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Punjab goes to town
Not all is ‘anand’ |
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Between the nomenclature
Functioning of Congress, BJP
The roaring, ruling matriarch
CINEMA: NEW Releases
Present in the past
It’s ‘howlarious’ Movies on tv
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Punjab goes to town
Over
the past decade, 10 lakh people in Punjab, out of the total 2.7 crore, migrated from rural areas to urban. While some may have shifted because cities offered them better opportunities, others would have moved because they were in a desperate situation in their villages. Either way, the essential reason is the same — more opportunities in urban areas, and limited scope for growth in villages. This need not be seen as the failure of any system. Development today is driven by the manufacturing industry, which benefits from the economy of concentrated infrastructure. On the other hand, agriculture — the predominant rural occupation in Punjab — has reached a saturation point, made worse in terms of employment by mechanisation. One peculiar phenomenon in Punjab is that many people have shifted not because they found jobs in cities, but because they sold their agricultural land — for the high prices on offer — and wanted a “better” life for their children. This form of migration ends up increasing the pressure on urban civic amenities and job opportunities, as it comes ahead of — rather than follow — commensurate rise in infrastructure, both civic and industrial. For Punjab, the resultant challenge lies entirely in urban areas. The villages are only going to benefit — with reduction in unemployed or underemployed agricultural population. The answer is massive scaling up of planned urban development to take care of civic issues, and rapid industrial development to absorb the numbers, lest we have socio-economic trouble brewing. Spending more funds on cities would be entirely justified, as already in some districts, such as Ludhiana, Mohali and Jalandhar, more than 50 per cent of the people are living in urban areas. The remaining districts are approaching the “tipping point” fast. This is a global development phenomenon. More than 90 per cent of the US population is urban. Any talk of keeping villagers in villages essentially amounts to denying them opportunity. Whether we provide for planned expansion of cities or not, expand they will.
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Not all is ‘anand’
The
Anand Marriage Amendment Bill 2012 that has been introduced in the Rajya Sabha is not yet a law, and there is already a controversy since there is no provision of divorce in the Bill. On the one hand, religious leaders maintain that marriages are for life and thus there is no provision for breaking a marriage in the rehat maryada (code of conduct), while on the other it has been pointed out that divorce is a social reality and as such the provision should be there. Legal experts point out that Sikhs would still be able to apply for divorce under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, and thus in practical terms it would not make much of a difference if the amendment Bill has a clause for divorce or not. It must be recognised that the issue here is not legal, but an emotional one. The Anand Marriage Act was made because the Sikh community felt that their religious ceremony needed legal sanction. Prior to the Act, there were cases of legal hurdles coming in the way of Sikhs who had married according to the anand karaj rites. Of course, Sikhs have always interpreted the Act and the amendment as an assertion of the community’s distinct identity, and thus they have acquired even more significance. Practically speaking, there has been a long-pending demand for separate registration of Sikh marriages, and thus there is merit in the notion that the Bill should be passed as it is. Further amendments to the Bill will mean more discussion and thus delay. As has already been pointed out, in any case, for those people who want to opt out of marriage, there are legal provisions available, even if they are not under the Act. This is not an ideal solution, yet it is a workable one, and would thus take care of the emotional aspirations of a minority community, while at the same time ensuring legal protection for individuals who may have to make a difficult choice of opting out of matrimony at some stage.
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Between the nomenclature
Objections
raised by the employees of Women and Child Department (WCD), Haryana, and timely reporting by the media resulted in changing of nomenclature on the dress code for the employees of WCD. As it turned out, on Tuesday, women personnel of the all woman department, working for the protection and welfare of women, discovered the hidden ‘indecency’ in a pair of jeans and T- shirt. Armed with this epiphany, the self-styled reformer from the WCD, took refuge behind the ‘government rules’ to declare that only saree and salwar kameez with dupatta offer ‘decent’ clothing to women. And yes, men too were given a decent dress-code, they were told to be in pants- shirt combination. But, as it turns out, is this not what men wear, and is their clothing not western? Now, after the widespread protest by the employees, the word ‘decent’ has been replaced by ‘formal’, in a bureaucratic solution to a situation that still centres around women’s clothing. Now, it is left to anybody’s imagination what all dresses can be defined as ‘formal.’ If common sense does not fail, a pair of jeans is an informal piece of clothing. By this logic, jeans and T shirt are still not welcome, because they do not qualify as formal dressing, anywhere in the world. It’s just a play on the semantics. If only, the personnel would spare a thought over a basic fact, that, when adult men and women are selected for a job, they are selected on the basis of their professional competence. Are these adults not capable of applying their common- sense for the kind of clothing they should wear to work, or, on field assignments? By what stretch of imagination can women carry a ‘formal’ dress, when on a field job? Unless the dress requirement is specific to certain jobs like nursing, police or air-hostesses, dress-code should not be imposed. The fixation for women’s clothing not only smells of Victorian mind-set, it diverts the discourse from their professional competence.
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The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. — Eleanor Roosevelt
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Functioning of Congress, BJP HAD corruption been the yardstick to judge, I would find no difference between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), the two political parties which occupy the largest space in India. Both have been disfigured by too many scams, too many times. Still there is no end to them and their involvement. Both parties live in glass houses and they should not, to use George Bernard Shah’s words, change clothes with the lights on. The Congress has been revisited by the Bofors gun deal payoffs after 25 years. The BJP has been exposed by the conviction of Bangaru
Laxman, who once headed the party, in an arms deal. Yet the Congress and the BJP remain deficient in sensitivity. One rationalises that the case has been “closed” and the other argues that the BJP has not at least put a gloss over the corrupt deal. The reference is to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who covered the tracts so well that he left no evidence on the kickbacks, worth Rs 65 crore. Still the fact remains that both parties during their rule used the government machinery and intelligence agencies to serve their purpose and squeezed out in the process even the last drop of legal or moral decency in the system.
BJP leader Jaswant Singh has demanded a judicial commission on the Bofors gun scandal. But he should go beyond and include Bangaru Laxman’s case as well to find out who were the people or the organisations behind him. Even if the commission is appointed, it may fail to get at the truth because the records have been fudged and proofs destroyed. However, the findings may serve as a guide for the future to know how those in power manipulate the system to plug evidence. The Bofors gun scandal takes the cake. It would not have seen the light of the day if it had not been disclosed by a deep throat, a person who, in media parlance, gives information from within the system without coming out in the open. When the story about the Bofors Howitzer deal was broken some 25 years ago, it shook the nation because the deep throat alleged that the commission was given by
Bofors, a Swedish firm, to the then Rajiv Gandhi government to secure the deal. The deep throat has again jolted the nation, this time by revealing his own identity — he is former Swedish police chief Sten Lindstrom — and accusing Rajiv Gandhi of doing his best to cover up the scam, although he did not take bribe himself. I have no doubt that he is telling the truth. In contrast, see the lies by Rajiv Gandhi who had the innocent hauled over the coal to shield the bribe recipients. Why he did so is obvious. He used the middlemen to channalise the money to the party or the family he wanted to reach. That the middlemen too pocketed a part of the bribe as their commission is understandable because they took the risk. In any case, Rajiv Gandhi saw to it that no harm came to them. I think the biggest casualty in the Bofors scam is the credibility of the investigation agencies, particularly the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The Congress may be right that Rajiv Gandhi did not take any bribe. But there is no running away from the fact that a determined Prime Minister can mould the system, as he did in the case of the CBI, like a wax in the hands of candle makers. The CBI has no face to say that there cannot be a re-look at the Bofors payoffs because it was the main agency which whitewashed the scandal. It does not take long to understand why. The CBI is only a department of the Central government. Several CBI heads, after their retirement, have written books and given lectures to admit that the government puts pressure on them to go this way or that way. The present CBI Director may also spill the beans after his retirement. The exoneration of Ottavio
Quattrocchi, an Italian national, by the CBI is a black mark which will be difficult for the agency to awash. It helped Quattrocchi to escape from India and to rub off the connivance in the Bofors case which had become synonymous with corruption. Without any doubt, a few government officials, particularly in the External Affairs Ministry, were aware of the scam but they looked the other side when there was an opportunity for someone to speak out. True, the Congress is more to blame for hiding the truth. But the Vajpayee-headed government cannot escape the blemish. Why could it not find any evidence although some of its trusted men visited the Bofors plant and talked to its officials endlessly? Regarding the other case, a former Union minister and a member of the BJP national executive, Laxman was convicted of taking bribe from a fake arms dealer for helping him win a fictitious Army contract. He was forced to quit as BJP president immediately after Tehelka magazine made public the videotapes shot on March 13, 2001. The real story is that the bureaucracy has become so malleable that the party in power can mould it in the way it likes. One adverse fallout is that the bureaucracy does not now follow any rules because there is no accountability. The Congress government obviously will not take any action against the officials involved. Nor would the BJP do so. Probably, the next government, whether that of the Congress or the
BJP, may. The Press too has a lot to explain. Lindstorm says that he leaked the information but he could not do a journalist’s job to probe and follow it up. Chitra Subramaniam did when she published stories with the information she got from
Lindstorm. The media is a watchdog of society, he says, but who watches the media? The same question stares us in the Bangaru Laxman’s case. Tehelka magazine exposed the corruption through a sting operation. But it had to face the wrath of the government. The undercover journalist, posing as an arms dealer, was harassed and hounded. So was the entire Tehelka team. The weekly’s office was raided and a series of income tax records opened. No journalist came to Tehelka’s help because it is not a done
thing.
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The roaring, ruling matriarch Rero
was not her real name but a sobriquet that she might have earned owing to her acts of heroism, leadership and camaraderie. She was no ordinary woman, despite coming from the ‘base of stock’ and a humble beginning. But she made it to the big title of being a Mother Superior — a deified matriarch — in her own locality, which was known a Rero Bagri. Rero in Haryanvi means someone who hollers a roar. Naturally then, she was the leader most people in her locality looked up to for being controlled, guided and almost ruled. Rero was a frail women having a grunt and shrill in her voicing of even small things, not to talk of big concerns. Her sway over her clan, who counted to be somewhere close to a couple of hundred, men and women included, besides cattle heads and an army of dogs. Big zamindars in the village dare not interfere in Rero’s community affairs, although she was never belligerent, rebellious or even unsporting. But the entire village knew her strong influence over her clan and community. Even her husband was like all other ordinary men in the flock — actually henpecked. Rero was quarrelsome but not violent. We never heard of any episode of group clash in her Bagri. All disputes were settled with her pronouncing the diktat without fear or favour, and mostly delivered even-handedly. She was a great protector of women and children. Villagers asked her for advice, support and protection while small children played in her lap, taking their turns. She fed her dogs herself. Rero’s Bagri was like The Vatican where only her near-Papal discourses and edicts ran and had the desired effect. There were no walls erected between houses and no hedges. Some shade-trees were there. None in the locality ever put locks on their kacha house-doors. There were some purpose-made shanties too. One could walk in the Bagri, but only after informing someone there, to take care of the hounds around, who would otherwise tear the intruder into pieces, as was the general impression about the ghetto. Rero’s clan was largely employed in agricultural chores of the zamindars, but her mainstay was fishing. The fish contractor for the nearby canal could not carry on his business without Rero being on his side. Besides, putting a wall of fishing nets on a selected area in the canal, Rero’s men carried long and pointed spears to kill the fish. The biggest the catches and Rero’s award on it was guaranteed. In the winter months when fishing operations were carried out, Rero was always camping on the canal bank, with adequate supply of country-made liquor and bonfire for the fisherman to seek warmth from, after their dives into the cold water and wading through it, bare bodied. Rero too loved her drink, but it was only on rare occasions that she consumed liquor. Holi was such an occasion. Charged, animated, boisterous, frenzied scenes were witnessed in Rero’s Bagri during the entire month of Phagun, but never ever was there an incident of violence, or ill will manifesting in any kind of aggression among the revelling men and women. Rero was always respectful to the other senior men and women in the village. She is no more now. Her progeny excels all others in the village in resources. And I gainsay that it was just because of Rero’s imbuing, though unconsciously, a kind of work culture among her clan that they never had to look up to anyone for help. An agent for change is always not imported but can be homegrown
too.
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CINEMA: NEW Releases
Politics of love
A
daughter of a Muslim MLA, she is the apple of the eye of all in the family. He, the unwanted grandson of a Hindu politician, tries every trick in the book of politics to rise in the eyes of his grandfather. Product of divisive politics of India, it's only fair that both hate each other. All would have been well if they hadn't…. Set against the vitiating atmosphere of Indian politics, Ishaqzaade could have been the epic love story that it proclaims to be. Sadly, in execution the love story with a difference lacks both conviction and power. To begin with the premise of love itself is questionable. Yes in the first half the film seems to break new ground. But just before you could say kudos to the portrayal of a young Muslim girl as a gutsy firebrand who barters her jhumkas for a pistol, who drives an open jeep, nurses dreams of becoming an MLA, the film does a volte face. Suddenly the regressive part of what it means to being a woman in India, more so in the political milieu spills, forth. But instead of feeling any sympathy for the female protagonist you wonder why and how could she be such a fool? You may not share the derision her family nurses for her but you are as much at loss of words for her inexplicable act. Indeed, in India the one that exists beyond its fast growing metros, there exists a Bharat where lovers are sacrificed without guilt. Those who dare to fall in love outside religion or caste are hounded like animals and love for them is no more than a blind alley. But is the parallel between the real and reel lives good enough to hold audiences? Director Habib Faisal who gave us a winner in Do Dooni Chaar scores in the authentic presentation of the vast hinterland of India where item girls and flowing liquor are as much a vote seeking gimmick as the venom spewing caste and religion ridden politics. And the cinematography does full justice in capturing the Mera Bharat Mahaan. Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra may not be the hottest couple to have hit the screens in recent times yet have delivered fine performances. Producer Boney Kapoor's son Arjun, who makes his debut with the film, proves that acting does run in his blood. Parineeti's spunky performance underlines that her foray in Ladies vs Ricky Bahl was no flash in the pan act. Other members of the cast many of whom have a background in theatre are believable. Gauhar Khan as the nautch girl Chand sizzles and acts well. But as the camera pans on Almour quintessential of Bharat and leaves behind the French chiffon perfumed romance that Yash Raj films specialise in, it also forsakes the emotional tug of love. The film's USP its authenticity and realism don't transform into a tour de force. While the hate turns love angle is sans spark, the climax is not hard-hitting and almost leaves you cold. Watch it for the good performances, attention paid to details and music by Amit Trivedi that for once doesn't stand like a sore thumb but gels with the narrative.
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Present in the past When
traditional psychotherapist Dr Brian Weiss wrote Many Lives Many Masters, talking about patients recalling past life traumas and a therapy that helps to recover past memories, skepticism set in. Past life regression…does the therapy hold the key to our present life traumas? And then, as expected, someone from Bollywood got interested in the subject! Result: Dangerous Ishqq; a thriller, packed in a stereoscopic 3D format hitting the theatres on Friday. Directed by Vikram Bhatt, the movie had many talking points - return of Karisma Kapoor, a subject (past life regression) that the Indian sensibilities haven't been able to expect completely and the 'feel-it-as-real' 3-D effect. From bringing in fair hints of past life in his previous movie Haunted 3D, Vikram Bhatt has neatly given horror a miss with Dangerous Ishqq. This one is a suspense thriller with a storyline that has a cut-to-past, cut-to-present feel. A story that spans over a period of five centuries; five different stories set in many periods where the key to all the traumas of recent times lies in the past lives of Sanjana (Karisma Kapoor) and Rohan (Rajneesh Duggal). Sanjana, a supermodel leaves her career for the love of her life - Rohan. But things move quickly as Rohan gets kidnapped, leaving a trail of mysteries. This marks the entry of ACP Bhargav Singh (Jimmy Shergill) who is working on the kidnapping case. This where the Many Lives Many Masters angle comes in with Sanjana seeing visions of her lover and herself caught in various situations. With her friend, played by Divya Dutta she meets a psychotherapist who helps her unravel the happenings of her present life by taking her to various stages of her past life. A well-scripted story by Amin Hajee, which at some stages looks 'too supernatural', wee bit unbelievable for the regular or better still aam aadmi. And then the cash card Karisma Kapoor running around in despair from one period to another finding her love. Director Vikram Bhatt has tried to give the comeback actor every possible pedestal to showcase her acting skills. Our Lolo acts, romances, slips from one dress to another - Rajasthani, Punjabi and Islamic - with jerking accents. If only Vikram would have handed Karisma the script six years ago, she would have practiced the accent well! On the other hand, actor Rajneesh Duggal, with limited dialogues, was the perfect male model. Respite comes with Jimmy Shergill who has done a fairly decent job, carrying the mysterious element on his shoulders. Other actors, Divya Dutta, Aarya Babbar, Gracy Singh and Ravi Kissen are there and delivering what they are supposed to. While the camera goes back and forth, you are suddenly aware of the dark glasses you have on for this is a 3D movie! If you are getting a little uneasy in your chair wondering how come up Karisma manages to do the rest of the past life therapy without the psychotherapist, tune your ears to the music of Dangerous Ishqq. Trying to find some moral like we always do, well then for any problem in life turn to the past or grab a copy of Many Lives Many Masters or something better - go ahead with Dangerous Ishqq. Something is better than no answer at all!
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It’s ‘howlarious’ So
Tim Burton is at it again along with Johnny Depp with the third instalment of the late-1960s Gothic soap opera in the delightfully, spooky Dark Shadows (the earlier ones were "House of…."and "Night of….") and what a roaring mix of humour it is, as vampires, witches and ghosts mingle with mere mortals for 113 minutes of scintillating entertainment. It is a story of two feuding fishing families, the Collins and the Bouchards and how Barnaby Collins (Johnny Depp) and Angelique Bouchard (Eve Green) love affair was nipped in the bud but with demonic repercussions. Barnaby becomes a vampire and Angelique a witch. Fast-forward to two centuries later and Barnaby breaks out of his coffin, kills a few fishermen and visits his ancestral home Collinwood, a 200-room mansion with an assortment of corny characters. There's matriarch Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer), her hep teenage daughter Carolyn (Chloe Moretz), her precocious son David (Gulliver McGrath), his psychiatrist Dr Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter) and his governess Vicky (Bella Heathcote) and Elizabeth's no-good brother Roger (Johnny Lee Miller). How Barnaby reacts to modernism is hilarious and here scriptwriter Seth Graham-Smith deserves full credit with puns and double-entendres sprinkled like mustard. And just one is getting familiar with the Collins family the witch Angelique makes her entry. She realises that Barnaby has escaped and is out to settle the score. May be the climax is a tad predictable but that can be overlooked in an otherwise satiating experience where the ghosts and vampires are almost friendly. Johnny Depp is his usual suave self putting across those witty lines with a dead-pan face and he is well matched by a vixenish Eva Green. Michelle Pfeiffer underplays her part but Helena Bonham Carter does full justice to her psychiatrist. You just cannot afford to miss Dark Shadows. Carry on, Tim Burton.
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Saturday MAY 12 A comedy adventure set in the land of the Emperor Penguins in the heart of Antarctica. These penguins sing, and each needs their own special song to attract a soul mate. Our hero Mumble (Elijah Wood), son of Elvis (Hugh Jackman) and Norma Jean (Nicole Kidman) is the worst singer in the world… but he can tap-dance something fierce! STAR MOVIES
8:01AM I Spy, 9:59AM The Front Row with Anupama Chopra, 0:29AM Ice Age: The Meltdown, 12:27PM Unstoppable, 2:29PM Knight and Day, 4:44PM xXx, 7:06PM Anaconda, 9:00PM True Lies, 11:40PM The Transporter STAR gold
8:25AM Chamatkar, 11:35AM Ragada, 2:00PM Taqdeerwala, 5:00PM The Hero: Love Story of a Spy 9:00PM Hero No. 1, 11:35PM Hero No. 1 hbo
9:00AM Happy Feet, 11:20AM Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, 1:10PM Paranormal Activity 2 3:10PM Open Water, 4:55PM Turistas, 6:40PM Bandslam, 9:00PM The Last Airbender, 11:15PM Rush Hour filmy
9:00AM Love in Nepal, 12:30PM Guru, 4:00PM Devdas, 8:00PM No Entry Sunday MAY 13
Dhobi Ghat STAR GOLD 12:00PM STAR MOVIES 8:26AM I Am Number Four, 10:40AM Home Alone 3, 12:45PM Ong Bak, 2:48PM Tom Yum Goong, 5:00PM Species II, 6:48PM Limitless, 11:29PM Speed, STAR gold 9:55AM Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii, 12:00PM Dhobi Ghat, 2:00PM Beta, 5:30PM Indian hbo 9:00AM Cats & Dogs, 10:50AM The Ant Bully, 12:50PM Rush Hour, 2:55PM The Last Airbender, 5:10PM Turistas, 6:55PM Next, 9:00PM Around The World In 80 Days, 11:35PM Speedy Singhs filmy 9:00AM Fire, 12:30PM Parichay, 4:00PM Mangal Pandey: The Rising, 8:00PM Vishwanath
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Dhobi Ghat (also known as Mumbai Diaries) is a 2010 Indian Hindi drama film directed by Kiran Rao in her directorial debut. The film stars Aamir Khan, Prateik Babbar, Monica Dogra, and Kriti Malhotra in the lead roles. The lives of four people intersect in Mumbai: a washer-man who wants to become an actor, a banker-turned-photographer, a painter looking for inspiration, and a newly-married immigrant who journals her experiences on home video.