I
was at the movies yesterday. The national anthem, now mandatorily
shown in Mumbai, version with Siachen as the background is not only
breathtaking but a hair raising experience for me every single time I
see it. I can literally feel the chilled snowy breeze right in to my
face when I stand in respect of the tricolour and one cannot help
respect our brave soldiers and officers who fortify and defend the
highest altitude war theatre anywhere in the world. Siachen, which
incidentally means Wild Rose or Black Rose, is acknowledged for its
ferocious clime with extreme temperatures reaching - 40 deg Celsius and
blizzard speeds reckoned to be at 300 km an hour - twice as fast as a
Shoaib Akhtar delivery, never mind that the soldier is perched on a
slippery and unfriendly terrain glacier. It has been estimated
that the Indian army spends in excess of Rs 5 crores per day in
defending Siachen Glacier, an uninhabitable geography of approximate 75
kilometers at a height of 5752 metres. Our nation ends up spending
close to Rs 2000 crores a year while scores of our jawans
spend their lives in protecting this border, where living conditions
are probably the harshest and most inhuman and the air is thin and
scarce. The Siachen situation is akin to the struggle of two bald men
fighting over a comb. I earnestly hope that politicians on both sides
of the border, get some sense and put a stop to this nonsensical
display of national pride and save valued human lives on both sides of
the border over uninhabitable land. We rather have this kind of money
well spent on primary health care and public welfare than engage in
futility and also damaging the fragile environment of the Himalayan
glacier.
Back to the movies. I
am a movie buff or was at least one till a few years ago and am amazed
at the variety of movies available nowadays on the platter. More on
variety later, the entire entertainment industry has seen a huge
metamorphosis from my earlier movie watching days. Movies today have a
short shelf life; in fact they have a very short life - maybe a week or
maximum two. Most big budget movies release over 1000 to 1500 prints
over the weekend and know their financial fate within two weeks of the
release date. Gone are the days when one used to hear of movies having
completed 100 days and silver or golden jubilee are phrases that now
adorn the Bollywood lexicon museum. Like I cannot remember the names of
cricketers in our test team, one day team, T20 teams, I can hardly
remember or recognise the number of movie actors proliferating
nowadays.
Movie viewing though, has become a huge pleasure
experience starting with internet enabled ticket booking and also their
home delivery. I remember the days as a teenager, trying to cut a deal
with typical handkerchief on the collar black marketer, trying to
squeeze a better price for the recently released Big B flick. Also, no
stepping on each other’s toes during the intermission, you have popcorn
and drinks delivered at your seat. Some of the fancier upper class
seats are like an airline first class travel experience with fully
recliner seats and laundered blankets to match with.
On
the variety part, since we have a huge clamouring audience in the
country the present multiplex culture allows small film makers with the
actual hat ke stories to say and weave their visual tapestry.
So we have kids movies, sports movies, chick flicks, inane comedies
and the odd stories all nudging shoulders and vying for audience
attention and eyeballs every Friday. While I love the new genre of
movies, I sometimes miss the story plots Bollywood was always known for
-Rich boy meet poor girl -opposing parents (or vice-versa),
incessantly smoking villain with tight fitting clothes with optional
silver wig and voluptuous blonde moll with glass of wine in her hand,
the badla theme and the see through disguises in the climax at the villain's den over a song or qawalli
with the family reunion at the end and not to forget the pot bellied
cops making their entry in the last reel of the movie and the familiar
dialogues for every situation. Like they say - Nostalgia isn't what it
used to be.
Wonder when these will make their appearance on the Indian market? Nine out of ten scooters and motorcycles in Europe have windshields. It seems like a style statement and also practical.
Within hours of touchdown at Austin,TX and a couple of Mexican Martini's down we headed straight to meet our sailing boat enthusiast and skipper - Kevin at the Lake Travis boating pier. Thank God there are no drinking and sailing laws - or at least we do not know about them or rather paid little heed. The weather was just right for sailing- gentle to strong breeze blowing and a benevolent sun casting it's radiant energy on this lovely Saturday afternoon. Kevin was the skipper for the evening with Poonam as his experienced and able sailing mate. Kim filled in with her half baked sailing expertise and Sarika and me being the rookie sailors for the evening.
The airline industry in India is booming. Cannot even remember the names of the airlines and one is spoilt for choices when you are travelling say between Bombay and Delhi or Bombay to Goa.But the accompanying infrastructure required is pathetic.The airports do not have enough toilets, we will talk about cleanliness later, nor do they have adequate seating nor signage.For many sectors the flying time is probably shorter than the time required to check-in and clear security. With the advent of the low cost carriers , Europe reinvented and remodelled all it's IInd world war airstips and converted them in to efficient alternatives compared to the mammoth monstrosities of the modern day airports we use. India too has numerous air strips dotting the countryside, often used by politicians,bureaucrats and upcoming industrialists which with some appliction and initiative could be readily converted to alternate and ease the traffic and chaos on our over stressed airports.
estimated
that the Indian army spends in excess of Rs 5 crores per day in
defending Siachen Glacier, an uninhabitable geography of approximate 75
kilometers at a height of 5752 metres. Our nation ends up spending
close to Rs 2000 crores a year while scores of our jawans
spend their lives in protecting this border, where living conditions
are probably the harshest and most inhuman and the air is thin and
scarce. The Siachen situation is akin to the struggle of two bald men
fighting over a comb. I earnestly hope that politicians on both sides
of the border, get some sense and put a stop to this nonsensical
display of national pride and save valued human lives on both sides of
the border over uninhabitable land. We rather have this kind of money
well spent on primary health care and public welfare than engage in
futility and also damaging the fragile environment of the Himalayan
glacier.
and the see through disguises in the climax at the villain's den over a song or qawalli
with the family reunion at the end and not to forget the pot bellied
cops making their entry in the last reel of the movie and the familiar
dialogues for every situation. Like they say - Nostalgia isn't what it
used to be.
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