The Slap Song...

A few things recently gained a lot of publicity and created a lot of brouhaha in India. One, of course, the 'karara chaanta', I mean, the hard-hitting, quite-satisfying slap, that Sharad Pawar received, and other, without a doubt, Why This Kolaveri Di... :) 
Slapping and hitting of politicians has been a common phenomenon that we have witnessed in last few years. From George Bush, to Sharad Pawar now, they all have been thrashed by public. The public anger has to come out any way, and I am sorry, but the Gandhi days are a thing of the past now. Though, of course there are hypocrites who claim to be raising their voice in the Gandhian manner, and ask their supporters to be non violent and YET, make fun and enjoy the slapping of Sharad Pawar. I know its satisfying, but what's with the double standards?


As the saying may change to "A slap a day, keeps inflation away", I really feel, that if the common man of India is continuously harassed by the politicians, as is happening, we might be witnessing more 'slapping' in the near future. I wish we could get Harvinder Singh's email id, and could forward him a list of all politicians we would like to see being slapped. 
With all the videos of "THE SLAP" being circulated across the internet and media, I am sure Sharad Pawar must be having the song "Why this Kolaveri Di", on a loop these days... ;) 

Rockstar and Revolution - The New India...

Two things created a lot of buzz relatively recently - Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar and Chetan Bhagat's Revolution 2020.  I have no intention, nor the authority to critically review these two things, nor am I getting wads of INR to praise or slam any of them. However, one thing that struck my mind like a Church bell, was the striking similarity in two recent 'phenomenons'. Besides the superficial facts that both target the youth, both are a product OF youth and both have been created by the masters of their respective fields and both carried a lot of expectation among the target audiences, there are a lot of other things that define the Indian youth and the practical India - the NEW India.

First of all, we have to notice the fact of life that has been well presented in both and hold true for anyone and everyone - no one is successful without facing austerity in life. As they say, a coal becomes a diamond after going through the worst of the processes. In Revolution 2020, we find the protagonist is always the one lacking behind, is the one who doesn't know what he wants to be, has no idea what life is all about and is always jealous of his closest buddy. So is in Rockstar... where the guy who has an inborn talent of music in him doesn't recognize the seriousness of life, has been living in comforts and does not know about the real challenges offered by this journey called life.  It is only when they face hardships and challenges, that they become successful, they achieve the zenith.

However, other thing that shocks and scares us, but brings us to reality is that a person stands alone at the top. That is something every young aspiring person in our country needs to know. Aiming high is not bad, but success brings its own cons with it. A person becomes practical, shrewd and judicious when he is successful. The role that love plays in lives of both successful protagonists is also worth noticing. Besides only after living beyond the comfort zone, leaving behind the confines, rules and restrictions, a person can become big. A person can be successful without investing money, without having an educational qualification, without support, without a godfather... but never without hard work and struggle. That is something inevitable and the basic driving force.

The last things, that comes to my notice is that both the movie and the book portrays the real youth of the practical India. The central characters are no good heroes like sappy bollywood flicks and no dirty villains like Gabbar and Pran - we all have a streak of grey between the black and white of life. It is no bad to be practical, to live in the real world. I am sorry, but Gandhi, Nehru and of course, Harish Chandra are past. We have to live by taking the lead, we have to be dominant, we have to rule, we have to answer back and we have to take the path which leads to success. As they say, sometimes Its good to be bad.... :)

And finally, I would close by saying that both things I talked about hold their importance and speak much more in depth than it appears. Every person is a Rockstar from inside and every person can bring about the much needed Revolution... :D