The Upside-Down Diplomacy

How tough is it for a nation to understand how another country’s national flag looks like and that too in a scenario when there are peace talks going on between both the nations?

Let’s take another view at it; do you see a difference between the colour saffron and green on our national flag? I definitely see it but what is wrong with the Pakistani diplomats?

It is not once, but twice in India-Pakistan diplomatic meetings (call them peace talks) that Pakistan broke the protocol by showing the Indian flags upside down. And recently, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik tweeted about India’s initiative towards peace process with the tri-colour upside down again.
It happened for the first time in the year 2005 when the PIA airplane, on which the then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf arrived in India for peace talks, had the Indian flag placed upside down.
Again in June, 2010, when the Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram met Rehman Malik during the SAARC Home Ministers Conference in Islamabad, the flag was displayed upside down.
When Chidambaram noticed this, he informed the same to Rehman Malik and the minister immediately apologised for the mistake. The flag was placed rightly after that.
Though Chidambaram dismissed it as ‘minor issue’, it remains to be seen how minor it is since after Malik committed the mistake again after almost a month. India has taken a softer view of such grave mistakes committed by Pakistan and our neighbouring country, on the other hand, is making those mistakes again and again.
What does it imply when the national flag is upside down?
A clause under the flag protocol states-
When a national flag, with some exceptions, is flown upside down it indicates distress. This however is merely tradition. It is not a recognised distress signal according the International regulations for preventing collisions at sea. Further, a nation’s flag is commonly flown inverted as a sign of protest or contempt against the country concerned. As of now, only the Philippine Flag recognizes the distress symbolism of the reverse flag.

The above-mentioned clause clearly states that a national flag is commonly flown inverted as a sign of protest against the country concerned. Is that why the Indian flag is shown upside down? So should it mean that Pakistan is protesting?
But what is it that still worries Pakistan? India’s stance on building the trust deficit, bridging the gaps through dialogue and 26/11 has been very clear. India has shown the initiative and to this the internet savvy minister Rehman Malik has also agreed.
It is considered an offence if there are less than 24 spokes of Ashok Chakra in the Indian flag but would it be an offence if  Pakistan places the Indian flag upside down, continuously?
Moreover, the clause also states that it is done as a sign of contempt.  Can this be considered as a sign of contempt by Pakistan?
The national flag of any country is important for its people and if it is not respected and that too at the time of ‘confidence building measures’, then there sure are questions to be asked.
For those who want to know more about flag protocols, here are the links-
Flag protocol
National flag
Flag Code of India
And, for those who really want to understand how an Indian flag looks like. Please click on the link below-
Flag of India
Image Courtesy: AP, Flags and Stamps

Endhiran Song Leak with Video Dance Footage (full) - EndhiranOnline

Endhiran story revealed

Endhiran earlier titled as Robot, is a forthcoming science-fiction Tamil–language film being directed by S. Shankar. Southern superstar Rajnikanth and Aishwarya Bachchan are playing the main lead in which Rajnikanth would be seen in a double role. This film has a huge budget after Aishwarya Bachchan’s Jeans which was directed by S.Shankar.

We spoke to a source close to the film,
“The film has Rajnikanth playing two roles – scientist and the robot and its name is Endhiran, which is created by him. This film will focus on the situation which forced Rajini to make a robot and then his relationship with it and then the wishes he want the Robot to fulfil.”

Further about the plot

“The film is set in 2200 AD and he is a famous scientist who is in love with Aishwarya. Later on he is given a mission of creating robots but at certain point of time there is a big twist which is the USP of Endhiran. Later on he tries to bring back his creation but realizes that a robot which he had made is very hard and has started falling in love with the girl he loves and then the chase begins among the three and so on.”

The film formally began on February 15, 2008 in Chennai with the photo shoot but the actual shooting had started in Peru with a song and before New Year. Aishwarya was shooting with Rajnikanth in Chennai and then in Vellore. This film has a budget of 120 crores and it is slated to release on April 14th, 2010.The film will be releasing in Tamil.

Salman Khan: Controversy’s favourite child

Bollywood macho hunk and the man with a heart bigger than his biceps is again in news and of course, as usual not for his fault. Bollywood’s most misunderstood brat has caught the ire of the Shiv Sena.

Salman’s new ad for a chewing gum has not gone down well with the Shiv Sena activists. They say that the TV ad featuring Salman ill-represent a cow, considered a sacred animal in Hinduism.

Shiv Sena activists in Amritsar have burnt the actor’s posters and effigies as a mark of protest.

The ad shows Salman as a cowherd dressed in Rajasthani gear. He feeds the chewing gum to the cow and instead of milk, the cow stars giving ice-cream.

According to the Sena there are several ways to make an ad. Why to show a sacred animal of the Hindus in such a bad light? Meanwhile, the bosses in Mumbai are unaware of the protest.

Shiv Sena’s spokesperson Rahul Navrekar said, “We have no idea about it. It is not an official agitation by the party; it’s just one single unit that is protesting.”

Adman Prasoon Joshi, who wrote the script for this ad, calls these protests “bizarre”. “I respect religion and am a religious person myself. The ad is just a childish way of putting a story forward. There is nothing controversial about it,” says Joshi, adding on a note of anger, “The real cows, which are diseased or ageing, need help more than the fictional ones.”

Salman however doesn’t mind such agitations and is geared up for his Eid Bonanza ‘Dabangg’ which means ‘strong’ and ‘powerful’.

Court order on Kamal’s film

The Madras High Court on Tuesday issued a stay on Akshay Kumar-starrer ‘House Full’, in response to a petition filed on behalf of popular Tamil producer P L Thennappan, who claimed that the film was based on ‘Kadhala Kadhala’.

In his petition, Thenappan said that he was the owner of the rights of the Kamal Haasan-Prabhu Deva starrer movie and he had not sold it to anyone. “However, ‘House Full’ is based on ‘Kadhala Kadhala’,” he said.

Thenappan had alleged that the makers of ‘House Full’ (Bollywood producer Sajid Nadiadwala and director Sajid Khan) had made the movie without obtaining rights from him.

“House Full has been ripped off from my production venture ‘Kadhala Kadhala’ directed by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao. I was shocked when I watched the Hindi film as nearly 60 per cent of the scenes from ‘Kadhala Kadhala’ were there,” Thenappan said.

The producer also said that he was in talks with Sajid Nadiadwala about selling the remake rights and the deal did not go through.