I don't know ....

I don't know.... u know... I have been thinking about it for a few days... and I still dont know!

Now I know that you dont know what I dont know .... hehehehehe... ok ok... let's get to topic...

Slumdog Millionaire is attracting a lot of criticism ... that India was shown in poor light, it is not about slums etc etc. That's when I started thinking.... how would one show India? It is too big, too complicated, too intricate, too complex to potray everything in a single movie. A Sarkar Raj represents a part of India. A Kabhi Kushi Kabhi Gham represents another small part. A Chak de talks about an important issue, a taare zameen par throws light onto something else. A Slumdog too represents part of India, and it is the sad truth that such poverty does exist. India is not just about Taj... but that is a must visit for any traveller. Or for that matter, Hyderabad is not just about biryani ... well... actually it is :D :D. let's leave it there then!

So basically, i dont know whether we can make a 3 hour movie and say.... this is what India is about! So, to all those critics of Slumdog there... any ideas on this front? What is the India you would wish to see potrayed?

The movie in itself is technically very sound... ofcourse there are some obvious flaws, but in the whole context of things maybe it's ok :-) ! And ohh btw... we should make sure the Oscar jury listens to Rehman's other songs. They will die out of guilt for not recognizing this talent for so long ! Slumdog's music will not even be in his top 10 list ... but to get to slumdog, rehman carved out some real beauties and for that... he deserves the Oscar ( or maybe the Oscars deserve him too :D ) !

Speaking of the deserving ... well, I don't know if Akshay Khanna, Aishwarya Rai.... all deserve Padma Shri awards... maybe the criteria got redefined at some point of time .. I don't know ! Who's next now?!

50 days ...

It has been 50 days since Mumbai was attacked. So lets just try to summarize what has happened since then:

To start with, Shivraj Patil resigned owning "moral responsibility"

The Prime Minister told us something to the effect that India's patience is being tested and Pakistan must act.
Then the External Affairs Minister told us something to the effect that enough is enough and Pakistan must act
Then the Home Minister told us that Pakistan is the culprit and it must act.

Then the Prime Minister told us something to the effect that Pakistan has to listen and it must act.
Then the External Affairs Minister told us that Pakistan is engaging in double talk and it is time for it to act.
Then the Home Minister told us that proof is being presented to Pak and it must act.

Then the Prime Minister told us that there is undeniable proof that agencies in Pakistan are involved and it must act.
Then the External Affairs Minister told that Rahul Gandhi is ready to become PM... and ohh btw, Pakistan must act.
Then the Home Minister told that trade ties might be cut with Pakistan. So it must act.

We then present to the world a 67 page dossier that traces back everything about the attackers to Pakistan.Then we tell them - now is the time to act.

In the meanwhile, slain police officer Ashok Kamte's wife Vinita Kamte conducts her own investigations and reveals some disturbing facts. Kavita Karkare tells us something and the politicians lost no time in making it an issue. No one cares about the trauma the poor women is going through. No one is talking about ALL th 18 dead police officers. We ALWAYS hear about the Karkare, Kamte, Salaskar and Unnikrishnan. What about the others? How is their sacrifice less significant?

Speaking of others, why is it that we dont talk about the dead and injured at CST and Cama hospital? We just keep hearing about Taj and the Oberoi, like their sacrifice is more supreme.

And ohh... just in case you are wondering what is Pakistan doing all along...

President Zardari invented a new term - non-state actors.
Prime Minister Gilani, through his actions, gave a completely new definition to an already existing term: flip-flop.
All evidence we gave was just "information" and cannot be treated as evidence.
So, no "action" on these "actors". Clap clap ( it is not a new term :P )!

oops sorry.... some action was indeed taken. The NSA of Pakistan was sacked for telling us something that we already know. So I guess we cannot completely blame Pakistan for not taking any action.

50 days hence... Pakistan is still strongly deying world opinion and evidence. We are still trying to influence world opinion. Wonder how long we have to wait though. Just in case some of us forget.... before Mumbai happened, umpteen number of attacks happened over the past of couple of years in multiple cities. Mumbai was the proverbial last nail in our coffin. Here's earnestly hoping that my 100 day report will be more positive in nature...

Sudhir

Satyam lies!

I was studying engineering when the IT boom happened. I saw it happen. And I knew the name of three companies only. Infosys, Satyam and Wipro! To me, they were the face of the emerging India. Narayanamurthy, Ramalinga Raju, Premiji represented the courage of the bold new India. They showed the way, and the rest followed.

And yesterday, Satyam lied! Blatantly.

Ramalinga Raju might not have taken money, but the damage he has done is HUGE. He betrayed the trust of lakhs of people. Not just the employees but the investors feel shattered. I am neither an employee nor an investor, and I am shocked! I can very well imagine how they actually feel during this time of inflicted misery.

No one ofcourse believes that only he alone is responsible. We are not that stupid too :D It's not like he sat in front of the computer and changed these figures! Even then, the guy who prepared the original results would know right! And then if he didnt question, is it not conspiring in the fraud?! It's all elementary, my dear Watson!

He goes on to explain that the bid to buy Maytas was to over come these troubles. Now, did Maytas management know about this? Well, given that it is majorly promoted by his son, I am assuming yes! So now Maytas is in a soup. And how much money gets drowned in that soup - my brain cannot comprehend!

And the numbers fudged are so large that I am still counting the number of zeroes :D Rs. 70,00,00,00,000/- :O :O :O :O

The law will obviously take its own course, but the damage that Ramalinga Raju inflicted on the Indian IT industry and the market as such will take a long long time to repair. Seriously, whom can you trust now?