Michael Jackson 'Tribute' Show

" 'King of Pop' Michael Jackson Dead "

When I first saw this as a breaking news on TV, I stood staring at my window for a couple of minutes. Not that I'm a huge fan of MJ. I've never been one, but then he's been a master entertainer that anybody would be shocked to see the news. So when I had an offer to go to MJ's tribute show I jumped on it to grab my ticket.

First of all, I must say that I was pretty taken aback by the stage design of the show. LCD posters of MJ dotted the stage and videos of MJ in the background was complete with fire sets. Because Chennai was viewed as an orthodox & conservative city, it was a pleasant surprise to see a world class stage. Leading singers from the film industry of the country were there to celebrate the life of Michael Jackson by singing his famous hits. Beat it, Dangerous, Smooth Criminal... U name it... I must admit that I was surprised by the quality of the so called 'Southern' singers'. I mean if MJ was present there, he would have been happy.

What irked me throughout the show was the crowd. First of all, the crowd was sparse. Second, they gave the least audible responsible to the songs which were very good. The front rows would not applaud hiding in its 'Executive' screen. The last rows were on a league on its own. Can u imagine looking at a crowd performing 'Kuthu' dance for Dangerous? It was horrible. I mean, HEY, we are celebrating the life of the moonwalker with celebrity MJ fans like Simbhu, Gowtham Menon and we end up watching a 3rd grade crowd watch and cheeer for the female singers' boobs rather than the song. Damn...

I feel for the organizers. I mean here's a team that recruited the best of singers, designed and executed an amazing stage, put up really good special effects, but failed to market the show properly. It was like giving a garland of beautiful flowers to a monkey. The result, a great tribute show that went unnoticed.

Election Turnout – A Cause for Concern

Indians continue to astonish me… Where else do we find citizens find every opportunity to scrutinize its government, yet seldom turn up for voting its new leaders? Too much corruption, slow government machine, too bad internal security, blah, blah, blah… But when push comes to shove, do we put our hands up and be counted? Honestly, I don’t think so. A glaring example for this is the 15^th Lok Sabha elections. Coming at the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks & even such incidents & with so many campaigns urging people to exercise their right o vote, did we do justice to ourselves? 50% turnout in Delhi & Mumbai and 60% in Chennai. Are these good numbers for the world’s largest democracy? For those who treat Election Day as another holiday, you guys don’t deserve anything. I feel these democracy killers need to be stripped off their basic rights & deserve to be treated as 2^nd grade citizens. Pardon me if I sound like a dictator. I strongly believe that India needs an ambitious dictator like Singapore’s Lee-Kwan-U to change itself. If we closely observe, majority of the non-voting public are from the urban areas. Sure it’s not a matter of merely educating people to vote. I feel something is fundamentally wrong with the mindset of Indians, something the whole country should be ashamed of. You need something, you got to EARN it. Asking the government for aids in almost everything is equal to begging. Think about it.

Slumdog Millionaire - The 'Real' Story

This story is not to compete with the novel 'Q & A' (Based on which the movie was taken). Rather, this story is based on the real life happenings of millions of slumdogs of our country.

Our (Anti) Hero, Kumar is an agent of a 1500 people strong slum in Saidapet, Chennai. He arranges for water and shelter to the slum with the help of a local politician, promising all the votes of the slum (About 1000) in return. He first arranges for 4 syntex water tanks which were filled 4 times a day. (In residential areas this is done only once a day). Then why so much water here? Because here Kumar sells half the water to the tea shop and owners of that place. Officers are blocked by the politicians to take any legal action and the politicians are invariably bound to Kumar for the 1000 odd votes of the slum. So Kumar lives happily ever after.

One fine day, our hero plans fire in the slum. He picks the least acessible house in the slum, asks its ownr and his neighbours to temporarily remove their belongings and sets the house on fire. A few other houses were also damaged in the process. Fire service cant do a thing as they were not able to reach the place. In the name of rehabilitation, government provides financial and other aid to teh affected. Our middle man hero conveniently takes a significant share of the money and lives happily ever after.

The Government builds houses for the slum dwelllers just outside Poonamalle and encourages them to move to their new homes. The slum people refuse to do so since they all work either as construction workers or house keeping maids inside the city. Instead, they rent their new houses to other people. For the government's records, houses were built for slum dwellers and for the people of the slum, its an alternative form of income. Here, the agent plays a huge role in keeping them in the same locality as it would spell diaster to him and the local politicians otherwise. Except for being located in a slum, all houses has a TV, refredgirator and other house hold appliances that a middle class Indian works his ass out to get.

To make the people come to him often for help, our here enourages the youth and the men of the society to indulge in Drinking, Smoking and Movies to help drain their money. He arranges a TASMAC with a bar in the area for theit CONVENIENCE and he lived happily ever after.

Enough of the story. What transcribed as story is what's happening in all slums of India's major cities, including Chennai. So, are slum dwellers really need to be sympatized for they are? Votebank politicshas given rise to people like our hero Kumar, who is equvivalent to a criminal. But it's also people's ignorance that's to be blamed for. By the way, Dog is a thankful animal which is man's best friend. Call these people slum'rats' insted. That's more like it.

Have we lost our Identity?

Every festival has its own meaning. Diwali for example is the day when good triumphed over evil. Likewise Pongal, the most famous festival of Tamilnadu, marks the beginning of the harvest season. One common feature of all festivals is that they are all national holidays & a chance to see the loved ones. But since the dawn of the IT era in India, I strongly feel that festivals only serve its purpose as a holiday & not as a great family unifier.

Answer me from the bottom of ur heart. How many of U go to our native places to see our relatives these days? Nowadays, festivals are all about watching TV & all those ‘for the first time in the history of Indian Television’ crap. We drag ourselves to the Pooja room for the mandatory Pooja only after mom’s repeated screams. We are too shy to say ‘Pongalo Pongal’, instead rush to the theaters to scream ‘Thalaiva…’. What happened to the nature bather bullock cart rides to the temple? Instead, we prefer the cozy, artificial A/C comfort of our car. We skip ‘Jallikattu’ at the village for WWE or TNA. All those innocent people in the village, with whose prayers we’ll always be, hardly getting to their favorite son of the soil’s face at least once a year. Traditional folk music is replaced by the Trans music of the discos.

This but gives me only one conclusion. ‘In the name of globalization we have not only mortgaged our brains to the west, but also mortgaged our culture.’ We have lost our identity. When are we going to get it back?

Machaan!!! Happy New Year!!!

New Year’s Day. January 1st. A time for celebration. A time to welcome a new year with hope and excitement. But January 1st is very special in another way. How?

So, yours truly and his friends set off to Besant Nagar Beach after a routine New Year’s Eve party. There is a virtual race of sorts to reach the destination before the stroke f midnight. By the way, on no time of the year will u be able to see traffic at midnight like that on a New Year’s. We realized we are still on the road at 12am. It doesn’t matter as high fives were exchanged between bikers notwithstanding the frenetic pace of our travel. We reach the beach at 5 min past midnight and had to walk a good 500 meters to reach Barista Coffee Shop.

As we walk, we hear people shouting ‘Happy New Year’ to their friends and strangers. Suddenly every stranger I meet on the street is like my best friend. Every voice sounds happy & straight from their heart came ‘Machan!!! Happy New Year’ as if they are wishing their best friend. This along with a friendly handshake or even a hug. I don’t remember any face that wished me on that day, but I was more than happy to reciprocate with my version of ‘Machan!!! Happy New Year’.

This made me think of one thing. What if all 365 days of the year be the same? Why do people run like machines on all days not even bothering to smile at a person next to them in a bus, or for that sake, anybody they meet? It’s another thing that at least half of those who wished me were drunk. But still, the world would be a much happy place to live if we find the same happy spirit that I witnessed on everybody’s face on that night.

Happy New Year friends. Do at least one good thing everyday and make at least one person smile everyday. Your life will be a lot more meaningful then.