MyTimes

Jesus who?

2012-02-15T09:38:00.000-08:00

I am kind of regularized in my exercises nowadays. The motivation being the buckle hole progressing more and more out. Besides I discovered a cute and rough ground here around where are a few old men running for their lives. I do a few rounds of jogging and move on for my warm ups. The secret pleasure being listening to the conversations discreetly. I try to make out their names, beliefs, occupation, fantasies and even their vulgar jokes.

It's then I heard about the protest march from the church to the town square. I was interested to see how many would dare to attend under a scorching sun. I was surprised to see rows after rows of people, priests, bishops and rest of the gang through the streets under burning sun protesting human rights violations meted out to Mr. Jesus. I looked at all these dumbos and felt my blood boil. Jasmone, the bitch, is responsible for fanning my anti-establishment passions.

Here’s what happened in a nutshell. The communist party of Kerala, were too eager to showcase their new found affinity for religion and put a portrait of Jesus with Karl Marx. They classified St.Sebastian as a revolutionary. Then they further went to make fun of capitalists by doing a caricature on last supper. The issue wouldn’t have ballooned if the biggest Mallu newspaper, Malayala Manja Manorama, hadn’t invoked the passions of ignorant Christians. Thankfully I was posted in the nerve centre of Christian soldiers and hence saw how the battalion went to battle.

I wanted to put down my thoughts but couldn’t come out with a clear idea. I realized how difficult it is to define the man, Jesus. Well here goes what I feel about him.

Was Jesus a revolutionary?

I guess it’s a stupid question this age. ‘Revolutionary’ is no longer the fashion now. It was the hip word a few decades ago. We may use the word ‘global’ instead. Was Jesus global? Nine out of ten for yes. Every body loves him- one end of earth to the other. But Jesus wasn’t so popular back then. Jewish hierarchy hated him and he didn’t have a good PR team to chill out with Romans. He preferred to party out with the miserables. They just ran away when it mattered to him the most. So will anyone disagree when I say:

No, Jesus wasn’t popular.

Was he a God?

I repeat I used ‘was’ and not ‘is’. Jesus never claimed he IS a god while he was in his human form and he never demanded worship. All the miracles he did, he said it could be done by a man with even the smallest iota of faith. The church saw encroachment of certain amount of Greek philosophies into Christianity and cut off the argument there. Jesus was raised from among the human race into heaven. Then they consecrated a special category to stand in between him and men- clergy. As far as I see his sole purpose was to bring Yehovah down to humans. Why are we driving him away?

Thanks to the world getting smaller and apple getting blacker- Jesus is getting popular. So the question comes up like- Was he a conservative? Was he liberal? Is he ok with gay marriages? No clue dude.

Was Jesus a peace lover?

Everyone loves peace. Gone are the days of war mongering barbarians. No one likes a good fight anymore. Right from the pope to the rock fan every one will flash the bull horns of peace. Jesus did say a few words on peace. Wait what’s peace by the way.

If he was a peace lover why did he have to die so cruelly. He said he came to preach the good news. But many of them was pissed off with the news. If he came for peace, peace wasn’t through Peace. He ruffled quite a few feathers, did some very atrocious things, said some unpleasant words. Even he couldn’t unite the disciple gang. While we say he was a man of Peace lets not belittle his times and purpose.

It gets a bit murky when the Church claims a legacy to Peace. The history of church never had been smooth. It was always dotted with trials, tribulations, power struggles, treachery, lust, crusades. I doubt if the Peace concept is equated to inactivity. The church has graduated from the bottom rungs to powerful circles. When there is no scope for Struggle lets better be peace lovers. Lets better stay out of all the bad things and leave the world for the evil men to run.

Was Jesus a Christian?

He was a Jew for sure. I don’t think he was much interested in being a Christian.

Guys, he was beyond all human imagination. Lets not try too hard to equate him with miserable imageries or men (Gandhi, Martin Luther). Lets not crucify him and say ‘U better stay there’

Marriages ....fastforward

2012-02-08T09:45:00.000-08:00

20 years has gone by. Life has turned a full circle. A lot has happened in between. The fancy erasers disappeared off the shelves. More Mallus have migrated abroad. IT parks have sprung up and so did engineering colleges. I have become as old as my uncle when he was married.

People have changed faster than the times. Bigger homes with tiny families in it have come up. Kids prefer TV to outdoor. They are loaded with information and junk food. The IT boom has given birth to a new generation with time for nothing else but the office. The changes haven’t spared the good old marriage too.

While I write this I am just back from a cousin who got married off. He is as old as me but with a richer Dad. The dad wanted to make a doctor out of him at any cost, so packed him off to an international school in Chennai. Soon the Dad learnt that his son didn’t have enough brains to wade through the merit scheme. So he dug a little more deep and made a doctor out of him.

The doc cousin fell in love with a class mate. Interestingly she belonged to a different religion and more interestingly from a very low caste. He introduced her to a few of us, and was hell bent on marrying her. But it seems his loving mother beat sense into his head and taught him the importance of reaping the returns of the investment his Dad made. Now the son knew the best, risk free business was getting married. So he dropped the ‘love-girl’ and married the ‘rich-girl’. And he managed to land himself a ‘single’ child of very rich parents.

Now, the enhanced individual income generating capacity has improved the quality of lifestyle. But it inturn eroded the need for attachment and dependence. The family and individuals started contracting into themselves. The first impact fell on the ‘girl/boy searching’. The practice which was once monopolized by the relatives now started to be done in the virtual world- matrimonial sites. The best part is there are tens of thousands of choices, most of them fake, and no possibility to check in the authenticity of information.

The invitations too have changed the old look. Tradition and formalities have taken a back seat, style and convenience have taken the drivers’ seat. With little time and very little help, people prefer phoning to running around from one end of the country to another in a span of few weeks. For that matter, we are seeing Facebook actively helping in sending wedding invitations.

Even so, no one seems to have the time to spare for anything other than themselves. The more people earn, the more they are sucked into their own world. Its left for the old and jobless (retired) to attend the weddings and fill the pews.

When the festivities started to reside a new concept came up- event management team. They will manage the entire drama for you and create an artificial atmosphere. Here you can revile for a day, for a ‘nominal’ fee. My cousin had his wedding done by the team. We were welcomed to his home by pretty girls in local attire. I made out that they probably might be from college earning quick bucks part time. There was a security guy in yellow shirt and red tie waving his hands rather aimlessly. In church where it became too congested for parking there was a giant of a security guy with tiny walkie talkie. People were awed by the size and came upto shake hands.

I sat there and figured out. These guys running the show has nothing much to do. Arrange all the items together and simply make the presence felt, you pocket in a cool huge packet.

My cousin lost nothing to highlight the extravaganza. There were a dance troupe of small girls doing traditional and remixes. He was escorted to the stage in a parade of dancing girls. The lavishness of food counter was the most reveling. Right from breakfast to dinner stalls were set up. I cant figure out if they thought people are planning to stay up the whole day for food. The waiters who were supposed to serve food ran around pretendin to be busy and the guests had to go up and serve for themselves their food.

After all this tamasha and a filled tummy, I couldn’t figure out if this was a wedding or an exhibition.

A Marriage from the memories

2012-01-31T18:58:00.000-08:00

In 1992 I was just a small kid- sweet and chubby. The sole purpose of life was to have all the innocent fun. Those days ‘fun’ didn’t burn the wallets. It was more of running around. Playing cricket with tree trunk, in the end getting bored and wanting to return to school.

My uncle found himself a bride from a far off city. I didn’t have any idea on marriage. The sex knowledge was derived from Ramayana sops. The Devi and Dev got together in outer space and stared into each other. An orange light would shoot out and the baby was born.

I was pretty close to my uncle. He had a room of his own which I shared with. He used to buy me fancy erasers and pencil sharpener. The fancy ones wouldn’t last long and ultimately damaged itself in days. I knew that a pretty lady was moving in and would kick me out of the room. But I always were an admirer of pretty ones, right from childhood. Her prettiness outweighed my sad feeling.

I am left with only a few fleeting memories of the Marriage. Uncle had drawn up a list of ‘to-call’. A blue telephone with round dial had arrived at our home. It was then considered rude to call through phone. Phone invitation was for those who didn’t matter. The smell of new clothes was another piece of memory. As the D day neared there were lots of guests coming and going. The house wasn’t big but there was never ending supply of food. I don’t know how it was for the grown ups, for me guests were fun.

The persistent rains had made the courtyards muddy. That made running around all the more fun. I had an hyper active brother. In the pretext of controlling him, I used to run after. As soon as he was released he darted. The elder ones, never bothered what we did.
By the night before wedding the far off relatives had assembled. The finer details were ironed out and there was never ending quantity of food. By the morning cameras had come in. It was a new concept then- videotaping marriages. The gulf expatriates had introduced some luxuries in India setting off the beginning of a boom. The people were sort of perplexed when camera stared into their face. Most of the men pretended to be busy. The women looked away in shy smiles. Then the camera went into uncle’s room. A crowd was assembled there. Back then it was the duty of the friends to dress up the groom. We still laugh seeing uncle desperately trying to cover up his manhood from the camera as the friends make snide remarks.

Another imagery is my grand parents becoming teary eyed as they set off from home. I still try to figure out the reason behind those tears. And if the father /mother was dead it was a practice to go to the graveyard on the way to church.

The food was simple (compared to today’s standards). Biriyani was a luxury then. It was the staple luxury food for marriages which was succeeded by the ‘cup ice creams’. The starters were a piece of bread and chicken curry.

Hero of our times -7

2012-01-15T01:47:00.000-08:00

34 isn’t old age for a normal man. For him life starts by then. But you aren’t a normal man. Your career ends at 30s. Then your life goes through motions. The torn ligaments, broken bones and hamstring catch up with you. You’re put on medication. The drugs, drinks, divorce and the paparazzi follow the prescribed circle.

You were peacefully living the transition. A land where football holds no relation to foot, might have been the best place for you usher in a new settled life. You still walk out there and slots in goals. The only job you are good at. Moreover, there is no frenzy, adrenaline rushes or even YouTube videos.

Then one day the white haired one comes back to you. The first time, you needed him. Your fame, money and awards, you owe it all to him. He made you the legend you are. But legends don’t fight endlessly. They have to walk away into the glorious twilight and end up in folklore. You believed your time had gone and there is nothing much in you.

But the white haired one needs you again. The people you loved needs you and so does the young group of prodigy you left behind. The voice from deep down tells you, you will not have to do it again. Not so long ago, you gave them sweat and blood. You’re no longer young. Your body can’t stand the strain; your bones can’t take the blows, your feet no longer as fast as a deer. You will never be the king you once were. Still a question lingers on ‘Why Not?’ It grows heavier everyday and soon you can no longer ignore it. You wear the red and white colours again. You walk into the armoury once again.

The whole stadium erupts into frenzy when they see you. The expectation is weighing heavily on you. You who walked away in glory may be crowned a joker today. The head is turning dizzy. The game is moving on fast. Your contemporaries are watching you from the gallery. Do you see a tinge of sympathy in them? Or is it a smirk?

The opponent sends in their guards. They are fast, agile and will not allow you in so easily. Moreover they have the attitude. Once you sowed fear in the hearts. You were too fast and crafty to beat. How much of the pace is left in you? Are you willy enough to outplay the new generation?

The seconds drag on. You feel the muscles strain and the lungs heaving for air. Do you suspect a smirk in the opponent guards? The people in the gallery still hope for a miracle from you. You vainly hope someone slots in the winner and finishes the game. Out of nowhere Song volleys a cross. The huge clock moves back and forth. Years ago Viera used to set you up for the winners. No one has a clue where Viera has ended up. The clocks moves ahead, you move forward to collect the ball. The guards are fooled. You feel the old days returning. With a deft touch you caresses the ball.

The stadium lets out a collective gasp. You look across the line. The flag still stays down. You have only a choice left- glory or doom! You glance at the position. Once this was your favorite angle. But it seems that you went in too close. You open your body. The clock stops moving. The stadium comes to a still. The guardian opens his body for the most perfect star shape he can muster. Then your magical foot touches the ball.

You are not sure which came first- was it the roar from the crowd or the ball caressing the nets! Anyway you realize you are still….

…….

……

…….

……

INVINCIBLE

A wide perpective of Kochi people

2012-01-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

For a person who has never stayed here in Ernakulam, it’s a place of huge shopping malls, posh cars, IT services and pretty girls. For a person who had to earn his dough here the city is about traffic, pollution, congestion, inflated hotel bills. Whatever be the common perspective in both is Ernakulam is a city that revolves around commerce.

Unlike any other township Ernakulam is run by merchants- implicitly and explicitly. The Merchants form the ruling class. Hence the entire gamut of life revolves around a merchant perspective. All the important roads, streets, by lanes and junctions are named after prominent businessmen. The elected representatives also hail from these sect. The FDI-in-retail issue saw some of the most vociferous protests in Ernakulam. Needless to say even basic necessity such as road widening is aimed at business interest rather than ease of commutation.

Catholics form a major chunk of population. You’ll get to see enormous churches and Catholic-run colleges and Bishop houses in heart of the city. The only method to win a seat in Kochi is through these bishop houses and the subsequent pastoral orders from them.

If you have the time and space, observing the bustling crowd in MG road can give you an idea on the cross- section. There is a sizeable chunk of business men flaunting their BMWs and Volkswagens. They might be first generation businessmen or their bloody children moonlighting as directors. With the ingenuity of a Mallu any and every kind of businesses can be found here in Kochi. The intolerable ones are those who managed to get into the rich bracket by sheer luck. They might have gotten their hands on some bloody swamp. An excuse for a house would have been built and rented out for vulgar sums. These tenants live with the constant fear of possible liquidation.

Recently another phenomenon has threatened the slender balance. The IT revolution has ushered in another new generation of highly paid technical graduates into Ernakulam suburbs. It might be easy to spot these people from a crowd. A French beard, wire frame glasses, long sleeved shirts, laptop bag, fancy mid segment car and a pretty thing (wife/GF) in passenger seat. The weekends will be a shopping mall wearing accessories brought cheap from Wal-Mart on the last onsite visit. Still these people have powered up the huge metro development in the outskirts of Kochi.

There is a huge chunk that powers up the finance of the city. You can see them on buses or scooters, with a mobile glued to their ears fighting in at their wits’ end to make the cut. These might be young graduates just out of college and big dreams trying hard to make their cut. These financial services mainly aim in making the lives of the rich comfortable. The main area of service is tax evasion. No matter how much you earn, how much you spend tax sends creeps through the spine of a businessman. The phenomenon is common across the globe. Helping them avoid taxes is a big industry in Kochi.

Besides credit system is very popular in Kochi compared to other parts of Kerala. There are so many avenues that help you spend out of your means. Easily people get tied upto loans and have to slog in all their lives. Credit servicing is also another lucrative industry in Ernakulam.

Kochi seats the High court of Kerala. It will be a gross negligence if I donot mention the lawyers. They are a traditional clan in Kochi. The famous ones are very rich and cunning. They have got everything necessary for the formulae- shrewdness, political connections and the loopholes to skirt the law. Advocates are generally treated with a slight indifference.

Last but not the least, Kochi is known for its women. They are highly fashionable and may remind you of your good old days in Bangalore. The women in business class may not do anything but wear the costly attires and roam around in chauffeured cars attending to their culinary fetishes and a few scandalous affairs in between. The IT ladies will wear the uniform – jeans and kurthis- and hang around their techie husbands. Womens salons and boutiques are really hot items in Kochi

Team Anna- the end of second part

2012-01-03T10:04:00.001-08:00

Many months ago, Arundathi Roy wrote an article in the Hindu editorial on Team Anna. As her reputation demanded it, the article invited fierce reactions from the readers. The patriotic bloggers and tweeters drove their daggers. Many used their wordsmithy to spill venom rather than think about a creative response or counter argument. I was on my regular weekend train, when I chanced upon this article from co-passenger’s daily. I immediately texted the bomb to my friends.

That was a period when Team Anna shone with all the might and glory. It would have been a political suicide to question him. So it wasn’t exactly intelligent to mock the adulation. But no one foresaw the king was about to be dethroned.

The flow of tide turned when Anna decided to campaign against Congress in the elections. He clearly under estimated the ‘machinery’s’ weakness and over estimated his strength. The mouth piece of Anna were the intensive media coverage. He never thought it was going to be flimsy and tempremental. The huge government meachinery churned its wheels and slowly weaned away the popular support from Anna.

The eunuchs in the battle were Sibal and Digvijay. Now while the former is no popular leader at all, the latter is more or less feudal lord in some god forsaken land. So the jibes, taunts and hate of the enlightened e-generation were bound to have no effect at all in their long term political stint. In the run, newspapers compromised on the language and content.

Even when we are stunned and shocked by their (Sibal and Digvijay) opinionated remarks, they managed to create a schism in the society. That was their job and no one would counter argue that, it was done well.

Clearly half of my twitter companions were no longer interested and were even irritated with Anna. The continous and intensified attack coupled with inept response brought down the credibility of the team. The team seemed too shocked to handle the change of tide. Erstwhile smart guy Kejriwal seemed arrogant, Bhushans were unpatriotic and Bedi the brave policewomen was good at siphoning off money. To top it all Anna couldn’t decide on anything other than putting Congress men behind jail.

The logic no longer got to the public. The so called pan Indian movement, which was really a middle class dissenters forum had another unseen blow. The failure of FDI in the parliament was projected as anti-reform and took some steam off opposition. Then to top it all the holier-than-thou judiciary too took sides.

End of Part II- The fast fizzled out fast. Weather was said to be the cause. Now for those who expect a summer fast, I don’t see it coming. Anna is not in good health for another go and rest of the TEAM are not interested to fast.

Are you the one?

2011-12-30T10:45:00.000-08:00

I wish I could talk to you. I wish we could sit up late in the nights and go on and on. I wish I could bare myself to you.

The last year, I met a lot of people. They never rose above their own seat of self affirmation. As I said today, no one dared question themselves. The pattern is set for them and they run in it.

Well, the only trouble with you is you donot want to run in the maze, you want to break it open and come out. The rest of the society is not going to like it. Because you have questioned the system as a whole. When you said, you enrolled for the institute, I thought may be you’re just the ordinary girl after all.

But each day, you reveal a different dimension to me. You make me question myself.

Everyday I wish, I have someone in life to whom I could say , ‘You complete me’

Are you the one?

Happy that the last post of 2011 ended in love. Happy new year everyone.

Book Review- It was five past midnight in Bhopal (English))

2011-12-20T19:06:00.000-08:00

The beautiful part of living in India is- here the tragedies doesn’t live long, they are quickly forgotten. India is the land for victors. You either win the war or rather you don't fight. There is no better example than Bhopal. In two decades, we have only a vague memory of the tragedy. India cannot afford to live on its failures. We go to office the very next day after a disaster. More than a choice, it’s a lack of choice.

I picked up the book ‘It was five past midnight in Bhopal’ from a book exhibition. One of the reason was I wanted to know more about the Bhopal tragedy. I had also read some of La Pierre works and were quite impressed by them. The first impression came from his anti-missionary ramblings in Outlook magazine. He seemed a very pro-Hindu. But his books jolted the image a bit.

His first book I have read ‘The City of Joy’. The plot is almost same even in ‘It was five past midnight in Bhopal’. There was a co-author Javier Moro. I don’t know the extent of his creative contribution. For me the creative part entirely belonged to La Pierre. La Pierre loves to dwell on the poverty stricken country side and weave beautiful tales around it. Both the books I have read, aren’t entirely different from each other. The man who comes as anti-missionary in his magazine columns sound pro missionary in his books. The story line doesn’t vary much. Poverty, migration, rays of hope, tragedy and ultimate redemption. He has this uncanny ability to elevate the story to a cinematic melodrama and thus thrall the common man for they are not meant for intelligentsia.

The story of Bhopal kicks off from the pre-liberalisation era, post emergency when the economy was heavily dependent on the produce from the lands. The world’s second largest democracy was hit by chrony politics, bureaucratic ineptitude, pseudo socialism, unpredictable monsoons and predictable pests. The last one was a visible villain, whose evil was gazed upon with a simple helplessness. The country was plunged into famine. The rural population had to move into the cities in search for work.

La Pierre weaves a set of parallel plots which interconnects with each other. Around the same time a group of scientists come up with a pesticide which turns out to be stupendous success. The high effectiveness coupled with good marketing makes it a best seller all over the American continent. Union Carbide becomes one of the successful business models in USA. They goes around hunting for potential markets. Spotlight falls on India. A population entirely living on agriculture and suffering helplessly from the pest attacks. They spotted a sea of opportunity. A marriage between poverty and business opportunity was about to be sanctified.

The Indian Government had already begun to shed its conservative outlook for the sake of survival. When an American plant approaches you for setting up their operations, the government machinery was more than willing to help. Besides the politics at that time was purely dynastic and sycophant. The authority and power was not easy to percolate down. The land and license were two easy things to happen.

Farmers weren’t the only section who was about to be benefitted. There was a sizeable population, disadvantaged population who had their degrees but no avenues to test their knowledge. Until then the only respite for a well educated Indian was a government job which was pitifully laden with red tapism and favoritism. For them working in an American giant was a dream come true. There was ample opportunity to grow- with all the state of art technology. The plant also paid the workers very well with all kinds of benefits. Soon to work in Carbide became a matter of status.

La Pierre masterfully points out the compromises made even before the plant was set up. They seemed subtle but damaging in the long run. First of all, it was the dangerous compound Methyl Iso cyanate. MIC was initially planned to be imported from USA. Then considering the costs it was decided to manufacture MIC in India. But no pre emptive studies were done. The safety features weren’t weighed or analysed The primary question on the capability of the plant wasn’t even considered. A few wrote reports on the gravity of the idea. The reports were cremated by American bosses. More emphasis came on the revenue rather than safety.

Besides the Carbide suffered loss of reputation in USA too. MIC wasn’t an easy compound to hide from the environment. It did contaminate the surroundings plunging the entire living habitat into danger. Atleast vast tracts of land were required. But no such preliminary studies were made by the GoI. Ironically Carbide was allotted a land just in the outskirts of city and in a populated region.

The greatest danger lay in the slum in the outskirts of factory. The location was closer to danger than permissible. Concerns were raised but ironically the government granted the title deeds for the slum dwellers rather than eviction. The incumbent minister wanted to secure the vote bank. For landless title deed was a dream come true. Ideal example of opportunitism, and no prizes for guessing who lost.

Soon the officials realized the plant wasn’t earning income as expected. So much of its revenues were being eaten by the plant itself. The compromises became all the more evident. Besides the Indian workers hailed from varying backgrounds and the general laxity towards safety aggravated the situation.

The final nail came when the Americans realized the futility of their dream. They secretly decided to close down the plant. A new boss was appointed to oversee the final touchdown. But Sadly the guy was more of an economist who cut down cost by job cuts and shutting down inevitable safety process. His lack of understanding of technical functioning of the plant became all the more self evident. Everything waited for the Day of Judgement

Interestingly we get a feeling of a fairytale read while going through this. Yes it sounds a bit unrealistic. But this did happen. When I read some of the bloggers, tweeters and neo economists battling for FDI even without presenting any conclusive studies, I wonder if history will repeat.

Communism in Kerala and its basic flaw

2011-12-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

Vi,

Sorry for the late reply- blame it on the mental block. I was quite amused to read your mail. The parallels we share in our life story was amazing, but then the story of an average Malayali may not differ. The face of highly educated, impoverished state bound by the dogmas changed drastically with the oil boom. Sooner the IT revolution coupled with liberalization made Kerala into the highest consumer state with almost nothing to produce. In short a state simply thriving on the service industry.

The two reasons why Kerala could capitalize on the Gulf boom and IT era were – highly educated population and somewhat equal wealth distribution. Both the factors were totally absent from any other state, and they were slow to catch upon it.

Kerala rose from the cobwebs of racism and feudalism thanks to the forced land distribution and education. Even his hardcore critics would credit EMS and his first cabinet for the achievement. Kerala might be only one among the few states in India where socialism still survives, atleast partly. Arguably the reforms themselves would be the villains behind communism’s stifled growth.

Now a few facts behind the so called degradation of mainstream communist parties in Kerala.

Equating CPI(M)/CPI to communism: The ideology of ‘communism’ may not be so easy to define. Time and again intellectuals came up with their own versions of Communism thus changing the face of it. Even now debate rages on the shape of a perfect Utopian state. In India EMS one of the main ideologue of his era chose to marry off Communism to western Democracy. It faced opposition from a few comrades the percentage were few and none of them could market their views. Thus the ‘popular’ communism had to ‘compete’ with bourgeois, fundamentalists and pseudo socialists. This in turn led to dilution in the ideology and many unholy alliances. In return EMS was venerated to greatness.

The basic problem behind this is the weakness behind his ideology is concealed from popular eye. Neither can we say the mainstream communist parties in India are real communists, nor can we say EMS was a great Communist leader. So equating CPI(M)/CPI to communism is little off the mark.

The great flaws we see in them today is- Wedding between Consumerism and Communism AND Wedding between Religion and Consumerism. Both brought about a total degradation and erosion which ultimately resulted in the CPI(M)/CPI identifying more with others. There are no visible changes between any of the parties. Rather than influencing the mass population we see them identifying more with cultural, social and political diarrhea triggered off by liberalization.

In short I would rather abstain from saying

1. Communsim is outdated- because the global trends speaks a different story

2. EMS/ Nayanar were great Communists. They were just great leaders.

Movie Review- The Dirty Picture (Hindi)

2011-12-02T07:35:00.000-08:00

For more reason than one, this turned out to be an eventful day. Yesterday I had one of the most awful lunch at our canteen. This almost immediately resulted in a stomach upset. Today I woke with a rumble from deep down and wondered if I should go ahead to the office. I took up the morning paper to check out the new cinemas in town and was stunned to see ‘The Dirty Picture’. The tug of war started within me- Vidya’s cleavage or Office? I opted for the former and straight away booked a ticket for the first show of the day.

Now I had this feeling of watching a dirty picture and prayed that I would be spotted by none. I got in there to see a pretty big crowd and that too a few family people and bunch of college girls. I wished if Silk had this popularity or lesser notoriety, she would have been alive by now.

The two reasons I could come up with for such a big crowd-

Silk was an enigma in her heydays. Back then sexiness were related to voluptuousness. Then the male actors were untouchables and role of the female counterpart was to merely submit to the whims and fancies of the hero. Even when the hero was portrayed as a Casanova, she had to be chaste and simple. That’s where the vamps stepped into fulfill the macho image of the hero. They appeared in all the skimpy, vulgar clothes and earned whistles in theatres and assured spaces in gossip. The negative image spilled to the real lives from reel and after the golden era, they deteriorated to obscurity.

But Silk was bolder, notorious and even handsome than her counterparts. She may have had to face the snide of the conservative women back then. Even then she had her aura around her. Before the aura deteriorated she committed suicide in most doubtful circumstances and elevated herself to the likes of Marilyn. The new generation fed with more graphic visuals find the old thighs and boobs a matter of joke. For them Silk is a mystery who still lives in her aura.

Secondly, it was the controversy generated on the vulgarity of scenes. No matter how much wiser we become after every fake controversy , our curiosity gets aroused in the next one. The raunchy stills released months ago unbridled the animal within us.

I will keep this simple with a few points. Why should you watch the movie:

This is not at all a bad movie but not a great one either. Even when the camera rolls in and out of Vidya’s flesh the director makes sure that the cinema doesn’t deteriorate to another skin show without content. The director shoes his naivety but Milan does a fine job.

To be quite frank the story line had to be predictable. Our film industry still lives with in the clichés. When the makers claimed it had no resemblance to Silk, I hoped they would twist it a bit. But as usual it’s the story of a yester year heroine who finds sudden name, fame and infamity. She has to lose everything and life in the end. But Milan makes sure the treatment is subtly different atleast to a large extent. The shots are bold and tickles your libido. There were whistles and catcalls throughout. At the end of it people had this paisa vasool feeling.

The camera and lighting were very well done. When there is no scope for such experimentation, he did prove his mettle and taste. Or else we would have slumbered off.

Naseerudin Shah was way awesome. I just love this guy. His mannerisms as the southie ‘superstar’ just proves why he is the finest in our industry. He is the guy you have to watch out for. Tushar was a surprise. He had to be there in his siters’ movie and he has come a long way from the initial goofy faced days. So is Emran Hashmi- he is not awesome but not bad either.

Vidya too did a commendable job. We have to admit her sacrifice. She had to live up in a negative limelight for a long time. The work she has done on her physique is not easy. I haven’t seen even the guys doing their homework this well. For an actress, her physique is her asset and losing it is not an easy decision to take. Its not the first time she does a seductive role and she does it with much gusto. She tickles your animal instincts and you feel you are the vile man ogling at her on the screen. Undoubtedly she is way above all those plastic dolls.(I loved the bra straps peaking out). I couldn’t help but notice when seeing her performance, the struggles to break into the Bollywood with ‘Aunty’ looks could have had parallels . She is a very under rated actor. There were many wonderful scenes , which she made memorable simply with her panache

The songs may not be trendy but fits the old era and were a pleasant experience. You can tap your feet for lala . The mindless wonders of 80s.

And the dialogues and one liners are very cheesy and smart. Even when the movie meanders at times to boredom, you're suddenly jolted alive with the a classic one.

Now coming to the bad part:

Movie starts off grandly and then from interval veers off to pointlessness and Milan wraps it all up with a predictable storyline. Three hours was an unnecessary pain and I missed my lunch.

There are times when I wished he did some shots with a little more panache. There was an award function, which went totally indigestible. Then the extras and the way they carry themselves in the background, I wondered how Milan okayed the shots.

Then there was a serious flaw in caricaturing Silk. She looked filmy and very negative. Or I would rather use the word one sided. It looked a bit single shaded and not at all creative. I found it tough to believe and wondered if the character influenced by Britney Spears. May be she was so in real life. But then that was a deviation from typical stereotypes.

And then the story confuses you in the timeline factor. You wonder if it's a non linear film at times. The location is also a big confusing factor.

Overall: It’s a one time watchable movie. Go in with your family :D

Welcome back....we missed you

2011-11-25T10:41:00.000-08:00

I really couldn’t believe what I was reading. Sardesai tweeted about government opening up the FDI in retail. This was waiting to happen. But so fast, was a bit difficult to digest. With one blow GoI did the inevitable.

Welcome K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Carrefour to the Mystic land. We are going to be bombarded with the imageries of happy Indian family driving in their small cars and walk out with loads of shopping bags. Here is the desi version of American dream. Handsome young couple with cute, sweet, cherubic daughter driving the medium segment car, eating ‘healthy food’, buying flats with swimming pools, taking life insurance, watching flat screen TV and driving on weekends to some hill station. The Desi dream is about to grow more colourful from now on.

The post liberalization generation tend to label the bureaucratic, static, red tape laden regime as ‘Socialism’. Well then that was what the writers and thinkers told them. Today the pre-90s is treated with shame. A history India prefer to cremate quietly. Ironically the final salute to ‘Nehruvian socialism’ will be presided by the heirs of Nehru’ legacy.

I browsed through a few Indian economic dailies. Everyone were giving a high five and patting each other on the milestone. Some of the words: ’Government has atlast shook the shackles to do a much needed reform’. The advantages are going to be more foreign investments, jobs and economic development. Minister Sharma went on to add 10M jobs in 3 years. Hopefully the Americans and Europeans are going to migrate to India in search for jobs. I remember a sequence from a movie- ‘The government seizes land from the farmer and builds an IT park over it. The jobless farmer is given the job of sweeper over his own land’. Clever idea right- one job generated.

The system has degenerated to such a level that, the focus is to cater to the pleasures of elite. But then its and effluent we will have to live with.

My friend’s family have been traders for ages. Today they struggle to stay in competition with bigwigs. He used to moan how unfair it was. But being an ordinary consumer, I would have preffered the retailers who can afford to price their wares less. The merchants do steeply charge and had the power to artificially create inflation. I told him, ‘How do you expect to stay above competition?’. But shutting individual, small scale traders out of competition can usher in a monopolized era in coming years.

The Indian elite may have conveniently forgotten the UK riots by now. Over feeding a goose on consumerism can ultimately kill it. Realisation that purchasing power is no longer decided by merit but by other external factors can question the very basic ethos of the capitalistic and liberalized society. A system feeding on itself is ultimately unsustainable.

Lastly there was a time when a few ordinary people burnt the foreign goods and decided to wear the swadesi ones. Are we discrediting their sacrifice?

Book Review- Manja Veyil Maranangal (Malayalam)

2011-11-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

The last week I didn’t watch a single movie. I was too engrossed in a wonderful book. I haven’t been engrossed in a book in recent past with this intensity. I finished it in 6 days and flunked an exam on the way. The way I procured the book itself was sheer marketing ingenuity of the counter clerk.

The author, Benyamin, is young prolific Malayalam settled in sands of Arabia. As he indicates in the book, the exile brings best out of a writer. Benyamin had already shot to fame with his best selling work, Adujeevitham. It went on to be adopted as academic piece in Kerala University. And now he has proved that it was not just flash in a pan.

The plot revolves around the life of a young, reckless, day dreaming, wanna be writer. He stumbles upon a murder and sacrifices everything, even his family legacy to solve it. The plot is set in two timelines and places. The story is told through the eyes of protagonist and the writer(narrator). The manner in which the author stitches together the two timelines with relative ease is sheer genius.

And also I found it so endearing the way the writer takes us for a ride through Diego Garcia. The narrative doesn’t look forced. Most of the writers fail when they try to draw the picture about the environment. When I browsed through the first few pages I thought this was going to be another one of those mediocre crime thrillers. Soon I realized how the unsuccessful young protagonist draws the author and his friends into the plot. And the readers too along with it. The way he meets up with his childhood mates all in quick succession do cast an apprehension in the mood of the plot. But then the clouds clear. The author’s and protagonists life intertwines so much so that in the same way the protagonist loses everything in the quest, the author loses his friend’s circle.

There are a maze of emotions throughout- love, hate, friendship. They conflict with each other through the two narrations. There are also a wide variety of social issues- multi ethnicity, terrorism, black s, religion. The author doesn’t stray away from the main plot. For an average Malayali reader Benyamin is a whiff of fresh air. There are even a lot of neo imageries ,like Orkut, Facebook , to tell the story. This is a jump over generation gap. May be Mallus have procured a Chetan Bhagath (in terms of popularity) with a lots of quality

A tiny adventure III

2011-11-13T09:28:00.001-08:00

It was well past midnight. His fantasies were fulfiled. He kissed a woman- the first time. Now he can walk around with head held high, for he just tasted the forbidden fruit.

Still a feeling of vacuum was bothering him. A physically challenged friend of his was getting married to a normal girl. What beauty did she find in him?

Even at this hour of his success. He sat deep in thought- totally bowled over by a girl who challenged commodifying and sexualising marriage.

She asked him, 'What are you thinking?' 'Tommorow dear' It's not for the night of victory.

Movie Review - 7aum arivu (Tamil)

2011-11-01T22:25:00.001-07:00

It's difficult to judge a Tamil movie by normal standards. Particularly due to their liking of fantasy and super heroism. But according to me the universal yardstick for a cinema is screen play and intent.

I did hear from others that this was a 'watchable' movie. A cousin had come down and wanted to go for any Tamil. Hoping this to be a worthwhile exercise, I booked a ticket.

The movie opened with much grandiose. It travelled back to ages, similar to the lines adopted by Kamal Hassan's Dasavatharam. Surya trotted around in his chiselled body and hair locks. He saved the Chinese from some deadly virus and then Barbarians. Camera moves into the present. The present day Surya dances and prances around in his brunette hair do. Sruti gives him company. I sit in my seat hoping the director will come to his senses. To my horror he climaxed with some of the horrific logic ever discovered.

The only good part of the movie is Surya. Murugadoss hoped he could carry along with good looks and six pack abs as he did in Ghajini. For him half the work of Ghajini were already done by Nolan. Here he had to do something orginal. He comes.up with some of the most laughable logical and genetic explanation, immersed Surya in some blue solution and passed shocks hoping it will awaken his genetic memory. Thankfully Surya's genetic memory wakes up in nick of time to save the world from a Chinese catastrophe.

Shruthi Hassan has probably decided to move into acting from her lackluster stint as Rockstar. She is a genetic engineer this time, hell bent on tracing the Tamil greatness. The one thing I learnt about genetics is copulation of two great actors needn't produce another one.

The constant harping of ancient Tamil greatness, invinciblity and the betrayal is unbearable to watch. Please grow up guys. There is more to history than Boddhi Dharma

Innovation at Roadblocks

2011-10-30T11:50:00.001-07:00

I was on weekly train journey heading home. The best part is you get assorted with a wide variety of people everytime. Since lacking anything better to do, I sit observing them and making up stories mentally. This time there was a young couple opposite to me. From the fondness, they looked very recently married. Besides the fresh, new clothes gave them away. They sat together staring into their laptop uncaring of the world around. The girl looked so young and cute almost making it irresistible for the voyeur in me. I started listening to their conversation. They were obviously into their Facebook profiles.

An inevitable part of starting a relationship is sharing your profile passwords. Its almost like handing over the keys to your life. Some even o to the extent of moving into a single profile. Later when the shiny part of marriage is over there is nothing left, but regret and bitterness. Faith and Private space are two integral but conflicting components of marriage.

I was also carrying on with the pretext of reading a story. The young girl falls in love with a much older writer. She asks him ‘How was love in your days?’

‘Then, people used to think using words. Communications where done using words. Now people use imageries. Love can no longer be communicated in words ’

I was working with a group of youngsters. I asked them to present anything they wanted. It needn’t be conforming to any rule. I expected something round breaking. Sadly they presented an assortment of TV sops and popular movie scenes. Its time we accept the fact that our imaginations have become so convoluted and limited. And interestingly I will put Google in the culprit’s box. Answer to any problem is Google and the answer it feeds. In premier institutes assignments are plagiarized thanks to Google. Google is a revolution. But what if the revolution brings down quality of human innovation.

Movie Review- Indian Rupee (Malayalam)

2011-10-26T11:37:00.000-07:00

It turned out into a Diwali with no friends to hang out with. I go to ‘Gold Souk’, one of the prominent shopping malls in Kochi. The loneliness gets worse when standing out in a crowd of young pretty girls and handsome guys. I walk onto the multiplex and finds out that the tickets for the Hindi and Tamil flicks have been sold out. The only tickets left are for ‘Indian Rupee’. Amusing is the average Malayalee’s change in priority and tastes.

Before entering into the robes of a critic, I would admit that my view might be a bit prejudiced thanks mainly to a masterpiece I was watching from Jean Luc Godard. The section of audience took up the movie with great enthusiasm and appreciation. Judging from the reaction even days after the openin we can safely say the movie is on its way to ring cash registers heavily.

From a personal viewpoint I expected the film to do a bit more technically and creatively. High expectations is a price geniuses have to live with. The movie falls a bit short of the mark taking into consideration that the director was Renjith.

The movie deals with a very relevant contemporary topic facing Kerala population- materialism. People of Kerala has been traditional business men. The onset of Arab Oil and US visas threw open the windows for bigger opportunities. A recent trend saw desperate attempt to park the black money somewhere. Hitherto unexplored, virgin real estate scene was the best place to do so. The after effect was the real estate business slipped out of common man’s hands for cold, greedy sharks. Our hero is a typical uneducated youth with all the trappings of a common hero. Unmarried sister, highly educated lover threatening to get married off and huge, rich dreams and shades of grey. The end of the story is he realizes he has a bit of ‘goodness’ in him and hence unsuited for real estate scene.

The movie also deals on the encroachment of materialism into the finer elements of our society. Relationships, values and education has been corrupted and convoluted. Thankfully Renjith stops short of taking a stand. Its left to the element inside you to judge.

I can help but comment and commend on touching the issue of huge amounts of cash floating in and around the society. The term ‘crore’ became a very common usage now. While we sing patriotism, we don’t mind dangling with black money.

There is powerful performances from everyone. Thilakan is back to his stellar self. Hope destiny provides him with good health and many worthwhile roles (latter difficult to get than the former). Prithvi might have done the best one of his career so far. Strangely I thought rest of the cast performed way beter than him.

The choice of Kozhikkode as the focal point is significant. Traditionally Kozhikkode Is known for good food, great people and culture. The real estate culture is eating into the very ethos of the ancient city. An eye opener for the ones who keep eyes open.

Still too many plots and issues have diluted the flow and focus of the film. Many high profile characters walk in and out. May be the narrative couldn’t hold them all. The pace is too slow in the first half and is not very catchy in second half either. Some of the sequences and even the climax goes unexplained. A few shots look forced.

Footnote: A must watch for the philosophical value. Keep your hopes a bit low on the way to ticket counter

The tiny adventure part II

2011-10-20T10:39:00.000-07:00

The story continues.

He was quite surprised, when someone came calling on him at office. He found out that Div turned out to be a pretty looking girl. Rarely do someone come asking for him and that too a girl. He was quite elated. They learnt that they shared the same hometown and were neighbors back home. The coincidence didn’t simply stop when he learnt that her elder brother taught in his school. They did a little bit of pointless, forgettable chit chat before signing off.

Days passed by without any major instance or even bumping into each other. One day they met on the train again. The ‘one day’ took a lot of days to happen. AG had forgotten the name and he needed her friend’s help to recollect it, Needless to say, all the details had to be recollected. To his surprise, he found himself impressing her. She laughed helplessly at his poor jokes and even captured him on the camera. This was new to him, he did discreetly get women on his cam but the reverse never happened.

That day back in the privacy of his room, he stared at himself. ‘May be I am handsome after all’. On some flimsy pretext cell numbers were exchanged. And they did exchange texts quite often. AG made sure that he won’t repeat the past mistakes again. He had this stupid tendency of veering into sexual contents while chatting with women.

All the while AG made sure to examine if this was turning out to be something serious. He was never involved with a forceful girl before. This tensed him to a small extent. One day she addressed him by a term used by Christian women to address their husbands. It scared the shit out of him. He wasn’t ready for any commitment. This led to the first fight.

Subsequently the most important rule was laid down- there are not going to be any rules. He heaved a sigh of relief. Back to the world of casual recklessness. Still things were not the old self. They didn’t chat so often claiming huge bills.

One day he was totally drunk during a dinner. Div phoned him all of a sudden. He picked up a while later, when he thought he was sober enough. ‘Why now of all the time’ he kept thinking.

Later they arranged to meet and she made quite a lot of fun about his drinking. They were having a good time when she said ‘I want to drink’. He suggested a few decent pubs.

‘No, not a bar. Somewhere private’.

Wild thoughts creeped into him. Despite all the warning bells he took the big jump

‘Well I have a suggestion, if you don’t mind’

‘Hmm?’

Taking a deep breath, knowing very well that his life would change for the good or the worse…. He offered his bachelor pad!

A tiny adventure Part I

2011-10-18T10:22:00.001-07:00

Read the following stuff with utmost diligence and care. The protagonist of the story hails from a society where it’s not so easy to enter into a dalliance with any girl. For an average guy it would be difficult to woo a girl, let alone get kissed. The society tells him that most women have no sexual feelings and their duty is to fake an emotion so as to quench the thirst of man.

The average guy, AG, hails from a somewhat orthodox family where sex and girls are a taboo. He has to live with a little extra curiosity and sensuality than the rest of the boys of his age. One day his friend mimics the process of ‘masturbation’. After many unsuccessful attempts in the secrecy of darkness AG triumphs.

Years go by AG enters college. He see many beautiful girls and handsome guys. After a few unsuccessful attempts he realizes he lacks the capability to attract someone from the fairer side. Years role by, he draws close to new ideas, ideologies and dreams. He interprets his sexuality and his dreams with respect to them. AG started despising the so called feeling of chocolate love which leads to marriage. Although quite weird, he tries to land in some raunchy ‘internet’ relationships, which again burnt his fingers.

Then through mutual friends he comes across this beautiful girl. A few chats later she openly tells him, she finds him attractive. AG is stunned and shocked. This is the first time in his life. The years have left a whiff of maturity in him. AG is not ready to get carried away, as he knows this is not the girl meant for him.

Here ends the first part…………………

Hic hic Kerala

2011-10-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

There was a tradition in ancient Kerala. Whenever the landlord needed some cheap labor urgently, he called in the local tribal chief. In return of money the chief supplied him with his subjects- men and women. The landlord supplied them ganja and liquor lavishly. The men and women, high in spirits, worked tirelessly without a break.
The Syrian Christians had a tradition of consuming local version of liquor, Toddy, on happy occasions. The inflow of NRI money from Gulf and USA saw the Toddy giving way to more aesthetic and costly drinks.

The Kerala men had this great tradition of letting loose their humiliation, subordination and dissatisfaction on the bottle. This saw many families and people fragmenting. Thus many imminent personalities came forward with plea to banish alcohol. For a long time alcohol has been a secret pleasure, but an evil incarnation. Today the liquor has become more of a status symbol. Kids young enough to be at school would rather down a peg rather than milk shake. The wives don’t mind their better halves take a sip, which proves their masculinity. And the women downing a drink has become more a part of status symbol.

Sharing a drink is best way to socialize and make a few friends. It’s also good enough to make enemies out of friends. I recently made a few, whom I thought belonged to the opposite camp. But then the very next day a friend from my camp had a drunken brawl and yesterday’s mutual friendliness was forgotten.

Movie Review - Annie Hall ( English )

2011-09-26T08:14:00.001-07:00

Rather than attempting a review it would be best suited to attempt in bringing out what Woody Allen tried doing. 'Relationships' has been something disseminated and analyzed by thinkers for a long time. It might have been probably because this complex entity is present only in humankind. Allen tries to probe this complex equation his own light hearted way.

Allen plays a stand up comedian, Alvy Singer. Diane Keaton plays Annie Hall. Both the protagonists have their own problems and issues from childhood, family and relationships. The treatment is light hearted and humorous. Woody is in no hurry to offer any solution and he doesn't seek any easy way out.

Alvy and Annie have troubles of their own in respective relationships. They meet each other and things start off very well. There is a hope of fruition. But slowly the weaknesses comes to the fore. Still they carry on despite the inherent weaknesses. Ultimately the relationship wilts away inspite of pretension and dullness.

Overall this is a beautiful movie which deals with so many complex terms in its own simple way. The movie ends up with a story from Allen

A man goes to a psychiatrist, ' Doctor, my brother is crazy. He thinks he is a goose'
'Then bring him to me'
'Wait, let me get his eggs first'

Relations are something like that. No matter how absurd and insipid it is we want its eggs!

A post mortem on Onam

2011-09-20T07:34:00.001-07:00

The star studded program was half underway when the mayor arose to speak. 'Onam signifies the continous struggle between good and evil. It's the hope and longing for a society embedded in equality'. The festive crowd were in no mood for a long speech. They booed her down. In short, the.significance of the festival is it no longer conveys any significance.

In past couple of decades the per capita spending of Kerala shot up to highest in the country. This despite the fact that the state doesn't contribute much to production. Some if the big names in retail have come down to reap profits out of blatant consumerism.

As people realised they could afford living alone, the joint family system started disintegrating. More and more units of consumer came up. Once upon a time credits were akin to shame and dishonor. Today people cannot do without credit. Private lenders did reap huge rewards out of this.

Thiruonam wasn't spared out of the plunge. The festival has become the best arena to do brisk business. Months prior to the festival big names get ready with huge cut outs and attractive discounts.
People starts streaming in. The trickle grows into huge crowd.

There was an instance when a clothing mall 'Jayalekshmi' had to close down the shutter every 30 minutes to clear out people at the cash register. Reliance trends were filled with some of the worst outfits but still there were no dearth to the crowd. The boys there clearly needed some good rest. I was told that they weren't able to close down at night.

The traditional banquet was an opportunity for the family to gather and cook. But its clearly out of fashion today. The big hotels advertises for 'Sadhya' and charges hefty fees. Still booking has to be made months in advance clearly knowing the food is going to be the worst.

Every simple aspect of Onam has given away to costly stuff. The real beneficiaries being the merchants. The Onam, once a noble and holy festival, is today a market vulgarity.

Movie Review- A certified copy (Italian)

2011-09-08T21:26:00.001-07:00

I have been watching much movies recently. Sadly I haven't been able to put down any. And thus came to decision that until I put down two of them I won't be watching anymore.

'A certified copy' was recommended by a movie buff friend of mine. Directed by Abbas Khiorstami, I thought this was going to be Iranian. I kept eagerly awaiting for the flrst 10 minutes for any hint of Iranian but found out otherwise. The film is basically in Italian with international star cast. Now why did the director go for Italian would be an interesting question and I guess it might have something to do with the theme.

Abbas' has a great ability to piece together a story from numerous jigsaw puzzles. The end product would invariably be a thriller which rivets you to your seat inspite of a slow pace The movie starts off with the protagonist giving a lecture on the influence of 'orginal' and 'inspired' work in the world of art. Then walks in the heorine and the movie starts.

The movie revolves around the conversation the protagonists share and the background. As they walk, talk and have coffee a new twist in the relationship evolves. We are forced to make a shift in our perception frequently. The conversation even forces us to question ourselves on our perception on relationship.

Does people change with time? Does the relationship evolve along with people? Are we naive when we expect romance even after decades? The protagonists try to find an answer as they attempt to cure an ailing relationship. As I said earlier the movie is so much related with art and architecture. Hence Italy would have been the ideal location. There is powerful performance from Julia Binochette and Michael. The actors who appear on sideline also deliver. The camera concentrates on the central figures and their actions.

FOOTNOTE: A brilliant movie. But not best of Abbas and slightly on the slower side.

Movie Review- Pranayam (Malayalam)

2011-09-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

I came back from the movie ‘Pranayam’ and went straight to my writing desk. Putting it in simple words- here is a movie waiting to be born, not just because men wanted it, it was waiting for its time.

I was there for a few days in Fort Kochi when we heard of a shooting going on. But never realized this was the one.

‘Pranayam’ stands for romance. Blessy transcends all norms and formulae to tread in his own path. A rather dangerous journey when the movie is made for a mass audience.

Blessy is the disciple of erstwhile maestro- Padmarajan. He borrows it a plenty from his master. The character and traits of a Padmarajan movie is obviously visible throughout the movie.

Blessy takes extreme care not to fall into any stereotypes or clichés. The romance is set into three characters who are into their twilight years. Although there was plenty of scope for pitfalls, Blessy cleverly avoids them. He uses some of the most good looking and sensuous female cast. A cue he has taken from his master. Padmarajan movies always had supple cleavage. That even earned him some negative and unfortunate feedback among the ‘decent’ class. Here the women show off their well shaped figures. Then there is a scene of the woman dressing while phoning her husband. A very natural scene but sensuous enough for the imagination. Even the old Jayaprada gives us a glimpse of the feminine beauty.

Pappan integrated the ‘physical’ element into love, graciously. Here Blessy even makes an obvious reference by ‘The man who experienced you both physically and mentally’. He even dwells on the emphasis of physical expression in romance by the new generation. Thankfully no long winding speeches are made even when there is scope to do so.

The story revolves around the lives of three elderly protagonists. Kher meets the love of his life whom he divorced years ago. He discovers that she is married to a professor on philosophy and has a family. We can say the ‘hero’ of the film is the woman Jayaprada. How she discovers another dimension of love when he meets her long lost man and son. There is selfishness, forgiveness, tender romance, passion and compassion in the love between the three. As the film says the self discovery gives theageing protagonists a second chance.

The director uses a lot of beautiful imageries and philosophy to convey the messages. As a result long windy dialogues are avoided. Director uses close up frames which suits the power house performance. But as a result the classic beauty of Fort Kochi is given a miss. Music is perfect and so is even the opening credits rolling in. Mohan Lal is at his vintage best. Padmarajan gave him some of the best films once, now Blessy is his life line. The best scene I would pick up is the one in which he defines dignity with a lot of passion. He did the role of a romantic paralyzed with absolute panache. So is Anupam Kher and his zest for life. I haven’t forgotten Anoop Menon too, one of the best ‘thinking’ actor in Malayalam.

Blessy is still far away from making a film with absolute perfection. There were a lot of bad frames, poor dialogues. Some of the non acting cast and turdy dialogues too doesn’t help him. A bit more home work was missing. I still haven't digested Anoop Menon shifting slangs constantly. That is all about the little elements missing out.

Bottom Line- The LOVE, which we forgot in the modern, fast paced, ruthless world. Don't expect any chocolate romcoms. Sit, watch and feel the love.

PS I don't write the story and call it a review. It's your job to watch it.

A better gift- concluded

2011-09-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

There comes a point in life when you come to believe that you have met with your destiny. Years ago, it was my turn when I thought I had met the love of my life. It a;; happened thanks to a bundle of books she carried along. I decided this was the girl I am going to spend rest of my life with.

She was well read, a good movie enthusiast, decently principled. And she was very good looking with a slim figure and decent curves. Would I have fallen for her otherwise?

It was relatively the first time for me in life. I didn’t want to leave any stone unturned. I remember fondly the amount of time, I spent to pick a gift. I didn’t exempt the cheap stuff too from the list of gifts. Then I phoned, texted and even chivalrously gave her a company on the way home.

I know, this sounds high school stuff. But then you realize only when you are out of it. It took me some months to get out of that. One day I tactically asked her if she was seeing someone. Thankfully she replied in negative. That was a welcome green signal for me. Even then I wasn’t sure of when to pop up the question.

My blogs became the only mode of retribution. Then a mutual friend, whom I had met through her, pinged me. He asked me if there was any chance we would meet. We met over a lemon tea. It was then he told me they both were seeing each other when I was busy thinking about gifts. How nice!! The first thought that went over my mind was the perfume. But then the burden lifted off my chest. I am free again. Life is tough and is a gamble. You cast the dice and you win or lose. Bu then you expect some level of trust.
Last day she called me up for her wedding. The mind was totally free of any bitter feelings. I would have gone, if not for the long travel. I haven’t thought from her shoes. So it would be quite unfair to do a single sided bashing.

Signing off by wishing her a great life.

India's tryst with destiny

2011-08-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

India is going through a tumultuous period. Atlast we have found a hero who fits the bill. He doesn’t create much havoc and he doesn’t demand much out of us. The guy is serene and calm. He resembles a lot like our Gandhi, doesn’t drink or smoke, unmarried and ex-Army man. Moreover he has no five star hospitals or colleges to his name. Inshort here is a guy who does so much for us when we need to just ‘follow’ and ‘like’’.

Soon Ram Lila will be elevated to the position of Tahrir, Pearl square, Tianmen, Benghazi. Nespapers and Tv have ensured that we will not miss a moment. Joining them is the tweeters and bloggers. Visuals of ‘poor’ people streaming in from remote corners of the country is beamed in to ensure a touch of Pan Indian flavor.

Everything was going in so well with the Government of India v/s Rest of India XI match, when Ms. Arundhathi Roy dared play spoil sport. She in her usual sarcastic tone deplored Anna without any solid reason whatsoever. The bloggers and tweeters were just ready to pounce on her with the weapons ready. They had a great feast. Still they haven’t realized, no matter how hard you try to hate her she talks sense.

1. Anna has come across as a man who is unsure of his secular credentials. He has a record in dilly dallying with RSS, Baba Ramdev, Narendra Modis. But then it’s his views and who are we to bother. Still I hope he stands by his ideas this time around.

2. Team Anna has gone to great lengths to convince the nation on the merits of Jan Lokpal. The process and content is so transparent that we have no room for any malicious thought. But then are we to arrive at a consensus taking into consideration the public debates? There is no beigger joke than that. There are so many people outside the fringes who can’t afford a public debate on the issues they face. Now what if the ‘public’ minority is against the ‘private’ majority.

3. Why not the corruption by media or the corporate? Why do we focus only on Rajas and Kanimozhis? Where are the hot hot TV anchors caught red handed? Why do we spare Tata and Ambani? The tendency to spread anti political ideology is extremely dangerous to our democracy and hence Arundhathi’s theorem of overthrow is very well vindicated. We who are too eager to jump onto anything, have we examined the consequences? Is team Anna going to inherit a weak nation? Besides another independent, quasi-government body can effectively oversee corruption is ludicrous and at the same time dangerous too. De-centralisation is good when things are at its mediocre pace. We will not need a PM tied down by red-tapism in times of crises

4. I see a comment going around in Facebook claiming effectiveness of LokPal in Singapore. I sincerely wish people think before they spill out stupidity. Singapore is not a cheap place to stay. Don’t ever dream that bringing in black money will allow us to live cheap. That’s a sheer economic nonsense

5. Last of all do we seriously believe we can root out corruption simply by jailing a few politicians. The practice to get around is inherent in our system. We have too few resources and too many people. The unequal competition can only breed more corruption. If we are still optimistic, why aren’t we bothered of multitudes pushed to fringes. Why is Irom remembered only with a tinge of sympathy?

Consumerism

2011-08-17T10:53:00.001-07:00

When the eastern bloc was on its decline, the western propaganda machines pointed out the main deficiency of USSR as their inability to ‘consume’. They may have had enough and more to sustain, but the awful system offered them no real ‘choices’.

The first sign of change was setting up of multinational brand names all across the Eastern bloc. Even now the progress of a city is judged on the number of shopping mall and their hugeness. Your living standards no longer depend on the quality but on the brands you choose.

And now, after decades, the consumerist culture has taken a heavy beating and that too at its heart- London.

The analysts sat in their studio facing the camera, desperate to arrive at some conclusion on the motive behind the riots. How can our future history text books go blank? People with no faces and sex looted the city in 2011. Imagine the absurdity of the line.

If the colour was black, we could have pointed out to racial discontent. If it was white, then neo-nazism would have been the word. Sadly this time all the pre emptive formulaes simply didn’t stand.

Our system thrives on accumulating materials far beyond ‘need’. Although the popular perception is that achievement is based on merit, the reality is far from that. More and more players come onto the field everytime. The goal post keeps shifting and get smaller as the resources go scarce. And imagine the situation when referee disappears from the field. Well that’s what happened in Britain. Can we guarantee it won’t happen again, thus wiping out a few civilizations?

Indian government has been having somewhat secretly public affair with western model of capitalism. Over all these years they have been loosening the screws when it’s suddenly realized that the rules aren’t going to hold. So they come up with a strange decision to ration cooking gas. Do our policy makers realize the potential volatility?

Already the youth have been trying out the dangerous mix of free sex, homosexuality, liberalization, spirituality, communalism. Now try telling them they have to go on empty stomach because there was a leak in the stove!

Rant against the economy

2011-08-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

I have never done the routine visits to vegetable vendor for about one and a half year. As my Dad lay sick, I did have to go to get his staple fruit diets. I was horrified to see that the prices for essential groceries have more than doubled in one and a half year.

I remember having had an argument with a friend on the merits and demerits of fuel prize de-regulation.

‘It’s good for economy in the long run’

What fucking good is the economy, when it’s meant to reduce the living standard of the common man? Imagine he ending up sick or unable to go to work. Does the economy grant him prosperity and stability? Or do we consider some sort of social responsibility to feed him our left overs. The scope for all those who preach charity is going to increase as we have been successful in marginalizing more and more percentage of our population.

The great One

2011-08-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

A verse I remember from childhood: ‘It’s the divine one who erases the prominent’. Mine is a rough translation. The original is very powerful and piercing. The cover of the ‘Frontline’ did enough to remind me of the verse. Interestingly most of the Indian weeklies who lose no time in doing sex surveys didn’t bother about the fall of the great man. But to limit Rupert Murdoch into the ‘great’ bracket would be too belittling.

Rupert Murdoch did capture most of our mindspace and destroyed our grey cells. This man is not just great, he is super great. The fall of such a man would be nothing less than a super fall. But I wouldn’t predict a total annihilation. The humankind wouldn’t be able to do without the likes of him. Today I look back into how much the toilet papers have captured my imagination.

Until a few months ago the first thing I did in the morning was browse through SUN. it had the real toilet paper quality to give you total pleasure. But I had to be careful that no others would take a sneek peak. The paper regularly carried surveys on how the British preferred bigger boobs together with images authenticating the claims. Then there were raunchy affairs and football news. The invariable tactic was thousands of rumors were manufactured of which two would succeed. After a good 15 minutes, I would close the screen exclaiming ‘How Gross’. The next day my fingers would automatically go into the SUN again.

The Indian papers weren’t far behind in toilet paper stuff. The best one being ToI. The most read online Indian paper. They had also the invariable quality in stroking communal passion by bigoted articles. This would set off angry and bigoted comments from ignorant fools, which would cross the Indian borders too. To make matters there were some of the most stinking bloggers.

Hindustan Times had a better area in ‘confession corner’ . There you would get thousands of miserable people who did it with in laws, uncles, aunts, parents. There were enough space to give your kind advices too. A few weeks ago there was a Hindu v/s HT spat that ran into the editorials. It was about a headline claim from HT saying there were sex change operations being done in newborns. Gross! Right?

There is an instance in the Mahabharatha famously named as Aswathama incident. I don’t see anything better today. The information I see on TV or paper are either misinformation or suppressed information. The greater accessibility to the public has resulted in even indirect policy formation through the media.

The social responsibility of the masses is much more greater today. To me the media is a non real entity that feeds on the fantasies and eroticisms of the general public. So bifurcating the two is not an easy thing. But then again the media moguls may not be innocent enough to wash off their hands.

Even though a tough thing to do, we have to check out an article with sources of conflicting interests. Greater discernment and discretion is required before reaching a conclusion. I have seen bloggers shooting off their mouths inorder to get the maximum hits. How would I demonize Murdoch when we have greater beasts in our midst.

Lady Gaga, Digvijay, Rakhi Sawant, Mallika Sherawat survive on the controversy they pick up. Paying tributes to them once in a while with ample coverage to the silicon valley is disgusting. And I am yet t understand even when women loudly detest them, it’s the female race who are more obsessed with the show piece materials. The greatest women magazines’ main attractive item is their raunchy stories and photos!

Bro

2011-08-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

I haven’t seen him grow up for the first 5 years of his life. After a weekend with him, I realized how much he had grown up. Infact we siblings have been sharing a roof for some 20+ years, although we wanted to move out. It all had to start with me. 3 months ago I moved out and now it’s his turn.

This weekend was unbearable, as I had to bear in mind he will be moving out into a different city soon. There were tears fighting to come out. But then it would be too feminine to do so. I remember the decade old marriage video, when he was small as a cat and ran around creating mayhem. I wonder if the cassette would still function. I would someday fetch it from the attic.

He was better than me in every area- passion, character, academics. So when Dad asked me to advise him, I chose not to. I was not worth for it. I know it’s going to be difficult for him to adjust to the truth that he didn’t end up in the field he loved. But then the hard truth about life is we never end up being what we want to be. No one is too lucky or unlucky. It’s good that we finish up our unlucky part early in life.

More than me, it’s going to be our parents who are going to miss you. They are seeing their kids going away to the big wide world to make out a living. May be they will start feeling old and lonely. But then that’s life. We never were the perfect family. They had to struggle a lot to grow three kids with huge appetite. Like a majority of Kerala family of the ‘80s they migrated to the deserts to make a living out of hot desert. Thankfully, we kids didn’t have to struggle much.

The last day when he was talking about a girl he met, I was stunned on how quickly had he matured into adulthood. The only advice would be ‘Bro, it’s a big bad, mad world. So take care’

From now on all the fights and shouting would be nothing but a sweet memory.

Visual Collaboration

2011-07-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

I am no particular fan of Arundhathi Roy. The only time I got close to her work was when a few of friends brought the pirated copy of ‘God of small things’ from Bangalore. I put it away after a few pages, as I found it too complicated.

Then came her article in ‘Outlook’ demanding ‘Azadi’ for Kashmir, which set my blood pressure. Back then I was a core nationalist in thinking, proud to be a part of Shining India. Then as I started reading more of leftist literature, I trudged carefully from the comfortable thought process to sticky path. Even today I am not confident or clear about my political stance. But I have learnt to respect and listen to Ms. Roy.

I have to admit, I haven’t read much of her books or essays, basically due to my impatience. But a recent statement from her sent my personal opinion on her roaring.

On a recent visit to Kerala she commented that she wouldn’t be giving her famous book ‘God of small things’ to a film maker. The reason was pretty interesting- visual colonization of minds. Remember, the young writers bollywoodize a book even before it’s out.

The writer has the time and space to convey her feelings. The reader has the time and space to assimilate it. But a script writer has only a few seconds to push the idea through. So there is a good chance for distortion. I have seen most of the classics being reduced to a parody thanks to relative incompetence. ‘Man under the iron mask’ would be the best example.

I used the word ‘relative’ as the script writer needn’t be bad in his profession. He may not be able to rise to the heights of an epic. The example of ‘Godfather’ can be an exception when Cuppola provided us with a better version of the novel.

To me it’s best to make films out of ordinary books-where there is nothing much for a reader to assimilate- or the ones in which need of visuals over power the narrative (Harry Potter ).

The other statement from Ms. Roy was more interesting. ‘The book is not mine. It was a collaboration between me, nature, silence and creatures’. At a time when the so called writers bay for the smallest change credits, she is a trendsetter.