From shadows to the stars

A call to chop someone's head off. Another wants criticism to be punishable by severing the criticizer's finger. Public floggings. Indoctrination camps for children. Women forced to wear a certain kind of clothing. When I speak of these things, what comes to your mind? Is it the Taliban? Or ISIS? Maybe Al Qaeda too, but they've gone out of fashion a bit, don't you think? I think you will agree, dear reader, that this indeed was the case. My first paragraph made you think of the Taliban and the ISIS. But, no. Not one of these threats was made by an Islamic extremist organisation. All of them were made by various persons linked - directly or indirectly - to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Those making these threats ranged from spokespersons to an occupant of the Chief Minister's chair. Naturally, there has been some outrage regarding these statements.  Has Amu the Bjp office bearer & wannabe ISIS flag bearer in India been arrested yet? Thrown out o...

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...

This one is from the archives too. I had written it sometime in March 2016, if I remember correctly, during the Justice for Rohith movement. I did not have the heart to publish it then because I thought it sounded defeatist. Here goes... -- Around two days before Rohith Vemula had committed suicide ( January 17, 2016) , the students protesting against the expulsion of Rohith and four other Dalit PhD scholars by the University of Hyderabad administration had painted a very poignant poster. The poster showed a portly male bare chested body, but had a cow's head. An upavita/janeu or a 'sacred thread' was slung around the shoulder. Beside the image, written in bold were the words, 'Occupy UOH admin'. The image was a metaphor for the Brahminical and Hindutva driven administration. Just a few days ago ( March 2016) , in the embattled shopcom area, the epicenter of the students' movement for justice, I observed the poster still lying. Two months had passed...

Disclaimer: This post might not make complete sense to everyone. (If any of you ghosts have questions, please do post them in the comments section) -- Sometime in 2012 He walked slowly towards the church. The irony of him - an atheist - seeking peace and solitude at a place of worship was not lost on him. His eyes absorbed the architecture - the three steeples, the cross and the stained glass windows. “If there’s a god, surely there’s going to be a power cut soon as I set foot into this building,” he amused himself as he neared the archway. November 28, 2015 He was less sure of the way now. How long had it been since he was last here? Maybe a couple of years, if not more. Was this the right way? The landscape seemed to have changed so much! Ah, but there it is! The three steeples, the cross and the stained glass windows. Among the time swept sand dune that is the city, this oasis (or mirage?) remains a constant. 2012 He had never been in a church before. What is the etiq...

For 40 days, farmers from Tamil Nadu have been staging a protest in New Delhi demanding that they receive drought relief funds from the government. It is notoriously difficult for the agriculture sector to receive any attention from the government or even the public. Therefore, they have resorted to heartbreaking and often dehumanising forms of protest like putting rats and snakes in their mouths, wearing skulls of farmers who committed suicide around their necks, stripping naked and even drinking urine. Yet, the media discusses this form of protest as 'theatrical', 'innovative' and 'bizarre'. Yet, they have not even been spoken to by the government, forget getting their relief funds. This seems to be the new mode of dealing with protest movements in India. Complete ignorance, as if it doesn't even exist. We saw this earlier in FTII, where students who demanded that their chairman be removed from the post. The students sat on a hunger strike and suspend...

People sometimes say the funniest things. When they say these things, they betray some stereotypes, preconceived notions, prejudices and bigotry they have. Hopefully, this will be a recurring segment of the blog, like the Random Observations. But for now, let's assume that it's a one-off. #1 Last summer, I was in Vijayawada for a couple of days. I had a laptop with me and stopped at a tea stall. A stranger approached me and asked, quite disarmingly, if I was a software engineer. Perhaps, the laptop suggested this to him. I replied in the negative. Then, he looked at me and asked, "Are you a Muslim?" Perhaps, the beard suggested this to him. I again replied in the negative. (Although in hindsight, I should've just asked him to mind his own business.) Thankfully, the man was done guessing. This time, he just asked me, "What do you do?" I told him that I was a student working on getting my post-graduate degree in Communication. To this, the man ...

Much was made about the fact that two members from the RSS were invited to speak at the celebrated Jaipur Literature Festival. By a lucky coincidence (maybe not so lucky), I was touring Jaipur during this time and would like to relay some of my thoughts about it. I felt that the two speakers handled themselves very well. They made some good points and some that weren't. While it is unfortunate that there was nobody on the panel to debate against the two Hindutva proponents - the organisers should have seen to it - the discussion was good nevertheless. The two speakers rightly pointed out that despite the targeted killings of RSS members in Kerala, there was no outrage against it. The government also doesn't seem to be very keen on ending this violence. Although, one of the speakers, Dattatreya Hosabale, slipped up. When asked if the RSS condones violence, he flatly said that it didn't. He then proceeded however, to say, "If some people are out to attack RSS person...

Bollywood's trend of adapting the lives of popular sporting heroes to the screen continues. In 2016, M S Dhoni and Azharuddin's lives were portrayed on screen. While these two movies received only modest response, the true winner was 'Dangal', the biopic of wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat. While Phogat himself was a wrestler, the story is about his ambition to win an international gold medal (for the country) through his daughters. I enjoyed the movie. Unlike most times when I have watched Indian movies, I didn't feel the urge to scream or hit my head against the wall. Of course, there were some problems with the depiction. Some of the more serious issues have been identified and critiqued. Here, I will talk about some other issues that I found in the film. Phogat's elder daughter Geeta is sent off to the national training camp and loses her path a little. The film links a slump in her performance levels to her interest in being more fashionable. As G...

In many different ways, the past year has made me aware about the notion of glory in sacrifice. January saw a PhD scholar in my university commit suicide for the Dalit cause. Maybe he imagined that his death would fuel a movement that would demand justice for one of India's most downtrodden and marginalised sections. Or maybe he just couldn't take the many injustices done to him anymore. As he lived in a state that was created, in part, due to several students self-immolating themselves, perhaps this made sense to him... Then in November, the Prime Minister decided that he would ban all Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in a bid to wipe out 'black money' from the economy. In the days that followed, only ordinary people felt the consequences of this decision. People in influential positions and those who had accrued millions in black money were able to use their power and connections to bypass inconveniences such as standing in queues for hours and real problems such as faci...

As one might have observed from my recent posts, I have been listening to or reading a lot of poems from poets in Pakistan. I promise that my intention behind this is not to receive that treasured 'anti-national' tag. One poet that I have developed a special liking is Habib Jalib. A compatriot of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, who has received more global fame, Jalib was an avowed champion of the people. He was a staunch opponent of Ayub Khan and Zia-ul-Haq, both army generals who overthrew the elected Pakistani government. However, he also spoke out against state oppression. It is reflective of the sad state of affairs that India is in today that most of Jalib's poems seem to be very contextual. I have already posted one of his poem's, "Zulmat ko Zia" in a previous post. (http://amritkosaraju.blogspot.in/2016/02/zulmat-ko-zia.html) Another of Jalib's famous poems is called "Dastoor", which can be translated as constitution. Here it goes... Dastoor ...

The following is a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. I don't really know why (maybe it's my sweet spot for Urdu), but I like it very much. Kuch Ishq Kiya, Kuch Kaam Kiya Woh log bahut khush kismat thay Jo ishq ko kaam samajhte thay Ya kaam se aashiqui karte thay Hum jeete’ji masroof rahe Kuchh ishq kiya, kuchh kaam kiya Kaam ishq ke aa’re aata raha Aur ishq se kaam ulajhta raha Phir aakhir tang aakar ham ne Dono'n ko adhoora chhor diya Translation: Fortunate were those people Who thought of love as their work Or were in love with their work I was busy my whole life I loved a little and worked a little Work came in the way of love And love interfered with work Finally, fed up I left both incomplete

I watched the film ‘Anaconda’ when I was a kid. I really liked the film. Imagine my surprise, when many years later, I learnt that the film was universally panned by critics and film buffs. So I revisited the film. I watched it again. I still liked it. I mean, sure, the acting was flimsy and the CGI was a bit shit. The plot was pretty generic ‘monster movie’ stuff, but hey! Who cares, right? I still loved the movie! These things are all true, but that doesn’t mean the whole movie was bad! There were many good aspects to it. I like the film and the only fathomable reason was because I had seen it as a kid and liked it. Even the poster is crap! I guess you now know where I’m going with this. Childhood indoctrination. I wasn’t indoctrinated about Anaconda, but I still loved it. That’s how strong childhood influences can be. Imagine how bad it is when kids are indoctrinated about religion. When these kids grow up, they probably might learn that religion is not all the...

I think I should start watching Telugu movies. Not because I find them to be fascinating or interesting, but because I think that the content they present should be critiqued when they are still in vogue. I hold no delusions about my power to convince people that what passes for humour and morals in these movies is actually bigotry and prejudice. But I still think that my loyal readers (both of them) and I would effect more dialogue immediately after the movie than, say, five years down the lane. I watched a Telugu movie. Predictably, the feelings that followed were frustration, anger, astonishment and an urge to beat up the filmmaker. The movie in question is 'Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu'. It has many cringe-worthy scenes, but I will single out one. The hero (Mahesh Babu) and his entourage are in a mall, where a girl walks up to him and 'proposes' to him. Mahesh Babu makes some wise cracks about 'Bharata stree' (Indian women) and makes fun of the gi...

I like being meta. Therefore, when I wanted to write about my obsession with pop-culture references, the first thing that came to my mind was a quote from Fight Club. In the movie, Tyler Durden says, “We're a generation of men raised by women.” Perhaps I belong to a generation raised on pop-culture. Or is it just me? For someone whose introduction to pop-culture came quite only in my mid-teens, I think I am still very overdependant on pop-culture. I would imagine that most people draw inspiration from popular movies or books in certain real life scenarios. Don't you like the thought of proposing during the sunset, on a sand kissed beach. Who doesn't want to go on a road trip to exotic locations, on a journey to discover oneself? It feels so wonderful and it happens all the time in movies. It goes far beyond that for me. Whenever I'm entering a zone in social conventions that I am not properly trained in (and that zone is quite expansive), I immediately fall back on...

A few days ago, my friends from University of Hyderabad were outraged. Apparently, someone in the administration had decided that it would be apt to place a statue of a Shiva Ling, Nandi and a Cobra (imagery associated with the Hindu religion) near the main gate. The suspect was of course, the dastardly vice chancellor Appa Rao. "Great way to exhibit our secularism", "University of Hyderabad is supposed to be a secular institution" and similar statements were made in an inspired evocation of secularism. But wait! Don't many departments in the university conduct pujas for Dussehra? Didn't you know that in every kitchen, the first morsel of food is placed before a Hindu deity? Did you never notice the tilaks on computers and other equipment? Where was the call for secularism then? The objection to installing these statues/ idols did not arise from a secular standpoint. It rose from the fact that it was Appa Rao who was installing it. I imagine that if a...