As once Alfred Hitchcock said: "Television has brought back murder into the home -- where it belongs.", it's evident in our life that television influences our mind and soul more than any other of media does. Therefore, it should be the responsibility of the people who design and plan advertisements for any television show to provide their fellow countrymen with right and honest information. It pains a lot to see promotion of certain biased mentalities, moral policing and superstitions through advertisements on television. A classic example of this is a few ads for beauty creams which makes one fair. In India, the definition of beauty is closely related to fairness, this is a typical aftereffect of 200 years of Colonial rule in India. For more than 80% people in India, the rule still applies that fair colour of skin is superior. It's surprising to see that instead of trying to eradicate this particular mentality, certain beauty products are trying to sell their products by banking on this typical sick mentality. This is not confined to only girls, who gets converted into beauty contestants just before their arranged marriage, but to the boys also, who dream of attracting beautiful ladies by getting fairer. A very famous superstar endorses this product by showing his glowing face which, according to him, attracts more number of girls than anybody else on earth. Sometimes I wonder, is it really a quest for self hood to attract more number of girls in one's life? However, this ad is very popular on television, and nobody, including the educated lot of the country, tries to do anything to at least protest this mental sickness. There are products, which claim to save you from bad spirits and "Budi Nazar" of your neighbours. Sometimes I really wonder whether we live in a civilised modern-day society or our science is totally wrong. There are more products which openly claim the existence of God and try to site some lame examples in support of their claim.
It's not mandatory to force scientific thoughts on all the people of the country, but whatever is harmful to the progress of the society should not be entertained. We all know that the fairness issue has brought disasters to the lives of innumerable girls in rural and urban India. The superstitions of Bad Spirits have ruined so many lives from middle ages to this era. People fight like insane fanatics in the name of God. Then what is the purpose of endorsing self-destruction? Why the Censor Board is not proactive on these issues than moral-policing on the viewers of the country?
Perhaps our is in the hand of wrong and dishonest people who prefer to turn a blind eye towards the progress of the country, culture and society.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
An Imaginary Conversation
Once upon a time, there was a common man in the land of Gandhi, Netaji, Sachin, Amitabh etc.. and in the same country there was a philosopher. One fine morning, the two happened to meet each other. An interesting conversation took place as follows:
Common Man: Hello Mr. Philosopher. Good Morning.
Philosopher: Hello Mr. Common Man, what's happening in life?
CM: Nothing much. As usual.
P: I must say, you common people pretend to see life as it is, look around you my friend, so many things are happening, cars are polluting the environment, politicians are destroying the integrity of our country, terrorists are killing innocent people. Open your eyes.
CM: Very true, but don't forget, we are common man, our only democratic right is to vote, if that too is not rigged.
P: That's not true, you can always topple the Government, remember you have the power of mass, the power of numbers and the power of support.
CM: Now it's time to open your eyes Mr, do you really think in a country like ours, we can really do something?
P: Why not? You need to have the intent and the quality.
CM: Imagine a situation where every common man is trying to look after their own families, obviously they won't take part in any kind of movement which will jeopardise their constant source of maintenance.
P: You need to think above that, otherwise our country wouldn't have got freedom.
CM: There lies the paradox, my friend, if we think above that, no longer we are common man.
P: It's not a paradox, we try to fit our weaknesses and excuses behind the mask of a common man. The definition of common man itself is different. When the common people of a country thinks proactively, the country moves to progress.
CM: And what about the corruptions? The unethical forces and superstitions?
P: Don't you think the common people of the country are largely responsible for that?
CM: True, but what's the solution? We can't rectify everything and start from scratch again, it's out of control now.
P: It seems so, but there are solutions.
CM: Don't tell me that you are supporting certain terrorist activities in some states who claim to represent the common people and rectify the system.
P: Not really, because they don't have selfless motivation like our freedom fighters had.
CM: I understand, but we, people of this country are forcibly moulded into this kind of dormant, selfish and lifeless image, so we really lack the self-confidence.
P: Nothing is permanent my friend, you will realise that. Even in Purana also, it is said that new era begins after a deluge.
CM: Your words are inspiring, but we have to look after ourselves, we have to be selfish, we have to struggle for our families, it's not our choice but compulsion, we don't have ambitions, but we have to earn everything, we have to fight. We don't get opportunities, even if it's there, we are forcibly pushed aside to make way for leaders. We forget that people make leaders, we believe in our leader and they always betray us, and we search for new leaders instead of believing in ourselves. We worship God and leave everything to Him. We criticise others, but commit the same mistakes. We are common people, deprived, full of mistakes, selfishness and devoid of self-respect. You can't change that so easily.
P: I think our discussion is like two lines of the railway track, they tend to meet at a distance, but actually they are parallel and will never meet.
CM: That's why we should stop this non-sense before we ourselves get bored. Goodbye friend.
P: Goodbye.
And thereafter the common man went to his own way to earn living for his family. The philosopher started thinking about the outcome of the conversation. I don't know whether he was able to succeed or not.
Common Man: Hello Mr. Philosopher. Good Morning.
Philosopher: Hello Mr. Common Man, what's happening in life?
CM: Nothing much. As usual.
P: I must say, you common people pretend to see life as it is, look around you my friend, so many things are happening, cars are polluting the environment, politicians are destroying the integrity of our country, terrorists are killing innocent people. Open your eyes.
CM: Very true, but don't forget, we are common man, our only democratic right is to vote, if that too is not rigged.
P: That's not true, you can always topple the Government, remember you have the power of mass, the power of numbers and the power of support.
CM: Now it's time to open your eyes Mr, do you really think in a country like ours, we can really do something?
P: Why not? You need to have the intent and the quality.
CM: Imagine a situation where every common man is trying to look after their own families, obviously they won't take part in any kind of movement which will jeopardise their constant source of maintenance.
P: You need to think above that, otherwise our country wouldn't have got freedom.
CM: There lies the paradox, my friend, if we think above that, no longer we are common man.
P: It's not a paradox, we try to fit our weaknesses and excuses behind the mask of a common man. The definition of common man itself is different. When the common people of a country thinks proactively, the country moves to progress.
CM: And what about the corruptions? The unethical forces and superstitions?
P: Don't you think the common people of the country are largely responsible for that?
CM: True, but what's the solution? We can't rectify everything and start from scratch again, it's out of control now.
P: It seems so, but there are solutions.
CM: Don't tell me that you are supporting certain terrorist activities in some states who claim to represent the common people and rectify the system.
P: Not really, because they don't have selfless motivation like our freedom fighters had.
CM: I understand, but we, people of this country are forcibly moulded into this kind of dormant, selfish and lifeless image, so we really lack the self-confidence.
P: Nothing is permanent my friend, you will realise that. Even in Purana also, it is said that new era begins after a deluge.
CM: Your words are inspiring, but we have to look after ourselves, we have to be selfish, we have to struggle for our families, it's not our choice but compulsion, we don't have ambitions, but we have to earn everything, we have to fight. We don't get opportunities, even if it's there, we are forcibly pushed aside to make way for leaders. We forget that people make leaders, we believe in our leader and they always betray us, and we search for new leaders instead of believing in ourselves. We worship God and leave everything to Him. We criticise others, but commit the same mistakes. We are common people, deprived, full of mistakes, selfishness and devoid of self-respect. You can't change that so easily.
P: I think our discussion is like two lines of the railway track, they tend to meet at a distance, but actually they are parallel and will never meet.
CM: That's why we should stop this non-sense before we ourselves get bored. Goodbye friend.
P: Goodbye.
And thereafter the common man went to his own way to earn living for his family. The philosopher started thinking about the outcome of the conversation. I don't know whether he was able to succeed or not.
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Colors
Did I ever dream of a life less colorful? A life in monochrome? Or in color-accent? A life like "Sin City"? 
Colors are tickling of Neurons,
Or waves that emblazon,
The flowers are pretty and the sky adorns-
My glass of reddish heavenly drops.
But my life is still filled with color droplets. Who says the dreams are mundane, colorless display of electro-chemical neurotic events?
I live the colors of life-
My colors are blue in pain-
And red stains like blood-
on a white soul. And yellow-
in honey-dipped gold-
Green in trees and faces in refreshing siesta.
Black is glorious in space and perfect in elegance and grace.
I am gifted with a life not less ordinary, colors are my mirrors of joy.
Colors are tickling of Neurons,
Or waves that emblazon,
The flowers are pretty and the sky adorns-
My glass of reddish heavenly drops.
But my life is still filled with color droplets. Who says the dreams are mundane, colorless display of electro-chemical neurotic events?
I live the colors of life-
My colors are blue in pain-
And red stains like blood-
on a white soul. And yellow-
in honey-dipped gold-
Green in trees and faces in refreshing siesta.
Black is glorious in space and perfect in elegance and grace.
I am gifted with a life not less ordinary, colors are my mirrors of joy.
Monday, 25 January 2010
The girl from tomorrow
A poem inspired by "The solitary reaper" and "The girl from yesterday"---
They went through the same way-After a long night,
And they left nobody behind.Till there was light-
Enough to shadow the darkness,They called out her name,
The moment she looked at my eyes-And evening came-
Through the trees of the dark forest,Over pale green Highland-
Where small creeks ran silver,Then she waved her hand-
She left all her neighbours,She left all her friends,
She left the lights and highland shades,She left the trees so dense.
She lent me her eyes-Through them I saw the greens,
I saw the cloud - golden and proud-And the the sky that leans-
To kiss her hand that holds horizon,And she looked at my eyes-
And they called out her name again-And she left to see the sun rise-
In some other part of the landscape-With eyes soaked in sorrow,
And she left the highland vale-The girl from tomorrow.
They went through the same way-After a long night,
And they left nobody behind.Till there was light-
Enough to shadow the darkness,They called out her name,
The moment she looked at my eyes-And evening came-
Through the trees of the dark forest,Over pale green Highland-
Where small creeks ran silver,Then she waved her hand-
She left all her neighbours,She left all her friends,
She left the lights and highland shades,She left the trees so dense.
She lent me her eyes-Through them I saw the greens,
I saw the cloud - golden and proud-And the the sky that leans-
To kiss her hand that holds horizon,And she looked at my eyes-
And they called out her name again-And she left to see the sun rise-
In some other part of the landscape-With eyes soaked in sorrow,
And she left the highland vale-The girl from tomorrow.
Bangalore-it's a (s)pity
Why do people in bangalore spit so much? Is it because of the paranoia that their oesophagus is always filled with dust and filth and they want to get rid of it by mixing it with the saliva and spitting it out? Is it because they are always disgusted about the traffic condition? Is it because they want to settle the dust on the road by drenching it in saliva? It's difficult to fathom. But it's very very annoying to see someone continuously spitting on the roads, be it an auto-driver or a cab driver or a common man or an industrialist.
When I start for office every morning, I really get irritated to see loads of spit on the roads. It looks like the whole dusty road is marked with dark spots. I really have to look at the roads and walk so that I don't step on somebody's saliva which he/she has indifferently donated to the outside world in an effort to reduce the dust in the air (perhaps). When I was a kid, I was tought in school that people shouldn't spit on roads because it might carry germs of infectious diseases which might transfer through air. I wonder whether people here get the same education in schools as I have seen so many parents walking along the street holding hand of their offsprings and spitting randomly on roads. I might be a little bit sarcastic in this statement, but it is a serious issue. I don't know the solution.
Might be the Government should take possible steps to change the habit of the common people. I have seen inside the software office campus and inside the movie theatres boards with "Do not spit" written on it. May be the same thing could be done in all the places and in hoardings and signboards by the side of the roads (it might degrade the image of the city a little bit to the foreigners, but still better than a foreign citizen experiencing the actual incident). Government can arrange some awareness sessions and enforce some law and fine if somebody spits on the road. Perhaps the Government is too busy in building 9km long flyovers (useless?) and decorating the boulevards. The image of the city and it's citigens is at stake.
When I start for office every morning, I really get irritated to see loads of spit on the roads. It looks like the whole dusty road is marked with dark spots. I really have to look at the roads and walk so that I don't step on somebody's saliva which he/she has indifferently donated to the outside world in an effort to reduce the dust in the air (perhaps). When I was a kid, I was tought in school that people shouldn't spit on roads because it might carry germs of infectious diseases which might transfer through air. I wonder whether people here get the same education in schools as I have seen so many parents walking along the street holding hand of their offsprings and spitting randomly on roads. I might be a little bit sarcastic in this statement, but it is a serious issue. I don't know the solution.
Might be the Government should take possible steps to change the habit of the common people. I have seen inside the software office campus and inside the movie theatres boards with "Do not spit" written on it. May be the same thing could be done in all the places and in hoardings and signboards by the side of the roads (it might degrade the image of the city a little bit to the foreigners, but still better than a foreign citizen experiencing the actual incident). Government can arrange some awareness sessions and enforce some law and fine if somebody spits on the road. Perhaps the Government is too busy in building 9km long flyovers (useless?) and decorating the boulevards. The image of the city and it's citigens is at stake.
Saturday, 23 January 2010
A hole in the Wall
When I sit inside a centrally air-conditioned room in a cubicle before a 2GB RAM, LCD monitor, wireless optical mouse system and drink capuccino from a vending machine free of cost, do I really think of the outside world? Outside my cubicle, outside my building and outside my office premises? This very thought sounds very cliche, I know, because whenever people who do not work in software industry, criticise techies, their first weapon of attack spits fire with similar questions. But if I really think of such an issue with an unbiased mind, I can see the wall. The wall is everywhere, in every aspect of life.
When I was a small kid, I used to go to the common market with my father where the shops were merely a torn piece of jute bags on which the shopkeeper used to sit, a sheet of tarpoulin supported by two bamboo sticks and piles of vegetables and fruits infront of the shop. My father used to do a lot of bargain with the sellers and I used to be happy to see both the faces of my father and the seller smiling after a fair bargain. I don't get the same feeling in the supermarkets of Reliance Fresh, Spar or Foodworld where the shops are meant to be customer friendly. The wall is clearly seen. The techies don't bargain in their day to day life. May be because of a lot of money in their hand but an immature mind to spend it wisely or may be because they lack the skill, but it is a fact that they interact very less with the people outside their known world of cyberspace and ostentation. Even if the Autowallah is asking for an unfair price, they feel helpless and throw the money on the face of the person rather than interacting with him unabusively and making him understand that the techies are also normal people who are not meant for spending money unwisely. From a cofeeshop to the workspace, a wall is intentionally erected to distinguish the software professionals from the other people of the society. Sounds like a conspiracy theory?
The world outside is much bigger than our cubicles and still we like to fight over 10% increments is salary, night shifts, a career in management and promotions to a fictitious level which has got nothing to do with the common people of the outside world. We are confined to a monotonous lifestyle, routine works, self-inflicted pompousness and seclusion from the society of good and bad people, honest and dishonest people, known as the common people. The wall is built and we all are the bricks of it. Pink Floyd wrote it in a different context but the main aim is the same, but we won't learn. Time to drill a hole in it.
When I was a small kid, I used to go to the common market with my father where the shops were merely a torn piece of jute bags on which the shopkeeper used to sit, a sheet of tarpoulin supported by two bamboo sticks and piles of vegetables and fruits infront of the shop. My father used to do a lot of bargain with the sellers and I used to be happy to see both the faces of my father and the seller smiling after a fair bargain. I don't get the same feeling in the supermarkets of Reliance Fresh, Spar or Foodworld where the shops are meant to be customer friendly. The wall is clearly seen. The techies don't bargain in their day to day life. May be because of a lot of money in their hand but an immature mind to spend it wisely or may be because they lack the skill, but it is a fact that they interact very less with the people outside their known world of cyberspace and ostentation. Even if the Autowallah is asking for an unfair price, they feel helpless and throw the money on the face of the person rather than interacting with him unabusively and making him understand that the techies are also normal people who are not meant for spending money unwisely. From a cofeeshop to the workspace, a wall is intentionally erected to distinguish the software professionals from the other people of the society. Sounds like a conspiracy theory?
The world outside is much bigger than our cubicles and still we like to fight over 10% increments is salary, night shifts, a career in management and promotions to a fictitious level which has got nothing to do with the common people of the outside world. We are confined to a monotonous lifestyle, routine works, self-inflicted pompousness and seclusion from the society of good and bad people, honest and dishonest people, known as the common people. The wall is built and we all are the bricks of it. Pink Floyd wrote it in a different context but the main aim is the same, but we won't learn. Time to drill a hole in it.
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