So filmifan sent me the best birthday wish I got from a friend yesterday. I burst out laughing and it made my day. Here it is:
By the way, the song is from a 1967 movie Farz, which was the closest Bollywood got to a spy thriller à la James Bond, played by Jeetendra with the codename 'Agent 116.' And the song is sung by one of my favorite singers, Rafi saheb. I guess it's a reminder for me to check out this movie soon.
I also found out that I share my birthday with an amazing playback singer (another of my favorites) who worked in over 150 movies, and was the voice behind numerous gems like the heartbreaking Waqt ne kiya in Guru Dutt's Kagaz Ke Phool, as well as added sizzle to the coquettish and romantic songs in C.I.D. and Aar-Paar. Enjoy her songs as long as they remain on youtube: 1. Baabuji dheere chalna 2. Aankhon hi aankhon mein 3. Sun sun zalima 4. Ye lo main hari piya -
Here are five news items for Sunday that caught my fancy.
Last year, I'd read about a breakthrough in wireless electricity (yes, that's not a mistake) at MIT, and now that experiment has expanded from the confines of the lab and is on its way to becoming a practical and commercial application. More here, though I'd be interested in some research that shows it's safe for humans and pets, which might take a few years.
Remember the Nobel Peace Prize more than a decade ago? In 1997, it went to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Along the same lines, comes Bart Weetjens, an engineer from Belgium who has trained rats to detect landmines in Mozambique. This means that people can return to the land and reclaim it to live and grow crops without any fear of losing their limbs, or worse, their lives. I'm sure Jody Williams will be glad, though not so sure what Ingrid Newkirk of PETA will think. Keep an eye out for a new PETA office opening in Mozambique soon. By the way, the rats are much more efficient at this work than humans, but we need not fear any outsourcing of jobs to the animal kingdom yet. There's still a need to train those rats and a pair of handlers are required to reward the rats for their work, as well as to deactivate the mines. Should the tab be sent to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, who (coincidentally?) also happen to be among the top seven arms exporters?
Does money buy one happiness? The age-old debate gets another look, along with data that shows American women to be less happier today than in the 70s. A score for patriarchy?
As the saying goes, "from adversity springs opportunity." In these tough economic times, an option for American Born Desis (ABDs) is to work in the country [link may require registration] their parents left for greener pastures in the US. The brain-drain of the 70s and 80s gives rise to a different kind of ghar wapasi (homecoming) for some brains. At that time, it used to be said that a 'brain drain' is better than 'a brain in the drain' - a reference to living and working in the US vs. India. And don't speak too soon For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who That it's namin'. For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin'.
Will an alien species one day encounter a toolbag in space and wonder about its origins? That is, if the toolbag doesn't crash into another satellite first. Most likely, it'll remain in orbit around the earth with other space debris and then burn up as earth's gravitational force eventually pulls it in.
Excerpts from the Boston Election Department's Election Office Training manual, which I'm glad to report is printed on both sides, thus conserving paper:
America is a nation of immigrants. The common bond we all share as Americans is that we all came from somewhere else. Our families may have come to this country five generations ago, or it may have been five years ago.
The most precious freedom we hold, as Bostonians and as Americans, is our right to vote, free of interference, pressure, or obstacles. To ensure and protect this right, the United States has enacted several laws governing voters' rights.
The Voting Rights Act was passed by Congress in 1965, at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. President Lyndon Johnson called for the passage of a strong federal voting rights law after police in Selma, Alabama used violence to disperse a peaceful march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The marchers were just beginning a 50-mile walk to the state capital to demand equal rights in voting. The brutality of the day's events shocked the country, and prompted the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
The Voting Rights Act protects all Americans against racial discrimination in voting. This law also protects the voting rights of persons with limited English skills. It stands for the principle that everyone's vote is equal, and that neither race nor language (emphasis mine) should shut any voter out of the political process.
When I was born in India, its citizens had already been exercising their right to vote for a few decades. So, it's interesting to discover that the Voting Rights Act in the US was passed only a little over four decades ago, and much later after India became independent and enshrined universal suffrage for the citizens in its Constitution.
Anyway, it's fascinating as well as somewhat sobering to read about the persevering struggles some US citizens went through to earn their - as well as others' - right to vote, a basic right that we take for granted today, to the extent that close to 45% of US citizens don't bother to exercise it. (Though that's not the only reason for low voter turnout.)
I can only imagine what it must have been like for those residents of Selma as they marched together hand-in-hand, and were met with billy clubs, tear gas and bull whips wielded by the state machinery. Before this act was passed, Southern states required a literacy test as a requirement for voter registration, but it was used to discriminate against, and disenfranchise African-American voters by not allowing literate blacks to vote, while not subjecting illiterate whites to the same criteria. It seems a bit surreal to me that this sordid and racist chapter in the US history happened 43 years ago and not much earlier. Many Indian freedom fighters who fought the British could easily relate to the experiences of those black residents in Selma, and the closest I can think of is the scene from Attenborough's film Gandhi where in an act of civil disobedience, freedom fighters marched up to a salt factory and were beaten by sticks. Each rank advanced and was felled, and as women volunteers took them away to administer first-aid, the next rank stepped forward to meet the same fate.
As the past two elections in the US have reminded us, every vote counts. Some people are putting an extra emphasis on the election this year (and I understand the historic nature of it), but in my opinion, all elections are important as we elect someone whose decisions have an impact on our lives for 4 years, and in some instances, long after she has left office.
I have signed up one more time to work at the polls on Tuesday. I can sense the excitement in the air, in passionate conversations among friends, in the blogsphere with increased number of published posts related to the US election, and a flurry of last-minute endorsements followed by inane analyses by so-called experts and "pundits." Let's see if Obama makes history on Tuesday, and if he does, it will be a tribute to the courage of those 600 men and women who dared to walk those 54 miles to Montgomery, 43 years ago.
If anyone thinks that the work is done, there are still challenges ahead, as the American democratic and electoral system has deteriorated (all that exporting of democracy and freedoms to other countries has resulted in some shortage back home), with the corrupt duopoly of Republicans & Democrats playing spoilers. But that's for another post another time. Meanwhile on a lighter note, here's a video from The Obama Girl and Ralph Nader Show. Enjoy!
