Gaza Pullout

The ongoing evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza has been officially said to be complete. The cartoon by Keshav in Hindu sums up situation quite well. There have been soldiers consoling soldiers, soldiers consoling the people, people consoling each other. It makes me wonder how strong must these Jewish people be, that they move out of the land which they believe is rightly theirs and which they have earned after being homeless for such a long time. I wonder what would be the case if the country were India and an Indian Govt had made such a decision.

The first thing that would have happened is that the opposition party and the local party present would have called a series of bandh and hartal thereby granting the license for the baser elements of society to indulge in their vandal tendencies; conduct competitions on who would break the most number of windows, who would be the fastest to set a vehicle on fire and go about destroying the local shops and public services and utilities. After they have been give enough time for all this, the police gets into the picture and invariably there would be a police-locals confrontation with casualties on both sides. Then there would have been the usual political oneupmanship and drama and what not and.....and finally the strip gets cleared. Welcome to the largest democracy in the world !!!

The Jewish people are an interesting race and I some how like them, although I don't know any Jew. Theirs have been an eternal struggle to establish their place in this world. They have constantly faced ridicule and hatred throughout history, but they still survive. They fought for the land which they believed was rightly theirs and even won it. And now they have relinquished a part of that land for peace. It is a gesture of some significance for I believe that they expect to be "paid" in full for this token of peace.

Whether this helps them achieve a "hard earned" respite from violence has to be seen....I hope they do.....

Escapism...

After my last post I was wondering what is it that I like in films. Then while reading some other article I got. Its films which portray escapism that arrests my attention.

Film artistes are lucky...

Film makers are lucky in that, they have a visual medium to vent their furstrations and anger and what is more even get money in return :( !!

Yesterday saw Bharat Chandran I.P.S. Its a complete masala film and one without songs (thankfully!). The protagonist takes on the entire political establishment in Kerala and makes sure that every politician he meets recieves a mouthful (need I say why I like the film so much....:) ).

The anger he feels against society in general and the very much existing politician-criminal nexus, can be related to by a lot of persons in Kerala.

Lot of film makers have taken this subject up and do bring out beautiful movies. What is really refereshing here, is that each person brings out the subject in his own distinct (and refreshing) manner. A few directors even make a mockery of the entire system by carefully crafting scenarios and scenes which are a direct take on the establishment. Its very creative and quite a pleasant watch.

In all this one should not forget the mimicry artists. These guys, impersonate the political characters so well that the common person relates more to them than the actual persons and trust me half the time its difficult to tell them apart. This should give you an indication of how competent the politicians are.

I have seen the proceedings of the Kerala Legislative assembly a few times and needless to say it is indeed very comic and indeed, very "creative". The way the politicians express their views and opinions are more appropriate to a drama stage rather than an Assembly.

That we have to live under the rules and laws bought into effect by these morons is really unfortunate !!

Politics sucks and politicians stink....

Politics must be the only legal illegal job available. I dont understand what motivate one to become a politician other than for perks that is available to one and of course the potential for third party "perks" !! Guess this must be the major draw here.

I wonder what motivates these old men to keep living on and on (Karunakarna in Kerala comes to mind!). Dont they ever feel like having a breather from all the mud slinging that goes around ?? Dont they ever feel like retiring ? Maybe they really like this "fast life" or they are power hungry parasites !! Well whatever, I really hope that I never have to interact with a Political "Leader". Of course we dont have any real leaders anymore, rather only populist cannibals.

There has been some cross border firing with Bangladesh now. India should be the only country in the world with an uneasy relationship with all of its neighbours :( !! One probable reason is that Indians are perceived to be a soft lot. And I guess, Indians have given lot of indications to that effect. They always have this tendency to let other people walk over them, whatever be the field, sports, politics... I guess its something inbuilt in the Indian psyche....

The firing from across the borders by Banglaadesh is another indication. That this was a country we once helped regain its freedom does hurt. That we have to take this lying down to diffuse the situation is adding salt to the wounds. Sometimes you just dont want to know is happening around you and just carry on with your life.

Being a mental retard would indeed be blessing sometimes....