and fighting with my friends and colleagues trying to prove that he is the best and the greatest batsman of all times. I have often defended myself and the legend by the sheer weight of his stats. Some said he is yet to score a triple in tests, some said he lacks the impact which Sehwag has, some said he chokes in second innings, some said India losses when he scores a ton, some even said he plays only for his personal milestones. I always had a view that perhaps pressure of expectation on Sachin is greater than on any sporting personality because of a billion strong Indian diaspora and a ever so hyperventilating Indian Media and hence I defended each and every one of those outrageously criminal allegations by giving apt examples, instances and statistical figures and succeeded 9/10 times. But as always today when I was hearing/reading the tributes flowing on for the little genius from all across the cricketing fraternity and from other corners too, I was shocked to hear what Mr Sunil Gavaskar said, he went on praising the little master for his impeccable technique, solid temperament and phenomenal self conduct but then he went on to say ‘I will touch Sachin’s feat when I meet him for the next time’. I was so moved that it literally brought tears in my eyes out of the respect for the great man. Thereon I decided I will never indulge into any argument doubting Sachin’s credibility and greatness. For those who still doubt it, may better sense prevail and God help those souls. But I dread for the day when he decides to hang his boots. GOD! Don’t know what will happen to this nation then? A Month long national mourning? Postal stamps by his name? Him replacing Mahatma on the Indian currency note? National Holiday on 24^th of April? Don’t know what not? But I seriously don’t want to see that day in my life, because I don’t know how our lives would be without him playing for India. I believe that would be the saddest day for all of us.

When the almighty felt the need to save the mankind from the evils of the Demon Raavana he graced this planet in the form of Lord Rama, when he felt the need to cease the atrocities of barbarian Kansa or Duryodhana he took the avatar of Lord Krishna. But when he felt the desire for playing cricket he graced our land in the form of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, because no other living being can be so perfect, so complete and yet so grounded like him. Blessed are the people of Gwalior city who watched the maestro unleash his artistry on this special day, blessed are those 21 players and 2 umpires who shared the same turf with him, where all the magic happened and I feel I am blessed along with my fellow countrymen to have taken birth in the same land, to have breathed the same air and to see this godly creature exhibiting his magic in true sense. So words like Comparisons,Great, Bharat Ratna and Padma Bhushan have no significance in his case, after all GODS don’t need such adjectives before their namesJ

Hail the Champion! Hail the Magician! Hail the GOD!

Take a BOW!

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Tiger in trouble, both in INDIA and US!

What a paradox, two of the biggest democracies in the world and smitten by the Tiger Buff. On one hand United States is still stumped with the Tiger Woods controversy and is trying to come in terms with the troubled life of Tiger. India on the other hand is struggling to save its national animal ‘Tiger’ from going into the pages of history. Though the Tiger’s trouble in US is expected to end or atleast fade a bit after the rehab program which the golfer is undergoing but the stakes for Indian Tiger coming out of trouble waters are very bleak. The pace with which this enchanting specie is dwindling in number is exorbitant. The statistics of their decline are nerve wrecking and if we go by the trends it won’t be an exaggeration to say that our children would be seeing this beautiful animal only in the books or documentaries. It is believed that at the turn of last century there were around 100,000 Tigers worldwide, 40,000 of which inhabited in India and from around those 40,000 tigers there are just 1411 left in India currently and even these figures are also of last year. The condition is so bad that out of 37 Tiger Sanctuaries in India, 17 are on the verge of losing their Tiger population completely and the irony is condition is getting worse everyday in spite of the various measures taken by the Indian Government to save its national animal; 2009 being the worst year for tigers in India with 86 deaths being reported.

But the question is, suddenly why is there so much fuss about plummeting Tiger numbers, when many more endangered species are also facing the same scenario. Is it simply because Tiger is our national animal? NO, there is much more to it. Tigers occupy an important place in the Indian culture. Since ages, it has been the symbol of magnificence, power, beauty and fierceness and has been associated with bravery and valor. The tiger also has a significant place in Hindu mythology as the vehicle of Goddess Durga. In the olden times, hunting of tigers was considered to be one of the highest acts of bravery by kings and noblemen. The tiger is a unique animal which plays a pivotal role in the health and diversity of an ecosystem. It is a top predator and is at the apex of the food chain. Therefore the presence of tigers in the forest is an indicator of the well being of the ecosystem. The extinction of this top predator is an indication that its ecosystem is not sufficiently protected. Tigers and high intensity biotic disturbances such as poaching and stealing of kills do not go together. If the tigers in the wild have to survive, it is imperative that other species of wild animals that are directly or indirectly a part of the food chain must also thrive. Therefore, the survival of the tiger is an important yardstick to measure the existence of a healthy forest ecosystem.

So what are the dreadful contributors to the sorry state of this royal animal? Habitat and prey loss is certainly one of the most important reasons, large-scale habitat destruction and decimation of prey populations are the major long-term threats to the existence of the dwindling tiger population in the country. Less than a hundred years ago, tigers prowled all across India and the sub-continent. But growing human populations, particularly since the 1940s, have contracted and fragmented the tiger's former range. Tigers need large territories. And along with habitat, tigers have also suffered a severe loss of natural prey populations – in particular ungulates such as deer and antelopes. But the biggest reason for this decimation is Hunting, Poaching and Illegal trades. For over thousand years, tigers have been hunted as status symbol, decorative item such as wall and floor covering, as souvenirs and curios, and for use in traditional Asian medicines. Hunting for sport probably caused the greatest decline in tiger populations until the 1930s. In the early 1990s, trade in tiger bone for traditional Chinese medicines threatened to drive tigers to extinction in the wild. Poaching is the largest immediate threat to the remaining tiger population. And last but not the least Conflict with human population is another threat resulting into this awry state. As tigers continue to lose their habitat and prey species, they are increasingly coming into conflict with humans as they attack domestic animals – and sometimes people. In retaliation, tigers are often killed by angry villagers.

But all this while I was wondering how a common man can contribute towards the ‘Save Our Tigers’ campaign? Can we really save this beautiful creature just by writing blogs and talking big? The answer to this is Yes and No. Unless we spread the word about the criticality of the situation we can’t even think of moving forward. So going out loud and telling everyone that Tigers are dying and they need our help is the least we can do. We should also try to become responsible tourists and shouldn’t damage the sanctuaries and zoos by littering around and as the saying goes ‘Don’t leave thing anything behind except foot steps, and don’t take anything except memories.’ We should also strive towards reducing our dependency on the natural resources and hence should cut down on the usage of products derived from forests, such as timber and paper. And being a responsible citizen of this nation we should be honest and brave enough to report any susceptible incidents of hunting, poaching or illegal trading because this is the one which is causing the maximum damage to this endangered specie. And last but not the least if can curb on any of our luxuries and in turn donate that saving towards the cause of Tiger Conversation through the channels WWF and PETA, it would not only be an act of kindness to this nation but it will be a great service towards the entire mankind.

At the outset matters like this seem quite uninteresting and boring to us when we have much glamorized and less though provoking options like IPL, My Name is Khan, Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jaega or Tiger Woods sexcapades at our fingertips. We generally tend to keep ourselves away from such important issues and even if we come across advertisements emphasizing about the importance of Tiger Conservations, we more often than not change the channel. But it is high time we take some ownership and give a serious thought to such issues because our nation’s pride is at stake. If we won’t do it, who will do it? The current generation hardly knows anything about our national sport which is in its worst possible state, let us pledge and not let this happen to our national animal.

Save the Speechless, Save Our Tigers!

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Kudos SRK for being a MAN!

I believe there are two categories of people in this world, one who will keep on loving or hating somebody irrespective of his/her deeds and the others being the ones who will keep changing their views as per the deeds of the people. In other words 1^st category of people will keep on hating SRK, even if dos movies like Chak De and Swades or if he fights against the maniac Thackerays belligerently despite his chocolate boy image. And the 2^nd category of people are those who basically dislike SRK for 100s of well known reasons but they change their views momentarily to praise the mercurial star for the brave fight he has put forth against the insane Thackeray clan. I personally don’t know which category I belong to, because I am a die hard SRK fan despite of his over acting consistencies, slapstick irritating humor and over the place arrogant potshots on his contemporaries, but I have certainly seen some of my category 1 friends momentarily converting into category 2J

Off late I have refrained myself from writing anything on SRK or Sir Sachin Tendulkar, reason being my friends have started tagging me as the PR agent of these two gentlemenJ But now if I am attributing one more write-up to one of them, its due to the fact that few of the very same folks have asked me to do so. I was myself bewildered that some of my close friends who literally dislike SRK to an extent that they can’t even tolerate him by any means have come forward and admitted that after his recent face off with the Shiv Sena, their respect for the man has increased manifolds. And I believe if these guys are saying this then it is 100% true and at the same time it has also brought a lot of relief for me as well, that my views weren’t biased eitherJ

Well SRK might not be the most good looking guy as Salman, he might not even act half as well as Aamir does, he might not even dance one tenth of what Hrithik dances, his muscles might be just one third of what John boasts of and he might stand no where in front of Mr Bachchan’s versatility and gracefulness. Rather people even perceive him as one of the most arrogant and pompous guys in the film industry who considers no one above himself. But still why is he still so popular and at the top? People might again differ with me but I feel he is a very good thinker and his people management skills are far superior than most of the superstars in the industry. He might seem to be an over smart, stupid guy trying to impose his presence every where, but listen to what he speaks carefully without any preconceived notions and you will find that he talks sense most of the times, he knows a lot of things about everything in this world, much more than you and me might be knowing and his point of view isn’t as shallow as one might associate with a hindi film hero. The major reason for this being he reads a lot and enjoys a great camaraderie with top people across all fields. No wonder he is also one of top marketing minds in the country today, who is selling everything from a Hyundai Car to Navratan Tel and Sunfeast Cream Biscuits to Linc Pens.

The category 1 people will strongly believe that the recent drama with Shiv Sena is one of his tactics to promote his upcoming blockbuster (MNIK). Even I was thinking the same when this episode kicked off but I was utterly surprised as this drama unfolded. It intensified way beyond anybody’s expectation and the climax for it was pretty much expected, that the superstar will smartly back off and intelligently apologize to the terror supremo Thackeray. But what he eventually stood for was something nobody has done before, he refused to offer any sort of apology which was quite right too (though unexpected), irrespective of the fact that his mega budget movie gets a peaceful release in the metropolitan city of Bombay, sorry Mumbai (sorry Balasaheb, I won’t repeat, don’t ban the screening of my blogs) or not. His critics even predicted that after coming back to India the superstar will change his stand in the lieu of his movie release. But after coming back he falsified all such claims and strongly thrashed off any possibilities of apologizing to his rivals, rather he went on to apologize to his co producers ( Karan Johar) and co actors (Kajol) for all the trouble this project is facing due his stand on a particular issue. This was something which no one has done before; nobody has ever dared to see directly in the eye of the self proclaimed Mumbai Tiger. Even the likes of Bachchans and Johars have backed off in such scenarios. Some still say that SRK might go and meet Balasaheb in Matoshree before his movie releases, I seriously doubt this because he has categorically said time and again that ‘there is no chance of an apology because the very day I apologize I wont be able to see into the eyes of my kids, even though if I still go to Matoshree, that will be a routine visit just to meet an elder/friend but a chance of apologizing for being an Indian never arises, even if it affects the revenues of my movie’.

No matter what happens now, one thing is for sure if somebody is most disturbed and most shocked by all this is; it is most definitely the Thackeray clan. Because never in the past 60 years, somebody has dared to confront them in such a manner, that too with an unprecedented support from the entire nation. Great show SRK, I am proud to be your fan, in fact even if I wouldn’t have been your fan, I would have still been proud of you, for standing against a nonsensical cause. Hats off for being a proud Indian and a true ambassador for our nation.

Kudos SRK for being a MAN !

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'Thackerays' - A case study on the trait of Insanity!

The other day I was reading some literature on the history of Maharashtra and I came across something really interesting, it said that the greatest Maratha warrior of all times ‘Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’ had this strong vision of seeing a united India and he always fought for this cause with lot of pride. Ironically few of the terror outfits aka political parties attribute the cause of their inception and existence to the great Shivaji but they have smartly twisted the great man’s ideology, remixed them and packaged them in a new avatar and are using it for their own benefit. Although I still wonder how is it actually helping their cause because they are by no means in power by doing so. Still what they have done is, they have picked up bits and pieces from the maratha warrior’s life and projected it as ‘This is the land of great Maratha warrior and only Marathi Manoos has the right to live and use the resources of this land’. Epitome of stupidity! Ironically also the word MAHARASHTRA neither has Marathi in it nor has anything like State/Pradesh or Rajya in it, rather it has a strong word RASHTRA in it, that emphasizes of only and only Nation. But understandably these political parties don’t have any other agenda on which they can rely upon for their survival. Ever heard Shiv Sena or MNS using words like ‘Development’, ‘Progress’, or ‘Nation’ in their efforts to connect with the common man? I doubt anybody has ever heard them. But this is certainly not a new phenomenon, even a national level party like BJP fights every election with the same old agenda of Ayodha temple but they miss out on an important trick, that in today’s scenario people don’t even remember that such a cause still exists and they aren’t much bothered about celebrating the cause of a temple in Ayodha but they are much more concerned about employment and security issues. And no wonder such parochial thinking has led to the downfall of these parties both on a national and a regional level.

Now spare sometime for a conversation between a Mumbai couple –

Wife: Honey, I am leaving for airport in next half an hour...

Husband: Darling, why are you leaving 3 hours before, for a 20 minute taxi ride...

Wife: Oh...dumbo...see…half an hour buffer, half an hour ride, one hour for check in/security/boarding and one hour for interviews....

Husband: Interviews...at this hour????

Wife: Oh Darling life is too tough these days, you got to spend so much time checking for the domicile letters, fluency in Marathi and other important stuff before you actually decide upon one, among the prospective taxi drivers.

Husband: Oh yes I forgot…Its better you leave now rather than waiting for another half an hour...

Trust me if we go by the current attics of our super smart leaders this will turn into a harsh reality very soon. I laughed my heart out when I first watched this piece of news that ‘To be a taxi driver in Mumbai/Maharashtra, you ought to be well versed in Marathi and should have been residing in the state for at least 15 years’. Wow, ironically we are truly moving very fast towards achieving an ambitious goal of resurrecting our beloved city Mumbai on the lines of Shanghai. With whole of the world striving hard to give a global look to all the major cities of their country by raising the standards of administration, facilities and opportunities to the outsiders, we in India are traversing a downward spiral by further complicating the lives of our prospective foreign guests in the cosmopolitan cities like Mumbai and in turn their vested interest in our beloved nation which might have surely strengthened our economy by leaps and bounds.

I find it really funny and at the same time annoying that people have to offer an apology to the likes of Thackerays for using the word ‘Bombay’ instead of ‘Mumbai’ in a movie. Come on guys, it’s a movie built on an imaginary concept and an imaginary world, how is it affecting the economic development of our nation? It is utterly sad. If this is not enough, a bunch of national icons like Sachin Tendulkar, Mukesh Ambani and Shahrukh Khan also have to face the wrath of these insane politicians for the very reason that they have called themselves as Proud Indians when what was expected of them was to feel proud about just being in Maharashtra. On the contrary when the Thackerays party with the Miandads its fine but when somebody else wants our neighbors playing in his team, he is a traitor, I guess we can’t get a better example of double standards and rowdy behavior than this. But the worst and the most shameful of all these dramas was the one when these bunch of miscreants badly thrashed and hit out on an elected member in the state assembly for the very reason that the minister was taking his oath in Hindi and not in Marathi. Goodness, gracious me, this is India and Hindi is our National language and every body is entitled and should be proud to exercise it.

And even though the whole of nation is unanimous on the fact that Mumbai belongs to all of India or for that matter every part of India belongs to every Indian, Thackerays feel otherwise and whosoever goes against them will have to face violence or the screening of his Movie will be banned in the state. I have no words to express how cheap, how irrelevant and how horrendous are the acts and ideologies of these political parties. I don’t understand what is stopping the central government to impose a ban on the communal newspapers like ‘Saamna’ and may be also a strict ban on all of these political parties for the reasons of inciting violence, communalism and hooliganism by means of such baseless issues. Infact I doubt they will ever be able to do so, but I was really excited when another extremist group RSS came forward against Shiv Sena and said that it will safeguard the victims from Shiv Sena’s baseless and nonsensical violent shows. But unfortunately after this statement they disappeared from the scene, probably they didn’t had any good orators to take on the verbose Thackerays.

I personally believe the likes of Shiv Sena, MNS and VHP are doing more damage to the sovereignty and integrity of our nation than the external terror outfits because being the part of the same nation these political parties are dividing the people of our nation on the basis of language they speak and the region they belong to. This is totally unacceptable and should be abhorred by all means. Who are they to decide what should be done and what should not be done? Neither are they the Chief Ministers or the Prime Ministers of this country, nor are they army majors or commissioners of Mumbai? So why do we give so much importance to what they say, why do they decide whether we can celebrate Valentine Days or what we can wear and what we should not? If we start ignoring them and their nonsensical issues, life would be so different. Same applies to the media too; I believe media is an equal partner in crime with these political parties because media gives these parties the footage, exposure and mileage they are seeking for. And the very day they also start ignoring this nuisance by not showing those minute by minute ‘Breaking News’ story on what the Thackeray clan vomits, 99% of the problems will get solved and probably the existence of these toothless parties will end but by doing so probably the existence of media i.e 100s of 24*7 news channels and newspapers will also come to an end. Because we are living in an era where extremism and rumors soothes our taste buds more aptly, whether it is genuine and morally correct or not comes much later or at times never comes at all:).

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PadmaShree for Kasab, National Award for KRK & Noble Peace for Osama!

Winners are happy, losers are expectedly grim, overlooked but truly deserving people are disheartened but surprisingly the common man is shocked, appalled and puzzled. Yes it’s the time of award ceremonies globally. And as the number of award ceremonies across various fields are increasing exponentially every year, it seems that the authenticity of the most prestigious awards are getting dwindled year by year. Or for that matter the pride, the fame and the sense of accomplishment which people used to attach with the awards and recognitions have lost all its shine. Last year two of the biggest cricketing superstars of the Indian Cricket, Captain Cool Dhoni and ever so defiant Turbanator Bhajji gave one of the most prestigious awards of the country, PadmaShri Awards a miss. So have they become bigger than the sport or one of biggest national honor counts for nothing or are they just keeping up to their image of being super cool and carefree at the expense of insulting the entire nation? Whatever be it, it’s a true mockery and a shameful dip in respect towards one of the highest national honor. There was a time when even getting a first rank in a primary school test was a big enough award in itself, a matter of celebration and feeling proud about oneself. But today we live in an era when a leading actress of recent times Katrina Kaif refuses to attend and perform in an award ceremony unless the organizers give her an award, her argument for the same being ‘how can I not get an award, even after having most no. of hit films against my name this year?’ Ridiculous, isn’t it? But that’s not all, to make things even more ridiculous she was indeed awarded with a newly formed category of award ‘Best Entertainer of the Year’, only after which she brazenly attended and performed on that award night. Such is the state and such are the value of awards, trophies and prizes today.

We have come across various stories of awards being bought and sold across various fields. But the most shocking incident in the recent times has been that of Saif Ali Khan being awarded the Padma Shri awards. Reason???? Nobody knows! Some say it is for his portrayal of a practical and a carefree guy in the movie ‘Love Aajkal’, who handles the breakup with his girlfriend with lot of finesse( another mockery of our value system). Some say it is for his path breaking performance in the movie Kurbaan, I wonder which paths has he broken in that movie. But I personally feel he has been awarded the Padma Shree awards for tattooing his girl friend’s name on his forearm, trust me this seems most reasonable. Come on guys I have heard its very painful, so he well and truly deserved one. On that the poor guy defends himself arguing that none of the recent Padamshree awardees have invented a nuclear bomb either, so why such a fuss. GOD! Can it be more hilarious? I was equally shocked when the same man was felicitated with the national award few years back, probably that was for inspiring her girl friend to turn into a size zero, certainly that became a national rage then, so well deserved again indeedJ

We Indians shouldn’t feel so bad about our system here. Even Barack Obama has received the Noble Peace Prize this year! No laughing please guys. People say he truly deserves it, so what if he has spent only a short span of 8 months in office where our Bapu can’t get it for doing what not for the sake of peace. Upon that, weeks after receiving the Noble Peace Prize, Mr. President announces a 550 billion dollar defence budget and a major ramp up in troops in Afghanistan. True justice to the biggest award on earth!

Fortunately in some parts of the globe common sense still prevails, where true champions like A R Rehman are being awarded with Grammys and Oscars. And because of them we can feel proud and good about ourselves. But I can’t understand what has gone wrong with the common sense of our jury members, either they are all sold out or they have lost all their brains. Certainly one things is for sure, all this has made the award ceremonies very popular and a sought after event every year, because anybody and everybody can expect their names in the covetous list. So next year we can see Ajmal Kasab receiving the Padam Shree from Mrs Patil, may be even KRK getting the National Awards for his exemplary performances in Big Boss or for that matter Osama Bin Laden being felicitated with the Noble Peace Prize( for not striking US for last 10 years). Or may be even I might get a PadmaShree, though I will be more happy with Shahzan PadamseJ

Pity but yes such is the value of awards today!

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MODIfied Rules - Irked Pakistan!!!

Expectedly whenever the IPL time is around there has to be drama and controversy surrounding it. This time also its no different, if last year it was the tiff between the IPL governing body and Union Government of India, on the matter of scheduling the tournament some time later or somewhere else due to a clash of dates with the general elections in the country, this time the controversy has risen in the face of non inclusion of Pakistani players in the tournament. And trust me this is just the beginning, with Mr. Shrewd aka Mr. Modi still at the helm of the things, expect MORE as the tournament starts and eventually progresses to the crucial stages. Honestly speaking I am not a big fan of T20 cricket at all, as I fall into the league of those guys who still enjoy and follow Test Cricket religiously and are the real connoisseurs of that format but the reason why I still follow this short format is because of the glamour, drama, and controversies surrounding it and not to forget the little bit of cricket too which is played between all this. This year too we will have those last over matches, may be even the last ball cliffhangers, in fact we might also see the super over thrillers but I will watch this edition of IPL more so for the drama and glitterati surrounding the tournament rather than the cricketing reasons, because I don’t believe T20 is cricket at all, for cricket we have Test Matches and to some extent ODIs. T20s are like those steamy foreplays sessions which are indeed incomplete without a marathon main courseJ

However if just talk about the controversy of this season, it is actually hard to adjudge what is right and what is not. Because if think from the commercial standpoint of the franchises, what they have done by not picking up the Pakistani players seems quite practical. With such a great degree of uncertainty attached to the participation of these players due to a deadlock of dialogue between the two governments, added with an ever looming threat of another 26/11, compounded by the constant threat from idiotic factions like MNS and Shiv Sena, its obviously prudent on their part, not to splurge crores of money on such players whose chances of playing the tournament are abysmal. One can argue that government should provide security beef up and ascertain an environment where every sportsman can play and exhibit his skill, as that will be the best thing possible for the game of cricket, but is it really needed???? Are we financially so viable that we can afford to apportion a big chunk of our finances in giving security cover for the smooth functioning of a club level tournament where the interest and pride of the nation is not directly involved. If it would been the same scenario for the hosting of World Cup of Cricket, things would have been understandably different, because it would have been an international event and would have involved our country’s pride, and being a good host we are expected to treat our guests as Gods. But being in such a poverty struck scenario, fighting the demons of cold waves, floods, drought, swine flu and don’t know what else, it would be an absolute injustice to the common interest of our nation to let such a contingent of players participate in this event at such a huge expense.

On the contrary we are also celebrating the probable concept of IndoPak love affair by the medium of ‘Aman ki Asha’. In such a scenario we must forget everything, even the bloody days of 26/11 and welcome our neighbors and allow them to participate in this highly popular and successful event. Because sports should always be kept away from politics and also sports heals the wounds faster than any other means. So why this apathy towards our neighbors? After all they are the World Champions of this format and how can one boast of a world class tournament without the participation of these world class players. Also what wrong these players of Pakistanhave done to receive such a step mom treatment? In all probability they aren’t the part of Lashkar-e-Taiba or Hizbul Muzaheedin or Al-Qaeda, neither they share there dressing rooms with the likes of Ajmal Kasab and co., so by that logic they should be welcomed and allowed to play like any other international super star.

If we ponder on both sides of the coin, it is actually very hard to choose one of them as the right side. The drama, the controversy and the argument will go on endlessly but one thing which still boggles me is that when all the franchisees were so sure about not bidding for any of the Pakistani player, why were their names retained in the auction list? This actually made things a lot worse and it was really insulting for each of those players, also for the Pakistan Cricket Board and even for the nation of Pakistan. Such a scenario should have been definitely avoided and should have been handled with much more grace. Anyways its time to move on and get ready for the next set of drama which would be unfolded and popped out very soon from the Pandora of Mr. Modi. Let the fun begin!!!

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Carnal Desires of a Celebrity!

I've some how fallen in love with this saying that 'All bad things in the world are hard to resist!'. This is so damn true, be it stuffing ourselves with those high caloried junk stuffs like pizzas and burgers, be it smoking stick after stick and polluting our lungs like an old fashioned tempo truck does to our eco system, be it taking that risk of opening the email with a subject line ‘*** Open Carefully ***’ sent on our official email ids, be it taking that extra interest in the low hemlines of our neighbour’s wife or enjoying, gossiping and googling for hours about the masala news on Tiger Wood’s 17^th mistress, Clinton’s cigar-esque sexacapde in white house or Kareena Kapoor’s love bite marks on her neck . Obviously we extract utmost pleasure from each of these, more so from the last ones though.

Our forefathers may say infidelity and volatility in relationships are the latest mantra of the new generation. People switch over from one partner to the other more frequently than an Indian IT Pro switches his job (obviously in the post and pre recession era, however the switches in the former are recession proof J). For our forefathers the concept of eternal love, life long bonds and epic love stories might seem to have extinct today. Though we can’t generalize the entire generation with this tag but we all will agree to some extent that in this era of highly prevalent social networking, even our principles have taken a backseat. But that’s how fast things are changing today and almost everybody is impacted by the Americanisation of our cultural values.

The underlying perception has always been that, if you are involved in any unethical activity you can’t excel in achieving the ultimate aim of your life. But does this actually holds true even today???? One can’t say an emphatic YES for this. Certainly not when you think of Tiger Wood’s 17 ( and still counting) mistresses in a period of around 5 years over which he was still the no.1 golfer in the world, rather the best the game has ever seen. Certainly not also when you think of Bill Clinton using the most unorthodox ways to place his cigar, leave apart the nitty gritties of his tale (courtesy Miss Lewinsky), betraying his wife, his daughter and also the common man’s belief about him, but still managing to remain the most powerful, popular and influential President United States has ever seen. Again certainly not when you give a thought to the greatest authors of our times Salman Rushdie and his countless girl friends, each of them being of his grand daughter’s age, again neither of them weakened his extra ordinary writing style. Also if we think of the dashing southpaw and cricketing sensation Yuvraj Singh, he has as many girl friends attached to his name as the no. of centuries he has scored in his career and last but not the least the legendary Shane Warne who has legspinned with as many blonde babes and brunettes in his life, as he has foxed a countless string of batsmen around the world by his willy art of spin bowling. So I am pretty much puzzled myself, that does that anecdote of wisdom still holds good? Or has the current crop moulded its mindset in such a way that these unethical extracurricular activities of fun actually act as a stimulant to their success stories and have become a part of their day to day lives.

The debate is endless, but if we keep the common man and his pleasurable but unethical adventures aside for a while and talk of only these high profile celebrities, the debate takes an altogether different twist. Should these super stars continue to recklessly lead there extravagant lives or should they also take into account the concept of morality, ethics and conscience for the sake of millions of their fans and followers who are literally idolizing them? Shouldn’t they curb there carnal desires for the sake of their fans and for the simple reason of leading by example. Apparently one school of thought advocates that as long as they are doing justice to the trade they are practicing, what difference it makes to the rest of the world and why on earth are we interested in the personal and off the field lives of these SUPERMEN. But may be people have always been this way so has been these super stars and probably because of the over intrusion of media in our bedrooms, things have come into light quite a lot in recent times. But I still feel if you are being idolized by millions and followed by billions, you owe that extra bit of moral responsibility towards your fans and well wishers because they are the ones who eventually make each of them a SUPERSTAR or the least which they can do is by keeping the controversial aspects of there lives under wraps thereby not hurting there zillion fans. Because even in this era of fast food and instant coffee, personalities like APJ Kalam, Sachin Tendulkar, Shahrukh Khan and AB Vajpayee still exist who have achieved unparalled success in their respective fields, in addition to a stainless character and a crystal clear conscience.

But at the end of the day, howsoever we may discuss, whatsoever me may preach, we are no one to pass a judgement on anybody’s life and as to how they should lead it. And as long as we aren’t involved in any such fix ourselves it is always fun to enjoy the show and gossip around from outside. No wonder I am in love with this cliché that ‘All bad things are always hard to resistJ’

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2 Idiots and a SUPERMAN!

The toughest thing on earth is undoubtedly to make people laugh and similarly the easiest way to grab attention is to say something against somebody very popular, something very successful or something against a unanimously acclaimed creation of art. In other words, some people try to make their views count and prove themselves smart by criticizing somebody of the stature of Sir Sachin Tendulkar, or declaring the Great Roger Federer as an over hyped phenomenon or by terming a movie like 3 Idiots as a ‘just another movie’, infact an overtly dramatic and a boring one too. Obviously these people can’t be slotted in the category of WRONG ONES, as everybody is entitled to his/her own opinion and we should respect that too. But honestly speaking when somebody talks against something obviously credit worthy, it does irritates to a certain level, but again that’s how the life is and infact that’s where the fun liesJ

On the eve of Christmas I somehow managed to get tickets for the premiere show of the most awaited movie of the year ‘3 Idiots’. Most awaited not only because it has one of the best actor of our era in the form of ‘Aamir PERFECTIONIST Khan’ but also because it had an impressive supporting crew in the form of ever so versatile ‘Boman Irani’, evergreen and classy ‘R Madhvan’, guy with a brilliant comic timing ‘Sharman Joshi’, one of the most gorgeous actress of recent times ‘Kareena Kapoor’ and last but not the least outstanding, exemplary, immensely talented and the biggest entertainer duo of our era ‘Raju Hirani’ and ‘Vidhu Vinod Chopra’. And hence the expectations from this project were sky rocketing and I was dreading that this assignment might well become a victim of over hype and mass hysteria. But when I came out of the hall after around 3 hours my cheeks were aching, so was my stomach, so were my palms, so were my feet and yes, so was each and every part of my body. I have never laughed my heart and soul out to such an extent ever in my life and I was very happy to be proved wrong about the dreaded failure of this movie due to over hype and towering expectations. And I can proudly say it was one of the best and finest movie watching experience I have had in my entire life!!!

However, honestly speaking I enjoyed the movie a lot more when I watched it for the second time in a weeks span. It is mind boggling how craftily each and every dialogue of the movie has been designed, that every single of them makes you giggle out. And when I mean every single of them makes you laugh, I actually mean every single dialogue being delivered in the movie, and you can only notice this fact when you watch the movie for the 2^nd time because when you watch it for the first time you are so much in awe with the environment created by the movie that you keeping on laughing endlessly with the crowd, in the process skipping around 30% of the dialoguesJ And apart from the laudatory performances by all the established stars in the movie, one character which stood out was Mr Chatoor AKA Silencer, born in Uganda, brought up in Pondichery, practicing the Art of Silent Air Perfumery all across the globe and a proven genius when it comes to delivering path breaking speeches to felicitate the honorable dignitaries. GOD! He was nothing but SUPERB and no lesser than Aamir, Sharman and Madhvan. But still Man of the Match and Man of the series for this act will undoubtedly be Mr Raju Hirani. This guy is a real magician, if you can improve an excellent piece of work i.e ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ by an even more polished piece of art in the form of ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ and can further expand your canvas of excellence in the form of ‘3 Idiots’, you are nothing but a GENIUS. And mind you neither of them can be categorized as an act of cheap comedy, upon that each of them carries a very vital social message which gets acclaimed by all ages and all sections of the society. No wonder he needs 4 months of solitude in a secluded hill station to finalize each of his scripts.

But when you have a superstar like Aamir in any assignment, all other remarkable and stand out acts are bound to get overpowered. Such is his persona and charm that every other thespian sharing the screen space with him seems to be overtly dominated by this grand star. It seemed to be a ‘2 Idiots and a Superman’ show, rather than 3 IdiotsJ Still there is no lack of fun, frolic and entertainment due to this aura gap. But as I said at the beginning where there is success there has to be an element of doubt and controversy attached to it. Hence enters a wise man by the name of ‘Mr Chetan Bhagat’ and creates a lot of fur ore, adding to the hoopla created by the movie itself. I am a big fan of both Bhagat ( having read and laughed my heart out on all his novels) and the entire 3 I team. I have also been reading all the blogs of Bhagat on this controversy and I was partially convinced by his theory too. But there are certain questions which have actually caught me off guard –

1. What difference it would have made to the record breaking revenues or to the egos of the makers of the movie if they would have actually included Bhagat’s name at the start of the movie, because whosoever has read the novel would agree to the fact that quite a lot of facts have been cut, copy, pasted ditto in the movie!
2. Would Bhagat have created the same ruckus, had the movie wasn’t such a big success?
3. And why do all such controversies crop up at the time of a film’s releaseJ

Whatever be it people had a great time reading Bhagat’s best seller Five Point Someone and an even greater time watching 3I, so why to waste our time in adjudicating who is right and who is not, in this mudslinging act. But hats off to the entire 3I team for delivering such a classic entertainer which will definitely prove to be the AVATAR of bollywood and most probably will divide the genre into pre 3 Idiots and post 3 Idiots era, much like the greatest movie of all time ‘SHOLAY’ did. Kudos once again to the entire 3I team and undoubtedly AAAL IZZZ WELLL when something entertains so WELL:).

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Aman ki Asha: Destination Peace!

I woke up on the new year morning to collect my TOI copy at my doorstep and I was bamboozled to see the front page. It read ‘LOVE PAKISTAN’, and what followed those two words were few white pigeons and few paragraphs emphasizing a probable marriage of these two words. And by the time I finished reading those few paragraphs, I was partially convinced with the idea. I flipped over the pages and found the entire edition celebrating the possible concept of Indo-Pak love affair. Well, only TOI could have managed to coin such an idea and trust me howsoever vague and outrageous it might seem but after the mega success of their earlier initiatives of TEACH INDIA and LEAD INDIA, you better ought to believe them. And this time around it seems much bigger and far better as it is a joint venture between Times of India group of India and Jang Group of Pakistan and they have aptly termed the initiative as ‘Aman ki Asha: Destination Peace’.

Honestly speaking we have never managed to keep these two words( LOVE , PAKISTAN) on the same plane all our lives. Now if we force ourselves to give a serious thought, it is not that improbable too. We have grown up with a mental setup that, India and Pakistan can never be on the same platform. But we must realize that all this hatred and docile mental setup has to do with a few bad events, few half minded autocratic rulers and few radical terror outfits maligning and maneuvering our minds to such an extent that we can’t even think of the undeniable truth that people across the border are very much people like us. They are the people who are culturally and emotionally most similar to us as against any other nation in the world. The lifestyle they lead, the festivals they celebrate, the sport they support, the food they eat, the film stars they idolize and the battle against poverty, unemployment, corruption and illiteracy they fight is exactly the same as we have in our country. So why this stressed and consistently wry behavior against each other? Just because of the vested interests of few political parties, sans which they don’t have any agenda to fuel their existence or because it gives the 1^st world nations enough to strengthen their reins in south asia or because of an incumbent fear amongst the rest of the world that if these two vibrant nations get united, there combined might will be a big threat from them to counter.

Practically speaking the major reason why this initiative seems to be a commendable one at this point of time is due to the fact that their hasn’t been any terror attack on our nation in the past few months, rather post 26/11 we haven’t seen any major instances of military insurgence either and that is why we can even fancy of such a possibile love affair with our neighbor. But spare a serious thought that even in the times of those terror attacks and violations at the Line of Control how is a common man across the border a part of those heinous acts? Is he also equally at crime as those dreaded terrorists and leaders are? Is he also an equal conspirator in those hate campaigns and blood stained act? Common sense will say ‘NO’, this hate campaign is just an act of a select few, who are in turn misguiding an innocent lot in the name of ALLAH and JEHAD to adopt this path. So actually the common man across the border is as innocent as we are here in our beloved nation. So why to live in this estranged environment against each other where we can easily live in harmony, love and peace and enjoy each others success and combinely fight against the common cause of Terrorism which is hampering the progress of both these immensely gifted and potent nations.

Gone are the days when Kashmir still remained the major bone of contention between the two nations. I remember there was a period few years back when almost every citizen of this nation was so very possessive and egoistic about Kashmir being a part of our country, its not that people don’t care about Kashmir anymore. But today there are far greater challenges to combat for both the countries, be it internal disruptions in India caused by Naxals throughout the country, be it fight against the cross border terrorism across the nation (against a similar problem few years back, which was confined only to Kashmir), be it fight against basic amenities of food, education, shelter and poverty. Similar is the scenario for our neighbors too, be it their fight against internal fundamentalism, be it their fight against the constant Taliban threat, be it their fight for survival against the basic needs of livelihood. Kashmir comes way down in the priority list for both the nations at this point of time, as things have changed in a big way over last few years. So deploying crores and crores of annual budget just to strengthen ones defence and to outnumber each other in terms of their Nuclear weapon Diaspora and satisfy ones ego at the expense of other more important aspects from a nation’s perspective is nothing but utter stupidity.

So in this context the initiative taken by Times of India and Jang group to bring the people of two nations together by means of various cultural events and activities and to make them realize that its high time that people of both the nations understand this simple fact that they can’t continue with this feeling of hatred against each other just because of those few antisocial groups who are reaping on this highly sensitive issue by poisoning our innocent minds. Its time to inculcate the feeling of Brotherhood, Affection and Love for each other and to fight our problems in a joint way.

I wonder what will happen to this new found love with another 26/11 attack, probably the ambitious love affair might turn into a fling or a mere infatuation deal. But again some facts will still remain the same, that the common man of both the nations will have no part in such heinous acts, hence in the long run love and sensibility for each other should prevail and it should conquer those malicious intentions which are aimed at disrupting our new found but ever lasting LOVE AFFAIR.

Hate Terror, Not the Innocents!

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