Facebook girls Shaheen and Renu - Forgive them, You've Done No Wrong

The case of the two facebook girls Shaheen and Renu is one among the many such 'cyber crimes' that our politicians and police are unravelling every other day and punishing under sections of the IPC that are getting more and more complex to understand. In the recent past we've seen cartoonists being jailed, email jokes being treated as some serious anti-national business and other such stuff. Why should a comment on an event, a fairly harmless viewpoint which is perhaps voiced by many, be targeted and the girls be arrested against all logic, all rules, and harassed by the law and order system is something I cannot understand. Either the system has no understanding of this social media business or it is perhaps just too happy to punish the soft targets and let the goons go.

For those who are not familiar with this case I will I quote an excerpt from the Hindu's report on the event which pretty much explains it all: ( http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/mumbai-shuts-down-due-to-fear-not-respect/article4111814.ece)
“With all respect, every day, thousands of people die, but still the world moves on,” read the message posted by 21-year old Shaheen Dhada and ‘liked’ by 20-year old Renu Srinivasan from Palghar in the neighbouring Thane district, her lawyer Sudheer Gupta told The Hindu. The post continued: “Just due to one politician died a natural death, everyone just goes bonkers. They should know, we are resilient by force, not by choice. When was the last time, did anyone showed some respect or even a two-minute silence for Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Azad, Sukhdev or any of the people because of whom we are free-living Indians? Respect is earned, given, and definitely not forced. Today, Mumbai shuts down due to fear, not due to respect.”

There is a huge gap in our system. On one hand there are young girls like Shaheen and Renu who are part of the youth, the educated and uneducated, the expressive, the literate and illiterate youth, which is just about finding its voice on the social media and other tools of mass expression. It is wonderful for a democracy like ours and should be encouraged because we need all viewpoints and not just those of people who shout the loudest. On the other hand we have a system which is on the other end of the technology spectrum and further shrinking away from reality, a system which still believes that one can by sheer power, by picking soft targets, by using false interpretations, sides with a misguided and temperamental people and commits a crime. This ever widening gap is one that the IT boom has brought in - technology that the old cannot use nor fathom the power of, technology that the new generation cannot do without. It is only a matter of time before India's sizeable youth chunk devours the old through these very tools of social media, technology, transperancy and free expression. But until then we will have to put up with these laughable attempts by the system to muzzle free and fair expression by force. For all those who are involved and who are supporting this, go pick on someone your own size. Don't bully the small and helpless, the soft and the sensitive. If you are strong, go and protect the weak, the helpless. That is the real show of strength.

For me this is also a case in point for the youth of India to wake up to.This is after all about your expression. Technology, social media offer you the power to express which you must. But as with any real power and freedom, there is much responsibility that comes with it, so exercise as much restraint as you can - without hiding the truth. Without the fear of saying it as it is. In fact that is what Balasaheb Thackeray did all his life. He said things as they were, as he saw them which made him so popular.

As for Shaheen and Renu, from what I have read in the papers there is nothing wrong in what they have done or said. They did just that. It is an individual's viewpoint and a genuine one at that. But to make that an arrestable crime is shameful. To see that no political party, no leader has commented on it is even more shameful. Perhaps everyone is trying to figure out what this social media is and what it does. But for me, Shaheen (and Renu) you have done no wrong and you need not step back nor apologise (something which you have already done as per the news, and in doing so, shown greater maturity than those who have wronged you). You have done what the little boy did in the Emperor's New Clothes while the entire lot of adults and advisors, ministers and wise men sat in the court, and it requires courage and clarity to say that. I am glad that the new generation has both - courage and clarity. It augurs well for India in the future.

Hold your heads high girls, you are icons. The Facebook girls. For that matter, I do hope Facebook celebrates this event and its fallout and honours the two youngsters. From me, a big 'like' for you two.

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The Hussaini Alam House - Huma R. Kidwai

Huma Kidwai writes beautifully. And she brings alive a part of Hyderabad that I never have been to but one that I want to visit as soon as I can now - Hussaini Alam in the Old City - and she evokes a time which I can never visit but which I dearly want to. The 'Hussaini Alam House' is set in the Old City of Hyderabad, sometime in the late sixties and creeps into the twenty first century. It is a story that continues for about thirty years or so, during a time when the young protagonist, the rebellious, studious and watchful Ayman grew up in that house. It is probably also the time that the author also grew up, so there could be biographical traces which if anything, only make the book delightful to read, especially if you are a Hyderabadi.

Zubaan, 213 p. Rs. 325

Apart from writing with great precision and poise and describing the house in such detail that you are actually transported there, Huma writes with tonnes of feeling. The house is one where the young protagonist experiences death, chauvinism, illness, misery, poverty, helplessness, unfairness and injustice as the rich Muslim family is suddenly reduced to near penury after the Hyderabad state is annexed to the Indian Union after the Police Action of 1948. The head of the house, Syed Aminul Hussain, the maternal grandfather of the protagonist, also known as Sarkar, dictator, Bawajaan etc holds the house together until he dies. The oldest woman in the house is Sarkar's mother-in-law Qamar-un-Nissan, and then Sarkar's wife and the grandmother of Ayman, Meher-un-Nissan. and then there is Khalajaan, foster sister of the the protagonist's mother, Ayman's mother herself, a communist, a rebel and a writer, and then the protagonist and her older sister Aapa or Mariam the beautiful. With these women lived Khalubawa, Khalajaan's much older husband and an ex-jagirdar, and Naveed Ahmed who marries Ayman's older sister Aapa. Ayman's mother's brother, Mamu or Dr. Hidayat Hussain lived close by and constitutes the fringe cast along with the girls' cousin Altaf. These people and the pets, the maids who work for almost nothing, make up the story. But looming big in all their lives is the House.

The male dominated decisions that affect the lives of the three generations of women, their marriages and the impact of these marriages on their lives forms the innermost thread of the story. Huma describes the inherent weakness of males and effortlessly makes the women much stronger, shows them handling greater responsibility and suffering. She captures the various personalities in the women - the strong and silent ones, the generous ones, beautiful ones, the creative ones, the rebels, the ones who compromise easily and ones who gave up too easily. Through the eyes of the young girl it all comes together with all the emotions intact, heavy and silent, dark and brooding, and deeply and disturbingly real.

Huma chooses an interesting structure as she unveils the story in a non-linear manner through each character of the house. The story goes forward and backward but as you find in the end, it does span a period of thirty or so years in the life of the protagonist and is always moving forward. From being without money and a huge estate, the illness and the deaths of Sarkar, his mother-in-law, Ayman's own father, her grandmother (to throat cancer), her mother (to temporary insanity), her Khalajaan, the discovery of some hard facts about her family, the slow dissipation of culture, values, heritage, communal harmony and mostly happiness, Huma holds each thread delicately and strongly. I read Orhan Pamuk's 'Istanbul' where he endlessly talks of the huzun or the air of sadness that hangs over Istanbul, but nowhere has that huzun been brought out so well than in this house. To me, with no disrespect to Orhan Panuk, Huma captures that air so well that it seeps under your skin in that house much more than what Pamuk attempted to do in his book. The house has a life within it that carries this sad, silent spirit which is not entirely depressing because it does strengthen everyone of them, especially the women.

By the end of the book you feel as if you know every inch of that house, every facet and secret of each person, every pet, every maid and you feel really sad as the protagonist walks through that house for one last time before it is sold. I wanted to ask Huma if it was biographical but I realised I don't need to now. It does not matter anymore. Because once you read the book you know that even if she had not really experienced the emotions in her life, she has more than made up in creating and writing them down. The pain, the sadness, the longing all flow through with such authenticity and permeate you, that it does not matter if it really happened - Huma has lived them again for the reader - and this is the greatest strength of the book. Well done Huma, you deserve a big hug for writing so honestly, so deeply and so starkly. The last part of the book, of the dream sequence of the protagonist walking nude by the beach, sums it all up just as the words 'I have made my peace - with myself and this world' make for a perfect climax and the final 'I am willing to embrace' makes it all so uplifting in the end. Wonderful stuff.

Huma writes beautiful, well-crafted lyrical prose. She is an accomplished writer. Her writing is rich and textured, well-researched and full of authentic feeling and emotion. Many scenes are described so beautifully - such as the one where the protagonist dreams of the death of her grandmother in the early part of the book - which straightaway enters a part of your soul that knows the feeling, but has not been able to find the words to describe that. Huma does that for you.

I loved the words of wisdom her Khalajaan gave her - 'It is important to start on a road and trudge along regardless of the pain. Every step is one less and then you will be there. If you fall, don't look around for help. Pick yourself up. If you fall at the same place twice, consider yourself a fool. You've been walking in a circle. Time to break the line.' Perfect advise for anyone.


'The Hussaini Alam House' is of a Hyderabad, a people, that seem to have disappeared but still exist. Some aspects may have gone but the emotions and feelings are very much there. Huma's book is very visual and I do hope that someone makes a movie of it. On the negatives, I only wish the editor had done a better job and cut out a few repetitions - such wonderful writing deserves better editing. Also Ayman never comes before us fully and clearly somehow and I was left wanting to know more about her, what she does, where she lived, what her husband was like etc. But overall, it's a book anyone who enjoys good writing will enjoy. I did. Congrats Huma and may you write many more such books and find greater peace, joy and success.

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Thought for the Day - Don't be Easily Satisfied

I did like the ad campaign for one of the colas 'Yeh dil maange more' for various reasons. Not so much that aspect of greed or of indulging oneself mindlessly through the 'maange more' slogan but more in terms of not being satisfied easily. The difference between the two can be clearly seen when we apply it to ourselves as opposed to what the world is giving us.

Pic courtesy: Satish Nargundkar

When we apply it to ourselves, we can see how easily we are satisfied. How easily we give up.

But when we realise that there's always more to be achieved, more to be squeezed out of ourselves, we face the fact that there is much to do within. That beyond every limit we push there is more to achieve. And that is when'..dil maange more' makes sense. Push further, achieve newer limits and don't ever stop thinking you've done enough. It's never enough when you are growing. In a career, a game, anywhere.

On the other hand, a 'dil maange more' where you are simply blaming the world or expecting all else to do things for you while you only keep asking for more is plain stupidity. Its like us wanting to get rid of corruption or the other things we want to go away in our life by blaming all else. To get those results, there is work to do. There is a stand to take. There is a steadfastness in face of opposition. There is ownership.  At least in the mind.

And then, we get to that state of having the right to ask for more. Because you worked for it. Because you owned it. Now you deserve it.

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10 things for a Medium Pacer to Keeep in Mind before a match

These are ten things that a medium pacer can hold in his head before a game.

1. Visualise: 
Before the game visualise yourself bowling in a good rhythm. Videos, pictures help.

2. Understand the conditions:
Take a ball or two to understand the conditions - climate, pitch behavior and bowl accordingly.

3. Work up a rhythm first:
Work on getting into a rhythm when you start bowling. Start at perhaps 80% of your fullest and focus on keeping the ball there in the right places.

4. Bowl up:
Pitch it up (does not mean overpitch) so the batsman is caught in an unsure place with his footwork. Needs controlled pitching of the ball in the right areas and not mindless overpitching which can backfire badly.

5. Make the batsman play:
The more you make the batsmen play the more the chances of getting him out. But here, don't bowl so much on the stumps directly which makes batsmen defend solidly as bowling a slightly on and outside the offstump line where the batsman is in two minds - whether to play or not. Make hi play in that uncertain area.

6. Line is mandatory:
Keep the line constant on and outside the off stump. Keep it tight.

7. Stay in control:
Always seek to stay in control - your body, your mind, your rhythm - even if it requires you to cut your pace. I have found that my best performances have come when I was in full control of the run up, action, and knew exactly where I was pitching the ball. Visualise it and implement it.

8. Keep some reserve in the tank:
Save your fullest bursts for periods when you can really go for the kill. Mostly keep some reserve and bowl within yourself, so you have both control and the gas to bowl longer.

9. Work up to peak gradually:
Work up to your peak speed and rhythm gradually.

10. Know exactly where you want to pitch the ball:
You must know exactly where you are pitching the ball. Focus on that spot and keep it there. It requires concentration, control and focus. This will fetch you more wickets than simply coming in and bowling fast or bowling without thinking.

Strategies for helpful and unhelpful wickets:
If the wicket is helpful do not get carried away and bowl short which is totally ineffective but rather, bowl a fuller length that makes the batsman play. When the pitch is doing something the batsmen must be put in unsure frame of mind and the best way is to bowl up and make him play so the ball can do something.

On unhelpful wickets, bowl up. Keep a steady line. Keep it tight. Think the batsman out by understanding his mind, his anxiety. All batsmen are susceptible to the fear of getting out early, to pressure on their mind, to tactics that distract, to lapses in concentration. It is for the team to work on these areas and put more pressure on the batsmen. But the basic idea is to build pressure by good, tight bowling and not wayward stuff.

Keep at it all through. Push for two wickets if you get one. Five if you get three. Seven if you get five. You may not get this opportunity so grab it now.

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Lessons to learn from Bal Thackeray

Lessons that one can learn and imbibe from the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.

• That it is never about your size, but about your courage and your conviction, even in taking on the biggest institutions.  Fight tooth and nail for your convictions and the world notices and gives you the power.
• That if you say what you feel and express yourselves without holding back, the world listens to every word and takes it seriously. Say it as it is, loud and clear, and the world listens.
• That you can live life exactly on your terms and never on someone else's. When you have the power you make the rules - even for the King.
• That you can live to please yourself and no one else. You maintain no false images and no one asks any questions.
• That the power of aggression can make the entire system think twice - for a lifetime - and the most powerful to seek your help. You have the power and the whole world comes to you.
• That your name and reputation itself can be far more effective than any law and order system of the government and that alone can stop and contain much mischief making.Your reputation if big enough can itself be a deterrent.
• That when you give your people a sense of security, pride, well being and belonging, you gain so much of their love and support that is difficult to erode in a lifetime. You can give a new identity to your people and they will always be grateful to you for that.
• That you can still be as powerful or even more by yourself, than what the support of a high post, a system or an institution can give you, if your people love you. You do not need the support of an institution or the system if you have the love of your people.
• That people watch their words and actions if you defend what is important to you fiercely. You shut up much useless talk if you are clear about what is important to you.

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Book Launch - The Hussaini Alam House by Huma Kidwai

I had been meaning to blog about this book launch for more reasons than one. Raja had told me in advance that his classmate from Osmania University Engineering College in the late seventies, Huma Kidwai had written a book and there was a launch. He sent me the details by mail and I made up my mind to attend for several reasons. One, the timing was perfect, at 530 in the evening. Second, Huma becomes my senior from Osmania Engineering too and we Osmanians always support one another. Third, it was at La Makaan which is always a pleasure to visit. Fourth, Vinod was also attending so we could crack some stupid jokes about everyone and laugh. And perhaps, the fifth reason was that Elahe, someone whom I always had a great affection for, for being the warm, open and loving person she continues to be for over three decades that I have known her, was also reading from the book. So it was then that I landed up, alone, having invited Ramaraju also to join - knowing that Ram was a huge La Makaan fan himself.

I walked in to meet a few regulars and friends, and listened to Prof. Sachidanand Mohanty speak about the book. Now Hussaini Alam also has a bit of history from my early school days because our classmate Ashok had a house in this Hussaini Alam. I have no clue where it is and how it looks, this Hussaini Alam, and I have now made up my mind to go and see this place soon. Maybe with Huma's help!

Anyway there were readings from the book from a pretty young lady whose name I did not catch, Elahe and Prof. Mohanty. Huma Kidwai the author chose not to read (something that even i refrained from early on but now I am convinced that the author must read - there's something else when the author reads however badly!) There was a signing and I got myself a copy signed for both me and Raja by  Huma. I ate some delicious samosas that Ram insisted on buying, drank some wonderful chai and ate an Osmania biscuit or two and headed off home. I did get to briefly meet Elahe on her way out which was a bonus. All's well and that ends well and I hope Huma's book does extremely well. The readings sounded very promising and it has the old world Hyderabadi charm to it - something I am totally hooked upon right now. I will shortly review the book.

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Borat - Movie Review

Watched Sacha Baron's 'Borat'. The real name of the movie actually is rather long - "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan". The movie revolves around Borat Sagdiyev, who is a television presenter in Kazakhstan. He has been sent to the USA to interact with Americans and make a documentary for the Kazakh Ministry of Information. He travels with Azamat, the producer and his pet chicken. Clearly there is a big cultural gap between the Borat and the Americans.

The movie had no real script apparently and many characters that appear in the movie are not actors but real life people. Anyway Borat and Azamat go to New York first where Borat discovers Pamela Anderson while watching Baywatch on television and falls in love with her. He also hears of his wife's death via telegram, that she was attacked by a bear in a  forest near their home, and feels that he can now take Pamela as his new wife. He convinces Azamat to shift the shooting to California. Azamat does not understand why but they finally start their journey in a second had ice cream truck. Along the way Borat meets many Americans - the young, the gays, the religious, the etiquette coaches, a prostitute, radio stations and so on. Until one day he has a naked fight with Azamat whom he catches masturbating over a Baywatch picture. A disgruntled Azamat disappears with Borat's passport and money etc. Borat meanwhile discovers that Pamela Anderson may not be a virgin while travelling with a bunch of college going boys and is totally distressed. Anyway he does meet her at a book signing and tries to kidnap her to make her his wife. He is caught and sent back. Before all this however he meets Azamat again. Borat goes back to Kazakhstan with a new bride despite not getting Pamela Anderson - he takes home the prostitute he meets on the way.

Borat apparently got good reviews and nominations. It was not very funny for me. Passable.

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