India: films, cricket and monsoons and more… · Global Voices
Kamla Bhatt

There was no letup in the tempo of events in India this week either. In fact it got a bit more hectic.  It was yet another action-packed week in India. We had lots of topics: reservation, film controversy, cricket, etc, etc.. The list of issues for this week is exhaustive. Here is snapshot of the zeros and ones that the bloggers used up to pen their thoughts. Zeros and ones? Well, I suddenly remembered that is the machine-level computer language and that all our scribbling's in our laptops and PCs are reduced to zeros and ones.
Instead of listing the important topics of the week you can read about if from  The Wabbster and his blog Conversations with the self  . The Wabbster shares his opinion on all the important and interesting issues in India.
Politics and films seem to the latest thing all over the world (sounds almost like viral campaign). First it was Da Vinci Code and Hollywood. Now, it is the turn of Bollywood in India. Politics has also seeped into Bollywood, the Hindi film industry. Last week Bollywood star Aamir Khan's new film was stopped from being released in the western state of Gujarat. The reason? Aamir's  stance/statements  about the Narmada Bachao Andolan movement. The non-release of this film took center stage in all kinds of media: MSM to blogs. This controversy had bloggers from all over the world talking about it. Here is a sample from various blogs about the fracas. Navin Varma's take on Aamir Khan. And here is Insanity Rediscovered's take on the issue. And here is Subhan from Dubai's take on Fanaa, Aamir Khan and the ban on the movie. Cybercoolie, a medical student in the UK shares his views about the controversy.
Other films related news is that Italian actress Monica Belluci is slated to play the role of Sonia Gandhi (who is also originally from Italy) in an upcoming movie. Desifans has a post about Monica Belluci.
Next to politics and films, cricket is a major pre-occupation for many Indians across the world. The Indian cricket team performance in the recent West Indies (Bahamas, Jamaica, Antigua etc) trip was disappointing –they lost all the three test matches.. The Indian cricket team's performance has been disappointing for the fans. Mahinder Dhoni, the current poster boy for Indian cricket has slipped the ranks says Cricker4ever. You can read more about the current cricket tour in the same blog. Ramki of Madrasi's Musings says he is ok with the fact the West Indies won the matches, and read to find out why he subscribes to that view.
The May/June cusp heralds the monsoon season in India. When I first hear the word monsoon, the state that automatically comes to my mind is Kerala. This is where the monsoon announce their arrival and then progress upwards to the rest of the Indian subcontinent. So here are a couple of interesting links on Kerala. This year the monsoons arrived early in Kerala and in other parts of India. Nikhil pens his thoughts about the recent makeover for tourism in Kerala. The new, new thing is Monsoon Tourism and read his post to find out who is the target audience for this new travel branding. Read about Dog's Own Country, a collaborative blog that attempts to save God's own country (that is how Kerala is often described) through their humorous and tongue-in cheek postings. While visiting the blog, don't forget to scroll down and read about the first authentic Italian restaurant in Thiruvanthapuram, a major city in Kerala.
Did you all notice the unintended Italian theme in this posting? Monica Belluci, Sonia Gandhi and the Italian restaurant in Kerala. And, finally Hyderabad is the latest to join the metroblogging family. Take a quick dekho of Hyderabad Metroblogging, a city from where I have not seen too many bloggers. Maybe, I was not looking in the right places for them.