Hum Sabka Mama ,Obama Obama !!!

I came across this amazingly hilarious slogan while reading a Hindi newspaper.The article was about political slogans and how they sometimes capture imagination of the people and pave the path to success in elections.This particular slogan about Obama being 'Mama of the World' does capture the reality as it is today.The world is reeling under the effect of recession ,both real and imagined.On top of it terrorism is raising its ugly head in all corners of the world and somehow people across the world are hopeful of a positive change under Obama's dynamic leadership.For all his oratorical skills and dynamic personality , he will have to walk the talk on important issues that confront the US and rest of the world. One sincerely hopes that Obama will see through the futile war in Iraq,exert pressure on Israel to settle Palestine issue justly and ensure that Pakistan's state sponsored terror infrastructure is dismantled. And revive the US economy that constitutes more than 20% of world's GDP.All this would have been a tough ask even in normal times, but as the saying goes 'cometh the hour,cometh the man' ,and maybe Obama can be a 'Mama' to the rest of the world .

The curious case of watching three movies ...

It started with 'Che Part One' ,a movie that tells the amazing story of the revolutionary Che Guevara and of his friend Fidel Castro. How the revolution was carried out in Cuba and the US supported dictator Batista was thrown out through an armed revolution under the banner of 26th of July Movement.Che was an Argentine by birth, but found his true calling in bringing the revolution in Cuba.He was a confidant of Fidel Castro and held the post of Industry Minister of Cuba.But such persons cannot be tied down for long and he left Cuba to organise leftist revolution in other parts of Latin America and was finally killed in Bolivia.When facing his executioner ,Che Guevara shouted, "I know you've come to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man." Che Part One covers Guevara's revolutionary journey from the time he meets up with Castro in Mexico and comes to Cuba to carry the revolution and ends with his march to Havana.
The second movie i got to see was 'IGOR' ,an animation with a rather strange plot.The movie is about the Kingdom of Malaria (yes that is the name of the place) where being 'evil' is the in thing.The main character is an hunch backed character 'Igor' who dreams of being an evil scientist and his two friends.One of the friend is a rabbit with a suicidal streak.The rabbit keeps trying to kill himself but fails everytime and the other is a 'brain' without any trace of intelligence.The movie is watchable and has this sweet message that it is better to be a 'good nobody' than a 'evil somebody'.
The third movie (if anyone is still reading ) was The curious case of Benjamin Button.A good movie which is in the race of oscars and might win a few. The movie tells the story of Benjamin who is born old and grows young.We all after a certain age don't feel good about getting on in age ,but the film shows that growing old has its own good points.

Yellow Belt ...

I have been a fan of chinese martial arts movies since childhood.To be honest my elder brother has been quite a martial arts movie buff and used to bring lots of such movies.We used to watch movies in VCR in those days(CD/DVD culture is so much in that if you talk of VCR days you yourself run the risk of being considered as antique piece !)and the movies used to be lot of fun to watch. While in school, taekwando was gaining in popularity and most of the students who stayed in hostel(i was a day-scholar)had some sort of initiation into martial-arts ,formally or informally(ie.,learning by fighting).The grades start with yellow and as you move higher in hierarchy ,you get green and black belts.
Last starurday i got this opportunity to become a yellow belt ,in a totally unrelated realm of Six Sigma....a few words about six sigma and what is it ...Six Sigma is a powerful set of statistical and management tools and methodologies that can create dramatic increase in customer satisfaction, productivity and shareholder value. It is based on improving process targeting and reducing variation in a business process.
The Six Sigma approach has been used with great success in leading companies such as Motorola, GE, Honeywell, Johnson and Johnson, Allied Signal, Xerox etc. It was first started at Motorola, but received international acclaim when Jack Welch at GE began touting it as the approach that would save his company billions of dollars. It has...and the rest is history.
By the way i cleared the yellow belt certification with 17 fellow fighters/colleagues and now i look forward to becoming a greenbelt ...

Mangalore Outrage ...

So, we have yet another example of 'moral policing' where a mob ransacked a pub 'Amnesia' in Mangalore and assaulted women present there in full view of TV cameras. They were supposedly trying to protect the culture and tradition of our great country by humiliating and beating up the womenfolk for the unpardonable crime of being in a pub. But these people are not at all disturbed when female foeticide is carried out ,when girls are not allowed to study and at every stage of life women is made to suffer for being a women. But protesting against such issues would not get you the eyeballs or TRP ratings.I was totally shocked to read an eyewitness account in The Hindu where a person described how the media persons reached the place in advance and when the attack started he heard someone shout "Action".How low can journalism get ?

Judiciary : Tareekh Pe Tareekh

Indians as a matter of rule take pride in democracy,press freedom and an independent judiciary. We all know that democracy has been made largely dysfunctional for a common man.Media has been overtaken by commercial interest so much that now news does not sell but what sells is converted into news for obvious reasons.The third pillar - the judiciary - has a distorted view of itself and the ground realities. The number of cases pending with courts as of today is mind-boggling (over 3 million cases in 21 High Courts alone). Yes,the number of judges needs to be increased and courts may have to be run on double-shift as has been suggested by a former Chief Justice of India.The law enforcement agencies also need to be spruced up so that thee is not much delay on account of shoddy investigations and wherever required exemplary punishment should be given to govt.officials also if they do not provide reports/evidences to courts on time.But the judiciary also has to look inwards and introspect as to why trials go on and on even in open and shut cases.Why quantum of sentence is reduced for Ansal brothers (accused in Uphaar tragedy) and why does it take ages to pronounce a verdict? The 1993 Mumbai blast case has dragged on for so long and still it is not over.Kasab ,the butcher of Mumbai,is awaiting a 'fair trial' after killing so many people in cold blood.The long drawn out judicial process,the stays and repeated postponement of hearings by courts have sent the deterrent effect of law for a toss. In fact , law has ceased to exist for people with criminal intentions as they know that even if they commit a crime the long drawn out judicial process will ensure that justice will not be done in their average life span,if done at all.

Sunny Deol in Damini sums up the situation well ...have a look !

Aisi Ki Taisi ....

The day had started with promise, finally after days of planning I had managed to reach office before 10 am (9:40 am to be precise).Since there were two important meetings scheduled for the day , i got down to doing my preparation for the meetings.After some time my friend Baninder Singh,a most affable Sardarji,arrived on the scene and in his own unique way made us smile by his irreverent remarks.Then it was time for the first meeting ,which went off pretty well and all our concerns were brought on the table and necessary action was assured. Trouble started at precisely 4:10 pm when myself and my boss went for the meeting with Mr.Wahi (we are working on a report and he is the designer)and his team.I was carrying all the data in my pen drive and i handed it over to Mr.Wahi .The data was there alright but for some inexplicable reason the files did not open.Everyone looked at me and i could look at no one.Anyway the problem was soon diagnosed and the only possible solution was for me to rush home,get my other pen drive which also had the same data and hope for the best.I was given 20 minutes to go home and return which even on sundays is at least 15 minutes drive (one way).Anyway my capacities as a driver were overestimated and i left office to encounter a bottleneck at Nehru Place.After taking some risks and driving over potholes i reached home at 5pm,I rang the bell once,there was no response,i rang the bell again and again and started to walk back to get the keys.Just then the doors opened and our sleepy domestic help was at the door rubbing his eyes.I got my pen drive and rushed back ,the drive back was a much smoother affair and at 5:20 i presented the pen drive to Mr.Wahi and prayed ...

Catch 22 ...

Of all the novels I have read so far,Catch 22 remains very dear to my heart.It is one hilariously funny book.It tells about the travails of a pilot 'Yossarian" who wants to live but he feels ,and rightly so, that all (including his own bosses who keep sending him on mission after mission) are conspiring to have him killed.Here is an excerpt from the book that gave us the phrase "Catch 22" ...

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr(a pilot) was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," Yossarian observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.

Catch-22 is a satirical, historical novel by the American author Joseph Heller, first published in 1961 and the novel, set during the later stages of World War II from 1943 onwards,is a must read.Enjoy !!!