The main male protagonists in Bollywood films are almost always Brahmins, warrior Rajputs, upper castes, well-known business house castes, or those from ruling/landowning classes. Never Baniyas or Shudras.
No prizes for guessing that the mainstream view is that a hero in a formula Bollywood film has to be from the upper castes. Otherwise the girls won't swoon over him and the boys won't try to emulate him. It is the same story as is common in Mills and Boon series (aka emotional porn) where a rich, alpha, dominant badboy has pedigree, genes, old money, and has won the battle of seduction without lifting a finger.
A sampling:
Salman Khan
Bodyguard: Lovely B. Singh
Dabangg: Chulbul Pandey
Ready: Prem R. Kapoor
Veer: Veer Pratap Singh
London Dreams: Manjeet 'Mannu' Khosla
Main Aurr Mrs Khanna: Samir Khanna
Chori Chori Chupke Chupke: Raj Malhotra
Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye: Prem Kapoor
Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya: Suraj Khanna
...
Amitabh Bachhan
Aarakshan: Prabhakar Anand
Kandahar: Lokanatha Sharma
Teen Patti: Professor Venkat Subramaniam
The Last Lear: Harish 'Harry' Mishra
Baabul: Balraj Kapoor
Ganga: Thakur Vijay Singh
Waqt: Ishwarchand Thakur
Deewar: Maj. Ranvir Kaul
Khakee: DCP Anant Kumar Shrivastav
...
Aamir Khan
Talaash: Surjan Singh Sekhawat
Ghajini: Sanjay 'Sanju' Singhania
Dil Chahta Hai: Akash Malhotra
Sarfarosh: Ajay Singh Rathod
Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke: Rahul Malhotra
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar: Sanjaylal Sharma
Parampara: Ranvir Prithvi Singh
Daulat Ki Jung: Rajesh Chaudhry
...
Akshay Kumar
Chalo Dilli: Lt. Col. Vikram Singh Rana
Action Replayy: Kishen Chopra
Blue: Aarav Malhotra
Kambakkht Ishq: Viraj Shergill
Bhool Bhulaiyaa: Dr. Aditya Shrivastav
Heyy Babyy: Arush Mehra
...
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Thursday, April 05, 2012
The Cosmo chick and the Village woman
(Adapted from that apocryphal tale of a corporate honcho's conversation with a fisherman napping in his hammock)
So the cosmo chick was on a guided weekend tour of the rustic hinterlands. Presently, as their group was roaming around in a village, she came across a woman taking care of her home and cooking a meal.
Disgusted, the chick started querying the village woman.
Chick: "What a life! Why don't you do something else?"
Woman: "Like what, dear visitor from the city?"
"Like get some expensive education!"
"I AM educated, dear lady..."
"No, no. A professional degree. Like a degree in corporate law or an MBA in HR."
"And then what?"
"Then you will be able to get a job in an MNC, and spend ten hours everyday in a cubicle!"
"And then what?"
"Then you will be able to afford all the things and will be able to go to spas and travel to Morocco!"
"I have a lot of useful things and I take a pilgrimage once in a while. What things are you referring to?"
"Look at my manicured nails, my Gucci handbag, my D&G watch, and my Revlon mascara!"
"Aha. And what are these things useful for?"
"Well, look at me, I am glamorous. Men desire me and women envy me!"
"And what does that get you?"
"Stupid! Now I feel empowered and confident. I am confident, more than ever before, of attracting a good man who will want to marry and take care of me!"
"Well, that could happen, theoretically. But what after that?"
"Then I can finally bask in the warmth of a long term relationship, have a few children of my own (if I can, in my late 30s), have a place which I can call home, and be happy forever after."
"Well, I didn't wait till my late 30s. I have all that now."
So the cosmo chick was on a guided weekend tour of the rustic hinterlands. Presently, as their group was roaming around in a village, she came across a woman taking care of her home and cooking a meal.
Disgusted, the chick started querying the village woman.
Chick: "What a life! Why don't you do something else?"
Woman: "Like what, dear visitor from the city?"
"Like get some expensive education!"
"I AM educated, dear lady..."
"No, no. A professional degree. Like a degree in corporate law or an MBA in HR."
"And then what?"
"Then you will be able to get a job in an MNC, and spend ten hours everyday in a cubicle!"
"And then what?"
"Then you will be able to afford all the things and will be able to go to spas and travel to Morocco!"
"I have a lot of useful things and I take a pilgrimage once in a while. What things are you referring to?"
"Look at my manicured nails, my Gucci handbag, my D&G watch, and my Revlon mascara!"
"Aha. And what are these things useful for?"
"Well, look at me, I am glamorous. Men desire me and women envy me!"
"And what does that get you?"
"Stupid! Now I feel empowered and confident. I am confident, more than ever before, of attracting a good man who will want to marry and take care of me!"
"Well, that could happen, theoretically. But what after that?"
"Then I can finally bask in the warmth of a long term relationship, have a few children of my own (if I can, in my late 30s), have a place which I can call home, and be happy forever after."
"Well, I didn't wait till my late 30s. I have all that now."
Monday, April 02, 2012
On Corruption, part IV
Part I, Part II and Part III.
If public services, governance and statutory institutions are failing, is it advisable for NGOs and individuals to assume the responsibility? If a river is getting polluted, is it good for a charitable trust to address that pollution? Should concerned citizens start cleaning their streets littered with garbage, and in the absence of sewerage, dig their own septic tanks?
I regard these as short-term measures, which contain within themselves a grave possibility of leading to letting those responsible off the hook. What is the pollution control board doing? Where are the sanitary workers? Where is town planning?
It is far more useful, though requiring far more tenacity and paperwork, to address a lapse in governance through a process of grievance redressal. Admitted, this process is sometimes horribly broken and one doesn't know who to approach, who to write to, how to pursue one's application, and so on. But one must understand that the process of grievance redressal cannot be much better than the state of affairs which lead to the grievance. But the process exists, and there are ways to escalate an un-redressed grievance.
It is a great favor to others if someone can document the grievance-redressal mechanism for a particular facet of public infrastructure or governance. How to write a complaint, whom to address it to, how to request for an Action-Taken-Report, how to ask for a time-bound-action via RTI, how to escalate to higher officials, how to use various kinds of media (print, online) to publicize the issue, etc.
When it comes to one's own home, it is usually much easier to just solve the issue for oneself and to hell with the world and who wants to spend time approaching the authorities. Almost universally, every urban home in India has its power generation/backup system, water storage/purification system, and uses various kinds of insect and mosquito repellents.
Unfortunately, there is a very strong reason why citizens solve the problems on their own without involving the authorities. It is a simple matter of economics. An average citizen or charitable organization cannot bear the cost (time, money, effort, stress, the cost of living with a bad state of affairs) of waiting for the authorities to act. While one is busy pleading the electricity department for a regular supply of stable power, the appliances in one's home will get burnt out by low voltage and one's infants will be crying in the heat. While a citizen is waiting for the roads department to fix the potholes and broken traffic lights, the citizen naturally learns to adjust and live with the state of affairs instead of breaking his head against the wall.
There is no recourse available to a citizen for harm caused due to a failure of governance. Families of those killed in public transport accidents are usually granted a princely sum of a couple of lakhs. There is no punitive fine for a wrongful arrest (except in extremely rare cases), and more interestingly, the punitive fine comes from the coffers of the treasury, not from the offending employee's pocket.
And the grievance-redressal processes in India are horribly designed and can test the patience of a saint. They are, again, a relic of colonial items.
But still, if a citizen wants to hold his government responsible, and wants to get at least some value out of his taxes, he must not give up and start cleaning the road himself, which is to surrender and admit defeat.
He must at least try to work within the system and see if the problem can be solved. Writing a few letters is not hard, and one may be pleasantly surprised to see the effects it can have.
I once heard of a man who, in his retirement, formed a habit of writing at least ten letters to public authorities every day to correct some government malfunction that he saw in his locality. Most of his letters went unheeded, but like Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank redemption, he kept reminding them. And even if only 30% of his letters eventually resulted in some action, I think he did a great deal just sitting at home.
The situation is objectively quite hopeless, but I would like to believe that it is not completely over till one says it is over. And the will to fight against tremendous odds is what heroism is all about. The urge to improve oneself and the surroundings, despite an almost hellish state of affairs in which there is no ray of hope or light, is what makes man transcendental.
Be the change that you want to see. By being strong, by choosing your battles, and by fighting in a way that blazes the trail for future heroes.
If public services, governance and statutory institutions are failing, is it advisable for NGOs and individuals to assume the responsibility? If a river is getting polluted, is it good for a charitable trust to address that pollution? Should concerned citizens start cleaning their streets littered with garbage, and in the absence of sewerage, dig their own septic tanks?
I regard these as short-term measures, which contain within themselves a grave possibility of leading to letting those responsible off the hook. What is the pollution control board doing? Where are the sanitary workers? Where is town planning?
It is far more useful, though requiring far more tenacity and paperwork, to address a lapse in governance through a process of grievance redressal. Admitted, this process is sometimes horribly broken and one doesn't know who to approach, who to write to, how to pursue one's application, and so on. But one must understand that the process of grievance redressal cannot be much better than the state of affairs which lead to the grievance. But the process exists, and there are ways to escalate an un-redressed grievance.
It is a great favor to others if someone can document the grievance-redressal mechanism for a particular facet of public infrastructure or governance. How to write a complaint, whom to address it to, how to request for an Action-Taken-Report, how to ask for a time-bound-action via RTI, how to escalate to higher officials, how to use various kinds of media (print, online) to publicize the issue, etc.
When it comes to one's own home, it is usually much easier to just solve the issue for oneself and to hell with the world and who wants to spend time approaching the authorities. Almost universally, every urban home in India has its power generation/backup system, water storage/purification system, and uses various kinds of insect and mosquito repellents.
Unfortunately, there is a very strong reason why citizens solve the problems on their own without involving the authorities. It is a simple matter of economics. An average citizen or charitable organization cannot bear the cost (time, money, effort, stress, the cost of living with a bad state of affairs) of waiting for the authorities to act. While one is busy pleading the electricity department for a regular supply of stable power, the appliances in one's home will get burnt out by low voltage and one's infants will be crying in the heat. While a citizen is waiting for the roads department to fix the potholes and broken traffic lights, the citizen naturally learns to adjust and live with the state of affairs instead of breaking his head against the wall.
There is no recourse available to a citizen for harm caused due to a failure of governance. Families of those killed in public transport accidents are usually granted a princely sum of a couple of lakhs. There is no punitive fine for a wrongful arrest (except in extremely rare cases), and more interestingly, the punitive fine comes from the coffers of the treasury, not from the offending employee's pocket.
And the grievance-redressal processes in India are horribly designed and can test the patience of a saint. They are, again, a relic of colonial items.
But still, if a citizen wants to hold his government responsible, and wants to get at least some value out of his taxes, he must not give up and start cleaning the road himself, which is to surrender and admit defeat.
He must at least try to work within the system and see if the problem can be solved. Writing a few letters is not hard, and one may be pleasantly surprised to see the effects it can have.
I once heard of a man who, in his retirement, formed a habit of writing at least ten letters to public authorities every day to correct some government malfunction that he saw in his locality. Most of his letters went unheeded, but like Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank redemption, he kept reminding them. And even if only 30% of his letters eventually resulted in some action, I think he did a great deal just sitting at home.
The situation is objectively quite hopeless, but I would like to believe that it is not completely over till one says it is over. And the will to fight against tremendous odds is what heroism is all about. The urge to improve oneself and the surroundings, despite an almost hellish state of affairs in which there is no ray of hope or light, is what makes man transcendental.
Be the change that you want to see. By being strong, by choosing your battles, and by fighting in a way that blazes the trail for future heroes.
Friday, March 30, 2012
The Brute and the Maiden
The brute lived under the enormous tree, with the lines on his face and forehead etched as if his frame was made of that same wooden bark.
He was tall and extremely strong. He killed things with his hands, and had not known the softness that fire can create in hard meat.
He lived with his instincts, sleeping deeply but awake to danger. He had not known affection, and had never seen his mother, or another of his species. He had never tasted the warmth of milk, and had never felt a caress or a kiss.
He was alone, alone like an unknown island in the sea, alone like a mountain in a desert, alone like an eagle in the summer sky.
He was alone, more alone than the trees and the birds and the raindrops and the yellow leaves which made up his bed.
...
One day as he woke up before it was light, he saw a radiance at a distance, as if the moon had come down to earth.
He hurriedly stood up, and tip-toed to see where-from the light had descended on that land of the wild.
It was a naked maiden, with a body like his own but different in a strange way. The maiden was glowing from within, and there was a fragrance all about her.
Something stirred deep within him. A feeling that he had not known before. Blood rushed to parts of his body and caused sensations which were hitherto unknown to him.
...
He lifted the maiden in his strong arms, and carried her to his abode, beneath the enormous tree. He spent hours and days marveling at her body and her fragrance and her glow, and never for a moment left her side.
...
One night as he was sleeping, the maiden slipped beside him, held his hand softly, and kissed his lips. Every hair on his body stood up.
Their bodies intertwined, and it was hard to see where one body ended and the other began. He suckled at her round breasts, and the forest vanished around him.
From that day, he became her slave, her lover, and her protector.
Their days and nights slid into a comforting pattern, and he was no longer that afraid of danger. He no longer lived day by day, but had started saving food and supplies.
...
Many years passed.
One day the maiden was no more to be seen. The brute had lost his instincts for life in the wild and had grown soft and indolent.
Wild animals started threatening him with their howls and screeches, and he no longer slept on the ground, but was usually found up in tree.
He was alone again, but was incomplete. No longer was he the mountain, no longer the island, no longer the eagle.
...
Slowly the memory of the maiden left his brutish brain.
He started running again, his muscles became more pronounced as he again started killing things with his hands. He was again a wolf, alone again, but not of the same strength.
His eyes no longer focused, but flitted and were restless, looking for a light that he had once seen before dawn.
He became despondent and was not content anymore to come to his tree every night. He became a traveling hunter, homeless and without shelter.
...
Every night he dreamed of that maiden, now faceless, and was not sure anymore if his dreams were ever a reality. He no longer remembered her face but his organs never let him forget how he had felt.
He wondered how long he was going to be restless and discontented.
Gods finally had mercy on him and gave him an iPad. He went Lady GaGa over Kim Kardashian and spent the rest of his life in a hole in the ground, playing Angry Birds and Mafia Wars and tripping on Dubstep.
He was tall and extremely strong. He killed things with his hands, and had not known the softness that fire can create in hard meat.
He lived with his instincts, sleeping deeply but awake to danger. He had not known affection, and had never seen his mother, or another of his species. He had never tasted the warmth of milk, and had never felt a caress or a kiss.
He was alone, alone like an unknown island in the sea, alone like a mountain in a desert, alone like an eagle in the summer sky.
He was alone, more alone than the trees and the birds and the raindrops and the yellow leaves which made up his bed.
...
One day as he woke up before it was light, he saw a radiance at a distance, as if the moon had come down to earth.
He hurriedly stood up, and tip-toed to see where-from the light had descended on that land of the wild.
It was a naked maiden, with a body like his own but different in a strange way. The maiden was glowing from within, and there was a fragrance all about her.
Something stirred deep within him. A feeling that he had not known before. Blood rushed to parts of his body and caused sensations which were hitherto unknown to him.
...
He lifted the maiden in his strong arms, and carried her to his abode, beneath the enormous tree. He spent hours and days marveling at her body and her fragrance and her glow, and never for a moment left her side.
...
One night as he was sleeping, the maiden slipped beside him, held his hand softly, and kissed his lips. Every hair on his body stood up.
Their bodies intertwined, and it was hard to see where one body ended and the other began. He suckled at her round breasts, and the forest vanished around him.
From that day, he became her slave, her lover, and her protector.
Their days and nights slid into a comforting pattern, and he was no longer that afraid of danger. He no longer lived day by day, but had started saving food and supplies.
...
Many years passed.
One day the maiden was no more to be seen. The brute had lost his instincts for life in the wild and had grown soft and indolent.
Wild animals started threatening him with their howls and screeches, and he no longer slept on the ground, but was usually found up in tree.
He was alone again, but was incomplete. No longer was he the mountain, no longer the island, no longer the eagle.
...
Slowly the memory of the maiden left his brutish brain.
He started running again, his muscles became more pronounced as he again started killing things with his hands. He was again a wolf, alone again, but not of the same strength.
His eyes no longer focused, but flitted and were restless, looking for a light that he had once seen before dawn.
He became despondent and was not content anymore to come to his tree every night. He became a traveling hunter, homeless and without shelter.
...
Every night he dreamed of that maiden, now faceless, and was not sure anymore if his dreams were ever a reality. He no longer remembered her face but his organs never let him forget how he had felt.
He wondered how long he was going to be restless and discontented.
Gods finally had mercy on him and gave him an iPad. He went Lady GaGa over Kim Kardashian and spent the rest of his life in a hole in the ground, playing Angry Birds and Mafia Wars and tripping on Dubstep.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Ten Interesting Electronic/Techno tracks
I have been interested in techno/trance/electronica for many years now. These are some of my favorite tracks. Please share some of yours!
1. Genre: Goa Trance
2. Genre: Electronic
3. Genre: Electronic, slow progression
4. Genre: Vocal/Melodic
5. Genre: Trance/Electronic/Sci-Fi
This track has echoes in an epic scene from Valhalla Rising (Refn, 2009)
6. Genre: House Music/Dubstep
7. Genre: Ambient/Melodic
8. Genre: Electronic (Remix of a classical tune)
This is an interpretation of the famous Adagio for Strings, famously featured in David Lynch's The Elephant Man.
9. Genre: Electronic (this is an early world-famous classic)
10. Genre: Ambient/Gaming
1. Genre: Goa Trance
2. Genre: Electronic
3. Genre: Electronic, slow progression
4. Genre: Vocal/Melodic
5. Genre: Trance/Electronic/Sci-Fi
This track has echoes in an epic scene from Valhalla Rising (Refn, 2009)
6. Genre: House Music/Dubstep
7. Genre: Ambient/Melodic
8. Genre: Electronic (Remix of a classical tune)
This is an interpretation of the famous Adagio for Strings, famously featured in David Lynch's The Elephant Man.
9. Genre: Electronic (this is an early world-famous classic)
10. Genre: Ambient/Gaming
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