Friday, February 06, 2015

Tolerance and trust on the road...but we have lost it where it matters

I always felt Indians exhibit a lot of tolerance and trust while they drive a car or ride a bike on the road. The way a auto follows a bike or a bike slips through two cars or a government bus overtakes from the left to find its own way through the so called pedestrian space is amazing.


Perumal Murugan threatened, Ghar wapsi,, Hindu rightwing threatening in open the general public and the minority facist threating the majority silent spectators....all signs of weakening democracy and taking our freedom for granted.

Discontented India in second decade of twentieth century led to The Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920-22....A century has gone by...there aren`t enough leaders and followers to do a 'REPEAT'....Being silent and not letting the ones belief known, that the virtues that our societal fabric was once made of, is our biggest SIN today. Today, freedom of speech, tolerance are like shooting star that one keeps gazing the sky for and it appears once in a hundred years and vanishes in seconds.



Not that the 1920-22 movement bought us freedom but it did bring a change in the way world looked at us...


There is many a difference between then and now...
We are a discontented India now alright (in pockets based on our own convenience) but we are more selfish with a lot more public apathy than we were before. During one of those rare conversations on politics my wife said Freedom actually meant equal opportunity for the people of the state to do what they wanted (Food, Health, Education, Business). She learnt it from her father. Being in Tamilnadu (one of the states in India), I used to believe that as I grew up I was never denied my freedom. But is  it the same for everyone around the country. How different would it be for me if I were in Dandewada / Koraput or Sopore? But how many of us who have the freedom think of those without.
But then when incidents like that of Perumal Murugans happens in your own peace loving state, be ready to face the music one day at your own home I tell myself and near and dear ones.


There were cast based / community based leaders then but atleast they were consistent with their stand / their political agenda and their followers could really anticipate their next move. Today’s leaders (I am not even comfortable using the word leader for the current bunch - suggest a word for me to replace) are full of surprises each day that it’s difficult for anyone to connect with them. Its been quiet a while I have had a inspirational leader in India. There are many who do easy corrupt the social fabric and make good for themselves.




I am an eternal optimist and I am eager to look forward to a time when I will find a society that is more inclusive, that shows more empathy and listens to one another with patience, and speaks without fear. I am looking forward for my daughter and her generation to shape it. And in that effort I hope I can atleast shape, and instill the required humane values in her.


I pray (as a rationalist) borrowing words from Rabindranth Tagore:


Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father,
let my country awake.

Sunday, June 03, 2012

How difficult is parenting with the Facebook generation

Parenting was a blog that I had written in 2005 / 06 cherishing everything my parents had done for me with whatever limited resource they had. They had lived a life that had set it up for me to take things forward. Let it be the friendship that my father cherished with his Ex-Serviceman colleagues / family or the many marriages my parents would fight each other for and get them done. They gave me the freedom to choose most of the things. Even now I fail to understand how open hearted my mother was when it came to me discussing about me and Chitra for the first time. She gave me the confidence to confide with her even before I could propose to Chitra. But if you ask me how that confidence came about, I do not have a clue.


Years later I went back to my institute to interact with the 12th standard students. Things have changed in many a ways from the times when I used to go to school.

We provided with a bi-cycle and courage to cycle through the 2 and half kilometer to school crossing a main road. Let me be modest here; neither there was no much traffic then nor was the traffic signal that you see today. My Mother would look through the window every evening when it was time to come back home. She was scared to send me alone but she did both when I used the electric train when I was in my 5th grade or the bike when I was in my 11th. No cell phones were available then. Now, Parents come and drop their kids (who would go on to vote in a year or two). They wait to get permission for their wards to attend classes because their son / daughter did not write their examination that was mandatory. The students then were more open and be loud with what they thought was right with the world in general but now the boys don`t manage to maintain eye contact. I felt really uncomfortable when a bunch of boys started to look down when I tried to meet their eye. It was just a friendly interaction. I get to hear that the boys being shy and timid is so common even with the faculty they know well.

Are the current batch of students (facebook era) so very different from what we (hotmail era) were? Why is that I feel there a strong connect between the first and the second para? May be I am making an assumption here and a broad generalization: The comforts that today’s parents provide and lack of quality time as a family that they spend is one major cause for students to not look at real people and see for a source of entertainment that may not be always real. My sample has been restricted to the bunch of kids I saw today. I need more time with more kids but I was really disturbed with what it felt like being one among them or seeing them.

The best of my friends are inspired and have been made in every aspect by their parents. One of my very good friends from my CAT preparation days would say that the independence and confidence her parents gave her always made her take the right choices in life. The Simplicity that another friend of mine (whom I have immense respect for) from REC exhibits is very much derived from his parents. He refuses to use a mobile even now though he is part of the value chain that produces the micro processor chips for a leading cell phone maker. He has two landline numbers – one at his office and the other at his home.

2004 December – I was amazed to see a bunch of kids just out of school taking responsibility and running to volunteer for tsunami relief work and that was quality 10-12 days I spent with them, I cherish even now. I also know of people who are trying to do a lot of interesting work who are much younger than me (gmail era) and much better off to face the world than I was / I am even now. For me the big question is, has things changed in the last 3-5 years? Hope it’s not as bad as I think.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Do naina Ek Kahaani

Not sure of an all time favorite movie but I think Naseeruddin Shah would be one of my all time best actors...

Just happened to see a program on an old movie that NS acted ages back, a film called Masoom. It was the first movie of Shekar Kapur. NS says in an interview says that Shekar Kapur then was a failed actor and he was a friend who agreed to work on the movie to help him out. But was it a help extended to Shekar or NS helped himself.

Jugal Hansraj in that movie fitted the character so well. His innocent eyes helped him to connect with the audience so easily. One of my favorite songs from the movie just takes off showing his pair of eyes. The lyrics and the song was a big hit. I think Gulzar and RD Burman together as a pair was the nicest thing to happen to Hindi cinema.

Check out the song on youtube and I think you`ll agree

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZL_dpb_6Lo

Do nainaa aaur yek kahaanee

thodaa saa baadal

thodaa saa paanee

aaur yek kahaanee


chhotee see do zeelon mein

wo bahatee rahatee hai

koee sune yaa naa sune

kahatee rahatee hai

kuchh likh ke aaur kuchh jubaanee


thodee sai hain jaanee huyee

thodee see nayee

jahaa ruke aansoo

wahee pooree ho gayee

hai to nayee fir bhee hain puraanee


yek khatm ho to

doosaree yaad aa jaatee hai

hothhon pe fir bhoolee huyee

baat aa jaatee hai

do nainon kee hain ye kahaanee