It was a usual Monday morning, mundane and uninspiring. Despite of it being a holiday, it was hard to escape the blues Monday morning brings the moment you open your eyes. As tempted as I was to hit the snooze button, I'm glad I didn't. Had I done that, I would've missed the sight of a lifetime. ( OK, maybe not a lifetime, but it was still more amusing than dozing off after 9 hours of sleep :| ) On the deserted roads of Model Town Market was an American Tourist frantically jumping up and down with joy- pointing at a cow sitting right in the middle of the road. "Its a cow!" He screamed with such delight that I wondered if cows have become extinct in America. What followed was his digital camera taking shots of the cow from every possible angle. Was he insane? Or maybe he was just a typical American with a fascination towards Indian poverty.
That brings me to an over hyped & overrated film, which for some weird reason, made it to the Oscars. And no, you do not get any points for guessing the right answer.
Our hearts still swell with joy whenever someone even utters the word "Slumdog" or if they are playing "Jai ho" at the local radio station (No wonder Congress is trying to cash on it. Not that I care, politics is hardly my forte and no, that is nothing I am proud of) I'm not going to bash this film because the director is not of Indian descent, or if the Slum bit was overplayed to gather public sympathy for the lead character. I don't believe that it was-overplayed, that is. To create a 'Rags to Riches' scenario, you need to show the rags, and a background locale that goes in sync with it. And when you think about poverty, India is almost a synonym. The critics said that it created a wrong image of India for our western counterparts. But then again, it shows a side of India that is still alive and vibrant, morbid and demented. Dharavi is a part of India we can't shy away from. So I'm not going to rant on about how the Americans still slot us as beggars and thieves(I mean, come on! Even we slot them as immoral, dumb maniacs who don't deserve the money they are minting) Yes, there is more to India than Snake Charmers, Mango Trees, Ayurveda, Yoga and Aishwarya Rai. (Not to forget our 'Cash-Meer' issue :/) But anyone with an IQ that isn't drooping in a negative spectrum can decipher that. So why do we even bother to defend ourselves when there is nothing to defend.
And remind me again, what is so extra-ordinary about 'Jai ho'? It is a catchy, foot tapping tune that gets banal after a while. But then again, A R Rehman is a maestro. Saying anything against him is a sin I won't commit. (Oh wait, I already have :|) When everything is said and done, I'm proud of the fact that the guy made it to the Oscars. (Well, my inner patriot is anyway) Kudos for him :)
Anyway, I just found out that 'Anyways' is grammatically incorrect. It makes as much sense as saying 'Anyhows'
Who knew!
No comments:
Post a Comment