YES WE CAN eh????

A year after 26/11.People are crying, holding candle light vigils, watching programs on TV, doing all sorts of things to show solidarity to the victims of last year.BUT, we didn't do anything this year on 13th Sep.?or 11 July?or 29th Oct?You dont remember these dates?Ah...neither did I.I googled them.
I do not see a point in lighting candles and being silent and thniking about them when I donot do anything about it.Yes.Its my sheer laziness to not change the system.Even after being educated and earning I do not have the courage to shake up this pathetic system.
I ask myself "Is the only thing that I can do is to go upto India Gate on the date of the last blast and light a candle to show people that I 'care'.That my 'spirit' is alive.That I love my country?"
Nah..I realise I am a selfish bastard who can only sit in a drawing room and crib about politicians and weep for the martyrs and shout slogans at public places but message people to wear 'white' and come to the 'blah blah' place to light a candle and cry.I can only pay my taxes to feed KASAB and keep him alive so as to 'Get more evidence from him'.I can only keep shouting what I have been since 1989-"WE WILL NOT TOLERATE CROSS BORDER TERRORISM.".I can only write in such stupid forums and make people read it.I can only want things to change.I can only have faith in my "HONOURED COURTS" because they deliver 'justice' in time. I can only show my anger.I can only keep on saying "What can I do?".I can only say "We are one".I can only love my cricket stars.I can only abuse the Thakreys and also love them at the same time.I can only live in the hope that one day would come.I can only say - "We cant attack a nuclear power".I can only say "We have put a lot of pressure and that is the reason there hasnt been a blast in the last year."ACHIEVEMENT!!!I can only put a flag badge of the tricolour on my shirt on 26th Jan and 15th Aug.I can always say "I love my India". I can always play "Ma tujhe salaam" on full volume.
Now lets see what are my limitations.
I cant KILL KASAB.
I cant EVER actually mean WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH.
I cant show my DISGUST towards the COURTS. They are HONOURABLE.
I cant ever DO ANYTHING myself which for once would make my countrymen feel that India IS a strong nation.
I cant get America's 'permission' to do something about Pakistan.
I cant obviously force America to not put more money into Pakistan.
I cant MYSELF know about people like Richard Headley.
I cant throw KASAB open onto the streets for people to kill him.CUZ.
I cant stop being proud of being a DEMOCRACY.


I love my country.
I might have even 'breast fed' you KASAB if I had one.I need my time to deliver justice.I need another Liberahan comission setup for you.
but I STILL CANT KILL KASAB.I STILL CANT KILL KASAB.
I am ashamed and SO I DO NOT LIGHT A FUCKING CANDLE!
Yes we can?? GHANTA!

My 15th-not yet.

Today is 14th August.A day before our 62nd Independence Day.

And Ive received almost 10 messages by 6 pm in the evening wishing me a "Happy Independence Day in advance".I see cars with flags.I see malls decorated with the tricolour.People sporting tricolour badges on their shirts.Facebook and Orkut and all other social networking sites suddenly filled with messages and videos of patriotism.I see people suddenly becoming 'proud of their nation'.

And this euphoria comes twice every year.Jan and Aug.2nd October is usually forgotten.

But I do not understand that where does all this enthusiasm evaporate by the 17th?

We talk about our soldiers, army , Kargil and everything related to country's defence during this time.But as soon as this is over we forget about the hundreds of retired personnel who sit on roads in central Delhi and demand their pensions to be increased.We dont give a f*** about who dies in JK or anywhere else.We even think about the retired JCO living in some remote village of Rajasthan whose ancestral home has been taken away from him forcefully when he was away serving us.We cheer at slumdog millionaire but never have the courage enough to go into a slum oursleves and teach the kids.We criticise Mr.Manmohan or Mr.narendra Modi on their policies but do not dare to do anything against it.Hundreds of other examples.

I seem too preachy which I donot want to be.What I want is simply that in the future 15th Augusts I do have something to be proud of.That in the coming ones each year I can say to myself that I have done something for my country this year and not just be proud of what others have done. By the next 15th Aug I donot just message people for the heck of it or enjoy the day as any other holiday.By the next 15th Aug I do make myself worthwhile and hope many others do too.

Jai Hind.

Freedom is still a myth

I quote Shri Bal Gangadhar Tilak “Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it.”It is not just India but majority of the world which is built on the basic principle of human freedom. Hundreds of years of monarchy, totalitarianism, autocracy and various other systems have led humanity to understand the basic fact that individual freedom and expression of thought are the only principles which can keep a society non-stagnant, progressive and happy. Freedom can be helpful and progressive as long as an individual respects the similar rights of one’s fellow individuals, follows one’s own heart and does not hurt any other individual in emotional, physical or any other possible way.
All of it being an understood fact it can also be rightly said that any individual does also reserve the right to privacy provided one does not go against the statements written above. The religion one follows, one’s beliefs and one’s sexual orientations are a few of the examples which are too private to be discussed or disclosed in public. And the extent to which an individual is comfortable in being open about these issues should again be left to him/her.
377 is one number which goes against this basic right. What this archaic article does is take away an individual’s freedom to be happy, to enjoy, to live freely, to have sex in a way one wants to. What this law does is to take away an individual’s right to love. The most sacred of the emotions is questioned with Article 377.It criminalizes any form of ‘unnatural sex’. Firstly one needs to understand what the word ‘natural’ in our society symbolizes. Simplest of the definitions being that anything which is not man-made can be regarded as being ‘natural’. So, for any activity to be natural the society compares it to the behavior patterns of animals, birds, wildlife etc. And if one agrees with the point just stated, then sex in any form whatsoever is natural. Inter-species sex, homo-sex or any other form is as natural as animals defecating. Studies over many a decade have proved that different kinds of sexual behavior is prevalent in many animals, birds etc. And if 377 is practiced as it should be then a lion or a giraffe are as much of criminals as any of the LGBTs.
Anyone who is not in favour of removing Article 377 belongs to the middle ages. Such individuals do not realize that being so narrow minded and not respecting human rights is the basic reason behind many of the great wars. Taking away one’s freedom to enjoy and making them obey orders, which in a certain way, the individual does not approve of, is the main reason behind any non-progressive society.
And if India is actually free, not just from the British, but from medieval thinking then 377 should be a number that should not make people scared to accept who they are.

This is it.This really is it.

THE KING IS DEAD.LONG LIVE THE KING.

Last year after winning the T20 World Cup when the Indian team returned, I had a sense of deja-vu.The visuals of the grand reception they received were similar to what was witnessed a few years ago by the entire nation.India had "paused" when Michael Jackson had arrived here in 1996.And it has to be accepted that if one man can make a billion people stop doing everything else and he is not related to cricket he is bigger than everything else.
Back in the 90s whichever party one went to, one always had a a couple of kids trying to impersonate MJ's moonwalk or robot.One could always hear a 'Beta...wo Michael Jackson wala step karke dikhao uncle ko.' at shaadis and family functions.These and many other dancing steps made popular in a country which still does not have the majority of the population still speaking english does say what effect this one man had on the entire nation.From Johny Lever's 'Bidi de bidi de' to Javed Jaffrey's pelvis thump everyone would try and do whatever MJ did.Everyone was crazy about MJ.I remember MJ even as a 3 year old when my elder cousins used to dance on his numbers and I myself used to get ecstatic on watching his videos back then.MTV and CNN were the only two 'cable' channels back then and all day long one saw MJ on MTV.
An inspiration to every stage performer his musical journey spanned more than 4 decades.'billie jean', 'black or white', 'heal the world', 'bad', 'smooth criminal', 'give into me', 'dangerous', 'the way you make me feel', 'they don't care about us' ,'thriller', 'scream'- the list of all time hits and my favourites goes on and on. He was one person who even after not giving a hit in the last 20 years could have pulled the biggest crowd ever witnessed in the world.The entire world would always wonder what the O2 arena could've given them which they would'nt have witnessed in years.One of the biggets dissapointments as a music lover that I might have for my entire life would be that I did'nt get to see him perform live.Its a sad day.
And who would have known that Jackson's last words in public appearance were so apt :

"This is it.This really is it."

I am a Brahmin. I wish it did not matter any more.

'''Another one which I'd written earlier.'''

As a kid ‘reservation’ meant something which let me travel by train. As a youth the same word means something which does not let me get into a college.

To be honest I had no idea and never even cared as to what my caste and sub-caste were till the time I had given my engineering entrance exams. Studying in Army Public Schools under CBSE, one was always guided by the principles of those 19^th century reform movements which made one believe that caste system was something which took us back to the middle ages and was non-progressive and ‘evil’. In fact I seriously do not remember any one mentioning what his/her caste was and neither ever asking me what my caste was during ‘those days’.”Konsi jaat ke ho tum? (Which caste do you belong to?)” would have been a very offensive questions if anyone did ever want to enquire about it. Today this question no more seems offensive to anyone.

India is not a conventional country. I say this because of us being a diverse and rich and ‘blah-blah-blah’ country. We are not bound by one single identity. No common language or religion or any other belief so to say. But this is what our skin signifies. Try getting inside us Indians slightly and one realizes that we are all the same. Indians are all carbon copies of each other. Each one of us rejoices on another one of Sachin’s century. Every household was hooked on to ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ . Each one of us was angry on the 11 July Mumbai train bombings. But the problem is that because there are so many of us and all being the same, there is a slight discontent amongst all due to which each one wants individuality. Each one wants to be different than the rest. Our craving for being different is what has made us what we are today- “Always-fighting-oldest-civilization-of-the-world”. We feel proud to call ourselves the oldest civilization but we still are not civilized enough. We still are a third world country even if we have the nuclear arms and a space program and the blah-blah. Staying together for so many centuries and one still does not find common goals.

And it is this simple fact that has always led to the straight formula used again and again of ‘divide and rule’ which we read in our history books long forgotten. What can be more stupid a fact than being able to get into the college of your choice just because you have a particular surname. “All Mishras-college XYZ and all Kushwahas - college BCD”. It is apartheid in a different form, slavery in a different form. Why should one get penalized for being born to a particular set of parents? Reservation on the basis of economic background can be justified but on the basis of lineage is too medieval.

But I always try and look for positives in everything that happens around me. Mr. Arjun Singh inspires me. At an age when one usually is not able to walk without using a walking stick, when one cannot digest all kinds of food Mr. Arjun Singh can still fight for a cause which would make him a messiah for the people who do somehow benefit from this bill. Even at this age we see the hunger in him, as well as the enthusiasm to get into power again with whatever means he can.

And it is this inspiration which should make us fight till the end.

How and why does an average movie win an Oscar.

Slumdog Millionaire. Two terms which have usually never been used together but would now remain together in the psyche of Indians as well as westerners for a very long time to come. A movie by the much acclaimed director/producer Danny Boyle (of Trainspotting and The Beach fame), it depicts the story of an Indian slum dweller and his rags to riches story. The background of the movie is a masala love story, a TV game show –Who wants to be a millionaire and the murky underbelly of a developing India’s underworld and mafia.

Much has been already said and written about this movie and countless times on countless platforms would it have been reviewed. But what appeals to me most as an Indian and as a regular movie-goer is the fact that a movie, which by no means has a better story and prowess of its actors than many of our Indian Film Industry’s contemporary classics, is already on its way to win the Academy Awards.

It might have been an extraordinary achievement for Danny Boyle to come to India and shoot in the slums. ‘Dis-organization’ and ‘chaos’ are the two words which are usually associated with India in the west. And that is exactly what Danny Boyle would have had to deal with, when filming in this part of the world. But if you compare it to Indian directors, Slumdog Millionaire’s direction was no big marvel. Movies like Satya , Company, D and various others since the industry’s early years have been shot at such locales with much ease. With Anil Kapoor and Irfan Khan having such short roles one obviously did not expect any wonders from them. And Dev Patel and Freida Pinto are mostly expressionless in the entire movie. Involve the other aspects too and one surely realizes that AR Rehman has given much better tracks in his earlier movies (though never so varied in a single album). But still SM (Slumdog Millionaire) is winning all the laurels. And the question that is on everyone’s mind is ‘How and why did it achieve such success?’

To answer this question let’s consider The Man Booker Prize winning novel ‘The White Tiger’ by Aravind Adiga. The protagonist is again an Indian. Living in a developing country he does have to deal with the atrocities of the rich and get involved in crime to become successful. The heart of India-‘rural India’ is poor and most of the people are not able to afford two square meals a day. Two stories with similar backdrops are the most widely acclaimed ‘products’ in their respective fields that we have seen in the past few years. Is it because of crime, passion, love, poverty and all the masala in these stories? Or is it because of the “India” factor in them? Or is it simply because of both being a rags-to-riches story? It is none of them individually but all of them involved together with a word that I used earlier for them-‘product’.

SM is a product for the west. They love poverty. They love the slums and crime. They love ‘the true picture’ and ‘reality’. The picture that they get of India in today’s era is of a country which is stealing their jobs. A country which has achieved a lot in terms of economic growth but which none of the pundits would have predicted 30 years ago to go so far. Being the mystical country that India has always been to them, many are still be puzzled as to how a dying economy of the late 1980s ridden by corruption, poverty, hunger and terrorism is actually so close to becoming one of the world leaders. And along comes a movie which somehow shatters their new forming opinion and takes them all inside the darkest alleys of India. Suddenly the west wakes up to the fact that India is not actually so ‘shining’. They realize that ‘the India’ which they had all thought is no more, does still exist. And this is the sole reason. This is the main reason behind SM doing such wonders at such big stages. Behind all the progress and the happiness does lie the filthy underground that is in stark contrast with it. Paparazzi always feed on such stories and SM becomes popular by this simple fact.

Either it is a mere co-incidence that the story takes shape in India or it was a very well thought out strategy. The backdrop does more wonders for the film than anything else. A Slumdog Millionaire from Afghanistan might not have had that hard-hitting an effect. SM is by no means was intended to be a classic but has been carved out to be one by the media and the circumstances.

P.S.I'd written this article before SM winning the Academy.

CORE

Blogger seemed too small a platform for this post.I removed it.Thanks for the comments and of course all the people whom Ive had endless discussions with, after they read CORE.:).:(.

US and U.S.

So a report I read in the Times of India says that Pentagon confirms that aid given to Pak by US was used to buy weapons against India.No surprise this...is it?Its been said that US does always play a double game, but due to some events taking place in the last 5 to 10 years this perception had been not so strongly held by most Indians (rather most that Ive been in contact with) as well as the Indian media.Infact we had been starting to see US as a 'natural ally' in many people's words.

It is not a question of India's development or foreign affairs as such.As a nation we surely would benefit in economic and technological terms from US being close to us.The only benefit that US has from being a 'friend' of India is that we can be a threat to China in the coming future whom currently US sees as a big threat.Another one of the important factors being that this is one of the only few 'sensitive' and 'strong' regions in the world that does not have much of the 'direct' US influence.Of course there are many others-emerging and largely untapped markets, cheap labour, etc.Where India should be most cautious is our security-internal as well as on the borders.

We would be buying nuclear reactors from them soon.The deals already been done.And the way money travels it is not hard to visualize that the same money that we send them, would be sent to Pakistan as an 'aid' to fight sons-as-well-as-enemies-of-the-US : the Talibs.Instead this money would again go back to the US to buy arms and ammunition.As opposed to being anti-Talib it would be anti-India.The internal attacks on India and the growth of Pakistani 'fauj' , both being done in tandem.And this is not just one episode which shouldve been done for India but goes against us, but if we go back and analyze there surely would be many others.This is the double game.It has been and it surely would be on forever till someone is blunt and direct withg the U.S.

Even if the old U.S. administration was a bit closer to India the new one is surely not.Simply because Barack Obama has to 'change'.Change not just the U.S. but the entire world.And to appease the muslim world and bring about the change it simply cannot afford to go against Pakistan straightaway and favour India.It would keep on trying to woo everyone.And what all this does is simply increase the instability in the region.Instability not in terms of many power centers emerging but threats to the common man in India.

The people of India do not go green at the name of China being ahaed of us in so many fields.Rather China at times acts as an inspiration.It maybe doesnt even matter to us if there are two powers in the same region.But we see it from the U.S.'s perception with China surely being a threat.Accepted that we have fought a war with them,we compete with them in international markets on many fronts but then most of us see the Chinese economic story in awe and admiration.And us being with the U.S. makes them our sworn enemies.Somewhat similar is the case with our Russian relationship.Rusiia still being a passive friend mostly in the sleep mode.

I am not implying that we should not take much from the U.S. or go against them.But then there should be some show of strength from our side at times.Point blank-It is not acceptable that U.S. funds Pakistan against India.Period.A statement as such might do some good.A statement as such might stop us from being called a 'soft state'.The whole world keeps on screaming their lungs out when Israel puts the entire Army on offensive when only a few people of theirs were killed by Palestinians.What happens at the end?When Israle is tired of screwing Palestine day and night and the entire 'peace-loving' world has given up hope , they return back to their country.That is the show of strength.I am not even suggesting this drastic a measure.But then our foreign office(Im sorry to say this) looks like it wears 'choodis' and 'bindis' having a moustache.Many strong men and women make up this country but the foreign affairs seems like it is handled by what we call as 'chakkas' .

What U.S. is to the world we are to many smaller countries.But if we want respect, we need to earn it.We need a spine.And we need a mouth.And we need action.And we need steps to be taken.And we need that we donot fall into this trap set again and again for us by the U.S.Cuz being an enemy of anyone would never help us;and the sooner we realise that "getting my arse screwed and receiving a handshake from the same fellow at the same time always f***s me up", the sooner we would be able to progress.

"neech kutta"

And so the second INDIAN Premier League gets over...in THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA.What it simply did this time was to obviously make many people happy now that they have started having club loyalties..but then what the second edition also did was to show the world where we as a nation stand...rather where our govt. stands...A government which cannot provide its people security cant even give them something to be happy about..it cant provide us with some actual 'in the flesh' entertainment.The only real life entertainment that we did get in the past coupla months were Mr.Laloo's antics which(now that he isnt part of the so called 'new' cabinet ) we'd be completely deprived of.
The weirdest part is that our media has been flashing all over that Mr.'most-powerful-man-alive' OBAMA congratulated India on holding successful elections.Its as if we havent been doing that every 5 years and at times, even twice a year.And above all the irony being that even if the elections were 'successful' our own Chief Election Comissioner had his name in two different constituencies-shows how successfuly they are held evrytime when actually the person organising it all in the first place cant even get HIS own voter id to be free from errors.
I think I kinda diverted from the topic...IPL it was...what cricket does to India nothing else does...the euphoria..the patriotism..the killer instinct..the 'josh' that i talk about again and again...the rise of the middle class...the underdog story...the inspiration...it somehow reflects it all...it somehow makes us feel that 'yes man, we've finally arrived.'...and i guess this is only one of the fewtimes when most of us do in different words say 'yeah man...India rocks...'...but there do lie many things below it all that we again and again fail to notice...Anil Kumble for instance...one image would always stand out-2002...bandage from the chin to the head and bowling to one of the fiercest batsmen Brian Lara and then actually going on to take his wicket...and then at this age leading a team to the finals of IPL and taking 4 in the last one..its weid...that him being the best bowlers around the world never actully got what Warne,Murli,Akram,Walsh or even McGrath got...banging a test century in one of his last internation years was his batting high..but then we never do see these things do we??We see Mr.Dhoni from ranchi,in and out of form Pathans from Gujarat..because we love the underdogs..we loved Rajasthan winning it last year...and we loved DC and RCB in the finals this year...cuz they were the loojars(as a frnd of mine once put it)...
And this bring me to the fact that although I now have very little hopes with this 'new' govt thats come in (simply because its not at all new as Id been expecting a day after the results...what a waste..Id expected 30 and 40 somethings in th cabinet..but Id forgotten that there still is a long long way to go)...I do still want it to succeed...rather I see it doing well...cuz like all...I love the underdog...I love the Mr OBAMA's rightly-said 'successful-Indian-elections'...