|
|
|
|
|
FDI in insurance
Panchayats in J&K |
|
|
|
Sexist remarks Diatribe now, apology later Some men can’t hold their tongue. After much detested by women — male gaze, that chases them incessantly — now it’s the male tongue that is let loose on their existence.
The weakening idea of India
A Merc for an official’s daughter
Language of emotion
Hitting the bull’s eye
Haunted by the past
Paisa down the drain
|
FDI in insurance
Giving
another push to reforms, the UPA government has allowed foreign investment in insurance and pension funds, placing the cap at 49 per cent. This is subject to Parliament’s approval. The government does not have the numbers in the Rajya Sabha and expects a bailout from the principal opposition party, the BJP, which has been put to an unexpected test. The BJP had indicated that it was open to foreign direct investment (FDI) in sectors other than multi-brand retail. The parliamentary committee on finance, headed by Yashwant Sinha of the BJP, had suggested the FDI cap in insurance at 26 per cent. The party’s stance on the 49 per cent cap, which has been welcomed by the industry, stock markets and the urban middle class, will decide the fate of the government move. As a principle, the Left parties and Trinamool Congress are opposed to foreign investment. The opening up of the pension sector to foreign investment is particularly a red rag to the Leftist bulls. They fear that foreign funds’ presence in pensions can make the sector vulnerable to global financial quakes. But their opposition, as also of Mamata Banerjee, is irrelevant as long as the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party support the government. Showing flexibility, the government says it is open to changes in the pension Bill to provide for the safety of investment and a guarantee of minimum returns. Currently, a vast majority of Indians, particularly in villages, have no access to pension. Only 4.7 per cent of the 1.2 billion Indians have an insurance cover. The scope for growth in both sectors is huge. Foreign companies already have up to 26 per cent stake in Indian insurance companies but have been hampered by excessive regulation and shortage of capital. More capital infusion will spur growth in these sectors. The pension and insurance Bills have been pending in Parliament for long. The Congress rides on the hope that the BJP would cooperate. The BJP has no logic in accepting a 26 per cent FDI limit and rejecting a 49 per cent cap.
|
|
Panchayats in J&K
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s advice to the youth of Jammu and Kashmir “to join hands in the progress of the state and the country” must have been appreciated by one and all in the valley. But those who are aware of the ground reality there know it well that fruits of progress can reach every nook and corner of the state only when village panchayats can play their role effectively. They can do so only if panches and sarpanches are empowered to get development projects in their respective areas implemented without delay. They must be involved in all that happens at the grassroots level. This is what people wanted when they cast their vote overwhelmingly in the 2011 panchayat elections held after a gap of 30 years. Their aspirations were reflected in the more than 80 per cent voter turnout in the polls. But their demand for the grant of powers as given to the panchayats elsewhere in the country is yet to be accepted. A delegation of the state’s panches and sarpanches met Rahul Gandhi on September 27 to get the 73rd amendment to the Constitution implemented in Jammu and Kashmir so that the state’s panchayats become autonomous in planning and execution of development projects and utilisation of funds earmarked for such purposes. But so far no one knows when their grievances would be redressed. Now the panches and sarpanches are faced with a new problem: they do not feel secure after the ultimatum issued by the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed asking them to resign or face the consequences. Many of them put in their papers after the killing of two panchayat members last month. Three of them had been done to death earlier by militants, who have been feeling upset since the successful conduct of the panchayat polls owing to the considerable interest taken by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the revival of panchayati raj institutions. It is the responsibility of Omar not only to provide them adequate security but also empower the panches and sarpanches to defeat the enemies of peace and progress in the state. Any party that does not support him in this noble task will get exposed.
|
|
|
Sexist remarks
Some
men can’t hold their tongue. After much detested by women — male gaze, that chases them incessantly — now it’s the male tongue that is let loose on their existence. Every now and then someone holding a high-profile office lets its diatribe go public against women, to retrieve it later, apologetically. The new entrant to this august club — which has judges, police chiefs, senior defence personnel and ministers as members —Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, has taken the discourse a few notches higher by his enlightened discovery on women that a wife becomes less charming as she gets older! This has presumably angered women’s groups who feel the uttering of the minister is derogatory to their status. Jaiswal heads a ministry that is much blackened by its coal dealings, but intellectual luminaries like Sir V S Naipaul, a Nobel laureate, hold women to be somewhat lesser gifted intellectually compared to men. Last year the ever acerbic Sir Vidia declared that no woman writer was equal to him; he had special reservation against Jane Austin, still a popular novelist. Sir Vidia expressed his detest for her “sentimental sense of the world”. This only reminded his readers of his very sentimental novel that he wrote on his father’s life, “A House for Mr Biswas”. Not only this, Sir Salman Rushdie’s fans too were in rude shock when they read in “Joseph Anton” how Sir Rushdie detested assertion by Padma Lakshmi, his fourth wife, for her own independent identity. Our esteemed judges have shown ingenuity in voicing their misogyny. Last month 500 lawyers practising in the Karnataka High Court had to sign a petition asking the Chief Justice of India to intervene against Justice K Bhaktavatsala who not only justified habitual beating of a wife by her husband, but also added that in future family matters would only be argued by married people, and not spinsters, referring to an unmarried female lawyer. If only they could see truth, their utterings would not beg apology!
|
|
|
Friendship is one mind in two bodies. — Mencius
|
The weakening idea of India THE most heinous and the most cruel crimes which history has recorded have been committed under the cover of religion or equally noble motives”, so said Mahatma Gandhi in 1921 in an address to the Congress party at Ahmedabad. Yet the religion-based parties have played havoc with the sentiments and aspirations of people in the country. In the name of improving man’s character and convictions, the parties have indulged in such acts which have fanned fundamentalism and ultimately frustration. India today is a sad spectacle of scotched hopes and exaggerated entities. A pluralistic society is being defeated in tolerance by the assertion of communities which do not pay even a lip sympathy to secularism, India’s ethos. I have never seen so many Hindu temples coming up and so many people, including the young, visiting them. Nor have I experienced before the frequency to mosques and large congregations. What is most disturbing is the discussion by civil society in homes, clubs and restaurants. That reflects a way of thinking which was absent a few years ago. The discussion is, as usual, a mixture of communities’ chauvinism and religious fanaticism. Muslims have generally withdrawn from the mainstream and feel more secure among members of their own community, visibly Islamic. Young girls are taking to “hijab” which I saw rarely in Lahore. Young men wear a small beard and talk about the Muslim identity in a country which was divided on the basis of religion. The influence of Wahabis , a sect of believers within Islam, is growing and even the ridiculous fatwa to justify “talaq” by a drunken husband evokes little protest. I am surprised how Muslims have to come to prefer “Allahhafiz” to “Khuda hafiz” to underline the Arabic origin—a purely religious angle. The biggest loss is that of Sufism which still provides a common platform to Hindus and Muslims, seeking something beyond temples and mosques, prayers and rituals. After the traumatic experience of Partition, people in India as well as Pakistan have regretted the toll which religion had taken and had settled down to the fact that there would have to be a majority and a minority in the two countries. But strangely they have not cultivated a spirit of accommodation or a sense of tolerance. When the Babri Masjid was demolished in India and some Hindu temples wrecked in Pakistan and Bangladesh, it was evident that the feeling of amity is still to return to the subcontinent. It has been tough for the Indian Muslims and tough for the minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh. As for Muslims in India, they have come round to accepting even unfair demands of Hindus. Economically, educationally and socially backward, the community has had no option. True, it goes on regretting what it has lost, and reluctantly adjusts to the little leeway to go ahead. Yet they are being pushed out of even the limited space they have. This should have made them join the mainstream, but it is having an opposite effect. More and more Muslims are withdrawing into a cell. In a country where their population is roughly 17 crore, a large part of the Indian body remains unutilised. It is a tragedy. The communal elements among Hindus have a different agenda, of undoing the secular state and of founding Hindu Rashtra. It is a pity that the state has been too soft towards them. Even civil society does not react as strongly against the excesses as it should have because such people are out to demolish the liberal polity which we have built during the last 70 years, brick by brick. If they were to succeed, India would be lost in the world of extremism and may become a prey to communal violence on a large scale. The Sikhs, genuinely hurt by the attack on their Vatican, Darbar Sahib at Amritsar, in 1984 and the killings of their community members in Delhi the same year, find themselves more at home among the Sikhs. The exigencies of living do not bother them—they are generally well off— but the dilution of their identity does. They mix religion with politics more often than others. Yet the Hindus find themselves closer to Sikhs because they are nearer one and another religion-wise and because they have migrated together from Pakistan. Whether all three communities — Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs — are satisfied with their obsession to refurbish their identity or not, they are weakening the idea of India and harming the ethos of the country. Secularism should have been on top of all political parties’ agenda, which was the war cry against the British during the independence struggle and promised to abolish boundaries on the basis of religion and caste. In contrast, it is sad to see identities returning with a vengeance. No doubt, the politicians are most to blame for fostering cleavages with an eye on the electoral advantage. They have betrayed the nation and changed the “noble motives” which Mahatma Gandhi had
attributed to religion.
|
|||
A Merc for an official’s daughter Thanks to the anti-corruption movement spearheaded by campaign commander Anna Hazare, corruption has become the buzzword, of late. Today, almost every child on the street knows the character of the leaders of the ruling as well as waiting-to-rule parties. The campaign has also embittered our previous notion of taking the canker of corruption in our stride by accepting it as part of our life. The drive has made us put on our thinking caps and reconsider the validity of our traditional “chalta-hai” attitude. It seems to be high time to let our forgive-and-forget philosophy take the back-seat for a while and find a lasting cure for the menace. It was in this backdrop and this sort of thinking mode that I came to know about a lavish wedding. One of the invitees told me that the father of the bride, who had remained posted as tehsildar in the district, gave a brand-new Mercedes car as a dowry-gift to his beloved daughter. Now, corruption is a ubiquitous phenomenon these days, and this writer has had quite a few opportunities to examine, expose and report various instances of corrupt practices. Still, this was a bit too much. What proved to be the icing on the cake was the fact that several government functionaries present there, including revenue, taxation and administrative officials, preferred to focus on the sumptuous delicacies and networking rather than ruining their evening by getting into the nitty-gritty of their host’s source of income. After all, all duty and no pleasure would only make them dull babus. In sharp contrast, I was reminded of an old anecdote narrated by my grandfather. He once told me that when Rafi Ahmed Kidwai - a socialist leader and freedom fighter, who later became a minister in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s Cabinet - passed away, Nehru went to his house to offer condolences to his family. There he saw that a portion of the late minister’s house was in a dilapidated condition. Nehru offered a certain amount of money to Kidwai’s widow to get the house repaired, but she refused to accept any financial aid. “Whatever my husband has left behind is enough for me,” asserted the lady. “Such was the character of our leaders and their families then”, maintained my grandfather with a sense of pride. But then, he gloomily shook his head over the present-day state of affairs. I silently decided to avoid telling my 90-plus grandfather about the instances of dishonesty we often come across. Ignorance, they say, is bliss. A few months later, I called up a seasoned all-weather friend for his advice on some worldly matter. After having addressed the issue of concern, our conversation veered towards the prevailing scenario. Disenchanted with the scheme of things, I quoted poet Iqbal’s couplet, “Barbaad gulistaan karne ko bas ek hi ullu kaafi tha. Har shaakh pe ullu baitha hai, anjaam-e-gulistaan kya hoga”. I had not even completed the couplet when my worldly-wise friend quipped: “Bhai, yahaan to ullu ke patthe baithe hain”, innocuously giving an all-new perspective to the age-old
verse.
|
|||
Language of emotion Her home is her world. Yet, the significant others mocks at her limited understanding of English. As things turn out, she finds herself in the USA, and sets on to arm herself with Queen's English.
And in telling this simple tale of an Indian hausfrau, debutant director Gauri Shinde makes one of the most emphatic statements concerning women's identity. So what appears on the surface an account of a woman trying to overcome the handicap of not knowing English, is actually coming of age of a middle class woman in the mid years of life. Multi-layered and multi-nuanced indeed, at one level the film is about our colonial hangover with English, at another about the woman's inherent need to be appreciated. Yet despite several subtexts, in the simplicity of the story lies its beauty. Heart warming, it tugs at your emotional chords all the way. While Sridevi as the lovable yet tenacious Shashi proves beyond doubt that 15 years of hiatus has in no way affected her mettle as an actor, it has only made her a more mature performer, Gauri Shinde can take a bow and easily count herself as one among the promising women directors. Indeed, a woman alone could have looked at the lead protagonist with such sensitivity and empathy. A woman alone could have taken a peep into a woman's head with such amazing clarity. Clearly love is not enough in a relationship….what a woman also wants is respect. What is the most refreshing aspect of the film is the manner in which it challenges and knocks down stereotypes within the paradigm of tradition. And the word judgemental whose answer Shashi seeks from her niece is not a word that has been carelessly tossed around but chosen very carefully. It defines and determines the tenor of the film. Actually nothing in the film is carelessly mounted. Yet none of it even the romantic angle appears contrived. Nor does the replication of Mind Your Language kind of classroom that brings together men and women of different nationalities. All the elements of the film gel seamlessly in a narrative that is as effortless in its approach as endearing in its appeal. Casting, be it Adil Hussain as the husband or Amitbah Bachchan as the co-passenger or Mehdi Nebbou, the French cook smitten by Shashi, is simply perfect. Flawless flow sans melodrama but with just enough turns and humour keeps you absorbed in a tale that is told simply and superbly. English Vinglish…. you may or may not know, the film speaks in a language at once evocative and beautiful. Must see for all women looking for a reason to fall in love with themselves and mandatory for all men who love their wives yet know not that marriage is relationship of equals.
Film Director Cast Rating
|
|
Hitting the bull’s eye This is about underworld crime during an economic crisis and revolves around the nefarious activities of seven hardened killers. It is dialogue heavy with pairs in hushed talks and the camera then moves to another pair and another. But director-scriptwriter Andrew Dominik weaves a magical web that is sometimes suspenseful, often thought-provoking but always absorbing and that's what makes Killing Them Softly an utterly 'not to be missed' entertainer. It is not to be confused with Killing Me Softly. Based on a novel Coogan's Trade by George Higgins, the setting is updated to coincide with the current economic crisis and election scenario with President Obama waxing eloquent but US sham-democracy rightly ridiculed with some satiric lines and apt 1960s music, especially a few lilting bars of "it must be a paper moon."
The hero Jackie Coogan (Brad Pitt) takes his bow well into the film but there are enough of hard-boiled cameos like the burly Mickey (James Gandolfini), the constant druggie Russell (Ben Mendelson), the expressive Markie (Ray Liotta) the unobtrusive Dillon (Sam Shepard) and the driver (Richard Jenkins) among others. In the beginning the viewer is not able to gauge the link between these heavyweights and that adds to the suspense. They plot against each other but are not sure of their own stake in the pie, if there is one. It is here that director Dominik displays his deep psychological insight in capturing their transient moments and how some of them crack up. Cinematographer Greig Fraser's long takes contribute to the suspense as he shifts from one duo to another and it's interiors that dominate. Who is pulling the strings, one wonders, but there are no easy answers. This is cinema at its very best. It is 97-minutes of riveting fare with Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta and Ben Mendelson excelling in this all-male cast in this super entertainer. Film Director Cast Rating
|
|
Haunted by the past Remember William Friedkin's The Exorcist, the film that launched the then unknown Linda Blair to instant stardom as the foul-mouthed possessed girl and who gave the horror film a new dimension in the early 1970s? It was just the inspiration that led Ole Bomedal to come up with The Possession. But if the first had a Christian backdrop this one is Jewish. Of course, one cannot think of the two films in the same breath but The Possession, which begins disastrously with that dybbuk box (with Hebrew inscriptions) playing havoc, it sort of recovers, thanks to the emotional drama of a broken home. Em (Natasha Calis) is the little girl who is possessed after she comes upon the dreaded box. Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is the caring dad who has been recently divorced by his high-strung wife Stephanie (Kyra Sedgwick) who is currently dating Brett (Grant Show). This parental split affects Em and Hannah (Madison Davenport). May be the FX today are more devastating but the script lacks the credibility of the earlier film. But given his limitations of art imitating art, Bomedal comes off rather well with a strong latter half. That it coincides with family reunion is typical Hollywood formula-ish but strong performances by Natasha Calis, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick is as convincing as it is underplayed. Matisyahu as the Jewish rabbi Tzadok is also a refreshing cameo. Recommended for horror movie buffs, even if it can be called a poor man's Exorcist. Film Director Cast Rating
|
||
|
Paisa down the drain Even if you don't have anything better to do, even if you have nothing to do or even if a friend (a friend can never do this) leaves you with two 'free' tickets for the movie Kismat Love Paisa Dilli (KLPD), we suggest just ignore. And if for some fault in your stars, you do land up watching Sanjay Khanduri's KLPD, think of it as a good deed. After all, how many good souls like you will spend money to watch 'super-dude-who-never-was-actor' Vivek Oberoi and 'Hisss' highness Malika Sherawat create riff-raff!
Someone here has done the shoddiest job of imparting sex education to the masses through a story that even a rocket scientist will not be able to connect with. A skirt-chaser Vivek Oberoi (Lokesh) finds himself in all the wrong situations along with Malika Sherawat (Lovena), who doesn't miss a chance for vivid skin show. As the story, heavily pregnant with double-meaning dialogues, slithers through the lanes of Delhi, we see the director garnish his story with a plethora of actors. KLPD tries horribly hard to make you laugh, but how can you do that when your brain is as cold as the ice-cream back home in your freezer! One time when we hear giggles is when Ashutosh Rana (Kaptaan Saab) with his Haryanavi accent utters countable interesting dialogues. We don't remember anything about the music; was their anything called 'music' anyway! KLPD comes from the same director who gave us Ek Challis Ki Last Local, but this time we bet he has missed his 'local'! Film Director Cast Rating
|
||
|
Movies on TV
Housefull star gold 2:20PM Housefull is a 2010 Indian comedy directed by Sajid Khan. It's about a boy, Aarush (Akshay Kumar) who leaves his job to stay with his friend, Bob (Ritesh Deshmukh) and his wife, Hetal (Lara Dutta), who both work at a casino. Aarush is jinxed, as everything he does is turned against him. Desperate to get lucky, Aarush goes to a priest, who tells him that his luck will change once he gets married. The story takes off from there. ZEE CINEMA 7:25AM Maa Kasam 10:25AM Viewers Choice 1:55PM Muqaddar Ka Sikander 5:45PM Mohra 9:00PM Ram Teri Ganga Maili STAR GOLD 8:15AM Ragada 10:50AM Ghar Ho To Aisa 2:20PM Housefull 5:30PM Ra.One 9:00PM Ghatak ZEE STUDIO 8:00AM Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway 10:50AM Baby on Board 12:30PM Guthy Renker 1:00PM Gone in Sixty Seconds 3:00PM 21 5:40PM Brokeback Mountain 8:35PM Duplex 10:30PM Gothika STAR MOVIES 8:04AM The Front Row with Anupama Chopra 8:34AM End of Days 11:08AM Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer 12:52PM Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End 4:00PM National Treasure: Book of Secrets 6:32PM New Police Story 9:00PM Resident Evil: AfterLife 11:08PM The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian HBO 7:56AM The Making of : Speedy Singhs 8:26AM The School Of Rock 10:41AM Step Up 12:51PM Thor 3:25PM The Warrior's Way 5:31PM Ace Ventura: Pet Detective 7:16PM 4.3.2.1 9:30PM Transporter 3 WB 7:30AM Nikita 8:20AM The Lotr: The Two Towers 12:04PM Bulletproof Monk 2:18PM Jackie Chan's Who Am I? 4:57PM The Final Destination 6:41PM Happy Feet 9:00PM Kung Fu Panda 10:57PM Friday the 13th AXN 12:40PM The Ring 10:00PM Zodiac Sunday
October 7 wb 12:33PM Into the world of the Emperor Penguins, who find their soul mates through a song, a penguin is born who cannot sing. But he can tap dance really well. Happy Feet is a 2006 Australian-American computer-animated musical family film, directed and co-written by George Miller. Happy Feet won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. ZEE CINEMA 10:40AM Mujhse Shaadi Karogi 2:20PM Nayak 5:30PM Mard STAR GOLD 6:00AM Don 9:25AM Bal Ganesh 11:50AM Dhadkan 3:00PM Kurukshetra 5:50PM Singham 9:00PM Ayan Vidhwansak The Destroyer STAR MOVIES 7:07AM Aladdin 9:05AM The Pacifier 11:14AM The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian 2:02PM Spider Man 2 4:15PM National Treasure: Book of Secrets 6:47PM Ghost Rider 9:00PM You Pick The Flick 11:30PM D-War: Dragon Wars WB 7:32AM The Golden Compass 9:54AM Jackie Chan's Who Am I? 12:33PM Happy Feet 2:49PM Kung Fu Panda 4:46PM Thunderbolt 7:08PM Friday the 13th 9:00PM 10,000 BC 11:07PM The Final Destination B4U MOVIES 8:00AM Itni Si Baat 11:00AM Laughter Station 12:00PM Faslah 3:00PM Laughter Station 4:00PM Ek Aur Ek Gyarah 7:00PM Laughter Station 7:30PM Race HBO 8:55 AM Ace Ventura: Pet Detective 10:50 AM Kung fu Panda 2 1:00 PM Green Lantern 3:30 PM Transporter 2 5:25 PM Yogi Bear 7:05 PM One Bak 2: One Man Army 9:00 PM Green Lantern 11:50 PM Rango (2011)
|
||
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Saturday October 6
Happy feet