A Mirror for the Modi'ans

Congress has been booted out comprehensively is right...but truly amazing are some of the terms being used very loosely for this government. These are used by all those who are fans of Modi & seem to be swept away by the euphoria of his resounding win.  I would like to bring to notice certain things and put them into proper perspective. It will ease the pressure on Modi and allow him to do his job better. It is so much better than him being made a hero or worse still a God, way before he has even started. He doesn’t need that baggage on his back; believe me you are only weighing down the athlete way before he has started his run.

1) History being made here.

Hogwash!!!. It is just a change of guard at the top, Congress gone, BJP in. Nothing more, nothing less.
At Infosys, when Narayanmurthy retired, Nilekeni took his place, When Nilekeni went, Shibulal came  & now NRN returns, is this corporate history? Not at all, Its succession as a process. 

The CEO has changed & with him has changed his team ..you say he is good, OK, so let him do his job in peace.

2) Historic Mandate.

Historic for BJP perhaps, but not for India. India has seen higher number in seats won by one party. Circa 1984.

3) The Nation building begins.

No siree, it began in 1947 and has progressed so far with all governments and 14 Prime Ministers before NDM. He is only going to continue the task. Maybe he will undo a few things that he feels unnecessary and start a few other things, all that he is allowed to do from his chair.
The Nation progressed before him and shall progress way after he is gone. It will be great if it progresses at a more rapid rate than before under NDM. It’s what is expected. Who built that expectation? BJP's own media machine. Frankly speaking , I personally wouldn't penalize him for stretching the truth as long as he shows the intent to do a good job and work sincerely at it. And others must remember that he is a continuance in a long line before him and many who would come after. Reality being, he is not THE nation builder but yet another nation builder.

4) Criticizing / Not voting for Modi, makes you an anti-national, unpatriotic Indian.

That makes 69% of Indians ( or 550 million people ) who either did not vote /could not vote/chose not to vote for Modi or BJP unpatriotic and anti-national. 69% is a whopping greater number than the 31% ( 250 million)  of the vote share that BJP won. So we live in a unique country whose 69% voting residents are anti-national, oh boy. Pretty much weird isn't it?

5) Silence all those who criticize Modi , they are pessimistic, jealous that he won, depressed that their own candidate lost etc etc.

Actually no, they too are happy that a new leader is in the chair. They just may have a different opinion on other things he represents that is all. 
Criticize the English word has its roots in the Greek word Kritikos, which means having the ability, the right  and the freedom to form one’s own opinion and judgment. It is pointed out such that the person criticized looks at it constructively and raises the bar. Now there are two freedoms that are under scrutiny here both of whom stand the chance of being denied. One is the right to have a different opinion and two is the right to air it openly and publicly.

Do understand that they are equally passionate about India and care about her. Allowing that opinion to find a voice is the truest essence of Democracy.

Would you rather have it otherwise ???

The Indian National Congress: Is it relevant for India?

The past is a 20 : 20 Vision, but in it lies the key to a future that is not visible - Anonymous

On 16^th May 2014, what was only till then merely writing on the wall became a humiliating reality. The INC slumped to its most crushing defeat ever in its century old history and being in the electioneering fray since 1952. Out of the total 542 seats of the Indian Parliament, the INC got 44, its ally the NCP has 4. The Opposition the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and its allies have secured 48% vote share and a total seat tally of 336 seats, while the BJP on its own secured a simple majority by winning 282 seats from the required 272 numeric.

The numbers tell their own story but the manner in which they lost is an epic on its own. The opposition organized its election juggernaut under the leadership of Narendra Modi ( now the Prime Minister in waiting ) was a study in election management. A stiffer reply was required to the military style, American Presidential campaign approach of the BJP which was extremely clear on

• Making Development & good Governance as the primary issues.

• Corruption as an issue, the scandal tainted Congress already was a ready-made target and the BJP never let the voter forget till the voting day.

• A State wise focus and customization of the sales pitch by the BJP. In UP under the mentor-ship of Amit Shah they played the caste card selectively keeping Modi away from it, Modi could then attack the Mamta Government in Kolkata on the Bangladeshi illegal immigrant issue, Kashmir and article 370 and its relevance for today, Andhra Pradesh it tied with TDP and took the moral high ground in the split state, and the BJP ruled states of Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh & MP delivered totally. The screws were tightened in Maharashtra driving the NCP & INC alliance up the wall on two main issues of corruption and farmer suicides. It was spectacular in its execution. Every single point in the campaign hit the bull’s eye.

• The strategic use of the new media namely taking the campaign on Television and Social Media given that 80 million of voter base was going to be added. The “first time voter”, the youth constituted about 10%of the  and total voterbase and additionally about 3-5% of the young and professionals, all of them who loudly communicate here. They could see only Modi and his campaign plugs creating a loud sound byte that resonated and multiplied. Modi the messiah, the salvation the deliverer. It was very clever. 

Where did the Congress Fail?

• Arrogance and Hubris of the leadership. Instead of taking the lead and putting forth the good work done and there has been work, the Congress failed to communicate.

• Instead of looking at media and its own proper marketing, they took their own Brand value and the Voters acceptance for granted.

• One could confidently make a claim that the INC was clueless about what was happening on the ground and entrusted their leadership into the hands of a callow perpetual debutante, Rahul Gandhi, who had already cost them UP in the state assembly poll in 2012. This was by far their biggest mistake. Nothing can be worse to a Party than having a loser for a leader, he doesn't charge up the rank and file; he has no perspective or clarity of thought and hence does not know what’s relevant or the need of the hour. Projecting him against a seasoned guy only added to the luster on Modi.

• Corruption Scandals and their taint could not be effectively defended or washed off. Manmohan Singh’s haplessness especially in his second tenure came out even more starkly.  Narsimha Rao, Singh’s one time boss also was not a communicative man as far as the media goes, but he was a leader and on that front there were no doubts. It was a thought leadership coupled with a politically savvy brain, there was none on exhibit here.

There would be innumerable reasons attributed for why one lost and the other won. Suffice it to say the nation gave them a chance over two terms now and were clearly not happy with them. The Congress paid for it and how.

The moot question is Modi’s clarion call on “Congress Mukt Bharat”.

Is that a possibility? Is there anything that the Congress is doing to prevent it? Does India need the Congress at all?

Introspection Congress Style : 

The INC went into a huddle as every party goes into when they lose. Then they come out with spectacularly profound words for the media when questioned, sample some here...
a) We clearly need to introspect on why this happened. (Vapid)

b) We have done good work but failed to communicate it to the people (Pure brazenness)

c) We only missed out on seats but do also look at our vote share (Even more brazenness)

d) The responsibility is collective and the Rahul –Sonia Gandhi leadership can alone really not be blamed.(Denial)

e) They still are our leaders.(Delusion, Fait Accompli ??)

Did all of these things happen yesterday? Yes they did? Did Congress really appear contrite, hurt or humiliated enough to come out fighting? From yesterday’s meeting it certainly did not give that impression? Is the same lack luster leadership going to continue and the only spice that the Congress may add in the name of change would be to add Priyanka Gandhi-Wadra’s name to rally around? She looks like her grandmother but does she have the charisma, political acumen, ruthless single mindedness and gravitas to effect the turnaround that Indira managed in 1980 ? With her few appearances in Amethi looks seriously doubtful plus she comes with her own baggage called Robert Wadra. Her own chances of winning an election with him around are bleak let alone springboard the turnaround.

A functioning democracy, especially when it has neighbors of friendly (sic) disposition like the ones we are saddled with ( Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka ) & with whom or on whose soil we have engaged in actual wars albeit carried out military action in the distant and near past, needs a very strong leadership to counter them and a strong opposition to maintain the balance. 

This is not only applicable for security but for other issues as well. Majoritarian polity can have a tendency to fly off the handle unfettered & unchecked. This is where a constructive strong opposition plays a role. A rational voice of opposition ensures policies and bills that get presented, debated, to later become acts or law are thoroughly examined on all sides for probity, relevance and utility. Today with the Congress decimated the same roles need/can be performed by regional parties coming together. We do have three major state players in Mamta Bannerjee, Jayalalitha & Navin Patnaik who have kept the in-form Modi from totally breaching their bastions. The other option which could have been AAP has been rendered irrelevant with just 4 seats and that too from a single state. AAP needs to go down its own introspection route.

For the Democracy of India an engaging opposition is needed sure. but there is no compulsion on the part of the political ethos that this should have to only be the Congress. It can be the Congress or any other party with their mandate. 

Mahatma Gandhi in 1947 had suggested that now that the country had won its freedom, the Congress can be disbanded, its utility and relevance is finished. The leaders then disagreed. Should the Congress persist in the blithe introspection style it is exhibiting so far without undergoing real metamorphosis, It faces immediate disarray and certain extinction where "disbandment" as the Mahatma had suggested in 1947 would not even be required. It would implode all on its own. 

"Sind" to "Sindhu" is this change required in the National Anthem?

In the midst of Anna Hazare's fast against corruption and mobilizing the nation into a rock star's fervor and the Indian Test Cricket team getting a sound thrashing in England it was possible to miss out on this snippet that slipped through into the newspapers without making much noise.That makes it no less relevant.


Reference: A PIL  (Public Interest Litigation) filed in the High Court of Bombay, by Shrikant Malushte, Retd Professor of Photography, to amend the word “Sind’ in the National Anthem to the word “Sindhu” ,  Published in the leading dailies on 18^th Aug 2011

Link to the original Published article in TOI 

The Gist of the PIL

The petitioner Mr. Shrikant Malushte objects to the usage of the word “Sind” in the national Anthem and his insistence that it be changed to “Sindhu” are 1) The province of Sind is no longer in India and hence the Indian National Anthem should not carry the word. 2) By having & using the word Sind in the Indian National Anthem there is a “deliberate implication and attempt on part of the Indian Government ( according to the petitioner) to retain Sind as a province within India”.That's the message which is getting sent across is what he says.

Should a matter require screening before being defined/qualified as a PIL?

There are legal cases and there are legal cases, some of which come before the High Court. One needs to examine whether the matter placed on record really merits the time that gets spent on it. The courts are busy as such with a huge backlog of cases of both Civil &Criminal nature. It is a question that when the courts of the land are used to tend to matters frivolous should there be a penalty imposed on the people who wastes its time. The National Anthem case is one such.

Does this case deserve merit at all, is my basic issue? To refute the points of objection, one needs to understand what the significance of the creation is before it became a National Anthem.

1.            Jana Gana Mana was composed by Rabindranatah Tagore as an ode to the nation that was a unified province then. It was amongst two of the shortlisted songs for the National Anthem amongst the many patriotic songs written. The other one was Vande Mataram by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. There is a popular anecdote which refers to the choice of Jana Gana Mana being done because the band playing it could not compose “Vande Mataram” during the flag hoisting of Independent India. These stories apart both are great creations and compositions by poets of repute. One is selected and is the National Anthem and the second one is also popularly sung, it did not get forgotten or lost in the anals of history.
   
   
2. 

       Tagore did not write the word "Sindhu" the river but "Sind" the province and we can easily see the reasoning when the sequence is sung. Punjab, Sind, Gujarat, Maharatta, Dravid, Utkal, Vanga. It is logical and yet poetic, plus it’s the poet’s independent creation. Does anyone have the right to impinge on this individual freedom of a creator just because he finds this one particular word offensive? And is it really that Offensive. Its intent is not offensive. Changing the word “Sind to Sindhu” which is a river one robs the rhyme of its logical beauty. Does anyone have this right? Creative freedom in a democratic society is a fundamental right, the right of expression.
   
   
3.      The 1950 ruling that gets referred to where the plaintiff mentions that the court had instructed the change to be made but it was never implemented can also be an erroneous judgment. Judges are human too and can make mistakes. If Mr. Malushte feels this is objectionable, he could petition the Courts and governments to change the whole National Anthem from Jana Gana Mana to some other song instead. That is certainly within his fundamental rights as a citizen of the country. But to change a song itself, is neither his right to ask for nor demand and certainly not within his right to petition the courts for. It is like having some Frenchman getting up to question why is the Mona Lisa smiling, and if she does have to smile why so enigmatically? That is not acceptable to me. She should not be smiling enigmatically, either paint her lips upward or erase the smileoff and let the rest of the painting remain. The person would be quietly escorted off the premises of the Louvre and told, gentleman please go home and don’t come back if you don’t wish to see it.
   
   
4.      On a teaser note to this article and demand by Mr. Malushte for his Sindhu, all our Veda’s and Upanishads, The Ramayana and Mahabharata have been composed and have supposedly also happened on the banks of the Sindhu and Saraswati rivers. Today all of these provinces are in the dominion of Pakistan, should there be changes made in Valmiki & Vyas Muni’s creations too today because they geographically do not suit us? 

History is a record of the walk of people who roamed the earth before us and left behind their footprints. These footprints in all the fields may it be Art, Science, Culture, Law, Religion and even Faith have served us as guideposts to learn from. One truly cannot and should not change or even attempt to change history itself because then you erase the data that is our cornerstone for development and progress. Learning to accept it, tolerate it and moving on is the best way forward. 


Today long after the poet is dead and gone and not around to defend himself and his creation; Mr. Malushte wakes up and takes this matter before the court of our land. This is when even our neighboring country Pakistan (if ever anyone had a case to do so it would be that Nation) has never officially expressed an objection to this word being a part of the Indian National Anthem. So does this PIL have any merit at all? 

Progress...Indian Ishhtyle

Rain pelted the window in heavy chunky drops. The sound they made on the roof of the bus and the brief clouding of the windows being the only signs that it was actually raining. This was July and peak monsoon time in Mumbai, from where I had boarded a luxury bus to my destination Pune. One part was work and then I was to meet friends. I would be seeing some of them after nearly two decades and hence was excited. Adjusting the seat to recline back my gaze shifted out. How had the time passed…like the cliché…flown by so rapidly? Looking around I realized it was applicable even to the nature of the transport availed now for travel. This was progress certainly or wasn’t it? 

Leaning back I contemplated on this very transport that has taken domestic inter-city traffic by storm; the Volvo bus. They were first launched by the private transport companies and now even the state corporations owned several in their fleet. Quite a leap over the rattletrap buses running on the Indian roads a few years earlier. Public transport was getting better but largely only for a certain class of passengers. The lal ST or the red state transport buses still operated to reach the very interiors of the state. The Volvos only operated between a few major towns and cities but their reach was gradually increasing.

A bump shook me out of my reverie. One of the misplaced badly designed speed breakers for sure. This is the peculiarity of the Indian roads or rather the whole public infrastructure. On one hand we are on our way to building good roads and highways, and today we have a host of good automakers with their models designed for fast road travel. Then on the other hand we don’t allow people to make use of what they have and what has been built with public money for their original intended use. Case in point are these confounded speed breakers. The earlier roads had natural potholes that would miraculously emerge in every monsoon. They limited speed and did not get repaired till the arrival of the next one. Travel between two points on a map in a certain time not only involved skill of driving but also intimate knowledge of where a particular pothole was located to avoid it. There are fewer potholes on newer roads but for them we have speed breakers. 

The Mumbai-Pune expressway stretched across like a snake slithering in the rain as far as the eye could see. It certainly is a remarkable sight. The passenger in my neighboring seat leaning over me looking out said with obvious pride “Isn’t it like foreign?” looking at his glee I was wonder struck at his line. For those of you who are familiar with the colloquial way of speech, we casually refer to anything outside of India as foreign. Now this is a throwback to the times of the permit Raj of the late sixties till the early nineties where imports were illegal or unaffordable. Usage of substandard goods of local manufacture was the norm. Quality was never the benchmark for marketing a commodity or service. I remember a time of using a Staedler eraser gifted by an NRI relative, during my school years. The simple fact that it rubbed off pencil marks without tearing the page was nothing short of magical. The rubber was foreign. Anything good, classy or well designed was tagged foreign. The Mumbai-Pune highway did seem just like foreign; it is an experience that hitherto was not a norm. Our bus did not leak in the rain from outside, it proceeded at a seemingly fast clip and saving that awkward speed breaker went over the minor bumps and potholes with shock absorbing impunity. It also showed a movie to keep the traveler absorbed, yes it was like foreign.

But my eye also took in the unfinished nature of this highway that despite a decade into operation did not come across as safe. An expressway like this had inadequate illumination which would be very dangerous for night travelers, the edges around curves weren’t banked and in portions the edge barriers were broken. I had heard of farm animals straying on to this road resulting in horrible accidents. Do the authorities not see it? I am sure they did going by the signage that dotted this stretch. We in India love our signs. Our signage is not designed to be actually read but serve the purpose of being mere disclaimers. Max speed limit 80km/hr said one…and if you broke this the same authorities equipped with speed guns would bring you to book. Does 80km/hr or 50mph qualify for an expressway speed? We shall build you a road but we do not trust you to use it for its engineered intent. The signs squawked such messages at regular intervals.

We were passing Lonavla, a popular hill station that lay midway between Mumbai & Pune. We had reached this in a fairly acceptable time of 90 minutes and estimated that at this rate in another hour would touch Pune. Then the bus slowed and swerved and making some acrobatic turns wheeled into the parking lot of a rather bright shiny structure. It was a diner owned by the bus company. Apparently this stop was mandatory and was called fuel halt. No bus required to be refueled over this distance but we love our euphemisms. The passenger wallets could be further lightened in the name of convenience. 


People hurriedly made their way to the washrooms and these are areas that have definitely changed for the better. Bright tiles and fairly clean would be the state of most public toilets in these areas but don’t bet on the taps to have running water always. Power outages are frequent and hence the water tanks may or may not get filled.  Hence despite the seemingly clean interiors and better privacy you can still be hit with a stink. It is peculiar to all public toilets in India. We have developed an auto response for holding our breath and letting go at the same time to achieve relief. Yoga is after all an Indian art form and all of us have an inbuilt chip that programs us for superior breath control while we enter our public lavatories.

A cup of tea set me back by Rs.15 and picking up that cup ambled along looking at all that was on display here. It was a visual merchandiser’s paradise. Everything from newspapers, magazines to sweets fudges and even blankets were available here. Yes it was a comfort to see that even on the highway one was not without the familiar brands and consumables that make life bearable for us in the city. After a cool 20 minutes of stoppage the journey resumed.

I dozed off for a while and woke up to see us approach the city from the outside. The first sign of progress is rapid construction and announcing this is the billboard. One after the other they started hitting my line of sight. Reputed builders of the city of Pune announcing projects in places like Wakad, Bavdhan, Aundh, Sus Road, NIBM Kondhwa which to people who know Pune were once villages on the outskirts. These have now become the extended suburbs of the city that is exploding and for want of space is absorbing all that is available around. Two really large developments called Magarpatta and Lavasa were being sold as intelligent cities. But what grabbed my attention were the names on these projects. Windermere, Meadows, Lakeside Chalet, Maple leaf, Whispering woods etc stared at me from the hoardings. Whatever happened to Indian sounding names? Names like  Matru Chahya, Vatsalya, Sneh Vihar ,  Sindh society, Sanewadi are beginning to look like names from a bygone era. Shedding our desi flavor seems to be the flavour of the season. For the world traveled home buyer the new names establish an immediate connect with his global footprint. So what if the Lakeside Chalet is nothing but 3 swanky buildings hosting a multitude of 2 and 3 bed apartments overlooking a culvert with flowing grey waters of the city sewers. The corporation is soon going to redirect the flow of sewage to another spot and then the waters here will be clean is the promise on which the development is marketed. Buy it now as it is going cheap and given the property price appreciation, Lakeside Chalet is completely booked with hopefuls who wait for their clean water view.

While they wait thus after moving into their new apartments, for work they have to travel to the other end of the city. Not to worry,  their developer has told them,  several new flyovers have been constructed and a few more planned. Travel is going to be very easy. In India the flyover is a unique structure and is like no other bridge in the world. This is a decidedly Indian recipe and I recall a friend of mine referring to it as the hump. Hump, now what is that? Have you noticed how Indian flyovers are uniquely planned for a single signal or a junction?  The cities have no dearth of great minds that can reorient the city and its roads along streamlined flows but then who shall work around the bureaucracy. To compound it is a unholy nexus of the encroachers, local politicians, the cops and city officials who allow this mess to fester. No laws can work around as the encroachers have a legal recourse cannon called the ‘Stay Order’. When this is fired all development started can come to a screeching halt. The matter moves to court and nothing moves after that for several years. The flyover has literally been an answer to the prayers of these developers as they now don’t care about the mess below. They fly over it. It is a wonderful solution that suits everybody. No one has eliminated the traffic snarl on the roads, we flyover them to the next junction. We speed over in parts and then go bumper to bumper in others. The Indian flyover is uniquely designed to take you faster to the next traffic jam. The journey time could have reduced but now we have more affluence and hence more cars dot the roads. Well dressed executives sitting in the air-conditioned comfort of their automobiles with either their laptops, blackberries, or the outspread pink financial newspaper, stuck in a jam is a common enough sight. On the way back from work they have FM radio jockeys for company belting out filmy numbers interspersed with loud commercials.

Progressing we are and the pace too is rapid; but our style of progress is distinctly Indian and needs to be understood in its own perspective. This was my thought as I got down at the bus stop that was once called Parihar chowk and now is “McDonalds – Aundh.” 

Unmasking a Superhero

Let men wear masks as civilization deems. Strip them not; what is inside is not what you may want to see- Anonymous

I was surfing news channels. One face stared at me from most of them. It was a very harassed looking Lalit Modi. Till two days back he had held the post of Commissioner& Chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL) that he had conceptualized & created. He had been suspended. He is charged with rampant corruption, impropriety in the bidding process of team ownership and a high handed manner of operation amongst other things. A year ago he was a hero, actually a superhero. Then, he had even taken on the Government of India that refused to grant security to IPL. With a bold flourish he had moved it to South Africa. Today this image has taken a severe beating. The superhero is reviled as a scheming criminal; a long walk away from the visionary he was a few weeks back and held a position that was unchallenged for three years. In retaliation he had pointed fingers to a few members of the Board of Cricket Control in India. The Board closed its ranks around the others who had not been so blatant and left him holding the can. The clippings showed Modi then and Modi now. I wondered which one was the real face of Modi and which one the mask?

The Issue

By the time you read this, many more trees would have met their end feeding the demand for news print. The question that arose is not of who was right or wrong and in what degree is the culpability. What is it about superheroes that we have this urge to bring them down after pushing them to that station?

Lessons from our favorite comic books

We all love comic books. In India however great comic books have not been around in plenty. We have had but one publisher who did serious good work in his Amar Chitra Katha. Our superheroes are gods. We shall look at them separately from a different perspective. Right now let’s give closer attention to two publishers who have focused on the concept of a superhero; DC Comics & Marvel comics. They have given us leagues of superheroes like the Incredible Hulk, Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Robin, Wolverine, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Captain America, The Dare devil amongst others

Who is a superhero and what makes him one? What does he represent?

Distilling the concept they simplistically defined a superhero as one who stood outside or alongside a system and yet operated for it. He did this because the system was someplace not strong enough to handle the all powerful forces of evil. The system cried out for help when it came into contact with this evil force. The forces could be calamities or individuals (super villains). You can take your pick. The system and the beneficiaries of his power make him what he is. He is representing what is good and herein the depiction of the superhero is a lesson.

A superhero is super. He cannot be ordinary rather by necessity he has to be extra-ordinary. This in effect means that sheer ordinariness is a huge crime for a superhero.

Are mortal desires & relationships not in a superheroes lot? And is this why he has to wear a mask in public?

Type of Super Heroes

The superhero is differentiated by his special power. It is this power that appeals to the reader or viewer. Let us take just a small representative sample of them and look at the type of superheroes. In these types we cover almost all of them who have been created with due respect to their creators.

Let us look at the characteristics of a superhero to understand this well.

· They have special powers/skills

· They have an alter ego/ other identities and

· They wear masks.

We shall look at the three most popular amongst them namely Superman, Spiderman & Batman. Each of them is unique as a type.

Superman: (Type I: Totally Super …very little Human)

Kal-El’s son Jor-el is not an earthling. He is a Kryptonite. He is the only superhero who doesn’t wear a mask because of this. He has inherent superpowers. The true mask of superman is when he is Clark Kent. This alter-ego is the masked personality where the objective is to disguise his superpowers. Now no one not even his evil foe Lex Luthor himself a scientist can match up to Superman unless he plays dirty. This is the real bore because he never does. Hence all Superman comics/movies seem so linear. There is white, good Superman/Clark Kent and then there is the black, evil, Lex Luthor. The lines are clearly drawn with nothing in between. No shades of grey because he is not human.

Spiderman: (Type II: Half Super…Half Human)

This is the intermediate stage that has almost all the rest of Marvel superheroes bunched up. When Peter Parker got bit by a spider exposed to radiation, he developed certain amazing powers of the spider. He can weave webs has great reflexes and absolutely doesn’t suffer from vertigo. The rest of the times he is a man with some special powers. Here Peter Parker is the man and Spiderman the alter-ego who wears a mask. This situation creates and allows some depth in this mask. It can be ripped off and it does tear in some books. Spidey movies are hence that much more exciting than superman. He is a spider and he is a man…more man. This leaves open some shades of the black to creep in and hence the dimension of this character is enhanced. But with great powers comes a great responsibility and Peter Parker the boy next door has a character that allows him to display this super heroic resolve.

Batman: (Type III: No Superpower…All Human)

Batman comes out on tops for this very reason. He is the only superhero who is all man. He has no super powers, was not bit by a spider, did not come from any other planet, he was born in Gotham city to Martha and Dr Thomas Wayne. They were billionaires who have a foundation and company and the son Bruce Wayne uses this power extensively yet judiciously. His power is the power of money and science available to do his bidding. He is the upright nemesis of crime in the dark streets of Gotham city when he dons his mask as the Bat. The beauty of Batman is that both his self and alter ego are masks. As the Batman he is a masked vigilante albeit helping the system and then comes his other mask as Bruce Wayne when he is distancing himself from the ego. Here in lies a character depth which is at times flawed, generally upright but has shades of grey. The beauty of this superhero is also in the interesting adversaries assigned to him. May they be the manic Joker or the Deadly Riddler, the seductive Poison Ivy or the mighty Freeze here is a superhero who is also not always welcomed by the police force he supports. They chase him too. So what is he fighting for…A crime free Gotham is the goal.

Stray Conclusions:

Now we come to the real question of the superhero and his mask. Throughout his battles he is never unmasked. But in reading a comic or watching a movie we are the voyeuristic participants in the game who know the secret behind the mask…This is what drives us to at once create a superhero, emulate him, elevate him yet keep our power over him by knowing his secret. We may not ever fully fathom the true nature of the beast behind the mask but once the super utility of this beast is over we want it away. Unmasked and cast aside. Is this what happened here?

Whats in a Name?

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. – Juliet,

Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare

The bright light of the afternoon sun made me blink. The eyes screwed up and began adjusting the vision while the brain started to process the location of the nearest auto rickshaw stand. I had just spent the last 3 hours in a dark cinema hall being thoroughly entertained by a movie called “3 Idiots” and as I flagged and got into the 3 wheeler, the names of 3 film stars of Indian cinema flashed across triggering a train of thought. Comparing film icons or film stars is a national pastime & was not immune to it. Auto comparison is what this was ( Auto = Automatic and not because it was done while I was inside an Auto rickshaw). There is no other reasoning of the need to compare them at all, but for an idle mind that needed some fodder. The neuron of wackiness had raised its head in my head.

The names that immediately popped into my mind were Amitabh Bacchhan, Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan; 3 equally talented and successful superstars of Indian cinema. If ever one is to compare then the ground for comparison needs to be a fair ground. This very small sample set met all parameters required for popularity and talent in their field of choice. Their beginnings had been relatively similar too; they had taken nearly 20 odd films to get to their big breaks to get stably established. All came from non-acting backgrounds. Two are contemporaries while the third though active is a generation senior to the other two. These were the apples in my basket. We are not discussing favorites here as I have liked them all at different phases so what was my originally idiotic thought that began this train?

If one is to take a closer look at Billy the Bard’s line and turn it upside down, does it conversely hold true. Can anything that smells sweet be called a Rose? or if you call something a Rose will it begin to smell sweet? Is there a power or a character that emerges from taking on a name ? And what connects this thought to our 3 stars?

Examine this:

Amitabh Bacchhan made his debut in Saat Hindustani and after a few false starts was about to return back to where he came from. One can almost visualize the scene at the railway platform, as he is boarding the train. 3 people who were standing there one producer-director, Prakash Mehra and 2 writers ( Salim Khan & Javed Akhtar ) call out "Vijayyyyy" and Bacchhan turned to look back, "Come back don’t go" they say. He stays back and makes cinematic history as the angry young man. Amitabh on screen became synonymous with Vijay. This at the most changed to Jai or Jay. Whether he preferred to be called by that name or the directors/producers insisted he be called thus can remain a mystery. What is not a mystery is in almost all roles for close to 15 years that he did thereafter he was Vijay. This was till his fall from grace after some really crass movies like Lal Badhsah that he took a break, from these ashes to again be reborn like a phoenix on TV and rekindle a film career. The funny coincidence is that in all the movies where Amitabh has had the name Vijay despite roles being different; the displayed angst is identical whether he played a cop or a don. The variety of Vijay’s career graph has been in the different last names/ surnames, as he changed from a Vijay Khanna to a Vijay Dinanath Chauhan. You take one Vijay and you have seen them all which is a tragic waste of nearly fifteen productive years of a great talent.

Shahrukh Khan began his film career as an extra in the mercurial movie “In which Annie gives it to those ones” a movie that was written by the Booker prize winner Arundhati Roy. If you blink you would miss him. TV happened to him nearly the same time where he was noticed and his work appreciated. Shahrukh Khan's most exciting phase of work is in his early years but that did not make him King Khan till he donned the mantle of a lover boy “Raj” in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge in the year 1995. Till date after this movie, saving two or three exceptions, SRK has been some version of Raj/Rahul. The journey of 14 years has been a repetition of playing himself where the character in the script could be anybody, but what would emerge is Raj/Rahul. Lately he even started appearing as SRK the superstar ( Billu, Luck By chance, Om Shanti Om). SRK/Raj is what you would get whether playing a suave Don or an ancient Indian emperor-Asoka. The day he actually chucked aside that tag to play Kabir Khan in Chak De and a Mohan Bhargava in Swades, a different character came through. But these were more exceptions than a rule. Here one could see flashes of his earlier brilliance, being shaken up awake from a long hibernation. Before one got used to this he returned back to playing Raj in his comfort zone. SRK and Raj have got so intermingled that the work has a sameness which does not befit his talent. It is the intoxication of perpetual perching on the imagined throne of Hindi cinema that requires King Khan to remain a "Raj".

Raj rules now as Vijay did earlier. There is a peculiar power in these names that have graced the characters played by these two stars.

Aamir Khan too has tasted immense success in Quayamat Se Quayamat Tak (his debut as a lead actor) as a Raj. He again saw big success when he had the name Raja for "Dil" and "Raja Hindustani", both spectacular hits. In these 3 movies Raj & Raja are similar romantic characters. Coincidence? But this actor has never been king nor seemingly aspired to be one as evident in his path to stardom. His has been the path of a daring knight of the Kings court who could do anything. A dashing reporter in " Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahi" who is hungry for a story, boarding an inter-city bus as Raghu Jetley kick-started this journey. The character Pooja played by Pooja Bhatt even asks the question at some point in the film “What kind of a name is Raghu Jetley?” His journey has had some interesting milestones; Sanjaylal Sharma the enfant terrible student who comes of age in "Jo Jeeta wohi Sikander". Siddhartha Marathe of "Ghulam", Amar Dhamjee in "Baazi", Munna of "Rangeela", DJ of "Rang De Basanti" all have had their time. Akash Malhotra of "Dil Chahta Hai" could not have been more different from a Bhuvan of "Lagaan" or a Ram Shankar Nikumbh of "Taare Zammen Par". With each name a different flavor has emerged to the character played by this actor. The movies may not have all succeeded phenomenally but the journey from Raghu Jetley to Rancho of 3 Idiots been rich varied and fulfilling. This then extends to the viewers who wait in anticipation for a new movie to release and a new character with a new name to emerge.

It is said that with “Six Degrees of Separation” one can connect anything or anyone. This was the muddled tattle about the nomenclatural title ruffling the cerebral neuron as I came out of the movie.

Beautiful Creations - Forgotten Creators

The Song

I was returning to Aurangabad city from Verul in Maharashtra, India. It was a break from work at Mumbai and had decided to take a random trip this long weekend; random because the destination was not planned till we hit the road. The driver put on some music. An unfamiliar voice and song came about through the music system …Clear strident notes, wonderful voice quality and superlative music. It was Hindi film music but had never heard it earlier. In the close confines of the car with the twilight casting all objects outside in soft focus, the music enveloped me. “Bheegi Hui Koi Shaam Ho” simply pure, the music soared, the energy in the voice building up the song and I was lost in the wonderful composition. “Whose music is this?” I asked the driver, Sir its mine sir, he had misunderstood my question completely. “Arrey No, who has made it?” I repeated my question a bit differently. “Sunidhi Chauhan is the singer and the film Chameli” said he proud in his knowledge. It was a movie that had clearly not been a commercial success despite a great brouhaha about the top film star Kareena Kapoor doing a serious film. “Nahi…no no… What I meant was who is the music director; the composer?” “Pata nahi saab” said he…”but music solid hai and I play it often”. It was a truly glorious track. “Do you have the CD jacket?” I pressed on. He shook his head “No jacket sir, only have this common plastic box for all my CD’s here.” I had no chance then of knowing the name of the person who had created the soul stirring song that had me perking up.

The Movies

On Reaching the Hotel, I freshened up. Having nothing much to do outside I decided to have a relaxed evening by myself. Ordered an early dinner up and started flipping through the cable channels. The movie ‘Gumnaam’ was on. A body had been discovered and the background music conveyed the tense moment. This movie was adapted from Agatha Christie’s famous book “Ten Little Niggers”. The book later got rechristened, when saying niggers became politically incorrect, to “And then there were none“. I had seen this movie earlier but enjoyed it yet again. The room service waiter saw me engrossed in the film and remarked, ”Lovely movie, Mehmood has acted real well”. I nodded and asked him, “who has directed Gumnaam?”. “Who knows Sir?” he shrugged. Gumnaam has been a rock solid hit and a total entertainer right from the day it has been released. I flipped a channel and “Chalti ka naam gaadi” was playing; a comedy riot and again one of the most well known movies in the Indian cinema scene. I again asked the waiter, “How about this film, who has made this one?” This time he was more confident and said “Kishore Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Anup Kumar. The three brothers together have made this film.” “They are the lead actors certainly, but are you positive they directed this film?” By this time he looked at me queerly, as if I was from some distant planet. I did not look like a quiz show host but was shooting questions about in a similar fashion. He then retorted that next you would ask me ‘Who painted the wall frescoes of Ajanta? Or who built the Kailasa Temple at Verul? And you would even tell me that the Taj Mahal was not made by Shah Jahan, Right?” And I laughed out loud and said “Exactly right.” “Kya saab subah se koi milaa nahi kya?” I tipped him, enjoyed the movie and finished my meal. My post dinner Chai was served out in the verandah where I sat in the wicker sofa chair looking into the night and lit up a cigarette.

The moot point

The question that had been hazily forming in my mind was clear. Music, Film making, Wall fresco painting, Architectural construction are all intensely collaborative art forms. However for them to cohesively come together and create something that is magical it demanded one mind to be at the helm. The one person with the overview and knowledge of getting it done exactly the way it should be, the person who conceptualizes it first in the mind before she/he gathers all of the pieces and starts the physical process of creation. In all of the above instances that I had coincidently touched upon, in the talks with my driver and the room service staff, every one of them was familiar with the work. Not one of them knew the maker. The work shone bright, luminous and had achieved popularity to become immortal, but the actual creators had receded into the oblivion or remained in the background.

Who does one credit, the Patron or the Artist?

Art and Entertainment are curious forms of creation. There are also certain forms like Architecture and Building science which reach the level of the artistic. Some better, bigger or more prolific than the others, lasting centuries. But all of them take shape only in civilized societies. It is only a fully evolved society or civilization that produces and propagates fine art. Often though the work of art has been attributed to the patron. Case in point are Shah Jahan and the Taj Mahal at Agra and Rajaraja Chola I and the Brihadeeswara Temple at Tanjore; The largest complete granite temple anywhere in the world. This was built in the 11^th Century AD, nearly 600 years prior to the Taj Mahal. But neither of these kings actually drew a plan, mounted a stone or carved a design. Ustad Ahmad Lahuri, Makramat Khan and Abdul Karim Maumar Khan who were the conceivers of the Taj in the form that we see today are forgotten except by the chroniclers. Similar is the state of the Vishwakarma builders who made the Brihadeeswara temple possible. Time and history adds layers and layers of dust and the lore gathers force while the creator fades behind the curtain of time.

No one knows who actually built the Kailasa Temple. All we know is that it was built during the time of the Rashtrakutas in the 8^th century AD 300 years before the Brihadeeswara Temple. This temple is unique because it is actually hewn out of a single basalt rock and has taken 120 years to build. That is nearly 10 generations of craftsmen would have worked on this one monument. Without going too deep into the historical significance, it is the creative scope that is awe inspiring. How can an idea of an architectural design survive for 120 years and whose was the mind that conceived it in the first place? But that’s a discussion for some other day. It is yet another immortal work whose actual creator is not known.

It is the patron who creates the environment that is amiable to the process of creation. The patron may fund it or commission it too and should they not do this the artist may not have a platform or an environment to achieve his creation; in the above cases such sublime ones too that have lasted centuries.The Patron and the Artist , two individuals who needed to collide in a window of time, for artistic magnificence to happen.

The Creators

What began with the music of Chameli and its music director Sandesh Shandilya who created this fresh sound, moved on to Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi the movie. Do take note that this the movie is nearly 60 years old and an absolute cult comedy yet equally fresh and fun when viewed even today. But ask the same people who is the director and erroneously one of the Ganguly brothers or all three who acted in it would be given credit. Nobody remembers the prolific film maker Satyen Bose who was its director. Satyen who? Now this phenomenal talent has made upwards of 34 films in as many years in Cinema. Some of his works like Dosti, Jagriti, Raat aur Din , Jeevan Mrityu were smash hits, but none like the one movie he made in 1958 “Chalti Ka Naam Gadi.” Same is the Case of "Gumnaam", one of the tautest thrillers ever made in Hindi Cinema. This movie is a perfect blend of being a complete entertainer yet a classy thriller for its amazing screenplay , story idea, the casting, the performances and the music. This movie is right on top of most watched movies ever in the video circuit but even today very few would be able to name Raja Navathe - the director. Nawathe was the assistant director to Raj Kapoor in making the RK Classics Aag, Awara and Barsaat. The seven films which he later directed were all popular films and commercial successes. Let me put them in perspective and you will know what I am talking about. Aah starring Raj Kapoor & Nargis, Basant Bahar & Sohni Mahiwal with Nimmi and Bharat Bhushan, Gumnaam and Patthar ke Sanam both starring Mehmood and Manoj Kumar, Bhai Bhai with Sunil Dutt and Manchali with Sanjeev Kumar. The work is famous its creator isn’t.

Schools of thought

In ancient eastern civilizations of India,China & Japan art and architecture flourished. Who doesn’t know about the ceramic pottery of the Han, Tan and the Ming dynasties? The metal working skills of the ancient Japanese are particularly well regarded in fashioning swords and blades; The Katana’s and the Samurai swords or the polished metal mirrors. The Buddhist and Hindu art forms have their roots in the Guru-Shishya tradition. The school of the master would be known and its style would have a demand. The maker was not important as long as he/she maintained the very high standards of the school. This was the ethos from which an Artiste from the east operated. Pride in the work but not in self. Those who practiced it achieved immortality through their work.The work spoke for itself and artistes were richly rewarded if their art found patronage or languished on the path to penury without it.

The western society which has its roots in the Greco Roman civilization took pride in the self. Not that the artists were any less talented but very few of them as persons remained hidden behind their work. A classical example is the Sistine chapel that had the greatest of the renaissance painters like Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli and Bernini coming together. The patron Pope Julius II is comparatively much lesser known for the chapel than these masters. Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and her enigmatic smile even now leads to speculation not so much about the muse as much as the multi talented painter who created it. The enigmatic sculpture “The Thinker” is not complete till we say “Rodin’s Thinker”. The name stamp of the artist is equally strong as his work is magnificent.

And then there is Fame for Fames sake

In the material world of today modesty has ceased to remain a virtue. It doesn’t ring the cash register. The speed at which the world moves today has everyone scrambling for their “fifteen minutes of spotlight” as Andy Warhol had very aptly said. This hurry, impatience and wantonness tends to sometimes divert the attention from the actual product delivery and its quality in the art that they practice. The work by these people may even achieve quick popularity but also is forgotten just as quickly.This is exemplified in a Marathi language music reality show that is extremely popular and aired on TV called Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. Season across Season the bulk of songs that have been sung by the contestants have all been from an era that is even early for their parents. How does this happen? These works are timeless because they were perfected. One hears of music directors of yore taking months to record a song. RD Burman gave 36 versions of the music to Nasir Husain before the director was satisfied for Teesri Manzil. With technology time has certainly been crunched but imagine the quality of the work if the same team records 40 songs in one day. Kumar Sanu is credited with this dubious record, am positive he himself would not be able to recall all the 40 songs that he sung on that fateful day. If he himself cant then how will I?

Then there are the cases of those individuals who are simply famous for being famous. No one really knows or worse cares what these people actually do. Leading this pack today is Rakhi Sawant, the current flavor of the season (ala Paris Hilton minus her billions and good looks).Open a page 3 of any newspaper and we see some faces there time and again, the usual suspects. Now reflect on the actual activities or work done by them, those that stare at us from these pages and go figure their reason for being famous.

Some stray thoughts as I sat out looking into the Aurangabad night. Rakhi Sawant or Sandesh Shandilya, Paris Hilton or Satyen Bose & Raja Nawathe…the two antipodes on the compass of the bitch goddess of fame.