Lifetime.....is it really a short period of time

As I reflect upon the past and I look into the future a familiar question pops up each and every time. What have I achieved in the past and what should I achieve in the near and distant future. A plethora of thoughts gush in to my small brain that is slowly but surely turning into mush with time. Unfortunately the goals of the future tend to overshadow the achievement of the past. I made a conscious decision to jot these ideas else I would lose track of them. Most of these goals were wants in life. Thank God for he has provided the basic needs, its the wants that I had to and have to strive for. Be it a BMW 7 series or the Maserati I set my eyes on when I was in the mall or the CEO that I want to be in the near future for a multi billion dollar company or even the founder of the small start up. The list never ends and trickles down to even things like the Apple Mac book Pro that I wanted to own for the past one year or the vacation to Europe and Egypt that my wife and I wanted to go next year. Too many things on the mind.

Scanning through these little things I wanted in life, I wanted to prioritize these goals and these action items needed a level of effort, time and resources. They also needed a great sense of commitment and dedication. Finances do play an important role. I need to invest to get a return on my investment. In a society that equates the financial quotient as a mark of success (in majority of cases), it is a tough trying to juggle and balance things.

Am I wasting too much time paying attention to things that are of little importance ....am i sleeping too much..... no i have lost enough sleep thinking about stuff and I think it is time to work out a plan that works. A plan for tomorrow, the day after and the rest of the days that happen in a Lifetime. Plans to make the best use of the time I have left as a tourist on this planet.

Slumdog.....applauded by the Rich

The slumdog millionaire, that won the BAFTA awards and the Golden Globes is being highly applauded by the elite in India. Reflecting upon the struggle of the Indian soul through the year's, one of the biggest industry that comes to mind is Bollywood that has undergone a paradigm shift in the new millennium. With a middle-class market of about half a billion ppl, Bollywood felt it could bypass the hinterland as well as middle India. The establishment of mega malls with multiplexes created the right ambience for this cash-rich class and also became a meeting place for the Indian rich and Famous and wannabe rich but by the sheer brutality of economics, excluded the masses that had created and built Bollywood in the first place.

The multiplex culture created a new way of making movies made by a new crowd (call it fresh talent) for a new crowd. Movies today do not exploit the acting prowess of its actors nor justify the character The movies have lost their own independent character and unique grammar, its own benchmark of excellence. We have so many more Hindi movies with English names. Even when the location of story is a remote village, The hero and heroine go for a song shot in New Zealand and the rich man's son in the village drives nothing less than a Ferrari. I do agree that the movie is an entertainment but the sheer lack of emotions, the height of hallucinations and lovey dovey tales filled with no adherence to reality is indeed flabbergasting.


If there's one thing that Slumdog Millionaire has exposed, it is the rootlessness of India's social elite. Isn't it ironic that the same class that booted out rural India, urban slums and every other ovestige of India Crying from mainstream Bollywood in its lust for feel-good cinema or would you call it getting tagged as a golden globe movie watcher, now claims to be enjoying Danny Boyle's movie? Appreciating Slumdog isn't a sign of its maturity and confidence, It is more an symbol of a set of people that is confused and want to watch a cinema since it has wom accolades outside your world. it is more an indicator of what the people are trying to be, some one else in a some other place like the hidden valley filled with treasures.


I feel this way after watching the movie as the movie is an sincere attempt at weaving the reality with fantasy which to suit the sensibilities of the current day Indian cinema which always has a happy ending and a rainbow in the sky. Finally I would conclude saying that we still appreciate a westerner's view point of a developing country irrespective of the movie being a reality or a fantasy. Time to get some roots that grow deep and wings strong enough to reach the skies.

Poetry or Perversion

A constant and affordable (i am not sure if it as affordable these days) source of entertainment has been the world of cinema. Be it for the class or the mass, the black and white movies or those in color, talkies or the modern day technically advanced action packed extravaganza, I am talking specifically about the world of Indian cinema, especially about Tollywood that I have grown up with.

I listen to music, listen to songs from the telugu movies and at times it just makes me wonder if i am bankrupt as far as my knowledge in telugu is concerned as it feels very taxing on the gray cells to make any sense of the lyrics, added to it are the horse and unpleasant voice of the singers that are rated to be the one of the best in the industry.

I have watched a few of these movies and i can relate to the situations that these songs have been sung and had the lead stars dance around with a dozen other people and i wonder if it takes a lot of poetic insight into the language to make sense or sometimes i feel it is pure perversion where some regular words have been knit craftily to convey a raunchy and bawdy meaning.

Business Opportunity... Employment offer...Date.....NO SOLICITING PLEASE

How often do you come across a stranger that wants to start a conversation with you since you are one of the most dynamic persons on this planet. How often do you meet a potential employer in a Walmart or a mall that can read your face or mind in a single glance and offer you to join his growing business without even having a look at your resume or to top it all consider this, how about the hot, gorgeous and beautiful woman throwing a compliment on how handsome you look or how charming you are or how she is in total awe of the family pac abdomen that looks like a 6 pack and ask you out for coffee

All the above have happened to me and that was my rude awakening to a concept called Amway / Quikstar or as some might coin it , the booming e -commerce business that is a reality in the world today. I was forced to attend a meeting/orientation where they did interview me and asked me what my dream car was. Unfortunately the person did not realize that guys do dream about Bugatti, Maseratti, pagani or a Mc Laren. I politely excused myself with my closing remark that if i could drive a BMW in my life it would not be my dream car. I don't intend to offend anybody and believe that this concept or this business has a lot of money and finances involved but then I concluded a long time ago that this was not my cup of tea and I never liked the idea of being stalked or receive 6 phone calls in a day promising me financial freedom or the least be invited to parties at the places of stark strangers to be introduced to products that can make me look like a Hollywood star.

Without taking too much space on this blog, I want to conclude with a closing statement, "Please respect my space and privacy.....NO SOLICITING please"

Less Television.....More Ad's

How many times have you felt that the television programming could have been better...could have provided quality programming, wish each and every program that you like to watch was commercial free. I also wish the Election day came sooner

I am one of those rare species that does not have a cable or satellite TV (you can call me cheap for that), so it goes without saying that i use one of those old fashioned antenna that looks like a bunny head with two long ears and have not more than 6 channels that I can watch in the little time I have. In the recent weeks i have been totally overwhelmed and inundated with the election campaign Ad's, starting from a the mayors, DA's , Governor's, treasurers of your county or state all the way to the President of the United States. If you watch news channels like NBC or CNN, every other ad is sponsored by the Democratic party or the republic party and their candidates and with the elections getting closer one can easily make out the mudslinging and negative publicity against each other.

A second kind of ads that i am getting "SICK" of or the plethora of drugs that have been invented by the pharmacykind. At times i wonder how all these diseases were discovered. I am sure in a few years blogging would be considered a disease and some drugs would be invented and advertised and i was amazed at the number of side effects these drugs cause (The use of this drugs might cause depression, nausea, stomach bleeding, drowsiness, excessive fever, irritable stomach, soreness or numbness, loss of vision, diarrhea........etc)

I am a cheap and I watch free broadcast and I approve this message

Rulers....on and off the screen

Events that occurred in the recent past triggered, should i say provoked me to publish my blog. The first being Megastar Chiranjeevi's entry into politics, second was a news article about the Yuva Ratna Balakrishna (he still seems to be overflowing with the fountain of youth) and finally the culmination of the first and only Vice presidential Debate in St.Louis Missouri

The recent memory of a screen icon being the chief minister (Ruler of the state) was in the year 1982 when the charismatic NTR formed the Telugu Desam Property and stormed to power within 9 months of forming the party. Contributions from Rao included the populist 2rs/kg rice, education reforms in Andhra Pradesh, reformed water distribution system to name a few. At the same time it needs to be realised that these popular schemes and policies were apt and suitable for a society where the majority of the population made less than Rs.500 (12 dollars a month or less than 40 cents a day) and also for a society that was in a deep slumber. This was a screen God with no idea regarding politics, economy, diplomacy, Foreign policy (i don't think one existed) whose schemes cost the state treasury millions.

Being 15000 kilometers away, I do not consider myself eligible to comment on the political scenario in my home state of Andra Pradesh but the entry of the megastars and the yuva ratna makes me think as to what their policies are, what the interests are keeping aside the vested interests. Is there a provision for health care for the citizens, specially the senior respected one's, what about education and importance of tapping natural resources and using science and technology for the betterment of Andhrakind. Would these leaders be able to debate in a professional manner without mudslinging at each other. With the little knowledge i possess about the growing Andhra Pradesh, will the megastars be the perfect CEO's and President's of the state echoes its dominant presence on the world map, comprising cities growing at an aggressive fast pace and getting established as the hi tech hubs and the rural arena is also not behing the city in terms of farmers being happy.

This is the time to think if a new party whose think tank is unexplored, a party whose ideas and ideals will be influenced by the brothers in law and brothers of the leader, a party that would create a further divide in the political system probably based on caste and community felling, a party that will have a say in breaking or building a government.

Would this PrajaRajyam be the new age RamaRajyam and restore its glory that has been told in stories to this day.................