Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Anti Aamir to Anti Reservation- Multiplicity Of Youth Power

“Learning acquired in youth arrests the evil of old age; and if you understand that old age has wisdom for its food, you will so conduct yourself in youth that your old age will not lack for nourishment.”

Leonardo da Vinci

Youth was understood as being a time of carefree laughter, sunlit days and glitzy nights.When innocence had not yet lost its bloom and dreams slowly unfolding within graspable reach.

In todays scenario, its the time for agitations and agitatedness. Whether misinformed or misguided, the energy of the youth is there to spare. So those vile enough to recognise the strength of latent power, and indomitable will of the young, are using/misusing it for their hidden agendas.

Reservations per se and in the present connotation and denotation leave much to be desired. Basically the government is making the kids of today pay for the lapses of their lackadaisical attitude and policies. Dreams are being trampled upon, hopes demolished and students have been welcomed into the big bad world rather unceremoniously. Whoever said Life is fair!

And then there is the young of Gujarat who have been anaesthetised into believing that Aamir Khan is enemy No 1, who has to be penalised for daring to expostulate on the rights of the poor. They have been numbed into adhering to the dictates of fanatical politicos who rightly belong to era of Nazi Germany where the politics of hate help perpetuate and ensure longevity of power.

Jews are a plenty..if one is a Nazi.

The visual of students barely out of their teens, with gleeful revenge in their eyes, rebellion in their stance, and animosity in their speech , belligerently warning their ilk against endorsing Aamir, his films and his stand, angers you. Not just because it goes against all sense of righteousness and fairness that you believe you deserve being a native of free India, but also because you are forced to see the hand behind this agitation, despite strong attempts at anonymity.

To expect that a 17 year old will obtain the wherewithal to stage demonstrations of the kind in full public view without the support of the powerful, is stupid and naive. One can only pity the folly of the innocents to have allowed themselves to fall prey and been manipulated thus.

Aamir realises, one hopes, that the youth of Gujarat has seen RDB too!!..It is not enough to merely instigate youth, but to motivate it ethically. Energy when improperly channelised without affording ample guidance and education, leads to such monumental blunders.

To ask them if they really agree that a fellow student should be ostracised, threatened and boycotted, by the community for watching a film Fanaa in mumbai,since it had been banned in Gujarat, is not going to elicit an honest response. But when the furore has died down and the spotlight snatched away from them to the next band of the exploited, what will then restore the failed sensed of self esteem they have traded for this moment of paper glory?

Two sets of angry voices for totally opposing motivations. One more than deserved, the other painfully undeserved. Highlighting the emptiness of youthful exuberance. Misinformed and misled..into the wilderness of a crazy world.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

well said..

the doctors have agreed to come back after the order from the supreme court. But the student meds are going ahead.

As for the guj gang..It s ableating by sheep when they get together.Can be of great nuisance.

Anonymous said...

what u ppl know about gujarat problems???????????????????

f***ing a**es.. calling us sheep??????

We will bcome tigers and show u..

Anonymous said...

How will it help anonymous?

except for the distributors of the film and maybe aamir, how have your rants affected anybody? In fact you have only helped to create more curiosity for an average to below average film.. and have also made gujratis known as fanatics!

silbil said...

tigers are not anonymous my love...
sheep who use the mob to throw a stone or rape the girl they liked but did't get are...
so anonymous rave and rant some more...

Anonymous said...

Do you have any f***ing idea that the waters of narmada are as important as air for us gujaratis. Do you know what medha patkar talks of us? she is using the media to get her way and people like aamir listen and spread nonsense. we have our own mind.,it is becoz of our mind that modi is in power. We want him. He was re-elected. It is not we who do what he wants but he who does what we want. You are all dumb asses for thinking that we are directionless.

Kaveetaa Kaul said...

Hi Neha,

Your sheep sure are a bleating:)

Agree though fully.

Puja,

True.The end result is not commensurate with the ill will and bitter taste it has left in the mouth for all of us as citizens of the country. The last thing india needs/deserves is in-fighting of the kind we are experiencing with gujarat. It is as if they are a nation state of their own.
About the film.. yes.

Dim poetry,

Thanks:)

And aamir has gone hoarse clarifying his stand that his voice was for the displaced villagers and not for the building of the dam. But somehow, the dissenters either do not wish to acknowledge it or are misunderstanding the issue totally. wonder where it is going ot end, or in fact do they want this to end peacefully. what we get to hear is , that they will not settle for less than an apology from aamir. Is it merely an ego issue? Pity that such a fracas about an implied statement which may/may not have been loaded.

Silbil,
Hi..

And your comment is full of angst. Bravo for bringing it up.

Anonymous,

Where is the harm in doing some serious soul-searching??

'Aur bhi gham hai zamaane mein'.. The reservation issue where merit is being trampled upon and futures put at stake , deserves attention and focus. You stand to lose , sooner or later. Personally, your rights are under attack, more than the projected ego massage you have decided to anoint yourself with on the aamir issue.

Basically, I have little to comment on your stand otherwise. Not identifiable.

Chameleon's Karma said...

Its completely unfair to compare the rent-a-mob movement against Aamir with the peoples movement on reservations issue. One incoherent, confused, misguided 'anonymous' does not a mass movement make....

Demostrations - against and for - reservations, however, are spontaneous and emotive and have the potential to rip the social and the political fabric of the nation - Leninesque supreme court not withstanding!

Kaveetaa Kaul said...

ck,

clearly you have totally misconstrued the thrust of the argument.

the parallel was never between the movements, it was an observation to do with the involvement of youth and issues they chose to voice their dissent over.

I have been keenly following the strategists on both sides, and have noted that in Gujarat , it is Only the youth or the Yuva morcha which has staged these demonstrations. If you think this is without consequences for the industry .. then you are misinformed.

Much as I would have desisited on making a comment on this, I have to say that for the first time a film of this magnitude has not been allowed to be released and that too without any official notification.. merely on clout.

I resent the fact that politicos are becoming our cultural guardians. What we shoud watch or not, celebrate or not, cannot have a political colouring to it.. It happened with Deepa mehtas "water" which she was not allowed to shoot. If you think this is without its repurcussions, then you have a thing coming. It will not be long before this converts into a mass movement.. for or against.. the writing is on the wall. Underlining it and threfore giving it acceptance was not my idea.. but had to.

And you are again wrong if you think that this is a single 'anonymous' who is spearheading it. How can you imagine that a camp like Yash Chopra would have relented to this loss otherwise? If it was a sporadic, half hearted atempt by one timers?? Please think.

Chameleon's Karma said...

Welcome back!!!
Was getting worried by your absence!!
And was missing the sparring!!
:-)

Kaveetaa Kaul said...

Ck,

:)

Hardly sparring.. one post??

I was all geared up for a serious one.

Gave up too soon..

Chameleon's Karma said...

Havent given up!!
Just a bit tight on time these days!!
And you didnt read my thoughts on Reservations in DNA!

Kaveetaa Kaul said...

Im a TOI loyalist.. albeit grudgingly..

email details of your article..or if possible scan n send.