Came across this on rediff.com
http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/jul/19inter1.htm?q=np&file=.htm
It talks about why Vajpayee did not sign the nuclear deal. It is basically an interview with Dr.Ashley Tellis who worked with US and Indian officals to seal the nuclear deal.
Here's a question that has rankled me:
When asked what it is that the US government wanted from the Vajpayee government, he refuses to divulge it.
I am curious. I want to know what has India offered the US in return besides the provisions that are in the agreement.
Furthermore, he says that, according to US law, barring the five permanent members of the Security Council, if any other country conducts nuclear tests, sanctions would have to be applied.
And this could be done against India, too!
I still fail to get it:
Why should only the permanent members of the Security Council be given a pass regarding nuclear weapons? One of these countries - China, is not even a democracy! Nuclear weapons are dangerous and their proliferation should be curbed but the restriction should apply equally to all countries.
Added as an afterthought:
I think the reason the major powers are trying to curb nuclear weapons is because ultimately, it will lead to an arms race and pose a serious threat to human civilisation itself. But the problem is, what about the world's existing nuclear warheads in some countries? Some of the others who do not have them, (either the ones with dangerous ambitions or the ones that feel threatened by the 'nuclear haves' as a newspaper piece had once called the countries that possess them), will keep clamouring for them until something more powerful is invented.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Friday, July 14, 2006
My other blog
I have another blog on
http://synapse.rediffiland.com
It's a long time I posted anything but am quite busy at the moment. Also, have been reading and commenting on other people's blogs:).
http://synapse.rediffiland.com
It's a long time I posted anything but am quite busy at the moment. Also, have been reading and commenting on other people's blogs:).
Friday, March 31, 2006
Who invented the cellphone? - Part I
I admit it. I don't know although the ubiquitious thing is now a given part of my life just like the T.V. or the computer.
Are we less in awe of technology and invention than what we were a few decades earlier? Movies of the 1980s seem so quaint now..I know when a movie has been made in the 80s or early 90s just as we would recognise movies made in the 50s, 60s or 70s - because they are not using cellphones (!) along with certain other hints such as the costumes, the computers they used, and so on. 'Time' magazine recently had a story about how kids are too wired these days..what with IM, cellphones, iPods, laptops, etc.
A lot of us know who invented the telephone, the radio, television, evolution of computers, the transistor, the printing press, the electric bulb, alternating current, rubber, the steam engine, the aeroplane and many other pathbreaking discoveries. But, technology today is getting scaled at a rate never imagined before and probably, we are living life in such a fast-paced lane that we do not have time to 'stand and stare' (to quote a famous poet -
What is this life but full of care?
We have no time to stand and stare)
stare at the wondrous discoveries and inventions that have made our lives so much more convenient.
But, some inventions are more entrenched in the public imagination and gave birth to more inventions in their genre. Maybe that is why some scientists fade into oblivion even after winning the Nobel whereas some remain in our consciousness even when they have not, long after their time is past.
Take alternating current, for example. Till then, humankind knew only of direct current. Although alternating current was another type of electric current, the implications and the effect it would have on human society were humongous.
Alternating current is the reason why turbines are able to provide electricity to millions of homes and offices worldwide. There was this programme on Science Channel, I think, which showed the intense rivalry between Edison and Nikola Tesla and how finally, Tesla teamed up with Westinghouse. ( Aha! I just found out I share my birthday with Nikolas Tesla..whoopee! Makes me feel capable of achieving something in life:) ).
Maybe, the media must have had a field day and indirectly promoted science.
Think of any modern day discoveries or inventions that have been truly earth shattering.
The discovery of the DNA, the Internet, the first heart transplant, the cloning of Dolly the sheep come into mind. But do the majority of us know of the countless others that walk away with Nobels year after year? Do we know the names of those men and women who have made them possible, slogging away day after day, holed up in labs?
Is the media to blame for only highlighting the names of actors, models, politicians and sportstars?
Okay, this post continues later. Let me google who really invented the cellphone.
Are we less in awe of technology and invention than what we were a few decades earlier? Movies of the 1980s seem so quaint now..I know when a movie has been made in the 80s or early 90s just as we would recognise movies made in the 50s, 60s or 70s - because they are not using cellphones (!) along with certain other hints such as the costumes, the computers they used, and so on. 'Time' magazine recently had a story about how kids are too wired these days..what with IM, cellphones, iPods, laptops, etc.
A lot of us know who invented the telephone, the radio, television, evolution of computers, the transistor, the printing press, the electric bulb, alternating current, rubber, the steam engine, the aeroplane and many other pathbreaking discoveries. But, technology today is getting scaled at a rate never imagined before and probably, we are living life in such a fast-paced lane that we do not have time to 'stand and stare' (to quote a famous poet -
What is this life but full of care?
We have no time to stand and stare)
stare at the wondrous discoveries and inventions that have made our lives so much more convenient.
But, some inventions are more entrenched in the public imagination and gave birth to more inventions in their genre. Maybe that is why some scientists fade into oblivion even after winning the Nobel whereas some remain in our consciousness even when they have not, long after their time is past.
Take alternating current, for example. Till then, humankind knew only of direct current. Although alternating current was another type of electric current, the implications and the effect it would have on human society were humongous.
Alternating current is the reason why turbines are able to provide electricity to millions of homes and offices worldwide. There was this programme on Science Channel, I think, which showed the intense rivalry between Edison and Nikola Tesla and how finally, Tesla teamed up with Westinghouse. ( Aha! I just found out I share my birthday with Nikolas Tesla..whoopee! Makes me feel capable of achieving something in life:) ).
Maybe, the media must have had a field day and indirectly promoted science.
Think of any modern day discoveries or inventions that have been truly earth shattering.
The discovery of the DNA, the Internet, the first heart transplant, the cloning of Dolly the sheep come into mind. But do the majority of us know of the countless others that walk away with Nobels year after year? Do we know the names of those men and women who have made them possible, slogging away day after day, holed up in labs?
Is the media to blame for only highlighting the names of actors, models, politicians and sportstars?
Okay, this post continues later. Let me google who really invented the cellphone.
Got my driver's license!!
I am way older than 16 but I never needed to learn to drive till I came to the U.S.
Finally, today, I cleared the road test and have the license to venture out on my own. This is one of the most important practical skills in life and feels like an achievement. I was all rosy and smiling on the picture of the license:).
Is it that we procrastinate things because we have a deep fear somewhere inside? I remember reading somewhere that procrastination may have some deeper cause such as fear of failure or something else.
One thing I have learnt is to get going and attempt whatever it is you are trying to accomplish. A friend of mine talked about "inertia" - apparently Newton's first law applies to us living beings, too. When you are trying to get back to work after a hiatus or going back to school after a long, long time, you might feel you are not able to do things that effortlessly. However, achieving smaller targets can set you on course and once the momentum builds up, you again reach another inertia - the inertia of motion. How true my friend was!
Finally, today, I cleared the road test and have the license to venture out on my own. This is one of the most important practical skills in life and feels like an achievement. I was all rosy and smiling on the picture of the license:).
Is it that we procrastinate things because we have a deep fear somewhere inside? I remember reading somewhere that procrastination may have some deeper cause such as fear of failure or something else.
One thing I have learnt is to get going and attempt whatever it is you are trying to accomplish. A friend of mine talked about "inertia" - apparently Newton's first law applies to us living beings, too. When you are trying to get back to work after a hiatus or going back to school after a long, long time, you might feel you are not able to do things that effortlessly. However, achieving smaller targets can set you on course and once the momentum builds up, you again reach another inertia - the inertia of motion. How true my friend was!
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Indian film heroines
A lot of others have been blogging about Bollywood (the Hindi film industry) and I also want to chip in with my thoughts.
I was watching a movie the other day called "Red Eye" starring Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy. Rachel McAdams plays this very dedicated, into-her-job, smart hotel receptionist - Lisa Rivers, who is travelling back to Florida after attending a family funeral (I think her grandmother's). Her father lives in Florida, too, and she works for the Lux Atlantic Hotel in Miami. Cillian Murphy plays a friendly (at least initially) co-passenger who later on turns out to be the villian, blackmailing her to be part of the assassination of a top government official and his family.
At the airport, her flight is delayed and after speaking up for an airline official who is berated by another passenger for the delay (after all, she has faced this several times, too!), she strikes up a conversation with Cillian Murphy standing right behind her. Later on, they have a drink at the lounge bar before the flight and he ends up on the aisle seat beside her.
Suddenly, after Lisa who seems to get sick whenever the plane takes off or lands or sways in turbulent weather, has settled down, the conversation takes a sinister turn. He starts blackmailing her, asking her to change the reservation of a government official in her hotel to another room - the number of which he gives her or else...her Dad would be taken out by a hired assassin camping out at her doorstep.
The entire movie is about how she outwits this guy and saves her father in the process, all withOUT the help of cops or a strong boyfriend/fiance/husband. Now, some scenes are far-fetched, like when she esacpes at Miami airport, takes off with somebody else's car and goes staright to her house rather than call 911. What was she thinking? That the cops would not be chasing her for stealing a car? Or that the assassin would be stupid enough to let her go? Well, she does ram into him and kill him when she gets there. Not only that, almost a wall gets knocked down with the impact and not a single neighbour hears. All this happens in broad daylight in a leafy suburban neighbourhood which definitely seems to be the abode of many families.
Okay, but I have to appreciate the girl's guts and wits. She tries to mark certain words in a book that she as lent to another co-passenger, an elderly lady, who has stopped by her seat when Mr. M (let me call him that since I don't know the character's name) has been called upon to help another woman with her cabin luggage. But, Mr. M gets suspicious, flicks the book from the lady when she has dozed off and finds out. Once when she manages to get permission from him to go to the bathroom in the plane, she tries to get him caught by scribbling a warning with his seat number on the mirror in the bathroom. But, just as she opens the door, he is right outside, he pushes her in and hits her ruthlessly. The stewardesses think they are making out:).
There is a scar below her shoulder that he asks about.
At the very end, just as the plane is touching down and after she has made that dreaded call, she lies down pretending to be sick, gets hold of something like a valve from underneath her skirt.
she tells him something on the lines of,
"It happened in a parking lot two years ago in broad daylight. The man held a knife to me all the while. From then on, I have been trying to convince myself (pause).."
Mr. M : "That it was not your fault?"
Lisa: "No, that it would never happen again."
Then, as the plane touches down on the runway. In a lightning second, she pulls out the valve-like thing from beneath her skirt, clips it to his throat, takes off her seat belt and bolts away to the shock of fellow passengers out of the gate and into the throes of the public at the airport.
Now, can you imagine a Hindi or any other Indian film heroine doing anything of the sort? Except for a Zeenat Aman (Don) or Hema Malini who played the spunky Geeta (Seeta Aur Geeta) and Basanti (Sholay), we rarely have anyone who can at least put up a fight. In the Southern films, it is even worse. All the heroines seem to have a standard dubbed voice that they use to screech for help while they are about to be molested/raped/killed, all the while thinking of NOTHING, absolutely nothing to help themselves. This applies even if they are not tied and gagged or taken away in a speeding vehicle. Our heroines seem to always want a man to save them and the hero can fight against a gang of 50 even if he is unarmed and the others are carrying hockey sticks, knives, etc.
When will we get our version of Lara Croft/Xena/Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or at least, a smart, brave woman who at least makes an attempt to get away? Producers and directors, given the high rate of crimes against women, at least give women some role model to look up to.
I was watching a movie the other day called "Red Eye" starring Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy. Rachel McAdams plays this very dedicated, into-her-job, smart hotel receptionist - Lisa Rivers, who is travelling back to Florida after attending a family funeral (I think her grandmother's). Her father lives in Florida, too, and she works for the Lux Atlantic Hotel in Miami. Cillian Murphy plays a friendly (at least initially) co-passenger who later on turns out to be the villian, blackmailing her to be part of the assassination of a top government official and his family.
At the airport, her flight is delayed and after speaking up for an airline official who is berated by another passenger for the delay (after all, she has faced this several times, too!), she strikes up a conversation with Cillian Murphy standing right behind her. Later on, they have a drink at the lounge bar before the flight and he ends up on the aisle seat beside her.
Suddenly, after Lisa who seems to get sick whenever the plane takes off or lands or sways in turbulent weather, has settled down, the conversation takes a sinister turn. He starts blackmailing her, asking her to change the reservation of a government official in her hotel to another room - the number of which he gives her or else...her Dad would be taken out by a hired assassin camping out at her doorstep.
The entire movie is about how she outwits this guy and saves her father in the process, all withOUT the help of cops or a strong boyfriend/fiance/husband. Now, some scenes are far-fetched, like when she esacpes at Miami airport, takes off with somebody else's car and goes staright to her house rather than call 911. What was she thinking? That the cops would not be chasing her for stealing a car? Or that the assassin would be stupid enough to let her go? Well, she does ram into him and kill him when she gets there. Not only that, almost a wall gets knocked down with the impact and not a single neighbour hears. All this happens in broad daylight in a leafy suburban neighbourhood which definitely seems to be the abode of many families.
Okay, but I have to appreciate the girl's guts and wits. She tries to mark certain words in a book that she as lent to another co-passenger, an elderly lady, who has stopped by her seat when Mr. M (let me call him that since I don't know the character's name) has been called upon to help another woman with her cabin luggage. But, Mr. M gets suspicious, flicks the book from the lady when she has dozed off and finds out. Once when she manages to get permission from him to go to the bathroom in the plane, she tries to get him caught by scribbling a warning with his seat number on the mirror in the bathroom. But, just as she opens the door, he is right outside, he pushes her in and hits her ruthlessly. The stewardesses think they are making out:).
There is a scar below her shoulder that he asks about.
At the very end, just as the plane is touching down and after she has made that dreaded call, she lies down pretending to be sick, gets hold of something like a valve from underneath her skirt.
she tells him something on the lines of,
"It happened in a parking lot two years ago in broad daylight. The man held a knife to me all the while. From then on, I have been trying to convince myself (pause).."
Mr. M : "That it was not your fault?"
Lisa: "No, that it would never happen again."
Then, as the plane touches down on the runway. In a lightning second, she pulls out the valve-like thing from beneath her skirt, clips it to his throat, takes off her seat belt and bolts away to the shock of fellow passengers out of the gate and into the throes of the public at the airport.
Now, can you imagine a Hindi or any other Indian film heroine doing anything of the sort? Except for a Zeenat Aman (Don) or Hema Malini who played the spunky Geeta (Seeta Aur Geeta) and Basanti (Sholay), we rarely have anyone who can at least put up a fight. In the Southern films, it is even worse. All the heroines seem to have a standard dubbed voice that they use to screech for help while they are about to be molested/raped/killed, all the while thinking of NOTHING, absolutely nothing to help themselves. This applies even if they are not tied and gagged or taken away in a speeding vehicle. Our heroines seem to always want a man to save them and the hero can fight against a gang of 50 even if he is unarmed and the others are carrying hockey sticks, knives, etc.
When will we get our version of Lara Croft/Xena/Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or at least, a smart, brave woman who at least makes an attempt to get away? Producers and directors, given the high rate of crimes against women, at least give women some role model to look up to.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
What Hindus should not expect
A dinner-table discussion that I had about a month ago suddenly veered to religion. It suddenly occurred to me that some Hindus have been having all the wrong expectations of other religions. Some Hindus complain that while they see the same God everywhere and visit mosques, churches of every denomination and pagodas, gurudwaras, etc., their reverence is not reciprocated. We got to see the facts as they are and not get emotional and expect everyone to fall in line with an all-embracing way of thinking. People of other religions who do not bow down to Hindu deities are not bad people or do not want to take away your right to worship (except the fanatics who resort to crooked means to get their point across). Not everybody will like you or your religion. If the holy book of some other religion prohibits idol worship, why would they ever want to be a part of your religious ceremonies even if they respect you as a human being and your right to your way of life? If their book claims that theirs is the only route to salvation, why will they ever take you as an equal?
It may be hurtful to be told that you are a heathen/pagan doomed to hell because you do not believe in so-and-so but hey, when one is sure of one's beliefs, that we are going to be judged by our deeds and not by our creed, why should we bother? The more all-embracing one does not lose out on anything as long as s/he is not physically threatened.
Don't have unrealistic expectations - you will not be disappointed.
Blogaholic!
I've become a blogaholic - I have ravenously devoured the blogs of so many people that I better acknowledge them. Not fair of me - just reading and not even writing to them to tell them how great I think they are. Also, it might get my blog an audience when my name appears in the form of a hyperlink:).
There are days when I seriously want to write something and I want to spout out all the outrage I feel onto a page to be read by other people. But, I fret and fume and pace about my room. After that, there are chores to be done around the house and then the whole thing is totally lost! You've got to have that passion to write for the creative juices to flow. The fruit of thought has to press against the compartments of your grey cells, waiting to explode, turn into juice. I must seize the moment. As they say "Carpe Diem" (seize the day!) ... what is Latin for "Seize the moment"?
There are days when I seriously want to write something and I want to spout out all the outrage I feel onto a page to be read by other people. But, I fret and fume and pace about my room. After that, there are chores to be done around the house and then the whole thing is totally lost! You've got to have that passion to write for the creative juices to flow. The fruit of thought has to press against the compartments of your grey cells, waiting to explode, turn into juice. I must seize the moment. As they say "Carpe Diem" (seize the day!) ... what is Latin for "Seize the moment"?
Friday, February 10, 2006
Diverse voices in Indian music
Today, I was reading about the legend that is Lata Mangeshkar. I am a fan of Lata Mangeshkar
and Asha Bhosle myself and I think they have been blessed with divinely melodious voices.However, I feel that the current crop of abundant talent crooning away the latest numbers from A.R. Rehman and Shankar Ehsaan Loy and other new music directors is really good. Good for the confidence of youngsters, good for Indian music in general.
I could sing well but always had a complex about my voice not being on the more feminine
side. A deep, low-pitched voice is typically not suited to many of the numbers sung in old
Hindi film songs by melody queens such as Lataji and Ashaji. But a lot of Western pop
singers on the other hand had completely distinct voices. Just listen to Beyonce, the Spice
Girls, Celine Dion, Cher, to name a few. Ditto goes for those deep-voiced expert voices in
Carnatic or Hindustani. MS Subbulakshmi and Kishori Amonkar have their own place in the
music world. I started to think - well, if the Western pop singers can belt out great tunes,
then so can we deep-voiced ones back home and I don't mean me (as of now, I have no
intentions of becoming a professsional singer, pop or otherwise). There is plenty of talent
in this country (India).
Just as a fair-complexion was the ideal of feminine beauty, so is the high-pitched, tender, thin as a silk thread female voice. But this is not taking away from Lata Mangeshkar or Asha Bhosle's achievements in any way. Listen to the high notes in "Dil hoom hoom kare" from 'Rudaali', "Aapki aankhon ne samjha pyaar ke kaabil hame" from 'Anpadh' or "Ajee roothkar ab kahaan jaayiegaa" from 'Aarzoo' to name a few. They are mind-boggling. The voice stretches like a malleable, molten metal over the high notes and is as agile as an Olympic gymnast when it comes to the "aalaap" (stretching the voice over a particular note).
But I am just glad that we have begun to recognise voices such as the full-throated Sunidhi
Chauhan who is also very melodious and handles the high pitch with aplomb as also Vasundhara
Das, Alisha Chinai, Suneeta Rao and many others. Remember the "Deewane deewane to deewane hain" number by Shweta? Indian pop gave a lot of the husky-voiced singers a chance to showcase their talents and we have numbers that rock such as the above mentioned one and
those such as the "Made in India" title song by Alisha Chinai. I am happy to hear diverse voices and see diverse faces such as Kajol (totally unconventional) who burst on the scene with her magnetic on-screen personality, expressive eyes, bubbling enthusiasm and an individuality that set her apart from all the slim and/or fair typical Hindi heroines.
The bottom line is that talented people in India today have many more options and opportunities available to them than even a generation ago. More power to them!
and Asha Bhosle myself and I think they have been blessed with divinely melodious voices.However, I feel that the current crop of abundant talent crooning away the latest numbers from A.R. Rehman and Shankar Ehsaan Loy and other new music directors is really good. Good for the confidence of youngsters, good for Indian music in general.
I could sing well but always had a complex about my voice not being on the more feminine
side. A deep, low-pitched voice is typically not suited to many of the numbers sung in old
Hindi film songs by melody queens such as Lataji and Ashaji. But a lot of Western pop
singers on the other hand had completely distinct voices. Just listen to Beyonce, the Spice
Girls, Celine Dion, Cher, to name a few. Ditto goes for those deep-voiced expert voices in
Carnatic or Hindustani. MS Subbulakshmi and Kishori Amonkar have their own place in the
music world. I started to think - well, if the Western pop singers can belt out great tunes,
then so can we deep-voiced ones back home and I don't mean me (as of now, I have no
intentions of becoming a professsional singer, pop or otherwise). There is plenty of talent
in this country (India).
Just as a fair-complexion was the ideal of feminine beauty, so is the high-pitched, tender, thin as a silk thread female voice. But this is not taking away from Lata Mangeshkar or Asha Bhosle's achievements in any way. Listen to the high notes in "Dil hoom hoom kare" from 'Rudaali', "Aapki aankhon ne samjha pyaar ke kaabil hame" from 'Anpadh' or "Ajee roothkar ab kahaan jaayiegaa" from 'Aarzoo' to name a few. They are mind-boggling. The voice stretches like a malleable, molten metal over the high notes and is as agile as an Olympic gymnast when it comes to the "aalaap" (stretching the voice over a particular note).
But I am just glad that we have begun to recognise voices such as the full-throated Sunidhi
Chauhan who is also very melodious and handles the high pitch with aplomb as also Vasundhara
Das, Alisha Chinai, Suneeta Rao and many others. Remember the "Deewane deewane to deewane hain" number by Shweta? Indian pop gave a lot of the husky-voiced singers a chance to showcase their talents and we have numbers that rock such as the above mentioned one and
those such as the "Made in India" title song by Alisha Chinai. I am happy to hear diverse voices and see diverse faces such as Kajol (totally unconventional) who burst on the scene with her magnetic on-screen personality, expressive eyes, bubbling enthusiasm and an individuality that set her apart from all the slim and/or fair typical Hindi heroines.
The bottom line is that talented people in India today have many more options and opportunities available to them than even a generation ago. More power to them!
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Getting out of the rut
Here I am trying to study and I get sucked into the maze called the Internet - surfing stuff that is completely unrelated to what I have to do. It is not that I am surfing porn/sports or some useless stuff but I had become a news junkie. I particularly liked op-eds and columns related to politics and current events.
I realised that the best thing to do is to stay away from temptation...so I ventured to the local bookstore. I had tried the local library, too.
The main thing is, getting out to be amongst other people, albeit strangers, seeing the sunshine and the world outside sort of gets you going towards your goal. Sitting all day at home, that too in the depressingly short and gloomy winter days, unshowered, gets to me after some time.
It is not that I did not try. I have tried changing my surfing patterns to sites related to of my field. I do study sometimes, too.
But if the time-wasting goes on for a series of days, it hits me hard. When evening comes and I have nothing to show for it it only makes me sad and angry at myself. That spills over into my relationships and messes up everything.
So get up, get ready (shower, dress, etc.), get out and get going!
I realised that the best thing to do is to stay away from temptation...so I ventured to the local bookstore. I had tried the local library, too.
The main thing is, getting out to be amongst other people, albeit strangers, seeing the sunshine and the world outside sort of gets you going towards your goal. Sitting all day at home, that too in the depressingly short and gloomy winter days, unshowered, gets to me after some time.
It is not that I did not try. I have tried changing my surfing patterns to sites related to of my field. I do study sometimes, too.
But if the time-wasting goes on for a series of days, it hits me hard. When evening comes and I have nothing to show for it it only makes me sad and angry at myself. That spills over into my relationships and messes up everything.
So get up, get ready (shower, dress, etc.), get out and get going!
Thursday, December 16, 2004
About beauty and Indian stars in the West
I have been intrigued by the attention heaped on Aishwarya Rai by the Indian media.
Today, I think she looks better than many other models and movie stars, even Hollywood ones. But, I did not think that much of her beauty when she first landed on our TV screens.
To be honest, when I first saw her on the Pepsi and Palmolive ads, I did not think of her as the "most beautiful woman" even in Mumbai! In fact, it was only at the time of the Miss India contest of 1994 that I got to know who she really was. That was courtesy one of my college friends who was a big fan of hers and I teased him about it. In the Palmolive ad, I felt she looked pretty and remarked to my mother about it. But my mother normally takes such things very casually with a "Who doesn't look pretty these days?" kind of attitude. In the Pepsi ad, I actually thought the other girl (I think Mahima Chaudhary) was prettier than Ash (as Aishwarya Rai is also known). Frankly, I thought her lips were too prominent and in that ad, that flawed-in-my-opinion feature stood out in bright red alongwith her attractive, unusual-for-an-Indian eyes. And let me tell readers here that Aishwarya was not the only model who had caught my eye on TV. I was fascinated by a few TV actresses and another model - Gayatri Joshi of "Swades" who starred in that Pond's Age-Defying Complex ad (though I was shocked to know how young she was when she participated in the Femina Miss India contest of 1999..I mean, what is there to defy about your age when you are twenty-something?!)
Some actresses whom I thought were incredibly beautiful - the late Divya Bharati, Mrinal Kulkarni who played the role of Ahilyabai Holkar in "The Great Maratha" and also the wife in "Hasratein", Seema Kelkar in "The Sword of Tipu Sultan", Sridevi, Jayaprada, Juhi Chawla, Vyjayanthimala, Hema Malini, Manisha Koirala (who I thought looked stunning in "1942 - A Love Story"), Mala Sinha and many others. There are a couple of others whose faces I think have lovely features , too - Sriprada in the afternoon serials "Waqt Ki Raftaar"and "Aparajita" and Gayatri Shastri in "Om Namah Shivaya".
I have read arguments both for and against beauty pageants. Personally, I feel they are more like the glamourised version of a college personality contest combined with a modelling contest with a lot of moolah, prestige and TV coverage. Does becoming "Miss World" or "Miss Universe" mean that the winner is literally "THE most beautiful" woman in the world? I don't think so. If that were the case, then what about last year's winners and what about the vast majority of females who never participate in them?
Secondly, these contests are not only about the most beautiful face. One thing here. Looking at magazines and these pageants, I feel the Western emphasis is more on figure, skin texture, teeth and hair when it comes to judging beauty. Right from my childhood, it has been the facial features - proportionate eyes, forehead, nose and lips, shape of the lips, eyes, eyebrows and nose, cheekbones and other things that has been the hallmark of great beauty for me. That is why I don't find even some top models that beautiful. Furthermore, a beautiful figure can be attained by at least many, if not all, by a disciplined lifestyle, diet and exercise over a prolonged period of time. Skin can be altered with creams, lotions, make-up and a healthy, nutritious diet, sleep, exercise and elimination of stress. But your face? It is what you are born with. Plastic surgery to drastically alter your features may or may not work for everyone, is not economically viable for everyone and is just not "natural". That is why the first thing I look for when it comes to physical attractiveness is a lovely face.
I have increasingly started to suspect that our ideas of beauty are not only our own but also shaped by our parents, peers and the media. My penchant for small, but not very thin or insignificant, lips might have to do with the fact that my own lips were praised for their shape and smallness when I was a child. Added to that, the images I was exposed to, of Goddesses such as Durga and Lakshmi in temples, the image of Sita in Raja Ravi Verma paintings that are present in many an altar and even paintings of Mother Mary and biblical characters, all had arched eyebrows, petal-shaped eyes, cute, sharp noses and bow-shaped, curvy, small lips. For my friends in school, I was not that pretty because of the pimples and boils that popped up all over my face in my teens and my flat hairline above my forehead. Added to that, I was quite chubby though not fat. My sense of dressing and grooming were gawky, styleless and sometimes, plain funny. But back then, I must say I was more liberated than what I am now because I cared less about my looks and more about what I accomplished in my studies and extra-curricular activities.
Thirdly, a beauty contestant gets a good chance to show off her personality, self-confidence, style, elegance, public speaking skills and power of expression besides offering viewers a glimpse of her talent and achievements. So, her face is not the only criterion on which she is judged. But, sometimes, I find that even when contestants answer equally well, one wins and the rest, as they say, "go home". Sometimes, an answer that seems to come straight from the heart, devoid of political correctness, does not win you the crown. I remember Madhu Sapre in the finals of the Miss Universe contest of 1992. When asked what she would do if she became the Prime Minister of her country, she talked about building a sports stadium and encouraging sports. The winner talked about doing something for the children and was made Miss Universe 1992.
As for Miss India, the whole speaking round is in English, so a person who is educated in the vernacular medium and is not very fluent in English, would find it pretty intimidating and demoralising. And look at the entry criterion for Femina Miss India. The line goes - If you are at least 5" 6, under 23 years of age and have got what it takes to take on the world....
Now, does it mean that anyone with a height under 5" 6 is not beautiful?
Now, for the interest of the West in Ash. Now, in my opinion, Aishwarya is not a bad actress. In some scenes, she came across as very convincing. But, I don't think it is because she is the best actress India has ever produced. Come on - we are a country of Nutan, Nargis, Madhubala, Revathy, Rekha, Sridevi, Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi, Madhuri, Tabu, Waheeda Rehman and many other illustrious figures. Did any of them even get invited to any film festival? Maybe one or two of the whole lot. The fact is, the West has only recently started taking such unprecedented interest in commercial Indian cinema. They had honoured Satyajit Ray and Mother India made it to the final five of the Oscars, but did they ever take notice of a superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna or Hema Malini or Dev Anand? Did blockbusters such as "Sholay", "Aradhana" or a tear-jerking "Anand" gather even half the attention that a "Devdas" does?
One reason , I think, is that the growing NRI population in countries such as UK and the US, created a huge market for our films. A film like "Yaadein" that does not do so well in India is a hit abroad. Part fo the reason is, homesick NRIs get a nostalgic state of the ideal "Mera Bharat Mahaan" (My India is great) in our sugary, candy floss blockbusters. Because they don't get to see Indian films that often, they are thrilled when they get the opportunity. And of course, the Western reviewers have started noticing the box-office fortunes of 'desi' (meaning, "local" in Hindi) films in some niche theatres.
Added to that, our actors have been gyrating their hips in almost every part of the globe now, be it on the streets of New York in "Kal Ho Na Ho", Govinda and Karisma in Switzerland in "Hero No. 1" or Hrithik Roshan and Amisha Patel in "Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai". And not to forget the mother of all modern blockbusters - "DDLJ" on the streets of the stiff upper-lipped London. A few years ago, at one awards ceremony, somebody from a European country's department fo tourism had come on stage. Awareness and a curious amusement about this unique song-and-dance style of storytelling has grown gradually over the last decade.
Commercial Hindi films are going places - to the Locarno film festival, to Germany, Cannes and also the Oscars.
So, if the average Westerner wants someone who represents this new (new to them not to us) kind of cinema - who is he going to pick? Someone who is eye-catching, has some hits and who the local Indian media raves about all the time! Who fulfills all the above criteria? Aishwarya, of course. If I wanted to know about American superstars, I would watch Hollywood movies and pick up an American magazine such as "People" or a proper trade magazine to know about them (Mainstream American newspapers do not devote much space to film stars except in film review sections). The same thing applies when a Westerner wants to know about Indian stars. Ash has been all over the pages of almost every media publication in India.
Another thing is, it is my opinion and that of a few others - because of her light eyes, light skin and features, Ash can look like some other Asian, not just Indian. This greatly widens her scope of work in an international market. She speaks excellent English and has been cowned Miss World, so she has already been proven to appeal to an international crowd. Luckily for her, one thing led to another and once Devdas caught the attention of the Cannes crowd, there has been no looking back. She waltzed into the Cannes jury and into, gasp, Madame Taussad's!
You might ask - so big deal! Why not Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Preity Zinta and Amitabh Bachchan? Well, in Hollywood and American TV serials, actors are not just picked from a beauty pageant. After all, it is not enough to have a reputation for being good-looking, you have to fit the role. Lead roles are still garnered by ones with Caucasian looks (I think "white" is inappropriate) though these days, African Americans are also making waves. The visibility of Indians as a distinct ethnic group is still far less than Hispanics or African Americans or even the Chinese in the US and other countries. Cinema and TV only reflect the demographics of the society they are made in. And, Indian superstars ultimately look Indian. With increasing globalisation and immigration, lesser-known ethnic groups are also becoming prominent and there is a good chance of netting a plum role in the near future. In the meantime, what can get our Indian actors an international audience are collaborative projects that involve meeting of the East and the West.
Another thing is , regional cinema stars hardly get any mention in the national media. There are some brilliant directors, composers and actors in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam and other language films. Why can't we distribute these films on a wider scale with subtitles? Unfortunately, a Mani Rathnam or A.R. Rehman gets noticed only after "Roja" and "Bombay" are dubbed in Hindi and made with Hindi stars such as Manisha Koirala and a Rituparno Ghosh becomes a household name only after he casts Aishwarya Rai.
I have seen some bravura performances in the South such as Simran's in "Vaali" and "Pammal K. Sambandham" and Meera Jasmine, not to forget stalwarts such as Kamal Haasan, Mohanlal and Mammootty. Many actors from the South could not strike it rich in the Hindi film world and they are ridiculed for their accents and looks. If a South Indian guy who has immense talent cannot make it big in his own country, how can we expect our films and stars to appeal to an alien culture that speaks in its own accent? That is why I find it really amusing and annoying when the Indian media devotes reams of space to Ash getting a Hollywood role or why some film did not win the Oscar. What I say to Indian filmmakers is - first make films that enthrall and reflect the many realities of life in India itself rather than the same cliched love stories or family musicals with a recycled plot and "Ishq, pyaar, neend na aaye, chain na aaye" lyrics.
Today, I think she looks better than many other models and movie stars, even Hollywood ones. But, I did not think that much of her beauty when she first landed on our TV screens.
To be honest, when I first saw her on the Pepsi and Palmolive ads, I did not think of her as the "most beautiful woman" even in Mumbai! In fact, it was only at the time of the Miss India contest of 1994 that I got to know who she really was. That was courtesy one of my college friends who was a big fan of hers and I teased him about it. In the Palmolive ad, I felt she looked pretty and remarked to my mother about it. But my mother normally takes such things very casually with a "Who doesn't look pretty these days?" kind of attitude. In the Pepsi ad, I actually thought the other girl (I think Mahima Chaudhary) was prettier than Ash (as Aishwarya Rai is also known). Frankly, I thought her lips were too prominent and in that ad, that flawed-in-my-opinion feature stood out in bright red alongwith her attractive, unusual-for-an-Indian eyes. And let me tell readers here that Aishwarya was not the only model who had caught my eye on TV. I was fascinated by a few TV actresses and another model - Gayatri Joshi of "Swades" who starred in that Pond's Age-Defying Complex ad (though I was shocked to know how young she was when she participated in the Femina Miss India contest of 1999..I mean, what is there to defy about your age when you are twenty-something?!)
Some actresses whom I thought were incredibly beautiful - the late Divya Bharati, Mrinal Kulkarni who played the role of Ahilyabai Holkar in "The Great Maratha" and also the wife in "Hasratein", Seema Kelkar in "The Sword of Tipu Sultan", Sridevi, Jayaprada, Juhi Chawla, Vyjayanthimala, Hema Malini, Manisha Koirala (who I thought looked stunning in "1942 - A Love Story"), Mala Sinha and many others. There are a couple of others whose faces I think have lovely features , too - Sriprada in the afternoon serials "Waqt Ki Raftaar"and "Aparajita" and Gayatri Shastri in "Om Namah Shivaya".
I have read arguments both for and against beauty pageants. Personally, I feel they are more like the glamourised version of a college personality contest combined with a modelling contest with a lot of moolah, prestige and TV coverage. Does becoming "Miss World" or "Miss Universe" mean that the winner is literally "THE most beautiful" woman in the world? I don't think so. If that were the case, then what about last year's winners and what about the vast majority of females who never participate in them?
Secondly, these contests are not only about the most beautiful face. One thing here. Looking at magazines and these pageants, I feel the Western emphasis is more on figure, skin texture, teeth and hair when it comes to judging beauty. Right from my childhood, it has been the facial features - proportionate eyes, forehead, nose and lips, shape of the lips, eyes, eyebrows and nose, cheekbones and other things that has been the hallmark of great beauty for me. That is why I don't find even some top models that beautiful. Furthermore, a beautiful figure can be attained by at least many, if not all, by a disciplined lifestyle, diet and exercise over a prolonged period of time. Skin can be altered with creams, lotions, make-up and a healthy, nutritious diet, sleep, exercise and elimination of stress. But your face? It is what you are born with. Plastic surgery to drastically alter your features may or may not work for everyone, is not economically viable for everyone and is just not "natural". That is why the first thing I look for when it comes to physical attractiveness is a lovely face.
I have increasingly started to suspect that our ideas of beauty are not only our own but also shaped by our parents, peers and the media. My penchant for small, but not very thin or insignificant, lips might have to do with the fact that my own lips were praised for their shape and smallness when I was a child. Added to that, the images I was exposed to, of Goddesses such as Durga and Lakshmi in temples, the image of Sita in Raja Ravi Verma paintings that are present in many an altar and even paintings of Mother Mary and biblical characters, all had arched eyebrows, petal-shaped eyes, cute, sharp noses and bow-shaped, curvy, small lips. For my friends in school, I was not that pretty because of the pimples and boils that popped up all over my face in my teens and my flat hairline above my forehead. Added to that, I was quite chubby though not fat. My sense of dressing and grooming were gawky, styleless and sometimes, plain funny. But back then, I must say I was more liberated than what I am now because I cared less about my looks and more about what I accomplished in my studies and extra-curricular activities.
Thirdly, a beauty contestant gets a good chance to show off her personality, self-confidence, style, elegance, public speaking skills and power of expression besides offering viewers a glimpse of her talent and achievements. So, her face is not the only criterion on which she is judged. But, sometimes, I find that even when contestants answer equally well, one wins and the rest, as they say, "go home". Sometimes, an answer that seems to come straight from the heart, devoid of political correctness, does not win you the crown. I remember Madhu Sapre in the finals of the Miss Universe contest of 1992. When asked what she would do if she became the Prime Minister of her country, she talked about building a sports stadium and encouraging sports. The winner talked about doing something for the children and was made Miss Universe 1992.
As for Miss India, the whole speaking round is in English, so a person who is educated in the vernacular medium and is not very fluent in English, would find it pretty intimidating and demoralising. And look at the entry criterion for Femina Miss India. The line goes - If you are at least 5" 6, under 23 years of age and have got what it takes to take on the world....
Now, does it mean that anyone with a height under 5" 6 is not beautiful?
Now, for the interest of the West in Ash. Now, in my opinion, Aishwarya is not a bad actress. In some scenes, she came across as very convincing. But, I don't think it is because she is the best actress India has ever produced. Come on - we are a country of Nutan, Nargis, Madhubala, Revathy, Rekha, Sridevi, Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi, Madhuri, Tabu, Waheeda Rehman and many other illustrious figures. Did any of them even get invited to any film festival? Maybe one or two of the whole lot. The fact is, the West has only recently started taking such unprecedented interest in commercial Indian cinema. They had honoured Satyajit Ray and Mother India made it to the final five of the Oscars, but did they ever take notice of a superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna or Hema Malini or Dev Anand? Did blockbusters such as "Sholay", "Aradhana" or a tear-jerking "Anand" gather even half the attention that a "Devdas" does?
One reason , I think, is that the growing NRI population in countries such as UK and the US, created a huge market for our films. A film like "Yaadein" that does not do so well in India is a hit abroad. Part fo the reason is, homesick NRIs get a nostalgic state of the ideal "Mera Bharat Mahaan" (My India is great) in our sugary, candy floss blockbusters. Because they don't get to see Indian films that often, they are thrilled when they get the opportunity. And of course, the Western reviewers have started noticing the box-office fortunes of 'desi' (meaning, "local" in Hindi) films in some niche theatres.
Added to that, our actors have been gyrating their hips in almost every part of the globe now, be it on the streets of New York in "Kal Ho Na Ho", Govinda and Karisma in Switzerland in "Hero No. 1" or Hrithik Roshan and Amisha Patel in "Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai". And not to forget the mother of all modern blockbusters - "DDLJ" on the streets of the stiff upper-lipped London. A few years ago, at one awards ceremony, somebody from a European country's department fo tourism had come on stage. Awareness and a curious amusement about this unique song-and-dance style of storytelling has grown gradually over the last decade.
Commercial Hindi films are going places - to the Locarno film festival, to Germany, Cannes and also the Oscars.
So, if the average Westerner wants someone who represents this new (new to them not to us) kind of cinema - who is he going to pick? Someone who is eye-catching, has some hits and who the local Indian media raves about all the time! Who fulfills all the above criteria? Aishwarya, of course. If I wanted to know about American superstars, I would watch Hollywood movies and pick up an American magazine such as "People" or a proper trade magazine to know about them (Mainstream American newspapers do not devote much space to film stars except in film review sections). The same thing applies when a Westerner wants to know about Indian stars. Ash has been all over the pages of almost every media publication in India.
Another thing is, it is my opinion and that of a few others - because of her light eyes, light skin and features, Ash can look like some other Asian, not just Indian. This greatly widens her scope of work in an international market. She speaks excellent English and has been cowned Miss World, so she has already been proven to appeal to an international crowd. Luckily for her, one thing led to another and once Devdas caught the attention of the Cannes crowd, there has been no looking back. She waltzed into the Cannes jury and into, gasp, Madame Taussad's!
You might ask - so big deal! Why not Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Preity Zinta and Amitabh Bachchan? Well, in Hollywood and American TV serials, actors are not just picked from a beauty pageant. After all, it is not enough to have a reputation for being good-looking, you have to fit the role. Lead roles are still garnered by ones with Caucasian looks (I think "white" is inappropriate) though these days, African Americans are also making waves. The visibility of Indians as a distinct ethnic group is still far less than Hispanics or African Americans or even the Chinese in the US and other countries. Cinema and TV only reflect the demographics of the society they are made in. And, Indian superstars ultimately look Indian. With increasing globalisation and immigration, lesser-known ethnic groups are also becoming prominent and there is a good chance of netting a plum role in the near future. In the meantime, what can get our Indian actors an international audience are collaborative projects that involve meeting of the East and the West.
Another thing is , regional cinema stars hardly get any mention in the national media. There are some brilliant directors, composers and actors in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam and other language films. Why can't we distribute these films on a wider scale with subtitles? Unfortunately, a Mani Rathnam or A.R. Rehman gets noticed only after "Roja" and "Bombay" are dubbed in Hindi and made with Hindi stars such as Manisha Koirala and a Rituparno Ghosh becomes a household name only after he casts Aishwarya Rai.
I have seen some bravura performances in the South such as Simran's in "Vaali" and "Pammal K. Sambandham" and Meera Jasmine, not to forget stalwarts such as Kamal Haasan, Mohanlal and Mammootty. Many actors from the South could not strike it rich in the Hindi film world and they are ridiculed for their accents and looks. If a South Indian guy who has immense talent cannot make it big in his own country, how can we expect our films and stars to appeal to an alien culture that speaks in its own accent? That is why I find it really amusing and annoying when the Indian media devotes reams of space to Ash getting a Hollywood role or why some film did not win the Oscar. What I say to Indian filmmakers is - first make films that enthrall and reflect the many realities of life in India itself rather than the same cliched love stories or family musicals with a recycled plot and "Ishq, pyaar, neend na aaye, chain na aaye" lyrics.
Saturday, October 23, 2004
My first blog
Today, on the auspicious occasion of Vijayadasami (Dassera- a major Hindu festival), I am finally creating my own blog. My eyelids are already drooping now. It's shut-eye time now and I am weary from going on that crazy culinary spree for the Nine Nights Festival before Dassera, the Navaratri. Of course, I am a eleventh-hour person so I did all that crazy cooking of sweets and special items (with a generous dose of help from my helpful hubby) on the last three days,including today. Dassera is actually over and done with because Hindu festivals don't go by the English calendar dates; they are determined by the position of stars and other heavenly bodies. But for all practical purposes, today is the tenth day so I take it that way. More tomorrow.. Ciao
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