Gloom, grief, guilt, anger, frustration, worthlessness, etc: A diary after 15 years

I resort to diary-writing after other genres of writing fail me on this particular occasion

17 Jan 2015 (3 Magh, 2071)

Documentary Review: The Carbon Rush

Rewarding the criminals: The bloody trails of 'Clean Development'

Corporations wiping out large chunks of biodiversity and killing people with impunity in Honduras and Brazil in collusion with the corrupt state machinery, are being rewarded for their contribution to 'clean development'as are those throwing hundreds into abject poverty and total unemployment in India. At the end, however, their projects are not 'clean' with no net gain for environment in terms of carbon emission. In its march from one triumph to another, global capitalism brutally preys upon the poorest, weakest and the most vulnerable. A brilliant documentary brings to light the plight of the people subjugated by the tyranny of 'liberating' market capitalism. 

Review: Memoirs of Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva

छोरीले गरेको स्टालिन शासनको पोस्टमार्टम

(A version of this article first appeared in Kantipur, Koseli dated 2071/9/5)

सर्वहारावर्गको अधिनायकत्व स्टालिन शासनझैं एक व्यक्तिको क्रुर तानाशाहीमा स्खलित भएर जाँदैन भन्ने आधार नभएसम्म साम्यवादका लागि भनेर अब युद्धमा जानु इतिहासप्रति ‘गद्दारी’ हुनेछ । 

Tulke: Making us proud as Nepalis

In Nepal, we are not advancing economically, we are stunted and dwarfed in other arenas like sports, our education and health services are regressing; so it is a full-scale tragedy if we cannot progress even in fields in which individual excellence and innovativeness can make up for the apathy and negligence of the state. Plays have been here as the silver linings in the cloud for quite some time. Now they are joined by some refreshing movies like Kabaddi and TVT. The future may not be quite as dark as it has been so far when it comes to arts and literature in Nepal.

For some reason or the other, I am yet to watch the Nepali movie Loot even though everyone who has watched it has recommended it as a must-watch.

But it was not the case with Talakjang vs Tulke (TVT), the other movie from the same director. At the first opportunity, I went to the theater to watch it.

The first thing that came to my mind while sitting to review this movie was the Eric Valli's masterwork Caravan. While I enjoyed Valli's ingenious movie, the contrast with 'mainstream' Nepali movies was obvious and that reminded me of how utterly backward our own film industry was, thereby diluting the joy of watching a good movie.

The movie reminded just how good a movie could be created inside the physical boundaries of Nepal by tapping into what we already have: an ever-luring  beauty of the landscape, the scarcely researched cultural themes and the talented people with real life hurdles unimaginable for many in the worlds yet with ability to act impeccably in real as well as reel lives. What we were--and are, to say rather sorrily--doing instead was shamelessly and skill-lessly copying the frame of so called formula-based movies from Bollywood and simply breeding the ugly and uninspiring movies.

That was and remains a real tragedy, for a society can never progress in its entirety unless the arts and literature fronts, like many others, languish in dark.

जीवन, खुशी र अहंकार

चेखवले यो लोक छाडेको पनि शताब्दी बितिसक्यो, तर मलाई अहिले पनि मानवता उनले वार्ड नं ६ मा बन्द गरेर गएको आन्देइ्र एफिमीचसँगै कैदी छजस्तो लाग्छ । कहिलेकाहीं उसको बौलट्ठीपूर्ण क्रन्दन जेलका पर्खाल तोडेर बाहिरसम्म आउँछ तर हामी सब चुपचाप छौं किनकि हामी सबै स्वतन्त्र छौं र त्यसै हुन चाहन्छौं । हाम्रो स्वतन्त्रताका लागि कैयौं आन्द्रेइहरुले पागलखानाको चौघेरामा बसिरहनुपर्छ । जगत्को रीत तोडेर हामी उनीहरुको साथी बन्न जान सक्दैनौं ।

खै किन हो, केही दिनदेखि निद्रा पातलिएको छ । एक रात रातभर ननिदाइकनै सपना देखिरहें । भन्नुको मतलब निन्द्रामा पुग्नुअघिको तन्द्रा अवस्थामै सपनाहरु सुरु भए र हरेक सपना सिद्धिनेबित्तिकै ब्यूँझिहालें । हरेक सपनाको बीचमा अर्ध निद्रामा सोचिरहें, आज किन निद्रा पातलो छ ।
............
मेरा दुइखाले पाठक साथीहरु छन् । जो पहिला पाठक र पछि साथी भए, उनीहरु सामान्यतः मेरो लेखाइप्रति गुनासो गर्दैनन्, गुनासो नभएर हो वा गुनासो गर्न चाहिने निकटताको अभावले हो, मलाई थाहा छैन । जो पहिला साथी भए र पछि पाठक बन्ने प्रयास गरे, उनीहरु इमान्दारीपूर्वक भन्छन्ः तिम्रो लेखाइ क्लिष्ट, लम्बेतान र बोझिलो छ, शुरुका र अन्तिमका केही अनुच्छेदबाहेक पढ्न नसकिने । म हाँस्छु तर कुनै वचन दिन्नँ कि उनीहरुका सुझाव व्यवहारमा लागू हुनेछन् वा छैनन् । यो मपाइँत्व शुरुमै किन गर्न परेको भने, यो आलेख शुरु गर्दा यो कति हजार शब्दमा तन्केर जान्छ, त्यसको मलाई अनुमान मात्र छ । त्यसैले छोटो र मिठोको स्वाद लिन चाहने साथी पाठकहरुका लागि बेलैमा बाहिरिने मौका दिने प्रयास हो यो ।
............

Lost in Snow: Betrayal shatters what Bullet cannot

 

Well, I am no book critic, not an 'objective' or professional one by a long shot; I write praising the books I like and forget about the books I don't like. It's been long since I wrote about a book and that is probably because it's been equally long since I came across an inspiring book.

The moment I started reading the first page of Orhan Pamuk's Snow, leaving the other two books (River of smoke by Amitav Ghosh and The catcher in the rye by J D Salinger) halfway through, I was convinced I'd read this book to completion and write about it.

The term dissection in English has a much more precise meaning in medical sciences than in ordinary use. To dissect a part of body means to open up the covering, neatly separate tissue planes displaying the individual organs in their natural relationship in details without damaging them.

Alas! While this is possible with the bodily half of our existence, it is not quite the same with the mental half.

Since time immemorial, the philosophers, thinkers and litterateurs have tried to do that but have been largely unable to dissect the mind as finely as scientists have been with the body.

Still, Anton Chekhov in Ward No. 6 and Fyodor Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov have reached close to a very neat dissection of human soul. By the time the story ends, one knows the mental details of the protagonist in each of these works inside out.

May be, there are many more dissectors of human soul who have not come to my attention but that does not belittle the significance of these great writers.

…

'Were you happy as a child?'

'People don't know when they are happy, at least not while it's going on. It was only years later that I decided I'd been happy as a child; but the truth is, I wasn't. On the other hand, I was not unhappy in the way I was during the years that followed. I wasn't just interested in happiness when I was a child.'

'So when did you start to become interested?'

Ka longed to say 'never' but he didn't, partly because it wasn't true, and partly because it seemed too aggressive. …

'A moment arrived when I was so unhappy I could barely move and that's when I began to think about happiness,' Ka told her.

बर्षादी दिनहरु: एक अन्तरंग यात्रा

पुस्तकमा प्रकाश सायमीको मात्र जीवन भएको भए त्यो पट्यार लाग्दो हुन सक्थ्यो । तर पाना पल्टाउँदै गर्दा मैले चिनेका, चिनेको भन्ठानेका र नामै नसुनेका दर्जनौं पात्रहरु अनि प्रवृत्तिहरु एकपछि अर्को आउँदै गए, एउटा धारावाहिकका अध्यायहरुजस्तै । ती आए एउटा वहाबमा र हरेकले छाडेर गए, आ आफ्नै किसिमका छापहरु । पाना पल्टिंदै गर्दा नयाँ कुरा जान्नुको उल्लास र आफूले जीवनमा सिकाइका अवसरहरु लेखकले जसरी नपाएकोमा थकथकी र लघुताभास पनि थपिंदै गयो । 

'शिरीषको फूल'को ऐनामा आफैंलाई हेर्दा

जीवन जिउनका लागि शुन्यवादजस्तो झूर दर्शन संसारमा कहीं कतै छैन होला तर जिन्दगीको यो वा त्यो क्षणमा शुन्यता र निस्सारताको अनुभव नगर्ने मान्छे पाउन गाह्रै पर्ला । 

कुनै बेला थियो, सबैभन्दा दिक्कलाग्दो र निरर्थक किताबको नाम सोध्यो भने म भन्थेंः शिरीषको फूल । कति प्रयास गर्दा पनि एकैचोटि धेरै पाना नफर्काएसम्म त्यो पुस्तक सकिएको मलाई याद छैन । त्यस्तो किताबका लागि पारिजात जस्ती नाम चलेकी स्रष्टाले किन शब्द खर्च गरेकी होलिन् र मानिस त्यो किताबको किन सराहना गर्छन् होला भन्ने मेरो जिज्ञासा मेटिएकै थिएन ।

तर अस्ति आएर एक बसाइमै त्यो पुस्तक पढिसिध्याउँदाचाहिं लाग्यो, साहित्यको अस्तित्वका लागि स्रष्टाको कृतित्व र पाठकको ग्रहण शक्ति दुवैको तालमेल आवष्यक पर्दोरहेछ । मैले शिरीषको फूल यस अघि मन नपराउनुमा त्यही तालमेलको अभाव भएको मैले महसूस गरें । मैले पछिल्लो पल्ट त्यो पुस्तक पढ्ने प्रयास गरेयता ममा धेरै परिवर्तनहरु आएछन् भन्ने पनि मैले महसूस गरैं ।

त्यस्तो पहिलो परिवर्तन थियोः मैले जीवनलाई, विश्वलाई, समाजलाई, साथीहरुलाई, नायकहरुलाई, स्रष्टाहरुलाई अनि तिनका कृतिहरुलाई पहिलेझैं श्याम–श्वेतमा हेर्न बन्द गरेछु र सेतो र कालोको बीचमा खैरो क्षेत्र पनि हुन्छ र कति अवस्थामा दुवै अतिभन्दा बढी महत्व त्यो मध्यभागको हुन्छ भन्ने सिकेछु । जीवन जिउनका लागि शुन्यवादजस्तो झूर दर्शन संसारमा कहीं कतै छैन होला तर जिन्दगीको यो वा त्यो क्षणमा शुन्यता र निस्सारताको अनुभव नगर्ने मान्छे पाउन गाह्रै पर्ला । जसरी सबै साहित्य जति शुन्यवादी होस् भन्नु अव्यवहारिक छ, साहित्यमा शुन्यवादको प्रवेश नै नहोस् भन्नु त्यति नै अवान्छित लाग्छ मलाई अहिले ।

अर्को परिवर्तन थियो, यसबीच मैले केही युगान्तकारी आख्यान कृतिहरु पढेको थिएँ जसले केही पृष्ठमै मानव सभ्यताका लाखौं वर्षहरुको अवधिमा यो जातिले विकास गरेको चरित्रको एउटा सोलोडोलो चित्र खिच्न सकेका छन् । त्यस्तो एउटा सिर्जना होः आन्तोन चेखवको कथा वार्ड नं सिक्स । (त्यस्ता कृति पढेपछि कहिलेकाहीं आफूले लेखक बन्ने धृष्टताका साथ गरेका सिर्जनाहरु जलाएर अबदेखि नलेख्ने प्रण गरौं कि जस्तो पनि लाग्छ ता कि त्यस्ता महान् कृतिहरुको अपमान नहोस् ।) शिरीषको फूल यसपटक पढ्दा त्यो बूढो रक्स्याहा सुयोगवीरलाई चेखवको कथाको डाक्टरसँग दाँजिहेरेंः कृतिमा जीवन पछ्याइएको छ फगत एक जनाको तर त्यसले कथा भन्छ सयौं, हजारौंको मात्र हैन। समग्र मानव सभ्यताको एक चरणको ।

तेस्रो, सबै लेखकले सबै कृतिमा सबै किसिमका पात्र र पाठकका लागि न्याय गर्न सक्दैनन् भन्ने मेरो आविष्कार पनि नयाँ नै हो । जसरी आख्यानको केन्द्रमा एउटा वा सीमित पात्र हुन्छन्, त्यसै गरी आम मानिस वा आम पाठकमध्ये निश्चित जीवन दर्शन र मनोदशाको निश्चित अवस्थाका मानिसहरुलाई मात्र मज्जासँग छुन्छ एउटा कृतिले । अरुले पनि विभिन्न हदसम्म त्यो कृतिबाट आनन्द प्राप्त गर्न सक्छन् तर त्यसको तुलना पहिलो किसिमको आनन्दसँग हुनै सक्दैन ।

Understanding South Asia through Fiction: Sea of Poppies

How Amitav Ghosh uses a plot from early 19th century India to capture the essence of South Asian societies over the centuries in 'Sea of poppies'.

Books: the noble reflections of society and people

How do you understand a society, and a people? Apparently, there are many ways of doing so. A year back when I shared a typically provocative article by Arundhati Roy in Outlookmagazine titled 'Capitalism: A Ghost Story' in twitter, a friend from Egypt was astonished. Apparently, he had much more pleasant impression of India as a democratic and just society. I have similar experience with other foreigners who have romantic ideas of Nepal and get easily disappointed once they are physically here. As such, a comprehensive understanding of societies is possible with multiple approaches to understand different aspects of them and each such medium has its own merits and demerits. 

In my experience, books are one thing whose importance can be matched by no other means of knowing a society and a people. Authors are thus people whose expertise on a particular domain of the society gives us the opportunity to learn many things in little time and at a small cost. In the list of people who have helped me understand India and the subcontinent, Jawaharlal Nehru comes at the top and his voluminous book 'Glimpses of World History' is one book that profoundly helped me grasp history, not as a discipline that you merely study but as something that you study and relate with your present life so as to understand the world around you better. I have read the book more than once and recommend the book for those who do not dread a book looking at its size. (In fact, I first read the book when I was yet to abandon the idea of authoring a book and have written a couple of lengthy articles inspired by- and rather copying from the book!)

When I fetched 'Sea of Poppies' by Amitav Ghosh from a small book stall behind Hotel Taj in Mumbai along with Vinod Mehta's 'Lucknow Boy', I had no idea what exactly I was expecting from the two books, and the authors. Nearly frustrated with my failure to understand Mumbai better with the physical presence there and dragging the not-exactly-enthusiastic feet, thanks to sleep deprivation, I was looking for an alternative way of understanding India. Neither of the two authors let me down and moreover, I discovered more in each than I could have ever expected.

Lucknow Boy, an encyclopedia

On life, on journalism.

I first came to know Vinod Mehta as the most hated media figure in India. At least the letters section of 'Outlook' magazine gave that impression. I am not sure if the writers of those letters demanded exactly the public stoning of Mehta to death, but the connotation of those letters used to be something like that. Particularly after the 'heretic' mega-essays of Arundhati Roy appeared in Outlook (that they still do periodically), the letters section of the magazine would be deluged with such letters.

While most other Indian weeklies looked visibly elated by how India was rising and shining over the first decade of the new century, I used to be more fascinated by the supposedly 'leftist' fortnightly 'Frontline' whose portrayal of Indian society looked to me more realistic and scholarly. Yet there was this third magazine, the weekly Outlook that treaded a path somewhere in between: portraying India sometimes with alacrity, sometimes with caution; sometimes with elation and sometimes with gloom.

So, who was this man behind a kind of journalism in India that didn't fit into either ideological framework (of socialism and untamed capitalism)? How could this man publish nauseating letters that viciously attacked himself in pages of his magazine; those too in dozens?

These were few among many questions that awaited answers before reading 'Lucknow Boy: A Memoir' the autobiography of Vinod Mehta who is currently the chief editor of Outlook group of publications in India. After reading the last pages, it turns out, I have learned more than I expected at the beginning.

If I am not sufficiently fooled, Mehta is starkly honest with himself while writing these words. Second, the book gives rare insight into the workings of apparently magnificent but really perilous media industry in India. What touched me more than that was, however, the insight he gives on how he dealt with ups and downs in life. The omnipresent wit and humor of the author makes the book all the more pleasant and readable.

लूः सानो गाउँको ठूलो कथा

साहित्य र पत्रकारिताका आ आफ्नै विशिष्टता र सीमाहरु छन् । समाजमा ती दुईले अलग अलग किसिमले समाचार, सुचना, ज्ञान र मनोरञ्जनको संचार गर्छन् । साहित्यको झल्को दिने पत्रकारिता र पत्रकारिताको झल्को दिने साहित्य कोरा प्रकृतिका साहित्य वा पत्रकारिताभन्दा विशिष्ट मानिन्छन् किन भने रचना शिल्पको खास सीमाभित्र रहेर एउटा अतिरिक्त सिर्जनशील जिम्मेवारी नलिएसम्म त्यस्तो सिर्जना गर्नु सम्भव हुँदैन ।

नयनराज पाण्डेको लु ले मलाई यही तथ्यको याद दिलायो । पत्रपत्रिका लगायतका संचारका सबै माध्यममा तराई लगायत नेपालका सबै भुभागमा रहेका आम मानिसको अंग्रेजीमा बर्डस आइ भ्यु भनेझैं टाढाबाट दृष्टिगोचर हुने सोलोडोलो चित्रले मात्र वर्चस्व जमाइरहन्छ । त्यसमा पनि दुर दराजका समाचारहरुमा राजनैतिक गतिविधिहरुको उपस्थिति यति हुन्छ कि जनजीवनका आर्थिक र सामाजिक पाटाहरुले उचित ठाउँ पाउँदैनन् । काठमाडौंका राजनेताहरुको रुघाखोकी समेत मुख्य समाचार बनिरहँदा भोकमरीको चपेटामा परिरहेका मानिसहरुको समाचारचाहिं कतै कुनामा लुकेको हुन्छ ।

यस्तो परिवेशमा एउटा सीमाक्षेत्रको दुर्गम गाउँको मिहिन चित्र खिच्नु आफैंमा ज्यादै चुनौतीपुर्ण काम हो । त्यसमा पनि डर लाग्दो गरी तन्किएको संक्रमणकालमा निकम्मा हुँदै गरेका राजनैतिक शक्तिहरु र कानुन आफ्नो हातमा लिइसकेका आपराधिक तत्वहरुका बारेमा लेख्नु झनै चुनौतीपुर्ण बनेको छ । अझ विगत केही वर्षमा सीमा क्षेत्रका विभिन्न ठाउँमा फैलिएको साम्प्रदायिक हिंसाको जरो केलाउनु त त्यो प्रक्रियालाई जरैदेखि नबुझ्नेहरुका लागि असम्भव नै हुन्छ ।

यिनै विविध पक्षमा अव्बल प्रस्तुति रहेको पाण्डेको लु ले सीमा क्षेत्रको एउटा गाउँको कथा मार्फत् एउटा अविकसित, पर निर्भर र निर्बल समाजको रुपमा नेपाली समाजको दयनीय कथा कहेको छ । २०४६ को परिवर्तनले छुन नसकेका नेपाली समाजका कुना काप्चाहरुको यथार्थपरक र मार्मिक कथा बोकेको नारायण ढकालको दुर्भिक्ष पछि लु ले त्यही स्तरमा समाजलाई साहित्यको ऐनामा उतार्न सफल भएको मेरो ठम्याइ छ । र त्यस हिसाबमा नेपाली साहित्यका लागि यो नवीन उपलब्धि हो ।

कर्नाली ब्लुज पढेपछि

प्रकाशित भएको दुइ वर्ष पछि बुद्धिसागरको कर्नाली ब्लुज पढ्ने मौका मिल्यो । मागेर पढ्ने विकल्प हुँदाहुँदै पनि लेखकमाथि अन्याय होला कि भनेर किनेरै पढें । बेलाबेलामा पत्रिकामा सरल भाषामा गहन कुरा लेख्दै आएका लेखकले पुस्तकमा चाहिं त्यस शैलीलाई न्याय गरेका छन् कि छैनन् भन्ने जिज्ञासा थियो । 

पढेपछि लाग्योः यो उपन्यासलाई खालेद होसेनीको काइटरनरबाट चोरेको भन्नेहरुले एउटा सानो गल्ती गरेका हुन् । शैली दुवै किताबको मिल्दोजुल्दो छ र कर्नाली ब्लुज पनि काइटरनरजत्तिकै दमदार भएजस्तो मलाई लाग्यो । एउटा किताब अर्को जत्तिकै घत लाग्दो भयो भन्दैमा पछिल्लोले पहिलोको चोरेको भन्नेचाहिं हुँदैन । बरु आफ्नो अर्को किताब अ थाउजन्ड स्प्लेन्डिड सन्समा होसेनीले काइटरनरको उचाइलाई न्याय गर्न सकेका छैनन् । बुद्धिसागरको अबको पुस्तक कस्तो हुने हो त्यो हेर्न चाहिं बाँकी नै छ । 

कर्नाली ब्लुज बुद्धिसागरको मात्र कथा हैन र कर्नालीको मात्र कथा पनि हैन । त्यो त संघर्ष गरेर माथि जान खोज्ने तर आशातीत रुपमा सफल नहुने समग्र नेपाली युवाहरुको आलो कथा हो । कथा वस्तुलाई आकर्षक बनाउन अप्राकृतिक रुपमा प्रैमका हाँसो उठ्दा प्रसंग जोड्ने लेठो नगरेर पनि लेखकले यो उपन्यासलाई अरु थुप्रै उपन्यासभन्दा फरक बनाउन सफल भएका छन् । नारायण वाग्लेको पल्पसा क्याफेलाई अर्का लेखक आहुतिले संयोगै संयोगको जंगल भएको भनेका थिए र त्यसो थियो पनि । कर्नाली ब्लुजभरि एकचोटि पनि अप्राकृतिक संयोगको कष्ट झेल्नु पर्दैन । 

उर्गेनको घोडामार्फत् युग पाठकले सौस्कृतिक विम्व र मिथकलाई पछ्याएर पनि सार्थक लेखन गर्न सकिन्छ भनेर नेपाली उपन्ँयासलेखनमा एउटा ढोका उघारेका थिए । बुद्धिसागरले यथार्थवादमा आधारित गहन उपन्यास लेखेर यो क्षेत्रमा अर्को क्षितिजतिरको मार्ग पनि खुल्ला गरिदिएका छन् । 

'The Story of my Assassins' A Brilliant book about Indian Society

Jiwan Kshetry 

How is the Indian society faring? How real are the things that come out about Indian society? How do the lives of people in Indian cities differ from that of those in countryside? Overall, which direction is being taken by the society and the nation? If fiction is your choice to look into all these, there is one book. 

Knowing Indian society inside outwith help of a single book: is that possible?

Well, I think it is so after completing one book. Written by one of the most prominent contemporary Indian journalists, Tarun Tejpal, 'The Story of my Assassins' is a novel that knits well more than a dozen stories of people from various strata of society into one story. 

Unlike the popular Booker winner book of Arvind Adiga, this books covers wide spectrum of lives in the subcontinent. Unlike most other novels, this one makes the reader feel that he/she is not reading the book for mere entertainment. Humor is there, often dark; but most important is the way in which the social ailments of the subcontinent are dealt in minute details.

So what exactly one gets by reading this novel? First thing to be realized is that the society is far more complex thing than it appears. Second, governments and other social institutions often do many things that they are not seen doing ordinarily. Third, corruption and rule-bending is not monopoly of politicians, rather it is the way of life for people who are moving or have moved up the prosperity ladder. Fourth, if India is shining, it is the upper and upper-middle class. The people at the bottom of the social strata are not shining at all, if that term can be applied.

In a sense. it is like a compilation of dozens of journalistic reporting but there is something more in the book than this. The main character, the narrator, is a journalist who, after exposing a huge scam in one government agency, comes to controversy. Subsequently, the news is out that there was a plot to assassinate the narrator but the to-be-assassins get then caught by the police. 

The whole book is the story of each of the supposed assassins. It is through their life-stories that Tejpal details the lives of people in different parts of the India. From stifling poverty to recurring religious conflicts, land disputes to caste politics, he details the predicament of Indian societies brilliantly. The most somber part of the book illustrates how exactly the events of Indian partition impacted the lives of people of both religions who had lived in harmony till then. 

Tejpal's illustration of the lives of children in the railway stations and the process through which they drift towards criminality is another impressive part. 

The Idiots All Over

Though everyone is supposed to rush to compete wildly in the bid to gain power and wealth, the reality differs. Nor the genocides of past may remain beyond awareness for long. Two brilliant movies aim at the status quo differently but…


The euphoria of the ever-lasting prosperity (to be) brought by the miracles of market economy was dampened considerably by the turbulence brought about by the financial and eventual economic mishap beginning late 2008. The major patron as well as the beneficiary of the economic-financial tunnel vision focused at amassing the wealth, the media and entertainment industry has been impeccably following the lead of the market on feeding the people with the type of news/views or the recreational items that act only to extend the already omnipotent markets further. Even though the world of the written literature was able to maintain the diversity of the ideas with many of the books with the rebellious ideas having been published and become popular among the readers; it was not as easy, however, with the fields like the movie-industry, which required incomparably more investment.

In this background, this was a pleasant surprise to watch a blockbuster movie featuring a famous Bollywood star and mocking the alacrity of the dehumanized race to supremacy that has been the passion as well as the compulsion of the new generation that became aware of the world when the USSR was no more and the sole model of life that remained to be followed was 'compete or die'. The novel 'Five Points Someone' by Chetan Bhagat on which the movie '3 Idiots' is based was as vivid as the movie itself, and was highly popular among the youngsters of the subcontinent. It was a strange coincidence that the release of this brilliant movie almost coincided with that of the other blockbuster flaying the brutality and savagery of the imperial adventures of the present-day leaders of the world, 'Avatar'.