My 2 Cents & I am ....

Bhopal--- a tragedy that happend in 1984- still has deep rooted consequences. Victims are still searching for that elusive "complete justice". On December 3rd 2004, it will be 20 years since that horrific day... Days, months, years, decades have passed. Politicians have come and gone. Yet, justice is pending...

Students from 50 Colleges across four continets join in solidarity with Bhopal and will be seeking action in Bhopal and also remembering the 20th Anniversary of this gory disaster.

If you are in the SF-Bay Area, please attend one of the two screenings of BHOPAL: THE SEARCH FOR JUSTICE

In my hometwon of Chennai, friends, family and classmates please attendBhopal Remembered in Chennai

Red Sox Victory finds a mention in Mount Road Mahavishnu

When you shout in Bostonit echoes in Chennai . Red Sox wining the World Series made news in the land of Tendulkars, Sehwags and Dravids. Sport is a great thread running across several nationalities. I hope there are more Sox caps and T-Shirts in Chennai than the incredibly boring Yankee merchandise

Random Note: Both my brother and I have dressed like Shankaracharya for fancy dress competitions in school. I did it in 5th standard and my brother in UKG. Bro- correct me if I was wrong. Other commendale performances by yours truly include Milkman in 1st standard, drunkard in 3rd standard and fortune teller( in plain tamil kudukudu pandi) in 4th standard for which I bagged the Basket award-the school gave me a waste paper basket as the first prize :-) :-)

Shankaracharya's arrest has generated a lot of pages of literature. His case is almost becoming like Princess Diana's murder with each one coming out with a different version everyday and a different facet of his personality being revealed. Murderer tag was the first blow, then came swindler, womanizer etc etc. I hope the circus ends soon and media starts talking some serious issues.

One more equally important arrest happend over the last weekend and the media did not even drop a line on this arrest. Sandeep Pandey -Magsaysay award winner was arrested in Uttar Pradesh on Nov 24 for protesting against Coca-Cola siphoning 25 lakh litres of ground water everyday. Pandey, interestingly is also the recipent of MIT Technovator award for this year.

Aren't issues like water and environmental degradation more significant? I think progressive media in the country has to wake up and start devoting more columns to issues directly affecting the lives of the people.

My novel hasn't gone anywhere. It is stuck at Chapter 1. Although I have the ideas, I haven't had the time. I saw "Whats Eating Gilbert Grape" last weekend. An old movie but some great performances by Johnny Depp and Leanardo De Caprio. It was quite slow and at times, it was slow that I thought the cricket match in Kanpur was faster.

Did you see Ron Artest and Indiana pacers fighting with the fans in detroit.. Reminded me of Tamil Nadu assembly. Coming to think about it, Artest has a history of diabolical behavior like the famed MLA Thamaraikani... :-)

Also, Thalaivar Rajni's first daughter got married. Hindu carried a photo for the ages with Thalaivar and Amitabh in a friendly embrace. I checked out The Marriage Photos and was most happy to see our man Jeppiar ( ****whistle*** ***whistle****) . JP would have gone back to Sathyabama and narrated the events to students in his cavalier english- "Dhanush marrying the aishwarya....Me enjoy"... I can imagine what a laugh riot it would have been....

The photos clealry revealed one thing... first there is thalaivar, then light and then his daughter Soundarya Rajinikant. Isn't she hawwwt? She is high on the list of goodlooking Tamil women available for matrimony. I am sure she will break a lot of hearts when she decides to tie the knot. One Humble request to the offering of Thalaivar, PLEASE DON"T MARRY A THUNDUBEEDI like DANUSH.... Getting married itself hurts hearts big time but getting married to someone like Danush... man it is like rubbing salt into the wounds....

"Kanna, ONE For INDIA ku donate pannu. Angae ORU DOLLAR KUDUTHALAM NOORU PERUKKU ADHU POI SERUM" - Thalaivar was saying publicizing One For India campaign. Before you guys brande me as a lunatic, this was in my dreams. I have been thinking long and hard about the way to publicize this campaign that will eventually affect the lives of scores of people living in rural areas and hence it has dominated my dreams.

But interesting point is how punclines affect your psyche. Be it Thalaivar in Baasha saying "ORU thadavae sonna nooru thadavae sonna madhiri"(If I say it once, it is like me saying it a hundred times) or the old bearded man in nayagan saying "Naaluku Perrukku oodhavi pannanumna ennavenumna seyalam" ( Anything can be done to help people). These lines have a real impact. One of my favorite ones has to be Amrish Puri(I hope it is Amrish Puri. Its dinner time, I might have been confused as I am thinking about Bhel Puri) in Mr. India uttering "Mugambo, Kush Hua". How about Tom Cruise in Jerry Mcguire "Show Me the Money" and Arnold Swarnasekhar's (sorry couldn't spell his last name and MS spellcheck replaced it for me) - "I will be back" or 007's "Name is Bond, James Bond"

The most chick-flicky one has to be Shahrukh Khan stuttering "Bade Bade Deshon me.... blah blah blah" in DDLJ. The most digusting ones would be the ones used by Vijayakanth which neither befit the role nor his expanding waistline.

So the one liners are good but I liked the Master Card commercial a lot especially the ones involving the red sox so I decided to use it as an email aignature ...

Books for Disadvantaged Children - $10
Health Care for a Tribal Village - $100
Electricity for a remote community - $1000
Satisfaction of making a difference - Priceless

To share the joy of the holiday season
visit
ONE FOR INDIA

Corruption prevails everywhere in India. Have you ever tried to stop corruption? Eliminate Corruption at All Levels by neither receiving or accepting bribes.

Just ONE dollar a day: has built 20 watershed structures for soil conservation

Just ONE day’s salary a month: has supported a village school for 200 children for 6 months

Just ONE percent of salary per year: has supported an AIDS health care clinic for 3 months

Pick up anyONE of the above or define your own ONE. Rest assured that I will see that it counts! Make your valuable contribution at One for India
!

If you do send out ecards, enjoy the latest feaure on this site, using pictures from the 2005 calendars. You can try and send out ecards from
http://www.oneforindia.org/ecards.php

Remember everyONE counts@oneforindia.org!!

This news should have made it to the front pages. I cannot underestimate the value of this doctor to the society. Only after watching his program in 10th standard I realized that eating drumsticks doesn't really increase your sexual drive , a theory popularized by the one and only Bhagyaraj :-). Thank you, Mr.. Bootham for all your service for making me understand the propogation of generation through reproduction. May he rest with a soul in peace :-)

As Shankaracharya was put behind the bars, few images of his crossed my minds. The most enduring image has to be the image of man making his early morning appearance in Doordarshan to deliver his special address on the day of Diwali, Pongal etc. As I stated earlier, I went to schools patronized by the Sankara Mutt but I never had a chance to see the man up close and personal. He did come to my school once when I was in high school but my class teacher decided to put me as a volunteer who would man the gates of the school. Maybe she wanted to keep the non-belivers as far as possible.

Just when I wrote about his apparance at DD, I remembered that opening tune of DD, it used to bring so much happiness to me when I used to wake up for the cricket matches during the 1992 world cup. It was almost like the mating call of a wolf mixed with the pouting of an adamant third grader. DD used to be so much fun.... Remember the tuesday drama at 7:30 , wednesday Chitahaar, Friday Oliyum Oliyum... used to be times when the whole family would be glued to the idiot box. DD really united families. :-) How about DD2's own Junoon. My favorite was Keshav Kalsi and his subtle Thatha Nagarkar... Baba Sehgal, the Desi Snoop Dog( snoop dog fans forgive me) came into his own in Superhit Muqabla.

The King of romance

One more romantic Shahrukh Khan film released this week. King Khan will soon become "King Kaun" if he continues the trend of romantic films. The one film which set the tone for his career and singing, dancing with his heroines in "la la land" was Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge[DDLJ] and it is definitely one of my personal favorites. Shahrukh Khan and Kajol just made us, go and fall in love with them. The breezy first half shot beautifully in the locales of Europe and slightly slower second half shot in Punjab. The movie made me realize what a folly not knowing Hindi very well was as I was unable to comprehend fully what the beautiful Kajol meant most of the time. Kajol moved on to greater planes but Shahrukh got stereotyped. Then came DTPH, KKHH, ABCDEFGH and in all these movies he either played Raj, Rahul running around trees and dancing. The one guy whose career took a similar flight could be that veteran Tamil actor Chandrasekhar(He is the guy with a bad hair day on everyday and sports a thick beard and in his most famous role sings "La La La LALA llaa lala la) who never graduated from his union leader roles.

Anyway, I am awaiting Shahrukh's next movie "Swades" and it might turn out to be his best provided he hasn't overacted. I am particularly excited about this movie as the director has drawn his inspiration from one of the projects supported by AID in Maharashtra and he acknowledges Ravi, the founder of AID in the movie's website. Incidentally Ravi's life is quite to similar to the life of Shahrukh Khan in the movie. Shahrukh decides to leave his job in NASA and goes to India to improving the living of the rual masses which is exactly what Ravi did after finishing his Ph.D in Physics at University of Maryland at College Park.

Hare Hara Sankara Jaya Jaya sankar used to the hym in school. I went to a school patronized by the Mutt but I was never a favorite of God men. Although I am not going to take sides in this issue, now that the Police have gone ahead with the arrest it is only fair that the Sankaracharya proves that he is not guilty in order to enhance his reputation. In my opinion, the true criminals must be bought to book irrespective of the social/political standing. The case might open a political can of worms which again is good for the country. VHP will continue to shout from the rooftops, BJP might use this incident to stir up the party ranks who have been down and out after their recent debacles, AIADMK will try to remove the "pro Hindu" overcoat that it was supposedly wearing, DMK will denounce the practice of idol worships etc and I will follow all the news from Kanchi Acharya : arrest, shock and drama

Yahoo sucks!!!( No puns)

I have a visiter counter installed on this blog whic tells me where my new readers come from. One guy came from a search in yahoo titled
Mandira Bedi-Breast and the first result that showed up was my blog... I have never blogged on Mandira's bosm before and I was pretty surprised. No wonder Google is the No.1 search engine leading the search wars.....

You have seen a lot of Indian maps in United States, with Kashmir attached to Pakistan. Here is the most realistic map of America....IdlyChutney :: Fun Stuff :: After the Elections...

Gilly Dhool Machi!!!

This is not a post about the Vijay movie "Gilly". Adam Gilchrist - that baby faced cricketer who has won the hearts of many, many Indians on the recent tour to India. Gilly walked when he was out to the utter disbelief of the numerous Australians who have always stood there even after getting the thickest of edges. A whirlwind batsman, an excellent wicketkepper and now an extraordinary human being....
Abstract Power: A Lovable Gilly

Vanity is the most dangerous sin
There is something about being a celebrity. Somehow, they have a knack of getting into trouble or is it because the media never misses a beat while highlighting the notoriety of celebrities. One morerole model sets a bad precedent. Just because he is an ace swimmer, he cannot float even while he is the ground. :-)

Cricket had a special place in the Indian household. Irrespective of their knowledge of the game, Indians thronged the TV sets and transistor boxes to watch/listen India-Pakistan game. Seeds of rivalry and enemity are sown were early in the hearts of the kids of both countries that they believe that Indian and Pakistan are bitterest of enemies. Some households even go to the extent of calling the practitioners of the opposite faith as traitors or enemies.
A Novel Attempt

Read this in a newspaper today and couldn't stop blogging about Jeppiar. The man has a fantastic sense of speech and delivery. He thinks about his speech in Tamil, gives it shape in Latin and delivers it in her majesty's language. Here are some snippets of his greatness

I have 2 daughters, both are girls!!!
At one othr instance he said, I have 4 daughters, two are girls ( he meants two are unmarried)
I talk he talk, why you basket basket talk

- Warm Welcoming...
- Kaalage is a Tembil of naalage (College is the temple of knowledge)
- Car Stopping Mutton Jumping

Once JPR was travelling in travelling with his one of his daughters and wife. His wife was in the lower berth, and daughter in the middle and JPR himself in the upper berth. Sometime in the midnight his daughter went to the rest room and someone else (a guy) occopied the middle berth. JPR went to the TTC and complained:
"The man sleeping on top of my wife is not giving BIRTH to my daughter!!"

In front of the classroom blocks, when we were having breakfast, one guy who was going to sabhari malai was talking to us. He hadnt shaved and when Jeppiaar came, he tried to get inside the classroom. Jeppiaar called tht guy and then announced to "mountain going people shaving not need"

Boy Boy Mingle !
Girl Girl Mingle Mingle!
Boy Girl No Jingle Mingle!

Once Jeppiaar was scolding students for coming to the bus stop early. When asked why?, he said this:
Boy come early, Girl come early
When Bus comes slowly
Why?
All to be jolly

Spams reach the blogs now .....Ready Set Search.com

My roommate at ASU always strummed Pink Floyd's The Wall on the guitar while he was learning to play the instrument. It became a fact of our lives that another friend and me decided to start our own band. We coined the name "Catterpillars", the band in which the instruments outdo(read mask) the vocals and the vocals outdo( read mask) the instrument thereby presenting a musical delusion. We wanted to present it a psychedelic feel much like - Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb. What an apt song for my feelings of the past few days

Dumb and the dumber
I just recovered from coma. I cannot remember anything that happend in the last few days. My last words before resurrection were 'OH I O"(pronunciation key Oh Aiyoooo). Alas, America is becoming Gandhian. Remember the great man said "When someone hits you, show them the other cheek as well". Time for more Bushisms folks - "Laughter is the Best Medicine"

The Governor of Tamil Nadu was teed off the state by the Centre because he did not host the tea party on Independence day. Maybe Shivraj Patil was getting a Clintonesque treatment from one of his subordinates when the call from Jayalalitha seeking clarification (about the change of governor) intervened. (Sorry for the long sentence. I am yet to recover from Kerryomalacia) How Bizzare!!! Tea party for Tamil Nadu politicians!!!! What a joke? Most of them are always intoxicated in seventh heaven after consuming their favorite brand of "sarraku". Don't be surprised if the next Governor is shown the door for not having hosted a cabaret dance party on New Year's eve. To be fair to Shivraj Patil- maybe his Government was encouraging "tee-totalism".

P.S: As it is Diwali time, I hear words like "Buuss", "Double Sound", "Atom Bomb". The doctor has strongly advised me not to hear/see/speak these words as the hallunications might start again and I might slip back to Coma. See you after four years, I have become Comfortably numb.

It has become a practice for me to lose my voice cheering the losers. Kerry conceded the election. Bush makes a successful return to the White House. Congrats Mr. President. The debates should be stopped after all the victor in the debate never wins the election.

Anyways, now the funy stuff stuff is over. I need to start blogging about more serious things like divorces, cheating husbands, eloping film stars. Recently I received a note from a friend about a stupid husband. On the day of 9/11, our man working in the 103rd floor chose to skip work and spend his morning in his girlfriend's bed. After he finished his kinky job at around 10, he switched his cellphone on before he turned on the news. The first call was from his wife who in a very concerned tone wanted to know how he was and where he was. Our man in the most convincing tone said "Honey, I am at work. I am alright".

ROCK THE VOTE
I am terribly disappointed with American Elections. No Holiday!!!. In India, elections happen with a huge fan fare. I remember in the good ol' days of Doordarshan, election days were much awaited as there used to movie telecasts interspersed with the latest and greatest news. Even the campaign trail, no posters, no auto rickshaws blaring "MGR" songs. No wonder we call ourselves "a vibrant democracy".

I have a profound love for the election process. The irony is that I have never had a chance to cast the ballot in any election except a school election in which I voted for myself. I desperately wanted to cast my vote in this years Indian election but the Indian constituition does not allow for folks sitting outisde the Indian shores to cast their votes. You are talking close to 74,000 Indian students being disenfranchised and this is twice the number of legtimate voters in Lakshwadeep.

The least I could do was send a few emails to Economic Times, Hindu and Indian Express and ET responded with a news article. I am under the impression that the new Government is making progress in amending the constituition so that it allows Indians living outside India to vote.

"Lets Go Devils'[LGD] - I was shouting as my voice almost broke. Not only me, but there were hundreds of other fans who were chanting LGD, LGD, LGD. But I guess Andrew Walter and his offense turned deaf in the cold and they never went anywhere. Saturday was a day of frustration as all our hopes of going to the rose bowl were dashed as we suffered a humiliating defeat in the hands of California, Berkeley. The score doesn't warrant a mention in this blog.

Andrew Walter is just like Sachin Tendulkar. He has lofty statistics aginst the minnows and never fails to slaughter innocence. When the team has an opening to enter into the portals of greatness, he simply falters. He indeed is a paper tiger.

HATE HATE

Yesterday was the day 20 years back, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot dead and hell broke loose in Delhi. Sikhs were slaughtered much like the communal riots in Gujarat couple of years back. All these years later, the reality is that there is so much of hate in this world. Folks embracing other faiths and being co-existent are branded as "atheists" . I can stand a few sporadic incidents around the world engineered by the lunatic fringes of every religion but I cannot really tolerate any state sponsored terrorism or communalism. Bono's(U2) words are really golden when he laments.....

Broken bottles under children's feet
Bodies strewn across the dead end street

And the battle's just begun
There's many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters
Torn apart

And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die