ladies and gentlemen! Its showtime! The most anticipated moment in India's yearly history has arrived! No, this isn't about the Miss India contest but the Annual budget. P Chindambaram is all set to unleash a new fury of taxes on us. I wonder will he think of the hovering elections this time and pay some mercy (read: taxes) on us.
Actually, is there any thing left in India which is not highly taxable? Come on, we can have a quick sneak peak as he cant include that still-lucky-enough-to-be untaxed item into his taxable list at such a short notice! Oh yes! I got one! The taxes themselves! They are'nt taxed as yet.
Be ready, because if nothing else, then this budget might see a new dawn in the history of taxation and Chidambaram will impose 13% taxes on our total tax payments including the extra tax on the already high service and value-added tax.
God's grace be upon us.
SHUBHASHISH
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Will he budge, or won't he?
Monday, 25 February 2008
Once added (Jodha Akbar)
The storms around JA is refusing to die down and the new ones are erupting everyday. I wish the Barren Island was like the Hindi film industry and erupted every now and then. Atleast, we in India, too would have had something to cheer about! However, Indians are very proud and egoistic breed. They just cant digest the fact that we in India dont have a live volcano, so here we have volcanic-like eruptions on Hindi films. Its written in history books that Akbar married a Hindu princess. So what is the debate all about? What wrong did Ashutosh Gowarikar do? Oh yes! I got it, he showed the couple's romance on screen, that too a 3 hour and 40 minute long saga. Indians are very shy of the 'love-shove' and refrain from the topic. Bang! stop the film.
"Akbar Jodha were husband and wife and let them be," says an agitator. "Dont morally impair our younger generation by showing the love between the couple," he further adds.
On the other hand, I dont think that these agitations should stop as they are bread and butter for a lot of us. Its a livelihood and favourite past time for the majority of the unemployed youth of my country who doesnt work or doesnt want to work. These rampages gives them the opportunities to ransack shops and fill their homes with food and TVs! A noble profession i must confess.
The agitation, as to other films, has done good to this otherwise average flick and I can see the time when we will have a separate and flourishing industry in agitation and rampages. Wonder what name will it be called and how much tax will the government impose on their 'work'?
So, dear Finance Minister, please think of the future and announce some incentives and tax-sops for this industry which is in its nascent stage right now.
I hope many a youth, currently unemployed will find gainful employment in this industry and wreck our lives.
Once added, few hundred years ago, Jodha Akbar cant separate, but we will add fuel to illogical controversy and pledge to rewrite the history!
Long live Indians and treachery.
SHUBHASHISH
Friday, 22 February 2008
When opposites are attracted, Musharraf is distracted
After a long hiatus, Pakistan finally woke up to a new day. It wouldnt be wrong if we say that the country has got a new lease of life. Or is it too early for the statement? Whichever way the tables turn, things wont get better in Pakistan. A spoilt brat has a stage to be corrected after which it is doomed for life. And Pakistan has entered the doom stage. After more than 50 years of independence, the country is still plagued by issues like the military rule and the installation of democracy, with its economy crumbling, its not long before we will witness a great fall of a not-so-great nation. From military rule to supporting terrorism, Pakistan has favoured everything the world has opposed and now they are beginning to reap what they sowed.
I somehow feel that the most memorable events in Musharrafs life would be when he came to India for the Agra summit and fulfilled the wish of his wife, like every others, to visit the Taj Mahal! Otherwise this wouldnt have been possible and overthrowing Nawaz Sharif could be triggered by his wife's constant nagging for a visit to the monument of love! Of all the time he spent as the dictator and now as a dictator-in-disguise, the visit to Agra was his most memorable.
I believe Musharraf is a far-sighted man as from the airplane he was in during his arrest drama a few years ago, he managed to see the chain of events taking place in Pakistan against him and played his cards to offering to buy his ancestral home in India during his visit. He knew that one day he will be thrown out of his own country like he pushed Sharif out like many others. His fate was sealed that very day and he knew it. I appreciate the Indian government for not bowing th Musharraf and not handling him the property. Although we Indians are very famous for o ur friendly gestures to even our enemies, I wonder how that time we succumbed to sanity?
Anyways, it is turning out to be good for India and Pakistan at the moment and Pakistan is creating another milestone in history of the world. I dont think anyone h as ever seen two political parties, one sitting in Opposition in the parliament actually joined hands after the muckracking elections to form a coalition government! Imagine the election scene - trying to win a seat over other and at the end joining hands with the same party!
Well, anything is possible in Pakistan, anything. Future of Musharraf is sealed in the hands of Sharif and I dont think that he will forget what Mush did to him. Revenge is second name to Pakistan and a paki politican is worst than an Osama. May God's grace be on Mush and he may exit soon.
Thursday, 21 February 2008
WHY AM I NOT A CRICKETER?
To read this story I would seriously recommend you to first understand the money cricketers and people associated with the game are making. I know everyone of us want to be cricketers especially after the IPL fiasco! Alas, we are not the lucky ones. Read on as a consolation...
Ever since the commercialisation of the game, I feel, why I am not a cricketer? I mean, WHY? WHY GOD WHY? Oops... I forgot, I am an athiest!
You know this is what India can do to you. Everyone around you in so engrossed in prayers and the love-for-God that even the non-believers are tend to think their way. As we all know that "Hey Bhagwan" is the most loved words of Indians. People who dont believe in the supernatural power are looked down as monkeys [no offence to my fellow Australian dude who managed the second highest bid :)].
Getting back to the main issue - Cricket. The main question which my otherwise non-functional mind is throwing up - How are the bidders going to recover the money? Dont they think that they money spent is just too much to be recovered or even converted into profits in such a short duration?
I guess all these questions are dancing in my mind due to the fact that I, the average Indian Cricket fan, an ex-aspiring cricketer wont benefit in any way possible. We are only left to cry because as such the cricket calendar is packed for the entire lifetime, where is the time to track every match? And now we have the IPL.
I seriously feel that the Indian Eye Doctor Association should file a PIL against the BCCI taking in consideration the long term affects of watching TV non-stop.
Also, the Indian Workers Productivity Association should work a bit and file a PIL too for the loss of productivity that will in the long run and also, according to my erroneous calculations, in the short term too, will affect the productivity.
I see only one positivity in this entire concept! India which is getting divided on the politics of regionalism will get some relief. Imagine a Gujarati playing for Mohali team and a Chattisgarhi playing for Chennai! We have to wait and watch who the people will support and the pattern of the supporters. Will they still stick to regionalism or will they cheer for their favourite star?
Time will tell, and until that, I ll try to find answers to the question that why I am not a cricketer?
SHUBHASHISH
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Moneystorm on Indian Cricket!
Money is raining on Indian Cricket and cricketers are getting wet! I bet an umbrella is the last thing on thier minds in this particular rain. Dhoni is bought for Rs 6 crore Muralitharan for 2.4 crore, Shane Warne for Rs 1.8 crore and Adam Gilchrist for Rs 2.8 crore, among others and the bidding is still in process.
I think the credit for this mega hailstorm must go to the Zee group, for, they were the ones who broke out with this innovative idea and BCCI jumped on the bandwagon. The winner, undoubtedly is the Cricket and Indian Cricket especially. With the kind of money everyone is making from IPL, we will be seeing a lot more wide colgate smiles on everyones faces very soon. Oh! smiles are already flashing!
In this war for Cricket, the entertainment value for the game will be at an all time high and a new era in Cricket is knocking at the door steps for India.
I particularly feel sorry for the Zee group and Kapil Dev, for they thought of corporatising Cricket and making huge money out of it and for the cricketers, who, otherwise had no career left and no options to make money. However, the real spinner in this case too has been the BCCI!
I hope with the IPL, the money flowing in the bags of BCCI will see some good done for Indian Cricket. BCCI is the richest cricket board in the world, with more than 80 percent of the revenue of ICC being generated in India, we have the worst stadiums in the world. Even in this age, our stadiums have poor infrastructure and even the score boards are manually operated. This is just one example from the list and I hope that BCCI will pay heed to the crumbling cricketing infrastructure in India.
All said and done, I dont have high hopes as the Chief of Indian Cricket is a politician and we all know what are Indian politicians are better known for!
Friday, 15 February 2008
In No Man's Land
On one hand, I have the dilemma of reacting to Raj Thackeray, and, on the other, of dealing with the Profashionals (P). Its been four years since I am on this land of the great Maratha whom I call home. With no intentions of going bac I have decided to give my everything to this place which gave me the most beautiful and ugliest days of my life. And I am just 21 still.
Dear P, even after four years of sincere and honest friendship, I dont know where I faltered as you still dont consider me a part of you. Everyday and every moment I have to fight to prove my connection to you and every single moment of the fight I m reminded of my non-inclusion in the group.
I am hurt beyond repair and left with no choice. I am a Mumbaikar and more than that a part of you but somehow you dont realise that and hurt me time and again. Now, I can feel how it feels to be in the no man's land.
After four years, I still belong to nowhere. I hope those who are not with us anymore atleast felt that I was a part of their lives. Coz I owe my life to all of you no matter what you feel about me.
SHUBHASHISH
Thursday, 14 February 2008
FUCK GOD
People say that time is the best healer... I defer.
People say that destiny is in your hands... I defer.
People say that be the change to change... I still defer.
Its been an year now... what has time healed? Nothing. As the day is progressing, my soul is shivering, my mind is not at peace and my body is giving up on me. Its getting harder to control tears. I cant face the day, the memories, the bodies, the death and the sorrow.
I have only one prayer to make..
Dear God,
Fuck you for giving me a life which is of no use for I couldnt help my friends fight death.
Fuck you for making us so weak and helpless that we look up to you for help every moment in our lives.
Fuck you for being the 'super power'
and,
Finally, fuck you for being God.
If there is someone who is the biggest coward on the face of humanity. its you. Fuck you for always not-being-there.
FUCK YOU.
SHUBHASHISH
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