The RGV tweet issue

Okay, somebody has kicked the hornet's nest with his tweets.  Actually I have admired RGV for his different style of film making in the past.  He is also a director who has not hesitated to give newcomers (who are not star-kids) a break, which is highly admirable.

He may be an atheist, that's fine.  As Amartya Sen puts it in his Argumentative Indian, there should be and there is a place for people of all faiths in a pluralistic society such as ours.  Yes, there is also the need to preserve the freedom of speech, even if it happens to be a provocative one.

RGV tweets that Ganesh was unable to save his own head.  Does he then believe that the story actually is true?  Or is he just confused?  A person's faith, Mr RGV, is as much important to him, as your atheism is to yourself.  If you do want to exercise your freedom of expression, then why not also condemn whipping yourself in public as a moronic act?  Or why not laugh in the faces of people who tell their children that a fat old man in a funny red costume is going to slide down the chimney to leave them presents?

Actually he has spoken like a true 'converter': people belonging to that cult who would denounce 'idolatry' as though it is a crime that is punishable.  Can these people say why they denounce it, or provide any proof to say it is wrong?

If killing innocent animals to fill one's stomachs as part of a religious feast is acceptable in one's faith - if distributing publicity material extolling the virtues of one's religion and seeking to get people into its fold is acceptable - then so should bringing home Ganesha and Gowri, worshipping them, and sending them off.

I dare rationalists/atheists to be impartial and also include Abrahamic religions in their criticisms; not only Hinduism.    

Anyway, I am sure Lord Ganesh Himself would have laughed it off and forgiven RGV.  

We morons already have.

Image source: https://twitter.com/jagdishpeswani/status/505346497529913346/photo/1

The Shirdi Sai Baba issue

There has been a needless controversy recently about religious leaders exhorting Hindus not to worship Sai Baba of Shirdi.  Apparently there was a conclave, during which some leaders even clashed with Sai Baba bhaktas.

This is the sort of thing that gives wrong impressions about Sanatana Dharma.  The very term means eternal religion - that which is capable of incorporating all tenets, opinions, and paths in its fold.

Then why not that of Sai Baba?

He was a universal man, whose history reveals that his origin is unknown - we do not know his actual parental lineage - and that he had followers from all religions. This is very much in keeping with the principles of Hinduism as I have said.

Even within the Sai Baba complex in Shirdi, there are dargahs as well as temples indicating his universal appeal.  My family and I have been staunch followers of the Baba since a long time, and nothing is going to change on this front - even as we maintain out bhakti towards the whole pantheon of Hindu divinity.  

There were some stray reports that some religious leaders asked people to smash all idols of Sai Baba, and as a result a few idols even had to be moved away.  This is ridiculous.  The last time I checked, we are not yet in Talibanland.  

If this call for smashing idols is indeed true, then it is highly deplorable.  We as Sanatana Dharmis should disown such comments and commentators.  Otherwise there won't be any difference between us and those who create differences, or those who seek to convert people based on their notions of what a true religion is. 

On a final note, Sri M, whose autobiography I have written about in an earlier post, was very much a follower of Sai Baba, and there is a charming account of his visit to Shirdi in his book.  This has never stopped him from acknowledging the divinity of other gurus and saints of all religions, or advocating the validity of overall Hindu philosophy.  

Hinduism - Sanatana Dharma - is inclusive, not exclusive.

Image source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Shirdi_sai2.jpg

Chhota Bheem, Doraemon and Oggy: Indian cartoon heroes!

TV cartoons.  No, I don't mean our politicians or celebrities when I say this.  I mean the good ones; the ones that make you laugh.  

Although some celebrities have been made into cartoons - or at least their voices, as we shall see.  

Ask any child under 10 what he or she watches on telly, and pat comes the reply: Chhota Bheem!

And don't our kids just looooove him?!  Mine does; she is 8.  Sometimes you have to drag her away from the screen kicking and screaming!

What is it about him that children just can't get enough of?  His whole gang: the red-cheeked Chutki, Raju, Jaggu the monkey, Kalia - the big bully and his two side-kicks, Dholu and Bholu - identical twins, no less! are all part of Dholakpur (what an imaginative name!), whose king relies on the heroics of Bheem to save himself, his kingdom and his daughter, Princess Indumati, from villains.  

Bheem is everywhere and he can do everything: sing, dance, fight, win contests, and single handedly defeat any villain, thanks to the power he derives from eating good old laddus!  Perhaps this is in keeping with a child's inner fantasy world, which abounds in heroes, villains, magic, colour, music and food.  

How else can you explain it?  The animation, if anything, is tacky.  And despite the presence of far better animated series from western studios, Bheem manages to hold fort admirably. 

They even made movies with him!  Believe me, I have had to endure two of them: Chhota Bheem and the Curse of Damyaan (in which the evil voice goes Damyaaaaaan!), and Chhota Bheem and the Throne of Bali (a female monster this time, called Rangdaaaaa!).  Just one of the things you have to do if you are the parent of an Indian child completely besotted with Bheem Bheeem Bheem Chhota Bheem Chhota Bheem....well, you know the rest of the song.

Apart from this, and many many more, there are two more series that often hold your child's attention when he or she is not doing homework, or when Chhota Bheem is not on.

One is eastern and another western.  

One is Japanese and the other French.

One is Doraemon and the other Oggy and the Cockroaches.  

Doraemon is just so bland, and the setting so outlandish, that despite being dubbed in Hindi, I just cannot understand why an Indian child would get hooked on to it.  The story line is always the same; there's Nobita, who is a bit insecure and wants what others have.  He then pesters his robot, Doraemon to get it for him or invent it for him, which the poor robot does with great reluctance, knowing fully well that he would have to rescue Nobita from trouble in the end.  Sometimes it is about impressing the doll-like girl, Shizuka, while competing with the great big bully, Gian, and his partner in crime, the cunning Suneo, who are always looking to bash Nobita and acquire his gadgets.

Gian is an interesting character; a bully portrayed so realistically, that it is scary that you are letting your delicate child watch him beat his opponents to pulp, jealously snatch others' things, and shout at anybody who thinks his singing is bad.  He has a tendency to exercise his vocal chords by singing his stock line: main hoon Giaaaaan!! much to the dislike of others - a clear narcissistic trait.  Once, when he accidentally falls into a lake and others laugh at him, he bursts out with a scowl saying isme itna funny kya hai? - what's so funny about this? - an antisocial trait where one laughs at others' situations, but cannot take a joke about oneself.  

I am almost certain that Gian would go on to have a rip roaring personality disorder when he grows up!

On the other hand, the European series is entertaining but violent.  Poor Oggy, the blue cat, is constantly pestered by three enterprising cockroaches; Joey, Marky and Dee Dee.  Oggy has a hot-headed cousin brother, Jack and a lady love, Olivia, who help him out when he is tied in knots by the roaches, who have an uncanny ability to acquire the latest gadgets and weapons of mass destruction in a trice to trouble our heroes.
  

This one is again formulaic, with the face-off between the cats and roaches occurring in different situations.  So you see Oggy being run over by trains, buses and cars, and flying and landing on his front-door bulldog, Bob, who has a non-bulldog-like hobby of gardening with flowering plants!  

But what makes the series even more interesting is that it has been Indianized!  The series has been hilariously dubbed in Hindi (turn your audio settings to Hindi in Tata Sky).  Not just any kind of dubbing, but a very imaginative one; Oggy's voice mimics Shah Rukh Khan's, Jack's Sunny Deol's, Bob's Shakti Kapoor's, the cockroaches' Arshad Warsi's (in 'Circuit' style), Suneil Shetty's and Paresh Rawal's (in Hera Pheri style), and finally Olivia's....well as Olivia's. 

So you have the following howlarious one-liners:

Oggy (as Shah Rukh): hmmm....bhaiyaaa! and ey cockrochon....nahin chodoonga!   

Jack (as Sunny): oy thod doonga, phod doonga and oy Oggy kya kar raha hai tu?   

Bob (as Shakti Kapoor): tumne mujhe maara, ab ye lo....thak thik thak thik (when he bashes Oggy or Jack)

Arshad Warsi cockroach: halla bol! and cockroach gang zindabad!

There's also a voice-over announcing the goings on in Nana Patekar's voice with his trademark achcha hai....hihihi in the end!  Classic!  Even my 8-year-old, who knows nothing much about these actors or their voices, loves watching the series with Hindi voice-overs.    

One just hopes that the stars are taking all this in a sporting manner and are not too... animated about it!  

Oggy is so successful, that they made a special Indian episode, which shows every Indian child watching Oggy on telly, and Oggy being mobbed by Indian kids when he goes to Mumbai and finally ends up helping India win the cricket world cup - complete with an item dance in the end!  And he has had a successful film outing too, which I have reviewed here. 

So there you have it.  Indian kids and the cartoons they watch.  Good or bad, worthwhile or complete waste of time, like it or not, these shows are here to stay - for now at least.  Or till another series grabs their attention.  Or till they grow up so much that item songs and social media divert them.  But then again, some are already into them!

And if you notice a streak of violence and even inappropriate content in these cartoons, well tough luck.  You can only minimize the damage by making sure your child understands that unlike Bheem, Nobita, or Oggy, real people are not malleable or ductile, and do not spring back into original shape after a good round of bashing.  Make them understand that all this is for entertainment only, and not to be taken seriously or emulated. 

As an aside, I should also add that while endless cartoon viewing is not a solution to keep a child with ADHD quiet, some amount of cartoon diversion at home is required if mummy-daddy ever decide to go out to catch a movie at the multiplex - their fellow moviegoers will be extremely grateful!

Image sources:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Cl1ZKE5Pep8/maxresdefault.jpg

https://www.facebook.com/Dora6AsianFan/
https://xilam.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Oggy_Catalogue_VA-1024x724.jpg

Book recommendation: Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master

Once again, this is not a review, this is a recommendation.  This is an experience of a life time, which one intrepid itinerant undertook for his own personal emancipation.  In doing so he paved the way for all of us to learn from and, if up to it, pursue.  

Born Mumtaz Ali Khan, now simply addressed as Sri M, it appears that he was born for a life of spiritual exploration, which is illustrated through his several extraordinary early life experiences.  The description of his Guru appearing near a tree in his backyard is mesmerizing, and you are completely hooked thereafter, wanting to finish the entire book in one go.  

He takes the decision to leave his home at an early age, and go in search of the Truth, and before that, his Guru, who would lead him to It.  Along the way, he encounters an array of interesting swamis and yogis, each with his or her own fascinating story to relate, and for him (and us) to learn from.  

Photographic plates showing these great saints adds to the appeal of the book.  

There are so many soul touching moments in this one, but here are but a few examples.  In Alandi, he experiences a direct contact with the child-saint, Sant Jnaneshwar near his samadhi.  In Shirdi, he finds Sri Sai Baba sitting high on a swing from which he descends to speak to him.  In the dargah at Beemapalli, he meets Kalladi Mastan, a saint mad with divine love.  

Particularly touching is the way he finally finds his Guru Sri Maheshwarnath Babaji, and his Guru's Guru, the quintessential and elusive Sri Guru Babaji.  Finally, in a rousing and heart warming finale, he appears face to face with the Lord Himself, Shiva, in the form of a light, with many a luminous Soul arrayed next to Him.

To a scientific mind these events may appear illogical and there have been several who have doubted yogis' achievements over the years.  But then again, logic and religion do not go together, and faith is an essential prerequisite if you are to progress spiritually.  The relationship and difference between science and spirituality has been studied by various writers, most notably by Dr Sudhir Kakar, the renowned psychoanalyst, and I can only refer you to his work.  

The divine madness manifested by somebody like Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa is different from any of the psychotic disorders that we encounter in our practice, and does not conform qualitatively or categorically to the usually diagnostic criteria used for these disorders - I have encountered these sort of cases in my professional practice too.  I have also written about this issue in my narrative non-fictional account, Lake Amidst The Seas. 

The various siddhis (supernatural powers) that a saint accrues during the course of his spiritual progress is also something beyond the understanding of modern science, for which I would recommend reading Paul Brunton's A Search in Secret India.

Sri M's work reaffirms the spiritual ethos of our country. 

This is a book teeming with philosophical gems, spiritual insights and anecdotes, and extraordinary stories that we need to read once - no, many times, and benefit from its soul enhancing richness.  

Thank you Sri M for sharing your life experiences with us.

Find the book here: http://magentapress.in/bookstore.html

Find Sri M's organisation here: http://satsang-foundation.org/

Film conversations: Queen

Okay, I know this is few months too late, but better late than never.  Queen is one of those new age mainstream films about assertion of women power.  An about-to-be-married girl finds that her fiancé wants to dump her.  She is dejected, but decides that she would go on her pre-booked honeymoon on her own!

It is a clever way to depict women's lib: what can be more liberating than a woman going on an adventurous honeymoon on her own?  

The story then shifts to Europe, notably Paris and Amsterdam.  She meets several colourful characters along the way; a hotel worker who is raising a child as a single parent - a result of one of her many one-night stands, three hostelites with whom she shares an initially cold, but a later warm relationship, a cantankerous Italian restaurant owner who challenges her for a kiss, indifferent relatives, and an Indian Muslim woman working as a prostitute in Amsterdam's red light area (a bit far fetched that one).  She even wins a cooking contest when she regales Europeans with delicate taste buds with gol goppas!  

By the end, when she does come back to India, she is confident enough to reject her fiancé's fresh advances and go it alone - a new age woman, who fights rejection, goes on a personal adventure, and emerges stronger in character and more independent minded.

What was interesting to watch was the audiences' involvement in the proceedings.  I watched this in a multiplex, and the many women in the audience were completely taken by Kangana's character Rani; egging her on, laughing with her, crying with her - and when the fiancé reappears towards the end, one of them even cried out loud: aa gaya loser! (here comes the loser).  It seems that women's lib is manifesting itself in the catcalls and shouting department as well - a male preserve until now, and why not?

Having said that, it is only natural that the women in the audience, having identified with the main protagonist's plight, should react like that.  By the end, they would want the wronged woman to emerge triumphant, to treat the fiancé as he deserves to be, for him to be thrashed by her three friends when he comes looking for her, and to finally throw the engagement ring in his face rather than hand it over to him.  We all want the underdog to win, don't we?  Rani does, in the end, walk away from him, liberated, independent, joyous.      

The songs are mostly confined to the background, and the film's strong points are its narrative by Vikas Bahl, and Kangana Ranaut.  It's an out and out Kangana film - one in which she grows on you through her naïve and innocent yet bold act.

There are several comic moments; Rani's father looking for the hotel worker during Rani's video chat,  the dance scene in the club, Rani's sloshed dance near a cabbie, the lizard incident in the hostel, among others.  

The kiss with the Italian, I thought, was unnecessary; it was one moment when Rani appeared weak - as if giving into the Italian's demands for a kiss, even though it was disguised as a challenge.  The three hostelites are absolutely wonderful; especially the little Japanese guy - played by Jeffrey Chee Eng Ho.

Rani's moments with the Russian guy - a delightful Mish Boyko - had potential to be developed as a romantic affair - if she can go on her own honeymoon, then why not find an inter-racial relationship for herself as well?  But this does not happen in the film, and Rani remains happily single in the end.    

Recommended viewing!

Image source:
http://st1.bollywoodlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/motion-poster1.jpg