Crises of Capitalism

A great way to explain something relatively dreary & boring. More importantly for me at least, nice visuals.

Miss, Please Can I Go To The Toilet?

Here's an intimate little piece on Dibakar Bannerjee waiting to see how the Big People With Cinematic Scissors would react to his film.

The regional chief of the Censor Board was ready to see the director and the producer. Banerjee walked up the building staircase to a charming screening room of horrors. The chief sat in the middle seat on the top row. His Censor Board colleagues included a lady in a burkha and a man in a grey-brown safari suit. Banerjee and his producer walked halfway down, between the seats, and turned to face him, like subjects would face a king.

The amazing thing is, that a filmmaker has to ask for concessions even to get his film rated 'A'. How unbelievable is that- someone has to regulate what even people who are adults can or cannot watch? I could own a farmhouse, guzzle scotch, buy tickets to watch cheerleaders shake their thang, produce frickin' babies for heavens sake. Think about it- its ok (even bloody recommended) for me to create life and be responsible for it. But I still can't decide if I want watch a movie that might be opinionated or have nudity.

Go screw yourself.

hat tip: IC

insight

While drinking with an American friend one recent evening, I spewed this loud wisdom, "One of the most important things for cultural understanding is the ability to laugh at ourselves."
He heartily agreed, so we high-fived like school kids and ordered more shots.

the dark side

If you know anything about Dubai, or nothing at all, this will make for a long but absorbing, even engrossing read. It peels off layers from Dubai’s shiny veneer of beauty and comfort; and what it reveals is in equal parts despicable, interesting and, even, sadly unsurprising.

On the other hand, I can’t help but feel it is at least a little one sided- whether this is driven by an agenda or just is, I couldn’t say. It has a fair few insensitive, selfish, self absorbed people; I just wish it would have also told me about the open minded, responsible, aware global citizens I know live there. It would be unfortunate (and a tad surprising) if the writer did not meet any of these; and downright irresponsible if he did and chose not to represent their thoughts.

Nevertheless, none of that can make lies of some of the truths. There is more than enough in there that is serious main course for thought and discussion; and much to leave one a bit uncomfortable.

7 year itch

To borrow an oft used blog-line, this is seriously, sickly WTF.

A father, who killed his budding table tennis player son for not measuring up to his grueling standards, was sentenced to seven years in prison by a West Bengal court on Tuesday.

I mean, what. the. fug.
Isn't to screwed up enough that he killed his own son, and is obviously messed up in the head; but someone explain to me what the hell is he getting only 7 years for? No, really- go on, read the whole damn report and please convince me that he deserves only 7 years for outright murder.

what lies beneath?

Its not about wearing skirts at home and sarees in public; its not about drinking or choosing to be like Carrie or not; its not about attuning oneself to societal elements that thrust their opinions on everyone; its not about choosing modernity over roots. Its about bloody freedom, and the ability to recognise its perspectives from both sides of the barbed wire. Sagarika Ghose, wake up.

a fallacious fallacy

In this piece in Outlook, Francois Gautier sets out to say that the “deviants of Mangalore and Malegaon are demonised fallaciously”.

When blast after blast wrecks Indian markets, when trains are bombed, hotels attacked by men worse than animals, intellectuals blame it on Babri Masjid (where nobody was killed) or Gujarat (triggered by the burning of 59 innocent Hindus).But when a few Hindus plan to establish a Hindu rashtra and plot a clumsy, small-scale revenge, they are equated with deadly fundamentalists.

Just because they are few(er) in number, or their track record less inglorious, does not make them any less fundamentalist. Basking in the harsh glow of the twisted interpretation of their religion, they are a source of disgust and apprehension for open-minded, pluralistic individuals. Not to mention people who believe in the basic decency of respect for the next man, and in particular, the next woman.

[…] the word 'Hindu Talibanisation' is being heard amidst the clamour following the odious pub episode in Mangalore. […] Yet, I beg to disagree: this is not about the Talibanisation of Hindu groups, it is about their demonisation.

To say that Mangalore incident stands for a Talibanistic Hindu movement might be reaching a bit far, lets assume; but do we need only to touch such extremes to be indignant? There are increasingly loud and increasingly numerous voices that consign women to second class status. Are these to be simply explained away by so-called historical ‘demonisation’ of Hinduism? You say "Pale fires don't scorch", but is the relative paleness of an approaching flame reason enough to disregard it, or to not want to douse it?

woe is men

From here:

" The American journalist-writer, H.L. Mencken, believed that once you put a few drinks inside a woman, you are 90 per cent sure of getting her into bed. If he were alive today, Mencken would be a card-carrying member of the BJP. "

And here is to deculturified Indian-ness

the desert of the real

“Where have I come”, he thinks, as laughter tries not to choke on what wells inside.
What is this place- at once mine, and alien? What is this I smell, is it home or exile? I can touch the warmth, but feel the harsh heat.
He steps cautiously, looking around, looking at everyone.
Is this compatriot or foe? Is he visionary, delusionary, illusionary? What are these voices, that shout out over the music ; this din that tries to drown those thumping, familiar, happy beats?
He whirls, furtive eyes grappling with an unsettled mind. He listens, comprehends. But he cannot understand.

What is this belief, how is this belief? Is it all I see that does this, or is it my eyes?
He feels the arms, their tight grip. They don’t know him, but they reach out to him. Stopping, objecting, holding, demanding.
Where has this desire to control come from? Or has it merely been waiting to strike? Who are these people?
He turns to them, reason in his eyes. They laugh cruelly, their understanding locked away by time and delusion. He speaks and explains and argues with them. But they have already turned away, and even he can barely hear himself now.
Where have I come? What is this place? What is happening to it? Or was it always thus, am I the sleeper? What am I supposed to think?

* * *
Disorientation, disbelief and frustration- just a few links:
marriage offers, Devoutly disobedient, Cultural attack, Noodle straps, Man beats wife for dressing like man, adultery, watch, don't watch, karachi sweets, pub culture tv debate, muslim girl’s tattoo, Bangalore pubs, Delhi/soumya, UP labourer in the train, the idea of indignation,

the politics of appeal

There is considerable furore over the BBC’s decision to not air a public service spot. The two-minute piece calls for aid to help those people of Gaza who are suffering in the aftermath of a violent three-week conflict. The Beeb’s decision is based on their commitment to impartiality, and the desire to not appear to be supporting ‘one side’.

It’s a sign of our times, amongst other thing, that a humanitarian appeal to help hungry, injured and suffering civilians can be construed as any sort of political statement. That such a spot could have political implications, maybe even nudge people toward a certain perspective on this issue, is hard to deny. However, there can be no hesitation in accepting the intentions of the groups behind such a message (the group is the Disasters Emergency Committee, representing multiple aid organisations in the UK).

Which brings us to what the perceived intentions of a channel airing this message can be. The BBC doing so will portray them to be on the side of the Palestinians, a concern that would seem to be predicated on a belief that victims make statements by their very existence.

Yes, they do. But the statements are their own, made by their circumstances (albeit circumstances inflicted on them by ‘the other side’). Neither their circumstances, nor their statements, nor the reasons for them, can be dumped onto the channel’s position as medium for humanitarian appeal. It would take a cynical mind to claim that a television network carrying a genuine message for helping innocent victims is in actuality, a political statement by it.

But we live in cynical times.

~
Here is the spot. It might, at times, be trying a bit too hard, but that’s an aesthetic or creative opinion on its messaging, not an indictment of its message.



update: the BBC's editor has this to say on his blog.

...we concluded that we could not broadcast a free-standing appeal, no matter how carefully constructed, without running the risk of reducing public confidence in the BBC's impartiality in its wider coverage of the story.

I'm sorry, but is the viewer so confused and partisan that he cannot separate a humanitarian appeal from the blame game?

no, really?

There is something slightly surreal about this interview with Sanjay Dutt. It alsmot seems like it is someone else, someone from another planet. Not that I hold any candle for the man, but he seems suddenly to have decided that standing for elections implies mentally regressing. Good for him, I suppose.
Just one of a handful of gems:

Look, do you have a sister? Because if you do, then you’ll also know that no sister gets along with her brother’s wife.

hat tip: indiauncut

dancing

Like most things, especially in times when we are wary of taking anything at face vale, this story too probably has some sort of a flip side. But it’s a basic, simple, open premise that sees a mosque become a stop for Hindu pilgrims.

And this from here:

The Hindu pilgrims who come to Erumeli on their way to Sabarimalai come here wearing black, are supposed to have their darshan in the Lockambalam (Little temple) and then dance across the road to the Vavar Swamy mosque and enter its premises, dance around the main mosque and then proceed to the main temple down the road some 10 minutes away. Once, when someone talked about Erumeli in Lok Sabha, during the Ayodhya days, many BJP members got agitated and created a ruckus. Make what you will of that.

Just not simple and basic enough for most people around the world to take on, it would seem.

human speciation

To kick of 2009, edge.org decided to ask a whole bunch of people the question:

WHAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING?
What game changing scientific ideas and developments do you live to see?

Of course these are not random people like you and me, but 150 individuals who can claim to have some perspective in the matter. Some, indeed, leading thinkers in related fields. It takes some reading, so I am only reading a few at a time.

Its striking to think how comfortably we believe that we are, and forever will be, the dominant species on a planet that has repeatedly seen mass extinctions. Yet most of us don’t really look that far ahead, either by lack of foresight or the belief that we don’t need to. Which means that for all practical purposes, we see humanity continuing to be humanity as we know it, and only external, mechanical and environmental changes having the biggest impact.
Juan Enriquez (biotechnoligist, life-sciences expert), talking on human speciation, suggests the biggest change will be in us.

99% of species, including all other hominids, have gone extinct. Often this has
happened over long periods of time. What is interesting today, 200 years after
Darwin's birth, is that we are taking direct and deliberate control over the
evolution of many, many species, including ourselves. So the single biggest game
changer will likely be the beginning of human speciation. We will begin to get
glimpses of it in our lifetime. Our grandchildren will likely live it.

He then elaborates three paths on which humans are already approaching this, if in varying degrees. It’s a fascinating read.

The notable aspect in reading some of these, to me, is how relatively small or self contained areas of study and progress can impact a larger shift, something that can be projected by minds with intricate knowledge, but also significant vision- and, indeed, imagination.

gay=HIV

There is something wrong here. Masking homophobic beliefs under the greater good of 'tackling HIV', and this coming from the Central Govt.

Justifying criminalisation of homosexuality in the country, the Centre has pleaded before the Delhi High that it is one of the main reasons for spread of HIV/AIDS and needs to be curbed.

at a loss

How much can you defend a city you love for obvious reasons (to yourself), when deep in your heart you know that it shames you much more often than (ever) warming your soul.

I understand there are many reasons (education-lack of it-, poverty, over population) why a lot of the things that happen in India happen. But sometimes I wonder if it is something more inherent, and we (I) am just loathe to think/accept it- that some many of my ‘countrymen’ might actually be, inexplicably, diametrically opposite to my perception of life and humanity.

Am I deluded, in my own world? Or are they?

(link in the title, courtesy blogger acting up)

no limit

So kids work.
Without sounding heartless (for I certainly do not feel cold), this is hardly uncommon in India. What is, though, is that this is not only endorsed by the state passively- they are the ones employing the children. (is this not illegal?) And what I do not get is-

“There is no age limit and many families have no alternative but to send young children to work to make ends meet.”

There is no age limit? The government does not believe that there should be an age limit in place for this setup? And that, instead of a 5 year old working as a peon, there is some other way the family ought to be supported? I am no great thinker, but there has to be a better way, no?

There is no limit to the surprise, when you read enough about the country.

via the right side

Say,na

It is not my wont to write on politics, social ills and the like- at least not blog about them- but I just felt like writing on this today. the Mumbai Marine Drive rape case has been well documented and opined on, and substantially so in the blogosphere. Gut wrenching and sordid, there is little I can do to add to the tale that hasn't already been said.

But this has got me hopping mad. Bad enough they cannot get their asinine minds out of the time warp they have always been stuck in, they now have the audacity- and utter thoughtlessness(or do I mean brainlessness)- to say this about the whole case?
Where there are concerns about a hundred different things, from the girl's recovery to justice and women's safety in general, all they can think of is that the modern (progressive and thus, a blot on our tradition) woman entices the conventional (rooted in orthodoxy and thus truly 'Indian') Indian man?

And what is really unsettling, and always has been, is that these guys make their statements and there are loads of people who agree with them, salute them and support them in their crusade to take India back to a more traditional way of life (i,.e. suck all Indians into the aforementioned sick time warp).
Oh, it's pissing me off again, just writing about it.