Moral Policing is Terrorism

As the citizens of India vent their rage on the Mumbai killings carried out by the young men hurling bombs and going on an indiscriminate shooting spree, there is also a need to look within. This is no less http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090082294.

There are more than few parallels that can be drawn between the two incidents. Similar to the group of young men who shot hundreds in Mumbai, this was a group of young men (goons) belonging to a rightist non-political party who attacked the innocent people at the pub in Mangalore. More than being shameful, it is alarming that the common man in India has no better status than probably a slave during the era of colonialism.

The mob alleged that the young girls and boys at the pub on a Saturday afternoon were indulging in drugs, prostitution and nagn (naked) dance. Well this can't be far from truth, as it is quite evident from the video footage that it was a regular restaurant lounge where people were even having a snack with probably a few drinks. Their claim to be the defenders of Hindu religion is a farce. Imposing the moral rule in an immoral way is only deterrent to the advancement of the civilized way of life.

Even if the innocent victims were indulging in something illegal what is the loss in punishing them within the law. If there were drugs being taken at the location, one would expect a police action and a legal proceeding to take the wrong doers into task.

The leader of this non-non-political party states that his men were just doing a service to the society and their country, and that the media is making a mountain out of a mole. This is disgraceful, we are ashamed of these Indians. The leader even tries to derive political mileage by blaming the current rule of the party to have encouraged the 'pub culture'. I wonder what culture is this 'gentleman' is trying to patronise - 'woman beating culutre'. I desire to see the highest authority in the country to come out and make a statement condemning this act and commit to bringing them to justice. Alas, it may not happen. We need to treat these men from this Hindu outfit in the same way as Qasab, the lone terrorist nabbed in the Mumbai killings.

Bringing them to justice under one law will only go on to prove that neither Qasab was a Muslim nor are these men Hindus. Religion has become hollow in this age. The foundation of religion is laid with love, respect, kindness, tolerance, individual freedom and to an extent, law to protect the rights and liberties of an individual. And religion is definitely not what these uncivilized men make it to be.

I wonder what frustrations do these right wing outfits have that they vent it out on the common man. The women being beaten up, pulled by their hair, pushed on the ground and the men who were protecting them were beaten up black and blue - LET THIS BE CLEAR - this is not even policing forget it being moral. Digressing a bit from the incident but not the issue, there is another incident that is as dastardly as this one. A few policemen in the state of Uttar Pradesh (sadly my home state) beat a five year old (yes you heard it right !) girl for allegedly stealing Rs. 280 (less than $ 6). Here is the incident, http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090082297.

Here is a picture for the strong hearted, it seems in the picture that they have held the little child upside down by her feet. POLICING ? This is terrorism. Far worse than religious because it is more deep rooted and almost goes unnoticed. Even the police needs to know its limitations when it comes to their high handedness and their indiscreet assault of common man.


Is there an end to this ? Well, let there be a beginning to the evasive end.

Universal Dilemma

The purpose of mankind as a whole on earth is still evasive. I have a purpose in life (atleast a short term one, well then wasn't it Keynes who said that in the long run we all anyways die) and so do a lot of men & women like me. But where are we heading as a single entity ? Nowhere, somewhere or we-don't-care.

The path on which the mankind is treading has twists and turns. The inventions of the day, the sciences, the art and literature, the search for a better knowledge of human anatomy, behavior, physiology, psychology, etc have been the pursuit of minds. Since the days when naked men discovered fire to keep themselves warm at times other than when they were eating or copulating, a lot has been discovered.

Humans have been in the pursuit of higher knowledge without knowing what that is. The understanding of the planets and stars besides unravelling mysteries of the universe around us, has encouraged man to leave earth and explore the (not so) empty space around us. But what comes of this understanding is satellites, more experiments, more theories, and more inventions. The human mind has an insatiable appetite for thought. Well isn't that what a brain is for, besides of course guiding the five senses and commanding the obedient organs.

A question that may arise is that aren't these objectives legitimate for the mankind. Do they not define a purpose worth pursuing anyways. Rather there are too many of them, every person just choses the one that fascinates his mind and pursues it as his occupation. This individualistic pursuit is what makes us similar and also differentiates us from other species. THANKS for reading so far, I have lost the train of my thoughts. :) and am a little bored !!

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11 is the new 13

9/11 followed by 11/26 has blemished the once very charming number eleven. Eleven has always been an auspicious number, there are eleven players in the game of cricket, there are one less than eleven commandments, there is heaven on 2 less than eleventh number clound, etc. Unfortunately, the modern form of terror has not left the mortals with any choice but to include 11 in the ever expanding list of superstitions.

The cowardly acts of terrorists have, so far, not affected the morale of the people. Although there have been changes in the national security system, the immigration laws are stricter, airport security has been beefed up, etc. But people have not stopped living life, they still celebrate festivals with as much fervor as earlier, they still want to travel the world and know more about other cultures and traditions, and they still enjoy sports. There are a few fundamental aspects of human nature that naturally live through any calamity.

The humans around the world neither can postpone everything to devote themselves to fighting terror, nor will they board the Noah's ark and sail away from the terrorists. Sadly, the frequent terror strikes have forced people to accept these attacks as a way of life now. It seems that even the terrorists have forgotten their initial objectives and now what is left is just a chaotic random acts of killing and bloodshed. It is not a fight for freedom, it is not a fight against any injustice, it is not a fight against any ferocious conqueror, but just murder in cold blood for no apparent reason. The fight can no longer continue in the name of any religion because with every passing day the lines between cultures as well as religions are blurring.

All we can do is dream on for a better tomorrow.

Will India ever win over itself ?

Can 'hope' be ever misplaced ? After all it is only 'hope'.

Cinematic Brilliance or Failure ?

It is not everyday that a boy meets a girl at a deserted small railway station in the hills. It is not everyday that the boy musters enough courage to talk to the girl in their first ever meeting, and also bring a smile to her face. It is not everyday that the a girl requests a stranger ; who has offered to bring stars, moon, etc and win forts in her honour ; to bring a cup of tea for her. It is not everyday that a love story ends with this, and a remarkable cinema begins.

Mani Ratnam's bollywood disaster was the first Indian movie to burn the British box office charts. It is often that a commercial disaster goes on to earn a lot of critical acclaim (Jaane Bhi Do yaaron is one of the best examples to the rule) and Dil Se met with the same fate. It's stupendous cinematography, strong performances, titillating music and Chhaiyyan Chhaiyyan was the talk of the country, but not enough to bring the masses to the cinema.

Masses or no masses, I loved the movie so much that i have so far watched it more than a couple of dozen times, sometimes barely able to open my eyes from the early morning laziness or the latenight sleep. It has always energised me, inspired me to strive for excellence in my work.

I would like to mention a few arguments as to why the movie did not appeal to the majority of the Indians. First, it was not a movie with happy ending, that of course may not be a valid reason, as there have been a plenty of sad movies that went on to become popular with the audience. Second reason could be geographical and regional dis/non/un-placement of characters, meaning audience were not able to place the story in the correct city. The audience seem to have been unsure if the story is about Nepal, Assam, Leh-Ladhak or Delhi. The editing of the movie has been blamed by some of the popular critics, though i beg to differ and like to think that it was superbly edited.

The reason that i can think of is that, the movie neither had moments where the audience could stand on their feet and clap, nor were there any moments where one needed a hankerchief to wipe ones tears. It was a subtle movie, i guess in 1998 it was about time we watched one.

It had lots of subtle moments like when Amar and Meghna talk about the three things they like and three they dislike, under the moonlit-cold night. And the disappearance of Meghna the next morning with some words dropped on the sand, "Kuchh Log, ret pe likhe naamon ki tarahan hote hain, Hawah ka jhonka Jinhe Urwa deta hai". (Not the) Best possible translation, " Some people are like names written in the sand, who are blown away by the wind".

These are aesthetically appealing shots, that need some amount of patience and a taste for slow cinema, to appreciated. Imagine an on-your-feet-applauding-cheering audience watching Orson Welles' "The Trial", I bet they would be disappointed by the entire twists and turns, and the arguments.

Anyways, the question i began with remains unanswered, in the interest of (my) time i will end it by saying that, The Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Watch it, if you can !!

Defn.

God's a poor man and earth is his begging bowl.

What now ?

This is a question that I have been asked so many times that if i start counting, i would spend as many days as there are in a week (that's still a lot). The first time i asked this question to myself was, when i had beaten the record of the top guy of my batch in primary school in all subjects. The answer i gave to myself was "Keep Going".

I kept up with my own stupid idea and "kept going", until others started asking me, "My boy! What now ?". I said, "Medicine", I wanted to keep up the family tradition of hydrogen peroxide, antibiotics, cough syrups, hot water fermentation, fight against homeopathy and raising the allopathy flag. By 1990's somehow i developed an antipathy towards medicine, the number of years in study, and the mindless rote method of studying and delivering the knowledge fueled my (insensible) antipathy.

At the next given opportunity i said, "IAS." These are the three letters far superior than 'ILU' in the large expanse of our country. If God ever takes the form of human, he would be a civil servant (paradoxical !). Their power is unmatched, their stature is unparalleled and their general knowledge is sweared by. One could probably collect a handful of civil servants and run them in a GK race, this might generate a lot of money. But then regretfully dawned the era of political subordination of the civil servants and it seems what remained of them was just the latter word.

By now i was at a stage where the seriousness of "What now ?" increased hundred-fold and my seriousness had taken a flight of its own. With the world domination by Walmart and Pepsi and other multi multinationals, I had decided to join the bandwagon and ride the wave. It was "MBA", "IIT" and consequences. Two years of toil and sweat, going through the books because they were being published. But of course my seriousness and ambition had just begun its flight and so i managed to chip in a lot of fun and weekends off during the two years, with life saving results.

"What now ?" St. Stephen's came to my rescue and said to me, " Son, no need to rush through anything, just take it easy and take your time to decide what now. " So i went on with a whole list of "What nows ?", "Film Making", "Writing", "Journalism", "Advertising" and other trivialities.

And so I took my time and his time, and here I am in my last year of PhD. The only thing that kept me going through these years was Mathematics. This was one true friend i had and the only reason i could keep up with "What nows ?".

"Anyways, seriously arjun, What now ?!! "