2014…1, 2 ka 4…4, 2 ka 1

After leaving behind a 0123 year 2013 we have entered into 2014 with the usual excitement. Even though there is no big deal and many a time much ado about nothing is being made out about the entry into the new year, it does help to have something to look to and be inspired at the beginning of a year.

2014 does give that edge over 2013 even though it does not make much numerical sense. This is apparent if one looks at the 1989 Bollywood movie “Ram Lakhan”. The movie had a long star cast including Raakhi, Dimple Kapadia, Madhuri Dixit, Anupam Kher, Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor. The movie had a song titled “1, 2 ka 4…4, 2 ka 1.” On the one hand the song meant how Jackie Shroff playing the elder brother saw his younger brother as someone who was always looking to make easy money. On the other hand the movie ends with the message that the younger brother is not that bad a person after all and the two brothers come together for a fight against evil.

The idea is that usually 1x2= 2 but this can be 1x2=4. If this is used to accumulate wealth and work against the people this will be one of the most corrupt things one can do. But if this same concept is used for good, it can bring about benefit to the people. 1x2 cannot be 4 practically and yet corruption has become part of our system. The idea is then to use this impracticable concept for the benefit of the people.

There is a lot of interest being generated on the subsidy announced for electricity in Delhi for those who consume up to 400 units of electricity. Even as some say that it is utter madness, there is a method in the madness being professed. This can be attributed as the 1,2 ka 4 method whereby money is used for the benefit of the commoner rather than for private enterprises distributing electricity.

John 15: 13-15 says “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” There is an invitation for a calculated madness which basically makes use of the concept of taking what is available and multiplying it to unimaginable levels. This brings us to a raised position of being friends of Jesus and being privy to what he knows.

This 2014, a 1,2 ka 4 concept will serve us well. It is a way to say that the welfare of the people is the only and ultimate aim for us. Those below in the social ladder should get an opportunity to come up rather than being kept where they are citing procedural and practical reasons. 2014 is also a year where we can make things happen rather than just talking and discussing what could happen. Let’s multiply goodness. Happy new year.

What is the programme Anna?

The national capital is brimming with large crowds and police personel. Lots of people from several parts of the country are congregating to Delhi to be part of the anti-corruption movement. A Jan Lokpal bill is still being sought even though the government has promised that this will be discussed in parliament. The crowd post April is still there but there are also voices of cynicism about what is happening.

What on earth is attracting people, even if it is only a cross section of people in India? Is it only the anti-corruption drive and the call asking for people to spill on to the streets that is bringing out people or is it that this has become an event and a programme which needs to be attended for several reasons? Why do people attend television talk shows and debates? Some will genuinely be interested to talk on the issues on offer, others will be there for the media exposure (part of the 15 minutes of fame) and a big number will be there for the event or the programme! Is the anti-corruption protest also something like this with thousands of people actually there to be a part of the programme?

Those who are there for the programme need not know the entire sequence of events and what are the deep rooted things which surround it. They are there for the atmosphere, the feeling and the identification with people who have something in common with them. The middle class and upper middle class will definitely be comfortable to be together and corruption is such a common affecting factor that it will in all regards bring in the numbers. This could be the reason why India has seen several protests over the years but they never had the numbers. Every state has had tribal protests, dalit protests, and women’s group’s protests which would hardly even get a passing glance from passers by. Does this mean that their concerns were not concerns and did not warrant even a glance? It rather means that the people did not identify with their problems because they did not see it as a problem. In many cases these passers by would have been the perpetrators of the problem. But corruption is different. The same people who did not bother to look when genuine protests were held have suddenly become very active protestors.

This is a programme which has the likelihood to succeed not because it is a ‘just’ protest but because it is a well staged protest. In countries like India it is strange that true protests are never taken seriously, whereas well directed, managed and staged protests will mostly succeed. In this way, this is not a protest but this is a celebration of how people can be mobilized using the media, social networking sites and other traditional media forms.

A well directed programme is like a well produced movie. One has to follow the crowd. No one will have the courage to say that the movie is not well made when those others we are in contact with will say it is excellent. The anti-corruption movement I fear is also such. We can either say that it is a super duper hit or we can risk being made out into un-patriotic, submissive, stupid and slavish people. Now who would want that? I always like off beat movies and in this case too I feel this is too mainline Bollywood style and therefore likely to be lapped up by the affordable masses.

India in 1977…Amar, Akbar, Anthony…Hindu, Muslim, Christian.

Religion is under the scanner in India. The reason is that violence and terrorism are threatening the peaceful existence of people, and religion is being blamed as one of the main perpetrators of this. One or the other religion claims superiority and tensions arise. One wonders whether India on the run (Upward and downward depending on how one looks at it.) has become impatient and shuns harmonious living?

Indian cinema has been dominated by the North Indian lobby, which has adopted Mumbai (Bombay) as it’s home. In India thus, Hollywood becomes Bollywood and cinema is swamped by Hindi cinema while other languages make their mark in regional, national and international markets as well.

One of Hindi cinema’s most successful movie’s is ‘Amar, Akbar, Anthony’(10th on the list of top 100 all-time hits at the Indian box office.). It was a movie which had a simple theme (Simple in Indian terms.). Three brothers are separated during their childhood and they are brought up in different households, one as a Hindu, the other a Muslim and the third a Christian. Manmohan Desai, the director managed to weave together successfully a movie that on the one hand was absolutely unbelievable but on the other hand striked a chord somewhere in the mind of the Indian psyche.

Of course Desai managed a coup by having Amitabh Bachan, Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor along with Neetu Singh, Parveen Babi and Shabana Azmi act in the movie. But the silent message was conspicuous. Three religions living side by side and eventually coming under one roof!

31 years later it would help to look back. Maybe it’s time to think of plots which bring people together and not the other way round. Watching old movies may not be something the present generation would want to do but maybe that is exactly what we should!!