Elle Fiction Award

Sent my story "Susamma's Story" to the Elle Fiction Award. Today is the last day. Keeping fingers crossed.

The story is about a Keralite nurse whose life is completely ruined by the wrong choice of spouse. I can't divulge more. Sorry.

Wish me luck!

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

A Night in Atlantis the Palm for AED 3,290

That all isn't well with the world is evidenced by this ad by hotel Atlantis The Palm in Dubai. We have been feeling the cold pinch of it quite recently, I guess. And I confess, it's not a good feeling. Hm. Apparently, the most expensive hotel in the world isn't getting any customers despite its size and majesty. Some say it's a 7-star hotel, some say the stars are more than seven. Whatever the stars what do I care?

Now Atlantis the Palm was constructed and inaugurated with great pomp and fanfare. I saw a travel program where the reviewer lives in the hotel and it shows everything on a grand scale. There are fountains and waterfalls in virtually all places (being a desert country they have a great fancy for water). There are dolphinariums, there are rooms where you can see the fishes swimming in the sea live, meaning in their natural environment. The rooms are super luxury. They are supposed to cool the soul in its serene environs and give you that much-needed verve. Unnerstand?

No? Then what happened? Why are they offering me suites for AED 3,290 (around Rs 44658.25) a night when it would cost ten times that if a customer walked in? Sure I would love to live a night there, if it is offered free of cost.

Seems like the Dubai economy isn't doing that well. Or, is it that the world economy is going through a slump?

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

The "I Don't Care" Generation

I don't understand these MTV guys, I really can't. There seems to be some perverse force at play making my understanding of this channel into the equivalent to my trying to understand the moods of my son, who, by the way, is a big fan of the channel. He is glued to "Splitsvilla", "Roadies", and that Akshay Kumar something where he talks in his high baritone-gone-bad voice about adventure and how he loves it.

Yeah, I watch these channels as my son sits glued to them. I try to understand his understanding of what is happening in these channels. Wait, this is getting a bit confusing, so I will simplify, simplify. I am trying to understand how the younger generation is being misled by the notion of what young people should be doing in the modern world. Hope you get the drift! The dominant theme here is to "not care about anything," or, as "Splitsvilla" puts it "Be Raw."

Being Raw as I understand it means: saying what comes to mind (without thinking), doing what you feel like, and disrespecting everybody. Be Raw also mean, by a corollary, that I don't care. There's great danger in bringing up a generation in this belief. People do not understand this. A generation weaned on "Be Raw" or "I don't care" should also be prepared for rawness from others, and also be prepared for "don't care" when some social atrocity has been committed on them. They should know that there are wars being fought, genocides being planned in this world. These young people are still in the care of their loving parents. However, are they prepared to face the world alone, on their terms, as their parents did around thirty years ago? 

We as parents did whatever we could to cocoon them from the world and its ills. We worked hard to provide them a home, clothes, bikes, education (which is very expensive these days). We genuflected before tyrannical bosses, ate humble pie in office meetings, took shit from our clients, swallowed our pride before aggressive colleagues to hold on dearly to our jobs. If we were raw and "I don't care" they would have ended up in a broken family, all alone, living in some slum, without a job to give them the security they are flaunting. 

Okay, I will stop ranting now.

But why I don't understand these MTV guys is because on the other hand there is this guy Raghu exhorting everyone to be caring, polite and a good citizen of the world. And he bloody imposes himself of the poor trembling darlings. A girl said she wanted to be in Roadies because that would make her famous and give her the right break. Girl, grow up! This thought of instant stardom through the teevee is figment of the fertility of your imagination. And there's this show where the spoilt brats of rich industrialists are summarily insulted and traumatised by another presenter, or Veejay, or whatever.

Now "I don't care" has become something of an anthem for the youth. There are young gangs everywhere sporting their "I don't care" on their sleeves, in a manner of speaking. I saw a girl crossing the traffic, ears plugged by a hearing device, talking to someone, unmindful that the cars are honking impatiently for her to cross. "I don't care," she seems to be saying. And there's this guy, his hair like spikes on his head, his ears, nose and eyebrows pierced, wearing skin-hugging clothes, and a pointed pair of shoes. He also seems to say, 'I don't care."

Do you care? Do you? I don't understand this generation.  

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

The Swiss Don't Want 42 Days Paid Leave: What? You Mad?

Ah, if only it were in India. It says here that the Swiss people voted "no" to a referendum that would have given them six weeks of leave a year. Here most employees, the hard-workers with their nose nicely ground to paste against the millstone (around their necks!) would be lucky to get twenty days. Six weeks would be 42 days. God! More than twice that in India! And we work 48 hours or more a week.

It also says that the Swiss have referendum on issues on more than 1,00,000 citizens feel strongly about. Why not have it here in India? We have not elected representatives and left them to their own devices to do as they please. We should vote on issues we feel strongly about.

I will write to the prime minister on this. And there's this cliched thing that all journalists use (which I will use for this nonce): watch this space!

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Chuck Berry - The Legend of Rock 'n' Roll

Here's a video of Chuck Berry singing Johnny B. Good, one of my all time favourite songs. (One good thing about broadband internet is that you get to play the songs on Youtube without buffering.) He is and has been one of my most loved singers and performers. Watch how he fools around, dances, and does his antics without any self-consciousness. He is credited with turning rhythm and blues into what is today known as rock 'n' roll and has had admirers such as Elvis Prestley and John Lennon. He is also one guitar players whom I rate even higher than Bruce Springstein and Eric Clapton. Clapton is said to have remarked:

'If you wanna play rock and roll - or any upbeat number - and you wanted to take a guitar ride you would end up playing like Chuck...because there is very little other choice. There's not a lot of other ways to play rock and roll other than the way Chuck plays it; he's really laid the law down..."

At 85 Chuck Berry still plays and gives performances in the Blueberry Hills restaurant in St. Louis. (Ah, that's some life an artiste should aspire to.) He is one successful musician who hasn't fallen victim to the addictions (I think of Jim Morrison, John Lennon, Michael Jackson in this context), which the profession has been susceptible to.

We talk of Bob Dylan as the "Pied Piper" of Pop. Why not give the sobriquet of "Mover and Shaker (He is the original pelvis, see how his pelvis moves!)" of Rock to Chuck Berry, since the mantle of "King of Pop" is already taken.

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Judicial Activism in Pakistan

This article in Dawn is about how the Pakistani judiciary is taking its activist role seriously with what is called the "Mandate of the People" to oppose the arbitrary act of the all-powerful Pakistani military. Read, dear reader.

When a political order or the military manipulates and dictates terms to the judiciary, the judiciary should fight back, because it's the last bastion of a democratic country, in my humble opinion. Not that it counts!

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Art as a Subversive Act

How about this? Asked to make a film about "Art as a Subversive Act"  independent filmmaker Caveh Zahedi of "I Am a Sex Addict" fame went overboard. His brief was that he can make a film on whatever subject he chose except anything that make fun of the Sheikh who was sponsoring the Middle East Biennial of films.

Maven maverick that he is, he turned his camera on the Biennial itself and, quite shamelessly, pressed every culturally sensitive button he find about the Sheikh. The result was the film "The Sheikh and I." But not everybody was pleased. Zahedi's film has earned the dubious reputation of being branded as blasphemy, has been banned, and he has been threatened with a fatwa.

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

14 March 2012 is the International Day of Action to Defend Blasphemers and Apostates

14 March 2012 is the International Day of Action to Defend Blasphemers and Apostates. This article points to a list of people who have been imprisoned for blasphemy and apostasy in Muslim countries. Do read and spread the word.

Hat tips to Maryam Namazie.

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Digital Fitness Is Equivalent to Physical Fitness - Got to Push beyond Comfort Levels

Here's an interview with Bonin Bough by Forbes India, who says among other things:

An organization that is digitally fit is one that has adapted to these changes in the landscape and created programs and processes around it.  You get digitally fit in much the same way as you get physically fit: it requires rigour, dedication and commitment; it requires pushing yourself past the point of where you want to stop, and a lot of organizations aren't used to doing that.

Yeah, I know what he is talking about. We created an elaborate social network for a company and when I checked last, it is languishing for want of fresh new content. 

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.

Happy Holi, Spring is Here, So Is Summer!

So spring is here. The winter's last biting cold was felt yesterday in my bedroom window, which I had left open unknowingly. I also hear the sound of the cuckoo and sundry other birds. I like their sweet sound and I have written a poem which is here somewhere on my poetry blog.

With spring the heat will start. Prickly heat. Stabbing the skin with a million pin pricks. Then summer will come. The scene will change into a desertscape, the throat will parch from want of water. I will drink more water because I can't drink aerated water. Thirst will consume, thirst will parch, thirst will dehydrate. Aerated drinks are bad for health, doctor said. The doctor is a kind man, but I know the pressures he is under. So many patients to see that he can't take a personal interest in everyone. He is also under pressure from the medicine companies to perform, meaning to prescribe more medicines. Also, from specialists to refer patients to them. After all, he (or his parents) have paid a huge amount to see him through college. A medical admission costs around Rs 5,000,000 (Five million rupees) in a private college. 

In India we have institutionalised all corruption. That's why our engineers and doctors rebel so much and take to other professions. What does an educated graduate see before him, when he knows his education was itself a big act in corruption? There's disillusionment, disappointment with life.

I digress. Summer in India is a bad time. The rivers dry, the well grow shallow, the anxious wait for the rain starts. Temperature in the interiors shoots up to 48 degree C, I am told. You can't walk in the sun after 9 a.m. or you will be fried like an egg. 

Wish you, dear reader, a happy Holi (the festival of colours, which is today)!

I am @johnwriter on Twitter and John.Matthew on Facebook. I blog here.