A Movie, an Exhibition, and a Show

Oh man, yesterday was a busy day.

Went for the 10.00 A.M Mass, which I realised was a Feast Mass when I got there. The church grounds (formerly a parking lot) and the streets outside were filled with stalls selling interesting stuff and mostly junk respectively.

Mass finished early and I spent about an hour at home before catching an almost empty train to Bandra for a one and a half hour movie that started at 2.00 (supposed to start at 1.30) - Good Morning Heartache - which turned out to be a dud. I was only one of four viewers.

Ate a Sub after the movie, walked to the station, and took another almost empty train from Bandra to Churchgate. My destination was the Piramal Art gallery at the NCPA for 'Walk on the Wild Side' - a Sanctuary-RBS wildlife photography exhibition. Walked to the NCPA from Churchgate station, passing the Oberoi Trident on the way, which is currently being renovated following 26/11. The entire footpath around the hotel was cordoned off, and almost everyone passing the hotel along the road outside or Marine Drive opposite paused to take a look at it and maybe take a photo as well.

Reached the NCPA at 5.00. The exhibition turned out to be very good. It was divided into segments featuring 'Mutts' cartoon strips; the top three annual Sanctuary prize winning photos from 2000 onwards (the ones that stood out were mating muggers, pelicans in the water vying for food with sunlight glinting off their beaks and the water, an elephant carrying a dead monitor lizard, a red panda, an elephant struck by a train); special mention photos detailing rare birds, mammals (like young desert foxes), amphibians, and animal behaviour; and photos detailing poaching and the wildlife trade. Articles about the link between wildlife trade and terrorism were also displayed.

Left the exhibition at 5.30 and sat at Marine Drive for a while to get some pictures of the sky at sunset and surrounding buildings.






Then headed off to Bandra once again for a performance at St. Peter's by different parish choirs. Listening to Christmas carols is the best way to bring in the Christmas feeling, and with church choirs, you get to listen to the more spiritual ones rather than the pop ones. Choirs I liked best were St. Anne's and the children's choir. St. Peter's and Mt. Carmel were pretty good, while St. Michael's, St. Andrew's, the Chuim choir, and St. Teresa's were O.K.

People don't realise how hard life in a choir can be. It may look romantic and awesome on stage. That's what the audience gets to see. What they don't see are the continuous rehearsals that take place one or twice or thrice a week, with practice frequencies increasing as the performance date nears. They don't get to see how each person in the choir is tested and then assigned a place based on his/her voice, how they have to memorise the words of each song, and master their timing so their twenty voices are made to sound as one, how the choir master makes them start the entire song over again each time something goes wrong or doesn't sound right, no matter how painstaking it may be; the final feeling of elation the first time during practice that the group pulls of a song perfectly, and the camaraderie formed.

It's always fun to see children sing as well. Their voices make for easy listening, and it's always fun to see them bowled over by the audience applause, with their conductor telling them to bow, and them being in a daze and not hearing her all at once, so they end up doing something resembling a reverse Mexican wave with their bodies :-)

Left the church at 8.30, had a Kesar shake at Karachi (they make excellent ones), and went home at last. Passed by I.C Church on the bus home and was glad to miss all the commotion at the fair. Seriously, we really need to do something about toning down the fair or banning it altogether. It's a blot on the colony, a security nightmare as well I'm guessing, and an pot pourri of pollution and crowding, with all it's associated problems like inappropriate behaviour, eve-teasing, harassment, etc. Whatever happened to simple good old fashioned fun? What we have here instead is a filthy Mela with the suburb's choicest collection of rowdy low-life's.

And here's Milburn Cherian's depiction of what happened the last time someone tried to clean up a holy place.

A Movie, an Exhibition, and a Show

Movie Seen - The Kingdom

Saw this on Sat. Surprisingly good, and without that many cliches. The starting is eerily similar to the events in this city two weeks ago.

Movie Seen - The Kingdom

Avoiding Cynicism

I fear I've grown cynical as an adult. I seem to take things for granted that I, as a kid, would normally be in awe of. Take visiting a restaurant for example. As a kid, every visit to a restaurant, whether it was a fast food or a fancy and expensive one, would be an adventure for me, but nowadays, I seem to take these visits for granted, they're all pretty insignificant. I seem to have lost that feeling of wonder that I used to experience every time I went somewhere, even if I'd been there previously, whether it was a restaurant, hotel, park or just anywhere. My questions are one, why is this so? and two, is this normal, or something I should be worried about?

The answer to the first question is simple. Priorities change. Adults see the world through different eyes compared to kids. The second question is trickier. It's completely normal to not feel the same way about stuff that you felt as a kid. But what's not normal is that it's replaced by such a level of cynicism. It can't all be because of frequency. I go out as an adult about as often as I did when I was a kid. I suppose in one way, it's O.K. Restaurant wise, Mumbai is full of good cheap restaurants for the common man, where the food is good, service is quick and the ambiance is non-existent. Maybe the point of these places that I frequent is that you're supposed to take them for granted.

But that doesn't explain my present ho-hum reaction to all the fancier places. Why? To answer this, I'll need to look back to my childhood again, beyond the changing priorities and differing world views, to the fact that maybe I was never in complete control of my life when I was a kid. The only time I went out was with my parents as they handled everything. The travel, the ordering, paying, etc. So, could that be the main reason I saw the world through rose coloured glasses then, as compared to now?

If that's true, does an aspect of the world cease to be amazing once you figure out you can control it? The answer might be yes. Look at magic tricks. When I was a kid, I used to practice all these magic tricks as a hobby. One thing I realised growing up was that every trick I saw on T.V that looked amazing would cease to be amazing once I found out how it was done. Even adults feel the same way. Watch a group of people watching David Blane levitate or Chris Angel walk on water and then watch their faces as you tell them how it's done. All you get is a blank look. You've taken away the awe and wonder that they felt just a moment ago. You've given them knowledge which leads to a feeling of control, but at what cost? I guess sometimes ignorance is bliss. Sometimes, people prefer ignorance, even if they don't know it at the time.

So does not being in control prevent cynicism, which in turn increases feelings of awe and wonder that lead to happiness? Maybe for some things in my life that I know will make me happy if I don't try to control them. But having someone lead you by the hand everywhere and spoon feed you all the time certainly isn't a solution. So if being in control of things is a natural human progression, so too must be the cynicism that goes with it. So that answers my second question about this being normal. And brings up a third one. Should I do anything about it?

Sure I should. I have a right to be as happy as possible as often as possible. How do I do this? First let me look at the other things that make me happy. Like music and movies. Maybe I can find a pattern here. I love watching Spielberg movies because they make me feel like a child again. I also like movies that make me experience something new, and make me feel like I'm part of something great, even if they make me think a bit. But I'm not in control of the movie making process. I don't suppose the people who are feel the same way about the movie as I do. So the control rule holds true here as well.

As an aside, being in control should not be confused with being knowledgeable about something. For example, many of us experience more happiness when we analyse movies for a greater level of appreciation, which in turn leaves us cynical towards their more mundane forms. And maybe this isn't bad. Maybe this is how we as humans make sure that evolution picks out only the best, most creative, and innovative kinds of music and movies to experience, for our own benefit. So maybe cynicism is goes hand in hand with happiness, as a certain level of one guarantees a certain level of another.

But coming back to the control rule part, I've figured out that multiple things that make me happy vary in the levels of happiness they provide depending on the control I exercise over them, which is unavoidable anyway. So how do I increase happiness? One way would be to to simply look for other happy experiences to replace the experiences that get diminished over time.

So I've learnt the following. Cynicism is unavoidable. What I like today I might not like tomorrow. Therefore, I need to constantly surround myself with things I like and constantly try to find new things to Iike. To do the first part, I need to make sure I avoid the average products in this world that lean toward making me cynical, avoid what I know I'll hate, and focus on those that fill me with pleasure. I should do this by following reviews, be they of restaurants, food, music, movies, plays, or any household inanimate object. And share my experiences with others. And for the second part, I need to look for new experiences in everything I do. And try to turn everything I do into an awesome party, even a trip to an Udipi joint.

Avoiding Cynicism

Cartoon Patterns

Too much serious stuff happening recently. I've decided to take a break and note down something that's been running through my mind since before the attacks.

I've noticed how English cartoons from the 80's and 90's always seemed to follow certain patterns i.e they all contain recurring constants. I've tried to identify these trends below, just to get it off my chest.

1. The tech geek – the group that the cartoon is about almost always has at least one brain/geek/tech guy who keeps inventing stuff or solving complex problems or puzzles. Eg: Donatello in TMNT, Brainy Smurf in Smurfs, Gadget in Rescue Rangers.

2. The animal/pet that keeps following the main group. Eg: Uni in D&D, alien pet in ThunderCats, puppy in Smurfs.

3. The clear group leader. Eg: Hank in D&D, Mako in Tigersharks, Lion-O in Thundercats, Leo in TMNT, Optimus Prime in Transformers, Chip in Rescue Rangers, Papa Smurf in Smurfs.

4. The wizard/wise man. Eg: Dungeon Master in D&D, Zummi in Gummi Bears, Walro in Tigersharks, Splinter in TMNT, Jaga in ThunderCats, Gaia in Captain Planet.

5. The disproportionate male-female ratio. Eg: Smurfs (108 males : 3 females), Transformers (20+ : 3), Gummi bears (4 : 2), Denver (5 : 2), TMNT (5+ : 1), D&D (5 : 3), ThunderCats (5 : 2), Captain Planet (4 : 3), Tigersharks (7+ : 2), Rescue Rangers (4 : 1). The only exception is Care Bears (15+ : 17+).

6. The kid in the group of adults/teens. Eg: Cubbi in Gummi Bears, Bobby in D&D, Casey in Denver, WilyKat & WilyKit in ThunderCats, Bronc & Angel in Tigersharks, Spike in Transformers.

7. The rude, proud or grouchy group member. Eg: Raphael in TMNT, Eric in D&D, Grouchy Smurf in Smurfs, Mario in Denver, Gruffi in Gummi Bears.

8. There are a lot of cartoons with little people. Eg: Smurfs, The Littles, Gummi Bears, Rescue Rangers, Care Bears.

9. There has to be an episode with a certain theme. Eg: episodes in space, travelling back in time, underwater, underground, etc.

10. A lot of the cartoon characters live in trees, underwater or underground. Eg: Gummi Bears, Smurfs, TMNT, Tigersharks.

Cartoon Patterns

Movies Seen: Alexander Revisited & Mongol

Saw two epics recently. Alexander Revisited: The Final Cut is Oliver Stone's preferred version of the Alexander movie, as compared to his previous two versions - the normal 2 and a half hour theatre/DVD one and the director's cut (8 mins less than the first). This new version is 3 and a half hours long, with footage not shown in theaters or either of the previous two DVDs. This is in fact how Oliver Stone wanted Alexander to be viewed. One wonders why he didn't just release this version in the first place? Maybe he felt American & international audiences aren't used to 3 and a half hour long movies? I know Indian audiences certainly are.


This version is definitely better than the first two, which just seemed like a series of unrelated shots strung together, lending a feeling of incompleteness to the whole movie. This version seems fuller and more complete. True, certain flaws still remain. The question of motive, what drives Alexander on and on, hasn't been answered, and the movie does taper off towards the end. But it is the best of all three versions so far, and a definite improvement.


Mongol details the early life of Genghis Khan, from his childhood to the time he becomes the leader of all Mongols, and sets off to expand his territories.


Directed by Sergei Bodrov and released in 2007, the action scenes are extremely well choreographed.

Without taking anything away from these two movies (which are both extremely good), both are about men who lusted for power and land. They wanted to control and to own, and waged war in order to do so. What motives do men use nowadays to justify war and killing?

Movies like these make men who killed others look like heroes; we tend to get caught up in the romanticism of the hero's vision, and focus less on their flaws. But characterisation aside, I wonder if we can look objectively at Alexander or Genghis Khan and judge for ourselves what kind of people they were. We know that some of their actions were barbaric, and their motives were probably noble. Of course, we can't judge them accurately without some kind of historical context.

Moving on to today's world, one wonders what separates those conquerors from the men of today who also use violent means to get their (supposedly noble) points across?

Movies Seen: Alexander Revisited & Mongol

Jaywatching

Watched Christiane Amanpour on The Tonight Show last night. Noted that she made some interesting observations. When asked by host Jay Leno to give the audience some perspective on the Mumbai terror attacks, she was able to concisely describe the historical Kashmir conflict and how alleged elements within Pakistan carried out the attack. I was pleasantly surprised when, in the same breath, she also quickly stated that it was wrong for Americans to think that the attacks were all about foreign targets as most of those killed were Indians.

Other interesting observations were about the security at the Taj not being adequate enough at the time of the attacks, her belief about terrorists hitting softer targets, that the U.S celebrations after Obama won were reminiscent of a foreign country having it's first ever democratic election, Hillary Clinton being an instantly recognisable star around the world, about the ebbs and flows of Iran's' President Ahmadinejad's popularity and the politics behind it, Iran's anger at being included in the Axis of Evil, and about Iran and the U.S possibly having a close relationship in 30 years.

But getting back to the Mumbai attack thing, I'm glad she made that statement. I've noticed that a lot of people who aren't familiar with the region and it's politics and those who depend on CNN for their coverage tend to emphasise more on the international aspect of the attack i.e the foreign targets, possibly because the western media tends to do so as well, sometimes to the extent that they believe the whole point of the attack was to target foreigners in Mumbai, which is inaccurate. They tend to ignore the fact that out of the 10 locations attacked, only 3 constituted cases where foreigners were segregated, and even there, more Indians were killed. True, foreigners being targetted is an important part and a unique characteristic of this particular attack, but just a part nonetheless and not the beginning and end of the attack. It would do well for the Americans and British to understand this, and their media needs to play a larger role in facilitating this.

On another note, I hope all Americans aren't as dumb as those who appear on the 'Battle of the Jaywalk Allstars'. I mean, if they are, I fear for their country. I saw this movie recently called Idiocracy, directed by Mike Judge, and it spooked me tremendously.

To movie starts with an explanation about how dumb people outbreed smart people in the U.S, resulting in a population of more dumb than smart people over time. We then see an Average Joe (Luke Wilson) taking part in an experiment where he's put into a time capsule to be woken up in a year. Something goes wrong, and he's woken up after 500 years, only to realise he's now the smartest man in the U.S, and its only saviour.

Jaywatching

Rally

The big non cooperation rally at the Gateway was yesterday. I was sick so couldn't make it. Watched it on T.V though, and am heartened to see that other Mumbaikars are also not going to take this lying down, that they've also had enough of this. Some interesting suggestions to come out of the rally were not paying taxes anymore until we're assured of security and having a dry day for politicians i.e one day with no security for them.

In other news, the Maharashtra CM has resigned and a replacement is being found. That's the third head to roll so far. The bad news is that they're saying his successor will probably be S.K. Shinde or N. Rane, both of whom are equally bad.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister A.K Antony has warned of possible air attacks.

Pakistan rejected India's offer to deport 20 most wanted criminals yesterday, saying they'd be tried in Pakistani courts if found, not exactly a surprising response. You do have your country's honour to uphold and can't give in to any neighbouring country's orders. But from India's perspective, it looks like just another Pakistani backtrack, after the cancellation of the ISI chief's visit earlier. When Foreign Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was asked about the refusal, his response was "Ha?What?" Truly a lesson in eloquence. This man is a joke and needs to be fired!

I was watching the press conference with Mukherjee and C. Rice yesterday. She chose to tread a careful line, making it clear that Pakistan had a major role to play (Oh really?!?) and saying in not so clear tones that India had to be careful about jumping the gun and inviting unintended consequences as the long term goal was to prevent terrorism in the first place and not just to respond to it. Mukherjee just seemed to splutter all through the conference, and like Condy, didn't answer any question directly.

Rally

Enough is Enough - What you can do

I’ve written this post keeping in mind the fact that there’s a lot of anger and helplessness going around following the attacks in Mumbai this week and we need a place to channel this. These are the actions I suggest.

Since my posts are usually read by an average of 2 people (including me), I’d like to say that if anyone stumbles upon this blog, please do whatever you can to bring these actions to reality :-) I’m certainly going to.

And if you need a reason for my blog’s poor readership, well, this blog was set up to cater to me and not an audience. I write for myself, to keep a log of my life. This is in fact, my last guard against Alzheimer’s :-)

Seriously though, here goes…I've split my actions up into three main responsibilities.

My Actions:

1. The Letter

Read the letter below, edit it if you wish, and send it to the editors of all Indian newspapers, magazines, trade journals, etc. using both email and snail mail urging them to re print it in their publications, be they paper or online.

Also, as media houses have contacts in the highest places, ask them to forward this letter to as many people as they can, especially the ones with influence. Forward this letter to your friends and any contacts you may have in the govt. as well. Let’s start a movement.

You may copy and paste this in your emails and are free to edit this as much as you want. The only rights I retain are bragging ones - I was the first to write this. Well, actually, my letter is an amalgamation of my and other blogger's and friend's thoughts :-)

The Letter:

Subject: Enough is Enough

We, the citizens of India, demand the following from our leaders:

a. Accountability

Ø Immediate:

· We demand to know how the attacks in Mumbai were allowed to happen. Wasn’t security strengthened after 7/11? Where was security at C.S.T?

· Where was the intelligence gathering network? Why didn’t they spot an operation this huge? Why weren’t any of the terrorist’s cell conversations tapped? What use is all the cellular and satellite technology we boast of if we can’t use it appropriately?

To quote Vir Sanghvi:

…it is utterly and completely bizarre that while we whine about the Home Ministry, the intelligence establishment gets off scot-free even as Indians are murdered on the streets.
It is impossible for the police to guard every building or check every passenger. All over the world, terrorism is fought through intelligence. A good security service penetrates terrorist cells, monitors radio traffic and picks up intelligence about terrorist activity.
The Bombay attacks prove that we have the worst intelligence service of any major power in the world. These attacks were meticulously planned, involved two dozen attackers, many more terrorists in back-up roles, vast quantities of arms and ammunition and, probably, crores in funding.
Yet, our intelligence services had no idea that such an attack was being planned. Clearly, intelligence is the last quality that we should associate with our spymasters.

· Why didn’t Mumbai have any commandos of it’s own to deal with the attacks?

· We demand that inquiries be launched against incompetence across the board. The ministers and babus found guilty get sacked, tried in court, sent to jail and have ALL their assets confiscated.

Ø Long Term

· We demand the withdrawal of all perks given to the bureaucracy and political class. Take away all the free stuff like phones, cars, flights, houses, etc. and let them live on fixed salaries to see how the common man lives, with car payments, EMI’s, phone bills, house rents, water bills, electricity bills, no free lunches, and yes, private security bills as well, etc.

· We demand that a process be put in place that monitors the performance of all babu’s and ministers, much like PA’s in the corporate world. Those who don’t perform, get penalized (with their salaries taken back), sacked, and have inquiries launched against them, with jail terms to follow.

b. Leadership

· We demand that real leaders step forward to take charge of not just difficult situations like these but all political and administrative governance from now on - we’re sick and tired of being ruled by a bunch of nose digging, paan-chewing, tired, lazy, fat, oily, pot belied, squabbling, middle-aged men with poor priorities.

· We demand that our leaders put the interests of the nation first, instead of being swayed by diplomatic messages and delegates from the U.S or Pakistan after every attack. They have their own people’s interests in mind and we should have our’s.

· We demand that every leader be secular, and that fellow citizens reject any politician who spews religious or casteist undertones.

· We demand a comprehensive communal violence bill.

· We demand that fellow citizens vote for sensible candidates who are willing to put their differences aside, and even sacrifice their pride for the people of India. If there are no good candidates, vote not to vote.

c. Infrastructure

· We demand that the govt. increase the budget for public transport. We are tired of being packed like sardines in trains and buses in most metros. If there’s a cash shortfall, money for this should be taken from politician’s pockets and from fines levied on smoking, drunk driving, spitting, etc.

· We are not happy with Rs. 1000 fines. The minimum fine for smoking in public, drunk driving, spitting or littering should be 1 lakh.

· We are not happy with simple jail terms. There have been cases where thieves have been arrested and jailed for the same crime 20 times. This is disgusting, unacceptable and indicates a failure in judicial reform. If a person is found guilty of the same type of crime twice, give him a life term in jail where he’s forced to learn a skill, be productive, and contribute to the economy. It’s time for draconian measures.

· We demand that the central govt. diverts more funds to Mumbai, as Mumbai is the govt’s cash cow.

d. Security

· We demand that the security budget be increased and police reforms put in place. The security forces and police need better weapons, equipment and training to deal with attacks.

· We demand that the heads of security and intelligence forces are replaced and headed with intelligent people who can improve coordination and sharing intelligence information.

· We demand that our leaders have the guts to target terrorists, even if they’re hiding out in a neighbouring country. That’s what satellite imagery and missiles are for.

· We demand the presence of a rapid action security force like the NSG and Navy seals in every metro.

· We demand that every fascist extremist militant organisation in the country is crushed once and for all, no matter what religion or noble creed they represent.


Regards,

The people of India

2. Sensitivity while blogging

Please refer to Gaurav Mishra's post on how to blog and comment appropriately and intelligently.

3. General actions for citizens

• Be more aware of your surroundings - report any suspicious behaviour immediately to the police.
• Crush corruption everywhere.

If anyone has anything to add to the 3 areas, I'd be grateful.

Enough is Enough - What you can do

RR Patil Resigns

If it was Shivraj Patil, our not so venerable Central Home Minister who faced the music yesterday (and was replaced by Finance Minister Chidambaram, the PM in turn taking over the Finance portfolio), the second head on the chopping block seems to be our Dy CM, RR Patil, who apparently says he quit today on his own and without any pressure. That is to say, no pressure other than the 200 dead bodies piled up on his conscience.

For my part, I'm still piecing together a set of actions that will let me and other people know what exactly they can do to avoid attacks like these in the future and increase accountability. I'm disappointed in the total lack of leadership in this situation. There seems to be a collective feeling of anger and a sense of being let down by our elected representatives, yet not one of them has come forward to offer an outlet for this anger, to let us know what exactly we can do or what role we ordinary citizens can play to improve the present situation.

RR Patil Resigns

Home Minister Resigns

Right, first off, I'm glad that our Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, is gone. What I'm not glad about is that he's off the hook so easily. There has to be some kind of accountability measure in place to ensure that he's done justice to his time in office, which I seriously doubt he has, and if that's the case, to ensure that he cools his heels in jail for a while due to incompetence. The same goes for all the others down the line who've failed in their duty to the nation. They need to have their belongings confiscated and sold off to pay off part of the damages from the terrorist attack. Also, I'm not happy that he's being turned into a scapegoat. Fingers need to be pointed in many directions, but right now, he's the only one in the blame limelight.

I have also found this blog, written by someone directly affected by the attack. Makes for interesting reading. I've been glued to a lot of blogs over the past few days. Blogs like John P Matthew, Gauravonomics, Desi Pundit, Death Ends Fun, Mumbai MetBlogs, and India Uncut have all kept me informed and opinionated.

Home Minister Resigns