Monday, July 4, 2011

Corruption

In my opinion, the whole JLP critics' argument that it is undemocratic for an unelected mass to coerce elected representatives into approving JLP is flawed. To me, the issue with this argument is the part where they call it as 'undemocratic' and not with disagreeing on the contents of the bill.

The mode to achieve democracy is not written on stone. Electoral process just happens to be one way to run a democratic state. Not the only one. If Anna was able to garner such a widespread people support through social network, in my opinion it is conceptually the same as that of an elected representative's people support.

And we must remember that whenever a state or any establishment's functioning is observed to be inefficient or unjust, loses its credibility and there is no better alternative, people go to streets and fight for their cause. History has always witnessed such uprisings. But whats important is that during this opportunity leaders and intellectuals have huge responsibilities of organizing the mass to achieve goals that better serve mankind by arranging for a more meaningful political discourse. So, the issue here is not their approach but the bill they've come up with.

The bill is purely founded on the populist notion to single out and blindly attack 'corruption' - Corruption is evil. Let’s fight it. There were no deep questions or concerns raised to analyze and understand the roots of this so-call-corruption. What is corruption? Can we define it? Will that be a universally accepted definition? Can a simple abuse of power be called corruption?. Before that, are we all qualified to accuse others as being corrupt? How many of us have not cheated on a test or logged an 8 hour timesheet without productively working 8 hours or used any kind of social network during work hours or cheated for a tax rebate or bought a black movie/show/game ticket or taken a recommendation/shortcut for a desired outcome or simply taken advantage of ignorance. If we assign a number to all of the above ‘misdeeds’ and add up it will easily surpass some of the shocking amounts we see in our dailies.
                                                                                  
For argument sake, let's assume half of JLP supporters have passed the above test and qualify. Will they be able to objectively analyze each and every corruption outcry in this billion head-count country? Is that even realistic? Just for kicks, let’s take it little further and say they were somehow able to look into each and every case, serve justice and punish the offender. Then obviously it'd be a blow to such bureaucrats 'under-the-table' income. But then, how would the system balance out here? Or how would that bureaucrat make up for that lost income which was until then used to send his/her son to that private school or to save for his/her daughter's marriage or even just to keep up with the inflation.

Now, in the case of high profile politicians and corporates, where hundreds and thousands of crores of money is involved, the incentives, motifs and methods need to be uncovered and nullified which is way way easier said than done. Power and Greed is where the deconstruction will lead to and those have been human driving factors since our evolution. How would you address a ‘wired’ intent as an issue? It is no different than asking us to give up our jobs or our breads and just walk away.

I am not saying that it justifies them to continue earning through such means. I am merely stating that the problem is not as simplistic as what JLP designers and supporters have assumed it to be and on the contrary tangled with so many other issues facing our country such as population, lack of education, poverty, lack of tight law & order, unemployment, inaccesibility to resources just to name a few. Easily, a streetvendor’s inaccessibility to good healthcare or education or even just a fair treatment can be traced and connected to corruption and any of the above issues and vice-versa. There are no villains and monsters out there in the public arena. So, we need to control this urge to serve poetic justice and instead try to analyze and understand status quo before even thinking about a solution.

But, does this all mean such an uprising which is unusual for indian mass should fade away to nothing? No, this is exactly the right time to bring attention to some of the core issues facing India and arrange for sensible and rational discussions among economists, sociologists, intellectuals, policy researchers, law-makers and human behaviour analysts. Unlike ten years ago, demagoguery is at its best today in this age of social networking. An opinion, a view, a stance of any influential person (doesn’t have to be a celebrity or a politician or an academician) is immediately picked up by his/her acquaintances and they multiply enough to sway major decisions. An ‘India Against Corruption’ movement may be a great beginning, but by itself will only satiate some of the frustrations arising from misconceptions and will definitely not provide a long-term, progressive solution.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Battle of Algiers - Movie review

Pros:

Brilliant moviemaking for a 1966 movie with some intelligent writing and poignant scenes, like the one where a gang of 8-10 year olds attack a tall, old junkie/alcoholic.

The series of scenes where Ali le pointe is inducted into FLN. Interesting rationale.

The conversation between Matthieu and press on revolutionary warfare and its different stages and a more similar exchange between Ali le pointe and Ben M'Hidi

Storytelling, for instance the scene where it starts from a woman staring at mirror to her
ending up planting a bomb!

Contrasting among revolutionaries - people who follow an ideology and have a plan of action
and those who are just hooligans acting on baser instincts and dying to bear arms, but faithful.


Cons:

Actually I'm being picky here when I say the acting in certain scenes were a little outdated,
like this one where an innocent Arab is chased on the streets of Kasbah and arrested.

It is hard to not notice, when the whole movie was around terrorism - its rise and fall, why
the makers scurried through the insurrection, the next phase in a revolutionary warfare in the last 2 or so minutes like a footnote. For some reason, it didn't create any impact on me.

Couldn't stop reminding myself that its a 1966 movie - I don't know if thats really a con.


Quotes:

"Acts of violence don't win wars. Neither wars nor revolutions. Terrorism is useful as
a start. But then, the people themselves must act. That's the rationale behind this
strike: to mobilize all Algerians, to assess our strength."

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Juxtapose


1) Cashback vs A Serious man

Movie: Cashback
Ben to Suzy "You can't rely on other people to make you happy"

Movie: A Serious man
In the Yiddish Prologue "I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man: which of us is possessed?"

2) Crazy Heart vs Mudhal Mariyathai

Movie: Crazy Heart
One liner: "Harder the life, Sweeter the song"

Movie: Mudhal Mariyathai
Lyrics: "Suga raagam sogam thaane"

3) Alaigal oyvathillai Vs E E Cummings

Movie: Alaigal oyvathillai
Lyrics: "unaku mattum ketkum enathu uyir urugum satham"

Poet: E E Cummings
"only something in me understands the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses.."

Graphs






Saturday, January 8, 2011

Lyrics


"uzhutha pulithiyilum
un mugame theriyuthamma..."

Not sure when I really started noticing the lyrics in a song. Must have been in the past 5 or 6 years I guess. Only music mattered until then. Actually I was very much in that category of Indian moviegoers who try to compare Indian movies with those of the West and found it abrupt and quirky - although West has a 'musical' genre to cover this - when a perfectly normal couple jump into fashionable costumes and start to do lip sync for a song. But, I guess I am going to move on assuming one can argue that heightened feelings call for a different form of expression.

"antha saalaiyil nee vandhu seramal
aaru degree yil en paarvai saayamal
vilagi poirunthaal thollai illai
ithu vendatha velai"

This article will talk about Indian movie songs, actually tamil in particular. Before that let me start with a few pointers from history.

"setha kilavan
eluthi vacha
othai sothu veeramada.."

During the pre-independence era, when the transition from theatre to movies began with the first generation of technicians trying to understand this new powerful medium that demanded a whole new way of storytelling, songs were in fact able to find an easy way in.

"puratchigal ethum seiyamal
pennuku nanmai vilaiyathu..
kannagi silai thaan ingundu..
seethaiku kallaal silayethu.."

Before that, entertainment was limited to theatre and street show, which required expressions in a dramatic musical/lyrical form in order to hold the audience engaged.

"kalaiyil nee illai..
manamum thedavum varavillai..
pirinthathum purinthathu
naan enna ilanthenendru.."

Later they were the same theatre artists who ventured into movies and when they started making non-silent pictures mostly out of theatre plays based off of epics and mythologies, the the concept of songs and lip syncing for songs too migrated along.

"Mounam onrum oonam alla
Vaarthaiyellam mulumai alla"

Afterwards even though social dramas were being made into movies, songs were still an inherent part of it and were then used to preach morality, culture and tradition.

"vellathaane veeram..
kolvatharku illai.."

Although songs and music have been adored and embraced worldwide, when we talk about tamil songs, in this article it particularly refers to tamil ‘movie’ songs since independently made non-cinematic songs were not able to find much success commercially except for a handful of carnatic, religious and folk songs.

"boomi thiranthu kidakku
manusha paya manasu pooti kidakku"

Since movies were the primary form of entertainment and song video has always proven essential to promote a song, songs in movies were in fact helping out each other.

"sari endru theriyamal
thavarendu puriyamal
ethil vandhu sernthen naan
ethir paarka villai naan.."

It is interesting to observe the path lyrical content has taken in the past few decades from raw emotions to sophisticated ideas, from rantings to inner reflection, from bird-eye view to sharp details.

"kadaisiyile azhutha kanneer..
kaiyil innum ottuthadee.."

                                                                                                                 (to be continued..)

Novelty


I must have been 12 or 13. Used to travel by bus for school. This one morning, there was heavy traffic near a certain railway bridge. When our bus was slowly crossing the bridge, everyone rushed to the windows on the right side to look at the railway tracks. About fifty feet away, there was a human body chopped in pieces and thrown aside. People who were sitting by the right side window seats obviously saw it first and began making faces and noises. People who were standing and sitting on the other side now wanted to see it. We all wanted to. Every one of us. Deep down, we all had an inkling of what is waiting there for us. But, still we all wanted to watch and register that disturbing image in our mind. This system has a strange way to engage itself. It wants to take a second look at the cute girl who just passed by. It also wants to watch a horror scene willingly. We actually started to make sense out of these images few years after birth. But then a child responds to a new toy differently than an old one. It appears ‘new’ matters. New idea. New scene. New design. New thought. New movie. New game. Live match. New relationship. New expression. New place. New restaurant. New dish. New music. New work. New project. New and New!

System must find novelty in its input grid more fascinating. Content selection and rationalization begin after novelty high is over.