Oscar 2009

The 81st Annual Academy Award happened in the morning while most of us were in office. I followed the Oscar updates on the Oscar site, http://www.oscar.com/. Like most Indians I am also excited about the fact that A R Rehman got 2 Oscars. In the night at 8:30, I started watching the repeat telecast of the Oscars.

The red carpet from where the stars walked in and crowd was shouting. I thought people in US dont go crazy when they see a celebrity. But they were shouting more than people in India would shout. The Slumdog Kids were so smart and impressive when the mic came in front of their faces. One will wonder are these the same kids from the movie. The girl Pinki, from the documentary film, Smile Pinki looked so sweet and innocent. A small girl from Muzzafarpur going to Oscars is what I would say luck by chance. Host of stars were interviewed on the red carpet in which I remember Miley Cyrus and the actors from High School Musical.

After the red carpet the description of the stage was really good. I must say the stage in Kodak Theatres really looked great. The idea of making a stage as a musical was really wonderful. The anchor of the show Hugh Jackman was funny, interesting, a good singer and a good dancer. I loved his joke on recession that he has worked in the movie Australia so he is an Australian. But because of recession he will be working in New Zealand. At the start when he sang a song which gave an idea of all the great movies of 2008 which had been nominated for Oscars.

After the Oscars there is a long list of movies which I have to watch if I get a chance. The list includes

1. The Reader - Kate Winset got the Oscar for best actress. It tells the story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who as a teenager in the late 1950s had an affair with an older woman, Hanna Schmitz, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. Michael realizes that Hanna is keeping a secret she believes is worse than her Nazi past, a secret that may cost her at the trial.
2. Milk - Sean Penn got the Oscar for the best Actor. The story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk, a San Francisco supervisor who was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone by San Francisco Supervisor Dan White.
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Got an award for best makeup in the Oscars. Benjamin Button played by Brad Pit. A man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: a man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time.
4. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Penélope Cruz got the award for best supporting actress. Two girlfriends on a summer holiday in Spain become enamored with the same painter, unaware that his ex-wife, with whom he has a tempestuous relationship, is about to re-enter the picture.

Heath Ledger got the award of best supporting actor. He died at the age of 28, from an accidental "toxic combination of prescription drugs. Before dying he gave one of the finest performance in The Dark Knight. I can never his dialogue "Why so serious" from the movie. His parents and sister accepted the award on behalf of him.

The movie journey of 2008, be it animation, romance, action was a wonderful compilation. A performance was given on the song Mamma Mia. A R Rehman performed on Jai Ho and it was wonderful to watch the ladies and men wearing Indian traditional dress for performance. Slumdog Millionaire bagged 8 out of 10 awards. Smile Pinki also won an award for short documentary film at the Oscars. Spielzeugland(Toyland) got an award for Documentary (Live Action) and I enjoyed the acceptance speech given by Jochen Alexander Freydank. He is another man who got lucky and came all the way from Germany to Hollywood just to hold that golden Oscar statue in his hand. Wall-e got an award for best animated movie.

This is all I can remember in the 4 hours of 81st Annual Academy Award shown on Star Movies. The performances were few and not like the award ceremonies in India. Still I enjoyed the whole show.

Do you still love Valentine's Day?

When I was in college Valentine’s day meant a special day for everyone.

The day before the night the color of dress was to be decided. As the Asian Paints ad say “Har rang kuch kehta hai”, the color of dress would tell whether the person is single and available.

Next was the roses and as explained in the movie Pyar, Ishq aur Mohabat the color of rose one gives to someone tells what is there in his/her heart.

Those who had a boyfriend were worried what to gift him.

Guys who were single and fell in love with someone waited for 14th Feb to propose her.

Girls who were single wished that someone would propose her that day or atleast give her some gift. Many girls did this also in college. They would buy gifts, cards and roses for themselves. And this reminded me of a scene from Dil To Pagal Hai where Madhuri Dixit along with her friend for shopping on 14th Feb and said it was special because it was on a full moon night. Waise full moon night was on 9th Feb but still wait for that ishara if you are single.

In my college we had cupid stalls where people could send roses to the ones they liked. Also dedicate songs to the loved one making them embarrassed sometimes while others would enjoy and maybe even dance.

During the college days I also felt that these is a business strategy of gift and card companies to popularize Valentine’s day.

Isn’t every day a valentine’s day and your partner is your valentine. Now if I think about it I don’t know what to say but I find it really funny.

So is the day special like it use to be in college or has it become just another normal day?

What’s your plan for 14th?

Jab uske pass raho toh usse itna pyar karo,
Ki durr jaane par aapki yaad aaye,
Kabhi unn yaadon ko yaad karke woh muskuraye Toh kabhi aankhen geeli ho jaye,
Uski duniya mein aapke pyar se khushiyan bhar jaye,
In duriyon mein kabhi aapka pyar uske liye kum na ho paye.

Smile

I come to the office and there is a guard who greets me Good Morning with a sweet smile and I in return also give a smile and give a reply as Good Morning. But there are some people for whom its just a duty to get their bags checked and move ahead. If they smile back and say a good morning politely they are not losing anything. Rather it would just make the guards happy.

Someone who is a part of your life is tensed. You smile and say everything will be alright. Half of the tension is gone away from her/his face.

You go to CCD or any other restaurant and give your order. The waiter asks ‘Do you want anything more’ and you just smile back and say 'No that will be all'. The waiter smiles and goes back to bring your order.

You board a flight and the air hostess welcomes you with a sweet smile. This is her job but you smile back and greet her. Trust me this makes her day and she is happy.

You travel in the regular office Bus and everyday you see the same conductor and driver. One day you smile and ask him how are you. He will be happy that there is someone who noticed him.

Your one smile can make a difference. You dont know your simple smile is enough to spread happiness arround you. So keep smiling and be polite.

Welcome to 2009

Do you take new year resolution? What resolution do you plan to take up this year? Is it 'I will eat less this year', 'I will reduce weight', 'I will talk less', 'I will study hard' or something else. Are you wondering why I am asking about your new year resolution this year; maybe this write-up will help you in making a decision.

In India every year floods occur, riots take place, blasts happen. Was 2008 different from this and the answer is NO. This year Bihar and Orissa were hit by floods badly. Many people died. Rail and road transport were disrupted. Relief camps setup, donations given for the flood victims. There is a saying precaution is better than cure. So why not find a solution for the flood problem? Is it just the responsibility of government to find a solution? As a citizen of India don't we have some duties towards our country?

What about the riots that happen on the name of religion or region? Alteast floods are because of nature but communal violence is created by humans. A fight on the name of different religion or region is really bad. Be it the violence against Biharis at Maharastra started the MNS Chief, Raj Thackeray. Or a communal violence at Orissa between Hindu and Christian community after the death of Hindu leader, Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati. Did a person before getting born select the place or religion of his/her birth? Riots don't do anything good but just spread hatred between people. Also think about those innocent people who lose their life in this violence with no reason. Let's stop fighting with a reason as to where one comes from or which caste s/he belongs. Stop hating someone because you don't like his/her culture. Try learning his/her culture and you will feel that his/her culture is as good as yours. If your food doesn't have spice in it; it wont taste good. Meet people who are from different culture or region and see how interesting your life becomes because of this new person. Look at Bollywood the 3 actors whom most Indians love are muslims – Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan.

This year bomb blasts at various places in India was also common. Killing innocent people and children. Has mankind become so immoral? After Mumbai blasts on 26/11 everyone said enough is enough. Do people really mean these words? Have the people of India got united? Is an Indian not just ready to make donations for blast victims but also fight against it? For how long do we Indians plan to survive under terror? Remember the saying united we stand, divided we fall. So lets stand united against terror and let it go away far from us. Don't let the sacrifices of Our Indian soldiers go waste. Contribute in the smallest way possible. You don't always need to be on the battle ground to fight.

If you are a technical person, think on how to improve India technically so that in future such cases don't happen. If you are a doctor, treat every patient equally. If you are a lawyer, spread the basic laws related to humanity among common people. If you are a media person, don't hype things; just show the news and let people ponder upon it. Make sure whatever you do, you are not harming humanity. You know the solution so this is a humble request SAVE HUMANITY.

On a lighter note, the sports year for India was really good. Inspite of bomb blasts at Jaipur, IPL was a successful event. In cricket legends like spinner Anil Kumble and ex-captain and batsman Sourav bid adieu to international cricket to let the young guns of cricketers take charge on the sports. India won against Australia, England in the test series. Apart from cricket India also showed its skills in other sports by winning medals in Olympics 2008. Abhinav Bindra won a gold medal for Shooting. Vijender Singh won a Bronze medal in Boxing. Sushil Kumar again won a bronze medal for wrestling. So this year it was good to see new sports person emerging in India.

As such overall for me 2008 was a year of more sad things happening in the country than the good ones. I hope that in year 2009 good things happen more. Atleast we can stop fighting with each other on a reason of culture and place which came to us by birth. What we selected was our profession, the friends we made, the way we want to lead our life. But this also doesn’t give the right to fight with someone. So this year I take a resolution to help and save humanity. Take a resolution to fight against terror in the smallest possible way.

This message is for everyone: "Make India to be remembered as a place where a Catholic lady asks a Sikh to be the Prime Minister of the nation who is sworn by a Muslim President."

At the end, be human which means be good at heart, help others, respect others. Don't fight because it doesn't give any solutions but just create more problems. Hope you will bring a change in the year 2009.

Bomb Blast in India in 2008

· Dec 06, 2008: A bomb blast at Assam injured 9 people.
· Dec 02, 2008: A bomb blast in Assam train killed 2 people and 30 injured.
· Nov 26, 2008: A series of ten coordinated terrorist attacks across Mumbai, India's financial capital atleast 173 people killed and 308 people injured.
· Nov 08, 2008: A bomb blast rocked Meerut’s Zakir Nagar killed 6 people.
· Oct 30, 2008: 18 serial bomb blast rocks Guwahati, Assamm killed 32 and injured 130.
· Oct 14, 2008: 1 bomb blast at Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh injured 7.
· Oct 08, 2008: A bomb blast near Durga puja pandal in Guwahati 5 injured.
· Oct 01, 2008: 5 serial bomb blast rocks Agartala, Tripua 2 killed and 35 injured.
· Sep 30, 2008: A bomb blast Malegaon killed 7 and injured 70.
· Sep 27, 2008: Blast in Delhi's Mehrauli flower market killed 1 and injured 23.
· Sep 13, 2008: Serial blasts in Delhi killed at least 24 people and injured more than 100.
· Aug 22, 2008: A bomb blast in Madhya Pradesh injured 1 person.
· Aug 08, 2008: 1 bomb blast at Siliguri injured 3 chidren.
· Aug 03, 2008: 1 bomb blast at Kolkata killed 4 and injured 5.
· Jul 26, 2008: Serial blasts in Ahmedabad killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 100.
· Jul 25, 2008: Nine explosions in Bangalore create terror killing two people and injuring twelve.
· Jun 20, 2008:
· Jun 11, 2008: A bomb blast at Meghalaya temple injured 4.
· Jun 05, 2008: 1 bomb blast near Lalu Prasad’s house in Gopalganj 1 killed and 1 critically injured.
· May 13, 2008: Eight serial blasts rock Jaipur in a span of 12 minutes leaving 65 dead and over 150 injured.
· Apr 24, 2008: A bomb blast near Manipur’s CM residence injured 3 people.
· Mar 30, 2008: A bomb blast exploded at Muradabad killed 4 children.
· Mar 25, 2008: A bomb blast at a railway station in South Assam’s North Cachar Hills district killed 4 and several injured.
· Mar 19, 2008: Bomb blast Flyover in Srinagar killed 1 and injured 8.
· Mar 15, 2008: A minor blast in local train in Mumbai injured 3 people.
· Mar 16, 2008: 1 bomb blast at Assam’s Dhemaji district killed 1 person and 20 injured.
· Mar 13, 2008: 3 serial blasts rocks Udalguri district of Assam 1 killed and 19 injured.
· Feb 20, 2008: A bomb blast in cinema hall at Mumbai injured 4 people.
· Jan 10, 2008: A bomb blast near the Srirampur check-gate in the Assam-West Bengal border in Kokrajhar district injured 2 people.
· Jan 10, 2008: Terrorist attack on CRPF camp in Rampur kills 8.

Can government guarantee right to life?

He grew up watching the terror inflicted dance of death around the world, in India and around him. As a seven year-old, he did not understand the gravity of terrorism in the horrifying live pictures of the burning ?twin towers? crashing down and claiming thousands. He had seen teary-eyed citizens silently light candles at ground zero.
In 2006, he was aghast watching suburban trains ripped by bomb blasts in Mumbai. Overcome by emotion, he and his friends expressed solidarity with Mumbaikars by lighting candles in Delhi.
Now a teenager, he saw terror merchants snuffing out lives on the streets, in railway stations and playing their macabre game for three days holed up in prominent hotels of Mumbai. He heard the bursts of AK-47s. He saw a beaming NSG commando walking out of the hotel -- unusually poised yet high-fiving mates who played with their lives to silence the death merchants.
A TV correspondent asked this commando -- "How difficult was the operation". We all knew how difficult the operation was and were about to ridicule the reporter for the stupid question, when the key figure answered, " Hamare liye kuch mushkil nahin hai (nothing is difficult for us)."
The boy was stunned by this immensely positive answer. It probably erased all negative feelings generated by the continuous beaming of gory pictures 24x7 on TV. He possibly saw in the commando a protector of life, who can guarantee right to life -- the most important among our fundamental rights.
He took a decision -- he will not light a candle this time for those who were killed by terrorists in Mumbai, instead he will study hard to join the Army and try for an assignment in NSG.
He may mirror the thinking of many among us, for our politicians show a complete lack of seriousness and professionalism when it comes to citizens' right to life guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution, which also assures a right to live in a secure atmosphere.
The Batla House encounter, five days after Delhi serial blasts, is a grim reminder. On September 19, Delhi Police personnel went there on a mission to pre-empt a situation, who might have turned into something similar to what happened in Mumbai.
Leaving his ailing son in hospital, Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma went to take part in the mission. He was felled by the bullets of the desperadoes. The politicians, who are lavishing praise on the richly deserving bravehearts of the NSG, Army and Mumbai Police commandos today, were then among those doubting the encounter.
Cops like Sharma have been dying since 1993, when Mumbai was first targeted on a massive scale -- 13 blasts and scattered firing from AK-47s by terrorists resulting in the death of 250 people. Intensity, frequency and spread of the terror attacks have increased since then. Instead of uniting the political class for a joint strategy against terrorism, disgustingly, it has led to diverse views, basically on religious lines.
The supremacy of people is understood by politicians only for a few days during election time. They would do well to read this judgment in the D K Basu vs State of West Bengal case [1997 (1) SCC 416]. The Supreme Court, in this judgment, had said, "The Latin maxims -- salus populi suprema lex (the safety of the people is the supreme law) and salus republicae suprema lex (safety of the nation is the supreme law) -- coexist and are not only important and relevant but lie at the heart of the doctrine that welfare of an individual must yield to that of the community."
The teenager had not read this judgment, but understood the vital importance of right to life and safety of people. The politicians, at least those who are at the helm of affairs, must have read this. Then why the dithering for a joint fight against terrorism, notwithstanding the ceremonial all-party meetings in the aftermath of a massive tragedy?
Courtsey: Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Mumbai/Can_government_guarantee_right_to_life/articleshow/3776666.cms

Mumbai Bomb Blast

Everyone has seen, heard or read about the recent terrorist attacks. We are a country of more than million people. We have seen the delay in combating the terrorists in Mumbai. It took 9 hours for the NSG forces to reach the terror sites. Also how easily the terrorist group came to India through sea route is known.

Is it that when there is a terror attack then only security checks are done? Also are there so less people in our defence forces that anyone can enter our country from anywhere? Or is it like they dont have adequate resources, the latest technique to fight terrorism?

I know I have asked too many questions. Everyone is saying enough is enough. So has India really got united and are people ready to be a part of the various defence forces in India? Now have the Indians become strong enough to fight in a war and die rather than get killed in some terror attacks like this one? Will we see Indian women going in the war front and facing a real war and not just sitting in the office like many other countries?

Has the common Indian got up and is he/she ready to fight back?