music and world

Tere Bina x Aaruyire

2025-02-12T21:47:00.007+05:30

‘Tere bina beswaadi beswaadi ratiyan’ comes at a crucial unexpected time in the film, Guru, when the hero thinks he has everyone and everything by his side. A painful look from the watery sea-green eyes of his better half is all it took for the rug to be pulled under our hero’s legs. He is left stranded, alone, only to blame himself.

Gulzar anchors the lyrics around the theme of ‘pain in solitude’ and embellishes the lines with alliteration and simile in his trademark style; not to forget the playfulness with which he compares her moving away to that of being away for some chores or when her sister-wife distracts her. Yet, I felt the emotions could have went beyond the lonely nights. Is that all men are capable of thinking? Can’t a man think of his companion at least during the day?

This is where ‘Aaruyire Mannipaaya Mannipaaya Sollu Nee En Sagiyae’ enters the scene. Straight off the bat, the Tamil lyrics achieve a tonal shift in the theme from ‘pain in solitude’ to ‘seeking forgiveness’. The Tamil lyrics of course had to stick to the Gulzar rule to a larger degree since this is a dubbed song; and yet, it finds unexpected ways to infuse the theme of forgiveness. Thus births the line, 'oh my short-tempered cuckoo'.

The 2nd charanam is where the Tamil lyrics truly shifts gear. Where Gulzar brings in the female version of ‘pain in solitude’, the Tamil lyrics instils a vastly diverging female view with just two lines,

Is it right to hurt this delicate flower?

Do you think you can cool me down by cajoling?

Yes, she too has been suffering from the separation, but the fundamental resentment is on why he didn’t treat her as equal; something that plays a major part until the end of the film in a romantic way.

Gurukant Desai is a man who chases distant dreams. To ensure his vision becomes a reality, he knows he would have to course correct sometimes, learn new things sometimes, or unlearn many things sometimes. How does such a person demonstrate to a woman, who is this stern and resolute, that he has turned a leaf? Visually, Maniratnam does something very generic; he lets the couple stay apart, brood over it, and when they couldn’t tolerate the separation they just reunite, no questions asked. Gulzar describes this as is through his verses.

But I saw more depth in the idea than what was conceived by Maniratnam. Gurukant doesn’t try to convince his better-half when she storms away; he doesn’t chase her immediately or in the next few days. With passage of time, he is internally course correcting himself to be worthy of her. Only when he feels he’s ready, he meets her again. Knowing him truly well, she immediately embraces him as he won’t make the mistake again. How does one encompass all this through a short phrase? The Tamil lyricist believes it’s not through words, but through the in-diminishable truth behind it:

Living alone, oh my dear, is bliss,

But living alone, knowing truly well that I could have lived with you, is painful,

Don’t kill me with your non-violence!!

Post this punch line, since AR Rahman structured this song as a typical 80s patch-up song, for the coda in Hindi, the female vocal renders the lines previously reserved for the male; the male in receipt of this signal repeats the same line and then they lived happily ever after. But that doesn’t happen in Tamil. Instead, the female, still doubtful, sings ‘will I forgive you?’ to which the male yearns, ‘will you forgive me?’ and only then the actual patch-up happens. Sometimes delayed gratification has a better payoff.

⁃ HSR

The Krishna Key

2012-10-19T14:18:00.000+05:30

Author: Ashwin Sanghi

History based thrillers in the recent past have always been about bringing out the unseen angle to disputable events in the pages of history through interesting characters. Dan Brown, who patronizes the formula with his now famous cinematic approach to writing, stands as a reference for both the readers and the writers of this genre. Half way through Krishna Key, where Ravi Mohan Saini the protagonist of the ‘anthropological thriller’, examines a crime scene oblivious to the fact that he is being framed for that crime & is awaiting imprisonment, the Robert Langdon reference which until then acted as a homage, turns full on scale into an adaptation of the latter. Like Robert Langdon, Ravi Saini too shares an interest in ancient history; which in turn their respective authors use to weave a cat & dog tale between the convoluted purists and pragmatic realists. Not just that, both professors have a sickening fetish for explaining controversial historical events, to the point where we the readers tend to feel like a spectator of a paparazzi show. Beyond the boundaries of these clichés, while Dan Brown is appreciated for hammering us with ingenious plot twists, his replicator Ashwin Sanghi confines himself with his inspire's limitations, ergo couldn't enthral the us with captivating events.

In the plot summary of the novel, besides dealing with the tryst of Ravi Saini, the book promises to talk about a serial killer who presumes the role of Lord Kalki. As eerily intriguing as it could be, Ashwin Sanghi lays a bigger labyrinth for the mystical character in the beginning of the novel, only to lose all steam as the plot thickens with more characters. It would have been tolerable to undermine a key character if it were to be compensated by far better ones, but unfortunately the trade-off only gives us obnoxious know-it-all caricatures whose only agenda is to move the stale plot forward.

The above mentioned glaringly dull characterizations apart, Krishna Key has a promising premise by it side; and with its in-depth hypothesis on hindu way of life and Indian history in a broader sense, the book does keeps its target audience hooked till almost the end. But a book doesn't become a good read just because of its allegiance to the history of its native readers. The compelling narration & the poetic flow of language used for it should always be the main reason for cherishing it. But for the Indian readers who are immersed in the romantic age of Bollywood novels, these things don't matter.

I was introduced to Ashwin Sanghi’s scheming world through Chanakya’s Chant, a modern day adaptation of Chanakya’s political shrewdness. While it had its moments of sheer brilliance, it wasn't able to warrant my complete attention. Nevertheless, in a space filled by romantic urban novels, it sure came as a breath of fresh air to many a readers like me. Channeling my thoughts that way, Ashwin’s latest offering ‘Krishna Key’ with its straightforward narrative, turned out to be a page turner in the true sense. No wonder, for someone who completed Chanakya’s Chant in a week, it took only one sitting in a single day to complete Krishna key for me; and that matters the most here.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program atBlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Westernization of India

2012-06-13T00:29:00.001+05:30

An old man with long grey hair once dreamt of a developed nation; a nation that would truly be called a superpower by 2020. We may have to wait 7 more years to know whether we have come close to achieving even half of the tall and ambitious dream, but we all can be certain that we are living the American dream, the epitome of westernization (at least in our perception).

If we take a tour in our streets, be it in the cities or villages, we could see the youth, driven by the glittering stars of the silver screen, are transforming themselves into dandies and divas, idolizing and yet most of the times imitating the stars. Albeit purchasing power being a hindrance, the cheaper clones in the grey market do satiate their quench. But their thirst isn’t just for the clothes, gadgets or the effusing language of the western civilization which the stars emulate; for our streets are now thronged by the world market, while our schools shell out millions of ‘qualified’ professionals for the world to ride over. In reality their unfeigned thirst is the liberty to live life the way one wants to be. That exactly is the westernization today’s youth are striving for.

Cynical people bicker that in the process of individualization (a by-product of westernization), people are losing their family values & sacred culture. Though it is true that our virtues have taken a beating due to the liberalization that ensued westernization, we should also remember that this sacred culture hasn’t been with us from the birth of time. What these detractors fail to realize is that with every transformation there lies a bleak phase. This best way to come out of the perplexed state is the way forward and not retraction.

But the real question about westernization is yet to be enquired by the jeering crowd. Westernization as one assumes, isn’t just about the luxury or freedom; nor does it ask for one to lose his firm base on the holy culture as the mocking crowd thinks. Westernization is the perseverance to strive hard for what one wants. Take our company as an example. When the plant stops due to quality problem, we turn some levers and grind some panels and somehow resume production. Of course we will find a better solution during the weekend, but what is the state of the products that were produced till then? Would that happen in any American or German company?

Deep down, we all are living examples of the motto ‘chaltha hai bhai’. Whenever there is an issue we say ‘let’s adjust’ or ‘let’s forgive’. If someone comes forwards to solve an issue we tell him ‘let’s not strain much’. In reality we only want to live a pampered and cushioned life, but not want to work hard to attain it. In short our sense of priorities is haywire. Until we start aligning our thoughts in the way our friends in the west do, we would never become a developed nation.

This article won third place for the author in his company.

A little push is all they need: boys & girls

2012-06-04T23:53:00.000+05:30

The other day I got a message from a guy, a nice fellow who I got to know through a common friend. The message was about his doubt in one software tool. The moment I read the message I could predict the contents of the next 20 message exchange that is going to happen between us. It would start with me giving an 'I donno much in that area' reply, followed by his message asking doubt on some other function of the same software. When I would dismiss that as well, though dejected, he would crank his brain some more to come up with an intelligent question at least by then. At one point he would eventually succeed in asking something I really know. When I tell him that ‘you just have to click download to get a file from internet’, he would start praising me sky-high for the timely help. By then all my patience would have gone & I would give some lame excuse to escape further boredom. My callousness would surely have deterred him, yet without letting his chin down, he would give some cheesy goodbye line and depart.

Having known this guy for some time now, I would suggest you all not to think on the lines of gender preference here (Being gay isn't wrong btw). With the growing liberalization in the minds of our people, I feel we should accredit the fact that adulation over people is not confined only to the opposite gender. When you like a person, you will want to speed time with them, some way or the other. While I rarely get to experience such situations, almost all girls would have had to meet at least one person with a fake agenda every day. Their pitchers are so poor that the girls either dismiss them completely or enjoy the moment of glorious attention. They basically would be making a fool out of those guys.

When that common friend wanted to seek my attention towards him, I could have easily dismissed him right away as I said above. Having been in the other side of the turf all my life, I know how desperate people could get. It only means whether I like it or not, they would ultimately waste some of my time. I am not going to say that girls should be receptive of the flirtatious people who throng their feet. But, wouldn't it be useful and kind if we could bring meaning to the time we spend with them, rather than be remorseful? Once I realized neither was he going to stop boring me with irrelevant questions nor was he going to leave me, I pondered over his area of expertise that could be of useful to me. When we struck on similar cord, the path thereon was really exciting.

I always believe everyone in this world has something to offer to us. If girls (and guys as well) are hell bent on limiting their interactions only with attractive people who could entertain them, their frigid attitude will let them miss out on the countless chances they get to be with some of the best minds of the world. No one is that lucky that all the intellectual wealth comes directly into their hands. Most of the time one has to seek what he wants. Sometimes it could be concealed beneath a pile of rock. A little push is all that is needed to bring out the gem.

Into the Lion's den

2012-06-03T20:56:00.004+05:30

When my company guys had a security breach in their hearts.

From the den of brethren, came the roar of the Kings.

If one had the mane, Other had the brawn;

Yet none yearned to be the King of Kings.

Along came a herd of Queens, into the path of the Kings.

Was it the scent of heat? They may never know,

Was it the infectious eyes? They realized later,

That drew them towards the pride of Queens.

While one flashed his mane, the other flaunted his brawn;

One by one, everyone fell at the feet of the alluring Queens.

In the den of brethren, came the roar of the Kings.

If one tore the mane, the other trounced with his brawn;

Thus everyone fought to be the King of Kings.

Birth of a man

2012-05-29T23:45:00.006+05:30

Every story should have a beginning & so this story begins with a 15 year old boy sitting in a hesitating posture. Neither was he in love, nor was he about to commit crime. He was sitting in a barber shop, contemplating how to garner courage. He needed that, because he knew the barber was about to use unsterilized blade on him; yet again. As the barber moved toward him flashing the bio-weapon, the boy’s eyes were transfixed: not due to fear, for he had forcefully overcome it 6 years earlier by jumping from his two-storey building (into a sand-pit btw) repeatedly till it became fun. His only concern was not to hurt the barber by pointing out his lack of general awareness. You see, as a younger boy whilst adulating the patience & bravado of Karnan (a character from Mahabharata), his imaginative relative infused in him a lie that his bloodline is that of a Kshatriya’s. It didn’t take him long enough (till he woke up that morning) to realise the truth about his lineage, but that didn’t erase the pride he had for embracing pain. The joy of overkilling fear & the impish whim to welcome pain seemed cool to start with. But it hurt. It hurt when he was brought back to reality by the pain the barber had inflicted by ‘mistakenly’ cutting the skin of a child seated next to him.

‘How dare you say it’s a mistake?’ - shouted a voice. Tons of blurring sentences later, the boy took that child to his home, with a sense of pride seeping from his eyes. It wasn’t about righteousness or rationalism, for he knew he wasn’t versed enough to differentiate right over wrong. Instead, in the age of individualism he banked on his intuition. That was why he stood up against the thugs who thought seniority can get them anything. It didn’t hurt when they hit him; as it only took a little push against gravity to make them all choke. But what hurt the most was that he was waging a lonely battle for his haplessly incognizant fellowmen.

That day he could have walked past those people; but couldn’t bring himself to leave the society however unbecoming it was turning itself to be. Hence he stayed an outlaw, yet not as an outsider, ready to be summoned during the times of troubles. Neither did he do it for honour, nor for glory. He did it only because his intuitive mind told that it had to be done. Yet his intuitions never were able to find the missing puzzle that would complete him. It wasn’t merely a mathematical puzzle that could dwell deep into the three dimensions of space. It was way beyond the four dimensions known to man that which would make him the learnt & the learner, the empowered as well as the overpowered.

People say good things happen when its least expected. True to that, on a sunny day, the eternal light cast its ray on the scrupulous boy. Before he could comprehend the meaning of it all, the plane took off using the surge of momentum. There was the thunder, the wind and the rain. But above them all was the ray of hope. It became his strength but as it so happens it was his greatest weakness as well. For things that land in your hands can either be crushed or be protected, as he flaunted & espoused his pride, he ended up crushing it before realization struck. They weren’t the torn pieces of paper which could be stuck together; they were the shattered pieces of a mirror which would only reflect the ruined image thereafter. Hence, stranded, lost and only the hapless people to turn back to, the boy for the first time got tired of being with people who make him feel like an alpha male.

Every story should have a beginning & so this story begins with the boy wanting to turn himself to a man.

Construal of the existing

2012-05-17T23:48:00.000+05:30

We may be fighting the war alone, but we have to remember that we are not the only one fighting the war.

In the world we live in, we cajole us into believing that everyone is unique in their actions. Actions result from circumstances that occur only to us & it can never really happen to someone else at the same time, in same combination & sequence. As a consequence, we tell ourselves that the outcome of our efforts cannot be compared with others who tried the same thing albeit in a different manner. On the contrary, we fail to realise that in the world we live in, as a result of globalization and uniformity, every social activity has already been done by someone else. So even if you tell that his life is different from yours, you can’t escape the fact that comparison is inevitable.

Take any example: preparation for exams, making a movie, Office work, relationship issues. In almost every one of these situations, due to the variation in absorbing the knowledge from the world, the approach can vary slightly; but only slightly, because, we all have been conditioned in the same environment and taught the same lessons; alas in different manners. So even though there is bound to be some deviation in the way we approach our life, due to the standardization of life lessons we are all basically different manifestation of the same entity. Therefore, if someone who had grown up in the same milieu, tells that the preparation for an entry exam can be completed in 3-4 months, you can also do it within the same time period, give or take few days. The deviation in time happens only to fill the gap in knowledge and alacrity that the benchmarked person had over you. But one has to remember that, that person maybe weak in something in which you have a better grasp.

With the illustrations mentioned above, it would seem I am taking only the generalised activities in the social milieu which warrants minimal creativity. But the comparison isn't merely among oranges and apples. It is among numerous variants of oranges and apples. Though separated by mutation & evolution, if we strip down the complexities that circumvent these genera & look at them in a holistic manner, they primarily are oranges. And so is tomato a fruit. The point I am trying to raise here is that no matter how unorthodox & out of the box one’s thinking & execution maybe, as long as we base our analysis on preexisting materials we can never proclaim to have done something new. It is not like we created a new world to see something new. Even if such a surreal event is to happen, as long as we reckon it with our existing knowledge we can’t claim it to be ours. Suppose humans were to see world through the brains of a lion things might look different.

But, if we keep on turning blind eyed over the fact that we are all the same people working on the same agenda, we will eventually become complacent over the outcome of our efforts. People like Selvaraghavan are the epitome of the case I am trying to put forth here. Overridden by the self-pride that they are doing something unique, they skip over the fact that they need to do it well. Granted, they might be pushing the frontiers in many aspects, but without the imbibition of existing achievements, the leap forward will end up only being a limping one.

Give me more, for that is all I want

2012-05-13T20:18:00.002+05:30

Along came a note from eternal sunshine,

Along with it came the joy of life;

Or so I thought.

Happiness weakened me,

Success softened me,

Confidence overrode me,

Laurels cajoled me,

Hope subjugated me,

Liberty entrapped me;

And I had nowhere to belong.

Give me back the pain, my Lord, for I want to feel alive,

Give me more pain, for I want to be primed,

Give me more pain, for I want to find a way,

Give me more pain, for I want the blood to rush to my head again,

Give me more pain, for I want to fight for my right,

Give me more pain, for I want to be reminded who I am and who I was.

Give me more pain, my Lord, because I can endure it all;

Give me more pain, because that is where I belong.

It isn't a deadlock when you can come out of it

2012-04-23T00:12:00.000+05:30

The other day I was travelling in bike towards Mount road. Due to the construction of Metro rail system there was a lot of traffic congestions & diversions. As a result we got delayed by 10 odd minutes. While I wasn’t complaining, my friend was angry for the delay allegedly caused by the inefficiency of the traffic police. It is not only my friend who feels that way, I see countless people complaining about the deadlock in roads. It is one thing to complain on the traffic jam when it is caused by Party meetings and accidents, but another to complain on something that which is bound to happen. In our busy lives we certainly don’t want to be bogged down by someone else, especially by unknown sources. But it is all the more wrong to distance oneself from the society and naming it as unknown source.

As our finances and personal requirements grow we make a lot of changes to the place we live in. It starts with relocating the furniture, to renovating the house, till adding a new floor to the building. We certainly aren’t bogged down by these changes because we know that they are for our betterment and hence take responsibility for that. Some may argue that these changes are done as per their requirements and at their convenience. To all of them, just think of your family members. There will certainly be someone who isn’t comfortable with the changes you are making in the house that they too live in. Yet they adjust and co-exist. To all of them who think these projects are improperly planned, sometimes your carefully planned schedule goes haywire due to some mistake on the constructor’s fault. So on the day you ought to attend an important meeting, you need to be at home monitoring the roof laying activity. You don’t cancel your meeting, at the same time you don’t postpone the roof laying activity as well. Somehow you meet ends and try to squeeze in both into your day. Standing in the hot sun after rushing home from the meeting, as you look at the construction site, you get an unadulterated glee of seeing your dream come alive in front of you. The shouts of your boss, the unreasonable taxi guy who milked you understanding your emergency, nothing matters anymore. This amount of dedication and perseverance comes in, because you are so enamoured by the outcome of the project, that even at your wits’ end, you don’t give up.

When I see the earth movers digging the rubbish whilst the big cranes erecting ginormous beams, I don’t see disturbance in the form of road blockage. I see the city growing in front of me. Like a father who cherishes every moment of his daughter’s growth, I stand there to see the mammoth machines changing the face of the earth, the sky and in turn our lives. But are they for the betterment of the city? Like how a father gives a chance for the school that his daughter studies in to improve her, we would have to give a chance for the elected to make some changes to the city hoping for some betterment. For it is only by change, be it good or bad, can we get a chance for betterment.

To those who can’t see through my eyes, all I can ask is to try to be part of the system rather than complaining about it. When we got confused by the diversions that were placed, I noticed a policeman standing near the sign board ready to guide whoever was lost in the fuzzy layout. Not just there, there were policemen deployed at various locations to ease our troubles. Instead of complaining we should try to appreciate their efforts.

But for how long should we tolerate it, people ask to me. First there was the guindy flyover, and then came the Koyambedu junction, now the Metro rail system. Amidst these, there are the road repair and relaying activities as well. When will we get to bear the fruit? If the fruit is a city that will change into a dreamland in a jiffy like in Shankar movies, then you are better off in the dreamland. During the Guindy project, the whole of Tambaram and every other route connected to the major junction was caught in a deadlock for hours daily. So I needed to take the train instead. During the Koyambedu project, the traffic jam wasn’t that severe & yet I had the option to use the then finished guindy flyover or the Arcot road. Now with the Metro rail, I see even better strategic planning & organized approach to the whole project which has let me not to search for an alternative. This, my dear people is the fruit of patience.

To all those who want the world around them not to change, they should remember that the world doesn’t stop rotating, and the earth doesn’t stop changing. It is we who have to get along with the change.

A Quarter for Free: Who is to pay?

2012-04-18T20:11:00.000+05:30

Education, even though morally & legally ought to be treated as non-profitable venture, akin to social service, is unfortunately seen as a money bearing tree. Even the reputed schools, known for quality education, are increasingly favouring the riches to meet the acclimating expenditures and to pocket some profit for the imaginative lean period. On the occasion of tamizh New Year, came delightful news from the Supreme Court of the nation that 25% of school seats should be allotted for financially backward students aged till 14 years. When this act comes into practice next academic year, classrooms that once were filled with students from the affluent society, who were all cushioned from the trivial perils of day to day life, will hence be filled with representatives from a plethora of communities bringing with them their own baggage for the new community to observe, analyse and learn.

Going back in time, when this act was announced, a lot of angry voices raised against it from the private institutions’ side, which felt the act with eat away all its revenue. Like in any act, when such voices raises we are accustomed to hearing news that some amendment has been made to appease the concern parties: meaning the law makers were pleased by the offer the parties had made. But it was rather surprising that the highest court thwarted their effort. But sneaking in the clause that residential & non-aided minority institutions don’t come under this purview does raise eyebrows.

While people keep debating on the grey side of the deal, there are some gaping holes that aren’t touched upon by the all praising media. In a country where literacy rate is at an abysmal level due to financial constraints, 25% seats of the current schools will be handed over to the underprivileged, thereby hopefully reducing the illiteracy rate among the hapless. But without increasing the infrastructure or at least the strength of the school, what will happen of the very people the poor will replace? Will the institutions be generous enough to pump in more money to provide facilities for the increased head count? Or will the standards deteriorate due to increased strength in a class? Suppose we assume that the institution has come forward to provide the facilities for the increased strength, who will be donor? The onus will now rely on common man, who is already paying taxes for the underprivileged to get all the benefits that the government is offering only to them. I am all for sponsoring a child’s education, but I at least want to be respected for that, rather than be treated as some capitalist who drinks red wine by sucking the blood out of the labourers.

But these aren't the real problems that the system will face. The most imperative issue is the means by which poverty is classified. Certainly we won’t be taking the Ahluwaila route, but we can’t take the income tax as cogent evidence as well. During my school days, the richest man in Vadapalani was quoting his annual income as a quarter of what my father, a proper bourgeois, was earning. Now why should we pay for people like them? Will we then use the tired & continuously ridiculed formula of terming people poor since their forefathers belonged to SC,OBC & BC and thereby bring the caste system into schools as well?

Maybe the government plans to use the yet to be completed/released data of the 2011 census which promises to bring about a mammoth change in how we see our population. Till then let hope spring in the Brest.

To those liberators with Kolaveri

2012-04-10T00:39:00.000+05:30

Not so long ago came a song that marched into the lives of every citizen of this virtual world, the minute it went online. Before people could fathom what the fuzz was all about, what the lyrics meant, what language it was based on, it jelled into our lives like the dress we wear every day. Be it sarcasm, anger or disappointment, the catch phrase of the song became the cue for all and sundry.

When something out of the blue gets a standing ovation there is bound to be a group for stripping everything off from it. Little did it realise that the whole world was wearing the dress of rage. Soon enough, the active world which fights over inconsequential issues, got neck deep in a debate to decide on the sanctity of everything it couldn’t preserve in reality. The saviours of tamil, music, culture and most importantly woman freedom couldn’t get enough of the controversy. While I loved the quirky style of the song (yes I believe it is a song – after all we did accept even a tribal grumbling as a song) it was amusing to see how hatred was spreading around it. Was it because a lean chalk piece of a man with no great looks, but with all the luck by chance, got catapulted to superstardom by just rambling about for 3 ½ minutes? Or was it out of anger at the deteriorating taste of the masses which accepted the daft lyrics and the sloppy tune? I did stick with the latter reason because those who were behind the propaganda were the intelligent fools I respect. I even tried to reason out with them that it is not worth spending time debating on it, that the lyrics doesn’t have a meaning and is just there to produce a rhyming sound & it should only be valued as an immensely entertaining song. But the moment I termed it as an entertaining song, nothing else mattered & the debate continued as to how I can term it as entertaining when it was devaluing everything we should be known for.

To all those self-appointed liberators who are crying foul at how irresponsible the song is, I have only this to say - In a world filled with gold, diamond, Ferrari, people who can afford them still buy fake ornaments & nanos because of the simple fact that it’s convenient & hassle free. In the real world that my dear liberators live in, when their chips are down, the first word that comes out of their mouth (be it a guy or a girl) is ‘fuck’ & not ‘oh dear holy God’. Maybe they can’t understand what I mean, because they are busy ‘lamo’ over the indecent proposals & sexist remarks that are being passed on as jokes in BBT & HIMYM.

So why this Kolaveri on those people when the euphoria surrounding the song is dying down? It is because after a long time I switched on FM only to hear this song.

This song represents everything that was talked against Kolaveri & everything beyond that. So why haven’t the so called liberators come forward to protest against this uncomely song which vehemently proclaims to be the male chauvinist that Kolaveri didn’t plan to be?

Sanity of willpower

2012-02-05T19:50:00.000+05:30

I am no philosopher or a psychology specialist, but having observed some of the unique minds the world has to offer, has given me some wonderful answers and even more puzzling questions. One topic on which I keep on pondering lately is the willpower to remain sane. As an interjection, it is perfectly fine to question the very function of sanity here. People would define sanity as the ability to arrive at a sound judgment on right over the wrong. But here again arises the question of what is right & wrong and what code it bases itself on, which would lead to who set the rules & what right does he have to do so and so on & so forth. But cutting the long story short, I feel, sanity is the ability to foresee the impact of one’s action, in order to avoid it when it could lead to disturbance of one’s own peace or and that of others’. In lame words, it is all about being honest about your intentions & while fulfilling it, taking care not to hurt the sensibilities of others. These intentions may be right or wrong, rational or whimsical, but as long as one feels one can deal with any and every impact of the action on self and till one feels it won’t disturb the path of others involved in that action, one can do anything he wants.

While the theory on sanity sounds very convincing, it isn’t easy to apply it in every step of one’s life. When someone hits you, your impulse tells you to beat the shit out of that person without carrying for the aftermath. And when that person gets back the blows, his impulse will only tell him to prolong the fight but not to act maturely & cease the conquest. In these kinds of situations when attacked emotionally, people become educated illiterates. Which is why we see scholars perplex over real time problems while a street smart, well, behaves smart. But these conflict of interests aren’t confined to the external world. Willpower to do the right thing is basically an internal process wherein the battle is for the negative impact of the animal instincts, which doesn’t care for the future, to be subdued as much as possible.

Essentially, for a person to avoid deeper pitfalls it would be better to watch his life from a third person’s point of view & analyze the events. That was how I was able to stand up to bullies & death threats (yes I did face them from real criminals, whether you believe it or not) without running away from the scene or over enthusiastically charging back at them. When you feel your stand is reasonable, a sense of pride enters your heart, pumping ounces of courage to face any kind of danger to the inner peace. At the end of the day you know deep down, by resisting from giving-in, you are clearly in control of your life. Isn’t that what inner peace is all about in a skewed way: you steering your life smoothly in a path you want to be in than be blown away by the torrid wind.

But life doesn’t give it that easy does it? The path one set to sail will surely have alluring detours which would alter the course of our life, if one were to take it. A man at this juncture depends only on his practice of righteousness to choose over the right path for him. What happens if he were to slip away from his alertness & take a wrong turn? What happens if he were to inadvertently do something that he was up against all his life? What will happen is that, his willpower, the sole embodiment of his being, gets shattered into pieces. It would take eons to find those pieces so that he could mend them & rise back to his normal being. A clear mind devoid of internal conflict can only save a person from making such catastrophic mistakes.

To sum up, life is like a roller coaster which will rattle you out of your senses only when you start to believe that things are going smooth. I am not saying being cautious in every step we take will be an answer to every problem in life. But it will surely reduce the size of the problem from a tormenting nightmare which will haunt you for the rest of your life, to one that could be solved before you go to sleep, so that the next day starts afresh.

Delusional expressions

2011-12-13T00:32:00.000+05:30

In an interview during the last TN state assembly election, Cho Ramasamy was asked what would be his advice to Jayalalitha. He was quick to reply, “I will say what I want to say to her, in person. I don’t need to tell it to you or the public.” Harsh it maybe for the viewers, but that is the appropriate way to address the situation. Why should he publicize the suggestions he put forth to someone? It isn’t after all a diplomatic conversation between the head of states, the gist of which should be updated to their fellow citizens (assuming they are interested in the welfare of their nation). Those kinds of press releases are only done by politicians and sundry, to hog the limelight or for other ulterior motives.

But, in today’s networking world, when everyone is fast becoming a limelight moth, it isn’t surprising that people are fast becoming calculative termites, like their politico-businessmen counterparts, measuring every syllable they publish in the glamorous world. To thrive in the fiercely competitive space, they know they have to be up to date & witty in their spinoffs of the latest happenings of the world. Trolls, spams, viral, whichever term you give them, all they care for is to imprint their unique style in the trending topics. Is it to satiate their self-pride or is it to show off that they have – ‘been there; done that’? Maybe. Is it to grab the attention of the opposite sex in their social circle? Could be. During my father’s college days, the smartest gang of his class would be friends only with people who read ‘Ponniyin Selvan’. Is there a similar peer pressure now, if not the same? Might be.

If these possible explanations, all of which speaks about the societal awareness of the fellow citizens, are untrue, why do people wish happy birthday to their friends in facebook who they know/meet in person? Is it some social experiment on how many friends will wish the birthday kid, so that he/she can show the middle finger to the next popular figure in the vicinity? To be honest, it is fair on the part of people who might not be able to get in touch with that person, but why do people post happy birthday to their father or some relative in these social networking sites? Do their fathers measure love by how much their sons publicize it to the world? Or for that matter are they actually in these sites to see the status message?

But, social networking sites being the place where ones’ creativity is tested, those explanations are ought to be true. So when it is Rajini’s birthday, people crank their right brain to come up with something unique which will generate a lot of likes, shares and hopefully a lot of RTs. One tweets - ‘today is world style day’, while another posts - ‘today should be declared a national holiday’. But someone else tops them all by posting - ‘dear birthday, happy Rajini to you’. Who wouldn’t post such messages if it is going to give them a lot of followers later. My question to these idiocentric people who wear the mask of fans spamming the media & internet: will you risk climbing a 40 feet cut-out of the superstar to do palabhisekam if you are that crazy about him? Or at least spend a dime to send roses to his place? I am not against fanaticism or superstar for that matter; but it is disheartening to see people capitalizing on someone else’s reach for their own benefits. They are the same people who, sitting in comfort of their homes, scream against the government asking to support Anna Hazare.

The sorting hat

2011-11-21T00:09:00.000+05:30

Often in the corporate & real world you will have to put the sorting hat on people & events to categories & classify them - is it right or wrong?

In an era marred by different shades of black and white it would sound rhetoric if I were to say we are still typecasting everything into some prejudiced realm. Yet, from branding a man who is against following the dogmas of his religion as an atheist, to branding someone as a spendthrift because he went on an expensive vacation, till tagging someone as a supporter of one political party because he opposed the proposal of another party, we indeed are sorting everything into either this or that.

There is an innate tendency in us humans to categorize things as we observe. We keep on assessing everything, as information after information start trickling into the system, trying to figure out where to place them. We only want to assimilate the most important of information – a gist of the whole, in order to approach the data holistically. Yes, we have the inborn talent to tide things up (don’t ask how our rooms end up untidy then). But this very act to be organized leads to a lot of filtering, which eventually destroys, or in our case, forgo some valid information that sounded stupid back then. Consequentially, we come to a premature conclusion. That is why a person who follows an actor’s products diligently get called as his fan; and after branding him with that image, it becomes blasphemous when he says he didn’t like one of the actor’s film. On the flipside, a person gets branded as ‘XYZ actor hater’ when he doesn’t like his performance in one of his movies. If someone had time to ask further, he might have said he loved his performance in some other film of his.

The reason behind these premature classifications is that, the mind gets conditioned to accept such categories as a yardstick for judging and assessing information because of the huge pool of examples supporting it. As a consequence, a man criticizing women is referred as chauvinist (& not even as male-chauvinist) and to some extent as misogynic. Such conditioned minds eventually imbibe a convoluted understanding of the events and begin to examine them through their bifurcated lens. What they see through the lens is that a pain killer is actually a pain curer because one doesn’t feel pain after having it.

As we open up to a new era, where everything from tv ads to carrier choices becomes subjective, it is important to treat every person and every event differently and uniquely and not based on past events. Because when we base our judgments on past events and principles we tend to limit ourselves to past result. After all, it is better to be an open minded person than a broad minded person.

Conversations

2011-10-26T23:50:00.000+05:30

Reading the introduction that Rajeev Nanda (the author) gives to his new book ‘Conversations’, one would get the feeling that it is going to be a highly complicated philosophical rant, especially because he pays tribute to the likes of Ayan Rand, Aristotle, Victor, etc. Although it is not heavy on your brain, ‘Conversations’ does turn out to be a preachy collage of various controversies that the bourgeois faces in this generation.

Primarily ‘Conversations’ is a collection of poems and novellas of the author, each varied in plot, yet linked by the idea to invoke rationalism & individualism within oneself. This it does by plunging deeper into the inner self questioning some of the conventional & controversial things that the Indian community today faces in its personal life: be it in motherland or abroad and tries to answer some of them while predominantly succeeds in making the reader think in a different perspective. But the problem starts when the reader feels a déjà vu, in these sermons. Adding to that, the style of writing which though isn’t complex to be fair, is quite bland and uninspiring.

In most of the novellas that features in this book, the story or rather the concept is commendable, yet, the approach to convey that lacks the extra punch that would push the reader to turn to the next page. If not for the job to review this book, I wouldn’t have cared to finish this book, which neither brings a smile to my face nor captivates my imagination and by that my brain. Agreed there were instances where the novellas did ooze of great ideas, but it never got backed by the requisite skills to prune it in an appealing manner. As a result, all the concepts and ideas are served to us stark naked. Were it been a book on theories and case studies on those theories, this blunt approach could have work, but for a medium which requires huge amount of freshness and novelty the book craves for want of creativity in expressing those noble ideas.

Disappointments apart, the book boosts of some wonderful poems. Though the poem lacks in the same department as did the novellas, the inherent advantage of a poem to be serene without divulging much, augers well here. On the contrary, Rajeev forgets to employ the same art in the novellas. For example, in the short story – ‘Intersection’ a highly character driven novella, the contrasting characters instead of conveying their contrast through events, resort to verbal descriptions. As a result the pain that the lead characters endure doesn’t reach the readers; in short the emotional connect that is needed for such philosophical tales is missing. I wonder if Rajeev had Paulo Coelho as his inspiration this could have avoided, for both take simple events and try to weave a philosophical tale out of it. The problem can also be due to the fact that each story has simplistic endings – far away from reality that doesn’t justify the complex scenario that was built up in the story earlier – example – soldier.

To sum up, ‘Conversations’ is recommended for readers who are novices to philosophical books.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Curt & conceited - bloggers of the day

2011-10-19T00:31:00.000+05:30

There is a fierce battle raging within the internet community off late: a battle for prestige. Prestige here doesn’t mean standing up for a cause or for what one believes in. Prestige here is being the first person to blog on a trending topic – essentially to capitalize on the first player advantage; to have an opinion on every other topic and thrusting it on others; to flaunt the pompous façade of their false intellectuality; to growl about the perils of triviality and snarl at people who don’t deem them important; to boost ones narcissism by participating in a frivolous event for the sole purpose of drawing attention to self by blogging about it.

As a blogger I do like to get million comments and gazillion hits for the blog I publish, but not for a blog on sleeplessness or for publishing b-grade puppy novellas that make Durjoy Datta or for that matter Sumrit Shahi’s works classic. But having come to terms with the adage that – ‘it is what that one does, that defines him’, am at wits end in not able to think beyond ‘stupidity’ to classify them, what with only their lackluster work available as yardstick.

In a world where pace defines the adeptness of a person, my qualms will only fall on deaf ears, while these conceited people keep on begging/seducing their social circle to elevate them to prophetic status by devaluing their minds.

Revolution 2020

2011-10-09T18:11:00.000+05:30

Chetan Bhagat, the superstar of Indian ‘time-pass book’ writing, has always been severely accused for the lack of concern for the language he employs in his book. It is not the language alone; for a long time he has been criticized for stripping the art out of the writing and marketing the content with sex and toilet jokes. Yet, like any superstar, how much ever critics trash him, he sells!

The only possible question that ensues is – ‘how?’

Does it really matter – ‘how’? It may matter for people who have tried to emulate him: some successful, some not. But why should we bother about the intricate details of his success story? Yet we do – don’t we? In a society damned by inequalities, if one were to analyze the type of readers/ audience for any art-form here, it would come to the purview that there are two kinds of people out there: one who is enthralled by what is being said – the fresher & other by how it has been said – that’s us. That is why we bother about the intricate details of his success story – with all his clichés how did he click?

To answer that, Chetan depends on the familiarity of the tale – the very tale that had been pushed down the drain as cliché – to spread his opinions/views. One might call him the local author who decrypts the foreign authors for the bereaved bourgeois who never bothered about the basics. But he doesn’t preach philosophy either. Instead, he successfully entwines some common sense and a bit of philosophy/psychology to the readers through his characters that start out as losers.

However, for someone who wants to bring about a revolution within his target audience & India on the whole through the likes of Raghav’s pink coloured newspaper, his forte still lies in romance. The way he chiseled the character of Gopal – who comes off as someone who could write a book on how a girl would react, yet clueless as to how to convince them – is a touch of a master. There are glitches towards the end, as the book unfolds itself to melodrama by the drama king Gopal; not to forget the narcissism that is increasingly eminent in Chetan’s book, with every important character treating him as God and he in return teaching them Gita like Krishna. Yet, for portraying a romance that transcends the boundary of faith & infidelity, it really is a revolution for the target audience.

A part of this article appeared in THE HINDU - NXG

Rocking Star: A R Rahman

2011-10-05T21:16:00.000+05:30

For someone who is known to break all clichés, an A R Rahman album interminably confronts three stages of clichés.

It all starts with the first reaction – ‘I don’t like these songs – they are bland – Rahman sir has lost the Midas touch – I wish Rahman sir gets back to his roots – blah blah blah’, while ‘true’ fans with a pinch of narcissistic euphemism says ‘Rahman sir’s music are like slow poison – they grow on you – wait for it’. But, once the initial euphoria is spent, comes remarks like – ‘I like 3/6 songs – am starting to like some of the songs – one particular interlude is awesome’. Inevitably, the final phase is filled with joyous remarks like – ‘the songs are out of the world – best album of the year – Rahman is God – Rahman has pushed the barriers once again’.

While this being the case of frenzied listeners, the cautious ‘critics’ crack their brains to decrypt the songs for us to understand them. But, eventually they too end up being redundant in saying ‘the use of XYZ raga in this manner is noteworthy – the improvisation of PQRS thaalam is brilliance at the best – the fusion of western and Carnatic music is honey to ears – the subtle variation in the notes & the pleasant staccato that convolute it are the highlight of the song’. Ultimately everyone ends up using superlative terms to describe what they undergo as they listen to an A R Rahman album (including yours truly). Though this showcases the lack of creativity that people have to express their views, taking their side, I feel when you are in a trance it is highly difficult to express that state through words, as rightfully said in the lines – ‘joh bhi mein kehna chahun, barbhad karein alfaz mere’.

Yet, skeptics disagree and add that it is possible to quantify those pure emotions rather than be mesmerized dumbfound. But, when a song like ‘hawa hawa’ sweeps you of your feet with its ever varying note, it is ineluctable to fly in the musical air. Besides, it isn’t really a shame to lose oneself to music of someone who can make the best of tunes, better; like how ‘seheir mein’ beautifully rendered by Karthick, gets even better under the crooning of Mohit Chauhan. Because, what we experience is something akin to going back to school as a clean slate, yet with all those fresh thoughts waiting to burst out, like the mood of ‘phir se ud chala’. Yes, there is bound to be a struggling phase in naming those thoughts which were then creeping on the back of the mind, now taking center stage making us think – ‘iss lamhe ka kya kar jahun?’ But it doesn’t leave us in limbo; it asks us to question what we know, question what we want to know, to make us understand us/our desires better and to keep them with us, what is rightfully us (sadda haq – aithe raq).

In this defining journey that one undergoes all night spinning to the tune of music & thoughts within, the euphoria that fills the heart on attaining the profound state & this saturated being can only shell out superlative words.

Subversion of the mind

2011-09-09T00:30:00.000+05:30

The day I was born, I was kept in a conditioned room because that was the standing instruction. As I grew up I was sent to a place where my mind was force-channeled to a prescribed path set by some unknown person who was being called the Author. I personally don’t know Mr. Author, but he would be my saviour throughout. He saved me from flunking in exams, from getting scolding from teachers, from embarrassments in front of fellow mates and pretty girls in my class, from facing the wrath of my parents, etc. But it was always temporal; I still felt fear creeping behind me, engulfing me in darkness. Yet a sound kept pronouncing to follow the Author religiously if I wish to see daylight. And so it continued; I abided by every rule deemed important by the Author, for he said that was the path to eternal sunshine. The day did come when my path blazed in silvery bright. The Author came in a unicorn and took me to another place along the same path. They tested me on various occasions: 8 to be precise, but I had the ever trusted Author by my side. This stretch was fairly simple. The drills were the same; the instructions from the Author - the same; fears none. The Author has imparted enough confidence in me to face the bright light for eternity. All I had to do was to follow the set rules – everything will eventually fall in place.

Everything did eventually fall in place. Upon hearing the voice of my confidence, eternal sunshine sent for me. It was my time: time to reap the benefit of years of diligent work under the Author. But as I turned back to look for him, he vanished in the rays by then. Copping the loss, I braced myself. As the sunshine dictated terms to follow I started searching for rules to follow; there were none. It said that I hold the power to make or break a rule; that I should bend its rays to draw power. I didn’t learn to bend a ray, then comes using it to draw power. I asked for a manual, but I was given a goal list. When I asked how, it asked me to look inside to get the answer outside of the box. I searched outside and questioned inside; I searched for the Author and wandered inside. Shattered and battered I realized I was taken for a ride by the Author.

A girl with a mind - part 1

2011-09-05T00:16:00.000+05:30

Traditionally a balloon is used as an amusement object. Twist them; squeeze them; play with them; hell, pop them. Do what you want, for at the end they are tied down for your service. Women too belonged to that lot.

Centuries of being a dignified princess or a glorified goddess or a hardworking homemaker had certainly made women an oppressed group; but for how long? Like a balloon which takes in air as it expands, women too had been taking them all in. However, there is a threshold limit to everything; the balloon should burst at some point of time and so should the woman: eventually they did. Result is the modern day arrogant, self-centered, high minded women. But are they what they are because of their suppressed past?

Suppression is basically energy; how one nurtures it is the key for one’s growth. Some firm their base, some aim for the skies straightaway, but only some reach the sky. The ones with the strong roots are essentially the girls who have a firm understanding of the basics. While they may seem to be of ‘I don’t care who you are’ kind: highly unpredictable & hypocritical, they are simultaneously mature enough to understand the world. As a consequence, they are unaffected by the misgivings of the society. But they could develop a natural disinclination towards others, especially men who doubt their abilities and more importantly their character. After all it is but natural for a guy to doubt women as he is not cut out to be mature you see: how can he tolerate the outgrowth of a person who was below him just a decade back? Nevertheless, the girls who rise above him are the ones who are clear as to what they want in their life. If those guys have any sense at all, they won’t treat this as a race between the two sexes.

While the above lot stand up and face the world, some girls jump headlong into the ‘being independent’ bandwagon. Aiming for the sky straightaway like a ‘climber’ they eventually fall, only to blindly follow what most successful girls do. Inadvertently, they become the most vulnerable in the sect, easily susceptible to dangers from every part of the society – sexual favours being predominant. With just skin deep knowledge on this issue, the society then criticises that in hindsight it’s better for girls to stay at home draped all over. For god sake, if you are going to continue saying, ‘she was like a breath of fresh air’, let her come out for fresh air.

A world of flora is not complete without a queen: the one that eventually reaches the sky. They are the section which is neither vagabond nor high minded. Like the queen of flowers – rose, which is the symbol of love - well-guarded beneath, they may come off as juvenile at times, but when it comes to protecting their well-defined dreams, they turn into a tigress. It doesn't mean they don't alter their path for the external world. They do, provided the cause and people they do it for, appeal them.

At times when you blow a balloon hard, it might slip away from your hand, free to wanders around. Are women of this generation hard to catch up with? To be continued …

The Indian dream - in 2D

2011-08-22T00:40:00.000+05:30

As I reached an age where I got exposed to some well written articles, I started coming across the term ‘the Indian dream’. It was intriguing, because I never really thought it was possible for a billion people to have the same dream. But we once had: a dream to be a free country; or so they told us to believe. 64 years hence, do we still have a common dream? Is there a common thread that binds every one of us into one entity – Indian?

When I sat for my job interview, I was asked a simple question: ‘what are your short term and long term goals?’ In short they wanted to know what my dream is. The only dream I get often is where I save a damsel in distress. Another dream that teases me to reach the Meta state is when I stop a running train with just my index finger. Yes I dream of being a superhero a lot of times. We all want to be a superhero and what he stands for. We think ourselves as the purest part of the society surrounded by hooligans, questioning & comforting ourselves that we don’t deserve this situation. This dream, this vision is what we see in our movies as well: good fighting to win over the evil. Even when we make a movie about goondas & rowdies we try to justify their act of hooliganism, so that there is a good vs. evil fight at the end. We attach a purpose, a motive that makes a person right; no matter how bad an act he does, so that we can see us in him. When he eventually conquers his nemesis it’s our victory: a victory that we perceive will make everything right. On the contrary, when a movie doesn’t give a clear demarcation, it is termed as ‘loosely written’, ‘everything is left hanging’. This ability to see everything as B&W is the Indian dream I think: to plot everything in the 2D plane like the ‘good, bad’, ‘right wrong’ ‘for, against’, etc.

Take any issue of national importance; it has always been dealt with by the people in a ‘either this or that’ manner. You can either support someone or be against him. You can’t say something outside of the answer choices. I would call this impatience and a lack of perseverance. It took us 12 years of primary education to easily study a UG programme. Would we have been able to do it as a kid? When we all know there needs to be a lot of foundation & ground work required, why are we adamant in demanding results immediately? Some justify this impatience to the lack of development even after 64yrs of foundation. My question is; did we actually make a proper foundation? One government comes to make a scheme; the next government scraps it and makes a new one, which eventually gets scraped. Do we really have a defined path set for the future of our country? Instead of asking for a Shankar films like massive makeover in a matter of minutes, has anyone stopped and thought about a longer/permanent solution that will be able to adapt to the scenario of tomorrow? No, we are busy classifying the world as black and ourselves as white. But are we? A so called ‘farmer’ hates paying tax & so does everyone involved in the agricultural industry. They don’t even pay electricity bill. They say we are doing a service; why should we give our money to the government. If that is true, then why should the government relieve them of all their loans when there is drought? Go down south, to the interiors of Tamil nadu; Deer hunting is still practiced by the people there. Come to the cities; the working class goes all out to cut short a long procedure in any system. Even for rules related to safety issues, people pay bribe to avoid case being filed. From using helmets to emission control norms we don’t obey any rules. Little are we conscientious that a punishment is to make someone follow a rule. If, we don’t fear a punishment ourselves, how will a new legislation against corruption be enough to stop the corrupt? But we don’t care. We have made a great rule so we will remain complacent that everything will be fine here on. The great Indian dream fills our mind again. What does it take to make us push the envelope? What does it take to make us search for better avenues to curb such incidents? Didn’t we learn that prevention is better than cure? If we feel we are better educated than all the nethas put together, why are we following the same path as them to control injustice? Does a mother kill a child when it makes a mistake? By arresting someone for being corrupt is going to give you all the money that was swindled? Do you think 1.7 lakh crore money will come back to the government? Again we are making a precedent that we are interested in getting rid of the bad from our sight and nothing more than that.

I am not saying Lokpal is a bad law; I am not qualified enough to judge it. But my common sense tells me it is only going to satisfy the hunter in us – the Indian dream to win over the evil. We all know what happened to Sita after Rama killed Ravana. Lokpal may as well be the switch that cuts off the power to the corrupt; but little do we realise that the wire connecting the switch for empowering the citizen is obsolete. I want the wires to be laid first and then work on the switches, but the team Anna and the majority of people in metros want to take the opposite path. Either way, let there be light!

As you tweet shall we drum

2011-08-20T13:32:00.001+05:30

In the age of social networking, Media houses have turned to Twitter and other such sites to fill their channel for breaking news slot.

‘I am not signing the famous star’s new movie – tweets a famous actress’, says one article; another headline screams that ‘an actress is pregnant – actor friend wishes her through twitter’; meanwhile an actress’ statement about taking to yoga in her twitter page becomes hot news for discussion in the media.

Not always can media quote these stars for their daily digest & not always are the tweets self-explanatory. When little information can be milked from a particular tweet the writers puts on his creative cap, only to use sentences from the actor’s previous tweets to frame a plausible article. If the tweet-lad didn’t provide substantial backup for the information, the media turns the plate by publishing an article like ‘twitter is buzzing with news about an actress’ secretive marriage – is it mere speculation?’ Instances like these more or less sums up to the media being publicists for these actors – unpaid. Is this what we meant when we wished for unpaid news? More than being free publicity campaign the articles has come down to the level of being nothing more than a round up of famous tweets.

Agreed gossips & interesting information capture the imagination of the audience, drawing their attention, which an editorial seldom does. We do understand that media need to be in the business to provide good news & this kind of news gives them a lot of TRP. But in an attempt to reach out to a larger audience, they have made us realize that finding/ making news is child’s play. Follow the tweeter profile of the right people in any industry and you will be the first to know even before the media breaks the news. These acts of laziness to produce an original article, wipes out the charm that a news corporation is affiliated with. Not only that, they invariable project an image that they don’t have any ownership or responsibility towards what they publish. If the tweet-lad had made a mistake in his tweet he would eventually tweet about it, which becomes a news in itself. Inadvertently, speculation has become the news article of today moving away from its analytical aspect. How many times has any media house in a neutral mind-set tried to educate its viewers when the people have been misled?

Today, News Corporation of India is marred by greater & deeper issues apart from tweet mania. In this time of crisis, the fourth corner stone of this democracy needs more than a breather to save itself. But for now it can do better without drumming to the tunes of twitter.

Samacheer Kalvi - Samachaara Kalvi

2011-08-12T00:10:00.000+05:30

From the day we are born our growth has always been measured by how much we question our surrounding. True education happens as we acquire knowledge through reasoning. It is this principle that our ancestors had tried to impart as education – the power to reason or should we call it nirvana? In twenty first century as we are nearing the dream year 2020, education still remains a hindrance for knowledge. Yes, eighteen years of education has given me nothing more than what I have learnt about this world in the past two years as an engineer. Every professional I see, is now where he is only because of his understanding of this world. It is that driving force that had led him to acquire required knowledge. The irony being that, his sense of understanding has nothing to do with the education provided. Clearly one can see the real state of primary & secondary education in this country where people who really seek knowledge has no guidance. The whole system, from poor teachers to senile books fails to awaken the thinking power of the country’s posterity. If I feel I have got some amount of reasoning I would attribute it to my milieu. But are all blessed like the few of us? Can everyone afford to search for answers outside of the B&W words that lay in front of them?

Adding to this crisis are the numerous curriculum provided for different set of people. Indirectly it means people who are blessed with brighter parents are eligible to get the best out of the system while the self-made children remain underprivileged. It brings out a sense of demarcation amongst the younger generation even before they are ready to face the real world. What we really need is a drastic uplift for the below par curriculum. But, what rather comes out as requirement is a common system which sacrifices the higher points to accommodate the lower bracket.

Samacheer Kalvi the latest attempt to equalize the biased society in the near future seems to be nothing more than a powerful tool to degrade the society by eradicating the flowers even before their buds are formed. When, I a student of 90s, felt we were outdated in what we received in the name of education, what is the use of flushing out quality load for the present kids in the name of equality. It is synonymous to pushing the society back by a decade where we were still professing our hatred for hindi. Personally hindi hasn’t helped me in gaining knowledge, but every time I go out of this state it is that language that makes my journey smooth in the align land. In this sense, language and education should be treated as one and the same; a path for opening the mind for understanding what is available and what is to be made available. Like my current company’s slogan – ‘it sets you thinking’, education must act as a fuel to the natural spark every human being has inside him. Not stopping there, it should also teach him how to preserve and transform the spark into forms which he would like to envisage in the future.

Coming back to Samacheer Kalvi, let us accept that the syllabus is on par with the matric standard if not higher. Even if that is true, will it be enough? Isn’t education all about tuning the mind, and not just mugging information? A boy playing a team sport will learn a lot more about society than he will learn about it in his book. A successful team captain will know more ways to make a person be his efficient self than a HR person. I am not saying books are obsolete for the current trend, all I am saying is, the way we see books is completely wrong. The change has to happen with the way teachers teach us and not just the books. Instead of spending crores and cores of people’s money on making copies of different syllabus to satiate each government’s ego, why not spend them on improving the quality of teaching? Will a piece of paper with some great words change the future of those kids? The need of the hour is a qualified interpreter between them and the books, till they can take care of themselves.

What they are? Women they are

2011-07-12T00:39:00.000+05:30

Take any guy, be a lover boy or a nerd or even an idealistic person, when he speaks to a beautiful girl, it would come across his mind to consort her, at least for a fleeting second; and in that moment to impress her he gives himself to her. A girl probably does have such thoughts when she chances upon meeting her dream guy. But we seldom see girls stoop to the point sacrificing their self-respect to win over him.

There is an air of confidence that surrounds the women of today; a sense of superiority, if I were to be harsh. However, rationally speaking, their sense of individualism is overwhelming. But how did they achieve it? We had the same schooling; same set of friends; read the same books; had the same teachers; grew up in the same social milieu, yet they seem to be ahead of the majority. There should be some explainable phenomenon that had made them what they are. I could probably write it off, blaming it all on the poor sex ratio that prevails in this nation. But I am sure that is not the ‘be it all’ & ‘by it all’. Granted, they do have the most powerful weapon ever conceived to kill a guy – their physical self, but we are taking about self-righteousness here. There is probably an ulterior trait which hasn’t struck the peering eyes of the author. It is appalling that I couldn’t trace it to the generic gene lineage theory for obvious reasons as well. As I ponder over a plausible answer, a member from the female fraternity, showing pity, gave me an explanation, which I feel fits the question to a certain extent.

“A girl, as she grows up is educated of the ills of the society: how they treat a woman, what becomes of her if she doesn't go by the common presumptions; the dos & don’t to avoid sacrilege; sacrifices that she has to do as a part of her marriage; in short she is groomed to be scared to death about where she stands in the world. The only solution the she finds is in being fiercely individualistic & independent. By doing that, mostly out of fear, she displays that as insolence.”

If that truly is the state of our women, which I wish to be not true, is a worrying state. What the society does is that, it makes the women go against it; and in that revolt, they may have crossed a line where they are misusing their liberty. But who am I to question their act; moreover who am I to know where the boundary is drawn. They may as well be ahead of the curve. If so, isn’t it their duty to take us with them? Why should they be esoteric?

Land of corruption

2011-07-07T23:56:00.000+05:30

It has been a staggering month already, with multitudinous events, sprawling the vast geography of our country. Down south, the people have went down searching only to reach the top, not just the top of the headlines, but the top of the world’s riches list by digging the God’s own land; literally & figuratively. By people, I mean the elite few who will be benefited of this exercise, which includes everyone except the common man. But then, I hear the unearthing is going to be videotaped & the items excavated will be kept in museum, unlike expected of our elite few to export it in a raw deal; am I being pungent here? I believe, if that is eventually executed with honesty, it would be the best way to deal with the treasure. It heartens to hear people say, ‘let’s share the money’, ‘let us use it for the nation’, let’s sell it’. Firstly, it is not our money, it was basically the then kingdom's fund donated/buried in the temple, rightfully belonging to the bearer. The least we can ask for is to pay the required tax for acquiring wealth through gifts. Coming to the point that the money should be used for the public (provided the owner, in this case the trust, accepts to it), I seriously hope we Indians get a crash course on wealth at the earliest. These are not liquid funds lying in the coffers. Yes, idle money is of no use but as an artifact. Yet, can’t you think of any other option? What about loan on asset? Why can’t you take loan on a portion of the asset to cultivate a profitable business whose return can be used to pay for the loan? If that still sounds risky, proven the poor business track record of our government, why not let RBI have it in exchange for cash. At least it will lie within India. Remember these assets don’t just have monetary value; they speak a lot about our still unknown history; isn’t that our duty to protect our wealth rather than splurging it. Hope the most literate state doesn’t become educated fools.

Going a little above, to a state which is known for spicing up everything from food to films, the land scams that had shaken the political throne have been shown the door for the war of ownership of land. Telengana sure is boiling because of underdevelopment. But what has the 100 MLAs done for that, apart from burning the state now and then, coupled with few fast unto death threats. Stripping off all the complexities, the issue is mainly about poor state of affairs in some parts of AP. Let’s say we give power to the people who are asking for a separate state; the power to rule AP, wont that shut their mouth? If that power wouldn’t pave way for a better development in those regions, they are not fit to rule a state even though it will be a minuscule one.

While the state of affairs & that of a state in itself is hanging, a lone figure, draped in white to invite violence, is prowling the muddy soil brazing the heat wave, thanks to the lemonades & three course meals offered by poor farmers who are fighting for their next meal. Rahul Gandhi might think he has proven his caliber as a politician by showing that he too can play the game. But what has he gained other than the name ‘politician’? Does it solve the real problem? A state which wants to industrialize had made some hasty decision, agreed. But by standing up for the farmers & nothing else, the future PM has been propagating that industrial revolution is not called for. Why not follow our northern neighbours’ policy by compensating as well as relocating people to a developed environment. By doing so, we can have planned villages which would eventually grow into planned cities.

When all these issues would be done to death for the week, the coming week will start off swell thanks to the coal scam. This is what we call in tamil as ‘mughathila kariya posarathu’ (which will lose its meaning if I translate it).