Friday, May 24, 2013

Are our children better off than us?

Or in another way, is the world around our children better than the one we had?

I started to examine the question from a material perspective comparing elements of technology and infrastructure. But as I continued doing that comparing my childhood version with the modern day equivalents I realised it did not matter.

When my Dad occasionally would tell me that his pocket money was 2 annas (decimal of a pence) at the point of handing my weekly twenty rupees (30 pence) pocket money, I did not see his point. How could he compare his time 30 years ago with mine. Maybe to amuse himself but it did not matter to me.

So the case with my kids today. If I tell them that our first phone in the house came when I about 10 years old, it may register a flicker of a bemused expression before they resume Dino Pro on the smartphone, but no more. They have not seen a world without mobiles or even smartphones for that matter. All other comparisons are more or less in the same vein.

Giving up that thread of thought, I took a different one. OK, so all things kept aside, good school, great teachers, extra curricular (may be more of), sensible infrastructure to get around and about - we were even.
It does not bother me that I did not have any of this technology/infrastructure around at the time there is now.    Perhaps I could even be smug about the relative freedom from 'health and safety' and 'traffic control' regimes that have come about since .

What mattered to me then? Reflecting deeper, just 3 things really - one, coming back from school to a warm, happy home,  two, memorable family holidays, and three company of good friends.

Yes, that is all that mattered. And I managed to have all of that that without any of the modern day gadgets and aeroplanes. So by extension, given the same denominator of a happy home, family holidays and good friends, perhaps my children are still only about as well off as I was. Fancier toys and gadgets now does not really give them any edge over their Dad-as-a-child. It just seems to require some many more skills with them to keep up with the world now, when in my time it was simpler.

Of course, as parents we can keep getting better at it, from the things we wanted to fix as kids using the position of authority we have now well. But long story short, our kids world is smaller than it might seem, and there is enough we can do as parents to make it as good as we can, regardless of the level of material wealth at our disposal.


Sunday, May 19, 2013

Why do I write?

Looking back on my blog of 8 years or more, I wonder what is the point. Or does it matter?

I started blogging as an experiment, and have maintained the frequency more or less as an experiment. Of putting out random ideas and thoughts out there.

Was it in the hope it will at some point, now or future connect with someone? Occasionally it does, but no, that's not why I write.
Even much of my family is not aware I write.

Maybe it is vent to free some of my, perhaps diminished creative energy that otherwise randomly fluctuates between a watercolor, bit of gardening and then an occasional blog post. There must be some point that I keeping coming back to it every now and then.

I was on a flight back from Delhi to London, where I met this well learned gentleman who was travelling to his son's award ceremony in Canada. Conversation followed on a range of subjects including politics in India, Indian history, methods of agricultural irrigation and the likes. Among the key takeaways from his experience he shared with me was that the more one wields the pen, the more influence one attains. I couldn't disagree, pursued as a wholehearted goal and with the right techniques, that is possible.

But I am not sure that could serve me as a motivation for my writing. But several months later and this Sunday afternoon I stumbled along a post by Cristian Mihai about why people write. It resonated with the generally truant, random writer within more than any reason I could find to write.

He writes well and is obviously eminent as well as his blog following shows. But in that post he summarizes to the effect that he writes because his words matter to him, and if they do to someone else that's just a bonus.

Or in a different way if our work matters to us, that is satisfaction in itself. If others find it of interest that is just a bonus. Indeed that is a much better reason to keep coming back to it.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Indian cinema coming of age

It  might sound like a cliche now, but a firm one at that one might add. Indian cinema is getting better by the year. The days of old hero-villain masala and one taste for all, are well changing closer to the more complex modern realities. New, relatively unknown faces turning up convincing performances and story-lines that keep one guessing.

Five back to back movies that I saw have reinforced that,
First, Table Number 21 - A gripping drama played about an young, familiar-as-next-door aspirational couple being led into a trap of a reality game for a very meaningful end. Who was the bad guy? It fluctuated and in the end it was a social malaise more than any individual. Fantastic movie.
Second, Special 26 - based on a real life drama and enacted to near perfection by the cast and the crew. Suspense that could not be guessed using any of the old formulas.
Third, The attacks of 26/11 - RGVs adaptation of the trauma that India withstood on 26.11.2008. Very realistically made and tense, painful to watch in the recurrence of events that was created. It was hard watching from beginning to end, but it played out the facts and serves as a chronicle for India to visit and hold.
Fourth, 'Shaitan' (devil) - a modern day setting of complex corporate lives, social ladders, rich children going astray to the point of ending up in life destroying situations.
Fifth, Jolly LLB - again another plot akin to what India has witnessed time and again, on the power-play of wealth-politics can defy justice and the fight of an amateur lawyer driven on his conscience to reverse that. Great story, great characterisation throughout, excellent fare.

Not to say that the genre of mass consumption flicks are not getting better. Quality production, cinematography, music, clever plot-lines are making them better as well.

Maybe not just yet, but a Mumbai film industry production matching a Hollywood major globally is on the horizon. I'll give it 3-5 years, but its coming.