My thoughts on Rediff and Aajtak - Part 1!

Its about 4 :15 AM in this part of US, and since I have been suffering from insomnia as a side-effect of my allergy medication, I thought I'll browse something on the Internet and keep myself interested. While looking at a few sites on entertainment and Bollywood movies, I eventually stumbled upon Rediff.com. After reading a few articles here-n-there, I knew I had to blog my anger and irritation about rediff. Not the way rediff readers do it on a day-to-day basis, but in a civilized yet constructive manner.

So anyone who has visited the rediff site knows one thing for sure....its pure moronic crap and one hell of a bad portal if not anything else. Rediff doesn't care about the news they publish, or the language they use and let's not get started on their discussion board. Here's a statement from one of the news articles published in rediff news today..."The officers were stopped by a group of persons allegedly led by Ayaz Qazi who allegedly thrashed them.

Qazi, however, said he was his son is unnecessarily dragged into the controversy. "It is a well planned conspiracy against me," he said and demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident".

Is it just me, or is the language really, really bad? And rediff calls itself the No.1 Indian News Portal. I mean come-on. Is this the best we can do?

If one goes to the home page of rediff, it looks like a horrible scrap book kept by a person suffering from short-term memory loss. There is absolutely no order or system of presenting news, or ads for that matter. I'm not an Internet web portal genius of any kind, but I know rediff has a bad web-site design. And almost always you will see one of the main stories on the home page about the entertainment industry whether it is Bollywood and/or Hollywood (yes...we do keep track of Britney Spears shaving her head, Oscars nominees and winners, etc). And as if all of this crap wasn't enough rediff even lets the readers post their comments on all articles in the “Discussion Board”. Mostly, these comments turn into racist controversies between North Indians-South Indians, Gays-Straights, Amitabh fans-Rajnikanth fans (this is not covered under North Indian-South Indian topics, because some North Indians do like Idly/Sambar but hate Rajnikanth and vice-versa), BJP supporters-Congress supporters, and the insane list is endless.

Most of the times you feel like you are listening to some people who have no clue about what they are talking, and are standing around a roadside T-shop in the rural villages of India. The icing on the cake is that sometimes (actually most of the times) you can see the reader comments have vulgar language in the "Discussion Board" or for that matter no connection to the actual article. For instance, in a recent article on Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Zakir Hussains concert in NYC there were some really kiddish cheap comments by some idiot who is a wannabe gay Indian American living in India I guess. Baseline, I think its time rediff makes one of the two changes. One, just become a totally entertainment based portal with no need for other news, and make the web-site rated R (for readers 18 and above) and charge a subscription fee (this should scare away all of the crowd). Two, and I really think this will be the better option, change its name to www.ScrapAboutCrapIff.com - World's first ever negative ranked (-1) web portal and move on (I would still keep the subscription fee and keep it for readers 18 and above).

I'll save my rantings on Aajtak for part 2 of this post!

American Idol or American Laughter Show?

OK, so has anyone other than me been watching the highly over rated American Idol this season. I think America (and apparently India) is trying to send a message to the producers of the show that..."Stop this non sense, and give everyone a break". I mean come-on, one of the singers the famously infamous Sanjaya Malakar has been condemned, laughed-at, and humiliated by one and all, and yet he's the most famous American Idol contender yet. It used to be William Hung earlier, but Sanjaya has broken all the records by staying steady in the contest...no matter how he's doing it.

I'm from India, and refuse to give credit to Sanjaya's singing capabilities, and I'm not even a singer. So the first question in my mind is, what the hell were Simon, Paula, and Randy Jackson thinking or rather smoking when they chose Sanjaya as one of the American Idol contestants to begin with. I mean week after week you can hear each one of the judges implicitly (Simon explicitly) say that Sanjaya is no good, and this competition is for the best singer and not a popularity contest, and blah...blah...blah...well my response to them is that you deserve this since you made the first mistake.

As you can see, I'm pissed at this whole non-sense. Like today, I read this article on LATimes website about how presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton was asked a question about Sanjaya. And I was like...what? Are you guys serious? Doesn't the Senator have more important things to worry about than a stupid show and its hilarious judgement process. And the worst part is the amount of publicity (even if its negative) Sanjaya has been getting by TV Shows (all the late night morons, and early morning idiots), Radio talk shows, and now presidential candidates for not singing well. Isn't that an irony for a reality show which is all about selecting the "Best Singer" in America. Like my wife says, didn't the producers of "American Idol" find a better way to publicize the show.

INDIA - moving in the right direction!

A few days back, one of my friend sent me a link to his blog article, and that provoked me to write this response. I would suggest you also read his article, as (a) he's a better writer than me, and (b) the article is thought-provoking.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Baglihar_cleared_India_has_its_way/articleshow/1600876.cms

Small, but effective victory for India! Just read the above article yesterday, and wanted to share my happiness with all swadesi’s. So finally, India had a so-called “diplomatic” victory over Pakistan, of course by virtue of World Bank’s intervention. However, World Bank did base their decision over the facts part of which were always part of the treaty between India and Pakistan. Oh, and our neighbors still think they were victorious. Also found this article (http://www.dawn.com/2007/02/13/top1.htm) on the critically moronically disclaimed Dawn, which states that India lost and Pakistan won. I thought the whole argument was on the fact that Pak did not want India to construct the dam, and just kept postponing the construction by raising issues. Anyway, finally, like the always crying kid who runs to "mommy", Pakistan had to go out and seek World Bank's help while India did refuse their intervention. And the verdict...well we know that! Not only did we get the nod to construct the dam, but we can also use the latest technology to build the dam.

I also read an interesting article on Vodafone’s controlling stake in Hutch (Hutchison Essar the Indian mobile phone company) http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/12/business/voda.php . I say interesting because of the statistical data provided on the cell phone usage in India, and its staggering growth every month. I couldn't believe that 6 million new cell phone subscribers are added every month in India. And mind you Vodafone is the biggest revenue making mobile operator in the world. So if they have chosen to participate in the Indian mobile phone boom, I’m sure they have done their homework.

So, in the last couple of months we’ve seen Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus which will make it the world’s fifth biggest steel company, we’re seeing Birla’s (Hindalco Industries Ltd) acquisition of Novelis Inc (US based Canadian company), which will make it the World’s largest aluminum rolling company, and now Vodafone’s stake in Hutch. Though the last one might not be something to be very proud about, as the company now holds stake in our company, but nevertheless it does tell us that other leading companies are interested in our "growing economy".

No matter what some knowledgeable illiterates criticize and write about our country and our economy, we are on our way to becoming a "powerful nation". I sustain myself from using the word "super power" because that word has been misused a lot and has lost its value due to a country and its political leaders. A country which doesn't know the difference between war and peace, or development and destruction anymore; a country which has too many problems and issues in its own democracy, but rather chooses to "liberate" other countries on "humanity grounds". Any guesses people?

2-minute silence for 200 souls, F16’s and our peace process!

Albert Einstein rightly said

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing

(http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/3417). That’s exactly how I feel today after reading all the news articles pertaining to the many issues faced by my country - INDIA. In the days immediately following the Mumbai train blasts, the only feelings that resided in my heart were that of anger and pain. Those feelings have since changed from anger to helplessness and from pain to discontent. I say helplessness because we’re still talking about a peaceful approach to such a situation, while Pakistan refuses to help us in anyway. Of course my assumption here being that the militant organization LeQ^* is aided by Pakistan in some way or the other. I say discontent because whatever nonsense comes our way from other countries we still buy into that and try to keep everyone happy except our own people.

The other day, I saw a news article on Rediff where US Congressman Jim Leach has requested India to "continue the ongoing peace talks with Pakistan in spite of the Mumbai bombings" (http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/21us.htm?q=tp&file=.htm). So I’m thinking, did Mr. Leach have the same reaction to the 9/11 attacks as well? Talk peacefully with terrorist countries who keep attacking you! Would that be acceptable to US? I doubt it! So you’re telling us that we should sit quite and talk out our issues peacefully when we’re attacked by terrorists, but you can definitely retaliate and justify it. And let’s not forget that while on one hand we’re being told to go with the peace approach, US has authorized the sale of F16 fighter jets to Pakistan (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A800-2005Mar25.html). This is just great isn’t it? Two nuclear powers are fighting a war for almost 50 years now, and US advices us the peace approach on one hand, makes profit from Pakistan by selling them F16s on the other, and opposes global terrorism world-wide. Does this make sense to anyone? It doesn’t make any sense to me!

So what did the 200 souls who lost their life in Mumbai get in return from all of us? 2 minutes of silence! We don’t even have the balls or the intelligence to produce sufficient evidence to Pakistan regarding two well-known militants so Pakistan can extradite them to us. I’m not kidding people! Pakistan has refused to extradite these two wanted in India for their involvement in many terrorist activities because we haven’t provided them with enough evidence (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1789908.cms). One of them, Dawood Ibrahim is also listed in the United Nations Security Councils (resolution 1267) list of individuals who are associated to Taliban and/or Al Qaeda organization. So has US commented on this by any chance? Umm…No sir! This is something between India and Pakistan, and US would not like to comment on this situation.

So now most of you like me are thinking who’s helping us resolve the terrorism problems in our country right? Well the answer is US and Pakistan. Wait…what? That’s right people, what u read is what I said. The US government totally supports us in our anti-terrorism efforts, and Pakistan is just waiting for us to give them some proof after which they will also help us whole-heartedly. Our naïve Indian Prime Minister recently concluded a very successful G-8 summit in St. Petersburg, where all the other countries sympathized with our situation, and are ready to support us in our war against terrorism (http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1746696,0008.htm). Well if that’s the case, for beginners please stop selling F16s to countries we are having terrorism issues with. And I’m not too sure about this, but couldn’t we gather enough evidence against criminals like Dawood and present it to US or UN (all the same), and ask their help in dealing with Pakistan? Wouldn’t that work? I guess if “world peace” and “prosperity” was the goal of every country, it would. Then again I'm too much of an optimist!


LeQ^* is the terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the Mumbai train bombings on 7/11.

Am I the only one tolerating bad movies?

So what's happening to our movie industry these days? Doesn't matter if its Hollywood or Bollywood^*, the kind of movies that have recently released are just horribly bad movies. The other day I was talking to one of my friend about some recent bollywood movies like Krissh and Fanaa, and she kind of liked these movies. Not to mention the fact that both these movies were extremely well received by audiences and made a lot of money at the box office. Am I the only one who thinks that these movies were a waste of our time, that we were robbed of our money, and that we deserve to watch better movies? Anybody?

I mean give me a break people! Krissh has idiotism and stupidity written all over its characters and its storyline. I know the producers spent a lot of money to hire some "really brilliant" special effects people, but couldn't they have spent half that money on some good story writers as well? So let's see...the dude can run faster than a horse, jump over mountains, and blah...blah..blah..agreed! But even after doing all this, he couldn't afford to get some decent clothes to wear for himself till one fine day when he decides to go international.

Krissh is a true rags to riches story by all accounts people. And let's not forget the stylish grandmother, who by the way can very well afford those fancy dresses for important tasks like gardening, cleaning, and cooking. What kind of a dumb superhero grandson wouldn't question his grandmother about such double standards? But hold on to those thoughts, because just when you think what's the worst that could happen now, our man is invited to Singapore (god only knows how he gets his passport/visa) and grandma aka Gucci and Varsache all in one brings out all the latest fashion wear out of the closet. Apparently those fashionable clothes belonged to our superhero's dad. Yeah rite! And then we only see our beloved Krissh in the best dresses all around Singapore. I'm talking really good dresses. I cannot even dare to get into the climax scene with the bullet coz that would move Neo (from Matrix) to tears.

While I'm talking about bad movies, let me take a shot at some of our recent Hollywood movies as well. I always considered Hollywood movies to do some justice to the hype they create in the trailers. But after watching Pirates-2 (whatever the hell its full name is), I'm forced to think if Hollywood producers, directors, and story writers are taking us the audience any seriously at all. I'm a big fan of Johnny Depp, but Captain Jack Sparrow is becoming a little annoying now. The movie was stretched a little too long, and just when you thought the movie was over, and you can go home and beat yourself for watching this movie, they stretch it a little more with potential for a trilogy. The next day when I saw the amount Pirates-2 earned at the box office, I was like what the hell's going on here? I'm sure many of you unlike me think that both these movies (Krissh and Pirate-2) were good, or were definitely not as bad as I've criticized them. Well in that case, pat yourself on your shoulder because it was people like you who made these movies such blockbusters.

Bollywood^* is the informal name given to the popular Mumbai-based Hindi language film industry in India (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood)

Why is Indian politics still living in pre-Independence?

Over the last few days, my friend and I have been exchanging views on the political scene in India since the blasts in Mumabi on July 11th. We are far away from home, and are frustrated that such incidents have been occurring in India for a long time, but no one seems to be taking a decisive action against the terrorist organizations that are responsible for this.

Just today I was reading about the Mumbai situation on the various web-sites, and I found a shameful article on CNN which gives a history of these kinds of attacks that have been taking place in India for the past few years. Here's the URL http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/07/11/mumbai.previous.blasts.ap/index.html

I say shameful because it was painful to go through this article, and realize that since March 1993, India has been attacked by terrorists and militant organizations that oppose India's role in Kashmir, and we haven’t done much. During these 9 attacks including the recent one in Mumbai, India has lost about 600 people. These 600 lives were of those men, women and children who believe in democracy and had no role to play in the dirty politics that goes on between India and Pakistan. They were just going about doing their day-to-day routine, and suddenly they're gone. And I'm not even talking about the countless other people who were injured during these attacks, and many of whom are permanently disabled now. What will it take for our leadership to awaken and take some action against such barbaric attacks? Just talking non-sense on television doesn't cut it to me, leave alone consoling those families who lost their loved ones. If the life of 600 innocent people doesn’t wake-up worlds largest decmocracy and make it angry what does?

Some news articles today on Times of India, a prominent newspaper, reported that finally some terror group has claimed responsibility for the blasts in Mumbai. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1758548.cms . Apparently, the terror group sent an e-mail to a TV channel giving details and correcting some information released by the TV channel about the terror attacks. Yea rite! So now what? Now we will begin another age-old utterly ridiculous process. And how does that happen is you question right? Well then let me answer it.

Our central government will most probably set-up some committee (with some fancy -strong sounding name) to overlook the Mumbai situation, where the committee chairman will "directly" present his report to either the Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh or the parliament, which ever suits the politicians. The committee might take a few months to come up with such a report. So what's in this report? Well, no one knows that, but my guess based on our people running the country would be some print outs from the various web-sites that have done their own investigative journalism. At the most someone with computer knowledge in the security department would have googled some information about the militant group, and added some printouts on that too (for which he/she might get a promotion). I know..I know..you're thinking what the hell kind of a government committee does this. Well wake-up dude, this is just a blog not an X-file or something where everything I'm writing is the truth. This is my frustrated view of our system.

Anyway, so where were we…rite, so what will India do after the report is out you might ask. Hmm...that's an excellent question? The answer is we will have "Diplomatic Talks" with Pakistan over the situation. And what else you might ask again...right? Well, nothing! That's right people...we won't do squat! Even after some barbaric group accepts the responsibility, we will go with the peace approach. Peace approach my foot! How many centuries and decades will it take for us to realize that we're not living in the pre-Independence India anymore? If we keep sitting with our hands tied forever using diplomatic talks as our approach, we might as well become like one of those unstable countries which is always in civil unrest. Get your asses out of those comfortable chairs in the parliament, and get to some serious work you morons. Give a damn order to eradicate the terror group which has taken the responsibility for the attack. Track down their financial flows, their links to other people, other governments, and other countries. Let the diplomatic approach go to hell for once. Show your own country people that you do take the loss of 200 lives very seriously. Give an equally striking and terrifying response to the terror groups and let them know that if they start a war, they better be prepared to face the consequences of it.

My first blog!

A few days back one of my friend started blogging, and now I'm inspired to follow him down the same path. I'm not as good a writer as my friend, but I might improve in the process.