random thoughts

India-US defense cooperation is increasing. We are buying more defense equipments from the US than ever before- next only to Russia and Israel in money terms. There is talk of India becoming the manufacturing hub for F-16Fighting Falcons, especially with the Make in India initiative of the Government. But with the coming of President Trump, things have become uncertain as the new policy is to encourage American companies like Lockheed Martin to invest in USA, instead of moving shop to other countries. The ray of hope that this may take off in the near future is the tie up between India's Tata Advanced Systems and Lockheed Martin to jointly manufacture F-!6s in India- there must be a strong feeling that it may take off. Now the final decision is in Trump's court. PM Modi's visit to US and the warm reception he got from President Trump bodes well for India and its quest to achieve military superiority in the region. The sale of 22 Predator Guardian drones to India may open ...

What is the purpose of a film? Most probably it is to tell a story visually and entertain the audience, in the bargain. Does it have a social purpose? Of course, some may say that a film has to instruct and throw light on social reality in a bid to change society for the better. Is a film an expression of art? Film makers feel that film making is a creative field and it affords artistic possibilities. So, depending on the purpose behind a film, we can categorize films as commercial, middle cinema or art house production. Film makers need adequate freedom in order to entertain, highlight the issues and impact the masses. External validation, especially at the box office, is not necessary for these film makers. They create pieces of art, aesthetically appealing for art’s sake. Patronage is very important and that is where the state comes into the picture. India has NFDC to support and fund the talented film makers who are interested in making socially relevant films. One film mak...

For the fans of Alien trilogy and then Prometheus, Alien Covenant rekindles the excitement of space exploration and drama set in the future. The movie takes the philosophical quest forward; where are we from and who made us? Where the previous film focused on the issue of the Holy Grail and the quest for eternity, the new film takes us back to the question of evolution. Was human evolution a mere accident of nature or was there a hand of the creator? Ridley Scott does not answer this but challenges our thinking through the actions of David. David, the android created by late Elizabeth Shaw, is obsessed with creation. He wants to become the creator and decide how intelligent life will evolve. David, as he is not human, is eternal. This goes to his head and he puts everyone at risk for his objective to succeed. The movie ends with us knowing of an impending sequel as we find out that David is on the mothership headed for the planet that humans are trying to colonize. He has also ...

The result season is here. First the State Boards declared their results and then the two national Boards, CBSE and ICSE announced the 10th and 12th class results. Literally lakhs of students were anxious as the result day dawned. This country puts a huge premium on doing well, very well in the Boards. A failure in this exam is akin to failure in life. This year more than ever before the issue of grace marks hogged the limelight. It is a known fact that as a rule all Boards indulge in awarding grace marks in order to push up the pass percentages. The court intervened on behalf of the students and told the CBSE to not discontinue the awarding of grace for this year. The pass percentage for CBSE 10th exam , in fact, fell by 5 % despite the gracing of marks. Is the moderation policy a necessity due to the diversity of students and variety of Boards in this country. Some of the southern regions like Chennai and Trivandrum, the pass percentage is close to 100%. Guwahati on the other hand...

The reason for the sudden sanctions on Qatar by Saudi led group of Gulf countries is now getting clearer. Earlier, we were led to believe that it was the alleged closeness to Iran, the rival to the Saudi dominance of the Muslim world, and the alleged support for the Islamic fundamentalists in the Arab world. It is this and more. The most fundamental reason being the independent foreign policy by Qatar as opposed to the other smaller Arab Gulf nations that go along with the Saudi dictate. When the Jasmine revolution swept the Arab nations of North Africa, Qatar through its most visible arm Al-Jazeera was seen to be supporting the people’s movement against the entrenched, often brutal and unpopular regimes. When the Muslim Brotherhood party came to power in the country’s first ever free and fair elections, the Saudis got rattled and did everything possible to topple the democratic government of Mohammad Morsi. And finally, it succeeded with the Egyptian army taking back control f...