MyJottingz

I was struck by this headline on dnaindia. That while Mittal has finally acquired the number 2 in his industry by increasing his offer by 40%, the combined annual turnover of Arcelor Mittal is roughly the same amount Messrs Buffet & Gates are giving away to charity. The amount is bigger than the GDP of Bangladesh and Kuwait, and a tenth of India’s. Let's take a moment to digest this and ponder, in this dog eat dog world, one really needs to pause and think how can one individual give away 85% of this fortune. What feelings and emotions could prompt such a decision. Already the Gates foundation has given more than the other foundations such as Rockerfeller etc.
And for Buffet to give to them only shows the confidence of benefactor that his funds will be put to the right use. Buffet remarked that with these kind of funds it was possible to wipe out the top 10 diseases of the world.

While all this wonderful, it has however sparked a debate atleast the desi blogsphere as to whether the charity which betters the lives of people is better then giving it too a religious institution as done by Amitabh Bachchan. As rightly pointed out by Pat, it is Big B's millions and he reserves the right to spend them as he pleases, it would be wrong to look down upon any form of charity as it would mean passing judgement over one kind of giving versus the other however much you disagree with it.

Jim Pinto takes the argument in another direction, when he asks should we give because we feel we are obligated to give?
"The old adage—charity begins at home—is a good starting point. Does that mean just your immediate family, or should it include relatives and their extended dependents? Should you give more to the ones in need, or distribute your largesse evenly?

And where is home? Is it my neighborhood, or the huddled homeless in the seedy part of town? Should I help the earthquake victims in El Salvador first, because they are nearer to where I live now? Or should my first allegiance be to the Indians in Ahmedabad because of my origin? If I can afford it, why not help both? I'm supposed to give till it hurts. So, how much should I hurt?"

While that is one (extreme and rather cynical)end of the spectrum, you have the issue of tithing. As practised that you should give 10% of your income to God because you are nothing but a steward of God's bounty. And there have been debates galore whether tithing really works?
I guess the bottom line is whether you are
a) ready to give
b) decide whether its 10% of your income or 85% of your fortune OR
c) None of the above i.e. Do you even give?

That's some food for thought.


Tags : charity, society

World Cup fever seems to have affected even the holy men. First we have reports that monks are too tired to ask for alms after staying up late to watch the games. And now abhi shows us how the holy men are enjoying themselves in between meditation.
Soon we might have teams of godmen (most probably not but hey just for the sake of argument) So when they play are they allowed to curse or foul a fellow player. And what happens if they are given a yellow card, do they have to meditate longer, will they then ban the game for godmen...hey atleast it brings out the child in everyone, so what if you're a man of God, you deserve to play the game too, right?

Now coming to the World Cup, have you seen the tension writ largely on the faces of the players in the games now, knowing they may be eliminated. I have never seen such stress displayed in any other game. In cricket we never really see any fightbacks, it's mostly droppy shoulders let's get it over with kindda attitude. Also what might be going on behind the scenes with all the match fixing etc. who knows?

This is not to say that it does not happen in the world of soccer, I remember a few years ago, Brazil was the hot favorite to win the cup and they even reached the finals. But in the finals they played like a bunch of school kids out on recess. That really stunk. Who knows what happened there, yes tension can be faked just as injuries, but for the most part, its the urgency that's displayed that makes it so great. Here they are the million dollar players who have left their clubs for a brief period to adorn their national colors which is the greatest legacy you can leave behind. The heights you reach for your home country are always the most cherished.
And lastly don't forget the goal keeper, man, that guy has the most thankless job. He may save a thousand shots but if just one goes through, phoof he becomes fair target for the whole world, no matter if the defence did not do their job or even if the opposition got lucky with a free kick or one of his guys got a red card so they are playing with 10 men. But bottomline is he should have saved it, right? Tough crowd huh?


Tags : sports, religion

A few days ago we read "Mumbai is the rudest city in the world!"says the Reader's Digest survey. Followed by New York named politest city
And as a Bombayite in NYC you go wooaah... excuse me.....what?????

Don't New Yorkers have the reputation for being the rudest on the planet with their in your face attitude. And did you not see how people helped strangers during the floods in Mumbai last year.
So what is the basis for this conclusion. Saying "thank you" & Picking up papers which were dropped on the street. Ahem gulp... are you kidding me????

Dude, trust me your not going to be polite if you are running to catch the Virar local. And Bhai, neither does a New Yorker greet you at the Star Bucks as pointed out by Kamla who says that it's the way the questions are structured that throws the whole thing off.

Because culturally what might be good manners in the East might be offensive in the West and vice versa. As Vimalanand Prabhu writes in his comments on India Uncut
"I think that in India, we do not say thank you to the cashier at the grocery who gives back our change. I guess, we do take the cashier for granted but the cashier also takes us for granted and doesn't say "Thank you for shopping with us". Sometimes, even they will just hurl the change back, especially if the customer is a kid. In fact, if I say thank you to my friends in India, they tell me to give them a break and tease me for being polite. In the US, you hold a door open for people, but in India, there are hardly any doors that automatically shut themselves off.

But at the same time, in the US, it is OK to drink coke when you are in the classroom in front of your teachers, or even to have a mild snack. You call professor by his first name. You can keep your feet on the chair or sometimes even on the desk. You do not refer to elders as uncle or aunty but just by the first name. If a survey included these questions, I am sure that the west will turn out to be rude." Well said.

Alyque Padamsee says that if Cab drivers and people on the street are helpful- that's the best indicator of what a city is like.

Like another Bombayite, The Great Ganesha says "When things really come to a head - that’s when Bombayites’ true nature comes out. What happened during the floods? Bombayites the world over banded together to help out." So that I think is the bottom line, the rest is all PC.


Tags : mumbai, India, Current Affairs

Just happened to see the promos of Mahesh Bhatt's new film Killer. It sure is a killer, guess which film it killed - Collateral ; Irfan Khan plays Tom Cruise, Hashmi , the serial kisser, plays Jamie Fox, and ofcourse, in true Bollywood tradition -some masala in the form of a heroine for some naach gaana- kahani me twist as they say.
So what's new you are gonna say? Bhatt has never made any bones about copying films.
Let's look at his record in the past : From Dil hai ke maanta nahin - It Happened One Night, Zeher - Out of Time , Murder - Unfaithful, just to name a few. Probably the only few original films that came out of the Bhatt 'factory' were Arth and Naam. Bhatt had made a big deal about retiring from film making a few years ago, but he's back. And he's not alone. There is Sanjay Gupta (of Kaante fame) who has mastered the art of frame to frame copy - Zinda - OldBoy. Check out this review and the following reactions to it.
To paraphrase a comment "Amitabh Bachchan has often said that Indian cinema is actually so good that the term Bollywood is actually demeaning. But, when he agrees to act in a movie (Ajnabee) which is a frame-by-frame copy of a Man on Fire, he undermines his own credibility, as well as that of his industry."
So even the great Big B cannot help but be a part of it. Years ago it was Naseerudin Shah who did it in Jalwa - Beverly Hills Cop; when he left the Parallel Cinema to go full blown commerical. So the bottomline is that apart from the occasional original script(mostly an art film and rarely commerical), Bollywood has exhausted its creativity and has to look to Hollywood for inspiration. One can imagine that the story telling session consists of walking down to the local video library, renting the latest Hollywood release, getting a six pack of beer (or khamba if you like) and rest easy on the couch watching the DVD.

If the creative brain cells are missing and one has to be inspired then one should have the basic courtesy to say so, rather than to pass it off as one's own story, screenplay etc. Check out the credits in a Mahesh Bhatt film, the story is always credited to Mukesh Bhatt (what??)
And these people call themselves artists and creative. If creativity involves copy & paste then sure, they are might creative. And then after raking in the moolah they also get awards for it. Isn't that a hoot?

If not Hollywood it could be Tollywood. You have the Kapoor Bros (Boney & Anil) who remake any major South Indian film that was a box office hit. Speaking of remakes, it's the season for them, what with Don, Sholay, Sahib Biwi aur Gulam, Bandini & Umrao Jaan getting remade. How many of these can distract the audience from the original characters convincingly remains to be seen.
Like the first reaction of a Sholay fan is "Are these guys mad, has Big B lost it?", when you hear that Big B is going to play Gabbar Singh. I think Big B should stick to his TV commericals rather than wipe out the good memories that we had of him growing up. Last we heard Pooja Bhatt wants to remake papa Bhatt's Arth - now is that some kind of karma?

Tags : movies, India

While the rest of the World is glued to their television sets, it seems that soccer IS catching up in the US, judging by the television ratings . Univision on Sunday logged the highest viewership ever for a sporting event in US Spanish-language broadcast history. More than 5.4 million people tuned in to see Mexico beat Iran.
But the impression is that in general they are being dragged into it kicking and screaming and the majortiy do not want to admit some are beginning to like the game. There are tons of blogs and articles out there about why americans hate soccer. Here a forum to discuss this issue, which throws some light of on why they think that way - from "it being a game for only girls" to "there is not enough contact" or simply that "they were raised to ignore it".

Patrix has a great rebuttal to a self-confessed "soccer hater".

Tags : sports, United States

Got a chance to see the film - Lord of War. It's about the life of an arms dealer played brilliantly (as usual, as we seen recently in National Treasure) by Nicolas Cage. The opening credits set the stage for the film when it shows the journey of a bullet as it travels from an assembly line to the head of a boy in Africa.

While the film may not be the year's best, it's an essay on the black market in arms right through history. How the Cold War let both the super powers to amass arms for a showdown that never happened. The decline of the powerful Soviet Union, which led to an arms chest with no owners leading to billions of dollars worth of arms stolen and sold to the highest bidder in the black market. The film cleverly makes references to actual people and events which took place.
One of the lines in the film are that the best exports from Russia to the world were 'AK-47s, vodka and caviar.. in that order'. Infact the AK-47 has been seen to be more a weapon of mass destruction than a nuclear warhead. For more on all this read here. Amnesty International even has a section in support of the film.

It's a telling comment when at the end the film mentions that the top five leading arms sellers of the world are also permanent members of the UN Security Council. How ironical is that?



Tags : movies

This famous ad line of one of the major cellular companies will have to be re-worked because teenagers today are downloading high pitched ringtones that adults cannot hear. The reason being as people age, many develop what's known as aging ear — a loss of the ability to hear higher-frequency sounds. More on this.

While still on the subject of cell-phones, Vinnie Merchandani features a guest column by Rajagopal Sukumar on the changes in India an expatriate,who has lived abroad for a decade, is bound to notice. This definitely struck a chord personally, as I made a trip recently after being away for a while and could spot the differences. How cellphones calls are dirt cheap (which once upon a time used to cost Rs 16 per min and was considered a status symbol) is now used by everyone from the rich to the poor, from a rickshaw driver to a businessman, from parents to teenagers.

If that's not all, there is the invention know as the "missed call". Why waste precious airtime leaving a voice mail. Using caller-id, the recepient will immediately know the origin of the call.

Elsewhere, a Japanese film released last year which revolved around the same subject. May be we might see a Bollywood version soon.


Tags : cellphones, India

Ever since the VCR was invented, home videos have been en vogue, be it an occasion like a birthday party or simply creating a funny video . As the adage goes if you can get it on tape you can get in cash i.e. if your video gets selected to be the winner.

With the advent of youtube and google videos, however, there is no need for the videotape anymore, users can now upload, view & share videoclips on the web themselves.
So what does this have to do with mentos and diet coke. It's been recently discovered that popping a mento into a bottle of diet coke will cause a geyser several feet high. It's purely a chemical reaction. But videotaping this phenomenon and posting it on the web is all the rage today.

Tags : videos, internet

Apple Computers has decide to shut down it's Bangalore centre, leaving many jobless without any notice. Finally India, the land of strikes, labor unions and indefinite lockouts is confronted with the global phenomenon of 'hire & fire'.

Over the last few years call centres have become a household name. There is even a book about life in a call centre. There are several blogs devoted to outsourcing.

With the industry trying to decipher future trends, is this the beginning of the end? With rising costs, shortage of skilled workers and high turnover, will India price itself out of the BPO market and will companies start looking for cheaper services elsewhere like China & Phillipines?

While Apple has closed its own centre, it still had maintained its third party contracts, which means that it still believes in "outsourcing" to third party vendors. So may be that business model still works in India's favor and BPOs can assume they have nothing to worry atleast for the moment. Will have to wait and watch how it all plays out.

Among other things, got a "new graphic site" email in my yahoo email from several people. Turns out its a virus affecting yahoo mail. Once opened, the message infects the computer and spreads to other users listed in Yahoo users' e-mail address books.


Tags : India, business, computers

....thus screams the headline of this interview. This CIO of a mutual fund cautions investors that the markets are too volatile for them to venture into on their own but they can do so via a mutual fund and ofcourse keep their horizon long term.

Not long ago, the Indian Stock market was firing on all cylinders with new highs being achieved every other day, prompting even house wives and college students to go out and get a piece of this pie. The logic was that no matter what the stock, it has to rise and they did. Several IPOs oversubscribed, the going had never been so good. There was talk that this was the "beginning of a new era"

Then alas, came the fatal crash. The market fell 20% just within a couple of weeks. Several reasons were attributed, the FIIs were selling off, the Finance Ministry had made untimely comments, the Left parties were seeking increased taxation ... etc.

Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar of the Economic Times makes a point " Economics assumes that human beings are rational. But human reactions to stock market movements are utterly irrational. When markets rise, everybody cheers. When markets crash — as has been the case for two weeks — everybody moans. A hunt for culprits often ensues".

Every one did agree that there was a correction around the corner, but they still kept on, similar to an ostrich with it's head in the sand. A survey of investors suggests that none of their financial advisors ever forbade their clients from investing at such high levels. As the post mortem continues, the IPO market has been affected because the feeling is that there are better deals to be had in the secondary market.

On the brighter side, the economy is growing at a rate of 7-8 %, so its a matter of time before the market recovers. How long will that take is a million dollar (or is it rupee) question?

That's what one wished one could do when a Beckham free kick in the 3rd min of the game between ENG v/s PAR landed in the net , only to see the replays and realise that it was an own goal by one of the defenders. England did not really play like someone who could raise the cup.

Now while the whole world is tuned in to the World Cup, there's hardly a flutter in the US about it. Patrix throws some light on why Americans don't get it.

Coming back to Beckham, there was movie by the same title as this post.

I always wondered, why Parminder Nagra, even after a great performance, had to contend with just being on ER. But the second lead, Keira Knightley's career just took of from there.
It's just shows how difficult it still is for an actor who is non-white to make it big in Hollywood.

Tags : sports, films

As long as people believe in God & religion, there will always be someone to make them part with their money because of it.

For centuries there have been Godmen (real or phony) & their followers who flock to them in the hope that these godmen will turnaround their lives, translate their dreams into reality. The people who are most vulnerable are always the one's with no hope, beseiged with all possible problems life offers such as poverty or a terminal illness, hoping for a miracle to better their lives.

In India a land of countless godmen, we have seen the case of the "99 Roll Royces" Rajneesh who caused a lot of the rich & famous to join his following not only in India, but also in the US, especially.

The American landscape has always been home to evangelism, after all this is where it gave the world another invention of the 20th century the "TV Evangelist". In fact, Time magazine has a whole collection .

Controversies abound around these preachers such as Benny Hinn,
who visited India recently. Another recent entry into this circus is Bro. Paul, né Anand Kilari, who is from Andhra Pradesh, India (yep as someone said evangelism 'outsourced') currently based in Houston.

In fact, the life styles of these men/women of God rival that of the rich & famous. Here's a compilation of some of the most incredible statements they continue to make.

This is not to say that all preachers are fake. But it sure makes everyone a little more suspect.
So then,there will be the faithful and their sceptics, each with their own point of view, I guess it's whatever works for the individual and what their faith tells them to believe.

All this brings to mind a beautiful film, Leap of Faith , ( the story ) that was released some years ago, starring Steve Martin and Debra Winger.
Martin plays a scam artist who becomes a preacher crossing the Bible belt, ripping the faithful of whatever money he can. He stops by a town that has hopes his prayers can bring them rain. He tries to catch the attention of a local girl who supports a crippled brother. The brother belives the preacher can heal him even though the preacher knows he can't and tries ignoring the boy.
Fast forward to the end of the movie, which pretty much sums up, I think, the issues of faith & religion.

The film has a beautiful ending where in the boy through his faith gets healed and everyone thinks the preacher did it, but preacher knows he did not and for once in his life begins to believe that there is a divine force, so powerful, that it can traverse the most unlikeliest of settings to heal someone with faith.
This makes him decide to give it all up and as he begins to hitchhike his way out of town, it begins to rain, showing that his change of heart has met with approval from above.



Tags : India, religion

It's a very common scenario in India, that the Hero today will become a Zero tommorrow.
The Hero who is idolized today suddenly becomes a villian tomorrow.

When the chips are down, the Gods today become the Dogs of tomorrow.

It happens with our cricket stars all time. One good performance and the media makes them mountain and the next time they slack and there they are reduced to a mole hill.

Same thing with the Mahajan family, suddenly you have all these stories coming out of the woodwork as it were, just breaking news waiting to happen.

Probably these things would never have come to the fore, had the events of the last few weeks not happened and we would all be blissfully unaware.

That begs the question, how many skeletons are yet to be discovered, just waiting for the owner of the cupboard to fall from grace?

Tags : India,media,Current Affairs,

Come September, and its time for "Bandra Fair". Mount Mary Church in Bandra has the feast of Mount Mary celebrated on the Sunday following the September 8th which is the birthday of Mother Mary.
Going down memory lane, used to love the different aspects of the fair after visiting the church. Over the years the fair has lost its charm and became a "time pass" for teenage couples to hang out after "bunking" college.
Along the long walk to the church is a long line of stalls of people selling candles and other wax items for offering in the church.

Windy Skies takes us there and shows us the human face behind this.

Tags : fair, church

This Tuesday is supposed to be an Apocalypse Tuesday.

Can a number make all the difference.

I guess we will know on Wednesday ? That's if like the Y2K it just never happens?

Time will tell ....

Jaya Bachchan has changed her name while filing her RS nomination. Amit talks about how the stars are going crazy

On the other side, the troubles of the Mahajan family do not seem to be ending.

In other story involving a non- celebrity, a topper has been declared as mentally challenged. Will the goof ups ever stop?

The Immigration Bill is on its way to being passed and it has the country sharply divided. Simply because the beneficiaries of this legislation form a huge vote bank big enough to tilt the next elections.This editorial tries to point out why this bill could get passed.

As it stands the the bill is a veiled amnesty program. While it is true that they do jobs that the average american would pass on it should not mean that they should get rewarded for being in the country illegally and go straight to the beginning of the immigration queue.

Already there are backlog elimination centers that cannot handle the backlog. So what happens when this whole new stream enters the system? The hundreds of professionals who are trying to migrate legally have just got their wait time extended. Clearly they are not part of any lobby hence they must wait 10 odd years.

A fast track, however, is to get into a nursing program as the US has a shortage of nurses and is welcoming nurses. An ex-coworker who used to lament the inordinate delays in migrating to the US, happened to marry a nurse from his home country, and voila, they got their green cards in record time. That's one way to beat the system.

Also, this NYT article (registration required) wonders what will happen to the healthcare of poor countries once the nurses from there rush to the US.


Tags : immigration, nurses