Bollywood's awful: Russell Peters

Anuradha Varma, TNN, Apr 12, 2011

Born in Canada, Anglo-Indian stand-up comic Russell Peters says he can't relate to B-Town, feels the acting is bad and the stories almost identical!

Indians can be cheap, the Jews will pay up if they think it's worth it, but not us Indians! As Russell Peters tells it, "I took my dad to the bar for a drink, the waiter asked for $4.50. My dad gave him $3. When the waiter asked him for the other $1.50, my dad told him, 'Don't worry about it'."


A stand-up comic, who has had people from across cultures laughing at themselves, says it's his honesty that clicks with the audience, regardless of the country or culture. He calls his brand of humour "observational and personal. It's how I see the world. It's important for me to be honest. I've been told by fans that it doesn't matter what country they're from and that they respond to me being honest about them."

Peters first knew he loved playing to the gallery in 1989 at Yuk Yuks in Toronto. He recalls, "I enjoyed from the moment I got my first laugh at what was an awful joke." His family was supportive, largely because, he thinks "nobody really understood what it was. I think my dad thought it was just some 'thing' I was going to do until I figured out what I really wanted to do."

He has kept in touch with the Indian connection, and that perhaps explains where the jokes are coming from! He says, "I still have uncles and cousins in India and I see them when I come over, or when they come over to see my mom. I'm as Indian as anybody with Indian parents and born in Canada can be, I guess."

He has also faced his share of being the 'outsider' in a 'white' Canadian society. Things are changing though. "Being 'Indian' made me a misfit in 'white' society when I was younger, but not any more. I just hosted the Juno Awards (Canada's Grammy Awards) for the second year in a row. Thirty years ago, I never would have imagined an Indian guy hosting a national awards show in Canada. When I do something like that, it means that all the young Indian and South-Asian kids know that they can do anything they want, there are no limits on them to do what they want."

Being born Canadian, living next door to big brother US also has its advantages for a comic. He says, "As Canadians, we're always outsiders. We live next door to the most powerful country in the world. We grow up watching their tv shows, news, sports — we're constantly watching and observing. I think that's why Canada produces so many comedians."

A career highlight was being invited to the Jay Leno Show. He confesses, "It was cool. Jay was and still is a stand-up comic, so he really understands what I do and what it was like for me to be on his show. He came to my dressing room before the show and was really nice. It's a benchmark in every comic's career."

He's also played roles in films like Quarter Life Crises, My Baby's Daddy and Tiger Claws III. And, there are more coming up. Peters reveals, "I'm developing a romantic comedy with Billy Crystal and a couple of other film projects in LA. I like making movies. I've said no to a lot of offers over the past decade or so, mostly because they all consisted of me playing a taxi driver, seven-eleven guy or some other stereotypical role where the character is a stumbling, bumbling Indian guy with an accent."

As for Bollywood, ahem! He's not in touch with the films at all. He is categorical, "I don't watch the films, I have no interest in them. They're awful. I grew up in Canada and live in the States. There's nothing about Bollywood that I can relate to. I understand why they exist and why they're successful in India and with people who recently emigrated from India, but they're not for me. The acting sucks and the stories are always basically the same."


http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-12/news-interviews/29406851_1_russell-peters-indian-connection-indian-guy

Can you see the future?

Anuradha Varma, TNN, Apr 3, 2011
"It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards," says the White Queen to Alice in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass. But, it's not always so, and as many individuals report, missives from the future can make their way into the present, through dreams or intuitions, spanning space and time. However, the burden of foreknowledge can be a heavy one.


Amarjit Bhinder, wife of Air-India co-pilot SS Bhinder of the Kanishka aircraft that crashed in 1985, had a premonition about his death on the day it happened. She revealed in an interview, "I had a dream that I had put his uniform shirts in the machine and it blew off. I felt depressed and ill and took three Disprins to ward off my body ache. At 3 pm, a friend came over and gave me the news...It was uncanny."

Days before the Japan tsunami took place, Canadian psychic medium Blair Robertson sealed his predictions to be opened during a fundraiser. Blair had accurately predicted that a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami would affect Japan "on Friday or Saturday". Before the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, Hollywood actor Sir Michael Caine dreamed up a similar plot for a book. He told BBC Radio, "I had this plot where terrorists fly a plane into a London skyscraper. Then they did it in real life. I was stunned by that, so I stopped writing."

When Naina (name changed) gained consciousness after an accident, the last thing she remembered was a phone call from her friend and spiritual guru Venugopalan aka Maitreya, "I remember him sounding agitated, telling me to get out of the auto as I was heading for a major accident. But, I didn't pay attention." Says Maitreya, "There is no logical explanation to 'how I know'. It's a connection of the inner and outer spirit. We are all sticklers for plans, but such incidents throw plans out of gear, and teach us to let go, allowing space for transformation and freedom from fear. The idea is to either save the person from the mishap or make them strong enough to bear the aftermath. When it's close family and friends, at times, I start avoiding questions. It can get painful." Even as a child, Maitreya would absorb negative vibes from people, without realising it. He says, "You learn to deal with it, but it's not possible to always keep an emotional distance."

Says tarot reader Scharada Dubey, "It's important for us to ensure the client goes away feeling strengthened, not oppressed. We can't make dire predictions. A clinical approach doesn't help. We have to be compassionate and not project negative feelings as the readings get affected."

Tarot reader Madhu Kotiya has learnt that half-truths can help minimise the trauma of 'bad' news. She was eight-years-old when she told an uncle that his wife was having an affair. It turned out to be true, but her mother forbade her from 'talking like that'. She says, "I, too, tried to resist, as I wanted to live a normal life and didn't want to hear comments about my 'black tongue'. I have learnt to be diplomatic." Madhu admits, "It can be traumatic at times. My most difficult session was a couple of years ago. When this young girl walked in for a session, I could see death around her. She was full of plans for the future, and wanted to know about her impending marriage. It was very difficult for me to keep my calm. She walked out and two-and-a-half hours later, died in an accident."

Spiritual guru Deepak Chopra, whose book Soulmates touched upon messages from the beyond, prefers to look at the phenomenon from a scientific viewpoint. He says, "It's called non-local communication. It's a real phenomenon but I live my life in the present and don't get distracted by it."

Texas physician Dr Larry Dossey, in his 1989 book Recovering the Soul, introduced the concept of "non-local mind" — mind unconfined to the brain and body, mind spread infinitely throughout space and time. He says, "I have come to the opinion that premonitions are our birthright. Our capacity for them is part of our original equipment, something that comes factory installed."

In the book An Experiment with Time, aeronautical engineer John William Dunne tries to make sense of his experiences with vivid dreams which come true with shocking regularity. In the preface to the book, American physicist, author and ESP researcher Russell Targ writes, "In the laboratory, we know that if we show a frightening picture to a person, there will be a significant change in his or her physiology. Their blood pressure, heart rate, and skin resistance will all change. This fight-or-flight reaction is called an 'orienting response'. At the University of Nevada, researcher Dean Radin has shown recently that this orienting response is also observed in a person's physiology a few seconds before they see the scary picture!"

However, predictions can often make for entertaining tidbits. A Toronto-based psychic Nikki, for instance, who predicted the Tiger Woods scandal last year, has several predictions for 2011 — Hollywood actor George Clooney will marry, The Playboy Mansion will burn down after a fire that could start at a party and the US First Lady Michelle Obama could have another baby, maybe twins.

Nawal Gani, who does coffee cup readings, remembers dreaming of a new moon overturned and a broken chair be fore late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi passed away. When her mother died, she was at the airport with her sister. Nawal remembers, "In the washroom, I looked at my face in the mirror and wondered why I looked so sad, like I had a terrible loss. I came out to the news that my mother had passed away." She says, "At times, it's tough to separate yourself from clients' problems. I often get rashes or feel extremely agitated in the presence of some people. At times, when I have done aura readings, I have had to be rushed to hospital."

Gopalan Kennedy, astrologer, operates as a 'reporter' and believes in calling a spade a spade. He says, "I knew when my father was dying. Personally, knowing things beforehand helps me a lot. Nothing comes as a shock or a surprise. And it helps me to be well-prepared before the event actually takes place."

Nan Umrigar, author of Sounds of Silence, learnt to communicate with spirits through automatic writing when she lost her young son Karl to an accident. She says, "The spirits don't tell us about future events. However, when people seek help with court cases, divorce or a sick child, help comes in different ways. One has to learn to recognise it. I don't get involved... the decision is not mine to make. It all depends on individual karma. But yes, it has made me more perceptive to signs all around me."

There is also the concept of free will, the fact that one can change future events, and not everything is predestined. Says Joy Dev, who conducts past-life regression sessions, "Awareness of patterns in one's life helps people break out of them. I don't believe in 'good' and 'bad' incidents. If you remove emotions from an incident, there is always a lesson hidden within."

Choreographer Shiamak Davar has often been warned about future events. "All of us have gut instincts but some have them highly developed as they've opened their sub-conscious minds. They have a greater power of knowing what is going to happen. But I still believe in karma and still believe if things have to happen, they will happen. My spiritual mother, Khorshed Bhavnagiri, had often warned me about people and calamities. The most powerful thing one can do is to pray and learn the power of acceptance."

Next time you have a gut instinct, it may be your inner self preparing you for something ahead!

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-03/vintage-wisdom/29376713_1_japan-tsunami-maitreya-dreams