Nationalistic Fervour Or Opportunistic Free Riding?

What a farce! Seriously, what a farce!

Right from the concept to the execution CWG 2010 is a complete farce. What exactly are the Commonwealth Games? A grim reminder of the slavery ridden past of competing nations? Or a pointer towards British exploitation which ensured that most of these countries are still Developing or Under Developed?

I do believe that these Games are more grounded in reality or perhaps mediocrity. Leaving apart a handful, where else would these countries actually stand a chance of competing forget winning medals? India tried pulling a similar trick a few years ago. That was when Mr. IT Savvy Naidu blew up a billion rupees to host the first and last Afro-Asian Games.

Before I rant on, let it be noted that I mean no disrespect to any of the competing athletes. We have indeed seen some brilliant performances in these past few days. Subhajit Saha and Achanta Sharath Kamal played some scintillating table tennis yesterday. And the Indian hockey team for once showed nerves of steel to mount an incredible comeback. Hopefully they will not go down without a worthy fight today as well.

But for more than a month now India has been caught up with these fanciful CWG Games. Most corporate professionals in and around NCR eagerly awaited not the Games as much as the hopeful announcement of holidays. Half the volunteers disappeared with the free kits never to be seen again. The urbane and educated crowd on Facebook and Twitter went back to nursery with a new rhyme "Shame Shame CWG Game".

The media as usual did its bit. They never seem to disappoint us. I mean how often does an India-Australia series or KBC launch hardly get coverage? Oh how I wish Peepli Live had been made to 'conscientize' Indian media rather than stand in the Oscar queue. But is it really the media's fault? Ok, they do go over the top a hell lot. But after all "Jo Bikta Hai Wahi Dikhta Hai". We watch, they show. They show, we watch. Its a chicken and egg situation.

Yes they are spineless. But aren't all of us? Hasn't Delhi 2010 shows just that. Before all the medals started pouring in, Kalmadi and the rest of the jing-bang were under some serious fire from all corners. I don't doubt that these Games were riddled with corruption and am sure we will hear a lot more on this once all the fantastic performances of our athletes are long forgotten. Yet we as a country never got behind the Games. Where was all our nationalistic fervour then? We were all part of the mob pointing fingers. But who at?

Those of us in NCR could have done our bit to make Delhi 2010 a showcase event for the World. But like always we didn't. The flip-flop happened when Narang and Bindra shot home the first gold. Since then we have all become 'Indians'. We don't hesitate in 'owning' a Deepika Kumari. In fact we revel in the story of her father being an auto driver's daughter and accomplishing so much. But what is to ensure that she herself doesn't have to labour a few years from now? Perhaps the 20 lakhs that the Indian government will dole out in all its magnanimity.

As India fights for the coveted second spot in the medals tally we need to seriously ponder. While we make giant strides on the economic side, there are a lot of others areas that demand our attention. And perhaps the most important of them all is our attitude towards our own country. More often than not it is we who let ourselves and our country down. And I needn't go into a lecture about how.

Its human tendency to want to be on the winning side. In today's headlines, Sheila Dixit and Tejinder Khanna fight over the success of Delhi 2010. Even I switched channels when India was 3-1 down against England in the hockey semi-finals. But what will it take for us to stand by our country no matter what? For one, our ownership of everything Indian has to be real. Criticism is necessary but a Mani Shankar Aiyar walking out of Delhi in protest does us no good. To the outside world we need to be one India. For reminders sake we are part of the Commonwealth because we could be divided and ruled.

As an aside. What is it that I am doing? Free riding on all the CWG brouhaha to get some eyeballs for my writing. And strategically too, on this one last day before its back to Rakhi Sawant, Big Boss and other such important matters.

Music To My Mind

Music is for the ears or perhaps for the soul. But there are some songs or rather lines from some songs which strike a chord with the mind. This thought stems from 'I Want To Break Free' from my previous post. Its rather random. But there are these lines which play again and again in my head when I am in 'that mood'.

So here go some of my favourite lines...

1. This one is from 'Outside' by Staind for the sombre times - "I can see through you. Inside you are ugly. Ugly like me."

2. When I am down and out there is 'Vienna' by Billy Joel - "But if you're so smart tell me why are you still so afraid?"

3. And 'Tubthumping' by Chumbawamba when I want to recover from that dejection - "I get knocked down. But I get up again."

4. Escapist thoughts are reinforced via 'Fast Car' by Tracy Chapman - "We leave tonight or live and die this way."

5. For existentialist issues another of Staind's song 'Its Been Awhile' - "I have gone and fucked things up again."

Its a trashy post. But its been playing on my mind for a long long time. I just needed to get it out of my head. Now I know my musical abilities are so limited. I simply get stuck with the lines. So sing on or should I say croak on.

Where The Mind Is Without Fear…

1984. The word was Fear. We had Operation Blue Star, the subsequent assassination of Indira Gandhi, the resulting Sikh Riots and the completely unrelated but equally devastating Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Events which instilled all kinds of fear in our minds. Fear of fanatics using religion as a universal justification. Fear of safety of our lives irrespective of who we are. Fear of being targeted as individuals / communities for ours or others beliefs. Fear of unexpected ‘negligent’ events scarring generations to come.

Half a century ago George Orwell had artistically fantasized that 1984 would be the year when perhaps the worst Fears of all would come true. Where will you run or hide? Big brother is watching. What is it that actually happened? History and facts change everyday. What is right and what is wrong? It is all Doublethink. What do you think? Doesn’t matter there is Newspeak.

Orwellian 1984 is yet to come alive but the Fears that it brought to life are not hard to imagine. And therein lies an interesting thought. Innumerable times in life we are held back by our Fears. But more often than not these Fears are imagined. They reside in our minds and prevent us from doing so many things that we want to do. We hesitate. We procrastinate. We deliberate. Time flies by and our Fears keep growing. Bit by bit they bear us down until we are dragging ourselves through life.

Amidst all these Fears, 1984 was also the year Queen came out with one of my favourite songs. The opening line is enough. We all want to break free. Break free from all our Fears. Most people try. Some succeed. And then there are those who even fear trying because of their fear of failure. The cycle is vicious. And I am caught in it.

The Shah Of Blah

Blah! Blah! Blah!

Another night. Another party. Another balcony. Another person. Same old stories.

NDTV We The People... Long weekend ahead and nothing to do... Mighty Man hadn't seen the wonder... With no luggage and scarce money got onto a Roadways bus... Checked into a 100 a night room at midnight... Its Eid so entry is free... Escaped four TTs without tickets in 3AC... In under 24 hours and Rs. 500 we were back to base... Btw, we saw the Taj...

Uttam's election losing (mind you not winning) party... Bishen tried killing every dog on the road... Cops stopped us outside Hindu... Tyagi was drunk and puking... We were in for it that night... Driver steps out and puts something in his pocket... "Hum police hain hum aapki checking kar sakte hain"... "Main koi terrorist hoon. Check karna hai. Ye lo check kar lo"... Off come the pants....

ISC physics practicals... Vernier calliper we hadn't used for 2 years... Ran after Kiki across the corridor... Door slammed shut.... Cut my hand.... Trail of blood till the hospital... "Don't even think about writing for a week"... Math exam in 2 days... Two pain killers before and three in between... Slept for 18 hours straight... Still finished Comp practicals before anyone... Invigilator thought I was shamming... Landed up with a 95 in Physics... And guess what, I didn't have to count it...

Same story. Same people. Same situation. Same narrator. Different version every time.

A pinch of masala. A touch more next time. And a bit more...

Voila! The dish gets better and better. Mostly true. Some figments of imagination. A lil bit of rambling. This that and everything.

But whats better than entertaining the same people with the same story multiple times? Or even boring them for that matter? Spinning a 'shabdon ka jaal' has its own fun. Stories recounted over and over again bring back memories and mostly fun ones. There is a rush to the head like no other. A high that is difficult to match. An escape that eases away all morbid thoughts.

The Shah of Blah is back! So till more Blah Blah Blah...

P.S. My advice to all those who are deliberating reading Rushdie or stopped reading him halfway through Midnight's Children, start with Haroun And The Sea Of Stories and let the Shah of Blah charm you into an unparalleled world.

Why "Why" and Why Not "Why Not"

Something new confronts us. Perhaps interesting, maybe unwarranted, slightly diferent but definitely something NEW. And what do we do about it? Before we even warm up to it, we try and ward it off with a stubborn "Why"?

Just another of those human quirks that we have. And this one comes right out of Newtonian science. Its his first law - inertia. We are just too sceptical to step out of our comfort zones and embrace the unkown. While change might be the only constant, it is not something that we look forward to.

And why is it that this "Why" always confronts anything new that comes our way. It is not as if we're satisfied with our present lives. But its just that we are too stuck in our monotonies. The uncertainity of what changes the change might bring scares us off the change. The change could be good or bad. It might work for us or we might regret it for the rest of our lives. But darn, above all it is something NEW and we ought to give it a chance at least. If not try it out we should at least think about trying it out.

So try this the next time when something new steps into your life. Instead of the usual "Why" greet it with a "Why Not". And don't ask me "Why".

I Wish I Had...

You look into the past. You want to change this. You want to do change that. You wish you had done things differently. You regret having said yes. You lament the oportunity missed. You repent the decision you took. You desire going back to it all and changing everything.

Granted. Yes... granted. Granted an opportunity to use a Wellsian fantasy. Go back in time and change all that you want to. Press Shift+Del to wipe it out of existence and use Ctrl+V to replace it with that which you think is right or perfect. And voila you have got exactly what you wanted. Or is it?

Nothing is meant to be perfect and perhaps nothing can be made perfect. Going back in time and changing things might just be another oasis in this arid Saharan desert of a life. So then why do we constantly wish for it? Another illusion you want to capture? Another star in the distant sky?

Or is it becuase we're but human. And it is human to look back and crib about things that we no longer have a control over. Because if life had been perfect till date then where would we find a reason for being unhappy?

Burning Away The Morbidity

Tradition - a word which on its own reeks of 2nd century BC. Things imposed unto you by people who claim to know better. Things you always want to rebel against. The tyrant that prevents you from doing things "your way". But what if you were to create your own traditions and follow them to?

Two eccentrics once did initiate a tradition of their own. A real queer way of celebrating their success and leaving behind their failures in some hazy memory. It wasn't an idea that fell upon them like the Newtonian apple. Rather they just did it in a 'matter of fact' manner like many of their other quirks. But soon enough it became a tradition that they revered and religiously followed like none other.

There was a systematic process - clean, roll, name and enlighten. The tradition lay in naming it with uninhibted creativity and finesse. Sometimes the names went beyond personal successes and failures to embrace people or things that were truly arbit. From Maya John to Jan Tests, they all found their death as their names waned away slowly into nothingness. Memories good and bad were done and dusted with.

All the joy lay in the naming. It was an intriguing duel between both eccentrics to prove that each was the greater eccentric. The winner for the night was honoured with his ingenuity being engraved for posterity. And the one who finished second initiated the celebrations to follow. For him lay the greater prize of being the one to englighten the other's creation.

Like all traditions this one too met its nemesis. Distant dreams did the two eccentrics apart. But the bond that it created still lives.