Let's hang our heads in shame- The Bhopal gas leak tragedy

15,000 deaths, 500,000 victims suffering from chronic illness, 26 years later the Indian judiciary passed its judgement on the Bhopal gas leak tragedy. The verdict is anguishing and shocking to say the least.

Whom should we blame for this horrifying verdict and for the injustice to all those affected… Union Carbide (The company’s plant leaked the poisonous gases)- Who did not put enough safety measures in place to reduce costs and increase profits, whose regards for their profits were much higher than the value of a poor Indian, whose compensation of $470m shells out Rs 100,00 to each victim?

Or should we blame Anderson the then President of Union Carbide in India who took no moral responsibility whatsoever and absconded as quickly as possible to the US, who the CBI still can’t locate, although a bunch of ‘Green Peace’ protestors located him in the suburbs of New York and handed him a warrant?

Or should we blame the CBI for a job done that will go down in history as the worst piece of investigation and cover-up and for bowing down to the pressures of the Indian Govt and the multinational?

Or should we blame the Indian Govt. for bowing down to the pressures of the US Govt. and the charm of the multi-nationals and giving Anderson an easy escape passage from India, and for selling the lives of its poor people and pretending such an event never happened?

Or should we blame the media that they seem more interested in whether Deepika and Ranbir are still together, having completely ignored the Bhopal tragedy as it is not a metropolitan city and the lives lost are not of high-profile people with no news-saleability?

Or of all should we blame ourselves for pretending such a tragedy never happened, and never raising a question, never demanding an answer, never creating a noise, never caring for the lives lost?

Lets all hang our heads in shame, for again India has sold the lives of its poor people for cheap and we too are responsible for this.

The Long & Grey of it

I distinctly remember that day- I was in front of the mirror in my room, brushing my hair, when suddenly it caught my attention. I did not believe what I was seeing- I thought I was hallucinating, I opened the room windows to let some light into my room, switched all the lights on. I checked again.

And yes it was true- I had officially started GREYING!

To give a bit of perspective I come from a family where people grey rather quickly, my younger brother's first grey strand appeared when he was just 17. Sriram too is quite famous for the flock of grey strands in the front.

So I was always proud of my multi-shade hair colour & was pretty sure that I would eventually grey but only when I was 40. But at a young age of 27, my pride has been broken, my dreams washed away.

And before I knew the single strand multiplied into many more in no time... is it some sort of infectious gene?

But the one thing I'm very sure of is not to use hair colour ever as in the artificial ones. Henna is a good alternative to moisturise your hair as well as cover a few of those strands.

But to make myself feel better I have started telling myself that may be this is a symbol of wisdom & maturity, a sign of me growing old (in a nice way).

So next time one of you meet me stop looking for those grey strands- you ain't going to find them easily. Be careful you may be next in line.

Cheers
R

America needs to mind its own business

The judgement on the Meredith Kercher murder trial was passed early this week. Amanda Knox (The exchange student from Seattle US) and and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito were both judged guilty of the crime in which Meredith was knifed to death in a sex game that went horribly wrong.

After nearly 2 years the verdict was passed & the 2 were sentenced to 26 years of imprisonment in Italy.

The circumstances in which Meredith died was gruesome, she was held at knife point and was forced to participate in a sex game . She was found lying partially clothed under a duvet in her locked bedroom, her windpipe crushed and her throat partially slashed.

This verdict seemed reasonable to all those following this case- But expect America to think otherwise. The US believe there has been an 'anti-American' bias in this case, which is stupid given that the other person who has been found guilty is an Italian.

It now looks like Hilary Clinton will be following this closely & will support the appeal to fight this verdict.

When will America learn to mind its own business. We are all well aware of America's recent track record with regards to Human rights. This coming from a country which justified the need to run the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay where some prisoners were subject to the most inhumane methods to extract a confession.

On top this the case was pretty strong- Amanda changed her story a number of times & falsely accused an innocent man.

Amanda's parents have every right to file an appeal. But the US governments insistence on interfering in this case just goes to show why the US is one of the most disliked countries in the world today.

Sorry America- please mind your business, get your house first in order before pointing fingers at others.

R

The day India woke up

I distinctly remember 26/11 a year ago. We have TV sets all over the office. At around 3-4pm I saw my colleagues flocking around TVs & out of curiosity I joined them. Initially when I saw terrorists in the roads of Mumbai my instinct reaction was this was some kind of a bluff.

Slowly I started panicking, started thinking about all the people I know who lived in Mumbai. I was hoping they were safe. I also called my brother to ascertain what I was seeing on the TV was indeed true.

Reality struck, panic disappeared, I started to make sense of what was happening. Although I don't live in India I stay connected to everything that happens in India. My friends, my relatives, my family all of them live in India. Over the next 2-3 days I turned one of the wall-mounted TVs towards my desk so that I could stay updated.
Many people lost their lives, many others were affected, a city was shaken to its depths.
The terrorist achieved what they set out to achieve in the most gruesome manner.

But the incident brought a number of changes- some of them positive.

India woke up to new age terrorism, guerrilla warfare, India woke up to the need to forget small religious difference & stay as one, India woke up to the need to be proactively vigilant, India woke up to the need to fight for ourselves, our safety, for our life & the lives for our loved ones.

Over the last 12 months There have been a number of changes, the most important being the appointment of P Chidambaram as Home Minister.
Changes are taking place and will continue to do so... but they take time. Don't get dis-illusioned with the pace of change. don't expect immediate answers.

But keep asking questions, voice your opinion, and most importantly VOTE, vote for the right person.

To me 26/11 is the day when India was re-born the day we & the Government woke up. Lets remember all those who lost their loves ones, lets salute those who lost their lives so that we can stay safe.

Let their sacrifice not go in vain.

R

Ek ke baad ek- Ajab si London Nightmare

Over the last few days I have been catching up on loads of movies. My tolerance towards crappy masala movies is quite high, but enough is enough.

Ajab si is surely one of the most childish movies I have ever seen- Did Rajkumar Santoshi the man who directed Andaz apna apna, Damini, Khakhi actually make this movie? Ajab si is the classic case of a movie hitting the jackpot because of the promotion & hype. Stories of Ranbir & Deepika breaking-up, Katrina & Salman's romance were being generated for over a month to build hype around the movie. And in my opinion I did not see any sizzling chemistry between the lead-pair, in fact to me they looked like siblings.
Ajab si is a movie trying too hard to be funny but failing miserably, some of the sequences were so amateurishly handled, its unbelievable.
And once again we have Katrina playing the role of a bimbette, having nothing much to do but mouth 3-4 Hindi dialogues with an accent and then look pretty and dumb.

I thought Ajab si was the worst only until I watched London dreams. In my opinion its not London Dreams Its London Nightmare. A story of a Desi band in London is far-fetched, but wait until you see Brits who have no clue of Hindi music swaying to the songs like a robot.

And please AJ; wearing earrings makes you look so uncool. Who on earth whips himself for 'bure kayal'? And Salman Khan was well just being Salman Khan. It was almost like he was sleep walking through his role.

And Asin after making all those tall claims about working only in role oriented movies can be seen as a wannabe rock-chic who has nothing much to do other than dance in the background.

So guys which movie in your opinion is the worse out of the two?

R

Wear a Poppy with pride!

Like every year we observe the Remembrance Day in the UK today. A day (normally the Sunday closest to November 11) when we remember all those soldiers who put their life on the line of duty so that you and I can live.

Poppies are red flowers which are worn to show others that you are remembering those who died for their country. The reason poppies are used is because they are the flowers which grew on the battle fields after the World War 1 ended.

People normally wear poppies for over a fortnight during this period and make a donation towards supporting those families who have lost one of their loves ones while serving in the line of duty in their country.

This is to salute the spirit of those people who have more pride in serving their country - knowing very well that they put their life in danger by doing so. These soldiers stay away from home for long periods of time, away from their families without any of the comfort in the world so that others like us can stay in a protected environment.

The least we can do is to salute them and show them that the sacrifice they have made has not been forgotten.

We remember them every day; we thank them every day for what they have done for us.

Wear a Poppy, wear it with pride.

R

Ajab Katrina ki Gazab Acting

Katrina Kaif or Turquotte which I believe is her surname on her passport (many think she has purposely changed her surname to get into Indian movies) is the living proof that in Bollywood all that counts is whether your last film was a hit or not. How else could some one explain how on earth, this forever smiling Colgate ambassador is now one of the leading stars (I wont call her an actress) in Bollywood?

Can she ever act, her expressions are as wooden as a plank of tree. Ever since I saw her in Partner I kept think that eventually like rest of the mediocre actress in Bollywood she will improve.
But Katrina who has consistently starred in hit Hindi movies has been consistent in delivering really poor acting.
With all the mega bucks she earns through each of her movie, barbie doll endorsements why cant she hire a decent acting & language tutor? But why blame her, most of the audience seem to love her ever so innocent, bimbette, docile look- which I think is one of the main reason why Indian men love her.
Some people have luck on their side- she sure does.
But having been so critical of her I have got to hand it to her- she has risen to such a height in such a short period of time, albeit because of a very supportive BF who himself is a big star & is famous for recommending people.

When I look at Katrina one saying come to my mind- Nothing succeeds like success itself.

R