time is a machine

My keyboard is messed up. It sounds like a typewriter when I type. All because of the ajaira lok who spilled MY drink on MY laptop. Talk about double jeopardy. Okay, maybe not the best application of the word, but cut me some slack, folks. I have competition. SB is on a roll, churning out random write ups like its free. Which it is, actually. But who get the gist.

I've been meaning to comment on a news report I read on bullying, analyse a certain Obama policy that I'm in favor of and mildy throw some chicken feed on swine flu, preferably separately, but since these will soon (in about an hour) become old news, I am having to briefly round up my thoughts.

Obama's policy: of releasing the 'torture' documents from the past administration's treatment of its alleged terrorists
Critism so far: the degradation of the Muslims and others will spur Anti American sentiment (as if it can get any worse than it did during Bush's regime)
I completely disagree with the critisim. I think, on the contrary, it sends a message to the world about Obama's transparency, and resolve to do what is right. He really is speaking to people like you (yes, you) and me here. We want to know the truth. It will make us angry, yes, but Obama is giving us the opportunity to be angry. Without this revelation, we would have been blissfully unaware. Us being angry is what some people are worried about, and perhaps some of that worry is justified, some of our Muslim brothers have not shown a great deal of level headedness in the past. But Obama has. He's a good thinker, he knows what's right, he can identify a touch situation and then, most importantly, he can remain cool headed at the same time. He really IS the savior of this nation of United States. And by allowing us to see what went wrong, he is really opening up the door to open, transparent communication.

At the same time, there is (as there should be) a political motive. He had to take heat for abolishing torture of war criminals and alleged criminals in custody. By revealing these documents, the nation gets to see what exactly he is abolishing. And the people have that right. A right that the former administration had taken away from the people, in the name of 'national security'. You have to realize, criticizing the former President was deemed 'unpatriotic' as Paul Krugman points out, and people just could do nothing about it. Bush had the 8 years he wanted to turn the budget surplus into a huge deficit and to completely destroy the financial sector on the domestic front and wage two horrendously failed wars internationally.

But, I digress.

My entire point may seem like: Yay for Obama and Down with Bush! But it really isn't. It's about human rights. And how it was taken away. Now that we have a chance of getting it back, the neocons are going crazy.

On to my other area of interest: bullying.

Kids often do things that they don't realize. Sometimes, they do. My friend was talking abour her daughter who already had a preference for friends who were White and who had blond hair like mommy, who gets frustrated with her friend who is autistic and ends up hitting her to get her to talk, which she never does. My friend told me because she as worried. She didn't want her daughter to be a bully, to pick on the minority. Because when she starts school, there will be people who are different from her, and her mother, and that differnce will be the basis of bullying.

The story I posted on fb earlier, about the 11 year old boy who commited suicide when he couldn't take the bullying in school anymore, I thought of my school, my friends. There weren't overt bullies that I can remember, but there were kids who were dominating, who would create problems for people who didn't conform to their 'style' by alienating them, shunning them, not inviting them to their birthday parties. All these little things to make people feel bad, they start from an early age, that mean streak, very obvious, untainted by social norms that dictate manners. Now, a dozen or so years later, I think about where they are. And I frankly don't know. They haven't become the starlets that they promised to be, they haven't gone on to become leaders of the new generation, they haven't really done much. They just had bullying tendencies when they were in school. That's the highlight of their lives. If you ask them, maybe it was the best time of their lives. Which brings me to: why do they do it? Various theories identify bullying among children: unrest at home, insecurities, mimicking what they see elsewhere and so on. But the more important question is: how do you stop it? As someone said, for children their problems are as big as ours, and when grown ups marginalize them, they feel just as bad as we do when our problems are marginalized. And this 11 year old boy's story exemplifies that. Only that his mother did try. But she really couldn't help him. The school failed him. The system failed him. May he rest in piece.

Swine flu: go away. Come again another day. Little Johnny wants to play. Joking. Don't come back. Just go! Sounds like it's the same thing as the bird flu. Killed dozens of people in New Mexico. Maybe 7 people in NYC has it (test results are due tomorrow) but it hasn't killed anyone in NYC yet. Suspecting it in Texas as well. Details are unclear (to me, atleast). Maybe it's a pandemic. But whatever it is, I'm glad I don't eat chicken. My suggestion: cook your chicken really well. Or just don't eat it. Don't die for chicken. And there's a med for it, in case you get it. So if you get it, don't panic. Help is out there.

a few good men (& women)

And the arguments rage on. Are we born evil? Or do we become evil? Is whoever i am supposed to be when i grow up written in my genes? Or is it something i learn from my parents and my school and the place i grow up in? I don't know. I do believe in leaders being born and not made though. That tendency to assume control, to make others feel safe in the knowledge that you will take care of everything, that you know whats best -- i think this is something you're born with. 

I have had a great childhood and my parents are the best parents in the world. They never forced me to learn anything but rather encouraged me to be a certain way and follow certain pursuits. But i only followed those pursuits that caught my fancy. As a result i never enrolled in music school, i never did serious sports, and i was never good at my studies. I did however enjoy computer games, books and comics, movies and acting. And these pursuits i followed. I also enjoyed free-style singing (much to the anguish of those near me) and as a result i have my own band. And from a very early age, i was never the leader type. I was content to let other people lead and the most i would do is give advice when necessary. And it worked out pretty great. Because i disliked the extra pressure and attention that inevitably comes with assuming leadership in any endeavor. 

But i always had strong opinions, and always liked to go deep into whatever i was supposed to be doing. i never liked just leaving it to someone to do something. And that happened because i felt that i knew better, or that i knew at least as much the other person. Or maybe i had better judgement ability. Ego? Surely. Warranted? Maybe. So as the years went by i went on to become a creative director, essentially in charge of leading a team of creative people to formulate communication materials for our clients (in other words, ad campaigns). And i also slowly became the leader of the band. This is not a discourse about my achievements however. My point is that as a child and in school, i exhibited no leadership qualities whatsoever. But when i grew up and life was thrust upon me, i became a leader. Not a very good one, but a leader none the less. So i continue to believe that leaders are born. Not made.

So what about good? Are we born with goodness? And then become evil? Or are we born either good or evil and then live our lives accordingly? I have been blessed in life by having a wonderful family, being in a wonderful school and making wonderful friends. From a very early age i was aware my father was a freedom fighter and i knew fighting for freedom was right and good, andthat's something that always inspired me. Plus i grew up in an environment of love both at home and in school so that must have affected my growing up. And for whatever reason from a very early age, i became a fan of heroes. From comics to books, i devoured all the heroic stories out there. From Superman to Tarzan to Sherlock Holmes to Lord of the Rings to Prophet Mohammad, i couldn't get enough of heroic fables. And it left a deep imprint. Plus i had a my father who has great ethical and moral fortitude. He never preached to me but just being around him and seeing him lead his life ingrained in me those values of right and wrong that are so important in life.

In the last 10 years or so, i have experienced a lot of things and have met a lot of people. And most of them are good people. I think i automatically gravitate towards people who are essentially good at heart, people you can depend on, people who will be there for you. And i have also met people who are not really very close friends of mine, but who have repeatedly gone out of their way to be helpful. And on those occasions i have often wondered, why is this person doing this? Why is he wasting his time at this unearthly hour to help me? What's in it for him? Or her for that matter. And one time i asked a friend of mine this particular question. This friend i am talking about is not a close friend. He's one of my "friend in need" as in i get in touch when i need him. And he always helps out. So one day when he was helping me out i asked him, "why do you do this?" and at first he didn't understand the question. So i explained to him, "why do you help people so much? whats in it for you?" And he still didn't understand the question. When i finally managed to clear up what i wanted to know, he smiled and said, "i like making people happy. I love the look on their faces when i can fix something for them". And i still persisted. i said that cannot be the only reason. After a lot of badgering he finally replied that when he was younger he needed help from someone and that someone let him down. And he was so upset at being let down that he decided that he would never make someone else feel this upset. Not if he could help it. 

I laughed at hearing this. In his time of need someone let him down, and that provoked a resolve that he would never let someone down! Its like a bloody comic book origin of a superhero! I mean, the normal response at an event like this would be bitterness and an attitude of indifference at helping others. But no, in my friend's case, it was the opposite. And that's when i understood. Or maybe that's when i caught a glimmer of the beginning of understanding why good people do good deeds. Its because they don't know any better. 

Being good is like being in love. You see a nice girl and you are attracted and then you you fall in love. Perfectly straightforward. And then when someone asks you why or how you fell in love you say 50 things like, oh she's so beautiful, she's so funny and warm, she gets along so well with my friends, she lets me be myself etc etc etc. But really, think about it. Its all rationalization after the fact. You fall in love first, and then you invent all these reasons to make your falling in lovewith that person sound all logical and reasonable. I mean, you can't think i just fell in love for no reason, did you? No! I am an intelligent and reasonable person and these are the reasons why i love this girl. Hah! Right. That sounds as perfectly logical as the explanation my good friend offered about him being let down when he needed help and then deciding that he would never let anyone else down. I don't believe my friend would have been a different person even if that other person didn't let him down. I think then the story would have been, "i needed help and this friend of mine helped me out and thus i decided that i would help other people from this day henceforth". Its rationalization after the fact. 

So yeah, at this moment in time, i believe good people are born and not made. Somewhere down the line, life happens and a lot of extraneous things get attached to the good personality that a good person is born with. He may enter government service and take bribes. He may cheat in his school exams. He may have a sharp tongue and be insensitive. But i believe that all these things can't hide the core goodness that a good person possesses. In times of need, that core shines out like a beacon. He sacrifices his own time, happiness, and peace of mind to help. And these people are out there. In droves. I know because i have met them. People busy running the rat race and people you would never think would help you at their own expense. But they do. And when they do, they do it simply because that's who they are. They don't calculate the odds. They don't think how its beneficial to them in the long run. They just help because they can't think otherwise. Its like you have to drink water when you're thirsty. So do good people have to help when someone asks them to. 

So this one is for all the people out there who have ever helped out a friend or a stranger. You are the best of us. And to the rest of us, may we also have the strength of character to say "yes,I'll help" when the time comes. 

the greatest story ever shown

I don't know about you, but i'm a huge fan of the classics. I'm not talking about those pansy penguin classics from the 18th and 19th century. I'm talking about the real stuff. Legends. Myths. Stories that have survived and thrived across generations through hundreds of years. I'm talking Illiyad, Odyssy, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Arabian Nights. All those stories of Gods and Mortals and events big and small that touch us all. And its really easy to see why these stories have survived the ravages of time. And not only survived, but have grown in stature. Have inspired us. Its because at the heart these stories deal with the hopes, dreams, aspirations of all of us, no matter what race or religion or nationality. If you are human, you will connect to these fables. 

And it is with the full meaning of the term classic as i have just defined, i call the Battlestar Galactica mini series a Classic. Thats right. A science fiction TV series that dared to do it all. Dared to take us out to space in a distant galaxy. Dared to make fictional characters as real as you and me. Dared to take us to the edge of sanity, and then bring us right back. Because the makers of this monumental series knew that to make a great story, you have to follow the rules. Great Heroism. Dastardly Villiany. And a story thats bigger than all of that, and yet with all the little touches that make us go, "oh i know how that feels!". Hats off to all the makers, all the people involved. You did an amazing job.

The story is simple really. And thats how all great stories are at the end of the day -- simple. Its about a war between sentient robots and their creators the humans. But these humans live far, far away from our galaxy in a colony of 12 planets which are named after the horroscopes. The robots rebel and wage war on their human creators, decimating the entire human race in the process, save a handfull of survivors. Around 47,000 people i think when the mini series starts. These survivors gather around the last remaining warship called Battlestar Galactica and try to escape the robots and find a new home. 

The story throughout is electrifying and totally counter-intuitive. Whenever you think you've got something figured out, they throw a twist at your face which punches you across the room. Not gentle shakespearean twists these. Very very vicious, and very very emotional. You will laugh, you will cry, you will weep with joy with the characters of this epic series. For it is truly an epic. 

I honestly don't have the words to describe what the makers of this series and the actors have pulled off. I wish i could give some examples but anything i say will take that little bit away from you enjoying the series when you watch it. Because everything little thing is important. So all i'll say is that i am lucky to have been alive when this series first aired. It has truly inspired me and i wish all the people involved with this miracle the best of luck in all their future engagements.

To everyone else, watch Battlestar Galactica. Its simply totally awesome. 

lights, camera, monpura

My friend got me a ticket to Monpura, the movie by Gias uddin Selim. There was a special showing of the movie in Gulshan Club (ooh how hoity toity eh?) and my friend is a member so she got all of us tickets. I had never been to Gulshan Club to see a movie before and i was expecting a glorified hall room with a projector screen and uncomfortable chairs. So you can understand my surprise when i walked into a two tiered genuine movie theater! Its amazing! Real theater, comfortable seats, and they even had a snack shop!! It was perfect! and then the movie started. 

Let me just back track a bit and tell you of my previous experiences with recent Bangladeshi films. I have watched Joyjatra, Ontorjatra and Made in Bangladesh and they were all woefully pathetic. Especially the "jatra" movies. Its ironic that they have the word "jatra" in the title because jatra means journey and both movies went nowhere. Made in Bangladesh did provide moments of entertainment and the actors did a terrific job. Plus the subject matter of the movie was also very modern and timely. But as a movie it didn't work. Movies like, all art mediums, have their own language. And the directors of Bangladesh just don't get that language. So i wasn't expecting much when i went to watch Monpura. Even though Gias Uddin Selim is one of the best storytellers in the drama circle in Bangladesh. Being a good Drama writer/director and making a good movie are 2 different things.

So the movie started. And i was impressed. the movie continued. i kept liking it. The movie ended and i felt finally i had seen a real movie made by a Bangladeshi film maker. I'm not going to criticise this movie because its a first effort from the director and there are some obvious problems, like the pacing and the story itself. I want to focus on the positives. And the biggest positive was that he story telling came through. Selim is a gifted storyteller and he made a very decent film in the context of Bangladesh and everything that goes with releasing a decent commercial film in this market. The characters were believable, the dialogues were crisp and meaningful, the sequences progressed the story, it was good stuff. There was a clear hero, a clear villain, a clear goal. This is a little trick that all the other film makers here forget. People need a clear hero and a villain. And they need larger than life moments, be it romantic, tragic, or comic. And Selim got that. And the result was a very entertaining film that really touched something in me. And that's saying a lot if you happen to know me and my high falutin' opinionated self. 

Another thing I liked was the portrayal of the villain as a real person, and not some cackling hollywood/FDC goon. Villains have excellent motivations and reasons for doing what they do. They know they're doing something wrong, but they also know that they need to do it. They don't do evil for the sake of being evil. They do things because they believe its their right. Just as you or i would believe whatever we do is right. I really appreciated the three dimensional treatment of the villain in this movie. 

In short, i was inspired. And i felt proud of Gias uddin Selim. Good job, sir!

Everyone, please go watch this movie. Its worth your time. 

Orange clothes and Leno humor

Jay Leno is rarely funny, but this one was good.

July 1, 1996 - Hotmail was opened.
The next day: The inbox was full of emails from African princes who wanted to share their money with you, and penis enlargement gimmicks.

Some people may not find it funny, I am aware of that. But I'm not a big fan of 'katu kutu diye hashano'. Same reason I could never really find kalo comedians too funny. They have no relevance in real life. At least, mine. Leno, on the other hand, and most other late night show hosts talk about the real deal, stuff that's going on in the real world. It's what we would call contextual comedy if you want to call it comedy. And THAT is why it's funny. Give me all kinds of humor other than the slapstick underarm tickling kind.

It wasn't, however, my intention to talk about my pet peeve(s).

I wanted to talk about the monk with whom I had a very controvertial conversation about how we should continue to maintain the food chain by consuming meat, while he argued about how the meat processing industry costs the environment by releasing green house gases. But that's only in the Western world where they don't slaughter their cows in their own backyards, I reminded him. He also said he thinks if people did raise the cattle they ate, they wouldn't really be able to kill them because of the connection they'd be making with them. I told him that I watched chicken being slaughtered as a child and it never affected me. But what did get to me was this - chicken (and beef) apparently sits in our stomachs for days before being completley digested. That's what my mother had told me. That it's released from the body once it rots. I found it disgusting. I now only eat tuna burgers and tuna sandwiches. So in principle I had no point, but in reality I did.

This argument was of course after the monk cooked for us and showed us how to make a vegetarian dish - which was actually really good. I had two plates of it :S And I didn't mind that he was a good looking monk, even though he wore the orange garb and the strings and beads around his neck. Does that make me a nimok haram? I wonder. Gay, maybe, but not nimok haram, right?

the bad, the fat, the ugly

Considering that anyone can term me as any of the above, it may confuse people as to why I'm writing about any of that. Some people may squirm because inwardly they agree with me, but to my face they will say nothing. To them, I shall say nothing as well. Because, simply, I don't know who they are.

Fortunately for me, no one knows who I am either. Okay, slight exaggeration, that. Maybe about 5 people know who I am. And that makes me happy. Welcome to my life. But sorry, there's no open window through which you can look in. No peeping holes either. I could pull a George (or Kramer) and take out the peep hole and then replace it backwards, but that serves no purpose in my life, and we all know that I'm a selfish, self centered bugger.

And for those of you who are wondering where all this angst is coming from. It's been there all along. You just didn't see it.

Which brings me to: Did you see how lucky the Afghan men are? They are entitled to sex every three days!! Unless they're traveling, in which case they are entitled to have sex with random people they meet and find irresistible. But ONLY if they find them irresistible. Imagine that in Bangladesh. Or just Dhaka. We'd have one big happy family. The US picked Karzai turned out to be quite a charmer, eh? I personally think his motivations are strictly personal. He's not really looking into releasing the frustrations of Afghan men. He's interested in his own. And given how hot these Afghani women are, can you really blame him? He probably finds the entire female population of Afghanistan 'irresistible'. Including the American soldiers. Who, by now, really are de facto Afghans. Like it or not. Someone should inform them, methinks.

My diet. Is going very well. I am still twixing my way through papers and I discovered the best smoked salmon sandwich (EVER, would say my fat friend) in this city. It's mass produced but man made. Not the salmon. The sandwich. I wish I knew why I was hungry all the time. And I do mean all the time. It's bloody depressing. I just walked for an hour an a half to keep myself away from food. But when CA called me to hang before she ran off to her meeting, I said, wtf let me just get a bite. Just for company's sake. She can't be eating on her own, can she? (Not that I asked her).

I bought a weighing machine. But I was 15 mins late to pick it up, so it'll have to weight till tomorrow. Er wait. My weight is what I don't really want to know but my mother tells me that's the best way to lose weight. By measuring it every single day.

Moral of today's post (just in case you didn't quite catch it): Even FAT UGLY BAD AFGHAN MEN ARE ENTITLED TO SEX and in the US they have abstinence only programs that encourage people to NOT have SEX (which is another post for another day, made more interesting by the fact that my co blogger and I are at complete odds. Why give condoms to 14 year olds? he says. THey're too young to be even having sex. I agree. BUT. They ARE having sex. So we need to deal with it. Telling them to not have sex is not going to change it. Overauling the value system is a good idea, one that Bush tried, for example. But as I said, another post for another day). And the FUNNIEST TAKE on THAT issue is: we have the conservative afghans fighting for their right to NOT have sex while the Americans fight for their right to HAVE sex.
Amader ei tao dekhte holo! So much for it being a personal, private issue. So much for the government deciding what you do on your bed. In your bedroom (preferably).