IIFA awards and Sri Lanka.

The International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards, this year, were held in Sri Lanka. All south Indian film associations decided to boycott it “in deference to Tamil sentiments”. That’s not all:

However, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan’s participation in IIFA has evoked strong protests from the Tamil film industry.

Many Bollywood A-listers including Arjun Rampal are also giving the event a miss. Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, who were a regular at IIFA, will not be attending the three-day event as they are busy in promoting ‘Raavan’.

Let’s leave aside the debate of whether Arjun Rampal and Abhishek Bachchan are A-listers. I welcome this move of south Indian film associations to refuse to step into a nation that conducted atrocities against its people. That’s called being principled.

Now if I could get a date when they’re moving out of India ..

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Recently, writer Amitav Ghosh was honoured by an Israeli university. The British press called for him to refuse it. He then wrote a reply, which is a great read.

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In the IIFA case, had it been a Sri Lankan government award, the argument would atleast be slightly more reasonable that it is now. Slightly.

Talkers vs performers.

For some reason, I seem to have a strong dislike for talkers, especially in cricket, who inevitably end up underperforming. Apart from the Aussies at the peak of their form in Test cricket, I haven’t really seen anyone live upto their spoken word.

The latest to talk is Hershelle Gibbs, who came up with quite a bizzare statement :

South African cricket team coach Mickey Arthur has said that opener Herschelle Gibbs will unveil two new shots in the final stages of the World Twenty20.

His score in the semis reads :

HH Gibbs b Shahid Afridi  5 (R) 3(M) 4(B) 1(4′s) 0(6′s) 125.00

Okay, technically, it was Gibbs who said it, but you get the idea. Do you know of any counter examples, apart from the Aussies ?

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Pakistan literally stormed into the finals, thanks to a brilliant, all-round performance by 18-year old Shahid Afridi. Honestly, I have seen few players who can match his level of passion. When combined with talent and luck, this can be lethal.

That said, I am happy for Pakistan who have made it to the finals second time in a row. They are most likely to meet Sri Lanka in the finals, although it could just as easily be West Indies.

Quite a first this is, but I hope Pakistan wins the Twenty20 world cup. In the simplest words, they need and want it more than anyone else. I deliberately kept deserve away from the previous sentence, as Twenty20 is anything but fair.

War in Lanka ending.

After news reports that the Sri Lankan army was within 8 sq. km., 4 sq. km., 3.8 sq. km. and 800 metres of Prabhakaran, an elated Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today announced that the army was just 1 sq. metre away from Prabhakaran. When reporters pointed out that it did not make sense and wondered why he still wasn’t captured, he replied, “We are very concerned about civilians and want to clear the area before capturing him”.

He ended the press conference with “We are very close to winning the war“, and is now just 3 statements away from the world record for this line. The record is currently held by George W. Bush; who is still confused why it doesn’t play on his gramophone.

In India, this news has enraged a helpless DMK which has threatened to pull out of the government, strange since they are no longer a part of the government. When this was brought to his notice, Karunanidhi snapped back with, “Then I’ll pull out support from my government in Tamil Nadu”. In a show of immediate solidarity, he also joined the LTTE Fan Club on Facebook and poked Manmohan Singh for not interfering in the war.

J. Jayalalitha was unavailable for comment; she had food in her mouth.

Noted columnist Cho Ramaswamy stated again, “There is no sympathy for the LTTE in Tamil Nadu”. In fact, if for every time he said this he lost a hair, that would explain why he is bald.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who was contacted for no apparent reason as it does not concern him, reacted quickly at this latest development and immediately called Obama to convey that Prabhakaran was in fact in Swat Valley and that he would need some more pocket money, drones and a date with Sarah Palin pronto.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated news, fans of Lost, who have pretty much lost it with all the time-travels and paradoxes, are quite convinced that Prabhakaran is Jacob after all. They are hoping Prabhakaran will be caught in the season finale coming up in two weeks.

Disclaimer : None of this stuff has happened, atleast until now.

Dudette of the week.

Just days after I predicted no female was good enough for Dudette of the Week title, Miss J. Jayalalithaa proves me wrong. And how :

“If a (party or alliance) that heeds our demands comes to power at the centre, I assure you that I shall take steps to create a Tamil Eelam in the same way as Indira Gandhi liberated Bangladesh,” she said at an election rally in Vellore.

And then you’ll go home, have a sumptuous meal, then another meal, sit back on your chair, take up a book on the Bangladesh war and realize that it was in fact very different.

The former Tamil Nadu chief minister also accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of turning India into a “banana republic” by aligning with the US.

The biggest problem with being a banana republic is not that there would be anarchy. I am scared that Miss Jaya. would have it for breakfast.

Tame the Tigers.

Shekhar Gupta writes a piece “Shed no tears for the Tigers” about the ongoing confrontation between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE with civilians bearing the brunt, as they are the easiest route to international attention for the LTTE.

Yogeswaran and his wife Sarojini, Padmanabha and Yogasankari, Sam Thambimuthu and P. Joseph, all elected MPs from Tamil territories, all as Tamil as Prabhakaran or Vaiko or Karunanidhi, were assassinated by the LTTE for the same crime: questing for peace. Joseph, a most loveable man who wouldn’t harm an insect, was shot during Christmas mass in his native Batticaloa in 2005. There was nothing Prabhakaran hated more than peacemakers. They created dissonance, disruption in a world of murder and deceit. He was, indeed, macho, arrogant, irrational, fascist. If you don’t bow to me, I will send a teenager, a child, maybe a woman, with a bomb-belt, to embrace you.

Shekhar Gupta identifies the ideology of the LTTE perfectly. For those who don’t know, the LTTE is also credited for being, if not the inventors, the most effective deployers of suicide attacks, quite possibly the deadliest form of offensive any victim can expect. It shows a clear lack of respect for human life. 

For an organization that credits itself as being the sole fighters for the Tamil language, one would expect atleast a wee bit of change in their strategy after Tamil was adopted as an official language by Sri Lanka in 1987 and a change in the attitude of the Sinhala leadership in recent times, causes that can be safely considered to be the origin of the Civil War. Unfortunately, the LTTE knows just one thing and that is what they will do until crushed.

There was a recent report of a pro-LTTE website citing Sonia Gandhi as the prime villian in the current war as she has not done enough to stop the Sri Lankan offensive. A similar campaign was launched against Rajiv Gandhi that eventually led to his assassination. Again goes to prove that they just shift targets that enables them to do what they do best. Kill.

Stuck in between is the Tamil minority, who cannot condone the LTTE but also want to condemn the state. Their fault being handing over the reigns of the struggle to a dubious organization. This is something we in India can identify with quite easily and learn from, Be it the organization that claims to represent a subdued majority or the parties that represent regional pride; their causes might be fair, but it is best to not hand over the responsibility to them. For every incorrect way to achieve something, there is an easier correct path. An example I often cite : For parties that claim to stand for local people and pride, how much exactly are they doing to promote local culture and population.

Lastly, only someone with no inkling of the origins of the Civil War in Sri Lanka or deliberate ignorance for petty gains will voice support for the LTTE, specimens you will find aplenty in the Tamil Nadu political arena. 

So when I hear Karunanidhi claiming Prabhakaran is a friend, all I can think of is a line by another retarded character Forrest Gump : Stupid is as stupid does.

Dude of the week.

Unknown to most Indians, a worthy leader has achieved the record for the fastest indefinite hunger strike in history for an even worthier cause.

The leader in question, who incidentally is also the Dude of this week, is Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who went on a hunger strike for 6 ….. hours.

In a sudden move, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi drove to the Anna Samadhi at 5.50 am on Monday and went on an indefinite fast, which he later called off past noon.

“Due to heavy pressure by the UPA government, the Sri Lankan security council met today and has decided to stop all offensive operations. Now the Lankan army will be used only for humanitarian purposes. The fast ends now, come and celebrate with me,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan President claims that only hostages are being freed and the operation against the LTTE would continue.

With this development, can we please urge Mr. Karunanidhi to resume the fast ?

The whole reaction of the political arena in Tamil Nadu to the Sri Lankan crisis has been a big joke, and by that definition, the aforementioned leader emerges as the biggest joker. I am more interested in finding how many people actually buy into the phony arguments and sentiments of the DMK and AIADMK. Not to forget that open condoning of the LTTE and Prabhakaran should ideally invite legal action.

The Sri Lankan crisis is, at this moment, a humanitarian crisis. The LTTE, while fighting for a cause (which might be worthy or not is not the point), had become a nuisance for the entire South Asia and every country has a right to get rid of its troublemakers; the fact that we do not do it is no ground for expecting the same from others.

If the Dalai Lama is still treated as a guest of India, it is for a reason. I quite hope any government stops pandering to the needs of political jokers; unfortunately, it is election time so I cannot blame the government either.

Which brings me to the earlier question.

How many people in Tamil Nadu actually care about the Lankan crisis over their already troubled lives with an economic depression that is looming overhead ? The answer can be found in this recent article and isn’t too unexpected.

Lahore Attacks.

By now you should know that the Sri Lankan team was attacked yesterday unless you are living in a hole or studying at grad school.

I agree with all the condemnation and myself condemn it (if it makes a difference), but why is everyone claiming that sportsmen shouldn’t have been attacked ? Would you rather have the terrorists to go after you, the common man ?

Meanwhile, Mr. Zaid Hamid has been spot on in claiming even before the last bullet was fired that India and RAW were behind the attacks (note the header on this blog, I am not responsible if you fall off your chair laughing). Incidentally, he had also blamed RAW a few days ago when he was in the loo and ran out of toilet paper. For all you Zaid Hamid haters, all I have to show is this video of some traitor Pakistani who has brilliantly mimicked Mr. Hamid (video here and here).

When asked by an Indian news anchor the customary question about how he was feeling, Javed Miandad was audibly upset (it was a telephone conversation you see) as he replied, and I quote, “This is the very incident is the the the unfortunate the for Pakistani cricket”.

A few seconds later, when Imran Khan was asked about his supposed personal guarantee that the terrorists would not attack cricketers, all he had to say was “Hah ! And I never tampered a ball too”.

P.S. : In all seriousness, what the heck did the Sri Lankan cricket board want to prove by visiting Pakistan when both India and Australia had backed out due to security concerns ?

Imran Khan link serparately by Rahul T.

Quote of the day.

Comes from the Tamil Nadu CPI spokesperson Mahendran, on the subject of the recent crackdown on LTTE by the Sri-Lankan army :

LTTE has a long history. They did a mistake and now they are realizing it. They are just demanding a separate state.

Not sure why India is fighting in Kashmir then.

And another one-of-those empty threats from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi :

If Sri Lanka continues to ignore the warnings of the Central Government, then we will be forced to think whether we need this Government (UPA).

By that twisted logic, if the UPA government continues to ignore the threatens of Karunanidhi, he should be forced to think about resigning himself. And threatening to bring down a government to support the cause of an organization that has been proscribed as a terrorist group by 31 countries, including India ?