ChinmayC Blog

The Indian Festival Season is in full swing now! Eid is being celebrated today all over India after a month of fasting 'Ramzan'. The new moon had been sighted last evening and festival declared for today. Muslim people throng to the mosque for prayers and exchange love and greeting between each other. From tomorrow the 11 day Ganesha Festival starts all over Maharashtra. Idols are being installed today in thousands of public celebrations and millions of homes. Devotees worship Lord Ganesha one and half days, three days, five days, seven days and up to the  grand finale on the eleventh day.                                     HAPPY GANESH CHATURTHI!  Celebrate and enjoy!

The day Anna Hazare made history and had his breakfast we decided to relax! It was raining heavily for past two days and we set off to Lonavla amidst black skies and pouring rains. When there it was just raining and we enjoyed nature in rains with our car drive. We were driving through Mumbai-Pune Expressway and in places of Lonavla, Karla and Khandala. These are not sample of excellent professional photography. But sharing our ecstasy is important. Enjoy!   Happy rain driving! 

Saturday, August 27, 2011. History made at Ramlila Ground and in the Indian Parliament. A Bill that was pending since 1966 was finally realized after a day long debate in both the houses. All members of the Parliament, irrespective of their political or ideological differences, thumped approval of the Jan Lokpal Bill Draft resolution which will now go to the Standing Committee for making it into a law. Let's pass over now whatever happened in the past 12 days and only celebrate for Anna Hazare, the Indian democracy and the Indian people. The final moments of victory! Anna Hazare addressed the sea of humanity at Ramlila ground--his posture strong and positive, his voice strong and resonant--not at all indicating that this 74 year old crusader against corruption had been living only on plain water for the past twelve days. 'This victory belongs to all of you-supporting me day and night all over the country for the past days. And this only half the battle won. We have to carry on ...

The 74 year old crusader against corruption continues his fast unto death--entering the eleventh day today. Destroying our hopes of breakfast lunch and suppers for the last two days. Anna Hazare is becoming the hottest trump card for almost everybody involved in the process of fighting corruption. Everybody is benefiting from Anna. The members of his team are riding high on unprecedented mass support and do not seem ever wanting to lose it. They are talking gesticulating and dictating not bothering who is before them. Anna's frail body is their constant source of inspiration. The government seems to be in all sorts of dilemmas. Do it, don't do it, promise, don't promise, find a solution, camouflage it and so on! The Prime Minister delivered the positives on the last two days consecutively, but somebody or the other within would inevitably utter something contrary to the scheme of things or create whirlpools of confusion diversion and utter dejection. Constitution, parliamen...

 The fast unto death of Anna Hazare continues on the tenth day today. Lots of discussions, mediation and parliamentary debates for two days. A breakthrough seems imminent as Prime Minister of India addressed Parliament today making way for meeting most of  Team Anna's demands. Till then, lets enjoy shots of Mumbai's rainy season! See you later!

You must be well behaved. You must have a liberal frame of mind and spirit.  You must be without a spot in all your life and career. Spotless honesty, that is to say. You must be capable of sacrifice for the cause of the nation and people.  Only if these essential qualifications are met you are eligible for participating in Anna Hazare's revolution to eradicate corruption.  You are welcome to be married and having a small family; but you must have 1 to three hours a day to devote for the bigger family that you have outside your four walls. Most importantly, you must be capable of sacrifice, okay, not to the extent that Anna himself did by adopting a life of celibacy and spending all his life of 74 years in a 8 by 10 temple room at Ralegan Siddhi, Maharashtra. Anna Hazare, on the sixth day of his fast, gave a rousing address to over 100 thousand citizens gathered on a super Sunday at Ramlila ground, Delhi this eventful evening. It was like Gandhi come alive, Anna speak...

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Millions of Indians supporting Anna Hazare are basically moved by the cause--ending corruption that has affected almost everybody in some way or the other. Most of them, though, do not care a dime about the methods adopted to achieve that goal. It is quite possible that the government is finally blackmailed into accepting Anna's bill. But what after? Anna could hardly afford to resort to the same tactics when it comes to implementing the Jan Lokpal Bill, meaning he just cannot say, 'Hey corrupt ones! Admit  your guilt in public and give back all your ill earned money to the affected. Or I will start fast unto death!' The millions supporting cannot ignore the methods if  they are also interested in good implementation. Then, the middle classes--coming out predominantly in the streets. We very well know about their normal mentality--closing their flat entrance to the world hardly caring what problems are there in the immediate neighbor's house, lacking a civic sense walki...

Anna Hazare was arrested early morning yesterday and was reportedly allowed to go free by evening. But since then, Anna Hazare has been refusing to leave Tihar Jail, Delhi that has meantime become a tourist spot globally. Apart from people of all walks of life having an electrifying time out there bestowed with generous attention by the ecstatic news channels 24 hours a day, famed spiritualists, self styled saints babas sadhus and what not have congregated there to mediate and convince Anna that the jail was not a very healthy place to live in for long and that too inhabited by very embodiments of corruption he was fighting against.Even the harassed jailors politely asked Anna to leave as soon as possible. But Anna is not convinced at all. He wants  to fast unto death wherever he is and will  leave only if he is allowed to carry on at a prime venue of the national capital. The problem does not stop there as the question of how long to fast is the basic issue. The hapless gover...

Anna Hazare, the crusader against the evil of corruption, was arrested early this morning by Delhi police. Clearly, to avoid having a law and order situation with thousands (including fascist lumpen elements) expected to gather for an indefinite period at a public place in the national capital with hounding news channels hungry for 24/7 sensation. Anna Hazare's second fast unto death was not allowed to go in public. This is undemocratic, everybody is saying. Yes, it seems to be so.  But, there is one more angle to it. The April fast was a huge success and the government of India had to agree to draft the Lokpal Bill promising to present it in Parliament in the monsoon session which they did. But the civil society members had been adamant since, constantly demanding what they thought was the best and soon making the movement 'Our Bill' Vs 'Your Bill'. Blackmail of another fast followed insistent demands despite the 'Your Bill' being presented in Parliament fo...

India is celebrating the 65th Independence Day today, the 15th of August, 2011. This is the Day to wish you all the very best. This is the Day to take new noble pledges or start on new socially relevant commitments. This is the Day to inspire others by examples. And, this is of course the Day to celebrate your great country's birthday. This Independence Day is significant on two counts--raging inflation and the fight against corruption. The Government of India is moving forward with commitment on both of these issues--with the Lokpal Bill (Ombudsmen Bill) against corruption already presented in Parliament. But on the other side, Anna Hazare and his civil society members are fighting the govt tooth and nail for not including crucial points in the govt version of the Bill. Anna is set to start his indefinite fast from tomorrow with conditions set by the govt. While we all want corruption to be demolished, we do not want rivalries and politicking on this issue. Nobody can be hundred p...

Singing and dancing, restless with bubbling energy-- Shammi Kapoor, the romantic hero of Hindi cinema of the fifties and sixties finally calls it a day. We saw him, loved him and adored him since our birth. We, my generation, literally lived with him. His mere presence on the silver screen was a boost up, a flash of positive energy and sheer entertainment for us. Singing fun songs of Mohmd Rafi Shammi Kapoor is still a treat for us. After leaving acting he got busy with many projects not necessarily films. He was busy till the last minute, though his health has been failing for quite a few years. Today the great actor breathed his last at Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai. We salute the great hero and the greatest entertainer. May his noble soul be blessed. Keep loving him and his evergreen movies.

Honest cops, almost an extinct species, are always common peoples’ hot favorites, because they are immensely capable of doing immense good to common people despite the ‘system’. Real life honest police officers are adored as heroes and reel life heroes portraying honest cops are worshiped all around. Particularly at a time when fight against corruption is at an all time high in India you will rejoice seeing your hero cop exterminating corruption with the power of a lion ( Singham ) punch. Remake of the original 2010 Tamil film of the same title, Singham in Hindi has become a super duper hit. It is directed by Rohit Shetty of new Golmaal trilogy fame (check old Gol Maal ), produced by Reliance Entertainment and starred by Ajay Devgan in the lead role of Bajirao Singham -the honest super cop. The film is a real power-punch with high voltage action, powerful dialogues and high intensity performances. The plot may have structural weaknesses and logical flaws, but its strength lies in the...

It’s hardly surprising that eminent ex-cricketer commentators, Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri , are in the payroll of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). There has been a nagging doubt in my mind about the integrity of the cricket commentators in what they say and utter. Hardly anyone you could find among them who speaks or spoke about the policy and wrongdoing of the BCCI. They all sang all the time in praise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), main money spinning spearhead of BCCI, and never even mentioned about it when discussing the phenomenon of ‘too much cricket-no rest’ for Team India. Why only two of them? Most of them are fed and enriched by the richest cricket board of the world. If our beloved legendary cricketer Gavaskar says IPL is healthy wealthy and wise, what can we lesser mortals do but to flock on to the three-hour shows! That’s the crux of business, you see! BCCI’s money-centric policy is further exposed with the selection of Rahul Dravid. In the ov...

Team India suffered the worst defeat under the so-called aggressive captain M S Dhoni, beaten by England at Trent Bridge today, the 1 st of August. The second defeat of the ongoing test series with a margin of 319 runs, the first test margin being 195. Team India has almost lost the series and gave away the No.1 position in test cricket after just about two years. But, did they at all deserve to be the No.1? Team India and the Indian cricket Board are more comfortable with limited overs games, immense money, absolute power and an overwhelming dose of generosity to get more mileage. What they do in real cricket is hardly of interest. Now, if you compare them with Australia the following scenario will emerge: Would Australia have:     Done the same thing as Dhoni did to an admittedly naive Ian Bell given rightfully out by the umpire?    Given away the advantage after putting England at 124 for 8?    Allowed England to gleefully score their highest eve...