The shop next door

So government comes up with reforms atlast, which probably might be a face saver. The usually silent PM comes up with war cries like : ‘Strengthen my hands’, ’We will go down fighting’. Judging from the reaction, the ‘middle class’ is not much enthused this time.  At the end of the day, what good would the reforms do if it burns up your wallet. Anyway the Time magazine did a somersault and sang praises for our PM in the last edition. India Inc has also expressed their gratitude and may tip MMS as ideal Indian premier ahead of Modi.

The category called people were once upon a  time had the opinions shaped by India Inc, money market, GDP graphs and shit news from the media. But after many scams, allegations and movements like IAC,  people are not buying the growth story anymore. In the meantime PM has been playing bluff after bluff with his sage like silence, well timed emotional outbursts & scholarly use of language. 

When the reforms were announced, which rather wasn’t unexpected, the FB and Twitter crowds descended in hordes. The Voice of the Social Networks is another colossal change in Indian landscape. We have a wide and cheap means to exhibit our nonsense. The ‘revolution’ and ‘rebellion’ became a hip word. MMS and Sonia Gandhi became a darling for the sarcastic tweeples. And now the crowd started hunting for the poster boy for their movement. 

Years ago we had two kinds of villain typecasted for our TV sops and serials. One was the local money lender & other was the local shop owner. The shop owner wore a cap, glasses on the nose tip, had teeth sticking out of the mouth, he cheated with weights, cheated with the quality, he refused the widows credit and occasionally took advantage of the honour of poor village girls. 

One fine morning the huge, air conditioned and spacious shops come up with neatly dressed well mannered kids. The kinara shop owner runs out of business. Then as if from heaven above the Twitter activists find their martyr specimen in him.

We had a stationary shop in our street owned by one of our neighbours. The guy was rich, rode a sazzy bike and had a beautiful daughter. Although we smiled politely at him, we murmured about the insane profits he’s been making. The shop was run by a morose guy. Every evening office goers would pick up the day’s necessities. 

Then slowly he had to change. The shop was given a facelift, where people could actually walk in & pick goods. The morose boy had to laboriously paste a smile. Still he finds it tough to hold out, considering the discount the big players give.

In an age where the goods are measured based on the utility and services, is it worthwhile to wail about a system that has self extinguished itself. A few years ago, the vegetable vendor picked out the vegetables for us. He would try to slip in a few rotten ones. An argument would follow culminating in the mutually agreed at a price. 

Haven’t things changed? Why would people prefer to burn up money just for the sake of sentiments? What we need is a real set of thought process that goes before making a statement.

Aren't we all desperate?

So i met Sree through the Facebook. We had been blogger buddies for quite sometime. I searched for her name and found her online. I came across a few pictures of hers- happily doping with the friends. I asked her the usual idiotic question- don’t you guys get ‘indecent’ while doping. She replies ‘Yea only the Mallu men do’ Wow, ok this is a compliment for my clan. 

What makes the English men so prim and decent while on a high? Why do the Mallus can think only about getting indecent?

My friend Aliyah says the same too. She says the new age Mallu men pretends enjoying all the crude jokes and then goes arounf labelling you a slut.

Now why is it? A famed poet wrote a poem titles ‘ The purity of Indian women’. We had a tradition where the property was inherited by the elder sister’s son. The whole thought process behind it was that women carried purest blood of the family. 

May be we got a little so obsessed with preserving purity of the blood. The women were placed at highest pedestal of divinity and isolated from the world. The men were expected to find a living when the women were expected to breed pure blood. 

The times have changed and the women have started earning their dough too. But sadly they have refused themselves to be brought down the pedestal. As far as i see it, the real challenge is to see your friend, sister and wife as humans.

Its just ok if the fall for someone else, or if they play around a bit. For we are humans after all.

Are we so desperate?

 

I was born into a clan that is said to produce some of the most deprived, depraved and desperate men in the planet earth. We pose no threat to physical existence to our women. Infact our women are most well educated and well placed in all the earth. But we have these charactersitics which distinguish ourselves.

We produce the highest volume of sleaze magazines in the country. We have some of the most imaginative writers of soft porn. The backdropvaries from a sex starved wife of a NRI to army man to businessman. She sadly has to please herself until she finds the doors to freedom in the servant boy, nephew , cousin or the new tenant next door. Recently we moved onto hostel lesbianism. Our men has moved into a collaboration with Ekta Kapoor for the mother-in-law daughter-in-law sex escapades.

We produce most number of soft porn videos. The busty ladies are imported from outside. Their topless self writhe in orgasmic pleasure on the bed, while the hero sniffs from top to bottom and back to top. Thankfully male nudity doesn’t go beyond the bermudas.The dot com era fuelled in our imaginations and today ‘mallu masala’ is the most sought web search. Our technological advancement is showcased by the number of spycams we hide in ladies’ toilet, bathrooms and changing rooms.

We are also the first in the country when it comes to sexual morality. We pass lewd remarks and stare shamelessly at anything with round ass and tits. We defined a frame work for ‘decent’ clothing and anyone who dares to defy it has to live with the shame of countless gossips manufactured at her expense. In the bus and trains we crane our necks to get even the slightest peak into the valleys.

Despite all this we donot allow two people from opposite sex to roam around on beach, ice cream shops and restaurants unless they carry some ID proof.

Back in school, i had this tuition classes at an obscenely early hour. I used to wake up so early and cycle to the classes. One such fine morning, I was trying to wake myself up from sleep when a fat boy came and sat near me. We hadn’t talked to each other and he had this eternal smile plastered on his face. I wasabout to say hi when he opened the conversation:

‘ Do you masturbate?’

OMG !! is this guy a vibrator sales man

‘How do you masturbate?’

Ok he must have done a ourse in sex therapy. But we are only 14. Next came the million dollar question ‘ Who do you dream of when you do it’

There was this guy, Govind, in college who fell in love with our college beauty Sreeja. He went around writing on the blackboards ‘Sreeja loves Govind.’

 

Are we that desperate?

Weeping superstar

So here comes the moment. Aamir Khan walks in with grandeur and style. The advertisements and tweets had been rolling out all the past days. Aamir's eyes are baggy from non stop weeping ever since the program began. India waits in baited breath, to know how their elderly are treated. Lo Aamir is here to open our eyes.

The episode changes, the situation changes but the scenes from the studio remains the same. The crowd Vinces, gasps, cries and shake their heads. While Aamir nods in understanding, wiping an occasional tear. Show is over in an hour, we run to our pc and system to tweet and blog & express our anguish.

India had a unique social structure built around its villages. The weak and the old had to be taken care in the family or by the village. It was considered a shame when the plea for help went out. Then a number of factors ranging from urbanization to materialistic culture and nuclear family system shook the existent roles and responsiblities. The duties which were once considered mandatory became optional.
I'm not saying the old system was free of blemishes and it is impractical to walk back in time.

Today you have to see a movie' Lage Raho..' to awaken the social conciousness in us. The sympathetic feelings are then stolen by  a different issue. A few years have to go by for someone else to make another film/sop on the old age crises.

Movie Review - The Dark Knight Rises (English)

The first time I walk into theatre , I was slightly taken back to see a huge college crowd. A few were already wearing the Bat insignia. The irony didn't escape me. Years ago I was in college when the 'BATMAN BEGAN'. How fast time flies.

I had been looking for this installment ever since the first stills appeared online. The first time I heard Nolan is remaking the Batman comics, I wondered why the great director is self destructing himself.
But he surprised everyone and it was just the beginning.

The second one went on to climb into the world classics list. The unfortunate death of Heath Ledger immortalized the film.

The reason why Nolan went for the Batman series might be , unlike other superheroes, Batman is an ordinary man with extraordinary gadgets and willpower. He also has a very dark side and Nolan is good at exploiting the dark corners .

The first installment was on the evolution of Batman. The meaty parts were the tough journeys, dark sides, self discovery and final redemption. The technical superiority and cool gadgets were also different from run of the mills. Here was a superhero.you could relate to.

When the first celebrated the Batman, the second one was made for the evil Joker. It saw the essential revelation of the Dark sides of the Batman. The Joker stole the show from Batman.
So when the third installment was on its way people didn't really know what to expect. I doubt if Nolan expected his film to be known for the anti hero (who was no longer alive physiologically). So much were woven out of tidbits of information available.

And here I was, among a crowd way high with expectations. The movie progressed with loud cheers, whistles and applause for every dialogue and appearance. This was very much an Indian superstar cinema experience. The movie had all the right combination for a success. But sadly it ended there .

There was no genius of Nolan to be seen. The movie seemed to be a rollover to the first part. So much sequences seemed to be giving a deja vu. The villain guy couldn't live to the expectations after initial hours. He simply seemed to fade away. The twist in the end also failed to deliver any punch.

If the second part was celebration of Joker, the third was celebration of Batman. But he failed to do any sense of connection and was always in a hurry. The main protagonists didn't have any role. The sorry figure of weeping Alfred signalled the doom. The female side of cast clearly lacked the element and so did Robin.

Apart from all this, the technical side of the movie was good. I am relieved that this the end of it. The same sets and situations have started to bore me. May be Nolan wasn't ready for the final adieu even.

Bottomline: hope this is where Nolan's Batman takes the final bow. Go with a mind to celebrate.

Movie review - Ustad Hotel (Malayalam)

I had a discussion with a friend on the crediblity of a popular movie. One point that came across the discussion was - love is a sensory feeling . And the taste buds aren't exempted from choosing your mate.
The makers of Ustad Hotel sincerely tried to make something different from the normal recipe . Thankfully, they made sure it didn't fall into the new-generation-mallu bracket.

Anwar Rasheed arrived with a name tag of making superstar flicks. Even when he delivered with all his movies making it to the hit list, critics had serious doubts on his versatility. But then he startled everyone with a short film. And now he has proved his mettle with Ustad Hotel.
Apart from the director, the writer deserves equal accolades . Anjali Menon has come up with a beautiful script. The music-story-director team has worked in perfect harmony. The story is well placed with no unwanted scenes. There's a perfect blend of music into the frame. And the music director has come up with a diverse mix of music to suit the mood.

The sub plots in the film are beautifully balanced. At no point do we feel.them holding the pace of the movie.
The movie starts off with early stages of the protagonist and moves on to other stages. The way the story shifts is so smooth and appealing. The best part was the creativity when the protagonist's student life at Switzerland was shown through the opening credits as a caricature. It stimulated the creative cells of the viewer and saved some valuable time .
Next he meets the lady love , which resulted in another turning point in his life. He unconsciously embarks on a process of self discovery.
He meets his estranged grandfather. He learns the hooks of the job he loves. Then there's a predictable fight with the greedy sharks, he rediscovers his Love, revives his old hotel and the movie ends .

Besides the technical part, we see some great performance from the thespian- Thilakan. The way he moves from one character to another is a great lesson . I wonder where Malayalam cinema would end up ? Can we survive without the golden generation!!

(I choose to be silent on the ability of the younger actors.  I don't want to be labelled old man )

Book review - Aadujeevitham (Malayalam)

There was this huge book sales going around in the city. The crowd had a varied mixture of hip new gen, screaming kids, housewives and the socialites. The organisers would've made some real profits out of this .
I was there looking for a hot shot Mallu writer. He was young, NRI and his first book was such a huge hit. I even heard it was adopted into the curriculum by the university. I was on the lookout for that book.

I asked the salesman.
He pushed two  into my hand ' He just released his second one . And its already a best seller.' I thought for a minute and finally picked them both.
Just out of my childish curiosity, I read the second one first. I was very much impressed and wrote a review on it.
Then I moved on to the first one ( the gross seller) - ' Adujeevitham', which can be roughly translated into ' Goat's Life'.

The book gives the first impression of a tragic novel out there to exploit the reader's tear glands. But a second look gives an impression of something more than sensitivity syndrome. You get a powerful feel of strong currents of human emotion , when he's cut off from human civilizations and made to fight against the bare nature.

Humankind always strived and prospered as a society. Even though man being a fragile as an individual , the society could tame the nature and bring it to its dominance. Even when we clamor against institutionalization and social degradation, we fail to understand that our survival depends entirely on standing together.

There is a dual backdrop the writer has chosen . The story first unfolds in Kerala where the Gulf boom only has started to set in. Najeeb who's just a casual laborer finds it difficult to raise his family. He's forced to search for a livelihood in Gulf, much against his own wish.

The writer being migrant himself would've been able to take a viewpoint much more realistic . The popular image of the gulf malayalee returning with a truck load of goodies is given a rest.

Having had to leave his hometown and a pregnant wife is a tough decision, or to put it in perspective, It's a humiliating decision. Man is destined / programed to find livelihood for his family. The moment he fails to do so , there starts his degradation. Which is more the less equivalent to degradation of his manhood.

Now unravels the second backdrop- The Arab countries which suddenly finds itself finding oil and wealth. The eager and meager ones migrating to an unknown land of unknown culture hoping to earn the daily bread. Najeeb finds himself waiting at the airport for someone he doesn't know and staring into an unknown future.

Meanwhile the author draws a parallel character along with protagonist, Hakkim. He's younger and doesn't have ant familial obligation. The young guy came over to the Gulf following his father's footsteps. He too lands along with Najeeb and waits for an unknown Arab but with youthful nonchalance.

Late into night an Arab comes picks them up and drives away into night. They are soon taken into an uninhabited land. A sense of danger lurks in mind when both of them are separated. He soon finds the nature of his job- a goat herd.

The ingenuity of the writer is reflected here. He portrays the dealings of the protagonist with three objects: the goats, desert and his predecessor.
Najeeb on his arrival, meets his predecessor. Najeeb can't understand the language of the man. He feels a revulsion to this man who doesn't bath or clean himself. He despises the man as a pre historic animal. But soon Najeeb finds himself turning into the man he despised. The man tries to escape and Najeeb finds his dead body later.

Then there's the magnificent desert. Although we find it barren and hot, Najeeb soon discovers it as  habitat for a wide variety of beings. The desert reduces its inhabitants into rough people. I loved the part where he finds himself caught in rain and absolutely no shelter. The author deserve accolades for the way he vividly describes how an average guy from a lush, green place slowly comes into term with brown, hot the desert.

Thirdly, there are the goats. The protagonist , when he comes there first , sees a huge herd. He has a goat at home. But soon realizes taking care of a herd isn't the same. He grapples and struggles with them. Soon he becomes one of them. In absence of any human friend, they become his friends and relatives. Najeeb finds out that man is nothing but an animal .

Overall the book is a great read, but it deserves some serious reading into the middle. There are so many images the writer has used very well to give out the message.

I thanked God for my life after I finished it.