As We Age

60^th Year of Independence, 150^th anniversary of the first war of independence and the 57^th year of the Republic are the numbers that indicate our aging as a nation. As we age, I get a feeling that we have leapfrogged the stage of maturity and are knocking at the doors of senility. Lagta hai sathiya gaye hain hum log! How else do you explain the increasing fundamentalist rhetoric in the country? I guess most of you would be aware about the not so recent happenings at the Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU) Baroda. IITB visitors to this blog would remember it as the college with hot women that always missed the podium at the FashP in Mood Indigo! Anyway, Chandramohan Srilamantula, a student of the arts faculty at MSU happened to work on three graphic illustrations, two on the Indian Mythology (One on Durga and another on the lines of Dashavataram) and a third one featuring the Cross in an internal examination. Apparently the fragile religious sentiments of a few were bruised. Lo and behold, we had ‘activists’ from VHP/ BJP/ Bajrang Dal and a few motley Christian groups protesting against this attack on the ‘Indian’ culture and traditions. And in a total before-you-blink kind of style, the Gujarat Police exercised its powers and quickly arrested the ‘culprit’ for hurting, what else, religious sentiments. Most of the university faculty and student community was aghast at this development. The Dean of the Arts Faculty at MSU, Shivaji Panikkar refused to issue an apology and was immediately suspended at the behest of the state government. Incidentally, the student – Chandramohan happens to be the only student from Gujarat in 2005-06 to receive the prestigious Lalit Kala Academy National award for exhibited excellence in his works.

The detractors claimed that even the students were against this unabashed depiction of religious figures. We had the young student leaders (who of course are in their early 40s/late 30s) of the BJP affiliated ABVP wax eloquent about the vulgar and brazen nature of the illustrations. The leader of the opposition, a certain Lal Krishna Advani had the gall to say that freedom of expression is contingent to religious sentiments not being hurt! I fail to understand his locus standi at his crude attempt to qualify one of my fundamental rights. Hope someone has the good sense of reminding him that India is still the democracy and thankfully not the ‘Ram-rajya’ that he and his cohort of buffoons might want her to be!

And of course, there has been this fresh furore over the sketches of one MF Hussain and a ludicrous judgment issued by a lower court in Haridwar. Thankfully, good sense prevailed as the 24 hr news machinery cried itself hoarse and we had the Supreme Court stalling the order. It would be interesting to note that Hussain had relocated to Dubai 6 years back due to the constant outbursts of the ‘hurt’ segments! We have also seen the drama around non-hindus not being allowed to enter temples. Yesudas was denied entrance to the Guruvayur Temple because he is not a Hindu. Though there seems to be no hesitation in playing bhajans sung by the same yesudas in the temple. I have entered the Dargah Shareef at Ajmer and the Buddhist Gompas in Ladakh without anyone enquiring about my religious beliefs. I wonder what happened to the Hindu philosophy of ‘vasudhaiv kutumbam’ – entire world being one large family! We also have had Christian associations creating a scene around the release Da Vinci’s Code. This happened whilst the rest of the Christian world, which is numerically stronger, allowed screening of the film without much hue and cry! Guess I can simply go on and on – on this!

All this and the day-to-day incidents make me feel that we are losing it as a nation. We are a 5000 year old civilization and I think its time we act our age. I fail to understand how we have managed to pollute the moderate nature of our way-of-life! I try but cannot justify the free proliferation of fundamentalists in our country. It might be possible that all is not lost yet. We have some voices that have been unequivocal in their support for the freedom of expression. But it is high time that moderates stop being nonchalant … I mean non-vocal about the increasingly extremist events in the society. For whatever it is worth, Hindustan is one of the few successful democracies to emerge out of the imperialist era. It is important that we do not fall into the ‘righteous’ trap of fascism. So speak up, you also have a stake and an important one at that!

A Worthy Thought

Read this at the beginning of a movie on HBO. Do not know how the movie was as I left it almost as soon as it started but the thought, one that has been attributed to Plato, lingered …

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle!

Really??

In the loving memory of Keeda

Got this forward a few days back. Yes, I still know people who believe that Orkut, yahoo and every other portal is dying to shell out money for saving someone’s life (Mind you, nothing less!). One of those mails that prompt you into using shift+delete, if you happen to use Microsoft outlook. Read through:

IIT Bombay student Anupam Biswas 5th Year Mechanical Engg is suffering from Colukabki (caused due to excessive nabad and depression) a disease very rarely found (3 in a billion). His condition is very pathetic and the treatment is very expensive, obviously his parents are not able to afford his treatment. Orkut has agreed to pay 1 paisa after each time this message is forward. So please pass to all ur friends. Please i request you to pass it to as many people as u can and lets try to save someone's life. I request please do not ignore this. It will take less than 1 min of urs to help save someone's life

This was so IITisque keeda that I could not help but smile! It had IITB written all over it. Am sure there would be some Anupam Biswas who would have been nbdoo and there would have been lots and lots of people who would have wanted to take his case! By the way, NBD (pronounced: nabad) is a high strung state – almost at the verge of Nervous Break Down (abbr: NBD) – frequently used to take a jibe at someone by the keedabaajs. The colloquial usage is for insulting anyone who gets tense about something that you are cool with. For e.g., Abey nbdoo, kyun nbd le raha hai, endsems poore aadhe ghante door hai!­!­

Anyway, this post is dedicated to all keedas and all my partners-in-crime! Relax, Am not about to recount them on this forum ;). However, we can probably take this opportunity to tell ourselves that we have started taking life too seriously, ‘ITNIII Nbd mat le yaar!’

Quiz Show : Re-visited

KBC seems to be in the hot seat. The Delhi High Court has directed the MRTPC (Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission) to probe into the way the Quiz show is conducted. It was a story that has been in the making for long. People and more importantly the media, feel that KBC for celebrities is easier than it is for the normal participants. The impression gathered critical mass as the celebrities started winning hefty cash prizes. As murmurs grew into noise, we had a Mr. Anuj Kumar Bharti filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) with the Delhi high court. Apparently, general junta seems to be surprised at this!

This is a repeat of the Federal Communications Commission Vs American broadcasting Company Inc. case that played itself out in the United States in 1950s. The 1994 movie Quiz Show captured the drama on celluloid. The show in question was Twenty One. The participant had to answer more questions than a competitor to get onto a total score of 21 before the competitor to win the big cash prize. This continued week-on-week till a 'Challenger' got to the magical number of 21 before the original participant.

The final judgment in the case under discussion was in the favour of the defendant (ABC et al). The argument being that the show was an entertainment show. It was not supposed to be an educational program. The defendant’s lawyers went on to compare the show to a ‘give-away’ on TV – only to add a qualifier that it was a slightly involved kind of a ‘give-away’ with a huge cash sum involved (Click on that link above if you need to know all the details). All the participants in the US TV show, Tewnty One, signed an agreement with the firm that made them a willing party to the photo-op.

The argument might hold true in the Indian Case as well. Though, a big difference being that Airtel made a lot of money from SMS and Phone Calls to the KBC dedicated lines. I am guessing that Star and Mr. Basu’s firm Synergy will admit to rigging the show and claim that there is nothing wrong with it. I happen to agree to this as well. After all, it is not more than a comic act at best. Also, it might be compared to a lottery. However, in India, a company needs a license to run a lottery. Plus, many states have made lotteries illegal. So the show might be on the wrong side of the law not because of the MRTPC regulations but for running an illegitimate lottery! May be some smart lawyer would compare it to a lucky draw or give-away again (taking a cue from the US case) with a large cash prize attached to it! And may be the Star TV Network and Synergy will get away with it.

Of course, the news channels will have many days worth of breaking-news from this tamasha. As far as the Indian public is concerned, we will do the usual collective loss of memory and continue to enjoy the shows and fancy the prize monies.

PS: On a totally un-related note (which incidentally is my most favorite of notes), don’t you think that 1994 was one of the best years of Hollywood with films like Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption, Léon and The Lion King! This list remains small as I am not including the popular hit movies like The Mask, Four Wedding and a Funeral etc. in this list.