Thursday, June 23, 2005

Katas Raj

Katas Raj is the name of a Hindu site of pilgrimage. It is now in Pakistan. Though this place has many references to it in the purAnAs and the mahAbhArata, I got to know of this place only recently - after Advani's controversial trip to Pakistan. It is known in Pakistan as Katas (no Raj after the name)

Apparently the name kaTAs rAj is derived from kaTAkSha (meaning glance). This place is supposed to be one of the places where Lord Shiva wept out of grief on His wife's (Sati) death. The profuse tears from Shiva's eyes filled two lakes. One is the present Katas and other is a site in Ajmer. The more interesting aspect of this lake is that the Pandavas spent four out of their twelve years of exile here.

A note of clarification here - it was Lord Rama of the rAmAyaNa who was exiled for fourteen years. The Pandavas were asked to spend twelve years in exile and an additional year incognito (which they spent at virATa's kingdom).

Back to Katas, yudhiShThira, the eldest of the pANDavas, exhibited his wisdom in answering the questions of an invisible yakSha. This wise act essentially gave life to the other pANDavas who were lying dead after drinking the water of this pool.

This is a fascinating story in the mahAbhArata and is wonderfully thought-provoking. For details, go here

The temple and lake constituted a great pilgrimage centre till the Partition of India. The temple was hopelessly defaced during Muslim invasions and mainly after the partition and its picture below (from the BBC) speaks volumes about the defacement and destruction wrought upon this temple.

The temple ruins at Katas

Below: A picture of the deity (from Outlook India) at the Katas temple

The deity at Katas

This brings to mind the thought that less than sixty years ago, this place was India too. Anybody in India could have gone there. This barrier between India and Pakistan is after all man-made. The fact that man-made barriers have caused physical and cultural damage to this extent is overwhelming.

To be fair to the Pakistani government, they want to identify this as a world heritage site and develop it further. Of course, they will get some much needed tourism money from Sindhis and other Indians for whom Katas is really important.

An informative (but in a rather condescending tone) article can be found here.

I hope the peace process between India and Pakistan goes on in a peaceful manner.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Srikkanth's latest ad in Bangalore

A couple of days ago, I noticed an ad by the former Indian opening batsman Krishnamachari Srikkanth. The ad is for a lens company - Varilux. It has Srikkanth saying - "I read my newspaper just as I used to read a Marshall delivery".

Srikkanth, though exciting, wasn't a consistent player at all. Nor was he reliable. He could hit a very good ball for six and get bowled by a very simple delivery. I remember that he always struggled against Imran Khan and Wasim Akram. Marshall - hmm... I don't remember but I think Srikkanth didn't read him all that well at all. Marshall was a genuine quick bowler and one of the West Indian greats. So that ad line probably isn't too good for the lens maker.

Srikkanth's record doesn't convey the kind of feeling that Indian fans had whenever he came out to bat. His inconsistency proved to be his doom. Though a very intelligent cricketer, I think he lacked the temperament like that of a Tendulkar or a Dravid or even that of an Azharuddin. If he had that, Srikkanth would have made justice to his immense potential.

Which reminds me of a quiz question that did some rounds in 91-92. What connects Simon and Garfunkel to the Venkateshwara Suprabhatam? It turns out that Srikkanth used to hum from both of these whenever he did his customary walk from half-way to the square leg empire back to the stumps - between deliveries. Pretty strange, eh? Srikkanth was like that - a bag of contrasts. He makes a pretty good commentator on TV nowadays. He has a good business and making money as the 'brand ambassador' for some brands... (who is not a brand ambassador nowadays? )

The thoughts we get on seeing an ad from a cricketer of yesteryears...

Blood Sport : outlookindia.com

Blood Sport : outlookindia.com

What sort of perverts are these people? Killing for fun? For thrill? If these poor mute animals had in them the power to retaliate - would these guys still kill for fun ? What did these poor animals do to these stupid illiterate "high-class" people?

Time to chill....

I have to say that this is a very good and timely piece of journalism from Outlook. Maneka Gandhi apparently dissuaded Outlook from doing this piece as she thought that it would end up glamourizing hunting. I hope she isn't right.

Why do people hunt? I understand if somebody has to hunt for food. One's survival is more important than anything else in the world. So if one were starving to death, it would probably be all right to kill. However, with the beginning of agriculture, there was no need to hunt for food.

I suppose that then, the "noblemen" and royalty took up hunting as a sport. There are many references to hunting for sport in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. People at that time probably did not have much else to do. So they hunted - but I seem to think that they did not kill with such abandon (I may be mistaken here). Anyway, there were several more species in existence in India before the British came and decided to wipe them off.

On a different note, the act of enjoying the hunt smacks of something primal and basic in us. I think it is the same instinct that goads us to watch violent movies or kill enemy soldiers in video games. Even this is not conducive to a good mental makeup - but it is a lot better than killing animals in flesh and blood. (I had written in an earlier post on how doing this mentally is karmically close to doing the real thing)

For some people however, they want to kill animals physically. As this article mentions, these people must be really insecure or not have a thing to do in this world. What do you think Pataudi does every day? He has absolutely nothing to do! But he has to give vent to his feelings and he goes off hunting in his or his friend's Accord. Moreover, they want to hunt endangered species and species considered holy by certain tribes. (The blackbuck killed was both an endangered species as well as holy to the Bishnoi people)

Hunting purely for sport is depraved and unfair. I challenge the hunters who really want the thrill to fight a leopard or a tiger bare-handed and then kill it. But no! One has to have a powerful enough gun and be mounted in a safe place in a machan and then kill animals from some place far away where the animal cannot even see them. How fair is this?

As for Pataudi and his ilk of rich and inconsiderate brutes that have been interviewed in this article, they should be made to feel the anguish of a creature hunted. How will they feel if they are chased around till they are tired and then be subjected to the fear of death? These hunters might begin to understand then.

Instead of demanding a paltry fee of Rs 60,000 (which is peanuts for people like this) and simple imprisonment, a punishment that actually scares the heck out of these people would be much better. That way, these guys may begin to understand the value of life. If a similar act had been committed in the US, environmentalists would have raised such a hue and cry that the government would have to give a couple of 99 year life sentences to each of the accused.

May good sense prevail in the judges and may they throw the book at the offenders.

Friday, June 17, 2005

A case for the precogs?

Questions, Bitterness and Exile for Queens Girl in Terror Case - New York Times

This is the story of a teenager who was a bit more into her faith than other girls of her age and faith. This also shows what has happened to America after 9/11. It looks calm and all that - but there is a lot of furious work going on behind the scenes.

NYT has done a commendable job in bringing this story out. I suppose many cases like these happen everyday - but none get reported. We have seen movies like Will Smith's Enemy of the State. A crude example but it kind of tells you the kind of surroundings that people in the US are living in. I was living there too.

Of course, listening to a known crackpot and a dangerous cleric such as the one in the piece is asking for trouble. Which is precisely what this girl, Tashnuba did.

But the intelligence machinery in the US is seriously intimidating. Imagine somebody or something recording everything about a particular web site. And then taking action on it. This situation again brings "Enemy of the State" or Mel Gibson's "Conspiracy Theory" to mind. I've heard stories where a few Indian programmers were surprised by an FBI team who had been tipped off after the Indians rented a copy of "Siege" (starring Denzel Washington - which seemed eerily prescient) and then had to do a lot of explaining. Of course, this was on 9/11 itself and these programmers were really clueless on the magnitude of the event.

With all the surveillance equipment stalking people everywhere they go, I wonder if there is any privacy at all. I suppose privacy exists only in the space between one's ears - but I won't be surprised if some device is invented to dump the contents of one's brains out.

Thank God we don't have something like the precogs in Minority Report! Otherwise everybody walking on the street would get arrested for one offence or the other.

"In the name of the law, I arrest you for having the intention to drive your car at 90mph in a 65mph zone"

"But I don't even have a car!"

"But you are considering buying one soon, right ?"

"Yes, but..."

"Ahha!! Gotcha! We've been looking at you ever since you rented Fast and the Furious."

I kind of digressed but isn't this similar to what the FBI has done?

Remember... you're being watched.......

Thursday, June 16, 2005

A letter to the Pakistani people on vichaar.org

http://www.vichaar.org/2005/06/14/a-letter-to-the-pakistani-people-from-indian-bloggers/

Just an excerpt...
We like Pakistani people. And we dont just mean Adnan Sami, Jal or Strings – we mean regular Pakistani folks. In fact, we like most people and cultures. Heck, we tolerate Laloo and he’s totally out of this world. We can understand your accent much easier than his!
This is a hilarious and very well written letter! I couldn't contain my laughs! Too funny. People must check it out..

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Batman Begins........

Dark Was the Young Knight Battling His Inner Demons - New York Times

I've been a Batman fan since my childhood. But never had any movie shown the picture I had of Batman. A dark brooding noirish figure who is more human than superhero - that is Batman to me. Earlier impersonations of Batman - Keaton's, Clooney's and Kilmer's failed to do justice to Batman.

This movie seems to have a good director to start with - Memento's Christopher Nolan. I've seen Christian Bale in Shaft and American Psycho - he seems sophisticated enough to play a character like Batman. The promos look great too! This is very close to what I had pictured in my mind - though the comics had their own too. This is the kind of Batman I was looking forward to.

So, with bated breath I wait for the movie. I don't know when it'll release in Bangalore - but I will definitely watch this one on the big screen.

Talking about movies, I still haven't watched ...Sith. People who've seen the movie have good opinions and I should check it out. But sadly, there is not much time available to attend to one of my favourite (I deliberately went the British-Indian way there - the 'r' was coming right after the 'o' but I checked myself - I am now in Bangalore after all, right?) habits.

Thursday, June 09, 2005

The brains behind Apple's Rosetta: Transitive | CNET News.com

The brains behind Apple's Rosetta: Transitive | CNET News.com

The recent news of Apple on Intel took the PC world by storm. There were rumbles heard before (a few months ago) but were never serious. When CNET reported this news last week, I was skeptical. Here goes again, I thought. But on Monday this was the biggest tech news. I don't own a Mac - but if because of this the price comes down.. let's see.

But reading on this further drew me to a very interesting company - Transitive. These guys are basically from the University of Manchester and they seem to be able to run a binary of a particular architecture on a totally different architecture. This has been done before - but Transitive's uniqueness is that this - it runs at 60% of the native platform speed. That is really amazing as doing binary translation is not simple at all!

But wait, that is not all. They manage to translate OS system calls while at it too! Right now, they've just done Unix-Unix translations - but think of it, a shrink-wrapped AIX-Power5 binary running without any problem on a Linux-x86 box. This is serious stuff! They've managed to do the graphic sub-systems too!

The convenience is simply amazing. This technology is precisely what Apple will be using during its transition from G5 to Intel processors.

I'd never written tech stuff before on my blog. But this product and the possibilities really made me do it.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

The mess LK Advani is in

'A Classic Exposition Of A Secular State' : outlookindia.com

There has been a hue and cry raised over LK Advani's statement. The RSS and VHP have opined that Advani had cheated millions of Hindus by his statement that Jinnah was a secular politician.

Looking at Jinnah's speech that has been excerpted in Advani's article, we see that Jinnah indeed seems to espouse a secular cause. It may be a case of Jinnah talking the talk and not walking it, but his statement at least is an unambiguous expression of secularism. Secularism mentioned here is not the Indian variety but of the real variety where religion doesn't interfere with policies of the government.

Advani has merely quoted it and said that the three countries of India, Pak and Bang would do well to follow it. Hasn't he actually put the ball in Pakistan's court? Pakistan as of now is a theocratic (well, almost) dictatorship and it would do very well indeed if it followed the controversial speech fragment. Indirectly, it was a reprimand.

If this is all that Advani said, where is the need to go ballistic by the VHP and RSS? The reaction has probably happened this way - India's pain in the neck is Pakistan, which wouldn't have existed but for Jinnah. So, by saying that Jinnah espoused secular ideas, the Partition becomes justified; especially the bloodiest part of it where millions of people were killed during the crossing. I don't think calling Jinnah secular is the same as condoning the deaths of millions. I don't know, but would Jinnah have rued his decision to part ways with India if he saw the present condition of Pakistan?

In the VHP/RSS cadre, I have come to see plenty of people who seem to be intelligent but after you ask them a couple of questions, they either feel offended or call you names. Don't get me wrong, I support many of the activities done by the RSS - building a strong nation, acting as a unifying factor for almost a billion Hindus across India and the world, social service and tons of other useful activities - all these are great and very necessary. But the current crop of RSS/VHP leaders seems to lack the farsight and wisdom to run organizations as big and important as these. Firebrands are good - but having them at the helm of affairs is probably not so good.

Personally, I too don't like Jinnah as he seemed to be responsible (from what I had read before) for fanning passions and dividing a country along religious lines, inadvertently causing the deaths of millions of people. But the statement that Advani has taken from the speech *is* an expression of secularism whether I like Jinnah or not. As I said before, Jinnah may or may not have really meant what he said - but the words are there for us to see!

Another thing is that Advani had been listed as one of a group of individuals that tried to assassinate Jinnah. Was Advani actually trying to whitewash his involvement by singing a paean and that too, quite cleverly?

The media has always taken statements out of context and has twisted them. This seems to be a similar case. Praveen Togadia has gone crazy again. I wish a body with such a good name as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, that was founded by great spiritual personalities such as Swami Chinmayananda would have somebody more sensible and sober doing its talking for it. Togadia doesn't look the part and he definitely doesn't talk like it.

It could just be that Advani got carried away in a torrent of emotions and didn't realize what he'd said!

With him resigning from the BJP head position, it would be very interesting to speculate on the fate of the BJP going forward as the second string leadership is not ready yet and Advani and Vajpayee have been sent home.

Monday, June 06, 2005

ನಾ ನೋಡಿದ ಚಲನಚಿತ್ರ - ಮಿತ್ರಚಿತ್ರದ ಬೇರು

-----Beru (The Root)-----

ನಿನ್ನೆ ನಾನು ಬಹಳ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಿದೆ. ನನಗೆ ತಿಳಿದಿರುವ ಚಿತ್ರರಂಗದ ವ್ಯಕ್ತಿಯೊಬ್ಬರು "ಬೇರು" ಚಿತ್ರದ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶನವಿದೆ, ಅದನ್ನು ನೋಡಬಹುದೆಂದು ಹೇಳಿದರು. ನಮ್ಮ ತಂದೆ ಮತ್ತು ನಾನು ಚಿತ್ರವನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ ಬಂದೆವು.

ಇದು ಯಾವ ಸೀಮೆ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಕೆಲಸ? ಸ್ವಾಮಿ, ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಕನ್ನಡ ಚಿತ್ರ ಸಿಗುವುದು,ಅದನ್ನು ನೋಡುವುದು ಪುಣ್ಯದ ಕೆಲಸವಲ್ಲವೇ? ಪುಣ್ಯದ ಕೆಲಸ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯದಲ್ಲವೇ? ಹಾಗೆ ನನ್ನ ಕೆಲಸ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯದೇ!

ನಾನು ಇತ್ತೀಚೆಗೆ ನೋಡಿದ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಎದ್ದು ಕಾಣುವಂಥ ಚಿತ್ರ ಪಿ. ಶೇಷಾದ್ರಿಯವರ ನಿರ್ದೇಶನದ ಮಿತ್ರಚಿತ್ರ ಸಂಸ್ಥೆ ನಿರ್ಮಾಣದ ಬೇರು. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಬೇರು ಎನ್ನುವುದು ನಮ್ಮ ಸಮಾಜದಲ್ಲಿ ಆಳವಾಗಿ ಊರಿರುವ ಭ್ರಷ್ಟಾಚಾರಕ್ಕೆ ಸಂಬಂಧಿಸಿದ್ದು. ಕರಡಿಪುರವೆಂಬ ಕಾಲ್ಪನಿಕ ಸ್ಥಳದಲ್ಲಿ ಈ ಕಥೆ ಮೂಡಿಬರುತ್ತದೆ. ಒಂದು ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಕಛೇರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯಬಹುದಾದ ಸಂಗತಿಯಿದು. ನಡೆದೂ ಇದೆ ಎಂದು ಕಥೆಗಾರರು ನಂತರ ತಿಳಿಸಿದರು.

ಕಥೆಯ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ನಾನು ಹೆಚ್ಚು ಹೇಳುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಇದರ ಜೊತೆಗಿನ link ನೋಡಿದರೆ ತಿಳಿಯುತ್ತದೆ. ಆದರೆ ಚಿತ್ರ ನೋಡಿದ ಅನುಭವ ಒಂದು ವಿಶಿಷ್ಟ ಬಗೆಯದು. ಕಥೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹಲವಾರು ಸಂಕೇತಗಳು ಕಾಣುತ್ತವೆ. ಚಿತ್ರದ ತಾಣ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿದೆ. ದೇವರಾಯನದುರ್ಗದ ಬಳಿ ಚಿತ್ರ ತೆಗೆದಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಸುಚೇಂದ್ರ ಪ್ರಸಾದ್ ಸರ್ಕಾರಿ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿ ರಘುನಂದನ್ ಆಗಿ ನಟಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಇವರ ಅಭಿನಯವನ್ನು ನಾನು ಮುಂಚೆ ಅಷ್ಟು ಮೆಚ್ಚಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಇದಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರಣ ಇವರ ವೇಗದ ಮಾತನಾಡುವಿಕೆ. ಆದರೆ ನನಗೆ ಅಚ್ಚರಿ ಮೂಡುವಂತೆ ಒಬ್ಬ ಸಂವೇದನಾಶೀಲ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರಾಮಾಣಿಕ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿಯ ಪಾತ್ರಕ್ಕೆ ಸುಚೇಂದ್ರ ಜೀವ ತುಂಬಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಚಿತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಧಿಕಾರಿ ಕಾಣುತ್ತಾರೆಯೇ ಹೊರತು ನಟ ಕಾಣುವುದಿಲ್ಲ.

ಗೊರವಯ್ಯನ ಪಾತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಹಳ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ಅಭಿನಯ ನೀಡಿರುವರು ಕನ್ನಡ ಚಿತ್ರರಂಗದ ಪರಿಚಿತರೇ. ನನಗೆ ಸದ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಇವರ ಹೆಸರು ಜ್ಞಾಪಕಕ್ಕೆ ಬರುತ್ತಿಲ್ಲ. ಇವರ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ದತ್ತಾತ್ರೇಯ ಒಬ್ಬ ಸಂಸಾರ ಪೀಡಿತ ಮುಖ್ಯಗುಮಾಸ್ತನ ಪಾತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಮನೋಜ್ಞವಾಗಿ ಅಭಿನಯಿಸಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಅವರ ಮುಖದ ಒಂದು ನೋಟ ನೋಡಿದರೆ ಆ ಗುಮಾಸ್ತನ ಪಾತ್ರವನ್ನೆಲ್ಲ ಭಟ್ಟಿ ಇಳಿಸಿರುವಂತಿತ್ತು. ಇವರು ಅದ್ಭುತ ನಟರು - ಎಂಥ ಪಾತ್ರಕ್ಕಾದರೂ ಜೀವ ತುಂಬಬಲ್ಲ ನುರಿತವರು. ಇವರ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಸಹಾಯಕ ಅಭಿನಯವರ್ಗ ಕೂಡ ಚೆನ್ನಾಗಿ ನಟಿಸಿದ್ದ್ದಾರೆ. ಕಥೆಗಾರರಾದ ಪ್ರಹ್ಲಾದ್ ರವರು ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಕಥೆಯನ್ನು ಹೆಣೆದಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಸಂಭಾಷಣೆಯೂ ಇವರದೇ. ಚಿತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ನಿಮಿಷವಾದರೂ ಕಥೆ ಸಡಿಲವಾಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಈ ಬಿಗಿಯಾದ ನಿರೂಪಣೆ ಈ ಚಿತ್ರದ ಹೆಗ್ಗುರುತುಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು. ಸಂಭಾಷಣೆ ಸೂಕ್ತವಾಗಿ ಉಚಿತವಾಗಿದೆ. ಛಾಯಾಗ್ರಹಣ ಸಮರ್ಪಕವಾಗಿದೆ.ಒಂದೆರಡು ಜಾನಪದ ಗೀತೆಗಳ ಶೈಲಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂಡಿರುವ ಹಾಡುಗಳಿಗೆ ಪ್ರವೀಣ್-ಕಿರಣ್ ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ಸಂಗೀತ ನಿರ್ದೇಶನ ನೀಡಿದ್ದಾರೆ.

ಹೀಗೆ ಒಂದು ಅಚ್ಚುಕಟ್ಟಾದ package ಈ ಚಲನಚಿತ್ರ.

ಆದರೆ ವಿಶಾದದ ಸಂಗತಿ ಬರುವುದೇ ಈಗ. ಈ ತಂಡದ ಹಿಂದಿನ ಎರಡು ಚಿತ್ರಗಳು ಮುನ್ನುಡಿ ಮತ್ತು ಆತಿಥಿ. ಎರಡೂ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳು ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಪ್ರಶಸ್ತಿ ಗಳಿಸಿವೆ. ಇಂಥ ಸದಭಿರುಚಿಯ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಡಿದ ತಂಡಕ್ಕೆ ಹಾಕಿದ ದುಡ್ಡು ಕೈಗೆ ಸಿಗುವುದಿಲ್ಲವೆಂದರೆ ವಿಶಾದದ ಸಂಗತಿಯಲ್ಲವೇ? ನಾನು ನೋಡಿದ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶನ ಕೂಡ ಚಿತ್ರದ ತಂಡದವರು ಆಯೋಜಿಸಿದ್ದಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಅವರಿಗೆ ಆಸೆ - ಜನರು ಬಂದು ತಮ್ಮ ಚಿತ್ರವನ್ನು ನೋಡಲಿ ಎಂದು. ಅವರೇ ದುಡ್ಡು ಹಾಕಿ ಒಂದು ಸಣ್ಣ ಚಿತ್ರಮಂದಿರವನ್ನು ಒಂದು ಪ್ರದರ್ಶನದ ಮಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಬಾಡಿಗೆ ಪಡೆದು ಜನರನ್ನು ಅವರೇ ಆಹ್ವಾನಿಸಿ ಕಾಫಿ-ಟೀ ಕೊಟ್ಟು ತೋರಿಸುವ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಇಷ್ಟು ಒಳ್ಳೆಯ ತಂಡ ಅಮೇರಿಕದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಿದ್ದರೆ ? ಅಥವಾ ನಮ್ಮ ನೆರೆಯೆ ತಮಿಳುನಾಡಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಅಥವಾ ಕೇರಳದಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಿದ್ದರೆ ? ಅವರನ್ನು ಗಗನಕ್ಕೇರಿಸಿ ನಂತರ ನಮ್ಮ ಕನ್ನಡದವರೂ ದುಡ್ಡು ತೆತ್ತು ನೋಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದರು!

ಈ ತಂಡ ಧನವಂತವಲ್ಲ. ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ಪಿ.ವಿ.ಆರ್ ಮಂದಿರದಲ್ಲಿ ಒಂದು ವಾರ ಈ ಚಿತ್ರ ಹಾಕಿದ್ದರು. ಆದರೆ ದುರದೃಷ್ಟವಶಾತ್ ಈ ಚಿತ್ರ ಓಡಿದ್ದು ಅಷ್ಟೇ! ಜನರು - ವಿಶೇಷವಾಗಿ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರು - ದುಡ್ಡು ತೆತ್ತು ಚಿತ್ರನೋಡುವ ಹವ್ಯಾಸ ರೂಢಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿಲ್ಲ. ಕಳಪೆ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ನೋಡುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಈ ರೀತಿಯ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ನೋಡುವುದಿಲ್ಲವಲ್ಲಾ ಎನ್ನುವುದು ನನ್ನ ಕೊರಗು.

ಅಮೇರಿಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಓದಿದವರ proportion ಹೆಚ್ಚು. ಈ ಚಿತ್ರಗಳನ್ನು ಅಲ್ಲಿ ತೋರಿಸಿದರೆ ಇವರಿಗೆ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಅಸಲಾದರೂ ಉಳಿದು ಮುಂದಿನ ಚಿತ್ರ ಮಾಡಲು ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಹುಮ್ಮಸ್ಸು ಉತ್ಸಾಹವಾದರೂ ಇರಲಿ ಎನ್ನುವುದು ನನ್ನ ಆಸೆ.

ಇದನ್ನು ಓದಿದವರು ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ಶೇಷಾದ್ರಿಯವರ ಸಂಪರ್ಕಮಾಡಿರಿ. ನಿಮ್ಮಲ್ಲಿಯೂ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶನದ ಆಯೋಜನೆ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು.

|| ಇತಿ ಶಮ್ ||

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Govt’s Doctor plays The Cigarette Censor - Newindpress.com

Govt’s Doctor plays The Cigarette Censor - Newindpress.com

This is absolute nonsense! Is this an April Fool's joke or what? To be clear, I don't smoke. But what on earth is the government doing? It is trying to stop smoking in movies and on television!!!

I really don't know who could be behind such a - what is the word - draconian act. This is a Nero-esque kind of law. Do people know it is a democracy ?

Anyway, this doesn't mean that smoking will be banned in public places. It is next to impossible to implement this. People will continue to smoke and spoil their health. Though the intention behind this law is good, don't we all know that the way to hell is paved with good intentions?

This is not like what has happened in the US. Something like that - something sensible - would have been good. All our government does is something as ridiculous as this.

Tomorrow, if somebody in the tobacco industry bribes a section of the government, the laws will be reversed and probably everybody will be asked to smoke.

Now I have to look back at my own feeling that India is developing as a country. I am inclined to say now that it is not. How can a country with such stupid and impractical lawmakers ever develop?

I am irritated, amused and saddened at the same time. I don't care about India's image in the world, though that is important, as long as the government is doing the right things for its people. Actions such as these are not right. Something deep inside me was pricked by this - though I don't smoke and I was off typing this rant in a flash.

May good sense prevail everywhere!