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Better together Don’t impose Hindi
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Playing communal
politics
Practising plurals
CINEMA: NEW Releases
Oh, that lovin’ feeling Heady aroma Compulsive thriller
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Don’t impose Hindi Languages
not only help the human race communicate, they also become powerful tools of political control and intellectual manipulation. The linguistic reorganisation of sates in 1956 and the subsequent Official Languages Act, 1963, put the status of Hindi in a peculiar state wherein the national language of India could not be imposed on states where it was not the spoken language of the masses. Therefore, communication between the Centre and such states could be done only in English. This strange preference for English over Hindi has fuelled a perpetual battle between the vernacular and the lingua franca. India must be among the very few countries where its native languages continue to be treated as vernacular long after Independence. Etymologically, negative connotations are attached to 'vernacular,' as an inferior language of the slaves and hence subservient to the lingua franca, which for Indians continues to be English. In this backdrop, under attack from political parties of the southern states, the UGC (University Grants Commission) has decided to withdraw its controversial circular directing universities to teach Hindi as one of the primary languages in undergraduate courses. Our fixation with English has influenced our education system and our thinking processes, thereby making us underrate the cultural richness of our own languages. Unabashedly we call Kalidasa to be the Shakespeare of India and Sumitranandan Pant to be our own Wordsworth! Each language is a repository of its unique cultural journey, and should be treated accordingly. It is sad if Indians learn Hindi through Bollywood movies, which does not reflect even an iota of the literary richness of the language. An entire generation of young Jews learnt Hebrew from the school books of their children, not out of a political compulsion but to know their roots. A Bollywood star ran away from home at 16 to become a model because her parents forced her to study. After achieving stardom, she became a voracious reader. The UGC should learn a lesson from her story. Stop imposing it and people will come around.
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Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.
— Timothy Leary, an American psychologist and writer
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The Punjab Imperial Fund THE Punjab Government has stated more than once and quite distinctly that contributions in aid of this fund should be absolutely voluntary and that men of small means should rather be discouraged from subscribing anything. That being so, there is no mistaking the attitude of the several District Committees appointed for making collections. It is, however, possible that here and there some individuals have been over-zealous. It is equally possible that some have over-stepped their limits. If so, it is a matter which can be easily remedied by the strong and representative committee at the headquarters which is worthily presided over by our Chief Justice. But it appears there are persons who have their own axes to grind and they may take advantage of this to misrepresent to officials the attitude of both the District Committees and of the people generally, describing the latter as one of indifference.
Mischievous rumours about war INSPITE of the many endeavours made to supply correct news of the war, it is reported that mischievous rumours are circulated in the villages and small towns concerning the war details. These rumours are naturally the outcome of the imagination of some village Babu who has probably read distorted versions in certain English or Vernacular papers. As 90 per cent of the people are wholly illiterate, they naturally depend upon the literate few for war news. The danger of a siege of Paris, and the abandonment of Brussels being translated as dangers affecting "Rajdhani Sahr," the local men interpreted the news as affecting London itself which is the "Rajdhani Sahr" to them. Hence rumours of German siege of London which is absurd.
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Playing communal
politics
In
the recently held by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, the BJP and its Parivar went all out in resorting to communal propaganda. Heading the list of the BJP propagandists was its president Amit Shah himself. Addressing a meeting in the communally explosive Muzaffarnagar in April, Amit Shah said that in the forthcoming byelections, the Hindu communities viz, Gujjars, Rajputs and Dalits should take revenge against all those who killed people of their communities. At the instance of the Election Commission, the state police registered a case under Section 153 of the IPC against Amit Shah and submitted a charge sheet against him. The charge sheet was returned by the Magistrate for alleged procedural irregularities. The police are now preparing to resubmit the charge sheet after taking care of the lacunae. BJP office-bearers like Laxmikant Bajpai, UP party president, and Sangeet Som, a party MLA, spoke of love jihad and the alleged increase in incidents of eve-teasing. They also alleged that cow slaughter was on the increase and, therefore, should be kept under check in view of the coming Bakra Eid festival. More than any of these rabble-rousers, it was the Gorakhpur BJP MP, Yogi Adityanath, who made even more serious and communally disturbing speeches. Yogi Adityanath said that where Muslims accounted for 10-20 per cent of the population, communal incidents took place and where Muslims accounted for more than 30 per cent, there was no place for non-Muslims. Yogi Adityanath was refused permission by the Lucknow police to hold a rally, but he defied the police and mounted a truck along with state BJP president Laxmikant Bajpai and drove through the streets making speeches. The police did not try to prevent him physically since they apprehended a serious law and order situation. However, they are now launching prosecution against Yogi Adityanath. Being politically short-sighted, the BJP president did not restrain himself, leave aside restraining others from indulging in blatant communal propaganda and hatred against the minority community. Raj Mohan Gandhi, a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and a Professor in an American university, has come out with an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure peace in the potentially explosive Hindi heartland. Raj Mohan Gandhi has stated that the present political and communal atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh reminded him of the undivided Punjab in 1947 which witnessed horrendous communal riots. He recalled the massacre of Muslims in Garhmukteshwar, not far from Meerut and Moradabad, in 1946. He appealed to the Prime Minister to restrain his party men and ensure safety of 40 million Muslims in UP, who seem to face an imminent danger because of vicious communal propaganda let loose by the BJP and its allied organisations. The VHP has come out with a programme of action to check cow slaughter during Bakra Eid festival in October. It announced its intention to set up chowkies and deploy flying squads to check the transportation of cows. On September 13 the byelections for 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine seats in Gujarat and four in Rajasthan were held. The results have shown that communal election propaganda and the spreading of hatred do not really help in political life, much less in elections and byelections. The byelection results show that the BJP has suffered a setback in all states where the byelections were held. In Uttar Pradesh the BJP secured three, while the Samajwadi Party took away the remaining eight. This happen in a state where only a few months back Amit Shah, the BJP president, had worked out a very successful contest in the Lok Sabha elections by securing 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav rightly commented that the people of Uttar Pradesh had turned their faces against communalism. In Rajasthan, which has a charismatic BJP Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, the party could gain only one seat, conceding the remaining to the Congress party. More than any other state, it was Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, which brought disappointment to the BJP and the PM himself with the party retaining only six of the nine seats, while the Congress took the remaining three. That this should happen when the state has a BJP Chief Minister, not to speak of the Prime Minister himself, clearly highlighted the declining popularity of the BJP. Commentators across the country have put their fingers on the issue on which the BJP erred, which resulted in such a setback in the byelections. The people of the country look up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a harbinger of peace, progress and development. When his own party leaders resorted to communal and divisive propaganda, the people taught them a lesson by choosing candidates put up by secular parties like the Samajwadi Party and the Congress. It is hoped that the BJP and its allied organisations would draw the correct lessons from the results of the byelections in the states and avoid such divisive politics henceforth. The BJP leadership should have by now realised that blatant communalisation of electoral politics does not really pay. People recall the Independence Day speech of Prime Minister Modi from the rampart of the Red Fort on August 15, when he spoke of “Sab ke saath, Sab ka vikas”. Also he called for a 10-year moratorium on caste and communal strife in the country. It is, therefore, essential for PM Modi to ensure that his words are honoured by his own party down the line.
The writer is a former Governor of Uttar Pradesh
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Practising plurals “You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice, 1. The equipment, software and furniture in the language lab are a recent purchase. Words like “equipment, software” and “furniture” fall in the category of uncountable nouns which don’t have a plural form. But with certain expressions, they can become countable, as in “a piece of equipment/ software” and “two pieces/ two items of furniture”. “Information, advice, news” and “chewing gum”, all belong here. 2. The data is insufficient for the study. “Data”, the plural form of “datum”, has also come to serve well as a singular noun, having more or less replaced “datum”. “Data” is widely accepted in its singular form in scientific contexts. English, in fact, has several loanwords from Latin like “datum” and “medium” but their plural forms, “data” and “media”, have grown in acceptability as singular nouns too. Therefore we regularly read sentences like “The media have covered the trial well” and also “The Internet is an exciting media”. 3. Julia has written a guide to manners and etiquette. The two often go together but “etiquette” as an uncountable noun does not take the -s ending, whereas “manners”, reflecting social behaviour, always does. However, when a reference is made to the “manner” of doing something, “manner” can be used as a singular (manner) and a plural (manners). Many other words use or drop the -s ending depending upon their meaning. When “brain” stands for the organ, it can occur with or without the -s ending to indicate its number but it always occurs with the -s ending to denote intellect. 4. A few major generals were
promoted recently. Nouns such as “major general”, which have two or more base words in the compounds, can follow different rules of pluralization. In “major generals”, the first base word “major” modifies the second base word and therefore gets to carry the -s ending. Just as in “baby sitters”, “sitter” becomes the key noun and is pluralized. The first element of “son-in-law” takes the plural element to read as “sons-in-law” because “son” has a greater meaning value in the compound noun. The same rule applies to “commanders-in-chief, rights-of-way” and “passers-by”. Not all nouns are rule-governed in the way they are pluralized. Numerous nouns defy logic in forming plurals and have to be learnt consciously and practised over a period
of time.
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CINEMA: NEW Releases
Without a doubt, he is the perfect prince charming who can sweep any girl off her feet. Three cheers to that. But the reall cheerful news is Fawad is not the only reason why you should see the film. The fairytale romance with just the right tadka of royalty has a lot going for it. Even though the over-the-top Milli (Sonam Kapoor), widely touted as royal misfit in the promos, runs the danger of turning loud, even screechy, every now and then. But with a fair degree of directorial restraint and whole lot of effortless effort on Sonam's part, this Mili manages to be an aafat alright, but a delightful one.
Sure it's a trifle hard to digest why a physiotherapist, a star doctor, who treats no less that an IPL team, would behave in such a cheeky, if not outright, impudent manner. Blame it on her Punjabi genes, actually her mother Manju (Kirron Kher) whom she calls by first name. Blasphemous…but as you get used to her 'in your face' mannerisms and boisterous ways, you begin to warm up to her, just as the royal household does. So, you are dewy eyed when she kisses the prince in an inebriated state and ache with her when she is recovering from heartbreak. All the more for this liltingly haunting song Jo Mein Jaanti Preet Kare Dukh Hove plays in the background. Music director Sneha Khanwalkar's unconventional beats, also evident in the song Naina Nu Pata Hai, pluck the right heartstrings. Indeed, in a mushy love story with heart, nay all the hearts, even those that belong to the raja and rani, in the right places all is well that ends well. Refreshingly, when it does, it leaves behind a heart-warming, even if a little overwhelming, feeling. Actually clocking under two hours, the film has a breezy 'feel good' tenor that is dramatic without being melodramatic. Comic punches, especially those delivered by the feisty Punjabi maa Kher (never mind that she is repeating herself for the nth time) hit home. Ratna Pathak Shah provides an interesting contrast. As the stern autocratic Rani Sa, she is suitably nuanced. Though theatre thespian Amir Raza Husain as the wheelchair bound Raja who finds his feet thanks to Milli could have been used better. But of course, in a romantic tale all that matters is the chemistry between the lead pair. And this chalk and cheese couple, where the prince is immaculately dressed and Milli rather outlandishly, surprisingly sparks fly and the chemistry is spot on. Everything else may not fit in. But hey, in a story which is a fantasy every girl would love to live, who cares about finer details. The big picture looks happy and pretty… reason enough for die-hard romantics to rush in. As for the wise, sensible ones who believe 'fools rush where angels fear to tread', well, a little bit of foolhardy sentiments, dollops of fun and frolic won't hurt at all. And lest the other set of curious cats take offence, here is the answer to their million dollar question — how does the film fare on the remake meter? Certainly, this is not a frame by frame faithful adaptation of the original Rekha starrer Khoobsurat and comes laced with a stronger potion of love. So, it would be best not to compare. Instead, go ahead join the chorus 'long live the romantics.'
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Heady aroma
It's a well-timed, vibrantly acted, intelligently plotted saliva-inducing entertainer and has the music to add soul to the garnish. A well-educated Hyderabadi, Gulrez Qadir (Parineeti), a shoe saleswoman, is quite fed-up with the kind of offers she was getting in the guise of marriage proposals — everyone of them demanding more dowry than what her father, a court clerk, could afford. The timely coverage of the Raja-Radha Reddy 498A dowry harassment judgment going in favour of the wife decides her future course.
Among them is Haider, who owns and manages a flourishing restaurant in the centre of the city. He obviously appears to be the most appetising bali-ka-bakra (victim) with loads of cash and willingness to demand a sizeable dowry. The manner in which Habib Faisal fashions his narrative, there's no room for any slackening of the excitement. The steady build-up of strong engaging moments and gradual awakening of the romance heightens the enjoyment. With delicious food playing an integral role here, there's plenty of spice in this cinematic culinary treat. The script is well structured and the dialogues are pretty much befitting to the milieu and the tale. Even the accents are economically rendered. The real magic comes from the perfect mixing of the rich and varied ingredients. The music is terrific to say the least and the performances perfectly primed. Parineeti Chopra's effervescent charm and chutzpah make Gulrez imminently believable while Aditya Roy Kapoor's sanguine likeableness provides an amiable buffer for the heightening of the excitement. Add to that Anupam Kher's harried to gamey father and the romantic broth gets all the more appealing. The enticement of a strong social message against dowry harassment, done with subtlety and candour makes the enticement richer. The eventual experience is therefore strong on aromas, rich to taste. Go, get a stomach full!
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Compulsive thriller
The youths too have been well-etched. There's chubby Chuck (Blake Cooper), chinky Minha (Ki Hong Li), an argumentative Gally (Will Poulter), who later on tries to split the group. And like how God created woman, there suddenly appears Teresa (Kaya Scolebaba) who appears to have a past connection with Thomas or is it just sprinkling suspicion like mustard? But unlike most of today's films The Maze Runner does not peter-off in the last quarter. On the contrary, the narrative is gripping right to the very end. Director Wes Ball makes the most of Enrique Chedick's caressing camerawork and terse editing by Dan Zimmerman and of course competent performances by a set of youngsters, especially Dylan O'Brien in the lead role and Blake Cooper. Kaya Scolebana is merely decorative in this not-to-be-missed thriller.
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Besides
A
movie that focuses on food to do the trick for love is a rare commodity
in formulaic mainstream Bollywood. So when Yashraj Films and Habib
Faisal announced this Parineeti-Aditya starrer, many an appetite was
whetted. The film looked promising and sustained promotions added much
spice to the foodie bouquet. The eventual product, Daawat-E-Ishq, manages
to live up to most expectations of the gastronomic kind as well as the
cinematic.
They are inside a
high-walled concrete structure and from time to time, the walls keep
closing in on those trying to escape, crushing them to death. In this
maze lurks a Griever, a deadly spider-like creature meant to feed on
humans. It is a strange new world graphically recreated and designed
to send a shiver down many a spine. What's more, the brilliant
screenplay is imbued with 'what's next' appeal and it unfurls like
peeling the layers of an onion.