While you were gone: September 2013 [Part 3 of 3]

In India, there are only a handful of things that you can do if you want to live the Indian dream - Movies, Politics and Cricket. Incidentally, none of them require a high school education.

Enter Vindoo Dara Singh. Description: A movie star (really?!) with deep connections with politicians and other cricketers (and their wives).
Act 2. Scene 2: Enter Gurunath Meiyappan. Outlawed son-in-law of god of (Indian) cricket - Srini. 
So while Srini has elected himself, none of us should really gasp in horror, because we should be accustomed to the nepotism and impropriety in public office. All Hail the dicktator.
Lalit Modi got his Life Ban. He intends to fight it, as soon as he logs on to twitter. 

Talking about dicktators, AK of UP did the predictable. He reinstated the fiery Durga Nagpal. Now, tell me folks, how many of you didn't see this coming? 

In Kenya, bunch of guys with guns and nothing else to do stormed a mall. All hell broke lose and 59 were killed. Apparently, this was in retaliation for Kenyan intervention in the Somalian crisis. So now, the Somalis can expect a Kenyan retaliation for the Somalian retaliation for the Kenyan intervention. 
They sure picked the wrong target. Hell hath no fury like the Israelis. 

..Or Rahul Gandhi, who ripped our poor, quiet-as-a-church-mouse PM Mr Manmohan Singh's ordinance against disqualifying corrupt (!!) politicians. Indian politics is beginning to resemble WWE 'feuds'. What was Rahul doing when his puppet premier was preparing the ordinance? Not picking daisies, I suppose. See, that is the problem with us. We hate it when he does not do anything and we hate it when he does something. Nonsense!

The Supreme Court instructed voters can choose 'None of the above' when they vote. Applause!!
Who will this benefit? How can this clean up the electoral system? For those who believe having the NOTA will rid the government of scum, good luck. 
Those who lose elections at the moment, lose not because their constituents did not believe in them. They lost because they distributed lesser (if any) largess than their competitors. Indian elections are no longer about meaningful debates, sensible and actionable manifestos or integrity of character. Financing an election is super-expensive and the ones who win will step into the league of extraordinarily wealthy gentlemen and the ones who lose, get the BPL (Below Poverty Line) ration card.

But don't even think about getting an Aadhaar card. Because the SC says so.

Meanwhile, our PM has been on the world tour. 
He spoke tough (!!) against Pakistan. Cherish the voice, dear people of India. This is one of those events in our lives when we hear the PM speak. The usual rhetoric - Stop terrorism, then talk. 
Nawaz, in return, told him to get rid of his 'womanly ways'. Hey! How dare you trash talk our PM, that's our birth-right and we don't intend on pawning it anytime soon. Thank you. 
Seeing as how this could be his last year as the puppet, he might as well enjoy the trip. 

Advani did his swan song. Nobody listened.
The US government shut down, as the House of Representatives refused to budge and tries to choke Obamacare. Why is the 'most' educated, industrialized, prosperous and the greatest nation on earth so scared about something as important as health insurance. So for as long as I live, I won't understand why people don't and won't take adequate insurance for themselves. 
In the meanwhile, while this shutdown will put 8 lakh people out of jobs, Republicans like Lee Terry needs his salary to pay for his 'Nice Home'. 
Now repeat after me, ladies and gentlemen: Gloom and Doom. 

Ever wondered why our rapists and murderers (and cricketers) have their faces covered when taken to court/cop-house? No, its not to prevent a sun tan, but to ensure they don't get their good selves trashed to kingdom Kom like these unlucky chaps.

Talking about jails, our Munnabhai got some bail. For 14 days. Looking every bit the part, with a salt and pepper beard and Nehru topi, I think he is ready for politics when he is done with his sentence. 
And oh yeah. So did Jagan. Talk about timing. 

One spurned lover threw acid on her flame. Where are the placards? 
A teenager working as a servant escapes. Its such a pity that juvenile victims are not as lucky as the juvenile accused. Irony of our times.

In other news, Tunisia is fighting sex jihadis (read 'hot, young women') who are traveling to Syria to 'comfort the militants'. Great!!
Another round of mass shooting, in Chicago. The less said, the better. 
An angry Tripura husband sent his estranged wife (his) severed thumb. I'd call this his ultimate sacrifice. He might have already pawned his balls away as alimony. 
All sorts of things were happening at Peshawar - churches getting burned, new islands sprouting from the sea... 

If you ever feel depressed at how inhumane humans have become, take a moment and read this.

Blackberry got juiced. 
Miss Philipines became the most beautiful woman in the world. 

Finally, Grand Masti hit the theaters, with a dull thud.
I watched it. And this is one act that I would like erased from my record. 
How do I put it?
Grand Masti can be compared to the green gooey shitty concoction that cannot be scrapped off from the business-end of a dog that ate the vomit of a drunk who masturbates to David Dhawan movies. 
That it grossed 100 crores grossed the aforementioned dog.

Good luck!

While you were gone: August 2013 [Part 1 of 3]

The past week, politicians felt foolish.
I said 'Go with the feeling'.

A 22 year old JNU student did a Freddy Krueger and killed himself. And that's how urban legends are born, thank you.

And it looks like one of my wishes came true! Smarting from the accounting frauds at Satyam a few years ago, the government finally signed into law The Companies Act, 2012, which makes it mandatory for companies among other things to be involved in Corporate CSR. Now, the real work should be in the details. The Act should specify who and what could be the benefactors of this largesse.

If you thought you've achieved everything in life after you've settled into that expensive new home that you will be slogging your butts off to pay the mortgages for the next 20 years, think again. This family left their home and returned to find a pile of rubble. No earthquake this. All in a day's work for land sharks and petty politicians.

Snowden settled into Russia. O said Snowden is no patriot and cancelled his meeting with Putin. How mature!
Okay, so he promised more transparency into such surveillance, but that was not what he originally said, was it? By defending his government's classified programs to monitor people and their communications, he has inadvertently eroded much of the goodwill and trust that his people and his allies had on his country. The truth could be that common Americans are either too terrified or too busy to bother. But let's face it - 20 years after the Cold War, Russia is still that speck in Uncle Sam's eye.

Iran got a new puppet. While Mr Rouhani has a lot on his plate, one thing is sure - Its all uphill from here.

Indians (the ones who didn't have much else to fight about) still fought over Durga like a bunch of hyenas. She got the support from her fellow bureaucrats.The SC spoke. Mrs G put in a word. But I think this is ironic on so many levels mainly because she is named after a Hindu goddess. Brush aside all the noise, it is clear to see how all of this is just a diversionary tactic, a sleight of hand that will cover up other scams  that happen. Khemka, anyone?

Doctors revolted. For a profession that promises to serve selflessly, I am surprised why we are even allowing them to protest.

A few years ago, when I was flying to Srilanka, a co-passenger next to me was filling up the transit form when he had to mention which port he was going to disembark at. He paused for a few seconds, and then wrote 'Airport'. Well, obviously he didn't expect to land at a seaport, or was he just referring to some of our Indian airports that become flooded? After Delhi, it was Kochi.

While some of Micromax's ads peddle the Canvas smartphones, the owners of the company are living the credo when they were caught bribing. Say it with me, folks - You Can Do Anything!

For better or worse, Yahoo has decided to shed its skin. Maybe they should set they inflated egos aside and sell themselves to Microsoft already.

And in the main byte of the week, Indian soldiers got ambushed and killed (yet again) by terrorists and men in Pakistani army clothes (WOW!).
India: 'This is unacceptable'. Pakistan shuddered.
Our Defense Minister suffered from verbal diarrhea and ended up with more spoiled fish-moilee curry than he could've imagined. The Opposition pounced on shortie like NFL players trying to block the touchdown. Antony ate humble pie. Apology accepted and everyone went home a happy man.
To the question- When are we going to grow some balls and retaliate, the answer is - When hell freezes over and decides to ban chicken tikka masala from its menu.

Our politicians are intellectually and politically impotent to strike when the iron is hot. And I have a theory (albeit a borrowed one) about why -
When a country like ours (nuclear armed yada yada) strikes first, it loses its morality and pity factor. Unlike the US, no matter how right we are we are too scared to be 'in the bad books'. Instead what we love doing is wait for our neighbors to strike us and strike us hard so that we can enjoy the outpouring of support, both financially and logistically, that our NRIs and the West are known for. Surely, a first strike will hurt but the rush of support that we will end up getting is something that our neighbors are wary of.
So as long as Pakistan fires a few thousand shells, kills a couple of soldiers here and there and doesn't wipe the Deccan Plateau clean, they know it will be okay with us.

But just in case you were wallowing in self-pity and remorse, Mr PM reminded us that we are one of 6 countries in the world that is capable of destroying other countries. Enter INS Arihant. Mr Singh finished his quota of words for the month of August and shall not speak until September. Theek Hai.

'Dawood Ibrahim is not in Pakistan'. Yeah, and I suck at English.
Hafiz Saeed wished India Eid Mubbarak in his special little way. We shuddered. Now, imagine if he actually comes marching towards Delhi.

Bad year for the Kardhashians? Actually not. Any news is good news for a lady (and siblings) whose only claim to fame is a 'leaked' sex tape and 'made for TV' marriage.

Buy your Samsung Galaxy phones while they are still around. Judging by the way, Apple has been hunting Samsung down, I think we are heading towards Armageddon. Or you could simply switch.

Chennai Express.
Couple of things are clear-
SRK is on his way out. And how!
Deepika really needed the money because I don't know why else she would still be acting.
And the makers of this movie might have really hated the pair. In the 2 plus hours that you are trapped in the theater, you are wondering what atrocity SRK and Deepika could have done to Rohit Shetty and Co. that he deliberately wanted to screw them both. And they actually smiled through the promotions?!
Deepika, let me give you the same sane advice I gave Ms Leone. Get into an acting class. Date a rising star and get married. Stop acting. It isn't working for us.
If we ever had anything like the Razzies, Chennai Express would sweep all the categories unanimously. Absolute and Total Trash. Avoid it like the bubonic plague.

Salman K became the most searched celebrity online. Take that, Poonam Pandhey.
Paying tribute to our ideals of beauty and wanton materialism, we crowned the best dressed celebrities. Take a bow!

And here's something else to chew on- Our national bird, CBI didn't break free and for good reason. Hindi is not our national language and Hockey is not our national game. Aren't we great!

'When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro'  - Hunter S. Thompson.

While you were away: July 2013 [Part 3 of 3]

When politicians provide us much self-deprecating humor, bloggers like me can't ask for more. I had to wipe the drool off.

China, got a little taste of Pakistan. Unfortunately, the Chinese aren't as great with bombs as their trigger-happy neighbors are. Or he just wanted to screw his life up.
Talking about being trigger-happy, our army decided to unload their ammo at some civilians in the God-forsaken country of J&K. All.Hell.Broke.Lose.

Meanwhile, couple of timezones away, O urged resilience and introspection. The verdict just proves how divided the United States of America really is. While I can definitely say the country has a lot of spirituality, what the community lacks is the togetherness that some of the greater civilizations had. They may have great churches that hold a lot of influence but deep down, they are really not that different from the rest of us.

Obama is visibly struggling to hold the fabric together, but back home, we just got a new State- Telangana.
At the wrong end of 60, India looks older than she really is. Politicians have peddled her like a prized prostitute to the highest bidder over and over again, and then used her to cover up their sins. Telangana can best be compared to impregnating the grandma just so that the husband's affair with the maid servant won't be discovered.. We have no excuse, no reason, no logic. We however have millions of illiterate, gullible people following politicians who are really smart about all the wrong things.
But on the brighter side. we will soon have 50 States. And then we will be known as the United States Of India.

If you thought kids said the zaniest things, you're wrong. Our politicians and businessmen hold that title here.

In what can be categorized as incredibly swift, 6 men who raped a Swiss tourist in March this year, were tried and jailed. None of the other desi victims will see justice. 
Moral of the story: It pays to be Swiss.
A few clicks away, Dubai made a mockery of rape. Who won?!

Shashi Tharoor, former UN diplomat and politician known to suffer from verbal diarrhea spoke: "English has been an asset for India. It is perhaps the only worthwhile thing we gained from the colonial experience. And in a country that is as vast and diverse as ours, it is very good to have a language like English to link us together, to link all parts of the country together where no part feels disadvantaged,". I don't think he knew Telangana was going to happen. 

In one of the biggest bubbles that popped, the Motor City of America - Detroit, went kaput! Indians felt the ripples and seeing as how have been eyebrow-deep shit for quite a while now, Bangalore isn't too far behind.

Someone must ask the Supreme Court to stop creating laws it can't enforce. Another victim succumbed to an acid attack by a man who was smitten by her. I won't ask that he be killed. I rather have him suffer a slow painful life. I'm inviting email suggestions on ideas I can add to how I will lead India.

China showed off her horsepower. India held another meeting. Great!
A bunch of Paki lunatics aka Clerics banned women from shopping alone. Wonderful! I am beginning to think the clerics actually want to punish men who hate shopping.

Bihar has always been the hillbilly of India. But no more. It's raining gold in Bihar!
While jewelry shops are still making hay while the gold shines, RBI tightened its grip. ARGH!
The most over-rated royal family got a new heir to the throne. Epic Yawn!
All hail the royal pain in the arse- future King George. So when are we going to tell him about Jacintha?
And in news that would prompt an exodus of men, Japanese advertisers decided to advertise their brands on the thighs of women who wore mini-skirts. And here's the immigration guidelines. 

As our 'underweight' economy continues its downward spiral, our government called on its NRIs to bail the rest of us out. No Strings Attached. How noble! But hey, you can still get a full meal for Rs 12/- plus tips. Politicians tripped over eachother and the rest of us ranted about how out of touch with reality Raj Baboon er.. Babbar is, I think he was just talking about paying $12 for a meal. Honest mistake, you see.
But that's okay. Iran stood up.

Yesteryear hottie and former B-grade Bollywood actress, Mamata Kulkarni showed the rest of us how you'll end up if you don't shape those brows and use that age-defying skin creams. Monster mono-brow alert!

Someone once told - 'It's good when people hate you. It shows they are obsessed about you'. O got 65  letters urging him to not let M in. As if!

And for anyone who said Indians don't have a iota of humor, a Mumbai restaurant showed it off in style. More power to satirists, I say.

You have to love Ireland! They hate abortions. But Godless marriages? Sure, mate!
Meanwhile, Modi and Rahul are turning into the Obama and Romney of India. Only worse. While it is almost sure one of the two demons will get to rule us (and probably ban this blog) in the future, that is where the similarities end. Neither of them have credentials worthy of being called a Statesman. They are both corrupt beyond comparison, have the unmistakeable scent of blood on their hands and lack the IQ or the imagination to guide us.

Almost on cue, India saw another disaster - Thousands of impoverished school children died after eating mid-day meals that were poisoned. Politicians pointed fingers at each other and eventually found a scapegoat. A week into the tragedy, everyone's forgotten about the plight of thousands of parents who lost the apple of their eyes.

And we latched on to Amartya Sen. Poor chap bit off more than he could chew. Whats a Nobel Laurette gotta do to be respected in his own country, huh? Our dirty-as-the-sewer-rat politicians flicked their forked tongues and Amartya regretted the day he woke up and decided to say all that he said.
Durga Shakti Nagpal, lifted the skirts of ugly Indian politicians. Hell hath no fury like the scorn of the spurned IAS officer.

Dell didn't get the deal. What bothers me is why Micheal Dell would want to take it private to restructure?
Snowden did a cameo and it looks like it might be a long rough Russian winter for the former NSA hacker. Merry Christmas, Snow(den)!

Poonam Pandhey got her first movie. Finally! Take my advice and spare yourself the torture. There is much better porn online. Don't google for it either or she might even say that she is the most googled actress in the world. Epic Fail!