Desperately seeking Shah Rukh - Book review

 

In “Desperately seeking Shah Rukh”, development economist Shrayana Bhattacharya, crafts an intelligent narrative about the general state of affairs of women in India, through the lens of fandom. A time series graph at the beginning of the book, showing participation of {rural vs. urban} :: {men vs. women} in the Indian labour force, through a series of Shah Rukh’s film releases in nearly three decades, blew my mind. It showed the declining trend of both rural and urban women’s participation over the years, counterintuitive to the narrative sold to us in mainstream media. Through the course of the book, Shrayana takes us through her journey across many states in Northern India, conducting surveys to collect data, which is then used by sociologists, economists in Governmental and Non-governmental organizations, to understand the ground realities of people’s lives and livelihoods - based on which policy changes can (eventually) be made. One of the icebreaker questions that she asked women that she was surveying was about films and their favourite actor. As an ardent Shah Rukh fan herself, she found it intriguing that he clearly emerged as a favourite among women while the likes of actors displaying more masculinity on screen were favourites among men. In addition to her research and analysis in development economics, Shrayana continued to pursue Shah Rukh’s fan following over many years in casual everyday encounters - comprising women belonging to various classes and social strata of the Indian society. Why was Shah Rukh adored by female fans across India, including women of different generations? What is so special about him? What is the current plight of women in India - in terms of independence in all aspects of life? What do their interactions with their most intimate circle tell us? Are their expectations of equality (if any) met? How does Shah Rukh play a role in all this?! Read Shrayana’s book to find out!

One of my earliest memories of engaging with Shah Rukh’s films/ songs is singing “Do dil mil rahe hain” out loud in the living room with my mom when I was 7. And perhaps dancing to “I love my India” from “Pardes” as a group with my fellow third graders for a school programme (I remember I was made to dress as a boy because of my boy cut hairstyle). All of Shah Rukh’s famous movie examples that Shrayana pointed to in the book (from around 95 - early 2000s), I remember watching and enjoying - “Yes boss”, “Pardes”, “DDLJ”, “Kuch kuch hota hai”, “Dil se”, “Swades”, “Chak De India” to name a few. Through all these movies, I remember being a fan of Shah Rukh before the 2010s when many of his movies started bombing in the box office. It was interesting to see the correlation that Shrayana drew in the shift in the types of characters he played, from portraying vulnerability to exhibiting masculinity. After a streak of flops, his screen presence in “Dear Zindagi” was a breath of fresh air, it was the Shah Rukh I could relate to… 

I hadn’t (still haven’t) watched a lot of interviews of Shah Rukh as mentioned in the book. It would be interesting to watch these now, keeping the perspectives delved into, in the book.

A couple of questions came to my mind: I wonder if Shrayana encountered in her time in the US (or) thought about investigating the lives of Indian women immigrants living abroad throughout the world - is the situation of this group any different from their counterparts living in India? It’s a fair assumption to make that equality embraces their lives relatively better - how much so? 

I also wonder if Shah Rukh read this book… :) It would be interesting to know his take after seeing tangible proof of how he has indulged women in daydreaming…

All in all, the book is a must-read. It was eye-opening in ways I couldn’t fathom. Never did I imagine I would be reading a book about economics, through people’s (in particular women’s) lived experiences and their fan following. A note of appreciation to this new author for also touching upon the role of contemporary female actors in Hindi cinema - in how they are breaking the glass ceiling and inspiring young women. 

Thanks to Shrayana for penning this creative (non-) fiction. Truly illuminating!

Planet Earth II - Episode I - Islands

I vaguely remember starting to watch Planet Earth I a while ago on Netflix. The viewing duration was short-lived owing to some distraction that came in the way. I was planning to watch Planet Earth II because of a friend's recommendation exhortation. Quite synchronously, beloved sister cousin of mine also mentioned watching Planet Earth I's episodes (specifically on Forests and Mountains)... and being bowled over by the grandeur of shots and timelapse images taken over the course of years. The decision to watch this documentary series is now set!

Episode 1 of the second season is about habitat on "idyllic" islands, particularly the relationship between different species of wildlife. It covers a wide variety of islands ranging from the ones located in warm tropical waters to the ones borne out of volcanic activity, from islands the size of Central Park in New York to the ones as large as Madagascar which has enabled the evolution of wildlife for over 120 million years. As rightly mentioned in the beginning of this documentary, between the time Planet Earth I was released in 2006 and now (2017!), there have been tremendous advances in technology that has helped capture granular details of the lifestyle of wildlife. David Attenborough's narration is enrapturing, to say the least. The introduction segment to Komodo dragon made me take a few steps back from the screen! So life-like, even without using any augmented reality app (this experience will only be better with any of that)! Another hold-your-breath scene is where newly hatched iguanas are employing their innate survival instinct, right after they hatch, to save themselves from deadly racer snakes. Can't imagine a vulnerable human baby doing the same (unless it's science fiction, of course)! The trepidation faced in this and many such examples shown in this documentary, makes it more of an enthralling predator-vs-protagonist story. Although the entire 50-minute duration of this episode is captivating, if I had to pick one more example, it is that of the risky livelihood of a million and a half chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski island located off the coast of Antarctica. It's absolutely fascinating and frightening to see these penguins jumping off volcanic cliffs in the quest to feed their young.
Not giving the highlights away anymore, this is a must-watch episode (and hopefully the entire series) for nature enthusiasts! Can't wait to watch the rest.

Philosophy check: Life for every organism even on a seemingly "idlyllic" island is challenging. Lesson: Don't brood over your problems, move on.

On documentary film "Kakkoos" (Toilet)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Watch this movie (has English subtitles)!!!!!!!!!! URL ----> Kakkoos

"Kakkoos" (meaning, toilet) is a gut-wrenching documentary film directed by Divya Bharathi, which sheds light on the most inhumane practice** of manual scavenging (a euphemism!). The inspiration for this film comes from a book called "Unseen" by Bhasha Singh. Although this film has been shot in various districts of Tamilnadu, this practice is still being continued in many other states in India.
The film covers the following aspects related to manual scavenging:

• What is manual scavenging by definition? Is this definition comprehensive?
• Who is a manual scavenger according to law?
• Entrenched caste-based discrimination as a root cause (or one of the main root causes) of manual scavenging. 
• Gender-bias involved 
• Associated financial insecurity (another euphemism)
• The stigma associated with this practice, burying any avenues for rehabilitation of families involved in this practice for centuries. This includes ostracizing these families and continuing practice of untouchability in civilized ways.
• How society* enables next generation of manual scavengers (including faults with the "reservation" system and hurdles involved in provision of caste certificate)
• Review of laws that were passed but not enforced
• Loopholes in data collection (census) related to manual scavenging
• About the farce that is swachh bharath
• Medical issues and barbaric deaths associated with manual scavenging which is being reported in a disgustingly inaccurate manner by media
• Path forward in "eradicating" this issue with collective efforts (from society*(?))....

*society = us

** Confident that the use of practice vs. practise is messed up in all/ most instances above.

I had the opportunity to watch a one-hour edited version of this film as part of AID Bay Area's free movie screening event in Milpitas, prompting me to watch the full version. Calling this film gut-wrenching is an understatement. It's a must-watch movie for all of us who take all facilities for granted, including cleaning of septic tanks, public/ private toilets (offices and schools too). Have we ever stopped and given this a moment's worth of thought like how it's been raised in the movie? Personally, it's extremely demoralizing to think that this is an ongoing practice and leaves me paralyzed to think were to even start acting upon this issue as an individual? One of the AID organizers mentioned that they work with a group of manual scavengers in Karnataka, helping their children with rehabilitation by undertaking vocational training. This could be a place to start. The other option that they mentioned is to provide monetary support for their education. But the most striking of all options is to enable them to strengthen their voice in the fight for eradicating this practice as a whole, including breaking down the caste divisions (which will take a long time).

Witness the ongoing atrocities by watching this movie and pass this information on. 

Attaching a flyer from the event: 

Homecoming

Fears allayed...
Doubts laid to rest...
Worries driven away...

Peace... calm... and happiness swoop in...!
...with a flutter of delight! like a million colourful butterflies!!

The mind conjures up nothing, but hopefulness and an overwhelming sense of gratitude...
....sans any magical wand...!

Oh! Is there anything better than the spirit of homecoming?

Looking forward to being pampered...
with a twinkle in my eye...
..........love in my heart......
..........and ever-so-ready homeward bound feet...!

Hoping to refill and overflow and stash of unadultered, unconditional familial love...
...by basking in their warmth...dreaming these times be ever so eternal...

I'm glad I have some place to call home...
...and some people to call my own. 

Goodbye, sanity!

This is stuck in my head...no, not a pleasant song...
...but a perennial sense of something going wrong...
My vain attempts to shut it out of my head...
...ends the day, having done nothing, just going to bed...
After yet another day of unproductivity...
...where do I go look for...my disappearing creativity?!
I hear them screaming...
...I see them coming...
Those diabolic devils...
...Do I rightly sense the perils..?

I know I am looking for an ending...
...but have I overlooked the sign at the bending..?