Rakhi Sawant – All about that scandalous fame!

She simply barged into our lives with her ‘Forced Kiss’ outrage, a wondrously shot gamey sequence that worked wonders for both the parties – if the lady went on to become household name whom we acknowledge today as Rakhi Sawant, the lad, Mika Singh is doing pretty well in the arena of singing these days. You see a passionate smooch can indeed work wonders!

What it is that makes overnight-turned-celebrity, Ms. Sawant an endearing persona for a large section of Indian households? Perhaps just like our Western counterparts we’ve also started relishing the shoveling act, the turf being laden with enough scoops all for your sake!

Then came Big Boss Season 1 in 2006, Rakhi turned out to be an eye catcher, her histrionics going way too well with the audience that was witnessing on small screen the Indian version of the UK’s ‘Big Brother’. Guess the creator, John de Mol knew the universal fact that nothing titillates better than mounds of gossip, blather and those utterly canny arguments and fracas!

So what if Rahul Roy won the title! Rakhi was able to make a mark, her confrontation with housemates, developing soft corner for inmate Amit Sadh, being at tenterhooks with Kashmira Shah, not to forget her sincere swearing in the name of Jesus, all made sure that she didn’t lose public gaze even for a nanosecond!

Since then our beloved wannabe became the cynosure of reality shows, after all (s)candal was (s)ynonymous with reality drama and this S2-factor was directly proportional to TRPs!

Apart from having that lissome physique, well her cleavage kept the likes of Aamir Khan staring at that for a good sixty seconds (Ah! That’s what the morning show of a radio station was all about almost a fortnight back!), it’s her innate ability to induct that melodramatic element into everything she’s part of that hits the right tone!

Nach Baliye 3 once again asserted the fact that when it’s about dancing there is certainly no one better than Rakhi Sawant. After all the first step of that ladder to celebrity-hood had begun with the stint of being an item girl! The audience was introduced with the then-current-now-former beau of the star, Abhishek Avasthi who accompanied her in all those moves and grooves. This again culminated in another controversy whereby the duet simply walked out alleging that the voting system was bungled on part of Star Plus!

Phew! She has real guts and caliber to carry forth the paraphernalia associated with the glitzy world! After her much proclaimed break-up with live-in partner Abhishek, the ‘Janta ki Beti’ strode along in search of soul-mate and hence came the first season of Swayamvara on NDTV Imagine. Right from getting acquainted with the suitors to Sangeet & Mehandi ceremony, followed by the gala event of wedding, everything was too grand to reject it straightaway at one go! Nuptials with Canada based Elesh Parujanwala were shredded in full public glare on another reality show, the occasion being that of finale of ‘Pati, Patni aur Woh’! Trailing the Hollywood publicist, ‘irreconcilable differences’ were cited as the cause of separation though, Rakhi had a sympathetic card for this one too!

Sob! Sob! How much my heart swells with emotions for the poor gal who is deceived at every juncture, ye zaalim mardon ki duniya hai, you see darling! Yet at the end of each installment she manages to land with yet another reality show, so there is some consolation on some front at least!

Therefore when someone hailing from the lot of feminist suggests that the pretty woman should be packed and sent off to Playboy Mansion, there aren’t many eyebrows raised at least amidst the brainy souls!

You never know, Hugh Heffner would be impressed with an individual belonging to the fairer sex who doesn’t mind smooching her female co-star for film promotion (err, the participant was Kainaaz Pervez at the premiere of ‘Khamosh Khauff ki Raat’ in 2006) and demands C-strings for her latest soap!

It was a full-on ROFL moment for me when I happened to watch few batches belonging to the aegis of ‘Rakhi ka Insaaf’! In the very first episode we have this mohatarma who alleges her real sisters of creating a rift between her son and self, all for the sake of money that she has been bequeathed with owing to husband’s ill-fated death. In a bizarre sequence of sorts that comprised of fast-paced beats and music in the backdrop, still shots of the actors on stage, compulsive shouting and intervening act of the judge, Ms. Sawant and the cheering act of the studio crowd, ‘Rakhi! Rakhi! Rakhi!’, we are apprised that the lady’s son had in fact taken shelter in mausi’s house since the woman had illicit relation with some other man! Wow! So now justice would be delivered in such an outrageous manner! How can the standards of the public stoop so low all because a family has decided to wash their dirty linen on television? What in the whole world was Rakhi trying to assert with that loud red dress, stockings pulled up and coupled with high heels, the tattoo on her shoulder showing off way too well, now we would depend on her to resolve personal crisis????

Babes you certainly don’t become an Oprah Winfrey that way!

With movies and shows stuffed in her kitty, the latest offering for her fans being the ‘Ghazab Desh Ki Ajab Kahaniyaan’ the future of this 32-year-old star seems to be brighter than ever before! Last time she did create a furor by challenging Baba Ramdev to get rid of his virginity to this luscious lass!With the likes of branding expert, Flynn Remedios handling her theatrical antics, I guess she would continue ruling the roost for times to come! 

Bollywood Catches Up With The 'Baby Bump Syndrome'!!!

We’ve always been in awe of Hollywood, be it getting that ‘inspiration’ from their scripts, to songs to catching up with the very essence of ramblings out there. It still continues to enamor us though it is stifling at times.

Don’t give me that deadpan expression! You definitely know what I’m talking about.

In fact when the news came pouring in about a black carpet being laid out for the premiere of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 4’, the thought struck me if the thrillers and horror flicks of the likes as from the aegis of Abbas-Mustan are going to follow suit soon.

Moving on, the latest fad in Hollywood, quite recently has been to trail the baby bumps of actresses who’ve hit on the family way. Be it Jessica Alba, Mariah Carey or for that matter TV actress Alyssa Milano scribes are really busy these days drooling over the changing size of the bellies of these actresses!

I always thought, thank god! Bollywood is still miles away from all this baby banter. Just when I heaved a sigh of relief, my stupor was broken and it was rather abruptly. Well, this is also one of the foibles of our Filmdom that it senses the direction of wind and changes its direction accordingly. C’mon I’m not stating in plain cold terms that we are ‘copycats’. You know I can’t be really that rude and pass on terse comments.

Anyways, it all started with our very own Koko aka Konkona Sen, when she marked her foray on to the front page of the OK magazine in almost the ninth month of her pregnancy. And man! She did convey those emotions of a woman who’s expecting the arrival of a new guest.

Konkona’s stint was the harbinger of a trend that was soon to blow with a swirl making it an inherent practice and perhaps another topic to mull over for the scribes or rather paparazzi (though the crown should go to Tara Sharma for being the first one to kick start this nouveau tradition).

The next to come up on the marquee was none other than the lady who made ‘noodle straps’ a household name. Yeah, you got it right. It was Mandira Bedi who decided to have a gala time in front of shutterbugs. It was a moment though, since ‘Shanti’ is conceiving after 12 years of marriage with Raj Kaushal.

Earlier, journos tried to capture Kajol but all their efforts went in vain since the actress chose to keep it all under ‘wraps’. Well, she knows what it is for she’s to send ripples across. She was definitely not in a publicizing mode.

It seems this obsequiousness would not leave Bollywood that easily.

While you may be dozing off thinking it to be blather from absolutely nowhere, don’t be surprised if you stumble upon another baby bump on the stands!

DILEMMA OF AN HR

"Nazrein aaj bhi us shaksh ko dhoondti hain,jisne kaha tha - MBA kar lo beta,bada scope hai!!" A large grin swept over my face as i read the above sms sent to me by one of my friends.It may sound sardonic but YES the fact is that MBA is today creating a bunch of confused 'entrepreneur wannabes' who join any XYZ college offering management course with dreams of six-figure package,good Co. tag and a cool lifestyle to flaunt among others.
I too belong to the same crowd of youngsters who looked at MBA as a passport to an entirely different new world where you get sit in a goggy office,meet top honchos of India Inc.,a part of a team that takes decisions,implements strategies...................the dream doesn't end here.
Fortunately or unfortunately,I landed up as an HR Executive in a Pharma Co. with a not so happening ambience.I was very excited about my job.My core job comprised taking interviews of aspirants looking for a job as a Medical Representative.
What followed thereafter was a complete eye-opener for me.I was hoping to interact with people having B.Sc/B.Pharma background having that knack to be a part of the Pharma Industry.Believe me guys - it's been 3 months and everyone (leaving a few exceptions) except for B.Sc(Biology) and B.Pharma have applied on being apprised of the job openings in our organization.
What shocked me was that MBA (Marketing) students were applying for the job of Medical Representative????Here comes the big Black Hole which exists in our education system.There is a concept in HR - "Competency Mapping" very much in practice especially in the private sector whereby a person's skill set is matched with the job profile just to ensure that maximum productivity is attained by an individual.Which concept should i apply in a scenario where overqualified person's applications were pouring in for a job offering a meagre salary of Rs. 7000 per month???
During the course of my Telephonic Interview with around 25 students of a college,I was continuously struggling with the question - Whom to select and whom to reject.My parameters of selection were simple - communication,knowledge,location preferrence and salary expectation.With almost 20 of them fulfilling these requirements,I decided to extract something out of their CVs!!!!
eg: There was this guy whose CV mentioned "Participated in Republic Day Parade" as the one and only achievement.When questioned,he ecstatically told how he was selected among a batch of so many candidates from the NCC.This guy was finally selected after the Personal Interview.Can "Participation in Republic Day Parade" be a criteria for selection as an MR??(No HR Book mentions it!)But here it is when more than your rote knowledge your humanistic approach has to take centrestage.
If a person can be so committed towards the country can you imagine his level of commitment towards the organization in which he is employed??
As an MBA (HR) student,I studied what is known as HRP(Human Resource Planning) which tells us about Right Person at the Right Place.But my practical stint as an HR Executive soon taught me that there is very little possibility of "Right Person at the Right Place".Many factors have to work together before a person finally lands with a job.
My dilemma continues as we over and again talk about 65% Indians being in the age bracket 25-30,is the Government really taking concrete step to convert this Youngistan into a Talent Pool which caters to the needs of the industry in various verticals???
Till I get an answer,I've decided to implement an HR pracyice at my organization which is a melange of HR concept + Humanistic Approach so that at least some "Right People" do land up at "Right Place".

DID U SAY CIVIC SENSE? (Contd.)

The college takes a lot of pain to keep the large campus clean .Apart from a virtual army of people carrying brooms and brushes working throughout the day ,there are dustbins placed almost every ten yards in the corridors yet, one does occasionally see things littered thoughtlessly on the floor.
Guys go ga-ga over latest bikes – thanks to “dhoom syndrome” ,zooming like a snake through a crowd is what adds to the image of a macho – man I suppose.How many of us give way to an ambulance we see approaching in our rear view mirror? Traffic rules? They are meant to be broken. If I’m hypothetically the anchor of “Sach ka Samna” right now, I think almost each and everyone of us would agree that there must have been one occasion when despite the red light , you didn’t stop and moved on.
And how can I forget the famous Indian “Spitting Tycoons” ,there could be a contest for them something like who can spit better or to a longer distance?
Ughh!!! Have I disgusted you? But how many of us think before actually doing this.I’m reminded of a joke in “Laughter Challenge”,a show aired on Star One –In US you can kiss everywhere but not urinate ,it’s just the other way around here in India.
President APJ Abdul Kalam said in one of his famous speeches, why do we Indians as a whole score so poorly on civic sense?What intrigued him was that the same Indian who let his dog dirty the pavement would not as little as throw a bus ticket on the pavements of Singapore!!!
One of the most important reason for this flaw in our collective psyche is the fact that we are all conscious of “our own importance”.We are just not willing to break the cocoon of “I,me,myself”.Thanks to this,we feel it is all right to create a mess but not to clean it.To make sense of civic sense,bring some sensibility and sensitivity into the whole process.If you do create a mess,clean it up-don’t wait for anybody else to do that for you!!!

DID YOU SAY "CIVIC SENSE"?

Vow!! what a topic to discuss a side of typical Indian psyche which goes unnoticed most of the time and the oblivion has led us to creating a mess which is becoming bigger and bigger!! I stay in Tagore Town a predominantly residential area of Allahabad,an area good for a quiet stroll.Almost everytime i walk around,i see at least one owner of a pet dog letting the poor beast vent it's bowels on the nearest (in)convenient place.Is it so difficult to have your pet trained?In countries like USA,UK you can be fined for the same.Cities are abuzz with so many food joints,pubs,restaurants,shopping malls and so on which have added quite a spice to our daily monotonous lives.But driven by the spic & span interiors of such places you all might have just missed the starking realties smirking at all of us.Whether it is a mall or a restaurant on a daily basis early in the morning around 7am or so one can see the employees sweeping the floors and even the pavement infront of their shops.Nice!Very Nice! What is not so nice is the no. of used soft drink paper cups & solid paper plates which they accumulate and throw outside consciously or unconsciously.But the question is where is their conscience at this point of time which allows them to keep the interiors clean as long as the exteriors exist as virtual "dumping grounds".
Another perfect example could be that of our very own college.............................

It's all about relationship (contd.)

I'm often flummoxed wondering whether smses have actually helped in bridging the gap between distant people or have actually increased the distance ?? Wishing personally on birthdays, festivals, new year has been replaced with the "idea" of 300 smses in a rs.50 sms-card which of course is not only affordable but exemplifies typical notion of people trying to shrug their shoulders from the usual "formality".............Don't you think all this has actually amalgamated relationships and they have lost their purity and aesthetic value??One might have 190 friends on orkut,another 167 on facebook but when it comes to having just "one friend" around you infront of whom you can open your heart out it's none,so many to share jokes and ask for treats and parties but virtually none to pacify you in times of dire need and try placating your woes in some way;so many to pull your leg and tear you apart but hardly any to act as a pillar of strength.
The term "relatives" appears quite alien to me these days.What are relatives actually meant for??all the chachas,mamas,buas n phuphas,cousins,etc. congregate either at marriages or terhi or may be some other family gathering;or they'll try to patch up by making some frequent visits at your place but actually vanish away when you are down with sickness,financial problems,career crestfalls ; when your life is looming in the dark nobody to lighten up the path for you.Genuine smiles have been replaced by the plastic ones and starngely enough authenticity of relationships have to be proved nowdays ............

It's all about relationship!!!!

Our lives revolve around relationships.Though some of them do tend to bind us, even inthat bondage there is a feeling of security and freedom which gives us a feeling of assurance.The first word a child learns to speak is "ma-ma" because the nurturing care provided by the mother,right from breast-feeding even before the child can actually start recognising her,somehow gets incsribed in the child's mind.No wonder then that as soon as the child starts crying people rush to search for the mom of dat child.A mother- daughter relationship is the first relationship i believe i' made before moving further into the complex maze of relationships.
Then came school life where the term "friend" was added in my vocabulary.So if someone was sharing her tiffin or lending me notes was a friend in all the senses.With the advent of teenage however,friend was someone with whom one can share secrets;latest crush,talkin about latest fad and discussing about what kind of girls do guys fall for?The hottest topic for gossip used to be who's hooked up with whom and who has broken-up.
When college life started i could perceive the pace of fast changing milieu around me.It was the emergence of "sms generation"............