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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Day 306 - Leave Me Alone!

'Leave Me Alone!'  Yes, this is precisely what the kid whom I saw at the children's play park the other day, would have wanted to tell his dad!

After a long time I went to the children's park with my sons this weekend and was witness to an interesting, but horrible, incident.  A handsome little boy, surely not more than 5 years old, was being pushed to the extreme by a moronic chaperon!  I assume the moron was the kid's father; though he looked more like a grand-father.  Presumably, the kid was there to have a good time and play in the park as he deemed fit / enjoyable.  However, the moron would have none of it.  He was constantly urging the child to keep running faster than the other kids, go higher than the other kids on the climbing rope nets and do the highest number of slides.  The man was cursing the child if the 'effort' was not upto his expectations.  The boy was very chubby but not obese or lethargic at all.  The moron was probably trying get the child a six pack by the time they got off the park.  And no marks for guessing what the child was feeling.  He was irritated by the constant chat and rebuke and was trying to take out all that frustration on the other kids in the park.

Welcome to the modern urban India!  A land where ambitious modern-day parents in cities are pushing their kids to achieve impossible feats with dangerous results.  Fourteen-year-old Biswadeep Bhattacharya's father wanted to see his promising son become a world champion in Table Tennis. He forced his son to to practise without any rest.  Biswadeep was ranked among the top four table tennis players in the sub-junior category in West Bengal.  Gruelling long practice sessions, merciless thrashings for small mistakes or a poor performance was Biswadeep's order of the day. Unable to take this much pressure, one day he suffered a cardiac arrest!  Everyday such children are living under stress to prove themselves. Interestingly, this is true not just in studies, but also in curricular activities or sports.  There are a number of chillingly true examples of children committing crimes in order to continue to prove themselves or even committing suicides when unable to live upto the expectations.  There is no doubt that this is a dangerous trend.

In 2006, a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, only confirmed this.  In India, China and Japan, a majority of the respondents said children are under too much pressure from parents.  Interestingly, this was a mirror image of what the respondents had to say in the United States of America.

Apparently, this is so in the Asian countries, and especially in India, because the parents want their children to gun for and achieve all of their unfulfilled aspirations.  Every parent wants his ward to be better than him.  Moreover, the sheer scale of the populace itself drives parents to unnatural levels of competition. 

So what should one do in this competitive age, so that the creative and impressionable mind of the child is not burdened?  I think it is important to teach the child acceptance over and above the drive to excel.  Parents should train their children to accept failure and success equally as a part of their life.  I must say, this is not easy and will not come naturally to many.  At least not to me.  The other day I was shown Suryanksh's mid-term report card (I am amazed that they have one for Junior KG!) where he was marked 'Very Good' in one of the parameters and not 'Excellent'.  I distinctly remember feeling disappointed about that!  And not happy that, he was very good at something!  This is exactly what we as parents need to address as well.  There is no point teaching the child the principle of acceptance when you are going to be after his / her life to live upto your expectations!

The bottom line is: We need to take care of our future generations, so that they are capable of taking care of themselves in the future.  And running around the children's park with a whip is no way to do that.

Take care.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Day 302 - Cultural Terrorism

I am probably inviting trouble by writing this.  Nevertheless, I think this is important.

Over the last few weeks there has been news of a piece of literature - Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey - being banned from the course syllabus of the Mumbai University.  This was in response to the student demonstrations led by Aditya Thackeray, the grandson of Shiv Sena founder, the original tiger!  The demonstrations and the burning of the book were conducted because Thackeray and his supporters feel that the book contains an unfair portrayal of the party.  I haven't read the book but it is widely reported that in the book Shiv Sena is portrayed as a party that uses violent tactics; hiring goons to roughen up opponents.  I am not sure if any of the protesters themselves have indeed read the book.  Interestingly, this incident happens around the same time when Aditya Thackeray is announced as the head of the youth wing of the party.  Very interesting, but very obvious!


Courting Controversy - Such A Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry

The university authorities did not waste any time in banning the book fearing trouble.  This is cultural terrorism.  It is an affront to the basic human right of freedom of speech that every individual in this world is entitled to.  Culture being used as a spring board to promote fascism and insinuating beliefs is not new.  The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas comes to my mind as a good example.  Taliban destroyed the two colossal statues of Buddha carved into the sandstone cliffs of Bamiyan, in Afghanistan, in March 2001.  Burning a piece of literature and getting it banned from the university syllabus is no different.  Protesting about the contents of a novel which one might find objectionable is understandable and very acceptable, but, using the fear of violence to get it banned is indeed terrorism.

Salman Rushdie and the fatwa issued against him by Khomeini years ago for his book, The Satanic Verses, is another case in point.  The fatwa still stands to this day.  The other glaring example is of M F Hussain, also called the Picasso of India by some, who lives in self-imposed exile in Qatar.  Someone who should be celebrated and feted across the country for his body of work, finds himself exiled from his own land due to fear of violence.  One might argue that a lot of his artwork might be sensationalist in order to stay in the news, create controversies and this add to the legend (and of course the market price of his paintings).  However, I see it as artistic freedom.  Art and literature are creative pursuits and trying to confine them to certain norms and an acceptable framework of artistic expression, would result in only killing the creativity. 

I believe, culture should define us and not the other way around. 

Take care.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Day 291 - The Masterclass

21 years.  This masterclass has now been in session for 21 years. And this post is about the 'Master Blaster'.  A perfect role model for many thousands of young people seeking their destiny in this populous nation. 

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar's genius has been in session for 21 years.  Right from 1989, when as a 16 year old, he blasted 28 runs off an Abdul Qadir over in an exhibition match in Peshawar; till earlier this week, when he scored his 49th test century, a sublime 214, a lot has been written about this man and his cricketing talents.  I will, hence, not try to repeat all that (though it might just be worth it) and just stick to my take on Sachin. 



The one word that comes to mind when one thinks about Sachin is consistency.  One can argue that he had this phase of a couple of years, when according to his own high standards, he was scoring below par.  He was also dogged by injuries.  In fact, the pundits opined that his batting prowess had declined, his career had slid permanently and the end was nearing.  However, nobody could have imagined the kind of purple patch that he is in right now.  They call it the 'second wind'.  Some tacky Hindi commentator even compared it to the flame that burns its brightest just before it gets extinguished!  Whatever it is, I am loving it!

As an ardent fan, I have seen it all.  The pounding that Abdul Qadir got in the exhibition match, the bloody nose in Pakistan, the nearly missed century in New Zealand, the series of run-a-ball (or better) innings, the 'Sholay-like' friendship with Vinod Kambli, the opening slot in ODIs, the 'Don' himself wanting to meet him, the sand-storm inning in Sharjah, or for that matter the one after that; the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the Arjuna Award, the Padma Shri and the Padma Vibhushan, the Mike Deniss episode, and more recently the Symonds one, the misfit captain, the injuries (tennis elbow being the main culprit; and I was actually thinking all the while that he plays cricket!), the apparent loss of form, the abstention of an international 20-20 career, the second wind, the wax statue at Madame Tussuad's, scoring a double century in ODIs, highest number of centuries in ODIs and test matches, highest number of runs in ODIs and tests, almost leading the Mumbai Indians to the winners trophy in IPL 3, scoring the most number of runs in IPL 3, in spite of not playing the format internationally. Phew! I have just skimmed through the surface.  Imagine, there is more to come.

To me, for the last 21 years, Indian cricket has meant Tendulkar.  And when he is dismissed, the hopes of a whole nation sink, the stadiums go quieter or just empty up and a million television sets are switched off.  When he does well, the whole nation is in a cheerful mood, the stock market is on the upswing (a recent research paper correlated Sachin's performances to the stock markets' performance!).  He has handled such intense scrutiny, pressure and criticism amazingly well. 

However, the best thing about him is, he still is very down to earth and retains his middle class grounding.  Here is the proof.

Take a bow, Sachin!

Take care.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Day 284 - A Magical Week!

One shoots bullets from his fingers, the other caresses cricket balls with his magic wand.  Both are big blockbuster hits this week!

I am just back from watching the Tamil film 'Enthiran' starring Rajinikanth, the ultimate crowd-puller!  Crowd puller he definitely is, not only in India both elsewhere as well.  For instance, he is extremely popular in Japan, of all places!  Coming back to the film itself; it is a special effects extravaganza which keeps you engaged for a little more than 3 hours!  I can safely say that I haven't really seen anything like this in Indian cinema before.  No wonder it is the costliest Indian film ever made, at Rs. 150 crores.  And Rajini, the superstar, does pull in his worth at Rs.45 crores.  Skipped a beat?  Yes, that is exactly how much Rajini was paid for Enthiran, to play the double role of a scientist and a humanoid robot created by himself.  The story itself is very predictable.  However, in my view, the film is doing roaring business (Rs.117 crores in box office collections) because of the following:

1) The Rajini charisma.
2) Superb special effects; probably the best ever seen in Indian cinema.  The last 30 minutes of the film is especially terrific!
3) A stunning Aishwarya Rai; I do not like her much, but in this film she looks fabulous!

All in all, the film does live up to its hype.  Rajini, at the age of 60, is stunning, to say the least. By the way, he is probably the only superstar who has no qualms being himself and being seen with his bald head in real life.  Hats off to Thalaivar!
The Rajini Magic.
The other blockbuster hit this week was India's nail biting, edge of the seat winning effort against Australia in the first test match at Mohali.  Kudos to the magician from Hyderabad.  The man with the most unique initials in the cricketing world is truly Very Very Special.  VVS Laxman played tormentor to the Aussies yet again with his almost run a ball effort which won India the match.  Never one to play the ball under his nose, he used his bat like a wand; scoring runs effortlessly all over the ground, when wickets were falling at the other end.  India at 8 wickets down and still more than 100 runs to get for a win, were a goner.  I had switched off the television at this point of time as well.  3 hours later, I was pleasantly surprised to be informed that Laxman and Ishant Sharma were still at the crease and India were inching towards a victory.  Ishant Sharma scored 31 sterling runs and his effort was equally important as Laxman's.

Laxman, Ishant and the rest of the victorious Indian team celebrate the win.
With the gutsy fightback and holding their nerves during the last few moments, India showed the Aussies why they are ranked the number 1 test team in the world by ICC.  I hope they stay there for a long time.

By the way, the opening ceremony of the CWG games was a huge success!  Some respite from the constant torrent of bad news related to the organisation of the event in Delhi.  And what's more, looks like the Indian contingent is winning medals galore, a lot of them golds. 

Hope we continue to do well and erase the bad memories in the run up to these games.

Take care.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Day 277 - Happy Birthday.....Almost!

As promised in my last post, this post covers all that happened on my birthday, which was on September 30th.  The fact that a lot of my friends were looking out for this post and in fact, asked for it, makes me assume that there is a demand for this out there.  So here goes.

Birthdays are special and so was this one.  Birthdays are also days when you realise that you have reached another milestone in your finite lifetime on this planet.  Another year gone, and hopefully a few more to go.  A few more to look forward to.  One invariably tends to veer towards thinking about what has been achieved till this day and what is in store for the next few years, at the least. 

However, this time around I had little time to do any of the above because, as fate (and the Supreme Court) would have it, this was the day when the Allahabad High Court was to deliver the much awaited judgement on the land title dispute for what is known as 'Ram Janmabhoomi'.  Given the sensitivity of the matter, there was a high alert in the entire country to prevent any ignition of violent acts due to religious fervour.  Most of evening on September 29th was spent in planning for the continuity of operations at work for various worst case scenarios.

Thursday, September 30, was a day when the whole country waited with bated breath for the verdict.  This was the single most talked about subject wherever one went.  However, for me the day started of early with surprises!  At the stroke of midnight, Priya sprang a surprise; an impromptu party, complete with cutting a small chocolate truffle cake!  The kids and the neighbours were co-conspirators!  Priya gave me a collage of the kids' pictures as a birthday gift. Wow!

Is this cake for me!?!

The Midnight Party!
Another surprise awaited me about 5 hours later, when my Dad called me to let me know that Mom had just boarded the flight to Mumbai for a surprise visit! So the first thing that I did on my birthday was to drive to the airport to receive her.

At work, there was one more surprise awaiting me.  Vikas and the entire team sang the Happy Birthday song as soon as I walked into my office!  I was floored.  Thankfully there were no birthday bums!

It is a great feeling when someone wishes you.  Even more so, when you get that phone call or note from friends with whom you have lost contact over the years.  Throughout the day, the wishes kept trickling in through various means!  Text messages, emails, wall posts on Facebook; it was all happening.  We are living in an age of information overload and instant connectivity and I truly saw its impact on this day.  For a while I was trying to reply instantaneously to everyone who was wishing me.  However, I was fighting a losing battle.  After a while, it was such a deluge, I just gave up.  I was able to wade through all the messages only by the next day. 

Also, I also took possession of my new apartment on Thursday in the morning.  The outcome of the verdict was known by 4.30 in the afternoon.  Thankfully, there were no violent reactions to the verdict, which agreed that the disputed place was Ram's birthplace, however, divided the title of the land into 3 parts.  Given that the country had accepted the verdict with maturity, I decided to venture out with the family and treat Priya, Mom and the kids to a pizza party in the evening at Papa John's.  The kids had been wanting me to take them there for ages.  The only sad note to my 'happy' birthday was known the next day morning. My mother lost her ring, most probably, the previous evening.  Frantic searches did not yield any positive results.

So, it was a day of surprises for me.  An action packed day with little time for introspection.  However I did re-dedicate myself to some of the goals that I had set at the beginning of the year.  I have been a little naughty with some of them, but nothing serious!  Should be back on track in a few weeks.  More on that later. 

Take care!