'Jab Tak Hai Jaan' A Review

Jab Tab Hai Jaan (JTHJ) released this Diwali, and is the last movie directed by legendary Indian film producer and director Yash Chopra. I am not really a great fan of Shahrukh Khan movies, and have infact just seen a few glimpses of his past couple of movies, while they were being shown on TV. However, bowing to the wish of wife, I went to watch this movie, on the day after Diwali.

Talking generally about the movie, it follows the trade mark style of Yash Chopra. However, a weak plot and screenplay ruins the day. I found a number of things in this movie, which could have been avoided or improved. At few places, minor details were not really cared for by the director and/ or editor.

• In one of the initial scene of the movie, Anushka Sharma is shown to be jumping in a freezing lake in Ladakh, only to be saved by SRK. The movie later reveals that she is a good deep sea swimmer. Is a well trained swimmer, not supposed to know, that he/ she can or can not swim in such kind of conditions?
• The same scene also shows SRK leaving behind his army jacket (with his name plate on it) along with other equipments with Anushka Sharma and leaving the scene in a jiffy. Does army issues uniform and such equipment to soldier whenever they demand it, and without seeking any clarification?
• In another scene Anushka starts to reads a personal diary of SRK, which starts with "Meri Zindagi ki...", however the background voice of SRK narrates the same as "Meri life ki...". Hello editors? were you sleeping?
• A scene, where the fiance of Katrina is making presentation to room full of people. People listening to the presentation have their respective laptops screen open, but for some strange reasons they have forgotten to switch on their laptops.
• The basic point, around which the whole plot of the movie is built seems to be very illogical. Katrina strikes a deal with 'Sir Jesus' to save the life of SRK (after he meets an accident) and in return she will never ever meet him. Surprisingly, the lady backtracks on her part of the deal 10 years later, for which director has not been able to convince the audience.
• SRK is shown to be doing the odd jobs in London such as snow cleaner, vegetable vendor, waiting at restaurant, singing on streets, which surely indicate lack of skills. However, after breakup with Katrina he decides to return to India not only to be enlisted as an 'officer' in the Indian army, but also goes on to become such a celebrated bomb disposal expert that Indian Army wants him to be part of a Discovery TV documentary in order to encourage youngsters to the profession. The later portion of the movie also indicate that age of SRK when he leaves London was 28 years. I am not sure if Indian army would recruit people at this age.
• SRK's room mate in London is a Pakistani, again with no skills and no job. But once SRK gives him a handful of pounds while leaving London, he surprisingly becomes proud owner of a big restaurant in London. Choosing a Pakistani room mate is also not logically shown, as usually an Indian-Pakistani friendship in a movie is used to promote the Indo-Pak bhai-bhai philosophy, which is not shown properly here.
• SRK never wears safety suit while working on most difficult of the bombs and has successfully disposed close to 100 bombs.  Army discipline and protocol gaya tel lene.
• SRK initially warns Anushka Sharma (A Discovery Channel intern) to be at a distance of 200 ft (or may be it was 300 ft) from the bomb. However, after a few days his confidence on her grows and she invites her to come as close as half feet to the bomb, and not surprisingly not insisting on the lady to wear a safety suit.
• A scene depicting bomb scare at a tube station inside train in London, shows police clearing the area, and SRK walk in (police personals  are not able to stop a single man) and disposes the bomb, much to the surprise of the man in charge. Agreed that SRK is the king of Bollywood, but you keep to show some difference between the Scotland Yard and Indian Police.
• The end seems very simple and boring (Happy Endings types...). It could have been a more twist. For example, when he comes to Katrina after disposing a bomb, and is called by his colleague for attending another bomb, the second bomb could have been shown to go off.
• The censor board certificate at the beginning shows the movie length at 179 minutes. The slow pace of the movie and 179 minutes makes the movie a bit uninteresting at few places and compels you to look at your wrist watch again and again.
• Although, composed by A R Rahman, the music of the movie is not so great except for that Punjabi songs, in which SRK runs around the streets of London dancing and singing around with his cover less guitar and has goras enjoying and gyrating with him.
• Intimate scenes between SRK and Katrina look artificial, seem not planned properly. No wonder, SRK has recently commented that he was forced to kiss Katrina, which shows the reason for above argument.

Being a DELHIite..

I have recently shifted to Delhi from Hyderabad. Though it has been almost two month since I joined the Delhi office, I am still getting used to being a Delhi-ite.
The culture here is write different as compared to Hyderabad. People are so vibrant and lively. There is a lot of Punjabi influence as Delhi is home to many Punjabis. The Punjabi influence here is most prominently observed in the food. The most frequently eaten and preferred food here is Chhole bhature, Rajma, Dal makhni etc.
Delhi is anyway known for food. The bylanes of Chandni Chowk are famous for variety of food. Be it that famous Paranthe wali gali known for delicious veg paranthas, or other shops known for Jalebis, lassi etc. everything has been repeatedly covered and shown on TV by a number of food shows. I haven't visited the area yet, but definitely intend to do so in the near future.
Delhi also has a thriving night life,.which was practically absent in Hyderabad. It is quite evident from the fact that even if you travel at midnight you will see lots of vehicles plying on the road. Last weekend I visited India gate after 11pm and found lots of people around there. It was like a 'mela', with lots to eat and chat, and unless you look at your watch you can't tell that it is close to midnight.
Another good thing about Delhi is travelling in metro. Even though there is huge rush during rush hours, the journey is competitively in air conditioned coaches of metro as compared to travelling in buses or even autorickshaws. Plus it saves a lot of time.
Delhi is also known for a number of historical monuments as well as other tourist attractions. I have lots and lots of places to explore here, which I guess would require some good amount of time.
I intend to keep writing about Delhi, but am very lazy to make a blog entry. During last six months a number of people have appreciated previous posts in this blog and have advised to write more frequently, which I hope can be done easily.

Samosa Justice

Found an interesting article on the net. Publishing here as it is.

[Source: http://dawn.com/2012/07/26/samosa-justice/]

THE days of the cheap samosa are over. While the savoury little delight is consumed with great relish by Pakistanis around the year, sales of the samosa skyrocket during Ramazan as it is a staple of the iftar spread. However, the Supreme Court has set aside a notification of the Punjab government regulating the price of samosas. As reported in the media, in 2009 the Lahore local government had fixed the price of the crispy delight at Rs6 a samosa. The local government’s machinery took action against some shopkeepers found to be selling more expensive samosas. However, not satisfied with the price set for their product, the bakers and sweet-makers of the Punjab went to court. When the Lahore High Court turned down their petition, the bakers appealed to the Supreme Court. They felt the samosa did not fall within the purview of the Punjab Foodstuffs (Control) Act, 1958, hence the government could not fix its prices, a notion the apex court seemed to agree with.

While the commercial bakers will rejoice at the verdict, others waiting for justice in Pakistan’s ever-clogged judicial system may be wondering when their turn will come. With a question of interpretation of a law at stake, the Supreme Court was the ultimate forum for resolving the matter, however trifling it may appear to the average citizen. The question, then, is whether the superior judiciary should devise some rules and a system to fast-track more urgent and serious matters for justice rather than spend valuable time on a regulation that is virtually unenforceable in any case — the proof of that being a visit to any market in Lahore where samosas are openly being sold for much higher than Rs6. Samosa-makers may be happy and another case struck from the superior judiciary’s docket, but was it the court’s best use of time at this stage?

Temple built for Higgs-Boson 'God particle' in Tamil Nadu.. devotees throng to get darshan

Came across an amazing post on a news group. I am producing the same verbatim herewith.

Temple built for Higgs-Boson 'God particle'

in Tamil Nadu..  devotees throng to get darshan

In what is a testament to Hinduism’s assimilative capacity, the elusive Higgs-Boson or God particle has been admitted as a full fledged God into the Hindu pantheon and a temple in His honor has been built in Tamil Nadu’s Kancheepuram district.

Confirming the development, Swami Vajranand Sarwasti, head of the decade old Higgs-Boson consciousness sect devoted to the propagation of devotion to Lord Higgs-Boson and attainment of spiritual salvation by chanting His name, said, “Ever since CERN confirmed that they had discerned the Lord’s temporal presence after detecting a bump in the mass range based on the data generated from collisions of trillions of sub-atomic particles, we have been inundated with calls by eager devotees seeking a darshan of Higgs-Boson bhagwaaan. So we decided to build a temple in His honour to satisfy the cravings of His devotees.”

In addition to the sanctum sanctorum housing the idol of Lord Higgs-Boson, the temple’s walls will feature murals and carvings depicting data from CERN’s experiments involving over 500 trillion collisions between protons and anti-protons since 2001 in the 27 km long Large Hadron Collider (LCH), so that devotees can feel His divine presence at a more spiritual, metaphysical level.

Aarthi being performed for Lord Higgs-Boson

But how will He be represented in idol form since thus far only His presence has been validated, not visual form? “Dude, most Gods and Goddesses in the Hindu pantheon are anthropomorphic so why should Lord Higgs-Boson be any exception unless CERN tells us otherwise. We have asked devotees to send in their submissions from which we will finalize the Lord’s image. The only guideline we venture is that He should be imbued with classical Aryan features. For the time being, we’ll just go with a notional Google search generated image of the Lord,” replied Swami Vajranand.

“However, let me make it clear at the outset that we will not accept pictures of Rajnikant, Sachin Tendulkar or Rahul Bose. We are very clear about this,” he hastened to add.

Swamiji has also requested the Government to subsidize the annual pilgrimage of devotees to CERN headquarters to pay obeisance at the Large Hadron Collider where the Lord’s divine presence was first detected.

In related news, upcoming Godman Swami Brahmanand has claimed that he is an avatar of Higgs-Boson and CERN can stop conducting any more experiments to validate His presence. “Once they submit to me with full faith and experience the divine rays of spiritual energy emanating from me, their lingering doubts will melt away and they will go back with 10 sigma proof  that Swami Brahmanand and Higgs-Boson are one and the same,” claimed the Swamiji.

Deleveraging the National Balance Sheet

The countries across the world are facing the crisis of huge national debt, and some are on the brink of default. A few countries in Europe like Portugal and Ireland have already been downgraded to 'JUNK' grade by Moody's. US is also facing the problem with its national debt. Though it is not as high as European countries and is manageable (net debt at 65% of GDP), it has reached the ceiling of $14.3 trillion, which if not revised by the Congress, may lead serious repercussions in US and obviously the world over. I came across the article "Handle with care" in 'The Economist, July 9th-15th, 2011 issue'. The following are the excerpts from the article on how to reduce the national debt.

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Debt can be reduced in several ways. It can be paid off with the help of higher thrift (though not everyone can spend less than they earn at the same time). Its burden can be reduced through higher inflation or faster growth. Or it can be defaulted on. In practice, rich countries seem to be using different combinations of these approaches.
In America, where overall debt levels have fallen fastest, a lot of the reduction in household debt has been thanks to mortgage defaults and write-downs. In Britain, where there have been virtually no mortgage write-downs, relatively high inflation has pushed down the overall debt burden. Spain, in contrast, has seen virtually no reduction in its debt load, despite fiscal austerity, partly because that very austerity has contributed to weak growth and low inflation which have kept down nominal GDP. Tough rules on mortgage have made it hard to reduce unpayable household debt.

European Mess

The economic mess in Europe is getting messier day by day. Some time back a new term PIGS was coined, to refer Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain. These four countries are most financially troubled and debt burdened countries in the Euro area and one among them Greece is almost on the verge of bankruptcy.

European union, IMF etc. have helped them in past by providing additional line of debt to temporarily take care of debt liabilities, but these oxygen supplies have not helped them in long term and the trouble continues.

The deficit in Greece is touching 14-15% levels. Recently Greek government announced austerity measures for civil servants, which faced a lot of opposition in the country. People there are afraid that these austerity measures may soon expand to all business sectors including privatr firms. infact some people have already started planning to emigrate to other countries. The wages and salaries are not increasing, but the inflation is, and so are the taxes. Banks are refusing to lend money fearing that borrowers may not be able to repay. Worse still, the unemployment level is going up gradually.

When Eurozone was created in late 90s, the member economies gained a lot of attention worldwide, particularly on the strength of strong economis such as Germany. The FDI and financial flows increased manifold. This is not the case anymore. There have been allegation that these PIGS countries are affecting other Eurozone economies, particularly on trade performance. There have been some serious suggestions to do away with the Eurozone and the Euro as common currency. So far, the Euro is surviving on the continuing commitment of member countries and as an alternative to the US dollar in Asia and Middle East.

PIGS countries have received significant amount of bailout in the past and continues to receive further bailout packages as and when required. Now Eurozone is planning a permanent baiout fund known as European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which will be operational from 2013/2014. But will that solve the problem, only time will tell. The major problem is that countries like Greece are not capable to repay such huge debt. Therefore without a formal restructuring of their debts, the bailout packages are only providing temporary relief and just delaying the inevitable.

Greece has become insolvent as its debt has reached 160% of its GDP. Economist has been suggesting that Greece can not sustain more than half of its existing debt. The formal restructuring of debt seems more of a preferred option as an austerity drive can not reduce deficit significantly, and would have lot of internal opposition. An otherwise chaotic default would be very harsh not just on lenders to Greece, but would indirectly affect most of the economies globaly. Moreover, in case of default the lenders may not be in position to recover even half of their money, which could be recovered though an orderly restructuring.

Solar Power May Already Rival Coal, Prompting Installation Surge

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-05/solar-energy-costs-may-already-rival-coal-spurring-installation-boom.html

Solar panel installations may surge in the next two years as the cost of generating electricity from the sun rivals coal-fueled plants, industry executives and analysts said.

Large photovoltaic projects will cost $1.45 a watt to build by 2020, half the current price, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimated today. The London-based research company says solar is viable against fossil fuels on the electric grid in the most sunny regions such as the Middle East.

“We are already in this phase change and are very close to grid parity,” Shawn Qu, chief executive officer of Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ), said in an interview. “In many markets, solar is already competitive with peak electricity prices, such as in California and Japan.”

Chinese companies such as JA Solar Holdings Ltd., Canadian Solar and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. are making panels cheaper, fueled by better cell technology and more streamlined manufacturing processes. That’s making solar economical in more places and will put it in competition with coal, without subsidies, in the coming years, New Energy Finance said.

“The most powerful driver in our industry is the relentless reduction of cost,” Michael Liebreich, chief executive officer of New Energy Finance, said at the company’s annual conference in New York yesterday. “In a decade the cost of solar projects is going to halve again.”

Installation Boom

Installation of solar PV systems will almost double to 32.6 gigawatts by 2013 from 18.6 gigawatts last year, New Energy Finance estimates. Manufacturing capacity worldwide has almost quadrupled since 2008 to 27.5 gigawatts, and 12 gigawatts of production will be added this year. Canadian Solar has about 1.3 gigawatts of capacity and expects to reach 2 gigawatts next year, Qu said.

“You have to get better at it as well,” said Bill Gallo, CEO of Areva SA (CEI)’s solar unit. The French company could shave another 20 percent from the cost of making its concentrating solar thermal technology, and the same proportion from building and deploying plants, he said.

Electricity from coal costs about 7 cents a kilowatt hour compared with 6 cents for natural gas and 22.3 cents for solar photovoltaic energy in the final quarter of last year, according to New Energy Finance estimates.

Comparisons often overstate the costs of solar because they may take into account the prices paid by consumers and small businesses who install roof-top power systems, instead of the rates utilities charge each other, said Qu of Canadian Solar.

“Solar isn’t expensive,” he said “In many areas of the solar industry you’re competing with retail power, not wholesale power.”

Rooftop solar installations also will become cheaper, the executives said.

“System costs have declined 5 percent to 8 percent (a year), and we will continue to see that,” SolarCity Inc. CEO Lyndon Rive said in an interview. The Foster City, California- based company is a closely held installer and owner of rooftop power systems.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ehren Goossens at the BNEF Summit in New York at egoossens1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net