iThink

It's about time...

2011-01-31T00:24:00.001-08:00

I started this blog long time back without much of an idea that what it will be about and how I will sustain it. I used to post here interesting stuff I've found elsewhere which I would like to share. (I will still be doing the same)

Over the years, I've started using Facebook to share the things I like, with my circle of friends. But the problem with Facebook is that its not permanent. And its so much crowded. And what I would like to say gets buried under the millions of posts by friends who are sharing just about anything n everything (koi joke share kar raha tu koi music video tu koi qurani aayat).

Now without confusing you guys (and myself) more, I would to re-inaugurate my blog, with the aim that I'll be sharing 'more permanent' and serious stuff here, which will be here to read for anyone (and for myself) to read (and reread) as the time goes by.

It would also be interesting to see how my thoughts changes over the months/years about various things :)

An open letter to Aamir Khan

2007-10-15T01:58:00.000-07:00

I just saw the TZP trailer for the 18th time, and before you release the new trailer, I would have probably watched it at least 40 more times. I watched the Mangal Pandey trailers about 200 times before the film released.

As someone correctly said on your blog, in times where every filmmaker wants his heroes and heroines to wear Prada and Gucci, and wants to shoot his films in nothing less than London and New York (as if Indians in India have no interesting lives), you dare to make a film about children.

You probably know that children-centric films have not had a good time in our industry of late. Nanhe Jaisalmer and Chain Khuli Ki Main Khuli bombed recently. Even the ambitious Raju Chacha with big stars tanked not too long back.

But, of course, when have you thought of all that. Following norms has never been your cup-of-tea.

You made Lagaan when cricket and a period setting were both taboos in our industry.

You worked with Ashutosh Gowarikar when he had 2 flops behind him and was rejected by one and all. You worked with Rakeysh Mehra when he had only a flop Aks in his resume. And on both occasions you made probably the best film in the history of Indian Cinema.

You refused invites from Koffee with Karan, a show celebrities would give their right hand to appear in (or may be the leg as they'd need the hand for Koffee); yet you showed up at some small talk-show at NDTV.

You don't give interviews to the paparazzi, yet you spend over an hour video chatting with your fans on your website, answering all their questions.

You don't go for the stupid dime-a-dozen award shows, but you went to voice the misery of the troubled farmers in the Narmada Valley.

While other actors made 3 films a year, you gave 3 years to one film at the height of your carrier.

While other actors are all over the media praising their films and do their best to keep media happy, you did not make a single meida appearance before RDB just because you were angry with the media. Wow!

While other actors are endorsing everything from undergarments to hair-oil to chyawanprash, your endorsements can be counted on one finger - 3.

You have been the perennial trend setter of this age. Others followed, but never came close.

You sang 'Aati Kya Khandala' which became the anthem of the loafers countrywide. 'Apun Bola' (SRK) and 'Aye Shivani' (Sanjay Dutt) followed but left were hardly given a second listening.

You went to the border to entertain our soldiers. Others followed suit.

You started the whole trend of 'looking the part'. Today, every actor seems to want to look different in every movie.

And well, you started a blog. Last I heard there were blogs by Anil Kapoor and SRK.

But in spite of that Aamir, or more appropriately, because of that Aamir, you are truly the country's greatest superstar. You may not have the label of the 'King', or the temples with your statue in it, but you are indeed the greatest force in this industry.

How else would you explain the euphoria that surrounds your mere signing a film?

How else would you explain RDB being a blockbuster without you making a single public appearance for its publicity?

How else would you explain the craze to find out how Aamir Khan looks in his next film?

How else would you explain the fact that the caps, rings, or mufflers you wear grace the apparel stores nationwide? The barbers throughout the country need to learn how to make your current hairstyle if they want to stay in business? The lines you say are probably in the lexicons of every film-loving boy in the country? And the funny part is you never make an effort for any of the three to happen.

Now I hear Aamir that you are shaving your head for your new film. When has that been done before (Akshaye in Salaam-E-Ishq but that wasn't intentional)? Not in my living memory! The barbers of India would have it easy this time.

So Aamir Hussain Khan, take a bow! You are the greatest masterpiece in the museum of the Hindi Film Industry.

In the meantime, I'll try to go into hypersleep mode as I really can't wait for December 21, the day I get to see you in a Mohawk on the big screen.

Yours truly

Bollywood Byter

Citizen of India’s blog can be accessed at http://bollywoodbyte.wordpress.com/2007/10/12/an-open-letter-to-aamir-khan

Chhoti Si Baat

2007-09-26T00:18:00.000-07:00

Watched Basu Chatterjee's Chhoti Si Baat (1975) the other day starring Vidya Sinha & Amol Palekar in the lead roles. Its a love story of a shy accountant who is in love with a woman but afraid to express it due to lack of confidence. He tries everything to overcome this problem but no success. Later on, he comes to know of a Col. who guides people in such situations. The Col. gives him many tips to boost his confidence. His training at Col.'s is throughly enjoyable. One of his many lesson's is:

"World is divided into two kinds of people. Winners & Loosers. Bottom is crowded but there is always room at the top."

How very true. But I at times wonder... is wining everything. At times people win by loosing. Aap bhi soochiayay... main bhi soochat hoon :)

I guess everyone an learn from this movie.

Agent Smith/Oracle on Human Beings in The Matrix Revolutions

2007-09-20T00:56:00.000-07:00

Smith/Oracle: Why, Mr. Anderson, why? Why, why do you do it? Why, why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something, for more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is, do you even know? Is it freedom or truth, perhaps peace - could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson, vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself. Although, only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson, you must know it by now! You can't win, it's pointless to keep fighting! Why, Mr. Anderson, why, why do you persist?
Neo: Because I choose to.

Agent Smith describes Human Beings in The Matrix

2007-09-20T00:53:00.001-07:00

I'd like to share a revelation during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. And the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague, and we are the cure.

Question of the Day

2007-09-20T00:30:00.000-07:00

Why there isn't any new DIVINE religion for the past 1400 years?

Question of the Day

2007-09-20T00:29:00.000-07:00

Why miracles do not happen nowadays?

Question of the Day

2007-09-20T00:28:00.000-07:00

Question everything, including this Maxim

Words of Wisdom

2007-05-22T05:19:00.000-07:00

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.

These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have scrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness - that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that the saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought and, though it might seem too good for human life, this is what - at last - I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer. This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

Bertrand Russell

Quote of the day

2006-08-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

"Live amongst people in such a manner that if you die they weep over you and if you are alive they crave for your company." Ali Ibn-e-Abi Talib (A.S)

John Lennon's Imagine

2006-05-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

IMAGINE

Imagine there's no Heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

Lennon described the song as "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted."

In the UK, the song is regularly voted at or near the top of polls to find the greatest song or single of all time, as in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Singles (number two being Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and three being The Beatles Hey Jude). Rolling Stone magazine voted "Imagine" the third greatest song of all time.

Pure Life...

2006-05-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

"On life's journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him." Buddha

Top Companies, Brands and Richest People

2006-04-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Other day I had discussion with Imran and Obaid about the top companies, brands and the richest people of the world. We had little disagreement on these list, so I thought I should find out and share with you people.

Fortune GLOBAL 500 2005

Rank. Company, Revenues ($millions), Profits ($millions)

Wal-Mart Stores 287,989.0, 10,267.0
BP 285,059.0, 15,371.0
Exxon Mobil 270,772.0, 25,330.0
Royal Dutch/Shell Group 268,690.0, 18,183.0
General Motors 193,517.0, 2,805.0

Reference: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/index.html

The Top Brands 2005

Rank. 2005 Brand Value ($million), Country

Coca-Cola, 67,525, United States
Microsoft, 59,941, United States
IBM, 53,376, United States
GE, 46,996, United States
Intel, 35,588, United States

Reference: http://www.businessweek.com/pdfs/2005/0531_globalbrand.pdf

The World's Richest People

Rank. Name, Citizenship, Age, Net Worth ($billion)

William Gates III, United States, 50, 50.0
Warren Buffett, United States, 75, 42.0
Carlos Slim Helu, Mexico, 66, 30.0
Ingvar Kamprad, Sweden, 79, 28.0
Lakshmi Mittal, India, 55, 23.5

Reference: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/Rank_1.html

Watch your...

2006-03-05T13:19:00.000-08:00

Watch your Dreams, They become Thoughts.

Watch your Thoughts, They become Words.

Watch your Words, They become Actions.

Watch your Actions, They become Habits.

Watch your Habits, They become the Character.

Watch your Character, It becomes your Destiny.

Quote of the day

2006-02-26T13:32:00.000-08:00

"Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win AND never quit are idiots.” Larry Kersten

Inqalaab Zindabad!

2006-02-18T04:42:00.000-08:00

Watched Aamir Khan's Rang De Basanti: A Generation Awakens couple of days back. To describe it in one word... Excellent. Its story of ordinary people, just like you and me, doing extra ordinary things when they set there mind to it.

So little an Indian film able to convey such a feeling accross to its audiance so very well. May be it was the charm of Aamir Khan or the expert direction of Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, which keep the audiance glued to the screen till the very end. This movie has everything in it that makes a movie loveable. It has comedy, it has drama as well as some action.

But essence of the story is... Get in control of things. Instead of leaving it, improve the situation while staying with-in it.

To see how it happens... watch the movie with your friends and family. Highly recommended to all the youngsters of sub-continent.

Of Reports, Presentations, Assignments & Final Exams

2005-12-28T11:09:00.000-08:00

Over here in SZABIST, we have been bombarded with term assignments, reports & assignments just before our final exam for the semester. If it wasn't enough, me, Sibtain and Mariam have taken a project to participate in a software competation, UAE IT Challenge 2005. Since last few days... not a single day passes when we dont have any thing to submit or deliver. In abouts 5 days time our finals are starting...

Gosh there is too much tension... At times I feel like giving up, but somehow I manage to get it done, not exactly how I wanted it in 1st place, but still much better than not doing it all...

As they say in McDonald's: i'm lovin it :)

I have also learned that I work better under pressure. I realized this when we were given a very difficult exam paper by Sir Faisal Qayum, of KalSoft fame. I thought it was impossible to do it in the given time... But then I started doing it. We were challenged by Sir Faisal constantly and in the end... with little bit time relaxation, we were able to finish. I felt immense satisfaction after doing that paper of mine and would like to tnks Sir Faisal to provide me with this oppertunity. This reminds me another quote:

"Only people who risk going far knows how far they can go."

2005-12-26T14:03:00.000-08:00

Miracle

God's Debris: A Thought Experiment

2005-12-26T13:40:00.000-08:00

Finished reading this free ebook from the creator of Dilbert. Its was an interesting read. It definately made my mind think... I love that. It was about questioning our assumptions on different aspects of life... be it religion, science, free will, God etc. There were many interesting points raised in this book. I'll be discussing those one by one over the period, on my blog.

Here is the synopsis of the book.

Imagine that you meet a very old man who -- you eventually realize -- knows literally everything. Imagine that he explains for you the great mysteries of life -- quantum physics, evolution, God, gravity, light, psychic phenomenon, and probability -- in a way so simple, so novel, and so compelling that it all fits together and makes perfect sense. What does it feel like to suddenly understand everything? God's Debris isn't the final answer to the Big Questions. But it might be the most compelling vision of reality you will ever read. The thought experiment is this: Try to figure out what's wrong with the old man's explanation of reality. Share the book with your smart friends then discuss it later while enjoying a beverage.

Read more or download a free copy of the eBook from andrewsmcmeel.com

2005-12-23T10:24:00.000-08:00

Have A Nice Day

I Love You

2005-12-18T03:55:00.000-08:00

"I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for the part of me that you bring out." by Alfred Krost

Here I am...

2005-12-16T06:56:00.000-08:00

Finally Im starting my very own blog... my little space on the Internet.

I'll be posting my day to day activities as well as my views and thoughts over the world inside and aound me. I expect it to grow over the years... A wise man once said, "Lead a decent life so that when you are old, you can recall it and relive it once again."

So thats what Im planning to achieve with this blog.