Azamgarh Connection

I was attending a dinner last night at a friend's friend house when an interesting conversation happen. The host is from Tamilnadu for the sake of the information of readers.

Host: where do you originally belong from ?
Me: Azamgarh.
Host:I have heard the name of this small town in some context. (not remembering)
(After 10 seconds of pause...)
Me:You may have heard this name in the wrong cause.
Host:Yaa, Terrorist origin or something like this..

I was ashamed by the image projected of my native place in so wrong perspective.But the image is not completely false, a bit of truth is in it.If you want to know about this god forsaken place read these articles. Azamgarh Connection-1, The Battle Of Azamgarh and Azamgarh: the gulf connection.

No one knows about Ayodhya Prasad Singh “Hariaudh” a national fame Hindi poet or Urdu poet Kaifi Azmi. These names are no longer an example to emulate for the new generation of Azamgarh specially the youths of Muslim community. Deprived of higher education, the young and the restless of the village have no option but to take up jobs in West Asia or Mumbai. Few of them are ill guided in the name of religion by fanatics.

There is a general feeling in the Muslim community, and not only in Azamgarh, that after every terrorist act the police pick up innocent Muslim youth at random and even if they let them go after interrogation, their lives are already destroyed. They lose their jobs, marriages break down, their Muslim relatives and friends too start avoiding them, not to speak of their Hindu friends or employers. This has already happened to several Muslim youths in different parts of the country.

Injustice to Muslims is the foundation of terrorism.It gives them a chance to spread the propaganda of segregate and orthodox Muslim community. Hindus are not only bystander and victims of the violence. The hatred and intolerance to mix with the people of other caste and religion is most widespread in them.

Any authentic, well-meaning leadership would have guided them towards deep introspection as to why educated Muslim youth, particularly from Azamgarh, are getting involved into terrorist acts. Instead they are being led into total denial of the very existence of the militant fundamentalism virus imported from Saudi Arabia - Pakistan - Afghanistan region that is gradually infecting Indian Muslim youth too. There is enough evidence to suggest that this is happening, but our leaders, both political and theological, are leading the community into total denial. This does not bode well for the Indian Muslim community. The genuine worries of the Azamgarh Muslims are being channelised into wrong directions.

It is easy to blame the police and the government. Not that they do not deserve that blame sometimes. But while we have to try and keep them on their toes, through peaceful protests, through political mobilisation, and so on, that is not going to solve our problems in the long run. We need to introspect deeply and awareness should be our main function for bringing peace.

I have compiled this article just randomly and adapting some paragraphs from here and there. But the incident is true one. Just randomly found links for those who wants to know about problems of our country and voice of minority.

1-You could find a distinct voice on Islam here in this article.
2-Gul Panag clarifies her views on Terrorists and Terrorism. It is not any commanding article from a politician but it is very honest opinion .
3-At last about my native place, Azamgarh: Where guns have replaced roses!

Hypothesis on Creation

Srikanth Srinivasan writes an article about Dev D. I wanted readers to go through this paragraph presented in the article here...

"I believe there are three facets of creation - science, engineering and art. Science is purely a product of the brain. A supplier of perpetual innovation. Directors like (early) Spielberg and George Lucas are great technicians. They make up for the one-dimensionality of their scripts with their sweeping visuals and methods. Art is something that is very personal and one that should come from deep within. Scorsese and Cassavetes aren't what they are just because they shot on the streets or because they took the camera in their hands. What they portrayed on screen was an extension of their own personalities. And in between these two lies the clever device called Engineering. Assembling the innovations provided by scientists to "assemble" a customized product. And that is why Mr. Kashyap comes out as an engineer at the end of Dev D.So what does Mr. Kashyap want to “design” here? Well, from what we get from it, it looks like Mr. Kashyap is making a broad commentary on our obsession with sex."

I don't want to discuss about Dev D or Mr A.K. obsession with sex. I want to exchange thoughts about creation view puffed with science,engineering and art. Any suggestion on his application of hypothesis in real society and cinema are heartily invited.Feel free to comment and discuss...

Dark side of India

Indians are stricken by the disease of cynicism and negative thinking. They are all more materialistic, less idealistic, and even termed as prudent and practical. Lack of independent thinking and risk taking tendency has doomed us to the slave of western thinking till now. The colonial rule and dominance of one party over has produced more followers than leaders.

The lack of social entrepreneurs is more gray issue than any financial problem. Engineers can build the physical infrastructure of a nation, but someone needs to build and develop the institutions that nurture democracy. The government does not promote free thinking and scholarship in the social sciences. The present political structure is based on ignorance and irrational thinking.Even within a university environment, saying social or political things may be rife with problems from fellow students or administration.

All this talk is given in the seductive influence of Gulaal. Gulaal is a flawed masterpiece. I like the movie because of its connection with youths and university politics. The first half is an introduction of characters but second half is just manipulation of scenes together. I don't want to enrage the readers with synopsis of plot. But after Haasil, a movie has come depicting university politics in limelight with honesty. The depiction of caste system, university environment and puppet politics is beautifully presented here.

The unusual point about the movie:Films contains references of US war of Afghanistan, Iraq and 9/11 , Cynical comments of Indian Democracy are made by some characters & Piyush Mishra wears a locket of John Lennon. The soundtrack and lyrics are refreshingly good and flows smoothly as the movie progress. The lyrics remind me of Hindi poetry still unheard by majority of Hindi speaking people.

The movie content is good and directly associated with Hindi heartland of India. The cinema halls will remain empty and people from metro cities will not be able to associate with characters, hence a wide margin of revenue will cut off. Leave trade analyst and critics alone. Watch the movie for sheer performance of KK and superb performance of Abhimanyu Singh (do not panic, he is not a star kid)...

I have read atleast 10-15 reviews of the movie but the most balanced one is here. There is positive and good face of India but this experience was like discovering dark side of the moon. Celebrate the democracy with courtier culture and dynasticism. The talk of loyalty and nihilism in one same place is revolt to the Indian tradition, but independent thinking is budding in young Indian minds.