Your smoking is injurious to my health

It’s one of those WTF moments, when you hear on the radio, while you are driving, that a case has been slapped on an actor because he appears on a poster smoking. 

Sure, cinema plays a very important role in Indian life. Actors are treated next to God, or rather the other way around, where even gods take a second place. The industry has yielded a lot of gems which form the Diamond Necklace that the Indian Cinema industry is. That automatically leads to a bit of imitation of style by some easily impressionable young minds and we can hope that this will be for the greater good of society. The movie itself carries a good message, if you look beyond the story, of living within your means, and now; dont smoke too!

The case slapped against Fahad Fasil an upcoming actor, who has been doing an excellent job so far, proving he is no rough diamond, is because he is portrayed as smoking in a movie poster. The rules (whose? god knows) states that there should be a statutory warning placed on smoking and drinking scenes. This must be to deter those who are considering taking up either or both as a past time or hobby. However, movies can depict violence, sexual violence and any other genre of violence against all genders without placing a statutory warning that it is a health hazard for the victim and punishable by law. Thats not done because everyone knows it would be as effective as lighting a cigarette under water. 

If the government or authorities or anyone is serious about banning smoking, because it is a health hazard, the first thing they should do is ban cigarettes (without which a certain actor would not be able to perform his trademark move) and not attack an artist. The censor board should have taken care of that. A ban on tobacco will definitely deter anyone from taking up smoking, but again it needs to be seen if cinema or tobacco and its products are the bigger contributor to the economy.

Any publicity is good publicity and that may be the case here, as the public will definitely sit up and take notice of the poster, the movie and the actor on it. 

Those who smoke and plan to start smoking…sadly…will always continue to do so…inspite of a poster, a warning or anything, as long as they can get their hands on a ciggie!

98.4u FM

A few years ago, Asianet launched a Radio station, which was probably the first malayalam radio station in the Gulf. I went out a bought a SONY SW receiver in the hopes of listening to some Malayalam radio, as that station was being broadcast out of the UAE. My hopes were dashed when all I heard was faint sounds, in between a lot of static. The radio was stashed away. Expensive, non performing asset. Internet radio gave me access to 96.7 FM also being broadcast out of Dubai, which was small relief. 

The radio has found new life, with the launch of a Malayalam Channel in Kuwait. Yes, you read that right. Its been launched and they have a web page which is still being developed. The station is being broadcast on 98.4 FM. This might be seen as not such a big deal, but for the Malayalee expat, who can’t be separated from his Malayali movie music, this is IT. 

Now to tune my AV receiver and my car’s radio….

Yellow, Yellow dirty fellow

A recent trip to New Delhi, the Capitol of the second and latest member of the Billion plus club, India, had me wondering. What is the motivation behind releiving ones self, by answering the call of nature in the middle of the street or on the side of the highway in plain view of passersby, both pedestrian as well as motorists. What is this primal urge that still resides in Indians, that is common with animals, that has not been discarded along the path of evolution.
From Moraji Desai, former PM, famed to have consumed his own urine, ayurvedic treatments that prescribe mixing herbal concoctions with cow urine to bumper stickers which proudly proclaim ‘Maruti ne SUSU ki’, the Indians fascination with golden showers are evident.
I bear witness to this act of public display of excreta in other cities in India too, where the sanitation network leaves a lot to be desired. To see this in a city built a 100 years ago, developed to house the rulers of the colonies and then the colonial houses of the rulers, leaves me wondering, why can’t one wait till they reach a toilet.
Twice daily, every day for three days, that was the frequency, and at one point the driver of my cab stopped on the highway for a ‘pit stop’ and then zipped away, like it was the right thing to do.
Paintball, so far, has been a game of warfare and strategy, where plastic pouches of brightly colored paint are shot from high powered pneumatic pistols, to mark the opponent as killed in action, rendering them disqualified and ineligible to continue. It leaves a slight sting and a big splotch of paint.
An army of sharp shooters, trained in stealth tactics, roaming the streets and manning highways, creeping up behind these offenders who have their backs turned to decency and shame, and marking them as offenders with a shot of paint. Yellow, Yellow, dirty fellow…thats the color! Shock and awe, shame and maim. This might solve the problem or at least intimidate them.

I want to decide where I shop

The opposition must realize that more FDI means more jobs for Indians. Big chains are not going to destroy the small retailer. If anything, it presses them, to improve their quality of service, and perhaps this is what they are against. To provide a low standard of service and choice which we will be forced to accept. At the end of the day, its the customer who decides where he should spend his money. No one, no party or no government and definitely not the small retailer should oppose giving the customer a choice of goods or where he should purchase his needs from.

Established local retail chains such as Westside, Reliance or Big Bazar, dont seem to have an opposition to more competition and they have definitely not wiped out any of the pop and mom stores. Or is the opposition dancing to the tunes of these local chains by opposing more international competition which would up the ante forthe former and force them to improve their standards. This bill only presents more opportunities for these local chains so that theory can be dispelled.

It would seem that there are no Chinese goods in India now. Look around your own house, take 10 items, 7 will be made in China. The Chinese have moved ahead and dominated ouur homes, while India struggles to dominate its own. Lets stop blaming China for all pur woes.
They are ahead of the curve, we are not and need’nt catch up. We should develop our own curve.

If the opposition is against the bill, perhaps they should come up with an alternate idea which could develop as many jobs, the infrastructure and rejuvenate spending in the biggest middle class in the world. This FDI bill will result in leaner supply chains and better quality, which will be evident in the agricultural sector also.

The opposition is being irresponsible by blocking development, so that they can pass this bill, if and when they come to power and claim they did it.
Its time to look beyond partisan politics and work towards a better India.

Sunshades

My search for a pair of Rx-able sunglasses got over when I visited the Mont Blanc service center to have my wife’s sunglasses fixed. They showed me the Liberty range from Liberty Sport, which was the closes to a pair of sporty looking glasses as a semi-visually impaired person can get.

Being Rx-able means that you can have prescription lens fit into the frames without it looking awkward and actually looking like they are a pair of sunglasses. They also have a range of magnetic accessories which make these glasses fit for a wide range of sports and hobbies like golf or biking. Standard equipment includes a semi hard carry case, a band and magnetic side covers which provide extra protection depending on the model you choose.

They have a cool range which is currently available at Kefan Optics and International Optique in Kuwait.

What if it wasn’t….

The Emperor of all maladies by Siddartha Mukherjee makes for a more interesting read than just an addition to the nowreading hash tag on Twitter.

I am now half way through the book, and it seems to be the guide to cancer for non-medical professionals or perhaps the dummy’s guide to cancer. The writing style is simple and lucid. The book presents a hassle free look at cancer, making it sound so good that you wish you would get cancer, because it is largely curable, or at least that is the feeling you get as you go through the book.  I am not going to attempt to review the book any further.

What struck me as very interesting was the fact that cancer which is perceived as death and destruction is shown as the anti-thesis of disease, in that it is an uncontrolled proliferation of cells. Cancer is actually a growth of cells and not the destruction of cells. No one has been able to find out how it starts or why it does so.

Given that certain cancers still remain incurable, I am forced to think that Cancer may be just an other evolutionary process in the progress of man. We may be trying to stop the unstoppable in trying to find a cure, and stop the evolution of mankind.

What if it wasn’t meant to be cured? What if we are playing havoc with our evolutionary process? What if we are throwing a spanner in the works?

Queues

Queues. Its a funny word. Even more funnier that this word is used to denote a straight line. The spelling is all over the place and starts with the most funniest letter in the English alphabet Q. I found myself stuck in one, the kind you’d find in any Indian government office or embassy abroad!!
The queue was already formed by some first comers, at the counter and I joined cause with the other bi-pedals.
Theres not much to do en-queue. The obvious thing is to stare at the nape of the neck of the chap in front of you or count the moles on the back of his head. Perhaps study the beard of the person from the Bohra community or admire the intricate design work of gold and white thread on the cap he wears. Your head automatically turns to watch people moving around the queue. Curiosity can get the better of you and you carefully tune into the conversations happening around you.
Suddenly, you realize that the gap in between the person in front of yourself and you has widened, not because the queue has started moving, but because the persons in front of you have moved to the side.
Why did they do that?? They were peering over the shoulder of the person In front of them and and they just kept moving aside to get a better view of the action happening in the window ahead of them. The Qers were just curious. The same quality of curiosity that lead to the invention of the crescograph or same language subtitling; all Indian inventions.
I turned around to see if the queue was any better behind me, only to accept the fact that this was just a queue in action. Thats just how it was gong to be. Its never going to be straight.