A confused Indian

I was reading Nikhil's post on the Congress's role in the freedom struggle here the other day. Some pertinent points raised in the post.                 As far as the Congress goes well there are a couple of things I can't forgive it for : 1> The whole Kashmir problem  :                     I believe after all the material I read  , the Kashmir problem could have been  tackled in 1947 itself had it not been Nehru's "vision" to be the "messenger of peace" .                         2> Loss in the 1962 Indo-China war :                 The less I say about this the better. A big blunder in foreign policy . Nehru backed China's permanent security council seat (which India might have got and strangely something which we want now ).The whole "Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai campaign" and the horrible aftermath. The War. The war for which we were not prepared , the war for which we strangely did not use the one thing we were better with , The Air Force (Would love Mihir's  view on this) ,the war which we lost horribly and the war which somehow filled the Indian psyche with distrust when it comes to anything that looks Chinese.               I remember during the last election there was a heated debate between us first time voters in College.  There were people who thought Congress was filled with hypocrites , some pooh-poohed the BJP and some simply refused to vote for Arun Bhatia saying  "You know he is not going to win. Why should I waste my vote?". An appalling stand to take. The general consensus of the whole discussion turned out to be this Congress sucks but unfortunately so does the BJP.   Voting for the fringe parties like NCP is something that should be avoided. This is simply because we do not know who they are doing to side with once the poll results are out.                      The verdict was "Pick the lesser evil" . Because of the above mentioned reasons I would never  pick the Congress  in such a situation (at least currently).  I believe AB Vajpayee's government  was better  than the current UPA (which includes the Left).                        Whichever party comes to to power should not think  , it was their mandate that got them the power but it was the mistakes made by the previous government. This I am sure will repeat till the foreseeable future.

Mr and Mrs Rambo ???

Saw Mr. and Mrs Smith      with some friends the other day.  An extremely ordinary movie with ordinary acting, Angelina Jolie looks brilliant throughout the movie. But unfortunately that is not exactly everything that  is needed to make a movie click.            You don't need a description of the plot here .If you have seen the trailers , you have seen the best parts of the movie + you did not have to waste a couple of hours.         I can't find out any technical faults in the movie. I mean nice lighting, terrific sets, clever camera movement,  sexy actors. It's a slick movie  without even a basic humane storyline. There is absolutely no substance in the movie.           So you have John and Jane Smith , a typical urban couple ,but one which leads surprising secret lives. Both are top agents of 2 different competing Secret agencies.                          Well the movie claws ahead and our lead couple destroy their house, and some buildings,elevators while fighting against each other. Then they decide to join hands ,kill 2-3 dozen more people  and come to know of the Agencies plot(?)  [ I dunno if there were some cuts introduced for the movie in India, but I for one could not find a satisfying explanation for the Government Agencies coming after them]           And then again in the climax some "eggzelent"  team display as the Smiths enable "GOD Mode" and kill 4-5 dozen "agents/goons". Absolutely laughable.               I really thought their names should have been John and Jane Rambo instead of John and Jane Smith. Only way people could have bought a flick like this.             So lets (not) hear it for Mr & Mrs Rambo ,,,ahemm Mr & Mrs Smith everyone.....

MESCOE ke liye OK bolo

"Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd today announced that Mr Saurabh Jain and Mr Gaurang Sinha from MES College of Engineering, Pune, have won the Indian leg of the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2005."   Read the complete article           It is really worth appreciating that students from colleges other than the top brass (read VIT ,COEP,PICT)  have achieved this.       As far as achievements from MESCOEites are concerned , we had Amit Dhurandar who had won at MIcroMouse thing at Powai 2 years back and then won again at Concepts alongwith Kartik Shankarnarayan and his group.  Plus quizzing was always popular in MESCOE as well.(Any other?)         Not bad for a "young" college at all.   To Sauabh and Gaurang   Go ahead and give it your best shot. You have done MESCOE proud.

Is Sonu Nigam in the Kishore-Rafi league yet......

Hi guys exam time over.    My blog is being updated at last.   I have deliberated a long time on this question. Is Sonu Nigam in the Kishore-Rafi league yet.......   Well I am sure there will be uproar  like What the.... How can he compare with them?..... Kishore - Rafi  ... U must be bonkers   I think Kishore Kumar and Mohd. Rafi  will remain the  ultimate benchmark a singer can be compared with. It's like whether u are comparable to Bradman? What I think has happened is that we think no one can beat these greats. TRUE.   None can ,"but unfortunately no one even compares with them"  is  the general perception.   New songs are forgotten quickly? .....New songs lyrics? R there any??   Typical reactions to the general fresh stock of songs which comes in the market. If u take the golden era (50s-80s) the "Lyrics", the "Music"  and the treatment on screen was good.       Contemporary songs except for a few from Javed Akhtar , Gulzar have absolutely forgettable lyrics. The music very often is "inspired".         All this is actually no fault of the singer's ,is it?   I mean on pure singing talent Sonu Nigam can atleast come close (than the rest of the current flock )to those greats IMHO.   What ultimately works for the song will be a combination of lyrics,music,et all .. Some of Sonu's songs like Har ghadi badal rahi hai...... Yeh dill....deewana......---(from Pardes)   will always remain personal favorites.   Would love to have some feedback on this hurriedly written post......