Reality Bites...Ouch !!!

I lay low yesterday...had been food poisoned !!! Rather food poisoned myself due to stray eating, somehow i couldnt resist with!!! While i did take a day off from office and was spread across my bed, i continued with medication and my frequent visits to the hot seat, decreased, bringing me back to normalcy. I couldn't bring myself to playin my new DVDs widout company (was rather plain lazy !!!) and my fingers were sore and didnt want further exercise on the play station. I tried switching to the idiot box for a change and was then subjected to one of the most obnoxious and ghastly "reality" shows of all times - "DADAGIRI" aired on Bindass TV !!!





This show as they claim, has indeed taken adventure-reality shows on to the next level. When i say next level i do mean several levels down the pit. There are a bunbch of freaked out contestants who participate in "Tasks" or "challenges" proposed by the senior Gurus. These tasks are so fool hardy in nature, it makes your guts crawl. For example ther was this task of driving a cycle, without a seat on a river bed. The ground was so uneven that even with two feet firmly on the sides, movement looked difficult, forget two feet on the paddles !!! The contestants suffered and suffered endlessly, only to find them selves in another task which involved licking cowdung off some object, face endlessly in sh** !! Meanwhile forget words of encouragement, the "gurus" were egging them with endless bull sh** remarks, "abey dum nahin hai?", "pathetic", "mard nahin hai kya? ladkiyon se haar gaya?" etc etc... There were two of them if i remember correctly, the first one being a middle aged body builder with the diction of a toddler and constant grimace on his face, mouthing abuses. The second was a "babe" with skimpy clothes and vampish make-up and she tried being at her snooty best. Truly, i was testing my patience and after a while couldn't bear up anymore. This brings me to the question, why are we subjected to such mediocricy ?? This show truly is an insult to any average person's emotional intelligence. The bunch of kids participating in shows as such, either havent developed a sense of self-respect or are ready to sell their souls for "stardom" something they shall never achieve through this medium. Or lets just agree on a plain fact that they are ignorant. In that case, isnt it the channel's responsibility to not subject viewers to this melodrama? All this show case of torturing participants at initial stages of selection started off with Roadies, but well within limits, and even then Raghu Ram pushed it a bit too far. And these idiots took a leaf out of MTVs book and straight away designed their own version of Adventure reality !!! Its understood that you may need to be stern and strict with teenagers and young participants to keep their attitude in check for such programs or see if they prove their mettle, but Dadagiri's histrionics, has nothing to do with either. They are taming meek lambs and sending them to the fields to get jacked.

I recently saw a panel discussion on one of the news channels regarding the destruction of moral fibre of the society through airing shows such as "Sach ka saamna" (a meek version of The moment of truth, where anywhich ways REAL tough questions arent asked as they would prove to be unconstitutional) and the social activists went rant...rant...rant, leaving poor Rajeev Khandelwal and his 7 rehearsed lines of justification in agony !!! That is PRIME TIME, attracts attention and hence such a furore !!! How come nobody cares a rat's a## about what shows like DADAGIRI do to our youth, which is a bigger case of concern and issue? Forget viewership and fan following, the mindset is set to get hijacked !!!

PS - On a healthier note, "ISS JUNGLE SE MUJHE BACHAO" has Negaar Khan upping the TRPS and being enuf eye-candy to the bored participants and viewers to last atleast a week at bare minimum !!! Opps ...did i say "Bare Minimum" ??? Not for your attire Negaar !!! ;D

Tagged

Amrit a good friend of mine has just about introduced me to this tagging option.
This one i believe is a chain of sorts..forgive me folks if i goof up.

Ok, the game is to complete this ABC thingie. It is an interesting one..no doubt about it. So here it goes. Please read the rules carefully !!
Now the rules:
Link the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Share the ABCs of you.
Tag 3 people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
Let the 3 tagged people know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
Do not tag the same person repeatedly but try to tag different people, so that there is a big network of bloggers doing this tag!

So, here’s the ABC of me…
A – Available/Single?
Single and NOT Available
B – Best friend?
Dad
C- Cake or Pie?
Cake
D – Drink of choice?
Coffee
E – Essential item you use every day?
Cell Phone
F – Favorite color?
Black, Blue
G – Gummy Bears Or Worms?
Worms, they are cuter :D
H – Hometown?
Puri, Orissa
I – Indulgence?
DVDs
J – January or February?
January. Everybody's in a party mood all month
K – Kids & their names?
Not yet, but i'd like to name my son, Raj and have girls swooning over him
L – Life is incomplete without?
Friends
M – Marriage date?
Will announce before the world gets redundant
N – Number of siblings?
None
O – Oranges or Apples?
Oranges...actually all citrus fruits
P – Phobias/Fears?
Necrophobia - fear of death
Q – Quote for today?
"Isn't it far better a day than yesterday already?"
R – Reason to smile?
Actually i dont need too many reasons to smile..
S – Season?
Winters
T – Tag 3 People?
Umm... 2 for sure...i'm new gimme a shance !!!
U – Unknown fact about me?
I love dancing...alone :P
V – Vegetable you don’t like?
Bitter Gourd
W – Worst habit?
Over optimism
X – X-rays you’ve had?
A few, been operated twice !!
Y – Your favorite food?
Biryani
Z – Zodiac sign?
Aries

Am tagging two people...hope they have as much fun...

Pruthesh - my bro, best form of the word "child prodigy" as i have understood. read his blogs and u shall understand.

Sanket - another maverick and good friend.

Hope to increase my circle of friends and fellow bloggers here soon !!

TINTIN

Tintin has remained as one of my favourite comic book characters. This adorable reporter's character was sketched out as early as 1929 !!! There were other brilliant side kicks as foul tempered Captain Haddock and forgetful Professor Calculus along with the delightful Snowy !!! Geting hold of all of tintin's adventures was a childhood goal i aimed to achieve. The books are a collector's treasure. Each window looks to have been drawn with terrific expertise and an eye for detail. Herge (real dude was George Remi under the pen name) was a master artist. My favourite book is "Prisoners of the Sun" and i still remember the picture where the llama splashes spit into Captain Haddock's face !!!

Translating Thoughts

I would not be a regular blogger yet again, i kept cursing myself over the last few days. I havent been. But i need to change. i need to pen in my thoughts more often. The return would be unleashing whats deep inside me, a creative vent you can say. Agreed i'm no Socrates or Archer (radical comparisons aint it??), but even the normal human being is a bundle of complexities which he/she randomly pays attention to. However, once the realisation comes, there grows the unrest (khujlee, as some of us colloquially would call it!! :). Then it could take various forms. As from personal experience and hearsay, i remember a person who'd write poetry. The need for turning a mellifluous statement into a verse, came in naturally to him. If at all the statement struck first, he had this unbeateable urge to translate it into a verse. That's how he made poetry. Fiction writers often have this habit of taking notes at various times during the day, exploiting the scenario with creative modifications and coming up with brilliant sub plots.



The oldest practice of blogging which dates back to the days of innocence, was maintaining diaries. You could never dream of publishing your diary, but writing in it was fun. Girls generally wrote their deepest secrets, crushes and other wishlists. For guys, after a point writing a diary became a sissy thing to do. So no matter how many G.I.JOE stickers you ornamented it with, no matter how many cool lines from hollywood movies you wrote, your diary had to be a secret.

I remember my diary. It had these top ten lists for possibly everything in this world. Music, Food, Movies, Cricketers, Friends !!! I was the critic, the reviewer and the final decision maker. Maybe this habit of reviewing, categorizing and prioritizing things came this early in life. Now what i feel important about this activity of opinion making is to take things in a positive stride and the key is being passionately involved in it yet be as less judgemental as possible.

Today when i read novice "reviewers" making derisive comments on our cinema, it feels sad. And to think that their ratings matters a lot to a lot of people, who choose to see the stars against a film's review rather than be interested in the subject, its indeed an act of cheating though willy-nilly. Their might be an arguement on this saying that thoughts are invidualistic, but if we are appreciating (or de-appreciating for that matter !!) art and creativity over here, our thoughts have to match Somewhere !!! Will somebody then explain me how a particular piece of cinema gets so differently reviewed in different forums ??? Hello !! I want an outline and highlights of a movie, not a post mortem !!!

Until next time.....sayo nara !!!

P.S - will be putting my blog online now, lets see wat brickbats i have in store... !!!

A New Start

I had this profound thought of blogging one fine morning !!! And that was way back 2 years. Being technologically (perenially) handicapped, i could not however operate on the same. The wish to be back on blogs has come back, and here i am writing again, after having debated severely over the cons of Blogging !! Sorry guys !!

When i start this i also wonder what to write on !! My surroundings (mumbai's been a leaky cauldron in the rains), recent shows on television (Rakhi Rocks !!), new movies i'm looking forward to (Accio--- Potter), my state of mind (dont even get there !!), book reviews (phew !!) etc etc... And..... EUREKA !!! I will write about all of em !! So read on....

Mumbai...my home away from home has been dripping since quite some time now. As clearly stated in a research, if even a fraction of the rain waters could have been saved until now, there would not be a water problem in the mahanagri (maximum city) !!! Showers have been the order of the day. I miss the rain kissed beauty of mother nature and am restricted to visions of open potholes and battered roads, with vehicles moving at snail's pace in traffic jams.

Television has been a big let down in recent times, with the infusion of n number of reality shows. While Roadies has been deteriorating with quality with every next version, other shows have simply dissappointed. Recently "Raakhi's swayamvar" has caught many an eye and is one of the best laughter inducing shows in the right spirit far better than the laughter challenges elsewhere. F.r.i.e.n.d.s and Seinfeld re-runs save the day but a lot more's left to be desired. And the bandwagon of saas bahu just took a brief exit from the spotlight to accomodate more "meaningful" genre of shows, full of non-actors, loose scripts ultimately resulting in viewer's dismay (i tried watching a show called Bhaskar-Bharti, hilariously not-funny !!!).

Movies, the other solace have somehow resumed across theatres recently post the strike. The last sensible comedy "99" was truly good. "New York" was fresh and hence liked by most while "Kambakht Ishq" was yet another mindless Akshay Kumar disaster. Looking forward to the releases of "Love aaj Kal" and "Kameeney" while the eagerly awaited Potter Boy's 6th celluloid drama has already unfolded in indian screens (gotta catch it fast).

If you are a fellow hedonist like me, you would understand the importance of books at this juncture. While Aravind Adiga pleasantly surprised with "White Tiger", I went back to more indian roots by completing the "Feluda" series by the Master, Satyajit Ray. Looking to read "The winner stands alone" although i'm never convinced about Coelho's interpretations.

Hopefully i shall write more and more regularly. Until then...bear with me !! :D