India in Slow Motion - A Must Read

Well continuing the patriotic fervour...lets re-phrase it... the enlightening of Rang De Basanti, I just completed 'India in Slow Motion' by Mark Tully. For those of u who havent heard the name before, he is an expat BBC journalist who comes out to be more Indian than most others...maybe even myself. He has lived in India for countless years now and observed its obfuscated and self - deprecating state. In this book he has come out with short stories...well not exactly stories but instances of the various facets of the great country. He delves into the problems or phenomena of various parts of the country and dishes out the facts that undermine progress as the developed world knows it. He exposes...well that sounds dramatic..but at least focuses on the neta-babu nexus and how the bureaucracy is hampering the country's development.
In the process of reading this book, I was introduced to a whole new or may I say a better perspective of looking at problems like Child Labor, Communalism and E-governance (not a problem but a solution that one) It gave me an insight into how and why the Kashmiri people have become alienated by India or Indians. I was also able to understand a lot of post independence India which thanks to our great educational system, I was unaware. This was earlier done by books like 'All the Janata Men' and 'All Indiras Men' (well not the exact title) by authors whose name I dont recall. (Thanks Dad for preserving those)
All in all this is one book you should not miss out on. Next on my reading list is 'Seven Habits of highly effective people' Will Keep u guys posted on that......ciao

Jimmy Carter Zindabad

Sometimes when one is on the road, it can get real confusing. But the next time I am lost I ll ask for directions to get to Jimmy Carter Boulevard. This guy is my fav President man. Coz I knw exactly how to get back home when I am onto that Road.
Well the day began early for me as me and 2 others were gonna go for our Drivers license (just the learners so I am still not thru with that one yet) And for some freakish reasons we were sent back frm that DMV office. But for Vishwanath's (Vish in short) insistence we wud have gone back home. But he was admant that we shud go to another DMV and try our luck there. (that was the only good thing he did in the day) So off we went looking for it. We were not supported by Mapquest this time arnd, but were fortunate to get some timely help by a gas station shop clerk (wow i didnt know there was such a post... ok i made that up but u knw who I am talkin abt) We were able to get our licenses after arnd 2-3 hours. (I came to a single conclusion, Govt works with the same mindset everywhere..more on that in some other blog) Anyways so we finished our work there and embarked on a journey beyond any journey I have embarked on. (Sorry 4got the word that wud fit this phrase) We circled arnd Atlanta looking for a way to get back home. Our driver, the able Tushar (by default coz none of the others had a pakka license) has a penchant for panicking at the wrong time. And he has no directional sense at all. So we were outsourced the navigational part. Strict instructions being, 'Tell me when to turn befor 1-2 mins. But more often than not we were as slow or as fast as he was in readin g signs. And we used to shout 'Yahaan Right Le' and the next moment there were profanities thrown at us ' Teri Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep....Pehle bolneka na. Last minute kaise turn karoon. By the time the day ended He was an expert at making a U-turn. But that was not all he made a mistake in not turning on his own after that. And we wre agin at the mercy of a Gas station.
Ok now u are thinking how Jimmy Carter is my messiah. Well that was one road we encountered at least 4-5 times and barring the last time we were always travelling the wrong way or took the wrong turn on that one. So on our last attempt, I finally put my foot down and said we are going the wrong direction on this one (Well Its my blog so I get to be the Hero, all others can write their own versions....after buying the copyrights frm me of course) After many trails and tribulations we reached home safely. And the best part is as we got near our house, Tushar was enlightened and said, 'Yeh road kuch jaana pehchaana lag raha hai. Ab mujhe pata hai. Yahaan se right lena hai' (Subtitles This road looks familiar. I know how to get home from here. We take a right) Ya ya ya u guessed right we had to take a left there and we got our opportunity to throw profanities at our able driver (Teri beep beep beep) Jimmy Carter Zindabad.

Color Me Saffron

'Color Me Saffron' seems outta place right. But so does Rang De Basanti. I tried to give it a modern connotation by converting it into English. But I dont feel that Rang De Basanti is so outta place, specifically after watching the movie by the same name. The analogy drawn between todays India and that of the pre-Independance is amazing. The film succeeds in not enthralling the audience by patriotic fervor, but by pushing us into a space where we as a generation dont like to delve into. A space where we are forced to think about how we feel about our nation and our role in its present and future. Well let me take back the word force and replace it with coax because forcing would be the jingoistics of a 'Border' or a 'Kargil'. No Sir, this movie does not even preach about how one needs to give a thought to our great nation like the slow yet very well made 'Swades' does. RDB just leads u into the world of todays youth and shakes the foundation of our cynicism and lets us re-visit our value system.
Be it the dashing yet vulnerable DJ (inconspicuously played by Aamir) or the anachronistic believer played by a typecasted yet brilliant Atul Kulkarni, every one of the characters are people who u meet everyday. They are characters to which we relate to. And they say things which we must have said at some point of time in our life in India. The film depicts a slow yet sudden change in the mindset of the characters and on some level of that of the audience without ever slackening the pace of the movie. Well I would like to go on and on about the movie's unique concept and brilliance, but I would not like to spoil it for the reader. Its a movie to be experienced and promises to be a timeless piece.
But then, I would like to share with u the feelings this movie has aroused in my mind. This has certainly made me re-think (forgive me for the repetitiveness) about the place I call home and analyse why we as Indians expect others to take up the cudgels against something which we all know is wrong. We always expect someone else to clean the house for us dont we? And the cynicism in the belief 'Is Des ka kuch nahi ho sakta' is really killing India as we know it. Maybe we need to change the India as we know it. I have experienced a change in myself after watching this movie. I dont know whether this will last beyond this weekend or maybe even tonite. Nor do I know whether I will be able to stand up for what I believe is right. All I know is that if watching this movie really changes some of us to fight the 'system' then it has found its mark.
So till the next blog.....Range De Basanti.........