MovieNotes: Udta Punjab

Title: Udta Punjab (IMDB)

*ing: Diljit Dosanjh, Alia Bhatt, Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt

Language: Punjabi with bits of Hindi

Director: Abhishek Chaubey

Genre: Social Issues

Preamble

With all the controversy before its release, the Censor Board itself did all the publicity for the movie. Censor Board wanted the movie to have 89 cuts, which the producers resisted. Matter goes to court and the movie is released. And then someone releases the Censor copy online. 

Basic Premise

Udta Punjab tells the story of 4 individuals - a migrant farm-worker, a rockstar, a police officer and a drugs rehabilitation doctor - whose lives get intertwined because of the prevailing drugs situation in the state of Punjab.

MovieNotes

Highlights - A slick storyline with good all around acting and an authentic Punjabi setting.  Shahid Kapoor is good as Tommy Singh while Alia Bhatt does a great job as a migrant worker (though her attempt at Bihari accent is jarring).

The movie doesn't glorify drugs usage. It just shows how harmful the addiction can be for the individual as well as the family. And once someone is in the trap it is not an easy task to come out. 

The Punjabi music industry has contributed its share to propagating drug use. Tommy Singh's "Gabru" lifestyle is shown as having motivated his fans towards drugs use. But when the same Tommy Singh tries to give an anti-drugs message in his show, he is abused by his own fans and has to run for his life.

For a Punjabi, his truck is very important. Beat up the person, but don't touch his truck. That's one clear-cut message from the movie.

Funniest Scene - The discus thrower warming up before sending a drugs packet flying across the border from Pakistan to India.

Useless Factoid - the name " Mary Jane" is a euphemism for marijuana.

The depiction of drugs trafficking in Punjab and the politician-police-suppliers nexus has clearly rattled the CBFC chairman and his political masters. While certain other political parties are using the pre-release hoopla for their own gains. Making one believe that there must be some degree of truth in the story.

Rating - 8/10. Not for family viewing (after all every fourth word is an expletive) but does present a grim picture of a social problem.

Previously on MovieNotes - Te3n

MovieNotes: Te3n

Title: Te3n (IMDB)

*ing: Amitabh Bachchan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vidya Balan, Sabyasachi Chakrabarty

Language: Hindi

Director: Ribhu Dasgupta

Genre: Suspense Thriller

Basic Premise

A grandfather seeks justice and closure to the case of the kidnapping and death of his grand-daughter. Meanwhile eight years after the event, another similar kidnapping occurs.

MovieNotes

The highlight of the movie as well as its lowlight is the multiple timelines being depicted. What seemingly appears as events happening in parallel actually occur in different timelines. And in this mix is added regular flashbacks to events eight years past. Drags down the movie a bit and makes the twist slightly predictable.

The title somehow doesn't make much sense, Who are the 3? The lead trio? And as Vidya Balan is marked as a "guest appearance", who is the the 3rd one? Wonder why Vidya Balan is cast as a "guest appearance" when she has quite a large share of screen time?

The real highlight of the movie  - The lead trio's superb acting. And also the good support cast making the movie feel real. 

The story is entirely based in Kolkata. One sees a fair bit of the city and not just its postcard shots (Durga Puja, Howrah Bridge etc).

Special mention - John Biswas's scooter which has a character of its own and plays a crucial role in resolving the mystery.

Rating - 8/10. Good story but slightly let down by the ending.

Previously on MovieNotes - Deadpool

LearnNBlog #7: Tax & Cess

Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

- Benjamin Franklin

From 1st June, 2016, we the people of India have one more element added to our tax burden - the Krishi Kalyan Cess. This cess will be applicable on all cases where Service tax is paid and will be 0.5% over and above the earlier taxes (Service Tax and Swachh Bharat Cess).

So what's the difference between a Tax and a Cess?

As per Investopedia, taxes are generally an involuntary fee levied on individuals or corporations that is enforced by a government entity, whether local, regional or national in order to finance government activities. Taxes are direct, to be paid on the income, or indirect, to be paid for a goods or service received.

Cess is a an alternative term for tax. In most places tax and cess mean the same thing. However in some countries, there are some differences. In India, a cess is a tax collected for a specific purpose e.g. Education Cess, Swacch Bharat Cess etc. 

Whats in a name? Whether Tax or Cess, just another name for the government to take more of our hard-earned money.

Other Readings

• Taxes (Investopedia)
• Difference Between Tax and Cess (Difference Between)
• Krishi Kalyan Cess (Chartered Club)
• Cess (Wikipedia)

Previously on LearnNBlog - American Handball

LearnNBlog #6: American Handball

American Handball – a sport in which players use their hands to hit a ball against a wall. Similar to Squash but with no racquets. Also referred to as “Hand Tennis” or “Hand Squash” and bears no resemblance to the Olympic sport of Handball (as is usually the case with most things having “American” prefixed to them).

The basic aim of the game is to ensure that a player hits the ball back on to the ball before it can bounce twice on the ground. And the first bounce back from the ball should be within the prescribed court boundaries. The only equipment needed is rubber ball, usually blue in colour and referred to as simply the blueball. The scoring is simple with lengths of the games varying from 11 to 15 to 21 points.

First accounts of the game appear in 15th century Scotland. There the game moved to Ireland. Irish immigrants took the game along with them to USA where it flourished in schools and colleges. It's a popular game in the USA but is fairly unknown outside the country (with a few exceptions). National handball championship have been organised since 1919. The game is played in singles and doubles format.

So how come "American Handball" arrived on this blog? Well, because I have played it in school. As per one of the articles, my alma mater, Loyola School, Jamshedpur, has the only handball courts in the whole of the Indian sub-continent. A legacy from the American priests who started the school. Also explains why I have never met anyone else who has even heard about this form of handball or seen the blueball. The games were frenetic. There was a fast and furious race to take over the four courts during the breaks and just after school hours. There would be usually be a big crowd around the playing area keeping score, so that their turn came faster. The large crowd ensured that line call disputes were resolved easily. Games were mostly doubles (to accommodate more students), but have been involved in a double court 4-a-side bash also (Played across 2 adjacent courts together).  The walls of the courts even had their own graffiti. It certainly was one fun event.

And, we called it handball. After all it was our game!!!

The Loyola, Jamshedpur Handball Courts

The Blueball

Other Readings

American Handball (Wikipedia)

Five of the most Interesting Handball Courts in the World (WPHLive)

Handball, United States (Book Extract - Sports Around the World: History, Culture & Practice)

Handball - the 'Corny' Game (Loyola School, Jamshedpur)

The Five Places (Nishantzworld)

Previously on LearnNBlog - Olympic Quota Place

MovieNotes: Deadpool

Title: Deadpool (IMDB)

*ing: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein

Language: English

Director: Tim Miller

Genre: Comic Book, Superhero

Basic Premise

A mercenary, who has been stricken by a life-threatening disease, agrees to undergo a radical procedure. The procedure induces mutation which gives him super healing powers but alters his appearance. He uses the powers to find the man responsible for his scarred appearance in order to reverse them so that he can go back to his family.

MovieNotes

Deadpool is a super hero who doesn't take his being a super hero too seriously. He has his own little mission, find the man who he thinks can heal his scarred appearance so that he can go back to his wife. No grand notions of fighting crime or saving the world here. He just wants to get on with his own life.

Even the movie makers don't want the audience to take things too seriously. Thus the opening credits seem more like the ones made by the Honest Trailers team than a top Hollywood studio. The movie is truly self-deprecating with comments about producers not giving enough budget to get more X-Men characters into the movie. Deadpool even comments that Ryan Reynolds gets movie just because of his looks and not any acting skills.

The best bits of the movie are when Deadpool breaks the fourth wall and starts talking to the audience. 

And you have to love a movie which begins with the song "Mera Joota Hai Japani". 

Mandatory India connect - The Indian taxi driver.

Rating - 8/10. For bringing a self-deprecating sense of humor into the increasingly similar superhero genre.

Previously on MovieNotes:  The Jungle Book

Bonus: The song मेरा जूता है जापानी from Raj Kapoor's Shree 420

LearnNBlog #5: Olympic Quota Place

The Sushil Kumar-Narsingh Yadav debate has been raging on for sometime as to which of these wrestlers should be representing India at Rio Olympics. While each side has their own merit, what has come to the fore is the term Olympic Quota Place.

We are in Olympic Year – the once in four years sporting extravaganza which is considered the pinnacle of sports. And for good reason. Because forget winning, even getting a chance to participate is not easy to come. Ever since its start, the Olympics became bigger and bigger. So big that it was almost impossible for any one city to host them without going bankrupt (like Montreal in 1976). To limit the size and ensure timely completion, caps on number of sports and the participants in each event were introduced. 

With the cap in participation, qualification systems came into place. The qualification system varies from sport to sport, with the respective Governing body deciding the number of quota places and their distribution 

• Some spots are reserved for the host nation. 
• Places are distributed to ensure that all continents are represented. 
• Some individual sports go directly by the rankings (like Tennis, Badminton, Golf etc.), with upper limits set on each nation’s entries. 
• Some sports have continental and world qualification events (e.g. Hockey, Boxing Wretling etc). Sometime world championships and continental championships double up as qualifiers for Olympics with specific number of places allocated in each event. 
• Others have set qualification criterion (e.g. Athletics, Swimming). All athletes who meet them can participate in the event, subject to being nominated by their respective National Olympic Committee (NOC). 
• Some wild cards are also awarded. 

In certain sports (like Shooting, Wrestling, Boxing, Archery etc), Quotas are awarded in each event in the various qualifying events. The individual athlete participates in the qualifier and earns the quota. However the quota is not awarded to the athlete but the NOC which they represent. The NOC has every right to 

• nominate the same athlete (the usual case), Or
• nominate a different athlete, whom they believe has a better chance (rare but not uncommon with form being the criterion), Or
• exchange the quota in one event with another within the same sport (e.g. India exchanged the Quota place earned by Sanjeev Rajput in 50m air rifle 3 positions for a Quota place in Trap shooting)
• surrender the quota (not send anyone e.g. South Africa’ Hockey teams are not being sent in spite of qualifying for the main rounds).

In many cases, once an NOC has secured a Quota in a particular event, it doesn’t participate in subsequent qualifiers for the same event.

Now coming back to the Narsingh-Sushil debate. In the 74 KG freestyle wrestling event, Narsingh represented India in Sushil’s absence (through injury) in the 2015 World Championships. He won a bronze medal and the Olympic quota place. Earlier Sushil had won the Gold in 2014 Commonwealth Games in the same category. Sushil has also been a two-time Olympic medallist (albeit in a different weight category). Now, Narsingh wants to be India’s nominee for the Olympics (after all, he earned the Quota place), while Sushil wants a selection trial (that is the only way for him). While the wrestling federation fidgets and takes a decision, the issue has brewed over with matter having reached the courts now. 

In my opinion, Narsingh Yadav should be the one representing India at Rio. After all he has earned the quota, whereas Sushil Kumar is coming back from injury and hasn’t participated in any competitive action in more than a year. Probably a trial would have been a fair way to go about, but it is too late in the day now for that circumstance.

Other Readings

• Why Sushil Kumar is angry with the Olympic Quota system (The Hindu)
• Wrestling at 2016 Olympics (Wikipedia)
• Baron Pierre de Coubertin (Wikipedia)
• Manavjit Sandhu in for Sanjeev Rajput (Indian Express)
• South Africa Hockey (Sport24)

Previously on LearnNBlog: The Produnova Vault

Isla de Calma: Diu

Isla de Calma or the isle of calm, is how the tiny island of Diu, off the coast of Gujarat is advertised. And coming from the hustle and bustle of Mumbai, this tiny island with a population of 21,000 seems an altogether different world - an island of calm and tranquility.

The little island packs in something for everyone - modern water sports, with Hindu temples, a 400 year old Portugese church, an old fort, a war memorial, clean empty beaches and even a natural cave system all within its 40 square kilometers area. Little tourist attractions are coming up all over the township.  It even has its own music festival (Missed that one)

It can be accessed via road from Gujarat being connected via a bridge and has its own little airport as well. And being an Union territory, there is no prohibition here. What you don't see are people and traffic. The best way to move around the island is to hire a two-wheeler (which is not that expensive). There is not much of a market here. 

Here is a small pictorial journey of the place.

A Model of the INS Khukri on display at the War Memorial

INS Khukri remains India's only warship to be sunk in battle. It was torpedoed by Pakistani submarines during the 1971 War. 194 men aboard the ship lost their lives.

Plaque commerorating the sailors of INS Khukri

The Naida Caves - natural wonders created by the forces of nature over millions of years -  a geologists' delight

The 5 Shiv Lingas - and it gets washed by the waves during high tides

Lord Shiva - with the backdrop of the Arabian Sea

Roads of Diu - Clean, tree-lined, well-lit and mostly empty 

St. Paul's Church - built in early 17th century

The fort bells - ringing in since 1720

Zampa Gateway - entrance to the walled town 

The twin-branching Hokka trees - found all over the island

Diu tourism building small tourist attractions like a dinosaur park all over the island

Sunset Point - there is something beautiful about lying back on the sand and watching the sun go down the horizon across the sea

Best part of the trip, hardly any crowds. You can easily become one with the nature. A perfect getaway from the maddening rush of the daily life. And as this ad says. it is the isle of calm.

LearnNBlog #4: The Produnova Vault

18 April 2016 - Dipa Karmakar created history by becoming India's first ever female gymnast to qualify for the Olympics. In a country starved of non-cricketing sporting icons, she immediately became the toast of a nation. The very next day, Dipa won the gold in the Vault event of the qualifier. The first ever international gold for India in gymnastics.

How did she achieve this? By perfecting the "Produnova Vault". She is one of the five gymnasts who have successfully done the Produnova Vault. This has a difficulty score of 7.0, the highest difficulty level in gymnastics. The vault comprises of a handspring and two somersaults (i.e. turning twice over in the air) before landing on your feet.

Here is a video montage explaining the Produnova vault and depicting some of the gymnasts who have attempted it with varying degrees of success.

The Produnova vault is named after the Russian gymnast Yelena Produnova. Given the extremely difficult nature of the vault, there have also been calls to ban it from certain sections. There is great risk of the gymnast landing on her neck or spine and doing grave damage to it.

Dipa Karmakar has been executing the Produnova vault since the last couple of years in the international circuit. And she has the results to show for her efforts. Medals in the Commonwealth Games (2014) and Asian Games (2014), a fifth place finish in the World Championships (2015) and finally a gold in the Rio Qualifiers. What a story it would be for a country with almost no history of Gymnastics, if Dipa vaults her way to a medal at Rio.

More Readings

The Produnova Vault (Wikipedia)

Yelena Produnova (Wikipedia)

Dipa Karmakar (Wikipedia)

Should Produnova Vault be banned? (Blog 1, Blog 2)

More Videos

Indian Gymnast's Dangerous Leap for Success

Produnova doing the Produnova

Previously on LearnNBlog: Zentangles

The Drought & The Scapegoat

Maharashtra is reeling under severe drought. Many water bodies have dried up. People are forced to migrate due to lack of water. Special water trains are being run to ensure supply to the interiors.  Even Section 144 had to be imposed in some parts to prevent water riots (The Hindu)

While the situation is severe, here are some other events which have happened in the interim.

Exhibit A: IPL Matches to be moved out of Maharashtra, declares High Court (Indian Express).

Exhibit B: Tanker Water used to fill Ramkund pond in Nashik to enable pilgrims to have a holy dip. (Indian Express Article)

Why were IPL matches ordered to be shifted. Because the Courts "cannot act as a mute spectator and ignore the plight of the people". Because holding IPL matches consumes a lot of water which the state can ill afford in these drought like conditions. Interestingly, no comment was made whether grounds should be maintained during this time, as if water is not consumed on other days. In fact, grounds are not watered on the day of the game. So in a country which gives high value on tokenism, the ban on the matches was immediately hailed by many. Especially give that it was IPL, considered the source of all evil in the world according to some. We have in the meantime trivialized the entire drought situation by putting it up against a few IPL games.

On the other hand, water was brought in by tankers to fill the dried up Ramkund in Nashik so that pilgrims could have a holy dip. And there is no outrage at all for this waste. Or maybe given that it is a matter of religious beliefs, no one is raising any question. This is certainly more wasteful than the IPL which would have brought in some revenue to the state. Also given that the water was brought in from elsewhere, not sure how holy this dip would have been for those undertaking it.

Amidst all this outrage, where many sports pages have turned into editorial columns, the governments have managed to get a fig leaf to hide behind in this crisis. Even in the 21st century, it is a shame that we are still so heavily reliant on monsoons. Two successive below-par monsoons and we have severe drought. It does raise several questions.

• Why can't our irrigation systems be improved?
• What happened to the implementation of the river linking project?
• Why can't we use sea water treatment like the middle eastern countries? Really shameful that coastal cities have to depend on monsoons for adequate water supply?
• Why isn't rain-water harvesting being carried out at a bigger scale?
• Is some of the drought artificial, created due to the nexus between politicians & tanker mafia

Till we find these answers we will continue to be at the mercy of the rain Gods and rely on the power of prayer, while finding convenient scapegoats (like IPL matches) to sacrifice.

A Game of Cricket underway in a dried up lake in Latur 

LearnNBlog #3: Zentangles

What is a Zentangle?

Zentangles are a method of creating designs by drawing structured patterns. The art form was created by Maria Thomas & Rick Roberts.

Zentangles are created by making patterns on a small piece of paper roughly 3.5" side. These are called Zentangle tiles. The drawings are made free-hand without the aid of any instruments like straight edge or compass. Erasers are not to be used. Small patterns are used to fill in the larger blank spaces. The patterns are filled one stroke at a time. While most zentangles are black and white, colors can be added into the pattern if desired. It can be considered similar to doodling, though zentangles are bigger. Sometimes complex patterns can be built up by combining zentangles or through building up on a single one.

Zentangles are also considered as as self-help art therapy practice to enhance relaxation and focus. There are cetified Zentangle trainers. But these can be done without any training by using one's own imagination.

Sample Zentangle Images

References

Zentangle (Home Site)

How to make a Zentangle (WikiHow)

Maria Thomas & Rick Roberts' Zentangles (GoLocalWorcester)

Calm Down & Get Your Zentangle (Psychology Today)

Previously on LearnNBlog: Shell Company