Join us on Orkut| Heart Breaking News | Abhik on November 3, 2008 |
Shoot on Sight: A lame film on the crime of being a Muslim
Ok, so another movie on terrorism? They just don’t stop do they?
I just love it when art makes an attempt to imitate life. Either it succeeds, if success in such a field may be defined OR it falls short by miles and we get a Shoot on Sight. So what aspect of life does the film look at depicting? The film makes a feeble attempt at representing the racism Muslims faced post the 7/11 blasts in London tube stations.
The film revolves around an incident and a character. The incident is the beginning of the film where a Muslim youth (or rather a youth who looks like a Muslim) is shot down on suspicion of being a terrorist. The first 10 minutes are an insight into what a clichéd approach the film would take. I mean, what does a Muslim look like anyway? Do all Muslims look the same? I would officially brand this as Lame Moment No 1.
Anyway, enter Tariq Ali (a character played by Naseeruddin Shah). Shah depicts the character of a devout Muslim from Pakistan and is the only Asian officer in Scotland Yard. Amidst departmental politics and the media crying out loud over the death of an innocent, Shah takes over the charge of investigating into the killing of the youth and to find out whether charges of racism against the police department hold any good. Strangely the investigation supposedly happens in the background because the only thing viewers see any of it is a five minute shot of an interview that Shah has with the deceased mother and sister.
Most of the film focuses around Shah’s life. He is shown happily married to a British wife, has a football loving (possibly gay) son, a rebelling sixteen year old pot smoking daughter and spends time everyday with a butcher friend (Gulshan Grover) reminiscing their childhood days in Pakistan. Not long into the film enters Zaheer, Shah’s nephew from Pakistan who comes to stay with the family. Zaheer is a poor young man who after the death of his father due to natural causes, was convinced to become a terrorist. What? No friends or family who were killed by American bombers? Why would the guy suddenly develop affinity for millions of “Muslim brothers” supposedly killed by the Americans, Israelis and the British? Muslims are there all over the world right from Malaysia to India to Pakistan to the middle-east, to Africa, the European nations as well as in the Americas. To think that all Muslims regardless of their country of residence or lifestyle or education always think alike, act alike and have feelings of brotherhood for people of the same faith irrespective of background - would be naïve and downright stupid. As is evident, this branding of the Pakistani youth would be the Lame Moment No 2.
Shah’s wife is in the film is interesting. She is British by birth and born into a liberal family. She has had no difficulty in adapting to the Muslim way of life (whatever that means). So much is her deep rooted devotion towards a culture her husband is supposedly into, that she does not even bat an eyelid when someone suggests a wedding between her daughter and Zaheer. She does the swinging between being suspicious of Zaheer for being a terrorist and looking at him as a future son-in-law very effortlessly. On occasion she is even seen looking at the interaction that happens between her daughter and Zaheer with a little more than a twinkle in her eyes. A far cry from any Western woman I’ve known. Lame Moment No. 3
Strangely enough, the film deals with the issue of racism against Muslims in only bits and pieces. There are two 10-second shots where the sister of the person who was wrongly shot down, screams at the media that her brother was not a terrorist. And then there is one scene when Gulshan Grover becomes nostalgic of a time after the blasts when he boards a bus and people he traveled with daily refuse to acknowledge him on account of him “looking” like a Muslim.
Asians do face racism in the western parts of the world. Brown happens to be the new black. Shoot on Sight, even though it makes an attempt to depict this situation, does so in a very haphazard manner. I would give the file two stars out of five, mainly because of Naseeruddin Shah’s acting. The guy manages to excel even in such a boring film.
If one sentence would describe the movie, I would say it is a combination of the Brad Pitt- Harrison Ford starrer Devil’s Own entwined in the subject of terrorism with a dash of racism thrown in. These are too many diverse subjects for a two hour film. It is a very good example of the fact that not every serious movie is a good one.
| Forces of Society | Ashmita on November 2, 2008 |
My Very Own Political Party
I feel left out—there is no ideological, sectarian, or factional group that I can sympathize with. This is especially sad because India offers such a rich array of choices when it comes to choosing a side, but none inspire me.
Not being a religious zealot (as in more spiritual than religious type), I’m not motivated by the Hindu-Muslim divide. In the same vein, I see nothing wrong with tribal folk converting to Christianity after being “bribed with food and healthcare.” So whether it’s Hindu men raping nuns or Muslim extremists bombing the hell out of everybody, I want them all to burn in hell.
I don’t live in a border state, so the border conflicts bore me. In fact, given India’s growth and Pakistan’s descent into near anarchy and bankruptcy, if Kashmiris still want to be a part of Pakistan, then all the power to them. Enjoy!
I’m not a Marathi Manoos, nor a UPite or Bihari. So I can’t even immerse myself in the current rage. Being India’s financial capital and with all the foreigners and all, I always thought English would be the most useful language to know for Mumbaikers. In any case, the whole thing is a blatant, in-your-face political ploy. And if thugs are to rule the city, what does it matter which group they belong to? Thugs will be thugs.
I can’t even fall back on the age-old traditional divide that consumes most Indians to this day, my caste. My mom has a fuzzy idea that we’re kayasts (spelling guesstimated), though she has no clue where that puts us, except that it won’t qualify me for any reservations. Anyway, my parents are more concerned about whether my (future) husband will be able to cope with my temper tantrums than about matching horoscopes (or however they compare castes), so the question is kinda moot.
But I have found a cause! I don’t know why I didn’t see it before, it’s something that has bothered me for ages, ever since I stopped growing vertically. At a mere 5 foot 1, I belong to the group known as “short people.” And living, as it were, in a world full of tall people, I have been oppressed and disadvantaged to no end. As a child, I dreamed of being a model or airline pilot. But short people are virtually banned from these professions—a socioeconomic issue close to my heart. Whether I’m at a movie theater, church, or temple, there’s always some tall guy (or girl) blocking my view. This is blatantly unfair. They should have some kind of reservation or something that’ll allow short people to always get the best seats or stand at the front of the pack. Short people are discriminated against: the mindset is that being tall means being beautiful; well, I say only short people are beautiful. And unlike my taller counterparts, who get to wear those wonderfully comfortable-looking flat shoes, I have had to wear shoes with high heels my whole life just to be on par, causing me no end of physical agony.
So this is a call to arms to all you short people out there in the world. Our time has come! I propose to form a political party for the short-females under 5 foot 3 and males under 5 foot 6 are welcome. We will beat the shit out of those not like us and who do not immediately fall to their feet in front of us so that they are no longer taller, to show thier respect for our shortness. Our long-term goal will be to carve out our very own state, “Shortistaan”.
| Heart Breaking News | Angry Indian on October 21, 2008 |
Raj Thackeray Arrested - Mumbai watches closely
A day after Raj Thackeray’s MNS workers went on rampage beating up North Indian students who were appearing in a Railways examination, Mumbai police received an arrest warrant for him yesterday. This non-bailable warrant had been issued by a Jamshedpur court after a case was filed by a lawyer against Raj for making derogatory statements against North Indians and “biharis” and thereby hurting sentiments of a particular section of the society. This warrant summoned him to be present in the Jamshedpur court before Nov 17.
Following the warrant received from a different state, Mumbai police which was sitting tight lipped on the issue till now has jumped up and arrested him. Raj Thackeray was arrested today afternoon and presented at a Bandra court at around 1:00 PM. Till the moment of writing this article, Raj is still in court.
At the time of the arrest Raj was in Ratnagiri (outside Mumbai) which is where he was arrested and brought to Mumbai. Certain other MNS activists have also been arrested. One might wonder why the arrest happened only after Raj was summoned by the Jamshedpur court. In such a situation one might wonder if the arrest is an attempt by Mumbai police and politicians to keep him in Mumbai – maybe a diktat from Shiv Sena.
Meanwhile the city is on a state of high alert. There have been sporadic incidents of minor violence throughout the city, but the Mumbai police does seem to be doing a good job. About 20,000 CRPF personnel have also been deployed in Mumbai. The situation is overall tense with small shops preferring to stay closed and many office goers either did not turn up for work or left home early.
Update at 4:30 PM Raj Thackeray has been denied bail and is to be kept under judicial custody for two weeks till 4th November.
Update at 9:00 AM - 22nd Oct, 2008 After Raj Thackeray was remanded to 14 days judicial cusody yesterday, his lawyers moved a bail application and he was granted bail by the Bandra court for a sum of Rs 15000 (only?). He was advised by the judge to avoid creating any similar situations like the ones he has done in the past. Basically he was told to keep his trap shut. However after he was given bail, the police immediately took him back in custody for a similar case in Dombivali, Thane and whisked him away. Raj Thackeray spent the night in Kalyan jail and will appear before a Kalyan court today. MNS workers took to the streets in different parts of the state creating havoc. The government is considering banning the MNS. How about banning SIMI and Bajrang Dal as well?
Update at 11:30 AM - 22nd Oct, 2008 Kalyan (where Raj Thackeray is supposed to appear in court) has been clamped down with preventive curfew. Tight security measures have been put in place outside the court. MNS activists had gathered outside the court, but were driven away by lathi-charging policemen.
Update at 5:00 PM - 22nd Oct, 2008 Raj Thackeray has been given bail. He has also recieved anticipatory bail till 24th October, which means he will not see the inside of the jail till that date. I hope he goes back home, celebrates Diwali and uses this experience to knock some sense into his head. I guess it’ll be a wait and watch game for us at The Angry Indian. Guess this was one “Heart Breaking News” that wasn’t so heart breaking after all.
| Random Ramblings | Angry Indian #2 on October 20, 2008 |
What’s Wrong With Our Police?
I have had this in mind since a long time but never got the time to actually write about it, till today when I read Arundati Roy’s interview with Karan Thapar on The Devil’s Advocate . On the outset let me state one thing: I don’t believe that the Jamia Nagar encounter, where a highly decorated police officer met with an unfortunate end, was staged. It deeply saddens me that someone like Arundati Roy is out to prove that it was. Has our bureaucratic system become so corrupt that it has now started killing it’s own and that too a President’s gallantry award winning officer? I believe it’s not reached that low, for the sake of the police force and mine.
According to her maybe the right way to interrogate and question the suspects till convicted is by providing them with Paneer Tikkas, Scotch and Wills. Certainly interrogating them in the manner that is done today is in-human and against human rights. How dare the police use such methods to interrogate people suspected of bombing innocent civilians? It is absolutely against human rights to interrogate people who are suspected of brutally killing humans.
Karan Thapar repeatedly told her that her problem is that she doesn’t trust the police force, she said she doesn’t. Do I? Partly yes, but I certainly don’t buy that they are sold out to an extent of killing their own. Why don’t I fully trust the police? Well, for their inability to solve crimes. Case in point, Aarushi murder case; Soumya Vishwanathan murder case and God knows how many more such small & big cases are lying unsolved. Our police is clueless about these crimes. Abso-friggin’-lutely clueless.
Even Delhi chief minister Ms. Shiela Dixit accepts this and has said that being out late at night is "adventurous". What she really meant was that we people should realize that our police force is not capable (for whatever reason) to protect us, hence it is better that we should not go out of our homes; but Ms. Shiela Dixit will not fix the problems of the police force. However, thank you Ms. Dixit for that word-twisted piece of advise. It’s amazing how politicians play with words, isn’t it?
The Aarushi murder case was nothing less than a Mukesh Bhatt flick. It was sensational media at it’s best and I don’t blame them. They were doing their job - increasing their TRPs and bringing you news in way you would sit and watch. The NCR is unfortunately plagued with anti-social activities, from the kidnapping to murder to theft, all possible forms of crimes have been committed there. National Capital of India or National Capital of Crime? Maybe both. Sad but true.
This is scary at 2 levels:
- Our police is inefficient beyond acceptable levels.
- Our politicians aware of this fact are doing nothing.
What disturbs me is that nothing is being done to change the situation. At least the police force should question their morals and behave differently, under the table commissions is one thing but not being able to solve crimes and do their job is something totally different. Whether Arundati Roy is right or wrong, one thing for sure that there is something horribly wrong with the public protection system. The Delhi police maybe is in the news but that does not mean the rest are top-notch. Take Bombay for example, MNS runs riots as and when they deam fit. Alleged MNS workers beat up Railway recruitment exam candidates some will be taken into custody and then let off with nothing following this. Joint Commissioner tried to defy Raj Thackeray and got just one statement in reply - give up your uniform and come out in public; unlike Bollywood films where the hero would go in a pair of vest to the politician’s house and beat living crap out of the bad guys our poor old chap had to shut up.
Arundati Roy & I would not have been questioning the police if they had been doing their job a lot better than what they are doing currently. It’s the perception that results suspicion.
Unlike what Arundati Roy feels that the collusion between media and police is what is dangerous, it is the intrusion of politicians in policing that is dangerous and that is what angers me.
| Forces of Society | Angry Indian on October 15, 2008 |
Too poor to live - Poverty in the Indian Context
Though I was not born into a rich family, I don’t remember a single day when I had to go hungry. So am I qualified enough to write on Poverty? Maybe not, but here goes – another long one.
As I started writing this article trying to imagine what poverty might be, my thoughts wandered to the Bengali cinematic epitome “Pather Panchali” by acclaimed director, the late Satyajit Ray. The first of the famous trilogy by Ray, this film looked at the life of a little girl called Durga in rural Bengal. Durga lived with her brother Apu (a part later played by veteran actor Soumitro Chatterjee in the third film “Apur Sansar”) and her parents in a village in rural Bengal.
I remembered one scene where an ice cream vendor would go around on his cycle through the dusty streets of the village in which Durga and Apu lived. The two children too poor to buy any ice cream, would just run after the guy on his cycle, stopping right behind him every time he stopped to sell the goods which were extremely coveted in the eyes of the children. With undoubted attraction on their faces, saliva dripping out of their mouths and the constant ache of hunger in their bellies, the hearts of the little ones would yearn for the delicious ice cream this guy would sell to others.
Their minds would strangely be semi-aware of an entity called money and why they could not have the ice cream because they did not have any of it, something they did not really understand why, but had come to accept it in a strange sad way. Somehow running behind the ice cream vendor would give them the satisfaction of having consumed the ice cream and so they would chase after him throughout the village.
In those brief few minutes in his film, Ray captured and portrayed brilliantly the essence of poverty in rural India. A spectacularly touching scene eliciting such a deep response from the heart that no tear jerking “poverty scene” (if I may shamelessly coin the term) of Bollywood cinema will ever come close to.
Globally what does it look like?
Last year 10 million people died of poverty. They died because they were too poor to live. If they had been each given a yearly sum of $100 each they would not be dead. If they had been given $1500 each, they would have filled their stomachs with enough food to look for shelter, maybe even look for small jobs, a better life. One thousand five hundred dollars to ten million people, $15 billion in all.
Does that sounds like a lot of money? Let me give some other figures then.
This year governments in US, UK, Germany, France and Spain bailed out their banks to save the world from depression, pumping in total of $3.6 trillion. Close to $600 billion will be spent this year by the US on military equipment and operations and the so called war on terror. That’s just the US. The rest of the world will not be far behind.
Now, I am not even considering the millions who “live” in poverty. Can we not spend money trying to save at least the ones that die of poverty?
In India
1943 was the year of famine in Bengal. Still under British rule, millions were allowed to die by the British who very busy fighting Hitler to care. Rainfall and water shortage was cited as the main reason. In 1960 the famine hit again. But this time India was a sovereign nation and the impact was largely mitigated through distribution of food from the center. This was what led Nobel laureate Amartya Sen to his hypothesis that democracies never have famines or rather don’t feel the impact.
Still in India millions die of poverty and the main cause is Apathy.
Apathy of earlier governments towards economic growth
Why I will start with the Government first is because firstly it’s supposed to take care of people and secondly because the Government is an easy target for such critique.
India jumped from an era of British rule, to the state sponsored socialist Nehruvian era to a period of agrarian economic reforms (which had little impact) to a services economy. What went missing in the middle was the manufacturing era. The license-Raj created by the likes of Nehru ensured Industry never developed into what was needed. Permits were needed for everything – to trade, to invest, to set up factories to expand factories, everything. Large units were not allowed to flourish; small scale industries and technologically backward enterprises were given more support. Land conversion to the industrial category was considered sacrilege. Capital investment in large quantities if any was frowned upon and India Inc. chugged along at the “Hindu Growth Rate” of 2% for the next 20 years, the richest people at that time were either the royalty or the “babus”.
The period after that till about the mid 90s was the time of the Green Revolution – primarily through the efforts of Rajeev Gandhi. Income developed in pockets in rural India, though the caste system legacy ensured that rich land owners became richer while the farm laborers suffered in poverty. The early to mid 90s was when Dr Manmohan Singh happened to India, probably the best era ever in its History. Dr. Singh effectively managed to end bureaucratic restrictions on trade and encouraged international investment into the country – taking it to new heights in the last 13 years of economic reform.
But the damage had been done. India Inc jumped into the services business. IT became the buzzword and thousands of IT and ITES companies joined into the “services bandwagon”. Wealth is now being generated in pockets of the country known as cities. While some of it percolates down to rural India, the situation I dismal. The current government has made tremendous efforts to boost income in rural areas with small scale industrial packages, encouraging large industries to set up operations in rural areas (For ex: Tatas in Singur and Ambanis in rural Maharashtra) as well as the recent $15 billion rural loan waivers. Still the apathy of past governments towards India’s economic growth has been tremendous and will take the current government close to a decade more to undo the harm that has been done.
Apathy of You and Me
The biggest enemy of poverty is apathy amongst people who are not in poverty. The biggest sufferers of apathy unfortunately are not people from the affluent countries of the west. Apathy is largely within the affluent community of the same countries in which Poverty is such a large phenomenon.
I seem to be extremely inspired by films. So I’ll take a scene out of another one, the movie “Swades” (note how I called “Pather Panchali” cinema and “Swades” a movie?). A poor low-caste pot-maker (was it?) dared to become a farmer to save his family from complete peril. His apparent change of profession invited the wrath of others in the village. They immediately declared him an outcast and refused him any water for his farm. They allowed his family to suffer in misery and hunger and literally loathed him for having made an attempt to break away from his “caste duties” to try and feed his family.
The actual situation in real life India is worse. In caste system ridden villages of India, millions are allowed to die to uphold age old tradition and maintenance of the strict caste hierarchies. In fast moving urban areas, slums and poverty are looked upon as “dirty areas” and people living there are allowed to live there in the direst of straits – often without safe drinking water in 90 square foot hutments where toilets are considered a luxury.
Apathy of people in Poverty
I never thought I would say so, but poverty at times exists because of the people who are in poverty. Not sure what I mean? Enter Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum in the heart of Mumbai city. With about a million residents crammed into about one square mile of area, Dharavi has been in existence since independence. Post the 1943 famine in Bengal and others in the rest of the country and with Mumbai’s booming industrialization people started settling into Dharavi. Amongst those living in Dharavi are recyclers, tailors, leather tanners, laundrymen, potters, cloth dyers and shopkeepers all crammed into this slum area made of narrow alleys and rickety hutments made of corrugated metal sheets.
In 1976 the state government gave the slum-dwellers limited rights over their hutments. They were recognized as “identified encroachers”, a status guaranteeing compensation in the event that the government bulldozed their shanties. That was the beginning of an interesting situation. Mumbai’s poorest residents were now sitting on some of the world’s most valuable real estate. People thronged to Dharavi, the shanties stated being sold off and rented. In the late 90s, builders started eyeing the land and thus began a three way tussle between the government, the residents and powerful builders. Regardless of the conditions they live in, residents refuse to move out to better concretized structures with better sanitation facilities. These are people who choose to live in poverty today with hope for not only a better future but one in which they’ll be rich. India is a peculiar country, not all poverty that is visible is real poverty.
| Forces of Society | Abhik on October 12, 2008 |
Western Influence is not a bad thing
Listening to the War of Words by Karan Thapar, I noticed two words being very commonly used, especially one after the other. The words were “Western” and “Influence”. Of course put together they sounded something like “Western Influence”. The loud voice of the Hindutva brigade comedian BP Singhal was the one frequently mentioning these words. I don’t call him a comedian to disrespect him, but rather because he is very entertaining to watch. The issue of discussion was Homosexuality and the practice of it. Mr. Singhal of course was a vehement criticizer of the practice of Homosexuality and called it a western influence on many an occasion. The intent of this article is not to discuss homosexuality (I’ll reserve another article for that one).
Watching the debate with me was a friend who has lived most of her growing up years in America. Amongst other things including explaining to me the difference between Homosexuality and the practice of it (excluding the graphical details), she happened to mention that we should learn a thing or two from America / rest of the world where homosexuality has been discussed, debated and laws changed accordingly allowing gay men and women to live their lives without fear of stigma.
Yes, there are things that we can learn from the west. I looked back at my minimal-by-some standards interaction with the western culture and my naïve belief that I understand western values. There are certain stark differences that one can easily see.
Public Awareness in day to day life: We can learn to be less apathetic towards our public duties - in terms of public cleanliness, thinking of the community. In India we keep our houses clean, our society buildings clean, but the moment we step out to the streets we don’t hesitate to throw that cigarette butt or casually chuck from our moving cars the empty coffee paper cups.
Respect for Law of the Land: For some reason, the general feeling amongst Indians is that it’s easy to break the law and get away with it. Though we do have certain colonial laws that try to repress freedom of speech, free thought and harmless action, on the other hand we have people breaking laws and getting away with it (Like the alleged attack of MNS party workers on the house of a journalist or the molestation of women outside a Mumbai hotel). Our law enforcers are busy catching smokers while terrorists are allowed to blow up bombs. While political party “goondas” go around blackening faces on Valentine’s Day, the police go after people who express their personal dislike for Sonia Gandhi on Orkut. While laws need to be changed and law makers need to give people their right to free speech, the people also need to understand that breaking the law is not something you should be able to get away with.
Social Awareness and Responsibilities: Who are the people who blog on Indian issues? Common people like you and me. If you are a visitor to political blogs in America or watch popular American TV shows one often encounters Hollywood celebrities like Alec Baldwin who don the hat of an activist and actively speak out. Sure Amitabh Bacchan spoke out for Animal Rights no one remembers when. But other than some regular activists like Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, Indian celebrities are just busy minting money. The celebs are busy making movies and we are busy watching them on weekends – when we could have helped out at the local blind school or old age home?
I could go on for a few more pages, but I also wanted to reflect on what the west (read America) can learn from us. I admit it was a bit difficult for me to come up with these and in the process I did learn that maybe I have been too much of a cynic and need to lighten up a bit.
Multiculturalism: Sure America is considered the melting pot of all cultures. But is it really? The country took a few centuries before a black candidate could even hope to run for President. US presidents primarily have been what I call WCMs or White Christian Males. In India, after the last elections a European born Catholic woman (Sonia Gandhi) made way for a Sikh (Manmohan Singh) to be the Prime Minister, sworn in by a Muslim (A P J Abdul Kalam) in a country with 81% Hindus. Now I am not ranting about secularism here, but this does show that we have multiculturalism more deeply imbibed in our culture than probably any other country out there.
Regularization: I am not a financial expert, but the current credit crisis in the US and the $840 billion bailout does give rise to a fundamental question. What was the Government doing while “Market Makers” went around creating derivative products out of thin air and mortgage banks giving half-a-million loans to people who earned less than 3000 dollars a month? (See I told you I’m no financial expert). Take another example – India may not have the best healthcare system in the world, but we haven’t yet sold out our health care structure to the insurance companies – did I mention yet.
I should probably stop now before the naïve nationalist in me takes over. And I’ll end this somewhat longer than usual article on one note. Whatever we are doing correctly, whatever we are doing well, we should keep doing it and make it better and better. But whatever we are yet to learn from the West, let us learn it fast and let us learn it well and let us implement them in small but meaningful steps.
Watching Sarah Palin (John McCain’s running mate) brag about small town values is torture. Words like “Harvard Graduate” and “elitist” almost sound like derogatory abuses coming from her. Let us not use our “ancient cultural values” as an excuse to be an inefficient race. Let us become elitist and give back to this country what it has been screaming to get for a while now. Is John Abraham listening? Maybe not - for him I guess being an activist is playing a gay character in a movie.
| Heart Breaking News | Abhik on October 8, 2008 |
Ratan Tata moves from the bad “M” to the good “M”
“Good M?” Is that what Narendra Modi is now? I guess Ratan Tata with one quick sweep has proved that in the business world profit is above everything else.
After the Nano project being beaten to death by Mamata Bannerjee in West Bengal, Ratan Tata will be moving to Gujrat for the Nano project. Today’s newspaper carried a photograph of Tata hugging Modi.
Isn’t this the same Ratan Tata who made this comment?
“I am proud of my country. But we need to unite to make a unified India, free of communalism and casteism. We need to build India into a land of equal opportunity for all. We can be a truly great nation if we set our sights high and deliver to the people the fruits of continued growth, prosperity and equal opportunity.”
And isn’t this the same Narendra Modi who can’t seem to shake off the ghosts of Ghodra?
Given the trouble Tata had to go through in West Bengal, people don’t really blame him for moving out of West Bengal and into Gujrat. But then is this not contradictory of him to embrace Modi who is allegedly the epitome of Hindu communalism?
I personally am willing to give Ratan Tata the benefit of the doubt – let’s make it a case of his personal opinion and professional justification. Also what has Gujrat done wrong? If Gujrat welcomes Tata with open arms and provides a better enviroment than WB did, should Tata really hold out because of what his personal opinion on certain actions of its Chief Minister?
Here’s Tata’s speech on development in Gujrat
Updates from the Angry Indian
Tatas have been a gem of the nation, one of the only few businesses that refuse to cow down to the demands of the politicians. Would have been easy to pay off the dissenting politicans in Singur for Ratan Tata. I believe the decision to move into Gujrat was driven out of the need to move out of West Bengal. Though Tata could have selected any another state - there were other states willing as well, Maharashtra amongst them.
I would call Tata more of an ethical businessman rather than a philanthropist. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have set the bar very high for philanthropists, be kinda hard for Tata to beat that.
Even in Bengal the land being given was for free. Every state government who gives land for free acquires it first and then gives it. It’s just that the locals protested against the same in Bengal, as they did in AP. I hope this leads to the industry demanding a clean and clear cut land acquisition policy from the government and make state governments look inside and determine how they balance the needs of the industry and the locals whose lands are acquired.
And be under no doubt that the Nano project is profitable. A $3000 car is a direction to go towards not a target to achieve. I would expect the actual price when the car hits the road to be higher and hope Tata makes a profit.
It’s good to see difference of opinion amongst readers of Angry Indian- keeps the spirit alive. AI is after all a dialogue and not a monologue.
| Forces of Society | Angry Indian on October 8, 2008 |
Infants dropped from 50 feet roofs - A Nation of religious Idiots
Are we truly a country of morons? Hope tells me otherwise, but facts confirm the fact that India does have a bunch of religious zealots who let religious superstition supersede any prudence or common sense.
In a series of rituals that would terrify most people, Indian Hindus and Muslims alike cheer on as screaming infants not more than 12 months old are dropped from 30- 50 foot temple roofs or muslim shrine towers.
This is a rite considered to bring good health and good luck to the children, of course if they survive. The infants are taken to a 50 feet roof / tower and thrown off it. Waiting below are a group of 15-20 people holding a bed sheet to brace the kid’s fall. The screaming infants land and bounce on the bed sheet are handed over to their mothers. Hundreds of mothers bring their infants to rituals like these to get blessings of “mata”
The villagers carying out this ritual of course claim no child has been hurt in the fall, what is astonishing is that the local police and officials watch on as the spectacle continues.
India is supposed to be a religious country above everything else and we have seen communal tensions reach new heights in this country recently. But this beats all else.
| Our Venerated Leaders | Abhik on October 5, 2008 |
When Hitler is Venerated
“No one will support his genocide of the Jews” – Raj Thackeray got two full pages in the Sunday’s edition of Mumbai Mirror. The “journalist” who managed to get Raj saheb to talk was none other than our dear Shobha De who had trouble asking the right questions of course given the size of the oversized reporter hat that she had put on. By the way FYI, A reporter hat seems oversized or not depending upon whether your head (read brain) is pea sized or bigger.
But Oh! Did Raj Thackeray pour out his heart, couldn’t resist the charms of the aging but nevertheless pretty author. Right from calling India Europe to praising Hitler, Raj shone all the way. Anyway – Here’s some excerpts from the interview.
SD: Today is non-violence day. What is your message?
RT: I feel Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence was for the intelligent, educated British. It was not for those who don’t understand this language. Those circumstances don’t exist today.
Sure they don’t. Not since your guys went on a rampage around Mumbai beating up people who hadn’t considered it a priority picking up the local language. These good for nothing journos don’t understand that.
SD: Today is non-violence day. What is your message?
RT: I feel Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence was for the intelligent, educated British. It was not for those who don’t understand this language. Those circumstances don’t exist today.
Thanks Raj for pointing it out that the people in this country and stupid and uneducated. But then again, if they were not so, where would that put you? Damn man, you are smart.
SD: But you have not answered the question on violence. Whether you endorse it…
RT: I am not Mahatma Gandhi. And secondly, I speak to people in the language they understand. First I have a dialogue, if that is not understood I speak in another language. There is no remedy for this.
Er small suggestion - Ever considered conducting Marathi night classes for the common man?
SD: Taking the democracy argument further, in a country like India, who decides which person has the right to be in whichever part of the country?
RT: India is like Europe. This means there is one currency and numerous languages and cultures. And this is a ‘Europe’ made up of various cultures.
Oh Thank You! I always wanted to be called European. But why restrict yourself to Europe alone, why not the whole world? Oh shucks, the world does not have the same currency. So I guess that’s all that binds a country together, the currency. Now here’s a smart guy. I suppose the next thing he’ll propose is having multiple state-level currencies, individual monarchs and the only time the word India is mentioned is when there’s a cricket match. How wonderful! – Hey wait a minute – didn’t we have that about a hundred years back? (with the Lagaan Cricket match) Yeaah! Raj has it figured out. Let’s invite the Brits to re-rule us, that way we’ll all be happy. Brilliant gem of a fellow I must say.
SD: What I am saying is, suppose someone who lives here and is contributing to Maharashtra, Mumbai, but doesn’t know Marathi, is that person’s contribution any less?
RT: It is not about contribution. They should learn Marathi.
SD: Isn’t that some kind of jabardasti?
RT: They don’t understand any other language but jabardasti. My plea to teach Marathi in schools was not heard either. If this is your attitude, we will do jabardasti.
Raj is absolutely right. This is not about contribution, who cares about contribution anyway? What were people like Edison and Einstein thinking anyway, they should’ve joined the nearest grammar school instead of inventing stupid things like the light bulb and the theory of relativity?
SD: Why do you think the Maharashtrian manoos lacks the killer instinct that we see in other states?
RT: Those who govern us have become mentally corrupt. Ultimately they are the ones who influence masses. Through the elections in Gujarat, each time two Gujaratis came face to face here, they said “Om Namah Namah”. They meant Om Narendra Modi Namah.
Oh God, I love this guy. He cracks jokes as well. Now let’s see – can I think of a Marathi expression that will mean “Om Raj Thackeray namah”? Raj- Help me out please, I am still learning the language.
SD: The impression is that you are one of the biggest landlords in India?
RT: I’ll be happy if I am.
SD: So it’s not true? Are you one of the biggest in Maharashtra?
RT: Go, count my property and tell me if I am. You are talking about Kohinoor. It’s not with me. It’s with the IL&FS. The headlines look great: Raj buys Kohinoor for Rs 421 crore. Where did I get Rs 421 crore?
SD: Tell us…
RT: IL&FS was our third partner. We were one-third partners each. You know when the politicians speak, people think otherwise. I was sitting in this hall outside. Since childhood, we have been playing and going around Shivaji Park. Shiv Sena Bhavan was here. I have a construction business.
Common Shobha, leave the poor guy alone. Go chase Hiranandani or DLF. Raj is only a one third partner, he just had 140 crores. That’s peanuts, don’t you have better work than chase poor builder turned politicians?
SD: Do you justify Hitler’s tactics?
RT: Yes, I do. If you don’t understand my point of view, I’ll have to do this. For me, Maharashtra’s pride is most important. Maharashtra is for Marathi manoos. Will you say England belongs to other nationals because they are there in large numbers?
SD: How do you relax?
RT: Reading. I read biographies. Hitler, Indira Gandhi.
SD: Hitler as a hero?
RT: You know I think Gandhiji was the greatest leader in India in the last century. Similarly, Hitler’s commitment to the German nation-building is historical. No one will support his genocide of Jews.
SD: Your strategy — Maharashtra for Maharashtrians… how is it so different from Hitler’s? Who is an outsider?
RT: Those who don’t accept the official language here are outsiders. Marathi is local. Those who have come from outside but have accepted this state as theirs are locals. I have several Gujarati friends who have lived here for generations. They speak in Marathi.
Any the one’s who don’t speak Marathi? Let us put them in trucks, pile them up in Ghettos, strip them naked and gas their women, Children and aged. Oh and when no one’s looking let’s burn their dead as well. Hitler had it easy, he had just 6 million Jews to kill.
Just one thing- How will the Gandhi part of my brain react to the Hitler part of my brain? Not sure. How do you do it Raj, how do you make Gandhi and Hitler co-exist in your mind? And if you somehow manage to make them co-exist, I hope Gandhi can teach a thing or two to Hitler.
| Forces of Society | sunshine on September 16, 2008 |
Breaking road laws.
I’m dead…..struck my head, with thoughts unusual. The other day was riding my bike, with just the right amount of presence of mind, it’s one’s need to be, especially on a highway and suddenly out of the blue I noticed this huge truck trying to over take me. I scream. It got a little too close, quickly checking my side mirrors and moving to the left hand side of the road, while the truck driver dispersed in the other direction. There were a lot of feelings rushing through at that point of time. I could have killed him for trying to kill me.
The idiot (I take pain while saying this) was talking on his mobile phone, which is what angered me. I could go around dancing saying “Shoot on Sight”, that’s not happening though…..and as I travel every day, I notice recurrences.
What ever happened to obedience to law? Here is what lies…. A two pronged approach is required. I don’t put the blame entirely on authorities, not that we do have enough of traffics cops stationed in spots relevant but definitely we people have to change our attitude towards the traffic rules. Highly educated idiots (regret using it again) are least bothered about traffic rules.
Do people realize the importance of life? I’m not really into statistics but then again after a little research got to know that the number of accidents that happen because of irresponsible drivers is quiet high i.e. 12 lakh people the world over (yearly). (Got the statistics from the website of the department of road transport and highway, government of India.)
Talking on the mobile phone, drunken driving or over speeding, would any of it have enough an excuse for “an unintended murder”.
The experts from Ontario Medical Asociation complied studes from around the world, pointing to the dangers of combining mobile phones and derving. They say that mobile phones affects the drivers cognitive function, visual cocentration, speed of processing information and reaction time, in short a major distraction.
Either way the case would be, ending up hurting somebody or an individual hurting himself. I or You being irresponsible would conclude to You hurting I, I hurting You, or I hurting I. Don’t we already have instances of road rage piercing through our brains like a sword, enough to bring in change? Or are we asking for more.
My Prayer: “Please let people understand, that they should not be breaking the law, while driving or riding. Help them understand that the next “Einstein” could be history.
I’m a commoner, here to spread light. Sunshine.