Crazy and Fabulous Times

I follow politics and BJP quite closely but I never really cared for Yogi Adityanath before, and my opinion was pretty much in line with what was shown in MSM. And I honestly admit that I am shocked to see that he is chosen as the CM for the state. Equally shocked to discover that he is a 44 year old guy who is already a 5 time elected MP. Not a lot of media's favorite "youth" leaders can match that kind of popularity on ground. My first reading was that, this has to be single most massive gamble taken by BJP. After just a couple of hours of frantic googling and research I am not sure if I feel the same way. Few points that come to mind on how the politics will play out with Yogi Adityanath in UP: 1. Yogi will keep the media obsessed for next two years which means a disproportional attention to everything he does. Think Gujarat from 2002 - I am a great believer that the obsession of media with modi and attacks on him made him a bigger leader. Because even the smalle...

The moment of truth has come knocking today. India won the World Cup and deservedly so. Team India has never been so consistent ever before. The fielding was brilliant in some of the games and much better than previous World Cups in all the matches. The batting has been established as the best in the world without dispute. And, therefore, I thought today would be the best day to make a come back. It truely is a crazily fabulous moment. So here I am. Congratulations all.

After reading much on this widely discussed topic in media, I am finally writing on it, triggered by this article on ANTIDOTE . Congress has messed up so much in this country and at so many levels and for so long that it should actually be an advantage for BJP. It can leverage on all these pseudo socialistic policies and inefficient governance in the name of rural development and now "social inclusion". But it's not so easy. It needs a certain level of awareness at the lowest level of society. It requires people to understand how economy works and what opportunities exist if the markets are opened up and the governance is made more efficient. Again, it's not so easy. Each community needs to understand what is there for them in it and what are they missing now and why. BJP will have to sell this dream. In fact, it will have to not only sell it but make them realize how the current systems and policies are doing just the opposite. E.g. how NREGA is counter-productive ...

Marine Drive is my favorite place in Mumbai. And that's my favourite view above. It inspires me a little. The little blue dot is my Bank's logo shining on top of its building. :) I also went for a drive down the much talked about Worli Bandra Sea Link today. I was expecting a smooth drive at least at 11.30 at night but no, there was crazy traffic. Probably it would ease out once toll is charged. But today it left me unimpressed. Moreover it wont really solve Mumbai's problem until it completes the construction of all its lanes. Until then there will be temporory dividers and people taking U turns and halting traffic etc. Here's one picture that I took of the engineering feat sealink (dont know why I did that! May be beacuse the side bars didnt shine enough for a brand new bridge and I got a feeling that the Rs.1600 crs were not completely used for the poor bridge and lot of it went into people's pockets!)

Congress is just too good at this. Can't solve the solution of providing quality education to everyone? Because that requires allowing private investment in education; that requires more institutes; more courses; more teachers; more infrastructure. So what is the solution? Let's just scrap the damn exam! That ought to reduce the stress!! What his foolish supporters do not understand is that it's not the exam that's causing the stress. It's the lack of opportunities available after the exam that's causing it. Seats in good colleges are only sufficient for the students with 95%+. It's a do or die situation. Anything less than 95% and u can say good bye to your dream colleges which in most likelihood would be handful of colleges across the country. I am not really opposing the grading system. But I just think there are bigger issues at hand that need immediate attention rather than this populist measure.

A few months ago I got an sms which read “Audition for an English play – Dreamsellers. if you are interested please drop in at so-and-so place on so-and-so date”. I was intrigued to no end. Was it fraud? Where have we reached with mobile technology? It was one of those days where in was in mood for the not-so-ordinary (actually I always am!). So I called up to find out what exactly the deal was. A gentleman picked up who was himself a banker (there’s 1 point) and was directing the play and putting up a show with non actors. It was a comedy play. Me playing funny? I liked that (1 more point). Well then I googled this dude. Seems like he did have a few shows to his credit and been into this thing for quite sometime now (1 more point). But I thought nah… Play? Theatre? Me? But on the day of audition I decided in the evening to just go and have some fun at the audition. Will I ever get a chance to do something so crazy? Can the comedienne in me do it? Can I be Rachel (me - a Friends Maniac...

So I have been tagged Ani . And I need to list 25 random things about myself. It's funny that this happens just after I start the 'faboddity' section. So here it goes. Let me start with the one that you already know. I like grocery shopping more than shopping for clothes (I am a girl!) My world is black and white. Most of the times I can work out binary logic to everything. I don't like the grey areas. I hate conventions. I hate traditions for traditions sake. My favorite show during childhood was "I dream of Jeannie" and I almost believed that one day I might find a Jeannie of my own. My favorite blogger is Greatbong . My recent favorite movie is Gulaal. I am completely floored by its music. I am completely in love with Piyush Mishra. And I hate people who admire rubbish of a movie like Slumdog and can't appreciate an Indian movie like Gulaal. On a scale of Slumdog Oscar, Gulaal would win 100 oscars. I work out only to be able to eat fatty food free of gu...

They call it retail therapy. For girls mostly; one of the major mood elevators is shopping. That's true for me too. You would be picturing me shopping crazy for dresses, tops, etc. That's where the twist is. I love shopping; but GROCERY. I noticed it recently. I simply love going to a grocery megastore and do a cost benefit analysis, analyze the varieties, the sizes, their marketing strategies and then zeroing in on something I like. I like to take out good amount of time when I have to shop for grocery because I like to analyze every product even if it's not on my list. Not that I don't like shopping clothes but its too much work; trying out clothes in suffocating changing rooms, bad hair; they just kill the fun. Bags and shoes are better but nothing beats good old grocery! Yes, I am starting a section for the weird oddities in all of us and life in general! So do you have some weird but cute habit which you would rather not abandon?

The Reader. What a movie! So perfectly made and so perfectly performed by Kate Winslet and Ralph Piennes, its mindblowing. The movie is about an illiterate woman who is ashamed of her inability to read and write. It's about an illicit affair that she starts with a 15 year old boy and how it grows into a beautiful one over a lifetime. So simple and yet picturized so well that it's actually gripping. I won't write more about the reader but it made me finally write about Slumdog Millionnaire. Before I begin, disclaimer – I am proud that A.R. Rehman got two Oscars for Slumdog but I also feel that if this song got him Oscar he deserves Oscar for more that 90% of his songs; infact I cant recall any of his song which was bad. So why did the reader make me write about Slumdog. Because now, I finally know why I didn't like Slumdog. When I first watched Slumdog, I was like – "ok… a good movie… but not an Oscar good movie". It's just not a well made or well directed ...

WTFness has scaled new heights . I refrained from writing about Slumdog Millionnaire so far even when my blogger friends made it perfectly clear that not writing about Slumdog is like a crime in blogosphere. But UPA has forced me to. Of all the people who would want a piece of Oscar, our government was the least expected. "In an unmistakable resonance of the previous NDA government's `India Shining' slogan, Congress floated the idea of an `achieving India' and listed among the milestones the Indo-US nuclear deal, Chandrayaan, near 9% growth and the total sweep of the Oscars." – TOI But of course they are right; if UPA was not there, could we have sustained the poverty on which they could make a movie? Duh….. I mean aren't our politicians at least adults. How could anyone make such comments I simply fail to understand. Apparently someone also said it is "a film of India, for India, by India"?!?!? Gasp! Gasp! Cant take more WTFness…

When I started to blog sometime last year, those were good days. We were riding the boom. Infact, that's how I named this blog. I thought it were the crazily fabulous times. The IPL had started and it was like the epitome of the great Indian growth story for me. I wanted to capture this mood in my blog. Then the Lehmen fell. Like a pack of cards, all major financial institutions US followed its suit. In less a year, this crisis has grown in such large proportions that a capitalist US has started using words like nationalization . That's drastic. India also got the hit; first by rampant inflation, and now in the aftermath of US crisis and world at large, we are faced with a steady and steep fall in consumption and jobs. Growth estimates are getting revised downwards almost every month. Not only that, terrorism has taken a life of its own. Whole year had an average of one attack every year with a grand finale in Mumbai. Outside home, there's constant violence in the Middle ...

After Cricket fixing, Azharuddin is back in media ; now about to join the next best career for him – Politics. Our politicians truly don't know their audience. In a cricket crazy country like ours, I think everyone hates Azharuddin. Why would they vote for him? Or may be they know their audience a little too well. How foolish we-the-people are!

I am sure everyone now knows about the Pink Chaddi Campaign . I can't be more excited about this. There is no more fitting reply to Muthalik than a flood of Pink Chaddis from all over the country. I have joined their facebook group . Although I couldn't send them the chaddi on time, I plan to participate in the Pub Bharo action. I believe this is the first of its kind of protest taking place in our country where we are not defending any of our actions and openly saying that as "pub-going, loose and forward women" we don't want anyone preaching us what is right or wrong. The word "loose" may be a problem for some but I think the message that we are sending out is that we don't care what you think about us… but you have no business of telling us what we should and shouldn't do. It delights me to see so many men come forward and support this cause. I hope to see this campaign reach far and wide and leave a lasting impact on our culture and outlook t...

This is the height of WTFness! Some BJP leader is talking about why girls should not be going to pubs - "After drinking, boys lose their controls and can be doing anything to girls". When people commit crimes, generally law punishes the criminal. Here somehow the victim is supposed to be under house arrest after 7pm so that the criminals can't commit crimes against them. Raghu does bring this in later in the debate, but this is a point which can't be over emphasized!! For a second if we forget that it is a very accepted norm in our culture to protect girls by restricting them at homes, you would realize how ridiculous this is. How can this old dude make this statement so openly? Oh, guys are guys, they will drink and lose their "controls" and if girls start going to pubs our culture will be compromised. If the guys are losing their "controls" then they should be banned from going to pubs; they should be arrested. That is the role of the law makers...

Obama is THE President. Obama is THE Hope. Obama is GOD!!! I don't understand this over enthusiasm over Obama, especially in India. News channels covered the sworn-in ceremony live. People are crazily cheering for Obama. I have had people clapping for Obama in my living room, while asking, "So do they have a Prime Minister too?" in the same breath! It was beyond any absurdity…

Whenever the guy you really want to talk to calls, you are inevitably away from phone or busy at work. So much so that he stops calling you for khaoing so much bhaav!!! And when the guy you desperately don't want to talk to calls, you are free and eager to talk on phone. And then of course ignore that call. So the single gals don't get to talk to any guy; only a few stalkers during the free time!!!! Sigh…

I always thought that IDEA's television ad was irritating at some level. An IDEA can change your life. What relevance does it have with the product? What is so innovative about this service provider? Its public image is no more than a second fiddle to Airtel. The whole "what an IDEA sirji!" is even more irritating. And the fact that they use political revolution as the backdrop for selling a sim card can only be described as self delusion. As if their marketing concept was not irritating enough, their new ad harps on how socialist and poverty driven our economy is. There's a contactor who proposes to the Mantri (minister) to build a shopping mall in khet (agricultural land literally – but I guess they are referring to village as a whole). Here the IDEA man Abhishek Bachchan suggests that janta needs to be asked about their opinion. So he sends sms to all the janta (using IDEA!! Voila!!!) for their opinion. And as if to pacify the communists in India, all the poor fa...

Lawyers are defending the right to represent terror suspects. For Kasab. First things first; Kasab is not a "suspect". He was caught red handed, for God's sake! But then they say that everyone has a right to self defense. Agreed; like the lawyer puts it, we can't possibly conduct a national sms poll to decide the fate of Kasab. He has to be tried. But what amuses me is what Kasab's defense lawyer is going to defend him on? "your honor, yeh ek garib aadmi hai. LeT ke behkawe mein aake 60 logon ko mar diya. He is not guilty your honor!" or if I apply my movie law education – "your honor, isne apna dimaagi santulan kho diya tha. VT station par inhone jo kuch kiya wo sab apne hosho awaaz mein nahi kiya. Your honor, mein appeal karta hoon ki inhe asylum mein treatment diya jaye. Your honor, he is not guilty, he is bimar". I don't have legal education. But I doubt if there's anything that the defense lawyer can do. And if he can, I am kinda ...

This year there have been many bomb blasts across the country. So many that we had lost our sensitivity for these blasts. Even the media lost its interest. People just took blasts as something which is part of their lives. Terrorists were not getting enough footage. So they have reinvented themselves. After more than 21 hours of terror, I can say this is something we have never seen before. Media have set up their second homes in all critical locations. Mumbai, the city which can never be stopped has indeed stopped. I just hope it does not stop at the media circus and we, as a country, don't get used to this kind of terrorism too. I hope it's a wake up call for the authorities to realize the state of our security system. Because this brazen open attack by terrorists out in the open is an evidence of their confidence to breach our country's security in any way they want as opposed to placing bombs and remotely detonating them.

Dieting has never been my thing. I love food too much to avoid it. But getting into shape is something I want to do without any sacrifices. And that's when I see my best friend's wedding as an excuse to get back in shape. I have to get a saari-wearable figure in 2 weeks time. So I decided to carry out a gymming marathon for 2 weeks. Yesterday I told my trainer that I mean business. I have to have flat…. umm tummy… in 2 weeks straight. I think he has taken his job too seriously. He made me do weird crunches for every muscle in my body. I just limped back to my apartment. Fingers are the only thing I can move now which is why I am typing - the only thing I can do without going ooh aah ouch! I hope in I am alive after 2 weeks and have a tummy to put my food into.