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August 29, 2008
Will Chiranjeevi make it big in politics?
To my knowledge except for MGR (Tamil Nadu) and N T Ramarao (Andhra Pradesh), no other Indian film star made it big in the political arena (will comment on JJ later). Most of them were major flops, which includes great actors like Sivaji Ganesan and Amitabh Bacchan. I sometime fail to understand, why there isn’t any other life pattern. Most stars, in India at least, after having a successful film career, want to get into politics in the name of serving people. In fact serving people and being a good leader are two different things. You surely can serve people even without getting into the dirty politics, and politicians need not be in politics to serve people.
There are many factors that went into MGR’s and N T Rama Rao’s political career, which most people tend to ignore. In fact they both were more of a politician than actors in real life too.
Aringar Anna, the last good leader of Tamil Nadu and the founder of DMK, never wanted MGR to succeed him. He in fact wanted MGR to use his silver screen popularity to promote DMK as a party and its ideologies for the betterment of Tamils. Anna always wanted M Karunanidhi to take over him. But after Anna’s unexpected death, MGR, as a good politician used his popularity and also the political mileage he already had gained through movies, launched his own party - AIADMK. He sidelined Karunanidhi completely, and never allowed him to remain the CM for more than 2 years.
Jaya Lalithaa happened to be the right hand of MGR all through his life, and was subjected to politics and political events for more than 20 years after her film career. So the moral of the story is MGR or Jaya Lalithaa never became CMs of Tamil Nadu just because they were good actors. They became CMs because they were good leaders and also they had dedicated their lives to Tamil Nadu politics.
NTR didn’t have much experience in politics, but still made it big by using the popularity he had gained through his film career. But it was the time, when people thought what was shown on the silver screen is completely real. In fact people had NTR’s photo as Lord Krishna in their puja rooms once upon a time. The scenario isn’t the same today - even an auto rickshaw guy talks about background score and screenplay flaws. People today know for sure that what is shown on the silver screen, need not be true at all!
Vijay Kanth has launched a party in Tamil Nadu, Sharad Kumar has launched a party Tamil Nadu, and Rajini Kanth might launch a party in Tamil Nadu – but none of them will become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu – at least for 20 years from the date of their party launch! And this holds true for Chiranjeevi also – he won’t become the CM of his state for the next 20 years.
Until and unless you know the in and out of Indian politics, until and unless you are a good ‘leader’, and until and unless you are a good politician – no bugger or beggar is going to vote for you. Of course being good actors, these guys can pull a lot of crowd, that even Jenna Jameson can do for obvious reasons. But will they win elections, and will they become the CM of their respective states is highly doubtful – logically and as well as astrologically!
Posted by Kenni at 05:58 AM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2008
My guest lecture at ‘Madras Christian College’
One of my friends/clients thought that I could talk good on the topic of Internet. And he put me across to a staff working for Madras Christian College, Chennai, who in turn called me to give a guest lecture on the Internet. Well the subject has always interested me a lot – because I started my career with a dotcom, worked only for dotcoms, and today I am making a living out of dotcoms. The Internet has always been a passion for me, and I strongly felt that I should share whatever I know about this particular industry after 11 years of sincere browsing experience.
Four important things kept banging my thoughts from the day the date was fixed (27th August, 2008), and they were –
First - the anxiety about performance. Will I perform well? Will I be able to handle 50 students for 2 hours at a stretch? How should I go about it? And where should I start?
I remember the day at college (during my masters) when my mind went blank while making a presentation about my project to my own classmates. This particular bad experience was haunting me a bit.
Second – I had to carry the memory of another not-so-good incident on my mind precisely the guest lecture I had given at Loyola College some 4 years back about Hindi Internet.
I was part of Sify then, and I had the Sify tag on my forehead. And this time I existed just as G. Kennedi – a vast difference for which I was more than happy.
I personally wasn’t happy with my performance at Loyola, and I didn’t wanted to repeat that in MCC.
Third – Madras Christian College happened to be the college where my father desperately tried for my post graduation. I never got one, and hence ended up rightly in Coimbatore PSG Arts to do MA in Mass Communication. It was an experience in itself, where you enter a college to teach, where you weren’t given admission.
Fourth – In one of Osho’s books, I had read that you should always believe in ‘spontaneity.’ If you have it in you, then it will come out the way you want at the right time at the right place. This was one of the reasons I didn’t prepare anything for the seminar. I just wanted to go there, and talk whatever came to my mind – and I did so.
The lecture was scheduled at 4 pm, and thanks to my NCC experience I reached the place at 3.15 pm – too early I guess. I didn’t know what to do with the extra time. I recollected one of Jaspal Bhatti’s ‘Flop Show’ episodes where he is called as a chief guest. He reaches the venue much ahead of time, and nobody recognizes him for all for sure know that chief guests always arrive late. On top of that Jaspal Bhatti is mistook for a tap thief. I never wanted that to happen to me, hence stopped a juice center and ordered for a juice just to kill the time.
I didn’t wanted to make it late either, I entered the premises at 3.45 pm, and the lecture started at 4 pm and went on till 6 pm without stop. I spoke about the Internet, I spoke about forums, I spoke about blogging, I spoke about India, I spoke about astrology, I spoke about spirituality, I spoke about movies, I spoke about Rajini Kanth, I spoke about myself, I spoke about social awareness, and I spoke about Chennai auto guys too. The session went on very well, and I fell in love with the students too. They were alert, they were bold, they were inquisitive and they were ready to learn.
If my words can light the spark of ‘exploration’ in someone’s heart, then I think my existence is justified!
Posted by Kenni at 06:53 AM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2008
God saves my ass!
If others don’t appreciate your work or fail to recognize your achievements then the best way to attract attention is by blowing your own trumpet. And that is exactly what I am going to do in this particular blog. I don’t want to blame others because that is how our memory system works – we tend to forget things too soon. Well do you really remember that in 2007 I had predicted that India will win at least one Gold medal in Beijing? I am sure, you don’t.
As far as possible I try to keep myself away from mundane (predictions on worldly events) predictions, because more than appreciation, it attracts only brickbats. And end of the day, any astrologer is left behind with controversies to handle. That is part of human psychology, as most people hate to accept that events and life can be predicted. They always carry a fear of losing the excitement of living an unpredictable life.
In 2007 a particular website asked me to predict some 10 events that will remain the highlights of year 2008, and I shuffled my Tarot Cards to find an insight into the future of India. I typed the predictions and sent it across, and unfortunately the site forgot to publish my predictions. One good thing about having your own website or blogsite is you have the freedom to express, without anyone’s intervention. I instead published them on my site, and here is the list of predictions I had done in the year 2007 - http://www.askenni.com/archives/2007/12/askenni_wishes.html
When my query to the Tarot cards about Olympics was asked the cards flashed were very positive. It clearly showed that India would win at least one gold. My logic wouldn’t approve, but I had to follow what the Tarot cards had to say. It was much later I found that India hasn’t won any Gold since 1980!
My next query was about Sania Mirza’s performance, and the cards that flashed were bad. Even I was surprised when she had to move out due to wrist injury in Olympics. God saved me again
Of course I am not taking the credit for Bindra’s achievement – he got it because he had it in him. But I surely would differ from what politicians said after he won the Gold. According to me he hasn’t won the Gold for 100 million people of India, who never even knew who he was till he won the medal. The medal goes to his father, who sincerely backed him for the last 15 years, which no other Indian father would do!
Posted by Kenni at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2008
People whom we don’t want to emulate!
This happened when I wasn’t a professional astrologer. Being the channel manager of Sify Astrology I knew many good astrologers with whom I interacted on a daily basis. And if any of my friends or colleagues needed some professional help, I would recommend some good astrologers to them. In the process I always refused to ask for any special discounts from the astrologers, fearing that it might put them in an embarrassing situation.
One of my seniors, who was doing really well on his career front, and also making good amount of money – any day beyond his capabilities and potential, asked me if I can put him to any of the astrologers I knew. I said perfectly fine. And as a normal Indian he wanted to bargain. I told him, “it is not that if we bargain, the astrologers wouldn’t agree. They will. But then it would be better for us to maintain a professional relationship, and try not to put them in a circumstance where they cannot refuse to oblige.”
I spoke to the astrologer and I had the appointment fixed for my colleague. I mentioned about the fees to my colleague, and he agreed.
The next day when I reached my office, my colleague came my desk. He said how good the consultation went on, and how much it helped him in clearing his confusions about life. He thanked me for putting him across a good astrologer. I felt very good and was proud to know that - if not capable of helping people directly, you at least can be mediator.
After a while I called upon the astrologer, with whom I shared a special relationship. I asked him about the session, and he said it was good, and thanked me for spreading his good work. I still had a question on back of my mind making me feel a bit uncomfortable, and finally I asked him, “hope you got your fees correctly.” He decently said, “forget about it, money isn’t everything.” I said. “I know money isn’t everything, but please tell me if the person paid you your fees.” And he said NO. The astrologer’s fee was Rs 1000 and my colleague paid him only Rs 200, that too without asking how much he charged for a single consultation! And this happened in spite of me making him understand about the astrologer’s professional charges with a special request asking him not to bargain!
It isn’t just about money. It is about trust, and it is about using someone else’s help to meet your selfish end. For me it was an interesting episode to understand how intelligently a person can manipulate others to save few bucks, and how cheap a person can behave thinking he can outsmart others.
Many a times I have wondered, if life is about learning good things, then why do people like my colleague exist? And after many years I got an answer to my query. Of course life is about learning and getting influenced by others, but it also is about ‘NOT’ learning and ‘NOT’ getting influenced by few people!
May righteousness prevail!
Posted by Kenni at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2008
When my client read my mind!
One of my close relatives living in Tiruppur recently told me that he/she saw a XXX video of the Tamil filmstar ‘Namita’. Well for the people who don’t know who Namita is just search for her images on google, and you will know who she is, and what she is famous for. I didn’t agree to what my relative said. With my experience with XXX movies, I know many a times they have look alike as the main cast, and a lot of people confuse them with the original. The most recent controversy being actress Trisha’s bathing video - in no scene can you confirm that it was her – may be a look alike again. Still to double check - I searched for Namita’s video on the net for a couple of days but could not find one.
Off late I came across a young guy (let me call him ‘S’) living in Gujarat on messenger chat - who is an Internet freak. I can say that he is a good hacker too. He knows things that most net users wouldn’t know. Talking to him is always fun. He should be 24, but the amount of things I learn from him is immense.
I had an online consultation with one of my clients last week – let me call him ‘C.’ The chat was going on fine. I was through with the past in 15 mns, and as I was just getting into his future, ‘S’ buzzed me on other messenger window. He asked me if I wanted any help from the Internet, and I immediately passed on the challenge to him - find Namita’s XXX movie!
‘S’ asked me, who is Namita, and I asked him to google. He found her. And the second question he posted was, what is so special about Namita? And I typed, “she has huge boobs and huge butt” and I typed that in my CLIENT’S messenger window! The ‘enter’ button was pressed, and there was no way I can get the message back. The damage was already done.
For few micro seconds I felt very odd about the blunder I committed, till I got a soothing reply from my client asking ‘Who Namita?!!’ I really dunno how he read my mind? I just typed – huge boobs and huge butt, and my client guessed it was Namita! I asked him how on earth did you know I was talking about her, and he said – it was an easy guess! And he added that Namita is one of his favourite heroines too! May be birds of feathers flock together!
And now on to the suspense part – ‘S’ found the video, I downloaded the video, and watched it too. It wasn’t Namita, but then a very close look alike!
Posted by Kenni at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2008
Happy Independence Day!
I always had this doubt in my mind. At your prime age - say between 30 and 50, if you are given an option to settle in the US or in India. What would you choose?
If by chance or by mistake you choose India – then you surely are a true Indian and have all the liberty to celebrate Indian Independence Day!
God Bless All!
Posted by Kenni at 05:13 AM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2008
Chaotic thoughts!
There is so much to complain about events you are subjected to, but then I thought I would stop complaining for a while – at least till something affects me immensely. A BSNL guy came to rectify some broadband issue. And after the job was done he would never move his butt out. I know what he was expecting. I said, “Mr – I am anti corruption, hence don’t expect anything from me. I can only be a good friend of you and that too if you want.” Totally embarrassed he said, “money is just secondary in life. It is always good to meet people like you.” I am not sure whether he will reach my house the next time I have some broadband issues, but still I won’t corrupt him. And this remains true for all the government officials I would meet in future – “no corruption charges for anyone.”
Instead of trying to change the world, I have tried to bring some changes in myself - which makes me far more happy and contented. I don’t corrupt government officials, I don’t drink bottled water, I don’t buy stuff which are sold more than MRP prices, I don’t use auto rickshaws (in Chennai), and I don’t go to Mayajaal anymore. I drive my car defensively, and don’t stop when someone hits my car for I know nothing can be done, instead I start driving after a prayer - “let ‘ME’ not hit anyone today.”
I have changed my perception about the poor people too. I don’t think they deserve any goodness or sympathy from others. They are what they are because they deserve to be one. They capture lands, create a slum, get electricity for illegal houses, use buses for commutation (hence no toll), they don’t pay tax, they get rice for Rs 2, they get TVs free from the governments, they booze every evening, and also decide the next government.
If I ever have any respect for any class then it is for the middle class of Indian society, which always gets sandwiched between the rich and the poor. They happen to be the backbone of our society - the honest taxpayers - who finally face the brunt after every parliamentary budget or after every change in the government. I sometimes strongly feel that you should ban the poor or non-tax payers from voting, and instead give voting powers only to the taxpayers.
Recently I read a news story where the Tamil fishermen got shot dead by the Sri Lankans. The fishermen went on a 15-day strike, and TN chief minister called them and disbursed 5 lakhs for each deceased family. The fishermen resumed work. The fishermen were happy. And the politicians were happy to have saved their vote banks. But on the first place - who asked them to go and fish on Sri Lankan coast? They thought the Sri Lankans would welcome them with garlands? The fishermen’s had only one argument – it seems they get good fish only on Sri Lankan coast!!
And there were many bomb blasts across India followed by tight security all over the places after the crow has already shat. As a man of normal IQ, I honestly don’t think terrorists are maniacs. And as normal human beings I don’t think they have fun killing innocent people. We all are saints, and can talk about philosophy and loving kindness, till someone barges into our house and starts raping our near and dear ones.
After the heinous incidents of mass killing in Godhra, if we thought that the suppressed community will die in solitude doing service to mankind then I am sure we are mere fools? Retaliation cannot be avoided – it is just a matter of time – today or few months later. Remember you can rule over people only till they have the fear of death, and if anyone is pushed to fearlessness, then the only option you have is to wait and face the music. That is exactly what is happening.
I don’t have any hatred towards any terrorist or any terrorist organization - for any terrorist is a terrorist before freedom, and the same terrorist is a freedom fighter after freedom. Violence can never be put an end to – it has always been part of any society and every human civilization. The only difference is – from which side you analyze it – the government’s point of view or from the terrorist point of view.
And killing of innocent people is again something, which cannot be avoided in life pattern. Gone are the days of Kurukshetra, where people who wanted to fight went to a remote place and then fought. Even today if US attacks Kuwait or Iraq or any other country – innocent people die – may be they give a new name to the whole concept – ‘war against terrorism’ to be precise.
Well I have only one request to the terrorist if at all they happen to read my blog. You want to be heard, and I am sure you can be heard only through violence (agreed completely), but why is there a necessity to kill innocent people? You can just place a bomb in some corrupt government office – that way at least corruption will come to an end! Ore kallule rendu manga (there is a beautiful proverb in Tamil which says – one stone, two mangoes)
Posted by Kenni at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)
August 06, 2008
I got my third ‘baby’!
There was no blogs for a couple of days as I was very busy with my third baby. Yeah she was delivered to me on July 25th, 2008. Of course I am not the one who will listen to government’s advise about how many babies a family should have – as if they feed them. Whether you have 2 children or 10, the tax you pay remains the same. No concession whatsoever, so why restrain yourself from having many?
I think most of my readers know the names of my other two babies. And I have named my third baby as Mriganayani – the one who has the eyes of deer. And the name seems to be apt, as she does most of her work through her eyes, and the professionals call them eyepiece or lens. My third baby is a Canon 400 D SLR (Digital Single Lens Reflector camera), which comes to me after a long long wait.
Photography has always been a passion for me, but then I was never blessed with the right tool. Yeah, there are people who say, if you are good, you can take good pictures even using an aim and shoot camera. If that was true, there was no necessity for high-end cameras! My humble opinion is for any art you need to first have the bare minimum tools in place. Now that I got mine, I need to see if I can justify my stand!
The desire for owning an SLR has been there from the day I saw one. And I think I saw the first SLR camera 20 years back. I am sure my father would have killed me if I had told him that I love photography, and I need a good camera to experiment with. He always wanted me to be good at what he was good at – mathematics. He wanted me to score Centum, while maths gave me nightmares! It even does today!
At college while doing my MA mass communication, we had a paper on photography, in which I scored 68 out of 100. My theory - as it looks - was above average but when it came to practical it was zero. In fact I could not touch my new camera for 2 days for it was too advanced, and I didn’t know where to start. Thanks to one of my friends who sent me some good websites, which gave me the much-needed confidence.
I have started taking pics, and am already posting them on flickr.com. There is one mantra in photography, which keeps giving me the necessary impetus to explore more, and it is –
“There cannot be anything called the ‘best’ photograph because there is always room for betterment”
Posted by Kenni at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)
August 01, 2008
I have lost a bit of respect for ‘Rajini Kanth!’
One of my clients - who knew that I watched Rajini previous flick ‘Sivaji’ first day, first show, first row – buzzed me to ask whether I have already watched Super Star’s latest release ‘Kuselan,’ and I said, “no.” I will wait, and I am in no hurry.
From the day I understood movies, I am an ardent fan of Rajini, but then I think I should just look at him as an actor – and nothing more than that. I think attributing super human personality to Rajini or any other actor for that matter is mere foolishness, and it can affect the society adversely in the longer run.
I knew a bit about the story. It is a remake of Malayalam movie, and the main story line is lifted from Krishna - Sudama mythology where the poor Sudama - a childhood friend of Lord Krishna - comes to meet Krishna, who is a king now. I think Sudama is called Kuselan in Tamil.
I sincerely purchased an audio CD of the movie and saw Rajini’s photo in all its glory. But the picture of the real hero - Pasupathi - was completely missing! Not even a thumbnail of the hero was seen anywhere! I personally think it can be considered as the height of ‘humiliation’ any actor could possibly face.
Of course Pasupathi is a no body in the movie industry, and cannot stand a chance near Rajini – but still – you cannot ignore someone so uprightly. It simply means that we haven’t understood the importance of Kuselan as a character. If the movie makers wanted just Rajini to be seen they could very well cast Rajini as Lord Krishna and made him talk to someone who does an Arjun!
No wonder Pasupathi didn’t turn up for the music release. I sincerely feel every actor – big or small - deserves respect in the best possible way.
I know the CD thing wasn’t Rajini idea, but then I am sure he should have intervened. If he can intervene into Karnataka politics, send apology letter to the leaders, and then come on the Television to publicly apologize for something he thought he did right for Tamil Nadu, then he surely should have given Pasupathi some respect.
And moreover with this apology drama he has made it very clear that he not only is a good actor but also a good businessman where his only motive happens to be - ‘profit maximization.’
I am not saying I won’t watch Kuselan, I surely will. But then I have lost some respect for Rajini Kanth already.
Posted by Kenni at 03:00 PM | Comments (0)