There is an ongoing discussion thread with the subject title as “Disturbing News” on the Bangalore bloggers’ mailing list, the Blogaloreans. The topic of discussion is the case of a 19-year old blogger, Ajith D, who started a community on Orkut against Shiv Sena. As a result of what the Shiv Sena found content that had defamation value, a criminal case was filed against Ajith who now faces prosecution in court. As this article documents:

Bloggers may no longer express their uninhibited views on everything under the sun, for According to the Supreme Court, you can be prosecuted for your shenanigans.

There have been many reactions to this: on twitter, on blogs, on mailing lists and in the press too. The common thread uniting these reactions is that bloggers feel they are fast losing the right to discuss their opinions freely. Also, the “constitutional” right, freedom of expression, comes into play. While I am *not* a fan of shutting bloggers up at all, I’m trying to recognize the intent with which the SC made this decision. Freedom of expression, after all, isn’t just a constitutional right but also a power we have often abused. In the blogosphere, I guess we could regard sarcasm, wit and satire as general okays, as the intent there is to evoke laughter as subtle criticism hides underneath. However, making a public defamatory post against an individual is *not* something that should be accepted, and I believe it is there that the SC is trying to restrict people, although the law doesn’t state that directly.

The problem with this whole “freedom of expression” idea is that people are entitled to say, “hey, I’ve got an opinion, and I want to speak out”. But guess what? Raj Thackeray has an opinion as well and *his* opinions have always lead to violence. Since he belongs to the same constitution (still, i.e. unless he insists Maharashtra has a *separate* constitution which I honestly won’t put beyond him) the “freedom” that is applicable is the same. Ergo, Mr. Anonymous Right-Wing X blogger who comes along and says, “Muslims are the cause of violence and terror in this country” and Mr. Anonymous Bihari Y blogger who comes and says “Mr. Raj Thackeray is anti-Indian and pro-Maharashtran” and Mr. Raj Thackeray, God forbid he blogs, says that Biharis should be kicked out of Maharashtra - all three opinions are the individual’s own and without controls in place all three of them are free to express them.

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Julius Caesar didn’t surf the Indian blogosphere, because if he did these days:

I came. I saw. I saw. I saw. I saw. I saw. I saw. I saw. I saw. Goddammit, I saw. I kept seeing. And all I saw were LK Advani’s ads.

Ergo, LK Advani must stop going berserk with his online presence. Advaniji, I hereby urge you to take immediate steps to reduce the number of advertisements in the internet space. Every other website has an “Advani for PM” ad. Google has sponsored links. You are on YouTube, twitter, you appeared on Rediff Chat, the NDTV awards and in due course will appear on your own daily soap: Kyonki Opposition Leader bhi kabhi Home Minister tha. In fact, you have advertised everywhere thinkable and unthinkable except for indianpornvideos.com and Rakhi Sawant’s underbelly. We get it: you are omni-effing-present and you want to be worshipped. Yet, your ads are by no means gaining popularity. GoogleAd Hackers might contemplate replacing “Advani for PM” with “Advani for PMS” and that itself is enough said - ‘period’.

Our leaders deserve better, no? All my online respect for Advaniji has been flushed, or in this case, truncated, with the crazy number of online ads.

On Republic Day, I had an argument with an ex-mutineer, and a right-wing Hindu nationalist author. Right-wing might be putting it mildly. For all I know he might’ve also believed, like many others did, that Obama rhymes with Osama and his middle name, Hussein, implies some relationship with the late Mr. Saddam. Let me tell those who think this way that Obama isn’t a terrorist (in fact he isn’t even Muslim) and MS Dhoni isn’t a Microsoft Product.

Anyhow, his harmless wish was nothing but a “Happy Republic Day” accompanied by a smiley. GoogleTalk doesn’t (yet) have an anti-Islamic or anti-Secular smiley, so he had to make do with the ordinary one. As you see, the guy is such a rightist that if he bowled right-arm-around-the-wicket he’d miss the popping crease and deliver from mid-wicket. *That* right-wing. For all practical purposes, we shall henceforth refer to him as mid-wicket.

So, mid-wicket’s idea of religious tolerance is permitting Muslims to understand the principles of Hindutva, which may be a way of life but if it differs from core Islamic principles then you’re breaking your head against a brick wall. Mid-wicket understands this as much as Modi prays five times a day.

Midwicket had the nerve to wish me a Happy Republic Day. I told him that I refuse to accept his wishes, and he asked why. Here we go.

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Perhaps the most ironic thing I’ve seen in recent times are blog posts against Advani and a huge google ad that goes “Advani for PM” which defeats the purpose of the blog post. That Google Ad might just appear on this post too.

Advani has to be taken seriously because he represents a progressive step forward towards development for what his website calls “a strong, prosperous and self-confident India”. His website, incidentally, is very, very active and up-to-date. There is a blog (which these days seems more fashionable than a channel to express one’s opinion), messages, recordings, a five-point promise on education, an urdu microsite and even a banner congratulating A R Rahman on winning the Golden Globe Award. Surely there is a substantial and recognizable effort going into Advani’s political campaign in reaching out to the online audience and even if you do call it the Obama way, it kind of symbolizes development. Continue Reading »

In one of his interviews, director Nikhil Advani went on to suggest that Chandni Chowk to China is a typical masala film. With a title like that, and the hero’s impeccable comic timing, the man behind the megaphone is spot on.

A masala flick it is, and a pretty good one at that. Unlike remakes released in the recent past (heck, subtlety be damned, I mean Ghajini, of course), CC2C doesn’t try to be too serious: instead, it offers comedy, drama and some brilliant stunts that Akshay Kumar not only fits into very easily, but also very clearly enjoys.

It begins with Sidhu (Akshay Kumar), a poor simpleton who chops vegetables at a roadside restaurant in Chandni Chowk owned by guardian-father Dada (Mithun Chakraborthy) Sidhu regularly seeks astrologers, including Chopstick (Ranvir Sheorey) who claims to practise Fend-Shastra, a marriage of Feng-Shui and Vaastu-Shaastra. Meanwhile, two men from China claim that Sidhu is actually an old warrior, reborn to take revenge on the evil Hojo (Gordon Liu). Chopstick tricks Sidhu and they both embark on a mission to the Great Wall.

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But before that, Dr. Manhmohan Singh has sent a new year greeting to “President” Zardari, which said “With all good wishes for the new year.” And my first reaction to that was that Mr. Hemant Karkare and Pope Gregory XIII would’ve both turned in their graves. Mr. Karkare for obvious reasons, and Pope Gregory XIII because you sent the card atleast eight days after the new year in the calendar he proposed.

So before digression gets the better of me, here is the letter.

- - -

Dear Mr. Zardari,

<rant>

Greetings, and I hope this 14th day of January (and 71st day of your non-action) finds you in good health, although you have done little or nothing to find the conspirators of the November attacks.

I would like to bring to your notice two items that would particularly interest you:

1. Your obsession with the term “non-state actors” is perfectly understandable, often amusing and occasionally convincing. But kindly reiterate who exactly do you mean by “non-state actors”? Do you, by any chance, mean the LeT, who have proved links to the ISI? Or do you mean the ISI itself? Or worse, worse for you that is, do you mean the Pakistan Army? When I look at your statements and if I understand them, and if I am made to believe that your intelligence agency AND your army are “non-state” actors then you don’t run a nation, but a time-bomb. It evokes both pity, when considered seriously, and entertainment, when considered lightly. Continue Reading »

Six, eight or twelve packs, whatever the man has transformed himself into, Aamir Khan has worked himself out into a body-and-a-half. As we digress for a bit, the three Khans are now officially in shape, followed closely by the Khanlets (Saif, Fardeen, maybe Jiah too if you may). And Bollywood has finally made the gym an integral part of it. Fine, we get the message.

That apart, Aamir is of course a fine actor, one of the finest out there, and it therefore surprises me that he signed Ghajini. Mementalk apart, did the guy read the script at all? I mean, what is *so* special about the movie, really? Tell you what: forget everything, how did this ‘perfectionist’ agree to act in a scene where, in one swoosh, five guys fall? I for one had thought that the days of dhishum-dhishum cinema were over in mainstream Bollywood. Atleast, the films that Aamir did.

Not that he’s not done justice to his role - no - like almost every Aamir Khan flick, this one is strictly watchable because of the actor’s brilliance in his portrayal of the patient that seeks revenge. He punches, screams, cries and is quite the beast in his tattooed avatar, although, as he romanced Kalpana in half-one, his fashion-sense is very, very questionable. Continue Reading »

Push it on any of the shelves you’d like to, but if it were me I’d tuck this safely onto the Speculative Fiction shelf. And place a few copies at the entrance of the bookstore, like Reliance Timeout in Bangalore did, not just because it’s a well-written book, but it deserves to be picked up and read.

Honestly, Mukul Deva’s Laskhar is not a piece of art, nor is the author a wordsmith, but fortunately he doesn’t try to be one either. Instead, it’s a quality, relevant plot that seems to have sprung out of the events that occurred in modern India suffering from contemporary terrorism. As the title suggests, Lashkar is a book that begins with a blast in Delhi and then spawns two parallel, related stories: that of Iqbal, a terrorist in the dreaded militant organization, and that of the Indian response to the attack by what Deva calls the ultra-secret Force-22 team of the Indian Army.

Deva describes the mood of the nation after the attack, a bleeding country seeking revenge, perhaps similar to some of the reactions echoed today in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. He goes on to describe the retaliation that follows, taking us from a little suburb in Delhi to the LoC and right into the streets of Karachi. Simply put, it is a plot created with patriotism blending with a desire for vengeance against the 20-odd names that India asked its neighbor to hand over in real life, drawing obvious parallels to the militants in real life. It also, momentarily, taps into the religious arguments of Iqbal the ‘terrorist’ who wages one war in the name of religion, and another within himself.
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As I read this piece of news on TOI I really read it twice to make sure I was reading what I was. Since when did reporting an event involve a baseless opinion?

Sure, Pakistan, or its media, *might’ve* played a new trick here, but all said and done, as “responsible” media, you would expect TOI to simply report the blast in Pakistan and report that an Indian was arrested in connection with it, with reports that this was denied by the Indian government as a “fabricated stunt”. You don’t expect the TOI to actually suggest and authenticate the statement of it being a stunt itself. Maybe, just maybe, that should’ve been saved for the opinion pages?

To begin with, the news item has no justification or analysis on why they believe it to be a stunt. Secondly, it quotes “highly placed sources”. Now if everyone is so unanimous in agreement with it being a stunt, why the anonymity?

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It was quite amusing to see the reactions to the innings that Dravid churned today. Some were in for some heavy criticism, for having scored so slow, the kinds who obviously have little or no consideration to the tight line by Flintoff and a Mohali track that is far from dead. Others glorified it as a comeback of sorts, going as far as to suggest that the Wall had returned to form. And perhaps one innings does separate you from being in-form and out-of-form. Although form is not exactly what you would think of when you consider Mr. Rahul Sharad Dravid.

The Sehwags of our generation are the kind of players who rely on form, timing and seeing the ball well to score big. Dravid, however, is reliant on his disciplined approach to accumulating runs coupled with good technique. His horrid performance this year has been a result of poor decisions - partly on the umpires’ part as well, but poor shot selection. When you’re “in-form”, even a reckless shot can fetch you runs. Dravid is hence what you would call a class-player and not a form-player.

I’ve previously suggested that Dravid needs to quit his game, and I think it’s fair to say that I must retract my statement. Looking at today’s innings, the one good thing about it is the fact that he grew in confidence and started middling the ball well, seeing it early. Whether Dravid has returned to form or not is irrelevant. Whether Dravid must quit is also irrelevant. But there is no doubt in the fact that the batsman that goes to bed today is the same he was yesterday, except that he sleeps with the knowledge that, in words immortalized by of a newly elected President, ‘yes he can’. And it is with this little knowledge that Dravid has, and hopefully will, make his bat do the talking and strengthen the Wall that until yesterday seemed fragile.

Meanwhile, spare a thought for Kevin Pietersen who now cannot discount the Dravid factor anymore. Couple that with his rib injury and Stuart Broad’s flawed radar (or genuine intent to bowl wide outside off) and things look gloomy as ever for the visitors.