The Farce of Opinion Polls

My father was a very politically inclined man and it was because of him that whole family took keen interest in the politics. In the1984 elections, as a result of untimely death of Sri Indira Gandhi, there was a huge sympathy wave which resulted in Rajiv Gandhi getting unprecedented majority in the parliament (it's another thing that he failed in meeting people's expectations). The vivid memories from that era are of Mr Vinod Dua and Mr Prannoy Roy conducting exit polls and result trends and the post poll analysis in a 24-hr non stop broadcast. DD also used to broadcast 3-4 Hindi films to keep audiences hooked to it.

In the year 1999, India Today predicted a landslide victory for BJP+ with up to 336 seats and Cong+ was expected to get around 140. In the actual result, BJP got the majority and got 299 and Congress alliance managed 144. So, it's quite clear that polls were fairly correct in 1999. In 2004, India-Today predicted an NDA sweep with alliance expected to get around 330 seats and another Congress rout. The results were shocking, NDA got 181 and UPA managed 218 seats. The pollsters tried to play little safe in 2009 while showing NDA as the largest party in an expected 'hung parliament'. In 2009, India Today expected UPA to be marginally ahead of NDA and gave UPA around 200 and NDA around 180. In actual UPA got 234 and NDA 184 with BJP only managing 134 seats in it.

	NDA	UPA
1999 poll	336	140
Actual	299	144
2004 poll	330	140
Actual	181	218
2009 poll	200	200
Actual	180	234

From the above table it's quite clear that science or art of predicting the election results have been going wrong waywardly. Some pollsters in 2004, gave UPA around 180 as well. Predicting or forecasting any result isn't an easy task, some people might not tell the truth during surveys and data can be doctored or raffued or paibanded. With such anomalies in the results and an undercover string 'Operation Prime Minister' the questions on the validity of these polls are obvious.

 During the days of Prannoy and Vinod, this was serious business and same can't be said for the present day polls. The worst exit polls were conducted during the 2013 Delhi elections when a company called c-voter predicted just 6 seats to AAP. In 2012 UP elections, Akhilesh stumped all the polls with a totally unexpected results. Looking at all these aberrations, it's quite clear that if there is any relevance for these polls and it has just become another tool of marketing a party.

Navin Patnaik- next Indian Prime Minister

• • Andhra Pradesh (42)- 5
  • 2.2 Arunachal Pradesh (2)-0
  • 2.3 Assam (14)- 0
  • 2.4 Bihar (40)- 20
  • 2.5 Chhattisgarh (11)- 7- 2
  • 2.6 Goa (2)- 2
  • 2.7 Gujarat (26)- 18
  • 2.8 Haryana (10)- 5 3
  • 2.9 Himachal Pradesh (4)-2 1
  • 2.10 Jammu and Kashmir (6)- 1
  • 2.11 Jharkhand (14)- 9
  • 2.12 Karnataka (28)- 14 4
  • 2.13 Kerala (20)- 0
  • 2.14 Madhya Pradesh (29)- 21
  • 2.15 Maharashtra (48)- 26 4
  • 2.16 Manipur (2)- 0
  • 2.17 Meghalaya (2)- 0
  • 2.18 Mizoram (1)- 0
  • 2.19 Nagaland (1)- 0
  • 2.20 Odisha (21)- 5
  • 2.21 Punjab (13)- 8 2
  • 2.22 Rajasthan (25)- 18
  • 2.23 Sikkim (1)- 0
  • 2.24 Tamil Nadu (39)- 5
  • 2.25 Tripura (2)- 0
  • 2.26 Uttar Pradesh(80)- 40 4
  • 2.27 Uttarakhand (5)- 5 1
  • 2.28 West Bengal (42)- 0
• 3 Constituencies by Union Territory
  • 3.1 Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1)- 0
  • 3.2 Chandigarh (1)-0
  • 3.3 Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1)-1
  • 3.4 Daman and Diu (1)1
  • 3.5 Lakshadweep (1)-0
  • 3.6 NCT of Delhi (7)-3 4
  • 3.7 Puducherry (1) -0
  •  
  This prediction is only focussed on NDA, as per my prediction NDA is getting 235 seats. I have been  pretty generous in few states (UP 40) and I am also ready to give another 10 seats to NDA which will take then to 245. This number is considering the fact that Modi wave is equally strong the surface as it is in main stream media (MSM).Based on this projection I am going to suggest 3 scenarios and readers can agree or disagee with me.

Scenario 1:  NDA gets 235 of which BJP gets 180 plus. The support will come from TDP and fringe parties. This will see Modi as 14th Prime Minister of India. I really doubt that this is going to happen and I have my reasons for those. Media and opinion polls were waywardly wrong in 2004 and 2009 as well and they are again making the same mistake. Everyone is ignoring the AAP effect, even though AAP is not going to be a major force but the party has already become the third largest national party in such a short span, hence it will be no surprise if Delhi gets repeated at national level.Thidly, regional satraps will be tough to be blown just by the Modi wave.

Scenario 2: NDA gets 200-220 and BJP gets around 160. In this scenario, NDA will form the govt but they might need Jaya, Sushma or Maya and in that case there will be a strong objection to Modi and Shivraj's stocks will rise rapidly. In my opinion, this is more likely to happen as compared to the first one.

Scenario 3: NDA gets below 200 and BJP below 160. Most observers will call me insane to predict such a scenario but this could happen if there is a strong polarisation of votes because of Modi. This will  rule out Modi completely and a third front govt will come into picture. In that situation, a common consensus candidate like Gujral or Dev Gowda will come into picture from oblivion. Navin Patnaik is still  expected to do very well in Odisha. Media doesn't talk much about him at the moment and even Kejri doens't know a lot about him.Patnaik is expected to win a strong 4th term in Odisha which is a no mean feat and will emerge as a strong contender post elections.

In the end, I will just say that these are just predictions and I could go completely wrong as well but your views are welcomed. Please share your views supported by logic and rational. On a very conservative estimate I can't see AAP winning beyond 20 seats for LS 2014.

When Kejri becomes PM!

The race started with Modi vs Rahul  but the scenario has completely changed since 8th Dec. Kejri is now media's darling and within 3 months the popularity has transcended into every corner of the world where Indian lives. Even the pujari of mandir in some obscure corner of Sweeden talks about Arvind as he knows him very closely. My wife, her friend, my BBCD (british born confused desi) friend, all have stopped watching pirated Hindi movies and more interested in watching news channels which never got any viewership before the rise of Arvind! Politics is hot topic these days and all talks start from Arvind and ends on Arvind.

Anyways, all this have changed the shape of the political battle for the post of PM, the fight is now between Modi vs Kejri and even Modi seems to be getting his support spilling to Kejri's bandwagon. This forced me to imagine about the scenario of Kejri assuming the post of PM cometh June 2014. With Kejri solidly advocating the case of Aam Aadmi and insisting on

1. not staying in bungalows
2. not taking any security
3. Not using the official car. 
4. not ditching his mufler,sandals and his rickshawwalla attire. 

So, let's imagine now that we are in June and how will it unfold for all of us. The White House equivalent Racecourse Road bungalow will stay empty and probably Rain Baseras will be built there to help poor and needy. Indian PM will continue to stay at Kaushambi and will  spent the sunny Sunday playing cricket with his son's friends. PM's official vehicle will be Wagon R and wherever PM will go, he will portray the image of Aam Aadmi (mufler, sandal and grey pullover).

When Obama or Cameron will come to visit their Indian counterpart, Arvind will receive them at the airport, that might create a  confusion as apna PM is such a commoner and might get lost in the crowd. After coming out of the airport, Obama will be picked up by the official vehicle whereas Kejri will say that wait for 2 minutes, I will take off my Wagon R from the parking and you can follow my car to my home. At Kaushambi there will be an official dinner which might have karela sabzi, chane ki daal on the menu as Kejri is a vegetarain. All neighbours and the local people will hang around outside to have a glimpse of American president and his entourage.

There will also be issues when Kejriwal ji will  travel abroad to attend G7 and other meets. The question will hang around as his trademark mufler will be there or not or PM might change the attire to suit to the occassion. The issue of Junta Durbar will also come into the fore, how it would be organised? When PM will  travel outside Dilli then what car will be used as an official vehicle as Wagon R would be left in Delhi?

As an avid supported of Arvind ji, I would request him to consider all these issues before he throws his hat into PM fight so furhter U-turns can be avoided nahi to BJPians will continue to shout about the u-turns and damaging their health.

Naxalism, Binayak Sen and Kejriwal

Does she look like a terrorist?

I belong to Doordarshan generation who grew up on the staple diet of news @9pm by then familiar faces of C V Raman, Gitanjali Iyer, Rini Simon, Salma Sultan, Manjari Joshi etc. The term 'Naxalites' was very much in use then and has become more common now. Media or govt never made any effort to educate public and discuss this issue as this would have helped in highlighting or may have resulted in public getting sympathetic towards them.

Naxalism or naxalwaad, is a term derived from a West Bengal town called Naxalbari. In simpler terms it means 'militant communism' or 'communist insurgency'. The movement has started from West Bengal but now it has spread to several other states including Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

The one commong factor in all naxalite affected areas is that they all are poor areas with minimum or no development. Media still avoids this topic and it seems that some kind of censorship is there. My perception of the whole issue changed when I was discussing this with a good friend of mine (Uttam Rawat) and he told me that 'naxals' are mainly tribal people who have lost their land to landlords or govt and are left with no other option to raise arms to fight for their rights, their primary targets are not the general public but the govt officials and politicians (although this has not been the case all the times).

The genral perception (all naxals are terrosrists) is not entirely true however this is what the general public think and when someone like Kejriwal comes out in support of Dr Binayak Sen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binayak_Sen, the hell breaks lose. Majority of the detractors wouldn't even know that Binayak Sen is a paediatrician who helped tribals for many years (a job which should had been done by the govt). I am not coming out in full or outright support of Dr Sen as I am not privy to all the evidences or documents related to his sedition case, the fact that 'supreme court' has granted him a bail from his life sentence, raises question about the sentence given at the first place. Even after going through pages on internet, I have not found any statement by Kejriwal with regards to naxalites or their struggle, but the propagandists think that they can discredit him by doing this.

My questions to all those propagandists are:

1. Do they know as why 'naxals' are fighitng?
2. Do they know what Dr Sen was doing in forests?
3. Are any talks going on or any efforts have been made to talk to 'naxals'?
4. What will they do, if govt break their houses on the name of development?

In a nutshell, it's the ignorance of the masses and the blind supporters of political parties that they fail to see the truth and questions the integerity of Mr Kejriwal. I am not saying that whatever naxals do is right but both sides of stories must be heard. Tribals and poors are also citizens of India and have a right to be heard. Stop maligning Kejriwal, Binayak Sen and Kishenji, maybe they did what was right in that situation.

A Day in Vienna

Wait a minute Mr. Postman

A tranquil, slow moving but definitely a progressing afternoon on Praterstrasse in Vienna. Some random shots of people and activities on a glorious day, giving a glimpse of city life which does not move at a rapid pace.

Vienese love to ride a bicycle

This road or walk was built on the lines of Champs Elysses Promenade but for some reason it failed to take off, neverthless it is quite beautiful. Vienna has got dedicated cycling lanes unlike England where lanes just appear and then disappear without any pre-warnings. And the most remarkable thing is that cyclists too follow the lane systems and only ride in a particular direction.

nice balancing act

It has also become too hot recently. If you go back ten years ago, no one even knew about the ceiling fans and with climate change you cannot survive without AC these days!

sun beating down the street

And in this intolerable heat, benches provide some relief to the locals. Finally, there are few photos of people doing random things on the so called Promenade of Austria.

Hope you will  enjoy!

My CELTA experience

During the summer of July 2013, I decied to shift to Vienna and to do that I needed a job, so I decided to do an English teaching qualification, hence landed in the class of 2013 at BFI, Wien. 

BeforeI could embark upon my CELTA journey, I had to clear the rigorous selection process. The pre-tasks only gave me an idea as what my current level of English was. I managed to clear the process by the  thinnest of margins and it seemed that I would had to make massive improvements if I wanted to become an English teacher.

Well, I got selected and was asked to attend the course at the Vienna centre. On the first day, it was just the induction, we introduced to each other by playing the world famous ball game (participants throw a small ball at each other and asks common introduction questions). That was supposed to be a warmer and an ice breaker but even I was questioning myself about the appropriacy of it. We were given a brief outline and requirements of the course and rest of the time we used to get acquainted to felloe trainee teachers. Our group was made up of 10 trainee teachers of which I was the only Indian, there were few Austrians and a Croatian, English and Polish.

We got divided into two groups, one group was teaching elementary students and the other one started with the intermediates. My first lesson was on the 'usual phrases for greetings and intorductions' and I made the right mess of it. It was an elementary class and students spoke very little English. Most of them were clueless as what was going on and failed to understand  much in my lesson. That was an eye opener for me and a realisation that perhaps English teaching wasn't meant to be that easy. My lessons gradually improved as I just kept on improving by working on the feedback given by my tutors. The sessions became more intense day by day and everything was new to me. Slowly, I was becoming aware of the fact that I was probably the only one with not so good knowledge of English. Towards the end of the week, I planned to go for a badminton game with my friend and twisted my knee which resulted in anterior cruciate ligament damage. 

Then came the assignments. The first one was langauge based, I had no clue on how to do it and I also failed to realise that most of the information was available in the books. All my assignments apart from the last one, needed to be resubmitted (sort of a record). One fellow teacher (grammar nazi) helped me a lot with correcting my grammar mistakes. Never before I realised that I was making so many mistakes in my writing, it helped me in getting a new perspective towards proof reading and to understand the importance of it.

During the course, I got quite friendly with my 'grammar nazi' friend and Charlie from Nottingham (who also spoke fluent French). Me and Charlie also got along well with our tutor as he was also English. We went out once and Tom gave me detailed insights of Austrain life.

In the course, my lessons improved, my language also improved, my plans became better and the lesson feedback got better. In all this, I got good support from my fellow teachers and it was by a long distance, the best study group I had ever been part of.

I eventually passed the course and so did rest of the batchmates. Me, Charlie and Tom met for a rendez-vous after the course. Charlie was curious to know as who got the best grades and Tom said that he cannot give out those details, on that I said that I was glad to pass the course and Tom replied, "So are we!".

It was a tough journey and I was truly glad to complete it. I learnt quite a lot in the whole process and became a qualified English teacher as well. Not sure, as how this will help me in my career which is at the corssroads anyway but let's see what happens!

Virat Kohli look alike

My wife is a big fan of Virat Kohli and he does have a big female fan following. While watching TV series Spiral-4, I realised that the main antagonist of tht serial has a stark resemblance to our own Kohli sir!

Jerôme_Huguet-  a small time French actor who I spotted in the crime drama- Spiral.

 

 

 

What do you say? 

 

 

 

Ravindra Jadeja look alike- Palpendiculal

It has been long time  since I posted my last blogpost. It has been bit busy recently and was not getting much time to write. Recently, I was watching the movie 'Gangs of Wasseypur 2' and I really liked the character of 'Palpendiculal' and watching him reminded me of a hot and cold cricket star- Ravindra Jadeja.

It seems like that these two have been seperated at birth.

Hamra naam Ravindra Jadeja hain!

Hamla naam pelpediculal hai!

 

 

Gold and Olympics

Michael Phelps has been compared to India at the Olympics. Apparently he has won more medals than India at the Olympics. India got independence in 1947 and is still a developing country and there is not one but several reasons as why we have not been able to win more medals considering the large number of people we have?

This is not a criticsing post but a different viewpoint. I started to watch Olympics in 1984 as my father used to be a sports aficionado and he bought his first tv set on the eve of Los Angeles Olympics. 1984 were a boycotted Olympics, whole of Eastern Bloc did not participate except Romania (who came second). India returned empty handed, only P.T. Usha came close to winning a medal and became a household name. My father was saying that other countries start preparing for Olympics 4 years in advance but India does not even start even 2 months ago. He was quite right, he knew the sports specially Indian sports really well.

There are several reasons that why a country does well  and vice versa. In 1996 Atlanta Olympics Great Britain won a solitary gold, lowest in their Olympic history. They decided to change the structure of sports in the country and started to run programs, lottery funding started and the funding budgets were allotted to various sports departments and here we are in 2012 and Great Britain is number three with 22 gold medals and more counting.

China is another success story. However all that glitter is not gold. China is not winning so many gold medals by fluke. China is run by an iron hand communist party. One of the gold medal winner girl has not met her family for 8 years. Losing 8 years of one's life to win a gold for her country- PRICELESS. Doping is another way to succeed. Who knows but it might be possible that China has found a undetectable drug and which is helping in improved performances for their athletes. Have you heard of Florence Griffith Joyner? He was the flying women but she only lived for 37 years, no one admitted but there were suspicions for excessive doping. America has won lots of gold medals but how many have been clean? We might never know these answers.

In 1970s and 80s , East Germany used to be a formidable sporting nation. They won more medals than America in Olympics. The real reasons behind the success came into open when the case of doping in East Germany came out in the open. Several women became men because of  the excessive use of Steroids, a whole generation paid the price for the use of steroids. Where is Germany now in Olympics? Not on top certainly. You can win gold if you want to if you are ready to pay the price for it.

Haryana has shown to India that if you find the talent, nurture the talent and provide them with facilities then even Indians can do well in the sport. Until Vijender won the bronze, there were hardly used to be any Indian participation in the international boxing. A well run program has changed it, 2012 Olympics had 7 Indian boxers in the main competition and had it not been for the bad judging, we should have won at least 2 medals.

Winning in sports is like any other management process, if you set up a firm and provide it with best of facilities and management, it will definitely succeed. Indian hockey can do well if it is managed rightly but at the moment opposite is happening. Dhoni showed the advantages of good management. We are the world champions in cricket. We can win at the Olympics as well if we want to but with 1.2 bn people our priorities are different and should stay different.

I will conclude to say well done to all Indians who represented India in 2012 Olympics. That girl Madhura should have been punished for her buffonery, she got scot free.

Alan Curbishley lookalike

Recently I started watching   Swedish crime drama 'Wallander'. It is hailed as one of the best police crime drama. I am not going to elaborate a lot about the drama as this post is more about lookalike chracters. Krister henriksson who plays Wallander in the Swedish series looks alike Alan Curbishley.

Alan Curbishley has been known as one of the finest English managers and was once lined up for the national coach when FA decided to name Mclaren as the coach. There is stark similarity between two gents who probably are of the same age. I will leave you to decide the rest.

PAANCH- a hit movie without being released!

PAANCH could be the only movie to have the distinction of being a hit without being released. Anurag Kashyap's earliest of ventures this movie is a very well made one but thr irony is that it never got through the clutches of censor. It has been stopped from release on six accounts and one of them is violence. I have seen the movie (thanks to internet) and it is certainly less violent than a 'Shaitan' which also follows the similar theme.

As an avid movie fan, it is quite saddening to see that movie will never be released for the mass audiences. The cast and crew of the movie is crowded with extremely talented people. Vishal Bhardwaj composed the path breaking soundtrack for the movie "main khuda" can easily be hailed as the first rock song of the Hindi cinema even 'emotional atyachar (rock version)' came out  nearly after  8 years. The female version of Main Khuda is also an exceptional song sung by none other than Sunidhi Chauhan. The other songs are also good listening like Asha Bhosle sung 'Jism Hai'.

Kay Kay Menon is now known as a solid actor but those days no one knew him, his first shot of fame was 'Bhopal Express' which was not seen by lot of people despite of being a fantastic movie. Kay Kay played an auto rickshaw driver in that movie hence him being the protagonist of this movie was a surprise but after watching the movie one cannot stop saying as "what a performance!". 

All actors have been superb, Tejaswini flourishes in as Shiuli. I find it very difficult to digest as how come such a talented and good looking actress falied to make a mark at box office. All this can be attributed to fate as who knows where Kolhapure must have been had the movie got released in 2002!

The co actors of movie Aditya Shrivastva (CID fame), Vijay Maurya (Pondi) and Joy Fernandes to have done the justice with their roles. Coming back to Anurag, the direction is crisp, movie goes very fast and grips you. He always works with same set of people more or less and get the maximum out of them. The movie makes you think and when a movie does that then director has succeded in his aim.

The plot of the movie was based aroud the 'Joshi-Abhyankar' murder during 76-77. This story is of a band called 'Parasites' which has four members in it and the lead singer is Shiuli. Luke (Kay Kay) acts like Godfather to the rest and takes all the decisions by himself. They want to be famous but do not have enough money to get their songs recorded. They hatch a plan to kidnap a colleague and get ransom from his father but the plan goes awry and they get sucked into the vicious circle of violence. The plot does take some unexpected twists and turns and keeps you captivating.

The movie is worth watching but it is only available on torrents as it has not been cleared for either home or cinema release which is a bit of irony!

The new era has begun

Although I am bit late in writing this post neverthless better late than never. Rouhly a year ago I wrote this blog http://khapti.blogspot.com/2010/09/dawn-of-new-era.html and this was to the say that new era has begun in ATP tour. After a year I can say that I was right.

Since last year US open Djokovic has taken the tennis world by storm, Murray is waiting in the wings, Fed is fading and Rafa is about to go in a rapid decline (I might be wrong on that one).

Djokovic has had a terrific 2011, he has only lost 3 matches out of which 2 were retirement. He won 3 Grand slams and virtually every tournament he entered into. During this process he beat Nadal six times which was unthinkable for anyone as leave six Nadal has not lost consecutive matches to a player in the recent past. Fed is the only one to beat Djoko fair and square and nearly did it in the US open as well. In hindsight it was good that he lost to Djoko or else he would have gifted Nadal his 11th slam.

Murray has caught up with top 3 as well. For long time I believed that Murray is the heir apparent to Federer but to his losses to Nadal ( 5 in a row) dented that prospect. Murray has an excellent technical game but as per lots of experts he lacks that mental tenacity which Nadal and Djoko has in plenty at the moment. Djoko at the moment thinks that he in unbeatable or how else you will explain his coming back from 2 matches point down twice in two years.

Nadal's lack of variety is hurting him. Djokovic has sorted Nadal's game out and is confident him of beating Nadal again and again. Nadal's serve is not his strong point and Djoko is a better retreiver than him and also possesses some lethal forehand and backhand.

So what does this new era hold for us?

I think Nadal is going to slip rather rapidly now as he is already on tourney for nearly 8 years and the brand of tennis he has played has taken a toll on his body and he is just going to get exhausted. Fed might usurp a surprise or two as he has always relied on class and variety rather than stamina. I think Murray will be toe to toe with Djoko next year. There are some promising youngsters who are finally going to emerge next year- Tomic, Raonic, Nishikori and Harrison.

Oh, before I go, Federer might win ATP finals this year as well.

The Satanic Verses- real story

In 1988 in Jammu and neighbouring places 'Punjab Kesri' used to be the popular choice of newspaper. The news was coming that a book by writer Salman Rushdie is creating a furore in muslim community because it has mocked the verses od Quran. The book was named as 'Shaitan ki aayatien' to which I was initially translating it as aantein (intestines) as I was only 12 years old at that time and Shaitan to me was someone naughty as I was not that familiar with the Islam theolegy then.

The book got banned in India and several other places. I also remember Ayotallah Khumeini (Iran's premier at that time) whose name sounded more like a pahadi fruit 'Khubani' (apricots) was Salman Rushdie ke khoon ka pyassa and had released a 'Fatwa' against him. The book if I remember clearly can easily be termed as most controversial of my life time, although 'Lajja' by Tasleema Nasreen can come a distant second as West haven't heard of her much. Owing to this controversy Hindustaani public also came to knew about the 'Fatwa' politics specially Syed Imam Bukhari exploited this particualr concept to affect muslim voting in India but failed most of the times.

The curiousity remained as this was the book which got discussed far more than it got read. Till I started to rethink about the book I was under the impression that it was a literary, non fiction, essay type book in which Rushdie might have criticised the verses of Quraan and termed them as Satanic Verses. I think many people think the same and pretty sure that fatwa issuing self proclaimed protectors of religion did not even go close to the book. My curiousity took me to google and serached the term and to my astonishment this was a fiction book which made no clear reference either to Islam or to prophet!

In reality 'Satanic Verses' were recorded by the Prophet and as those verses mentioned the idol worship ( reference to Lat, Iza and Mannat) of female dieties, those were later got discarded as verses by satan and not by Jibril. Hence it was not Rushdie who coined that term but the historians who mentioned it much earlier than Rushdie did.

Satanic Verses is a work of fiction. It is a story of two protagonsits, Gibreel Farishta and Slahuddin Chamcha. The two are Indian immigrants and the plot covers their travails in India and after migrating to Engalnd. Gibreel is an Indian actor who has risen from the poverty and mainly plays the part of deities in the movies. Because of his mental problems he decides to run away from the stardom and catches the flight to London. He meets Chamcha on his way to London. Chamcha comes from a rich muslim family from India and studied in Britain. He dislikes being Indian and disassosciates hinmself from being an Indian. He goes to India for an assignment an falls in love with an Indian actress himself despite of being married to an Englsih woman. Incidentally he lands on the same flight on his way back to London as of Jibreel Farishta's.

The plane gets hijacked by a pro Khalistan terrorist group and then get blown up in mid air over the English channel. Jibreel and Chamcha survives the crash. Jibreel becomes a farishta with a halo around his head and Chamcha gets metamorphosed into a goat like creature with horn on his head. They both gets safely to English coast and Chamcha gets arrested as an illegal immigrant and develops animosity againt Jibreel. They again meet in the future in India where Jibreel has again got his lost fame and when Chamcha confront s him Jibreel shoots himself.

The story of the book could have been translated in a better way than I did. But what I am trying to say here is that book is nothing what it had been portrayed of in Asia and other Muslim countries. It is a work of fiction and written in a narrative, expletives which are not easy to understand. Reading it twice or thrice might make the meaning of it much clearer. It is written in a comic tone but by no means is easy to understand.

One thing I was impressed by was the imagination of Rushdie and the way he has woven the chracters around people and things he wanted to inolve in the book like Islam, Prophet, issues of immigration, terror, cross culturalism..

Objective of this post was to clear the myth and controversies surrounding the book and I hope that I have succeded to some extent in doing it.

Comments are welcomed.

Why do you not like Anna Hazare?

Anna Hazare, a name very familiar with us at present. Social Network has played a huge role in his campaign against corruption. Recently there has been slight divison of opinion on Anna on social networking website. Let's look at it.

Status 1: I hate Anna Hazare

Why?

Because Arundhati says so.

Who is Arundhati?

Well, I am not fully aware. She writes in newspapers.

Have you read her article?

No I saw the headline. I am not Anna, quite liked it.

Hmm, well Arundhati has been a social activist, primarily involved in controversies due to her nature of hogging limelight rather than working for people. She nearly got charged with sedition.

What is sedition?

Sedition is simpler words is treason. Basically when someone starts to speak against their own country. As per Arundhati Kashmir is not integral part of India. I am sure that you must be agreeing with that too.

Still, I don't like Anna, He is just a drama king.

Arundhati has been a long time supporter of Maoists. Apparently naxalism is a bigger threat than terrorism to the country. More innocents get killed in maoists attacks than on loc and combined terror attacks.

Still, I like what Arundhati says, she looks really cool with her nose pin and shades of her grey hair.

What are your reasons for not liking Anna?

Anna's bill is not goign to bring any change because charity starts at home. We all are corrupt and nothing is going to change unless we start to change ourselves. Arundhati says the same thing that bill is draconian and it is not going to bring any change.

So, has she proppose an alternative to Jan Lokpal Bill?

No.

How do you  think corruption can be challenged in India or the participation and support of clean, non corrupt people like Kiran Bedi to Anna? How much do you know about the other drafting committe members? What propsals are there in the bill? What is this Lokpal going to do?

There is no solution for corruption. I don't like Anna and that is my opinion.


So many questions were left unanswered but still our fellow Indians take pride in being an Indian and feels happier in supporting a narcissist activist than people who are really trying to bring change and ready to sacrifice their life for that.



Status 2: I dislike Anna.

Why?

Because too many people are liking him and if I like him too then no one will read my status.

Hmm, I assume that you would have read the lokpal bill and Anna's demands and why is he fasting?

Yes I have read everything.

And you still do not like Anna and what he is doing?

Yes, because that is my opinion and I will say whatever I want. If someone can stop it then they can try.

But you have read the bill and Anna's past as how from being a lance naik in Army he has championed the cause of common Indians and now even ready to put his life for the country.

Anna is doing it all for himself. He wants money and fame. And he was corrupt in the past.

Really, How do you know that?

I have seen a video 'real story of Anna Hazare'?

What was the story told in there?

Hmm, not much of real story that was. All I saw that there were few ex colleagues of Anna and they were talking about as how they did not get benefitted from Anna's earlier campaign.

How do you think corruption can be challenged in India?

First we have to clean up our own act then ask Govt to bring any changes.

Well, correct but by opposing Anna how it is going to help Anti corruption campaign? Is he not fasting for the introduction of a stronger Jan Lokpal bill in the parliament?

Well, there is no need to fast, a pact can be made and then corruption can be reduced.

What pact?

Oh oh, just a pact between govt and people of India. I have read everything and I am entitled to my opinion. I can say whatever I want. I hate Anna Hazare. This is my facebook and I will write whatever I want.


Conclusion: Not everyone needs to support Anna but he and his team members are trying to bring a change. An ombudsman bill which will give people more power to report against corrupt officials and politicians. If by supporting nothing si going to change then it is very clear that nothing is going to change by not supporting it. Govt proposed a very weak bill and even BJP has not come out in full support of the bill. There are various issues which might need a look in JLP draft but let parliament decide it. There was no need for the govt to propose their own bill.

People like Arundhati are publicity mongers. They always come up with s statement whic can keep them in the news. More importantly she is talking about naxalites and does not offer any alternative to lokpal atleast Aruna Roy has drafted a thrid version.

My request to fellow Indians. This is not the time for divison, this is the time to unite, unite to bring a change which will benefit our next generations.

CHOICE IS YOURS!

 


More to follow:

Hitler- Why would anyone admire him?

I have seen lot of people saying, "Oh my manager is like Hitler". Some will say," photo with Hitler suits more to your personality". One friend of mine said that he was in awe of Hitler???? Another said that he really admires Hitler.

This made me think about the whole subject and I did some research and has come to the conclusion that no sane human being will admire Hitler.

Hitler was born in Austria as we all know. His father was a bully and his mother was 22 years younger than his father. He was one of the six children and three grew up with him and his brother died in young age too. As per the historians, Hitler was closer to his mother as his father used to beat him a lot in his younger days. A secret psychological account carried out by US Psychologist stated that he was suffering with 'Odipus' complex.

 Hitler was good academically but after the death of his brother he lost interests in studies. Once he used his school certificate as toilet paper and the result was the expulsion from the school.

In his early youth, he worked as a struggling painter. In the first world war, he fought as a soldier for Germany and won various bravery awards. After the war, he came in contact with few politicians who polished him and taught him oratorial skills which then benefitted him during his Nazi party days.

Hitler was a staunch Nationalist and that benefitted him as Germany was struggling to get it's pride back after the humiliation in the war. Hitler went on to become the dictator of Germany as we all know. It is easier to rise on the base of hate politics and that's exactly what he did. he rode on Anti Communist and Anti Semitism waves. History is the witness for the fact that whenever there has been a leader from the tougher background when they taste success, they become eccentric and lunatic.

Did Hitler rebuild Germany?
It cannot be answered with certainity as Germany was ravaged by the World War I and the rebuliding was natural. Also, Hitler lead a coalition government and another moderate leaders were involved in that government who knew about governance better than him.

All Hitler did was building a brown shirt army of his hooligans which can be compared to any nationalist party and they were not afraid to use violence when it was needed. On assuming dictatorial powers, Hitler got rid of his enemies in a systematic way some at the concentration camps.

Luck played a huge role in his success as the parliament was burnt down, people looked someone to be blamed for the debacle of World War 1 and Hitler used that to his advantage. Hitler can be termed as a good army journal as he demonstrated before losing the war and that can be owed to his experience from World War 1.

As far as human qualities are concerned, it would be profanity to applaud him. He not only killed jews but also handicapped, homosexuals, mentally challenged and other religions. He was a dysfunctional man. There are historial accounts which state that his relations with his mother were not normal. He had an affair with his niece Geli Raubal and there are letters from her in which she has spoken about his abnormal tendencies.

Hitler committed suicide in the end which can be attributed to his disturbed mental state.

The world would have been so nuch better without the existence of such an evil.

Ronaldinho lookalike

Rudy Youngblood, the actor who played the protagonist in the movie 'Apocalypto' looks very similar to the footballer Ronaldinho who does not need any introduction.

Apocalypto is a movie about Icans and Mayans period. It is about a tribesman who fights against all the odds to survive against 7 killers single handedly.

Luis Figo look alike Pierre Clement ( Spiral fame)

Recently I have been bitten by the look alike bug. When watching this very engrossing  French crime drama    "Spiral" the character of Pierre Clement  reminded of famous Portugese footballer ' Luis Figo'. They both have stark similarities but I could be wrong, so I will let you  decide if they are separated at birth or not?

Gregory Fitoussi aka Pierre Clement ( Spiral)

Luis Figo (star footballer)

Power Tennis vs Injuries

Since 2001 only one tennis player has managed to stay away from the injuries and stamp his authority in male tennis events. Time and again, the new brand of tennis has taken its toll on the players and year 2011 can endorse it further. Novak, Soderling, Nadal are prime examples of it. Although Nadal has not attributed any of his injuries to physical strain but he has suffered from them in the past. Delpo is another player whose style of play has resulted in him being sidelined for more than a year.

Usually, injuries are part of the sports as in most of the disciplines except swimming, there is one or other part of the body which is used most. Tennis takes tolls in arms and legs, more so of your playing arm. I am not an expert on the injuries and whatever I am writing is from common knowledge.

To conclude, it is quite apparent that it will be really difficult for the current generation of players to emulate the success what Roger achieved in his playing years, which was attributed to his flawless playing style. It will not be a surprise that Roger might end up with few more slams in his kitty even this this year
Ode to Roger!

We are the Champions!

Before the start of the world cup, I changed my facebook profile picture to Kapil Paa jee holding the esteemed cricket worl cup at Lord's balcony. I was hoping for Dhoni's lions to emulate the same. I uploaded few videos of Amir Sohail episode, Bhajji- Akhtar, Yuvi-Flintoff ones to get everyone in the mood. Some laughed at me, saying that I will be laughed upon when India will crash out of the cup.

India started well against Bangladesh but bowling was criticised. India nearly lost to England and same criticism was back. Indian media (who are mostly irresponsible) was calling for Dhoni's head and ridiculing every decision he took. Nehra was crucifed for his performance against South Africans but people forgot that all teams were failing to achieve some sort of consistency going in the cup. India lost to South Africa, South Africa lost to England and the story was similar in the other group.

After South Africa's loss, almost everyone was questioning his captaincy. People forgot that Dhoni is the best captain India has ever produced. He won t20 world cup, won the IPL, Champions league, Tri series in Australia, drawn series against SA and Australia at their home turfs. Dhoni is not just a lucky captain, he is the best  in the business and he has proven that time and again.

In the group stages, Dhoni just had one goal and that was to qualify for the knock out stage. Even after not so convincing performances India was tagged as favourites to win the cup owing to it's strong batting line up. Some tougher decisions needed to be made by Dhoni during this knock out stage and he did it. Whether it was chosing Ashwin over Nehra, Nehra over Ashwin or Sree over Ashwin. Dhoni's own performance was under scrutiny as he failed with the bat.

India knocked out Aussies and Pakistan owing to inclusion of Suresh Raina who proved pivotal in the later stages of the campaign.

Before the cup, Dhoni promised that he wants to win it for Sachin and he did it for him. As sachin's die hard fan, I am really thankful to Mr Dhoni. He chose the right moment to step up his game and brought his best when it mattered the most.

Thank you Team India for bringing such joy, pride and happiness to all of us.

Thank you to Imran and Shane Warne for predicting team India's win at every knock out stage.

Dhobi Ghaat

Dhobi Ghaat is the second movie of Kiran Rao who is more popularly known as the wife of Amir Khan. It won't be an exaggeration but it is true that she is a talented film maker. It is quite possible that Dobhi Ghaat might not be liked by the masses but it is very well made movie and quite cleverly done as well.

Personally, I liked the character of 'Yasmin' the most in the movie. The movie revolves around 4 characters of which 3 are inter linked. It is a make believe movie but there are few things which are questionable like why Amir (Arun) choose to live in slum like dwelling? He has been shown as an Artist who is moving in elite circles so how come he lands up in such a non posh environment.

At places I found Shai's acting very unreal but I might be wrong. Kriti Malhotra  who played Yasmin has played the role brilliantly and that is the part of the movie which grips you the most. It catches Mumbai's life in a realistic way and personally I think that director could have based the movie more on that rather than the Dhobi Ghaat. There are few unnecessary plots like the killing of Munna's brother by the underworld.

Indian cinema goers doe not like unexplained endings and which might prove to be the reason of this movie failing on the big screen. This is also a movie which will invoke different reactions from different people as it can be clearly seen from the reviews.

To conclude I will only say that movie is a must watch for it's closeness to the reality and for the portrayal of character Yasmin and Arun.