There is one thing predictable about human behaviour- it is unpredictable!

Just today when I was thinking of dusting the house this weekend, I saw this email from my friend with the following message…. So read on…. I am sure you will change your mind after reading this… as I did 🙂

Dust if you must but wouldn’t it be better
to paint a picture or write a letter,
bake a cake, lick the spoon, plant a seed?
Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must but there’s not much time
with rivers to swim and mountains to climb,
wine to drink, music to hear, books to read,
friends to cherish and a life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world’s out there
with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,
a flutter of snow, a shower of rain.
This day will never come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind
old age will come and it’s not kind.
And when you go – and go you must,
you, yourself, will make more dust!

The print and electronic media in India seem to have gone into frenzy about the ‘success’ of everything Slumdog Millionaire at the Oscars. Some of them prefer to take this as a victory for Indian cinema.

How we just love to bask in reflected glory and try to believe that its our own!

But lets not forget, it is a British-American film with a story line set in Mumbai, as a result they could not help but involve Indian actors (including Indian-origin Britishers) and shoot it in India. So, it’s a non-Indian film which happened to have an all-Indian cast.

We shoot entire films abroad nowadays, especially in the US, but they are not called Hollywood films!.

Lets keep the reason for rejoicing in India, very straight – Slumdog Millionaire, a British American film has won awards, including the Oscars and has brought a reason to be happy for the six children who acted in it, they are the real stars of the film and recognition to Reesul and A. R Rehman. Though the music for which Rehman got his two Oscars for is not even of his average quality, forget his sublime and exhilarating stuff..

It’s a different matter that it took a British-American film to recognize A.R Rahman’s genius- maybe a case of white man’s burden…

I don’t think Slumdog Millionaire was ‘oscar stuff’. It is not an extraordinary film. There is no doubt on Slumdog’s quality as a film nor on the ability of its director Danny Boyle. But there were better films in the competition- better storyline, better treatment etc… but as the saying goes….every dog has its day…. this time it was Slumdog……..

The other day I was watching a CNN Special Report, ‘ Scream Bloody Murder’, it showed stories of Genocide from Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, Darfur, Bosnia and how some courageous individuals did try to stand up against this henious crimes, and attempted to make the voices of those unknown sufferers heard by the world.
Living in a democratic country, I could not relate to such an anarchy that can lead to people killing each other because of their race/ ethinicity…..
I could not but help thinking about the terror attacks in Mumbai and the crisis thats faced by India. Gave me some solace that at least the systems here are not defunct, atleast we are not in the state of anarchy….. somewhere theres still hope.