Monday, June 25, 2012

Borewell tragedies in India

An illegal borewell near the incident spot in village Kho, in Gurgaon. Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times All to save Mahi(the borewell into which the 4 year old Mahi fell)
A four-year-old girl Mahi fell down in a 70-feet borewell in village Kho near Manesar  in Gurgaon. Army rescued Mahi but was declared dead at the hospital. Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times) All to save Mahi  An illegal borewell near the incident spot in village Kho, in Gurgaon. Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times All to save Mahi (the borewell covered with 2 bricks after the incident)
The falling of Mahi, a 5 year old child into the unused Borewell in Manesar, India reflects the apathy on the part of both the Government authority and that of the public collectively.  The entire media attention was drawn to this episode for atleast 3 full days forcing the public to watch the proceedings live and finally drawing a big "Nil". The media in India just blows up the entire issue beyond perception just to hold the Government responsible for the situation and collecting public sympathy by showing images of the child trapped deep inside the Borewell and interviewing the parents and relatives who are ready to kill the persons holding positions in the government.  There should be some kind of gag on the media and regulations about showing the incidents live to create public sympathy for an incident that has happened and  that can not be unwound?  The child's parents in their interview to the media said that they reported the incident immediately as soon as the child fell into the Borewell and that the police came only after about 50 minutes and that too without any tools or preparedness to pull her out alive out of the bore that was dug 80 feet.  There is no disaster management team concept in India and what I hear is that they have started one specially after the Tsunami that hit Asia a few years back leaving memories that still haunt the Asian region?  What intrigues me is that why did not the people around the area cordon off the Borewell site or atleast complain to the authorities about the Borewell that could end as a death- trap for innocent playing children?  The collective social responsibility failed leading to this kind of incident that has ashamed the entire country.
   (the rescue team comprising of Army Personnel)Rescue team consisting of the army, fire brigade , police, revenue and other departments still working to save Mahi. Mahi, a four-year-old girl fell in the borewell at village Kho, Near Manesar, in Gurgaon. Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times All to save Mahi
Unable to cope with the situation, the local police summoned the army to help them out.  The army whose duty is to defend the country is engaged in such matters defeating  the purpose for which they are trained and stationed!  The army came in and took nearly more than 3 days to dig a parallel pit and make a tunnel to the place where the child was stuck without life.  Obviously, the child died without food and water for more than 3 days, stuck deep inside a Borewell where there was lack of Oxygen for her to breathe.  The army should have planned their strategy precisely and retrieved the child within a few hours of their engagement and that would have enhanced their image and respect.  Instead, the army chose a full 3 days excercise drawing the entire focus of the country through the media without any accomplishment.

The State governments in India give scant respect to the rulings and verdicts given by the Supreme court in respect of various matters and one such ruling is a directive from the Apex court to cap the borewells that are not in use so that precious lives could be saved!  No one cares for the judiciary and things happen as they were and sometimes, its all barbaric!

Mahi is dead.  Unless the guilty or the accused are punished, there will be many more Mahis who will die unable to breathe in mother earth's womb and perish.  Who will take the first step forward to arrest these kind of incidents and very surely, it has to be the government who must pass orders to this effect, monitor  and give out punishment to those found guilty.  Indians are thick skinned and they fear only third degree punishments and this has to be done immediately to save and discipline humanity in India!!!
http://images.jagran.com/mahi-sl-23-6-2012.jpg (Mahi-the innocent child)
May god bless the innocent soul and allow it to rest in peace.

Monday, June 18, 2012

New Poster of Ferrari Ki Sawari (2012) Hindi Film
Ferrari ki sawari is all about dreaming high about ambitions and making it realise!  Compliments must be paid to the director Rajesh Mapuskar for giving a clean breathe of fresh air and for giving  a different film with simple star cast and no heroine for glamour part!  A bold attempt by the producer vidhu Vinod Chopra ably assisted by Raju Hirani to churn out one of the best movies of the year!
Sharman Joshi as a patient, encouraging father(father of 3 children in real life) gives his best shot to suit the role of a Parsi Bawa, all out to encourage his only son Kayo achieve his ambition to become a national level cricketeer at a very young age as Sachin Tendulkar did a couple of decades back!  Sharman Joshi blends himself with the Parsi character and  proved his acting skills after having toiled in the Bollywood for the past 15 years!
                                   
The scene where Sharman with his son Kayo on the back seat goes to a cop and confesses having jumped the red light and willing to pay the fine reflects the purity in the heart  of the character that he was playing and a message given out loud to the citizens of the country.  The young boy's role played by Ritvik Sahore is commendable as he was able to enact like a mini Sachin Tendulkar aping Sachin's mannerisms and postures while playing cricket!  The combination of Cricket and Ferrari is the ultimate dream of any youngster and the film maker and the director have capitalised this bonanza to give the best of family drama, sports and comedy mix for the viewers.

Boman Irani as the grand pa of Kayo makes a perfect disgruntled Parsi who is averse to cricket as his good cricket friend plays foul to make him fail in cricket and a career emanating out of it.  The friend who betrayed Boman Irani is now the selector (Paresh Rawal) who justifies his character and lives it?

The film is totally an inspirational film pushing the youngsters to look beyond what they see and set goals to achieve them in life!  Any young kid will draw tremendous inspiration from the film to get set and go??

The director has done well to bring in the Ferrari owned by Sachin Tendulkar without bringing him in any scene but making the story revolving around.  The local corporator and his son make a good duo to set the hall rolling in laughter with their mannerisms and dialogue delivery!  The role donned by Seema Bhargava as the "Juggadu" event manager is commendable and reflects the attitude to bring in the impossible and charge a bomb for the same!  Vidya Balan does an item number which does not suit her stature!  Probably, she must have realised the short span that she is going to live in Bollywood and thought of en cashing her present popularity??

What attracts the most is the way the movie tells about parenting- be it with Kayo and Rustom or the way Kayo's cricket coach handles the young boys emotions and feelings together with Rustom(Sharman Joshi).  Any young kid would love to have a father like Rustom and a coach like the one Kayo is blessed with to live a hearty life!  The relationship between Deboo played by Boman Irani and Rustom and the relationship between Rustom and Kayo reflects a perfect battle of parenting styles and probably a good suggestion to the modern day fathers about bonding with their kids!  The politician father and his glamour struck son adds good humour to the Ferrari ki sawaari.

Your money is realised within  those few minutes of the film when Boman walks in to the room of the selector(Paresh Rawal) and the subsequent exchange of words coupled with excellent skills of acting and emotions displayed by both the veterans!

The last 20 minutes of the film is stretched beyond elasticity and is testing and this could have been avoided making the film more crisp??

The combination of Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Raj kumar Hirani who have given quality pictures earlier have done well not to disappoint the audience?  With no big names to boast and without any female glamour, these guys have done extremely well to give an entertainment that will also inspire many aspiring youngsters and push them towards realising their dreams, one day or the other!!! A movie which you can boldly watch with your children and to inspire them!