Why are we here today?

Are you really proud of yourself? Are you feeling that we’ve conquered the World? Do you think you are better than the Western World today? I don’t know if you should feel proud about the way you are today or you must feel distraught.

Well read this passage below and then decide…..

It was February, 1835 , a time when the British were striving to take control of the whole of India. Lord Macaulay, a historian and a politician, made a historical speech in the British Parliament, commonly referred to as The Minutes, which struck a blow at the centuries old system of Indian education. His words were to this effect: I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation , which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and , therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own ,they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation. (Source: The Awakening Ray,Vol.4 No.5, The Gnostic Centre) Reproduced in Niti issue of April,2002 at p.10- a periodic publication of Bharat Vikas Parishad, Delhi.

I was very much troubled reading this passage. I truly don’t know what I have personally gained in life and what I have missed in life. But as a country we have lost to our British and they knew the art of paralyzing the system and making us neurotic. With a heavy heart and questioning mind I am retiring for the day…..

Fanaa - My verdict!!

A sensible story line with typically a few cinematic moments that could have be avoided. But still an out of the box movie. Zooni, a blind girl falling in love with Rehaan and at times the story trespasses through known territories and towards the end turns into a Hollywood type action movie. Here is what I liked about the movie. I am not giving the plot away. First Kajol-Aamir combo.

Bouquets & Brick bats:

Bindas Kajol: The twig gets a meaty role in the movie. She has lost weight and she is a still a tough competition for the Ashs’, Mukherjees’ and Zintas’. I am sure she is getting ready for another big innings. Spring of youth still flowing and ravishing beauty of her heart reflects on her face. She steals the show, a movie made for her.

Aamir needs Botox: Age definitely shows on Aamirji’s face. He is fit, but lion is old today.

Chand Safaarish: A beautiful song that makes your soul tap dance irrespective of the age. It was shot in a beautiful back ground. Makes you wonder how many Chands' are out there? I'm confused.

Blind Love: Love is blind but the way a blind girl loves is portrayed very differently. Some more cues for people out there in the garden of love. Though SRK-Kajol chemistry is much better.

Beautiful Delhi: If you have never visited Delhi then you must see this movie. Every monument in Delhi is shown in a beautiful light.

Shaayari’s: Beautiful Shaayari’s flow from Aamir in the movie. Well if you don’t understand Urdu then it is Greek and Latin.

Treat for the eyes: Camera angles have captured the best of the place and the cast. The monuments, ice capped mountains of Poland literally teleports you. Watching this movie feels like a summer vacation in the ice covered slopes of Poland.

Glitter: Rishi Kapoor and Kirran Kher are like fireworks, they glitter and disappear.

Flat soda: Tabu and Lara Dutta fail to really impress both in their role and appearance.

Direction flaws: Logical guffaws!!
· Love is blind, but it is difficult to believe that the blind girl falls in love with Rehaan in just a few minutes. It is reel life and not real life, right? Do we still have such girls? Can I find one? Don’t search, this is only on the screens.
· Retina transplant was all too soon to happen.
· Kajol’s kid? where? how? when?
· First half of the movie was fast and very much happening. The second half could have been edited well. It felt like eating noodles, never seem to end.

Costume: A job well done when it comes to costumes. Kajol’s wardrobe had enough youthful colors. She was wearing shades of pink, cool blue and green in the first half of the movie conveying the fizzy moments and then turned red and dark in the second half showing the darker side of Aamir.

Music: Definitely worthy of mention. Tunes are soul stirring and very soothing. Chand Safaarish, Mere Hath Mein are really engaging for the mind. Chand Chamke was a tongue twister – a good one at the right moment to lift you off your seats.

No Wiggling: No obscenity and very less violence, a film that can be watched with family.

It is definitely a box office hit - right music, good story line and loveable cast. It is is worth every penny that you spend. I left the theatre feeling very happy and charged.

Fanaa is fantastic!!

Why Peep into Others lives?

This article in NY Times today caught my attention, “For Clintons, Delicate Dance of Married and Public Lives”. Clintons have a very active public life and each of them are living their dream and giving little time for their personal lives is the crux of the article.

The world has a lot to learn from the Ex-President and the First Lady. Their marriage was on rocks like any other when the President was caught with the intern, but still they decided to stick together and work it out. It is very difficult to put back trust and confidence in a relationship and it takes lot of hard work to put it back on track. While Bill is busy raising money for his foundations and trotting the globe for other activities, Hillary is busy as a Senator in Washington D.C. Some speculate that Mrs. Clinton has a very ambitious political career and she is using the brand image and good will of Mr. Clinton to get the office. Is it the means to the end or end to the means? Only time will have to answer. But she must be given credit for sticking together and helping the ex-president wash his linens in public.

Lenses of all kinds constantly watch the couple and their lives are always autopsied and press feed on their lives like a wandering scavengers with insatiable hunger. How many times do they dine together? How many times do they appear in public together? Their body language and gestures raise a lot of eyebrows. Is this the price they will have to pay for being popular? It is not just the Clintons who are preyed upon, but there are many folks in the film industry who get preyed upon unnecessarily. The same media that helped them to grow and reach heights has now turned into a vulture tearing their skins away and exhibiting their private lives. Why media doesn’t let us live our fair share? One could debate either in favor of the media or take a stand against the media for such boorish articles.

Let us not peer personal live and let us learn to live with dignity and let others live with dignity.

Abstinence made so simple? Has nature neutered them?

I remember reading about amoeba in my 6th grade biology class. There was no need for me to research about amoebas’ with a career in Marketing and Finance. But recently I stumbled upon an article that talked about the asexuality and that is when I realized that I had read about this terminology at some point in life. I googled to get a better understanding of this term and related to the context of usage in that article. Well the term was none other than “Asexuality”.

It is a common happening in the western world to kiss publicly, while the eastern world takes pride to do such things under the blanket or within the four walls. But in there netherworld there is another community who never seem to be interested in sex or any such acts that lead to the physical union of either sex. We live in the society where love, marriage and divorce are like scratch lotteries, very much instantaneous. For a person to have none of this in his life it would probably mean that they must be supernatural or from another planet. I probably thought these people belonged to the clergy or the Sanyasi class with no inclination towards physical pleasures in life. That rang a bell now, why don’t the religious factions like Vaticans and other clergy from all religions recruit people from this 1% biological anomaly. This would possible save our future generation from sex abuse by the clergy.

There is a stigma associated with Asexual people. They are not celebrities, but they are celibates. Is it by choice or is it by nature? They feel different, left out and sometimes very depressed being a glitch in the creation. But the facts revealed that 1% of human population is born this way without any inclination or physical attraction for either gender. These people lead a normal life like us have a good social circle and a life, but they have never explored their physical side and are not interested to explore. Reading online material on this I realized that this is a process similar to how people with other preferences come out to themselves, be it homosexuals, heterosexuals and the entire other pedigrees. The identity crisis seems to be the common denominator across all factions. Once they get through the denial phase the communities and groups seem to give them the support and encouragement to look beyond biology and preference.

I have heard my friend say that humans get sexually aroused and it can be measured on a scale of one to ten. Zero to five is the female zone and six to ten is the male zone. Depending on the individual factors there is attraction to either male or female. But I don’t understand what happens when it people don’t get attracted to either of the sex. These people don’t get grumpy because they haven’t got their share. People can be sexually dormant for some period of time due to trauma, loss or other stress related factors, but for someone to be sexually dead it must be something different. After researching online on this topic I found out that there is a scale again for asexual behavior. I guess it all depends on how asexuality is defined.

Well that throws a lot of question in my mind. Can people have sexless relationship? Does this hypo active sexual desire due to hormonal reasons? Can it be treated? Asexuals say they connect with people not at a physical level but at emotional level. But does the connectivity at the emotional level need a physical relationship? Do other species in the animal and plant kingdom exhibit such behavior? Is this asexual activity due to childhood abuses and trauma? I don’t know, I guess there is no cookie cutter type answer for this question.

Well all said and done, more is said than done. Same sex unions have gone through revolutions and now the Asexual world is parading around with a lot of support and recognition. Creating communities, having celebrity endorsements and coming with the marketing paraphernalia around human sexuality seem to quickest way to fame and money. Be it politicians or the movie world today people want to walk the thin line on cool and hyped concepts about human sexuality. They want to divide people and make fortune on human identity and preferences.

I read somewhere the other day that scientist say that male chromosomes are undergoing change and in another million years there will be no male species on this earth. It was a fountain of questions that arose in my mind. Will women turn to hermaphrodites? Will there ever be humans procreating in this world?

The Newscientist magazine has an article on Asexual behavior in humans and may be that can make your reading more interesting.

Tickle your brains at http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6533

Let me know your views.....

I am back.... I am back....

I apologize for being dormant for a while. Other things in life took precedence and now I am back with more vigor and valor.

What is new in Chennai?

The election fever has turned fiendish with the Star world campaigning out there for the DMK and AIADMK. Summers of Chennai have only brought more of the stars in the streets to campaign for their parties. There is defection happening everyday and a handful joining the ruling party on a daily basis. Jayalalitha and her comrades walking around their constituencies and meeting people for the first time in 5 years since the last election. Parties announcing attractive schemes like free color television sets, cable connection and free rice to lure the economically backward community. When the basic needs like food, shelter, education, security, water are not met and parties want to give away free television sets and cable connection. Guys let us get to reality of needs and wants. The needs of the city folks are very different from that in the rural areas.

Tamilnadu has witnessed numerous outfits by Cine stars and other celebrities prior to elections and they disappear like a shooting star after the elections. It is Lok Paritran this time around (www.lokparitran.org) . Let us see if this student outfit will stand the test of times. Lok Paritran, a politcal outfit started by IITians promises a corruption free government.

The leadership of the political outfit outlined the key aspects of their first-ever election manifesto: cleaning up the `implementation pipeline' to ensure trickledown of benefits; rewarding merit, ability and skill; introducing technology and training employees in government departments. It is nice to know that educated men and women are taking to politics but to reach out to the mass and attend to their needs the occupation demands much more than education and brains. As a new outfit LP raises money through their website and marketing their party to NRI’s. I don’t know what this party has to offer other than the standard corruption free slogan.

1. Whom does this party represent? What do they represent?
2. What does it have to offer to the common man in the city and in villages?
3. How are positioning themselves? What demographics are they going behind?
4. How would they want to differentiate their party from the rest? There seems to be no differentiation strategy at the moment other than being an IITian.
5. Their website lacks clarity and their objectives and philosophy is far from the common man’s understanding.
6. The marketing campaign is very poor. They need to manage media more effectively and decide on a demographic and go behind them.
7. They seem to have forgotten that celebrity endorsements have always paid well when it comes to Politics and Tamilnadu.
8. Tell me why I should vote for you other than you forming a corruption free government?

Apart from funds, LP needs a good marketing brain to carry them forward and to the doorsteps of every home in the city and the village. It is encouraging to know that educated people want to serve the masses, but let us do it the right way and reap maximum benefits.

The election battle is fierce as always. Pre- poll analysis predicts a marginal majority for the ruling government. Well something can be new in Chennai and Tamilnadu, but not when it comes to disappointments. Many promises were made the last time around and are yet to be fulfilled and many more are thrown liberally back at the people by campaigners and parties and as always the net result have ever disappointment.

Disappointment = Expectations – reality.

We don’t need any special education to be aware of what is happening around us. Our duty as citizens doesn’t merely end at polling booths. It should rather start there and continue till the end of term. Let us exercise our franchise prudently and question our representatives without fail and help them serve us better.

Exams, Kids, and Parents.....

Is it the heat and the humidity that makes mothers and kids wear a tiring look on their face, profusely sweat or is it the ongoing exam season? Summer has come back to haunt Chennai and so is the exam season. Well atleast this month it is more of the latter than the former.

Mothers sacrificing the day time and prime time soaps, students wearing a tense look on their face and even before the exam season could end I could hear people debating what summer courses can they put their kids into? Over ambitious parents pushing their kids into summer coaching classes, language classes, personality development workshops, the list goes on. Schools competing to produce the maximum toppers and state rankers, teachers have their fair share in cramming the little brains and inducing the psychological fear of exams. Today schools start sessions early for kids graduating their 9th and 11th classes and keeping them busy through out the summer vacation. Poor youngsters have lost their wonderful childhood to after school tuitions, special classes to live their parents IIT and medical college dreams.

My colleague at work waits for the clock to strike 3.00 on school days and she would call her home to make sure her son is there and then she would go over the days happening at school frequented by some threatening phrases and some commanding words. She would instruct what he must be doing till she reaches home at half past 6 giving no time to play with the neighborhood kids.

What a contrast to how things where when I grew up. My mother was a house wife and she was around when I came back from school and I could tell talk to her about my day. I had a lot of playtime and there was still a lot of competition, but still I didn’t have that kind of pressure from my folks at home. I was never pushed to top the class, they asked me to do things that brought happiness to me and there was no peer pressure for me to join any of those IIT classes. Those were the days when video games were only for the rich and we had to get out and play and we learnt all about team work, dynamics, and leadership qualities. Computers and video games are they only companions for kids today and they miss out on real time learning opportunities. Juvenile diabetes, hypertension, and other obesity related health problems have already percolated to our kids due to sedentary lifestyle and lack of physical activity. Though elders pass them through their gene, but still we are responsible for giving them a sedentary lifestyle.
With the ongoing exam season the little brains are crammed with fear and anxiety. My colleague would call her son at 30 minutes past ten in the morning to discuss the questions appeared on the exam paper and later in the evening the couple would go over the question paper and to access how much will the kid score. Constant comparison with other friends and bickering that happens at home creates low self esteem in the young minds. The fear of tomorrow’s exam and today’s mishap is definite to take away the peace and confidence.

Peer pressure is pushing parents and kids up the wall and I can see a lot of kids hyperventilating. Students writing their Senior School examination undergo a very stressful phase in their lives since this seem to decide their career and future. Some even go to the extent of committing suicide when they don’t fair upto the expectations of their parents and teachers. Post result season we will read in newspapers about suicides and parental abuse, and organization like SNEHA taking out half page ads in the news papers urging students with low morale and suicidal tendencies to call them.

Education rather than helping a person develop and shape up holistically has become way to make money in life. Parents and teachers will have to understand that education is not the only factor that determines the failure or success of a person. There are so many other skills required for survival and being successful, while education can only give the initial edge. Not all people who’ve graduated from Ivy leagues are always happy and successful in life. Parents today want to push their kid into fields where they can make money and in the process kids seldom get to do and live their passion. Sharat Kumar, a native of Chennai who belongs to the economically weaker sections of the society made it to IIMA and recently graduated with flying. Sharat’s mother sells idlis and snacks to make a living and his father passed away long back and hence Sharat had very little guidance at home and it was his passion that made it work hard and get into IIM.

Every parent wants to wear the badges of honor of their kids getting into IIT, Medical school, and IIM, well it is nice if children are let to chose their profession rather than do things forcefully. When the child is asked what he or she wants to be and the moment they say doctor or an engineer there is a million dollar smile on the parents face. Every parent wants their child to be more successful in life and almost everyone success refers to money, luxury cars, bigger homes, fancy titles and bloated egos. While one or more of the above was just a dream for the parents and they forcefully want to live their dreams through their children. In reality only a few parents let their kids blossom naturally, nurture them without any. It is the fierce passion that stokes the fire in a child and makes them live their dream rather than pressure and fear. When we get to do things naturally and with passion, honor, fame, money and other material success follows.