Now its Slumdog and Slumdwellers, Slumdog and Hindus

The movie is to release today. Certain sections of slumdwellers have taken objection to the word dog. Just how much they will understand the context is understandable. Even before the movie has been released, they have started pelting stones on Anil Kapoor's house in Mumbai. One Hindu organization has filed a Public Interest Litigation in the court, demanding a stay on the release, because according to him, Lord Rama has been depicted wrongly in the movie. Had it not been "Jamal", and the rioters shown in the movie not been Hindus, this public interest litigation would never have come up.

We are certainly living in an odd world.

Amitabh and Slumdog

I saw Slumdog Millionaire, was quite impressed by it. It had its moments when I really wanted to puke(like when the character Salim pukes, while a boys eye is being gouged out), but the movie was really amazing.

I fail to understand why an Actor like Amitabh Bachchan should criticize the movie. He has been given due acknowledgement in the movie. After thinking a lot, and these are my thoughts, and I stand by them, for some reason, I was being reminded of a contestant in KBC when Amitabh was the host. I don't remember his name, a frail guy, with a huge "tikka" on his forehead. A guy, who like our character in  Slumdog, didn't fit in. He had managed to surprise everybody by giving the right answers which finally took him to the final question. Just like the movie, before the final question was put to him, the "time up" gong went out. The next day, this person blew up the entire money by answering wrong. That he had come up to the final question was a huge surprise, because some felt that he didn't deserve it. Some felt he is was plain lucky at guessing and choosing the right lifeline at the right time. Are we seeing a sense of guilt somewhere, and thereby the criticism. Was some "help" from certain quarters given out? Why should Amitabh criticize the movie. Isn't he aware of the pathetic conditions slum people live in? Is life just a huge palatial house of Karan Johar movie for him?

Did the author of the book know something, which of course without substantial proof he cannot say is true? We are never going to know about it.....

A "HOPE" called Obama

America has voted for "HOPE". "HOPE" for change, "HOPE" for coming out of current recession. I am "hoping" that Obama is just not a hype. Just because he is the first African-American to be elected, there is lot of curiosity surrounding him. He is no doubt a great orator. No doubt he seems to be more intellectual compared to his predecessor Bush, who was known more for his "Bushisms" then his administrative powers. But can he deliver in these difficult times is to be seen. Being positive, is good. Pinning on "HOPE" is good. But delivering the goods is not easy. If he fails, it will be termed as a failure of African-American. And I am "hoping" he is not just talks, but action.

Modern greetings

Yesterday while discussing organization of our building function, we were discussing prizes to be given away. Gift articles, etc were being discussed. The topic diverted to greeting cards, love cards etc. At this age I was found wanting when it came to discussing the rates, though 10 years back I would have easily known how much they cost. But what surprised me more was the younger generation is also not aware of it.

The reason they gave was they are more into E-greetings nowadays. Print greetings are out of fashion now. Come to think of it, my expressions via print greetings were a long time back. Nowadays, I use emoticons on messengers, and E-greetings for even expressing love for my wife. Times are changing, and so are we.

A-Satyam(Lies)

Lots might already be written about Satyam. But what bothers me is that how does one manage to show so much of cash in the balance sheets. What were the auditors seeing while the cash balance was increasing. Satyam was not selling vegetables or running a restaurant for it to accumulate such cash. Anybody aware of the financial's will know that the cash balance is normally tallied with the bank withdrawals.

So now we come to the point of if the cash was infact shown against withdrawals then the fact is that the funds were there. And if they were there where are they now. Maytas Infra has been awarded major contracts including the prestigious Metro and Airport development. Such contracts in India are not without their normal kickbacks. With big leaps in financial's, come bigger kickbacks, and bigger kickbacks, means bigger outflow of cash. I am not saying that the entire cash has gone in kickbacks, maybe some has been siphoned off by the promoters. But then to handle such outflow of cash, is always not easy, when the markets are going through a recession. In a running market, its very easy.In 2002 , Modi Xerox had put up its hands, when its bribes against the rate contract it had received had inflated its cash balance.

So what is the fact now with Satyam. I am not ready to believe its in loss. I am not ready to believe its has worked on nominal margins. Raju has said was like riding a tiger, I am saying, Raju himself is the tiger who has eaten up a major chunk along with certain officials. The question is who is going to put his arm in the tigers throat to know the true Satya(m).