I have been itching to write this blog for almost a month, about my recent visit to Somnathpur temple near Mysore. Sheer lethargy has kept me away from doing so. We decided to make a trip to Mysore which is around 3 hours from Bangalore. I was browsing for places close to Mysore which are also worth visiting, and came across this wonderful temple built by the Hoysala rulers in 1268 AD just 30 Km off Mysore.
On the day of the journey, even till the last moment, there was no concrete plan of going to the temple. In fact we went past the diversion to Somnathpur and went to Srirangapatnam and then finally decided to make a u-turn and go to Somnathpur. First few kilometers were fine but after that it was a bumpy ride, and for the last 7 Km there was literally no road at all. I was cursing myself for deciding to take that detour. It took us hour and a half to reach there. But when we reached, it was a revelation.
The entry fee was negligible at Rs.5. It has been well maintained by the archaeological society of India. The architecture is just awesome. It is even hard to imagine how people in those days managed to build these structures without any of the technological support or advancement of todays times. Carvings are so intricate that it is a feast to the eyes. It was an eye opener for me, as it reminded me of the beautiful and rich Indian history. I remember visiting Madurai Meenakshi temple once, which also has historical significance, but I was too young to appreciate the beauty or the intricacies. I was thinking to myself that I should plan to visit such marvelous gems whenever I can, in my future trips to India.
People (mainly outside India) know only about the Taj Mahal when someone talks about India. We have so much to showcase to the world, but we still keep them tucked away in some remote place. Indian government should make an effort to popularize such great historic places and should also make those places easily accessible. We have the potential to be the tourism capital of the world.
In the jungle of dance, music programs and reality shows. One program that has stood its ground is Boogie Woogie. It has been going strong for the last 11 years. It was the first of its kind to come up with a dance competition. It has no big names, no hype, no fights, no glamor. It is a simple, decent and entertaining talent hunt. Quality of this show is awesome. Participants are extremely talented. This show still has the innocence which the other shows have lost in the current world of commercialization. This show is devoid of all the judge fights, walkovers, participants crying in front of the camera, which have all become a regular feature in pretty much all of the reality shows these days.
All the judges, Javed Jaffrey, Naved Jaffrey and Ravi Behl conduct this show very decently and with dignity. Javed Jaffrey (he is the main judge) is so soft, nice and encouraging of all the contestants. He never criticizes or demeans anyone. He very nicely puts across his constructive comments. Where are we headed, with the kind of programs we have these days on television ? Why cannot we have more programs with the same kind of simplicity, innocence, decency and talent as Boogie Woogie?
Fourteen matches into the IPL and we have hardly seen any great performance from any Indian. It is not unusual we are used to it. But the funny thing is that all the teams have an Indian as the captain, except Rajasthan Royals which has Shane Warne as the captain because there is no Indian in his team who has played any good amount of cricket. Except for Tendulkar, Dravid & Ganguly, I do not think any other Indian player deserves to be a captain of their teams. I understand, that this is Indian Premier League and not Australian League or something, but does it mean that we should be biased in favor of our players, when there are other deserving candidates for the job ?
In the absence of Tendulkar, Shaun Pollock or Jayasuriya could have been made the captain but that was not to be, the mantle was given to Harbhajan (who we now know slapped Sreesanth). Laxman is leading the Deccan Chargers, when he has Gilchrist in his team who is much more experienced and has a better track record, who was the vice captain for Australia and who has captained the Australian team on many occasions. Laxman is not even a regular face in the Indian one day team. Similarly, Mahela Jayawardene should have been the first choice for Kings XI Punjab or McGrath for Delhi Dare Devils. Stephen Fleming (seems like he has not joined the team yet) is a more deserving captain than Dhoni, but Dhoni would have still been made the captain. When we have mix of players from all the countries, should we just look at the domicile of the person to be named the captain ? I do not think it is fair.
I expected this to happen. To begin with, I am against cheer leading (from now on I would use CL) in any kind of sport. I feel sports do not and should not need any external stimuli. Sport itself should be the reason why people watch them. I was first exposed to CL in the American sports. I have never seen any other sport which has had CL, other than American sports. Cricket has always been a crowd puller in India and other cricket loving countries. What was the need of the CL to promote the sport ? My feeling is that it is just another example of blindly aping the west. We just want to be USA. We do not have any genuine thoughts, ideas, movies, music.
Now the politicians are up in arms with CL because of the obscenity. They have, as always, taken the high moral grounds and become the custodians of the Indian culture. They are ready to ban it or at least have some restrictions. My point is, like some other people, that when we can have all the obscenity and vulgarity in movies what is so bad about the CL(although I do feel that we cannot compare them). In fact Indian version of CL is used in some election campaigning. I do not buy the obscenity argument. The Maharashtra government one day wants to ban CL and the next day makes a u-turn and says that CL is alright and should be taken sportively. It needs another post to discuss about some of Maharashtra government's rules and regulations.
It is very obvious why the organizers use the CL and what is the USP of the CL. If entertainment is what they argue about, then why CL why not some music or comedy. One cannot be so naive about things. I am not going to be the moral police and I think even the government should not be the one too. My objection to the CL is purely based on the fact that sports do not need sleazy or suggestive acts to attract the crowd. Also I read that some CL received some lewd comments from the spectators. This is bound to happen, as India still is not a matured country when it comes to sensuality, sexuality. Line between entertainment (as in movies etc) and sports is blurring these days but I feel we should not mix them together. I believe sports, is itself a great entertainer.
Anyone even remotely interested in science, science fiction or physics should read this book. One, because it is an excellent book and second because Prof. Michio Kaku, the author of this book, makes it so very interesting and easy to understand. He is one of my favorite science authors. I have read four of his books and each one is a gem in its own way. In fact my blog name is inspired by one of his books.
This book has been split into three sections namely Class 1, 2, 3 impossibilities. These impossibilities are based on the time by which we can hope to have the science fiction concepts come true. Class 1 impossibilities are those which might come true in the next century but they do not violate any of the known science of today. Teleportation, antimatter engines, certain forms of telepathy, psychokinesis, and invisibility fall under this category. Class 2 impossibilities are those which, if at all they come true, would be in millions of years in future. Time machines, hyperspace travel, worm hole travel fall under this category. Class 3 impossibilities violate the known laws of physics. If these do come true in future, that would mean a fundamental change in the way we understand physics. Perpetual motion machines and precognition come under under the third category.
Most of the science fiction concepts, as per the author, are possible in a century or so. He starts each chapter by mentioning about some science fiction phenomenon from a science fiction book or a science fiction movie, related to the chapter and then he builds on it from there. It is a great art to make such convoluted concepts easy for the public to understand and Prof. Kaku seems to be a master at it. I would highly recommend this book along with his other books Hyperspace, Visions, Parallel Worlds. Take the plunge with the author into this fascinating world of science and science fiction and I can assure you that you would want more of it.
Why do we Indians and the Indian media have such an obsession with Bollywood or the Hindi film industry ? All the programs in television is in some way or the other linked to hindi movies, if they are not already showing the dumb serials. There is hardly any "news" in the news. Now, even the cricket has attracted bollywood stars. This phenomenon is actually true for tamil television channels also. Is there no world beyond movies ? Why have we let the movies hijack the media ?
Where are the programs like Kirdar, Buniyaad, Hum Log, Nukkad, Mirza Ghalib, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, Surabhi, Science program, Quizzes (real good ones, not like kaun banega crorepati) and many many more ? Those were the days when we used to have less programs, but high quality ones. People would actually wait to watch those shows. Programs ranged from thought provoking to good healthy comedy. Now the program quality ranges from dumb to the dumbest. This is one place where the opening up of the economy has proved to be bad for the society. People have completely lost the power to think. Movies are the opium of the masses these days.
Chak De India was one of the best movies of 2007. As mentioned in one of my other blogs, this was only the second sports movie (after Iqbal) made in the history of Indian cinema. Iqbal was about the struggle of a hearing impaired boy from a small town to get into the Indian cricket team and Chak De was about hockey that too women's, a far less discussed or written about sport in India, despite being the national game. Chak De had a very subtle theme of patriotism which was not beaten into the audience. It was so refreshing to see that being patriotic was not being anti any country but is rather the harmony between our own people. It also was by far Shah Rukh Khan's best performance till date.
But above all I think, one thing that touched me was the breaking of the stereotypes. In the very beginning of the movie when the girls come to the hockey academy to register, they are asked about their domicile. It was really refreshing to see, when a girl from Andhra Pradesh is told "oh so you are a madrasi" and she replies back instantly saying no, she speaks telugu (one of the four languages spoken in southern India). It is very true that people from north do consider anyone from down south as a "madrasi". It is also in fact used as a derogatory word, sometimes. This is because of ignorance, no intention of knowing the difference and arrogance of their own culture. Another one was when a manipuri girl is told that "you are our guest" and the girl immediately says that "how would you feel if I call you a guest in your own country". This is exactly what India has done in the last 60 years of independence, treat the north easterners as guests. Northeast insurgency would not have been an issue today had we cared for them and treated them as equals.
It was good to see the representation from Jharkhand. Importance of punctuality was very well shown as was the feeling of being an Indian rather than living in our own state wells. Team was shown as the ultimate, not individuals or seniority. I hope people become more understanding and compassionate about other's culture rather than ridicule it. I thought these were some very strong statements made in the movie which I hope, people would have taken notice of and would act on.
Indian cricket has come up with a new gig, the Indian Premier League(IPL). Would it be successful, may be. I have my own reservations against the whole process, at least in the Indian cricket context. I am very much opposed to the players being auctioned like commodities (for any sport). Indians are used to seeing the Indian team as one national team and do not necessarily have any regional allegiance. Regional cricket (e.g Ranji Trophy) is not popular at all in India. Regional tournaments are held to have a pool of players, mainly for the selectors to choose from.
Now with IPL, players of all nationalities (cricket playing countries) are mixed up in one team. Now would we be able to split our allegiance ? I might belong to Delhi but my favorite Indian player might be playing for some other team. Or lets say Ricky Ponting (Australian, assuming is playing for my state) thrashes my favorite bowler who plays for another state. Who do I support, in these scenarios ? As it is in India, tempers run high when it is cricket, imagine what would happen if it becomes regionalised. Would it change the communal balance of India, it remains to be seen.
IPL itself was a knee jerk reaction by the BCCI to put up something against the Indian Cricket League (ICL) which was thought of by the Subhash Chandra of ZEE TV. BCCI threatened the players of a life ban if they played for the ICL. ICL now has all the unsuccessful players or retired players.
IPL has all the big names attached to it like Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Mukesh Ambani, Vijay Mallya etc. None of the players came up against this whole thing of auctioning players (Dravid briefly mentioned in a press conference about his about his reservations against it), may be it is lot of money to just pass up. I detest the fact of someone owning the team. I know it is common in soccer, football, basketball etc, but even there I am not very comfortable. I for one feel that Sports, Arts, Music, Mathematics, Science etc should be done for its own sake. I am not opposed to making money, but it should not be the be all and end all of everything.
Would IPL bring camaraderie and understanding between players of different nationalities (given we have so much sledging on the ground) or would it flare up the passion and emotions attached to cricket and bring regionalism among the Indians, remains to be seen.
Movies depict both reality and fiction. They do not have to be completely real as long as we can differentiate the real from fiction. You can make films like, Back to the Future knowing very well, that it is a fiction. If you show something in movies repeatedly, then it should have at least some element of reality to it. Overall trend in the Indian movies has changed in the past, people have started to experiment with different and bolder subjects, which is good and healthy for the movie industry. It has also become very common to have sexual innuendos in songs and dialogs and to show actresses in skimpy clothes, especially when it not required at all. Not sure if that is really healthy.
I have no objection whatsoever about all that, my objection is, the way actresses are shown in Tamil movies versus the reality there is, in the society. My point is not to censor movies, rather to be an open society so things do not seem unreal. Tamilnadu, though a giant in many respects, is very conservative when it comes to dressing (especially women) or issues related to sex. Dress, which would be very common in any western society or even in some Indian cities like Delhi or Mumbai, would be a no-no in Tamilnadu. I do not know if it is a coincidence, but most of the actresses in Tamil movie these days are from northern India. It could be because they have no reservations doing such roles. Hindi movie actresses dressing up in bold attire does not look that artificial because it is not uncommon for affluent people in northern India (including Mumbai) to wear such dresses.
Few days back there was a big hue and cry about the way one of the actresses dressed, in a 2007 top grosser. It was wrong to single out one actress when the whole industry is doing the same thing. Another yesteryear lead actress Khushboo, was in trouble when she spoke her mind about premarital sex. There is nothing wrong in showing sensuality or sexuality if the film demands it. It should not look forced upon or unnecessary (this is actually true for Indian movies overall). Do not show it just to titillate the audience. Why shun something in real life when it is shown as part of the culture in every movie. Either make believable movies or be an open society. Don't have double standards about it. We got to be more open about things, if we want to move forward.
Is there really a bias against southern India, while dishing out the padma awards. I thought about this, when a few days back I got to know that one of the greatest actresses of the Indian cinema, who is also a Guinness world record holder for the maximum number of movies, and to my knowledge the only real female comedienne in Indian cinema, Ms. Manorama (Tamil Actress) was awarded a Padmashri only in 2002. This is, after working in 1,500 movies for almost 50 years. It is a shame that she has been recognized after such a long time where as Madhuri Dixit gets an award after may be 20 years of work. It is not that Madhuri Dixit's body of work is far better than that of Manorama. Do not mistake me, I am a big fan of Madhuri Dixit. I am just not comfortable with the unfair treatment meted out.
On further digging I found that Ilayaraja, the maestro in music, has still not been awarded a single Padma award, it is a shame for the country. Ilayaraja has been recognized internationally. How can I forget our very own Rajinikant, even he has not been awarded any Padma award yet. Shahrukh Khan has already received one. What is the criteria that Shahrukh Khan satisfied but Rajinikant did not? I feel it is just because of the larger audience and a greater exposure for Hindi movies and the marketing that is done for such movies. If iconic status was the reason, then Rajini had it before Shahrukh and still continues to have it. Do you see a pattern emerging here.
Similarly, Mani Ratnam, Semmengudi Srinivas Iyer, S.P.Balasubramaniam had been ignored for a long time before they got their Padma Shri awards a few years ago. All these people I mentioned are stalwarts and are not in any ways dependent on any of these awards, but this definitely points out a flaw in the way the awards are decided. These artists are and would remain great forever, irrespective of the awards. I am glad that at least artists like KamalHassan, A.R.Rehman were felicitated, at the right time, and not ignored.
I know some artists have vented out their anger at the system in the past and have in fact returned the awards back to the government of India for not recognizing their talent when it should have been. I think this is a part of a bigger problem, of not recognizing our talent in due time. It took a G.H Hardy, a great mathematician, a British, to recognize Ramanujam's mathematical genius. I hope we learn from our mistakes and are balanced in our treatment towards anyone and everyone.
