Peepli Live: Nero’s Feast

Yesterday, I watched the latest hindi flick, Peepli Live. The basic premise of the movie is on the ‘oh-so-serious issue,’ Farmers’ suicide! The story is set in a small village called Peepli, where a farmer on the brink of losing his small piece land thinks of taking away his life. How his family, the government, and the media react to this forms the rest of this story. Most of the reaction is comical, plain stupid, and irresponsible. The government officials fight over the ‘right’ scheme to fit this case under, the politicians look for political mileage, the family grieves and even throws its hands in despair, and the media just wring the issue completely to up their TRP ratings. And, all of this is captured in various ways; for example, the politicians make it out into a caste-based, election issue, the local government official spurs into action and brings a hand pump, the media frenzy outside the poor farmer’s house creates a carnival-like situation, etc. And, finally, the inevitable happens, and everything simply quietens down. It’s basically back to business, with no money or livelihood in sight for the farmer's family, except that the area now is filled with trash, thanks to media-generated carnival.

As I walked out of the movie hall, several questions kept whizzing past. Now, why is a movie made? Or, why do people go to movies? And, what is actually funny? Apparently, the movie is written and directed by some Anusha Rizvi, who’s a debuntante director. I wonder if the director even for a moment paid any attention to what this farmer’s suicides are all about! Clearly, in some ways, the director did know what she was talking about. The first few shots dealt rather well about the grim reality of farmers in this country. But, one was just not prepared to see the goriness of the director’s imagination/gall to poke fun at this! It’s a different thing when you capture the ethos of the village life and see an occasional laughter even amidst grinding poverty, but what Peepli Live did to the village/the issue was much beyond any limits of human insensitivity!

For example, would you laugh at someone’s death? Would you laugh at someone who runs to defecate, because you have taken over his land and even his subsistence? Isn’t it bad enough that such luxuries of multiplex viewing, 100% foreign direct investment of MNCs, branded jeans, footwear, and jewellery, etc are possible because the villages in India have been rid of their wealth and the villagers have been kicked out of their homes and livelihood to come and serve the city-dwellers as construction workers and house servants? Should even their sorrow and distress be made into things that can be laughed at? Can’t we leave alone at least their sorrow to themselves? In the name of bringing the issue into the imagination of this great Indian middle class, should you (Aamir Khan) dilute and distort the issue to some sort of a comical performance? Only this came to mind as I heard all these people sitting in a multiplex in Chennai and laughing their hearts out as the poor farmer and his family tried to negotiate the loss of their sole piece of land and actually discuss a suicide:

Nero, the ‘great’ king once decided to treat his guests in his garden in the evening. But, there was a problem with the lighting. After some thought, the issue was settled. And the party happened with much fun fare and laughter and much light from the burning slaves, who were burned so that the laughter and party could continue. (Source: Globalizing Inequality by P. Sainath)

In this lecture, P. Sainath wonders, “What sort of sensibility did it require to pop another fig into your mouth as one more human being went up in flames nearby to serve as 'a nightly illumination?” I have just this one thing to tell him, the sensibility that had all the women, men, and children (yesterday at the movie theater in Chennai) cracking up as a human being and his family was completely stripped of their agency/dignity to decide, think, or even to live. 

Yesterday, as I walked out of the movie hall, it was with Nero’s guests I walked out. It was quite a weird and a holocausty feeling to be amidst them and to have seen a film made by one of them; the Nero’s guests!

Wake Up Sid put Me to Sleep!

After some deliberation, I decided to watch Wake up Sid the past weekend. What follows is basically my reasons to why I fell asleep watching the movie and considered my Saturday afternoon a criminal waste!

Firstly, the plot, or well…what to say, the incident/the happening…coz, I couldn’t see any plot, whatsoever it may be!

Ok, it’s the story of this stinkingly rich and spoilt brat, Sid, who flunks his graduation, but still manages to continue his exceptionally rich lifestyle, and in the end even manages to ‘win’ an independent, self-made woman’s heart! That’s all it is to the movie! He having his heart broken because of flunking his exams, walking out of his home and straight into another, and then finding a job are all merely fillers!

This movie is solely for those people who go/went to college driving their own cars, start/ed boozing in swanky pubs even before the legally permissible age, wear/wore branded clothes, and shop/shopped by using credit cards that don’t have any spending limit! Even today, I am unable to afford this lifestyle despite being a corporate employee, and it’s several years since I passed out of college! I am now genuinely interested to know how many young people in India go to the college like this! Just a word for Karan Johar: the majority of college going students use government concessions and take the public transport, wear ordinary clothes (and they don’t own anything more that 5 to 10 pairs of clothes, and mind you they are hardly branded!), and don’t simply walk out of their homes!

Then, the woman, who travels all the way from Calcutta to make her own destiny, who does nothing big than find a flat, get a job, and fall in love with a rich guy! And that’s her definition of liberation/independence and perhaps Karan Johar’s ode to feminism (sic!)

What is it in this movie that makes the young people of this country go gaga over it? There are orkut scraps that say this movie is best, best and bestest! sigh, sigh, sigh! Does everyone want to ape the lifestyle of the protogonist of this movie? How vacuous and silly is this generation then? What can one expect from this crowd then? It's a quite a sinister trend for the young people to like movies as this and even A Wednesday!

I dunno from which angle I should trash this movie…the flat plot, lack of characterization, silly pace, or the utter ignorance of the reality of this country? The movie failed, failed, and failed to entertain, make one think, or even live up to the money we paid for the tickets!

Ps: Sorry folks, it’s not a review review, just an outpouring of my messed mind, thanks to the 2.5 hours spent inside a movie hall watching (actually sleeping) Wake up Sid!

A Response to the Times (Now)!

Yesterday, I had the misfortune of tuning into TimesNow, which I believe is definitely sponsored by some right-wing, casteistic, anti-people, anti-woman party. It’s one channel, besides of course CNN and NDTV, that strives consistently to remain true to upper-class aspirations. Be it Australian attacks, the Indian cricket team’s deplorable behavior in other countries, or naxalism (latest in their kitty), TimesNow and its journalist Arnab Goswani have shown to the world where their real interests lie, what they want to promote, and whose shoes they lick! All that they care about is just money! And, they go no holds barred to achieve their sinister goals by spreading lies, lies, and lies!

Yesterday’s debate (well, that’s what the channel called it) on naxalism (the new threat to internal security) left me hopping mad! Not only because of the hollowness or the stupidity of the debate, but also in the manner in which a TV channel, claiming to be the media, conducted itself! They just sunk to levels lower than what can be comprehended as the behavior of a demented and deranged mind! It seemed like a circus in which a drunken, illiterate monkey was doing a salsa with its own reflection! Of course, for some funny reason, there were the most radical of the dissendent voices on the debate, but what was undeniable is how the entire debate seemed just like a farce! I couldn’t quite put my finger on what I was seeing; why should a clearly pro-establishment, highly regressive news channel appear to have a free and fair debate!

The following quote of Chomsky came to my mind as the actual reason for this farce:

"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate."

Now to the event that triggered off this great, informed debate that this demented psycho kicked off. Even before the debate can take off, he looks all sad and deep into the camera and clears his throat and goes on and on about how naxals are terrorists and that they have resorted to Taliban style killing; well, I didn’t know the channel hired people who were experts on Taliban; it makes me wonder if Taliban actually trained these people! The point here is a TV channel seems to declare ‘truths’, even without proper investigation of proof! Of course, you can always resort to a tame apology the following day when the world has already been poisoned enough! This brings me to the next question: what does the channel and its monkey actually want! A country that is intolerant to any kind of dissent and people who condone extra judicial killings in cold blood. Isn’t it incumbent upon the media to play the role of a devil’s advocate? Why do the hell do we need a media like this? They are even worse than the state itself! They are already pronouncing judgments even when the cases on people are sub-judice! What do we, as sane people, do? I couldn’t find a more fitting call for all of us; interestingly the call has been sounding for over a century!

Only through the people's highest intellectual maturity and inexhaustible idealism can it (society) be brought safely through all storms and find its way to port.

Rosa Luxemborg.

Money, Money, Money!

In the last few weeks, one has been subjected to teasers and promotions of yet another reality show: Sach ka Saamna. It’s a program inspired by the very popular western show, The Moment of Truth. The promotion includes very provocative slogans like, can your truth tear asunder your marriage, your family! Can you face the truth!

Another popular reality show is the much publicized Rakhi Sawant ki Swayanvar, in which Rakhi Sawant (who needs no introduction) chooses her groom from a list of wannabes who go through multiple rounds of qualification, including a horoscope-matching round (or something similar with a Brahmin priest going through the palms of the guys and Rakhi).

Both these programs will undoubtedly have an enormous number of viewers and hence will prove to be great money spinners! And, that’s all that matters to the producers, to the actors, and everyone involved in this despicable attempt at entertainment!

Let’s look Sach Ka Saamna first. What does it promote? Or, what does it exploit? One word that comes to my mind is voyeurism. The perverted pleasure that a person experiences by being privy to the intimate lives of other people! So far, we have been told not to read other people’s letters, diaries, and ask ‘personal’ questions even to partners! And, here, you go before the whole world and talk about your ‘affairs,’ and also go through a lie detector for some money! Are the participants of this show so hard up on cash? Then, the viewers! What kind of mind will want to watch such crap? Or, have we all really lost touch with our real selves? Pornography is still banned, but Sach ka Saamna is aired on prime time! So, it’s all about money! More and more and more money! It’s really scary beyond point; where are we all headed at this rate?

Next, Rakhi Sawant ki Swayanvar. Here’s a young woman who wants to get married, and wants to make money in the process of her selecting her better half, after subjecting him through multiple rounds of tests! I have heard some flippant talk about this being feministic! It’s one of most ridiculous things I have heard in the recent past. Just because a woman comes on screen, shoots off her mouth, wears skimpy clothes, and declares her wish to go through a traditional, Hindu marriage, does it make her a feminist? Or, should it be considered as a victory for the woman’s movement? I really would like to hear what the women groups have to say about the Rita bahuguna’s anti-woman and anti-dalit statements! Coming back to Rakhi Sawant: one is subjected to the processes involved in a traditional Hindu marriage, which in itself is highly derogatory to women, preceded by equally despicable ways in which Rakhi chooses her groom! In one of the episodes, the wannabe groom’s are made to write and read their ‘love’ for Rakhi! And, Rakhi evaluates each one on the basis of how she feels about each of them! Now, I really don’t know why one should choose a TV program to talk about such things! All for money! In the face of money, everything ceases to remain sacred or even human! Only the following came to mind as a fitting end to this story.

The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honoured and looked up to with reverent awe. It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage labourers.
The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation.--- The Communist Manifesto

A movie that I wish was never made...

Thevar Magan (1992)
Starring: Sivagi Ganesan, Kamal Hassan, Nassar, Gauthami, Revathi
Story: Kamal Hassan
Direction: Bharatan

I had the misfortune of watching this rather ‘old’ movie, which couldn’t have come from a more ‘original’ pen like Kamal Hassan’s!

For those of you who have forgotten this movie, here’s a short refresher. The story is set in a pristine village in the interiors of Tamil Nadu, where the local, ‘kind-hearted’ landlord lords over the lesser mortals, the dalits and landless laborers. The landlord is from a community called the thevars, (Today, these people top the list of castes that thrive on committing atrocities against the dalit people in Tamil Nadu). The movies centers around the rivalry between this kind-hearted thevar and a nasty thevar, who’s actually his cousin! The seething rivalry’s fuse is blown with a younger thevar breaking the lock of a temple to enjoy some private time with his scantily clothed muse. Then, several things happen, and finally peace is restored by this younger thevar chopping the head of the nasty thevar and going off to prison! Now, I don’t know what kind of great minds would have selected this movie to represent the country at the academy awards! In any case, my faith in the academy awards remains intact, thanks to the way they sent this movie packing.

What is problematic about this movie?

Firstly, the movie is casteistic, eulogizing caste-based, ad hoc monarchies that run in the villages, which are nothing but cauldrons of dalit atrocities. This only shows the crying need for land reforms! How the hell can one family (damn it!) own an entire village? No wonder, the differences are stark; Kamal (the son of the kind-hearted thevar) and Gauthami (his muse) all the time speak in flawless, accented English and smooch around when the sons of the dalits become nothing but landless laborers and foot soldiers who get their hands cut off, defending the thevar honor! The movie was outrageously anti-dalit; Vadivelu (the side kick and also the humble, devoted slave with zero esteem) is named after a dalit god!

Secondly, the movie is sexist, showing women as either clingy, cry babies (Gauthami) or silly yappers (Revathi), singing to their husbands! Which Indian woman (even the ones educated abroad) would strut around half naked in the presence country brutes who ogle at any inch of visible skin? Does the average Indian woman lack even that basic sense? And, the same old story; two women quibbling over one silly man, who couldn’t even stand up to his own father!

Finally, the entire movie lacked any fine imagination and acting! Yes! Acting! Kamal Hassan and Shivagi, both were terrible. Yet another patriarchal bullshit, served to us by a bunch of upper caste, patriarchal men!

Am sure in the West, this movie would have invited at least 10 law suits from several groups! But, no, not here. Yes, it’s with dejection that I sign off this post, but with hope that someday we will have sensitive mainstream movies that portray reality, question discrimination, and reinstate hope for a better tomorrow.

Taking on the neo-liberals of this developing country

Several months ago, I received the following forward. Besides, desperation, the forward stunk of racism, stupidity, ignorance, arrogance, and scant regard for human rights. So, to set the record straight, I am writing a take on the forward, only taking care not to sound as crass and obnoxious as my ‘inspiration.’ Read on friends….

Dear Friends,

Here is a story that you can pass on to our Indian friends who live, work and prosper abroad.
Best Wishes and Regards

An Old Story:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed.
The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.
Indian Version:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.
Mayawati states this as `injustice' done on Minorities.
Amnesty International, UN, EU and World Human Rights Organisations criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.
The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .
Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for ' Bengal Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.
CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.
Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.
Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.
Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.
The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes,it's home is confiscated by the Governmentand handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.
Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'
Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.
CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '
Ban Ki Moon invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.
Many years later.....
The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley,
100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India ,
..AND
As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers,
India is still a developing country!!!
Hows that ?
____________________________________________________________________
Dear Friends
Here’s a story that you can pass on to all our sisters and brothers (definitely only a few of them will have access both to computers and the English Language), so that they understand why our country is still developing…
Read and pass on for annihilation of caste and for building a new society…
An Old Story:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed.
The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Indian Version:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant must toil in the fields that he doesn’t own, clean the toilets of grasshoppers because of the ant’s past life sins, and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Sometimes, when the grasshopper meditates he remembers what a great game his ancestors have played and crushed the hardworking ants under them!
Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper, as usual, calls for a yagna to please the gods and tries to take away all the resources that the ants have painstakingly earned over centuries, braving the inhuman crimes of the grasshoppers, such as casteism, untouchability, rape, land grabbing, and lies। However, this time, the ants do not come to the yagna; they found a new god!

This scares the grasshopper to no limit! How can the ants go to another God! His mind starts working। In no time, the ants will realize the lies of the Grasshopper’s ancestors. They would realize that untouchability is hogwash! They will also start studying and perhaps even stop doing the ‘polluting’ work. What if they become lawyers, doctors, engineers! The ants have all the labor force; in no time they will build a self-sufficient society. They will have no need for the grasshoppers, who can only after all spout prayers, conduct business, and ‘own’ land!

The grasshoppers realize the imminent downfall of their kind and start plotting! They fall back on their age-old philosophy of divide and rule through lies-mongering!

They float lies through popular media about how certain religious communities are growing. They cause rifts between happy ant families and make them kill each other! They move from one ant society to another and cause more and more butchery, laughing all the while when rivers run red with the blood of ants.

The World is stunned by the deviousness of the grasshoppers.

Repentant grasshoppers, unable to stomach the violence, demonstrate with the very few enlightened ants. Some try and force their way and write the rules to follow. They finally agree that every one must work to earn their wage. But, what they don’t realize is the grasshoppers are still guarding every profession! And, so they ensured the safety and comfort of the grasshoppers for the next 60 years, despite the special provisions for the hardworking ants!

After 60 years…

The 15% grasshoppers rule the 85% ants! Yes, even after the provisions through affirmative action, the grasshoppers through their lies, which the only thing they are great at, hoodwinked the country to believe in pollution, and in the inherent ‘intelligence’ of the grasshoppers!

The grasshoppers take to novel ways in spreading their lies; they make some totally, lies-based e-mails and forward them to all their no-brain communities.

The ants, who have been watching, especially the enlightened ones have been working and slogging. They set up learning centers, they consciously choose another religion, fight elections, question the systems that subjugate people…

The ants are at work…

Just you wait, the ants tell the grasshoppers…now, that could be construed as a threat and so…

Grasshoppers come up with laws every second to kill and butcher the ants, but, with every ant killed, 1000 such ants are born!

Yes, slowly, but steadily the Indians (85% of the total population) are developing….that’s why India is a developing country!

Why I don’t like the movie Sethu, anymore?

The Tamil movie Sethu was released sometime in the year 1999 or 2000. With this movie, Vikram (the protagonist) shot to instant fame. The movie was appreciated for various reasons: brilliant direction, great acting, a script that was closer to real life, and sensitive portrayal of life. At that time, I couldn’t exactly point to why the movie left me numb with pain. Perhaps, I decided that reaction could be only for a good movie. And, I had joined the bandwagon of Vikram and Bala fans and maybe even contributed in some way to the astounding success of the movie.
Now, after several years, after even having gone on record to say that it’s a ‘socially conscious’ movie because of the several anti-brahmin jokes, I wonder what has made me think differently today. But, I am assured of one thing today: my reasons for disliking the movie are crystal clear. Of course, I record here my reasons wistfully; wonder how my life would have been had I had this clarity then.
Firstly, the movie had a male protagonist, though his ‘relationship’ with a woman forms the focal point of the movie. However, the screen space the female lead had must have been just a fraction of what the protagonist had. Is this the actual reality in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu? Not that I expect a female protagonist in a mainstream Tamil movie, but I do expect equal screen space for the female lead, especially when the script requires it.
Secondly, the characterization of Sethu, the lead guy. He is a local thug, who goes around roughing up people. He clearly is from a dominant caste group, which easily gives the right to ‘ridicule’ the eating habits of the docile Brahmin girl. What is particularly arresting is the girl’s demeanor. She wears a half saree that is pinned properly and has long hair that is well-oiled and plaited. She carries herself with such grace and poise that she’s quite aware of herself every second, even in the chemistry lab. This construct of a 21st century college-going girl is very dangerous. This grace-personified dame falls head over heels in love with this street-side thug, Romeo, and casteistic guy, which is another blow to the sensibilities of any college-going girl.
Thirdly, the way caste was dealt with was problematic; it’s either outright ridicule or immense respect for the Brahmin community. It would have been better if they hadn’t brought in the caste factor at all. There was no context to place it, actually. I believe this aspect was dealt with in the most flippant manner.
Finally, Sethu kidnapping the love of his life. This simple act showed how skewed the filmmaker’s understanding had been about intimate relationships between a man and a woman. The woman was shown to be nothing more than just a thing to possessed; a thing to be brought to its senses (which is understanding his love/lust for her, which comes as an irresistible deal along a good home and a chance to bear his babies); a thing to be showcased in one’s house. Besides the problematic sociological questions, I am tempted to doubt its relevance in real life. For example, will I fall in love with a roadside thug, who’s been stalking me, when he manages to kidnap me and presents this ‘irresistible’ offer at gun point? Wouldn’t I first go to the police station and file an FIR? At least, wouldn’t I find ways to completely erase my existence for the guy? Wouldn’t I run away from the locality? Then, the guy gets beaten up and he turns mad. In such a situation, in real life, the girl will be thanking her stars that the gods finally did some justice to the women! And, not commit suicide because she couldn’t bear the thought of marrying anyone other than the thug.

Neeya Naana…give me a break!

I am really curious to know who are the producers of this really horrible program called neeya nana, which is hosted by some dim wit of a guy on Vijay TV! This program is aired on Sundays between 9:00 and 9:30 PM, perhaps with a 100 reruns of the same episode. The topics are usually provoking, well don’t expect if the discussions would be on neo-liberal policies or coalition politics or live-in relationships or domestic violence; it’s usually on something as inane as love vs. arranged marriages or something equally insulting the modest standards of human intelligence. Ok, the discussion that is happening tonight has sunk to an all-time low, which would have stirred or psyched even the traditionalists of the dark ages!

The discussion is between ‘businessman vs. wives–are they happy.’ Firstly, the title: people, business can be done by both sexes and people who do not adhere to any one sex as well. What gave you the right to assume a gender identity for a profession? Nextly, wives! Was this a place where women (well the business wives) could rant their rather indulgent anger on their business husbands? What was it? Were the producers or directors looking at the emergence of any possible domestic violence cases? Or, were they looking at alleviating the ‘misery’ of these ‘housewives?’ Or, was it a sneak, voyeuristic peek into these upper middle class homes? What was the whole point of the title? Didn’t it even strike them that there could be several thousands of business women in this progressive state of Tamil Nadu? What was really amusing was an ad in between that went on list the big women achievers! Was that a miss? Or, were you guys so out of sync with what you were doing? This one was just too obvious to miss!

Next, the panelists: most of the women wore a sindur. This is an interesting point, because this sindur thing is rather new in Tamil Nadu. Perhaps, thanks to Ekta kapoor’s serials, our women, from the land of Periyar and Bharatiyar (who openly declared war on casteism and chauvinism and called a woman who challenged the traditional mores of patriarchy a real woman), have so happily lapped up regressive practices that even their grandmoms didn’t have!

And, all the women continued to simply talk about how the husband wouldn’t pay ‘any’ attention to the household; of course, why would he, if you more than readily, perhaps gave up your career for marriage or the child, or didn’t study so that your parents may not be able to find a suitable groom for you? That’s not enough, there have been love marriages in which the women have done everything to ensure that the man becomes something ‘worthy.’ But, my question is, why didn’t the women do anything for themselves? And, you just find one vague TV program to share your rants or experiences? The men’s responses: typical! Oh yeah, we are so busy, you see; well, who are ‘we’ struggling for? It’s for the family!

My question: what was new about this whole exchange? Is this truly the reality? How come I see something very different? How come in my 7-8 years of working, I have had always had women bosses, except a couple of them? And, how come the corporate board rooms are filled with women? How come big political parties have women leaders? How do I reconcile with the fact that very soon, India might have an Obama moment: when a dalit woman becomes the prime minister? Especially, when I am assaulted with crap like this on prime time? I understand if it were these fictitious, gycerline-dependent serials, because I can just dismiss them at least on principle, especially with their disclaimer and all! Here, you have real people talking terrible stuff! Yeah, all the men are talking about how it is great to hear the child’s first word or how the child plays and the usual the home-bound nonsense! Yes men, that’s what we have always been telling! The women have had ENOUGH of hearing the babies and perfecting the art of creating new recipes, face packs (so that they are beautiful for you and your friends), pickles, home decoration, and all the prescribed stuff. Why don’t the men take over here for a change, after all, it’s the men who have been romanticizing the ‘woman’s job.’

Vijay TV’s program just left me hopping mad about this horribly antiwoman show! Somehow, it feels like the woman has no role to play in her life than just crib about her husband’s attention! Doesn’t she have anything to do? Is she just there to run the homestead for the businessman? And, mind you, the labor is unpaid, and she does not have any job security, she can get thrown out any time, she can be shortchanged, she does not any leave (PL/CL/SL), and every day she works overtime! It left a terrible taste in my mouth… where are we headed…

Simi, please shut up!

After watching the latest episode of We the People on NDTV last night, to say I am numbed is simply an understatement. Of the many things that irk me about NDTV is the type of people they give air time! Simi was one of the panelists, and guess what type of solutions she was rattling of to contain terror! Stop paying taxes! Wah! What else can she think of, even at this hour of intense grief and anger? Even at this hour, Simi is bothered only about how her ‘hard-earned’ tax money is spent! So, if she doesn’t have to pay taxes, she’s ok with the terror attacks, eh? What skewed logic does this excuse for a human have!

Then, she tells Barkha to go atop some high-rise hotels and check out the flags flying in the slums around. She says, you’ll not find the congress party’s or the shiv sena’s; it’s Pakistani flags! I wonder if there are countries where one can be given life imprisonment for talking nonsense. First of all look at her ignorance and stupidity in equating the congress and the shiv sena! Then, the outright illiteracy when she declares the muslim/islam flag to be Pakistani flags! Can’t she see the coincidence? Is she also blind, besides being stupid? God help this country from idiots like these…

Weird Ad Sense!

A rather odd-looking antique car zips past dry fields. In a twinkling of an eye, you see the reason for the oddity—the headlights are replaced by half-naked young boys. Another young boy dressed similarly tries to take a shorter route to reach the car’s destination on foot! He runs just in time to climb down into the Raja’s chandlier before the Raja, coming by car, sits for his food. There’s just time enough for the half naked boy to climb into his spot in the chandlier and pop a mouth freshener that whitens his teeth enough to replace a light bulb. He shows his teeth in a plastic smile just in time for the ‘lights’ to be on before the Raja is seated for dinner! There are several other boys munching the same mouth freshener and replacing light bulbs in the garden where the royal ladies are playing shuttle cock. They are also there around the fence of the palace with their smiles; they are there in every nook and cranny of the royal chambers, ‘lighting’ up the palace. This is an ad for “Happy Dent,” mouth freshner!
What a strange way to advertise for a mouth freshener! Is this absolute death of creativity or the outright arrogance of the upper classes that has blinded them to their own stupidity? Isn’t there a law or something that prohibits such brazen display of feudalism? By the way, isn’t feudalism and slavery illegal? Isn’t this a marker of human rights violation? All said and done it’s just a horrible excuse for an ad that must be banned on the basis of supporting illegal practices and also for lacking in basic aesthetic sense.