All teams have had at least one shot at the game, some two. They have had a chance to observe 'kaun kitne paani mein hai' (how good each team is). And I'd like to know what SRK has been feeding his team over the past 1 year. They have won both the games they've played till now (what what?), and from being at the bottom of the table last year, they're on top after 3 days of the tournament.
SRK, of course, is back to his signature tomfoolery which is making the guy fall rapidly out of favour with me. I used to like him quite a lot for the way he made his way to the top having started from nowhere - owning the most coveted property in one of the costliest cities in the world - but with each consecutive day he seems to be getting progressively insecure and narcissistic, and consequently making a fool of himself publicly in his media interactions (the worst was when he told a journalist who asked him if there's any actor who makes him feel insecure now that he's in his mid-40s, that no one can make him feel insecure b/c he is SRK. I wanted to gag).
The masterstroke came form Dada himself though. When asked during a presentation ceremony why their team was maintaining a low key profile this time around, he was quick to reply, "We've always been low key as a team. Our owner is high profile and is always surrounded by controversies. But that's something we just have to deal with." He said this in the presence of Shah Rukh Khan.
KKR is playing well. Does it have anything to do with the new purple & gold uniform? Or has SRK finally realized that Saurav Ganguly is a Captain par excellence and that Kolkatans, who are known to switch off their TV sets when Dada gets out, will send mass negative vibes his way if he replaces their beloved Dada as Captain of their home team? Or is it b/c KKR now have a coach who believes in people instead of laptops?
This year I'm rooting for Mumbai - they look like a good team, and I like how Mukesh & Nita Ambani speak only when they need to and just as much as they need to.
The strongest team however seems to be the Deccan Chargers. Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, Chaminda Vaas, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh...good players all. And they played brilliantly against Chennai Super Kings yesterday.
Who are you supporting this IPL season?
PS: People seriously need to learn how to pronounce 'Kolkata' correctly. It's not "Call-cutta" or "Call-kata" or "Coal-cutta". It's "Coal-kaa-taa" (with a soft 't').
A man I met on the immensely stupid Women's Day wished me a Happy Women's Day and asked how the Women's Reservation was going to make my life better. He was mocking women, of course.
Now, I too am against reservation of any kind because I feel it takes an opportunity away from someone who deserves it on account of merit and gives it to someone who may be totally underserving, simply because he/she was born into a minority community. And most communities that continue to enjoy reservation in Government jobs & Government-run institutes are no longer as impoverished or deprived as they may have been at the time of independence. They have access to the same education and infrastructure that non-minorities in our country do. But the biggest injustice brought about by reservations - or Affirmative Action as it is called in the US - is that someone who deserves the spot is denied it simply b/c he's part of the majority.
Women's Reservation is a different issue altogether though, and I'm not saying this b/c I'm a woman. I'm saying this b/c I believe that women are the largest disenfranchised and unempowered minority in India.
Women in our country (and I'm not talking about financially independent career women like me who form less than maybe even 10% of the female population of India) are denied all kinds of social and personal rights even to this day.
We are still expected to adopt, or in the very least, append our husband's last name to our names after marriage. State-owned banks do not allow a married woman to open an account with her maiden name (I don't know whether this is true of private sector banks as well). A woman's identity continues to be defined by that of a man, be it her husband or her father. All forms, whether emanating from the private or the public sector, ask for her father's/husband's name.
Women are still expected to leave their parents' home and live with their in-laws after marriage, rather than it being an even playing field where both husband & wife set up their own home. A woman who expresses her desires to live apart from her in-laws is seen as an evil, vile woman who is trying to draw the son away from his parents. Never mind that she had to leave behind her own. This is particularly true in small towns.
Men try to harass women at every given opportunity. They lech at us in the most disgusting manner, violate us on the streets by touching us at the most private places, harass us sexually & emotionally, and try to take advantage of single women in every way they can.
Most Indian women (and remember, I'm not talking about you & I) don't even have control over their own bodies or what happens to them. They don't have any sexual or reproductive rights. They must give in to the man whenever he wishes to have sex or face the consequences, generally physical abuse. They often cannot insist on the use of protection during sex and have to bear children even if they don't want to, thanks to "mis-timing" on the part of the man who thinks he is some kind of a God & a blessing to womankind. They get no support from their families even if they're victims of domestic violence and wish to divorce their husbands.
They are expected to perform at the same level as their male counterparts at work, and also bear the primary responsibility of running a house, performing day-to-day household chores such as cooking & cleaning, and be the primary parent raising the child.
So what kind of women's empowerment do we celebrate on Women's Day?
Nothing.
And that is where I think the Women's Reservation Bill is going to help. It may not directly impact your's & my lives, but it WILL impact the lives of millions of other women who are not in a position to speak up for themselves. For every you & me, there are at aleast a thousand women who are forced to suffer silently.
I hope this past Women's Day, rather than saying 'thank you' to every man who wished you a Happy Women's Day and enjoying free meals or free drinks at bars, you asked yourself some tough questions. Do the men in your life, be it your father, brother, husband, partner or boyfriend, respect you as a person? Do they ask you for your opinion even on issues that matter and value it, rather than consulting you only when it's time to decide what color walls you want in your house? Do they treat you as someone who is just as capable as themselves? Do you have your own identity rather than it being defined by that of your husband? Do they listen to you when you speak? Are your decisions you own and not taken by your husband? Are you allowed to do what you feel like, wear what you feel like, and meet whoever you feel like?
I hope you asked yourselves these questions and I hoped you answered them in the affirmative b/c these questions will determine whether you are truly empowered, not whether you got a gift or a free drink on Women's Day.
The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the Institute of Competitiveness (heard of them anyone?) recently conducted a study on the best cities to live in India. They concluded that New Delhi is the No. 1 city to live in! Among other things, the city ranked 1st terms of safety and transportation. Now that’s news to me!
According to me, Delhi is one of the most unsafe cities in India, for women at least. I’ve often been advised that when in Delhi I shouldn’t be relying on public transport such as rickshaws, taxis etc. at night. I’ve also been told “if you’re a woman, make sure someone drops you home after a night out. If you’re driving back home by yourself late at night, ask someone you know to follow you.” I’ve heard and read numerous stories about crimes against women taking place in Delhi, often in broad daylight, than in any other city. How then does that make Delhi the safest city in India? Or does women’s safety not count now that we have 33% reservation in Parliament?
Delhi is also not known for its public transport. Apart from the metro, getting around can be a major pain if one doesn’t own a vehicle. There are hardly any taxis in the city except for the ones plying on an 8-hour/80kms basis and we have all heard about the killer DTC buses that expect people to get on & off while the bus is still in motion.
Mumbai on the other hand ranked 1st in terms of housing (is anyone else about to faint reading this like I did?) and 4th in terms of safety!!
From personal experience I can vouch that finding a house to rent in Bombay is a nightmare and being able to afford to buy one in a decent area is next to impossible. And that Bombay is one of the safest cities - if not THE safest - for women in India. I loved the fact that I could hop onto a rickshaw or a local train by myself pretty late into the night without having to fear for my safety.
It came as a shock to me that Kolkata, a hotbed of culture and politics, should rank 3rd in "socio-cultural political environment" and 14th in terms of safety among 37 cities in India. Kolkata may not be a Mumbai in terms of safety but it’s a pretty safe city to live in.
Kozhikode, in Kerela, was ranked 1st among the 37 cities in India for the best healthcare and medical facilities.
Does any of this make sense to you? It doesn’t to me. And the researcher in me can’t help asking this question – what was the sample size for this study and who were the people they interviewed? Folks tripping on LSD??
Oh Dear Lord, I never thought I'd do a post on fuckin' 'Rahul Mahajan ka Swayamwar', or that I'd watch the show in the first place (I never watched 'Rakhi ka Swayamvar') but a girl has her need to watch trash after dealing with crap all day long (you know what I'm talking about, dontcha? ;) So here it goes...
Would you marry a man whose only claim to fame is that he was found unconscious in a bath tub ODed on drug laced with alcohol, was divorced by his wife amidst allegations of physical abuse and who probably does nothing for a living except appear on reality shows?
Would you agree to marry him on a show that is televised across a nation of 1 billion plus people, where a woman will be eliminated everyday as she is not perceived to be "fit" to be his wife, and where three women will go through the entire ritual of marriage, right through to the D-Day, and only one will get selected by His Royal Highness to be his wife, where as the other two will be publicly humiliated and will go home with their self-esteem shredded into pieces?
Actually, I don’t even sympathize with the two women who are rejected on the day of the wedding - anyone who goes on such a show to marry a guy like Rahul Mahajan has to be seriously demented. But really, I want to understand the thought-process of these women, their minds. Why would anyone wish to humiliate themselves publicly, worse still marry someone who has a notorious reputation, who they have never met before, and who they can’t possibly fall in love with in the matter of a couple of weeks which is spent jostling for his attention amidst a bunch of girls? That too a loser like Rahul Mahajan!
Did these women think it would be a launch-pad for their careers? Were they aware that they would get married on the show, unlike Rakhi Sawant whose Swayamvar was a complete hoax, and would have to settle into domesticity? They would definitely not be allowed to model or act in movies. Or was it the prospect of power that lured them, given that Rahul Mahajan harbors political ambitions? Do they know that chances are very high no party will give him a ticket, given his past antics?
Is the fact that most women who came on that show to marry Rahul Mahajan were in the age group of 20-23 years an explanation for why they came on the show in the first place?
Funny we should talk of women’s emancipation on account of the passage of the Women’s Reservation bill, while on the other hand 20 year olds are dying to get married to a drug addict and a probable wife beater. I guess they are emancipated too (they took their own decision, didn’t they?), just in a very warped sort of way.
Hi people!
Genelia D'Souza went to the gym today. So did Preity Zinta. Arjun Rampal played 2 hours of tennis in the hot Bombay sun and put up pictures of his sweaty self for us to drool over. And I'm sure everyone else worth their salt has worked out today too since they are all fitness-conscious people (weight-conscious is so passe, you know), motivated (with truckloads of money, yeah sure!) and disciplined.
So I've decided I need to go to the gym too. Today. NOW. The gym is calling out to me. I'm feelin' it. Totally. Hell, yeah! 45 minutes on the treadmill...can life get more exciting?
But before I go, let's play a fun game....Pick a list of 3-4 actors/actresses and write a line about them. It HAS to be bitchy & fun, OK? Not nice 'n' sweet. 'Coz that's passe too, you know? And boring...and sleep inducing.
Here's my list:
Deepika Padukone: All hype, no substance
Katrina Kaif: Pretty but useless
Kareena Kapoor: Majorly over-rated
Aishwarya Rai: Never seen more plastic on anyone than her. Not even on the obsessed-with-facelifts-and-boob-implants Californians.
What's on your list?
Photo Courtesy: http://highheelconfidential.com
Sorry, but I find nothing "stunning" about a satin shirt from the 1960s, red 'puja' thread (why do people wear those threads...ugh!) and black pants that merge into your funny looking black boots that aren't even nice!
Ms Zinta has also been rambling on Twitter and how!
“There is so much i want to do, so much i want 2 change in this world ! Time slips away like sand through my hands . I wish i have d strength to bring about that change . "When the going gets tough the tough get going" This was what i was taught by my father . I hope i can.... I find myself 1dering if d system in r country is like quicksand . Will i be able 2 stand my ground or will i be sucked in ? Time will tell ! The past week has shaken me up as i have witnessed things that have hurt my self respect as an Indian . Is it really that easy to commit fraud and forgery and get buy your way through it in our great country . I saw it happening to a common man and it broke my heart . Today I have decided that i will be that change . I stand alone but every moment gives me strength and my resolve strengthens . Its high time now ! Actions speak louder than words ! Its time 2 get into action now ! I know the IPL is on my head, I know i am an actress with no muscle power nor pots of money to buy my way around or influence politicians... but i have the power of the truth ! good always wins over evil though ! This is probably the most challenging and redefining moment of my life . I am an eternal optimistic so on a happy note... Villians beware ! Tomorrow morning will be a bright new day ! I know the sun will shine on me ! Till then good night my friends . I think i will finally be able to sleep now ! Round one begins now ! If this was a movie then the dishum dishum time has started ;-) love you all ! ciao !"
Besides the fact that I hate SMS/Twitter lingo, is she one of those people who put a space between the last word of every sentence and the punctuation following it? Ughhh…can we have some English writing classes for Ms Zinta please? Along with a gentle reminder that Twitter isn’t the place to publish a short story or sort out the emotional turmoil going on inside of you.
And for a person who has a pretty delectable sense of style herself, maybe a refresher course in Fashion 101.
