Reality is a dirty business for the West

It was Agent Seeley Booth, of the popular American tele show Bones, who motivated me to watch Slumdog Millionaire. Actually Booth's brother Jared wants to go India exploring. "India?" questions his lovely partner Dr Temperance Brennan. "Yeah, India you know Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire...'" explains Booth with a perfunctory wave of hand. So, despite being a reluctant movie watcher, I just couldn't bypass a dekko at that which had at long last elbowed out the fakirs, snake charmers, elephants, flying carpets of Hindustan from the western mind.
Eight Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, four Golden Globes-the movie's caught and held the western imagination. I am no authority to comment on matters of adptation, screenplay, direction. Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan came across as consummate actors. But NO Agent Booth this isn't the India your brothers keen on exploring. The slums, the dirt, the squalor, the corruption and crime are not the defining landmarks of this country.
Poor Mr Bachchan drew a great deal of flak for panning the movie in his blog. He expressed his resentment at the projection of "India as [a] third-world, dirty, underbelly developing nation and caus[ing]pain and disgust among nationalists and patriots, let it be known that a murky underbelly exists and thrives even in the most developed nations." He was accused of suffering from the sour grape syndrome. A white man had realised what brown men dreamed of but failed to achieve - make a movie on an Indian theme, with Indian artistes and garner global recognition. Some of the sites went into an overdrove and charged Indian directors with churning out flimsy stuff, leaving the real issues to be screened by white men. Bachchan sahib was in fact labelled a 'no talent' riling against Danny Boyle's success.
I am not here to defend Mr Bachchan, he is still good at delivering knockout punches to his detractors, both homegrown and global. I am here to request the creative white junta to open their creative white eyes wide and not limit the identity of a nation to a movie, no matter how acclaimed. If it is the true picture that the western man finds exotic, well the fact remains that Slumdog Millionaire had a liberal dose of fluf to prop it up.
Regarding the charges of Indian cinema makers pandering to flimsy middle-class fanatsies, well somebody's certainly short on information about socially relevant cinema being produced in Hindi as well as regional languages. And come to think of it, reality is certainly not the hallmark of majority of American and western movies that light up global screens. Movies are a creative medium of entertainment and as it is with every creative medium it can be moulded to make you laugh, cry, inform, make a social statement or simply bore you to sleep. However, these are not works of academic authority whose veracity is unimpeachable. So, as Gurinder Chadha said "Slumdog Millionaire is a great film but the fact that it showed India in a way that the West wants to see India, in why that film was accepted by so many people."
The danger here is of the western mind falling prey to a parochial, self-cultivated, stereotypical image of a very vibrant nation. Reality doesn't mean poverty and violence alone, reality can deal with manifold issues, of which there is no derth in any nation and most certainly not in India.
Therefore, even as I watched, with great indulgence, Anil Kapoor and Danny Boyle's uninhibited expression of pleasure at the Academy Awards I felt a great protective surge for my motherland which had just acquired a new tattered, muddy and most foul identity in the western mind.

Man created God in his image and...

God, many believe,created man in his own image. Well, God is not there with me to testify the fact and the results will have me believe that he made a hash of it. If this was not worrisome enough Adam's progeny decided to give their Creator stiff competition and voila! There it was, a God created in man's image. And in the art of duplication, man outsmarted God. So it happened that the Creator of the earth, heavens, galaxies without whose express will not a leave moves, became angry, wrathful, vengeful, a sucker for sycophancy, a sexist, a racist and a secret service chief whose highly effective team of angels kept a keen eye on the acts of ommission and commision of mankind, in order to nail the defaulters with incontrovertible proof as and when required.
Wish the anthropomorphic evolution of the Almighty had stopped at this. But it was not to be so. God acquired blond or black hair, blue or black eyes, dark or fair skin in keeping with the geogrphical location of his creators. Thus it came to pass that the Lord acquired a distinct European and Asian identity. The one God had begun dividing.
Then came the final nail in the coffin. Scriptures have it that God prefered certain people over others and entered into a Covenant with them. He gave them Commandments the adherence to which would ensure them permanent residence in God's coveted heavenly abode in the hereafter. This policy of divide and rule sounded the gun for mankind's race to be 'the' darling of their Father in Heaven. So were born People of the Book. All claiming to be God's chosen ones. Each claiming to be the sole proprietor of the 'truth' revealed by Him through Ezra, Elijah, Jesus, Muhammed.... Each accusing the other of reneging on the pact with God and of alone honouring the Divine commandments in toto. The one God further divided into many.
When words alone failed to win them supporters and establish their hegemony over the believers and the non-believers, out came the swords. The many Gods acquired henchmen. Gang war ensued. They killed, maimed, threatened, bribed, coerced people to acknowledge that their Master was the original while others were but cheap imitations. Nations were torn assunder and mass-scale purging of the 'opposed' ensued. They accused one of being 'Christ killers' and exterminated six million of them. Then the remaining two crossed swords over charges of messing with the word of God to suit convenience, maligning their respective prophets, blasphemy... the bodies continued to pile. The transformation was complete, God had become Man.The division was complete, the one God had become many Man-Gods. So, each Man-God, fights on for the right to be 'the' God. His loyal followers use guns, bullets, bombs, besides brutal physical repression to silence opposition and to drive fear into the hearts of the non-believers. So an inseccure Man-God, utterly consumed by his passion to be the one and only, creates an army of loyalists, who kill and get killed to maintain the sanctity of His turf.
Blood continues to flow freely as man fights the never-ending battles of the Gods whom he had fashioned in his image.

Might alone cannot make it right

America's 'smoking out of terrorists' from their infernal 'holes' has come a long way since September 11, 2001 attacks. Osama bin Laden, the supposed mastermind behind the attack on America, is still at large. The carpet bombing of Afghanistan has blasted any goodwill that America might have enjoyed in this war torn historical land.
While civilian casualities might be dismissed as 'collateral damage' by American power brokers in smartly tailored suits and polished shoes, the fact remains that the absence of reconstruction programmes in Afghanistan is seeing the civilian population siding with the lesser of the two evils-the mujahideen.
Greg Mortenson, an American, who has built numerous schools for the various tribes inhabiting the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan, feels that the war on terror has compromised the future of the general population severely. In absence of schools parents turn to madarsas, of which there is no derth, to educate their wards. The madarsas also ensure that their children are clothed and fed. The end product is young men indoctrinated in parochial, violent outlook of their tutors. Mr Mortenson talks about his meeting with Sadhar Khan, the commadhan of Badakshan (Afghanistan), in his book 'Three Cups of Tea.' Khan, a local leader who struggled against the Soviets and the Taliban during the Cold War era, wanted Mr Mortenson to build schools for boys and girls in the region to ensure that the children at least got primary education. According to Khan this was the only way they could make the "sacrifices" of those who fought the "Russians and the Taliban, worthwhile."
Khan's voice of reason and Cold War lessons seems to be lost on the USA. The proven corrupt and weak Hamid Karzai regime backed by America is only further villyfying Uncle Sam in the eyes of the general population of Afghanistan.
The long drawn honeymoon between the USA and Pakistan has began to sour. A spate of corrupt leaders with political astigmatism have failed to channelise the dollars for development programmes. The gargantuan defence expenditure coupled with accumulation of personal wealth, by those occupying the highest echelons of power, has seen little or no development in the spheres of health, education, housing, agriculture, land-reform and infrastructure development. The general public is disillusioned with its leaders and the USA whom it views as a bully nation arm twisting Pakistan into doing it's bidding. Besides it is no secret that the mujahideen are not lacking for sympathisers within the rank and file of the Pakistan Army and the ISI, again a Cold War legacy. Where does this leave Pakistan as a nation? Says writer and filmmaker Tariq Ali "According to health workers, between twenty-five to thirty thousand women lose their lives each year because Pakistan lacks basic social infrastructure. How is one supposed to begin to put a stop to all this?" Mr Ali further assersts that the voice of extremism has gained ascendancy in the country as government has all but forsaken the welfare measures for its citizens.
Coming closer home to Kashmir. The beautiful valley has been bullet ridden since Maharaja Hari Singh signed over his kingdom, with a majority of Muslim population, to India. Mr Jinnah cried foul and a tug-of-war for the control of the valley was set into motion. Pakistan army and the mujahideen, along with homegrown separatist organisations like Harakat ul-Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Lashkar-e-Taiba, have torn asunder the social and cultural fabric of the valley. This and the excesses by the Indian Army on the civilian population have lead the people here to be caught between the devil and the deep sea. The young in the valley want jobs and a dignified living. The failure of the government to fulfill these aspirations and the human right violations by the Army finds vent in anti-India rehtoric. An English news channel while covering the socio-political environment in Kashmir saw many youngsters openly show their contempt for those locking horns over the control of the state. "Rozi, roti, kapda, makaan, bijli, pani, jobs, medical and educational facilities," were high on the wishlist of these youngsters.
Bombs and bullets have failed these regions. Intimidation has lead to an increased resistance and loss of human life. Now that might alone has failed to set things right, isn't it time we stop using just brute force to smoke out the extremists and bolster muscle power with some intelligent reasoning.

Tiger baiting is passe, hopefully!

He is back doing what he's best at, playing golf. Swinging and putting where it matters. After the moral marauding by Tom, Dick, Harry, Jane, Jenny.... just about everyone who could post a verbal punch on his face, Tiger appears a rather mortified man. What wife Elin Nordegren's golf-club-wielding cum window-smashing act of rage couldn't accomplish, moral stoning by the media coupled with snuffing out of endorsement deals, achieved in a jiffy. A global public apology by the fallen man himself! ''I had affairs. I cheated.What I did was unacceptable.'' Yes, he said this and more on TV to his fans in the furthest corners of the planet earth. Wow!
So, Tiger admitted what he did was ''unacceptable,'' just wonder to whom were his sexcapades "unacceptable." The women who were over-eager to get all comfy in the celeb celestial bed? The general public who want their icons to be sticklers (or appear to be so) for the popular version of morality? The media which makes hay while a scandal lasts? Wife Elin whose trust he broke?
No apologies to the women who were concentual partners in the dalliance. The knew it was Tiger Woods they were cavorting with and perhaps wanted to enjoy the attention, of the highest earning sports star in the world, as long as they could hold it.
No sorry to the general public. His fame rests on his prowess as a golfer. On that account he has failed niether his country nor his fans outside America. He has not compromised his abilities as a golfer on any known account. As a citizen of the United States he has committed no offence for which the law of the land holds him guilty.
The media? Well, they should throw the beleaguered Tiger a party! O! Yes! A grand one! All that moral blathering and righteous indignation must have saved a lot of brain rattling over space and time filling exercises.
To Elin, yes. Tiger should say it from the heart to the woman he promised to 'love, honour, cherish and protect, forsaking all others and holding only unto her.' He broke the promise over and over again with ruthless impunity. Elin and Elin alone is the victim of Tiger's sexual trangressions and it up to her to pardon him.
The public apology, under duress, is no assurance of Tiger turning over a new leaf. "It is a matter between Elin and me, issues between a husband a wife." Let it be such. All the moral ringmasters should drop the whip. Let Elin decide whether Tiger is to be ever trusted again. Whether he will keep his promise out of love and respect for her or for fear of moral castigation by the public. As a woman I know Elin must wish for the former because that is the only gurantee against a repeat performance of the sorts.
At the moment, however, it is ace golfer Tiger Woods whom I welcome back on field under the very watchful eyes of Elin Nordegren.

CRPF:Coffins Reserved For Police Force

The photograph in the newspapers displays the bodies lined up in neat rows, like logs. Battle fatigues in shreds, faces caked with blood and the limbs of few missing. Constable Jaipal Singh, Constable Amit Kumar Singh, Constable Dharam Pal Singh, Constable Sachin Kumar... there are about seventy three of them, killed in Maoist Ambush in the Dantewada forests of Chhatisgarh. It was a neatly laid trap by the naxalites and the men in uniform seemed to have walked right into it. The end of their life story. The government's 'olive branch' approach has boomeranged. There are talks about using air power against naxalites. The political rigmarole continues as three-year-old Shivam, son of CRPF soldier Ranjit Kumar Yadav, witnesses the last rites of his father. It is Shivam and the families of the dead soldiers whom I fear for. The bread winner's gone. The memory of the common man is short and of the uncommon politicians shorter still. Seventy three dead men, mostly from lower middle-class of UP hinterland, leave behind seventy three broken families for whom sustinance alone will soon become a battle of the sorts. Leaders who didn't falter in splitting the Kargil War along party lines, are not likely to remember Shivam and his felled father in a hurry, until political expediency dictates otherwise.
I cry not for the 73 dead men but the 73 living and breathing families they have left behind in a nation which loves to bury its living with its dead.