Watched Phantom

I have watched Phantom. Could not wait and so downloaded it and watched it online.
I will say Kabir Khan has done very fine job.
And like I had said earlier, since he is a Muslim he deals with this subject very delicately so as not to harm too much.
I must say that I have not watched Baby or Attacks of 26-11 but I have watched Holiday and D-Day and both deal with the subject of terrorism but are too bloody. The directors and production being non-Muslim (I think) they have treated the subject of Pakistan rather roughly.
Also I had watched Agneepath which starred Hritik Roshan and that one too treated Muslims very harshly and though no Pakistan was shown in Agneepath it virtually attacked Muslims as the main villain was portrayed in a bloody fashion by Rishi Kapoor.
If we talk about Phantom I did not feel that Pakistan was treated inadequately in the movie.
Also, the movie clearly showed that India is involved in terrorism inside Pakistan. Indian has its people spread out in Pakistan and they can do whatever they want and this is what Pakistan has accused India all along
Sleeper Cells in Pakistan
Thus what happens India is the trouble maker and the peace disturber in the region and not Pakistan.
Also, this concept of going after the Mumbai Attacks plotters or the alleged plotters must have come to the mind of Kabir Khan after watching D-Day. D-Day came in August 2013 and was too bloody I felt.
So before anyone could jump the bandwagon, Kabir Khan ventured into the area and made it.
Also towards the end they show a Muslim tea seller whose son was killed in Taj hotel where he was working as a waiter. And thus due to Mumbai attacks not just Jews, Hindus and Christians were affected but also Muslims, that is what Kabir Khan shows.
I had watched one movie "Un Hazaaron Ke Naam" starring Vinod Khanna and this was also based on Mumbai Attacks but this movie had shown a waiter being killed in Taj but he was Christian and hence there was a clear divisive strategy earlier.
Also Saif Ali Khan is shown to have lost his platoon in an operation earlier. Thus he is keen to reunite with them in the "afterlife".

Babas and Matas

In India there are several Babas and Matas.
And they are mired in controversies.
Sura Baba
Yesterday in Ashram of Sura Baba there was pitched battles and we can now say like Sarathi baba earlier, this Baba's shop also faces closure.
Who is doing this and why? I have got a feeling that local politicians must be involved in this.
They want to grab Ashram land. Though these Baba's might have started their ventures years back, and acquired the land at a 'throwaway price' now the lands might be 20 or 30 times more value and that is what interests these local politicians and goons.
Like yesterday I was watching the proceedings on TV, and it clearly appeared that the people attacking the Ashram were goons. They do not differentiate between men and women. And all those who resisted were assaulted with sticks. Those who were assaulted were basically the people who were the 'bhakts' or the followers of Baba and residents of the Ashram.
After they were made to flee, people simply went on to destroy property worth lakhs if not crores including vehicles, furniture and fixtures and electronics items. Grocery items were looted from shops in the premises.
Basically the goons were 'instructed to render the premises into a shape that it cannot be restored into what it was earlier". Out of station people had to vacate and return to their villages and towns. And the Baba and his sons were arrested and sent to remand.
All this same as happened in the case of Asaram bapu or Sant Rampal or Sarathi Baba. It is the same story repeating itself. Similarly the case for Radhe Maa is going on and verily it is likely that she may meet the same fate.
My personal view is that these people should not be touched. They have the faith and belief of millions behind them. In this world which is a very dangerous and disturbing place, these Babas and Matas provide a 'place of tranquility' to their followers.
If people can blindly follow stone idols and wooden idols in temples what is the harm in following a Baba or Mata who actually speaks to them and provides guidance and blessing and "peace of mind".
All the religion will say that man has been made in the image of God. Even if it is not so, there is no doubt that for a believer man is made by God. And these Babas and Matas provide guidance related to God only and hence they should be allowed to function unhindered. The state should not interfere in their matters and that is what I feel.
We find whichever Govt. is there, this case of those Govt. going after these people is visible. While we can say UPA Govt went after Asaram bapu, the NDA Govt went after Sant Rampal. They just go after those people which that particular Govt. doesn't like.
While Baba Ramdev may be a 'Yoga guru' or Sri Sri Ravi Shankar may be the founder of "Art of Living" which is basically the "Art of Yoga", other Babas may be providing solace to their bhakts in someway or the other. We must allow them to function. Then we will have the ultimate "Freedom of religion" and not just in name.

Case Against reservation

I know this Hardik Patel guy is spearheading a campaign to get reservation for his community which he claims is unrepresented in Govt.
He is from a well off community, namely the Patels and it has been said that the well off community and the "upper castes" do not need reservation.
I know the BJP in general is against reservation. It knows that in long term it has much to lose due to this caste differences which exist in Indian society.
Due to reservation existing in the society the BJP is incapacitated in the sense it cannot bring "its own people" in full force to be part of the Govt and the bureaucracy.
It has always been perceived as a party of "Upper castes". Upper castes as defined in the Hindu system are the Ruling class and the Brahmin Class. Below them are the Trading Class and finally the marginalised sections of the society the Dalits, Adivasis and the Shudras (i.e. the backward classes).
The Ruling Class lost its relevance when Indian Republic was formed but still the "ruling mentality" is there in them and they want to rule over Indian people.
The Brahmin class are the one who dictate the terms of the religion of Hinduism which is basically an 'assortment of various practices being followed in the Indian subcontinent'. They tell what is permitted and what is not.
Reservation aimed to give a 'headstart' to the backward classes and backward tribes by giving them preferential treatment in Govt. jobs and exams.
Now I am also a victim of reservation like Hardik Patel. I too can claim that I am not able to get a Govt job due to this reservation system because I am from upper caste.
But the truth is even if there is no reservation and it is "free for all" competition I still may not be able to make it.
The truth is there is cut-throat competition in this world.
We know from data which is available that ever since the Civil Services Exams were started during British Rule, it has been the toughest exam in the world. Thus when it comes to merit and not just reservation even the best will have a tough going.
Competition among the best will be tougher and even the 'very good' may not find their way to greatness.
Now recently BJP got the religion data out from census 2011. The politicians from Bihar namely Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar then challenged the Modi Govt. that if he has the guts why doesn't he bring out the caste data. The BJP knows when it is dealing with the subject of caste it is dealing in a very slippery ground.
It is very simple to deal with Muslims as it is simpler to compartmentalize them.
But the truth is a Muslim will also belong to some caste and BJP does not want to brand Muslims and Hindus together when it comes to caste. BJP is already in panic mode as they know they are unable to deliver anything to the country and the people.
They want to now spearhead this anti-reservation mantra through proxies like Hardik Patel.
They know openly and directly they would not be able to abolish the reservation system and hence they are adopting the 'indirect route'.

Patel Stir

What happened last week in Gujarat was not something special.
It was the Patel/Patidar stir for demand of Reservation for their community.
Basically what I feel is that this stir does not appear to be genuine.
It appears that this person their leader Hardik Patel is backed by the same people who are in power at the Center i.e. the BJP-RSS combine.
The Patel Community knows that BJP cannot solve any problems.
What I have known since the very beginning, this Patel community is realising now.
BJP-RSS cannot solve any problems but rather create more problems and that is what they realised.
So how did this stir happen.
Was it a spur of the moment or was it pre-planned?
What I feel that it would be a combination of both-spur of the moment plus pre-planned.
We know that before Iraq was to be invaded in 2003, there were rallies around the globe to prevent war and people could be seen carrying the banner "No to War" and "Not in My Name".
Did it help prevent war? I will say no. Rather it made people "ready for war".
These rallies only made people "acclimatize to war". By getting a dose of war protest before the war, the authorities whether Bush Govt. in US or Tony Blair in UK made it sure when they actually invaded Iraq the protest would not exist.
The rallies before the war were actually backed by the very people who went for the war. They know that going to war is a big thing and creating these kind of protests in their heartland will actually neutralize the protests. All opposition will be silenced by a "show of force of protests".
Similar is the protest now. I feel the BJP-RSS Combine did a 'stage manage' of protest in Gujarat and now just before Bihar elections they are planning to take these protest nationwide.
And just like we saw before Iraq war, the ruling combine wants to ensure that these protest get adequate coverage in media and people get to know and talk and hear about it and it will keep the very "ruling alliance" namely BJP-RSS combine relevant.
This guy Hardik Patel is verily working for the same people he is protesting against. He is out on a mission to keep them relevant when they are unable to deliver anything. They are both sides of the same coin in other words.

Phantom

Well now this movie has released so called Phantom.
This has been banned in Pakistan. Well I will say that this should be banned in India as well. Why not? If the Govt. can go ahead and ban movies like "Mohalla Assi" and "50 Shades of Gray" for flimsy reasons there is reason enough to ban this movie as it shows violence in tremendous scale and that too against a neighboring country.
I must make it clear that I have not watched Phantom till date and I definitely wont be watching it on the big screen. I will not contribute to its success. I know earlier such things used to happen. When I was in Hyderabad in 1996 I saw Muslim people visiting the movie "Raja Hindustani" in droves.
So I realised just as they vote 'en masse' similarly the Muslim people also watch movies 'en masse'. So they like a certain movie which shows the Urdu/Pashtun way of life they watch it more and more and make it a hit.
Now let us be back to Phantom and Saif Ali Khan. This movie is not a India vs Pakistan war. It is actually Saif Ali Khan war. Saif Ali Khan is fighting his own personal war. A war to keep himself relevant in the Hindi film industry. I know that his movie"Humshakals" bombed at the box office. So what will he do now. The social media and Twitter users lambasted him for Humshakals. So now he is trying to prove his mettle by showing that he can go after Pakistan. He has already ventured the area in Agent Vinod.
What I am trying to say is that Saif Ali Khan has nothing to lose by acting in a movie like Phantom. But if his movies start bombing in the box office, he would have lost tremendously.
Also, I had read somewhere years back that Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor have visited more than 150 locations right before and after their marriage. That count could have increased subsequently. It means no location in the world would be out of bound for them. No location would be too exotic for them. But the Saif may have realised that he just cannot get rid of that "Indian tag" wherever he goes.
"Once an Indian always and Indian". Thus how does he make himself relevant. Phantom is the answer.
Now let us get back to Phantom and Kabir Khan. This person Kabir Khan as I read in papers also is well travelled and has made documentaries in war-torn regions starting from Yugoslavia to Beirut.
Now we know that Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgun and Sunny Deol have acted in anti-Pakistan movies. During "Ek Tha Tiger" itself which was made by Kabir Khan I got the realisation that this director has used Salman Khan who is a Muslim in anti-Pakistan movie. Though the movie is also pro-Pakistan in the sense that the hero falls for a Pakistani girl, it got me thinking. What they or he is trying to do is that to show to the world and India (in its entirety Hindus and Muslims included), that leave the job of fighting Pakistan to us Indian Muslims. We the Indian Muslims will show the Indian Hindus and the world that we can deal with Pakistan as we are Indians and not Pakistanis.
Also by this method they are taking care of two things. That no Indian Hindi actor who is a non-Muslim can show this much level of violence against Pakistan and this area will be as "charted out" by them, i.e. their team. Anti-Pakistan sentiment will be nipped in the bud. I will say it is a master strategy.
Money and box office collections will follow. But these things need to be done.
They know and it is a fact that Indian Hindus think they are superior to Pakistan. So Indian Hindus think that they can win over Pakistan through "soft power" or without the use of violence in movies. But these guys Saif Ali Khan, Salman Khan and Kabir Khan among others know the fact that a little bit of 'violence tadka' is required. And when violence is to be shown, by showing violence in their movies they are stopping beforehand violence being shown by Indian non-Muslim actors as well as violence in real life in a massive scale.
They are telling telling that this violence against Pakistan is "our area" and no one should enter here Indian non-Muslims included. They are negating the 'soft power' status of India.

Europe Migrant Crisis

Europe migrant crisis is Europe's own creation.
For several decades Europe has been marketing itself as the so called developed world.
G-7, G-8 and then European Union, they were hailed as the best in the world.
European Union happened and then the immigrants knew that if they get access to one country in Europe they can move to another.
I myself had attended a seminar by a Consultant who said that you could migrate to Czechoslovakia but the consultant was wrong because as per my knowledge, Czech republic and Slovakia are two separate countries. Still his logic was that once you move to Czechoslovakia you can move to France or Germnany or UK. And mind you he was talking about migrating through official channels.
But what happens in this latest crisis whcih is being shown in all channels. This is not 'official' but it is 'illegal'. Also an illegal migrant is one who is successful. Until that time he is a potential migrant.
Now this potential migrant lies in waiting to move to Europe. The most dangerous route being opted by them is through the sea. Across the Mediterranean Sea.
In 2011, when Libya was being invaded, I remember Col Gaddaffi had come in an interview in international channels where he had warned such a thing might happen. He had told or predicted that if he was gone, Europe would be swamped with immigrants and no one would be able to stop it.
That is precisely what is happening now.
First during Communism, about a dozen countries marketed themselves as "the West" and they were the best. Next they told that G-7 is richest and rest are poor. Then they attack peaceful countries like Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Libya either directly or through proxies and turn those people there into refugees. Then they get rid of people like Col Gaddafi who was a person who could stop those immigrants or at least we never got to hear such crisis when he was there.
We know there is a great geographical barrier between Europe and Americas, namely the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and hence the flow of people to Americas is restricted. But Europe is only 200 to 300 kms away but still there are casualties. Any person dying on the seas or in numerous refugee camps in the areas bordering the developed countries is a tragedy.
I know the world is unable to stem the tide of these refugees and the developed countries have no one to blame but themselves. They carry out military or proxy operations in those countries. They paint themselves as they are the best and so what will happen.

Beard and End

We need to stop shaving and think for one minute.
Shaving is an act of forcefully removing the facial hair to look "so called beautiful".
But in life there is only one truth and that is the end.
A life which is formed is bound to reach its end. And end is the death.
Similarly the truth is that in a normal person the beard is bound to grow. You cannot stop it. And just like death it is certain.
So what I say. Why stop it? Resistance is futile I will say. By doing the act of shaving we are resisting the "forces of nature". We know nature is all powerful. And no man or woman can fight nature.
What has to happen will happen and so why struggle.
Thus shaving is a struggle a man is doing everyday to fight nature which is "upon him".
I will say the best way for a man is to stop shaving and take nature as it comes. That does not mean he should 'let the beard flow'. Certainly we cannot stop nature but we can definitely manage it.
Like we cannot stop river but we can create dams.
We cannot stop waves but we can create dykes or barriers.
Looking Beautiful is also subject based. One sees skinny models everyday and one may find them beautiful. One may see fat ladies everyday, the concept of beauty might change.
Thus our 'views' are shaped by a lot of factors. Looking beautiful should be least of the priorities when something like "force of nature" is involved.
Also a man is supposed to be having beard as per God because normally women cant have beards.
Thus man should stop shaving and realise that ultimate reality is death and act of growing a beard will show that death as a force of nature cannot be stopped.
Most religions will state that ultimate reality of man is be one with God. And his existence in this planet is only "transitory". It is only for a brief passing moment in all of eternity that a person as a person or as 'the person' exists on this planet. We do not know about the vast rest of the time.
But we know the nature is all powerful and rules of nature is made by the "Creator" or God. And hence resistance to God or Nature is futile.