Aditya Pranav: The official webpage.

I made sure that I watched the very first show of Rockstar in the city as I had intended to write a detailed note; however, didn’t find myself in the right state of mind as I was a bit overwhelmed emotionally. I kept thinking and let the feeling sink in. I have now managed to key in some of my thoughts for a few friends have already asked me whether I am going to write a review. So I thank them for encouraging me to get this underway. More often than not, I wonder about the concept of soul mates; is there such a thing really? Can there be a romantic relationship that can be termed as a “true love”. What could be the symptoms of it and how would you know that someone is your soul mate or true love? Will you ever do? Will it be too late if you ever do or realize? Can the attraction and intensity of the connection be so compelling that you do not care for anything else? Apparently, a movie cannot give a definitive answer; however, Rockstar does try to explore that realm and dishes...

The music of Imtiaz Ali's film Rockstar is turning out to be phenomenal with 5-6 songs already striking the right chords among the listeners. “Saadda Haq” has become most popular and now being hailed as a “Youth Anthem” of the year. On the second day of music release this album reaches on top in world's biggest online music download store iTunes in category of "Top World Soundtracks" (Source: Wikipedia). Most importantly, Oscar winner A. R. Rahman comes back with a bang defying the recent and to an extent some unfair criticism. Remember the common-wealth games music score! Apart from that the soundtrack of Blue, Jhootha Hi Sahi and Raavan did not really create enough buzz to meet the huge expectations unlike his previous scores. I had recently read an article in Hindu that had brought forward these points and wondered how important the release of Superheavy and Rockstar could be for the musical genius even though he did not seem perturbed with what was happening arou...

Here’s what Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975) said, when some of his students and friends requested him to allow them to celebrate his birthday: "Instead of celebrating my birthday, it would be my proud privilege if 5th September is observed as Teachers' Day." Everyone liked the idea and his birthday (5th September) has since been celebrated as  Teachers' Day  in India. Even though he is not present among us in physical appearance, he left for us a great legacy in terms of knowledge and wisdom. His contribution to the subject of Philosophy has been acknowledged by the entire world. He made a great effort in taking the Indian philosophy to the world and played an instrumental role in setting a global stage for the knowledge and wisdom he had acquired through Indian epics such as Vedas, Upnishads, Bhagvadgeeta, Bramha Sutra and others. The Hibbert Lecture which he delivered at Harris Manchester College, Oxford in 1929 became the b...

A government is of the people, by the people and for the people—this famous definition by Abraham Lincon represents a form of government called Democracy and yesterday’s much welcomed progress in “India Against Corruption” movement led by respected Anna Hazare only goes on to show that the people are supreme, and very rightly so in my opinion. This is indeed a great victory for the entire nation and a significant first step towards the formation of a strong “Lokpal and Lokayukta’s Bill” which is waiting to be passed since it was first tabled in the Parliament in 1968. All the subsequent steps too had failed since then and this was the high time someone showed the way. A 74 year old social activist, Kisan Baburao Hazare, popularly known as Anna Hazare came forward with a solid resolve and had the country observe a great peaceful and non-violent demonstration/movement/protest buoyed by his indefinite fast and demand of “Jan Lokpal Bill” (Citizen's ombudsman Bill for prevention of c...

First things first – In my opinion, “Aarakshan” does not hurt your sentiments, it actually lifts your spirits up. Yes, it is a must watch. I was eager to watch Aarakshan as soon as I got to know about it and the recent hullabaloo and controversies about the movie only added to my curiosity and left me even more intrigued. In fact, if I were to admit, I was saddened due to the movie being banned in a few sates and also because of the nature of the protests that had to do more with inhibitions rather than the facts. It apparently depicted a political fervor too. It would be disturbing to anybody who believed in “freedom of speech and expression” or in broader terms “right to freedom”. And it would be all the more alarming when there were other such instances such as forceful eviction of a peaceful gathering for a good cause, recent laathi-charge at a peace march etc. The latest edition to the list was the monitoring of the country’s citizens tweets and personal Facebook messages. They ...

“Atlas shrugged” is one of the most revered work of fiction; a masterpiece and a widely celebrated effort of “Ayn Rand” that came out in 1957 i.e., almost 14 years after her previous best “The Fountainhead”. Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was born and educated in Russia, however, later moved to the United States in 1926 where she took up a job as a screenwriter in Hollywood. There was no looking back since then and she continued to step up the ladder and ended her journey of life as a venerated Russian-American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and a philosopher. The philosophical aspect has been a subject of study for years (controversial and full of criticism too) and very rightly so because of the profound insights she has offered to the entire world. A very simplistic assessment of her philosophy is — “A” is “A” which implies that we believe and work according to the things that exist in the real world, not paying much heed to faith, religion and the outer world aspect. Hence, she...

A victory with vengeance was what team India needed and they have certainly clinched it in style. And the journey culminates in India reaching the Glory. Honestly, I am finding it hard to concentrate right now and definitely short of words once again to describe the feeling I am going through. I would like to keep this post as short as possible to get back to the celebrative mode. I am very proud to have witnessed one of the most glorious moments of the country and Indian cricket. I am proud of being an Indian. I extend my heartiest CONGRATULATIONS to Team INDIA, the people of India & supporters across the globe. Big celebrations had started with India beating Australia in the quarter finals and Indian team has made sure that it continues. From the today’s match perspective the win is truly special because it actually gave a glimpse of the bright future of Indian cricket. After the dismissal of Sachin & Sehwag (India were 31/2 after Sachin got out) much was left to the tempe...

So the celebration continues and its ecstasy all around! I just do not have enough words to explain the feeling right now as I am completely overwhelmed and so are all the Indian fans. Of course after having had a busy day at office & shouting at the loudest possible voice in the office cafeteria/pantry, I am feeling too tired and would have been off to sleep any other day; however, the euphoria is such that it has given me an extra dose of energy to write a little more. After all; what the world has witnessed just now happened to be the biggest cricketing extravaganza that turned out to be simply phenomenal. India beat Pakistan by 29 runs . The excitement generated from this match would definitely continue for a long time to come. CONGRATULATIONS to the Indian team & their supporters! Indeed, the semi-finals (2011) between India & Pakistan was the biggest match I have ever observed in my life till date. There had been a huge build up to this match that was quite expected...

What a match it turned out to be!!! Billions of people went through the adrenaline rush while the quarter final match was on between India and Australia. Undoubtedly it was the biggest match in the tournament for both the teams-- Australia were the world champions and India were being considered favorites this time which they didn’t seem to have justified in their earlier matches. India rose to the occasion in the end and won the nerve-wracking match by 5 wickets . So CONGRATULATIONS to team India!!! J I had mentioned in my earlier post below that India would sure be raising the standard of their game to meet the demands of the competition and they did exactly that. The day for me started with excitement & anxiety in the anticipation of the big game and went through a roller-coaster ride as the game progressed. The sad part was that I did not have a holiday to enjoy the match ball by ball and yet it was really great to watch the enthusiasm in the office pantries and the cafeteri...

So here we are. The Indian cricket team has let it slip yet again and I am a disappointed cricket fan as anyone else from our country would be. Truly disappointed; more so because I was very confident of an India win today. Yet India should not take it as a stumbling block and go ahead in the tournament with this loss as a stepping stone as they had their share of the positives too. A few can be pointed out as below: Their openers yet again giving them a great & swashbuckling start with both Tendulkar & Sehwag delivering vintage knocks. Especially Tendulkar’s looking more solid than ever and never at any moment has he looked vulnerable against any attack in the competition. I am sure everyone would agree that it was quite an uncanny collapse in the last 9 overs which, I am quite convinced to take as an exception. Gautam Gambhir puts to rest all the speculation by hitting the second fifty in this world cup making Indian batting li...