Father of the Indian film industry

Saw “Harish Chandrachi factory” earlier this week. Had been wanting to see this movie, India’s Oscar entry for a while. A big thanks to Paresh Mokashi was creating this engaging movie which gives Mr Phalke his due, the person who gave up his everything(including selling all his possessions) to create India’s first motion picture and thereby lay the foundation stone for the worlds biggest film industry.

Salute is the first word that comes to the mind for Dadasaheb Phalke after seeing this movie. His passion for making a movie wasn’t restricted to creating a name for himself. His restlessness, his selflessness and his fight against society’s taboo’s was just to create the first motion picture in the country and give the creative minds of this vast country a direction. Post the release of his first motion picture Mr Phalke was offered by many Britishers to shift to England and make movies produced by them and thereby make loads of money. But the only thing Mr Phalke had in mind was to get more people in India make movies and understand the concept of movies. The result, the country now boasts of the worlds largest film industry.

Mr Phalke almost became blind in the process of creating his motion pictures, couldn’t pay much attention towards the upbringing of his kids, was not earning anything for the entire period till the motion picture got released, faced criticism and hardships but still continued to work towards his dream.

The artist must create a spark before he can create a fire and before art is born, the artist must be ready to be consumed by the fire of his own creation.(Auguste Rodin) Mr Dadasaheb Phalke got consumed in the art that he created.

Pleasant Juley(Greetings in Ladakhi) to a violent Julus!!

Just back from my first trip to Leh –Kargil- Srinagar. And what a trip!

Ladakh, beautiful is the word. What impressed me was the organized way in which everything functions. Every shop has a shop and establishment certificate and the local market committee certificate put up on its walls. Ask a taxi driver for a charge and he will show you the government rate card and charge accordingly. Quiet peaceful people who do their business as it should be done. That’s called law and order. The locals tell us that all that remains in Leh in the winters at -20 degrees is Dogs, Donkeys and Jawaans. Always feel that the people who are ready to make sacrifices are the ones treated badly.

The last leg of the trip, the drive from Leh- Kargil and Kargil- Srinagar was the dangerous and the interesting part.
Kargil is the quaint little town, disconnected from the outside world, vulnerable from everything, cold winters, shelling from across the LoC, bombing! Visit the town and you won’t feel it to be a part of India. Neither do they have anything remotely Indian in terms of culture or way of living. Don’t think any leader has ever visited the town. Why should the people there keep their allegiance with India?
As we drove towards Kargil we saw young children continuously waving towards us. A young guy who did seem educated whiling away his time throwing stones at trees. Probably that symbolized the state of affairs of the place. What have we given them except for insecurity, fear, unemployment and nothing to protect this region which is the worlds second coldest habitat. We don’t deserve the beautiful nature that lies there.

As we drove down from Sonmarg towards Srinagar, it gave the feeling that nature can’t paint a more beautiful picture than this. Lush green mountains, beautiful flowers all around and snow in the background. Whoa! Paradise it is!!
But Srinagar was burning. 24 deaths in the 4days before we reached and 15 deaths in the riots that were happening on the day we were there. Amidst a curfew we heard bullet shelling, heard a “Julus”, heard provocative “azaadi” speeches right up to midnight. Left the city at 4 in the morning for a 12 pm flight to save our lives. En route to the airport we saw things broken, some things burning and blood on streets leaving a permanent memory of a city in conflict.

Fitting reply

Just months back the living legend, Diego Maradona, refused to share the dais with the promising German youngster, Muller. The comment made by El Diego as he walked off the stage was that Germany had sent a ball boy for the post match conference and he felt insulted to be sharing a dais with a 20 year old rookie. Such insolence!

It was the same 20 year old Muller who has lived a dream world cup so far and played a big part in sending Diego’s men packing back home in probably what could be called as the biggest Route in this world cup. It would have probably been something more than just good fortune had Maradona been even invited to share the dais with Muller post the world cup quarter final.
It’s a strange world. You are bound to be beaten some day. It’s about how you treat your success that matters.

This reminds me of a small anecdote about Einstein which I had read. Einstein happened to meet a scientist who would provide consultations to the Govt and other institutions on matters of physics etc. He introduced himself to Einstien as a scientist working along with the great Mr ABC, PhD in XYZ, specialized in some unknown branch of physics. Einstein, then already a world renowned figure just introduced himself as “a student of physics”. True greatness shows!!

Dont question it?

Sulking on the air in the room
Sipping on the hot milk
Unsure about continuing with the chore
Stirring the cream in the cup
He continues to stare into the dark

The stars veiled by the clouds beg him to move
At bed, Mummy is ready with the story book
Ram is getting ready to battle the evil
He’s still never understood Hanuman’s giant leap
He’s told it’s wrong to Question it

Morning brings its own routines
He wants to spend time in the park
Play in the muck and dance in the water
But he’s learning two times two is four
He’s told it’s wrong to question it

No one sees his dance of confusion
His quietness and emptiness
He sees his sister not being educated
She’s pickled, sealed and put away
He’s told it’s wrong to question it

He’s curious why brickwalls turn mossgreen
Eager to catch bees and pluck fruits
Sit beneath the Mango glade and jump in the pond
He still can’t understand Hanumans giant leap
But his wings have been mangled, the story is spoilt.

Why I think Dhoni is not a good Captain… :-(

Being a Ganguly’s captaincy fan, I often end up making these statements. Cant help it. From strategy point of view in many games I feel Dhoni lacks(evident in the 1st ODI against SA) but more so because of his players selections.

A good captain to me is the one who first of all identifies good talent, backs it, persists with it. The present bunch of youngsters in the team don’t give the feeling that the current team is the best India can have at this stage. Infact many of the selections in the last couple of years leave you with the feeling that how did these guys enter the national team.

Ganguly developed a team which could serve the nation for a good decade. He backed players with genuine talent who could have their places in the side for years to come. Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Dhoni are all Ganguly products. And he backed them even in their tough times, had full fledge arguments with selectors to the point of blackmailing them with his own resignation. But as a Captain you have to do it.

Ganguly even persisted with Agarkar, Pathan and Jaffer in spite of their bad form for he saw some talent in all of them. You cant just go in with some average person who with good form can stick it out for a couple of years. Even Dravid got in Gambhir, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma and backed them. This is where Dhoni lacks. Last year or so hasn’t seen a single new comer who has given the feel that he will become a regular part of the Test or One Day team for the next 4-5 years or so.

Joginder Sharma, Badrinath, Praveen Kumar? I don’t think any of them deserve a place in the national side. Do we have a back up for the test middle order once Sachin, Dravid and Laxman retire. At present I don’t think so.

Telangana ? :-( ? :-(

She sat there, crying, next to the body of her child. She was shouting to the many people around to let her be alone, let her feel her sons body by herself. I saw this all in shocked horror. Her son, a student at some university had committed suicide for the cause of Telangana state. Some people had led the students believe that their future would be great only if the state is created which in turn would lead to locals being given preferences in admissions, jobs and everything.
People started blocking roads around. A large number started gathering. Some people saw an opportunity in it, an impetus to their on going protests for the past two months. Shouts and chants started filling the atmosphere. The car in which I was travelling was already surrounded by a mob.
She just sat there, numb to all that was happening. My car started moving, finding its way through the mob. I saw the last glimpse of the woman for whom her world had got over. The suicide had killed two people. The shouts and chants began getting louder, for the creation of their state, their own state. Incidents of student suicides are on the rise for this cause. They are now ready to give blood. Something must have gone terribly wrong at some point of time somewhere for people to get to such extremes. Have things gone so wrong that a mother’s tears are not cared for? A helpless mother just crying away and asking, “why??”” Would there be more mothers whose sons bodies would be used for political mileage or have the emotions got so strong in the region that these sons would be called “shaheed” a few years later.