Friday 22 September 2017

NEWTON

In times when I am preparing for my Entrance exam, I can't afford to watch many movies. I had vowed myself to only watch one movie between my birthday and my exams in December, and that was going to be a toss up between NEWTON and LUCKNOW CENTRAL(which features my favourite, Farhan Akhtar.) Thanks to bad reviews of LUCKNOW CENTRAL, I decided to give it a miss and I am happy i could watch NEWTON because of that.
India's official entry to the Oscars, NEWTON is a terrific movie which compels us to view India from a perspective and a place where the concept of India itself is unknown.
And it is not even the peripheral India that we are talking about but the heart of India- the dangerous Dandakaranya forests in Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand along regions where not just state borders but even the concept of democracy blurs out.. It doesn't make sense to the villagers and why would it? It doesn't make sense to us, and why would it? We have never interacted before. We only have misconceptions and stereotypes about each other. For them we are infiltrators and for us they are terrorists and the movie attempts to break this concept.
These villagers are trapped between two groups who are hell bent on establishing their supremacy - the Naxalites and the Indian army, even if it means burning down entire villages to 'mark their territories', operating on the same concept which the wild animals around them have taught them.
And in this gory, never ending battle are trapped some of India's most underdeveloped villages, which only exist on the map- nobody- no government, no politician dares to visit these places.
Communication is a problem for they speak a dialect which is not understandable to our men in uniform and suspicion always overpowers humanity in the jungle.
And in this place are caught two strong men hell bent on carrying out their duties- a young government officer, Nutan Kumar who calls himself NEWTON and Aatma Singh, a representative of our men in uniform.
While Nutan or NEWTON is a novice, 25 year old educated, hard working and honest to a fault presiding officer tasked with the job of carrying out elections for the first time in village with only 76 voters, he is up against Aatma Singh, the man whose concept of a successful day means ' a day without casualities' which in itself is rare in these areas. They both clash as they both want to do their duty- the polling booth is 8 km deep from the army base camp and it means treading through the dangerous forests on foot where even the break of tiny branch from a tree in broad daylight is met with a suspicion and highalert and Aatma Singh is in no mood to risk his jawans just for the sake of elections which he tries to convince NEWTON are going to do no good to democracy or the villagers. But NEWTON is a novice who comes from urban India and like the movie watcher he must discover this concept 'different India' to believe it. There are risks involved but for NEWTON, honesty and integrity come before life and death and he is in no mood to go back with 0% voter turnout. NEWTON is representative of the soul of everyday Indian who has grown up watching TV and what media wanted us to see. He finds the reality to be very different. For a firm believer in the concept of democracy, every frame brings with it a new shock, a new realization and sort of enlightenment as he puts on a bulletproof jacket and decides to venture through the jungles with only one mission- to carry out elections.
Rajkummar Rao speaks less but whenever he speaks he has only questions and it annoys Aatma Singh until he puts a condition that he can't ask him any question in the jungle. There is humor, dark comedy, there is sarcasm and there is subtlety and finally realization that India can't change overnight- but day by day if we all follow NEWTON- a scientist who gave the concept that laws of gravity and motion are honest and equal for every person, animal or thing on this earth and you can neither deny nor claim to own these laws but have to abide by them. Hum sab mein ek NEWTON hai jo imaandari se kaam karna chahta hai par woh kahi chhup gaya hai. These are the concepts around which the movie revolves.

 It is not a movie about providing answers but an honest attempt at asking the right questions.
The performances of every character are top notch but the plot and the surrounding are real heroes in this 'Day in the life of an election officer in Dandakaranya' rather than a movie. Watch it only if you have patience and an open mind. And yes make sure to carry your brains along for this one, an idea which is otherwise considered dangerous if you are watching a typical Bollywood no-brainer..
P.S. It's not a movie to be enjoyed with popcorn and cola So avoid it if that's your only thing..

~ Devashish Palkar

Wednesday 20 September 2017

LEARNINGS FROM STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS

"Some of the rituals and customs in our culture were meant to protect us during those times but unfortunately we have continued with these downtrodden practices for far too long..
For example, earlier it was followed in our culture that women wouldn't be allowed to visit temples during their periods. There was a logical reasoning behind it which nobody noticed. I came to know about it only after I watched one of Sadhguru's lectures on YouTube. He said that this practice was followed because in those times, temples were invariably in a jungle or a hill top where people would need to travel on foot which would mean that they were always at a threat of being attacked by animals in the wild. And taking a woman who was in her periods along would mean that the risk would only multiply since wild animals would be attracted to the smell of human blood. Also, more importantly during the periods, women tend to feel weak and thus climbing mountains or walking barefoot in jungles for a visit to temple would be illogical for her health.
To allow her a rest, this practice was followed. But now, there are no forests left thanks to our wanton destruction and hardly nobody travels through jungles on foot these days for a visit to temple hence Sadhguru says, the time has come to give up this practice and allow women to go to temples whenever they want..
This is just one example..
But still on some levels, we have failed to evolve with time..
We, as humans, need to learn from Staphylococcus aureus.
Many of the bacteria produce peroxidase which provides a kind of safety net for their growth but it ultimately generates free radicals and kills its own cells..
Now this could be dangerous..
But Staphylococcus is smart. It produces an enzyme catalase to destroy the peroxidase whenever its levels increase above permissible values. And thus Staphylococcus continues to rule the world of microbiology being the single largest group of disease forming bacteria in the human body.
Those who remain trapped in the security of safety, don't run a long race..
Life only begins when we move out of our peroxidase, our comfort zone.
High time we, humans, developed CATALASE, isn't it??"
P.S. The only reason why bacteria and viruses have outlived everyone on this planet is because of its ability to adapt and not remain trapped in its own 'paramparas' and 'rituals'. A lesson for humanity?

~Devashish Palkar

Wednesday 13 September 2017

VIKAS and the BULLET TRAIN

A liberal goes to a restaurant with his friend.
The waiter comes up and asks,
"Sir, Pani- Regular ya Mineral, sir?"
"Of course, Mineral!" exclaims the liberal.
"Ok, sir. Order?"
"We Will have some beef curry and mutton pulao."
The waiter goes to the kitchen with the order..
The conversation starts..
Liberal 1- "So, you checked the news.? About the Bullet train thing?"
Liberal 2- "Yea man. So pathetic. I mean this is hypocrisy by Modi Govt and nothing more.
I mean there are so many railway accidents occuring and all they care for are the cows and Bullet trains!"
Liberal 1- "Yes. And there are so many people who can't even afford the normal trains. This is bad. We must protest. I will not use Bullet train."
Liberal 2- "Aye. Aye. Me too.. Let's protest. Let's take down this COW-munal Government! Ha ha. Come on"
Meanwhile, the waiter arrives and fills their glasses with the jug he has brought instead of the packaged drinking water.
Both liberals in unison- "What the heck are you doing? We asked for a packaged drinking water, didn't we?"
Waiter- "Sorry, sir. I just checked the refrigerator. We have run out of stock!"
Both liberals in unison- "Oh no. What will we do now?"
A person who was silently listening to the conversation so far, stands up from across the table and says "Guys, you know, 40% Indians don't get sufficient potable water. 99% Indians don't drink packaged drinking water. So, does that mean we stop all the factories making packaged drinking water?
You guys are amazing. You don't want to let us construct Bullet trains but at the same time you want VIKAS? How's that humanly possible?
Should we stop hosting IPL until Sunil Chhetri gets a multi-million dollar offer from Manchester United? Would you stop drinking packaged drinking water till every single person gets potable water in this country?
Progress should not and does not stop just because there's poverty on one side of the spectrum. If America had waited for all of its citizens to buy Rolls Royce before investing in space shuttles, Neil Armstrong wouldn't have taken that 'giant leap'! We all know Bullet train is not the only definition of progress. But at least it sets our vision clear on the path to progress. It is a small beginning but may be when we look at it retrospectively 10 years later, we will realize it was a giant step indeed!"

~ Devashish Palkar.

Dedicated to all people who are missing VIKAS. ✌

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