For better or worse

The world is a sadder place. Steve Irwin died this week in a freak incident. Known better to anyone with Animal Planet on their list of Tv channels as "The Crocodile Hunter", having faced innumerable croc bites, snake bites and the like, to read that he got stabbed to death by a sting ray..that was shocking. It's sad because he worked all his life living out his dream - trying to show people not to fear crocs and other animals. His Australian accent and eccentric ways ensured his cult status but he was ever modest in all that he did. I feel really sad because I remember seeing the interviews of his that followed that night on AP - seeing how his daughter looked up to him..even at the age of7 years, she was not his daughter, she was his partner in crime in all his escapades..and by God, she was the sweetest child I've ever seen. I wish God would keep people like him around here instead of leaving us the muck and taking people who are good at heart. It was fun while it lasted..hope you're in a better place now. Godspeed, mate.



The world is a sadder place. Where a President can openly admit to holding people in CIA built prisons, with no proof whatsoever, and use any torture means he finds necessary to extract what he wants to hear from them. And then have the nerve to say unapologetically - it will go on. Cool. War on terror, my ass!!


The world is a sadder place. Where the national song of the country is used to hold people at hostage. In a country where deserts are ransacked by floods and train blasts are killing morale, we have ministers of all shapes and sizes running across Parliament fighting about whether people should be called traitors because they dont sing the NationalAnthem. We have news channels sitting in madrasas from the morning of Sept 7th to show us LIVE the little boys and girls who are "terrorists" because they aren't singing the song along with their classmates..actually zooming in on those kids who're trying to bluff the words. Is there really nothing better to do in India. Are we so free of problems that this can be made a major issue ? As Lyricist Javed Akthar put it -" If a maulvi insists I dont sing it, I will go sing all the verses. If the BJP and RSS demand I sing it, then I wont sing a single word." Stop forcing people to do stuff. You'll only generate disgust where respect earlier sat.

The world is a better place. Where movies like Lage Raho Munnabhai actually come to instil faith in Bollywood's capabilities,to show us that the teachings of Gandhi CAN actually have a place in today's world. While Sanjay Dutt and Warsi are brilliant as the dynamic Munna and Circuit, Vidya Balan is out to prove Parineeta was no flash in the pan..wow!! What screen presence! Personally, I loved this one much better than the first part also..the characters have evolved, the jokes are more hilarious and they've tried a whole new formula which has worked well. I don't know what is my best scene as such..it's the camaraderie that the two characters share - Munna and Circuit..that's present throughout the movie, no single scene can be lifted out.Hmmm. Maybe there's hope for Bollywood yet.


The world is a better place. My 2 classmates . Riyaz and Sheena, got married in Trivandrum this week. Having spent most of my last years in college having my meals ( breakfast to dinner ) with them, finally seeing them get married after some opposition and against some weighty odds was very satisfying. Sometimes, the Dilwale does take the Dulhaniya, you know!!
I'm visiting Trivandrum after a long interval..the last time I set foot in Trivandrum, it was besieged by the tsunami even as I and the others were leaving. This time, to date, no calamity has struck. In between, visits to Kanyakumari, Kovalam and the zoo ( one of my friends had to meet his relatives ) were some of the fun highlights of this trip. While walking the paths in the zoo, I kept telling Govind how I wished a python would just cross in front of us along the roads, just slithering along. It must have been 2 seconds after I said that that we spotted a slithering figure in front of us trying to climb from the pavement into the Bear enclosure.. of course, it wasnt a python. Just an ordinary rat snake.
God has a sense of humor. If he'd only use it more, the world would be a better place.

P.S. Saw Krisshh on cable..did this movie really make 120 crore Rupees!!?! How ? Is that really what is called good graphics these days ? Though then again, after seeing the animated trailors of Krishna & Ganesha, I guess anything goes these days in the name of graphics. If you can't do a job decently, why do it at all is my question ?