The essence of life lies hidden in free-thinking

2009-02-07T10:43:00.001-08:00

Arindam Chaudhuri
Don't see "Slumdog Millionaire". It sucks!
A phony poseur that has been made only to mock India for the viewing pleasure of the First World!!

The emperor’s new clothes! That’s “Slumdog Millionaire” for you… Five minutes into this celebrated patchwork of illogical clichés and you are struck by the jarring dialogues. The cumbersome delivery in a language which doesn’t come naturally to most of the actors sounds like someone scratching on walls with one’s finger nails; it ruins the possibility of a connection… Had this film been made by an Indian director, it would’ve been trashed as a rotting old hat, which literally stands out only because of its stench, but since the man making it happens to be from the West, we’re all left celebrating the emperor’s new clothes. The film borrows an undoubtedly interesting narrative style – from films like “City of God” – but then uses it to weave in a collection of clichés from the Third World’s underbelly for the viewing pleasure of a First World audience. The real slumdog in the movie is not the main protagonist but India as a whole… The makers and those celebrating this movie’s hard-to-spot brilliance are actually serving up India as the accidental millionaire, which in fact happens to be a slumdog… and like shameless fools we are gloating over its success without realising that it makes a caricature out of India.

The film does not have the sincerity and honesty of a “Salaam Bombay” or a “City of Joy” and nor does this slime covered fairy tale have the integrity or the rootedness of the above mentioned scripts, or even a “Shantaram” for that matter; the soundtrack and the performance of the child actors are the only bits in the film which live up to the hype. The real slumdogs who’ve hit the jackpot after wallowing in acres of human waste are the makers of this film who are now raking in millions while those court jesters who’ve critiqued the film and showered tributes and awards need to ask themselves why, scores of years after our independence, they still feel the need to suck up to the gora sahibs. It’s not a question of xenophobia… it’s definitely a well cinematographed film… but the film has no soul, especially after little Jamal has jumped off the train and become a teenager… The rest of the film is just a modern version of the West’s view of India where slums, slumdogs and Bollywoodian clichés have replaced the elephants and snake charmers. It’s a well made caricature of a country and a caricature can never be a Mona Lisa, for a masterpiece can’t be one dimensional juxtaposition of sadistic extremes… and that’s my grouse with the celebrations…

And I say all this not because I don’t know what is India. I know its poverty and the real statistics around it a little better than most others – especially the Indian film critics who have given “Slumdog…” an average of 4 to 4.5 stars! But the fact is that the film’s entire narration seems like the germination of a terribly sadistic and complex mind with the sole aim of satisfying the western idea of India – and its new found growth instincts at their cost - and it is done through a combination of illogical happenings in order to show everything in a disgustingly negative vein. Not that it doesn’t exist, but it surely doesn’t exist in this fictitious manner. While “Salaam Bombay” had realism, “Slumdog…” is just every scrap of dirt picked up from every corner and piled up together to try and hit back at the growing might of India. And the awards almost seem like a sadistic effort to show the world – look we knew that this was India, and these are the slumdogs we are outsourcing our jobs to. It stinks of racial arrogance and it’s such a shame now on second thought to see the Indian faces – including that of the undoubted master, AR Rahman - celebrating its success. There is nothing positive about the film and it seems that a deranged sadist has painted his insecure negative self in each and every character of the movie. It illogically shows every negative thing about India happening in the protagonist’s life... slums, open-air lavatories, riots, underworld, prostitution, brothels, child labour, begging, blinding and maiming of kids to make them into ‘better beggars’, petty peddlers, traffic jams, irresponsible call centre executives… everything apart from western pedophiles roaming around in Indian streets!! And its winning of so many awards and nominations only goes on to prove strongly that the paradigm of cinema and recognition of films are in the hands of a few retarded imperialistic minds. It’s a crying shame that our media hasn’t seen through this ruse and is touting “Slumdog’s” nominations to claim that India is shining at the Oscars, while in fact it is lauding a film that mocks and ridicules the idea of ‘India’, pigeonholing its identity into the straitjacket of depraved poverty for a global audience.

When the West wanted Indians to embrace them and their companies to come to India and capture the lucrative markets, suddenly we had all the Indian women, some very beautiful and some not necessarily so, winning all the Miss Universe and Miss Worlds. Today, they are in a crisis and India is looking unstoppable despite its slums and poverty, and they are losing their businesses to us. Isn’t it the best time to paint India as the Slumdog Millionaire?? All in all, the film is nothing but an endorsement of an erstwhile imperial mindset of the West and its blinkered vision of India. An English master has made an Indian slumdog. Don’t even waste your time watching this film in the theatres. It sucks and there is nothing great in it as a film too. Amitabh Bachchan was spot on when he said that Bollywood has made far better mainstream films. Take out a DVD of one of his old films instead…

2008-12-24T21:30:00.000-08:00

It doesn't feel like Christmas at all this year.
Hopeless.

2008-11-19T09:43:00.000-08:00

I might crash, but I won't burn

2008-09-02T06:25:00.001-07:00

Defeated

I can fight through this battle without you,
but I don't want to.
I can win this war,
but I'd rather loose.

2008-09-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

Emancipate

From one cage to another.

2008-07-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

We humans always want a little bit of magic in everything.

2008-07-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

When people are telling you something, listen!
Don't try and read between lines, because they are telling the truth,
the absolute truth.

2008-07-16T09:29:00.003-07:00

All things lead to one.

2008-07-16T09:29:00.001-07:00

What a waste of life.

2008-07-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

What they think I am is not what I am, what I think I am is what I really am.

2008-06-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

I keep telling myself that God is fair...
It's inevitable, isn't it?

2008-06-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

Men can't help themselves *sob*

2008-06-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

And then, He sustained me.

2008-05-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

I thought, with you, I can be young forever.

But now, with someone else, I have to grow old with time.

2008-03-26T08:40:00.000-07:00

I can't care about anything but you.

2008-03-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

I tried all night not to break down and cry
As the tears rolled down my face
I felt so cold and empty
Like a lost soul out of place

Give me something to believe in
If there's a Lord above
Give me something to believe in
Oh, lord arise.

He cried forgive me for what Ive done
Cause I never meant the things I did.
The mirror on the wall
Sees my smile, it fades again.

Sometimes I wish to God I didn't know now
The things I didn't know then.
It just makes me wonder
why so many lose, so few win.

Give me something to believe in
If there's a Lord above
Give me something to believe in
Oh, lord arise.

Poison

2007-12-08T09:28:00.000-08:00

Men should never be allowed to wear white underwear ... that's just what I have to say about that.

2007-05-20T00:25:00.000-07:00

“I see glimpses of her…” he said, with a gleam of hope in his eyes.
Glimpses that give me hope of your perseverance, glimpses that fill my heart with hope for your destiny. Waiting in eager anticipation for you to be that woman you are called to be…a woman of destiny.

2007-05-20T00:13:00.001-07:00

It always seems easy to be broad-minded, as it were, about somebody else's relationship but unfortunately never your own.

2007-05-20T00:13:00.000-07:00

On Children

Children, they recognize authority. 300407

On Hope

Sometimes, God gives you hope at the weirdest of places and the funniest of times. 010407

On Humility

Humility attracts a third. 280407

On Boys

Boys, they simply ruin the fun. Us girls, we’re alright. 030507

2007-05-20T00:03:00.000-07:00

Without excuse

For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

You will say the, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”

Well said.

Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith.
Do not be haughty, but fear.

Romans 11:16-20

Which tree have you grafted yourself into?
If it is something that is not in accordance with God’s plan I suggest you cut yourself off immediately.

2007-03-09T07:17:00.000-08:00

Pain is inevitable.
Suffering is optional.

Anonymous.

2007-02-07T00:07:00.000-08:00

We're hiring
At Kenneth George School, R.T. Nagar.
We're looking for teachers and office staff:

Decisive factors:

Loves to read and write

Must be passionate about the little ones

Prepared to meet all ends

Must be well-versed at integrating computer technology into the classrooms

Instrumental in developing new programs for the school

If interested mail at comescribble@gmail.com

2007-02-05T04:53:00.000-08:00

I very recently lost all my work...yes all of it :(

2007-01-03T06:21:00.000-08:00

My friend, who’s studying architecture, needed to create a portfolio. Well, I decided to help. This is a report-design for an architectural thesis, which is about a school for children with cerebral palsy. The Spastic Society of Karnataka is one of the schools (according to my friend), which offers to take care of children with this disability. I really liked this one :)

2006-12-30T06:08:00.000-08:00

You're Confessions!

by St. Augustine

You're a sinner, you're a saint, you do not feel ashamed. Well, you
might feel a little ashamed of your past, but it did such a good job of teaching you
what not to do. Now you've become a devout Christian and have spent more time
ruminating on the world to come rather than worldly pleasures. Your realizations and
ability to change will bring reverence upon you despite your hedonistic transgressions.
Florida will honor you most in the end.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

2006-12-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

Nobody deserves to be alone on Christmas Eve.

2006-12-15T01:20:00.000-08:00

2006-12-14T21:06:00.000-08:00

That's our tree :)

2006-12-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

2006-12-08T09:14:00.000-08:00

So listen ya'll (smile) me is designing some christmas cards (see below, and maybe above) so please tell me what ya'll think. Me be using a lot of feeding-back very helping hand *giggle*
Love :)

2006-12-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

2006-12-08T09:09:00.000-08:00

2006-12-07T00:15:00.000-08:00

Charm

It's a sort of bloom on a woman.
If you have it, you don't need to have anything else; and if you don't have it, it doesn't much matter what else you have.

He he

2006-12-07T00:11:00.000-08:00

A truth that is told with bad intent
beats all the lies you can invent
- William Blake

2006-12-06T23:51:00.000-08:00

Absence makes the heart grow fonder :)

2006-12-01T22:06:00.001-08:00

Distance

And yet, I grin like a fool in the face of love.

2006-12-01T22:03:00.001-08:00

It is in the end (seemingly) that we think of the beginning.

2006-11-29T00:46:00.001-08:00

2006-11-28T03:03:00.000-08:00

2006-11-28T03:02:00.000-08:00

2006-11-28T02:59:00.000-08:00

2006-11-28T02:57:00.000-08:00

2006-11-28T02:55:00.000-08:00

2006-11-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

Question.

Do you ever feel like you are running out of people you can depend on?

2006-11-12T07:15:00.000-08:00

Continuation.

They are all doing well...very well indeed...and so am I.

2006-11-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

(Moa, Closer) Taken at the St. Josephs Auditorium, Bangalore.

Before an artist performs. Somehow, I like.

2006-11-07T21:54:00.000-08:00

They are all doing well...very well indeed.

Bangalore's finest (almost)

2006-11-02T00:12:00.000-08:00

The Opera (hope to spell correctly) house, originally uploaded by ponchahontus.

While I was out with G and A. This building is opposite the Rex Theater on the famous Brigade road.

Loner

2006-11-02T00:09:00.001-08:00

Loner, originally uploaded by ponchahontus.

This white one stood out from the rest of the yellow ones, just like you.

They were calling out to me, serious ;)

2006-11-02T00:09:00.000-08:00

, originally uploaded by ponchahontus.

I could not help myself. They just makes such good pictures :)

2006-10-30T07:18:00.000-08:00

2006-10-30T07:13:00.000-08:00

2006-10-30T07:08:00.000-08:00

At Singha's wedding.

2006-10-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

you and me at the wedding
Originally uploaded by ponchahontus.

2006-10-23T09:11:00.003-07:00

In the midst of the God’s paradise

Does the ‘crown of life’ matter enough, that one will go to the peak of faithfulness and obedience unto death?

Must we fix our eyes on the ‘Crown of life’ or the ‘Author and Finisher of our faith’? He most certainly has wooed us into Him time and again. But the very thing (trial and tribulation) that make us turn our faces from God, He has not removed. But He rather expects us to be faithful, obedient and secure in Him…unto death that is. Would life be life without our trials and tribulations? I would think not. But love has to be tested at some point or it is no love at all. We tested His love for us on the cross, didn’t we now?

Rev 2:10 He asks us here not to fear the things we are “going” to suffer. Well, firstly, He knows very well in advance that we will most certainly go through many sufferings and then He says “don’t fear them”! This brings me to believe that God knows well that if we knew what lies ahead of us the first thing we humans would do is panic and then allow fear to take ample control. When we consider all these aspects of having to overcoming, what exactly is God trying to show us?

Is He, showing us something about our ‘night-seasons’ that we cannot quite understand with our human minds?
Well, the options that pop into my mind are that maybe the Almighty is trying to show us that ‘they (trials and tribulations) are not real and that we are blindfolded, or maybe that they are not as big as we make them to be…or actually maybe that He has already gone through them (serious, no jokes) and has overcome them for us and that what we see now is simply a deceiving mirage.
And maybe because of the later reason He asks us not to fear; Explanation; for ‘it is finished’. Our trials and tribulations are quite finished to dust.

If they are finished then what exactly are we suffering?

Reference: Rev 2:10 – Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you maybe tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Hebrews 12: 2 – Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith….

In one

2006-10-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

In one
Originally uploaded by ponchahontus.

I was just having fun :). I know, it has been a lot of 'Faith, Hope & Love' but please put up with it. I will change asap yea.

My people.

2006-10-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Card
Originally uploaded by ponchahontus.

This was a card I made for Richie's birthday (Sept. 5th). He liked. I hope. Initially, I wanted to get everyone to make funny faces cause thats what Richie, does everytime I try to take a picture of him :).
But not everyone was very co-operative lol. I don't quite remember why I put pictures of the girls on top and the boys below? umm.

Mag Cov

2006-10-17T11:54:00.000-07:00

Mag Cov, originally uploaded by ponchahontus.

Prem, please don't feel obligated to leave comments :) *giggle*.
Others, freak out madi.

Magazine cover

2006-10-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Magazine cover, originally uploaded by ponchahontus.

This is a magazine cover I designed for Kenneth George School. Please leave comments if any :)

2006-10-16T01:26:00.000-07:00

Look! There goes my evil child.

I cannot get rid of the insecure feeling that breeds inside of me. It is like a repulsive little baby boy: I want to kill him and make it seem as though he was never real. Instead, I feed him every day and allow him to grow. I am rather sure that one day I will give birth to him. This child then will first kill my spirit and then slowly, yet cautiously kill my circle-of-concern.

But, for now, the child inside me has gone to sleep. I cautiously look around contemplating escape, but he knows my thoughts and each of my moves even before I make them. He smiles sadistically, knowing with a content smirk on his face that in spite of me there is no escape. Yet, as I continue to foolishly try and decide which way to run, and try to rise from my seat, I realize suddenly that I’m stuck.

He is growing fast on my flesh, running through my blood, eating of my being. I can hear him giggle. I settle down fearfully, for his being rubs against mine.

I am now trying not to be fearful or he’ll sense it, trying not to plan or he’ll know. This baby boy is evil, he has the power to destroy me and I can do nothing about it.
Even as I write I can feel the child rise from his sleep; I have to go and he’ll know.

2006-10-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

My tressure.

"All creative people have no concerns about revealing to others that it takes many bad ideas to obtain good ones."

Scott Berkun in Why good design comes from bad design.

2006-10-07T01:09:00.000-07:00

For you R.

Alright I love attention! There, I’ve said it, are you happy now?

I am not particularly gung-ho about everyone’s attention, but of some concerned individuals only. Mostly of people who think like me, the passionate ones and the ones that burn, the ones who make love not hate, the ones who travel the world, those who grab my attention with their attitude and words … and the one who catches my eye in the midst of a crowd.
And that ‘one’ is you.

2006-10-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

Confession

I've been making outrageous claims on another's heart. Confidantly breaking his foundations and building castles in the air for him.

This time he is not mine to break.

The air that surrounds you, and off what you breath, does not belong to me, as if it ever did. A quite evening with you isn't mine; your feelings, and what you choose to be passionate about, does not belong to me.
Nothing do I own; nothing, I can say, belongs to me rightfully.

From dust I have come and to dust I will return.

06.07.60
6:30 p.m.

2006-10-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

I want to tell you quickly about a friend I lost.

I loved him tho.

"It is all in my space," he said, "but it's more powerful than logic."

Oh, I loved him more than any other.

You must know my friend that you made me feel like a princess, like a lady loved and respected. If you say it's not you I've lost, then let me tell you that it's the binding force that is lost.

Let me tell the world that it is not about you or about me. It is the energy, the love, the force that bound my earth and your fire; my water and your air.

I thought to myself that maybe I will always love you, but circumstances and situations have proved me very wrong. You've taught me to love the right way, to live and not just survive.

And now I've lost that friend.

I've lost the force.

Ps: I don't know why the world must know about this. I'm not sure as to why you must care. Oh well, if you've lost a 'friend' then leave me a note maybe.

Band without a name

2006-09-24T20:16:00.000-07:00

Season tour 2006_2, originally uploaded by ponchahontus.

I re-worked the poster. Could not do much with the logo tho. Hope ya'll like. Lemme know.

2006-09-19T02:18:00.000-07:00

It’s okay to love yourself

I would almost like to believe that I am not manageable; friends and family have made a huge contribution to this contemplation in progress.

I must tell you that one has to learn to love themselves or ‘survival’ is simply not their cup-of-tea. It is an art in itself, which needs practice; time and lots of time is a quintessential factor.

The world has made it sound ‘charitable’ to put others before you; but it is a mean trick that this world had played on us.
How can you help if you have no hands? How can you walk along if you have no legs? How can you perceive if you have no eyes? How can you love others if you have not loved yourself first?

Our weakness sometimes is our only strength. Our weakness to habituate loving ourselves to being self-obsessed is not too far apart from our weakness to habituate loving others to being possessive!

So, come my friends, let’s learn to draw straight lines. Let’s teach the world right from wrong, let’s learn the moral law: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; Love your neighbor as yourself.”

I will now let you find the treasure.

2006-09-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

I just designed this brochure, let me know what you guys think of it.
This band will be touring starting from November 10th to December 3rd.
Mentioned on the brochure are their goals for this tour, locations, venue and the budget.
Ps: Please ignore spelling mistakes :B

2006-09-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

Make what you will of it :)

2006-09-11T22:31:00.000-07:00

Men, take care of your women!

I would like to believe (after much thought) that women do live in a much different world than men. Let me explain this further; but do keep in mind, how I conclude this post is probably not what I will make the rest of my life to be in spite of wanting to do so.

Now…

God has blessed us women with an ability to analyze, microanalyses even. But we have been accused (by them men) of doing so since donkey’s years. We have been rightly accused of “thinking too much”! Must we always have to put our abilities in boxes and keep them from getting jumbled up? This being done in accordance to a man’s convenience.
If my ability to hate overlaps my ability to love then one can correctly call me mad; if my ability (or right) to analyze (or microanalyses) overlaps my ability to rationalize then we are called names such as insecure, possessive, obsessed and so on and so forth.

Now, who is to say who is right? Should we point our finger at God and tell Him what He ought to have done than not, I think not. Or can I ask you men to catch up with the women? Ah well, that would be too much to ask.
Then men, let us girls be, and learn to handle our ‘complicatedness’ as it were. And please undertake the task, so to speak, of resisting comparing yourselves to us.

“Peace”?! :)

2006-09-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

Lewis, in ‘Mere Christianity’

"If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through.... If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all these religions even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of truth."

2006-09-11T00:37:00.000-07:00

Please take into consideration the following:

What makes a ‘good conversationalist’? If there is no such expression then I just coined it, so please un-earth a way of dealing with it.

Could it be that if one ‘talked too much’ then we can give him/her praise of a ‘good conversationalist’? If so, I beg to differ. If you were to talk to me about something in particular for over an hour and not give me the space to tell you what I might think about it, then you have not ‘made-conversation’, as such, but a bore-to-death speech.

(‘Speeches’ in general are not on my list of most-favorite-things, at least not while I’m out having coffee with you.)

So please, make me a part of your self-styled conversation, and if it matters I might just love making-conversation with you, even if not crown you king-of-conversations. To begin with throw in a ‘what do you think?’ or ‘how do you feel about this?’ or even ‘would you care to continue this further?'.

And I beg of you, please do not tell me stories of your ‘childhood’ or your granny I really do not care enough to listen.

Self-centered me….*Smirk*

2006-09-10T23:12:00.000-07:00

Answer me boy.

I greeted you today with a kind hello and might have coffee with you tomorrow and just might end up giving you a hug the day-after, now have we set-off a relationship?

When exactly during these three immediate events did you or I, or just the two of us, believe or assume that we were in any sort of relationship?