Avatar

Saw Avatar recently. Fantastic.
But throughout the movie kept feeling that it wasnt all fantasy. That the reel wasnt too far away from the real.

The first half of the movie was a web of metaphors for a lot of things that have been the bread and butter of my being for the last decade and more.
First of all, there is the quite obvious 'colonialism' aspect to the plot. Its easy to draw parallels to not only history and trace the thinking that resulted in a few nations colonising more than half the world. But its relatively modern too. Nations first drawn to raw materials needed for their industrial purposes, have been in modern times replaced my Multi-National Corporations seeking profits. The 'humane' aspect isnt amiss too. While on the one hand the MNCs seek their own prosperity whatever the cost, on the other they also claim to 'want to look after' the affected population. [Note the economic-hand-speak!] The contemporary trend of Nation States moving in on the developing nations mostly in South Asia and the African Continent in the name of securing the future of their citizens although not clearly depicted, is only an extention of thought.

It is the definition of what constitutes 'looking out for the affected population' where another theme gets folded into the narrative. The story of development aid! This gets totally higlighted in my opinion when Parker Selfridge voices his frustration over the problem the Na'vi present. I cannot quote but the essence of Parker's problem was - the RDA corporation and the human race they represent have offered the Na'vi rehabilitation, offered to school their children [in English!!], and are willing to negotiate over what ever they want to facilitate their 'moving out' from over the source of the mineral the RDA wants to mine but the indigineous just do not seem to appreciate the generous offers and move over. The avatar program is also an extension of this generosity because it is ultimately aimed to understand what it will take for the Na'vi to give up and enable peaceful mining. This generosity is apparent in the attempt the corporation is making in trying to assimilate and connect with the inhabitants instead of an all out and forceful eviction.

This thread of frustration is absolutely reminiscent of the development aid argument. In that the aid donor nations not only presume to know what constitutes best alternatives but also languish in the pathos they see in the natives not realising the opportunity they are offered to 'bettter their lives'. This vexation is not only felt by aid donors but sometimes equally by goverments offering their citizens alternatives to development.
It is posiible to view the avatar program of the RDA as an equivalent to the paradigms of 'partnership' and 'ownership' within the aid world while at the same time remaining within the ambit of 'conditionality'. And the ultimate orders by Selfridge of destruction or forceful eviction of the Na'vi by Colonel Quaritch's army after concluding that peaceful negotiations are not going to work and all avenues of persuasion have been exhausted, as a familiar phase in most development projects [irrespective of who finances them] that involve displacement over the project area.

I must point out that the school of thought I speak of here may not be the only and most current paradigm in development studies. Although this critcism has withstood decades.

The significance of symbolism

Diwali just went by....again..

Growing up I remember sadly the waning enthusiasm for the festival of lights. As a kid 4 pairs of new clothes, the lanterns and lamps all over the house, baskets full of firecrakers, days and days of sweet making [faral at my house was strictly of the sweet kind!], all the gifts and visiting relatives was all too much to handle. It made me dizzy with excitement!
As I grew older, the disinterest started creeping in at first and then gushed in leaps and bounds untill all the joy of Diwali was drained out. Unconsciously but nevertheless there was no novelty left in anything. And the trend continued even after the 'adolescent phase' passed by. Increasingly some things kept ringing in the mind:
1] why the hell do we hang the same lantern every year?
2] we buy new clothes any time now, wats the big deal about buying stuff on diwali?
3] what a pain filling the lamps with oil!
4] do i really have to get up 5am to draw rangoli? really? the bloody kids are going to run over and ruin it in less than 2 hrs anyways!!
5] wats with the firecrakers man? they just so much noise!
6] why all these sweets? it just means more work and late nights...aaarg!

The apathy grew and never stopped.
For 8 years I was out of the country and missed Diwali at home. I mourned and moaned about it I admit. It was always the endless "poor us" discussions on Diwali nights with other Indian friends. Fianlly, got to go home last year for Diwali.All I felt while home was annoyance at the LOUD fireworks!! I counted myself as 'out of the fun game' forever.

Then, there was Diwali this year.
Started the same....as a thought...a date on the calender.
Then the day before Lakshmi Poojan, I dont why but I began cleaning the house. The husband got in the groove and hung the lantern that we got from home 2 years ago. He put up some decorative lights. I made ONE cup of rava laddoos. Barely 6. Then we made Chivda. We had bought the ingredients but I wasnt really feeling it untill that evening. The morning of Diwali we had ourselves the tradional eatables with our own made faral for the first time [1st time since both of us have left home]. Then in the evening, the lantern and lights, new clothes [had some with me since last year!], lit up some lamps and placed them outside on the patio [no oil, proxied with tea lights!] and printed instructions and did Laxshmi Pooja.
And...it felt like Diwali!! Cannot remember the last time I felt it. All the things I had counted as useless symbols of the festival of lights suddenly came together and lit up not just my home but me too. The new clothes, the lamps and lantern, the pooja and the sweets were still symbols but this time they actually translated into something. They brought home what they symblolised! We got our share of visiting and firecrakers too. Had a Diwali get together with friends and not only had a feast with tradional foods but also handled some fireworks! Couldnt get sweeter!
The epiphany? Somewhere I got lost amongst the token symbols and took my eyes off what they represented. I had begun to look at the symbols the lights, the food, the traditions as the festival itself. I had forgotten that it was what the symbols represented was Diwali.
And I am so happy this came home to me this year!!

THE SEVEN SAMURAI.

awe-some and more!

When i read the title my thoughts went running to the Magnificent Seven. A movies that i always thought was magnificent! Then i read the storyline and my suspicions were confirmed. The plot was the same...village in trouble, bandits naak mein daam, villagers jeena haram, hire fighters to dishoom-dishoom bandits, bandits khallas, villagers happily ever after. But instead of getting oh-ssso-swoony-gun-trotting Yule Brenner and his collected gang, this movie has the villagers hiring samurai.
The making of the movie is as much of an epic as the move itself. Not only is the plot an original to be made a million times over and in as many countries, made just after the second world war it took 2 years to put together the finances for it. The movie was made amidst many hurdles not the least one of them being a shortage of horses in Japan at the time.
Apparently the Manificent Seven was a remake of this movie which is a master piece. The movie has a significant contribution to the legend that is director Akira Kurosawa. See the movie and you will agree.

After having seen this original, it was almost impossible to avoid a sense of comparison. And the first thing that came to mind was comparing a original song to a remix. The original song so pure and clean in melody and the remix full of glam and loud and in your face pandering.

The movie makes you think. It showcases human character. Which is inherently selfish but is capable of great courage and selflessness when called upon. The characters are so real and believable. For me personally, this was one of the rare movies which projected the human side to a samurai as well as why they were [are] revered. The movie seems to move along slowly but its gripping all the same. Its very easy to get involved in the story and the people. You cannot come out of it without being profoundly impressed.

Its a must watch.

Mumbai or Bombay?

Rrrright, so this is my conundrum from the day I walked out of my door to cross foreign waters...."where am I from?"
nah nah...this is not that deeeep an existential a question. It is the regular "where r you from?" that everyone encounters countless times in life irrespective of where they might encounter it.

My struggle with this particular question was born when my city went from being officially Bombay to Mumbai. Mind you, the name itself did not jarr my sense of belonging to the city at all because over the years, Ive used both the names interchangeably. All my relatives outside the city called us as 'coming from Mumbai', from far back then I can remember! And I never questioned why there were two names. It just never crossed my mind!

Suddenly I found myself in front of gora's and firangi's who wanted to know where I was from. And just as suddenly the answer wasnt simple anymore. The problem was of being viewed according to the answer I gave. You see, a 'Bombay' evoked a very different response from a 'Mumbai'. Further complications in perception came when I faced a poser, who 'knew' India or worse the city itself. To begin with, a 'Bombay' somehow gave an impression that I was of a modern or liberal thinking kind. A 'Mumbai' came off as a right of center kind. This was on simple days.
On days when I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, 'Mumbai' elicited a "aah! so, one of those right wingers, eh? indigenious pride and bombay came from foreigners and all that, is it?" kind of a look in response. Equally likely, a 'Bombay' educed a "really? one of those stiff upper lip/upturned noses/hham ko hhindee nahyee samachta kind" look. Add a element of familiarity with India or the city to this latter equation and the response was a quick "from Mumbai! lovely" smack in the face!! It got a lot , and I mean a lot, worse when the response to 'Bombay' was a "mai mumbai may doh tin saal rahha tah" ....man! those were the ones which made you red in the face....I felt like the outsider!!
What do you do when you are one of those perpetual getting up on the wrong side of the bed kind then? Who think as hard as they may and be as careful as they can but will always say the wrong thing? Who make wincing part of their daily existence?

How can I let it all go?

I ve been, for the past couple of weeks, recreating my resume, my marketing postion. Its the periodic resurrection we humans take upon ourselves.
I use the word generate instead of revive my "dossier-at-a-glance" because this time I am cutting myself from the ties and the world of a student life and breaking [hardly] into the realm of the working class, the first step into the bourgeois life. Surprisingly, and somehow embarassingly I never realised this metamorphosis will involve more than stringing some words together- nicely! A Lot More!!

With the formal education era safely [more surely] behind me, and a fistful of solid [read relavant for once!] work experience under my belt, it was time to sell my self differently! After all the research on "what your resume should say about you, and how" I fianlly got down to writing it and with excruciating pain at that.

It struck me forcefully that having come as far as I have this new resume will involve cutting off more than a hefty chunk of the earlier contents. And this content that I refer to mean actuall achievements of mine over the years. e.g. to score highest marks in economics in the entire class and get formal recognition for it was an achievement for me. Just because it happened in the first, and concurrent years too, of my bachelors doesn't make it any less precious for me. B-u-t since this occured in the final few years of the last millennia [well, put that way!!] I have to now cut it off??
There are a lot of such things to be left behind now that I must look to the future. But I am perturbed by it all. I cannot forget -easily- the journey through the various degrees and the various things I indulged in [i mean academically, although yes, there were a few indulgences of the not-to-mention kind too]. Each award/certificate/medal ...things that made me proud when I looked at my so called student resume, sentences on paper that filled my heart with warmth and pride....all meant and mean so much to me even now. All those had come my way as a result of sincere and consistent effort. They were not fluke or easy [I am not the born to achieve types, hard work was always my magic lamp]. To think that all of that doesnt matter any more, that it 'has no place' anymore fills me with disquiet.

If the past doesn't matter after a while, then why put much efforts in the present for that will turn itself to past soon, will it not?