EVERGREEN- KOLAVEDI!

Yeah, yeah! it's a nationwide hit-twitter, facebook, newschannels, crap channels are lapping it up. Murderous rage- is a rage all over. Should we label it as the next cult? Is it the poster symbol of gen-x? It doesn't make sense, it has no radical notion in it and that makes it a killer hit!
But, is it 'Evergreen'? Will it make us "Romance life" as it was depicted by the "evergreen" hero on celluloid; will it instill that same effervescence in our breaths that those songs did; will it tug our hearts, strike a chord or two, make us go into rewind, put a smile on those lips that invariably start to hum that song (no matter how bad your vocals maybe!).
The answers may well be as expected in monosyllable! Then where does our craze for this KOLAVEDI lie? Is it the fact that we were bored of 'Chammakchallo' or is the the truth that we can't sustain anything for long? Maybe both, maybe all the sudden exclamation and reverence that buoyed upon the death of the STAR is also short lived. Shorter than 'GUIDE' maybe! Can the question be asked as to what was evergreen and what's not?- surely nothing environmentally concerned for all you know. The answer can't be put through words; it's left to our senses to be stirred, hustled and enamored;which is not happening till kolavedi's happening!!

ELVIS is AFGHAN

"JAILHOUSE ROCK"- that iconic song from the epochal singer-performer. The voice that sways women off their feet and persona that has men swaying in their mind! And guess,he's still alive and rocking in-AFGHANISTAN!
The "jailhouse" of the world; where rights existed only on roads, where gun was the law and the shot was the judgement, where fanaticism reached it's height (without the billboard!). All this and much more, if one were a lady. Yep, it has been the jailhouse of afghan women for over a decade; speaking about the brutalities and impediments faced by them would be doing a disservice to their tolerance. What we are to speak of is ELVIS; he's crooning to packed clubs and discos in Kabul.
Women of nearly all age-groups have found their dream in their elvis. 'I love you Elvis', 'He's my idol', 'He's a charmer', 'Oh! what voice', theses and many more exhilaration, a common thing for any rockstar fan, has been floating in the Kabul air. Burqa-clad women, now have their "JAILHOUSE ROCKED".
So, there's Elvis, in central Asia, in the rugged terrains of Pamir, in the heart of Kabul, somewhere performing and bringing the house down; lifting the spirits of women!

For JOY and JEANS

Ok, yeah, it's admitted; papers are getting distanced away from our morning rituals. We like to start our day with the crisp paper in our hand, tea on the table and some goddamn honk disturbing the calm from below. Those black, bold letters glaring out explicitly screaming that something bad has happened while we were asleep. Murder, Accidents, Anarchism, Corruption, Vandalism, Law-breakings, Blah and blah and some more blah. Phew, so much for the morning tea is hard to digest, even with a digestive marie!
So we chucked it out from our system. We are dealing with hatred climbing top of the charts and shouting on the top of its voice. Our psyche has dislodged the last leftovers of happiness as scrap. "News doesn't matter anymore- it's all the same everywhere", or more melodramatically, "where is the world heading to?" So what are we living for? To die in the next terror strike or to fit into those rugged jeans of yours?
We live on jeans; we love our favourite pair, old, dirty, faded but still the best fit! Old are young, middle-aged or teens, everyone has their joy moment associated with jeans. That college party, that night out, that rom-com scene, that being responsible situation, and many more- all of them would have you in your fav-jeans! Imagine our life without jeans, that's worse than not having your eatery open when you need! How the world will survive without those curves beautifully fitted in those jeans! What will we ogle our eyes at when there are no slim fits, leggies, low-rise and what not!
The world survives on joy, the joy of sharing that lame joke, joy of letting out a secret, joy embracing someone, joy of celebrating, joy of stupidity, and most importantly, joy of jeans!
So live out, love someone and take good care of those JEANS!

Enid Blyton's England

Root Beer, Lemonade, Chicken and Ham sandwiches, the Autumn sun, picnics over the moors and an occasional mystery to spice up the vacation!!! And that's what England used to be; at least in the books penned by Enid Blyton and devoured by adolescents world over for a major part of their growing years. Every page added to the creation of that beautiful country side landscape, every paragraph made our minds wander off to that place, where 'SECRET SEVEN', 'FAMOUS FIVE' and others would spend their adventurous holidays. But alas, things have gone from good to bad to worse and finally to loot in England.
England is witnessing dark days, probably darker then dark ages; only made brighter by the rising inferno in several parts. Emotional unrest, deteriorating civic life, personal angst and not being able to grab that latest gizmo! People have been on a rampage looting spree, making most of the situation. Ethnics are crying foul over the settling of immigrants, who are mainly students. Their complain is that the latter has sidelined the ethnics in terms of opportunities and reduced their chances of buying a football match ticket! The immigrants on their part, portray their life as that of marginalisation and hatred. They are not provided with the same level of opportunities as their Brit counterparts. Things had reached a breaking point and protests turned to riots. Forget 'Lord save the Queen', it's over to 'Lord save the Harrods' now. Maybe it's also result of suppressed anger over not being invited to any of the royal weddings. But one thing is certain, none of them has read Enid Blyton. She is lost in time, gathering dust on some corner shelf waiting to be looted hopefully in the recent scenario. But people are more concerned with PSPs and Xboxes.
Rioting never led to any result except for damage of public property and loss of personal life. Trauma is what people will be left with and then, one wouldn't feel like playing with a gaming console. is this the time for another Renaissance, or is it just a stupid outrage. Whatever it maybe, England is losing both ways and there's not another Blyton to awaken England from its slumber.

IN- Dependence!

64 years hmm! Old enough to be eligible for pension but still juvenile for a democratic state. The most celebrated public holiday awaits being celebrated with pomp (and some criticism!) Everything we do, eat, drink, think will have an element of the tricolor; if not the media will help you to do so.
And then there's the cynical part of the day: when issues will be hotly debated, discussed, dissected and dramatized; yup,4D it is!
Coming to business, what are we celebrating independence from, now? Freedoms and unfreedoms will keep changing and subject to revision to keep towing our preferences. On what does our independence lie on? On what basis do we claim to be independent today? Where do we posit our independent status? We depend on nations for commerce, trade, alliance, security, knowledge and a plethora of reasons. One cannot decide its PoA without considering others' reaction. We cannot take policy actions neglecting the after-effects it will have on world stage.
Now one will say: we want freedom from corruption, from terrorism, from inflation, from red tapism, from XYZ's Swayamvar, etc! Very true indeed. Is a public protest, hunger strike (or any strike), a PIL, an RTI, an enquiry commission be able to rechristen our faith in freedom. It is easier to topple a monarchy, but how do you uproot a democratic system for a better one? How do we put the brakes on this machinery of the constitution? How do the legalities be done with? We are dependent on the system to co-exist; it runs for us and by us. If it is dispensed with, on what basis then do we call ourselves civilians in a civil society? What a waste of Paradox!
Maybe we should just relax and enjoy the day; and thank god it's a monday!

Death of THE DOLLAR

Obama hasn't slept for a week and the duration might get prolonged. Osama coudn'thelp in optimizing the situation after a certain extent. Fingers are being pointed across the Atlantic; questions are knocking the doors and the White House is getting tarnished.
As if the Heat wave sweeping across the nation with scorching 100 degrees for days together wasn't enough, another Recession wave is surging forward. Lakes have dried up all together and sings of an impending calamity looms. People are reeling under this unusually high temperature; two dozen lives have been claimed and this inferno is in mood for further damage. Added to this- the piling up Government debt and fear of millions of job loss. Republicans and Democrats never had it easy in reaching a consensus, and this time tensions escalated to the last hour. Countries world-over are losing faith in the dollar; its stability in the forex markets. Why wouldn't it be when everyone has their share of US T-bills in exchange for their exports. Major stock indices have fallen, people are withdrawing money and stashing in the safe heaven-Gold. Does this signal the end of DOLLAR; its supremacy? Shall we dig its grave and then, give a posthumous honour?
Suppose the Dollar dies(god forbid) under the given conditions; what will happen next? Who will fill its shoes, who will provide the security, who will gain global acceptance. Euro has its own share of problems- Germany and France ain't the only countries in Europe. PIGS are smelling of dirt and efforts to clean them up are not sufficing. Pound has its own country to look after: its coffers are depleting up. Yuan is so stubborn; is a sister-concern of dollar. Deliberately de-values itself. Rupee is feeding on supplements; is premature for this job. Yen has had its share of hay-days; is aging now and has lost value. The Dollar just rolled up in its grave!
We wouldn't want the dollar to die; not an untimely death at least. It may have lost its sheen but it ain't Charlie Sheen!

TRANSFORMERS

OK, first things first- the trailer leaves you wanting for more. Yeah mann! Looks like the third installment will salvage the pride; some of which was lost in the second one, for the TRANFORMERS series. Added to it the surge of 3D technology, your eyes are in for a spectacular treat. And now comes the sad.., actually the saddest part- no Megan Fox! I know, many guys would be grieving over this, maybe your girlfriends' would be celebrating over it. There are only Beasts now, not any Beauty. I mean, how many would really want to watch Optimus Prime barge on the screen, trying to save this bloody planet or for that matter, Megatron in the ring! How does it matter if there's no Damsel in Distress to save. The story goes off balance when there is no BEAUTY for the BEAST. Yup! that classic tale of beauty and the beast; there's nothing fairy about it unlike the other tales. Two characters which are poles apart weaved together to form a tragic tale. Why would a beauty in all her senses befriend a beast? why will a beast change himself for her? Yet the inevitable happens and it still happens, around us, in this world. Change happens, and sometimes that change transforms the beast within us for better. But for it to happen, we need a beauty. AND HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE when there's no Megan Fox! For all you know, Optimus might have a soft corner for her, or Bumblebee for that matter. So when he doesn't see her in this movie, all hell breaks loose. To compensate for her loss, they add more of those MEAN,UGLY, GIGANTIC machines. How thoughtful! In between all these, what will our protagonist, that Witwicky boy do. Save this world for Mojo perhaps. The action sequences will be a-rate no doubt, the moon more darker too but we'll miss the sassy lady.Hence the truth remains, Beauty and the Beast co-exist; you can't have one without the other. Well.., maybe the Beauty but not the Beast surely.

"FAST" and "FURIOUS"

FAST- that's is the new ideological or twittering weapon in the hands; oops! in the bellies of the public. Anything that doesn't goes down well with your political and economic diet, you sit down to fast. And if you happen to be higher in the 'social food' chain, your fast draws in the crowd from the lower order.
FURIOUS- that's what everyone turns into once there is a "FAST" happening nearby. People throng to join the protest, seated around the 'fasting' deity, hoping for a media camera to catch their "furiousness". Furious because graft has caused chronic indigestion of society, because accountability of government is amiss in the public curry, because scrutiny of law and order is left undercooked. And hence we fast.
So what comes first; fasting or the furiousness? How does it matter as long as it's under media glare and loud enough for everyone to know. People are feeling disgusted at the buffet being served by the government. Warren Buffet would dish out a better meal, single-handed. Telecom, CWG, CVC, land grabbing, mining scams, every meal is a disaster; every recipe is faulty. Naturally, public won't take anymore of it. A fast was imminent. So does this call for changing the "chef" in our kitchen?
The demands are growing fast after fast and so is their frivolous nature. You can't expect a authentic Hyderabadi Biryani when there is no zaffran in the kitchen! The government on it's part is trying (at least it seems so) to mete out every order. But we're Furious, aren't we. We'll fast ( even that seems so) till all our demands are redressed. The government is under scanner for many wrongdoings of immediate past and is being taken to task.
So what's the basic agenda behind "FAST"? Is it that people will throng in with sympathy in their pockets, is it that the government, fearing the death of a public figure in public, bow down to demands, is it because fasting was made fashionable by Gandhi, or is it because the average Indian is obese. Whatever be the reason, everyone reacts furiously to it, as if people ain't starving to death in hinterlands. But that doesn't necessarily imply that food not consumed by the "fasting" public is redistributed to the already malnourished ones. WHAT A PITY!

HAJMOLA Days

There's something about hajmola that is alluring and infectious on your taste buds! They don't make such candies anymore. Candies that seeped from our mouth into our mind, their tangy taste giving you the jolts. And we don't have such days anymore. Those days when everything could be digested with a Hajmola. Be it teacher's scoldings, scuffle with friends, parents' shouting, low grades and what not.
Hajmola days is a salute to that period of childhood when innocence ruled the roost.
When school was the best place to be; for endless days to come. At least that's what we thought back then. When the best thing that could happen was sharing the bench with your friend and yet fighting for your half! When the best sound to hear was the recess bell. Those recesses which seemed to last forever ( well enough for having a share from everyone's tiffin!) When fun and frolic was the order of the day and to top it all; those bus rides. The bus was our world- from seat to seat we traveled hearing and telling tales of valor and heroics; of stupid jokes and nonsensical situations, where homework was done, where games were played and pranks pulled of!
So nothing that coudn't be digested in those days. 'A candy a day keeps tension away'- that was our mantra.
Today, you won't find a hajmola candy in any store; nor do you find childhood in any of us. You see faces stressed out, worries on our forehead, eyes more sinister, minds more dark. We threw those days on the side and moved on, the wrapper lying in pile of dust.

JAPAN vs Garib Nagar

What???? Hell no!
Are you out of sanity?? You've gotta be kidding!
Is this a charity match??? It's preposterous!
If you're trying to light of the moment then it's completely inhumane!! You better not.
These are some of the initial reactions possible when the reader (if someone is reading i.e.) glances at the title.
Japan; well whatever is left of it, can be assumed to have reached the abyss of calamity, about to surpass in magnitude the destruction which ended the IIWW. Earthquake, tsunami, radioactivity have created a concoction powerful enough to wipe out everything that once signified Japan's super economy. The world is pouring in tears and relief for this once upon a giant of the east.
Over to Garib Nagar; located in Bandra in aamchi mumbai in our typical India, it stands true to its name. A colony of slums and shanties habituated by the poor, it was razed down by fire and in a night, the area near the railway tracks was reduced to ashes. People lost whatever they had, on whatever they lived. The people were without shelter, without their belongings, without opportunities; but one thing had remained intact overnight-hope.
But where's the comparison? The former has witnessed losses of both human and property of astronomical figures and their woes seem far from ending. The latter is just a dust spot in front of it.
Well, this is not about comparing, it's their similarities. For the people of Garig Nagar, losing and gaining is a daily process, building from scratch is their routine. For Japan, they haven't lost giving up on hope; they showed the world how a nation is build once ruined once, they'll surely do it again. The link can be sought from Joseph Schumpeter. "Creative destruction" as a tool of innovation was used to describe the process of radical innovation leading to transformation in the economy. Sounds good to read but "destruction" yes; "creative"???? In Schumpeter's view, this term implied long-term economic growth owing to certain actions of entrepreneurs. Now that cannot be applied in this context literally, what one can witness is revival and redevelopment. Japan had reached its point of saturation and stagnation; national output had declined and nothing seemed to work. This disaster, once over, will launch the nation on growth trajectory. Its share in world economy will increase. As for Garib Nagar, reconstruction is taking place with brick, iron and mortar replacing tin, nylon and wood. Conditions will improve for them to settle down.
How can one be sure of all this? Well it's all about hope, skip and jump!

CETERIS PARIBUS

'Ceteris Paribus'- this phrase finds its significance in the classical school of thought of economics and the use of this phrase paved the way for the formulation of important theories on society which still hold true today. The first time I came across this term and its underlying meaning, it seemed very surreal and it still does today!
The laws governing economic behavior of and individual and the society as a whole; all base their foundations on the Ceteris Paribus assumption i.e. "every other thing being equal". When an economic unit is put under the microscope, influences from the surroundings are kept constant (or assumed to be so) to draw inferences on its functioning and can there be any standard law that will define its actions. As your specimen under the lens keeps getting larger, the outside disturbances can no longer be ignored at will.
But why do we talk of this very trivial trivia?
in the wake of the rising revolts in parts of the Arab world, this phrase is resonated. Societies need to be governed; be it any form of governance. And every governing form specifies certain conditions. Now, as individuals change, their aggregated summation will also change. Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Libya and other countries in the waiting have one common factor of unrest: worsening economic conditions. All can thank their rulers for the apathy of their masses but the fault, when shown under lens, lies with the underlying conditions which were assumed would be constant and thus Ceteris Paribus. It sounds good in theory but fails in practice to assume that external factors will remain unchanged. As turmoil steps into the situation and revolts become the order of the day (as of now atleast) another "trivial" fact is brought out- nothing remains the same.

How it became an 'ITEM'

There has been a strong revival of the 'item number' art form in the 70mm screen as witnessed by the exponential rise of two hit item number tracks recently. Till then those gyrating moves were on the verge of being done with; because every song in every movie looked liked one. What separates an 'item song' from other ones is not in the moves, it's in the way one moves to the moves!
Anyway, rewinding back, there was a time when such songs were not items, they were only HELEN. Yes, a song which required energetic expressions molded in sensuality; feet-tapping rhythm jelled with pulsating music smoothed with a scintillating and naughty voice- you had your explosive ready to burst on screen! And that was the monopoly of Helen. She was more than an item, she was a desire! So when did we descend to item?
As our needs expanded, the basket of commodities varied, our choices shifted, so the demarcation between what we need and what we desire blurred out. Gradually, it turned out that desires are needed to be fulfilled and the desired needs are vast. So keeping with this trend, the 9o's saw the emergence of ITEM SONGS by an actress in cameo appearance. Films would woe the audience with this attraction no matter how lame may be the movie. Then Madhuri took the task upon herself and gave a new lease of life to item numbers. They became an integral part of reel life and influenced the screenplay of real life! From then onwards, what we craved for was 'items', every thing we did, everything we said, every girl we looked at; they were all itemised without bar codes!
Our life has come to revolve around 'items' and our cravings for a slice larger than life has made us item number aphrodisiacs.