Exploitation to the extent possible

I saw it and I heard about it and the much hype around this. It is "Slum*** Millionaire" movie. I cant call my self as a ***. I don't want even other to call me as ***. You know what I meant.

This movie exploited India to the extent possible. I didn't read the novel "Q&A" on which the movie was based. I am getting pieces of information from the sources and now I cant stop myself anymore writing this post on this movie. It reached to peak, when I heard its success at Oscars, which bagged 8 awards in different category including best picture. I would argue that the movie bagged this award because of its title.

To my luck, some one wrote an article about this movie in rediff and the way it is written reflects my feelings as well. Here is the link to the article. Some excerpts from the article that reflected my feelings are:

• "...Having read the novel and seen the film, I cannot say that it has done more good than harm to India. This is not a matter of my wanting to shove the reality under the carpet. Vikas Swarup, or any other diplomat, cannot lie abroad for his country anymore."
• "...The question is whether India is a boom or a bubble. It seeks to reassure the world, as Jamal says to an American tourist couple, when he rolls on the ground after a brutal beating by the police, 'You want to see the real India? Here it is!'
• "...a boy from the slums in celebration of his keen eye and keener brain. Even the word 'slumdog' was not his creation. He found a clever story line and wrote a readable novel, though replete with horrible scenes and unpalatable descriptions of his country."
• ".. Even the questions in the book are different from those in the movie. So are the events that helped Jamal (not Ram Mohammad Thomas) to win his millions. Vikas Swarup, the Indian diplomat, became a willing instrument in the hands of his exploiters. 'I am not a millionaire as yet,' lamented Swarup in an interview!"
• "..Consider a question that Jamal could not answer. The quiz master asks what is written below the Ashoka lions on the Indian national crest. Is it truth alone triumphs or lies alone triumph? You don't need to be a rocket scientist to know that this is an insult, particularly as Jamal does not seem to know the answer."
• "..Many say that the film will do India proud if Rahman picks up three Oscars. In fact, the music is a redeeming feature of the movie. Even the redlight district scene comes to life with the melody of the anklets on dancing feet. But the celebrated song at the end of the movie sounds like a parody of the national anthem with the use of the phrase, Jai ho!"
• "..It was not necessary to rake up the dirt in India to create a film to bring Oscars to India. India rejoiced at the Gandhi Oscars, but Slumdog Oscars, if any, will only highlight how India became a victim of exploitation."

I think the above facts are good enough to show how much our country has been insulted in the hands of an foreign director joining hands with the Indians.

**** them from exploiting India in this way.

P.S: All the above bulleted items are excerpts from the link provided.

The year (2008) that was........

I usually postmortem the year that is passed, to see what are all the things happened in my life. Since these days, I could not find mind and time to write in this blog, I forgot so many things.
Let me summarize what had happened in 2008.

• I owned a laptop (IdeaPad) (February)
• Got hike in salary
• My Journal paper got accepted for publication (June)
• 1+ experience (June)
• Got degree in 2008 Convocation (July)
• Yet another birthday to celebrate (September)
• Underwent minor surgery to left hand forearm (October)

So much time, So many things, not much interest

Its been nearly 5 months since I wrote in this blog. My near and dear ones kept asking me why you are not updating my blog. This is probably because of the reason that I don't share some of my feelings with them. I find it easy to express in the blog, than to share with anyone. Or the another reason might be, blog will not ask me any clarification on published content but my near and dear ones will.

My last post was on the eve of my birthday. Off the late birthdays have become burden to celebrate. When I was at home I had my parents, brothers, sister, and friends to celebrate with birthday. When I was in +2 I had few friends and of course my family members are there. When I was in my under graduation I had only friends, since I was staying far from home. When I was in my post graduation I again had friends, but I had good time in celebrating. This is probably because of the maturity that one gains and relieves him self from sentiments. Now I am no more a student, and turned out to be a yet another working professional staying away from home. Now I could count on fingers who were with me to celebrate my birthday and I can also count on the people who wished me on that eve. Never mind, I didn't remember your (whoever is reading this) name :).

When I write like this, some say you are speaking philosophy. I agree, that is the only people have to express feelings and you call it as philosophy. All they who turned out to be a philosopher have experienced so many things in their life on their own.

Lets not deviate from the original content of this post. I had undergone a minor surgery to my left hand forearm and I had a huge bandage which hindered me writing this blog for almost a month or two. Last two months I was not in a mood to express my feelings because of some unavoidable circumstances.

BTW, belated new year wishes to you all!!! Hope you had good time with your near and dear ones on this eve.