And other than constant shots repeated over and over again of hapless grieving mothers without their permission, what may I ask is the top agenda for our media ? Will the IPL go on ! Of course the Media says that is what the people want. Has the Media then so desensitized our minds so much that we do not actually care ? Are we what the media blames us to be ? Like when I was making films in India years ago, I was told that films were bad because that is how the people wanted them. Like the people were some stupid uneducated ignorant mass. Well, I do not believe that. Politicians, Billionaires, Media Moguls better learn that their Billions are made because of these very people - and so for f---s sake - respect them !!

Back to the main point. I sincerely believe that anti terrorism and the internal security of the life of our people cannot be left in the hands of politicians or the corrupt political system anymore. !00 people died and 200 people were injured. Why ? Because their are different parties at the centre and the state, and in the political squabbling refuse to share crucial intelligence information. There is only one way out. If the blame lies with 'foreign elements' then the fight no longer exists on our borders. The enemy has brought the fight inside the borders. The counter terrorism and intelligence MUST be taken away form the Stae Governments and the Home Ministry, and handed to the Army. That is the only choice we have.

Don't get me wrong. I am addicted. But I am completely confused about who plays for who. While I knew who's side I was on in an India/Pakistan match, how do I root for a great Pakistani bowler against Tendulkar ? And how dare Vijay Mallya speak against Dravid, one of the greatest Indian batsmen playing the game and should he not confine himself to selling beer ? Suddenly the much maligned Indian cricket board seems almost benign in light of the ruthlessness of the current owners of the team ! And I feel disoriented when the fortunes of the teams are being decided by the Australians and the Pakistani players that float in and out. Are Indian players going to be sidelined ? Will we ever be able to raise the spirit of Indian team together again after they have publicly fought against each other ?

We need to say a one minute silence to the cricket we knew, even as we welcome instant gratification.

when a saint and a wordly man met,
each looked at each other,
silent and mocking.
both laughed at each other.
each said the same thing:

what have you done to yourself?

Problem today is that many philosophers and mystics look down upon the 'dream life'. Like 'because it is an illusion, therefore it is something silly'. Not to be taken seriously. No my love, life is to be taken very seriously, for every thought, every action, every moment, every passion dissolves into a great churning that is your life. What is called your karma. And your karma is the connection between your universal self, your atman or soul, your god self, or anything you would like to call it, and your 'maya self', or your 'dream self'. It is what you experience when you wake up !....

So what do we mean when we say that prices are rising and food riots are breaking out ? What we mean is that something has gone wrong in the supply chain. That somewhere people have started to profit more from the supply chain, and somewhere people are hoarding. THAT THE PRICE OF FOOD HAS GONE OUT OF THE RANGE OF MOST POOR PEOPLE. But who controls that price, and if it is market forces, who controls those market forces ? Certainly not the individual farmers.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2008/tc20080427_580014_page_2.htm

faith, prayer, mythology gods and goddesses are all ways to keep going beyond your sense of the individual self - they enable you to break out of the prison of individuality, the prison of the mind, and allow something much deeper inside you to connect to something far more expansive. More expansive emotionally, more expansive instinctually , more expansive spiritually, and more expansive creatively.

We call that being in touch with expansiveness an awareness of the universal self, of being in touch with consciousness, or even being n the presence of God. So being in CONSTANT touch with either Myth, or Prayer or Faith, almost with every breath is what I am talking about. That being n constant touch is what mystics have called the 'state of being in constant and universal love'. And it is so important not to make this 'being in constant touch' become too specific.

For there is something 'breeze like' about the infinite. The more you turn it into finite ways and methods and laws, the more you try and make them logical, the more you look upon this as methodology, the more you are turning the potential, the constant whiffs of breeze, the 'presence', the attitude , the unknown emotional feelings of the spirit, into dogma and a set of rules, or a method. In those cases the very Myths you are using, the very faith and prayers you are using turn finally into rules, dogma, obsession and then excuses and weapons for destruction and conflict - as we see religious conflicts all over the world. Shekhar

However, given the economic situation in the US, the war in Iraq is no longer the major pre-occupation of the people of the US.....

Take for example the filming of New York I love which I recently completed. It was the last script Anthony wrote before he died. And just before he went into hospital, he asked me if I would direct it. I was looking for guidance in the shoot. To interpret his script. To understand what he was looking for. I knew it was impossible to shoot the 7 page script in two days, but I had to achieve the impossible. In the end there is a film with some of the most beautiful images I have ever shot. In the end there is a short 13 minute film that inexplicably moves people, without being able to define the film. The only way I could have done this is by being guided by something outside me. And my belief is that I was being guided by Anthony's spirit.....