Reality Bytes

Movies! How I love them!
Vacations are here and I try to catch up with as many movies I can.Just watched three movies in a week,Baaghi,Sairaat and Neel Battey Sannata.Baaghi was as expected, all about superb depiction of hand to hand combat and an advertisement of the art of kalairipattu,the martial art form of Kerala.The story-line is nothing to rave about.The other two movies were simply superb and I went around promoting them to all my friends.Each was superb in its own way.

Neel Battey Sannata
The name itself was a mystery and no one knew what it meant, but this movie won many accolades when it was showcased on international platform so I went to watch it.It was a heartening story about a mother-daughter relationship.It depicted how an ordinary person can rise to extraordinary heights with hard work and dedication.It showed how a mother's love can surpass all challenges.
Swara Bhaskar was brilliant as the hard-working mother who went to great lengths to see that her daughter did well in life.The girl who played her daughter was a natural and reminded me so much of my carefree daughter who did not take her studies seriously.The movie showed how the daughter and mother fight against all odds to progress in life.The language was rustic and it was a movie made on a shoe-string budget but it was truly inspirational.I was astounded to hear the scanty audience in the theatre clap at the end of the movie.No song and dance in the movie and no big names ,yet this movie came with a strong message told in a non-preachy manner.
Sadly,there were only a few shows of this movie and many did not watch it.So many good films like this one go unnoticed due to the lack of promotion,"Jo dikhtaa hai,wahi biktaa hai!"

Sairaat
Marathi movies have come a long way!Earlier what they had was a lot of slap-stick comedy,emotional melodrama,double-meaning dialogues and predictable stories.there has been a gamut of good Marathi cinema has made everyone take notice. Natasamrat, Fandry, Timepass, Eka Premachi Goshta and Katyaar Kaljaat Ghusli were films that set the bench mark for movies to come.
The film Sairaat which is made by Zee Studios has been making headlines even before the release.It was a well-promoted movie and the music is exemplary.the movie was running house-full in most theatres and a majority loved it.There was also some discontent about how a certain caste was depicted in the movie,some even saying that honour killings was not something that happened in Maharashtra.Stepping away from all the controversy ,all I can say is that Nagraj Manjule ,the director has done an exemplary job with the movie.each and every character has played his/her role to perfection.The language used is rustic and a bit tough to understand by everyone so thankfully there were sub-titles in the movie.each and every song and the background music is sensational.The zinghaat song has become a rage all over and the people in some theatres (mostly in rural areas) went crazy and danced away when it was played.Archie(Rinku Rajguru) and Parshya(Akash Thosar) stole everyone's hearts with their love story that had a gruesome end.The sweet courtship in the beginning reminded each one of their first crush or love but as the story continued it projected that life is not a bed of roses,one has to deal with the good and the bad times together if love has to conquer.
I watched the movie twice and on both occasions the stunned silence at the end of the movie was spine-chilling.There is a loud gasp by the audience when they see the couple killed in cold blood.The audience leaves the theatres in silence, thinking about bloodied footprints of the toddler who sees his parents killed for family honour.It is indeed heart-wrenching to see the crying toddler and it makes us think about the futility of honour killings.Cannot imagine why honour killings are still prevalent in India.

So movies do relate to real life.They can inspire and make us think.I am glad I watched these wonderful movies.Do watch them if you haven't already.

India is Going Digital!

Digital India!
It has such a good sound to it!
It is heartening to see that there has been tremendous effort put in by the new government to make our country more capable,versatile and a force to reckon with.Digital India is one such step towards making Indians more tech savvy and taking the internet into the interiors of India where they can be used in different ways for the up-liftment of the villages.It is a step to make the internet and all its benefits available easily to the common man so that one and all can move towards progress.I applaud this change and hopefully it will be for the better.The vision is great ,the only (and important and challenging) thing left is the implementation and follow up.

Many political parties too wanted a share of the pie of the digital initiative.They did not want to be left behind so they came up with some ideas for the digital revolution.A certain political party came up with the idea to start an E-class and decided to distribute Tablets in the BMC schools  through a project costing 15.5 crore .Each tablet came at the cost of Rs 6850.According to this venture, 22,799 tablets were to be distributed to the standard eighth,ninth and tenth students from BMC schools.It was proclaimed to be the first digital education programme initiated by that or any other political party.

As a start tablets were distributed to the STD eight students of a BMC school at Vile Parle and Dadar. Many a times such initiatives are taken up without the thorough study of facts and roadblocks that one may come across and this was one such initiative.The matter available in the tablets was a huge let down as it contained a few scanned notes of the current curriculum and some out-dated information.There were no new or interesting apps available on it.There was no camera facility on it for obvious reasons but most importantly there was no internet facility as the schools did not have the net availability in their school.With much fanfare the project was implemented and it was the talk of all the tabloids.The tablets were handed over to the students and they posed with them and it was perfect photo op for the political party.That was not the end of the story unfortunately, as when it was found that there was a lot yet to be added to these tablets in order to make it more useful, the tablets were unceremoniously taken back and kept in the custody of the school again. It dawned upon the school that since the tablets were not to be taken by the students and were to be used in the school only, they required a safe place for keeping the tablets. They also had to make internet facility available for the maximum use of the tablets.So all the brouhaha around the digital education programme came to naught and it was back to the chalk and talk technique once again for all the students of the school.

I am not against the use of tablets and computers in schools.What is my concern is that it should come only when the schools are ready for it.A project need not be initiated just for the sake of it,its worthiness should be taken into account.According to the study of the BMC schools in Maharashtra, there is very poor reading,writing and mathematical ability seen in the students. many of the students in STD five cannot read or calculate according to the desired level.The teaching skills of the teachers in the schools are not upto the mark and they are often tied up with paper work,census duty and are on duty during the elections too.There is high demand for teaching jobs in the BMC as the teachers take home a hefty pay packet and have a secure job once they are permanent.Getting a job in the government aided schools is difficult and I have heard of people who have sold their land to pay hefty amounts to get it.What I believe is that the focus should be on getting the basics of the students to be strong.They should have fluency in reading,writing and computing for their level of study.In the earlier stages, i.e pre-primary levels of teaching, the focus should be on laying a strong foundation for learning.The first skill required is listening,followed by reading,writing and computing.Without having the basic knowledge of the three R's (Reading,Writing,Arithmetic) one cannot expect the students to do well with the introduction f tablets and computers.All this should be taken into account before initiating a digital education programme.

Brings me to the fact that change is a necessity. Change is the only thing that is constant.
For progress,change is a must. It is important that the change should be planned and implemented keeping all the pros and cons of the situation in mind.The hurdles, the basic infrastructure and other criteria should be kept in mind while initiating any new project.The present trends, future problems and challenges, follow up procedures after implementation , all should be take into account in order for any initiative to be successful.

How are these useful to us without net facility?

Distribution of tablets at a Vile Parle school

The students flaunt their tablets which are taken back the same day.

The students of a school at Dadar get their tablets.

Ganpati Bappa MORE, yeah!!!!

The tag line at the Olympics is Faster,Stronger ,Higher!
The tag line at the Ganpati festival each year it is Louder,Grander ,Higher!!!

Please do not get me wrong here.I too am an ardent devotee of the elephant-headed Ganesha and I celebrate the grand festival of Maharashtra state with fervour.As each year passes by ,the height of the idols keep rising.I was under the impression that there were just a few idols around the city which were huge and all the others were of medium or small size,how wrong I was! This time around I visited a Ganesha-making workshop and was amazed to see a large number of huge idols all displayed for the festival.Every nook and corner of the city has got its very own Sarvajanik Ganesh Mandal which try to compete with each other on the grandeur scale. Even when I visited the Girgaon beach on the tenth day of immersion ,I saw that every second idol was a huge one.On the way to the beach and back,there were numerous huge Ganesha idols all being taken in a procession with great fanfare.If Lokmanya Tilak was seeing all this he must be pained as he had brought forward the concept of Sarvajanik Ganeshutsav to bring the people closer and here they were competing against each other.

The festival has become unimaginably noisy reaching the highest decibles. All around there is non-stop music blaring on the loudspeakers that dole out obscene and ear-shattering music.It is the worst ever time for the old,sick and those who need peace and quiet.Even for the animals around it is punishment.I am not saying do not do the required poojas or sing devotional songs,all I say is that the noise levels should be drastically reduced.At the procession I saw the crowds dancing like there was no tomorrow and many of them were actually drunk!Intoxicated at a festival like this!

There is a lot of effort that goes into spreading awareness about an eco-friendly Ganesh festival yet there is no indication of that being followed by the majority.The use of thermocol and other non-biodegradable materials is rampant.The idols are mad using POP(plaster of paris) and toxic colours that play havoc with the environmental balance of the water bodies and the existing marine life.There is minimum use of the artificial lakes for immersion as most of the idols are huge.Crackers are burst at most places leading to air pollution.Some of the pandals use public space like roads and are the cause of traffic jams and inconvenience for all.There is high usage of electricity for the lighting and music facility.It is use of MORE all the way!!!

At the beach on the tenth day, there was a huge crowd which was being ably controlled by the police and the other swayam sevaks who had been roped in to manage the crowds.The police had a tough job at hand and they were working tirelessly.There was maximum celebration in the Dadar-Parel-Lalbag area.One by one the idols kept coming in and the announcement was made to welcome each Ganesh Mandal. There were small boats and trolleys in order to help the idols to be immersed.It was late evening when I went there with my photographer friend,and it was high tide.With every wave that hit the shore we could see lots of debris.The water was full of plastic remains,decorative material,garlands,etc.There were huge Nirmalya containers kept at the beach for people to put in the garlands and other waste before immersing the idols but they were not used by the people.Why bother when it could all be dumped into the waters along with the lord?

What pained me was that it was not possible for the people to immerse the idols properly due to their huge size.The smaller ones were taken in a boat a little ahead in the water and immersed while the bigger ones just would not budge ahead!Try as they could,many idols just could not be immersed and as a result they were left right in the middle of the water and there they stood with their backs facing the shore,like as if they were left in isolation after ten days of fanfare and worship.Is this how we treat our God?Just looking at the huge idols standing there in the water made me realize how important it is to reduce the height of the idols and to also reduce the number of Ganesh Mandals that are emerging all around.

That reminded me of a video I watched yesterday wherein the Ganesha idols were loaded on to a truck and taken on the bridge on a river or creek.Once there, the idols were picked one by one unceremoniously and just thrown, I really mean thrown  into the shallow water below.We could actually see the idol shattering to pieces as they fell down and at times they shattered as they crashed against the walls of the bridge.This was done in the presence of the police and other devotees.It was really disheartening to watch the video.Where was there any piety or sanctity in this type of immersion?

It is time to start to having one idol for one particular area,and that to an eco-friendly idol which is smaller in size too.The complete celebration should be eco-friendly with less noise,less pollution and less wastage.What should be MORE is the devotion and piety in our hearts for the lord and His creation.Sounds too far-fetched,does it??But it can be a possibility.
Lets hope Lord Ganesha can instil good sense in the people and they will opt for an eco-friendly Ganesh festival in the years to come.

Here are some snap shots of my visit to the Girgaon Beach on the tenth day of the Ganesh festival this year.