Have you got ten minutes for your country?

Some food for thought…
"Got ten minutes for your country?"
- Speech by Dr. Abdul Kalam
The President of India DR. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam's Speech in Hyderabad:
Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are
Such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge
Them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit.
There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and
failures and disasters.
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks
and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the
newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into
an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of
killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.
In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE?
Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.
Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything
imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?
I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I
asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you
and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed
nation; it is a highly developed nation.
Do you have 10 minutes?
Allow me to come back with a vengeance.
Got 10 minutes for your country?
If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke.
The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS.
Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In
Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of
their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 300) to drive through Orchard Road
(equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to
the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping
mall irrespective of your status identity... In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU?
YOU wouldn’t dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out
without your head-covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone
exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to,see to it that my STD and ISD calls are
billed to someone else.' YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington
and then tell the traffic cop, ‘Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and
so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell
anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo?
Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston???
We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in
other countries but cannot do it in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the
road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in
an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?
Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar, had a
point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all
over the place!' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the
authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down
with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same is in Japan. Will
the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right.
We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back
wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution
is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking
garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick an up a stray piece of paper and throw
it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bath rooms, but we are not going to learn the
proper use of bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not
going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to
pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to
women, dowry, girl-child and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to
do the reverse at home.
Our excuse?
'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a
dowry.' So who's going to change the system?
What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other
households, other cities, other communities and the government. But, definitely not me and YOU.
When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along
with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a
Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the
country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their
system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences
unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to
be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the
country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.
Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls fo ra great deal of introspection and
pricks one’s conscience too....I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to
relate to Indians.....
'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE
INDIA HAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'
Let’s do what India needs from us.
Thank you,
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalaam

Mile sur mera tumhara...Doordarshan

DOORDARSHAN- DOWN MEMORY LANE

Yes, I know this site is for cinema only, but Doordarshan is the birth place of some of the today’s successful personalities of Indian cinema so … Let myself be 10 years old and get back to late 80s and early 90s- the era of Doordarshan. The one and only daily entertainment dose of every Indian.
Let’s check out some goods and bads of Doordarshan and our memory power.

Most of the serials were of 13 episodes and so people were associated with character for 2-3 months and it made more concentrated and sensible serials.

- Ramayan and Mahabharat- how can we mention doordarshan without Ramayan and Mahabharat? Literally there was Curfew like situation on Sunday mornings when these two epics were telecasted. These serials made life of Arun Govil (Ram), Mukesh Khanna (Bhisma), Punit issar (duryodhan), Rupa Ganguli (Draupadi) , Dipilka(Sita) etc.. Though technically poor, these two serials created mass histeria for TV selling. People used to do pooja of TV before starting of these serials. Harish Bhimani’s voice as “main samay hoon” made great impact in Mahabharat. I liked Dara singh as Hanuman very much.
- Malgudi Days- this serial needs a separate post. Based on R K Narayan’s book, made by Shankar Naag , this serial is the best of all time serials I have ever seen. and the title theme –“taana na taana na na” I can remember it today also with R K Laxman’s sketches.
- Udaan- based on Kiran Bedi’s life, Kavita chaudhary was lead actress and serial was quite popular. Story of a girl’s journey to become an IPS officer.
- Daane Anaar Ke – one middle class family wins lottery and how behaviour of family and people related with them changes – a nice story. I can recall only Neena gupta. Perhaps Gulzar wrote the title song ”kissa hai kahaani hai paheli hai”
- Mirza Ghalib- Jab Gulzar, Jagjit singh and Naseeruddn shah saath me ho to poochna hi kya?. I was too immature to understand this serial. So not much memory associated with this serial.
- Humlog, Buniyaad- I was too small at that time, can’t remember much except Dada Moni’s speech at the end of every episode.
- Nukkad- Dilip Dhawan, khopdi, and other popular actors born with this serial. Directed by Aziz mirza this serial was quite populat at that time.
- Cartoons- Ducktales, Telespin after Chanakya at 10:30 these two cartoons were telecasted. I can recall Uncle screwz only.
- Junglebook -I can recall some characters Mowglee, Bagira, Sherkhan. Sherekhan’s voice was given by Nana Patekar and music was given by today’s genius director Vishal Bhardwaj and lyrics was by Gulzaar saab. Remember that amar song ”jungle jungle baat chali hai pataa chala hai, chaddi pehen ke phool khila hai..” Akira Kurosawa’s name was also there in titles. Don’t for what purpose.
- Stoneboy- Master Ankur was as stone boy and was living on hills and a group of students goes for picnic and then bring stone boy with them
- Sigma- a sci-fi serial based on space and space shuttles.
- Chandrakanta- started very well but lost interest after introduction of too many characters and complicated story. Shahbaaz khan and Shikha swaroop was lead actors. I can recall two names of cities”Naugadh and Vijay gadh. But serial gave fame to Kroor Singh played by Akhilendra Mishra.
- Chanakya- a truly classic serial by Dr. Chandraparakash Dwivdi (director of “Pinjar”) also made life of Pamod moutho(Villain of “Khalnayak”)
- Vikram Vetaal – again technically poor serial by Ramanad Sagar before Ramayan. But I liked lot as a child. Arun Govil played role of king Vikram
- Vyomkesh Bakshi – The best detective serial I have ever seen. Rajat kapoor( Gandhiji in Making of mahatama and seen in almost every film of Shyam Benegal like zubeida, Suraj ka saatvan ghoda, Sardar Begam) was as Vyomkesh bakshi in dhoti and kurta and K K Raina as his assistant – much much better than today’s CID.
- Talaash- This serial was based on the search of some person. Can’t remember much. But main actor was Alok Naath and directed by great Hrishikesh Mukerjee.
- Rangoli- countless Sunday mornings started with Rangoli. no song was repeated.
- Tenaliraman- Birbal of south India - played by Vijay Kashyap, had pure entertainment.
- Phir wohi talaash- directed by Lekh tendon. I can recall only Madan Jain (one of the character in Ankush) and Nilima Azim (Shahid kapur’s mother). The story was a small town boy comes to metro and falls in love with a rich and sophisticated girl. Virendra Saxena played father of Madan Jain.
- Muzrim Haajir- Nutan was lead actress and Virendra singh and Navani parihaar was introduced in this serial. serial had Bengali background and I can remember “goon goona, goon goona, goon goona re goon goona”
- Nupur- directed by Hema malini and lead actor was Sudesh Berry and had background of classical dance and music.
- Circus- when shahrukh khan was top star of TV he did this serial with Renuka Shahane. I think it was directed by Aziz Mirza. Also had lots of actors of Nukkad.
- Tipu sultan- this serial created lots of hype before its telecast and sanjay khan invested lots of money and hard work in it. Shahbaaz Khan became quite popular as Hyder Ali which bagged him a film as a hero “Naachne waale Gaane waale” directed by B. Subhash with Kadarkhan, Shakri kapoor and Shiba.
- Vishwamitra- created lots of hype as this was second serial of Mukesh khanna after Mahabharat. Bhanupriya played role of Urvashi.
- Kille ka rahasya- don’t recall much, but I used to close my eyes when a big Punja was coming closer to camera.
- 1234- a child detective serial. Can remember the song” ek do teen char, chro mikar saath chale to karde chamatkar”
- Lok lok ki baatein, Katha saagar- serials based on different stories by different writers.
- Sauda- made by B.R. chopra and story was associated with freedom movement. Can remember its title song” yeh zindagi hai ek sauda”
- Chitrahaar- evey Wednesday and Friday at 8’0 clock with dinner.
- Karamchand- Pankaj kapoor as karamchand (with carrot) and Sushmita mukerjee as kitty. directed by Pankaj Parashur.
- Jugalbandhi- after the success of karamchand this serial was started. One of the detective was Radha Sheth and other male detective can’t remember.
- Fauji- First serial of SRK which made him quite popular on TV.
- Tamash- directed by Govind Nihalani, the serial had huge starcast like ompuri, amrishpuri, deepa sahi etc. created some controvery also.
- Manzil apni apni- lead actors were Mohan bhandari and Radha sheth. a young man goes to a village to make it a better place.
- Fatichar- Pankaj Kapur as fatichar. First time I saw people leaving in huge govt. water pipes. It was humorous light comedy serial.
- Mrignayani- the story was- a king attracted by beauty of a girl. Amol palekar directed this serial and Pallavi Joshi was lead actress.
- Humraahi – this serial gave fame to Writer Manohar shyaam joshi and Himani Shivpuri. First serial having external marital affairs.
- Surbhi – first interesting and entertaining information based programme. Renuka Sahane was introduced in surbhi. Sidhdharth Kak and Renuka both were host in this programme. Renuka’s hair cut and colgate smile were quite popular. This programme created question and answer contest first time on TV.
- Guniram- story of a villager who comes to city and makes mistakes every day. Rakesh bedi played role of Guniram.
- Mr. Yogi- an NRI comes to India in search of his bride. His meeting with different girls with different backgrounds and then comedy emerges. Mohan Gokhle was Mr. Yogi and director was Ketan Mehta. I can’t forget the last episode where ice-cream was throwing in the party.
- Mungerilal ke haseen sapne- talented Raghuvir Yaadav as Mungherilal used to see dreams of a person whichever attracts him. Perhaps director was Prakash Jha.
- Kakkaji kaheen- Om puri was kakkaji. A comedy serial and kakkaji was used to laugh at the end of every sentence.
- Bharat ek khoh-based on Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru’s book “Discovery of India, directed by Shyam Benegal. I can’t recall much because serial was too heavy and I am not at that level that digest this kind of serial. In one episode Aloknath played role of Swami Vivekanand.
- Lekhu- Lekhu (mohan gokhle) is villager with tremendous talent and was used by a professor ( I think aloknath)
- Deviji- starring Annu kapoor and swaroop sampat- telecasted in afternoon.

Then there was lots of serials like Ekkai dahai sekda, Nirmala, Gaurav, Param veer chakra, Lahun ke phool, Intezaar, Dil Dariyaa, Honee Anhonee….. which were quite popular.

remember some video songs like
- Mile sur mera tumhara- almost every day this song was shown. I saw it only for the scene where AB, Jeetendra and Mithun was shown together.
- Sun sun mere nanhe sun- a video directed by subhash ghai at time of 1992 riots. It had Jackie shroff, Rajnikanth, chiranjeevi and bunch of starts popular at that time.

And at last some irritating things on doordarshan…
- The boards- “Rookavat ke liye khed hai.”
- Same old faces in the news every day. I remember some of the names like Shammy Narang , Sarla Maheswari, Salma Sultan..
- Nritya ka Akhil Bhartiya Karyakram
- Focus- a discussion programme in English based on current issues - I never seen it’s any episode but after some popular serial it was telecasted so I knew it.

So that was my memories related with Doordarshan.- after Star TV and Zee tv came in 1992, Indian people hungry for entertainment turned to cable tv channels and I was one of them.

(from http://passionforcinema.com/doordarshan-down-memory-lane/#comment-30525 with thanks)

GOD AND FAITH

What is the Solution?

I have a friend who is Islamic. He's an artist, and a fine one.

Behind the Veil
9B, 2B, HB, 4H mechanical pencils
Fabriano Tecnico 6 paper
A4 size

He presents me with the following arguement, and I have no answer. Do you? I do see premises that are too convoluted for me to untangle. I do see that faith vs reason is the crux of the dilemma. But his argument is so funny I just give up in laughter. I'm sure there's a solution.


An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty.

He asks one of his new Muslim students to stand and.....

Professor: You are a Muslim, aren't you, son?

Student : Yes, sir.

Prof: So you believe in God?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Prof: Is God good?

Student : Sure.

Prof: Is God all-powerful?

Student : Yes.

Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him.
Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't.
How is this God good then? Hmm?

(Student is silent.)

Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?

Student :Yes.

Prof: Is Satan good?

Student : No.

Prof: Where does Satan come from?

Student : From...God...

Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Prof: So who created evil?

(Student does not answer.)

Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?
All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?

Student :Yes, sir.

Prof: So, who created them?

(Student has no answer.)

Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the
world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?

Student: No, sir.

Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Student : No , sir.

Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God?
Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.

Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says
your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Prof: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Prof: Yes.

Student : No sir. There isn't.

(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat,
white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have anything called cold.
We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go
any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we
use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold.
Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?

Student : You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something.
You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light....But if you
have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it?
In reality, darkness isn't. If it were you would be able to make darkness
darker, wouldn't you?

Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality.
You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God.
You are viewing the concept of God as something finite,
something we can measure.
Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism,
but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as
the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a
substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it.
Now tell me, Professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a
monkey?

Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the
argument is going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and
cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavour, are you not
teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class is in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor's brain?

(The class breaks out into laughter.)

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's brain, felt it,
touched or smelt it?.....No one appears to have done so.
So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable
protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir.
With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face
unfathomable.)

Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir.. The link between man & god is FAITH.
That is all that keeps things moving & alive.


(Images found on the web.)