Things I want to do in this lifetime....

"Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
- M K Gandhi
Driving home , leafing through magazines , surfing TV....just a few times you come across, read or see something and go "aah....wish I could do that"

Here's my list of "Gosh....I wanna do that atleast once" things...
Some of them are just stupid things i wish to do , but probably know I can never get myself to do them.

1. Watch the Monaco Grand Prix from the grand stands. - (Sep 2008 - Singapore GP)
2. Win a poker tournament.
3. Win lots of money at Vegas.
4. Go Vegetarian (Yeah Right!)
5. Recieve a standing ovation (someday....someday!)
6. Visit the Pyramids in Egypt.
7. Improve my French.
8. Go to Japan and have sushi.
9. Go for an A R Rahman Concert.
10. Stand as an umpire for a One Day match.
11. Get better at small talk.
12. Visit a wildlife sanctuary somewhere in India and watch a tiger. (June 07, Corbett , here I come !) - (DONE - Ranthambhore ; May 2008)
13. Learn to Bartend and mix the perfect drink. (DONE - ask Sumedh, Veena & Rima ! HA! )
14. Solve a Rubik's Cube .
15. Go bulemic and lose lots of weight.
16. Save someone's life (almost came close to doing it once!)
17. Get drunk and then play cricket.
18. Meet Borat in real life. . . !(Sometimes I meet him in the mirror...Not!) Sorry :(
19. Travel overseas (say Australia (March) or Italy (September)..) with my best friends for over a month on a shoe string budget.
20. Own a Sports Bar .
21. Drive a Ferrari Modena 360.
22. Make a comprehensive family tree and know who is who in my family for once and for all to avoid all those puzzled looks that come on my face when wierd relatives ask me "You know who I am , don't you?" at family weddings.
23. Stay in a posh grand glitzy hotel in London.
24. Own a Foosball table.
25. Have 3 dogs - a labrador , a cockerspaniel and a german shepherd.
26. Visit the Smithsonian National Air and Space museum , DC. (thanks Kulki!)
27. Visit all 7 continents.
28. Stay in a castle.
29. Stop allowing outside influences to determine the way I think, act, and feel; in whatever little way it does now.
30. Have a movie marathon of my favourite 5 comedy movies with my friends at my place.
31. Have a pair of handcuffs.
32. Be a police Officer for a day.
33. Get better at playing the tabla.
35. Have someone gift me a Nikon D 200. (DONE - atleast half done, I own a Nikon D80)
36. Learn to ride a motorbike . (Yes, I dont know how to ride one !)


The List will see more and more additions as I become more and more crazier.

Current mood : Nostalgic
Current song : Teri Deewani (Kalash Kher - Kailasa)
Thanks , Ashwin Kulkarni - got this idea from your blog.

My Visual DNA

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My Favourite Movies !

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
What can I say about this movie ! If you haven’t seen this movie , you have probably missed out on the biggest and the best comedy movie ever. Dirty, Ugly, Repulsive , Crude , but downright funny. With its satirical pranks played on unsuspecting Americans by the main characters – Borat Sagdieyev and Azamat Bagatov , this movie is two hours of non stop laughs. (caution: after the movie , you tend to speak in a Russian accent for a few days) .
Trivia: this movie won a Golden Globe for best actor in a comic role , and an Oscar Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (too bad ‘The Departed’ won).
I have always seen movies like Air Force , a couple of James Bond movies where the Americans were always the good guys and the Russians the terrorists.
Well , finally the Russians have struck back and in style ! Waawaaveewah !
Recommended Watching : Any day when you are feeling low or anti American.

Andaaz Apna Apna
Crazy Movie , Crazy Dialogues , Crazy Characters and Crazy situations. That’s all this hilarious movie is all about. Shakti Kapoor in his only non villainous , non raping role in Hindi Cinema is actually funny. The first time Paresh Rawal’s comic side came to the fore with his senselessly funny dialogues like “mark idhar hai , Teja mai hoon!”
Karishma , Raveena were good. But Aamir , Salman , the Ajit look alike and Viju Khote (Robert) with their excellent comic timings make the movie an absolute winner. One of the few movies you can watch over and over again.

Swades
Easily one of the best Hindi movies made in the last 20 years. One of the main reasons I liked the movie was because Shah Rukh Khan played ‘the character’ – Mohan Bhargava , and not himself – ‘Shah Rukh Khan’. To clarify my point, I’d like to point to all of SRK’s other movies – Kal Ho Na Ho , K3G ,Mohabbatein , Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna , Veer Zaara , Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Don’t you think it’s the same character – Rahul / Raj ie. Shahrukh Khan. who is growing up and the different movies have just captured different phases of his life .
Why for that matter even in Asoka , he seemed just like Rahul wearing a different costume with his typical smile , laugh , arrogance , that tiny bit of stammering and that weird thing he does with his eye brows while kind of squinting his eyes!
Aamir Khan, on the other hand, never seems repetitive – DCH, Lagaan , Mangal Pandey, RDB . SRK- He just doesn’t come out of his Raj/ Rahul mould . BUT Swades , thankfully saw director Ashutosh Gowariker do just that. For a change Shah Rukh Khan did act well.
Amazing background score.Brilliant songs.Excellent acting by others in the cast such as Kishori Balal (Kaveri Amma) , Gayatri Joshi (Geeta). Few scenes get a lump in my throat everytime I watch the movie – the scene where the water boy is running past the train screaming “paani lo paani, pachis paisa, pani lo pani”and Mohan is moved to tears as Melaram hands over some change to him to buy a glass of water.
Outstanding movie.
Recommended Viewing : Jan 26th of Aug 15th, I guarantee you will stay patriotic for a year atleast!

Airplane !
The God of all slap stick comedies. Non sense comedy all around. This movie was one of the first few movies of Leslie Neilson. Right from the opening titles to the ending credits, not a moment that does not have some humour in it – subtle or overt.
Caution : Try not to watch the movie before flying out to some place, and definitely not while on an aircraft.

The Godfather(I)
A Masterpiece!
The only movie of Marlon Brando I have ever seen , And I do not want to see any other movie of his simply because I fear that movie might not match up to what he has done in The Godfather. Gripping right from the beginning to the end.Epic scenes : Bonasera meets the Godfather ; Godfather meets Sollozo ; Godfather meets Bonasera (undertaker) after Sonny is dead – each scene , each dialogue , each word stays with you , haunts you.
One of the finest movies to have ever been made.
Recommended Viewing : Any day any time.

Satya
Dark and realistic .Ram Gopal Varma - (RGV) ’s first of his underworld Trilogy – Satya stands out for its superb emsemble cast and stupendous acting by each of them. Chekravarthy as the protagonist – the silent intense ‘Satya’ is excellent. But the real stars of the movie for me were Manoj Bajpai (Bhiku Mhatre) and Shefali Chaya (Bhiku’s wife).
One of the first movies in Hindi Cinema to portray the Mumbai underworld realistically.
One of RGV’s finest works.

Company
The second of RGV’s trilogy.
If Satya was brutal , crude and hard hitting ; Company was suave , sophisticated , stylish , but with the same impact. Although he got much critical acclaim for his part , I personally think Vivek Oberoi overdid his part and did ham his way through quite a few scenes. None the less , Ajay Devgan was intensity personified and he did a fantastic job.
Now blame my mallu roots or call it the effect of sub conscious Asianet/Surya TV viewing, but for me , the real hero of the whole movie was Mohanlal. Just loved him in the movie.
Be it the accented dialogues , or the typical malayalee mannerisms , he was absolutely brilliant through out the movie.

Sarkar
RGV’s last movie in the Underworld Trilogy. The movie begins with a note from RGV that this is his tribute to The Godfather. Similar in many ways to The Godfather yet dissimilar in many ways. Sadly Sarkar saw only a few ‘complete’ characters who had depth and some recall value – Sarkar , His sons (Shankar, Vishnu) , Rashid , Selvar Mani , may be Swamiji.
But once you saw The Godfather , you almost knew everybody –The Godfather , Tom Hagen , Sonny , Michael , Luca Brazi , Sollozo , Kay Adams , Tessio , Clemenza , everybody !
Nonetheless , Amitabh , even though essaying a role that had already been acted out in the best way possible , did a mighty good job of it. As did Kay Kay Menon and Abhishek.
Good Background music and tight editing keeping it only a little over 2 hours made it a good movie.

Maqbool
The Indian Adaptation of Macbeth.I haven’t read or seen Macbeth in any form. Maqbool makes you go through the whole gamut of emotions.The chemistry between Tabu and Irrfan Khan is magical. Personally I think Tabu has acted out of her skin , so much so that you start hating her for the treachery she commits in the movie.Great songs. Very Marlon Brando / Godfatheresque performance by Pankaj Kapoor. Hindi Cinema at its best.

Kimi wins OZ GP.

Kimi Räikkönen drew first blood in the battle that got underway at Melbourne’s Albert Park, the season opener for the 2007 FIA Formula One Championship with a resounding win. Leading for most of the race, he always seemed like winning the race right from the start, which saw some drama as Alonso, who had started 2nd on the grid ,dropping down to 4th position at the first corner. Defending World Champion Fernando Alonso’s new team McLaren had a great outing with Alonso finishing on 2nd position and his rookie team mate Lewis Hamilton finishing third.
Others among the points were Hiedfeld, Fisichella, Massa, Rosberg and Ralf.
The race had a perfect setting with clear blue skies, a bone dry track and 22 drivers eagerly waiting to start off.
Kimi lead into turn one which later on during the course of the day , proved to be the only point on the track where an overtaking maneuver was possible. But Alonso lost major ground as Lewis, who stealthily took the inner line into turn 1, edging out Alonso and Kubica, then swiftly splitting the two McLarens into the straight that followed.
Lewis soon dropped a place but quickly regained his composure to snatch 3rd position back from Alonso. Kimi Räikkönen, by now was already gaining a second a lap. This surely had to mean the reason he set an ultra quick qualifying lap was his light fuel load.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who started at the back of the grid steadily was climbing up but found himself stuck behind David Coulthard, Honda’s Barichello and a very, very sluggish Jenson Button. But by lap 5 he overcame Coulthard, as Kimi set his first of many fastest laps, in the same lap.
By the 8th lap the gap between first placed Kimi Räikkönen and 3rd placed Alonso was almost 10 seconds.
Now a 2 stop strategy is considered normal in Albert Park, but was Ferrari going to spring up a surprise with a 3 stop strategy? It seemed highly improbable; Ferrari would have backed Michael to pull it off, but it just didn’t seem right here. We would have to wait and find out.
The 12th lap saw the first retirement with Christijan Albers retiring after banging his car into the barricades. The excuse: his ear plug had come off, which distracted him and he missed the braking point! Unbelievable!
The first round of pitstops were expected between the 19th to 25th laps , but Hiedfeld came in earlier in the 15th lap and came out on track in front of Red Bull’s Webber and Ralf and Trulli to claim 6th position.
Meanwhile in the middle of the pack, the train of Button, Reubens, and Massa finally saw some change with Barichello finding his way past Button at an unexpected corner.
But at the top, Alonso now looking quite settled but subdued had clawed his way past Kubica into 3rd position.
Now the 18th lap from Kimi was an absolute blinder : a text book in-lap , setting the fastest first and second sector timings , quickly in and out of the pit lane , rejoining in 4th behind the Mclarens and Kubica .So he wasn’t light on fuel after all , he was simply brilliant with the car ! Outstanding driving from the Finnish driver, but will he carry it through the race?

The Williams, Red Bulls and the Renaults had been relatively out of any action on the track but at the head for the first time in his debut race Lewis Hamilton of McLaren was leading the Australian Grand Prix.
The question now was – when will the McLarens pit?
The answer came in the 22nd & 23rd laps with Alonso and Hamilton pitting in consecutive laps, although Hamilton’s in-lap was compromised by some back marker traffic, he eventually managed to frustrate Fernando Alonso by emerging in front of him from the pit lane.
Hamilton gradually building up his lead gradually showing that even though they were team mates, the competition was fierce as ever.
By lap 28, Massa and Coulthard were the only drivers who hadn’t yet pitted.
And it seemed as if the two drivers might just pull off a one stop race.
Finally in the 29th lap, Massa pitted for what seemed an eternity, surely this was going to dent his chances of getting any championship points. But it was a one stop race for him for sure!
The 31st lap saw STR Ferrari’s Scott Speed – unimpressive throughout, retiring from the race.

The 2007 Season has brought in new rule changes – a new pit speed limit of 80 kmph down from 100 kmph and Refueling had now been disallowed during safety car periods.
And Jenson Button got an extra lesson at that with a drive thru penalty for speeding in the pit lane in the 31st lap.
By the 33rd lap Massa had crept into the top ten. The 37th lap saw some action and drama with Rosberg overtaking Ralf in stunning fashion and Kubica disappointingly retiring; he looked like a genuine contender for a podium position.
By lap 39 the second window of pit stops had come up, this round of pit stops would be rapid pit stops with only the exact amount of fuel required to finish the race going in to the car.
Heiki Kovalinen had a moment of concentration loss, spinning his Renault in the first corner of his 40th lap, with Massa gaining a place on him relegating Kovalinen to 9th place.

In the 41st lap, Kimi Räikkönen dipped below 1min 25sec barrier with yet another brilliant in-lap coming in for a super quick pit stop rejoining the race in 3rd place behind the McLarens - but they still had a pitstop each to go.
The 45th saw Alonso pitting and he came out on track ahead of Lewis Hamilton , much to everybody’s surprise. Now, had Ron Dennis asked Hamilton to pull up just enough to let Alonso come out in front? Had this been all pre planned?
It very well could have been!
Massa, by now had now come to a respectable 6th position and was only nursing his car to the finish line to get points for his team. Commendable indeed, having started from the absolute back of the grid
With ten laps to go, Kimi was now all seemed set to win, but last minute uncertainties have always been Kimi’s specialty and he was surely driving this car to its limit with almost 15 seconds between him and Alonso.
During the 50th lap, old war horse Coulthard, trying an over optimistic overtaking maneuver on Wurz, launched himself over the Williams car, resulting in both their retirements.
Heiki Kovalinen, meanwhile seemed completely at sea with yet another spin, thankfully, this time, it didn’t cost him a place. Massa by now kept chopping away at the gap between him and Fisichella and with five laps to go the scarlet car of Massa was all over Fisico’s rear view mirrors,
This is what F1 racing was all about: nail biting, nerve wracking finishes.
The battle brought back glimpses of the epic battle Imola had seen between Schumi and Alonso.
But at the head of the pack, Kimi looked absolutely cool, all set to win the first race of the season. All his critics who questioned his professionalism or rather the lack of it surely were silenced now.
First race for Ferrari - very quick, very clinical, very Kimi indeed!
Alonso, very unlike him seemed as though he had held himself back but did a good job of finishing in second place.
Lewis – what an impressive debut it had been for him! A dream race: finishing with a podium position on his debut race. The last time we saw that was back in Monza last year with Kubica doing the same for BMW Sauber.
Hiedfeld, Fisichella, Massa, Rosberg and Ralf were the others amongst the points.
The podiums saw a new combination of Jean Todt and Kimi Räikkönen which all Ferrari aficionados surely will hope to see more often now.
The competitiveness established, fierceness undeterred, spirit renewed, the F1 season ahead seems to be a lip smacking proposition. The ‘circus’ now travels to exotic Sepang in Malaysia, early April which promises to be an equally engaging cliffhanger. Cheers till then.

© 2007.No part of this article may be reproduced or quoted without the expressed permission of Akshay Gopinathan Nair .

Internship Blues . . . . . .

The modified version of the otherwise well known 'Food Chain'

(This latest blog of mine is dedicated to the numerous medical interns all over the country who at this moment in time are ghisaoing themseleves off doing mundane , useless , purposeless tasks ; or probably running some errand for someone higher up the hierarchy ; all in the name of learning something during this chaotic journey called internship.
So , incase you aren't or have'nt been an intern , chances are that you would'nt be able to appreciate the below expressed frustration.
And in a very clichédly and also very irritatingly schoolboyish way , let me begin with the dictionary meanings since doing monotonous manual labour during my internship has suffocated and killed all the creativity in me ; and I can't do any better than this.)

intern :
n. A physician who has recently graduated from medical school and is learning medical practice in a hospital under supervision, prior to beginning a residency program.
Usage :
'intern' as in , "Dr. John is training as an intern at the Irvine School of Medicine in California ."

also , Indian version

intern :
n. 1.poor innocent individual starting out with a whole set of impossible goals and naive ambitions that end up crushed under the path of some self-righteous bitch/bastard that is dissatisfied with his/her own life and for getting a ass as his/her superior and taking it out on cute young girls / sincere guys who might actually make something of their lives and live their dreams.

2. Free servants in the workplace.
Usage:
'intern' as in: "Abbe Intern , sun na , go to the third floor , get me the brown file ; then go to the radiology dept , give it to the resident doctor there ; collect the reports of the urine samples you sent in the morning from the seventh floor ; come back here and don't you dare leave this place until I tell you to do so.You got that ?!?"

Note : Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948 by the UN General Assembly, explicitly banned slavery.

Im currently at the fag end of my internship.And Im tired , irritated , frustrated and annoyed with the system.

Fact no. 1 :
The intern is on the lowest step in the food chain. Not only can he be eaten up by the one on the step above him , but by anyone and everyone above him in the food chain ; and even those remotely unconnected to the food chain ! (see the photo diagram attached above )

Fact no. 2 :

An Intern may may lose his/her name for the duration of his/her posting . He/She will be referred to simply as 'INTERN' , or usually ' INTERN !!!!' or 'AYE INTERN!!'

Fact no. 3:

An intern's job is only blood collections.

Corollary : Blood collections are exclusively an intern's job.

Let me explain :

In the morning , the intern must complete his mandatory round of pricking every patient and drawing blood. However , if , at any other time during the day , should a need for more blood collections arise , 1 collection or 25 of them , no houseman will ever do that.

Even if a syringe+needle and a spirit swab is given to him, the lousy oaf would rather run about for hours looking for the intern and ask him to do it , he will keep 'missed calling' the intern continuously untill the intern finally calls back or he will give it a miss alltogether and then jhap the intern the next day , rather than do the collection and finish it off in a couple of minutes.

Fact no. 4 :

In the absence of the real naatevaik , the intern becomes the patient's naatevaik .

eg: "Aye sun na , dekh , yeh patient ka relative nahi hai , usko tu neeche X-ray nikaal ke leke aaja , aur phir upar la , iska 2-3 collection baaki hai , toh serum ammonia tu jaake Healthcare mein de , aur blood culture e-lab mein de de , aur sun , vapas aate waqt , uska X-ray collect kar lena phir CCL se iska reports trace kar na hai, aur haan , mein bhool hi gaya , iska grouping - cross matching ka sample blood bank mein dena hai , woh bhi kar na . aur jyaada timepass mat kar , jaldi aaja"

(Aaah ! Now we know why the relative is bloody absconding ! )

Fact no. 5 :
Apparently ,there is no job too low or unfitting for an intern.
Eg:
Scenario i.
"Aye Intern , sun na , hum log ke liye chai leke aana , aur sun , khud ke liye bhi lena"

(WOW ! Thanks !! Im sooooooo happy , I needed that cup of tea 'SO' badly . . . yeah right )

Scenario ii.
"Aye sun na , dekh abhi 12 baj gaya hai , tu ward 40 mein jaake ruk , 2 o' clock ko mera ek relative aanewala hai , uska x-ray aur USG karvake aana "

(bus ?? itna hi ?? aur kuch nahi ? UNKO chai nahi mangta hai kya?? saala kaamchor !)

Scenario iii.
After 15 days in the same department , the registrar (houseman's boss - refer diagram) doesn't recognise you and asks you :
"Tu kaun hai ?"
Me - "Intern"
"Acha Ho gaya , chal sun , tereko 30 number ward malum hai?"
Me (trying to escape with a straight face) - "Nahi !"
"Bas Kya? Chal chod , Kisko bhi puchle , aur udhar jaake Sunita patient ka file leke aanaa"

(Harami sala , try telling a 50 year old , fat , post menopausal , irritated , rude , foul-mouthed , bitchy maushi to run this stupid errand and lets see if you come out alive from the verbal assault you'll recieve)

Scenario iv
"Intern , yeh Nirmala patient ka parso bheja hua urine culture ka report trace karke laa , aur sun , aaj subah jo bhi samples bheja tha , woh sub trace karke laa na "

(Aur kuch saheb ? Joota pochu ? jhadu ? pocha ? bathroom saaf karu ?)

Fact 6.
Sanity still exists .
Yes , It would be injustice to those housemen and registrars* , who have made life easier , if I didn't acknowledge their tolerant and friendly behaviour with us - interns.
Nonetheless , Internship has been an enriching experience during which I have made a lot of mistakes , learnt a lot from them , made great friends and had a ball !

.

* Dr Srikanth Kakad(Med) , Dr. Anup T (Med) Dr Trupti (Psy) , Dr Sachin(Surg) ,Dr Sundaram (Surg) , Dr Mihir (Orth), Dr Vikramaditya (surg) -RNCH - absolute gems and great clinicians .Thanks guys !

Disclaimer : (After spewing so much venom, I need to save my ass, don't I ?) 
Note : That the doctors and the paramedical staff at KEMH are doing a fantastic job with the resources available to them is a well known fact , and is sincerely appreciated by the author. With due respect to the senior doctors at KEMH , the picture alongside the article is only a satirical caricature of the hierarchial architecture that exists in our hospitals.No part of this picture or this article depicts any particular individual(s) , but , it is merely an exaggerated reflection of the system in place.The author's over indulgence is not meant to hurt any concerned party's sentiments.No offence should be taken since , none is intended.


© 2006 .No part of this article may be reproduced or quoted without the expressed permission of Akshay Gopinathan Nair .

After Gandhi-giri , is this Baba-giri ? . .

A statue of Dr. B R Ambedkar is destroyed in Kanpur . Within a few hours , Maharashtra burns. A 23 year old youth loses his life in the riots in Nashik. One more is killed in Osmanabad district.A curfew is imposed in Pimpri and Pune .Sporadic rioting is seen all over Mumbai with public transport virtually shutting down. People stranded at work , schools shut; roads closed. Chaos all over. But the worst is yet to come , 2 boggies of the Deccan Queen are burnt in Ulhasnagar.
All of this happened as a result the anger and rage amongst the people who wanted to protest against the desecration of Dr. Ambedkar's statue.Is the anger justified ? Yes. But are the means justified ? No way.
After Sanjubaba showed the nation what Gandhigiri was , are we now seeing Babagiri ? Most definitely not , if at all anything , its only dadagiri !
Dr. Ambedkar's vision of a discrimination free India was and is noble and exemplary. A man who was truly way ahead of his times. And at a time when dalits were discriminated against , he stood up for them and championed their causes, made consitutional arrangements to ensure equitable distribution of opportunities and resources . The old Hindu society ,supposedly had a religiously sanctioned racism that had maimed, dehumanized and destroyed hundreds of millions of people through the ages .
But now 56 years after Ambedkar took the first step in the social unification of India ,one doesn't see the kind of inhuman and degenerated practices of caste based discrimination often, especially in a cosmopolitan city like Mumbai.Ofcourse , my thoughts here , obviously , are those of an urban observer. The whole concept of 'untouchability' has been universally abolished . His vision , 'not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially' , has been achieved. But there is a lot of work left to be done.
I see no reason why burning trains , stoning shops , stopping traffic and disrupting normal life can do any good. I am not against the protests , I am against the way they protestors protest. Not only are the way they protested a massive waste of time , energy , human resources ; but more importantly this is a step back in time , in terms of our thoughts and idealogies. If someone's thoughts , ideas or actions hurt someone else's sentiments , there is surely a more civilised way to register one's protest.
The saddest part of this whole affair is that Dr. Ambedkar was a Gandhian , and would never have approved of this. He was someone who personified the idiom "the pen is mightier than the sword" . The country has come a long way in trying to achieve social uniformity , and this is not because of the politicians , but inspite of them.
However , when such unnecessary acts of violence take place , it only ensures further alienation of the so called oppressed section of society. They drift more and more away mainstream society , of which they themselves ,unknowingly , are such an integral part of. This 'Rang De Basanti and Lage Rahe Munnabhai ' generation should realise that only when this vision of a unified people is achieved ,will the country go ahead.
This vision will never be achieved overnight or in a matter weeks or months. It has to be a gradual, radical, sustained and united effort by an entire generation. It will be oppressed, suppressed and questioned; it may not be practical at first .Call it overtly Utopian , bhashanbaaji or impractical but a beginning has to be made somewhere. What we need is not a secular rethink, but a secular movement or perhaps even a secular revolution. It must change our thoughts, words, ideas and eventually reflect in our actions. And as citizens for peace, we know deep down inside that this is not only the path to peace but also to progress. The Power to help ourselves in within, we just need to find the strength to use it responsibly.
Jai Hind.
Jai Maharashtra.

© 2006 .No part of this article may be reproduced or quoted without the expressed permission of Akshay Gopinathan Nair .

The Death Of Indian Cricket Telecasts

Indian Cricket Telecasting ,
1983 - 2006
Died an untimely death.
Allegedly driven to commit suicide by three main accused persons -
1.Excessive Sponsorship,21 ,
2.Mindless Competitions,45
3.Spaghetti Tops ,(sweet)16.
Last seen with a mumbling , fumbling , 'punny' , sardarji (previously convicted for assault on a parking attendant - with kicks and punches; now uses fast , meaningless words , expressions learnt by rote and brightly coloured matching ties and pagadis for the same purpose ).
Also implicated in the murder are 3 more accomplices -
1. Plunging Necklines,18
2. Extravagant Jewelery,43
3. Ghastly Make-up,33
All three of whom are known to work for an expert assasin - Ms Mandira Bedi , by attracting the onlookers' attention towards themselves , thus successfully concealing their boss' incomprehensibile, insignificant, negliglible knowledge of cricket.
All the suspects and accused work together in tandem , simultaneously ; to create one of the biggest blunders in Indian Television History , on the most inappropriate platform , a daily soap channel - SET max.
Resuscitation was attempted by Bhogle , Gavaskar et al ; however , it was all in vain . . . .
The last words , reportedly heard were "Hoo Haa India" (meaning and purpose not known).
R.I.P

© 2006 .No part of this article may be reproduced or quoted without the expressed permission of Akshay Gopinathan Nair .

That Familiar Tune . . . . Once again. . . .

I was pleasantly surprised to find this old song on the net - I remember, as a kid , it used to be one of my favourite songs on TV.And not simply because it had a very catchy , multi-linguistic , patriotic tinge to it ; but because it had an absolutely stunning video ! That song was "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" . . . One of the doordarshan-ised Prasar Bharati released National Integration songs that stuck in my memory . Another one that I can recall is "Baje Sargam Har taraf se" .
Anyways , after looking up for it on the net I found out that Mile sur mera tumhara was released in 1987 commemorating the 40th anniversary of Indian Independence .The amazing part of the video was the beautiful , yet simple way in which it captured the absolute essence of each and every state it featured - picking up famous celebrities from each state , combined with great locales , stirring music and vocals by stalwart from the field of music - the result being a masterpiece.
Its an absolute treat - The tall man manoeuvring his boat , the tibals dancing with the mountains of the north east in the back ground , Narendra Hirwani , Kamal Hassan , that tall thin malayali on an elephant , Hema Malini , Lata Mangeshkar , the punjabi family of 15 - all on one tractor! , Kapil Dev ,Shabana Azmi , Sunil Gavaskar running with the flame torch in the rain , Amitabh Bachchan , Jitendra with Mithun ! , the metro of Kolkata , Mario Miranda painting a landscape in Goa , and finally the Tricoloured kids coming in running from three different directions (remember the sardar kid wearing a saffron pagadi?!) . . .with the music building up into a crescendo and finally merging in with Jana Gana Mana You could
feel the goosebumps and the lump in the throat as you watch the video . .As kids , we obviously couldnt have appreciated the finer points of this song but there was something in it that made us fall in love with it and watch it over and over again each time it was aired on DD.
The newer National Integration promotional videos aired on TV with all maestros singing a few lines each of the national anthem on an A R Rahman composed background score and video shot in Ladakh is indeed good , but , not a patch on Mile Sur.. -(Sigh!) They don't make 'em like this anymore . . . .

The link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7OkWpfTz1U&mode=related&search


© 2006 .No part of this article may be reproduced or quoted without the expressed permission of Akshay Gopinathan Nair .