Or...do we prefer a world leader achievement in bribe collecting?
Monday, November 16, 2015
Lawless(ons): MindQuakes - 2
Or...do we prefer a world leader achievement in bribe collecting?
Posted by john daniel at 8:33 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ek Desh INDIA CINEMASCOPIC, FUNNY LINES INDIA, OLD BOMBAY MEMORIES
Friday, October 30, 2015
Easiest Way to Develop India?!!
There are two ways.
1. Easy Way. Develop in showing-off. Go around proclaiming what great things India was going to achieve; how India's achievements would make her the world's leading nation.
For such development...no work is needed. Only a thick skin. And a big mouth.
2. Hard Way. Keep mouths shut, plan with expert advice, and do whatever is necessary in the long-haul work to improve conditions in the country.
Of course, the first way is far far far far far far far far far far far far far far.....easier!
Dreamy Tail-Lights:
Posted by john daniel at 12:16 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ek Desh INDIA CINEMASCOPIC, FUNNY LINES INDIA, OLD BOMBAY MEMORIES
Sunday, October 18, 2015
India's Thrilled Globe-Jetters
In the age of globalization is India becoming a global leader at jet speed?
Anyone of any importance in the country (i.e. anyone who doesn't have to worry about the fares, including business honchos) are busy globalizing India by jetting around the globe. They are so busy they don't have time to unpack their travel bags. They keep constantly checking airline schedules to discover potential new destinations. What about Iceland? they wonder. Or Greenland? Will the welcome be warmer in Serbia...or Bosnia? Overall they are certain their frequent appearances in global capitals will establish the idea that India is now in the forefront of globalized development. Wherever they land, they compulsively collect piles of paper mementos - which they add to the piles of garbage in the home country. They fail to notice that people abroad are actually more than a bit tired seeing those smug, permanently-grinning faces every few days. In fact our champion nonstop world tourists are so determined to make India a global leader they have no time to spare for (or, maybe, it's the easiest way to avoid facing) realities back home...poverty, hunger, systemic corruption, divisiveness, bigotry etc.
By constantly jetting to show up and off around the globe. they feel they are patriotically proving that India is a global leader - a feeling that surely leaves them happy. Thrilled! Oh, deliriously thrilled!
Posted by john daniel at 5:51 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ek Desh INDIA CINEMASCOPIC, FUNNY LINES INDIA, OLD BOMBAY MEMORIES
Brando's Indian Star Wife
Throughout her life she insisted that William O'Callaghan (who worked in the Indian Railways) was her stepfather, that her real parents were a Devi Kashfi and Selma Ghose. Some reports suggest she had decided the best way to succeed in Hollywood was to hitch on to a big star...and that's how she met Brando in the commissary (restaurant) of a Hollywood studio.
Marlon Brando had made the big time with A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront. He came from Lee Strasberg's Method School of Acting in New York. (James Dean and Al Pacino are among notable alumni of the School) which taught students to act out emotions without getting emotional, underplaying roles to create a powerful effect.
Marlon fell for Anna's dusky, exotic looks. She became his first wife. But their marriage was shortlived, tempestuous. They fought bitterly over custody of their son Christian Brando. Anna's brief Hollywood career was cut short by drug and alcohol problems. She died, aged 80, in August 2015.
Among her movies are The Mountain (1956) with Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner and Battle Hymn with Rock Hudson. In Night of the Quarter Moon (1959) she plays the African-American wife of the renowned singer Nat 'King' Cole.
Posted by john daniel at 8:02 AM 0 comments
Labels: Ek Desh INDIA CINEMASCOPIC, FUNNY LINES INDIA, OLD BOMBAY MEMORIES
Saturday, October 10, 2015
India Needs MindQuakes, 1
Change is inevitable. And change is necessary to build NewIndia.
Thinking must change. Mindsets must change. First, for example, a NewIndia will no longer be a country where a common idea is....
To grab whatever one can get away with - whether it's part of a pavement or other public use space, or government-owned land or a neighbour's property. Grabbing often starts with an encroachment that, if unresisted, grows in ambition. Cheating, lying, bribing and other deceits - in the process of grabbing - are taken as proof of one's own smartness. As for ease of bribing, there are any number of officials (uniformed and un-uniformed) who consider it their own smartness to be able to bend or break any rule or law and thus add to their daily take in bribes. And, worse, among those who wield power you'll find those who loot the most and get away.
The whole grabbing business indicates a failure of basic ethical values.
No country that runs short on ethical values can be truly modern and developed - an enlightened nation.
NewIndia will be a country of people committed to ethical values.
Tail-Lights:
Posted by john daniel at 9:19 PM 0 comments
Labels: Ek Desh INDIA CINEMASCOPIC, FUNNY LINES INDIA, OLD BOMBAY MEMORIES
Wednesday, September 23, 2015
India's Only Top Hollywood Heroine
Does anyone remember Merle Oberon?
Estelle Merle O'Brien Thompson was born in Bombay of Welsh-Indian parentage in 1911. 'Queenie' (her nickname) escaped an aimless life by sailing to London with an English boyfriend at the age of 17. There, while she was trying to enter films, she did odd jobs like entertaining at the Cafe de Paris. She got only bit parts till her looks and talent were noticed by Alexander Korda, Britain's Hungarian emigre movie mogul. She appeared in Men of Tomorrow in 1933. Then came the starring role of Anne Boleyn in the The Private Life of Henry VIII. Successes in London led her on to Hollywood.
Among her big movies were The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Divorce of Lady X , Wuthering Heights (a memorable performance) and Berlin Express. She was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for her role in The Dark Angel (1935). She acted with many top stars, including Gary Cooper, Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, Marlon Brando and David Niven.
Merle Oberon married Alexander Korda. She was with him at the presentation when Korda received a Knighthood at Buckingham Palace in 1942. So she was the first Lady Korda. After divorcing Korda, she went through two more divorces, and then married actor Robert Wolders. She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
She died of a massive stroke in 1979 at Malibu, California.
Throughout her life she was secretive about her parentage, family and early life in Bombay.
A glittery, almost fairy-tale story! A teen girl adrift on the streets of British Bombay, Queenie set out to make something of her life and achieved world stardom.
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Posted by john daniel at 10:34 AM 0 comments
Labels: Ek Desh INDIA CINEMASCOPIC, FUNNY LINES INDIA, OLD BOMBAY MEMORIES
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Busted BusStop's Thieving Secret!!!
The two main rival political parties deserve a Filmfare (or even Oscar) nomination for Acting - their rivalry act that demolished the bus-stop shelter/bench and led to scenes of pretended violence on the street. And the net result? The bus-stop's gone. In the open plot behind the former bus-stop pavement a builder has made iron grille gates right across the plot's frontage and put up his signs saying No Parking In Front Of The Gates. He has sloped the pavement down to the street. And now his cars and construction trucks occupy the public pavement, virtually stealing the pavement . He has started building a multi-storey commercial plus residential complex. Since it's a prime location on a business street, he will earn big money. And, of course, the two political parties will be well rewarded for collaborating in a rivalry act to get rid of the bus-stop from the complex's frontage. It seems everybody gained. Oh, not everybody! The public lost the all-weather facility provided by the bus-stop. And ethical values and probity in public life in the country took another hit!
Where's India headed?
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A Revolutionary Theme, the people's inspired March to an Ek Desh India, lights up Dreams of One Country by Jagjit (and John Daniel). You can easily check it out on Amazon.com. If a transforming India theme appeals to you, venture to download the novel on any device - I-phone, pad or computer.
2. Man's Easiest Job!
Look at history, past and present. Nothing is easier for man than to delete 'kind' from mankind. (From Tipsy Tweetlines)
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Posted by john daniel at 11:59 AM 0 comments
Labels: Ek Desh INDIA CINEMASCOPIC, FUNNY LINES INDIA, OLD BOMBAY MEMORIES