Emraan!!

Emraan Hashmi has become a regular fixture in Indian cinema and the erotic and ‘steamy’ videos of the songs from his movies appear something like every half an hour on television. The guy absolutely exudes lust!

However, the very people who enjoy watching his movies (and who probably at some time or the other feel or have felt the feelings he portrays), for public consumption, denounce/criticize/mock at him. It was his birthday last Friday (March 24^th). However, no radio or television channel even acknowledged it, leave alone play the songs from his movies.

I have watched two of his movies – “Murder” and “Aashiq Banaya Aapne”, which incidentally were nothing great. Speaking for myself, Emraan’s roles are no big deal. I am not a fan of his or of his (in the words of a friend) “skill-sets”, nor do I pretend that such thoughts have never entered my mind (I’m human, not a machine).

Hats off to the dude for having the courage to depict what people keep thinking about, secretly.

Double Standards

[This post is NOT INTENDED to justify/attempt to glorify the actions of Mr Slobodan Milosevic and his supporters. Nor am I trying to make the point that two wrongs make a right.

This article is only meant to announce some facts that the media of the so-called Western democracies are not acknowledging.

Another reason is that if the West could actually ENCOURAGE, AID and ABET TERROR in Yugoslavia, then there is no reason why they would not do it in India (at Musharraf's behest?). Wake up, friends, Indians, countrymen. ]

Not only have the EU and the USA failed to protect the life of Slobodan Milosevic, but have yet again brow beaten the Government of Serbia and Montenegro into not according the former president a state funeral. All this in the name of human rights - the 2,00,000+ people killed during the Bosnian and Kosovo wars or so they proclaim. Milosevic was facing trial for genocide and crimes against humanity during these wars, at the International Tribunal at The Hague.

Now for some facts:

* The figure of 2,00,000 dead in Bosnia and Herzegovina is an exaggerated figure quoted by the Bosnian Government and the Western media. Research done by the International Criminal Tribunal in 2004 determined a more precise number of 102,000 deaths out of which more than half were combatants.

Since the NATO were involved in the war on the side of the Croats and Muslims, by the same rules, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac, Helmut Kohl... should also have been indicted by the tribunal.

* Alija Izetbegovic, the war time Bosnian president, escaped trial for war crimes when he died in 2002, but was accorded a state funeral all the same. This man was a collaborator of Osama Bin Laden and had been arrested after WW-II for collaborating with the Nazis in their atrocities against the Serbs.

So, what next? Osama Bin Laden getting the Nobel Peace prize?

* The Balkan wars were certainly not started by the Serbs. A few Bosniaks like Izetbegovic have wanted an Islamic state since WW-II. Albania had been having territorial ambitions over Kosovo throughout the 20th century, and it was Kosovo's Albanians who began the ethnic strife.

A quick and violent end to socialism suited the West fine. (Remember how US arms manufacturers murdered JFK, and then got Lyndon Johnson to wage war in Vietnam, so that they could profit?)

So, why single out Serbia for the blame?

* The Al Qaeda and their supporters were involved in the Balkan wars, even against those Muslims/Albanians who were in favour of an unified socialist state.

If the USA has the right to fight terrorism through extreme force, then why not everybody else?

In a nutshell, why blame only Serbia and Milosevic?

Shubashayagalu Anil!!

Anil Kumble has done all of Karnataka proud by taking 500 (& counting!) wickets in test cricket. Anil is actually an electrical ENGINEER. Age doesn't seem to slow this guy at all!

We certainly hope he adds to his tally later this year in the West Indies, Bangladesh and South Africa.

Kudos to Anil and may he exceed Shane Warne's and Mutthiah Muralitharan's tallies as soon as possible. He certainly deserves to have a circle in Bangalore named after him!

You know you are in Bangalore ...

.... when once in a blue moon, when you are alone in a bus with an angel, the traffic flows as smoothly as in a formula-1 race, and jams as if the road leads to heaven, right after she gets off.

Twelve Points ... Douze Points ...

Most of the participating countries have finalized their representatives for this year's Eurovision Song Contest (ESC 2006) to be held in Athens this May.

The ESC is an annual, (almost) intra-European singing competition in which the winner is decided through telephone voting. The people of a particular country cannot vote for their own country. For example, suppose in the United Kingdom, the largest number of callers vote for say, France, then France get 12 points. The next highest country get 10, and so on. The country that ends up with the highest total over all countries wins. The winning country gets to host the event the following year.

Since this competition was started with the objective to develop solidairity between Western European countries during the cold war, voting is, more often than not, guided by political, ethnic, and religious affinities. Greece and Cyprus always give each other 12 points. Whereas the UK and Germany aren't known for supporting each other. So also Serbia & Montenegro, and the American puppet state of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The songs that have been presented at the ESC over the years vary from being extremely good to really pathetic. Except ABBA (1974) and Celine Dion (1988), no other winners have made a mark outside Europe.

The countries which are the traditional powerhouses at the ESC are the Republic of Ireland, the UK, France and Sweden. In recent years, Eastern countries like Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Greece and Turkey have won.

Check out this year's entries at : http://www.keithm.utvinternet.ie/Athens2006media.htm

I must warn that except the Irish, Swiss, Polish and Maltese entries, I found all the rest to be annoying.

When I go on the Euro-trip I am planning, I will definitely attend an ESC final.