Hooray! its election time again!!

And as usual, we seem to be scouring for leaders. Leaders with enough money and musclepower to wield every possible option to make it to the list of the “untouchables”… Untouchable by the long arm of the law, untouchable by social issues, untouchable by the pain and suffering of the millions!

While the systems and processes in place are making their best effort to ensure that crime and criminals are kept outside of the electoral process, it will be but a surprise to see a seamless election that lives up to the book. Thanks to the critical (and at times, uncensored) media, today there is a little bit of more awareness on our beloved leaders. Unfortunately, memory is short lived and there are the millions who decide the course of a nation that they little understand about. People who believe in the strange ways of Nature and International politics that stops us from becoming the greater nation that we can be.

That said, all is not lost – surely we have come very far from where we were 20 years ago. Not just the cities, even the towns and the villages do show stark difference – power, telecommunications, media, healthcare, education, food – you name it! It would be incorrect to say that no government did anything or even to say that just one government did everything. Despite all the claims of corruption and cheating, we have surely made a lot of progress as a nation – and this cannot be denied. There are the few who have been honest and brave and have done more than a part for this to happen. Strange as it may seem, our strength lies in our ability to make the best and the worst co-exist peacefully in their own spheres. Economically, socially, culturally we are making progress!

Running a country is by no means easy.

It is easy for each of us to sit back in front of our computers and blog about how we want to mould our nation. Tiny drops of water make the mighty ocean – exercise your franchise without fail. Fear not for the worst, for I hope the darker days are fading. We may not see ourselves getting the absolute best politicians in our lifetime, but we can surely hope to see a few who will make the difference and lead us in the right direction.

Love, they say, is blind. Just how much love the true Indian has will stand out in these elections – love for money, alcohol, power, sleaze and power. Undoubtedly, everything is debatable, but time will tell how things move. For me, its just one more small step that gently reminds us of our duty to our motherland. And its just another miracle that makes us Indians so truly Special!

Image Credit: Ramesh Lalwani

Popularity: 14%

Frequently, I hear from people, official or the unofficial surveys say the crime rate has been growing in India and outside India. When we think of us as a race living as a civilized creature on the earth from many centuries, it surprises one that let alone overcoming this natural tendency to commit crime we as are falling for it more.

Is the crime from much more primitive parts of the brain and genes than of being civilized and organized in a society? Or maybe, we are failing to find a cure to this disease and all we are doing in the form of conviction is just a band-aid and not a cure.

In simple terms, the system should have tamed the man not to crime, like it has to wear clothes, live in houses etc. Nobody tells one to do all this. We do follow these untold rules of being clothed, cultured etc. It has grown into our genes. Not only those but many other rules of being civilized are embedded in us though the ages.

Why did it fail in the case of crime? Why are we not able to forget the rule of the forest “Survival of the fittest”?

May be it is our approach towards it which is failing. May be we are trying to target the criminal, not the crime. Punish the criminal, but the crime still lives in him, in most of the cases. Until he realizes on his own, he still lives the crime.

Are we helping them realize? How many people are not returning to their profession after being convicted once? The roots go into our perception. We still don’t completely judge a crime by its motive, but its deed. This makes a lot of difference. It is simple, if I slap you, there might be two reasons for it. One being I’m angry and the other there might be a bee on you cheek. They are not same. This is definitely considered while judging a crime, however not sufficient.

For example if a man kills the other, he is hanged to death or imprisoned for 14 years in India. Consider a guy who killed his relative for money, a guy who kills for money (A gangster or goonda) and a terrorist. In the society or public’s eyes, these people are hated in the ascending order.

When you consider the motive, it should be the other way round. Because one thinks that he is killing for god, the other for money and the other for still more trivial reason. We just hate or punish them in the angle of threat. A single guy less harmful to the society compared to a gangster and him to a terrorist.

The punishment is decided based on how much danger does the accused pose to the society. It is more or less same like caging a tiger as it is a danger. Even when someone like them is convicted, very less is done to get the thought of crime from the criminal. And irrespective of his status of mind, he is let go after a stipulated time.

In this context I remember famous lines of Sri Sri, a popular Telugu poet, from Mahaprasthanam.

Ee Desha charitra choosina emunnadhi garvakaranam

Narajathi charitra samastham parapeedana parayanatvam,

Narajathi charitra samastham parasparaaharaNodyogam,

Narajathi charitra samastham raNarakthapravaahasiktham.

“History of any country has nothing in its pride.

Human history is all about people causing distress to each other,

Killing each other and

Bloodshed of wars.”

A person should be stopped from committing crime more by his sense than the fear of being prosecuted. Until then the history remains blood stained and the future fearful.

Image credit: Joe Mad

Popularity: 10%

Slumdog Millionaire! Another face of metro India. This one definitely is yet another Rags-to-Riches story. That’s Slumdog Millionaire.

But there is a difference. There is no villain, or revenge or any romance behind the trees in this movie. The movie released on the 5th of December is directed by David Boyle who has a few movies like Shallow Grave, A Life Less Ordinary & The Beach to his credit. Based on Vikas Swaroop’s story, the entire movie revolves around Jamaal, a poor child who grows up in the slums of Mumbai.

The movie starts with an almost millionaire Jamaal being interrogated in a police station for his suspected involvement in a fraud which is believed to have helped him win the acclaimed game show ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’. Irfan Khan, playing the inspector’s role tries to get Jamaal to confess to the fraud. Jamaal reveals how experiences from his life help him win the game.

Each question takes the audience back into Jamaal’s, his brother Salim’s and his love interest Lathika’s life. Life in slums makes him a beaten slum dog. Experiences like the death of his mother in the Hindu-Muslim riots, a small stint with the tourists in Agra, transformation of his brother Salim into a gangster are the key to his answers in the game show. There is a subtle romance shown between Jamaal & Lathika throughout the movie.

The movie highlights problems in India like begging on streets, life in slums, poverty, child prostitution, betting etc. It shows how children from slums are forced into a life of crime, sex & hatred.

Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan and Saurabh Shukla have done a great job. But it’s worth mentioning the work done by the small lot of actors who morphed themselves into the characters of slum dogs. Dev Patel, Tanay Chheda, Ayush Khedekar and Vikas Swaroop play the main character Jamaal.

Music is by none other than A R Rehman. The back ground scores and a few tracks are in sync with the movie’s pace. The album sounds enchanting.  The movie has been edited to perfection and keeps the audience glued to their seats. It’s a gripping 120 minute long movie.

There are a few drawbacks in the movie which can go unnoticed or be ignored. The movie is a definite watch and has been nominated for many international awards. It has bagged Golden globes for best drama, director, screenplay and music score.

A rating of 8 out of 10 for the movie.

Don’t miss it.

Popularity: 24%