Mission to Mars Eggx

After reading various articles on the possibility of Martian life.. terraforming Mars, Martian seas, and the various incredulous reactions which come with these above mentioned possibilities....it seems that we are never going to go where no man has gone before....atleast in my lifetime:( This is by far my most saddest thought as I foresee a mundane existence with disruptions from volcanoes, floods, tsunamis, shrubby idjuts, religious propaganda, and my transition into afterlife...in order to realize this dream.....I am hoping to issue Mission to Mars Eggx....what are MMEggx? These are contributions of money, ideas, clothing, propaganda for one singular cause.....reaching Mars.

Complex theory of Mental Evolution - II

ran·dom (răn'dom) Having no particular pattern, purpose, organization, or structure. There are various evidences of random happenings in our life. Random by its very nature is irreproduce-able, meaning its occurence is unforeseen, can not be scientifically computed. In day-to-day life, some people call it co-incidence, kismet, schicksal. People look at stars, planets, zodiacs, horoscopes, palms, skulls, tarots, perform yagnas. or sacrifice lambs to either predict or overcome these unforeseeable, unwonted often unwanted events. Though, a large enough repetition of these events may lead to counter-events for  every Ying has an equal and opposite Yang. Even God - often known as "the one" has an equal though opposite "one" Satan, heaven has hell. The balance of life -- brahma and shiva, darth and luke, good and bad, light and darkness. Luckily, Random infrequent events take a long time to generate their equivalent counter-events......but they eventually will -- especially when we travel large distances over 4 Dimensions. Is that why God only endows upon us only random acts of kindness, luck, and fortitude? It is to limit the evil counter-events because if he revealed himself in his complete grandeur, it would also strengthen Satan. 

God is smart. Religious polarization is sowing the seeds of atheism. And vice-versa. The only escape is the middle...the golden mean! Are we so stupid that we keep repeating mistakes from our past? Isn't it clear that the path of the Buddha is the way to go. Maybe it is still far ahead of time...people are not willing to accept it....a couple of centuries atleast. By the very nature of the flourishing success of human existence - it is heading towards its own extinction. Driving a 1000 pound car to move your butt from your house to the grocery down the street is not just hurting you but everyone around too. Let us not be limited by our own mortality. Just because our history is only 3000 yrs old, doesn't mean that we can not trust empirical extrapolation. Our forefathers were apes. Not some missionary aliens. If we can trust our collective objective scientific brains to untangle the past then we can trust them to predict the future. They are not only our best bet but the only one we have. No tarot reader or prophet prophesy can predict when a hurricane's going to strike. They can however help to handle grief or bring hope. They can work together, only by developing mutual respect...by knowing what place they occupy in the bigger picture. But does a person's actions in this and his previous lives determine his future.....some call them counter-events.....I call it karma.

Journey of a disenfranchised undecided voter

For all those who like my writing, I apologize for not being much of a blogger with my last 2 (inclding this one) about the oft-repeated and much-ballyhooed elections. I do not enjoy the suffrage enjoyed by my American friends...I only carry the burden of an immigrant's suffering - social security, taxes and fox news. I must also admit for the past few months, I have been playing the part of an "undecided voter". It was a thought experiment at first, rather difficult one in the beginning because I could not get myself to think on McCain's behalf. However, as Obama's campaign became mainstream and his supporters became rabid fanboys, I started getting more neutral. I don't know why - maybe because I unconsciously root for the underdog, maybe because as an immigrant I am ideologically democrat but fiscally republican (I don't want to pay more taxes:)) or maybe because I just got tired of reading all the pro-democratic hype on digg. Suddenly, something in my brain switched on and I could no longer discern any difference between McCain's promises and Obama's rhetoric. They say there's a thin line between love and hate. Suddenly, Katie Couric's attempt to embarrass Palin made my blood boil more than McCain's negative campaigning. Was I beginning to think like Joe Six-Pack? Is this how the Middle Americans think? I don't know but I can tell you one thing for sure - this election is really not about "big things" - taxes, foreign policy, economy...this election is about "faith". McCain is a war veteran, someone who showed courage under fire...someone who has consistently shown fair and balanced judgement...a good human being whose life should not be rewritten because he ran against Obama. However, in this election you are not voting for a good person but for the best one who can change the world. Change for a country which has become morally bankrupt from mismanagement of previous regimes and desperately needs to believe again. I did not think just one person could change the world till I ran into fake Obama at Halloween. Even though this was just a white guy covered in black paint, it made me realize why I embarked on this undecided voter journey in the first place. Hate is addictive but luckily so is love. It was really hard to take that "leap of faith" knowing that the stakes were so high - world peace or new world order. Talking to fake Obama helped me imagine the world ex-post the elections..not necessarily a world with peace, milk n honey but a world where you could look up to the man running the country for honesty and empathy...to remind us that these emotions mean a lot in a world besieged by war and greed. I am planning to go out and cast my disenfranchised vote for Obama...go and exercise your franchise!

The day Hum Bit got a job

The economy was flourishing and productivity was hovering around 80% but Hum Bit Shakti found himself without a job even after finishing his study program in flying colors. After .00012/8 months of interviews, he finally gave in and approached Srithematics for help.
"I have a lot to offer to the world, Srithematics"
"You have but unfortunately all our work is currently automated. Our staff only does maintenance and upgrades." Srithematics responded
"Are you saying that you service the entire country with only a 3 person team? This is crazy!" HumBit was shocked
"Money is tight and the work repetitive. The easiest way to cut costs was to cut people. I don't know how I managed to set aside enough money to program the SRT-2020Z." Srithematics humbly replied
"It was not always like that. The world was a different place 25years ago."
"The pendulum will swing someday, Doctor. You know it will."
He walked out of the building. The weather reflected his misery and the gloomy skies started turning into a whirlwind of rain and hailstones. Another one of those damn hurricanes, he remembered,  32nd one this year. Fortunately, the weather bureau was really good at forecasting them - they warned people of the exact day & time almost 2 months in advance. People usually spent their hurrications in the Southern Hemisphere. Hum Bit headed home to start packing for his trip.
Buzz Buzz
The letters BoW flashed on his glasses. He decided to take the call.
"Hum Bit?"
"Yes"
"We need you."
On the eve of Hurricane Serenity, Hum Bit got his job. A job to stand in for the SRT-2020Z. Could he replace this machine? Could he be faster, more accurate than a 20,000 core symmetric multiprocessor organocomputer?
"You don't need to replace the SRT" Srithematics read his thoughts "The backup does all that the SRT can do."
Hum Bit gave a sigh of relief
"The SRT predicted a viral epidemic post-Hurricane. It was trying to pinpoint the source when it went down....the data set was just too large. Its a perfect storm."
"That shouldn't be a problem though because we have a backup. However it is not fast enough...and we just don't have the time. You will need to do the plumbing."
"Plumbing?" Hum Bit queried
"Yes. Plumbing. We need you to narrow down the data input. The backup will let you know if there are any gaps."
Hum Bit now understood why he was summoned. He had spent the last 4 years studying predictive patterns, it was practically second nature to him.
"You have a little more than 12hours before the virus strikes. 4 hours to contain before it becomes an air-borne epidemic."
Hum Bit took a deep breath of No. S3. It helped him from zoning out from the mind-numbing flow of data. The backup was cranking through the virus strains from the last 100years. The problem was these virii mutated so fast that there were trillions of them.
10hours. Still nothing.
Srithematics paced the conference room. It felt like a movidrama.
"What do we have?" Srithematics asked
"We traced back to the start of .0010 era. It took 8hours to go through 90years of data."
"Nothing yet?"
"Not even a false positive. The algorithms are bullet-proof."
"We cannot do this sequentially. There is no time."
Hum Bit took another puff of No. S3.  It was 23:08 and he had 52 more minutes. Something came up on the backup's screen. Maybe that's what it was. He got off his chair and hurled himself towards the conference room.
"Srithematics! I think I know what it is."

Archaeopteryx

A non-indigenous virus only found in birds. A virus that had been eliminated thousands of years after it had wiped out the entire population of dinosaurs. A virus which hitched a ride on an asteroid. It had made a comeback. Now all they had to do was find a DNA sample - a sample of the extinct Archaeopteryx to culture an inoculation.
"Not as easy as that. We will also need to bring that black rat back to life.  Black rats served as an intermediate host for one of the developmental stages of the virus."
2 hours later
The scientists had succeeded is the fastest replication of the gigantic bird and the rat in a quarantined warehouse. They were now culturing the antivirus which would be sprayed over the city of SF.
3 hours more
The storm had subsided, the antivirus had weakened the virus and self-destructed. The crisis was averted. Srithematics and Hum Bit unwinded in the room. The SRT was playing soothing laser music when it suddenly spoke.
"Cheatgrass, Hydrilla, Brown Tree Snake, Grass Carps, Black Rat"
What the hell? This sounded like gibberish except for the Black Rat which he had only heard few hours back.
"Non-indigenous species. They thrived in these alien environments and wiped out entire species of native plants and animals."
The SRT started taking them through a holographic journey of Earth's species over the last 100years.
"Humans had taken care of these threats save the virus, bacteria and germs which they have relatively contained.....all save one!"
It struck him like a lightening on a pitch black night. He turned around towards Srithematics.
"Yes. We knew it for a long time." Srithematics answered without waiting for the question
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"People didn't want to hear it. The proof was too abstract. There was no smoking gun."
"But people believe in black holes, quantum theory, and Higgs Bosons."

Higgs Boson

"They believe as long as it doesn't conflict with their religious scriptures."
Wow! We lived a whole century in denial because it did not align with their beliefs. This indoctrination was worse than an epidemic.
"Yes. Did you really think we are indigenous to Earth? We wiped out the entire ecosystem and now have to resort to synthetic substitutes."
"It doesn't make sense. Why did it take so long to get where we are then? This should have happened eons back."
"Well we had to devolve as a species before we were strong enough to overcome nature. Our early ancestors interbred with monkeys to stay alive."
"Monkeys? Why did we pick monkeys?"
"Nobody really knows. Maybe they picked us. Anyways, they served as the perfect host for carrying our intellect. It took a really really long time before we could be us."
"What do you mean?"
"Generations and generations of mutated monkeys before we finally overwhelmed our host's DNA. We lost the tail, all our hair, our appendix became obsolete, and our cerebral cortex, what I like to call our meta brain, started controlling the monkey part of our brain."
"Just pop-science fiction"
"And Gen Hxers were born."
"Gen Hxers!?!"
"Yes Gen Hxers said to have led the start of .0000 or dot era as it is commonly known."
"It was the next stage of our evolution. As the fear of predators abated and we found easy food & shelter, the alien DNA no longer had to rely on the monkey DNA to protect it from nature & all the primordial forces. It finally took over...and there was no going back."
"Ahhh - it was the monkey that made men want to mate with women and vice versa. Who are we then? Where do we come from?"
Srithematics turned towards his window from his lab suspended 20,000ft above the ground. He looked like he was squinting, almost winking, at the skies.
"I am not sure." He murmured
The red planet seemed to wink back at him.

My Burning Man Experience

Honey Trap

"A bunch of naked people having sex n drugs in a desert"said my non-Burner friend trying to explain Burning Man to another. I started to argue but found myself lost for words. I do admit partaking in some of that but how could I take all my experiences - the random acts of kindness of strangers, the harsh reality of the desert, the energy of the dancers reverberating to the rhythmic beats of music, the bonding of camp mates over scrambled eggs n bloody mary, the sadness & beauty of the Temple, the joys of being alive....take all these thoughts....all these feelings and coalesce them into a string of words.

"It is beautiful - I wish you could have been there too. Someday." I said instead.

I have decided to write about my experiences so when I grow older and my memory starts to fail- I can look back at my life and remember. Remember that somewhere in this space-time continuum, I found my happy spot, a spot where I lived my life with complete abandon and no regrets because no matter what happens, I....we will always have the Playa.

I've often heard people complaining that there are too many tourists at Burning Man and I thought to myself "I hope he doesn't mean me coz this is only my second burn. Some people have been coming here for years. Maybe they are the real burners and I am - just a poser." Though I felt very much like a burner - I love the music, the art, the people, the playa.

miniMoo camp

So, how do you discern a burner from a poser? To my mind, there is only one difference - participation. This is not a place where you come to watch and observe....it is a place where your presence should change the nature of your and others experiences.....in a good way.

By some weird accident, I found myself planning the "miniMoo" camp with 2 of the most beautiful people I know - Carrie n Andrew Moo. However, I confess questioning this move as our satelliting option with 2 bigger camps evaporated - maybe just the 2 of us (my gf n I) should have satellited instead of carrying the burden of 15+ relative strangers. My friends warned me not to organize a camp let alone bring along virgins "It is only your second yr, enjoy it and then try to entertain people

Connie taking me for a bike skate

later."

I am glad that I....WE persevered on. As Larry Harvey said "Communities are not produced by sentiment or mere goodwill. They grow out of a shared struggle." Our bonding grew from our shared confrontation with survival. On the 2nd day when Diego reached across, hugged me and said "Thank You" - I felt that all those hours spent lugging lumber from hardware stores, arguing camp layout, drafting long emails had suddenly paid off. I finally understood what drove that naked guy to walk through a whiteout in middle of the playa handing out dust masks to

newbies or why that young guy was standing for hours outside the temple handing out roses instead of getting high and dancing at Nexus. For the first time, I understood what it felt to do something for others unconditionally and not expect anything in return.

My humble contribution - "Scream Booth"

Scream because you are alive!

There were lot of magic moments this year but a couple stand out. I was wearing tutus at the center camp and after a couple of hours of being mesmerized by the performers, we started walking back towards our bikes when we ran into this drumming circle with a brazilian girl performing the samba in the center. The beat fell a few notches as the dancers headed out and the percussionists took a break to wipe their brow with a rag when this black guy walked into the middle.

Now, I usually don't notice guys; even if I do it is just a glance because they look fit. To say this guy was just fit would be a damn lie.....every muscle, every sinew was chiseled on his body. I stood frozen, staring at perfection....happy that I could hide behind my dark goggles, hoping that no one else guessed who I was looking at.

I was wrong.

His presence floated like ether across the group. The lead percussionist tensed, dropped his rag, stood up from his lethargic crouch (he had the drum between his legs) and started hammering with such speed n intensity that I felt my heart was going to explode.

At this point, I am not sure if I am making sense because I felt the entire circle simultaneously rose to welcome the King. A half-white, half-asian, half-indian girl decked in middle eastern jewelry joined him and other dancers in the circle. By now the beat and dancing had reached such a high intensity that the drummers' sweat dripped like rain on the carpet, the hair on my back stood up like a rebar hammered into the dusty playa....all my senses regaled by this stupendous beauty that I was transported to another dimension...a dimension where I have never been before. As we walked away from this, I looked at my gf and we both knew what just happened.

Bliss Dance by Marco Cochrane

There is only another moment which comes close to beating this experience. An experience where I had to literally lay my hands on my chest and whisper "Heart don't fail me now".....Bliss Dance By Marco Cochrane.

Before I saw this sculpture, Heaven told me that people said it was the best piece of art on the playa this year. I was a little peeved - how can you compare 2 pieces of art? Doesn't beauty lie in the eye of the beholder? I hate people being judgemental about art.

However, when I saw the Bliss Dancer....I understood why people had agreed with such unanimity. I must have stared so long that it brought tears to my eyes.

Thank you Marco....thank you xoxoxo

This blog has unfortunately become much longer than I wanted and more conceited as describe my experiences in such grandeur but I cannot stop without describing the hug circle.

The hug circle, I suspect, was created to snare hot chicks into the arms of some of our lusty camp mates:) However it evolved. We started to grow inorganically as other satellite groups joined to expand our hug circle....it was cute but it did not start to have meaning till we had reached the "cage of light" art piece (my name for it) on the playa. This random guy dressed in a white robe whisper-asks "Do have a cigarette?" and we shout "No. We don't and what are heck are you doing here by yourself?" He shyly replies that he is the artist who created the "cage". I think it was Brian who says "Are you kidding me?" and we half-jokingly create the hug circle around him, start dancing and thanking him.....and I swear I am not making this up - he bows humbly and with a surprised look says "Thank You".

Thank you! I think we helped organize the miniMoo camp but you all created the hug circle....a thread of love across the playa.

Slow down and smell the Roses

Dr. Srithematics looked wistfully at the early models of transportation from the bulky horse carriage to the steam engines to the Apollo 11 replica which put man on the moon. 

"The good old days" he says "when we attacked nature with a brute savage force and won. Things happened so quickly yet so slowly."

"But why Professor?" Kjung Suratkel exclaimed, his voice mixed in agony, his eyes moist with tears "We lost so much time so many people...civilizations". His voice rising in pain. 

"This is the way it was supposed unfold Kjung." Dr. Srithematics replied "Like the 4-cushion shot on the pool table"

"H-uh?"

"I read this in one of those books from the 20th century. A 4-cushion shot is extremely complicated but if you reverse engineer its path...this is the way it was supposed to happen."

"Yjbariash" Kjung whispers "While scientists were inventing ways to move faster and faster, compressing different forms of energy, harnessing the sun, emitting plumes of toxic carbon pollutants; there was one man who spent all his life trying to slow things down. They laughed at him, just like they had laughed at Galileo and mocked Charles Keeling...when will we ever learn to respect science?"

"At the same time these scientists give up their stubbornness and openly believe in magic . We owe so much to so few.Slowing us down so that Earth would continue to spin but we come to a stop in space-time...space atleast...the time part came much later. He was able to transport at speeds not heard of before - moving a canister in 2 milliseconds from Twin Peaks to Seychelles. Of course, it was intended for the Caribbean..hehee." Srithematics giggled like a small girl "He desperately tried to track it down using his West Indian contacts but I guess they were too busy smoking ganja and came back empty-handed. He was shattered, the local media declared him a failure, his friends questioned his intelligence calling him a raving lunatic...a hack."

"Then it happened, suddenly - out of the blue, a facebook message which cryptically read 'We have it'. He nearly collapsed with joy.,,,,we owe so much to so few. A romantic couple honeymooning on the island had come upon boxes of food, water, and first aid kits with a small note to add Om lette Pierre on their facebook." 

"As the news spread virally on the internet - numerous companies tracked Om down and made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Actually, he refused and that's why we are where we are today. His contraption moved objects faster than anything else because it worked with nature not against it. KJung - all through the ages, man has been trying to overcome gravity and friction. Both are nasty forces which make apples fall off trees and rolling stones come to a stop. What if we could make them our friend instead? By increasing mass of the object, he was able to increase its gravity and consequently its friction. The key was not the absolute mass itself but its rapid increase - like slamming the brakes of the Shinkansen. And voila - he was able to transport objects through space-time." 

"Why move faster than Earth when you can let Earth overtake you? All you needed was to slow down and smell the Roses."

Is it a bird, is it a plane? NO...its Twitter!!

Is it a bird, is it a plane? NO...its Twitter! A global phenomena evoking more emotion than global warming - 140 chars that claim to have more impact than the Gutenberg Bible. So let me peel the onion and unveil the crystal ball...I can tell you the future only if you suspend your disbelief. The easiest way to start is not by explaining what Twitter is because the Twitter guys have not figured it out themselves but by painting Twitter's future with my own coloring brush.

People believe that Twitter is a fad and will hopefully disappear like its predecessors - Pet Rocks, Atkins and Friendster. It sure has all the characteristics of one - lightning fast adoption and unusually high interest gaining heavily from the bandwagon effect or as my Professor calls it - the "Information Cascade". Quite honestly, no one knows if it will stick around and for how long.
You need money to make money, friends to make friends and in the Twitter world - followers to find more followers. Eager, early Twitter adopters are flexing their muscle to support this seemingly democratic medium as they realize they can become overlords given the impending doom of the fourth estate. Suddenly, its like 1849 again and quite honestly during a gold rush...you pick a shovel and start digging. Bloggers, movie stars, politicians, musicians, news media and most of all - the common man have embraced Twitter at a frenetic pace with the aim of striking it rich. Suddenly, the general populous is no longer a statistic that can be analyzed by experts and reported by successful news publishers - the medium has empowered individuals by projecting their thoughts loud and clear across the interwebs. Some of you may be thinking this is not new - we already have Blogs, RSS feeds, Social Networks. Yes, we do but just like there was an mp3 player before iPod and a search engine before Google - these products did not have the hype, PR, traction to cross the chasm. Be it by luck, timing, name...Twitter has captured mindshare and taken the world by storm.

The real question is - can Biz Stone capitalize this craze and convert Twitter into an enduring service the way Howard Schultz transformed Starbucks into a premium coffeehouse or Dietrich marketed Krating Daeng as Red Bull? Is the momentum strong enough to leap over the Tipping point? Sure - Google did that and so has Amazon. I would go as far as to posit it was this craze that brought Obama into power. There is a compelling case to be made for the power of being plugged into the minds of millions or as the Jedi call it the Force (Midi-chlorians).
You may say, I don't really want to bother with all the crap people have to say. Maybe not but information is power and real-time information is like coke...psychologically addictive. But the feed is full of speculation, rumours and spam? Well, this is a problem a good algorithm can solve exactly like Google did during the early internet era. Not a trivial task for sure but definitely possible. Who has time for this sh*t? I would speculate that 20% of your life is idle time. If you use half of this time to assimilate into the collective - it would give you the powers of the borg:). I don't mean replace personal and people time with Twitter time - on the contrary...use the tool to stay connected to world and the world to stay connected to you.

Is this what the future looks like? Well, technology is finally catching up with the way people interact or want to interact however as Heisenberg's theory of uncertainty states - observing an event changes it. As more people adopt social networking so will their needs. Twitter/Facebook will need to keep changing and pushing the envelope because there's a long way to go.

For today's generation "anything more than 140 characters in a lecture". So keep it short and may the force be with you!

Obama Biden

I believe the boost to McCain's rating post-RNC and post-Sarah Palin is just a confirmation of the fact that media, glamour and youth have arrived to the Political world. Obama is just a 47 yo Senator and Palin 44 yo VPILF. Hopefully this will be a turning point, kicking the door open for leaders from all races, sexes and ages...a glass ceiling that has yet to be dented in the US. Whoever wins, this elections is going to change the world the way works in a way much like what the dot com did to the brick and mortar.

I think Obama is going bounceback strong after the debates. Why? Because a great leader dreams of a better future...because a leader inspires people to reach that future....a great leader is like a faith healer because he/she makes you believe. I am really happy with Obama's VP pick because he acknowledged the gap in his experience and plugged it. He did not try to pick a VP to win votes...he picked a VP to better run the country. Vote for "Obama Biden" not "Osama Bin Laden" hiding behind Joe "the Plumber" and Joe Six-Packs.

Rang De Basanti

Rang De Basanti - A Generation Awakens

It's a long time since I have seen a movie that not only entertains you but leaves you feeling agitated...disturbed...inspired. A movie to which you can relate to, whose characters you can touch and feel because they are so rich, so colorful and so true. Its been a long time since I can go to a movie with my American friends and not cringe at how absurd those funny aerobics dances in the wet sari look, how melodramatic the story is.....why the hero cries all the time....why none of the characters looks, acts or thinks like me. Its a long time since I can show a movie to my friends and proudly say....."this is the country where I come from"...and No!....India is not in the Middle-East and that guy in a turban is not Osama. This is my country with 1 Billion people with 200 religions and 30 states. This is my country which overcame 200 years of colonization, transforming it from the richest country in the world to one of the poorest. This is my country who won our independence due a movement of non-violence and non-cooperation. This is my country whose insistence on democratic processes has thrown it into a vicious cycle of chaos and corruption, but it is still flourishing in its own macabre way. This is what I thought after seeing the movie yesterday. 

Rang De Basanti is not a movie about patriotism, it's a movie about Indians. Funnily, the protagonist of the movie is again a Britisher "Angrez", Sue, who comes to India to make a documentary on some freedom fighters about whom she gets to know from the diary of her late grandfather who was a British officer in India before 1947. Alice Patten who plays Sue radiates simplicity and passion at the same time. Let me say a BIG "Thank You" Alice. For once, I am not embarrassed to watch the token blonde on the Indian big screen who is usually reserved for the "Sam Fox" titillation, mouthing jingoistic hand fed dialogues or the evil bald headed rapist. She stands on her own. Sue comes to India in search of her Grandfather's legacy and does not immerse herself into displays of Indophilic or touristic activities. We could so easily expect Bappi Lahri trying to get her into a 2-piece bikini doing a namaste or getting drunk in a nightclub and seducing DJ to bed in a state of drunken stupor...no...her romance with DJ is subtle and romantic. After having auditioned many in vain for her movie, Sue, aided by Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), meets a group of friends in whom she sees the characters of her documentary. The group consists of DJ (Aamir Khan), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor), Karan (Siddharth) and Sukhi (Sharman Joshi). 

I entered the theater without any idea who this tomboyish chick was. Though I must say she has the trademarkish Sharmila Tagore looks. Instead, all I remember is her sunny positive disposition. "Ram Bismil kahan milega?"...."Mil Jayega", without a flutter. She is in love with Fl. Lft. Ajay Rathod (Madhavan), a Air Force officers who loves flying planes and loves his country. I bet we all have friends or family who remind us of Ajay Rathod. Enter. DJ. DJ is originally Daljeet Singh from a Punjabi family consisting of a loving mother (excellently portrayed by Kiron Kher). A beer guzzler who is never serious about anything in life, DJ starts laying his charm on Sue the minute he sees her. Only Aamir Khan could have enacted the role of DJ, the humored, bike-riding ex-graduate who is afraid to go beyond the life of college campus and friends. Aamir speaks his dialogues with a Punjabi accent, spicing his lines with an expletive here and there. But what is phenomenal about Aamir is that he is never out of character. His incredulity with Sue's hindi speaking skills "Oye yeh to hindi bolti hai yaar" is repeated again and again or his deep but comical "Ek pair past pe, te ek pair future me, isilye to hum aaj par mooth rahe hai". This is where the story transcends the glass-ceiling of Bollywood and makes its appeal universal. It is a Sholay of the new Era. Where the Defence Minister is Gabbar and the group of 5 is the Basanti's village. 

Aamir's presence doesn't dominate or overshadow other members of the cast. Every character in the film is well-defined and their screen presence is justified. You like the charm of Sharman Joshi as much as the intensity of Siddharth. Kunal Kapoor's sincerity is as appealing as the fire in Atul Kulkarni. British actress Alice Patten is poised and never appears to be fake even while mouthing Hindi dialogues. Needless to add Aamir Khan is superlative. From getting the Punjabi accent correct to transforming into a responsible citizen from a flippant ex-college student, Aamir gets all the nuances of his character perfect. Karan is the silent one. Again, I found him strangely out-of-place in the first half. But maan does his character grow on you, he is the Holden Caulfield of the movie. As Bhagat Singh, he blows you apart in the way he portrays his character. "Hum attankwadi nahin krantikari hain". No flashy flamboyance or tattoo-flashing typical of Bollywood actors trying to do bring a cheap Hollywood imagery to the big screen. Guys, yes, the ones who are dyeing their hair blonde, flashing their tattoos or driving the Ferraris in Bandra....please..if people found that stuff appealing...they would be watching Tom Cruise in MI-3...yuck.  Everytime I watch minorities represented in movies, it leaves me with a sugar-coated bad taste in the mouth. Sometimes it's too good to be true or sometimes its too bad. Aslam finds the balance. He comes from a Muslim family and refuses to endorse the opinion that Muslims ought not mingle with Hindus. He writes poetry and displays a vulnerable sensitive person. Damn, I had a close friend like that. These guys need the support media provides to continue to trust their beliefs. Please give me more characters like that. Some feel he should have switch places with Karan. Maybe, but then he would be too good-looking to play the dark soulful character. But it had to be the Saffron wearing Laxman Pandey who epitomizes genuinity. Not just as a person with strong convictions but his convincing portrayal of a RSS man. As a movie addict, I have a tendency to applaud when I see authentic potrayals of characters by method actors but there's always a small voice in the back of my head...hey he was acting. I did not doubt for a second that Laxman Pandey was anything other than a Mumbai shiv sainik. Great casting and brilliant acting. The humor and timing is impeccable. There is always some comical antakshari going on. "sue kar mere mann ko kiya tune kya isara". Or Sukhi.. the haryanvi jat… “aslam ki gali… khali balli khalli balli khalli balli, hum to hai talli talli, na bhula mein apne yaar ki galli… lamba mera yaar choti uski galli” "tu ni sudharna... aye dudh dena band kar degi" Kiron kher refering to the cow...being tortured by DJ by his dialogues or the dark humor from Anupam Kher (hmmm....who is more brilliant Anupam or Kiron....husband or wife) "In this SMS generation....Anything longer than four lines is a lecture!" 

The songs flow with the rhythm of the movie. Thank God no "Tamha tamha do-ge" falling out of the blue for no rhyme or reason. What can be said of AR Rahman. A music composer's genius is when the background score is as riveting and relevant as the songs. The piano notes when the movie switches to the flashback is haunting. But puhleez, I think no Indian, NRI, man or women from 1950 to the Present would contest that there has been and will ever be a singer like Lata Mangeshkar. Carlos Santana once said that if he ever went to Heaven and did not hear "Love Supreme" playing, he would turn back. I can safely say that if I ever reached heaven and didn't find Lata crooning "Mera saaya saath hoga", I would turn back like the rest of my 1 billion fellow Indians. Don't Miss the Lukka Chuppi song. I repeat. DO NOT MISS THIS SONG. I recommend that you do not blink either. It packs such a punch of colors and unforgettable scenery that you may want to see the movie just to enjoy all the elements of this beautiful collage. But the movie would have faltered a la Reservoir Dogs with senseless murder and gory if it wasn't for Bhagat Singh. For anyone familiar with Indian Freedom movement, the story of Azad, Sukhdev, Rajguru and Bhagat Singh avenging Lala Lajpat Rai's death at the hands of Police Chief Scott is legendary. This is a strong emotional moment which has been powering numerous Bollywood movies like Shaheed, The Legend of Bhagat Singh et. al. but none can create a political statement as strong as Rang De Basanti. When Sonia says "Maar Dalo", it was history repeating itself. The bridge between the Indian Revolution and the Nuevo Revolution. We needed 'a loud noise so that the deaf could hear'. No, that was not Karan, it was Bhagat Singh on the floor of the assembly. The second half is reminiscent of Arjun but Arjun did not have Azad or Sukhdev. This is what makes the movie believable and inspiring at the same time. But the best scene of the movie has to be the coming of age of DJ. His transformation from flippant ex-college student to a realistic human being. If there was ever a scene which I could boldly take my cynical stoic American friends to watch a male performer cry, it would be this. Because those were not tears of tragedy or drama....those were tears of frustration...hopelessness. "kuchh nahin badlega yahan. yahan tum system ko badloge, yeh system tumhe badlega." "Kitne Ajay ko marna padega". He then weeps to sleep in the arms of Sue. I guess if we had to separate Indians who grew up in the US from the Indians who grew up in India, all it takes is their reaction to this scene. Every Indian born Indian, however rich, successful, established, feels this stab of deep hopelessness when he talks about India. NRIs can never feel the frustration, pain of this juggernaut of a country who can take down the most resolute of people. A close second would be Pandey's unsaid acknowledgement of hated Muslim counterpart...Aslam. Anything more than "I'm Sorry" would have made this entire sequence artificial and cheesy. The performance by the supporting characters was as significant and memorable as the main characters. Aamir's grandpa says "Rab,hamare bachho ki kurbani kabool karna." or Ajay Rathod's "koi bhi desh perfect nahi hota...use perfect banana parta hai." or McKinley's "I always thought there were 2 kinds of men, those who go to their death screaming....and others who go to their death in silence...UNTIL i met the third kind..." For those who found the ending illogical, all I have to say is that if it didn't end that way, it wouldn't have made sense. Sounds weird, but you see, the movie was a parallel to Bhagat Singh's. What he and Azad did was construed illogical and unrealistic but that's the way it was. The last scene is reminiscent of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" when Paul Newman and Robert Redford are cornered by the Army, unknown to them. "Lefors? No, why?" "Thank God for that. For a moment there I thought we were in trouble.". Freeze Frame. Here, DJ is telling Karan "Yaar, ek problem hai. Agar bacche honge toh patta nahin agar gore yah kale honge". And they burst out laughing. The Black Cat commandos burst in. Freeze Frame.