ChinmayC Blog

The biggest ever natural calamity to hit USA came on Monday in the form of Hurricane Sandy and is far from over on the third day today. The super-storm first attacked Atlanta city in New Jersey demolishing the gambling mecca there in particular, maybe as a symbolic fury of Mother Nature for sinful human excesses. Then the raging storm advanced towards New York City and caused maximum damage on the most happening place of the world. On the third day today Sandy headed for Canada . Arguably the most advanced nation of the world has been found crying for mercy as Hurricane Sandy methodically progressed on its incredible course of devastation. More than 50 people have perished so far despite all the precautions taken and evacuation done on a war footing. More than 8 million households and businesses have lost power, and again incredibly enough it may take days to restore electricity. Swaths of NYC have been submerged under water continuously. More than 15000 flights have been cancelled ...

The traditional red ball of cricket has been facing growing threats of extinction over the years with the emergence of the white balls in day-n-night ODI and T20 matches. Now, with Test cricket under the ‘illuminated’ possibility the extinction threat is very real. The International Cricket Council (ICC) had yesterday in Dubai approved hosting day-n-night Test cricket matches. But the ICC has left the decision on the member cricket boards for bringing it into effect on bilateral cricket series and also to decide upon the type and the color of the ball to be used. Cricket Australia who had been clamoring for the day-n-night Tests has already welcomed the decision. Their contention has been that on week days night cricket would definitely bring in more crowds. No response is recorded from so far from the Indian cricket Board. The cash-rich Board is likely to consider it positively to rake in more money, but at the same time it has to think about the cost of electricity for five nights ...

Rightfully called the first female superstar of Indian Cinema, Sridevi had decided to make a comeback to Bollywood or Hindi cinema after 14 years. Ad filmmaker and  debutante  Bollywood director Gauri Shinde took painstaking efforts in crafting a super movie to make the comeback most memorable.  And, truly it was most memorable in the form of a perfect family entertainer and an emotional classic titled   English Vinglish that released all over on October 5, 2012. The movie attained the status of a superhit thanks not only to a tremendous heartwarming performance by Sridevi, but also due to the virtue of it being a subtly and delightfully crafted celluloid creation. The standing ovation after its premier in Toronto Film Festival and the widespread critical acclaim it got within India just supports why   English Vinglish   should indeed be called a classic. The movie has two very realistic themes that still run through the Indian society. First, a housewife ...

He was probably the most famous Sikh comedian ever in Indian Television and movies. He gave us a taste of a comedy show in the early years of National Network telecasts in Doordarshan. That time Doordarshan was the only television media and we were used to watching foreign comedy shows. But this brilliant comedian-writer-director enthralled us with indigenous doses of humor, wit, satire and fun in his comedy shows for the first time in Indian television. Jaspal Bhatti, the innocuous looking Sardar with a disarming smile whose one dialogue is enough to make you laugh out.   And his insightful storytelling was capable of making you cry too.  Jaspal Bhatti made his appearance in Doordarshan in the eighties with his TV Series Ulta Pulta and Flop Show . The shows were instant hits and he became a household name in India. His actor-wife Savita Bhatti appeared with him all the way and they were inseparable and one of the most loved couples. Later in the nineties when other channels...

A career spanning over five decades from the good old days to the complex modern times. Directed 22 films and produced over 50 films. Won over 10 Filmfare awards including 4 for Best Direction, highest National honors in films-Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2005. Melodious music and exotically beautiful locations being the richest of the highlights of his films. All have been mainstream Bollywood movies, but refreshingly different from the formula entertainers with loads of sensitivity, characterization and insight of life. Almost all of his movies being hits and super duper hits. An enlivening chapter of Hindi cinema since 1959 ended today. Yash Chopra, the legendary filmmaker passed away today evening at a Mumbai hospital after a brief illness at the age of 80.  Yash Chopra  started his movie career with his elder brother legendary BR Chopra and then moved on successfully to form his own film production house, the famous Yashraj Films in 1971. Yashraj Fi...

The destroyer of evil this year has arrived today—the sixth day of the illuminated lunar fortnight or Sashthi —with the idols of Goddess Durga being installed in public pandals across India and offerings of prayers for the first day rituals. Navratri celebrations   (nine nights of worship, prayers and ritualistic dancing for various forms of Goddess Durga) is already in full swing from the 16 th of October, 2012. Elaborate rituals, offerings of various nature, daily Prasad of fruits and Kichdi Bhog as a full midday meal and evening cultural programs will continue for the Saptami (7 th day of the lunar fortnight and 2 nd day of Durga Puja), the Ashtami (8 th day), Navami (9 th day) and Vijaya Dashami or Dasera (10 th and immersion day of Devi Durga, in most Pujas Bhog is not distributed on this day). On the Dasera day Goddess Durga idols will be immersed in the rivers or lakes across the country along with public symbolic burning of evil in various forms. Happy Durga Puja-2...

Ex Team Anna member, India Against Corruption (IAC) activist and politician Arvind Kejriwal unfolded his second biggest expose drama dot at 5  pm  today in New Delhi as promised. He made a departure from the usual ‘Congress for Corruption’ theme as promised and attacked Nitin Gadkari, President of the main national opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as promised, and as speculated for the last two days by the media. The media craze for the eagerly awaited show and the accompanying hype had to be seen to be believed. Not only that the show was taken live across the news channels, but the live telecast started hours before the show with fleets of reporters in different places and plethora of experts sitting inside the studios. One prime national news  channel had a literal countdown to the show—1 hour to go before Kejriwal exposes Gadkari or whoever…30 minutes to go…15 minutes to go…2 minutes to go…Bang! Bang! Bang! Even the Anna Hazare movement at its peak could not m...

Corruption is not new to India . Our country has been a  front runner  in this field of socio-political malady in the global perspective. It was, it still is and will remain so in the near future. Our country has been the biggest Exchange for favors, nepotism and quid pro quo deals. The more the clout and influences one amasses the more capable  is  one  in granting big favors and extracting bigger favors. This has been the way of life rather than being a crucial part of corruption. No, this is not being negative or cynic, this is being realistic. But the commonest forms of corruption like having to give bribes for every possible existential act on this earth and looting of public money did torment a major chunk of the population. Therefore when Anna Hazare started a campaign against corruption and demanded a stringent anti-corruption Lokpal or Ombudsman Bill they welcomed it heartily. Then, as we have seen in the pages of this site, politics started taking ove...

A fourteen year old girl, and she had the courage and the determination to take the dreaded Taliban head on. She started her crusade when she was just eleven and has been taking it forward unceasingly for the last three years. In one of its most cowardly and heinous crimes the Taliban attacked the school girl on October 9, 2012 shooting her in the head and in the neck in a definite bid to kill her. She is Malala Yusafzai from Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan . Malala has been righteously fighting for the right to education and women’s rights. Feeling suffocated under the oppressive diktats of the Tehrik-i-Taliban in 2008 when the Taliban established its regime in Swat Malala wanted to express her anguish to the world. In was in early 2009 that she started writing in a blog for the BBC under a pseudonym and became an international voice. Later that year the Pakistan Army moved into Swat Valley and pushed the Taliban out. Malala and her family got displaced and separated, but af...

Thanks to the hidden powers of West Indies exhibited amply in the semi final against Australia we hopefully predicted an unpredictable ICC World Cup T20 2012 Final in Colombo tonight. But the past masters of raw power and skill of the game of cricket decided to stick to their one decade and a half long subdued or rather suffocated cricket. Like in the Super Eight stage they nearly handed over the match and the Cup to Sri Lanka . But in the end skipper Mahela Jaywardene could not take it even in his fourth World Cup Final entry and this time at home. West Indies have won a first World Cup title, though in T20 format, after India snatched the World Cup from them in 1983. Winning the toss and electing to bat first West Indies scored just one run off the bat in the first three overs. Their score of 14 for 2 was the fourth worst after Powerplay (6 overs) and their 32 for 2 was also the fourth worst after 10 overs in T20 World Cup history. Of course, the Sri Lankan seamers, particularly...

In the first semi final of the ICC World Cup T20 2012 Pakistan surrendered meekly to allow Mahela Jaywardene to lead his team into the fourth Final of ICC limited overs tournaments including that of against India in World Cup-2011 and in T20 World Cup in 2009 without a title. Now, in this final Mahela has another chance at home to make Sri Lanka victorious. In the second semi final Australia were swept away by Gaylestorm last night in Colombo . An incredible performance steered West Indies to meet Sri Lanka tomorrow in the Final in Colombo . After the intense race between India and Pakistan to reach the knockout stage it was an absolute anticlimax with Pakistan lacking both intensity and purpose. Their bowlers, as usual, did a good job again to restrict Sri Lanka to just 140 in allotted 20 overs. A little application in batting could have seen Pakistan edge past Sri Lanka into the final despite the slow and sluggish pitch. But their chase was a disaster from the word go. In fa...

  The India-Pakistan match on September 30 became historic not because India defeated Pakistan convincingly, but because the intense duel continued till the latter threw the former out of the ICC World Cup T20 2012. India crashed out despite defeating South Africa in a thriller by 1 run and thus allowing its arch-rival Pakistan enter the semi finals. There was a technical possibility of both India and Pakistan entering the semis. For that Pakistan needed to beat Australia by minimum 40-run margin and India too needed to beat South Africa by a large margin. Unfortunately this did not happen. What happened was this: Pakistan indeed defeated the mighty Australia by a big margin of 32 runs, but not the required 40 allowing Australia qualify. This gave India the challenge to win against South Africa with a good enough margin to better the Pakistan net run rate to throw their arch-rival out of the tournament. The duel raged on. India would have loved to chase yesterday knowing exactly...

Anna Hazare, the crusader against corruption, first became a phenomenon, then got into frequent spells of silence and confusion, had a few flop shows over the period of more than a year and finally called it a day dissolving his famous Team Anna. His story has been more of a dilemma than success or failure. In August, 2012 Anna Hazare declared the decision to go political . The declaration was made from the stage shared by his team members who were the ones on fasting that time. The most prominent among them was Arvind Kejriwal who later said that the decision was taken after a lot of brainstorming and with the full permission of Anna Hazare. Anna also announced that there was nothing wrong in going in for a political alternative with a totally unresponsive government to deal with. A few days later the anti-corruption guru back in his native place in the state of Maharashtra officially dissolved Team Anna. He became more active now writing in his blog and after a gap of few days more ...

The whole of India is celebrating is celebrating as if India have won the ICC T20 World Cup 2012! No wonder, if India go on losing the semi final berth and the Cup from here millions of fans all over would still be happy that India had indeed defeated Pakistan on the way! No wonder, if Pakistan proceed from here to win the T20 World Cup it would still rankle millions of fans all over that Pakistan got defeated by India on the way! Such is the passion for matches between these arch-rivals. And, no harm done really as finally it proves the love for cricket one more time. In the much awaited crunch match in Colombo on 30 th September India crushed Pakistan by 8 wickets with 3 overs to spare. Thus India have kept the record of never losing a World Cup, be it one-day or T20 internationals, against Pakistan unbroken.  Pakistan won the toss choosing to bat first and the decision was instantly criticized by Pakistan experts, because the chasing team has been winning the matches recently...