Hey fellow countrymen

[This one is for the Indian men. Hence it is going to be illogical, stupid and brainless.]

Hey guys, have you ever thought on what the women might be thinking of us? I have been trying hard to figure it out. Well, many wise men had spent half their life time trying to get an answer. So the question isn’t exactly foolish as it sounds.

How easy it would be for them to live in a society meant for men? Men who blame molestation on the T-shirt and jeans the girl wore and still desperately yearns for a peek from the sari clad women. Yes, we a society of pretense and hypocrisy.

I was watching an amateurish, non commercial porn video starring Pamela Anderson. Here is a spent out actress who rubs herself in front of the camera just for fun. And we treated her as our national guest. Our media was celebrating her arrival with huge fanfare. She had turned out to be old and wrinkled with only her prime assets holding up. It doesn’t matter to us, does it? We wanted to see if anything wild/spicy happened at the ‘Big Boss’.

Judging from my Facebook wall on the morning after our historic World Cup victory, we weren’t exactly that excited about winning it. We were more excited about Poonam (was it Bhajwa or Pandey?) who did promise to strip. The poor girl did under estimate the Indian team and thought they would fall apart at tough situations. But Indians managed to hold themselves up and earned a victory much to her dismay. The poor girl had to go hiding. Her popular pictures showed only a small area left for the imagination. But we don’t let go of an opportunity to strip a woman and are worse than Taliban at that.

The one technology we are really good at is – The Spy Cam technology. When we don’t use it to catch our politicians and babus red-handed, we manage to plant it at all the unimaginable places- Train toilets, hostel rooms, hotel rooms, convents, kindergartens. In case we fail to plant it somewhere, we shoot a porn video and sell it off as secret MMS.

A few days back a big bold headline screamed from a popular daily- Yana Gupta beats Bipasha to an item number. The news item in the movie section of our dailies is no longer the awards, reviews, or plum roles. An actress no longer needs to get a good role for the publicity she needs. If she manages to get an item number and promises that the skirts are shorter and moves are hotter than her rival, it’s guaranteed to stay in the headlines for sometime. She can survive on that till the videos come on YouTube when there is going to be a mad rush of clicks. Well, that’s not all. Blogging and tweeting about all inane things was another method our ‘spent-out’ actress devised to stay afloat. But after the initial hoopla no one even bothered to pass by their ingenious literary works. So now if you need a sudden shot in the arm for success, walk into a party or function and ‘accidentally’ offer the cameras a sneak peek into the ‘real’ you. Your name would suddenly appear in the top searches of Google and you are sure to get a dozen interviews giving you an opportunity to explain the mishap and its impact on the kids.

You might be wondering why I stick on with these meaningless rambles. Last week, I laid my hands on Dalrymple’s ‘White Mughals’. It’s a book on how the white men came here and had inter racial intercourse and ended up being part Indian. The Mughals, Portuguese, French and the British came down to India to conquer. They didn’t have much trouble in getting rid of the divisive and weak Indian kings. But as soon as the white men settled down, they were fascinated with the culture and women. They developed their own harems but the Indian woman insisted on maintain their traditions. The Whites had no problem in forsaking their barbarian culture. They preferred Indian silks and Pajamas to the English attire, they grew whiskers and even learnt the Persian. Some soldiers even went on to become fakirs.

This went on till the British monarchy decided to club down the dangerous liasions. So privileges of Anglo Indians were drastically cut down. Tough evangelists were sent down to rule and there began the real colonialization.

What the Indian men failed to do with their swords and elephants, our women did with their charms. They succeeded in bending the will of the conquerors. I remember the story narrated by an ex-alcoholic. He hailed from a traditionally rich family and loved to spend his evening getting drunk. This did create troubles in the family until one day he decided to quit. One day the ‘usually nagging wife’ started smiling very divinely. She, who used to send off the husband to the pub with curses, started waving him tata every evening. Even when he started hitting the drink, he was totally confused on the sudden friendliness. He went back home early that day. As each day passed his duration at the pub started going down until he quit.

I sign off with a few lines by Charles Stuart:

‘The Hindu women are comparatively small, yet there is much voluptuousness of appearance- a fullness that delights the eye; a firmness that enchants the sense; a sleekness and purity of skin; an expression of countenance, a grace, and a modesty of demeanour, that renders them universally attractive. I have seen ladies of Gentoo cast, so exquisitively formed, with limbs so divinely turned, and such expression in their eyes, that you must acknowledge the mot inferior to celebrated beauties of Europe.’

A collage of Cuba

Cuba has been every socialist’s paradise. A hardcore communist will point to Cuba as the golden example of hammer-sickle ideology. The personality that mirrored Cuba for decades was Fidel Castro. He was a very charismatic and defiant leader, who stood his ground against the USA while other leaders baulked.

The best source for a better understanding on history and politics is fiction. We may have to read it with sufficient tolerance for inaccuracies due to author’s prejudice. One of the first books I read on Cuba was a mafia thriller from the pre-Castro era. Fulgenecio Batista was a puppet ruler propped up by the big brother, USA. He in turn handed over the keys of Havana to the powerful mafia who ran Casinos and brothels with no restraint. The casinos in Havana were hotspots for elite from across the world. Here was a place for them to have unrestrained fun with lavish money they had. They could gamble to their heart’s content and have orgy of any type they wished. Even though weak and incumbent Fulgenecio faced no threat of coup from his rivals as he restricted no human intent of greed, lust or power. In turn the governance was under the watchful eyes of cigar chomping Mafiosi.

By then Fidel was doing his education in USA, the country which would turn out to be his archrival for years to come. Che Guevera went on a motorcycle trip across the Americas (Courtesy: ‘Motorcycle Diaries’). Che who was already a politically conscious medical student realized his life is worth dedicating to the downtrodden ethnics.

Fidel landed in Cuba and attempted a coup. A far more reformed and less planned one than the second version that happened years later. This failed before it could accomplish anything. Fidel was caught and deported with a stern warning. May be no one knew it would cost Fulgenecio his presidency years later.

Fidel then came in touch with Che. They struck a chord with each other. Together they assembled a rag-tag army and landed on the Cuban coast. The army was outnumbered, under-trained and found the environment tough. Similar to the earlier adventure, the army suffered initial setbacks. At this point of time the bravery and determination of leaders had to be appreciated. The army found support in the common farmers and expatriates. Slowly the tide turned. In the end Fulgenecio was overthrown.

Fidel was not like the common dictators who conveniently forgot their promises when in power. He brought about the much needed reforms in the government. Che was the first finance minister. He was a hardcore leftist and found his rigid socialist policies may not be enough to run the nation. Soon Che found the administrative role suffocating and resigned the post and went back to his guerilla days.

The departure of Che was in a way welcome relief to Fidel who from then on donned the mantle of undisputed leader. Still Che or Fidel were not at all Stalinesque figures. They had a wide variety of wines, cigars and girl friends.

Life was not easy for the new born leftist Cuba. Although Cuba had an ally in USSR, they had to stand the arm twisting of big neighbor, USA. They tried out every tactic they knew- media, money, staged coups. The trade embargo hit them the most. Cuba had a very natural ally in USSR who was mighty pleased to have a station right outside USA. But after its fall Cuba wouldn’t have survived if not for Chavez. The much needed oil for Cuba was provided by Venezuela while Cuba provided healthcare facilities in return.

There was even a poorly managed coup dubbed as ‘Bay of Pigs’. The coup was allegedly staged by CIA. It poorly misfired and provided ample fuel for Fidel to proclaim the invincibility of the revolution. But Fidel found himself in the receiving end when it came to the Cuban missile crises. The world stood on borrowed time as two nuclear superpowers got ready with their deadly nuclear arsenals. Thankfully Krushcev backed off and world heaved a sigh of relief.

This is the Cuba I know of. The Cuba I collected from reading many books, periodicals, movies and newspapers. The Cuba that wins medals in boxing and volleyball. The Cuba that dared to offer an alternative form of governance in this liberalized world. A Cuba I may not recognize tomorrow.

When I read out that Fidel has resigned and Raul ushered in reforms, I was surprised. But it was some surprise waiting to happen.

In this liberalized world it’s difficult to maintain a separate entity. People rapidly interconnect with each other and identify each other easily. The world is evolving itself so that it becomes smaller and uniform. The ones that resists face the danger of elimination.

Moreover the concept of ‘welfare state’ has become outdated. The performance of the government is judged on the revenue it generates and losses it suffers. It’s no longer benevolent to dole out subsidies. May be these are the reasons why the ‘socialist’ Cuba has softened up- to become one with the world.

Movie Review- Raavan (Hindi)

Raavan and its tamil twin was released simultaneously all over India. The initial feedbacks were very ravishing. As I am quite reluctant to push and shove for the ticket on the opening days, I chose to wait a few days for the crowd to tame down. Then the real feedbacks started to trickle in. Raavan wasn’t as good as expected. Ultimately the movie flopped.

I picked up the DVD to see for myself, what really went wrong.

As the name suggests Raavan is a depiction of a fight that draws its parallel from the Raamayana. Mani Ratnam tries to question our basic idea of right and wrong. Just like the old times, in the movie, the bad man kidnaps the the good man’s wife. The good man ascends on the bad man with his army and ultimately vanquishes him, unmindful of the tactic employed.

The dharma of Raamayana has been a matter of debate and discussions in India for many years. Scholars even suggest parallels with the Aryan-Dravida conflicts. The movie also runs along the same line with a ‘popular’ dharma fighting against an unpopular one. But this time the tribals don the role of Asuras and police officers become the Ram Sena.

Strangely it’s the ideology of the cinema that didn’t work out. The logic Mani spells out is too weak to stand. The audience certainly expected much better from the director of Guru and Yuva. The protagonist implies the conflict between those in the jungle and those outside on the issues of development. But when it comes to the story the struggle turns personal between hero and the villain. The viewer totally fails to connect between Abishek’s obsession for revenge and the marginalized population seeking justice.

There is no valid reason on Abishek being venerated as a leader of the poor. Are the sons of jungle so stupid to idolize someone who does nothing but walk around grumbling and mumbling? Why do they commit their lives on line of fire for Abishek’s personal vendetta? In other words there is no character build-up.

As usual Santosh’s visuals are wet and dark. It’s time he tries something different. I have come to appreciate the ones who films through claustrophobic atmosphere. That is real film making. Sivan’s visuals over power the story-telling. I felt that in Urumi too. He must be attaining nirvana by unleashing his technical prowess. In the end it does no good for the film.

Casting has always been Mani’s strong forte. Even the ordinary actors come out with awesome performance when they go through Mani’s hands. Aiswarya obliges everyone with her unusual cleavage show.

Movie Review- Doubles (Malayalam)

I sat in the cinema hall determined to come up with anything positive about this still born child. Nevertheless to say I did pay extra bucks for the reservation. It would be bad for my ego to totally curse the director.

The past few weeks have been bad to me in terms of one bad movie after another. Today morning I had just wrapped up the third installment of Spiderman. I closed my laptop dumbfounded at the horror I just witnessed. I went out do some shopping when this idea struck me as I passed across the movie hall. Mammootty and Nadia Moithu were coming together after years. It is bound to be a good movie and I went ahead and booked the ticket.

Thanks to an unusual afternoon traffic block I reached the screening 10 minutes late only to find out that nothing significant did happen. During the first half interval I peered over my shoulder to check out how the fellow prisoners were faring. The crowd was too stunned to boo. They pensively looked down their watches. No one even got up to get the popcorns. Why to add up expenses on a doomed day? By the end of the show, there were smiles of relief on all faces.

The director had a fairly good seed for the story. It wasn’t run-of-the-mill and he could have turned things around. It seems he got a good financier too. It was evident in the well ensemble cast and out-of-town locale. The movie was well paced and I couldn’t find many wasted sequences or characters. Sohan Seenulal is a talented director.

Although the director walks away with most of the credits for a well made movie, he will have to content with major chunk of brickbats for the badly made ones. May be Sohan had to do with a poor and weak team behind the camera which ultimately led to the downfall of ‘Doubles’. Script writing did no justice in developing the story. The story should have progressed with the brother-sister relationship flowing as an undercurrent. Sadly the relationship was underplayed or overplayed and was totally lost out. The points where the twists and turns occurred in the script weren’t strong enough to convince.

Character development was also a big flaw in the movie. This again is a major flaw in almost every film today and lack of good writers can be attributed as a reason. Mammootty looked totally confused on the screen. The viewers sat more confused than him. The film can go down as one of the worst performances in his career. As if that was not enough sudden outbursts of anger from Nadia literally raised gasps of disbelief in the hall.

In short this movie was not meant for Mammootty-Nadia. Casting a 50+ year old pair as a 30+ pair of twins is not an ideal idea. Wrinkled skin on the neck exposed what the heavy makeup hid on the face. Even more, casting a 20 year old heroine opposite to Mammootty was another joke. Thankfully Mammootty didn’t add insult to injury with much romancing. I bet the villain must have been a financier or a friend of financier. He was very amateurish and was not suited at all except for the designer shirts he wore.

Coming to other technical aspects of the movie- the camera angles were very ordinary. When a film is shot in Pondicherry, there should have been some landscape visuals. Sadly every frame was done in interiors, totally wasting the money spent in going out-of-town. Lack of visionary was evident in lighting. The night sequences were too dark and we wished we carried a torch along. These are some basic things to be dealt in film making. Malayalam cinema has to badly deal with car chase sequences. The cars have become expensive, but chase sequences are from primitive era.

The worst part: As for the jokes, some internet jokes were copied and shot off at all the improper places. There are double meaning ones to tickle your cheap nerves. Somebody please kill Suraj. He is a curse to the Malayalam cinema. He is there in every movie, cracks the same stale jokes and get slapped in and around.

The only two songs in the film were totally unnecessary. In the first one the misfit villain suddenly bursts into a gypsy number with white skinned item girls. The second one was even more unnecessary with an out-of-job Kiran Rathore juggling her demographic curves.

Footnote: Mammootty is determined to make 2011 a bad year for him after a good 2010.

History Text Book

For a school student ‘History’ will be a subject he yearns to get over with. He has to gulp down indigestible names and forgettable dates to spit in to his exam papers. Years down the line there will be shivers down the spine when he is asked to recollect the rebellions, revolutions and wars.

Examine our History and we will see the cycle of incidents turning up again and again. The only hope for humankind to survive is study the history and make sure the mistakes do not repeat by themselves. But is our educational system capable in EDUCATING our kids on history?

I turned a fan of the ‘dirty old man’ reading his novel, ‘Delhi’. It’s a historical fiction which depicts the glory and fall of the city. The book quickly rolls on from the times of Indian Kings, Mughals and finally to the British. The Indians have been eagerly taught to put the entire blame for the ills in the country on the White Man. They divided the otherwise unified country on ‘religion’. But Kushwant argues it was the Mughals, namely emperor Aurangazeb, who discriminated people on religion. And he ratifies it with the divided response from the Indians during the First war of Independence.

Read the biographies or autobiographies of a Maoist or Marxist. He will argue that China is not a bad neighbor. They will claim the India China war was due to the brashness and idiocy of V K Krishna Menon. Our text books say he is a great personality. I have read more than one writer (not leftists) who do not have a great opinion on V K. There is also arguments and counter arguments on who violated the ‘Panchsheel’ agreement first.

Patrick French would argue the ‘Mahathma’ status of Gandhiji. He points out the curious and unnatural methods and beliefs of Gandhi. We have rarely come across them in any depiction on Gandhi. May be we are afraid to humanize the father of our nation. And he also contests the widely held belief of attributing the independence to Gandhi. We have ignored many other factors and have sidelined the contributions of Bose, Bagath Singh as failed attempts. Recently I watched the movie ‘Kheilenge Hum…’. Did we ignore or we chose to ignore the many who sacrificed the prime of their youth for Independence so that the Congress party can claim the sole legacy?

There are many facets to history. Programming the students to think through a limited framework wouldn’t do good to the nation building and world harmony. They must be given the freedom to choose their beliefs.

Anna Hazare Satyagraha and My perspective

After the triumphant cricket world cup Indians have come together on a common cause again. This time we have decided to take ‘corruption’ by its horns. The past few years have seen the Indian’s daily cup of coffee filled with a chain of scam after scam. That’s when a diminutive man decided to confront the government and demand they pass the anti-corruption bill, Jan LokPal, and set up a body comprised of parliamentarians and civic body to draft the bill.

The timing for the agitation seems to be perfect. Indian masses are already on a high after the cricket triumph. Some of the major states are about to face another election in a few weeks time. Besides the government at the centre doesn’t have a great image at the moment. And the turmoil in the Arab regions has caught the people’s imagination. Unlike a few years back more Indians are wired in today. People prefer the internet media to the print. Here information flies high and fast, before its authenticity can be verified.

These reasons may have pushed government into an emergency response. The bumbling PM reiterated his respect for Anna Hazare. Years ago PM might not have even dreamt that his squeaky clean image would be dragged into the street. After some high points in his tenure he suddenly found out that the honeymoon is over and he is left with a nagging wife. He may take some extra sure steps to see his innocent name is not blemished again.

Anna has caught the imagination of India. The reasons could be many. We have been rocked by the numerous scandals that came into the public in such a short time. Indians are notorious in subjugating themselves to any situation they are in unless spurred by a popular leader. When in lack of a leader, they came across Hazare who followed the principles of Gandhiji. Now Gandhiji is officially conferred with the title of freeing us from the British and he doesn’t have any malign to his name. Besides we prefer a non-violent struggle as it’s been unofficially patented by India. And satyagraha doesn’t cause us much discomfort and can be easily withdrawn (remember ‘Quit India’/ ‘Civil Disobedience’)!

Now you may infer that I belittled the achievement of Anna Hazare. I would never say that victory is purely due to perfect timing.

But have we understood that the Hazare victory is just the beginning of a long and treacherous journey. Now why do I call the journey treacherous?

Have we got a real understanding on what corruption is? Have we reduced the word ‘corruption’ to ‘bribes’ and ‘commissions’? Haven’t we cornered ‘corruption’ to public offices? In reality our private and corporate firms are as bad as the public. The reason why we never get to see any ‘breaking story’ is the media fear a backlash for rendering the employees of the firm jobless. Besides the employees are paid well and are made insecure enough so that they never raise their voice.

Corruption has been institutionalized in our society for centuries. Kushwant Singh must be one of the finest writers who fictionalized it humorously. It must be in our genes. We have cornered the resources to a small portion of population. Then it becomes money, more than merit, which tilts thing in our favour. It could be admissions, team selections, business ventures, bails.

Weren’t there many people who protested in the non violent way earlier? Why didn’t we see the same frenzy over people like Medha Patekar? The simple answer is class conflict. ‘Narmada project’ means power to the majority. But it’s a displacement to the minority. ‘Army’ means sacrifice and martyrdom to a majority. But it’s oppression and torture for the Kashmir and North-East. When we say the civic society be included in drafting of the bill, will they be large hearted enough to look beyond their own framework? Will we see people like Ambdekar who can see beyond the development of the middle class?

I hear people crying out to Pilate to crucify Raja for the 2-G scam. But when it comes to the Tata or Ambani they ought to be respected. Because they fetch their shareholders money and give jobs to millions. They do us proud by exporting vehicles and sponsor our cricket teams and tournaments. But Rajas came out of the scum and has to return to the scum. As a country who always worshipped its rich heroes, will we have the courage to tear apart the mask? Will there be justice for all?

All I wanted to was to pose a few questions. The journey has only begun. Will there be people to carry the torch all the way through?

UST

Three years is not a very long time. It’s a very short time for you to work somewhere, know someone, fall in love, see your dreams shattered. 3 years is not a very significant part of your life. But when you suddenly let go off a life that you had get used to for 3 years, there is a gamut of emotions flowing through you.

I joined UST straight out of college. UST is a mid sized company that has pretensions of a big one. Although UST is not the greatest place to work in, I had grown so comfortable there. I had got so used to pretensions and shoddiness that I feel so insecure when I leave. But the only thing that doesn’t change in life is change!

The biggest regret I will be carrying out of the place is I couldn’t cultivate a band of friends. I am not much of a social animal and I think thrice before I plan to give a treat. So there is not going to be any more ‘get in touches’. Probably in a few months I would completely forget about UST.

3 years ago I didn’t have much clue on the ‘Corporate’ culture except in the films. I worked in a place where ‘the corporate’ reincarnated with all its ugliness. Thankfully I didn’t have to be the victim of the hypocrisy. This was the place where I learnt the ‘Values & Culture’ are a common phenomenon preached by all and practiced by none. I am still to get 25k bucks from the company and have no clue on it till date. It’s a great fallacy that the private sector is free of corruption while the government offices reek of the stink.

I also had my share of heart break and subsequent retrospection. The experience was valuable considering the fact that I learnt an invaluable lesson- Women are not what we see from the outside.

Hard work and sincerity may be rewarding in your moral science classes. But in a corporate world these qualities could land you in trouble. There would be plenty of times when you’ll have to kick your ethics to background and let the head do your talking. The concept of getting rewarded according to your merit is a poor sham. Individual merit can be rewarded in examinations. But for a team, individual brilliance takes the second place.

I would be taking all these lessons to a place where I will have to interact more with the public. A welcoe change from the closed cubicles! But I will have to adjust to the 6 day weeks

Movie Review- Urumi (Malayalam)

Ok this review will only be readable and understandable for an Indian nevertheless a Mallu. After the college, these are the days I get time to sit home jobless. So when my buddy, VP on his vacation from Air force, called me up for a movie I was all game for it. ‘Urumi’ stands for a long sword which is beaten into sheet like thinness. It is very malleable and squirms like a snake and extremely difficult to use. Hence it’s a popular weapon in Kerala.

When the news came out that Santosh Sivan is doing a movie that too with the young superstar Prithvi Raj the expectation and hype naturally soared sky high. The next element to catch people’s attention was the unusual story which portrayed Vasco Da Gama as a blood thirsty traveler. Now to beat all that he lined up one of the most beautiful female cast in India and released the cool stills. For a film to run India, the luck factor is very elementary. Santosh had it all when two other much hyped movies released a week before this fell flat at the box office. I was very apprehensive on trying my luck in the theatre queues on the opening days. Things can turn very nasty when fans association may create a ruckus on purpose and invite police action. A lathi charge on the opening day is a very positive sign for cash registers. But surprisingly the crowds weren’t astronomically large and were very tame too. So we didn’t have much problem in getting the tickets.

Coming back to the review- with all the hype there is a good chance for a well made film to be different from the mass expectation. A hyped film stands in a very dangerous zone. But ‘Urumi’ has done very well in terms of mass expectation and that was obvious from the crowd feedback.

Coming to the visuals, cinematography, sets- Santosh Sivan is the top notch in the country in terms o cinematography. All his films have proclaimed the strength of his forte irrespective of language and budget. It’s simply an awesome experience to sit in a theatre and enjoy his visual and colour treats. The sets and costumes are very impeccable too. May be that’s the difference between Sivan and the likes of Priyadarshan and SLB. They have a tendency to go so loud that after the initial awe the viewer might question the logic of lavishness. The mist, waterfalls, rivers were a treat for the eyes. There were also instances where the technical prowess was combined with artistic brilliance. I refuse to describe them in detail as my limited vocabulary might not justify the feel.

Coming to the story- It’s a period film and we have not even heard a rumor about such an instance. Vasco has always been portrayed as a brave traveler who opened up the windows of India to the world. But according to ’Urumi’ Vasco is a maniac, greedy and success oriented traveler who leaves no stone unturned for the quest of glory and power. He leaves behind a trail of blood and crime for which there are people looking for vengeance. Our hero is one of them. But the movie is not a straight jump into the history. There is a intermingling of foreign mining company bent on land grabbing and eveiction of poor tribals. The mix of power, politics and greed of the day is intertwined with the story of the Portuguese, It is a novel approach and worked very well. The director offers a food for thought on the concept of development and how it has been destroying and degrading the human race. It’s a good sign that the intelligentsia are expressing their view thorough the medium of cinema

The place where the cinema falters is the screenplay. There is no build up or any serious sub plots. The film rolls on with the luxury of a poem. But the three hours can begin to stretch your patience and we may end up questioning the length of the movie. The songs have also added to the boredom. The songs aren’t good enough and they appear on all unlikely instances.

Coming to the cast- the male section of actors are impeccable and it would be tough to single out an exceptional performance as everyone has bettered his role. But the two worth mentioning are Prabhu Deva and Jagathy. But you are sure to get disappointed with the star studded female actors. None of them has any significant role except for Genelia. She has very well messed up her part. I cannot understand the reason Vidya Balan should have been there in the film. It’s a totally insignificant role with an item dance. But people were under the impression that she had a plum role. The only plum role available was for her cleavages.

I feel very good in getting to see a good movie early on. It’s surely a proud moment for Malayalam movie industry for making one movie at the international standards