India's vicarious joy

The whole of india is in a vicarious joy and more so for the 6 crore people hailing from TamilNadu. If someone told me that I would listen to Tamil on the podium of the 81st Academic awards 5 years ago, i would have asked "Are you out of your mind?". I am quite a liberal when it comes to views pertaining to land/origin and the like. I am a true admirer of globalization. It pisses me off when TN and Karnataka leaders say they fight each other for people's cause and stuff. Arent they supposed to settle these issues amicably, helping people of both states. But, there are some moments when your patriotism, sense of belonging to your place of origin, takes you over.

I did not watch ARR receive the award live, but, when i heard that he spoke both Tamil and Hindi there, it gave me goosebumps right away. I have watched it over a dozen times now though. A sense of belonging overtook me. I felt proud for being an Indian and that too a Tamilian, or, should i say Thamizhian. Lot of people, me included, tell the word Tamil itself in an accent the westerner appreciates. But, when i heard ARR say, Thamizh, in the right way it should be said, i felt a sense of guilt for using an accented tone when mentioning my language to a westerner.

It is indeed a great moment for the whole nation. Getting recognition in a foreign nation having different sensibilities is truly a moment to cherish. After all, Russel crowe or Brad pitt or Angelina jolie or Julia roberts, havent got Indian National awards or I doubt if they have got any British awards too. One Indian, has crossed all sensibility barriers and come out on Top.

In the midst of all this euphoria, i couldn't help but notice some people still talking about poverty porn, why this movie needed to be done by a foreigner and stuff. I can only pity them. If it was made by an Indian, for sure it would be catered to the local audience, shot in Hindi and it would never have made the impact it has made.

What makes that man even great is that he still remembers his roots and is as humble as anyone can be. I am proud of whatever he has done and I am sure he would leave an indelible mark in the world of Music surpassing anyone who is a legend thus far. One sad thing amidst all this is that we are gonna miss him even more often in Tamil music after this.

Pity him, even he has only 24 hrs a day and 7 days a week!!

Musing on SDM

Let me start this blog with a note that this is not a movie review. However, if you find traces of review stuff, empathize with me, after all it is a film that this piece of prose is based on :) I liked this movie quite a bit, except that i wished, i had watched the Hindi version of the film instead of the English one. Roadside beggars of Mumbai speaking in accented English was a little unpalatable for me, personally!!

I happened to watch Slumdog Millionaire quite a while back and since then this post has been lingering in my mind. How can i not write about something that the whole of india, or at least the shining part of india, has indentified with. The other part, not so shining india, does not buy moser baer dvd's or drop by multiplexes to have identified with the movie. So, we, the relatively rich people have to testify on the behalf of the poor of the country, whether this is a realisitic depiction of their poverty. Doesn't that say quite a bit about the status quo here?

My musing is not about the film per se, but few of the prominent incidents in the movie which say quite a few things about the society. First of all, the film is based on the reality show, KBC. What is great about that show? How did it revolutionize the market for reality shows in India? Is it worth it? Secondly, the portrayal of the begging racket. This part hits you hard, especially if you happened to watch "Naan kadavul (tamil)" the following day, like i did!! pity me. Thirdly, about the strange coincidences any arguably great film seems to have.

First things first. The reality quiz shows, are they really a measure of the persons intellectual capability? Happened to read an open page article in 'The Hindu' which made my views on this stronger. I have never liked quizzing much. But, if you are an avid quizzer, read on only if you could take a little criticism. The film portrays how this chai wala, is able to reach till the final question just based on some loose facts, trivia, which he has acquired, by chance! Such a nice depiction.

In India, there is always an over emphasis on factual knowledge. Heard that even in civil services examinations, they ask questions related to the height of Miss India 2007 in cms? My god!! How could such mugging up of crass facts make one intelligent. I ve seen examination papers, MBA entrance examination papers, from highly popular institutions having a section called General Awareness, where they ask "what s the currency of Somalia?" How does that gauge my talent? Quiz has often been a thing used to boost up an otherwise uninteresting resume (this sentence is borrowed from that open page article) as it is considered a measure of one's intelligence. How does remembering loose facts, trivia, and the ability to retain them make one intelligent? Instead of questions like, 'When was Tashkent agreement signed?', shouldn't we be asking 'what is the significance of TA in India's foreign policy?'? Giving 4 choices and then allowing use of 50-50 option and then answering a 'when' question is no measure of a person's talent according to me.

Second thing, about the begging racket. 'Naan kadavul (Tamil)' was the most crude depiction of this racket, which i saw the next day after SDM. But, isn't somebody watching? The government officials. Shouldn't they be doing something about this kind of begging rackets? Just wondering!!

Third, about coincidences!! This film like many acclaimed films has a lot of coincidences too hard to believe. Starting from the beggar friend of the lead actor recognizing him after years instantaneously and his brother doing so over phone et al. Could somebody do something like that in real life?

How can i write about SDM and not say a word about ARR, the mozart from Chennai. He has done better works than this, but, this is just a platform for him to get through to the world which should have recognized him long back. Hope he brings home a few oscars too!!

Is india in need of moral policing?

After a long break from blogging, here s something that forced me to sit down and write something. This is being debated over and over for the past week or so. Moral policers, this is what the attackers call themselves to be. I have been hearing a gamut of views about these mangalore attacks spanning the entire spectrum from utter conservatism to complete liberalisation. I am not here to give a solution to the problem, but, to try and understand where the society stands with respect to this whole problem.

Most people, me included, when faced with this question come up with the most politically correct answer and say this is completely wrong. "We live in a democracy where people have the right to live as they please, to have alcohol or not, or to have them at pub or at home is an individual's domain. Who is this guy to interfere with that?", is the response that comes out almost spontaneously. This reaction to this incident will be completely justified although this kind of argument has it s own flaws. If people in a democracy want to consume 'cocaine', are we allowing it?

But, The people of sena, or for that matter, any organization or person, has no right to ask the people of this country to be as to be as they want them to be. It s the people's behavior that defines the culture and not the other way around, right?

So, can we conclude that this is just an aberration and ignore these events as signifying nothing? I dont think so. I have been able to observe a silent majority support for the sena activists with the people i have interacted with in the past week, in person and in sites like orkut. A deeper questioning of my own values and beliefs also suggest that this agitation is not completely unjustified.

Isn't there a prevailing situation in India which needs to be addressed? Dont we need to preserve our culture? Is stopping people from consuming alcohol in pub's, the way to conserve our culture and values? The immediate answer would be "Hell! No". Haven't men been whooping it up through out the course of history, what s the matter now? If you are targeting women only, isn't this male chauvenism? Dont women have the right to drink in a democracy!! Let me talk more about this on a relevant discussion in a detailed manner!! for now i am keeping the discussion to general culture preservation ignoring the male chauvenism part.

The alcohol consumption has nothing to do with the culture, let s say. What s been the basis of our culture? Honesty, bravery, respect for elders, abstinence from vices, especially in front of elders etc.., People have been consuming alcohol through out the course of history (from the days of soma banam..). But, indulging in liquor in a, so called, social manner has never been prevalent in India. People have always been consuming alcohol, but it has always been a forbidden fruit meant to be enjoyed with a sense of guilt. It has slowly started to become a part of social culture very recently.

Offices, IT companies, organize parties with beer these days where the subordinate and the manager sit and drink side by side. There aren't you breaking some tradition (abstinence from vices, esp in front of elders). Two generations ago children barely opened their mouth before their father. Wont it affect us, if there comes a day when father and son sit and have a drink side by side? Aren't we breaking the hierarchical, respect based society?

Every situation has a flip side and i am not telling these are entirely bad either. Going by our tradition, elders got respect just because they were elders. This culture manifested itself and is still very much prevalent in government offices etc.., where seniority is the only criterion. With this addressing by first name culture, i get to know the person much more and respect the person for what he/she is and not for his/her seniority. In spite of these explanations, every race/country should preserve it s roots. There is a uniqueness in every race and religion which has helped in the evolution of mankind and that has to be conserved.

Hence, there is indeed a need to reiterate the values of our society. The manner in which this is being done is wrong, as accepted by the respective organization itself.

(...to be continued)