Education is must…for complete progress

Today my maid comes to work with a perforated black plaster on her ankle and I am curious. When I ask her, she says that the black plaster will ease pain from her knees and her back. She is constantly in pain but she does not take any leave of absence. I feel very guilty of making her work for me, especially when she is so much in pain. I have never cut her salary if she skips a day of absence but still she is always very regular. I am sure that if she was to work only for me, then she would take holiday when she is unwell. But unfortunately, she works for three more families, doing the same work day after day, everyday. People in India are very lazy and they get agitated when their maid does not turn up for work. Whenever she is absent, she is loaded with extra work on her return. Such is the life of people who are uneducated and poor. She realizes this and hopes that her children will be educated so that they don’t suffer like her. But the environment that they live is not conducive for education. There are many distractions, where she lives and the children who live in the slums, spent most of their time playing on the streets or, trying to earn a living for their parents by begging on streets or working in some industry. So, where is the time to study? There are many NGOs who try to provide food, clothing and clean environment, some of them conduct free classes for them but the initiative should come from children themselves and from their parents. If they show no interest in studying, what can any NGO do? For that matter, what can anybody do?

Random thoughts on heart and mind

There a direct link between the state of heart and state of mind. Whenever we are disturbed and agitated, we cannot concentrate and we lose interest in everything. Our mind is all the time preoccupied with worry and we cannot find solutions. We have no interest in food, play or any sensual activities. What do we do? Will talking to people help? I think nobody can help us. People might be sympathetic to us, try to give us solutions and might even try to pacify us but they cannot help us overcome our agitation. Only we can help ourselves. First and foremost, it is important that we don’t expect help and learn to deal with it. There are many things that we cannot change, so it is better to accept it. We can try our bit to change it but that is all we can do. We cannot expect others to do what we think is right. For example, there is so much corruption around us. Everybody is out to cheat. They expect bribery and will make things difficult for us if we do not oblige. So what do we do? If bribery and corruption is against our principle, we stick to it and not encourage it and face the discomfort. We can do our bit by standing firm by our principles and face the consequences. But can we stop our friends to stand by our principles? No. We cannot. They have to make their choice. Every body has their own intellect and it depends how they train their intellect. If they make wrong choices, it is because their intellect is weak or it is sleeping. They have to awaken their intellect so that their mind decides what is right. We all have to do our own obligatory duties; we cannot expect fruits for every action that we make, but what needs to be done, should be done. If our concentration is shifted from our duty to do what is necessary, to expecting fruit for our action, the quality of our work will suffer. For maintaining a healthy balance between our mind and heart, it is important to do what is right and not agitate our intellect by compressing it against our senseless desires.

Should I rejoice at ‘Slumdogs Millionaire’ Success?

World sings ‘Jai ho’ around this globe While the poor man sits outside a gate Wearing garb of poverty His tattered crown bringing fame and show From rags to riches, the world rejoice While we tread through those narrow lanes Seeing hollow eyes, bloated tummy Can we be proud of our helpless folks? I am not sure if I am proud of eight Oscar awards. But here, this is the truth that we try to hide under the carpet and pretend that it doesn’t exist. There are always resigned attitude of many Indians saying ‘What can we do?’ This movie “Slumdog…” hits us hard, real hard. Many of my friends (abroad) have pointed out this to me many times in the past saying that they are very much troubled by the poverty of India, especially when they are in their relaxed state in the luxury of their car, munching on a bar of chocolate and then see a dirty, stained face, peeping into their car window with helpless look, begging piteously. Former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh quotes, “The film was a fairy tale and shouldn't be confused with what life is actually like for India's poor and that Boyle had to make "Slumdog Millionaire" upbeat because the true story of what it is like to live in a slum wouldn't have appealed to audiences.” And this is the truth, the reality that only Indian who lives in close proximity to those shanty slums finds it hard to ignore. It made me squirm, cringe, reject and reluctantly accept. It was so honest that I was benumbed by its content. There were times that I wished that he had not stripped my City of Mumbai like this. But the story worked! One year ago, when it was released, no distributor was willing to buy it and now, world rejoices at its success. Eight Oscar awards! It suddenly acknowledges India’s existence and indirectly, Bollywood importance in world cinema. Hopefully, world’s attention will clear the debris. I only hope that those child stars, Azharuddin and Rubina, who walked the red carpet at Oscars will not return back to their shanty lives. I hope their life will change forever……

Delli che...kem che.....

I came out from the theatre after watching Delhi 6 and met a friend just outside the theatre. She asked me whether I had enjoyed the film. I told her that the film bumped and went over my head. I am not sure if I understood the film. Till interval I was trying to figure out where the story (if any) was leading. The crowded and narrow streets of Delhi, the cow giving birth in the middle of the road, the temple with hundred bells, the blind faith of people in the city, all this was very confusing to me. Moreover the acoustics of the theatre were bad too and many of the Abhishek’s dialogues were just mumbling sounds (I think I am going deaf) In the film, there was news report of ‘Black Monkey’ causing havoc in the city and I keep wondering what is it trying to portray? Is black monkey the blind faith of the people, is it superstitions or is it the imagination of one person that is aped by others in agreement? And then this Sonam, who has conservative father, manages to dress in the weirdest costumes with belly button et al, ..pines to be Indian idol….is her father just unaware of his daughter’s activities or is he too dumb? Can’t decide. There must be reason for Mehra to show Ramleela throughout the movie, maybe there is the connection somewhere, I fail to understand. I think I don’t seem to understand movies any more!

Day out at 'Kala Ghoda Festival'

After lunch, my friends and I headed towards south Mumbai to experience ‘Kala Ghoda Festival’. Being last day of the 10-day-Festival, it was too crowded and we kept getting lost into the crowd. It was like every thirty minutes we would call on our mobile to find each other. We all had different interests and while I spend most of my time shooting the pictures, my friends were more interested in shopping knick knacks or eating. Somewhat, not only do the art in any form attracts me but even the artist at work. This man worked skillfully on sculpture of a man, I moved closer to see this artist shape a strip of plywood There were also some children learning Warli painting for Rs100, they had made cute greeting cards. There was a big crowd near the stage where there were different performers at different times, there was music playing all the time and everyone could be seen shaking their heads and tapping their feet. We stopped there to have a cup of coffee. And there was bigger crowd at food stalls, Imagine a Pani Puri for Rs35. I get better Pani Puri in my lane for just Rs12! How they loot public at the fairs! There were kiosks where they abused political trouble makers And others that abused their own government for bad sanitation in the country Children enjoyed the story telling session at BHNS auditorium And towards the evening, I enjoyed the performance poetry at Sassoon Library, which was the nodal point for literature and poetry. It was a very tiring day though fun, fun, fun!