A mature Supreme Court

Inactivity is a boon for the cowards & imbeciles; cowards & imbeciles like certain fractions of a government. If you do not want to be that harsh, you can say some issues are tricky & demand a lot of will to take action on. Prostitution is one such issue.

What is commendable is the will and maturity of the Supreme Court that asked the government to either curb or legalize it. Knowing that Supreme Court doesn’t take sides, I find it futile to stuff this little happy blog with why-ban-prostitution arguments.

Have a go at it the main article on the link below; if you are too lazy to do it, be content in the knowledge that our SC judges are behaving mature. http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Search&Source=Find&Key=TOIA/2009/12/11/9/Ar00900.xml&CollName=TOI_AHMEDABAD_DAILY_2009&DOCID=103453&Keyword=(prostitutionlegalize)&skin=TOINEW&AppName=1&PageLabel=9%20&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

This & that

I am more than tempted to point out the similarities between 26/11 (2008) & 25/07 (2000). Yes I know what you're thinking, and any writer/ blogger would like to spice it up a little with an element of suspense.

26 November 2008 was when a warrant was issued against Hotel Taj & Mumbai by Ajmal Kasab & company; & 25 July 2000 was when the warrant issued against Balasaheb Thakrey by the world-famous (in India) Mumbai Police.

During the latter, I was in Bombay (is Thakrey & company listening?) & my friend & host Ashish called to tell me to duck under any desk, shop or covering nearby because it's supposed to be a catastrophic day. The same frantic calls were made, I am sure, on the former date.

On both the dates, a group of extremists romped the streets of Bombay (he he he) & destroyed property & harmed people. Police & administration failed to curb them for a lot of hours because of various reasons and the harm was done.

They knew they were doing the harm and o they were loving it; and proud of it.

I am sure the people who follow the blog are smart enough to add more points of reference. I sign off here, please take charge.

Hum Tum mmm mmm

There’s no guarantee of this blog coming through when I’s confessing my twisted views on sex & religion to Khushboo yesterday. And it actually wouldn’t have if I won’t have seen Hum Tum the same evening.

Watching that movie also reminded me that liberal or conservative views on sex are not decided by gender. It’s a surprise to a viewer when the woman, Rani Mukherjee, having spent a pleasant night with the boyfriend of one hour Saif, comes out in broad daylight blushing & unapologetic. And on the other hand, the guy’s head is full of guilt of pre-marital, though consensual sex. The confrontation & rona-dhona that follows is saved from being the typical Hindi movie one because of a simple gender reversal in the game.

There’s sure no pride in high divorce or teen pregnancy rates or post-Navratri high rate of abortions or nervous break-downs of bachcha log; but media will have to change more, so will have to entertainers, and artists and decision makers. Because the hues of society are changing, and rather than trying to reverse the flow, they might as well channelize it well.

Unapologetic Cinema

Watching Nishabda last week was the flash point for this blog - & I watched it despite a hundred warnings, including Nisha's, that it isn't worth a sniff.

And after watching Salaam Namaste last night , the starkness was unmissable. The combination of these 2 movies made me fully realize the amazing packaging of apologetic-ness, guilt & stereo-typing that Indian film directors do through laughter, songs and silly fights & romance.

On one hand is the sophomore film of Saif's 2nd inning (who I quite like for sneaking away Bebo from another man) where through fun, romance and PZ's maiden kiss the director tells us that the man in the relationship should always yield to the lady's fondness and pregnancy. And he doesn't take any chance and so passes on the same message through animated sonography, dramatic Doc, babe in the mall and even through Arshad Warsi. He says you got to get married if you don't want, you got to yield if the girl goes pregnant and you got to be apologetic if you even dare to think otherwise. And we've been, for all these years, lived in the time of apologetic mind-frame. This has been communicated and exhibited to us through movies, art, Kandahar plane hijack episode, ad of VIP undies and long queues at the train station.

Thankfully, there're people who have realized this across the years and have tried to tell their side of it - art movies, M F Hussain, Dhirubhai Ambani, Taslima Nasreen, Saurav Ganguly, Mahesh Bhatt & in a tiny way, Shri :) Ramgopal Verma.

I heard one such message from RGV when I saw Nishabda. The first reaction was of bemused surprise when, towards the end of the film, Big B confesses messing up and laments not only the loss of wife and daughter, but also the young muse! That was as unapologetic and vulgar as it gets. Had it been some other director, he'd have shot the scene where the protagonist throws out the young muse from the house; but then would have shown him guilty as hell and kneeling before the family and friends. But not this one, not this time. In this one, the Big Daddy of Bollywood says he misses the wife, the daughter and also the gone girlfriend. What a twisted old man! Not that I appreciate all such old men, but surely the director's brazen gut.

However, in the genre of unapologetic cinema, Rani Mukherjee scores teh highest. In Hum Tum, she scoffs at Saif's Sorry-for-premarital-sex attitude and shuns his I'll-support-you mindframe. Again in KANK, she leaves a perfectly normal and caring husband for charming ill-tempered Khan.

The audience should, rather than looking for moral lessons in all our films, appreciate different hues of story-telling. And also accept that these are nothing but the images of a changing society.

baby with the bathwater

Throwing the baby out with bathwater is common in any society; especially the one that’s threatening to turn fascist by the hands of moral police. This tide had ebbed, now I fear there’s going to be some reawakening.

The cause this time is a very unfortunate incident of a minor girl being raped by youth in the wee hours in Surat. The anguish is but predictable; so is my worry that in the name of security and moral policing, many a innocuous people will be blamed, and may also be penalized. The bigger threat, however is that ideas and thoughts will suffer a bigger blow and few will oppose it because it comes wrapped in and attached with a very sensitive cover.

Many a things around me force me to take such a stand – the pro-people language used by daily newspapers; the headline that writes – Muslim Youth – clearly citing and inciting junta; the news tag-line – Rape on Wheels - developed by Divya Bhaskar; blaming coaching classes for early morning class timing; totalitarian organization like the VHP announcing a bandh on Monday.

Hoping the victim kid recovers and find her life soon; and the hoopla that has surrounded the real issue doesn’t take too much toll; as a safety measure, I have taken off some party pictures from the online photo gallery.

99 = 100

Karan’s facebook status – 99 is 100% wouldn’t have helped if it wouldn’t have been the psychological pull to theatre after the strike is over. For this reason or that, however, I did watch 99. Like I didn’t realize in Fiza (name of the character) or Tamanna (ditto), it never occurred to me the movie featured a story of year 1999.

I still can not think of the reason they did it, but they did it nevertheless. Though I am not a very keen person when it comes to observing things, but have a list of the technically best movies. Khosla ka Ghosla sits at the top of the list; and then there’re a few more like Bheja Fry, Saudagar (the old one), Dor, etc. the newest entrant to this list is 99.

I didn’t fully realize the period element when they showed the bigger black mobile-phone first; then it all started to connect. Right from the bulky mobile phones, monotone ring tones, greenish displays to a mention of T20 cricket, the novelty in the concept of coffee shops, MAC Donald’s board – it was all there. The superb presence of Boman Irani, Cyrus Brocha and Vinod Khanna added to the charm of the movie. And for a change I also liked Soha & Khemu.

The superiority of the film was also reflected in the screenplay and dialogues. The innovative references used for Cyrus’s thick frame and the kaminapan of Boman Irani only helped make the movie complete.

99 sure is 100%.

Brand-Gandhi Erosion

I’ve always considered Gandhi as one of the biggest Indian brand. Nothing derogatory about it trust me; I’m myself an ardent admirer of him. But all that I’ve read of him (and I’ve read good), I’ve known him to be a cunning politician and a damn good strategist. And if I use the same shrewd analysis, he’s (also) an Indian brand.

It’s my love for Gandhi and for the field of Marketing that made me abhor the way ‘Gandhi Mela’ has been organized in Surat. The contrast is sharper when it’s sandwiched between the just concluded ‘Trade Fair’ and fast-approaching ‘Vyapaar’ exhibitions (and all three being put up at the same premises).

The organizers believe Gandhi is all about swadeshi, but they’ve put up completely vernacular and shabby exhibition. He preached autonomy but not low quality. Each of his political and national movements (even Upvaas) was well-thought of and well-timed. (Those who’ve read him would well recall that when he took it up the first time, it’s the mass effect of this tool that appealed him rather than Jesus Christ like I’ll-suffer-for-them philosophy.) Gandhi was (very) modern in his thought process and would have known that packaging and appearance will have to be smart enough to appeal the masses today.

The starkest thing that I noticed was the skew ness of the crowd there. almost the entire exhibition was made of students from government or trust-run schools, elderly and dilapidated people, social workers and government officers of the obscure departments like Khadi Board, Alternate Energy department, etc. where’s the college-going youth, the office-goer, the urban middle-class, the school kid (who has a brighter chance to represent the country and society in the international forum)?

They are missing the target by a long-shot.

Inside of a police station

Inside of a police station looks just like a clerical department of municipal corporation. The furniture, worn out and repainted several times, the indifferent and rouged staff dressed in checked shirts and metal rimmed glasses, calendars here and there, unwashed and discoloured window curta-

Oh well, sorry for the above, I’d wanted to write about something else.

The reason of my visit to the place which I described above. It’s that email I sent to the Surat Municipal Commissioner on 21st January about unorganized parking near the Kotak Bank building on the main road here; also narrating the actual difficulties faced in that narrow but important lane. And yes I had forgotten what else I wrote.

It’s Imran (that’s what he said – no salutation, no designation, no last name, no-thing) on the other end yesterday evening when he told me to please (yes he used that word) come over to the traffic division of the city police and give my ‘nivedan’ so that it can be taken ahead. I was in double mind till the time I got some casual encouragement last night.

But I did take the second step in my mission D O by going there today. They took the complaint, apologized it took long because the in-charge was on leave. They will now tow vehicles from there regularly and each time they do that, will call me. And thanked for getting it to their notice.

He didn’t show any sign of expecting that I’m done with it., and so I’m not. Next mails will go out tomorrow morning about excessive honking and zigzag driving.

If you survived the above paragraphs, please D O yourself. And you’ll be in for a lot of surprises and a little pride.

I’ve always hated soothsayers, of every form. But I’m going to make an attempt at it. As it’s the Chandrayaan team this year that bagged the CNN Indian of the Year award, next year it can very well be National Mission on Education (NMoE). Those who keep a tab of what’s going on in the rest of India would know that today NMoE is unveiling what is fondly termed the $ 10 laptop at Tirupati. The partners to this initiative are IIT and IISc. This will also provide some necessary breather to the critics of these high maintenance institutions.

It’s beyond imagination what such a gadget can do to the scientific, economic and social fabric of the country. Like the cellphone reaching the breast-pocket of every rikshaw-walla, pan-walla and kadiya-mistri; if all goes well, an i-enabled, printer connected laptop will be seen with subzi-walla, doodh-walla and the school-child in every Ramgadh of India. The cell-phones have done its part by providing connectivity and some other important gadgetry like GPS; it’s time to upgrade the tech-pocket of the 100 million Indians to the laptops.

If you’ve started to wonder I didn’t mention education, you sure will agree it requires more attention than the one-liners above. And if this dream comes true, it will get all it deserves in the next few years. The geniuses will come out of villages and hamlets; the lazy teacher will have to pull up his socks and the passionate one will be grinning all the way to school, respiration and condensation will be animated; the gadgets will bring glamour to school followed by students, coupled with mid-day meals (it) will increase school-goers, villages have software dukans and cyber-cafes – the list goes endless. As a ripple effect, some energy source will have to be made available, marketers will find a channel to reach the rural youngsters and upgrade their aspiration levels, who knows what will happen to number of hackers though! :)

This brings back to me what I heard from Dr C K Prahlad in year 2000 at IIM Ahmedabad. He had given a simple example of making ice-cream available to the marginalized and rural kids. No rocket science he said, just control the cost of refrigeration. No high-flying he said, use local burf instead of liquid carbon dioxide. I’m sure Dr Prahlad will also smile today.

I am D O –ing

The swarm of emails and join-this-forum requests that flooded my mail box after the recent Bombay attack was phenomenal. And I’m sure a lot of my friends can share the same story. All of them recommended joining such and such forum to be able to make a difference. So did the TV wallas, and wrapped them in pretty brand names. All throughout I was not able to ensure the end result of the actions of joining the forums and so on (though I did sign in for a few with compelling names)!

My dilemma was finally resolved when an old friend called saying he’s in the town. Since that call around a month back, I have met up with Anup thrice. And I’ve finally started to make the difference, albeit without joining any forum. He infected me with sort of a vulgar idea, naked of any analysis and support-seeking mechanism. If you see something going wrong around you, take note and write an email. THAT IS IT.

And within a month, it has started to show the signs of sure success.
1 The first set of emails went to Tata group and Neelkamal group because my car, which could have been laden with explosives, went unchecked and unnoticed in the basement parking of their Chroma and @ Home store building in Surat. Tatas haven’t replied yet, Neelkamal followed it up the same day and reverted.
2 Then mailed Pantaloon guys coz my wife (and I was) wasn’t checked with a metal detector at the entry gate of Big Bazaar Surat. Upon asking (by her) the whereabouts of the female guard, prompt came the reply that she was absent that day. the mail that was sent to their corporate email ID was responded to me in form of the phone call that the Surat store manager placed to me thanking me and assuring that the female guard will never by missing starting today.
3 The email sent to traffic department of Surat city reporting a particularly chaotic street hasn’t been responded or acted upon. The reminder will go out on Monday; and on every subsequent Monday till they do not act over it.
4 When I post this blog today, there’re 2 emails waiting in line to reach the mailboxes of 2 local schools whose buses didn’t show the brake lights working.

And now, like the friend of mine, I am also bent on spreading the virus. Whether or not you join any of the forums or do a silent march, whenever you see something going wrong around you, take note and reach out to the concerned authority. You will be amazed by the difference you can make by doing this.