Now the Indian Lok Sabha (House of the People) will debate Sourav Ganguly’s exclusion from the Indian Cricket Team. Don’t they have important things to discuss rather than getting into this mess. I am sick and tired of people arguing that he was the best Indian Captain and has scored 15000 runs. Other wonderful cricketers of far more greatness than Ganguly like Steve Waugh or Kapil Dev were not treated any better when they retired. His exit would have been honorable if he had decided to quit himself. As he was a liability to Indian cricket team for long and should have been expelled long back. Can anyone remind me when he was the man of the match last time? Our parliament should spend their time wisely on topics like good governance, improving road, rail and air infrastructure, corrupt and criminal politicians etc and accountability to Indians. I wonder if anyone is paying a certain MP to ask questions regarding Ganguly’s exit from Team India.!!!!
Friday, December 16, 2005
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Indians Abroad
Interestingly one could see 3 phases in any Indian’s (Desi) life abroad (whether they live in US/UK/Europe/Australia). For your convenience I am using the US.
Phase - I - Symptoms
Landing in US…
- Becomes very homesick, calls home twice a day (Consistent source of income for AT &T, Pac Bell, Reliance etc).
- Runs around for desi food.
- Thinks all the females are chicks as shown in English movies.. gets the first hand experience of macho people.
- Asks for bus routes
- Can be located in malls with popped up eyes
- Looks for 'S' sized T shirt in the boy's section
- Looks at all the cool cars as if he could swallow with eyes.
- Converts every spending dollar into rupees
- Roams every bit of Safeway/Albertson’s/longs
- Tries to cook at home.
Phase - II - Symptoms
Settles in a bit…
- Has multiple calling cards and knows which one to use, factoring time and day :) By this time calling home frequency dries down, may be weekly once/twice
- Have a real white Nike/Adidas hike shoes- discusses with friends about the car to buy. (Everybody in the office will know that our man is trying to buy a car)
- Settle for a Civic / corolla, since they are best desi cars
- Buys a Costco card
- Starts to compare India-US for every petty thing
- Crib about the cashiers in stores, compare them with Indian petty store owners.. how quick they were in counting chillers.
- Every month, checks the balance and equate it to what it can buy in India
- Look for exotic locations with in city/USA (you know what I mean right?)
- Starts asking for 'Bud'
- Starts searching for a bride from India and gets married.
- Scans every weekly supplement sale and garage sales in and out.
Phase - III - Symptoms
Real confusion begins here…
- Drops all the calling cards, stick to a phone line. Says line has better clarity.
- Thinks about getting a bigger/powerful car
- Starts spending weekends mostly at home and frequently visits jacuzzi
- Pastes the country's flag on car
- Wonders whether he should apply for a permanent residency?
- Asks the guys whether he would get a job if he goes to India (Welcome to reality dude)
- Tries to affiliate himself to the local groups (Non desi groups, to be specific)
- Watching Indian movies/wearing Indian dress becomes a fashion statement
- suddenly, opportunity becomes oppor-tune-ity! India becomes eendya!! often becomes of-ten !!!- Tries to talk in mother tongue with kids, gets shocked when they refuse!
- Thinks about going back to India, always; in fact it becomes a thread in the mind that runs in the background!!
Do you have your own desi observations?
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Web Browsing, Orkutting and My Boredom
I am online after more than two weeks of absence. Currently I have the thanksgiving break and finding myself bored to death. I have nothing to do and hence I was reading some random blogs and came across the personal homepage of an Indian graduate student from Caltech. The homepage highlights his academic work, travel-log, training details of a marathon he ran etc. I was happy to see him involved in many activities. Then I visited his friend's homepages listed by him and found very similar things. One interesting thing to note here is that most of these students are engineering doctoral students and maintain a very detailed webpage. I am also an engineering doctoral student and keep a personal webpage with lots of information and pictures of me. I manage my time effectively and that leaves me with plenty of time to kill. I engage myself in watching TV/movie and browsing web for news, current affairs, blogs etc. So mainly I don't do any physical activity except playing cricket (which I can't do in winter due to sever cold climate).
With the introduction about this fellow and myself, he got me thinking that why don't I see similar people around me and do I want to see them around me? These individuals are in a better campus then I am and I find most people around me less inclined to studying (acceptable). Here, most my friends spend time checking their five different emails seven times a day, talking/chatting with friends, orkutting/friendstering/hifi-ing, or celebrating every Amar, Akbar or Anthony’s birthday. There are guys with their phone ringing every few minutes and them talking while walking, driving, eating and even while in the potty. One thing that bothers me a lot is their total disregard to the presence of other individuals around who are bothered by their phone-talk and especially in alien languages. I will never get this fixation to 'stay-in-touch-with-everyone-i-know'.
I don't like doing any of the activities that my friends do. There are a few who indulge in exercising, even I liked it but found it very time consuming and stopped after just a month. I like watching TV for certain intelligent or comic shows and surfing web to keep myself updated but would cut down on these activities if friends who would like to indulge in something different like walking in trails, bicycling, playing chess/carrom, a road-trip in the Midwest or get-away trip to Death Valley. Hopefully some friends read this and help me overcome my monotony.
With the introduction about this fellow and myself, he got me thinking that why don't I see similar people around me and do I want to see them around me? These individuals are in a better campus then I am and I find most people around me less inclined to studying (acceptable). Here, most my friends spend time checking their five different emails seven times a day, talking/chatting with friends, orkutting/friendstering/hifi-ing, or celebrating every Amar, Akbar or Anthony’s birthday. There are guys with their phone ringing every few minutes and them talking while walking, driving, eating and even while in the potty. One thing that bothers me a lot is their total disregard to the presence of other individuals around who are bothered by their phone-talk and especially in alien languages. I will never get this fixation to 'stay-in-touch-with-everyone-i-know'.
I don't like doing any of the activities that my friends do. There are a few who indulge in exercising, even I liked it but found it very time consuming and stopped after just a month. I like watching TV for certain intelligent or comic shows and surfing web to keep myself updated but would cut down on these activities if friends who would like to indulge in something different like walking in trails, bicycling, playing chess/carrom, a road-trip in the Midwest or get-away trip to Death Valley. Hopefully some friends read this and help me overcome my monotony.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Diwali Night and War of Fire-crackers
I miss Diwali more than any other Indian festival in America. I miss those seven days of fun with fire-crackers. The Diwali period comprises of a joyful series of 7 festivals commencing on 'Ramaa Ekadashi' - Aso vad 11., followed by ‘Vagha Baras’- vad 12, 'Dhan Teras' - vad 13, 'Kali Chaudash' - vad 14 and 'Diwali' - vad 15 or 'Amaas' - the last day of the Indian calendar year. The Diwali festivities continue the next day - New Year's Day known as 'Nutan Varsh' - Kartik sud 1, 'Bhai Beej' - Kartik sud 2. There are two more days 'Labh Pancham' - Kartik sud 5 and ‘Dev Diwali’ – sud 15.
Everyday is special but none more than Diwali night culminating in the New Year morning. We had a tradition of fighting with fire-crackers that night. It sounds scary but wait till you hear what we use for this. I don’t know how to call this but the piece that is the central part of a rocket; call it the fire-engine is our weapon. When guided by a stick, this fire-engine mainly follows a linear or slightly curved path and heads towards sky. But if it is detached from the stick and ignited, it goes in a path that no one can predict. Yeah, so our goal is to gather as many of as them, sometimes 200-300 or more. There are couple of fire-crackers that could be bought and dismantle rendering this weapon. Anyways, extra fun is that we never used to buy this in advance, always at the very last minute. So we scavenge every shop in town to look for rockets etc., more the better. Then after mid night, when traffic is slow or almost none, war of the year begins.
Now, every one knows that there is high risk of getting your clothes or body burnt here. So most guys wear clothes they don’t care about. As far as the physical injuries go, it’s your own risk. We then ignite these crackers and literally throw at each other and God knows where it would go. Sometimes it even comes back to you after hitting the ground. I have seen my friends getting slightly burnt but never was the situation when it went out of hand. Anyways, this continues for about an hour or so. Then we get some loud bombs and ignite them on the patio of Amul till he wakes up. Amul is a street neighbor who never liked us and hence we always pay homage to him every Diwali night in this way.
Then we just sit around and chat till about 4 o’clock. At the same hour, our sisters/moms normally wake up and start making Rangoli in our front-yard (well on the asphalt street as in walled city, you don’t have front or back yards). This day even the Rangoli is special as for all the other days of Diwali, Rangoli could be small but on this day it is so big that Rangoli made by your house and made by the house opposing your house would meet in the center of the road. Yeah, that big. We go to take shower by then. I generally get ready by 5 am and so does my friend Jignesh. As long as I remember, he was always the first one to greet me ‘Happy New Year’ all my life there. One by one all my friends come out of their houses and greet each other. About 7 am, and we are done with each other, so we head to temples. By the way, I forgot to mention a very important thing that I always used to do on that morning. After I take shower, I read a couple of books from my studies as my parents used to say that if you do something good today, it would continue to happen all year. By this time you must have guessed that I liked studying.
After visiting a few temples, most of my friends go to work. You are wondering, work on New Year’s Day? Not for work actually but each office/factory has to do Pooja and all the employees are required. I was a student, so never had to so do. By 10 am we all are back in our street and change clothes and play cricket. Remember that philosophy that if you do anything good, it happen all year around. Who wouldn’t want to play cricket all year? If you add a complete night out and then a couple of hours of cricket, you could guess that we be tired as hell. So by noon we go to sleep and wake up fresh in the evening. We continue greeting New Year to everyone meeting us for the first time in next ten fifteen days with phrases like ‘Navu Saal Mubarak’, ‘Nutan Varshabhinandan’ or simply ‘Happy New Year’. This is just one night out of those seven wonderful days.
Everyday is special but none more than Diwali night culminating in the New Year morning. We had a tradition of fighting with fire-crackers that night. It sounds scary but wait till you hear what we use for this. I don’t know how to call this but the piece that is the central part of a rocket; call it the fire-engine is our weapon. When guided by a stick, this fire-engine mainly follows a linear or slightly curved path and heads towards sky. But if it is detached from the stick and ignited, it goes in a path that no one can predict. Yeah, so our goal is to gather as many of as them, sometimes 200-300 or more. There are couple of fire-crackers that could be bought and dismantle rendering this weapon. Anyways, extra fun is that we never used to buy this in advance, always at the very last minute. So we scavenge every shop in town to look for rockets etc., more the better. Then after mid night, when traffic is slow or almost none, war of the year begins.
Now, every one knows that there is high risk of getting your clothes or body burnt here. So most guys wear clothes they don’t care about. As far as the physical injuries go, it’s your own risk. We then ignite these crackers and literally throw at each other and God knows where it would go. Sometimes it even comes back to you after hitting the ground. I have seen my friends getting slightly burnt but never was the situation when it went out of hand. Anyways, this continues for about an hour or so. Then we get some loud bombs and ignite them on the patio of Amul till he wakes up. Amul is a street neighbor who never liked us and hence we always pay homage to him every Diwali night in this way.
Then we just sit around and chat till about 4 o’clock. At the same hour, our sisters/moms normally wake up and start making Rangoli in our front-yard (well on the asphalt street as in walled city, you don’t have front or back yards). This day even the Rangoli is special as for all the other days of Diwali, Rangoli could be small but on this day it is so big that Rangoli made by your house and made by the house opposing your house would meet in the center of the road. Yeah, that big. We go to take shower by then. I generally get ready by 5 am and so does my friend Jignesh. As long as I remember, he was always the first one to greet me ‘Happy New Year’ all my life there. One by one all my friends come out of their houses and greet each other. About 7 am, and we are done with each other, so we head to temples. By the way, I forgot to mention a very important thing that I always used to do on that morning. After I take shower, I read a couple of books from my studies as my parents used to say that if you do something good today, it would continue to happen all year. By this time you must have guessed that I liked studying.
After visiting a few temples, most of my friends go to work. You are wondering, work on New Year’s Day? Not for work actually but each office/factory has to do Pooja and all the employees are required. I was a student, so never had to so do. By 10 am we all are back in our street and change clothes and play cricket. Remember that philosophy that if you do anything good, it happen all year around. Who wouldn’t want to play cricket all year? If you add a complete night out and then a couple of hours of cricket, you could guess that we be tired as hell. So by noon we go to sleep and wake up fresh in the evening. We continue greeting New Year to everyone meeting us for the first time in next ten fifteen days with phrases like ‘Navu Saal Mubarak’, ‘Nutan Varshabhinandan’ or simply ‘Happy New Year’. This is just one night out of those seven wonderful days.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Rosa Parks and Gandhi
Today Rosa Parks, became the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda, sharing an honor bestowed upon Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and other national leaders of the USA. Her simple refusal to give up her seat on a city bus for a white individual half a century ago sparked the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This reminds me of another incident that happened more than half a century prior to this one, where a colored man was thrown out of the first class compartment in a train at Pietermaritzburg station in South Africa. In those days only white people where allowed in the first class and even thought this individual had bought the first class ticket, he was thrown out on his refusal to move to the general compartments. This person was known as Mohandas K. Gandhi in those days, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma means great soul) now. Events/movements that followed these incidents are elimination of segregation policy from USA and independence of India from England.
I am compelled to write this as every now and then some ‘scholar’ would denounce Gandhi’s contribution to our freedom struggle by non-sense arguments. It didn’t matter if Rosa hadn’t heard about Gandhi doing something similar before her doing so, it didn’t matter if Martin Luther King hadn’t learn the concept of ‘non-violent protest’ from Gandhi and it didn’t matter if Nelson Mandela was not directly influenced by Gandhian thinking during his struggle to bring freedom and democracy to South Africa, what matters is that these individuals had courage, commitment and wisdom that most people lack. Their love and sacrifice for their country is unquestionable. Go wrap yourself in just one piece of cloth for 35 years of your life, spend 20 years or more of your life in jails (not for your own cause) and then talk about Gandhi’s contribution to our freedom struggle.
I am compelled to write this as every now and then some ‘scholar’ would denounce Gandhi’s contribution to our freedom struggle by non-sense arguments. It didn’t matter if Rosa hadn’t heard about Gandhi doing something similar before her doing so, it didn’t matter if Martin Luther King hadn’t learn the concept of ‘non-violent protest’ from Gandhi and it didn’t matter if Nelson Mandela was not directly influenced by Gandhian thinking during his struggle to bring freedom and democracy to South Africa, what matters is that these individuals had courage, commitment and wisdom that most people lack. Their love and sacrifice for their country is unquestionable. Go wrap yourself in just one piece of cloth for 35 years of your life, spend 20 years or more of your life in jails (not for your own cause) and then talk about Gandhi’s contribution to our freedom struggle.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
An Apology From England
I recently saw the movie ‘Mangal Pandey: The Rising’. It gave me the chilling account of British atrocities in India one more time. I don’t know whether the movie is historically accurate as there is no well documented information about most of pre-independence freedom struggle. The press was controlled by the British rulers as well. However I am sure that there might be many unsung heroes, unlike Shaheed Bhagat Singh or Mangal Pandey, whose story we never came to know.
I am not going to talk about what good Britishers might have done to us like “free press, constitutional government, professional service, modern universities and research laboratories" etc. about which Dr. Singh, the current Indian Prime Minister spoke of at the Oxford University. There are old people in India, who even today would say that Britishers were better rulers that our current lot of highly corrupt politicians. I do not want to talk about their looting of our national resources and wealth as well as torture, pain and sufferings that they brought upon us. But my disappointment is that they have never apologized for what they have done to our country and people. I see and read China getting furious every time a Japanese Prime Minister visits their WWII memorial, for which China gets offended and demands apologies from Japan for their WWII atrocities done to China. Japan in past have apologized many times yet China does not hold it good enough. Yet here Britishers have not said sorry even once for their 250 years rule and we keep silence.
One may argue what one would get by a simple sorry. It is a highly emotional issue. One probably has to be a son or a daughter or parent of someone who has been killed or wronged by Britisher to feel the pain. It’s been seen quite a few times that an apology from a killer, a sincere apology, comforts the deceased’s family a lot. If nothing else then at least an apology would be seen as expression of regret and forgiveness for their deeds. And it will be a tribute to hundreds of thousands of freedom fighters who died in this process.
I am not going to talk about what good Britishers might have done to us like “free press, constitutional government, professional service, modern universities and research laboratories" etc. about which Dr. Singh, the current Indian Prime Minister spoke of at the Oxford University. There are old people in India, who even today would say that Britishers were better rulers that our current lot of highly corrupt politicians. I do not want to talk about their looting of our national resources and wealth as well as torture, pain and sufferings that they brought upon us. But my disappointment is that they have never apologized for what they have done to our country and people. I see and read China getting furious every time a Japanese Prime Minister visits their WWII memorial, for which China gets offended and demands apologies from Japan for their WWII atrocities done to China. Japan in past have apologized many times yet China does not hold it good enough. Yet here Britishers have not said sorry even once for their 250 years rule and we keep silence.
One may argue what one would get by a simple sorry. It is a highly emotional issue. One probably has to be a son or a daughter or parent of someone who has been killed or wronged by Britisher to feel the pain. It’s been seen quite a few times that an apology from a killer, a sincere apology, comforts the deceased’s family a lot. If nothing else then at least an apology would be seen as expression of regret and forgiveness for their deeds. And it will be a tribute to hundreds of thousands of freedom fighters who died in this process.
Friday, October 28, 2005
I Am a Vegetarian Without Any Logic
It’s been over five years since I came to America. I never thought about my food preference during my life in India but it has been an ongoing issue for me in this foreign land. Even though I am still a vegetarian here and I intend to stay the same as long as I live, every now and then I come across someone who advises me to turn non-vegetarian to see what I have been missing so far in my life. Let me make it clear, I am not a food junkie so I don’t care what I am missing here. I just need some decent food that fills me up. My taste buds can take most things as long as it is not spicy.
The bigger issue is that every one wants to know why I am vegetarian. Honestly I don’t have a convincing answer for that as, I am a born vegetarian. Even though most members in my family had eaten non-vegetarian food, we used to buy prepared food only once every couple of months. So for me, being vegetarian is as normal as sun rising in the east and setting in the west. Earlier I started giving explanations for me being vegetarian that are inline with Hindu philosophy of ‘Ahimsa’ and ‘Respect for Other Form of Life’. The idea is to avoid the pain and suffering that an animal/bird goes through while being slaughtered. My friend in turn argued that plants have life and just because you don’t see plants in pain/suffering while being cut does not mean that does not happen. What do I say now? Do I say that if I don’t eat even plants then how do I live, on air and water? Once a vegetarian friend told me that he could not eat meat now because being vegetarian all his life, he could not cross the psychological barrier and I thought that it was same with me. From that point, when someone asked me this question I always said that I couldn’t cross this psychological barrier anymore being a vegetarian all my life.
But then I think that why do I need to defend my choice? Why does it have to be logical? So from this point on when someone argues with me about this issue, I would say that it is my choice and preference and would not explain anything. Or should I say ‘that I don’t eat beef because I never met a cow that I didn’t like’ as once told by Alicia Silverstone.
The bigger issue is that every one wants to know why I am vegetarian. Honestly I don’t have a convincing answer for that as, I am a born vegetarian. Even though most members in my family had eaten non-vegetarian food, we used to buy prepared food only once every couple of months. So for me, being vegetarian is as normal as sun rising in the east and setting in the west. Earlier I started giving explanations for me being vegetarian that are inline with Hindu philosophy of ‘Ahimsa’ and ‘Respect for Other Form of Life’. The idea is to avoid the pain and suffering that an animal/bird goes through while being slaughtered. My friend in turn argued that plants have life and just because you don’t see plants in pain/suffering while being cut does not mean that does not happen. What do I say now? Do I say that if I don’t eat even plants then how do I live, on air and water? Once a vegetarian friend told me that he could not eat meat now because being vegetarian all his life, he could not cross the psychological barrier and I thought that it was same with me. From that point, when someone asked me this question I always said that I couldn’t cross this psychological barrier anymore being a vegetarian all my life.
But then I think that why do I need to defend my choice? Why does it have to be logical? So from this point on when someone argues with me about this issue, I would say that it is my choice and preference and would not explain anything. Or should I say ‘that I don’t eat beef because I never met a cow that I didn’t like’ as once told by Alicia Silverstone.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Ekta Kapoor - Get a Life
I am copying following post from a indiatimes blog called 'Uptown Girl'. This is an issue that I always wanted to write about. This person has said it so well that I did not feel any need to amend it. Enjoy!
"Actually that shouldn’t really be the question. Ekta Kapoor makes what sells. So the question really should be, what the hell is the matter with the people in this country? Are we so socially unconscious that we even watch whatever goo is presented to us?
Let’s look at the history a little bit. In the year 2000, two of Ekta’s serials came on together on different channels. Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kkusum…with an extra K. Let’s look at these two serials separately.
Kyuki started out as a serial which showed the ever green tussle between a mother who was not happy with her son’s choice of bride. The subtle tu-tu mein-mein between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was how the serial started…which of course soon lost it’s meaning as the whole thing turned into scheming, bitching, killing and rebirths! Marriages, left right and center thrown in and well you have a serial which millions of people across the country actually watch, and get involved! A serial with a story line which has no relation to the title of the story. A serial which degrades women to no end. You have rape scenes…then you have characters within the serial that support marital rapes…you have a mother in law that very recently discouraged her grand daughter-in-law from working with a dialogue like, “Agar ghar ki bahu office jayegi, to ghar kaun sambhalega!” Yeah right…So this is the condition of one of the most popular serials of Indian television today.
Let’s look at Kkusum, this serial really takes the cake I feel…well the serial started out differently…a middle class working woman hitched to a rich guy because her kundali says that she will have a long lasting marriage. The belief was that the male protagonist of the serial, her boss, Abhay would have to marry someone with a strong kundali to save his own life. Kept in dark Kkusum is married to Abhay. But of course she soon finds out the real reason behind this Cinderella wedding and her dream shatters. Then comes to time when she plans revenge only to find Abhay now genuinely in love with her…or so he acts. Then of course there is the plot where he is only acting of being a devoted husband while he is flirting around with Kkusum’s best friend. The story has some sense till this point. But what followed was beyond any rational reasoning!
Some hundred marriages and divorces took place. And no not between different people…but between Abhay and Kkusum itself!!! Then Kkusum vanishes (a.k.a the main actress of the serial backs out!) so she is killed only to be brought back along with a new face and a daughter! In the mean while Abhay once again is married! I don’t understand this at all…if you are widowed is it essential to take saat phera’s around your dead wife’s burning body itself? It’s ridiculous!
So let’s take a look at what Ekta propagates through her serials. 1. Infidelity and Adultery: Don’t need to explain this. Every serial has characters getting married then divorced, then married again, then an extra marital affair…and then some more. 2. Inspiring people to be officious: Some one has to meddle…no matter what! 3. Creating vamps: My God if God forbid, but any household had a bahu like Komolika, do you think that household would be alive and happy? In all probability they would all be in an asylum to say the least4. Glorifying and justifying Satan acts: All the protagonists of her serial suffer…and that suffering never ends. So she is trying to say…don’t be nice because if you be nice you will suffer…
But again, the point of this whole post is not insulting, or yelling at Ekta…but trying to understand the psyche of the audience who watch these never ending shows! What kick do you get in watching one woman, plot against another day in and day out? And even more ridiculous is the fact that on the 8 pm slot on Sony the protagonist suddenly becomes a vamp on the 8:30 pm slot on Star. How do audience even remember the plots of different serials (especially when there are the same set of actors and sets put in) is something I’ll never comprehend. This madness behind the K…series has to stop somewhere. It’s degrading, unreal and tainting for women and that’s the least of it. But of course who is the biggest section of population who watch women being tortured, raped, killed, and mortified on TV? Oh it’s the Indian woman of course! What did you think?"
"Actually that shouldn’t really be the question. Ekta Kapoor makes what sells. So the question really should be, what the hell is the matter with the people in this country? Are we so socially unconscious that we even watch whatever goo is presented to us?
Let’s look at the history a little bit. In the year 2000, two of Ekta’s serials came on together on different channels. Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kkusum…with an extra K. Let’s look at these two serials separately.
Kyuki started out as a serial which showed the ever green tussle between a mother who was not happy with her son’s choice of bride. The subtle tu-tu mein-mein between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was how the serial started…which of course soon lost it’s meaning as the whole thing turned into scheming, bitching, killing and rebirths! Marriages, left right and center thrown in and well you have a serial which millions of people across the country actually watch, and get involved! A serial with a story line which has no relation to the title of the story. A serial which degrades women to no end. You have rape scenes…then you have characters within the serial that support marital rapes…you have a mother in law that very recently discouraged her grand daughter-in-law from working with a dialogue like, “Agar ghar ki bahu office jayegi, to ghar kaun sambhalega!” Yeah right…So this is the condition of one of the most popular serials of Indian television today.
Let’s look at Kkusum, this serial really takes the cake I feel…well the serial started out differently…a middle class working woman hitched to a rich guy because her kundali says that she will have a long lasting marriage. The belief was that the male protagonist of the serial, her boss, Abhay would have to marry someone with a strong kundali to save his own life. Kept in dark Kkusum is married to Abhay. But of course she soon finds out the real reason behind this Cinderella wedding and her dream shatters. Then comes to time when she plans revenge only to find Abhay now genuinely in love with her…or so he acts. Then of course there is the plot where he is only acting of being a devoted husband while he is flirting around with Kkusum’s best friend. The story has some sense till this point. But what followed was beyond any rational reasoning!
Some hundred marriages and divorces took place. And no not between different people…but between Abhay and Kkusum itself!!! Then Kkusum vanishes (a.k.a the main actress of the serial backs out!) so she is killed only to be brought back along with a new face and a daughter! In the mean while Abhay once again is married! I don’t understand this at all…if you are widowed is it essential to take saat phera’s around your dead wife’s burning body itself? It’s ridiculous!
So let’s take a look at what Ekta propagates through her serials. 1. Infidelity and Adultery: Don’t need to explain this. Every serial has characters getting married then divorced, then married again, then an extra marital affair…and then some more. 2. Inspiring people to be officious: Some one has to meddle…no matter what! 3. Creating vamps: My God if God forbid, but any household had a bahu like Komolika, do you think that household would be alive and happy? In all probability they would all be in an asylum to say the least4. Glorifying and justifying Satan acts: All the protagonists of her serial suffer…and that suffering never ends. So she is trying to say…don’t be nice because if you be nice you will suffer…
But again, the point of this whole post is not insulting, or yelling at Ekta…but trying to understand the psyche of the audience who watch these never ending shows! What kick do you get in watching one woman, plot against another day in and day out? And even more ridiculous is the fact that on the 8 pm slot on Sony the protagonist suddenly becomes a vamp on the 8:30 pm slot on Star. How do audience even remember the plots of different serials (especially when there are the same set of actors and sets put in) is something I’ll never comprehend. This madness behind the K…series has to stop somewhere. It’s degrading, unreal and tainting for women and that’s the least of it. But of course who is the biggest section of population who watch women being tortured, raped, killed, and mortified on TV? Oh it’s the Indian woman of course! What did you think?"
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Recurring Dreams
I am riding a bicycle as a kid and suddenly the wheels start getting bigger. I don’t realize this until the wheels are so big that when I see below for the first time, I freak out and lose my balance. Some how I keep driving but not knowing what to do, I look for some thing tall. Suddenly I see a really tall building and I cling to the terrace and let the cycle go.
I am looking for a good long jump, may be a triple jump. I take my first jump and I realize that I don’t have to put my foot on the ground if I don’t want to. I defy the law of gravity and keep gliding in the air, hardly 2 feet above the ground but not touching it for many more feet and then decide to put my foot on the ground to start the second jump. The same story continues and I go high flying like Michael Jordan for quite a long distance before I decide to let it go and take my last jump.
Harry Potter definitely stole this idea from my dream. That I am in a field and I have a broom with a long stick typically used to clean the yard. I start running, really fast, faster and then hop on it and it starts flying and it goes very high and I realize that I don’t know how to take it back to the ground.
I dream that I forgot to go to my tuition today and then I realize that I have not been going there for a few months, even though I haven’t taken tuition in a decade.
I am looking for a good long jump, may be a triple jump. I take my first jump and I realize that I don’t have to put my foot on the ground if I don’t want to. I defy the law of gravity and keep gliding in the air, hardly 2 feet above the ground but not touching it for many more feet and then decide to put my foot on the ground to start the second jump. The same story continues and I go high flying like Michael Jordan for quite a long distance before I decide to let it go and take my last jump.
Harry Potter definitely stole this idea from my dream. That I am in a field and I have a broom with a long stick typically used to clean the yard. I start running, really fast, faster and then hop on it and it starts flying and it goes very high and I realize that I don’t know how to take it back to the ground.
I dream that I forgot to go to my tuition today and then I realize that I have not been going there for a few months, even though I haven’t taken tuition in a decade.
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