National Awards are still very credible

Watched the 55th National Film Awards ceremony..
Shankar Mahadevan sang "Maa" and by the end of his performance, everyone from the President to Manna Dey to Yash Chopra to Priyadarshan to Percept's Shailendra Singh to Sonam Kapoor to the Army men on President's security were teary and eyes of some even failed to contain.. Reminds me that all of us are humans.. And when Shreya Ghosal sang "Yeh Ishq Haaye", a camera caught the President humming the song along.. Truly music transcends or I may say art transcends.... actually, what not??
After the National Awards were announced, I managed to catch a couple of the awarded movies which I had not already seen. And I realized what I would have missed had it not been for the National Awards recognizing these fantastic creations.. I am eagerly waiting for the English or Hindi versions of others..
If not for the National Awards, I would have not known that Priyadarshan who directed the three utterly funny characters in a slugfest for money in "Hera Pheri" could with even more finesse depict a silk weavers inability to buy a silk saree and his subsequent trysts with communism in "Kanchivaram".. And that Shailendra Singh and Percept who manage the big and the rich including many of our dear cricketers, also support regional cinema and produce movies like Kanchivaram..
Its great to see that the National Awards recognize good cinema and retain credibility amidst the numerous pompy showy popular cliche award functions..

I got my ultimate motivation for life

With my internship going on at Rabindra Nath Tagore Medical College and Maharana Bhupal Hospital, Udaipur, I am currently posted in the Department of Paediatrics.

There was a small girl aged around 3 years admitted in the ward with pulmonary tuberculosis. She had been in the ward for the last 18 days and it was my first day in that ward. The girl had to be discharged and I called for her attendants to educate them about the medication schedule. I was shocked to find that the girl was accompanied by just her brother who was 10 years old.

They had come from a village, some 70 odd kilometers away from Udaipur. Out of curiosity I started asking that boy for some more details. He told that he had got his sister admitted here for the third time in the last year. I asked him about their parents and about what he did. Then came the ultimate shock. He said his mother conspired along with some man and killed his father and then left the two children and ran away. He does cleaning work in a marble factory and tries to bring home at least one meal a day. His grand mother lives with them. She is very old and just about manages to make rotis from the aata he brings.

Even if he can't get medicines for free or on subsidy, he pledges to buy all the medicines and wants to see his sister back normal again. He couldn't easily find a free Tuberculosis drugs (DOTS) distributor near his village and the one he found, asked for Vitamin M (money) from an already deficient kid.

How easy it could have been for him to leave her sister somewhere and run away or even run away from home himself and earn and have it all by himself. I don't want to be preaching here, but flashes of news articles about female foeticide did whoosh through my mind. Life isn't always easy but may be it won't be worth living that way. This incident I feel is going to serve as a motivation for me through my life.

इंसान, इंसान से घबरा रहा

इंसान, इंसान से घबरा रहा

धमाकों की गूँज से ज़र्रा ज़र्रा थर्राह रहा
यह देख भारत माँ का दिल कराह रहा
देख आज इंसान, इंसान से घबरा रहा

कहीं रहीम को रुला, वह "हे राम" का नारा लगा रहा
राम को मौत की नींद सुला कोई "रहीम का बंदा" कहला रहा
देख आज इंसान इंसानियत को भुला रहा

कोई हरी पताका, कोई भगवा ध्वज फहरा रहा
गली गलियारों, चौक चौबारों में रंग लाल बह रहा
देख आज इंसान ख़ुद को विधाता कह रहा

भाषा धर्म के नाम पर इंसान बरगला रहा
और सत्ता का लोभी वह हैवान बेखौफ हंस रहा
देख आज इंसान , इंसान का तमाशा बना रहा

गरीब और गरीब, और अमीर, अमीर होता जा रहा
आम ज़िन्दगी से नेता और नेता से आम इंसान कतरा रहा
देख कैसे आज इंसान, इंसान से घबरा रहा

जो इस धरती पर जन्मा, गुणगान कहीं और के कर रहा
यह देख मेरी माँ का दिल पसीज पसीज कर रो रहा
देख आज इंसान मिटटी से बेगाना हो रहा

खून के कतरों, मांस के चीथ्रों में वोट बीन रहा
सुरक्षा की तोप और मवेशी के चारे में नोट गिन रहा
कितना नीचे देख , आज इंसान गिरा जा रहा

तमाशबीन न तुम, तमाशबीन न मैं
तमाशा है ख़ुद, हर वह इंसान
जो हाथ पर हाथ धरे यह तमाशा देखे जा रहा

Insaan, Insaan se ghabra raha

Dhamaakon ki goonj se, zarra zarra tharraah raha
Yeh dekh Bharat Maa ka dil karaah raha
Dekh aaj insaan, insaan se ghabra raha

Kahin Rahim ko rula, wah "He Ram" ka naara laga raha
Ram ko maut ki neend sula, koi "Rahim ka banda" kehla raha
Dekh aaj insaan, insaaniyat ko bhula raha

Koi hari pataaka, koi bhagwa dhwaj fehra raha
Gali Galiyaaron, Chauk Chaubaron mein rang laal beh raha
Dekh aaj insaan, khud ko vidhaata kehla raha

Bhaasha Dharm ke naam par, insaan bargala raha
Aur satta ka lobhi wah haiwaan, bekhauf hans raha
Dekh aaj insaan, insaan ka tamasha bana raha

Gareeb aur gareeb, aur ameer, ameer hota ja raha
Aam zindagi se neta aur neta se aam insaan katra raha
Dekh kaise aaj insaan, insaan se ghabra raha

Jo is dharti par janma, gungaan kahin aur ke kar raha
Yeh dekh meri Maa ka dil, paseej paseej kar ro raha
Dekh aaj insaan, mitti se begaana ho raha

Khoon ke katron, Maans ke cheethron mein, vote been raha
Suraksha ki tope aur maweshi ke chaare mein, note gin raha
Kitna neeche dekh, aaj insaan gira ja raha

Tamaashbeen na tum, Tamaashbeen na main
Tamaasha hai khud, Har wah insaan
Jo haath par haath dhare yeh tamaasha dekhe ja raha
Le dekh aaj insaan, insaan se ghabra raha

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Fear Factor - 'Khatron Ke Khiladi' - the Akshay version

Reality shows are the biggest hits on Indian TV these days. Four or so years back we had channels like AXN, Discovery and some others airing Hindi dubbed versions of reality shows abroad. Sa Re Ga Ma, Antakshari etc were more like competitions being aired on TV but Indian Idol if I am not mistaken was probably the first Indigenous reality show. Then all sorts of shows came, some of which tested talent and others things like strength, endurance and tolerance.
The newest biggie on the idiot box is the Indian version of Fear Factor called "Khataron Ke Khiladi" airing on "Colors" and featuring none other then bollywood's original Khiladi - Akshay Kumar, as the anchor. The show which started with 13 glam dolls of TV, cinema and modeling fields had created waves even before it saw light. The show has lived up to the hype and the expectations.
The stunts in the show are of the highest standards and indeed very very scary. The glam girls too have caught eyes with their gutsy acts. Yana Gupta and Netra Raghuraman have looked like perfect army material. The biggest disappointment has been the attitude of Vidya Malwade, who played the role of "Vidya Sharma", the Indian women's hockey team captain in "Chak de India". She looked an absolute coward denying attempting two tasks and ended up being kicked out on the second occasion. She did everything possible to rubbish the image she had after "Chak de...", at least in the eyes of those who watched those episodes of "Khatron ke...".
The show has thus far looked very impressive with different stunts requiring contestants to climb very high, dive in cold water, handling snakes, burying the face in insect dunes etc. The extremely beautiful contestants have pleased the eyes and bagged applauses displaying great courage.

The Ducking Stool

Yesterday I caught hold of the Allan and Barbara Pease authored book, "why men lie and women cry".
It had an interesting chapter on nagging. Until early in the nineteenth century men could complain in the court against nagging. If found guilty, the women were punished by the "Ducking Stool". She was strapped to a seat which was suspended by the end of a free moving arm and dunked in river or lake for a predetermined time interval which depended on the severity of the offense. If it wasn't enough they were paraded around the town with iron masks clamped to their heads and a metal bar going in the mouth to hold the tongue down. Jenny Pipes from Leominster, England was the last woman to suffer ducking stool in 1809.
The book says that women more often than not nag with a positive intent but actually nagging doesn't help. It appears to the men as a taunt. The authors say that asking the man to do something as if it were the woman's right would help better.
Nagging can lead to really ugly ends. Women have three times the area reserved for speech and language in a man's brain. This further complicates matters. When a woman finds it necessary to talk and speak, a man may not have the stamina to talk anymore.
The female brain is organized for multi tracking while most men can concentrate only on a job at a time. This is the reason why a woman may speak about many topics at the same time and expect the man to understand and recall all of them. This may complicate the nagging even more.
Continuing reading.. Will get back to all of you soon..