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Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss’ has taken informal fallacies to a new height.
His premises :
A. Pubs serve alcohol.
B. Youth visit pubs.
C. Drunk driving kills.
D. Youth are involved in road accidents.
His conclusion : India will not progress as most of the people losing their lives due to such road accidents and alcoholism were in their early twenties, which are the most productive years.
May I add that as more people are killed, the number of people directly affected by a Ramadoss ban is going down. Hence, he has proposed a policy against pub culture.
P.S. : One common sense approach suggested by a friend was to have a support system, like the way there are smokers’ rooms, to let hotels and taxi companies tie up so if you want to drink when you’re outside, factor in the cost of a taxi ride back home.
Man on Wire is the recent Oscar nominated documentary about Philippe Petit, a French high wire artist who gained fame for his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers in New York City on August 7, 1974 and needless to say, the planning had to be done secretly for over a year. The documentary is a good watch; it chronicles the events and planning leading upto the final event.
But it raises a few more questions about the perception of art. For one, he refers to himself as an artist, which puts his passion towards tight-rope walking in a whole different perspective. The first question he was asked while being whisked away by the cops after the feat was a why. His answer : “When I see three oranges, I juggle; when I see two towers, I walk.”
As simple as that.
In a recent interview with Stephen Colbert he was asked as to why even try this crazy feat :
“It is because I have no choice. I think a true artist should always have that as an answer. If you know why you paint, maybe you are not driven by painting and waking up and having to face the empty canvas. So if you don’t know, it is much better than if you know.”
I was amazed at the simplicity of the thought. When one can use the words “because I have no choice”, it is beyond an art, a sport or an activity. It is an intrinsic part of life and you are beyond performance, physical limits and expectations.
Maybe all we should aim for in life is one thing with which we can associate that phrase.
That film ‘critic’ Taran Adarsh is not the wisest man to inhabit this earth is well known (yeah the same guy who gave Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna 4 1/2 stars).
Taran’s unabashed love for Shahrukh Khan/Karan Johar movies (which I can only hope hasn’t crossed the platonic lines) has been constant fodder for the intellectual audiences and reviewers at Passion For Cinema. He has been the object of such ridicule that a few days prior to the release of the latest Shahrukh Khan starrer Rab Na Bana Di Jodi, a fake review of the movie by him surfaced on the internet, filled with ‘Taran Adarsh cliches’.
I always thought people were at times too harsh on him for being a Bollywood fanboy. It was fine that he did not have an exposure to non-Bollywood or what some people call good cinema, but he betters himself while reviewing Slumdog Millionaire :
and how towards the end they meet again, they unite and this guy, he also goes on to win the jackpot.
Okay I can live with this, Slumdog Millionaire wasn’t a suspense thriller anyway. But this :
Films like these don’t really get made every day with international names like David Boyle, which are still desi at heart. Well I think David and his writer Simon Beaufoy are basically big Bollywood fans … (note the fanboyish expression here) ….
I am envious that he is close enough to the director to refer to him on a first name basis, but after all the hype and the countless articles about the movie, the least I would expect him to know is that the director is Danny Boyle.
P.S. : More Slumdog news, the Oscar ceremony is tipped to open with a live performance of Jai Ho by A.R. Rahman and Sukhwinder Singh.
Children, you can go out and play. This article is not for you. If you are wondering about the censorship in this article even though the children have gone out to play, it is to keep away unintended audience.
Dr. Mahendra Watsa makes an appearance here after a long hiatus. If you still do not know who he is, please use Live Maps to find the nearest highrise. For those who survive the fall, he is an eminent personality who imparts his wisdom in Ask the Sexpert column. Some more recent gems :
Q : What is the advisable age for both men and women to stop having intercourse, to remain healthy?
A : Till the last breath! …If you both can manage it. In short, there is no stopping period.
Q : I am a 25-year-old man. My p#nis is short and small in diameter. When aroused, its size increases to resemble a ¾ inch PVC pipe. I have heard that there are capsules available that help increase the size. Please advise.
A : As plenty of water can pass through a PVC pipe, similarly more than enough s#men can pass out of your p#nis.
Q : My friends say that if you eat more onions then it will help you to produce more sperms? Is it true? I have a girlfriend and we have s#x every month so will eating more onions help having more fun during s#x?
A : Onions do not produce more sperms. Instead of more fun she is likely to run away from the odour.
Q : Is s#x sacred? If yes, when? If not, when?
A : S#x is sacred in a temple or with two loving partners.
More importantly, I have *confirmed* news that all the questions are in fact genuine, none are made up as we would like to believe.
Previous posts on Dr. Mahendra Watsa here. Some more hilarious stuff here.
I knew this was going to happen the moment I had announced the Dude of the Week concept. Since the award is not a physical entity but just an abstract token of honour, we must also consider the Padma awards committee for the award this week :
The Padma awards committee seems to have conferred the prestigious Padma Shri award in the field of art and culture to a man who turned out to be an exporter of shawls and not a national craftsman.
The blame game has already begun with senior government officials saying they had never recommended Hashmat Ullah Khan’s name in the first place.
Spokesperson of J&K Academy of Art and Culture Javed Rahl said, “There is no person by that name in the field of art and culture in this state. Also, the J&K Academy of Art, Culture and Languages did not recommend anyone by this name.”
Evidently people in J&K do not need to exist to win the Padma awards; it holds a special place in the Indian Constitution you see.
Of course, this wouldn’t have been of importance if the boxers who won Olympic medals weren’t snubbed for the awards.
Yes, but I completely agree with the award being given to Aishwarya Rai. After all, she did not act in any movie this year.
Do we prefer terrorism to be associated only with cross-border actions as it gives us the comfort of identifying an enemy ?
Is an Islamist (as some of them have been branded) the only face of terror or could it be someone we support too ?
What exactly is even the definition of terrorism ?
Amit Varma makes you think about the above questions and a few more in a piece that chronicles the recent incidents by powers of Sri Rama Sena, Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena :
On the other hand, let’s look at the definition of terrorism according to Merriam-Webster: “The systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion.”
Is this not “the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion”? And in all these cases, some of the accused might get arrested, but are released in no time and are back in business. As I’d once written, mobs in India have the license to do as they please if they do it under the banner of politics or religion. If you and I go and vandalize a hotel lobby or beat up women in a lounge bar, you can bet we’ll be thrown into jail, and rightfully so. But if we do it under the pretext of defending our culture or our religion, then anything goes. The rule of law, in such situations, is a joke.
Thinking is mandatory, commenting is not.
Unknown to everyone, the dynamic, static and gigantic leader of Samajwadi Party Mr. Amar Singh celebrated his happy birthday yesterday (for the uninitiated, Amar Singh is also known as that-unwanted-thing-in-every-Bachchan-snap) Now one would expect him to be ecstatic at this momentous occasion, but he has his reasons to be unhappy :
“I have not got any birthday wishes from Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi or any other Congress worker,” Singh rued.
After all he had done for the Congress during the trust vote, the least he expected was wishes from Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and the security guard at the ATM which he visited so frequently. But none of them bothered.
As we all know, Amar Singh is a friend of many of his friends. So this must be heartbreaking for someone who has spent a large part of his life socialising and making friends. He has been a pioneer in the science of friend making. In fact, he is called the father of friends (not to be confused with friends’ father). So when he found that he had befriended almost all Indians, he even took the trouble of visiting Cannes to make more friends :
Last heard, his Facebook friends’ list included Abraham Lincoln, Shaktimaan, Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi and a few unnamed extra terrestrials. He is also miffed that these personalities forgot about his happy birthday.
So I would like to set aside our differences and take this opportunity to wish Mr. Amar Singh by quoting a famous line by Dr. Prem Khurana from an iconic movie :
“Happy Birthday Rabbit !”
I would also like to dedicate this video to our dear friend Amar. Considering that female cheerleaders are against our great culture and tradition, I took the pains of finding a video with pure male cheerleaders :
Image Courtesy : Rediff.com
Starting now, instead of the usual WTF quotes of the day or week, I shall annoint deserving candidates as “Dude Of The Week”. The first in this series is the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for his profound analysis of the violence against women in Italy :
Italy’s prime minister has sparked outrage by claiming the prevention of rape in the country’s capital is almost impossible because there are too many beautiful women. ”We’d have to have as many soldiers as there are pretty girls. I don’t think we would manage,” he told reporters.
In light of the recent attacks against women in Mangalore, for people who believe protection of women is a responsibility of the state, may I add that protection of women is almost impossible as there are too many modern women in India.
P.S. : Dude of the Week is the unregistered trademark of the organization I used to work for previously.
