charukesi May 12th, 2004
Pictures from Abu Ghraib continue to shock the world. Otherwise decent sons-of-the-soil (not to mention daughters, the pride of their communities) Americans grinning happily at the sight of Iraqi prisoners cowering in fear and shame…. Reports that American soldiers are taught methods of breaking down the enemy’s psyche notwithstanding, it seems unlikely that the occupying American forces have developed a collective tendency towards cruelty and sadism…. Yet, their feeling of being in power, having control over the defeated prisoners is so apparent from these pictures…..
What is it about power that intoxicates so much? Especially power that is of a transient nature…. To understand what I mean, you only need to walk into any Government agency in India to say, procure a document or get some trivial work done….
This is the power that a traffic constable wields over a young man on a motorbike, stopped arbitrarily for a license check. That a watchman at the American consulate has over the waiting crowds. Not to mention the actual immigration officer who holds your future in his hands. The power that Moe wields over Calvin and Calvin, in turn over his building blocks and snowmen (not the mutant snow-goon variety, of course).
And the lesser the significance of the person in the overall scheme of things, the worse the impact of the power… Sometimes I feel that the most ‘powerful’ person in any Government office is the peon…. Should I or should I not let you in?
What does pop psychology have to say about this?
charukesi May 10th, 2004
Make that mauled… At Spencer’s Plaza last evening. Sunday evening, and with a holiday the next day (today is elections day in Tamilnadu), Spencer’s was choc-a-bloc. No space to breathe freely, forget moving…. So much disposable income? Is India truly Shining?
Dina writes about malls in Gurgaon with their glass facades and Dalli types. Bangalore with its Big Bazaars and more recent Forum(?). Even Bombay, for all its purported space crunch boasts of huge malls in the (once-so-uncool) suburbs like Malad and Mulund. Could not understand this initially…. Madras, for instance has the excuse of ‘nothing-to-do’ on a week-end (except the beach and movies, of course)… but even Bombay, with its dynamic theatre scene (stage) and Marine Drive and multiplexes is getting more and more mall-happy….
But when you think about it, the reasons are quite obvious. Mall-hopping can be quite a gratifying experience, khao-piyo, gawk till you drop, catch a movie if you are so inclined. Get your hair braided and hands mehndied, play a few simulated games that aim at giving you vertigo. No mention of buying from start to finish. And all this in air-conditioned comfort.
And if in the next year or so, malled (malling, malls) becomes a popular verb, remember you read it here first…. After that, all you need to do is sit back and wait for the OED to add it, thus giving it the cloak of respectability…. But by then, who will care? Purists will have denounced this verb enough for it to become the next big thing among yuppies and Vinod Mehta will have added mall-therapy to his list of most-hated phrases (Killing Cliches, Outlook, April 19)…. Till then, Happy Malling!
charukesi May 5th, 2004
April just went by…. One of those months of total inertia…. Almost vegetation…. No work, no outing, no activity, not even blogging…. Had the Madras heat to blame…. And now with these cool refreshing showers in Madras, life suddenly seems more livable… woke up on Monday thinking about resuming blogging… Wednesday today… will blog regularly, will go out, will start work, will call Kingsley…. In any case, every blogger is allowed one such rambling pointless post from time to time…. And this one is an update on what I have been upto these last few weeks… Be warned….
Resumed some activity on ryze…. Had to atleast thank people who sent birthday wishes…. while on that, can’t imagine now there was a time when I thought 30 was old…. When it was soooo far off….. Ask me now… Why, 30 is just the beginning of one’s youth…. Especially when you see it just around the corner… Quarter life crisis, anyone?
Been reading a lot, as usual… two interesting books recently on travels in the UK… Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island and now Paul Theroux on The Kingdom by the Sea…. Makes me long to be back in that small beautiful island….
Kitty has asked me if I have found a solution for my back problem…. If you have any suggestions, please let me know…. As far as my back ache is concerned, have been there done that…. tried all kinds of treatment…. Even surgery…. So, any ideas anyone?
Also been watching and enjoying elections tamasha on television…. What with the CAS fiasco, there is very little to watch on tv in any case…. Felt sick watching Vajpayee sharing the same platform with our CM here…. The same lady who abused the PM till recently…. Thank God for short memories…..
And while on tv, been appalled at the kind of soaps that are on in Tamil…. More on this soon (oh, I have lots to say on this)….. and also on another popular pastime in Madras (and other cities, to be sure), malling…. Soon….