Reality Bytes

I always thought that news programs were meant to provide information about recent and important events. But reality seems to be far away from my understanding. With everyone wanting to broadcast a bouquet of channels, the number of news channels are, i believe, as many as the GECs (general entertainment channels). Its difficult to even spell out the names of all the news channels that exist today. Add to that the fact that all the news channels are 24 hours now.

No wonder than, that there is a lot of non-sense that is broadcasted on these channels. From Amitabh Bachchan feeling cold to Prince eating biscuit while being trapped in a pit to some UFO abducting a cow to NASA hiding an alien....you'll find it all on the national news channels. Well these are still events and maybe one could accept them as news. But for the numerous reality shows being telecasted on news channel - no comments. I mean what were they thinking?? I wouldnt be surpirsed if some time later we have snippets of the saas-bahu serials being part of news channels as well. Imagine a saree clad newsreader buried under tonnes of cosmetics reading out आज तुलसी ने मिहिर को थप्पड़ मारा....whoaa....

Maybe we should go back in time to the one hour news show on door-darshan. Atleast national news will remain national news that way.

Zara hatke zara bachke yeh hai bombay meri jaan..

With this melodious song ends the movie Mumbai Meri Jaan...an attempt to potray the undying spirit of Mumbai after the July 7 serial blasts. A strong star cast and some good camera work tell a series of parallel tales of people who were, in some ways, a part of the blasts. Building a strong emotional base, the movie fails to carry forward or even hold on to the emotions. What the movie does, though, is give away a few tiny messages against corruption, over exploitation of emotions by the media, false alarms and of-course communal distrust. In doing so, the movie looks like nothing more than another documentary on the blasts with a very large scope for betterment. That's for the larger audience; for someone like me the movie is much more than a documentary, a deja-vu of sorts. It reminds me of all the chaos, the pain, suffering and fear, and above all the feeling of hatred and helplessness that the blasts had inflicted...things that last much longer than the physical injury. To ease your pain before you move out of the theatre, plays the song aey dil hai mushkil jeena yahan..zara hatke zara bachke yeh hain mumbai meri jaan -in the backdrop of the entire city observing two minutes of silence for the blast victims - a moment that will bring a small smrik if not a full hearted smile on your face as you ready to move out.

And of course..thats me after the blasts..

I carry your heart with me

Saw this movie called “In her shoes” yesterday. The movie is about the life of two sisters, both single and living by themselves. While one is successful but not beautiful enough to find herself a boyfriend, the other is beautiful enough to drag any guy to bed but not successful enough to afford herself a living. The movie narrated the life of these two sisters as they traverse through their good and bad times. Not exactly one of my favorite movies, but a definite entertainer on a lazy Sunday morning.

Anyways, the reason I write about this movie is that towards the end of the movie, there is a recital of a beautiful poem by E. E. Cummins called “I carry your heart with me”. Not often does one come across such a lovely expression of feelings using some simple words. So I thought maybe I should reproduce it here. This is how it goes:

I carry your heart with me; I carry it in my heart

I am never without it; anywhere I go you go, my dear

And whatever is done by only me; is your doing, my darling

I fear no fate; for you are my fate, my sweet

I want no world; for beautiful you are my world, my true

And you are whatever a moon has always meant

And whatever a sun will always sing is you

Here is the deepest secret nobody knows

Here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

And the sky of the sky of a tree called life;

Which grows higher than the soul can hope or the mind can hide

And this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

I carry your heart; I carry it in my heart

-E. E. Cummings

HORN OK PLEASE!!

Most Mumbaikars, particularly those traveling daily by road, would not be amused by the adjacent picture. Heavy traffic jams and break-down of vehicles at traffic signals are as much a part of Mumbai as is vada-pao.
The time one spends traveling by road from one place to another has gone up significantly in the past few years. And the increase in travel time, instead of improving our patience quotient, has made us more impatient and irate, to say the least. The moment the traffic light turns green, the guy behind you starts honking - like he missed the pole position in a F1 race and now wants to rush ahead of everyone. Worst still, if - by chance - your car fails to start-up in a traffic jam, you have had it. The guys behind you will start a symphony of horns - just that this one is no music to anyone's ears. "Horn bajao...traffic hatao"..this seems to be their motto.
Wonder how in the world will this honking help anyone in anyways. I mean common, the guys car's broken down. Nobody would like to stay in the middle of the road just like that. And all the honking does, if anything, is makes the poor driver sweat and increase noise pollution. Then some smart-ass dude from behind will stretch his vocal chords to advice you to move your vehicle - yes dude thats exactly what is not happening here, a@@hol#. Wouldn't it make more sense if instead of honking or screaming, the guys behind step out of their car and help you cart your vehicle to the side - solves the problem quickly and also keeps a check on the pollution!!

Maybe its time we graduate from "HORN OK PLEASE" to a sober "USE DIPPER" or even better "PLEASE WAIT FOR SIDE".

Inspirations

Inspiration is often linked to creativity; in-fact it is said to be one of the forces driving it. At times though, inspiration takes over creativity, leading to disappointment and disgust. I recently experienced such disappointment when i stumbled upon this forwarded email claiming that all the recent hit songs of a particular music director to be 'inspired' by songs from around the world. At first, there was disbelief, then disappointment and finally dislike. It is such a pity that someone has risen to fame on account of work that actually isnt his. Maybe this is not the first account of someone claiming fame on account someone else's work, but this definitely is the first time that evidence of such a shameful act is available publicly.
Such acts makes one wonder if creativity is really in short supply; or is it that aspirations have gone so high that conscious is just a thing of the past? For long artists have known to be inspired by the work of someone, but such inspirations have been acknowledged. A blind reproduction of someone's work, without giving any credits to the original artist is nothing less than theft; and so a criminal offense. And since such work was done for nothing more than money/fame, such persons should be made to part away from all the assets arising out of dishonest work. Furthermore, lyrics, tunes and rhythms should be patented across the world so that such heinous acts can be curbed.

Below are the links to the original compositions of some of our chart busters that i received:

Race Song Pehli Nazar copy of Chinese Kim Hyung Song Sarang Hae Yo
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8KoS3weBxAg
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ffp5h_FGEJY

Race Song Zara Zara Touch Me copy of Lee-Hom Wang's 'Zhu Lin Shen Chu'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wdTrPI3mumU
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=kLU76W2qbPs&feature=related

Jab we met's 'Yeh ishq kya' copy of Anggun's Être Une Femme
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=T4poevqspsI
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=TQyU6EqWh_o&feature=related

Jab We Met Aao milo chale copy Indonesian band, Peterpan's 'Di Belakangku'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=EGXniVSfSZE
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=7jpUic8hWD8&feature=related

Woh Lamhe 'Kya mujhe pyaar hai'copy of Indonesian Band 'Tak bisakah'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=EZTqg1MgkTY
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2EoblYYvLsE&feature=related

Bhool Bulaiya Halla Hafiz copy of Amr Diab's Awedony
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=8Xi_xOmmsRY
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=UtVerSkccgo&feature=related

Dhol Dil Liya copy of Dania Khatib's 1999 hit, 'Leiley'
Original: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/Leiley-DaniaElKhateeb.rm
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xBkp57nRE5A

Life in a Metro song Baatein kuch ankahee copy of Korean song, 'Ah Reum Dah Oon Sa Ram' by Seo Yu Seok!
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=KCTGuhPcC4Y
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ura4grIiF90&feature=related

Bhool Bhulaiyya Hare ram hare ram copy of Bill Hailey's Oriental Rock
Original: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/OrientalRock-BillHaleyComets.rm
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4lu3EorpiQ4

Life in a Metro song O Meri jaan copy of Queensryche's Silent Lucidity and Amr Diab's Ba'ed el Layali
Original 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=-2ohGF0K4AI
Original 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=P2y_Vbev5zs
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3g2ICCQNQ-w

Pyar ke side effects song Jaane kya copy of 'Mahi' by Hadiqa Kiyani
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=mokJJsRfP6Q
COPY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5fEHdP-5Dc

Woh Lamhe song Chal Chale copy of a 1965 track called 'A World of our own' by the band, The Seekers
Original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9oaXzrsV3Q
COPY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeJ2tqPjnps

Dhoom Song DHOOM AGAIN copy of a song called 'Dudu' from Tarkan
Portions edited appropriately
Original:http://www.itwofs.com/audio/Dudu_ver2-Tarkan.rm
COPY: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/DhoomAgain-Dhoom2.rm


Speed song Tikki Tikki copy of Turkish pop superstar Tarkan's 2003 hit, 'Dudu'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=KoJ34jPX3WM
COPY: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/TikhiTikhi-Speed.rm

Agnipankh song Janmabhoomi & Zindagi hai copy of Abrar-ul-haq's 'December
Original: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/December-AbrarUlHaq.rm
COPY 1: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/Janmabhoomi-Agnipankh.rm
COPY 2: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/ZindagiHaiTo-Agnipankh.rm

Bhagam Bhag songs Signal & Afreen copy of Trinidadian Soca hit, 'Signal for Lara' by Superblue & Cheb Mami's 2001 track, 'Viens Habibi'
Original 1: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/SignalForLara-SuperBlue.rm
Original 2: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/ViensHabibi-ChebMami.rm
COPY 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=G31riHQjvDI
COPY 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=b-65fajmsC8

Life in a Metro In dino copy of Waqar Ali's 'Mera naam hai mohobbat'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=89wB3og_yXQ
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=aQ52IJjbNg4

Raqueeb songs 'Jaane kaise' copy of Amr Diab's 2003 track, 'Allem albi' and song 'Channa ve channa' copy of Pashto singer Rahim Shah.
Original 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NqoXaLHFTik&feature=related
Original 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=JplIDBi6wZE
Copy 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=rjwMsYnEJ58
Copy2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=33EJLt-NMDQ&feature=related

Kya Love Story Hai Song 'Miss you everyday' Lift of Lebanese singer Karina's 2006 chartbuster 'Alatoul'
'Jab se tum mile ho' is a lift from Pakistani singer Hadiqa Kiyani's 1996 number (album: Raaz), 'Jab se tum milay ho'!
Original 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=snIA9iR0b-0
Original 2: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/JabSeTumMilay-Hadiqa.rm
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FJ_w0HDh0N0

Kya Love Story Hain song 'Deewana teri aankhon ka' copy of Black Eyed Peas' 'Bebot'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=gQAGh3JViyI
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nr0ASdmHF40

Kya Love Story Hai song Gum sum hai dil mera copy of Thai song, 'Oh la nor...my love' by Bird Thungchai.
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=tJjrJIh8c8k
COPY: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/GumSumHaiDil-KLSH.rm

Ankahee song Aa paas aa copy of Ottmar Liebert's 'Starry nite (March of Kings)
Original: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/StarryNite-OttmarLiebert.rm
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=KbsUBqQxygY

Apna sapna money money song Dil mein baji guitar copy of song, 'Sheloha shela' by the Middle Eastern group, Miami Band
Original: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/ShelohaShela-MiamiBand.rm
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pCPA80elJlY

Woh Lamhe song 'Tu Jo nahi' copy of 'Tu Jo Nahi SB John
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=HWoKJMnMRSQ&feature=related
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=br_RJ0-rlbY

Bas ek Pal song 'Hai ishq' copy of Yuri Mrakadi's 'Arabiyon Ana'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=c8gt6agxYN0
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=qoHtiN4rWJo

Pyaar Ke Side Effects song 'Is this love' copy of Paul Anka's 1969 track 'A-mi-manera'
Original: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/A-mi-manera_MyWay.rm
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CGzMwPzc1VY

Ankahee Title song copy of Boney M's 1984 track, 'Somewhere in the world'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=68hPjUoAk4E
COPY:http://www.itwofs.com/audio/Ankahee-TitleSong.rm

Gangster
Song 'Ya ali' copy of Arabic band Guitara's 'Ya ghaly'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZJi50826cu4
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=dpl9o_0Dtb4&feature=related


SOng 'Lamha lamha' lifted form Waris Baig's 1998 track, 'Kal shab dekha maine'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=0wfe0u-7DpI
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=dJscz7bJ080

Song 'Bheegi bheegi' lift from Mohiner Ghoraguli's Bangla jibhonmuki gaan
Original:http://youtube.com/watch?v=xAkzopTMXHc
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_wwsyz2YBUg&feature=related

Song Tu hi meri shab hai copy of 'Sacral Nirvana' by Oliver Shanti & Friends
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5JXrmUD0EK0
Copy: http://youtube.com/watch?v=BklekKJPjlI&feature=related

Dhoom song DHoom Macchale copy of Jesse Cook's 'Mario takes a walk'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=e3iTfEF52kw
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CvhPvxmD3mI

Ek Hasina Thi
Song Akhiyaan Na Maar copy of Pakistani singer Waris Baig's 2004 track, 'Challa'
Original: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/Challa-WarisBaig.rm
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=BuFQ0aZLP8E

Song Jal Jal Ke copy of Yuri Mrakadi's 2001 track, 'Arabiyon Ana'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=gmmToe4TJw8
COPY:http://youtube.com/watch?v=F_MYsiA3YY0

Fight Club Song Chorein ki Batein copy of Pakistani singer Ali Zafar's 'Channo ki aankhen'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=lLhylAWQgo8
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NrVm2NEoatY

Ek Khiladi Ek Hasina song 'Jhoom' Lifted from Britney Spears' commercial for Pepsi, 'Joy of Pepsi'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=HSZaif6xlWc
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wKpYRUI3o4M

Garam Masala
Songs 'Dil samundar' copy of Turkish singer Tarkan's 'Kuzu kuzu'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=u4kncVrjaQk
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4SHSxTBT4D0

Song 'Chori Chori' copy of Balwinder Safri's 'Hai rabba'
Original 1: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/ChoriChori2-GaramMasala.rm
Original 2: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/HaiRabba-DrZeus.rm
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xT5-NxdawRI

Song'Ada' copy of song Amr Diab's Ana
Original: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/AmrDiab-Ana.rm
COPY:http://www.itwofs.com/audio/HaiRabba-DrZeus.rm

Dhoom song Shikdum copy of Tarkan's 'Sikidim'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=g2uy7Cfl6kU
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=i2xThHWuM9A

Chocolate
Song 'Zahreeli raatein' copy of Jal's 'Aadat'
Original: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FdZDRZTf67Y
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=XyZEth7A0aw

Song 'Bheega bheega sa' copy of Abrar-ul-Haq's 'December'
Original: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/December-AbrarUlHaq.rm
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=LCZhMHUFabI&feature=related

Song 'Halka halka sa' copy of 'Breeze from Saintes Maries'
Original: http://www.itwofs.com/audio/BreezeFromSaintesMaries-JesseCoo k.rm
COPY: http://youtube.com/watch?v=xcaog3CT6Fs

Service Accountancy

The India story has been shining for the past few years, with the service industry driving the growth wagon. Its a wonderful journey the country has traversed - from being a primarily agriculture driven economy to one being driven by services. While internationally we may be one of the global service powerhouses, domestically, there is a huge scope for us to better our services.
The public utilities, for example, are the most needy when it comes to realising the importance of service in today's economic environment. Recently, having shifted my residence, I requested the public telephone utility to transfer my phone along with the broadband connection. While it took them one month to transfer the phone number within the city (a process that should have taken 3-5 days), the broadband connection took two and a half months for activation. Of course it happened after rounds of phone calls and personal visits to various departments and offices, trying to understand the unique problem that each office defined as the reason for the delay. The matter doesn't end there; just two days after the activation of the broadband service I receive a bill from the department that does not specify the period of billing and has charges for broadband services amounting a cool Rs.11000/-.

So there begins another round of phone calls and visits to the offices trying to understand the nature of the charges and the services provided - when actually the line was lying dead. What was even more amusing was that while the metering department is at one station, the billing is at another station. So first u get clarifications from one office, then travel to another exchange and give them clarifications as well as request them for a fresh bill along with the rectifications. Again this doesn't happen as simply as it sounds; you have to traverse through various desks and floors before you are finally asked to pay the bill as it is and told that the amount will be adjusted against the succeeding bills.

While I was juggling through these exchanges and desks, a friend of mine was trying to book seats for his family to Pune in one of the Volvo bus services. Being a long weekend, there was a huge rush for such bookings and thus the bus seats were selling a 75-100% premium on the regular prices. After some bargaining and pleading, he finally managed to get the tickets, only to realise on the day of the travel that the bus is already full and his tickets are no good. The travel agent had sold the same tickets twice at different rates and the one who bargained lost his seats. And of course, nobody in the entire booking value chain owns up the mistake - everyone blames the other of having goofed up. So then, after a heated argument, all that the friend is offered is a honest refund of the amount he had paid in advance to book his seats. There go his weekend plans for a toss.

Maybe these small businesses are the next in queue to be enlightened about the term customer service. Or maybe feedback should be imperative each time he has been served, such feedbacks be audited atleast once in a year and customer grievances be heard by some forum that has the authority to penalise the wrong doers . Further, various business regulators should set some service quality disclosure standards like the ICAI sets for financial reporting across the country, and the service audits should be made public. Maybe then our country will become a service powerhouse in the true sense.

Wishful thinking.............maybe.....maybe not.....

Independence

Today marks the sixty first anniversary of the independence of a religiously as well as geographically diverse land called India. We Indians celebrate this day by buying flags from street children to be put up on the dashboards of our cars, watching patriotic movies and maybe eating dinner in some restaurant playing patriotic music.
And the very next day, we are back - spitting on the roads, screaming on our cell-phones and begging in front of the rickshaw-wallahs, the babus in government offices and the like. A lot has changed in these sixty odd years of independence - the sarees have been replaced with mini skirts and low waist (or maybe hip) jeans, farm-lands have been replaced with industries and refineries, the authoritative brits have been replaced by the bureaucratic babus, rhythmic classical compositions have given way to new-age music inspired internationally or remixed locally, and above all the land of spices has been transformed to the land of cheap and skilled labor.
Truly, India has made leaps of progress in these sixty odd years - specifically the last one and a half decade. However, what raises a doubt in my mind is whether the average Indian is truly Independent - in spirit and in practice?? It is still a nightmare to get work done from any public sector company, bribing is still the best way to move things at government offices and there is no accountability of any mistakes except for the common man not paying his taxes. Small businesses still struggle to get finance from banks, power and water are still a luxury for most, education is still an election agenda, privatisation is still a taboo and government can cap the price of any commodity whenever it wants.
Maybe we need many more uprisings before we can really call ourselves "Independent".