The Problem of Girl Child (in India)

coming soon. I will write about this later, but first, MJ it is.

Jaipur bomb blasts

I was going to write about Jaipur bomb blasts but by the time I got to it there were two more serial blasts, one in B'lore and another in Ahmedabad. Every time the blasts occur I feel very sad. It is the same pattern in every blast.
- Serial blasts rock the city: Mumbai, Varanasi, Malegaon, Samjhauta express, Hyderabad, Jaipur, B'lore, Ahmedabad.
- Blasts occur in crowded areas and are timed perfectly
- Ministers of the state, or foreign countries condemn attacks
- JeM or Indian Mujahideen (its a new group of terrorists btw) claim or dont claim responsibility but their hand is suspected in every blast
- High alert is announced in other big cities
- Simi/ISI are blamed for supporting terrorists
- Terrorists send warning/threatning emails/letters to police stations or city administrators
- Some people are arrested (but they are probably released because of lack of evidence)
- Compensation is announced to the relatives of innocent people who lost their lives
- Repeat cycle

Familiar, isnt it? The thing I hate to see after all this is that certain politicians in their interview say, oh this has become a part of our lives, oh this is a global problem. They dont have the guts to face this threat and do something about it. Seriously, I am really scared that I have been in some of these places where the blasts have occured: bombay local trains, lumbini park hyd, jaipur. And I could be among the ones that are directly affected by these blasts.

The root cause of this problem is way to complex for me to understand. The history and politics that go behind this growing menace is mind boggling. But what makes a terrorist a terrorist? Of course, it has a lot to do with their circumstances and upbring. But I really believe that irresponsible parenting is one of the factors. I sometimes visualise a terrorist as a 6 month old infant or an innocent 3 yr old, and boy, what did they know? How did they turn out to be that way? Parents should take some of the responsiblities of how their kids turn out to be (half of it is the genes though and environment shapes us up too, of course).

Well educated parents raise well read, patient and thought-oriented kids. So, it is very important that people around the world go out and gather knowledge about so many wonderful things in this world rather than just their religion.

I heard excerpts from the speech of our prime minister on the eve of Independence day. I thought it was a great speech. He mentioned that education and employment are the prime focus. He also said that he does not want to make promises, he wants to deliver. I wish he addressed the nation more often - twice a year! In my eyes, he earned my highest respect. I think he knows the priorities of our country very well. With Sonia by his side, it seems like the country has two prime ministers who get along really well. That is actually a good thing. I hope that along with the prime minister, most country men want the same thing, a strong, prosperous and healthy India. Let each one of us work towards that, and then I hope that the terrorism problem will go away. Forever.

Some of my Fav Songs/Videos

So, after a long break I am back to my blog. I did not find any interesting news to write about, so I compiled a list. A growing list of songs/videos that I like a lot and watch often. They are all on youtube, of course, and quality of some videos is pretty bad and volume always needs to be adjusted. But, oh well, I enjoy them!

1. Bathiya and Santhush (O Saathi) - This is a good hindi song from Sri Lankan singers. And watch the cricketers dance :)
2. Iraj, Ranadu (Ahankara nagare) - This was a hit when we were in Hyd. Its in Sinhalese. Look at the little girl's dance - its hard to move like that!
3. Iraj, Sangeeth (Ran ran ran) - Another Sinhalese song - yesdi's favorite
4. Jazzy B (Naag Sambla) - Jazzy B has a great voice. Check out the bhangra steps in the back.
5. Jazzy B (jinne mera dil luteya) - Jazzy B in his amazing voice with Apache Indian
6. Movie Karam (Tinka tinka) - Nicely done
7. Mauli Dave (Mayya Mayya) - Mauli became a star after this performance in sa re ga ma pa.
8. Dido - I really like all these songs by dido. Even Shonu likes em.
- White Flag
- Thank You
- Here With Me
- Dont Leave Home
9. Baha men (Who let the dogs out) - I like this one partly because its Shonu's favorite!
10. Len (Steal my sunshine) - A one hit wonder from a bro-sis team. It has special lyrics.
11. Kailash Kher (Bam Lahiri) - This is a great but weird video of this sufi song by Kailash.
12. Lighthouse Family (High) - I still cry every time I watch/listen to this song.
13. Ali Zafar (Sajania) - Ali Zafar is a Pak singer. Entertaining video.
14. Adnan Sami (Tera chehra) - Of all Adnan's songs, I like this one the best.
15. Prajakta (Mogara Phulala) - This is a classic Marathi song. I just love the original song sung by Lata di.
16. PCD (Buttons) - Caution! hot hot. This is a wonderful car song.
17. Nelly Furtado (Say it right) - Wow, what a song.
18. Justin Timberlake (Be my love) - Justin T has been in Time's 100 most influential people. Now I know why...
19. Janet Jackson (Runaway) - This is such a jem by Janet. I don't know why she acts total crazy at times.
20. Everything by Michael Jackson, of course! Don't you miss him? But this Bhangra Michael Jackson will crack you up :).

Charlie Rose - intelligent interviewing

I am hooked to Charlie Rose. I think this is a great night-time program - it has become my favorite program to watch on TV just before I fall asleep! I have mentioned before, somewhere in my blog, that I love interviews. Interviews are tricky and good ones are rare. From the interviewer's perspective, it must be a tough job because they have to stay very focused thorough out the period that the interview lasts and then, of course, ask the right/relevant questions. Attentive listening, quick analyzing of answers and following-up on those correctly must be hard. Charlie does all these things very well. His open-ended questions allow interviewees to be as elaborate or as short in their thoughts as they want to be. He clearly does a lot of research beforehand. Also, as he interviews people from all walks of life, can you imagine how intellectually rich he must be!

All his interviews are archived on his website. A few of them that I enjoyed watching very much were with:

- Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
- Bill Clinton
- Lawrence Summers
- Mark Halperin

The only thing is that at times he interrupts his interviewees! And sometimes he may have asked a really key question but we may never hear the answer because he would have stopped them and asked another question...this is the most annoying part of his interviews. The other thing is this: while I think he is really good at US politics, he still doesn't have a full grasp of foreign politics and history, specially the middle east. The interview with the Iran president, Ahmadinejad, was particularly irritating because of Charlie's lack of understanding of the culture and people there plus his defensive and accusatory tone. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview, mainly because of the president's responses and demeanor, but Charlie should have been more respectful to him, no matter what! Given the complexity of situation in the middle east, he should be more of a 'listener' when he talks to leaders of that region rather than a 'talker'.

Interviewing is a talent and requires a brilliant journalist which I believe Charlie is. He has accumulated a lot of experience from so many years of working in television. He mentioned in one of his interviews that as a kid his mom was very happy with him as he used to keep to himself inside his room with a book. His happiest moments used to be when the bookmobile stopped outside his house and he would run to it every time it came by!

In general, interviews are such eye-openers. We hear and read about our politicians, authors, scientists, sportsmen, business leaders etc all the time but to really listen to them talk for an hour really gives great insight into who they really are, their thoughts, personality, family, upbringing etc. And you can learn so much from all of this, its fascinating!