Crimes of our times

Either Tata Sky or Doordarshan seems to have a wicked sense humour.

On Sunday evening, the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) Opening Ceremony was on and IOA president Suresh Kalmadi was making a bad speech. Now Tata Sky has this feature to display the currently running show. This is what they had to say:


Yes - "Crime Scene" is how they described the CYG. All I saw after the speech was some random laser show with the announcer guy interjecting in the background trying out crowd control techniques. From what I read in the papers the next day, the OC apparently went off very smoothly. Well, good for them then.

PS: And whats with President Pratibha Patil's fake accent?

Securing from bomb blasts

This is a true story.

I got a call today from a credit card company.
Salesman: Do you have a credit card sir?
Me: Yes
S: Which one?
Me: XXX
S: Does it provide insurance sir?
Me: Yes
S: In our card we have life insurance too. Do you have any life insurance?
Me: Yes. I have life insurance from YYY company.
S: That is a very ordinary policy sir. Our policy also provides insurance for bomb blasts.
Me: Whoa! But am not interested.
S: And what about your parents sir?

Bengal's Guthrie

Most people outside Bengal would not have heard of Suman Chatterjee (or Kabir Suman). I first heard about him at a Bengali family friend's place where few of his songs were sung and most people present seemed to be his fans. That evening, no one sang Rabindra Sangeet and there were only requests to "sing Shumon!".

The guy in question is a virtuoso trained in Indian and Western classical music and writes, composes, sings and plays the guitar for all his songs. In fact, he is said to have started the modern Bengali music movement influencing several other artistes and bands (including Anjan Dutta, the Bela Bose guy).

I quite liked what I heard that evening (Haal chhedo na and Tomaake Chaai are two names I remember) and was curious enough to borrow a few tapes. Most of his songs are philosophical or touch upon current affairs (some of his recent songs are about Nandigram and Rizwanur) and very contemporary. He also comes off as a typical liberal social activist type because of his political inclinations. But that apart, his music is worth checking out. I'm not sure if it would be available here in Pune but ask your closest Bengali friend for a tape or two of Kabir Suman. Or download.

The games and the commute

The much hyped Commonwealth Youth Games are starting in the city and I'm not excited about it at all.

International games are supposed to be good for a city: bringing investment, jobs and a chance to watch good sport. But the CYG seem to be a total sham - an event of only 6 days and only 9 sports has taken up resources involving 2 years of unnecessary publicity (including an electronic countdown running for more than a year).

There are daily reports of ugly political games, poor infrastructure and misuse of the taxpayer's money. Agreed that better roads have come up, but at the cost of hurried and badly done makeshift arrangements.

One good thing that has been introduced because of the games is the new fleet of buses connecting the games village to the city. Thinking that these might reduce the burden on the existing PMPML public transport buses, I thought I'd travel and reduce my individual fuel consumption. And I did so. A quick plus-minus points analysis:

Plus: Found place to sit all the way so didn't find the journey uncomfortable; Rs. 17 one way seemed inexpensive (what with the rising petrol costs); no threat from colliding trucks or SUVs so a very safe journey; did not feel directly affected by the pollution; got time to nap and listen to radio; and finally the satisfaction of having saved fuel.

Minus: Very time consuming: increased my travel time by 2 hours; had to walk quite a distance because I didn't get a bus direct to office (on second thoughts, this could be a plus because of the exercise).

I'm not sure if I will keep travelling by bus despite the plusses. For one, the new buses seem to be temporary so the old ones will go back to being jam-packed. Secondly, the amount of time spent in travelling just doesn't seem worth it. The hope for better solution continues...