spending and us

I read about the effect of spending on america's economy in some reports few months ago. Has been fascinated by that ever since. The point conveyed is that, americans spend a good part of what they earn and that helps the economy to thrive well. The money keeps moving, and does not end up as savings of stingy people :). How good are we in spending. I don't know that, but they say we are a little stingy. I am more interested in the way we spend. Those decisions can be taken in three ways. One, we go for the best things we can afford. That's a good one and the most natural one, but here we should be ready to invest some thoughts to find out the real best buys. We should not be just guided by the ad money pumped in or the brand names. Two, our hearts guide us. A good example is we may buy from a shop which has served us for long, even though we know that we will get better things from a new shop. This ones got a nice charm, but could be frustrating sometimes. Good for the people who are not picky, and ardently followed by people who cant break bonds of loyalty, and who are kind hearted. Kind heart comes in situation like, we buy stuff from the shop which is losing to the competition due to poor service. The third one is interesting. Politically correct shopping. If i am a commie, i chose a shop run by co-operative rather than a monopolistic shop chain. If i am desi vadi, i go for the locally made tv, instead of a sony. Somebody boycotts some products saying that the manufacturers are not treating their employees well. The third one is fun actually :). I am mostly into second category, and am moving to the first. But i make a bad first type, since i am not good at judging products. Ideally, everyone should filter the options using his third group laws, use a little heart and be a top of the class first group follower. Also spend a lot.

buns missed

Saw the prequel of "Wayward Cloud", titled "what time is it there". Liked it and will blog about it. In both the movies the hero shows his buns(while heroine is pretty decently dressed). And funny thing, today morning in hyderabad times i see that Aamir khan rejected the role offered by Tsai ming-liang in his movie after wayward cloud. So girls, you missed a possible chance to watch Aamir's buns :)
I remember the last time i told a girl about missed buns, and got a very hard stare in return :).

dowry woes

My friend is getting married. I have been shopping with him for lot of stuff for the past few weeks, since he is bad with the local language(hindi), and there is a lot of shopping to be done for the new house. At one point when we were shopping for the house, i learned that money for all these things is going to come from the brides house. I think of that as weird, and insulting. But its so ingrained in his society, that if he refuses the offer, the brides family will take that as an insult. Hes also not very happy with this, not because hes finding it insulting or weird, but as he has to be a little conservative with his purchases when someone else is going to get the bill. I hope that some of these guys take strong positions and break these funny customs.

female infanticide/foeticide

The bad news, and also some rays of hope. The study done by Lancet journal, is being challenged by some groups now, including IMA. They say that the report does not take into consideration, the judgment passed by SC, banning sex selective abortions. IMA(which can and is trying to make a difference by asking the doctors to stop being aids in foeticide) may say stuff like that out of the air, while Lancet, a reputed medical journal, did their homework, by analyzing the fertility figures of 6 million people, to make this report. The researchers say that the girl deficit does not vary according to religion, which is an interesting find, as i had this belief that, muslims who see children as gifts of god, can be counted out. Also it seems that the practice is more rampant among the more prosperous people(study says educated). Like this report from ndtv talks about poor female sex ratio in mandya and maddur which are very prosperous areas in Karnataka. It pains me specially, since i am emotionally attached to mandya, just from the impression that it gives when i pass that town every time i go home by bus. Nice old world buildings, girl students roaming around in cycles, more clean than other towns in the route etc... I will turn my face away the next time.

I remember seeing the movie, Mathrubhoomi- A nation without women, about the future of places where women are being selectively killed, and the incidents depicted in there like one in which, the only woman in the area is chained in the cattle shed, so that she wont escape doesn't look like the future any more. Check the news. They talk about a girl being sold as a bride and kept in chains when she tried to escape.

The rays of hope is linked to news about some religious leaders campaigning to spread awareness against female foeticide. I think it may work good in rural areas, and for the urban we have the soap opera, atmajaa. Nice efforts i should say.

La Seperation

This is one movie, at the end of which i lead the applause. I knew the crowd is not going to applaud, and i thought the movie deserved one. With right timing i started clapping and voila the crowd joined in a short but loud round of clapping.

The movie starts with Pierre the guy telling us about his decision to film his few month old kids activities, like a diary and we see the kid through the guys camera eyes. I liked Pierre, middle aged but handsome, riding a motor bike in paris, cool looks, and his real good acting in the role. I couldn't imagine the actor out of the role. We move forward to see that Pierre is having problems with Anne. He know that from the fact that she has stopped quarrelling with him any more, and is rejecting his emotional advances. Later in a scene we see that Pierre has some little irritable habits like expecting silly things from Anne, and shouting at her if shes no sport for that. We see that when he asks her to manage a kite when they go for a vacation. We see that the little issues has grown into big ones when Anne announces that shes in love with some one else.

Pierre is devastated. The movie mostly follows Pierre and Anne comes in only when Pierre talks to her. The cold hearted way in which Anne announces that shes in love with someone was kinda shocking. She says that the other guy listens to her more, but we don't see why Pierre is not listening to her. Then there are these tussles with words and little actions like a Pierre pushing off Anne when Anne sends their little kid off to her mothers place and uninformed Pierre runs around mad looking for him. The tussles with words, were so craftily shown, that we see the tension mounting, with each one insinuating the other, but we are not able to find fault in anyone's side. But as i said, the movie was with Pierre, I never felt anything for Anne. Since they are not married legally Anne can keep the baby totally to herself, and this news devastates Pierre. We see this scene where Pierre walks to Annes mothers house and watches his kid through their mail door. Its touching. And I wondered whether paris is a pretty village or a big city. At the end we see Pierre deciding to leave the house, and let Anne and the kid stay there. The only condition is that Annes lover should not come to the house and take Pierres position for the kid. And interestingly Anne says that her affair is over. I don't know what she was expecting, but Pierre walks away, and we see him walking down the road as a less sane fellow, confused about the directions.

Pierre towards the end shows quite too much sanity, as he worries less about his lost love, but more about his dreams to be a nice father to his lovely kid. Like why should he cry for the woman who rejected his love.

Article on what american invasion is doing to womens rights in Iraq. Dirty war shows a dirty face every day after the war.

Lone monkeys first day of the year

        Driving range. Bored and irritated me waiting for my chance to try the H. A girl taking nasty long time to understand the H. And just before my chance comes, the gas cylinder runs out. And it seems there is no alternate petrol reserve also. I watch the instructor and some support person, trying to suck out petrol out of the cars rubber tubes using their mouths. They try and try until the battery runs out. The inner me trying to tell the outer me, that things are still not bad, as i could watch the nice looking tiled buildings around. As the last resort we all started pushing the vehicle to a good speed and putting it on gear to start it. We all felt the spirit of the kekexili patrol men as we raced the very heavy maruthi 800 to an explosive speed :) just to hear the thud response. Atlast someone finds out that even when the petrol tank is full, no fuel is coming out of the tank outlet.
        I started thinking how good the year is going to be if it started like this. Walking away i see this huge collection of plants on sale. For better luck i bought a nice little plant with big white flower.
        Me wandering around like a lone monkey, looking for a polythene cover to hold the plant properly. I found a chinese restaurant instead. The waiter was a tall fellow, with a tight stomach, and very prominent ass, and he had a very sharp nose, the image fitting waiters picturized in old mallu literary magazines. I took the clue, and searched for the total image. The restaurant was a display of my future. Me with a chubby girlfriend on one table. Me with wife and two kids in two other tables(options are pretty wife and two very sweet looking girls with pony tails and ugly wife with a nasty boy and a sweet girl). Me and my wife with my son and his wife at another table(that was a nice picture). Very old me and my very old wife with a sweet grandson in another table(not a very happy picture). I felt my happiness reserves going down in moments, offcourse, when your whole life is flashing in front of you. I wished i had a gadget with which i can take some happiness from a friend. And surprisingly found the exact gadget in my pocket. 5 minutes and happiness back to full. Fried noodles and wanton chicken came in very big bowls. The noodles scalded my hungry tongue. In between i saw the bunch of hot girls(notice the one with big breasts wearing the red top) moving into the picture, but since all the tables were occupied, the bloody waiter ruthlessly expelled them. I couldnt handle it anymore, i stopped eating, packed the leftovers, got an extra cover to pack my flower pot, paid the bill and ran out like the lone monkey.