Maverick

It was on this day 10 years ago, that Operation Vijay ended. No words are enough to salute the bravery and courage of the 527 Indian soldiers who lost their lives, and the 1300+ soldiers who were injured, in defending our country.

We, Indians, have a tendency to forget, and move on. Some days back, a person I know told me that it is a gift. I don't agree. If we don't learn from history, we might end up making the same mistakes again, and again.

Yesterday, on NDTV's "Big Fight" program, the sister of Late Capt. Vikram Batra, said that the families of the affected soldiers are not looking for money, but for recognition. It is a reminder to us all.

Labels: kargil, soldier

The heated TV debates on Slumdog Millionaire don't just seem to stop. But you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that:

1. Indian poverty does indeed sell in the west.
2. Indians are very touchy when it comes to poverty. As one participant on a TV debate pointed out, what Danny Boyle should do is to sell this movie to the Indians, because as far they go, poverty simply doesn't exist.
3. A R Rahman is a genius with or without an oscar.

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Currently reading:
Narmade, Hara, Hara by Jagannath Kunte

आताच झी सारेगामा लिटिल चैम्प्सचा भाग पाहिला, यात शंकर महादेवन हे मान्यवर परीक्षक होते । या भागात आधी हिन्दी गाणी आणि नंतर मराठी गाणी अश्या दोन फेरया झाल्या । एकेका स्पर्धाकानी अशी काही गाणी म्हंटली की त्याला काही तोड़ नाही .

हा एक असा कार्यक्रम आहे जो कुठल्याही संगीतरसिकानी चुकवता कामा नये.

According to my humble opinion, this is it:

1. Hindi Saregama on Zee TV. Simply for the singing talent. You have to ignore the other reality show specific stuff.

2. Star Voice of India on Star Plus (it is a pity that this and #1 are at the same time). Same comments as #1.

3. Saregama Lil Champs on Zee Marathi. While the kids are superb, the judges Avdhoot Gupte and Vaishali Samant add to the fun.

4. Man vs Wild on Discovery Channel. Bear Grylls rocks. Without getting into controversy of how much help he gets to survive in wildnerness, you to have to see him. And yes, if you have a vegetarian mind like me, you may want to look the other way when he eats any movable insect/animal he comes across.

हा गणेशोत्सव तुमच्यासाठी आणि तुमच्या परिवारासाठी
सुखाचा आणि भरभराटिचा जावो ही शुभेच्छा !

So finally I made good my promise of shutting off newspapers and news channels out of my life. This has already started showing an effect. For example, I almost missed an important story today.

Pune Mirror today reported about mobile tower radiation figures in some prominent areas in Pune. The findings are indeed shocking. The ideal value, the story said was about 1 mW/m2 (microwatts/square meter) whereas in almost all the reported areas, it was much higher. In the Hinjewadi IT park, this figure touched 9000.

Now this is quite scary considering the proliferation of cell phones all across the country. While we are tomtomming the rapid teledensity growth, are we as a country paying heed to the health concerns ? It is high time the government comes up with a policy on this.

PS: If you are looking for some positive news on the internet, you could start with this and this.

Here is a inspiring story.

When I read about it, I feel ashamed that "so-called" normal beings like us worry over such trivial matters like traffic at work.