2011, a Year that was. 2012, a Year that would be.

S&P 500 at 1257.6 ended 2011 where it stared. Globally $ 6.3 trillion was lost in capital markets. Investment bankers, hedge funds, traders and the Wall Street elite continue to mint money though while the 401(k) and the middle class keep getting squeezed. May 2012 be the year when disparity between the real and financial economies see some contraction.

Our Sensex ended the year 25% down, lost the trillion dollar membership and Indian Rupee ended up as the worse Asian currency in 2011 loosing 16% against the American Dollar. Economic growth in 2011 may come at under 7% against the projected 7.6%. These facts however had no effect on our Government that continues to enjoy its ever extended holiday. 2011 was a year of lost opportunities, policy paralysis and continued mockery of democracy. We are yet to get a Lokpal (Ombudsperson) or any other strong counter corruption measure despite the protests and scandals continue unabated. 2011 has been a splendid year for the Politicians and an equally painful one for the public. I wish 2012 turns out to be splendid for the public and democracy starts discovering its real meaning by booting out the corrupt governments in upcoming state elections.

Afzal Guru and Kasab are alive and kicking, feasting in a high security cell on our tax payments. In the meanwhile, we had serial blasts in Mumbai in July and a powerful blast in Delhi in September. 2012 would probably be the year when we release these two gentlemen in exchange for the innocents hijacked.

Globally and in our territory, Pakistan remains the epicenter of terrorism; it came as no surprise that Osama was hiding near their military academy. World continues to find a way to look the other way and ignore the threat while our spineless politicians continue to play politics on how to tackle the threat of a yet another Kargil or 26/11. 2011 was however a year of lateral thinking on this subject; let’s withdraw our army from Kashmir and separatists have a feast in 2012. May 2012 be the year when the world agree on a coordinated response to fight terrorism without giving any concessions to anyone for short term geo-political gains and India gives a fitting response to any act of terror.

The European Union continues to debate how to fix itself. Germany though finally found redemption and achieved the objective of ruling Europe, well almost. France found itself in the unusual position of having some influence even if it was as Germany’s wing-man and the Conservative British Government understandably could not tolerate it. May 2012 be the year when they realize EU in its current form is not an economic failure but a social and political failure. EU citizens need to finally start identifying themselves as Europeans to make a real European Union that works for all and not just Germany.

Coming on to the lighter side of life:

The ever inflating Shah Rukh Khan bubble finally burst in 2011, Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra continued to sink further into oblivion and Salman Khan at 46 continues to be the youth icon. New talent-less and gutless bubbles continue to inflate further - Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha and Imran Khan to name a few. Bollywood overall continued to churn out mediocre movies with no single title worth remembering. May 2012 be a year when we finally see some talent and get a movie that does justice to the available talent of Amitabh Bacchan, Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das.

By winning the Cricket world cup in Mumbai, miserably losing the test and one day series in England and then beating the same English team on their return tour, Indian team cemented its reputation as that of tigers at home and just another team abroad. Sachin is still searching for his century of centuries and Dravid continues to wonder why India loves Ganguly and even Laxman more than him. May 2012 be a year when we lose some and win some on all pitches and under all conditions and Sachin gets his 100th 100.

2011 for me was a year of settling down in a new city and a new job. I continue to thank God for giving me the gift of education which has allowed me to travel the world and live a life that is comfortable, secure, honest and interesting. 2011 was also the year when I stopped being a regular traveler on the NYC-Boston boltbus. Shavi graduated and joined me in NYC. I am ever more thankful to her as she continues to inspire me to be a better man every day. 2012 is going to be the biggest possible year in our lives as we welcome our daughter in our lives and the world. May 2012 be a year when we continue to be good, honest and compassionate human beings and excel in our roles as parents.

Happy 2012 everyone.

The Dirty Picture - a daring effort to bring out Sex from the Closet!

Let me confess right at the outset - I absolutely and I mean absolutely loved 'The Dirty Picture'.

For the first time someone has dared to make a movie that tells us in the face how hypocrite a society we are when it comes to sex. Anyone who has lived in Chennai, and I have for a full 17 months and 2 days, knows that Chennai tops the list of most disgustingly hypocrite society on Sex. We are a country of a twelve hundred million plus, a country that is home to the Kamasutra and the Khujarao temples but still abhors public display of affection. We are a movie industry that not only embraces but celebrates and makes multi-millionaire out of sub-standard actresses like Katrina Kaif and Bipasha Basu but our Supreme Court ruled in as late or a early as March 2010 that pre-marital sex and live-in relationship, though immoral, are not criminal offense.

The Dirty Picture brings this all pervasive hypocrisy out in the open and celebrates it in a way it has never been done before. It is a movie that is worthy of being praised as art cinema that also has entertainment, entertainment and entertainment.

Apart from this serious societal take, following are my additional comments on this splendor of a movie:

1. Tushar with his jumping jack fantasy bedroom dance on 'Ooh La La' has finally made his dad, the original jumping jack, proud. He acts his true dumb and ugly looking self in the movie - someone rightly said, nothing is more natural than natural itself.

2. Vidya Balan can finally consider herself a truly offbeat actress and also realize that the moment she dresses up in anything but a sari, she leaves all of 'Delhi Behanjis' behind.

3. Imran Hashmi can run but never hide - he was and would always be the serial kisser. He can try to act but then its easier to build muscles than learn dialogue delivery.

4. Bappi Da - you literally and figuratively prove the saying 'Old is Gold'

5. Last but not the lease, Balaji telefilms has finally shown that they can do more than Saas Bahu serials, much much more.

Once again, i sign off by repeating - I absolutely loved The Dirty Picture.