Touched by a Star

It was a crispy, wintry evening yesterday when I was heading home. My calmness was vapidly replaced with tension barged in by fire truck’s noise trying to save the remains of a gutted motel near my apartment. But I had plans. I couldn’t spend more time on this incident. Little did I know that I will be spending rest of my evening sobbing helplessly and not on the real fire!

I am usually pathetic at keeping track of movies unless I hear multiple mentions. Tare Zameen Par was registered in my mind for a reason. I had once dismissed it thinking it’s a kid’s movie (By no means it is!). I went for it and was speechless during and after the movie except for the initial giggle on the animated part of credits. Movie is about a dyslexic, 8 year old child who is facing the severity of education of regular mainstream system…:(. His trauma was evident in quiet gestures of withdrawals from almost everything what the regular kids do. His screaming dilemma was not heard by any teacher. Added to his misery were failed attempts by his parents to understand and then push him to behave and become a winner like other kids. They were so focused on making him win that the real problem of the child was ignored. Why not? Our society is custom made only for winners and its best to tailor a child from the beginning and if it doesn’t happen naturally then just force it. We don’t keep spaces for losers in our perfect society. Right?

It’s a beautiful movie nurtured carefully with mature acting and direction. Aamir’s sensitivity and sensibility is spotless and he has handled the subject brilliantly. Needless to say that the child's acting is truly amazing.The movie raises several important issues about the social system we consciously or unconsciously play part in and probably is one of the noteworthy efforts in mainstream/popular Indian cinema. All power to him! He is my star...This is one movie I will probably take few days to get over.

I have several rants about the education system we have generated, teaching techniques and the pressure of studying (mind you, not learning) the pre-defined way or even existence of boarding schools or even parenting where child gets beaten or not carefully looked after. But probably that’s for another day!

This is a beautiful song from the movie.

Maa - Taare Zameen...

.......

MERA SAYA .mp3

Beautiful lyrics!!

I have a problem with "Women empowerment"!

I have some serious concern with the term "women empowerment," in the way it is used is not just illogical but unfair too. Just before I get misconstrued, I must state, I am all for gender equality but when we say women empowerment we are essentially accepting the deep rooted disease of inequality against women. We are accepting the premise that one is strong enough to empower the other. why? Why should there be suppression and later an attempt to uplift the suppressed?
We grew up with gender biases. You will be surprised that even the most "progressive" social set-up can still have traces which are faulty with gender inequality. Think about these for a moment:
Guy should make a living (almost all the times), it is still optional for many women. Guy should (by all means) make more money than the girl. She can decide to stay home after marriage but for a guy, hell no or he runs a risk of being called a wuss. Guy should take the lead in a relationship or has all the rights to propose. Guy should be taller than her or at least as tall or its not a perfect/ideal match. Guy should have a higher degree than the girl. I can go on ranting but I must move on!
But please look carefully if these (degrees, money etc.) are all cosmetic additions as part of growing up or they define your life from then on? I abhor labeling. Yes I do!
We like to say we are "progressing" (whatever joy that term holds) without any hiccups and consciously ignoring that there is section of society still constantly getting abused, bought, burned, killed. Its a shame! But without getting dramatic here lets look at it logically. Do you see that male dominated society is still trying to define the role for its female counterpart? If not then how come we have broken world records of trafficking, sexual abuse & buying and selling like a commodity. Ask only ten affected women if this is by their choice. Anyway read this article which presents a scary scenario resulting from age long abuse of women in India and who knows it might just be true in coming days.
Here is something I read a while ago and found it really amusing but consider those times when it was true.