I voted early this morning, at about 7:15 AM, at the polling booth in Maharashtra High School No. 2, Dadar, Mumbai. There was hardly any crowd at that time and I could just walk in without having to wait in queues. I was in and out of the booth within 2 minutes after having voted using the electronic voting machine (EVM). Even though it was just 15 minutes since the polling had started, I was already the 7th person to vote in that particular booth (the said polling station has about 4-5 booths).

I voted! Did you?

It looks as if the voter turnout will be fairly decent, at least here in Mumbai. The sparse crowd at the polling station comprised of people from different economic classes and almost an equal no. of male and female voters. Of course, it was too early in the day to call, but signs were encouraging indeed.

If your constituency is going to the polls today and you haven’t voted already, please go out and vote as soon as possible. Not voting does not mean the candidate you don’t want to come to power gets defeated. In fact the opposite happens. So go out and vote for a better, cleaner & worthier candidate and make your voice heard.

Do not shut up and vote… get up, think and shout out a message loud and clear through your vote. Do it now, folks. It’s probably the best thing you would do for now!

Govinda, the actor-turned-MP-turned-actor-again, apparently thinks people from within his party and outside have ignored the “good work” he has done in the last 5 years.

I wonder what “good work” he refers to. Govinda’s attendance in the Parliament is a laughable 12% (that too rounded up). He has asked no questions during the 12% times he has attended the sessions. Compare that with a fellow first-time MP from Mumbai, Priya Dutt, whose attendance is almost four times our dancing star and who has asked around 35 questions in the parliament. [Source: MumbaiVotes.com]

Forget the Parliament… it is far away in New Delhi. Here in Mumbai too, Govinda has been conspicuous by his absence even in his own constituency, especially at times when citizens expect their elected representatives to be actively working to sort out their problems. During the 26 July cloudburst (in 2005), residents of Oshiwara were so disgusted with Govinda’s unavailability to help them that they offered a reward for anyone sighting their MP.

But hold on, folks! Govinda may be correct and people may have indeed ignored his “good work” in the last 5 years. Let me list it down for your benefit…

1. Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen (2005) …. as Raja/Vicky
2. Ssukh (2005) …. as Chandraprakash Sharma
3. Sandwich (2006) …. as Sher ‘Sheru’ Singh/Shekhar
4. Bhagam Bhag (2006) …. as Babla
5. Salaam-E-Ishq (2007) …. as Raju
6. Jahan Jaaeyega Hamen Paaeyega (2007) …. as Karan/Bobby Singh/Sher Khan
7. Partner (2007) …. as Bhaskar Diwakar Chaudhry
8. Money Hai Toh Honey Hai (2008) …. as Bobby P. Arora

… Plus there are over half a dozen films in various stages of filming and production. [Source: imdb.com]

So all in all, a “hard(ly) working” MP indeed… is our Mr. Govinda Ahuja who seems to harbour delusions of having actually worked for the people who elected him by almost 50,000 votes. And while Congress has thankfully denied him a ticket this time around (good riddance!), it falls on us to reject such frivolous candidates by the power of our votes. Go on, rock the vote!

One of 2008′s best Hindi movies was arguably A Wednesday. The story of a common man’s response to living in fear on a daily basis captured the imagination of a country fed up of government’s lame duck responses to the acts of terrorism unleashed upon the common people.

One of the key protagonists in the movie, the character of Mumbai Police Commissioner Prakash Rathod (played by Anupam Kher), was widely appreciated. The reason being that in Comm. Rathod, the people saw their ideal police chief – one who was firm, intelligent and brook no interference from the political class. It was, to some extent, like the “Harrison Ford for President” feeling that rippled through the US after his portrayal of President James Marshall in the 1997 movie Air Force One.

So when I heard a story about NSG Director-General J.K. Dutta from the 3 days of terror after 26/11, I thought we need not look for fictional heroes. Real life heroes like the reel-life Comm. Prakash Rathod do exist. [Read more →]