The Great Debaters

A really powerful and inspiring movie... Recommend it very highly... Easily one of the best movies I've come across in recent times..

Its set in the 1930s and captures the racial discrimination prevalent at that time in the US and maybe still there to a much lesser extent. I was shocked by many of the scenes in the movie. For eg., do you all know that Blacks were not admitted to Colleges and Universities where whites studied. They had park benches with signs "Whites only". Of course there are more scenes of the cruelty and humiliation that the blacks underwent, in the movie that will shock any civilized society today.

Given this background, the movie is about the highly competitive world of the debating socety in US Colleges and Universities. Its based on a true story of how a debating team from a black Wiley College from Texas goes on to win the best, reigning debating champion team (white) at Harward.

There are amazing dialogues in the movie that I will capture in this post. However, I suggest all readers to definitely watch the movie:-)

This is from the final scene where the debate topic is Civil Disobedience and Wiley College team is asked to debate in the affirmative...

James Farmer Jr.: In Texas they lynch Negroes. My teammates and I saw a man strung up by his neck and set on fire. We drove through a lynch mob, pressed our faces against the floorboard. I looked at my teammates. I saw the fear in their eyes and, worse, the shame. What was this Negro's crime that he should be hung without trial in a dark forest filled with fog. Was he a thief? Was he a killer? Or just a Negro? Was he a sharecropper? A preacher? Were his children waiting up for him? And who are we to just lie there and do nothing. No matter what he did, the mob was the criminal. But the law did nothing. Just left us wondering, "Why?" My opponent says nothing that erodes the rule of law can be moral. But there is no rule of law in the Jim Crow south. Not when Negroes are denied housing. Turned away from schools, hospitals. And not when we are lynched. St Augustine said, "An unjust law in no law at all.' Which means I have a right, even a duty to resist. With violence or civil disobedience. You should pray I choose the latter.

Then there is the scene where the debate team begins their coaching under Mr. Tolson..

Melvin B. Tolson: Who is the judge?
Samantha, Henry Lowe, James Farmer Jr., Hamilton Burgess: The judge is God.
Melvin B. Tolson: Why is he God?
Samantha, Henry Lowe, James Farmer Jr., Hamilton Burgess: Because he decides who wins or loses. Not my opponeent.
Melvin B. Tolson: Who is your opponent?
Samantha, Henry Lowe, James Farmer Jr., Hamilton Burgess: He does not exist.
Melvin B. Tolson: Why does he not exist?
Samantha, Henry Lowe, James Farmer Jr., Hamilton Burgess: Because he is a mere dissenting voice of the truth I speak!

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Had heard of the movie but finally managed to see it recently at home... This is one movie I rate very high on excellent dialogue and screenplay. Its an old classic set in late 1950s and Liz Taylor plays Maggie the Cat and Paul Newman plays her husband Brick.. They go visiting Brick's parents on Big Daddy's 65th B'day and what follows is a delightful exchange of a family that learns of the terminal illness (cancer) Big Daddy is down with and a huge inheritance he will leave behind..

Brick has a drinking problem as he is depressed about his best friend's death and the dialogues he has with his dad are a treat indeed!! I reproduce some of the most memorable in this post..

Big Daddy: You're a thirty-year-old kid. Soon you'll be a fifty-year-old kid. Pretendin' you're hearin' cheers when there ain't any. Dreamin' and drinkin' your life away. Heroes in the real world live twenty-four hours a day, not just two hours in a game. Mendacity! You won't live with mendacity? Well, you're an expert at it! The truth is pain and sweat and payin' bills and makin' love to a woman that you don't love any more. Truth is dreams that don't come true, and nobody prints your name in the paper 'til you die.

Big Daddy: What's that smell in this room? Didn't you notice it, Brick? Didn't you notice the powerful and obnoxious odor of mendacity in this room?

Another quote from the film that stands out is between Brick and Maggie as she tries to win him over...

Maggie: I'll win, alright.

Brick: Win what? What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?

Maggie: Just staying on it, I guess. As long as she can.

And nothing's more determined than a cat on a hot tin roof. Is there? Is there, baby?

The film completely skirts over the homosexual undertones of Brick and Skipper's relationship, maybe due to the time it was produced. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is definitely worth watching, one of Elizabeth Taylor's greatest roles.

The Hindu Spiritual & Service Fair

A fair under the umbrella of GFCH (Global Foundation for Civilizational Harmony) happenned a month ago in Chennai.. It was a good thing.. need of the hour and all that... Here is a link that gives a glimpse of the genesis and reason for doing such a fair..
http://www.thehindu.com/2009/02/07/stories/2009020761581000.htm
Let me give my own thoughts on the fair... We, as Hindus already know how great our religion is and how it is not just a religion, it is a way of life and greatnes of Sanathana Dharma. But today, what is also important is how we are perceived by others. Its not just good enough to practice Sanathana Dharma and be in our little islands, its important to get this message across to the rest of the world. This, is I think is what this fair and such fairs in future can serve... educate and improve perception of Hindu based organizations.

Ready for Perestroika and Glasnost in India??

Recent headlines in papers has brought out the debate once again... Is it time India moved to a Presidential form of democracy? Like it is with any option, I mean pros and cons, I would tend to believe it does appear to be favourable to have a Presidential form of governance a la USA.

Increasingly, regional parties are calling the shots and if this trend continues, we will have a pot pourrie of parties wrestling in the centre with a huge jumbo cabinet and ministers will be minsiters for the designation and status it carries rather than any work!! Not that things are very much different now, just that I think it will be worse, if that's possible..

I think our country will be a much better place if we could all vote for the President... he or she can then choose his/her team based on competence and do away with this 'carrot and stick' approach. Vote bank politics has touched a all time high with increasing say of regional parties with as little as a single seat... We can also do away with the highly decorative and meaningless and highly dispensable post called 'Governor'...

I propose a President, directly voted by people, who will pick a team and form the Cabinet and the states will continue to be governed by Chief Ministers voted by the state citizens and I also propose a more de-centralized federal structure with more autonomy given to states...

I don't say, this is going to be an Utopian, fantastic governance... but I do think it is time we deliberate on this subject and move towards a directly elected President in India

Travelogue - Darjeeling!

I just realised that I have done fair bit of travelling within and outside India.. Lots of places, some famous and some remote.. So, I am going to share my travels in India and outside... So, watch out for posts on these as I hit my memory button.. I promise to give a different, personal touch to all the places I've been, with little anecdotes of my own..

I'd like to start with a short trip we made to Darjeeling while we were at Kolkata!

Darjeeling is a quaint hill town... and has tea estates to boast, not to mention the breathtaking view from Tiger Hill - the Kangchenjunga part of the Himalayan range. On a clear day, apparently one can even get a peek of Mount Everest! We were not lucky at all... it was misty and we could barely make out the Kangchenjunga range.. We were told that its a clear day for about a maximum of 10 days in a year!! Don't know how true it is but I sure felt better!

Our stay was at an even more quaint place - the Windamere... Oh what a beautiful place. I just loved the ambience, the tea room - all sunny with a piano and friendly old maids serving hot muffins and apple strudles with Darjeeling Tea! I have never felt such warmth from waiters and waitresses in any hotel before and after. They were all middle aged, some really old, but so friendly and warm and welcoming..

Our trip was way back in 1996 but I still remember every bit of the trip. I also remember that they were booked completely for the New Years Eve of 1999 - 2000, the turn of the Millennium. Apparently, its a big hit with the British tourists and the joke around Windamere is "You can find the true last Englishman here". Its a very small place and the main bazaar area had so many posters on Tibet at that time and I remember taking a few snaps of some of the humorous ones...

We combined business with pleasure and had to visit some of the Tea Estates around Darjeeling and Dooars and we also stayed at one of the Tea Estate Managers' house. Its a dream house, the kind of house I have always dreamed of owning.... a bright and sunny house with large glass doors around the drawing, dining overlooking a sea of Dahlias, roses and all the flowers of that grow in the region, in a riot of colours... The house by itself was perched right on top of the Estate giving a panaromic view of the Estate (apparently all tea estate managers' homes are so designed). The family were charming and the food delicious. We had the most amazing tasty English breakfast with them with freshly baked hot buns with honey (home grown) and everything was so English, not to mention the large rooms and bath and the whole house was laid with teak floors including the stairs and bannister!! We were told it was built in the 1880s..

A visit to tea factory completed our trip and I learnt all about CTC and orange pekoe, broken pekoe etc which is how tea is graded and priced.. Check out the pics in the link provided

High Forex Reserves Can Worsen Recession

Some posts ago, I had mentioned a couple of columnists I enjoy reading.. Today's Swaminomics column in TOI was simply brilliant.. Very educative and insightful... He speaks about the need for Asian countries to curb shoring up on Forex reserves or the Recession would turn to Depression, he prophesies... I tend to buy his argument and think its a very thoughtful article. I am copying the link here as its imperative policy makers read this and one of the ways is to circulate it on the net...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/High_forex_reserves_can_worsen_recession/articleshow/4093681.cms

Slumdog Millionnaire

Finally, got to see the movie with friends. Awesome movie. For a regular review, check out other sites.. I 'm gonna give some reflections, not a review, I had from the movie...

The movie brought back memories of my childhood days in Bombay, the dirt and filth in the slums, the drudgery of the have-nots.. But its an immensely positive film and portrays the protagonist as an eternal optimist.

His successes in life and on the game show were so real and poignant. It was a novel idea to explain how Jamal got his answers right, not from books he didn't read, not from the school he didn't go, but from his own personal life's tribulations of living in a slum and eeking out a livelihood as a kid. On a more philosophical note, Jamal begins to play the game with total abandon... not to win... he simply enjoys being there... (actually he joins the show to touch base with his loved one)...

All in all, its a must see for a movie buff and all Mumbaikars!