Its another weekend in the room alone and away from my family (Its been almost two months since I moved into Andamans living the forced bachelor's life) and idle mind does come up with some sensible thoughts occassionally. I was just thinking that India is referred to by derogatory words like "third world" and "developing nation" but there are certain aspects where this country and its people have made really fast advances. For one, the communication sector. Its been around 20 years since the communication wave started to build and we almost have every part of the country connected with the cell phones now. I am in fact, right now far away from the heart of the country in a teeny weeny island in the Indian Ocean and writing this blog with a small modem to keep me wired to the cyberspace.So, how come on one hand we have a farmer who is commiting suicide not having enough money to cater to the basic needs of his family while at the same time ,we also have a rickshaw wallah pulling out a mobile and listening to FM and talking to his near and dear ones while he goes around with the daily chore.
I guess the answer lies in the effort of the government and also the mindset of the people. Competition creates the best oppurtunities for the needy and that sure has helped in bringing the call rates from astronomically high costs in the past to less than a rupee for long distance telephony in the present. The entrance of the private sector surely makes the competition tough as the rates have to be kept low to make the service attractive and simultaneously one has to maintain high quality of service so that the faith in the company and the product stays on.
Now for the mindset of the people.I don't know if its a world phenomenon or a man thing- but gadgets have a thing to impress. You want to use and fiddle with every new mobile handset that you see. A man may not have learnt the numerics in school but he would make no mistake in quoting the right number of the nokia model in the market. I guess gadgets have some x factor like the females. You may not own it but you will not forget to notice it- I guess that's a universal truth for females and gadgets.I guess because of this fetish for gadgets, every man (who in most of the households decides where the money is spent) builds up enough to invest in the purchase of a mobile phone irrespective of his need or earnings.
Another thing which has an omnipresence is the video and cd industry.The technology in the tv and video industry has changed manifolds- with first the vcps,vcrs, video cds and now dvds. But be it village or a city,all have kept up to the times. You will get the pirated movies in all the latest formats in every nook and corner of India with the availability of the latest player for putting it to use. Its all because of the common man's deep rooted interest in getting the latest with the times in entertainment which makes this possible.
So, my idle mind thinks that two key things to make progress happen are : desire and interest.The mobile and dvd industry are sureshot proof that if we put our desire and interest together, we can achieve a lot.But unfortuntely, the two feelings are restricted to very few aspects of life and that leaves us tagged as "developing" nations. Till we develop the desire and interest in every field of life,we can only be considered as "developing" nation and that is one tag we shall find very difficult to get rid off.
Showing posts with label Salt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salt. Show all posts
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Slumdog Thinking!
The whole world is talking about the "slumdog" from India and so naturally I can't resist writing something about it. I think we need to give the whole credit to the American director for having thought of making a movie written by an Indian, based in India and totally done in Bollywood style.After all, how many directors can we think of, from India, who can go to France and make a movie almost fully in French and win the hearts of the people with it.I don't think anyYash Chopra or an Ashitosh Gowarikar would even dare. And even if they did, they would not win the same accolades because the world abroad is a a biased place.Can you imagine a movie called SLUMDOG AMERICA madeby an Indian,making it big in the Oscar circuit and working its way up to getting some 10 nominations in the Academy??? I think we are still a nice 50 years away from something like that happening in this world.
That apart... I have not much positives to talk about this film and the filmmaker.There is really nothing different in this movie for it to be talked about so much. It has the same masala of puppy love, brothers separating to take the good and evil paths and love reigning supreme in the end...........it has BOLLYWOOD written all over...and every Indian has seen this story on the screen and pirated cds and dvds sometime in their lives.Now about the music.... well its good and nice but please... we have heard something closely similar in Khalnayak (just hear ringa ringa and compare it with choli ke peeche). And Rehman has done far better work in his life which did not get noticed earlier because he made it for Indians and for an Indian director.
I am more angry at the fact that a much much better and sensitive movie,Taare Zameen Par(TZP), lost out in the race much earlier because it was an Indian Khan and not an American Boyle who directed it. I bet by now all of you would have seen TZP and I am sure all of you ended up choked and moist eyed at the end of the movie.
Dear judges of the Academy,don't you think a movie which moves you so and makes you think twice before you scold your kid for not doing well in the exams deserves a tag of Oscar rather than some SLUMDOG running in shit to catch an autograph of Superstar Amitabh.I guess, its the slumdog attitude of the Academy of Motion Pictures which makes them appreciate David Boyle's work. They relate the slums and underdevelopment, poverty and cheating to India and when that is shown on the screen.........well, thats worth all the appreciation for them.
I really want your response to this thought. Please don't be silent readers of my blog and do leave a few comments -sweet, salt and bitter... all are welcome :)
Thursday, December 4, 2008
NON VIOLENCE IS NOT NO VIOLENCE!
क्षमा शोभती उस भुजंग को जिसके पास गरल हो
उसको क्या जो दंतहीन, विषरहित , विनीत, सरल हो!
सहनशीलता, क्षमा, दया को तभी पूजता जग है,
बल के दर्प चमकता उसके पीछे जब जगमग है!
These are a couple of lines from a poem by a well known hindi poet, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. I am no poet for one,neither anyone with a great literary sense nor do I have much space at the top to understand as to what most people narrate in the form of prose. But when my colleague, Dr.Rajeshwary, narrated these lines during one of our "discussions", it just made so much sense in my life as well as that of India.
Lets start about India.I think in the name of resilience, we have been just trying to avoid facing these terrorist outfits which has made us look weak and meek in the international arena. All it takes to avoid any noise from our quarter is to send an emissary from the powerhouse of the world (and that's USA as we all know) and we sit tight in the corner thinking we have done enough and then its time for us to keep silent and lie still waiting to be shaken up from the slumber by another attack on not just the citizens but our pride as a nation.And that's how we have come to be taken as a QUIET nation still dwelling on the pride of being non-violent. I think its time to redefine this term NON-VIOLENCE. We have to vehemently make the world aware that NON VIOLENCE does not mean NO VIOLENCE . We need to instill the fear of our toughness too and not just get into a jumble of words when attacked.
I guess its the same in our lives to as individuals.Sometimes we just find people taking advantage of us and our manners making it our weakness rather than a virtue. We all need to realise that its not an ideal world and so there are times we need to assert our rights and say it loud when its wrong because its not just doing the wrong which is not right but not doing the right is also wrong.
When the two great mythologies,the Mahabharata and Ramayana, preach about good prevailing over evil even if it requires a war to get that result, isn't it time for us to once again to prove that its time for the good to prevail over the evil by taking the right measures??
उसको क्या जो दंतहीन, विषरहित , विनीत, सरल हो!
सहनशीलता, क्षमा, दया को तभी पूजता जग है,
बल के दर्प चमकता उसके पीछे जब जगमग है!
These are a couple of lines from a poem by a well known hindi poet, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar. I am no poet for one,neither anyone with a great literary sense nor do I have much space at the top to understand as to what most people narrate in the form of prose. But when my colleague, Dr.Rajeshwary, narrated these lines during one of our "discussions", it just made so much sense in my life as well as that of India.
Lets start about India.I think in the name of resilience, we have been just trying to avoid facing these terrorist outfits which has made us look weak and meek in the international arena. All it takes to avoid any noise from our quarter is to send an emissary from the powerhouse of the world (and that's USA as we all know) and we sit tight in the corner thinking we have done enough and then its time for us to keep silent and lie still waiting to be shaken up from the slumber by another attack on not just the citizens but our pride as a nation.And that's how we have come to be taken as a QUIET nation still dwelling on the pride of being non-violent. I think its time to redefine this term NON-VIOLENCE. We have to vehemently make the world aware that NON VIOLENCE does not mean NO VIOLENCE . We need to instill the fear of our toughness too and not just get into a jumble of words when attacked.
I guess its the same in our lives to as individuals.Sometimes we just find people taking advantage of us and our manners making it our weakness rather than a virtue. We all need to realise that its not an ideal world and so there are times we need to assert our rights and say it loud when its wrong because its not just doing the wrong which is not right but not doing the right is also wrong.
When the two great mythologies,the Mahabharata and Ramayana, preach about good prevailing over evil even if it requires a war to get that result, isn't it time for us to once again to prove that its time for the good to prevail over the evil by taking the right measures??
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Large Hearted Americans!
I was just reading the other day in the papers about the First Black President-elect.... in fact there was hardly anything else positive in the papers which I can say was worth reading. To be very truthful, we need to hand it over to the Americans for their support to this lean man in whom they have put their trust. People might say a thousand things about the racial difference and ill treatment in the west but this election definitely makes one thing clear which we badly lack - Americans give the person a chance if he/she has the potential. Not that it is a bed of roses for anyone, anywhere and neither should it be that way. But then the thumping majority definitely proves that Americans are more secular than us.
Except Sonia Gandhi, I really can't think of any other foreigner who has been elected to the Parliament of independent India and the world knows the opposition that she faces being the odd one out (Well,well, I am not a Congress supporter in anyway! In fact I strongly believe that all parties take the country to the dogs, its just the speed at which they do is different :)). But there is a long of politicians from other races who have been having their say in the American senate.I guess its one of the reasons which puts us in the developing nation category and not in the developed one as yet. We just don't let the person with the ability to make a difference to raise his head.
Why talk of others, lets just analyse ourselves. How many of us look at the new colleagues entering our workplace as someone capable of doing some good to the organisation. He/she is always a threat and we dig to find the mistakes rather than let the person settle and get comfortable with us . Have I said anything wrong?
I guess there lies our fault. We, Indians, have a pseudo-superiority and when we can't really achieve what someone else has, we either become their psycophants or oppose them with "religion and culture" as our shields.And if the person who has done something exclusive has even a remote connection with India, we don't stop at anything to establish the connection irrespective of whether that person has any knowledge of where India is, forget the patriotism part.I don't say US is perfect..... but actually I am, for once, just trying not to find their fault but trying to learn why they excel in a lot of things. What do you say?
Except Sonia Gandhi, I really can't think of any other foreigner who has been elected to the Parliament of independent India and the world knows the opposition that she faces being the odd one out (Well,well, I am not a Congress supporter in anyway! In fact I strongly believe that all parties take the country to the dogs, its just the speed at which they do is different :)). But there is a long of politicians from other races who have been having their say in the American senate.I guess its one of the reasons which puts us in the developing nation category and not in the developed one as yet. We just don't let the person with the ability to make a difference to raise his head.
Why talk of others, lets just analyse ourselves. How many of us look at the new colleagues entering our workplace as someone capable of doing some good to the organisation. He/she is always a threat and we dig to find the mistakes rather than let the person settle and get comfortable with us . Have I said anything wrong?
I guess there lies our fault. We, Indians, have a pseudo-superiority and when we can't really achieve what someone else has, we either become their psycophants or oppose them with "religion and culture" as our shields.And if the person who has done something exclusive has even a remote connection with India, we don't stop at anything to establish the connection irrespective of whether that person has any knowledge of where India is, forget the patriotism part.I don't say US is perfect..... but actually I am, for once, just trying not to find their fault but trying to learn why they excel in a lot of things. What do you say?
Friday, March 7, 2008
CRIK ..CRIK...CRICKET!
Cricket is almost a religion in India and like so many things in the religion which you would like to change but you cant, I guess its the same with the Indian cricket. I really fail to understand all the hoo- haa that this game has generated for the last 2 days. I agree that it was an achievement to win against Australia in their home ground but does it solicit so much of attention that people throng the airports and gherao the roads to garland the team. It almost seemed like the cricket team had won a world war and come!!
There is a limit to which one can go to felicitate these crciket icons. In a country where we have a raging debate going on about the waiver of 60 thousand crores to farmers by the goverment, the cricket board shamelessly gave away 10 crores to the players,who are already minting millions through endorsements. Why doesn't this cricket board ever think of sharing their philanthropic ideas on something more important to the country, especially when we have a well known politican running the BCCI show.
Have you ever heard of such glorification and celebration being carried out in China, Russia or the other more athletic countries in this world, which take away pots of gold every time the Olympics are held. May be there lies the reason for our failing to make a mark in a lot of things....... we just carry things too far..... be it celebration or criticism....we just fail to maintain a balance!
There is a limit to which one can go to felicitate these crciket icons. In a country where we have a raging debate going on about the waiver of 60 thousand crores to farmers by the goverment, the cricket board shamelessly gave away 10 crores to the players,who are already minting millions through endorsements. Why doesn't this cricket board ever think of sharing their philanthropic ideas on something more important to the country, especially when we have a well known politican running the BCCI show.
Have you ever heard of such glorification and celebration being carried out in China, Russia or the other more athletic countries in this world, which take away pots of gold every time the Olympics are held. May be there lies the reason for our failing to make a mark in a lot of things....... we just carry things too far..... be it celebration or criticism....we just fail to maintain a balance!
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