Frost/Nixon is a movie based on a series of interviews between Robert Frost and Richard Nixon right after his resignation from the presidency of the United States of America, the focal point being the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s involvement in the cover up. It is a dramatised version of the Frost Nixon interviews of 1977. It starts with Nixon’s resignation from the presidency of the United States of America. Nixon was pushed up against the wall with allegations, threats and the fear of being impeached, which eventually led to him being the first president to ever resign from office. Meanwhile, David Frost, a talk show host, is shown watching Nixon resign on television with the rest of the world. A few weeks later Frost discusses with his producer friend John Birt the possibility of an interview with Nixon.

“Richard Nixon: Why would I want to talk to David Frost?
Swifty Lazar: I've got half a million dollars.
Richard Nixon: Really?”

The movie touches on cheque book journalism, Frost even outbid a television channel to get the interview.

Frost realised that four hundred million people tuned into watch Nixon’s resignation speech. Frost saw the interviews as a way to be a part of history whereas Nixon looked at the interviews as a form of redemption. Journalism plays a key role in holding the powerful accountable; a news article can make or break careers. The power a journalist holds is immense which is aptly shown in the movie.

The movie is the story of a talk show host who went head to head with the former president of the United States of America. Over the first eleven recording sessions, each two and a half hours long, Frost is shown struggling to ask planned questions of Nixon for which he was prepared with in typical presidential fashion, all the right answers.

The brilliance of the movie is that even after everything Nixon did, they showed a human side to him and left you feeling sympathetic for a man who may or may not have deserved it. It gives you a perspective from Nixons point of view, and lets you understand what may have been going through his mind.

And although you do sympathise with the former president in the very end, if you had no idea what happens during the interview you’re left sitting on the edge of your seat hoping and praying that Robert Frost, a very easily likeable “talk show host” pulls one out of the hat and screws Nixon over. You can tell right from the start of the interviews why Nixon became president, they show how he turns the hardest hitting questions starting from the Vietnam War and the invasion of Cambodia into a justifiable cause. He manages to convince people that if they we’re in his place they would do no different. Nixon is able to take up much of the time during the sessions by giving lengthy monologues, preventing Frost from challenging him.

In the interest of artistic tension and drama, a fictional, crucial telephone call was introduced into the film because people who saw the actual interviews said they were almost boring, it is a commercial movie after all. The entire Nixon incident required this little bit of dramatisation, it made Nixon seem vulnerable and in many ways human.

“Richard Nixon: That's our tragedy, you and I Mr. Frost. No matter how high we get, they still look down at us.
David Frost: I really don't know what you're talking about.
Richard Nixon: Yes you do. Now come on. No matter how many awards or column inches are written about you, or how high the elected office is, it's still not enough. We still feel like the little man, the loser.”

The last interview should be given its due importance, up until the end Nixon has been giving all the right answers with not so much as a flinch but finally when Frost brings up a conversation between Nixon and Charles Colson, not previously known to his opponent, he pushes Nixon into a corner.

The gloves were off, resulting in Nixon admitting that he did unethical things, but defending himself with the statement, "When the President does it, it's not illegal!"

Nixon after a short break and a chance to self evaluate decided it was time to come clean, no more hiding behind diplomatic answers and lies. Nixon proceeds to admit to being involved in a cover up, and apologises to the American people for letting them down, ending his political career in the process.

It was in this scene where you start to see the human side of Nixon, where finally he’s not just the relentless politician who will stop at nothing for political gain but just a lonely old man.

Watergate became a mission for journalists and why wouldn’t it? Where there’s a scandal there’s always a journalist waiting to lap it up. This particular scandal dealt with the President of the United States of America and a massive cover up, it deserved the media attention it got.

Shortly before Frost returns to the UK, he and Caroline visit Nixon in his villa. Frost thanks Nixon for the interviews and gives him a pair of Italian shoes as a gift. Nixon, realizing he has lost, however, does graciously thank Frost in return and wishes him well in future endeavors. Nixon then asks to speak to Frost privately. Nixon asks if he had really called Frost before the final interview and if they had spoken about anything important. Frost replies that Nixon did indeed call and they talked about “cheeseburgers.”

Reston says that Nixon's lasting legacy was the suffix "Gate" being added to any political scandal. The epilogue tells the audience that Nixon wrote a biography about himself, but never escaped controversy, until his death in 1994.

The movie was tastefully done with respect to both Frost and Nixon, Excellent cast and direction, Truly a movie worth watching.

HYBRID CARS VS OUR WALLETS

Ah the Honda Civic, a car in which you can barely tell if the engine is on or not, it’s so quiet and the drive is smoother than a baby’s bottom (Not to be taken literally). A car you’d perhaps one day dream of owning because it costs a humble thirteen lakhs, but wait, you care about the environment and you’ve just heard that the Civic has a hybrid version(easier on the conscience and the environment). You inquire about the price, a whopping twenty one lakhs! Forget it, I’ll take the cheaper version and maybe try not wasting water while I’m brushing my teeth to help Mother Nature.

Sadly this is the scenario in our country, there are a lot of hybrid cars in the market but there are no takers. The Honda Civic, the Toyota Prius, Mahindra is launching a hybrid version of the Scorpio later this year, even Tata Motors is hopping on the hybrid bandwagon with a hybrid version of the Nano.

What is a hybrid car? A hybrid vehicle is one that uses two or more distinct power sources to move the vehicle. It combines an internal combustion engine and one or more electric motors; in layman’s terms your car will have two engines running simultaneously, electric and petrol.

Hybrid vehicles can reduce air emissions of smog-forming pollutants by up to 90% and cut carbon dioxide emissions by half. A Hybrid car recharges its own batteries while the car is being driven; unlike most electric cars. In addition, hybrids can go faster than most electric cars.

There are 334,000 hybrid cars in Japan, about 290,271 in the United States and in reply India has a dismal 100 or so hybrid cars on the road. If hybrids are much better than regular cars in terms of fuel efficiency and carbon emission then what’s the problem? The problem is there’s a 100% import duty slap on the face. Basically that means you have to pay twice the cost of the petrol version to own a hybrid Civic. Honda saw poor demand for its Hybrid Civic; it was forced to offer a discount of as much as Rs 8 lakh per car just to clear stocks.

Why doesn’t the government offer any tax concession? Hybrid cars receive a favourable tax treatment in other countries as they consume less fossil fuel. The Honda Civic is currently being imported as a completely built unit (CBU) attracting an import duty of 104%.

There are close to 51 lakh petrol cars on Indian roads, consuming around 315 crore litre of petrol a year. Introduction of hybrid cars in the market can bring these numbers down. End of the day in India cheap works, in order to make it a viable option the price of hybrid cars has to be made cheaper.

“For 200 years we've been conquering Nature. Now we're beating it to death”

Tom McMillan, quoted in Francesca Lyman, The Greenhouse Trap, 1990.

All i need is me

Have you ever wondered?

The world we live in is an awesomely crazy and confusing one too. Have you experienced certain moments which we end up taking for granted at times? Moments which make one feel all the more humble when made to face the vastness of this world of which we seem to be just another speck. Have you ever looked up at the sky and wondered if somebody else in this huge world was staring up at it at exactly the same time as you? Have you ever cried and thought that probably another person on the other side of the world was wiping away a tear at exactly the same time as you? When you probably prepare yourself to go to sleep, someone else prepares to start a brand new day. When you are probably out with your friends having the time of your life, somebody is struggling to survive a minute longer.

This world seems like a crazy jig-saw puzzle and all of us are nothing but pieces of the puzzle. All our moves have been pre-planned and all events of our lives have been chalked out from the time of our birth and till our death. We meet people for a purpose and when the purpose has been fulfilled, we move on. Have you wondered how at times you can know a person for years together and still not know their various idiosyncrasies while yet at other times you come across people who you meet for the first time but still feel like you have known them all your life? Life is full of a million meetings and goodbye’s and if you think that some point you get used to saying goodbye, you’ll only be fooling yourself. As you mature, it only gets harder but it’s a way of life.

There was this one time when I needed to cross the road in my childhood, I used to be terribly afraid of crossing roads and there was this one time when I needed to do so. Out of the blue an old man caught hold of my hand and helped me reach the other side. I was so thankful and relieved on reaching the other side but by the time I turned around to thank the man, he was gone. I can never forget that one incident. How somebody gets sent for someone all the time. Haven’t we all experienced such things? Just when we think it’s the end of the road for us and we can just see the walls crashing in on us, someone comes along, takes us by the hand and the next thing we know, a new chapter of life begins right then. This is where the story of ‘foot prints n the sand’ comes in and we realize we are never really on our own, in fact we are more protected than ever during times of trouble. It’s just amazing how we will never be made to go through things we don’t have the strength to go through and He goes through those things before us and all we have to do is follow!

BY SHILPA JOHNSON

Its a vicious cycle

The New Year began around 27 days back and if I were to give an account of what I did on each day, the entries would be eerily alike,

• Skip breakfast
• Hurry to college
• Worry over submissions
• Reach home late
• Crash on the bed
• Hate waking up the next day

Not the most ideal life, really! And if you haven’t got this life, u aren’t really missing out on much. This is exactly the life I haven’t imagined for myself and have been tried hard to run away from. I blame it all on education. I spend the hours of my day either at college or doing college work! Can get frustrating, let me tell you. It is kind of ironic to think that for someone who is studying to be journalist, I actually wrote more substantial stuff before I joined the course.

I feel like I’ve lost touch with myself and the only amount of writing I do, these days, is for grades :/ , which reminds that I don’t even have time to complete this post! Time to work on my next submission!

BY SHILPA JOHNSON

BOMBAY FOOD = BLEH!!!

Why is the food in bombay so bland?...I come from hyderabad where even the water is spicy and im also a malayali which i like to think of as the best of both worlds as far as food is considered. Dont even get me started on Vada Pavs...they're horrible...i have no idea why millions of people eat that (pardon my french) crap...The most disappointing thing about the food here is the chaat...I have lost my ability to enjoy Pav Bhaji anymore...The chaat here tastes so strange...no spice no flavour at all...I'd rather eat the vada pav in hyderabad it tastes so much better.

Aargh i haven't had a decent meal in ages...The worst of the worst is the biryani...Stop believing you're eating biryani, they're just serving you a plate full of pulao...

How i yearn for some hyderabadi food right now :(

Where's the medication

A friend of mine had a terrible stomach ache and a fever the other day...pretty normal illness to have right...you pop a pill and your fine by morning...turns out he didnt have the medicine he needed so we decided to go get some for him...it was 11:30 in the night when we left the place to go pill hunting...(not that kind of pill)....

Turns out every pharmacy townside shuts by about eight or nine...and the only place we could get medicine was if we went to bombay (bite me shiv sena) hospital...Apparently there are hardly any 24 hour pharmacies open townside...what do you do in case you really need medication? Hitch a taxi ride to bombay hospital?

In hyderabad there are tons of pharmacies that are open all night long, im surprised bombay doesn't have any...Especially considering how disease prone you are when you live here...