Author Archives: Vidyuth

How to minimize corruption in India

Posted on by under Politics

 

Looking at the present scams in India reminds me of a quote from Ayn Rand which fittingly describes the current state of affairs

“when you see money flowing to those who deal not in goods but by favors,
    when you see that men get richer by Graft and Pull than by work,
    and the law does not protect you against them but protects them against you,
    when you see corruption is being rewarded and honesty becomes self sacrifice,
     you know your society is doomed “

Let’s not be too pessimistic and look at the brighter side of it, we can see that even in this poor state of affairs our Judiciary and Electoral systems are functioning independently and have restored some credibility but the question is that enough? No certainly not, it’s not practical in any country to approach the courts for day to day issues like obtaining ration card, driving license and we can’t afford to wait for 5 years to vote out a corrupt government or leader.

Moreover corruption or any malpractice is not function of individual person’s or particular political party’s morality, it’s about the system’s loopholes which need a fix. The solutions for these lie in institution building and strengthening our systems which does not allow a bureaucrat, a politician to ask for bribe and for corporate’s to offer bribes.

The solutions for these are obtained by a multi fold approach which includes taking measures in minimizing the dependency of the people on Government based public delivery systems to eliminate corruption faced by common man and bringing strong anti graft laws will ensure transparency at the top level for the big ticket corruption.

So corruption India can be categorized in to two kinds:

1)      Low Level Corruption

2)      High level or big ticket corruption

 Measures to eliminate low level corruption:

Low level corruption means the corruption which a common man faces on a daily bases for obtaining his basic needs like ration card, Passport, License, opening bank account etc. so in order to reduce corruption at this level we need to minimize the interface between the public and the government for these services there by effectively reducing the need for the people to depend on government for these services and as a result of which there is no scope for corruption. To achieve this, the following measures need to be taken:

 1)      Minimizing  the Interface between public and Government

This can be achieved by the use of technology where in every citizen of the country is provided with their identity in the lines of the “Social security number”

in the USA, what this kind of system does is by just giving this number your entire record can be traced and reduces a lot of paper work and empowers many poor people for whom all the paper work for each and every service they require may be overwhelming due to which they depend on that PDS officials.

2)      Empowering consumer with more choice :

More choice can be created by privatizing the many public limited services as privatization creates more choice and results in competition among the different players involved there by empowering the people to choose a company which gives them the best value, take the example of the telecom sector where 10 years ago there was only Government run telephone company was operating it was difficult for people to obtain a new connection where as today when there are so many private operators due to the heavy competition just a phone call is enough to obtain a new connection.

3)      Simpler laws :

In India to start a business or to even build a house there are numerous layers of departments and licenses to be obtained and getting all these done can be a herculean task than the business it self and exploiting these archaic system bureaucrat’s pressure the common man for corruption. Compare this to a system in USA where to build a house all you need to know is a set of guidelines given in a book let and follow them stringently and at the end of your construction there is only one officer who inspects it and approves the house if your house meets the requirements, so if we can replace these archaic laws with simple laws it can reduce corruption to a large extent.

 Measures for Big Ticket corruption:

Big ticket corruption refers to the corruption at top level like the 2G spectrum scam and coal block scam. To eliminate this we need the following measures:

1) Lokpal with Lokayukta law: A strong anti graft law like the lokpal which also includes the lokayukta’s for the states and which is independent of the Government is the need of the hour.

2) Transforming Politics: last but not the least in order to achieve all the measures above we need to transform the way our politics function because the solution to all our problems only lies with politics and for the transformation to happen we need leaders of society to enter politics and we need more active participation of public especially the educated class, middle class and Youth to participate actively and forcefully like we did in the Lokpal movement.

                                                                                                                                                                                   Vidyuth.

Rockstar Review

Posted on by under Movies

Rock star Review: A film with soul but not without flaws

Rock star showcases the journey of Janardhan Jakhard a jat delhi boy who strums his guitar in campus hangot spots , bus tops etc to how he becomes  Jordan a Rockstar who gets everything he dreamt of but yet is frustrated, unhappy and often resorts to violent

Bursts as he is missing his love heer (Nargis Fakhri) separated by Traditions, society and norms and one day dream to go and live in a world which has no good and no bad.

The first 30 mins or so of the film has its Laugh of Loud moments as Janardhan is advised by his friend that one can’t create great music until one’s heart is broken and until one goes through Pain in life, heeding this advice Janardhan sets up to break his heart

By trying for the most sought  after girl Heer in the campus but in the process of doing this both janardhan and heer  become best buddies and this portion of the film once again shows Imtiaz’s core strength to create a crackling chemistry between his leads which is evident in

all his films.

Infact it is Love and Pain which brings out the best music out from Jordan as he  realizes how much he loves heer only after they get separated as heer is married and goes to Prauge. Rock star is essentially a complex love story with music as the backdrop.

What makes this love story interesting however is Imtiaz ali’s screenplay as the story unfolds in a non linear manner moving back and forth multiple times narrated with some Heart thumping music from AR Rahman which reflects the mood of Jordan.

However the film is not without flaws especially in the second hour where it slows down and some scenes looks repetitive and script looks haphazard as some antics of Jordan look little silly and un reasonable. Imtiaz ali is  able but he is not in full command as was the case with

Jab we met, and ultimately the film belongs to Ranbir Kapoor one can’t help but has to become a fan of him after this effortless performance of a complex transformation from Janardhan to Jordan.  Look at the scene where he mocks as if his heart is broken entering the canteen and argues over the chutney for samosa’s, or the way he operates on the stage for the song SADDA HAQ he completely owns the song and makes you believe he is singing the song himself.

One the whole Rockstar is a film with Soul but not without flaws. I will give 3 stars one for IMTIAZ ali, one for Ranbir and one for AR Rahman. It’s kind of film which stays with you even after you leave the hall.

–         Vidyuth.

Solace in Soltitude

Posted on by under General

When I sleep with out an alarm,

when i wander aimlessly while a cool breeze flows through my hair,

when i hear soulfull music which is in rythm to the weather outside and in sync with mood inside,

while i sip my chai infront of a tranquill lake,

while my mind is free of conflicts and has no deadline for time,

while my heart elated for doing nothing,

when i hum songs in soltitude,

I experienced solcace…. Solace in Soltitude.

– vidyuth.

If 100 crore indians were like me then :

Posted on by under General

1) JP sir would be india’s prime minister.

2)there would be no praying to god,hence no religion,no conflicts,no terrorists,more peace and less problems.

3) RGV would have made 10,000 films.

4) The legend of bhagath singh would have been the biggest block buster ever and K3G,Devdas would have been utter flops.

5) no boy would get influenced by a girl’s tears

6)no girl would fall 4 guys who pamper and flatter them.

7) ofcourse rasgulla,biryani,chai pathi,would become scarce.

8)there would be no ornaments,no pets,no cartoons,no beer, no cigerattes, no TV soaps, no greeting cards.

9) ofcourse rasgulla,biryani,chai pathi,would become scarce.

Love is an over rated word!

Posted on by under Philosophy

I see most people around me, my friends, my family and also in countless films there is always talk about LOVE as a pure, selfless emotion and most important thing of life. I am not saying it is not important but I detest it when it is talked about with a sense of reverence and sacredness, As I think  Love is the most Selfish emotion and hence it cannot be pure and the driving point for it to happen is entertainment and it is nothing more than a hobby and operates on the same principles of a business and has to do as much with mind as it is with heart.

 It is a hobby :

The reason why I say the driving point for a relationship is entertainment is because when I ask many of my friends why and when did you start trying for a girl invariably the answer is when they felt they were bored and lonely. So actually what triggers any relationship be it love or friendship with any “one” or for that matter any “thing” is actually boredom and an urge to pass time. If you observe carefully through the racks of society you will find that more love stories are found with people belonging to the Rich and wealthy class than people belonging to lower middle class as rich people tend to have less problems and more time at hand and this results in more number of relationships. Even If there are 40 people in a class  one becomes only friends with may be 5 people because he only enjoys the company of these 5 amongst all the others in other words he is entertained most when he spends time

With these 5 and when he meets a girl of his sensibilities and taste he will find her company more entertaining than these 5 and she takes priority over these 5. Once you start enjoying each other’s company you start meeting more often whenever you find time which is nothing but a hobby and this hobby may turn into attachment which is called love. So any relationship happens only for 3 reasons : 1) Entertainment, 2) need , 3)attachment. Consider a situation where you are idle and feeling bored think  you will think of either watching a movie, playing some game on your mobile or calling up your friend, Now you decide to call or watch a movie purely on what you feel will be more fun at that point time than anything else.

A selfish emotion :

Love is a selfish emotion because when a boy says he loves a girl what he really means is he is gaining pleasure from her face or personality or character or a combination of all three and vice versa, you only love anyone only if you gain pleasure from it and once you stop getting that you will

Eventually break up which means it’s the most selfish emotion. Many people think they are doing a favor by taking care or making a sacrifice for the person whom they love what they don’t realize is they are doing this only because they are internally gaining happiness doing that. So in love if you love some one it is not selfless but selfish emotion and there is nothing wrong about it.

It is similar to a business:

Ayn Rand long back said that “Love is a business in which character is the currency” , you love some one only because you love his virtues, character or achievements etc, and in turn that person is complementing you with same kind of respect, affection etc. Love does not exist without give and take .

Our minds from centuries have been blocked by preaching’s, teachings, films that loving some one is something great which is not and I want to end  this hype.

 

-vidyuth.

Viswaroopam – A brave film but not a gr8 one

Posted on by under Movies

Viswaroopam is a brave film but falls short to be called a great film. the film is a spy thriller with a simple premise of a spy played by Kamal hassan who is on a mission to destroy the  terrorists who plan to explode NY with a kind of a nuclear radiation explosive called “the dirty bomb”.

The film takes off on a very interesting note with a thrilling action episode and dives right into the story without any delay and what works the most in the film is the way the hero’s characterization packed with some surprise elements and well sketched supporting characters around him. The film can boast about its world-class technical appeal and Kamal hasan should be  lauded for executing a 95 crore movie with utmost seriousness and focus on the story line and not compromising it with any commercial trappings.

Having said that this film falls short on two accounts ,first its the pace at which it moves, especially in the portions shot in Afghanistan and secondly a rather dull climax which fails to build any tension or urgency, where it should have been a nail biting, race against time kind of a thriller.

As expected it is Kamal hassan who steals the show and the female lead Pooja kumar who is pitch perfect as a confused and surprised wife who has no clue about her husband’s job and manages to create quite a few laughs.

Viswaroopam is a entertaining enough for once but a tighter script would have made it a great one.

– vidyuth.