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Showing posts from August, 2005

Regaining Citizenship: A traumatic experience

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Hostility between India and Pakistan is on wane. Lawmakers on both sides are compelled by their own people to bury their congenital botheration. Of all these people, Gulf expatriates are most vociferous to make that happen and there is a reason for this. In Gulf countries, both Indians and Pakistanis have been living in co-existence over few decades. Now, third generation of Indian and Pakistani nationalities is born, raised and working in Gulf. Their contact with respective motherland that began with 1-month school vacation is now restricted to gyrating on remix version of bollywood songs or eating Pakistani Kebabs. The pace at which Indian and Pakistanis are being blended in neutral land is also reflected at increasing number of marital knots. Milieu of cosmopolitan social life in Dubai does not isolate them with the rest of the crowd. So is the case with local residency laws that consider both on par. Everything goes well as long as they stay in Gulf. However, if they were to visit

laborers : scum of elegant society ?

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Some time ago, in a new newspaper "7 days" - a lady mentioned that all laborers in UAE should be given weekend off other than Friday. According to her, they cause too much of nuisance for people like herself who are not just subjected to ogles from these men but also cause nuisance with their foul sweaty smell and brusque behavior. I doubt if any of the laborers have even read her appeal but she got back from many readers what she deserved. An unequivocal, strong rebuke and condemnation. Today, while at Gym on 15th floor, I saw from glass window upper torso of two laborers doing painting on exterior face of the opposite building. Curiosity made me go to window and see how they are managing it by standing at the edge of the wall. What I saw made me squirm; they were standing on two wooden planks of not more than 2ft each, positioned horizontally on scaffolding. Both were busy giving delicate touches to protruding wall, with tin of paint on one side and other hand occasionally

Paheli

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If I were Paheli Director, I would have ended the movie with Shahrukh Khan entering the body of Sunil Shetty thereby continuing his romance from Rani Mukherjee to Juhi Chawala. Ghosts can be devilish too; after all they are counterpart of human beings. Perhaps this would have numbed the audience but am not sure how well it would have accepted.

historical longevity

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I watched Mangal Pandey yesterday. It’s not worth reviewing this movie. But it did stir some thoughts. Both Mangal Pandey and Bhagat Singh were sketched in history books. Bhagat Singh being recent arrival on the historical scene had an advantage of being shown with physical attribute. Mangal was merely described as a daredevil soldier who was consumed as a first casualty in the spark of 1857 war of independence. If I remember correctly, history books mentioned Mangal Pandey in just one sentence that his death led to rebellion being spread like a sweeping wild fire from Kanpur, Meerut battalion to entire North India. Now in subsequent century, when a movie was made on these two characters, Mangal Pandey was at significant advantage to Bhagat Singh in terms of hitherto unknown persona. Fantasy, characterization and imagination were in abundance for movie maker to create Mangal Pandey. Bhagat Singh was at severe disadvantage as his character details, family background was still vivid in t

Rift Valley: Unfolding Cradle of Humanity

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When my Kenyan friend announced of our passing through Rift valley on way to Nakuru, he expected me to have some degree of excitement. Seeing my faceless expression, he attempted to explain the historical importance of this valley for both Asia and Africa. I did not understand much but presumed it as another mountain range that we in India are familiar with. However, as we progressed our journey to Nakuru, Nyeri and onwards to Masai Mara – the staggering enormity of Rift Valley started sinking in. Later on, the more I studied about it, I realized my abysmal ignorance of the history of our wonderful planet. Rift Valley stretches from the Dead Sea in Jordan, extends through Red Sea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and into Mozambique. What I saw in Kenya was only small piece of this gigantic rift. How did this Rift happen? According to Geologists, some 20 million years ago, the earth's crust weakened and tore apart creating this jagged 6,000 km long rift. While it did so, the land

Kansai Airport : Technical Marvel, Economic Disaster

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No matter how young or old one is, it is always fascinating to watch flowing river from the window of a running train. And if this train ride takes 3.5 Kms into the sea, it would be nothing else but a breathtaking experience. If one were to take a flight from Kansai airport, one can have this experience by taking a train ride from mainland Osaka bay to Kansai Airport in Japan. If this train ride was anything spectacular, there is something more in store as you usher into magnificent super structure of Kansai International airport. The design of this airport is a masterpiece for both architecture and engineering. This four story 1.7 km building has no edges but smooth contours – in fact same contours of the roof are used to guide the flow of air in the building, thus eliminating the needs for vents inside the building. No obstructions in whatever form make a visitor navigate from anywhere. The airport resembles a bird with outstretched wings. Standing at the atrium of this airport, over

Freedom in Exile : An autobiography of Dalai Lama of Tibet

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I often wonder why Buddhism doesn’t profess vegetarianism when this religion is ingrained with the belief of non-violence and killing. While reading ‘Freedom in Exile” an autobiography, I realized that Dalai Lama too faced the same dilemma when he experienced the pain of chicken while being slaughtered. He abandoned eating non vegetarian food with great resolve. My question seems to have been addressed. However after few pages, the very same Dalai Lama- after recuperating from Hepatitis – started eating non vegetarian food – albeit at the advice of doctors. A rude shock must be for those who are reading this review. But not for those, who have read this book and understood Dalai Lama as a person. Dalai Lama was not chosen by virtue of his religious or spiritual erudite, political lineage or his hold over masses. In fact, he was just picked up by search party at the age of two from farming family in far flung rural areas of Tibet, who proclaimed him as a reincarnation of previous Dalai

Ayuthaya: From Ruins to Glory.

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Not far away from hustle bustle of modern day capital of Thailand lies a beautiful tranquil historical capital of Siam – Ayuthaya. A city that was once at the helm of power during 1350 to 1767, now stands amidst ruins. Nevertheless, these very ruins draw tourists from all over the world. Ayuthaya is app 80 km north of Bangkok based at the confluence of Chao Phaya, Pa Sak and Lopburi Rivers. An artificial canal joins them and surrounds the town. In 1351, a Chinese man U Thong founded this city. In 1378, Ayuthaya defeated Sukothai (140 year old empire) in battle and became the capital of Thailand. In 1431, Ayuthaya defeated the Khmer kingdom of Angkor Wat. With that Ayuthaya became undisputed imperial power of Southeast Asia. This change of power center also brought the change in Royal Image. The king of Sukothai was called a Dhammaraja - ''Lawful King''; but the king of Ayuthaya was called a Devaraja - “God King”. The tradition of Ayuthaya continues even today, with King

Ku Chi: Nemesis of American Army in Vietnam

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In current era of Iraq war, Vietnam War may have been relegated in memory. It was a battle of communist North Vietnamese with American based in south that lasted for almost 25 years. Despite having all the military might with B52 bombers, Americans fared miserably losing nearly 60,000 soldiers’ alongwith 200,000 South Vietnamese soldiers (American ally). One place that was responsible for the nemesis of Americans was Ku Chi Tunnels, just 200 km north of Saigaon. Ku Chi was not just tunnels but an underground city spread to 250km labyrinth with three floors beneath the soil. Army of 16,000 Goureilla used these tunnels to plot the downfall of Americans. The secret tunnels joined village to village and often passed beneath American bases. Hidden beneath they lived underground for years, getting married, giving birth, going to school. They even built hospitals where surgery was performed on causalities. They only came out at night to continue their battle against US army, attacking and dis

The Greatest Movie Characters in Bollywood of All Time

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It is natural for every movie producer and his team to possess a dream of making a movie that will bring a kudos, awards, glory, and money. However, beneath all that lies a latent passionate desire to create a character that has never been existed and would go on to make a benchmark forever. Story author. Scriptwriter, Director, and actor are all are on mission to delineate the character traits, facets and present it in form that will be adored by audience. Premiere Movie Magazine published a list of the all time 100 Greatest Movie Characters in Hollywood film history. According to them. they chose these characters who took every one of us over the rainbow, shook and stirred us and made us accept them in their true form - good or evil – so much so that we latched them for ever to make them eternal larger than life characters. It would be interesting to delve into history of Bollywood and come out with comparable list. This job wont be easy as Bollywood is as vibrant as Hollywood when i

BRO: Unsung heroes of Independent India

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The term martyr brings us an image of soldier dieing on battlefield. However, if one were to embark on serpentine roads of any high altitude border terrain, it does not take long to dawn upon the futility of term martyr - applicable only for wartime heroes. Here at altitude of 10,000 ft plus with steep inaccessible Himalayan Mountains on one side and deep gorge opposite; countless workers, engineers create a Herculean task of carving roads out of inhospitable and difficult terrain. The organization that does this task without due recognition or media publicity is Border Roads Organization (BRO). At every difficult cantilever bridge, one realizes that these bridges are not just built by mortal ingredients of steel, concrete, but also with the sweat, blood of men of the Border Roads Organization of India. And this comes with steep price beyond monetary value. In one year alone BRO loses hundreds of its valiant men to militancy, natural calamity and road accidents in difficult terrains. T

Mekong Delta : Blessing to Vietnam's Vastland

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The simile of a river journey to a human life is always fascinating. Benign source of rivulet on the top of the mountain to ‘a nascent innocent baby’ ; bubbling gushing streams hitting the plains to ‘a youthful exuberance ‘, meandering curvatures in tumultuous terrain to ‘uncertain midlife crisis ‘. Extending this corollary, merging of river to sea would tantamount to the death of a human being. However, I often wondered how this end would be like. Does River embrace an ocean the same way an enlightened person after leading fulfilling cherished life would do or Would there be a violent struggle of river to abdicate her identity much the same way a mortal human being would do so by desperately clutching to life only to succumb against his will? Much to my chagrin, the answer turned out to be later when I visited Mekong Delta in South Vietnam – a place 80 kilometers away from Ho Chi Minh City. The sight of Mekong River with all her gusto and brute force carrying with her enormity of erod