Today's leaders

Sachin gave his own thoughts on Marathi/Mumbai issue here

Sure enough, Balasaheb Thackery fired back (I am not sure if he was in particular hurry to respond to Sachin's comment before Raj Thackery to prove certain thing, I don't know:)

One of the things I always find missing in our society is that people who are role models, who are worshiped beyond any doubt by millions in this country, people who could influence the masses in a very big way, never come out strongly in public against the hatred, politics of divide and support what is right.

India today lacks, and, I think, have been for many many years, true leaders. We do not have any political, social leader that crosses the boundaries of political, regional, cultural and religious ideologies and is listened and followed by all. Leaders like these are necessary to shape our collective ideology as a country. These are the leaders whom people do not doubt and take final words from. I think last such leader we may have had was Mahatma Gandhi, who influenced country as a whole.

Today, we definitely do not have a single one in social/political circle. And therefore we look for them in sports (Sachin etc.) or films (Amitabh Bachchan), music (Lata Mangeshkar etc).

And in my opinion, it is important for people like these, to consider as their responsibility to induce some good thoughts, directions, ideals among the people who follow them.

People may debate, that its not their job to do politics. I am not saying they should get involved in politics. As a matter of fact, they should represent themselves as apolitical and express their objective opinions about such things.

We need all such influential people in all such circuits (sports, movies, art, literature) to consider it as their responsibility to influence and guide people in right direction. These are the only people who carry some credibility in todays society and its a waste if they don't make use of it.

Sachin seems to have made a start. Hope this becomes a culture.

Miss - No miss

Its been around three months since I came back from US and was wondering what I am missing and what I am not missing. I had the similar feeling, when I went to US about things I missed from India. Now it is the other way around.

People always worry about adjusting to new place and wish to stay with the surrounding they are comfortable with. But due to our human nature, it does take us much time to get adjusted to a new surrounding quickly and develop comfort zone around it. So, in reality, fear of new thing is just an illusion.

Here is what I think I am missing the most from my stay in US

- SouthPark: The one TV series I watched and enjoyed the most. The most intelligent comic scripts I ever watched.

- The daily show with Jon Stewart: Not a single day went without watching this show. This man is THE best. Thoroughly enjoyed watching this during Presidential election 2008.

- Public Library: Awesome public system, that was of great help to me. You can get number of books, videos from here for free. Source of countless movies I watched and books I read during my stay.

- Family Guy: How can I not miss this. Ridiculously, grossly funny. Don't go by its name. Its definitely not to be watched with family:) You can never be sure of, whats gonna come next:)

- Driving pleasure and driving discipline: One I miss dearly everyday on Pune roads

- Biking: Though I am making up for this by biking in India, but the biking there was much more fun

- Customer care experience: Especially if you put it in India's context

- Internet speed:)

- Work culture, time I used to get outside work to lot more.

And what am I not missing:

- Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'reilly, Glen Beck, Ann Coulter: You get the idea:)

- Freezing Cold: Oh yeah!

- Just witnessing the political polarization, anti-Obama conservatism, health care mess etc.

- Distance from Family and friends

Olakh na Palakh - Review

Review: Olakh na Palakh (Marathi Drama)
Cast: Prashant Damle, Mangesh Kadam
Writer: Suresh Jayram
Director: Mangesh Kadam
RatingL *** (3 out of 5)

Story:
Its a suspense-comedy plot. An injured person (played by Mangesh Kadam) is picked up by police inspector Zarapkar (Prashant Damle) of Naupada police station, Thane.
The picked up person, claims to not remember anything before his injury and is a suspect of amnesia (temporary memory loss). Although, the belongings of that person recovered by police indicates that he may be someone named "Ashok Garware".
Inspector Zarapkar (Prashant Damle) calls Resham Garware (wife of Ashok Garware) for confirmation. Although, the story turns murky, when she, after first acknowledging that the injured person is in fact Ashok Garware, changes her statement and claims that he is not Ashok Garware, though he looks like and has possession of stuff belonging to, Ashok Garware. She does that for a reason (to get automatically rid of her husband, with whom she doesn't go along well and who is hindrance to her getting her father's wealth. Although, she retracts her statements frequently for various reasons.
The story then takes another turn, when inspector finds out that, there is one more lady involved in this story, who has left a voice mail on that person's mobile. He, as well as Resham Garware, suspects that alleged Ashok Garware had an extra marital affair.
What happens next, how does the story get straighten, is that person really Ashok Garware, who is that mysterious lady - You will have to see the play to get answers to all these questions, as it will be inappropriate for me to reveal.


Acting:
Prashant Damle as usual is great in playing a kind-of-stupid, yet honest and sincere police inspector. His comic timing is simply great. Mangesh Kadam acts well in his role tool. Resham Garware is loud and annoying with her over-acting. I found her quite irritating throughout.


Screenplay:
I found first half better than the second. Story develops at a nice pace, with some nice comedy and great punch lines from Prashant Damle. Second half was a bit let-down. Climax is pretty disappointing. Some scenes, were stretched a bit too far, for no reason (e.g. when Prashant Damle asks Mangesh Kadam to leave the police station, or some with Prashant Damle and Resham Garware etc). Prashant Damle(and to some extent Mangesh Kadam)'s acting and their comic timing, some great dialogs by these two, scores over the story line. So, instead of for watching it for a great story, watch it for some good comedy and acting. (Anyhow, hardly any plays these days revolve around story :( )

One thing, that I find pretty annoying in this, as well as in most, Prashant Damle's plays, are the unnecessary adjustment to have him sing a song. There is no denying that he is a very good singer. But mostly, these days, directors go overboard with him and make unnecessary addition of songs. Same with this play. It looks so unnatural to see how the play is dragged to create a place for his singing. I hope Prashant Damle realizes this before anyone else.

Overall, an OK play, could be watched for Prashant Damle and his comedy.

Hercules ACT 110

Bought this nice looking, performance bike today. Gift from my wife for my birthday, to let me continue my biking hobby.
Thanks honey! I will get in shape soon:)















It's a hybrid one with aluminum frame and shimono components, pretty light weight and rides like a breeze. Bought from Surendar Cycle stores (karve road, Pune) for Rs. 10K.

Other bikes I considered before selecting this one were: Firefox cyclone (not a hybrid one, but mountain bike), LA Sovereign.

To frisk or not to frisk?

Recently read about frisking of former president of India APJ Abdul Kalam by American airline at the airport.
Media, or some political people seemed to be very hurt with the fact that a former president of this country was made to go through security check by some airline personnel. This they say hurt his dignity and was very offensive to the country's pride.

This brought me back my thoughts about, how I dont like special privileges given to some government ministers not requiring them to go through security check (and how they throw tantrum at the airport when they are scanned for security by mistake).

First of all, I dont understand what is so offensive in it? If a person is clean, he should not be offended by these things.
Secondly, the purpose of this is not to hurt someone but a precautionary measure for the benefit of a large group.
Having someone at a top government position or minister or former president, does not mean that person cannot change. What if a minister, overnight turns in to a terrorist and decides to hijack a plane and run into some building? Can anyone deny that possibility? If there is a non-zero possibility of that happening, why should other passenger's life be put at risk by not scanning those people? The stakes are too high by not doing so?
Do we otherwise allow a minister of a country to break the red light, without caring if other direction traffic is still on? No. Generally there is a traffic person who would stop all the traffic and let the minister's car go, otherwise the minister's car would have to obey the traffic rule just like anyone else.
Same analogy can be applied here. If the minister is traveling alone in his private jet; then sure, dont check him. But if is traveling with hundred other people, no way should he be allowed without checking. Would a minister travel on a plane, knowing that there is a person on the plane who has not gone through security just because he is brother-in-law of a air hostess? No way!

In fact, I would demand that, each and every person traveling in my plane, no matter who that person is, should be scanned and checked. That should be a fundamental right of every passenger to demand.
I am sure that Abdul Kalam is not offended as much as other people are, who are crying out loud for a false pride.
If only these people could understand the true meaning of pride and dignity.

Goodbye Trek-930

I said goodbye to my beloved Trek-930 yesterday. Had to sell it off as I am moving back to India.
What a nice bike it was. Vintage Trek-930, lugged steel frame, light weight, rode like a charm. I made a great use of it this summer. Used it to ride to office, to ride over weekends in parks, downtown, navy pier, lincoln park and what not.

I gonna remember it for my countless trails in bussee woods, peaceful ride back from office and ride in the Lincoln park. I am gonna regret that I could not do the 33 miles Des plaines river trail that I wanted to.

Here are some of the pics of my darling, that I am gonna miss the most.

Height of glorification

Clinton flew in shortly after 10pm from Prague where her special aircraft had a refuelling halt after the flight from Washington. It is her first foreign trip since she broke an elbow.

This is from Times of India news report. Now what the heck is this? Why is there a need to mention what so special about this visit is? "First foreign trip since she broke an elbow"????

This is a limit of glorification. Now what next? When Obama visits India, will they write
"Obama's first south east asia trip since his 22nd trip to the bathroom in last 24 hours?"