'Uncorrupt' Clowns

In an interview with Gnani, S.Ve. Shekher told that he believed in spirits and that he communicates with his dad's spirit regularly. Later when Shekher spoke about this political ambitions and how he would run things, Gnani quipped, "how are you going to do things differently? By taking advice from your guides in the spirit world?" It didn't even seem funny because of the things Shekher had said until then. That was then, now this:

Why should they not get reservation? In Tamil Nadu, 69 per cent of the people get reservation and ninety five per cent of people enjoy some kind of reservation except the forward community. Where is social justice? There are over 40 lakh Brahmins in Tamil Nadu. It is the government's duty to give equal opportunities to everyone. Brahmins have been eliminated, insulted and sidelined in so many ways. You cannot punish people for what happened over 50-60 years ago.

Eugenics, Karma and 'Naan Kadavul'

அதிர்ச்சியான செய்திகளை காட்சிப்படுத்துவதன் மூலமே தங்களை வித்தியாசமான படைப்பாளிகளாகக் காட்டிக்கொண்டு வரும் இலக்கியவாதி ஜெயமோகனையும், இயக்குனர் பாலாவையும் பார்த்து நெஞ்சில் ஈரமுள்ளவர் யாரும் ‘அடப் பாவிகளா’ என கத்தாமல் இருக்க முடியாது.

அறுபது லட்சம் யூதர்களைக் கொன்று குவித்த ஜெர்மன் நாஜிகள், அத்துடன் நிற்காமல் ஒரு லட்சம் உடல் ஊனமுற்றவர்களையும், மனநோயாளிகளையும் - அவர்கள் ஜெர்மானியராகவே இருந்த போதும் விஷ வாயுவைச் செலுத்திச் சாகடித்தார்கள் இரண்டாம் உலகப் போரில்!

‘இனத்தூய்மை’ இதற்கு காரணமாகச் சொல்லப்பட்டாலும், வேண்டாத சுமை ஒன்று இறக்கி வைக்கப்பட்டது என்றே அவர்கள் நிம்மதி அடைந்தார்கள்.

‘வலுத்தவன் மட்டுமே வாழ வேண்டும்’ என்ற இந்த ஆரிய வக்கிரத்தைத்தான் ‘நான் கடவுள்’ வழியாக நம்மிடம் இப்போது சுற்றுக்கு விட்டிருக்கிறார்கள.

மேலும் படிக்க

On exclusion, elitism etc.

Since I've decided to delete comments (not moderate) regularly, I might as well make an explanatory post on it instead of stretching the discussion elsewhere. Since the exchange is pretty long, I'll just post them as comments -- as they appeared in the previous post.

A Wednesday: A Terrible Idea

The movie's premise, leaving aside what seems obvious, hinges on the subtextual notion that Muslims in India don't say/do enough to show that they are angered by the terrorist attacks that happen in India. So the director has decided to prove their 'Indianness' through his protagonist -- the 'common man.' But he doesn't want to make it obvious. It's subtle (ok, not so). The 'common man' speaks with a vocabulary quite peculiar to a certain community (mulk being the 'give away' word). So you know that the man behind this holy mission is a Muslim. Oh how unctuous?

The 'common man' who decides to take his anger out in the form of a threat -- another series of bomb blasts -- sends a message to the ruling bureaucracy that he is 'sick and tired.' What exactly is he sick and tired of? The answer to this question and the questions that surround the answer is what makes this movie so problematic.

First, the answer: The 'common man' delivers a sermon in which he describes the afflictions of a middle class man who commutes to work every day. He's troubled by the distant probability of him getting killed by a terrorist attack. Even more so because his fellow commuter -- a youngster with his 'entire life ahead' -- is killed by one that happened 'recently.'

There are about 20 million people living in and around Mumbai. Based on the terrorist attacks that have hit the city in the last decade, the average number of people killed every year would be less than 50. The probability that our 'common man' would be one of that 50 out of the 20 million is quite negligible. Actually, it's like the same guy winning the lottery twice (given that the 'common man' just survived an attack). He's more likely to be one of the 3,500 people who get killed every year on Mumbai's suburban railway lines alone.

Of course, one might say, "terrorism kills some and terrorizes the rest." True. I'll grudgingly admit that the 'common man's anxiety -- that he cannot go to work, and make that day's wage (or more) -- is justified on more practical (and probable) grounds than the improbable death itself. But where does his paranoia and outrage fit?

In a city that is brought to a grinding halt for days, sometimes weeks, every year by the monsoon? In a city where half its population lives in slums? In a city where raging mobs have killed more people than the blasts themselves? In a city where people are mowed down in greater numbers?

No. It fits in his middle class cocoon of a mind, preserved by ignorance and hypocrisy. The same thing that informs the movie's myopic perspective. It's no coincidence that the 'common man' picks four terrorists (three Muslim) to "purify" the country from. (It's quite ironic that he lists Malegaon among the other terrorist attacks.) While he questions why these men weren't convicted (or kept alive?) yet, he doesn't mention why no one is even indicted in many cases involving Hindu mobs.

I wonder if Naseeruddin Shah realized that he has risked becoming the Muslim poster-boy who viciously condemns 'Islamic terrorism.' One that is supposed to love India. Just like Sharukh Khan did in Chak De India. It's quite messed up when you think about it. I have probably been through a lot less than an Indian Muslim has, but even I don't 'love' India. But dare not he/she say that. At least not while in India. As if Naseeruddin Shah wasn't enough, the movie also has a cardboard cutout, Muslim police officer who's ready to get shot in the arm, and perhaps sacrifice his life, for the country. He's one of the many heroes in the infallible body that works day and night to protect the people: the Mumbai police. Need I say more about them?

The truth is, there is no 'common man.' There are those who are not Dalit, not poor, not illiterate, not political, and not silenced. By virtue of not being any of them he's already immune to their social malaise. Their misery doesn't seem to trouble him. The middle class 'common man' has little in common with majority of his fellow humans. 'Common man' is the last thing he should call himself.

Note: If you have not seen the movie yet, this post may not make sense. (This is not a review.)

WTF?

"Smoking kills: Airhostess dies after fight over fag." Really? That's the best you could come up with?

We should probably be happy that they didn't say, "fag-hag dies!"

Slave Labourers

Several documentaries, including those made by the State and Central governments, have 'captured' the lives of those who toil in sweat shops at a young age. It's no secret that child labour and bondage are rampant in India. So you would think that it's not hard for someone from there to believe that forced labour is very common. But Vishnu, who's supposed to be from Kanchipuram, was angry that I said there are slave labourers in Kancipuram, in my last podcast. He wanted me to "stop making stuff up just to increase (my) hits." He also had more to say about my "rants" against Hinduism. I cannot paste his entire mail here, but you can visit any rediff message board and find a close match. I haven't spoken to Vishnu before, but I'm sure he is a you-know-who.

I shouldn't be surprised, though. The district collector himself did not know that it was happening in his town; either that or it's the usual denial we are so used to hearing from our babus. ("150 cases in all of India," adi seruppala.) I was glad to find the BBC report I had mentioned in the podcast -- I had recorded it a long time ago. It's different from the rest in that we almost feel sorry for the government officials. You are touched by how they are cornered, and feel helpless in the face of what they see as futile. You might even want to cry: "Leave them alone, didn't you hear it? The boy cannot study. Stop wasting their valuable their time already. They will definitely take action."
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Reaction

"Two Dalits hacked to death in Tamil Nadu." Even though incidents like these are not uncommon in Tamil Nadu (or other parts of India for that matter), this is probably the first reported incident of this kind since the Law college 'beating'. I'm not sure if as many from the bourgeoisie will react to this as they did for the former. But I reckon this will be talked over for days in Tamil TV channels and written about in all major news papers in length. Editors of these media houses would do that much to save their faces.

Well, who am I kidding?

Defiance

"Sri Lankan players attacked, tour called off." Come on now! You can't let the terrorists win!

Feeling Good

One of the benefits of online communication with friends is that you get introduced to brilliant material once in a while:

Slumdog Millionaire is the type of film that depicts the horror of slum residents washing and drying their clothes right next to speeding trains as a kaleidoscopic, ethnic, patchwork mosaic; the scenes leading up to Jamal's mother's murder are an idyllic tableau of women doing their wash, exoticized and idealized. Boyle's visual style is all bombast and ego, zooming racks and aerial shots that minimize an audience's need to confront the realities of life in a third world ghetto. When all else fails, here comes more of the slo-mo, retard tingle attached to a long look at beautiful inamorata Latika (Frieda Pinto). Paired unhappily with dogme95 Anthony Dod Mantle's trademark ugly cinematography, the result is this jigsaw monster of a movie that seems to recognize the hideousness of its subject before forcing itself to plaster on a jester's smirk--the visual equivalent of a nice pat on the head. No doubt someone's already formulated the argument that it's just a harmless allegory of one illiterate urchin's predestined rise (Boyle reprises his own repugnant Millions in that sense), but a closing credits sequence that hijacks Bollywood's musical extravaganza with the entire cast of extras suggests otherwise. The cruellest irony of Slumdog Millionaire is that, like (wait for it) the also- impossibly-popular and instantly-dated Juno, it's an archconservative message that causes liberals to feel inordinately pleased with themselves.

PS. Congrats to AR Rahman. I am happy for him.

Zoned Out: Maths

After a tiring argument, "say what you want, but an eye for eye would leave the whole world blind!" concluded Dhimma
"Wait. I take your eye, and you take one of mine in return. Doesn't the story end with both of us with one eye?" asked Murun
-"Well...I guess. But what if I took one back from you after I lost my first eye because I forgot that I started it?"
"Then I'll be left with no eyes and I can't pluck your last eye even if I wanted to. Your conclusion doesn't add up even then. Do you want to rephrase?"
-"Ok. In a world in which people don't know their math or with selective amnesia, an eye for an eye would leave everyone blind!"
"No, it still doesn't make sense."
-"The geezer didn't know what the hell he was talking about, did he?"

Obsolete "Truth"

“Spirituality” and “mysticism” are some of the ideas that are given to mixed understanding by people and scholars of different backgrounds. As an atheist with an empiricist worldview, I tend to deconstruct all ideas of spirituality and mysticism, and ultimately reduce it to an actor’s experience within a structure. It is unlike Freudian psychoanalytic reductionism, though. I do not really try to or find it purposeful to “demystify” the “experience” a certain way. Just like all the inexplicably surreal dreams many of us have regularly. I simply dismiss them. They are irrelevant to life in a materialist, physically grounded world that follows rules that are decipherable by our basic, shared senses – either directly or through instruments. Its validity and accuracy aside, psychoanalysis may be necessary insofar as philosophical and epistemic reasoning – of the simplest kind, such as deconstruction – do not enlighten the visions of “enlightenment.”

Spirituality in of itself risks extinction if it is not communicated through a materialistic form. All mystical experiences – of “pure consciousness” or otherwise – have to be mediated semiotically even for self-explanation. Verbalizing it makes it even more distorted (or manipulated) with interplay of specific cultural signifiers and semantics. Even that, assuming the person has not consciously fabricated the said experience itself. So Ramakrishna may have been honest about all his “visions” but they were still a product of his environment. I do not care if it was his suppressed homoeroticism that subconsciously transfigured into his mystical experiences, they were all constructed nevertheless. How or why is immaterial. My interest and respect for him (whatever I have) comes only from his politics.

On the same token, God’s relevance is more important than God’s existence – it’s a point of ontological divergence. Advaita Vedanta’s notions of “absolute truth”, Brahman, “essence” etc., need to be treated as such. “Who are you?” is not that tricky a question. The answer “I am who you are asking it to” would rubbish all its non-dualistic connotations. All objects are perceived relationally and an object’s state devoid of its relation to the subject – in its “essence” – is of little value in the physical world. Actually, I disagree with the idea itself; that there is an inherent, singular “nature” or “spirit” for every object, outside of human observation. It's a notion akin to the "ultimate purpose" of human life.

Spiritualists seem to rely solely on analogical simplification when their obscurantist claims are deconstructed. The problem in doing so is that analogies are inherently meant to simplify and are hence circular. The way a straight train is made to climb around mountains by exploiting minor flexibilities in its path. (Yes, it’s meant to be ironic.) The only thing about spirituality that I find worthwhile is the philosophical analyses of phenomena in the material world within its terms. Such occurrences, however, are rare in most cases. Most of them have an uncanny, theologically motivated obsession with fatalism.

I do not see this as “Western philosophies’ inability to understand/accommodate the Orient.” It is rather unfortunate that our people were colonized when the West was busy philosophizing matter. Because, a land mass with languages as complex as any European language would have churned out its share of philosophers who would have propounded the same ideas – it’s an undeniable statistical probability. It is disingenuous and escapist to exploit temporal precedence to forward irrational ideas. Of course, rationality itself is a useless Western idea, isn’t it? Indians could have never come up with that on their own. It’s better not to talk about positivist, neuroscientific studies etc.

Experience tells us that for all the God’s supposed communication with its most ardent disciples – gurus and spiritual leaders – people end up doing what their political space allows them to do. A country such as India stands testament to this assertion. The ratio of god-men and inequities among the people is perhaps the worst in this part of the world. Most spiritual gurus here are supposed to have had some kind of “authentic spiritual experience” at some point of their lives. They meditate, fast, chant and do everything to achieve “nirvana” – a mental state that, among other things, keeps out the travails of the “real” world. Why seek political emancipation when “spiritual emancipation” puts you at a better place in the society? If only the poor and the oppressed learnt to fill their stomachs with spiritual food.

From Ramakrisha who convulsed at the sight of money to Jayendra Saraswathi who is bathed in gold coins, spirituality in India has sure come a long way. Most of the spiritualists, I would argue, are not really waiting for their Gods or gurus to say what to do. In spite of all their Sanskrit mumbo-jumbo, they exist and operate in the materialistic domain. It's just another weapon in their wide arsenal to achieve/preserve their elite status and social elevation. If nothing, some kind of respect for their "aura." They are the neo-hippies. “What about the unassuming ascetics by the banks of Ganges?” you may ask. All I can say is, “keep their weed supplies uninterrupted.”

True Postmodernist

"I wish my first word as a child had been 'quote,' so right before I die, I could say 'unquote.'"
- Zach Galifianakis

Podcast: Violence, Disenfranchisement and Statehood

Download mp3; download mp3 (Odeo Link)

1'-5': Protests in distant lands -- far from where it may actually have an "effect".
5'-12': An individual's interaction with the state; role of violence in maintaining a statehood.
12'-14': Nationalist arrogance
14'-19': Why should the systemically marginalized and the oppressed live by a state's laws?
19'-23': Periyar and Tagore on "India" the nation.
23'-28': Constructing nationalist loyalties; erosion of leftist perspective in mainstream media. (pothu putthi - common/mainstream sensibility.)
28'-35': Muthukumar's self-immolation; Tamil Nadu's indifference to protests and the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils.

Related blog entries: நாகார்ஜுனன்; ஜமாலன்; முத்துக்குமாரின் கடிதம்.

முதலாளித்துவம்

அடுத்து அவன் நூறு டியூப்பற்பசைகளோடு மட்டும் நின்று விட முடியாது. ஏனெனில் சோப் தயாரிக்கும் மற்றுமொரு பெரிய முதலாளி தனது சாம்ராஜ்ஜியத்தை விரிப்பதற்கு பற்பசை தயாரிப்புக்குள் வரலாம். எனவே பற்பசையில் வெற்றி நாட்டிய முதலாளி இப்போது சோப் தயாரிக்கும் போட்டியிலும் இறங்க வேண்டும். இப்படித்தான் முதலாளிகள் சக முதலாளிகளை அழித்து ஏகபோக முதலாளிகளாக மாறி ஒரு நாட்டையே கைப்பற்றி பின்பு பல நாடுகளை வெல்லும் ஏகாதிபத்தியமாக மாறி இன்று மேல்நிலை வல்லராசாகவும் தலையெடுத்து நிற்பதற்கு அடிப்படையாக இருக்கிறார்கள். எனவே மோசடியும், ஊழலும், திருட்டுத்தனமும், முதலாளித்துவத்தை நீடித்திருக்கச் செய்யும் அடிப்படை விதிகள். இப்படித்தான் முதலாளித்துவம் இயங்க முடியும். முதலாளிகள் எல்லாரும் உழைத்து கஷ்டப்பட்டு முன்னேறியதாக கிழக்கு பதிப்பகத்தின் அசடுகள் வேண்டுமானால் கழுதை விட்டைகளாக புத்தகங்களை வெளியிடலாம்.

Source

Australian Open 2009

Federer hit a winner at the end of a very interesting rally against Korolev. Before Federer could serve again, the chair umpire interrupted and said, "[w]ait please, we are still amazed."

Zoned Out: Authenticity

Gautam, there's been a lot of buzz about your trip to Hollywood. Please tell us about your experience there.

I went there to promote Varanam Aayiram for the Oscars. I think we have a good chance in at least five categories, including The Best Director. That's where I met with Mel Gibson and as usual, we sat down for a drink. You know, we share the same pro-American, pro-capitalist, pro-nationalist, pro-police, pro-military, pro-war, pro-elite, anti-feminist, anti-Islamic, ant...

Yes, yes, and?

What I mean is, we both go a long way. He said, "hey kiddo! (that's how he calls me) I've been asking you for years now, when are you going to make a film for me?" I narrated a story I had prepared for Warner Bros. He liked my story a lot but he wanted some changes in the script. He sent a few DVDs of his films so that I can incorporate some elements from it. I said it's impossible to add two more rape-murder scenes and walked away. The story is now a part of the movie I'm working on.

There are many who criticize that your characters speak too much Tamil and that it's a tactic to force sophistication in your movies, what's your opinion on that?

I never understood where this is coming from. I try to set my characters in real life scenarios in their absolute, raw authenticity. I cannot force my characters to not to be what they are. For example, in my next movie Vilikalil Amilam (விழிகளில் அமிலம்), the hero blurts, "ni periya mayirandiya?" whenever his authority is questioned. Now, please tell me if English could have done justice for this emotion?

I suppose not. The title sounds very interesting, what is the movie about?

The title has a profound meaning. You'll understand if you watch the movie. The movie is about this auto driver whose only ambition in life is to make love. He had sex, he got laid, he fucked, he humped, he fornicated, he: fed the kitty, varnished the cane, peeled the banana, shanked the shaft, pushed the button, creamed the kaboose, drove the stick, jumped the gun, climbed the mountain, washed the fruit, watered the plant, boinked the bandy, dipped the chip, glazed the donut, drilled the desert, boned the cone, stormed the trenches...

Ok! I think we get the point.

Yeah, so he does everything but make love. The story tries to paint a realistic picture of the protagonist's struggles in finding that decent, good girl who says, "I want to make love to you!" and makes his life worthwhile.

I'm sure the audience cannot wait to watch the movie. Thanks for a candid interview.

Anytime, mah nigga! I's jus keepin it real, fo' shizzle my nizzle.

(Did you just say that?) Never mind.

Also read: Gautam Menon's other "candid" interview

White men

Calling for groups to be treated as separate entities with differing motivations, he wrote that it was not a "simple binary struggle between moderates and extremists, or good and evil" and treating them as such was a mistake.

This is why the British are way better than Americans.

Zoned Out (new series): Blue eyes

"Is that your mother in the photo?" said C2
-"yeah, she is."
C2 walked closer to photo hanging in the wall. "Oh my God, she looks so beautiful!"
"Thanks," said Mundi. C2's observation seemed to gratify him.
C2 called me and pointed to the photo.
I said, "Is that Mundi's mom? Cool"
-"isn't she pretty? I mean, look at those beautiful blue eyes!"
"meh…" and rolled my eyes as if to say "whatever!"
C2 was somewhat upset over my reaction, but she didn't say anything. I don't know if Mundi noticed either of us.
C2 and I are good friends and roommates. Mundi drove us to our building. C2 remained quite as we took the elevator and walked to our apartment; something's coming up for discussion.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” asked C2.
"What happened?"
-"didn't you think your reaction was completely uncalled for? Why did you have to be such an asshole to Mundi?"
"What the fuck are you talking about? It was your comment that was completely uncalled for!"
-"what was so wrong about saying Mundi's mother was beautiful?"
"Ok, let me break it down for you. You made a completely gratuitous aesthetic judgment and you expressed it out in the open too. She is Mundi's dead mother, how the hell does it matter to anyone that she was supposedly beautiful?"
-"not even to Mundi?" interrupted C2 quite angrily
"No wait, please let me finish. This is what you seem to assume: it's perfectly alright to say that someone is beautiful, especially if it's a dead person. You assume that those who are related to the said person will be pleased"
-"oh, you're such a genius for figuring that out. So much for 'deconstruction'"
"Wait, wait, I'm not done yet. While you may be right in your assumption, what you said is still problematic. First, let me get the cliché out of the way. She looked beautiful to you, why should others or I agree? Second: you are talking about Mundi's mother. Why should he be pleased that his mother was beautiful? Is he going to get any more closer to his dead mother because a member of his society thinks she is beautiful? I mean, if you really wanted to make him happy, you should have said his d…"
-"that is so sexist!"
"Well, you are his girl friend. He wouldn't mind that kind of appreciation. Being a 'manly man' as he is, he would have loved it for you to go public about his penis. If you think that ..."
-"will you cut down on the rambling and make your point?"
"What do you mean? I think I've made my point abundantly clear. You just lapped up the bullshit practice of saying that people are beautiful when it doesn't and shouldn't matter the least bit and I refused to participate in that charade. And what's with these ‘blue eyes’, long hair crap? Anyone can get a pair of cheap contacts and make their eyes look blue, purple or whatever"
-"but they are not natural!"
"Yeah, racially natural and naturally racist! When did we start caring about 'natural' shit anyway? Give me a minute...you see this cow? That's what natural means in 2009. Which era's 'natural' are you talking about?"

Disclaimer: All conversations and characters (including mine) in the Zoned Out series are and probably will be fictional. Characters may appear too self-righteous, intelligent, vevaram, one-dimensional etc., and their conversations exaggerated.

Montage: Dasvidaniya

This video is a montage to one of the best movies I saw in the year 2008, Dasvidaniya.

It was pretty hard to find a song that would present a complementing mood to a montage for this movie. Finding a song for such projects is the toughest, most time consuming part. But I'm more than happy with what I ended up with. It could not have been better, I think. People who have seen the movie may understand why.

Editing the video took over 6 hours for me. Others could have done it faster perhaps. Structuring a narrative within a montage is a tricky thing. You have to decide whether you want to go fully linear or fully random or quasi-linear? This video is quasi-linear. So all the time I spent thinking what a clip would mean at a certain point might not make any sense to others. What I have tried to make sure, though, is to go with the mood of the song as much as possible. After all, it is a montage.

I'm glad that I finished this project unlike my four or five others that are half or less done and kept in limbo for over a year. There are some minor editing errors that I have left out simply because I was tired of rendering 20 versions of the same song just to make little changes.

Slumdog Millionaire

This movie is so full of it. The teenage kids can't act, the stereotypes are beaten to death and the juxtapositions are ridiculous. Life in the slums could not have been exaggerated, romanticized and yet contradicted into a weird concoction worse than this movie has.

The only way to watch the movie is to not take it seriously (as Boyle does sporadically); even though it deals with communal riots, child abuse, gangsters, sexual violence, poverty, social prejudice etc. After all, it dares to break into a self-mocking song and dance in the end of it all. "Hey, they are just celebrating the spirit of the youth and the triumph of the underdog! Just chill, will ya?" Sure.

I wonder what people like Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay) and Dev Benegal (Split Wide Open) have to say about this clueless caricature that deals with topics that are too many even for a quiz-game show.

PS. I liked the background score, though.