Breaking Dawn(Part-1) * * * *

It's that time of year again when we fall in love with the idea of love. Bella and Edward are back and this time around they invite you to the most anticipated and awaited on-screen wedding of all times. And this first part of the grand finale to twilight saga has delivered more than promised.

The cinematography especially of the grand wedding is spectacular. And all the Twilighters will definitely have a hard time managing their tears. It has been filmed with such simplicity and beauty that we fall in love with it. After all, we have waited so long to see them getting married and Edward has been waiting for more than a century to loose his virginity.Better late than never.

The wedding is followed by a honeymoon in Brazil which intrigues you as the vampire libido seems too much for the human Bella. Soon Bella gets pregnant  which is very unusual as the cold ones are apparently all impotent. And the story then revolves around the future of this unborn child and the possibilities therein. This ultimately ruins the treaty between the Cullens and the Quileutes which results in thrilling drama towards the end.The performances of all are commendable and the direction is soothing and streamlined. He even seemed to be generous this time allowing Jacob to fashion some cloths.

Final verdict, if you have loved the previous three of this saga, you are going to love this one like anything and this is the perfect prequel to the grand finale which will be coming next. And for New borns, it's just a romantic drama with a little of wolf thrill. And yeah, guys, you might even end up meeting your Bella at the theater as girls are turning out in huge numbers.

Uma's Agneepath against Walmart

On lines of Advani's Jan Chetna Yatra, Uma Bharti has revealed her upcoming agni-yatra wherein she plans to travel across the world to burn down all the Walmart stores as a reaction to the Government of India's decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail. At first, she only expressed the desire to burn down any store if it opens in India. But looks like she wants to play safe before the upcoming UP elections.

Uma Bharti in a press conference said that she is up for the interest of small traders and burning down all such multi-brand retailer giants is the only solution. She even said that once these huge retailers are thrown out, the kirana walas and local traders from India can fill in for the retail market across the world. She said this would boost Indian Exports. Talking about her yatra, she said she will use the same rath that Advani ji travelled in to have his blessing.

During the press conference when she was told that the government had many riders along so as to protect the interest of the small scale traders and the agriculturists and that this move will be creating around 10 million jobs in the country, she got angry with the press and even threatened to burn down the media houses and called them puppets in the hands of the ruling government.

In her Agni-yatra, she would be accompanied by Karan Johar, who would be promoting his next production 'Agneepath' featuring Hrithik Roshan. Other luminaries like Sushma Swaraj, Rabri Devi and Sharad Pawar( who is in a militant mood after getting slapped) have also expressed their desire to accompany Uma  But she would definitely would not want anyone to steel her thunder and to take political leverage out of this noble cause.

Rockstar * *

Expectations are never good. After the rom-com 'Jab We Met', the standards were floating real high and we couldn't wait any long for Imtiaz Ali's next and apparently it was already a success for his fan following. But cult is rarely followed by another cult. And Rockstar, for the most part of it, has been disappointing.

This so called 'musical' is about that good old saying that music can only come from a broken heart. Janardan Jakhar alias Jordan, has been playing music since childhood but he hasn't got the chords right yet. And for the sake it, he plans to fall in love with the heart breaker from Stephens. But the direction and scripting are so pathetic that you never actually feel that he fell in love or broke his heart.Every thing just seems like a deliberate attempt.

Nargis Fakhri turned out to be a total disaster. When will casting people understand that a hot chick looking like Katrina is not always the right choice. With apparently no acting skills and ridiculously large lips(No they are not at all like Angelina Jolie's), she is total alien to the movie. Also, another problem is unlike the west, people in India do not have a role model for a Rockstar. Here we worship Heroes and not singers.The saving grace for the movie is of course the scintillating music but also the authentic portrayal of an artist who creates music from pain. Ranbir's intense and powerful expressions and his energy levels helps the audience to connect. In fact, that's the only thing you would find worthy of stars in Rockstar.

Heritage or Just old buildings ??

Recently I visited probably the most impressive fort that the Mughals left behind and which is more than 450 years old. It is one of the most detailed and intelligent piece of art. Every single structure has a purpose and every single purpose has many dimensions to it. One would be amazed to see the principles of water harvesting, modern ventilation and planned drainage, all were there and in most cases better than what we have today.

Amidst the grandeur and vastness of this place, I was intrigued by an opinion."Do we really need them today? There is a land crunch and I guess we can better utilize the huge spread of this monument".

With the growing disinterest of people in such places of historic relevance and the third class maintenance by the government officials, one might find himself/herself leaning towards this opinion. But when you dig deeper to seek the larger picture you find so many other variables that actually matter a lot. In a country like India, tourism industry is one of the largest employers. Although, most of it is in the unorganized sector.

Take for example, the city of Agra. The economy of Agra is solely run on the basis of tourism. There are zillions of hotels and like half of them are named after the 'Taj'. The city also has other monuments like the Red fort, Sikandra and Fatehpur Sikri which make it an attractive tourist location. Everywhere in the city, you only find hotels, restaurants and travel agencies. Every other local is either into hospitality or is a travel guide.

Tourism is something which has a great potential for India and a lot needs to be done to make sure that we fully utilize it. We are fortunate to have so many places with monuments and natural beauty spread all over the country. These can be productively be used to provide employment to the huge labor force of the country. And also various incentives can be provided to promote self employment and small scale industries at such places.

Call it heritage or call it old buildings, the bottom line is we need to preserve such places. If not for the legacy they carry, then for the fact that millions depends on them for their bread and butter.

Respecting your words

Any social psychology expert would tell you that people behave differently in the presence of others.And the deviance from the real 'self' depends upon the level of closeness with the audience.The self, as per sociologist G.H.Mead, has two components namely 'I' & 'Me'. The former represents the incalculable,unpredictable and innovative component and the later is the coercive culmination of value premises imposed by the society. So, the former is the real self.

Mostly, all people are governed by the dominating 'Me' component. And even though we might be having a huge list of criticisms for say a person, we tend to behave normally before that person. We even try to please that person and don't let the grudges to surface in the conversation. But we find ourselves opening up quite frankly to a third person. We like to bitch about others behind their backs to this third person.

But when this third person sees you change colors like a chameleon in front of the person whom you have been insulting all the way, what would that third person conceive of you. You just became a spineless, coward and  degraded person.This phenomenon is not restricted to just this. Sometime we go on blasting off grandeur in our talks and making propositions to impress others without even digging a little on our capabilities to turn them into realities. And even worse, sometimes we keep on fluctuating our opinions like a damn pendulum which makes it difficult for people to trust your words.

You should respect your words if you want others to respect you. You should be bold enough to express yourself freely to others. You should speak of things only when you are sure of your potential to turn them real.  You should be what you are.All the time. A person of few words but with a spine is any day better than a verbose, spineless and coward jackass.

I confess that my past and present would certainly make me a spineless coward. But I am not going to project it to my future.I mean it.