Peepli, Change and Karma

I saw Peepli Live recently. Produced by Aamir Khan, brilliantly written and directed by Anusha Rizvi, it stars Raghubr Yadav along with other quite unknown, quite talented actors.
The film is about farmer who loses control over his mortgaged land when he fails to pay his loan installments to the bank, and then contemplates suicide to get the compensation promised by the government to families of farmers committing suicide. The whole incident blows up into a national issue, due to the media frenziedly covering it, and things at the local level turn into a mela around the farmer's house.
The authentic feel given to the village, the excellent portrayal of the media and the dry, sometimes dark, humour were commendable. Owing mostly to its former-reporter director, and her journalistic experience in villages, it was natural that all details of these aspects were well taken care of.
But this is not a movie review post. I am writing about the movie because of the reaction I had after watching it, and how uncomfortable it made me, as an Indian. Each one of us, at some point, has faced problems that we blame on the big bad world, the attitude of people, the government, or the attitude of people in general. This was another movie that made me, as an Indian, very uncomfortable. We see such movies, laugh, maybe empathize with the theme for a while, discuss them, write about them, but ultimately, what changes?
I first had this feeling after watching Rang De Basanti. Although not a big hit, Delhi 6 furthered this feeling. 3 Idiots was another one, although the message here was intended for parent, and it did hit a few. Now there's this film. (I'm definitely missing some here). My point is, although these movies reflect society, as any piece of art should (art is supposed to be educative and be pleasing to take in, as I learned in an Art and Aesthetics course at IIT), what is the long term impact these movies have? People go back to as they were. If we do not change even when the required change that is needed in us is shown in such a direct and pointed way, what will it take to change us, as a people? How can we change ourselves to become unanimously and proactively engaged in improving ourselves, our society, our nation? In an interview, the director Anusha Rizvi herself pointed out that nothing will change after Peepli Live. The movie will be taken at face value, and things will continue to be the way they are.
There are people who are actively engaged in improvement and bringing about change, doing the little they can, which is huge at the local level, but a small speck seeing India as a whole. India Today ran a special edition recently commemorating 35 such "heroes". Yes, I know boond boond se sagar bharta hai. But the drops have to keep pouring in. And I know if I really care, I should do the same. But what is it that makes us so apathetic to this? Is it because jab tak mere ghar tak problem nahi aaye, tab tak mai kuch nahi karunga attitude? Is it because we dont want to get our hands dirty?
I was also reminded of another, more philosophical, thought that I've discussed with a few people before. Is caring about the fellow human being our moral responsibility? Like taking care of the handicapped, the old and disabled. If we look at the larger picture, as the human race, does it do us any good to do so? We say animals are animals because they're wild, sometimes cannibalistic, and have little or no sentiments or emotions. But who's judging humans as a race? Who is to say that the human thing to do is to be caring and supportive of the disabled?



Rajat, my partner in crime such discussions, suggested quite a good solution to such moral and emotional crisis. Karma. Although to accept it as a way of life is purely upto the belief and faith of an individual, if we analyze it, it does make sense. If everyone starts doing good, believing in the adage that give once, and you will receive ten times that, it will actually come true, assuming, on an average, we have 10 interactions with people around us.

Hanging On

As I prepare myself to meet probably the closest, biggest and best bunch of friends I made at college, I cant help but wonder when it would be that I would meet them again. I would meet some of them regularly, some occasionally, and some rarely. But probably not once will I ever meet all of them together, at one place.

But, as everyone says, ever so wisely, life is about moving on. Is it?

I met an old friend today. No, this is not a story of how nice it was meeting him after such a long time. We`ve been in touch. Times have changed, man. People don’t lose touch now. It’s the internet, or the cheapening phones. Anyway, so I first befriended him in Class 1. We were thick ever since. He was probably quite opposite to me. Much more mischievous, more talkative, more popular as we grew up. We were in and out of being best friends, but never completely lost touch. Today, he`s one guy I discuss girls openly with, rant about stories I never thought could be interesting and enjoy his stories that even seem far fetched sometimes, from his off shore trips. He`s in the merchant navy. The thing is, I cannot hear a word against him. I feel proud of him. He`s not perfect, hell he`s not even close. But I hold him dear. The friendship feels like something that’s mine entirely. I`ve earned it. No one helped me with it. And that gives me a sense of achievement. At least I did this much on my own.

I like hanging on. I hang on. To my old friends. To old memories. I love reminiscing. I remember random stuff. I guess its that kind of stuff that makes an impact on my brain, which is what creates the memories. And I love remembering it. Even as early as end of second year, I was reminiscing about first year of college. By the time we were in fourth year, I had discussed so many memories of first year that it was like yesterday.

I don’t think life is about moving on. Of course, we have to, since time travel seems pretty undoable. But unless that happens, we are only forced to move on. Life, is about hanging on. New stuff is created only by the culturing we`ve had from our past. I do not know what the future holds. I would like to. It would give me a sense of security, a sense of stability. The past gives me that. I like hanging on. I don’t like going through the rituals of making a new friend. I like my old friends. Its easier. Its more comfortable. And I can easily remain in touch. As I grew, I only liked certain kinds of people. Older still, and I liked only certain traits in certain people. I realised I`m becoming typified, and limiting myself. Its looked down upon, as if I`ve become complacent and opposed to change, and of course change is inevitable and all. But just for once, I say lets celebrate this complacency, and hang on, and feel all nice and warm inside.

To all my friends, may our friendship grow old with us.

Citizen Power

I was in Pune recently, and my family and I were heading towards the popular Sinhgad fort. It was around 7:30 p.m. The road leading there is a two lane one, with barely room for a third car to pass. It was Sunday evening, and as expected, we met with a lot of traffic. A new resort was being inaugurated, for which local politicians seem to have been invited, and their jeeps and cars were causing quite a jam. We managed to go through to the other side, only to be informed that the road leading up to the fort closes down at 7 p.m. Somewhat disappointed we came back, and found that the jam being caused by the resort was now quite a long one, with both lanes of the road being occupied by people going the same way, leaving no room for the oncoming traffic.
We stopped the car, and me and Dad got down to see how far the jam was. A quick glance was enough to make it clear that it needed some good traffic managing to get out of this bottleneck. We decided it had to be us. We told my Jeeju, who was driving, not to let more cars join the lane of cars on the wrong side, and then went ahead to the focal point of the jam - the entrance to the resort. A lone guard was trying to manage the vehicles of the VIPs, what with the parking space of the resort already quite full. A few other people were trying to direct a bus through, which was causing the most delay.
Rolling up our sleeves, me and Dad set about directing the people on the wrong side of the road to clear the way for the bus. At first people co-operated, seeing that the bus needed space to clear out. But as we went about it, it was sad to see the narrow minded attitude of the people, who failed to see the larger picture, and only cared how they themselves could get through.

The main problem arised due to the situation depicted here (seen from top). People had lined up on the wrong side (like car B) which was blocking the way for the bus and cars behind it to move, and similarly cars had lined up on the opposite side, blocking both ways. The way out was to make car A wait, let car B enter the correct lane, making way for the bus to pass, and others to follow. It would be quite simple, if only people had a bit of common sense. The person driving Car A would argue that he has been stuck in the jam for more than 30 minutes now, why should he wait more for car B to pass when it was car B which was in the wrong lane. What Mr. Car A did not realise was that if he would let car B pass, it would take them both less time to clear the jam, than to have his own way and get stuck again further. And this would happen over and over again. It took us extreme patience and persuasion to get them to see reason, which in some cases, didn't happen at all and Car A would still move ahead, blocking the way again. What surprised me was how stubborn people could get, and fail to see reason even when it stared them in the face. To make matters worse, people on two wheelers would squeeze into any space they could find, and cause further blockage. They had to be individually directed into the correct lane, and told to wait. At the back end, Jeeju was having a tough time making people join the correct lane, and not line up on the wrong side. Why almost no one had sense himself to do so seemed a rhetoric question to ask.
Finally, the silver lining showed itself, as more people got out of their cars, and helped out in directing traffic, speeding up the process. After about an hour of this went on, the jam was finally cleared and we could move on.
I learned a valuable lesson that day. Though often heard, but seldom seen practiced, and never personally experienced, the point was that one cannot always blame others, even though they may be wrong. Taking things into your own hands is better than sitting and complaining about why no one is doing anything. It felt quite a bit like the TOI ads (Hum chalein, to Hindustan chale....) where people are shown doing such things, like move a fallen tree out of a road. What happened that day showed me what is meant when people say that India`s true power lies in its masses. When we collectively and actively realise this, is the moment when we, as a nation, will truly progress.