Progress or Retrograde

I could hear the voice but not see them. I could listen to the conversation even though i did not want to, as it was happening right over my shoulders, literally. It was in a bus. And they were sitting in a cramped space behind me. It was a conversation of two 17-18 year olds. I had to/heard it for about an hour and a half.

For the mundane part of the information, they have joined for engineering course, the guy hails from chennai and the girl from delhi (role reversal as in '2 states' by Chetan Bhagat?). Even prior to orientation day, they had ventured to Mangalore to shop and have a nice time. I-pods, suave mobile phones, branded carry bags stuffed with goods, all pointing towards a well off background (you dont expect 18 years to earn that much in India, do you?).

From what i could listen to, the guy and the girl were trying to find their compatibility. The guy using the f word at the drop of a hat, oblivious to the fact that middle aged and aged men and women were travellin in the same air conditioned bus(i mention this because in an otherwise bus the voice drowns). All through the journey he tried to impress upon the girl how 'filthy rich' he is as told by some 'future reader'. That he is going to shine in 'research', to which the girl shot back (i liked that part) 'what research are you going to do?', to which he mumbled a reply doing something with MTech and so on (to remind the readers that he is yet to begin his first Engg class).

The girl on the other hand was trying to express how unknown guys have gotten her number and someone texted asking about some detail of the curriculum, and that she 'usually' doesnt reply back asking 'who is it', but today she did so and someone is kind of troubling her. As they flipped part some pictures (possibly on their phones), all expressions of 'i look fat in this'. 'the angle of the pic isnt good in this', 'this is so awesome' and all emanated from behind. There was no topic of discussion that she was uncomfortable with it appeared.

I could not help but ponder upon some questions. Is this what the young generation today really is? Are the boundaries of morality fast disappearing? How advisable or desirable is it to give children expensive gadgets, give children leeway, give children freedom without responsibility? Have movies made a deep impact today which legitimises foul language? Has children of today accepted that what matters at the end of the day is aiming for the sky, it doesn not matter how you reach there?Are gravity in personality, soberness in attitude and brevity in talks all attributed to the bygone era? Is recognition and acceptance today restricted to the brand they wear? Is this a case in point or the generalisation? Is this what we are calling as progress or is it actually retrograde?

I shuttled in feelings of anger, astonishment, curiosity, reflection and many others. I dont know why but i wanted to see the faces of the voices which filled me with all these thoughts, all these questions for nearly an hour and half. Bu just before i could do that, and on hindsight i feel it happened for the better, they got down, ironically, at a wrong bus stop.

Movie Review - Z N M D



          When Farhaan Akhtar conceptualized Dil Chahta Hai hit the screens exactly a decade back, it served to add a new dimension to Indian movies and needless to say salvaged the career of two protagonists Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Khanna. His sister Zoya Akhtar presented another movie of the same genre with three protagonists, none requiring any salvation of their careers this time, and proved her mettle as a director, a rare breed of female director at that. Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara from the Akhtar stable is a crisp, well written, nicely performed, importantly not overdone and very importantly well cinematographed (Carlos Catalan) movie.

         The movie is primarily about three friends on a Roadtrip to picturesque Spain which is part of a bachelor party and how they exorcise ghosts from the past in the journey. In the process of which comes their way daredevil adventures, lady love (read Katrina), Chudail alert (read Kalki), a lost father (read Naseruddin Shah), and numerous pranks. The dialogues are funny and ones that the youth easily relates to, the poetry of Javed saab is touching and its rendition by Farhaan Akhtar soulful. Shankar Ehsaan Loy have provided lovely numbers yet again but they do not serve as a high point of the movie though you might go back humming ‘Senorita’.

          The movie can qualify to be an advertisement for Spanish tourism, but then as Zoya Akhtar mentioned in an interview, she wanted to show Spain on 70 mm screen to people in India. So do not worry if less fortunate folks in villages gasp at the amount of tomato crushed in the Tomatino festival. The movie could have been slightly better edited, avoiding divergence before coming to the main story. However the performances make up for it. Chemistry between Hrithik and Katrina, Abhay Deols subdued and constrained act, and Farhaan Akhtars happy-go-lucky-wrenched-within roles stand out.

         Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara works as a buddy movie, with the friendship among the three protagonists being the hallmark; just as in Dil Chahta Hai (a comparison is but obvious). It also works because it has a take home message, which is a changed and better perspective towards life. Although one could say that when ones father owns a thousand Crore construction company and one is investment banker in London there is enough time and moolah to think about life. That apart the first Indian Roadtrip movie leaves you with a smile on your face. It lets you drop your worries for a while, it takes you above the mundane routine called life, it allows you to dream big, it makes you break the shackles that constantly bind us.

The theme can be summed up in these lines of the movie:

Ye jo gehre sannate hain; Waqt ne sabko hi baante hain,

Thoda gham hai sabka kissa; Thodi dhoop hai sabka hissa;

Aankh teri kyun nam hai; Har pal ek naya mausam hai;

Kyun aise pal tu khota hai? Aye dil aakhir tu kyun rota hai...

My English translation of it:
These deep expanse of silence; Time has given all of us, Little pain and sadness,
Of all our stories is a part, A little sunshine, Of all we deserve is a part,
Futile in your eyes is the tear; Every moment is a new weather out here,
Why such moments do you let go by; O heart, after all, why do you cry...

Katrina Kaif vs. Rahul Gandhi



The media was abuzz with activity over the past few days over a statement made by the leading bollywood lady Katrina Kaif comparing her citizenship status with Rahul Gandhi, the leading contender for Indian Prime Ministership (readers would recall that Manmohan Singh is ready to quit, immediately when asked to). Allegedly Katrina told the interviewer what if she has a British passport, or that she is half Indian, so is Rahul Gandhi. The context of her statement was concerning the fact that how she and Rahul being half Indian affect their work or their acceptance among people.

But the statement snowballed into a big issue, or that is what was projected in the media. This was courtesy Messer Manish Tiwary and Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the official spokespersons of the Congress party. Foot-in-the-mouth has become a household phrase thanks to its overuse in media with respect to statements made by Congress leaders including Dr Singh. A similar situation was created by Mr Tiwary when (I don’t know what was he smoking) he asked mediapersons if he should seek Johnny Levers views about Rahul Gandhi too. It appears as if sycophancy in the party has reached such a pinnacle that an apolitical (Katrina I am sure never intends to join politics) statement by an actress cannot be taken in right spirit. Forget about right spirit, just that Manish Tiwary has a microphone to speak to facing scores of cameras, doesn’t allow him to make such callous, critical and cacophonous comments.

The curious case of Rahul baba’s citizenship has always been a no issue for the Indian polity, for Indian psychology doesn’t see it wrong for a half Indian male to become Prime Minister. That there are remote chances for him to get the top post especially at this dismal rate of performance is a different story altogether and requires a different essay. It is probably Katrina’s not-on-purpose kicking a small dust storm which has irked the party. Thanks to the media which carefully crops headline-worthy quotations of any interview, however relevant or irrelevant it is to the larger topic, that we get to see headlines like ‘Katrina questions Rahuls citizenship’, ‘If I am half Indian, so is Rahul Gandhi’ and much more vicious and incriminating ones at that.

With the renewed hatred towards politicians among the masses, what Congress fails to realise is that, no one will see Katrina’s statement as harmful but will take Congresses attack as vile. An old adage says “vinaash kale viparit buddhi”, and no one other the grand old party is proving it right at the moment. When there are larger issues to be addressed, when there are opportunities to come out clean, when there are stronger messages to be sent to, what they are engaging is in picking up all trivial issues and painting it in gaudy colours which looks sore to the eye and pricks the senses of common man.

Facets of Facebook



     

   ‘Hey Rikoo (my nickname), did you receive the friend request I had sent you?’ asked my mother’s maternal uncle, whom I met a few days back after a decade or so. ‘We have seen all your photos, the place you are in is so beautiful’ told another couple of relatives, the same evening, whom I fail to remember when I had last seen. ‘Did you see the photos of my grandchild? She was born just last month’ Another question to which I mumbled a faint yes. And all the while these questions, these statements, kept churning a thought process.

        All right, on the exterior of it the above statements might not seem strange. But a closer look will bring out the theme, which clearly is where the ‘friend request’ was sent and where the ‘photos’ were viewed – facebook! You must be wondering what is so strange about it now! Yes it doesn’t seem strange to us anymore. Yes for millions of people across the world who have access to internet and are part of it, facebook has become a part of life, small or large. It is like the ring which was new once and after having worn for so long on the finger has become a part of you.

         Life never remained the same after ‘social networking’ took the world not by storm but slowly and steadily. Just like in the process of building aircrafts, after many failed attempts, smaller projects and boisterous ideas that bombed, social networking found its first jumbo jet flying high in the sky with flair – the facebook. The inroad it has made into our lives is remarkable. Whether it makes more and more people socially inclusive or fosters exclusivity in children, whether it benefits us or troubles us, whether we are attaching to more people electronically and detaching personally are just a few questions that are associated with the ascent of facebook.

        ‘The web is what you make if it’, the catch line in the Google advertisement is largely true, but how much are we enslaved by it rather than us controlling it needs to be pondered upon. With the delivery of a child captured and posted on FB (I am sure it doesn’t sound Greek now), the process of growing up is shared with friends and family. Of course is a nicety. Your heart fills with warm emotions seeing the child of your friend or relative living far away. Classroom discussions in school is now hovering around ‘hey are you on FB?’, ‘My mom told no FB till I am in high school’, ‘Ha, you know what my brother already opened an account for me’ and so on and so forth.

        Come to teenagers, now this is where we are talking about real issues regarding FB. As much as teenagers connect on FB, equally is stalking (though we in India barely understand the term and what it encompasses), meeting random people (sure is a benefit of FB people claim), unwarranted comments, and many such sour experiences fostered. Such is the merit of this question ‘How much of information to share?’ that it could well be another topic of discussion. The idea that what you do electronically is not directly harmful encourages people to push it to limits but that it might have repercussions otherwise is what needs to be understood.

       FB is truly a society. It is a matchmaker. Many people are getting married having ‘met’ on FB. FB provides fodder for gossip. ‘Hey did you see what footwear was she wearing in that photo’ ‘Which one?’ ‘The one in the album titled ‘Trip to US – Part 1’. No sooner that one leaves for somewhere photos starting from airport, aircraft, my bag, and zillions of such start steaming if not live, almost so, on your ‘notification’ pages. Your office work, its nuances are all on FB for the world to see, whether they like it or not. FB has provided a never before platform for showcasing your talent, your trips, your relatives, your skills, or let us call it showcasing your life.

         The other day my sister told me about her ‘friends’ on FB who happened to be non-friends in the classroom. Is it because of a horde for ‘Hey I have more people on my FB friend list than you’? Workplaces beginning from clinical laboratory to multinational software firms are swarming with people whose break from work every fifteen minutes is logging on to FB to check for ‘Recent Activity’. Harmless on the exterior again but what is it doing to our attention spans? Something lame like ‘I am brushing my teeth’, to something necessary like ‘ I support anti corruption’ to something potentially dangerous like’ I am going to kill so-and-so’, to something very concerning like ‘I am so depressed’ and anything and everything that you can think of is up as ‘status message’. Where should we draw the line between sharing information and becoming vulnerable?

        Various aspects of our lives are now up on facebook. Its infiltration into many lives is pretty complete. Increasing privacy settings are being incorporated to make it closer to a real social setting. FB has in the past few years changed things forever. Birth and death are reported as ‘posts’ today. This electronic entrenchment is where people express happiness and grief and share host of other emotions. Millions today live a second life on FB. The incorporation of Facebook has enriched many aspects of our lives today, precisely the reason for its acceptance, but the process will be meaningful and sustainable only when it is carried out with maturity, greater understanding and responsibility.