Saturday, July 21, 2007

Was ‘I will survive—‘ inspired by India’s history?

Who hasn’t heard Gloria Gaynor belt out ‘I will survive’. Who hasn’t relived every failure, rejection when she heartily adds ‘I have so much more to give---’. Who hasn’t silently winced at the thought of the time a toe was stomped on when the best foot was put forward.

‘I will survive’ is an anthem that anyone can identify with.

But, what inspired Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris to write these words, what were the incidents that made Gloria sing with so much emotion what was it that makes these words ring true even today?

Me thinks that the lyricists and Gloria were inspired by India’s history. But I am not stopping there I also think that they saw into India’s future too.

The words of this 1978 song trace the course of Indian history. Consider the first six lines of the song (http://www.lyricsdomain.com/7/gloria_gaynor/i_will_survive.html). It speaks about lack of faith in oneself and then the self realisation that metamorphises into self actualisation. These words have to be about India’s freedom movement.

But these words were prescient because they also present a clear picture of the state of India’s politics. Consider how political parties (and even politicians) hop into bed with each other and then hop out. Each such episode ends with a oath to ‘go it alone’ but somewhere in their downside to oblivion parties and politicians come out to the press and state that they are now ready for a coalition on ‘certain terms and conditions’. And so it continues.

Gloria sings lustily ‘I should have changed my stupid lock I should have made you leave your key If I had known for just one second you'd be back to bother me’. Well if this isn’t about India then I don’t know what is. India was attacked innumerable times over the centuries. Some of the known faces who were uninvited guests (frequent at times) and even bad guests were Alexander, Mohammed of Ghazni and the British. The British made this country their little love nest and overstayed their welcome. Thus was borne India’s desire to change the keys of her door.

But even now India feels the need to make her home secure what with separatists in the North and North East baying for freedom.

The second stanza is more about India’s current desire to be recognised as a global superpower. Gloria belts out “and I spent oh so many nights just feeling sorry for myself I used to cry Now I hold my head up high and you see me somebody new I'm not that chained up little person”. Who can forget India’s tryst with nuclear weapons in 1998 and it proudly crowing that she is now a ‘nuclear have’ or for that matter the recent start up of a military outpost in some break away of the former USSR. All these are indications of a change from a third world country with hungry millions to a wannabe first world country with still hungry millions – all in a span of 60 years.

So Gloria, I think you should come out and thank India for the inspiration it has provided you and your lyricists. It is not too late to do so.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007




I saw this behind an autorickshaw.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Of files, handshakes and office table drawers.

What seems – never is! Maybe that is why India has earned so many accolades as the corruption capital of the world – okay Transparency Internationals Global Corruption Barometer puts India as the 70th most corrupt nation. Not very encouraging when India is near the bottom half of this list while dreaming of becoming a global super power. But the good thing about this whole thing is that it not only indicates that Indians are very creative, but also very adaptable (look at the country's history) – Darwin would be proud.

Consider the situation of the office of an Indian File Pusher (IFP) – it has a large desk, a chair behind it which is draped with a towel. The wall behind the chair may have a photo of Mahatma Gandhi, the President and the politician in power. There will be a large calendar to keep the IFP up-to-date. The office may have a small shrine with the deity of the IFP.

The desk is unique, on one side two plastic trays (in and out) carry the hopes of millions, while the other has a pen stand with a myriad variety of pens. There may be paper weights on the desk, but these are going out of fashion as air conditioners become the norm. A lidded glass of water stands as a sentinel close by. The desk has drawers on the side where the IFP sits – usually empty.

The drawer serves another purpose. It’s the unofficial collection box. This is what happens - someone comes with an urgent file, the person stands at the side of the IFP in deference while the IFP peruses the file. Some questions are asked which are answered vaguely. As the file is signed the person puts his hand into his pocket and in one deft movement drops a packet of notes into the drawer. This happened in front of me.

Consider the same IFP in a similar office. A file is brought to him - he opens it and out slips a little packet of notes into his lap. The file is quickly dealt with and then the offending packet is delicately put into the draw for later retrieval.

The handshake was always been a form of communication, communicating a greeting, a promise- okay it was also a way to pass information, you know, a crowded station two men in trench courts pass each other under the benevolent eye of clueless cops and as the two men pass one hand slips the other a vital piece of information that saves the world and kills one of them.

In India this has been modified into an art that ensures both parties not only survive but thrive. The parties in such situation are the cops (traffic species in particular) on one side and erring drivers on the other.

The traffic police usually work in teams they operate either from a motorbike or a jeep. What happens is that the lackey does the scouting while the senior person finds a comfortable spot on the parked bike or jeep and waits. The flunky sifts the wheat from the chaff and the manna begins pouring in.

This is how – the lackey flags down an erring vehicle and the first thing that he does is grab the ignition keys. Then he asks for documents from the erring driver and then goes to his boss who is sitting noncommittally on his vehicle – salivating. The boss looks at the documents shakes his head and takes out a form and begins filling it in all seriousness. This performance gives him a black and white picture of what is coming next court visits, vehicle impounded, sheaves of notes flying from his wallet into the hands of the government. The lackey sees these thoughts in Eastman Colour. He takes the erring waif aside provides a solution which is simple and suits everyone. No court, no impounding, no sheaves of money entering government coffers, just a little private monetary transaction.

The erring driver moves a little away and then pulls out his purse takes and out the suggested amount. He folds it into a very tiny innocuous piece of paper that fits neatly in the palm of his hand. The lackey hands over the documents to the driver and in grateful thanks he shakes hands with the lackey and thus passes the money. The lackey puts his hand into his pocket and saunters back to his boss. This process is followed till its time to go home (or the closest bar).

And so that is how Indians have gone ahead and improved and even improvised on age old traditions, they have found new uses for things to ensure that there is a win-win situation.

Indians have added an addendum to Darwin's theory – a win-win situation ensures that everyone thrives.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Perceiving more the second time.

I saw Platoon on a movie channel yesterday. This movie about Vietnam, war and how people deal with it had a surprise for me. At various stages of the movie (before and after advertisements) the channel gave little tit-bits about Platoon. So besides the fact that the entire crew lived like soldiers at location in the Philippines, I also learned that this was one of Johnny Depp’s first movies, and that Stone saw Depp becoming a Hollywood star.

What is quite surprising was not Stone’s ability to sniff out star material but that there was something new to be found in the old. I have seen Platoon many times and I have never recognised Depp nor seen Depp’s name in the fine print of the credits.

I remember, many years back, my father asking me whether I could hear new nuances to familiar music, then I heard music as one great orgiastic human creation. The delicacy of the cymbals in the clash of drums, the off-beat or even the sound of an altogether new instrument was lost in the noise of music.

And this ability to discern is a new phenomenon with me, maybe I am ‘discerning affected’, or maybe now the sum is as important as the parts. I think there is this space created when you allow the world to surprise you. It’s not about seeing things in a different light, its going beyond and recognising that light consists of seven colours.

Its as much about seeing things differently as letting things be seen.