Bollywood Dancing
6 years ago
Sunday, October 23, 2005
GDP!
I have always considered the GDP to be a very limited measure of growth and the economist's world view as one based on easy assumptions that, while not completely flawed definitely need to be revisited. Have never had the time or patience to dwell on it in this space. So if you are interested let me point you to a discussion on the topic that Dilip D. is intiating. There!
In between laundry and the bills
... is 'updating my blog' on my list of Sunday chores!!! Sad but true. I've been so busy lately haven't had time to breathe. Business related travel, buying a car, getting more involved with my church and of course work, work and work and ... oh yes, work!
Anyway, managed to catch up with an old friend who happened to be in the same area as my last trip. It was great... I love meeting up with old friends, especially after long gaps, because its an occasion that reflects change, in the time that has passed in between. Its often difficult in the mad rush of the mundane to notice how we are all changing, which of course we are all the time, slowly but surely. I was glad to find thinning hair the only thing on the list of "changes" that I disagreed with my friend on. All other changes seemed fun and it was great synching up again.
Meanwhile, winter seems to be settling in. The fall colors are fading and the forests are looking more and more like broom-sticks up for sale. And the wind like a true salesman in howling for customers, as it slickly pries its way into every nook and corner leaving behind a chill and no leaf unturned. Which, of course makes sense, given that Haloween is round the corner and I am sure the neighbor-hood witch and wizard are looking for a new wand and a tough fuel-efficient broom stick.
Well Diwali is round the corner too. So we light our candles side by side with our carved pumkins and invite the weird, the strange, the preposterous, the outrageous and the good ol' normal to sit down to a sumptuous dinner of tandoori chicken and saag paneer. There's going to be enough space to park your cars and brooms and stack up your hats and hoods and a stand for your sticks, umbrellas and wands.
Anyway, now I need to move on to the bills.
Anyway, managed to catch up with an old friend who happened to be in the same area as my last trip. It was great... I love meeting up with old friends, especially after long gaps, because its an occasion that reflects change, in the time that has passed in between. Its often difficult in the mad rush of the mundane to notice how we are all changing, which of course we are all the time, slowly but surely. I was glad to find thinning hair the only thing on the list of "changes" that I disagreed with my friend on. All other changes seemed fun and it was great synching up again.
Meanwhile, winter seems to be settling in. The fall colors are fading and the forests are looking more and more like broom-sticks up for sale. And the wind like a true salesman in howling for customers, as it slickly pries its way into every nook and corner leaving behind a chill and no leaf unturned. Which, of course makes sense, given that Haloween is round the corner and I am sure the neighbor-hood witch and wizard are looking for a new wand and a tough fuel-efficient broom stick.
Well Diwali is round the corner too. So we light our candles side by side with our carved pumkins and invite the weird, the strange, the preposterous, the outrageous and the good ol' normal to sit down to a sumptuous dinner of tandoori chicken and saag paneer. There's going to be enough space to park your cars and brooms and stack up your hats and hoods and a stand for your sticks, umbrellas and wands.
Anyway, now I need to move on to the bills.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Festive season
This is the festive season in Bengal. The season which makes us all feel joyous and good. Unfortunately all is not well for our brothers and sisters. South Bengal is still flooding and rivers are breaking levees and leaving the poorest of the poor homeless and stranded in water. While Calcutta prepares to celebrate with the usual glamour and fanfare, the voices of the flooded usually get wiped off the mainstream. My prayers for them. (Thats about all we can do... )
But in the middle of it all here is a beautiful story. It moved me.
A prayer for all human beings to find their humanity, this Pujo.
But in the middle of it all here is a beautiful story. It moved me.
A prayer for all human beings to find their humanity, this Pujo.
Wet
Exactly reflects my pov on coming out... especially at the work place. Of course, its one of those slightly self defeating arguments. The premise is: My job should have nothing to do with my personal life, so why bother to come out. Well if truely work has nothing to do with our personal lives then why not come out!!! Of course the issue is, that most of the time we don't come out at work is to avoid discrimination (least resistance). Which of course means that our personal lives do influence our work place performance. Like a cat running after its own tail.
Lately the weather has been wet and cold. The rain droplets on my window pane are making it look like a shimmering curtain of glass beads. Light from the street lamp is being bent by the water to the remotest corners of my living room. The reflections are scaring my poor pumpkin, and the twinkle of the holiday lights seem to mingle with the shimmer of the raindrops.
The clouds keep coming in from the lake, spilling over the hills through the colored forests into the valleys where we live. Invading our hearts and minds with a touch of damp melancholy.
Lately the weather has been wet and cold. The rain droplets on my window pane are making it look like a shimmering curtain of glass beads. Light from the street lamp is being bent by the water to the remotest corners of my living room. The reflections are scaring my poor pumpkin, and the twinkle of the holiday lights seem to mingle with the shimmer of the raindrops.
The clouds keep coming in from the lake, spilling over the hills through the colored forests into the valleys where we live. Invading our hearts and minds with a touch of damp melancholy.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Gandhi and Apple Pie!
Today is Gandhi's birthday and a good time to re-examine and understand his values of non-violence in a world torn by strife. Thats exactly what the church service this morning dealt with; the all importance of dialogue without the easy recourse to violence and war. My reflection for the day is: Gandhi after his relentless efforts at bringing freedom to the sub-continent abstained from the Indian Independence Day celebrations as they were marred by the riots and violence that followed the partition. Ironic.
My grandmother (who is a terribly smart woman!) was a little girl during partition and to this day she has vivid, horrid memories of how they had to leave "in whatever they were wearing." It is indeed interesting that years hence, while she was in Cleveland, OH (my uncle was there in the 80s) she adopted a Bangladeshi Muslim woman. I find great solace in this story and have learnt that sometimes the best way to heal wounds is not by taking revenge but by compassionately giving of oneself.
On a slightly different note, its been a beautiful weekend so far. The trees are a riot of colors and there is the smell of harvest in the air. I went to the farmer's market yesterday and got a dozen apples. Organically grown, some of them even had worms in them... delightful! Then I spent all afternoon baking an apple pie. It turned out pretty well. The crust was a trifle too crunchy, but if you don't mind a crumbling crust, its delicious. Now the house is smelling of apples and cinamon.
Drop by if you want a slice of the pie. Its sitting on my kitchen table :)
My grandmother (who is a terribly smart woman!) was a little girl during partition and to this day she has vivid, horrid memories of how they had to leave "in whatever they were wearing." It is indeed interesting that years hence, while she was in Cleveland, OH (my uncle was there in the 80s) she adopted a Bangladeshi Muslim woman. I find great solace in this story and have learnt that sometimes the best way to heal wounds is not by taking revenge but by compassionately giving of oneself.
On a slightly different note, its been a beautiful weekend so far. The trees are a riot of colors and there is the smell of harvest in the air. I went to the farmer's market yesterday and got a dozen apples. Organically grown, some of them even had worms in them... delightful! Then I spent all afternoon baking an apple pie. It turned out pretty well. The crust was a trifle too crunchy, but if you don't mind a crumbling crust, its delicious. Now the house is smelling of apples and cinamon.
Drop by if you want a slice of the pie. Its sitting on my kitchen table :)
Saturday, October 01, 2005
The Cinema!
To start with lets get this clear once and for all, there is no space for censorship of artistic expression in a free society. And I will not entertain any stupid arguments like, 'oh! but what if art incites crime.' Thats like saying we need to ban religion because religion does in fact incite crime (in case you didn't notice, the worst genocides in human history have had religious motivations! Art has had a far better track record.)
Uber Homme in his most recent blog raises an interesting question that I have on many occasions discussed in various friend circles. What is the role of cinema in society? I will take the liberty of adressing the question in the context of cinema as a medium of artistic expression.
Professionally I am an engineer... and at the risk of making a sweeping generalization, it is fair to say that engineers usually tend to be very conservative. So most people I have/continue to work with, often don't see the distinction between art and entertainment and the typical response from such quarters is: Well, cinema and the performing arts, is part of the entertainment industry. This attitude is, strangely, quite prevalent in the "main stream" and big "industries" like Bollywood and Hollywood, which more often than not dish out productions that are mostly lame narratives with no vision, aimed at pandering to the conservative mainstream (CM). Thus "sex and violence" in a movie is treated as a selling point. The CM love it and don't complain about it as long as the movies are philosophically vacuous (plain fun!!) and they can walk away "feeling good"!! That is a major chunk of the market and it mostly drives commercial and mainstream (uggh! how i hate that word) cinema.
Now of course there is the parallel stream of avant garde cinema that is often referred to as "art films" or "art house cinema"... just to remind you that they make an attempt at art and you may not walk away "feeling good". So while the plastic Aishwarya Rais and the lips-pressed-agianst-a-glass-pane Angelina Jolies make glamorous guest appearances in every other staright man's fantasy, the Shabana Azmies of the world need to go and shave their heads to attract attention to burning social issues... most of the time only being successful in attracting ridicule and insult. Such movies are rarely viewed by the CM, partly also because they are rarely marketed to them. However, on the rare occasion that they do get attention it is usually because someone's sensibilities have been offended and politicians (especially in the sub-continent) ride high on such situations in proving their high moral fiber and their ability to protect the people from such corruption. Usually it brings about censorship, or in America (where thankfully censorship is absent) new labels like "family friendly" or simple social censorship (Sponge Bob square pants is gay and a no-no from the the Family some-council or the other!). While I make no claims about the quality of all such productions, I underscore that this is the cinema space that we need to look at to understand the role of cinema in society.
Today cinema is the most commonly consumed artistic medium. Everybody watches movies, though everybody may or may not go to the opera, theater or art exhibitions. Therefore the purpose of art in society is best fulfilled through the medium of cinema. And that brings us to the purpose of cinema in society: Cinema like any other art needs to provoke. It needs to challenge the individual to examine their lives and be an agent of change. Why? because otherwise we tend to too often fall into comfort zones and not only resist change but also breed intolerance to new ideas and methods.
This is not new. For centuries artists all over the world have served this purpose. To creatively think beyond the boundaries of the norm and to redefine it. Clearly all their ideas are not practical or feasible, but then how can we know if they aren't allowed to express. Besides, if I may point out, most revolutionary ideas that have indeed changed the world, have often started off by not being well received and in fact being very unpopular.
The fool in the King's court, immortalized in so many of Shakespeare's plays, has in his folly spoken wisely and dared to point out that which no other could... all behind the mask of theater, of playful banter. They have simulated 'what-if' scenarios in the King's court and provoked thought... using their liscence for folly to explore realms that any other courtier would not dare suggest. Fools were able to envision and express freely with scant regard to existing hierarchies. Hence, the artistic liscence, the need for art to go beyond the established, not reinforce it. Hence, the open-minded, liberal and often nebulous thinking patterns among artists.
In today's world where the predominant culture is extremely anti-intellectual and the emphasis is consistently more on form than function, its critical that cinema, be allowed to freely capture nuanced views of life today, nuanced representations and interpretations of history (note, not revise history or assult its factual integrity) and freely explore "what-if" scenarios, however unpopular. There in lies the promise of change.
ps: while I foul mouth both Bollywood and Hollywood all the time, its important to point out that all the movies about inter-caste/inter-community/inter-race romance in the 60s and 70s went a long way to liberalize the way people think. Any form of censorship, no matter how trivial, can only do harm. I hope that even as I speak, there is change afoot, the results of which we will see many years hence.
Uber Homme in his most recent blog raises an interesting question that I have on many occasions discussed in various friend circles. What is the role of cinema in society? I will take the liberty of adressing the question in the context of cinema as a medium of artistic expression.
Professionally I am an engineer... and at the risk of making a sweeping generalization, it is fair to say that engineers usually tend to be very conservative. So most people I have/continue to work with, often don't see the distinction between art and entertainment and the typical response from such quarters is: Well, cinema and the performing arts, is part of the entertainment industry. This attitude is, strangely, quite prevalent in the "main stream" and big "industries" like Bollywood and Hollywood, which more often than not dish out productions that are mostly lame narratives with no vision, aimed at pandering to the conservative mainstream (CM). Thus "sex and violence" in a movie is treated as a selling point. The CM love it and don't complain about it as long as the movies are philosophically vacuous (plain fun!!) and they can walk away "feeling good"!! That is a major chunk of the market and it mostly drives commercial and mainstream (uggh! how i hate that word) cinema.
Now of course there is the parallel stream of avant garde cinema that is often referred to as "art films" or "art house cinema"... just to remind you that they make an attempt at art and you may not walk away "feeling good". So while the plastic Aishwarya Rais and the lips-pressed-agianst-a-glass-pane Angelina Jolies make glamorous guest appearances in every other staright man's fantasy, the Shabana Azmies of the world need to go and shave their heads to attract attention to burning social issues... most of the time only being successful in attracting ridicule and insult. Such movies are rarely viewed by the CM, partly also because they are rarely marketed to them. However, on the rare occasion that they do get attention it is usually because someone's sensibilities have been offended and politicians (especially in the sub-continent) ride high on such situations in proving their high moral fiber and their ability to protect the people from such corruption. Usually it brings about censorship, or in America (where thankfully censorship is absent) new labels like "family friendly" or simple social censorship (Sponge Bob square pants is gay and a no-no from the the Family some-council or the other!). While I make no claims about the quality of all such productions, I underscore that this is the cinema space that we need to look at to understand the role of cinema in society.
Today cinema is the most commonly consumed artistic medium. Everybody watches movies, though everybody may or may not go to the opera, theater or art exhibitions. Therefore the purpose of art in society is best fulfilled through the medium of cinema. And that brings us to the purpose of cinema in society: Cinema like any other art needs to provoke. It needs to challenge the individual to examine their lives and be an agent of change. Why? because otherwise we tend to too often fall into comfort zones and not only resist change but also breed intolerance to new ideas and methods.
This is not new. For centuries artists all over the world have served this purpose. To creatively think beyond the boundaries of the norm and to redefine it. Clearly all their ideas are not practical or feasible, but then how can we know if they aren't allowed to express. Besides, if I may point out, most revolutionary ideas that have indeed changed the world, have often started off by not being well received and in fact being very unpopular.
The fool in the King's court, immortalized in so many of Shakespeare's plays, has in his folly spoken wisely and dared to point out that which no other could... all behind the mask of theater, of playful banter. They have simulated 'what-if' scenarios in the King's court and provoked thought... using their liscence for folly to explore realms that any other courtier would not dare suggest. Fools were able to envision and express freely with scant regard to existing hierarchies. Hence, the artistic liscence, the need for art to go beyond the established, not reinforce it. Hence, the open-minded, liberal and often nebulous thinking patterns among artists.
In today's world where the predominant culture is extremely anti-intellectual and the emphasis is consistently more on form than function, its critical that cinema, be allowed to freely capture nuanced views of life today, nuanced representations and interpretations of history (note, not revise history or assult its factual integrity) and freely explore "what-if" scenarios, however unpopular. There in lies the promise of change.
ps: while I foul mouth both Bollywood and Hollywood all the time, its important to point out that all the movies about inter-caste/inter-community/inter-race romance in the 60s and 70s went a long way to liberalize the way people think. Any form of censorship, no matter how trivial, can only do harm. I hope that even as I speak, there is change afoot, the results of which we will see many years hence.
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