The Embrace and the Renunciation

Saw the movie Khuda Kay Liye a few days back, and for all those Muslims out there, you absolutely have to watch this movie, for it deals with some very critical issues that young Muslims of today are facing. And for all those non-Muslims out there, you absolutely have to watch this movie just because its a really cool movie! The background score especially will ensure that you traumatise your family members singing it from the temporary invulnerability of your bathrooms early morning. The first Pakistani movie I've seen, and while lacking on many fronts, it is nonetheless a must watch.
The movie sent me on a trip down memory lane. There is a character, an educated well to do ordinary urban muslim who is brainwashed by this charismatic cleric who tells him that singing, dancing, painting, laughing loudly, etc is haraam.
This brought back vivid memories of my days back in the Tableeghi Jamaat, or 'TJs' as they are referred to. A 'reformist' group that dominated the colony where i stay, Millat Nagar in Lokhandwala, the Tableeghi Jamaat follows a rigid interpretation of Islam, that believes the following to be haraam:
Singing
Dancing
Painting
Music
TV
Radio
Earrings/Jewelry for Males
Clothing below the ankles
Photography
3-D Animation
Direction
Acting
Looking at non-related women (na mehram, as they say in Urdu)
Shaving
Women working

The list can go on for quite some time, but I think you get the gist. The Tableeghi's follow a very orthodox and outright regressive interpretation of Islam, and about a year ago, I was very involved in their movement. Life was very turbulent back then, and I began mingling with them to see what they were all about, as I seemed to get some measure of peace for my very troubled soul from the prayers and the talks on Islam. Initially it was good, and the Tableeghis have this system wherein they spend a specific amount of time in a mosque (3 days, 40 or four months; take your pick) and spend their time living it up the Islamic way, praying and studying the Koran. Also, they have certain pre-established contacts with whom they go about preaching to the nearby Muslims and requesting them to come and pray.
It's a lot of fun really, as they take you to some cool places, you prepare your own food, and get to meet a lot of interesting people. Also, for the youth its better because it can be a lot of fun. My very first Jamaat, we were in a mosque that was bordered by a graveyard and a madrassa, and had an air conditioned prayer hall and a decent collection of literature.
However, over time I began to see just how suffocating and downright ridiculous their beliefs were. One of them actually had the nerve to tell me to give up journalism as it involved photography! There were no shortage of people using all kinds of methods to get me to change: remove my earrings, grow a beard, wear kurta-pyjama only, and so on.
Their methods too were ingenious. Their average target would be the loitering Muslim teenager, whom they would persuade/cajole/entice into coming, and once in their grasp would begin the sermons on hell fire and brimstone, and the tortures that would await those who dared transgress the Sacred Word of Allah, who dared even question (YOU DARE?!) the authority of the Last and Absolutely True Word sent down through his Prophet (SAW). Thus, the poor youth would slowly become increasingly brainwashed and would be thoroughly intimidated, their constant fear of being roasted on a fire 70000"C hot, being bitten by giant venomous snakes, having molten glass poured into their ears, having their faces ripped off and other unpleasant punishments being constant reminders of them to toe the line and grow beards and break their TV sets and so on.
Thus, frustrated beyond belief at Islam, the Muslim Community and the Tableeghi's, I left the Tableeghi Jamaat for ever.
Now, I know that Islam and the Community as a whole is not at fault; the Tableeghis are masters of manteeq, or logic, and twist to suit their own purposes and bring to them the ultimate thing that all beings desire: power.
If need be, Islam can be portrayed as a great religion, which it is, and even though my views on Islam are not conventional, it can still be handled with a lot more sense than prevails, and for this reason I recommend Khuda Kay Liye as it deals with some of these issues.

Network 18

Its 6:00 in the morning, and this makes it a complete 24 hours since I have last slept. What did I do the whole night? Spent it shooting at network 18! Above is a little trailer as to the fruits of my efforts. The final video will be edited on Croma and will be put up on buzz18.com. Links will be provided, PLEASE check it out when its done, I'd really appreciate it.

Apart from that, man was that office fabulous or what! Taking deep pockets to a whole new level, the office was virtually a techno-maniac's paradise. Computers abounded everywhere, in the most unexpected of places, and they had all the latest gaming equipment, even the Nintendo Wii. Oh, did I burn when I came to know that they had to gamers there who just had to game all day and review them and they actually got paid good money for it!
Ah, capitalism can be very nice at times.
What started out as a day that I dreaded and detested turned out to be a night to remember. I don't think i'll forget that office with its warm employees (we had a pizza for dinner), excellent work atmosphere and immensely enjoyable work schedule anytime soon.

Metanoias

Just back from my whirlwind tour of Nanded - Mangalore - Goa and feeling absolutely great to be back in Mumbai, though knowing myself, i'll be stifled with the place pretty soon and be clamoring to travel again. What can i say - cities bore me.
Without going into details of the trip, let me just say that it was an amazing experience, in fact all my trips seems to keep getting better and better! Did a whole lot of crazy and wacky things (planning to write a little book about it) but basically came back enriched with many, many insights.

Metanoia - a word of greek origin that is little used in today's time. It means a shift of mind. And this trip did really give me a few shifts of mind, beginning with totally changing my perspective about India as a whole. I can't help it, i love this damn country a little too much for my own good, and my urban upbringing had so far blinded me to the truths of just how different, just how removed and far from our popular perception is the world of rural and small-town India. Believe me, staying in cities, especially a one as Mayatic as Mumbai, one can very easily fall into the illusion that YES, India is developing, YES, Starbucks and Gas and Tommy are about a stone's throw from my house, YES, my son listens to the latest gangster rap, wears the latest (and most absurdly expensive) branded clothes, speaks the best english amongst his peers and his hence popular, YES, things such as poverty and unemployment have always been there in human society, but so what? those damn newsmen love to crib, and finally, YES, India has come a long way, and it won't be too long before we're granted Superpower status along with a seat in the U.N veto council. Big Six, huh?
Big NO.

Thanks to the government for putting up such a good show are obligatory; that's their job after all, to show that all is well. Whom i'd really like to hand it to for putting up such a fantastic glamour laden depiction of India is the media. Being a media student myself i know full well just how absolutely rotten this industry is. Oh yes, politically correct goes out the window mates, this whole industry is ABSOLUTELY ROTTEN. Cheaper than Kamatipura whores, mediamen and women are ready to sell their souls to increase their sales, and believe me, what they don't want is a thinking, criticizing audience, what they want is someone who'll either be star struck by the Karan Johar style movies that bollywood is reknown for, or be equally brain dead with K - serials. What the media (under the sagacious nod of Big Grandpa Government) wants is middle aged men to pore over the pictures of skimpily clad women in Mid Day, to read about leaking pipes and arrested porn actress in Mumbai mirror and to read about the latest cricketing headlines on the front pages of TOI. What they definitely don't want is people reading newspapers like The Indian Express (I'm an absolute loyalist of this paper - you want news, proper, hard core news, not the crap we get, read this paper. It'll open your eyes, and open your mind a little too) and asking why? where does our hard earned money go? surely not into THIS india!

Well, my recent forays into the the Three Cities left me with a great deal to think about. It served as a wake up call to the realities that Indian farmers face, that the Indian rural folk face, at the myriad of social and economic problems that we have left to deal with, at the many, many, many things that are so terribly wrong with this country. But make no doubt, of all the sins we can commit, of all the wrongs that we are apt to do, the one that we can never, ever allow ourselves is the sin of ignorance. Understand that India is NOT shining; the urban cities are, and that too not very brightly. Understand that we are a long way off from being a superpower; we lack the basic foundations to stand upon. Understand that it is about time to stop blaming and start doing; change begins with you, and you can bring change wherever you are, but only if you choose to do so.

India, India, India. Why do I love you so?

Jai Hind!