Sunday, August 19, 2007

Iraqi Women turning to Prostitution to feed their children


Arwa Damon -CNN reports about Iraqi women turning to prostitution to save their children

Also go throught he interview of an Iraqi lady who describes the complusions that forced her to be a prostitiute

Noam Chomsky Talks about Democracy’s Invisible Line

Chomsky: "The system of control in democratic societies is extremely effective. We do not notice the line any more than we notice the air we breathe. We sometimes even imagine we are seeing a lively debate. The system of control is much more powerful than in totalitarian systems."

read more | digg story

Friday, August 17, 2007

Gandhi-My Father -Film Review and More


This is not a mere film review . I would like to forewarn the readers that this post of mine contains content which can potential hurt the sensitivities of large number of Indian's who worship Mohandas Gandhi . If you are a Gandhian , this post is blasphemy...so beware
I would like to begin by an interesting comment made by a representative of the South African Government on the occasion of Gandhi's farewell from South Africa , he said " Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would like to believe that he is a saint who has wandered into politics , ...on the contrary he is a politician who belives that he is a saint..." . This quote in many ways epitomises the diabolical side of Gandhi which has rarely been touched upon by historians and the media . I would like to share some of my perspectives on Gandhi , in the context of Indian independence and also share my thoughts on the movie. Since the trigger of this post was the movie, I would like to start with the movie first ........ The movie is ordinary in terms of cinematography and content , it did explore the tumultuous relationship between Hiralal (his son) and Gandhi , and the struggle that Hiralal had to go through being the son of a famous father ....."To people he was a father, To his son he was a father he never had".....Hiralal rebelled against his father principles , embraced Islam in protest , was a compulsive drinker and a cheat. Some of the scenes in the movie catch your attention , particularly Hiralal's relationship with Kasturba . From the perspective of content , the movie disappoints .
However what the movie brings to fore is the darker side of the man Gandhi , he is no saint.... , he is dogmatic about his views of what India should be or should not be . He aims for a secular , inclusive Indian society but in his own way responsible for the riots that happened in the Eastern part of this country . His need to pussyfoot Islamic fundamentalists , lead to abandoning the Hindu's of the country ....... his dogma did not let him recognize a simple fact that partition of India was inevitable and it would only be fair that India be partitioned on the grounds of religion so that a reasonable transfer of population and property would have possibly happened without the extent of bloodshed that the country witnessed . While Muslims could chose to stay back in Bengal , the Hindus of erstwhile East Bengal were thrown out of the country . I come from a family who has been a victim of the politics of religion of Mohandas and so were many other families who lived in refugee camps in Kolkata and Delhi . Mr Gandhi's ridiculous obsession for misplaced secularism ensured that Hindus like us were murdered and looted in East Bengal and Punjab and left our land and lived in penury for many decades in the shanties in West Bengal and Delhi. My grandmother would often narrate the stories of woe that she had faced when she had virtually walked barefoot with her children in the cover of darkness from Pabna to Kolkata . I am sure this is true for many Muslim families , but the point is ,if Gandhi had clarity like Jinnah , the transfer of population would have be far better than it was and the loss of property could have been minimised by enforcing a Transfer of Property legislation . Mr Gandhi , the apostle of peace am sure was too preoccupied in Sabarmati (in God knows what..) to be able to think about the sufferings of millions of families ...........surely the father had left his children to fend from themselves .......
The politics of Mohandas ensured that he sidelined people like Subhas Bose , Sadar Patel and propped Nehru . Nehru and his party contributed brilliantly to ensure that the politics of division be played subtly in public life and judiciary ...it continues even today unabated . It is Gandhi's legacy that promotes disruptive politics in the form of reservations in almost all walks of life ....and here we are as a nation still celebrating "Bapu" and condemning Nathuram Ghodse...

The Saint is dead and thank god for that , but his shadow remains ....... I would like to know if India would be better off without its father ...what do u think
Jai Hind

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Cash-Movie Review


I went to see "Cash" with my family yesterday . Over the last 6 months , thanks to my wife , I had developed some respect for Bollywood films ,........ but my experience with Cash has disillusioned me once again on the quality of content that Bollywood dishes out on the a not so discerning audience .
To me Cash is an example of great editing , cinematography and music , but lacks the most important criteria for a good film....a gripping story and an engrossing script .
Anubhav Sinha's caste includes a bunch of thieves like Karan ( Ajay Devgan) , Danny ( Zayed Khan ), Lucky (Ritesh Deshmukh), Pooja (Esha Deol) , who are aligned to a common motive of stealing priceless diamonds in South Africa. As one could imagine each of these thieves have their own speciality , like Danny can walk on water , Lucky is an ace skate border etc etc .
The movie has great music and some exotic women , I particularly liked the dances of Samita Shetty (playing Shanaya from the Indian High Commission), but beyond that there is nothing to write about .....
An entertainer if you can leave your brains at home , if you cant , its better you stay far away from the movie

Monday, August 6, 2007

The Royal Palace bangkok






Here are some of the interesting stuff that my colleague clicked on the same visit

Streets Signs in Bangkok



Some of my readers wanted a commentory on the nightlife of Bangkok , but I guess what I can offer to you are some interesting street signs of the city . Look at them carefully








Sunday, August 5, 2007