Bring on The Empty Horses

Ref FarzanaVersey #23

{[You may be frustrated that we have majority rule in India. Sorry, but that IS the definition of democracy: the majority rules. In India, that means the poor, not the middle class, not the rich. (It might also mean the dumb and not the intelligent, which probably frustrates you even more!) In fact, it is easier to get the poor to vote rather than the middle class because political parties offer the poor transportation to and from the polling booths and a whole lot of other incentives; as a perceptive person once put it to me, their Diwali rolls around once in five years.]

Huh? The poor rule? And then you say the dumb...so the poor are dumb? They are helpless, not dumb.}

As I re-read my post before I hit the `Post` button, I decided not to re-word it. There is no reason to assume that the poor I referred to and the dumb I referred to are one and the same. They might overlap but they are NOT the same. I meant simply that from one perspective, it is the poor who will dominate and determine the election. And from the elitist`s viewpoint (I have no hesitation in including myself in this category), it is the dumb who will determine the election! We must all accept the results of the election, no matter how much we dislike the outcome.

By the way, Roja the Telugu actress lost in Andhra running on the BJP ticket.

#16 by m_souza:

[Achcha...please answer one question for me. It`s a request.

If you could move to another country(we don`t want to lose you but..nevermind)....If you had a chance/choice to spend the rest of your life elsewhere...where would you like to live, Farzana???? And why??
Europe, Iran, Spain, Pakistan, Iraq, China, USA, India, Australia....where?? Pls tell....I am waiting for your reply]

My normal reaction would have been `thwack`, but since you have requested and are visiting here after a while, I will tell you: India. I have given up on opportunities a few times, and a couple of them very recently, to relocate. I cannot imagine it. I love to travel and there are times I want to stay someplace...a country cottage, a Swiss chalet, even an igloo, or a house on stilts in Malaysia...I get comfortable, but then it is back to pining for home. I have lost out on a lot because of my `parochialism`, my `window in Bandra`, but this is how I feel.

If you are a religious person, then pray that I do not have to leave this country, even if the Dalai Lama offers me some time with Richard Gere :)

#21 by arjun_m:

[She`s attending some 5-star parties and going to some 5-star discotheques to find out...She`ll write about it over her 80Re cup of coffee in the sea lounge..nothing like a taj restaurant to write about the impact of everything on the masses..]

So next time you mention Michael Jackson and his deeds, am I to assume you have spent quality time at the Neverland ranch? I read about it. I am not out of touch, you are...because you know precious little about who I am, and yet sit in judgment. I wonder if it has not struck you as a bit silly to keep mentioning the Sea Lounge and the coffee -- it sounds churlish. And as I have asked several times before: is the person in the street below my tinted window necessarily more socially-aware than I am?

Had I never mentioned the Sea Lounge, would you think I am a true socialist? I am responding here because it is getting tiresome. If you have nothing to say, then don`t. You know, just an emoticon would be enough for me to get your darshan...

When one is born with a mole, one lives with it, and if it is at the right place and is considered a standard of beauty and charm, then one basks in its glory...but I doubt if one needs to be grateful for it. Especially, if there is the constant fear of it transforming into a painful wart. This is how I see democracy. I am most certainly glad my country is a democracy, but I am not blind to the flaws in the system. (Besides, I absolutely refuse to see it in terms of how other societies are faring -- other societies are not my yardstick for what is my front and backyard.)

I am surprised at the naiveté of some people. Are you denying that celebrities have become a part of the fray in a more concentrated manner? That the middle-class swings the vote? When Nafisa Ali was campaigning in the outskirts of Kolkata, none of the poor recognised her...they thought she was Sonia Gandhi; she would be instantly recognised by the middle and upper classes.

The reason I compared Govinda and Bachchan is to show that there is a glaring disparity even in the levels of fame, and how we use only peripheral vision to see it.

- - -
#3 by harimau:

[During the elections, it is precisely the masses who count. How big is the middle class and how much bigger are the poor? And exactly how small are the rich and the super-rich? In terms of sheer numbers, it is the poor who determine the elections in India. If your thesis is true, we will not be holding elections in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand or Orissa.]

And you think the masses have a choice? I wasn`t talking about numbers, but about the new face of Indian politics, where a few matter...they always did, but now they are the sole determinants.

[If the poor don`t matter, we won`t have Leftists like the Congress, the Communists and the Socialists in various garbs running for and winning elections.]

You forgot the saree stampede caused by the BJP to appease the poor!

[You may be frustrated that we have majority rule in India. Sorry, but that IS the definition of democracy: the majority rules. In India, that means the poor, not the middle class, not the rich. (It might also mean the dumb and not the intelligent, which probably frustrates you even more!) In fact, it is easier to get the poor to vote rather than the middle class because political parties offer the poor transportation to and from the polling booths and a whole lot of other incentives; as a perceptive person once put it to me, their Diwali rolls around once in five years.]

Huh? The poor rule? And then you say the dumb...so the poor are dumb? They are helpless, not dumb. The other day your Sushma Swaraj was screaming at a public rally, asking the people, and she appeals to the middle class, about how they could think of voting for a woman (S.Gandhi) who does not know about Karva chauth (such a cheap dig, alluding that Rajiv died because his wife did not fast for his long life), who has not read Kabir`s dohas, not attended haasya kavi sammelans (this beats me...why not serious kavi sammelans?) and not laughed with them...how could they vote for such a woman? You think this is for the poor, the masses?

The poor may be taken in trucks...many of the starlets have been paid.

[While politicians are probably better in the acting department, the filmstars at least bring glamor to the electoral platform: they are not constrained to wear white khadi clothes or the Nehru cap all the time!]

Have you watched the society pages where they throw daiquiri-democracy parties, where the dress code is Swadeshi and tricolour? Have you not seen how khadi has been taken over and glamourised into designer wear? Remember the time when even Khadi Bhandar had roped in Jaya Bachchan and a social butterfly to make Khadi sexy? What happened after all that hype? The jholawallas had to take resort to cheaper synthetics and the socialites went chee-chee about it, wearing their crushed khaddars in Indo-West fusion styles.

dost-mittarji (#11):

I agree that we still do not know how the glamour factor will affect voting patterns on a larger scale, but they have seeped into our consciousness as the `voice of the people` which they never did earlier.

And I seriously do not like Mr. Bachchan. I have written several times about him. A small story, if it might be of any interest. I was once discussing him, post Bofors, with an editor. He got excited and asked me to do a story on my views; I researched it and gave my own take. It was published. Mr. B sent his PR guy to the office and tried to find out about me. The Ed said he did not know, except that I was a columnist and had written this for them as a one-off and he was not aware how it got in! Worse, the next issue had a laudatory cover story on the Bachchan. The same man who had banned the Press and when he needed them, he clicked a finger and they all ran...but this is by the way, FYI. I see such celebrity as having the potential to be misused (something he now claims) or doing damage.

Sonia Gandhi is, I believe, toying with the idea of projecting Manmohan Singh as the PM...it should have been done at the outset.

Regards,
F

#19 by harimau on May 11, 2004 6:32am PT

`` Tell us Farzana, do you think the masses have won in Andhra? Do you think the Dumb have outvoted the Intelligent? Or do you think the film stars gave Congress its victory? ``

An old saying comes to my mind when I think of election results in Andhra.

`` VINAASHA KAALE VIPAREETHA BUDHI ``

People behave in an extreme manner during the time of their destruction. The people of Andhra decided that it is time for them to self-destruct. Thus they elect in to power a party that has NOT BROUGHT ANYTHING OF ANY VALUE in it`s previous gazillion years of power.

If I had the authority I would put gazillion nukes on Andhra and thus grant their wish. The people who do not have a wish to progress do not deserve to live.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

harimou:
...and how had the TD come to power in AP, if not by promising cheap rice and electricity? What goes around comes around?

The election results from Andhra should please Farzana. Her favorite demons in the BJP and their allies in Telugu Desam Party have been defeated in the state`s Legislative Assembly elections. The ``secularist`` Congress has come back to power promising free electricity to the farmers. How about promising free cooking gas -- after all, that is a requirement to keep body and soul together. How long will the state treasury last if elections are won by promising freebies?

Tell us Farzana, do you think the masses have won in Andhra? Do you think the Dumb have outvoted the Intelligent? Or do you think the film stars gave Congress its victory?

plats8 # 14 - let me try, with apologies to Farzana ji . . .

line 1:) Indian elections are the biggest festival going, free of charge, for a multi-cultural people sadly often berefit of much joy.

line 2:) They occur every five years or so, sometimes oftener, and are accompanied by great merriment as well as distribution of joy.

line 3:) There is a segment of society in India called ``intellectuals`` who have usually got no sense of humour but they have large egos and plenty of time to write.

line 4:) Many people in India like to appear on television, you can spot them in the frame behind the anchor or others, jostling, and elections give those who do not make it on a television a chance to do something like that in other media, but in any case nobody believes political discussion of any sort anymore anyway. (Sorry, lonnnnnnngish line)

line 5:) Janet Jackson`s wardrobe failure has not occured as yet, but we are getting there. (compensatory shot line)

+++

As my friend would say, OK?

#14 by plats8 on May 10, 2004 6:06pm PT
”Could someone please explain this article to me in about 5 lines or less? Not
being flippant here - I truly do not get it.”


I don’t know much about Indian tracks. I love to play ponies. Riding ‘em is what I do best. Ahhhh!

“I had the stamina to sustain this impractical routine.” -Govida Quoted above.

He is a horse! A real McCoy!!! Wish I knew that stimulating routine.

Under five lines!

Farzana ji

Interesting article....You have dissected the personalities of Govinda and Amitabh very well. Esp Govinda. Although I won`t like to argue what these elections are or are not. Overall, I feel we Indians are lucky to have democracy in our country. Don`t you think so?

Achcha...please answer one question for me. It`s a request.

If you could move to another country(we don`t want to lose you but..nevermind)....If you had a chance/choice to spend the rest of your life elsewhere...where would you like to live, Farzana???? And why??
Europe, Iran, Spain, Pakistan, Iraq, China, USA, India, Australia....where?? Pls tell....I am waiting for your reply

Me

plats8:

i think what it means is that the masses are asses! no. . .that is not what it means. it means that what need have the candidates to buy/convince the voters to vote for them when bollywood shining stars will do the convincing for them.
not quite five lines but i don`t think i`ve done it justice : )

Could someone please explain this article to me in about 5 lines or less ? Not
being flippant here - I truly do not get it.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

Dear Farzana:
I think that your prognosis is a little premature. We still do not know what effect these glamour toys will have on the results. As of now, it seems that the ruling combination was doing better before it enlisted these stars and starlets than it is now. People might go to see these celebs. but may not necessarily vote for them.
Re. Govinda, I can`t say much about him based on his half-a-film that I have seen. But based on his quotes in your articles, he comes across not as a buffoon but a pretty smart guy. And do you really not like Bachan or are just being an iconoclast?
And I wont be surprised if the BJP discovers, as Narsimha Rao did a decade ago, that those who benefited from their policies are less keen to exercise their franchise than those who have not.
BTW I think that Sonia Gandhi handled the campaign better than most people thought that she would. She may not win but I dont think that she will be humiliated.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts