pot of thoughts...

Tour Diaries - Kodaikanal

2010-06-15T00:58:00.008+05:30

P.S (Prescript) : Yeah I know guys, my last doodle was posted way back in the pre-historic period of mankind & for all who those missed/didn't miss my "pot of thoughts", my customary "sorry" again for bunking away from the Blog-space.Now, before I start, I really hope my skills are still intact.:P

One year back, it was my dream to be an "Engineer", working for Nortel, seated in my cube, fumbling & blowing up the TCP/IP layered architecture. Now a year later, loads of changes have occurred; I no longer belong to a Networking corporate,dream of being an Engineer is now done & dusted & I no more vouch for it :P Seemingly, like all experienced Engineers , I keep whining "work-sucks, that too big time..:P".This Wednesday evening, I realized just the same thing again. Pinged all my mates abt the idea of running away & before 3 or 4 message/mail exchange, we were all ready to flee from this Bengalooru stochasticity to a Kalm & Kool -- Kodaikanal.

Come Friday evening, it was time for the take off. We had a 7 seater Qualis booked for us which buzzed pass the Electronic city fly-over to Tamil Nadu. I must confess, Tamil Nadu has one of best Express-ways I have ever seen.Straight as an arrow,it was one heck of an uncoiled drive before we hit the curvy Ghats near Kodai which lasted for about a couple of hours & finally we were there.

Hired a beautiful looking villa at a high altitude which provided us the bonanza view of the town. We took just around 2 hrs to get fresh, broke our fast at a near by place & then we were off to the Kodai lake.The area by the lake was scenic & well conserved. We rented a bicycle for an hour & it was a fine joy lap around the lake. I must confess, I initially fought a little to poise with the cycle which didn't fit into my stature & after that hiccup, it was so soothing with a gentle drizzle falling in the background. This one hr pedal ride was followed by some shopping in the Tibetan shopping stalls by the lake. Soon, some of us decided to join cavalry & I settled for some Navy.:P Had a wonderful pedal-boat ride again around the lake & by the time we were done, it was time for some lunch. But journeying+work-on-Friday had started taking a toll on us by then & we were all fatigued.

Post lunch, in spite of weariness, we settled for a walk around the Bryant Park,a Botanical garden.The haze over the park & the chillness around was simply solacing but this frigidity forced us to get back to our villa & take a nap.After snoozing for a while, around 6 in the evening, we all decided to take a nightfall walk around the town. Shopped for a while & then our hunt for a good North Indian cuisine eatery began. After walking around for miles & quizzing Tamil guys with our broken Tulu mixed plagued Tamil & some gestural/nonverbal actions, we finally found a good place to glut on.Gosh, it was one heck of a dinner & we all ate like pigs as if we were all starving for ages.On our return, it was time for some cards & bluffing..:P After planning for the following day, it was time to hit the sack. By the time I closed my eyes, I was all numb.The sopor I got that night was just blissfulness.

Come Sunday morning, we all geared up by 6.30 & raring to go. Jumped on to our cab & straight off to "pillar rocks". Apparently, this was the place where legendary movie "Amritavarshini's" final sequence was shot.The cuddling between clouds & the rocky mountain was just divine though the mist filled air crippled our visibility & made us skip many of the view spots around Kodai. Next stop was at the fabled Pine forests of the Nilgiris. After a photo session there followed by a decent breakfast @ Astoria, it was time for some chocolate shopping.

I must concede, Chocolates are one of the main reasons behind my expedition to Kodai.:P Altogether, we bought choco-bars worth 3k & I myself purchased 500 bucks worth of dark chocolatte!!!
Our next destination was "Coaker's Walk". Supposedly, a fascinating rare phenomenon called "Brocken spectre" can be witnessed, when a person can see his own shadow on the clouds with a rainbow halo! But we were not lucky enough to witness even the sun-rays coming out of the clouds & mist. Our next stop came at "Fairy falls". Sadly, the falls had no water in it to show off her glamor but near by, there was a place called "Fun world" which had just about enough to keep us interested. After being "Arjunas" & "Ekalavyas" for a while there during our Archery session, it was time for Abinav Bindras while trying our hands in shooting. Got a sniper to snipe at a spot but missed every time I tried my hand:(
"Dolphin Point" was our next terminus. The unreliable downhill walk of 2 km & also the rain made me & a couple of others to skip this walk & take a nap in the cab:P This was followed by another heavy lunch again at Astoria.After gulping all the food & we all decided to terminate our trip & say good-bye to Kodai.

Overall, the trip was great! The place, mist, rain ,games, joy rides added with some instinctual planning & above all, the most important ingredient - "company" .With all the PJ's involved, all the nostalgic feelings, the laughs, the gags, chorus songs, debates we all definitely had a life time experience. Also we all knew, the next time if we are seen Kodai again, it will not be with friends, it will be with spouses..:P

Now,yet again weekends are all over. Monday arrives & work is calling! Adios..:)

Picasa link: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/bharatrao2305/KodaikanalTrip02?authkey=Gv1sRgCLO52rywnsSK6gE&feat=email#

"Sach-In-tertainment"

2010-02-24T23:26:00.003+05:30

I have seen him bat when I was nursing my plastic bat. Ironically my erstwhile bat is gone & I have a laptop instead, but I still see him bat. I have transmuted from being a li'l kid to adulthood but that "God" is still the same replica of his own. And never a day I have come across where I have achieved "boredom" watching him play .

Today, the God's own "avatar" farms yet another piece of "master class" at Gwalior. Kudos to Sachin for cracking a double ton.

As somebody tweeted "Commit all ur crimes when Sachin is batting,they'll go unnoticed coz even God is busy watching him play ".

Mile "Be-sur" Mera Tumhara...

2010-01-28T02:03:00.001+05:30

When the Iconic "VW Beetles" was about to be re-launched recently,the hype created around it was enormous and VW were expected to surpass the nimbus of the vintage classic Beetles. But collapsing all the expectations, Beetles failed to stand up to its older cousin.
Same way, when RGV tried to bring back the glory of "Sholay", the bankruptcy he faced was unprecedented.

Now,why am I throwing these instances? Infact my pot was getting voided all these days without my thought feeds.So thought, why not get back with a thought on an anthem meant for national integration and its atrocious remake. Let me get in now. Here is a one-liner..
"Classics are never meant to be re-made. Leave it the way it is".

When ZOOM & TOI(page-3 cousins)were gurgling about the re-make of the iconic "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" for past some days, I was very much skeptical around the hype, similar to their disastrous "Aman ki Ashes" campaign too. And as expected, TOI/Zoom turned out to be the "Balaatkaari purush". The new version seems to be raped and molested completely.

I still remember the song that had become as iconic as the National anthem in my kid-days.Aired on Doordarshan every Sunday morning during its golden era, iconic "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara was charming and simple .I had learnt the complete song by heard including each phrase of its entire 14 lingual lyrics. I used to even tell exactly which scene came with which “sur”.

And on Jan 26th, came the calamity. Felt like I had more gray hairs grown after I ceased watching the 16 minute long video.Now, what are the ingredients which has led to this havoc?

1. Almost all Bollywood stars - Feel sorry for the stars who couldn't make it to the list(Saifeena + Hrithik etc..) and to add, they can join Pakistani players in their campaign against "The Great snub".

2. Tolly+Kollywood stars without lip-sync - Sandalwood too snubbed!!:P (Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, where are you??? Time for some mayhem in "Namma Bengalooru":P )

3.Musicians- Rahman on his terrace,Sh-Eh-Loy in some desert, Sivamani in some jungle scaring the wild life, Air India's Amjad Ali Khan Khandan,Yesudas family, Bhupen Hazarika et al.

4. Shobana's jugalbandi with Shiamak- Had Shobana had li'l care for Indian classical dance, she wouldn't have performed an item number with Shiamak.

Now what arrested my vision?

- No big names in sports/science/business/Politics(!!). Reason - pricey to afford? Unavailable? or ignored?

- No big star shared the screen space. Come on, this aint any National integration. At least somebody had to perform together and share some space so that the duration could have been minimized.

- India is not after all about Bollywood/Movies. No sincere efforts were made to showcase our tradition/culture. It seemed, only the designer wear did the talking.

I feel, Doordharshan could do a revival of national integration theme by airing the classic song again and who knows, it could pull off some TRP's back in DD's favor. ha ha :P:P .

Now on an end note -

In our Engineering days, we had a contest for some fests named "Be-surdas" and as per the name ,we were literally invincible over there(:P).
Now if the older version of "Mile Sur.." was close to Surdas' "Sur", the molested version seems to topple us from the podium too.

Harsha tales...

2009-10-22T02:11:00.015+05:30

Just a day where I am still not able to hit the hay for some reason and the fourth dimension ticks half past 12, midnight!! Feel I have to pen down something in my blog to end the day.Let me doodle something on Cricket. The topic which I have kissed the least in my blog.

I have always loved cricket and have very less clue on the origin of my love affairs with Cricket.To be frank, I was never a good player of cricket domestically(ironically true though looking at my elevation or rather height(to reduce the controversy) many keep getting deceived:P) and genuinely feel it has to be the live-TV that made me acquainted to it.Sachin is still the most potent God in my Cricket love-life and if I have to show off any other substitute to Sachin, it has to be Harsha Bhogle himself!:)

I was amid those who were particularly let down to see the presentations during the World Cups and IPL1.With nescients like Mandira Bedi and co. babbling about Cricket,I chose to join the matches directly rather than pursuing the pre-match psychoanalysis and also the post match autopsy.The haleness of watching a Cricket match is to watch the whole package.And with Harsha doing it,you can be rest assured that you will get nothing less than the "best".

Google recites me that he first came into the placard of Cricket devotees when he first commentated in the Benson & Hedges World cup,back in 1992.Later there was no glancing back.Be it a series "Down Under" or at "the Lords", this "Hydrabadi" has always treated us with his scrumptious "Biriyaani" every time he has held the microphone in the commentary box. At times even the likes of the great Gavaskar and Boycs too stand mute confronting the persona of Harsha and realize what artistry the man possesses when you listen to the psyches like Arun Lal and Ranjit Fernando doing Cricket commentary. Off the field too,ESPN School Quiz shows magnetized me and also helped me in finding my own Quizzing abilities.ESPN also aired a show named "Harsha ki Khoj"for the wannabees like me attesting the sheer versatility of the person but I am sure they were not able to find one to replace.

Let me provide you with some of the transcripts testifying the Einstein in this IIMA graduate.

> "Oh what a shame.It was reminiscent of a soldier who survived the war when the bullets were flying by his nose and then got run over by a bicycle in his native town"

> "Nasser Hussain is trying desperately hard to find innovative ways of getting himself out"

> "Had that stand not been there they would have had to bring a bus to go and fetch the Ball"

> "If you take out the character out of Sreesanth, he is quite a good bowler!!!"

> "The last time Rudi Kuerzten smiled, there was a peace in West Asia"

Now let me get philosophical..What is my idea of a perfect day?

India against Aussies on a weekend, Sachin facing Warnie, on a lush green SCG, over a cup of chocolate drink(not coffee or chai:P) and Harsha Bhogle in sync with the legendary Boycott...Wow, Priceless :) God,can I ever get back to those days again???

"Nobel" President...

2009-10-09T22:14:00.003+05:30

3 out of 16 (mile)stones that I have invested on to fill my "pot of thoughts" are on Obama himself and that is rather on the higher side .To be frank I am very curious to dig around and spew my saliva out to know "why am I so obsessed about Obama?" and I am sure this same query is haunting in everybody's genius.I infer, its just that mass appeal and the charisma he gestates on all of us.He is a true living illustration for "Love him or hate him but you can never,ever ignore him" and that is what happened with the"Nobel(noble) fiasco" today.

The Nobel Prize Foundation,Oslo today literally stupefied and flabbergasted us all by "NOBLY" gifting Barak Obama with a "NOBEL" peace prize. A "President" who is yet to accomplish his annum at White house getting an award of this aura makes even a nescient of the contemporary world to raise his super-cilia in surprise.

Let us appraise Obama for these 4 quarters in bits.

1. World is not yet mended out of recession and is still ceding back.So the "extra-ordinary" promise made in Capitol Hills on Jan 20th seems like just another "ordinary" Indian-neta's kind of surety. Even if he claims to have brought economy under recovery, its courtesy: strong Asian markets and to some extent Euro markets but definitely not US Inc.

2.The US marines in Iraq are still stagnant there with goose eggs in hands.Had he in case retreated the marines from Iraq and Afghan, may be that would have nominated him for the award.So even here the conception of nomination goes wrong.

3.Iran and North Korea's atomic enrichment theme is still under scrutiny and even here, Obama administration has flunked critically to make peace with these two nations uptil now.

Then what fetched him the nimbus of " Nobel"?

As I previously said, its just the halo around the name that did the job. Its "The Obama-phenomenon" that won him the fete and not for "Obama" as a person.I feel sad and concerned to see such a prestigious award being victimized by a homo's charisma.
Finally at terminus, I bid atleast this fete should incite him to act towards world peace and prosperity .Let the gloriole of the person help world to be a better place to cherish and invest on.

Mending back...

2009-10-01T22:13:00.007+05:30

My bio these days seems quite monotonous & prosaic. Finding some good time to doodle back in the cyberspace after a while takes some kilos of magnet to get you pasted to the keys.With my customary "For all those who missed(!) & didn't miss my " pot of thoughts" " I am genuinely glad to inform you that I have eventually found a "KAILASA" to perform my "KAYAKA". The whines, the creaks and all my screeches finally crippled down last August when LSI Logic Inc. came forward to bid me an employment though still I miss my much hyped first job NORTEL very much and seems like I may take ages to get out of the bruises.

So for past 3 fortnights now, I have been busy dealing with the outlooks of my team & extraditing (heavy word;)) them with what they are destined to get from me.I have also leased a den for my hideout @ BTM Layout to sustain.So to all those out there, if you are passing across BTM anytime, just recall and give a call,I will be at your service. You are always cordially invited:)

Meanwhile, Shashi Tharoor's austerity drive tweets gave Twitter a great piece of marketing and made tweeting a phenomena among the juvenile.

Thusly you can follow my tweets at : http://twitter.com/bharatrao2305

So c ya soon. I'll try to come up with something classy in the numbering days, till then "sayonara":)

Broken pot..

2009-07-10T23:20:00.007+05:30

For all those who missed(!) & didn't miss my " pot of thoughts", Yes, I am back but as a depleted "me" and not the strong "me". A lot of things marched along & befell when I made myself absconding from the BLOG-world.

My exams went pretty well and I scored well too courtesy "X-MAN", who was able to hold my nerves in tandem in one of the worst crisis I have ever had in my lifespan. My employer "Nortel" went bankrupt and I got the "letter of rescind" on the eve of my exams imparting me into tenterhooks literally.Meanwhile, I also completed my Engineering on 22nd of June but was too numb to celebrate or mourn the end of my student life. I feel as if somebody has abducted something very pricey from me which I had garnered and earned on my own.Of late, yours truly is busy doing all varieties of linear search,binary search,hashing search for a decent job.I still have Accenture as a job option but my soul isn't groomed to take up that job. Feel I deserve something better in R&D than at consultancy.

So to terminate, I complement all my acquaintances with good luck and wish to say one thing "I am a victim of recession, its bad.Don't dare to be here, it hurts alot, Adios" :-)

P.S: I pelted my (painstaking) chronicles at you, tossed off your valuable time and also filled the cyberspace with unneeded tales. Thanks for bearing with me, I needed a media to flip my emotions and spirits out,I am sensitive.

BANGALORE-a new show stopper.!

2009-05-06T18:42:00.009+05:30

In the midst of all the election melodrama and news feeding in from all our ailing traumatic neighbors , "Namma Bengalooru" too dealt with its own share of limelight from none other than President Obama himself!

Obama's address did Brand Bangalore great deal of justice when he opted to equate Bangalore in India and Buffalo in NY. Brand Bangalore, which until the previous dawn was possibly known to just a billion-plus people,today is known to a billion more than that. Probably Search engines like Google found it rather knotty to manage the influx of the keyword "Bangalore" and the searches may have touched new acmes already!:P Bangalore on the other hand has altered on a day-by-day basis.From being a lazy,laid down city for the retirees and old-age elites where everything died down after the twilight, everything now seems to awake everybody out there as the sun dawns in the US.

Bangalore today pockets a big chunk of the overall IT grocery and IT services exports revenue.A huge clump of the most tech-savvy men in India and a whole bunch of intellects make their living here.Recession,meltdown or boom, Bangalore is just taking colossal leaps in full throttle. A summer is by our sight where our ear drums will be filled with metaphors like "Bangalore of the West" ," Bangalore of Europe", etcetera ;) From a brand standpoint,what Obama has helped for Brand Bangalore is a great piece of marketing,publicizing and selling, all amalgamated in a single cloth! Thank you Mr President.

Fun aside,Does Obama's address meant every company that drove out from the US in the name of outsourcing and grace to India and elsewhere were just willful tax-evaders? Nothing else, no other purpose? What does his speech meant for all the BPO workers worldwide? That's a long debate which moves on with a clock. Best left for another occasion...

Ballot & Ballet for the post of PM...

2009-04-19T12:09:00.013+05:30

I did finally deposit my vote in the database of an EVM!! After missing out on the Assembly Elections last time around due to some internal reasons (I had damn Internals: P), I finally made my ballot accountable which I am really proud off and later felt I aint belong to adolescent business any more :P To all those who missed out, please make it a point to cast your vote next time without giving a miss, your country needs you.

In this era of coalition of politics, a beep on the EVM made me skeptical about the future of the country. The acts of regional /non-National (Anti-National) parties aligning themselves as third-forth etc.. fronts and refusing to take stances with any of the National parties keeps me in disbelief. With so much of PM candidates waiting for their fortune, India is left clueless regarding its next leader.

I would definitely look for NARENDRA MODI for the post. The man known for his integrity, clean and aggressive developmental politics, Modi is the PM in the making. After holding the CM post of Gujarat successfully for 3 terms, now he is the man looked upon by his followers as their “messiah for the future”. “Love him or hate him but you can ignore him” proves very much decisive to the worst of his critics too.

With just a fortnight away from the D-day (May 16^th), I can just hope to see NDA crossing the magical figure of 270.If not, I wish at least UPA under Congress gets back. But please, a big "NOOOO" to Mayawati, I can’t see her governing (harassing) us. Maya-Karat combo is bound to be lethal, leading the country to utter chaos.

CieSta pixelized & captured..

2009-04-17T23:34:00.022+05:30

Satish, "Newton" behind the success...

"the making of CieSta" was fun..thats Nagesh,me,chai and Aneesh

The lecs..! they won the match against us..sadly it was fixed..haha:P

Juni's practice time....

Fashion ka jalwa-rehearse..

The typical South-canara Ethnicos...Aneesh,adarsh n I

jubba-pyjama-panche was our uniform...

!! over acting..:P

Samosa & WE..

The phenomenon "MRR" & our class hudgi's...

yours truly...:)

The Quiz team..from left-Santosh,I,chethan,ankita,Kartik,Aparna & ashwini..

Thats Mr Aneesh guru with Hagalkai Juice..! Believe me it took him a day to recover from the kick..!!

The local boyzz...

Thats us.."the Garbage collectors"..!! We were the show stoppers...

The team...

The success story..!!

nam Gumpu...

& thats it..! We will miss CieSta and our Rocking Branch...Hope juni's will rock back again next summer..cheers...

"CieSta-09"--A success saga..

2009-03-30T22:54:00.006+05:30

A messed up schedule on a festive week, a rigid/stingy Princi(with apologies :P) with very less co-operation, with literally no sponsorship, very less paisa-collection from batch mates/juniors, we kicked off the preparations for CieSta-09.It all began with Satish taking up the enterprise of organizing the fest at any cost. The volunteer meet made sure we all seniors were left with some job on hand to handle the fest. Believe me, even after that I was very much skeptical about the fest. Budget was of huge concern and the timing too. I was given the mantle of handling the Entertainment Quiz (EQ). With Aparna, Santhosh, Chethan and a bunch of juniors, we started off preparing for our maiden quiz show!! We also involved ourselves in other committees helping out our friends.

A week before the fest, the publicity committee came up with some amazing set of placards which really electrified our cranial nerves! It gave us that much needed kick to begin with. In the background, we were preparing for a surprise, a surprise storm which later swept the CieSta Dance floor!!! Also PJ and Sanjana involved me in the Fashion show too (my 1st ever walk)!! Sadly, until the previous day of the fest we never practiced but still we managed to fire up the ramp on the D-day (!) all credits to Lakshmi and Sanjana.

So with all those initial glitches and hiccups, finally we reached the D-day! It was our fest, the fest which had all our hearts and brains involved in it, we wanted to make it a Box-office success in JCE history!

The inaugurals went well and were kept pretty simple.”Antakshari” organized by my friends Greeshma and Aparna gave an auspicious beginning to the final success saga! The decibel levels in the auditorium crossed the limits throughout the event and many were left with the dampened vocal chords. The cultural evening waved off with a bundle of skits sharing the limelight! The satire and humour filled “NON-VEGGY” skits/playlets left us with no option but to gag with the hearts in our mouths and girls had to tickle and giggle themselves out of half embarrassment and half understood antics! Though NIE skit was way better than HOGE-BOYS playlet, the favoritism and home crowd advantage made it a memorable night for HOGE-BOYS.

The 2^nd day commenced with “us” practicing for the ramp walk and later Dumbcharades ushering the morning show. Then it was our maiden Quiz show which made a decent impact. The evening began with a picturesque looking lady hosting the show and all JCE dudes having their eye “LINES” glued to that host! My roommate Adarsh with his soothing and quixotic vocal chord switched on lots of fans around making the atmosphere still emphatic.

“Garbage Collectors”- A bunch of multi-talented guys (including me:P) then broke the jinx. After a successful campaign as “ Besurdas’ - Jayciana-08” , they rocked the CieSta floor with their peculiar/unconventional/rib tickling dance steps. The sounds of “ONCE MORE..” reverberated around the auditorium through the entire JCE campus! VIBHINN ‘s percussion expertise energized our senses. The day ceased off with a retro, provocative and ethnic fashion rounds heating up the ramp!

And that’s our success saga. "CieSta-09" is a moment to savour and remember forever. “CieSta-09 “will always be an inspiration to juniors. We showed everybody that it’s not about sponsorship and spending money, it’s about getting things organized and managing well. My sincere salutes to Satish and Arvind, they were true leaders in every sense. So with just around 5 fortnights left for our farewell, I will always remember “CieSta-09” as one of the major bookmarks in my Engineering career :)

The Master Class...

2009-03-20T19:47:00.008+05:30

Once in a millennium,we get players who change the way a game is played but once in a lifetime you get a player who stands as a definition of the game for one billion people.Even long after his retirement,if I am alive I would proudly say to my descendants "I have seen Sachin Tendulkar play.."

Congratulations to the master on scoring a masterful 42nd ton. As frequently quoted "If Cricket is a religion in India, Sachin is our God".

"Nehru-Gandhi family" stripped...

2009-03-16T23:55:00.017+05:30

Nehru Dynasty - The dynasty that ruined india
The Nehru Family
Source:http://www.partitionofindia.com/_disk1/000007e5.htm

At the very beginning of his book, "The Nehru Dynasty", astrologer K. N. Rao mentions the names of Jawahar Lal's father and grandfather.Jawahar Lal's father was believed to be Moti Lal and Moti Lal's father was one Gangadhar Nehru. And we all know that Jawahar Lal's only daughter was Indira Priyadarshini Nehru; Kamala Nehru was her mother, who died in Switzerland of tuberculosis. She was totally against Indira's proposed marriage with Feroze. Why? No one tells us that!
Now, who is this Feroze? We are told by many that he was the son of the family grocer. The grocer supplied wines, etc. to Anand Bhavan,previously known as Ishrat Manzil, which once belonged to a Muslim lawyer named Mobarak Ali. Moti Lal was earlier an employee of Mobarak Ali. What was the family grocer's name?

One frequently hears that Rajiv Gandhi's grandfather was Pandit Nehru. It appears that the reason is simply this. Rajiv Gandhi's paternal grandfather was a Muslim gentleman from the Junagadh area of Gujarat.

This Muslim grocer by the name of Nawab Khan, had married a Parsi woman after converting her to Islam. This is the source where from the myth of Rajiv being a Parsi was derived. Rajiv's father Feroze was Feroze Khan before he married Indira, against Kamala Nehru's wishes. Feroze's mother's family name was Ghandy, often associated with Parsis and this was changed to Gandhi, sometime before his wedding with Indira, by an affidavit.
The fact of the matter is that (and this fact can be found in many writings) Indira was very lonely. Chased out of the Shantiniketan University by Guru Dev Rabindranath himself for misdeveanor, the lonely girl was all by herself, while father Jawahar was busy with politics, pretty women and illicit sex; the mother was in hospital.
Feroze Khan, the grocer's son was then in England and he was quite sympathetic to Indira and soon enough she changed her religion, became a Muslim woman and married Feroze Khan in a London mosque. Nehru was not happy; Kamala was dead already or dying. The news of this marriage eventually reached Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. Gandhi urgently called Nehru and practically ordered him to ask the young man to change his name from Khan to Gandhi. It had nothing to do with change of religion, from Islam to!
Hinduism for instance. It was just a case of a change of name by an affidavit. And so Feroze Khan became Feroze Gandhi.The surprising thing is that the apostle of truth, the old man soon to be declared India's Mahatma and the 'Father of the Nation' didn't mention this game of his in the famous book, 'My Experiments with Truth'. Why? When they returned to India, a mock 'Vedic marriage' was instituted for public consumption.On this subject, writes M. O. Mathai (a longtime private secretary of Nehru) in his renowned (but now suppressed by the GOI) 'Reminiscences of the Nehru Age' on page 94, second paragraph: "For some inexplicable reason, Nehru allowed the marriage to be performed according to Vedic rites in 1942. An inter-religious and inter-caste marriage under Vedic rites at that time was not valid in law. To be legal, it had to be a civil marriage.
It's a known fact that after Rajiv's birth Indira and Feroze lived separately, but they were not divorced. Feroze used to harass Nehru frequently for money and also interfere in Nehru's political activities. Nehru got fed up and left instructions not to allow him into the Prime Minister's residence Trimurthi Bhavan. Mathai writes that the death of Feroze came as a relief to Nehru and Indira. The death of Feroze in 1960 before he could consolidate his own political forces, is itself a mystery. Feroze had even planned to remarry. Those who try to keep tabs on our leaders in spite of all the suppressions and deliberate misinformation, are aware of the fact that the second son of Indira (Mrs. Feroze Khan) known as Sanjay Gandhi was not the son of Feroze.
Sanjay was the son of another Muslim gentleman, Mohammad Yunus. Here, in passing, we might mention that the second son was originally named Sanjiv. It rhymed with Rajiv, the elder brother's name. It was changed to Sanjay when he was arrested by the British police in England and his passport impounded, for having stolen a car. Krishna Menon was then India's High Commissioner in London. He offered to issue another passport to the felon who changed his name to Sanjay. Incidentally, Sanjay's marriage with the Sikh girl Menaka (for Indira Gandhi found the name of Lord Indra's court dancer rather offensive!) took place quite surprisingly in Mohammad Yunus' house in New Delhi. And the marriage with Menaka who was a model (she had modelled for Bombay Dyeing wearing just a towel) was not so ordinary either.
Sanjay was notorious in getting unwed young women pregnant. Menaka too was! rendered pregnant by Sanjay. It was then that her father, Colonel Anand, threatened Sanjay with dire consequences if he did not marry her daughter. And that did the trick. Sanjay married Menaka. It was widely reported in Delhi at the time that Mohammad Yunus was unhappy at the marriage of Sanjay with Menaka; apparently he had wanted to get him married with a Muslim girl of his choice. It was Mohammad Yunus who cried the most when Sanjay died in the plane accident. In Yunus' book, 'Persons, Passions & Politics' one discovers that baby Sanjay had been circumcised following Islamic custom, although the reason stated was phimosis. It was always believed that Sanjay used to blackmail Indira Gandhi and due to this she used to turn a blind eye when Sanjay Gandhi started to run the country as though it were his personal fiefdom. Was he black mailing her with the secret of who his real father was? When the news of Sanjay's death reached Indira Gandhi, the first thing she wanted to know was about the bunch of keys which Sanjay had with him.
Nehru was no less a player in producing bastards. At least one case is very graphically described by M. O. Mathai in his "Reminiscences of the Nehru Age", page 206. Mathai writes: "In the autumn of 1948 (India became free in 1947 and a great deal of work needed to be done) a young woman from Benares arrived in New Delhi as a sanyasin named Shraddha Mata (an assumed and not a real name). She was a Sanskrit scholar well versed in the ancient Indian scriptures and mythology. People, including MPs, thronged to her to hear her discourses. One day S. D. Upadhyaya, Nehru's old employee, brought a letter in Hindi from Shraddha Mata. Nehru gave her an interview in the PM's house! ..
As she departed, I noticed (Mathai is speaking here) that she was young, shapely and beautiful. Meetings with her became rather frequent, mostly after Nehru finished his work at night. During one of Nehru's visits to Lucknow, Shraddha Mata turned up there, and Upadhyaya brought a letter from her as usual. Nehru sent her the reply; and she visited Nehru at midnight...
"Suddenly Shraddha Mata disappeared. In November 1949 a convent in Bangalore sent a decent looking person to Delhi with a bundle of letters. He said that a young woman from northern India arrived at the convent a few months ago and gave birth to a baby boy. She refused to divulge her name or give any particulars about herself. She left the convent as soon as she was well enough to move out but left the child behind. She however forgot to take with her a small cloth bundle in which, among other things, several letters in Hindi were found. The Mother Superior, who was a foreigner, had the letters examined and was told they were from the Prime Minister. The person who brought the letters surrendered them...
"I (Mathai) made discreet inquiries repeatedly about the boy but failed to get a clue about his whereabouts. Convents in such matters are extremely tightlipped and secretive. Had I succeeded in locating the boy, I would have adopted him. He must have grown up as a Catholic Christian blissfully ignorant of who his father was."
Coming back to Rajiv Gandhi, we all know now that he changed his so called Parsi religion to become a Catholic to marry Sonia Maino of Turin, Italy. Rajiv became Roberto. His daughter's name is Bianca and son's name is Raul. Quite cleverly the same names are presented to the people of India as Priyanka and Rahul.! What is amazing is the extent of our people's ignorance in such matters.
The press conference that Rajiv Gandhi gave in London after taking over as prime minister of India was very informative. In this press conference, Rajiv boasted that he was NOT a Hindu but a Parsi. Mind you, speaking of the Parsi religion, he had no Parsi ancestor at all. His grandmother (father's mother) had turned Muslim after having abandoned the Parsi religion to marry Nawab Khan. It is the western press that waged a blitz of misinformation on behalf of Rajiv. From the New York Times to the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, the big guns raised Rajiv to heaven. The children's encyclopedias recorded that Rajiv was a qualified Mechanical Engineer from the revered University of Cambridge. No doubt US kids are among the most misinformed in the world today! The reality is that in all three years of his tenure at that University Rajiv had not passed a single examination. He had therefore to leave Cambridge without a certificate.
Sonia too had the same benevolent treatment. She was stated to be a student in Cambridge. Such a description is calculated to mislead Indians. She was a student in Cambridge all right but not of the University of Cambridge but of one of those fly by night language schools where foreign students come to learn English. Sonia was working as an 'au pair' girl in Cambridge and trying to learn English at the same time. And surprise of surprises, Rajiv was even cremated as per vedic rites in full view of India's public.
This is the Nehru dynasty that India worships and now an Italian leads a prestigious national party because of just one qualification being married into the Nehru family. !

Motionpicture Diaries...

2009-02-18T07:50:00.009+05:30

Whole of my Yesterday passed out with the thoughts of Christopher Nolan's masterpiece "Memento" drooling around my mind regarding the plot of the movie. Ufff,it really flew me outta roof.My sincere salutes to Nolan, definitely "What an Idea Sirjee...!!!" kinda movie.

I had unloaded it from the torrents to my hard drive quite a while back but just couldn't find a driving force to run it on my media player until yesterday.I admire(unfortunately)the (re-)makers of "Ghajini" for making such a cheap carbon copy and selling it as an Indian version of "Memento" and subsequently earning 200 crores gross in a week!! Holy shit...Must be a great marketing strategy.I have seen the Tamil version of it and to be frank it was ok but after yesterday,I am no fan of it.Definitely these indigenous avtaars are not even close to the worsts among Hollywood flicks.Those which are good goes unrecognized:( After so much of bad reviews pertaining around the Hindi version of "Memento" I just couldn't pick a ticket to it though believe me I am one of the biggest fan of Aamir Khan. I still wonder why such a versatile actor like him tried his hands in such a cheap commercial flick.Hope he isn't hit by a SRK-mania of doing such 3rd rate commercial movies where even protagonist's wife cannot identify him without mustache,heights of sickness,aint it!? And unfortunately Rab Ne..(from where did Aditya chopra find such a pathetic name is still a mystery;) ) was one of biggest gross collectors in 2008.Why are Indian audience so headless? Until and unless we reprimand them with flops they will keep coming up with such mindless movies.

Speaking of good movies and since Oscars are round the corner, David Fincher's "Curious case of Benjamin Button" is another one of its kind Movie.Brilliant conceptually and extraordinary show put up by Brad Pitt will definitely cast my vote to "Curious case.." ahead of "Slumdog..." for the best Movie,Actor and Director category. Brilliant concepts must always be admired and rewarded.Fincher,Chris Nolan,Coppala,Tarantino,Scorsese are all known for their brilliant out of box flicks which is bound to keep you at the edge.Indigenous cases,I would like to see still more better plays from Anurag Kashyap,Gowarikar or Rakeysh Mehra who have all the abilities and potentials to tackle it.

On an end note, I am eagerly anticipating Rakeysh Mehra's "Delhi-6" which sniffs the flavors of RDB to its viewers and all my best wishes to "Mozart of Madras" ARR for the Academy Award Statuette.

Mangalore turmoil...

2009-01-29T22:24:00.008+05:30

Disclaimer: All material presented in this post are my own personal opinion. I don't intend to hurt or please anybody. I aint have any relation or affiliation towards any organization.

Another political post though I didn’t wish to come up with one so early but I am forced to. The recent act of hooliganism in Mangalore on the eve of Republic day forced me to flash some light on the ground realities. In our culture ever since the ancient Vedic periods we have always had respect for women and her status. Even the devilish Ravan didn’t dare to touch Sita without her consent. But on the eve of celebrations of the Indian republic, on the eve of upholding the rights and duties of every men and women, it truly was saddening to see such a horrifying act of vandalizing our culture by targeting women by the so called protectors of our ‘culture’(ironical)Shriram Sena(better of as Ravan Sena). We have seen this news breaking our TV sets continuously as if Indo-Pak war broke out! This has led to the worldwide discussions regarding the moral policing and its effects. What I intend to scribble here is, were those molested girls “sacha!!?”

Since I hail from Mangalore, we have come across a lot of ground realities. It’s said that girls were allegedly heavily doped and were not able to stand on their feet and the pub was no different from a cabaret. Now, is this what the morality we are speaking about? News channels are making a huge fuss out of the incident regarding the moral policing by the hooligans and branding them as Indian version of Taliban? But why are they not covering the act of immorality, the act of having drugs, the act of dancing nude? Are we living in Vegas? We all complained about the violations of personal rights/human rights when girls were molested. We all wondered whether Ram Sena goonda’s had any affiliation/affection to their mothers and sisters. But, but at the same time did we wonder the case of doped girls? Why are we not criticizing the violations of the fundamental duties by these doped girls? On any day be it after 50 or 100 springs down the line, I don’t want my kids/sisters to booze, fag or dope. Where on the earth its given doping is good, promiscuity is legal and bashing the dopers and whores are bad? Indian media and human right activists are all in full throttle whining in the name of violation of human rights. But who the shit are these activists to whine? What do they mean by human rights? Where the hell were they lost when hundreds of our innocent sisters and girls were raped in Nandigram, Assam and Kashmir?

Human rights shouldn't be meant only for the elites or some sections of the society and religion. What Ram Sena did was utter shameful, they were just seeking attention as pure attention mongers, they neither had any purpose nor did they serve any purpose by vandalizing the pub. Moral policing doesn’t mean they can hit/smash anybody who walks against their ‘culture’ and also on the contrary, personal freedom doesn’t mean you have the right to roam nude and get doped and expect world not to take a note of it. On a finishing note, I being a responsible citizen, criticize both the acts, neither of them were “sacha”. Hope these acts wont REPEAT....:)

The Ant & the Cricket....

2009-01-23T12:33:00.006+05:30

I had always wished to publish this mail on my blog or any public platform.This has been the best mail ever to fill my inbox.Real credits to the one who wrote it.Let me present it to you...
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part 1:
OLD VERSION...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

MODERN VERSION...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long,building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.Come winter,the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CNN-IBN,NDTV,BBC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

part 2:

Arundhati Roy,Javed Akthar stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house.Medha Patkar,Girish Karnad goes on a fast along with other grasshoppers demanding that grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.Amnesty International and Kofi Annan(I recieved this mail when Annan was still holding the chair)criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper.The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).Opposition MP's stage a walkout.Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among ants and grasshoppers.Lalu Yadav allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]", with effect from the beginning of the winter.Arjun Singh makes Special Reservation for Grass Hopper in educational Institutions & in Govt Services.

part 3:

The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.Arundhati Roy calls it 'a triumph of justice'. Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice'. CPM calls it the 'revolutionary resurgence of the downtrodden' Kofi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Many years later...The ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in silicon valley.100s of grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ...

As a result of loosing lot of hard working ants and feeding the grasshoppers India is still a developing country.Can any one dare to bring India out of this clutches?

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Wonderful, aint it? So is this our 21st century India? now 'Ram jaane'....

(un)fair media??

2009-01-22T10:03:00.010+05:30

Disclaimer:All material presented in this post are my own personal opinion.I don't intend to hurt or please anybody.

I have been longing to use this interface as a media to check the fairness of 'Indian electronic-media' for quite a good while now.Let me flash light on some instances...

1. While breaking my fast today morning I saw CNN-IBN quoting the words of Lt.Col Purohit as "terrorist speaks".Now what on earth made them say this?We have had numerous instances of terrorism and until & unless trialed by a fair court,we don't intend to brand them as terrorists.Even in Ajaml Kasab's case,when the entire world has seen him live as a terrorist we still use the phrase "alleged terrorist" rather than just "terrorist" and still intend to give him a fair trial though there prevails the obviousness in it.There is no skepticism regarding Sanjay Dutt held guilty under the 'Arms-act' for holding a Kalashnikov during 93-riots and having links with Abu Salem but ironically he is free and a 'distinguished' Indian Politician and not a terrorist as per the Media!

2. Why is our media branding the alleged terrorism from Hindu groups as "Hindu terrorism" rather than just "Terrorism" and why not attack from Lashkar/Taliban/Indian mujaheddin as "Islamic terrorism"? Is this fair on Rajdeep and Burkha's side?

3.Why is still Modi is not given the credits for his brilliance in administration in getting the foreign investments flowing into Gujarat like never before? Is this not presentable to Indian public?

4.With all my heartfelt condolences to the families of the great martyrs and victims of Mumbai attack, again our media was biased.Hemant Karkare(let his soul rest in peace)did nothing to kill terrorists,went in with utter stupidity with just a 'colt' in hand to tackle a 'Kalashnikov'! Why is he given such a high martyr status when he is just a victim? On the contrary,a Hawaldar who was responsible for Kasav's arrest,was never presented in the media.The firemen,hotel staff were all left as unsung heroes in the midst of Karkare's heroics(stupidity).

5.After the terror strikes in Mumbai, media is busy scrutinizing our Military arsenal and come up with one or the other loopholes frequently.Now is this presentable to the world? Yes,agreed we need some improvements in our armory but it cant be a 'SANSANI' news on a news channel when we are seeking world attention for all the good reasons.

I aint a right winger/fascist/liberalist here.I am speaking my heart out as a youth seeking explanation.I wanna make Media answerable to all these, but how? Allah jaane...

Blogging syndrome...

2009-01-21T08:34:00.002+05:30

Looks like I am hit by a blogging syndrome,my 3rd post in less than 24 hours of launch. Infact its true,I am hooked to this syndrome.Couldn't take a proper nap yesterday,just was wondering what might be my next 'thought' which can fill my 'pot'.

Getting up at 7.00 on vacations is quite a weird thing given my case history suggests me dozing till 9 even during exams :P . Made sure I can attend all the calls within 7.30 but when I came out, there was another call waiting for me! It was an !dea(formerly Spice) call,I wonder why these people still bombard us with so many shitty advertising calls when recession hit world cant afford to pick it up against holding the undies tight around their ever decreasing hip circumference.

Its half passed eight now and guessing what might be the recipe down in my PG to break my fast.I guess its time to leave. As every active blogger,I have started filling Google disks with some stupid random scribbles,Hopefully i wont pen down this new found obsession.

From Hawaii to White House..

2009-01-20T23:36:00.004+05:30

"He came he saw and he conquered...", long before Barack Obama's ancestors were making rounds somewhere in central Africa for a piece of raw flesh, one good guy addressed this line to Alexander the great. History repeats itself and its very much true.

Today is a day to cherish, a day which will mark the beginning of an era in the history books all over the world. One of the best and the voracious speakers ever to be heard in the history gave his inaugural inspirational speech as a President of the United States in Capitol hills,Washington DC as the world watched it live streaming with their mouths open and hearts asking for hope.A man seen as a savior like Lincoln ,an administrator like Roosevelt,a charismatic personality like the great Kennedy, Barack Hussain Obama, a humble but a tough man from Illinois, born to a Kenyan father and a white mother took pledge to save this world from the crisis it is in. The phrases of 'Change', 'Yes he can', 'Hope' reverberated over the Lincoln memorial to the banks of Potomac river.But can he actually deliver what he has assured this world off, only a clock can answer.

From an Indian perspective, being an Young Indian, I would like to see the Obama Phenomenon hit India.I don't want my hard earned penny paid as a tax to be wasted (I don't own a Pan card yet,oops i am not even an employee:P)to a useless PM like Dr.Manmohan Singh who cant even deliver his own speech and whose vocal chord is weaker than Tendulkar himself! I don't want an 80 year old man like Advani who is generations behind us and speaks as if he has a pain in his ass(with apologies).I neither want the corrupt and galeeju slum(as I put it in our local tapori way) Mayawati nor Sonia as my ruler too. Hoping against hope that even we can have the desi Obama avatar soon cos even we need a 'Change...'.

Being a (an amateur?)critic in my !st ever blog!

2009-01-20T17:18:00.004+05:30

I have seen a number of guys using their blogs as a platform to act as a critic for a movie. I used to wonder what all bloggers do while watching a movie, do they actually watch it or just will be scratching hair on what to scribble later in their blogs. This has amused me, made me curious. Let me try my hand, I saw Slumdog as a critic, in a CRITICal perspective .Lets just speak about the movie keeping all the controversies aside regarding its troubled Indian face. I will try to come up with that controversy sometime later.

What a good or rather a great cult movie should possess?

1. A powerful story which keeps you at the edge of your seat for the entire duration but still glued to it.

2. Good screenplay, good script, good cinematography, I wont go into the deeper technicalities of the movie since I am unaware of the movie making skills.

Overall Slumdog is a success recipe. It is mere perfect. Danny boyle has finally earned the much eluded international fame for his wonderful work with the movie.

The movie is actually a moving story of a Mumbai slum dweller boy named Jamaal who in the verge of winning a reality quiz show interrogated by the suspicious cops. How Jamaal knows the answers of all questions, how he won 20 million big bucks and also won his Love is the essence of the movie. The movie is totally desi in look & partly in Hindi. Overall, I loved the movie. Scenes like pouring of acid into the eyes of orphan kids are really touching and well shot.

Anil kapoor is mediocre and irritating but the kids are just awesome. Don’t know whether they will get any recognition later. Subtitles are shown in an innovative way. And it is this balance of film which has touched the right chords of the audience and earned it $’s and golden globes. And our own A R Rahman got the world recognition by winning the golden globe representing 1st ever Indian who won it & it’s definitely a moment for an Indian to cherish. But definitely the background score he gave in the film isn’t his best. Just another normal Rahman composition earned him a Golden globe shows how underrated he is and how underrated our Indian movies are, surely a topic of discussion.

Overall in my favorite IMDB’s words, definitely a 8 pointer and a top 250 movie.