Is Delhi ready for the Queen’s baton?

As London sets the stage for the Commonwealth Games baton relay where the Queen will pass on the torch to our First Lady, I cross my fingers.

Come October 2010, and Delhi will be the cynosure of world attention as it hosts the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Since its selection in 2003, Delhi has been gearing up for this mega event. With a sanctioned budget of more than 5000 Crores, we have seen infrastructural improvements in the capital city – neat flyovers, the blessed Metro, the beautiful Akshardham, the much talked about Commonwealth Games Village, commissioning of new buses, widening of roads – we might not be doing the best but we could have been much worse!

This time around, it is not the cynic in me but the proud Delhite that asks the question – Are we there yet? Are we ready? Are we all set? We better be. The last time I visited Delhi (that’s like a month back), the flyovers seemed okay, the residential complex near the Commonweallth Village looked a tad bit incomplete and the Metro project looked derailed from its planned schedule, by quite a measure!

As Pratibha Patil asserted Delhi’s readiness for the games on BBC, I sent out a silent prayer to the one above – “We might be behind schedules, we might be corrupt, we might have slacked off – but God please save the face of 1.2 billion people who are united by their national identity and pride. Let no shortcoming dampen the enthusiasm of the event, let no tragedy mar the spirit of the season, and most importantly, let every visitor and guest experience the spirit that is Delhi - the rich cultural heritage blended with modern amenities, the historical old world charm in the backdrop of a fast-paced urbane city. - Amen”

This is our moment – go Delhi go!

Anne Hathaway Love and Other Drugs

in Love and Other Drugs (Filming) as Maggie Murdock.

Love and Other Drugs is an upcoming 2010 drama film directed by Edward Zwick, based on the novel Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman written by Jamie Reidy. Love and Other Drugs Stars are Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway.

"Love and Other Drugs" Filming on Baum Blvd, Pittsburgh as below:


Principal photography for the film began in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania region in September 2009. The city was chosen for its atmosphere, rich medical history, the state's tax incentive program for film productions, and the area's experienced crews. McCandless, Squirrel Hill, Fox Chapel, Sewickley, Aliquippa, and Brownsville have been used as locations for the film, as well as Mellon Arena, the Omni William Penn Hotel, and Station Square. Pittsburgh doubled as Chicago for some scenes.

Tell about... A salesman competes in the cutthroat world of pharmaceuticals to hawk a male performance enhancement drug. Gyllenhaal's character will play the Pfizer-pusher who meets Anne Hathaway's character during one of his sales calls.

Wait and see...

Anne Hathaway MP3 Downloads

Love Jehad

In an earlier post, I had talked about the complexity and heartache behind a girl changing her name after marriage. However, I realize this could be a much smaller issue, when compared to the ‘love jehad’ or ‘romeo jehad’ talked about in a news snippet here.

Apparently, some groups in Kerala are concertedly working on converting Hindu girls to Islam after they fall in love with Muslim boys.

I can’t even decipher the plethora of emotions that crossed my mind and heart as I read the article. It is not only to do with the status of women in our society even in this day and age; it also has not much to do with questions on will men convert instead; it is about introspecting on our own religion and our own god!

Ofcourse, this is no breaking news to any of us; we all have at some point or the other heard of such conversions in an inter-religion marriage – Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Christian, Christian-Muslim. However, each time I read a story of coerced transition in the name of love and religion, I cringe in fear.

Every religion says one God, every religion says respect the other – If there is one God, and each religion simply sees a different manifestation of the same super power, we are doing a great injustice to our concept of God or the Almighty by forcing one to change his or her religion.

It is unfortunate that how the history of human kind unravels the degenerative association of God with religion, religion with traditions and beliefs, traditions and beliefs with division, division with hatred, and hatred with bloodshed.

Light?

A nagging desire for light

The night has been black, evil almost
The fear of the unknown
Intensifying in the obscurity
Haunting shadows, now apparitions

The promise of the morning beacon
Offers little consolation
If it is not now
It doesn’t really matter when

The question of survival
Lasts only as long as
The darkest vertex
And once that is endured
The shimmer of the break of dawn
No longer warms the soul

The blinding blaze and the
Beaming glow, the piercing
Ebony and the deafening silence
Concatenates into a nebulous halo
Enveloping the consciousness
Of the being that once
Yearned for eternal illumination

The nagging desire for light
Replaced by the strength to
Bear nadirs and zeniths alike

Anne Hathaway Wished To Be A Nun?

She was convinced that serving God was her destiny, after Anne Hathaway got a calling fr/ the almighty "to be a nun" when Anne Hathaway was an 11th years old.

Anne Hathaway grew up Catholic, and thought Anne Hathaway was born to be a nun until Hathaway realised she couldn't support a religion that isn't working in her brother's favour, who Anne Hathaway found out was a homosxual when she was at the age of fifteen ."I was raised Catholic. When I was 11, I felt like I got a calling from God to be a nun," Contactmusic quoted Anne Hathaway, as saying.

"But when I was about 15, I realised my older brother was gay, and I couldn't support a religion that didn't support my brother. Now I call myself a nondenominational Christian, because I haven't found the religion for me," Anne Hathaway added.

Anne Hathaway pics

Anne Hathaway Alice in Wonderland

in Alice in Wonderland (Post-production) as White Queen.

Alice in Wonderland is an upcoming 2010 fantasy film directed by Tim Burton. Alice in Wonderland is an adaptation of the Lewis Carroll novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Alice in Wonderland film will use a technique combining live action and motion capture technology. Mia Wasikowska will play the role of Alice, alongside Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as The Red Queen, and Anne Hathaway as The White Queen.

Alice in Wonderland film is due for release on March 5, 2010 and the film will be released in Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX 3-D, as well as 2-D.

Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. Her character does not require digital manipulation. Hathaway summed up her character with a caption on a magnet of Happy Bunny holding a knife; "Cute but psycho. Things even out." Anne Hathaway's character also doesn't walk, she floats. Anne Hathaway's very eccentric and overly dramatic, just as mad in her way as the Hatter.

Wait...
and...
See...

:)

Anne Hathaway MP3 Downloads

Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland

Harvey Weinstein has optioned Get Happy and will produce a stage show and film based on biography of entertainer Judy Garland. Both are slated to star Anne Hathaway; to date no other creative personnel have been named. Anne Hathaway 'll plays in Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland as Judy Garland.

Anne Hathaway 'll play the iconic performer based on the biography Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland. The novel, written by Gerald Clarke, includes hundreds of interviews and Garland’s own writing from an unpublished autobiography. The productions 'll chronicle the early years as a child actress to her battle with addiction to her accidental drug overdose in 1969.

According to the trades, the Weinstein Company isn’t sure which will come first, the play or the movie. Hathaway will likely be singing in it (since after all it is Judy Garland) and showed she could belt out the notes at this year’s Oscar telecast alongside Hugh Jackman.

A Look Behind The Scenes Of Life With Judy Garland

SOS – Our hill stations need a savior!

A kumaoni by birth, I have been very proud of my “native” land – the hills of Uttarakhand (formerly, Uttaranchal, and before that a part of the state of Uttar Pradesh). Most of our vacations during my growing up years were spent visiting breathtaking valleys and mountainous ranges of Nainital, Bhimtal, Almora, Pithoragarh and Lohaghat – the lesser known but much more beautiful cousins of the more popular – Mussorie and Dehradun.

This time around I visited the hills after a gap of 5 years. The journey was as always arduous and my affinity to mountain sickness does not help matters. But forget that. Dad took a less-traveled route to Almora – our chosen destination - and it was undoubtedly one of the most scenic drives I have ever taken. The long winding roads wrapped around the mountains with royal pines spread out till as far as the eye can see, and the mist rising softly as if from below the mountains – heaven is here.

But before I could completely lose myself in the picturesque view that enveloped us, the driver screeched rudely at our first halt.

Rickety shops lined along the road serving food that has never known the word hygiene. Sanitation is at its worst. No, you don’t want a description of the restrooms.

We tried to drown the ugly reality in the beauty of nature and reached Almora - a town that has not changed with the passage of time. I do not know if I mean this as an appreciation. Almora still does not have a drainage and sewage system. The vehicles have increased but the roads have deteriorated.

Move to Nainital – all that is good about the place is what the colonial rule bequeathed on us. We have barely been able to maintain the infrastructure developed by the British more than 200 years ago. The number of people visiting these places has multiplied manifold, and the “mall” road has become a mess of smoke and noise.

What makes me so bitter at the state of affairs is that nothing is being done, nobody is bothered. What should not change – the weather, the majesty of nature, the peace and solitude of the place – is changing thanks to global warming, unchecked pollution and total disregard for our natural heritages; And what should change – the infrastructure, roads, education of the local population, sanitation – is not changing.

It is a frustrating experience seeing these places that offer hope for retreat and sanity in a world that’s maddeningly complicated, simply fade away their charm and glory.

However, I must mention that Bhimtal is a few notches better than the other two places. There is a serenity in the place that is intoxicating. So maybe next summer, you could plan a trip to Bhimtal to beat the heat. Leaving you with a picture of the calm and placid waters.