Slumdog-Whose victory is it anyway?

Is it really a moment to celebrate for us Indians? Slumdog won 8 Oscars. Yes.

Two of them were for an Indian. Agreed.

But are we dumb enough not to see that the entire process of rewarding Slumdog was the West's way of ridiculing India's Nouveau riche status. In a Globalised world where the only victories worth winning are those of the mind, the West has pulled off a coup de grace.

Call me a pessimist. Call me 'apatriotic'. But I desist from finding joy in this victory. My heart celebrates Rahman's success with all the gusto of a true Indian. Then again, does Jai ho even come close to expressing the maestro's true potential. This is the guy who gave us Roja, Saathiya, Jaane tu ya Jaane na. Agreed that most of these songs were no-brainers(lyrics-wise), but that does not in the least bit diminish his musical genius. Surely no Indian will look back and say Jai ho was Rahman's magnum opus. What the hell, we won't even remember the song in a year or two.

Coming back to the point why I call the movie an 'ideologically imperialistic' one. For one, there may be a million movies showing the west in a poor light but show me a movie made by a foreigner which shows India in a positive light. Not many, huh. Even if there is such a thing, westerners wouldn't like to concede that a third world country could be in any way superior.

Wait a second, you might cite Richard Attenborough's Gandhi as a contradiction, but then again a foreigner had to show the world who Gandhi was. And to this day, Gandhi doesn't have a Nobel peace prize. Not that it makes any difference to a man of his stature but look at the paradox.

All in all, it's a victory for the western world's blighted view of India. It's their way of showing us that we are just slumdogs who got lucky. Still don't believe me, watch Steven Spielberg's 'Indiana Jones and the temple of doom'. You will understand the level of apartheid still in vogue!!!

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A not-so-teary farewell

Aha..... the day had finally arrived. All the sleepless nights of planning had come to a head. Today was the culmination of all our efforts. We were going to bid adieu to our very own seniors @ K. Life had come a full-circle in what was a very eventful year. It was just yesterday when we were on the hot seat being grilled by seniors and today here we were asking the seniors to do a jig for us on 'Specially-chosen' songs.

The evening started with a short drive along winding lanes which could easily find a place in RGV movies. When we arrived at the venue we were all in for a pleasant surprise. The sun was just setting on what was a beautiful water-front resort. Some of our K-omrades who had the good fortune of landing there earlier were busy boating much to our envy. We all heartfully congratulated Nemuri for such grand plans.

After a few delicious starters, we got started on the evening's agenda. The first gig was a treasure hunt, only this one was among people. The 11er's had to find who among 12's a particular riddle pointed at, take that next clue from him and move on. The twist in the tale was the blind-ends we planted:-). The game was a roaring success thanks to Deepak's creative inputs. Radhika won the prize for treasure-hunt by breaking the last riddle, but only after a hefty bunch of clues from JuGults.

The next game involved playing a song and the 11's had to guess who among them it pointed to. That person had to take the hot-seat, do a jig for us and in the end answer a few questions. There was a lot of banter as each person was called. 'Osey ramulamma' for Ramya really set off peals-of-laughter :-). Mansoor the soon-to-be-wedded SeGult came out with his 'love-story' and was heartily congratulated with bumps and hugs.The whole credit for this selection of songs and editing goes to Koti and Deepak.

A hearty dinner with chicken,fish and paneer delicacies later we settled down for the second round of games.

Dumb-C started off on a not-so-warm note but gained momentum when SeGults said they had a 'Database' and generously used words like 'PGP 11 punch' and something about 'Radhika' being a Champ at Dumb-C.

After an hour and some ridiculously funny titles like "Papatho poi poi" , "Sri Pothuluri Veerabrahmendraswami Jeevita Charitra" later the JuGults proved the braggarts wrong.

But the day was not over yet. SeGults had their sweet revenge by winning in Musical chairs hands down with Karthik the behemoth 11er ruling the roost from the start. And what a prize he won-A soap box:-). His expression was well captured in a photo which is sure to appear in these columns.

A vote-of-thanks in telugu followed which made people erupt at each english word and then translate it to 'mother's sweet' telugu. It was fun.

The evening left us tired and bed ready. But all the platitudes by SeGults made the efforts feel worth it. They were going to leave the campus in a few days and what a heritage they left back(read as 'JuGults')!

In the end we all part ways but some people leave a lasting impression. Our SeGults did that to us and we plan to do the same for our juniors. Though how well we will succeed only time will tell. I dont think any of us can pull off 'The Mandy Act'-"23.59 means 23.59 not 24.00 not 23.58, only 23.59hrs". All the Sambas and Nagarjunas will be gone in a few days but the memories refuse to fade away.

Signing Off,

With lots of love and nostalgia,

Rax

P.S.:-I have half-a-mind to change the title...........

Ooty-A never-to-be-forgotten rendezvous

Jan 24th

                A bunch of us loonies from IIM decided one fine friday afternoon to go on a trip. Locations in and out of Kerala were quickly googled. There was a lot of tug-and-pull until finally Ooty was settled upon more by the need to form a quick consensus than anything else.

                                            And so it was that we set out, bags packed and Ooty-ready with Winter jackets and all. A cool and otherwise uneventful(we had a flat-tire:-)) evening later we reached 'the promised land' at mid-night. We settled for the night in a make-shift dorm. And for the first time I got to sleep on top of a double-storied bed.

                                                   Our foray started with a short-drive to a peak called 'The suicide point' which was a major disappointment. Khanna the pot-bellied,boisterous funbag of our pack  jested that South-Indians tend to call every major peak 'Suicide Point'. "Why such pessmism?", I did not have a ready answer to that one. 

                                         The view from atop was scenic but nothing could better the sun-rise view from the top of our very own K-ampus. So should I say it was relatively 'no-great-shakes'. But what really got me concerned was the amount of plastic strewn all over the place. The extent to which the place was desecrated by the looming masses saddened me. Can't we be a little more careful where we throw those mineral-water bottles.It reminded me of that 'now-seemingly-ridiculous sign we saw while driving up the hill 'Nilgiris-A Plastic free zone'-my a@#'.

                                                                  We then came down the hill, purchased home-made chocolates, a delicacy in Ooty and garden fresh tea-dust,which is another reason Ooty is popular for.

        A bit of tussle about whether or not we should go boating followed. And finally we decided on the affirmative. A serene boat-ride almost wiped out our disappointment of 'Suicide-peak' and the generally over-hyped Ooty.

                          A heavy lunch and drinks later we set out for connore.Watch this space for an update on connore,our only redeeming feature of the day'Connnore saved the day for us'.