RIP INR

The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. "Off with his head" she said, without even looking around.  This is just not from Alice in Wonderland but also from the Indian Currency market where the local currency is hostage to massive speculation and an appallingly inept policy response, where micro management rules the roost.

Rather than addressing structural issues - which could lead to short term aberrations in the external value of INR - we have been handed harsher measures that will only exacerbate the miseries of the common man aka the SME sector of the fragile indian economy. It is easy to criticise and blame individuals or departments, but as long as there is a solution in sight one can wish away the cribbers' tribe.... 

Levels are just numbers. From the looks of it, it will be 61 tomorrow and 63 by the end of the week. Then some face-saving measures which will bring it back to 61.. life goes on.. very fortunate to be an NRI..

Spot Fixing - It's Different

A few of us, like-minded patriotic ex-cricketers,  have decided to keep our  conscience aside and to start indulging in spot fixing. 

This is not just to fill our impossible-to-fill coffers but also revolutionize the very concept of fixing.  In this exercise, we will take outside support from Gods  and also harass ex-freedom fighters and soldiers who never rose to senior positions but rather spent all their lives on our borders. And some of us are also thinking of approaching retired civil servants who have retired in sheer frustration. 

While the think-tank of this brigade of fixers is chalking out details and strategies to identify weak cricketers and the tournaments to target, some consensus exists ab-initio.  Once the complete agenda and strategy is agreed, the PRO shall make it public. 

In my capacity as a honorary-stooge, unable to keep things secret, i want to provide a sneak-preview of the agenda that lies ahead.  However, we all have decided that the prime objective is to be transparent. 

The final agenda is likely to be broadly on  following lines:

• The identified bowler (yes there was consensus not to approach any batsman in line with global good governance) will have to take atleast 4 to 5 wickets in the fixed over.  If we get sufficient funding support, 7 to 8 wickets will also be thought of.
• The identified bowler will not give any signs or indications to the bookies or we patriotic-fixers about his intention to 'activate' the agreement. It will happen naturally, in the second over. Always.
• An identified fielder will have to make 5 runouts or 3 catches and 4 runouts. 
• If we are successful in getting the wicketkeeper to accept the 'donation', he will have to stump 4 batsmen and catch another 4,  in return. (interestingly enough one of the think-tank members suggested if the keeper stands-up and loses his teeth and eyesight trying to achieve his goal, we should beg the fixers to get him his pension - good suggestion)
• No use of mobile phone or anything starting with 'i' - this instruction applies 6 months before the start of the tourney and extends to 174 days after (the president said 174 is his lucky number - hence that choice)
• Last but not least, no transaction will happen in currencies or over bank accounts. It will all be in bit-coins. It was my suggestion in view of my expertise and a financial-market background that spanned even other planets.

am sorry.  

i just got a call from the President of our brigade asking me if we have any restriction in taking membership to this most corrupt syndicate.  i said 'i have done nothing wrong, will not give a direct reply immediately'.  

he also asked me if i can appear in  one of the prime channels that is already aware of this new syndicate that is out to destroy the economic value of c-commerce. I suggested we need to change the bye-laws (he liked my bad english)

The Sound of Silence

Very rarely i take leave. The only  time i have taken leave every year is when i have to perform my Dad's annual ceremony if it falls on a working day. 

Otherwise it will be the annual vacation with family - a strong believer in the values of cutting away from routine work. It also helps the organisation to ensure everything is fine in my work area.

In the nearly-three years here in Mauritius, i have practically taken no leave. Except for a few vacations to Wild Africa, French Colonies etc. To take leave and be just wool-gathering is a great moment. Of course i have some tax-related errands but largely i am doing nothing but enjoying the sound of silence. 

Frost's "The dark nowhere of the woods, the seen and heard movement of things, and the lullaby of inner speech are an invitation to sleep.." is relived. To be sitting engulfed by the serenity of emptiness in a small garden area is mind's blissful state. Sometimes i get impatient anticipating a bird's chirp or a ruffle of feathers or dry leaves. The sound of nothingness is palpable.

A year ago when i had decided to join an SWF (i am a lousy employer-ditcher so stuck), one of the first attractions was the concession of working from a home environment. Will still get to do that one day, i am sure.

I am a slave of good music.. i love the sound of silence especially.

Rural Posting

This is from my diary - life and times in rural India for a city-bred pseudo.

One of my first postings when i joined the State Bank was to a rural place - in Karnataka. Since i was presumably quite young, i was accompanied by a retired Sub-Inspector of Police, a family friend, who wanted to leave me in some safe hands as i began my career

It was a nice small village - some 80 houses and a population of around 300, 90% illiterate and the remaining politicians. There were three buses to this village each day from the district headquarters - some 20 kilometers away. The road was muddy for the entire stretch and i used to imagine the reason why there were only three buses per day -  the dusty smoke that a bus left as it passed on this road must have lasted for 5-6 hours for the next bus to gain visibility

It was a dry village, surrounded by rocky hillocks and barren lands. Apart from my bank, the next largest commercial activity was centered on arrack sale. There was a primary school where children took refuge to avoid rains or the tantrums of a drunken dad. Nearly 99% of the employable adults were unemployed and their main occupation was to take loans from the Bank, aided and abetted by a local aspiring MLA. Life was fun

The infrastructure was hilarious.  We would get power supply for a few hours during the day and for the rest of my working life, it was candle-light.  Maybe because of this, i hated candle-lit dinners ever after. Water was available from a few wells in the village - as a bank manager, it was a priority for the villagers to supply water twice a day in brass pots. People said drinking water from the well resulted in Polio, so i would avoid water.  

                     There was one small tea-shop that doubled as an (spurious) arrack shop in the dark. Every dignitary to the branch was treated to a hot glass of tea and Parle biscuits. It took me a few months to realise that Parle had its manufacturing facility in every village of the country.  Thrice a week the postman visited the village - he was as important as me as people expected him to get money-orders from the Government, as promised by the minister who visited some years ago. Two telephones linked this paradise on earth to the outer world- and both lines were almost always out of order

Each day when i walked into the branch from my house - which was one of the few solid concrete structures among those 80 houses and belonged to the village landlord who never allowed any manager to stay anywhere except his house - i would see dozens of people waiting outside the bank for me to open the doors. Initially i mistook them for the sincere savers who preferred their bank account to the expenses at the arrack shop. But they were all waiting with the same request - loan for purchasing cattle, growing crops, marrying children, constructing roof to their houses.  I also saw from records we had in the past given 'crop-loans' to landless laborers!!!

The people were poor, deprived and less-empowered. But they were wonderfully kind and innocent. Far less deceitful and self-centered like the city comrade. 

I could never understand why we opened a bank branch in such a place. It just required 3 months to give a loan to every eligible person in the village and for the next many years the manager's job was to chase for recovery.  But that is socialism. Banks are expected to take care of the financial linkages for economic activity and it is the duty of the leaders and educated citizens to have a continuum in that cycle. The missing part is the existence of the latter. We only have politicians but not leaders. Nationalisation is a great policy but it has been a failed experiment in emerging economies. 

My experience here will be like a scar in a body.  Initially painful but just a mark later. Everytime one looks at a scar, would recollect what caused that  but would feel  no pain when reminiscing. 

My final over

Before  it is mistaken to be some kind of end-note, let me clarify that this is what happened in what i consider the last over that i bowled in a competitive match of cricket.

This must have been late Nineties. Was asked to play for a visiting Srilankan cricket team, that boasted of some great stalwarts of the Eighties. I dont know why, i have always rated the Srilankan cricket team very highly, always. They are the West Indies of Asia, always capable of producing terrific talent year after year.

I had given up playing competitive cricket many years ago but still was fit enough to play a match. So i liked the offer to play for my employer's country. I was asked to bowl quite late in the 40 overs-a-side match. And the man at the crease was this mercurial, brash, arrogant, very talented right handed bat who should have played far more tests than he actually did. Like most other TN talent, he also used his tongue more than the bat. And withered on the vine.

The first ball was a good length sharp off-cutter that pitched fairly outside the off-stump and hit him on the pad. More than the batsman, I was shocked. Second one was a wide - excited me trying to bowl like Dennis Lillee. Third one was again a good ball - the class that he is, he respected the delivery and ignored the bowler. So three deliveries, two legitimate, only one run so far and 'just' four to go.

The third delivery was (i thought) a good length ball - even before i looked up after completing my Jeff Thomson like action, the ball was gone beyond the mid wicket fence. The umpire irritated me by holding his hands above his head far too long. I trudged to my bowling mark wondering if i should bowl a fast yorker (but what if he treats it like a spin and damages the sight screen behind me?). So i bowled a yorker length that should have crushed his toe if i had the speed of Malcolm Marshall and the accuracy of Malinga...  And my fears came true. Straight six that landed on the roof of Chepauk

The wicket keeper walked to me and said i should not bowl full length. And removed the slip and added another fielder in the deep.

Delivery number 5. I prayed all known Gods and even offered to walk barefoot a particular distance if he got out - even run out was ok.  I remembered the first delivery i bowled - a sharp off cutter. So, i gripped the ball across the seam and did exactly that - but never thought the batsman would walk down the pitch and take it at half-volley and smash over extra cover. 19 runs so far and one delivery to go.

Wicket keeper again to me 'cool cool machan, don't be in a hurry'. I decided to bowl him as fast i could and wanted to hit the seam on the turf. Was not sure if my bouncer would be a long hop for him..  i ran madly towards the bowling crease and bowled a perfect full toss that would have beheaded a sand-statue. He just moved towards the off-stump and sent the ball to the second tier stands in square leg. I almost cried, cursed all Gods and again prayed that this batsman should never ever play for India. 25 runs in that over. And not a single fielder moved from his  place in that over. The markers retrieved the ball and threw it at me.

 I tried to think of so many excuses but it all ended when the captain walked up to me and said "machchan, you should have told me that you don't bowl'

It was not out of any resolve that i have not played cricket after that - it just happened, naturally

Moviesphere

After a long time, took some time to watch a movie. Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, directed by 'Wake up Sid' fame Ayan Mukherjee.

The way the movie opened to an item number from Madhuri Dixit (you too Madhuri?), i thought it was a sad day for me. And next,  the way the story line proceeded, i thought it would be another visual treat like Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara. It was not to be the case either. It was like seeing both Hussey and Raina out first ball in the first over.

A very thin story-line, some terse dialogues, jarring music largely due to the re-recording portion (Pritam, you disappointed me) and some brilliant acting by (my favorite) Deepika and Ranbir is how i see the nearly 3 hour drama. Farooq Sheikh and Kunal have done really well. The chemistry between D and R is absolutely touching.

What was really memorable for the three of us that watched the movie was that a large portion of second half was shot in a place (possibly the same room) where we spent our vacation recently. The proverbial big-fat Indian wedding was visually boring though.  If only cinematography was as creative as seen in ZNMD, this could have served to showcase the beauty of Udaipur, as Spain was done in the other movie.

The Gardener

The first thought that comes to mind when someone thinks of a garden is Greenery. And of gardener, a mercurial visionary who champions the green-movement.

Gardeners are fanatically popular for turning every bit of visible surface of earth into greenery and adorning it with a multitude of colors that are floral in nature.

Have you seen a gardener who fiercely believes that gardens should be clay-courts, trees should not have leaves, plants should not grow for more that a few weeks, flowers are harmful to eyes and mind, grass should grow under the soil and not above, greenery is a myth and brown-stain is reality? Obviously not.

A close friend of mine invited me for a game of tennis and said it will be played in his lawns. Curious to know how he had a house with a lawn-court, i went to his home and  was dismayed when he showed how his grass-court has become a clay-court. Couldn't help wondering if the French Open (and not Wimbledon) was the inspiration

IPL and WWF

The multi-billion dollar industry that is cricket and more specifically IPL Cricket  is possibly on the verge of closure.  

We have heard of insolvencies and closures of companies and people - but not an industry. Even the oldest profession still has its patronage inspite of stringent laws to ban it.

I had decided not to write or comment on the recent umbrageous developments under the brand-name of spot-fixing but the sheer ridiculousness of a some related events makes me move out of that exceptional indifferent herd of people who are hardly affected by anything on earth.

Firstly, the media is hell-bent upon ousting the BCCI President. No personal opinion if this is a right clamor. I would believe, the best thing is to allow him to be in office and embarrass him if proven guilty. The task of proving him guilty is the challenge - i guess people don't want to take that challenge and instead believe that his ouster is a symbolic triumph. Absolutely nonsense

Secondly, to believe only three cricketers were involved in a roughly 150 strong contingent of players and an equal number of support and managerial staff is a brazen underestimation of the power of the 'fixers' - and begs the question if victimization is a policy across all walks of life. Some media reports say the international dancer-bowler was dropped consistently as there was some suspicion on his activities - whither whistle blowing policy. In any accident, it is the weakest that pays the price.

Thirdly, and somewhat more important than the ouster of BCCI President is, the spectators that watched those matches that are considered fixed should be refunded the match fees. And immediately.   Unless the IPL framework suggests IPL is just like WWF where the contests are farce, the spectator that watched the IPL match is considered hurt and cheated. Request all those people still in possession of the counterfoils of entrance-tickets to examine if there is anything in the finest print which suggests the holder of the ticket is allowed to watch an event that is a mock display of sportsmanship and tussle.

Fourthly, is there a way that we introduce a total ban on Trial by Media.  Who wants to watch those terrible and audacious questioning of a Kapil Dev or Chetan Chauhan by a suited-moderator who uses his freedom to question as a license to intimidate. I would love to name some of the comedians here but i wouldn't commit an impropriety that is a preserve of those moderators.

Finally, on the issue of betting. The model and template that should be considered while taking a decision on whether betting should be legalized or not is the one on Prohibition - it has never been possible to abolish drinking by imposing Prohibition. It has only enabled forced dis-sale of liquor.  What is important - preventing the vice called drinking or the banning the commercial malaise called liquor-sale.

The wise man has been away for some time now - he will be back soon. So this blogspace will see more literature :)

The WM again

I haven't seen him like this - emotional, wet in the eyes, unshaven and unkempt. Clearly the wise-man looked terribly disturbed. I did not waste time and asked him what befell him.  He started...

She is no more. The sister of the nation is no more. A very brutal end to a budding doctor"s life. Very rarely has someone received so much of sympathy, prayers, blessings and specialised medicare. But nothing worked. Nothing could pull her from the jaws of death. Its a national tragedy. If this is the fate of the educated (and hence empowered), if this is how the strong and brave get bludgeoned by the brute and unequivocally abominable animal instinct of man then  life is a wasteful exercise in vanity.

We may hack the guilty to death, we may mourn and grieve for a week or a month or even a year, but nothing can undo the indignity brought onto the nation and its men. Like we have a day for a mother, a dad, a sister, a friend..  let 29th December be designated as a 'Man's Shameful Day'. Its a very minuscule minority amongst us that is wicked in its thoughts, but that few are a  part of the system that also creates scientists and sportsmen. How could an absolutely invisible minority bring down an overwhelming majority of good and the correct. It's a faulty system somewhere perhaps.  I am a silent citizen of that vast faulty system and therefore ashamed.

He was after all right. He has often been right. It's the way he puts across his views that hurts and irritates but he is unquestionably correct. For a week or more, no national news has been more important than the coverage of this incident. Surely the news channels feasted and sometimes sensationalized but it has to be admitted this incident would have gone down as 'as yet another rape', 'yet another case of a rich brash son in his mercedes running over pavement dwellers', 'yet another corruption and steel/silver/wood/zinc/copper-gate scam'.

Well done media...

The Return of the Wiseman

He is unstoppable. His fierce determination to 'return' has to be experienced to be believed. 

I had triumphantly been rejoicing his long absence when  he made his appearance most unexpectedly, or rather untimely.  His penchant for having a take or view on almost everything has often fascinated me.

His profundity has left many an ordinarily intelligent man stunned and adumbrated..  Normally, i would have expected him to field some questions and quip back his sarcastic responses. But today was a different game. He had his choice topics and his comments... It clearly was an attempt to describe his 2012.   Please get enlightened

The Nation: Hijacked by a shameful incident. Care should be taken to ensure this one does not get refugeed into our legal system. There is a tragic case of a Hyderabad girl still fighting for justice for 8 years and is practically shunned and ostracized by our responsible society. 

Punishing the Delhi criminals:  Sending them to gallows will only leave a numbing pain on their poor parents. The punishment they get should serve as a warning or a reminder for atleast a century to anyone who even remotely imagines perpetrating such inhuman acts.   

Indian Cricket: Back to where we belong. The goodness of the cricket-lover in this country has been exploited by making him remember the 1983 world cup victory, repeatedly. If we can forget hockey, why not cricket. 

Sachin Tendulkar : Reluctance Personified - whether it is leading on the field or speaking to media or  deciding on his retirement. Sad when people say 'better late than never'.  A great talent whose passion to bat has blinded him into believing class and form are interchangeable.  His nomination to the upper house is a poetic injustice to his oratorical abilities. 

Deaths: Jaspal Bhatti, the original humorist is no more. Leaves behind a void in the humor space.

Bollywood: Trying to find out what was not there in Talash, that was in Ek Tha Tiger. There have been some good movies and look forward to good class movies in the year ahead. Time for the Khans to make way for the more talented and refreshing Barfis of the land. 

Panel Discussions: The trauma of watching a panel discussion in prime news channels is the biggest bane of the digital world. Still cannot understand how a 2 minute long question can get a fitting and acceptable reply spanning 10 to 15 seconds. One of my suggestions to BCCI is to invite all our visiting teams, especially their key players, and subject them to a panel discussion for a few days before the series begins. No better way to psyche them into losing

Astrology: The world refuses to end. December 21 was no worse than Jan 1. Every anchor (in a panel discussion) and every astrologer should also be made to sit in panel discussions and face an intelligent question like ... 'what do you make of this sun's transit and venus's aspect when mars is conjunct moon and its fourth house impact in the moolatrikona of saturn,  still considered inauspicious for those born between 1st Jan and 31st December, especially when we see the Aam Aadmi still fighting to get his Aadhar card and we have scams and political chaos on FDI. Do you think we can get some relief in the new year or it will be just as bad as the last 2012 years where man has never been able to understand the subtle difference between what is good for him and what is not good for him.....'.   (was it end of the world or the end of the astrologer) 

Corruption: The best way to get rid of this societal malaise, the monster that defiles honesty and integrity, the scourge that creates misery among the deprived, the devil that topples goodness and renders the poor homeless.. is to accept it as a necessary evil like panel discussions and Indian cricket.

The future: The future is already here, just that it is not evenly distributed. As Ayn Rand says, 'Whatever their future, at the dawn of their lives, men seek a noble vision of man's nature and of life's potential'.  And 'the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams'.

While he was completing his statement on future, i caught that beautiful word called 'dreams' and fell into another slumber for another great ride in the dreamland...

Simple Errors

Sometimes my silly errors in calculations  mar the good results possible from astrological assesments and tend to undermine its efficacy.

Like the previous post 'Artists Watchout'.  My focus was on the Rahu-Mars/Mars-Venus aspect, the exaltation of Venus and the disposition of Jupiter. These combinations led me to saying about addictions and scandals and artists and i hastened to predict about some 'Addictive tendencies in the lives of artists" (maybe i appeared to be wearing the hat of a sensation seeking news reporter!!)

If i had spent a bit of extra time and cared for accuracy, it was easy to see that this interesting transit was already in vogue for a week and Whitney's death was easily relatable... Rahu as significator for addiction,  Venus as significator for Artists and amoral tendencies when involved with Mars and Mars by itself a significator of fiery results - all had a role to play in the events that happened. I overlooked certain other maths to this transitory event and erred in what could have been a good prediction. (i should have written it a week earlier, in the first place)

Well, its always a learning curve for me.

What now?  At the time of writing, Mars' 8th aspect on Venus, Mercury's 7th Aspect on Mars are notable and exact. 

As a practitioner of a Vedic system that does not recognise  outliers in the solar system, i would ignore the Piscean influence on Neptune. But suffice is to say that the first two aspects give rise to suicidal tendencies. The emphasis is on some violent turn.

 

Artists Watchout

Still too busy and less focused in life to be able to resume the Astro series.

However, this week's transit chart interested me.

Venus is exalted and is aspected by Mars and Rahu. Venus is signficator for fine arts. The combined impact by aspect from both Mars and Rahu could give rise to amorous escapades or some addictive tendencies. Venus is also exalted in transit and occupies Jupiter's abode.

So watchout for some sensational news that borders on addictive vices and involves people associated with gloss and glamour. Will there be another slip in any beauty pageant!?! :)

What a day

It started as cool as the reaction i get from my colleagues when i am a few biggies ITM.. but as i drew closer to the end of the day and got glued to my masochistically  favorite NDTV 24X7 (the x in that preferred signage is a reference to 'multiply' mind you) i had some uneasy questions to answer or ask....

• Yuvraj's health concerns. My wife and daughter have met him and always wondered why he was not part of my friends' circle.. hmmmm
• A court verdict upholding a 'china-like-act' by authorities on forbidding content on internet. Welcome that.  Clarity on what a BB can do could help.
• Barkha Dutt and Hanif discussing some evocatively educative stuff during prime time and my wife asking me to shut up (the channel) and my daughter asking us why.
• A week ago we were not allowed to watch 'Agneepath" with family and therefore i had to watch it alone - my question being how objectionable Barkha's questions to Hanif were when compared to what the 'humorosly picturised' hanging scenes in Agneepath had as impact on viewers.
• Have been asked to buy a DVD of Agneepath by my dear family - in one shot i move to the fast track. By the time an 'informed' decision is taken, Agneepath 7.1 is through over visual mind.

All answers have the same message.

Astro Flash

I must surely have been a parachute inventor in my previous birth - or else how could one explain my nature of attaching as much importance to the Parachute as i give to the boarding pass when deciding to fly. And what would explain my penchant for always trying to look at the greyer side of life through my astrological lens... its all that parachute instinct!!

Well, from an astrologer's perspective, we enter a very intriguing phase - Sometime between the midnights of 1st Feb and 3rd Feb, we have a serious affliction from Ketu to Sun,  Moon and Mercury. Plus the Mars-Venus mutual aspects.

Matters that could be severely impacted relate to telecommunication, Government officials or people in authority, the mind and mental state of individuals, the elderly and the statesmen among the politicians (what a subtle difference).  Ketu gives pain and suddenness. So watchout...

January

If there is ever a month that has maximum birthdays (from my view point), it must be January. Practically every day this month i have been getting cakes and toffees. And almost all of those that give me sweets are quite good in life, hard working, sharp, intelligent and most importantly calm and blessed. 

Wondering if i should  make it a policy to hire only September, November and January borns in my team...Atlas Shrugged?

The boy turns 39

Some twenty years ago as i was stepping out of my evening nets (i had scored a dozen ducks in every form of cricket just before that), i saw this 'boy' furiously practicing 'on-drives' with Kolaveri in his nets - at an hour of the day in Bangalore when the only thing clearly visible was the KF beer.  I told myself  'he's a serious threat to my place in the team' and watched him bat for a few overs - i hated his determination and wished he would soon give up playing cricket for some good programmer's job in the US or Singapore.

Its a different story that i decided to stop playing cricket from that moment - but what awestruck me was his fierce commitment to be perfect and a blind passion for being a disciplined cricketer.

Braving all dirty politics, he made his presence on the national scene soon as a 'one-drop' batsman and has batted at that spot always. Ask any batsman, number 3 is the most difficult spot to bat - that's a  position the Greats  Don and Viv occupied in their prime times for their countries.

Yes,  am speaking of  Rahul Dravid. A rare breed in Indian Cricket. And a misfit in modern day cricket. He is one of the few that have always always placed team's interest ahead of personal one. Foolishly.  Rahul would unhesitatingly  push himself to open the innings when wicket was dreaded by the regulars. One of our finest batsman indeed.

A Kapil, a BSChandra, a Venkat and some of those rare real gentlemen alone merit to be compared with Dravid's stature as a cricketer. If commitment alone is used to benchmark the best among the talented, then these three would always be my favorites. And ofcourse the Sachin.

Rahul turns 39 today, that's what some blogs suggest.  

Wish you a very happy birthday Rahul Dravid.  Your only flaw was sheer focus on batting and talent.  No one taught you "success is 30 percent talent and 70 percent right-positioning." Being in the right place at the right time under the rightest person is as important as playing the first few overs in the 'v'.

The person who proves to be a great utility man often ends up as a diaper.

ps: Its for wit's sake that i called him a boy (Rahul would always say 'The boys played well' in any press conf). Else, he is the real man among kids in the team. 

Dirty Picture

Distorted Picture should have been a better choice for a title.

I am not privy to Silk Smitha’s personal life or for that matter, not really aware of what exactly happened to her in the last few years of her stormy career as a seductress on screen. But can say with fair amount of certainty that what one gets to see in Dirty Picture is a somewhat grotesque distortion of her volatile life. As someone very passionately involved with Tamil films in the 80s and 90s my knowledge of the times and lives of many personalities of those times can be trusted for reasonably good reporting!!!

Firstly, there is this tendency to consider everyone south of Bhopal as a Madraasi. And the director of Dirty Picture is no exception. The four states of Southern India have fairly unique and distinct cultural lineage and even the languages are as similar as chalk and cheese. The south indian film industry had its nerve centre in Madras those days and therefore served as a veritable attraction point to every aspirant. And the industry was and is dominated by Telugu and Malayalam speaking people. Call it talent or beauty but that’s a reality. There was a time when tamil film music did not have one singer with Tamil as mother tongue.

Silk Smitha hailed from Eluru in AP and spent her early years there. For someone exploited in early-life, it may have been a painless passage into the vamp like overtly sexy roles that she was required to perform on screen. She may not have had many credits as the leading lady of a film while she would be the central action due to her bold performances in almost all the movies she acted. Was ok as a dancer and tolerable as a seducer. Maybe it was paucity of such talent that made her successful. As a school boy, I too suffered those unavoidable crushes but it was hardly remembered as I grew.

Coming to the movie, Vidya does a neat job. Or she does her best to live that role – but it is often like that unpopular MF Hussain’s portrayal of Hindu Goddesses. However voyeuristic you try to become while depicting these deities, the beauty cannot be removed. Vidya’s natural beauty is a drag on the vamp like portrayal required for a movie like this. One is intuitively drawn towards that sterling performance by Kangana Raut in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion (in my opinion one of the finest movies of the last decade). Vidya’s acting in the last 20 minutes is quite brilliant (yes she acts and not ‘lives’) and it is amazing how she could transform her physical built to adapt to the needs of the role.

The film-shots shown in the first half have that flavor and richness (sic) of the Telugu movies where we got to see the Krishnas/NTRs/ANRs dancing with young belles (who were the heroines in which Silk was only a cabaret dancer for one song in villain’s den) against a backdrop of riotous Holi like explosions. The settings seen in the few duet songs were all part of the Telugu films – but quite popular and appealing those days. And Silk had nothing to do with these dance and songs. The director was mis-directed presumably.

Re-recording and cinematography are mediocre and sometimes a pain. BGS is somewhat reflective and misses the theme totally. Shah does a neat job – and this is the only area where the director excels in highlighting how the plus-70 heroes were a dominant force among minus-18 heroines.

Overall, not a movie that would have mattered if I missed it. Maybe if we didn’t have a Silk Smitha in real life, this movie may have looked different.

First Time Fined

    
I was caught over-speeding on the motorway and was fined a penalty of the equivalent of USD 70.

The penalty was not big but the impact it had on my ego was quite large.

This is the first time in my 17 years’ of car-driving I have paid a penalty. Must equally be true that it is possibly the first time I have broken the law. Or that is what i implicitly believe.

I may have paid many penalties in life – not all penalties for my mistakes you see – but this one has left me embarrassed. I foolishly tried to contest that I was driving fast but not faster enough to be punished but who can beat technology-the highway camera showed proof that i was speeding at a little over 100 when the limit was 80.

Talking of ego, the first driving lesson I had was in my brand new car in the early 90s. I couldn’t get down to the act of asking someone to loan his car for my driving experiments. (its a different matter that the driving school refused to allow me to drive anything other than its dual-brake car).  May be out of fear or that stupid morality, the first resolution I made was never ever to break any traffic rules. To me amber was red if i had to stop and amber was never green if i had to move.  Would take pride in stopping at red signals even at midnight and when alone. Speed limit was obeyed always furiously but when there were no obstructions, i would go crazy behind the wheels. That pride of being a virgin-lawbreaker is lost

But later in my years  I realized I can’t be too rigid about rules as i couldn’t always have someone to drive me when inebriated. So that may always remain the reprieves I have had in the eyes of traffic law. We often build around us strong walls of morality initially and then build weak bridges of ways to circumvent and beat them. We live by examples we come across presumably.

Brings to the fore the karma theory behind mistakes and penalties.

Growing Older

As someone very aptly said, Growing Older is Mandatory and Growing Up is Optional.

And there is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. Time decay ensures the former and our outlook in life decides the latter.

Today is one of those days in life that i approach with a shyness that has been consistent all through. To be made to feel a bit special, to be tolerated, to be condoned and forgiven for all my eccentricities and peculiar mood swings, to be showered with  wishes and gifts and made to feel like a kid at heart - life has its very special ways of making us glorious. But i try to shy away from these and prefer that elusive corner to be happy with my thoughts and my dearest ones. I have never been able to do that though.

I have always been trying to grow up by finding opportunities in change. I consider it Almighty's blessings that has kept me where i am.

My apologies to everyone that suffered because of my actions or inactions and gratitude to all others not covered in the former category. Life is beautiful.

Saturn, Gold and Oil

It's been some time now since i updated the Astrology series. Been quite busy and occupied with various chores (some of it in the office) and quality-time is at a premium.

Saturn transits into Libra after nearly 2 years and is expected to be in this sign for 3 years. Libra is Saturn's exaltation sign and is generally considered to bestow good results for the labour class, elderly and the perservering among us.  Saturn is also associated with minerals and oil (or all those underground treasures and mining activities). Gold is near alltime highs. Crude threatening to repeat 2008. These two asset classes will be quite interesting to watch. I have been a Gold bear for sometime and not correct. I haven't changed my view yet. If not a crash, a decent correction of the larger trend is indeed seen.

Saturn's transit will indeed be positive for the working class. For those seeking what exactly this could mean, just reflect on what you experienced between 1982-1985. Yours truly became a cricket star during this period!!

Oh yes.. i need to add this: This are not the best of times for women - scandals and sleaze could well be the top choice.  And, a very famous woman could be in news.