Stray thoughts from Maldives to Bollywood to Army...

The rich turquoise of the tranquil sea, the pale greens of its coral growth lining, the dull whites and browns of the beach sand, the crimson of the evening sky reflecting on the waves, the viviacious reds-yellows-oranges of the happy tourists on its atolls, and the inexplicable serenity full of these lovely colors which sweeps over me whenever i chance upon any picture of this heavenly abode....so secluded and free of the maddening din of the city......If a mere glance of the pictures of Maldives could give me such a heavenly feeling of being in a paradise, I cant help wonder what the atolls and the sea will do to me if I actually land there!!! and feel the skin of my bare feet sinking in the fine-grained beach sand, feel my hair dancing to the tunes of the fresh sea-side breeze, feel the soulful music of the waves lashing mightily on the coast, feel the never-ending expanse of the deep blue-green-indigo of the Ocean....and feel myself so close to everything which is simple, clean, pure and so close to divinity...A dream holiday like this could be so healing....

A look at the sky-rocketing prices of the Resorts there are enough to give a rude jolt to my dreams of holidaying there....the lovely water resort in the Kurumbha island of Maldives has water villas with a private pool and real privacy and the most breath-taking scenic beauty...and demands a wallet parameter of twenty-four thousand in INR per night...and could be even more in peak season....

Oh God, I envy Kareena who has been recently gifted a diamond ring worth 1 crore and a holiday in Goa by a chartered private jet...rather I envy Saif who can at any point of time take off on his private jet to MALDIVES with amrita-rosa-kareena or any gorgeous lady he picks up (how does it matter)....gosh!! the rich-and-the-famous in Bollywood need not nervously weigh the heart-attack inducing hotel prices..and what did i hear!!...even a sidee and a comedian like Rajpal Yadav in Bollywood demands 50lakhs-1 crore for a few days of shooting....50 lakhsssss!!!...thats the price for which a salaried professional in Bangalore sweats his entire life to buy a 2 bedroom flat in the suburbs...

For the past few weeks...the Mallyas-Zintas-Wadias-Khans have been hogging the news..I hear the bids for our cricket players in the IPL...6 crores to Mahendar Singh Dhoni for playing few matches..for a game which you can lose..as in you can always say "It was a team effort- the boys played well..blah blah...we have lost...but we put up a brave fight....blah blah"....and get paid such a huge huge sum..as in I know the Indian skipper has slogged hard for where he is now..BUT 6 crores!! doesnt everyone work hard to get a sum which is a miniscule fraction of the fee which he demands..sorry commands!!!...and every Indian player after the recent Australia tour has been given a prize sum of 58 lakhs over and above thier match fee...WHAT...58 lakhs...Yuvraj was gifted 1 crore for his 6 sixes in the recent 20-20 world cup...a whoooping 1 crore as a gift from some state govt or central govt.....they get their much deserved credit in the instant stardom which they are blinded with...the fame and the love of their millions of fans in the world..the 3 or 5 crore cheques handed to them by their brand endorsements.....their match fees amounting to several millions..

They are players giving the masses some solid entertainment with their game...and they are gifted flats from Sahara and huge prize money from the Government.....do they deserve these hefty cheques more than others who fight but dont play for India?? They are cricketers....they are NOT soldiers who die fighting on the borders..they are not the Army Lieutenants who have just come back after witnessing bloodshed on the field or the ordinary Jawan who lays down his life for the country, leaving behind a grieving mother or a stone-struck wife...For what!!! for us to not even remember their names..leave aside the money..do we even remember them like we remember Shahrukh or Dhoni!!!!!!!!!! They din provide us those few hours of cricket-or-movie watching entertainment...they merely gave up their lives for our security..