On 29 September 2012, I completed one year as an Editor of daily newspaper Newsband. If you include even my tenure as Acting Editor then I've completed around two and a half years. But officially, I have completed one year. During this one year I was able to bring out 307 newspapers. As an official Editor, I had brought out the first newspaper on 30 September 2011.
I owe this success first to Kailash Gindodia, the publisher of Newsband, who was kind enough to make me the Editor of Newsband. I thank him for giving me a chance to show my mettle as Editor of Newsband. Next I thank all the members of the staff of Newsband for extending to me all their cooperation and this made it possible for me to perform this feat. I thank also my family members for also cooperating with me. Lastly, I thank all my beloved Readers for going through my works and appreciating them. I also thank all those constructive critics of mine who helped me keep on improving myself at every stage of my career as a newspaper man.Thanks a lot! Bye!
Somewhere in Bangalore someone has
started classes to train women in politics. Some women, each from different
walk of life, joined the class. Whether these women will succeed in becoming
professional politicians is not the question. The best thing is that attempts
are being made to involve women in politics in a big way.
In these
classes, it was found that those women were not engaged in grassroots politics nor
did they have any experience in governance. Hence the critics of such classes
question as to how these women will manage to compete with rooted party workers
who spend years doing constituency spadework?
Reservation
policies have pulled many women into politics today. The number of women who
are involved in politics today are much more than the number we would witness
during the past. The reason politics is not an easier ladder, for men or women,
is because most parties lack internal democracy and open primaries where the
best candidate is given a chance, or where routes of advancement are made
clear. Money and power influence party decisions. The system is further stacked
against women, in terms of managing perceptions, networking and negotiating.
How can the art of politics be learnt then?
The
intangibles like leadership and decision-making can be transmitted in a
classroom but practical politics can be grasped only by doing field work. There
must be full-fledged postgraduate degree courses in practical politics of
governance for all those who wish to enter parliament or legislature. After
all, politics is not the same ball-game as business management. Hence the
course structure would need a careful planning and implementation.
The tragedy of
Indian politics is that it has acquired a demonic character in which there is
no vision, no values, no principles and no ideological commitment. Politics in
reality being a very serious business of making laws and governing a country
and leading it on a path of unparalleled development, it needs dedicated,
well-read, and principled politicians. Such schools can concentrate on
instilling good ideas into political aspirants. It should be made clear to the
students that they should avoid using dark methods and subterfuge in politics.
Such schools if opened for both men and women will do a lot of good to Indian
politics. Even those who have grown out of the rough and dirty politics of a
chawl should be allowed to join such schools since they too have the latent
potential for becoming big-time politicians. Many world famous universities
have such schools. So why shouldn’t India too have such institutions?
Why is Sonal Chauhan my favourite among the modern actresses? This is because she looks very cute not only on the screen but also off it. I've heard her speaking during an interview and I found that she is an excellent speaker in English language. I liked her in film 'Jannat' and 'Buddha Hoga Tera Baap'. She is not only a good actress but also a beautiful one. She has that innocent beauty and charm and a sweet voice which simply appeals to me. I'm looking forward to watching more films in which she will be displaying more of her acting talents in the days to come. Bye!
What has
happened to Indian hockey? We finished last at the Olympics this time. How can
we regain our past dominant position in hockey?
Indian hockey
authorities should hold hockey tournaments at every level – whether local,
state, national or international. They should learn from Indian Cricket
Authorities. They should promote hockey in the same manner as cricket in India is
promoted. Have hockey tournaments which are equal to Ranji Trophy or Duleep
Trophy or Indian Premier League (IPL). Such types of tournaments will definitely
give terrific boost to Indian Hockey and many super hockey talents can be
discovered by this method. These super talents must then undergo rigorous
training before they are sent to international tournaments like Olympics.
Twice in the
past, India
has seen attempts to market the game through such innovative leagues. The
Premier Hockey League lasted from 2005 to 2008, but with its one-venue model
and limited corporate involvement, the impact was limited.
HIL which is a
late entry — it kicks off next year — will prove to be very advantageous. This will
not just help to learn lessons from the mistakes committed by the older hockey
leagues, but also will tighten the template borrowed from the IPL. By getting
the world body to cooperate, the HIL time-frame will not clash with any
international hockey event across the globe.
Since hockey
has just one format, HIL is immune from the kind of criticism that T20 cricket
receives daily. Also, there will be no fears of HIL youngsters compromising on
technique or endurance to play the game. It will remain a 70-minute affair on
the hockey field but the players will have to run harder, pass faster and trap
stronger to get the team owners’ attention. While the league will see foreign
stars pocket fat cheques, Indian players can also learn as they earn. It’s a
win-win situation for all, if the ever-squabbling hockey officials don’t mess
this up.
Such
tournaments like HIL will fetch hockey the kind of following the game of
Cricket has. Once the big money starts flowing in the spectators will throng
the hockey stadiums. Hockey will receive still more boost if celebrities like
film stars will play the game to raise some charity funds – just the way they
do with cricket. Sufficient financial support from government and also private
quarters can make hockey too generate the following that the game of cricket
has. It’s high time Indian hockey authorities did something extremely drastic
to revive the game of hockey in India.
There are some
people who get a rash when cartoons appear in either a text book or in the
popular press that make fun of their pretensions. Naturally, they see them as ‘Honour
Crimes’ as their status is being questioned, even mocked, by someone way down
at the bottom. Like clan elders they can abuse and attack one another and lead
rival cliques, but nobody outside their circle has that privilege.
Aseem Trivedi,
a young cartoonist, is now paying for his comeuppance because one of his
cartoons has offended the honour of this particular class. He must, therefore,
face exemplary punishment because their honour is more precious than the right
to free expression. He is charged with sedition under Section 124A of the
Indian Penal Code.
So far not a
single MP or MLA, nor even a member of a recognised, but lesser, political
party, including those from the Bal Thackeray blood line, has been accused of
sedition. It is always people with no ties who have, at various points, been
charged with this crime. They include Binayak Sen, Arundhati Roy, several
journalists, scores of Kudankulam anti-nuclear activists, and now a young
cartoonist.
Most western
democracies, like Britain, America, France
and Sweden
do not treasure the flag and worship it the way we do. They allow its
desecration: you can burn it, stamp it, tear it or wear it as a bikini. In Germany they
even use it to advertise brothels. Does that make people there less patriotic?
Not so.
But in India,
the flag cannot be draped on a bonnet, laid on the ground, and must always be
folded in a particular fashion.
Our democracy
is very different from those in England,
Europe or America,
not because we are poor and they are rich. This is a popular myth.
The real
difference lies in the fact that western governments treat their people as
citizens while ours treats us like children. So if a mirror, even a cracked
one, as in a cartoon, is held up to the political establishment in an advanced
democracy, it is not an ‘honour crime’. In India you would be on a prison
diet.
Today I’ll pass on to you information relating to
music and songs of the film Heroine.
Music Director of Heroine: Salim-Sulaiman; Lyricist: Niranjan Iyengar; Singers: Sunidhi Chauhan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan,
Aditi Singh Sharma, Benny Dayal, Shreya Ghoshal and Shraddha Pandit.
The music of Heroine is an interesting mix that
has been composed by Salim-Sulaiman,
who had worked earlier with Bhandarkar
in Fashion.
There are five tracks in the album that have been
penned by Niranjan Iyengar.
Halkat jawani is the first song. The
sound is peppy and very Bollywood, in sync with the mood of the film. Sunidhi Chauhan, the queen of item
songs, is flawless. The way she croons "Aaja" in the beginning is
simply mind-blowing. The lyrics too are simple yet effective. Sunidhi Chauhan, who is such a veteran
with item songs like these, brings something new to this rustic fusion. In the
end, the song achieves its aim in creating a simple and catchy tune that will
catch on.
Next up is Saaiyaan,
a heart wrenching melody by Rahat Fateh
Ali Khan. The song creates the mood of sadness and heartache. The song had
a lot of potential. It is a semi-classical number. It’s a nice composition and Rahat is in his comfort zone. This gem
of a song is rather easy on the ears.
It is followed by Main heroine hoon that has been sung by Aditi SinghSharma of Dilli Dilli fame. Aditi's rustic and powerful voice is impressive. The lyrics match
well with the protagonist's portrayal. The song is trying to speak about the
life of a female star in Bollywood. Aditi
Singh Sharma is decent. She sounds so haunting on this track. The song
sticks with you because of the lyrics and Sharma’s
great vocals. Give this a listen as I think it definitely transcends its
situational sound.
Khawhashein is the next song which has
the voice of Shreya Ghosal. She
proves once again why she is the most sought after female singer in B-town.
There is so much flexibility in her voice that there is always something to
explore. She goes high and low with ease as the songs transforms itself into a
soft-rock ballad in some intervals. This one is a winner all the way. It is
refreshing to hear Shreya Ghosal
sing a soft rock kind of number. Lines are decent. It is undoubtedly Shreya who breathes life into these
verses. Shreya Ghosal is becoming
one of the absolute go-to singers for composers and she is certainly
ubiquitous. But with each song she does there’s such a versatility so that you
don’t end up tiring of hearing her voice all the time, this is another example.
She gives it her all for this soft-rock number and sounds wonderful. Give a
listen for Shreya alone.
Last but definitely not the least is Tujhpe fida, crooned by Benny Dayal. A good number to shake a
leg, as it is high on energy. Shraddha
Pandit supports him well in the vocals and her rendition of the line Tujhpe fida comes out really well. It is
a fine listen. It is a love song that sounds more like a remix version – with
the fast pace. It’s a groovy number. It’s an interesting track. The song gives
a much needed boost of energy. This club song definitely gets you in a dancing
mood and it’s bound to make an appearance on the dance floors for a while. Dayal and Shraddha Pandit are reliable and energetic and they have such a
good chemistry in the song. Pandit sounds
so good during the slower bridge and her solos are great too. Keep this on
repeat!
Thus, despite just five tracks, the Heroine
soundtrack composed in Bollywood style is a total "paisa vasool"
album that has all the filmy elements and moods to satiate your musical
appetite. Just go for it.
The film had become so awaited only to see how the
results come off with Kareena Kapoor taking
on a meaty dramatic role after some time.
Heroine is definitely looking good for the heroine dominated
season of 2012.
Olympics and
every competition are required to prove to which extent one can attain greater
heights in the life and in different fields. Any healthy competition is not
aimed only to win or lose but to create a spirit to take everything naturally
and sportingly. The events like Olympics have shrunken the world to a global
village.
Olympics has
only one religion - that is sport, understanding and universal brotherhood.The winner does not hate the loser and the loser does not envy the
winner.In every competition some
one has to win and the other has to lose. It gives a signal to the loser that
he has to accept that he needs more practice, more stamina and more skills. It
creates killers instinct in a sportsman which make him practice more and
achieve the desired goal.
If there is no
competition, the people will not have idea of their strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, potentials, scope for improvement etc. Although in London
Olympics, we could not achieve a single gold and ended with just six silver and
bronze medals, it has revealed out true picture of our standing in the
international community. It has given a food for thought for the strategists,
policy makers and the players and athletes where they go wrong and what they
need to do to improve things.
The spectators
of such competitions assemble to watch the events from a distance. They get
entertained and inspired. They also tend to encourage the talent and toils of
the athletes and our leaders of creativity in this field.
Does not sport
offer us, in a very subtle way, a happy release from what is? It takes us away
from ourselves, from our daily sorrows, pettiness and anxieties, it makes us
forget; or it gives us strength to face life, it inspires, invigorates and
pacifies us. It becomes a necessity in either case, whether as a means of
forgetting ourselves or as a source of inspiration.
When
sensations become a necessity, sports, music, the river, the painting are only
a means to further sensation. Sensations become all-dominant. It is the desire
for sensation that makes us cling to outward means such as sports, music,
painting etc. Such is the power of sports and other art forms.
Heroine is an Indian film directed, written, and
co-produced by Madhur Bhandarkar.
Revolving around the life of a once successful film actress, Mahi Arora, whose career is on the
decline, the film features Kareena
Kapoor as the protagonist along with actors Arjun Rampal, Randeep Hooda and Rakesh Bapat. Additionally, the project also stars Shahana Goswami, Divya Dutta, Helen,
Shillpi Sharma, Mugdha Godse and Lillete
Dubey in supporting roles. The film has screenplay by Anuraadha Tewari and Manoj
Tyagi, story by Madhur Bhandarkar,
music by Salim-Sulaiman, cinematography
by Mahesh Limaye and editing by Deven Murudeshwar.
Heroine is to be released on 21 September 2012.
Now I’ll tell you something about the cast:
* Kareena Kapoor as Mahi Arora: Originally the first choice for her role, Kapoor was hesitant to take on the
project when Bhandarkar approached
her with the film's brief initial idea. She explained reservations about the
criticism her character might evoke as well as the intimate sequences with
several of her co-stars, and was subsequently replaced by Aishwarya Rai. Several days after production began, Rai left the film due to her pregnancy,
and Bhandarkar re-approached Kapoor with the film. Once the director
reinforced his faith in her, she agreed to do the film when she was handed the
completed script. Prior to being cast in Heroine, Bhandarkar had approached Kapoor
with Page 3 (2005) and Fashion (2008), both of which she
could not do due to prior commitments. Kapoor,
who described her character as being "bipolar and schizophrenic",
refrained from taking on any other projects as she found Heroine to be "very
aggressive and tiring".
* Arjun Rampal as Aryan Khanna: Bhandarkar,
who was keen on casting a well-known actor to essay the lead male protagonist,
approached Rampal in May 2011. His
character is described as a superstar with "grey shades who adds twists
and turns to the story". In an interview with Mid Day, Rampal
explained that he did not want to model his character on a certain individual,
but rather borrow various traits from different people.
* Randeep Hooda as Angad Paul: Hooda was
cast by the director to essay the role of a cricketer. Prior to the start of
principal photography, actor Arunoday
Singh was chosen to play the role, but was later dropped from the film due
to unknown reasons. Media reports began speculating the name of several actors
(such as Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan
and Prateik Babbar) though Bhandarkar later confirmed that he had
selected Hooda after seeing his
performance in Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster (2011). As a way to make his character
more believable, Hooda began taking
tips and lessons from cricketer Virender
Sehwag.
* Rakesh Bapat: Bapat was cast in
November 2011 to play "one of [Kapoor's]
lovers". The director announced that Bapat's
character would be kept under wraps along with a few other characters such
as that of Goswami's and Dutta's.
* Shahana Goswami: Goswami was selected
to play an important character in the film.
* Divya Dutta: Along with Goswami, Dutta was also selected to
play an important character in the film.
* Mugdha Godse: Godse was roped in to
play the character of a rival heroine who is jealous of Mahi Arora's success.
* Helen: Helen was cast by the director
to essay the role of a senior actress.
* Shillpi Sharma: Sharma, who described Bhandarkar
as "a family friend" was approached by the director to play a
glamorous role. In preparation for the role, Sharma was required to lose weight and sign a non-disclosure
agreement.
* Lillete Dubey: Dubey was cast by the
director to essay the role of Kapoor's mother.
* Ranvir Shorey: Described as the
director's "lucky mascot", Shorey
was roped in to make a cameo appearance.
Following the completion of his film, Jail
(2009), Bhandarkar began
toying with the idea of making a project on the film industry. Along with
writer Niranjan Iyengar, the
director began developing the story about the life of an actress and later
approached UTV Motion Pictures with
whom he had worked on several occasions. Bhandarkar
was keen on using the title Heroine for his film. He had been
subconsciously preparing for the movie ever since he joined the industry.
Though speculated to be based on the lives of
yesteryear divas like Madhubala and Marilyn Monroe, Bhandarkar denied the
reports saying that the movie is a "contemporary film which reveals the
underbelly of the movie industry and its well-kept secrets". In an attempt
to prepare his protagonist for the film, the director prepared a three-hour
documentary on Hollywood actresses Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava
Gardner and Vivien Leigh.
Designer Manish Malhotra was signed
on to design the costumes.
The first look of the movie was released as part of
the 64th Cannes Film Festival. A promotional
poster was released during a press conference in which Ronnie Screwvala of UTV
Motion Pictures, Madhur Bhandarkar,
and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
officially announced the movie. The movie is a glamorous yet bold story of the
internal journey of a superstar. It will certainly appeal to audiences across
the globe. With Heroine, the producers of the film have planned to take things
to the next level. The entire idea in the film is a result of Bhandarkar's conceptualization. The
film is based on the life and times of a superstar heroine, Mahi from the dream factory we call
'Bollywood'. The film is a daring, shocking, glamorous, scandalous
behind-the-scenes account of the reality behind the world of glitz and glamour
that our film stars inhabit. For a country obsessed with films and film stars, Heroine
will take audiences on a voyeuristic journey to see what really goes on in the
lives of India's
sweethearts.
The Central
Board of Film Certification awarded an 'A' certificate to the trailer but chopped off Kapoor's smoking scenes and lovemaking
scenes from the trailer. On July 22, 2012, two of the first look posters were
revealed on the micro blogging site, Twitter,
and received an amazing response in just 8 hours. The trailer crossed over a
million hits on Youtube within 2
days.
After the release of the trailer, a controversy
arose. In the film’s promo a dialogue of Kareena
Kapoor: “If a heroine buys a car, it’s gifted to her by a businessman. If
she goes to LA (Los Angeles), she’s getting plastic surgery done and, god
forbid, if she goes to Dubai, you people make a rate card for her,” was not
appreciated by the people of Dubai. To avoid hurting sentiments, Director Madhur Bhandarkar has had the offending
statement censored in the Dubai
version.
Music director duo Salim-Sulaiman, who had earlier worked with Madhur Bhandarkar in his critically acclaimed movie Fashion,
will be composing the songs for Heroine. There are two big item
numbers in the film, both to be picturized on the leading lady. One of them
being called Halkat Jawani sung by Sunidhi Chauhan. Musicperk.com rated the album 7/10 quoting "Although songs
like Halkat Jawani, Khwahishein and Tujhpe fida sound nice and enthusiastic
as independent tracks, others probably would need to rely on the picturisation
of the song for the required effect to be created".
Thus the film has songs like Halkat Jawani sung by Sunidhi
Chauhan, Tujhpe Fida by Benny Dayal, Shradha Pandit, Khwahishein by Shreya Ghoshal, Saiyaan
by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Main Heroine Hoon by Aditi Singh Sharma.
Thus Heroine is a great film. Do watch
it. Don’t miss it.
Is it possible
to make it mandatory for men to share a certain percentage of their income with
their wives, if the latter should stay at home and do household chores? Isn’t
it necessary to financially empower women who stay at home? How much the
housewife should be paid should be decided after considering every aspect of
family relationships and all financial transactions taking place within. But is
it possible to do such type of investigation?
The idea comes
from proposals by Western feminists to monetise household labour. Making
husbands pay their wives the wages that maids might be paid for domestic labour
could be insulting to the housewives. In Western countries, the sheer
impracticality of such a scheme has kept it out of statute books anywhere.
There can be a
myriad jobs undertaken to keep a household running, some even performed
disproportionately by men. The government would have to draw up a list and
devise a payscale for each conceivable job. But is it possible for the
government to ensure its enforcement by each family? Instead of coming up with
such a law it would be worthwhile if the government ensured total female
literacy, and enforced existing laws against rape and domestic violence.
But there are
some people who believe that it is possible to bring into existence the law
which forces husbands to pay salaries to housewives. For decades feminists have
been demanding wages for household work. Women were always nurturers and
homemakers, while men went out and earned a living. But there are women who do
the same professional jobs as men, often earning more than them, and they still
end up doing all the household work - cooking, cleaning, washing etc. There are
cases where men have taken charge of household work while women went out to
earn money. In that case will the law force the women to pay salary to their
husbands?
However, by
now acknowledging the need to monetise domestic work, the ministry of women and
child development is doing the right thing. This has given birth to hot debate
on the issue. One cannot deny that it's women's hard labour, a lot of it nothing
but sheer drudgery, which ensures the smooth running of a household, enabling
men to carry on with their engagements and interactions with the outside world.
Besides, keeping a household is not just about washing clothes and cleaning
dishes. It also involves raising children, which is mostly done by women. Hence
many feel that it should be made mandatory to pay women for the routine
household work that they do.
The film Special Forces is directed by Stephane Rybojad and produced by Thierry Marro, Benoit Ponsaille.
Screenwriter is Stephane Rybojad.
The film has Diane Kruger, Djimon
Hounsou, Benoit Magimel, Denis Menochet, Raphael Personnaz, Alain Figlarz, Marius,
Mehdi Nebbou, Raz Degan and Tcheky
Karyo playing important roles.
The film has a terrific cast and a vivid sense of
violent peril and political instability. The film gets increasingly worthy as
it goes along, but is sharp enough to engage us.
Barely recovered from a full-on secret mission to
Kosovo, the French Special Forces team (including Hounsou, Menochet, Figlarz and Marius)
heads to the mountains of Pakistan, where journalist Elsa (Kruger) and her
local assistant (Nebbou) have been
kidnapped by wild-eyed fanatic Zaief
(Degan). The team is joined on the
ground by Tic-Tac (Magimel), and while the rescue goes to
plan, Zaief's well-armed militia is
relentless. And getting out is trickier than these six tough guys expected.
Quick editing and a pulsing score maintain the
feeling that everything's hugely important. As their epic trek continues,
gunfire gets both more frequent and more gruesome. But there are also revealing
moments, including the fact that the villain is an English-speaking Westerner.
The team watches helplessly as people are killed so
they can stay on-mission. And killing people actually makes them pause: this
job isn't easy on the conscience, but they're willing to do the grisly work if
they have to.
With the adept cast and skilful filmmaking, this is
an unnerving, scrappy action movie infused with humour and drama, even though
there are dangers, deaths and injuries depicted. The film also has a ship-based
admiral (Karyo) and French
government officials, touching on political issues both in Asia and Europe. The film depicts the Pakistani people caught in
the crossfire between Western military and ruthless Taliban warlords who seem
only interested in settling personal grudges.
Thus the film is a story of Elsa (Diane Kruger), who
is abducted by the Taliban in Afghanistan,
and then a seasoned team of commandos is tasked with bringing her home. Led by Kovax (Djimon Hounsou), the team of six must go up against impossible odds
and a never-ending sea of insurgents led by the ruthless Zaief (Raz Degan) to
save Elsa from certain death.
Special Forces opens with images of a military operation. The
team at last manages to liberate Elsa.
One thing that Special Forces does have going for is its realism. It’s also a
beautifully shot film and shows Afghanistan
as more than just a country of sand and mud huts.
A war movie buff should not miss the film Special
Forces, while for the average cinemagoer, however, it does offer just
about enough entertainment and involvement to make it worth your while.
In this world,
there are few performers and the rest are just spectators. Most of the people
in this world are reduced almost to the state of spectator. They keep watching
the performers performing on television screen. They are simply seeing other
people live, other people playing: a football match, a boxing competition, and thus
they are simply spectator. Then there is the movie -- the same; again they are spectators.
Then there are real matches, and millions of people go mad; and the Olympics --
and they are just reduced to becoming spectators. Eighteen persons are playing
the game and one hundred thousand people are simply spectators.
All have
talents. But you need to be exceptionally talented to be performer. Otherwise
you are reduced to becoming spectators. There is very close relations between
performers and spectators. Just as spectators need performers to pass their
time, so also performers need spectators without whom they could never have
become performers. Just as spectators feel a kind of joy while watching the
performer perform so also the performers feel extremely joyous when they get
the attention of the spectators. Thus performers and spectators just cannot do
without each other. One could not have existed without the other.
You go to a
holy place, you listen to the sermon and that is your religion. Here the person
who delivers the sermon is a performer. The rest are all spectators. Even when
you are reading a book or a newspaper column, you are watching the writer of
that book or column performing although the writer is not visible to you. Also
the spectator is not visible to the writer. In other words, you are reading the
book or newspaper column as a spectator.
When you go to
a 5-star hotel you eat the food that is cooked by a chef. You are not the only
one who is eating the dish created by the chef. In fact, there are many
customers who visit the hotel and consume the food that has been wonderfully
cooked by the chef. Here again, the chef is the performer, while all those
customers who visit the hotel and eat the dishes cooked by the chef are
spectators.
Spectators
inspire the performer to give best performances while a great performer
inspires the spectators to make their lives absolutely worth living. Spectators
get the mood to live after seeing a fine performance by the performer.
So as long as
there are spectators, there will be performers and vice versa.
India has been independent now for sixty five years. But seeing what has
happened to political cartoonist and anti-corruption crusader Aseem Trivedi, one
wonders whether we are really independent?
Is India really a
democratic country? If it is so then why is a cartoonist not allowed to
exercise his democratic rights by criticizing the government for its crime. If
the government is corrupt it is not crime. But if someone calls the government
corrupt it is crime. Strange!
What’s the
difference between Hitler and our government today?During Hitler’s time the political
cartoonists in Germany
were condemned and persecuted. What’s the difference between India today and Hitler’s Germany those
days? When Hitler assumed power, Germany's tally of newspapers and
periodicals was 4,700. By the time the Nazi nightmare ended, the number had
dwindled to less than a thousand. Dictatorships cannot afford laughter because
people may laugh at the dictator, and that would not do. In all the years of
Hitler, there never was a good comedy, not a good cartoon, not a parody, not a
spoof. The same might happen here if the trend persists.
Aseem Trivedi was
arrested, and charged with sedition, an offence punishable with life
imprisonment! Trivedi's sin is that during the Anna movement he published some
cartoons which Government regarded as offensive. Trivedi was arrested in Mumbai
last week for cartoons he had drawn and displayed in November 2011. The arrest
was carried out on the basis of a complaint filed by the legal advisor of a
Mumbai-based N.G.O.
Was the arrest
of Aseem Trivedi politically motivated? Among some of the cartoons taken offence
to is one showing 26/11′s lone surviving terrorist, Kasab, as a dog that is
peeing on the Constitution, another of India’s national emblem of the Four
Sarnath Lions of King Asoka as blood thirsty wolves inscribed with the motto
“Bhrashtamev Jayate” (which means, long live corruption), modified from its
original “Satyamev Jayate” (truth alone shall triumph).
Someone
rightly said that what kind of art an artist makes is his creative liberty and
if Trivedi has made cartoons that show the true state of our society and
politics today, what’s wrong in it? He is also right when he says that if we
can’t talk about Ambedkar or Mohammed or even the political scenario of our
country and the sad state of its politicians, then what’s the point of having
the freedom of speech?”
Trivedi has
never had any case filed against him throughout the time when he was a
cartoonist. Trivedi has been a cartoonist before the launching of the
anti-corruption movement. Trivedi is a conscious, concerned citizen. People who
condemn him are actually the ones who are not concerned for the country. They
are hypocrites. Instead of targeting our corrupt government they target a
truthful cartoonist like Aseem. Very sad!
Our life is
dependent on our state of mind. We are what we think. Whether we are free or
imprisoned is dependent on our thought. The feeling of restriction, of a lack
of space and freedom, of claustrophobia, comes purely because of our thoughts.
Right from
childhood we are being influenced by our thoughts. Our minds can be positive or
negative. A positive mind helps us think clearly and logically, rationalise,
make judgments, choose the right option among many available, plan, visualise,
be creative and to execute tasks. On the other hand a negative mind is a
generator of thoughts, worries, anxieties, fears, jealousies, greed and anger.
These thoughts and emotions imprison us and often leave us powerless.
We know
ourselves and the world around us, by our thoughts. Who we are, our
qualification, what we do, our beliefs and ideals, those who are near and dear
to us, our aspirations and ambitions, religious inclinations, hopes and worries
- everything comes down to a thought.
Whatever we
see, hear, smell, touch, think, conceptualise - everything is our reaction to
reality. There appears to be a prism between us and true reality, our mind and
its thoughts, which distorts every aspect of reality, before delivering it to
our brain. These thoughts make us judge certain people as good while others
seem evil. It is our thoughts which make us discriminate between good and bad.
It is the distorted
view of life which results in conflict, frustration, unhappiness, despair,
unfulfilled desires and futility.
Those who have
obtained unobstructed knowledge of Self are free people. Once the Self is
known, all thoughts that imprison us lose their power. To experience life as it
exists, to experience happiness and ecstasy, one has to go beyond all thoughts
that anchor us to so-called reality. These thoughts are figments of imagination
churned out by an overactive mind.
We tend to
believe everything that our mind tells us via thoughts and we act and live our
lives according to our belief in these thoughts, most of which are only random
raves and rants of the mind. The best way to achieve freedom is by questioning
each and every thought, till the falsity of the thought is established, so that
we can throw them away, leading ourselves to break free of imprisonment.
