Movie Review: Manto

Having read Saadat Hassan Manto as a teenager, he always fascinated me as a writer. As I dug deeper in his life, I found out that he was an out of the world writer. Hence, a movie by his name was to be watched for sure.

After watching the movie, I definitely did understand the essentiallity of freedom of expression. Watching the headstrong personality of Manto, brilliantly portrayed by the lead actor, one can recall writers like Blake or Dostoevsky.
Also, the partition of India goes on in the background and how common life was affected is visible in some places. The fact is reinforced that not everyone wanted the partition. The partition also caused religious tension (which is also a little visible) which terrorised people.
Alongside, the glimpses of his short stories show the social issues of the time (which to some extent continue to be the issues today too).
For Manto fans and who have the courage to face the stark realities (which Manto wrote), this is a must watch.

Movie Review: Sanju

The movie is a biopic yet, it teaches a lot of things; could be called a set of dos and don'ts which we should keep in mind while making choices in our lives. First and foremost is choosing our company wisely. Company matters because company affects. Second thing is for both parents and children, to stay close to family and the fragility of human relations (can be broken in a second). Third, have no fear, stand up for yourself, if need be, take a bullet and die a hero's death (hero of real life). Fourth, ignorance can be very fatal. The movie contains an appropriate example. Fifth, the effects of someone's death can be devastating. So all members of the family should stick together like pillars having each other's back.
Other issues from an observer's perspective I found are the fact that this could be the story of any star kid. Parental legacy can be a burden for the young blooming child. People in power need to take extra care of their children because they will always remain in the limelight. Also, there are definite cautionary parenting tips clearly given.
Dutt seemed to be a kid until his father did not actually become his friend. Death of the mother and support of the father made him grow as a person, the character growth is clearly visible as the movie progresses. The brilliant acting of the actors added to the marvels of the flick. And ofcourse, how important writers are, everyone must know by now.
Last but not the least, anyone's life can teach but the question is, from whose life are we willing to learn?

Dedication to grandmother

On a tensed Monday morning I got to know,
My grandmother was not around, not anymore.
Raced all memories, right from the first memory I had of her,
Clad in blue, with a smile to cheer.
Wished on all birthdays, festivals and new year's,
None could be complete without a blessing of hers.
Phone calls on landlines were an early connection,
Mobile phones revolutionised and brought us more near.
Difficult to accept she has gone,
Wish she could come back and stay along.
Now that she has gone,
I can only think of the time we had all along.
Life is such, it gives heart and breaks it,
But living with that is the only way to make it.
Did a lot of hardwork throughout her life,
Gave love and just love to everyone when alive.
I will miss her forever and seek her blessing on every occasion,
Every big event of my life would be incomplete without her invocation.
I wish she would make her presence felt somehow,
I desperately want her to be around.
I may grow old but I will never let go the few things I have left of her,
That is all to remind me she is still here.

Movie Review: Hichki

Had already heard it's a movie for teachers.  But it is slightly flawed. Being an educator myself, I couldn't help but agree to this being next teacher's favourite after "Chalk and duster". And flaws? Where?
With some really good dialogues commenting on the education system altogether, this movie is more about faith, brilliance, opportunity and hope. Faith in terms of the unwavering faith the teacher (in the movie) has in the potential of the children and chanellizing it in the right direction.
The fact that every student has potential and a brilliant mind is another aspect of the movie. With the right guidance, wonders can happen.
Another issue brought to the forefront is of the class divide which doesn't let the students have opportunities; resultant of which, they are rebellious and ready to battle. Clearly observed by the teacher herself, there's a reason behind everything. Also, those who do get the opportunity misuse it is also given by the example in towards the end.
The parents of these kids have hope for the betterment of their children and the teacher too is hopeful of the right results despite criticism for her students.
An important point of focus in the movie is the tourette syndrome. The fact that everyone should be accepted with whatever they have because they never acquired it by choice. Parental support for any child is repeatedly harped upon throughout the movie.

Movie Review: Fukrey Returns

Delayed it quite a lot, but did find the time to watch the second instalment of the earlier comic flick. If the comparison was to be made between the two, or I was given a choice to watch one of them again, I would definitely choose the first one. Why? I have my own reasons.
The one major difference to be spotted is the fact that the magnitude of money to be earned (via lottery) is bigger this time. As a result, the lurch the four representatives of the youth fall into is way bigger. Consequently, the female counterparts are just next to invisible. Yet the villain (of the previous instalment) emerges as a round character here (the only one) being caught up in trouble situations and shown to be with less brains than the prequel.
The first half is more fun and reflects on the previous flick (advisable: watch the previous one closely first) but the second half seems more stretched and also a tinge of political chaos is shown to affect the lives of the youth of today. One wrong step, and they were on a run for their lives.
End lesson: money is what matters finally.

Serious issue here

Being a woman, and certainly not against the women folk, yet critiquing a person of my own race.
Everywhere there are chants of the youth being the future of the country, not just ours but any. But how can the youth be banked upon when there is no certainty about what there childhood has been like?
I saw a young woman, must be in her early prime, early in the morning, perfectly following the saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”
But what about the common knowledge that lack of cleanliness is also bound to take you to the doctor?
Enjoyed her apple to the full and when nothing remained in it, dropped it midway. Simply!
I certainly felt angered. But further introspection made me question what she learnt in childhood? I realized, she isn't the one to be blamed, the upbringing is, which she got.
Before going Gaga over the youth and it's power, it's necessary to ensure the same youth gets the ideal upbringing for a future perfect youth.

Book Review: Untouchable (Mulk Raj Anand)

I finally took a plunge into Dalit literature and began with a landmark text by Anand. Highly recommended read by all readers, I had to read and write what I felt.
The novel in itself is a masterpiece by a non-dalit writer. He remains detached and let's the characters come to life completely on their own, this novel mainly revolves around the events that happen in one day in the life of the protagonist, Bakha.
The novel clearly brings out the cruelties suffered in the name of caste distinctions and the effects it has on the people. Also, it touches other issues like position of women, hypocritical nature of society, clash of religions and cultures while the subjugation of Indians by the British continues in the background (the arrival of missionaries to the scene and their attempted conversion of Hindus to Christianity) giving reference to the presence of colonialism.
Interestingly, Indians are shown to discriminate amongst each other on caste basis, while Britishers are shown discriminating against all Indians together on race basis.
The text shows how the caste system is present in the remotest corners of the society and people irrespective of castes have blindly accepted it as their fate or God's will (as they put it). In the name of God's will, they suffer inhuman treatment at the hands of society by cleaning other's dirt, being bestowed with the title 'polluted' and begging for food. What would happen if they for once refused to clean that dirt? The 'polluted' people clean the dirt of the 'unpolluted' who pollute the place themselves.
But people like Bakha are so submissive and fearful because they don't have any power and resources. They have resigned to their destiny (Bakha's father Lakha has) considering this is what they were born to do. Yet, Bakha dreams. He dreams to be able to wear the English saheb's uniforms, play hockey etc.
Ironically, lower castes are called polluted (as is with Bakha) but molesting the lower caste women does not pollute the 'unpolluted' people (as in the case of Bakha's sister Sohini). Gandhi's speech towards the end serves to heighten the irony more vividly when all shout "harijan ki jay". In the morning as the day progresses, the same people abuse and shun the same Harijans and by evening the shout "harijan ki jay" for the same Harijans in congruence to Gandhi's speech.
Gandhi's speech also brings different reactions among the crowd. This is where Anand brought about the powerful effects of English education on Indians (Indians in blood and colour but Englishmen in tastes ideals and morals, as Macaulay would say). They boast of the English writers they have read but there is no mention of any Indian writer which speaks for the snobbery and cultural disconnect Indians had to suffer from and continue to suffer even today.

Exam phobia

A kind of phobia found in everyone, children, adolescents, adults; irrespective of age are prone to the stress and worries an examination brings along. The question is, why is this fear? After some thought, I could come to a sensible conclusion. That was:
because some uncontrollable force beyond our reach and knowledge, an unknown force is going to interrogate us and on the basis of our knowledge, understanding and application we have to answer and our saviours, our resources, our books wouldn't be in our access to save us.
Everyone feels the same in the examination scenario, no matter what age group they belong to. Adults handle the examination time and stress on their own because they have become accustomed to it but younger ones, adolescents and children are the most vulnerable ni victims. The sense of competition frightens them and they have sleepless nights coupled with loss of appetite. Of course examination is necessary to evaluate the learning of the students and I am certainly not against it, but there are certain simple things that can be done to avoid the stress and anxiety here. If everyone is told competition is only with themselves and their previous scores, perhaps things would be much better. The comparisons that parents do have a lot of effect on the young minds which can hamper their overall social development. Its best to make them compete with the scores they had earlier, that would for sure bring out better of their potential.

Movie Review: Hindi Medium

The title is clear enough to say what the movie would revolve around. The story of a common man who is desperately struggling to give his child the best education taking any means possible to accomplish those goals because only the ability to speak in English is the mode of judgement and understanding of people's educational levels. Alongside this major plot development, there are other aspects easily noticeable.
One of them is the comment on western form of education and the effects it has. The consultancy in the film, the Western education are shown to fill people with artificiality, superficial knowledge, snobbishness, pride and also lack of respect for their own language.
Not only the children, the parents equally are a part of that change due to this form of "education". Due to this "education", class of people has been created who call themselves "the elite". Sharply contrasted with the "non elite", the difference of not just lifestyles and sophistication is shown but also the difference of the basic humanity in both the classes is clear and obvious. The first and the second half show the protagonists in totally different lights and hence their characters undergo development and transformation.
The other aspect, which could also be called an suggestion or maybe an eye opener is that all children, irrespective of their class, deserve equal attention, care, respect and quality education because they too have equal brain as any other and are equally creative. The example of being creative is also shown in the movie where the children create music without any musical instruments.

Movie Review: Padmavat

As I sat to write this review, the first question on my mind was what I would say about the film? All I could think of was "royalty". Being a film about people whose names have been disputed to even be a part of history or not, I found every bit of the characterization to be lively, humanistic and yet majestic altogether. Despite being a period film, the audience couldn't move from their seats throughout right till the end. As it got over, I heard people saying, "Is it over? ". This is the captivating effect it had on the spectators.

Moreover, the audience remains alienated throughout the film, despite their being lively and realistic characters as we get to see them performing feats which are unimaginable in today's time. The madness of empire spreading, the readiness to go to war, the elaborate dressing up and of course living in forts does the work of alienating. The one point where even today's people are intact is of honour and valour. That is not limited to any particular clan or group. It's perhaps for each and every person as that is what defines their self respect and dignity.

I was well aware of the basic plot of the movie because as a child, I remembered of a television series based on the same story. But what prompted me to watch the film was which part of it could offend the sensitive sections calling for such violent and extreme protests. Personally, I found nothing offensive. Everything only seems to add on to give respect, grandeur and grace to the group we have only heard about over the times.
For all who want to get a glimpse into Indian history and tradition, should definitely go for this romance-drama film.

Selfie: making lives better?

Human beings have always yearned for appreciation and admiration. For this purpose, since time immemorial, women continue to groom themselves to have that attention as it is stereotyped but men may not accept, but they wouldn't disagree if complimented. Nowadays men have also started paying attention to their physical looks. If not men's beauty saloons, grooming saloons are definitely in the picture.

As trends have changed, so has technology which led to the birth of cellphones and from cellphones to smartphones. Smartphones brought social media into people's pockets which brought with it the concept of taking pictures and selfies. These selfies transformed the people's worlds because they didn't need or have to wait for anyone to take their picture. They did it on their own whenever and wherever they wanted.

As the quote goes, "excess of everything is not good", this is applicable here. These maybe called the demerits of "selfie system" but I would rather call it "the aftereffects". Selfies have attacked people on the mental level in various ways. In the garb of the "coolness quotient" people end up doing stupidities jeopardising their very existence. In the wake of this, many even lost their lives, as per recent regular news updates. Somewhere this selfie obsession is killing their sensibilities and cognitive abilities. No thinking, no wondering, only clicking seems the fundamental operating in these times. That in itself is a major reason of the increase in the number of deaths.
People take selfies and show how much they love themselves. Love for self isn't wrong. But if that love becomes an obsession, it's fatal. I see people zooming in their own pictures to see how perfect they look (we all know how many editors are available). This obsession leads to jealousy, hatred (towards others or own imperfections) which is not good for any human especially teenagers.
Ultimately, the more important aspects in life loose attention. The obsession of selfie perfection has become a serious problem now. If something is not done, more people would be killed in the younger years than ever before.

Book Review: Animal farm (George Orwell)

As the new year's resolution to read canonical texts, I began with Animal Farm, considering it be interesting owing to its title. As I read the back of the book being about farm animals taking control of their destiny, the idea itself seemed inviting to be read through. I began thereafter.

Initially as I read began, I found an Old Major (pig)instigating the animals to fight for equality or rebellion as it would be called and as he completes this last task for life, he dies. Next, animals fight against the unfair treatment they went through due to human acts (symbolised by Jones, their owner). Quite willingly, the animals get ready to fight and under the leadership of Snowball and Napoleon they do get the farm free and name it "Animal Farm". They have their own commandments which would be like a modern day constitution and also have a national anthem with a title suitable to their community. As the chapters progress we see the duo of Snowball and Napoleon (pigs) having their own differences and Snowball as a result getting expelled. Till the end and even after the end of the novel, I couldn't find out what happened to Snowball and Mollie (cat). Further as the novel goes, we see how Napoleon and other members of his species takes total charge of all other animals and despite the idea of equality, he becomes more equal than others just because of his schematic designs (keeping dogs on guard and choosing not to work while all other animals work). Considering the interest of the readers, I wouldn't want to write anything about the end leaving it to the readers to analyse that part.

Clearly, the duality of the human race has been satirised (they behave in some way and act in another). The animals vow never to use any human things or human ways but the very acts of allotting work to everyone and hence carrying it out are human ways. Establishing the windmill, Napoleon's trade deals for eggs are human too. But also indicate that no person, country or organisation can exist in isolation. Boxer's tragic end also talks of the dark realities of human ways of using labour when they have strength and thereafter getting rid of it in anyway possible when their strength days are over. The reference to Queen Victoria in the initial chapters hints to the victimisation of the human race due to colonisation. The animals also have their own anthem which they sing with a lot of zeal. That again hints to the patriotic element and the fact of abandoning it towards the climax also talks of the change of loyalties of the characters (animals here). One more notable fact is about the mob mentality. How the mob can be manipulated to any use due to it's innocence and single mindedness. Squealer (pig), whose a loyal follower of Napoleon performs this manipulation part yet and yet again throughout the text.

Dedication to children

As I sat in a corner
Watching and looking,
They were unaware.
And kept running and playing.
Looking at them I could only think,
What is long lost for me at a certain brink.
Yet I find them beautiful,
Their play, their fights, yet all cheerful,
Transform anything by nature into a plaything.
The raw talent in working.
In between calling out their mother
To show the new game created,
Or to accuse each other.
But mother knowing it to be an annoying habit,
Ignores it altogether.

The elders continue to play,
In between the young one vanished and lay,
In the mother's lap for some pampering.
They mother well aware starts caressing.
Having the lap's fun,
The little one again on the run.

The purest forms of human race,
Play with each other with grace.
Without differentiating colour or class,
Like they were altogether, just one mass.

Experience at the bookfair

Owing to my love for books, I planned to visit the annual world book fair. In this tech savvy and e-form driven world, there's not much that the hardbound form of books could offer. Yet to my surprise, the number of people that turned up for this event was much more than expected.

I held the opinion that people are not much interested in reading and imagining (rather using brain) because due to the technological developments, everything is in their phones (concluded on the basis of travel observations). I was rather delighted to see many people turned up with their kids. But couldn't see through the fact that for them this was just a picnic. Who in the world gets their infants from the cradle to the bookworld?
It more seems like people just can't go to places where it does seem sensible to go.

Initiating kids to the bookworld is no wrong, but what about the fact of teaching them the basic etiquettes and values of not howling around like madmen? I was less able to roam about perusing my passion, more trying to save the kids from getting hit on their run accidentally by me or the stuff I had.

So, I still love books, but I think I'll have to find other ways to reach them now on.

Have a brain with a six pack instead of a body with a six pack

Nowadays, the trend focuses on building a good body and a tucked in physique. Well shaped arms, toned arms and an inside tummy with a six pack is what is ruling everyone's minds for the ideal look.

All I see is people craving for the above mentioned standards of beauty and looks, or working hard (mostly in the gym) for this. Celebrities altogether give them the "ideal body goals" which must be there to look pretty and attractive. Doing this isn't bad. People's lifestyle is such that they have to take care of their health by this routine. But my question would be, what about exercise for the brain? In course of my routine travel, unfortunately I never get to see any readers who would give me any "reading goals".
Exercising the brain or feeding the brain is equally as important as exercising the body to build a physique. What would you do with the strong and healthy body when your mind wouldn't know how to take care of it and put it to the best use?

State of language today

There was a time when having the basic knowledge of English language gave people an edge over the others and they were guaranteed success in their life and career. Now, atleast when talking about metro cities, the scenario is quite different. Even saying quite different would be an understatement.

Since most people have the idea of the basics of the language, they think they know everything and thereby they don't need to get into the detailed parts. Alexander Pope said, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing". This is proved by  the language users.  Hence, due to lagging in clarity of the ideal concept and true meanings of words (many are even similar in sound or spelling) they end up making blunders which only someone with a proper knowledge of language can understand and laugh off later. Interestingly, when the same people are told of the same mistakes committed by others, they laugh off easily!

Being a language teacher/instructor (whatever may be called) I got the best experiences and observations regarding people's attitudes to language from the workplace and the classroom. Since language syllabus doesn't really aim to take the young fertile minds into the depths of words and the world of literature, the respect towards this pure discipline is quite unacceptable and unhealthy at the same time. Students and teachers (of other subjects) do not feel the need for a full fledged teacher. This is totally visible and absolute considering the attitudes of both the students and teachers (which do not belong to the field of language). They fail to understand the depth words have and the differences words can make.

Unfortunately, despite the fact they don't respect the subject, they consider that they could learn everything overnight. Which is not true at all. Why would renowned literati spend most of their childhood reading classics and then end up writing classics themselves? But to know all the facts, people (non language people included) need to try knowing first (which they would never know to try). If the syllabus is not revised and loaded (a bit) with canonical texts to be taught in the right way, the future of communication itself seems bleak

A day without my phone

A day without my phone was meant to be,
The toughest day there could ever be,
According to me.
In an early morning rush I forgot my phone,
Having come a long way I realised it was left at home.
As the day passed I felt myself free,
Of all shackles; of all boundaries.
As there was no one,
To keep track of me.
Did not get any calls or messages,
Nor could the internet create any menace.
Felt like I had gone back to the gadgwt free ages
was on my own,
Braving the world alone.
As there was none meant to be,
any form of guarding for me.
Away from the virtual world,
Closer to the reality,
Could feel the real world,
more closer to me.
Perhaps this was God's design,
To make me write these lines.

Life became all easier without my phone.
Without any worries to check my phone.
No human embodiment could bother me anymore,
Because I had not left any loophole.
By the time the day ended,
I found all people handed,
to their phone or their phone to them,
Watching, listening, talking or doing nothing.
Thereafter, I realised,
Humans have accepted this gadget dominance without any strife.
And hence, like everyone, even I
wanted my phone infront of my eyes.