Obamamania

"Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." — Presidential candidate George W. Bush, Oct. 18, 2000

"We have been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." — Presidential candidate Barack Obama, Jan 8, 2008

I don't know much about the Democratic party's ideology and whether or not Senator Obama, if elected, will be good or bad for India (most Indians seem to think he'll be bad). But he is easily the most compelling candidate, and personally I would like to see him win for just one (admittedly superficial) reason- the sheer quality of his speeches. Right from his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, he's been delivering one killer after another; a recent one inspired this music video which had close to 4 million views at last count. If hits were votes, I'm guessing he'll win. There's also an excellent article in Vanity Fair that tells Obama's remarkable story.

Whatever happens in the next 6 months, one thing is certain- with lines like the one above, he's a refreshing change from the Current Occupant, whose brave attempts at profundity might have inspired the likes of Jay Leno and David Letterman, but not too many others. And there are no music videos of him either. I checked.

Meet Jeet Thayil

I recently chanced upon one of Jeet Thayil's poems and subsequently managed to get a copy of his first collection titled English. It is a brilliant and lyrical set of poems, written in a refreshingly simple style. These are two of my personal favourites.

September 10, 2001

How much harder it is to speak
when I have spent the whole day silent.
I would like to stop someone,
leave my room in the evening
and stop someone, a man without hope,
or a woman bent double, as if she were
searching the sidewalk for gems
caught in the cracks, and I would tell her
that each of us walks with the same
impossible burden, knowing
that only the stars will last --
she will listen to me, hear what I say
and go on her way, bent over as before,
never looking up at the approaching sky.

How to Be a Leaf

Hold your breath until
you are God's green thoughts.
Stop eating,

air will suffice for food.
Water is another matter:
the skin absorbs moisture,

eyes adjust,
limbs grow inward.
Conjugate patience.

Worship women and trees.

Taare Zameen Par

I have always been somewhat suspicious of Aamir Khan; he's struck me as being too suave and media-savvy, and somehow obssessed with his image as a 'serious' artist. There's no doubt that he is both intelligent and articulate, a rare combination in Bollywood. But the way he's put those to use as a public figure has often been perplexing. While shunning the Indian Filmfare awards (because he believed they didn't operate on merit) he openly courted the Oscar for Lagaan, spending considerable time and money on the publicity campaign. In 2006 he was all over the news for sympathising with the Narmada Bachao Andolan; his involvement in the politically-sensitive protest movement eventually turned his god-awful Fanaa into a hit. More recently, he is alleged to have turned down an offer from Madame Tussauds to have him immortalised in wax, saying "it's not important to me, so i'm not interested"- or something to that effect.

If there's one thing I admire him for, however, it is for his ability to take on serious issues and package it to a mainstream Indian audience. Films with a social message are all well and good, but any kind of difference can only be made by altering public opinion, and filling up the cinema hall is not a bad way to start. He did it with Rang De Basanti, a film in which he was not the lone 'hero', but which nevertheless revolved around him and rode on his 'star with a conscience' status. And now, with his first film as director, he's done it again with Taare Zameen Par. The performance of the child actor is nothing short of brilliant, but a film on a topic such as this would normally be doomed to a few special screenings on the NGO circuit and a condescending 'special' award or two. Instead, it's one of the biggest hits of the year.

And he's clearly passionate. Although part of an ensemble cast in Rang De, Aamir was its most visible spokesperson; he toured extensively with the film across college campuses even as students, at the height of the frenzy, were tearing up American visas and pledging new-found allegiance to a suddenly-cool India. Now with Taare, Aamir has been busy organising screenings for high-profile ministers and such-like, propelling him to near-saint status. Sure, the cynics will say it's all a gimmick and every once in a while we will have to listen to some self-righteous spiel about his own sense of importance, but if the film ends up creating even a miniscule amount of awareness of -and difference to- our treatment of children and the abysmal state of our educational system, it would be a small price to pay.

For Mum and Dad

I write because of Aesop's fables and Panchantra and Ladybird books. Because of nursery rhymes and bed-time stories. Because of Chicken Little and Thomas the Tank Engine and Postman Pat (and his black-and-white-cat). Because of the subscriptions you took out to Tinkle and Champak and the small lending library down the hill -from where I got copies of the Hardy Boys Case Files with laminated covers which I took with me wherever I went, just to impress my friends. Because of all the Tintin and Asterix books that you bought me at exhorbitant prices. Because of Jemima Puddle-Duck and The Wind in the Willows and even the Archie comics that I would pester you for at all the railway stations when we travelled for the summer. Because of all the quiz books and yearbooks and rotating cardboard cut-outs that you brought back from different places, most of which lay in my room gathering dust. All this is why I write.

Every story is merely a re-collection, a re-telling, a re-creation. But in the end, it will always be just a long-winded substitute for two small words- Thank You.

Weekly Update

Movies-I-can't-believe-I-haven't seen before-this-week: Fargo, Citizen Kane, Unforgiven.

Unforgiven, in particular, was surprisingly moving. I've never been a big fan of westerns; I'd always assumed (rather naively, I'm sure) that once you'd seen one, you'd seen them all. All guns, horses, and whiskey, that sorta thing. And the occasional train robbery. But Unforgiven, at its core, is a profoundly subtle movie. Sure, there's plenty of gore, but Clint Eastwood's performance is all about restraint, battling the demons within, rather than the baddies without. And some of the shots of him and Morgan Freeman riding through the not-so-wild west is sheer poetry. Who knew?

Song-on-constant-loop: Things have changed, Bob Dylan

Unexpectedly-transcendental-moment: Listening to Lucky Ali's O Sanam while smoking a shisha

I'm trying to make this somewhat of a regular feature (this weekly round-up thing, not the shisha). Not that every week is going to be terribly exciting, but still. And if it sounds too boring, I'll just make it up. I'm good at that sort of thing.

Mobile Mayhem

If there's one thing worse than having a mobile phone that resolutely refuses to work, it's having to speak to Customer Care to try and fix it. Which is what I did yesterday. If for some inexplicable reason you have not had to go through this yourself, this is roughly how it goes:

*If you'd like to report a problem, press 1*
*If you'd like to speak to an Associate about a specific problem, press 2*
*If you've pressed 2 before listening to options 3 and 4, press 5*
*If you think that options 1 and 2 sound exactly the same, press 6*
*If you'd like to take a minute to break your own knees in frustration, press 7*

After all this, if by some miracle you do actually get to speak to a real person (real being a largely relative term), you will most likely spend the next fifteen minutes listening to the most sincere sounding bollocks that you start to have genuine fears for your own sanity. *If you'd like to place this call on hold and connect to our suicide hotline, press 8*

The future's shite. And nothing rhymes with Orange.