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Unwarranted
protests Escalating
tension |
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A Prime
Minister who stuck to values
Parlance
at ease
CINEMA:
NEW Releases Old
world charm Dull and
boring
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Escalating tension A
newly
notified Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea is
ratcheting up tension in the region. The zone requires aircraft to intimate the Chinese authorities about their flight details in advance and to follow the instructions of the Chinese aircraft controllers. Within days of the announcement, two American B-52 bombers flew through it without notifying the Chinese authorities, as they had always done. Soon Japanese and Korean aircraft followed suit. The AIDZ encompasses a region that essentially extends China's maritime boundary. It includes an uninhabited archipelago of five islands which has become the latest bone of contention between two regional powers, Japan and China. The dispute over the islands, which Japan calls Senkaku and China Diaoyu, is an old one, keeps on surfacing from time to time, as it did in 2010, when it became the focus of a major diplomatic row between the two countries. It is more about the assertion of sovereignty than any material issues, and this is perhaps the reason that both Asian economic superpowers find themselves at loggerheads over it. The inclusion of these islands in the ADIZ has raised hackles in Tokyo and is causing concern in the region. For the US, it is a sense of déjà vu. In 1996, when China announced an exclusion zone in Taiwan Strait, the US retaliated by sending two aircraft carriers. China's mighty economic power is correlated to its growing assertiveness in the region as its neighbours, including India, are well aware. Various border issues that pop up time and again indicate a policy rather than instances of individual assertion by some military commanders. While the Indian border has been calm since Dr Manmohan Singh's visit to Beijing, the focus has shifted to the South China Sea, where its latest move can threaten regional security. However, China may have bitten more than it can chew. The ADIZ-zone norms are more likely to be flouted than complied with.
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God gives us relatives; thank God, we can choose our friends. — Addison Mizne
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Punjab revenue
The revenue under the main heads of receipts for the half year ending September 1913 is encouraging. As compared with the Budget estimate of Rs. 805.50 lakhs, a sum of Rs. 436.39 lakhs has been realised for six months. The realisations of land revenue amount to Rs 197.89 lakhs as against an estimate of 272.62 lakhs for the whole year, and from irrigation (major works) 143.35 lakhs against 324.70 lakhs for 12 months. Except under Forest, the revenue has been coming in freely under every one of the principal heads. Commissions to Indians in the Indian Army
The following press communique has been issued:- “His Imperial Majesty the King-Emperor of India has been graciously pleased to grant commissions to the undermentioned Imperial Cadets who have undergone three years training in the Imperial Cadet Corps and have qualified themselves to receive commissions as officers of his Majesty's Army: - Rana Jodha Jang Bahadur of Nepal; Kunwar Savai Sinhji and Kunwar Daji Raj, nephews of His Highness the Jam of Navanagar, Bombay.” In view of the serious rift that has arisen in the London Moslem League, and the urgency of placing its affairs on a sound working footing and co-ordinating its activities with those of the League and its branches in this country, it is interesting to note that the Rt. Hon. Syed Ameer Ali is himself coming out to India. Advices by the last mail state that he was to leave London for India on 5th December via Marseilles reaching Bombay on or about 20th December.
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A Prime Minister who stuck to values
AT a time when politicians have come down to the level of street urchins, hurling abuses at each other and when the surveillance of even an individual is not considered an intrusion into privacy, the memory of the late Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral is like a fresh air. He was urbane, civil and never raised his voice when an opponent lost his cool. This November 30 is his first death anniversary. Throughout his political career, either as Foreign Minister or as Prime Minister, he tried to bring back the values. As Foreign Minister, he advocated morality in dealing with big and small countries. He was opposed to taking action against Saddam Hussein, then heading Iraq. The West regretted the elimination of Saddam when it found that he had no weapons of mass destruction. In his book “A Foreign Policy for India” Gujral says: “Indian foreign policy was not something which we read about in textbooks or heard about at the university. It was a product of the freedom struggle itself. Resisting oppression meant independence and was spelt out as the defining characteristic of an independent policy.” Gujral was particularly partial to India’s neighbouring countries, something that came to be known as the Gujral Doctrine. I am certain that he would have accommodated Bangladesh on the Tiesta river water, a concession which would have helped Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina win the elections due in January next. Similarly, Gujral would have found a way to hold talks with Pakistan instead of sticking to Islamabad’s guarantee to ensure the sacrosanct of the Line of Control (LoC). When Pakistan is itself in the midst of combat with terrorists, particularly the Taliban, it is difficult to guarantee no violation of the LoC because there are non-stake holders disturbing the peace. I came to know Gujral when he was a member of Indira Gandhi’s kitchen cabinet after she lost to Lal Bahadur Shastri in the race to the prime ministerial gaddi. She demanded unstinted loyalty and Gujral was her confidante. Yet when Mrs Gandhi imposed the Emergency he refused to toe the line as Minister for Information and Broadcasting. Mrs Gandhi’s son, Sanjay Gandhi, an extra-constitutional authority, was running the government. Sanjay phoned up Gujral asking him to propagate against Jayaprakash Narain, heading the movement to remove corruption and to resist the authoritarianism which Mrs Gandhi’s rule had come to represent. Gujral told Sanjay that he was Mrs Gandhi’s minister and not his errand boy. Gujral was transferred from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to the Planning Commission where P.N. Haksar, once Mrs Gandhi’s Principal Secretary, was hibernating. He too had been punished for having joined issue with Sanjay Gandhi. It was only the offer of ambassadorship to the Soviet Union which stopped Gujral from resigning from the government. Being a leftist-he was a camp follower of the Communist Party during his student days at Lahore-he did so well at Moscow that he was requested by Morarji Desai, the then Prime Minister, to continue as India’s envoy. Gujral had ingratiated himself with the Communist Party and the government so closely that the Soviet Union was unsparing in supplying arms to India. Moscow also stood by the side of New Delhi on Kashmir. Gujral, though, had a weakness-his love for Pakistan where he was born. He sincerely believed that a friendly Pakistan was an asset to India. He would have criticised the firing of Pakistan television channels for showing Indian programmes more than permitted. Both countries are guilty of harming each other’s credentials relating to the news and political enormity. Viewers are mature enough to separate propaganda from happenings. His first love was for Punjab. When he was the Prime Minister, he wrote off the state’s debt to the Centre running into crores. He also sanctioned a Science City to be founded at Jalandhar where he and his family settled after migrating from Jhelum. And while out of office, he spanned the distance between the Hindus and the Sikhs during the militancy years. He constituted the Punjab Group-I was its member-to talk to the Akalis on the one hand and the chauvinists on the other. After the fall of the Deve Gowda government, Gujral became the Prime Minister for a brief period. He undertook a tour of South Africa and Egypt in October 1977. I accompanied him as a journalist. My purpose was to see the country where Gandhi had experimented with his satyagraha, an antidote to the class struggle, because a satyagrahi was required to purify himself in order to serve society without any ulterior motive. Gujral visited Pietermaritzburg railway station where a pamphlet was available detailing how Gandhiji was thrown out of a first-class railway compartment exclusively reserved for the whites. My long-cherished desire to meet Nelson Mandela came true as I joined Gujral during a banquet dinner hosted in his honour. Later at night, Mandela broke into dance and dragged Gujral on to the floor. Gujral’s bonanza to government servants on the recommendations of the pay commission was too heavy a burden on the exchequer at a time when India was not in sound economic health. Had he implemented the other recommendations, such as the 30 per cent cut in the bureaucracy and extended working hours, some balance might have been struck. But Gujral was under pressure from trade unions and the Left. The hike unbalanced the Central budget and was beyond the capacity of the states when they too were obliged to follow suit. It is strange how the dust of time accumulates to obscure even the names of people who have served the country well in its most difficult times. The Congress party he served, practically his whole life, is opposed to him because he tried to bring back the party to its ethos of democracy, pluralism and egalitarianism. It is, indeed, a pity that the values have ceased to matter with political parties. Gujral would not have fitted in the Congress or any other party if he had been living.
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Parlance at ease “The word is the Verb, and the Verb is God.”
Victor Hugo
Amidst them, the phrasal verb finds expression in the English language to lend an air of informality to what is being said. A phrasal verb is a combination of two or three words and the unit together carries a single meaning but one phrasal verb can have more than one meaning. Phrasal verbs consist of a verb+a preposition, as in: "looked up" the dictionary (up the dictionary is a prepositional phrase), a verb+an adverb, as in: "looked up" or a verb+an adverb+a preposition, as in: "looked out of" the window. Since English has thousands of phrasal verbs with many variations, absolute correctness in their use is a natural casualty. Here are some instances: 1. How do you cope up with Ruma's tantrums? (Verb+Preposition) The preposition "up" is superfluous here. It is enough to say "cope with". Errors such as these happen as there are not many rules to guide learners with use of phrasal verbs. They have to be learnt individually. 2. Please fill up the form for the ticket to Delhi. (Verb+Preposition) We fill up a box with chocolates or a room with people but we do not fill up a form. We merely "fill in" or "fill out" a form. One may consider "fill up" as only a minor deviation in use of English here but such subtle differences do matter as many phrasal verbs behave quite like the idioms and protest mildly. 3. Six panelists discussed about the rising onion prices. (Verb+Preposition) The verb "discuss" does not allow the preposition "about" to follow it. However, the noun "discussion" derived from discuss accepts it. For instance, we can say "Six panellists had a discussion about/ on the rising onion prices". Generally, "discussion on" as compared to "discussion about" is the more popular usage. 4. The School will chip in Rs. 50,000/- towards the trip. (Verb+Adverb) The sentence in an informal context is free of grammatical errors and the message is clear. But the use of the informal phrasal verb "chip in" in a formal situation is evident of style deficiency. It is inappropriate to mix styles. Therefore the single word verb "contribute" should replace "chip in". 5. I look forward to meet you. (Verb+Adverb+Preposition) There is a syntactic error in the sentence. The user is dropping "-ing" after "meet" on the basis that the word "to" is usually followed by an infinitive, as in "to eat/ to play/ to shop". The user forgets that the word "to" can also be a preposition. And in that capacity it can take a noun, as in "go to school" or an "-ing" form of verb, as in "I look forward to meeting you". (/www.britishcouncil.org/) Though we come across words like bank, back, sum and gun used more often as nouns, they also find place as verbs combining with prepositions to form phrasal verbs. Some of them may go beyond the meaning of the constituent words. For instance, one of the meanings of the phrasal verb "put up with" is "to tolerate". Similarly, to "bank on" means to "rely on". Phrasal verbs are not only a reflection of spoken English but they also bring vibrancy to verbs. The writer is Director, Regional
Institute of English, Chandigarh
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CINEMA: NEW Releases Nonika Singh Dialogues penned by Dhulia himself have punch and panache. Sample this Brahmin rootha, to Raavan. Till the first half the chemistry between Saif and Jimmy is engaging So there he is once again on familiar ground of UP politics, which is where he based his acclaimed Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster Returns. Meet the unemployed Brahmin boy Raja Mishra (Saif Ali Khan) inadvertently caught in the crossfire of guns and bloodshed. Keeping him company is his friend Rudra played by Jimmy Sheirgill. Together they take on as well as rule the world of hooligans under the chatrachhaya of politicians. Just as their entry into the game of bloodshed begins on a personal note so it climaxes on the same turf. In between we are introduced to the machinations of political class, their compulsions to hire henchmen and drop them once their nuisance quotient comes in the way of their utility value. Dialogues penned by Dhulia himself have punch and panache. Sample this Brahmin rootha, to Raavan. Till the first half the chemistry between Saif and Jimmy is engaging, their friendship endearing and not without reason is the reference to Sholay (remember Jai Veeru dosti) made. Allusion is also made to Dhulia’s own ace signature Paan Singh Tomar (there is dacait angle too that comes packed with a daring cop act by Vidyut, not quite wanted though). Of course, this is not the kind of film that would fetch Dhulia awards. Nevertheless, where the film scores is despite a crowd of actors from Raj Babbar to Ravi Kissen to Vidyut Jamwal to Chunkey Pandey to Gulshan Grover, each manages to stand out amidst the melee of killings and bang-bang. In this all-male, film Sonkashi Sinha with otherwise little to do isn’t bad either. However, where the film dips is, as happens with other action revenge thrillers, there is no value addition. Romantic angle is more of an excess baggage. The graph is predictable and the film a wee bit long. Songs don’t rock, only act as speed breakers. The speed of the film is erratic too. However, while this bullet might not hit the bull’s eye, its lead actors Saif and Jimmy are fairly close. The sophisticated nawab of real life proves he can change colours on screen and get into the skin of rustic man with aplomb and conviction. Sheirgill is once again at his consummate best. Tighmanshu may not be, but that doesn’t stop the film from making it to the watchable grade. No more no less!
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Old world charm The visuals are absolutely gorgeous: all rendered in magnificent 3D. Especially beautiful is the majestic mountain top ice-castle Frozen
is Disney’s most recent attempt to take us back to the good old days, into fairytale territory. It’s a beautifully rendered musical with an enchanting score and magnificent animation to go with it. The story is a take-off from Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen. In fact, it goes one better and against tradition too, making the good versus evil fight a little more interesting. The theme is understandably about gaining control over your inner demons which in fairytale parlance means using those powers to save the good and vanquish evil. Two princesses, one prince and a common man form the crux of the main story. Princess Elsa (Idina Menzel), soon to be a queen, is plagued by self-doubt over the lack of control over her ominous powers while the younger sister Ana (Kirsten Bell) is the carefree lovable type who falls instantly in love with a visiting prince, Olaf. The back story goes thus—in the kingdom of Arendelle lived a happy royal family consisting a king, his queen and their two beloved daughters Elsa and Ana. Elsa has mystical powers but she has little clue as to how to use them. So when an accident ensues in which Ana is hurt, Elsa is resigned to be cloistered in her room for decades until she is crowned Queen. Once the gates of the palace are opened, Elsa’s powers are unleashed again and the whole country gets buried under snow. The visuals are absolutely gorgeous – all rendered in magnificent 3D. Especially beautiful is the majestic mountain top ice-castle that Elsa banishes herself to in the wake of yet another tragedy wrought on by her uncontrollable powers. A quixotic snowman, who longs to experience summer, defying fear of a meltdown, steals your heart. This is Disney’s 53rd in-house animation feature, it’s most classical to date and has a rich pedigree with some showy tunes and ironic humour. The penchant to strengthen the visuals rather than the characterisations doesn’t escape one’s notice though. Even so this fascinating tale of mystery, magic and imperiled princesses, does manage to sway us with its spell-bound charm and showy effusiveness! |
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Dull and boring The story of an ageing slacker David Wozniak aka Starbuck (Vince Vaugh), whose sperm donations made him the biological father of 533 kids — of which 142 want to find their real father. But of course, he is by far the most prolific sperm donor in history and might have well created a Guinness record of sorts fathering that many children. And of course he is clueless about that fact until a lawyer representing the sperm bank gets in touch and shocks him out of
his bazookas!
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TV Movies Saturday November 30 ZEE CINEMA 8:50 AM Shirdi Ke Sai Baba MOVIES NOW 7:35 AM Kingdom of Heaven MOVIES OK 8:30 AM Auzaar ZEE CLASSIC 9:22 AM Sadhu Aur Shaitaan HBO 8:11 AM Wedding Crashers STAR MOVIES 7:23 AM Takers
Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum is an adult comedy film directed by Sachin Yardi and produced by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor. The film is a sequel to the 2005 sleeper hit, Kyaa Kool Hai Hum. The movie stars Tusshar Kapoor and Ritesh Deshmukh from the original cast. ZEE CINEMA 9:16 AM Joker ZEE STUDIO 8:00 AM The Alamo ZEE ACTION 7:00 AM Yudh SET MAX 10:30 AM Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar SONY PIX 8:43 AM Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
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To add to his complications, David owes money to the mob and has just gotten his cop girlfriend pregnant. The complicated set-up is deliberate but the unravelling is just not interesting or humourous enough. David goes against his lawyer friend’s advice, decides to reveal himself and reaps the dividends of that revelation. Neither emotionally touching nor light with its moments, the narrative bludgeons on without much relief. The exaggerated circumstances make it doubly difficult for it to be believable. Vince Vaugh is also not at his best here. So the going is pretty much tough all
the way.
National Treasure
is a film produced and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was written by Jim Kouf, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Cormac Wibberley, and Marianne Wibberley, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and directed by Jon Turteltaub. It is the first film in the National Treasure franchise and stars Nicolas Cage, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Justin Bartha, and Christopher Plummer.
Sunday December 1