Me, and my pattawala

In the Indian bureaucracy, the position of a peon – or “pattawala” as we call them in Gujarat – stands out for its uniqueness. The peon in any government office is the unofficial receptionist, bouncer, gopher and information provider. Who else will tell you which officer sits where and who has been transferred and to where. A cup of chai with them can turn into some jolly good office-gossip time.

I have spent a year working for the government out of a suitcase — in waiting rooms with my laptop, in the conference room if it was too hot and I needed the air conditioning, and sometimes in the secretary’s chamber if he was generous enough. I finally got my own office last week, and yes, having your own office in the government means having your own pattawala. Mine is called Dharmendrabhai, in his 50s, and hard of hearing, nevertheless possessive and ensuring that he does his utmost to keep me happy. Normally, between an officer and his/her peon, there is a love-hate relationship, i.e. either he loves you or hates you! Luckily in my case, Dharmendra kaka falls in the former category, at least as of now!

A typical peon is a longstanding government employee, frequently over 50, with all the knowledge of the government’s workings that lengthy experience can bring. That is invaluable especially if one is a consultant, as I am, rather than someone recruited through one of the many government exams and has a better idea of how letters are to be signed and where to submit what documents. Here, a peon can guide one through the warren of government offices and throw in some useful insider information, too.

However, all is not rosy, when it comes to the IPS, or the Indian Peon Service as many of my colleagues in the government jest. In my experience, they tend to suffer from the same malaise as the rest of the government: They can only be hired, and not fired! And yes, that too by not someone directly above them, but by a different administration department altogether making the recruitment and reporting process lengthy, as is the case with almost all government recruitment, be it of teachers or other officers.

So a lot of officers struggle with their peons, if they are getting paid almost 20,000 rupees a month thanks to the Sixth Pay Commission, there is no way they are going to clean an office or bring tea without being repeatedly prompted. Add to this there being recruitment of contractual workers. In institutions that are, by nature, hierarchical, I perhaps should not have been surprised to find that peons have their own peons. Contractual workers are hired to fill vacancies in the department because depending on the finance available, there are only so many peons departments can request the nodal department to recruit.  Of course since many officers tend to be in meetings or travel often and since every senior officer has his/her own peon, a lot of them don’t have much to do while the officer is out. (Which explains a common scene in government offices – the peon dozing off on the chair!)

Arriving in a government office can be like a foreigner’s first visit to India: You are struck by the number of people loitering as soon as you land! The group of peons, the contractual workers, occasionally peons from other departments visiting for tea.  But take a look at the office premises, and if you get a chance, tour the kitchens, and you realize how little gets done. Peons, like most officers, are hired through a common administration system, and thus can only be transferred by them. Removing them of course is not an option; it is as difficult as firing an Indian Administrative Service officer without the former having the kind of immunity the IAS officers enjoy.

It pains me to see so much infrastructure in the government not being maintained  and so many salaries being paid for absolute inefficiency and the poor young contractual peon running around while his older permanent counterparts down hundreds of paper cups of soup from the government office vending machine. Of course, it seems more obvious with the peons because we don’t peek into the government offices to see the many lower-rung babus playing solitaire (and some senior ones too!) or constantly reading one of the many free dailies that the government offices get, like ‘Crime News’ in our office. These are just symptoms of a system we have designed where staff cuts or salary cuts are unheard of, and a merest hint of cleaning the system up would be met by a lot of unionized dharnas.

I guess it has to start with our entire system, where we refuse to hold anyone accountable, and go on adding them to our muster rolls – Gujarat has 5 lakh government employees, Maharashtra, 14 lakh, I wonder how many in all would be there in India, and how many right at this hour, would be dozing off or making some poor fellow wait for a little attestation, or a signature on some document and getting sadistic pleasure out of that little power they have.

Orissa Diary

My ideas about Orissa, the state on the east coast of India was restricted to only two things- it is one of the poorest states of India, economically, after Bihar, and that it is frequented by cyclones.
Thankfully, this trip had lots to offer to clarify my pre meditated notions about the place. I had an opportunity to visit this beautiful state through an NGO called SRISTI, we were 70 travelers, from different parts of India, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerela etc. and from varied backgrounds, professors, farmers and their families, students. So, this medley group set out in the first week of May for Bhubneshwar.
The train journey, fun as usual, nothing is more exciting than traveling by the ‘Sleeper Class’ in India! And especially for someone like me who loves to talk! I had a good chance to polish my Gujarati, and learn Oriya during the 2 day journey.

7th May
We reached Bhubhneshwar on the 7th and I took off for Konark with a friend (My first biking trip!). And here began the ‘journey of shattering myths’! The road from Bhubhneshwar to Konark (Around a distance of 100 kms) is one of the most picturesque in the world. The roads are lined with lush parrot green fields of rice, canals, and mud houses with the traditional tribal paintings in white on them. Oh, and the wind…it is mind ‘blowing’!! (I lost my favorite blue satin scarf to it!)We took many stops on the way (I should thank Sayan, my friend for being extremely patient with me as I made him stop from a speed of 80 suddenly so that I could collect some cashew fruits from the road or collect these lovely lavender colored flowers!) since I had decided to follow Lao Tzu this time and his famous quote,

“ A good travel is never in a hurry to arrive at the destination’
We reached Pipali at noon which is famous for its handicraft named ‘Chandua’, umbrellas made of multi hued clothes and adorned with glasswork. I shopped (Am a compulsive shopaholic) and then we set off again towards the Sun Temple. Konark was supposed to be a port town in the earlier times built by King Narsimhan in the 11th century (I hope I got that right!) and had a huge magnet inserted on the top of the temple so that the enemy ships got destroyed on the shore as they were powerfully attracted to it and lost control. Apparently, invaders took the magnet away, but the temple has still lots to offer in terms of architecture and sculptures. I was amazed by the ingenuity of it, the idea of it being on a chariot with horses and flanked by giant wheels is a must see!

Next stop was the famous Marine Drive (Bears some resemblance to the one in Mumbai!) at a distance of some kilometers from the temple. It is this stretch of road that leads to the beach, and the beach called Chandrabhanu is perfect, not too crowded, not commercialized, ideal to take a long walk…

I made by way back to the railway station after this to take my train to Koraput, a district, south of Orissa, supposedly the place where rice farming took birth. The train journey this time was rather interesting; I shared the compartment with a management professor from Bhubhneswar, a senior government servant from Delhi, an Ayurveda practitioner from a village near Bangalore, and an old ‘Kaka’ from Junagadh. I can say that I had one of the best debates on every issue from India’s stand on Pakistan, the Naxal movement, the possibility of a Third World War and what not! And of course also got tips about how to have a glowing skin from Vaidya Sridharji, our Ayurveda practitioner, and why I should take up classical dancing because I had the eyes of a classical dancer! (One of the best compliments I’ve ever got!)

8th May
We reached Koraput on 8th morning, and went to the government quarters at Pottangi, a town in Koraput, and the day wore on without us venturing out too much. The highlight was the arrival of my professor in the evening and of course, my first taste of a proper Oriya meal, rice, dal, and potatoes in gravy, all served in a plate made out of leaves. For the next 7 days, our standard lunch and dinner consisted of this without any change in the recipe. 9th morning or the D-Day (Since the purpose for which I had come to this place officially commenced today) I woke up at 4am (Extremely disturbing phenomena which was restricted only to Orissa, sleeping at 12 and instantly up without an alarm at 4!) and went on the morning hunt (Hunt for water, and a place where I could take a bath, I call it a place, since there were no bathrooms most of the time)

(To be continued – my eventful week traveling on foot in the tribal areas of Koraput and the quick trip to Bastar, the ‘Selva Judum’ district)

Okay, blame it on my muses! I really didn’t have the inclination somehow combined with lack of time to write the sequel to this! But then, fortunately for me and all my blog visitors (God! Do I sound pompous or what!) the North West Monsoon hit Chennai and well, the rains got me back to my writing desk, or should I say got the laptop back on my lap!!

So, let me take you back again to Orissa, and test my memory to see if I remember everything from the trip that I made 6 months ago! Okay, getting back to 9th morning, I finished my ablutions in time to help prepare the cook of a nearby dhaba from where our breakfast was supposed to come to prepare puris. That itself was an experience since I am not used to handling white flour, but thankfully, the cook there was sympathetic and let me experiment a bit before I could get a knack of preparing the puris! Our “Shodhyatra” began sharp at 9am from a temple dedicated to the river Ganges in Pottangi.

The concept of Shodhyatra is unique, its purpose is to find and document traditional knowledge. Innovation is something that is not restricted to furnished and well equipped laboratories, but can happen under the thatched roof of a villager whose income is less that a dollar a day. Our purpose was also to find out about the traditional methods used by them which were collectively owned and passed from generation to generation by word of mouth, much like our folklores.
Getting back to the temple where the official inauguration of the yatra happened, we had a couple if government officials like the Block Development Officer, and others presiding over it. One thing I realized at that time was how my knowledge of Civics (Which I prided myself on, being an Arts student) was actually minimal. I didn’t even know how states are divided into blocks, and the different hierarchies that exist in the bureaucratic system. (Believe it or not, but am reading up my 10th grade CBSE Civics textbook again to know all about it!) Oh, and one more important discovery I made during this session was that Biotique products are genuinely herbal! I had applied this biotique sunscreen and apparently because of the fruit content, I was attracting a lot of fruit flies! (To test this finding, I got 3 more people to apply it, and well, my hypothesis was proved right!)
We proceeded from the temple to the Champa Khanda High School, 2-3 kilometers on foot. (I forgot to mention above that during the Shodhyatra, we are supposed to walk to every village which amounts to an average of 20kms of walking a day. The purpose being again to observe the farming practices and interact more with people we meet on the way and spread the message about innovations) Here we met some students who had documented various locally available plants and their uses. The uses can range from medicinal to agro based and miscellaneous.
But, the interesting aspect of traditional methods is that the usage would sometimes seem absolutely disconnected with the disease. For example, the remedy for a sprain in the leg was a decoction of ‘Brajkholi’ plant (local name) and sesame seed oil boiled and put behind the ears! This way, we visited a couple of more villages around, to document various uses of local flora and fauna.

Everywhere we went; we were treated with respect and made to feel at home. The welcome was of course very exciting with the traditional dance ‘dhemsa’ being performed wherever we went and I had a good time dancing with them, hands on the waist of the next dancer and so on, making a long chain of around 25 women and dancing till you actually reach the village.In one of the villages, impulsive that I am, I asked a lady that I wanted to wear the sari in their style (It is tied at the shoulders and looks very beautiful) and gladly the women there let me in one of their houses. None of the houses in that particular village had electricity and were mostly composed of a large room and maybe, another small extension of it which acted as the kitchen. Sanitation facilities were of course is normally available only in the house of one or two people in the village.

Another interesting aspect of the yatra is the part where we honor what we refer to as ‘Shatayus’ or men or women who have crossed the 100 years mark in terms of their age. It was amazing to see them living such healthy long lives and how spiritedly they came to receive the award. Our day ended with rest and dinner at Semiliguda village, where our stay arrangements were made at a local school. I slept on the roof of one of the classrooms with the starry sky above!

10th May
Day 2 of the Shodhyatra began at 4am for me. I located a hand pump, then went in search of buckets, and finally the toughest part came where I had to go around the nearby houses requesting the people if I could use their bathroom to take a bath! (Oddest request I’ve ever made!) In every village, thankfully, every woman I spoke to willingly agreed (I spoke broken Oriya and used hand gestures to convey what I needed). In this particular home, the bathroom turned out to be a small area outside the house, covered on 3 sides with bushes and on the 4th side, a jute bag acting as a makeshift door! It was an experience indeed to be bathing there, under the sky! Having done that, our group of yatris proceeded to the next village where we were holding a recipe competition, a unique one since the recipe had to be not only innovative, but also most nutritious.

The recipe contests were one of my favorites during the yatra since I am a foodie and enjoy trying out new cuisines all the time. In this part of Orissa, the tribals use a lot of ragi, rice and locally growing herbs and vegetables (Many of them unidentifiable!). This was also special since I got to taste the famous rice alcohol that they make!! From here, we moved to our next destination, Gunthaguda village to give the ideas and solutions we had to their problems in farming, animal husbandry, etc. Nothing much eventful happened on our way to Malimarla, the next village where our night halt was planned.

To be continued!Okay, blame it on my muses! I really didn’t have the inclination somehow combined with lack of time to write the sequel to this! But then, fortunately for me and all my blog visitors (God! Do I sound pompous or what!) the North West Monsoon hit Chennai and well, the rains got me back to my writing desk, or should I say got the laptop back on my lap!!

9th May
So, let me take you back again to Orissa, and test my memory to see if I remember everything from the trip that I made 6 months ago! Okay, getting back to 9th morning, I finished my ablutions in time to help prepare the cook of a nearby dhaba from where our breakfast was supposed to come to prepare puris. That itself was an experience since I am not used to handling white flour, but thankfully, the cook there was sympathetic and let me experiment a bit before I could get a knack of preparing the puris! Our “Shodhyatra” began sharp at 9am from a temple dedicated to the river Ganges in Pottangi.

The concept of Shodhyatra is unique, its purpose is to find and document traditional knowledge. Innovation is something that is not restricted to furnished and well equipped laboratories, but can happen under the thatched roof of a villager whose income is less that a dollar a day. Our purpose was also to find out about the traditional methods used by them which were collectively owned and passed from generation to generation by word of mouth, much like our folklores.
Getting back to the temple where the official inauguration of the yatra happened, we had a couple if government officials like the Block Development Officer, and others presiding over it. One thing I realized at that time was how my knowledge of Civics (Which I prided myself on, being an Arts student) was actually minimal. I didn’t even know how states are divided into blocks, and the different hierarchies that exist in the bureaucratic system. (Believe it or not, but am reading up my 10th grade CBSE Civics textbook again to know all about it!) Oh, and one more important discovery I made during this session was that Biotique products are genuinely herbal! I had applied this biotique sunscreen and apparently because of the fruit content, I was attracting a lot of fruit flies! (To test this finding, I got 3 more people to apply it, and well, my hypothesis was proved right!)
We proceeded from the temple to the Champa Khanda High School, 2-3 kilometers on foot. (I forgot to mention above that during the Shodhyatra, we are supposed to walk to every village which amounts to an average of 20kms of walking a day. The purpose being again to observe the farming practices and interact more with people we meet on the way and spread the message about innovations) Here we met some students who had documented various locally available plants and their uses. The uses can range from medicinal to agro based and miscellaneous.
But, the interesting aspect of traditional methods is that the usage would sometimes seem absolutely disconnected with the disease. For example, the remedy for a sprain in the leg was a decoction of ‘Brajkholi’ plant (local name) and sesame seed oil boiled and put behind the ears! This way, we visited a couple of more villages around, to document various uses of local flora and fauna.

Everywhere we went; we were treated with respect and made to feel at home. The welcome was of course very exciting with the traditional dance ‘dhemsa’ being performed wherever we went and I had a good time dancing with them, hands on the waist of the next dancer and so on, making a long chain of around 25 women and dancing till you actually reach the village.In one of the villages, impulsive that I am, I asked a lady that I wanted to wear the sari in their style (It is tied at the shoulders and looks very beautiful) and gladly the women there let me in one of their houses. None of the houses in that particular village had electricity and were mostly composed of a large room and maybe, another small extension of it which acted as the kitchen. Sanitation facilities were of course is normally available only in the house of one or two people in the village.

Another interesting aspect of the yatra is the part where we honor what we refer to as ‘Shatayus’ or men or women who have crossed the 100 years mark in terms of their age. It was amazing to see them living such healthy long lives and how spiritedly they came to receive the award. Our day ended with rest and dinner at Semiliguda village, where our stay arrangements were made at a local school. I slept on the roof of one of the classrooms with the starry sky above!

10th May
Day 2 of the Shodhyatra began at 4am for me. I located a hand pump, then went in search of buckets, and finally the toughest part came where I had to go around the nearby houses requesting the people if I could use their bathroom to take a bath! (Oddest request I’ve ever made!) In every village, thankfully, every woman I spoke to willingly agreed (I spoke broken Oriya and used hand gestures to convey what I needed). In this particular home, the bathroom turned out to be a small area outside the house, covered on 3 sides with bushes and on the 4th side, a jute bag acting as a makeshift door! It was an experience indeed to be bathing there, under the sky! Having done that, our group of yatris proceeded to the next village where we were holding a recipe competition, a unique one since the recipe had to be not only innovative, but also most nutritious.

The recipe contests were one of my favorites during the yatra since I am a foodie and enjoy trying out new cuisines all the time. In this part of Orissa, the tribals use a lot of ragi, rice and locally growing herbs and vegetables (Many of them unidentifiable!). This was also special since I got to taste the famous rice alcohol that they make!! From here, we moved to our next destination, Gunthaguda village to give the ideas and solutions we had to their problems in farming, animal husbandry, etc. Nothing much eventful happened on our way to Malimarla, the next village where our night halt was planned.

The present education system makes the students illiterate

When I think about this, a fable that I read as a child comes to me.
Once upon a time, the animals decided that they must do something heroic to meet the challenges of the new world. So they organized a school. The curriculum consisted of running, climbing, swimming and flying and all the animals were to take all the subjects.
The duck was excellent in swimming, in fact, even better than his instructor but performed poorly in flying and running. Being slow at running, it had to stay after school and also drop swimming to practice running. This continued till its webbed-feet were badly worn and now it got merely an average at swimming. The squirrel got a straight A in climbing but was frustrated in the flying class as it kept on falling from the tree top! The rabbit scored well in running but had a nervous breakdown while desperately trying to swim. At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim very well, and also climb, fly and run a little was given the first rank.

Does this story have a moral?
Obviously, it is the replica of our present education system. In the name of overall development, we have perhaps lost the focus on individuality. Many of you here might be good at particular sport say rugby, some might be geniuses at creating computer games, and some maybe good at a subject like say paleontology. But you can’t pursue it as a career in India at least. Even if you want to, you need to have the security of a degree to go ahead. And what exactly does this security offer? A student who has graduated from the renowned College of Commerce can’t even decipher the budget!
Mark Twain, creator of the character Tom Sawyer”, a favorite with children and adults alike has this to say,” In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice, then he made school boards.”

Another flaw of our system is the importance given to marks. At the time of exam results, I see young faces glittering with achievement. 80% is nothing, 85% is nothing, and very soon, even 90% will be nothing. I don’t deny that the students of today are very hardworking and intelligent, but do they really like what they study?
Let’s have a hypothetical situation, if the compulsory attendance system is scraped, most of us including myself would not attend lectures. Obviously I would rather sit at home studying at my own pace and ease than coming to college to hear the professor giving monotonous lectures and numerical figures which I am sure I’ll forget the very next day being hammered into my head !!
A liking after all doesn’t just come out of thin air. It is to be acquired and nurtured with the actual process of living. The result is evident in what we see today- while every year, many students stream out of IITs and IIMs and other educational institutes-the civil services, public utilities, the police, the judiciary, and the municipality all continue to function dismally.

GK Chesterton has put it in his essay “The 12 Men”, he says that
‘When a society requires a man to be sent on the moon or the depths of the sea to be explored, it calls upon the specialists. But when it wishes to do anything serious, it collects 12 of the ordinary men standing around. The same thing done by Gandhi and most other great leaders of the world. Then what do we need all this education for?
In Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’, I distinctly remember the dodo saying that
‘Why the best way to explain it is to do it’
Practical education is something that needs to be made more popular. We teach our BSc students the chemical formula of plastic, its merits and demerits and how it is harmful for the environment, but the very next moment, you see these very students coming out of the canteen tossing plastic cups all around. Isn’t that ironical!

Rather than giving a student a statement and asking him to accept it, he/she should be given a situation and asked to reflect upon it, and then make his own convictions and decisions. But in our system, if a student asks a question which is out of course, pat comes the reply,

‘Beta yeh to exams nahin puchenge, so you take these notes, Xerox them and mug them , then you will get a first-class in exams !!’ I think if we do not change this system, even if India has 100% literacy by the year 2020 or 2040 or whatever Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi has predicted, it would be of no use. Maybe at that time the song by the heavy metal band ‘Pink Floyd’ which was famous during the 60s, ‘We don’t need no education’ would make a grand comeback!!

Lost in Diplomacy!

Introduction

“Low-cost distance training courses in peacekeeping.” Doesn’t it sound like a paradox – teaching peace keeping in distance learning! But apparently, that is what most officers at the UNMOGIP (The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan) headquarters in Srinagar opt for! The UNO offers these courses to its personnel stationed in different parts of the world, and it has found many takers in the UNMOGIP office here in the Kashmir Valley. Not surprising, as since 1972, the UNMOGIP hardly has had any role to play in the Indo-Pak conflict over Kashmir. The result: 44 military observers, supported by 21 international civilian personnel and 46 local civilian staff, all hired for a job that no one knows!

Historical Background

The UN’s love affair with J&K began, among much speculation in 1948 at India’s request. Events preceding the accession of Kashmir to the Indian State saw Pakistani tribesmen along with regular troops invading and plundering the Valley forcing Maharaja Hari Singh, to accede to India and seek its protection. India agreed and the idea was to conduct a plebiscite to ascertain the people’s wishes once the situation normalized, because the peculiar case in Kashmir was, that a Hindu king presided over a dominant Muslim population. Even the leader of the largest political party, Sheikh Abdullah of the National Conference supported the accession to the secular Indian state. (It helped that he was on very good terms with Nehru who wanted Kashmir to have an elected representative, and not a king to head the state, which meant power to National Conference)

Diplomatic Manoeuvres

Post accession, the Indian army was sent to J&K to prevent the Pakistani army backed tribesmen, from taking over the capital. Repeated requests from the Indian side to Pakistan to stop support to the mercenary forces fell on deaf ears, and India decided to take the matter to the UN.  But it is interesting to note that initially, UN was nowhere in the picture, and India had been prepared to cross over into Pakistan to destroy the bases that had been providing support to the mercenaries. This idea was first suggested by Sheikh, but Nehru didn’t want to have a war with Pakistan which could ruin Kashmir and also lead to diversion of forces from Kashmir into Pakistan. It was only when repeated meetings with Pakistan failed to bring out any peaceful solution that Nehru revisited what Sheikh Abdullah had suggested. There is documental evidence to prove that Nehru wanted the Indian army to cross over into Pakistan and wage a war to ensure Kashmir and in turn India’s integrity was protected. Lord Mountbatten, the Governor General, then, alarmed at the prospect of an inter-dominion war within the British Commonwealth broached the idea of UN’s mediation to solve the issue. The exchange between Nehru and Mountbatten and the secret cables that kept Attlee informed in Britain tell us how the British made all efforts then to ensure that India would not be able to carry out its plans militarily. Two points need mention here, one, Nehru throughout these exchanges maintained that India would follow a two-pronged approach, that of requesting the UN to force Pakistan from supplying the tribesmen with military and logistical support, and simultaneously, India would continue to build military plans to invade. The second approach however was successfully thwarted as the Indian army still had British as the army-heads, and Mountbatten had considerable influence in the Defence Committee to ensure that this planning was prevented. Secondly, factors like India’s better military position in Kashmir towards the end of December, 1948 and the reason that India would have a better case at the UNSC if it didn’t militarily invade the country were also used by Mountbatten to convince Nehru.

One must not forget the external factors which might have come into play when Britain decided to side with Pakistan, it was of course in tandem with a strategy to not alienate Islamist countries completely, because in the same year, Palestine had been carved to form the new state of Israel.

Although Nehru is seen as an idealist, his stand on this issue did show glimpses of a realist, who despite pressures wanted no UN influence till the invaders were driven out and maintained that it was under the international law for India to counter-attack Pakistan in its self-defence. The over-rulings by the British and the propaganda to the other UNSC members, specifically the USA ensured that when the case did reach the UN in 1948, it was seen as a bilateral issue and not an aggression from one side.

The UN Resolutions

The UN involvement came in the form of the formation of UNCIP, or the ‘United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan’ which was established by Resolution 39 in 1948. Then, the UN drafted and passed Resolution 47 in April 1948 which called for withdrawal of the tribesmen by Pakistan and that of a phased withdrawal of Indian troops from Kashmir to leave only a minimum to maintain law and order. Both India and Pakistan, of course, did not accept this and in August the same year, UN tried to push the same resolution which India accepted reluctantly and Pakistan rejected. It must be noted that nowhere in these resolutions, was the Instrument of Accession mentioned, since the drafting was done exclusively with Britain ensuring that their image remained pro-Pakistan. The only achievement of UNCIP was the Karachi Agreement drawing a ceasefire line; (the current Line of Control is the same ceasefire line, briefly modified in 1972) and the cessation of hostilities in 1949.

The UNCIP was succeeded by the UNMOGIP, and it failed to conduct a plebiscite in the region due to two reasons,  Pakistan’s insistence on not withdrawing all its forces from the region which was set as a precondition by the August Resolution, and secondly, the disillusionment of India due to the UN’s  failure to condemn the ‘Azad Kashmir’ militia. In fact, India immediately realized its folly in approaching the UN when the Security Council led by Britain didn’t look at the issue in terms of aggression from one side, but more as a conflict where both parties were equal. After this, there was a war fought between India and Pakistan in 1965, UN kept a low profile and just requested both sides by a Resolution to respect the ceasefire line and withdraw their respective forces to their side of the border.

Post 1971 Bangladesh war, the ceasefire line was redrawn with minor changes and at this time, though the UN wanted to monitor it and make its presence felt, India during the Shimla Agreement of 1972, announced that it would like to solve this issue bilaterally only.

UN’s Current Involvement

Since then, though India offers UNMOGIP use of its territory, it has become very clear that it is not interested in any UN-initiated conflict resolutions. Ironically though, as mentioned above, to this day, the UNMOGIP’s headquarters are located in Srinagar and Rawalpindi and it has numerous offices in towns situated along the Line of Control.  People in Srinagar, sadly, still believe that the UN is their only hope, and organize long processions to the UNMOGIP building every time they want to protest about an issue. The UN spends as much as $ 15.80 million per year on infrastructure and personnel, a budget which could be put to much better use. Instead of organizing September 21 International Peace Day Celebrations and many other pompous functions, the UNMOGIP should either shut shop, or work with a smaller local staff on issues like education, health and other soft areas which have always been its forte.

It should also be understood that the mandate of the UN is governed by the veto wielding powers, even the closing of UNMOGIP is a decision which successive secretary generals have left to the Security Council. Boutras Boutras Ghali made a statement that showed that in his experience of holding the highest office of the UN, he had realized the limitations of UN’s powers.

“Unless the two sides approach us, we cannot get involved. If India and Pakistan approach the U.N. on this (Kashmir) issue, it will be ready to help. The best solution lies in direct contact between the two countries. It is said that Boutras Ghali, however did try to remove it from the Council’s list of pending disputes during his tenure. With great difficulty, however, Pakistan managed to retain it on the agenda subject to an annual review. Kofi Annan, his successor also commented in 2001 how the UN Resolutions for Kashmir had not been self-enforcing and thus, unlike Iraq and Timor, effective action couldn’t have been taken without the consent of the two sides. There still are believers who believe that a world body like UN could make a difference and advocate the invoking of the 1948 Resolution, but as Kofi Annan pointed out in a statement in 1997 that the 1948 resolution of the Security Council on Kashmir could not solve the problem since “it has not obviously solved the problem all these years.” It can be seen how UN has taken the role of a mute bystander, and the issue has been phased out of the UN’s agenda as well.

The Present Scenario:  A belated lesson in realism for India

India’s stand of course, has been of polite denial about any interference by a third party in the conflict. Pakistan continues to make lip-service even now about wanting the UN to play a major role. Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram noted in 2005, “Six decades have elapsed by since the Kashmiri people were promised the exercise of their right to self-determination by UN Security Council resolutions.” A statement, coming from a country that halted every attempt of the UN to hold a plebiscite for the people of Kashmir! Hurriyat Conference, the third player in the game suffers from severe fickle mindedness. Its leaders can’t make up their minds as to what they want for Kashmir, except that a solution should ‘encompass the 14 million people of Kashmir’ as put by Mirwaiz Farooq, Chairman, Hurriyat Conference. In a way, it shows a faint hope for an independent Kashmir which of course, is impossible today.

We must not forget that by the UN, Pakistan means, involvement of the US. The relationship between these two blossomed during the Cold War, and the US took a special ‘interest’ in the ‘interest’ of Kashmir. However, the position post 9/11 has seen US singing a different tune. The attack at the twin towers has brought to the American foreign policy makers, the realization about Islamic Fundamentalism and existence of terrorist camps. Needless to say, Pakistan is the hotbed of both, and the US needs Pakistan’s cooperation to target these, at the same time, it needs to tread a very careful line to make sure its support to Pakistan, both military and political, doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. It wouldn’t be completely wrong to say that after feeling the wrath of the terrorists, US might have a better understanding of what India has been shouting about for the past one decade. Another factor that has showed a slight tilt towards India is the Indo-US Nuclear Deal which shows that America now considers India, with whom it had a love-hate relationship a more reliable ally than its long term friend, Pakistan.

What does it mean for the Kashmiris?

It doesn’t make much difference unless the governments at both ends take decisive action, indulge in Track-I and II diplomacy and at least ensure that the people have a better living on both sides of the borders even if the conflict is not resolved. Big powers have historically meddled and caused conflicts in the Third World to escalate in their zeal to be helpful, earlier it used to be in the name of the ‘White Man’s Burden’, now it is ‘Operation – Enduring Freedom’ and the ‘Axis of Evil’. Thankfully, India has matured to realize this and is keeping the issue bilateral.

But the distancing of US has effectively brought an end to any action that might have been pushed through the UN. And to be truthful, it is good for the future of the Kashmiri people, to have this issue resolved bilaterally, with more international involvement, it would face more vested interests, and somewhere their cause might just get lost in the mayhem ensued. At least with this, Kashmir doesn’t become a pawn in the power game between India and Pakistan at one level, and the big powers at another.

Do Bigha Zamin: What a film!!

A masterpiece on all accounts, characterization, cinematography, music, direction, and story, the film is a very simple story told simply by Bimal Roy. That I think is the quality that has made the movie timeless. Even after 60 years of independence, one can see that we have many ‘Shambhu Mahtos’ trying to eke out a living to save their lands.
The story is set in Eastern India, just after independence, when Zamindari was fast losing its hold and the Indian Government was apparently trying to implement land reforms. One such landlord based in Bihar, decides to sell his land for the building of a factory. But the hitch is that Shambhu’s 2 acres of land falls in between the vast tract of land owned by the landlord. Now, either Shambhu repays the loans, rents etc. he owes to the zamindar, or he is evicted from his land. Shambhu’s famous dialogue here really touches the very heart of the problem of agriculture in India,

“Zameen chale jaane par hi tau kisaan ka satyanaash ho jata hai”

Now, starts the main plot of the story, the struggle undertaken by Shambhu and his family to earn enough to repay the loan and keep the ‘Do Bigha Zamin’. Shambhu migrates to Kolkata to try and make some quick money. The movie is very meticulously made, and we see how he, a village simpleton is robbed of his belongings and finally ends up taking up the job of a rickshaw puller. Sahni has played the role to perfection; he apparently spent a lot of time with the rickshaw pullers to get a feel of the role. There are some unforgettable scenes in the film that can really hit the viewer hard about how little things matter. The scene where Shambhu says that he will not buy special shoes to protect his feet in the blistering summer heat because they cost Rs 2 and he wants to save is one such incident. Shambhu states this ‘matter of fact’ without too much of sentimentality or pathos being reflected and that makes the scene all the more moving. The classic one is where the camera simultaneously shows Shambhu pulling his cart and trying to outdo a horse pulling a ‘tanga’…you see him running and the horse running parallel and how his face registers suppressed excitement every time the passenger on his hand pulled auto offers more to pay, ’3 Rupaiya, 4 Rupaiya…and so on…till the cart comes apart because of the pressure.The comparison of the condition of the human being treated like an animal is ironical.

The movie’s climax is also very well shown, what one can call a straightforward ending without too much of build up or melodrama. As I said before, Roy is telling a story as it is, and that is his distinctive style. Shambhu and his family return to their village after their struggle in the city only to see that the mill is being built and they have lost their land as they could not repay the loan. The sorrow is mirrored on their faces, and they gradually the camera moves away and just shows them leaving the place.

The film also has what we call comic relief in the form of the young Jagdeep, the boot polisher friend of Kanhaya, Shambhu’s son. He is the typical vagabond with a kind heart who has learnt the ways of the city and tries to teach Kanhaiya the same.
The most amazing feature about the film is the hard reality it has managed to portray so well. There is a scene where we see how the rich discuss rural electrification, getting more jobs, and the typical big promises that are made even today but seldom fulfilled.

I would not call films like ‘Murder’ or any skin flicks as ‘bold cinema’, but real boldness would be when a director makes a film on suicides by farmers in Vidarbha, Maharashtra this year due to crop failure, or the condition of farmers in the absence of a good monsoon in the arid states of India.

Red faces, Crimson roses and Pink panties this on Valentine’s Day

When you see the image of a heart with an arrow stuck through it on Valentine’s Day, don’t be surprised if the arrow is not of cupid. It probably is the arrow shot by the Sangh Parivar or one of the many groups who protest against Valentine’s Day.

Why do some celebrate this day while some protest against it?

So what is the whole fuss about? Why is this day celebrated and after whom? There are many famous legends about St Valentine after whom the Valentine’s Day is celebrated, the most popular one being about his conducting marriages of young lovers in secret in third century Rome. Every year, 14^th February draws different responses from different sections of our society. Youngsters in urban areas flock to restaurants which have candle-lit dinners accompanied with romantic music, exchange roses and Card shops are full of soft toys and chocolates.

India post 1991 saw liberalization bringing in many products from the west, and also values and traditions of the west. So in came Mcdonalds, Benetton, English slang words and Valentine’s Day. In the last few years, the commercialization of this day by means of cards, chocolates and stuffed toys and the hype created by various offers, events and media made it a big occasion along the lines of other major festivals celebrated in India.

Around this time, the Muslim rightist organizations as well as ‘swadeshi’ organizations like the Bajrang Dal. Shiv Sena and the latest Sri Ram Sene started organizing protests against this ‘cultural import’. Other than the Bajrang Dal, specific to Kashmir, the Islamic group Dukhtaran-e-Millat or Daughters of the Community, Kashmir’s only women’s separatist group is also known for its fiercely conservative social views.

Protests are marked by activities ranging from burning down Valentine’s Day cards and shouting slogans of ‘Down with Valentine’s Day’, to beating up of youngsters found to be celebrating this day, among other activities. These hardliners get more creative every year.

This year was no different, in an extreme case, a brother and sister duo in Ujjain were chased and harassed by 4 Bajrang Dal activists who were later arrested by the police. In another brutal case, a sub-inspector of Haryana police was suspended after he allegedly beat up a couple after dragging them out of their house. Already, nearly 600 activists of the Shri Ram Sene, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and other fringe groups in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi were taken into preventive custody on Friday, the 13^th.

In an incident that made a mockery of a group threatening to get couples married on Valentine’s Day, a couple purposely got caught and were married by a Hindu priest in the presence of the Bajrang Dal. Little did the activists know that the irony was on them since the couple wanted to get married but their families were not ready to accept it!

In other cities, faces were blackened, heads shaved off of young men found celebrating February 14^th, and in a bizarre cases, donkeys with Valentine’s Day cards on their backs were paraded and the cards later set on fire by the extremist groups. A group of girls in Patna even offered flowers to the photo of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for developing the state of Bihar.

Even Rajya Sabha members couldn’t resist bringing this day up during the course of proceedings on 13^th as many members demanded a ban on right-wing groups which were acting like the ‘Indian Taliban’. Brinda Karat (CPM) said that the Centre should take steps to ensure safety of young people on the Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day in Jammu and Kashmir

Valentine’s Day in Jammu and Kashmir this time was different, other than the usual moral policing done by Dukhtaran-e-Millat (daughters of faith/nation) and some other groups and some low-key celebrations, this year saw a unique initiative by the Socialistic Democratic Party. The SDP activists celebrated Feb 14^th as “Indo-Pak Love and Peace Day” and gathered on the banks of the river Chenab at the border town of Akhnoor where they sent dozens of boats filled with messages of peace and decorated with balloons and flowers across the border. The river flows into Pakistan. “We return the guns sent by you and send you flowers of love and peace”, a placard read. The boats also contained letters written by victims of violence and terrorism from the entire state sent as a symbolical gesture which will later be handed over to the Pakistan High Commissioner at New Delhi.

Meanwhile, in Jammu, many shops remained opened till late as people preferred to give flowers at the stroke of midnight. The Jammu police claimed that their officers in plain clothes were deployed around the city to prevent any mischief. Incidents of burning of Valentine’s Day cards and flowers was reported from many parts of the city, with Shiv Sena (Hindustan) being held responsible for this. Their leader claimed that this was a Western gimmick to increase sales and against the rich ‘Dogri culture.

In Srinagar, it was Asiya Andrabi on her rounds as usual flanked by 3 other activists of the DeM, who raided the city centre, Lal Chowk and also conducted a series of surprise raids on restaurants, internet cafes and card shops. DeM claims that Valentine’s Day is unIslamic and for the last four years has been organizing such protests across the city, which actually resulted in an automatic restraint on part of the youth of the valley when it came to celebrating the day.

But perhaps, Asiya and other activists are missing the economic opportunity that might be there for the people of J and K during Valentine’s Day. J and K can actually give competition to the state of Himachal Pradesh when it comes to making money on Valentine’s Day by the sale of flowers. Apparently, this year, floriculturists in HP made a huge fortune by exporting carnations and other flowers to Chandigarh, Delhi, Ludhiana and Dehradun. Due to the right kind of terrain and climate, the farmers in HP reap huge profits on cultivation of flowers. Figures estimate yearly earnings of Rs 220 million.

The Civil Society Campaigns – A novelty this year

All over India, more than love being celebrated, it was freedom which the youth wanted to celebrate, freedom to follow what they believe in. And to defend this freedom, more groups around India this year decided to do more than just buy roses for Valentine’s Day.  The Valentine’s Day this year saw the power of civil society initiatives supported by technology that bridged across distances in the form of the ‘Pink Chaddi’ Campaign. The campaign started on ‘facebook’ as a ‘Consortium of Pub-Going, Loose and Forward Women’ and turned into a full-fledged medium of protest when the group called for a nationwide campaign of sending Mr Pramod Muthalik ‘pink underwear’ on Valentine’s Day. Notably, Mr Muthalik’s Shri Ram Sene group gained notoriety after manhandling and beating up women in Mangalore pub as they considered women drinking liquor ‘against Indian culture’.

The group’s campaign received an enthusiastic response from all over the country as parcels of pink underwear landed in the group’s office in Hubli. In retaliation, one of the group’s members said at first they had thought of sending the same panties to an orphanage, but would now burn them as they carried vulgar slogans. Notably, the Sene called off protests in Bangalore stating that they had information of some miscreants creating disruptions on Valentine’s Day and then blaming their group for it.

Other groups that organized such protests in different ways were Youth for Equality, All India Confederation of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and the Northeast Support Centre in New Delhi which organized peaceful protests and symbolically celebrated the day. There were also groups like the Earth Saviours Foundation and the Delhi unit of the National Panthers Party who played the knights in shining armours to hapless couples by rescuing them from harassment by the moral vigilantes. A group of Eunuchs also joined in equipped with pepper spray and chilly powder to keep the protestors away from couples.

Police was deployed at possible targets for the fundamentalists like malls, multiplexes, parks, and other public places.

How right are the right-wing groups?

The arguments cited by these groups against the Valentine’s Day fall flat in the face of teeming globalization, it is like a group of Luddites refusing to be even tolerant of the change in culture. The Shiv Sena calls for ‘civilized love and affection’; ironically the Shiv Sena is named after Lord Shiva, whose ‘shivling’ (Phallus) is worshipped throughout the state of Maharashtra. The Dukhtaran-e-Millat leaders call these celebrations as against Islamic teachings.

If these groups really want to ‘save the public places’ and ‘protect their culture’, maybe they should spend more time catching those who write their names on monuments, or spit and litter the parks, but that doesn’t figure on any of their manifestoes! Culturally, maybe they should become more aware about the openness of the culture that they are trying to protect. The sculptures of Khajuraho and many other temples in India are a good example to begin with. There is nothing ‘uncultured’ or ‘western’ about these beautiful sculptures depicting various sexual positions.

This moral policing only serves one purpose – that of getting some publicity. But it serves as a reminder to all of us to the amount of intolerance in our society. As India embraces the global economy, cultural imports are bound to be there. Valentine’s Day and Halloween are not celebrated by many in India, but those who do, should be allowed this freedom of expression. No single group can decide what is good and bad for the whole of Indian culture. India is a vast country with many linkages outside and also diverse within, this is what makes the Indian mosaic beautiful. A few elements like this shouldn’t be given the right to dictate terms for the whole society.

‘Holier than thou’ media

A post I had written as a response to an argument with some journo friends…

Soumya’s death was brutal, and yes, the law and order situation in Delhi is out of control, ironically for women since the mayor of the city and the CM of the state are women themselves! But the debate above has thrown open larger issues.

I think we should not be complacent about our professions or work hours, for that matter; even courage is a relative term. Journalists are present at the right place at the right time and that is not courage. It is not about seeing a riot, shooting it live, and calling it courage. Or reporting from Iraq and thinking that is courage to be there and reporting live. Courage is different. Courage is admitting that the media did go overboard with the Arushi murder case, and I appreciate them for issuing a public apology. Courage, is also giving priority to deaths by malnutrition in news coverage over Sachin Tendulkar’s injured knee, knowing that the sponsors would be reduced, but knowing that the former needs more attention. Of course, the media argues that they give people what they want, but being the fourth pillar of democracy, media needs to create an opinion of the people, change their mindsets, and force them to think.
Call yourself a journalist for bringing news. Not for changing scenarios. We must understand that if media has reported Jessica Lal enough, that has not gotten her justice. Her relatives, like you feel for Soumya, felt for her, and there were sincere lawyers who worked hard. As someone above put in rightly, Jessica wasn’t a journalist, it was just her kith and kin doing their bit for her by lighting candles. Same goes for the Bijal Trivedi rape case or the Uphaar tragedy. So before, being too self-congratulatory, let’s also be introspective. (continued below)

News is different from research, from a real story. Bhutto gets killed, a reporter is sent to cover her death, her funeral, create graphics of her face being hit by a bullet and then blood splattering on the screen ( I saw this on ndtv or times now) . Then, go to the archives, find her biography, put it as fast as possible on primetime, and then getting many experts to talk about the great movement of democracy in Pakistan, is this journalism? I didn’t see a single channel point out that in 60 years of Pakistan’s existence, Pakistan saw democracy for only 8 years of PPP rule, what role did Bhutto play in this? Why was PPP mired by corruption charges?

Answers to these questions is research, that is real journalism which is a rarity these days. Because like instant coffee and noodles, we also need instant news. We don’t want to go on the field, get our hands dirty. We want to go there because there is action. After the Bihar floods get over, why bother staying there finding out the administrative problems of the region ravaged by flood, oh, that can be done next year on an anniversary episode. Let’s move over to the new tragedy and cover that live. Real investigative journalism would be being able to find the truth, being able to say which is true – the Nanavati commission or the Banerjee Commission. Asking tough questions on ‘hard talk’ shows is easy, giving answers like these is difficult. That is called corroboration, a term seldom used or applied in Indian media. (

The trend of investigative journalism is catching up because we have new technical tools today. Does that mean it didn’t exist before? It did, and there were stories, there was courage too, except that one probably didn’t have enough embedded journalists! There was a P Sainath before the media boom who went to very depths of India to have reporting of the commoners. To show, that people get killed in rural India too. If you ask me, what media does, I would say, mostly, media gives us urban reality, of murders of models and journalists. Media doesn’t cover those 3 women who get raped everyday, because they are Dalits (Crime record data stats). If Soumya’s death makes headlines, Then Priyanka’s should to. She was raped in Khairlanji even after she was dead, can you imagine something more gruesome? And not just one day, her story needs to be repeated everyday till the perpetrators of the crime actually are brought to justice. Of course, even here, media thought it’s good that the criminals might get capital punishment. It is a victory for Dalits. Not a single newschannel in fact reported the irony of the verdict. That, it was given under grounds of murder, not any other section. The rape charges and the SCST Atrocities act was not even considered! It would be nice if instead of 400 reports for Lakme India Fashion Week and 40 to cover poverty issues, the ratio is reversed. (As Sainath puts it!) And I would like to see Sudan ( the number of killed is 4 lac and counting, turning into another Rwanda) get more attention than Sarah Palin’s moose barbecue.

No Country for Oscars: Is that what India is?

‘India is a country of more than 1700 dialects and 22 official languages, there are 6 major religions and geographically, India has fauna numbering 89,451 species

and some 47, 000 species of plants.’

Sounds like an excerpt from an EVS textbook, doesn’t it? Perhaps they should also include that this is the country where more than a 1000 films are churned out every year that make it to more than 12,000 cinema halls. Unfortunately, this is not a figure to be proud of, since out of these, there are only a handful that get popular with audiences, and an even lesser number in that are films which receive critical international acclaim.

Does this have something to do with the way we make films? Or the way we market them?

Whatever the case might be, the Academy Awards that were handed out this year would be a good measure to assess our cinema. Lets take a brief look at what happened at the 80^th Academy Awards – who won and why they won! The unique feature about this year’s academy awards was its truly international nature. The best actor Oscar winner Daniel Day Lewis, with his dual Irish and British nationality, Tilda Swinton, winner for the best actress in a supporting role, again British, Marion Cotillard from France for best actress and Spanish actor Javier Bardem for the best actor in a supporting role. The line-up this year was surprisingly full of films that were bereft of typical Hollywood trademark: big stars, or top grossing films. The films had relatively unknown names (good actors, but not so popular stars), and most of them, focusing on a dark theme. Take ‘There will be Blood’ for example. The film, about a ruthless oilman (Daniel Day Lewis as Daniel Plainview) looks at the how capitalistic ideals of Plainview clash with the orthodox and fundamentalist church in California in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The film’s opening scene which has no dialogue to the climax which is full of melodrama and Plainview’s last line ‘I am finished’ also signalling the end of the film, show very powerful acting and direction. The film shows close ups of blood oozing along with oil coated black faces, befitting the title of the film and symbolically showing greed and violence.

Pitted against this, was the equally cold blooded ‘No country for Old Men’, a thriller set in West Texas about a drug deal that goes wrong and the series of consequences that emerge thereafter. The film got the Coen Brothers awards for best direction as well as best film. Both the films are based on novels, the former on Upton Sinclair’s Oil and the latter on Cormac McCarthy’s novel by the same name. Michael Clayton, Atonement, Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Juno were the other films that dominated the Oscars. The last two, Sweeney Todd and Juno added to the variety, Juno winning the award for the best screenplay, about an outspoken pregnant teen, it explored the theme of child pregnancy in a lighter way and the film was laced with pop culture lingo. Sweeney Todd, on the other hand, was a musical with a very unlikely theme (Most musicals are about romance and happy times!) – that of a barber who happens to be a serial killer, a fictional character that appeared in 19^th century British writing.

Contrast this with the films dished out in Bollywood – half of them are based on romance, the other half consist of rip-offs and remakes. I wonder what they mean when people remark that Indian cinema has come off age. Does it mean getting lost in the culture of remakes, rip offs and inspirations? Either we have old wine in a new bottle with the likes of ‘Devdas’, ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ and ‘Black’(Remakes with more glamour and better cinematography from PC Barua’s ‘Devdas’ ‘HDDCS’ from the low key ‘Woh Saat Din’ and Black from ‘The Miracle Worker’). Then there are the numerous films literally photocopied from their English counterparts, the likes of ‘Hum Tum’ (inspired from ‘When Harry Met Sally’) ‘Koi Mil Gaya’ (From ‘E.T- The Extra Terrestrial’), ‘Ghajini’ – from ‘Memento’ (Why, even the name by which we address our cinema ‘Bollywood’ is a rip off!).

If it is not remakes, then we are busy dishing out cheap skin flicks, that can be made quickly what with all the ‘Beauty Contests’ churning out models exclusively catering to the demand for actresses who are here today, gone tomorrow.

Theatre actors are only now beginning to make a mark in acting, with more new directors and the regulars like Ramgopal Verma (Indian Martin Scorcese with films exclusively focusing on the Indian underworld) casting them. Otherwise, it is always a beautiful face and a good figure (with a willingness to wear minimal clothing) and good lineage (be a Bacchan, or a Kapoor) that gets one a part in a film. With big bucks now being invested in films, and usage of digital technology, one would have thought that the standard of Indian films would improve. But except for Hanuman, there have not been many good indigenous animations made in India, nor are they used much in stunts (Dhoom-2 was a disaster). The big bucks go to the big stars, who well, are just that, ‘stars’, and not actors. Or they are lavishly and shamelessly spend on launch pads like ‘Saanwariya’ (another lineage starts film) with huge sets, big promos and absolutely no storyline or acting.

And no critique would be complete if I don’t comment on the ‘Great Indian Divide’ between ‘Those who watch art films and those who don’t’, any film that raises important questions about our society or has a different theme is immediately classified as ‘Art cinema’ or ‘Away from Mainstream Cinema’, thus automatically a spin is started around the movie portraying it to be not for the masses etc. Efforts are made to bridge the divide by making films like ‘Ashoka’, which end up making a laughing stock of the characters as well as the director.

There can be many reasons cited for lack of such films, firstly, the lack of audience, films normally are viewed by the general public as a medium of entertainment and not many people would pay up and spend 2 hours watching a film on farmers’ suicides or on the condition of scavengers in India (They remain restricted to documentaries) when they can watch lots of item numbers, foreign locales and mushy films with lots of kitschy colors and typically westernized sets. Then again, not many film makers would like to make films on an issue considered redundant. Of course, films also needn’t be made on themes that are ‘Indian’; they can be made on issues of global concern, animations, sci-fis, about the common man (Khosla ka Ghosla was an exception showing the apathy of common man)

I think it will take a long time for Indian film makers to realize that if a film has to be made hard hitting, it should not be glamorized, but shot in natural light, that just because you make a film sans songs, it doesn’t become ‘mature cinema’, that one need not exaggerate to the point of frustrating audiences (As in the case of Manish Jha’s ‘Matrubhoomi’) to make a strong point.

But well, we can’t lose heart since there is a positive new trend to look forward to with films like ‘Taare Zameen Par’ being made – the only problem being that in an industry of films with no strong stories, anything remotely good is made to be real big. TRP can’t be called a flawless movie, with its over-usage of graphics (a sequence completely ripped of from Calvin and Hobbes), long running time and caricaturized characters (the school teachers for example), it was a good film, not a great film. But one has to give credit to first time director, Aamir Khan, a la Indian Dan-day Lewis (who like him, believes in getting into the character and acts in one a movie per year)

What is the way out of all this? All I can say is that we should boycott remakes, rip offs, and encourage films like ‘Hazaaron Khwaisheyen Aisi’ by making sure that they don’t get restricted to only ‘Film Festivals’. If the directors have to copy a film then copy a Satyajit Ray’ ‘Pathar Panchali’ or try to remake ‘Pyasa’ –

That, now, would be an Oscar winning film!

‘Anari’ : The lovable loser

Saw the famous Raj Kapoor starrer ‘Anari’ yesterday, some moving dialogues,

“ Ehsaan tau amir log karte hain, hum garib tau keval madad karte hain”
(The rich do a favor, the poor just help)

“Garib mein burai nahi, garibi mein hai jo insaan aur insaaniyat dono ko barbaad kar deti hai”

(It is not the poor but poverty which is at fault, it destroys humans as well as humanity)

Lighting a candle on facebook

I have been bombarded with petitions, solidarity letters and posts, when there is a bomb attack, or on Tibet etc. All I am saying is this, 15 million people marched across the world in 2003 against the invasion of Iraq, it still happened. Perhaps one million people across India and Pakistan can sign a petition and give it to respective governments, but would it really stop the ISI from funding Lashkar to train terrorists? Would it stop any kind of retaliation that we might see now from the Indian government?

Do you know something? There was a warning from the RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) to major hotel establishments that there is a bomb threat from LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba) and they (hotels) had beefed up their security arrangements. Only a week ago, they were relaxed because of complaints from hotel guests. That is a different thing that the terrorists entered from behind the hotel. But the point is this, there are certain rules and regulations, many of them made for our own benefit, but do we really follow them?

All I ask is this, next time you break a traffic signal, or don’t pay a fine, think about it. Next time you buy something in a plastic cover, think about it. Next time you are unreactive when something happens around you, a broken streetlight, someone spitting on the road, think about it. Next time you sit at home, too lazy or unmotivated to go and vote, think about it.

We need to be vigilant citizens, that’s it, and do our jobs well, that, is the more important thing. If tomorrow the security check is more vigilant when I board a plane, let me not crib, but put up with it. Or when I am asked to open my suitcase to reveal what I am carrying, let me comply with it.

If you want to salute the spirit of Mumbaikars, salute it everyday. Smile at the bus conductor and say thank you when he hands you the ticket. Don’t call the porter ‘coolie’ but call him by his name; don’t put down the waiter in the small restaurant if the spelling in the menu of ‘pasta’ is wrong. Don’t make fun of every single pot bellied havaldar you see, he might not be fit for his job, but he may have the spirit when it’s needed.

I agree token gestures like these help in morale building, but we need to have more than that. We need to have it in our everyday activities and not just as an emotional reaction to an event.

With due respect to everyone who is lighting a candle for this on facebook, or signing a petition.