The Bubbly Girl becomes a woman…

Amongst the current crop of actresses, Preity Zinta has been my favourite since her Dil Se days. The impudent question she asks SRK, the cute dimples & the pearly whites that step out every time she smiles (which is very often) and the school girlish charm that she exudes, all contributed to my becoming a fan. Of course, she has had her bad movies, bad clothes & moments – but then, she has displayed a decent sense of maturity over the years. Just that the Industry hasn’t offered her good roles yet.

This is a poster that I had in room and this was till date the picture that would flash in my mind when I heard her name. I have always associated playfulness & fun with her – in fact, I have always wanted to have a sister like her.

But this pic changes all my conventions about Preity. And you know what? It has everything to do with the Bindi that she sports – it lends to her face a sense of completeness, maturity, womanhood and authority. All these apart from the sheer Indian beauty. Lovely picture of a beautiful woman.

Incredible!!!

I am sitting in a Cyber Cafe and I have a kid (aged between 8 – 12) sitting next to me checking mail on Gmail. And he has a Nokia Communicator that he juggles deftly in one hand even while checking his mail. He uses words like dude & screwed (rhyme unintended) effortlessly. He speaks his mind very clearly – “I can’t hear you at the moment and anyways what you are saying doesn’t concern me. I’ll call you after dinner.” Believe me, I’ve never been so precise and I can never be.

And I am sitting here and blogging about the poor…

Poor & India…

Just this morning, I read that one-third of the world’s poor reside in India.

Why is India so poor? Why is the distribution of wealth and as a consequence, the distribution of joy so partial? Have we traditionally been like this? Were all people never happy? Did they never have good clothes to have, a shelter to protect them or nutritious food? If we are one of the oldest civilisations, this imbalance is not the mark of a good civilisation isn’t it?

Every time I see a child with its torn clothes and dry, brownish hair, I feel very bad. I feel dirty to have eaten a stomach full or to have slept with the A/C on the whole night. What was the mistake of the child? Does s/he not deserve a happy childhood? Does s/he deserve to be shooed away by shopkeepers the same way they shoo a dog away? Is one’s past karma so bad that it spoils their next entire life?

And what are the implications on the society? These children that are denied a childhood will grow into rebels that will constantly strike at the roots of this society. And one day, the roots will give away & the society will fall.

So what are we going to do about it? I do not know. What am I going to do about it? I do not know. But what Mohan Bhargava did in the movie Swades is inspiring. To a large extent, it is possible to contribute to today’s society without having to work in a NGO or compromise your career. I hope something materialises.

Moreover, I find 2 thoughts prevalent in people that I know – Governments are theives and donations do not reach the deserving. If the society has to be improved, this needs to be erased from public memory.

Ferrari & Raikkonen – What is happening?

If it is true, you cannot have a demotivated guy driving your car; nor can you afford to pay someone in excess of $51 Million and not expect him to win or play second fiddle to his team mate. At the same time, a World Champion cannot have a poor car for the Qualifying Session for a third of a racing season; neither can he afford to have pit lane blushes, silencer flapping around in the wind or an engine blow-up. Actually, the Scuderia Ferrari factory team has had two blow-ups in the last two races.

So what is happening? Have the reliability demons come back to bite Raikkonen when it would hurt the most? Afterall,  it is retaining the title that is a bigger challenge than winning it! And Raikkonen is not new to reliability issues – he had similar problems with the McLaren too.

As I have written before here, I am sure there isn’t a lack of motivation – it is just about putting everything in place. The genius of Ferrari gets undone by the systematic efforts put in by teams like McLaren & BMW; no great ideas, but they just do the right thing with an amazing consistency.  Ferrari have oodles of passion – it is the most distinguished of all racing teams and apart from drivers, its technicians, factory men and even the fans are known to be highly passionate.

So there you go – no problems with intellect & no problems with passion – what exactly is bothering the finishing touches. When the hallowed trio of Jean Todt, Ross Brawn & Micheal Schumacher were ruling the roost, a few would have imagined that Ferrari would have reliability issues someday. Even after Ross & Micheal’s departure, Ferrari had a good season in 2007. But Todt’s departure has really left the team in a sort of rudder-less I guess. Not to take away anything from all the efforts put in by everyone, may be Jean Todt & Micheal should be coaxed to assume some serious responsibilities in the team.

Let us hope things get better and Ferrari get things on track for a consecutive world championship in both drivers’ & constructors’ categories.

India Unplugged…

In all its cultural diversity & splendor, India has retained it’s cullinary reputation in a big manner. Just enlarge the picture below & have a look.