I was asked to write for a group blog recently but since I was short on time I modified something I'd posted here already.

Amidst all the hoopla about UPA’s clear sweep and the BJP’s tail-between-the-legs exit from prime time TV the better news for me was the much-desired sidelining of Mayawati. I don't think I know enough dirty words to malign her to my heart's fill. But then again she has redeemed herself in the limited way of giving the Dalits of this country a public figure they can identify with. Her not-so- fashionable, cheap polyester attire and almost crude bob cut may be a downer for the urban elite but to the migrant laborer mother of five and the about to married teenage girl she does represent hope, if not promise.

Who are we really kidding? With a little money spent on a few image consultants and some accent neutralizers, would she not have been a more tolerable choice for us, given that we take corruption, incompetence and ideological obstinacy for granted in most of our politicians anyway?

If I were to think from a completely neutral standpoint, devoid of any of my 'upper class', elitist prejudices, I would be compelled to say that for a country that has a 2000 year old history of caste discrimination and related cruelty, it is absolutely fantastic that a Dalit, uneducated woman has the gall to vie for a place in national politics. That her indubitable strength as the UP Chief Minister, largely lies also in her ability to get the Brahmins support is the other part of the miracle.

Yes, it ridicules the Indian self perception of being a first world, educated democracy but, maybe maintaining that self-perception is not as important as exposing the ugly underbelly of the real India. The real India has more underprivileged Mayawatis and Laloos leading a tortured existence every single day of their lives than we think we know of. India is not just the English speaking, jean-clad, brown boy we see in Khan market. Its way more. And its this India that is inspired and dares to dream of a changed fate every time it sees the likes of Mayawati calling the shots in the political high circles. So while I don't support Mayawati's political theatrics and find it utterly nauseating that she even attempted leading an alternative front against the UPA, at some level I also think that it represents an interesting paradigm in the changing power-play of the Indian socio-political fabric.

For the untouchable jamadar in UP she is the greatest success story there has ever been after Mahatma Gandhi. Born to an ordinary clerk, Mayawati went on to acquire a law degree, a respectable job as a teacher in a government school in Delhi and eventually the limelight spot in UP caste politics. For an ordinary woman from a backward class in a deeply caste-divided small town how is this any less remarkable than Gandhi’s tales of bravado?

Obviously, this is not to say that she should be crowned the politician of the year or that she has met the expectations of the people in any significant measure as is amply clear from the latest election results. I don’t even think she deserves credit for any of UP’s relative progress in the last so many years but at the same time, rightly or wrongly, her rise to her current stature and the fact that she represents a large (howsoever trite) chunk of the most populated state does deserve some attention.

Of course one feels more secure discussing the genie that’s stuck in a bottle. To be really honest, I’m not so sure I would’ve been as generous with her had she posed a real threat to the UPA. The thought of her ever stepping out of UP towards New Delhi is despite everything I just said, unsettling to say the least. Equally unsettling is the realization of how unconnected I am from the people she represents, in the way I think, act, eat, vote and pray. It’s this “other India”, or the India that Arvind Adiga aptly refers to as the “Darkness” that doesn’t think she’s half as bad really.

If nothing else, it is this India that Mayawati lends a face and a respectable name to.

Wednesday late morning in New Delhi. Not fun. Nothing looks pretty here, or even interesting. The buildings are new, dilapidated and unwelcoming. The people are arrogant and intimidating if not outrightly dangerous. Nothing around me is happy except Feist. Even Elliot Smith sounds like he's singing his last few words. and right outside the window I can see dragon flies whizzing around, reminding me of the freedom i no longer have.

I had been mourning the unexpected death of my best friend (she lives on in someone I don't know anymore so the only way I can deal with it is to pretend she simply doesn't exist.) all this while but it just struck me that its probably for the best that she's not around. She and a couple of others I no longer have the same kind of access to, for various reasons that are beyond my control. They'd made my life too comfortable I guess for anything constructive to happen to me. I was too happy around them and discomfort is the only thing that will yank me out of the cocoon I've been building around my myself all these wretched years.

The last two paragraphs were the outcome of a particularly bad day, thats all. My life isn't that bad, really. In, fact I have very little to complain about and thats probably why I crib so much in the first place. People with real problems are way more mature in the way they deal with them, I'm sure.

I am back in Phuket, this time with Studmuffin and his family; apparently their first family outing in many years. I have nothing else to write about this one. 

Everyone has been a little maniacal about Slumdog Millionaire for some reason. I am yet to meet someone who liked the movie without having any silly reservations. Most people did not like it for one or more of the following reasons:

1. "It showed the real India." - What the hell is wrong with that? Danny Boyle or any self-respecting director will obviously not be interested in doing an (politically or otherwise) orchestrated India Shining Campaign. The point of the movie was not to showcase India to the rest of the world. It was, simply to tell the story of a slum boy. Thats what movies are made for: to tell extraordinary stories of ordinary people.

2. "It did not show the real India"- Of course not. Child prostitution and slum dwelling are only figments of western imagination, as are child labor and street begging rackets! Besides, its best left for Premchand to write about. Danny Boyle should stick to James Bond.

3. "It was so gross. Where was Shah Rukh and who the hell is Irfan?"- This was the reaction from all those people who liked DTPH and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. There are just so many of them in the world: its nauseating!

4. "What was so great about it anyway?"- Jesus! Its a goddamn movie. Like it or leave it. Why all the fuss? Whether or not anyone knew what political party they were gonna vote for, it was socially imperative for everyone to have an opinion on Slumdog Millionaire. If you hadn't watched it you were making a mistake BUT it wasn't really much to speak of. ( I am tempted to say "Bloody Delhiites!") 

Anyway, enough nonsense for the day. My eyes and fingers are beginning to complain now. 

Goodnight all.  

I'm so Marvin

There are people I wish who would just vanish from the face of the earth. Not die, just vanish; cease to exist in people's memories and in the collective cosmic memory in general. Of course its a self destructive wish given how vicious people can be but then it might actually end up being the 'greatest good for the greatest number' sort of a thing you know. I mean, humans are not the only people in the universe. There are the Vogons and the Magratheans and many more races who could totally do with a human-free Earth. So, keeping the larger picture in mind I don't think its too bad an idea to grant everyone a kill-any-one wish.

Its been a reasonably productive/eventful day. Lots of phone calls, things that either got deferred or concluded, an out-of-the-box, chopsticks aided Chinese dinner, an email from an old old friend (read and replied to) and a horrific cold inching towards fever. A packed day thats distraction enough to keep you from realizing how boring and miserable you and your life are. What more can one ask for, except a few kites, perhaps?

Birthday Blues

I'll turn 25 tomorrow. Its not a happy time at all. Nothing seems right. The winter's approaching faster than I was prepared for. Not that I sleep on the roads but its always brings with itself late mornings, musty woolens, an eerie indoor silence (what with no fans, no ac and little traffic noise) and joyless baths.
This year I wont even get any presents. Only, pointless and impersonal birthday wishes prompted by facebook's free reminder service.
Gah! I'm totally struck by the birthday blues!

of oranges and butter

History is the best reflection of the mistakes you’re about to make. One of your many twins has already been there, done that and either figured it all out or failed and perished. What makes it difficult to learn from is the miserable fact that, mistakes rarely live on- neither in people’s memory nor in any physical consequence. Success on the other hand yearns to be repeated.

I’m finding it increasingly difficult to pen things down these days. It’s been this way ever since things started moving like a roller coaster ride with studmuffin and me. I’m not saying I regret any part of the last 18 odd months but a part of me somewhere wants to allow my imagination to take over and start tweaking things here and there to make it perfect. Of course I’ll never get it perfect because there is no such thing as perfect. Its all one big heterogeneous ball of …clones? I don’t know. I’ve always believed the following:

1. Everything is infinite.

2. Everything is everything. Oranges are stars. Stones are butter.

3. The only real way out and the only solution to absolutely everything is true knowledge- moksh.

4. There is no doubt, a God.

5. The world is nothing but a humongous mass of clues carefully planted by Him.

6. Change is the biggest preservation mechanism. Boredom is just one of its many methods. Evolution is how we justify the objective of change.

7. Religion is for beginners, spirituality for aspirers.

8. Music is God’s best gift to the world

9. Mauve is a wannabe blue

10. Hitler’s only fault was that he personified the unsaid truth about mankind.

11. There's a little bit of him in all of us.

12. I am an idiot.

The Puzzle that is India

Damn! I missed all the action on TV thanks to this stupid viral-bacterial infection I'm down with. I slept and intermittently coughed through all the steamy speeches by Omar, Rahul and Manmohan. Although it was nice waking up to the good news of the UPA victory. The bigger and better news of course was the much needed side-lining of Mayawati. I don't think I know enough dirty words to malign her to my heart's fill. 

There is another way of looking at this though. I mean, apart from the I-can't-believe-she-has-prime ministerial-ambitions. For a country that has a 2000 year old history of caste discrimination and related cruelty, it is absolutely fantastic that a Dalit, uneducated woman has the gall to vie for a place in national politics. That her indubitable strength as the UP Chief Minister, largely lies also in her ability to get the Brahmins on her side is the other part of the miracle. 

Yes, it ridicules the Indian self perception of being a first world, educated democracy but, maybe maintaining that self-perception is not as important as exposing the ugly underbelly of the real India. The real India has more underprivileged Mayawatis and Laloos leading a tortured existence every single day of their lives than we think we know of. India is not just the english speaking, jean-clad, brown boy we see in Khan market. Its way more. And its this India that is inspired and dares to dream of a changed fate everytime it sees the likes of Mayawati calling the shots in the political high circles. So while I don't support Mayawati's political theatrics and find it utterly nauseating that she should lead an alternative front against the UPA or any other national party for that matter, I also think that it represents an interesting paradigm in the changing power-play of the Indian socio-political fabric. 

After a sikh Prime Minister and a Muslim President an opposition led by a Dalit woman is all we needed to complete the Indian puzzle!

Anyway, I hope the Left has learnt its lesson for the day. I also hope that its the beginning of the end for them in Bengal and Kerala too. What Bengal needs is an independent Marwari CM and Kerala, an honest Chandrababu Naidu, if thats even a possibility. 

One person I felt really bad for is Somnath Chatterjee. I really liked the guy.

Its a little past 4 in the morning right now and having slept all of the previous night AND day I think my eyelids are a bit too tired to take anymore of it. So I'm sitting in the living area, treating myself to TV, peanut butter Reeses and oh yes, my brand new Apple Air! 

Sleep well world!

Blue Frog and all that Jazz

Trivializing your circumstances does make living them down easier. So if the tap's not throwing out the usual quantity of water or you get dumped by the one you knew you ought to have dumped long ago , all you say to yourself is "shit happens, dude" and suddenly, almost all is well with the world.
Seriously, shit does happen. Sometimes it even hits the fan and then no matter how much you groan and moan, it seldom cleans up on its own. But what actually makes it stink is when we make a big deal of it( which is admittedly natural but also quite easily avoidable). The day we write it off by realizing how minuscule a part of the universe it is and how inconsequential it is in the larger scheme of things, dealing with it becomes a lot easier.
Disappointments are rarely a part of the climax. Every story has a happy ending, sooner or later. You just have to wait long enough for the story to unfold to completion.


Why am I talking so much nonsense? Its because I have little else to write about. The world is going nowhere, politics is as horrifically predictable and flamboyant in its hype as it was meant to be and there are no heroes good enough to deserve mention. Maybe I should simply grumble.

Bombay, by the way was a helluva lot of fun this time. Blue Frog for brunch from 11-4- bang in the middle of the day! I got frequently twirled by Kevin and another and was thrilled to bits with the charged, happy atmosphere they'd managed to create. These are the places that make you wonder if magic does in fact exist, and with things like Apple butter and blue cheese mousse on the buffet menu its difficult not to firmly believe so. The previous night it was Jazz by the bay/Jazz night-needless to say, absolutely brilliant.

The other highlight of the week was "Jaane tu..". It had all the trappings of a Bollywood classic. Fresh, intelligent faces, a great script, music by Rehman and the midas touch of Amir! Imran, his nephew is clearly a cut above the rest, both in terms of sheer talent AND good looks. He's got this soft intensity in his eyes which has the potential to drill a hole right through you. A bit like Michael Scofield of Prison Break, really. Hmmm... the movie on the whole was nothing spectacular, but a must-watch-once feel good sort.

Must get going now.