It is difficult to mop up black money

The source of one’s earnings are usually authentic like employment or business. One portion of these go to the government. These are the norms all over the world and followed dutifully. However, in some countries, people do not like to part with their money. They falsify documents and conceal the money in hard to locate places – they choose banks where one can park his cash safely. These are unaccounted money and is known as black money. Switzerland is famous for its watches, the Alps and banks where it is not too difficult to open an account and store money and other valuables because those will be difficult to locate. It seems it is a global phenomenon and it is customary to refer to such holdings as ‘black money.’ Black is usually associated with evil – like black magic. Witches wear black clothes, and no one likes the black sheep in a family. However, the Men in Black was an exception – it was a Hollywood movie and dealt with Extra-terrestrials ETs. There was also a Bollywood movie of 2005 titled Black where Rani Mukherjee portrayed the role of a blind girl. To her the world was black. Amitabh Bachhan was also there.

To return to the subject of black money. It is a topic that can embarrass people in high places. Those in power in the government know about the existence of such unaccounted assets but are unable to lay hands on them. It would amount to stirring up the hornets’ nest. Therefore, they follow the policy of let sleeping dogs lie. In India, there was jubilation when BJP came to power. The new Prime Minister made an announcement on the subject but there has been no visible progress on the issue. Indian kitty in Swiss banks jumped 50% to over ₹30,000 crore in 2021

Some popular stories in this and related sites –

Floods in Kentucky leave at least 28 dead

The wonderful hobby of throwing mud at each other

Priyanka Chopra eases out Deepika Padukone from Captain Marvel

If only I had become a doctor

TV, the idiot box, has really made us idiots

Akshay Kumar receives ‘samman patra’ from the Income Tax department

Pandora’s Box opened in Kolkata from residences of screen celebrity

Russia could vacate International Space Station by 2024

Sri Lankan cricketers become bus drivers in Australia to earn a living

For our eyes only – blind man’s bluff

Indian movies and ghosts

After twins and rebirth, another favorite topic for Indian movies is ghosts – these are believed to be figments of one’s imagination and common sense dictates that such issues should be ignored. But, some movie makers try to make ghosts appear to be real and conjure up situations that keep one on the edge and forces him to admit that such situations may be real and ghost might exist – ghosts that do not harm but try to do good.
A couple of ghost movies are ‘Hello Brother’ of Bollywood and ‘Bhooter Bhabishyat’ of Tollywood. Incidentally, the first is a remake of an English movie and, while the second one is a product of the Bengali minds, its idea has already been copied into a Hindi version ‘Gang of Ghosts’.

‘Bhooter Bhabishyat(2012)’ translates into ‘Gang of Ghosts(2014)’ and the story is set in an old mansion which is deserted but where a whole lot of ghosts have taken up residence. The problem faced by ghosts in the city of Kolkata is the shortage of space because, old buildings are being demolished and new malls and multi-storied buildings are coming up in their place. Hence, the ghosts are being shunted out and they are desperate to get accommodation in any building that has still not yet changed hands.
It is a story set in the world of today but some of the ghosts who reside there belong to the times of the British!! The set, the period costumes and furniture, the characters - all of them recall fond memories of days gone by. There is also a generous inter-sprinkling of modern lifestyles thanks to ghosts of a modern day singer and a hoodlum who was a victim of inter-gang rivalry.
As to ‘Hello Brother’ it was a Salman Khan Rani Mukherjee starrer of 1999 – the story revolved around Salman Khan. He had been killed Shakti Kapoor and becomes a good ghost trying to punish Shakti. When Arbaz Khan, the police inspector descends on the scene, Salman helps him to nail Shakti. The movie is a copy of Hollywood movie ‘Twin Brothers’ of Jackie Chan.(to be continued ...)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

A few more must reads -
Popcorns in movie halls can contain too much salt and sugar for comfort

Glastonbury Festival might move out from Worthy Farm to a new location

China wants to revive silk route with high speed rail link between Kolkata and Kunming

Iranian women have tickets but cannot watch volleyball match in Tehran

Global warming – snow on the Himalayas is melting too fast due to rise in temperatures


61-year-old woman kicked and stamped her husband to death over a pack of cigarettes

Nine killed by a white man in a hate crime in South Carolina church

Bear bile farm in Vietnam finally closed down, only one bear survived out of 27


Today TV dictates our lifestyle

News on TV channels go from dull to attractive