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What the fuck is wrong with CNN-IBN? You think you belong to a nation of stupid cricket lovers and suddenly you get a dolt who can’t talk in camera to save his skin? So this guy, supposedly a cricket correspondent, rambled on and on and literally begged for the 30 member World Cup probable list to be shown on screen to save his posterior. I wouldn’t bat an eye-lid if it was economics or politics, but an Indian gent under 30 who can’t talk cricket? Where the fuck was the teleprompter?

I just wish to add that this sounds as surprising as my self-adopted guru doing a post last week highlighting a blog dedicated to Kamal’s career. Since he had advised me, his own protégé, “grow up or to stick to Rajini and Disney blogs and never come close to a political blog” like his, seeing that post has left me speechless. So much that a comment I put in vanished into thin air. Leaving me not just speechless, but comment less too.

Things like these only demonstrate that it is a new year after all. And that things change. WTF! Ya, go ahead and say it again for good measure.

Passion for Cinema has been up and running for a couple of months now. Oz’s a movie freak and even before PFC even existed as a concept, his posts on cinema were quite popular even in the mainstream media. There were lot of hushed whispers that Bollywood insiders were regular readers and there were unverified rumors that people like Anurag Kashyap sometimes even commented anonymously on posts on cinema. (more…)

(P.S: Yes, I am a member too. But I have never left a “I want to make frandship with you” scrap on anybody’s profile, though I have been urged in the past to leave one in at least one particular case. So don’t judge me!)

This post was in draft format on my blog for a couple of weeks till I actually chatted (over IRC) with Scott Carney who broke this story, at the Chennai BlogCamp early this morning and I decided to finally update the draft and post it now!

Tessa Quayle was murdered on a visit to remote Lake Turkana in Kenya. She was killed because she had gotten too close to a secret – one that involved a nefarious multinational drug company, a tuberculosis remedy with unfortunate fatal side effects and a cover-up involving the higher echelons of the British foreign office.

That of course, as some of you would have surely known, was one of the main elements of the plot created by John Le Carre for his book – The Constant Gardener. The celluloid adaptation of this book was one of the better movies to come out of Hollywood last year, but a real life version seems appears to be brewing right in Chennai. Sadly though, the said events have barely created a ripple, a Wired magazine feature and mentions on Boing Boing and Desipundit not withstanding. (more…)

It’s Saturday and since one has nothing to do now, one sits down to watch inane desi TV programs on public TV that usually carry some variation of the Bollywood entertainment tag. This show features the corniest lines, promos etc. usually featuring the current Bollywood heart attack inducer Himesh Reshamaiyya in some form or the other. In between you get to see promos for gems featuring the likes of Salman Khan, Udita Goswami and assorted has beens and duds.

So five minutes ago, as one such promo started, I was not unduly disturbed. The movie in question is the latest from The Factory - Darwaza Bandh Rakho. Then as the taglines came in, I have to admit, my interest was roused, for I love slapstick comedies and this seemed to be one of those. But the end of the promo left me speechless with a WTF expression on my face.
(more…)

It seems it has been years since I posted on cricket, a subject that was the reason this blog was born in its previous Blogger avatar. But it was not a conscious decision to stay away from cricket and so when I this article on Cricinfo yesterday, I had so say something.

Dinesh Mongia and Ashish Nehra are two players who brought out contrasting reactions from me as I watched the drama unfold in South Africa during the last World Cup. While in Nehra’s case it was all “hip hip hurrah”, I dreaded the sight of Mongia walking in. Through the course of India’s campaign, he never looked like he deserved his place ahead of Laxman.

This was never more apparent than in the match against England at Durban, where his 38 took all of 62 balls. In a game where India scored just 250, I thought his strike rate did no good. But that was before Nehra took over and broke England’s back with a World Cup best performance for India. (more…)

About a month ago, the Chennai RTI group along with a number of other organizations and individuals joined together to come up with what has been christened the Tamilnadu Right to Information Campaign. Based on discussions during the initial meeting, it was decided that a concentrated effort to raise RTI awareness in the state shall be launched on the 10^th of July which would go on for at least two weeks and end on the 25^th. As part of the exercise, it was decided to organize RTI camps in several districts (including Chennai) of Tamilnadu simultaneously during the said period.To prepare for the campaign, a training workshop for volunteers was held on June 24^th. Over 100 volunteers attended the camp which was held to train these volunteers on issues and procedures relating to RTI. These volunteers will be part of the TN RTI campaign that will begin on July 10^th and will encompass 15 districts in TN. The TNRTI campaign itself is a part of the national campaign titled “Drive against Bribe”. NGOs, unions and citizens’ movements in 25 cities in India are taking part in this campaign. (more…)

Two comments from an article on CNN-IBN discussing the decision by the AIIMS students to cancel parallel Out Patient Departments to counter the Govt’s decision to reservations in ‘07:

A 10 yr formula failing even after 60 yrs comes to show that the assumptions are misconceived. The government’s move is draconian, regressive & development retarding. Merit is compromised for creating privileges for an influential section within the asking hands of the backward castes.
While many of my brotherhood cry & moan to deaf, autocratic ears, it is expected of the government to rethink on its approach. The current policy is divisive & does not achieve the primary purposes.
One is underprivileged not by the caste in which he/she is born but by what he is deprived of. The primer of the policy needs a revisit. The government will do good to:
1. enforce reservations at School levels (fundamental right to education)
2. Scholarship schemes & funds within Higher bodies of education to support underprivileged (Based on economic criteria)
3. Distribution of unutilized land for industry/cultivation
4. Micro finance institutions, NGOs to develop vocational skills, self employment
The meritorious people already pay their share due to progressive taxation.
The brains seek challenge and not decay in mediocrity. Let no one have discussions on talent pool drains in future.
* ( Posted: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 14:26 )

Hey * …a quick question…are you from Chennai ?
( Posted by ****_******* on Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 16:19 )

(P.S: The title is pure wordplay. Poineer, Kenwood, types of stereos, stereotypes.. get it? *sigh* I always knew I couldn’t do an Art Buchwald. Jokes apart, this is pretty much the only reference to reservations that you might find here. I consider myself uneducated when it comes to matters like this and though I really have strong opinions, my reasoning seems to be very flimsy and I refuse to be drawn into any argument where I’d be forced to concede solely because I am ill-informed! Or mebbe not. Let’s see!)

*****Sticky Post. Regular programming continues below.*****

A couple of weeks ago, I had posted here an announcement regarding the Chennai Right To Information (CRTI) initiative. On behalf of CRTI, I had requested a few other bloggers to plug this effort on their blogs and help us spread the word around. Thanks to all of you, CRTI is pleased to inform that we received a good response to the first meeting.

At the meeting, some organizational ground work to get the initiative off the ground was done. CRTI now has a very basic website that is slowly being updated with more and more information. We are in the process of setting up a blog as well. There has been some on the ground developments as well. Please visit the Latest News section on the CRTI webpage know more about what is going on.

As of now, the CRTI has several member/volunteers. We are looking for more people to help us get it going. Specifically we are looking forward to hearing from people in the media and the law to spread the word and also to advise on due process. Also, we would love to interact with a graphics designer to help us with some web/banner design. If you think you can make a difference in any way possible, please email us at chennairti@gmail.com.