Frenzy made Flesh

What a match! Thank God! Man this was ………..! It was difficult to define the hysteria today.

There is this cliché about somebody losing and the other winning the game but today’s match was just above all that. I hope I am not exaggerating, considering the fact that I am an ardent cricket fan.

It grabbed eyeballs, with all the inherent drama and emotion. In spite of the fact, that room at the top was only for one, nobody was ready to blink till the last ball.

94 by Sachin (well, these were as good as a century), Ganguly’s 53 and not to forget Uthappa’s brilliant contribution in the end. Man that lad is just 21. The composure in a situation where anxiety was all over the place, was indeed impeccable.

Well we definitely won, but we just cant ignore the effort made by England to reach up to that mammoth score of 316 after some early fallouts.

Well Dravid’s decision of giving the last over to Yuvraj Singh is being criticised even by kids. Well no answer for that, but he said that the fast bowlers were also going for too many runs.

Whatever critical analysis people do, technically or whatever, it was an absolute treat to watch this one. As one of my friends said, “Man it was something like, I didn’t want to move from the same position that I was sitting in lest something bad happened”. That kind of thing.

It was frenzy made flesh today in the form of this one as we wait eagerly for Lords!

Suanshu Khurana

Right, Anyone Home?

What is a blog which doesn't get updated?

NOT my blog!

Come on guys/girls, anyone got something to say or should i make this another let out for my inane bullshit, you have 24 hours after this post is published to put some postS here or i'll start writing poetry on this blog.

I'm serious.


Mind it!

60 years of independence------------ really?

A brief candle; both ends burning
An endless mile; a bus wheel turning
A friend to share the lonesome times
A handshake and a sip of wine
So say it loud and let it ring
We are all a part of everything
The future, present and the past
Fly on proud bird You're free at last.
Charlie Daniels

We celebrate diamond jubilee of India's freedom this year. The hoi polloi are rejoicing and celebrating the country's proudest day with pomp and splendour. But do we understand what it means? Are we really liberated or is it a phoney notion? Do we take our freedom gravely? Do we take it a bit too casually? These are some of the thoughts hovering in my mind though the answers are hidden somewhere in the questions themselves. We live in a democratic country which is said to be for the people, by the people and of the people. No doubt there is no alien power ruling us but something is amiss even after all these years of independence. Everyone of us suffers from some kind of bondage. Our mind is not free. Our government is supposedly very flexible but it has always stood in the general masses call for freedom.

H.L. Mencken rightly says, “I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.”

It cannot be ignored that India is still struggling for freedom from multitude of social problems. To be completely free-there have to be changes in the way we look at women, fixing the educational system and actively participating in its democracy.

When it comes to economic freedom, it so happens that many of the great truths of economics are deeply unintuitive. The spontaneous order of millions of individuals working separately towards their self-interest can produce and distribute goods far more efficiently than central planning can. Also, most of us have grown up in a socialist framework, and instinctively look to our ‘mai-baap’ state for solutions. We look to the government to provide jobs, to lift people out of poverty, to provide free education to all, and so on. “What does a poor man care about freedom?” an IAS officer friend recently asked me. “All he wants is food.” And indeed, the connection between economic freedom and jobs and food on the plate is not one that is immediately obvious.

When it comes to personal freedoms, we are so used to living in a country where they are denied to us that we don’t even notice their absence. As a matter of routine, films are censored, books are banned, and our personal and sexual preferences are restricted. Free expression is endangered in this country, and whether it’s MF Hussain painting a Hindu goddess nude or an Orkut forum about Shivaji or a comedian making fun of Mahatma Gandhi, our default reaction is to ask that it be stopped. How can free speech thrive in a country where giving offence is treated as a crime?

Am I hopeful for things changing? Yes and no. Yes, because as the cause and effect of economic freedom becomes clearer, people will see through socialist rhetoric and realise that only free enterprise can provide jobs, lift our living standards, and raise this country out of poverty. On the other hand, such a clear-cut utilitarian case is harder to make for personal freedoms, and political parties, in any case, thrive on catering to special interest groups. They are, thus, generally likelier to restrict freedom even further instead of removing existing restrictions.
Pankhuri Sood

60 years of In-Dependence

Independence, it is also called freedom, sovereignty and a lot of other synonyms you can look up on dictionary.com. The point here is what are we celebrating? What is there to be proud of? What have we accomplished in these 60 years. The development done since the time of British is standing its ground and the roads made two months back break under the tires of my bike.

And to top it off, we have the 'Chalta hai" attitude so common with us Indians, we have a jugad for everything, and most of the shit happening around us is an SEP ( Someone Else's Problem).

So what to do? Turn into god fearing, country loving, other's trash picking proud Indian citizens overnight?
Nah, don't care, don't give a fuck. This is the beauty of India, everything is an S.E.P. If with our broken infrastructure, corrupt administration, doped out call-center generation and jugadi youth we can make it to 60, I'm sure we'll cross 120!

So chill, relax and don't bother to pick the wrapper your friend just threw on the ground, there is lot of chewing gum under the desk one more can't hurt, can it? And yeah, giving that "small gift" to that clerk just gets the work done faster.

So be it!

Cheers, to next 60 years!

Happy In-Dependence Day

Chak De!

After a long time I saw a movie that was about sports and sports only. Chak De India is a movie about 16 girls and hockey as we all know. But in a subtle way it touches upon issues like religious bias, national integration, problems of people from backward state and of course state of our national game, especially women’s hockey.

After Swades, this was SRK’s fine performances. He did not encroach onto other’s space. It was a relief to see that there were no love interests involved, no romantic or sad songs, which even I movie like Lagaan could not resist.

The characters of the movie are true to life and easy to empathise with. Some of the one liners are hard hitting, humorous and memorable. The rawness of the actors add a flavour and brightens up the screen every time they appear.

Some parts of the movie did remind me of the Mighty Ducks series and thus it was easy to predict what would happen next. However full credit to Chak De, for not letting boredom set in even once.

The matches in the end are well shot. They have worked on the body language of players, although they could have added some detailed shots of game strategy. The penalty shots in the end could also have been made more exciting and gripping.

But overall it is a nice watch especially for girls.

Chak De!!!



Bharti Bedi

Gagged??

Watching what happened with Taslima Nasreen yesterday has prompted me to write this post. For those who did not see and read about it, Taslima was attacked in Hyderabad by some ‘Muslim’ protestors during the release of her new book 'Shodh'.

In one of her interviews sometime back I had read that she has put an adage in the form of a magnetic sticker on her refrigerator which says ‘Beware of Dogmas’.

But all these systems of belief have fought with her and are still fighting with her spirit, always trying to glorify violence in the name of religion.

It has always been believed that fundamentalists cannot quash her fortitude. Governments cannot canon her mind. Controversies and hullabaloo court her as much as fatwas. And secularism holds a varied connotation for her. Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, has always been a rebel without a pause. But yesterday one could see fear her eyes. “I was quite sure of dying today.” She said. (I am not quoting any newspaper, she said that in an after interview with NDTV)

I have not read much of her except for her book called ‘Lajja’. Reading that book was actually for the satisfaction of curiosity, always wanting to know as to what is it that has always provoked the fundamentalists.

The novel takes you into a world where nothing is right and things like rape and forced prostitution are so very prominent. As the fire of communal riots erupts every member of a Hindu (Dutta) family feels it there way.

Taslima has tried to bring out the chronological order of the events that led to the situation that prevailed at that time i.e., the riots in Bangladesh after the demolition of Babri Majid. Taslima felt disgraceful that the Hindus in her country were actually hunted by the Muslims. Her belief that all the Bangladeshis should actually feel ashamed about the country and motherland they love did raise many eyebrows but this is one lady, rock solid to the core, who actually stood against her motherland challenging her in the face that it’s wrong.

Well Taslima Nasrin is not the only writer who has suffered. Salman Rushdie has been putting up with all the protests against him for ‘The Satnic Verses’ and ‘Midnight’s Children’. M.F. Hussain has already been shunned already

Proceedings like these have confirmed that terms like artistic expression and artistic liberty are futile. Even our constitution guarantees freedom of expression, why should itbe throttled by whims and fancies of a few? One organisation tells him that his Durga is not painted right, other tells him his qawwali hurts their sentiments. How far wouldartists give in to the demands of fundamentalists from any religion?

Everybody in this world cannot conform to everybody’s idea. What is required is respect for each other’s ideas and concepts. In a nation where cultural controversies are so common the government should not give in to certain eccentric elements who stand up to voice against anything that does not conform to their idea.

And we the people of this nation and this world need to value creative freedom.

Suanshu Khurana

Burp it out!!

Food is to body what music is to soul.

So, eat healthy.

Remember if you want to be a good journalist; print or broadcast, the first thing to do is take care of your body! Keep your stomach full and your ideas will roll out like a ball bearings dripped in a barrel of Castrol 2tx.

It has been proven mathematically that a hungry mind is an angry mind and anger is one word short of Danger. We don't want to be dangerous now, do we? (unless there are special circumstances;)

We want to be good Journalists!! So grab that grub and remember, Burp!

Don't care what people 'Eww' and 'Aww' and 'Yuk' at you, Just Do It!


[ This post brought to you by the guilty parties behind the nefarious blog A Story A Day ]