indiascribe satire

Once equated with progress, cities across the globe are having a hard time, especially in times of a pandemic that spares none. From the high and the mighty to the beggar on the street, no one is immune to the dreaded COVID-19. We have seen the best-laid plans of humans in every walk of life, from healthcare to commerce to governance crumble before the advent of the virus. Take a moment and think of life in a city even during the so-called normal times. With space shortage in every sphere of human activity, people tend to live cheek-by-jowl in small apartment blocks and spend half their life commuting to work over long distances. The office itself, more often than not, is little more than a cubicle despite the glass frontage and other decorations. At the end of the day, you return home, have dinner and crash out on the bed. Circumstance may vary according to your social and economic status. The 'lucky' few may be able to afford a penthouse in a gated community and pretend t...

ടാഗോറിൻ്റെ കണ്ണിൽകരട് വലക്കണ്ണിയിലൂടെ കടന്നപ്പോൾ  എന്തുണ്ടായി? എന്തായിരുന്നു അദ്ദേഹത്തിനു കണ്ണിൽകേടിനു കാരണം ? ഈ വക ചോദ്യങ്ങൾ നിങ്ങളെ ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടിക്കുകയാണെന്നു എനിക്കറിയാം. സംശയങ്ങൾ ഉടൻ തീർത്തു തരാം. സംഗതി ഇത്രേ ഉള്ളു. സാക്ഷാൽ രവീന്ദ്രനാഥ് ടാഗോർ മുപ്പതാമത്തെ വയസ്സിൽ ആദ്യമായി ഒരു നോവെല്ല എഴുതി. അതാണ് ചോഖേർ ബാലി.  ൧൯൦൧ ൽ (1901) എഴുതപെട്ട ഈ കൃതി  ടാഗോറിൻ്റെ പുരോഗമനപരമായ ആശയങ്ങളെ മുന്നോട്ടു വയ്ക്കുന്നുണ്ട് . വിധവകളുടെ ദയനീയാവസ്ഥയും പുരുഷാധിപത്യം എന്നിവയൊക്കെ ഇതിൽ പ്രകടമാവുന്നുണ്ട് .ആദ്യമായി പ്രസിദ്ധികരിച്ച ശേഷം  താമസിയാതെ ഇംഗ്ലീഷിലേക്കും വിവർത്തനം ചെയ്യപ്പെട്ടു. ഒന്ന് രണ്ടു സിനിമയും വന്നു . എന്തിനധികം പറയുന്നു, നമ്മുടെ ഐശ്വര്യ റായി വരെ 2003 ൽ  പുറത്തിറങ്ങിയ സിനിമയിൽ അഭിനയിച്ചു. ഇനി വലക്കണ്ണിയുടെ  കാര്യം. അധികം തല പുകക്കേണ്ട. കൊറോണ ഭീതി കാരണം എല്ലാവരും വീട്ടിൽ അടച്ചിരിപ്പാണല്ലോ . സമയം പോവാൻ നെറ്റ്ഫ്ലിക്സ് മുതലായവയുടെ വലയിൽ പെട്ട് വെബ് സീരീസിൽ മുഴുകുന്നു. ശുദ്ധ മലയാളത്തിൽ പറഞ്ഞാൽ ഇത് തന്നെ വലക്കണ്ണി.(https://imdb.to/32SYyrl) ആര്, എന്ത്, എവിടെ? ഞാൻ പറഞ്ഞുവരുന്നത് ...

Happened to watch Stories by Rabindranath Tagore web series on Netflix. It is directed by Anurag Basu, Debatma Mandal and Tani Basu. The cast comprises Radhika Apte, Jannat Zubair Rahmani, Bhanu Uday, Tara Alisha Berry, Sumeet Vyas and Rohan Shah. The language is Hindi and subtitles in English are available. What a soul-stirring, lovely experience, going by the very first story titled “Chokher Bali”(the literal meaning is "a grain of sand" or "an irritant in the eye"). I guess this is a long-standing practice of naming something that we hold dear to sound exactly the opposite. In this case, it is used to refer to the friendship between two young girls. Incidentally, this was the first novella penned by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) and published in 1901.  At that time, the author was 30 years old, mature enough to handle a sensitive subject about the life of widows and child marriage without being judgemental in any manner. Spoiler Alert: the following ita...

W ith the perceived success  of car free day in Gurgaon on Delhi outskirts, a similar attempt is being contemplated for the national capital. That too, on October 22, the peak of the Dussehra/Durga Puja season. While being a laudable idea, it may prove to be only a symbolic gesture, in a city with not many options of relatively comfortable public transport options except the Metro rail service. Buses, despite being modernised to include low floor versions of air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned versions, the state-owned Delhi transport Corporation is yet to develop a passenger information system like the Metro. Delhi Transport Corporation  bus  (photo courtesy : DTC)  A bus passenger still has no means of knowing when the next bus would come. A pilot project during the Commonwealth Games, 2010 that had electronic display boards announcing the bus with its route number was not followed up. Yet another facility of tracking the buses to the point of ...

Anna Hazare and his team of underachievers could now retire to wherever they came from and repent at leisure. Repent they must, having fooled themselves and their followers by foisting a make believe revolution that was nothing but an ill conceived invitation to anarchy. How did all this happen? We first got a glimpse of this old man with his Gandhi cap in April last year when he sat on a five-day fast at Jantar Mantar, the same venue where he met his nemesis this time. He sat on a fast when no political or other activities were taking place in the national capital. Most of the leaders were away busy campaigning in state assembly polls. the 24-hour television news channels were starved of anything worthwhile to cover. So for them, Anna's appearance was manna from the heavens and that too at the centre of the city, on a road that had adequate parking space for their OB vans. The TV reporters, mostly youngsters fresh out of journalism institutes, had never seen anything like thi...

         Well, Saturday we witnessed Formula one driver Daniel Riccardio giving a demonstration in a Red Bull sports car going up and down the Raj Path at 270kmph. Since it was close to my office and in the afternoon around 2.30 pm, I decided to take a look. Walked down to boat club and found an enclosure with several metal detector doorways. Walked through one of them to find that there were no galleries. One could just lean against the security fence with another such fence separating the crowd from the road. Red Bull, the organisers, had set up huge boxes for the sound system and screens that gave a good view of both India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhavan ends. The compering was done by FM Red channel. The first item was stunt riding by the Ghost riders, a motorcycle team. They did a couple of wheelies, that is lifting the front wheel high in the air and rolling on the rear wheel and then reversing the order to almost stand still on t...

Time was when any King worth his name would seek to expand his kingdom through conquest to become an emperor and gain what they thought would be everlasting fame. It is another matter that most of them ended up as just ciphers in the march of time. In modern democratic India, we have the curious spectacle of everyone demanding lesser things. Take the case of caste based reservation itself. Of and on, there is a  clamour for being included in most backward classes list. For a people who consider "loss of face" as the worst thing that could befall a person, it is indeed strange to see that so many sections are prepared to lower themselves to any extent to grab a piece of pie on offer. Similarly, the demand for smaller states by insignificant politicians. They have discovered that fellows who cannot win even a municipal election could become the Chief Minister through this route. Otherwise how could Chandrashekhar Rao, whose TRS party was soundly thrashed in the elections ma...

I was in a hurry. The Rajdhani Express was leaving Trivandrum in a few minutes and I wanted to buy a book to survive the nearly 48 hours long journey to New Delhi. Could not locate the Higginbothams on the platform and asked someone. He said it is located outside, on one of the exits. Managed to find it and the first book I saw was 'Elephant Song' by Wilbur Smith. Bought it in double quick time and boarded the train. Till then, had no clue to who the author was or what the book was all about. Somewhat like a blind date. The train started rolling and I started reading. Actually, Elephant Song is a misnomer for this thriller set in the wilds of Africa. The elephants figure only in the opening chapters. Then suddenly it changes track and picks up pace as the main protagonist, Dr Daniel Armstrong, a naturalist famous for his TV shows (shades of Dr David Attenborough, perhaps) finds his friend Johnny Nzou, chief warden of Chiwewe national park in Zimbabwe murdered along with his en...

For ages, Delhi has been trying to get or at least commuters have been pining for an efficient public transport system. The Delhi Transport Corporation, despite two or three name and livery changes continues with all the inefficiencies associated with a public sector operation. The fares are kept low to ensure that it meets the so-called "social justice" objectives. This could range from running unprofitable routes to places where the janta do not believe in paying the fare to the ridiculous pampering of the student community with an all route pass for just Rs 12.50, set way back in mid-1970s! No wonder that the behemoth could never hope to break even, let alone think of making a profit. Into this scenario came the Delhi Metro, a state-of-the-art rail-based transport network that makes it mandatory for everyone using it to pay and travel and no concessions to any sections. This offers clean efficient air-conditioned train service. It may seem to be a relatively expensiv...

Phew! the country's honour has been saved by our good leaders, who are always on the alert against any act that ever so slightly soils our pristine reputation. They certainly do not want the people, who, at the very sight of a raised hemline turn into monsters. So, the cheerleaders have been told to get an extra cover and police voluteering to decide on obscenity levels! The same logic applies in banning advertisements of liquor and cigarettes. So the guys and gals are shown to be getting high on plain soda water or the Red & White guy jumping off a cliff to save a damsel in distress with nary a trace of smoke, let alone fire.Whom are they trying to fool? the people or the nanny State that has brought things to such a pass. For all the trouble taken to keep people away from such evils, does any of it work in actual practice? No is the answer. Otherwise, how do you explain the frequent incidents of misbehaviour with foreign tourists. When the government grandiously touts t...

Finally, Taslima has had enough of "athithi devo bhava" of the "incredible" Indian government. She has decided to choose the cooler climes of Canada or the US than remain in the hot house in Delhi. She feels her creativity is wilting by the day, in fact, every hour she spends away from her beloved Kolkata. Fair enough. Our Taslima may have her faults. She may not be anywhere close to the best writers in Bengali and pushes her point a bit more forcefully than the "Bhadralog" would have liked. But that doesn't quite explain why the left barons felt that she has to be kept out of the city for good with just one loony protest against her. The question is, why should governments turn weak-kneed the moment a mob hits the streets protesting against this or that? Especially works of art, literature or cinema. Instead of laying down the law to protect fundamental rights of speech and action, why should the ill conceived views of a few hold majority opinion...

Fashion shows at one time was all about the latest rage in Paris, the colours, silhouettes and what not. Stony-faced models sashaying down the catwalk, most of the time adorned in outlandish and impossible to wear costumes were the staple of such shows. If something unmentionable was revealed, everyone took it in their stride. All this changed the day Janet Jackson suffered a wardrobe malfunction. The entire global media zeroed in on the incident as if it was the first landing on the moon or a revelation paralleling "discovery" of a lone woman in Mars. The event was analysed as if no one has ever seen such a fixture on a woman in the entire history. Ever since, every media person worth his/her salt has been specifically asked by their bosses to keep an eagle eye on such possibilities. Once it happens, they are to click pictures, post videos and report highlighting it/blurring the strategic part/condemn it as deliberate, attention grabbing tactic. Of course, it is a deliberate...

The problem with cartoonists is that some of them tend to take themselves too seriously. So much so that they end up looking like a caricature. That seems to be what has happened to the old codger in that rotting city by the seaside. One fine day, he throws down his brush and decides to become the self-appointed guardian of his community. He then proceeds to appropriate the legacy of a great warrior and forms nothing less than an army goons and the image of a big cat as the party symbol. Now, finding himself as endangered as the animal on the party logo, he spews his venom yet again at a community that had done him no harm. In trying to regain lost ground from his nephew, he has made himself look ridiculous and out of touch with reality. The world has changed Mr T. Your kind of politics will soon lose out as the country is progressing towards a knowledge based society. Of course, there would be disgruntled elements and people who want to fish in troubled waters. So it would an act of m...

Once upon a time, there was a poor little girl, with no money, no prospects. Then came along a rich suitor, promising to make her rich and famous.Then the rest of the village, who had never helped her when she was in dire straits, started calling it a rape of the innocent and wanted everyone from the government to the most ardent protectors of democratic rights, who else but the left parties to intervene. However, none of them, as on date, has offered to put a penny where their mouth is. Yes, I am talking about a certain news agency which had fallen on bad days, with subscribers, who also sit on her board of directors, ditching her in favour of a rival agency. The agency, formed under a trust act, forbid the board of directors from taking any money away. Any profits were to be ploughed back into the running of the company. Now Mr Moneybags says upfront he wants to maintain the character of the agency, has no plans to close it down or go in for massive retrenchment. The employees, journ...

Our honourable Health Minister. Dr Anbumani Ramdoss, finally decided to put on the white robes and armed with a stethoscope, to treat patients at AIIMS as the doctors, fighting against caste-based reservation refused to withdraw their agitation. This good doctor, like his father Dr Ramdoss, had probably studied medicine on quota seat and after wasting one seat of his fellow OBC candidates, decided that caste politics was much better than treating the hundreds of thousands of poor people. With some luck, this great leader of a regional caste-based party got a chance to join the Union Government and trot out lame excuses like "social justice" to defend the indefensible. Why should there be quotas when even the most die-hard forward caste person is willing to get treatment from any doctor, as long as he or she is good in that profession. Except for the semi-literate politicians, everybody else realises this. It is time that politicians realised that their job is to rule the coun...

some of the interesting slogans from the medicos anti-quota agitation: "Congress ka haath, walking stick ke saath" (in a reference to the HRD Minister who uses a walking stick) " Politicians and police, sooner or later you will have to come to us. We have "reserved" the thickest of needles and bluntest of knives for you" One of the posters show Arjun Singh, Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi as Gandhiji's (the real Mahatma--no relation to the present day Gandhis) three "wise" monkeys. Manmohan with his mouth taped, as he refused to talk to agitationists, Arjun with his ears blocked and Sonia with eyes tight shut.

King Vikramaditya in the 21st century traded his crown for a turban and like a true democrat, presided over a coalition government comprising of various ghouls, loonies, leftovers and the like. He was still trying to get on to his throne but being foiled by the sphinx to whom it belonged but who being a sphinx and a foreigner to boot found it quite unwise to stake claim. Being Vikramaditya, he necessarily had to have a Vetal. This worthy, red of hue and with a vegetable's name, clung to his back at every available opportunity, guiding him away from the path of any sort of development that may improve the situation. If everything was hunky-dory and everyone happy why turn red at all. in a land where everyone else was looking for greenbacks from a far off land, the reds were the only ones who wanted to be in the red forever. Then one of the veteran ghouls suddenly got a brainwave in his hitherto unused brain. He decided, on his own, that backward was forward and immediately announce...