For the Glory of "Jan - Gan - Man"

The other day we went for a movie, a late night show at a multiplex in Mumbai and as is ceremonial here the National Anthem was played before the start of the movie.

Whenever I have been a part of this ritual, I have always hummed the tune and also tried to see through the corner of my eyes if the person next to me is also doing the same. Some find this ritual funny, but I don’t and I try to give the national anthem the respect that is due to it.

So, this day that I am talking about, the anthem was being played and almost everyone was at least standing. I used the phrase “at least standing” here because that is the minimum that is expected out of us when the Anthem is being played. And I used “almost” because not everyone was showing that minimum respect due also.

Down the aisle was an elderly lady, who was sitting while the anthem was being played. I had also noticed that towards the start of the Anthem a younger lady accompanying the elderly has even nudged her to get up and I had noticed the very prominent gesture of negation. And throughout the Anthem my eyes were glued to the lady (for no other reason!!).

But as we have another ritual in India “Chalta hai” no-one seemed to have been pained by the disrespect that the elderly has just shown towards the Anthem. The movie started, and we all got engrossed in the movie. It was an interesting movie.. don’t remember which one though!
It was interval, when we saw commotion down the aisle. A couple of agitated voices and violent hand gestures. I quickly realized what it was!

A young guy had supposedly gone to the lady and pointed out to her that she was not standing for the Anthem. Bas itna kehna tha, and the whole group accompanying the lady went defensive. I think, I also heard the lady say, “You don’t know! I am a very patriotic person”. The younger woman accompanying the elderly was heard saying, “Mind your business”. All this while the young guy was standing there and smiling, not uttering a single word.

Probably his simple intervention had made a big blow to the conscience of the elderly and the group accompanying her! Probably all her justifications were directed towards that inner guilt conscience than to its outer stimulus!

We couldn’t help but admire the young man who by now had already walked up the aisle and was quietly sitting at his seat while the agitated group downstairs was still settling in!
My mind wandered off to the old song that all of us would have once hummed in the schools, at least mechanically…

विजयी विश्व तिरंगा प्यारा

झंडा ऊंचा रहे हमारा

From अंजी to Chaos Theory!!

Long time ago I saw a play at the Nehru Centre in Mumbai – Anji [Hindi] by Vijay Tendulkar and I saw a yet another play yesterday at the Prithvi Theatre – Chaos Theory by Rahul da Cunha.
While “Anji” deals with the life of a girl, in her late twenties or mid thirties, trying to find a suitable match for her; “Chaos Theory” is play about two people, each with a chaos to manage in their lives.

One thing that I like about plays is that they are live! You see the actors in flesh and blood and their impeccable performances leave you dumbstruck at the end of the day. There are no retakes, just like our lives and that is what makes you wonder how on earth can someone be so perfect!!

Let me come back to Anji and Chaos Theory. Or rather to only "Chaos Theory" as the memories of the act are still fresh in my mind.

The main protagonists, Mukesh and Sunita “Sen” are in love, but they never express their love for each other to each other. And this is a chaos that they face.

Towards the end of the act there is a very beautiful and heart rendering dialogue. Sunita is meeting Mukesh for the last time and she says:
"You never knew who you were, and that is your Chaos."
To which Mukesh replies:
"You knew who I was, and that is your chaos."
Just two lines and the whole play gets summarised in them.

There were many other instances where the love between the two protagonists was projected in a very subtle but yet a very strong way.

A scene when Sen is marrying another guy and reads the marriage contract: “If the material witnesses present here have any objection to this alliance, they may speak now”.. She looks at Mukesh who is standing there with an air of indifference…. The audience is waiting for an answer from Mukesh… At least he would say something, at least now. And Then Mukesh speaks “Read the fine print”…..

But, apart from the strong portrayal of love between the protagonists, what also appealed me was the ambience of the theatre.

Set amidst the quite surroundings of Janki Kutir, Prithvi Theatre is a delightful place. The Pritvi Café is the perfect place to spend an evening with friends or with oneself. There is a bookshop with a limited but rich collection. I managed to lay my hands on Hindi literature which now-a-days is a thing of passé.

What also makes the play a memorable one is a small incident that happened with a friend of mine who had joined us for the play. Just that she never got to watch the play! And that is one Chaos that she had to manage while we enjoyed a new version of the Chaos Theory inside!!

हजारों ख्वाहिशें ऐसी....

It could be called serendipity! Today morning when I plugged the earphones into my ear canal, the first song that my cell played of a random lot of some hundred songs was "hazaaron khwahishein aisi" from the movie by the same name.

What else could have been a bigger coincidence that the theme of this movie was based on what we are seeing in Mumbai now.... I get goosepimples when I hear these beautiful and yet so very powerful words in a poem that goes alongside the song...

"A thousand desires such as these

A thousand moments to set this night on fire

Reach out and you can touch them

You can touch them with your silences

You can reach them with your lust

Rivers, mountains, rain

Rain against a torrid hillscape

A thousand desires such as these

I loved rain as a child

As a lost young man

Empty landscapes bleached by a tired sun

And then

Suddenly it came like a dark unknown woman

Her eyes scorched my silences

Her body wrapped itself around me like a summer without end

Pause me, Hold me Reach me where no man has gone

Crossing the seven seas

With the wings of fire, I fly towards nowhere

And you; Rivers, mountains, rain

Rain against the scorched landscape of pain

A thousand desires such as these......

हजारों ख्वाहिशें ऐसी के हर ख्वाहिश पे दम निकले

बहुत निकले मेरे अरमान लेकिन फ़िर भी कम निकले"

With regrets to the President!!

The other day, I was just casually browsing through the website of all the president of the nation when I happened to come across a section that read:
"Located on the hill top of the Mashobra, the building was taken over during 1895 by the Viceroy. The president visits The Retreat at least once a year and his core office shifts to that place during his stay in The Retreat. Thousand feet higher than the Shimla Ridge Top, The Retreat is located in a picturesque surrounding. The architectural pattern and the natural beauty of the place have made The Retreat a tourist attraction in Shimla.”

“Located at Bolarum, Rashtrapati Nilayam building was taken over from the Nizam of Hyderabad after India attained independence and handed it over to the President's Secretariat. Constructed during 1860, this building has a total land area of 90 acres. A single storied building, it contains in its premises 11 rooms. It also has a Dining Hall, Cinema Hall, Darbar Hall, Morning room, ADC's dining room etc. The President of India visits the Rashtrapati Nilayam and stays there at least once a year and conducts his official business from this Nilayam."

Now, me being me, thought to take a shot and wrote a mail to the lady at Rashtrapati (agreed it could not be Rashtrapatni, but may be something else!!) Bhawan. I wrote:
Respected Madam,
It is a pleasure to see a lady chair the seat of the highest authority in the country but it is of utmost regret to see that the Indian system is not yet ready to accept this fact.

How would the society awake to the fact of woman empowerment when the country's politics is marred by a male oriented approach to things?

The following paragraph taken from the official website of the President of India is a sad example of how we never ever in the history of 60 years of independence thought that a President could be a lady. The use of masculine gender in the statements below is such an irony to the very vision of woman empowerment that you embody.
Hope you would direct your secretariat to rectify this social, political and grammatical blunder as soon as possible.

I never expected a reply from them, let alone any action. However, I was surprised the day after when I saw a mail in my mailbox from some S G Sharma, which read:

Dear Shri Sudeep Dube,

This is to acknowledge the receipt of your e-mail dated 1st December 2008 addressed to the President of India. Your concern is appreciated and necessary step has been taken in this regards.
Regards

S G Sharma
Technical Director

I immediately checked the website and the error stood rectified! I was amazed at the promptness of response!
This made me realise that we, just the common people of this country, can bring about a change in the system. I am not saying that to get a small grammatical error rectified is the same as to be able to manage the mess in which our country seems to be currently, instead what I am saying is that no step, however small it may be is going to be a waste, especially in times like these.

धीरे-धीरे रे मना, धीरे सब कुछ होय ।

माली सींचे सौ घड़ा, ॠतु आए फल होय ॥

A quick musing!!!

Why does it need to be tagged "the 9/11 of India"?
Why can't it be "26/11 of India"?
Do we really need this comparison? Is the fact, that this was a heinous act of crime in its own right not sufficient?

Arrey... Kamaal hai!!!

"Arrey... Kamaal hai".. how often would we have used this phrase, and more in concatenation with another phrase "Ek to chori, oopar se seenajori"..... But then who would go and tell this to the CM of Maharashtra, "Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh" Who has, who had the audacity to take his entourage for a terror tourism trip at the scene of Taj carnage and massacre.
How on earth could he think of tagging along his good-for-nothing son, Ritesh (now spelled as Riteish, to bring good luck to his doomed career; which unfortunately would now be doomed forever if the people of India excercise their disposition) and the equally good-for-nothing director Ram Gopal Verma to the scene which would have witnessed the biggest and the most horrendous terror attack on the country.
Jo kiya, so kiya but at the end of it all, how boldly he is making statements "Arrey Kamaal hai.... we gave you the footage on goodwill and you are stretching things..... (or something of the sorts, but Arrey kamaal hai is what I am sure of)" One look at the face of the beloved CM during his recent press conference would have cleared us of any doubts of his love and respect for fellow citizens.
Did I write "Fellow Citizens"..... guess no politician in this god-foresaken country would be considering the aam aadmi even close to that term. To them we are the lesser mortal beings and in bade bade sheheron mein to yeh chhote chhote haadse hote hi rehte hain.

Wonder what the Patils and the Deshmukhs would have to say if their residence or the Mantralaya would have been the focus of the attack. That being the case, this would have been another big attack on the democracy of this country, after the Parliament attack. And did I say "Democracy".... did someone not tell these demigods of the society that democracy is a system of governanceof the people, by the people, for the people....... Wish at least some of our politicians had not been the school dropouts then this much sense would have prevailed!!!!! Not that those who have degree from the Howard and Cambridge Universities of the world are doing some wonders..... Bhai kamaal hai!!!!