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With warmth from Punjab
Choking, yet in denial |
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Cultural imperatives
India in US scheme of things
Creating ancestry
Not a steal
Game on...
Surfing on the surface
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With warmth from Punjab
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal’s five-day visit to Pakistan to promote trade, cultural and sports ties between the two countries is welcome. Any pick-up in bilateral trade through the land route will particularly benefit the two Punjabs. Replicating the famous food street of Lahore in Amritsar is a good idea as Punjabis on both sides of the border love food. Since they had lived together for centuries before the bloodshed during Partition and the two wars soured relations, their common interests in cultural activities and traditional sports can be revived and encouraged. The recent resumption of cricket matches between the two countries has paved the way for promoting other games of local interest like kabaddi and hockey. Sukhbir has made commendable efforts in promoting kabaddi matches which attract teams from various countries. He has invited Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister of Pakistani Punjab, to the coming Kabaddi World Cup in Punjab. While reports do not suggest Sukhbir Badal, who also holds the Home portfolio, expressed concern over Pakistani support to Punjab militants, he did take up the issue of Indian prisoners, including Sarbjit, languishing in Pakistan. The release of prisoners by both sides can further contribute to the atmosphere of goodwill. Food and sports apart, it is trade that will benefit both Punjabs the most. At present bilateral trade amounts to just $1.5 billion and the scope for expansion is immense. Traders accompanying Sukhbir Badal got a chance to know their counterparts in Lahore. A joint business committee was set up. Pakistan’s thriving textile manufacturers have been invited to Punjab, which plans to set up a textile park. The trade discussions threw up issues like hurdles in visa clearances, permission to trade in the local currency and the establishment of a dispute settlement mechanism. More land routes for trade can be opened up to ease congestion at Attari. These are issues that are not hard to tackle if there is political will on both sides.
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Choking, yet in denial
Winter
is not exactly here yet, but the tell-tale smog already is. Delhi is getting choked, and the gloomy cover is beginning to envelop the cities of Ludhiana and Jalandhar in Punjab as well as cities in western Uttar Pradesh. The political leadership of these states would, however, just like to wash their hands off any responsibility, passing the buck on to a neighbouring territory. It is an urgent pollution and, therefore, health issue; and denial is the least of the solutions. The situation has no place for politics, as it is a matter of policy correction and social responsibility. The level of respirable suspended particulate matter in Delhi is around five times the nationally accepted standards. Ludhiana has the fourth most polluted air in the world and the worst in the country. The foremost culprit in cities is vehicle emissions. Delhi is adding nearly 1,100 vehicles a day, double the pre-CNG days. This problem has no immediate solution, but with tough policy and legislative measures, it can be helped. Countries around the world have imposed levies on cars entering central areas of cities or those carrying a single person. There is a demand in India to impose heavy taxes on cars run on diesel, which causes greater particulate pollution. Mass transport measures such as the Metro and cleaner buses have lagged behind the demand in all cities, while the only real solution is to get people off personal transport. Even as vehicles are the bane in cities, in the countryside it is agricultural practices such as burning of the straw left behind after harvesting paddy. Punjab and Haryana have to take responsibility for this. It may or may not be the cause of Delhi’s current misery, but it is definitely harming the environment in the two states, besides causing massive loss of organic matter in the fields, which is bad for soil health, and therefore future yields. Farmers are averse to the alternatives to burning the straw, but tough legal measures will have to be taken in this regard, just as the sowing of early varieties of paddy was banned to save water. With the current levels of pollution, lives, especially of children and the infirm, are at stake.
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Cultural imperatives
Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari has listed as her top priority getting world heritage status for forts that have not met with the approval of a UNESCO committee. There is no doubt that India’s magnificent monuments attract a large number of tourists, both domestic and international, all except a handful of them are not equipped with proper documentation, guides, son et lumière shows, etc, which would enhance the experience and make it truly memorable. Indeed, even the five forts that could not get the world heritage site status —
Ranthambore, Gagrone, Jhalawar, Chittorgarh, Amber and Kumbhalgarh—need to have better preservation and presentation of their heritage. Encroachments of historical sites is a reality that needs to be tackled, and since eviction of long-standing encroachers may not be possible, they should be made stake holders and their help enlisted in taking care of such monuments. The minister faces multiple challenges in her new office. Besides monuments, there are many aspects of preserving and perpetuating Indian culture that need immediate attention. India is a truly multi-cultural entity. The time is ripe to expand beyond the traditional repertoire and tap into the vast riches of regional and local cultural activities. Indeed, the diversity of the subcontinent as vast as India is a strength that has largely gone untapped. The appreciation of traditional forms of cultural performances, literature and music must also come in conjunction with efforts to tap modern media to present them to a young international audience. Soft power, projected through culture, is a potent force in today’s world, and the new minister would do well to look at how other nations have tapped into their traditional resources and used them to provide a wholesome cultural experience that draws audiences from far and wide. Indeed, India has a lot to offer, what it needs is a conscious movement to present its cultural activities in a modern manner, which is both attractive and informative.
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A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song. — Lou Holtz
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India in US scheme of things THE re-election of US President Barak Obama for four more years means continuity, rather than change, in Indo-American relations. But this continuity will be qualified by evolving Washington policies as by events on the ground. We are, of course, living in a new post-Cold War world in which New Delhi’s compulsions to tip towards Moscow and US antipathy to what it viewed as India’s fence-sitting no longer operate. In this sea-change that has taken place after the end of the Cold War and the break- up of the Soviet Union, the geopolitical nature of the Indo-American equation is as striking as it is limiting. The defence relationship has improved dramatically not merely in the plethora of joint military exercises between the armed forces of the two countries but also in the purchases of arms from the US. It is also well understood in New Delhi that it provides a vital element in the Obama administration’s so-called pivot to Asia in terms of the promise to position 60 per cent of its military assets in Asia. In economic terms, the spurt in trade and investment between the two countries began with the liberalisation measures undertaken by the Narasimha Rao government in the early 1990s with Dr Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister. There was a measure of continuity in the first non-Congress government under Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee to be followed by the United Progressive Alliance-I. But the compulsions of coalition politics and the loss of nerves by the UPA-II has meant that reforms took a back seat coinciding to an extent with the world recession. A last-ditch resolve to push the reform agenda for the remainder portion of the UPA-II of less than two years might result in some more investment opportunities for US multilnationals, but India cannot bank on miracles. Therefore, the intensity of US investment in India lies in the future. This does not take away the importance of Washington in India’s economic development. The Obama administration realises that India will not become an official military ally for a variety of reasons. The China relationship, troubled as it is and likely to remain so, is of immense importance to New Delhi because of the border problems and Beijing’s attempt to encircle India through its other immediate neighbours and the increasing volume of trade between the two countries, at present heavily in China’s favour. Second, India’s relationship with Russia is still significant, despite the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Moscow is New Delhi’s largest arms supplier and agreements signed in recent times involve joint development of new generation of aircraft and weapons systems. On the other hand, other trade between the two countries remains at a pitiably low level and has defied efforts to grow significantly. Beyond these important considerations, the logic of India’s natural desire to become a power of some consequence implies that the country must treasure its strategic autonomy in relation to its immediate neighbours as well as countries in the Far East. As both India and Japan are discovering, there are strategic and trade convergences between the two countries and New Delhi certainly believes that Japan is its natural partner in more ways than one. Further afield, Australia is re-thinking its strategic options towards India as well as other Asian countries, as exemplified by the recent visit of its Prime Minister, Ms Julia Gillard. In sum, America must remain a very important country for India as it is for most of the world, despite its diminishing world role, despite the emergence of China as a future super power and the emerging world exemplified by the Brics countries. Short of the distortions of the Cold War, there is better understanding of Indian impulses and a desire to assure New Delhi of Washington’s support for its military needs. While it would be foolhardy to reduce he impulses of the Indo-US relationship to the China factor, it is crystal clear that Beijing is at the centre of a geopolitical realignment in which India, the US, Japan and Australia will increasingly coordinate their policies to rein in an assertive and increasingly arrogant China. One indication of future planning is the trilateral meetings that are now institutionalised among the US, India and Japan and there will be greater regional cooperation among India and the ASEAN countries as between India and Australia. In terms of foreign policy interests, New Delhi was unperturbed by a possible Mitt Romney victory; it was, indeed, remarkable that India did not figure at all in the three US presidential debates. But India is happy with Mr Obama’s re-election because he is a known entity. The disquiet in the IT industry on his opposition to outsourcing is exaggerated, as the industry will find out soon. We are living in a new and changing world in which the traditional US hegemony is being challenged not merely by China but also by other emerging powers such as India. But it would be foolish to underrate the formidable levers of power Washington continues to exercise. This implies that while the US will not be able to run the world as it did in much of the post-Cold War era, it will remain the most important player for some time in a world with other centres of power. What remains unclear is how far China will go in asserting its new power. It has been particularly belligerent towards Japan and Vietnam and the Philippines in declaiming its rights in disputed waters and over islands. It must, however, dawn upon the Chinese rulers that demonstrating its military clout is not the best way to win friends and influence people. Beijing’s problem is that it has substituted nationalism for ideology in keeping the country together and the excesses of nationalism can prove disastrous in the pursuit of its foreign policy. The answer lies in how quickly the Chinese leadership can resolve its own quarrels in the party. The world, including India, will watch Chinese developments with keen interest as it completes its one-in-a-decade leadership change. In any event, Indo-American relations have entered an irreversible
phase.
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Creating ancestry Some 45 years ago while I was a high school student in America, I was taken on a visit to the multi-storeyed Engleworth shopping complex in Chicago. Yet in my teens, I was taken aback by its largeness, glitter and range of items for sale. Connaught Place, Delhi’s own Piccadilly Circus, seemed a defunct medieval amphitheatre, by comparison. At the entrance of the mall, I noticed new furniture, fashioned in styles prevalent during the reign of Victoria Regina, Queen Anne, as well as the Chippendale and Ricoco patterns being beaten by small chains attached to a machine that went about its job relentlessly. I was told that the ample couches would look better than originals, finding place in wealthy homes to assist their owners in creating a lineage. Many years later while posted as magistrate in charge of a sub—division in Bengal, I came to the adverse notice of the Calcutta High Court; and having been hauled up for contempt, I found myself pacing the pillared corridors outside the Advocate -General’s chamber. I lowered myself into a beautifully crafted bench of Burma teak, with intricate carvings, on either side but had to get up quite suddenly having been bitten on the rear by vicious bugs, whose ancient slumber I had disturbed. Soon, thereafter, I visited a friend’s tottering 300-room palace remarkable for its Corinthian facade, Italian statuary and vast chambers with shrouded chandeliers to be confronted by a large piece of gilded plaster that landed squarely on a long dining table while an impassive butler served consommé, salmon and mixed grill on salvers, unmindful that the hall was being emptied of its chiffon-clad ladies. In more recent times I witnessed a film, ‘Mrs Brown’, in which Queen Victoria appears in black widow’s garb with a net covering her countenance. Her entire staff, too, are turned out in black suits and dresses without a trace of jewellery. Shortly before I retired from the Punjab Government, my office was housed in a building next to Glass Palace, an establishment known for newly created antique furniture, some of which had been got crested. From a bay window I watched it being taken away to a fashionable quarter of Corbusier’s Chandigarh, a city in the making. The next day I was invited to the house with new furniture. Some porcine women, I found, were rolling wine over the tongue, cluck clucking approval to a wine master, their imported trainer. Weary of encountering unsustainable ancestry, I shifted to a village bordering the ramparts of a ruined fortress in Panchkula to find that it was being restored with pedimented arches and a freshly painted gateway. Soon, it looked like a birthday cake with chocolate cream windows, marzipan doorways and monogrammed cutlery! The entire place had been turned into a heritage hotel! At the inauguration, a scholarly silver haired gentleman who presided over the function was told by a scion of the royal family that he held a ‘shijra’ of his ancestors for the last six hundred years. The old man replied, “I learnt the alphabet in the dust, etching out figures on mother earth! I know not the name of my grandfather! Where I came from, where I am going
to!”
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Stolen….as the name suggests and as the opening sequence of the movie would have you believe is definitely about a heist and a master-mind thief Will Montgomery (Nicolas Cage). And when an ace thief is around, can the FBI be far behind? So there you have FBI agents headed by Tim Harlend (Danny Huston) keeping tabs on Will in the early hours of the morning, tracking him by the song he is playing on his car recorder.
Only this one doesn’t just stop at being a mere cat-and-mouse game between the FBI and the thieves. Of course, there are enough chase sequences right from the beginning. Round one the police wins and in the final round….no need to rake your brains. But if at the very beginning only the police catch the thief, where can it go? Well, well, there is more to come. Since our robber isn’t just a smart thief but also happens to be a loving dad, his return to normal life after eight years in the jail can’t be easy. For the little girl daddy left behind is no more seven and the accomplices with whom daddy dearest had pulled off the robbery have changed too. Actually the real drama begins only after he walks out of the jail, for the money he looted is till date untraced. Does he still have the money? To what extent his friend-turned-foe Vincent (Josh Lucas), now lame and devilish, will go to have his pound of flesh and bagful of money?
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Game on... If you have spent hours at the gaming station or in front of your computer, cracking hurdles, moving from one level to another in the gaming world, Wreck It Ralph is something that you deserve to watch! The characters Fix It Flex, the dynamite girl, the villainous king are likeable and nicely etched out in the gaming world. And then there is a sense of déjà vu. You have seen that before, while you were playing and couldn’t cross a level because of the virus and the glitch. Wreck It Ralph weaves a story of adventure baked in a lot of colours from the candy world and of course, a story of the gaming world. So, this means it moves out from being a children’s movie to something you wouldn’t mind catching up with. A game-hopping journey, interrupted by a virus that finally meets a suitable end is what Wreck It Ralph is about. The director, of The Simpsons fame, has done a good job of limiting characters according to the story. If in bits and parts you feel Bollywoodish…don’t think just enjoy! Lastly, if you want to bring a smile on your kid’s face or understand more about gaming, wreck it with Ralph then!
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Surfing on the surface A title like Chasing Mavericks is quite misleading as it refers to the Californian Maverick Waves and is a biographical of Jay Moriarity (Johnny Whittaker), an ace-surfer and a legend to the West-coasters. Always wanting to ride those Loch Ness Monster-like waves, this film is about what lengths he goes to achieve this dream, beginning with his being saved by veteran surfer Frosty Hesson (Gerard Butler) when he was a child.
However, like most biographicals it tries to cover too much in the time-frame and this makes the narrative rather scrappy. The directors Hanson and Apted could have been more selective, but then two heads are not always better than one. Actually, the film begins impressively with some poetic lines like “children of the sea must return to it again and again”. We then get the background of that 36-mile coastal strip between Santacruz and Monterray noted for these giant waves. Jay has been brought up by a single mother Kristy (Elizabeth Shue) while Frosty’s wife Brenda (Abigail Spencer) prevails upon her husband to take Jay under his wing. Frosty is a hard taskmaster, but Jay has no trouble keeping up with the rules of the game. In between we see Jay working at a diner and experiencing problems with other youths. He has an eye on Kim (Leavin Ramblin), but she is an older woman. Another Hollywood ploy is making the women look almost alike. Gerard Butler is the best known of the men, but he is just about average with Johnny Whittaker. Elizabeth Shue seems to be wasted; Abigail Spencer and Leavin Ramblin serve only as bits and pieces players. When all is said and done (read all of 115 minutes), one feels it is too much about precious little. Recommended for surfing buffs only! |
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Movies on TV
Saturday November 10 Movies Now 5:45 pm Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film produced by Marvel Entertainment. The film stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church and Cliff Robertson. It's about a strange black entity from another world that bonds with Peter Parker and causes inner turmoil as he contends with new villains, temptations, and revenge. ZEE CINEMA 7:20AM Loha: The Ironman 11:00AM Viewers Choice 2:05PM Maa Tujhhe Salaam 5:50PM Aitraaz 9:00PM Joker HBO 6:10AM Super Eruption 8:05AM The School Of Rock 10:25AM Sanctum 12:50PM Transformers: Dark of the Moon 4:05PM Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 6:56PM Step Up 2: The Streets 9:00PM Captain America: The First Avenger B4U MOVIES 8:00AM Waris 12:00PM Katilon Ke Kaatil 4:00PM Ghulam-E-Musthafa 7:30PM Bheja Fry STAR MOVIES 7:17AM Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 9:18AM The Front Row with Anupama Chopra 9:48AM Police Story 11:58AM 2012 2:31PM Step Up 3D 4:33PM The Big Boss 6:47PM Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian 9:00PM Little Big Soldier 10:01PM Police Story II MOVIES NOW 7:15AM Free Willy 9:45AM Home Alone 12:15PM GoldenEye 3:45PM Ice Age 5:45PM Spider-Man 3 9:00PM Tomorrow Never Dies Sunday
November 11 Sony 8:30 pm The film begins with an agent code-named "Tiger" (Salman Khan) conducting a mission in northern Iraq. India's top spy and an officer of India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Tiger is forced to kill one of his own men who has defected to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He subsequently kills many ISI agents in his escape. But it all changes for him when he falls in love with an ISI agent (Katrina Kaif). ZEE CINEMA 7:30AM Jannat 11:00AM Dhol 2:30PM Maine Pyar Kiya 5:35PM Toofan 9:00PM Hum Aapke Hain Kaun...! MOVIES NOW 7:15AM Ice Age 9:45AM Spider-Man 3 1:00PM Tomorrow Never Dies 4:15PM Volcano 6:45PM The Hangover 9:00PM For Your Eyes Only SAHARA ONE 9:30AM Dharamyudh 4:30PM Ab Insaf Hoga 10:30PM Welcome HBO 1:00PM The Hangover Part II 9:00PM The Hangover Part II STAR MOVIES 6:47AM Conan: The Barbarian 9:18AM The Big Boss 11:34AM Police Story II 1:37PM Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End 4:48PM X-Men: The Last Stand 6:42PM Terminator Salvation 9:00PM Rio 10:57PM Police Story III: Super Cop
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These are some of the questions that keep the plot moving and the interest in the narrative going. Not in the most riveting fashion though. Sure enough in this action thriller the basic leitmotif is abduction and ransom that keeps the adrenaline pumping somewhat. Certainly there are some edge-of-the-seat thrills too. But despite the new twist to a regular robbery tale, the movie rarely rises above the pedestrian. Predictable, most of the way… except for one interesting detour it doesn’t offer anything new. Even the twist in the tale in the grand finale is only expected. Much of the “nail-biting’ scenes in the climax are so regular like the masala movies of Bollywood. As for the star performer Nicolas Cage… he is certainly not at his best, but not bad either. Among the rest, Danny Huston with some of the witty one-liners like “if with love time passes by with time love passes by too” in his kitty is more convincing and leaves an impression. The movie, however, doesn’t leave an impact. Despite the father-daughter angle there are no emotional highs either. Watch it if action is your cup of tea. Like many average Hollywood flicks, this one lasting just about one-and-a-half hour is time-pass for sure.
A 3-D computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Wreck It Ralph gets its neat edges from Rich Moore’s direction. So, it is in this movie that you bump into every possible candy and chocolate that you have heard or seen your kid enjoying! It is in the middle of this candy floss world that you find Ralph, our hero, who only knows how to break things in the arcade world of games and the sweet little Vanellope, a character who thinks she can win a go-kart race. Featuring voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, and Jane Lynch, this movie sure engages you like the gaming world. 
What begins impressively then drifts into an exaggerated middle. Cinematographer Bill Pope does well to ride the giant waves with some dazzling camerawork and Chad Fischer’s lulling music also helps, but then they dwell too much on surfing and it looks like a surfing documentary. The latter half of the film slips out of grasp and then hurriedly they try to tie-up the loose ends. It could have been better spaced. With the focus on the sea, the cameos are not well-developed and acting is more conspicuous by its absence. 
spider-man 3 
Ek Tha Tiger