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Cultural learning sponsored by Sri Rama Sene

On Jan 24th, Sri Rama Sene gave a lesson on culture to the entire nation. They barged into "The Lounge", a pub in Mangalore, and roughed up young girls for not conforming to traditional Indian norms.

I'm a still confused about the traditional Indian norms. Is this any literature available on the same? A search on google for "Traditional Indian norm" did not yield any desirable result.

Interpreting what is reported on the media, non-conformance to "Traditional Indian norm" could be one or more of the following

• Hanging out in a pub
• Consuming alcohol
• Wearing westernized clothes

The guidelines on how to impose penalty on the offenders are simple. Beat them up!

Post script

Some of the architects of this cultural lesson were arrested. If you look at their pictures, you will see a saffron shawl wrapped around their shoulders. In reality, they could have adopted a "Gandhigiri" approach. If they were really worried about the traditional Indian norms, they could have walked into the pub and covered violators of our great Indian tradition with the saffron shawl. This would have conveyed a stronger message. It would also have increased their fan base.

Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na

Over the weekend, I watched Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na on DVD. This is my second viewing of the movie. I watched it on the big screen couple of months back and ended up dozing off towards the climax of the movie. It was fatigue catching up and not a bad movie putting me to sleep!

The movie is about falling in love without realizing it. Although the subject is familiar (and has been done to death before), this is an interesting watch. This is also the directorial debut of Abbas Tyrewala. Abbas is multitalented as he as already worked as a story writer, screenplay writer, dialogue writer and lyricist in several sucessful/unsuccessful, commercial/critically acclaimed movies. Remember the dialogues in Munnabhai MBBS! Abbas wrote it.

The things I liked about the movie/DVD are

1. Narration: A group of friends narrates the love story to an young woman who is currently dating one of them. The story unfolds in a linear way. But the story tellers take a break in between to explain the subplots. This works in the favor of the movie.
2. Audience is inside the movie: The young woman echoes our feelings about the love story. As the narration begins, she is skeptical about the love story (...So are we!). As the story progresses, she gets hooked on to the love story(...So do we!).
3. Background scrore: A R Rahman
4. Naseeruddin Shah & Ratna Pathak Shah: Watch the real life couple having arguments as the reel life couple. I loved the way Mr Shah delivers the punch line "You can take a Rathod out of Ranjore but not the Ranjore out of a Rathod".
5. Director's commentary: Excellent commentary by Abbas. It gives a lot of insight into the movie.
6. Special Features: A second disc with 2+ hours of deleted scenes and the making of the movie.
7. Mansoor Khan: The director who gave us a "Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak" and who has gone into hibernation since "Josh"! He produced this film along with Aamir Khan for launching their nephew, Imran Khan. You need to come and give us more good films (...But, please do not give us a "Josh").

The movie is different and is better than the mediocre "prem kahani" dished out to us day in and day out. Please see the movie and encourage the film makers who are embracing and encouraging better cinema.

Hidden Kitchen: Hotel Sea Shell

Situated behind SVR Plaza in Madiwala, this is truly a hidden kitchen. It is also a favourite among local singles crowd. A friend of mine introduced me to this place.

The cuisine is a mix of Arabic and Malayali (Kerala). Try out their BBQ chicken. It is served along with Hummusand Toum(garlic sauce). Do not forget to dip your chicken in Toum. Truly yummylicious.

Also, try out their Malabari Biriyani along with Lemon Juice.

Hope you have a great time there.


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52 nights unplugged

Ever since I configured my official and personal emails on my Blackberry, I am constantly checking emails even in the middle of important conversations! Staying connected is a boon when you are in a high critical project where fuses go off at the drop of the hat. But this also has negative effects. These days, I'm checking emails every 30 minutes (weekends included). If I get up in the middle of the night, the first thing I reach for is the cell phone to check emails!

Although I'm still ailing, I came across Ariel Meadow, who is actually doing something about this affliction. Ariel is a self confessed internet addict. After attending a workshop on finding balance between technology and soul, she decided to "completely unplug from anything with a screen" for one night a week for a year. I wish her all the best.

52 Nights Unplugged on the Today Show

Gag the media in a democracy?

During the siege in Mumbai, the NSG operations were progressing with the tv cameras following every move and experts(without any credibility) explaining the moves to millions of viewers. As a result, the controllers of these terrorists were watching the live coverage and guiding the operations. In the end, common sense prevailed and TV channels started showing delayed footage!

Now, on retrospective, the government is trying to gag the media in case of natural or manmade calamities. PM has been assuring decision on gagging will be done after consulting all the stakeholders. Any gag order against the media will be in direct violation of one of our fundamental right, Right to freedom, defined in our constitution. In addition, the government becomes the big daddy who is rationing the news. This is a lot of power without any checks.

The media should be responsible to decide what can be shown on live TV. They should restrain themselves from showing damaging visuals without fearing the competition. Finally, we(viewers) should not patronize these channels that act irresponsibly.

TagsMusings,Democracy,Siege in Mumbai,Gag,Media

No Q and A in Bangalore

While the hype and curiosity is mounting on Slumdog Millionaire (Slumdog Crorepati in Hindi) slated for release in India on Jan 23rd, Q & A, the novel on which the movie is based on, is out of stock in Bangalore. For the past three weeks, I have been searching for this book in all local bookstores.

In the past, if a movie is based on a novel, the local book stores are flooded with the novel weeks before the movie is released. Last year during the Oscar season, I found Atonement, Oil and No Country for Old men at the Landmark in Gurgaon. This year, with all the buzz created around Slumdog Millionaire, there isn't a single copy available in any bookstore. Even the guys at the counter do not offer to order a copy for you! The standard line is "No word from the publisher".

Blogger Labels: Musings,Slumdog Millionaire,Q and A,Q & A,Landmark

Demand for petrol (and diesel)

On friday,

- a friend took rick to work as he did not have enough gas in his mobike.

- a friend ended up working from home as gas levels in his car were very low.

- a friend was busy messaging me urging me to fill the gas tank. He also warned me about the serpentine queue in front of the gas station.

At the end of the day, oil supply resumed after government acted tough on the Oil boys (OSOA).

Is OSOA proud about creating a nation-wide panic?

Why didn't our government predict the chaos that could result and avert this in the first place. Although there were talks about bringing the army in, this was an attempt at saving the face of the goverment and not solving the issue.

Tags:Musings,Petrol,Oil,OSOA,Bangalore

Booting up

After a lot of procastination, I finally found the time (and the courage) to write on to the post. My first unsuccessful attempt on blogosphere was now defunct "Incoherent Musing". Although I set it up in mid 2006, I never wrote anything on that blog. This is my second attempt.......