Well, for want of a better title I chose this !
Gajabhuja in Sanskrit means the trunk of an elephant !
So, in short, the title means big/huge fundas !! :-)
27 August 2011
Anna Hazare - Black, White, and shades of Grey
The recent events over the past few weeks have given rise to quite many questions.
Make no mistake, the questions raised by Anna are very valid, however bad/good his path may be. Haven't our very own holy scriptures and everything else mentioned this -- The path that you take may be through sludge, but you must reach Ayodha ? When our very own members of parliament quote vedas and such, I see nothing wrong in quoting it here.
Here is some food for thought for Anna's detractors. Time and again, the most common statement that is being brandished out without any thought is this -- India is a democracy and it is supreme. Now here are a few questions to those people.
1) Let us assume that in a constituency, a candidate A, out of 100 votes, polls 40. All the remaining candidates poll 60. Obviously enough, A is declared as the winner, oblivious to the fact that 60 candidates did not want him to be their representative. Now, candidate A is the choice of the majority and nothing else. In what way is this different from a group of people demanding something ? If they form a majority voice, why can't they get something done ? And yet, the off repeated statement is that the parliament cannot listen to the voice of a bunch of people who claim they have majority.
2) Gone are the days when a single party had the complete majority. We now have a bunch of people, whose parties would have fought against each other in a few constituencies, coming together post elections to form a government, out of nothing but pure greed. Now, consider this situation -- a convicted felon can contest an election, and win it sitting in the jail. Haven't we forgot Shorabuddin ? In the current state of affairs, assuming that a party needs one seat to form a government, there is nothing to stop this convicted felon from supporting that party and even becoming the prime minister ! Is this democracy ? Isn't this a farce ? Why should the prime minster be above law in this case ?
3) A bunch of statements are being thrown around that Anna is blackmailing the elected representatives. Haven't we forgot the times when the parliament was being blackmailed by someone who was not even elected to the parliament ? Have we forgotten Karunanidhi and his blackmailing methods to get the posts that he wanted ? Have we forgotten Jayalalitha who did the same and forced second elections upon us ?
4) Another off repeated statement is that justice will prevail and most corrupt folks are in jail. Agreed they are in jail, but what happened to the money they looted ? Why should the oppressed and suppressed tax payers of this country bear that burden ?
5) It took a Lokayutka to expose the mining lobby and the scam it perpetrated. However, the lack of sufficient teeth to it resulted in Yeddiyurappa appointing his crony into the Chief minister's post. Is that democracy ?
This country has hundreds of honest and hard working bureaucrats. It would need strong laws and a fear of punishment, for them to continue being honest and hard working.
There are times when poison must be administered as an antidote for poison. This is one of those times.
There may be hundreds of folks out there who are against Anna Hazare. But there is no denying the fact that the questions that he has posed are very real and need to be addressed immediately.
As long as we continue to think that the parliament is supreme, or our version of democracy is the best, the lack of powerful laws will ensure that the efforts of hundreds of people to uphold their duties will go down the drain.
The Indian public has let go of a golden opportunity to do something good for itself, by raising dissenting voices against this opportune moment.
But then again, haven't we known all along that the real enemy for us Indians, is our own brethren ?
Sai Baba, who even if his devotees claim to be a re-incarnation, would justifiably be called so, simply on the strength of his various philanthropic schemes.
The recent victory by Ireland cricket team over England during the 2011 world cup does result in some introspection.
Firstly, the ICC, and some captains have gone on record that the number of teams competing the world cup must be restricted. I am of the opinion that it should not be the case, and world cup provides the perfect platform and motivation for a large number of countries, where cricket is not a mainstream sport. The achievements in the world cup would only help in a larger set of people taking up the sport, thereby helping the minnows become better.
In a throwback to a few world cup tournaments prior to this one, if India and Sri Lanka were not allowed to participate, we would not have them in the current state that they are today.
It is a different matter that Cricket prospered in India only because the moronic politicians were unable to interfere in the matters of selection, but that is a discussion for a different day.
Paying tribute to SPB's recent award, here are some melodies I heard on the radio the other day.
1. Just close your eyes and check out the drums, the rhythms, the percussion, and yes, that golden voice of SPB. Oh yes, you need to close your eyes to avoid seeing Baghyaraj's ugly dance moves.
2. Just check out the way Illayaraja opens this song. That graceful violins, those hums, foot-tapping drums, and yes, SPB !!
One of those days when I came home early from work and decided to have a small walk around the streets of my house, with the radio plugged into my ears.
The station played this song. I was then taken back to my returning-from-school times, when I distinctly remember this song playing out on the radio. Bliss. Illayaraja is thy name. Check out the way he opens the song, and yes, SPB's sweet voice that caresses the words & our senses.
As a bonus, here is another amazing song that is frequently played on Television. Oh yes, check out that violin interlude at the beginning of the song.
Kaavalan Review - The one in which Illaya-thalapathy roars back to life
Finally ! Illaya-thalapathy Vijay comes back alive. I guess someone did some hard talk with him. All that preachy nonsense, highfalutin approach, un-necessary interference into director's realm, tampering with the story-line, e.t.c., had just one outcome -- a string of flops and thousands of internet memes and jokes.
With Kaavalan, he returns back to doing what he needs to do -- follow orders.
Kaavalan, essentially a remake from a Malayalam movie (I hear that while the base storyline is the same, there have been numerous additions/deletions), is simple and clean storytelling.
Vijay is someone who does not do anything worthwhile with his life. Fed up with this, his parents pack him off to a reformed rowdy, Rajkiran, who was instrumental in helping his mother sail through her childbirth, to serve has his bodyguard.
Rajkiran, decides that he does not have any enemies, and fearing for his daughter Asin's life, packs Vijay off as a bodyguard for his daughter when she goes off to the city for her education.
Asin decides to play a prank on Vijay to make him let-go of his bodyguard costumes, and in general, adopt a take-it-easy attitude. She calls him up and poses as his college mate, who is madly in love with him.
What happens in the end ? Does Asin pair up with Vijay ? How does Vijay vanquish the threat to Asin's life ? All these questions are revealed and much more in simple, and straight forward narration. Watch out for the rather predictable twist in the climax scenes.
Vadivelu is Vijay's side-kick. He provides some outstanding laughs. Notable among those are the "Parvathi Nambiar" joke sequence, and the barging-into-ladies-hostel sequence. As always, his facial expressions and voice modulations are out of the world.
Vijay throws out all the mannerisms and hand-swishing that we have seen in his past few movies, and tries really hard to convey the emotions through his eyes and facial expressions. I must say that he passes muster.
Asin does what is required of her, and so does the actress who appears as her friend.
Background score and songs are by Vidhyasagar. The "step-up" song has some decent rhythm and some nice moves by Vijay.
A must watch, if only to get some relief that Vijay has finally broken free from that dangerous mold that he was getting into.
Welcome back Illaya-Thalapathy Vijay. We did miss you for almost four years, where you thought that just by spewing dialogues loaded with political overtones, and trying to portray an image that you were the all saving messiah, you could be the next super-star. It takes quite a few decent movies and hits like these to get there.
It is around 5.00 AM. No light anywhere on the road except for the light from the full moon. It has just stopped raining and the roads are still wet. No traffic on the road. Not a soul. No other noise, except for the sound of your feet pattering away, running, and your breath.
A gentle drizzle starts. Neither too heavy as to obstruct your running, nor too light. Just enough to wash away that sweat that has formed on your brow.
And then, as if on cue, the radio plays this song. What else does one need in life ?
And so I am an ultra-marathoner too. It is rather disappointing that I could not finish within the time I had set myself for (I took around an hour or so extra, primarily due to extreme heat and deficient practice). However, there is always the next year.
The target was to finish the run, as my previous attempt in 2008 had to be aborted. The last 12.5 km took an eternity with agonizing stomach cramps and extreme dehydration. I later found that in spite of eating bananas and oranges at regular intervals, somehow my body got drained of salts. I got sugar and salt from a local tea shop, mixed it in water and gulped them down to drag myself to the finish line. But, the aim was clear. Crawl I will, if I had to, but I was not coming back home without the finisher's medal.
First 12.5km took 80 mins, next 12.5km took around 110 minutes, primarily because I was goading my brother Sathish to continue the run as he started experiencing difficulty in breathing. He later dropped out. The third 12.5 km took 120 minutes. The last 12.5km should have taken 120 minutes, but took around 180 minutes. The original plan before I started was to finish the first 12.5km in 80 minutes, the second in 90 minutes, the third in 110 minutes and the fourth in 120 minutes.
Lessons learnt: 1. Take date fruits or some other eatables. The bananas and oranges that are being provided do not quite make the cut. 2. Take Glucon-D. The lucosade that was being provided sucked big time. 3. Take a cap. The heat was bad, so bad that if I wet my head, it would dry out completely in under 8 minutes. And no, I am not bald !!
Finisher's medal dedicated to the missus (this incidentally is my first full marathon post marriage), who does not mind my continued indulgence in these crazy-ass activities.
No, I am not referring to the song from the band No Doubt, but from someone, who without any iota of doubt whatsoever, is probably the best musician of all time -- Illayaraja.
1983 - Adutha varisu. Almost 30 years hence, this song is still so very stunning and fresh to listen to. Check out the violins, the string arrangement. Oh boy, the goose bumps inducing S.P.Balasubramaniam's voice. When this comes out on the radio on your way to work, you know for sure that your day would also rock.
Oh yes, this movie also had the other super hit song, Aasai nooru vagai, remix of which is still rocking the dance floors all over the world.
"The true tragedy of a routinely spent life is that its wastefulness does not become apparent till it is too late." Amitava Ghosh in his book "Hungry Tide"
