SG OwnBlog

These days all you need to become a 'pro' photographer is a good deal of money, a good camera and a lot of spare time. There is hardly any quality to the pictures taken by the multitude of the 'professional photographers'. However the worst thing is that some of these even go fully professional. Naturally they keep their prices low and kick the more established and truly good photographers. So in the end what we get is a lot of low quality pictures. Looking at them you might say to yourself, "Nice" but they don't remain in your mind or they don't make you think later. Sure this kind of showcasing of talent is also good and certainly is better than turning to drugs. But the problem is that many of these budding 'photographers' give up their hobbies after a stint of a couple of months. Their cameras begin rotting in some forgotten shelf and the pictures synced to Dropbox and Flickr. To truly focus on photography once needs to cherish and nour

It was 15th June, 2004. Gujarat Police gunned down four people between the Gandhinagar - Ahmedabad road. The killed were Ishrat Jahan Raza aged 19, Javed Gulam Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar. Allegations were raised that the encounter was fake. In 2004 itself, a Lahore based publication of the Lashkar e Tayyiba confirmed that Ishrat Jahan and the other three were indeed operatives. This definitely gave a jolt to many parties who were crying foul. After three longs years, Jamaat-ud-Dawa stated that it was a 'journalistic mistake' to include the name of Ishrat Jahan and sent an apology to her family. This stirred the other folks into action. The hibernating political jumbos immediately filed a number of cases and after a long investigation, that is after 5 years, the Ahmedabad Metropolitan court declared that the encounter was staged . Important thing to note here is that it did not claim that Ishrat Jahan was innocent. Something quite damning then happened. Dav

Kashmir is a beautiful place. Just like the rest of the world, Kashmir is also home to many rockstar Islamists Secularists. Problem is that Kashmiris are a generally peaceful lot. Unlike their neighbors in the South, East and West they primarily have rice all day. Just like Bengalis. But out of this population sometimes some young guy gets highly inspired - helped by a few overly 'vigilant' CRPF guys. Also attach to this the romantic aspirations of freedom, secularism, Islamism etc etc. You end up confused. Getting a way out of this confusion and reaching a conclusion is more difficult than killing someone. Quite a few do so. No. This is not the guy! This guy is really dangerous. Haneef was a normal guy. Her mother fell down the road after an Army truck speed past her. The poor old woman could not take it. She slipped and fell. A few bones got dislocated. But due to ignorance or poverty she was neglected and after almost a year she died. Haneef convicted the Indian Army

Bad Guy, very Bad Guy We all love Mush - don't we? You know Mush - that slimy dictator of a country in South Asia or somewhere. He gave birth to more terror outfits in his lifetime than the kids of Osama bin Laden (s combined). Irony is that he was almost killed by one of them as well. A number of times. Mush was a badass. Hell, he still is. Trained as a commando and right upto the neck style bravado, he felt he was the real life Sunny Deol that his country did not have. A man with tremendous imagination, unimaginable optimism and infinite stupidity - he was a perfect leader of a country that produces world class terrorists (who always fail to hit their targets in the US ). He was finally arrested and agreed to answer my questions from prison. I would like to thank the Takistani Government for giving me the permission to enter the Isitthatbad Zoo. Mush: Get here on a double. Shoot yer questions, I ain't got all day. Me: Yeah, thanks General for this chance. Me:

Last weekend, Diggy Raja responded to the email I sent to him a year back. That too he chose the snail mail. Yes, that's right. I received a postcard for the email! He wrote that he would allow me to interview him. He also gave me the place and time. Every month he visits a renowned psychiatrist for schizophrenia related ailments. While returning he would have some time and that's when he would answer my questions. I was glad. So I went to the clinic, showed the postcard and surprisingly was put into the van where he was sitting. He was restrained with steel chains. But he seemed to be sitting comfortably. A mark of habit perhaps. Me: Thank you very much Diggy Raja for allowing me to interview you. It is an honor. DR: Aaaaaarrrggghh.(Eyes turn red) Hide your shirt...I said hide your shirt.....(he was screaming and crying at the same time) Me: I was wearing a normal brown shirt with a 'OM' symbol etched in yellow. I buttoned my jacket to hide my shirt. DR: Much b

This question looms large over all Indians. The 2014 general elections is approaching. Sure it is still another year to go, but for us somehow this one feels so different. Over the last five years India and the world has changed a lot.The Congress ruled Government has some serious challenge to face. In spite of the contribution to national development they are facing the flak. Achievements of the present government - All records for corruption have been broken. The total scams unearthed so far in the short span of four years is equivalent to the GDP of all of Africa combined. Successfully supporting, shielding corrupt people. Dividing the nation on communal lines. Ensuring that the rate of growth declines and the economy slows down. Accelerating inflation and promoting crimes. Not preventing a rape wave but successfully assault protesters. Somehow finding BJP and Hindutva responsible for all ills. On the opposite side is the still unfortunately untainted(economically) Nare

Warm Bodies was a movie I looked forward to watching. Last weekend I did and I loved it. The entire essence of human to human connection was something I searched and found in the entire film. To some extent hilarious, it had a serious undertone - the kind of comedy films that I love the most. Perhaps the only 'zombie' movie that I would recommend others to watch. With love anything can change. Well, almost. Ahhh warmth, eh? On the other hand I have been watching the Hannibal series. Watching is not the correct word. I am swallowing it. Episode by episode. I watched almost four or five episodes in one single day in one sitting. Now that is what I can call an achievement. I am sure you know what this series is about so I am not going to spoil this by spoilers. I suggest you go through the episodes. One episode will suffice to keep you hooked though. Mad 's acting has been exemplary. The others are good too but the suave gentleman got most of the attention. And rightl