The Melting Pot

ONE TREE HILL…

Ok, before I start, this is being written by both me and Kirat. I’m at her house right now..so……….
Those of you who haven’t seen OTH are missing out on something reaaaaall good!! It’s one of the most amazing, thoughtful, slightly dramatic, fun, cool, sensitive and beautiful soaps ever!! We guys were going so crazy over just the promos for like, two months and when it finally came on air, we couldn’t tear our eyes away from the screen. It was every bit as good as we had imagined if not better. Be it solid kick-ass basketball, a father-son relationship, a single parent, an ignored child, a touching story of two step brothers..thrown in with some good teenage drama and romance. We never missed a single episode of the first season when it was aired. Kirat forced her dada-dadi to buy the whole first season for her when they went to the US. We can watch it over n over n over again.. Damn!! Why the hell aren’t they airing the second season in India????? WHY?? WHYYYY???? AAAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!
Um, ok, er, a bit of dignity eh? Hehe.. She just downloaded the first two episodes of the second season and we are going crazy here watchin em!! Uff!! James Laffertyyyyyyyyyyy!!!! And there’s Sophia Bush for you guys too! And of course…CMM, who can forget our beloved! Oooohhhh, Bethany Joy Lenz is lookin soooo cute and Dan has become (puke!) nice!! Ok people, if you don’t watch it…you better start now!! Believe me, you will not regret it.
Ok, now we are watching it again! Bye bye..
P.S.I know this may not be very interesting to some people but we just wanted a way to express our excitement and enthusiasm!!
GO WATCH IT!!!

Microsoft to unveil new Internet Explorer

Redmond, Washington: Microsoft Corp. is releasing a new test version of Internet Explorer, the market-leading Web browser that is facing competition from smaller players.

The new beta, available Tuesday for free download to English-languages customers, includes fixes for problems that were causing Internet Explorer 7 to stop working, said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager in charge of Internet Explorer development.

With the previous test version, Hachamovitch said the most common problems reported involved banking and news sites, in part because of security changes.

Improving security can be tricky since any changes can cause legitimate Web sites to stop working, frustrating users.

Microsoft also added more guidance to help people using IE’s new browser tab functions, which let a user view more than one Web site from within one window, using multiple “tabs.”

This is Microsoft’s third beta of Internet Explorer 7 made available to the general public, and Hachamovitch said there are plans for one more. The new version comes amid growing competition from browsers such as Firefox, which has long offered functions such as tabbed browsing. Some also consider other browsers to be more secure, since IE, with its market dominance, is a popular target for attacks.

The final version of Internet Explorer 7 is expected to be released in the second half of this year, around the time a version of Microsoft’s new Windows operating system is expected to be available for business users.

Microsoft is releasing the new Windows, called Vista, to consumers in early 2007.

There is a new author on the block!
Welcome Kirat

Change…….. !?

Sacred Heart SSS— one of the top seeded schools of chandigarh. Ask a non-heartian and she would give you not a single compliment or would think of that school and its girls as something/one good! Why? Jealousy. Might be!(I never feel that way). And now, this jealousy has taken a concrete form—-the uniform of the senior girls has been changed—into a suit, that too without dupatta, with a short qawalli-jacket!!! Brown check and a white combo.
Ok!OK! come back. This change might seem to be a waste-of-time topic of discussion but the arguments in favor and against it are worth listening to.
AGAINST THE MOTION
People say that girls cross every limit of exposure, they dun understand that the length of their skirt is a bit too short, et al. they are forgetting Indian traditions and values and what not. For the first point, even I agree. Some girls have too short skirts. Leave S.Heart, come to my school and I can show you innumerable examples of girls who have such long skirts that when they bend you can read the brandname of their undies! Everyone wears nice-short skirts but they should differentiate b/w being smart and vulgar. I too wear a short skirt but never get those looks which these girls seem to enjoy!

Also, people have it that your uniform should not be a matter of your concern. You should come to study and Govt. schools also sport a suit. So what big deal!!!

FOR THE MOTION

I asked a heartian friend of mine as to what she thought and she just said,”divi, its good I came out last year! Its worse than a punishment. Suit—shit yaar!” They are against it. Plain and simple.
Girls say that this change shows hypocrisy in its full bloom. Progressive thinking and suits! Contrast. Moreover,S.Heart is an all girls school, so no boys and none of those hassles. The problem is when guys look at you and all that, but no boys—no problems.also, they say that S. Heart is a convent school and suits dun match the style of a convent!
NOTE: Those of you think that SACRED HEART is a convent school, it is not! There are 2 schools in CHD. which are convents. Carmel and ST. Anne’s. (Why so? Answer on request)

The bottom-line:— I dunno. U derive it!

Weird Village!

Nat Purwa. Does the name ring a bell?

Its not the name of a person but its the name of a village near Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. Its like any other village in India. Illiterate people, poor infrastructure etc. But there’s a difference.

The menfolk don’t work. Its the women of the village who are the bread winners. Now you would say, kudos to the village community for realising the potential of its women and not discriminating. Think again. The men don’t work part is correct. But the women, from generations, take up prostitution to support their families!! Yes prostitution. Surprisingly, the people of the village do not have any problem with this age old tradition. The women have no objections and accept the tradition as their fate. But more surprising is that the daughters-in-law are not forced into flesh trade. The villagers believe that since their daugters-in-law come from different villages where such a tradition does not exist, it would not be right to force them into selling their body to support the family.

But the same does not hold good for the innocent daughters of the same daughters-in-law who are forced to take up this dirty profession at a tender age just because they were born in a family which follows a stupid and abusive tradition. These girls are busy pleasing men who are the age of their fathers while girls of the same age in other parts of the country are busy attending school and playing.

Never before had I heard of such a thing. It is indeed shocking. For more on this, grab a copy of Outlook (April 10, 2006) & just open up page 10. The article features a woman, Chandralekha, who broke this age old tradition and stood up for herself and her family after being nearly 20 years in the flesh trade.

Read about it here.

And this time, I really want to know what you people think!!

Fanaa–music review.

The much awaited music of the more awaited movie ‘Fanaa’ is on the floor and so its review is as follows.
The music is by Jatin-Lalit and this is the last time they have together composed music, after this film, they’ve decided to part ways. The lyricist is Prasoon Joshi( RDB fame and the famous ad-maker).The music is released by Yash Raj Music and the cassette is priced at Rs. 58 and you can own the ACD for 199 bucks.
The film encompasses 7 songs outta which 1 is the instrumental version of all the songs and the other is a remixed version of ‘Chand Sifarish’, the part of which is currently aired on TV as a part of the trailer. This song is sung by Shaan and the ‘subhanallah’ word which we hear in the trailer is sung by Kailash Kher, actually, that is his only part, basically the song is to the credit of Shaan. He has done his part well and the music is mainly on percussion and string instruments. It has a Persian touch to it and a bit of “qawalli” style also. The lyrics have the sequence: — if a stanza is of 4 lines, the first 3 lines are soft, tender, romantic but the last 1 comes as strong and having the word ‘fanaa’ in it. it has a touch of sensuality also.
The second song is ‘Mere Haath Mein’ sung by Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan. This 1 has a painful touch to it but u can’t actually call it a sad song. Sonu nigam is good and so is Sunidhi Chauhan. Rendered with love n pain, this sound may catch attention of many ears!
The 3rd one is ‘Dekho Na’. Listening to the song, you might get a sense of familiarity. This song might make you think that you have heard it somewhere but till the time you are able to figure it out, the next song already starts playing ! its again by Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan. It has got vocals by Kajol and Aamir Khan. Brilliant poetry, I must say!
Up next is ‘Des Rangila’—-one of those typical filmi-ishtyle patriotic songs, sung by Mahalakshmi. Her voice is a bit too meager for the theme of the song. Many of the listeners will skip this one!
‘Chanda chamke’ gives you a full dose with tongue-twisters. Yup! Read again. It has tongue-twisters sung by Mahalakshmi and Babul Supriyo with Kajol and Aamir Khan again doing some speaking. Different, may liked by some, other might categorize it as kiddish.
Next is the instrumental version of the 3 romantic songs of the movie, namely ‘Destroyed in Love’ .

Also, there is a remix version of “Chand Sifarish’ by DJ Aqeel titled ‘Fanaa for you’. It gets a mediocre rating—again it might catch the fancy of some.

7 songs in totality, fierce lyrics describing immense love, the ‘Yash Raj’ treatment should make the music hit. It will really be liked by those who have an ear for soft, tender, romantic melodies— no dance number or something loud.

Soft and subtle—that is ‘Fanaa for you’

Lets read and think…

70 year old ‘rapes’ minor
—–headline of today’s HT City. I’ve got actually no word to describe my anger, disappointment, distress and guilt. Anger, because— I hate those bloody rapists. Disappointment and distress because I actually can’t do anything. Guilt, because I am a part of such a society where such animals reside.
Did you notice that in this headline, rape is in quotes. Damn! 70 yr old man and a 12 year old girl. Nonsensical, heinous, what not !?
I’ve always believed that stature of a crime cannot be measured but rapes are torturous, big time. They spoil a girl’s life, completely. The physical ailment, on top of that the psychological torture, it devastates. To be frank, every girl in today’s wondrous society has been eve-teased and so have been I. eve-teasing is really nothing in front of sexual exploitation and when those scoundrels pass comments—you feel like bashing them hard!
I cannot just imagine the effect which rape has on the victim. Murders happen, burglaries occur but rape—-bloody shit. At least when 1 is murdered, the person is free from the world but when one is raped, the world does not let the victim live. I am not saying that the loss by deaths/murders is repairable, but the relatives of the deceased accept the fact in a while n can carry with their lives. Dun get me wrong, readers, please.
People are really taking initiative to stop eve-teasing and other anti-social activities and I’ve got all regards for them, n I do admire their effort but here is a more serious problem. And the point is that we really dun have a pre-fixed solution for this. We really need to exercise our minds and come up with solutions to combat this evil. I cannot do anything alone and I really need your support in this. I am thinking and request you to do the same. Please!
Much of this may sound exaggeration, but trust me, I just wish words could actually express. Readers, support, because TMP is more than amalgamation of thoughts, its about foundation of a better place, society may be a very gigantic word. Li’l ideas and they’ll work wonders bcoz even if 8-10 people who are regular readers of this blog will change, it will lead to bigger and better changes !

Was Gandhi a Traitor?

Note : I AM NOT A GANDHI FAN MYSELF.

Does Mahatma Gandhi actually deserve all the respect and praise we Indians give him? Did he actually fight for our Independence or just wanted a “Kursi” for himself.

I can’t answer this myself. I know little about the man. The only knowledge I have about him is from the History textbooks. I’ve read some more about him but that is still not enough for me to form an opinion. Arjun & Niharika are strongly against Gandhi. But are they right when they call him names?

Gandhi was a great leader. He sacrificed his luxuries. He was not a poor man. Infact he was quite well-off. Then why did he choose to wear just a Dhoti and roam around the country interacting with people, trying to make them follow the path of non-violence? He could have easily pursued a career in Law.

People say he was a traitor, he made bad decisions. Well, to err is human. Everybody makes mistakes - You & I.
Long time back, Arjun made me read this article - GANDHI: Traitor to the People. Now is the author justified when he calls Gandhi a traitor? I personally feel he is not. And neither are Arjun & Niharika. Everybody is entitled to his or her opinion but they should actually think when they make any comment. They might know just a little more than I do about Gandhi.

We all are the children of a free, independent nation. In addition to respecting our nation, our freedom, we also need to respect the people who were behind it, who sacrificed their lives, their comforts so that we may live our lives the way we are living today.

You might call Gandhi an ass-licker. You can call him a coward. But the reality is that none of us have even the courage to do the things the man did. The revelutionaries were great in their own way and so was Gandhi. We must learn to respect the great leaders and people from our country rather than criticising them all the time.

Finally, here is what Nathuram Godse had to say about Gandhiji.

The Other Side of the Coin

Just saw this a minute ago. Whoever has made this has really done a great job.

Makes one think…

Click Here

Dubbed toons

I have been a viewer of Cartoon Network since the day it was launched in India.
Yes. I have even watched the cartoons on CN in Chinese. I was totally obsessed with them. I used to watch it all day till at 9 PM they would change to TNT.

Slowly, Cartoon Network took over the toon market in India. It captured the major share and every other kid was now watching CN. The toons were in English. They not only entertaining but also improved the vocabulary of the viewers.
But sadly, CN changed itself totally. It decided to sport a new “Desi” look. All the toons were dubbed in Hindi.

See, I have nothing against toons in Hindi. But the way they have dubbed the cartoons is sad. They have spoilt the story, the characters and the fun asoociated with watching them.

Take for example, The Swat Kats. The two main characters were T-Bone and Razor. And what are they called in Hindi - “Bade Miyaoon & Chhote Miyaoon”. This has actually happened to actually all the toons. Fortunately, Tom & Jerry has been spared!!

Even shows like the Small Wonder haven’t been spared although the dubbing is still better than the cartoons. I just wish they would revert everything back. I don’t watch cartoons that much now but I sure would if they would bring back the good old times. They are entertaining, educative & a thousand times better than the crappy Ekta Kapoor soaps!

Bottom line - “The Originals are still The Greatest!”. Dubbed cartoons suck big time!

The Dwitiya Effect

All the reality shows these days end and then within a few months return to the TV screens.
At least wait for 10-12 months. The show loses all its charm.

Take for example, The Great Indian Laughter Challenge. I used to really like the show. But then came The Great Indian Laughter Challenge “Dwitya”. They’ve actually ruined it. Just started the second edition of the show within 2 months time. Hardly anybody sees it now. The contestants suck big time & the jokes actually make you wanna cry.

Same thing goes for Indian Idol. Hardly six months had gone by since the first Indian Idol ended, they started Indian Idol 2. Result - crappy singers. OK, some people still see it but its not entertaining anymore. I’d rather watch some silly “Saas-Bahu Nautanki” than Indian Idol 2.

KBC on the other hand retained the magic it had when it was first aired. The reason for that was that the producers had actually waited a long time before bringing the show back on.

The “dwitiya” formula does not hold good anymore.