The Commonwealth games (CWG) fiasco has left many people embarrassed and ruing the damage caused to the brand India.

Personally even I feel let down by the events back home but what has amused me is the raves and rants of these so called NRIs who can't but go on criticizing everything that India stands for...and there is no marks for guessing it's the negative attributes and bad press.

For these NRIs merrily ensconced in the creature comforts of the west, they remember India only when it generates bad news. They feel humiliated before their western counterparts and take out their umbrage by posting messages on Facebook, blogging etc.. As someone rightly said, tomorrow even if India were to be submerged they care a damn as long as they are safe in their adopted home.

There is no doubt that Commonwealth is a prestigious event but there are far more pressing issues which need urgent attention. The tax payer whose money has been utitilzed ( or misutilized :)) for this event would have been more than happy if the money was spent wisely.

Why can't these so called NRIs share or contribute their might towards a better India by raising issues such as farmers suicides, rising inflation, dismal infrastructure, inadequate housing etc.. Giving armchair advice is easy however one shouldn't forget that every Indian or for that matter any nationality when abroad is an ambassador for his/her country.

I personally know of one such NRI who was very eager to get rid of his Indian passport in favour of his adopted country. So what is his favorite pastime now? Posting status updates on facebook making fun of the CWG games and worse some of the jokes are poorly written and may very well qualify as PJs :)

Although it looks like CWG bashing in reality it's more of India bashing.

NRI's no longer stands for Non Resident Indians but as the joke goes around Not Required Indians and even I am one of them :)

(Image courtesy: http://buzzytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/The-Commonwealth-Games-2010.png)

Dabangg - Salman rocks

He is pushing 45 but still doesn't seem like throwing in the towel. He is someone who makes the crowd go wild once he takes of his shirt and shows his chiseled body.
Born Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan and popularly known as Salman or Sallu he is one of the few actors apart from Aamir and Shahrukh who is still going strong.

Salman has been the enfant terrible of Indian cinema industry, having being embroiled in controversies like the black buck shooting/hit and run case or his affairs with his co-stars. None of this seemed to have made a dent on his fan base which has only grown.

If you are looking for something which is the in thing nowadays like Peepli Live or path breaking cinema you are better advised to stay away. But then if you are someone who wants to watch the kitschy old tale of sibling rivalry, a dishonest cop who has a softer side, a village belle to whom he loses his heart and then as usual the villain, Dabangg (fearless) gives you more bang for the buck or in indian lingo paisa vasool fare

Salman plays Chulbul Pandey aka Robinhood pandey a Police Inspector for the district of Laalgunj, Uttar Pradesh. Salman with a moustache is a rarity and he manages to pull it off. Chulbul doesn't get along with his step dad (Vinod Khanna) and his step brother Makki (Arbaaz Khan). The one person Chulbul is fond of and who dotes on him is his mom (Dimple Kapadia)

Chulbul is a corrupt cop who gets hold of the bad guys but stashes away their loot. He is generous to help someone out financially when they are in distress. Salman loses his heart to a village girl Rajo (Sonakshi Sinha in a debut role). So what's missing ...well you guessed it, the villain whose funnily named Cheddi Singh (Sonu Sood) :)

The movie is a no brainer with a predictable story line but there is a difference and that's Salman Khan. Salman towers like a colossus in the movie and you just can't have enough of him. It's Salman, Salman and more of Salman even in the presence of veteran character artistes like Vinod Khanna, Om Puri and Dimple Kapadia.

Action by S Vijayan is terrific, impressive music track scored by Sajid-Wajid and Lalit Pandit. My favorites are man bharwaan and Tere Mast mast do nain. Sonakshi Sinha as Rajo comes as a breath of fresh air. As one article rightly quotes, having seen nearly anorexic heroines (remember size zero) it's nice to some one who resembles the typical curvy Indian woman. Acting wise, Sonakshi is not a disappointment. In an typical Indian action movie where the actresses are just there for the glamour quotient even in her brief role, she does show some spunk. Of course being the daughter of yesteryear actor Shatrughan Sinha does help.

I was myself shocked to see Sonakshi who is a fashion designer transform into a gorgeous woman. 2 years back when I saw her on television she was more on the heavier side and voila look at her now.

Coming back to Salman, he does run into some serious competition here even in terms of physique. Yes its the villain played admirably by Sonu Sood. Sonu Sood is a talented actor who is also blessed with good looks but sad to see him play a villain again. Hope he doesn't start getting typecast. This movie also marks the directorial debut of Abhinav Kashyap, the brother of Anurag Kashyap who is into "the realistic" mode of cinema. Its interesting that Abhinav has chosen to direct a conventional bollywood movie.

In India or anywhere else you despise a corrupt cop but Chulbul Pandey is a different animal. You love him for what he is and yes as the title suggests he is truly Dabangg (fearless)

(Image courtesy: http://media.photobucket.com/image/dabangg )

Earthquake in New Zealand

It doesn't make much news in the front pages of the world's leading newspapers except for it's exotic greenery, laid back lifestyle and quality of life. When I was studying at a leading University in NZ I still vividly remember about one of my classroom sessions.

It was a paper on International Business. I am not sure how this thing came up but our faculty asked the classroom audience who would like to be the Prime Minister of New Zealand not even a single hand went up but then he again asked us who wants to be the President of the United States and a sea of hands went up. It seemed like a unanimous opinion.

Strange as it may seem, New Zealand suddenly found itself on the front page and that was for the wrong reasons. Don't get me wrong but this was due to an 7.2 earthquake which hit the south island. Christchurch bore the brunt of devastation and as I am writing this, there was a mild earthquake which struck places close to wellington.

If you look at the fault lines prevalent across countries/continents, New Zealand is right up there with so many severe fault lines and lots of volcanoes, thankfully many of which are dormant. California where I live and work has had it's share of earthquakes and the one I experienced last week was 3.1 on richter scale.

An earthquake on a scale of 7.0 and above is considered to be devastating but luckily except for a few injured people, no lives were lost. Now some experts have attributed this to the good building codes adapted by New Zealand around 10 years ago. If that's true, it's really a praise worthy effort and an investment which has really paid off.

There are lessons to be learnt here especially as the population in developing countries migrates increasingly towards Urban areas. In India where the major cities are experiencing population growth and high rise residential areas which are springing up everywhere this is one particular area of concern. The building codes are rarely followed or brazenly flouted. Now imagine, god forbid if something of this sort happens it will be a humanitarian disaster.

The Govt does realize something must be done and a government wing National Disaster Management Authority has released ads on television which instruct the citizens on how to deal with a earthquake but the effort still falls short. More needs to be done on the ground so that when the crunch comes loss of human lives and damage to property is minimized. In this instance at least one can derive the right lessons from NZ's experience.

(Image courtesy: http://www.tourism.org.nz/imgs/nz-map-regional.gif)