tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36688482012-02-04T07:40:54.131-08:00RamblingsThis is my pulpit, my podium, my stage, my trumpet, my megaphone, my slate, my editorial and my epitaph.Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.comBlogger1041100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-91655730376126645682010-07-14T06:08:00.000-07:002010-07-14T06:19:53.631-07:00Breakthrough: The Chicken-Egg ConundrumLondon, Jul 14 (PTI) -- It's the age-old question that has puzzled the finest minds for thousands of years -- which came first: The chicken or the egg?Now, scientists claim to have finally discovered the answer to the conundrum -- it's the chicken which came first. A team from University of Sheffield and University of Warwick has found that a protein called Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-33395049682285548272010-07-12T05:58:00.000-07:002010-07-12T05:59:53.641-07:00South Asian workers--mostly Muslims--face severe hardships while working in Saudi Arabia. Their Arab employers not only mistreat them, but also make them toil under extremely harsh conditions. While implemeting their strict interpretation of Wahabi Islam, the religious establishment in Saudi Arabia has forgotten about the basic humanity inherent in the religion. Islam being a religion in which a Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-38287254653048515052010-07-08T05:48:00.000-07:002010-07-08T06:04:48.906-07:00Lovesick ? Get Help, You Junkie!Washington, July 8 (PTI) Ever wondered why some people pine over their lost love for long? Scientists say it is because romantic rejection triggers the same effect on brain akin to kicking an addiction.The study, the first to examine the brains of the heartbroken people, found that imagination of their former partners activate their brain region associated with Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-72324063340547330162010-06-17T05:05:00.000-07:002010-06-17T05:20:55.324-07:00BATMAN ROCKS!One of my instructors spent five years building up my confidence.He constantly reminded me how important my job was going to be. How many powerful me will come to rely on my skills. And how superior the training and equipment I received was to anything else in the world.Right before I took my first placement, he asked me who it was who was gonna bring me down.I wasn't sure what he Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-46535608947180000692009-03-19T01:53:00.000-07:002009-03-19T01:56:04.537-07:00Dylan's Ditty FollowsHey Cindy Emminger, ma’am, aplos from meI'm not Stinky and there is no place to shift the toilet toHey Cindy Emminger, ma’am, cant’ help itIn the jingle jangle morning if the odor comes followin youTridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-4152615268187045812009-03-19T01:16:00.000-07:002009-03-19T01:39:53.277-07:00It's Blowin In The Wind, And It Stinks!Bob Dylan's portable toilet stinks up neighbourhoodLos Angeles, Mar 19 (PTI) Folk legend and human rights champion Bob Dylan is apparently not the ideal neighbour as residents near his Malibu home have complained of the odours emanating from the singer's portable toilet.Neighbours of the "Blowin in the Wind" singer are agitated because of the stink caused byTridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-91071622490617119862009-01-05T23:38:00.000-08:002009-01-06T00:02:41.317-08:00Unintentional HilarityLohan denies split with girlfriend Samantha Ronson¶ London, Jan 6 (PTI) Actress Lindsay Lohan has blasted (What with? bazookas?) claims of break-up with her girlfriend DJ Samantha Ronson.¶ The reports of an eminent (Wow! celebrityhood bestows eminence on break-ups too!) split sparked after the pair had an argument at a hotel in front of horrified (An argument between a Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-44160065540608817112008-11-10T02:33:00.000-08:002008-11-10T02:42:10.786-08:00Dada shunyo kore gelo!...profound, sad, but true!Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-55730254724669054652008-11-05T03:53:00.000-08:002008-11-05T04:10:03.040-08:00Mu-Barack Ho!"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible... who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer." - Barack Obama.President Obama, sir! I for one do not doubt any more that America is a place where all things are possible.Americans deserve the heartiest of congratulations for not only electing an Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-75648352448552742762008-08-03T08:16:00.000-07:002008-08-03T11:21:53.521-07:00Korbo, Lorbo, Jitbo Re (But when?)So the Tapur-Tupur Twins are out of KKK. (Tapur Tupur, for the edification of my non-Bong friends, is Pitter Patter in Bong, as in "pitter-patter of rain".) And they are out because both failed to do this stunt where they had to cross over from one highrise building to another suspended from a rope. While Tapur (or was it Tupur?) at least got into harness and Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-86548534480662530862008-05-15T04:06:00.000-07:002008-05-15T04:49:28.447-07:00Mumbai Indians?! What Does That Mean?!The Mumbai Indian ad sucks! You can almost make out that the ad was the product of an afterthought - some Reliance Industries head honcho suddenly realizing "Arre, how come we don't have ad, yaar, like those bloody Knight Riders?" And then some junior executive must have made some frantic phone calls to the ad agency with the brief: make an ad with the 'Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-19630863373491229252008-05-13T23:01:00.000-07:002008-05-13T23:35:55.758-07:00Pyar Ka (Asli!) FundaSuch is the power of advertising. Madhavan and Vidya Balan coochie-coo in the latest AirTel ad; Balan tells lovesick Maddy to call her 50 times a day while on business trip; voiceover says AirTel has reduced roaming/STD rates, ensuring distances don't matter in love; very mushy, very touching; next ad has Maddy calling Balan for eighth time within few minutes to say 'good Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-87496479343362764532008-04-26T00:04:00.000-07:002008-04-26T00:08:38.321-07:00Did You Know?...The Black Mamba is so called because the inside of its mouth is black and not because the snake itself is black!!P.S. Uma Thurman's character in the Kill Bill movies is called Black Mamba! Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-50177531136848228402007-12-05T06:52:00.001-08:002007-12-05T07:29:06.471-08:00The Enterprising Mr Tan MoySo there I was walking down Lembu Street in Singapore's Little India, when I espy this signboard that says Tonmoy Enterprijes in Bangla. But above that in a bigger font it reads "Tan Moy Enterprises" in English. Very enterprising, Tan San!Fakruddin's FeastThis has to be the only biriyani joint outside of Calcutta serving a mouth-watering version of one of my favourite Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-68262779037009851362007-11-11T07:58:00.000-08:002007-11-11T08:50:01.972-08:00OSO Is "Oh! Sexy and Oomphy"Om Shanti Om is this 3-hour in-joke on Bollywood , which is total paisa-vasool entertainment. It's a tribute to the Bollywood we have grown up with, with its cliched dialogues, corny plots, and chamaktay sitaray. And it needs a duo like Shahrukh Khan and Farah Khan -- both of whom are at the top of their game -- to pull it off successfully.In fact, a part of the Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1162748840804124892006-11-05T09:40:00.000-08:002006-11-05T09:47:20.820-08:00PJ Master Pintu says: Q. Why did Bruce Lee have it easy in The Way of The Dragon/Return of The Dragon?A. Because he only had to 'Chuck' Norris!Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1160336413307213782006-10-08T12:34:00.000-07:002006-10-08T12:41:07.966-07:00Thank you for the music!Sharodotsav 2006. Nobomi evening. Dhunuchi competition. A heady cocktail of dhuno and dhak in the air. The maestro is in his elements. He wields his drumsticks like Zubin Mehta’s baton. He dictates the tempo for the participants as they keep step to his rhythm, balancing one, two, three… even five earthen urns at once. The soft staccato roll swells into a rousing crescendoTridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1148197219482324362006-05-21T00:24:00.000-07:002006-05-21T02:58:33.180-07:00Hob-Sen Job-Sen*Hariken (pronounced harry-ken): Distortion of English ‘hurricane’ lamp. Usage: As in haatey hariken, ponday lonthon, baajay thon thon. (lonthon again being distortion of English ‘lantern’). Literally, hurricane lamp in hand, lantern in arse, ringing with ‘thon, thon’ noise. Figuratively, to be in dire straits. The allusion is probably to being caught in pitch darkness with just a Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1142799199115600042006-03-19T12:03:00.000-08:002006-03-20T02:39:58.863-08:00Showing Him The Doors?!The time to hesitate is through No time to wallow in the mire Try now we can only lose And our love become a funeral pyreThe only thing missing is the spark. In a nation of obsessive lovers, passion can easily degenerate into persecution. The crowds are booing Him (And it’s not Eden Gardens, it’s the Wankhede crowd for Chrissake!). TV commentators are politely hinting that Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1141907989571792552006-03-09T04:32:00.000-08:002006-03-10T01:36:41.943-08:00In defence of ZahiraTimes of India, March 9Zahira gets 1 year in jail, fined Rs 50,000NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted the report of the high-powered committee which had indicted Best Bakery case key witness Zahira Sheikh as a "self-condemned liar". The Court awarded one year’s simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 on Zahira for contempt of court.The Hindu, March 9Special Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1141021317657337632006-02-26T22:12:00.000-08:002006-02-26T22:40:55.606-08:00The Flimflam AwardsOn Saturday night, I watched the Filmfare Awards after many years. There was a time when Filmfares were a must-watch event like the Oscars. But given the predictability and the plethora of Indian awards shows, I lost all interest. After all these years, not much has changed except that the present crop of female actors is doing the Hollywood-ishtyle cocktail dress thingie Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1133527304588024132005-12-02T04:34:00.000-08:002005-12-02T04:41:44.600-08:00Remembrance of Decembers pastI love Decembers. When I was a kid, the academic year started in January and ended in December. So, the month was always associated with the end of the final exams and the advent of a long and carefree winter vacation. Then, December felt like a special month, and not least because three very significant people were born in it —Jesus Christ, my grandma and me! It was Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1132745133878437102005-11-23T03:06:00.000-08:002005-11-23T11:34:11.840-08:00Sholo-ana Bangaliyana PottermaniaWith the release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth in the series of the young wizard’s celluloid forays, Pottermania is back. And like millions of Pottermaniacs, I too have been infected. Which is probably why, I couldn’t keep myself from trying to imagine what it would have been like if this literary phenomenon had been thought up by Jyotsna Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com72tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1131302356067073122005-11-06T10:13:00.000-08:002005-11-10T09:09:36.840-08:00Akalbodhonay Kolkatay (aka The Homecoming)After about eight long years, managed to get my visit to Kolkata to coincide with Mahisasurmordini's. Landed in the city on Panchami evening. Saw Kolkata from the air for the first time, and was surprised by the surrounding greenery. Took a prepaid taxi home. It cost me Rs 170 from Dum Dum to Park Circus. (Sigh! Once upon a time a tram journey from Park Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1127252013382765062005-09-20T14:31:00.000-07:002005-09-20T14:33:33.386-07:00Simon WiesenthalRubaru pauses to mark the passing away of Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who was credited with tracking down 1,100 Nazi war criminals.Wiesenthal, who lost 89 relatives in the atrocity, spent more than 50 years hunting Nazi war criminals, speaking out against neo-Nazism and racism and remembering the Jewish experience as a lesson for humanity.Wiesenthal's quest began Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1127172252329972792005-09-19T16:21:00.000-07:002005-09-19T16:24:12.330-07:00Doonesbury The Guardian on one of the comic strips I enjoy a lot!Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1126816592253371692005-09-15T12:49:00.000-07:002005-09-15T13:38:38.653-07:00A dear friend mailed this pic to me today. The person on the left is the subject of the lament in my earlier post, and the person to her right is the one responsible for the lamentable state of affairs.Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1124916159132804782005-08-24T13:37:00.000-07:002005-08-24T13:57:48.536-07:00Al vida! ChitrangadaHazaaron Khwaishe ki aisi ki taisiAye Ghalib, yeh insaaf hai kaisiApnay aarmano ka gala ghot karChitrangada chali samhalne grihastiI normally don’t do such things, write such execrable shers that is. But the news of Chitrangada Singh quitting films, has led me to bury my sorrows in shayri.Chitrangda. Whose face, according to a film critic, “is a complex map of beauty, mystery Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1124735305718536332005-08-22T11:24:00.000-07:002005-08-22T11:29:34.530-07:00Man and MythThe Rising may have left audiences cold and historians hot around their collars, but it has succeeded in sparking off debate on Mangal Pandey’s role in the historic events of 1857.Shahid Amin, in his review in the Outlook of Rudrangshu Mukherjee’s ‘Mangal Pandey: Brave Martyr or Accidental Hero?’ says: “It was 1857 that made Mangal Pandey, and not the other way round.”In the same Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1124393951829801702005-08-18T12:29:00.000-07:002005-08-18T12:39:11.833-07:00Google’s googly?Just noticed this in a Wall Street Journal article on Google’s plans to raise cash by selling more shares:“The number of shares Google plans to sell is 14,159,265. Those are the first eight digits that follow the decimal in the value of pi (3.14159265), which is a number that represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. It is a figure that Google's Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1124279857603844272005-08-17T04:56:00.000-07:002005-08-17T04:57:37.610-07:00Sex sells. Period.This blog has been around since July 2002 and in this period I have made a total of 73 posts, holding forth on such weighty issues as Shaolin kung fu and swatting pesky mosquitoes. However, till Aug 16 I had just about .765 comments per post to show for my intellectual exertions. But yesterday, the unthinkable happened, within the first hour of posting “Rising ‘yes’, Rousing ‘noTridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1124185721424340802005-08-16T02:46:00.000-07:002005-08-16T04:34:59.170-07:00Rising 'yes', Rousing 'no'“Rising was like a case of erectile dysfunction. Ketan Mehta got it to rise, but failed to keep it up,” a friend quipped.Mehta also managed to raise quite a few eyebrows, thanks to the gratuitous display of skin in the film. It seems Mehta has a mammary fixation. When he got wife Deepa Sahi to go topless in Maya Memsaab, one thought he was bowing to the dictates of the Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1123794779744286072005-08-11T13:24:00.000-07:002005-08-11T14:12:59.753-07:00Of Tridib, Tarantino and Shaolin Kung FuThe most amazing thing happened today. I was Googling for stuff on Kill Bill: Volume 1, which I watched for the nth time this morning, and guess what I found out? Gordon Liu aka Chia Hui Liu, who plays the Crazy 88 gang leader Johnny Mo, was the guy who played the lead role in the 36th Chamber of Shaolin.So what? 36th Chamber of Shaolin is one of my Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1123612511672829132005-08-09T11:24:00.000-07:002005-08-09T13:14:27.086-07:00Space May Be The Final Frontier, But It's Made In A Hollywood Basement*The Discovery drama got me thinking about Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I happened to see a few days ago. (Incidentally, the spacecraft in the film was also named Discovery!) Somehow, 2001 was very different from what I had imagined it would be. I was probably expecting something on the lines of Star Trek or Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1123263271035678642005-08-05T10:20:00.000-07:002005-08-05T10:34:31.040-07:00In August CompanyPrufrock Two's post on an article by novelist Adam Langer in The Book Standard, where he divides authors he's interviewed into categories, got me thinking.One of Langer's categories is "The Genuinely Decent Human Being". My nomination for this category is Amitav Ghosh. I had the privilege of talking to the man during the launch of his latest novel, The Hungry Tide, at the Park Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1123143952597240412005-08-04T01:20:00.000-07:002005-08-04T01:25:52.603-07:00Deft Definitionssalubrious: pronounced (shall-you-bree-ush)adjective FORMALHow a Kolkata-bred Bong will describe Bangalore after spending most of his life in the sultry climes of the former and a part of it in tarapti-garmi-aur-tez-sardi-wali Delhi.Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1122972141196717532005-08-02T01:34:00.000-07:002005-08-02T01:44:16.083-07:00Is India Smoldering?Last week, when Gurgaon exploded after striking Honda employees clashed with the police, I told a colleague that the violence was symptomatic of the tension simmering between the haves and the have-nots. The widening gulf between the rich and the poor, to use a cliché, is no more evident than in Gurgaon, where swank glass-and-chrome offices and glitzy malls mushroom a stone’s Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1122451419461391742005-07-27T01:01:00.000-07:002005-07-27T01:03:39.466-07:00Sarkar-namaRam Gopal Verma is the best. Among the current crop of Bollywood filmmakers, he is one director who has consistently delivered the goods. Excluding a handful, like Daud (1997), Mast (1999) and Bhoot (2003), all his other films have stood out for not only breaking the mould, but doing it successfully. His latest, Sarkar, made for compelling viewing, but I had a few quibbles.1. This is Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1120764865804435612005-07-07T12:31:00.000-07:002005-07-07T23:14:45.296-07:00Bale Fails To Gel aka Not He Batty HottyWho the hell cast Christian Bale as Batman? Though he is passable with a mask, as Bruce Wayne he is totally unconvincing. Bale just doesn’t fit the bill. Especially, when compared to his caped predecessors like Michael Keaton, George Clooney and Val Kilmer. While Keaton’s Bruce Wayne had the broody intensity of a person leading a double life, Kilmer was theTridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1119294411122787792005-06-20T11:56:00.000-07:002005-06-20T12:06:51.266-07:00Anglo shur, Bangla gaanEverybody has done it. From Rabindranath Tagore to Anjan Dutta (via Bappi-da), Bangla lyrics set too Western scores is hardly a novelty in Bong music circles. While Tagore chose to Bongofy Auld Lang Syne, Dutta's oeuvre includes the Janis Joplins and Bob Dylans. I, Tridib Sen, decided to do the JJ Cales and Eric Claptons. Here's my Bangla version of the cult hit "Cocaine".Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1118942303665804592005-06-16T10:17:00.000-07:002005-06-16T10:18:23.670-07:00Shit Happens II: Revenge of the Defecators Plot Summary: Bananaskin Styworker is drawn to the Dark Side of the Force because he feels the Redeye Council is full of shit. Shit hits the fan after Bananaskin crosses over to the Dark Side. Betrayed Redeye Knights suddenly find themselves neck deep in shit. Even as the other Council members are shitting bricks, Redeye Master OB Van Canopy goes in Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1118775864806185312005-06-14T12:02:00.000-07:002005-06-14T12:04:24.810-07:00Return Of The DragonWatch out! Hollywood, Hong Kong-made flicks are back to make big business. And leading the charge is Kung Fu Hustle’s lead actor and director Stephen Chow. Nearly 30 years after Golden Harvest Productions unleashed Big Boss Bruce Lee on Hollywood, Chow’s intelligently-made Hustle makes the audience sit up and take notice. Of course, in between there were the Crouching Tigers Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1118333393458651012005-06-09T09:04:00.000-07:002005-06-09T09:09:53.463-07:00The Way Of The DragonEk machchar aadmi ko hijra bana deta hai. The import of this Nana Patekar one-liner hit me today. I was doing my daily quota of yoga, practicing some breathing exercises to achieve a relaxed state of mind, when all of a sudden there was an ominous buzz near my left ear. My peace of mind was shattered. I jumped up, ready to “strike down with great vengeance and furious anger”,Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1117654699195626522005-06-01T12:36:00.000-07:002005-06-01T12:38:19.200-07:00Revelations 01:06:2005So the lid has finally come off one of the media’s best kept secrets. The world now knows Deep Throat is actually Mark Felt, the No. 2 official of the F.B.I. during the Nixon presidency. The Deep Throat mystery, fed by the images of Robert Redford (Bob Woodward) talking to a shadowy figure who tells him to “Follow the money” in Alan J Pakula’s All The President’s Men (1976),Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1117216120244091762005-05-27T10:43:00.000-07:002005-05-27T10:48:40.250-07:00The outlook is good!I declare that the only magazine worth reading in India today is Outlook. And it’s because every once in a while it comes out with an issue that has “takeaway value”, something you will probably pick up a couple of months later for a re-read or mention to a friend in some context or the other. This brings me to the latest Outlook, in which the mag looks back on the last 10 Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1116856722550929282005-05-23T06:56:00.000-07:002005-05-23T06:59:34.113-07:00Sith happens!Watched Star Wars III: Return of the Shit, or was it, Return of the Sith. Correction. Revenge of the Sith. Conclusion: If the Force (read Hollywood Hype Machine) is with you, you can sell sunscreen to an inhabitant of Pluto, or for that matter, video games got up as films, and that too in a day and age when even kids can tell computer-generated special effects from live action.Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1116277463556404092005-05-16T13:47:00.000-07:002005-05-16T14:04:23.586-07:00Vini, vidi, vidi, vidi.... viciFinally, I won a quiz. Yes, after years and years of getting eliminated at the prelims, I finally managed to win one. Though it was an intra-office version, a win is a win, right?! And with it, I have also finally made the cut as a Bonafide Calcuttan. For, if you happen to be born in the city, you grow up to realise that the only thing that will win you the respect Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1115139064724295982005-05-03T09:47:00.000-07:002005-05-03T09:51:04.726-07:00Waterfall it is my countrymen!L(a)-ir(a)-il(a) may be lyrical, but the new Liril ad lacks the gay (for want of a better word) abandon, the masturbatory appeal, the uninhibited exuberance of its earlier versions. Lone female frolicking under waterfall is any day better than couples cavorting under shower. So, AICH-EL-EL give me back Karen Lunel in her lime-green bikini and laa-lara-lara-laa Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1115063976752330522005-05-02T12:56:00.000-07:002005-05-02T12:59:36.753-07:00You still don't believe me, huh?"THIS year the combined advertising revenues of Google and Yahoo! will rival the combined prime-time ad revenues of America’s three big television networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, predicts Advertising Age. It will, says the trade magazine, represent a “watershed moment” in the evolution of the internet as an advertising medium. A 30-second prime-time TV ad was once Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1114797115192675742005-04-29T10:48:00.000-07:002005-04-29T10:51:55.193-07:00For a Holy "See"It seems Dan Brown’s depiction of the drama surrounding the election of the Pope wasn’t exaggerated after all. While reading Angels and Demons, I had the feeling that Brown overdid the “media circus” bit. But, the just-concluded papal elections were an eye-opener. Not only was there blanket coverage of the goings-on in Vatican City on channels like CNN and BBC, news agencies and Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1114684742713197872005-04-28T03:35:00.000-07:002005-04-28T03:39:02.713-07:00Dramatic IronyThe term “Iron Curtain” was coined by none other than Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda Dr Josef Goebbels. In an article entitled “The Year 2000”, he wrote: “If the German people surrender, the Soviets will occupy… the whole east and southeast of Europe in addition to a large part of Germany. In front of this enormous territory, including the Soviet Union, an iron curtain will go downTridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1114449403651303742005-04-25T10:15:00.000-07:002005-04-25T10:16:43.653-07:00For all those Doubting Thomases……who thought my earlier post was pfaff. This is from the New York Times dated April 25, 2005.“Internet advertising has been surging in recent years as marketers follow their potential customers, who are shifting their attention from television to computer screens. Yahoo and Google have been among the primary beneficiaries of this change, and both have enjoyed Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1114021094845537252005-04-20T11:15:00.000-07:002005-04-20T11:19:57.823-07:00The second coming……of News over the Internet? Well, it certainly seems like it. Apparently, two of the most prestigious news providers in the US — Wall Street Journal owner Dow Jones and the publishers of The New York Times — are turning to their Internet ventures to shore up sliding profits, hit by shrinking print ad spends. Interestingly, in this quarter, Dow Jones's online operations for the Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1113411283472398252005-04-13T09:47:00.000-07:002005-04-13T09:54:43.473-07:00Some valuable TIPSAre you a generous tipper? Or are you the type that makes quick mental calculations before shoving those few extra notes with the restaurant bill? Maybe you are among those who wonder whether a tip reinforces the unequal relationship between the customer and the person serving you? Well, if you are one of the few people who ponder over whether 10 percent of the total bill is a Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1113321802731834722005-04-12T08:56:00.000-07:002005-04-12T09:03:22.733-07:00ST(RAY) THOUGHTSA friend of mine had once ended an article on Jean Luc Godard with this telling line, “Godard is in the details”. I bet he would have had the same thing to say about Satyajit Ray. Upon the nth viewing of Joy Baba Felunath, I couldn’t but marvel at the man’s eye for detail. The hotel that Feluda, Tosphe and Lalmohan Babu check into at Benares looks so typically like a “Dada-Didi’ Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1112810009654561852005-04-06T10:52:00.000-07:002005-04-06T10:53:29.656-07:00Did you know?The South Indian School of Shoe Polishing is different from its north Indian counterpart in one single aspect. North of the Vindhyas, any cobbler worth his Cherry Blossom will use a black, powdery abrasive while applying shoe polish. But, down south they simply dispense with the practice.Tridib’s believe it or not: If you Google for “How to polish my shoes”, it will take just 0.15 Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1112642267156466002005-04-04T12:00:00.000-07:002005-04-04T12:20:37.873-07:00I am shedding......my blog's old look (circa 2002) for a brand new one, minimalist but functional.Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1112640330962937682005-04-04T11:44:00.000-07:002005-04-04T11:45:30.963-07:00My take on Million Dollar BabyThe Karate Kid for an adult audience.Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1112201110709004082005-03-30T08:44:00.000-08:002005-03-30T08:45:10.710-08:00Ever wondered……Like India-Pakistan matches, which almost always “go right down to the wire”, competition among lingerie makers often go right down to the “underwire”.Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1104215461759788442004-12-27T22:29:00.000-08:002004-12-27T22:31:01.760-08:00NEO-phyte fundas
It is happening. Slowly, but surely. I can feel it. And it seems there’s no way I can stop it. I firstnoticed it a couple of weeks back. At first, I didn’tpay too much attention. But gradually, the feeling isbecoming more and more palpable. It’s probably likecocaine. Initially, you do it just for a lark. Butbefore you can realize what’s going on, it starts torun your whole life.Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1102685289419627692004-12-10T05:26:00.000-08:002004-12-10T05:28:09.420-08:00Cutting edge stuff!
This blog is in very bad taste. Not only is it a very poor attempt at some pedestrian humour, it is also a perfect example of what someone with a lot of time and very few ideas can come up with. Anyway, since a public forum and a democratic setup (ah! the freedom that the Internet bestows on you to say any bloody thing you like) almost always provide a fecund environment for Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1102058961727807682004-12-03T00:26:00.000-08:002004-12-02T23:33:43.580-08:00Big Blogger Is Watching
It’s all happening here in the blogosphere. Jabberwock’s Nikhatgate expose has set the cat among the pigeons. There has been a flurry of postings on several blogs, with the desimediabitch blog taking up the issue in a big way. And the way journalistic circles in the Capital are buzzing over the incident, there’s no doubt that it is bound to spill onto more mainstream Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1101815671148065602004-11-30T03:53:00.000-08:002004-12-02T23:26:07.416-08:00P.J. for the day
What do you call a raunchy Indian soap opera?
Quickie Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi
Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1101302523094831582004-11-24T05:19:00.000-08:002004-11-24T05:22:03.096-08:00Of Popes and Brown (pun intended) skins!
This is kind of weirdly coincidental. I just finished plodding (yeah that’s right!) through Jai’s (God bless him for selflessly lending me everything from his prized DVDs to favourite books) copy of Angels and Demons. Dan Brown’s thriller —before Da Vinci Code became a runaway success — is a tale of intrigue set in the Vatican. The book, besides milking Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1100200075486301822004-11-11T10:56:00.000-08:002004-11-11T11:07:55.486-08:00This is the end, my friend
"Yasser Arafat died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don't know. I saw the news on the CNN website: 'Yasser Arafat dies' That doesn't mean anything. It may have happened yesterday."
With due apologies to Albert Camus, I couldn’t but help replace ‘mother’ with ‘Arafat’ in one of the most hard-hitting opening sentences in literature.
There was a time when I hero-worshipped Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1099593633897913532004-11-04T08:50:00.000-08:002004-11-04T10:40:33.896-08:00Head to head
The Telegraph: Bush Kerries on (Brilliant, just like mine)
TOI: It’s two in the Bush (Good one)
HT: Bush is back (sucks)
Hindu: Bush retains the White House (typically Hindu, no-frills)
Asia Age: Bush defeats exit polls (MJ is losing his touch)
FE: Encore for Bush Jr (rhymes)
ET: Bottomline Bush (doesn’t make the wow! grade)
BS: Bush makes it, just (What else did you expect?!)
Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1099508294766223362004-11-03T10:57:00.000-08:002004-11-03T10:58:14.766-08:00Desk spends night giving Bush good head
The newsdesk went into creative overdrive trying to come up with a smart headline for the Return of Dubya, the Dickhead. Anyway, these were the better ones:
My Boss: Kerry Bushwhacked
Smart colleague: Bushfire burns Kerry
Smart arse me: Kerry on George
Me again: Return of the fink
One more: There’s no ism like Bushism
Smart colleague again: BushTridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1099384912434612742004-11-02T00:41:00.000-08:002004-11-02T00:41:52.433-08:00Ignoramusings
We are living in the Information Age, right?! We are on the threshold of a Brave New World, where different modes of communication will converge to create a wired e-niverse where all information will be just a click away, isn’t it?! The medium will be passé, Marshall McLuhan be damned. We are already fiddling around with sub-atomic particles, trying to peer into the backyards of Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1098899568249490782004-10-27T10:41:00.000-07:002004-10-27T10:52:48.250-07:00Roach rage
Apropos to Jabberwock’s diatribe against Blatta orientalis (that’s what your scientists call us dude), I would just like to say that no matter how ugly we are and how repulsive you find us, we will be around long after you guys have blogged and bombed each other to oblivion.
Also, Rubaru, you pathetic pen pusher with Dave Barry (puhleeze!) ambitions, listen: 'Don’t call me Babe'.
Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1098184851748830872004-10-19T04:18:00.000-07:002004-10-19T04:20:51.746-07:00My office and other animals
As I sit here typing in this blog, there’s a cockroach baby (they have a name, but I forget it as the only thing worth remembering in biology school texts was the diagrammatic details of the human reproductive system), crawling around on my desk. No, I don’t work in a shack, neither am I a garage entrepreneur. I work in a pretty swanky office of what I would like to Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1098105004541960052004-10-18T06:07:00.000-07:002004-10-18T06:10:04.540-07:00Come again!
It’s funny the amount of bull that does the round of TV nowadays in the garb of serious discussion. Even as DD’s panel of sports commentators expressed their unanimity over how the rain gods had robbed cricket lovers of a thrilling finish to the second India-Australia Test match, the conversation drifted to how the powers-that-be were daft enough to schedule the Chennai match at a Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1097821463019296852004-10-14T23:19:00.000-07:002004-10-14T23:24:23.020-07:00Trains… potting
Lalu Prasad, in his avatar as rail minister, has managed not to screw up the Indian Railways the way he did his home state. Surprisingly, services seem to have improved since he became rail mantri. How do I know? Well, if you happen to have sundry relatives dropping in at your place for the better part of the month, the frequency of your interaction with the biggest public sectorTridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1097608057460350622004-10-12T13:06:00.000-07:002004-10-12T12:07:37.460-07:00More on the oil front
It seems I was right after all. We are consuming way too much cooking gas. And here’s the proof: According to a PTI report, LPG consumption jumped by over 9 per cent to 0.83 million tonnes in September 2004 from 0.76 million tonnes in September 2003.
I did some number-crunching and here’s what I found: 56 million LPG cylinders were consumed in September. Now, 56 million is Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1097499243818693132004-10-11T05:53:00.000-07:002004-10-11T05:54:03.820-07:00Hurray! the aliens have arrived
Object sighted on Himachal glacier had human shape
PTI
New Delhi, 11 October
The bright white object seen by a team of space scientists on September 27 near a glacier in Himachal Pradesh had more or less a human shape, according to Anil Kulkarni of the Space Applications Center in Ahmedabad.
"It had what looked like legs, arms, neck and a head," Kulkarni, who was Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1097178347723258512004-10-07T13:44:00.000-07:002004-10-07T12:45:47.723-07:00Gutkha guy gets glam gaadi
Pan masala tycoon first Indian to own Maybach
PTI
New Delhi, Oct 7
Pan masala tycoon Manikchand Dhariwal has forked out an astronomical Rs 5 crore to become the first Indian to own a Maybach, the country’s most expensive car. The keys of the nayarit silver- and mid grey-coloured super luxury saloon was handed over to Dhariwal by DaimlerChrysler Managing Director Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1097056600795052562004-10-06T02:46:00.000-07:002004-10-06T03:04:29.106-07:00Gas-trick juice
I think it’s time I invested in one of those solar thingamajigs... you know the ones that cook your food and keep it warm and stuff. My visit to the local gas dealer’s office yesterday was enough to convince me that it won’t be long before we run out of fossil fuels. I had to wait a good 10 minutes before this chappie, who was doing the bookings, even deigned to look at me. I don’Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1096974364413237362004-10-05T04:05:00.000-07:002004-10-05T04:06:04.413-07:00In case, you forgot Belsan
RAFAH, Gaza Strip, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers shot dead a 13-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday after she approached an army watchtower in a tense border zone, witnesses said.
An Israeli military source said the girl was shot inside a restricted area when soldiers suspected she had a bomb. Palestinian medics said she had beenTridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1096634033933062042004-10-01T05:32:00.000-07:002004-10-01T05:33:53.933-07:00Make water, not war
“Politics is the most concentrated expression of economics and war is the most concentrated form of politics.”
I remember reading an article, a couple of years ago, which spoke about how water and the struggle to control this fast-dwindling natural resource could trigger World War III. The article was written in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In fact a Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1096549691462345402004-09-30T05:52:00.000-07:002004-09-30T06:08:11.463-07:00This Anandamela pujo barshiki has a graphic novel version of Napoleaner Chithi from Satyajit Ray’s popular Feluda series. The art is by Abhijit Chattopadhyay, who has done a decent job. For someone who has grown up on Ray’s pencil and ink version of Feluda, aka Prodosh Mitter, the latest avatar may seem a tad too colourful and slightly less aquiline. (For that matter, the latest version of DC Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1096458322639265982004-09-29T04:44:00.000-07:002004-09-29T04:45:22.640-07:00The Dan Brown phenomenon continues to amaze. What is it that has made The Da Vinci Code so universally popular? Is it because it is based on the search for the Holy Grail? Or, have readers found the conspiracy theory angle so appealing? Maybe, Brown has managed to find his readers’ pulse and the formula to send it racing. But, how does it explain the fact that his earlier book Angels and Demons Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1094893796826436342004-09-11T02:08:00.000-07:002004-09-11T02:09:56.826-07:00I just can’t get over that ‘Bloodshed in Belsan’ headline in the Times of India. Given the copywriter’s instinct that drives every smart-ass sub to show off his creative instincts in 48 pts/Times New Roman/bold, I couldn’t but help think of the lengths they can go to. A few examples:
Lenardo DiCaprio dies in a freak accident: DiCaprio Decapitated
President Goerge W Bush is killed by terrorists: Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1094458242939056932004-09-06T01:09:00.000-07:002004-09-06T01:10:42.940-07:00I am at a loss to describe the sense of outrage that I feel over the tragedy in Beslan. But I am equally appalled by the insensitivity of people. (No, I’m not talking about terrorists who shoot at children and deprive them of water and food for days.) I am talking about ‘responsible’ journalists like those employed by the Times of India, who feel the need to package a tragedy of this scale by Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1089796557801461942004-07-14T02:14:00.000-07:002004-07-14T02:15:57.800-07:00While reading John le Carre’s Absolute Friends, I came across the history of the student unrest in West Berlin, when the student community came together to "return the world to where it was before its succumbed to the multiple diseases of fascism, capitalism, militarism, consumerism, Nazism, Coca-Colanisation, imperialism and pseudo-democracy." And to take on the power of the Establishment all Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1088427336672809652004-06-28T05:55:00.000-07:002004-06-28T05:55:36.673-07:00A heart-warming story or Why India is a great country
PTI
Sonepat, June 28
A glowing example of brotherhood among the Hindu and Muslim communities has been set in Nangal Kalan village in Sonepat district, where the marriage of a Muslim girl has been performed by donations from the villagers in a temple.
According to a report, the marriage was performed by the villagers last night after the Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1087993551307735742004-06-23T05:24:00.000-07:002004-06-23T06:17:20.986-07:00Decoding the political matrix for you
LK Advani’s address to the BJP national executive in Mumbai.
What he said: “Prudent politics for the BJP would be to carry along its cadres the Sangh Parivar and its ideology alongwith it.”
What he actually said: “Enough of this governance shit. We should have paid heed to our friends from the RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal in the first place and indulged in our Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1087478000893947622004-06-17T06:10:00.000-07:002004-06-17T06:14:19.686-07:00Thoughts on Reliance Industries vice-chairman Anil Ambani filing his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha:
In Ram Gopal Verma’s seminal film on the Mumbai underworld Satya, Paresh Rawal, who plays the role of a high-ranking police official, says about underworld dons, “Bhag gaye to Dubai se dhanda chalayenge, pakre gaye to jail ke andar se dhanda chalayenge.”
The same is quite true of the Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1087388034313236392004-06-16T05:13:00.000-07:002004-06-16T05:13:54.313-07:00Ever wondered what astronauts wear in space?
PTI
New Delhi, 16 June
Space clothing is not so drab as it appears to be in photographs showing the “robot-like” get-up of astronauts as those on the space odyssey are given a catalogue to choose their clothes, a Russian report says.
Space suits are worn only during the launch, docking, undocking and landing while rest of the time during missions, Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1087310029636396992004-06-15T07:33:00.000-07:002004-06-15T07:33:49.636-07:00I bunked office today. And after a long time experienced the diurnal magic of sunset and sunrise. These are indeed the two most magic moments in a day. While my sleeping habits effectively mean that I miss nature's morning show, my office hours deny me from enjoying the pleasures of dusk. So, today I stood at the verandah (sounds much better than balcony) and watched life pass by, people Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-1087042631972955082004-06-12T05:13:00.000-07:002004-06-12T05:28:55.606-07:00For the record, I didn’t stop blogging, I just had a writer’s block that lasted one-and-a-half years. (With apologies to the Eagles.)
Ramblings will resume bringing to you thought-provoking\yawn-inducing articles, self-indulgent essays and often one-sided opinion on matters of national\international\personal importance.
Assuming that somebody is\will read\reading these “ramblings”, I will be Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-827399892002-10-09T07:16:00.000-07:002002-10-09T07:17:50.000-07:00Welcome to the 'free' world
Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami has been denied a visa for the New York Film Festival just because he is Iranian. The refusal to grant Abbas Kiarostami a visa should appall all Americans, not just because of the slight to a director whom many in the world film community of critics and directors consider one of the greatest now working, but because it calls into Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-814589362002-09-11T08:12:00.000-07:002002-09-11T08:15:33.000-07:00it’s funny how mundane day-to-day happenings suddenly assume significance when they collide with some cataclysmic, earth-shattering event.
something like what happened exactly an year ago — September 11, 2001 (a Day of Infamy, as the US media has dubbed it.)
I was playing basketball with my sister and a few of her friends that day and even though I was running slightly late for office I decided Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-814091472002-09-10T09:03:00.000-07:002002-09-10T14:10:38.000-07:00Monday evening was hectic. I was wading through this incomprehensible story that one of the correspondents had filed, trying to beat it into shape. I received a message that there had been an accident involving the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express. My mind raced. After all, Howrah-Delhi was the route frequented by friends, relatives and acquaintances. Was anybody traveling? No, not as far as I knew.Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-809908432002-09-01T06:13:00.000-07:002002-09-01T06:45:48.000-07:00All you Google-heads please stand up. Can you imagine going through a single day of your online life without even once typing in G-O-O-G-L-E in your browser's address bar? I can't.
Sometimes when I think about the power of the search engine it amazes me.
In fact, the Google phenomenon - it's growth from a little-known search engine to one of the most powerful Web presences in a matter of four Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-808248122002-08-28T07:47:00.000-07:002002-08-28T07:47:19.170-07:00I saw Everybody Says I'm Fine today. Or rather, inflicted it upon myself. One-and-a-half hours of excruciating viewing. I have seen better school plays than this. I mean that's what it looked like, an amateur play mounted on screen, and a very bad one at that.
And somebody should lock up this jerk Rahul Bose.
When all around him guys like Farhan Akhtar and Ram Gopal Verma are making brilliant Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-806873692002-08-25T06:02:00.000-07:002002-08-25T06:04:16.000-07:00From time to time, Ramblings will try to cut the verbiage that invariably creeps into news coverage and give you the story straight. Today we take a step-by-step look at the Gujarat imbroglio.
Narendra Modi and goons dissolve Assembly in May and push for polls because they want to ride the Hindutva wave to power.
CEC Lyndgoh spoils the party. Says elections only in November-December.
This Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-805152332002-08-21T02:24:00.000-07:002002-08-21T02:24:57.013-07:00
The creative process is a very healing process. I mean even the act of writing a blog is cathartic. Even if you write extremely uninteresting, self-indulgent stuff like the one I am writing now.
But the kind of stuff that is out there is amazing. I was reading this blog, written by a Bangladeshi girl based in US, who recounts how she told her mother that she was a lesbian. To think that peopleTridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-804657192002-08-20T00:01:00.000-07:002002-08-20T00:02:50.000-07:00Every day when I set out for office in the morning I am trailed by a pesky fly, which keeps on buzzing around and irritating the hell out of me. Lately, I have been wondering why the fly takes a fancy to me. An it occurred that it may be my cologne. (Now I know it's not a very flattering thought. But what the heck, anything for the greater cause of scientific inquiry.) The question that came to Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-804197672002-08-19T00:15:00.000-07:002002-08-19T00:15:48.240-07:00The Sunday Times Of India had an interesting article about a ET which has been attacking people in Uttar Pradesh. From the article it appeared as if this was not another mass hysteria thingie - a very popular diversion among us Indians. Apparently, the Intelligence Bureau, one of the premier investigative agencies of the country, has video footage in its possession which 'shows' the ET.
Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-803103022002-08-16T00:18:00.000-07:002002-08-16T00:18:44.860-07:00So, yesterday was Independence Day. Best thing about it was that it was a holiday. (You see having been a dot com journalist for the last three years, I have had to drag my arse to office on every national holiday, while the rest of the country slept, watched TV, made love…)
Tidied up my room (just in time it seems, because a couple of days more and I would have found it difficult to make my wayTridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3668848.post-799280312002-08-07T00:34:00.000-07:002002-08-07T00:37:04.000-07:00Yesterday was Hiroshima Day. I was planning to post a blog in memory of the occasion, but didn’t get the time. In the morning, I noticed this photograph of a ‘die-in’ protest by anti-nuke activists in front of the Atomic Dome. And as I was editing this particular page of our newspaper, I decided to carry it for yesterday’s edition. It gave me a sort of satisfaction of having done my bit to Tridibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18324851679164286161noreply@blogger.com0