Saturday, January 31, 2009

Shahrukh's "Ghar Ki Baat Hai"... another TV bum???

TV serials are terrible... I mean that's what most of youngsters wanna say unless it's something coolish like MTV Roadies or Channel V kinda stuff or English sitcoms (Friends, Scrubs etc) on Star World, AXN & HBO. I mean most of us don't even want to accept if we watch any so called Indian telly-shows which may be the reality-shows (the singing, dancing & comedy competitions actually) or the usual daily soaps (mostly starting with 'K' courtesy Ekta). Anyways, I don't really follow the daily soaps much & neither does anyone else in my home. My mom watches just a very few like Dulhan, Saat Phere, Betiyaan (see, I remember all the names which may prove that I watch them too... sometimes) and ofcourse Balika Vadhu (everyone seems to watch that, or atleast pretends to as it is some status symbol). And I do try to watch those reality-shows too, but I don't always succeed to enjoy them as they are tough to enjoy these days. And on top of that you mostly get to watch the same faces of the daily soaps on these reality-shows, trying to sing/dance/comedy which most of them miserably fail at. Seems we can't ever get enough of it... TV serials are terrible, LOL!!!

Shahrukh Khan has produced a new serial for NDTV Imagine named "Ghar Ki Baat Hai" which started airing from Jan 31, 2008. Being a SRK production I was expecting it to be something nice and different & nice. However as they say, never expect too much from anything or you may get hurt; I got hurt. They have a decent cast here with Sumeet Raghvan (we have loved him as Sahil of Sarabhai) as the husband, Juhi Babbar (Raj Babbar's daughter who really sucks, in a bad way) as the wife, Swapnil Joshi (the young Shri Krishna, has done decent comedy on Comedy Circus) as the brother in law staying with sister (is always eating & lazy too, but still not even quarter as funny as Joey) and Ali Asgar (this guy is kinda good & funny, not in here but in general) in recurring different roles. The 1st episode was so un-funny, I couldn't laugh even after my best tries. The dumb massage sofa (which was not actually a massage sofa but the inflatable sofa/recliner showed on telly shopping, surprised that they couldn't afford a real massage sofa with SRK production) And people jumping/shaking on it to show the massage was so dumb. Even the concept and storyline was bore & so were the performances. The attempted tribute on 'Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi' would itself become a tribute to un-funny & bore very soon if this is how it's gonna go. Damn Sharukh, didn't you ever watch your own TV show!!!

BTW, not as if all TV shows have been bums like this though. I used to love Sarabhai vs Srabhai, why didn't they do a season 2 yet? I especially used to adore the character of Dushyant, so damn funny!! Office-Office, Sriman-Srimati and some others used to be nice too. Reality shows like Indian Idol and Great Indian Laughter Challenge were pretty nice too when they started. It's just that they couldn't continue the same standards (hmmm, and may be that's why they are not doing more of Sarabhai). On that note, if you wanna watch real comedy then just watch our news channels like INDIA TV (click on this link for real info on them). All of them are just creating funny drama these days with no sense of news; with all red circles and diagrams/animations, they never seem to get the news straight but a twist. If you wanna watch real news, I liked TIMES NOW & Arnab on there is good.

I recently watched RAAZ-2 which was okay. Not very scary & not even great effects too, but decent storyline and nice music (surprisingly Emraan hasn't done what he's supposed to do, lol). But we still gotat do better with horror movies, most of them starting hollywood style these days but ending Ramsay Brothers style. I also saw 'Slumdog Millionaire' and it was just okay for me. I will probably write a separate blog to express my mixed views about selling Indian poverty to world with a decent piece of work & nice performances which has been praised worldwide. Alright boys n girls and dear friends, that's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (do COMMENT to let me know of your views too). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Republic Day... but how republic are we???

It's Republic Day today, it has been 59 years since India was declared a republic nation (surprisingly many of us don't even know that and think it was in 1947; 1947 was when India got independence & in 1950 we were declared a republic with adoption of the constitution); since then we are officially known as 'Republic of India'. Many of you may or may not know (yeah, like you all are supposed to know) but I am very nationalist ( don't even know that it means but sounds good), I don't write much about my great patriotic & social thoughts and just keep blabbering about stuff (but i guess still better than BS of many other bloggers talk about; when they woke up, what they ate, who they ate or dated & how was there damn day. Those are the blogs I encounter except the other ones, lol). But some thoughts definitely kept striking my mind this R-Day (sounds cool like V-Day)... I mean Republic Day. All I remember about this day actually is how we used to run to school for being part of the R-Day prayer & flag-hosting ceremony as we used to get sweets afterwards. I being a member of Scouts in school, used to manage to get more packs of sweets & share it with friends (& be the Hero). Also the day used to be special to watch the R-Day parade on TV, I loved it as a kid and I guess most of us did (except being asked to write an essay about it, ugh!!). I always thought & still think that I love my India and am really proud of being an Indian, however there are few questions & concerns which come to my mind today. And they have been prompted due to some recent events & incidents around us...

The first and most disgusting is the recent attacks on girls by so called morale police of Ramsena in Karnataka claiming indecency. Previously also we have been hearing about such attacks and bans by moral police of Shivsena, ABVP, SIMI, maulavi n mullas & other such groups; on young girls & boys for there own stupid reasons. In a republic like India, how can such organizations and groups have rights to make such rules, who are they to tell us that how are we to dress or how are we to behave? You can't even safely roam around with a girl or without the questioning eyes of such people staring at you all the time. Just some time back I saw pictures of young girls & boys being man-handled and even beaten by police themselves in the name of moral actions (they were found drinking & partying). Who gives the right to police for beating up people in public (or even in private); they are not criminals or terrorists to be treated as such. Police or such organizations hardly show up when it comes to fighting crime or terror, but try to become the bosses to teach morale to us. It's disgusting to see the way a policeman or even government officials behave with normal public. Doesn't a common man has a right to some self respect in a republic. Why is he supposed to be treated like an animal or even worse in this human society?

Every person who has certain power tries to molest others and take advantage of that power. Starting from politicians, police, bureaucrats, government officials, social organizations & even media/press. On the worst of occasions, we just see the media/press covering that event (like youngsters being beaten or someone committing suicide etc) & creating sensational news out of it (taking pictures & videos and asking dumb questions such as how do you feel about it) and they never come forward to stop it from happening. Some stupid set of people with corrupt mind try to tell us how to lead our lives and we just watch it, being tortured and still try to be thankful to them that they are letting us live.

I recently heard that the High Court has lifted the ban on showing smoking in Cinema & TV. Again a moral police in the form of Central Health Minister Mr. A. Ramdaus was trying to guide entertainment industry by telling them not to show smoking onscreen because it will provoke people to smoke more. I am not saying that it is impossible seeing that the heroes are even smoking now and people may try to follow it as a style statement. But there is a thing called as creative independence, and we are a republic who have right to decide what we do to/for ourselves. There is so much bull-shit shown in cinema starting from crime, rape, drugs, terrorism to sheer fantasy like ghosts, spirits, black magic to scientific fiction like flying, time machines, androids & lot more. If people just start believing what they see on screen then what do we expect of this world to happen. We don't just act on what we see in cinema or TV; that definitely influences us in some way but does not guides us. And that's why we have some regulations & censorship on what can be shown to what kind of audience. I am not even a full supporter of this dump censorship which we try to follow in India, which does not even allows adults to see what they want (which could be violence, blood, sex, crude language or anything else) in the name of censorship. Why don't we let the people decide what they want to see and what they want to follow. Certain moderation is definitely required in a society but dumb restrictions can never be appreciated.

Which brings me to another incident I saw on TV.
Ashutosh Gowarikar got mad on Sajid Khan for making fun of films & film-stars in Star Screen Awards 2008. Seems we have still not learnt to even take humor on face (if we cant appreciate it). We are living in a society of humans and a republic country where people have right to free speech. It does not means that we start abusing or insulting people but certain level of fun and humor is part of a civilized culture. Either it's about flopping of big films like Yuvraaj, Drona, Tashan, Love Story 2050 & others (there's a huge list of flops for 2008, a bad year for our bollywood) or failure of big actors & directors like Yashraj, Subhash Ghai, Salman, Abhishek etc (I know you would like to add lot more, but we better don't even count them); all these things can be and should be made fun of. But somehow some people are not able to understand or appreciate it. I haven't seen much that, strong comments being made on big politicians or celebrities (it started to happen to certain extent now though through laughter shows & comedians). Humor can be sarcastic at times but that just means that there is some truth in that humor. That gives us an opportunity to see the mistakes & flaws and gives us a chance to rectify them. In place of getting offended by humor, shouldn't we just try to enjoy & appreciate it.

So much to complain about this republic where the public is not free yet. Not free of inhibitions, the conservative thoughts, the dumb morale codes and not free of themselves. It may have been just 62 years to
independence or 59 years to republic but we are hundreds or thousands years old country, culture & society. These flaws have been incorporated into us recently by some dumb & numb minds trying to force us out of our greatness and demean ourselves. But we have to fight against all of them and prove to the whole world that we are not just one of the biggest republic of the world but we have the biggest heart, strength and power to be the greatest nation of this world. We have it in us and we can do it, we just have to go ahead and do it... NOW!!!

Alright boys n girls and dear friends, that's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (please COMMENT to let me know of your views too). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck... JAI BHARAT, JAI HIND!!!

(I would also like to congratulate Mr Barack H Obama for becoming the 44th President of USA, he's riding high on the cloud of expectations and hopefully it rains well as & when needed. I liked it when he said USA is a country of Hindus as well. VHP must be happy for it's work/contribution which maybe actually NIL or negative. Buddhists, Jains & Sikhs maybe angry as hell; I don't see a very bright future for Motels & Taxis in USA now, LOL!! BTW do you know what number Prime Minister is Manmohan Singh, everybody seems to know Obama is 44th? Do you know which are the largest wheat, rice & sugarcane producing states in India? Don't google these & tell me the honest answers, lets see how much we know about our dearest India...)

Saturday, January 17, 2009

When Indians return to India from US...

A small list of some awesome facts; facts because it really happens when someone returns to India from US (Amreeka return ki chhaap). As for me, I already had 1/3rd of it in me and can never get 1/3rd of it; but I also learned 1/3rd. I did some modifications & additions too, but I love it. Top 25 things an Indian does after returning to India from "US", check it out...
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25. Carries 1 dollar bill(s) in wallet & flashes them at any chance of opening wallet (takes out dollar in place of rupees and say, "Oh sorry, i m in India")
24. Speaks wrong English with slang and when pointed says "Oh shit!! I just hate this British English, American English is cool!!"
23. Always Says "Hey" instead of "Hi", uses 'dude' & 'guy/gal' a lot. Also uses Nope for No and Yep/Yo/Yeah for Yes.
22. Says 'Thank You' or 'Sorry/Excuse Me' or 'Oh shit!'everywhere in response to anything.
21. Tries to use credit card in road side hotel or any small shop/store too.
20. Drinks and carries mineral water and always speaks of health conscious.
19. Sprays Deodrant such so that he doesn't need to take bath.
18. Sneezes and says 'Excuse me' & 'Bless You' in response for others.
17. Says "Yogurt" instead says "Curds"; Says "Cab" instead of "Taxi"; Says "Candy" instead of "Chocolate"; Says "Cookie" instead of "Biscuit"; Says " Free Way " instead of "Highway"; Says "got to go" instead of "Have to go"; Says "Oh" instead of "Zero", (for 704, says Seven Oh Four Instead of Seven Zero Four)
16.Doesn't forget to crib about air pollution. Keeps cribbing every time he steps out.
15. Says all the distances in Miles (Not in Kilo Meters), weight in Pounds/lbs (not KGs), liquids in Gallons (not Litres) and counts in Millions/Billions. (Not in Lakhs or Crores)
14. Tries to figure all the prices in Dollars as far as possible (but deep down the heart multiplies by 40-50 as needed).
13. Tries to see the % of fat on the cover of a milk pocket or food product.
12. When need to say Z (zed), never says Z (Zed), repeats "Zee" several times, if the other person unable to get, then says X, Y Zee(but never says Zed)
11. Writes date as MM/DD/YYYY, on watching traditional DD/MM/YYYY, says "Oh, Excuse me! British Style!"
10. Makes fun of Indian Standard Time and Indian Road Conditions.
9. Even after 2 months, complains about long fights & "Jet Lag".
8. Avoids eating more chili (hot) stuff & keeps complaining about overuse of oil & spices in Indian food.
7. Tries to drink "Diet Coke", instead of normal Coca Cola and fat-free or less-fat snacks.
6. Tries to complain about any thing in India as if he is experiencing it for the first time.
5. Pronounces "schedule" as "skejule", and "module" as "mojule"
4. Looks suspiciously towards Hotel/Dhaba food or roadside shops.
3. From the luggage bag, does not remove the stickers of Airways by which he traveled back to India, even after 6 months of arrival.
2. Takes the cabin luggage bag to short visits in India, tries to roll the bag on Indian Roads.
Ultimate one:1. Tries to begin conversation with "In US ...." or "When I was in US..."
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Can you guess what applies to me here & what does not, lol? Wanna add/remove some, comment & let me know... Enjoy!!!

Thursday, January 08, 2009

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!!!

This one's coming pretty late, however I guess that was expected from me (when was the last time I was on time in blogging, ummmm... i guess, never!!). I thought I would write this on New Years Eve or New Year’s Day, but anyways it comes after a week in new year... A year (yep, it's called 'A year' & not 'An year' and even I was not sure before googling & checking it) is a long time in any person’s life; after all how many years do we get to live (I wish I get billions or even more, I guess I just love this world. Just I should remain young & handsome & awesome...), an year can never be considered short in that period. One calendar year has passed now and we have entered a new calendar year. People had celebrations, resolutions, new aspirations & some other ‘shuns’ maybe. Celebrations to drink all night & vomit till dawn & then drive recklessly to home & have a hungover 1st day of new year. New resolutions, half of which were not considered worthy enough to be even started on the New Year's eve itself and remaining half to be broken as it comes. And aspirations hoping this year would be better than all the past years (which hardly happens) and every coming year. Not sure about the other 'shuns'...

And Yes, I was saying calendar year because that’s what it is. After all what changes except a date on this day; we just have to start writing new year in the date which might take some time to get used to (luckily we hardly have to write dates anymore because of computers & all, otherwise I remember the days when we used to write the date on top of our notebook everyday in school. It used to be hell of a job to remember right date and it still is except fro my awesome watches). We keep mentioning through out the first week or more that this or that would happen in coming year realizing that the new year has already arrived. What’s the significance of New Year except a date, not as if we get richer or younger or more beautiful or anything else by change of the calendar. WOW, what if we wake up on New Year in a grand mansion being the richest & most handsome & awesome person in the world (which I already am, i meant about awesome & stuff and not the richest yet!!). Or we get a salary raise & promotion just because it's a new year. What is so special about new year for us, it's not like we are the only people to enter the new year & other's are left behind in the old year, lol (that would be special and ridiculous too; and definitely unique & special too, a reason to celebrate over others!!). Is New Year really a reason to party till dawn, get drunk & do all kinds of BS?? I guess it is, because all we need is just a reason to party & have fun; and this does seems like a reason, lol.

I am not against New Year celebration or parties though, they are all fun (in spite of the fact that I have just attended one in my entire life till now, that was in DC last year). I just don’t like the chaos people make in the name of New Year with the loudness & noise everywhere and getting drunk & having accidents/incidents (not a good start for a new year I guess). Or spending there money or time on something which they can’t afford (they should better use that money for something good, like give it to me!!), or just anything like that. What did I do… I was at home with my parents & sister. After last year’s partying out in Washington DC on New Year, this was my year to be back home. In last 25 years (yeah, that might mean I am 25, or may be just a random number I chose, lol) I have spent 22 New Year’s eve at home with my family. We sit together & watch TV, usually cut cake or have sweets at 12 and have fun. It is really nice to be with family on special occasions and that’s what I mostly do on festivals, birthdays, and anniversary (my parent’s of course) etc or even new year.

The last year has been good i guess, or nice or maybe just okay. I mean I am not sure, the year wasn’t bad at all but nothing too special as well. Lots of happenings have been mentioned in my past blogs. I wrote 21 blogs in 2008, that’s an achievement I think. It’s like 1.75 blogs every month (of course 0.25 had to be left as I am too lazy on writing blogs), or 3 blogs per month considering I wrote all of those in 7-8 months (and why am I making this average figures & all, does it actually changes anything… like that’s all I did all year, ugh!!). I visited many places all over the world (US-Kansas & Chicago, Philippines-Manilla & Cebu and India-Delhi, Chandigarh, Manali/Rohtang, Lucknow) and had lots of fun; made new friends & fiends maybe; bought guitar & laptop too; got my promotion (yeah, now doesn’t seems that exciting somehow); got operated (and it still sucks, I still have pain & it’s not healing or going away… seems something is wrong) and lots of other stuff which I have mentioned in blogs (yeah, I turned 25 as well, big achievement!!!). Lots of stuff happened, but nothing extremely special yet. I really hope & wish that this year is that special year of my life (now that’s where this new year comes in play when you start hoping for better or best things in a new year. All you couldn't do could be blamed on a bad past year & hope that new good stuff is waiting in new year. That's called being Positive!!!).

Also, recently 2 news have been up in airs. One about the war with Pakistan as the things are getting messy and other about the Satyam-Scandal. Both of them are disastrous, a very disappointing start for India in the New Year. We all know how dangerous wars are, innocent people loose there lives and country looses lots of its money & strength. In a war both the sides always loose, it's just that the side which looses more is considered defeated. Also this whole Satyam story is a big setback for Indian IT industry and economy. More than 5000 crore of money and 53000 people's jobs at stake is not a good sign. We know that many of these company’s do these kind of 'jhols' in the industry but at least they should not put the whole company or people at stake and not be able to even control it. Lets hope things will get better...

I have watched both Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (as suggested by 'wish on a star') & Ghajini, both are good movies and can be watched in theatre (& i mean movies should be watched in theatre, i am not suggesting to download & watch movies even if they are not good; just don't watch them. But if you do watch some, go to theatres or get genuine DVDs to watch them). Nothing too special as both have there flaws but fun too. Watch Rab Ne for a SRK & Chopra's usual romantic comedy fun, has some good cinematography & songs/dance too. SRK is cool as always & the new girl Anushka is good too (lil bit like Kajol, but not as awesome of course). The bad is that movie does not has a story worth stretching 2.5 hrs and goes illogical at many points (which is usual for any masala flick). DDLJ & Mohabattein were great so you would expect better from Adi (Aditya Chopra) though. Watch Ghajini for the new avatar of Amir (which is normal now as with every new movie he looks new & different). The movie has lots of action & some fun/comedy in flashback too, the new girl Asin is cool & bubbly (reminds of Rani, but not as good of course). The bad is that it's logical at very few points, or I guess hardly any. The mix up of action & comedy is lil jumbled and the movie is too loud & noisy at places. Watch MEMENTO for the real fun. So both these movies do not have great stories or an amazing plot, so don't expect anything special but just great performances & Nice Fun. I also watched Jumbo which is a cool kid's movie with poor/old animation but good Indian dubbing. Just to let you guys know it's not an Indian movie but a dubbed version of 2006 Thai movie Khan Kluay. I guess am watching & studying lots of movies these days!!!

Alright boys n girls and dear friends, that's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (haven't seen many or any comments lately, means people may not be even reading my blog yaar!!!). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!!!!!