Despicably dipsomaniac

Recently I was with few friends at a tea point when we overheard a couple talking, the girl asked the guy why he smokes so many cigarettes every day and his reply was overwhelming.

“What’s there in life if there is no cigarette, alcohol and women?”

I do not know about the girl sitting with him but I was literally shaken to hear that there is nothing in life beyond the three things he mentioned. For the moment let’s forget about the last thing and talk about the first two things in the list. 

Smoking is a habit, good or bad, taken up by youth as a style quotient and according to some surveys the average age group when people are starting to smoke is 14-16 years. From such tender age they smoke few cigarettes a day and this FEW will keep on increasing in number incrementally going to few number of packets a day and in extreme cases also resorting to drugs like marijuana. It is undeniably true that people smoking are spoiling not only their lungs but also of the people around them, women and children usually being most vulnerable. This is my trump card I’d play, when people argue that I oppose it as I have never taken a puff, to say that Cigarette has only worse things associated with it and have to be shunned.

Legally speaking, some countries like Norway have totally banned smoking in public places including bars and restaurants, while in other countries like India we have a ban on “Smoking in public places” but the implementation of the law is not so impressive. According to WHO (World Health Organization) estimates tobacco killed 100 million persons in 20th century, more than the two world wars combined and this war against tobacco is going on without much success to its credit.

Next in the list is alcohol which any layman can say is the most popular drink among present youth (to larger extent among men) in the world, surprisingly even in arid and semi-arid regions of India too this liquid flows so incessantly that I wonder what makes people so much captivated to it. Some regions boast some unique features and events in this regards, like in Chennai people decently follow a long queue in front of the liquor shops every evening to buy liquor, in certain towns of Andhra Pradesh there were protests organised by local men demanding more liquor shops be opened in their localities (one needs a licence to open a liquor shop in India), in weddings of Punjab and few other states more whisky flows than water and last but not least, in Tamilnadu the state run TASMAC shops selling alcohol continue to be a major source of income for the state exchequer.

A liquor shop scene in Chennai.

The non-teetotallers argue that, unlike smoking, drinking alcohol is not harmful to the people around and also there are medical proofs that limited intake of alcohol has some good effect on health. FAIR point. Also the government is getting large revenue which it can utilise for the betterment of the society certainly but what upsets me most is that this revenue is generated because several poor men are spending large part of their income on alcohol consumption which is pulling their families back into sheer poverty. In a country like India where millions of people find it hard to make their ends meet, to what extent is it fair on the part of government to make people prone to alcoholic addiction.

Now in case of middle class and rich class lads who find no trouble to spend a few thousands for parties with friends and ENJOY smoking and drinking, I would say government can hardly be blamed. In fact here even the alcoholics are not to be blamed but pitied with, because they are the spenders & sufferers too and at the end of the day what they get is nothing but hangover.

Let me explain, the guys and girls enjoy PARTY with friends, send few pegs down the throat and after being high they dance, scream, fight, beat & do several things which in normal circumstances they will never do as they are usually very timid and blame the alcohol for all their stupid acts done. The ice on the cake is, they don’t remember anything done while the teetotallers make fun of all the silly drama unfolded by alcoholics. Now who has more entertainment here? So if any of your friends are also turning too much to alcohol, please help them to face the world without any fears and make them more confident so that they can do all they want to without asking alcohol to do it.

Life is fun I agree, but it should not be at the cost of life itself…

A Visit to Nizam's palace

For a long time, I was planning to visit the Nizam's palaces in Hyderabad (India) and finally my friend Pavan and I decided to visit the Chowmahalla Palace.

We reached Charminar first, as always the streets were full of people and the shopping spree is an unending sequence here. But anytime Charminar looks as pleasant as anything can.

Charminar with bustling crowd

After asking for directions from few people, we managed to find the entrance of Chowmahalla Palace. From outside it hardly looks like a palace, but believe me this place will not disappoint you.
The clock tower entrance (closed now) is a grand structure standing tall.

Then we went to the main palace building, which (it was written there) is said be a replica of Shah's palace in Iran.

It looked pretty average from outside but we were surprised by the beauty of the palace once we went inside and walked the place viewing everything in awe.
Some of the wonderful things are captured (not so wonderfully) as below.

The main hall with number of chandeliers

Intricate designs on ceiling and side walls

Another building behind the main palace, with a well maintained fountains in the front yard, this place also boasts of lush greenery and a lot of pigeons do visit  here.

Pavan infront of a large window with intricate carvings

Another attraction was the long hallway with multiple doors in a straight line, don't know why so many rooms were built with connecting doors.

Door after Door

The palace has collection of several vintage cars, including Rolls Royce, Buick etc., and surprisingly all cars are well as well maintained as the rest of the palace structures.
If you are interested in visiting historical places, good palaces of Indian kings, this place is a must visit in Hyderebad, so this time you visit Charminar, take another couple of hours to visit palace which is very near to Charminar, and I assure you will not regret you decision.

Details of Palace:
Timings : 10am -5pm (Closed on Fridays and National Holidays) 
Tickets   : Indian Visitor - Rs. 40 
                 International Visitor - Rs. 150 (Approx. $3)

[Arts] Birdman Of India

This time I tried to draw a portrait again, and I chose an interesting man – Dr.Salim Ali, famous Ornithologist and naturalist, popularly known as “Birdman of India”.
I hope you all like it.

Time taken  : 3 hours
Material Used  : HB, 10B and  2H Pencils on A4 paper.

[Arts] Misty Morning

A natural scenery but unlike usual mornings of rising sun, I tried to depict the misty morning at dawn. It was very tough to get the misty look, not completely satisfied with the output I got here.
Time taken  : 3 hours
Material Used  : HB, 10B, 2H Pencils and a cotton cloth (for shading) on A4 paper

 I hope you all like it. Please let me know your feedback.

[Movie Review] Madras Cafe

“Criticizing national politics does not make you anti-national”, says the British war correspondent in SriLanka - Jaya Sahni, played by Nargis Fakhri, to the protagonist Vikram (played by John Abraham) an Indian army special officer, giving a hint to audience that this is not a movie made to praise army or blame politicians but to show the bitter truths of war. We rarely get to see any filmmaker in Bollywood making a political thriller, this film definitely stands out as its been inspired from all real incidents that brought India and SriLanka on tenterhooks, how Indian politics suddenly took a sharp turn and it paid price in form of assassination of its former Prime Minister. Interestingly director does not take sides, as he makes the conspiracy clear to the end that when two nations are confronting it is not just two forces but there are lot of other external forces acting from behind in their vested interests and how such interventions can change the world history.

The story is mainly based on SriLankan Civil war during 1980s which was never touched upon by Bollywood earlier. The movie begins with the disturbing scenes of war crimes and deaths in Jaffna area in the northern part of SriLanka. Then director unfolds the historic events of Indian Peace Keeping forces going to SriLanka, drives us through the political mistakes and military misunderstandings, the conspiracy woven by few foreign powers and how India fell in trap that LTF (a rebel group, inspired from LTTE) which was actually supported by India all of a sudden became its staunch enemy and started operating against Indian peace keeping forces. The LTF leader Anna Bhaskaran (inspired from LTTE Prabhakaran) is only concerned about Srilankan Tamils and he will fight till they obtain freedom, but can India afford it?

Vikram is an Indian Army officer who is chosen by RAW for a covert operation in Jaffna where the situation was going out of control. Vikram gets a team and given a mission but after going to Jaffna he realises the enemy in not outside but he may need to fight within. He meets Jaya, the British journalist, who helps him understand that the fight is not confined to few people but there are some influential people involved in the conspiracy. As Vikram tries to unravel the conspiracy of so called West, he finds about assassination plan of Indian former Prime Minister. Can he save the Prime Minister?

Casting has been chosen cleverly to make the characters look real as many were new faces or not so known except John Abraham, who carries the whole weight on him as story rotates between Jaffna, Kerala, Delhi, and Bangkok. Nargis Fakhri looks convincing as a British war correspondent, speaking only English in British accent. Other actors gave decent performances, two of them stand out – one is Rashi Khanna as Vikram’s wife Ruby who impresses both with her innocent looks and acting, other is Kannada stage actor Prakash Belawadi as Bala, Major Vikram Singh's superior in Jaffna who succeeded to make an impression in the minds of audience in a peculiar character role.

The director Shoojit Sircar’s research gets reflected on screen in unfolding history. Movie lacks any twists or Bollywood style action sequences but still keeps you hooked with a fast paced narration. Apart from being a spy thriller, the movie makes one to ponder on how politics are actually played in international sphere that life of even national heads come at stake. Surprisingly, not just India lost its former Prime Minister but it lost the trust of its neighbour too and till now India-Srilanka relations have become no better. Though director claimed it as a work of fiction, it is known and commendable to make a movie on troublesome events of history which India would prefer to forget.