Kitsch Art anyone !!

Rajnikanth Magic

(on the streets of Madurai)

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Tribute to legend Rajkumar…

India is such a huge country with varied people and places. It takes some traveling to know how remarkably multiculture and variant this nation is. The more you travel more you realize it. Without sounding jingoist I have to admit that with all the short comings and problems this nation faces: India is absolutely incredible!!!. There are so many new things to see every time you travel. Things beautiful, things shocking, as for me this place has kept me in an excited state for more than a decade now and hopefully for many more years to come. Tell me how can it be not exciting to know that apart from food habits, language, dressings….they even have entirely new God you never heard of!!!. Every new place in every few kilometers has its own God and offcourse stories surrounding it. But yes the Gods do somewhere get associated with mainstream Hinduism, the trinity. I am told in Hinduism there are 33million gods and how did they got that number is still a mystery but offcourse quite conceivable!!. I am not surprised!!!!!!!.

In this milieu are also remarkable human beings who are treated almost like gods. Mr. Rajkumar was someone like that in Karnataka State. He was like MGR to Tamil Nadu and NTR to Andhra Pradesh. But unlike them he never got into politics although he could have easily. There was some discussion in media about South- North India and “culture” difference. Again the presiding deities in many of these channels have got it absolutely wrong. I wonder whether they really know anything about this country or is it high decibel performance, “competence” in front of camera!!. They like to classify people into some kind of manageable entity for their convenience at the expense of reality. Then they discuss, it is a joke. But then prejudices, clichés and stereotypes I am told are TRP busters….so flows the Ganges. Type Y for Yes and N for No. If you don’t then you are missing something big!!.

South India is not a monolith, it is too varied. It is not that simplistic. And there is more to India than North-South (more about it sometime later). Apart from being a popular actor Mr. Rajkumar was extremely good human being. Now this is not part of image creation as is the norm nowadays, infact he shunned media as much he could. But although each kannadiga was aware of his greatness not many people outside knew about him much (at least the common people in other part of the country came to know of him when he was kidnapped by Veerappan some years back. I myself came to know about him when he won the Dada Saheb Phalke award). He really was an icon here in Karnataka. One who had connected to millions of people in this prominent southern state, which speaks of him as more than an actor. He somewhere provided the pride for the place and its culture wherein people were increasingly getting alienated. A remarkable man indeed.

The shock expressed by people was spontaneous but the ensuing violence was uncalled for. It could also be “statement” against State abdicating its responsibility with increasing presence of Market forces and affluent "outsiders" as some socioligists are pointing out, but mob psychology is difficult to predict it always carry destructive elements. Within an hour of his death made public, tyres were burning every few km. and huge black smoke bellowed around the city.

Mobile phones helped people to know what the problem was, few frantic calls made and news spread. The city was suddenly still. Posters of Rajkumar came up in almost all street corners. It was quite a sight. Then the hooligans took over……things went from bad to worse. Vehicle owners started to paste posters on their vehicles just to save it. A very sad spectacle on the demise of a man who personified humbleness.

** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Sometime back I was in Trivandrum and was walking around and saw this crowd at VJT hall. I came to know that it was for the shradhanjali to Devarajan Mashe and they were waiting for the body to arrive. Devarajan mashe was a legend in here and his songs were all-time favorites particularly with the elder generations. When they showed the songs of his in TV I could recall most of them. They were hummed around by elders when I was kid. Like for instance Ommanalle kandu njan….was so very popular. His devotional songs were I think more popular. And songs can really bring memories. I recollect a very funny incidence (atleast in retrospect it is funny). We were always supposed to have evening prayers every day (offcourse I rebelled out when was a teenager), it really was distressing at times when are you 6 or 7 and repeating all those names of gods and so on. Now what really happened was one (there were 7-8 taking more than hour) of the prayer we sang was pointed out by a family friend as a movie song (not exactly a song but a prayer in a movie), this was an innovation, being outside kerala. Now there was this predicament whether what is in movie could be used as prayer. Now that will be like singing film song in front of God!!!. A big no there. Some kind of blasphemy I guess. The whole prayer was dropped after ascertaining whether the movie took it from some religious scripture or whether it was creation of a songwriter, the later was found true!!. I am sure it must been a Devarajan Mashe creation. He was brilliant. My mother was seriously into Malayalam songs and since we were mostly outside kerala I recollect she used to spend substantial part of her afternoons to catch Malayalam songs in radio Ceylon. And like a true keralite she was an ardent admirer of Yesudas (off course MS was the first choice. Aint the day start with Suprabadham!!).

When I was watching the funeral of Rajkumar I was wondering is there anyone in Kerala who can be equated to him?. The same adulation, embedded in the collective psyche. Since most keralites are quite skeptic set of people, movie stars are out. EMS (whatever ideological difference one may have) comes to mind but among the living I think Yesudas does occupy the mind of people to a large extend. He is considered more than a singer. How he was not allowed into the temple (since he is a Christian…kerala temple is sometimes so obnoxiously different from other parts, more about it sometime later) and he later sang the song guruvayoor ambala nadayil…all that is etched in the minds of people. It adds on to his enigma. His hindi movie songs were listened to just because it was Yesudas sung, offcourse he had a more than a decent success in hindi!!. His concerts of Carnatic music(katchery) as well as light music are always house full. I was reading an essay by Suresh Menon on Yesudas recently titled The Voice he writes: “In Remembrance of Things Past, Marcel Proust has his hero’s memories flooding back to him on tasting a kind of cake with his coffee. The smell, the taste, brought it all back. For Malayalis the world over, a Yesudas song does the same thing……he has provided the glimpse of divinity. To paraphrase Goethe, when the mind is at sea, an old song provides a raft.”

And most Yesudas songs of Devarajan Mashe were brilliant. May his soul rest in peace.

On kerala elections....

Kerala political scene is divided into two fronts one led by Congress referred to as UDF, which is now ruling and another by Communists led by CPM is LDF. Since a miniscule shift can be decisive there are many splinter groups- its part of kerala folklore that these parties have used up all the alphabets in the language! These small interest groups have been playing havoc in kerala politics to the detriment of the people for few decades now. Recently there have been rise of caste based groups also albeit with very negligible impact on mainstream politics although the media gives them undue importance. Sometimes the media can really be irresponsible. So now before and after the elections the Gods (moonlighting as psephologists) in the media will enlighten us on how caste and religion voted. These fools actually think people have no other issue to deal. How much they compliment (and fuel) the caste and communal politics need be studied. The beautiful thing which has happened in this election is that some influential religious leaders particularly of Christians and Muslims have called for the voters to exercise their Rights following their conscience. Cheers to that. The local needs and aspirations of the people for better standards of living will be met I hope.

The present Government in kerala barring few issues have done well and people do have huge respect for Oomman Chandy. Infact he is rated as one of the best Chief Minister in recent times. But the coterie ridden and scheming politicians who are out of touch with reality have spoiled it. Including the DICK father-son duo into UDF actually was a serious mistake. I was in Kerala few weeks back and I have heard many people praising Mr. Chandy, at that time there was talks going on whether DICK father son scoundrels should be included in UDF or not. And as most of us know keralaites speak politics a lot ( such is the case that hotels in small towns have even boards asking: no political talks!). I heard many people saying if DICK is back in UDF they will not vote Congress. So UDF is in serious trouble of its own making.

UDF is not isolated in this even the comrades in LDF particularly CPM knows some tricks on hara-kiri. The earlier decision on not to allow Mr. Achuthanadan to contest was shocking to most people. You could hear almost every other person saying: che sheri ayila (not a right thing to do)….in bus, train… I remember an auto rickshaw driver asking me why do you think they are committing this mistake. He is a very popular leader. Rightly so. I remember listening to his speech in Alapuzha town where I was roaming around almost a decade back and I thought he made lots of sense. I recollect he was talking about coir workers and other very important issues dealing with the place. I liked him very much. It is therefore shocking that CPM is so very out of touch with reality. There are certain interest groups in this party who seems to be going to any extend to be in power. How can you explain the ridiculous decision of even considering DIC(K) duo to be allowed to LDF? This has offcourse seriously eroded their image. If the LDF doesn’t weed out these viruses from its system then this Front will only plummet. Don’t take people for granted. Atleast not keralites. Further the left government have not been too sensitive to the issues of Tribals in the past. It also need be pointed out that it was the Communist Government that allowed CocaPepsi to set up their exploitative product shop, we can accept the argument that enormity of the misery it will create might not been aware. It is very sad considering that this party has a long history of taking up the issues which matters to the people most. There are many people in the older generation who still are very committed to this party almost in a romantic sense, sometimes out of touch with changing reality but then some ideas are eternal . This doesn’t mean that new government don’t allow genuine, sustainable development to take place and ensure employment opportunities to its young population who almost always have to leave home to far of places.

One wonders what kind of people have sneaked into this Party with such an incredible past. I am sure people in this part of the world will be aware of dreaded Attimarikar, which has since been stopped. So sometime it can really go into the hands of local thugs. So now thugs are at the policy making section it seems. Pinarayi Vijayan who was very excited about involving DIC(K) in Left front had this to say when asked about the corrupt background of Karunakaran : “We don’t go by History that is not communism….”. Yes comrade historical dialectics with no History! Such greed for power this man. Shame. It is people like him who feed scoundrels like Karunakaran and let them thrive. It is people like him who create a culture of tolerating and encouraging corruption. It was shocking when Eshwara Iyer (father of Rajan ) expired recently, Karunakaran humiliated him. This mad animal (that is what he is. At the age of 88 that is an achievement!!) is so blatantly promoting his son, who is equally uncouth. Rajan case is so etched in the minds of people of Kerala that it will remain in collective psyche for long time to come. My condolence to Eshwara Iyer’s family. May his soul rest in peace. Power hunger shouldn’t make likes of Pinarayi to assume people of kerala for fools. The audacity for neek pok. We need to blame ourselves for having people like Karunakaran as "leader". No wonder Ooman Chandy government’s many achievements have now been relegated. The UDF is on its way out no doubt but the people are also very apprehensive about LDF (particularly CPM) with back stage maneuverings. Many people even think they are being encouraged by the mafia. God save us from likes of neek pok Vijayan.

Talking of age most people contesting elections are 60 plus! Infact some are even 80 + like Achuthanandan and Gowriamma (who still is as fiery!!!. Her base seems to have eroded in recent times. But then, she is the longest serving legislator in the State. Quite an achievment). That I guess does reflect on kerala demography like Japan and European countries, majority of people here are over 60+. Unlike metros where there is no significant presence of elderly in public places in kerala they do play major role and are quite active with strong views. Like Achuthanandan who still has a level of passion in his speech and lifestyle which is amazing. I guess it has got to do with the place. The Ernakulam-kollam belt has always been politically very active. Many people sacrificed themselves during CP rule (stories of puzha turning red with blood) as also many other significant agitations (like punnapra). I remember when I was kid, on a kerala visit (part of my education was outside kerala) a young man of the neighborhood confronted me with a question: Boy you read Das Kapital?? ! I had no idea what he was talking about. He took me to the nearby reading room (in Kerala every few Km there will be reading room) and explained about muthalali-thozhilali stuff, which i could make no sense of. Later when I mentioned it to my elders they sternly told me not to talk to such people! Remember that incredible scene in Adoor's movie, Kathapurushan where the grandmother asks the caretaker what is a bourgeoisie, since the boy was beaten up in school for being a bourgeoisie. And he replies with that characteristic non chalance "a entho venda deenam ayirikum" (loosely translated means: must be some bad thing). I thought it was brilliant. At that time I used to think thozhilali means people who kick (thozhi meant kicking and followed by li)..…well it was the time when Bruce Lee was the ultimate hero. There were many instances of kids cracking their bones hitting bricks.

Before ending this piece one appreciate, not so insignificant contribution of comedians in TV channels, the people who do mimicry and have given some insight into how politicians work. Some of these guys are brilliant. I think this is typically a kerala phenomenon. Mimicry is taken earnestly in here and in college and school festivals this is seriously competed. Some of them do maintain very high standards.  There is a program in a TV channel: Munshi, running for years now. The duration is around 3 minutes (beat that one!!) but brings out what really kerala is. Supporter of different political parties and representing sect saying few liners on a contemporary issue like the one you see in teashop or street corner followed by an old saying by an elderly man which capsulate everything. Short and crisp this definitely is a program I can say of international standard and uniquely ethnic. Quite an achievement this one. Congrats.

ZK ko gussa kyon atha hai....

ZK is a man on a mission. His mission includes screaming in TV studios, an euphemism for discussion nowadays (you can even spot their jugular vein bulging, such admirable passion. So yell in ten seconds how to solve Kashmir problem??!!!. So asketh the god in a hurry. We have to go for a break and puhlease don’t go away !!). ZK’s concerns are understandable and we empathize. His attempts on striking a secularist cord with the viewers is also appreciated. Albeit he needn’t have worried since its part of legend that in contemporary India being a Muslim is in itself a justification on secularism!!. ZK quite rightly and justifiably so, rebukes the fundamentalist forces like Sangh parivar et al VHP,Bajrang Dal and so on. But he quite mysteriously is quiet about Shiv Sena- the zealots who live on divisive issues, froth hatred. A party with no great concern for principles. Its style is to take up a populist issue and dump it when it is no longer useful politically. Many of its campaigns are too simplistic and yielded results it never bargained for. Despite its avowed sons-of-the-soil policy (Marathi Manus looney tune), the Sena has unfailingly chosen non-Maharashtrians as its Rajya Sabha nominees, Chandrika Kenia, Mukesh Patel, Pritish Nandy (yes that scoundrel), Sanjay Nirupam (he is now a secular…its that easy to change…afterall we have only life!!). 
..
Right from early 60s they have been fomenting trouble. The initial victims were skilled labourers, primarily from the southern States, who came to Mumbai looking for jobs provided by new industries. They were branded as "lungi-wallas" and the businesses of South Indians were attacked ruthlessly. After the lungi-wallas, it was the turn of the Gujarati entrepreneur and more recently, it is the North Indian or `Bihari' migrant. It is ironical that during the Mumbai riots of 1992-93 the Sena allied itself with these communities to target Muslims. From ethnicity, the focus shifted suddenly to religion. If earlier it was anti south, in 90s it was vengeance on Muslims in Mumbai.In the communal clashes on the aftermath of babri masjid demolitions and Mumbai blasts, shiv sainiks were actively fueling and participating in riots (offcourse that doesn’t mean we negate the role of underworld-muslim fundamentalist nexus). They were responsible for killing and maiming many innocent people

Many Shiv Sena leaders who provoked riots have been named by the Srikrishna Report. The report findings, published in 1998 also indicted the shiv sena Chief Bal Thackeray for his fiery speeches and articles in Saamna (his party outhpiece) that provoked his party members to violence... The Commission also found that the Shiv Sena Supremo was directly involved in the riots by assisting in coordinating attacks on Muslims. Its part of great Indian law and machinery (as well as judicial system) that these killers are roaming free as is the case of any riots anywhere in India. That makes us a very responsible and great democracy. That’s another legend !!. The above ghastly photo...a reminder in case we forget.

The other day I came across these lines:

Let us honour the lost, the snatched, the relinquished,

those vanquished by glory, muted by shame.

Stand up in the silence they have left and listen:

those absent ones, unknown and unnamed—

remember their whispers fill the arena........... (Rita Dove)

So what does our man ZK do??. Well he wrote songs….so what’s wrong in that?. Being a (mediocre)  lyricist it is natural for him to react to the situations and empathize with the victims and disapprove violence. We have examples throughout human history of great poets, writers and thinkers protesting on what is understood as wrong and killing (massacring is a better word) is most heinous. But our man ZK aint the same breed. So what did he do for chris sake??. Well he wrote songs for shiv sena!!!. So cute!!. And his explanation was “I am trying to have a civilized dialogue”. Yah taken and I am Ashoka The Great. Who’s kidding!!.  Not surprising for this creed. It’s generally about one-upmanship within their circle. Consistency is off course a liability. Hypocrisy is diplomacy!!. Convenience instead of conviction is an easy way out. Some kind of predisposition for self delusion and self deception I guess. And because of pride, perception of reality is impossibility.

OK in case we take his hogwash. Do you try to have “civilized dialogue” by fawning miserable songs or bring out the issues, open debate and ask uncomfortable questions?. Balderdash of “civilized dialogue” is not something new. There have been instances where our melords in judiciary have tried to have “civilized dialogue” with rapists like for instance the coy not very subtle: Well rapist boy why don’t you marry her??. ZK might propose that since he is a lyricist, he can only do what he is good at (obsequiousness is purely coincidental)!!. Accepting this demented logic then why is our man so very repulsed with that UP minister Haji Muhammed Yaqoob Qureshi ( his claim to fame is for offering Rs 51 crore reward for the head of the Danish cartoonist) ?. Haji boy is doing what he is good at. He is another hypocrite politician good in making speeches. He is not a script writer or a lyricist like ZK. Its beyond me how ZK has the audacity to take such higher moral ground. When he criticized Pakistan for bomb blasts in Varanasi he spoke like some B grade irresponsible politician- blame it on Pakistan, wherein we never had any evidence, it was bit too early to speculate also most of the times it is a clever diversion from shoddy investigative machinery. My hunch is that ZK was working on his secular-muslim credential. In such worldview talking nonsense is never a second priority.

I cannot but feel sorry for this man. Such a pity. When an ex-M.P. Ahsan Jafri could be burned alive by the rioters in Gujarat it is clear fame, money or power will not save anyone particularly when you are a Muslim in Amchi mumbai. ZK knows it very well. Shiv Sainiks could decide its party time folks, anyday. And Dawood will not mind helping. So when gutsy Dilip Kumar, despite his age chose to fight back, our man chose to supplicant (keeping secular tag intact is where the action is!!). He chose to write songs for Marathi Manus…..MM jinga lala hoi hoi…is how the first line goes I am told and this they will sing next time they do killings or moral policing or calling Tendulkar or Asghar Ali green snakes!!. ZK can have a great future in kerala if he chose to, after all MM could even be Moustached Malayalaee or Malayalee Male (taking the cue from Geeta Doctor’s Sartorial splendour of malayalee male. Its an excellent essay). ZK despite his high decibel Salman Khan act in TV studios is quite a wimp. Collective Tch Tch for that. Bohuth nainsaafi hai. As someone rightly said: Men are more bribed by their loyalties and ambition than money. Sometime back I was reading Shiv Khera I liked this line in particular: Under pressure preferences become weak whereas conviction becomes stronger. Weak people can never be sincere and cowards like ZK shouldn’t preach morality.

This haiku by Yosa Buson for tolerating this write up !!!. Meditate on it. It’s incredible.

On a temple bell it has stopped,

and gone to sleep

-a butterfly

No quitting!!!

A poem...

While things are being marinated how about enjoying this poem written the other day…..

To welcome the night

A voice in the stillness of dusk
just when the last of parakeet is silent,
crows squirm, settles in the nest.
Sun taken all the colour
into a deep deep sleep.
Then a tentative rustle of a leaf
so faint...
like a beat, almost missed
awakens the tree
into a joyous sway.

The night is here.

Stamp the scoundrels out….pledge on woman's day

There are many ways these scoundrels use women, to sell their products. Understanding that Business is important, gives living and employment to millions of needy is different from some of these elites in this field who use….manipulate will be the right word, the system and create misery. One case in hand is that of morphed figure of Actress Khushboo in some trash magazine. The lady’s face is pasted on a semi clad woman. This according to the editor (aka Marketer, it is interchangeable these days…it’s about grabbing the opportunity!!. And God forbid if you don't grab grab grab the opportunity then lick lick lick!!!!. And please don’t mistake this for enthusiasm….thanks Ravi for the input…hope sirji you are blogged in!!!) is a “funny thing” as it is a common happening abroad. The scoundrel later apologized profusely when the actress concerned thrashed him with defamation suit. I sincerely hope the court gives this fellow (and the likes of his ilk) severe and exemplary punishment. They degrade famous people (you can imagine what common people have to go through if this can happen to well known people) and then create controversy to sell more copies. Infact this issue has helped this trash magazine to publicize itself. Free of cost (an ultimate achievment!!). The ploy seems to have worked (cheers to that) offcourse at the expense of others. When profit is the defining factor who is bothered of somebody’s dignity being vulgarized or humiliated (and this we are informed is funny…such scoundrels). This was clever manipulation of earlier issue (that ultimate sacred issue of pre marital sex….the most significant issue facing humanity after offcourse Iran crisis, and Hiroshima bombing!! Strictly in that order) wherein this actress’s statement was taken out of context….and some equally clever people try to take political mileage out of it. Maybe the magazine tried to capitalize on the “sex talks”….you never know how a marketers mind works and where he/she can sniff profit. As a line in one of the Godard movie (I guess it was in Praise of Love) says …..“they make whore of our life and then sell it to make a living”. Very precise, as Godard always is. Given chance these scoundrels will denigrade any women to sell whatever they want. How about doing this to their own maa-behans, and lets see how funny it is assuming that maa-behans of these scum of humans are waiting to be used for what is assumed as funny.

Sometime back I had the misfortune to see a play titled Vaginal monologue. Actually I had gone to see this play with lots of expectations as it was being acclaimed as something worth…very disappointed indeed. A very dumb attempt no doubt. The stupid play was about some nymphomaniac get-together….funny at times. How it got the feminist twist is beyond me (probably that makes me conservative…well thank you). Tomorrow it will be about some farter club get together!!!. And that would be celebrated by elites as truly human experience!!. Such cheapskates. Time to get their priorities right, not that i am bothered. The reason why I am writing about this play is to point an interesting fact. The play had the characters celebrating womanhood (first cousins of Egyptian brotherhood atleast in their intent, albeit flawed!!!) by referring to vagina in different languages but what they didn’t dare is the most commonly used hindi term (chooth to be precise!!). Reason???. Well if they start using street language particularly of poorer societies how will they be elite?. So "Fuck you" is more sophosticated than theri gand maroo (not that i am here to celebrate these cheap talk. I never use such words unless offcourse to teach the sophosticated elites on street manner!!!. And puncture their carefully constructed world. Believe me it's hundred percent fun!!!!!! ). Got what I am saying. Its about anglicized chooths and their angst!!!. Pardon for the language but this how you deal with scoundrels. Out of touch with reality offcourse we are playing to the foreign audience….aint I right!!!!.

dilbert!!

This a page from blog of Scot Adams, the creator of incredible Dilbert… bloggers will enjoy this. It’s very interesting albeit many may not know the names mentioned. Hey what about bloggers in Pakistan unable to access their blog as security risk for Bush visit?!!!!. Beats me (now i hear Imran Khan is under house arrest)!!!!. Sure freedom from expression!!!!!. Bravo.

Famous People Met Famous People
Speaking of coincidences, or maybe not, there’s something I’ve noticed about famous people: They often knew other famous people before they became famous themselves.
Now some of this is surely a coincidence. And some of it is a case of the famous people helping out as mentors. But I think something else is going on too. My hypothesis is that when some idiot that you personally know hits it big, you say to yourself “How hard could that be?” It makes success seem more accessible, thus making it more likely you will try to achieve it.
If you’ve never met anyone famous, you probably think they have some superpowers that explain why they made it and you didn’t. But if you spend any time with a famous person, your illusions about their superiority fade fast. You start thinking why not me?
I might have some of these examples wrong, but from memory here are a few: Danny DeVito was roommates with Gene Hackman before they were famous. Al Gore roomed with Tommy Lee Jones in college. Robin Williams roomed with Christopher Reeves before they made it. You’ve probably seen the photos of young Bill Clinton shaking hands with John F. Kennedy during some field trip when Clinton was a boy. Billy Crystal’s baby sitter was Billie Holiday. Can you think of any others? Add them in the comments if you can.
In the cases where people knew each other before success, my hypothesis is that when the first one made it, the other gained a psychological advantage and was more likely to make it after the friend did.
Two people who had cubicles near mine at Pacific Bell became published authors after my first book came out. I think they were influenced by my success, at least indirectly. One wrote a book about his father being beheaded by the Japanese during WWII. The other worked in marketing and naturally became a murderer, then wrote about his prison experience when he got out. The moral of the story is that if you want to be inspired by me, someone probably has to die.
Since I know you’ll ask, these are those books. They're both quite interesting:

Shobun – By Mike Goodwin (The Japanese army beheading-people-for-entertainment book)
You Got Nothing Coming – By Jimmy Lerner (from marketing to murder)
Shobun is factually accurate and quite fascinating. It would make a good movie.
You Got Nothing Coming was written by a marketing guy who killed his friend. That's all you need to know about its credibility.

some beautiful pictures and a message...

These incredible pictures were taken from net (images of Ken Honbrook). This is sheer poetry....

Freedom from expression!!!!....

This cartoon by Patrick Chappatte, appeared in the Geneva daily "Le Temps". Here we see Google, Yahoo and Microsoft goosemarching for “freedom for expression” in China. So sweet!!!. USA it seems is concerned about “some big companies” putting “profit over democracy”. In the meantime invaders plunder Iraq for profit. This makes it even sweeter. Bravo brave new world!!. Techies are here to guide us.

photo session...

This is a snap (kitsch art if you may!! For high profile minded artists this could be new age "installation art"!!. Cheers and wine for that) taken in the interiors of North part of W.Bengal few months back. I had gone walking into the interiors (i tend to do this in all the places i travel) and unlike towns or city centres which are dreadfully dirty at times, the villages are mostly very clean albeit impoverished. In this photo we see the contradiction of things in our sorroundings, which we have learned to accept.......

God or no god, people are really very poor in this part of the world. Sometimes one feel as if entered into Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali set, particularly that very old woman, thatch houses...

The cartoon missiles (some additions...)

As you are aware by now esteemed bloggers that some cartoons are creating havoc around the world. Widespread protests from Kabul to Auckland. Scandinavian embassies were burned in Beirut (the beleaguered city was limping back to normalcy, now again precariously perched), Damascus and today (not surprisingly) Teheran. Danish products are being boycotted in many Islamic countries, one may add similar to American boycott of French product not long ago.
Never has in the history of human race cartoons have created such an international uproar and debate. Off course there has been isolated cases of provocative cartoons in the past. The one I recall is that of an appalling cartoon of Hitler with Anne Frank in bed, which I thought was outright repulsive and vulgar (the question of aesthetics doesn’t even arise). How the public space is used does reflect the level of evolution of a society. Tolerating these kinds of cartoons is hardly a sign of evolution. This brings us to the issue of where we draw the line of Freedom of Expression particularly in the globalised world at the crossroad of mind boggling technological innovations. The challenges never imagined.
The set of cartoons in question came in Danish Newspaper Jylland Posten late last year (the mischief of these cartoons emerging now is clear). But before the newspaper brought these cartoons out they published an article under the headline "Deep fear of criticism of Islam". The article discussed the difficulty encountered by a writer who was initially unable to find an illustrator for his children's book "The Quaran and the prophet Muhammad's life". Three artists declined this proposal before an artist agreed to assist anonymously. According to this writer: One artist declined, with reference to the murder in Amsterdam of the film director Thoe van Gogh, while another declined, citing the attack on the lecturer in Copenhagen. In October 2004, a lecturer was assaulted by five assailants who opposed the lecturer's reading of the Quran to non-Muslims during a lecture in Copenhagen. The refusal of the first three artists to participate was seen as evidence of self censorship and led to much debate in Denmark. Jyllands-Posten published an article titled "The face of Muhammad". The article consisted of 12 satirical caricatures (of which only some depicted Muhammad) and an explanatory text, in which Jyllands-Posten's "culture" editor, commented: “The modern,secular society is rejected by some Muslims. They demand a special position, insisting on special consideration of their own religious feelings. It is incompatible with contemporary democracy and freedom of speech, where you must be ready to put up with insults, mockery and ridicule. It is certainly not always equally attractive and nice to look at, and it does not mean that religious feelings should be made fun of at any price, but that is less important in this context. [...] we are on our way to a slippery slope where no-one can tell how the self-censorship will end. That is why Jyllands-Posten has invited members of the Danish editorial cartoonists union to draw Muhammad as they see him”. Note that compatibilty with contemporary “democracy and freedom of speech” means ready to put up with insults, mockery and ridicule!!!. The example of which we find in the happening in Iraq. The “super power” undermining the local populations for its interests we saw it in Vietnam, in Chile, in Nicargua…. in all the meets of world organisations. This “ insults, mockery and ridicule” in the name of Democracy. So what do we do with democratically elected Hamas?. Good question!!. Writes Robert Fisk (of The Indepedent) ..."And this is not a great time to heat up the old Samuel Huntingdon garbage about a "clash of civilisations". Iran now has a clerical government again. So, to all intents and purposes, does Iraq (which was not supposed to end up with a democratically elected clerical administration, but that's what happens when you topple dictators). In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood won 20 per cent of the seats in the recent parliamentary elections. Now we have Hamas in charge of "Palestine". There's a message here, isn't there? That America's policies--"regime change" in the Middle East--are not achieving their ends. These millions of voters were preferring Islam to the corrupt regimes which we imposed on them...." Coming back to Jyllands-Posten they asked around forty different artists to give their interpretation on how Prophet Muhammad may have looked, twelve different caricaturists chose to respond with a drawing each. Some of these twelve drawings portray Muhammad in different fashions; many also comment on the surrounding self-censorship debate. Around 12 cartoonist send their contributions. Considering that the cartoons are not worth reproducing I give the description to let know what exactly is it about.
1)The face of Muhammad as a part of the Islamic star and crescent symbol. His right eye the star, the crescent surrounds his beard and face.
2)Muhammad with a bomb in his turban, with a lit fuse and the Islamic creed written on the bomb. This drawing is considered the most controversial of the twelve.
3)Muhammad standing in a gentle pose with a halo in the shape of a crescent moon. The middle part of the crescent is obscured, revealing only the edges.
4)An abstract drawing of crescent moons and stars of david, and a poem on oppression of women. In English the poem could be read as: "Prophet you crazy bloke! Keeping women under yoke"
5)Muhammad as a simple wanderer, in the desert, at sunset. There is a donkey in the background.
6)A nervous caricaturist, shakingly drawing Muhammad while looking over his shoulder.
7)Two angry Muslims charge forward with sabres and bombs, while Muhammad addresses them with: "Relax guys, it's just a drawing made by some infidel south jetlander". The reference is to a common Danish expression for a person from the middle of nowhere.)
8)An Arab-looking boy in front of a blackboard, pointing to the Farsi chalkings, which translate into "The editorial team of Jyllands-Posten is a bunch of reactionary provocateurs". The boy is labelled "Mohammed, valby school, 7.A", implying that this Muhammed is a second-generation immigrant to Denmark rather than the founder of Islam. On his shirt is written "Fremtiden" (the future).
9)Another drawing shows an angry Muhammad with a short sabre and a black bar censoring his eyes. He is flanked by two women in niqaabs , having only their wide open eyes visible.
10)Muhammad standing on a cloud, greeting dead suicide bombers with "Stop, stop, we have run out of virgins!", an allusion to the promised reward to martyer.
11)Another shows a journalist (Kåre Bluitgen), wearing a turban with the orange dropping into it, with the inscription " Publicity stunt". In his hand is a child's stick drawing of Muhammad, referring to Bluitgens upcoming illustrated children's book on the life of The Prophet. The proverb "an orange in the turban" is a Danish expression meaning "a stroke of luck", here the added publicity for the book.
12)A police line-up of seven people, with the witness saying: "Hm... I can't really recognise him". Not all people in the line-up are immediately identifiable. They are: (1) A generic Hippie, (2) politician Pia Kjærsgaard, (3) possibly Jesus, (4) possibly Buddha, (5) possibly Muhammad, (6) a generic Indian Guru, and (7) journalist Kare Bluitgen, carrying a sign saying: "Kare's public relations, call and get an offer".

This is how the controversy began and it seems it has just got started.
It need be noted that most contemporary Muslims believe that ordinary portraits and photos, films and illustrations, are permissible. Only some Salafi and Islamist interpretations of Sunni Islam still condemn pictorial representations of any kind. Offensive satirical pictures are a somewhat different case — disrespect to Islam or to Muhammad is still widely considered blasphemous or sacrilegious.
One need also point out here that some of the people in media have been very irresponsible. The “freedom of expression” was used to create and reitrate the perspective of the “intolerable other” wherein it was clear that the majority of the people didn’t identity with the lunatic fringe, considering the muted protest in the begining (in case of india nobody is really bothered atleast till now). Prejudice has been always the first step to all mass killings. And the most organised killings in the history of humanity happened in industrial Europe. I guess its better to know one’s own history before pontifying. Lets understand whatever maybe the case every society will always have a violent fringe group which will try to exploit emotive issues for their own end, to spread hatred. A responsible media will be aware of this….

As the BBC puts it so very rightly "It is the satirical intent of the cartoonists, and the association of the Prophet with terrorism, that is so offensive to the vast majority of Muslims. As Muhammad is the proto-typical Muslim this association with terrorism is comparable to a generalisation to all Muslims. Furthermore, the cartoons were published in a conservative mainstream newspaper in the context of what many Muslims perceive to be an Islamophobic mood in many of the western countries involved. In this context the effect of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons on Muslims differs significantly from the effect of comparable cartoons on a Christian living in the west”.
Sensitivity to peoples feelings are very important. This sensitivity is not about accepting regressive and feaudal norms and “cultures” sometimes coming as religion. The line definitely is drawn. There are no options here. As a blogger writes from Britian: “Because let's face it: it is more difficult winning the fidelity of few million individuals than it is to win the fidelity of ethnic "leaders" (who bargain for promises, power, influence) and who then direct their followers how to vote. It's a form of lazy electoral outsourcing that, in this country, both parties are guilty of indulging in—though the modern conservative / libertarian movement often argue vehemently against the kernel precepts that enable it, while many progressives embrace the pragmatism of the political marketing convenience and pre-made collectivism these precepts have already prepared the groundwork for….liberty must remain ever-vigilant”. In this context its very important to know that Jordan’s Al-shihan reproduced the cartoons telling Muslims “what bring more prejudice against islam?. These caricatures or pictures of a hostage taker slashing throat of his victim?''. Some Muslims, mainly in Europe, have supported the re-publication of the images so that individual Muslims can make up their own minds and welcomed the debate on the issues that that cartoons have raised. It has also been pointed out that cartoons in the Arab and Islamic press "demonising" Jews and Israelis are common.

I have been going through many sites and blogs, as also some articles…..these comments sums up the or lets say gives the glimpse of issues involved and varied reactions reflective of mindset doing the round- it will not be an understatement to say that these are to large extend reflective of people around the world.
Columnist of Guardian Gary Young writes: “ if newspaper have the right to offend then surely their target have the right to be offended. Moreover if you are bold enough to knowingly offend a community then you should be bold enough to withstand the consequences, so long as that community expresses the displeasure within the law”. He writes further “muslims are being vilified twice-once through the cartoons and again for exercising their democratic right to protest.” The emphasis here is “within the law”. What happens when the people don’t have proper public platform or articulation skill to cater to media particularly western?. The BBC recently ran a discussion program titled (quite audiciously i thought) “Whether arabs need to learn from western media?” or something to that effect with Tim Sebastian as the compere. We know what happened in America. How the propagandist media followed Bush in the search of WMD. Yah sure learn. The only learning as I see it is the use of innovative technology. I sincerely hope media around the world don’t stoop to the level of western media (offcourse few rare exception). The market media. The tabloid culture. The crass as breaking news. God save. "In the West, one discovers there are different moral ceilings and all moral parameters and measures are not equal," wrote the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

Some critics have claimed that Western prohibitions on freedom of speech are hypocritical, protecting groups like Jews or blacks while allowing attacks on Muslims like the cartoons. Typical cited examples of this are bans on Holocaust denial (in effect in Germany) and hate speech. However, it should be noted that Western countries typically draw a sharp distinction between secular matters of race or humanist ethics and the purely religious. Thus the Islamic prohibition on depictions of Muhammed is not considered an appropriate basis for the limitation of free speech. Other acts such as compromising national security, sedition, libel, or purely racist speech are usually considered outside the protection of free speech. However, in many Western countries even this kind of speech is usually tolerated so long as it is not seriously intended or is only published by a fringe group.

Some commentators have also remarked on the polarisation of the issue, and the vested interests involved in that polarisation. For example, Tariq Ramadan, a member of committee to combat Islamic extremism in Britain, sees an "unholy alliance" between the anti-immigrant right wing in Europe and the dictatorial regimes in the Middle East. Some seek to portray Muslims as enemies of Western values and incapable of integration in European society. At the same time various dictatorial regimes in the Islamic world seek to unite their populations behind them by creating external enemies, which they claim are attacking Islam. By polarising the issue these two groups have increased the division between Islamic and Western society. British newspapers took an unusually similar editorial line on the issue, agreeing with the government's assessment of the issue. Even those considered on the 'right' criticised the intellectual justifications given by Continental titles..

"The protests in the Middle East have proven that the cartoonist was right," said Tarek Fatah, a director of the Muslim Canadian Congress.

The panel on Fox News Brit Hume says: What is striking about this is what offends these Muslims who are protesting and these imams. Does the slaughter of innocent people in many parts of the world in the name of Allah offend them? Is that a sacrilege worthy of protest? No, not in the least. No, cartoons published five months ago in a -what- for people who live in Gaza and Damascus is an unknown and unheard-of newspaper--that's what's offending them. Not to mention, of course, the kinds of slurs against Christians and against the Jewish faith that are regularly spread abroad in the Arab world by the mass media and by these imams. This is really a disgrace. And it is a disgrace not least because of the obvious, howling double standard involved here. The really great sins are ignored. And this trivia is protested.

These are comments of some bloggers (following these was very exciting), offcourse some comments were biased and abusive. I found this “muslim” voice worth quoting:

I just came across your blog when doing a search. I want to say
1) Please do not equate Islam=terrorism or do not ascribe what few hundred extremists' action to whole Islamic world. You know, the same thing is happening in the Islamic world, equating what Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson saying to the whole Christianity. Now you can agree with both of these men, but they surely are not the representatives of the whole Christianity.
2) All these "West-East" conflicts just help extremist elements in Islamic nations, and hurt pro-Western elements in those countries. The extremists tell them "see, The Western values you are defending are so degenerate". So please keep in mind that those conflicts are exaggerated -sometimes intentionally- for fueling propaganda against West and pro-Western people in Islamic countries. I believe we have a duty to promote democracy and tolerance in Islamic countries, and the way to do it is not putting down or even insult a whole religion based on extremists, but recognizing and supporting the moderate elements in Islamic nations that form the core of democracy.
The reply from another blogger:
You're obviously correct that what Falwell and Robertson say does not apply to all Christians or Christianity. (I am not fundamentalist Christian, so I tend to ignore them both.) On the other hand, Falwell and Robertson have not injured or killed anyone either.
Another one:
You are talking about freedom of speech, is that right? Then do jokes about the jewish and about their lies about the holocaust, and see what will happen to the newspaper and to your country. The problem is that you thought that the muslims are ignorant and helpless, so it is easy to you to joke about them. This is not free of speech this is crowdedness, we are not against free of speech but the Islam taught us the difference between free of speech and insults, and I am against any threat of killing any cartoonists, but you must know that their are limits and their are respects.
The replies:
If you wish to live in a free society, you tolerate insults just like they might tolerate your insults. You ought not censor or stifle the speech of others simply because it bothers you.

Cowardice is overreacting to some cartoons published by a few newspapers, and then burning flags, threatening people, and attacking embassies.

I agree that the cartoons were disrespectful, and some were just silly, but none deserved the response that they have gotten.

This American in Kabul went to what he thought was the core: Isn't it interesting how Muslims can call for the death of Westerners from the pulpit every Friday for centuries and no one notices. Some obscure papar in Denmark (Denmark????) prints a couple of cartoons and you'd think we shot their Phillipino maidorsomething. The fact that this is their way of showing the world that their's is the religion of peace is sort of amusing.P.S. I am an American working in Kabul. Rest of the world; we got your attention yet?

Reply: What about crusaders??

A blogger: "As it grows into an international cause célèbre, the cartoon controversy indicates the gulf between the Islamic world and the post-Christian West in matters of freedom of speech and expression. And it may yet turn out that as the West continues to pay homage to its idols of tolerance, multiculturalism, and pluralism, it will give up those hard-won freedoms voluntarily."
Another: No one deserves a right to freedom from criticism.
A blogger comments: "If the Danish cartoon had been about a Jewish rabbi, it would never have been published."
The reply: Sure. But If a Jewish rabbi had spawned a death cult responsible for the death of tens (hundreds?) of thousands over the centuries, then that analogy might not ring so false.
Some other bloggers:
"The economy of hatred" predicted just this back in '02. Noteworthy in that paper is the idea that leaders will fan hatred if it advances their cause, which is certainly relevant to this case.

...this is a standard fundamentalist tactic, inflame the populace, destroy the middle ground , and drive the moderates into the extreme camp...

I understand this concern, but why must the moderates go to the extreme camp? Why not migrate away from it? And if we are going to get the reformation/enlightenment movement that Islam desperately needs, it seems to me clearly delineating the battle lines is a logical first step.

What i see here is actually that the west is pushing moderate Muslims into the extremist camp. They are all lumped together with the fanatics and fundamentalists. You just did it yourself. By attacking Islam unilaterally you fuse the moderates with extremists.

Don’t advocate disrespecting any religion's peaceful teachings. (I'm for disrespecting the common def. of "jihad" as much as possible, but not picturing Mohammed is harmless, and a convention I think the West could and would live with, generally, if we weren't threatened with harm for breaking it. Reverse psychology...) It's the fact that some radical Muslims appear to believe that non-Muslims must also adhere to fundamentalist Islamic teachings that makes the uproar unacceptable, and is the basis for my Havarti-and-ham purchase today.

Free speech and free press are fundamental parts of our common "religion," values for which we are willing to fight and sometimes to die so - who knows? - the Archduke might be expiring as we speak.

What are we talking about here? "Respect." "Heresy." "Offense." "Faith." "Jihad.".

Sane voice
Lost in all the shouting, yet again, are the Koran's lessons of tolerance. If Islamic extremists, not to mention Arab governments, were less eager to sound the alarm of blasphemy in an effort to stir anti-Western hatred, the world would be a lot better off.

I thought these lines by a blogger is applicable to all the fundamentalists all over the world: Here lies the body of John O'Day who died defending the right of way he was right, dead right, as he sailed along but he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong.

Another one:
The friends of mine who were killed in the World Trade Center and in Bali, and injured in London were killed by followers of the prophet. As far as I am concerned those cartoons illustrate the world as many see it, including me. That is what a cartoon is supposed to do. It is time the modern world stood up and demanded that the moderate, tolerant Moslems we are led to believe are the majority of followers, took control of their religion.
This blogger had a compliant on blogs (!!!) which I thought was quite relevant: Perhaps they have made the judgment (consciously or not) that shorter and simpler blog posts are preferable due to the nature of the medium, i.e., reading text from a screen is more taxing than ordinary print. Perhaps they have become as fixated on the moment-to-moment gyrations of the daily news to the point that they have no time or concentration to look at the big picture of what is a war of ideas.Perhaps these factors combine to push bloggers in the direction of effective propaganda, by which I mean the categorization of information into categories such as: (1) Why we are the good guys; (2) Why they are the bad guys; (3) What we must do now to advance, etc. (me- this could even be applicable to mass media...the triviliasation)
And this one a clincher to end: In the non-abstract world these are merely thoughts. Thoughts, bouncing around in the brains of people. They don't exist outside of anyone's skull, and to that extent they're not real. They're just thoughts in people's minds, and anyone can change their minds. Some may choose to and some may choose not to, based on whatever other thoughts they have, but anyone can change their minds. You think you are somehow respecting them by deferring to their faith, but the truth is you are infantalizing them.

To end the article one can but feel sad about these unfortunate events. The radical or shall we say sensationalised approach will only fuel reactionaries, instigate violence and hatred. This outcomes of elites dealing the issues which matters to the world. In this opulence (irresponsibilty is the defining factor here....like this arrogant who comes in TV as Devil's advocate once proclaimed..."whatever.. i want my coca cola"..)..in this mele the issue of power abuse in the name of religion, the concerns of Gender, Environment, health care, education...and other problems and needs of ordinary people gets sidelined. As the Jylland Posten cartoon says: Publicity stunt. Not at all surprising in the Marketeers profitable world. Why should we pay for the irresponsibilty of few. Is this the kind of freedom for expression we need?.

Save the world from Iran !!!

very free media....

We all know by now about Noushad. It’s all there in the Media for last few days. He is an Indian (a keralite to be specific) in Riyadh found guilty in a crime by a Saudi court and therefore according to Islamic laws ordered to gouge his one eye out (in medieval times these laws had its validity but in the contemporary world it is nothing short of barbarism. But then that is a different issue, we can take up later). The family of Noushad is now in Delhi to plead their case with the king of Saudi Arabia, who is to be in Delhi as chief guest of Republic Day parade. That seems unnecessary since it was reported yesterday that Noushad has been pardoned by the Saudi court, offcourse that doesn’t mean he is released and therefore might have to serve the sentence in prison…..we might say ok that is where it ends. Well no. There seems to be a conspiracy angle to the issue or better still the incident was bogus, unnecessary breast beating by the family. …
The esteemed readers of a south based “traditionally concerned” newspaper had reported as early as December 2005 that Noushad has been released, on the front page with photos of parents hugging the man (see the accompanying snap).

It had all the ingredients of a touching story, a sure shot copy seller or TRP buster as the case may be. Or probably this was not fake, it was a case of clairvoyance!!. An added attribute in journalism. Few days back I saw in one of the TVchannels an anchor being asked from the studio about a politician “what do you he might be thinking??!!!!” (well if cricket pitches can “behave” then we can know what other people are thinking verbatim live on TV. That is the job of the journos!!. Aint we in post modern world. Who said humans are not catching up with technological innovations?!!). As it turns out in the case of Noushad being “released”, the reasons are far earthier than otherworldly winking. Apparently our saviors in the media got confused. When kids go for entrance exams they sometimes get confused answering from four options, so don’t get the job. Here our crusaders in the media were faced with two nail crunching options. One was Mr.Noushad in Riyadh another was Mr.Sijo Jose in Baghdad. Sijo was taken by American invaders in iraq on some suspicion and later released. Probably both being keralaite was the confusing part. Well Riyadh could be Baghdad!!. This is about competence!!. I reckon this is something more than glorious heights of competence. This is plane arrogance of the Indian elites, which we have been experiencing for decades now. All these immigrants to gulf countries are mostly from lower middle class family. Despite the fact that their contribution to Indian economy has been substantial since early 60s they have been treated quite roughly. The facilities provided for them are substandard whether it’s the flights to gulf or support by the Indian government for the needy through embassies. There has been cases of hundreds of people going missing, some duped. Infact such is the case that there is a weekly TV program in one of the channels dealing with the issue(I personally know people who were involved in the business of duping youngsters. In fact in 70s and 80s it was as much a cottage industry. I also know lots of people who wanted to go to gulf but got duped and ended up settling in Bombay-the shame of coming back, as also those who went and made big, some brought gold in toothpaste!!! and offcourse fancy toys and then made extrabig palatial houses). The government's and media's role has been that of apathy. In such a scene getting the names wrong is not at all surprising. After all they are just numbers. So a sijo can be noushad. Ditto vice versa. The anglicized czars in media cannot “stoop”, I guess.
Apart from these glaring mistakes we come across on daily basis in Media -print and visual, the prioritizing of news by marketers on its saleabilty is a serious threat. The news in common peoples domain get trivialized or sometimes sidelined- the issue of people protesting against coca-cola pepsi factories around the country as it takes away their basic needs is an example in this context. The glamour and sensationalism is defining moment for TRP. This is not to deny that there are some spectacular and very responsible people in the Media but they have become very defensive and in most cases doing a tight rope….more on this sometime later.

Although we have serious concern on human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, a case of narrow and selective interpretation of religion, a misuse I guess. I do admire the concept of burying the dead from royal families in anonymous graves. Recently it was done to King Fahd-who incidentally was a very nice man. I have interacted with people who had spend time in Riyadh (also with a shiekh who had come for Ayurvedic massage). It's very sad, sometimes religion doesn't give much space for common people. Rather than catering to need of the situation in its context and specificities the response is sometimes robotic...
Talking of leaders from this region who recently expired but were admired was the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Maktoum. He was very much liked by people of Kerala. When monarchs of Saudi shifted into anonymity of after life the pharaohs in ancient Egypt were scared of afterlife anonymity!!!. They did everything to carry the grandeur to next world. What is the case in India??. Well there are many contradicting theories and practices and so much chaos. That makes us very funny people. A case: It was reported in a TV channel that monkeys are creating nuisance in court premise in Delhi’s lower court. The monkeys were stealing files and food, generally scaring people. The Delhi HC asked the MCD to take action. The MCD’s reply was typical: We are not into monkey catching!!!. Some of the people who talked to media had their own take. They say it was the soul of dead lawyers that has entered into monkey’s body to finish some task left incomplete when they lived!!. Considering the number of cases pending in the courts all over the country the monkey menace is just going to increase!!!!!!.

wow...

Congratulations to Mr. Evo Morales – spectacular happening in recent times, culmination of five hundred years of resistance by Indians. Hopefully Bolivia is only a beginning and inspiration to Indians in American continent as also to "aboriginal" population in Australia,Polynesian islands,the adivasis in Asia…
We bloggers also extend our congratulations to the Ms.Michele Bachelet the first Latin American woman to be elected president. Also to Ms. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf the first woman President in Africa. This is not only a matter of pride to Chile and Liberia but to the whole world. Absolutely incredible!!!…..

Dust bin India

A ship named Clemenceau is heading towards India, Alang in Gujarat to be specific. To be dismantled and sold as junk. Alang as some of you will know is Asia’s largest ship breaking yard. For two decades ships are coming here to “die”. It is a hugely profitable business but working condition as well as environmental degradation is significant. Many hundred of workers are injured and deaths go unreported. Things have improved after 1998 Green peace came out with a report titled Steel and Toxic Waste of Asia. But the situation is far from ideal.

These photos from http://www.greenpeace.org

Workers still die and environmental standards are not adhered to. They still use primitive technology and almost obsolete safety standards. Most of the workers in Alang are migrants from poor regions of UP, Bihar and Orissa. An article by Dilip Dsouza nearly an year back was an eye-opener. Visit www.greenpeace.org/international/news/ghost-ship-121205 for more on Alang.

This is what William Langewiesche wrote about Alang in the article titled The Shipbreakers:

"Alang is a wonder of the world. It may be a necessity, too. When ships grow old and expensive to run, after about twenty-five years of use, their owners do not pay to dispose of them but, rather, the opposite -- they sell them on the international scrap market, where a typical vessel like the Pioneer may bring a million dollars for the weight of its steel. Selling old ships for scrap is considered to be a basic financial requirement by the shipping industry -- a business that has long suffered from small profits and cutthroat competition. No one denies that what happens afterward is a dangerous and polluting process. Shipbreaking was performed with cranes and heavy equipment at salvage docks by the big shipyards of the United States and Europe until the 1970s, when labor costs and environmental regulationsdrove most of the business to the docksides of Korea and Taiwan. Eventually, however, even these entrepreneurial countries started losing interest in the business and gradually decided they had better uses for their shipyards. This meant that the world's shipbreaking business was again up for grabs. In the 1980s enterprising businessmen in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan seized the initiative with a simple, transforming idea: to break a ship they did not need expensive docks and tools; they could just wreck the thing -- drive the ship up onto a beach as they might a fishing boat, and tear it apart by hand. The scrap metal to be had from such an operation could be profitably sold, because of the growing need in South Asia for low-grade steel, primarily in the form of ribbed reinforcing rods (re-bars) to be used in the construction of concrete walls. These rods, which are generally of a poor quality, could be locally produced from the ships' hull plating by small-scale "re-rolling mills," of which there were soon perhaps a hundred in the vicinity of Alang alone. From start to finish the chain of transactions depended on the extent of the poverty in South Asia. There was a vast and fast-growing population of people living close to starvation, who would work hard for a dollar or two a day, keep the unions out, and accept injuries and deaths without complaint. Neither they nor the government authorities would dream of making an issue of labor or environmental conditions...". (Please visit www.wesjones.com/shipbreakers.htm for full text)

Evidently when it is high profit- I read they make profit worth crores of rupees, human life is cheap commodity. It needs an outside vigilance to make these people respect life and environment. Otherwise it’s open loot. This is not about India it could be anywhere. Its been reported that improving safety and environmental standards has meant that India is loosing business to other poorer societies like Bangladesh!!. That is what we call competition!!. In this demented world India and poorer part of the world have an “advantage” since the labour is cheap. Any Marketeer worth his salt will vouch for this. This “advantage” is about more profit for few. Making rich richer at the expense of human life and environment. There will also be “intellectuals” who will fill up newspaper columns by painting a rosy picture of workers grit, earning for family and other “touching” stories. The mantra of “employment generation” at any cost. And anyone protesting will automatically be a communist!!. By choice off course. Choice is the keyword here. Choice of Coca Cola or Pepsi. Thanks to some brilliant self serving policy makers and elite cronies who squat around these power centres India is slowly but surely turning into international favorite dump yard destination. No glossy ads needed!!. Clemenceau issue is nothing new in this series but thanks to some vigilant International organization particularly Greenpeace the gravity of the problem is now mainstream. We should be grateful to Greenpeace. Clemenceau incidently is a decommissioned French aircraft carrier and was turned away by some countries from its coast because of the hazard. It is reported that the decontamination of Clemenceau wasn’t properly done as was agreed although the French Government maintains the contrary. The ship therefore contains tonnes of asbestos-a carcinogen, much beyond the acceptable limits. So breaking the ship posses serious human and environmental threat. It will be a violation of National Laws and judicial verdicts as also International Agreement on toxic waste- the Basel convention.

This is a request to bloggers to spread the gravity of threat ships like Clemenceau pose. Also are we such “cheap” people that richer nations (and elite of this country) can flaunt all safety and environmental standards. We saw this in case of Coke-Pepsi. These double standards. What we need is a stricter regulation. Profit “opportunity” cannot and will not be allowed to bypass worker safety and environmental sustainability.

The bright new year is here.....

The year 2005 is on the way out…. Apart from other things I associate 2005 with blogs. The emergence of blogs. The blogophenomenon!!. It helped me to create a space for myself without being dependent on anyone. I also visited many blogs (if I had free access to Net I would have spend more time though) and believe me some of them are nothing short of spectacular. It’s been a learning experience for me. Out of the glare of public space there is something colossal happening down here. The world of nobody’s, a healthy respite from self seeking somebody’s (no its not about BT….no not Bt cotton nor Bt Binndi which I am told has sneaked into the market). To all the denizens of blogosphere……

I am nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there’s a pair of us-
Don’t tell
They’d advertise –you know! (Emily Dickinson)

Blogosphere zindabad!!!.

The year 2005 was also about natural and man-made calamities (in recent times the distinction has rather thinned) as the unfolding of horrors of Tsunami, floods particularly in metro cities, hurricanes, earthquakes, bomb blasts, train accidents…..but the thing which stood out was the humanism of ordinary people –despite the onslaught of market, humanism and the values associated with it survives and perform acts where ROI is nil. They extend hand to people where there was no profit nor was it adding to GDP. In most cases there are only “losses”. Some were even maimed and killed. Saluting these unknown heroes…..

What nerve to live an year more
and ask still more, the pittance.
The spark of life burn brightest
in the darkest of places
in the bleakest of time.
Blow in the dark,
embers are lit,
souls ignite.

A very very

Happy New Year

2006

....

Tribute to the people who died in the Tsunami….a very sad happening

hi bloggers !!

A Very Happy Christmas

A Merry Christmas to all Syrian catholics ( the syro-malabarians and also to syro-malakaraites, the one who are Judeo-syro oriental in worship), the malankara orthodox Syrians, jacobites, marthomaites, latin catholics, roman catholics, protestants, bandicos, the born agains, the members of salvation army, the neo-converts with caste tags……..all the nazranis of the world……..jesus did I leave someone!!!. Supreme court should be ecstatic!!!. Such culture variety...

Smoked Out !!!

This article was written on June 3rd 2005 since then the proposed law is to come into affect from 1st January 2006 as against 1st August 2005 (some new things are added).

The proposed new prohibition law on smoking related scenes in movies and TV is the most exciting thing to happen in recent times. But some people in media have gone overboard in their criticisms. One Newspaper ( The Hindu) in today's editorial writes"…films explore the entire gamut of human behavior …their purpose is not always to idealize people but to reveal them in truthful and convincing manner".
Another Newspaper (TOI…well I read all the Newspapers today to gauge the response) shows similar concern in its editorial "..films is an artistic product, supposed to depict human behavior as it actually is, not as it is supposed to be…".
Oh really!!!. I mean Rreaallyy!!!. So which "bollywood" movie are we talking about!!!. Jumping from tall building (now it is Chinese rope trick) and fisting ten people is not my idea of "depicting human behavior as it is". Off course it is not denying that there are some (very rare) realistic brilliant movies made. For the very reason I am not in for a complete ban but looking at the contemporary movies where the "reality" is limited to pandering the senses and sensationalized scenes with Guns and sex is not about "exploring the entire gamut of human behavior" so one tends to agree with the Government's efforts. I have seen gun in real life only carried by policemen(as also soldiers) but haven't seen a gun being operated live. Nor has one seen women wearing revealing clothes and gyrating around whatever-is-there-at-sight in the street or on the top of the running train doing chaiyya chaiyya. Some of these may happen in some dance bars and yes (big YES here) the movies do " reveal them in truthful and convincing manner" Nor have I seen people singing songs to each other, they generally talk (in this blog!!. Such a boring life!!!). Nor have I seen a movie, which ends with an X-ray of the charred lungs as happens to most smokers in real life. Lets face it movies are in most cases about fantasy and even if it is about "reality" or "truthful depiction" it is subjective perception of moviemaker. Off course the Director definitely has the Right to show his/her side of the story but the problem is when all the version look similar and many realities are left out as it is not "stylish" enough. There are more immediate terrifying truths that millions (that is majority) face on a daily basis. Where do we see such truths in today's commercial movies? Not all people take up smoking when stressed as is assumed in most movies. Also it is a misnomer that "bad" characters have to smoke. They are trying to glamorize to get the effect. In earlier movies "bad' lost to "good" and every thing ended in a good note but now there is a moral ambiguity for the same reason smoking scenes send signals which are conflicting. The reason why some moviemaker show smoking (as their choice of "reality") has also to do with surrogate positioning of product which is going on in a big way. Having lost public space in legal way this is how cigarette manufactures are trying to reach their targets. In recent times it has taken such a serious dimension that even acclaimed movies like Swades also allowed this transgression. Well when it is about profit the bottom line is Return Of Investment. So the idea of "self regulation" is a big joke. Are we talking about conscience honey?!!!..well I am getting goosebumps!!.

In the 1980s it was revealed in USA that the tobacco company Phillip Morris paid to place Marlboro cigarettes in the film Superman 2 . this revelation prompted a US Congressional hearing and the advent of legislation that made it compulsory for the tobacco industry to disclose information on expenditures of product placement in movies to US Federal Trade Commission. Do we have such laws in India??.

We live in a shubh laab world of pure munaffa. It is about Market regulation. It is also about "if I don't do it somebody else will do it" ideation. The creative space in a business venture (which a movie is….we have people ranging from Banias to underworld putting in their money) is very much reduced and as we do the balancing act one has to take into consideration the social context and rule of the land. It is not free for all in the name of "artistic freedom". "Artistic freedom" works when the society is truly democratic. "Artistic freedom" works when there is an equitable distribution of opportunities. Majority of movies in last decade do not fall under egalitarian understanding of "artistic freedom". The Marketeers to further profit at the expense of life and healthy surroundings are misusing this word. Democracy has to be understood from the Rights of marginalized (as Mahatma Gandhi put it: daridranarayan). It should necessarily move from bottom to top.

Another issue is the contention that "prohibition has never worked" and that "..the operative principle should be to strike a balance between the right of individual to smoke as long as he is aware of the consequences, and the right of other individuals and society at large.." sure it goes with the tag line: choices, not judgments. In a "liberalized and globalized" world "choices" is the new mantra for nirvana. In USA there is a belligerent group (some call them neo-con), rightist to core who are increasingly getting a mainstream character, are now demanding that children be given (yes the buzzword) the "choice" to choose between Darwinian theory of evolution and biblical guidance on life. Incidentally this is circa 2005AD lest one forgets!!. Such is the power of "choices" over rationality and reason. Further why is this "operative principle" of "right of individual" not applied in case of marijuana or heroin…well these also don't affect "the right of other individuals and society at large" and people are " aware of the consequences". Quite clearly "right of individual" works under some restrictions necessarily for the betterment of society. This particularly true in a society where millions people are illiterate as also the audience consist of substantial number of impressionable minds. It has been proven beyond doubt that people do get influenced by smoking related scenes (in many cases initiated). Even the recent WHO report has convincing proved it. Smoking scenes in movies also gives acceptability to smokers. It is seen as normal behavior. Making it quite difficult for anti-smoking campaign. Statistics show that 20 million children in India are getting addicted to smoking every year and nearly 55,000 children becoming smokers everyday( Tobacco the killer unkilled: Deccan herald). The share of developing countries has been increasing dramatically in last few years as the tobacco companies aggressively market to capture the huge markets. The Institute of Medicine Report titled “Growing up Tobacco free” elucidates that “in developing norms, adolescents look to the great social environment for concept of adult identity, particularly the behavior of leaders, heroes and film stars, and in media”. According to the social learning theory, which underscores the importance of underplay between individual traits and environment, mass media have an enormous influence on lifestyle choices of young adults. In November 2005 in the journal Pediatrics, it was clearly established that exposure to movie smoking is an independent, primary risk factor for smoking initiation among adolescents. In this study, adolescents were grouped into four different quartiles based on their level of movie smoking exposure and it was found that the smoking prevalence rose steadily with increasing levels of exposure to movie smoking. A number of other studies have shown that exposure to movie smoking does promote the smoking habit among youth. A study conducted in 2001 at the Darmouth Medical School in Hanover,United States,concluded that “the portrayal of tobacco use in contemporary motion pictures, particularly by stars who are admired by adolescents, contribute to adolscent smoking”
Given the "choice" to choose between life of children and "artistic license" of some small time profit makers who have taken up movie making from soap selling I think the sane society will choose future for it's children that is about having the right to be healthy. And that is what the Government of India has done. Kudos to that. Having said one is against blanket ban since as Ramboji mentions "to make movies against smoking, you have to show smoking". Quite clever that one!!. So how many movies has one seen in last decade against smoking? Who is kidding!!!. This is how people trivialize the issue. I think the system that will come into affect from August 1 will take care of that. Mamus don't worry. Rather than whining the poorBollywooddirectors need join their hands to fight the evil of smoking and take it as a challenge to deal with smoking related scenes within their "artistic license". Obviously it means sensitive scripts and camera handling..i guess that is asking a bit too much. One is not suggesting that poorbollywooddirectors assume the role of moral guardians. Pleaaase don't. It only means less profit. One reason of such a hue and cry is that poorbollywooddirectors will find it difficult to channelise money. There are some big companies with huge money waiting at the doorstep.
Some people are also using some great movies to further their agenda. The movie in question here is Shatranj Ke Khiladi of Satyajit Ray, where the protagonists smoke hookah through out the movie. This is a ridiculous attempt to scuttle the debate. One the movie mentioned is a Period movie when smoking was not known to cause major diseases. It is not about lighting a cigar and puffing into the audience as a style statement. Further paraphernalia seen in the movie are not commonly used. Secondly this movie was made in 1977(those good old time when Ms. Azmi was a normal human being) couldn't mamus quote any contemporary example?. They cannot since there is none. Today in most movies it is about how to create scenes to attract maximum. Aesthetics and restraint is biggest causality. Since majority audience are youngsters who I am told consider onyourfaceshit as part of their vibrant culture and since mall theaters have come into being the rules of games have changed dramatically. This life style statement majority of us don't associate with nor it is considered worth pursuing.
Ramboji at The Hindu has a unique problem (well this boy is unique) his contention is "…it would inhibit live events such as Formula 1, where cars and racing overalls of drivers often contain brand names of cigarettes". This according to Ramboji is "direct infringement on the freedom of media". Quite clearly our boy is a Formula 1 enthusiast. Rather than seeing it as "infringement of freedom of media" we need to have a perspective shift and question the organizers and participants of these events to boycott such harmful products. It has been done successfully in the case of cricket and soccer. Our advantage is we have a huge population (audience) so if they want to tap into this market they better mend their ways. The onus on them NOT us. One wonders what is about expensive cars driving faster and faster and bumping into each other (some have even get killed), sucking precious fuel (which we less mortals are told to save), polluting environment in the name of Sports. This whole "event' sound quite deviant to me. Ooopps I almost forgot I am supposed to be a deviant. My mistake.
Everything said and done why don't we directly ban the tobacco products? Period. End of story!. Dr. Madhu Purushothaman has something pertinent to say in this regard….. “…questions like ‘why is the government trying to ban movie smoking instead of directly imposing ban tobacco products’ stems from a lack of understanding that any radical policy change can be made only in incremental steps. The logistics and politics of ban on movies smoking are far less complex than that those relating to the sale of tobacco products. Banning smoking in movies take the public battle to the doorsteps of not only the tobacco industry, but also the film industry….”

Post Script: Written after few days of the above....

The debate still rages!!.

I heard someone saying that rape and murder are also shown in movies so how come it will not influence people!!!. People can go to such ridiculous extend to scuttle the main issue. A murder and rape is an extreme action on someone else and people are very much aware of the risk involved (albeit there are cases where murder is inspired by media). It is true that life is becoming cheap, seeing others being hurt is always a considered a form of entertainment (popularity of WWF is an indication). The remorse is seen as weakness. This is most moviemaker's take on machoism. Cigarette comes handy here. We all seen it haven't we??. Many movies particularly Hollywood have (and take pride) in spectacular scene of killing, which the people here are trying to copy. Human life becomes less important than the "mission". The images they produce have lasting impact. So if people are not motivated to kill there is definitely a disregard for life form and the surroundings. Everything is meant to be used. Consumerism loves indulgent behavior. It's about high consumption, compulsive acquisition and instantaneous gratification. The highly acclaimed book Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic writes "..if we don't begin to reject our culture's incessant demands to 'buy now' , we will pay later in ways we can scarcely imagine". The author adds, " the message in the book isn't to stop buying; it's to buy carefully and consciously with full attention to real benefits and cost of purchases, remembering, always, that the best things in life aren't things". The exploitative products (cokepepsi) and their complete disregards to local population and its basic needs is an extension of this mindset. American spending is totally out of sync with the rest of the world and results in the depletion of precious resources. The book points out "..according to UNEP, Americans spend more for trash bags than 90 of the world's countries spend for everything". Consumption pattern in America is producing an incredible amount of pollution. Most people who equate America with development and progress seem to be oblivious to the colossal price all of us have to pay to sustain its high levels of consumption. According to the authors most Americans suffer from "possession overload", the problem dealing with too much stuff.
Hyper consumption is having a delirious consequence for the rest of the world. For instance though American comprise only 4.7% of the world\'s population, they account for 25% of its global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. Now to add confusion on such \nfacts and to maintain global threat lifestyle some scoundrels have even started to debate "whether human factors do contribute to global warming". We all are aware of Phillip Cooney case. The extend to which people can go to make profit!!!. The smoke screen!!!. The cigarette manufacturers say (with full support from McMedia and marketeers) that " percentage of people smoking has gone down". Yes true. But number of people smoking have gone up!!. Got it. 76% of the 800-900 movies made in India had smoking scenes. 52% of children take to smoking due to movies and that smoking on screen was 16% more effective than direct tobacco advertisements. These from prestigious \nLancet magazine. There are also cases of actors being paid by cigarette companies to smoke on screen. So are we going to fudge the numbers?!!. Clooneyboy is a role model for all Marketeers in all the place. I am told that they are thinking of constructing a temple for him!!. Om jaya clooneyboy hare. Sab ke sankat shan meh dhoor kare!!!. What motivated the attack on Iraq and subsequent endorsement of the people of this "powerful" nation is an eye-opener to the society's mindset. Life of "other" is so very cheap. This "other" is an extension of the selfish ideology of me and myself, taking an organic form of national interest. In advanced countries very effective law and order machinery control selfishness, as violent outbursts. Even then the crime rate is not low. In our country competing impoverished population on depleting resources with arcane and in most case corrupt law machinery the scenario is different. This is not to suggest that "reality" need to be curtailed and not be shown. Freedom is important. So is social context. So is how reality perceived and projected. So is what motivates people to present their interpretations of reality. The realities of, lets say, the gun battle of underworld and graphic scenes maybe important to vicariously experience the tragedy. But that is not the only reality we are aware. So why do they keep on showing this side of the story only??. Crime was always there in the society much before media. True. As someone said preventing kissing scenes has not stopped the population explosion!!. Very true. But this is deviating from the issue. These are basic human (lets say biological) acts. We all kill don\'t we? We kill animals (plants) for food. What is important is context. The context (and intention) of every act is important understanding on the event. And that is what is being questioned here.
Hyper consumption is having a delirious consequence for the rest of the world. For instance though American comprise only 4.7% of the world's population, they account for 25% of its global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. Now to add confusion on such facts and to maintain global threat lifestyle some scoundrels have even started to debate "whether human factors do contribute to global warming". We all are aware of Phillip Cooney case. The extend to which people can go to make profit!!!. The smoke screen!!!. The cigarette manufacturers say (with full support from McMedia and marketeers) that " percentage of people smoking has gone down". Yes true. But number of people smoking have gone up!!. Got it. 76% of the 800-900 movies made in India had smoking scenes. 52% of children take to smoking due to movies and that smoking on screen was 16% more effective than direct tobacco advertisements. These from prestigious Lancet magazine. There are also cases of actors being paid by cigarette companies to smoke on screen. So are we going to fudge the numbers?!!. Clooneyboy is a role model for all Marketeers in all the place. I am told that they are thinking of constructing a temple for him!!. Om jaya clooneyboy hare. Sab ke sankat shan meh dhoor kare!!!.

What motivated the attack on Iraq and subsequent endorsement of the people of this "powerful" nation is an eye-opener to the society's mindset. Life of "other" is so very cheap. This "other" is an extension of the selfish ideology of me and myself, taking an organic form of national interest. In advanced countries very effective law and order machinery control selfishness, as violent outbursts. Even then the crime rate is not low. In our country competing impoverished population on depleting resources with arcane and in most case corrupt law machinery the scenario is different. This is not to suggest that "reality" need to be curtailed and not be shown. Freedom is important. So is social context. So is how reality perceived and projected. So is what motivates people to present their interpretations of reality. The realities of, lets say, the gun battle of underworld and graphic scenes maybe important to vicariously experience the tragedy. But that is not the only reality we are aware. So why do they keep on showing this side of the story only??. Crime was always there in the society much before media. True. As someone said preventing kissing scenes has not stopped the population explosion!!. Very true. But this is deviating from the issue. These are basic human (lets say biological) acts. We all kill don't we? We kill animals (plants) for food. What is important is context. The context (and intention) of every act is important understanding on the event. And that is what is being questioned here.
Sisters are meant to be raped. Dowry is normal so is feudal norms. So is beti ka bhoj sar pe. Men the ultimate protector and so on are stereotypes of Indian movies we have seen so many times. Now with "changing times" they are "modern" and women assertion as they understand is the in thing. Which is about "bold" movies. Boldness here is fervent gyrations and thrusting boobs into the camera. Pray why?. It sells!!!. What else??. You aint thought its Drink milk ad.!!! From manufactured consent to manufactured mediocrity that is how they use " freedom of expression" in this part of the world. It is not surprising that smoking scenes are pivotal in such worldview. The society (film makers included) should worry about how the Market has put restriction on "creative expression" and the possibilities left unexplored. The realities those are not profitable. Or is movie not reality but fantasy??. The debate on "moral policing" by state need to be extended to "immoral policing" by Marketeers. A slave (in NDTV, Master Pronnoy roy careful!!) reports foroursakeonly "all feel that the government should have consulted the cigarette companies before putting the ban…". Yes consult!!. Everything foroursakeonly. All feel. Such feelings. Almost all people I have interacted with support the government effort. Majority of people are with the Government on this move to restrain moviemakers. The doctors who interacts with patients and the man on the street are the people whose view are important here and not the profit minded (not denying that money is important) film maker. The line is drawn. Ultimately it is we who suffer since it is we who have to face the smokers on crowded buses and public places who don't heed to any request. It is the women on the street who has to face cholli ke peeche kya hai not the proponent of these "creative expression" who are peeping on us from their sanitized world and guiding us on nuances on what is good for us. I agree these are law and order problem. True. So first make the democracy work, as it should. First provide us our basic rights and needs (for women it could as basic as walking in the street without any fear). Then we can think about "creative expression" of some who insist that smoking is integral part of lifestyle. But my preference is for Ms. Aruna Roy and her effort in making the Right Of Information a reality. That is the " reality" we need. Not some glitterati's day out on manufactured discussion. We live in a different contexts, different worlds. The context denied by the Market demands.