Drama, Drama, Drama

Editorials across the print media are paying rich tributes to Sonia and her able nominee, Manmohan Singh. The former for her unselfish act, and the latter for his skills that he would bring to the table. Manmohan Singh is a widely respected individual, an economist first and a politician later. Never have we had such an erudite as the head of state. His biodata is full of international awards, scholarships and top ranks.His role in the Narsimha Government, ushering in reforms is well documented and heralded.

Isnt this a sample of Justice being done? Right man for the right job. It feels so good! The congress members must be at an all time high. Victory Bells must be still resonating in their ears. Its now totally up to them to make or break this country, their own future and the party. Controversies set aside, they are ready for a jumpstart. But like all fairy tales come to an end, the pandora's box of scams and controversies will open sooner or later. Lets wait and watch the drama....

It happens only in India !
As passions run high, a supporter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, distraught at news that she did not intend to be the Prime Minister, holds a gun on his head outside her residence at 10 Janapath in New Delhi. As news spread, the scene outside her residence was one of mass hysteria, utter chaos and confusion with party workers ready to lay down their lives if she did not relent. Sonia Gandhi took a U turn, saying she is opting out as being Prime Minister 'is not important for her' and she will go by her 'inner voice'. Dr Manmohan Singh is tipped to be the Prime Minister.

Ah ! Finally my last week in Bangalore. Mumbai beckons....:)
But hats off to Bangalore's weather. No city can match the blessing that the almighty has bestowed on this garden city.
My project presentation at NITIE is scheduled on the 25th.First day, first show !
It would be great meeting all my classmates after a gap of 4 months. Probably for the last time before we head back (and forth) to our respective jobs. Some have already hopped...the grass was greener on the other side ! :)
Well, food at Bhaskar's mess, served by Jairaj and Co with the same josh as always, nap in my room, chattering at the cofee corner, trip down to vihar lake and of course the 'nasha' at renaissance.
Television, a concept totally lost for me, here in Bangalore, would be rekindled at home. I plan to watch the idiot box non-stop to savor every moment of the post government formation analysis, Rajdeep Sardesai's Big Mouth (Fight!), the english premier league, cricket classics on Ten Sports, Hitler's story on the History Channel and of course Channel V's retro picks.
Mumbai Meri Jaan, aa raha hoo....sign off

Finally, the adorable 6 bid goodbye to their millions of fans...I am waiting to get my hands on the last few episodes. More later, now back to work ! :)

This photo says it all !
Lets c what the future holds for Snow white and her seven dwarfs !





13 May
A television channel crew packs his equipment at the desertred and decorated BJP headqaurters in New Delhi. The BJP led NDA managed only 186 seats, and was virtually wiped out from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In his address to the nation after his resignation Atal Bihari Vajpyee said "Victory and defeat are a part of life, which are to be viewed with equanimity". Vajpayee was later unanimously elected as the Leader of the Opposition in the new Lok Sabha.

What an overnight transformation ! The party that was shouting from rooftops about India's glorius run over the past two years has been reduced to a shocked, debilitated observer of the unimaginable (as put forth by umpteen exit polls !), thanks to the final verdict by the Indian people! What a victory for Democracy !

India is truly shining now ! Voting out Narendra Modi and his non-secular antics, gives us new hope. Asking Chandrababu Naidu to rest in the safe confines of his bullet proof residence, the AP farmers have done the nation a favor. All the IT hype does not bring water to farms, or better employment opportunities to the millions of youth in our rural households. Talking to a farmer,flashing a laptop, doesnt match. Still on the naxal's hitlist, Naidu will have to save his life first and his party later !

For today's youth, the results are more than welcome. Although Govinda irritates me past words with his movies, the fact that he could beat a five time veteran like Ram Naik should send jitters to the BJP management. A rookie, traveling with the common man in suburban trains touched the hearts of the Vasai Dwellers ! Ram Naik, to everybody's amusement protested against him travelling by the local train, to which Govinda retorted ' Aam Aadmi local train se na travel kare to kisse kare ! '.

One major loss was to my utmost delight. That Tulsi Bitch , Smriti Irani was hoping to enthuse her soap-opera life with some much needed action. For us she is better off sobbing on the idiot box. Sibal thanks for asking 'the ideal bahu' to return to Film City to shoot her next 500 episodes !

Rahul Gandhi called his mother a hero ! Have to agree...Two months ago, with ceaseless rhetoric from the BJP High Honchos on his mother's origin,Congress' future looked rather dim. They did not have a clear leader, not many new faces and an aggressive India shining campaign by the ruling party to confront ! Somehow the lady pulled it off ! Lots of campaigning, great tactical alliances a.k.a TRS, RJD, SP, DMK..., rahul and priyanka's entry and finally some real blunders by the BJP (thanks to the overconfidence) helped the ailing opposition party. Today everything looks so different.

My bet is that the Congress will appreciate this opportunity more than ever before. Clinching victory from the jaws of defeat would surely make them feel indebted to the masses. By putting the right people at the right places like Manmohan Singh, Sibal, Jairam, they can take the reform process to new heights. Learning from their past mistakes would be mandatory prior to their new governance responsibilities. And me personally would prefer Rahul Gandhi to do some grassroots work before joining the bandwagon. He needs to really understand the pulse of the people who voted him to power. His 'internship' would help him for the next elections when he can stand tall and proclaim to be the ideal prime ministerial candidate. What he lacks his confidence and experience, which he can make up till his time comes....

Let the new political dispensation, then,reflect this overwhelming mandate - in favour of social and cultural pluralism, economic inclusiveness and demographic transition.
Amen !

La Vita E Bella ! Yes, life is so beautiful !! Roberto Benigni and his antics...sweet as nectar...What a classic movie? and how did i miss watching it, all these years ! I vividly remember the Oscar Night, when on hearing his name as the Academy Award winner for best actor, the bald Italian, walked over the seats of the front row audience....he was at his usual self :) and sprang on to the stage to grasp the coveted Oscar. I remember him uttering some emotional Italian Gibberish, sounding very melodramatic...and the audience gushing all over him. Surprisingly all that didnt force me to grab a copy of the movie or visit the theatre. It also played on Star Movies on a few occasions, and i managed to miss it each time. Finally, thanks to Ruchir, who rented the VCD day before, I could savour this classic rendition.

Some people become clowns; others have clownhood thrust upon them. It is impossible to regard Roberto Benigni without imagining him as a boy in school, using humor to deflect criticism and confuse his enemies. Watching his adventures reminded me of Chaplin.

The film falls into two parts. One is pure comedy. The other smiles through tears. Benigni, who also directed and co-wrote the movie, stars as Guido, a hotel waiter in Italy in the 1930s. He arrives in town in a runaway car with failed brakes and is mistaken for a visiting dignitary. He falls in love instantly with the beautiful Dora (Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni's real-life wife). The passion between them is magical. The kiss that Dora offers under the dinner table was electrifying.

He becomes the undeclared rival of her fiance, the Fascist town clerk. He makes friends with the German doctor who is a regular guest at the hotel and shares his love of riddles. And by the fantastic manipulation of carefully planned coincidences, he makes it appear that he is fated to replace the dour Fascist in Dora's life. All of this early material, the first long act of the movie, is comedy much of it silent involving the fate of a much-traveled hat. Only well into the movie did I learn the crucial information that Guido is Jewish. And being jewish in those times, spelt doom !

'Take me away' says Dora under the table and after the magical kiss. So does Roberto. They marry and Guido and Dora dote on their 5-year-old son Joshua.In 1945, near the end of the war, the Jews in the town are rounded up by the Fascists and shipped by rail to a death camp. Guido and Joshua are loaded into a train, and Guido instinctively tries to turn it into a game to comfort his son. He makes a big show of being terrified that somehow they will miss the train and be left behind. Dora, not Jewish, would be spared by the Fascists, but insists on coming along to be with her husband and child. In the camp, Guido constructs an elaborate fiction to comfort and protect his son. It is all an elaborate game, he explains. The first one to get 1,000 points will win a tank--not a toy tank but a real one, which Joshua can drive all over town. Guido acts as the translator for a German who is barking orders at the inmates, freely translating them into Italian designed to quiet his son's fears. Joshua falls for this make-belive frenzy that his father concocts with such amazing ease and elan.And he literally hides the child from the camp guards, with rules of the game that have the boy crouching on a high sleeping platform and remaining absolutely still.

There are no horrific scenes, no gruesome violence, no soap opera angst, and yet, Life is Beautiful manages to convey so much emotion that is completely real. I havent been able to shrug off the sweet images of the child listening to his liar father with rapt attention. Nor the scene where his father is taken to the corner and shot dead just a day before they are set free...nor the joy on the child's face when he sees a real Army Tank heading towards him. His father had made sure that his son wins this make-believe game before succumbing to the realities of the time!Without tugging at the heart-strings or working the violins into a frenzy, Life is Beautiful manages to resonate with humanity in a way Hindi movies havent been able to do ever, atleast for ME. I intend to buy a copy first thing I visit Planet M !!