From shadows to the stars

It is my belief that most films that begin with "American" in the title are bad ones. American Beauty, American Pie (all gazillion parts) and my least favourite: American Sniper. Set during the American occupation of Iraq, the movie's protagonist is (predictably) an American sniper. It is based on the story of Chris Kyle, an Iraq war veteran (and most likely a psychopath too). This movie was released in 2014. You might be wondering why I have brought it up now. I was reading Hannah Arendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem" the other day when a passage reminded me of the movie. "Hence the problem was how to overcome not so much their conscience as the animal pity by which all normal men are affected in the presence of physical suffering. The trick used by Himmler – who apparently was rather strongly afflicted with these instinctive reactions himself - was very simple and probably very effective; it consisted in turning these instincts around, as it were, in

The legendary status of infrastructure in Indian cities is well established. Every time there's a heavy rainfall, the streets get clogged. Everyday during peak hours, the roads are chaotic madness. The problems are endless, so it would be unwise to list them all here. A few days ago, there was a heavy rainfall in Hyderabad, my home town. And as expected, the roads were flooded. Then, this photo became viral on social media.  My dear people of Telangana, please stay safe. Appreciate traffic police like him for their relentless efforts in #HyderabadRains pic.twitter.com/Xdzjvpsgws — VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) October 4, 2017 (The tweeter here is a well known former cricketer hailing from Hyderabad.) I have found many instances where people seem to be inspired by "perseverance" of authorities or common people or the poor and disadvantaged. Is there really anything to be proud of in this picture? I mean, yes, the traffic police deserves to be commend

Let's talk about poverty and skin colour today. Some random guy took this photograph of a girl child in the arms of a lady beggar. Now, in India, this is not an unusual scene. Everyday, we are confronted with such stark inequality in our society. But, the gentleman in question has arrived at a conclusion that this girl is missing and is being used by a begging "Mafia" (which is something rich people convince themselves is real so that they don't feel guilty about having so much more than others). Does he arrive at the same conclusion every time he sees a girl child in the arms of a beggar? No. The why in this case? The answer is obvious. The girl is not dark. She's fair. Now, it is entirely possible that this girl has indeed been kidnapped or abducted. But it is also entirely possible that she hasn't been. We get a sneak peek into the mind of a typical privileged Indian. The girl is fair, so she obviously must not be poor. He immediately ju

Hello folks. It's been far too long since the last Random Observations. So, here we are. RO #1 I hate the people who press the elevator's button even though they can see that it has already been called. Do they think they have some special power that makes the elevator travel quicker? Do they think everyone else is just waiting for them to come and press the button? Are they colour blind? Whatever it may be, this is just irritating. RO #2 In Mumbai, everyone is trying to walk faster than the person in front of them. When I'm walking on the footpath, often a kid or a person who is barely 5 feet tall overtakes me and it leaves me smiling. RO #3 The local trains in Mumbai have a legendary reputation for being packed beyond imagination. In the few weeks I have been here, I have travelled in them quite regularly. It doesn't feel much different than any other local train service in India. My pockets haven't been picked or I haven't been shoved around ye

I have finally started reading Sanjaya Baru's "The Accidental Prime Minister", a memoir of his stint as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's media advisor. I shall not comment on the book (yet?) because I have not finished reading it. Instead, I would like to point out how Baru got the job. His father was the Finance and Planning Secretary under Manmohan Singh. And, as we go on to see, Baru himself acknowledges that this must've played a role in his appointment as media advisor. Here are some quotes from the book. "Indeed, my father and Dr Singh had several close friends in common, most importantly, K.N. Raj, the economist; Amrik Singh, the educationist; and Mohit Sen, the communist." "[Former PM Narasimha Rao] found it significant that Dr Singh had not opted for a political journalist or a government official as his media adviser but had chosen an economic journalist like myself. ‘Of course, he knows Vithal,’ he added, referring to my fathe

#3 After finishing my MA course at University of Hyderabad, I have now moved to Mumbai. My previous experiences of people saying, "You don't look like a South Indian" have continued here. In the first couple of days of my new job, a girl asked me if I was Pubjabi. My name is Amrit, so not a giant leap of imagination. I proceeded to say that I wasn't. She then asked me where I was from and I replied that I was from Telangana. "But you don't look like you're from South," she said. What's worse, she didn't know what is spoken Telangana. "Tamil?" she asked. When people who don't even know what language is spoken in Telangana tell me that I don't look like I am from Telangana, on what basis are they making this statement? My guess is Bollywood stereotypes. #4 My roommates and I were just getting to know each other. After I had mentioned to them that I was from Hyderabad, they wanted to know if I spoke Hyderabadi Hindi. T