Thursday, February 15, 2007
Great Ladies of India.. a series
Right now my desk calendar is a collection of the great ladies of India. 12 ladies who are pioneers in thier fields. I thought it would be a good idea to write about them, talk about the impressions they left on me and get a chance to learn more about some of them i haven't come across.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Apna Sapna Money Money - Har Sapna Hamesha
What a funny funny funny movie. I give this an abosolute thumbs up. This is Ritesh Deshmukh's comming out party. He excels at every character he plays in the movie. Admittedly the comedy is raunchy. The actresses, Celina, Koena and Riya are only there to dress skimpily and dance to some surprisingly good music. Jaggu dada is extremely funny. Anna puts in another solid performance as Inspector Na Mane. He carries off some really raunchy dialogue.
Shut your head off and watch this movie for some laughs..
3.5 Satkis
Shut your head off and watch this movie for some laughs..
3.5 Satkis
Book Club - Angels and Demons By Dan Brown
AWESOME. This man is a great author. He can spin a yarn like a few i have read before. This is the prequel to Da Vinci Code. Our hero Robert Landgon runs through the Vatican trying to save it from eminent destruction. There is science, discovery of anti-matter, there is religion, popes, cardinals, conclaves and vatcian city, there is a deadline ala 24... , there is deception, there is a beautiful scientist all in all an awesome book. Put down any book u are reading and pick this up.
Book Club - A Case of Need by Michael Crichton
A very good book. This is the first book written by Crichton. It is written in the old detective books style. Sometimes in the first person, sometimes in the third. The story is about an abortion gone bad. There are several questions raised regarding the two sides of abortions. The author doesnt make preferences one way or the other. That is entirely the readers perrogative. The story is very rivetting and i could not put the book down.
A must-read to get over some boredom
A must-read to get over some boredom
Book Club - Next by Michael Crichton
What an extremely boring book. An absolute thumbs down. This book talks about Genetics like most of Crichton's book. But this is no Lost World. It is more like a documentary about Genetics. Random collection of stories that dont neccesarily interact. Too many characters with not enough back stories that makes it confusing to follow them and get interested in any of them. Theres some far out storylines tough, talking parrots (actually a math expert), an Orangutan who speaks Dutch, a Chimpanzee who is half human. Then they have animals that are engineered so that thier skins carry names of corporations that glow in the dark. 'Shivers'.. i hope i dont live to see that day.
All in all, i couldnt wait to put the book down and move on.
All in all, i couldnt wait to put the book down and move on.
Re-visiting the Shilpa Shetty controversy
In the last few weeks, there was a lot of talk/protests/demonstrations regarding an occurance in a UK Reality show. I had a lot of thoughts regarding it during and after the entire incident but wanted to refrain from rushing to judgement. I think i now have a better understanding of what happened.
First, the controversy, a few of Shilpa's fellow contestants did not like her, they made some comments about not being able pronounce her name, understanding her customs or her habits. These comments were construed as Racist by the viewers. This launched the protests, demonstrations, hate mail, threats. The Prime-Minister had to make statements about this issue in his parliament for 10-15 days. The Prime-Minister-designate, Gordon Brown was in India on business at the time and was continously asked about this and forced to reply and defend his country as non-racist. Needless to say he didn't get a lot of work done. Shilpa eventually got a huge following, the sympathy vote and won the contest and the money.
During the entire episode, the producers were eerily silent, so was Shilpa. Here's what people may have missed. Shilpa is an actress, not a very good actress admittedly but shes an actress. She knows the popular refrain, "No publicity is bad publicity". Her mom, sister, publicist seized on these events to keep her in everyones minds.
This does not give the people who made those comments a free pass, I dont belive they were racially insensitive though, they were simply idiots. There is a huge difference between hatered and ignorance. In my personal experience, i have come across a lot of these ignorant people. They dont really hate people who are different from them, they just dont know how to adapt. In India we are taught since we were kids about different cultures, different people and how to respect the differences in people. Also, in India, people are different across different regions, just among one's neigbors one may have people of different skin colors, different languages, different eating habits and different religions. They are your best friends, people you grow up with, people you look up to, people you share evenings together and dinners with. In America, for generations, there were white people and white people. Thier religions differed only slightly, their foods are uniform. they all talk one language, they have not been brought up with a possibilty that people may be radically different from them. Yes they go to diversity trainings and seminars and have been attempting to adjust but they are still adjusting. What comes very naturally to Indians, is an effort for Americans. Unless they decide that they will not adjust and start despising the different people around them, it is Racial, else it is Ignorance. In the last 2 decades, Indians have thronged to the US, they tend to live close to each other, take over pockets of what used to be predominantly white suburbia. It must be tough for the older folks living around them already. But from my experience, a majority of them try and are understanding.
Americans are also brought up on a steady diet of supremacy. There is not a lot of humility in this populace. Thier media, politics and social structure keeps hammering that they are far superior to any other country. They try to tread that gentle line between being the school jock and the school bully. The last 2 elections though have shown that this country is split half way between these two paradigms. I am guessing, this is similar to feelings in the UK, in addition to that, they ruled over India just 60 years ago. They must have trouble accepting Indians more successful than them when their dads/grandads still tell them stories how they pushed them around.
I just think the enitre incident was only ignorance of 2-3 dumb bimbos and shilpa milked it for all it was worth. She now has several movie offers from US and the UK. Shes gonna make tons of dough from this.
First, the controversy, a few of Shilpa's fellow contestants did not like her, they made some comments about not being able pronounce her name, understanding her customs or her habits. These comments were construed as Racist by the viewers. This launched the protests, demonstrations, hate mail, threats. The Prime-Minister had to make statements about this issue in his parliament for 10-15 days. The Prime-Minister-designate, Gordon Brown was in India on business at the time and was continously asked about this and forced to reply and defend his country as non-racist. Needless to say he didn't get a lot of work done. Shilpa eventually got a huge following, the sympathy vote and won the contest and the money.
During the entire episode, the producers were eerily silent, so was Shilpa. Here's what people may have missed. Shilpa is an actress, not a very good actress admittedly but shes an actress. She knows the popular refrain, "No publicity is bad publicity". Her mom, sister, publicist seized on these events to keep her in everyones minds.
This does not give the people who made those comments a free pass, I dont belive they were racially insensitive though, they were simply idiots. There is a huge difference between hatered and ignorance. In my personal experience, i have come across a lot of these ignorant people. They dont really hate people who are different from them, they just dont know how to adapt. In India we are taught since we were kids about different cultures, different people and how to respect the differences in people. Also, in India, people are different across different regions, just among one's neigbors one may have people of different skin colors, different languages, different eating habits and different religions. They are your best friends, people you grow up with, people you look up to, people you share evenings together and dinners with. In America, for generations, there were white people and white people. Thier religions differed only slightly, their foods are uniform. they all talk one language, they have not been brought up with a possibilty that people may be radically different from them. Yes they go to diversity trainings and seminars and have been attempting to adjust but they are still adjusting. What comes very naturally to Indians, is an effort for Americans. Unless they decide that they will not adjust and start despising the different people around them, it is Racial, else it is Ignorance. In the last 2 decades, Indians have thronged to the US, they tend to live close to each other, take over pockets of what used to be predominantly white suburbia. It must be tough for the older folks living around them already. But from my experience, a majority of them try and are understanding.
Americans are also brought up on a steady diet of supremacy. There is not a lot of humility in this populace. Thier media, politics and social structure keeps hammering that they are far superior to any other country. They try to tread that gentle line between being the school jock and the school bully. The last 2 elections though have shown that this country is split half way between these two paradigms. I am guessing, this is similar to feelings in the UK, in addition to that, they ruled over India just 60 years ago. They must have trouble accepting Indians more successful than them when their dads/grandads still tell them stories how they pushed them around.
I just think the enitre incident was only ignorance of 2-3 dumb bimbos and shilpa milked it for all it was worth. She now has several movie offers from US and the UK. Shes gonna make tons of dough from this.
Checking into Hearbreak Hotel
Yeah yeah we lost.. it was tough, took me a week to get over it. To sum up the big game, Devin Hester can FLY, Rex kinda Sucks, Manning is GOD, Dungy is a Saint. Enough said.
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