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| Making Rangoli |
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| Making Rangoli |
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| Front door decorated |
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| Lunch: Alu Poodi |
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| Rangoli with Diyas |
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| Sparkler |
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| Malpua time |
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| Lights in Balcony |
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| Malpua done |
Showing posts with label random musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random musings. Show all posts
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Diwali 2014 in pictures
Friday, May 2, 2014
My Apartments
I shifted to my new place in the last week of March. Ever since graduating from undergrad, life had been nomadic. This is my 10th place in last 8 years. Shifting apartments always fills me up with some nostalgia. Over the last 8 years, there were some places where i knew that it was a temp setup and there were ones where i genuinely felt like home. Here is a lookback
- July 2006 - July 2007 : Working for Trilogy in Bangalore. Jayanagar 6th block. A 3BHK shared with Amit Rana and CM Shivkumar.
- July 2007 - May 2008 : Doing Masters at Georgia Tech, Atlanta. Centennial park. A 2BHK shared with Ameya and two other folks.
- May 2008 - July 2008 : Interning at Kosmix. Living at Mountain view in a 2BHK with Pratik Ashre and Nikunj Nemani.
- July 2008 - Dec 2008. Back to Atlanta. Now living in a 4BHk shared by 4 people including Aninda Ray and Jatin
- Jan 2009 - Mar 2009. Working for Kosmix and now living in Palo Alto. Renting one bedroom in a big house from an Indian family. Forgot their name.
- Mar 2009 - Apr 2010. Living on Rengstroff street Mountain view. Its is a 3BHK duplex shared between three people. One of them is David and the other one is a Mongolian, i have forgotten her name.
- Apr 2010 - Jan 2012. Still with Kosmix but now i move to 210 Easy street, Mountain view. It is a 1BHK and i live alone this time. This place was really wonderful!
- Feb 2012 - Feb 2013. Moved to India and now i am living at Charles Court, Rest house road, right in the middle of Bangalore. It is a fully furnished spacious 2BHK and i am living alone.
- Feb 2013 - Mar 2014. Moved to Koramangala. Still a 2BHK, much smaller size but still living alone.
- Mar 2014 - present. Now at HSR layout, sector 5. This time it is a 3BHK.
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Polling booth agent
I was the polling booth agent for Seema School, room #2, booth number 156 on behalf of Nina P Nayak (Aam Aadmi Party candidate for South Bangalore) at 1st block Koramangala. I would like to begin by first thanking Aam Aadmi Party for giving me this opportunity. What a humbling experience it was just to sit there and watch people vote.
My Experience
The day begins by PRO calling me to participate in checking that the voting machine is working correctly. I hesitate for a second to take my foot forward. Is he really asking me? He does not know yet that i have never seen a voting machine in my life so far. After a second, i say ofcourse and with complete feigned confidence, I go towards the machine. There are 23 candidates at booth number 156 and the 24th option was of NOTA. Independent candidates had all kinds of interesting symbols which included TV, Mixee, cricket bat, cricket batsman, Lalten, trumpet and an autorickshaw. The BJP and Congress agents were both late and they arrived only after the mock poll was finished.
The queue had already started to build at 6:45 am. Throughout the day, I was taken by the commitment of folks who had come out to vote. I did not know whether they voted for AAP or not but everyone felt very happy to have came out and voted. Their face glowed with satisfaction for having done their duty towards their beloved country. Their nation had demanded a small service from them and they were here to deliver it.
There were three people who had come on a wheel chair to cast their vote. Each was handicapped in some way. The voting machine was resting on a table that was not wheel chair friendly. The PRO helped each one, it was still difficult yet they proudly exercised their franchise. There were about ten folks who were old and were walking using a stick. They too waited patiently inside the booth for their turn. Age did not deter these folks. Except for a minor heated discussion, which involved the BJP agent and a voter, the entire process from morning to evening was peaceful. Everyone understood the importance of this exercise, they were calm and thoroughly professional.
There were atleast 8 people who came with the slip but without any proof of identification. They were asked to get their id cards. Everyone expected their disappointment about it with one man whose wife had no identification got agitated and yelled - "She is my wife and i am saying so. If you do not let her vote, it is country's loss not his". Most of these folks went back to their homes, got their respective ids, stood in the queue again and finally voted. The man who shouted did not came back. Some folks got their kids to accompany them to the ballot box. Their young ones were really excited to be there, especially during ink marking. A couple of them even wanted it on their fingers.
There were about 5 or 6 couples who had come where the husband was leading his respective wife through the entire checking in process. He had her photo id proof, he told her where to sign and asked her to show her left thumb to get the ink mark. In one case, a man even held his wife's thumb. He even tried to accompany her to the ballot box but that is when our PRO stood up and reminded him that her ballot is a secret, even from him. He expressed surprise but quickly understood. In one day, I came to see another side of my fellow countrymen that is generally not visible.
When we watch the results being announced in TV, X party got Y seats, the process of elections is generally lost in those numbers and analysis. To witness the gullak (piggy bank) being filled one vote at a time, to see the queue of people waiting peacefully and to imagine that such is happening across thousands of booths - same everywhere, it is indeed a humbling experience. When polling happens in free and fair manner, and when people come out to vote not because of any reward or punishment, then the significance of 60% turnout, which amounts to hundred millions in absolute number of votes, is incredible. It is just an amazing feat to accomplish in a country like India. The whole day, I was reminded of these lines from the song Yeh Tara -
Some Stats
A total of 830 ballots were casted at my booth by 831 people. One person had come and done everything but did not press anything in the machine. Out of 830, 470 were men while 360 were women. The first 4 hrs (7-11 am) had about 100+ folks coming in each hr. The time from 9 am to 10 am was the busiest as 114 votes were cast in that hr, roughly about two votes every minute. The rate dropped drastically after 11 am.
It was expected that turnout will pick up after 4 pm but that did not happen. Interestingly, between 3 pm to 6 pm there were more women voters than men voters in each hr. The morning hrs had more families walking in and also a lot of elderly people as compared to later half. The second half had a lot of individuals. This time, in anticipation of a higher turnout, EC had increased the deadline from 5 pm to 6pm. In the last hr, at booth #156, only 24 people came to vote which comprised of 8 men and 16 women. So an extra hr meant around 2.9% extra votes based on one booth data.
FAQs
As the day progressed, we had some free time on our hands which i utilized by asking my corner case questions to the EC officials. Here are some of them -
Q: What will happen if a person presses multiple keys on the voting machine?
A: Whichever key was pressed first will be registered. All others would be ignored.
Q: Where do you mark a person who has no fingers?
A: The marking is done on left elbow.
Q: For people who are assigned duties for managing the polling booths, how/when do they vote?
A: They vote by postal ballot. Every such individual gets a postal letter which they have to fill and return by a specific date. Their votes are only counted if there is a small difference between the first two candidates' vote share.
Q: Why are you putting the ink on left thumb instead of index finger this time?
A: There were some local elections few days ago in Karnataka. Some of the people who voted may still have ink marks on their fingers. In order to avoid confusion, the finger was changed to thumb.
My Experience
The day begins by PRO calling me to participate in checking that the voting machine is working correctly. I hesitate for a second to take my foot forward. Is he really asking me? He does not know yet that i have never seen a voting machine in my life so far. After a second, i say ofcourse and with complete feigned confidence, I go towards the machine. There are 23 candidates at booth number 156 and the 24th option was of NOTA. Independent candidates had all kinds of interesting symbols which included TV, Mixee, cricket bat, cricket batsman, Lalten, trumpet and an autorickshaw. The BJP and Congress agents were both late and they arrived only after the mock poll was finished.
The queue had already started to build at 6:45 am. Throughout the day, I was taken by the commitment of folks who had come out to vote. I did not know whether they voted for AAP or not but everyone felt very happy to have came out and voted. Their face glowed with satisfaction for having done their duty towards their beloved country. Their nation had demanded a small service from them and they were here to deliver it.
There were three people who had come on a wheel chair to cast their vote. Each was handicapped in some way. The voting machine was resting on a table that was not wheel chair friendly. The PRO helped each one, it was still difficult yet they proudly exercised their franchise. There were about ten folks who were old and were walking using a stick. They too waited patiently inside the booth for their turn. Age did not deter these folks. Except for a minor heated discussion, which involved the BJP agent and a voter, the entire process from morning to evening was peaceful. Everyone understood the importance of this exercise, they were calm and thoroughly professional.
There were atleast 8 people who came with the slip but without any proof of identification. They were asked to get their id cards. Everyone expected their disappointment about it with one man whose wife had no identification got agitated and yelled - "She is my wife and i am saying so. If you do not let her vote, it is country's loss not his". Most of these folks went back to their homes, got their respective ids, stood in the queue again and finally voted. The man who shouted did not came back. Some folks got their kids to accompany them to the ballot box. Their young ones were really excited to be there, especially during ink marking. A couple of them even wanted it on their fingers.
There were about 5 or 6 couples who had come where the husband was leading his respective wife through the entire checking in process. He had her photo id proof, he told her where to sign and asked her to show her left thumb to get the ink mark. In one case, a man even held his wife's thumb. He even tried to accompany her to the ballot box but that is when our PRO stood up and reminded him that her ballot is a secret, even from him. He expressed surprise but quickly understood. In one day, I came to see another side of my fellow countrymen that is generally not visible.
When we watch the results being announced in TV, X party got Y seats, the process of elections is generally lost in those numbers and analysis. To witness the gullak (piggy bank) being filled one vote at a time, to see the queue of people waiting peacefully and to imagine that such is happening across thousands of booths - same everywhere, it is indeed a humbling experience. When polling happens in free and fair manner, and when people come out to vote not because of any reward or punishment, then the significance of 60% turnout, which amounts to hundred millions in absolute number of votes, is incredible. It is just an amazing feat to accomplish in a country like India. The whole day, I was reminded of these lines from the song Yeh Tara -
बूँद बूँद मिलने से, बनता एक दरिया है
बूँद बूँद सागर है, वरना ये सागर क्या है
समझो इस पहेली को, बूँद हो अकेली तो
एक बूँद जैसे कुच्छ भी नहीं
हम औरों को छोड़े तो, मुँह सबसे ही मुड़े तो
तन्हा रहना जाए देखो हम कहीं
क्यूँ ना बने मिलके हम धारा ह्म..आरा तारा
ये तारा वो तारा हर तारा
देखो जिससे भी लगे प्यारा
ये तारा वो तारा हर तारा
ये सब साथ में जो है रात में
तो जगमगाया आसमान सारा
Some Stats
A total of 830 ballots were casted at my booth by 831 people. One person had come and done everything but did not press anything in the machine. Out of 830, 470 were men while 360 were women. The first 4 hrs (7-11 am) had about 100+ folks coming in each hr. The time from 9 am to 10 am was the busiest as 114 votes were cast in that hr, roughly about two votes every minute. The rate dropped drastically after 11 am.
It was expected that turnout will pick up after 4 pm but that did not happen. Interestingly, between 3 pm to 6 pm there were more women voters than men voters in each hr. The morning hrs had more families walking in and also a lot of elderly people as compared to later half. The second half had a lot of individuals. This time, in anticipation of a higher turnout, EC had increased the deadline from 5 pm to 6pm. In the last hr, at booth #156, only 24 people came to vote which comprised of 8 men and 16 women. So an extra hr meant around 2.9% extra votes based on one booth data.
FAQs
As the day progressed, we had some free time on our hands which i utilized by asking my corner case questions to the EC officials. Here are some of them -
Q: What will happen if a person presses multiple keys on the voting machine?
A: Whichever key was pressed first will be registered. All others would be ignored.
Q: Where do you mark a person who has no fingers?
A: The marking is done on left elbow.
Q: For people who are assigned duties for managing the polling booths, how/when do they vote?
A: They vote by postal ballot. Every such individual gets a postal letter which they have to fill and return by a specific date. Their votes are only counted if there is a small difference between the first two candidates' vote share.
Q: Why are you putting the ink on left thumb instead of index finger this time?
A: There were some local elections few days ago in Karnataka. Some of the people who voted may still have ink marks on their fingers. In order to avoid confusion, the finger was changed to thumb.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Auroville trip
Running a half marathon was only an excuse to visit Pondicherry and Auroville. In the broad class of excuses, it has a very high degree of efficacy as well.
Our trip begins with a road trip from Bangalore. Trip members were Deeksha, Viji, Suchi and me in one car. Nikesh and his wife Sujata in a second car. The road from Bangalore to Auroville is great. We went via Vellore sticking to national and state highways. We took a detour to visit Sripuram Golden Temple at Sripuram. Next to Sripuram entrance is a cafe called Divine cafe and indeed its food was divine. The dish names were quite tricky to be remembered but their taste will last for quite some time. Unfortunately, I could not enter the temple as I was wearing shorts. A man tried to sell a Lungi but i preferred to sit outside and enjoy the activities outside. The temple seemed calm, lacking any chauvinism and a place where one can get serenity. We stayed at Purple Resorts at Auroville. Purple resorts may be the tallest building in Auroville with its four floors. Purple resorts, shall i add once again, highlights the problem with India where the service is outsourced as a commodity bearing in no relation to what it stands for. Even though the amenities here was good, the service was bad and the staff had no intention of taking care of its customers. The breakfast was late, bad and forgettable.
Before the breakfast, I went for a leisurely stroll and within 10 minutes, I knew i would love this place. There was a cafe shop right outside called Marc's cafe. Within a min of walking there was a Greek cafe and Book fair next to it. After another min, I found a shopp called "Happy Foods" which was a local farmer's market. It was all jungle around me. There were more bicycles than cars, more local shops and cafes. Auroville is a town that will see tremendous growth, mostly at an expense of its jungles but as a tourist place in India, it is going to be a good one.
After the breakfast, we went to Pondicherry where we had planned for a heritage walk with Mr. Ashok from INTACH. In an hr or so, he showed several buildings made in French architecture, how they were involved in restoring them, making sure they were built keeping the aesthetics of the town intact. With some history, some rant against government, governance and some bias towards French people, we strolled on the streets visiting one building to another. Walking is the only way to know a city and walking with someone who can share history is even better. It was a pleasant morning and our walk ended by a tour of the French church where mass still happens in French.
It was quite sunny when we finished our walk. We decided to follow it up with food at Le Cafe at the Promenade. Some dishes were delicious while others were over rated. Stuffed, we decided to head over to the Aurobindo Ashram and see the paper factory. It should be mentioned here that we had made no Things to do list for Pondichery. The heritage walk was decided when we were driving up from Bangalore and it happened by chance. The no expectations and no planning trip always offer more joys and we were following exactly that. Paper factory tour was a brilliant one. In a 15 min tour of how paper is made, it was informative and an introduction to a process that is so creative and genuine. I was totally fascinated. In the process of marbling, out of chaos came patterns; a design that was always there in the making but it comes off at the last moment. Brilliant stuff.
After a quick stop at the Aurobindo's samadhi, we went back to Auroville for our bib collection and then to Marc's cafe for a nice cup of coffee. An early dinner at Madame Shanthe's consited of carbo-load for the run tomorrow. We were quite tired with all the walking in the morning and the weather was on the hotter side for us who are spoiled by Bangalore. Yet our day had not ended as we had bought tickets for Leela Samson's Bharatnaytam performance. It had been quite some time since i had seen a dance performance and that too of this quality. It was a brilliant performance and thankfully everyone in our group liked it. There is always an element of doubt in group dynamics when it is not clear whether the act is going to be liked by everyone. The INTACH walk in the morning was considered so-so by others in the group but thankfully this dance performance, which was indeed top notch, was enjoyed by everyone. Being a french town, the intro talk was given in French and the audience was also mostly locales who had some French connection. It was hard to believe that this is a part of India.
Next morning, we ran the Auroville Half marathon. With no timing chips and a motto - Run for the joy of running, Auroville HM is truly a pure joy event. Post the run, we went back to our food agenda with having first course at the Greek cafe and second course at Tanto. The return was quite as we came back with great memories and promises to visit Auroville next year.
All the trip photos from my camera are uploaded here - https://plus.google.com/photos/104532372595633553382/albums/5979336917508946417
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Modern and Postmodern Philosophy
Modern and Postmodern philosophy
Coursera website - https://class.coursera.org/modernpostmodern-002/class/index
Teacher: Prof. Michael S. Roth
Wesleyan University
It was a conversation with Justin, few months back, which got me interested into this course. He had shared the course link and i was generally looking for something more academic in this area for quite some time. Instinctively I had signed up. Today marks the end of this 14 week journey, and i have enjoyed it immensely.
To the people who ask why study philosophy, my answer is simple - To understand what is philosophy, what is modern philosophy and what is postmodern? I had never posed the why this course question to myself because i knew very well that i was doing it just to satiate my curiosity.
Since i read Kant's essay on What is Enlightenment, i was hooked. Last 14 weeks were spent planning everything around this course. To give you an idea, i was reading Madame Bovary on the flight from India to US, not a good idea in hindsight as i was sleep deprived and under a mild headache - not the best time to read Flaubert. Ankur and Somnath invited me to join them for an evening visit to a beautiful cave in Bentonville but i had to skip as i wanted to finish readings on Karl Marx. The 10 day Sikkim trek made me read two weeks of reading compressed in one week with assignment and the very first thing that i did on internet after coming down to Yuksom was to check my assignment's grade. Infact, on the way to Bagdogra, i was reading Emerson (oh, what a joy that was! ) and even tried to read Focault at Tshoka but that turned out to be a disaster. As of now, my Kindle is not working properly as it got wet while hiking in rain. I watched the lectures on Virginia Woolf from the food court of Garuda mall while waiting for Parul before going to the film - Lunch box. You might not believe but i had planned for that time slot three days in advance. It has been worth every effort. It has been a joy, an informative experience.
Before i show-off what i have read, i want to record my thoughts on some of the key takeaways. In other words, beyond the curiosity argument, why should anyone take this course?
~ With every philosopher you read, you agree with some of their points and disagree with others. But there are some who just sweep you off your feet and provide such a radical view-point that you had not thought of before. This by itself would be a good enough reason - new perspectives and outlooks. But we are reading the best of philosophers and here, you find yourself agreeing with their radical theory. Your mind says to you - "Indeed, this makes sense! whoa". Each one has their own set of philosophers that has done this to them. For me, it happened with Nietzsche and Freud. There is also the opposite effect where you say - "Really, what trash is this. " For me, i would not call anything trash but i would say - "I beg to differ, agree to disagree. But it was good to know the counter viewpoint". For me, the former case happened much more.
~ The other very important takeaway has been the method of delivery by these authors. While reading some sentences in their text, i was just floored by the way each thought was conveyed, how the right word was chosen and the kind of feeling it emoted once the sentence was over. In numerous cases, i had to just re-read a line just to fully appreciate the magnitude of its construction and effect. Particular examples here were Rousseau, Marx and Emerson.
~ Historical perspective : The course starts with authors writing in 18th century and ends with some of the contemporary philosophers. Even with a limited set of readings, one can witness the change in the kind of work that has been the focussed and how the society/culture of that decade or century had shaped their respective works. I am always fascinated by history and this course does a great job in providing historical perspectives.
~ To The Lighthouse, Madame Bovary : To The Lighthouse is ranked 15th in Modern's list of 100 books of all time. It was always there on my TODO list. The book deserves its place in that list. Madame Bovary is considered to be one of the greatest novel every written; it is also one of the most influential novels ever written. I took the Greek and Roman mythology course just because they were reading Odyssey. This course had two books. Jokes apart, both these books are phenomenal read.
~ Failed attempts - I had tried to read some essay of Nietzsche in past but had failed to make sense of him in any way. (It was not easy this time either, at least the first time.) I was never interested in Freud's Interpretation of Dreams but wanted to read something more significant by him. Kant, Darwin and Emerson were all dreams unfulfilled. So, this course presented an excellent opportunity to cover all of them in one go.
~Professor Michael S. Roth as the teacher is very good. His enthusiasm, passion is viral, you can not escape it. Also, his understanding and ability to break down these texts into simple terms and convey the "really real" (haha) makes it very easy to follow the course. Also, in general the coursera online course format is quite good.
Things that i read as part of this course, along with one line on key takeaway.
1. Immanuel Kant - What is Enlightenment?
A short essay that explains Kantian meaning of enlightenment and it can be said that it kickstarted the whole modern philosophy. Enlightenment especially Kant's definition is referred throughout the course by many others.
2. Jean Jacques Rousseau - Discourse on the Arts and Sciences.
He argues that all arts and sciences are bad, man should go back to the stone age and live peacefully there. A difficult read but Rousseau's language is brilliant. Difficult to agree with him.
3. Jean Jacques Rousseau - Discourse on the Origins of Inequality
I did not complete this one, it was too long for me.
4. Karl Marx - Estranged Labor.
Brilliant. This text shocked me as it was so right. I have to re-read it and keep it at the back of my mind.
5. Karl Marx - The Communist Manifesto.
Very very good. If i was born at that time, i would have believed in Communism. I agree with Marx's diagnosis but find his solution, aka communism, difficult to digest, in particular now as we have seen how it breaks down.
6. Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary
A dig at Romanticism, Enlightenment, bourgeoise and many others, all happening under a story that is equally enchanting.
7. Charles Darwin - Struggle for Existence and Natural Selection from The Origin of Species, and Conclusion from The Descent of Man.
Very informative read. The text is anyways cult, so another "Been there done that". What insights for that age!
8. Charles Baudelaire - Paris Spleen.
Prose poems - a completely new form of literature for me. Felt like reading Gulzar in English; a lot of emphasis on imagery.
9. Friedrich Nietzsche - Essay 2 in Genealogy of Morals.
Radical thought but very well argued. What is even shocking is that i agree with his line of thinking. The other two essays are a must read now.
10. Sigmund Freud - Civilization and its discontents
Again very radical. You may not agree with all his points but when you do, you know something about yourself that you didn't knew before.
11. Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse.
Absolutely brilliant - Has to be read again. The last five pages of Act 1 is one of the best pieces of literature ever written.
12. Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self-Reliance from the book Essays: First Series.
Pure joy to read. I am an Emerson fan from now on.
13. Ludwig Wittgenstein, - Selections from his book Philosophical Investigations.
His bio on wikipedia was equally interesting to his text. Changes how you see at language. I have to read again to get its full grasp.
14. Horkheimer and Adorno - Chapter 1 from Dialectics of Enlightenment.
Quite difficult to follow. A lot of tirades and then the meaning comes. But when it comes, it comes with shock, grief and doom.
15. Michel Foucault - The Great Confinement from the book Madness and Civilization.
Man, this is all crazy! Foucalt rips apart the prison system and calls it madness.
16. Michel Foucault - What is Enlightenment.
I have no idea what this text meant until i saw the video lectures. Very very difficult to follow him.
17. Alison Bechdel, Fun home - A tragicomic story.
A graphic novel + memoir combination. Though, it was an optional read, i read it. Enjoyed the story, and the graphics. But not as good as the two other works of fiction in this course.
18. Judith Butler - Introduction from Undoing Gender.
First time read - Made no sense. Second time read - interesting. Third time read - She is so right! Again, very difficult to follow.
19. Slavoj Zizek - You May.
"A philosopher's job is not to find answers but to ask the right questions" - Zizek. A very interesting character and the text.
20. Richard Rorty - Postmodern Bourgeoise Liberalism from the book Pragmatism - A Reader.
Pragmatism by itself is an interesting take. Other essays should be read from this book.
21. Cornell West - Prophetic Pragmatism from Pragmatism - A Reader.
Very interesting. West also brings it under the religious context but in his own terms.
22. Bruno Latour - Why has critique run out of steam?
Starting under how republicans trash the global warming theory, a spectacular take on critique and how it needs to progress so that it survives.
23. Anthony Appiah - Cosmopolitan Contamination from the book Cosmopiltanism.
I didn't agree with some of his arguments on globalization but it was a still quite informative. Easy to follow.
Follow up readings -
(I am too afraid to start this list as it is a long one)
1. Nietzsche - The other two essays in Genalogy of Morals and his other writings.
2. Anthony Appiah - Finish the book Cosmopolitanism.
3. Pragmatist - A Reader. Read few more essays especially by Dewey and the one on justice.
4. John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. On my reading list for quite some time.
5. Some more essays by Zizek. General curiosity here.
6. Couple of more essays from Foucault's Madness and civilization, just want to know how else we are mad.
7. Order, and Finish Paris Spleen by Baudelaire.
8. Finish Rousseau's discourse on inequality someday.
9. Want to read Joyce to get more of stream-of-consciousness.
10. To the Lighthouse has to be read but not anytime soon.
Coursera website - https://class.coursera.org/modernpostmodern-002/class/index
Teacher: Prof. Michael S. Roth
Wesleyan University
It was a conversation with Justin, few months back, which got me interested into this course. He had shared the course link and i was generally looking for something more academic in this area for quite some time. Instinctively I had signed up. Today marks the end of this 14 week journey, and i have enjoyed it immensely.
To the people who ask why study philosophy, my answer is simple - To understand what is philosophy, what is modern philosophy and what is postmodern? I had never posed the why this course question to myself because i knew very well that i was doing it just to satiate my curiosity.
Since i read Kant's essay on What is Enlightenment, i was hooked. Last 14 weeks were spent planning everything around this course. To give you an idea, i was reading Madame Bovary on the flight from India to US, not a good idea in hindsight as i was sleep deprived and under a mild headache - not the best time to read Flaubert. Ankur and Somnath invited me to join them for an evening visit to a beautiful cave in Bentonville but i had to skip as i wanted to finish readings on Karl Marx. The 10 day Sikkim trek made me read two weeks of reading compressed in one week with assignment and the very first thing that i did on internet after coming down to Yuksom was to check my assignment's grade. Infact, on the way to Bagdogra, i was reading Emerson (oh, what a joy that was! ) and even tried to read Focault at Tshoka but that turned out to be a disaster. As of now, my Kindle is not working properly as it got wet while hiking in rain. I watched the lectures on Virginia Woolf from the food court of Garuda mall while waiting for Parul before going to the film - Lunch box. You might not believe but i had planned for that time slot three days in advance. It has been worth every effort. It has been a joy, an informative experience.
Before i show-off what i have read, i want to record my thoughts on some of the key takeaways. In other words, beyond the curiosity argument, why should anyone take this course?
~ With every philosopher you read, you agree with some of their points and disagree with others. But there are some who just sweep you off your feet and provide such a radical view-point that you had not thought of before. This by itself would be a good enough reason - new perspectives and outlooks. But we are reading the best of philosophers and here, you find yourself agreeing with their radical theory. Your mind says to you - "Indeed, this makes sense! whoa". Each one has their own set of philosophers that has done this to them. For me, it happened with Nietzsche and Freud. There is also the opposite effect where you say - "Really, what trash is this. " For me, i would not call anything trash but i would say - "I beg to differ, agree to disagree. But it was good to know the counter viewpoint". For me, the former case happened much more.
~ The other very important takeaway has been the method of delivery by these authors. While reading some sentences in their text, i was just floored by the way each thought was conveyed, how the right word was chosen and the kind of feeling it emoted once the sentence was over. In numerous cases, i had to just re-read a line just to fully appreciate the magnitude of its construction and effect. Particular examples here were Rousseau, Marx and Emerson.
~ Historical perspective : The course starts with authors writing in 18th century and ends with some of the contemporary philosophers. Even with a limited set of readings, one can witness the change in the kind of work that has been the focussed and how the society/culture of that decade or century had shaped their respective works. I am always fascinated by history and this course does a great job in providing historical perspectives.
~ To The Lighthouse, Madame Bovary : To The Lighthouse is ranked 15th in Modern's list of 100 books of all time. It was always there on my TODO list. The book deserves its place in that list. Madame Bovary is considered to be one of the greatest novel every written; it is also one of the most influential novels ever written. I took the Greek and Roman mythology course just because they were reading Odyssey. This course had two books. Jokes apart, both these books are phenomenal read.
~ Failed attempts - I had tried to read some essay of Nietzsche in past but had failed to make sense of him in any way. (It was not easy this time either, at least the first time.) I was never interested in Freud's Interpretation of Dreams but wanted to read something more significant by him. Kant, Darwin and Emerson were all dreams unfulfilled. So, this course presented an excellent opportunity to cover all of them in one go.
~Professor Michael S. Roth as the teacher is very good. His enthusiasm, passion is viral, you can not escape it. Also, his understanding and ability to break down these texts into simple terms and convey the "really real" (haha) makes it very easy to follow the course. Also, in general the coursera online course format is quite good.
Things that i read as part of this course, along with one line on key takeaway.
1. Immanuel Kant - What is Enlightenment?
A short essay that explains Kantian meaning of enlightenment and it can be said that it kickstarted the whole modern philosophy. Enlightenment especially Kant's definition is referred throughout the course by many others.
2. Jean Jacques Rousseau - Discourse on the Arts and Sciences.
He argues that all arts and sciences are bad, man should go back to the stone age and live peacefully there. A difficult read but Rousseau's language is brilliant. Difficult to agree with him.
3. Jean Jacques Rousseau - Discourse on the Origins of Inequality
I did not complete this one, it was too long for me.
4. Karl Marx - Estranged Labor.
Brilliant. This text shocked me as it was so right. I have to re-read it and keep it at the back of my mind.
5. Karl Marx - The Communist Manifesto.
Very very good. If i was born at that time, i would have believed in Communism. I agree with Marx's diagnosis but find his solution, aka communism, difficult to digest, in particular now as we have seen how it breaks down.
6. Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary
A dig at Romanticism, Enlightenment, bourgeoise and many others, all happening under a story that is equally enchanting.
7. Charles Darwin - Struggle for Existence and Natural Selection from The Origin of Species, and Conclusion from The Descent of Man.
Very informative read. The text is anyways cult, so another "Been there done that". What insights for that age!
8. Charles Baudelaire - Paris Spleen.
Prose poems - a completely new form of literature for me. Felt like reading Gulzar in English; a lot of emphasis on imagery.
9. Friedrich Nietzsche - Essay 2 in Genealogy of Morals.
Radical thought but very well argued. What is even shocking is that i agree with his line of thinking. The other two essays are a must read now.
10. Sigmund Freud - Civilization and its discontents
Again very radical. You may not agree with all his points but when you do, you know something about yourself that you didn't knew before.
11. Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse.
Absolutely brilliant - Has to be read again. The last five pages of Act 1 is one of the best pieces of literature ever written.
12. Ralph Waldo Emerson - Self-Reliance from the book Essays: First Series.
Pure joy to read. I am an Emerson fan from now on.
13. Ludwig Wittgenstein, - Selections from his book Philosophical Investigations.
His bio on wikipedia was equally interesting to his text. Changes how you see at language. I have to read again to get its full grasp.
14. Horkheimer and Adorno - Chapter 1 from Dialectics of Enlightenment.
Quite difficult to follow. A lot of tirades and then the meaning comes. But when it comes, it comes with shock, grief and doom.
15. Michel Foucault - The Great Confinement from the book Madness and Civilization.
Man, this is all crazy! Foucalt rips apart the prison system and calls it madness.
16. Michel Foucault - What is Enlightenment.
I have no idea what this text meant until i saw the video lectures. Very very difficult to follow him.
17. Alison Bechdel, Fun home - A tragicomic story.
A graphic novel + memoir combination. Though, it was an optional read, i read it. Enjoyed the story, and the graphics. But not as good as the two other works of fiction in this course.
18. Judith Butler - Introduction from Undoing Gender.
First time read - Made no sense. Second time read - interesting. Third time read - She is so right! Again, very difficult to follow.
19. Slavoj Zizek - You May.
"A philosopher's job is not to find answers but to ask the right questions" - Zizek. A very interesting character and the text.
20. Richard Rorty - Postmodern Bourgeoise Liberalism from the book Pragmatism - A Reader.
Pragmatism by itself is an interesting take. Other essays should be read from this book.
21. Cornell West - Prophetic Pragmatism from Pragmatism - A Reader.
Very interesting. West also brings it under the religious context but in his own terms.
22. Bruno Latour - Why has critique run out of steam?
Starting under how republicans trash the global warming theory, a spectacular take on critique and how it needs to progress so that it survives.
23. Anthony Appiah - Cosmopolitan Contamination from the book Cosmopiltanism.
I didn't agree with some of his arguments on globalization but it was a still quite informative. Easy to follow.
Follow up readings -
(I am too afraid to start this list as it is a long one)
1. Nietzsche - The other two essays in Genalogy of Morals and his other writings.
2. Anthony Appiah - Finish the book Cosmopolitanism.
3. Pragmatist - A Reader. Read few more essays especially by Dewey and the one on justice.
4. John Stuart Mill's On Liberty. On my reading list for quite some time.
5. Some more essays by Zizek. General curiosity here.
6. Couple of more essays from Foucault's Madness and civilization, just want to know how else we are mad.
7. Order, and Finish Paris Spleen by Baudelaire.
8. Finish Rousseau's discourse on inequality someday.
9. Want to read Joyce to get more of stream-of-consciousness.
10. To the Lighthouse has to be read but not anytime soon.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Closures and Beginnings : KTM 2013
There are only a few races that one runs to prove a point, to prove to oneself, ofcourse. First time races such as one's first HM, first marathon belong here, not all of the timing goals belong here but few do. Then there is a whole "other" category. My KTM 2013 belongs to this "other".
The Context:
Back in 2010, i ran my first HM with a timing just shy of 3 hr mark. Last year, at KTM 2012, i ran my second one and it was a disaster. It took me 3 hr and 20 mins to cross the finish line and it was a very poor finish. I had a horrible run wherein at one point of time, i just sat down on grass next to the trail as i could not run. At the end, physically, i was dehydrated, dizzy, head-ached and wasted but mentally i was angry, enraged on screwing up my run so badly. Typically, people improve as they run but in my case it was the other way around. My next step should have been Auroville but after this mind-numbing performance, i took a break from everything. I started training for Ananya HM, it was all going great until i had to visit US for a three week work trip. I did not make time to train there and lost all the momentum. A two line email from Santhosh said in no-nonsense terms that i should not run this race. I was even more angry at myself for having failed to straighten the record. So, it was KTM 2013 where i vowed to take revenge, to prove that i am a much better runner than this.
The Journey:
KTM 2013 training started on a great note. I was fairly regular and was enjoying the program. Byalkere Peacock Reserve was a great find and Bangalore's weather this year has just been a paradise. It was all going according to plan until i was told that there has to be another work trip. "It can not be happening again" was the first thought that came to my mind. But i was not going to give up this time. I had tremendous luck this time as i was staying in a hotel that was next to an awesome running trail. My full US running activities are documented here. Outside of work, the only thing in my mind for the entire trip was running - when, where and how. Running alone, without the group, made me push myself to limits that i had not experienced so far. For the first time, i had this feeling that i must run today not because i was to train for KTM or anything but just that i wanted to run. Running made me got up in early mornings instead of the other way around when i used to get up in order to run. Running was no longer a chore, it was what i wanted.
Back from the US, the very next day i ran 10K at Kanakpura and followed it up with a mock run at the Kaveri trail. Both were strong finishes and i knew i was ready. But there was more to it. On last Thursday morning, for bib collection, i realized that i have not received any registration confirmation email. Panicked, i called the KTM organizers who told that they do not have my record in any database. It was crisis time, i had a vague feeling that i have registered but was i imagining it? Next couple of hrs were an exercise through sheer pain. Having done everything, this would rank as the stupidest reason to miss a race. Miraculously, i was able to find my online transaction and using it, the RFL guys were able to look me up and give my bib number.
Tidbit:
People sometimes have a surprise look when i tell them that i am a forever finish goal-er. Even though i have quoted timings above, they matter little to me. Running is one of the few physical activities that i enjoy, i do not want to strain it with a time restrictions. Yesterday, at KTM, people finished full marathons in less than 4 hrs, fastest half marathoner was there in less than 90 mins. I just clapped at these numbers, i was happy for these people but that was it. Among all this, there was also an announcement at the finish line, somebody aged 80 yrs has finished his half marathon. Now, that makes hairs on my hand stand tall. If the dream of a time-goaler is to improve his time with every successive run, the dream of this finish-goaler is to be sixty one day and yet be fit enough to have a strong Half marathon finish, to hell with the timing i say.
The Race:
KTM weather was very kind yesterday, the Sun was behind clouds for most of the time. With 900 participants, it did feel like a crowd but not comparable to TCS by any stretch. For the first 5K, i was trying not to be the rabbit and instead focussed on being a tortoise. After 5K, i knew that people ahead of me will finish early and behind me will be late, so i knew that i have found my placement. From 5-13K it was a rhythmic run. I increased my pace a little after 13K hoping to reach 16K point sooner. 16K is my mental comfort point as in i do not feel exerted to run 16K. But at KTM, at 15K, i realized that i was little tired. 15-19K was completely a mental game, i persisted at a steady pace not relenting to walk. Once 19K was reached, i knew i would be home soon and i also knew that it would be a personal best. So, i increased my tempo little bit. At about 20.5K, i started sprinting and was home with a cheering reception. It took me 2 hrs 35 mins and 15 seconds to finish the race. I was very happy. Not only with the timing but the fact that i was in no pain, able to walk properly (no limping) and with a very mild headache that went away after about 20 mins. So, it was a strong finish.
All the above has been possible with the help of Runners High. Its an awesome group and i am in awe of the dedication that the coaches show towards the community. From my side, i would like to thank Santhosh, my HSR coaches - Ajay and Vinay, our buddy group DreamRunners, especially Nikunj, the awesome people at water-stops during our training runs, and everyone who has been there with the group. A small cheer, a slight word of encouragement, a strong "you-can-do-it" shout goes a long distance in lifting one's self confidence, more than one could imagine. RH is a joy that must be experienced if you are living in Bangalore.
It is only fitting that the RFL bus covers two sides of Cubbon park before stopping right in front of the Queen's park entrance for us to get off. The first long run of this season was kicked off from the very same spot about 15 weeks ago. A fantastic journey has come to a closure. But another one is just beginning.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Madame Bovary : Not a review
Madame Bovary
Author: Gustave Flaubert
This is not a review. It is a post about lessons learnt while reading Madame Bovary.
I had to read Madame Bovary as part of my Modern and Post-Modern philosophy course on coursera. It is still not clear to me completely why we were asked to read this book for this course. After watching the lecture videos, the prof says: What Rousseau was to enlightenment, in a very similar way Flaubert was to Romanticism. Hmmm, i am yet to understand Rousseau completely and i have little idea about Romanticism anyways. So, that's that.
Madame Bovary is called as the finest work of fiction ever. It is called a masterpiece. It has inspired the whole generations of authors after its publication and pretty much every great author's work today can be traced back to this one novel. I had researched this bit before i started reading, so i was pretty excited.
I read the first 65% of the book on a kindle in my flight from Bangalore to SFO. I had taken Qatar and with total flight time of 27 hrs, i had plenty of time to read it. The last 35% were read in a Starbucks cafe in Bentonville sitting next to a window during afternoon time when sunrays were coming at an angle that directly touched my feet making me feel warm just enough to be cozy. My appreciation towards Starbucks is also quite high since i had moved back to India.
Madame Bovary, even though it is a work of fiction, it belongs to the genre of classic. It is not Hunger Games, it is not even Girl with Dragon Tattoo. All three have the common theme, each one of them is about a female protagonist. Rather, Madama Bovary is a very nuanced depiction of mundane life in 19th century. With its setting in small villages, towns and country side, it is basically about the ordinary lives of people who live there, it provides with detailed accounts of what people do day to day, which is essentially gossip and nothing. It has a remarkable prose, beautiful, every word is chosen very carefully to concisely explain the scenery. Some of the metaphors are extremely well constructed. It is considered to be one of its first to right realist fiction, a realistic portrayal of the mundane written in a manner that even that becomes exciting to read. It is indeed a masterpiece.
However with all the above, it is not an easy read. At any rate it is not a book that is to be read in a flight at 5 am in the morning when you have not slept last night. It is not to be read at anytime during a flight when you are having a mild headache as you are unable to find sleep. It is especially not to be read when you are running a minor flu. What makes matter more complicated was that i was expecting it to be a novel like Girl with dragon tattoo, the high delta in expectation and reality was too much to bear for me. Yet it was the prose that kept my going. For the first 65% of the book, my reaction ranged from boring to infuriated to "what the hell is happening here" and somewhere it included "will the story ever move forward".
The last 35% of the book was a sheer delight. With proper sleep under me, my appreciation of the prose grew beyond proportions. I was in love with the writing, the careful detailed construction of each line, how two lines associated themselves when they appeared next to each other and how smooth was the flow of a para . I was able to see the mastery behind this invention. It was also helped little bit by a slight quickening of the pace in storyline as well.
Overall, the lesson has been learnt. One should only read a pageturner-ish book on a flight journey. I had experienced a familiar difficulty as i tried to read Midnight's Children during my flight to US when i was going to start my masters there. I had given after 150 pages or so marking the book as unreadable until i came back to it two years later and finished it, thoroughly enjoying this time. I had not clearly understood why i didn't appreciated the book first time around, now i know. One need all the senses available to understand "class" writing; great authors require great attention from their readers. Also classics are best enjoyed in cafes.
I am not sure if i will re-read Madame Bovary again. I wish that i do. Meanwhile, the course is going brilliant. The video lectures have been a great compliment to the weekly readings and they just add another dimension of realization. Madame Bovary is actually a rebuke on Romanticism, it is strong critique on "Art for art's sake". It was hugely controversial in its own time as all cult things are .
Author: Gustave Flaubert
This is not a review. It is a post about lessons learnt while reading Madame Bovary.
I had to read Madame Bovary as part of my Modern and Post-Modern philosophy course on coursera. It is still not clear to me completely why we were asked to read this book for this course. After watching the lecture videos, the prof says: What Rousseau was to enlightenment, in a very similar way Flaubert was to Romanticism. Hmmm, i am yet to understand Rousseau completely and i have little idea about Romanticism anyways. So, that's that.
Madame Bovary is called as the finest work of fiction ever. It is called a masterpiece. It has inspired the whole generations of authors after its publication and pretty much every great author's work today can be traced back to this one novel. I had researched this bit before i started reading, so i was pretty excited.
I read the first 65% of the book on a kindle in my flight from Bangalore to SFO. I had taken Qatar and with total flight time of 27 hrs, i had plenty of time to read it. The last 35% were read in a Starbucks cafe in Bentonville sitting next to a window during afternoon time when sunrays were coming at an angle that directly touched my feet making me feel warm just enough to be cozy. My appreciation towards Starbucks is also quite high since i had moved back to India.
Madame Bovary, even though it is a work of fiction, it belongs to the genre of classic. It is not Hunger Games, it is not even Girl with Dragon Tattoo. All three have the common theme, each one of them is about a female protagonist. Rather, Madama Bovary is a very nuanced depiction of mundane life in 19th century. With its setting in small villages, towns and country side, it is basically about the ordinary lives of people who live there, it provides with detailed accounts of what people do day to day, which is essentially gossip and nothing. It has a remarkable prose, beautiful, every word is chosen very carefully to concisely explain the scenery. Some of the metaphors are extremely well constructed. It is considered to be one of its first to right realist fiction, a realistic portrayal of the mundane written in a manner that even that becomes exciting to read. It is indeed a masterpiece.
However with all the above, it is not an easy read. At any rate it is not a book that is to be read in a flight at 5 am in the morning when you have not slept last night. It is not to be read at anytime during a flight when you are having a mild headache as you are unable to find sleep. It is especially not to be read when you are running a minor flu. What makes matter more complicated was that i was expecting it to be a novel like Girl with dragon tattoo, the high delta in expectation and reality was too much to bear for me. Yet it was the prose that kept my going. For the first 65% of the book, my reaction ranged from boring to infuriated to "what the hell is happening here" and somewhere it included "will the story ever move forward".
The last 35% of the book was a sheer delight. With proper sleep under me, my appreciation of the prose grew beyond proportions. I was in love with the writing, the careful detailed construction of each line, how two lines associated themselves when they appeared next to each other and how smooth was the flow of a para . I was able to see the mastery behind this invention. It was also helped little bit by a slight quickening of the pace in storyline as well.
Overall, the lesson has been learnt. One should only read a pageturner-ish book on a flight journey. I had experienced a familiar difficulty as i tried to read Midnight's Children during my flight to US when i was going to start my masters there. I had given after 150 pages or so marking the book as unreadable until i came back to it two years later and finished it, thoroughly enjoying this time. I had not clearly understood why i didn't appreciated the book first time around, now i know. One need all the senses available to understand "class" writing; great authors require great attention from their readers. Also classics are best enjoyed in cafes.
I am not sure if i will re-read Madame Bovary again. I wish that i do. Meanwhile, the course is going brilliant. The video lectures have been a great compliment to the weekly readings and they just add another dimension of realization. Madame Bovary is actually a rebuke on Romanticism, it is strong critique on "Art for art's sake". It was hugely controversial in its own time as all cult things are .
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Six pointers
Lets start with a thought experiment. Imagine you have to shoot a film that shows virality. Yes, the concept that spreads from one to another to many and then to many more. Yeah, you must be thinking visualization, the spread of information in a social network , the Kolaveri D or the Friday video phenomenon, or you must be thinking dots and circles. But what about virus among human beings, say bird-flu. No, it can't be a documentary. No, it can't be boring, it has to be a commercial film.
It is very hard to take a serious concept, dare i say reality, and to make a good movie about it. Not only it borders the risk of becoming commercially un-viable but often the end result tends to be sub-optimal.
Why am i talking gibberish and what the hell is six pointers? I am talking about the movie Contagion and as of this writing its rating is 6.7 on imdb. Six pointers refers to a whole genre of films that take on a daring concept and are able to do a great job at it but end up having a Six point something rating on IMDB. These films are under-appreciated because people often do not realize the mastery behind their presentation. One really has to undergo a whole slew of crappy movies to understand the craft behind a good one.
Contagion tackles the issue of spread of a virus through the entire human population (a macro phenomenon) by following about ten different lives (micro details) and how they are impacted by it. The beauty lies in how these diverse micro instances allow our minds to imagine the big giant global phenomenon without being explicit about it. The background score, the juxtaposition of all these stories orchestrated through a crisp screenplay and finally the choice of these micro stories; all these create a perfect background for us to understand the un-said. The movie is a sheer delight to watch and once you start watching, you will not remember a single thing in your life until the movie ends. With all the craft, yet the movie is only able to achieve a mere Six point seven rating, a travesty as per this author.
There are several such films and there are several film directors who have been subjugated to this six pointer phenomenon. Robert Redford is one of them. Robert Redford's Lions for Lambs and The company you Keep are both socio-political films made with a maturity and poise that keep the issue(object) at the front and center while the subjects are just enacting its spirit. Stating the obvious would trivialize the matter as the truth is really complex. In real life, our actions often symbolize an end product of a complex milieu and an obvious mention would just trivialize them. How does one convey an emotion behind an action. It is indeed very tricky and it requires a lot of thought-process to get it right. In both the films, Robert Redford's attempts are indeed commendable.
And then there is this other genre of surreal films which even though being completely escapist, or rather too escapist, are never able to escape the curse of Six pointers. Take for instance Terrence Mallick's brilliant Tree of Life which has a rating of 6.8. People are often confused when it comes to rating such movies as there is often no frame of reference to compare them to. At the end of the film, people are left in a confused state as they are happy with what they have just seen but they are not sure how happy they really are. In such conditions, a film eventually settles to a six pointer as it is a safe bet.
The tragedy of these six pointers is that they are often clubbed with the other six pointers. These other six pointers are truly average films like mediocre action movies such as the Transformer series or John Carter, and thousands of feel good movies such as Pretty Woman or The Devil Wears Prada. Movie raters often do not take into account the complexity of depiction of a film's subject matter while reviewing a movie. What matters typically is the end result.
These Six pointer films are often slow, graceful and made with an honesty that makes it difficult to escape. In many case, the ratings on imdb are actually the measure of escapism that one derives from the movie. The more a movie is able to convince you to forget the realist aspects, the more "well-made" it is known. How else will you justify such high ratings for a film like Argo which is completely a fictionalized account of a true story. This trick is now known as the art of storytelling.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
On Reading Arundhati Roy
Once my family was visiting my cousin's place. My 6 year old nephew after saying the usual greetings went back to watch his TV in the living room. We also started chatting right next to him in the living room. After a few minutes, he asked his mother to give him some MnMs. His mother said in a minute and she was back in conversation with us. After a few seconds, he tried again but with no response this time. This request-response must have happened three times more when he stood up and yelled at the top of his voice "You are not listening to me". This is exactly the image that come to my mind when i read Arundhati Roy. Somebody who is yelling at the top of her voice because "we" are not listening.
In her Defense
Ms. Roy's critics claim that hers is the voice of extreme left. She is angry with anything and everything. She knows only to make noise and nothing else. I do not deny their argument. But imagine a situation when your house has been robbed and you go to a police station and nobody is listening to you, what will you do? You will be angry and you will shout. Such is the plea of Arundhati and in this writer's mind, she does an extremely good job by bringing that anger to her writing without loosing her temper.
Godhra , Naxalite movement or even Kashmir, there is a much sinister play here which has to be understood in the right context. It is not a denial of acknowledgement but rather a refusal to acknowledgement. Because "denial" would mean partial knowledge or inefficiency or carelessness while "refusal" is a blatant statement saying that it never happened. Arundhati Roy is fighting against this "refusal" mentality and she is also under a clock because public memory is short-lived.
In her article on Godhra, she spends considerable time on defining why Godhra was not a riot but a genocide. In the case of Afzal Guru where Supereme Court in its judgement wrote this - "The incident, which resulted in heavy casualties, had shaken the entire nation and the collective conscience of the society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded to the offender." She rightly questions our democracy when the supreme body of judiciary is basing its decision on satisfying the collective conscience of the society.
The Tone
In the article - "How deep shall we dig?", Arundhati takes liberalization policies 1991 and places them next to the Rath Yatra by Advani and writes - "While one arm is busy selling off the nation's assets in chunks, the other, to divert attention, is arranging a baying, howling, deranged chorus of cultural nationalism". Her essays are filled with such acerbic comments, these simply can't be ignored. It is at the phrase "to divert attention" in the above quote where a reader, like me who agrees with most of her viewpoints, feels put-off and frankly short-changed.
Arundhati definitely has a flair for writing good prose (she even has a Booker prize in fiction to prize for this) but it feels like she often succumbs to her own internal demons and ends up applying her talent to take cheap shots. There is a fine line between satire and ridicule and she crosses it again and again. It is her sarcastic tone, the air of superiority that i am right and you are not, the "You-have-to-be-a-moron-to-not-see-this", which gets in the way of people taking her more seriously. It is also her tone which gets more attention than her content. We discussed her book - Listening to Grasshoppers - Field notes on democracy, as part of our book club and couple of people mentioned that after reading a few essays, their reaction was "Stop! Please stop". Mind you, it was not the heavy content that made them say this, it was the vinegar representation of fundamental issues.
With every writing, Arundhati has made more enemies than friends. Earlier this year, she wrote "Capitalism, A Ghost story" in which she criticized practically any company that has existed since the dawn of civilization. The article offers anecdotes bashing one company after another but it fails to make any attempts to highlight issues at a theoretic level. Neither it offers any solution to Capitalism, nor it argues for any alternate theory. At the end of reading that article, one is left with a lingering question - "What is the point of all this?
The Necessity
With all the arbitrary claims, metaphors and ridicule, the obvious question are - Does she bring anything to the table? or in other words Do we need Arundhati Roy? The answer is a big yes. We definitely need a voice that represents the left, even though it may the voice of extreme left, to counter the extreme right. There are still people in this world who like the idea of Modi as Prime Minister, who believe that the man is the force behind the (aura of) development in Gujarat and who do not believe (or are willing to overlook) his complicity in Godhra. We need talk to these people because every voice of reason and fairness has failed us. We need to shame them, to make them realize the fallacy in their arguments, to put them to the same standards as they have been putting for the rest of us. This is precisely why we need her, to do the balancing act. To yell because every attempt for a calm and productive conversation has been a waste of time.
One can go to a solution only after one acknowledges that there is a problem. Arundhati's battle is to ensure that we acknowledge that there is a fundamental problem. Readers who are aware and understand the problem, are not her audience. If you are looking for an all-fact coverage, she is not the right choice. If you are looking for solutions, she is not going to offer any. But at the same time, those readers should not shun her. We should lend support wherever we can because we are anyways loosing the battle. We should not fight among ourselves even though there exists considerable differences in our approaches taken. We should be thankful to her for bringing these issues up and voicing out a side that everybody else is so keen to suppress. We should realize that we also need her if at all there is hope for a better future.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Forrest Gump
I do not remember what was my reaction after watching Forrest Gump for the first time. All i recall is that i liked it. Especially Tom Hanks. Forrest Gump was also one of my early movies when i realized how powerful this medium can be. Over the years, i have watched Forrest Gump multiple times. There are so many favorite scenes in the film, so many concepts that strike at heart. For example - The one when Forrest starts running just like that, or the one where Lt. Dan joins Forrest on his shrimp boat and the scene where he is challenging the storm. The one when he meets Jenny at Washington, and the one when he realizes that he has a son. The movie is layered with scene after scene that just makes it a treat to watch. But the one scene that stays with me even after the movie, long long time after the movie is this one -
Jenny is on her deathbed and is afraid of her dying. She asks Forrest if he was scared in Vietnam. Forrest answers it and so naturally transitions on to a broader theme of beauty in this world. This scene epitomizes the genius of this movie. To start with, it summarizes the essence of this movie - the beauty and the goodness.
What is Forrest Gump about? What is its genre? Wikipedia describes it as Romantic-comedy-drama film. It is and it is not. It has all the three elements in it but it is not like any other rom-com movies of this genre. It is a very difficult feat. to genre-ify this movie. It is not a biopic as it does not cover a true person, yet it is a biopic. As a novel (which i have not read yet ) it must be an incredible piece of fiction. But to take the story on paper and convert it into this kind of film is brilliance. (PS: Forrest gump - the novel is going to be my next book.)
But coming back, what is Forrest Gump about? Is it about a fantasy story of an autistic boy? Is it about the purity of heart and soul? Is it a feel-good movie with a message that hard work pays? Is it about the recent events in American History ? Its about all the above and more. To take the historical events and marry them with the plotline gives an epic feel. Most novels or movies take one or two events (like World war 2 or 9/11) and create plots around/after it. But to show a journey of time through the lens of an individual and that too in fiction is quite a rarity. The only other instance that i know where its done is Midnight's children by Salman Rushdie. And i liked that novel as well.
Coming back to that scene, in those few seconds we get the entire gist of the movie. Yes, the movie is about the beauty and the goodness. But there is a lot going on there. The movie is also about loneliness as well. Forrest even despite his best intentions does not have many friends. He is lonely and often wonders why. In the shot of the Bayou, it is not only the shot of Sun setting down but it is a shot of a lonely Forrest enjoying the natural sunset all by himself. But, and here lies the masterpiece, the movie does not pity loneliness. The final two words of that scene "You were", quickly fills the void created by a lonely Forrest.
Often, i have wondered the practicality of the running scene. Is it doable? Where was he eating, how he kept himself hydrated? Being a little bit of runner myself and knowing the joys of running, i can feel the escapist pleasure in doing so but the practicality of it is questionable. It is interesting to observe that i do understand that Vietnam, Ping pong, Shrimp boats are all fantastical elements but somehow i want this running episode to be real.
In that scene, the background sound also changes, i do not think that it is an OST but that sound-byte adds another dimension. The music is there when needed. Alan Silvestri's score has a powerful effect of slowing down time, it gives breathing room in a movie where so much is going on all the time.
Jenny is on her deathbed and is afraid of her dying. She asks Forrest if he was scared in Vietnam. Forrest answers it and so naturally transitions on to a broader theme of beauty in this world. This scene epitomizes the genius of this movie. To start with, it summarizes the essence of this movie - the beauty and the goodness.
What is Forrest Gump about? What is its genre? Wikipedia describes it as Romantic-comedy-drama film. It is and it is not. It has all the three elements in it but it is not like any other rom-com movies of this genre. It is a very difficult feat. to genre-ify this movie. It is not a biopic as it does not cover a true person, yet it is a biopic. As a novel (which i have not read yet ) it must be an incredible piece of fiction. But to take the story on paper and convert it into this kind of film is brilliance. (PS: Forrest gump - the novel is going to be my next book.)
But coming back, what is Forrest Gump about? Is it about a fantasy story of an autistic boy? Is it about the purity of heart and soul? Is it a feel-good movie with a message that hard work pays? Is it about the recent events in American History ? Its about all the above and more. To take the historical events and marry them with the plotline gives an epic feel. Most novels or movies take one or two events (like World war 2 or 9/11) and create plots around/after it. But to show a journey of time through the lens of an individual and that too in fiction is quite a rarity. The only other instance that i know where its done is Midnight's children by Salman Rushdie. And i liked that novel as well.
Coming back to that scene, in those few seconds we get the entire gist of the movie. Yes, the movie is about the beauty and the goodness. But there is a lot going on there. The movie is also about loneliness as well. Forrest even despite his best intentions does not have many friends. He is lonely and often wonders why. In the shot of the Bayou, it is not only the shot of Sun setting down but it is a shot of a lonely Forrest enjoying the natural sunset all by himself. But, and here lies the masterpiece, the movie does not pity loneliness. The final two words of that scene "You were", quickly fills the void created by a lonely Forrest.
Often, i have wondered the practicality of the running scene. Is it doable? Where was he eating, how he kept himself hydrated? Being a little bit of runner myself and knowing the joys of running, i can feel the escapist pleasure in doing so but the practicality of it is questionable. It is interesting to observe that i do understand that Vietnam, Ping pong, Shrimp boats are all fantastical elements but somehow i want this running episode to be real.
In that scene, the background sound also changes, i do not think that it is an OST but that sound-byte adds another dimension. The music is there when needed. Alan Silvestri's score has a powerful effect of slowing down time, it gives breathing room in a movie where so much is going on all the time.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
A response
Early this week, i think it was Monday when my facebook stream had this article shared by someone. Later on, many people in my network had read it and either liked it or shared it. The article that i am talking about is titled - A dust over India. You can read it here - http://postmasculine.com/a-dust-over-india.
In summary, the article talks about Mark Manson's (presumably first) visit to India and his experiences during the visit. In the article Mark talks about Indian poverty, pollution, garbage, people trying to rip him/others, tourism and other scams. He also talks about how spirituality is an industry now, how there is piracy, people ogling to tourists. He also highlights a few good points saying that there are definitely good people, people who helped him for no reason, people who did not scam him. In general he is remarks at the Indian virtue of tolerance and non-violence. But needless to say, the negatives dominate more than 80% of the article. There is one line that sums up the entire article - "The place is a fucking mess"
After reading the article, the comments section was equally interesting. Most of the readership are Indians living abroad who agreed with most of the facts in article and were very sad about it. There were few Indians who started saying abuses against the article and there were few non-Indians who also experienced similar feelings on their visit.
This blog entry is a response to that article. In my personal view, i do not refute any facts, i acknowledge them. But i think the article by itself is incomplete. It is not because of any fault in the author's writing that makes it incomplete. The author wanted to share his experience and feelings and he has done that. But as a reader, the article raises a few question which needs to be answered and this post is an attempt towards that. What are the questions, you may wonder? As an Indian, the question that came to my mind while reading the article was simply this - How do Indians live in India when so much is wrong here? In other words, how do you live with yourself given such a situation exists? The other question that needs to be answered is - How did things come to this?
A RESPONSE
Point 1 - The expectation issue.
I think there are two perceptions of India out there (for the external people). One comes from the pre-liberalization era (before 1991) and one after that. In the pre-era, there were a lot of institutions that were not commercialized. During that time, India was a land of spirituality, and when John Lennon's trip coverage romanticized this thought, it was indeed true. In the post liberalization era, as the money started pouring in, India became the land of opportunities both from outside and inside. We started the "India shining" campaign to attract foreigners both in terms of investments and tourism. But the latter era has brought commercialization into the system, every simple thing is a money making opportunity. Moreover, with the lack of proper checks and balances, every person is an entrepreneur now, defining his own rules, some of them are not quite legitimate.
To somebody coming from outside, there is both an expectation of "India shining" image and at the same time, an image to see serene spiritual, yoga-rooted India and this is where a big shock comes up. What somebody does not know is that in the post-liberalization era, the income diversity has gone up exponentially and there are more people living below poverty lines now than ever. But unfortunately, this fact is not known and the expectation is not set. Homeless, hunger live side by side the rich (middle class) is a shock.
The concept of "spiritual tourism" is a blatant example of application of capitalism to the realm of spirituality. In United States, capitalism has been internalized to quite an extent. Yoga, meditation and spirituality are instruments that help people to reach inner peace. But actually inner peace is nothing more than a detoxification from day-to-day capitalism, to strive for something greater than mere existentialism. Something like capitalism can creep into spirituality and people will make money off it is considered a scam. This is where the expectation meets reality and creates anger which comes out in the form an article.
Point 2 - The Scale of things.
I was amused when i read the para about him doing math on giving 500$ money to the poor. As Mark writes, the magnitude of poverty is unbelievable. He also acknowledges that his own country has its own share of problems. I would like to build up on both of his observations and bring up the point of scale - as things grow. While walking on the streets of San Francisco (or NY), one can see homeless people but if one turns in some other direction, they are gone. The state of some of the homeless that i have seen is comparable to the state that is described in the article. In other words, one can always turn a blind eye to them and forget about it. But unfortunately in India, they are everywhere. The sheer scale of such people is so big that one has to confront the reality.
Along the same lines, Mark mentions that he wanted to go to Agra to see the countryside to avoid the city pollution and mess. The cities are polluted everywhere. What defines a city is very controversial subject but looking at population per sq km numbers, everyplace in India is a city. With a land 1/5th of US and with a population seven times more, we are struggling to deal with the scale. We were always over-populated, even before independence but we our consumption rates were very low. We were quite close to nature in terms of giving and taking. In the post industrialized era, our consumption has gone up and we are unprepared to deal with it in this scale. The garbage, the pollution, the homeless are a result of a poor marriage between the industrialization and our scale. Many claim globalization to be a big success, the biggest achievement of our times, for us the verdict is still not out. If an average Indian starts to consume at the same rate an average American consumes, we would be under a pile of trash and carbon cloud the very next day. Yes, we acknowledge that it is a problem, one whose solution we have not found yet.
Point 3 - Swept under the rug.
What is the largest export of US to China? Trash. Yes, the same trash that fills the Indian streets is exported from US to third world countries including India. US with one of the lowest people per sq km has a lot of empty land space yet it is being exported. And most of the Americans are unaware of it. At the same time, India which does not have the adequate capacity to process its own waste is also importing more because it gets money. My point is that there are many things in US which are swept under the rug and hence average citizens do not worry about it. Chief among them are gas fuel, trash, ewaste and nuclear waste. For us, there is no escape, there is no rug for us. We are out here in open trying to figure out what the hell we have to do with this mess. We do not have any solution yet, we do not have the money to offload it to some other country, forget that, we do not even have the money to pick it up from everybody's door step. What we see is the result - lot of trash everywhere.
Point 4 - Dog eat Dog world.
Indians are yet another proof of Darwin's theory of evolution - Survival of
the fittest at the expense of the weak. Indians never question this theory, for
us it is the way of living our lives. All the scams, the rip-offs are manifestations of somebody's survival at the expense of somebody. We complain when we are at the receiving end of a scam but what about the time when we are the ones benefitting from it. Our involvement may be indirect, may be involuntary but ignorance is not an excuse here.
The balance of man to nature has been tilted. There are more people, less resources. Thus, only the one who is strong can survive. Only the one who knows how to game the system will emerge as winner. It is indeed sad that it has come to this.
Point 5 - The Identity Crisis.
Every "thinking" Indian right now is grappling with an Identity crisis right now. Who are we and where are we going? By every "thinking" Indian, i mean only those who are fortunate enough to have Maslow's physiological needs satisfied. For others, survival is the only thought. At one end is the rich cultural history, the sanskars, our dharma (morals), all of which, in a nutshell, teach us righteousness. Righteousness that shows us how to be content, how to be happy. At other end is the new age individualistic thought combined with the capitalistic ideals. In this new age world, through advertisements and marketing we have been led to believe that human dignity involves living in a certain way. One has to be globally connected, one has to be cosmopolitan. AC, Washing machines, microwaves are now basic requirements. In this new age, we want more things which need more money and we get money at the expense of others. Money is becoming the
measure of success, measure of happiness and almost everything that can
or cant be measured; and we are struggling to figure our way out of it.
We have a strong identity crisis in our hands - everyone of us know deep down that it is a downward spiral but nobody has any alternatives. A nation can be content if all its citizens are content. But if i let an opportunity go, someone else will take it and it will be his gain-my loss, his survival-my weakness. The strange question in front of us is - should i be right or should i survive?
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Why i hate Aamir Khan and yet want Satyamev jayate to succeed?
Other title candidate:
Dr.Strangelove: How i learnt to stop hating and love the idea of Aamir Khan.
Disclaimer one:
All thoughts expressed below are my opinions. If you disagree, i know that you disagree, so please do not share here.
Disclaimer two:
Whatever i say about this article, at the end of the day it is a rant. I will offer no justifications to whatever i am going to say. Again, if you disagree, please keep it to yourself.
Yes, the title is meant to be sensational and at the start i would like to clarify that i do not hate Aamir Khan. I have nothing against him as a person but i detest the adulation he receives. This post is divided in two parts. In part one I clarify/justify my thoughts on Mr. perfectionist and in part Two, i would describe why the first episode of Satyamev Jayate was simply cult.
Part One:
I hate the adulation of Aamir Khan for two main points -
(a) He is the epitome of celebration of mediocrity. I am talking about Aamir Khan as an actor and i think his acting is average or slightly above average (since the pool of actors is so bad, the average itself is abysmally low). I think his selection of movies is indeed decent and i have no doubt that he commits himself 100% to it. But so does Abhay Deol whose selection of movies has simply been great and he also gives everything but Abhay Deol also is a decent actor, not a good one.
To justify my point, I will highlight Aamir's movies and my take on them. It is futile to discuss all his movies, but lets just discuss his early movies and later ones. In his early "debut" avatar, Aamir movies like QSQT, JJWS and AHAT where success because of Mansoor Khan's direction, and the excellent writing that went into it. Andaz apna apna's credit will pretty much go to the dialog/characters. His mid-career movies like Ishq, Mann, Mela were a disaster with the exception of Sarfarsoh. Lagaan was a turning point in his career and i think Lagaan and Sarfarosh has been his best performances. But post Lagaan, i think his movies worked because of the brand value and marketing. I hate 3 idiots, RDB and Ghajini. If people claim that his movies have social message, IMHO the social message was not done any justice as they deserved.
If i claim Aamir to be average, who are good actors? To name a few, Irrfan Khan, Naseeruddin shah, Vinay Pathak, Raghuvir Yadav, Kay Kay Menon are few examples.
So my point is that, i think the media and we as a nation have chosen a celebrate mediocrity and have neglected the finest talent that this profession has to offer. Mediocrity is contagious and we should be very cognizant of this. Companies like google are great because their hiring rule is that the new person's talent should be higher than the average. Companies like GE have survived because they weed out the bottom k% every year. I think we should be very careful of who should be our role models, whom do we want our aspirations to be. Aamir Khan as an actor does not reflect the acting standards that i look for.
(b) Aamir Khan is an excellent marketer (or salesman): To me this is the second thing wrong with our society. We (and i include me in this) believe whatever is presented to us in nice package. We judge a book by its cover, if something is sold to me nicely, we believe it, we trust it and accept it wholeheartedly. Aamir Khan's post Lagaan movies have simply done that and here i would give him credit - he has done it excellently. He has a very shrewd understanding of what works, what people want and he has a genuine knack of timing in delivery. People who do MBA (esp in marketing) treat him as God. This is my problem. He is inspiring people to be salesman and i hate him (or us) for that. Sidenote: I think one of the most creative industries in India is the advertising industries and i always have mixed feelings about it. His recent movies are successful not because of their content matter but because of his brand value and the way they were pushed on to us. If anybody tells me that 3 idiots is a satirical take on Indian education system my reaction is (a) to smile because laughing would be rude and (b) to walk away from the conversation as soon as i can otherwise i would just explode.
Aamir exploits our psyche and what we want to hear in his movies and there is nothing wrong with it if the contents inside package are equally good. But what he delivers is simply average. Yet, we celebrate it because the salesman has sold us and now its all hallucination and we just nod. The idea of independent judgement has been lost. This is main reason - his salesmanship is killing independent opinion in our minds. Case in point is Ghajini which again IMHO (a) movie with horribly pathetic ending (b) the unique aspect of the story line that was partially copied from a cult movie and (c) the usp was Aamis Khan's 6 pack. That movie was a hit because it was sold to us. The "All is well" in 3 idiots which became the nation's favorite punch line, was so idiotically portrayed in the scene where the new born baby kicks when listens this phrase. I can go on with examples but i think i have made my point.
Part Two:
I loved Satyamev Jayate's episode one. I think it was one of the finest piece of Indian TV show that i have seen in years ( Sidenote: TV being a medium that has been totally neglected for people with intellect, again IMHO). As i said above, i have nothing against packaging things nicely as long as the content inside is good. If bad things are sold with a nice cover, thats when things get problematic. I would honestly admit that when i saw the ads of Satyamev jayate, even when i heard that the name of the show is going to be Satyamev jayate ( a phrase which is probably the only ideal that i espouse in my life), i was very impressed and yet being Aamir Khan, i believed that its all in packaging. I was so weary that i started the show at 11:35 instead of 11 am and i can honestly say that the show was really really well done. Here is what i liked about the show -
(a) In one show, Satyamev Jayate showed what is wrong with all the news based reality shows. There have been many such shows on sahara, samay etc etc channels which report on these crimes but all of them ended up sensationalizing the issue in a wrong manner. Satyamev Jayate just proved that raw emotions appeal to our sensationalities in a far more effective manner than any other means. In a single stroke, i predict that this episode is going to change the face of reality based reporting.
(b) Oprah and respect: While talking to the people involved in real incidents, one was reminded about the Oprah Winfrey show. There is nothing wrong to compare but at the heart of it, what both these shows are pointing that these people should be treated with respect and dignity. Again something that those news channels forgot in their attempt to sensationalize. Satyamev jayate brings it back and i would like to add Thanks you!
(c) All round coverage - There were point case studies, there were statistics (i would have liked more), there was public opinions, myths and reality. There was both cause and effect (the Kurukshetra case which also brought humor to the show). There was the problem, the solution (the Punjab village case) and a call to action.
(d) Swanand Kirkire's voice and Ram Sampanth's composition was like icing on the cake in terms of production value. (One of the great things that i used to like about House MD was its song on closing).
(e) Aamir Khan :) When people with klout do something that is good, when the klout is used to shape the views of people in large, there is nothing better usage of that. Aamir Khan, thank you for doing this, for not dancing in IPL, for doing a good job at it.
(f) I think its awesome that this show was aired on Doordarshan!
Lastly, i think the topic of first episode is just the topic that needs our attention. So many things are a result of this gender inequality. Full marks to the team of SJ and indeed Mr. perfectionist.
Few predictions -
(a) Aamir would be the in some list of most influential men of this century soon.
(b) I think SJ would be a trend setter in many shows to come in future. A welcome move.
A note:
There are those of you who will question my authority on making the above claims. A few of you may ask - "How good of an actor are you to make such comments?" Here is my answer. I do not know how to sing yet i can appreciate Lata Mangeshkar over Shreya Goshal, Mohd. Rafi over Abhijit, Ust. Bismillah khan over an average shehnai player. So my point is that the appreciation of greatness can also come by making independent thought and judgement, by depth of perception. Knowledge of subject definitely adds more subtleties, makes the difference more apparent and makes the appreciation of greatness more enjoyable.
Second question comes about my own professional skill - If you are average yourself, how you are making such a big comment? I must admit that among my peers in my company, i consider myself fortunate to be working with such great people, people who without any questions have superior skills than me. But i believe that if we look at the industry wise distribution, i know for a fact that i am damn good at the job i do.
Lets close this rant with these four lines from the title song of Satyamev jayate -
Mujhey khud ko bhi hai tatolna
Kahin hai kami to hai bolna
Khahin dag hain toh chupayein kyon
Hum sach se nazrein hatayein kyon
Dr.Strangelove: How i learnt to stop hating and love the idea of Aamir Khan.
Disclaimer one:
All thoughts expressed below are my opinions. If you disagree, i know that you disagree, so please do not share here.
Disclaimer two:
Whatever i say about this article, at the end of the day it is a rant. I will offer no justifications to whatever i am going to say. Again, if you disagree, please keep it to yourself.
Yes, the title is meant to be sensational and at the start i would like to clarify that i do not hate Aamir Khan. I have nothing against him as a person but i detest the adulation he receives. This post is divided in two parts. In part one I clarify/justify my thoughts on Mr. perfectionist and in part Two, i would describe why the first episode of Satyamev Jayate was simply cult.
Part One:
I hate the adulation of Aamir Khan for two main points -
(a) He is the epitome of celebration of mediocrity. I am talking about Aamir Khan as an actor and i think his acting is average or slightly above average (since the pool of actors is so bad, the average itself is abysmally low). I think his selection of movies is indeed decent and i have no doubt that he commits himself 100% to it. But so does Abhay Deol whose selection of movies has simply been great and he also gives everything but Abhay Deol also is a decent actor, not a good one.
To justify my point, I will highlight Aamir's movies and my take on them. It is futile to discuss all his movies, but lets just discuss his early movies and later ones. In his early "debut" avatar, Aamir movies like QSQT, JJWS and AHAT where success because of Mansoor Khan's direction, and the excellent writing that went into it. Andaz apna apna's credit will pretty much go to the dialog/characters. His mid-career movies like Ishq, Mann, Mela were a disaster with the exception of Sarfarsoh. Lagaan was a turning point in his career and i think Lagaan and Sarfarosh has been his best performances. But post Lagaan, i think his movies worked because of the brand value and marketing. I hate 3 idiots, RDB and Ghajini. If people claim that his movies have social message, IMHO the social message was not done any justice as they deserved.
If i claim Aamir to be average, who are good actors? To name a few, Irrfan Khan, Naseeruddin shah, Vinay Pathak, Raghuvir Yadav, Kay Kay Menon are few examples.
So my point is that, i think the media and we as a nation have chosen a celebrate mediocrity and have neglected the finest talent that this profession has to offer. Mediocrity is contagious and we should be very cognizant of this. Companies like google are great because their hiring rule is that the new person's talent should be higher than the average. Companies like GE have survived because they weed out the bottom k% every year. I think we should be very careful of who should be our role models, whom do we want our aspirations to be. Aamir Khan as an actor does not reflect the acting standards that i look for.
(b) Aamir Khan is an excellent marketer (or salesman): To me this is the second thing wrong with our society. We (and i include me in this) believe whatever is presented to us in nice package. We judge a book by its cover, if something is sold to me nicely, we believe it, we trust it and accept it wholeheartedly. Aamir Khan's post Lagaan movies have simply done that and here i would give him credit - he has done it excellently. He has a very shrewd understanding of what works, what people want and he has a genuine knack of timing in delivery. People who do MBA (esp in marketing) treat him as God. This is my problem. He is inspiring people to be salesman and i hate him (or us) for that. Sidenote: I think one of the most creative industries in India is the advertising industries and i always have mixed feelings about it. His recent movies are successful not because of their content matter but because of his brand value and the way they were pushed on to us. If anybody tells me that 3 idiots is a satirical take on Indian education system my reaction is (a) to smile because laughing would be rude and (b) to walk away from the conversation as soon as i can otherwise i would just explode.
Aamir exploits our psyche and what we want to hear in his movies and there is nothing wrong with it if the contents inside package are equally good. But what he delivers is simply average. Yet, we celebrate it because the salesman has sold us and now its all hallucination and we just nod. The idea of independent judgement has been lost. This is main reason - his salesmanship is killing independent opinion in our minds. Case in point is Ghajini which again IMHO (a) movie with horribly pathetic ending (b) the unique aspect of the story line that was partially copied from a cult movie and (c) the usp was Aamis Khan's 6 pack. That movie was a hit because it was sold to us. The "All is well" in 3 idiots which became the nation's favorite punch line, was so idiotically portrayed in the scene where the new born baby kicks when listens this phrase. I can go on with examples but i think i have made my point.
Part Two:
I loved Satyamev Jayate's episode one. I think it was one of the finest piece of Indian TV show that i have seen in years ( Sidenote: TV being a medium that has been totally neglected for people with intellect, again IMHO). As i said above, i have nothing against packaging things nicely as long as the content inside is good. If bad things are sold with a nice cover, thats when things get problematic. I would honestly admit that when i saw the ads of Satyamev jayate, even when i heard that the name of the show is going to be Satyamev jayate ( a phrase which is probably the only ideal that i espouse in my life), i was very impressed and yet being Aamir Khan, i believed that its all in packaging. I was so weary that i started the show at 11:35 instead of 11 am and i can honestly say that the show was really really well done. Here is what i liked about the show -
(a) In one show, Satyamev Jayate showed what is wrong with all the news based reality shows. There have been many such shows on sahara, samay etc etc channels which report on these crimes but all of them ended up sensationalizing the issue in a wrong manner. Satyamev Jayate just proved that raw emotions appeal to our sensationalities in a far more effective manner than any other means. In a single stroke, i predict that this episode is going to change the face of reality based reporting.
(b) Oprah and respect: While talking to the people involved in real incidents, one was reminded about the Oprah Winfrey show. There is nothing wrong to compare but at the heart of it, what both these shows are pointing that these people should be treated with respect and dignity. Again something that those news channels forgot in their attempt to sensationalize. Satyamev jayate brings it back and i would like to add Thanks you!
(c) All round coverage - There were point case studies, there were statistics (i would have liked more), there was public opinions, myths and reality. There was both cause and effect (the Kurukshetra case which also brought humor to the show). There was the problem, the solution (the Punjab village case) and a call to action.
(d) Swanand Kirkire's voice and Ram Sampanth's composition was like icing on the cake in terms of production value. (One of the great things that i used to like about House MD was its song on closing).
(e) Aamir Khan :) When people with klout do something that is good, when the klout is used to shape the views of people in large, there is nothing better usage of that. Aamir Khan, thank you for doing this, for not dancing in IPL, for doing a good job at it.
(f) I think its awesome that this show was aired on Doordarshan!
Lastly, i think the topic of first episode is just the topic that needs our attention. So many things are a result of this gender inequality. Full marks to the team of SJ and indeed Mr. perfectionist.
Few predictions -
(a) Aamir would be the in some list of most influential men of this century soon.
(b) I think SJ would be a trend setter in many shows to come in future. A welcome move.
A note:
There are those of you who will question my authority on making the above claims. A few of you may ask - "How good of an actor are you to make such comments?" Here is my answer. I do not know how to sing yet i can appreciate Lata Mangeshkar over Shreya Goshal, Mohd. Rafi over Abhijit, Ust. Bismillah khan over an average shehnai player. So my point is that the appreciation of greatness can also come by making independent thought and judgement, by depth of perception. Knowledge of subject definitely adds more subtleties, makes the difference more apparent and makes the appreciation of greatness more enjoyable.
Second question comes about my own professional skill - If you are average yourself, how you are making such a big comment? I must admit that among my peers in my company, i consider myself fortunate to be working with such great people, people who without any questions have superior skills than me. But i believe that if we look at the industry wise distribution, i know for a fact that i am damn good at the job i do.
Lets close this rant with these four lines from the title song of Satyamev jayate -
Mujhey khud ko bhi hai tatolna
Kahin hai kami to hai bolna
Khahin dag hain toh chupayein kyon
Hum sach se nazrein hatayein kyon
Saturday, March 24, 2012
The Hunger Games (film)
Random musing:
There is a special feeling when you go in to watch a movie based on a book that you have already read. For one thing, you feel smarter than your fellow movie watchers (these guys have no idea what they are about to see). In another front, you focus on just the cinematic aspect of it. There is a lot of comparison that goes between your visual imagery developed from the time that you read the book and the movie imagery. The focus on details is higher and you are able to read the subtle acting nuances which may have gone unnoticed. It is almost equivalent to watching the movie for second time but a bit better. And personally, there is a lot of anticipation around music. When i read a book, there is a visual imagery but there is no audio that goes along..... I think the power of cinema is that it can combine visuals with audio and that just creates an experience that makes it special.
Random musing around the movie:
Before the movie, i posted on facebook that i was disappointed by the lack of hype here in Bangalore (and in general India). I am pretty sure that in US, every channel would be airing the movie's ad and it would be talk of the town everywhere. But i was pretty happy with my movie watching experience. I went to the first day first show, the morning show on Friday (was so hoping that there would be a midnight show for this release :P). Thanks to being in namma Benagluru, the cosmopiltan city, the show was almost full and there were enough young adults in crowd to yell at the top of their lungs when Gale/Peeta were introduced. There were enough foreigners who joined in and they were also happy about it.
Now, about the movie.
I knew the movie would be good from the moment i heard that Jennifer Lawrence is going to be Katniss Everdeen. After watching Winter's bone, i have been her fan and i know she has great talent. Hunger games does right in casting Jennifer, Stanley Tucci (no one can do better than him in that role) and Lenny Kravitz, but IMHO it failed to do so for Peeta, Effie Trinket and Seneca. Peeta was taken just to give it the twilight like appeal i guess. Haymitch guy is trying to act like The dude from Big Lebwoski, Jeff Bridges himself may have been a better choice.
Overall, the movie is a damn good movie, very true to novel, full of action and a wonderful soundtrack that gels very well with the movie. The actual game is handled quite nicely. The only places where i think it lacked some credibility were - (a) Rue should have given one more scene to justify the effect, (b) The hunger aspect of hunger games does not out and also hunger in districts is not highlighted.
I also liked the handheld camera effect (close-ups and jarry motion) created throughout the movie. AFAIK, it was the Bourne movies which started this genre taken up nicely by Daniel Craig's Quantum of Solace and now copied everywhere. Fast editing also gives nice effects.
I think this is as good a movie as you can make from the script. And with the music, it is a treat to watch for those of us who are sucker for "good" masala movies.
There is a special feeling when you go in to watch a movie based on a book that you have already read. For one thing, you feel smarter than your fellow movie watchers (these guys have no idea what they are about to see). In another front, you focus on just the cinematic aspect of it. There is a lot of comparison that goes between your visual imagery developed from the time that you read the book and the movie imagery. The focus on details is higher and you are able to read the subtle acting nuances which may have gone unnoticed. It is almost equivalent to watching the movie for second time but a bit better. And personally, there is a lot of anticipation around music. When i read a book, there is a visual imagery but there is no audio that goes along..... I think the power of cinema is that it can combine visuals with audio and that just creates an experience that makes it special.
Random musing around the movie:
Before the movie, i posted on facebook that i was disappointed by the lack of hype here in Bangalore (and in general India). I am pretty sure that in US, every channel would be airing the movie's ad and it would be talk of the town everywhere. But i was pretty happy with my movie watching experience. I went to the first day first show, the morning show on Friday (was so hoping that there would be a midnight show for this release :P). Thanks to being in namma Benagluru, the cosmopiltan city, the show was almost full and there were enough young adults in crowd to yell at the top of their lungs when Gale/Peeta were introduced. There were enough foreigners who joined in and they were also happy about it.
Now, about the movie.
I knew the movie would be good from the moment i heard that Jennifer Lawrence is going to be Katniss Everdeen. After watching Winter's bone, i have been her fan and i know she has great talent. Hunger games does right in casting Jennifer, Stanley Tucci (no one can do better than him in that role) and Lenny Kravitz, but IMHO it failed to do so for Peeta, Effie Trinket and Seneca. Peeta was taken just to give it the twilight like appeal i guess. Haymitch guy is trying to act like The dude from Big Lebwoski, Jeff Bridges himself may have been a better choice.
Overall, the movie is a damn good movie, very true to novel, full of action and a wonderful soundtrack that gels very well with the movie. The actual game is handled quite nicely. The only places where i think it lacked some credibility were - (a) Rue should have given one more scene to justify the effect, (b) The hunger aspect of hunger games does not out and also hunger in districts is not highlighted.
I also liked the handheld camera effect (close-ups and jarry motion) created throughout the movie. AFAIK, it was the Bourne movies which started this genre taken up nicely by Daniel Craig's Quantum of Solace and now copied everywhere. Fast editing also gives nice effects.
I think this is as good a movie as you can make from the script. And with the music, it is a treat to watch for those of us who are sucker for "good" masala movies.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Coonoor
What is the reason behind a successful travel trip?
No planning and low expectations.
Travel trips bring sanity back to life and god (if he exists) knows that i surely needed one. The Coonoor travel trip came when Parul suggested that Coonoor may be better than Kanyakumari. Since i was open to any place, i said yes. Coonoor, quite frankly, is the best thing that has happened to me since i have moved back. Here is the story (Keep in mind this is going to be a long post) -
In any travel trip, all my planning involves that (a) i book a place to stay and (b) There is a way to get there, typically a car. Once these two are done, i do nothing more. I stand by it very strongly because - (a) It forces me to go there and talk to people there. And local people have more experience about things. (b) Low expectations. So i am always happy when something unexpected comes along the way and it makes me happy. (c) And lastly, i am always happy to do nothing and just enjoy nature/read a book/spend time alone with me. So even if nothing happens, i am happy that i got to spend time with me.
In US, even with the above facts, it was still quite organized because my interaction was limited to the people at tourist information centers but in India, its the local people and i think it makes it even better.
The stay - Parul mentioned that somebody offers cheese making course at some farm at Coonoor. Fascinated by discussions around farm stays in India, i googled and came to know about Acres Wild. Acres Wild made all the difference to my trip from an ordinary one to a great one. Acres Wild is run by Mr. Mansoor Khan and his wife. At his website, Mr. Mansoor has mentioned things to do, places to eat/visit and everything about Coonoor that he has found so far. I never read any of that until Parul passed a link which said that Masnoor is actually a film director behind movies such as QSQT, Akele hum, akele tum etc and is a cousin of Amir Khan. He is now a full time manager at Aces Wild and now give lectures about Peak Oil highlighting some of the fundamental issues behind problems that the world is witnessing today.
At Acres Wild, Coonoor, what followed were some of the fundamental discussions with Mansoor. We also ran into the founders of Printo and some other folks and together, it seemed that a group of like minded people had got together and every one of us were searching for solutions to probably the same question. The discussions with all of them not only gave interesting insights about how people think and atleast made me glad that i was not alone.
Mansoor is a candid person and he is quite frank about his work at Acres Wild. At the farm, he is trying to make a case for sustainable living with cows, chickens, farming, ponds fishes, bio gas and trees. They make cheese, bread, soaps as well. His place is a must place to live at Coonoor and if i go ever again, i would not settle for anything else. He admitted that the farm is his way to prepare for the inevitable and giving back to his descendants in a small manner that he could. The place is quite simple, serene and has a view that just makes staying there quite addictive.
The journey:
First i thought that i would buy a car before it starts but that seemed like a big decision in short period of time. So, i went with a self drive rental car. Many people were surprised to see that we were driving a cab without a driver. It was fun to see the reaction on their faces.
The route included going to Mysore but in order to get to Ooty/Coonoor we crossed Banthipur forest reserve and Mudumalai tiger reserver. Both are fantastic places to drive through with trees both to your left and right. Near Ooty, there is the Ghat road with 36 hair pin bends and it was fun to drive on them. It took us 8 hrs.
The trip (Mar8-11): If there is ever a need to read a primer on things to do at Coonoor, just read the below itinerary, it is quite the best.
Day 1: We left Bangalore about 6:30 am. The breakfast was at Kamat Lokaurachi. A cooperative like place serving good authentic south indian food in a natural setting. A must-be place to stop (You may find these lines repeated several times.) Lunch was skipped and we reached Ooty at about 3 pm. We had booked a youth hostel which turned out to be quite bad. So we ditched it and went to a hotel. In the evening we went to the botanical garden and at first just sat there to let the weather sink-in (It was great) and then went for a walk to see trees. Its a good botanical garden and that 40 min walk is recommended. Dinner was at Shinkow's (a recommendation mentioned at Acres wild site). Shinkow's is a 60 year old chinese restaurant serving good chinese food at reasonable prices.
Day2: We started again at 6:30 am and left to Coonoor. First we visited Lambs rock. We parked our car about a km away from Lambs rock and did a small hike from there. On the way we took a detour to a kattcha road which crossed a rivulet and went to a tea estate. We were happily strolling there until we were shooed away by the tea leaf pluckers. Lamb's rock also has a 500m trail and its quite good. Then we drove up to Dolphin's nose which gives a 270 degree view of Nilgiris. After this, we checked in to Acres wild and there, it was so serene that we decided to just spent the day there doing nothing. Having got the evening free, i took the free time to update my blog after a month and also started the movie - The lives of others. Writing blog while watching sunset behind Nilgiris just made me happy.
Day3: Got up and took an hr walk around the farm. No plans for the day so far. Mansoor gave a recommendation about a tea tasting tour and we were generally thinking of going to Rallia dam. Everything fell in place when we read this article - http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article398839.ece and the number given below coincided with Mansoor's recommendation. The breakfast was bread and home made garlic cheese (delicious). Then we went to Tranquilitea for Tea tasting and it is a must-do there. Sandeep gave a fantastic overview of how tea's are made and what is meant by different forms of tea. Sandeep's family has been into tea business but he realized that a lot of quality tea is only made for export, So he created Tranquilitea to let Indians get a taste of it. His tea estate and farm house has awesome views of the town. It was my first time tasting tea and i liked it. Tea has to be made at 70 deg Celcius and for exactly three minutes to get the right flavor. Tea leaves also need to be plucked with care - two leaves and a bud to get the right flavor and texture. There were so many other things that can be only learned by years of experience and here it was to us told by a person who was our age but so much passionate about the craft.
After Tranquilitea, we went to Raliah dam. To get to dam, you have to park your car near a temple and walk from there. And then we got lost while going to dam. Getting lost is one of the best things per me when it is morning. Eventually we found it and it was beautiful. A body of water surrounded by trees in all directions. At the dam we met Mr. Raj Shekhar who started talking about the dam and lives of Toda tribe there. There is a 12 family Toda tribe about 3 kms away from dam. RajShekhar has a frequent contact with them, we heard stories how Toda tribe are so strong, their women give birth and are at work next day; how they don't trust the alopathic medicine and knows how to use natural leaves/herbs for basic wounds. And other so many stories in a simple 15-20 min walk.
After Raliah, we went to the Green shop at Upper Coonoor. Green shop is a fair trade shop and i was too excited again to see the locally made items with such great finish. Ended up spending 1K Rs there. Next, we had lunch at the Thali place next to Variety sarees shop. We also went to the antique shop but by then i was too tired to do anything. (Driving in ghati roads although is beautiful but taxing as well). At Acres wild, i finished my movie and then the whole evning/night was spent in a lively discussion with Mansoor, Parul, Printo founders and their friends.
Day 4: We headed back to Blore. Again the drive was beautiful. At the national reserve we spotted laguna monkeys, deers, peacocks etc. There was late lunch but it was at Ants cafe Indranagar. Again a must have place to visit. It was also on my todo-list.
All pics can be seen at -
There are also some videos but they need to be edited out.
No planning and low expectations.
Travel trips bring sanity back to life and god (if he exists) knows that i surely needed one. The Coonoor travel trip came when Parul suggested that Coonoor may be better than Kanyakumari. Since i was open to any place, i said yes. Coonoor, quite frankly, is the best thing that has happened to me since i have moved back. Here is the story (Keep in mind this is going to be a long post) -
In any travel trip, all my planning involves that (a) i book a place to stay and (b) There is a way to get there, typically a car. Once these two are done, i do nothing more. I stand by it very strongly because - (a) It forces me to go there and talk to people there. And local people have more experience about things. (b) Low expectations. So i am always happy when something unexpected comes along the way and it makes me happy. (c) And lastly, i am always happy to do nothing and just enjoy nature/read a book/spend time alone with me. So even if nothing happens, i am happy that i got to spend time with me.
In US, even with the above facts, it was still quite organized because my interaction was limited to the people at tourist information centers but in India, its the local people and i think it makes it even better.
The stay - Parul mentioned that somebody offers cheese making course at some farm at Coonoor. Fascinated by discussions around farm stays in India, i googled and came to know about Acres Wild. Acres Wild made all the difference to my trip from an ordinary one to a great one. Acres Wild is run by Mr. Mansoor Khan and his wife. At his website, Mr. Mansoor has mentioned things to do, places to eat/visit and everything about Coonoor that he has found so far. I never read any of that until Parul passed a link which said that Masnoor is actually a film director behind movies such as QSQT, Akele hum, akele tum etc and is a cousin of Amir Khan. He is now a full time manager at Aces Wild and now give lectures about Peak Oil highlighting some of the fundamental issues behind problems that the world is witnessing today.
At Acres Wild, Coonoor, what followed were some of the fundamental discussions with Mansoor. We also ran into the founders of Printo and some other folks and together, it seemed that a group of like minded people had got together and every one of us were searching for solutions to probably the same question. The discussions with all of them not only gave interesting insights about how people think and atleast made me glad that i was not alone.
 |
| From Coonoor |
Mansoor is a candid person and he is quite frank about his work at Acres Wild. At the farm, he is trying to make a case for sustainable living with cows, chickens, farming, ponds fishes, bio gas and trees. They make cheese, bread, soaps as well. His place is a must place to live at Coonoor and if i go ever again, i would not settle for anything else. He admitted that the farm is his way to prepare for the inevitable and giving back to his descendants in a small manner that he could. The place is quite simple, serene and has a view that just makes staying there quite addictive.
The journey:
First i thought that i would buy a car before it starts but that seemed like a big decision in short period of time. So, i went with a self drive rental car. Many people were surprised to see that we were driving a cab without a driver. It was fun to see the reaction on their faces.
The route included going to Mysore but in order to get to Ooty/Coonoor we crossed Banthipur forest reserve and Mudumalai tiger reserver. Both are fantastic places to drive through with trees both to your left and right. Near Ooty, there is the Ghat road with 36 hair pin bends and it was fun to drive on them. It took us 8 hrs.
The trip (Mar8-11): If there is ever a need to read a primer on things to do at Coonoor, just read the below itinerary, it is quite the best.
Day 1: We left Bangalore about 6:30 am. The breakfast was at Kamat Lokaurachi. A cooperative like place serving good authentic south indian food in a natural setting. A must-be place to stop (You may find these lines repeated several times.) Lunch was skipped and we reached Ooty at about 3 pm. We had booked a youth hostel which turned out to be quite bad. So we ditched it and went to a hotel. In the evening we went to the botanical garden and at first just sat there to let the weather sink-in (It was great) and then went for a walk to see trees. Its a good botanical garden and that 40 min walk is recommended. Dinner was at Shinkow's (a recommendation mentioned at Acres wild site). Shinkow's is a 60 year old chinese restaurant serving good chinese food at reasonable prices.
 |
| From Coonoor |
Day2: We started again at 6:30 am and left to Coonoor. First we visited Lambs rock. We parked our car about a km away from Lambs rock and did a small hike from there. On the way we took a detour to a kattcha road which crossed a rivulet and went to a tea estate. We were happily strolling there until we were shooed away by the tea leaf pluckers. Lamb's rock also has a 500m trail and its quite good. Then we drove up to Dolphin's nose which gives a 270 degree view of Nilgiris. After this, we checked in to Acres wild and there, it was so serene that we decided to just spent the day there doing nothing. Having got the evening free, i took the free time to update my blog after a month and also started the movie - The lives of others. Writing blog while watching sunset behind Nilgiris just made me happy.
 |
| From Coonoor |
Day3: Got up and took an hr walk around the farm. No plans for the day so far. Mansoor gave a recommendation about a tea tasting tour and we were generally thinking of going to Rallia dam. Everything fell in place when we read this article - http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article398839.ece and the number given below coincided with Mansoor's recommendation. The breakfast was bread and home made garlic cheese (delicious). Then we went to Tranquilitea for Tea tasting and it is a must-do there. Sandeep gave a fantastic overview of how tea's are made and what is meant by different forms of tea. Sandeep's family has been into tea business but he realized that a lot of quality tea is only made for export, So he created Tranquilitea to let Indians get a taste of it. His tea estate and farm house has awesome views of the town. It was my first time tasting tea and i liked it. Tea has to be made at 70 deg Celcius and for exactly three minutes to get the right flavor. Tea leaves also need to be plucked with care - two leaves and a bud to get the right flavor and texture. There were so many other things that can be only learned by years of experience and here it was to us told by a person who was our age but so much passionate about the craft.
 |
| From Coonoor |
After Tranquilitea, we went to Raliah dam. To get to dam, you have to park your car near a temple and walk from there. And then we got lost while going to dam. Getting lost is one of the best things per me when it is morning. Eventually we found it and it was beautiful. A body of water surrounded by trees in all directions. At the dam we met Mr. Raj Shekhar who started talking about the dam and lives of Toda tribe there. There is a 12 family Toda tribe about 3 kms away from dam. RajShekhar has a frequent contact with them, we heard stories how Toda tribe are so strong, their women give birth and are at work next day; how they don't trust the alopathic medicine and knows how to use natural leaves/herbs for basic wounds. And other so many stories in a simple 15-20 min walk.
 |
| From Coonoor |
After Raliah, we went to the Green shop at Upper Coonoor. Green shop is a fair trade shop and i was too excited again to see the locally made items with such great finish. Ended up spending 1K Rs there. Next, we had lunch at the Thali place next to Variety sarees shop. We also went to the antique shop but by then i was too tired to do anything. (Driving in ghati roads although is beautiful but taxing as well). At Acres wild, i finished my movie and then the whole evning/night was spent in a lively discussion with Mansoor, Parul, Printo founders and their friends.
Day 4: We headed back to Blore. Again the drive was beautiful. At the national reserve we spotted laguna monkeys, deers, peacocks etc. There was late lunch but it was at Ants cafe Indranagar. Again a must have place to visit. It was also on my todo-list.
All pics can be seen at -
There are also some videos but they need to be edited out.
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