Last evening SR,SK and I played hookey from work to go and see Rang De Basanti. One of the few films in recent times that completely struck a chord with me. And by the sounds of it – the audience as well. One of the few times one could see a movie in complete silence – no mobiles rang. The audience laughed, winced, sniffed almost synchronistically! The story is a coming of age and conciousness of a bunch of lotus eaters – Aamir Khan (DJ), Kunal Kapoor (Aslam), Sidarth (Karan), Sharman Joshi (Sukhi)- into whose life comes a Hindi speaking Brit Documentary film maker Sue (Alice Patten)- Her teri maa ki aankh had the audience in stitches, and it was so pat & perfect. Sue’s grand father served in British India. He was to jailor to Bhagat Singh & his friends.And his diary recounts his attempts at breaking his prisoners, which leaves them stronger and him broken. Sue’s documentary is the story of her grandfather and his memories of these young men who died for their ideals. Sue’s friend in India Sonia (Soha Ali Khan) – who is a part of the Lotus Eater Group. Sue’s first interaction with group ends with a confrontation with an unnamed rightwing group – let by Lakshman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni). On the periphery of the group is Flt.Lt. Ajay Rathod ( a very well fed Madhavan), the love of Sonia’s life. Sue cannot fathom why the Gen Nex of India doesn’t care a damn about its dead freedom fighters. or about doing something for their country. The film maker in her casts them in the roles of Chandrashekar Azad, Bhaghat Singh and co. And in doing so she changes their destiny. The film flits between Sue’s interaction with DJ & co, and her making of the documentrary – telling the story of her grandfather, Chandrashekar Azad, Bhagat Singh and co. At first the content is a bunch of words that have no relavence. It is difficult for the ametuer actors to relate to them, remember them, and deliver them with impact. However, as the documentary progresses, the words begin getting more personal. Enacting the roles of those with ideals seems to imbibe the lot with more than ideals. It imbibes them with resolve and steadfastness to see out a course of action. Continue reading »
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Two very different kind of stories that caught the eye today. One of a girl who said NO.
When 13-year-old Minati Gagaria from Orissa bags a bravery award from President A P J Abdul Kalam on Wednesday, she will symbolise a punchy protest against the ancient tribal custom of child marriages. Gagaria, who had almost become a victim of this practice, escaped her fate and a 50-year-old bridegroom by fleeing into a nearby forest, thereby becoming a role model for the tribal girls who face family pressures to marry young. "After spending seven days in a dense forest, I became confident of facing the situation. I can’t sacrifice my life for this evil practice. I knew that I cannot change the system but I thought one has to raise a protest. So I decided to fight it," said Gagaria, all set to receive the prestigious National Bravery Award on Republic Day eve.
And a society that stood by:
She was first forced to leave her husband’s house, and then the family was ostracised. Not content to let Dolly Bibi live in peace, about 1,000 people got together to witness her being caned 100 times, even as the local legislator and the block development officer watched.
The administration stands by as local fiefs mete out punishment!
Dolly was meted out the punishment on Sunday at Gakunda, Murshidabad, for having gone to Rajasthan with a man ‘who was not her husband’ in July 2005. Dolly claimed said she had done nothing wrong as the man concerned, Suraj Haldar, was her "dharam bhai". Haldar was also accompanied by his family.
It is strange that none of the major political parties are doing anything about ensuring that the constitutional rights of the citizen is protected. I wonder whether it is because they don’t see women as a vote block? Aside. in another conversation with mom on the state of the state – she said indians end up worshipping those that we desecrate – the cow, the woman, the river…….
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switching channels today, saw an overlong promo for Buniyaad on Sahara One. Maybe nostalgia will work. I know that it worked for me. Sat glued for the full five minutes while the filler ran. And it sure brought back memories. Kahin to hai sapna……..
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The CPI:?
"We expect that the budget will boost development along with providing social justice and implementation of Employment Guarentee Act", CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said.
"CPI would oppose any price hike that would affect the common people, and to give a signal to the government, we are holding an All India Price Hike Day tomorrow",
Just as you can’t run your home for ever through deficit funding, you can’t run a government for ever by deficit financing. The burden of debt is most borne by those that the CPI claims to help. They really need to keep rhetoric aside from reality.
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…seems to have taken on a new meaning. The Guardian reports:
British scientists are seeking permission to create hybrid embryos in the lab by fusing human cells with rabbit eggs. If granted consent, the team will use the embryos to produce stem cells that carry genetic defects, in the hope that studying them will help understand the complex mechanisms behind incurable human diseases.
The logic:
“The fertility of rabbits is legendary,” said Prof Shaw. “The most important thing is that with animal eggs, we have a much better chance of generating stem cells and if we wait for human eggs, it’s going to be maybe a decade before we can do this. If we can use animal eggs, we could maybe have stem cells within one or two years,”
At one level, of course one thinks about the ethics of the various uses of stem cell research. But at the other , there is no denying its obvious benefits to society. Be it in terms of germ resistant crops or in terms of cure of otherwise curable diseases.
The people who oppose it on religious grounds need to just look back at the history of science. every single major discovery has been opposed by religious organisations. And I don’t really buy the western (read fundamentalist Christian) religious argument – if ‘God” didn’t want us (humanity) doing these things she wouldn’t have given us curiousity.
People who oppose it on grounds of ethics – need only to remember that it is too early in the day to predict every single use or abuse the technology can be put too. I am sure I don’t want genetically engineered killer zombie rabbit (for the want of a better example) with an Uzi bearing down my highway – but that is , I am sure a long way off.And, by the time that we get to that point – the society then will make rules that it seems appropriate to handle the situation.
There is no point in agonizing about a tomorrow that may never happen, and give up the fruits that could make today better.
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Yesterday, I was in Oshiwara – a small suberb of Andheri (W):) The roads near the police station were completely dug up on one side. A long overdue process of widening and concreting was underway. The otherside – which has already been concretised – was jammed with traffic on both sides. We had to take a left to get back to the office. But we couln’t. Because, a driver had decided to make the road even narrower by parking right on the kerb. As her elderly parents (or was it parents in law) got out with a baby – she began reversing in a completely jammed scenario. Parents began waving their hands at the rest of the traffic trying to get them to stop. She began honking madly – disrupted the traffic flow for a few minutes and then managed to park. My car was just behind hers. As she got out she began to give grief to Santosh. At which point, I rolled down the window and told her "but, you are not supposed to park at the kerb, madam" . Her response "But, you were going to". I wasn’t, i explained. I was merely trying to take the right. But, someone else would have, she justified.
And, this more or less explains the general social malaise that exists in the country. It is ok to break laws or rules, because someone else is doing it. Look at Ullhasnagar or Delhi. One common response that you get on various television channels is "what was the government doing for all these days – when the constructions were happening". My response is why is the government responsible for our morality? What were people doing breaking the law in the first place. Ordinary people in other countries don’t break laws with such casualness. They don’t look to see whethere they can get away with it or not. In a way, In India, we are dichotomous in our behaviour. We want to impose medival soical norms that govern our private life – but resist laws that are there for our own safety – and ‘common good’. Just look around you and see how many poeple still drive a two wheeler without a helmet, or don’t wear their seat belt while driving, or talk on the phone while driving, or take over plots of land that don’t belong to them, or build constructions that are unauthorised. And, i am not even talking about the political or criminal class here. Just ordinary everyday people.
Maybe we do get the leaders that we deserve. Makes one wonder doesn’t it!
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Upgrading to WP 2.0 has been quite eventful. I installed it this morning. And when i began reactivating the plugins, the site disappeared for the better part of the day. and it required whole jumps of logic to get it back again.And the process of logical deduction was nowhere as calm or ration or unemotional as it sounds here. I didn’t know that i knew so many languages 
The simple thing to do if your site does disappear is to remove all the plugins – delete them from your server. But remember to have a back up of your site before you do so. And install them one by one all over again, depending on their compatibility.
WP2.0 compatible plugins are found here
Can’t comment too much about Duke (all WP versions are named after jazz musicians) – except that its inbuilt spam catcher is quite nifty. Akismet has already managed to catch a bunch of spammers for me. And the GUI seems a lot more intuitive. It has this really good feature for import from other blogs. If only – this feature was available 6 odd months ago.
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Hello and welcome to the first edition of BlogMela this year. And the year has gotten off to a great start. Some great writing in various categories from Desi Blogdom. Here goes. Arts and Entertainment Srican has an account of the nature of the harmonium vis-a-vis the sarangi as an accompaniment for Hindustani Classical Music. Soam has a detailed review of Lost - with no spoilers. Sunil has a almost lyrical reveiw of For a Few Dollars More – the man with no name rides into town, and Uma has a peek at 15 Park Avenue. Velithira has Movie Review of the Malayalam film Mayilattom. Cogito fumes at Annu Malik drawing comparisons between his music and that composed by RDBurman. While Niraj wonders about Mahesh Bhatt’s motivations on making a film on the London bombers. Well Niraj – sensation sells ! And Bhupinder ponders on the coverage on Nadira’s illness & hospitalization. While Tilo looks at the attitudes vis-a-vis female poets in Tamil. Jaberwock lists his top reading list of 2005, and Uma bids adieu to Kalamandalam Hyder Ali Travel Trivial Matters has a lip licking account Punjabi food journey in Mumbai. I studied at SIES college and Gurukripa was a haunt. The samosas’ were truly yummy. And Picturejockey has a lovely picture of Powai. Manish’s post on Córdoba had me rummaging around for my passport (if wishes were horses…). The confluence of civilizations and cultures, and yet the uneasiness between people. Sonia writes about almost being taken for a ride in Mumbai. India & Her Neigbourhood The Acorn has a couple of posts on how the VP Singh and the Vajpayee Governments contributed in making India a soft target for terrorism. I guess Nitin, the people of India and the media are also to blame. The kind of circus that is created, with families screaming, shouting, crying, and generally pressurising the government to compromise is extremely high in our country. that with the politician’s innate desire to compromise makes for a deadly combination vis-a-vis national security. Kunal writes about why India should drop Socialist from the oath that people’s representatives have to take. Imagine Anil Ambani and Navin Jindal swearing to uphold Socialist India, and we can see the casualness with which we accept lies in our society. If the very oath that we swear is false – then what’s the point! Sandeep rants about reservations in the private sector, and Sakshi about the issue of date rape. Libertarian calls for India to become the centre of the Islamic world. Amardeep Singh has an interesting blog post on how the HIndu Right is against courtship. I am not really sure that it is just the Hindu Right. It is a whole bunch of ‘ordinary’ (non affiliated) family types who think that our ‘value systems’ are at stake and would like the option of peeking into one’s life and bring them back on the ‘straight and narrow’. sad but true. In a recent survey in the mumbai mirror some 75% of citizens polled said it was a ‘good thing’ to ban bar dancers. We are more intolerant than we like to admit. Infact, Vikrum compares the plight of couples looking for privace in India and the attitudes of society towards them with that in South America.Dilip shares his on experience of the moral police. Uma does a final round up of the Gudiya Story – highlighting the fact that women are often treated as chattel. While Maitri writes about how many continents and seas away, sterotyping rules. Cool Bihari has a report on the President’s visit to Bihar. Nilu looks at the role of agriculture in India, and the economics of farming. And wonders about the ability of city dwellers who believe that agriculture should make way for something else. I suppose that we have to figure how to ingest and digest plastics or glass! Jaffna has a fascinating piece on Indian tribal society. Palm Leaf wonders why certain academics want to hold on to the myth of Aryan Invasion. Possibly because they want to continue believing that ancient Greece and Rome was the fountainhead of civilisation, and the european races are the most superior. While on the road in India, Charu tries to understand the why’s of banned items for passengers in hand baggage, Amit has learnt an interesting way of punctuating his sentances, Uma has me drooling for dosai’s. Education Abi looks at the Australian model for funding further education. Media Mangs has a great piece on Crime in the city. It reads like noir. Society & Technology Abhi looks at the benifits LED’s can bring to rural India – in terms of a safe and cost effective lighting solution. Sowmya wonders about whether we hear in the language that we speak! Shivaji has a couple of lovely posts on postmen, writing, letters and e-mail. Preetam Rai has a review on SuperGlu which does great things for organising your on line life – feeds, photos, posts etal. And Shivam wants help to join the cartel And finally Amar looks at the chat up lines of Gods.
"Oh, finely limbed lady, indulgers do not watch out for the time to conceive, as such oh, slender-waisted one, I desire copulation with you. [1-48-18]
hmm…. they did have a way with words didn’t they? Rashmi looks at her cousin’s process of courtship on the way to an impeding marriage Gawker looks at phone sex as a pay back for phone tapping. Kaps blogs about how people in Chennai are mistaking condom vending machines for phone booths (STD) And Indiacorporatewatch Annual Awards 2005 – has some unique awards. Next week Nilesh plays host, for now thankyou for nominating.
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Nominate away. new blogger, photo blogs, anything that will bring a bit of spice to our own little blogdom.
The rules are the same as usual.
Continue reading »
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I have been meaning to write about this ever since i saw the news items – but have generally given way to inertia Vajpayee compares himself to Parasuram and Advani & Mahajan as Ram and Lakshman. But, he probably got his sages mixed up. He probably meant (or should have meant Vishwamitra). Parasuram is regarded as 6th avtaar of Lord Vishnu (the protector of ‘mother earth’ in the trilogy of Hindu Gods – appearing at regular intervals to rid the earth of her oppressors, and restoring the path of righteousness, Dharma). Son of Jamadagni and Renuka – Parasuram kills his mother to prove his devotion to his father and asks for her life back as his boon gifted by his father. When Jamadigni is killed by the maurader Kartyavira Arjuna – Parasuram goes bananas and kills 10,000 generations of Kshatriyas. Genocide. He then retires to the hills to contemplate. When Ram breaks the Shiv Dhanush at Sita’s swayamwara, Parasuram challenges Ram to duel – and then realising that Ram and Lakshman represent Narayana and Adishesha – retreats from the world to do tapas. Afterall, he has to atone for those he killed! Vishwamitra on the other hand was born a king and aspired to be hailed as a Brahma Rishi by Vashishta. He attains his goal after many twists and turns and the creation of a new universe for King Trishanku. While in the midst of Yagya he is consistently troubled by Rakshashas. He goes to Ayodhya and demands the services of a 16 year old Rama and his even younger brother Lakshman, as protectors. He equips them with the bala atibala chant and unleashes them on the Rakshasas. He take them to Mithilla to Sita’s swayamwara. He is a friend, philosopher and guide to the young princes – and helps them on the road to righteousness. When Vajpayee refers to him as Parasuram, what does he mean? That he has gone off to atone for genocide, leaving the mantle to Advani and Lakshman. or is it that he has trained them in the path of governance and has ensured political succession? Maybe for a change Vajpayee is telling the truth! or as usual he has opened mouth and inserted foot!
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