The hungry and the Privileged

Ok!.. so many of you may be wondering about the name!.. well.. hold your breath people because its one of the most burning topic which has the potential for a full blown UN debate!.. The Hungry and the Privileged!.. like two sides of a coin.. may sound opposite!.. but presently have their own similar share of woes!.. the global food prices!.. with a tremendous increase in the prices of food.. it is directly putting a strain on the inflation rate in many economies irrespective of how developed or how much the GDP of an economy is!..

With an ability to topple governments this inflation is showing no signs of coming down.. Main reason for such a sudden surge of essential commodities prices have come due to rising oil prices!.. but is this rise really all because of that!... HELL NO!!.. recently having read an article in business standard!.. "grocery and other food items have become dearer by almost 40 per cent in the last one year.. In the national capital, prices of edible oils and pulses shot up by 20%-35% in the last one year. Groundnut oil rose to Rs 121 a kg on April 1 in Delhi compared to Rs 92 a kg in Kolkata, Rs 91 a kg in Mumbai and Rs 78 a kg in Hyderabad.. In south India where rice is the staple food, prices have a shot up by over 40% despite Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu being the largest producers of grain in the country."

These statistics to a certain extent show how the prices of essential commodities are going through the roof.. with the governments world over raising eyebrows!!.. Anyways coming back the topic in hand.. In an effort to regularize the food price within their own borders the countries are putting curbs on exports!!.. which is somewhat aiding the global price rise as a whole!.. this is quite an unfair practice as in any normal circumstances government itself punishes people for putting up high stocks at godowns which affects the local price rise!.. but if its done by a government by the means of curbing exports it is termed as a fair rule aimed at keeping the inflation in control!..

We may be having some great economists at the topmost level.. n i am quite confident that they will ultimately come to a solution some time or the other!.. but the government should take all measures to check the rise of inflation.. and with that ensure steps that would go towards stabilizing the global prices!.. it is the common man who is suffering from all fronts be it, the petrol prices!.. or be it the food!.. it is to be kept in mind that people cant expect high grow rate, when inflation is high!.. as it reduces the spending power of a person!..

But whatever is the case as of now!.. it is this mantra that is quite buzzing in everyone's mind!.. "Mehengai ne maar daala!!.."

Bollywood and Plagiarism

Some say creativity pays!.. some toil hard for it.. some work there way around it!.. Right from the ancient times when man was still rubbing stones for fire!.. the need and the knack for creativity always existed!... but alas!.. it was so much that the very dear man ran outta ideas!.. right from scribbling about hunting of animals to the modern day graffiti of human culture and words not worth mentioning here.. everywhere we see creativity in some form or another!..

I live in India!.. a country with a long history of creativity and academic brilliance!.. apart from its various diverse cultures and architectural wonders there is another "industry" that kind of resides in hearts of each and every individual of this country!.. i am talking about bollywood!.. the place where dreams come true!.. the place where glamor is just something which comes with fame and money!.. Long since its inception!... a good 80 years before!.. there was this creativity and cinematic brilliance which kind of made the people of this country hungry for more.. and kind of ruled everyone's fate!.. beautiful actresses and immaculate sets kept people in that fantasy zone!.. a place so incredible and a place oozing with so much creativity that it pulled artists from far and wide to try their luck in this wonderful dreamland!..

But alas!.. as we all say!.. good thing don't last for long!.. right from the unofficial nomenclature of the film making industry as "bollywood".. which was of course conceived from the west.."hollywood".. our film makers have resort to making films with only commercial success in mind!.. i recently happened to see a documentary about bollywood!.. with subjects of its stories taken right from the phase of time it existed!.. like pre- independence it showed more of patriotic content!.. post independence it showed the struggles of the developing economy which had been crippled by the british imperialists!.. Anyways!.. as the years passed!.. showed more content with people especially the youth frustrated by the curruption and the system!... our bollywood really didn't have any dearth in topics to pick and make a feature film outta it!.. but as always when we ran outta ideas.. we resort to a simple and a supposedly hassle free idea of plagiarism. Film institutes like "whistling wood".. or FTII.. are not churning out the best of the lot i suppose!.. where are the Naseeruddin Shah's or Om puri's..

Never had been bollywood so often accused of plagiarism.. recently its been in the "breaking news" too!... with the Roshans literally ripping a storyline and soundtrack to make a feature film!... sheersh!.. I cant see a reason to "copy" and "paste" when we have a billion people in this country!.. whom are they trying to fool!.. making out of court settlements won't bring originality!.. i don't really see a reason for all this!.. i mean come on.. we are talking about a country with a population of a billion people!.. just aping the west won't do any good!.. but since this formula has a reasonable amount of success attached to it!.. no wonder more and more directers are turning towards it!.. nowadays cinema is just more of a slam bam thank u mam!.. a bitter mix of masala served with a topping of plagiarism.. commercial success comes because cinema goers have little to turn to!.. wonder thats why the CBSE is thinking of including whole feature films (original ones) to their syllabus!.. a rare commodity i suppose!..

Well.. anyways i am not that much of a movie lover myself!.. so cant really comment a lot about the recent trend of plagiarism.. But we do need a "army" of original thinkers and creative people to stop "bollywood" ape the west!.. Bollywood should be something the common individual of this country identifies himself/herself!... not something that just goes on aping the bollywood and in some cases making a scene to scene copy of a successful feature film!... shame on you bollywood for this trend.. down with plagiarism.. oops!.. did i just go over the board!!?!?... nah!.. i just borrowed lines from the recent eye grabber from the writer guild strike of hollywood!... ;-)

The Olympic Dilemma

The very first topic of mine!.. Olympics!.. more of a blessing in disguise for the Tibetan people!.. more of a headache for the Chinese government who wanted to showcase there economic and massive knack for perfection!.. Anyways right from the very start, ie, from choosing China as the host country i had doubts whether China would pull it off or not!.. with such a pathetic human rights record to boast its only a miracle if these games go ahead without any disruptions!.. Massive protests have already started with people trying to extinguish the very Olympic spirit, by trying to extinguish the sacred to many Olympic flame!.. previously it was a ray of hope!.. a hope of one world!.. a hope towards everlasting peace!.. but using it as a instrument to support their cause!.. true maybe good to certain extent!.. but then the very important question arises here!... is it good to mix politics and sports!?!?!...

Many of the Tibetans would be loving this period of time with massive international attention directed straight towards their cause!.. but still.. is using the games as an instrument the right way!!?!?... many would say a yes to it!.. but then!.. they forget the very mission of the Olympics!.. world integration.. n a hope for peace!.. Games n politics should be kept far apart!.. as far as i am concerned i have seen the amount of hard work and tremendous patience the sportsmen show while preparing for this mega spectacle!.. So a better way should be sought after since there can be in no way ignored the Chinese policy over the human rights and treatment of the Tibetans!.. driving them close to a mere tourist attraction!... just as the Americans did to Red Indians!..

So what can be a better way to protest!.. i may suggest the winners of medals to show sympathy for the Tibetans n dedicate medals to the cause of human rights and Tibet!.. but personally i won't be seeing the Chinese taking a soft stand on any of it!.. Anyways right from the past The Olympic Games have been used to mark a protest every now and then!.. be it the British barring the Germans and the Japanese!.. or d 1980 games with Mexicans barring Soviets on account of attack on Afghanistan!.. this results in two results!... the situation worsens and the athlete who toiled hard with all his strength loses his/her chance to eternity!..

With many international delegates already thinking of boycotting the event in wake of the tibet policy!.. i see a bleak showdown this time around!!.. as it is i see no point in why the games should suffer!.. wonder when we will learn to keep politics and games apart!..

First Post

Well.... here i am.. just another speaker.. another one of those who wanna make a difference!... speak against the injustice.. and comment about the latest happenings near me and around the world!.. there may be too many like me!.. but i am glad to join those speaking on their part and trying to speak out in this world where freedom of speech and expression sometimes exist only on paper!..