Tendulkar please stick to Cricket-Bal Thackeray & Ranjit

Though I am not a huge fan of the Shiv Sena supremo, I firmly stand behind him when he says Sachin should concentrate on cricket and not politics. Though, I am all for a globalised world and free movement of labour and the opening of the world economy and all that crap, I firmly believe that Mumbai my beloved city is bleeding to death because of the unchecked influx of migrants from the North. Though, the comment by Thackeray is of political nature, I however think that Sachin should not pass such comments when the entire issue is one which has been blown out of proportion. Its very easy for Sachin to pass such statement when more than half the time he is touring the world playing the silly game of hitting the ball with the bat and rest of the time leading his comfortable super duper rich lifestyle unlike the common Mumbaikar who has to deal with everyday Mumbai grind and the crumbling infrastructure.

Why should we speak Hindi???

I was just watching an episode of 'The Big Fight' on NDTV 24*7 on Sunday morning which featured Sanjay Nirupam (ex Shiv Sena now Congress), Akhilesh Dubey (Legal VP,MNS,dats a mockery), a SP MLA/MP and some academic of South Indian origin and DMK MP Ms. Kanimozhi joining via VC. The debate was on the entire incident after Abu Asim Azmi was slapped after taking his oath in Hindi. In the entire debate, the one thing that struck was that the North India politicians from SP & Congress were vehement on Hindi being spoken & accepted as the National language. Just because Hindi is the language of choice of the 2 major BIMARU states in India and just because 40 crore Indians speak that language it doesn't entitle it to become the National language. Though, I dont support Raj Thackeray, I am firm in the belief that the influx of the North Indian migrants into Mumbai is bleeding the city I love, and its imperative for us to protect the Marathi language.If people can come in Mumbai and owe their wealth and livelihood to it, the least they can do is learn and speak the language.I mean, can you go to Kerala & Tamil Nadu and expect the Tamilians and Malyalis to speak in Hindi? Haa!! The Marathi language has a rich history and culture which cant be usurped by Hindi. Hindi has got prominence because majority of our Prime Ministers and politicos are from that sick belt and also because the seat of power is in Delhi.
In fact, this entire crisis is slowly but surely hurtling the country more towards the old North South divide. There is no way the South Indian states accept Hindi as the national language so why should Maharashtrians accept Hindi???

Something Funny...

This is something that I stumbled upon..check out the image..how true..

It takes the Dalai Lama to call a spade a spade!!

The Dalai Lama who is set to visit Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, stated a fact which the Indian politicos couldnt say to the world openly without trembling lest they offend the Chinks!! The monk has emphatically stated that Arunachal Pradesh is a part of the India and blamed China for politicising the issue of AP.
Why cant the Indian leadership show even some kind of firmness and directness in their responses to the international media??
Why cant our leaders for once be men and pretend to show characteristics which portray their biological origins.
Its high time India stepped up their focus on a focused foreign policy which can rival that of our aggressive neighbours (Chin-Pak) which have formed a team to block India's push towards being a major world player.

Why the big noise over Hindi?

In the week gone by i.e. on the 20th July, there was a furore in the parliament over the insistence of use of Hindi as the language in the Parliament. This was specific to the incident, when a question was raised in Hindi to the Environment & Forest minister Jairam Ramesh and he preferred to answer in English.To which Kalraj Mishra from the BJP had an issue as the honourable minister in spite of knowing Hindi, was refusing to reply in the same language. The minister then retorted that the MP had probably had contacted the disease of Hindi from SP leader Mulayam Singh to which there were protests from MPs from BJP,SP & BSP mostly from the UP & Bihar states. Then some AIADMK MP insisted on asking the Coal minister Mr Jaiswal a question in chaste tamil. Mr Jaiswal was in no mans land to which Jairam Ramesh gave a thumbs up to the AIADMK colleague. This incident just highlightens the fact that in spite of India being a democracy why does such a culturally diverse nation has to follow the hegemony of couple or more northern states and have to speak in Hindi? Their only contribution to this country is basically providing cheap labour to other states & consume funds from the national exchequer which they regularly do. Apart from of course contributing to the spread of Hindi because of their humongous unchecked population growth rate and big share in contributing to the poverty ratio of the country. Not to get me wrong, I don't have anything against Hindi, but I protest against the enforcement of a particular language as the chosen one. That is the only reason why the southern states refuse to accept Hindi as the national language. We should not be bogged down by third rate politicos from a couple of sick states who though they are illiterate, have the gall to tell us which language to speak in.

Here is something which might be useful for the denizens of Mumbai who do use the BEST service to travel in the island city & the burbs. Many a times we wanna travel but do not know which bus to take & traveling by the overcrowded trains is the last thing on our mind.
So the BEST undertaking has made life easy for Mumbaikars and have updated their website with various routes and which buses can take you to your desired destination, the time of arrival and the fare that will be charged. Check out the link: www.bestundertaking.com/transport/index.htm
Life is simple, isn't it?

Reminiscing about my Bull...

There comes a time when every guy reminisces about the good things in life he has experienced. Well, amongst other things, I always reminisce about my Thumper which I used to own. There was something special about that machine which used to egg me on to ride her come rain or shine.The sweet thump which she used to emanate when I used to kick her to life was just like Nirvana. Though from time to time it used to give me some minor issues like oil leaks or average issues, the ultimate feeling was at the traffic signal, when other guys on their toy bikes look in awe at a Bullet which is thumping away silently when the light is red & when it thumps away to glory as soon as the lights turn green.
She was of the 1995 class, Standard 350 Bullet which had stepped out of the Chennai plant of Royal Enfield. I owned the beauty for almost 4 years before I had to let go of her as was not getting much time to ride her around the city or on long trips. But now after almost 1 1/2 years, feel that its time to go for another Bull, but this time one with a shock abs & DC electricals.
So my searh starts again for the ultimate symbol of masculinity on the Indian roads and Im referring to the bike with the gearshift on the right hand side....