Article 377 and landmark judgement

Indian society is hardly fair and free, but for the most part, the laws and constitution are. That is one bit of nice thing about India. This portion of article 377 that criminalises homosexuality stands against that bit of sanity. Treat people equally atleast in Paper, give them rights atleast in Paper. I hope atleast the gets corrected. Atleast one step.

Also, ever since the issue of gay rights and case against article 377 started in India, I have been curious about the reaction of the hindu extreme group. Islam and Christainity have specific instances in their respective books that condemn homosexuality. Hinduism has 1000 books probably, but I dont think any of them condemns homosexuality, if anything it is the reverse is what I hear.

So, if Hindu groups are condemning it, arent they just aping the religious conservatives of the rest of the world, even though it is the belief of completely different religion(their supposed enemies)? or did they suddenly wake up to the notion of diverse religions and tolerance to their beliefs? Just shows how brainless the fundamentalists are, I suppose.

Ps: honestly, before reading some of the blogs written by gay indians, I wouldnt have understood their plight or gave it a thought. my previous post on this

rang ranga pani peke

" Rang ranga pani peke, Seedhi sadhi ladki bhigad gayi",* goes a line in this current favorite of mine. It has been playing non-stop in my car. The song has a peppy tune. And yeah, insane lyrics. Series of line found somewhere in the middle of the song goes
"tareef teri karna hai,
tujhe khone se ab darna hai,
haan, bul gaya ab tujpe din me
chaar dafa marna hai"
- in one shot, a mockery of most hindi songs we know. I love that.

The minute of visuals i have watched has Deepika padukone showing some expression on the face. This is akin to my high school friend getting a 1/50 in one of the tests at the IIT coaching center. The Prof. told her that she might feel she has improved infinitely considering her previous her score was 0 but sadly that isnt true . That is exactly what I would say for Deepika as well.



*Pardon my indi, it comes some where after english, tamil, telugu for me.

Mature audience

In 8th standard, during a tamil lesson on a poem about love(the detol kind), the giggles of the girls just wouldnt stop. The tamil teacher was irritated at how the guys our age had gone through the lesson without any hiccups, while us girls were stretching it for two classes simply because we couldnt stop laughing. That was understandable as the girls were just stepping into their teens especially in India.

It is slightly irritating though that after many years later, a much older bunch(ranging from 20 to 60), a supposedly matured audience laughed everytime sex just loomed somewhere in the corner of the conversation. That too in play about a woman's sexual emanicipation.

Surya ki antim kiran se surya ki pehli kiran thak, is a hindi drama about a queen who is made to participate in a ritual where in she seeks a surrogate husband for one night from the residents of the state due to the king's inability in providing her a heir. The play had its share of laughable moments and some dialogues were intended to be funny. But the audience were laughing even at serious moments. Like when the Raaja expresses his frustrations about the experience he could never have/had.

Otherwise, the performance and staging was very professional(after all we did pay money that too without even a charitable cause associated with the name). Amol palekar has made a marathi movie called Anahat starring Sonali bendre based on this drama few years ago. I havent watched the movie, but the drama/movie/ just the script is a must for every woman, probably men too.

Ps: Next time, I plan to go on the stage and say, "she and he.. umm..". I am sure that would be enough to make the crowds burst out with laughter. should be easy being a stand up comedian for this crowd.

Shiney Ahuja - the current news obsession

Shiney Ahuja, is all over the papers, so I assume you already know the deal. His wife kind of had a parade of all neighbours, friends and so on, in short, people who were ready to give their good behavior certificate for Shiney. But the truth is, there is noway of Judging a man's behavior in this regard based on your all other interactions.(may be true for a woman too , but i have no actual experience there). Yes, even his wife could be unaware about his intentions in this regard. That is just the way it is. Unfortunate.
*********

On the other hand, the case isnt in trial as yet. We dont know whether he is guilty or not. We all know we should wait till the judgement. But we are all in a rush to make our own judgement. News agencies want too as well. They know even as alarming news as this can only be carried on for couple of weeks. So, they need to cash in, stretch it as much as possible. Quick snap judgements sell better. Ethics be damned.

Eventually when judgement comes, probably one newspaper will report it somewhere. People wont read or remember. Years later, we would still be delivering our judgements than the one based on a trial. That is just the way the world is.

Examples for the point, Few months ago, a 12-year old boy from England made news for becoming a father. A lot of debate went on the internet after the news. People obviously spent days and nights discussing it. Panelists were called to discuss the dangerous situations, the repercussions and all other bull shit. Later on, couple of boys also claimed paternity of the child. Eventually, a Paternity test was done and it was proved that the boy was not the father. How many people do you think are aware of the last piece of info? 1 or 2% of the population that read the initial news.

A first year student, Navarasu's murder rocked tamil nadu. John david, his Senior's name came up in the investigation. Eons and eons of articles written about him. Gruesome story. How many people are aware that he has been released on appeal because the evidence(found sufficient for a life time in the lower court) was found insufficient. Needless to say, no one I spoke to knows about the last sentence.

Feel of earth

Fourteen year old Reese Witherspoon runs towards home after a swim on the TV screen. I suddenly notice the shoes. Did she have them before or was it her starry tantrums that refused to run bare foot? Too shy to feel the earth? Feel of earth, isnt there some sort of hype around that. To let go and feel in its bare form. Then I am reminded of the gravel, how it pokes your feet and the hurt. not so romantic then the feel of earth, I suppose.

Labels: utter rubbish!

God of small things - book report

Wrote this a long time ago

This was a re-read/re-visit or re-return. I must admit when I read the book earlier or rather flipped through it, I misunderstood the love laws she wanted to break. Naturally assumed that to be the reason for the book being best-seller. I was right & wrong.

The first few chapter have undeniable rushdie style - the gobblygib & dibblydobs, the story-telling through the eyes of children. Ofcourse, she does not do as good a job as Rushdie.The word plays just don't run as wild denying us the crazy world that rushdie lets us live in. (the man is truly crazy, this one is faking it). But she does manage to recreate the child's world perfectly well. In this regard, three of the famous Indian authors - Rushdie, Rk Narayanan and Roy are equally gifted. In one page she has the narrative of the incident from the seven-year old and recalls the same incident from the 31 -year old. The transformation is amazing.

I have read few interviews of her. And the similarities between her own life & Rahel's are easily noticeable. Roy's mom runs a school, rahel's mom wanted to run one. Roy a student of delhi school of architecture, had a failed marriage, bengali dad- syrian christain mom, ditto rahel.

Neverthless, eventually as characters begin to emerge I was a little disappointed with unipolar characterisations of the wilful baby kochamma, conniving pillai, victimized ammu. But what was more disappointing was not the last chapter but the last but one. Pardon me, to me incest chapter does not even seem to fit the flow, seemed unrequired. Infact, I had to google to understand what she was trying to do there.

Otherwise she pretty much uses the usual element for an international book-seller from india. The freudian connection to the motherly love of mammachi is totally unimaginative. Why exactly would mamamachi motherly love have to blemished and ammu's luv for her kid the usual holier kind? Is it because ammu is the one of the protoganist and roy decided she is good? God!

The book also has worst experience a child can have, robbing them of the their innocence of childhood. It was handled very well in the novel from the child's point of view. The confusion, the fear that the child undergoes captured very well.

Roy ensures that the "white" margarest kochamma the better person, while the "brown" baby kochamma has to be conniving one. How else can you sell the book for 1/2 a million dollar. By the by, Kochamma i think means aunt in malayalam, close to athai in tamil?

I wonder if I remove the last but one incest chapter of the book, would the book this successful? Wouldn't yet be another novel.

Once again, is the book-writing all about dark characters. Are all human beings that way?
I thought I was a minority.

Now, don't get me wrong. She is a gifted author.I did end up almost crying reading about Ammu & velutha. The sadness that the children had to live for the rest of it is too heart breaking. Roy's writing shines through most of the book. Wonderful writing again.

But...
Loveable, pitiable ammu, velutha
detestable, conniving baby kochamma & pillai

If only were life was so straight-forward.

This happened few years ago. One evening after coming back from college. My mom started, " Guess what happened today? Remember the India today subscription we had ordered? I forgot all about it. A parcel came today, I didnt recall the subscription gift. what with all the bomb scare going around, I got all scared."

"Then, what did you do?"

"I went outside the house and opened the parcel"

"How would have that helped, if there was a bomb, you would have anyway blown off"

"But the TV, fridge and computer wont be affected"

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Yes, that is exactly what everyone would have felt, a mother was blown off but in a valiant effort saved TV, Fridge and the computer.