Sach ka Saamna!!

Baring your soul can always be a tricky situation even if its to your soulmate. But to do it on a television show with an audience of a few million watching you takes real guts. The new show on Star Plus, Sach ka Saamna, is an Indian version of the American show "Moment of Truth". Like the American show it puts the contestant in such a tight spot forcing the person to reveal some of the deepest darkest secrets in his/her life. Even while watching the American version of the show I used to always wonder as to what would the motivation be behind allowing your dirty linen to be washed in public and this case it would be practically the whole country. Is it just the money? Or is it the kick of being bold in front of a audience? Sometimes I used to wonder if those people actually came there to enforce a kind of catharsis or even worse put an end to certain relationships. It cant be just the money. Even for a million dollars-and i really mean a million dollars-you could never get me to go on such a show. If I do have something to say to my loved ones it would be like Chandler says on Friends "Thats what deathbeds are for".

The next issue is the "holier than thou" syndrome that most people feel they could not have too many skeletons in the closet because they feel they've lived a clean life...HA! These are exactly the hippocrates who should be put on the show just to prove the point that there is always something that we would not want even the closest people in our lives to know. Something that we would want to take to our grave. And we feel only celebrities have skeletons and dirty linen.

When i used to watch the American show I always told my folks that such a show would never come to India because although we may be as bad as the Americans we would still want to keep things behind closed doors. So I was really surprised that not only was the show launched here but it is as hard hitting as the American one. The really sad part was to see both contestants go home with zero money in their pockets. To put it crudely if you're going to drop your pants you might as well get paid for it :) although I dont think money can be the balm for the hurt cause to friends and family.

Ode to Jackson

It seems people are still coming to terms with Michael Jackson's death. I've been reading quite a few of the well deserved tributes to the King of Pop. But what amazes me is how suddenly all the ridicule and criticism is now in the background and the greatness of the person is now in the limelight. For the past decade of so people have mocked him, accused him of various things and made him the laughing stock of the music world. Yet suddenly everything dissapears the moment he breathes his last.
Its amazing how human beings become so kind to other person after death. Even the most cruel person would get a kind word once he's dead. Wonder if this attitude should be reserved for when people are alive and can appreciate it better. Is it just human nature to long for something after we've lost it? A relationship, a friend, a spouse, relative or parent. Is it so difficult for us to say a kind word of appreciation while they're still in our lives. Maybe then we wouldnt lose them in the first place and even if we should we wouldnt feel so guilty about it.
I dont know the real story behind the facade that MJ carried through his life. All I know is that he was one of the most exciting performers of all time. One of those few artists whose music will stand the test of time and I find myself fortunate to have lived in an era which was witness to his life. The rest of the stuff is between MJ and the Creator!

Climate Change!

I think there's no better example of climate change than whats happening in our very own Mumbai. Those of us who have grown up in this city would remember the horror we faced in the months of July & Aug. Yesterday the heavy rains and minor flooding reminded me of those good old day inspite of the fact that i was stuck in traffic endlessly. And the fact is that I dont even like Mumbai Monsoons all that much except when we're asked to go home early or I'm indoors, dry and cozy. Some years ago I remember this friend of mine who commented on one particularly wet day....he said "why cant it rain only in the catchment areas so that we have no water shortage..or better still rain only in the night so that we can travel in the day without hassles". If only nature were that kind to us. More than anything else I dislike people especially chirpy RJs who talk about romance in the rain when you're getting drenched at Mahim causeway on your way to work.

Anyways coming back to climate change and I'm no scientist of weather expert but its my observation that the monsoon has changed its course over the past few years and so now we have a hot and dry June and a hint of rain in the begining of July. Then maybe one month of pouring rain then again a hot and humid break with intermittent rain which does nothing to keep the temperature down.

Its also my observation that over the past few years we've been praying for rain almost every year now. We implore God to shower the earth when it gets too hot. I wonder if we do this because God doesnt realise that it time to bring down the rain or over the past few years there's not enough rain to go around so he has to ration it and thats why we get it late and not much of it either.

A new begining!

Today I finally succumb to the temptation of being a blogger. The thought of doing something like this has been haunting me for ages but I always thought of it as somewhat of a narcissistic thing to do. Imagine writing something for the whole world to read and actually expecting the people to read and react to what you've written. But I guess somewhere deep down I knew I wanted to do this coz I like to write and am pretty opinionated about stuff that happens in my world so this seems like a good way of letting people know how I feel. I don't know if others do it for the same reason as this but then who cares...this is my personal space and I can jolly well write what I want. So I welcome myself to the club and if anyone should read this post which is highly unlikely please forgive me coz I'm a novice at this and hopefully it'll get better with time.