Fanatical Activism

Today we are blessed with a society which is getting progressively more and more aware of various issues and its impacts. A generation of youth with an acute sense of social responsibility are out there being activists of various causes. Be it Democracy, Anti Corruption, Environment, anything, today we have champions for these causes spreading awareness on these issues. In many ways these youth are very much like the bards and ascetics of the past.
In our hallowed history several are the movements that were nurtured and carried forward by these wandering bards and activists, who forsaking the luxuries of a settled life lived a nomadic life with their sole aim being the spreading of their cause. It may be heroic and noble tales of some particular king or warrior or it may be the advocacy of a certain set of beliefs and values. Either way they were activists spreading the word of social awakening. While these bards and ascetics had to mostlt resort to the fabric of religion to portray their causes, today's activists are no longer shackled by such limitations.
However there is one thing that today's activists forget when advocating their causes : logic and reason. Of late I have been involved in several discussions with activists which have all invariably turned heated. Some how the Bush diktat of "Either you are with us, or against us" has been adopted as the war cry by these activists. These activists in their extreme exuberance forget that their causes get tarnished when they resort to such narrow minded attitudes.
Personally I am the farthest you can ever be from being a person of social conscience. I do not think I have any philanthropic tendencies, I also find selfless activism to be distasteful as far as I am concerned. I would be the last person you would see giving alms to a beggar. My life revolves around myself, my family, my friends in an expanding radius of diminishing value attributed. Frankly it is because I can not afford to do anything else. How can I fend for the well being of some distant tribals in some distant village or some endangered forest or the freedom of some unjustly punished person when my own immediate environs is far from secure? Yes, it is a an extremely conceited world view but also one reason I genuinely admire activists who throw away shackles of career or any routine luxuries for the advocacy of their beliefs. In fact  I consider myself to be the perfect layman, the sort of person these activists ought to convince for their advocacy to be a success.
But that is precisely where these new generation activists fail. Recently I had been part of a discussion on the Jaitapur Nuclear Park controversy. An esteemed activist, who was my junior in college started the discussion on the evils of nuclear power. Rightly so I concurred with him on the perils of nuclear power but also said about how we dont have any alternative.  I pointed out to him that of the energy sources in the world 65% of power is derived from thermal sources (coal and oil), 20% from nuclear power and only around 15% from renewable power of which a lion's share is provided by hydroelectric power and less than 0.1% by solar power and wind power. The activist friend of mine was of the opinion that development ought to be sacrificed for the sake of cleaner environment. There the contention ensued which resulted in him calling me a troll for "refusing to understand" the dangers of nuclear power and me ultimately cutting off contacts with him for the douchebaggery.
Then there was the other environmental activist friend who considered loss of human lives an acceptable price to pay for environmental protection. He did realize in time that fanatism in his advocacy had caused his aims which are extremely philanthropic in nature to be advocated as extremely misanthropic.
The point however remains, what merit is there in the advocacy that we should stop development? How much credence can we give to such statements made by people who are unaware of the part electric power plays in their daily lives? I mean how much longer would it take for the 0.1% to supplant the 20%? Meanwhile these activists want to condemn the very people whose well being they are advocating to arrested development. Dont they realize that healthcare, communication, transportation - all these facilities that are every day improving the lives of thousands of unprivileged are all through power? Will these activists dare to go for a month without any dependancy on electric power -  and that includes not using any product made by electricity too. I wont call them arm chair activists, because they do go out there and preach, but do these urban activists really realize what rustic hardships really mean?
Even in the latest Jan Lokpal issue, fanatic supporters of the Lokpal bill consider any person expressing a difference of opinion as a supporter and promoter of the systemic corruption. Thousands of people have mobilized all over India to support the Jan Lokpal bill, unfortunately not even 0.1% of them might have really understood its implications. Those of us who challenge its terms and question its efficiency are labelled "unpatriotic". Meh. Screw them! After all it is because they do not have reason and logic to back up their claims that they are getting caustic!
Basically I have only one thing to tell to my activist friends - learn from the bards and ascetics. Those activists from the past, who have been instrumental in such social changes as the propagation of Ashoka's diktats, the social awakenings brought upon through Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Christianity and Islam achieved their causes not by antagonizing the lay persons through fanatic preaching but by engaging them with logic and reason. I hope that my activist friends, at least those who are in it as a life's work and not just a fashion fad, would consider this advice strongly.

If not you would end up causing the greatest ever harm to the cause you are propagating.

Jan Lok Pal Bill - Glaring Idiocies

Really sad to see the hype of Jan Lokpal Bill that has enthralled our nation in a Pied Piper effect.

Having read the broad ambits of the Jan Lokpabl bill that is being promulgated by Anna Hazare, Shanti Bhushan and others, there are some very massive questions which are left unanswered and even unquestioned.

1. The claim that every investigation would be conducted within one year.

Crime investigation, especially anti corruption investigation does not happen with magic. There is a great deal of investigative effort required. If EVERY case registered in an year is to be fully investigated in an year itself, there would be the need for a massive bureaucracy that would trump ANY existing bureaucracy. Such a vast bureaucracy would have its own corruption and slow downs.

2. The claim that every case would be brought to trial and trial completed within one year. 

How is Jan Lokpal going to accomplish this without massively increasing the numerical strength of our judiciary and its support staff? Is this claim anything more than absolute hogwash?

3. The proposal that Lok Pal would consist of a committee of equal numbers of elected politicians and equal number of civil society luminaries and a Lok Pal / National Ombudsman who would be the Chairman of Committee and would be a civil society representative.

Who selects the Civil Soiety luminaries? The elite choosing the next of the elite? And what is the criterion for being these civil society luminaries? Nobel laureate? Bharat Ratna? These are not awards of statesmanship. Can an Einstein govern a nation? No. People who are good at one thing should not ever be considered to be experts at everything else. If it happens, they crash and burn, for eg: Manmohan Singh and his reputation.

Now some of my own questions:

1. What is there to ensure that there wont be corruption in Lok Pal and Lok Ayukta?

There are allegations aplenty that the Lok Ayukta of Karnataka, the much exalted Ombudsman, Santhosh Hegde is quite unparalleled in his levels of corruption. Let us not forget that Supreme Court, that last bastion of hope for our people has been recently been exposed for its corruption in the form of the scandals involving Retd SC Judge KG Balakrishnan. This corruption has more or less resulted from the ZERO accountability. This Lok Pal would be even less accountable to the people of India. 

2. What after Anna Hazare and the pious brigade?

The present leaders of Lok Pal movement are without doubt pillars of integrity. Anna Hazare, Kiran Bedi, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar etc. However what would happen to the institution of Lok Pal once these people with proven stature are no more? Our nation is not one of a single generation. Its institutions have to last for generations. Depending on the piety and integrity of its members have brought failure to many institutions like US Constitution and of course our own Constitution.

The supremely intelligent Constitution drafted by BR Ambedkar was soon corrupted and eroded by Nehru and sycophants, a fact which we should never forget in the context of Lok Pal . Any human institution is vulnerable for corruption, even one as unaccountable as this one.

3. So what to do to stop corruption?

Nothing. Corruption would never be eliminated in entirety, we can just reduce it and increase its deterrence. We have a good theoretical model that is very poorly implemented. What we need a systemic overhaul. What we are suffering is not a tumor in one area but a disease that has spread throughout the body. We dont need an instrument of cauterization, what we need is an effective medicine that would burn out the disease from the entire body. We need a profound change in our political system, a change which I do not know how to bring about.

Urumi - A review

Yesterday along with two friends I went to watch Urumi - the new epic saga film made by Sangeeth Sivan. Having gone with lots of expectations some of them attained fruition, while some measure of disappointment had been there too.

The starting minutes of the movie were simply superb. The styles of narration, the way the movie went to the flashback were simply superb. However as the movie progressed on jarring fault within the movie became more and more evident - TOO MUCH SONGS. It seems there is a song whenever a character sneezed! There is also a song when the character is not sneezing! Some of the characters were totally unnecessary like Vidya Balan's supposed role as a mystical Mukkom, a devi deity who in an oracle like fashion prods the hero towards greatness. Despite the prophecy not becoming true at all, the even worse part is the totally unnecessary song and dance number created just so that the audiences could be horrified at the sight of a swerving and gyrating Vidya Balan in some feeble imitation of erotic dancing. The video work is good, songs are passable, but the horror of Vidya Balan's dances? The Mukkom prophesied that the hero, Kelu would become the King of Chirakkal and his friend Vavvaali would become the General of armies, two prophecies which never came into fruition.

Overall in hindsight the plot is pretty good, because 8 hours after you watch the movie, especially after a sleep which helps forget the greatest horrors one is left with only the better memories of the movie. The usual ideological hero uniting the masses battling oppression, the son growing up seeking vengeance on the murder of his son, the usual treacheries and backstabbing of power, the reformed despot being murdered off just when he turns benign, frankly these kind of plot twists are quite a plenty in Indian cinema. However the redeeming part is the role played by Genelia D'Souza, that of the Arakkal Princess, Aysha. The role she portrayed was a fresh one and it was quite well played by her. Her fight scenes were an absolute visual delight.

The hero, Kelu Nayanar portrayed by Prithviraj starts out as an ideological warrior who is out on a quest of vengeance. One of the biggest ideologies he spouts quite frequently is that "women and children are never to be harmed." This ideology even caused him to let a pregnant rabbit go free, because she was carrying children. But this however did not cause him to raise a finger of protest as the Arakkal Palace was sacked by his "allies" nor when the womenfolk of Arakkal were brought as sex slaves to the Chirakkal Palace. Sure he rescued some women but references to some women already being distributed as bounty to the victorious soldiers of Chirakkal bring out the hollowness in the hero's ideology. Despite knowing pretty well the heinous intentions of the Chirakkal King and the paedophilic inclination of the Chirakkal Prince towards a little girl from Arakkal family, the hero watches on mutely. Is his silent refusal not to partake in the spoils offered by the King his idealism? Or should he have as a true leader protected these women? The fact that the "hero" was spurned into saving these hapless women only after the little girl was brutalized by the Prince further renders asunder the hero's credentials.

Apart from this huge flaw in plotline rest of the movie is more or less good. The battle scenes are reminiscent of the movie "300" and quite well taken too. Technically this movie is impeccable. Nearly the two hour mark of watching the movie one also realizes that this movie could very well be an advertisement for Yoga. Every single thing these guys do is through some stylized yoga or kalari posture. Sure some dances could be choreographed through this manner, but every single song and dance number? At one point it stops being charming and becomes seriously irritating. Context, my dear sirs, context.

Plot wise another thing of note is the historical references. The references are quite well researched and despite not being very knowledgeable about Kerala History, I am impressed. There are several references to the Kingdom of Cochin or Perumbadapppu Swaroopam, and of the Cheraman Perumal legend.

It is here that I find myself ideologically opposed to the premise of the story. The Perumpadappu Swaroopam has been portrayed unflatteringly as lackeys of Portuguese. Sure Perumpadappu is best known for its diplomacy but its success is principally because of the onus on Raja Dharma. The first and foremost consideration for any ruler is the well being of his citizens. For the well being of the citizens any amount of compromise by the ruler personally is acceptable. When weak seek alliances, when strong project power - that is the rule of statecraft. Ideologies like protecting of the weak, abolishment of excessive taxation etc can only be followed if one has the power to enforce it. Otherwise it would be a myopic vision.

Sure the premise of this movie is popular, weak uniting against oppression but at the end of the day the lesson I would take from this story is that the silly ideologue is dead, those who placed trust in his myopic vision crushed, but Perumpadappu and those who bet on it for survival lasting prosperously through the centuries.


At the end of the day, Urumi is a must watch movie. With exceptional cinematography this is a movie of unparalleled technical brilliance in Malayalam cinema. Reasonably well taken, reasonably well laid and reasonably well casted, this movie is worth watching in a cinema theater, at least for the sheer visual and sound effects of it. Here is to the hope that in his next movie Sangeeth Sivan directs there would be less masala content and more substance!

Cheers!