In deference to the slowly setting sun, here are a few lines to end the day:

अर्ज किया है.....

रोज ढलता हुआ सूरज ये कहता है मुजे फ़राझ
आज उसे बेवफा हुए एक और दिन हो गया

Some ads that are solely and wholly responsible for driving my BP Northward these days:

1. Coke's Open Happiness ad

I have heard of Open Sesame but this 'Open Happiness' thingy is simply beyond me! Sure, a bottle of coke might be a nice compliment to mommy dearest's minced meat pie or lasagne. But in India, I cannot see it go hand in hand with Rajma, Dal-Chawal or Idli. When we were kids, a surefire way to make my mom angry would be to pour a generous amount of Thums Up (still my favorite!) in a glass at mealtime. Like drinking and driving, I don't think home-cooked Indian food and Coke mix!

2. Kellogg's

I boil with rage every time I see the ad that waxes eloquent about how one can lose weight on a diet of just 2 servings a day of its particular cereal. Huh? Isn't cereal an item to be had for breakfast? And last time I checked, breakfast was the most important meal of the day. When did they change the rules? And why the hell weight loss ads always feature ladies when God knows that there are enough obese men with their overflowing bellies roaming about the Indian streets.

Each time this ad comes up, I am reminded of what a friend once told me. Mother of one of her friends saw this ad and wondered how eating 2 servings of this magic food can bring down the weight. Her exasperated daughter had to explain that these 2 servings were all that one was supposed to consume for 2 weeks!

3. Idea

The message is very relevant and the last few ads had brilliant execution in my humble opinion. But I think that the image of Abhishek Bachhan peering out of a tree trunk is positively revolting. Not An Idea, Sirji :-(

The list is endless but let's take a commercial break :-)

So Shiv Sena blames Pakistan for the Pune blasts. What a surprise! I was thinking they would be hauling the Chechen rebels over coals for this :-) I wonder when the media is going to stop giving prominence to such banal news and focus instead on more constructive aspects of the investigation.

Now to the Sena's political ally. I was in serious danger of choking on my evening tea when I read what the newly-minted BJP Prez Nitin Gadkari had to say about dynastic politics - I was laughing so hard. When, oh when, are our politicians going to stop thinking about themselves and their party and focus on the country and Common Man instead? And by that I don't mean eating lunch at a farmer's or Dalit's home or traveling in a suburban train!

I plead guilty as charged. I am an avid fan of movies featuring extra-terrestrials like Independence Day and Signs (never mind that here the aliens were a mere backdrop!). I know that the jury is still out on whether there is life on other planets. If you ask me, I would say that anything is possible. Who can prove that there isn't - especially when there are so many galaxies, stars and planets littering the universe. Of course, I hope these aliens haven't made the mess of their planet the way we have.

Before you start to wonder if I have gone bananas, what prompted this was the news that Britain has released new UFO files. In addition to the flying saucers, we have assorted flat, shiny, colorful objects making their appearance in the skies - one was shaped like Toblerone even! Aaw, that's a bit too much to digest, don't you think so? :-)

Over to Agents Mulder and Scully!

There should be no surprise that Washington is engaging Pakistan's military leaders instead of the civilian ones in its terrorism related talks. After all, the civilian government is not going to be instrumental when it comes to purchase of state-of-the-art arms, is it? :-)

With his Lord Hanumana good-luck charm, wonder what US Prez Obama will think of the Hanuman plush doll! (Upset Hindus ask for immediate withdrawal of Hanuman plush doll)

I will leave you with the following lines:

तुम मुझे ख़ाक भी समझो तो कोई बात नहीं
येभी उड़ती है तो आखोंमे समा जाती है

It was no surprise that SRK's MNIK grossed about Rs 50 Crores in India and about Rs 90 Crores worldwide over the weekend. Long live the Shivsena! Guess SRK can now make that long-due trip to Matoshree :-)

I still recall a trip I made to the famed Atlantic City and later to the sin city Las Vegas years ago. I was shocked to see rows and rows of old people sitting at the slot machines with a cigarette or a drink in one hand and the money in the other. It was a huge cultural shock for someone like me who came from a country where old ladies can either be found in kitchens or temples and old gentlemen in pensioners' clubs or gardens. :-)

What reminded me of this was a small article in a newspaper that said how these casinos have garish carpets that help in keeping the gamblers wide awake. It also said that most of them don't have windows so that the gamblers get confused about what time of the day it is! Whatever happened to old-fashioned wrist-watches :-)

It's heartening to see that the Indian Government has decided not to break off its talks with Pakistan despite so many voices crying themselves hoarse about it. I think we should supplement this cross-border effort with opening up of a candid dialogue between the communities in India. The less misunderstanding we have about each other, the less chance others will get to exploit us for their ulterior motives!

L’hitraot!

Another week begins and I can only hope that I get to come here on a daily basis. Till then, I will leave you with “L’hitraot” – which in Hebrew means “until we see each other again” - and the following haunting lines:

तेरी जुदाई मे दिल बेक़रार न करू
तू हुक्म दे तो तेरा इंतज़ार न करू
बेवफाई करनी है तो इस क़दर कर
के तेरे बाद किसी पे ऐतबार न करू

I was about to turn in for the night on Saturday when I thought of checking out the news channels. Déjà vu! Though not on the same scale as Mumbai’s 26/11, it was nonetheless sad to watch that the filthy hand of the terrorists continues to strike at will across the country. The first channel that I landed on kept on referring to an attack on a “bakery” in Pune. Just when I was wondering if it was the German Bakery, the channel confirmed it. A few years back, I was staying in Pune for a project at a place that was almost 10 minutes’ walking distance from the this bakery. It was shocking indeed!

Now for a few days, the channels will be busy dissecting the story threadbare but I guess the only undeniable fact is that there is precious little one can do when faced with fanatics who don’t place high value on human life :-( Lately, I have come to believe that these people will finally get their comeuppance at the hands of the very God who they claim they are doing this for. I just hope it happens sooner than later!

The Last Testament – by Sam Bourne

There is no reason for Jerusalem to be on my “Places to Visit” list. I am not a Muslim, a Christian or a Jew. Yet it remains one of the places that I hope I will one day be able to see – a feeling accentuated by this novel.

As far as the story goes, it seems like a purely hypothetical situation – the Middle East situation being what it is or what it always has been! Anyways, the novel begins with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the negotiation table, finally. The stakes are high and they get higher when death starts knocking on the doors on both sides. The first to die is Shimon Guttman - an outspoken Israeli activist who is vehemently against any peace plan if that involves yielding an inch of their territory. An eminent Archaeologist on the Palestinian side, Ahmed Nour, is the next victim. And the bloody trail goes on. A reputed American negotiator, Maggie Costello, is dragged back from her forced retirement to drive the teams back to the talks. Teamed up with Shimon Guttman’s son Uri, she discovers that a clay tablet looted from the Baghdad museum is at the bottom of all this mayhem. Of course, you will have to read the novel to find out what the tablet contains :-)

A delightful read for anyone who likes to read about long-lost treasures! I wonder though, who will get to play the devastatingly handsome Uri Guttman if Hollywood ever decides to make a movie on this. ;-)