Bollywood Masala 1

Bollywood is a fantasy.In the next 3 posts, I'd rather talk about that...some facts worth sharing.

1.Sunil Dutta played the role of a dacoit in 20 movies in his career.
2.Waheeda Rahman is the only heroine who played both mother and lover to Amitabh Bachchan. She played the love interest of Big B in ‘Adalat’ (1976) and mother in ‘Trishul’ (1978).
3.Mughal-e-Azam’ (1960) was a trilingual – with all scenes shot thrice in Hindi, Tamil and English
4.Dilip Kumar was offered a lead role in the international project ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ (1962) the actor declined the offer. The role subsequently went to Egyptian actor Omar Sharif.(LOA is an all time hit)
5.Actor Amjad Khan was almost dropped from ‘Sholay’ (1975) because scriptwriter Javed Akhtar found his voice weak for Gabbar Singh's role. Danny Denzongpa was approached for that role initially.(hard to imagine, isn't it?)

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Don't find any glory in this...sorry folks

India has dropped two places to stand 142nd out of 189 countries ranked by the World Bank for ease of doing.Mumbai, India's business epicentre, showed that it requires 13 procedures to start a business, and it took 30 days to accomplish this, compared to an average of 4.8 procedures and 9.2 days in advanced economies.
All of India's neighbors except for Bangladesh (173) and Afghanistan (193) were ranked higher. China topped the neighbourhood at 90, followed by Sri Lanka at 99, Nepal at 108, Bhutan at 125 and Pakistan at 128. Singapore stood first overall for the ninth year in succession, and is followed by New Zealand, Hong Kong, Denmark, and South Korea.

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You missed the starting Gun?

First,I was dying to finish my High School and start college
and then I was dying to finish college and start working,
Then I was dying to marry and have children
And then I was dying for my children  to grow old enough so I could go back to work
But then I was dying to retire
and now I am dying..
And suddenly I realized
I forgot to live.-Dedicated to the young Indians so that they rethink and realize the values of Life !-Courtesy Ved Vikash.

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The Narendra Modi you may not know 2

1.Kanubhai Bhavsar, Modi’s school teacher in Vadnagar has known to have said, "He was brave. We would all swim to the temple in the middle of Sharmistha lake which had 40 crocodiles. Once Narendra brought home a baby crocodile.
2.Narendra Modi has done a three-month course in US on public relations and image management.

3.His emperor like image has attracted many women. In his home state Gujarat, Narendra Modi is a sex symbol for women.

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Dewali some facts

1.Deepavali is an official holiday in 10 other countries apart from India
2.Usually in North India Diwali is celebrated to mark the return of Lord Rama after a 14 year exile.
3.Sikhs observe this day because their Sixth Guru Shri Guru Hargobind Sahib ji were freed from imprisonment of Emperor Jahangir.
4.Mahavir also attained Mokhsa on this day.

5.Diwali is a five day festival

Dhanteras

Naraka Chaturdasa (choti Diwali)

Amavasya(The main day)

Kartika Shudda Padyami

Bhai Dooj

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The Modi You may not know part 1

1.Modi was born in an OBC family of grocers in Vadnagar of Gujarat.

2.Narendra Modi has a patriot since childhood. During Indo-Pak war of 1965, Modi, as a 15 year old boy, volunteered to serve the soldiers.

3.He ran away from home after completing his school education.  After being to many places,he reached the Himalayas and   stayed with yogic Sadhus for months.

4.After two years of wandering in the Himalayas without money and with two pairs of clothes, he suddenly decided to give up ‘Sanyas’ life and returned home.

5.After returning from Himalayas, Modi ran a tea stall with his brother in Ahmedabad. Modi sold tea for many years. That was the time when Modi learnt what strugglereally meant. It made him more determined in his approach towards life.(To be contd.)

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sorry for the delay

This blog will be updated tomorrow.

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Indian Glory?

1. Mr Kailash Satyarthi quit job of an Electrical Engineer in 1980 to serve the children.
2. Till then 2 of his co-workers have been murdered and he has escaped attempt on his life.
3.Before the Nobel Peace Prize, he Had won 8 awards, none of them were given by his Motherland!
4.He didn't get any Padma Sree etc., although film-stars and cricketers were given many and many more !
5. He was never nominated for Rajyasabha, though hundreds of film-stars and cricketers have been nominated in the last 34 years(since 1980)
6. He never received any call from any PM for his opinion on children, though SRK and others got appointment pretty easily.
7. TO TOP IT ALL- WHO RECOMMENDED HIS NAME FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE?
ANSWER- EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT !!!- -courtesy Rahul

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Living in Kolkata 2

Having lived over almost 3 decades in Kolkata, I've noticed 3 negative changes in Kolkatans
1. Becoming increasingly selfish.
2. Becoming increasingly insensitive.
3.(Naturally) becoming increasingly rude.
Not all is lost,though.I'd like to talk about 3 good(s) we still have.
1.We still invite poorer relatives to a marriage feast.
2.Be it midnight, We still go to burning ghats together.
3.Still most of us take care of our parents.
Thanks for reading.

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Living in Kolkata 1

When I say it's COOL living in Kolkata, I really mean it. It is with surprising coolness, we have learned to live-in with molestation, corruption,hooliganism...well the list could be endless.Debates on TV, songs on revolution-nothing changes us.We sip misery with morning cup of tea & news headlines and then forget it.Is it truly a City of Joy that we enjoy or pretend to enjoy?I've been here for a long time. The cityscape and the mind scape of the people have changed, changed forever.I'll try to find out more about that in my upcoming articles. Thanks for reading.

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Responsibilty-the last word for politicians?

 Admiral DK Joshi was the Navy chief,India till 26th February, this year.He resigned taking the moral responsibility of a series of accidents in naval vessels.
He spilled the beans yesterday.He said he was surprised at the speed with which his resignation was accepted.The government needed a scapegoat & they got that.More precisely, he said:'Power is not about receiving salutes.Where there is authority, there is no accountability. And where there is responsibility, there is no authority.' Rest is to be understood. By the way, Mr. A.K. Anthony(UPA) was the Defence/ Defense Minister then.
The fact that the Neta( political leader) never thought it to be his responsibility to resign, shows that today's India desperately needs accountable, responsible politicians.How many have we got? counting 1, 2, 3... .

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Was Hud Hud(a storm) a chamcha(stooge) too?

The cyclonic storm Hud Hud left the Vizag and adjoining areas ravaged.Many were      evacuated, many others sudffered. I've seen so many storms,floods, earthquakes in life but I've understood all of them are biased. Trust  me,I've not ever heard a Politician or a Neta(leader) becoming homeless after an earthquake, I've never heard one dying in a storm.The million-dollar question: where do they live during the storm or when the Earth shakes(I've seen them WATCHING victims airplanes after a disaster).

Next time:I am gonna ask a storm, a quake-why do  you kill the poor and the poor only?Are you a Chamcha(stooge)too?

 

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SRKs 8.5 packs and I

Someone posted this picture on Facebook and asked that tempting question: How many LIKES for this man and his muscle?
Sorry, I didn't give any. My admiration  for this hugely successful man has always been there.(Although it has depleted when he allowed himself to be photographed  with Sunny Leon).
Anyways, coming back to 8.5 packs -Reel heroes are hardly real heroes.I'd have given thousand likes had I seen these muscles are being used to protect the women or the weak instead of earning personal wealth. Sorry SRK, NO LIKES. All my LIKES to my Real Heroes in the Indian Army!

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Tell Me Why?

Congratulation to my fellow Indian, He must have given a lot to deserve this.It looks really nice when an Indian and a Pakistani share the stage as recipients of the Peace Prize.A Buddha or a Gandhi could not change us. We still love to bathe in blood, still we behead people and upload the video,we still  bombard and raze down cities. When I listen to Declan Galbraith(Tell me Why),I hang my head in shame. I would be happy to see all the Nobel Peace Prize winners in the last decade coming out together, reaching out to the world at the top of their voice & say:"STOP! No More"!
Love go finish with the age old questions
:"...How many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?...how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

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Who's is corrupt -the Netas or we, Aam Aadmi?

 I was reading an article. I guess,it posed a very fundamental question: Do we really want the removal of corruption?Perhaps the answer is unknown to us even.. We've grown up seeing corruption all around. I see strange indifference everywhere.Are there any GOOD reasons(I know there many others) for a convict to win elections?When thousands come out in the street to protest against Jayalalitha's imprisonment, I feel puzzled. When Lalu Prasad smiles shamelessly, I feel even more ashamed as an Indian.Democracy is one of the most baffling concepts
 I've ever come across.Such victory signs will continue
 to embarrass us all till one day when....

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Goodbye my friend, it's hard to die!

I received that as a gift. I'm sure many of you did the same. I was proud of it, I'm sure you were too.I lost my first one, You may have too. I never thought we all would lose it altogether and forever-yes, time's up."Timekeepers to the nation"HMT will shut down. The watch that was once a cherished possession of many, won't be available any more.

Set up in 1961, HMT had country's first watch manufacturing unit in Bangalore in collaboration with Citizen Watch Co. In fact, it claims many firsts to its credit — the automatic day-date watch to the first  quartz watches.

 Ironically,It could not keep time with the fast moving world. Although, attempts were made for its revival, it didn't quite succeed.With a loss of Rs.242 on its balance-sheet, The government had to take a tough decision.But we won't forget you.I still have one with me that ticks.I won't let it stop its heartbeat !

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India's answer to Amazon.com

After the big billion day, a few points about Flipkart:
1. It started off with a capital of 4 lakh rupees.
2‘Don't count your customers before they smile' is the company's operating mantra,
3. Flipkart cannot deliver more than 60 to 70 per cent  products through their own network.
4. Company's biggest challenge is Reverse Logistics(The process of returning a product to the company for some reason)
5.The founders don't think discounts can replace the customer's satisfaction of being serviced promptly and efficiently.(A right concept for sure)
6. Flipkart uses their Data to ‘surprise and delight' the customers.
7. Amazingly, Flipkart's profits after tax remain negative till now.(It's natural though)
8.Finally,Hats off to the duo as we are bound to say - “There are some things you can't buy online… For everything else, there's Flipkart!”

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Bhangharh-the Haunted?

Bhangarh is thought to be 1 of the most haunted places in India.Today, we would take a close look  at the things.Is the place really haunted?
Fact file:
The town of Bhangarh was established in 1573 by King Bhagwant Das.
Madho Singh(Bhagwant Das' son) named the city after his grandfather Bhan Singh and that’s where ‘Bhangarh’ comes from.
The population of Bhangarh started to diminish under Jai Singh's rule. Then came the great famine of 1783 which killed most people.
Mythological views
1.Balu nath, a monk wanted to stay away from the growing population, cursed the King and the people of Bhangarh when he was denied of his rights.
2.Ratnabati, the princess was cursed by a  lustful Tantrik.

Historical view:
Bhangarh was attacked by the neighboring kingdom of Ajabgarh. There was a fierce battle which Bhangarh lost and Rani Ratnavati herself died in the battle. The town has been uninhabited ever since.
The Fear Factor:
One is led to believe that ASI(Archeological Survey of India) put up the notification board(One cannot enter Bhangarh after nightfall) at Bhangarh because its haunted.
What we think:
 This is a completely cooked up tale by the locals. No historical monument in India  allows entry at night. Its restricted everywhere.
To Add:
Another reason why ASI warns people from entering here after sunset is because of wild animals.(Sariska tiger reserve is close by)
So why the spooky stories?
 The answer of simple, because this is the only thing that draws tourists here.The myths were first created by the locals to attract tourism and then supported by people who managed to gain entry at night and wanted to show off their supernatural experiences. Whatever experience they gained was because of the natural objects like wind etc. and animals like langoors, panthers.THERE ARE NO GHOSTS THERE.

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Why not Brahma?

The Fact:

India has very few temples dedicated to Brahmā, as opposed to

the tens of thousands of temples dedicated to Vishnu and Shiva. Among the few that exist today, the most famous is the temple in Pushkar in Rajasthan.

Mythological view:

Brahmā is not worshiped because of a curse by the great sage Brahmarishi Bhrigu. The high priest Bhrigu  had set off to find the greatest among the Trimurti.When he went to Brahmā, the god was so immersed in the musicplayed by Saraswati that he could hardly hear Bhrigu's calls.Angry Bhrigu then cursed Brahmā that no person on Earth would ever invoke him or worship him again.

Religious view:

Brahma is Shapless. He is beyond quantity and quality. He is

often referred as

 Prajnanam Brahma(Knowledge is brahma)

 Annam Brahma ( Food is Brahma)

 Aham Brahma ( I am Brahma)

 sarvam khalvidam brahma( Every thing in this universe is

rendered as brahma).

Philosophical view:

Brahma was responsible for creation, as he will be at the

start of every cosmic cycle. He does not have much

involvement with the world or human spirits between these

acts of creation.

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What is there NOT in Mahabharata...Part 2

The picture shows the formation of circle of soldiers that killed Abhimanyu.As he moved in, each soldier moved 1 step left of himself and thereby closed the circle, leaving very little opportunity for Abhimanyu  to find his way out.

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