Indians Rise against Terror and Politics

I was at home in Kolkata when the terrorists struck at Mumbai again. When you thought things couldn't get worse then blasts at various places, they just showed that they can still surprise us....by having the whole city under siege virtually. Yes, it was just not those three hotels, but for the first time the spirit of Mumbai seemed to have taken a backseat. The tragedy left nearly 200 dead. But, it had an effect that no one ever had imagined.

The people of India rose against its leadership and their incompetence. The refusal of the family members of the NSG commandos to meet the leaders of any political party and let them gain political mileage over their heroic acts and the flaying the government has received in the media for failing its citizens has just worked in this direction. And now, people are registering their protests in every possible manner. The coming elections would surely have a lot to watch for. Not only this, they have now finally stood united against terror and hate politics. Gud to see that finally, we are standing for our rights.

Here is one such manner to register your protest. I came across this in someone else's blog. DO spread the word.

Indians Please Read This

Did you know that there is a system in our Constitution, as per the 1969 act, in section "49 O" that a person can go to the polling booth, confirm his identity, get his finger marked and convey the presiding election officer that he doesn't want to vote anyone! Yes such a feature is available, but obviously these seemingly notorious leaders have never disclosed it. This is called Section"49 O". Why should you go and say "I VOTE NOBODY"... because, in a ward, if a candidate wins, say by 123 votes, and that particular ward has received 49 "O" votes more than 123, then that polling will be cancelled and will have to be re polled. Not only that, but the candidature of the contestants will be removed and they cannot contest the re polling, since people had already expressed their decision on them. This would bring fear into parties and hence look for genuine candidates for their parties for election. This would change the way of our whole political system... It is seemingly surprising why the election commission has not revealed such a feature to the public.... Please spread this news to as many as you know...Seems to be a wonderful weapon against corrupt parties in India... show your power, expressing your desire not to vote for anybody, is even more powerful than voting... so don't miss your chance. So either vote, or vote not to vote (vote 49 O) and pass this info on..."Please forward this message to as many as possible, so that we, the people of India, can really use this power to save our nation".

Dostana

Well, the exams got over yesterday. I had a lot of movies stocked in my lappy and so in this one week, my sole aim will be to finish them and some of the serials. Watched 4 episodes of Deathnote in the evening, realized at 8:30 that the Mess was off. So had to be content with Maggi. Finally sat down to watch Dostana- the Gay movie from Bollywood. But is it truly a gay movie? I don't think so. Apart from the fact that the plot was based on the two guys acting gay there was nothing to term it a gay movie. There have been movies that have broached this subject more sensibly and Madhur Bhandarkar definitely scores high here. Probably it was a fully planned advertising strategy of Karan Johar that curiosity itself might attract people to the theatres.

Here's what I think Karan should not have done in the movie. There was no need to portray gays like girls. I mean why the hell do they have to show gays as girls. I was kinda shocked when Abhishek acted in a feminine manner while narrating his fake love story, or when John acted in a similar manner in front of the immigration officer. Its high time bollywood stopped such portrayals. Thats far from the truth. He could have made the movie a lot more sensible by not acting on such prejudices.

But then the movie handled the coming out issue well. Even while being funny, the scenes of coming out really showed how difficult it is for the family members (specially parents) to accept the reality. Then giving gay shades( or should I say bi-) to Abhishek's character could be considered a step towards undoing the other malice.

In the end, this is how I would have liked the movie end. After rejoining Priyanka with Bobby, they showed 2 months later. Here, they should have shown that Abhi and John had realized that they shared more than friendship and had exchanged vows. Probably, then it could have been classified as a gay movie of Bollywood.

P.S- Strange to note that the RSS which had raised a ruckus over the lesbian scenes in Fire and Girlfriend didn't have any objection to the kiss scene near the end of the movie or even the subject of the movie. What should this be construed as on their part? An acceptance of the situation or what? Also, there have been other bolly movie which had a scene or two...No objections there too...

Legend Of the Seeker

Though I have a practical exam tomorrow, I just couldn’t resist laying my hands on my lappy and typing down my thoughts after watching the new series- LEGEND OF THE SEEKER. I saw its first episode yesterday (it was a 1:50 hr episode) and have since been unable to clear my mind of its thoughts. Why? I have always been a very very big fan of LOTR and the resemblance of this new serial to the greatest movie of all times has left me mesmerized. No, I don’t mean any resemblance in terms of storyline. It is based on yet another book on Fantasy World called “The Sword of Truth" by Terry Goodkind. I am so excited to see the same shooting locales again. Revisiting the breath-taking beauty of New Zealand after LOTR has sort of casted a spell on me. Moreover, I have always liked these Fantasy World stories, where you are transferred to a completely different magical world.

The serial doesn’t disappoint at all in any terms when compared to LOTR. The animation is good enough and so is the photography and costumes. Though, like the locales, the costumes also look like borrowed from the epic movie, but then, I have always wanted to relive those moments of LOTR. I had watched Stardust too and liked it. However, the movie lacked a strong background score like LOTR, and so its thoughts did not linger too long after watching. But, no such complaints with this one. It has an equally strong background score like LOTR and I haven’t been able to think beyond it and am waiting in eagerness for the next episode to be aired on 8th Nov.

And yeah, If LOTR had some great dialogues, it also has some wonderful lines. Here are some that I liked-

"In life you cannot go back, the only way is forward".

The various lessons of the Seeker -

Lesson No. 1 –“ Sometimes to gain ground , you need to slow down”.
Lesson No. 2- “Clear your mind of what was and will be, it is only the test that is.”
Lesson No. 3 - “Though the seeker may battle alone, he fights with the strength of many.”

Since I couldn’t get too many pictures of the episode from Net, I took snapshots myself in VLC.Here they are. I have also pointed out some similarities with LOTR-




This same scene was also there in LOTR

Bucolic view of New Zealand


Craig Horner- Seeker


Confessor


Wizard(Anyone remembers Gandalf?)


Villain of the story


Richard(Craig Horner) being named Seeker


The Star that was given to Frodo( seen here in the hands of Sam), to guide him.

A similar Star in the hands of Confessor to help her


The Sword of Seeker

Councillor- brother of Seeker

The Trio- Confessor, Wizard and Seeker

The two main characters

Although Indian politicians hardly impress me, the reply which Rahul Gandhi gave to a student in Uttarakhand when confronted with a really tricky question has made me a fan of him. The student questioned him on Raj Thackeray and expressed hope that ther's atleast someone to look after North Indians. Here's what he had to say (and as Barney would say- its LEGENDAry). He asked the boy why he thought of himself as North Indian and not Indian. He rebuked him slightly telling that terrorism amd communalism are born out of idea that people are different. Now, its really great to find out that unlike a majority of politicians in India who would have hopped on this chance to capture a "North Indian" votebank, he chose to remove the divisive thoughts from his mind, not caring about the implications of the upcoming state polls. 

What India requires is not politicians like Raj Thackeray, who would stoop so low to further split India on the grounds of language(as if religion, caste, tribe etc etc were less), rather people who would like to work for the betterment and development of the country. Who wouldn,t care if they win or loose.....rather what they would care is about the country....who would be bold enough to take initiatives. 

Just hope Ismites take a cue from his words.

Wah Taj!!

I have waited a long time to lay my hands on my lappy and write about some really interesting stuff regarding the pujas. But, during the pujas I didn't have a net connection and after I came back to college, The net played elusive games in the Hostel.  Even while I write this, I don't know if I will be able to complete the post before the Net/Lan goes away.By the way, gettin back to the Pujas, as always, a lot of Pandals with innovative themes came up. I stay in Barrackpore and each year the PAlta Pandal is a big draw. ALtough not a big Pandal Hopper, I do visit the PAlta one each year(cause its near to my house). This year it went over the top and had the biggest Puja Budget in calcutta( heard it from a friend, so no authenticity of the claim) . The theme- Taj Mahal. Yes they rebuilt the whole structure!! Believe me, it was breathtaking when viewed from a distance. I was quite agog about giving it a visit, when he funny (or may be sad) news came in. Muslims had objected to the Puja being held there and placing the idol inside because Taj Mahal is a mosque and has Kabars. Towing a similar line, VHP objected that they wont allow Idol of a Hindu Deity inside a Mosque.Its so disturbing to see that there are such insulatory people who dont view Taj Mahal as a symbol of India's pride,  but rather as a religious place. If things in India continue this way, soon we may find restrictions on the entry of people of othre faiths in Taj, Ajmer Dargah, Puri etc.

And yeah, it didnot boil into one of those controversies which lead to riots and all, after all nothing dampens the Puja Spirit of Bengal, not even the egress of the Nano. SO the puja did take place, though not inside or wherever they had objected. The idol too was placed inside at a place which assuaged both the parties. Other show stealers in Palta were the Amarnath Temple(no controversies here), Konarak Temple, and a Pandal of Dhaan(rice). here are the pics for

 you all.

Thats the TAj Mahal in Bengal. Another interesting thing- it was such a big crowd puller that on Navami it got damaged and was closed for the public on Dashami. Repairs were carried out and

 it was made open to the public till LAkshmi Puja and there was no dearth in the people coming to watch it even then!

                                          This is the Dhan one... a serene look

The Idol inside the Dhan pandal... 

The Konark Temple

Another one in Ichapur

Filling the void

3 years have passed since I came to this college and I must say, I haven't been able to find a true friend- one whom I can trust blindly, without having to worry about anything. I still have long chats with my school friends and the one point that crops up every time is that the lacunae left behind remains. The situation is same on his side, and he says that in the college, everyone's a professional, and professionals can never be true friends. May be, but it really pains me to find being surrounded by hypocrites. In these 3 years, the only sweet memories that I cherish is of MD and probably the only group I am comfortable with is again our MD group.

My roommate often complains that I am quite a reserved person, but then that's because I don't open up too soon to anyone. I prefer giving time to a relationship and I open up only when I trust the person fully. To this effect. I wold like to add that he(my best friend) is probably the only person who knows all aspects of my life. There are other reasons too. Often my views are too radical and I consider it best to keep them to myself. Then, I also don't like mixing various lives. Yes, I hate discussing what I did at class once I am at room, or may be what I did at some party once I am back from there. Only if its too interesting will you find me discussing about it with a person totally ignorant of the situation. My sister is in the habit of shouting aloud what happened at her office and I hate that too.

All these and many more things and I find that I don't have anyone to turn to, to speak my heart out. I cherish my school memories and wish to return back to those days of innocence. But alas! That's not possible. You cant tell your best friend everything through chats as I find it quite cumbersome. So, now, I turn to this after 1 failed attempt in the first year once again, to speak my Heart out and fill the void thats killing me.