Chez Moi

 

A few weeks back, a top television presenter was caught on camera doing 70 mph on a busy motorway - chatting on his mobile phone. Jeremy Clarkson is well known to Britons and to see him chatting away whilst driving his Merc was too much for the public to bear. A vigilant passerby took a picture of him gabbing away and passed it on to the Daily Mirror. The papers took him to task royally and furious members of the public wrote on public forums everywhere, asking for a serious reprimand.

When I read the article the following day, a few words stuck in my mind.

And a police insider warned that if guilty, the popular Top Gear presenter could expect the same treatment as the thousands of other road users nabbed for the same offence.

The source said: “At a time when the Government and police are clamping down on motorists putting safety at risk by using mobiles at the wheel, it’s vital that police are seen to be taking action against all alleged offenders, no matter who they are.”

Fast forward to this morning, when I came across this article on Chennai Metblogs. I mean, what do you say to this respectable member of the press, who uses his press credentials to get away scot-free and then say, ‘Some police!’! There is no point blaming the traffic cops for their ineptitude if every Johnny carries some form of a ‘Get out of jail FREE!’ card or the other. Granted, I am no major fan of the said police, after the shabby way they treated my scared brother after a drunken bastard crashed his car into my hapless brother’s but this time, I am forced to question what choice do we leave them with, if we tie their hands so, for every pitiable reason?

We constantly say ‘we are like this wonly’ when quizzed about the lax Indian attitude to most things under the sun. Are we like this wonly or are we making sure we are like this wonly?

 
Fresh out of college, I used to work for a local, city-based portal as a content writer and then later, Web Content Manager. In that guise, I met many interesting characters, attended many functions and generally led an interesting life. But of all the people I met, none affected me more than Vandana and Vaishnavi, founders of women’s charity organisation, Banyan.

I wasn’t a trained journalist so had none of the grit or the backbone needed to tough it out in search of assignments. All I had was a head full of ideas - ideas on what was great and good about my city that I could showcase on my website. Through a teacher at college, who was a good friend of Vandana, I heard of Banyan and was really impressed to learn about two women, who, in the prime of their life, threw away a regular lifestyle and immersed themselves in caring after mentally challenged women.

It sounded like a plot of a movie - too fantastic to be true. Clueless about what to expect, I asked for an appointment to visit the place to write about it. That visit and the women I saw, changed me and I honestly feel, I grew up in that space of two hours I spent at Banyan. I remember crying bitterly on my way back to work. Seeing those women, in their bedraggled state, not knowing what was happening to themselves or where they were, affected me like nothing had.

Though it has been years since I met them and the women and their organisation have come a long way since, I constantly think of them and their dedication to their cause. I cannot think of two better examples of women to salute, on International Women’s Day.

If you’d like to donate, please visit this page to learn how.

What a busy life it must be, to lead the life of the Indian Moral Police? Never a dull moment in their life, putting out moral fires in every corner of the town, saving the innocent public from the amohttp://im.sify.com/entertainment/movies/images/jan2008/sriyafunction200.jpgral denizens that are out to besmirch the Indian Culture and the rest of it. They have barely sat down after the Shilpa Shetty kissy kissy fiasco, only to bounce up over Shriya’s dress (or lack of) sense.

Actress Shriya, who played Rajini’s love interest in his hit film Sivaji, has offended the sensibilities of the moral junta by wearing a ’skimpy outfit’. She has made the conservative heart of Chennai nearly stop by daring to appear in an “off-white dress that rode up her knees while she sat, and a plunging neckline that highlighted her hour glass figure”, that too at a function graced by the Chief Minister Karunanidhi. What a hussy!

Instead of setting an effigy of hers on fire or blowing up a few buses like they normally do, this time they actually resorted to the law! Quelle Surprise! The Hindu Makkal Katchi actually complained to the police that Shriya has offended the Hindu culture and may the long of the arm reach out, grab her and throw her in the slammer? Even more gaspably, the police declined the invitation saying it ain’t part of their job description!!

How can one make these up? Only in India, I tell ya!

In a country like ours, where movie stars enjoy venerated status, they are in a unique position to do something positive, something immensely good to the people, to actually make a change. Some adopt a cause and use their status to do great, charitable things. In some cases, though, their A-list status is enough to publicise a deed, be it good or bad. In that regard, a ’star’ at the top of his (or her) reign, has to be ultra careful in making sure his movie choices cannot be misconstrued as anything less than stellar.

This was something that Tamil actor Ajith forgot when he signed up for the movie ‘Varalaru’ a.k.a ‘Godfather’. At that time, the man’s career was in the doldrums and since then, he has slowly regained his lost lustre in the eyes of his adoring public. But with ‘Varalaru’, he has lost whatever respect I had for him as a person.

In the movie, Ajith plays the part of the father, the son and the evil villain who also turns out to be his other son - surprise! Daddy dear is a trained bharathnatyam dancer, which for some reason, equates him to a eunuch and all he does is elaborate abhinayam in place of regular expressions. Okay, harmless I hear you say. He is - till the day he is two shakes of a duck’s tail away from being married to this luscious babe - and she dumps him. Why? Only ‘cos he comes across more girly than her! This of course enrages the hero!

So he sets of to prove his manhood. How does he do it? Oh by this easy way of raping her. In her room. With a whole household full of servants and mother hollering away, banging on the door.

Though the girl screeches it at the top of her voice, he has great trouble hearing the word ‘NO’ and calmly proceeds to ’show’ her that he is a man, after all!

What really takes the biscuit is his explanation to the girl’s mum after he was done. Apparently, he did what he did because the girl was having doubts about his manliness. How else could a bloke to prove he is a man? By raping the said woman, of course!

The cherry on top of this sick icing happens a few scenes later, when the girl’s mum pleads his case to her now pregnant daughter, with the standard “He is a good man, sweetheart” line. Of course he is, if you discount the fact the raped you to prove his manhood. He is so the man!It is movies like this that make me want to gag. Here we have organisations trying to fight crimes against women and then we have movies like this tosh, that make a whole mahatma out of the sod who commits this heinous crime. Even more gaggable fact is that, the adoring public turned up in droves to see this load of crap, shelling out their hard earned money hand over fist to make it a hit. A hit! This &%$#* of a film!

There’s no accounting for taste, is there? Women getting assaulted - well that is no filmy matter, is it? Why would one trivialize it so? What the hell was the Censor Board doing when it deemed this palpable fare?

Two things about such ventures astound me

1. how could a sane person decide portraying such roles is actually a good thing to do
2. why an intelligent person would throw good, hard earned money at such claptrap?

It also makes me wonder when the so-called ’stars’ would actually realise what amazing pull they have and use it to actually do some good, rather than to purely rake in the dosh. Looking cool and setting little girlies’ heart go pitty-pat is all fine and dandy. But to actually pass on sensible message, one that will do some good, for a change, whilst looking cool - well that’s the ult, isn’t it?Any takers? Ajith? Maddy?

ps: Any one who wants to claim ‘oh Daddy Ajith repented what he did and tried to make amends’ and thereby prove this is a worthy film, please, save your breath.

As you can see from the above vid, there were cars, autos and other vehicles patiently waiting for the road to clear. The decibel level is pretty high too. This was taken at around 9 am in the morning. The same event occurred at 3.00 am that morning (or night - whichever way you look at it!). Understandably, I shot out of bed wondering what the racket was about.

Through bleary eyes, I noticed the devoted mass dancing in the streets. Whilst I do give it to them that they have every right to show their devotion in every which way that pleases them, should it encroach on others’ lives? At 3.00 am, is it too much to expect to get some undisturbed sleep?

Or is it blasphemy?