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Pakistan at it
again! Hot money moves out |
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Blown out of
context
Sunnylands &
cold realities
The Maladroit Mallu
Cinema:
New Releases A predictable
thriller Nothing
earth-shaking!
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Hot money moves out The
Federal Reserve, the RBI’s counterpart in the US, has said that it may end its stimulus – the pumping of $85 billion a month in the economy through bond buying – by the middle of 2014 since downside risks to the economic outlook have diminished. The statement of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has shaken currencies and stock markets worldwide. The Indian stocks suffered their biggest single-day loss in 21 months and the rupee touched a new low on Thursday. The Fed had kept interest rates at almost zero to stimulate industrial growth. Global capital moved into the emerging markets where interest rates were higher and growth rates better than those in the US and Europe. The trend has reversed. The US economy has started growing – though not all share Bernanke’s optimism. Foreign institutional investors are pulling money out of India and other emerging nations to invest in the US. The mass migration of the capital has weakened local currencies against the US dollar, which has its repercussions. India is paying a price for an excessive reliance on hot money, which comes and goes quickly. Foreign investors buy equities and bonds, which can be sold quickly, and shy away from infrastructure projects, partly because of government-created hurdles. The capital outflow has widened the import-export gap since imports have become costlier. The government’s finances will take a hit as the oil subsidy is set to shoot up. The weak rupee has negated the advantage of a fall in global commodity rates. The curbs on gold imports have yielded limited results. The government’s desperation is evident from the fact that despite a sharp fall in equity prices, it is still selling PSU stakes. The weakening rupee and the high capital account deficit will deter the RBI from lowering interest rates, which will hit industrial growth. It is a difficult situation that requires hard measures like a push to exports, removal of bottlenecks to growth like slow clearances and opening up more sectors for foreign investment. It is time to act; investors have heard enough of talk.
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Blown out of context
Consensual
sex between two adults is neither a prerequisite nor a guarantee for marriage. This is widely known, even accepted. So, what was Justice C.S. Karnan of the Madras High Court thinking when he ruled, “If any couple chooses to consummate their sexual cravings…the act is a total commitment with adherence to all consequences?” Clearly, the inarticulate judgment has not only created a furore but also opened itself to ridicule, as is evident from the fact that it has gone viral on Twitter, inviting all sorts of repartees. To be fair to Justice Karnan, he was not talking through the hat, but in context and with regard to a pertinent case that involved a couple who not only lived together for five years but also had two children. He has a point when he says, “Comments should not be made without fully understanding the verdict.” Indeed, the merits of the case do indicate that the man owed the woman the right to maintenance. In the past the courts have ruled in favour of live-in-relationships or what they specified as relationships in the nature of marriage. In fact, few have disputed earlier rulings like the one which observed that a prolonged domestic relationship resembling marriage is enough to entitle a deserted woman to maintenance. The inclusion of certain kinds of live-in relationships under the Domestic Violence Act too was hailed as a progressive step. So, what is about this judgment that has raised the hackles of the layman and divided legal experts? Indeed, it could possibly set an unwarranted precedent and further complicate the already complex matrimonial laws, especially those pertaining to maintenance, property rights, etc. One can only hope that the ruling would remain applicable only to this particular case. However, those who thought that the words have been blown out of proportion and much is being read into the judgement need to hear Justice Karnan’s defence. His argument that the verdict “protected Indian culture and welfare of women” is as befuddling as confusing
marital obligations with sex.
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When unhappy, one doubts everything; when happy, one doubts nothing. — Joseph Roux
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Sunnylands & cold realities What
did President Obama and President Xi Jinping achieve in their much-hyped two-day meeting in the Sunnylands estate in California on June 7 and 8? No doubt, they got acquainted with each other, and took each other's measure. Apparently, the last such "blue sky" discussion took place between Chairman Mao and Richard Nixon in 1972. And the Chinese side had hoped that the two leaders would "have an extensive and in-depth exchange of views on bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues of common interest." There were no surprises. Pre-summit speculation on the agenda proved accurate, and the issues discussed ranged from cyber-security to utilising cyberspace to human rights to climate change to North Korea. But these issues were not settled. US complaints of cyber theft by China were met with counter-allegations of electronic surveillance and data mining. China's support to imposing further sanctions on North Korea was appreciated, but it showed no enthusiasm to address the basic problem of deflecting Pyongyang's quest for nuclear weapons. What was not discussed, however, was moderating the competition over fossil fuels and minerals, promoting China's entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership, enabling the US to join the East Asia Summit, and seeking mutual understanding on regional disputes like Iran, Syria Afghanistan, and India-Pakistan relations. But the foundation was laid in Sunnylands to continue and extend the dialogue between the two countries. But how far was China's larger purpose achieved to establish a "a new type of Great Power relationship"? Beijing assiduously promoted this objective to island the two countries and promote beliefs that they were the most powerful countries in the world, and Xi desired to treat President Obama as an equal partner. Did these objectives progress much further? Chinese scholars and officials were aware that the rise of new powers in the international system has always been attended by competition, rivalry, and tensions with the dominant world power. In his book, "On China", Henry Kissinger informs that a hypothesis had been advanced in 1907 by Eyre Crowe, a British Foreign Service official, that predicted the course of Anglo-German interactions in the twentieth century. Crowe argued that the relations between an established United Kingdom and a rising Germany would clash, which did occur, resulting in the two highly destructive World Wars. At present, the United States, like the UK, is an established maritime power, whereas China, like Germany, is a rising continental power. Moreover, alliance relationships in the last century had shaped the international system. World War II was fought between the Allied and Axis powers, and the Cold War witnessed bitter rivalry between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Currently, the United States seeks to manage the tensions between its allies in the Asia Pacific region like South Korea and Japan on the "comfort women" issue. But China has embroiled itself comprehensively in multiple disputes with its East and Southeast Asian neighbours. Despite this backdrop, the Asia-Pacific region has become the world's economic powerhouse.US trade with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries amounts to 56 per cent of its total trade, which increased from $1 trillion in 1994 to around $2.38 trillion in 2011. It was inevitable that a military dimension would be added to preserve this "Asian economic miracle". Significantly, five out of the seven major defence treaties signed by the United States are with APEC countries. Apropos of this, the US "pivot" or "rebalancing" towards Asia envisages the transfer of some 60 per cent of its total naval assets into the Pacific Ocean; positioning of Marine forces to avail their expeditionary capabilities in Japan, Guam and the Pacific region; and, locating a Marine infantry company in Port Darwin, Australia, to train alongside the US partners in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. China's response has been to publish a map showing the South China Sea and all its islands under dispute as part of Chinese territory. Publishing it before the Sunnylands Summit perhaps sought to test Obama's will to global power. Clearly, the accrual to China's comprehensive national power has increased its confidence in dealing with the United States and evolves its own rules of international conduct. In other words, Xi Jinping's China seeks to make the rules, not merely follow the rules set by others. Undoubtedly, the US financial crisis will inhibit its activism abroad. But it would need remarkable obtuseness to ignore that the US strategic vision for the Asia-Pacific plainly has China in its crosshairs. China's desire for "a new type of Great Power relationship" becomes explicable as a counter-point to the US policy of "pivoting" or "rebalancing" towards Asia. The US National Security Adviser, Tom Donilon, confirmed that the summit had felt that a "new model of relations between great powers" could be sought. What its outline will be is of great interest to the regional countries and, of course, India. It is quite apparent, however, that much more trust will be needed to direct US-China relations into cooperative channels. How this trust will be generated remains to be seen. As Xi said, "We need to think creatively and act energetically so that working together we can build a new model of major country relationship." It remains a work in
progress.
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The Maladroit Mallu
A
distinguished man of letters from Kerala (aren't they all!), whose work I admire, wished to see if there was more 'Palakkad' in me than an obscure entry in my records that listed it as my place of birth. I told him with unconcealed pride that I could speak both Tamil and Malayalam - like most Palakkad Iyers of my vintage or older. He put me to the litmus test and asked me to pronounce the 'zh' sound in Malayalam. I was able to assure him:
"Puzhayoratheerathu irrunnu pazhaya kaalam oarthappol pettanu mazha
peyethu." He looked up at me in stunned amazement. I smiled triumphantly and he doffed his non-existent hat to me. After savouring the thrill of accomplishment for a few seconds, I told him truthfully that I possessed a stock of similar alliteratively complicated Malayalam sentences for use as tongue-twisters for my North Indian friends. He laughed at that and asked me for more of them. Word-play junkie that I am, my notebook is never more than two cubits away from me - in Malayalam, you can make that two ‘muzham’.
‘Muzham’ is an ancient unit of length and represents the distance between a finger tip and an elbow - typically, flowers strung for the hair are sold by this unit even today. The septuagenarian litterateur listened to my list of almost-unpronounceable lines carefully and painstakingly collected over time. Seated in my balcony in Chandigarh, savouring cups of ginger tea in the rain, he lamented that Malayalam, which had recently been bestowed the status of a classical language, should be reduced to a tongue-twister-filled object of hilarity by casual users like me. Suitably chastened, I reminded him that I could be the only one using this language, howsoever imperfectly, in a radius of 20 km in this city. He agreed that it was not a bad way of keeping the language alive in places where it had never breathed in the first place. I told him of the comments that my friends had made over the difficulty in understanding the language. “When somebody abuses you in Gujarati, Marathi or Bengali, at least you can tell him off in a stream of undiluted Punjabi. But when two Keralites choose to speak Malayali (sic), you cannot even make out if they are being rude about you to your face!” Point conceded. It is a difficult language in the best of times. Highly Sanskritised and endowed with great potential for literary flourishes, Malayalam is unique not just because it is palindromic — the word ‘Malayalam’ is the longest single word that reads the same, backwards and forwards. Many people, even highly educated ones, think that the language spoken by a ‘Keralian’
is ‘Malayali’. For the curious, I may add that my meandering sentence in the first paragraph means, "As I sat by the river recalling the past, it suddenly started raining." Purely made up, of course. I have never sat by the river recalling the past --- or contemplating the future, for that matter. I am fundamentally a city-bred creature who has lived in a concrete jungle all her life. But that's fiction for you!
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Cinema: New Releases Nonika Singh
Ishq wala love…. in this day and age one thinks can at best exist as a song in trademark Karan Johar candyfloss flicks. But from frame one Raanjhanaa not only reminds you, but also makes you believe with a force and conviction that the do-or-die spirit of love is very much alive and kicking. In the bylanes of true India, in this case Banaras with its traditional flavour and fervour, its rich colours and rituals intact, it lives in the hearts of ordinary mortals, where the story is set. It is here that our Ranjhanaa, a small town boy Kundan (Dhanush) breathes the city's intrinsic essence in his sharp wit and in his veins flow love's epic proportions. Told essentially from his point of view, it's his love of obsessive dimensions that knows no reason or logic that holds the film. And it's in the expression of his no-holds-barred true love that Raanjhanaa tugs your heart strings, makes your eyes moist and despite the Shakespearean twist, commands you to surrender to the all-encompassing emotion.
But the film soars high all thanks to Dhanush who makes his Bollywood debut. In an author-backed role the Kolavari D star's innocence is as endearing as his chutzpah. Believable as the man madly in love, as the one who has no ego, who is ready to go to any length, not merely slash his wrists to win over his lady love ….he displays a range not easily seen in one role. Sonam as his love interest Zoya is in fine form too and etches out the graph in consonance with her character’s evolution. Sadly , its Abhay Deol as the student political leader who doesn't quite impress. But other cameos, especially Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub as Murari and Swara Bhaskar (Bindiya) bring out the shades of their characters to the fore. Dialogues are crisp in sync with Banaras’ ethos. It's not that the movie is
without flaws. Sure, the film, meanders off on a different tangent post
intermission when the setting moves to New Delhi. The student politics
track doesn't gel as seamlessly as the first part which is more natural
and spontaneous. In contrast the idle ideal talk of JNU students and
much more that the Romantic or not this one should make it to your must watch list. If for nothing else then to know how a man with unconventional looks can make your heart skip a beat. Dare we forget AR Rahman's rocking music which will not just get you on your feet but also make your soul dance in joy and quiet surrender.
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A predictable thriller A remake of Susi Ganesh's Tamil film Thiruttu Payale, this romantic crime thriller features Neil Nitin Mukesh alongside Puja Gupta as his romantic interest and Ameesha Patel in a negative role.
Monica is married to an incredibly rich industrialist Rahul (Rajesh Shringapure), a saintly sort who appears to be more interested in meditation than his sexy wife. So, it's justified that she should be unfaithful and conveniently caught on camera by a frustrated hot-head Suraj (Neil Nitin Mukesh) who wants to milk the cash-cow. She gives in and keeps paying. The husband is none the wiser and the lover wants to throw in a hammer on Suraj's enjoyment which transports to Masai Mara, Kenya where he and his good-for-nothing friends are having the time of their lives. Constant threats of retribution keep the unfaithful two-some at bay while Suraj gets a reprieve so that he can conveniently romance a Richie-rich heiress Sherry (Puja Gupta). What transpires thereafter is predictable.
Needless to say the moral here is that crime doesn't pay. As a moralistic tale, it's more or less a no-show mainly because the director is a little too indulgent about giving his lead characters the run of a good time. The director Ganesh shows up as a detective friend of the cheated husband. His heavy accent and lackluster performance add to the misery of a loose plot and tepid performances. The main drama is relegated to the cat and mouse tricks the blackmailer and the unfaithful wife play out to be one up on the other. The dialogues are silly and the effort to add African Sheelas doing the Bollywood repeats smack of contrivance. The action sequences , though look pointless and off-track, are prettily done but the songs, not hummable numbers, keep butting in at inopportune moments. The production values are top-notch though and the narration is crisp. Editing by Hardik Singh Reen and Dilip Deo could have been spiffier. The climactic moments are handled with deft ease giving a fulfilling end to a film that is inconsistent through most of its runtime.
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Nothing earth-shaking!
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At
each step of the way, it's a special love story, unique both in its
storytelling and script. Right from when it begins as a childhood crush,
shapes up into puppy love, finds way into belligerence-laced variant and
matures into a sublimated intensity, its love at its best. In a way
worst too but one that Hindi cinema shows only once in a while. The many
splendours of love manifest magnificently and as the spectrum of the
sublime love unfolds, it commands your attention. Emotively for sure,
and refreshingly and engagingly too. Much of the credit goes to the apt
direction and the fast-paced editing.
The
story sounds a lot like the re-hash of the Naseeruddin Shah-Reena Roy
starrer Bezubaan. In fact, it's nearly the same, save for some
really stunning exotic African locales but without the intensity and
captivating performances that gave the former its strengths. Monica (Ameesha
Patel) and Ashish (Jatin Grewal), her golf coach, are at their game all
through the day and when dusk approaches Ashish sends off the caddie
with a bribe so that he can make out with Monica.
The
film is sleekly crafted and surprisingly smart but it's really not gripping and
neither does it scare you witless. The manufactured tension and drama which
gets heightened when Gerry (Brad Pitt) has to abandon his family to the care of
his former colleague so that he can go and explore the origin of this
terrifying contagion, is a little too feeble and non-mitigating to be
effective. The narrative is a serious- minded spiel of a zombie-apocalypse that
could end the world in a matter of hours if a deterrent is not found. The film,
reduced to a base story of a reluctant down-scaled hero who brings about the
first break in the virus proliferation, is quite good in itself but not
matching with Max Brooks' extensive verbal epic which had a far more ambitious
and multi-perspective approach to its story telling. Add to that fact the
low-intensity and fractured tension and this film is a little off-kilter to be
entirely satisfying!
B4U
MOVIES 8:00pm
STAR
MOVIES 5:30PM