Bharat Rotten

Sachin, Vajapayee, Jyoti Basu.. and the list grows!

The rate at which every nincompoop's name is being recommended for the Bharat Ratna - apart from those that have already been bestowed with - the highest Civilian Honour of the Country I'm sure it'd be renamed thus soon!

Searching for the Stars

There was pre-release buzz. It wasn't hype. Rave reviews followed the release. Everyone talked about it. Trade pundits were taken by surprise when the movie started raking in the moola too - thanks largely to good word of mouth publicity. It took me however five weeks to convince myself to watch Taare Zameen Par though - Aamir Khan's directorial debut.

The movie - everyone already knows - is about a dyslexic child. The movie scores because of its new theme, marvelous performance by Darsheel Safary (playing Ishaan, the child protagonist with learning disabilities) and focused story-telling. Since everyone has already spoke how good the movie is I'll restrict myself to what comes naturally to me - criticising and picking holes!

Despite having a new, refreshing story, the script sticks to the old formula. So, Amol Gupte ensures that the script has enough to empty everyone's tear glands. Hindi script-writers still cannot come out of the time-warp they are in - you've succeeded in sensitising the movie-goer ONLY if you've made him/her cry senseless!

It's just Aamir Khan who recognises that the child has dyslexia - and that too because he too had suffered a similar fate in the childhood. The boy's parents are at least upper-middle-class in the movie but they don't know dyslexia. And, they really act as though they're retarded themselves! Ditto teachers, principal and fellow students. It takes one with a disability to understand another! So, a physically challenged Rajan is the only friend (apart from his elder brother) Ishaan can have! That's the saddest part of the movie. All characters in the movie are uni-dimensional. Except of course the lead actors Darsheel and Aamir. Father is permanently sour-faced, mother perennially shedding tears or showing irritation, teachers always ready to give a sound beating. It gets a little tiring.

All this could easily have been forgiven. But for the climax.The movie ends on a happy note. Ishaan makes 'improvement' in learning. Everyone is pleased. That is the most irritating thing. NOBODY changes but the child. Everyone is happy because he becomes or is becoming 'normal'.

Despite all this I still recommend everyone who has NOT seen the movie to go and watch it. I really liked it while it lasted. One last thing. Aamir Khan is really large-hearted. When the credits roll you'll notice that!

Crib

Why is it that most diaries come without a separate page for Saturday and Sunday? I find that most of them club Saturday and Sunday in one page. I don't understand it. Do most people think that people would/should not have engagements on Sunday and relax completely? Or is it a petty way of saving some pages?

I believe most people would have a longer 'To Do' list for the weekends than the weekdays. Including the 'leisurely' activities like getting up late, lazing, chatting, et al. I really wished ALL the diaries and organisers would come equipped thus to cater to our weekend requirements.

I still am an old-timer in the days of Blackberrys and PDAs - I continue to use the paper diary/organiser over the e-diary/organiser!

Rol(l)(e) Reversal

It's probably premature to talk so. But the one and a half days of play at Perth has thrown up unexpected turn of events. It was India that was to succumb to the 'chin-music'. The bowling quartet of Lee, Clark, Johnson and Tait (the superfast) were to vanquish the Indian batsmen susceptible to fast bwling. And register their 17th win on the trot to create a new world record (by erasing their own).

So far the scores belie the expectations. At 72 for 5 as I write this Australia seems to be on the mat - on a pitch that was made for both their batsmen and bowlers.One small thing on the side too. I was proved wrong about Pathan. mrsgollum you were right! But I'm glad you are!

Auto-matic!

Parents around. The only desire they'd have while here with me is to visit the relatives in and around Bangalore - apart from temple-trotting. Since y'day was a holiday I reluctantly decided give them company. One reason to say yes to accompany them was the difficulty to find an auto from the place where I reside.

Thankfully we didn't have to wait much. And even better, the auto-driver knew the 'right' way and didn't try to take us by the longest route possible (as is wont with many in Bangalore). But the surprise awaited us when we alighted. He took out a new fare list and said, "that's Rs. 63 Sir". The meter read 50.50. "But I haven't seen any notification in the newspapers. Nor was it on the TV" I said. "I don't know sir. I also was handed over this by my driver-friends this morning only". Any ways he relented and took money as per the current meter.

This experience repeated several times in the same day. What kind of a hoax are these auto drivers up to? Is it THAT easy to con the 'choiceless' and probably gullible auto-seeking public of Bangalore? This is the new way to swindle - apart from asking for more outrightly, refusing to come to the place you'd want to travel to, asking for 'one-and-half meter fare' even before the clock chimes 9 in the night!

So much for awareness, consumer rights and 'jago grahak' thingies!

What if...

... the scene changes as thus imagined (a continuation of yesterday's post on cricket)?Now Sachin has come out and spoken his mind. Ditto BCCI (to some extent, if you consider it to have any mind in the first place). Even Mike Procter has added his two bit. The media is in a frenzy - and much like the cricket-loving public. I almost would say that it's stoking the fire! With all the leading and loaded questions. Everyone seems to be screaming. (And that very much includes me).

So, Mike Procter though says he stands by his decision and it wasn't based on just the word of the Aussies, what was THE evidence by which he decided to punish Bhajji? It's a mystery. A 2-million dollar BCCI fine question I guess. Since Sachin has said he COMPLETELY backs Harbhajan it cannot be then Sachin's prevaricatoins that tilted the balance. I hope Mike Procter produces this YET invisible evidence at least in his lifetime. May be he requires Michael Clarke's help to invent some!

But what if this entire scenario changes? What if ICC accedes to BCCI and Indian players' protests and withdraws/annuls the ban? What if it has to withdraw the ban based on 'lack of conclusive evidence'? What if MIke Procter's made to eat his own words?

Will the ICC act against Mike Procter and say he was wrong in penalising Bhajji and exclude him forever from officiating as a match referee? Will the ICC show that it has the balls to act against non-Asian umpires as it has acted in the past against Asian umpires (based on Ricky Ponting's report incidentally Hariharan of India was removed from the Elite Panel)? Will the Australian players (Symonds and Ponting and Michael Clarke) be 'punished' for making an issue and for 'lying' with the intent to cause stress to the opponents? OR, will BCCI walk out of ICC and create a new cricket council with the support of other Asian nations?

I'm pretty excited with the turn of events. But not very happy with my yesterday's rant - though not regretting it!

Living up to the Legacy!

Australia is a country of immigrants. Centuries ago the British deported all its thugs, murderers, cheats and such other criminals to the shores of now what's called Australia. I most times wondered about the veracity of this information. Were all the people in Australia the descendants of cheats and criminals?

Yesterday they proved it beyond doubt. Yes, the genes are irreplaceable. Australians are cheats. Loud and clear. And, they're proud about it too. They take pride in cheating, lying and brow-beating others to submission. Wow! What a legacy they have!

Australians didn't need cheating or lying or even under-hand tactics to establish their supremacy in World Cricket. But they still went ahead and used it to win an otherwise losing test, and a loss of chance to rewrite the record books. Shows what stuff they're made of. Full of shit!

I doubt if India would bounce back in the series even to fetch a draw in either Perth or Adelaide. In all probabilities it'd be a 4-0 in favour of 13-member Australian side that is also backed by the local media (which otherwise was primrose pure while the side was playing in India), the match referee and supported from the ring-side by a boneless wonder called BCCI. The same BCCI that bares its fangs at its own fellow-cricketers when they want to earn a buck but becomes blind, tongue-tied when the entire country's prestige is at stake.