A quiet Bollywood wedding

In what turned out to be a rather calamitous day for the cronies (read masala-obsessed Indian media) of one of the most fanatical terror networks WITHIN the country, Bollywood superstar and still-supposed-to-be-in-jail Sanjay Dutt wed his long-time girlfriend and ex-item girl Manyata in a quiet ceremony in Mumbai.

The infiltrators reached just in time to dig up some words from Dutt (who was visibly delighted after the successful attempt to keep them away from covering the marital rituals from 25 different camera angles) and version 3.0 of Mrs. Dutt. Sanju Baba gladly obliged with the post-marriage press conference and as usual, news of considerable importance vanished from the face of our TV sets and Munna mania ran wild, hogging up every inch of the screen space offered.

One of the channels called up his US-based daughter (from his previous marriage), another hunted down his ill fated sister (who wore a rather bewildered look when asked about her brother’s horseback ride towards a third spell of nuptials) and a third, which failed to catch hold of any of the above two, promised to run a special program later on, which would showcase how the two got together, what were the key factors that led to the path breaking decision and whether they were planning for kids.

Meanwhile, gear up for a showdown somewhere in the same city. The police have issued an arrest notice against Raj Thackeray, but are unquestionably perspiring bucket loads at the prospect of facing up to the soldiers of the India’s first anti-national regional army – the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Thackeray has already rejected the notice issued by them.

May God bestow the IPS officers with courage and shower Mr.Dutt with marital bliss (read “staying away from jail” ahead of “honeymoon in Paris”).....

The wonder Down Under

Teenage phenomenon Ishant Sharma's magical 4-wicket spell yesterday in the team's first MCG win in 22 years has left cricket experts spellbound, Indians all over the world excited and the Aussies rattled off their throne. As is the routine in sport, comparisons with yesteryear stars will now begin to encircle the young prodigy from Delhi and we hope and pray they dont affect him. The lanky young man looks more like a I-couldnt-care-less college stud, reminding you of Zayed Khan's Main Hoon Na look. But the difference between talent and trash is all too evident.

Eventually India won well, but not without the customary if-one-wicket-falls-many-follow jitters. At 102/5, you would have been forgiven if your thoughts strayed onto the likeliness of a defeat. But a very mature innings from Rohit Sharma, who would do well to stake a claim to fame in the post-Dravid Ganguly era, supported ably by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni saved India from a defeat which would have undone the hardwork of the seamers.

The bottomline is that the youth brigade has arrived. You dont "crush" Australia everyday, do you? The batting needs to be pepped up of course, as so far it falls way too short of the standards set by the galactic Super Six in the early years of this century. But it is a positive, encouraging start. The two Sharmas, in particular, are young, positive, bundling with alacrity and energy and looking to establish themselves in the national team. One of them is a North Indian. But I doubt whether they are out there attempting to salvage some regional pride.

One last note : Hats off to Stuart Clark for upholding the Aussie tradition of not accepting a cricket defeat. Mr. Clark, that rarity from the past is fast turning into the ubiquity of the present...

Join the Force.....

No, this isn't an advertisement campaign for the newly-formed Force India Formula 1 team. UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya is showcasing how Indian corporates can change the face of sports in the country with his 88-million euro acquisition of Spyker at the end of last season.

With Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan advertising the brand and the team even managing to sign up one of F1's veteran racing drivers in Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, the concept of promoting a national team in F1 looks set to have initiated. The team have retained German driver Adrian Sutil from Spyker.

India has been making rapid strides in this genre of motor racing. Narain Karthikeyan raced for Jordan a couple of seasons back and New Delhi will host an F1 race come 2010. In the end of course, it is going to boil down to how well the team performs on the track. And more importantly, how it stands up to F1 giants like Ferrari & McClaren.

They say any progress is some progress afterall. Let's hope that the team has a fine start and Mallya's VJM01 (the name of the car) can set the track on fire.....

Forgetting the essentials.....

If racism, casteism, female foeticide, the rich-poor divide etc weren't enough, we are now faced with a whole new concept that is threatening to shake the pillars of democracy all by itself - Identity Politics.

The Raj Thackeray-led MNS' atrocious behaviour in support of it's anti-North Indian stance in the city of Mumbai led to a "rioting" of a different kind in India's commercial capital. And the party officials have dared the police to arrest their supposedly-heroic leader. A quality example of democracy's fallacies, eh?

In a country simmered with problems aplenty already, a select few are proposing a new era of political rivalry where the end result will most likely be a civil war. Instead of igniting hate against each other and trying to upset time-honoured establishments, why not shift focus to the infiltration in Kashmir. A popular TV channel has shown exclusive footage of POK-based militants getting across the borders in the war-torn northern state. So where do we go from here?

It's like what history has very often shown - choose what you want to do. We can either choose to disunite and fade away or stick together and fight the incoming evils. In a democracy everything depends on the people, the rule books say.

But if the people are more bothered about a Saif-Kareena wedding or two freaks embarassing youngsters and pelting them with abuse on a popular music channel, then the future of this rather useless age is out of our control. Useless, because an age has it's heroes and the ones we have to be content with are more interested in aggresively marketing their private ventures, killing innocent people off the road and sporting fake smiles.....

Of youth, "star" marriages and mob justice

The Indian cricket board's much-villified experiments with youth aren't looking appealing as of now. India's batting blow-up in the Twenty20 one-off and the first ODI of the tri-series against Australia makes the return of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid seem more likely come the series against South Africa. India's youngsters need time to develop their potential of course, but there is a system to be implemented when an old generation is to be phased out. The selectors have sent a bunch of kids Down Under hoping that a series defeat would be a hardening and mind-moulding experience. Did I just say defeat?

Talking of star marriages, we'd say that this concept was taken to a new level when French president Nicholas Sarkozy married model Carla Bruni. You'd wonder what kind of coverage this would have got in India. But our mental mindset would ensure that such things don't happen in this generation at least.

One last point. Is mob justice becoming too much now? A seven-year old was brutalized after being tied to a pole and being stripped in a village in West Bengal. You'd have to say WTF with absolute outrage. In a democracy, the public probably assume a natural birthright to provide justice if a majority of opinions match. Who the hell says that a majority is always right? And in this case, one certain local of the village said that the kid was caught red-handed trying to open a motorcycle toolbox. Breathtaking, isn't it?