Something I agree with

A Top Ten list of hotties who should stop acting.



P.S. : Some of them are not even HOT!

A matter of choice

On the nomination of Meira Kumar for the post of the Speaker, Congress party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi makes the following statement.

Congress would be creating a historical milestone by opting for the first dalit woman speaker. In the past also, Congress chose the first woman PM, youngest PM, first woman President.

Great! History has been created again. By the Congress party's refusal to accept the fact that they were always a 'crowd around a family'. My only question to him is - Did you have any choice, at least in the first two cases?

Sick!!!

I hope not, Harsha

I hope not.

Its bad. But it ain't so bad!

And the mandate goes to The Congress Party esp Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi.

Looks bad? Isn't it? It took me exactly 48 hours to figure out that this 'has' happened and probably 'why' this has happened.

This is not a vote for the UPA. This is a vote for the Congress, overwhelmingly. All across the country urban or rural, there has been a wave towards the congress. And so strong has been this wave, riding on socialist and populist measures of the UPA regime, that it has been able to overcome the non-performance of the Manmohan Singh govt.

Rahul Gandhi's positioning has been very clear. We are pro-poor whereas the NDA is the party of stock brokers and the rich(Yep he actually said that) which is ironical. While the NREGA, reservations in higher education, Loan waiver took care of the rural voter(unemployed youth as well as farmers), the Jyotiradityas, Sachin Pilots, Milind Deoras and Sandeep Dikshits ensured that the urban voter connects with them. If you don't agree with me then kindly check out the margin of victories in Delhi and Mumbai of Congress candidates(a fact also mentioned by Swapan Dasgupta). So a combination of youth with a heavy dose of socialism did it for the Congress.

About the BJP, well what to say. Varun Gandhi, 'weak' PM, not supporting the nuclear deal and some other factors like MNS were the main reasons I feel. The congress had supported the BJP in passing many bills(including private sector insurance) during 98-2004. But the way the BJP including Advani behaved in the nuclear deal was disgusting. Dunno about Modi. Even if he had any effect, the congress wave was too strong for him to withstand. He could hardly manage to hold on to his own seats in Gujarat.

Will they learn their lessons? I don't think so. Last I heard, M M Joshi was ready to take over any responsibility given by the party.(sic)

And now for the best part! Third grade politicians with ten to thirty MPs wanting to be PM have been resoundingly KICKED. So no Maya, no Mulayam, no Amar Singh(Sunil Bharti Mittal must be relieved), no Karat, no Yechury, no Pawar. Which means no statues, no ban on english, no moneymaking, no arm twisting, no dhamki-dena. For all these factors itself, this election has been worth it.

Lessons to learn from this election

1. Youth is the key
2. Negativity will not help
3. Socialism is back
4. Charisma is essential

Some other great columns on this verdict

Vir Sanghvi in HT
Tavleen Singh in Indian Express
Shekhar Gupta in Indian Express
S S Aiyar in TOI

The most controversial

Top 10 movies of all time. Compiled by Rediff's Raja Sen.

My Review - Syriana

If you are interested in the petropolitics and the violence of the middle east, if you are amazed why America never takes one step to reform the stone-age country Saudi Arabia is, if you wonder why Iraq was invaded, if you marvel at the fact that there are virtually zero democracies in the gulf region and if you wanted your own "How to be a suicide bomber?" guide, Syriana is the film for you.

Starring hollywood biggies like Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Jeffrey Wright and George Clooney(who won a Best Supporting Oscar for this one and doubles up as the executive producer), Syriana is slow and confusing initially as you get introduced to a myriad of characters going about their jobs in a ruthless manner.

Harvard educated Prince Nasir(played brilliantly by Alexander Siddig) wants to reform his oil rich country by bringing in democracy and granting voting rights to women. Assisting him in his reform process is Bryan Woodman(Matt Damon), an energy analyst who is loosing touch with his own family based back in the US. Somewhere else, Robert Gates(George Clooney), a veteran CIA officer, is entrusted by the US Govt with assasinating Prince Nasir.

What happens next is something to be seen - sibling rivalry, corporate greed, preservation of national interest(read OIL), treachery, assasination attempts and the birth of suicide bombers. Syriana is an eye opener for those who don't know and a confirmation for those who do.

Don't miss it!!!

The NDA's masterstroke

Well great minds do think alike! The other great mind here is the inimitable Swapan Dasgupta, who writes

"The Narendra Modi-Nitish Kumar photo-op in particular was good piece of showmanship. NDTV was particularly agitated and made it appear that Nitish's main crime was to have reneged on an assurance to Barkha Dutt. However, I don't think that Nitish was too happy over being ambushed by Modi--such public displays are not his style."

Since this unspeakable act of communalism, doublespeak and treachery(pun intended) has happpened, NDTV is at it. As if Nitish and Barkha are committed to each other and having made a statement on a horribly biased news channel is treated as signed confession in the supreme court of India. Not that I believe Nitish will NOT move to the UPA if the numbers are with them, I am just happy at the plain simple fact that NDTV is bloody hurt.

Whoever conceptualised this(Was it Jaitley?) deserves a pat on the back!

On a totally unrelated note, is it just me or are Priyanka Gandhi's clothes really getting tighter and tighter as the elections are nearing the end phase?

We must hit back

Says Vir Sanghvi. I have to say, Vir Sanghvi never fails to surprise me. Apart from Shekhar Gupta of the Indian Express, he is becoming one of the saner voices of the TOTALLY BIASED Indian media.

Pleasantly surprised!!!

I knew nothing.....

I knew nothing about the Babri demolition - Says Kalyan Singh

Close on the heels of Kalyan Singh's confessions on the Babri demolition, some other notable public figures are readying their confessions. A sneak peek :-

I knew nothing about cricket - John Buchanan and/or Shilpa Shetty

I knew nothing about 'getting elected from the Lok Sabha' - Manmohan Singh

I knew nothing about socialism(read NREGS) - Sonia Gandhi

I knew nothing about hair oil, only gel - Shivraj Patil

I knew nothing about the flight to Kandahar and Jaswant in that flight - L K Advani

I knew nothing about Hindi - Pranab Mukherjee

I knew nothing about unbiased reporting - Barkha Dutt/Rajdeep Sardesai

I knew nothing about whose son I am - Sanjay Dutt

Kung fu Panda Redux

Glossing over the events which have happened over the last 20 days, I am reminded of that beautiful line from Master Oogway in Kung Fu Panda.

"One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it."