Friday, May 12, 2006

banning CokePepsi in American universities.....

There is a cartoon on banning of cokepepsi in US campus (by Drew Sheneman of New jersey. Visit http://www.cagle.com/news/SodaBanned/4.asp). A move that needs appreciation and support. The school (and college authorities) in India too need to be concerned and be more responsible to its students. The State should pass laws on making campus healthier. Also concern need be raised on the socio-environmental cost of these exploitative products and youngsters need be made aware of the huge cost involved. Many campuses in US like Michigan have already banned these products. There is growing awareness on this issue (please visit http://www.indiaresource.org/news/2005/1028.html for more). The youth of India needs a movement for chasing these products from campuses, particularly from schools. There is also an ethical concern too, as to why these exploitative and harmful products are being projected as associated with health and energy by using sportspeople or scenes suggesting youthful energy. Wherein we all know it has nothing to with any of these. The lawn tennis sensation says in an ad “bas pyas bujaye yaar”. This kid need be told that people prefer water and that too is taken away from them. It is turning out to be some kind of a harsh joke. Despite the fact that these people are sucking up water for this exploitative product and causing untold misery the Government does nothing and a bottled carbonated drink still cost a pittance. Ideally this product should be classified as luxury product and heavily taxed. Socio-environmental cost is too high for a product which is mainly a style statement for some irresponsible.

As far as I know an ad. is meant to make us aware about the product they want to sell. Agreeing that it would be a “boring” way to “attract” the customers they need some innovative means to influence the viewers. But that doesn’t mean they fabricate a lie. There is a matter of ethics here. What they are suggesting is not what the product affects. CokePepsi is no health drink, on the contrary it causes disease. But the lifestyle these ads suggest is that of “action”- directing it to youth. Its no wonder that “action heroes” and sports people are preferred. There is fabrication of lie happening here. Affirming things not true. This culture of fabrication is what gave them incentive to invade Iraq for non existent WMDs. This culture of fabricating lies is the reason why thousands of people died and millions are suffering. This culture blinded the “audience” in US to see the wrong. What we see everyday in our TV in the name of selling products (and entertainment) is seeping in a dangerous space for accepting and tolerating lies. We know it is untrue- the images they show, suggesting the product represents, but we tolerate it. This is where the senses are assaulted and subsequently blunted into accepting unreal, the fake. Next it is replaced by blatant lies regarding the "other". And when you are in richer societies it is about changing channels or more importantly “what can I gain out of this” (also seen as “competence”). There seems to be race going on for maximum lick.

This culture of fabrication is not confined to CokePepsi sellers; they share these with fundamentalists who are into making people’s life miserable in the name of religion. Take the recent case of Hindu bigots in US and their attempt to present a sanitized view of India’s (hindu) past. Wherein the truth is that some heinous crime were committed in the name of religion. Sometime back I was reading an essay by V.S.Naipaul (Our Universal Civilization) these lines I thought were very significant (in context to Islamic fundamentalism)…the faith abolished the past. And when past was abolished more than idea of history suffered. Human behavior and ideals of good behavior could suffer. He further writes…..to posses the faith was to posses the only truth; and possession of this truth set many things on its head. The time before coming of the faith was to be judged in one way; what came after the faith was to be judged in another. The faith altered values, ideas of good behavior, human judgments….

So let’s be very clear: when ideas of good behavior and values are altered it is not just indecency it is an assault on civilization, on humanity. There is an urgent need to stop this serious encroachment into civilised norms.

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Monday, April 24, 2006

Kitsch Art anyone !!



Rajnikanth Magic
(on the streets of Madurai)
.
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Friday, April 21, 2006

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.

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Wednesday, April 19, 2006

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.

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Monday, April 10, 2006

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
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Saturday, March 25, 2006

No quitting!!!

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Friday, March 24, 2006

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.

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Wednesday, March 08, 2006

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!!!!.
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Saturday, March 04, 2006

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.
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Thursday, March 02, 2006

some beautiful pictures and a message...

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







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Friday, February 24, 2006

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.
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Tuesday, February 14, 2006

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...
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Tuesday, February 07, 2006

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?.
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