Friday, January 30, 2009

Perceptions of a world engaged in schizophrenia..

Ive always wondered if every tiny action on earth was preplanned. If that is the case our pretense at decisions and thoughts must be  quite useless. So does that mean we are all acting like zombies, acting out in a skit with rehearsed dialogues? It sure doesnt feel like it though! If everything even your success or failure or even what you are going to talk is pre planned and pre ordained where is the concept of your indivudual personality/soul/mind whatever you may choose to call it in the picture? Let me mix a teeny bit of Hinduism in this zone which propogates the concept of Karma. In laymans terms and also trying to be terse about teh definition here,Karma is what you bring upon yourself , so essentially you at the end have the right and will to make decisions and live the consequences of it. If thats the case doesnt the concept of "Fate" take a beating?

You can change your destiny they say ....and how do you even begin to do that?Who even knows what their destiny is!

Isnt the very word Destiny rigid? It echoes of something you cannot alter and something that is already in store for you. So who are all these people who claim to have strived and altered their course of life? If that's possible for one man why isnt it possible for another or was that pre planned too, that this person is going to change his/her destiny .But hold on now,when you have the power to change something arent you also indirectly telling that nothing on this planet is written on stone and eveything is transient?So doesnt the concept of Fate take a beating there?

Should we live on optimism and hope that eveything we want will happen because its all in our hands or should we live on the pessimistic despair and hopelessness that no matter what you do your "Fate" always has the last word.

Is the Journey in your hand but the destination your fate? If thats the case how many different paths can you take to one destination, however much you alter the journey if your path is always going to drag you towards one destination which fate has ordained for u, where is the thrill in calling it "I changed my FATE!!!" No you didnt, maybe we all just happened to take a detour and reahed the same point.

FATE,DESTINY,KARMA whatever word we give it, it raises hopes for some and squashes hope for another.Looks like we are living in a schizophrenic world which presents a different persona to each being looking at it, its core being the same. 

The search for the core still on.......

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Freedom


Yet another year and yet another "Pub clean up"!

So what was the prime motive for this one now? Well, the women have strayed from Indian morals and customs said the perpetrator of the attacks.And what may I ask are these lofty Indian customs and morals that deem it fit for a few handful of men to victimise women under its name?  

Who are these people who tell women how to behave and how to respect moral code? Can they do it themselves? If all they wanted to do was uphold womens values they would not be the ones kicking the girls,pulling their hair and throwing them out.Maybe according to these men thats how women are supposed to be treated.You can kick them and pull their hair and slap them all under the name of trying to save them from "Non Indian Influences". 

What is the knowledge of Indian culture these "Men" have?If it is culture you truly seek go back and read the history of our country where women were treated on par with men, where they had a equal say in society.Dont blanket your disgusting Male egotism and need for publicity under the garb of a custodian.You want to protect women then protect them against molesters,rapists, wife beaters,people who promote female infanticide.The list is endless for you to choose from.You need not have to run to the nearest pub and stamp in your ignorance there.

How we allow such extreme forms of nuisance to flourish in our society year after year and still expect our children to uphold and understand human values is just beyond me. Isn't the right to exist and right to express your opinions and desire the same for one and all?

"Moral Policing" -A fancy term for an unpardonable crime. Now many of you might not agree that it should get counted in the genre of "Unpardonable crimes" but if we belong to a creed of people who had to fight for our long and hard won freedom , any action and I mean absolutely anything which is in contradiction to the freedom of the citizens of our country gets classified as an "Unpardonable crime".More and more such incidents make you reluctantly believe that "Freedom" is not a term that can be used equally by both the genders.

A couple of days into the incident and we all(womens organisations in particular) shout and scream and yell terms like 'Dont Talibanise India' etc etc, but the end of such acts is nowhere in sight."Unbalanced ,unfair" we can cry ourselves hoarse but lets face it,the situation around us doesnt show any signs of being altered.We as women have been led to believe that we are in fact free to do whatever we want and are on par with men.True freedom does not come from merely walking about the streets at any given hour, but it is ours when we can think on our own accord, not colored by someones elese's thoughts and fears.

A child is not born discriminating , we as adults and parents feed the poison of discrimination into our childrens heads slowly ,surely and steadily and corrupt their mind of all equality they could have had.Lets face it as girls ,we are either taught to live timidly and in fear or taught to trample over the opposite sex.Extremes is what we have been fed.The rare one who dares to break the mould and to rise above and think(leaving gender out of her thinking process) is branded with myriad imaginative terms.

I have known a few so called"Liberal" people (men and women) to claim "Oh well maybe the girls had to pay the price. who asked them to go to a pub and drink in the first place? Its better to be safe than sorry!"
Hmm... so this is all it boils down to ,lets be safe rather than sorry . So starting from today all the girls should stop going and doing things they want to do and live in fear under the guise of being "SAFE" . We will never tell the miscreants to clean up their act but rather will tell the persecuted to remain SAFE and stay away from such people.A woman who goes to a pub (which is a scandalised term in many indian households) will be henceforth asked to remain safe in her home and not indulge in such "activities" but a man does not feel the need for this safe haven.A woman with a drink is a social stigma, but nope not a man .After all arent we the ones who have coined the phrase "Boys will be Boys" which brushes away anything a man does.

This is not a cry for womens rights but a cry to stop being hypocritical about fancy and oft distorted terms like "Value","Culture,"Morality" and etc.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Charismatic pelvic thrust ????

This is what I picked from an Indian Newspaper:

"Anil Kapoor, Shah Rukh: SHOW STEALERS

    All the Hollywood A-listers were present at the 66th Golden Globe award ceremony, and our dear Rahman did us proud by bagging the coveted Globe, but two of our desi superstars – Shah Rukh Khan and Anil Kapoor managed to steal a part of the limelight, too! Where the rest of Hollywood sat and clapped their hands in the most elegant sort of way, Anil who was excited for obvious reasons, gave a standing ovation to Danny Boyle. And was just short of doing that Lakhan type of a jig. Adding to the masti was Shah Rukh, flashing his dimples, throwing kisses at the audience… and opting to do the ‘pelvic Indian dance’. They were our heroes that evening, like they are every other evening. But we are happy they showed the world what our Indian cinema and personalities are... cheerful, fun-loving and charismatic! "

I can understand over the top praise for Rahman!His music was good and he won.

But really now, did Anil Kapoor and the "Pelvic thrust" comment made by SRK really define Indian "Charisma"?

When people are thrust onto a global stage the last comment they should be making is about ill-conceived stereo types. Is Indian cinema and Indian dance in particular all about Pelvic thrusts? Looks like everything SRK states whether it is nonsense or not is lauded by the Indian press.
We thrive on stereotypes and dont ever want to come out of the mould,no matter how fallacious they are.

Im sure every Indian watching the Golden globe would have cringed in their seats watching Anil Kapoor act like a kid lost in a candy store... 

What difference does it make to Indian Cinema whether a Golden Globe recognises the movie or not? Correct me if im wrong, the movie was directed and produced by a britisher with the only Indian connection being the actors (who weren't nominated by the way) and the story of course.

So whom exactly was Anil Kappor doing a "Lakhan Jig" for ? Hmm lets see.....
Was it for himself? He wasnt nominated and his role in the movie if not anything was meagre. So that would seem pretty stupid.
For the Director Danny Boyle? Hmm thts interesting, Ive never seen him come up with such jigs for any of his other Directors.
Still wondering....

I just dont understand why Indian Cinema craves for outside recognition,the Golden Globes and Oscars in particular. The likes of Satyajit Ray didn't crave for an Oscar to recognise their cinematic genius. But maybe thats just it, true genius never seeks validation.

If what Anil Kapoor did was a snippet of what Indian Cinema and its personalities are, I surely hope the likes of Irfan Khan,Anupam Kher etc check themselves into some other galaxy!

I hope the press stop touting such ridiculous behaviour as a ode to "Indian personalities."