Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The Integrator

“ Vijayanagar??”
“Jaayegi !!”
And so I step into, or rather hang on to the gate of an overcrowded bus. It takes some time to gouge out standing space for oneself. Having done that you can heave a sigh of relief and congratulate yourself on being successfully accepted into this box full of bodies, and have a look at the other passengers (bodies) around you. Each face reflects the day it has seen, weary faces of office goers, tired faces of students; having sat through hours of grueling lectures, exhausted faces of day laborers, blank faces of drunks, curious faces of those new to the city, smug ones of those who’ve been here long, twisted faces of crying children, innocent ones of those too old to cry. Every tone of emotion, reflected so openly, it makes you think.
“Ticket!”
I fumble with the change and grab the pink token in my sweaty hand. The conductor moves to a pudgy man, with well oiled hair, sporting Ray-Ban sunglasses, clad in an impeccably white kurta- pyjama, with a tri-colored dupatta draped around his neck. His sharp moustache shows 10:10 on his face. He sits there with an uncomfortably complacent aura around him.
“Ticket sir!!”
Where did that ‘sir’ come from? It wasn’t there in my case. I look down; I’m dressed in a decent shirt-pant with a tie, why was the ‘sir’ missing then? I guess it must have been the aura.
“ Humara naam Munnalal Yadav hai”
Now, what kind of an answer is that? When asked for a ticket you pay for it, or show your pass, or in the worst case you show your incapability of paying the fare, in any case your name has nothing to do with the ticket.
But somehow it turned out to be the right answer. How much would the ticket cost? 3 rupees – 4! But this neta, as we call them, found it beneath his dignity to pay for the ticket.
Seated next to him is an old villager, a complete contrast to his co-passenger. The wrinkles on his face speak of the hard days he has seen. He wears a dusty dhoti and a worn off shirt, and a fluorescent turban which strikes a remarkable contrast with his otherwise morose attire.
“ Dewas naake ka kitta lagega?”
“4 rupiye”
The expression this answer brought on that man’s face is something I won’t forget in a hurry. The sudden pain in those eyes, the mental calculations he made, the things he thought he will have to compromise. He then opened a knot at the end of his dhoti, interrupted by the conductors’ irritated “ jaldi karo baba” . The open knot revealed some coins and a 10 rupee note folded and folded again. I somehow could not look anymore and I turned to look in another direction.

A bai, had just occupied an empty seat beside a teenage girl. The girl immediately reacted by shrinking in a corner of her seat, visibly uncomfortable. We very enthusiastically talk about how the youth is forgetting the whole ‘untouchable’ dogma and moving on. But I think I’m getting this all wrong, it has nothing to do with the untouchable idea, it’s almost an involuntary act, and even I would have done it had I been in her place. How exactly this has come into out behavioral pattern I do not know. As the bus jumps a few potholes, and drones on, the girl loses the initial reserve and is now sitting normally, not trying to shrink away.

I hear snatches of conversation
“ this time the juniors have lost it. I’ll slap them one by one tomorrow. Fucking bunch, what do they think…..” and he guffaws .

“ Haan, haan….. ho jaayega sir. Nahi. …haan.. abhi bus mein hoon….. Thik hai….. Par woh bola 5000 toh dene padenge kam se kam. .. haan sir…” some contractor is shouting on his phone.

“jai ram….jai ram….jai ram….jai ram….” the old man’s lips move, almost soundlessly, his hands fumble with the rosary.

“ tum bhi, koi kaam thik se nahi karti ho… abhi ghar jaake jaldi se khana bana dena, kal office mein bade saab aa rahe hai, jaldi jaana padega…” a man scolds his wife.

“papa… papa… mai toh darwaje pe khada hoon…” a child shouts, at which his flabbergasted father jumps to grab him and pull him into the insides of the bus and scolds him, not entirely angry.

A man smokes a bidi, though several notices prohibit him to. But I guess he cannot read, and nobody around him says anything, some make a face.

The conversations and the engine noise mingle into a monotonous hum. I feel like I’m in a trance. I’m seeing a lot of things and thinking.
I feel as if I’m breaching a private domain of all these people. I am not meant to hear what they are saying, or am I?
What a thing these public transports are, they bring together the widest variety of humans, and with this thought I stick a recent word I learnt at college, INTEGRATOR.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Nationalism: A discussion

This is a discussion I had with a good friend of mine about nationalism. Some interesting points were raised, and discussed.

Vinod:
As you wished me -- Have a Proud Independence Day! Although, I derive little or no pride in such organized nationalism.

Me:
It's not the organized nationalism that I wanted you to appreciate, but nationalism itself. It is sad that most people feel this spirit only momentarily, that too on incorrectly called national 'holidays'. It should be national 'festivals'. Went to school today. I like it a lot to see all those children singing the national anthem, even though they may not feel the depth of it, or may deliberately avoid it. But in that moment of chorus (forced it may be) I derive my pleasure.

Vinod:
You will perhaps find it sadder that one of your good friends does not appreciate nationalism in any form. In fact, I have trouble understanding the concept of nationalism itself, at least in the Indian context. What exactly is a nation? What exactly is the Indian nation? And even if you can satisfactorily define those two, why should I swear my allegiance to any nation? There are the questions that elude and trouble me. What exactly is deep about the national anthem? Why exactly do you feel pleasure when you hear people sing it? One possible reason is that you see people united for a common cause in all this. I have seen that only in films and yes, it does give me the Goosebumps. However, when it comes to nationalism -- what exactly is it that we are or should be united for? And if you are talking about national identity, I firmly believe that India has none.

Me:
I'll start by answering the questions first. A nation is not the political boundaries. It is the culture you relate yourself to. The Indian nation is the geographical region that is inhabited by people who share a common thread of religion, language or culture. The diversity is of course there but still there is something that you can find common in all the people. And now as to why you should pledge allegiance to the nation is because you're in her debt. The person you are, the social standing you have, the facilities you avail of, the moral code you follow, and the directions your thoughts take, all come finally from the country. I'll tell you how. The culture that brought you up, decided what you think and how you think, agreeably you'll say that you are an independent thinker and say that all that you think and do is inspired from a lot of factors that are non-Indian. But still it's your decision of right and wrong, the choice of what to do and what not to do finally comes from the code of conduct you have derived form the culture.

Vinod:
So you say that a nation is the culture that you can relate to. True. That is how most nations have been defined. However, you must also accept that while the concept of a nation evolved naturally in Europe, it was almost forced upon the Indian subcontinent. Thus, in Europe you find nations with fairly uniform cultures and languages and in India you find a forcibly put together assortment of peoples who find it really hard to relate to each other. If you need a first hand experience of this talk sometime to Shashank about Chennai. The trouble that man has in adapting to the Tamil culture is phenomenal. Still, you say that there is a common thread running through the Indian people. Indeed, entire volumes have been written to prove this. Take for example Nehru's, Discovery of India or Amartya Sen's, The Argumentative Indian. The fact that such long texts are needed to 'define' India proves, in the least, that it is difficult to define the Indian nation. Anyhow, whether India is a nation or not is rather irrelevant to my anti-nationalistic feelings.You say that I should pledge allegiance to my nation since I'm in her debt. I fail to understand how this is so. A. The nation has not purposefully provided me for my various needs. The nation is not a conscious being B. I never asked for it. I never asked for myself to be born. In essence this whole 'debt' has been forced on me. I was never consulted in whether I wanted to accept it or not. It is as if you catch a beggar from roadside. Give him a million bucks without his asking for them. Force him into becoming a successful millionaire and then say that you are in my debt. The poor fellow never asked you to do it! Thus, I do not see it as a debt.Even if you do see it as a debt, how do you resolve the fact that the education that you are so proud of comes largely from outside the country. The culture that you so proudly inherit is a product of thousands of years of history none of which even mentions "India' since India wasn't invented then. Why then do you feel indebted to this particular political and cultural unit? And since you emphasized so much on culture, the entire subcontinent, including China, Afghanistan, and the south East Asian countries can be seen as one cultural unit. Why should I not swear my allegiance to all of them then?

Me:
Fine, it was not your choice, being born, but then nobody has that choice. But once born, you were asking for debts, they were not pushed to you forcefully. You wanted food, you wanted shelter, security. Your parents wanted education for you, a ‘settled’ future. And how was all that taken care of? Because of the country you were born in. Okay it was your hard work that brought the money, but the fact that you are able to earn money in return for work was ensured by the country. This hard work would have been no good, had you been born in Somalia. And this may be broadened to include your ability to buy. You are able to get products worth your money, because the country ensures so.
Agreeably, the Indian nation was formed in the most dynamic circumstances and a lot of different cultures were forced together. But once together, they learnt to coexist. No doubt everyone asserts the unique existence of his culture but they still are voluntarily Indian.
Getting to the factor of political boundaries, that is more of an unwritten rule that the area I’m able to control is mine and I can take as much economic advantage of that area as I fancy. The fact that our country spans such a large area is of germane interest to us, because that will ensure we get food and other things.
And I think I should define nationalism here. It obviously does not entail joining the army and hating Pakistan. It involves a feeling of pride in the culture you belong to, in the heritage you’re an heir to and faith in a fund you’re investing in.

Vinod:
Even assuming that all the things you said in paragraph 1 are reasonable (although I still have trouble subscribing to the concept of debt) why only nationalism? Why not a monarchy? Why not just familial bonding? Why should one subscribe to the concept of nation?Then, coming back to the question of debt. Since nobody has any choice in the matter of birth and birth is, in a manner of speaking, 'forced' on the individual by his parents. Once the parents bring an individual to life it is their *duty* to fulfill his needs. They are not obliging the child by being good parents. If they did not want to be good parents they had no right to bring the child to life. To extend the concept further, if a society or 'nation' is bringing a new life to earth, it is its *duty* to see to the needs of that individual. The nation is only fulfilling it's *duty* I don't see any debt involved. Second, once born the child has not idea that he is asking for debt (according to you). The very concept does not exist in the child's mind. How then does the question of debt arise? When you feed a pet in your house, will you say that it’s under your debt? If you take a pet in, it is your duty to feed it. Otherwise don't take it in. If I were ever to define a nation, I'd define it as a group of mutually cooperative individuals who are cooperating because they believe that together they can grow more than if they were fending for themselves.You assertion, that all people of India are voluntarily Indian, is questionable. I don't think majority of the populace had any say in the matter. Colonial decisions were largely taken in bureaucratic offices.Surprisingly, you give a very agreeable definition of nationalism yet bottle it in a package that is totally loathsome. What is this debt crap? Yes, I am proud of my culture and the more I travel across the country (the recent Hyderabad trip for instance) the more I fall into love with it. I get Goosebumps when I realize how people so diverse can live in such harmony. No region is truer to the nature of humanity than the Indian subcontinent with its diversely textured culture.Yet, why I should restrict what I claim to be mine within the name 'Indian' is beyond me. I find the Chinese or the African to be as fascinating as I find my own people. My own people are special only because I understand them way better. I wish to claim the entire universe as mine.

Me:
Well since we started of this discussion with the idea that you did not subscribe to the idea of nationalism, I switched into this debt mode. I use this explanation for the worst cases. But now I know you are not a 'worst case', so I’ll talk of more tangible aspects.You very correctly defined the idea of a nation as a cooperative, and everyone works for that cooperative because everyone identifies the fact that each one of them will grow, if they work together. It is the feeling of loyalty for this cooperative, the urge to do things for its well being is what I define as nationalism.Most parents are responsible and they fulfill their duties. But many do not. It is not right to bring life, if you are not able to care for it, but then are all people righteous?Fine the nation is fulfilling its duty, but are you? I cannot just leave my parents one fine day, and say that you performed your duty well. I too am supposed to perform *my part of the duty*. In the case of our family we perform our duty by reciprocating the love, by ensuring their material and moral comfort. In the case of the nation, I respect it for what it did for me, I work for its well being, and this is nationalism.Yes, I understand the feeling, one gets when one encounters different cultures, and their seamless intermingling. It comes to us because it is basically an opportunity to *understand*. It is something we're trying to do, voluntarily or involuntarily, to learn, to understand.Colonial decisions were taken in bureaucratic offices, and most people did not have a direct say that, but someone must decide for the masses that apparently are not all that intelligent to decide for them. Someone has to initiate the formation of a cooperative.

Monday, September 18, 2006

Pyaar ke side effects: review

If you thought Bollywood could only produce cliched love stories, think again. There are some directors, like Saket Choudhary, bent on proving you wrong. The story indeed is passe, with the girl eager to marry and the boy dubious about commitment, but the wrapping is new and delightful.
The perfectionist Rahul Bose teams up with the whistling crowd's favorite Mallika Sherawat in an uncanny but well oiled duo. The movie takes you through the ups and downs of a relationship in a novel way, with special stress on the "side effects".
All boys get ready to say "I love you" a hundred times a day, and sit through long shopping hours, and the girls, be ready to have boys with short attention spans, ready to have all but responsibility. The subtleties of a regular relationship are brought out so beautifully; that for once you realize love might have so many 'side effects'. The humor is witty, the acting decent, the narration gentle and the flow smooth. No fancy locations, no long love songs, its a nice watch in an otherwise boring collection of movies released this week.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

The fashion of 9/11

The anniversary of terrorist attacks on the World Trade centre came and went, with a few tears shed, and some flower wreaths, but a lot of talk. Now I must clarify here that I myself was deeply moved by the horrifying act of terrorism, and I condemn it wholeheartedly.
I got a lot of mails, with messages like, ‘let us remember the dead of 9/11 and vow that their sacrifice shall not go waste’, and ‘we stand united against terror’. And this one was priceless ‘America has been hurt once, and the wounded tiger roars, they’ll wipe off terrorism from the world. We are together in the fight against terrorism’.
What struck me was that the same people (who talk loudly of terrorism and 9/11) very conveniently forget the annual Flag Day, and might have a faint memory of the recent bombings of Mumbai local trains. Black Friday might not even ring a bell. I’d quote a bit misplaced but appropriate Hindi saying ‘ Ghar ki murgi dal barabar’, what we have at home has no value!! Why is it that 9/11 has had such an impact on our minds, than the frequent attacks we’ve faced, which affect our daily lives much more directly and profoundly? I guess the answer lies in the fact that America has very successfully ‘advertised’ it’s agony, while we have been the ones who are tormented, but silent. All of us read with rapt attention, about the proposed reconstruction of WTC, how many of us question whether a memorial for the Bombay blast victims exists or not?
A consumerist mindset, which we are a part of, dictates, ‘buy what seems best’, and the best is what is advertised best. Just because news at home is not as ‘in’ as the news in America, all the ostentatious intellectuals want to talk of 9/11. A pretty catchy term ‘9/11’, isn’t it? Well, it’s just a part of an organized sympathy gaining campaign, with which America wished to justify its acts in Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Our enthusiastic talk of 9/11 is a part of a bigger infatuation with all things American. Wake up, men and women of my motherland. I do not implore you to talk of a Indian problem, and stop talking of 9/11. I request you to take off those ‘Made in USA’ sunglasses, they are tinted and skewed. Moreover, I hope you do not just talk, but act as well.

Friday, September 08, 2006

CARS: review

Life is not just a rat race in the fast lane, because even if you win, you still remain a rat. There are times when you need to slow down, and look around at what the world has to offer. This is the lesson, Lightning Queen; the fastest rookie in the piston cup learns the hard way.
Pixar studios take you to a world inhabited only by cars. There are new sporty car athletes, and there are vintages, there are luxury cars, and there are pickup trucks. There are car restaurants, and car cosmetics, and everything else you dare to imagine.
Lightning queen, gets lost on his way to a big race, and lands up in Radiator springs, a derelict township, that has been cut off due to the new interstate. Here he realizes the truth of life, finds, for the first time in his life, real friends and his love. “So what if you win a cup in a race, it’s still empty”
A beautifully executed story, animated in a prodigious manner. The expressions on the cars are too real, and you find yourself laughing and crying with them. A movie that makes sense to the kids and the grandparents alike. Watch it!!

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Lagey Raho Munnabhai:review

All those who thought philosophy is limited to books, and those, who discard Mahatma Gandhi out of fashion, here is the clarion call. Rajkumar Hirani carves out a completely new genre for his movie- a patriotic comedy. Wake up to the new face of Indian Cinema, a movie so refreshingly different, so profoundly important and so enthrallingly humorous, that it is almost to good to be true.
The guts to take the father of the nation, into the middle of road urchins, and still retain his aura; making people laugh with him, and learn form him, is what this movie does, and in the most acceptable way ever.
Oof course there is Munnabhai, and his dependable aide circuit, and there is the refreshingly beautiful Vidya Balan and the impeccable Boman Irani. Hilarity ensues when Munnabahi, in love with a RJ, poses falsely as a professor. In the process he learns about Gandhian philosophy and sets out to implement it, with the Mahatma right on his side. The movie takes you through all emotions, right form the most poignant moments to the most hilarious ones. And all those with the premonition that this is a heavy movie, well take it form me, it is not! The characteristic circuit dialogues are there, and so are the Boman Irnai laughs; it is in the true sense a sequel, and still not one.
The direction is impeccable, the satire subtle but profound. Unlike other movies where songs nowadays are jarring overtones, in this movie, the songs occur out of a logical movement of the story. The jokes are clean, no sleaze, no double ended one liners; only pure unbound laughter.
Watch it to realize that we need Gandhi more than we ever did, watch it for the beautiful direction, watch it for it’s moments of tears, and for the moments of truth. I guarantee you cannot stop yourself from singing “ Lagey Raho, Munnabahi…”