Cultural Police

The world women's day was just another day for many Indian women. For a handful of them, it is a day to send wish-mails to their friends. For an even lesser number of women it is a day to step into the streets and claim that its ok for them to choose and wear clothes of their choices. And for the retail giants, it is a day to show how much the care for women - they have announced a slew of discounts on articles such as household items, clothes, fancy stuff, etc; obviously things that would let women be in control of their own lives in the male-dominated society! However, for quite a lot of women it is just another day for slogging.

During a long drive to Vellore recently, my brother and I got into talking about what happened in Bangalore and Mangalore recently. The thugs that call themselves 'the cultural police' went on a rampage at a restaurant, beating up girls. In many north Indian cities, Valentine days have become annual fanfare for raiding greeting card shops and terrorizing couples on the streets.

My take on these anti-social elements was simple. These are a bunch of dumb asses that are being taken advantage of and being misled for someone's political aspirations.

Not just that. My brother believes it goes way beyond just that. Any society that has wealth unevenly distributed amongst its members is bound to have disturbances, really disturbing ones. Ours is a society that has on the one-hand a man contending to be the world's richest
and on the other-hand hundreds commit suicide trying to escape defaulted agricultural mortgage, while thousands go to bed hungry and without a roof over their heads.

It is not just cultural policing. It is the manifestation of the quaral between the haves and the have-nots. The crooks are out there to cashin on this.

Slumdog Millionaire

I have seen the movie the week before the Oscar night, last week it has won eight Oscars. It is an ok movie. Now I know why Nayagan, Hey Ram, Devar Magan, Lagan or a score of other deserving Indian movies did not win Oscar.

The India that was seen as a 'land of snake charmers' is a thing of the past. The western tourists who had been hoodwinked by the age-old documentaries and no-brainer Hollywood movies that projected an India that was steaming with snake charmers and elephants had been disillusioned by their visits. How often do you see a snake charmer at the road side or an elephant rubbing your back?

The Hollywood needs a new identity for India. A land of ancient structures? No! They have got Egypt for that! A land of IT (Information Technology) engineers? May be! But they have got their own IT engineers. A fast growing economy? Yeah! But China, though they don’t like them much, is a more compelling option! A land of dark miseries and slums? Bang on! That would be appealing. At one side we have IT and BPO companies thriving and you step out of the office, you have slums and people living on the pavements! A country of many such contrasts! It is not only the Oscar that has fallen in love with the Indian slums. So are Booker Prize, BAFTA and Golden Globe.

So Mr. Kamal, Mr. Amir, want an Oscar? Go to the slums and whip up the sentiments and make the Pinkies smile. Jai ho!

Related: http://mottaimaadi.blogspot.com/2009/01/white-tiger-by-aravind-adiga.html