Racism Revisited

For the last few weeks, I was eagerly reading three Sidney Sheldon books back to back. The last one named “Nothing Lasts Forever”. The title seems like some kind of Bond movie actually. The book itself has nothing to do with the contents of this post. It’s a thriller/murder mystery with lots of plots & subplots (as most Sidney books are). There were lots of medical terminologies which I was obviously unaware of since I haven’t touched the Biology book after giving my ICSE in 2003. So these terminologies puzzled me more than what ‘girl talk’ puzzles me! All right am wandering away from the original topic. Back to it … The book itself seemed pretty average & predictable but one paragraph in the book made me sit up & take notice. After reading this paragraph, I had decided what my next post in this blog would be. I am sure you would find this text really interesting. So here it goes...

"There are wonderful worlds in there," she told the young girl. "Read, and you'll learn where you came from and where you're going. I've got a feeling that you're going to be famous one day, baby. But you have to get an education first. This is America. You can become anybody you want to be. You may be black and poor, but so were some of our congresswomen, and movie stars, and scientists, and sports legends. One day we're going to have a black president. You can be anything you want to be. It's up to you." It was the beginning.

Yes it’s the beginning of my blog & also the beginning of “Change”. Unless you have already guessed, I’m of course talking about US Democratic Presidential nominee, Barrack Obama. But this is not just about Obama (wonder why the surname is so similar to ‘Osama’), this is about “Racism” in general. Obama is possibly one of those big figures (not Madame Tussauds’ wax figures), I mean figures as big as Martin Luther King. May be I’m exaggerating, but its true that he’s the first black Presidential Nominee, who is possibly slated to sweep the polls in November, 2008. He is now more popular than Oprah Winfrey (who incidentally supports his campaign) or even some basketball & baseball players. Obama has been under attack from so-called-purists who are against any “black” person becoming the Head of the State. Four decades have passed since Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream” speech, but it seems like nothing has changed since then. I earnestly hope that Obama is not assissinated like Martin Luther King.

Racism is a rampant menace which has been there since ages. All nations, including the United Nations publicly say that they are against any kind of racial discrimination. Still if you do a search on the internet, you’ll find racial abuse happening each day. Believe it or not, its prevalent in India, & in you own home. Yes. You heard it right. This might seem a bit hard to digest fact but its true that our mothers would want a “beautiful, fair” bride for us. Isn’t it racism? We are practicing it in our own home. Do you protest? I guess not. We do not protest. Why? You possibly dont have a proper answer to that. Check out matrimonial ads in the Sunday newspaper & you'll know what I'm talking about. Some people even believe that black/dark/brown (coloured in short) men & women have lesser abilities to perform office work. We all hear about racial abuses on Indians all over the world (especially Sikhs). But we never bother to lodge our protest against this menace. Recently Lewis Hamilton, a McLaren F1 Driver, was racially abused by spectators in Montmelo Circuit, Barcelona, Spain. This blog is my way of protesting against this blatant illogical show of chauvinism by some demented minds! We may be white, black or brown, but overall we are all human. Treat human beings in a way that it doesn’t question your humanity. I dont understand how a human being can forget this basic fact. Here is one forward mail which is worth reading :

This scene took place on a ****** Airways flight between
Johannesburg, South Africa & London.
A white woman, about 50 years old, was seated next to a black man. Very disturbed by this, she called the air hostess. "You obviously do not see it then?" she asked. "You placed me next to a black man. I did not agree to sit next to someone from such a repugnant group. Give me an alternative seat."
"Be calm please," the hostess replied.
"Almost all the places on this flight are taken. I will go to see if another place is available."

The hostess went away & then came back a few minutes later. "Madam, just as I thought, there are no other available seats in Economy Class.
I spoke to the captain & he informed me that there is also no seat in Business Class. All the same, we still have one place in First Class."
Before the woman could say anything, the hostess continued. "It is unusual for our company to permit someone from Economy Class to sit in First Class. However, given the circumstances, the captain feels that it would be scandalous to make someone sit next to someone so disgusting."
She turned to the black guy & said, "Therefore, Sir, if you would like to, please collect your hand luggage, a seat awaits you in First Class."

At that moment, the other passengers, who'd been shocked by what they had just witnessed, stood up & applauded.

This is a true story.

WELL DONE, ****** Airways.

This might be a forward mail, but it was more than that for me. I didn’t forget this mail although I received it a few years ago. I digged it out somehow @ 2am last night from my orkut message box. This post might not be an enjoyable read for you. It was never intented to be. Its just a reminder to the world that racism still exists . But if you really think Racism needs to be protested, do it. Leave a comment if you have anything to say regarding this topic or my blog.

~Lots of Love~

Rockin On!!!

First of all I would like to say sorry for breaking my promise. Trust me I usually don’t break them. It was not that I didn’t have much topics to discuss about, but its just that I couldn’t get enough confidence on writing them down. But this time its different. A film really inspired me, it brought in the much needed passion within me. I would compensate for the posts that I should have written (once a month) by writing a few more in this month itself.

Rock On! ~ A brief review...

I would probably say the most clichéd phrase said over the years, but I seriously cant help it … Rock On! really rocks! The story of Rock On! itself has nothing much in store. The real essence & the ‘Magik’ of Rock On! is in its passion… passion about music, passion about life & real happiness! The basic mistake that most people make about rock music or the perception of rock music is that it has to have a wild looking singer who will scream nonsense & the background music will be equally bone shaking! But that’s a wrong perception. Rock music is all about the passion, passion for life & passion for everything related to music. Rock On! lives up to all the three. It gives us the view point of four members of a band of their life while they were together forming a band named ‘Magik’ which buys Ibanez guitar & Line 6 equipments (really costly) after a performance at a ‘gujju’ dandia ustsav! Okay fine its bollywoodish, but we shouldn’t go into that much details. The four members Farhan Akhtar (Aditya), Arjun Rampal (Joe), Purab Kohli (KD) & Luke Kenny (Rob) start off with well shot stage shows. I must say these four have really worked hard on the film & their characters they play. It shows time & again during the film that Farhan in no way is a mediocre actor. In fact he does better than Arjun Rampal, who actually doesn’t have to act much in this film because of his character. Although Arjun & Purab's looks as guitarist & drummer respectively is worth watching. Since this is supposed to be a review, I wouldn’t include any spoilers out here. After a break of 10 years, the four members finally meet after much dramatic scenes between Aditya & Sakshi, Aditya’ wife (Prachi Desai). Prachi & Shahana Desai (as Debbie, Joe’s girlfriend & later his wife) aren’t just pretty faces out here, they both did a good job indeed. In fact, without these two characters you would pretty much be watching Dil Chahta Hai. But this is not DCH! Rock On! proves the point that one should always follow his/her heart no matter how many personal problems arise in our life. The phrase ‘Life mein compromises to karna padhta hain’ may seem to be realistic words, but wherever our heart is, our mind essentially shall be. No amount of money, fame, good wife, good girlfriend, good kids, good friends, not even the dream job would give you that satisfaction. A person’s soul will be hooked to those memories & the passions where he/she found real happiness. Aditya’s life shows it quite clearly. He isn’t happy with all the success, money & his good wife, because his heart is elsewhere. He’s a mechanical version of his former self, which was full of life once upon a time. The film essentially shows what a young band goes through, the passion for rock music, faded jeans & tshirts, girlfriends, booze, & over everything ego clashes! That’s what this film is about. I as a passionate music lover could relate to everything in the film. I have spend my last three years with much more passionate people who are really good guitarists and their bands. I enjoyed every moment learning from them, observing them & I suck in their passion ...

I wouldnt like to give any rating for the movie since I'm a simple nobody who doesnt know much about music or films. I just know that I loved this film completely ... Go watch it & if you have already watched it, do comment here. If not, still comment. :)