I came across an old newspaper today.There was something in it about the list of Booker Prize nominees of 2006.Among others,there was 'The Inheritance of Loss' by Kiran Desai.There were other books in the list,but as far as I can recall,I haven't seen any of those at any Crosswords/Landmark.Kiran Desai is the only one who makes the cut.These bookstores exploit a unique trait of human psyche.We humans constantly seek comfort in groups.Kiran Desai is an Indian,therefore subconsciously I am curious about her.Obviously what we define as 'our group' is what interests me.For eg,when Tendulkar comes to bat,while I support him as an Indian,a maharashtrian might support him as a maharashtrian,and Vinod Kambli might support him as an old classmate.
Now let's apply this theory a little further.Well,everyday some new problem starts in our 'mulk'.Let's take the old secularism issue.We have the right-wing supporting the creation of a 'Hindu Ram Rajya'.Let's assume we give in to their demands,and we allocate a seperate country for the minorities and our new 'Ram Rajya' is created,consisting of only hindus.Now,the term 'hindu' is another googly in itself.There are high-caste&low-caste groups.Suppose they also want their piece of the pie.Theek hai,de diya.Now,in our "high-caste Hindu land',we have the high caste punjabis,high caste tamilians&high caste biharis.I hope you take my cue.
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I finally discovered the joys of writing.While writing the above article,I started on a light topic,got lost and ended up discussing something totally diffrent from what I had envisaged.

Piss...Language...Lost Innocence

Has anyone seen the Mc. Dowell ad that goes "No.1,Mera No.1".What's the company trying to sell?......soda or ahem.....something else......
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I have noticed a peculiar thing about the way I speak.All my tujhes and mujhes have been gradually replaced by 'tere ko' and 'mere ko'.......i think my hindustani gradually gave way to a lil daccani...something like this happened some 3 centuries ago which gave birth to what we now call Urdu.....so am i in the midst of a big linguistic revolution?......Only time will tell.
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Saw promos of a film called bhoothnath.......another crass bollywood attempt to ape the west......there was a scene in which they showed (indian)kids playing american football.......Seriously,how many kids here would be able to relate to that?......I seriously don't know why the 'yashraj' clan have to make everything so Dolce&Gabbana......whatever happened to an innocent childhood like mine.....climbing 'shahtoot'(mulberry) trees and playing with mud.....Even the kids these days seem to have none of the innocence(read:stupidity) of the kids of yesteryears....they are all so smart and taking the dance/piano/horse riding/advanced calculus classes...i wonder what will happen to retards like me(even that shitty holiday homework was too much for me).....This brings me to another topic...why is everything so 'anglicised' these days.....now i understand that english is the mother tongue of many communities like the catholics...so no problems there......but these days whenever i go to a party and i see these 3-4 year old kids and their mums talking to them in English...it just pisses me off....eventually these kids will grow up to have a rootless existence with nothing unique about them whatsoever......i hope i don't come off sounding like a 75 year old.....
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Is it just me or whenever one listens to 'Yellow' by coldplay does one feel like bobbing his head from one shoulder to the other.....

Me-Part 2

Born in the North,
Nurtured by the west,
Matured in solitude.

People call me various names-
the geek,the showman,
the intellectual,the madman.


I am in the melody of Mozart,
and in the acid of Eminem
I am all of that yet neither
I am a million mutinies-
Or am I?

Since a long time,mankind has indulged in some form of mindless entertainment or the other.The Romans had their gladiators,the Spanish have the bull fighters,my mother has the K Serials,and my generation has Roadies-a crass show featuring some morons with a combined iq 0f 10.Actually,come to think about it,one can draw a no. of parellels between the last two.

Although,these 2 shows are less gruesome than their ancient peers,watching them is nothing short of intellectual genocide.While they may appear radically,their core values are quite the same,i.e. mindless politics.Everybody knows the deal with the K-Serials so I am not going to harp on that.So let's talk about roadies.Now,on the surface it may appear trendy,cool,adventurous+some other adjectives,yet if you peel the onion,one realises that it's just the same K-serial politics,the difference being the fictional versus the non fictional format.Also,while Ekta Kapoor is quite blatant about what she's doing,these roadies people have just kinda sugar coated the show with all that coolness quotient.The result:a soul-less,moribund(that's right!I do know some words.....)experience

So the next time you sneer at your mom for watching her soaps,remember,you aint much diffrent.......Ciao

Nothing in particular

Something occurred to me the other day.Previously,history consisted of civilisations
emerging,prospering and then somewhere down the line the civilisation disappeared.

Nowadays that's just not possible.The world is so well connected that it would be

impossible for let's say,Bombay to vanish and then be rediscovered centuries later.

I think this will change the way History is studied.Also,it kinda takes the fun out

of the whole thing.I mean,discovering Mohenjo-daro was way cooler than

searching for the Kennedy assassination on the internet arhives.
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A question had been nagging me for quite some time now.On TV,in the movies or any other
medium,gays were potrayed as strange,queer or overtly feminine.On the other hand,lesbians
have not been stereotyped or typecast into any such category.My friend Gupta a,k.a eda
saand gave quite a insightful reply.His theory was that since the society is still male
dominated,males are ok with lesbianism since it involves women....on the other hand not
many males have an attachment towards their gay peers,so probably they have to face the
flak
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Today,me and my friend Rushank had a talk about the summer season.He made an interesting
observation.It was this.You know that smell of water coolers(people living in North/Central
India would know this) always meant freedom to him;.This was because he had associated that
smell with the summer holidays and thus reminded him of his freedom.One of the pecularities
of out brain I guess......stuff that seperates us from computers....atleast for now

Mom

There is an ocean in my life,
An ocean of kindness,of wisdom.
Then there are rivers like me,
Emptying their flow into her.

The resilient ocean absorbs everything.
Unquestioningly she accepts what the rivers give it,
She doesn’t differentiate-
Whether the river gives her treasures or troubles.

This ocean has infinite patience,
But don’t disrespect her-
Invite her wrath and you shall see,
How the reservoir of life,
destroy what she herself created.

I am also a recipient of this ocean’s love.
An ocean whom I sometimes call ‘Mom’.

The other day,I was watching Good Will Hunting(for the zillionth time....).....it's one of my favourites......the best part of the movie is the conversations that take place between Robbin Williams and Matt Damon.During one such conversation,Williams tells Damon about his deceased wife....he describes her as follows-"It's as if God put an angel on the face of this earth just for you....."
This scene reminded me about a particular conversation I had with an autowallah about 5-6 months ago.His name I guess was Javed.I was sittin in the auto when looking at a couple on a bike next to us he said,"yeh aaj kal ke jawan logon ko yeh sab timepass lagta hai"[The youngsters take all this for granted]...and I was like..ok,here's one of those "youngsters don't know shit" people...but I was soon proved wrong....He went on to tell me how he had met his wife(a Hindu) and that they were married[happily!] since fifteen years.Anyways one particular sentence that he said remains etched in my memory....he was describing his wife and he said:"Aisa lagta hai ki Allah ne ek pari sirf mere liye bheji hai...."..which literally is what williams was talking about....it might sound corny now but the conviction with which he said it put all doubts to rest....


I think there are 2 places where I've had the best conversations....one is the autorickshaw and the second one is the barbershop(not the fancy ones....)the conversations range from politics,cricket,love,bollywood,the 'seth'[owner] who has gone to saudi...Even if i don't agree with there selection of music[Bollywood's Hall of Shame Classics],the conversations make the whole thingquite an experience.Also,these two places and the train are the only 3 places whereyou can feel the pulse of a nation as complex and diverse as ours.These are the placeswhere you see the true manifestation of the 'The Argumentative Indian' that AmartyaSen was talking about......The highest density of heterodoxy per unit area....


So my advice to all my elitist friends[there are quite a few..] is...next time skip the Javed Habibs and opt for the friendly neighbourhood 'Hajaam'[barber] instead.Who knows what you may get to hear.....