Amitabh Bachchan: UnDonate My Land

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, in an unusual move has decided that he wishes to undonate the land donated by him and his son Abhishek in pale village of maval taluka in pune. He sent a letter to pune divisional commissioner, Nitin Kareer demanding that his donated land be undonated and given back to him. But to his dismay, he received a reply from the commissioner stating that there are no provisions under the Indian constitution under which a thing donated can be undonated. The commissioner's reply also pointed out that the word 'undonate' was not a legible word either in the Oxford or Merriam-Webster dictionary, hence his letter would be treated as illegible and consigned to waste paper basket.

For those who came in late, the whole land donation tangle started when Mayawati led Uttar Pradesh government alleged the previous Mulayam Singh led government donated agricultural land to Bachchan illegally. Bachchan went on to declare himself a farmer on the basis of owning this illegally donated land and bought more land near Pune, land which he wouldn't have been able to buy without the title of a farmer. When the Mayawati government filed case against him in the UP court, Bachchan decided that it was better to be a philanthropist than being a disputed farmer owning disputed lands and decided to donate both the lands he had acquired. But when Lucknow high court recently settled the dispute in his favor, Bachchan decided that he preferred being a farmer to being a philanthropist and demanded that the donated land be undonated and given back to him.

Meanwhile, Amitabh Bachchan's best buddy in parliament, Amar Singh has reacted to the news of the rejection of Bachchan's demand of land undonation with usual sound and fury. In Rajya Sabha, Singh demanded that the government should introduce law allowing undonation of donations. "Donations need not be treated as fait accompli and should be reversible in view of changed circumstances." he said.

Later speaking to news reporters, Singh denied the allegation that all of his sound and fury is reserved only for his buddy Mr.Bachchan. "I'm a representative of the common man and not Amitabhji's PA. My demand in the parliament for allowing undonations of donations was raised for the benefit of common people on the street. For example, if you donate 10 rupees to a beggar begging for food but later find the beggar using your donated amount to buy bidis or paan, you should have a right to demand back your donated ten rupee note."

Tabloids reveal movie stars just love holi

Its Holi day, a day of color splashing, balloon flinging, bhang gulping, thumka dancing, top of the lungs bawdy singing and discovering afresh that tinsel town stars just love Holi.

Tabloids across the length and breadth of India are unanimously in their opinion - that all celebrity types, movie stars, telly stars, singing stars - just love holi and have memorable experiences that are so uniquely different from the experiences of general masses that they deserve to be shared with the world. Weather it is Mid-day, Mumbai Mirror, Bombay Times, HT Style or Express Lifestyle, all tabloids, color supplements of newspapers and hindi news channels have once again discovered just how much our show town stars enjoy celebrating the festival of colors.

This discovery has not caused much of a surprise to tabloid readers who year after year keep discovering just how much our bollywood stars enjoy celebrating festivals. Most readers of tabloids are fully aware that all movie and telly stars without exception enjoy diwali, christmas, ramzan id, navrati, durga-poojan, pongal, mahashivrati and of course holi.


Pooja Bedi, Kajol & Ajay Devgan, Neil Mukesh celebrating holi

If tabloid readers have any confusion, its only about the extent of enjoyment that tinsel stars derive from various festivals. Initial assessment and analysis of tabloids during this years holi coverage and comparison with celebrity celebration coverage during other festivals suggest that holi could be the second most celebrated festival by celebrities after diwali. Every movie star from bollywood has had at least one memorable holi experience in their lifetime. Many tinsel starts have had more than one memorable holi experiences. Almost all the stars recall vivid memories of holi day celebrations during their childhood days.

We queried our readers asking them to mail us with their views on celebrity celebrations and how reading memorable holi experiences of show town stars changes us for the better. We received some very interesting responses. According to Swati Malhota, 19, resident to Navpada, Thane "I used to love playing holi. But after being hit by a water-balloon on my temple, which almost blinded me, I gave up playing holi. But reading about the great holi experiences of movie stars year after year helped me overcome my fear of being hit by water balloons. I realize the importance of enjoying our festivals without worrying too much about potential risks"

Ragini Das, 24, receptionist with a private firm at Nariman Point, loves reading how stars celebrate Holi "I can never get tired reading how our bollywood stars celebrate holi. Reading every memorable holi experience gives me a fresh perspective on how a simple festival like holi which just involves throwing colors at others can be source of so much fun and nostalgia"

Sociologist Purva Sinha, insists that tabloid accounts of tinsel stars memorable holi experiences and their current plans for celebrating holi play an important role in keeping the spirit of holi alive and kicking. "All over the world, over a period of time, festivals tend to lose their original spirit and degenerate into vulgar commercialization. Human nature being what it is, often the worst aspects of the festivities tend to catch on with the masses and the original purport of the festivals gets forgotten. But movie stars being a cut above the general masses and insulated from the ugliness of ordinary life, tend to enjoy festivities in their pure form. Tabloids, color supplements of newspapers and news channels, by regularly featuring accounts of celebrations of festivities by movie stars are serving a vital function of reminding the readers how to enjoy festivities in their true spirit "