Arangetram (1973) - My thoughts

 Talking about a movie that released way back in 1973, and 30 years later, I still think this is one of the best movies offered by Tamil Cinema. The sheer depth in  categorization and bold theme chosen by the director are the major reasons why this movie stands out in comparison to other scripts that have been offered ever since. K Balachander is one of the pillars of the industry who offered variety of scripts and showed the courage to portray strong female protagonists. To sculpt such characters, one needs to fall in love with them, and KB must have been deeply in love with Lalita (actress prameela), to have etched out a masterpiece. 

I happen to see a video, where the blogger mentioned this movie as one his all time favorites and this provoked me to revisit this movie and observe the sheer intent to make the audience think and decide for themselves (deciding for yourself is a topic we never like to think about).

The first thing that struck me was the title, and how there are tacit mentions sprayed throughout this 150 minute masterpiece. How the friend is consoled by telling that till you reach the stage, you will be nervous and once you start your Arangetram you would never know that you were once nervous (Arangetram medai erum varail thaan kashtam). One of KB's favorite topics is maintaining the balance between authenticity of a ritual and the repercussions of modernization; How Ramu Sasthri feels humiliated and squirms at the way society is performing the acts unauthentically. The social messages that are tacitly touched upon by KB just leaves me spellbound; be it flesh trade and how male escapes scot-free, family planning or societal impressions on a call-girl. 

There are various scenes where you can find KB's stamp on his characters, Kamal's opportunism, Lalitha's histrionics due to frustration towards men or be is the usual, not-a-brahmin-do-gooder. This movie, tends to push you towards thinking about the outlook of a middle class indian family and the parochial view on a woman we once lived with. 

Portraying Lalitha as an intelligent, subversive young woman is a master-stroke and makes you sit up and take notice of the emotional intelligence she possesses. This is a movie, that i think helped Tamil cinema hold its head high and commercial success only encourages you to choose scripts such as these. 

It is tough to imagine the 70s and 80s without KB and makes me uncomfortable thinking of the movies that might have ruled in his absence. We would have had KR Vijaya as the obedient daughter-in-law and preached to house wives how to follow the 26423498 rules to keep you husband happy and not question him. I am proud to have seen KB's movies and still salute him for the sheer intent in making movies with unusual characterization. Characters in the movie make-or-break the experience and KB had that spot on. 

To other people who might have not watched this, I highly recommend it to understand the quality of cinema then, and how surprisingly we never found another KB ( there might be a mani, shankar or Bala), though Bhagyaraj was pretty close in terms of characterization.

 (You can find the movie here)http://www.einthusan.com/movies/watch.php?lang=tamil&id=351

Inspite of having 3 of its products, I believe Apple hates me.

Over the last week, my entire RSS list has been full of Apple's new features with its Mountain Lion OS. I was quick to jump and purchase the $20 upgrade. 

I loved the features and the upgrades that seemed to get OS X closer to iOS in terms of various features and extended use to iCloud to create a consistent experience across devices. 

Something that has always peeved me has been Apple's tendency to control the way I should be using my computer. It reminds me of my mom when I was 6th grade. The safari browser now lacks the RSS button as Apple thinks RSS is a passé. Apple's strength over the years has been its reliance, or the lack of it on market research when it comes to design and features. Now another freak act to remove the RSS button sometimes feels that you are not considered when they make decisions for you. 

 

Restore The RSS Button To Safari With This Simple Extension | Cult of Mac:

(Via www.cultofmac.com)

Nithyananda episode

Ok now, he is in the news for all the reasons people dont know him for!
I have a different take on this. Why would Sun network air it without a censor ?
What statement did he make against MK or his family or Kalanithi and his family ?

I feel the media makes or breaks the society today. If only Sun Network had shown a little more discretion in airing this on TV(let me remind you that the viewers belong to all age groups)

Is it something that never happens in TN ? Why are we so emotionally driven that we burn effigies cuz he sleeps around ?
Haven't we seen the politicians of TN do this but still get spared cuz of the clout they have?
Does it mean that people who havent gotten into such a controversy the next RAM avtar of INDIA ?

Too many questions and too little definitive answers.

We must respect one's privacy is all i can say at this juncture. Why do we have this unstoppable urge to peek into one's personal life ?

Worst case they unearth this, I strongly feel they shouldnt be airing this on visual media ...

Review again!

I have been catching up with some movies lately. I seem to have come back to the normal path of watching (more) movies, but i know i still haven't come anywhere close to what i should or capable of !
Enough of some appraisal-type-talk. Lets get straight in !

Vinnathaandi Varuvaya - Cant help but start from this movie. Just watched it yesterday and cant get it out of my head. The movie is especially a great gift for a tamil audience that has given up (read embraced ) on the cliche ridden pseudo-creativity in its recent films.. The movie has a breezy feel to it. There is of course something usual with all Gautam movies, and that is Love at first sight. But on second thought you feel it better be this way, as they dont waste time getting into the plot.
Frame within a frame has always interested all of us, and this uses similar technique to keeps us glued. The lead pair was refreshing. Simbu for once impressed me. Trisha never fails to though ;)
They look fresh. Somehow looks like this movie is gonna make to head to the screen once again.
Now the thing that sets apart this love story from the rest are... the shades of grey with the lead characters.Trisha's character portrays that so damn well, and the commitment fear that is an integral part of any relations.  - Kudos portraying the characters this way instead of unakkaga-uyire-kuduppaen yaaaaaaaaawn style.

Goa - Venkat prabhu, who gave us Chennai-28 and Saroja somehow failed to give the same punch with this one. I looked at him as the next gen director who gives you loads of entertainment in an unconventional way. Here there is lot kalaaichal and no plot. The star of the previous movies, Premji is hackneyed and you canguess what his mannerism would be. Jai's english is kick-ass though. Yuvan seems to be diluting his work. Worth a single watch but nowhere close to the other venkat's flicks.

Tamil Padam - Awesome is the word. Tamil cinemas patents one of the maximum cliches. Nothing and noone has been spared. It is no lollu sabha and somehow keeps you engaged.
From the family song to the undercover police, rags to riches within a song, intro song etc the director takes care he does not spare you from falling off your seats. But a cliche that tamil padam also conformed to is the "Bambai" heroine.
I cant but not mention the scenes where the hero learn bharatnatyam in a day (Kaadhalan) and the tetra pack on "Kallippal"

Kutty - Mudiyala, valikkudu

Aayirathil Oruvan - What better movie to finish off this blog than AO. Ok here is a director who gives us what he would like to see as a movie. Agreed he doesnt do things subtlely. But this man seems to be one of the most creative script writers in the recent times. He seems to have taken us thru his trailblazing path. If most of the above movies were pure entertainers, this has loads of content. The issue is we have to realize that more the content, it begins to eat into the success. There is something similar with AO that way. He tries to package all the contents into one movie. I certainly loved the movie and have no complains. But if i would want him to gimme more movies like this one, then commercial viability is a must for his movies. This is when trimming parts of the movie helps.
But AO seriously is more of an experience than a movie

All Clear Ad

With the number of mind numbing ads that are out today on media, if I made my living shaking off these ads, I would make a fortune.
But discipline is not part of my DNA and I cant be doing this on a regular basis as more often than not I would get bored of doing the same thing over and over again. But let me tell you the quantity of  chappe ads that are coming will provide you a living for the next 4 generations.

The quality of the video that I have embedded is bad as I couldnt find a nice one on youtube. Maybe they felt ashamed to post it on the web.
The high point is youtube would not let you embed the video here, maybe they knew i was coming

 Watch the video here

Give me a break. Now who pays so much to arrange the sets for these people to come and showcase their dandruff free hair.
Why would someone pay so much to come to the stage to display the dandruff on their hair.

The sequel to the ad would be the All Clear Body spray where Asin would call people on stage to .....

25 Vital questions you would ask yourself

 I was inspired to answer some of the questions that came up when i read this blog
.
 This piece was more of what I felt today and may not be the same always. But it felt nice to answer these questions though I feel it may be an impulsive and not what I would do when I encounter the situation.

What is it like to wake up every morning and pretend that you aren’t dying?
This has never crossed my mind. Its just the faith I guess. Or I think God is kind enough to not inform me prior to the event.




If you had a friend who spoke to you in the same way that you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you allow that person to be your friend?

Not more than a couple of years, Cuz I cant believe someone would change the personality as often as I do. If they do I would call them psycho;) Contemplating it seriously I guess why wouldnt I want them to be with me always? 


Would you rather be rich and paralyzed from the waist down or poor and able bodied?
Poor and able bodied any day


What’s the most expensive gift you have ever received?  Is it the best gift you have ever received?

You wanna know the gift  ? I guess it is the best gift I could ask for other than a healthy and sound body n mind from parents.

OK wait a min. are we talking about gifts in hand or gifts for the mind. And to give you a clue it wasn't a material gift


When was the last time you lied?  Is it possible to lie without saying anything at all?
I feel I just lied before i wrote this blog(feel like its my breath) .I can lie when I sleep.


Stealing is immoral, right?  But what if stealing was the only way to feed a starving child?
I would steal the morals out of my mind. I am no strict disciplinarian. I would rather be imperfect and make people happy than be perfect and be unhappy

If I gave you $20, what percentage would you – really – save?  If I gave you $200,000, what percentage would you save?  Should there be a difference?

I guess the percentage would increase. I always spend less cuz than I should ;)

If someone could tell you the exact day and time that you are going to die, would you want them to tell you?

What i don't want them to tell me is how.

What i want them to tell me is how long I have. I have to create the bucket list and check the items on the list


If you found out you were going to die today, would you have any regrets?  Would you be happy with the way you spent the last 24 hours of your life?
 I am always happy . I guess I would have been happier meeting the people i love. Well the last 24 hrs.... I think i would settle for it.


What’s your single greatest moment of personal failure?  Looking back on it now, did it make you weaker or stronger?  What did you learn?

Learnt to make mistakes as they teach me more than what i learn when i dont make any


Do the words ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ mean not being persecuted or discriminated against, or do they mean doing whatever you please?
Means doing whatever I please as long as i dont step into someone else's personal space or liberty. But people seldom tell you when you do that but tell people who can do nothing about it.




Is it crazier to choose to be poor or to spend 40 years of your life hating 40 hours a week?

I ain't a person who'd look for happiness outside. I would start loving the hate

Do you ever feel like you don’t have enough time?  How many hours a week do you spend watching TV, or playing video games, or…?

I do feel I don't have enough time to do things I would want to do. 

I seldom do those recreational things listed above.


If you could be given another talent or ability, what would you want it to be?  Have you ever – really – tried to perfect this ability in yourself?

I would like to have understood my work better.

Yes and no for trying to better myself (I love these ambiguous statements;))


No matter how bad things get, are you aware that someone always has it worse than you do?

Oh yeah, but that makes me feel no better unless I meet the someone

When you help someone, do you ever think, “What’s in it for me?”
NEVER


Joy is found with simple awareness.  What does your joy look like today?
Joy is doing well in all things I do.  Self satisfaction


What’s the difference between ‘living’ and ‘existing?’

I live , My creativity and aspiration exists

Are you willing to sacrifice the life of your child or lover to support a war?

Not sure

 

Do you ask enough questions, or do you settle for what you know?
I try to ask as many as I can


If you could do it all over again, would you change anything?
Projecting myself to people. The first impression.


If your life was a novel, what would be the title and how would your story end?

Story ends with a coming soon with the sequel

and the title would be, A man who made no enemies.

Movies I caught up lately.

Wasn't in a mood to give individual reviews. So felt like putting it all together !

Wake Up Sid ! -  Nice watch. Given a chance would watch it again. Finally we see on screen, something that is an issue to the urban youth. Not very tough to associate with a few characters. An indication that the Indian Cinema wants you to sit back and take notice.

3 Idiots - You can hear enough and more things in the media about the infringement of copyrights. But as a moviegoer who pays the 200 bucks (well yeah i went on a weekend) this is a darling. Feels good to enjoy a movie thoroughly in the theatre. The last time this happened to me was for Saroja !


Anne Hall - A movie recomended by a TV new reporter. It is supposed to be the 70s classic. So quite similar to India, if a movie is interesting we do get rehashes later. So i have seen far too many rehashes and then the original failed to leave a punch.


500 days of Summer - Its about a guy's 500 days with a gal named Summer. It is a very average movie and even brushes with Bad on occasions. But being in a flight often doesn't give a plethora of options and you gotta stick with the ones that are available. Strict MISS


Ugly Truth - Katherine Heigl is cute and Gerard Butler is a live wire. Movie is run of the mill romantic comedy where the opposite poles attract. But a nice watch anyhow. Kept me engaged.


Thoranai - Shriya is smashing. A strict NO again.


Eeram - Slick thriller. Shankar needs a pat on the back to have the balls to produce a movie with supernatural elements, in the era of people with the dude-its-the-computer-generation.


Pasanga - Post Anjali I would recommend this movie to go back to your childhood though its got a rustic feel to it. Very nice 

Nadodigal - Rocks is the only word though you wouldn't understand why the movie was heading nowhere till the climax pops up. Cant believe a megaserial-director worked on this movie. Why was he hibernating there ??? 

Cadbury's "BOURNVILLE"

This blog , dont worry will be short :D

I just happened to come across this chocolate by chance and thought it was worth a tr y atleast cuz it came form the house that provided us with the max quality chocolates and i have no glitches to say they have maintained the standard . In a land where there are not so many dark chocolates cuz we love milk chocolates , this had to be a brave move .

Taste: This dark chocolate bar was broken lengthwise into six sections. Each piece had the Cadbury signature logo on top. It was fairly thick, and it took some minor force to break the sections apart. The chocolate was bittersweet and pretty good, if you're in the mood for some dark chocolate.

Aroma: Typical dark chocolate smell.

MY VERDICT : Being not so particular about food this has been one of my boldest moves to say , go ahead and taste it. it s worth ur money

Brazil v/s Ghana

A moment of Ronaldo class and a controversial Adriano goal helped give Brazil a 3-0 win over Ghana on Tuesday but their path to the World Cup quarter-finals was far from smooth.

Ronaldo struck after five minutes but Ghana piled on the pressure and exposed the world champions' defence on several occasions before Adriano broke their hearts, if not their spirits, in first-half injury time.

Midfielder Ze Roberto added the third in the 84th minute when he slipped the Ghanaian offside trap once more.

Ghana ended the match with 10 men, striker Asamoah Gyan sent off in the 81st minute when he collected his second yellow card for a dive.

Brazil, seeking a fourth successive final appearance and a sixth triumph, now face Spain or France, who meet in the last remaining second round game later.

Record Goal

Brazil got the ideal start when Kaka sprung the offside trap with a pass into the path of Ronaldo and the striker bamboozled Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingston with a quickstep dummy before tucking in his 15th World Cup goal, overhauling the record he shared with Germany's Gerd Mueller.

Ghana, without suspended midfield inspiration Michael Essien, looked in disarray in the first 20 minutes but gradually settled to attack the shaky heart of the Brazilian defence and create a series of chances that had the world champions rattled.

Matthew Amoah should have scored but scuffed his shot in front of goal after 24 minutes and John Mensah then met a corner with a perfect downward header that Brazil keeper Dida somehow kept out with his foot.

Ghana were then stunned on the break with a controversial goal as Kaka fed the overlapping Cafu, making a Brazilian record 19th World Cup finals appearance.

Adriano was well offside at that point but play continued as he had not collected the ball but he was certainly involved, and probably still marginally offside, as he drove into the six-yard box to nudge home his captain's low cross.

The Ghana players protested to no avail as did their Serbian coach Ratomir Dujkovic, who was sent to the stands for his troubles.

The last remaining African side in the competition did well to come out fighting, with Gyan forcing Dida into a good diving save after 69 minutes.

FiFA and technology

I know the title never sounds like antonyms , but in reality it persuades u to feel this way . WHy does FIFA shy away from Technolgy thats begging to be used . U have almost all games that seek the help of technology for corroboration of the on field evidence but the game which involves teh maximum money shies away from it .Huge paradox !
U have the penalty to Italy , today's Adriono's Offside , and even the Cafu's offside and what not . In a day u can get more than half a dozen instances that make the game more unfair and susceptible to humar error. Over all why will i ever forget the "Hand Of God " ( ya we never had he tech those days as we have now. )

If its the time constraint that FIFA has in its mind , very sorry , we can watch a game for 2 or even 2.5 if its played fairly with stop timers. That shouldnt be the barrier in a game that involves huge money and the public sentiment .

All we want is a good game of football thats fought fairly. When wil this strike to FIFA or if i am not well informed abt the reason , please comment

Italy v/s asutralia ( shell shocked)

All u could shout out at the 95+ min was "what the F@#$" .Its not just u or me , it wud have been the reaction of most of the people other than the Azzuries. When Italy more or less dominated the 1st half half and the half went goalless and then the socceroos had the ball rolling for them for most of the second half , i think the game deserverved a better finish than the what we saw . It was a damp squib in terms of the poor refreeing .
This is what i am blogging immediately after watching the match , so i think u guys need to stand the intensity that may ooze outta this .
Ya i had to bow to the bad red card decision against the italians but that by no means equalise the decision for the penalty in the final seconds of the match.
If u guys havent seen a match that changed in teh final seconds on the half , then this was a perfect illustration of what a goof up by the refree can lead to . The commentaors ( harsha bhogle and Co ) were equally shocked by the refree's decsion. One of them said that he had seen such incidents of playing for the penalty and earning it many a time in the italian and the spanish league. He did the same thing here , a person with a kinda ok sight could spot that that totti earned the penalty and tripped when he could have easily crossed the defender.

If u thought that azzuries would have had a cake walk b4 the match started , then u r highly mistaken , cuz it was the strategic cheating that got them thru.
Its not that i didnt want them to win , its just that , i wanted such an enthralling encounter be given its due respect , and finished in a manner where the winning side can take pride in its victory .

for more on that read the following article on CNN IBN
http://www.ibnlive.com/football/aussies-hold-italy-00-at-halftime/13953-5.html

i think we should have reservations

I think we should have job reservations in all the fields. I
completely support the PM and all the politicians for promoting this.
Let's
start the reservation with our cricket team. We should have 10 percent
reservation for muslims. 30 percent for OBC, SC/ST like that. Cricket
rules
should be modified accordingly. The boundary circle should be reduced
for an SC/ST player. The four hit by an OBC player should be considered
as a six and a six hit by a OBC player should be counted as 8 runs. An
OBC player scoring 60 runs should be declared as a century.

We should influence ICC and make rules so that the pace bowlers like
Shoaib Akhtar should not bowl fast balls to our OBC player. Bowlers
should bowl maximum speed of 80 kilometer per hour to an OBC player.
Any
delivery above this speed should be made illegal.

Also we should have reservation in Olympics. In the 100 meters race, an
OBC player should be given a gold medal if he runs 80 meters.

There can be reservation in Government jobs also. Let's recruit" - MITR 

Energy crisis

U wont see a newspaper in india that doesnt carry an information abt the N deal that India and US finalised. Well i d like to aggregate a few things i have read and learnt abt this issue over the years.
India on the ground level is very thermal intensive energy production, and cant boast of a lot of hydrocarbons and nuclear fuel. India hence is a major importer of oil , from the middle east.

Now staying with the oil , how many of us know that Russia is the biggest producer of oil.But due its strategic location to the poles, burns most of its oil to keep itself warm. This also makes it consume most of the oil it produces. Next as we all know is the Saudi and then Iran. Saudi has been an US ally for most of its history , and with the turkey as the fulcrum , US drives its quest for fuel. Iran and US have been on loggergheads since the time i have been reading the papers over the nuclear issue.

If u wud ask me who wud be a reliable long term energy partner Iran or US , i d say neither!!
i'll delineate y .
India has been buying oil from the middle east for decades now . Iran also has the 3rd largest reserve of nuclear fuel. But Iran also boasts of political anarchy. So India always ends up paying the price for fuel they ask us to(due to political instability and change of power). And Iran lacks the infrastructure to capture the natural Gas. So when the plan for the Iran pipeline went ahead , US had to play the Big brother and intervene to say that" if we invade iran then the safety of the pipeline isnt our responsibilty". This put India onto the backfoot, cuz Iran hasnt been conforming to the IAEA , and its imminent that US attacks Iran, and cant afford to lose billions of money for this.

So if india were to look at US as the strategic partner , for nuclear fuel, the congress(US) seems to have a problem. But India desparatly needs N fuel , or otherwise the N weapons would decay if not kept running. So presently US is the only source for N fuel for india.
The hook wud be that India has to get the weapons under the purview of the IAEA , adn if this is done, india wud lose the millitary secrets and all of them wud be exposed which wud be a threat to the national security.

How India is going to deal with the Unreliable partners is what will test the diplomatic mantle of the ruling party !!

POLICE

P(rotection) O(f) L(aw) I(n) C(ivil) E(stablishments)
Police these days has becomes synonymous with atrocious activities and an epitome of immoral behaviour. From the Jessica's tampering with evidence to the loads of money recovered from the bangalore police , the image of Poilce has taken a beating.I and most of us would agree that police more or less these days has very unethical mode of action and neither of us would barge into a police station cuz we fear losing more after entering ,than before .All said and done i am not going to blog about the cliche " how bad the police are ", but would like to point out a few positives that i find in the police.

The first and the foremost i feel that Police are the only wing of the indian executive service that havent gone on a huge nation wide strike . We have seen the food and civil supplies, the postal etc go on strike but never has the police done such an act. If done, the knock-on-effects are better not mentioned.


Then we just had the controversy where the doctor files a suit against the name of VasoolrajaMBBS , that it was depracating the social status of the doctors. Then the Lawyers went on the same lines about their professions being showed in bad light in "SIVAKASI". But how many times hasnt the Police faced such a situations on screen. From the early 80 s till the movies that enter the boxes today , have atleast a farce on the police and the policemen. But the Police seems to have taken it in good spirit.

They have night duties where they cant spend with their loved ones (i mean the sincere breed of officers). And the police plays a phenomenal role in maintaining the Law and order of the country.

There are a lot of unscrupulous officers but , taking all the credit away would be only next to what they commit. You do have a good number of ppl who wanna accomplish .
finally "THEY WAKE SO THAT U CAN SLEEP IN PEACE "

ASTRO(LOGYCAL)?

Astrology is one of the major money spinning professions today. How many of us wouldn't have seen or heard, people with their take on how your day is going to be. Almost all satellite channels have their morning slots with one or the other forecast based programmes. You have even the print media giving their forecasts for the day and week.

And why wouldn't anyone capitalise on the huge market that is thrown open. You even have the mobile service providers providing this at a nominal cost.
But I have a different take on astrology. Please don't go ahead if you are a staunch follower of astrology.

Not only I but most of us who have done their schooling, have been taught right from scratch about how to deal with life scientifically. They iterate me to question everything that happens around me and thats the only way i am going to learn . But you always have an antithesis when you are back home. They would ask(rather force) you to accept whatever they do without questioning and the reason atleast i have got for most practices would be " Our forefathers weren't mugs with their lives". Does it mean that practices even though unacceptable would evolve as correct because they are in practice for a lot of years .

There is a school of thought that astrology is a science that can be proved right. Yeah it can be,
but i personally feel that reading a last page of a thriller and probing about your future are the same. Man is a constantly evolving at the mind level. We always learn from experience and are better people everyday , learning from mistakes and more equipped to handle situations , which have shaken us in the past. These may be irrelevant but i have mentioned this to corroborate the fact that "Life is a journey than a destination".

And going ahead assuming that astrology is really scientific , I sincerely don't like that fact that my life isn't under my control. I prefer not to be a pillion so that i can control my vehicle and on a macroscopic level my life. I have grown up with all the lessons that hardwork can take you to horizons that otherwise wouldnt have been possible.

And taking a hypothetical condition that if a person knows he isnt going to have an exiting future, so what's next? The whole hope of succeeding and living is lost.
A Russian author Doestoevesky who was sentenced to death and then was vindicated at the 11th hour. He then went on to write the book called "The Idiot" in which he says that Capital punishment should be abolished , and his rationale behind this was when a person is indicted and put to capital punishment , he loses the Hope for Life . Mankind leverages on hope and when this is lost , living becomes elusive, and spending your time in the cell is better not described .Now when a person gets to know of his future ( through astrology ) and it isnt the way he expects his life to be , he loses the hope towards life and underperforms, thereby having a not so bright life .But few and far between does he realise that it was his lack of effort that has got him here .
This is a vicious circle.

P.S: I am not an atheist , but just a non believer of astrology

Golden Words From The "Grey" Gold

The speech delivered by the Honorable President of India at the inaugural
memorial lecture on the first death anniversary of Shri Ambani in
Hyderabad.

Please make time to read it. Especially if you live in India.
May be this is long but i am very sure you'll long for more



"Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our
achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success
stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?


We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a
self-sustaining, self-driving unit.


There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in
the bad news and failures and disasters.


I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the
day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The
Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a
Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an
orchid and a granary.
It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of
killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among
other news.
In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we
so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with
foreign things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want
foreign technology.
Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that
self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this
lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her
what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India.


For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must
proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed
nation. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.
Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is
yours.
YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,
The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.
YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?
Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a
face - YOURS.
YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In
Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the
stores.
YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5
(approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim
Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the
parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a
restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity... In
Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU?


YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not
dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to
buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650)
a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone
else.
'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then
tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I
am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.'
YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage
pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.
Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use
examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston???
We are still talking of the same YOU.
YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but
cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road
the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and
appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here
in India?
Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr.
Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the
streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said.
'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the
authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the
officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the
pressure in his bowels?
In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job.
Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?'


He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that
forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect
the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally
negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop
chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a
stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to
provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of
bathrooms.
We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and
toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to
the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to
women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room
protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the
whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my
sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our
neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the
government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually
making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with
our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far
away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a
majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their
glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to
England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out
to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and
brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape
the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is
mortgaged to money.
Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great
deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J.
F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....
'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA
AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA
WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'
Lets do what India needs from us."

Thank you,
Dr. Abdul Kalaam
(PRESIDENT OF INDIA )