Slumdog Millionaire

I must be one of the last persons to have watched Slumdog Millionaire. Finally saw it today in a theatre that had not more than 15 viewers ! I had not seen either the promos or reviews of the movie : what I did read/watch on the news was about its nominations.

The movie is extremely well-made and depicts a slumdog's life with the harsh realities one generally refuses to associate it with. The coolness with which the movie shows the death of Jamal Malik's mother, the brothers sleeping in tents on huge moulds of garbage, huge pipes or even train-roofs is very honest. There is no pretence, show or exaggeration in the director's treatment of any of these. The pace at which the first half is set convinces us of how normal it is for people to be living a life like Jamaal's. The scenes in which Latika is left behind when she misses the train or Arvind loses his eye send a horrible chill down the spine.  The latter, I thought, was the most horrific scene in the movie.

 

What's good :

1)  The cast, especially the children playing Jamaal, Salim and Latika and the relationships that they share with each other

2) A naked-reality in the depiction of a normal, daily life in the slums

3)  An interesting style of narration, with the story fluctuating between the interrogation in the police station and the game show 

4) A.R.Rahman.

What's not-so-good :

1)  While the ample use of swear words make the movie more realistic, the sudden use of the English language in the most unexpected of situations by the most unlikely people steals the same realism away. 

2) Dev Patel's phoren accent

3) Anil Kapoor's constant cheesy remarks (exaggerative dialogues) during the show

4) Anil Kapoor.

Definitely worth a watch.

A.R Rahman has done a great job. His music complements the pace and style of the movie magnificently. This movie has not offered him much scope, one must admit. It is n't like RDB, Jodhaa Akbar or any Tamil movie where there are abundant situations for him to demonstrate variety in flavour. RDB, for example - Pathshala, Lukka Chuppi , Roobaroo, Khalbalee and the title track - each one had a different emotion. Jodhaa Akbar had romance, while Swades had patriotism. Agreed, ARR has created better music plenty of times before. But through this one, he has excelled in a limited-scope situation. This movie was on slums - the background score did full justice to it. The music in the initial scenes when the kids run from the police, the beautiful mandolin playing over great guitar arrangements in the train scenes (between Jamal and Latika) were very apt. The brothel song(with Alka Yagnik crooning) was successfully depressing and dull; exactly what the situation demanded ; exactly what ARR set out to do. I actually hated the mood and the feeling the song created. Bull's eye. 

  

I don't understand why people have an issue with the movie celebrating India's poverty. Danny Boyle has only shown the truth - with as much dignity as the situation would allow. Why, he hasn't even exaggerated or indulged in any falsehood. Is it the reality being smashed on our faces that we are unhappy about ? I would have thought it obvious that the term 'slumdog' shows our own attitude towards slumdwellers, and not Danny Boyle's imagination running wild or an expression of his own hatred/ spite. Why should n't a film-maker (so what if he's not Indian?) choose this subject and win nominations for the same? Films show so many more hateful things - violence, rape, drug abuse, murder. It is highly ridiculous that Deshdrohi got banned merely because it depicted the MNS hooligans' violent profession. We cannot question an artist's creative freedom; film-makers are not obliged to depict anything at all in specifics, they have as much right to show negativity(read : reality) as optimism, hope or inspiration.

What a waste of education

I took this video over a month ago. This is what my horrible building people do to get rid of the wastes collected after gardening. The huge lawn has ample grass, which Dad infact collects and transports(in his car)  to nearby cowsheds. And this is what they choose to do now. They're bored of co-operating with dad.

I could not believe my eyes. How dare these people call themselves educated ?? I have completely failed in all my attempts to convince the gardener, watchman or the horrible neighbours who bully these people to burn the wastes. It is even worse to watch my otherwise patient father get agitated when they don't listen to him either. All I could do was to hopelessly shoot this video on my cellphone hoping I could show it to some authority. I don't know to whom, yet.

 I thought my father's habit of packing all the grass off to nearby cow-sheds was a great idea, and he did this job quite diligently for a while. Not any longer, thanks to the new orders our gardener has. I'm now sure our neighbours thought they were doing us a favour by co-operating, because I still see absolutely NO reason for them to suddenly go back to their old ways of burning up wastes. How lame and cheap can people get? 

 The fire goes on for about an hour, and the smoke for atleast 4 hours afterwards. Needless to say, the whole building is smokey by then. There are about a 100 flats in my building. No bugger comes forward to say a word. 'Pollution' and 'global warming' seem too far-fetched to them. They treat it like some text-book crap they memorised for exams and forgot about, later. My building loves fire. Every year, on 31st of December, they set the 'Old Man' (a stupid hay-stuffed baffoon) to fire, watch and applaud cheerfully. What's worse, they make small children (aged 5-15) collect money for the same. Like it was some useful donation for some charitable purpose. Again, pointing out things like 'pollution' to these kids has never worked.

Coming back to this fire incident, I felt sure that it would be unlawful to set wastes to fire in a residential area. I later found out that I was right. Problem is, the BMC does not enforce this law.  

I feel absolutely helpless. If you have any idea of what I can do, please share it with me. I know that this incident will happen yet again. I still have no idea how to prevent it. The only thing I can think of now is to call up the fire engine when this happens again (in the hope that they'l have some kind of fire-accident prevention funda). 

All that might be needed, I think, is for some authority to come and warn these guys. My father or I are not the voice that they will listen to . The BMC will not come. They're the ones who find it convenient to deal with garbage in the form of ashes(reduced mass) than in their entirety. (The gardener told me so.)  Please drop in a word if you have any idea/suggestion.

How dare these people celebrate 'Republic Day' (as they did today),  salute the flag and even feel proud of their 'patriotism'.

Happy New Year

Wish you a Happy New Year.

With just four months of college left, the year will bring in a complete change of environment for me. And I hope and trust that by the end of the year my life looks a lot more clearer to me.

Going through a P & P hangover at the moment. I've been watching the 6-hour mini-series BBC adaptation of the classic. 

I shall now return to the beautiful world in Longbourn, Grace-Church Street, Rosings Park and above all, Pemberley. 

P.S - 

Worst(and unfortunately the most often used) PJ-forward sms of the day :

" To all my friends and Relatives who sent me Love, prosperity and Best Wishes for 2008...

..

..

..

..

..

It didn't work..

Please send CASH for 2009. "

Blah.

Yet another PL season

P.L (Prep leave) has always been a time for experimentation. The most ideal(idle) time to devote uninterrupted college-less hours to any new unexplored activity. This is the period of maximum patience, when even the most hitherto seemingly uninteresting activity starts to look all exciting. One of the recent far-fetched pastimes I took up last semester was ... uhm ... SKATING. That too, in my drawing hall. Much to the annoyance of my parents. The whole idea seemed so novel, last PL ! It felt wonderfully satisfying skating all over the house.. very liberating.  (and even more fun bumping into parents and getting them irritated. ) It gave me a sense of doing something in life. The speed, the force with which I would turn around at the corners of the room... most entertaining ! 

  This time around, I've taken myself by surprise. I've been attending Chinmaya Mission's session for three consecutive days now. I am 100% sure that I would never have managed the time for any such session during normal college days. What's more - I never imagined I would be blogging on this subject when I attended the first session either.

 These sessions have been a part of Chinmaya Mission's 'FAST Management' programme ( Fear, Anger, Stress, Time Management)  by Br.Sattvik Chaitanya for 5 consecutive days from Monday through Friday.  (Of these, I attended the last three.) His presentations, using his laptop and a wireless mouse, have been very well-structured, and he has used this form of visual communication most effectively to systematise his session.

 His talks have been thought-provoking. The most interesting point he brought out - although very tangential to the topic itself - was the whole idea of Hindu Fundamentalism, and his idea of exactly what led to the origin of political groups based on Hinduism.  The talks set me thinking about a bunch of new things, to say the least. 

 According to him, every hour of pre-midnight sleep is infact an equivalent of two hours of sleep.Interesting. He mentioned this in the context of time management, and went on to describe how one could save considerable time if this "fact" was used to one's advantage. Now, PL being the time for absolute lukkhagiri, what better opportunity or time of the year would I get to test such theories? So I actually set out to try something I never imagined myself capable of doing except on Diwali days - waking up at what I previously considered "unearthly" hours ! I actually attempted an "Early to bed, Early to Rise" today ! Went to bed at 10.30 pm (as against my usual 2a.m) and I must admit, although I fell asleep only at around 12.45am -  I woke at 5.50am, UNBELIEVABLY HIGH by my standards.

 I'd planned meticulously. After moving my bed to my study room(solely with the objective of waking early) , ensuring the room was mosquito-free, testing and setting up my music system's alarm clock( in addition to my cellphone's alarm) to play loud music at 5.30 am and discussing with my father the possibililty of a scared watchman rushing to our home at the sudden blast of early morning music, :  the Jan, feeling like a farmer, finally went to bed at 10.30pm. 

  I was to read "My Experiments with Truth", Gandhiji's autobiography, for sometime before I actually tried to fall asleep. NOT that it's a boring book.. far from that, actually - I've completely loved it so far! 

 I woke this morning(dawn, actually), had a bath and continued to read for 3 hours. A pah! to my parents for ridiculing me, making fun of me and challenging me that I would n't wake a minute before 10a.m. <> 

Incidentally, I'd begun to read an abridged version of the Bhagwat Gita earlier this week. 

 So to those who asked me a "Whatsup" in the past week (and might do so over the next 3 days) - it's the Gita,Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography and a final conclusive Chinmaya Mission session exclusively for the youth on "Attract and Achieve"( how to attract exactly what you want in your life, how to stay focussed and achieve it)  that'l keep me occupied. :)

Good Luck, Obama !

I have no idea why I am this excited about the US Presidential Elections. Let's see, now.

1)  Monsieur Barack HUSSEIN Obama. It's amazing how his campaign has successfully managed to drop his middle name from public memory altogether.  The McCain campaign's attempts to keep reminding the people of Obama's middle name have n't quite worked. They've been wanting to capitalize on the general American mistrust in Muslims (post 9/11) by highlighting his Islam factor, but wow, people just don't seem to want to hear much of it.

2)  Sarah Palin has got so much more publicity ( good or bad) than Joe Biden! Be it all those millions of dollars (150000$ to be precise.. ROFL !!) that GOP spent on her hairdo/ makeup/wardrobe, debates on whether she had sufficient experience to deserve her candidature,  or deliberations on why McCain finally zeroed in on her for his running mate. I cannot help but feel that the only reason McCain has chosen her for his running mate, inspite of all his repeated claims of Palin being a " born reformer"  is because she strongly represents everything that is American - again, a complete contrast to the situation with Obama, given his mixed background factor. Mixed ? That's understating things. It almost looks confused to me ! His father was a "raised Islam" who finally became an atheist. His mother was raised by non-religious parents, while Obama himself is a Christian. Phew. Someone should remind the family's future generations of the remaining options - Hinduism, Buddhism or turning agnostic ; that'd make them complete in having explored every possible religious status.

3) McCain is a paavam thatha. At 72, perhaps it would be better for him to relax at home and spend time with his grandchildren ! ( I heard he has cholestrol problems.)

 Happened to watch the final round of the Presidential Debates. McCain seemed to have a temperament problem, he seemed extremely angry throughout the debate. His powerfully offensive, aggressive attitude towards Obama and his constant accusations were a huge turnoff. This contrast became even more obvious when compared to Obama's cool, calm, patient smiles while answering every one of McCain's charges. Cautions never to return McCain's anger, Obama handled McCain skillfully well and deservingly emerged as the winner of the final round. And I really think McCain should've stopped harping about how he disapproved of Obama's selective taxation policy (higher taxation for the richer) especially because Obama had already given him a lengthy justification and was finished with expressing his views. To questions of whether the candidates had been hurt by each other's campaigns, I remember, McCain definitely looked defeated. 

4) I don't quite understand why Indians particularly prefer Democratic candidates over the Republicans. The Bush administration certainly did enough to try and push the Nuclear Deal through and even got an FTA signed recently. I don't understand why people insist Democrats would have done more.

5) It is interesting to note that while Obama has 50% support and McCain 44%, 6 % are undecided. Is it really possible that they're confused ? After so many months of intensive campaigning, don't they know the candidates and all their policies on healthcare, taxation, economy and even their janma-kundlis? It infact seems more likely that they are hesitant Obama-supporters, unwilling to support him openly in view of his background. I also wonder if there will be another situation of the Bradley effect ! ( the black who ran for Governor : every poll predicted he would win, but it turned out he finally did not !) .

6) The outcome of this election is going to make history no matter who wins ! Interestingly, Obama, at 47, will be amongst the youngest Presidents in history to get elected. McCain at 72, the oldest !

Obama becoming the President of the United States would mean a HUGE image makeover for the USA. As Shashi Tharoor pointed out, for one, relations for the USA with other nations can only improve with him as President. Personally, I would like to see a situation where the conventional American racist would have voted for an African-American :) . And on the downside, Obama's protectionist fundas and him not believing in offering too many H1-B visas are a little daunting. (Especially because my brother is in SFO and he needs an H1-B!!).

Anyway, Obama is leading comfortably. :) Dixville Notch (which has a history of voting for Republicans since 14 years!)  has voted for him, and has, well, "Voted For Change".

(Jan suddenly realizes she has a Mobile Communications viva scheduled for the next day, abandons the post and hurries away.)

The TamBrahms' hot favourite - PAPPU CAN'T DANCE, SALA !

I have n't been to a wedding since a few months now. Parents wanted me to attend one today, though. Some close family friends of ours. TamBrahms.
On mom's demand, I return from college at 6pm and head for the marriage venue by 7. ( Parents give up on me and go an hour earlier to the venue). I have all the time in the world ( unlike my dear, super-panicky mother) and I patiently wait for 10 minutes at the bus stop and catch a 374 to Vile Parle.
I enter the marriage hall, and I wonder for a second if I've landed up at the wrong place. But no, I spot my mom there !
What greets me is a blast of music.
Very near the entrance, a group of saree-clad mamis and veshti-clad mamas danced to PAPPU CAN'T DANCE, SALA ! The group looked terribly excited, while the poor saastrigaL ( pundits ) looked on, helplessly and bored.
The dance group would periodically keep an eye out for possible options to victimise onlookers. Every few minutes, a new shy mami or a reluctant mama would get dragged onto the 'dance floor'. This protesting mami / mama would then perform some extremely ridiculous, thoroughly embarrased jig and run off at the first possible opportunity, having satisfied the excited dancers and thus having generated some laughter.
A suitable DJ is quickly appointed from amongst the lot of relatives, who scans through lists of songs from several CDs and changes the track at the most inappropriate, offbeat points. This is followed by disapproval from the crowds, but the frustration is shortlived because the new song more than makes up for the uncomfortable, untimely switch between songs ! "Nagada Nagada" is next, while "Crazy Kiya re" and "Mauja hi Mauja" follow.
Finally, the best of them all, " Zara zara touch me" ( that sidey,miserable Katrina Kaif song) is played. And WHOA ! All the mamas are suddenly excited !!! New mamas step onto the dance floor, old ones get a sudden burst of energy, while several even attempt to waltz with their shy wives ! The group then attempts a quick mix of jive/salsa /ballet/ Bhangra and God-knows-what-other forms of dance.
I had a great time ROFLing around.
Needless to say, I was hiding, careful not to get spotted and victimised by the dance group. Mom did try to damage my efforts, by calling out to me loud enough for half the world to hear, but I was quick to escape. And today, I can bravely declare , head held high up in the air - I'm proud of my abilities of recognizing imminent dangers, changing locations and figuring out new hiding places when required.

Anyway, today was the engagement day, and hence dinner was the typical South-Indian one. Sambar, Rasam, Curd with some five hundred million curries, complete with some much talked about payasam. ( The mamis, ofcourse, religiously performed a complete post-mortem of the dinner, as if it had some shocking variety to present. While all I did was concentrate on eating as fast as I could.)
In the meantime, rice and sambar had already been thrown over my plate( uhm... a leaf ), and I realised it was an emergency - I HAD to finish it off before more food was hurled onto the 'leaf'. I panicked, increased my speed, but in vain - the Rasam guy was already hovering around my table, watching, WAITING to load my 'leaf' with more food. I tell him "No, thanks", skip Rasam and heave a huge sigh of relief at the thought of having bought myself more time to eat.
These meals, more often than not, are like extremely lengthy examinations. Something like an IEM or a Software Engineering paper, where you need to race against time.
Tomorrow is the Muhurtham and the Reception, so I'l blog later if I have more stories.

PRAXIS' Clothes Collection Drive from 22nd August to 1st September

http://203.200.89.222/yuva/epaperpdf/1982008/1982008-md-hr-9.pdf