Even in Throwing Shoes We Indians Only Imitate

I have lost the count of number of shoes that were thrown at various public figures in India over last several weeks.

My 15-year-old son recently observed: Even in this we are copycats.

Wardrobes of India’s glamorous ramp-walkers began to malfunctions only after Janet Jackson incident.

The most popular programs on Marathi TV are often where young singers, even school-going kids, sing old Marathi songs, just imitating the original singers.

Muzaffar Ali (The Times of India, May 3, 2009):

“…The West invaded India with technology and ideas through multinationals and their hidden persuaders, the advertising agencies. With this came a new form of entertainment — the movies. Hollywood began to make inroads in the metros and small-town India and Bollywood emerged as a hybrid product — aping the West but with one eye on mofussil audiences. In the process, we created one of the world’s largest markets for the Hindi film product. This became more and more formidable, more monolithic, typecast, formula-based and predictable. It promoted obscurantism, violence, vulgarity, vengeance and ultimately, a male-dominated one-dimensional and over-the-top form of celluloid expression…

… First, we need to universalize ourselves. We need to find our roots.”



Artist: Jack Ziegler, The New Yorker, May 11 2009, Cartoon Caption Contest #192

My caption:

“Has a guest on his show kissed Jay Leno on the lips or had a wardrobe malfunction?” (A question that was asked on India’s talk show)

Feel like Going Back to School

As I have said earlier the late P L Deshpande, wrote about other entertainers- Bal Gandharva (legendary large-hearted Marathi stage artist), masters of Hindustani classical such as Kumar Gandharva; Bhimsen Joshi; Mallikarjun Mansur; Vasantrao Deshpande among others. But he never wrote about Hindi films and their music.

What a loss. Of Pu La and his fans!

Looks like NCERT has learnt from this.

Outlook magazine April 27 2009 reports:

"...The ncert is now trying to bring in mainstream Indian films with political and social themes to enable students to have a wider understanding of political history and emerging socio-economic scenarios...

...Of the nine chapters in the class XII political science text book, eight have a movie suggestion. The 1973 Garam Hawa is featured in the chapter on ‘Challenges of Nation Building’. The Balraj Sahni-starrer Haqeeqat (1964) based on the 1962 Sino-Indian war, which portrays the struggle of a small group of Indian soldiers, is part of ‘India’s External Relations’. The Amitabh Bachchan-blockbuster Zanjeer that depicts the struggle of an innocent police officer against the system is included in ‘Challenges of Restoration of the System’...

...The Om Puri and Naseeruddin-starrer Aakrosh, a powerful tale of exploitation and miscarriage of justice, and the Satyajit Ray classic Pather Panchali, a portrait of life rich in experience, but lived amid poverty, are under ‘Politics of Planned Development’..."

Students indeed should learn how bad any war is and I think there is no better place to start the process than watching Haqeeqat. Similarly, Aakrosh (1980) will tell them more about fairness of Indian judicial system than any thing else...

Many aspects of good Hindi cinema are highly under appreciated.

अशोक शहाणे Ashok Shahane writes



(नपेक्षा, Napeksha 2005)



Aakrosh 1980

Swine Flu: Harbinger of New Cosmic Cycle?

Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay in their book "What We Leave Behind":

"Industrial civilization is incompatible with life. It is systematically destroying life on this planet, undercutting its very basis. This culture is, to put it bluntly, murdering the earth. Unless it's stopped -- whether we intentionally stop it or the natural world does, through ecological collapse or other means -- it will kill every living being. We need to stop it."

Wikipedia: “Varaha is the third Avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, in the form of a Boar…The avatar symbolizes the resurrection of the Earth from a pralaya (deluge) and the establishment of a new kalpa (cosmic cycle)…”


Artist: Farley Katz, The New Yorker, April 27 2009, Cartoon Caption Contest #191

My caption:

“...Now I know...you are no ordinary piglets but the third Avatar of Lord Vishnu. I understand once you reach the earth, you will spread a flu pandemic and usher in a new cosmic cycle.”

Say No to Arun Bhatia because he calls Pune “Poona”!

Niall Ferguson:

“…Without the British Empire, there would be no Calcutta; no Bombay; no Madras. Indians may rename them as many times as they like, but they remain cities founded and built by the British…”

“Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World”, 2003)

On a TV program that was telecast on Marathi news channel IBN-Lokmat on April 21, 2009, Arun Bhatia, a candidate for Pune Loksabha seat, was heckled by studio audience because he called the city of Pune by its old and legitimate name: Poona.

And on the same day I read following in NYT:

“Name Not on Our List? Change It, China Says:

… The bureau’s computers, however, are programmed to read only 32,252 of the roughly 55,000 Chinese characters, according to a 2006 government report. The result is that Miss Ma and at least some of the 60 million other Chinese with obscure characters in their names cannot get new cards — unless they change their names to something more common…”

Chinese government wants people to change their names to suit the national database!

Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar observes in The Times of India (April 19, 2009):

“…The Indian economy grew fast in the last five years, but remained far behind China’s. India’s big population makes its GDP look big, but also means it has the largest number of poor people, infant deaths, maternal deaths in childbirth, and highest child malnutrition in the world. India cannot end Maoist violence in 160 of its 600 districts or insurrections in Kashmir and the North-East. The Indian state looks weak and incompetent even as the Chinese state looks strong and competent…

… India scarcely matters. It is still a country that instinctively seeks aid and foreign concessions. On the international scene, it is a taker, not a giver. China, however is now a giver. In the proposed expansion of the IMF’s lending, China has offered to supply $40 billion, against $100 billion from Japan and possibly the US. India does not figure in this giver’s list — it would rather be a receiver.
Even as China gets hyphenated with the US, India is getting re-hyphenated with Pakistan via Islamic militancy…”

The last word belongs to अशोक शहाणे Ashok Shahane:


["मुंबई नगरी बड़ी बांका" 1997] ( नपेक्षा, 2005)

Changes at Lakshmi Temple on Wall Street

Wiki informs: "Contrary to popular belief, ostriches do not bury their heads in the sand."

Well poet B S Mardhekar didn't know this. Or chose to ignore it. And hence he compared the god to an ostrich in following lines:

"राव, सांगतां देव कुणाला,
शहाजोग जो शहामृगासम;
..."

[बा. सी. मर्ढेकर, # 43, "मर्ढेकरांची कविता" B S Mardhekar, "Mardhekar's Poetry", 1959]

If god doesn't behave like ostrich, maybe her worshippers...

Artist: Robert Leighton, The New Yorker,April 27 2009, Cartoon Caption Contest #190

My caption:

"They are changing the carrier of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of prosperity and wealth. Remember it always symbolizes her worshippers."

Pipe Down? Think Again. Your Leg, if not Life, Depends on it.

A few weeks ago, I started feeding crows on the balcony of my house and since then I have got a glimpse of their complex society.

No wonder crows are believed to represent our ancestors. (btw-I hope my mother is among those who visit me every day!)

They say the sound of vehicle horns scare the crows away. Even here they are like me!

I was amused to read in FT (April 7, 2009) Amy Kazmin’s article “Engineer makes big noise”:

“In India, one of the most used components of any motor vehicle is the horn. Drivers navigating livestock, pedestrians, animal-drawn carts and motor vehicles lean heavily on their horns to express frustration, if not to clear a path. Trucks are emblazoned with the slogan “horn please”.

Responsible for much of India’s distinctive road noise is Roots Industries, a small private company that is also the country’s biggest hornmaker…

…Throughout most of 2008, Roots ran three shifts a day, six days a week, turning out 400,000 horns a month for its home market and for export…”

Amy Kazmin should also have said- Horn is used in lieu of break.

These days my only hope while walking or driving on Pune roads is: Let vehicle driver be kind enough to honk.

Because I don’t expect him

to drive on the right side of the road,
follow traffic signals and speed-limits,
show courtesy to elders and children,
use unadulterated fuel,
have vehicle certified for pollution laws,
possess third-party insurance policy and driving licence,
keep safe distance between two vehicles,
carry no more than certified number of passengers,
showing hand or lamp directional signals while driving,
park vehicle responsibly,
use reverse horn sparingly
…


Artist: Frank Modell, The New Yorker, March 22 1958

RTO Pune Collaborates in Great Voodoo Experiment

The Times of India reported on April 8, 2009:

“PUNE: City police commissioner Satyapal Singh on Tuesday lambasted the Regional Transport Office (RTO) over its process of issuing driving licences, saying the organisation was doling out "licences to kill".

Speaking to mediapersons at a press conference here, Singh said, "The RTO issues driving licences. But these are not driving licences, they are licences to kill. About 80 per cent of these licences are issued through agents. Due to this, the rate of fatal accidents is high in the city."

Singh alleged that over 12,000 autorickshaws and about 550 private luxury buses in the city were plying without proper permits. "The police cannot take action against these operators. That power lies with the RTO," he said.

Singh said that barely 150 of the 700 private buses in the city had permits. "The others ply on temporary permits, which is not permitted. Some 12,000 autorickshaws in the city are plying without permits. These rickshaws should be scrapped," he advised…”



Artist: Drew Dernavich, The New Yorker, April 20 2009, Cartoon Caption Contest #189

My caption:

“...Voodoo is that easy. Now you do it, lying down to begin with. In this experiment, you represent the spirit of Pune. For every pin you stick in yourself, Regional Transport Office, Pune will issue one licence."

How would Shivaji Raje Bhosle react to this?

Marathi film "Mee Shivaji Raje Bhosle Boltoy!" (मी शिवाजी राजे भोसले बोलतोय!) is supposed to be doing well at the box office.

I have not seen it. But I have a fair idea what it is about.

For Asian Age (April 13 2009), Dippy Vankani reported:

"The anti-corruption unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) says that it is the Maharashtrians, who are sub-letting the maximum number of flats that they get in Central government colonies in Mumbai. This is because these people have another home in Mumbai, but still take a government flat for the extra income from rent..."

I wonder if the sequel of MSRBB will rationalize this. It may.

Piano as an Aquarium Bar

The Times of India (April 10, 2009) has reported passing away of Shakti Samanta without mentioning "An Evening in Paris"(1967).

This was like omitting "Hamlet" from Shakespeare's obituary!

The music of "An Evening in Paris" was composed by Shankar Jaikishan.

Shankar Jaikishan and R D Burman were arguably the most prolific users of piano in Hindi cinema. (It was R D who composed one of the greatest piano songs of Hindi cinema: "pyaar diwaanaa hotaa hai, mastaanaa hotaa hain
har khushee se, har gam se, begaanaa hotaa hain" for Shakti Samanta's Kati Patang [1970] )

I just love piano: its look- majestic like an elephant- and its sound.

Piano was embraced by Indian film industry in 1930’s. Keshavrao Bhole केशवराव भोळे at Prabhat प्रभात was the first to use instruments such as the piano, the Hawaiian guitar and the violin in his compositions.

I have seen a lot of pianos in Hindi films but little of them in real life.

There are so many hummable Hindi film songs where a hero or a heroine is banging away at the piano (to be precise: pretending to do so as almost none of them knew/knows how to play it), onlookers are standing or moving around with a glass in their hands, the story is galloping forward.

Recall Brahmachari (1968):

“Dil Ke Jharoke Mein Tujko Bithakar
Yadoon Ko Teri Maein Dulhan Banakar
Rakhoonga Maein Dil Ke Paas
Mat Ho Meri Jaan Udaas,
Dil Ke Jharoke...”

Piano has always seemed a lot of real estate for me because I have lived largely in small houses. Therefore, I have always wondered: What else can it be put to use?

Here is an idea: aquarium-cum-bar.


Artist: P. C. Vey, The New Yorker, April 13 2009, Cartoon Caption Contest #188

Obama Seeks Manmohan Singh’s Advice on Paul Kroogman

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2008:

“The Leader of Opposition, Shri L.K. Advani has chosen to use all manner of abusive objectives to describe my performance. He has described me as the weakest Prime Minister, a nikamma PM, and of having devalued the office of PM…” (The Times of India)

Business Standard:

"USA's President Barack Obama: He (Manmohan Singh) has been doing a wonderful job in guiding India even prior to being the Prime Minister along the path of extraordinary economic growth. That is a marvel, I think, for all of the world," the US President remarked, apparently referring to Singh's pioneering role in India's economic liberalisation..." (April 4, 2009)

Evan Thomas writes:

“Paul Krugman has emerged as Obama's toughest liberal critic. He's deeply skeptical of the bank bailout and pessimistic about the economy…

…, he has been critical, if not hostile, to the Obama White House.
In his twice-a-week column and his blog, Conscience of a Liberal, he criticizes the Obamaites for trying to prop up a financial system that he regards as essentially a dead man walking. In conversation, he portrays Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and other top officials as, in effect, tools of Wall Street…

… says Krugman, "the White House has done very little by way of serious outreach. I've never met Obama. He pronounced my name wrong"—when, at a press conference, the president, with a slight note of irritation in his voice, invited Krugman (pronounced with an "oo," not an "uh" sound) to offer a better plan for fixing the banking system…” (Newsweek April 06, 2009)


“Dr. Singh, before we talk about Pakistan, I want your advice as a well respected economist. Is Paul Kroogman a nikamma (useless) economist?”