Robot and Frank

Watched one movie on HBO Defined on Tata Sky and it was "Robot and Frank". Movie was okay for a one time watch.

Bombay Talkies

Watched Bombay Talkies movie on Tata Sky Showcase channel last Saturday. Movie was okay for one time watch. Four short stories are merged into one movie.

Kaanchi The unbreakable

Watched one more movie and it is Kaanchi the unbreakable on Tata Sky Showcase channel. Initially I thought what was Subash Ghai thinking when he made this movie. But then I saw the ending and felt "All is well that ends well". The ending was a happy ending according to me. But I will say Ghai saab has shot the movie in a 'land of splendid beauty' which is Uttaranchal. Also towards the end they show a wonderful quote from Shri Rabindranath Tagoreji and it is, "Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them." Increasingly these sayings will have more and more meaning as the BJP Govt. establishes and asserts itself. They have got mandate from the people as well. But Tagore saab was a great and fearless man. Maybe few can match him. But not only him others from history can provide inspiration to others.

Refrain from Blogspot

I have decided that now onwards I will not post any political views on blogspot.
I am already not in Facebook, Twitter or Linked in. Only network that I was in was blogspot.
I began by posting what movies I watched. The same thing was in 2006. Since I was watching many movies, I began noting in diary. Than I thought why note in diary when it can be online.
Basically it was method to know that on this day I had watched that movie.
As a log book, I had stopped maintaining diary since College days (1996-97). What happens you write your intimate details in a diary and same can be read by anyone who has access to your locker. Thus I discontinued the practice. But I was maintaining diary to keep track of expenses which I am doing even now.
In 2005, I had begun a blogspot account but only random posts over there.
It was only in 2006 that I began posting about the movies I watched. Also, at that time I was into Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo Chat and Yahoo Groups. Then I joined Wipro company and I simply went on and deleted my Blog as well as refrained from Yahoo Groups. That was a personal decision due to job commitments.
Then in Wipro we had Channel W which was PHPBB forum. At the same time, Orkut was also in the heavy use and I also joined. Subsequently, I deleted Orkut and Channel W PHPBB form was replaced with a new Channel W which was different and was not that nice compared to earlier. That was in 2011 when I began posting latest movie watched on Twitter. Than due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to leave Wipro. And after leaving Wipro I began becoming a heavy user of Facebook. That continued for about mid-2012 when I deleted Facebook due to impending SAP Certification exam.
I also deleted Twitter and Linkedin. In Twitter, I deleted my posts first before finally deleting my account.
Than May 2013, I began a new Chapter when I opened Blogspot account and began posting here.
Now what I find that NDA-BJP has won the election and so I will refrain from posting anything related to politics.
I will not delete my blog. I know it is as simple as pressing a button. I know when I joined Wipro in 2006, I deleted my blog and the result was the Lebanon War, a massive war in which billions of dollars and thousands of lives were destroyed. Now I am fearful that if I delete my blog something worse will happen and I will hold myself personally responsible for this. Also, my blog has a 'wealth of information', which I may not be able to reproduce again.
So what will I do? Simple, I have decided not to post about politics in my Blog as long as NDA is in power. Anyway, I could not prevent them from grabbing power in the Center. I was powerless to stop them. So anything I do or write or post or blog now has no meaning as I can hope to achieve precious little.
Basically I am going the way of the Ostrich which hides its head in the sand. Somewhat like this:

But I will continue posting about the 'latest and last movie watched'.

3 Movies

Watched 3 movies over the weekend.
"Elysium". On laptop.
"Confessions of a Shopaholic". On HBO Defined.
"The Incredible Burt Wonderstone". On HBO Defined.

Congratulations to Modiji

It is a fact that I did not want Modi to become PM. I was always a Congress supporter or a Secular Party leader supporter. In fact I wanted Rahul Gandhi to become PM. Also, I wanted him safe.
I feel that Rahul Gandhi did not become PM because Sonia Gandhi did not want his sons life to be in danger. Rahul Gandhi could have become PM in the fag end of UPA II. But, let us face it. Sonia Gandhi has lost a lot of her family members (her husband and mother in law and brother in law) due to politics. Now by becoming PM, Rahul Gandhi would have come directly in the radar of the Hindu nationalists and others (we do not how many) and they might have bumped him off.
Also, Congress did not want Manmohan Singh to be pushed to the sidelines after serving for 8-9 years. Hence, he was to leave after completion of 2nd term. If Congress would have won then Rahul could have become PM in a new manner.
My message to Rahul, "Stay safe pal, We know what you are capable of. Do not let the defeat get into your head." I guess India was not ready for Rahul. I will say let India try out Modi. I am sure he will be nowhere close to what Rahul could have been. Like they say, "Tum yahi chahte thay, ab bhugto". Means "you wanted this only, now you face the consequences".
But, in a detached sense, I feel we do not need a PM who is fearful of his life, it is as simple as that. India needs a 'fearless' PM and leader. I feel Modi is that fearless kind of guy. But I still stand by my words that minorities and secularists and people not adhering to his or their (BJP/RSS) views have a lot to fear of Modi.
But let me take this opportunity to congratulate him.
In the coming days and months it will be known what they carry out. Yesterday, I saw that Rajnath Singh was sitting beside Modi and reading in English. I for one have never seen Modi read or speak in English. I hope the world is ready for this. But it is better. This fact I like about Modi, the fact that he gives more emphasis to Hindi than English apart from his mother tongue of Gujarati. I like people who give more emphasis to their 'home language' than some 'foreign language'.
We do not want 'thieves like people' who sweet talk in English and loot the country in the process. There are always translators available at 'beck and call' who can do the translation work.
I hope for this reason alone Modi stays in power for 20 years.
Once again, congratulations to Modi. And as I see it. His mere presence is enough. He does not have to do anything. Other people will do the work. Modiji your task is to just honour the surroundings by your presence and provide words of inspiration to the people to carry out the job.

Limitation of WWE

This post is to point out a serious limitation of WWE.
WWE wrestling matches provide a good entertainment option and way to pass time. But the fact is, is it healthy? What I feel it does not lead to development of 'grey matter' in the brain.
It makes a brain not 'intellectually inclined. In other words it makes the brain kind like hollow or rather it makes it filled up with material not conducive to the personal growth of an individual.
What I have decided from now onwards I will not watch those matches 'religiously'. It is okay if I get a chance to watch those matches, then I will not let go of these. But if there are more important tasks at hand I will lay emphasis on those tasks.
I will not download and watch those matches. I will watch them on Ten Sports.
But I find a serious flaw in WWE. Fact is that the people who fight there are WWE Superstars. And WWE has an inherent benefit in keeping them 'alive and kicking'. It cannot hurt them.
Contrast it with earlier what used to be gladiator matches like in Ancient Rome. People used to fight till death. Even now many wrestling matches or boxing matches or UFC matches would be more genuine than these WWE matches. This WWE is nothing but a well packaged affair so as to provide entertainment to the millions and millions of followers around the globe.
So God forbid if anything serious happens to any of its current stars it would be huge loss to the WWE organisation. Thus it takes care to ensure that matches are 'little bit staged'. People will not get hurt so much so that they may not be able to compete in future.
I can give example, how yesterday in Extreme Rules, Daniel Bryant emerged winner only to be shown that he would be meeting Kane in next match to be held in June 1. Thus WWE has an interest to 'generate this interest' in its followers so that they come back for 'more and more'. They get revenue from this through Pay-Per-View and sale of tickets.
When it wants to 'retire an ageing star' it does so. Like in the case of 'Nature Boy' or now we can see happening in the case of 'John Cena'. But this is nothing new. Old will have to move and give way to the new. It is a part of life that new stars will replace the old and ageing stars. The fans also keep getting newer and newer. Many old fans will 'grow old' and their interests will change.
Anyway, yesterday I saw WWE Vintage show a character named 'Bab Bam Bigelow'. I remember it from my childhood. When initially cable TV came to India along with MTV and CNN, we could also see WWE shows. Due to 'getting more and more involved in life', I had forgotten all about WWE and not watching it. Part of the reason was that I knew or I felt deep-down that these matches were staged. But certain things cannot be staged I realise now. People will get old and that includes WWE Stars and they have to make way for the new.
They may not fight till the end like in Colosseum days but they will fight and newer and newer fights till they are old enough not to keep the audience entertained anymore and then it is over for them.
If we look at it that way, Bigg Boss is a 'step ahead'. As we know that one person would be getting eliminated every week. Also, cricket also provides 'instant gratification'. As a person who is out is 'gone'. If he is not 'gone permanently', he is actually 'gone from the game on that day'.
But WWE matches the opponent can be back and WWE Enterprises thrives on that. It is newer and newer matches with 'known and famous' faces/stars which keep it growing.

5 movies

Over the last few days I have watched 5 movies.
"The Thing" 2011 movie on HBO.

"Chatur Singh 2 Star" 2011 movie on Zee Cinema.
"O Teri" on Tata Sky Showcase.
"Gang of Ghosts" on Tata Sky Showcase.
"English Vinglish" on Zee Cinema.
All movies are okay and I enjoyed those movies.

Tata Sky vs Videocon D2h (contd.)

Videocon had a channel called as "D2H Cinema". There were two additional channels called as D2H Movies 1 and D2H Movies 2. Thus it had three movie channels unique to it. For D2H cinema channel it used to take additional Rs 60 per month. And it that channel only latest movies were getting shown. But the number was limited to one new movie per week which means four movies a month.
Now in Tata Sky, we have showcase. Actually there are five showcase channels which show five different movies. And it is activated only for the day in which the movie is ordered and money is deducted from the main account. It is like Dish TV Movie on Demand Channel. From August 2008 till February 2010, I did have Dish TV connection. In Dish TV also, the movie would get activated for 24 hours only. While in Tata Sky, the movie would get activated for that day only.
The Showcase movie channels though more expensive is better according to me. Tata Sky Showcase has the potential to show 5 movies * 4 weeks which is 20 movies per month whereas Videocon D2H shows only 1 new movie per week which is 4 new movies in a month.
But Tata Sky Showcase "can show new movies" but the fact is it doesn't. Many are repeats and you have to watch it in same day. Videocon D2H 'guarantees' 4 new movies in a month and it never goes off. But the number is less. In other two channels D2H Movies 1 and 2, mostly repeats are being shown.
In addition the above, there are other movie channels like Zee Cinema HD and Star Gold HD in addition to English movie Channels like Star Movies and HBO. But these channels are common in all DTH platforms.
Coming back to my connection, there was a bit of a problem in Videocon D2H on Friday i.e. last Friday. On Saturday I found out that there was no signal. Absolutely no channel was getting received. Since, ours was an independent antenna and the cable came all the way from 14th floor to the ground floor, plus I had more than 500/- worth of currency in the account of Videocon D2H, first I requested for service. Then within an hour I requested for termination and surrender of the connection.
Parallelly, I ordered for 2nd Tata Sky Connection.
Tat Sky as per schedule came and fitted the connection. Videocon D2h call first it came from Mumbai and inquired what the issue was. I told them everything that I had separate antenna and Tata Sky common antenna and other things that I wanted termination and so on. The next call came from local Videocon office that I could surrender the connection and the person would be coming to take away the Antenna+Cable+Set Top Box. The third call was from Videocon Noida office that 'surrender is not possible' and the entire set is our property and it can be given to anyone we like.
The fourth call was from the person who was to dismantle the connection. And after going to the roof and pulling the cable from the duct, the job was done and I handed the box over to him and Videocon ceased to exist for me. Actually, when Tata Sky fellow fitted the second connection, Videocon ceased to exist for me. I had already put the set top box in the original packaging which I had retained. Though I had 500/- worth of currency i.e. 1 month of connection money, I still had no hesitation in handing over the connection to the Videocon guy.
All the four calls I received, all of them told that no refund is possible. I had to counteract by saying that I do not want refund. But since the caller from Noida had said that 'no surrender' is possible to the company probably the local Videocon guys took the box and the set and it can be 'sold' to someone. Anyway it is not my issue anymore.
Earlier also I had Dish Tv from August 2008 till February 2010. In Feb 2010, we changed houses and I abandoned the Dish TV connection and box in my old house. We had common antenna at that time for Dish TV. But I had recharged Dish TV upto at least July 2010. At least 4-5 months of currency was lost in the process. Later on in early 2013, I simply threw away the Box. And after I had thrown away the box, I still used to get mails from Dish TV and at that time I realized that my account was still active and so I sent mail to them to terminate the account as I was no longer their customer. Then they terminated the account as I am not getting their mails anymore.
I also had a Beetle Receiver which was enough to receive Free to Air Channels (FTA) of DD i.e. Doordarshan Direct Plus. That connection was such that no subscription amount was needed to be paid. I used it intermittently in the year 2005-06 and 2007-08 for a period of about 12-14 months. Actually I did not need it once I had Dish TV in August 2008 as Dish TV was already showing the DD Channels. But I threw the box when I shifted house in February 2010 while cleaning the cupboard.

Tata Sky vs Videocon D2H

Friends over this past week a lot happened. But one of the main things was that I removed my Videocon D2H connection. And I already had taken 1 Tata Sky connection in Feb 2014, I took a second connection of the same.
Hence, now I have two connections of Tata Sky. And all the DTH providers provide a 'subsidized' second connection. They provide that what connection you have for the first connection, the same would get reflected in the second connection. And the price would be less than half.
In January 2014, I tried to take 2nd connection of Videocon D2h. What happened the person came and saw my connection and told that in one cable two signals cannot come. You can have one dish for the same but cable have to be two to enable two boxes to function independently.
Since I stayed in Ground floor of a 12 storied building and in our building we have common antenna for Tata Sky and Airtel but not of Videocon. My own antenna was Videocon and it was a personal/independent one.
This Videocon Antenna and connection was a legacy from my previous home where I had fitted the same and then requested for relocation service.
But starting December 2013, Videocon D2H signal was getting 'disturbed' occasionally and by late January 2014 many Hindi entertainment channels and movie channels were not operating. It was then I called for the Cable operator but he was not sincere in fitting the same. Twice he came a went away and was only doing 'delaying tactics'. So I ordered Tata Sky. Tata Sky had a reputation in our building and the staff in our society used to say that if you call Tata Sky they would come in 1 hour and do the job. And the same thing happened. Once I placed the order, within two hours he came and fitted the connection.
But it was like 2nd connection in Bedroom.
My main connection was in the drawing room and it was Videocon D2H. In the month of April, I had an idea and shifted the connection of Tata Sky from bedroom to the drawing room. What happened that wiring was connected in the hall from where the wire went inside to the bedroom. So it was just a case of interchanging the wire.
Thus I had Videocon D2H in the bedroom and Tata Sky in the main room and amazingly, Videocon D2H worked just fine in the bedroom. The same continued for about two months. Meanwhile, my Videocon D2H account was getting expired soon. I went online and downgraded the package and so on. But still I had to 'top it'. Once I topped it with 300/-, then I got the message that my monthly pack cost was 490/- but I topped it for 300. So next time, I topped if for 600/-. So addition to what I paid earlier, I had topped the Videocon D2H account with 900/- rupees. (contd. in next post)