The Idol of India

I mostly "hear" television. The TV blares out in the other room, while I pick up the bits and pieces now and then. I hate the type of stuffs that are aired these days at prime time, the "expert" news-talk shows, the Ekta Kapoor style "K" serials (yuk!), the money-spinning quiz shows and worst of all, the singing talent-hunts.

Yesterday, it was too much. Some guy named "Chang" was voted out by the public. One of the judges was so upset that she left the show! She proclaimed that he was her "Idol", come what may. What the hell! Being judges of these shows itself, is so demeaning. The judges are merely placed to attract public attention, by indulging in mud-slugging and showing pseudo favoritism.

In the earlier days, artists had to struggle constantly to achieve a position in the singing industry. There was only one music company and a handful of music directors. The situation is now much better. This not only allows young artists to showcase their talents, but also makes them disappear from the scene in a flash.

Since young people are involved, things have taken a very vulgar turn too. Most of the music videos are unwatchable with the family and not to speak about the double meaning lyrics in the songs. The argument given in favour of these... freedom of expression and art.

Freedom of art gives license to the artists in our country to paint Goddesses of a religion in the nude and get away with it!

Is a writer, poet, painter, singer or lyricist above the society in which she is living? Does she have the right to hurt other person's sentiments?... maybe I'm old fashioned.

Doosra Banbaas

Bought a nice poetry book "Doosra Banbaas" today. This is a collection of "Ghazals" and "Nazms" by one of the greatest Urdu poets of our times Kaifi Aazmi.

I have been reading his poetry only sparsely till now, I find his poetry very realistic and full of life. Even if he is describing something remorse, it is decorated and presented in a manner that encapsulates your own sorrow along with.

I once saw a video of him in a "mushaaiyra" in Karachi. He was very upset, when the photographers surrounded him clicking away, and distracting him from reciting. He quipped to them, "Dekhiye meri tasveeren itni na lijiye, nazm khatarnaak hai, kahin giraftaar na ho jaayoon, in tasveeron ki wajah se." He then went on to recite "Berooni Andaaz".

Concluding, just four lines from the nazm "Ahteeyaat" in "Doorsa Banbaas". I find such a format of poetry very easy and free to write in. Something that a 'ghazal' does not provide. But then the magic of 'ghazal' is different altogether.

अब तुम आग़ोश-ए-तसव्वुर में भी आया न करो,
तुमको ये रस्म भी दुनिया न निभाने देगी,
बढ़ के दामन से लिपट जाएगी यूँ ताज़ा बहार,
मेरी आग़ोश-ए-तसव्वुर में न आने देगी।

Appreciating Rupee

Ok, so I thought I would purchase the subscription to comics.com. This is so because I thoroughly enjoy the Dilbert strips on my Windoze Vista Side bar. Now when I checked the prices, it made my brain charter into different thought process all together.

Well, it is currency of the subscription I will be talking about. 19.95 USD, for one year subscription. Typical of the Indian mentality, I went ahead to convert it into INR. Ummm.... well 19.95*40=798~800 Indian bucks! for 1 year! Now, this is cheap...

What I mean is that USD has definitely become cheaper in the last few months. Heard a lot about this in the media, and it felt good to feel it actually! Thinking further, I realized that it is now cheaper to buy in USD (Imports are cheaper). But then the flip side, which the media is talking all about, exporters are taking a hit on their profit margins, since most of our export bills are invoiced in USD.

Earlier the RBI used to intervene, and deliberately purchase USD from the forex markets to keep it costly. It would pump in the Indian currency into the market. In the recent past it has sort of "washed its hands off". It seems, it wants INR to appreciate against USD. If we compare the exchange rate of China with USD ... it is at around 7 yuan (CNY) per dollar. Does this attract the foreign investors more there than in India?

Well, as an Indian, it feels good that our currency is gaining strength. We should not be afraid of it. The exporters (including the Indian I.T. organizations) should strive for more business to offset this deficit in their profit margins. It is more important for us to get our Oil cheaper (The Oil Pool deficit will be less) which impacts the larger masses of the country, than to have my quarterly bonus above 100%!!

Another Memorable Day

Today (6th August 2007) is another memorable day for me. Guess what? Not that this will change my life in any way whatsoever, but it makes me laugh and cry at the same time. The emotional clock zoomed backwards for a second!

I don't have the courage all right, but then this is again something that I will remember like those other events in my life. And yes, like in the earlier instances... I have a snapshot of the event.... however unlike the earlier ones, which are etched in my brain's memory, this time it is in more materialistic terms.... a console screen-shot of the event!

Ok, this may have been an abstract post for all of you, but then I had to put it down somewhere...