Georgetown, Pride of Penang.

An MGM presentation.

James . Fitzpatrick's Travel Talk

The Voice of the Globe. (the 1930s)

Need more than music, love and sunshine to live!

Sairat (Wild, Marathi; 2016)

The Marathi cinema has the reputation of producing the first-ever full-length Indian film in 1913. Honouring the doyens of the yesteryears, the Government of India gives out an annual award to an icon of Indian cinema for lifetime achievement, named after the director of this movie, Dadasaheb Phalke.

Unfortunately, over the years, it lost out to its glamorous, world acclaimed and well-funded cousin, Hindi films of Bollywood. Of late, Marathi films are making a come back of sorts after the Government of Maharashtra made it tax exempted.

Many Bollywood actors and directors are jumping the bandwagon to dwell on the craze. 'Sairat' is the highest grossing Marathi film and is the first to cross the ₹50 crore mark.

The story is nothing spectacular. It is a tale teenage love of members of contrasting classes (a fisherman's son and a landowner's daughter). The lovebirds are hellbent on being with fulfilling their youthful desires despite the massive opposition from the girl's thuggish father. There is a lot of running, bashing and display of injustice and inequality. The positive feature of this flick, unlike its counterparts of filmy unrequited love, one does not see a lone macho boyfriend fighting tirelessly against the whole tirade of hard-core gangsters. He gets bashed up hardly giving a fight. The heroine is the dominant one who actually kickass to get things done.

The cinematography is pleasing to the eye and the narration shows the reality of love. Desire may feel the heart but the truth is, in the real world, we need a roof, food, place to call home and above all, money to get things in order. We cannot live on sunshine, air, music and undying love!

The modern theologians

Credit: New York Times

Is it just me or is it plain for all to see? I feel that the economists are the new leaders of the modern world. They seem to portray the image that they have a crystal ball in front of them and they are well aware how our society is heading. They talk as if they hold the steering and have total control of the rudder to manoeuvre the human race in the right direction. Their destination is the abode of the money God and its path is paved with gold. The lure of it seems so lucrative in a world where God is dead, and we killed him for something so fulfilling.

These economists, the new theologians, speak in meaningless jargons like 'quantitative easing', 'ROIs', 'paper loss' and 'bull run' which are just rhetorics to pacify concerned laypersons.

Funny a few centuries ago, we may remember of yet another brand of leaders who used to talk in doublespeak invoking fascinating fables and inspiring words like 'Grace', 'original sin' and a promise of an eternally peaceful place so beautiful that beats everything on Earth.

In both cases, the followers are left confused, not comprehending whether such a place actually exists, the Xanadu or the Shangrila! Some are left wounded, burnt or confused while the leaders laugh all the way in the cover of the night, under the cloak of wizardry, chuckling all the way to their own havens!

The modus operandi is the same. When money replaced ethereal God as the most important thing, so did the gatekeepers. They just wear different costumes and chant different mantras. Economists and bankers are the new theologians.

Some more rare pictures #2

Some rarely viewed pictures

First world problem in the third world!

Credit: weknowmemes.com

Look around us! We are indeed living in a third world, ruled by leaders whose subjects are still caught in the feudal era, at least in their mindsets. Even though they enjoy the benefits of modernity, their subservience is reminiscent of the natives of the bygone era; not of the thinking and curious one reflective of years of education spent on them. Anyway, the learned ones have all left the roost. The ones left to occupy the vacuum are runaway employees, economic refugees, fly-by-night snake-oil salesmen and overstaying sojourners who had been legalised through umpteen amnesties that were carried out to smokescreen the authorities' incompetence, to create economic opportunities and to fish for potential voter bank.

Some of the ones who opted to stay behind or lost out in the chase to scoot off the country when the opportune was ripe are generally too patriotic for their own good or had missed the gravy train.

The other day, I heard an interesting conversation between a few millennials who were, at least from the impression that I had, feeling 'guilty' of being privileged for having the comforts of modernity. They think that they had to pay back to the society. One of them suggested working at a soup kitchen. She related her fulfilling moments serving the needy, reminiscing the glistening of moist eyes of the persons of a full stomach. Another narrated her experience teaching the homeless and the sheer bliss of educating the ignoramus and the joy opening the inner eye of knowledge.

Some of us, the baby boomers and Generation X, who had the privilege (or misfortunate) of growing up through the trying times when the country was jubilant of extricating itself from the colonial yoke, experienced the feelings of underprivileged first hand. We do not have to imagine the hunger pangs and being missed in a conversation or joke that is over our heads. We were there and would like to believe that we had passed that! There is no guilt feeling, and there is no need to 'payback'. We realise our good fortunes, lucky stars and good karma that we give back to society in our own ways.

Are we truly empowered?

Funny, this thing called empowerment. The person who holds the strings to power stays in the background and remains incognito. He does not want to be seen to be powerful. He looks simple enough and abhors to be under the spotlight. He scorns attention. He is happy to be the invisible play-maker.

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On the contrary, the powerless naively tries to exert his authority through the pompous display of his thoughts. He yearns to be in the limelight and wants to make his stand clear, loud and succinct his viewpoint. Even though his two-cents' thought is not cared for much by anyone, he feels contended. He had stood for his rights like it would change the course of the celestial bodies! Feeling contented that he has done the right thing, his life is blissful. He knows he would be rewarded handsomely one fine day.

The puppet-master and the wise ones remain in the background, smiling to themselves, watching the drama unfold and probably chomping on their popcorn.

Take women empowerment, for example. A person who earns her living through the flesh business would insist that it is her prerogative to do whatever job she so wishes. It is her right. A lady donning the hijab or purdah would insist that nobody can tell her what to wear. Conversely, her counterpart who does not believe that she should cover her bare essentials to show her piety would utter the same. That it is her right to don what she wants. Nobody could curb her freedom or her fashion sense. See how both parties use the same right to prove their point. A third person would just snigger, trying his best not to tell them that they are both being used.

The poor would say it is their right to have McDonald in their backyard. They should not be denied of modernity. When the effects and diseases of modernity affect them, they would insist that it is only human rights to be treated for diseases that they would not have got in the place, if they were contented with their old way of living.

We are just sheep, following the herd marching willing and religiously to the slaughter without realising our folly but convinced that it is the best and only thing to do.