However, sadness and helplessness have overtaken me today, to a surprisingly great extent.I seem to be struggling today by the ernomity of it.. Some personal hapennings, the depressing weather in this part of the world and the tsunami have all taken their toll.
Its almost a cliche' to say that at these times you feel that we are a pretty insignificant part of creation as a whole. It also rattles your faith, that if there is a God, why does he allow this to happen and allows it to happen to the poorest, the most helpless of his creations. What did they do to deserve this ? Shouldnt there be some kind of cosmic justice after all ? Some kind of order to the life that we live ? Can we be all selfish and not think about it as it didnt happen to us ?
gupchup tamaashaa dekhe, vaah re terii khudaaIduniyaa banaane vaale, kyaa tere man me.n samaaI
kaaheko duniyaa banaaI, tuune kaaheko duniyaa banaaI
koI chhavi to hogii aa.Nkho.n me.n terii aa.Nsuu bhii
chhalake ho.nge palako.n se terii
Some suggestions for contributions are :
AID:
Contributions to AID (Association for India's Development) Tsunami fund can be made through secure on-line credit-card deductions from AID's website here.
PrimeMinister's relief Fund:
Donations may also be made directly into Central Bank of India, New Delhi/Mumbai’s following accounts stating beneficiary “ Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, SB A/C with Janpath, New Delhi”.
EFT:U.S. $: A/C No. 000-03847-4 with HSBC BANK,USA, New York. ( SWIFT Code :- MRMD US 33 )
Saw Swades over the weekend..
The basic premise of the movie, is well known, Indian scientist works in NASA, goes back to his roots to the village, it changes him enough to bring him back.
Firstly, lets get this out of the way, it is NOT an entertaining movie by any standards. It is preaching and can seem to be monotonous and longwinded in places. Thought provoking yes, sincere yes, movie you goto to have a good time no.
Though to be fair, Ashutosh Gowariker never meant it to be.
It is also a simple movie, a stark potrayal, almost "arty" in places, with no real plot, there are no ostentatious sets, not a single "dishum", no "item" numbers, and the dialogue is by corollary hardly hard hitting. It was almost as if the director and the dialogue writer were trying extra hard to make it "real" and believable. For what is essentially a movie whose central purpose is a social awakening of sorts, the dialogues though sincere seem insipid sometime. There is no dearth of them however, we hear sermons on everything from the caste system, root causes of poverty, dowry, women emancipation and equality, the tendency of Indians to fall back on how their culture and tradition is the best if they are accosted about the lack of progress in India.
Mohan Bhargava is also asked this question and he says that he might go and work at the Vikram Sarabhai space center as a project manager.
So the message of the move seems to be convoluted and confused here, did he go back to India to work in his village, for his love and his mother like caretaker or for that indefinable urge to back to ones roots, to what we know best ? The latter if the reason, was not conveyed convincingly enough. Why did he go back finally ? And that is the question in the end ? So this movie works in that it atleast makes us pause to think again about the question on many a NRI's mind today,"should i go back to India ?" . Especially the song, "Yeh jo desh hai tera", definitely plays on your emotions.
One more point to make, here in the US, I know many of my friends and me included, are involved in social organizations which work for India's upliftment like AID, Asha and such like, much of it being a bi-product of these organizations having active chapters in most major US universities. However in India, those of us from cities and large towns rarely have taken part or are taking part in these organizations or helping out in any ways. Here's an idea, like Israel has a compulsory 3 year military assignment for all men (2 for women), India too should have a compulsory one year assignment after graduation, for every graduate to go to the villages and help out in the service projects there !
Also liked this more favourable review from Omar Ahmed at Rediff. Here are snippets :
"Primarily, the film is about India today. Ideologically, Swades adopts a liberal position but with a strong nationalist message. Using the concept of the village as a microcosm for contemporary Indian society, the film explores the failure of culture and tradition in embracing the 'new'; the fear and reluctance to embrace technology, the abandonment of responsibilities for materialism and the West and the need for self sustaining independence as exemplified by the audacious sequence in which Mohan Bhargava leads the village into the act of creating electricity from a stream in the surrounding hills.
Unlike Hollywood mainstream films where the emphasis is typically upon the celebration and triumph of the 'individual', a condition of Western capitalism, Swades focuses upon the power and integrity of the collective mass, suggesting that in order for a spirit of co-operation to exist there must be a disintegration of social barriers and ability for self-criticism. Though Mohan may not be a revolutionary on a wider political scale, he is someone who craves purpose and direction in a world that continues to call itself a postmodern global village.
His journey through India and back to the village where his surrogate mother is staying is a journey of self-discovery. Ultimately, it is the immediate feelings of 'belonging' to a community that draws him back, providing him with an identity that is firmly rooted in liberal humanism as reinforced by the subtle metaphor of water as a source of life, rebirth and enrichment."
Nostalgia. Originally the word meant to signify a serious medical disorder inflicted on a person when he longs for his native land, it ofcourse has a significantly more "milder" connotation today. Sharing one's own nostalgia is tricky business, however.
It is tricky for several reasons, it can probably not be completely shared, it is born out of the life that I lead earlier, it was what I experienced in past and it is not entirely clear that it would generate in you a similar kind of bitter sweetness that it does in me. On that cautionary note, I realise that for a lot of you these images don't make sense, but for me and I hope for many of you too, it will bring back those old days (good or bad, I don't know, that was the best that we knew then) when we were growing up in India, when there was but one TV channel and we knew the entire show timings schedule verbatim (I can still remember when many of the shows played), when we learnt a major part of our history and mythology through the wonderful comics of Amar Chitra Katha, where the antics of Supandi and Chacha Chaudhary, though exactly opposite in their cerebral capabilities both delighted us.
Giant Robot 
From what I remember, this show used to come on Saturday evenings and involved a Japanese kid, who had this ultra cool watch, using which he could control, you guessed it, the Giant Robot. The Giant Robot (who now when I look at him looks like a pharaoh ? ), had this utlra cool, rocket type propellers on his back so it could fly. I remember me and my brother jumping all over the place when the kid gives him a command to fly/get activated, screaming on the top of our voices, Giant Robot is coming ..
Vikram aur Betaal 
This program also used to come on Saturday evenings. Arun Govil a.k.a maryada purushottum "Ram" himself, played Vikramaditya who had to take Betaal, the wily ghost to a destination without speaking at all during the journey. Betaal always used to tell him a story, which would end in the form of a puzzle and ask Vikram to choose the correct alternative. The stories were rather interesting and this serial was probably inspired from the series in Chandamama.
I especially used to like the opening music of the serial. Just a few days back a friend and me, were shouting on the top of our voices, singing "Vikram aur Betaal" over a bridge here in Boston. Yes I am crazy like that.
He-Man 
This is used to be on every Sunday morning. This was the bestest cartoon ever. An "ordinary" prince finds a sword, which if he aims towards the sky and announces "I am He-man, I have the power" transforms him into the most powerful man in the universe, He-man. He and his friends are perennially fighting the evil Skeletor and his cronies. With so many interesting characters with their own little quirks (like having 360 degree vision (Triklops) , to know magic (Orko), to be able to ram into anything (RamMan) ), it provided enough imagination fodder to feed the mind of a 10 year old.
Amar Chitra Katha
I suspect for millions of Indian children, including me they have been the biggest source of knowledge of Indian mythology and history. Between the time when we were not yet ready to read extensive treatises on these topics but we had started to read, this was an ideal tool to whet our imagination and quench the inquisitiveness that starts to permeate within us during those ages.
The have also spurred research.
For who want to relive their past ACK reading experience or want to brush up their Indian mythology here is a link to the complete Ramayan in ACK.
ACK also published Tinkle, a sort of comic children's Reader's Digest with several interesting short stories in a comic form with some classic characters who reappeared in stories in every other edition. Who can forget Supandi, Shikhari Shambu, Ranjha, Tantri the Mantri , Kalia the crow, Hodga and so many more.
Chacha Chaudhary 
Disclaimer : Chacha Chaudhary comics had a poor man's feel about them. The cartooning (by Pran) was not by any stretch of imagination art, and the stories too, largely nonsensical.
Chacha Chaudhary was an old man with a razor sharp intellect (or as the comic's oft repeated tag line, "chacha chaudhary ka dimaag computer se bhee tez chalta hai" ), who lived with this giant import from the planet Jupiter, Saboo. Together brain and brawn they solved every problem that came their way.
Simplistic that they were, I still read tonnes of them during my vacations. They were a super easy read and were entertaining I guess at times for their sheer implausibility.
There were several other comics which were pretty popular. Indrajal comics had Phantom, Mandrake and Bahadur (see comment from Gautham for more on him), Tintin and Asterix ofcourse and the ubiquitous Archie comics. Wondering what captures the imagination of a young kid in India today, while I croon this :)..
Yeh Daulat Bhi Le Lo, Yeh Shohrat Bhi Le Lo,
Bhale Cheen Lo Mujhse Meri Jawaani,
Magar Mujhko Lautaa Do Bachpan Ka Saawan,
Woh Kaagaz Ki Kashti, Woh Baarish Ka Paani
A linguist from the University of Pittsburgh has published a scholarly paper deconstructing and deciphering the word "dude," contending it is much more than a catchall for lazy, inarticulate surfers, skaters, slackers and teenagers. Kiesling says in the fall edition of American Speech that the word derives its power from something he calls cool solidarity -- an effortless kinship that's not too intimate. It's like man or buddy, there is often this male-male addressed term that says, 'I'm your friend but not much more than your friend'. He found the word taps into nonconformity and a new American image of leisurely success.
This got me thinking to what extent, language is so much, it is a reflection of our interpersonal relationships, our society, in other words it can be one true parameter to understand the framework we live in. Apart from etymology (which is endlessly interesting in itself), the very fact that certain words were created or modified to convey a meaning which required to be called something is so fascinating.
For example, Blog was recently voted the word of the year 2004 by Merriam-Webster.
Here from TOI:
Minister Jagdish Tytler has decided to appoint NRI volunteers who will make discreet inquiries about bachelors who have set their sights on the Indian marriage mart. "Though this is coming a little late, at least the government thought of it at last. It is really sad because many innocent girls take extreme steps like committing suicide after being dumped, as they don't want to trouble their parents. This step will definitely help curb the number of cheating cases," says Soumya Mishra, DCP (Crime).
I will now be looking over my back frequently, will also make sudden jumps around corners to catch the snoopers. If you are in a similar situation I suggest you to do it also.
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