My 2 Cents & I am ....

HELLO !!! HELLLO!!! HELLLO!!!!!

This wasn't the time that I was going to hang up saying it was a wrong number. U2 just kicked ass in the concert on Monday at Seattle Key Arena. 16,000 to 17,000 people were on their feet for the whole damn 2 hour concert and Bono was simply majestic. Just as you would expect, the concert had the heavy undertones of anti war messsages, the AIDS campaigns and the promotion of peace and non-violence. I loved it for the messages as much as I did for the music. Unlike other bands which go on album promotion concert tours, playing music from their latest album, U2 had a great mix of old and new songs. I would have been absolutely let down if they just played songs from their latest album but thank god they played many of their old songs as well.



Next burning question- Was Bill Gates there and did Bono shack up with him after the concert. Just like some of you, I too read itfrom the news yesterday. It wouldn't surprise me as the two men are luminaries of the philanthropic world in their own way and a colloboration can bring added advantages to each one's campaign for humanity.

VERDICT: THANK GOD, I DIDN'T MISS IT

I have heard the complaints about the Government of India's reservation policy once too often and I have felt that I was a victim as well. 69% of the seats in educational institution are reserved for backward and most backward communities. 31% of the seats were reserved for the forward castes. Being a forward caste myself, I have cursed the Government to have acted in such a biased fashion and I have felt persecuted...

But looking back, I am beginning to feel that I was really a beneficiary of the system folks who read this would probably swear at me for writing this after I made it to the USof A. But my belief that I have enjoyed the advantages of the system has only grown stronger after I have considered the fact that I have made it to the U S of A. The belief has only grown stronger after I look around and see everyone who cribbed with me those days are either in the U S of A or are doing decently well with their lives. So is it all hardwork? I would say Hardwork yes but as forward castes, we have always been in an advantageous position. If you cannot make it within the top 31% of the country, most of the forward caste parents had the means and methods to educate their kids; a luxury most backward caste parents will not be able to afford.

IMHO, one of the major reasons for the country being less educated is the caste system. The upper caste had exploited and drained out the lower caste so much that lower caste have lost all their self beliefs. They were restrained to doing certain menial jobs, paying them least amount of money - this remuneration was just enough or may be not even enough for them to make both ends meet. Also, the upper class kept education as something elite and kids of lower caste parents rarely learned to read/write. Even when the Govt. encouraged lower caste people to go to school, these kids couldn't do really well in school because they had little/no guidance from home. When both the parents aren't educated, it is only human tendency to feel that education is beyond them and take their kids out of school since the kids are underperforming and often meeting the wrath of the teachers. So, the Govt. has to be commended for this reservation policy as it encourages the lower caste kids to come through the ranks and make it big.

Also, most upper class kids who cannot make the cut in this Government sanctioned quota, make it to some college or other and find a comfortable job or fly abroad. If the lower class kid doesn't make it to a college on Govt. quota after his higher secondary examination, the chances are that he will have to settle for something ordinary as his parents may not have the means to pay anything extra for their kids
education.

I think this rule needs to be extended to include women as well because they have been at the end of wrong end of the stick of numerous rules laid by the upper class male. The upper class male has discriminated in all forms yet he feels he has been persecuted. Isn't that an irony????

So, I think to bring about equality in the system, the present system needs to be continued and extended. All this upper class rants have to be ignored as they all have this huge persecution complex....

Monday, Bloody Monday

Next Monday, this time I will be getting ready for a concert which has proved to be quite elusive. We have searched for tix in Arizona, California and Washington. As always, the lady proved to be more resourceful and successful than me. Next Monday - Vani and I are going to the U2 concert in Seattle Key Arena...
.

The last time I was in Seattle, we were at the Key Arena cheering for Phoenix Suns against the Seattle Supersonics. While the Sonics crowd was chanting "Defence", I was shouting "Steve Nash" but my grunts were masked by the 16,000 others rooting for the Seattle Defence. I was happy atleast Nash wasn't masked. Phoenix won the game so I have good memories of this place and I am sure this concert will rock hard as welll.......

Its Carnatic Music on the Guitar, Its Different


Prasanna Concert in the Bay Area 

Bose: Rahman is the Boss

If you are a staunch Hindu nationalist, you will even frame Rahamn as a proselytizer after you heard "Zikhr" from Bose. I have said "Allah hooo, Allah hoo" more times today than I have chanted "Gayatri Mantram" all my life. Bose, the latest offering from ARR proves once again a theory that I have had ever since I heard Roja - " First there is Rahman, then there is light and then there is the rest" . ARR has rocked the Indian music scene again with a patriotic offering. Jana Gana Maana is soul stirring and so are the numbers "Kadam Kadam" and "Hum Dilli Dilli Jayenge" where the songs are accompanied by the cadence of the marching army......

It is worth your money if you are buying the CD and it is worth your time, if your downloading it off the internet.

Home - Away from Home

As a desi in the Bay Area, there is no shortage of good Indian food. It has been a year since I have been here and for the last six months, I have hardly cared to savor Indian food in a restaurant. I had simply lost the craving for eating desi food outside. Nope, I hadn't got married but it just got too monotonous. Finally, last week I ate out twice and both times at the same place. Komala Vilas in Sunnyvale is an excellent place to enjoy an everyday meal cooked in South Indian homes. The Sambar, Rasam [ saathumudu , as it is called in Iyengar homes like mine], The curry [Curryamudu], kootu, buttermilk served in tumblers and the payasam bring back memories of grandmom to me. Komala Vilas really rocks!!!.

Sideways: A Roadtrip at leisurely place

I have never ever met or seen people who spoke so much about wine. I met, spoke, partied with people who spoke about all kinds of beer, rum and whisky but not about wine. I finally did when I saw Sideways yesterday. Paul Gimatti plays the protaganist who is in the midst of an absolutely horrible mid life crisis and he is a eight grade teacher and is trying to break it big in the field of non fiction novels. Thomas Haden Church, plays his friend and is a voice over artists [ like the guy who says "India, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan - Gopal Pal Podi" in the radio advertisement]. The two young turks [ obviously sarcastic] decide to take a road trip to the wineries of Southern California to celberate Church's last week of bachelorhood. So the movie is about Wine, how it is made, how people can talk hours together about it , how thomas haden church uses his charms to bone multiple women and how women break his nose when they find out he has been cheating.

If you have time, do watch this money which would have cost a little over a few thousand dollars to make and most of the cost would have gone to buy the wine they are drinking throughout the movie. One positive aspect about the movie is that it is different and is great for people who want to watch something other than the ordinary. If I were to write this review for Ananda Vikatan, I would give this movie 37/100.

PS: I think I am going to buy my first wine bottle today. I guess it will be a Pinot Noir

Its Carnatic Music on the Guitar, Its Different


Prasanna Concert in the Bay Area 

That Four Letter Word

Hindu Journalist Sudhish Kamath is making a movie called "That Four Letter Word" and he is actually shooting the movie as I speak. If you are in India and would like to help the dude out, please do so. If you are lucky, you might find yourself in a meaty role like this guy

The only four letter word that is doing rounds on April 1 is FOOL and I thought long and hard about fooling someone but I decided to give up the idea after I saw this . If the title wasn't fooled , I would have assumed Kiruba quit blogging because he had some sort of convulsions. Man, that was some kind of laughter.

I wanted some new innovative ideas to fool people and I would be understating myself when I say innovation and I are like intelligence and Bush - they never meet. Like always whenever I need something that involves brains, I went to google. I was surprised that they had an answer for my quest for innovation - Google Gulp - they called it.

I gulped on the Google gulp and started thinking. My IQ has been analyzed and it is proved to be slightly more than the IQ of a mosquito and in fact the size of my brain is so small that it would rattle in a snail's shell. The Gulp started giving me some ideas but every single idea had been used so many times that you would even find Shahrukh Khan movies to be fresh. Finally, I decided to fool people by saying that I was going to take a plunge into active politics.

But I was beaten in playing that practical prank by the most unlikeliest of candidates - The Captain
The Captain is right at the portal to the fool's paradise of Politics where he rightfully belongs.

Gulp started to work its magic and I drop dead on the floor. When I wake up, it is already April 2nd. Ciao folks and I have one full year to plan for folling someone on April1, 2006.