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Jan142007
Guru review fallout
I had mentioned earlier that Guru is a film I’m looking forward to. It’s being done in Hindi and dubbed into Tamil. A recent review by Sriram Iyer on rediff.com has sparked a language war. Read the comments on the review page. Here is one such comment left by Sathya that caught my eye,
First some of the ignorant “hindi champions” should learn some basic facts.
First language is a personal choice and sugegsting others should learn your language is disrespectful and ofensive to others.Why even indulge in a senseless offensive exercise that serves no purpose except invite insults ?
it is a perverted mentality that tries to control what otehrs should speak or do.You go your own way. I go mine.Its that easy.second,No language including hindi is declared as the only national language in the constitution or elsewhere.So pls stop spreading misinformation.I am sure most of you cannot define what a nation or nation state is .
Multural society is about mutual respect and this is total stupidity and crassness
Can’t we all just get along?
The views expressed in this post are those of the writer and are not necessarily endorsed by Mutiny.in
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amir
001
7:26 pm
thank
Nita
002
9:05 am
Language is a very sticky issue in India. Forcing a language is counterproductive and causes a lot of anger and heartburn. In my opinion forcing a language is what divides people, not unite them. But then this is my personal opinion.
What I was suprised to read in the comments however was that there are people who believe that unless you are a Hindi speaker you are not Indian!
My definition of being Indian is a citizen who works hard (is productive) and is not corrupt. He may or may not speak Hindi. I do not see how speaking a particular language can make a person ‘Indian.’
Vijayendra
003
9:22 am
I don’t know. I personally would feel rather proud if I knew about five languages.
Imagine telling an American India has 26(?) official languages and god knows how many unofficial ones and “I can only understand five of them yaar.”
Nita
004
10:33 am
In fact I did tell this to an American (I have written about this on my blog) and he was absolutely astounded that India has such a rich culture. I was also very very proudly told him that Indian languages have different scripts as well. Unlike Spanish, French etc which use the same script as English does. Actually it’s the geographical area. The further apart one is - the more diverse the culture and language.
Woke
005
2:19 pm
Setting aside the technical imperfection of getting the film dubbed, I think this should be seen as a positive aspect that brings together the tamil-speaking mass (who are traditionally averse to Hindi as a language) with Hindi speakers.
The review had nothing to do with conflict of languages unlike suggested by the comments that followed the review.
Ayan Nandy
006
12:05 pm
In his famous story, “How Much Land Does a Man Need?,” Tolstoy tells
of the ambitious peasant Pakhom, who, after gaining ever greater plots
of land, finally heard of a wonderful deal in a far-off country. He
travelled to the land of the Bashkirs and negotiated with the village
elder, who seemed a fool. The elder told Pakhom that he could have all
the land he wanted for a thousand rubles a day.
Pakhom did not understand. “What kind of rate is that - a day?” he
asked. “How many acres could that be?”
“We don’t reckon your way. We sell by the day. However much you can
walk around in one day will be yours.”
When Pakhom expressed that a man can walk around much land in one
day, the elder burst out laughing. “And all of it will be yours!” he
replied. But there was one condition: If Pakhom didn’t return to the
starting point by sundown, the money would be forfeited.
Ecstatic, Pakhom spent a sleepless night. Rising at dawn, he went
with the villagers to the top of a hill where the elder put down his
hat. After placing his thousand rubles on top, Pakhom began walking,
digging holes along the way to mark his land. The going was easy and
he thought,”I’ll do another three miles and then turn left. The land’s
so beautiful here, it would be a pity to miss any.”
Pakhom hurried throughout the morning, going out of his way to add
more land. But at noon when he looked back at the hill where he had
began, it was difficult to see the people. Maybe I have gone too far,
he worried, and decided he must begin to make shorter sides. As the
afternoon wore on, the heat was exhausting. By now his bare feet were
cut and bruished, and his legs weakened. He wanted to rest, but it was
out of question.
Pakhom struggled on, walking faster, then running. He worried that he
had been too greedy and his fear made him breathless. On he ran, his
shirt soaked and his throat parched. His lungs were working like a
blacksmith’s bellows, his heart beat like a hammer. He was terrified. All these strain will be the death of me.
Although Pakhom feared death, he couldn’t stop. They’d call me an
idiot, he thought. When he was close enough to hear the Bashkirs
cheering, he summoned his last ounce of strength and kept running. As
he finally reached the hill, everything suddenly became dark - the sun
had set. Pakhom groaned. He wanted to stop, but heard the Bashkirs
still cheering him on. He realized that from where he was at the
bottom of the hill, the sun had set - but not for those on top. Pakhom
took a deep breath and rushed up the hill. Reaching the top, he saw
the elder sitting by the hat, laughing his head off. Pakhom’s legs
gave way, and he fell forward grasping the cap.
“Oh well done,” exclaimed the elder.
“That’s a lot of land you’ve
earned yourself!”
Pakhom’s worker ran up and tried to lift his master, but Pakhom was
dead. The worker picked up Pakhom’s spade, dug a grave, and buried him
- six feet from head to heel, exactly the amount of land a man needs.
THE AUTOPSY
In a modern setting, Pakhom would fit in nicely on Wall Street. Or
Main Street. Perhaps he even stares at us each morning from our
bathroom mirrors. By asking post-mortem questions about Pakhom, let’s
see if we can’t catch a glimpse of what is wrong with our own lives. And our dreams, which films like Guru shows us.
Pakhom most likely died from a heart attack or a heat stroke brought
on by overexertion. But on another level, did he die of running? Does
this mean that running is bad for you? Of course not. Running is good
for you. Unless, of course, it is too much running. Too much running
can be bad. It can be even fatal.
Did Pakhom die of ambition? Does this mean that wanting land is
unhealthy? No, unless it is too much land. That, too, apparently can kill.
It is not wrong to run, to have ambition, to want a farm, to expand
the farm, to dig holes. Still, Pakhom died. Stone, cold dead. He died
from overload.
Overload is that point when our limits are exceeded. Tolstoy’s story (written more than a century before Maniratnam made a movie to glorify a thug who almost bagged the Bharat Ratna)
is a powerful illustration of the reality of limits and the health
implications of exceeding them. The Bashkirs knew that Pakhom’s body
had limits - but his greed did not.
In the same way, today many are harming themselves through the
temptation to do more than their limits will allow. Walking, running
and ambition are not necessarily unhealthy. Too much, however, is
universally unhealthy.
Overload is like that. The problem is not with load. The problem is
with over.
Generally speaking loads are a good thing. We would be hopelessly
bored without them. As a matter of fact, even though this is an
anti-overload post, I am a pro-load person. Load is not the enemy.
Overload is.
So if you are enchanted by watching Guru, don’t get overloaded
And I must thank Richard A. Swenson for the views I got from his wonderful book (of which read only few pages) titled “The Overload Syndrome: Learning to Live Within Your Limits”.