Wake Up, Pune !

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Terror attacks have become so common in this country that to identify and refer to each one of these attacks, we have started giving them numbers as if they are flights arriving at or departing from an airport -- 7/11, 26/11 and now 13/2! But this time something really different has happened. This time it has happened not in Mumbai or Delhi but in Pune, the so-called cultural and education capital of Maharashtra which is now an information technology and real estate-fuelled booming town and is still described by many as a sleepy town. And just as Mumbai's police and paramilitary were prepared to face a 26/11-like attack with commando units, ultra-modern guns and armored vehicles, the terrorists have suddenly switched to the old and 'time tested' method of simply placing an explosive in a crowded place and vanishing from there. As soon as the confirmation about the Pune....

Entertained at any cost

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Our chief entertainment correspondent just sent me a message saying 3 idiots has grossed Rs.175 crores ! A movie with an investment of Rs 50 crores makes this amount in just two weeks? Fantastic, I am very happy for Amir, Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who I think have worked very hard over several years and continue to take their work very seriously. Now the new controversy generated by Chetan Bhagat will help them to even further attract audience attention to their latest 'product'. But suddenly one question ( which a lot of people may find totally unrelated but I still want to raise it) that hits me is, why does urban India that spends Rs 175 crores on one film in two weeks at an average of Rs 300 per ticket, complaining so much about inflation and specially high prices of food grains? If we are so happy....

Everybody wants to be Raj Thackeray!

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In times when male popular music singers are not taken seriously unless they wear a long and flashy sherwani and someone like the legendary Lata Mangeshkar would have been rejected even an entry into nationally aired singing contests on TV because "she does not have the right looks", everything is more and more driven by media... Even political and social demonstrations and agitations seem to be getting influenced by this trend in Mumbai and Maharashtra. A journalist turned yoga trainer friend of mine who is now based in California called me last week to ask 'whats up' in Mumbai and Maharashtra. We used to report news together for the same media group a few years ago and did a lot of thinking/writing together, I knew this was one lady who knows all the references so the answer that quickly came to my mind was "You know, everybody out....

Sons, Daughters and Rebels

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The politicians in Maharashtra are now stopping at nothing, having overtaken Bollywood stars when it comes to promoting their own children in their profession. So many of them, at the state and national level, have been lobbying for Assembly election tickets for their sons and daughters that it now threatens to become an 'epidemic' even at the district level and that surely will be a disaster which will challenge the basic fabric of democracy at the grass-root level. When Rajendra Shekhawat, the son of President Pratibha Patil asked for a Congress ticket from Amrawati in Vidarbha, it attracted a lot of media attention. Questions were raised about the constitutional propriety of this. Shekhawat himself was quick to point to one example from the past where a President's son had contested an election even as critics didn't have much to say on the legal aspect. But the media till....

A 'scared state' goes to polls

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First came the terror attacks. Then recession hit the financial and the IT capitals of the country, followed by the Swine Flu scare. Now the spectre of drought looms large. In what could be the worst phase in its 50-year-old history, the state of Maharashtra goes to polls in just over a month's time. With 288 seats in the Assembly, Maharashtra happens to be one of the states with the largest number of constituencies spread from Mumbai to Nagpur and Nandurbar to Sidhudurg. It is also clearly one of the most politically active states, with several social reformists introducing democratic values after Independence. But today the challenges before Maharashtra are many and people really don't seem to be sure which political party or leader will provide a solution to most of them. Power shortage almost reached a crisis level and farmers' suicides have touched record figures a long....

Monumental Dream!

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Sorry to spoil the party friends and I hate to sound skeptical but a lot of sensible Mumbai motorists like myself who have been driving almost everyday in the city and suburbs for over a decade and have seen over 50 flyovers coming up in Mumbai since 1997 are not exactly sure what the super excitement over the bandra-worli sea link is all about... Yes its a beautiful landmark, Yes it is the first massive monument coming up in Mumbai making us feel good specially after the gloom of horrible terror attacks of 26/11 and I don't want to be cynical but trust me and mark my words as time will prove that this Rs 1650 crore project will have no impact on Mumbai's traffic congestion in the coming months.. Hardly any time and surely no money will be saved by any car driver! One reason why many....

The roar that has become a whimper!

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Many of us are wildlife lovers and a number of my friends and myself spend many enjoyable hours watching Discovery and National Geographic channel. The sight of predators on the hunt is really spectacular but can there be anything more pathetic than a predator who has lost his energy and power? I had a similar feeling when I attended the latest joint campaign rally of the Shiv Sena and the BJP at Shivaji Park in Mumbai this week. The 'roar of the tiger' was replaced at this rally with a weak appeal to all activists by "the tiger" to support his son. For the audience it seemed like an endurance test, i sensed they were just waiting for the lacklustre show to get over! As a political correspondent I must have attended over a hundred and fifty major rallies at Shivaji Park in the last 18 years but have....

The 'Ghashiram Kotwal' tale!

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Late author Vijay Tendulkar's play Ghashiram Kotwal many think is a masterpiece. It is the political version of the Frankenstein's monster story which we see unfolding repeatedly in various parts of the world. Whether it is the story of Khalistani militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, LTTE's Prabhakaran or Osama bin Laden, they are all versions of Tendulkar's Ghashiram Kotwal. The reason one is reminded of this story is because just on the eve of Parliament elections in Maharashtra, the drama Ghashiram is yet again being played in the political theatre and this time we really don't know if the end will be similar to Tendulkar's script or something completely different! As Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar sits down to draw the blueprint of his party's campaign strategy for the elections, this time in Maharashtra he has to face two "Ghashiram Kotwals". The first one is a....

The Great Escape!

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In the wake of horrific serial blasts in Gujarat as the talk of security step-up makes headlines all over, security agencies and politicians are all the time making claims about how several attack-prone places are now being given additional cover. But only as an alert citizen moving around in town, one can spot a hundred sensitive places which still remain totally vulnerable to terror attacks. The airport, suburban railway stations, crowded buses, government offices and even places of worship today seem partly or fully unprotected and the shocking part? The common Mumbaikar does not seem to be bothered! Most Mumbaikar have become insensitive by now to threat perception. Television channels have carried several stories in the past few days about how suburban trains and public transport buses in Mumbai are still so very vulnerable. Enthusiastic young TV reporters shooting themselves on camera leaving empty tiffins behind in a....

Mayday, Mayday, Maharashtra sinking!

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Another anniversary, one more opportunity for the politicians to blow their trumpets, wave at the crowds and say Jai Maharashtra! What does 1st May, Maharashtra Day mean for the ordinary Maharashtrian? Maybe nothing more than just one additional holiday! But maybe it's an opportunity to take stock and look back at what this state has achieved in the last 5 decades. The state that started with all the natural advantages like a long coastline, natural resources and infrastructure built and left back by the British. Maharashtra state was formed 48 years ago on May 1. Spirits were high. expectations even higher. With sky high hopes the holy "Kalash" was brought with much fanfare from Delhi to Mumbai by Yashwantrao Chavan the first chief minister of the state and kept in Mumbai where the birth of a new state was announced on 1st May 1960. The first few....