Chalti hai kya nau se barah…….
Salman Khan now wants to be part of the constellation of the IPL galaxy. Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgan, too, want a slice of the heavily cherried IPL pie. .. Already, we have The Khan, the pretty Zinta, and the Ms ‘Goody two shoes’ Shilpa in the IPL orbit, which has bastardised one of the most stylish sports ever.
Welcome to the greatest Indian tamasha. Indian entertainment has gone up several notches above the “average” big-budget 70-mm multi-crore, multi-star extravaganzas. The silver screen makes way for the green turf for heroes in designer jerseys with the fattest pay-cheques after having auctioned themselves to flashy, over-sized sunglassed filmstars. The show goes on…but the venue has shifted. The line between the movie theatre’s box-office and the stadium counter is blur. Both these arenas are entertainment centres. Both have big money, stars, music and scripted performances.
I am no cricket expert. But I do understand the nuances of the game to the extent that I realize this version of popcorn cricket cannot hold a candle to the classical melody of the gentleman’s game. Cricket writer Omar Kureishi had once said, “Test match was like ballet dancing, and one-day international belly dancing.” Then what of Twenty-20… Rakhi Sawant’s item number?
I am not a purist or a snob to pooh-pooh the game’s synoptic version. It could probably be the only way to attract the young, whose attention span can take in only the game’s dwarfed version. How many have the time or patience for the five-day affair? But, it could have remained just a dwarfed version. But what we now have is a foray into the world of brazen greed. The auction system has corporatised these players with fancy price tags. And, if this was not enough, the endorsements take care of the gaps in their bank passbooks.
Thank you, Lalit Modi, for making cricket a great business option for millionaires to multiply their millions. Thank you for pulling a fast one on these gullible spectators, who are taken for a ride for three hours without their knowledge. At least, the movies do not feign sincerity. The movies are here to con us, and they try to do it well. But the people pay to watch the IPL tamasha, wearing their city allegiance on their sleeves. And, the players go laughing and rolling all the way to bank, hoodwinking the naïve sport-lovers. They could watch the unpretentious Karan Johar/Yash Chopra film instead, which anyway has a high celeb quotient. Why opt for the IPL? Is it because of the hot cabaret numbers, oops... dances by cheer leaders for every big hit or miss? Is it because of the loudspeakers blaring songs of the star, whose team takes to the field?
Whatever it is….Chalti hai kya nau se baraah?
Friday, August 28, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Knot comfortable
A handful of Mumbai schools have made a very student-friendly decision: they have thrown out the painfully uncomfortable tie and thick shirts/pinafores from students’ cupboards, opting for T-shirts/loose cotton shirts and soft denims. At last, the authorities have woken up to the fact that India is a tropical country and it makes no sense to carry on with the temperate-conditioned British style of getting children starched and tied up. Going to school must begin with a comfortable feeling, as that will translate into an enthusiasm to soak in the already punishing curriculum.
This long overdue action is a great lesson for other schools in the country to emulate. Imagine LKG children, who have to grapple with starched shirts buttoned up till the neck to hold the readymade, knotted tie that is clipped at the back. This only adds to their discomfort as they are already crying, being thrown into this ocean of strange women who are not their mothers, and children who are not their siblings or playmates.
This takes me on a flashback to my play-schooled daughter’s first step in a “regular” school: She was drowned in her thick dark blue skirt, a white shirt buttoned till the neck, and a tie. All these in Chennai’s June. She hated wearing the tie, and threw a fit. I then sent her without the tie for almost a week. But the school minders would ask me to make her wear the tie. She hated her school and so did I. Then I stitched her tie to her shirt so that it was not “tied” to her neck. Still, it was such a pathetic sight to see her and other children howling, more due to discomfort. Why couldn’t these schools shake off this colonial fossil?
Thankfully, my daughter got into another school after her brief stint there. The school, of course, was good in all respects. But when my daughter wore the uniform of her new school, the first thing she said was: “I like this school. This has no tie”.
I do subscribe to uniforms in school. It is the greatest leveler. But schools have to budge from their starched attitude, and make way for brighter and easier clothes for children. In fact, these same schools indoctrinate children in their geography lessons on the types of clothes people choose to wear in different parts of the world according to their climatic conditions. Then why make these children sit through these classes in weather-unfriendly clothes.
It is mandatory for girls in conservative schools to wear salwar-kameez. At least they make no bones about their conservatism. But even a number of mainstream schools are making the girls wear salwar-kameez-dupatta from class seven. These schools argue that “grown up” girls need to cover themselves up, specially because they are studying with boys. How much skin would a knee-length skirt show? Or is a dupatta pinned to the shoulders enough to conceal the girl’s frame. Would a loose shirt or T-shirt not suffice? By bringing in this dupatta culture, the school authorities are only instilling gender consciousness, which is not healthy in a co-educational set-up. This will only make the girls more aware of their femininity and the boys more curious about their unnecesarily covered-up classmates.
This long overdue action is a great lesson for other schools in the country to emulate. Imagine LKG children, who have to grapple with starched shirts buttoned up till the neck to hold the readymade, knotted tie that is clipped at the back. This only adds to their discomfort as they are already crying, being thrown into this ocean of strange women who are not their mothers, and children who are not their siblings or playmates.
This takes me on a flashback to my play-schooled daughter’s first step in a “regular” school: She was drowned in her thick dark blue skirt, a white shirt buttoned till the neck, and a tie. All these in Chennai’s June. She hated wearing the tie, and threw a fit. I then sent her without the tie for almost a week. But the school minders would ask me to make her wear the tie. She hated her school and so did I. Then I stitched her tie to her shirt so that it was not “tied” to her neck. Still, it was such a pathetic sight to see her and other children howling, more due to discomfort. Why couldn’t these schools shake off this colonial fossil?
Thankfully, my daughter got into another school after her brief stint there. The school, of course, was good in all respects. But when my daughter wore the uniform of her new school, the first thing she said was: “I like this school. This has no tie”.
I do subscribe to uniforms in school. It is the greatest leveler. But schools have to budge from their starched attitude, and make way for brighter and easier clothes for children. In fact, these same schools indoctrinate children in their geography lessons on the types of clothes people choose to wear in different parts of the world according to their climatic conditions. Then why make these children sit through these classes in weather-unfriendly clothes.
It is mandatory for girls in conservative schools to wear salwar-kameez. At least they make no bones about their conservatism. But even a number of mainstream schools are making the girls wear salwar-kameez-dupatta from class seven. These schools argue that “grown up” girls need to cover themselves up, specially because they are studying with boys. How much skin would a knee-length skirt show? Or is a dupatta pinned to the shoulders enough to conceal the girl’s frame. Would a loose shirt or T-shirt not suffice? By bringing in this dupatta culture, the school authorities are only instilling gender consciousness, which is not healthy in a co-educational set-up. This will only make the girls more aware of their femininity and the boys more curious about their unnecesarily covered-up classmates.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Jas chilled
Jaswant Singh bites the dust. The BJP silently assassinated his political career because he sang paeans of the man who made Pakistan happen: Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
The BJP, already bruised by in-house wrangling, justified its abrupt action, saying Jaswant Singh’s comments in his book, Jinnah: India-partition-Independence, went against the party’s ideological position. The struggling party’s emerging muscle man, Narendra Modi, banned the book in his Gujarat, citing that Jaswant has not been too generous with Sardar Vallabhai Patel. And, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka may follow suit.
Modi reportedly raised this issue at the party’s chintan baithak, saying comments on Patel could affect the BJP’s prospect in Gujarat. So what if Patel was a staunch Congressman, who as Home Minister had banned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after the Mahatma’s assassination!
The unceremonious move against Jaswant Singh, without allowing him to offer any explanation, is at best a desperate attempt by the party to gain mileage after its electoral debacle and the rebellion brewing in Rajasthan over the marching orders to the former chief minister, Vijayaraje Scindia.
Political parties, specially the Congress, have lost no time in giving quick bytes against Jaswant Singh’s munificence to Jinnah. Now they are all obviously playing the nationalist card and the best way to do that is to deride whatever is Pakistan. But in all this, it is rather depressing to find intolerance creeping into every aspect of creativity.
It is a known historical fact that Jinnah was indeed an advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity during the struggle for independence. He sought the knifing of Hindustan only after Jawaharlal Nehru and his colleague Sardar Patel refused to agree to an equitable power-sharing agreement between Hindus and Muslims in independent India. A research work by Pakistani historian, Ayesha Jalal, published more than 15 years ago, clearly points to Nehru’s obsession of centralized control used by the British in India, and hence Jinnah’s raising his pitch for Pakistan. No wonder then, that Jaswant Singh’s depiction of Nehru has ruffled the Congress feathers, too.
Hindustan was anyway a creation of British imperialism as small independent states and kingdoms were amalgamated for the purpose of administration. Again, the animosity between the Hindus and Muslims was a creation of the empire’s divide and rule strategy. Later, the idea of partition in the already troubled run-up to the Transfer of Power was sown to foster the political ambitions of young Indian leaders, who were destined to shape the sub-continent’s polity. Now who sowed those bitter seeds will remain a matter of debate. Was it Jinnah, Nehru, Patel? Or was it the ultimate imperialist design?
Whatever is documented in the pages of history, or will emerge following further research, the fact is no political entity has come out against the Indian polity’s intolerance and its throttling of the freedom of expression. These same parties had hogged multiple news columns against acts of intolerance of fundamentalist outfits: whether it was for Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses or Taslima Nasreen’s Lajja, or even M.F. Husain’s depiction of Saraswati.
Before the book is banned in other parts of the country by the saffronites or the white-capped dynastic followers, I’d better grab a copy for myself.
The BJP, already bruised by in-house wrangling, justified its abrupt action, saying Jaswant Singh’s comments in his book, Jinnah: India-partition-Independence, went against the party’s ideological position. The struggling party’s emerging muscle man, Narendra Modi, banned the book in his Gujarat, citing that Jaswant has not been too generous with Sardar Vallabhai Patel. And, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka may follow suit.
Modi reportedly raised this issue at the party’s chintan baithak, saying comments on Patel could affect the BJP’s prospect in Gujarat. So what if Patel was a staunch Congressman, who as Home Minister had banned the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after the Mahatma’s assassination!
The unceremonious move against Jaswant Singh, without allowing him to offer any explanation, is at best a desperate attempt by the party to gain mileage after its electoral debacle and the rebellion brewing in Rajasthan over the marching orders to the former chief minister, Vijayaraje Scindia.
Political parties, specially the Congress, have lost no time in giving quick bytes against Jaswant Singh’s munificence to Jinnah. Now they are all obviously playing the nationalist card and the best way to do that is to deride whatever is Pakistan. But in all this, it is rather depressing to find intolerance creeping into every aspect of creativity.
It is a known historical fact that Jinnah was indeed an advocate of Hindu-Muslim unity during the struggle for independence. He sought the knifing of Hindustan only after Jawaharlal Nehru and his colleague Sardar Patel refused to agree to an equitable power-sharing agreement between Hindus and Muslims in independent India. A research work by Pakistani historian, Ayesha Jalal, published more than 15 years ago, clearly points to Nehru’s obsession of centralized control used by the British in India, and hence Jinnah’s raising his pitch for Pakistan. No wonder then, that Jaswant Singh’s depiction of Nehru has ruffled the Congress feathers, too.
Hindustan was anyway a creation of British imperialism as small independent states and kingdoms were amalgamated for the purpose of administration. Again, the animosity between the Hindus and Muslims was a creation of the empire’s divide and rule strategy. Later, the idea of partition in the already troubled run-up to the Transfer of Power was sown to foster the political ambitions of young Indian leaders, who were destined to shape the sub-continent’s polity. Now who sowed those bitter seeds will remain a matter of debate. Was it Jinnah, Nehru, Patel? Or was it the ultimate imperialist design?
Whatever is documented in the pages of history, or will emerge following further research, the fact is no political entity has come out against the Indian polity’s intolerance and its throttling of the freedom of expression. These same parties had hogged multiple news columns against acts of intolerance of fundamentalist outfits: whether it was for Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses or Taslima Nasreen’s Lajja, or even M.F. Husain’s depiction of Saraswati.
Before the book is banned in other parts of the country by the saffronites or the white-capped dynastic followers, I’d better grab a copy for myself.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
A dressing down
Lubna Hussein, a Sudan journalist, faces up to 40 lashes if found guilty of dressing indecently that is wearing jeans.
But let us not dismiss this off as an incident in far away Sudan. Closer home, we have enough and more moral policemen trying to “protect” our society. Whether it is a diktat by a militant organization in Kashmir on college-going girls to wear burkas; or a Hindu fundamentalist organization clenching their fists on noodle-straps; or even university authorities coming down heavily on girls wearing jeans and T-shirts; moral policing is here to stay.
In most cases, parents are the first moral policemen. So when the girl starts “growing up”, wearing tight T-shirts are not really encouraged. I am not referring to that minuscule section of society which does not disallow girl children from wearing what they want. I am referring to that bigger chunk of society's conscience-keepers who believe their girls wearing such clothes post-puberty could invite eagle-eyed eve teasers.
Honestly, how many Indian families allow their girls to wear “what they want”? But this is the section that relies on public transport. Naturally, wearing such clothes could invite unkind glances and lewd comments, thanks to Bollywood and its eve-teaser hero who finally gets his eve. Again, I remember, films where the heroine gets chided by her paramour for wearing clothes not befitting a “girl from good family”! The girl promptly gets a wardrobe overhaul done and covers herself adequately; of course after her share of skin show in the first half of the film for the audience’s paisa vasool!
Today, jeans is a dirty word for girls in colleges and universities. They are banned in campus. It has to be only salwar kameez or saris. In fact, there is a dress code for even women teachers in some schools and colleges.
There is a dress code to enter certain temples. In fact, in a Kerala temple, girls cannot wear salwar-kameez, but only sarees. So what if their blouses have a plunging neckline! In fact, the explanation for the temple dress code is that the art of stitching was introduced to Indian by Muslims. Hence, the reluctance to allow stitched clothes like salwar-kameez.
Then we encounter a group of hooligans which calls itself Ram Sene and targets "loose women" in a Mangalore pub. They were loose not only because they wore noodle-strap blouses, but also because they indulged in intoxication, again the exclusive preserve of the male fraternity.
There is, of course, a parallel feminist debate on the purpose of wearing bold clothes exclusively to invite the male gaze, which goes against the feminist grain. Again, women are their target. So in their annual protests against the beauty pageant business, it is the women who are held guilty for skin show for commercial purposes.
No conclusion here. Just an observation and a cry of helplessness...
But let us not dismiss this off as an incident in far away Sudan. Closer home, we have enough and more moral policemen trying to “protect” our society. Whether it is a diktat by a militant organization in Kashmir on college-going girls to wear burkas; or a Hindu fundamentalist organization clenching their fists on noodle-straps; or even university authorities coming down heavily on girls wearing jeans and T-shirts; moral policing is here to stay.
In most cases, parents are the first moral policemen. So when the girl starts “growing up”, wearing tight T-shirts are not really encouraged. I am not referring to that minuscule section of society which does not disallow girl children from wearing what they want. I am referring to that bigger chunk of society's conscience-keepers who believe their girls wearing such clothes post-puberty could invite eagle-eyed eve teasers.
Honestly, how many Indian families allow their girls to wear “what they want”? But this is the section that relies on public transport. Naturally, wearing such clothes could invite unkind glances and lewd comments, thanks to Bollywood and its eve-teaser hero who finally gets his eve. Again, I remember, films where the heroine gets chided by her paramour for wearing clothes not befitting a “girl from good family”! The girl promptly gets a wardrobe overhaul done and covers herself adequately; of course after her share of skin show in the first half of the film for the audience’s paisa vasool!
Today, jeans is a dirty word for girls in colleges and universities. They are banned in campus. It has to be only salwar kameez or saris. In fact, there is a dress code for even women teachers in some schools and colleges.
There is a dress code to enter certain temples. In fact, in a Kerala temple, girls cannot wear salwar-kameez, but only sarees. So what if their blouses have a plunging neckline! In fact, the explanation for the temple dress code is that the art of stitching was introduced to Indian by Muslims. Hence, the reluctance to allow stitched clothes like salwar-kameez.
Then we encounter a group of hooligans which calls itself Ram Sene and targets "loose women" in a Mangalore pub. They were loose not only because they wore noodle-strap blouses, but also because they indulged in intoxication, again the exclusive preserve of the male fraternity.
There is, of course, a parallel feminist debate on the purpose of wearing bold clothes exclusively to invite the male gaze, which goes against the feminist grain. Again, women are their target. So in their annual protests against the beauty pageant business, it is the women who are held guilty for skin show for commercial purposes.
No conclusion here. Just an observation and a cry of helplessness...
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Bloody swine
Pune is living in fear, being the epicentre of the deadly swine flu attack. Alarmed by the reach of its ugly tentacles, we in Pune are slowly turning into hypochondriacs. A sneeze or a cough is becoming reason enough for us to press the panic button.
But the panic is not really because of fear of being attacked by the virus, but the logistics of its treatment. There is chaos in the two hospitals, assigned to test and treat swine flu victims. Naturally, people are rushing there even if they have a common cold. Not really their fault because the symptoms of swine flu and common influenza are identical. The burden also fell heavily on the testing centre. Only yesterday, the Maharashtra government assigned five private hospitals to treat H1N1 cases.
But the Maharashtra government did a classic Nero-like act last week when it met to discuss the swine flu situation. It decided to grant permission to realtors for building high-rises of 100 metres! That is the level of commitment of our political leaders!
Mercifully, the government is now slowly waking up to the menacing virus. Pune has become a ghost town. Schools and colleges have been closed for a week. Emulating the Mexico model, the government has asked movie theatres and malls to shut shop and advised people to stay indoors unless absolutely essential. All these measures could have been taken last week when there were warning signs, and one fatality. It is frightening that more cities are now coming under the threat.
But there are questions which need to be answered. Is the media playing a responsible role, or it is ‘the’ reason for the deafening alarm bells? In its hunger for bytes and updates, has it sensationalised the epidemic (pandemic could be a better word considering its geographical reach)?
There is also a constant comparison with the West, where despite Swine flu having affected more people, there does not seem to be trepidation. Then did the Western media deliberately downplay the spread of the disease?
Whatever the media coverage, there is a bigger question mark on the abysmal Indian health care system and the allocation of budget for this sector. It remains low year after year. The health care sector has been silently subsidising the government’s tax-break largesse for industrial and IT sectors to facilitate its double-digit growth projection.
Hygiene and sanitation remain a distant dream in public health care. Corruption has added to the muck in the system. Amid an emerging national health emergency, it is high time our country develops a sound political will to improve public health care to handle such epidemics with maturity.
But the panic is not really because of fear of being attacked by the virus, but the logistics of its treatment. There is chaos in the two hospitals, assigned to test and treat swine flu victims. Naturally, people are rushing there even if they have a common cold. Not really their fault because the symptoms of swine flu and common influenza are identical. The burden also fell heavily on the testing centre. Only yesterday, the Maharashtra government assigned five private hospitals to treat H1N1 cases.
But the Maharashtra government did a classic Nero-like act last week when it met to discuss the swine flu situation. It decided to grant permission to realtors for building high-rises of 100 metres! That is the level of commitment of our political leaders!
Mercifully, the government is now slowly waking up to the menacing virus. Pune has become a ghost town. Schools and colleges have been closed for a week. Emulating the Mexico model, the government has asked movie theatres and malls to shut shop and advised people to stay indoors unless absolutely essential. All these measures could have been taken last week when there were warning signs, and one fatality. It is frightening that more cities are now coming under the threat.
But there are questions which need to be answered. Is the media playing a responsible role, or it is ‘the’ reason for the deafening alarm bells? In its hunger for bytes and updates, has it sensationalised the epidemic (pandemic could be a better word considering its geographical reach)?
There is also a constant comparison with the West, where despite Swine flu having affected more people, there does not seem to be trepidation. Then did the Western media deliberately downplay the spread of the disease?
Whatever the media coverage, there is a bigger question mark on the abysmal Indian health care system and the allocation of budget for this sector. It remains low year after year. The health care sector has been silently subsidising the government’s tax-break largesse for industrial and IT sectors to facilitate its double-digit growth projection.
Hygiene and sanitation remain a distant dream in public health care. Corruption has added to the muck in the system. Amid an emerging national health emergency, it is high time our country develops a sound political will to improve public health care to handle such epidemics with maturity.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Statue'tory' gesture
Statues of politicians, patriots, poets, saints, film stars, and now even party symbols have been a source of public expenditure and discord in India. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has reportedly spent Rs 2,000 crores for erecting statues of her mentor Kanshi Ram, herself and even the party symbol, elephant, as her state is reeling under a drought-like situation.
The Kannagi statue, among those innumerable ones dotting the Marina in Chennai, was removed when the AIADMK’s Jayalalitha came to power. She stated vastu as a reason for removing it. The removal of this “symbol of Tamil womanhood” ruffled the DMK feathers. So when it resumed power four years ago, the first decision it took was to restore the statue at its place. Major decision-making this was for a government, plagued by an agrarian crisis, caste battles and water shortage!
Now, the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments are into “statue diplomacy”. In what appears to be a puerile attempt at assuaging the sentiments of Tamils in Karnataka and Kannadigas in Tamil Nadu, both the governments have readied statues of Thiruvalluvar, the Tamil poet who penned Thirukkural, in Bangalore, and that of Sarvagna, Kannada poet-philosopher, in Chennai. While Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi unveiled the statue of Thiruvalluvar in Bangalore “amid tight security and threats of violence”, his Karnataka counterpart, B.S. Yeddyurappa, is slated to come to Chennai on August 13 to fulfill his side of the deal. The riot police are on call in both the states to confront any possible unrest between Tamil and Kannada chauvinists following this effort. But will this political gesture embalm the heartburn generated by linguistic jingoism?
Obviously, the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments have not been sincere enough to calm parochial tempers. In fact, it is to their advantage to play the provincial card. Both the state governments seem to have sunk their will to resolve the Cauvery water dispute. So during the harvest each year, the river whips up the parochial wave, engulfing people’s regional sentiments. The dispute over the Hogenakkal power plant has been another cause for concern.
Yeddyurappa has said during the unveiling of Thiruvalluvar’s statue, "We are Indians first, and Kannadigas and Tamils next.” Let us sincerely hope this is not reduced to just a fancy soundbite.
Instead of this statue diplomacy, there could be a sincere attempt at invoking the words and wisdom of these and other great poets of these states to stem parochial sentiments.
However, if the statue diplomacy really helps, political leaders in Maharashtra could probably borrow a leaf of this political tokenism. Shiv Sena’s Manohar Joshi, has redefined locals as those who have Marathi-speaking parents! The original Shiv Sena version of locals was those who had lived in Maharashtra for 15 years. This blatant plagiarism of Raj Thackeray’s Marathi manoos campaign is a good enough reason for us to track the Assembly elections in Maharashtra scheduled for later this year. But those not really championing the cause of original Marathis can begin googling for poets and saints from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other north Indian states!
The Kannagi statue, among those innumerable ones dotting the Marina in Chennai, was removed when the AIADMK’s Jayalalitha came to power. She stated vastu as a reason for removing it. The removal of this “symbol of Tamil womanhood” ruffled the DMK feathers. So when it resumed power four years ago, the first decision it took was to restore the statue at its place. Major decision-making this was for a government, plagued by an agrarian crisis, caste battles and water shortage!
Now, the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments are into “statue diplomacy”. In what appears to be a puerile attempt at assuaging the sentiments of Tamils in Karnataka and Kannadigas in Tamil Nadu, both the governments have readied statues of Thiruvalluvar, the Tamil poet who penned Thirukkural, in Bangalore, and that of Sarvagna, Kannada poet-philosopher, in Chennai. While Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi unveiled the statue of Thiruvalluvar in Bangalore “amid tight security and threats of violence”, his Karnataka counterpart, B.S. Yeddyurappa, is slated to come to Chennai on August 13 to fulfill his side of the deal. The riot police are on call in both the states to confront any possible unrest between Tamil and Kannada chauvinists following this effort. But will this political gesture embalm the heartburn generated by linguistic jingoism?
Obviously, the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments have not been sincere enough to calm parochial tempers. In fact, it is to their advantage to play the provincial card. Both the state governments seem to have sunk their will to resolve the Cauvery water dispute. So during the harvest each year, the river whips up the parochial wave, engulfing people’s regional sentiments. The dispute over the Hogenakkal power plant has been another cause for concern.
Yeddyurappa has said during the unveiling of Thiruvalluvar’s statue, "We are Indians first, and Kannadigas and Tamils next.” Let us sincerely hope this is not reduced to just a fancy soundbite.
Instead of this statue diplomacy, there could be a sincere attempt at invoking the words and wisdom of these and other great poets of these states to stem parochial sentiments.
However, if the statue diplomacy really helps, political leaders in Maharashtra could probably borrow a leaf of this political tokenism. Shiv Sena’s Manohar Joshi, has redefined locals as those who have Marathi-speaking parents! The original Shiv Sena version of locals was those who had lived in Maharashtra for 15 years. This blatant plagiarism of Raj Thackeray’s Marathi manoos campaign is a good enough reason for us to track the Assembly elections in Maharashtra scheduled for later this year. But those not really championing the cause of original Marathis can begin googling for poets and saints from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other north Indian states!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Bonding or binding
August 2 was friendship day. And, this yet-another American contribution to our society has caught the imagination of young, urban Indian children.
My daughter, all of 7, asked me on August 1 if I could buy her “friendship bands”. I knew I had to face this someday. She had made a neat list, dividing her friends into “apartment list” and “school list”. So I took her out and started checking out this ultimate form of consumerist culture. The first one that caught her eye (and mine too) was a colourful beaded band. The busy shopkeeper, who was already handling four other buyers of such bands , quickly came out with a “thirty rupees” madam. “what?” I asked, not sure that I heard him say Thirty rupees. He repeated, with some irritation, that it was thirty. I was flabbergasted. Thirty for a band. And my daughter’s list showed 17 friends, and two extra bands! This meant I would be shelling out Rs 570 for those bands which would probably be redundant after that friendly exchange of bonding and binding bands!
I started looking around for a cheaper variety. Though my daughter loved those beaded ones, I had to distract her to some colourful ones, which were cheaper. But they, too, were in the Rs 15-20 bracket. I was not willing to spend so much for these strands of colourful threads, even if they were tied to my daughter's emotions. Then, my searching eyes met a narrow red ribbon roll with best friends written throughout. So my job would have been to just cut the roll into 17 plus two bands. I found that exciting because the entire roll was Rs 25, which meant I could make roughly 25 bands with that! My daughter, of course, looked disappointed, but was not really protesting. Then we both settled for a Rs 5-band.
The actually tamasha began in the evening of August 2, when the children gathered near their play area, each tying the bands on one another’s wrist with a “happy friendship day” wish.
This prompted me to think how peer pressure is fueling this level of consumerism among this generation. Birthday parties are no longer “at home” with cakes, potato chips and samosas. They are at Mac Donald’s or Pizza Hut. And the return gift is no longer an éclair, or a small bar of chocolate. There is a scramble for the right return gift to be “with it”. The kids are found discussing what they got as return gifts at different parties.
Welcome to new-age parenting. Whether we inculcate good value-systems and discipline or not, it is becoming imperative to throw the best birthday parties. The peer dynamics is making its presence felt even more severely kids growing up in gated communities. Parents, too, are not shying away from pandering to their kids’ consumerist desires as they do not mind spending for their children. So if parents can pay a rent of 20-30K, it is obvious that their kids will have playmates whose parents also earn in the same slab. So affordability is bound to be in a specific bracket. But at the same time, demands among children escalate (with one wanting to emulate the other), and this leave the parents helpless.
When we were kids, our friends cut across class. So we were as comfortable in a friend’s plush apartment or even independent house, as we were in another friend’s rented one-room house. And, the peer pressure was not so ruthless because there was a system of checks and balances among the friends.
My daughter, all of 7, asked me on August 1 if I could buy her “friendship bands”. I knew I had to face this someday. She had made a neat list, dividing her friends into “apartment list” and “school list”. So I took her out and started checking out this ultimate form of consumerist culture. The first one that caught her eye (and mine too) was a colourful beaded band. The busy shopkeeper, who was already handling four other buyers of such bands , quickly came out with a “thirty rupees” madam. “what?” I asked, not sure that I heard him say Thirty rupees. He repeated, with some irritation, that it was thirty. I was flabbergasted. Thirty for a band. And my daughter’s list showed 17 friends, and two extra bands! This meant I would be shelling out Rs 570 for those bands which would probably be redundant after that friendly exchange of bonding and binding bands!
I started looking around for a cheaper variety. Though my daughter loved those beaded ones, I had to distract her to some colourful ones, which were cheaper. But they, too, were in the Rs 15-20 bracket. I was not willing to spend so much for these strands of colourful threads, even if they were tied to my daughter's emotions. Then, my searching eyes met a narrow red ribbon roll with best friends written throughout. So my job would have been to just cut the roll into 17 plus two bands. I found that exciting because the entire roll was Rs 25, which meant I could make roughly 25 bands with that! My daughter, of course, looked disappointed, but was not really protesting. Then we both settled for a Rs 5-band.
The actually tamasha began in the evening of August 2, when the children gathered near their play area, each tying the bands on one another’s wrist with a “happy friendship day” wish.
This prompted me to think how peer pressure is fueling this level of consumerism among this generation. Birthday parties are no longer “at home” with cakes, potato chips and samosas. They are at Mac Donald’s or Pizza Hut. And the return gift is no longer an éclair, or a small bar of chocolate. There is a scramble for the right return gift to be “with it”. The kids are found discussing what they got as return gifts at different parties.
Welcome to new-age parenting. Whether we inculcate good value-systems and discipline or not, it is becoming imperative to throw the best birthday parties. The peer dynamics is making its presence felt even more severely kids growing up in gated communities. Parents, too, are not shying away from pandering to their kids’ consumerist desires as they do not mind spending for their children. So if parents can pay a rent of 20-30K, it is obvious that their kids will have playmates whose parents also earn in the same slab. So affordability is bound to be in a specific bracket. But at the same time, demands among children escalate (with one wanting to emulate the other), and this leave the parents helpless.
When we were kids, our friends cut across class. So we were as comfortable in a friend’s plush apartment or even independent house, as we were in another friend’s rented one-room house. And, the peer pressure was not so ruthless because there was a system of checks and balances among the friends.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
'Flat' refusal
A Bollywood star recently alleged that he has been denied access to buy an apartment in a Mumbai housing society because he is a Muslim. The media was assured of its column space and the television its bytes, thanks to his celebrity status.
There are a number of housing societies in Indian cities where you cannot buy an apartment, forget renting it, because you are a Sidiqqui, a Halem or an Ismail.
I do not want to rankle readers with my secular sermons. But it is plain disgusting to see that people never stop identifying religion in names (I am not even mentioning caste. That is a different debate altogether).
But the urban, Hindu middle class, that has found its expression of Hindutva, seems happy to “get back at Islamic fundamentalists”. Being in a position of owning property, the middle class is able to take its revenge. This denial can be carried out subtly, because the seller is in a position to decide whom to sell his/her property to. This ethnic discrimination will never be made public because the reasons are never spelt out. And, that is dangerous.
This is the middle class that secretly applauded when Babri masjid was demolished by Hindu hooligans. This is the middle class which found the BJP as its “saviour of Hinduism”. This is the middle class which, through its silence, approved of events which turned Gandhi’s Gujarat to Modi’s Gujarat. Many even spoke a saffron language in drawing room discussions, saying the riots were an answer to Godhra.
I understand, the issue cannot be simplified. And, the Islamic terror attacks in major cities have been responsible for making the middle class see saffron. But denying Muslims to buy apartments is not the right way to express anger.
So if it is Islamic terror that has created this suspicion, there are Hindu terror groups as well. Remember Jalagaon? And, Gandhiji’s assassination was masterminded by a Hindu organisation.
And, on the question of renting out apartments, I have seen people refusing to entertain prospective Muslim tenants. In the time of recession, they would rather let the apartment be locked than rent it out to a Muslim.
In a housing society in Chennai, there was a flat which was sold to a Muslim buyer for a handsome amount. But there was a lot of subdued irritation among other inmates of the complex. And, most of the ire was directed against the seller because he sold to a dirty, Muslim family. Appalling!
There are a number of housing societies in Indian cities where you cannot buy an apartment, forget renting it, because you are a Sidiqqui, a Halem or an Ismail.
I do not want to rankle readers with my secular sermons. But it is plain disgusting to see that people never stop identifying religion in names (I am not even mentioning caste. That is a different debate altogether).
But the urban, Hindu middle class, that has found its expression of Hindutva, seems happy to “get back at Islamic fundamentalists”. Being in a position of owning property, the middle class is able to take its revenge. This denial can be carried out subtly, because the seller is in a position to decide whom to sell his/her property to. This ethnic discrimination will never be made public because the reasons are never spelt out. And, that is dangerous.
This is the middle class that secretly applauded when Babri masjid was demolished by Hindu hooligans. This is the middle class which found the BJP as its “saviour of Hinduism”. This is the middle class which, through its silence, approved of events which turned Gandhi’s Gujarat to Modi’s Gujarat. Many even spoke a saffron language in drawing room discussions, saying the riots were an answer to Godhra.
I understand, the issue cannot be simplified. And, the Islamic terror attacks in major cities have been responsible for making the middle class see saffron. But denying Muslims to buy apartments is not the right way to express anger.
So if it is Islamic terror that has created this suspicion, there are Hindu terror groups as well. Remember Jalagaon? And, Gandhiji’s assassination was masterminded by a Hindu organisation.
And, on the question of renting out apartments, I have seen people refusing to entertain prospective Muslim tenants. In the time of recession, they would rather let the apartment be locked than rent it out to a Muslim.
In a housing society in Chennai, there was a flat which was sold to a Muslim buyer for a handsome amount. But there was a lot of subdued irritation among other inmates of the complex. And, most of the ire was directed against the seller because he sold to a dirty, Muslim family. Appalling!
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