On India's 68th Independence Day, we asked a few Indians, what independence meant to them. Find out what they had to say!
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
ऐ ओबामा तूने लगाई ओसामा की वाट,
एक सुनहरे सपने की यह है एक नई शुरुवात.
इस बार तो तूने सच में कर दिया बुराई की खात्मा,
जरूर पिछले जन्म में रहा होगा तू कोई पवित्र आत्मा.
ओसामा ने जब किया वह काण्ड दस साल पहले,
तब से दे रहा हूँ मैं अपने घरों को पहरे.
अब लगता है कि ले लूं एक छोटी सी ब्रेक,
पर यह याद आ जाता कि ओसामा नहीं है सिर्फ एक.
तू आया था हमारे देस लेकर प्यार का पैगाम,
तब से छलका रहा हूँ मैं वही प्यार का जाम.
एक बार फिरसे आजा लेकर अपनी न्याय की टोली
ताकि इस बार हम मिलके उठा सके कसब और दवूद की डोली.
और अब की बार ले आना पिंकी-चिंकी को भी भाभी के साथ,
ताकि मिथुनदा भी कह सके, "क्या बात, क्या बात, क्या बात!"
'Tel laga' tops the list of catchphrases that I use. However, I'm going to make an exception this one time. I recently received a mail that had me thinking. Thought this was worth sharing...
Disclaimer: ashishvaswani.com does not claim to be the original source of the following extract from an email chain. However, this is a cause it supports very strongly. We are not responsible for misrepresentation of facts mentioned hereunder. Readers are requested to verify the authenticity of the following facts before taking any action.
Disclaimer: ashishvaswani.com does not claim to be the original source of the following extract from an email chain. However, this is a cause it supports very strongly. We are not responsible for misrepresentation of facts mentioned hereunder. Readers are requested to verify the authenticity of the following facts before taking any action.
रविवार का दिन आया तो सोचा करें आराम,
हफ्ते में इक दिन छुट्टी का, वह भी हुआ हराम!
भक्तिगीतों ने जब कर दी मेरी सुबह बरबाद,
तब पता चला कि इसी दिन हुआ था देश आज़ाद.
ऐसा भला क्या हुआ जो हर कोई झूमे-गाए?
रिश्वत लेने वाली जेब पर आज तिरंगा लहराए?
क्या मतलब इस आज़ादी का, हम तो अब भी हैं गुलाम,
अँग्रेज़ चले गये, तो बड़े बाबू को मिला सलाम.
कहने को तो आज़ादी को हो गये तिरसठ साल,
फिर भी मन में उमड़ रहे हैं कई अनसुलझे सवाल.
आज भी क्यों करती हैं नज़रें जन्म-जात का अंतर?
क्यों रह-रहकर उठता है प्रश्न-'यह कैसा परजा तन्तर?'
क्या मजबूरी है कि भाई है भाई के खून का प्यासा?
'चलता है!' कहकर क्यों हम खुद को दें दिलासा?
भूख, बीमारी, भ्रष्टाचार के कीड़े जब तक है यहाँ आबाद,
कैसे कह दूँ मैं कि भैया, देश मेरा आज़ाद?
हफ्ते में इक दिन छुट्टी का, वह भी हुआ हराम!
भक्तिगीतों ने जब कर दी मेरी सुबह बरबाद,
तब पता चला कि इसी दिन हुआ था देश आज़ाद.
ऐसा भला क्या हुआ जो हर कोई झूमे-गाए?
रिश्वत लेने वाली जेब पर आज तिरंगा लहराए?
क्या मतलब इस आज़ादी का, हम तो अब भी हैं गुलाम,
अँग्रेज़ चले गये, तो बड़े बाबू को मिला सलाम.
कहने को तो आज़ादी को हो गये तिरसठ साल,
फिर भी मन में उमड़ रहे हैं कई अनसुलझे सवाल.
आज भी क्यों करती हैं नज़रें जन्म-जात का अंतर?
क्यों रह-रहकर उठता है प्रश्न-'यह कैसा परजा तन्तर?'
क्या मजबूरी है कि भाई है भाई के खून का प्यासा?
'चलता है!' कहकर क्यों हम खुद को दें दिलासा?
भूख, बीमारी, भ्रष्टाचार के कीड़े जब तक है यहाँ आबाद,
कैसे कह दूँ मैं कि भैया, देश मेरा आज़ाद?
‘Tel laga’ is one expression that features amongst the most frequently used words in my limited vocabulary. It’s a milder alternative of asking someone to mind themselves or simply get lost, that I prefer over fancier cuss words. Plus I feel it sounds a lot cooler too!
I wish I could say the same about the gory images that I woke up to this morning:
Here’s what’s happened: two Panamanian vessels collided with each other near JNPT, Nhava Sheva, around 10km from Mumbai harbour last Saturday. The impact was so disastrous that it’s now resulted in one of those ships, MSC Chitra tilting at an angle of almost 80 degrees.
What’s even more horrifying is that almost 50 tonnes of oil from the ship has spilled into the sea, along with toxic chemicals from its 300 containers that tumbled out as well. Though authorities are claiming that the leak has been plugged and no more oil is flowing out, the ground reality could possibly be that there’s none left.
Fishermen and locals in the entire Konkan belt have already started experiencing the after effects of the catastrophe. And it is common sense that marine life in the region is going to bear the brunt. The precious few numbered mangroves around Mumbai are under an imminent threat.
But what’s interesting to note is that our netalog are least bothered about the issue. As usual, an ‘inquiry into the matter’ has been ordered. Jairam Ramesh, the Minister of State for Environment and Forests, paid his share of lip service in Parliament today by saying that ‘suitable action will be taken’. Salvage operations are not going to begin before 13th August even as the Mumbai Port Trust loses crores in revenue since all functioning has been suspended indefinitely. All because we’re waiting for Dutch and Singaporean help to arrive.
Earlier this year, a major oil spill of an even larger magnitude had occurred around the Gulf of Mexico. British Petroleum (BP), which was found responsible for the spill was made to pay damages to the tune of billions of dollars by the US government. And though clean-up operations have still not been completed, the quick response of all authorities involved must be lauded. I wonder if we can expect the same in India. It’s not the lack of infrastructure, but the mere lack of intent that impedes our path to global supremacy. Until such a will to achieve this goal finds its place in the Indian psyche, there’s not much we can do other than enjoying the paradox of the rainbow below our feet...
It's been a week since the so called 'Bharat Bandh' was called for by the opposition parties to protest against rising inflation. I wonder if it did anything but prolong the weekend for lazy bums who needed just another reason to skip work and stay home.
Some sources peg the total loss to the country at a staggering Rs. 2735 crores on bandh day. And while political parties such as the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena are going around proclaiming how successful their band-o-bust was, a few serious questions need to be asked.
Why did the aam aadmi decide to blindly follow the diktat of a numbered few power hungry men who were doing nothing but salvaging their votebank with cheap publicity for political mileage? Why weren't the authorities stricter with mobs and anti-social elements when bandhs have been declared illegal by the Supreme Court? According to these strike-o-philic parties, how does calling for bandhs help the country to fight against rising prices which is actually a global phenomenon?
There sure were better ways to protest if that is really what these parties wanted to do. But who cares, when in India you can giftwrap your extended weekend and call it a bandh, all in the name of the great Indian political tamasha!
Some sources peg the total loss to the country at a staggering Rs. 2735 crores on bandh day. And while political parties such as the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena are going around proclaiming how successful their band-o-bust was, a few serious questions need to be asked.
Why did the aam aadmi decide to blindly follow the diktat of a numbered few power hungry men who were doing nothing but salvaging their votebank with cheap publicity for political mileage? Why weren't the authorities stricter with mobs and anti-social elements when bandhs have been declared illegal by the Supreme Court? According to these strike-o-philic parties, how does calling for bandhs help the country to fight against rising prices which is actually a global phenomenon?
There sure were better ways to protest if that is really what these parties wanted to do. But who cares, when in India you can giftwrap your extended weekend and call it a bandh, all in the name of the great Indian political tamasha!
To be really honest, I hate movie reviews. Be it the overrated Nikhat Kazmi and Mayank Shekhar articles that make or break the fate of the biggest masterpieces by trying to scale them on their ‘star’ meters, or the paid-for TV reviews that news channels like Aaj Tak usually air in the weeks preceeding the hype of a big release, they mostly if not always, are a mirror of what I feel about a movie. Latest in this league are internet sites like indiafm (aka bollywoodhungama) where people who call themselves trade analysts (a new epithet given to the same old movie critic) give you indepth analysis of why YOU should or should not watch a movie which THEY may or may not like. And I thought we lived in a democracy!
But I’m going to make an exception here. Today I want to tell you about my first day first show experience of watching Raajneeti. But before I begin to tell you about it, first a note of caution- I’ve liked the biggest of ‘flops’ (personally I don’t like this word, I’m using it only for the lack of a better one). I loved Kites that I saw last week and I thought Rann (hope you’ve heard of it- it stars Amitabh Bachchan and Ritiesh Deshmukh) was pretty okay too. The last film I really hated (and I can’t say that for more than a handful of them) was DevD. So if you’re the kind who’s looking for authentic star-meter dependent material, this piece is not for you to swear by, but you can still read it anyway, you’re most welcome!
Throughout this piece, I’ll try and not give you the plot away, but one thing I’d like to do is mention a few dialogues or scenes I liked in the movie, so that you can look out for them if you happen to watch it. I think that’s fair enough.
First things first, with a starcast like this, you’ve seriously got to have a pretty strong reason to avoid Raajneeti. Though Naseeruddin Shah is the only one who has an itsy-bitsy appearance in the beginning, more or less all others have a considerable screen presence. It was a pleasant surprise to see Arjun Rampal act, which can be taken as a fitting reply to silence critics who thought he didn’t deserve the National Award for Rock On. Nana Patekar’s role in the movie made me stand up and take notice of his acting prowess, something that I’d overlooked in the past. Even, Manoj Bajpai is sure to get a fresh lease of life after this one. Latest import Sarah Thompson also does a convincing job in the tiny role that she’s landed.
The promos do a great job of keeping the storyline hard to guess, since Katrina’s role is not entirely centred around what’s being highlighted. The flow of ideas is sewn well together and is capable of gripping the average movie-goer’s attention, making him/her wonder what new twist the next scene will bring. Raajneeti is the story of a family, it’s about power and politics and how these take a lead over everything else in life for that family. I personally liked a lesson which Nana gives Ranbir when he asks “गढ़े मुर्दों को खोदने से क्या फायदा?”, the reply being, “राजनीति में मुर्दों को गाढ़ा नहीं जाता, उन्हें संभालकर रखा जाता है ताकि समय आने पर उनका मूह खुलवाकर उनका इस्तमाल किया जा सके!"
A couple of really funny lines that I can’t stop myself from mentioning-
The driver is gifted an expensive watch by his sahib and is really elated to know that he’s so special to him. That’s when Ajay Devgn (it’s not a typo, that’s how he spells his name now!) comes up to him and retorts, “घड़ी दी है ताकि समय पर उनकी गाडी पहुंचा सको!" to spoil his party!
In a really serious scene, the depiction of Arjun Rampal singing Ankhiyan Churayun kabhi ankhiyaan milaaon kabhi….(from the 90’s Madhuri starrer Raja) is sure to evoke a chuckle.
Some events in the movie are highly dramaticized, as is the case with all Hindi movies. For example, there’s somebody getting murdered every few scenes and a few dramatic turns become slightly difficult to believe. Though after watching this movie, I didn’t feel it’s inspired by any individual or family in particular, chances are that you may find a few of the characters being based on a combination of real life personalities.
Prakash Jha has done a flawless job of narrating a kind of story that has always been his forte. Once again, he has succeeded in depicting the goonda raaj based politics of central India with perfection. The rustic UPwaala ‘hum’ instead of ‘main’, the execution of the huge crowd scenes and even the tiniest of nitty-gritties have been taken care of really well. Again, there are a few dialogues that I’d like to draw reference to, to make a point:
In one scene, Manoj Bajpai reminds his detractors, “आसमान पर थूंकने वाला यह भूल जाता है कि मूह तो उसी का गन्दा होने वाला है! "
In another one, when the pesky paparazzi reminds Ranbir that the freedom of press obligates him to reply to their questions, his impressive reply is “हाँ, लेकिन आपकी आज़ादी को आप हमारा आतंक नहीं बना सकते!"
You’ll surely like this movie if you even remotely liked the Sarkar dilogy. And to those numbered few who happened to watch Rann like me, Jha has done exactly what Ram Gopal Verma tried to do in his movie, though this time, it’s with the perfection of a skilled craftsman who does an awesome job of storytelling with finesse and élan.
To sum it up, I’ll just say, be prepared for a heavy dose of action and drama and a full-too three hour paisa vasool blockbuster. After all, for me being a Sindhi, it feels much better spending three hours in an air-conditioned theatre watching a stretched out sensible movie for the same price that I pay for a one and a half hour no brainer!
