Caste - Justice Vs Opportunity

I feel no shame for the crimes of my forefathers. Reservations were a painful phase of every "open category" students' life - The inefficiency of caste based reservations and the wastage of valuable Government resources were fiery topics of debate, they were a cause of anguish for many hard working students, the result probably was exactly to make upper castes feel bad that they were born in that caste. In vengeance, the open category students detest the backward caste students even more - what kind of foolish social justice is this?

Ranking backwardness by any standard is wrong - race, religion, sex, caste, descent or patronage. Equal opportunity should be equal opportunity - in education - housing - jobs - benefits.

The Indian caste based reservation policy is only reserving opportunity as a solution to provide justice.
Social amalgamation of the untouchables and tribes was successfully implemented via reservations - but do we still have caste free society - no. Social Justice to the "backward" seems a legitimate step forward. For years we (the upper classes) exploited, oppressed and nearly crucified the untouchables (Harijans) and the tribal folk (Adivasis). How to mete out social justice in a modern democracy seems to be a forgotten question now. Its just a rat-race for quotas and percentages and petty political games.

Providing "Social" justice is more about social cleansing and healing of feelings than economic assistance. A reserved class IIT-ian or IIM-ite is still shunned by upper castes when she/he goes to temples or when in upper class company.

Each caste, sub caste and tribe has a case by case basis story in history and the only way to provide them social justice is to hear their case and raise their social standard. Economic help will never alleviate the "backwardness" as it was social and mentality based backwardness.

Let us separate the 2 domains economy and society to provide the necessary social justice - each caste should have educated representatives battle out social justice issues (not reservations, quotas or scholarships).

We have to make SC ST OBC DT NT all these categories feel proud that they belong to such and such caste (irrespective of whether they get jobs, get funds or get seats in top notch institutions) - they should be brought to the same level of upper castes not by economy but by pride. That will only happen if we launch a forum of caste based justice and decide on the right solution for each caste.
From the ashes of the reservation policy and Mandalization, we should construct a new social justice system - a true tribute to Dr Ambedkar's vision of caste free India.

Proud or what

There seems to be such a hullabaloo of India's rising stock market and our so called booming economy, growing cellphone usage and many spin-doctored figures that people "proudly" forget the 2 most inhuman and shameful features of our nation - hunger and sex-based discrimination

Hunger and Destitude -

The WHO, FAO and UNDP have found that India's number of hungry and undernourished increased in the last decade and suspect that it still is increasing due to lack of reach to them from any of the concerned. Shows how much our media and our government is out of touch from the harsh realities. Here are some articles.
http://www.iies.su.se/publications/seminarpapers/699.pdf
http://www.mospi.nic.in/mospi_social_pr.htm

Numbers - though we have 6 billionaires in the top 20, at least 233 million - a staggering fourth of our country is still hungry and does not get 2 square meals.
another 37.1 % people are below the poverty lines which suggests that only a third of the poor are able to feed themselves fully despite having the world's largest grain reserves and potential to buy out the shortage of rice and a vast PDS. Causes extreme strife, school dropouts, rise in crime and social backwardness and ignorance and disharmony with the big picture.

The growing discord between impoverished masses has led to communist revolt in the eastern belt from Nepal to Kerala and from Vidarbha to Assam thanks to the strong presence of the Communists in Eastern India and Nepal and the source of revolution that is present in our powerful neighbour. The sting-operation-obsessed, spin doctored news channel oriented and haplessly retarded media of ours has neither the courage nor the conviction of reporting any of this.


Sexual Discrimination against Women -

Although well known and documented, the statistics and numbers still show rise in the massive scale of injustice meted out against women in India.
Lower estimates itself say are that 42 Million - that is 4.2 crore Girl infants and foetuses were killed in cold blood by our people upto 2001. (Leading were those who were educated, wealthy and having access to the world class health services) The sex ratio is so skewed in Punjab, Haryana, North Rajasthan and Gujarat and now spread widely all over the nations big cities that trafficking of women has increased and women are being sold as commodities in all these places. Human and girl trafficking has reached new heights with victims being innocent children mostly girls being sold off in big cities into flesh trade.

Not only this women in India are still subject to more torture domestically, including forced work, teenage pregnancy, denial of education or health care and purposeful undernourishment to favour the male child in the house. Add to it the bane of dowry violence and domestic sexual exploitation makes it probably the worst nightmare for any woman. I am really surprised that chain e-mails saying this never circulate among us the more fortunate lot.

Articles /Research -
http://www.iheu.org/node/1049
http://www.ideajournal.com/articles.php?id=37
http://www.saidit.org/archives/jul01/article3.html

IS this to be proud of or to be ashamed of ?

Another Semester - This time in ASU

After sufferring 8 grueling bi-annual torture sessions in Pune University which were interspersed with week long "vacations" and month long "PLs", the American semester seems quite tame. There is no fear of miserable failure and there are no "submissions" in the UoP sense. The best part is that the grading is done by your own professor and not some random fellow as it was in my Engineering Degree time. After a long time it really feels nice to undergo education without the academic pressure but this time I face other problems - like the exhorbitant fees that I am paying for a Master's Degree and occaisonal homesickness.

Still hoping for the best to come out of this new experience ...

Its painful, its mean, its absurd, its life.....

At times you are so happy that you are living your life happily as a human being and enjoying this beautiful world...but most of the times you are sad, depressed, lonely, angry because something went wrong and you seek answers to questions that defy logic...
The last two days have been the same for me. In a flash from a position of high hopes and great prospects, I am back in a dark deep well. Hope can no longer keep up with the darkness, the fathoms of depth that fate can push you to. Near and dear ones, friends and family who are half a planet away try to convince you that not to worry, somethings are meant to happen and better things follow... but your mind does not listen... its just darkness, hollow endless darkness.....

Sometimes you seek solace in prayer, sometimes you question Him, how could this happen, why me, why now, how long will Thy testeth me? Sometimes you deny He exists, sometimes you just crack under the pressure. You break in silent tears, it was not my fault God ! This is just something that destiny puts you through... After all ...the fruits you are expecting from your efforts ... are they worth the pain and suffering? From the eternal darkness and eerie shadows, there is hope - there is strength - great men might have derived it.. I remember the story of the Count of Monte Christo - How hard fate is on Edmond Dantès and how it turns for him.

but if good days are due to come is it worth the wait? Is success measured in making a billion a year or a simple smile a day .... Darkness has its say ...Life has its way !

Mac Vs PC - Enjoyyyyy

With baring Sabers and gnashing teeth - Cool, smart and "successful" Steve iCon Jobs Fights the dorky glassed and fat William Gates - this is how Apple's ad campaign targets American buyers and tries to prove users that the Mac is cool whereas the PC is just for nerds. (Though I have seen people buying Apple mac books and simply running XP on it. )

Here are the few ads of Apple for just enjoy.


















And thats not it Later I found this video which is a movie version of Bill and Steve fighting.

Mac Vs PC Animated





And for once people visit my blog now onwards - me gonna upgrade !!!!

Internet - tainment

My TV addiction is finally cured - Web based video Channels like Sopcast, Youtube, Peekvid and interesting India's own Rajshri, and many other Movie casting sites offer a treat for everyone who wants on demand videos and don't care about the quality.

Though I doubt that these Internet based video sites can ever replace the spontaneity of television, or replicate the awe of a movie theatre, but when you are stuck anywhere in the world and long to see that old Mahabharat episode, reminisce the great Indian Laughter Challenge, or relive the "Fusilli Jerry" or the "Soup Nazi"or sit back and enjoy Dexter's Laboratory episodes, or Go down to Southpark and meet fat ass Cartman and his buddies, you got it all up there. Even old DD serials, and even all the Tintin comics ..and everything else is up on the web... Enjoy !!!! Truly as long as I have fast Internet, I won't miss TV.... but here having both TV and high speed Internet is like having icing along with the cake ...

My Friday Movie - "Black Friday"

Having missed the movie screening at the PIFF 2005 for reasons known to all Engineers (read Pune University) as "Fearum Factorum Endum Termum Submission-itis", and having struggled to find time to watch it later, I knew that I had not seen a great movie - so I gathered all my resources and finally saw the movie on my PC. My rating - ****1/2 (though nobody cares)

And in true appreciation of Anurag Kashyap's cinematic excellence, I felt that I was seeing the revival of Indian "sensible" cinema through this film - I am assuming this revival already happend in the late nineties and is now gaining foothold in our multiplexes. I kept in mind the context that the movie was made in 2004-end, and was really amazed by the awesome work of ACP Rakesh Maria by Kay Kay Menon (he wasn't that critically acclaimed then) and Tiger-"bhai" Pavan Malhotra and the rest of the cast. (distinguish Menon and Memon please !!!)

The attention to detail is critical in the movie, be it the gruesome images of the blast victims (I remember the fear since my father was in his office near Crawford Market that day but luckily was safe), the sequences shot in the Sion, Malad and Santa Cruz slums, the railway overbridges and the police stations, villages, cities and all the neat closeness to reality - make it a technically perfect movie, topped with really mind numbing music sequences - like the "arey ruk jaa re bande" and some other folk songs - really good work.
Throughout the movie Kashyap makes sure that the movie does not look like another Ramu Underworld movie (mainly because the characters here are real people and not fictitious) and has used his skills to portray the behind-the-scenes reality of the Bombay Blasts.

Personally the events that led to the blasts have had great impact on me as a child. I remember the turmoil of those times, as I was once on the street shouting "Mandir Wahi Banayenge" in 1989 for my shakha, and witnessing the rath yatra in the city and also remember being worried about my father who was posted in Bombay (Mumbai from 1994) from 1991 through 1994. I know friends and relatives or someone who were in the trains of the Ghatkopar blasts, the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts, and know how close they came to being the victims. These events always reminds me of how we take things for granted and how harsh reality can be.


-- Spoiler Warning (parts of movie added)--

And the last epilogue part is really the crux of the reality in the movie. The D-company - ISI meeting where the entire plan is hatched, with the sending of bangles to Dawood Ibrahim mocking him for not taking care of his folks, you see kar sevaks, Bombay Riots, and real TV footage in true-blue 1990s style, Yakub Memon's interview, the Paki foreign minister's "bayaanbaazi", background talks by Advani, PVN Rao, and some other leaders, all look just too realistic .....

"Black Friday" is a must watch.

Also Read -
Ramanand's Review

Digital Reincarnation

Got a new title (will keep this one for a long time) and a nice new layout.

The Hindi - No Hindi Debate

Watch non-multilingual Indians lash out at each other here and refer the story above too ...
the first comment (from some Debashish Roy) seems to me is a Bengali who is in USA lashing out at Tamilians who don't know Hindi.. Ha ha .. talk about the diversity here :D

Grow up folks ... If we really have a national language, it must be gibberish !!!! Best option is as thus - let each Indian have her/his own national language :D -

The National Language Algorithm v1.0
// Hindi Speaking Area includes the "cowbelt" and Mumbai which is the capital of UP
enum Lang GetNationalLanguage(Indian desi)
{
if( desi.mother_tongue != Lang.Hindi)
{
if(desi.AreaOfStay == GetAreaByLanguage(Lang.Hindi) )
{
if(desi.wellKnownLanguage == English && desi.dontLikeHindi)
{
LearnLanguageToSurvive(desi, Lang.Hindi); // study only little Hindi to survive
return Lang.English;
}
else
return Lang.Hindi;
}
else // if you stay in a non-Hindi State or out of Mumbai (capital of UP)
{
if(desi.wellKnownLanguage != Lang.English)
LearnLanguageToSurvive(desi, Lang.English); // study only little English to survive

// Now you must know English
return Lang.English; // English becomes National Language if u dunno Hindi

}
}
}


Problem Solved .. If you stay up North learn Hindi. If you do not stay in Hindi areas - you should at least know English ...
Don't be freaking Language imperialist in your own nation... our heritage is too precious and too ancient to be involved in a linguistic majority-minority debates and brawl ..... ... Let's just be Good Indians .. Good desis ...

The Grand Canyon State

I am here and really homesick... This happens when you have lived your entire life in the same city (from kindergarten to the last day of my job i was always in Pune) ... SO I am hoping to get over the feeling soon. But being soooooo far away from loved ones is the most depressing thing in life. Though I have found a pretty decent place to stay and good roomies, there is a lot left to be desired since we are all on strict stingy budgets.

As of the University, so far I am finding ASU a pretty good place to study, just wishing and praying that the fairly high tuition fees get waivered off as soon.

My latest experience in America is that winters really do get too cold.(Even Sunny California is experiencing bouts of very cold weather.) The long walk from my apartment to my university buildings seem to take an eternity eventhough we are in the "milder" winter of the desert state of Arizona (3 degrees Celsius is causing so much pain - imagine what minus 30 would do!!!).

Hoping that I will make it through this tough time on my own ... but will need all the help possible from well wishers to keep my spirits up !!!

Going, going, ... finally really Going

Quitting a decent job does seem to be the toughest decision to take in life which I did last month and now I am all set to go for me masters. I enjoyed a nice month off from work and got ample time to prepare for my haul in USA as a student. Hoping everything turns out fine !!!!

Do I need to Go ????

I am all geared up for my 3rd innings in the US and am hoping this will be a long one.

Suddenly I tell my self Whoa whoa whoa whoa .... Wait a Minute dude!!!!! Why the heck am I going to the occident for higher studies ???? What the f*** do I need now?

Money - No.
Better Job - You bet No.
Relationships - No. (I meant greenery)
Seeing the world - No.
Better Roads - (Probably yes but on second thought - no)
Good Safe Life - A Big NO - its still the gun toting Wild West out there...
"Quality of education" - NO man I will miss Arindam Chaudhury's Sunday Sh** Magazine re !!!
Food and Water - 'Warning: No Vada Pav in the US - another BIG NO
Desire to Bunk classes - No man we have done that en masse
Chance to watch good TV - NO NO NO-Not Glenn Beck Again - and DishTV India Rocks !!



What Is the mysterious force that is driving me towards America?? I am not a Poor Huddled Mass, am I??

I have amazed myself already of whatever I thought I would gawk at after going to the land of the free. My aspiration to experience western civilization have been fulfilled thanks to my two fruitful visits to the Silicon Valley. On the professional front, I have already experienced the life we now know as confined-in-the-cubicle-5-days-every- week life that I was expecting to enjoy after a quick 16 month stint at a Masters' degree abroad (lack of moolah kept me home till now). I already have made great friends and live in a great environment (minus Pune's Roads and Traffic) which I aspired to live after I did my Masters and secured a great job. I have already enjoyed life as it came and introspected my failures and smiled at (very few) successes which I planned to do once my engineering degree was over and done. In a just about a few weeks of work, I suddenly realized that the search for true love is futile and "the partner of your dreams" is just a floating myth often boasted by optimistic not-yet-disillusioned folks; sp that takes care of all my heart's desires. I have realized through the myriad machinations of my workplace that how easily the good become bad and the good looking become the star-performers or fast-track employees (note that I am neither). I will soon join a driving school so that in case the Industry busts I can drive cabs to survive and thus I will fulfil my final "ambition" as such. Since I have mastered the art of how to "pretend" to work I can now easily spend about a decade more pretending to work at the Indian IT/Software Industry and make cool cash outta it. I can marry some rich man's daughter and live an even more cooool life. My other meek ambitions in life included taking take part in the democratic process of my homeland which I have done by voting thrice, being member of a group of "thinkers" which I have done via the Pune Quiz club and to express my opinions on any and everything which I can do through blogs.

Then Why? What is it that makes me go to a foriegn land? Is there an ulterior motive that I am destined to accomplish? Or is it some mysterious force that wants me to go out of my homeland?


I can't cancel it now - My tickets are booked, my VISA date secured, my papers ready, my plan ready, my money ready. How is it that I am going for something I feel there ain't no valid reason?

Maybe the decline of my intelligence at the ripe age of 23 is the reason why this question still remains unanswered. The answer might be the same as the answer to that to what life, the universe and everything is all about - was that 42????



[I would like to un-burden myself by saying that the 2 times I went to US on B1 was sheer serendipity and I thank "project requirements" of a generous PSPL Client for those].

BREAKING NEWS: The Death of TV journalism

From today on, I can solemnly declare (or for my own good - can assume) that TV Journalism in India is dead and buried. From now on the only news I will be watching on Television is the evening 7 ' o clock "Baatmya" on DD-1 Marathi.

Are these stupid "Olds" (refrain from using the word news) channels begun hiring their news readers right out of Commerce or Arts Junior College (some of them look like and sound worse than my Bhaajiwalla)? Does it mean that the only criteria for becoming a news reader is to have the guts of reading out pre-determined script and and asking illogical ratta-oed cliche'd questions (Deepak .. O Deepak !!!!)?

Does it mean that the only qualification needed to become a news reporter (sanvaad-daata) for a TV channel is to possess a hand and a mouth - a hand to hold the channels Microphone and then yell out poorly constructed sentences amid senseless chaotic places and events and try to make a BREAKING NEWS out of every brownie points earned over rivals?

I have read and written about India's biased, lunatic and over-enthusiastic media. They have made a mockery of our well earned freedom of speech.
Please forgive us humble viewers for losing faith in television news .... even the great TV News personalities of India - namely Prannoy Roy, Vinod Dua, Saeed Naqvi, Karan Thapar, Barkha Dutt, Mrinalini Srivastava, Malvika Sanghvi, Arun Singhvi can't save the nut-houses that are our 24x7 News channels.

Lastly - Breaking News !!! GET DISH TV and stop watching the stupid news channels. Enjoy all the goodness from Cartoon Network to the History Channel in English (not the dubbed boring Hindi versions we get through these criminal cable-wallahs)

Freedom of Speech - Whatever is that !!!

USA First Amendment states the following

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."


Being a Liberal Democracy India should hav e a similar clause - We have something like this

"

• To freedom of speech and expression;
• To assemble peaceably and without arms;
• To form associations or unions;
• To move freely throughout the territory of India;
• To reside and settle in any part of the territory of India;
• to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.

Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of _16[the sovereignty and integrity of India,] the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.


Nothing in sub-clause (b) of the said clause shall affect the operation of any existing law in so far as it imposes, or prevent the State from making any law imposing, in the interests of _16[the sovereignty and integrity of India or] public order, reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause."


This Mumbo Jumbo is enough for our (Indian) Government to impose sanctions on its citizens - Like they banned PTV in Kargil, blocked satellite TV for Kashmiris, blocking cellphones during the blasts, lathi-charging innocent youth who protest unjust policies or the recent ban on blogs ... Have we become another Pakistan with a senseless political and legal agenda to keep the public quiet...

Does this eventually mean that the sacrifices of so many Indians for getting her freedom are eventually going down the drain !!!!

Where is Mr Aamir Khan and his RDB bullsh** now !!

As far as the blog-blocking is concerned, we saw this guring the Gaurav Sabnis Episode and now we see it again - If Terrorists want to spread hatred, I guess us bloggers are mature and mentally sound no to fall into the vice and hatred that most of the terror organization are brainwashed for - (I hope enough virgins are available Up there - sadly our foeticides will add more numbers in heaven, I guess)..

And people's angst against our stupid TV journalism was vehement for showing the ugly and gory scenes - but many people are hurt and feel disgusted when they see death live especially people with weak hearts or high BP ... then I guess TV folks realized the potential ease of the Internet to spread the individual views and first hand experiences.. and seconded blog-banning !!! What the F is happening to the world :(

No doubt India's Second Most Popular Sport

My first tryst with WWF came in as a strange pack of "Trump Cards" (No Donald in this one) during my 3rd Standard Lunch break . I don't know how but in less than a week I was totally hooked onto WWF - The small screen and the cards made the mere mortal wrestlers seem to be mythical Gods - Hulk Hogan, British Bulldog, Undertaker, Yokozuna, Bret Hart the Hitman, Shawn Michaels and many more superheroes became household common names. Strangely it was the school kids who were so much interested in wrestling. And with help of Star's Prime Sports channel and later Star Plus - Star Sports duo, there was constant access to the match ups.

I guess not even a single rupee was spent in propmoting WWF in India - it grew on its own. When I was in 7th or 8th, somehow TNT broke up WWF and a small lull followed only to bring on The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Trissh Stratus and the entire McMahon family out into an even more frenzied fan following - this time it was WWE - Sports Entertainment the ultimate place for kids to see and enjoy senseless violence, intense made up rivalry and theatrical dangerous stunts - better than Bollywood anytime dudes !!!

13 years after my first tryst with WWF/WWE I still joyfully enjoy the both the NBC Saturday Main Event in the US and the TEN Sports RAW and Smackdown every Monday-Tuesday nights in India. There is this strange vibe that makes you feel that the senseless pre-planned and practiced wrestling matches are real and lifelike. It makes you forget the painful realities of everyday life.

In my opinion TV wrestling is our nations second most popular sport which neither needs a BCCI or an AIFF or IHF -- it needs not a single rupee spent for promos or associatins or for training. It needs just the awe and cinematics and excitement through the small screen....

America v/s India

The bay areas ethnic diversity is profound and quite visible. Mexican, Chinese, Vietnamese, African American and now South Asians mingle amoong the majority Caucasians.

Also as expected, except us techie Desis and a few richer Chinese, the other groups seem to be pretty much occupying the "lower middle class " here .. as far as income is considered.

I read some cool statistics of the San Fransisco Bay Area here.
Notable is that over the past few decades the number of Asians and Hispanics has almost doubled here mostly dou to a mix of growing opportunity and growing illegal immigration.


It is worth noticing that although from the outside it may seem that America is a nice racial and cultural mix, but outside business its always starkly visible that people from these ethnic groups do not mingle with people from other groups. Something very different from us cosmopolitan Indians, where even if we come from so many parts of India, Bhaiyyas, Mallus, Surds, Gujjus, Marus, Bongs, Kobras and Debras, we never distance ourselves from other groups. Maybe we are more secure about our identity in India. I think, America as an entity does not exist, so people here stick to their original ethnic roots and superficially pretend to be Americans.

Back in California

Well, I am back in the Golden state. This time had a fabulous Memorial day weekend spent in short but fabulous visit to LA - visiting Disneyland and Hollywood - Universal Studios.

Also This time the weather in CA is awesome.

A Good Movie and A Great Book

I blew my weekend this time by reading a fantastic book DOT.CON by John Cassidy. To top it I saw (V) for Vendetta - the much awaited Wachowski Bros. movie on Sunday.

To start I have few comments about the Warner Bros. film - It is pretty cool. It has some really great action sequences, and fine dialog delivery and mature acting. The story though is a mixture of many classics - A pickle of "1984" by George Orwell, "The count of Monte Christo" by Alex Dumas, more recent "Along Came a Spider" By James Patterson. Set in London in the near Future, the background contradicts the free world we live in today, London (and UK) is under dictatorship by a Big Brotherish leader and the public is in fear of terrorism and biological warfare (by terrorists), (V) whose face is hidden by a Guy Fawkes Mask, takes vendetta using unrealistic methods. (please London, 2025 A.D. is not the Matrix) Also the Orwellian London setting is too 1984ish to believe. But the movie is a nice entertainer and pretty decently done it is worth the money you pay.


Next is the fantastic book I read DOT.CON, which is a delightful story of how the dot.com bubble of the late nineties and early 2000 was created and how the DOT COM bubble burst.
Strikingly familiar to previous stock-market crashes, the dot com bust did not create a Depression, only because the overall economy (the old economy) held on despite 9/11 and the aftermath of the dotcom bust. I recommend that every aspiring entrepreneur and wannabe investor and economist should read this book. Available in Paperback for about 200 bucks.

Al Syriana

Frankly, my friends invited me to watch Syriana and they thought that it would be an action packed thriller or something. Little did they know that this was more of a Geo-Socio-Politco-Economico-Non-Thriller film. Many of the 300 odd folks in the E-Square - Screen 4 were equally confused and later disturbed (most of them were engineering and management students and yuppies like me) by the fact that this movie was too much to take for their "specialised" brains.

However for me Syriana was a much awaited political, realistic and conspiracy-driven film that I was dying to see. (Also looking forward for "V For Vendetta" coming soon in Pune).

It is also an intensely complex and Multi-Threaded movie - follows the so called the Hyperlink Paradigm of film-making.

Here are the Threads -
George Clooney plays a CIA Agent and more looks like a fat Americized Sean Connery.
Matt Damon is at his ambitious best (I have liked many of his roles including the one of PRivate James Francis Ryan in SPR). There is a ficticious Arab Emirate whose control is t stake, There is a story of Pakistani migrant labourers working in the oil wells - Lot of hindi dialogues.
There are 2 Oil conglomerates finalizing a merger. The dept. Of Justice is investigating the allegations of corruption in the merger. There are Oil Barons, an Investigating attorney and betraying agents - all intermingled in the movie. Also there is Amanda peet playing Matt Damon's wife. You have to watch the movie and make sure you conect all the links.

Also the entire cast is well selected. The film is all about the Gulf-Oil and the politics, corruption and deception that revolves around control of the world's oil reserves.

Please read candid reviews later.

If you know the recent situation in the arab world (Pakistan to Morocco), I guess the film will definitely be thought provoking if not "thrilling" or "entertaining". If you expected that Syriana is an entertainer or block-buster then this film not the right dose of meidcine for you.

Where have all the Good Women Gone ???

[Continuing discussion thread here on Amardeep's Blog]

Its really shocking and apalling that female foeticide is co-inciding with wealth, irrespective of religion, caste, lifestyle or region.In India, abortions following the sex-determination tests have become a way of minting money for both India's high-qualified as well as quack doctors. Take the wealthy areas like Western-Maharashtra sugar belt, Haryana-Punjab, NCR, Greater Bombay, Gujarat, western UP and South Indian capitals; data from all these regions show that the sex ratio has declined to alarming levels. Now-a -days the dowry system has been superceded by lavish marriage-parties. My friend says in her community (Agarwals), the cost of a girl's marriage easily costs 50 lakh bucks (thats more than a hundred thousand US $). Indeed such mind-numbing figures are one of the main reasons for parents to opt out of giving birth to girl child and murder the baby in the womb. The doctors who gleefully abet this crime are all linked amongst each other. The Ultrasounds often is connected to the abortion centre and the gynaecologists. The lure of easy money has led to several cases where eventhough the child whose sex was determined was male, the USG doctor declared it (him) to be a girl (business for the abortion doc)!!!

To make matters worse its often seen in adoption centres that only boys are adopted. Orphaned girls are left in the lurch and you all know what happens to them when they grow up (unless they are very fortunate to get education). Also the percentage of girls dropping out of schools is alarmingly high than that of boys. Add the fact that still in 2006 girls are married off at ages of 15 to 16 (now it is 100% legal), we see that we are moving back to the dark ages of society.

In work too, it is so abvious that women are forced to the back-seat even when they deserve to be ahead. Be it panchayats, our parliament and legislatures, our companies, commercial and media establishments, we see that only a handful of women are in charge. India's inability to even out things related to sexual discrimination against women has been very poor. My sister who is studying post-grad radiology in the local Government College often has seen cases where parents never let girls get any check-ups done, but if its a boy they are ready to spend every last penny on him. I have also heard more first hand reports on various such things - like girls being forced out of school and also forced into work by their families.

In affluent classes and the middle class, the situation only worsens in previous mentioned communities during wedding time. When will people ever awaken? Coming from the city of Pune that pioneered women's education in India through great examples like Savitribai and Mahatma Phule and Anandi Gopal Joshi (India's first/second lady-doc), I am really ashamed by the depths that our society has reached in being so prejudiced against the female child. No matter what the government, NGO's or police does in this regard; female foeticide and injustice against the female child cannot be eliminated without socaial uprising.

Rang De Basanti, which wanted to awaken a generation, perhaps forgot concerns like this one and went ahead with a hopeless message to kill corrupt politicians. I hope some director comes up with a better theme especially like the issue I have discussed here!!!