What does your father do?

No, I don't want an answer from you. I guess most of us have answered this many times.

Actually reason for this post is that this question was asked to a kid in one of reality shows happening on the TV these days. The answer which came left me both amused and wondering. The name of the kid, the show or the channel is not important, what's important is here ...

Judge: What does your father do?
Kid: Morning walk, goes out in car ...
...
Judge: No, I was asking what is his profession or business?
Kid: Politics.

Incidentally kid's father was in the audience and camera was pointing towards him :) ... and he was equally amused as the rest.

Earth hour ... last 5 minutes!!

All lights and other electrical appliances are switched off at my home. I was standing in the balcony of my apartment and it looks quite dark outside with just the street lights on. It started to rain here (New Delhi, India) around 8:15 pm IST, so I enjoyed my earth hour with cool breeze and wind, and occasional natural lighting.

Hope we made a difference today for a better tomorrow.

Earth Hour 2009 ... are you participating?

Earth Hour, which started from Sydney in 2007, is an annual international event since 2008 to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It calls for the participants (individuals, organizations and government) to switch off all non-essential lights and electrical appliances for just 60 minutes.

You do not have to plunge your world into darkness but just need to eliminate the non-essential usage of electricity for those 60 minutes. More of a symbolic event to spread the awareness and take the actions beyond those 60 minutes.

The next Earth Hour is scheduled on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:30 pm, your local time.

New Delhi and Mumbai are official participating cities from India in Earth Hour 2009 but you can participate from wherever you are.

Let's do our bit!



Earth Hour @ WWW:

Earth Hour Global site - http://www.earthhour.org/
Earth Hour: Vote Earth - http://www.voteearth2009.org/
Earth Hour India site - http://www.earthhour.in/

Earth Hour 2009 India Orkut community - http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Community.aspx?cmm=60087030
Earth Hour 2009 India Facebook Community - http://apps.facebook.com/causes/241272/41494939?m=ddfe74a3

Slumdog Millionaire .... and the triple Oscars

Slumdog Millionaire ... a truly entertaining fantasy. If you have not experienced it yet then that's the first thing you should do instead of reading further. With 8 Academy Awards, 4 Golden Globe Awards and 7 BAFTA Awards, the film itself has lived its reel-life story in real-life.

I had seen this movie on its release in US and two things made a lasting impression on my mind that I am writing in retrospect. First is the unique story about how so many unrelated and tragic events can help Jamal, the protagonist, answer the tough quiz questions. Kudos to Simon Beaufoy. The second is the acting done by the child actors from the Mumbai slum, very effortless. And now there is a third, 3 Oscars coming to India!

The movie had its share of noise when it was released in India. There was a debate on the way slums and harsh realities of the life in the underbelly of Mumbai were shown. Then there was discussion about whether this was a India film or a foreign film. But why these questions? The simple fact is that its just a work of fiction with a sole motive to entertain the audience and maybe win few awards. This not the first time a story has been based on slums and what if it was; slums are a fact and every metropolis around the globe has an underbelly. I guess the natural social balance creates it. I think we should just be proud about the fact that its a good movie with India, and Indian cast and crew at its heart.

But as the saying goes ... all's well that ends well. The biggest moment for this movie would surely be the 8 Academy Awards, out of which 3 came to India! A R Rehman (2) and Resul Pookutty (1) gave us a real happy beginning to 2009!

13B, The Stoneman Murders .... and Gulaal

I hope Holi was colourful and exciting for everyone. Today I watched a movie which has its name related to the festival of Holi, though the storyline has nothing to do with the festival.

Gulaal ... a slow but fascinating storyline. The story revolves around student politics while also touching many other issues including campus ragging, caste biases among others in an interesting way. Set in the backdrop of varied Rajasthan terrain storyline is bit slow but is watchable till the end for the characters and actors who play them. Kay Kay Menon as always gives a wonderful performance.

Moving to another Kay Kay Menon movie ... The Stoneman Murders, which I had watched few weeks back. This one is based on the real-life serial murders of hapless footpath dwellers in Mumbai during early 80s. The Stoneman was a name given by the popular English language print media of Kolkata to an alleged serial killer who menaced the streets of that city in 1989. The Kolkata killings had a striking similarity with the Mumbai ones. Interestingly both the cases remained unsolved till date. Though the movie is based on these real-life incidents but since these were never solved, director Manish Gupta gives us his solution and its quite convincing also! A must watch.

13B ... Fear has new address. A horror flick after a long while but it was more of a thriller than horror. It does have some scary moments in the first half. The second half is bit of a drag. The suspense is held till the end but when its revealed it leaves so many unanswered questions that you are left wondering. You can watch it if you want to know what it is all about but overall bit average.