Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Gun Control in the USA vis-a-vis India

One thing which is still commendable about India is that it has strict laws regarding the usage of armed weapons. Imagine if everybody had a right to own guns, the crime graph would jump multi-fold. You can buy a gun freely in USA as it is available everywhere just like you go to buy your toothpaste in India. Statistics reveal that almost 50% of the households own a gun. Check out this link (http://www.justfacts.com/issues.guncontrol.asp) for more statistics and facts about the consequences of poor gun control laws. How many of you have heard about school shootings in India? In the USA, it is regular occurence for children to carry firearms to school. The need of the hour is to enact strict laws on usage and ownership of weapons to avoid the Columbine school massacre in 1999 or the more recent Virginia Tech incident wherein a South Korean student shot dead 33 people and killed himself. Only the armed forces and the police should have access to weapons and that too only during official duty. However, this is near to impossible in USA where the anti-gun control lobby is arguably the most powerful after the tobacco lobby. Their stand is "Guns don't kill people, only humans do". In such a scenario it is impossible to enact such strict laws. India is a step ahead in this matter and getting a licence for firearms is near to impossible unless you are a big-shot minister, actor, businessman or a "reformed" gangster. Hope we do not see a Virginia Tech-like situation in India in the distant future too.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Rajnikanth - The Boss

I am simply enamoured by the "Sivaji" hysteria. To say that one man can command such a huge following is an understatement. I am not a Rajnikanth fan, but simply overawed by his persona. How many stars from Bollywood can match his persona? Khans and Bachchans are just Davids in comparison to this man from the South, who is a towering Goliath. How many stars can boast of about 700 fan clubs across India and many more across the world ? Considering that on an average each fan club has at least 25 members on a conservative estimate, no wonder political parties would give him anything for a favourable sound byte from him. And mind you, these fans are no ordinary fans. They live and die for him !!! To talk about being probably the richest artist in India, he is also the most generous and humblest human being as reports say. He never charges a fee for acting until the film is released and is a roaring hit at the box office. Legend has it that he has given away almost half his wealth earned so far to various charities and other organisations. It has been quoted by his old friend and colleague (a driver on Karnataka State Road Transport where Rajnikanth was employed as a conductor) , who had financially helped him during his early struggler days, that he stays a couple of days a year with him at his modest house in Bangalore incognito reliving his old days. Certainly, people and especially the Bollywood stars, should take a cue from his acts of generosity and modest. There is surely something to emulate from this man - The Big Boss of them all !! What say ??

Review: The Martian

The Martian by Andy Weir My rating: 5 of 5 stars View all my reviews