The Jinnah debate continues. Now Arun Shorie has exploded and have many others about the BJP internal politics. I am interested to see what will come of it.
It rained and then it rained and then it rained again. I am almost happy.
I finished Little Women. I wish I had read it as a child. It might have meant, more than it ever will to an adult. I have now started Aldous Huxley's Chrome Yellow. Just a few chapters into it. This is my first Huxley. I think I should try more Proust soon.
I watched 'Sarransh'. Clearly Anupam Kher at his best. I then watched 'Paap' which Pooja Bhatt's movie. She is Mahesh Bhatt's daughter. I see a lot of his influence in her, but she has a style that is unique and in some aspects better than her father's. Mahesh is deeply rooted in Soviet and early 20th century European film makers, and constantly seeks symbolism in his frames. Pooja on the other hand has a far better eye for aesthetics and sets frames that are more fluid, beautiful and appealing. I have to say 'Paap' is not a very good movie. It is about a girl who is torn between her protective father, who wants her to join a convent, so that she does not have to suffer the disappointments of life and of course the boy, with six pack abs and funky haircut, who is also a very good guy. Less than mediocre acting, good background music and locales. Of course, you cannot go to higher Himalayas and, not find good locales!
Next on line is 'Alexis Zorbas' the movie.
I had a long conversation with my cousin last evening about too many things. It is same guy who went to Italy to audition for a music scholarship. He didn't get it but is not trying now trying for some others as they encouraged him to do so. We spoke of many things, but he seemed really shocked at my knowledge of erotica. He agreed that it was interest in human behavior but I doubt if he was convinced. He has led a very closeted life and is not really aware of the worst of human nature. Perhaps it is good that way for a while but not for ever. I see classical early adolescent disenchantment with life (I may be wrong in calling it classical, but this is way too common in the Indian context), but it is a little late as he is 20 years old.
The media has got over the Swine flu. It is no longer headline material, mostly because of Jaswant Singh and his book. I have on the other had got the flu, not the swine flu, but the common flu. My throat is really sore, and I am staying indoors and the slightest draft make me cough like I swallowed a porcupine.
One of the big issues in the media is the infallibility of Nehru and Sardar Patel. I have always thought that the opinions held are far too unnatural and unrealistic. Nehru among all the rest of us was flawed. He messed up the accession of Kashmir, he promised a plebiscite that never happened, he put Sheik Abdullah in power, made a mockery of elections in Kashmir... and so on. His foot-prints are everywhere in the messed up Indian economy of the 70s, not to mention the China and Tibet blunder. To suggest that he was super-human and the angelic aura built around him by his daughter and his party is just silly.
Sardar Patel, was simply a great politician. He is credited, justly, of integrating the 625 independent states the joined to form India. He too was not an super-human thought often called "Iron-man".
A realist portrayal of these men may solve the issue definitively, rather than quoting politically motivated history. Both Congress and BJP have played this game, it is a matter of coincidence that only BJP is involved in this one. Mayavati, in response to the statue row, stated that half the government projects in India are named after the Nehru-Gandhi family. It is an obvious truth and clear dichotomy. For the uninitiated Gandhi here has nothing to do with M.K. Gandhi, instead is the married name of Indira P Nehru who married a man named Feroz Gandhi, who is not related to M.K. Gandhi in any way.
I believe that Gandhi too has to be de-angelised and seen as a man. I had made several debates on the matter of beatification of our idols and the tragedy of its consequences. I shall try to post some of those things here later.
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