Media:Political Parties struggle to find issues to debate about

Conglomeration of Indians News channels today made official what we have not been witnessing for months- their election coverage will not involve scrutiny of core issues such as unemployement, poverty, farmer suicides, crumbling infrastructure, pollution and continued domination of North Eastern states in Indian Idol. "Quite like the ruling party, we have demonstrated in the last five years, our ability to bring out issues to the table, by means of expert panel discussions, biased debates,bootlicking preferred leaders, reality shows and cookery programmes,", said a senior producer for an English news channel (The name shall remain anonymous since we in the media brotherhood won't tell on each other.)

"According to our Defense Minister, there has been growth even when the world is facing recession; inflation is close to 0%. Furthermore, strong public reaction against Western potrayal of poverty in Slumdog Millionaire proves that poverty is over. And as farmer loans have been waived, they no longer have a reason to commit suicide.Therefore we have nothing left to report expect for mathematically derived seat-sharing agreements and alliances made outside of shaadi.com. We are mixing Web 2.0 technologies, modern soap opera idioms and reality show drama. Why even the Third Front is waiting for our audience SMS poll results to decide the PM Candidate!"

In other news, pundits in Itchalkaranji district of Maharashtra are praying for Barack Obama to solve the World Economic crisis and stop the channels from endlessly airing the same Varun Gandhi speech from different camera angles.

Songs I'm listening to

Khoya Khoya Chaand, Thirak Thirak
Genre: Hini 60s?
Exactly the kind of songs I'd love to be playing back to back till I get tired, then give it a break, then B2B again. Nice tempo. I normally don't find Hindi lyrics very nice-sounding- the ones I do like have so much Urdu in them. I was told these songs were shuddha-hindi. I really like the carnatic infusion in Thirak Thirak

Pollathavan- Engeyum Eppothum
Genre: Tamil Remix

Remix of Old Kannadasan song. Brilliant item number lyrics (for the 70s!), SPB and Yogi B's rap. Now if you haven't heard Yogi B and Natchatra - the Malay Rappers album Vallavan- you are missing something in life. Tamil Rap has come of age and so brilliantly- without the inclusion of Sankar-style tanglish, sticking to metaphors of the 60s and 70s, interweaving English content only when necessary for the melody- Vallavan has it all! The most popular remix has been doing its rounds on Youtube, but the album is original. Yogi B, though he screams into the microphone a-la DMX style, he's got his thing going. Much more refreshing than plain old Blazee.

Azhagiya Tamizh Magan- Ponmagal Vandal
Genre: Tamil Remix

ARR is not really a fan of remixes, but if he ever does one Yuvan can go hide behind his dad's glory! I really like the voice of Aslam who sings the Ponmagal tune, do you know which one this is? I am a bit concerned about the infusion of excess English lyrics into it- now would my average Ilaya Talapathy fan connect to it? Now this song can seriously cross-over to clubs world-over because of the hip-hop, lounge feel to it- like its from some Nelly album and I am guessing at least pretentious chennai nightclubs could play this every now and then. As for the rest of the songs- ARR must stop succumbing to demands from perceived acceptance of randomized Western pop music interludes by Tamil audience. We hate it.

Malaikottai - O Baby
Genre: Tamil/Telugu Koothu

Now this is what makes me fall in love with Tamizh and Telugu culture over and over again. Clearly taken from some telugu songs - Mani Sharma is the music director after all. Close your eyes, shake your hips, gyrate to some koothu and dream of Puratchi Talapathy Vishal

Bheema - Ragasiya Kanavugal
Genre: Tamil Folk Melody

November 9th is the day I will fall in love again. First day, first show- Bheema. Now its Harris Jeyraj trying to do a Samy- not quite close, but has pretty decent numbers. Take for instance, "Range Rangamma" with Kailash Kher- parts of it reminds me of Rakkamma Kayyathattu. Ragasiya Kanavugal has the right melody, a very ethnic touch with it (esp the part with the solo violin). After a two year hiatus Vikram is back, with Trisha- whom I've grown to like after some Telugu films in which she did a pretty decent job- better make-up men there I guess...

Pollathavan- Neeye Sol
Genre: Tamil Arabic fusion

Persian-inspirations replete, GV Prakash is proving that versatility is in his blood (ARR's nephew after all). Love Sunitha Sarathy's rendering. The other Bombay J song- well looks like GVP has been listening to Akon!

Partner- Soni De Nakhre, You're My Love
Genre: Punjabi/Bollywood club

Now you've got to give it to the folks up North, what they lack in substance they make up for it in clever packaging- costumes and music.

Om Shanti Om- Ajab Si, Dard-e-Disco etc.
Genre: Melody, Bollywood club Arabic fusion

Ajab Si- KK is back. This takes me to good old Pehla Nasha times when music reminds you of all that makes you happy in this world! KK does sound like he had a cold (or more cold than usual)
Dard-e-Disco- totally worth the 6-pack, Sukhwinder's voice needs a bit of getting-used to for some reason...

The Train- Woh Ajnabee
Genre: Bollywood Lounge

Love the girl's sound, very groovy, very lounge.

Himesh Reshamiyya - Shaka Laka Boom
Genre: Bollywood club

I respect anything that's a commercial success- or at least in Indian entertainment, it reflect so much of the moods of society. Auto drivers playing Himesh says something. And if you ever want to work out for Bollywood music, this guy is perfect for you!

Jhoom Barabar Jhoom
Kiss of Love
Jhoom Barabar Jhoom

I've sure Shankar is behind the carnatic infusions. Good old classical melodies meets Bollywood packaging :-)

Unnale Unnale- Unnale Unnale
Genre: Melody

Harris redeems himself for the 80s pop, Boys2Men- inspired rest of the album from this terrific Yedho-Ondru-style harmony!

Kreedom- Vizhiyil
Genre: Classical Melody

Strange, I've never cared for Sonu Nigam until I heard this song. Although reminiscent of tens of old ARR, this one is a lovely piece to listen in the background and not get tired of.

Paruthiveeran- Ayyayo
Genre: Illayaraja Folk Melody

That opens a Youtube link to the song. My all-time favorite song, video, movie :-)

Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi- Baawra Man (Male)
Melody

Would love to know what raagam this this. Can't get over the song. Lovely movie.

Tamil M.A. - Unnakagathane, Paravayin Kootil, Para Para
Melody

Yuvan's new marketing style- where the song is lacking slightly in substance, he gets his father to sing it- at least it's much better than delivering it himself. He should restrict his voice to Dhanush-Selvaraghavan combos. Speaking of that, if you've missed the wonders in Pudhupettai then listen to it now! My favorites are It all comes down to this, Gangster's marriage party.

iOnion

Apple Unveils New Product-Unveiling Product

SAN FRANCISCO—Apple claims the iLaunch can garner the same amount of press attention as a major scientific discovery, high court ruling, celebrity meltdown, or natural disaster at 200 times the speed of a traditional media-fostered launch.

Sighh.. if only I can write like this...

A Magazine Cover tells more than a Book...

on how the Western Print Media has viewed South Asia for almost a century. Fascinating pictures...

A Terror threat or a publicity stunt?

Before you proceed read this link.

In a follow-up to IBN Live's report on a threat to assassinate Kalaignar M.Karunanidhi (because he refused to increase the minimum age requirement for TN police force from 24 to 29), this Blog has uncovered more information about the plot and its uncanny implication on Tamil Cinema. Al-Umma is often considered a terrorist organization. It has been reported on many occassions that members were involved in bomb-blasts in Coimbatore, murders in Tirunalveli and more recently accused of plotting to assassinate octogenarian Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.

But in a year long investigation we discovered that the suppossedly terrorizing Jehadist outfit, is infact a very liberal, new-age Tamil music troupe that performs in South Indian weddings and on request, private New Year parties. "I cannot believe this nonsense that the media is reporting", says the troupe lead singer who wished to remain anonymous. "Al-Umma started when my sister's husband Allaudin left her 'talak, talak, talak' for another woman. You see 'Umma', comes from 'Ummah' that has been numerologically corrected by Gurnanda Swami Swami Swami. Al-Umma is 'Allaudin Ummah', the last words my sister told her husband." On interviewing the sister, who also wished to remain anonymous, we discovered that the music troupe began with the intention of singing in weddings hoping to find Allaudin who is a congenital polygamist. The sister is in fact, Allaudin's third wife.

"We were inspired by a women's rights NGO", she says. "They always say if a man can do it why not a woman? Then I saw this film in which the hero stops the heroine's wedding by singing their song. Why can a woman not do the same thing for one she loves, I thought".

Meanwhile on persuasion, Michael Edwily, a Professor of Sociology from University of Sussex (on sabbatical), said that this is not the first time that obvious expressions of love have been misused or misinterpreted for names of terror institutions. However, he refused to mention the first time such an misnomer has occured.

For the Tamil Film industry, where storylines depend heavily on existing police recruitment norms, the impact of Kalaignar's refusal to increase the recruitment age requirement, is pretty strong. Chiyaan Vikram, who has played a youngster waiting to join the police force in several movies said, "It is always harder to play 24 than 29. The heroines will have to be in high-school and there have already been two movies made with that concept." But another director-cum-screenplay-writer-cum-choreographer, said that it will actually be harder to write screen-play to cover the years since the hero left college until her joined the force. "What will I tell the audience who want to know what the hero did for 8 years?", he says in frustration. "Earlier he will finish M.Com and join police force. Now what? Should the script become illogical?".

Police commissioner as well as the Chief Minister's office has remain silent on this. An AIADMK MLA mentioned in passing that since the octogenarian will die of natural causes anyway shortly, the effort to organize an assassination plot is pretty unnecessary. He concluded saying that he will die for his 'Amma'. Closely related to this story, AIADMK had filed a defamation and copyright infringement suit against God-woman Amritanandamayi for misusing her title 'Amma'.

Coming back to the threat against the CM, spokesperson from another media-friendly terror outfit said that is very corny and in fact silly to make a treat to kill on 29th of a month when you want the age requirement to become 29. "That is so filmi", he said.

Visit this blog for more updates.

Idiot of last Year

Source: Wikipedia

Laura Mallory attempted to have the Harry Potter books removed from her children's school libraries on the grounds that it promoted witchcraft. And then this-

"Following her case's rejection by the school, Mallory then took her case to the school appeals committee, but was rejected again. On April 20, 2006, Mallory took her case to the Gwinnett County School Board, but on May 11, the board voted unanimously against her. In June 2006, Mallory launched an appeal against the County Board's decision with the Georgia State Board of Education; that appeal was rejected the following December. In January 2007, she appealed to the Gwinnett Superior Court; that appeal too was rejected three months later. She is now considering taking the case to federal court. Mallory was named the Washington Post's 2006 "Idiot of the Year".

But you got to give to her- the woman's got passion.

And in other Harry Potter news here is another moron who happened to reveal spoilers in a 750-page book!

Did you know...

...that in the English language, there isn't such a word as "prepone". Evidently, the only usage of it is by Indians (try googling for it!). This came as a quite a shock to me. Curiously, I find it amusing that any Indian would even need to use this word. I mean, how many times have you heard of the Indian, the master of postponement, delays and endless procrastination, "preponing" anything in his life?!

To the rest of the world however, "prepone" seems as absurd an opposite of "postpone" as "posteccessor" could be to "predecessor". However, given the vagaries of English vocabulary, it only seems natural for a word such as "prepone" to evolve. How India cradled such an evolution, is quite a research question!

Nevertheless, I recommend that as Indians, parents of "prepone", we should continue its usage (however limited it could be), till it finds its way into the dictionary.

And for those of you who always knew the right term ("advance")- now that's 'prepone'-derance!

Ten reasons why I like my new Venture

... and why I take back much of my criticisms of Microsoft.

I just started my internship at Microsoft Research Labs in Bengaluru, India. I'm a Research intern in a field of study broadly termed as "Information and Communication Technology for Development" or shortly called ICT4D. Here is the team website:
http://research.microsoft.com/research/tem

Reason 1- Hardly anyone is in the floor before noon. Hardly anyone is in the floor after six. Though some say they come in late, leave late, eat Top ramen in between. Works for any grad student!
Reason 2- The decor is gorgeous- contemporary and ethnic fusion: wooden floors, wenge doors and Industree cushions. A mix of this-

Wooden Flooring (although it makes a squeaky noise when you walk on it)




Wenge wood is often used in contemporary decors especially in modern bathrooms


Industree crafts foundation makes stylish accessories for the home using natural fibres (For example the Zari mats sold in Landmark). Natural fibre could come from this -------------------------------------------->


As you can see from these ugly pictures, this is a potentially disastrous trio even if it were for the decor of a room that housed a garbage-disposal facility or worse, a Tamil Nadu MLA. Hence it is interesting how the artists have used these materials to create a perfectly harmonious environment needed for a well-funded, utterly uber-productive research environment that makes fabulous inventions that almost never gets shipped. Future blog posts will confirm the former with visual evidence.

Reason 3- Free food! (And there was the most amazing Gobi Manchurian today!)
Reason 4- Women wear clothes from DKI* certified stores- Anokhi, FabIndia and the like.
Reason 5- Restating Reason 1 for impact.
Reason 6- Get to work on my Thesis and be paid for it!
Reason 7- Spotted really cute guys who don't happen to like Aishwarya Rai too much
Reason 8- Restating Reasons 1,7
Reason 9- Bangalore weather is good for my hair
Reason 10- My boss takes kick-boxing class in the terrace (that presents a view of all of Bangalore skyline).

* DKI- Divya K Iyer

i Blog

I have decided to start blogging again. This translates to, in cases of many born-again bloggers, an act of posting one's thoughts with the hope that feedback (through comments) will trigger further random ramblings.

I'm trying to think of interesting terms for those webbies who have never blogged- blog-virgin, blog-muggle (bluggle?), blog-totallers.

I spent a reasonable amount of time studying Web 2.0 (note how I cleverly evaded from mentioning the exact period or the 'reasoning' but still accented the significant of my study. Funny things words are ;-)). I have a relatively sophisticated understanding of how modern humans in relatively high-income groups tend to utilize their 'free' time or the time they would have rather spent watching porn if they were only 5 years younger (male of course, the female have their own equivalent). Some of these activities have made many Internet companies rich again- many by describing what they had for lunch and some by elucidating their experience in reading a book on someone else's experience on an experience in a road-trip from a paddy field in Czech Republic to (here it comes again) an experience in a concert hall in Salzburg (the kind of stuff you read in "The Hindu" newspaper's Sunday Magazine supplement). So I refrained from blogging unless life demands it- quite like actors (it is a unisex term now) refrain from acting in 'kissing scenes' unless the script 'demands' it.

A lot has changed since the last time I took my thoughts out on public media (see below). I took the GRE and since then I don't have to (or make you) deal with the orotund, tumid, turgid writing that I produced during the pre-GRE era!I hope that I don't have to take the damn test again if I ever do want to go to grad school again- may be by the time I reach my thirties English itself would have changed!

Anyways. Keep reading folks! Customer ennui or "interest in humanity" is always good for business.