june 18th

Saw jbh or jhoom baraabar jhoom. Nothing much to be said about it. If some people go and manage to have fun then they should all be hired by yashraj films to make future films for the banner. A friend of mine succintly reviewed the film – she said the 2nd half was ‘Nach Baliye’ or Jhalak Dikhla Ja. For the uninitiated the two shows are popular dance shows on Indian television networks.

Well, that’s what Indian films are all about – they are about celebrating dance and song and making a song and dance about making song and dance er whatever...so where were we?

Why you modern educated Indians want to follow the Hollywood no song formula. We are Indians and we must do what comes naturally to us. How can we forget our customs and traditions. You fool, people all over the world like us for this song and dance. Look at Sivaji, it’s all about star power and yes you guessed it right. Song and dance.

Arre forget your art house inclinations. People come here to forget their sorrows and misery, they want to laugh and cry, not see your intellectual shit. Go to kolkata or kerala if you want to make such films. No not even there, go to hell for all that we care.

june 17th

barack obama has said something that he ought not to have said. hillary a campaign funds stooge of the same people who are outsourcing jobs to indians! tsk tsk mr obama you must know better than that. don't you need the funds of the rich american jews or the rapidly progressing indian community? with one fell stroke you are causing the axe to god knows do what. well start the damage control exercise and lets see what post-elecion analysts hve to say about it.

anyways everything and everyone has a short memory

good luck and good night

june 15th

spurs win the 4th. eva was there. tony was happy. the indians are practising...for some matches in england. the world plays a lot of sport. and these are the hyped ones. yesterday the first rains hit mumbai. short and swift, it cooled the temperatures and made us breathe easy. already one has earmarked road sections where in the coming days it will be difficult or impossible to navigate.

en route to my office i pass a couple of film studios. filmalaya and natraj. in the 50's to the late 90's films were shot here. filmalaya was the first to be razed. mostly apartments have come in its place. one shooting floor still exists. natraj i saw being brought down. when working on my first film i had worked there. before that i had heard about it. now its no more. i cross it every day. don't know what's coming in its place though. a mall, apartments or a new - age studio?

dj aqeel, a name to reckon with in the indian club circuit is finally out. was caught in dubai on charges of possession of E. enough indians have been caught there to make the future traveller to the oasis wary, nay cancel the trip. another honcho from a film company is still languishing. probably doesn't have the right contact numbers in dubai.

now is the time to boogie dj a with e...now that you are out...back in bombay...the music that i play is gonna blow your mind...

june 14th 2nd post

before the present becomes past

watch a rem concert live

watch a van morrison concert

take all your friends for a year long vacation throughout the world

learn to cook

learn to not talk

finish the 'to-read' list of books, novels, poems, plays, comics

watch films

take your family out on a forever vacation

learn to make pickles

live on an island

visit places of past civilazations

watch cricket at lords

watch wimbledon

learn surfing

learn to play the guitar

june 14th post

paris is in jail.
paris doesn't want to go to jail.
lindsay doesn't want to party.
but she can't help it.
she has so much of money and she has no friends.
she has friends but only during the party.
but she has time on her side.
like drew and so many others.
oh the flashbulbs and the adulation and the resounding claps.
you hate it and miss it at the same time.

we too who devour are the same.
long live the voyeur.

june 13th 2nd

rajnikant's new film is about to hit town. the most expensive indian film ever. more than devdas. anyways that doesn't mean anything. the expense bit. and he is coming with the grand - daddy of excess shankar. going to be a terrific combination. chennai is going crazy. hitting theaters in 4 continents etc the hype is good.

london calling. next week its jhoom barabar jhoom. its london time again. the subsidy by the british government is killing. think of a story now that you have a subsidy. damn the story get the subsidy.

june 13

chandu borde is the new... well what is he? coach, manager or what? he is 73 years old. well, age is in the mind and all i agree but does he inspire any confidence?

and what is mr. pawar doing chairing all those eternal meetings that fail to throw up a coach eventually. isn't he the agricultural minister of india, a predominantly agriculture oriented coiuntry where farmers from andhra and vidarbha are committing suicide on a day to day basis. where should he be? and doing what?

the yorkshire awards are finally over. hrithik roshan got the best actor award for krissh...i think devgan and saif from omkara did ok didn't they? did they by mistake give the best wire trick award or something like that to the junior roshan dude?

june 12th

yesterday was one of the happiest days for indian cricket. graham ford rejected the bcci's offer to coach the indian team. the richest board, a cricket crazy nation, talented bunch of cricketers and ford refuses. should be a sad day no? most laughed their guts out at the bcci mandarins...non-player of all kinds - businessmen, politicians, lawyers you name it run the board, the players - the CIRCUS. serves them right.

its unbearable outside. north india is sizzling. here in bombay its windy and cool one minute and hot and damp the next. then the luxury of the office air conditioner. nobody wants to go out even to have lunch. back home i don't have an a.c. sometimes it gets difficult to sleep nowadays. how will it be next year?

carbon footprint. its the next big word. we will have smart t-shirts and coffeee mugs with environment conscious one-liners. proceeds can even go to green peace. even in this heat people in the office rush to smoke every half hour or so. i wonder how. i too had the habit for 9 years. but isn't it HOT!!

a suggestion: what if we make a timeline. all cities in the world shut down for a day one after the other, starting alphabetically. just stay at home. don't drive your bike, car or switch your a.c - let life come to a standstill for a day. might come in handy later.

2nd post for june 11

We are blogging. We are talking. We are emailing. We are reading all the posts. From the darkest coal mines to the empty space outside. We are going tickety tackety, unrelentingly typing, trying to put together everything that we see, feel and respond to. We want to share and inform. Every second is documented if not by you then by somebody else. What a time to live in?

We are connected like never before. Are we listening? Are we are coming together? Hah pessimist.

june 11th post

nadal won. federer lost. lets applaud a great rivalry. just read about a guy who is buying large, really large swathes of land in chile and argentina. a private conservationist. the locals are complaining. same in nandigram and singur and various other places where the sez's (special economic zone) are coming up. a new revolution? is the era of the revolution over because the revolution will not be televised?

you can't even remember your martyrs. they go to hong kong to do that.

saw ocean's 13. better than 12 but what was mr.pacino doing in the film. didn't have a single moment. these dudes are definitely going to come back for 14.