A UP-wala who loves Raj Thackeray

The Star Screen awards this year would have definitely taken a big toll on me if I had not the company of some really quirky people while working on it, apart from some of my colleagues that is. Leading this list is a man called Babu, a UP'ite who drove me around Lokhandwala, Versova and Seven Bungalows on Day 1 of what would be a tiring exercise delivering invites to celebs as well as non-celebs to turn up for the awards, slated less than a week away.
Babu was an atypical driver. He was dark brown, with a balding patch in front of his pate and his reddish brown mouth gave ample evidence of his paan chewing addiction. He is also convinced that every watchman in all the towers and decrepit buildings to trudged to in the above mentioned areas are Biharis. He tried to conceal it first but as the day wore on and he realised he could not keep making long distance calls to his hometown, he slowly opened up about his hate of Biharis.
Babu is from Jaunpur in UP and has been driving cars for about seven years now. He left a lucrative business and came to Bombay in search of more money than his farming could give him and his extended family of 17 members. He lives in a decrepit one-storey building with a roommate, paying about Rs 2000 as rent per month. Babu believes Biharis come to Bombay and do not pick up its ethos. That they in fact, bring their own culture and force it down the throat of people here. "Take Chhat Puja for example. They celebrate it very differently in Bihar and here too, just to have their show of strength displayed, they somehow conduct this ceremony haphazardly. What's the use? They do not realise how important this festival is," he rants.
His disgust of his fellow Hindi speakers is evident in the way he talks to them in uncouth language and with scant regard for their background, adopting the familiar twang in which the language is spoken up North. What really got his goat an event playing in his hometown. His sister's brother's daughter was being married off on the same day as our card distribution was occurring in Bombay. After coming back from delivering a card to Archana Puran Singh's house, I found Babu pacing outside the rented car and pointedly speaking into his tobacco stained handset. His tenor, like his sudden gear jerks, went up and down with every other sentenced. When he was finally done after a good 15 minutes, he said he was threatening as well as cajoling someone from the groom's side who were demanding a bigger car to get the groom and his family to come to the venue along with a few more "essential" items packed into it. He spat out the words, "Goddamn fucking Biharis." Needless to say, the groom was from Bihar.
As the afternoon sun gave way to twilight and the temperature dropped considerably, so did Babu's temper. He did have something interesting to say before he quit the subject though. "I feel Raj Thackeray is right in beating up Biharis. Stupid, mean bunch of people deserve to be beaten. I wonder why he's stopped now," he said. Tell him that Thankeray's people had attacked cab drivers from UP as ell and he says cryptically, "He must understand we're different from these lowlife Biharis. I think he knows it already."

PS - I did not know Babu would be featured in this blog, else I would've had a photo for readers' benefit.

PPS - I have made this promise and broken many times, but I hope to continue this blog and give it a direction and flow in the days to come. More on the Screen Awards coming up in the next few posts. Stay with me and pray for me .. Thank you

Is this man Prabhakaran?

This image released by Sri Lankan authorities made it to the front of all papers in the next day’s edition. News channels had a field day investigating and analyzing the Lankan endgame.

President Rajapaksa seems to have made good his promise of liberating his country wrecked by LTTE for over a quarter of a century. A recent conversation with a friend showed me how much I had analysed and believed in the war.

I reproduce the conversation verbatim. Red is a good friend who works with a South Asian paper. What are your views? Let me know?

do u believe prabhakaran is dead

  or rather the dead man is prabhakaran

 me: i dont think he's dead

  looks like SL propoganda

3:07 PM he wud've made plans for the day when he wud hv to go underground

 Red: there is no ground to go under now

3:08 PM whatever happened to his family

  did u see his pix

 me: yes .. top of his head blown off .. bullet in the middle of his forehead

  eyes still open

3:09 PM Red: yup

  does he look anything like prabhakaran

3:10 PM me: he doesnt .. i dunno how they'd do a DNA test to confirm as well

3:11 PM Red: did they have prabhakaran's dna profile stored in their computers before

3:12 PM me: they will regroup after a few months .. maybe a year .. go after SL in such a way, i can only imagine the sheer disastrousness of it all .. like taliban going after Pak now .. that chap is way smarter than rajapaksa credits him for

 Red: so that at an opportune moment they cud just recall the data and match

 me: SL thought they'd just stop all the international outrage by announcing its over

  sounds very logical and reasonable to me

3:13 PM Red: hmmm

  but its not over till its over

 me: by over it depends on who's side u are on

3:14 PM if u believe rajapaksa, its over .. he's won .. become a national hero

3:15 PM no matter the ethnic cleansing, gagged and butchered media, the silenced opposition and international outrage

3:16 PM Red: hmmm

3:17 PM ethnic cleansing and gagged media were true for both sides

  prabhakaran was not a messiah of free speech

  nor was he open to letting sinhalese stay in Eelam hewanted to carve out from the Lankan country

3:18 PM me: but he never shot journos like rajapaksa had wikramatunga shot, did he?

3:19 PM Red: but he made sure his own extravangant living and comforts were never published for the Tamil people to see.. all they saw him in was combat gear

  even in family photos

  thats hypocrisy

3:20 PM i wonder if his underpants were also of camouflage material

3:21 PM me: maybe he wanted to be seen and known as a guerilla fighter 24X7 .. even saddam hid his fortune from his own people .. power breeds corruption .. not everybody can be Che

 Red: u are a che fan eh

 me: who isn't?

3:22 PM Red: prabhakaran had turned into a complete dictator later.. i don't sympathise with him and his sympathisers

  i am not

  I do not follow the Left ideology

  I do not even understand how they can go about claiming it to be right

 me: of course i hate him too .. but i hate the way the SL govt has gone after him .. its like glorifying his crimes

3:23 PM Red: oh ya

  u have a point there

  they came to their senses later, and started releasing pix of soldiers rescuing trapped civilians

  that was good PR

3:24 PM me: yeah .. something to show their so-called humane side for the international media

 Red: u r being idealistic

 me: the local media was allowed to travel to the affected areas until everything had been sanitised by the SL army

 Red: no govt is humane

  look at wat india is doing in kashmir

3:25 PM me: yes .. but if u say prabhakaran is hypocrite .. what is the SL govt? the SL army?

 Red: of course they are not clean

  i am not taking sides..

3:26 PM me: the only thing i didnt understand is the China angle .. how does their helping the SL govt harm us?

 Red: that means we are surrounded from all sides by china wat

  they are in Pak

  they are in tibet

3:27 PM they are near arunachal, myanmar

  they are in the himalayas and now also in the south

  when business interests come in.. govt usually listen to where the money comes from

  if money comes from china then india is out

 me: aahh.. ok .. i thought they wanted it only so that better access to the Palk strait .. for their business interests

3:28 PM Red: china cannot be stopped now

  we just have to catch up with them

 me: really .. is that even possible?

 Red: but look at wat our politicians are doing instead

  wen will karunanidhi die

3:29 PM he suddenly thiinks congress won 206 seats becuz of him

  he wants portfolios for his entire family in the cabinet

  can u believe that

 me: lol .. he's hallucinating of course

3:30 PM all these Tamil ministers supported the Eelam during elections

 Red: yeah he went on a hunger dharna and wat not

 me: for like 4 hrs apparently

 

Why I Did Not Vote

I went to the booth and came back. The following is my tryst with voting.

Today was voting day in my constituency. Along with the elderly, who were still yearning for a good debate between capitalism and Marxism between themselves at the booth, a significant chunk of people at the booth were people in the 25-30 age group.

The election euphoria has been sustained for a long time before it reaches its end (in my city at least!) today. The first major sign of this was with the Lead India campaign last year. I was working with Times of India at this point and extensively covered the shoot of the series from the Film city sets. At that point too, there was no real sense of urgency to tackle the political scene with individuals and qualified people. The contestants were more interested in garnering votes from the public like true politicians with a hint of rhetoric and self righteous indignation on various topics which did not affect their lives directly—from Emergency, to Bangladesh, to defence budgets to Medha Patkar. That show showed me how even qualified and professional people would also stoop to the level of a politician to win, when in fact the show was all about changing the way the country looked at politicians. Everyone, however, agreed that the show was a great concept was very much needed in today’s times.

The real bombardment began in earnest with the Jaago Re campaign. The average normal Indian was progressively cajoled, exhorted and finally threatened to vote for the current general elections happening across the country.  The media, in the aftermath of 26/11 also picked up on the Vote India campaign. But seriously, is voting worth it?

The way I see it, voting can only change if the voting list itself is up to the standard. Now, I set my standard for my politician to be quite high. I want him/ her to be known (like Milind Deora), to be seen doing some work (like Priya Dutt), to be relatively corruption free, be a true secularist, be accessible, be sensible and someone who comes across as a person with a plan (no names comes to mind).

Let me illustrate with my experience. At the polling booth, a friend came out and showed me the finger, with the election mark. I asked him whom he voted for, and he said Congress. Why? “Because I want Rahul Gandhi to be PM.” This first-time voter did not even know the candidate he was voting for. He simply clicked the name next to the Congress hand and came back happy, as if he’d braved an Arctic storm.

On my way back another acquaintance told me he was going to vote — for the BJP. Why, I asked, mildly curious. “Ram Naik was so much better than Govinda,” he said. This fellow has not even heard of demilitation and did not even know the candidate who were standing for election from my constituency. In essence, my area has been clubbed with an area which mainly comprises of tribal area. The candidates were all new faces and new names, people I knew nothing about. It did not make sense to vote for them.

On my visit to Vidarbha in March, I was at Lonar (the one with the famous crater) on the day of the election. The state transport bus was unusually full with voters going about casting their vote and I began small talk. I found an entire family of 14 who were returning without casting their vote because someone had already done their job for them. The family did not seem surprised or outraged. It is a story repeated in villages across the country. I know this is how the Left managed to stay in office for over 25 years in West Bengal. So, paradoxically, the electors elect themselves and the role of people is left to doing nothing. This is not an election formed by democratic consent, but more of pseudo autocrats created by power-hungry marauders.

As I see it then, this election is hardly different than any other. The trains were empty, the media was present in full force near ISKCON temple at Juhu, waiting for a celebrity to come down and cast their vote than talk to the people who had braved the heat to cast their vote, the same set of politicians are contesting the polls (none of whom would have been sensitized to the needs of people they seek to represent) and finally, the outcome will be decided by a set of murderers and looters who will find more ways of pillage and plunder. I, for one, do not wish to be associated with a government as this.

You may call it impractical and cynical, but I believe an informed, aware and better set of politicians is still at least a decade away (and I’m trying to be very optimistic here). Until then, it’s better to sleep in slight discomfort caused by others than stay awake in mayhem created by your own doing.

 

What does money mean to you?

The New York Times has come out with an interesting weekend competition. It requires people to define 'money'. Money, that generic dirty word that like friction, we cannot do without and which is the cause of so many squabbles the world over. My definition? A form of barter that leaves the rich richer and the poor poorer after every transaction. Do you have any definition? Post it here or apply on NYT here.

It wasn’t just about the Fab Four

Hoardings put up by opportunistic political parties across Mumbai carry messages of solidarity along with pictures of Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamte and Sandeep Unnikrishnan. They have now become part of legend, brave heroes of 26/11; in a grotesquely macabre and ironical way; the face of the attack; apart from pictures of captured terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab of course.
In the meanwhile, policemen who tried to defend the Taj with their World War 2 rifles, a 54-year-old policeman with a family who took bullets from Kasab so he could be captured alive at Girgaum Chowpatty, the Bihari policeman who risked life (and limb) to foil Kasab and his associate’s plan of taking over CST terminus have largely been forgotten. Everybody who fought the terror attack and lost their life, died for a cause. It would to foolish to call it martyrdom. This was a attack and our fallen heroes were all serving to defend the country and its terrified people from the idea of democracy and right to life. That the democracy had given them ill-equipped resources to defend itself is the greatest travesty and their ultimate deaths, a victim of circumstance.
I however feel that we have become obsessed of finding heroes to reassure ourselves that good people exist out there. This is partly because no political leadership was forthcoming during and after the attacks but we are being vainglorious if we believe that it is only the efforts of these Fab Four that saved Mumbai.
On my rounds to various hospitals across the city in the immediate aftermath of the attack, I found so many stories of bravery and heroism that I somehow felt these stories were getting dwarfed because the heroes themselves never thought about their selfless acts of saving lives.
Let me give you a few examples. A headwaiter took most of the guests from Tiffin restaurant at Oberoi to safely putting himself in the line of fire. Small time people like chaiwalas and clothiers were busy providing water and biscuits to the MARCOS and NSG commandos near Taj and Nariman House with grenades and bullets ricocheting a few feet from them.
I only wish we acknowledge the contributions of the entire city and salute this spirit of humanity that survived the 60-hour ordeal the city bore so tortuously. Saving a life is the most supreme act of compassion human beings can display. Does it bother you then that we give all the success only to four men on duty rather than all the others who took it upon themselves to perform this act of compassion purely as duty to humanity?

Batman and his dark (k)nights

I have been reading how the new Batman movie - a sequel to Batman Begins by director Chirstopher Nolan - has been breaking box office records by the day. My interest in this whole venture was piqued after I chanced upon a group of Dark Knight fans and their keen interest in the movie, its characters and of course Heath Ledger, who plays the role of Joker almost to perfection.

I saw the movie yesterday with a smattering of college going adults and a few oldies for the 152 minute adventure. The movie, per se, is well made and all actors - from Micheal Caine to Gary Oldman to Morgan Freeman - play their parts well. The important actors do their job well too.

What I liked most about the flick (apart from the absence of Robin!) was the transformation of Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) to Two-face. It was a great move showing his wicked side after trying to be the saviour of the fictional Gotham City - in this case a NYC clone full of highrises and Gotham Police Dept cars and a jetty for the climax. The two sides of good and evil signifies how easy it is to manipulate even the best of minds into taking up the wrong road. It somehow enhances the human tug-of-war Bruce Wayne faces each time he tries to stop crime.

Another cool character was Joker. Although he didnt hold my attention towards the climax (which I found a bit convulated) he was thoroughly menacing and a delight to watch. I wonder what really Jack Nicholson must have told him before Ledger took up the role of Joker. Either way, I'll be highly disappointed if he doesnt at least get an Oscar nomination for this role.

This is the first movie in recent years to have got a 4-star rating from most reviews and so the anticipation of a great flick was so highly built up that I can forgive Nolan if I didnt find the movie to live up to that much hype. The flick is good yes, but not great. Batman has returned as a formidable superhero once again, but the film dragged in some parts and the climax, as I've said, could have been better. Great SFX work, but please get Bale to act a little more next time around.

I am not a big fan of comics. I was one of those who wanted to grow up too soon too quickly and abandoning comics for the mystery world of Hardy Boys in school before finally beginning a journey into the worlds of Sidney Sheldon, Jeffrey Archer, Ayn Rand, and others. Comics thus have sustained in me only through movies and the occasional write-ups. The group I met were fanatical about Batman which was a great thing for me since I can never match any of my readings with a fanbase except for Potter and maybe LOTR. I wonder if our connect to books is only because of our own experiences or because we like to escape into a fictional world to leave our worries behind.

Comics certainly suggest that we like to give wings to our imaginations and dreams and so will always be popular. And going by the hordes of people I've seen flocking to the theatres for the Dark Knight, I'm sure there'll be no one who will disagree with me.

If you've seen the movie, drop me a line on how you felt about it.

One year at TOI

On 4th June 2008 I will complete a career milestone. It will be one year since I would've first walked into the historic Times of India building at Bori Bunder. It is an organisation every student when learning journalism scoffs at and then itches to join. I was one among them.

The job (feature writer) at TOI is my third job having previously worked with an online data company called Baseline Studiosystems for Hollywood and then for DNA where I was shifted around departments more regularly than Paris Hilton makes news. The jobs lasted sixs months each and I was reveling in the fact that I could not be tied down by any organisation. That could only mean more experience with more organisations. But on the very first day of joining I promised myself I would at least last two years at TOI. Because ultimately I fell in the rat race of cleaning up my CV for my future employers who could not look upon my work experience and think of me as a dandy happy-go-lucky twenty-something bloke, which of course I am.
And herein lies my grouse. My work ethic counts for naught before the number of months (and now years) I give to a job. Why should a job be measured by time rather than passion and commitment. I have hardly had any substantial increments in my job-hopping spree. My salary has increased by 5K over these 3 jobs, and my sister, who worked for a call centre earned double of what I got last month. Clearly then, I am not in this field for the money. What I want is enough contancts and goodwill to last me even when I am not actively a part of this great media circus in India.
I will admit one year at TOI has been great. My friendship with a few celebrities has gone beyond the professional distinction of journalist and star, I have met a lot of journalists and am part of a very cool team of people, spoken to musical biggies like Klaus, Rudolph from the Scorpions, 50 Cent, Beyonce, America, Iron Maiden apart from other indi-bands and singers, I have hopped on Jet Airways to Bhopal twice to do some unusual stories and met a lot of people from the poor, tribal and neglected part of the city as well. I have also seen enough of journalism to know that it's a field where the demands and pressure of the job tend to make one cynical and superficial to society after a point in time at the sheer madness of it all. But if there's anything I fear losing more than my writing, it's my sense of humanism so yes, journalism is not a life-long career option, fun though it may be at this stage.
It has been a year rich in experience and the following year can only be better. Will it be at TOI or no is the question to answer though. Because I still have that individualistic streak of creating something unique and different and everyday the urge to write something - a script or a novel - gets bigger. I dont know how long I can ignore it. But it's not possible to do this while working and that is the biggest dilemma. Do I stake everything and run away to do a writing course abroad as I have been dreaming ever since graduating or do I sit and let time take its own course? I dont know and I'll be damned if God can help me.
Amen.

You And I

The wind blows to the west

But I ignore it at first

It holds me in its grip

Telling me what it means

To be followed, to be held tight

to be shallow, to put up a fight

It tells me to be you

The wind is thinking of you

Wondering how that happened

We thought the elements were suspect

Until we lost respect

And now it catches me again

This wind I have been running from

Breathing out, keeping out, living out

Now I know its useless

And I am powerless

To keep out this storm

So I witness this passively

And I wonder why this is

But now I know

This wind is you

With your spirit that makes two

So I go ahead with this

Careless, helpless, shameless

To be followed, to be held tight

to be shallow, to put up a fight

And then I become you

The dilemma of being Sachin Tendulkar

When Sachin Tendulkar pumped his fist in the air after scoring his 42nd ODI century in the first final against Australia on Sunday, many cricketing legends would've been put off. Nothing more than Sachin's sacking in the new young Indian squad with a median of 25 would do. In fact, some players like Sanjay Manjrekar would only be too happy to see Sachin retire. His two articles on two days were as opposite as Mars and Venus. Where he was criticising Tendulkar for the manner in which he was playing in the series Down Under on the eve of the first final of the CB series, he was waxing eloquent after Sachin hit an unbeaten 117 at the SCG in the very next article.
For a long time now, critics have pointed out how Tendulkar fails in the finals fo every tournament. Kapil Dev, a couple of days ago, said that just because Tendulkar has performed in one finals of one tournament after about fifteen failures, it does not mean he should be put on a pedestal.
Why do most former players hate seeing Sachin succeed? The most simple and obvious answer is professional jealously. After playing alongside Sahin and now being 'retired experts', it is difficult for these players to digest the stamina, hunger, drive and obscene money the Little Genius is still making.
When Gavaskar wrote that the SCG will now be called Sachin Cricket Ground after Tendulkar smashe dhis first ODI ton in Australia after two decades in cricket, it was hard not to see a trace of sarcasm in the piece. What these experts dont realise that Dravid and Ganguly may have been exemplary players but their presence in the dressing room did not amount to the same level of excitement as when Tendulkar is sharing with his younger team-mates. It is as no great surprise when Rohit Sharma said batting with Sahcin at the SCG was his best innings so far. This is because Sachin is a contrast to the individualistically perfect Dravid and the controversy prone Ganguly, both of whom manage to draw attention to themselves than their game. Cricket writers have often pointed how Sachin soaks all the pressure a cricket crazy nation of over a billion people puts on him every time he goes out to bat. He still has the goods to play for at least another couple of years. Cricketers learn so much from watching him play. Any opposing team has to watch the tapes of Sachin batting all the time because of the improvisation he brings in his shot-making, whether it is the paddle sweep, the six over third-man or his latest shot, hitting over the wicket-keeper and sli pcordon's heads, Sachin is always learning and showing others what to do. Ganguly had to fight his own demons with the short ball and Dravid seems to have gone into his own shell ever since he gave up captaincy in April last year.
It is clear everyone in India is looking ahead. Individual baggage of a celebrated cricketer does not count for much in the Vengsarkar-Dhoni era. MS Dhoni has proved his instinct workes better than the brains of selectors combined. He needs to put on his thinking cap once again. A sportsman does not need to be a captain to motivate a bunch of young and eager boys. And if Sachin can mould this young team full of brimming talent into a group of fighting winners, he will leave the game with the biggest legacy of them all. Will the retired experts and expert selectors let him do that?

Roadies is back

I love Roadies. That's the first confession I want to make before I write anything. The MTV show had me hooked ever since I caught one of the audition episodes of last season whilst flicking channels. The entire concept of the show amazed and entertained me—something I expect out of a TV show I'm watching.

This week's first audition episode from Chandigarh was great fun too. Raghu, the creative director of the show showed why he was the most feared amongst the contestants and why for the viewer, each of his tantrum made sense. Like the way he analysed the Kuwait return girl's dilemma versus the requirement of the show, it was fascinating. There's also Nikhil Chinappa this time to give Raghu company. Much better choice than Mika MTV had last year.

The selected people included a Bani-ish character who denied she was anything like her, a long haired guy who thinks he's a dude and can bed any girl he wishes and a loser sort of guy who showed flashes of brilliance in the audition. 3 different characters already and I cant wait for the next auditions in Kolkata. The show is telecast each SAturday at 7 PM.

I met Raghu at National College last year towards the end of Season 4 last year. He told me (and the college students gathered) how each episode is shot. There are ten cameras which record all the details of the contestants and each of them is assigned a number. From VD 1 to VD 10. VD stands for Video Diary. These are then viewed and edited- a humongous task according to Raghu. That is why we see a lot of jump cuts in the episode.

That is also why Raghu says the show cannot be rigged and isnt rigged. He had also claimed that Roadies was the first reality show to have aired on Indian television. Apart from that, it was also an original show. I believe most of all this because I dont see any counter claims to it. And because I am biased to the show.

More power to Roadies!

OSO - A Personal Review (possible spoilers ahead)

So, incredible news first. I saw Om Shanti Om, first day last show. And in D row. That bit is incredible because until 30 mins before the show began, I had almost packed my bags to go home. Wasn't feeling great too - light headache and bodyache. But things turned out surprisingly differently and I had a great time watching the most publicised movie of all time.

Coming to the story itself, I knew it would be total timepass because after Main Hoon Na, if I learnt anything it was that Farah Khan can tell a story in an entertaining way. I find her movie making style very David Dhawan-like, but a couple of notches higher. And of course, Shahrukh over Govinda helps.

The story then is quite simple and very Karz inspired, and although she may have said she doesnt like remakes, one look at OSO is enough to convince you otherwise. So there is one Om who is a junior artiste and lives life happily with his best friend (Shreyas Talpade) and hyperactive mom (Kirron Kher, surprisingly over-the-top). Along the way he is also in love with superheroine dreamy girl Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone) with whom he chats via a poster and later after saving her from a fire (Sunil Dutt-Nargis anyone?), he chats with her in real life, asking the same silly questions (tum mujhse bore toh nahin ho rahi naa?). Enter baddie Arjun Rampal (well acted, for once) who turns out to be a producer and kills Shanti to save his studio and name by not getting Shanti to tell the world they are married and are about to have a baby.

Hero sees all. Hero is killed. Hero is reborn. Hero wants to turn the tables. Hero gets what he wants. End of story. That's the second half by the way.

Along the way, questions about the script arise but are not answered properly. Where did Shanti's duplicate come from suddenly? Why did baddie not put his foot down being a hotshot Hollywood director himself to SRK's obvious gameplan?

The first half is entertaining and keeps you engaged. Farah lets her viewers see the arcane world of moviemaking. Shahrukh is good as usual, his energy levels unsubsidised by his advancing age. And he had the six-pack to prove for it.

The surprise package is Deepika Padukone. She acts right, her facial expressions are great and is not the plastic models Bollywood imports from time to time in its movies. Here is someone who will go beyond Aishwarya in the movie making business. Top heroines, better start working harder now.

All in all, OSO is good, worth one watch, if nothing then for the spoof on Bollwood Farah so endearingly touches upon. Aamir Khan, Sooraj Barjatya, Rajesh Khanna, Jeetendra and of course Manoj Kumar, take a bow.

Testing a New Captain for a brand new Team India

You have to feel sorry for Tendulkar. The poor guy is in subline touch and the (airhead) selectors dont know whom to turn to to give the thorn .. oops .. crown of Test captaincy to other than him.

I agree with the majority of ex-cricketers who say Dhoni should not be made Test captain. It would be too much for the Jharkhand lad. A genuine talent can go haywire if overwhelmed with so much responsibility. He will crack. And when he cracks, he will break, never to ve mended again, least of all by the selectors themselves, who will have moved on to the next available scapegoat in the team.

Dravid is being shuffled around - the current bunny (pun intended) of the selectors - who've found their latest bakra. Yuvraj (when he is not getting clicked with Beyonce withou knowing what RnB and hip-hop is .. err.. I know that because I saw their small photoshoot at Room 1122 in Grand Hyatt couple of weeks ago .. more on all that in some other post) is not a Test certainty with his tempemental technique, so he cant be made captain too.

The others in the team are just that - the others - not capable enough to be even considered. Sourav cant be considered as well because of his 'history' with the selectors - their love story which went horrendously wrong. Tendulkar well .. he was not handled properly by the selectors again. He should have been, as Ravi Shastri rightly pointed out, be approached when he was made vice-captain for the England series. He doesnt want to compromise on his batting at any cost and captaincy might hurt his chances of walking out in the sunset with a glow of runs behind him. And after serving the nation for close to two decades, God knows the man deserves at least that much.

The selectors, who've already made fools of themselves over the coach issure now find another monkey on their back. They have to act fast and they have to act wisely, not the brightest of points of the yawning oldies. But here I come to their help. The name is Kumble, Anil Kumble.

He has just given an interview saying he would be glad to lead India. He plays only Test matches now. He's already an Indian legend. He is respected by every team member. And he has learned a lot over the years which can finally be put to concrete use rather than let is rot away. And by the time he decides to call it quits, Dhoni would have been groomed properly to take over the delicate mantle from a wizened hand than the selectors' gaffe-prone butterfingers.

The question is - who will have the guts to stand up for the Karnataka leggie? Or will the selectors deliver another googly to Indian fans today? Will the captaincy go to Dhoni as being predicted or will there be some twist in the Great Indian Cricketing Tale. We'll have to wait and watch for the final outcome.

Fingers crossed.

A blast here, a blast there.

What's with all the blasts happening in every nook of the country? It's almost become a game of guessing as to where and not when the next blast int he country will be. All this while, politicians mint their money and bureaucrats twiddle their thumbs and the public demands accountability from the police, whose own hands are tied up the bureaucrats and politicians.

What will help reduce the number of lives lost to the crazy will of a silly group bound together by doctored advice? First and foremost, a certain human regard for one another, a fraternity of humanity and then brotherhood. This does not mean we go and create a character like Peter Novak but rather learn to respect each other from the point of view of understanding, rather than aggressive misinformation squandering.

The authorities can make sure that a fast track justice system is created to finish off all bomb blast related cases. Waiting for a decade and ultimately letting the perpetrators walk away scot free can create a new breed of wannabe terrorists. But therein lies a schism. We must make sure that there is no introduction of draconian laws such as
POTA, which will only surve to defeat the very cause these courts would be formed for.

The most important thing for the public is to maintain calm, for the police is to find the culprits and for the intelligence authorities to be wise enough to know where the next blast in going to be. S difficult, but by no means, an impoosible task.

What remains to be seen is who's going to take up the cudgels now?

12 things journalists can do to help us recreate journalism

I was just browsing through the internet when I came across this bit of nugget.

I personally found the whole thing too consumerist and without focus lacking insight. Also, how the points will help be a better journalist are unclear. Just an example: A Nokia - N Series phone can be mastered by anyone. What's the link and relevance with being a better and neo-journalist with it?
What do you think?


Here are twelve things journalist can do to help us recreate journalism for the 21st Century.
Become a blogger. By this, I don’t necessarily mean “start a blog,” but that is never a bad idea. More importantly, become an avid blog reader. Blogs should be a daily routine for every dedicated journalist. They should read every blog related to their beats. They should read blogs about their own interests and hobbies. They should read blogs about their profession. To get blogging is to get how things have changed.
Become a producer. Pick up a digital recorder, a point-and-shoot camera or a video camera and start producing content beyond text. Do this as part of your job, fine, or do it on your personal time. The goal is to understand DIY. Post stuff on YouTube, Flickr or any number of other UGC sites.
Participate. As you read blogs, leave comments. If your newspaper.com has comments on stories, read the comments and add your own. Become known as somebody who converses on the Internet.
Build a web site. It will greatly expand your mind about how the web works if you go a bit beyond just setting up an account on Blogger or WordPress. Learn a little HTML. Better yet, learn some PHP, Cold Fusion, JavaScript or other web development language. You should own your own domain, anyway.
Become web literate. You should know what Flash is, and how it differs from AJAX. You should know the meaning of things like HTML, RSS, XML, IP, HTTP and FTP. You should understand at least how people use applications and tools to build web sites. You should know the potential and the limitations of each.
Use RSS. You need an RSS reader and lots of RSS feeds to consume. This will help you better grok distributed media.
Shop online. Part of your goal is to become immersed in the digital lifestyle. You will learn stuff about the digital life if you shop on Amazon, Ebay and other ecommerce sites. As you do, think about how these sites work and why they’re set up as they are.
Buy mobile devices. Get a video iPod. Get a smart phone (an iPhone, Treo, Helio Ocean or Nokia N-series are all good places to start). Learn about distributed, take-it with-you-anywhere content. Buy a laptop and tap into some free wi-fi while you’re out and about. Learn what digital life is like when you’re not shackled to a desktop machine.
Become an avid consumer of digital content. Watch videos on YouTube. Download video and audio podcasts (take them with you on your iPod). Visit the best newspaper sites in the world and watch what they’re doing. Turn on your TV less and your computer more.
Be a learner. Technology and culture is changing fast. You can’t keep up unless you’re dedicated to learning. I love this quote from Eric Hoffer because it is so appropriate to what our industry is going through now: “In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves beautifully equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”
Talk about what you’re learning with your co-workers. Be a change agent. Get other journalists excited about the new digital communication/media tools.
Finally, read Journalism 2.0 (PDF) by Mark Briggs. You’ll learn about the stuff covered above and how it is changing modern journalism. Brigg’s book is the best primer on the topic you will find.
Quality journalism, and the news organizations that finance it, needs individual journalists to become personally responsible for their own role in changing newsroom cultures and practices. The smartest publishers with the greatest strategic plans (even if they had bottomless buckets of cash to execute on all the best ideas) can’t save news organizations without the concerted support of individual journalists.
One last bit of advice: Don’t wait for a boss to tell you to become a learner and an explorer. Your job is just where you collect your paycheck. You career is what you do. Your boss isn’t responsible for your career. You are. Solely. Don’t wait on others to make changes. Start making changes now for your own benefit. It’s great if your employer benefits from your growth, but you will benefit more.

Days 2 at DNA

The second day at DNA was another series of lectures from editors of different sections out to explain why their section was the best.

In particular I found the points raised by Saumit, the editor of After Hrs., the mosr relevant. He is a 30 something guy who has his priorities clear. He asked us to get out the hypocritical belief that entertainment news is frivolous. In fact, he said, most of the news seen today is presented in such a flashy way that the effect of entertaining the audience into reading news is all too apparent. The thing with me is, on my test paper result, they had printed the words "After Hrs - Desk" in an all too apparent way of telling where I was headed, never mind the 360 degree tour of the paper.

THe other instance where I got charged up was the very first one where a certain Mr. Bhatia was talking about the Edit page. In newspapers, this is the most sacrosanct page and the only page where views are allowed rather than news. Therefore it is necessary to spell out the policy of the paper based on which editorials can be written. In DNA however, they seem to be liberal and secular to all issues which goes against the rules since it is impossible to be fair to your ideas if you publish any good piece of work. I argued, but the stand-offish response I got put me off.

OTher people from other sections came and spoke as well. But there was nothing much they could do for me to write about.

Let's see what happens tomorrow. We've been told that the deep end is awaiting us. How deep the rabbit hole goes will be apparent soon enough.

Day 1 at DNA

So finally I entered the hallowed (or hollowed) domain of journalists today when I stepped into the office of DNA (Daily News & Analysis) at Kamala Mills today. In a lot of ways this blog was supposed to be started by me a long time ago. I wanted to put my life out here, if only to check and see how similar and how different I am from the rest of my ilk. What further strengthened my resolve was the fact that I was told to maintain a diary as a journalist. So here we go, and hope you enjoy the ride.

I am a mass media graduate with journalism as my specialisation. Once I got my result in June last year, I began work at a company called Ness Technologies. There I worked on as Content Editor for their client - Baseline Studio Systems. It was good while it lasted, (6 months to be precise) writing about Hollywood movies that hadnt released in India and all. But it got repetitive, I lost interest and opportunity came knocking in the form of this job and I took it.

I came to office just after 9 30. I was quite relaxed since I'd just got to know I was expected at 10. I thought it would stretch to 11 by the time something really happens but this time things started off soon. It was induction day. There were 8 other people with me, 4 of whom were from Pune and incidentally, from the ame college as well, Indira School of Communication.

After brief introductions, we were addressed all through the day by different people including Zee head honcho Subhash Chandra. He is a man with weary eyes hidden by bushy eyebrows and has a shocker of white hair on his forehead in his otherwsie black hair. He speaks in a deep labyrinthic voice which can hold your attention immediately but one that lacks aura. He spoke to us about how DNA is just another business for him and that we shouldnt set too high editorial standards. Kind of unexpected, but then well.. really nothing that could be done about that.

One Mr. Suresh provided the only seminar which had zestful enthusiasm. He spoke at length about the campaign that was launched and all the hoopla and behind-the-scenes number crunching that went into it. We were also shown how the printing press at Vashi was built in a world record (their words, not mine) of just 176 days. Also, there was constant talk of increasing circulation and plans of unsettling sleeping giant Times of India soon. Mr. Ayaz Memon was particularly happy to share that today the circulation figure touched 392,000 copies.

At the end of it all, we were divided into teams that would work with different departments all through the month - but that hasnt been finalised so I guess there's no use of writing it.

Tomorrow there are lectures of an hour each from editors of various depts. It's like an extended college lecture day and I just hope they dont tempt me to bunk!