Idyllic Thoughts

Global village. This term may connect continents divided by sea, countries, remote regions and far-off villages. But it has also reduced the world to one big road. A road which has no beginning, no end. We travel, travel and travel. We reach places at half the time we took some years ago. We save time. We save money. But... A few years ago, our journey to faraway places took hours and sometimes days. We got the feel of each town or city on the way as we passed through. We knew the shops, restaurants, the way people dressed and the way they behaved. Some townspeople were mild and polite, while some others were rude. Some were straight-forward while others were cunning. We even guessed which town they came from by their body language and behaviour. It was fun. We got to taste each city's unique food as our vehicle or bus stopped for break. I was quite fond of the yummy-smelling dosa in Shimoga or Maddur vada or goli baje in Dakshina Kannada. Now, if we wish for those scenes an

Jean Jacques Rousseau said, "Freedom is the power to choose our own chains." And we are efficiently hanging ourselves with it. Churchill reportedly said that Indians were not fit to rule but only to be ruled; that all Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw... with sweet tongues and silly hearts. I do not know whether he really said them. But we are hell-bent on bringing his 'prediction' to fruition. As a commoner, I do not like to switch on the TV to watch news or to read a newspaper. It's chaos out there and there is peace only in remaining ignorant of what's happening in the country. Every political party or individual is hurling stones at another. In the melee, no one knows who is the stone-thrower and who is the victim. Maturity of a nation is in knowing how to build a bridge with those chains.

ಪತ್ರಕರ್ತರಾದವರಿಗೆಲ್ಲ ಉಸಿರು ಬಿಗಿ ಹಿಡಿದು ತಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ಅತಿ ಕಡಿಮೆ ತಪ್ಪುಗಳೊಂದಿಗೆ, ಡೆಡ್ಲೈನ್ ಒಳಗೆ ಮುಗಿಸುವ ಕಲೆ ರಕ್ತಗತವಾಗಿರುತ್ತದೆ. ನಿಮಿಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸೂಕ್ತ, ಚೆಂದದ ತಲೆಬರಹಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ತಮ್ಮ ತಲೆಯನ್ನೆಲ್ಲ ಖರ್ಚು ಮಾಡುವ ಅಭ್ಯಾಸವೂ ಆಗಿರುತ್ತದೆ. ಒತ್ತಡದ ಜತೆ ತಮ್ಮ ದಕ್ಷತೆಯನ್ನು ಅಡಿಗಡಿಗೂ ಸಾಬೀತು ಮಾಡಬೇಕಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದಕ್ಕೇ ನನಗೆ ಅನ್ನಿಸೋದು, ನಮ್ಮ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ರಾಜಕಾರಣಿಗಳು ಕಡ್ಡಾಯವಾಗಿ ಎರಡು ವರ್ಷ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮ ಕ್ಷೇತ್ರದಲ್ಲಿ ಬೆವರು ಹರಿಸಬೇಕು. ಹೇಗೆ ಕೆಲವು ದೇಶಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಯುವಜನತೆ ಕಡ್ಡಾಯವಾಗಿ ಸೇನೆ ಸೇರುತ್ತಾರೋ, ಹಾಗೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಮಕ್ಕಳು ಸೇನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸೇವೆ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಬೇಕು; ರಾಜಕೀಯಕ್ಕೆ ಇಳಿಯುವವರು ಕಡ್ಡಾಯವಾಗಿ ಮಾಧ್ಯಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲಸ ಮಾಡಬೇಕು. ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಅಭ್ಯಾಸವಾದ ದಕ್ಷತೆ ಮತ್ತು ಕಠಿಣ ಶ್ರಮ ಮುಂದೆ ಅವರ ಕೆಲಸಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತಾನಾಗಿಯೇ ಕಾಣುತ್ತದೆ.  

Reading about OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for novices) in the Outlook, I was reminded of my own obsessions and the embarrassment it caused me and my family when I was young. I would wash my hands every time I touched something. Then I smelled them to check if they were clean. It was a habit which I tried to shake off after getting many scoldings from mom. I always had to step on an even number of tiles or pour even number of pails containing water into the bucket. I had to touch an object with both hands equal number of times. There were many such habits which made my life miserable. Though I have managed to shake some off, they manage to peep surreptitiously every now and then. 

I was looking at the posters at a movie hall last week. And I regretted it. Any woman (most women) would have. There was a life size poster of a so-called comedy movie with the buttocks of women filling the top. On the bottom of the poster was spread the curvaceous 'heroine' of the film in a two-piece. I don't like to be patronising or censuring, but as a woman I felt ashamed to be anywhere near the poster. Some young boys were taking photos of the poster and were discussing god-knows-what, all the while sniggering among themselves. Making adult films and calling them comedy, minting money by commodifying women... As long as there is a demand, there will be a supply, even in surplus. And they call themselves actors of mainstream cinema. Feminist activists don't bother to speak up in these cases, because they call it freedom of expression.