Man Kunto Maula - Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (live)

random one liner

I like it when girls 'blow' 'things' out of proportion

Dil Dosti etc...

I know this review is a little late, considering the movie released in 2007. Phir bhi, der aaye, durust aaye

Dil Dosti etc...

Set in modern Delhi(Dilli university to be precise), the movie juxtapositions many oddities together. To begin with, the character Sanjay Mishra(Shreyas Talpade), is your quintessential hinterland hero, emotional, with his earthy middle class values, providing a background for his (very ruthless) ambitions. Quite a contrast to this is the aimless Apurv, spectacularly potrayed by Imad Shah...He's cold, aimless, aloof and his mind operates in a space which is distinctly grey, but at the sametime colourful. He exemplifies the new liberal man, who's defining character is his ability to negotiate in that ethical neverland...Although I should add that though Apurv comes across as cold, he never appears calculating or Machiavellian....Sanjay's girlfriend Prerna is what I would call a perfect example of misplaced westernism in the garb of modernity, the kind you encounter most in the metros...Ishita Sharma, who plays Kintu, symbolizing the neo-teens...at the verge of sexual liberation, but still consider it important to cloak their expletives in mish mash of codes(if you remember Juno, and the scene where her friend goes 'Phuket Thailand'...)....

Overall the film potrays precisely the kind of societal changes going on in India...Also worth mentioning is the understated presence of Ghalib and Faiz by virtue of their verses being used at the apt places for love and revolution respectively.An urban elite who are too cocksure about their 'modern' values, a small town guy who holds on to his imagined traditional values, ambitious but often confused by big city people and their elitist habits...And in the end of it all, the intellectually ambiguous Apurv reducing everything to 'Sanjay is dead, and I survived'...So at the end it all boils down to cold facts, and nothing else....

Mornings

"Amit, uth ja...hun.......'Amit!!!!!!!!!"....Probably he was dreaming, but mom's voice sounded particularly shrill at 7 am...He got up, his tshirt sticking to his back due to the sweat...."Saala AC kisne off kiya?", he wondered...Parts of him were particularly stiff in the morning, and so he stood up in a weird posture to avoid detection...Finally, he got up and picked the cup of tea from the tray...'too much milk', he made a mental note...Meanwhile, dad entered the room and dropped the newspaper pile on the bed...it was much like a piece of fresh meat surrounded by a pack of lions, everyone had their favourite piece, or so everyone thought.Sifting through the pile, dad quickly handed him the Urdu newspaper, while his eyes were fixed on the HT City in Dad's hands...He glanced at his share of the carcass...."chhatisgarh mein 35 afraad halaak"..."Damn!,was that Megan Fox in the lingerie", he sighed....Sipping his tea, he quickly glanced over the editorial....then he proceeded towards the last page...Obama, Israel and Iran....He raised his glass to finish what was left of his tea, then got up, entered the toilet and closed the door behind him....A new day had begun.

The new nurturing grounds for Urdu in India

Since independence, the gradual demise of Urdu from the national mainstream has been a cause of concern to the lovers of the language. The downfall can be attributed to various reasons, but I am not going to delve into those. If we were to categorize the demise into two categories, it would be firstly the loss of Nastaliq(Urdu Script) knowing people, and secondly the gradual dissolution of Urdu speaking population into the Hindi fold.

The paradox over here lies in the close proximity of the language to Hindi, which has lead to the dilution of it's separate identity, but which I believe in the long run, may also aid it's revival. In order to achieve this, I have several proposals. The first one being the publication of joint Devnagari-Nastaliq newspapers. This idea can be extended to the electronic press, and we could have joint Hindi-Urdu news channels. I feel such channels may have great potential, since they can alternate between Hindi and Urdu news(like Star News and NDTV a few years back, when they used to alternate between Hindi and English). The added advantage is that unlike the Urdu newspapers( which have acquired a visible Islamic tinge in the recent times), the joint Hindi-Urdu platform can revive the status of Urdu as a secular language in the eyes of people. This combination would not only be beneficial to the cause of the language, but also to the news channels themselves, as they would be able to grab a significant demographic, numbering more than 50 million in India. Also, this would also increase the familiarity of Hindi speakers with the language.

The next issue which I seek to confront is the loss of literary Urdu from the national mainstream. I personally don't blame them, since publishing houses are also dictated by market pressures, and till they see a profit, I don't see them taking up a noble cause just for the heck of it. In my view, the revival of literary Urdu( which also includes areas like Urdu comics, Urdu magazines etc) should start from the Internet/blogosphere. Today blogs are providing an alternate medium of expression, and why should Urdu be left behind? This would also propagate the infusion of new themes and ideas in Urdu literature( like post-modernism, etc). Only a language which continuously reinvents itself can claim itself to be living. This would also increase the scope for concepts like 'bilingual' literature. For eg. an Urdu novel/short story with a contemporary theme may alternate between 'Urdu' and 'English' text.This would add a dimension of realism and contemporaneity in Urdu literature.

Also blogs dealing with Urdu literature could have the same texts in devnagari or any other script so that even those who are not familiar with the script could gain access to the wonderfully rich world of Urdu literature. Likewise, there can be any ideas....All I'm trying to offer is a new and a different approach to the problem of Urdu in India. If we have to save this language, we have to think afresh. Obviously, any criticism and ideas are most welcome.

P.S.I am going to put up the same article in Urdu soon...It would be my first so please be nice!!!

I am a secularist...I support human stupidity of all kinds....
-Amit Julka

Oh that's so stereotypical

Around 5 years ago, when I joined engineering, a friend of mine, Chhotu(Abhishek) asked me where I was from.I replied that I was a Punjabi...To which he said "Yaar tum log kya roz bhangra karte ho?"....I couldn't help but laugh at his comment....But that got me thinking...

One of the most confusing trends of contemporary society is the contempt generated towards stereotypes. Most half baked liberals(like yours truly) frequently snigger at the way society annoyingly puts people into mental piegon holes.While some stereotypes are generally harmless(Kanjus Marwari/Happy Sardars/Alcoholic Punjabis/Intellectual Bengalis)...others tend to be completely derogatory(Muslim=terrorist,jews=conniving,Amit=horny etc)...

Now although I agree in principle that one shouldn't judge a person on the basis of his identity but when you come to think of it, stereotypes are partly a natural consequence of our own minds.The mind loves to make patterns and draw conclusions and stereotypes are just an external manifestation of our (lack of)thought process.

As far as self proclaimed intelligentsia is concerned, there's a glaring double standard even in their approach. While most scoff at negative stereotyping, most of us don't bat an eyelid when it comes to 'positive' stereotypes. Aren't positive stereotypes equally to blame?Why should all South Indian be IIT'ians, all Muslims be poets/musicians and all Punjabis be good looking(people often get shocked when I tell them that I am one!)...We are equally to blame for this proliferation of 'positive stereotyping'...And maybe that is why some SAB TV/Yash Chopra comedies are so pathetic...The acts are so overdone that it's not even funny....

So that's all I had to say...Gotta get my chicken eating, burping, dancing, drinking Punjabi self to work now....