Life is meant to be enjoyed and it is something like this:-
20,000$ per night in a luxury suite
68,000$ for the mobile
777$ for a meal of beef burger
500$ for a pair of sandals
18,000$ for a pair of jeans
3,000$ for a pair of cocktail
300,000$ worth of a wrist watch
150,000$ worth of a jewellery set
50,000$ for a night of dance floor exclusively for you
100,000$ per hour for a legend to perform exclusively for you in your suite
1600$ to 300,000$ per day to rent a luxury car in the class of Lamborghini, Bentley
265,000$ for a limited edition of Lamborghini
10,000$ for a ride of helicopter and a single round of golf exclusively for you
600,000$ for constructing the golf course
A rock star who enjoys this lifestyle :- "I am doing this because I can".
This lifestyle is real at least for those who can afford it, for rest of us we can always dream.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Taxi Drivers - Movies & Religion.
The last two times that I hired a taxi to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) from my apartment in LA, I came across a Serbian and an Armenian taxi drivers. A bit unconventional to my actual silent nature, whenever I take a taxi I start conversing with the drivers. On both the occasions I was surprised to learn that these people watched Hindi movies at some point of time in their lives and were aware of the legendary actor Raj Kapoor. This kind of makes me feel proud of being an Indian, that our movies are global right from the age of black and white movies.
But the opinion that these people have in general about Indian cinema is something the Indian filmmakers should consider giving a thought. I was awe struck by the observation of this Armenian driver, who said that the Indian movies were all routine and were based on the same kind of stories. The examples he cited wee 'Sita aur Gita', 'Ram Aur Shyam' etc. of course he had a point in it. Even we Indians are also so much into these love stories that we rarely admire any experimental movies from our film makers. Today, I was watching some Hollywood movies, where a teacher takes up all the responsibility to provide better education to her students, by getting them away from the gangsters, and the other movie in which a lady fights for the rights of her pets, some time back watched a movie on terrorist attack being screened from the perspective of different persons involved in the incident etc. the movies in Hollywood are never really love stories but they are commercially hit. I am sure, that these movies have great collections in India too, then why not Indian film makers make some good pictures apart from the routine love stories. Anyways, I am sick of the typical Telugu movies and Hindi movies, though I rarely watch them.
The other important discussion I had with this Armenian driver was ( sorry for referring him as a driver, since I don't remember his name) the awareness that he has about India, its history and politics. He is an Armenian who moved to the states about 19 years ago and he had worked as a baker and a taxi driver. He was one of those few guys I came across, who knows about India and its politics. This guy was talking fluently about the Indian prime ministers Indira and Rajeev Gandhi, about the circumstances that led to their assassination, about the partition. Though he knows that India was partitioned into two countries based on religion. He thinks that the religious partition was because of the fight between the Muslims and Christians, where as in reality it was the problem of Muslims not able to live with the majority Hindus. Of course from the further discussion I had with this guy made me think that his opinion was based on his experiences in his own country where Muslims had issues with Christians. Before he explained about his country Armenia, he challenged me that he knew about India and asked me if I could tell anything about his nation. Unfortunately I did not know anything about his nation. Anyways, moving ahead with his experiences, he said that Armenia had issues with the neighbouring Muslim nations and around 1915 Turkey invaded Armenia, committed forced conversions of Christians to Muslims and massacred thousands of people who did not obey. His family was one of those who suffered the pains and it was during that period when the Armenians fled all around the world. He told that France was the first nation that rendered a helping hand to them in times of need and all the nations had identified that genocide expect 2 of the powerful nations..one in the west and the other in the east. These were those nations that locked horns as part of the cold war and could not take action against Turkey because of its strategic geographic importance. I was however sorry for having made him talk about his painful past.
Things like the religious fanaticism of some of the groups in Muslim is seriously a threat to the world, which has already created a large scale havoc and disturbance all around the world. When the guy was explaining about the problems which Muslims caused to Armenians I recollected the havoc these people created in my own country and my own city. I am not sure how many of you remember this, but there was a period before Hyderabad was liberated from the clutches of Nizam, when the Muslims conducted a large scale murders etc..against the people in Telangana and Hyderabad which was known as Razakar Period (Razakar Zamana - as my grand mother puts it). I don't understand why these people are so hell bent on there own agenda and forcing the conversions to Muslims and treating other religions as enemies. We still run into communal clashes in my city and my nation.
Though my best buddies are Muslims, but the tolerance in Islam and followers of this religion is too much to be improved. They need to understand that every religion in this world is created to help the humanity lead a better life and they should need to understand the importance of other religions and the good in other religions. Anyways, I have my own ideas and understanding about my religion and other religions. But it is always a best practice to follow your religion and have respect for other religions.
But the opinion that these people have in general about Indian cinema is something the Indian filmmakers should consider giving a thought. I was awe struck by the observation of this Armenian driver, who said that the Indian movies were all routine and were based on the same kind of stories. The examples he cited wee 'Sita aur Gita', 'Ram Aur Shyam' etc. of course he had a point in it. Even we Indians are also so much into these love stories that we rarely admire any experimental movies from our film makers. Today, I was watching some Hollywood movies, where a teacher takes up all the responsibility to provide better education to her students, by getting them away from the gangsters, and the other movie in which a lady fights for the rights of her pets, some time back watched a movie on terrorist attack being screened from the perspective of different persons involved in the incident etc. the movies in Hollywood are never really love stories but they are commercially hit. I am sure, that these movies have great collections in India too, then why not Indian film makers make some good pictures apart from the routine love stories. Anyways, I am sick of the typical Telugu movies and Hindi movies, though I rarely watch them.
The other important discussion I had with this Armenian driver was ( sorry for referring him as a driver, since I don't remember his name) the awareness that he has about India, its history and politics. He is an Armenian who moved to the states about 19 years ago and he had worked as a baker and a taxi driver. He was one of those few guys I came across, who knows about India and its politics. This guy was talking fluently about the Indian prime ministers Indira and Rajeev Gandhi, about the circumstances that led to their assassination, about the partition. Though he knows that India was partitioned into two countries based on religion. He thinks that the religious partition was because of the fight between the Muslims and Christians, where as in reality it was the problem of Muslims not able to live with the majority Hindus. Of course from the further discussion I had with this guy made me think that his opinion was based on his experiences in his own country where Muslims had issues with Christians. Before he explained about his country Armenia, he challenged me that he knew about India and asked me if I could tell anything about his nation. Unfortunately I did not know anything about his nation. Anyways, moving ahead with his experiences, he said that Armenia had issues with the neighbouring Muslim nations and around 1915 Turkey invaded Armenia, committed forced conversions of Christians to Muslims and massacred thousands of people who did not obey. His family was one of those who suffered the pains and it was during that period when the Armenians fled all around the world. He told that France was the first nation that rendered a helping hand to them in times of need and all the nations had identified that genocide expect 2 of the powerful nations..one in the west and the other in the east. These were those nations that locked horns as part of the cold war and could not take action against Turkey because of its strategic geographic importance. I was however sorry for having made him talk about his painful past.
Things like the religious fanaticism of some of the groups in Muslim is seriously a threat to the world, which has already created a large scale havoc and disturbance all around the world. When the guy was explaining about the problems which Muslims caused to Armenians I recollected the havoc these people created in my own country and my own city. I am not sure how many of you remember this, but there was a period before Hyderabad was liberated from the clutches of Nizam, when the Muslims conducted a large scale murders etc..against the people in Telangana and Hyderabad which was known as Razakar Period (Razakar Zamana - as my grand mother puts it). I don't understand why these people are so hell bent on there own agenda and forcing the conversions to Muslims and treating other religions as enemies. We still run into communal clashes in my city and my nation.
Though my best buddies are Muslims, but the tolerance in Islam and followers of this religion is too much to be improved. They need to understand that every religion in this world is created to help the humanity lead a better life and they should need to understand the importance of other religions and the good in other religions. Anyways, I have my own ideas and understanding about my religion and other religions. But it is always a best practice to follow your religion and have respect for other religions.
Beijing Olympics 2008
Back to blogging after a gap, there have been lot of changes in my life from the time I had my last post. I had to bid good bye to some of my close friends with whom I spent the last one year and to the team with whom I spent the last fifteen odd months. After all the emotional farewells, good bye parties and experiencing an earthquake etc., I finally moved from Hollywood to Mile High City.
08-08-08 was my last day in the project that I spent about 15 months where I had made some good friends and had some memorable times. Luckily I believe the timing of moving to a new project has coincided with the 29th Modern Olympics, as I had the opportunity to watch these games over the television from the hotel I will be staying for a month.
The move from LA, California to Denver,Colorado has been cool, a bit emotional, as LA was second home. The first impressions of Denver left a feeling that I moved from a metro to a normal town. But Denver, lived up to the expectations that I have had from this place as it has been cloudy and gloomy temperature all around the week. It has been raining for the last two days and it seems that there was a good snowfall in the mountains. The stay in the hotel has been peaceful and happy to say, the only mode of entertainment in watching Olympics and some inspiring movies. Apart from that an important update boys, I am back to driving and started off with my favourite Hyundai Sonata, I am not great fan/freak of cars. But one thing is for sure that I enjoy driving Sonata, this is that fuel efficient, comfortable and a nice car to drive in its class. I have had this strange experience of living all alone for a week time. If not for these Olympics and the car driving I would have really gone mad. And I sincerely realise, how my friends who lived in the distant towns of California alone for months together would have felt. At that point of time I could not completely understand the suffering they had, in spite of talking to your family and friends over the phone you seriously want to have someone with whom you can directly talk to. It's really difficult to stay alone, I was thinking it would be simple but I was wrong. Sincerely apologies to one of those old friends.
Anyways, back to the 29th Modern Olympics. To start with let me congratulate Abhinav Bindra for winning that first individual Gold Medal for India in the history of the games. Kudos to Bindra!! There are the Indian boxers who are still in contention for the medal and lets hope they come up with couple of medals for India and lets wish them all the best in their efforts. Stay tuned! At least this time around India should overcome the jinx of a single medal every Olympics.
Today was one of my lazy days for me as I did nothing but watch TV. But luckily enough I witnessed history made at the Olympics. Now the synonym for swimming at Olympics is none other than the phenomenal Micheal Phelps. What a performance! & What a determination! Amazing! Hats off to this guy who has re-defined the game for ever with 8/8 Golds in a single Olympics. As one of the promotional advertisements was saying, there are no adjectives to describe his achievement. At the age of 23 he has 14 gold medals to his name in just two Olympics. It's incredibly amazing achievement! He had won all the events that he has participated in. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to watch one of his finals which he has one with a different of 1/100th of a second. At one point of time it looked as if he has lost, but he never gave up and won the gold with a difference of 1/100th of a second. If not for the latest technology that we have today, to a naked eye it looked as Cavich (the fellow Serbian swimmer) who won the silver, appeared as the winner. Considering the amazing determination of Phelps, he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Phenomenal Phelps!
Lightning..is the only word that can describe the Jamaican sprinter Ussain Bolt, the worlds fastest man ever. He won the men's 100mtr sprint in a record time of 9.68 seconds. One should watch the race to know the speed and the confidence with which he completed the race. If not for his premature celebrations he would have completed the race well withing 9.5 seconds, imagine the confidence the guy had to celebrate his victory even before he had completed the Olympics final. In the same race he has comfortable overcame his fellow compatriot and the former world record holder Asafa Powell, who like his previous Olympics had finished 5th.
Apart from this in the marathon race it was really interesting to see a 38 year Old Romanian Lady winning the marathon and a 41 year Woman swimmer winning the two silver medals in different events in swimming, that were just 40mins apart from each other. Congratulations to these people and hats off to their determination and will power.
These athletes are proving to the world that there is nothing called impossible if one gets going.
The one thing that was common among all these people was the support that they received from their family members. One really needs to have the backing from their parents, friends and the fellow country men to succeed. Now this brings to the approach Indians think about Olympics and the importance the government and the people have. Of course, the government does not have enough time to maintain peace in the country, they are busy in creating controversies, adding fuel to the already disrupted communal harmony in the country and busy announcing the ex-gratia to the people who are victims of the serial (often) bomb blasts, appeasing the minorities and trying to find the terrorists in the nation. Where can government buy time to think about sports and Olympics. The common man is busy watching cricket even though we continuously fail to win, and watching all the hybrid versions of the game that are played just for the sake of business, exploiting the market. The common man does not have time to think about other sports leave aside think about the people representing the nation in those sports.
Even the media always hovers around cricket as if that is the only game in this world. I was talking to my brother earlier this morning and he isn't even aware of that the games are not yet compelte. He was telling that all our atheletes are back home, where as infact we have three Indian boxers still in the contention for the medal by defeating the world champinions. Can imagine the amount of exposure the media gives to our atheletes! Pity!
Let's hope that India will leave a positive mark in the history of Olympics. As Hope is the only thing that drives life!
08-08-08 was my last day in the project that I spent about 15 months where I had made some good friends and had some memorable times. Luckily I believe the timing of moving to a new project has coincided with the 29th Modern Olympics, as I had the opportunity to watch these games over the television from the hotel I will be staying for a month.
The move from LA, California to Denver,Colorado has been cool, a bit emotional, as LA was second home. The first impressions of Denver left a feeling that I moved from a metro to a normal town. But Denver, lived up to the expectations that I have had from this place as it has been cloudy and gloomy temperature all around the week. It has been raining for the last two days and it seems that there was a good snowfall in the mountains. The stay in the hotel has been peaceful and happy to say, the only mode of entertainment in watching Olympics and some inspiring movies. Apart from that an important update boys, I am back to driving and started off with my favourite Hyundai Sonata, I am not great fan/freak of cars. But one thing is for sure that I enjoy driving Sonata, this is that fuel efficient, comfortable and a nice car to drive in its class. I have had this strange experience of living all alone for a week time. If not for these Olympics and the car driving I would have really gone mad. And I sincerely realise, how my friends who lived in the distant towns of California alone for months together would have felt. At that point of time I could not completely understand the suffering they had, in spite of talking to your family and friends over the phone you seriously want to have someone with whom you can directly talk to. It's really difficult to stay alone, I was thinking it would be simple but I was wrong. Sincerely apologies to one of those old friends.
Anyways, back to the 29th Modern Olympics. To start with let me congratulate Abhinav Bindra for winning that first individual Gold Medal for India in the history of the games. Kudos to Bindra!! There are the Indian boxers who are still in contention for the medal and lets hope they come up with couple of medals for India and lets wish them all the best in their efforts. Stay tuned! At least this time around India should overcome the jinx of a single medal every Olympics.
Today was one of my lazy days for me as I did nothing but watch TV. But luckily enough I witnessed history made at the Olympics. Now the synonym for swimming at Olympics is none other than the phenomenal Micheal Phelps. What a performance! & What a determination! Amazing! Hats off to this guy who has re-defined the game for ever with 8/8 Golds in a single Olympics. As one of the promotional advertisements was saying, there are no adjectives to describe his achievement. At the age of 23 he has 14 gold medals to his name in just two Olympics. It's incredibly amazing achievement! He had won all the events that he has participated in. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to watch one of his finals which he has one with a different of 1/100th of a second. At one point of time it looked as if he has lost, but he never gave up and won the gold with a difference of 1/100th of a second. If not for the latest technology that we have today, to a naked eye it looked as Cavich (the fellow Serbian swimmer) who won the silver, appeared as the winner. Considering the amazing determination of Phelps, he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Phenomenal Phelps!
Lightning..is the only word that can describe the Jamaican sprinter Ussain Bolt, the worlds fastest man ever. He won the men's 100mtr sprint in a record time of 9.68 seconds. One should watch the race to know the speed and the confidence with which he completed the race. If not for his premature celebrations he would have completed the race well withing 9.5 seconds, imagine the confidence the guy had to celebrate his victory even before he had completed the Olympics final. In the same race he has comfortable overcame his fellow compatriot and the former world record holder Asafa Powell, who like his previous Olympics had finished 5th.
Apart from this in the marathon race it was really interesting to see a 38 year Old Romanian Lady winning the marathon and a 41 year Woman swimmer winning the two silver medals in different events in swimming, that were just 40mins apart from each other. Congratulations to these people and hats off to their determination and will power.
These athletes are proving to the world that there is nothing called impossible if one gets going.
The one thing that was common among all these people was the support that they received from their family members. One really needs to have the backing from their parents, friends and the fellow country men to succeed. Now this brings to the approach Indians think about Olympics and the importance the government and the people have. Of course, the government does not have enough time to maintain peace in the country, they are busy in creating controversies, adding fuel to the already disrupted communal harmony in the country and busy announcing the ex-gratia to the people who are victims of the serial (often) bomb blasts, appeasing the minorities and trying to find the terrorists in the nation. Where can government buy time to think about sports and Olympics. The common man is busy watching cricket even though we continuously fail to win, and watching all the hybrid versions of the game that are played just for the sake of business, exploiting the market. The common man does not have time to think about other sports leave aside think about the people representing the nation in those sports.
Even the media always hovers around cricket as if that is the only game in this world. I was talking to my brother earlier this morning and he isn't even aware of that the games are not yet compelte. He was telling that all our atheletes are back home, where as infact we have three Indian boxers still in the contention for the medal by defeating the world champinions. Can imagine the amount of exposure the media gives to our atheletes! Pity!
Let's hope that India will leave a positive mark in the history of Olympics. As Hope is the only thing that drives life!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
