Changing Stance on Media for once

I am not a fan of Indian media, to be specific TV media. It hardly does any investigation, waits till someone like Kejriwal exposes using publicly available material, is purely opportunistic and believes in total sensationalism.

But for a change, I think this precise attribute of theirs is keeping alive a subject that has been swept under carpet far too long. Government, Police and other actors have been oblivious to the fact that they need to not only investigate post-facto but also PREVENT CRIME by good governance. It may be fear, respect or education but a potential criminal needs to be converted to ordinary being as much as possible.

For God's sake it was 9.30 in the night. And we are talking of DELHI not some kheda where there is no power line at that time! Shifts across cities end at 10pm or 11pm. Hospitals, BPOs, cinemas, hotels, buses, trains they all operate at this hour.

Some of the incomprehensible lines our highly competent politicians have said, "Girls need to be more careful with their clothes", "Why go out this late"... what are you talking about! If our good finance minister wants a country as vibrant investment destination with healthy finances, safety comes first! If Government wants more revenue, thereby implying more tax, people need to spend. And spending by volition happens if streets are safe. Not when people are scared of darkness.

There was a tweet from Nitin Pai stating the need of urgent approval of police reforms, which may be correct. But I have been hearing about police reforms for at least 10 years now.

Our governments just sit on them and do nothing. This is not a rant. Take the Janlokpal bill, after the protests and several anshans by Anna and team, see how it has been made to fizzle out. The protesters have all disintegrated. Same with police reforms. Where is the political will to do something like that?

In such time, I admire the channels because they are keeping alive this subject in people's minds. This is required. It is required as long as some meaningful change happens. Unfortunately history of our country in concerted public action has been not promising in independent India.

Life of Pi - Visuals and Metaphors

Life of Pi is a stunning movie.

I have not read the book. And those who have read have mentioned that the movie tries to remain as faithful as possible to it. Ang Lee brings to us another wonderful story with stunning visuals and some very good acting.

I have seen Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, which too had a lovely story told with some brilliant visuals, great cinematography by Lee.

Life of Pi begins with Irrfan Khan narrating his birth and childhood. His parents (Tabu and Adil Hussain) are owners of a zoo and a botanical garden. The story of his name "Pi" is an amusing anecdote told nicely. The story moves ahead where Pi and his family and their animals begin a journey to the new world.

The bizarre, incredible and stormy journey begins with a thunderstorm on the ship. Pi survives and ends up with a zebra, an orang-utan, a hyena and a tiger on a lifeboat. There, the story begins. Pi, armed with a book, some food and his father's advice, and the tiger share some moments of glory in the story. The story takes us through a magical journey with a denouement as brilliant as expected.

Trust me when I say that I cannot describe it on the blog. Go, go to your nearest theatre and see it. It is recommended for children of 8-9 years and up. But you do need some patience and that is a small weakness, since we are talking of cinema here.

The story is a metaphor to how one must live a life. One can wonder whether it is the best way to explain things, but the extreme example makes it a brilliant medium.

Suraj Sharma, as Pi, is magnificient. So is Richard Parker. Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain, Tabu, Rafe Spall, they all add up well. But the movie belongs to Pi. The special effects, 3D images and the vistas shown are brilliant.

4* of 5* from me....

Backups and Redundancies

This is an evolving post.

The trigger to this is Prof. Varma's following viewpoint on  redundant networks:

"In my experience, backup sites in the financial industry are a big joke. Typically, these systems are set up only to satisfy check box ticking regulators who require them to have back up sites, but do not bother to check whether these are actually adequate. Many of these backup systems have significantly less processing capacity than the main site. "

Read the full post here: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/~jrvarma/blog/index.cgi/Y2012/parochial-global-exchanges.html

Yes, that is kind of true and not just in financial industry. I think most industries do consider this as more of check-box item than anything else....

Except where retail ops matter, that is where significant revenue losses can occur....

English Vinglish & My love for Food!

We saw the delightful English Vinglish yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Sridevi's Shashi Godbole and her English class is a fantastic tale with the moral that no odd is bigger than your will! The movie was worth every penny and the best part is that it is 100% family viewing affair.

That said, I loved the supporting star cast of the movie - most of them, Mehdi Nebbou, the silent Frenchman whose yearning for Shashi starts growing on you, the viewer.

Now there is a fine discussion between Shashi and Laurent where they say something of this sort:

Laurent: Food is art.
Shashi: When a man cooks, it is art. When a woman cooks, it is her work / duty.
Laurent: No no no... you cook, you make other people happy. This is worship. This is art. Prayer.

It is better viewed on the screen than me describing it here. It is a fine discussion on how we all should view the person cooking for us - your mother, your wife, the cook, the vada pav waala....whoever. I have never heard a more intelligent discussion on food in Hindi cinema.

I am absolutely loving the way Indian cinema is moving. English Vinglish is another example of this sophistication that is coming our way.

Barfi!++ : Loving where Indian cinema is going!

Having seen Barfi! and being completely charmed by the lovely fairy tale of Barfi, Jhilmil and Shruti, I refuse to fall into the debate whether this should have gone to Oscars or not.

For me and for us Indians, I do not think it should matter. What should matter is where our cinema is going! After the rubbish we saw coming in the 1980s, some limited risk taking in the 1990s, some more boldness is portraying stories in the 2000s, we have now reached a wonderful point where some excellent movies are being produced.

I have written this earlier too, Hindi cinema is undergoing a wonderful transformation that needs to be appreciated, applauded and encouraged.

Now Barfi! may have picked up some scenes, but the way the story is told, the cinematography, the music and the actors, they all show what can be achieved. The audience is entranced by this team. And this has been happening at a very good frequency. In fact that is what is making us spend reasonable sums at the movie halls.

In general, this bodes well for Hindi cinema viewers.

Now the point of Oscars, sure they should award an original movie over one which may have redone some scenes. But the way movies are made today, we need not worry too much.

Before you go, here enjoy this lovely lovely song from Barfi!