Digging for Meaning

ABCD 2 is dance movie with mediocre dance. And that tells you a lot about the film makers and what they think of their audience. Made by celebrated choreographers with cult following, it is really disheartening to see them do a half-ass job at what they preach.The dances are not path-breaking or  original or even evocative. Most of the dancers do not give their 100% to the performance. You can see the lack of practice and energy in dances. The editor and cameraman do as much, if not more, movements as the dancers. Many Indian dance shows have better choreographed dances than this movie has. This is interesting because, the makers of this film are judges in at-least a few of those shows. Why suck? "Because everybody deserves a second chance." ad infinitum..  But this is the second movie in the franchisee. One expects that they would learn story telling by now at least? or does 100cr business is a reason enough for bad film making and lazy dance choreography? (for a movie ...

I feel that the system is rewarding me well with my career.  Primarily because my career is in advertising industry and as it turn out, advertising is one of the most important soldiers in service of globalisation . So, while seemingly inconsequential, my role is an integral (though small) cog among the many million small cogs that keep this system running. The system needs people who are capable of doing what is required of them. And I am capable enough . Enough - The system only requires a very narrow skill set of mine. That is a small part of the arsenal of skill sets that a typical human requires to progress and thrive in life. I suck at breathing for example. I have terrible hand-eye co-ordination. I have hundred other deficiencies that I would much rather not share with my possible future employer. It astounds me that for all my short comings and a few strengths, I earn way too much in comparison to people who are better humans that me. I am lucky to have just the right...

 Today morning, I got a message from Citibank that a charge of Rs. 1400 was being made to my credit card. The funny thing is, I didn't authorise this. The funnier thing is, my account has been closed since at least half a year. So is the credit card separate from my account? If I don't have an account, how do I access customer service?  In the past, i had willingly let go of around 3000 rs to avoid hassle of having to interact with the robots who sit between me and humans in customer service department of that company. After a few days of frustration, I closed the account and let go of the money in the account. 'Fuck it' is what i said. I guess I will have to say it again. (the luxury of being able to say 'fuck it' is obviously bought by the system as well for me. I am very much a subject of the 'Capitol', not the districts.) This is how the 'system' operates. It's power is not in centralised and accessible individuals. It is in the mesh...

When people are talking about 'the system', what are they exactly talking about? When you fight against the system, who do you exactly fight against? Why are some people successful without much effort, while some languish? Who does the system reward, whom does it punish? Why do people kill each other? What causes people to think that a change is important? and what makes some ideas of changes possible, while some others simply die? When we talk about 'the system' what we really mean to say is - 'power structure'. We are curious about the flow of power. (From where to where? who/ what is the source? how to get some? what makes it flow?) If we believe Hollywood, the System is bunch of powerful humans who conspire in evil goals. (world domination, extreme wealth and so on.) But that can't be true. Humans want to believe that they are bigger than they are. That they have power and control over things that they don't. That they can comprehend the w...

Salman Khan is not merely a criminal , a terrible actor or one of the most influential and loved people in India. He is a new archetype for the 21st century India. He is an archetype that answers a quintessential Indian yearning. Unfortunately the yearning reflects how pathetic and infantile humanity can be. When infants, we believe that we are at the absolute center of the universe, where all our acts deserve recognition and appreciation. To grow up is to grow out of this belief. The 'Salman Khan as an archetype' answers the yearning to be forever an infant. To forever enjoy consequence-less freedom. People refuse to see the bad in him. The 'true fans' of this horrible person get readily offended and aggressive when someone speaks ill of their 'bhai'. When someone points out facts of his monstrosity - killing homeless people , making his driver a scapegoat (what a ' hero '!), killing a harmless animal , domestic abuse , intimidation .... - the fa...

Context: Out from a deep slumber, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has gotten into a hyper active mode. It started with discovery of Maggi making us eat poison . Soon it turned out, half the products that we daily depend on for maintaining our lifestyle are fucking with us one way or another. Aftermath: Some people have stopped using some of these products. But the most visible and loud portion of Indian humanity - the upper middle class that is active on social media - has responded in a surprising fashion (and hence this blog). They feel cheated! They sense a rat - not in the product, but in the discovery. They have responded with a sense of loss. They see it as an an unjust act of aggression by the government. They see it as an attack on their way of life. See this idiotic video for instance. What does this reaction mean? 1. People trust companies more than government in India. Edelman's trust barometer had found out that earlier. But this episode...

Art is what a very rich white man says art is. A blank canvas. A urinal. A gaze. All of these are works of art. Because someone had the balls to bluff and a rich white man thereafter decided to agree. What if the rich white man does not agree? Then the thought remains a failed though - an attempt, a shot at the game of chance.