Trump's speech signals a change of USA's Pakistan Policy

"Civilization begins with distillation". Long before Bharat became the frequent target of invaders from Central Asia, Afghanistan was under the Mauryan Empire where special alcoholic drinks were prepared and exported to the rest of the continent.

Distillation is necessary in some aspects of present day Afghanistan, especially when it comes to approach of United States. Observers of Donald Trump’s speech on Afghanistan and South Asia may categorize it as:

• Continuing the interventionist policy of USA.
• No clear policy on withdrawal of troops.
• Change in stance on Pakistan.
• Nothing more than rhetoric of American exceptionalism.

The other one, often missed by editorials of American newspapers, is the dilution of post-cold-war attitude of USA towards India with respect to geo politics. For many years after the Cold war, USA has seen India with old lens as India was close to Russia during the Cold war.

Rage of the Elite – Hindi supremacists

Shudras humbly display scars of their rock hard hands, Warriors carry their wounds with pride, Merchants exude their acumen by saving gold, priests effuse with their chants and the jobless elite breast beat their pomposity for nothing.

At the risk of offending the elite, allow me to say that justifications given to impose Hindi on others has changed with time from normal decibel rhetoric to the cacophonic rage of the unworthy elite.

It starts with the India’s elite family, where Jawaharlal Nehru made sure that Hindi is the blue-eyed boy of Independent India snubbing other languages. It followed by official push for Urdu in Jammu and Kashmir over other local languages. If hadn’t been for the sacrifice of Potti Sreeramulu which led to division of Indian states on linguistic basis, Chahaji could have imposed elite Urdu in Telangana and Andhra because Telangana was under Nizam rule for quite some time.

Language supremacists and desert cults share some commonalities; both want to impose their beliefs citing "majority", claim civilizational superiority and divine superiority.

Before appropriating Feminism, understand its recent rhetoric and actions

विना बुद्धिः ईषदपि स्वीकरणं अनुचितं (Mindless appropriation of anything is bad)

Any ism that claims to bring a change in society deserves to be criticized; any ideology that deliberately misrepresents itself citing its own history deserves to be put on trial, any ism that claims to be superior should be subjected to scrutiny.

There is a silent agreement among spectrum of Indian intellectuals when it comes to criticism of Feminism - all of them have decided to take a sympathetic approach towards its analysis and criticism snubbing its precarious actions in the recent past.

One should not have a sympathetic approach towards an ideology that has the tendencies to confiscate individual rights; one ought to have the gumption to ask uncomfortable questions when it comes to “Feminism”, as questioning “Feminism” can make one infamous and unpopular instantly and probably this is the reason for many to take a lenient stand towards its perilous rhetoric.

Let me put this upfront, today’s Feminism is not about equality of rights, self-proclaimed feminists shouldn’t be excused, when they equate Feminism with a definition that is half a century old. We do not see “Jihad” as an internal fight for peace, in today’s context it is a holy war which mercilessly kills innocents based on hatred, bigotry and delusion, words have remained the same for decades but the way they got transformed over years have to be kept in mind.

Can USA maintain the world order which it created 100 years ago?

 It has been 100 years since the inception of a world order in which USA was the primary architect. In his book ‘The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931’ Adam Tooze goes through the events and how the present world order came into existence. 1916 can be termed as the year which gave USA the buttons to set the power graphs across the world, creating political movements and acquired keys to regime changes. Following the stunning victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 Presidential Election, many predict that the new world order is on its way and probably USA might not be the primary architect.

American Left Liberals are yet to digest the fact that power equations are getting changed in their nation which is beyond their control and their discourse on social and political issues is strongly being challenged. 2016 is a phenomenal year for any American intellectual who is willing to assess the changes happening in American society and around the world. "Westworld" and "The Man in the High Castle" are written by Michael Crichton and Philip K. Dick who are known to be the best American sci-fi writers and their work has been adopted into TV series.

"Westworld" and ‘The Man in the High Castle’ are now part of casual, intellectual and profane discussions as they resonate with some sense of intangible situation which Americans find themselves in and using the themes in these TV serials as allegories of what might be the situation of USA post 2016.

Pelli Choopulu

1- Watched the trailer and liked it a lot, made a note that I have to watch this film on the first day.
2- Music of the film was catchy with classical ragas fused with contemporary music, this increased my curiosity, again made a note that I shouldn't miss this film.
3- Music, cinematography and dialogues in the trailer induces a lot of trust in the film when you realize that it's by a new director.
4- Some films instantly attract your attention and give a hunch that there is a lot of honestly in it.

In the above four points, the director was 'Sekhar Kammula' and the film was 'Anand'.

When everyone was fighting for tickets of Chiranjeevi's 'Shankar Dada M.B.B.S.', I was hoping to get tickets for Sekhar Kammula's 'Anand' on the first day.

It was nostalgic and same things went through my mind when I watched the trailer of Tharun Bhascker's 'Pelli Choopulu'. 'Pelli Choopulu' is definitely one of the best films of 2016, it is honest in its approach.

I absolutely loved the first half and I don't remember when was the last time I laughed so much while watching a Telugu film.Graph of the second half is not appealing as the first half and the climax was like a jump cut, I guess some scenes were omitted in the editing room, but nevertheless its a total joy to watch Tharun Bhascker's 'Pelli Choopulu'. Happy weekend.

Note: Playing 'Chinuku Taake' and 'Aanandamayenu' in continuous loop, kudos to Vivek Sagar for beautiful tracks.

Udta Punjab controversy and hypocrisy of its breast beaters

The Udta Punjab controversy reminded me of a conversation in Mahabharata.

Yama: What is hypocrisy?
Yudhisthira: The setting up of standards for others is hypocrisy.

Self-righteousness born out of victim-hood rather than on unbiased and fair principles usually leads to hypocrisy. When director of "Buddha in a Traffic Jam" and others were attacked by comrades of a Central University, some of the current breast beaters for Udta Punjab controversy preferred to remain mute spectators, some had selective amnesia and some even indirectly justified violence and were visibly happy that film wasn't allowed for screening.

Some Udta Punjab breast beaters who cite "Freedom of Expression" forget that even others deserve the right of "Freedom of Expression" irrespective of political and ideological inclinations.

Freedom of Speech is not the privilege of the few who claim to be superior than others in aspects of art, its a principle which has to be applied equally irrespective of what you feel. Its plain hypocrisy when one justifies ban and violence against other films with "propaganda", "motivated" and claim their films as "creative", "realistic" and "pushing the envelope" when compared with same yardstick of "Freedom of Expression".

CBFC has rules and regulations which it has to follow , it cannot take decisions and make approvals based on the whims of individuals. Some advocate that there should be no censor board and every film should be released without any cuts, do you apply the same for films like "Innocence of Muslims"?.

I feel much more comfortable discussing with a conservative bigot than a so called liberal who applies lofty principles selectively. One of the symbol of a functioning democracy is when people use the right to talk crap openly, Ex: India turned into North Korea. Such statements are a periodic reminder that right to speech and expression in India are alive unlike in other countries like North Korea.

Before joining the chorus to support Udta Punjab, I would like you consider the below points
- Is this a publicity stunt?
- Did CBFC follow rules/regulations/guidelines?
- In supporting a genuine cause are you indirectly taking side of hypocrites?
- Will they support you when you face the same trouble if your work doesn't meet their standards?