Sunday, October 18, 2009

Diwali Musings & Reyankh's Art

There is something about Indian festivals and events. They are always boisterous, fun, full of people, celebrations, new clothes, overeating - in short - completely OTT (over the top). And as far as Diwali goes it takes the cake along with the icing except that we normally don't eat cake on Diwali - we just gorge and gorge on Mithais - telling ourselves after every mouthful that this one's going to be the last - promise!

Another Diwali is over and done with. This time more tiring that the last. Tiring because Diwali also calls for the annual spring cleaning which every year seems to get more and more tedious. Methinks its not because of the fact there is less support staff to do it for you but because we have become consumerist hoarders. So we keep purchasing and stocking things which we may or may not need ever and then every Diwali we wonder what to keep and what to throw! More so, because it's Diwali and we have just purchased some more! Oh! for the vagaries of the human mind!

While I am at it on the cleaning biz with a couple of housekeeping ladies I have called in from office - I face a dilemma - what to do with the bits and pieces left over from Reyankh's visit? I don't want to move his toy basket - it lies in the study reminding us of the many times we would coax him to play with his toys - which of course he never did! And why would he (play with toys) when he had four laptops, innumerable electronic gadgets, a guitar and a few cell phones to mess around with? High tech baby and all that :). Then there are the many drawers, that were within his reach, that look like a tornado hit them and how! I don't want to clean them. They remind me of the times I'd come home from work and find everything out of the drawers and all over the house. Is cleanliness more important than the memory of your grandson's visit?

The cleaning lady in the meanwhile, gets a wet mop to clean the doors and I shout to stop her in her tracks. She is almost ready to wipe off the beautiful art work done by Reyankh on the doors, walls, my bed and various other places his tiny little hands could reach. 'Hey wait', I say..'you can't wipe that - it's my baby's very first attempt at becoming a future Picasso!' 'But madam, it looks bad - we have cleaned the whole house so well. We can't leave these marks' she says. So after a bit of discussion we compromise. We clean some and we leave some. Reyankh's Art is part of the room and stays where we can see it all the time!

The rest of the festival goes on the way it does every year. The preparations more tiring than the actual celebration but fun nonetheless. There is always an air of solemnity in the prayers, a fervor in the lighting of the diyas, a strange sense of achievement in the making of the rangoli, lots of guilt in eating the mithai, sharing and bonding with friends and relatives and a feeling of bonhomie as the day ends with a mock card session where only 2 people lose!

Till the next Diwali then......

Ray


Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Have a Heart!

It's a lazy saturday afternoon and I am flipping channels - not that I am really into television big time but there are days when the mindless flipping acts as a great stress buster. So there I am - as if in a limbo - watching channel upon channel mouthing platitudes about family values or women who suffer in silence and ah.... there's also India's actor of the millenium giving gyan on a B grade show where some idiotic people are being their idiotic best for the audiences' voyeuristic pleasure.

And then I stop! I see a dwarfish, disfigured man (born with twisted arms) doing the most amazing dance. His arm movements are restricted (there are really no arms to speak of - humps growing from the shoulders with twisted fingers attached to them) but he has tremendous strength in his legs - he does the most intricate maneuvers, rolls, jumps, slides on the floor - all with extreme ease. I am spellbound as I watch - no flipping the channel this time - this supreme act of confidence. The fire in the eyes is distinctly visible - the man knows it is probably his only chance in a life time to showcase whatever his is capable of.

The music stops abruptly and it is then that I notice the judges - Ah well...as it turns out - this is the selection happening for one (more) dance based reality show. Which is fine. The judges are applauding the man's effort - and it seems to me that maybe this is going to be show with a difference. Their tears seem as genuine as mine and I think - well thank God there is still some sensitivity left in people of their name and stature. However, I am wrong...terribly, terribly wrong...

What follows is probably the most shameful act I have seen on TV in recent times. One of the judges (a renowned dance guru) tell Hari that he's done a great job and he selects him. But of course there's a panel and the others have to have their say too. Speaks the next judge (small time actor, side kick to Munnabhai, past time choreographer famous for his tapori dances et al) to tell poor Hari that though his foot work was good - he could have used his arms (?) and the rest of his body better. And it doesn't end there - he decides to rub in the fact that Hari is DIFFERENT from the rest of us and therefore even though he dances well he cannot qualify for selection because he is DIFFERENT!

As I watch this horror show Hari defends himself and asks the judge to define how he is different. He says and I quote him verbatim - I can drive, ride a cycle, teach dance (he has a dance school), do all my work without anyone's help so please let me know how am I different...what is it that normal people do that I don't or can't! Hari stands his ground - the judges fight and to add salt to Hari's wounds the choreographers for the show endorse the actor's view.

The channel thinks this just the right time to create some more drama and announces a break! I don't come to know the outcome of the fight or whether Hari did finally get selected or not as I do not have the stomach to digest it any further. I am aghast, ashamed, and so saddened that I can't stop my tears. Silly me - crying over some stupid show but it doesn't end there.

I am hounded by Hari's image - his flying dance - his verve - his desire to succeed and finally the despair in his eyes. The despair somehow permeates my being....I need to know - I need to know why a human tragdy is being thus advertised. I have so many questions to ask - of the channel, the show producer, the judges.....why must you demean and degrade a human soul by bringing into focus his difference and then on national TV degrading him beyond belief by telling him he is DIFFERENT so cannot be part of the NORMALS.

If the show was meant only for the NORMAL people then was Hari selected to dance so that he could be used as a sympathy factor to make the TRPs soar? Did anyone on that stupid show even spare one thought to what they did to Hari's spirit that night? Did anyone offer a few words of encouragement to him? Did the channel apologise to Hari for putting him through the misery of rejection and ridicule...

I have to say this...to all the people who are in some way or the other involved with Media - print, visual, audio - please for God's sake - HAVE A HEART. If you can't do anything to assuage the pain of or lessen the sorrows of those whom God has chosen to send to the earth as DIFFERENT then please keep your mouths shut, keep your opinions guarded and before you decide to create or judge such shows, decide who is fit enough to appear on it. It will spare the ones like Hari to aimlessly dream of glory that will never be theirs...!

Ray