Indian democracy the enemy of secularism.

Glorified as the world’s largest democracy, India is a shining beacon to democracies all over the world. I’m sure that when you stare into an oncoming light in darkness all but the light becomes invisible, much like a car coming head on with full beams. So also, the beacon that Indian democracy is makes the remained of the beacon tower invisible in the darkness. What I mean by this elaborate metaphor is that even though India is proclaimed a shining beacon, the tower that holds up this beacon is rotten and dark, and in the blinding night it is all but invisible.

The secularity that our country upholds is under a constant threat from the very democracy that runs our country. The Indian democracy, its political structure allows many parties, and fragments of many parties. With the multitude of political organizations vying for a share of the ruling seat and with each political formation seeking its own agenda, what one has, is a party representing only a certain fixed ideal, or a religion. As the whole country has time and again witnessed religion becomes a powerful overriding factor in the quest for votes and electorates.

We have the extremist cases who have their fixed notions of a nation, ideally a religion centric nation. Not only now but at the time of independence. Who can blame them? After all is not our country surrounded by countries that have fixed state religions? Granting these extremists the benefit of doubt one can claim that it is their insecurity and that they would like to have a nation based on their own religion completely. However, the seemingly yet unproved, state sponsored killings that the Gujarat riots were show that these extremists are not a limited faction but a properly planned, organized, maybe even legitimized, political plot. The mayhem with ensued from the Gujarat riots was not unprecedented in our history. The ineptitude of the state government to call in law and order is not unparalleled. The riots following Indira Gandhi’s assassination carries the same stamp, maybe to a different degree. To illustrate, it would only seem diligent to look at the reaction time that peacekeeping forces took in responding to these orchestrated outbursts. In contrast to this is the reaction time of the very same peacekeeping forces in the very same places to a natural disaster. Case in point the Bhuj earthquake.

Advocating a viable solution to this problem, viable but not fool proof, is to convert the Indian democracy to the pattern of the United States. Wherein every Tom, Dick and Harry with a personal agenda can not form a party and promulgate a shallow notion.

As a student of literature being inclined to take the middle path I would see both sides of the same coin, however, I would only address the issue on the other side in order to defend my own stand. Starting with arguments that show how USA’s democratic functioning would not suit a country of our diversity. To raise such a question is foolish, but not inevitable. Simply because it is guided by the preconceived notion that diversity does not exist in the States and that they are all the same lock, stock and barrel! Next is the fact that each political formation in our country has an agenda which may not be incorporated by anyone else, my only response to this would be the suggestion that political ideals for which a party stands should be fused allowing a greater base of ideals for the two parties to represent. Lastly, to claim that political parties based on religion are a separate agenda and cannot be encompassed in a two party state since India has many religions. Such a claim in itself should be blasted. Has not the world shed enough blood over religion? Has not India contributed to this rampant desecration of humanity for long enough? Learning from past mistakes is what the wise do. Yet ever and anon we indulge in these flagrant mistakes. Have not our political heads had enough of this foolishness? And if they have not why should Indians pay the price, in blood, for their foolishness!! Nay, why should we allow fools to head our shining beacon??? Just so we have a rotten beacon tower?

Love to Burn, kill and maim!!

Recently while catching glimpses of the Sikh unrest on TV, some thing very apparent and common place came to my attention. This observation was not an isolated case, as it turned out, while watching a bit more news than usual sightings were more frequent. Seeing the justifiable unrest of some community or the other time and again what did come to my attention is that the people behind violent protests took some sort of pleasure in their rapacious deeds. They burnt effigies with a glimmer in their eyes and a smile to their lips. Vandalism had some kind of joy only the vandals can recognize, and unnecessary and unwarranted fighting and beating seemed like a well enjoyed cricket match to spectators and players as well. Would I term it sadistic pleasure? In most cases I think I could. The only justification for these smiles is that their hate has over flowed into pleasure! Such a justification would seem far-fetched.

What is actually shocking is that this has already been brought to the attention of the discerning eye, but through subtler methods. ‘Rang De Basanti’ brought to the limelight the lathi charge by the police which was arresting in its brutality. The violence did not recognize man, woman or child, it did not stop to register the fleeing and the battered. It in a frantic frenzy kept the police occupied. A legal sanction to what is commonplace.

Our media industry provides one with many such illustrations of rampant brutality. All one needs to do is watch the clip of any violent demonstration. It’s easy to notice the happiness with which this beating and bashing, burning and smashing is indulged in.

The political arena of this nation is overflowing with burnt effigies and vandalized cities, towns and villages. The blurring nature of Indian diversity permits these burnt effigies and vandal acts to spread into every known public sphere. Even our most popular, most consequential, most powerful medium of communication – bollywood, promulgates the spread of this behavior. Kill joyously, beat happily and do not give inhibition to any other frantic emotional outburst.

Needless to come to the defense of bollywood, it has its own shining moments that speak for themselves, one of which I used al illustration earlier on. Nor is it a continuing trend in our mass media, thankfully. However having sown the seeds, it cant be held blameless. Protest and democracy are two sides of the same coin. Yet what has become of the Gandhian example? The next time you switch on the news, by accident or by purpose, watch it for the same observation that prompted this article. What to do to combat it, is a suggestion even I am open to.

AT THE SILVER SCREEN

Paris Je T'aime

For all those who are not a ware, its a film with subtitles!! Yes, it is mainly in French, given the title. Apart from French it has a splattering of other languages such as Chinese and Persian etc etc too.

What sets this movie apart is that it is 21 different love stories, some funny, some touching, some romantic, some heartbreaking ( i cried in one)!! each of the 21 love stories are directed by a different director and each portrays love in some way or the other. whether its love between two people, whether its a mother and child whether its a father daughter ( non incestuous), a person and a place. Its the myriad shades of love that make you love the movie. Some stories are left incomplete some are a fifteen minute run through. It keeps you guessing and it brings out so many different parameters of love, if of course i were crude enough to restrain love to parameters.

The heart rending story of a mother who has lost a son, the bitter sweet symphony of a old aged couple who cant live with each other nor without, the funny love life of a mime (that i laughed to see because it was silly, but behind it the love the, beauty you can sit and only begin to comprehend at later speculation) the cross ethnic romances and the trans geographic romances. The vied interests fusing to make room for love, and the striving mother working to make a life for her child.

This is one movie that will take you through all the shades of emotion the human soul can display and within those 1 and a half hours. Critically some storyline could be a little more elaborated but the way I see it, its the open ending that gives it more strength and leaves you more satisfied.

Must watch...(and after you do, replies here please!! specially if this review made you go watch!!)

FROM BEHIND THE BOOKMARK

A birthday Present...read on!!!

Why is it that the most amazing reads are that of the NRI perspective? Let me elaborate on this. I was about a year back quite averse to reading Indian Authors, simply because i felt there wasn't sufficient drive for the imagination and I was able to easily relate to it. Hence the lack of excitement.

Then one day I came across a book called "A 100 Shades of White" by Preeti Duggal in The British Council Library (BCL). THe story quite sweet really was of this keralite woman who is the Indian version of Penelope Cruise in the move "Woman on Top". For the illiterate, amazing cooking skills and almost a sixth sense in food and its therapeutic properties. However after moving to England she becomse estranged from her family, and her husband leaves her for another woman, eventually after scraping at the ground (metaphorically ofcourse) she survives the drugery moves onto better things and fights for her children, raises them and stuff, eventually finds her way back to Kerela to where her mother was rumored to have lived and finds her grave and cottage which has been abandoned and eventually thus discovers something , something being herself. But she needed that whole journey to the west to find her origins.

U.R Ananthamurthy in his Essay "being a writer in India" points to this journey to the West to find ones roots and origins. Its many a Indian author who takes this trip, both methaphorically, in their books or literally. The counter to this is obviously very recently Shantaram, but then thats a foreigner in India if i'm not wrong. This journey I found sets some very similar patterns in a lot of novels and i wouldn;t list them out here but if you are an avid reader you will come across many such examples.

Now to cut to the point. I've just finished reading "The Kite Runner" and "Memoirs of a Geisha" what is a clear contrast is while in the former the author/ protagonist is based in USA while the novel is a journey back to Afghanistan after a childhood there to make up a past shortcoming the latter is foreign author writing about a tradition in Japan. What ofcourse is missing is the Middle Path so to speak......the citizen writing of his own country, now I know there is plenty of that around, no case in point here. The thing is Some how this would have the least appeal to me, and others like me, once again because I can easily relate to this. While I do maintain that a realistic story written by an author about and in his own country (being different from mine ) will elicit some interest but this would eventually become a drab.

What appeals after Fantasy Fiction is the interaction of cultures so to speak. SO nextime you need to know what to get me for a birthday present.....here you go!!!

FROM THE SILVER SCREEN

Spiderman 3!!!

Oh Kay!! so Crap!!! more Crap!!! and an effing load of bullshit!!!

So lets get the good stuff outta the way first...the graphics and cinematography was great!! and the fight scenes specially the beginning between Harry Osborn and Peter Parker (goblin) and (Spidey)
and thats about it....

So now, let me tell you on a scale of 1 - 5, I'll give it 1.3......... take away 1 for being 3 maddening hours long!!! Another 0.5 goes for Dunst Screaming and shrieking and crying. Take away another 0.2 for the french Maître de being such a whorish Lombard!!! Then subtract 0.7 for the sound of music that defeats venom...who has no physical features to start with and is a blob of black creeping goo...and sand man.....like Sushant said in his review asked what next crap man??? so how much is that....... 2.4 outta 5!! that leaves 2.6 to go or another 1.3 since i gave it 1.3............
so Minus 1 for Killing Harry just when it got good!! and the last 0.3 for Toby Maguire growing balls on screen in the black suit and the freakish hairdo!!!


Now, like Ron said if Shah Rukh and Kajol were to jump out and do a jig it wouldn't surprise......the bollywood twist is so sad, but at least the west is borrowing from us!! yay!!!
( oozing sarcasm!!) What is with the corny lines and the American flag behind spidey when he goes jumping to save the shrieking waitress!!! The movie could have done with so much more charater building....and was ridiculously predictable, and for gods sake change the cast!!! Toby has no balls till hez the black spidey and Dunst just cant shut her whore shrieks...!!! ANd sandman??? can cry??? what Slush only happens with water????? ummm tears are liquid???? and for heavens sake?? giant sandman???? thats like a bit too much......

suffice to say the spiderman hype isnt gonna be around till the 4th and lets hope for sum brains and no 4th!! atleast not when blockbusters like shrek and pirates 3 are!!!!!!!!!!

Zazoore


Sing that song, the lyrics were torn
they rent the air, the curtains were shorn
smelt fire and ice, the burning bone
saying and sworn to never let you alone

It blew the Wind, the sand caught in hand
it slipped it became water it ran over land,
All clothed in draping rags, Zazoore saw the crags
the Mountains of Efornost and the icy stags

He struggled against the heated wind, the stormy sands
to reach across with burning hand, stretching fingers to mountain lands
the wind raged and wept, it blew shards of jagged sand, blotted the light,
it scratched, it tore Zazoore's eyes and blew away his sight.

The burnt feet still trudged, the knees weary, paining, still budged
With a howling strain, it blew across the dry desert called rese-grudge
The whipping wind, with its million frenzied teeth beating to a crazy drum beat
the sound of the camelled hood, the riders that flesh did eat
what was he to do? Zazoore called for aid..to who he apealed?
those peals swept away in a sand ridden wind and the lips were torn, bloodied and peeled

The drum now beat with each heart beat, the blind cry, the lame walk in the deep
Zazoore with each step drained away more life more hope he felt the fear creep.
They say in Efornost there lived a beautiful sprite, afar above in colden might
the sprite that saw with eyes as blue as the frozen ice, and when aid seemed right
descended on the icy stag to meet the burning Camel back,
with a crystal sword met the burning rod, to free the fright and bring hope to them that lack!

Zazoore with the drums in a flaming circle
Zazoore with a whip lash and a burnt mantle
he defied the flaming circle
and whipped out a knife!!

A knife to fight blazing whips and killing sands?
A knife to fight in rese grudge lands?
Or a knife to end the sad sad story of his life?

A rumble of a mountain Efornost, a crumble of a glacier soon to be lost
A decending white cloud, a stillness of sand not sound,
The first free frosts of winters soul so long ago lost
and there apon a white stag, came the sprite, the bane of sand
with a glittering gleam and sparkling sheen
the crystal sword unleashed a fury of razor knifes...

The Camels turned, the hoods, they burned
the frost to match with searing sand, the crystal slew the blazon land
raised one hand and rent the sand, swept a stroke and felled the burning brand
the burning whips the rent the ice, steam and vapor when fire met ice!!!

Zazoore was blind, the blaze had burnt his sight,
his lips were torn the fiery murder had burnt it blight,
the sprite fended of the last brave hooded camel, the sprite saw in crystal orb
the retreating blob, of burnt messy, bloody camels lob
Its fierce icy eyes,blue orbs, turned on Zazoore the blind
and then what went through in its mind..........