Midnight Rain

Like a glass of 

warm milk

just before turning in

Like the smell of

a deep red rose on

a cold winter morning

Like a quietish melody

which if you

could see sound

would surely be white

I hear the windy

tender rain

Close to half past 

midnight.

Jann Gann Mann

Several years ago, the Indian government passed a law that gave freedom to 'ordinary Indian citizens' to hoist the national flag on any day, on any building, provided they abide by some basic rules of conduct.

Yes people, yes. Before that law came about, you and I could not have unfurled our own national flag on our houses because the people who made our laws did not deign it fit to allow ordinary people like us for it. Thank you, man who brought the bill in. Thank you so much, for letting us in on one at least one of our 'national' symbols.

And now, another one is in focus. One filmmaker has adapted the national anthem to convey the heart of his film. And the censor board has given a no, saying that it is an unacceptable tampering.

I am not a guy given to politically coloured diatribe (as a muslim in India you only need to constantly prove your patriotism and blindly vote for the Congress, do not try more, Jai Hind), but this one really got on to my nerves. 

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And parody (or lets say adaptation) is the sincerest form of tribute. And being an amateur filmmaker myself, I know that very well. When Rahman made his own rendition of Vande Mataram in '97, he wasn't trying to upstage the guy who wrote it. Vande Mataram is our national song; the status of which is only a notch below, if not the same as the anthem. 

But the response couldn't have been more different I think that was largely because no old people's club like the censor board was involved in there. 

Its not just draconian, its foolish as well. And worst of all, its insulting.

I find it insulting that even after decades, we still haven't shrugged off the (frankly colonial) mindset that symbols of our nation are in fact symbols of our government. When the tricolour replaced the Union Jack in every government office people must have thought; thats finally a flag we can call our own. But it was hardly so.

If that law a few years ago hadn't passed, your eigth std civics lesson would remid you that our national flag was as much our own as the jack. And 'insulting' it (which includes wearing it as a shawl, never mind the emotion behind it) would be a serious civil offence.

The national anthem is our own. We are responsible enough to not allow it to get permanently distorted. But let us sing it in our own way, maybe with a few extra words; if that gives it more effect. 

But of course, it is sacred right? How can the censors allow this?

Rgv, do one thing. Release the movie, as it is, over the internet; free. You might not make the kind of money you hoped for, but it will certainly teach those old farts who call themselves the guardians of our culture how out of touch and irrelevant they are.

Its 2009 stupid.

Ideas, not books

I have never been a huge fan of books. To me they always were large, tedious lumps of paper. Only occassionally becoming interesting; and then like the eponymous history lesson they would go back to being dry and boring again.

I am sure there are lots of people like me, who just can't seem to kep their mind focussed enough on a page of print. It is as Norman Lewis puts it, a very common and sorry state.

But before all of you who are, good, voracious readers; start getting too smug about this, let me bring something in; a realization that indicates that the great book divide might be about to end. And the reason for it to end will be the very invention that is enabling you to read this right now.

In the book "How to read better and faster", Norman Lewis talks about the habits of people who already are good, quick readers. In one particularly interesting para he says and I quote: "(...)in school, the brightest students are not the always the best...the work is too boring for them, they dawdle and daydream, and consequently stop paying attention."

Aha... now.  I am not necessarily claiming to be 'bright', but I would admit that I am a bit of a dilletante. I flit from idea to idea very quickly and nothing manages to hold my interest for a long time. I have met quite a few people like that and all of them seem to have the same problem; they can never seem to complete books. 

A few months ago I contracted a disease which some may call 'wikipediasis'. Just for fun, I would open an article in wikipedia (I know you gotta fulfill a level of nerdiness to do that); say on Rolls Royce. 

I read it a bit, and I encounter a link to the word 'left-hand drive'. I click on that, which takes me to an other article that tells me what countries drive on the left and what drive on the right. 

One line in that article says, 'most countries that drive on the left do so due to British colonial influence.' I click on the cross reference for 'colonial', which leads me to colonialism, where a link leads me to the british rule in India, which leads me to an article on Kashmir, which leads to 'Lord Mountbatten', which leads me to the history of the Irish Republican Army.

Thing is though, that the internet; and essentially knowledge sites like the once popular howstuffworks to Wikipedia and to its newest rival, knol; are turning the whole idea of reading on its head.

Economics and conventional wisdom govern that a book has to have a central theme; a unifying thread running through. All ideas, however radical will always point to one single point. People who don't like reading books have always (and rarely ever knowingly) had a problem with this. The one story, the one opinion does not hold their attention for very long. 

But with the internet, what you are reading can change itself and keep pace with how quickly you are thinking, and very often drive it. Its is like having all human knowledge, in one very long, but magically thin book.

Of course there are people who will scoff at the idea. But I am vaguely sure that this is the beginning of a very fundamental change in the way we educate ourselves.  

I think we will again see see universal geniuses sprouting up in the next few generations. 

And can I say soemthing brave here?

I think the book's days are numbered.