Monday, August 22, 2011

Numb but not down

Sometimes you think you have given your best and sit expectantly with excitement rumbling in your tummy that good times are just round the corner. Then slowly it dawns on you that you have turned the corner and nothing much has changed so your best wasn't good enough to change things.

I'm going through a similar situation now, where my energy is sapped and nothing new is happening. I spend time watching films and games and even religiously read newspapers (which I’d stopped doing for a while now). But, surprisingly it hasn't effected me in negative way, I don't feel low, life is going on as normal (I can talk, smile and laugh effortlessly); this would have been unimaginable a few years ago. I'd have become silent, mulling over what would have gone wrong. Maybe, I have stopped caring or I’ve realised that there is something beyond my effort that guides the result of things.

I'm a political fence-sitter, never sure whether my thought process is right or wrong. Initially I wished to write about Anna Hazare's hunger strike. But as it enters the seventh day I’m confused and doubtful about where it is heading. Somehow, I feel that it is hijacked by TV channels that are pulling it to the extremes from both sides. One seeing it as the beginning of a corruption-less utopia and other as it is holding the democracy on ransom. I don't naively believe that every problem can be solved just by casting a vote once in five years. And, I even know that being corrupt has seeped into our bloodstream because being corrupt is convenient and bribing is equivalent to paying tips in a restaurant as we wish everything should be hassle-free, be it renewing our driving licences or getting a gas cylinder. I just hope something positive comes out of this churning.

Now a song from the film Aarakshan. I always thought Prasoon Joshi to be the true inheritor of Gulzar's legacy as a lyricist. This song seems to be the final stamp of that fact:

Finally, the new TV commercial of Airtel mobile Har Ek Friend Zaroori Hota Hai I got hooked to while channel surfing a couple of days back.


While searching for behind the scenes people for this ad I got back to Rashmi Bansal's blog Youth Curry. I don't exactly remember when and how it got pushed out of my browsing list.

PS. This post was just an exercise to flex my writerly muscles. So, please bear if you feel cohesiveness has flown out of the proverbial window.

3 comments:

Amrita said...

Dear Paresh, let me congratulate you for this worthy and thought stimulating post - no way have you slowed down - this is proof my brother.Keep going - sometimes wee all need to pause a while - lie caught in a traffic jam, even when things are moving slowly doesn 't mean they have stopped - the rythmn of life changes from fos trot to korean ballet.

I am quite cynical about the Anna debacle - this is not ushering in a Utopis - a s you say corruption is seeped into the bloodstream and genes. The govt. is in a bit mess right now.I 've shared on Facebook.

Saif look very un-Dalit, but the song is nice. I like his chapatti making technique.

The newpaper comments on Aarakshan is not very encouraging but I 'd like to watch it.

Alexis said...

Paresh nice and thought provoking post. Regarding Anna Hazare's hunger strike, I completely agree with you. Even if the bill get passed, I don't think that will end corruption. People will find new ways to do what they are doing now. And corruption is not a phenomenon that is unique to politicians and to India. It is something that exists everywhere in the world and all fields of our lives.

You writing and thinking muscles are still strong and fine tuned as this is one precise and concise piece of writing that I have read about this issue.

Regarding the song from Aarakshan and the FZHH ad, I also like them both.

Take care and do flex those muscles more often :-)

TME said...

Nice intellectual thoughts. Brilliantly written.I loved reading it and enjoyed.....!!