Routine

Routine is what one escapes to, once the wandering is done and dusted.

Fear of freedom

Fear of freedom is the source of all anxiety; we are afraid to just be, like a sail-less boat at sea.

Bad behaviour

Anyone is capable of bad behaviour, given the bait; but one should just wait before jumping the gate.

Rough cuts

Rough cuts hold a promise that is rarely fulfilled; the last mile is usually the worst mile. But it need not be so.

Growth

Growth should ideally be a horizontal metaphor, except in the case of girth.

Rock bottom

Rock bottom is a rock solid place for new beginnings.

Of 'culture' and other stuff

What we consume as accepted 'culture' may be quite unacceptable in its origins; the dominant narrative of any society is imagined by the powerful and not necessarily the pious.

Authority of a teacher

The authority of a teacher derives from what is freely given; anything free comes with a price tag.

Hate

Hate can only beget worse hate; love at the least generates indifference.

The advantage of anger

Anger has but one advantage; it makes you see the unhappy sight it is.

Self goal

A self goal is therapeutic; it helps one redefine the goal.

Affection and Indifference

Affection is no guarantee of benign consequences; indifference is a sure shot winner, in this regard.

It is impossible to be young

It is impossible to be young; that kind of self-absorption and self-righteousness is hard to come by. But I try, but I try...

Ignorant wisdom

Wisdom is the beginning of ignorance.

The sin of din

Our affinity to noise is indirectly proportional to our truths; greater the din, much better the sin.

Garba

Garba is an open air swadeshi discotheque where you are allowed a lof of fun in a sanskaari outfit.

Deaf gods, demons and countrymen

Indians love noise; our gods, demons and countrymen are deaf to silence - hence.

Watching bad TV on a brand new one

Watching bad TV on a brand new one makes the latter no better.

Holidays

Planning a holiday, and remembering the same afterwards IS the holiday. The actual visit is incidental.

Power does not cut in Ahmedabad

Power cuts in Ahmedabad / Gujarat are few and far between - pun intended.

The images we see are the images we make...

The images we see are the images we make are the images we see are the...

Hindi, Hindu and the rest

The tragedy of Hindi is the suffocating embrace of the Hindu right; a language is a free bird, flying over prejudices of borders and breed. Let go...

Elected Bullets

This nation consists of two kinds of people - ones who dream up a bullet and the others who receive one. The former incidentally have been 'elected' by the latter. Thank you for voting, and gloating.

Every day begins with hope

The amount of everyday commonplace strife in life would convince anyone of the futility of the everyday; yet every day begins with hope, having just had a hot bath with fragrant ayurvedic soap.

The language of silence

Language helps one communicate; sometimes silence does it better, in spirit and in letter.

Film Language

Film language is like a building; less about the rules of construction, more about the occupants - though without knowing the former, the latter would not come into being.

Are Ass Ass

Being defended by are ass ass and its loony fellow travellers is a shameful thing for an intrinsically plural religion like Hinduism. In fact in its ideal form Hinduism is not even a religion, but a philosophy of understanding and living a harmonious life.

Shitting on the fence

Sitting on the fence has an advantage; your shit will not dirty your feet. On the other hand, after a while you may not be fit to shit.

(06-09-17)

The Moving Image Lie

Images lie; Moving images do it even better.

(06-09-17)

33 per cent of hate

33 per cent of hate won an election comfortably. Imagine what the rest 67 per cent could have done together. Hate is louder, not necessarily in a majority.

(06-09-17)

Dissent in the classroom

In a society where dissenters face the bullet, dissent and subversion need to become values worth learning, and disseminating. In the classrooms.

(05-09-17)

Ritual public sacrifice of animals

Ritual public sacrifice of animals is mindless needless medieval barbarism.

(02-09-17)

Neighbours

If your neighbour is an asshole, you are likely to be one yourself.

(29-08-17)

Teaching Film

Films can be taught in two ways: how to film or how to talk about film. A judicious combination of both methods may result in a watchable 'deep' film. Preponderance of any may find you hitting rock bottom.

(25-08-17)

Confidence

Confidence implies willingness to change; change implies the confidence to will thus.

(25-08-17)

Self

Self is nothing but an imagined entity, forever far.

(23-08-17)

The self-effacing Teacher

Its time teachers stop thinking of self-effacement as a virtue to be cultivated. Wisdom and maturity does not lie in NOT taking ownership of your hard work.

(22-08-17)

Ungrateful Student

An ungrateful student is like a grown-up child pretending he/she was born to none.

(22-08-17)

The Patriot

A neighbour hating moron is not a patriot; for he/she cynically puts the very entity, which he/she claims to love, in avoidable mortal danger.

(18-08-17)

Rights and Wrongs

If you believe you are right just because you are who you are, imagine how many 'wrongs' think they aren't that, just because they follow your principle, in letter and spirit. India and China. India and Pakistan. India and Nepal. India and Sri Lanka...

(18-08-17)

Education

01
The purpose of education is to cultivate an inspired prejudice against things 'neutral'.

02.
The purpose and delivery of education are at cross-purposes; the former aims to probe, the latter would rather not disrobe.

Decibeled Gods

Indian Gods must be deaf; their need for decibels is inversely proportional to their indifference. So all we need to do for good karma is make some needless and shameless noise. Lots of it.

Ahmedabad Blues

01
Ahmedabad is a small city which grew up, but unfortunately never did.

02
Ahmedabad is a horny city; people keep needlessly pressing their horns (I mean of the vehicles they happen to be riding) all the time.

03
Ahmedabad does not like socialism; they never keep left on its roads.

Choices

Choice is variable, but once made, constant. Choose with care. Or behave like the Indian electorate.

Bullies ride bulls

Bullies ride bulls that can anytime unseat the fools that ride them.

Films should...

Films should provoke, evoke, remind and retort, but not narrate or enumerate.

To be alive

To be alive is a great gift, despite the troubles; and its almost free, save one's conscience.

Life

Ugliness and beauty cohabit in sin; their illicit progeny is life, forever trying to find approval but excelling in the prohibited.

Armed Forces

The armed forces of a democratic nation are essentially a paradox; glorying bullying in order to protect the bullied. The meek shall inherit but the weak shall be done for.

A Riddle

A riddle is a statement with a purpose; a statement is often a riddle without one.

Profound and Prosaic

The profound and the prosaic both arise out of the everyday; the former is a necessary outcome of the latter.

Manly

Being a man has its advantages; one gets to crib about being a man.

Relationships

01
Relationships are like a ship on choppy waters - balance desirable, but rarely possible.

02
Relationships are like fish in choppy waters - the deeper one goes, the calmer it is.

Lies and Truths

A lie is a modified truth; a truth falsehood revised.

What makes a film great

Question: What makes a film great ? 

Answer: If it (the film) evokes an affirmative response in me that's longer lasting than today; if I see my 'truths' resonate in it in a manner which I perceive to be graceful and germane, then...

Foreign students on exchange

Its great to host foreign students on exchange; an outsider can often bring in to focus the missing obvious, and consequently add value to his/her and the hosts' here and now.

Sight

We go looking in remote lands for what is hidden in plain sight in our backyards; its not just our eyes that we need in order to see.

Art imitates life ?

When art imitates life, both suffer. The former thrives as an inspired impression of the latter, not a true copy.

The tangle of life

Its people who tangle life; God (if he/she is there) had meant it quite straight. Quality of life depends on how much we stay away from messing up each others lives. Or, more accurately, how much we do.

Possessive

To want to possess is a fundamentally flawed fundamental desire.

In one's company

If only we were comfortable being with ourselves, we would easily find enjoyable company. Being in company however is no guarantee of enjoying our own.

Kashmir

Kashmir is not a military problem; no muscular nationalism of a majoritarian kind is going to solve it. Others have bones, muscles, body fluids and majorities too.

Film Direction

Film Direction is as much about the world around as it is about film. A well-formed and informed point of view helps in putting one's point across on cinema through the application of film language onto matters at once personal and public.

Travel

Travel opens your eyes - to heat & dust, and Indian men.

Film Appreciation

Film Appreciation helps you understand the world and take a literate and considered position in the debate; it also helps in making sense of films.

Hindi

When you make Hindi compulsory, you demean it, because of the necessity for compulsion. You also ensure a lifetime of hate towards a tongue already in rapid decline because of its officially enhanced status.

The tourist trade

The tourist trade makes natives eager to please the visitor, the country caricature its culture & traditions, and american dollars strut around in knickers and a freckled pot belly.

Travel

Travel is a cheap way of spending money and earning an education.

Of whys and why nots

The why (and why not) of a creative expression is as important as its how to; and luckily its much cheaper.

Education

Education was meant to give us a vision; instead it gave us a reason for not possessing the same.

An unspoken conversation clearly heard

Cinema is a medium of nuances; an unspoken conversation clearly heard.

Inspired untruth

Fragments of inspired untruth held together with the hope of arriving at a truthful insight - cinema is.

Teaching is fun

Teaching is fun; especially if the students are, and the tutor is, learning to remember, and remembering to forget.

Destruction and Change

Destruction is instantaneous, and finite. Change is gradual, and forever.

A teacher has

A teacher has the ability to make you discover much more, even though he/she may know much less.

Inane Insights

There is wisdom in the boring; insight in the inane.

Saare Jahan Se Achha

Saare Jahan Se Achha.... Tamilnadu, Orissa, Bihar, Gujarat, Mizoram... hamara...

Bullish about bullshit.

India is a great country, and we are bullish about bullshit.

Change

Change can happen gradually, or suddenly; either ways its a blow, to the existing show.

Interactive

The difference between an interactive game and an interactive film is the intent - one wants to dazzle and the other deliberate.

Language

Language happens when seemingly arbitrary sounds start making familiar sense based on a mutual agreement arrived at between disbelievers.

Education

Education is the joyful art of convincing the wise about their ignorance; the teacher and the taught, both get caught.

Cinema

Cinema does not capture life; it creates its own.