Over?

Not quite, for Mumbai will take a really long time to recover from this one!

Unbelievable

Are these guys out of their minds? Why would the NSG want to continue conducting rescue operations in full view of a media that only wants to sensationalize the issue? Even my mum knows that TV feeds could be watched by anybody who is assisting these terrorists and help them stay one step ahead of the commandos! The mobile networks are also helping I suppose. What a disaster, we are looking at a seemingly never ending crisis!

And the ordeal continues...

Close to 24 hours and there seems no signs of resolution in either the Taj or the Oberoi. Hope this ends soon!

Living in a nightmare

I was watching 'The Siege' on TV just a few days ago, and today I feel as if I'm living in it. The city is paralyzed, the armed forces have imposed a curfew in South Bombay and everybody is panicking! G was at the Taj till about 8 last evening, and fortunately, we decided to head home at 9 instead of going to Colaba for dinner. The recent events at Nariman Point are worse than anything we could have imagined. Top cops have been killed including Hemant Karkare, the head of the Anti Terrorism Squad, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte. Tourist and business locations, including the beloved Leopold cafe, the heritage Taj property and the Oberoi, where most of the financial community passes by every single day, have been targeted.

And the media is having a field day, creating as much sensation as possible. It was really heart wrenching to hear a distraught witness plead with the anchor of an English news channel, asking him to flash on screen that innocents were stuck inside the Oberoi and they needed help. And all that the anchor was bothered about was the body count!

As usual, government officials are mumbling their way through this (Milind Deora seemed coherent, I'll grant him that!), and nobody is offering any reassurances. Much has been said about the legendary resilience of Mumbai and how the city is in shock, but the fact remains that this is no ordinary terrorist attack. Mumbai is under attack and we need a better response than this!

Oh no

Rumours are afloat that Bruce Wayne will be killed off today in a new comic titled "Batman RIP". Boo, I say, Boo Hoo!

Bollywood comes out of the closet

People, get ready for the future coming out of Karan Johar!! For Tarun Mansukhani's Dostana preps you for just that, going where no Bollywood film has gone before. Not boldly though, the leading men of Dostana are just pretending to be gay, which seems to give them every right to behave like retards. This is the third Bollywood movie that critics seemed to like, which led me to believe that the movie would at least not bore me (Bachna Ae Haseeno and Rock On!! being the other two). But G and I could barely contain our yawns by the interval.

Sameer (Abhishek Bachchan, who desperately needs a shave) and Kunal (John Abraham, a sad convert to the Salman Khan school of fitness) are forced to play gay to find an apartment in Miami. Who would've thought that getting an apartment in the US would be tough these days, what with plunging real estate prices and all! But that would not serve the director's purpose, so we have these red-blooded, lady killing studs who pretend to be gay to share a condo with pretty girl Neha (a stunning Priyanka Chopra). Needless to say, both gays, oops guys, fall in love with Neha, who displays real bad taste by falling for her ugly boss (Bobby Deol). Much ado and a forced kiss later, all is well that ends well. Thank God for small mercies.

Bachchan is rather fearless here - he plays the effeminate man with surprising ease; Chopra is adequate. John Abraham lets his butt do the acting instead! The songs are peppy and fun, though John Abraham should stay away from dancing - he reminded me of Sunny Deol stomping around in Yaara O Yaara! Kiron Kher was over the top, but still managed to steal a laugh in the hilarious Maa da laadla sequence. Still, it was tough sitting past the interval. The self-referential nods to earlier Karan Johar films were irritating, at best! Did I mention that Johar should be coming out soon?

Verdict: Watch if it plays on TV.

PS: Watched Quantum Of Solace and liked it. Though I couldn't help feeling that Bond was turning out to be a lot like Batman with all the vengeance and guilt. Loved the action, thought I realised what inspired it when I watched The Bourne Ultimatum a few days later. Still, liked it better than the Die Another Day kind of disasters that came out of the Bond stable!

Remembering Alanis

Dry spell

I just cant bring myself to blog these days. Maybe its just as well, and the world will be a better place for it :).

Dev D

Ju sent me this:

Dev D is a modern take on Sharat Chandra's classic Devdas directed by Anurag Kashyap, starring Abhay Deol. The idea of Devdas (Dev D here) potrayed as a self-destructive loser sounds very interesting. I haven't seen any of Kashyap's movies so far - though I did want to see No Smoking - I think I'd be keen to catch this one. Abhay Deol is turning to be a very interesting actor - loved Manorama Six Feet Under. Glad to see that he's not taking the Sunny-Bobby route!

Chandrayaan

India can now say hello to the man on the moon through their own phone lines. ISRO has successfully launched Chandrayaan, its first indigenous unmanned mission to the moon. Plans to send people to the moon in a another couple of years are on. One small step for ISRO, a giant leap for India? Bravo!

What the $@#% do these people think they are doing?

This is beyond disgusting. I quote from the PanIIT 2008 site-

The theme for the spouses' track in this year's PANIIT is "Sampoorna" - programs meant for the complete woman, who is able to perfectly balance her personal, professional and public personality. With this in mind we have a galaxy of presenters and performers who are bound to enlighten the IIT spouses.

And who should represent this 'galaxy' better than Hemamalini - A professional dancer, a top-notch film actress, a successful home-maker, now devoting time to charitable and social ventures, she has lived life on her own terms, and remained 'beautiful' in terms of outlook and attitude over the years. She epitomizes the Complete Woman.

There is more - a tour to arts & crafts villages, dance academy and - hold your breath - shopping trips! The message is loud and clear, isn't it? Granted, most IIT alumni might be male, but the "Especially for spouses" programme takes home the trophy for the most male chauvinistic ever. And IITians (at least the ones who are organizing it, or are participating without a murmur of dissent) are now firmly etched in my mind as the most stupid tribe of intellectuals ever, Bill Gates' attendance at their events be damned!

Revelation

... of the non religious kind. I mean, of the kind you get when you are non religious. Discrimination is the last thing you'd expect though. And of all places...! Anyway, another first - experienced discrimination on the basis of belief, or lack thereof! Its sheer coincidence that I am currently reading Richard Dawkins. What did the hubbysaurus say - why bother about things that don't affect you personally?

PS: Heard this nugget of 'wisdom' - "atheism is something that people do to seem cool". I wonder what Dawkins would say to that?

And so it begins

Infosys, the bellweather Indian IT Services firm cut its earnings outlook for the year citing uncertain demand conditions. In my last post, I talked about the possibility of dark days for Indian IT. And Infosys' guidance of negative growth for the next quarter seems to signal the beginning of just that. IIP numbers also signalled ominous trends for other sections in the economy. The world as we know it could very different by the time the global economy revives.

Happenings

The Karthik Rajaram shocker has laid one fact bare - no one is immune from what's happening in the current financial crisis. Sure, one could always argue that he might have been mentally unstable, which is why he killed his hapless family as well. But it makes me wonder if we are likely to see more opting for this route out of financial ruin. Indians may be less immune to the economic downturn that currently believed - lifestyles have changed since the last downturn in 2000-2001.

The average young urban professional has a much more expensive lifestyle and much less savings than ever before. Add to this the huge EMIs on houses and leveraged investments in the stock market, and we are looking a potential disaster in the making. The software sector has been feeling the heat for the last 2-3 quarters already, and the next 2-3 could well be dark days for the industry. Things are likely to get worse before they get better. Brace yourselves, and stay strong!

On another note, here's a sure shot way of guaranteeing economic aid - grow a particularly nasty and resilient brand of terrorism and all those dumb western nations will form a group and continue to support you economically. Bangladesh, sub-Saharan Africa, are you listening? Starvation and death doesn't move the west anymore, except maybe aging rockstars!

Gloom time

A blood bath in the markets, so keep it together folks! This storm too shall blow over!

Just finished Hari Kunzru's "Transmission". Gripping read. I'll try and review it when I get the time. Reading Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion" at present and loving it!