"In the future, the value of your vote will become less than zero. That happens when the amount you pay in taxes to have your own vote counted is less than the value you get from the vote itself." - Scott Adams

Saturday, January 12, 2013

TDKR :)


The wait was finally over. The Dark Knight Rises. Inside the theatre, flooded by darkness, my anxiety rose to its peaks and I was literally out of breath the moment Warner Brother’s logo animated on screen with the familiar ‘Bat’ music thudding in the background. I knew my expectations were too high, even for a Nolan movie, and given the fact that I was already aware of the ‘Bat’-long before it showed up in the trailers, Liam Neeson’s cameo and worst of all, Marion Cotillard’s true identity, I was hoping to gape at those Nolan-made surprises, those truly awe-inspiring moments that leaves you trembling. And Wow!

The film traces the ‘Dark Knight’s’ solitary confinement-return to favourite grounds-abysmal fall and dramatic rise. Batman was never a superhero in the filmy sense of the word. He neither hails from Astra nor does he spin cob webs. So when I saw an aging, weak and languid Batman on screen, I was not let down completely, for we have seen him gassed, half burnt and tormented in more ways than one before. But what I, personally, as an ardent ‘Batfan’ felt was that he did not enjoy the luxury of as much screen time as that of Bane or Blake or Gordon or even Catwoman!

Bane! Tom Hardy is beyond doubt the movie’s boon. Gigantic, brawny and menacing-Bane is one flawless contestant for arch villainy. It has been ages since at least I saw an antagonist whose very presence evoked so much hostility. With more than half his face covered in mask, he tries to exude his anger and ruthlessness only through his eyes and lo and behold he brilliantly succeeds at that.

I thought it was the Catwoman who took Ra’s Al Ghul’s advice for theatricality a bit too literal. Anne Hathaway tries to act smart and cool but after a while her assumed air of superiority and affected delivery of supposed-to-be witty lines becomes an irritant. Bruce Wayne keeps reminding her (or us? I wonder) that there is more to her than that, nevertheless, she only seemed phony.

Bane has one of the cinematically spectacular openings for a villain whereas an ironically ordinary end. He is shot unaware by none other than Catwoman. Not trying to be chauvinistic, all that I ask for is a little more respect to a nemesis of his sorts.

Nolan’s stand on the rich-poor divide, corruption and bureaucracy, be it in the dialogues or in the people’s revolution, is outright socialistic. Now a political movie by Nolan would really be something!
To me Batman is more than just a symbol-it is Bruce Wayne’s legacy. Blake, inspired by the selfless and incorruptible icon that is ‘Batman’, and in a bid to extend the franchise, might have chosen to step into the shoes of the masked guardian of Gotham. He might use all that was once Batman’s-the ammo, vehicles and all those super cool gadgets-but he better use his ‘legal’ name.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

India (B)leaks

All the hue and cry about the WikiLeaks India Cables is utterly unnecessary. These revelations (or should u call them so? I doubt it...) have done nothing more than say, publicly declaring the nitty gritties of India's 'well known' foreign policy (FP). That our country's FP is written in the wilderness of the wild wild west (that's quite an alliteration !!) is an open secret. But what really caught the public by surprise was the extent to which the US interferes even in India's internal affairs.

Some of the after effects of the India Cables accessed by The Hindu through the WikiLeaks (oh..the technicalities of the media !) ....
-> It has given more fodder to the eternally hungry media
-> More reasons for the opposition to stall the proceedings of the Parliament
-> More humour every day like...

            >>Pranab Mukherjee’s rare finding that the Government is not answerable to the
            15th Lok Sabha for its actions in the 14th LS. Any sane person would think twice
            before making such a ‘technical’ statement.

            >>Narendra Modi taking huge pleasure in being called ‘incorruptible’ and having no
            remorse about his inaction during the 2002 post Godhra riots.

            >>PM’s latest face saving statement, “Advaniji thinks it is his birthright to become
            the PM of India...hence he has never forgiven me..” I personally did not expect
            such a private remark from a person of his stature...very unlike Dr.Singh.

Pursue a constant vigil for more.....

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Witty CATty

Some really amusing one liners read/heard on the day of CAT...

*  " Weapons are not allowed inside the test center "
This instruction implies different things
     One - A CAT aspirant is someone with an utmost sense of self-security that he/she is at his/her own guard at all times.
     Two - A sociopath possessed with the most dangerous and harmful ideas can leave his/her weapon at home and take CAT to pursue his idea of becoming an even more dangerous threat to the society.

* " All clothes/jewellery permitted into the test center should remain on one's person at all times "
     I can think of no logical explanation behind this instruction and the only plausible reason for the test conductors to have included this might be prior incidents of complaints of stolen jewels,watches,etc. Anyway, if this was the idea the instruction could have been phrased with less oddity.

* Said by the invigilator as we were leaving the test lab... " Please leave the pencils provided to you at your desks..do not take them with you "
   I can't imagine anyone among those hi-fi , IIT/NIT ish group who would have had an idea to pilfer pencils but then you never know !

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

More Stupidity Ahead...

The so called corporate world is highly maddening.If this is perceived as hitting the nail on the forehead I would like to hammer it with all my vigor.Every passing day presents more of this, I have even started suspecting if its only me who's doing all the complaining.
The very first ritual that you are supposed to carry out once you are introduced to someone is to send/receive a friend request on facebook to/from the person concerned.

Mr/Ms X: "You are not on Facebook? How come?"
Me: He...He... Just like that..He .. He .. ( Is it of national interest?!?!)

And one of those junta even asked me ( with the most serious intonation )
"Then what do you do all day in office?"
I wish I could give a smart and curt reply for that question by just splurting out-
"What is everyone supposed to do in office?"
-but obviously end up with more of: "He .. He.."

Another practice which is practised with much hesitance by the minions and 'encouraged' with affected smiles on their faces by the managers/colleagues is : calling them by their first names.Friends ! Indians! Countrymen! We may be working for a US concern.But still have our feet on our own soil.Submission to higher authority is in our blood.So the next time you call your superior "Sir/Madam" and get a reply like "Please call be Kumar/Sneha/..." kindly understand that you are required to continue calling them "Sir/Madam" for the rest of your days in that company. ( By the way I say "days" as I have seen as many as 9 people leaving my company in the last four months ) Don't miss on these cues, which is why I say "constant vigilance".

To Be Continued...

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Hello Blogging World !

Keeping in line with the 38 year old custom of technocrats, I post a "Hello World" as my first post.

After all, those were the first words of "Thalaivar" as The Robot !