MNS And Raj Thackeray; It's All About Hate Politics

The recent attacks organized by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on the North Indians have been strongly criticized and condemned. Be it the encounter of Rahul Raj, the beaten to death worker Dharmadev Rai or the Pande and the Gupta family. Keeping all the debates aside, it’s the common man who has suffered. Raj Thackeray’s policies are ripping the nation apart, and I believe if the case remains so, the rest of the mumbaikars might have to face the consequences of his actions. He is dividing the country. The two sides being the North India and Mumbai. And in no way must he forget that the mumbaikars do not only reside in Mumbai. They go off to other metropolitan areas aswell.. so should they be treated the same way in North India? Or should the Indians who go abroad in search of a better life and jobs be beaten up aswell? Because that's exactly what millions of people have done. Is that what he is implying?
Yes, Raj Thackeray has a point. There is a situation that has to be handled since the natives of the state are indeed suffering. But resorting to violence is no solution. Raj Thackeray and MNS are just using the current problem for their own political agendas and aspirations irrespective of what the common man has to suffer. They are using ‘hate politics’ as a tool to win the confidence of the people of Mumbai and hence come to power. Coming back to the problem at hand, I propose that there should be a law that secures a specific amount of jobs to the natives. It indeed would be a shame if the locals would have to move out of their very own town in search of jobs.
Raj Thackeray might have a valid point of ensuring the well being of the mumbaikars but his methods are unjustifiable. He was born in Maharashtra and hence was endowed with the legacy of a prosperous state. In comparison the majority of the remaining states in India are not well off. And hence, the people are forced to migrate. Give them the option of the same life in their states, would they then consider moving out?

NO HOLD BARS

Recently I came across an amazing movie ‘Real Women Have Curves’. Finally a movie that doesn’t make you feel that you have GOT to loose weight to feel beautiful! Completely out of the box it can easily put movies like Shallow Hall and Fat Girlz to shame. It is the first of it’s kind movie with a lead protagonist who stays fat from the start to the end. She is not ashamed about it no matter how much do the people nag her. The film embraces any body size and shape as beautiful, the first where self confidence and esteem are not gained by shedding off pounds. Instead, real women are presented uncensored. Yep! There is a scene where the overweight females are dancing in their lingerie without being conscious of their bodies. Commendable, it is. From the beginning till the end they learn to change their idea of beauty. They learn to accept themselves in a society which only calls for thin as pretty. The film focuses on the fact that females are not just about looks. They’re not a mere object of desire. They have brains, emotions, ideas and thoughts that might just knock your socks off- without looks being the criterion.

Adapting the idea to other issues and not just limiting it to accepting fat people, the problem with us is that we all try to measure upto standards, set by the society- be it beauty, intelligence, creativity or any other thing. And when we don’t find ourselves upto that mark, we don’t think we’re good enough. I say, to hell with that! Haven’t we been listening all our lives about everyone being different in their own unique way…so, why can’t we accept ourselves the way we are and totally be in love with it. When I come to think of it, the people I like the most, are the one’s who are absolutely unconventional. Che Guevara, Oprah Winfrey, America Ferrera, Nelson Mandela etc, etc. have all broken the stereotypes. And in what way. I feel that it would be the first step towards being able to accept different people and respect and love them. No standards, no pressures- 100% YOU! Celebrate what you've got.

I changed my mind after watching this movie and I hope you do too, because it is indeed necessary =)

MULAN II- Review

To say the least, it was a disappointment watching the sequel to the famous Mulan. Instead of an adventurous comeback the sequel was melodramatic!, dealing with the theme of arrange marriage v/s love marriage in ancient China (much to the horror of Mulan fanbase. yikes!). Less than 5 minutes of action, a few tears, some silly flirting and the huge debate over the opposites, good or bad in a relationship, Darrell Rooney and Lynne Southerland present to you Mulan II.

The movie starts with general Shang proposing Mulan. Mushu with the fear of losing his job as the guardian dragon after Mulan gets married, takes up the job of parting the two. Mulan and General Shang are then called by the Chinese emperor to take his 3 daughters- Mei, Su and Ting Ting to the kingdom of Qui Gong. They are supposed to get married to the 3 princes of the kingdom (whom the haven't ever seen) so that an alliance could be formed between the two kingdoms to fight the upcoming Mongol forces. General Shang, Mulan alongwith along with Chien-Po, Ling and Yao (the three soldiers from the first film) move ahead with the mission of escorting the princesses safely to the kingdom Qui Gong. On the journey the princesses and the soldiers fall in love. Mulan jumps with joy when she comes to know about it while General Shang is outraged. They both learn that they are extremely different and decide to break off the wedding. Shang tells his soldiers that the mission is still on and they are supposed to stay away from the princesses and only obey their duty of protecting them on the way. Seeing Mulan unhappy after the breakup, Mushu confesses to Mulan that he created all the misunderstandings between Shang and her. Mulan sets out to tell Shang that she still loves him but by then the bandits attack them. Shang while fighting with the bandits falls down the bridge and is presumed to be dead. Mulan asks the soldiers and the princesses to run away and abandons the mission. On reaching Qui Gong, she makes up a story of a fatal accident on the way resulting in the death of all others and instead of the princesses offers herself to marry one of the Qui Gong prince so that the alliance could be formed. Meanwhile Shang emerges from the river alive and heads to Qui Gong to stop Mulan from marrying the prince. Mushu helps the cause by voicing the Chinese God of Alliance leading General Shang to marry Mulan.

The charm and distinctiveness that its prequel bore is completely lost. The movie does not deal with the concept of arrange v/s love marriage in an interesting way. The approach is melodramatic instead of a logical one only emphasizing ''following the heart''. The custom of arrange marriage in ancient China has not been condemned but simply questioned. Moreover why love marriage is better than the arranged one has not been mentioned. Mulan II started out on a promising note but after about 20 minutes the same conventional and sappy plot took over the film and carried till the end. If not to anyone else, Mulan II at the most could probably serve the pre-teen audience seeking out to know something about the customs and rituals in the ancient world.

IN SEARCH OF A BETTER LIFE…..That’s Where Boundaries Fade.

I live in Delhi, the capital of India. In a small area of 1,483 sq kms, it holds a population of nearly 13,782,976 people. Everyday I step out of my home I see soo many people, some delhiites and mostly not….the reason….? Being the capital, it has been looked upon as the land of opportunities by people from all over the country which makes them pack their bags and migrate over here. Most of them are from Bihar and UP. Over the years these people have formed another community which has become a part of this state. Treading into the city, there is not a single area where you wouldn’t find slums…poverty has been creeping up; crime has been increasing at an exponential rate. Inflation in the economy and lower living standards are just worsening the current scenario.
Majority of the delhiites lend the blame to the people who come from other cities for the present situation. And the fact is that it is true…people from other cities commit most of the crimes. The question at hand is that whether anything is being done to change this status. Why do people migrate from small villages and cities to metropolitans- in search of jobs, better livelihood, opportunities. Yes. That’s what we all need. So would it be reasonable to blame those people who come here just to find the most basic necessities of life…? Certainly not. Everyone has the right to lead a nice, comfortable life. So why are these things not being made available to people in every region…? Why is it that people are left with no other choice but to leave their home grounds and wander into the unknown streets…? Why does this phenomenon needs to take place….?
Yes, Delhi is the capital of the country and yes, it is looked upon as a dreamland and yes, it has everything that might just lure a person to settle here. But for how long…? For how long will it be able to support people from the entire country, for how long will there be enough land to dwell on, for how long will there be resources to sustain life…? What happens when the city would be nothing more than a dump of frustrated souls living in a place with scarce resources, inflation reaching new heights, the very prosperous middle class crumbling into the pressures giving way to the two extremes-the rich and the poverty stricken?
The problem of migration from villages to the cities and from countries across borders is something that occurs everywhere, every time.
While on his trip in Anatolia, Robert D Kaplan mentions Naci Garve, man selling crockery from a battered pushcart. Naci says, ‘’I am an Arab, an Alawite, the same religion as Hafez-al- Assad [Syrian ex president]. But I have no loyalty towards Syria. Sure we’ve got our problems here. Ozal’s reform did make the rich richer and poor poorer. But in Syria for decades the economy has been much worse. The Syrians cross the border to Antakya to shop. In Syria people need ration cards, but here we have so much more freedom in Syria you cant even breathe.’’
In another such encounter in turkey, he writes about a 25 year old woman named Suna from Anatolia itself. She points to a row of grim modern apartment blocks, all cheaply constructed, and says, ‘’that’s where my family is headed. Every day I look at those houses and want to live there. My husband and I have only one child. We don’t want any more. We want to give our child a life we never had. We can’t depend on the government. We’ve got to do it ourselves.’’
Overriding emphasis on the metropolitans and duly neglecting the suburbs adds to the cause. The dynamics of a country while referring to development has always been elite based and favored the political interests and ambitions of the politicians- be it Sheila dixit in Delhi or Hafez in Syria. But can development take place in only a handful of hundreds of cities? This kind of strategy leads to migration when people are forced to leave their lands in pursuit of a better life. This is exactly what leads to the ever increasing gap between the poor and the rich. And this is what leads to the condition of cities like Delhi, Anatolia. The terms and the meaning of progress need to be reassessed and readdressed. The meaning of progress is not only political and technological but most importantly a social reform.

RELIGION: THE OTHER SIDE

I am not religious and I don’t follow any religion just to please my parents or other people in the society. I've always been criticizing the preachers of any religion for being blind and illogical in their approach. But strangely, sometimes apart from just inculcating blind faith and as to what I think, irrationality, religion has an innate quality of being able to transfer morality and hope where people have lost faith in the socio-political and economic system of the society they live in. We are a part of a world which is dominated by inequalities- social, economical, political and cultural. And when I talk about this side of religion, I am referring to societies where the above mentioned institutions have miserably failed to provide the people with the basic amenities and requirements to lead their life. Societies which prevail in the third world countries, like some in Africa and Asia, where people are dying of hunger, women roaming around naked, babies abandoned by their mothers lying around in their own feces, children sorting out the garbage just to find some petty thing to eat, where its not uncommon to find people with multiple forms of malaria, tuberculosis, etc., where people murder each other just to earn a piece of bread, where even the most educated people are left with no opportunities. In these societies people are left with nothing except hope which is what religion provides them. It binds them with morality so that they don’t commit crimes-thefts, murders, kidnappings, rapes and what not.
I don’t think that following a religion changes this scenario, but it does give people something to hold on to…faith and hope that they could lead a better life without surrendering into the world of crime and death. All I can say is that I am lucky enough to have been born in a society where I can lead a life without having to believe in the very existence of god.

Indian Chicks…..Lost In Indian Popular Culture…??

Literature is the mirror image of society….so….why is it that when I want to read a novel or see a movie or a programme about the contemporary, post feminist Indian female, I hardly find anything related to it…? Bridget Jone’s Diary, Legally Blonde, Sex And The City among movies; Grey’s anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Sex And The City, Ugly Betty in the television shows; Shopaholic series , Princess Diaries, Pride and Prejudice in the chick lit genre have not only been immensely popular in the west but have also made a huge fan base in India. Then, why is there a scarcity of chick culture in the popular culture of India?
In Indian cinema women are still being given the passive roles of objects of desires or of the hardcore feminists challenging patriarchy, or of some kind of prop being used since the role of a female protagonist (however small it may be) is necessary to the plot. Indian television is still being dominated by the ever crappy saas bahu serials or over dramatic reality shows like big boss and the wide variety of talent hunt shows. As for literature is concerned, apart from two books (Trust Me & Piece Of Cake) I haven’t come across any other novel in this genre.
A contemporary Indian female would love to see a bharatiya avatar of the Bridget Jones (being bugged by her parents to wear traditional clothes and loosing weight to get married) or Rebecca Brandon (making chapatis in the kitchen for her Luke). Everyday women with everyday problems set in the Indian soil is what I’m craving for. A lighthearted yet intelligible heroine with the indianized set of problems and their unique solutions. Its certainly high time for the post feminist Chicks in Indian popular culture to mark the beginning and give the female audience something to relate to and hence really enjoy.