WIKIJOKES

In a World Megalomania Contest, who would be crowned – Julian Assange or Mayawati? Taking jokes seriously is one of the symptoms of megalomania, say psychiatrists the world over.

Mayawati the Super-Architect believes in building grandiose edifices and statues; Julian the Super-Iconoclast believes in demolishing by leaks, real and imaginary. Both are the creations of the media. While Mayawati’s dream is to reach Madame Tussaud’s (wax museum in London), the Louvre in Paris and the Washington Monument (now closed but when re-opened), Julian would love to shift his office permanently to the White House, with offices in Elysee Palace and 10 Downing Street to make the noble profession of leaks easy.

One speaks politics all the time, the other economics. Hence there is no meeting ground between the two. If Nitin Gadkari and Manmohan Singh were to spend five minutes together, Nitinspeak would be Greek and Latin to Singh, just as Singhspeak would be Mandarin and Malay to Nitin. But in political gamesmanship, they score a fax pau each. When Manmohan held a Press Conference without the Press, so to speak, Nitin admitted in effect BJP has no leaders when he stated the party is ready to follow Anna Hazare. (That’s the Congress interpretation, you might dismiss; then it has a serious implication that Anna Hazare is the genie manufactured in Nagpur and let out of the bottle in Delhi!!)

In antics, Kiran Bedi is contesting Lalu Prasad Yadav, hoping Harvard University would take note of her. Special planes have been flown to Harvard (and even Hollywood) with video-tapes of the Bedi show!

In dancing, Sushma Swaraj is trying to steal the thunder from Mallika Sarabhai, who may have performed abroad. What makes Dancing Sushma so very special is that it was a sacred dance in a sacred place. And it is rumoured that she is opening a bale dancing school near Raj Ghat!

(This opinion piece was earlier published in Times School's of Journalism's blog site: WIKIJOKES)

ODE TO DOORDARSHAN

A nostalgia that cannot be reimbursed, Doordarshan, gave India its first taste of the picture tube and with it came a series of programs which paved the way to the television that we see today.

The channel began broadcast on an experimental basis on September 15, 1959 from a makeshift studio at Akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi as part of All India Radio. It started with 20 TV receivers in and around Delhi and transmitted one hour educational and developmental programs twice a week. In 1976, the Indian government constituted Doordarshan, the public television broadcaster, as a separate department under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

Doordarshan gave us a list of nostalgic songs which brings in a sense of homesickness , some of them were, Mile Sur Mera Tumhara , Ek Anek, the title song of Malgudi Days, and the theme songs of Mahabharata and also Jungle Books-“jungle jungle baat chali hain”, these are some songs which are irreplaceable. Broadcasting was harnessed for the task of political nation building and national integration and for the development of “the national consciousness” which can be sensed in the serials that were aired. By 1990, nearly 90% of the Indian population watched Doordarshan , it was during this time that the “integration of Indian consciousness”, concept came home.

The serials which were aired after 1982 like Hum Log, Chitrahaar, represented the Indian common man and his ideologies during the post independence era. The serials like Mahabharata, Chanakya, Malgudi Days, Mungeri Lal ke haseen sapne, Mitti keRrang, Mr Yogi, Neem ka Ped, Nupur, Bible ki Kahaniya, Babaji ka Bioscope Om Namah Shivaya, Oshin, Byomkesh Bakhsi , Ramayana, topped the list of those “ not to be missed”, these shows lacked the fanfare of the sets, accessories and locales but were succulent with human emotions. For children there were an array of shows like, Chutti Chutti, Nukkad , Brahmaand, Captain Vyom, Chamatkaari Telephone, Alice in wonderland, Baigan Raja, Quiz time, Rimba’s island, Disney Hour, Gayab Aya, Sindbad The Sailor, Alif Laila, Haddi Raja , Shaktimaan, Sunno Re Kissa, which were entertaining as well as informative. There was something about the serials which were aired post 1982, which reflected the Gandhian ideology of ‘swaraj’ and ‘swadeshi’. One could find the nationalist autonomy in Doordarshan. But 1991 saw the beginning of international satellite broadcasting in India and the government launched a major economic liberalization program. Both these events combined to change the country's television environment dramatically.

With the advent of STAR TV, the popularity Doordarshan took a nosedive. Now commercial competition has transformed Doordarshan as well, and it is scrambling to cope with the changed competitive environment.

Satellite broadcasting has threatened Doordarshan's audiences and self-preservation has spawned a new ideology in the network which is in the process of reinventing itself. On a deeper thought one can see how the cultural imagination of national identity has changed because of satellite and cable television.

In retrospect, one could find that though these serials lacked huge investments when it came to the sets, costumes, but then the stories that were aired had much more than what Rupert Murdoch’s Star TV could give us or any other channel could give us for that matter.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVEL

An interview that i had with a Hijra

“For 24 hours if I live happily”, is what Vidya has to say when asked about her main aim in life, certainly not a dream for just another name. A smile that welcomes one to, what the world would call a “transgender”. An undergraduate in computer science and a post graduate in applied linguistics, this 27 year old, born in Trichi, Tamil Nadu has reached a place where many of her might, would have failed to loom over.

Vidya has led a life which is everything but ordinary, from hapless to hopeful, she has churned a journey from writing in blogs and websites, about the life of a transgender, to working as an assistant director in movies like “Paal” and “Nandalala”.

Latest in this journey would be her autobiography; “I AM VIDYA”. This autobiography written by her is a mirror reflecting her life throwing light on every stage of her life beginning from childhood. “This book includes my life experiences and me.”, says Vidya, “the book was the second bestseller commercially for the year 2008”adds Vidya. The book has already been released in English, Tamil and Malyalam.
From Trichi, a small town in Tamil Nadu, Vidya is currently working as an assistant director in a movie “Nandalala” and is very fond of “Gulabi Talkies”. Vidya gives credit to all the good things that have happened in her life to her mentor Revathi Amma, who herself is a social worker and an activist for the rights of transgender.

This ardent fan of Girish Kannadha feels that it’s not enough with just an autobiography and she will be satisfied only when she becomes a director. This recluse in her own country has poured her life from zero in her autobiographical book which tells about her sex reassignment surgery, her relationship with her family and people around her, in short her struggle as a transgender, giving answers to a life quite unknown to us.
In short i was touched.

OBAMA MANIA IN INDIA

Lately I have come across a lot of magazines and sites which have venerated a lot of politicians as the next “OBAMA FOR INDIA”. Discussion forums aren’t spared too from this topic. Well some say its going to be Rahul Gandhi some say it will be LK Advani some say Narendra Modi and the list continues not forgetting our Mayawati, the list continues.

I personally have no interest in having an Obama for India.I would rather go for a leader, who can unite, integrate this country at first, rather than one with answers to “bail out” the economy.

The “UNITY IN DIVERSITY”, standard that’s chanted behind our minds on big days like the Independence Day, or Republic Day, gets dissolved when there’s a riot or some other politically instigated upshot. So India needs a man who can mend the buried nostalgias of the country.

What I see for the country’s future, with Advani as the Prime Minsiter, is a strong action against terrorism, but I seriously doubt about the communal harmony within the country, secondly a man being one of the accused of the Hawala case as well as the Babri Masjid issue along with his once strong links with RSS would make him an unsafe bet. He has also been accused of being absconder in Jinnah murder conspiracy case. He has not managed to repair his relationship with the RSS following his Jinnah remarks. The chief of the RSS, K.S. Sudarshan made it clear that he wants Vajpayee and Advani to step aside for younger leaders.

Talking about Narendra Modi, in July 2007 he became the longest serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history when he had been in power for 2063 days continuously. Modi took charge of Gujarat when its economy was shrinking, with massive economic losses he re-organized the government's administrative structure and as a result of his elaborate efforts Gujarat registered a GDP growth rate of over 10% during his first tenure. This was the highest growth rate among all the Indian states, continuing this extra-ordinary run, over the last year GDP growth rate was registered at 11.5%.But in Feb 2002 ,violence broke out in Gujarat, claiming more than 1000 lives ,the root cause of the violence being the Godhra train burning . The National Human Rights Commission criticized the government, pointing to "a comprehensive failure on the part of the State Government of Gujarat to control persistent violations of rights". An October 2007 report by the investigative newsmagazine Tehelka quoted several Sangh Parivar activists claiming that Modi was personally aware of the planning for the riots. Narendra Modi frequently says that if the BJP wins the next General Election in India, they will honor the 2004 Supreme Court judgement to hang Afzal Guru Afzal was convicted of terrorism in the 2001 Indian Parliament attack in 2004 by the Supreme Court of India and is in Tihar Jail. Modi would also work on Advani lines tracing events of the past and their say in it. He would do well for the economy, judging Gujrat’s GDP growth.

Coming to Obama, this Democratic candidate would have anytime been a welcome change after the Bush Administration .Obama spoke about changing the U.S. government's economic and social priorities. He questioned the Bush administration's management of the Iraq War and highlighted America's obligations to its soldiers. Drawing examples from U.S. history, he criticized heavily partisan views of the electorate and asked Americans to find unity in diversity, saying, "There is not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America.". This is the ideology which our leader should have. Uniting this country should be the first priority of our leader. Reading a lot of articles about Obama, I realized he was not only country centric, he also led out campaigns for countries, where help was needed, for instance the “save Darfur” campaign, against genocide, he also carried out an anti-Iraq war rally. One can read his psyche as being a well educated radical who would benefit the nation and also work on Tran’s border peace. To be honest India doesn’t have such a breed in flesh, looking at the current line of politicians.

This is country is fighting within in its own borders, so much in house terrorism is taking place every now and then, at such a stage we need someone who can get us all out of this functional anarchy because at one point of time we do feel lost and like strangers within the borders. Keeping what I said in mind we also need someone he speaks for the masses, voices our opinion. Saying this means asking for a lot, knowing the post independence scenario of the country where many states want their own separate countries, so uniting that country would be a big task, but someone should start. What I want is more people should get into politics and know more and more about the state of affairs, rather than sitting back home and complaining about current government, “why not just be a part of it”. To make an economy like America, one should at least have an Abraham Lincoln. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery. So we cannot just blindly dream to have any prime minister like some other country’s great leader, we have to have someone who has a thorough knowledge of the country ,who is young and educated. We need someone with a clean history.

An Indian, who can come up with the Indian version of “CHANGE WE BELIEVE IN”, a solution , to our current conundrum.

This years soul saving songs

This years soul saving songs
This year the west gave us the best tracks. I sincerely have fallen in love with the “Billboard Top 100”.The best part of it all is my Britney is back with a bang, with her “womanizer” track. Some songs have become my daily “mood lifters”. The lyrics , the music the ,video have it all. Chris Brown is my favorite with his “forever”, Jason Mraz “I’m yours”, Leona Lewis with her “Bleeding love” has made me drool for more of their tracks. Sean Kingston, MIA, Natasha Bedingfield, Saving Abel, Gavin Degraw’s “in love with a girl”, David Archeleto’s “Crush”, all the feats of Lil Wayne and the new comer Jordan Sparks, and Metro Station’s “shake it”, all are like amazing tracks with good flirty lyrics and music. I’m not a fan of Usher but his new track “love in this club” must say am quite impressed. Kardinal Official feat Akon’ s “Dangerous” and One Republic’s “Stop and Stare”,Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” are tracks that all should listen to. Though, I’m not impressed with Alicia keys and Fergie and Madonna. Rihanna needs a special mention.
Cheers to all these singers and best of luck to them for the Grammy.