Thursday, September 29, 2005

"Tamas"

A must read book for the guys who want to know about mob violence.
This book from Bhisham Sahni has been awarded Jnanpeeth award and it is really worth it. Though the original is in Hindi, I got hold of the English version.
The book starts off with seeds of Hindu muslim galata being sown by fundamentalists. A tanner is asked to kill a pig and teh dead pig ends up on the steps of the mosque. This triggers a blood bath among the 3 dominant castes of India, the Hindus, sikhs and the muslims. Added to this is the demand of an Independednt Pakistan.
But what is great in the book is the way the author has explained the different characters. It shows the Indian\Pakistani mentality. One would wonder - have we changed at all...the corruption was there then and is still there. What is mob psycology? Are friends really friends? Are eniemies really enemies? Many such things are explained well.
After finishing the book, I thought of a hypothetical scenario....and I did not get an answer.
I have a Tamil friend. I know him well since my college days. If there is a Kannadiga Vs Non-Kannadiga clash (like the Hindu muslim clash expalined in the book) and if I take part in the Kannadiga side and my friend is part of the Non-Kannadiga side. If we face each other with a scenario to hit (if not kill)..what will we do? Will the mob drive us crazy to do such a thing? Really such questions can be answered only when we are in that scenario.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Kannada teacher

This is my nephew's experience. He is in 3rd standard ICSE syllabus. Last year he was introduced to Kannada in school. But Kannada being his mother tongue, he speaks good Kannada since the time he started speaking. His course includes recognising animals in Kannada. In one of the recent tests, he was given a picture of a cow and was asked to write what it is. The answer he wrote was 'Hasu'. But the teacher had put a cross against the answer and wrote in red 'Dhana'.
My sister went to the school to talk to the teacher, as this was not the first goofup she had made. She argued that 'Hasu' was not a Kannada word.
How can such people teach Kannada?

Monday, September 19, 2005

"Amrithadhaare"

This movie all about love and sacrifice. There is a couple who just hug and kiss for everything that happens on earth. They sing nice romantic songs. Inshort this is not my kind of movie. I knew all this, but still went to the movie. Why? Because it is a Nagathihalli Chandrashekar's movie. This director has given some remarkable movies including the huge hit "America America". But off-late Chandru does not seem to have any theme left in his mind other than love. His previous movie "Paris Pranaya" was love in europe.

Coming back to this movie...Amrutha and Purandara are happy lovers and couple. They quarrel for fun and patch up easily (by hugs and kisses). The husband wants to have his own house but Amrutha wants to roam around places, enjoy life and become a mom. The husband wins (thanks to mom-in-law) and builds a 1 crore house!!! Then comes the old twist in the tale. Amrutha has brain cancer and can live for 8 months only. Puru decides to take her out on an India tour for which he sells his house. On the way the couple meet Amitabh Bachan because he happens to be Amrutha's favourite actor. Amrutha dies on Puru's lap in front of the symbol of love...Taj Mahal. Now ask whats new in the movie...The answer is nothing.

Music is the only saviour for this boring movie. Mano Murthy's tunes are really hummable. Chandru's sense of humour is itself a comedy. Ramya and Dhyan are okish.
In the era of movies with foul language, blood shed...anything that does not have these gets good reviews by the so called family reviewers. But even good reviews can't help a storyless venture.

Friday, September 09, 2005

New Orleans Vs Mumbai

This is an email that is circulating a lot these days. What a stupid email this is!
I cannot resist putting up a comment on the email.

People are trying to compare a hurricane with rain. This is absolutely ridiculous.
No need of number comparisons.
It’s just the attitude and culture of people that has held Mumbai together...
its not a media reported incident...my classmate was on a double decker bus in Mumbai...with water till knees on the top decker...they stayed that way through out the night...standing...somebody (unknown) came in a boat gave them 8 packets of biscuits and took a lady and her small kid in the boat...
New Orleans...massive looting, shoot at sight orders...
Though we say in India that we don’t value a human life...we don’t value money over human life too...

Now the actual email...

inches of rain in new orleans due to hurricane katrina... 18
inches of rain in mumbai (July 27th).... 37.1

population of new orleans... 484,674
population of mumbai.... 12,622,500

deaths in new orleans within 48 hours of katrina...100
deaths in mumbai within 48hours of rain.. 37.

number of people to be evacuated in new orleans...entire city..ohhh
number of people evacuated in mumbai...10,000

Cases of shooting and violence in new orleans...Countless
Cases of shooting and violence in mumbai.. NONE

Time taken for US army to reach New Orleans...48hours
Time taken for Indian army and navy to reach mumbai...12hours

status 48hours later...New Orleans is still waiting for relief, army and electricity
status 48hours later. Mumbai is back on its feet and business is as usual

USA...world's most developed nation
India...JUST A DEVELOPING NATION.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

A couple of restaurants

Spiga
This small house turned eat point is a good place to be with friends. I think this is the only restaurant on Vittal Mallya Road. This expensive Mexican specialty restaurant attracts lot of hep youngsters on weekends. The waiters seem to be students and the music played is the hit English numbers. Parking could be a problem. Try out the veg ChimiChenga when you are there.

HalliMane
This south Indian style restaurant on Sampige road is a big crowd puller. Ground floor hosts the self service wing. You get the so called village food like ragi balls, ragi roti, akki roti etc. But there is other stuff like Manchurians. The first floor has the service wing on one side and the buffet on the other. The meal is 50 bucks which includes unlimited roti, naan, curry and rice. The sweet and ice-cream is one per head. If you are going with a kid, you could pay 25 Rs and get the kid the same meal. Halli Mane is having a festival special for 80Rs.