Posts
mentally disintegrated
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Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Race(ism) against Time
Race (and or Racism) is still in the lead by some distance, although I've been told Time is extremely patient and will probably make a move some time in the future. Who's going to win though? Has someone won already? Depends on where you want to paint the finish line. For now though, Racism is sprinting ahead.
Sanjay Suri's article titled "Brownian Notions" in Outlook India magazine, has this extended tagline
Indians - especially those living abroad in the "West" - are still grappling (knowingly or unknowingly) with the many prejudices and the many insecurities ingrained in them by virtue of a complex, several thousand year past. Combine that with the misplaced belief that a somewhat superficial "Indian-ness" is still highly superior to other cultures, has only made this internal conflict worse over time and has externally manifested in an attitude embodying disdain for everything and everyone not like "themselves".
Skin color is the most easily available "mechanism for exercising prejudice" that Indians in India or abroad overwhelmingly avail of. That we still judge people using a skin-colored lens is as illuminating as it is tragic.
Illuminating because it makes us think about where it could possibly have come from. The "North-South" divide in India is sometimes held responsible for it. The caste system is another popular culprit. But they cannot be the only reasons. Skin-color based discrimination is also quite prevalent in several countries and cultures in Africa, as well as other South Asian and South-East Asian countries. I guess we could generalize this phenomenon by saying that skin-color prejudice exists in many societies that have various shades of black and brown amongst the people.
Tragic because Indians use that skin-color(ed) lens to make various blanket judgments and generalizations (yes - I'm generalizing here as well - so sue me!) - from a person's race, country or origin, their mother-tongue, caste, perhaps religion to their mannerisms, accents, and even the kind of food they eat, etc. And for decision-support they have traditionally relied on a database of both prejudices, and stereotypes as well as the underlying insecurities behind them that have been passed down over the centuries (millenia perhaps?). Indians living abroad have only expanded that database to include people from a wider set of countries and cultures including their host countries. All this assessment is done before the person in front of us has had the opportunity to even open their mouths to say something. Perhaps culturally, it is the most natural thing to do and can be explained away with a: "So what? Everyone else does it is too. Why shouldn't we?".
Whether we may or may not admit it, the most widely held (and practiced) prejudice and insecurity among Indians is that "Fair is Fair". And, as cheesy as it sounds, that's not really all that fair. It's critical that beyond the inherent racism that is embedded in our "value system" and the debate about whether we are being discriminated on the basis of race and skin abroad, there also needs to be a debate on why we think we need to be treated fairly (pun intended) when we don't do the same ourselves - especially in our own country? I do agree that this contradiction does not in any way diminish the nature of the discrimination that we sometimes face - it is and would be criminal to actually ignore or overlook it in any country. But it is equally criminal to not use this conflict as a means to start holding ourselves to the higher standards we feel entitled to from those around us.
Sanjay Suri's article titled "Brownian Notions" in Outlook India magazine, has this extended tagline
"The prejudice NRIs exhibit is more complex than what they face ...". I can't help but agree with that - especially because its an issue I have struggled with internally for sometime. The article is a fascinating read as well.
Indians - especially those living abroad in the "West" - are still grappling (knowingly or unknowingly) with the many prejudices and the many insecurities ingrained in them by virtue of a complex, several thousand year past. Combine that with the misplaced belief that a somewhat superficial "Indian-ness" is still highly superior to other cultures, has only made this internal conflict worse over time and has externally manifested in an attitude embodying disdain for everything and everyone not like "themselves".
Skin color is the most easily available "mechanism for exercising prejudice" that Indians in India or abroad overwhelmingly avail of. That we still judge people using a skin-colored lens is as illuminating as it is tragic.
Illuminating because it makes us think about where it could possibly have come from. The "North-South" divide in India is sometimes held responsible for it. The caste system is another popular culprit. But they cannot be the only reasons. Skin-color based discrimination is also quite prevalent in several countries and cultures in Africa, as well as other South Asian and South-East Asian countries. I guess we could generalize this phenomenon by saying that skin-color prejudice exists in many societies that have various shades of black and brown amongst the people.
Tragic because Indians use that skin-color(ed) lens to make various blanket judgments and generalizations (yes - I'm generalizing here as well - so sue me!) - from a person's race, country or origin, their mother-tongue, caste, perhaps religion to their mannerisms, accents, and even the kind of food they eat, etc. And for decision-support they have traditionally relied on a database of both prejudices, and stereotypes as well as the underlying insecurities behind them that have been passed down over the centuries (millenia perhaps?). Indians living abroad have only expanded that database to include people from a wider set of countries and cultures including their host countries. All this assessment is done before the person in front of us has had the opportunity to even open their mouths to say something. Perhaps culturally, it is the most natural thing to do and can be explained away with a: "So what? Everyone else does it is too. Why shouldn't we?".
Whether we may or may not admit it, the most widely held (and practiced) prejudice and insecurity among Indians is that "Fair is Fair". And, as cheesy as it sounds, that's not really all that fair. It's critical that beyond the inherent racism that is embedded in our "value system" and the debate about whether we are being discriminated on the basis of race and skin abroad, there also needs to be a debate on why we think we need to be treated fairly (pun intended) when we don't do the same ourselves - especially in our own country? I do agree that this contradiction does not in any way diminish the nature of the discrimination that we sometimes face - it is and would be criminal to actually ignore or overlook it in any country. But it is equally criminal to not use this conflict as a means to start holding ourselves to the higher standards we feel entitled to from those around us.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Blast from the past: old DOS games anyone?
a. Revisiting the "Foundation" series by Isaac Asimov.
b. Also, playing an old DOS game that I used to enjoy back in the day. It's called "Megafortress" (circa 1991), a flight sim game. The graphics is pretty bare bones, but flying the Megafortress is not exactly a piece of cake - especially when the missions become more and more difficult.
While the game does run directly on XP - the problem seems to be that it runs a little too fast. Also, the mouse controls don't seem to get configured correctly - the click is too sensitive and becomes a pain at some point. The game also messed up my System Date setting.
After searching for solutions on how to run old DOS games on XP without problems, initially came across one suggested fix: applying/changing settings for the .exe file. ".Exe file"->RightClick->Properties->Program Tab->Advanced->Turn on Setting "Compatible Hardware Timer Emulation".
That fixed the system date problem, i.e. the Megafortress no longer messed with the System date after that. But it still didn't fix the "mouse too fast" problem. So searched a bit more for a better solution and came across a suggestion to give DosBox, an x86 emulator for Windows, a try.
Bingo. "Mouse too fast" problem solved using DosBox. Only issue now though is the small window size when running the game. They didn't have 1024X768 displays then. Changing the display settings to 640X480 could do the trick though and you could play the game Fullscreen. I just haven't given that a try yet.
Above fixes should let you play your old games on WinXP. If you still have them lying around somewhere perhaps you could give them another try.
While old DOS games could help you with your nostalgia fix, they aren't going to be a substitute for the ones that got away though. But then, let's also be realistic here. It's not like they would really want to have anything to do with you now would they?!
And no - you really don't have to finish that big bag of Lays just because you're all depressed now.
b. Also, playing an old DOS game that I used to enjoy back in the day. It's called "Megafortress" (circa 1991), a flight sim game. The graphics is pretty bare bones, but flying the Megafortress is not exactly a piece of cake - especially when the missions become more and more difficult.
While the game does run directly on XP - the problem seems to be that it runs a little too fast. Also, the mouse controls don't seem to get configured correctly - the click is too sensitive and becomes a pain at some point. The game also messed up my System Date setting.
After searching for solutions on how to run old DOS games on XP without problems, initially came across one suggested fix: applying/changing settings for the .exe file. ".Exe file"->RightClick->Properties->Program Tab->Advanced->Turn on Setting "Compatible Hardware Timer Emulation".
That fixed the system date problem, i.e. the Megafortress no longer messed with the System date after that. But it still didn't fix the "mouse too fast" problem. So searched a bit more for a better solution and came across a suggestion to give DosBox, an x86 emulator for Windows, a try.
Bingo. "Mouse too fast" problem solved using DosBox. Only issue now though is the small window size when running the game. They didn't have 1024X768 displays then. Changing the display settings to 640X480 could do the trick though and you could play the game Fullscreen. I just haven't given that a try yet.
Above fixes should let you play your old games on WinXP. If you still have them lying around somewhere perhaps you could give them another try.
While old DOS games could help you with your nostalgia fix, they aren't going to be a substitute for the ones that got away though. But then, let's also be realistic here. It's not like they would really want to have anything to do with you now would they?!
And no - you really don't have to finish that big bag of Lays just because you're all depressed now.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
"I was a fool - please take me back"
As is the case, when we all start with a ton of ideas and intentions, we almost always end up with not having done anything about most of those.
Naming my personal blog as "The Meltdown Chronicles", overlooking the inherent pretentiousness and the genuine lack of creativity in the title, was meant to provide the blog with some overarching purpose. The purpose being - some way of documenting how crazier I am going to get as the years roll on by even as MPB (Male Pattern Baldness) and CRS (Can't Remember Sh*t - Thanks Venky), among other afflictions, start working their magic on me. As with good intentions that fall by the wayside, (although "chronicling" my descent into what I will come to loosely being known as, i.e. crazy would not necessarily be termed as a "good intention" in any easily conceivable way - there in perhaps providing a decent enough glimpse of that future dementia), I fear I am not doing much justice to it.
If you thought though that the whole purpose of this confession was that I would somehow start spending more time trying to achieve that purpose... you're not in the same room as I am. Perhaps fortunate. Because while I am busy trying to become mental, I am not doing a good job recording it.
Anyways, besides the confession that I'm really bad at following up sometimes with long-term goals, or that I'm really good at making course corrections whenever convenient, whatever, I've also had this realization (yes yes... the useless epiphanies keep sparking up) that it would be easy to read all this one day (ok - it won't necessarily be easy) and discern the madness between the lines camouflaged by the increasingly extraordinarily mediocre writing.
I will try though to be a little bit more regular. It's not that I have to look around real hard for material. I've been fortunate that way - it doesn't take too much to have me go off on a long rant about something.
So please take me back (If I gave myself a rupee or a nickel for every time I said that ... I'd be richer if it were more nickels than rupees - plain old exchange rates you see).
Naming my personal blog as "The Meltdown Chronicles", overlooking the inherent pretentiousness and the genuine lack of creativity in the title, was meant to provide the blog with some overarching purpose. The purpose being - some way of documenting how crazier I am going to get as the years roll on by even as MPB (Male Pattern Baldness) and CRS (Can't Remember Sh*t - Thanks Venky), among other afflictions, start working their magic on me. As with good intentions that fall by the wayside, (although "chronicling" my descent into what I will come to loosely being known as, i.e. crazy would not necessarily be termed as a "good intention" in any easily conceivable way - there in perhaps providing a decent enough glimpse of that future dementia), I fear I am not doing much justice to it.
If you thought though that the whole purpose of this confession was that I would somehow start spending more time trying to achieve that purpose... you're not in the same room as I am. Perhaps fortunate. Because while I am busy trying to become mental, I am not doing a good job recording it.
Anyways, besides the confession that I'm really bad at following up sometimes with long-term goals, or that I'm really good at making course corrections whenever convenient, whatever, I've also had this realization (yes yes... the useless epiphanies keep sparking up) that it would be easy to read all this one day (ok - it won't necessarily be easy) and discern the madness between the lines camouflaged by the increasingly extraordinarily mediocre writing.
I will try though to be a little bit more regular. It's not that I have to look around real hard for material. I've been fortunate that way - it doesn't take too much to have me go off on a long rant about something.
So please take me back (If I gave myself a rupee or a nickel for every time I said that ... I'd be richer if it were more nickels than rupees - plain old exchange rates you see).
Monday, April 27, 2009
Last word on Fake...?
Well, according to "The Real IPL Player", apparently the power that be have unearthed our Fake IPL Player. Whatsmore according to "The Real IPL Player" he's been cut off from his source. Who was Fake IPL Player's source? Well - it was Real IPL Player of course. Duh!
But does not Real IPL's writing style seem a lot more similar to the earlier Fake IPL Player's - before the whole rumor about Fake being finally found out surfaced a few days ago?
So was Fake really a journalist getting insider info from Real, as Real claims? Is Real the authentic Fake and Fake - well - fake? Or is Fake the authentic Fake? Or are Real and Fake the same people?
I'd like to say I don't give a damn eitherways... but then it would be a little bit of a lie. But enough on Fake. Stay tuned to the news feeds for more news.
But does not Real IPL's writing style seem a lot more similar to the earlier Fake IPL Player's - before the whole rumor about Fake being finally found out surfaced a few days ago?
So was Fake really a journalist getting insider info from Real, as Real claims? Is Real the authentic Fake and Fake - well - fake? Or is Fake the authentic Fake? Or are Real and Fake the same people?
I'd like to say I don't give a damn eitherways... but then it would be a little bit of a lie. But enough on Fake. Stay tuned to the news feeds for more news.
Friday, April 24, 2009
(Was) the best thing about the IPL so far...?
No. No. I'm not about to say that the previous day's cricket games - despite them being fairly tense and nailbiting - have upstaged "Fake IPL Player".
The past tense indicates that there seems to have occurred a big new twist on the whole situation. As Prem Panicker first indicated on his twitter page, apparently the identity of the Fake IPL Player has been uncovered - referring to Gulu Ezekiel's piece in the Indian Express (go down to the "Op-ed" page and see bottom section).
Oh well. Sadly, it may seem that the whodunit part of the story is finally over. Or is it? Maybe there's still a lot more drama to come our way - now that matters seem to be coming out into the open. Or we may likely never know who was truly involved either.
Personally, it seems to me that "Fake..." become too famous (or infamous) for his own good.
The past tense indicates that there seems to have occurred a big new twist on the whole situation. As Prem Panicker first indicated on his twitter page, apparently the identity of the Fake IPL Player has been uncovered - referring to Gulu Ezekiel's piece in the Indian Express (go down to the "Op-ed" page and see bottom section).
Oh well. Sadly, it may seem that the whodunit part of the story is finally over. Or is it? Maybe there's still a lot more drama to come our way - now that matters seem to be coming out into the open. Or we may likely never know who was truly involved either.
Personally, it seems to me that "Fake..." become too famous (or infamous) for his own good.
Monday, April 20, 2009
The best thing about the IPL so far...
(IPL = Indian Premier League; an Indian city-based franchise cricket league/tournament currently in its second year being held in South Africa because of security issues in India)
Last year the IPL was a huge novelty, an unknown. It was also wildly successful. The idea of a city-based cricket league really took off in India in a big way. Twenty20 is certainly here to stay.
Disappointingly, this year the IPL tournament is being held in South Africa. The Indian government was not able to guarantee the safety of the tournament given that it coincided with the Indian general elections - a super mammoth exercise in itself that would stretch security agencies, supposedly, to the max.
The tournament began this past weekend in SA. A few games have been completed. A lot of big name players and a good amount of cricket has been seen. But the best thing that has happened so far is not the cricket, or the fanfare (or lack thereof), or the hype, or the asinine Bollywood activities surrounding the event, or even the player slappings, coach firings, and other going ons...
The best thing is the surfacing of this blog that started on the eve of the game called "Fake IPL Player". The interesting thing about this blog is not just the humor/satire, particularly involving and directed at the Kolkata Knight Riders, a team owned by Shah Rukh Khan, but the level of detail with which supposedly fake events that happened outside the cricket field are described. Despite the disclaimer that all events and people mentioned in that blog are fictitious, there is just too much information for the blog to be considered an entire fake. Which means, in the guise of a fake blog, we may have someone who has insider access to the KKR team and is giving us some sort of factual insight into all thats going on behind the scenes. And for a team thats struggling on all aspects and heading towards a huge meltdown of some sorts, it makes for very interesting reading.
Fake's posts are something to look forward to, even more than the cricket.
Last year the IPL was a huge novelty, an unknown. It was also wildly successful. The idea of a city-based cricket league really took off in India in a big way. Twenty20 is certainly here to stay.
Disappointingly, this year the IPL tournament is being held in South Africa. The Indian government was not able to guarantee the safety of the tournament given that it coincided with the Indian general elections - a super mammoth exercise in itself that would stretch security agencies, supposedly, to the max.
The tournament began this past weekend in SA. A few games have been completed. A lot of big name players and a good amount of cricket has been seen. But the best thing that has happened so far is not the cricket, or the fanfare (or lack thereof), or the hype, or the asinine Bollywood activities surrounding the event, or even the player slappings, coach firings, and other going ons...
The best thing is the surfacing of this blog that started on the eve of the game called "Fake IPL Player". The interesting thing about this blog is not just the humor/satire, particularly involving and directed at the Kolkata Knight Riders, a team owned by Shah Rukh Khan, but the level of detail with which supposedly fake events that happened outside the cricket field are described. Despite the disclaimer that all events and people mentioned in that blog are fictitious, there is just too much information for the blog to be considered an entire fake. Which means, in the guise of a fake blog, we may have someone who has insider access to the KKR team and is giving us some sort of factual insight into all thats going on behind the scenes. And for a team thats struggling on all aspects and heading towards a huge meltdown of some sorts, it makes for very interesting reading.
Fake's posts are something to look forward to, even more than the cricket.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Dodge this!
Tarun Tejpal weighs in on the symbolism of the "shoe protest" phenomenon. A recent addition to its annals is the incident in which a Sikh journalist threw a shoe at P. Chidambaram, Indian's Home Minister, to protest the central government's clean chit to two prime accused of the anti-Sikh riots/pogrom in 1984 - the prime accused are politicians and members of the same political party that the Home Minister belongs to.
Tejpal's edit also serves as a reminder that good journalism is not just proving a voice to the population but also holding a mirror to it.
Then again, how many really care for true journalism really.
Tejpal's edit also serves as a reminder that good journalism is not just proving a voice to the population but also holding a mirror to it.
Then again, how many really care for true journalism really.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Gears of a mad world
If you're like me you probably saw the promos of "Gears of War" (Epic games) back a couple of years, and thought it looked pretty cool. Also, like me, you thought that the song in the promo was pretty cool too, and a lovely touch that actually enhanced the game's appeal beyond the usual ultra-violent video game commercial.
That song was/is "Mad World" and was by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews. It was the first time I heard it. Thought I'd link to that video here as well. If you're like me, you'll like the lyrics as well.
What I didn't know then was that the song originally belongs to "Tears for Fears".
Anyways, some guy on American Idol performed "Mad World" on the show. I heard it. Thought it was largely inspired by the version heard in the "Gears of War" promo (Jules/ Andrews).
And for all the well-deserved hype "Mad World"'s getting you have "Tears for Fears" to thank.
"Gears of Wars" was/is freakin amazing as well.
That song was/is "Mad World" and was by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews. It was the first time I heard it. Thought I'd link to that video here as well. If you're like me, you'll like the lyrics as well.
What I didn't know then was that the song originally belongs to "Tears for Fears".
Anyways, some guy on American Idol performed "Mad World" on the show. I heard it. Thought it was largely inspired by the version heard in the "Gears of War" promo (Jules/ Andrews).
And for all the well-deserved hype "Mad World"'s getting you have "Tears for Fears" to thank.
"Gears of Wars" was/is freakin amazing as well.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Slate really gets me!
(Warning: This may be hazardous to bloggers).
NPD or Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
Yup. Well. That was a depressing/damning read. The title of my post should tell you how deep I am in this sh$t. Its been a few days since I read that - and I'm still trying to come to terms with it.
There now. You only live once.
NPD or Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
Yup. Well. That was a depressing/damning read. The title of my post should tell you how deep I am in this sh$t. Its been a few days since I read that - and I'm still trying to come to terms with it.
There now. You only live once.
Friday, March 20, 2009
"I Liked/Like" - P II
Kay Kay Menon
Kay Kay has been around for a while. First saw him in some gangster movie - where Kay Kay plays a police office who goes undercover and infiltrates a notorious gang, but in the course of time ends up conflicted about the situation (Chhal). That story is pretty much almost staple fare across the world for action-drama movie script purposes. So no biggie there.
But he's always been an integral part of the alternative/ multiplex Hindi movie genre. He played an impressionable Marxist in Sudhir Mishra's superlative Hazaroon Khwaishein Aisi, a business tycoon who ultimately goes up and down with the dirty game that business tycoons seem to be playing all the time in Madhur Bhandarkar's Corporate, an investigative officer trying to put together the pieces of the bomb blasts in Mumbai in March 1993 and the plot behind it in Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday, a senior manager at a Mumbai call-center not averse to cheating on his wife on the side in Life In A Metro, among other parts. Did I say he was very impressive in essaying those varied roles? Well - he was.
He's been acting in commercial potboilers off late as well. So far they've been a mixed bag. In Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar - a remake of/tribute to Mario Puzo's The Godfather (of sorts) in an Indian political setting, he played the character most similar to Fredo Corleone. He was also easily the best thing in that movie, for me at least, despite the fact that Senior and Junior Bachchan were the central characters. Can't wait to catch him in Kashyap's latest release Gulaal.
To sum it up, easily one of the best around in the acting business. Fair to say that the parallel cinema/multiplex movement would have been/be far less effective/entertaining had he not been around.
Kay Kay has been around for a while. First saw him in some gangster movie - where Kay Kay plays a police office who goes undercover and infiltrates a notorious gang, but in the course of time ends up conflicted about the situation (Chhal). That story is pretty much almost staple fare across the world for action-drama movie script purposes. So no biggie there.
But he's always been an integral part of the alternative/ multiplex Hindi movie genre. He played an impressionable Marxist in Sudhir Mishra's superlative Hazaroon Khwaishein Aisi, a business tycoon who ultimately goes up and down with the dirty game that business tycoons seem to be playing all the time in Madhur Bhandarkar's Corporate, an investigative officer trying to put together the pieces of the bomb blasts in Mumbai in March 1993 and the plot behind it in Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday, a senior manager at a Mumbai call-center not averse to cheating on his wife on the side in Life In A Metro, among other parts. Did I say he was very impressive in essaying those varied roles? Well - he was.
He's been acting in commercial potboilers off late as well. So far they've been a mixed bag. In Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar - a remake of/tribute to Mario Puzo's The Godfather (of sorts) in an Indian political setting, he played the character most similar to Fredo Corleone. He was also easily the best thing in that movie, for me at least, despite the fact that Senior and Junior Bachchan were the central characters. Can't wait to catch him in Kashyap's latest release Gulaal.
To sum it up, easily one of the best around in the acting business. Fair to say that the parallel cinema/multiplex movement would have been/be far less effective/entertaining had he not been around.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
"Bhimsen"
Bhimsen (by Prem Panicker)
Prem Panicker's story series views the world of the Mahabharata through the eyes of Bhima or Bhimsen, the second of the official five Pandava brothers, also the mightiest of them all according to legend. It is in episodic form and is a work in progress/unfinished. Meaning - episodes are being written as we speak and the story updated periodically. The link above points to the entire archive including Prem's preamble and the source of his inspiration.
Those familiar with the Mahabharata will find this easier to follow perhaps. I have been following it since Prem started writing it on his relatively new website (see side link under "Reading List").
Why follow it though if you already know the story?
Ah, but, does merely knowing a sequence of events mean that you really know a story? There are as many perspectives to a story as there are readers. It's also very well written.
Update:
Prem's continuing the series and his blogging over at his new site. So follow the latest Bhimsen episodes over there.
Prem Panicker's story series views the world of the Mahabharata through the eyes of Bhima or Bhimsen, the second of the official five Pandava brothers, also the mightiest of them all according to legend. It is in episodic form and is a work in progress/unfinished. Meaning - episodes are being written as we speak and the story updated periodically. The link above points to the entire archive including Prem's preamble and the source of his inspiration.
Those familiar with the Mahabharata will find this easier to follow perhaps. I have been following it since Prem started writing it on his relatively new website (see side link under "Reading List").
Why follow it though if you already know the story?
Ah, but, does merely knowing a sequence of events mean that you really know a story? There are as many perspectives to a story as there are readers. It's also very well written.
Update:
Prem's continuing the series and his blogging over at his new site. So follow the latest Bhimsen episodes over there.
Friday, February 27, 2009
I Like/Liked.
(Note: In no particular order)
Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Abhay Deol plays Lucky - a charming, aspirational thief who at different times nonchalantly, and/or brazenly, steals his way up the ladder of high life. His audacious exploits of daylight thievery seem to suggest to us and him that he has people figured out for the most part. Until, one day, his one weakness, that desire for some kind of recognition by society in general and high society in particular, lands him in his most sticky situation yet. Still, if this is the same Lucky you've been following through the movie, you can be sure there's nothing he doesn't back himself to not get out of.
The supporting cast is wonderful, lead by Paresh Rawal and Manu Rishi. Abhay is fast becoming the poster-boy of "multiplex", or small-budget, Hindi cinema - a movement that deserves fully to not be labelled "Bollywood". He's never going to top popularity charts like the Khans and Bachchans with their movies that either outright lift themes, situations, even whole movies from Hollywood (thereby fittingly being labeled Bollywood) or repititively, regressively and non-sensically depict a hackneyed-moralled Indian culture that perhaps only exists in their movies and in the warped minds of non-resident indians. Whatever. So What. (So ends my usual pet rant about "Bollywood" movies and actors in general - for this post only though.) Quality cinema watchers can trust movies Abhay Deol is in though.
Oye Lucky Lucky Oye is also Dibakar Banerjee's second (?) directorial venture after the fantastic Khosla ka Ghosla. Very Delhi both. Very wonderful both.
Most recently, he played the turn of the new century Devdas in Anurag Kashyap's (Black Friday) Dev D. I still haven't caught Dev D, but I plan to very soon. Something tells me, it's going to be a blast.
Mithya
Which brings us to another poster boy of "multiplex" Hindi cinema, Ranvir Shorey. Mithya is the story of a regular guy played by Shorey, who unfortunately by a quirk of fate, finds out that he's a mafia don doppelganger. Sure enough, one day, he finds himself, and not by choice, in the situation of being forced to take the don's place, unknown to most including those closest to the don - something he, in spite of looking like the don, is totally unsuited to the job. Along the way he finds true love of sorts. His life doesn't get any easier though.
Sure, we've seen similar themes in the Amitabh classic "Don", and there are shades of situations from John Woo's "Face/Off" as well, among others. But Ranvir is as earnest as independent actors can be. Neha Dhupia as the love interest is also surprisingly decent - she needs more movies like these. Mithya is reasonably well-made.
Ranvir also did a super job in Khosla ka Ghosla, and Pyar Ke Side Effects (which I finally watched recently) as well.
Vinay Pathak
The third posterboy of "multiplex" Hindi cinema. In Khosla ka Ghosla, Mithya, Manorama - Six Feet Under, the Chinatown tribute, with Abhay Deol, in Bheja Fry, and recently in Rajat Kapur's Dasvidaniya, Kapur incidentally another earnest filmmaker and actor, among others. Pathak was also in the thriller, Johnny Gaddar. He's another actor whose movie choices are pretty much spot on.
Welcome to Sajjanpur
A satirical take on life in small town India, that covers a wide gamut of socio-political issues including poverty, illiteracy, conservatism vs modernism, widow-remarriage, dirty politics, among several others.
Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Abhay Deol plays Lucky - a charming, aspirational thief who at different times nonchalantly, and/or brazenly, steals his way up the ladder of high life. His audacious exploits of daylight thievery seem to suggest to us and him that he has people figured out for the most part. Until, one day, his one weakness, that desire for some kind of recognition by society in general and high society in particular, lands him in his most sticky situation yet. Still, if this is the same Lucky you've been following through the movie, you can be sure there's nothing he doesn't back himself to not get out of.
The supporting cast is wonderful, lead by Paresh Rawal and Manu Rishi. Abhay is fast becoming the poster-boy of "multiplex", or small-budget, Hindi cinema - a movement that deserves fully to not be labelled "Bollywood". He's never going to top popularity charts like the Khans and Bachchans with their movies that either outright lift themes, situations, even whole movies from Hollywood (thereby fittingly being labeled Bollywood) or repititively, regressively and non-sensically depict a hackneyed-moralled Indian culture that perhaps only exists in their movies and in the warped minds of non-resident indians. Whatever. So What. (So ends my usual pet rant about "Bollywood" movies and actors in general - for this post only though.) Quality cinema watchers can trust movies Abhay Deol is in though.
Oye Lucky Lucky Oye is also Dibakar Banerjee's second (?) directorial venture after the fantastic Khosla ka Ghosla. Very Delhi both. Very wonderful both.
Most recently, he played the turn of the new century Devdas in Anurag Kashyap's (Black Friday) Dev D. I still haven't caught Dev D, but I plan to very soon. Something tells me, it's going to be a blast.
Mithya
Which brings us to another poster boy of "multiplex" Hindi cinema, Ranvir Shorey. Mithya is the story of a regular guy played by Shorey, who unfortunately by a quirk of fate, finds out that he's a mafia don doppelganger. Sure enough, one day, he finds himself, and not by choice, in the situation of being forced to take the don's place, unknown to most including those closest to the don - something he, in spite of looking like the don, is totally unsuited to the job. Along the way he finds true love of sorts. His life doesn't get any easier though.
Sure, we've seen similar themes in the Amitabh classic "Don", and there are shades of situations from John Woo's "Face/Off" as well, among others. But Ranvir is as earnest as independent actors can be. Neha Dhupia as the love interest is also surprisingly decent - she needs more movies like these. Mithya is reasonably well-made.
Ranvir also did a super job in Khosla ka Ghosla, and Pyar Ke Side Effects (which I finally watched recently) as well.
Vinay Pathak
The third posterboy of "multiplex" Hindi cinema. In Khosla ka Ghosla, Mithya, Manorama - Six Feet Under, the Chinatown tribute, with Abhay Deol, in Bheja Fry, and recently in Rajat Kapur's Dasvidaniya, Kapur incidentally another earnest filmmaker and actor, among others. Pathak was also in the thriller, Johnny Gaddar. He's another actor whose movie choices are pretty much spot on.
Welcome to Sajjanpur
A satirical take on life in small town India, that covers a wide gamut of socio-political issues including poverty, illiteracy, conservatism vs modernism, widow-remarriage, dirty politics, among several others.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Down but not out
...At least not yet.
Finally decided to get my bum right knee fixed. Turned out I had a complete ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear. I had suspected that something was seriously wrong with it. Underwent ACL reconstruction surgery. Surgery was always going to be the last resort. Still. Wasn't left with too much of a choice.
It will be two weeks since surgery tomorrow. I am getting better. Movement is restricted. Crutches help me around for now. I'm in the process of eliminating their need one by one. I'm also undergoing physio-therapy sessions. Pain has eased up a lot. Still, I do require painkillers now and then.
Hopefully in about 6-9 months I can return to some level of atheletic activity. Something to look forward to I guess. Thats why I underwent the sort-of-ordeal in the first place.
Finally decided to get my bum right knee fixed. Turned out I had a complete ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear. I had suspected that something was seriously wrong with it. Underwent ACL reconstruction surgery. Surgery was always going to be the last resort. Still. Wasn't left with too much of a choice.
It will be two weeks since surgery tomorrow. I am getting better. Movement is restricted. Crutches help me around for now. I'm in the process of eliminating their need one by one. I'm also undergoing physio-therapy sessions. Pain has eased up a lot. Still, I do require painkillers now and then.
Hopefully in about 6-9 months I can return to some level of atheletic activity. Something to look forward to I guess. Thats why I underwent the sort-of-ordeal in the first place.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Case of the missing witness
On the evening of Nov 26, 2008, Anita Uddaiya of Mumbai saw terrorists land in a dingy near South Mumbai. She accosted them and was told in return to mind her own business. Minutes later, these terrorists began their attacks on Mumbai and a whole lot of mayhem followed. Anita had a good look at them before they began their rampage. She had seen them arrive by boat. She was a key witness to piecing together the story of the attacks.
A few days ago, Anita disappeared. Her daughter filed a missing persons report at the local police station. Folks were outraged at the fact that the authorities let a key witness disappear, that she was never offered protection.
Then the daughter, who had filed the missing report, called the police and said, "Never mind! She's not missing anymore." Apparently, Anita had contacted her - she had called her over the phone - and claimed that she was calling from the US of A. She claimed she had been taken over there to help the U.S. authorities in their investigations into the Mumbai attacks.
Then a couple of days later, she returned to Mumbai. But this time she claimed to all the reporters who showed up to find out about her disappearance, that she had been visiting her sister in Satara, Maharashtra instead- pooh poohing the whole notion that she had somehow been to the U.S. as had been reported/speculated.
Then, she changed her story again, and confirmed that she had indeed been to the United States to help the FBI out. The whole "visiting my sister in Satara" was a lie actually. She describes the course of events in a lot more detail in this interview.
The United States though denies any involvement in this whole affair.
Curiouser and Curiouser.
A few days ago, Anita disappeared. Her daughter filed a missing persons report at the local police station. Folks were outraged at the fact that the authorities let a key witness disappear, that she was never offered protection.
Then the daughter, who had filed the missing report, called the police and said, "Never mind! She's not missing anymore." Apparently, Anita had contacted her - she had called her over the phone - and claimed that she was calling from the US of A. She claimed she had been taken over there to help the U.S. authorities in their investigations into the Mumbai attacks.
Then a couple of days later, she returned to Mumbai. But this time she claimed to all the reporters who showed up to find out about her disappearance, that she had been visiting her sister in Satara, Maharashtra instead- pooh poohing the whole notion that she had somehow been to the U.S. as had been reported/speculated.
Then, she changed her story again, and confirmed that she had indeed been to the United States to help the FBI out. The whole "visiting my sister in Satara" was a lie actually. She describes the course of events in a lot more detail in this interview.
The United States though denies any involvement in this whole affair.
Curiouser and Curiouser.
Lasantha
Lasantha Wickrematunge, wrote this piece in the Sri Lankan news magazine The Sunday Leader shortly before he was shot dead by assailants on his way to work on January 8, 2009. He was the editor of the magazine.
I unfortunately never heard of him and the enormous risks he took while he was alive. It was only after his death that I came to know of him and his work. People, like Lasantha, devoted to their duty above all else are extremely rare. Especially when they are ordinary folks like you and me.
Investigative journalism in the sub-continent is a very dangerous profession. While Sri Lanka seems to have an abysmal record in taking care of its journalists, other countries in the region do not fare too much better. In India, what passes off for journalism in most newspapers and news channels, is just farce, focused as it is largely on celebrities and sensationalism as an end in itself. News magazines like Tehelka are some of the few remaining bastions of true reporting in India. They may not always be right, but they fight hard to expose the truth to the public, especially in those circumstances where it has been forcibly kept under wraps. They provide us with a mirror with which to look into ourselves as a society, culture, country and citizen of the world.
In several countries, including democracies, those who report against the existing powers of the day constantly live under the threat of some sort of retaliation by those powers. Most will find it impossible to continue working under those potentially life-threatening circumstances - and rightly so too. To those few who, inspite of the risks, strive to bring us the truth, and not farce - we owe a lot.
I unfortunately never heard of him and the enormous risks he took while he was alive. It was only after his death that I came to know of him and his work. People, like Lasantha, devoted to their duty above all else are extremely rare. Especially when they are ordinary folks like you and me.
Investigative journalism in the sub-continent is a very dangerous profession. While Sri Lanka seems to have an abysmal record in taking care of its journalists, other countries in the region do not fare too much better. In India, what passes off for journalism in most newspapers and news channels, is just farce, focused as it is largely on celebrities and sensationalism as an end in itself. News magazines like Tehelka are some of the few remaining bastions of true reporting in India. They may not always be right, but they fight hard to expose the truth to the public, especially in those circumstances where it has been forcibly kept under wraps. They provide us with a mirror with which to look into ourselves as a society, culture, country and citizen of the world.
In several countries, including democracies, those who report against the existing powers of the day constantly live under the threat of some sort of retaliation by those powers. Most will find it impossible to continue working under those potentially life-threatening circumstances - and rightly so too. To those few who, inspite of the risks, strive to bring us the truth, and not farce - we owe a lot.
Friday, January 09, 2009
I get knocked down...
"For sure, I am going to lose matches, but I am never going to quit." (Somdev Devvarman, 2 time NCAA mens tennis champion, after his victory over Carlos Moya in the Chennai Open 2009 round of 16.)
Monday, January 05, 2009
What after Mumbai? (Part II)
It is possible that the terrorists who staged the Mumbai attacks of November 2008 had anticipated the numerous potential consequences/fallouts of the attacks, were they to be successful. Several of those consequences may have been intended too (otherwise why carry them out - right!?). Some of the many that have been bandied about since then include: a.) destroying the so-called India-Pakistan "peace process", perhaps igniting a war between the two nuclear neighbors as well, b.) putting the brakes on India's rapid economic growth, c.) sowing even further communal disharmony within India, d.) further weakening Pakistan's democratically elected government, e.) trying out terror strategies in India to be applied elsewhere, f.) replacing Al Qaeda as the numero uno Islamic terrorist group operating in the sub-con, etc. ,
The impact however on Indian society is what we need to be most concerned about.
1. Further communal divide is probably inevitable in the short term:
India should be most concerned about the potential for further divisions being created between Muslims and non-Muslims. There is already a fair degree of polarization primarily between Hindus and Muslims. There is a general perception among non-Muslims that, Muslims, as a community have until now reacted only halfheartedly to the cause of tackling religious extremism. While the presence of any truth in that perception is highly debatable , that the perception exists and won't be going away soon is itself is a major sticking point going ahead.
The Mumbai attacks will in the short term exacerbate this communal divide. All of this can only mean further marginalization of a large percentage of Indian Muslims from the mainstream. This is bad news for a community already suffering from a fair degree of alienation within India; both of the self-imposed kind, in their reticence to adopting modernity, as well as, of the discriminatory kind practiced by their biased countrymen.
A polarized society to some extent is also ideal in the eyes of rightwing nationalists and religious extremists including and especially folks like Narendra Modi, and hardline conservative Muslim organizations, in their quest for becoming prominent national players. Rightwing Hindu nationalists, not content with pogroms such as Gujarat 2002, have also been indulging in terrorism of their own kind purportedly in response to Islamic terrorism. Some commentators have called this vigilantism but as it still involves the murder of innocents - it's just plain terrorism according to me. Investigations by the Mumbai ATS (Anti-Terrorist Squad) recently unearthed that some recently unexplained bomb blasts, most notably Malegaon, were plotted by right-wing Hindus, and the participants included, among others, ex-Indian military personnel. These were previously blamed on Muslim organizations and/or the Interservices Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's notorious intelligence agency.
It also didn't help matters much when the ATS officer (Hemant Karkare) leading this investigation was scorned by rightwing Hindu parties for pursuing Hindu extremists, leading many Muslims to suspect a conspiracy behind his subsequent tragic killing along with those of two other police officers in a shootout early during the Mumbai terrorist attacks. That such absurd conspiracies can actually gain some credibility (expressed even at a governmental level - read A. R. Antulay) is a testimony to how little trust there exists in the impartiality of law and order enforcement in India.
2. Moderate Muslims will be more vocal:
These events and possible consequences have not escaped the notice of Indian Muslims as well. They have been hitherto silent - perhaps reluctant to voice their opinions denoucing extremism of all sorts, particularly the ones linked to Islam because of the reaction of very vocal loudmouth religious Muslim conservatives. Now is the opportunity to make themselves heard more clearly, as they are They're probably getting sicker by the day because of a.) the hijacking of their religion by brainwashed, mostly uneducated crazies around the world but particularly in India, and b.) the profiling and some discriminations they face in many places by virtue of their last names (analogous to the racial profiling and discriminations African Americans sometimes face in largely Caucasian i.e. white neighborhoods, and c.). the constant need for them to make a show of their patriotism and mainstream credentials. Expect more of them to speak out. The rise of the moderates will be crucial in averting direct confrontation between communities.
3. Elites just realized that they're just like the rest of us:
It is clear that elite Mumbaiites had believed themselves to be generally much safer when compared to the rest of the city/country, being dissociated from the bomb blasts ordinary Mumbaikars and Indian citizens as a whole had been subjected to all year. They probably thought they lived in a different country altogether. The Mumbai attacks may have changed that to some degree. The same elites who have remained largely silent and detached, are now at the forefront of social activism, loudly demanding better security and governance. While this new found awareness does reek of hypocrisy of sorts, it is critical to bringing about the necessary improvements in governance. That is because this group is highly influential, being either famous or rich or both. (The celebrity obsessed 24/7 news media outliets in India clearly lap up and continuously replay anything these guys say.) This may easily be one of the more positive fallouts of the Mumbai attacks. However, it remains to be seen if their new found political activism is shortlived or not.
4. Urban India - Middle class meltdown?:
The urban middle class however will continue to do what they have been doing all this while - trying to live quiet, decent lives in spite of being surrounded by increasing despair about the inability to control anything in their lives in any substantial fashion. As if they weren't suffering enough already because of poor governance, overcrowding of their cities, dismal infrastructure and facilities, rampant corruption at all levels, communalism, near-constant fear of war, current economic depression, etc. The fear now that they aren't even safe in their own homes will just make general stress levels go through the roof. Folks will start breaking down far more often. A new generation of children will grow up having watched those 3 days of continuous TV coverage of a horrific terrorist attack on their country/city. The impact this could have on their impressionable minds is impossible to predict.
How important national security is to the general populace will be more quantifiably determined from the results of the upcoming national elections due anytime soon. So far terrorist attacks have largely affected the urban populace. It's difficult to image the rural population being too concerned with problems faced by big cities, especially when these big city residents can hardly be bothered to vote, much less spare a thought for the problems faced by the rural folks, and when rural India is faced with several problems of its own and where development has been percolating extremely slowly.
5. Possible watershed event?
Terrorist attacks in Indian cities have become common place. But as is frequently the case with humanity in general, and Indian society in particular, things have to get a whole lot worse to actually get better. The Mumbai attacks may have just made things a whole lot worse - surpassing the high tolerance, resignation and fatalism levels of Indian society. Indian society reacted this time by demanding government accountability and wholesale changes with immediate effect. They got it too. In the long term, it is highly likely that among the several hundred million deeply affected by these attacks, there will be some who will soon be in a position to effect large-scale improvements. There will also be still others who will be goaded out of their apathy and will end up participating in the political process to improve their security.
Fear can end up being a pretty good motivator after all.
But ultimately, no one really knows. We can only wait and see. And hope that after all this, things may just get better.
The impact however on Indian society is what we need to be most concerned about.
1. Further communal divide is probably inevitable in the short term:
India should be most concerned about the potential for further divisions being created between Muslims and non-Muslims. There is already a fair degree of polarization primarily between Hindus and Muslims. There is a general perception among non-Muslims that, Muslims, as a community have until now reacted only halfheartedly to the cause of tackling religious extremism. While the presence of any truth in that perception is highly debatable , that the perception exists and won't be going away soon is itself is a major sticking point going ahead.
The Mumbai attacks will in the short term exacerbate this communal divide. All of this can only mean further marginalization of a large percentage of Indian Muslims from the mainstream. This is bad news for a community already suffering from a fair degree of alienation within India; both of the self-imposed kind, in their reticence to adopting modernity, as well as, of the discriminatory kind practiced by their biased countrymen.
A polarized society to some extent is also ideal in the eyes of rightwing nationalists and religious extremists including and especially folks like Narendra Modi, and hardline conservative Muslim organizations, in their quest for becoming prominent national players. Rightwing Hindu nationalists, not content with pogroms such as Gujarat 2002, have also been indulging in terrorism of their own kind purportedly in response to Islamic terrorism. Some commentators have called this vigilantism but as it still involves the murder of innocents - it's just plain terrorism according to me. Investigations by the Mumbai ATS (Anti-Terrorist Squad) recently unearthed that some recently unexplained bomb blasts, most notably Malegaon, were plotted by right-wing Hindus, and the participants included, among others, ex-Indian military personnel. These were previously blamed on Muslim organizations and/or the Interservices Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan's notorious intelligence agency.
It also didn't help matters much when the ATS officer (Hemant Karkare) leading this investigation was scorned by rightwing Hindu parties for pursuing Hindu extremists, leading many Muslims to suspect a conspiracy behind his subsequent tragic killing along with those of two other police officers in a shootout early during the Mumbai terrorist attacks. That such absurd conspiracies can actually gain some credibility (expressed even at a governmental level - read A. R. Antulay) is a testimony to how little trust there exists in the impartiality of law and order enforcement in India.
2. Moderate Muslims will be more vocal:
These events and possible consequences have not escaped the notice of Indian Muslims as well. They have been hitherto silent - perhaps reluctant to voice their opinions denoucing extremism of all sorts, particularly the ones linked to Islam because of the reaction of very vocal loudmouth religious Muslim conservatives. Now is the opportunity to make themselves heard more clearly, as they are They're probably getting sicker by the day because of a.) the hijacking of their religion by brainwashed, mostly uneducated crazies around the world but particularly in India, and b.) the profiling and some discriminations they face in many places by virtue of their last names (analogous to the racial profiling and discriminations African Americans sometimes face in largely Caucasian i.e. white neighborhoods, and c.). the constant need for them to make a show of their patriotism and mainstream credentials. Expect more of them to speak out. The rise of the moderates will be crucial in averting direct confrontation between communities.
3. Elites just realized that they're just like the rest of us:
It is clear that elite Mumbaiites had believed themselves to be generally much safer when compared to the rest of the city/country, being dissociated from the bomb blasts ordinary Mumbaikars and Indian citizens as a whole had been subjected to all year. They probably thought they lived in a different country altogether. The Mumbai attacks may have changed that to some degree. The same elites who have remained largely silent and detached, are now at the forefront of social activism, loudly demanding better security and governance. While this new found awareness does reek of hypocrisy of sorts, it is critical to bringing about the necessary improvements in governance. That is because this group is highly influential, being either famous or rich or both. (The celebrity obsessed 24/7 news media outliets in India clearly lap up and continuously replay anything these guys say.) This may easily be one of the more positive fallouts of the Mumbai attacks. However, it remains to be seen if their new found political activism is shortlived or not.
4. Urban India - Middle class meltdown?:
The urban middle class however will continue to do what they have been doing all this while - trying to live quiet, decent lives in spite of being surrounded by increasing despair about the inability to control anything in their lives in any substantial fashion. As if they weren't suffering enough already because of poor governance, overcrowding of their cities, dismal infrastructure and facilities, rampant corruption at all levels, communalism, near-constant fear of war, current economic depression, etc. The fear now that they aren't even safe in their own homes will just make general stress levels go through the roof. Folks will start breaking down far more often. A new generation of children will grow up having watched those 3 days of continuous TV coverage of a horrific terrorist attack on their country/city. The impact this could have on their impressionable minds is impossible to predict.
How important national security is to the general populace will be more quantifiably determined from the results of the upcoming national elections due anytime soon. So far terrorist attacks have largely affected the urban populace. It's difficult to image the rural population being too concerned with problems faced by big cities, especially when these big city residents can hardly be bothered to vote, much less spare a thought for the problems faced by the rural folks, and when rural India is faced with several problems of its own and where development has been percolating extremely slowly.
5. Possible watershed event?
Terrorist attacks in Indian cities have become common place. But as is frequently the case with humanity in general, and Indian society in particular, things have to get a whole lot worse to actually get better. The Mumbai attacks may have just made things a whole lot worse - surpassing the high tolerance, resignation and fatalism levels of Indian society. Indian society reacted this time by demanding government accountability and wholesale changes with immediate effect. They got it too. In the long term, it is highly likely that among the several hundred million deeply affected by these attacks, there will be some who will soon be in a position to effect large-scale improvements. There will also be still others who will be goaded out of their apathy and will end up participating in the political process to improve their security.
Fear can end up being a pretty good motivator after all.
But ultimately, no one really knows. We can only wait and see. And hope that after all this, things may just get better.
Monday, December 29, 2008
What after Mumbai? Part I
The Mumbai attacks that began on November 26th have severely dented the confidence of Indians, as a country and a society, to continually better their overall quality of life (or existence - take your pick). A huge contributing factor in creating that dent is the increasing lack of trust among Indians in their government's will and ability in somehow bringing an end to the almost monthly terror attacks. There is a perception that major cities are being targeted on some kind of a rotation-policy basis and there seems to be nothing that anyone is doing or has been able to do about it all. The government has been feeling the heat from all quarters. They are being forced to act in improving security on all aspects, from internal policing to external threat assessments, from improving intelligence to prevent attacks even before they happen, to responding efficiently if and when they do to minimize loss to life and property. For now, it seems as if they've finally taken some positive steps in that direction, albeit steps that should have been taken five years ago.
But its also not unthinkable to believe that terrorists have made plans for what happens next and are perhaps poised somewhere, waiting to spring the next wave of attacks on an increasingly fearful populace. Or at least Indians fear as much now more than ever. The fallout of this new upgraded terror level on the country as a whole, starting or culminating with the Mumbai attacks depending on the perspective, will be tremendous.
Some economy related trends seem to be emerging and some others could perhaps be speculated. (Note: This is by no means a comprehensive list - it's primarily a first pass really.)
1. Paradigm shift towards protecting assets (Rise of security industry):
For one, big corporations based in India seem to be realizing that the economic boom of sorts that has been happening in India for the past decade or so could easily be derailed by security breaches such as Mumbai-November'08 and countless other less spectacular but as much or more devastating events that took place regularly in other Indian cities. Protection of their assets including their properties, loyal customers and most importantly their image and brands will now require a new security abstraction altogether. Failure of the government to provide this security cover has forced them to seek their own cover of sorts.
Large companies like the Tata group , the Bajaj group, the Reliance groups, and the IT companies, among several dozen others, will probably push for employing their own privately armed security guards at their installations, creating private armies of sorts with substantial weaponry and powers. There is also talk of the Tata group creating its own security and intelligence agency for securing its assets - a reaction based on its disillusionment of the systemic failures and shortcomings of the governmental agences in doing so. There is also talk of conducting much more comprehensive background checks on new and old employees to avoid hiring and employing terror-minded individuals secretly wanting to cause destruction to their employers. Expect to hear more of this sort of news in the near future. Already, there is speculation that the private security industry will grow tremendously in the coming months and years (Investors take note perhaps?). All this can only mean that a fundamental shift in the erstwhile naive and complacent approach by these companies towards security awareness and assest protection is under way - leading to the growth of new industry altogether.
2. Pullouts from India:
The continued failure to protect their installations may also mean that these corporations may resort to moving outside of India if necessary and wherever possible, especially if their security needs cannot be met adequately. This is a deal that any government of India cannot and will probably not accept without a fight however. The damage to India Inc. as the business community is broadly referred to as, from the Mumbai attacks will also impact the government of the day, who will have to bear those consequences along with the responsibility of allowing such an event to take place (and perhaps of prolonging it as well). Multinational companies will also reasses their plans in India - leading to, at the very least, a freezing of growth activities in the present. If the security situation worses, expect pullouts from them as well.
3. Economic Losses as potentially huge motivators for improvements in governance:
Losses to India Inc. would also mean loss of revenue to the government and the individuals within as well, which will hurt a lot more in the long term staring with at the ballot. Not to mention the severe loss of face, both nationally and internationally, in admitting to their inability to provide security to the rich and the influential, the common person being long excluded from that protection.It is thus entirely possible that market forces such as the situation described above will force the government to act and to be more and constantly vigilant as well.
4. Overall:
But the biggest economic consequence will arise from the denting of the confidence of the ordinary citizen. People may be fearful of their security and law and order situation in general, leading to an ultra-cautious approach with regards to money. Malls, movie houses, etc. will see fewer patrons because of the fear of terrorist attacks. Public transport will be relied upon much less for the same reasons leading to big losses in revenue. Tourism will be several affected in the short term - especially foreign tourism. With states like Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, and Kerala relying in no small amounts on internation tourism, expect several folks over there to be badly impacted by the slowdown in visitors. The lack of tourists is also a symptomatic of the general lack of confidence perhaps of the international community in being present and doing business with another country. For India, this could mean a lot less investments of foreign entities in the Indian market and economy.
People will in general go out less, buy less, travel less and feel less happy. Maybe people will end up buying more stuff online instead - the web based businesses are probably well placed for this situation. But it remains to be seen if Indians feel secure doing a whole lot of shopping with credit cards online. I know they're pretty queasy about it right now. Maybe that could change however.
So bad news for the economy in general. The government will have to show the will and produce results in reducing the security and law and order fears in the immediate future for this to not have as significant an impact to economic progress as is currenty feared.
Part II will be about socio-religious (if there is such a word) consequences of the Mumbai attacks.
But its also not unthinkable to believe that terrorists have made plans for what happens next and are perhaps poised somewhere, waiting to spring the next wave of attacks on an increasingly fearful populace. Or at least Indians fear as much now more than ever. The fallout of this new upgraded terror level on the country as a whole, starting or culminating with the Mumbai attacks depending on the perspective, will be tremendous.
Some economy related trends seem to be emerging and some others could perhaps be speculated. (Note: This is by no means a comprehensive list - it's primarily a first pass really.)
1. Paradigm shift towards protecting assets (Rise of security industry):
For one, big corporations based in India seem to be realizing that the economic boom of sorts that has been happening in India for the past decade or so could easily be derailed by security breaches such as Mumbai-November'08 and countless other less spectacular but as much or more devastating events that took place regularly in other Indian cities. Protection of their assets including their properties, loyal customers and most importantly their image and brands will now require a new security abstraction altogether. Failure of the government to provide this security cover has forced them to seek their own cover of sorts.
Large companies like the Tata group , the Bajaj group, the Reliance groups, and the IT companies, among several dozen others, will probably push for employing their own privately armed security guards at their installations, creating private armies of sorts with substantial weaponry and powers. There is also talk of the Tata group creating its own security and intelligence agency for securing its assets - a reaction based on its disillusionment of the systemic failures and shortcomings of the governmental agences in doing so. There is also talk of conducting much more comprehensive background checks on new and old employees to avoid hiring and employing terror-minded individuals secretly wanting to cause destruction to their employers. Expect to hear more of this sort of news in the near future. Already, there is speculation that the private security industry will grow tremendously in the coming months and years (Investors take note perhaps?). All this can only mean that a fundamental shift in the erstwhile naive and complacent approach by these companies towards security awareness and assest protection is under way - leading to the growth of new industry altogether.
2. Pullouts from India:
The continued failure to protect their installations may also mean that these corporations may resort to moving outside of India if necessary and wherever possible, especially if their security needs cannot be met adequately. This is a deal that any government of India cannot and will probably not accept without a fight however. The damage to India Inc. as the business community is broadly referred to as, from the Mumbai attacks will also impact the government of the day, who will have to bear those consequences along with the responsibility of allowing such an event to take place (and perhaps of prolonging it as well). Multinational companies will also reasses their plans in India - leading to, at the very least, a freezing of growth activities in the present. If the security situation worses, expect pullouts from them as well.
3. Economic Losses as potentially huge motivators for improvements in governance:
Losses to India Inc. would also mean loss of revenue to the government and the individuals within as well, which will hurt a lot more in the long term staring with at the ballot. Not to mention the severe loss of face, both nationally and internationally, in admitting to their inability to provide security to the rich and the influential, the common person being long excluded from that protection.It is thus entirely possible that market forces such as the situation described above will force the government to act and to be more and constantly vigilant as well.
4. Overall:
But the biggest economic consequence will arise from the denting of the confidence of the ordinary citizen. People may be fearful of their security and law and order situation in general, leading to an ultra-cautious approach with regards to money. Malls, movie houses, etc. will see fewer patrons because of the fear of terrorist attacks. Public transport will be relied upon much less for the same reasons leading to big losses in revenue. Tourism will be several affected in the short term - especially foreign tourism. With states like Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, and Kerala relying in no small amounts on internation tourism, expect several folks over there to be badly impacted by the slowdown in visitors. The lack of tourists is also a symptomatic of the general lack of confidence perhaps of the international community in being present and doing business with another country. For India, this could mean a lot less investments of foreign entities in the Indian market and economy.
People will in general go out less, buy less, travel less and feel less happy. Maybe people will end up buying more stuff online instead - the web based businesses are probably well placed for this situation. But it remains to be seen if Indians feel secure doing a whole lot of shopping with credit cards online. I know they're pretty queasy about it right now. Maybe that could change however.
So bad news for the economy in general. The government will have to show the will and produce results in reducing the security and law and order fears in the immediate future for this to not have as significant an impact to economic progress as is currenty feared.
Part II will be about socio-religious (if there is such a word) consequences of the Mumbai attacks.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Did the Indian media give away too much info to the bad guys? NDTV (India) responds
One of the many concerns voiced by several Indians ,who watched the almost 3 day attack on Mumbai, which began on Nov. 26th, 2008, was that the "too close to the action" live coverage of Indian news channels of the entire event may have communicated important information about the anti-terrorist operations conducted by the Indian military back to the terrorists. Live coverage of army operations against terrorists holed up in the Taj and the Trident (formerly Oberoi) hotels and the Nariman House apartment building in Mumbai, could have perhaps been a factor in the terrorists being able to successfully hold out against the Indian military for so long. The fact that the terrorists had Blackberrys and satellite phones supports this theory as well.
Now one of the Indian news channels, NDTV, has responded to these concerns via their senior correspondent/reporter Barkha Dutt.
Several statements stand out from her op-ed piece. Here's one:
Nevertheless, they provided the transparency that such things lacked in previous situations. One hopes that this transparency ensures that officialdom can no longer spin excuses in such situations. These channels, while frequently not reporting with any reasonable levels of journalistic integrity, are providing a medium for the disgruntled populace to express themselves, and ask tough questions, and for millions of others to hear them and sympathize with them, and wait, along with them for a response to those questions.
Now one of the Indian news channels, NDTV, has responded to these concerns via their senior correspondent/reporter Barkha Dutt.
Several statements stand out from her op-ed piece. Here's one:
"Please do note that at all times, the media respected the security cordon- a cordon that was determined by the police and officials on site- and NOT by the media. If, as is now being suggested, the assessment is that the media was allowed too close to the operations, here is what we say: we would have been happy to stand at a distance much further away from the encounter sites, had anyone, anyone at all, asked us to move. In the 72 hours that we stood on reporting duty, not once were we asked to move further away."It's clear that there really was no coordinated strategy on how to deal with media coverage between the various security agencies involved in the anit-terrorist operations. as she outlines in her piece:
"Across the world, and as happened in the US after 9/11, there are daily, centralized briefings by officials to avoid any inadvertent confusion that media coverage may throw up. Not so in Mumbai. There was no central point of contact or information for journalists who were often left to their own devices to hunt down news that they felt had to be conveyed to their country. No do's and don'ts were provided by officials."The op-ed piece also has a whole lot of self-congratulatory language in it as well - detailing how several important folks thanked NDTV in particular for their coverage of the whole event. I noticed the same in TV spots on the various other Indian news channels as well - congratulating or self-promoting themselves in some way or the other. Some of the accompanying stunts included: encouraging people to light candles (this is actually clever: the number of candles lit across the country would convey to that particular channel the proportion of people actually watching their channel - so much better than TRP ratings. Besides, lighting of candles is becoming off late a popular response to tragic events. This first began in response to the then fast-going-nowhere investigation on who killed Jessica Lal. The movie "Rang De Basanti", an Aamir Khan starrer earlier in 2006, may have provided the inspiration in the Lal case. I saw candles being lit in a few places across Mumbai), observing a minute of silence in respect, showing 30 second, 1 min and 2 min spots of clippings of the terror attack coverage with accompanying grim music and such, and various others.
Nevertheless, they provided the transparency that such things lacked in previous situations. One hopes that this transparency ensures that officialdom can no longer spin excuses in such situations. These channels, while frequently not reporting with any reasonable levels of journalistic integrity, are providing a medium for the disgruntled populace to express themselves, and ask tough questions, and for millions of others to hear them and sympathize with them, and wait, along with them for a response to those questions.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Rajdeep on Raj
(Link to Rajdeep Sardesai's open letter to Raj Thackeray: http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/rajdeepsardesai/1/52784/an-open-letter-to-raj-thackeray.html )
Comments: I guess being an expat Mumbaikar/Mumbai-ite would allow me to talk about Mumbai. Raj Thackeray's (he originally of the Shiv Sena founded by his uncle Bal Thackeray, and now the leader of the breakaway Maharasthra Navnirman Sena) anti-North Indian campaign has ignited a lot of mindless violence, reactions (both violent and non-violent), and several debates.
What's important to know though is that the latest Raj Thackeray-initiated melee is not necessarily unique or unprecedented. It has happened in Mumbai before - being, as it is, a regular feature of the Thackeray family/Shiv Sena strategy. The idea is to get enough Maharashtrians worked up about them somehow having ceded "control" of Mumbai away to non-Maharashtrians/outsiders and then voting for the Shiv Sena to take back control on their behalf thereby banishing all that which ails the city, the state and its people (which people?). Never mind that Mumbai is neither the heart of Maharashtra nor has it become what it is today solely because of Maharashtrians. Through the last 50 years and more, the Sena and their offshoots have gone about targeting Gujaratis, south Indians, Muslims and most recently north Indians as those aforementioned outsiders.
But the human drama that continues to unfold is not just the Thackeray's being up to their usual shenanigans. There's more to it. Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN in the above linked open letter to Raj isn't really informing Raj of something he wouldn't already know. But he's probably making an effort to also educate the Indian public on the political machinations/endgames taking place behind the scenes - most beyond Raj's control.
Rajdeep's piece also just reinforced the feeling that it seems to require a Maharashtrian (or several of them) of some stature to take an anti-Raj Thackeray stance in this matter, to make an impact. Never mind that those stances are few and far between; these days its the familiar, insecure, "yes (he's wrong), but (there's some validity to his point of view)" argument (Rajdeep being one of the few exceptions) that other prominent Maharashtrians have been spouting. They're just riding both directions of traffic on the political highway.
The sad/crazy aspect to all this is that - by Raj's (and by extension the larger Thackeray family) definition, with the tacit approval of the 'yes-but' arguers, a Mumbaikar who is not a Maharashtrian by last name, but was born, and has lived in Mumbai now for several decades is an "outsider" and a new born Maharashtrian baby in a remote corner of Maharashtra is an "insider". That is so convoluted that even Raj cannot obviously believe in it.
I pity those Maharashtrians and non-Maharashtrians who actually do believe it.
Comments: I guess being an expat Mumbaikar/Mumbai-ite would allow me to talk about Mumbai. Raj Thackeray's (he originally of the Shiv Sena founded by his uncle Bal Thackeray, and now the leader of the breakaway Maharasthra Navnirman Sena) anti-North Indian campaign has ignited a lot of mindless violence, reactions (both violent and non-violent), and several debates.
What's important to know though is that the latest Raj Thackeray-initiated melee is not necessarily unique or unprecedented. It has happened in Mumbai before - being, as it is, a regular feature of the Thackeray family/Shiv Sena strategy. The idea is to get enough Maharashtrians worked up about them somehow having ceded "control" of Mumbai away to non-Maharashtrians/outsiders and then voting for the Shiv Sena to take back control on their behalf thereby banishing all that which ails the city, the state and its people (which people?). Never mind that Mumbai is neither the heart of Maharashtra nor has it become what it is today solely because of Maharashtrians. Through the last 50 years and more, the Sena and their offshoots have gone about targeting Gujaratis, south Indians, Muslims and most recently north Indians as those aforementioned outsiders.
But the human drama that continues to unfold is not just the Thackeray's being up to their usual shenanigans. There's more to it. Rajdeep Sardesai of CNN-IBN in the above linked open letter to Raj isn't really informing Raj of something he wouldn't already know. But he's probably making an effort to also educate the Indian public on the political machinations/endgames taking place behind the scenes - most beyond Raj's control.
Rajdeep's piece also just reinforced the feeling that it seems to require a Maharashtrian (or several of them) of some stature to take an anti-Raj Thackeray stance in this matter, to make an impact. Never mind that those stances are few and far between; these days its the familiar, insecure, "yes (he's wrong), but (there's some validity to his point of view)" argument (Rajdeep being one of the few exceptions) that other prominent Maharashtrians have been spouting. They're just riding both directions of traffic on the political highway.
The sad/crazy aspect to all this is that - by Raj's (and by extension the larger Thackeray family) definition, with the tacit approval of the 'yes-but' arguers, a Mumbaikar who is not a Maharashtrian by last name, but was born, and has lived in Mumbai now for several decades is an "outsider" and a new born Maharashtrian baby in a remote corner of Maharashtra is an "insider". That is so convoluted that even Raj cannot obviously believe in it.
I pity those Maharashtrians and non-Maharashtrians who actually do believe it.
Monday, October 20, 2008
$4 - Part III
... And it's now down to $3.29 or lower. Dropping real fast. Gas is cheaper because demand is down. If its cheaper, people can fill up more now. Will demand stay down? Will prices keep dropping?
More importantly though, why do I care so much anyways? That is: besides feeling threatened by the fact that my reasons for my being all-uppity at those who didn't make fuel-efficiency considerations when purchasing their personal transportation options, is under some danger?
Ok, I sort of answered that rhetorically or something. I'd say that, while the "moral" high ground is still intact (for all its usual hypocritical worth, which is basically zero - plus it pisses off other people as well), its the economic high ground that is sort of lowered at the moment, i.e. no longer can I run around saying "Hah! Hah!" to those driving gas guzzlers.
Fear not though.
Why? Is it because I expect demand to go up again and hence the prices? Is it because I believe this is only a temporary dip in consumption?
No. Because I'll find several umpteen other reasons to feel all-uppity anyway. It's in my nature. It's what I do.
More importantly though, why do I care so much anyways? That is: besides feeling threatened by the fact that my reasons for my being all-uppity at those who didn't make fuel-efficiency considerations when purchasing their personal transportation options, is under some danger?
Ok, I sort of answered that rhetorically or something. I'd say that, while the "moral" high ground is still intact (for all its usual hypocritical worth, which is basically zero - plus it pisses off other people as well), its the economic high ground that is sort of lowered at the moment, i.e. no longer can I run around saying "Hah! Hah!" to those driving gas guzzlers.
Fear not though.
Why? Is it because I expect demand to go up again and hence the prices? Is it because I believe this is only a temporary dip in consumption?
No. Because I'll find several umpteen other reasons to feel all-uppity anyway. It's in my nature. It's what I do.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Same old, same old
... gets up in the morning and says, "Man! There's a whole lot of sh*t going on and somebody needs to do something about it!"
He's been saying the same sh*t day after day, year after year. He said that same sh*t when he was in school. He said the same sh*t in college. He said the same sh*t as he got dressed in his suit for that big interview with that big firm that sucked people's blood and mis-managed their life-savings. He said the same thing as an executive while continuing that profitable mis-management for that firm.
He said the same thing when he fed the birds on Sunday mornings. He said the same thing to his old friends. He said the same thing when he prayed.
He said the same thing to his kids; the same thing the day after he retired, the day he donated 200 bucks to charity.
Until he stopped saying it anymore.
He's you. He's me.
He's been saying the same sh*t day after day, year after year. He said that same sh*t when he was in school. He said the same sh*t in college. He said the same sh*t as he got dressed in his suit for that big interview with that big firm that sucked people's blood and mis-managed their life-savings. He said the same thing as an executive while continuing that profitable mis-management for that firm.
He said the same thing when he fed the birds on Sunday mornings. He said the same thing to his old friends. He said the same thing when he prayed.
He said the same thing to his kids; the same thing the day after he retired, the day he donated 200 bucks to charity.
Until he stopped saying it anymore.
He's you. He's me.
Lunch box blues
I don't pack lunch from home to take to work. I buy it.
The last week or so - I got used to bringing lunch from home. Home cooked lunch. Tasty and wholesome. Not cooked by me. My mother-in-law's visiting us.
Today I forgot to bring it with me. I realized that I hadn't half-way to work. And work is not close-by. I almost turned around to go back and pick it up. I didn't though.
I'm at work now. Still bothers me that I forgot to bring my lunch - it was packed and ready for me.
The last time I remember being bothered about not bringing my lunch from home was back in the 7th Standard (i.e. 7th grade).
The last week or so - I got used to bringing lunch from home. Home cooked lunch. Tasty and wholesome. Not cooked by me. My mother-in-law's visiting us.
Today I forgot to bring it with me. I realized that I hadn't half-way to work. And work is not close-by. I almost turned around to go back and pick it up. I didn't though.
I'm at work now. Still bothers me that I forgot to bring my lunch - it was packed and ready for me.
The last time I remember being bothered about not bringing my lunch from home was back in the 7th Standard (i.e. 7th grade).
Sunday, September 14, 2008
More on flat worlds
Tom Friedman continues to churn out books about what the world is going to look like. I suppose he should be commended for being prolific. Can't comment too much on the quality of the content he produces in his books though. I haven't actually read any of his books. But, I do read his columns on NYTimes sometimes. I used to read back before the whole Iraq war marching drums started rolling . And then for some reason, he jumped on the Iraq war bandwagon and the fact that it was the right thing to do and it was absolutely necessary (discussed here earlier).
What does that say aboutFriedman's ability (or lack thereof) to make sense from nonsense - is really up to whoever cares a sh*t to judge.
But he's out now with another book. This one apparently drubs on about how the green revolution will be the next big industrial revolution of-sorts, the next technology driver, the next culmination of all known/hoped/wished-for messianic movements and events all wrapped into one (including the love children of Gandhi and Mandela, marrying those of MLK, and JFK before finally being crowned kings and/or queens of Mother Earth).
Slate's got a review of this one. Clearly, the man loves jumping onto the latest bandwagon - no matter what it be. Whether it's for the war when it was popular, before going against it when it was unpopular. Gotta love a weathervane.
What does that say aboutFriedman's ability (or lack thereof) to make sense from nonsense - is really up to whoever cares a sh*t to judge.
But he's out now with another book. This one apparently drubs on about how the green revolution will be the next big industrial revolution of-sorts, the next technology driver, the next culmination of all known/hoped/wished-for messianic movements and events all wrapped into one (including the love children of Gandhi and Mandela, marrying those of MLK, and JFK before finally being crowned kings and/or queens of Mother Earth).
Slate's got a review of this one. Clearly, the man loves jumping onto the latest bandwagon - no matter what it be. Whether it's for the war when it was popular, before going against it when it was unpopular. Gotta love a weathervane.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
$4 - Part II
And it's not $4 anymore for a gallon of gas. Where I'm at - its down to $3.69 or lower.
Which means, the f***ing SUV drivers have been handed a reprieve. Slowly but surely, if I may say so, speeding is back in vogue on the interstate. It's not so bad though I'm personally saving about $3.50 each time I get a refill. That comes to about $14 a month that I'm actually "getting back" from the pump! (As opposed to what I was getting back a couple of months ago - nothing really but hope that consumption habits would finally change!)
Woohoo!
And if I'm getting back enough to buy a quarter cup of coffee at Starbucks (not that they'd sell coffee for/at that size), imagine what the SUV drivers are getting back from the pump?!
You know what folks?! It's your reward for sticking by your gas guzzler through the bad times (even if you felt the need real bad to dump that fat, hi-maintenance, bitch recently!). You did the right thing. Here - go have yourself a BigMac Value Meal. Make sure you drink Diet soda though. I hear the regular stuff can make you fat and sick and stuff.
And all that money that people have been "getting back" these last couple of weeks must be great for the economy too. I mean, instead of having to spend it all on gas and then trying to save elsewhere by not splurging on expensive food, clothes, home improvement, a fresh new set of underwear - I can actually use some of that new money on the very things I've been staying away from - and on gas as well. And here's the best part - the more I spend on gas, the more I'm going to get back. F***ing beautiful!
Which means, the f***ing SUV drivers have been handed a reprieve. Slowly but surely, if I may say so, speeding is back in vogue on the interstate. It's not so bad though I'm personally saving about $3.50 each time I get a refill. That comes to about $14 a month that I'm actually "getting back" from the pump! (As opposed to what I was getting back a couple of months ago - nothing really but hope that consumption habits would finally change!)
Woohoo!
And if I'm getting back enough to buy a quarter cup of coffee at Starbucks (not that they'd sell coffee for/at that size), imagine what the SUV drivers are getting back from the pump?!
You know what folks?! It's your reward for sticking by your gas guzzler through the bad times (even if you felt the need real bad to dump that fat, hi-maintenance, bitch recently!). You did the right thing. Here - go have yourself a BigMac Value Meal. Make sure you drink Diet soda though. I hear the regular stuff can make you fat and sick and stuff.
And all that money that people have been "getting back" these last couple of weeks must be great for the economy too. I mean, instead of having to spend it all on gas and then trying to save elsewhere by not splurging on expensive food, clothes, home improvement, a fresh new set of underwear - I can actually use some of that new money on the very things I've been staying away from - and on gas as well. And here's the best part - the more I spend on gas, the more I'm going to get back. F***ing beautiful!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Who's side are you on?
Life moves along. There's money to be earned. Food needs to be put on the table. Mouths need to be fed. Babies need to be shushed - and put to bed.
For now, the mother nation (India, for me) mulls recent events. As always, thoughts and discussions have veered towards who supplies the folks within with ammunition/ bomb material to express their sentiments. Sentiments arising perhaps from displeasure at past grievances/crimes. Perhaps from interpretations of whatever it is that they believe in (for e.g. "its time to send society back into the stone age"). There's time for all that. But, more than ever - or once again, it's time to think about actions and consequences.
Sure, when you're competing for resources, its consequences on your side that matter more than reactions from the other side, i.e. those you compete with. So you don't really care about reactions from others then.
But it's time to the take the competition more seriously.
Make no mistake, with people its always "our side" and "their side". For a large section of Indians, partly frustrated by years of competition for resources and brainwashed by people who've smartly learned to play on their frustrations, its mostly Hindus and Muslims on opposing sides. And it's always been a matter of teaching the other side a lesson. (What that lesson really is however escapes me.)
In Gujarat, for the past few years, one side has been practicing a strategy of inculcating respect from the other side largely through fear. A respect that has led to an uneasy peace. Life has had to move along. It's back to bread and butter: earning money, feeding kids, watching cricket and senseless film songs and dances. There's never any choice (especially with those songs).
And then, a weekend came along and someone pissed all over the uneasy pax. Maybe people will start taking the competition more seriously now. But maybe people also need to figure out who and what the competition is. Especially, if the "other side" has already been cowered into a corner after presumably having been taught a lesson.
The whole, insane, "us and them" exercises have gone on for too long. It's time to recalibrate and choose new players to crush.
For now, the mother nation (India, for me) mulls recent events. As always, thoughts and discussions have veered towards who supplies the folks within with ammunition/ bomb material to express their sentiments. Sentiments arising perhaps from displeasure at past grievances/crimes. Perhaps from interpretations of whatever it is that they believe in (for e.g. "its time to send society back into the stone age"). There's time for all that. But, more than ever - or once again, it's time to think about actions and consequences.
Sure, when you're competing for resources, its consequences on your side that matter more than reactions from the other side, i.e. those you compete with. So you don't really care about reactions from others then.
But it's time to the take the competition more seriously.
Make no mistake, with people its always "our side" and "their side". For a large section of Indians, partly frustrated by years of competition for resources and brainwashed by people who've smartly learned to play on their frustrations, its mostly Hindus and Muslims on opposing sides. And it's always been a matter of teaching the other side a lesson. (What that lesson really is however escapes me.)
In Gujarat, for the past few years, one side has been practicing a strategy of inculcating respect from the other side largely through fear. A respect that has led to an uneasy peace. Life has had to move along. It's back to bread and butter: earning money, feeding kids, watching cricket and senseless film songs and dances. There's never any choice (especially with those songs).
And then, a weekend came along and someone pissed all over the uneasy pax. Maybe people will start taking the competition more seriously now. But maybe people also need to figure out who and what the competition is. Especially, if the "other side" has already been cowered into a corner after presumably having been taught a lesson.
The whole, insane, "us and them" exercises have gone on for too long. It's time to recalibrate and choose new players to crush.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
No... Please... Don't ...
The thing with blogs, for me, is that anyone with a semi-intelligent thought thinks they can and should blog/ write.
And thats a good thing and a bad thing. More often than not - it's a bad thing.
A friend of mine had similar thoughts about blogs and bloggers. She blogs/writes regularly - her blog being one of the few sites that I visit often enough and that I am happy to in the knowledge that I know the person behind the words. (Ok. Ok. Let's not go into what does "know a person" really mean.)
And off late, I've decided that I tend to agree with her. Sure, it's elitist to think that others shouldn't blog. And I hate to think I'm an elitist myself (I have the denial thing down pat, you see).
But I didn't always think that way before. I believed in the therapeutic abilities of writing and writing often. Perhaps still do. If people open up - maybe they can deal with their inner conflicts more rationally. Maybe they can deal with the stress of daily lives a little bit more easily. By writing a blog and letting people read what I've written, maybe it gives me a chance to let others learn something about me, as much as reading their blogs gives me a chance to learn about them.
So what if their blogs sound like the ruminations of a half-wit. So what if its so very painful to read them walk you through their most recent epiphany or self-realization (OK - so they're kinda the same thing - but what the heck!). And by painful - I don't mean in some emotional, "I feel your pain" kind of way - but painful as in "How is it even possible someone to write this crap?" way. And if I don't like what I see, I can choose to not go to their websites and ridicule their writing abilities and their acumen any more. That sounds simple - and fair.
But where's the fun in that? We've all grown up believing that the world is one unfair place - with one put-down after another lined up for us day after day after... Which makes it doubly fun to visit a half-wit's up and running blog and mock it - even if its to yourself. Nothing feels better after a put-down, than picking on someone else. I feel better after feeding the birds once in a while. And I feel better after putting someone down. It doesn't matter how I feel better - as long as I do.
I think it's OK to write. But if its on a blog, then its on there because you want others to read it. The "others" therefore are free to make up their own minds. If I don't like the way you write - I could choose to not visit it and ridicule it and enjoy putting you down to make up for my own insufficiences.
Or you could choose to not put it out there for me to read.
There. I just walked you through my most recent epiphany. That felt good. I feel better already.
And thats a good thing and a bad thing. More often than not - it's a bad thing.
A friend of mine had similar thoughts about blogs and bloggers. She blogs/writes regularly - her blog being one of the few sites that I visit often enough and that I am happy to in the knowledge that I know the person behind the words. (Ok. Ok. Let's not go into what does "know a person" really mean.)
And off late, I've decided that I tend to agree with her. Sure, it's elitist to think that others shouldn't blog. And I hate to think I'm an elitist myself (I have the denial thing down pat, you see).
But I didn't always think that way before. I believed in the therapeutic abilities of writing and writing often. Perhaps still do. If people open up - maybe they can deal with their inner conflicts more rationally. Maybe they can deal with the stress of daily lives a little bit more easily. By writing a blog and letting people read what I've written, maybe it gives me a chance to let others learn something about me, as much as reading their blogs gives me a chance to learn about them.
So what if their blogs sound like the ruminations of a half-wit. So what if its so very painful to read them walk you through their most recent epiphany or self-realization (OK - so they're kinda the same thing - but what the heck!). And by painful - I don't mean in some emotional, "I feel your pain" kind of way - but painful as in "How is it even possible someone to write this crap?" way. And if I don't like what I see, I can choose to not go to their websites and ridicule their writing abilities and their acumen any more. That sounds simple - and fair.
But where's the fun in that? We've all grown up believing that the world is one unfair place - with one put-down after another lined up for us day after day after... Which makes it doubly fun to visit a half-wit's up and running blog and mock it - even if its to yourself. Nothing feels better after a put-down, than picking on someone else. I feel better after feeding the birds once in a while. And I feel better after putting someone down. It doesn't matter how I feel better - as long as I do.
I think it's OK to write. But if its on a blog, then its on there because you want others to read it. The "others" therefore are free to make up their own minds. If I don't like the way you write - I could choose to not visit it and ridicule it and enjoy putting you down to make up for my own insufficiences.
Or you could choose to not put it out there for me to read.
There. I just walked you through my most recent epiphany. That felt good. I feel better already.
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