Slumdog Millionaire

I watched this movie with my wife yesterday and despite being an Indian I was shocked to see some of the things shown in this movie. Not that they are false but perhaps they are true. It broke my heart when I saw kids wandering in the filthy landfill looking for food or salvage whatever they can. And those that take advantage of even these poor kids. A kid who can sing good can earn some money by begging, but a blind kid who can sing good can earn double. God please stop this sort of cruelty in the World. But in a country with 1 billion+ people un-imaginable things happen that literally shock many. The unspoilt mind of kids is displayed very vividly in this movie when an Amitabh Bachhan's fan literally swims out of "shit" to get his favourite actor's autograph. The kid who made it to the top with nothing but knowledge still is persecuted for possessing knowledge that others who are rich and come from posh localities didn't. An excellent characterization of slum dwelling in one of the most crowded cities in India is depicted very cleverly and clearly. I only hope Danny Boyle and others who gained so much fame and fortune by portraying the slums of Bombay would give back all of it to help change the course of the "Destiny" of these slum dwellers. Story line is good too. I am so glad for Jamal for finding and uniting with Latika.

Use them to prevent future Ponzi schemes

Remember the real life character Frank William Abagnale from "Catch me if you can" book/movie? I think with Madoff we should do something similar. We can confiscate his assests and distribute to the "investor" "victims" to reconcile and restore whatever justice can be restored. I am puzzled with the combination of these two words at once. Invester by its very name is someone who takes risks. Investing in Madoff's scandal is no matter how Ponzi it may look, is still a sort of risk. In this particular case it is 100% risk which the investors probably didn't realize or did they? Anyway coming back to Mr. Madoff, the man pleaded guilty to all counts of fraud, etc. and seems to be repenting for his mistakes. I am not siding him or being compassionate toward him. But logically when you put someone this talented (regardless whether he is caught or not, he did have the brains to raise all this money for his program) in the jail it is quite useful to put them to best use to serve the society so future schemes of this sort can be prevented. If he is deemed to be the one of a kind Ponzi schemers then who best to catch such schemes in action than the guru (remember SEC --whom we pay Millions of dollars a year to do their job---and/or other or any organization federal or state DIDN"T catch him or his schemes early enough DESPITE tips by men like Harry Markopolos for almost a decade). My take on this issue is to allow Mr. Madoff to be used for the betterment of the society as Frank lectured FBI agents. This is one of the ways Mr. Madoff can pay to the tax payers as he plans to spend perhaps the rest of his life behind bars. Let him earn his food in the jail by giving back to the society what he took from the society.

Let me hear your take on this.