we are like this only

I don't know whether I'm tipping far over the side of bra-burning feminism but Karwa Chauth has always made me see red, for a variety of reasons. Firstly, I find it completely senseless that anyone should believe that God would grant a longer life to someone based on whether his wife fasted for him on one day in a year. I have always believed that God doesn't make bargains of that sort. In any case, if that were true, people whose wives fasted would never die, or at least not before the ripe old age of 80 or so, right? So any man who dies young - do we just assume that their wives didn't keep the fast or at least not with the requisite spirit? Secondly, if wives are supposed to be so fired up about preserving their husband's life, how about a little quid pro quo? Where is the fast that husbands are supposed to keep to ensure a long life for their wives? I always get pissed at this 'festival', as does my husband, and my mother and sister take the opposite sid...

India has been busy patting itself on the back and talking big numbers at international fora for the last couple of years. But those of us who live and work here can testify to the fact that attaining these numbers is going to get harder and harder if something is not done about the talent crunch. There is a crying need for talent right from the bottom-level of management to the top level. At least at the top levels, since the need for numbers is lower, companies can make do by poaching or hiring external talent. But where are the people who are going to come into the talent pool at the bottom of the ladder? The Government and its idiotically politically motivated HRD minister and blinkered MPs running after vote banks have been mooing and creating about reservations of jobs and higher education seats. What they are trying to do by creating this unnecessary furore is to cover their tracks in the matter of the colossal failure of successive state and central governments in the matter of...

Just caught this movie yesterday. I have to admit, when I saw the long-winded promos with a seemingly endless litany of girls who were going to form the Indian hockey team, I wasn't sure how the film would turn out and whether I would even want to watch it. But having heard nothing but good things from everyone we know, we decided to park kiddos at home and catch this one yesterday. I am a Shah Rukh fan but not blindly - for that my hero is Aamir Khan. Shah Rukh can make my knees turn weak in a romantic film, because he has a way of bringing a touch of authenticity to those roles, and in at least one or two scenes can make my heart go pitter-pat. But this film? Shah Rukh hasn't had too much success of late in his experimental roles, though you have to give him credit for trying out new things. But after he began part of KJo's candy-floss brigade, those have been the only types of films of his that have pleased the box office. How much would he be able to contain his inner-R...

Last Sunday, A and I finally got to watch Cheeni Kum. Our average hit rate with movies has taken a drastic plunge since we decided: a. to have 2 kids; b. to spend their waking hours with them on weekends; and c. that we were too old for night shows any more. We waited weeks for the DVD/ VCD to release and promptly invested in the same. Having heard lots of good reviews and having worked with Balki, the writer-director, in our previous avatars in Lintas, we were anticipating a fun, hip, urban-slick movie. CK does not disappoint for the most part, but there are bits that are quite out-of-whack with the basic premise. Balki was famous for saying, "Say only one thing in any ad" as CD, so we were surprised to find so many parallel tracks in the movie. The whole backstage at the restaurant with the numerous jokes about the buck-toothed waiter were repetitive and started to pall after a bit. The interminable last scene with Paresh Rawal was the stuff of high-melodrama, compared to t...

I have quite a few blogs cribbing about the state of affairs in Good ol' Hindustan. For a change, I thought I'd look at the bright side - and boy is there ever a bright side, even ignoring the economy and all that good stuff. So here goes: A and I have recently been hooked onto watching the various musical reality shows on indian channels - Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Voice of India and Indian Idol. And each season when one watches, one gets blown away by the sheer quantum of talent and general musicality of Indians. There's got to be some deep soul in anyone who enjoys music, and we Indians surely do enjoy music. I can't think of another country which has a party game dedicated to music ( Antaakshari), or in which people routinely know the words and tunes of literally thousands of songs. Another thing - recently on sa re ga ma pa, there was a controversy because there were media allegations that the Pakistani candidates had refused to sing Indian patriotic songs. Frankly, who coul...

I live in what the politicians call, in a fit of hyperbole, the 'Millennium City', Gurgaon. Well, they didn't define what millennium they are talking about, so if they meant the last one, they are right on the money, because it certainly is not the present millennium, going by living conditions here. First of all, there is no public transport, apart from an appallingly maintained and run bus service that one can't count on. And of course, Gurgaon is full of yuppies like me who want to look at least presentable while going in to office so the buses are out anyway. Leaving us with no option but to own our own car - one for each individual in the house, unless they are recluses or kids in which case they don't get out much. (Actually, maybe the Gurgaon government should be given an award by the Yuppies Association of India - imagine having a legit excuse to splurge all that money on a separate car all for yourself. Maybe the Gurgaon government is sponsored by the Autom...

It's all over the front pages of newspapers in Delhi today. One big monsoon type rain and the kind of havoc it created in the 'National Capital'. This is a city where more has happened to improve living conditions in the last few years than in any other city in India. the metro is up and running, there is a series of fly-overs to move traffic along faster than before, there is an expressway...New buildings are coming up at the speed of light. And yet, at the first instance of the kind of thing that is supposed to be a daily occurrence during the monsoons, the city comes to a grinding halt. Why this has to happen year after year I have no idea. Surely the municipality knows that rains are a feature of the monsoon, and that therefore they have to get the drains cleaned out and compleet whatever perishing digging-up the roads works they have taken up before it comes pouring down. But why should they bother? They are more concerned with fighting with other departments or pointi...