Fate

What’s common between Aruna Shanbaug, Danielle Lierow, James Bulger, Junko Furuta, and Jyothi Singh Pandey (more commonly known as Nirbhaya)?

We all know what happened to them, but we don’t know why it happened to them. Maybe in the case of Jyothi, we can probe her rapists, feature them in documentaries, and get their chauvinistic reasons for committing such a cold-blooded crime. That probe, though, would never answer why it was Jyothi who met such a fate. In all probability, the rapists would have done the same if it were some other girl in Jyothi’s place that unfortunate day.

When you start asking questions like “Why did Jyothi choose to watch the movie on that particular day?” “Why did Jyothi choose a late night show?” “Why did they not wait for a different vehicle?” you would eventually hit this one enigmatic roadblock called fate.

There’s no reason apart from fate that can explain why Jyothi particularly was the victim. And similarly, why Shanbaug or Furuta or Bulger or Lierow were/are victims. Out of the five people listed, only Lierow and Shanbaug are alive today. Lierow survives today, albeit without the necessary development in her thinking faculty, which makes her much different from kids of her age. She’s a 5 year old kid trapped in a 14 year old’s body, thanks to the grave injustice her mother caused by just being negligent and unconcerned of her baby.

While Lierow at least survives today, Shanbaug just exists. Sadly, Shanbaug has been just existing for the past 42 years.

So, on one hand, we have a kid who couldn’t reach the peak of human creativity and potential, and on the other, a 66 year old lady who could have served mankind in more ways than one (Shanbaug was a nurse), if not for fate.

Contemplation of the concept called fate opens up a discussion about karma. While karma is a very convenient excuse for explaining why something happens to someone, it again leads to a multitude of uncomfortable questions. According to karma, what goes around comes back around. If we believe that the perpetrators of a heinous crime will someday or the other experience the same magnitude of pain they inflicted, we should also be ready to accept arguments that the victim became a victim because he/she was a perpetrator some time.

Let me explain this with an example. In India, we have elders who threaten kids that if they (kids) kill an insect, they’d be born as the same insect in their next birth and the insect would be born as the person and exact revenge through a reversal of roles. This kind of a threat is certainly said with good intentions. After all, kids should learn to not harm insects, they must realise that insects are living beings that can feel pain too. But using this threat of karma can backfire massively. What if some super-smart kid asks, “Why can’t it be that I was this insect in my previous birth and the insect was the human being who killed me in that birth? Why can’t we consider that our roles have reversed now and I’m exacting revenge for the wrong that happened to me?”

These are for sure very valid questions. Karma is like the circus thuppaakki that Kamal Hassan wields in Aboorva Sagodharargal. It can shoot forward; it can also shoot backward.

I don’t even want to talk about the kind of backlash and rebuke someone would face if they insisted that Jyothi Singh Pandey had wronged someone in the past and that’s why she suffered such a horrific end. And admonishment in that case is undoubtedly valid because of the argument’s sheer ridiculousness and absurdity.

We can avoid such uncomfortable questions and stances by avoiding the argument of karma. Moreover, we don’t even know certainly if rebirth is true. You can choose to believe in it based on the accounts of people who regressed into their past lives and recalled perfect details from those lives. But those are rare instances. Rational, practical thinking requires evidence for belief.

Therefore, it’s good to treat fate as a stand-alone entity that’s as intriguing as our very existence is.

In the midst of such perplexing arguments, one school of thought says man is capable of controlling fate, and another says that it’s definitely fate that controls man’s life.

I personally don’t know which of these is true, for I’ve been in situations where I’ve felt in control throughout and in others where control was just a bunch of sour grapes, and I, the aspiring fox.

In reality, I believe life is a mix of both scenarios. There are some things that we can control and some things that we can’t. For instance, wearing a helmet whenever we ride motorbikes/wearing the seatbelt whenever we drive cars is an action that’s under our control. We can choose to perform or not to perform that action. However, wearing a helmet alone does not guarantee a shield from death, for there have been cases where those wearing helmets have succumbed in accidents and those who did not were saved miraculously. Those are the things that are beyond our control. But still, wearing a helmet is a good practice because it’s been statistically and rationally proven that helmets minimize the risk of death during accidents, if not eliminate it.

So, that’s how fate is. Mysterious. We can try our best to manipulate life the way we want, but what has to happen will happen, no matter how hard we try to avoid its occurrence.

What we can further do is ensure that we truly exercise our control over those things that we can control and count our blessings regarding those things that are beyond our control. No amount of worrying, complaining, or whining can influence fate in your favour. Fate seems to have a mind of its own.

Unfortunately, Furuta, Jyothi, Bulger, Shanbaug, and Lierow are some victims of fate.

But people like Malvika Iyer are victors of fate. 

'NCC Mindset' - Inflicting Unnecessary Pain

There's this particular type of mindset that I'd like to classify as 'NCC mindset'. I chose to name it that because it's mostly found among NCC cadets in colleges. When in their first year, their seniors make them perform extremely physically exhausting activities in the name of 'punishment'. These junior cadets know how it hurts and how pointless and unnecessary such punishments are sometimes. They feel pain at that moment. They feel the same pain for at least one full year.

Come second year, these guys become senior cadets, and some new students join the NCC. Now, since these new 'seniors' know what punishment and pain is, do they refrain from inflicting it on their juniors? No. They don't. They continue the same 'tradition' of punishment. Ask them why, and they'd reply, "We suffered punishment from our seniors. Why should these guys have it easy?"

Seriously? Is that even a way to deal with people? And the funny thing is this is not even a 'tit for tat' kind of enmity. This is unwanted enmity, that just sows seeds of hatred in people. Sadly, this mindset is not prevalent just in NCC. It's found among most of us too. I've only used NCC as an analogy here.

We think, "I didn't have it easy. Why should someone else have it so?" and do things to make others' lives miserable. It's important to remember the saying "Treat others the way you'd want to be treated" at all times. That will prevent us from inflicting pain upon others.

No particular incident triggered this post. Just a thought. :)

Why It's Unfair to Ridicule the "I am Mukesh" Ad (A Translation)

I recently came across this wonderful status update by a Tamilian who's very active on Facebook. Like the title of this post suggests, it was about how people mock at the Late Mukesh Harane when he's shown in the ad and how it's completely unfair and insensitive. I agree with his viewpoints. That's the reason I decided to translate the status update, which was in Tamil, into English.

Please find it below:

"Knowingly or unknowingly, the “I am Mukesh” ad has become the subject of humour and ridicule among people.

Even though Mukesh’s speech might make you laugh, it is the deathbed confession of a cancer patient. Though the voiceover (in Tamil) sounds similar to the funny ones you can find in Chinese movies dubbed into Tamil, the message the ad wants to put across is very much true.

Being someone who used to consume tobacco, marijuana, and liquor, I now keep talking about their ill-effects, on social media. Please try your best to spread cancer awareness among your dear ones.

If you can’t, at least try to not make a mockery of ads like the one mentioned, which are aimed at creating awareness.

Mukesh is certainly not a national hero. But he’d have agreed to record details of his hardships, just with the good intention that his death should be some kind of a lesson for others.

We should ask ourselves if it’s fair to mock at a deceased person for the noble message he wanted to convey. We can avoid becoming the next Mukesh if we heed the words of that poor soul.

Those who know how painful and low the voice of a person with throat or mouth cancer sounds will never mock at Mukesh’s confession.

One of my friends had recently gone to the cinema with her kids. It seems the audience clapped and jeered at the Mukesh ad when it was played. My friend told me that even her kids had a good laugh, saying, “Yay! Mukesh is dying.”

Let’s keep aside the issue of ignoring the awareness messages shared by a dying cancer patient. It is evident that it is we who are completely responsible for sowing the same attitude of ridiculing his deathbed confession, among children.

I have seen kind individuals who share “Let’s prevent cancer” messages to spread awareness, and those who voluntarily come to the aid of cancer patients. Our ridicule of the Mukesh ad might also lead to the danger of others’ ridiculing the service of these kind people.

I myself have referenced cancer-based movie comedy scenes during conversations with my friends, in the past.

But it’s when my mother suffered from cancer that I realized it isn’t a matter of joke.

If you have to laugh (at the ad), laugh within yourself. You might be a gutsy person who isn’t afraid of death. But please avoid making jokes about Mukesh in the public space.

Just think of how a cancer patient would be able to stay casual if he/she were sitting next to you in the movie theatre and found themselves in a situation where the ad is ridiculed.

The ad is one reason I don’t even think of taking my mother to the cinemas. But my fear worsens when I think of whether she’ll be able to bear the mockery of the ad that happens in the theatre. I slightly feel shaken when I think whether this mockery would shatter all the motivation we have given to help her fight cancer.

This is my request to all the tomorrow’s Mukeshes who make fun of yesterday’s Mukesh: Please spare a thought about it.

If you cannot, just consider this as an “over-hyped, over-reactive” status update that is begging for likes.

A special salute to the deceased Mukesh. My special prayers for him for the noble thought to portray his sufferings as a lesson to others.

Thanks."

PS: This is my humble attempt at translating a post that I personally felt made perfect sense and was completely necessary. I have tried my best to not distort the actual message anywhere. But I might have gone wrong somewhere. Please feel free to bring it to my notice if you feel so. Will make the corrections required.

Links:
For the original post: https://www.facebook.com/umamaheshwaran.panneerselvam/posts/10201614246831423

Also, there's been a misconception among some people that Mukesh Harane is alive even now. However, I found through Google that he's indeed no more. Here's a news article that proves it: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dead-son-face-of-anticancer-fight-family-lives-in-penury/1049922/

And a majority of people hate the graphic images shown in the beginning of the ad. That's understandable. However, the government will soon replace the existing ads with a set of new ones. For more info: http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/new-anti-tobacco-audio-visuals-released-113100101180_1.html

Why We Need More Animated Movies

Anthropomorphic toys. Houses that fly with just the help of helium balloons. Rats that get under a cook’s toque and almost become a secondary brain. Cavemen using starfish to create makeshift footwear. You have seen them all and you will see more, thanks to animated movies.

Nineteen ninety-five is a landmark year in the history of animation. The first ever 3D animated movie of the world—Toy Story—released with great fanfare and managed to capture many a heart across the world. It wasn’t until 2010, the year the final part of the trilogy released, that I got to watch the movie, however. Since then I’d have watched the entire Toy Story trilogy at least 4-5 times.

It’s not just the treat to the eyes that makes me love animated movies. The messages they try to convey, the lessons they strive to teach, the efforts they take to remind “mankind” of “humanity”. Not many movies remind us of the ‘fun’ side and good things of life as much as animated movies do.

Woody and Buzz (Toy Story) taught me to not give up on friendship, no matter what situation one is in. Horton (Horton Hears a Who) taught me that everyone, irrespective of their size and status, deserves to be treated well. Guy (The Croods) taught me to follow light in order to progress in life and that change is not such a bad thing. Carl and Ellie (Up), in that little montage, showed me how married life is supposed to be. Hero Girl (The Polar Express) taught me the value of belief. Mumble (Happy Feet) showed that it’s ok for one to be different. Alex, Marty, Gloria, and Melman (Madagascar) showed me that people can be great friends despite their differences. Marlin (Finding Nemo) showed me what pure fatherly love is. Diego (Ice Age) taught me it's never too late to turn a new leaf and be a good person.

I can go on. I can keep talking endlessly about characters in animated movies and what I learnt from them.

Considering that the first ever 3D-animated movie came out in 1995, we can see that 3D animation is just a teenager. But a very responsible teenager who knows what’s right and wrong. One who understands life. One who values relationships more than materialistic pleasures. One who wishes good for all. One who continues to teach mankind of virtues. The teenager whom parents wish their kids would hopefully emulate. The ideal teenager.

I’m basically the kind of person who considers each movie a work of art. That way, animated movies easily top my list of favourite artworks. There’s so much to watch and enjoy. There’s so much to learn from them and apply in our lives.

Francis Pharcellus Church, in his famous “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” letter, writes:

“Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.”

Animated movies, again, are like the same Santa Claus. They make tolerable this existence. Their very existence and the lessons they teach can bring happiness to people's lives. We constantly praise animated movies for the ‘imagination’ and ‘creativity’ in them. I believe they deserve praise for their ‘life’ too.

Like I said, animated movies remind “mankind” of “humanity”.

So, yes. The world does need more animated movies.

Who Said Casteism is Dead?

I really don’t know how and where to start this post. Much has been spoken about this topic by many writers, but the casteist mindset of people is still prevalent even today.

The Internet, in general, and Twitter and Facebook, in particular, have shown me how even educated people still stick to their casteist identities strongly. Caste-based handles and bios on Twitter, Facebook display names displaying one’s caste so blatantly—it’s all there in the social media world.

While the people of the city themselves have such strong casteist tendencies, it’s not surprising to see the same among people in small towns. I got to witness this personally last month when I had gone to Mantralayam for a cousin’s wedding.

I was at the ‘sathram’ having my lunch. The caterer was sitting beside me and having some discussion with another person. The conversation was in Telugu. The translation is below.

Caterer: The uggaani-bajji and other items we make cost Rs. 75 per plate.

The other person: Whoa! Really? Why is it so costly, man? We get the same thing for a much cheaper price at roadside shops.

Caterer: That’s made by maadigas. So there’d be a difference.

T.O.P: Ah, yes. You are right.

I felt really bad on hearing that conversation. I’d have taken it as a valid response if the caterer had said that the hygiene levels are low in such roadside shops. But he didn’t. It was the vendors’ caste that seemed to bother him more.

I’ve heard a lot of my relatives use the words maadigoda or maadiga munda so frequently while cussing at someone. During my childhood, I used to think it was just a generic cussword like poRukki or poRamboakku. It was not until a couple of years ago that I realized it referred to the name of a caste. That too was when I had been to the Chennai High Court regarding an accident case in which a few friends from school and I were the victims. A vehicle with the name “AAI Associates” and “Proprietor: Madiga” on it was what opened my eyes. And the vehicle was that of manual scavengers who clean up the city’s sewer system—people who regularly get themselves dirty in order to clean up our impurities. I first giggled at the appropriateness of the name “AAI Associates” for a scavenging service, but realization dawned upon me when I got to know that all these years, I’ve been hearing people use the name of a particular caste to refer to someone as inferior.

And that changed the impression I had on many people I knew.

There’s another incident that I must talk about here. This happened in 2007, the year I stepped into college. One day, we had some other lecturer substituting for one of our regular ones. I’d heard that this lecturer knew the subject well, but he wasn’t going to teach us any of it. He suddenly started lecturing on the varna differences mentioned in the Manu Smriti and justifying that Brahmins are superior and people of the other three varnas, especially Shudhras, were inferior. His substantiation was a sloka from “Purusha Sooktam”.  He went ahead with the Brahmins came from the Purusha’s head and Shudhras came from His legs crap. I hadn’t known much about the intensity of casteism in our country back then, but one of my best friends from college, Suresh, put up an argument with him. The lecturer had no rational explanation for the claim he made, but kept parroting that “The holy scripture says so. Therefore, it’s true.”

That’s another occasion when I got to know of the cheapness of the so-called high caste people.

And keep in mind, this is not the 18^th or 19^th century. This is the effing 21^st century when people are envisioning a world without boundaries and trying to make “One world. One humanity.” a reality. It is, therefore, really saddening to see such people live amidst us even today.

It’s really funny when a Brahmin says “It’s very painful to be treated as a second-class citizen in one’s own country.” Those are exactly the moments when irony commits suicide and vows not to return ever.

Yes, it’s not just Brahmins who consider themselves superior. Yes, the aforementioned caterer was not a Brahmin himself, but he belonged to another so-called high caste. Therefore, everyone shares the blame equally. But Brahmins should never talk about being considered a second-class citizen.

They are the ones who created the spark. So they should never ever cry that it has turned into a wildfire and started burning them in return. In one word, karma.

Another argument that today’s Brahmins put forward is “This is something our forefathers did. How is it fair to make us suffer the consequences?”

Well, let’s take the example of the Bhopal gas tragedy. Over 5,00,000 people were affected by a major gas leak that happened in 1984 in a Union Carbide factory. Though the exact death toll is unclear, most sources say it must be somewhere between 15 and 16,000 in the initial few days. But the tragedy did affect more than 5 lakh people, as mentioned earlier.

It’s been close to three decades since this tragedy happened, but people still claim compensation from the main culprit, Union Carbide. If you remember well, we Indians outraged greatly when Union Carbide said it’d sponsor the London Olympics in 2012. Now why do we still demand compensation from UC even after nearly 30 years? Because the impact has been very huge.

This is not very different from the impact of casteism. Why do people so strongly support reservation? Because the negative impact of your “forefathers’” casteism is great and long-running. People are still affected by it. Reservation is the compensation for those people who were suppressed in the name of casteism. If the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy deserve compensation even after 30 years, don’t those who have been subjected to suppression for centuries together deserve it too?

Please be conscientious when you answer that question. Be objective.

I find it very painful when Brahmins say that they’re treated as second-class citizens in their own country. Just because they’re not being true to their conscience. 

Peace.

PS: You HAVE TO read the great Indian writer Mulk Raj Anand's "Untouchable" to really be able to gauge the kind of cruelty Brahmins and other high caste people perpetrated against the others. Do read. You won't regret it.

You Have Sight. Now Have a Vision.

What: Reading Sessions for Visually Challenged Students

When: All Sundays, from 10.30AM to 12.30PM

Where: PSBB,KK Nagar and Nungambakkam (annexe, near Vidyodaya School. NOT THE MAIN CAMPUS)

Why: Well, nature has given us the gift of eyesight, whereas some brothers and sisters are very unfortunate for not receiving the same. We can either carry on with our own lives or make it a bit worthwhile by investing a fraction of it in helping our friends achieve their ambitions.

What exactly you need to do: Just read out their lessons aloud for them. They are mostly Tamil/English literature students from various colleges in the city. [It's NOT compulsory to explain the lessons for them, but if you can, it'd be great.] Some students just follow the lessons, while some record them on tape. Some even take notes using Braille. Sometimes you might even be asked to write assignments for them.

What you gain: First and foremost, the satisfaction of helping people. There's no greater gain, IMO. Secondly, knowledge. You don't get to read for the same student every week. You'll be assigned to read out to a different student every week. Therefore, the chances of your gaining knowledge on different topics is very high.

What the procedure is: No procedure at all. Just walk into any of the two campuses on a Sunday morning (10.30) and tell them you're there for the reading session. The volunteers will tell you what you need to do, and allot a student.

Perks: You'll get a glass of tea and two biscuits around 11.30. :D And they also serve lunch for all after the session ends. Eating there or not is your personal choice. But trust me, the food tastes great. [This is how it used to be when I attended these sessions back in 2010. Hope it's the same now. Also, I've attended only the sessions at Nungambakkam. Never been to the KK Nagar campus. So I don't have an idea about the sessions there except the fact that they're held there as well.]

You'll get to know in what other ways you can be of help to these students once you attend a session. You can register your phone number with the organizers if you're willing to be a scribe, and they'd call you in case there's a need for scribes during exams. That's another great experience, I say. I had the opportunity of serving as a scribe once.

Well, I've summed up all the information required, I guess. Feel free to contact me if you have any other queries. Will be happy to oblige.

PS: The person who began this service has been doing it for more than 20 years. And I had the privilege of being a part of it for almost a year. I do miss these sessions a lot, and that's the reason I've been strongly insisting you guys at least to be a part of it.

The reading sessions have a break of 3-4 weeks when the students have their exams. You'll be informed of this beforehand if you attend the sessions regularly.

Also, there's a great demand for Tamil readers. So kindly attend the sessions if you can read Tamil well. தமிழ் இனி மெல்லச் சாகும் என்னும் கருத்தை உடைத்து, அச்செம்மொழியை வாழ வைப்போம்.

And do spread the word.

Service to man is service to God.

Cheers! :)

Why English Vinglish is a Must-Watch

My Twitter feed was filled with horrible rants last Saturday, thanks to the highly awful and one of the worst Telugu movies ever made - Repel, oops.. sorry, Rebel. But it took less than a week for balance to be restored, thanks to English Vinglish this time. I wasn't looking forward "eagerly" to watching EV, but I wasn't disinterested either. I went to the movie with a clean slate on my mind, and was glad in the end that it had written down a few important lessons for life.

It's a movie of how a normal housewife realizes her worth, and how she proves to people that she deserves respect too. Shashi, the lead character of the movie, knows she is talented. She is a brilliant cook and the ladoos she makes are in high demand throughout her city. But she feels bad when she doesn't get the recognition and support from where it's most expected - her family. Her English knowledge is limited, and her husband makes fun of it. So does her daughter.

However, things take a turn when she goes to the U.S. to help her sister out in organizing her (sister's) daughter's wedding. One bitter experience at a coffee shop makes her feel unwelcome at a foreign land due to her poor English, but she gathers courage and signs up for a course that assures English fluency in just 4 weeks. That's how her journey to a new land turns into a journey that transforms her life.

She is the most intelligent student in her class of seven, and everyone, including the instructor, start liking her instantly. The class, probably a tribute to/inspired by the one in "Mind Your Language" is filled with interesting people from different backgrounds.

I'm not going to give away any more of the movie's plot because I won't be doing justice to the screenplay no matter how hard I try to elegantly pen it down here. Seeing is believing.

The reason EV impressed me - and why I feel it's a must-watch - is that it's a glorious tale of feminism. Perhaps the essence of the movie lies in one particular dialogue of Shashi which means "I don't want love. I have enough of it. All I need is respect."

There are so many Shashis in the world. They might not be a part of the corporate world, they might not earn a hefty salary, but they're the most vital cog in the wheel of the family. In fact, the Ministry of Women and Child Development's recent proposal to make it mandatory for housewives to receive a certain amount of money from their husbands - for the regular work they do for the family - raised some important questions. Irrespective of whether this is a healthy move or not, there is no doubt that this proposal highlighted the fact that housewives' play a major but indirect role in the country's economy. In one way, they are unsung heroes too. EV touches upon this aspect. Housewives, if given the respect the deserve and the motivation they require, can do wonders.

The movie is filled with a lot of feel-good, as well as eye-opening moments. For some strange reason, I felt like I was watching a movie by Radha Mohan (the director of Mozhi, Payanam, Abhiyum Naanum and a few other Tamil movies) in the theatre. The characters are believable, and not just Sri Devi (whose character is inspired by the director's mother), all the other actors have a done a tremendous job too. Everyone can certainly feel proud of being a part of such a wonderful movie.

The dialogues are very witty and do pack a few heavy punches here and there. And if you're broad-minded and conscientious enough, you'll possibly feel guilty on hearing certain dialogues.

Unfortunately, EV comes with its own share of shortcomings too. One of those, and probably the most prominent one, would be the stereotyping of a few characters, especially the students: the Frenchman is a chef, the Tamilian is a software professional who is a self-proclaimed idli lover and Rajnikanth devotee, and the Pakistani is a cab driver. I believe we've seen a fair number of these portrayals in the media already. Gauri Shinde, the director, could have given a thought to this aspect.

Similarly, a friend of mine found the dialogue "The way you are surviving in India without knowing Hindi" objectionable. That's mainly because India is a multi-cultural country and Hindi is not the only language spoken here. But I guess the Tamil and Telugu versions of the movie might have different dialogues here. At least, I sincerely hope so.

But I believe these are just minor shortcomings, and do not affect the central theme of the movie in any way. As a movie that glorifies housewives and seeks to place them on an equal pedestal along with working men, EV strikes a chord with feminists, and strives to make people more broad-minded and considerate.


Trust me, EV is for sure a treat to watch. Watch it with an empty mind and come out of the theatre with one filled with insights on leading a happy familial life.

PS: It's heartening to see that the Tamil and Hindi film industries are coming up with many such thought-provoking cinemas of late, whereas the Telugu industry is still stuck with pointless and unbelievable heroism-based mass masala movies. Tollywood badly needs a reality check, and if it does not wish to undergo one, it can go fuck off.