Opinion Polls: good or evil?...

every month we hear data from some poll or the other about how the president and his men are doing...

are polls the real indicators of how well someone is doing?...are they reliable?..

i think polls are good in some ways...they give us an idea of the general mood of the country when it comes to various issues.

but polls cannot be used as a report card...

whether we like it or not, the general population is not really qualified to rate a person when it comes to real specifics...people respond to these polls through a window of their own life experience and situations...they may respond not objectively but passionately...

hence polls can be detrimental...

with a favorable poll number, politicians can advance their agenda with minimal opposition even though the agenda may be flawed...

on the other hand when polls are adverse, politicians may modify the policies so as to achieve higher poll numbers in the short term, even if the said policies may be bad for the country as a whole in the long run.

one may argue that polls are one way of keeping a finger on the nation's pulse...a democratic process....wrong!

we have a democratic process already in place to do that: Elections

there is no person born yet nor there will be one in the future who will not make a mistake or two in office....we have elected the president for 4 years..lets see what he does...if we dont like what he does he won't win the next elections..simple as that...

i am not saying not to have polls at all...but to have them every month i think is a bit too much and short sighted...how about once in 6 months or once a year?

slumdog millionaire - a review

The story is set in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) in the current times. It is based on a novel by an award-winning Indian author Vikas Swarup. The story is of a boy from the slums of Mumbai who manages to win the famed TV show 'Who Want to be a Millionaire' (Indian version). So it is a rags-to-riches story. Most of the cast are fresh faces to the Indian movie world. They are supported by a few very experienced Indian performers.

The story takes us on a fantastic journey involving the lives of the three primary characters. During this journey you are seemingly exposed to the poverty, the chaos, and the treachery of India. I say 'seemingly' because though most of the depiction is accurate it gives an incomplete picture of life in India. Many Indians were troubled by the depiction of their country in this movie. But they and the viewers need to realize that this is a fictional work which is set in a background that is only partly true and mostly fictional as well. The movie looks only at one microcosm of the Indian way of life in one of its largest cities. Another argument is that this story is not about India rather it is about Jamal, Salim and Latika. This argument is the right one and one that I support.

Jamal has a tough, mostly parent-less childhood. He and his brother, Salim, are victims of Hindu-Muslim riots to which they lose their mother. The movie makes a statement on these periodic riots when Jamal says that if there were no Allah or Ram (a Hindu deity) he would still have his mother. Probably true...

Forced to fend for themselves, Jamal and Salim get involved in petty crimes to support themselves, crimes which mostly involve outsmarting gullible tourists. Salim is the elder brother who has to take tough decisions to ensure their survival. He is also the grittier of the two and as a result one who is more naturally inclined to join the Mumbai underworld. Latika joins them for some part of their childhood adventure and then separates, only to rejoin later in the story.

Jamal is a smart kid who learns from his experiences, from what he learns from others and from observation. This tends to make up for the lack of formal education. Working as a 'chaiwalla' (tea vendor) in one of the now ubiquitous call centers in Mumbai he learns a trick or two about how to get on the millionaire show.

The movie is technically brilliant, with overall good acting and directing. No one actor or actress was exceptional but they all acted well enough to create an exceptional end-product. The children playing the roles of the main characters have done a wonderful job by giving a realistic portrayal. Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan have done well to extract good performances from the cast. The story is a typical Bollywood/Hollywood mix with action, drama, deceit and romance. The movie maintains a good pace and at no point do you feel like looking away from the screen. The music by AR Rehman is excellent as one would expect from him.

Of course there are a few flaws: finding Latika after many years in the vast city of Mumbai, winning the 20 millions through sheer luck, among others. But these don't prevent you from sitting back and enjoying the story unfold in front of you.

The movie is worthy of some of the awards it has won. Apart from the Golden Globe, AR Rehman also deserves to win an Oscar, for the music and the songs are truly phenomenal. Danny Boyle has a good shot at winning the best director prize at the Oscars. But I would not support it for the best picture award. The fact that it won the Golden Globe for best movie is somewhat surprising. However, Slumdog Millionaire is definitely an entertaining fare and certainly one of the best movies of this past year.

obama speech...average, good, or brilliant?..only time will tell...

barack obama is the president of united states.

an event of historic significance.

we all (well most of us anyway) enjoyed his inauguration (despite the gaffes)...and by 'we' i mean all humanity..not just democrats, liberals and europeans...

despite an unusually busy day at work i managed to steal some time from my schedule to see the oath and the speech...

it was a speech which will be remembered for reflecting on the issues we currently face and for the kind of leadership we can expect from president obama, but not a speech which will be remembered for being a truly brilliant speech...

mr. obama will have to be an excellent president and actually have an excellent presidency for this speech to be quoted by the future generation.

if you think about it, what makes an inauguration speech great and one that will be remembered for eternity?...it is the presidency itself and the circumstances within it...

everyone talks about speeches made by lincoln, fdr, kennedy, johnson and reagan. not many talk about speeches made by clinton, bush senior, or carter. it's not that their speeches were bad but it is because their presidencies were either average or just good at the best...and not great.

you may argue that clinton was a good president despite the cigar issue. the economy flourished and we enjoyed good peaceful years. but for a president to be remembered as great, the presidency has to stand out...clinton's won't. it was an average to good presidency...no major crisis, no wars..

unfortunately bush has a better chance of being remembered a hundred years down the line than clinton...clinton will be a name our great-great-great-great grandchildren will see as no. 42 in the wikipedia u.s. president's list...

kennedy was president only for 2 yrs and 11 months...but he faced 8 president-years worth of problems and situations which required skilled handling....issues such as cuban missile crisis, bay of pigs (though handling of this cannot be called skilled), civil rights, vietnam, etc... and so kennedy is considered a great president, one who will be remembered for time immemorial and hence we see his inauguration speech being quoted by one and all...

having said the above, obama has a good chance of making a true mark on history...we are in the midst of not one but a multitude of problems/crises....so even though some of these issues can get worse before getting better, they will improve and obama will get the credit for it, and as a result his presidency will be deemed by historians as being great and his speech will be remembered for a long time...

so mr. president, here's wishing you the very best and i hope that your speech is one that inspires our future generations and is widely quoted.....

but only time will tell...

gran torino - a review

Fight for what is right. Stand up for the weak against the strong. Good versus evil. These can all sum up this movie made by Clint Eastwood. The car is the metaphor for the man, old but still classy.

Set in Michigan where neighborhoods have been abandoned by the white folk due to the influx of immigrant population and gangs, the movie tells a story that in some ways defines America.

Walt Kowalski (most likely a descendant of a polish immigrant) is a retired Ford worker and a Korean War veteran who has seen the demographics of his neighborhood change. One who has lived a good American middle class life and has provided well for his family. He likes to bad mouth at the drop of a hat and has a gruff exterior. He minds his own business and appears to dislike the ‘tooks’ who are his neighbors now.

But just like the history of this great country, Walt sees these immigrants for who they really are and starts interacting with them. His children have their own lives and though appear to want to help their father they aren’t very successful in reaching across to him. So Walt gets involved in his neighbors lives and their troubles. He becomes a father figure to Thao who has the burden of being the ‘man of the house’ where he lives with his sister, mother and grandmother. Thao is rescued from getting sucked into gang life and is taught the value of a hard days work, to speak up against injustice and to muster the courage to ask a girl out on a date. All very American…..

The priest is there to remind Walt of his wife and the fact that he hasn’t confessed in a long time. In this day and age where churches across the country are closing down due to financial crunch and diminishing attendance, the boyish priest tries to appear involved in his patron’s life and his surroundings.

The movie is well made as one would expect form Mr. Eastwood. It is thoroughly entertaining with great one-liners and good acting. The interactions between Thao’s grandmother and Walt are some of the highlights of the movie.

However this is also a Clint Eastwood movie which will not be remembered for too long. It is a good movie but not in the league of Changeling, Million dollar baby or Mystic River. But the pace at which Eastwood is making movies, I am sure we will be seeing another masterpiece very soon.

gay or not gay

the question to ask is why are there anti-gay activists? what is it that they do? is it their full time job to oppose two individuals who love each other and to deny them the same rights as do two heterosexuals? what drives their desire to be anti-gay? it cannot just be religion. they call themselves socially conservative. they spend millions of dollars opposing the gay community. that's what they did in california with prop 8. but why? i guess they think that they have resolved all issues that affect the heterosexual community: no more divorces, spousal abuses, child abuse, teen pregnancies etc...
but wait a minute, those issues still exist...so why, can someone please tell me why do they waste their time, money and energy chasing an issue which should be the last on the agenda...
its difficult to say.....

god apparently defined marriage...and when he defined it he said it should be between a man and a woman....
so where do we get this definition from?.....the bible? the quran?..the gita?..torah?
even if there is such a definition..it was defined thousands of years ago...but we live in a different age now...
an age where what someone said 2 years ago doesn't matter anymore...
look at any aspect of life...medicine for example...what we use to treat cancer (any cancer) now is vastly different from what we used 10 years ago...
so why should we care about what was said (probably by another man) thousands of years ago...

if we allow gay's all the rights that heterosexuals have, what is that the anti-gays are afraid of? degradation of society? loss of moral values?.....
hello (yell) people.....look around you....the society is already on a downward slope...morality has taken a beating...terrorism, poverty, diseases, ...there are so many issues worth taking up.....

so let everyone be...as long there is love and compassion that is all that matters...
your energy will be better spent tackling 'real' issues...issues that will surely change this world...opposing gays will not change this world, nor will it bring peace and harmony or make you any happy....so live and let live....
in peace

the curious case of benjamin button - a review

Two hours and 48 minutes seems a long time for a movie about a man aging backwards. That’s what I thought before going in to see the movie. But my opinion quickly changed. The movie maintains a hurried pace throughout though it does pause for a few poignant moments. At the end of it, you wonder if it could have been a trifle longer.

What defines Benjamin’s (Brad Pitt) ‘affliction’ is his relationship with Daisy. Cate Blanchett is an accomplished actress who plays her role as Daisy superbly. The relationship that starts when Daisy is around five years old spans six decades and it takes us on a journey which is a fantasy but one where you almost believe it’s true. It’s a beautiful though flawed relationship and hence is believable. It is a relationship between individuals who meet early in life and have the ups and downs as is natural. Benjamin’s affair with Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton) seemed more natural and more comfortable than the one with Daisy. It was a relationship between two mature individuals who wanted companionship more than anything else.

Brad Pitt has given one of the most memorable performances of his life. He has brilliantly portrayed the mismatch between Benjamin’s physical and mental age. The scene where he leaves Daisy and his daughter is a heart wrenching moment where you can feel the pain of the man and the uncertainty of the boy. Benjamin’s journey is something only he can comprehend. The audience and the other characters can only imagine how it must be to grow younger and older at the same time.

To cover as many eras’s as the movie tried in the time it had seems unfair to the story. The movie makers were trying to make an epic when they should have just concentrated on doing justice to the central theme of the story. That is the only flaw of the movie.

With the extraordinary acting by almost everyone in it, the excellent directing and the fantastic story, we will be seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in many award ceremonies, being nominated and winning a few. It is a movie I would definitely watch again.