a month old , and already tiring,,,

i am already a month into this new year . the so called honeymoon with the new years done. two festivals wrapped up already! fatigue has set in! i mean the new year is old already! come to think of it i really don understand whats new in a new year? the same old month of jan the same rigmarole of festivals and spring arrival, the same republic day parade speeches the same exam fears for the third month of the year! why do we even celebrate january??

who deserves the lotus?

also , whats not new about the new year is the controversy over the national civillian awards, the padma's! time was when it was considered indecent top public announce your displeasure at being left out by the hi-offices of north block , and finding your name missing from the years list was meant to be taken silently in stride as a bitter pill. not now anymore! while the govt plans to bestow the lotuses to anyone who makes for good photo-ops on front pages ( i do not find another reason why ash and akki got the honour this year ) the people who get left out screm from roof-tops that the grapes are sour. we vote for eveything thses dyas in India. why not have sms polls on the padma awards too? see shahrukh might even perform ont eh ceremony, and doordarshan can make money telecasting the otherwise sombre proceedings at rashtrapati bhavan! when i get mine, i sure would want some jazz -razzmatazz at the venue!

from foot- in -mouth to tongue- in- cheek

bushes are out of the white house , the colour of the hour is black in america. both metaphorically and literally! so while americans get the taste of a new dispensation at the helm, the rest of the world , thsoe strange lands that bush loved talking of, seem to have nothing muc different to look forward to. if one had his foot in his mouth perprtually, the current one has his tongue firmly in cheek as he makes all the right innaugural noises , his administration silently continues with the policies left behind by the predecessor. change is what obama pormised . how long would the change take to be visible on the ground o one knows. chances are , not too soon .

oscar dreams:

finally we have somehting to look forward to on feb22 nd at the kodak theatre . will rehmaan saar make it or not? if it were filmfares, with three nominations saar would be assured of atleast one black lady to walk home with. but the oscars are a different ball game all together. all our hopes and prayers for this lil genius . jai ho aint exactly something that would set the indian charts on fire. but what the hell, as long as its oscar nominated , anything goes!

A new beginning ?,,,,

Life’s been hectic of late, leaving me not much time to write about anything . so in keeping with the trend of abridged clipped communication , my mind suggests cruising through a lot many thoughts at break neck speed without the usual munching that goes prior to a piece on this unread anonymous web log of mine. So snapshots it is for now,,,,

Oh Kolkata!!!

Had been to the city of joy past month. 6 yrs since i last went there and nothing much has changed .yes , my bong friends efficiently counter my point in that adamant leftist swagger that karat and co have now made famous, citing new flyovers roads turns bridges buildings the works that have come up since i last set foot here. Yet for an outsider not affected by that blinding love for this ageing metro, the change has blended right in with the old. Its the same all-encompassing black soot covered old rickety city, with people non chalantly going about with life , forever stooped in misthi- maacher jhol and memories of yore.
Come to think of it , as a coloumnist in another unchabged relic of this city ,telegraph says, it is in the very DNA of the Bengali bhodrolok not to let go of the past. To continue living in an antiquated vaccum afraid of what change might hav eins tore , content with what the old still has to offer. By the way , Mumbai’s DNA , the newspaper, has entered the Kolkata markets this year. Change , i guess cant be kept at bay for too long. Budho daa at writers building sure has started realising this.

Battle ready India.

No , i aint referring to the now-on-now-off Indo-Pak war of words. Time to move on from 26/11, cause its time for the Great Indian Ballot Tamaasha. 2009 , is an election year . and polls are bang on schedule thanks to the sombre sullen mood prevailing all over that holds the UPA form doing another “India Shining” ala NDA. Frankly does anyone really think Sonia-manmohan duo could have pulle doff what vajpai-mahajan did back in 2004? Could they have built a bubble , an illusion of UPA returning to power , like the saffron brigade led everyone to believe the last time we went voting?
Irrespective of the economy looking permanently south bound and terror being our resident evil, no one doubts the capacity of the congress to have the spine ( foolhardiness some would say) that the BJP had , of celebrating victory even before crossing even the first hurdle. Confidence( occasionally bordering on arrogance )is essential for a leader these days . with vajpai out, manmohan as irrelevant as he was 5 years back, no wonder faint cries of Modi-fying India are gaining currency.
A scary thought though , having ablood-stained tyrant ruling a bleeding nation soon.
By the way jaagore.com of janaagraha makes registering to vote very easy and simple. Indian democracy is coming of age !

Roy gives no joy!

Outlook ‘s back this week. Oddly, for no clear reason, it doesn’t have an issue int he first week of the new year! As i had feared , in response to the last issue’s article , readers have poured out their angst in the choicest of words against ms. Arundhati roy , that self appointed anti national moral compass . i ma not particularly fond of her and her writing ( a god of small things is still just a means to sound hi-brow in a gathering ) still i cant escape the fact that under her maverick play of words lies some logic , unintentional or other wise. While she makes whoopee slinging mud at the Indian state, one cant but agree with her when she says that as mush as terror is imported form across the border, our own domestic record of equality and justice ( rather the lack of it ) is responsible for our current state of insecurity. Not many have hte gumption to accept this. Not for sure the t.v. wallahs . they are making merry planning areas to be bombed on behalf of the Indian army. Outsourcing desi style !
Meanwhile outlook’s moved on to weightier issues. Its annual sex survey htis the stands this Monday . interesting week ahead !

Jhingalala at the khan camp!

And finally , my new year was brought in with the two king khans of bollywood. Ghajini and rab ne bana di Jodi were the onle films running at every theatre in my small city , it seems they still are. None dared clash witht he khans, specially aamir. After trouncing Harman –gay-baweja with is production early last year , he was back bashing goons as if it were balloons at aparty for kids from TZP.
Theres a lesson to learn form this guy though. Do any thing go to any level till people are forced to eat off your hands , seems to be his mantra. He carpet bombed the entire media space with a very average Hollywood inspired kollywood copied remake of an average efilm , turning it into the biggest grosser ever in history. So much so that after being a captive audience of his screams at the gym all thru a week on tata-sky, i saw the film just so i could tell him enough ! i saw ure film , paid the ticket ka paisa now spare me and my idiot box!
Akshay kumar’s learnt that lesson too. So i have my bags packed for a trip to china thru chandni chowk . so long then !