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Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Silly question?? I don’t know


This is not going to be a conventional blog post of mine, one that’s going to bludgeon its way past the 1000-word barrier I usually set for myself and end up breaking habitually. It’s about a thought, a question that breezed past my mind as I watched trains screech to a halt on both sides of the platform; as the sweepers waltzed to and fro delicately holding on to one of those brooms that are characterized by long handles; as I was subconsciously trying to steal the attention of the lovely lass sitting beside me though she had dug deep into that novel of hers; as I laughed deep within because she reminded me of this(she was lanky and had long legs as well) 

I have been reading a lot of history of late and as I sat there in my chair observing the surroundings, thinking about what I had read and also fantasizing about the girl beside me, this fellow PROUDHON’S famous assertion, “property is theft” struck my mind. This Proudhon fella is known to be quite a rebel and a controversial thinker. At this point, I won’t be able to conclude if this statement of his influenced my line of thinking, but I thought this post would be meaningless if I didn’t mention his name. After all, how can I afford to call a post about a thought process complete, without contemplating about the origin of the process?


I have always been fascinated by trains and train journeys. Check this . This time, a simple (silly?) question struck my mind. Why does the person who pays more enjoy greater benefits? How many cases of first generation AC passengers do we see today? People who travel by AC or first class compartments mostly do so only because they’ve been entitled to better resources right from their childhood. In other words, it’s pretty clear that they are not beneficiaries of their own Karma, especially students. So why is not possible to have a first-come first serve system where the person who books the ticket first gets to enjoy better benefits? Its implementation is obviously going to be an arduous process, close to impossible I guess. But it isn’t wrong to dream, is it? Whaddya think?

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Anna and Hazaar problems


Coimbatore, a city that’s quite different from Chennai, my hometown is apparently destined to witness a student upsurge in a bid to join Anna Hazare and a dozen other talking heads on TV in their fight against corruption. I am yet to reach a consensus characterised by clarity on this issue; I am still oblivious and confused about a lot of things in pertinence to the whole saga. I have been a silent spectator of the thousands of debates that have been happening on Facebook.
The members of the civil society themselves seem to have different stances on the nature of Lokpal that should make the final cut. The opposition, as usual is busy uniting the “majority” on the issue with secessionist forces working overtime to paint the town orange. The ruling party meanwhile is craving for the support of the minorities urging them to call the movement undemocratic. The Netas meanwhile have been equivocating and contributing to the rich, old tradition of the Congress by spouting nonsense 24*7. The media is hyperactive as ever, discovering and rediscovering various angles to the protests, inventing or even creating a few occasionally. The “experts” have been quite cynical and haven’t minced words by calling it an undemocratic movement. The general public, on the other hand, are at their garrulous best: clichés are omnipresent. Some call it India’s second war of independence, some are equating Anna to Gandhi or JP, and some are associating the scenario with the ones in Tunisia and Egypt. Some people sincerely believe that the inception of the Lokpal is gonna bring about a radical change and that its members possess magic wands that are likely to completely wipe out corruption. Few people understand that Anna Hazare is Anna Hazare and not Harry Potter!
I personally feel that it’s plain absurd to call it India’s second war of independence and refer to Anna as the contemporary version of Gandhi simply because the ground rules are different. Back then, we were fighting an alien imperialist force that was dictating terms and hell bent on keeping us on a lower plane; the convenience of an established system of representative governance was not available at our disposal. With a democracy in place, there is no need for us to take up an aggressive anti-establishment stance; atleast for the enlightened middle class that knows nothing about the struggles of the oppressed that are fighting a charged up capitalist class. There is no term in English to describe or abuse the comparisons of this movement to the ones in Egypt and Libya. It’s a blatant insult that’s been designed to hurt and abuse the concept of logical thinking and rationalism.
The biggest joke, however, is the belief system that the mere passing of the bill will lead to the eradication of corruption. I have my own reservations and queries about the constituent members of the Lokpal:
1.       How can we afford to select the members purely on the basis of faith and past records? What’s the guarantee that power won’t corrupt the committee after the bill is legitimised?
2.       Isn’t there a high probability that certain communities may remain unrepresented in the Lokpal and hence, feel insecure? When I talk about communities, there are infinite grounds of classification to complicate things.  Classification can be based on geographical, religious, casteist, political and ideological basis.
3.       How can there possibly be a proper system of selection wherein a team that satiates most of the people, other than a plebiscite? And in case a plebiscite is arrived upon as the method of selection, how can we even dream of a team devoid of political leanings?

I also feel that it’s unfair to bring the PM under the ambit of the Lokpal. Any minor reference or a trivial allegation by the Lokpal against the PM may initiate a nationwide upheaval which in turn will initiate a domino effect on the opposition and the media. So the PM will be forced to put all his responsibilities including that as the leader of the ministry on hold; nationwide calls for his resignation will become inevitable and a person of supreme national importance will be reduced to a position of helpless self-defence.

Calling it a totally undemocratic movement is an argument that doesn’t hold water though. 65 years post-independence, we are still being ruled by the same family that took over the reins as soon as the clock struck twelve on the 15th of August 1947 though they have been far from efficient in terms of alleviation of the various problems that plague the country. It says a lot of things: about the lack of options (a proper opposition that is), about the high-handedness and oppressive tendency of the ruling party (though that’s an issue that’s definitely not beyond debate) and the general tendency of the Indian public to constantly ignore the power of democracy and the serious issues that result when one chooses to neglect the duties of a citizen of a democratic regime. So the whole concept of democracy and its functionality in a country known for its diversities needs a re-think. I think we need to be quite liberal about its definition. The people have taken to the streets to fight corruption today simply because the popular definition of democracy seems to have failed them. Since the outcry against corruption is unanimous, peaceful and doesn’t marginalise anyone at the moment, I think it’s ok to take the liberty to call it a neo-democratic movement that places people’s views at the forefront. But the point is, if and when we dedicate one-tenth of the time and effort we have put in to make this movement a resounding success to our democratic duty, won’t the world be a much better place to live in? Do Anna and gang have the guts to take it to the next level and educate people about their responsibilities as citizens of a democracy? Do they have it in them to contest the next general elections and win it on the basis of good faith? Will the ever hypocritical middle class keep their casteist, religious preferences aside and vote for them?

Another critical point put forth by cynics with respect to middle class hypocrisy and media preferences is the constant snubbing of fasts orchestrated by Medha Patkar, Irom Sharmila and others for significant causes that demand attention. I think it’s not reasonable to expect the middle class to join the struggle against a cause that they can hardly relate to. On the hindsight, the media should take the blame for not sensationalising non-glamorous issues.  At the end of the day, I think nothing’s gonna change unless we evolve from species longing for spicy news on the arrest of a high profile minister to responsible citizens willing to contribute whole heartedly to the functioning of the democracy.


Sunday, June 5, 2011

BABA'S FAST: AN IPL TWIST

1st “Power” play: Baba threatens the UPA by expressing his desire to go on a hunger strike against corruption. Expects a capacity crowd of ten million people!

Strategic time out1: UPA high command gets into a huddle and UPA’s man for all seasons, their own version of Subramaniam Badrinath, Kapil Sibal is sent in to silence the storm.

Middle overs: Team Orange’s domination is evident but home team UPA manages to strike a few important blows. Uses decision review to protect a few of its important players like the PM!

“Citi” moment of success: There is no stopping the Baba! He storms out of the conference hall, raises his hand in triumph as an imaginary crowd goes berserk in front of him. The fast will go on as scheduled!

“Karbonn” Kamaal catch: RSS and BJP cheerleaders clad in orange are found waiting outside. They lure the Baba with their orange jerseys and a few black suitcases. CNN-IBN reports a 140 decibel roar heard from inside the Shiv Sena’s office. One sainik tells reporters that they have caught the big fish! Bewildered by the statement’s contradiction to the RSS’s pro-vegetarian stance, the reporter walks back!

Innings break: Singh Digvijaya, AICC’s glamorous host gets candid with the Baba. Baba talks about his modern thoughts and chronologically relevant ideologies like imposing a ban on coffee, tea and cola, directing homosexuals to asylums, ban on 500 and 1000 rupee notes etc. He stresses on the importance of bringing back black money stashed in tax havens. At this juncture, he gets a beep from the “left” hand side of the playground, a certain “Karat” who’s got nothing to do with gold jewellery, elucidating details about his “peace” island in Scotland. Baba puts his phone on silent and replies with a “ ttyl :x “!

2nd “power” play: Sadhvi Rithambhara, a renowned secularist according to the people on the right hand side who has made innumerable anti-Muslim speeches and was an integral part of a movement of supreme national importance (read babri masjid demolition), joins the bandwagon thus making it a perfectly non-communal movement! Home team launches a counter-attack: police forces swoop down on Ramdev and co.

Strategic time out: Baba sneaks out by wearing a salwar.

Off-field gossip: actor Vadivelu spotted in the crowd. Wait, he’s on the big screen too! Vijaykant’s number engaged!

Middle overs: Rebuilding phase for the Baba! Meanwhile a m(o)ody(i) guy from Gujarat refers to police action as an act of barbarism and ravanlila at ramlila!

Slog overs: Baba dares the police to arrest him. The orange gang arrives in huge numbers to condemn the barbaric act!

Result: it’s a tie!! Bring on the super over. Ramdev suggests a venue change: Haridwar!

Elsewhere in Chennai, a boy named Soupy: Machaan, if the communists and the BJP get together during the next elections, they’ll have two things in common with the gayle-dilshan combo. What?

Me: don’t know.

Soupy: both of them are potentially explosive and they’re a left-right combination too!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

ANNA, WHERE ARE YOU?

NOTE: THIS BLOG ENTRY IS NOT MEANT TO MALIGN HUMANITARIAN, PHILANTHROPIST, SOCIAL ACTIVIST ANNA HAZARE’S IMAGE. JUST A FEW NAÏVE QUESTIONS FROM ANOTHER “COMMON MAN”, A VERY COMMON TERM NOW-A-DAYS!

• What happened to the jan-lokpal bill and the common man’s crusade against corruption?
• Why has the media stopped extensive coverage of the proceedings pertaining to the bill and the lokpal?
• The massive uproar, as they used to call it, was perfectly sandwiched between the IPL and the WC! Finger pointing is useless because the media resorts to the famous dialogue from the Rajini starrer Sivaji: “It’s a coincidence, damn it!”
• The elections, the results and the high profile arrests that preceded and followed the elections were important but why does the media have to dump one sensational story after another as soon as the pursuit for the next big one ends?
• Why did the media ignore the fact that the proposed lokpal bill was undemocratic? Why does it constantly assume that the voters are fools?
• Am I the only one who feels that the media is deliberately highlighting the issues that strike a chord with the middle class and the affluent? I don’t remember seeing farmer suicides and oppression on the first pages of newspapers or on primetime recently while I come across millions of posts on the aforementioned issues on the internet! Excuse me if I am wrong.
• Who are these crusaders btw? Film stars who don’t miss an opportunity to showcase their opulence in style, but transform into aam aadmis during tax raids, students who exhibit their patriotism only on facebook and during an indo-pak cricket match, foolish youngsters who satisfy themselves by believing that missed call campaigns and sms-propagandas are enough to win the second war of independence against corruption, the graduates lazing around in pursuit of the requisite documents to fly to the US and parents making the occasional financial “compromise”(read ‘bribe’) to send their sons/daughters abroad or exercise their illegally doped up financial might to push their offspring into a “reputed” engineering or medical college so that he/she can get placed in a MNC.
• Oh, I almost forgot the IT professionals and the call center employees who massage the egos of their foreign bosses, the sycophants who are ever-faithful to the western corporate world and the NRIs who innocently ignore custom duty!
• What is corruption? Paying off a traffic cop is not corruption, bribing a clerk or a queue supervisor for “fast service” is not corruption, manipulating salary slips and re-imbursable bills is not corruption but a minister swindling a “few” crores for the upcoming elections is corruption! Sorry if I sounded like a Shankar-film protagonist! In simpler terms, FUCK YOU HYPOCRITES!
• The solution: Stop complaining. No idea! Let’s laugh at Abhishek Bachchan instead!

Monday, December 27, 2010

“SU(O)N” RISE


The year 2010 is drawing to a close and while the process of the curtains being pulled down is going on in full swing, the focus of my mind strolled towards a rather alarming yet unaddressed trend that’s erupting in Kodambakkam. Yes, this year will remain etched in the memories of our fellow beings as a year of corruption and hence I perceive that the media had a lot of other important things to talk about. I happened to come across an article recently, when I was busy getting myself ready for a morning show of “Red giant movies” Manmadan ambu”, which proclaimed that Karunanidhi had famously announced that his assets accounted to just “5.65 crores” and that he neither had any benamis nor had he sponsored any financial venture involving anyone else. Alright!
As I rode to the theatre, my thoughts wavered between the movie I was going to watch and the article that I had read that morning till a point of convergence was arrived upon. I started thinking about the producer of the movie I was going to watch that day, who also happens to be one of MK’s grandsons. The flow of thoughts refused to ebb. I started analyzing the success of other Tamil movies. Most of them had one thing in common: they had been sponsored by one of the three sons of the “sun” fraternity. The big three I’m referring to are: “Kalanidhi Maran”, son of the late Murasoli Maran, “Dayanidhi Azhagiri”, son of MK Azhagiri and “Udhayanidhi Stalin”, son of deputy CM of TN, MK Stalin.
The first one’s a media baron whereas the other two assumed charge of two of the biggest production and distribution houses in TN immediately after college. Well, that makes it a sensational story: the kind of financial upsurge that was experienced by only a select few: Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame, Sarath Kumar in the movie Suryavamsam and Rajinikanth in Annamalai and many of his other movies. Mark’s story is out in filmy form as The Social Network, but a film on how the children of Tamil Nadu’s first family mastered the art of becoming kings of the Tamil film production industry is yet to be made. Perhaps, the sons themselves would end up acting and producing the movie and I presume it’ll serve as a source of inspiration for thousands of poor youth; they’d be made to believe that a monumental rise is after all, not impossible. Logically, these “sons” should have started from scratch as MK says he never sponsored a third party business, even if it involves his family (which is incidentally contributing monolithically to the population explosion): MK is to be believed no doubt, cos MK is an honourable man. And so are the others, cos they’re all all honourable men.
The story is even more awe inspiring because the success rate of the “big” production houses is astounding. “Cloud nine” has a success rate of 80% with four of the five movies that it has distributed so far turning out to be super hits. “Red giant” has a success rate of 85.71% with six out of seven of his films turning out to be hits. “Sun pictures” has a success rate of 68.75% with eleven of their 16 endeavours proving profitable. We also have to take notice of the fact that “Sun Pictures” have produced two movies produced by actor Vijay, who seems to be having a horrendous run at the box office with a record five flops on the trot due to his horrible selection of scripts; he also seems to have run out of luck, which has often been instrumental in his occasional success. Hence Sun pictures’ success rate can be approximated to 78.5%.
All the aforementioned numbers seem orotund when we consider the fact that only 12% of the total movies that release in a year become hits. One family controls the whole Tamil cine industry, an analogy to the political scenario prevailing in Tamil Nadu! I also happened to notice another disturbing fact: an unassuming look at the list of movies that have been “made” hits by the all-powerful trio left me shell shocked. The fact that movies like Thenavattu, Masilamani, Aadhavan are able to churn out oodles of money due to “intelligent” promotion tactics, underlines the abysmal state of Tamil cinema. It’s plain and simple: the success or failure of a movie doesn’t depend on the actor or the director; it plainly depends on the house that’s producing the flick. “They” have monopolized the industry.
One important yet unlikely beneficiary of this monopoly seems to be another son! A son who’s not related to the “sun” fraternity; actor Sivakumar’s son Suriya (sun)! Suriya’s last five flicks have been produced or distributed by the terrific trio of the industry, which seems to have had a major influence on the outcome of the movies. His acting capabilities and adroitness at choosing scripts is unquestionable though one would be tempted to attribute the extent of success of his movies to the production houses.
A resolution stating that “big” advertisements in newspapers are supposed to be given out only on milestone days like the day of the release, audio release, 25th day, fiftieth day etc was passed in the producers’ council. It now looks like that bill has gone to the dumps. The trio is also having a ball by rigorous and continuous promotion on self-owned TV channels. Special shows featuring the stars, screening of the movie trailer every five minutes, repeated playing of the movie songs on their respective music channels have only ensured that 110 small budget films produced by “others” are still lying in the cans.
The trio has thus managed to seal the fates of small-time producers who dream of making it big. On the flipside, keeping the legality of the money that’s being used by these concerns to produce flicks aside, they have the capacity to constructively contribute to the growth of the industry by shelling out the big bucks to produce big budget movies so that the Indian dream of producing a movie of “Hollywood” quality can be realized someday. That again, is a debatable issue!
But we got to realize that the power is in our hands: regardless of the publicity, we get to choose whether to watch or to not watch a movie. Decide. Intelligently…

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Kalaignar’s theory of opportune atheism

This article is a dedication to the connoisseur and founder of a non-religious religion termed opportune atheism. The great soul in question is none other than our “Manbhumighu” Tamil Nadu chief minister Mr.Karunanithi. According to the genius (no pun intended), one can choose to believe or not believe in god with regard to the situation. Hence, you may end up being a theist for 60% of your lifetime and an atheist for the rest of your life in spite of having the “privilege” of calling yourself an atheist during the whole life span.
I can’t help marveling at the power of this philosophy which has worked wonders for “Kalaignar”. God ceased to exist when he was campaigning for the DMK in the open grounds of Tamil Nadu in front of the masses but god sprang back to “life” when Karunanithi was “begging” the self-styled god-man Sai Baba shamelessly to offer financial help to clean up Cooum. He went to the extent of equating Sai Baba to god. Where is the question of comparing someone to god when one believes that god doesn’t exist? Kalaignar was all smiles when his own family members and “wives” fell on the god-man’s feet. Does this man have no convictions? I can’t help feeling bad for this individual because his own family members don’t seem to be having any kind of respect for his opinions.
He allegedly shared the stage with two more spiritual gurus, Mata Amritanandamayi and Sakthi Narayani Amma. Consistency and belief find no place in Kalaignar’s dictionary. Selfish motives and promotion of family interests seem to be his only preferences. It looks like a deliberate attempt to change his image and acquire acceptability amongst theist masses.
While he expects everyone to accept his command over Tamil in spite of the absence of a graduation certificate in Tamil to his name, what prompts him to think that lord Ram couldn’t have been an expert engineer because he didn’t possess a certificate to endorse his prowess. While he chooses to believe in the Tamil legend that Kannagi set the city of Madurai on fire in spite of absence of proof of her prowess in such a mystic art, why does he choose to not believe in Rama’s mastery in engineering?
Karunanithi is entitled to have his way. But what is he trying to achieve by means of mockery of popular beliefs? Has all these years of experience done nothing to instill a feeling of responsibility and respect for others’ feelings in this octogenarian? When is he going to address his own inconsistencies? Tamil poets like Thiruvalluvar, Avvaiyar had no doctorates to their credit! Does that make them lesser mortals? By virtue of possession of a piece of paper which looks inconsequential, does he feel he has become the greatest exponent of Tamil to have ever existed? Is there no end to this seemingly eternal spree of egotism?
The chicken in Karunanithi came to the fore on the thousandth year celebrations of the Brihadeeshwara temple. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated just a few weeks after she visited the temple and took the eastern entrance. Former Tamil Nadu chief minister and Karunanithi’s old buddy, M.G. Ramachandran became sick after taking the same gate and never recovered! This self-confessed rationalist and dispeller of superstitions clandestinely chose to take an alternative entrance. Hats off, sir!
Cho Ramasamy, noted journalist was shrewd enough to note that Kalaignar was wearing a white angavastram instead of the usual yellow one. White angavastrams are known to ward off evil forces and Karunanithi could have possibly acted as per the advice of an astrologer.
I'm not against atheism. It’s personal opinion. But hypocrisy has to be condemned. There should be no two ways about it!