Shilpa Recycled

Motion of most objects in universe is periodic - Earth’s revolution along its axis has a period of 24 hours. Earth’s rotation around the sun has a period of 365 day (you can add 0.25 if you are used to being accurate). Weather changes across the year are periodic. Solar Cycles are periodic. Every one observes periodic mood swings. Probably you know of more periodic things than me.

Coming back to Shilpa - Is her latest success period over? Going by the statistics Shilpa Shetty has a bloom period of seven years (sigh… its really long), after which she goes in to a flop spree. Her first Bollywood hit (Baazigar) was released in 1993. She gave a series of flop movies after that and she had to wait seven years for her next success, Dhadkan. Her recent lime-light romp (thanks to cheap stunts @ Big Brother) came again after exactly seven years. Shilpa holds the credit of working in dozens of flop movies (some of them were super-flop as well) between these peaks of her career.

We all know what kind of cheap publicity stunt led her to recently re-invented stardom. She overnight became a front-page news for world-wide media and PR companies started lining up for fat contracts.

But as per the recent media reports, her bloom period seems to be over. PR companies are no more trusting her public appeal and glamor. She is also facing allegation of breaking in to the marriage of a UK-based Indian film producer (No doubt, Shilpa craves for publicity, but I am sure that she may not like the publicity created by this news).
Now an article in british tabloid, has tried to completely tarnish the false persona around Shilpa. The article criticizes Shilpa for her Zero acting talent (which may be true going by her success ration in Bollywood).
Looks like Shilpa has to now wait for another seven years, for something starry.

Are you a Shilpa fan? My Sympathy with you.

Baahar Aao Munna Bhai

“Baahar Aao” is a Hindi phrase, which means “come out”. Today lot of Indians are carrying this wish on their mind. They want Sanjay Dutt to come out clean (frankly speaking clean or dirty does not matter much to them), as soon as possible.



I am a big fan of Sanjay Dutt. I am sympathetic to him for the personal tragedies as well (specially his teenage struggles). He has been a fighter all along his life and I like fighters (Maradona and Serena add to the list). Sanjay has been sentenced to six years imprisonment (under arms act) - Another fight for him.

But can the personal liking justify impunity from law? Specially when some one is involved in anti-national activities? And what if one’s activities COULD have (but not proven) led to the death of hundreds of people. What if these activities could also have shook the national pride and jerked the National Economy? My opinion is that law is same for all. And no one deserves impunity, even if the crime commited was not as grave as I mentioned above. But, unfortunately a large part of Indian population think otherwise. This the reason that special treatment which Sanjay Bawa is getting in Jail is being positively accepted by public and media. And there are different sections, who are hoping for Sanjay to come out soon, though for different reasons.

Fanfare: Sanjay Dutt has emerged as a great actor in the second innings of his career. Vaastav, Haseena Maan Jaayegi, Daud, Kurukshetra, Kaante, Ek Aur Ek Gyarah are some of the movies which his fans watch again and again. But his master piece has been “Munnabhai Series“, which has won him fans all over the globe. Fans are over-emotional human beings. Some of them never believe that their stars have done have any thing wrong (they smell a conspiracy). Some other believe that stars are above law. But almost of all of them never want their starts to be punished (what a great human bonding). This is the reason, why fans all across India protested court’s decision (do they not know that court are the highest authorities in India?) to sentence Sanjay for six years. They also decided to start a signature campaign to show their support to Sanjay (I hope that this campaign is not secretly sponsored by his film financers).

Film Financers: Though Sanjay’s fans are driven by altuistic motives, there are people who have pure business interests in Sanjay. As of today there is more than 50 crores (INR) of investment on Sanjay’s under-production movies. This sect of people is desperately wanting, Sanjay to come out (and shoot their movies). If we belive in “Money Power: Biggest Power”, then we can hope to see Sanjay out very soon (may be on bail).

Sonia Gandhi: Sonia Gandhi has also laid her support to Sanjay and his family in his tough times. This is the biggest surprise of my life. I am not sure what are the basic reasons behind her support. Is she a fan (which I doubt considering her Hindi understanding ability) of Sanjay. Or is this motive political? I will need a few days to arrive at a conclusion. There is a big possibility that by that time Madam might change her mind, and deny any such statement having been issued by her.

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PS: I hope that Sanjay gets bail and finishes his ongoing movies. He might have to serve his sentence, but I am sure that he will come out as a stronger person. He is “Bollywood no 1″ as per me (who else has given so many hits in recent years?).

Sanctifying a Worship Place

“Tirupati Temple Trust” is contemplating on implementing dress-code for women devotees entering the temple. The move has been initiated on a complaint from some male devotee, who got distracted by women worshippers.

What a sad state of affairs. There is a poor soul (probably with his senses completely out of control) who wants to distract his thoughts from women (and may be wine as well) and has taken the shelter in a temple. But he still can not find solitude and mental peace. It is his basic right to demand ban on anything which impedes his way to mental peace.

But as I can sense, the life ahead may not be very easy for this devotee. Women right activists are going to raise a lot of questions. They will ask if people with such mental make up (who are easily perturbed by women around them) really suited to enter a temple premises? Why not to ban the entry of such devotees to temple (rather than forcing a dress code for woman)? If the complaint would have come from a beer bar, or a similar location (may be a market place where wine shops are in plenty), it would have been easier for people to understand the problem. People in general can accept that a men under effect of alcohol can get perturbed, looking at some immoderately dressed women. But, since this complaint has come from a devotee (at the time of performing prayers in a temple), most people are going to raise their fingers (rather than helping the devotee to remain focussed). So even the “pro-women men activists” may join the “women activists” (what a deadly collusion) and start favoring the indecent, immodest female creatures (these modern Ratis).

This is the tragedy of a literate society. They start arguing rationally even over the things, which are not governed by reason. And instead of helping a men to attain mental peace, self control (and Nirvana down the line), women activists (and pro-women men activists) will start arguing with reason. They might even go to the extent of making statements like, “Such people who can not bear the sight of a woman should be put under solitary confinement”.

I can feel the pain of this devotee. And I will fully support the enforcement of dress code for women. But I feel that enforcing the dress code (for women) may not really help much. A beautiful female body will still distract men, no matter how much you cover it. Have you not seen Sushmita Sen in “Main Hoon Naa”? She looks more attractive in Sarees (than she looks in other costumes). The only solution to this problem could be “a complete ban” on women entering the temple (a few extremely ugly women could still be allowed to enter). But probably even that would not solve the problem fully. Women is not the only beautiful object in this world. As I watch on the TV, and read in the reports, these days (not very sure if it never existed in old times) men are getting attracted towards others men as well. We shall ban entry of good looking (well built and healthy - to be more precise) men as well to the temple (why are such people needed at a place of worship? They already have all - what they should pray for?). I know thousands of people who loose their control (give up their principles and integrity) for meager amount of money. Hence, All types of currency (and gold as well) should also be banned inside the temple premises. One last itch - “Delicious Tirupathi Prasadam”. The famous Ladoo of Tirupthi might be too much mouth watering (specially for the devotees under question), we need to ban that as well. Yes, that might constitute a perfect world.

PS: I am a religious person myself. I perform morning prayer and do meditation every day. I follow this routine because it helps me to remain focussed and calm. The little time which I spend in the morning on these activities, helps me to keep my senses under good control all the day. The fact that there are devotees, who get perturbed even during their prayers, really pertubs me. Hence this post.

School or Godown

Two years back, our dear finance minister had levied a 2% education cess (on the total payable tax). The cess yield (which is more than 1 billion US$) was aimed at boosting the primary education system in India. This cess has now seemingly become a permanent feature of the taxation. It will be more honest on government’s part if they stop calling it cess, and rather make it a part of direct tax.
We all know how (in-) efficiently Indian government utilizes the tax revenues. Almost Zero transparency in the administration, even denies the right to know where (or how) the hard earned money of tax payers goes away. But some recent media reports at least give us a little clue about what the “Education Cess” is going in to. A large portion of this money is being spent on maintaining 32,000 buildings (I think it will be in-appropriate to call these buildings as schools, because there are no students enrolled).

Yes, this is shocking but still real. These findings are a part of recent government survey which covered over 11 lacs schools in 35 states and UT. Almost 2.9% of the schools (covered under survey) had no students (and 75 percent of them had no teachers as well). Forty-eight percent of these zero enrollment schools are at primary level. The zero enrollment is highest in Karnatka (almost 25% of total). Though our government has not done much about primary education (which is reflected by the results of survey), I am happy that at least they took the courage of making this survey public.

The Sharp Contrast

Today’s India is apparently being driven to success and prosperity by its educated and ambitous youth. Indian Professional can be seen in the high management layer of numerous successful companies. Most of Indian brilliant student who pass out from premier institutes like IITs and IIMs are never second to the professionals from USA and Europe. Probably this is the reason that Planning Commission has proposed to set up more such institutions (8 IITs, 7 IIMs, 20 NITs, 20 IITs …). This is a brilliant move which might further boost India’s contribution to Information Technology and Management in the Global Market.

But at the same time, I find it shocking to hear that a student of BITs has attempted suicide because of the depression, which he suffered due to ragging. Though Indian professionals have proven their potential on world level, but such incidents (at regular intervals) present a contrasting face of Indian Professionals. How can the institute producing brilliant professionals, can also witness such unprofessional attitude of students and authorities?

When I joined my college (1996), ragging was on decline. Authorities were getting more and more strict against the notorious students. And when I passed out from the college, ragging was almost null. I believe that bright career prospects for students were one of the major driving factors which helped the authorities to curb ragging. Since a student passing out with good character record, was likely to get a very good job, it meant that a student with bad character record had much to loose. Most of the senior students were afraid of twisting their arms with college authorities (not only when the authorities were right, but also when the authorities were wrong). Given that the Indian IT sector is even since on boom, and there is more awareness in society (thanks to Indian Media), I was under impression that ragging in Indian Institutions (Specially the prestigious institutes like BITs) should be very professional (if at all it is there). How can one torture his fellow students to a limit of suicide? It is not only unprofessional but it is in-human as well.

Whenever such incidents take places, college authorities pounce on the students and take steps to implement discipline. But after some time, we again here similar news. Where do we lack? Is there a lack of professional management at such institutes? May be. It is quite likely. If you compare the salary of a graduate passing fresh from the college, with the salary of a senior professor (at one of the prestigious institutes), you might be surprised. When professors, teachers and other authorities get paid so less, it is quite likely that such incidents will keep happening. I feel that in addition to increasing IITs, IIMs (and other institutes), planning commission should also take some steps to attract best teaching talents to such institutes.

PS: Salaries are just one aspect of the problem which exists in the teaching and management staff of these institutes. There are many other issues like local politics, cast politics, presence of undeserving people on board etc, which also needs to be tackled.