The basic difference between India and Pakistan is not religion alone. The basic difference is the perception of identities of it’s citizens of these two countires by these very people. When Indians talk of Pakistanis they are actually referring to Pakistanis only and not Muslims whereas when Pakis talk of Indians they imply Hindus. That’s the basic difference between the people of the two countries. More often than not during debates on TV channels we see the Paki speakers invariably switch from talking about Indo-Pak relations to Hindu-Muslim relationship or lack thereof. By extension since Islam is so deeply ingrained in their psyche they see the problem as being a Hindus versus Pakistan issue whereas this is not the case. As a result there is no meeting ground for the two of us.

Posted on January 17th, 2010 under Best Articles, India calling. Tags: Bollywood, India, Movies, nuclear, Pakistan, Terror, terrorist, war. Comments: 12

Bal Thakeray had to do what he did. There was just no option left for him. His own protege Raj Thakeray was running away with his Marathi Manoos agenda. And it was working for Raj like the way it originally worked for Bal Thakeray with the result that Raj was being talked about as the new Bal Thakeray. How could he allow another Bal Thakeray to take his place in his own lifetime? Also, he was getting increasingly desperate what with his own son whom he chose over the more popular Raj proving to be quite a dud as far as taking control of the Sena and its future was concerned. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong occasion and the wrong person to reinvent his own ideology. Sachin Tendulkar was the wrong person to be picked for this exercise. Not only is he a thoroughbred gentleman but he’s also an absolutely non political icon whom the entire country adores. But it was not to be. In his exuberance to make amends for wrongs of the last few years when he allowed Raj Thakeray and his MNS to hijack his own agenda Bal Thakeray has shot himself in his own foot. Sachin may have said those few words as a proud Indian but they have triggered a sequence of events which have some far reaching implications. Here are some of them.

Posted on November 17th, 2009 under India calling. Tags: Amitabh, bal, BJP, Bollywood, Congress, Cricket, MNS, Movies, Raj, Sachin, Shiv sena, Thakeray. Comments: 5

I was so horribly wrong when I wrote this post on Cash for Votes scam in our parliament and the sting operation conducted by CNN IBN Rajdeep Sardesai is for sale!! in Nov 08. Its not just him who is up for sale most of the news channels and newspapers are up for sale too. Rajdeep Sardesai did nothing which is not done by the media houses. And I’m not talking about a stake sale in their respective companies. I’m talking about the news content which they carry. Yes, it has been proved beyond doubt now that indeed they do sell their space for money. As luck would have it there were quite a few elections in 2009. First it was the Lok Sabha polls and then state assembly elections in not one but four states. Not too forget many other sources like numerous movie releases, book launches etc etc. And they are all sources of good unaccountable money for our media houses.

Posted on November 16th, 2009 under India calling. Tags: BJP, Bollywood, CNN IBN, Congress, media, money, Movies, NDTV, Times Now. Comments: 4

Whether the promise of work by Madhur Bhandarkar impinged upon the freedom/willingness to have sex on the part of Preeti Jain is a question which needs to be answered. Another question which she needs to answer is whether she liked what she did with him or not? In other words whether she enjoyed the whole activity or not? I know I’m being very crass here but these are relevant questions. And I’m pretty sure she would not have done it sixteen times with him if she did not like it. Fact is that all this technical stuff is rather misleading. It can confuse the hell out of not just us but judges, lawyers and linguistic experts as well. What is in fact not confusing is the fact that she was just ‘using’ her body to get work in return.

Posted on November 14th, 2009 under Feelings, India calling. Tags: Bhandarkar, Bollywood, court, Madhur, Movies, Preeti, rape, role, Sex. Comments: 13

Big B and SRK are coming together for a cause. That’s really great news. Both these guys are the most powerful players in the entire film industry. If they decide to come together on any issue it’s sure to be resolved favourably. And as a fan of both these immensely talented guys I feel [...]

Posted on October 1st, 2008 under India calling. Tags: Amitabh, artist, association, Big B, Bollywood, dancer, differences, five star, junior, Movies, poor, producer, Shah Rukh Khan, srike, SRK, treatment, work. Comments: None

It’s official. Lindsay Lohan is gay. She’s been dating DJ Samantha Ronson for quite sometime now. Well, we all knew about this alreday but it’s now been confirmed. Good enough. Nothing wrong in being gay. It’s a personal preference and we’re not exactly entitled to coment upon this issue. But what we are [...]

Posted on September 24th, 2008 under Track the world. Tags: affair, apprehension, dating, DJ, gay, Hollywood, lesbian, Lindsay Lohan, Movies, producers, Samantha Ronson. Comments: None