Random Draws

After a hiatus of about 6 months, I have finally decided to pen down some concerning, quirky, interesting and happy events that happened of late. I wonder sometimes out of so many big small things happening on a daily basis, why is it that we only hold a few things in our mind and conveniently erase the rest?

Socrates once told his student to imagine the mind as a block of wax “on which we stamp what we perceive or conceive”. This is probably the reason why we have this oft quoted metaphor “made an impression”. Below mentioned are some incidents, people....which I believe will be indelible on my mind.

Scintillating Sonia

For me it was yet another election in yet another part of the world. I read and saw images of thousands marching with astounding courage on the streets of Iran. I also read blogs and saw video uploads about the gruesome acts. From my limited knowledge about Iran, I do believed that it was a tolerant and intelligent country which had rich culture and civilization. A lot had changed in the recent years because of the oppressive government which had blighted the free will of the people. I just read volumes about the ongoing turbulence in some part of the world but hardly felt anything until recently.

I met an elderly friend of my landlady who hugged me in the first meeting and said this is how we greet in Iran. Her name is Sedi and she prefers to be called as Sonia. She must be in her forties but was teeming with enthusiasm and energy. Her flawless and radiant skin made me imagine how beautiful she must be in her youth. She migrated to US in 1980s and before that she did her education in France. The curious me asked her all questions about how was the country before she left , the reason why she left, does she ever want to visit the place of her birth. She replied all of my questions. It was indeed a poignant moment for her as she flipped the pages of her life.

She belonged to an affluent family and lived in a city north of Tehran which has thriving oil business. She recalls that city to be an international city where people from every part of the world came and lived. She told she had a lot of “Hindu” friends in her childhood (kids of engineers working in that oil refinery). The point which captured my attention is that she calls everyone who is from India (Hindustan) as “Hindu”. She told that this is how people referred us in her part of the globe. For them, no matter we went to whichever place of worship, we were one identity “Hindu”. I paused their for a moment and wondered if this could reach to the billions of people back home.

She told me how she has never ever wore a headscarf in her life in Iran and beyond, how many men she has dated and why she decided never to marry. She doesn't practice any religion and believes religion as the root of all problems.

She had to leave that evening because the next morning she was going to Westwood to join the protest march against the Iranian regime. I always see her wearing the green band to show her allegiance to the cause.

Since that evening, I have been invited to so many dinners in her home. Her home is decorated with Persian writings, carpet and handicrafts. It is always a pleasure to talk to this woman because she is an embodiment of endurance, courage and free spirit of humanity.

Satsang at Santa Monica

Part curiosity and part boredom made me to visit “Ananda” at Santa Monica. There was a satsang scheduled on that Sunday and I had no clue what was I doing there. My optimistic self told me to hold on and hope of meeting some new people and make some new friends. Parking rates on the roads of Santa Monica surprised me and I promised myself that I won't stay in the hall for more than 30 minutes.

I located the hall by the beautiful motifs of Lord Ganesha and Krishna which made me feel at home. Honestly, I had hoped that this is going to be an Indian affair with desis pouring in. Strangely, I found I was the only Indian sitting in the room. Everyone else was American wearing kurta, pyjama etc. Some were holding harmonium, one was playing tabla, others were clapping and singing in chorus. What amused me were the sanskrit hymns and songs translated in English but sung in our own desi tune. It was just like singing the funny English sub titles which come up in the song sequences of Hindi movies ;-) Everyone else was lost in the songs and were concentrating hard. Unfortunately, the entire setting was comical for me to say the least.

I found it very awkward to disrupt such a peaceful ambiance by walking out in the middle. In the meantime, my feelings were transformed from just amusement to sheer disbelief listening how perfectly the guy played the tabla. I had decided to wait till the end and ask each of them how and where did they learn it.

Everybody chanted “Om Shanti Om” and the Satsang got over after 2 full hours. Individually I went and talked to everyone. The person who was playing the tabla has been going to India since 1984. He asked me where I was from. Till now, I have met very few Indians (leave Americans) who know which part of India is Orissa. So it has been my standard practice to say I am from a place near Kolkata.

Strangely, that guy said a few places of Kolkata and said how much he loved to lay back on the warm beach of Puri. It was nice to know a person thousands of miles away from my home who knows the geography and essence of each part of India.

Conversations with others were pleasant as well. Some people wanted to know the meaning of my name. Some where talking about Gurgaon and Noida. Everyone welcomed me to their group and encouraged me to come their again. This experience turned out to be unexpectedly refreshing.

A Riveting Read: Buy.ology

“Buy.ology-Truth and Lies about why we buy” is the name of the book written by Martin Lindstorm. The author, considered as a marketing wizard, throws light on how neuroscience and marketing will merge their ways to transform the marketing world. This will be said as “NeuroMarketing” which by the help of fMRI, brain scanning and other powerful tools will give us the exact reason why do prefer iPods over Zunes, Cornona over Budweiser or McDonald's over Wendy's.

The book is undoubtedly an interesting read with ample examples and case studies. The more I read about how and why do we buy a certain thing, the more concerned I became about the way these marketing gurus can spy on our minds using the technological wonders.

Isn't this an equally unethical trend as the idea of creating genetically designed babies? Aren't we inducing human minds to crave for something? What will happen to the small and mid sizes business who don't have sufficient financial resources to conduct these expensive studies. Unfortunately, if the mighty corporations actually implement whatever is written in the book to exactly stimulate mirror neurons or some other wire in our brain, all other business will gradually perish.

A century back people started creating genetically altered plant seeds and brought about the so called “green revolution”. A century later, we have found that we have lost hundreds of species and people are now back championing organic food.

I wonder if the current trend of altering (or rather interfering with everything that is natural) continues, human being will cease to comprehend, enjoy, behave as they are supposed to be.

New Arrival !

Naah..It's neither the iPhone 3GS nor the sleek Palm Pre. It is our bundle of joy Gia (my niece). She can run for the cutest wonder of the world contest :-). Being with her makes you forget your biggest worries and enjoy pristine happiness. Her innocent eyes can see only what we show her. She can hear only what we say. This infuses an unusual sense of responsibility alien to me. It is such a pleasure to watch and to be with her. We are so blessed to have you Mittoo!! (I fondly call her by this name). Welcome to the world!

Death of a legend

It was a day as usual..I was slogging in my office. I heard some fellow programmers discussing that Michael Jackson had been admitted in the hospital as he had a cardiac arrest. I chose to ignore as I was hurrying for a meeting. Minutes later I came back and attended my sister's call who sadly informed me that Michael Jackson had died. The office work froze for several minutes and every where it became the topic of conversation. Some disclosed how they had their posters in their rooms in their teens, some recalled his chart busters. Some pledged to visit his LA home to pay tributes. It's going to be more than a week now but still you won't find any website, newspaper, forum not lauding the legend. Sadly, his death brought him back into public memories. It would have been great if the same radio stations and media houses, who are now devoting their prime time to showcase his life, would have helped him in his troubled times which caused his death.

For now, I would just pray "Rest in peace".

This is all I chose to remember and cogitate in the recent times.
Thanks guys for reading such a long blog ;)

Slumdog Splitsville

Much has changed since the day the movie “Slumdog millionaire” was nominated for various categories in the coveted Academy awards. AR Rehman and Resul Pokutty made Indians across the globe erupt in joy and pride. The kid brigade of the cast marched their way on the red carpet. Then they were greeted like rock stars in airport. Then some of them were beaten by their parents for not obliging to the journalists feeding the insatiable monstrous 24 7 news channels. Congress party recently made “Jai Ho” as its anthem for the upcoming election. Admist all these moments of ecstasy, pride, cynicism; the argumentative Indian in me is relentlessly introspecting this entire sequence of events.

While wandering very close to the Kodak theatre in the evening of 81^st Academy Awards, I was checking every second to find if A R Rehman has won any award yet or not. Although we knew that the Hollywood Boulevard was sealed since a week, we still kept on hovering the area just to be a part of the historic moment so that some day we could say that “Oh..we were so much there when AR Rehman won two Oscars ;-)” Inspite of this feeling of pride, the other half of me wrestled with arguments like “O..Saaya” and “Jai Ho” were hardly great music by AR Rehman. Most of us would rate melody of Roja or Taal higher than Slumdog. But then the purpose of the award was not to pick the best ever composition by a musician but to select the best of a certain year of certain movies. Being a hard core fan of ARR, I settled with myself to be happy about his win. Resul Pokutty whose craft is hardly noticed in India also deserves accolades.

Then came the tough one in my mind: “Why haven’t I seen this movie yet?” What is in me that is stopping me to just accept that the slums and whatever else shown in the movie is not fiction in its entirety and there are acres of sprawling slums across the length and breadth of the country. Something in me protests and says that the stuff shown in the promos is so stereo type. Outsiders love to still show the nation as the country of snake charmers, impoverished and unruly people. Why can’t a movie highlighting the beaming workforce, intrinsic innocence of the countrymen, diversity and resilience of the country win an award in an international platform? Then the alter ego stated that why can’t I just accept that it is just a story, take it maturely as a figment of somebody’s imagination and enjoy it that way. Would I have reacted the same if the movie was not about a slum boy fighting the odds and would have been like the movie Guru. The movie Guru was too hugely appreciated in India and had the same fabric of a “rags to riches” story intertwined in corruption, bureaucracy but ultimately building the face of the Indian multinational company.

A shade of hypocrisy of me got highlighted in this episode as I rejoiced when three Oscars were given to fellow Indians but didn’t want the entire country to be shown going mad with joy in CNN as if we didn’t have ever something to celebrate or as if this was an Indian movie. Then popped the next question “What is an Indian movie?” The movie produced and directed in India or a movie about India with Indians in it? As this movie was a British venture and was in English language, I stamped it as an alien movie. But what about those movies made in India having English as its language or movies produced by NRIs? Is language a barrier for us from accepting it? What about our FilmFare awards which is of, by, for Indians but still it is hosted in impeccable English? If Slumdog would have been produced and directed by a Brit Indian, then how would I have reacted? It is difficult to decide what is alien and what is home grown in this inter connected world.

Media hyped the movie as the ultimate story of hope and the movie triumphed at the awards ceremony. Many who have seen the movie said that it is an average film that does not deserve an Oscar. But it’s a known fact that all the award committees around the world are often a victim of the hype bug and shuttles between honoring the best talent and the best marketing. Starting from Academy awards, Noble Prizes to apna civilian awards like Bharat Ratna, all have been tainted and criticized to the core.

The field of Art is always open to interpretation and there can never be a unanimous echo to it. Regarding what is Indian and what is foreign and whether foreigners have the freedom to make movies about the country is a debatable one and is often an arrangement of convenience. Everybody in the world wants to move past an image and would like to have an updated one in the profile. Am I shying from the reality or protesting being typecast as a citizen? Am I being kiddish by not accepting the movie as a work of fiction or am I being rightly touchy? In this topsy-turvy state of mind, I would not like to conclude but just say “And the argument continues…….”