Thursday, 29 January 2009

What Mr. Amar Singh would not like to let people of Lucknow know ...

  • Her birth name is Dilnawaz Shaikh and bollywood also knows her as Sara Khan
  • She has spent most her growing years in Dubai
  • She is the same (half clad) girl who did the ‘nautanki’ song (the only song in the movie) in Gangajal
  • She has done B grade movie like “Lovers Like Us” … which now anyone probably can not see as all the rights and vcds are bought by her Hubby
  • There were legal hurdles in her marriage to Sanjay in Goa as the domicile document they presented were probably fake
  • She has been married and divorced(her divorce is still disputed as Mehraj claims that she is still married to him) from one Mr. Mehraj-ur-Rehman, who was arrested for allegedly sending obscene messages to some Bollywood actresses.
  • She has probably never been to Lucknow before
  • She is not known to talk about her past
  • She is Sanjay’s third wife

Disclaimer : this list is a typical product of some of my 'googling' . So i do not know and do not claim that they are indeed true.

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Padma Awardees ...

The list of this year’s Padma Awadrees makes an interesting reading. Some of them are icons in their respective fields and probably recognition comes a bit late (or rather the award is honored to have such people accepting it) people like

  • ISRO Chairman Dr Madhavan Nair
  • Atomic Energy Chairman Anil Kakodkar
  • Dr AS Ganguly
  • Activists like Sunderlal Bahuguna
  • CK Prahlad
  • Mathoor Krishnamoorthy of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
  • Dr Utpal Banerjee for what he did in Computer Education in Schools
  • Abhinav Bindra
  • Ramchandra Guha
  • Shamshad Begum
At the sametime some of them seem to guided beyond the stated purpose of recognizing their talent and contribution to society like

Ashwarya RaiBachhan – she is one of the most well known faces in bollywood and has done an excellent portrayal of one of the least known but very successful ‘First Lady’ of India in Jodha-Akber. But I doubt if the decision to give her the award is not influced by the fact that SP and a certain Amar Singh are supporting the current central Govt.

MS Dhoni & Harbhajan Singh – according to me giving them the award is not significant .. what is astonishing few others who did not get it. Sushil Kumar and Vijender Kumar … both got Olympic medals (Olymic medals in India is a rarity) I am not too sure what Dhoni and Harbhajan did so exceptional in 2008 which can out-weigh the Olympic medals to get the awards. Dhoni’s case is more curious as only last year he was given Khel Ratna .. or just that again Cong is building a case for itself in jhharkhand on the back of a highly apolitical guy.

Mangalore part 2

It seems the Mangalore incident was directly recorded by a News Channel (not by some bystanders or passers by) on cam which means it was present onsite (naturally seems like they were informed before the drama started) ...

Now why Sree Ram Sena do that .. to get a name for itself (it was not a well known entity before) .. but it would be naive to think that a larger organization like BJP would allow something like this happen and that too in a state ruled by them .. in election year ..

It is a sure shot formula to alienate all feminists .. moderates .. middle classes .. city dwellers (some of them are target voters for Right wingers) … just the right fodder for all the feminists to go on over drive …

And getting a News Channel to do the recording is a bit odd again .. as that News Channel is not known to be on the right side of right wingers ..

Curiously in past the same News Channel had failed to report Kiliroor sex scandal (even after they were picked up by virtually every other channel) .. a simple google will show that ..

Monday, 26 January 2009

Mangalore ....

Some of the most shocking and shameful scenes done by a section of fanatics are played in by news channels for last two days. With my limited to access to Indian news channels which is limited to one English and one Hindi and the scene is very regularly played in the English channel with Hindi channel not paying great attention to it (Probably it does not cater to their core viewers).

While we must unequivocally condemn this horrific act and demand that culprits must be punished … some of the things which are related to this sounded really odd to me ..

How media (with cameras) were already at spot to shoot the scene (why am I asking this as I did not see any one acknowledge the source of their video footage)? Does this mean they were informed before this drama began? If they were then why they did not inform the police? After all prevention of crime could be better than allowing women to be beaten in front of camera and then demand justice. Are they not guilty of being ‘unhelpful’ in preventing the crime? But then how will they get the news ???

While taking comments of one of the Central Govt. Minister (happens to be woman) when the news person asked what action are you going to take on this … the prompt answer was …. we will demand action from the chief minister. Why to wait and demand action … why can’t they just ban the organization which has done it .. after all its Central Govt.’s job to ban suspect organizations and guide the states(States can just shut the doors on them within their boundries but that will not stop the malice) in closing down the outlawed offices. Why is this blame game and ambivalence?

Who has got benefited from this whole act? After all it’s an election year so many things would tend to happen and i doubt if BJP folks are so dumb to get into or support something like this in the election year.

With these lingering thoughts can I put my neck on chopping block and ask the most wrong question at this moment.... was it stage managed …??

And this being the Republic Day i was very happy that atleast the Hindi channel did show a short interview of Abhinav Bindra .. just marvel his cool attitude ....

Thursday, 22 January 2009

Family names Reserved for Sons .......

As i through an excellent post by IHM on reservation of sons While i agree with what is sadi i think the post has mixed up lot of different things.
Another post which extends the discussion further reservation of sons.
I am tagging the replies here

Why I say it was a flawed logic. What is the issue here .. Sanjay Dutt has shown that he remains a MCP by saying that he is the only Dutt. That needs to be bashed.. no questions .. but then don't mix this with other facts which does not have relevance here .. like he is a baddy .. his jail record or how he was there.. character of Amar Singh .. this is like are trying to substantiate his MCP character with totally different things.

By saying that ‘Sanjay believes in claiming a right to something he has not earned, just because he was born to it …. His sisters have definitely done a lot more to deserve’ .. I would think that it is probably perpetuating the personal dislike towards Sanjay. Do we really know if Priya is not claiming the same right without deserving it or if she has done more to deserve it? Sanjay rightly or wrongly is better known figure even now or even when Priya was thrown onto the scene. Honestly I first heard her name only when she was picked for that Loksabha seat. All along I always heard Sanjay’s name after original Dutt. But that’s my unawareness (just suspect that many people will have same kind of unawareness). I would doubt the claims that Priya has been supporting her dad(more than Sanjay) or her bro through his bad past as I do not know enough to make that claim(I am pretty sure even no one is in in that position unless they are their confidante).

If Priya does not feel that Sanjay is probably asking for a part of or whole of the legacy then why is she worried on what Sanjay is doing.. or why is he joining SP or any party.. How does this matter to her as which political party her Bro represents?

I am not doubting that Priya is a Dutt. I am only doubting her intension behind ‘And she simply chose to retain that name’. Just that I do not see it that ‘simply’.

I think this war of words was started by Priya as rather than discussing it with Sanjay (i doubt if they are on talking terms) she start with Media.. after all all the siblings do not need to join Congress.. (they are not the first family .. they just 'aye saar/mam' for their masters)
When people say ‘Imagine a man like him might represent the people, including women from Lucknow!’ we are again mixing things. It’s a totally different argument on if he should represent people or not which I thought was not the point.

Now coming to original point on the names. I still maintain (and will continue to maintain so as that’s what I believe in) that what (family) name a woman(or man) should keep is her(or his) prerogative. It’s a custom that many women after marriage change to their husband’s family names. Now I am not taking sides on if it is right or wrong. I will always argue that if we say that it is wrong then we are doubting intelligence of many women who choose to do it. Note that choose is the key word. At the same time most of the women in India do not get a choice. Just after marriage they knowingly-unknowingly do become Mrs. Sharma .. Mrs Bhatia .. Mrs Nair .. that is wrong. They should be called what they want to be called. I would think many women (like the US first ladies) have enough intelligence to take a conscious decision and by taking sides we undermining them (or their decision).

By saying that it’s a custom not even in India but followed in west does not make it wrong (or right) or a colonial hangover. Just because it’s yet another custom we can not bracket it with some of the ugly ones like ‘Polygamy, Polyandry, Slavery, human sacrifice, sati’.

Friday, 16 January 2009

The un-real India!!

He (lordly) stays with a poor and then announces this is real India. This makes me wonder which part of India I live in. The real one or the un-real one. I do not live in a hut or in a village although I still am connected with my ancestors place which in among the poorest and most naxal infected districts of India.

I primarily live in a Metro unless I am out of the country, occasionally drive car, eat out once in a while.. go for movies in nearby multiplex and all the while I used to think that even I live in India, India which has many contractions and huge disparity in income. I obey the rules .. pay my taxes.. still I probably live in ‘Unreal India’.

Or is it fashionable among the elites(or inheritors) to denounce there life-style once in a while and be a guest of a poor family and introduce them as ‘real india(ns)’.

Monday, 5 January 2009

PDP!!

Being away from home means I get to see only two Indian news channels on my TV. One always runs Sas bahu updates and repeats most of the news 3-4 times other one being an English News channel is a bit more aristocratic for my liking and often more focused on getting sound bites from socialites.

On one of them as a rolling bulletin I saw a news saying PDP will support Self Rule in J&K. A bit fascinated I did a bit of google on what it means and to my amazement it seems PDP is demanding self-rule for J&K. Isn’t that something which goes against India’s stand.

They have tried to explain what it would mean on their website. It would mean a free trade zone which will “set a common external tariff on imports from India and Pakistan.”
“Further, instead of looking for a monetary union, a new system of “Dual Currency” will be created, where the Indian and Pakistani rupees are both made legitimate legal tenders in the geographical areas”

I have not read this fully but I wonder why we do not have a formal debate on this by other political parties as some of this probably goes against India’s claim that J&K is our integral part. Even Cong was running a Govt till very recently with their support or supporting their Govt and officially PDP is part of UPA which is running the central Govt.

PDP is run by the same guy who was our Home Minister once and had negotiated for her kidnapped daughter.

Or may be Mr. Raj ‘the saviour’ should see this. This might be a golden opportunity for him project a Pan-Indian image.

Its not mine!!


Saturday, 3 January 2009

Mr. Raj is back!!

He has got his voice back!!

For a while 26/11 seemed to have affected his political ascendancy which was going so smooth with his 'outsider' campaign. For some time it looked as if Mumbai was able to get over with his divisive politics.

But now he seems to have hit another jack pot ...another highly emotive issue and his current postures will make him far more openly acceptable to other political parties. What will make his life much easier now that he can play the role for saviour with much more conviction.

Now that is he back I am pretty sure that it’s just a matter of time before 'anti-bihari' campaign is resumed.

Edited on 5th Jan: This story from IndianExpress assures that there are common mumbai folks who are still not fooled by Mr. Raj.