In an earlier era, fantasy was an escape. A vicarious view of the life we might have had; had we been allowed to dictate it. Tightly bound by the constraints of society, religion, economics, politics and indeed our own minds, reality was the life we looked to escape. Our attitude was fatalistic. One was born and could hope to die in very similar situations; sons and daughters pretty much filled the same roles that their fathers and mothers did. Where reality was narrowly defined, fantasy was imaginative and free.
Bollywood was built on fantasy. It presented the utopia we craved, the challenges we wanted to surmount, the rewards and respect that eluded us in reality. Ordinary men proved themselves and went on to live extraordinary lives on the screen, while the audiences went back to their ordinary lives, sustained by the glimpses of something totally out of reach. Fantasy was an escape and nothing more, a pleasant dream to soothe our eyes and minds. An interlude – a break from the monotony of real life.
Post liberalization as our reality has progressed; we have begun to fantasize of dreams within reach.
TV serials are built on accessible fantasy. They present the real problems, dilemmas and struggles of everyday life with a little glamour, showing us that reality need not always be so stark and depressing. Everyday life can be beautiful too, if we invite fantasies that thrive within our limitations. We may not have the red carpet but we can surely get red roses, we may not own the world but the exercise of power in our own sphere is still possible.
Reality shows are bringing fantasy down to real life. Real life transforms to celebrity life overnight. Not just through talent and hard work in competitions like Indian Idol & Dance India Dance, but also through outrageous & bad behaviour in shows like Roadies & Splitsvilla.
And anyone can get a ‘following’ on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. Air your views on anything under the sun, publish your writing, show off your exotic vacations. Complain, admire, shock, criticize, like, friend, trash, protest, put down – all within sight of a global audience.
Video & Internet games allow us to ‘live’ in other dimensions that though made of fantasy, feel just as real. Get a virtual life, fight in a virtual war and even have virtual sex. Anything seems possible today.
Living one’s fantasies was once impossible – who could reach for a dream that was elusive, as far out of reach as the moon? Today even the moon does not feel out of reach with space tourism seeming like a distinct possibility. A moment’s fantasy transforms rapidly into reality in a relatively quick passage of time. Perhaps, there is no longer much difference between fantasy and reality.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
COMMUNITY CONSCIENCE
Anna Hazare has sparked off the revolution for India's post-liberalisation generation. And this one is not for 'freedom' but against 'misuse of freedom'.
Democracy is alive and thriving in India but perhaps our elected and appointed representatives are thriving too much at the public's expense. Corruption used to be something that even the corrupt were ashamed of...it existed in secret coded langauge and behind closed doors. Today, corruption is in the open...flaunted with a smirk and accepted as an institution.
The government response to the Gandhian protest proves this point. Even if I did not suspect the Congress of corruption before, now I feel sure. Why else be so defensive about having any sort of check on their powers? Democracy is about accountability too!
And I'm not naive enough to believe that the opposition is any better. I commend Team Anna for not allowing any political party to appropriate this cause and make it another empty electoral promise.
While Parliament consists of representatives of the people, the judgement of how to hold these representatives accountable should be left to the people too. Why give them the power to decide what they are answerable to?
As a concerned citizen, I support this movement. But I feel the need to add that this is not just a revolution to be fought in the country as a community - it is equally & critically important to continue the fight in the conscience as individuals.
We the people are India. So if we want the country to shed the persona of corruption, we need to decide never to contribute to it in any way.
Democracy is alive and thriving in India but perhaps our elected and appointed representatives are thriving too much at the public's expense. Corruption used to be something that even the corrupt were ashamed of...it existed in secret coded langauge and behind closed doors. Today, corruption is in the open...flaunted with a smirk and accepted as an institution.
The government response to the Gandhian protest proves this point. Even if I did not suspect the Congress of corruption before, now I feel sure. Why else be so defensive about having any sort of check on their powers? Democracy is about accountability too!
And I'm not naive enough to believe that the opposition is any better. I commend Team Anna for not allowing any political party to appropriate this cause and make it another empty electoral promise.
While Parliament consists of representatives of the people, the judgement of how to hold these representatives accountable should be left to the people too. Why give them the power to decide what they are answerable to?
As a concerned citizen, I support this movement. But I feel the need to add that this is not just a revolution to be fought in the country as a community - it is equally & critically important to continue the fight in the conscience as individuals.
We the people are India. So if we want the country to shed the persona of corruption, we need to decide never to contribute to it in any way.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
NO END, NO BEGINNING
An empty world
Light fills in
Yet still empty
A hungry soul
Thoughts feed it
Yet still hungry
A yearning need
Met again and again
Yet still yearning
Complete the circle
Follow the trail
Return to the beginning
And start again
Light fills in
Yet still empty
A hungry soul
Thoughts feed it
Yet still hungry
A yearning need
Met again and again
Yet still yearning
Complete the circle
Follow the trail
Return to the beginning
And start again
Saturday, July 2, 2011
TIME
Time speeds up
Time slows down
This is a good time
Oops, bad timing
Our time is too short
All we have is time
In ten million years
Or in a second
We could understand
If time really matters
Important or insignificant
Worth chasing
Or escaping from the illusion
Time slows down
This is a good time
Oops, bad timing
Our time is too short
All we have is time
In ten million years
Or in a second
We could understand
If time really matters
Important or insignificant
Worth chasing
Or escaping from the illusion
Friday, May 6, 2011
CAN TERROR BE KILLED?
A terrorist is dead. Ok, the world’s most famous and hated terrorist is dead. Justice has been served – the taker of innocent lives has had his own life taken from him. But it doesn’t mean that the world is any safer or that we can sleep any easier.
Osama Bin Laden and other leaders of terror are merely the sparks that ignite a long line of kindling to the final fire. The sparks can be banned and eliminated but as long as there is kindling the possibility of fire remains. And no one can be safe.
Franz Kafka said “So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.” What is simple is true. It is hunger and want and need that drives one man to hate another. We become our destructive best when we feel we have nothing left to lose. When we have no homes to protect, no means to educate or feed our children, no voice that can be heard....what options are left?
Options. Do terrorists have any? We ask terrorists many things – we question their humanity & sanity rhetorically through media and probe details of operations and agendas more physically through torture. But does anyone ask the other pertinent questions – what were his options? Did he have alternative means of providing for himself and his family? If he did, what prevented him from resorting to them?
Why would a 12 year old boy become a suicide bomber? Is it the hunger in his stomach that craves such a final satisfaction? Or are there multiple stomachs that will only be fed with the price of his blood? Or is it the intense propaganda of those who have known deprivation intimately and are skilled in exploiting it?
We can kill terrorists. We cannot kill terror. It comes from the fire of hatred that is perpetually burning in different corners of the world. It is fuelled by prejudice, discrimination, exploitation, greed, revenge, ignorance, manipulation, differences of attitude & lifestyle....but the kindling is always the same – poverty.
Osama Bin Laden and other leaders of terror are merely the sparks that ignite a long line of kindling to the final fire. The sparks can be banned and eliminated but as long as there is kindling the possibility of fire remains. And no one can be safe.
Franz Kafka said “So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.” What is simple is true. It is hunger and want and need that drives one man to hate another. We become our destructive best when we feel we have nothing left to lose. When we have no homes to protect, no means to educate or feed our children, no voice that can be heard....what options are left?
Options. Do terrorists have any? We ask terrorists many things – we question their humanity & sanity rhetorically through media and probe details of operations and agendas more physically through torture. But does anyone ask the other pertinent questions – what were his options? Did he have alternative means of providing for himself and his family? If he did, what prevented him from resorting to them?
Why would a 12 year old boy become a suicide bomber? Is it the hunger in his stomach that craves such a final satisfaction? Or are there multiple stomachs that will only be fed with the price of his blood? Or is it the intense propaganda of those who have known deprivation intimately and are skilled in exploiting it?
We can kill terrorists. We cannot kill terror. It comes from the fire of hatred that is perpetually burning in different corners of the world. It is fuelled by prejudice, discrimination, exploitation, greed, revenge, ignorance, manipulation, differences of attitude & lifestyle....but the kindling is always the same – poverty.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
CRICKET MANIA OR SANITY
After 28 years, the World Cup has come home to India and all who witnessed this great triumph will remember it forever! Even people like me, who fall in the tiny niche that doesn’t really follow the game. Nothing unites India & her people better than this colonial game – not religion nor language nor culture nor intellect and definitely not politics.
In fact, politics has sought to divide our incredibly diverse country further & further on real and imagined differences in religion, caste, communities, etc. Cricket can overcome even this delusion as portrayed by this SMS, which has been circulating since the match –
"Dear Raj Thackeray,
A Chandigarh lad, a Jharkhand captain and a Delhi boy won the world cup for us and dedicated it to a Marathi legend.
Your regional hatred has failed.
Jai Ho!!"
And apart from obvious nationalistic pride, there was so much that inspired in the last few moments of the match and the ultimate victory. The stress-free attitude of captain Dhoni, the faith & teamwork of the entire team, their willingness to share the credit & glory....the sheer joy that was instantly felt by 1.2 billion people. Equally inspiring was the grace with which the Sri Lankan team accepted the defeat despite their brilliant performance in the match and indeed, the whole tournament.
While many deplore ‘cricket mania’ on the subcontinent and try to steer us towards more serious issues, I wish we could hold onto the unity & team spirit engendered by the world cup in addressing them. Our problem may be easily resolved – my or your problem may never be. And if the sport makes for better attitudes and inspires us to unite & forget petty differences, cricket ki jai ho!
In fact, politics has sought to divide our incredibly diverse country further & further on real and imagined differences in religion, caste, communities, etc. Cricket can overcome even this delusion as portrayed by this SMS, which has been circulating since the match –
"Dear Raj Thackeray,
A Chandigarh lad, a Jharkhand captain and a Delhi boy won the world cup for us and dedicated it to a Marathi legend.
Your regional hatred has failed.
Jai Ho!!"
And apart from obvious nationalistic pride, there was so much that inspired in the last few moments of the match and the ultimate victory. The stress-free attitude of captain Dhoni, the faith & teamwork of the entire team, their willingness to share the credit & glory....the sheer joy that was instantly felt by 1.2 billion people. Equally inspiring was the grace with which the Sri Lankan team accepted the defeat despite their brilliant performance in the match and indeed, the whole tournament.
While many deplore ‘cricket mania’ on the subcontinent and try to steer us towards more serious issues, I wish we could hold onto the unity & team spirit engendered by the world cup in addressing them. Our problem may be easily resolved – my or your problem may never be. And if the sport makes for better attitudes and inspires us to unite & forget petty differences, cricket ki jai ho!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
