Jai ho...HO HO HO!

Hello darlings!

As you can see from the headline only, have gone slightly batty. Tis a result of this early morning read in the venerable The Hindu by an honored (with Capital H) gentleman called Abhimanyu Singh. You see, Mr Singh didn't like Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. My friend's older sis didn't like it too. Too college type, she smirked. As for my college type niece, she doesn't like anything without Hrithik Roshan in it. Zimble.

Mr Singh of course doesn't go for such facetious excoozes. Especially after he thought Abbas Tyrewala was a Godard in the making. So what does he do after being sadly mistaken in this assumption? He makes my day and writes a long article in The Hindu on Jaane Tu...being a paean to patriarchy, stereotyping women, etc.

Here's a sample: "Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na" only serves to strengthen the codes of patriarchy that have dominated the representation and subsequent construction of masculine and feminine identity in cinema `. by disturbing the symbolic order of patriarchy in order to motivate audience assent to its restoration'. Here, that can be seen in Jay's initial reluctance to accept the three diktats of manhood prescribed by his father and later fulfilling them.' For the whole piece of cake, go here.

Wondering why nobody told him it was simply a nice, timepass Hindi film?

Back in touch

Back in '92-95, a gang of girls doing Eng Lit. in Pune's Fergusson College were thick friends. They hung out at Vaishali, discussed Phadke Sir's linguistic skills, rued about the lack of guys in Arts, discussed boyfriends (both existent and non-existent) and sacked out in each other's hostels. At times, over spicy 'anda bun,' they discussed the future and how thankfully none of them were even remotely interested in an MBA (so much to study, huh?). Then college ended and some of the friendships frittered away. They'd never been too strong to begin with and had been merely sustained because of a common class, shared passion for idli vadas with 'separate sambar' and Bikram Saluja driving down FC Road in his Maruti Gypsy. Now suddenly the girls had to decide What To Do in life and slowly they drifted away. One of them moved to Bombay and shamefully forgot old connections in the new flashlights; one got busy with some inspiring developmental journalism in Pune and yet another, the spunkiest of them all, surprised everyone by suddenly agreeing to an arranged marriage and moving to USA. The girl in Bombay and the one off to USA promised to keep in touch. But such things were difficult to do in an age without mobiles and emails and with lots of excuses, especially when one had a new and exciting career in Bombay and another a new and exciting husband with a BMW in USA. Fourteen years later, the girls are back in touch. Well most of them anyway, thanks to those great finders, Facebook, Orkut and yes, in this case, even Linkedin. An yahoo group keeps them bound this time as the conversations flit between husband, number of kids, work or the lack of it. There are surprises too. Some irreverent ones seem incredibly polite and some barely heard voices have grown bindaas. Some mails bring memories, some a smile and each of them a reason to look forward to the inbox every other day.

Was watching the TV report on Bombay High Court's verdict going against Niketa Mehta just now. Don't want to talk about whether it is right or wrong, ethical or unethical, because honestly, I'm not the one facing the dilemma and it is so damn easy to pass judgements when you aren't. And this is a difficult one, isn't it. Here's a couple who are being honest. Very bravely I think.
Yet, when I first heard of the case, I did think that it wasn't right in my 'smug-parent-who's-never-had-to-face-such-a-problem-touchwood' manner.Because 24 months is almost half the pregnancy over.
Then I read this and thought of a special child in A's school. Her mother had once told me how on bleak days, she forces herself to smile by staring foolishly into the mirror. But had she known during the pregnancy would she have aborted? Her daughter may not be able to speak coherent sentences or do a simple puzzle but is the most wonderful, well behaved child I have seen.

I pray to God Mehta's baby is born healthy and leads a good life. I can only imagine how tough getting through the pregnancy must be for her, knowing fully well that her child is going to have serious health problems because let's face it, every parent wants a healthy kid. But there's one thing I've been thinking about. Now that the case is out in the open, being debated in the media and recorded for posterity on the internet, what impact would it have on the baby several years from now?

As parents, surely Mehta and her husband will do everything in their power to shield their child but if the child ever learns of the case to abort, what kind of an impact would that have on its mind?

It's a scary thought.