IPL threat to Indian sovereignty

Suddenly, IPL is opening up cracks in Indian sovereignty. A bad precedent is being set by blocking Sri Lankan players from entering Tamil Nadu, but allowing them to enjoy the rest of India. Everybody seems to be focused on the advantage it gives the Chennai Superkings, but nobody has picked up the Indian pride angle yet. 

India is already set to condemn the war atrocities of Sri Lanka which the Sinhalese majority in that country had managed to hide from the world for a long time. But apparently only Tamil Nadu feels outraged while the rest of India goes "Meh". If this pattern continues, we will have low morale across many institutions, including the Indian military.

What's next? If there is trouble in Bangladesh against non-Muslim Bengalis and they scamper to the West Bengal border, will the IPL only block the Bangladeshi players from playing in West Bengal? Are only Indian      Christians supposed to feel the pain when Christians are attacked in Egypt and Iraq? Are only Indian Shias supposed to feel the pain when a mosque is bombed in Pakistan? Are only Indian Sunnis supposed to be outraged when Syria starts gassing its own citizens?

This is a slippery slope. You can pretty much guarantee that Tamilians and concerned Indians will be protesting outside all cricket grounds in Maharashtra, Delhi and anywhere else they muster enough numbers. And it will not take long for BJP and Shivsena to represent the Indian side of the coin. IPL may be tax free, but it is merely a vehicle for filling up Congress coffers in various quarters.

Whatever happened to the solidarity that was shown during the South African apartheid era?

Encourage the kids...no filmy dialogues please...

The increase in suicides in India, especially after the movie "3 idiots" is discouraging. The actual death suicide is not damaging, the other suicide attempt where the guy miraculously survives without any mental issues or no head trauma to himself is the one causing all the problems. And in a movie where "All iz well", the guys try to go the other way quite frequently and the central character is breaking the law by being an imposter.

One solution to the problem(something that happens in the USA) is to make private and public education equally expensive, whether you are in a government college or not, for middle class families and above. That way, parents do not have the carrot of free education dangling in front of them and they do not flog the kids in turn. Scholarships should be given only to the academically or athletically brilliant, which in turn would allow kids the option of excelling in sports. The whole problem is that the cheap education of government college is making monsters out of parents and they start early in their insults to their children. The movies gives these kids some easy ways out of the pressure cooker situations out of which they do not see escapes.

The pressure is not needed. Infact, you prevent the kid from having any managerial aptitude down the line due to the psychological damage that is inflicted on the kid.

Mumbai/Pune conscious movie

A review for the movie Aevdhe Se Abhaal . http://rashmi-athlekar.blogspot.com/2008/12/aevdhe-se-abhaal-new-age-marathi-film.html

SAG awards..Slumdog millioanaire cast interview

How to fight terrorism

As terrorists get bolder and bolder and more delusional, it is time to give them a reality check. Terrorists can never stop and will simply move on to the next target after one disappears. For example, terrorists elements within Sunnis go after Shias if they run out of other groups to hate on.

Here are the steps.
1> There are quite a few people, especially in the US, UK and the middle east, that say, "We just send money to terrorist groups to get revenge". Report these people to authorities. Money is what drives terrorism.
2> Keep an eye out for people that have uncontrolled rage against other groups out of nowhere. These are the kind of people targeted for recruiting and action. Again, watch for the word "revenge". Report them directly or anonymously.
3> Watch out for people that say that terrorists are only against government and not the people. These are the people most likely to fund terrorists. Report them directly or anonymously.
4> You are likely to hear such words mostly from friends or other that share a common religious or ethnic background. Report them directly or anonymously. Terrorists are not followers of God, they are the devil incarnate. Hateful conversations from any religious group is bad.
5> Do not donate to charities unless you are absolutely sure what they do. Donate to Prime Minister or Chief Minister relief funds when in doubt.
6> Do not carry money on behalf of others when visiting India or Pakistan. Unaccounted money often ends up in the wrong hands.
7> Do not use hawala or unofficial channels to transmit money. The underworld fanatics get a cut out of those transactions.
8> Do not do unofficial bets on cricket games. Corrupt cricket officials get a cut out of those transactions and they are tied to extortion/terrorist groups. BTW, Pakistan will have a spectacular defeat soon just to mess up the spread, now that Javed Mian gets to select the whole team.
9> Walk away from conversations that are hateful. Terrorism begins in the intelligent mind and get implemented by mindless moron. Sindhi master, Punjabi blaster. (Reference: Mad Max movies)
10> Be the possibility of peace and harmony. This is the most important step. Ofcourse, kill a terrorist before he can do harm. But be an incarnation of peace otherwise.

Thoughts and prayers with Mumbai...

Our thought and prayers are with Mumbai and the victims of this horrendous attack.

The case of Dinshaw Mulla...

When Gandhiji's law licence was revoked many years ago in Mumbai court, some judges signed the petition. Most of them were British and their statues was promptly removed after independence. But one of them was a "Yes Sir" Indian and his statue is still there as is the road that was named after him. Probably it was left there just because the guy was an Indian.

That is probably a less well known aspect of the British rule. There were a lot of Indians out there making sure that the British agenda was being carried out to the letter. A paycheck can achieve a lot of things. The British master has now been replaced by the "unofficial paycheck under the table". So in that sense, private sector Indians are the Indians of past and the public sector are the British master. Ofcourse there are many exceptions to this rule and Thank You if you are one of those exceptions.

Now that the signed document that revoked Gandhiji of his barrister licence is out, I guess the statue is going down and the road will be named after a local politician.

Mumbai blues..

With the heartbreaking Mumbai Indians loss to the Rajasthan Royals, Indian fans get to feel the angst that goes with a city based franchise. Unlike national teams that we support unconditionally(think Harbhajan), our relationship with a city based franchise is more complex as we get bombarded with more up to date information and get to experience them more up close and personal. Plus there are more direct viewing opportunities.

Now we know why Wankhede games have a different feel compared to the DY Patil games. Apparently 70% of the Wankhede tickets are sold inhouse, so it leads to a grumpy knowledgeable crowd, very much like a British crowd. DY Patil has not yet gathered such a crust, plus it is a bigger stadium. But the IPL finals will not have any such allocations, so a true fan can watch the game more easily. Ofcourse there is always a danger of a rabid crowd like the ones you see at Eden park. But that is probably more a sign of a dead city; Mumbai folks typically are more diverse and will not be subject to such combustions.

Mumbai Indians are not out of it yet. A loss by Chennai Superkings can still open the door for Mumbai. And with the semifinals and finals in Mumbai, they will be a very difficult opponent to beat.

As Shane Warne has indicated, having semifinals at a "neutral" venue is not a good idea, there is no advantage for the top seed. Infact, if the local team scrapes through to the semifinal, mentally they end up becoming the top seed due to the support that they will receive. The semifinals have to be held at the home team ground. The finals can be at a rotating prearranged venue as it allows for better planning and showing off of the climactic event of the league.

Mumbai wins over Rajasthan, IPL games back in Wankhede now...

The Mumbai win over Rajasthan was a good one. Things seemed to be going Rajasthan's way when the TV commentators started interviewing Sachin Tendulkar. The resulting roars in the stadium whenever Sachin's face showed up seemed to unnerve the batsmen and they collapsed in a hurry. So Sachin had an enormous impact by just having his face shown on the jumbotron.

The game also had a bizarre Graeme Smith dismissal. He and Pollock are probably not the best of friends. A slower ball from Pollock had Smith beaten and the ball brushed his pads on the way to the keeper. Pollock jumped up in excitement and Graeme Smith seemed to think that he was bowled just by looking at Pollock's face(and the crowd was roaring; probably that factored in too). He was already on his front feet and he just skipped and kept walking towards the pavilion on the non-strikers end. The keeper fumbled the ball, picked it up and took off the bails. Graeme Smith never looked back and Pollock got even more excited. The TV cameras showed the reactions of Dwayne Bravo; he was not sure what happened either as the Graeme Smith walk was really unexplainable.

Mumbai cheerleaders were fully clothed as usual, but the Russian Rajasthan Cheerleaders had their skirt on. And they are good gymnasts. These cheerleaders have had things thrown at them when they performed in front of 100 Rupee Rajasthan fans. Let us see how the moral politicians react to the skirts this time around. Looks like Rajasthan Royals did not display the same fear of BJP(Film Actor Sinha) and Shivsena(पानी थेम थेम गल Kondke) morality that was displayed by the Mumbai Indians. It will interesting to see what happens when other teams with skirty cheerleaders show up.

The venue for the remaining cricket matches has been moved from DY Patil Stadium to Wankhede. The DY Patil crowd was much more appreciative than the Wankhede crowd. The Wankhede crowd is ofcourse a more educated and partisan ground, but the games in DY Patil were definitely more festive. And Mr Patil did make an appearance during the award ceremony for the last game.

And here is another article on Cricinfo that explains how Calcutta pride is different from Mumbai pride. While Mumbai pride arises from the thinking that it is the "best", Calcutta pride comes out of the fact that it is their city even if it might be a dying city. Kolkata pride has more of a Devdas flavour whereas Mumbai pride has a more British flavour.

Corruption in police recruitment...

A police recruiting fraud has been exposed in Kolkata. This means that something similar is happening in police forces all across the country. Mumbai is one place where this may be happening. The going rates for getting into the police force are pretty high in Mumbai and future cops may be opting for dummies to ensure clearing the examination. The scope of under the table earnings are huge in big cities. Visit these cops' relatives houses in their native places and examine their spouse's assets to find the scope of the problem. Sources of income are typically brothels, gambling dens, illicit liquor and dance bars. Another huge source of income is allowing people to "go back home" or "stay home" after a complaint has been received by the police.

Bye Bye Harbhajan...

Here is an article by a Malayalee author as to why Sreesanth is not the most popular Keralite. The article also mentions previous interactions between Harbhajan and Sreesanth.

The article's premise is now justified.Sreesanth just does not know when to stop assing around. He has got some enormous loose screws in his head and his actions have caused an end to Harbhajan's international cricket career. Harbhajan is a loose screw himself, but like any hotheaded Punjabi, he goes mad when he is right, unlike Sreesanth, who goes nuts whenever he thinks he has an advantage, which is pretty much all the time.

Sreesanth got the eight wicket in the 20-20 match against Mumbai, walked over to the other side of the crease and gave the close walk/talk to the player that got out. He did that a couple of times to Robin Uthappa too before that. After the end of the game, Harbhajan slapped him in the field. Even though it is Harbhajan whose career will be over now, it is Sreesanth who has had the last laugh(or cry) by making sure that everybody knew what Harbhajan did. His revenge against Harbhajan is now complete.By crying and not retaliating, Sreesanth has preserved his own career for now.

I am sure Sreesanth was scared and emotionally hurt and it was not an act. Whatever it was, Harbhajan's career is done, given what happened in Australia. So we have a case of 20-20 causing damage to the Indian team. There is no better off spinner around in India at this point in time.

I also think that the owners will stop showing up to support their team with the same fervour going forward. Anybody who has supported galli cricket and other local forms of cricket knows that supporting your team at close quarters is not a fun experience when you get the see the ugly and unsportsman conduct that usually happens.

Mumbai cheerleaders in pants now...

The morality brigade did get their wishes. The Mumbai cheer leaders are wearing pants now for their match against Punjab in Punjab . But the morality police did miss the point though. It is not the attire that offends them, though they do not realize it. It is their athleticism, energy and vigor that scares them.

I don't think Vijay Mallya or Shah Rukh Khan will roll over though. So the cheerleader attire issue will float around.

Cheerleader morality...

Mumbai's morality police has had success with bar dancers before. Now they are training their eyes on the Cheerleaders in the IPL league. Yes, Cheerleading is an envelope pushing activity in India. Some of the cameramen even went one step further and got into camera angles unseen in the US, mostly because the cheerleader platforms are raised above the ground. Looks like nobody noticed this with the ICL league. Even more funny is the fact that film star politicians are raising the issue.

Looks like you can do these kind of things only in a film and not anything "live". If males can do bodybuilding, then surely females can do cheerleading, the ultimate female body and attitude showoff activity.

Only Chennai has an all Indian cheerleading team and they were absolutely miserable. One of the females considered just her presence to be good enough and would not even join in the dance routines!

Hopefully other parties will pick this up in other states and make sure that our "In-den-ness" is preserved.

Milk adulteration law announced....

Milk adulteration is a non bailable offence now. This is good new for Mumbaikars who trust their milk carrier to deliver the milk to them honestly. Both the bag and the bottle can be contaminated by injecting out milk and injecting in water. It goes on in a pretty massive scale all over Mumbai. While this law is probably geared towards the "straight from the cow" private vendors, milk carriers from Aarey to you home do an equal amount of fraud.

If you are having your milk delivered, make sure that you buy from someone who carries that milk straight from the depot to your home. If there is a stop at the milk carriers place for "temporary refrigeration", you can be sure that there is some water going in. If you currently have a milk vendor that takes the milk home, change your vendor. The vendor may also be doing an "exchange" before the milk reaches you, to avoid going home, so you have to watch out for that too. Very difficult to monitor the stuff for the morning delivery though. Watch for word of mouth reviews. It is best to use "non-professional" milk carriers. So your morning servant/part time servant would be a good candidate if they are willing to do it.

Welcome to Amul - The Taste of India

The link provided below should give you the latest hoarding at all times, plus it has links to the older hoardings. If you are a fan on these boards, you can catch up.

Welcome to Amul - The Taste of India

Fantastic cricket celebrations...

The whole of India celebrated the 20-20 win, but the celebrations were absolutely fantastic in Mumbai thanks to the players landing there and making their way to Wankhede Stadium. The smile says it all.

It is good to celebrate once in a while. Relaxes the body and soul and keeps you refreshed for the life ahead. Great to see India get an opportunity to do that. Mumbai really needed this.

Mumbai interactive map added

It has always been frustating getting to Mumbai on Google maps as it typically defaults to the country level! Here is a link to an interactive map of Mumbai so you have it at your fingertips at all times! Bookmark the page to get the interactive Mumbai map.

Divorce as a separation of equals...

Saw the movie "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna". It was almost a manual for ending a relationship and moving on. Still too radical for setting the movie in India. So it is set in the US and thus the joint family issues are avoided. Indian city divorces are on the rise when both husband and wife have the ability to be financially independent. Why be unhappy when there is the possibility of hope and happiness without a partner or with another partner?

My guess is that there will be a similar movie after another 5-10 years with the setting being Mumbai the next time around.

Ofcourse, the movie is similar to "Closer" without the "bad" character. Ofcourse if exceeded Closer in that there is sex with another while being within a marriage. And somewhat scary if you are a city male; the woman character was almost frigid, but she was OK with extramarital sex with a grumpy, disgruntled male.

I lived in a pretty congested neighborhood in Mumbai and witnessed atleast two extra marital affairs in Mumbai within the colony. Pretty tough to carry on these affairs; just about the everyone knows. The "walk" from one building to the other was a spectacle in itself! This was in the 80s. So I am sure things are more brazen now.

AIDS epidemic

The AIDS epidemic is India is probably reaching unmanageable proportions and the big cities are at the epicenter of the epidemic. Both the educated and uneducated migrant population need to play it safe. Easier said than done.

ModiBombay1.avi

Speech of Modi in Mumbai after Train Blast.

Flash mobs in Mumbai

Here is a group of people that joined in to have some fun and confuse onlookers. Good for a rush of fun, but not recommended. You really do not want to confuse a mob the wrong way. It can easily turn into a good way to get a public beating.

No more children servings teas in tapri...

Here's a troubling development. Children are now legally banned as domestic help. Thousands of kids run from their homes all over India and end up in Mumbai. Many eventually make it to something decent. Or they learn their lessons and go back home or move to a less hectic place. This kids usually have even worser condition at home and usually are not inclined to go back home.

With the new rule, these kids are not going to stop coming here. But they might not find things to do anymore. Tea stalls, handyman jobs in garages and stalls were always their best option. Let us hope that the rule does not get enforced too heavily. If it does, there will just be more beggars on the street.

25 lakhs prize

There is a prize of 25 lakhs for information leading to the terrorists. With three individuals already sought for questioning, it is only a matter of time.

Mumbai's resilience was amazing as always. Yes, human life does not have much of a value in India. But with that argument, there should have been counter riots similar to those seen in Iraq or Pakistan. Since that does not happen anymore, life is indeed valued. The terrorists actually want a repeat of Gujarat. But as long as presence of global elements are confirmed, Indians typically do not go after fellow Indians. Which is always a good thing. Two wrongs do not make a right.

Mumbai in trouble...

Looks like there is a queue of people waiting to exploit Mumbai. First it was the local Shiv Sainiks with their defamation bandh, then the global terrorists with their coordinated explosion. Wonder who's next. Probably back to Shiv Sena/BJP for the obligatory bandh.

Ofcourse Mumbai can withstand this. Like it has withstood everything else. Mumbai police is pretty good at finding out what happened.

It is easy to destroy things, any kid will tell you that. Terrorists destroy multiple things at the same time to increase the degree of difficulty and somehow rationalize that as a manly act.

Global terrorists have been able to get some pretty impressive recruits locally. Ofcourse, the power comes from oil money and hateful cultures in the mideast. I remember a Saudi guy in an elevator telling me that their country has "too many" Indians. Such language comes naturally when you are given a steady diet of religious and cultural superiority. The superiority turns into utter humiliation when you see the outside world that is both tolerant and better. These acts are pretty much a way a spoilt child acts.

A separate blog for Mumbai

The cities of Maharashtra typically have a different beat compared to the states. So I have created a separate blog for each of the cities now.

We have heavy rains in Mumbai now, but no water logging. Hopefully that becomes the norm. The first rain is a catastrophe though. Plastic and paper clog all drains and the road and tracks become wading pools. Cities like Mumbai need to figure out a way for cleanliness better than ragpickers/kachrawallas. And yes, garbage cans do not work as it becomes easy money for someone that wants to make a quick buck.

Here's a 4D theatre in Mumbai. Well, something different. Mumbai has always been about entertaining and eating if you have deep pockets.