Benazir RIP

ok, any bereavement is sad, esp one thats untimely..but this is pakistan, oh dear!
so why all that hue and cry esp in our MSM?
One of the top flight (read most corrupt) pak politician dies in the most common way in Pak..so whats new??
The way its covered by our MSM esp the english visual media, she is being turned a martyr! looks like our media is finding it tough to overcome the death of a clean, very peace loving, India friendly pak leader..
hey, whom are we kidding?
her pedigree is well known- remember her famous foto as a kid in that simla pact from which her father reneged back on all promises he made and how vehemently anti-India he was?? look back and think of those 'eat grass and nuke down India' rhetorics..
just a fact here- how he died: a fully bloated corrupt to the boot politician 'killed' by an army head..
a few 'murders' later this happens, by another army man..
She is a corrupt to the boot anti-India shouter..forget her lipsticks, there are more to hate..can any one from the media even think of any thing good she delivered to her own country? rememeber her indictment in swiss courts, her biiig numbered accounts, differences with brother, husband every body, anti India rhetorics?
she could do nothing to the terrorists being foisted on India(1- she was a passive spectator; 2- she had no control on ISI/terrorist factory; 3- she never moved a stone in the peace direction) and why she shud be considered a big peace lover and friend of India? Is'nt that the biggest joke of recent times??

It cud be Mushy or their army or their prime rulers- qaeda brothers..so who cares..Oh nO! now it seems its a japanese trick! Toyota's failed sun roof lever! That clever fella Mushy:-) has his humour in tact even when their nation is bereaving and comes out with such audacious theories..
and here our media is acting like suckers..
wake up guys..its just another blast,another suicide attack, another of their ineffecient anti-India leader's death. nothing more..lets move on!

Taare zameen par!

Its fantastic and mind boggling and this fella really beats our expectations each time.. The selection of subject, treatment, confidence, homework, perspiration all speak of his passion and the way the final product comes out, its all amazing! He is the rightful kamalahassan of the north!
They both really make the best Taare on our Zameen!

Now to the movie itself..it really needs guts to take such a strong subject and to bring himself (a super star) just at the stroke of intermission..that reeks of confidence, I can only think of Mohanlal having done that!
The portrayal of the kid and his enacting is amazing..They shud make an entry for this Kid - Darsheel Safary in the National awards best actor category rather than in kids category..and am sure none of the heroes wud come anywhere near him..a brilliant piece of acting..there are emotions that this kid has shown which is beyond years and am afraid no adult wud have done that!
The story, direction, music all are excellent and each one is very much a reason to see this movie..Am not going to prompt the story here nor many scenes..but one scene that stands out needs to be told…the imagination that the kid set outs on a question 3X 9 and that knocking of Pluto is incredible..
The previous time there was review of an Amir’s movie here, we did not even mention the name of the movie..Man! he really comes up with fantastic movies..the confidence and subject, only likes of kamal and maniratnam can come up with..Hindi movies these days are really moving fast and forward..Shah Rukh freaked out in a movie like Chak de where there was no sooper star hero or heroin, but a strong off beat story..here we have amir where he is not the hero even and so no duet/heroine but a strong, moving story..
That image of the by-now-popular-poster where that boy is in the forefront and amir watches fom behind is actually true and happening in most part of the movie..That kid is the protagonist carrying the movie on his shoulder with ease and amir is just left watching..but it’s a great movie to debut direct and amir had to announce that..again a la kamal where the stamp of the person is so strong in each of their movie whether they direct or not!

Hey, If you don’t have anything very urgent like dying or delivering a baby, GO.. rush there and see this movie..its worth every penny and minute..

Note: I watched it in a “B” center - nagpur, giving me nostalgic feeling of the small town theatres and my good old days!

from one farm to another

Life has been hectic and fantastic simultaneously- jumping from one organic farm to another..that means one interesting person to another..ultimately letting one wonder which is better- the farms or the organic farmers! No, am not going to answer that as am still confused on that..

Prahalad farm is one such impressive organic farm,8 kms before Thiruvannamalai at a place called Kadambai. This one is the ‘dream coming true’ farm of Sumitra who quit her metropolitan desk job (hey, a graphics creator & editor) and went back to her ancestral place. First task was to clear the stretches of Teak trees that had been planted by typical monocroppers as (ill)advised by govt/agri univs in those days. The wood from the 5 year old trees have been put to excellent use in a cool thatched 3 level ingenious construction that is used as living and storage space. The view from the “windows” on the 1st ‘floor’ of this building (if one can call an out and out thatched organic structure so)is wonderful. To add to the ingenuity at this structure, there is the triangular part that shall be opened out with simple rope mechanism. Whats on offer if opened is Arunachala hill on one side and farm on the other.

Most of the trees (Gooseberry, Sapota, coconut, plaintain, Guava, Pomegranate) on this 5 acre farm are young and healthily growing. In true Fukuoka tradition a small portion is left to nature and this part has produced healthy looking winged beans. At first sight there didn’t seem many to pick but once we started there were multiple handfuls of them – we would never find them in shops anymore. She luckily has the full support of her parents who help her in the farm although most of her “inorganic” neighbours don’t see sense in what she does. Her toddler is one of the few lucky toddlers in the world, eating nothing but farm fresh organic produce and having a 5 acre play space he shares with sparrows, crows, earthworms and crabs.

But what really set me thinking is that a new-to-agri young lady had the gumption and foresight to set up a Seed bank of the traditional varieties of rice and other millets. So she has earmarked an area for her seed bank idea(ls). For my part, i shall insist all my friends who visit there to support/fund that idea.
Another insight was how difficult it was to get labourers to work in the farms these days and how she was coping with some volunteers from Auroville (mostly foriegners, so sincere and hard working). That gives me a reason to start a database of volunteers to work at different farms and days shud come where there are more volunteers in my network/database than the number of organic fields around madras.

stolen mobiles?

regulars here know I ceased to be a techie long back, still rarely do I get excited about some products, like this!
Here is something I found interesting which can help do some damage control in the form of recovery on to your lost (windows pocket PC)mobiles..theft recovery helping it stealthily trace the lost mobile and deleting fotos, mails and contacts is what made me look in to it..but looks like it needs web access/gprs due to security concerns, which means the Indian market is way too less..10$ looks like a cake walk..those of u abroad shud give it a try. Looks an interesting product and some proficient work!
To know about the product see here and here

younis and pak cricket

How many times will younis khan refuse to be the captain, after demanding his rights(rightfully) and still pak board will behave impish like our own bcci, I dunno..even before this last test he refused, just bcos he was not given the team he wanted..he is such a delightful player and an aggressive captain, but one who knows the limits..a decent bloke who wud applaud the opponents for their credible efforts (oh! may be thats no-no in pak! esp when he appreciates the likes of Dravid, yuvi)..
so decent, friendly, thinking captain that he is and shud have been given full charges is always pulled in only as a stop gap and dire situations..no wonder pak is being steamrolled by our team:-)

Point Return and other farms

Long time since some farm visit was shared here. I have been lucky to be associated with people who take me to interesting farms and ‘open’ my eyes..Its a great network that keeps expanding and so resulting in many amazing trips..such visits not only infuse hopes but also keep me pepped up.

Regulars here know of the Point Return and our visits there. I had spoken about the measuring for pond there, fencing etc..Each time it grows on us, in all sense..as a project, as an idea, as a farm and as a rocking oxygen supplier/ body-mind revitaliser..


Now DV/PR is a proud owner of 1 million litres of water, if not more..
YES! in such a short time (infact the digging of the pond itself is not complete, had to be stopped due to rains, still what a sight) in the recent rains, the whole pond area is brimming with water and DV is brimming with pride- both are a sight to behold:-)

We also visited the farm of a techie (jaishankar) who quit his CTS job 3 years ago and formed nigh.. farmed this - http://www.swayambhufarm.com/
An hour spent with Jaishankar is like getting an abridged version of an intro to organic farming. His obsession and interest is so infectious, his smile and comments even more..he has an uncanny knack of talking with and simultaneously watching the workers there as well the plants and react to more than one of these at any instant with ease. He has the traditional varieties of rice like kichalisamba/seeragasamba/kullakar, fodder for his cattle (ya, an organic cattle farm too!), orchards, vegetable yard, etc. Ofcourse he is going to be way kind to nature, so he uses gobar gas (link??)and also connects the same to the household of his farmlabors who live nearby!
Then he wud talk about SLI method, then some corrections and adaptations to that and how he overcomes comments, advises, strong condemnations, jealous looks and all from locals. He wud talk of the nitrogen fixers (sun hemp?) and how he goes about them and much more- lots of which just flies above us). The highlight for me was his observation that paddy is always standing in somuch water for so long not bcos it needs so much water, but just bcos it can live in(spite) of that much water where as the weeds cant. Oops, such an overkill? And we all thought it was one of those crops that needed so much water, hmmm..
Come to think of it, that this gentleman was coding mundane stuff not long ago. His views about farming, agri policies in India, the urban run by farmers, industrialization and its take on rural belt, how the non chemical/ organic farming is looked at by his (synthetic)peers, usage of water (or shud be conservation?)can make one long post by itself..
It was a very interesting trip and we stepped out thinking we have many more trips to make here..so more in next visits..

Another farm we visited recently was an exotic one - that of Arjun’s. It was in an ideal setting just beneath a hill, surrounded by great scenery and a lovely ambience. Part created by them, part natural. Francesca, the other partner (or farmer?) has had a great hand in designing this so naturally striking. An outstanding place with well planned house, irrigation etc it’s a beautiful place.

The best part is that all these neo-organic farmers have their own captive market (their friends and wellwishers) beyond which they cant extend their supply of organic products, atleast as of now.

Has Microsoft diversified?

And that too in to the ever promising XXX businesses?
Man, why (how) else will they compromise my id for all those 'enlargement' and 'buy Viagra now' mails?
Come to think of how they will be talking at the end of the day! “hey, I bummed 2 millions today” “phew, its tiring, I did 28 spams in a minute” “when will this evolve, I wish I cud hurt folks, really than just online”..
It’s a pain to receive such mails, that too in loads..I know Bhatia made 100$ bcos of me (each of our ids fetched him that on that sale to MS amounting to those millions!) and now dunno how much I enabled MS!

Ok MS enjoy all those $ till am broke and ask for it