Publicity Stunt

Recently film artist Anushka Sharma was in the news for being detained by customs for over 8 hours. She claimed she didnt know that she had to declare her jewelery before leaving. Odd…..when most Indians have already read and seen on news channels the way Minisha Lamba and Bipasha Basu were also detained for similar reasons, a person from the same fraternity claims ignorance.
This makes me seriously ask…are these people doing it for publicity?? Quite possible, since Bollywood is no strangers to negative publicity is the best publicity. Link ups, court cases etc so many times we see such news and then a movie releases and everything is forgotten.
Take the case of hue and cry over Shah Rukh Khan being frisked at an Airport…a few months down the line we had a similar scene in his movie My Name is Khan….
Even in the past we have had many such issues…out of sight is out of mind….these filmdom people need to be in the limelight…and might go to any lengths….maybe I am wrong…but i bet not :)

Technorati Tags: Customs,Anuskha Sharma,Bipasha Basu,Minisha Lamba,Shah Rukh Khan,Publicity Stunt

Main karoon to saala character dheela hai…

Recently on fathers day, author Chetan Bhagat wrote a tweet which drew a lot of flak. His tweet was :
"Mothers give birth, but the coke belongs to the guy who puts the coin in the vending machine. Happy fathers day"
Personally I read the tweet, laughed and ignored it. It was an old joke heard many times. But then by evening Chetan Bhagat began to trend. Like every “coin” this too had two sides….those supporting him, and those against him, but most people started abusing him to the extent that in the end he had to delete the tweet.
It makes me wonder, I see so many people just shooting off anything they like, but just because they are not being followed much or unlike Chetan Bhagat who is in the public eye since long, their tweets are ignored. But when a person like Chetan Bhagat or any other well know person puts in such a tweet he is crucified!!
Ok..you dont like his books…he never asked you to like them. He writes, people who like his books read them. If they dont like it, they will trash it..if they like it its good for him. Not every author’s every written book is liked by one and all. So why the hell start abusing him about his books. about his social thinking?? He is an individual with his individual rights like every other tweeter.
And why just him, every few days our timelines are full of celebrities facing trolls. So should celebrities tweet actually what is in their minds or just tweet what their followers will like. Is this what twitter is about? Why do tweeples just jump at an opportunity to crucify the celebrities?
Every Tom, Dick and Harry posts some post which might be offensive to others once in a while, but when celebrities do it …..unka Character Dheela hai!!!!

Fleecing the traveller

Having a very bad experience with Kolkatta taxis, during my initial visits, now I always head straight to the Pre-paid counter. During my last visit also I did the same, but the taxi driver was not happy to know the destination. Once he moved out of the airport, he is telling me, Sir I can take you through a shortcut, if you pay me 100 rupees extra. I put my foot down over the matter and told him, I have all the time in the world to reach my destination, and dont care if he takes the shortcut or the normal route. On the way, he tried many a times to tell me to get off some other place citing that he didnt know the route, but then again I stood my ground and finally he reluctantly dropped me off to my destination.
I thought this was the end of it, but had more in store ….and this time not at Kolkatta but at my home turf…ie. at Mumbai. My flight landed after 12 am, so i was quite aware that I will have to shell out night charges. Being tired I was mentally set to sit in the first cab/AC cab or autorickshaw whatever was available immediately. The first person I met was a Cool Cab driver who agreed to take me to the my home address. When I asked him to start the meter, his response was that his meter was not working and he would charge me 600 Rupees for a distance which would normally in a cool cab would have taken only 250 rupees even with night charges. I refused point blank. Got out and approached a normal taxi. Same response, I wont take you on meter, I will charge your 350!!!! I moved ahead, and was surprised to see same responses from most of the taxi drivers. I was not beginning to lose my patience and infact told one that I am not from Alibaug( a common term by most mumbaikars). There was one taxi driver who even went on to tell me….Sir I will take your from Highway which will be empty right now and not from SV Road. He is telling me..this is Mumbai saab…never sleeps in the night. I told him….tell me something I dont know!!!!
Finally I had walked all the way from the terminal to the Main Highway from where I caught a rickshaw and reached home by paying normal charges.
Since I am from Mumbai, and know the roads and the rates, I knew I was being fleeced. But I really pity people from outside who are not aware of such things :(

Sachin’s tons a jinx??? I dont think so…..

Not being much interested in IPL, I seem to have missed a master century by the Master Blaster in yesterdays match of Mumbai Indians vs Kochi Tuskers.

Today the social networking sites are full of talks about the jinx of Sachins century which ultimately result his team in not winning the match. As a matter of fact, there were so many people during the World Cup final, who were happy to see him get out without getting his 100th Century(though I am well aware…had we lost the cup the public reaction would have been different)

Coming to the point of Sachins Tons being a jinx…I enquired around …is it really true….did a bit of groundswork…and the results are as under:

Sachin has scored 48 centuries in ODI and 51 in Test matches in his tally of 99 centuries.

Out of the 48 ODI matches in which Sachin scored centuries, India has one 33 matches and lost in 15.Winning % is 68.74%

Out of the 51 test matches in which Sachin scored centuries, India won 20, Drew 20, Lost 11. Winning % is 39%, but then how many results do we get in test matches?

So the jinx discussion is wrong. So let the man be…and let him enjoy his game…….

Being part of History….Part 2, the party spoilers

Blogged about the WC 11 finals experience. But the party had its lows also. Drunken men on the road, coming out in front of the car, dancing , wanting to shake hands with all alike…
Wonder how many such cases might have occurred all over and how many actually got reported. Mumbai in particular has had its share during New Year Eve outside J W Marriot at Juhu and even during the T20 WC final celebrations on the road, when a few guys misbehaved in the crowd with a girl, resulting in the girl falling in a drench.
Holi and Ganpati are two more occasions where I have seen such people passing lewd comments and trying to act fresh.
Such party poopers are around everywhere, cant argue with them, have to use tact and move ahead.
Before ending this piece, I would like to share one interesting point told to me once…..
Why is it that a drunkard in his best of mood , call his neighbors wife “HELLO DARLING”, but at the same time if he sees his mother or wife, will fold his hands or put his fingers on the lips and say “SHHHH….I am ok”. If he can recognize his mother or wife, what makes him forget the tact that he should be knowing the neighbors wife also??