Words are Weariness

It is a long held belief  amongst the uncles and aunts of my generation that 'The Hindu'  was an epitome of both English language writing and fair news reporting. When I grew up I understood that these uncles and aunts do not read anything much  and follow the family tradition just like they patronize 'Filter Coffee' or 'Carnatic music'. That 'The Hindu' had long become 'The Chindu', cannot be lost on those who are even mildly discerning. Perfidous ‘The Hindu’  would like us to believe 'China' as a friend and US as our enemy. For this purpose it even plays up the victim hood of muslims as it has done in a recent article on Iraq. The idea is if muslims can be herded to hate US, the vote-hungry politicians of India will tilt against US. It is tantalizing prospect for our vote-bank seeking politicans to champion the cause of muslims for wrong reasons, as witnessed in the case of  Danish cartoon protests, Osama's killing ( rememb

I had a fascination of James Hadley Chase novels when I was in School/College.  I used to specially like the  titles of his books. The crisp and stylish phrases like ‘ Tiger by the tail’, ‘Like a hole in the head’, ‘Dead stay dumb’,   ‘Y’re lonely when you are dead’ , ‘Vulture is a patient bird’ hold me in thrall to this day even after I have out grown his novels. When I observe the  the Paksitani army and its ruling elite, I see these titles in new context, as fitting descriptions of their shenanigans. 1.‘ Goldfish has no hiding place ’ reminds you of their attempt to hide Osama in their military base. 2. ‘ A Lotus for Miss Kyon’ / ‘ No orchids for Miss Blandish ’  would have been a fitting epitaph on  on Benazir Bhutto’s grave. 3. ‘ Dead stay dumb’   could well be the tagline for the the official policy of muzzling Balochi rebels by large scale killing and dumping  tortured and murdered dead bodies all across Balochistan. 4. ‘ Like a hole in the head’ reminds you of their pursuit

I  used to avoid bollywood movies till as recently  as 2005.  In the two decades previous to it, I have scarcely sat through a movie.  Me and my wife will decide to go to see a movies after coming  to know of its general popularity. That is how we ended up going for DDLJ and HAKH. My wife will join me in walking out after the first 10-15 minutes  feeling strangely relived. The recent films, especially those made for the Multiplexes are making me sit up and watch. This year,the best according to me was ‘Shor in the City’, a delightful parody on life in Mumbai. The screen-play, acting and editing were of the top order.   I saw Ishkya,  Saheb, Gulam and Gangster, Dirty Picture. Each of them meritorious in its own way.  Ishkya and Dirty Picture shows how  intelligence actors make huge difference to the movies they work in.  I missed  Dhobi Ghat, Shaitan, 7KM, Girl in Yellow boots.  I do not want to miss out movies of directors like Anurag Kashyap / Vishal Bhardwaj next time. Trends confir

2011  is a kind of watershed year.  Late 40s and early 50s saw the birth of many nations freeing themselves  from the yoke of colonialism .  90s saw the breakup of the socialist block.  No less important is the arab spring of 2011. Who could predict it?  Barring Isreal,  all countries in the middle-east  came under the rule of  dictators or military junta after they won freedom from the European colonists . They ruled their countries/kingdoms  using force, often buying protection from US and others out of fear of each other. Having been civilizations born out of a totalitarian faith that sees things in terms of Halal / Haram Dar-al-arab / Dar-ul-Islam, they have neither the institutional capacity nor developed sinews of democratic functioning .  The bottled up old animosities of sectarianism and tribalism  have come to the fore.  There is no democrat like Nehru or  conscience keepers of the freedom movement  like  Rajaji, Kamaraj, Acharya Kriplani, Vinoba, Azad and Nanaji Deshmukh,  n

I had taken time off from blogging, half owing to preoccupation with my daughter’s marriage and half owing to the weariness of seeing all this unending demagoguery and vitriol on TV and print medium.  When I look back at my last post, I notice much water had flown under the bridge and plenty to catch up ever since. 2011 has been an eventful year.  We effectively saw the country being run not by the government but by NGOs , whether  Maoist , Gandhian or of other persuasions in between.  The Government was forced to place a Lokpal bill before parliament , sleep-walk into a Food security legislation and stop work in a nuclear plant nearing fruition much against its wishes by these NGOs.  The Lokpal and the Food security legislation could be a Frankenstein ( or if you prefer from Hindu mythology, Basmasura).   Both could blow away our  government finances  so much that fiscal consolidation as outlined in FRBM  will be a mere pie in the sky.  Bleary-eyed social activism is poor substitute