The Blunder Down Under

So apparently the ‘Blunder down under’ belongs to India and not to Australia as Star Cricket would have had you believe. In a series which has been embarrassingly one sided through out it has been plain to see for all that the world champions are not really a strong test force outside their motherland. Two tests ended with innings defeats and the last one with 298 runs. Suffice to say Tendulkar not getting his ton of tons was the least of India’s problems. It took just 59 minutes on the 5th day for the Aussies to complete the whitewash. It was the first in the series that India managed to take a test to the 5th day. For them it was the culmination of a miserable year away from home.

Neither bat nor ball clicked for India in this series as such. The focus on Tendulkar’s 100th ton has been a distraction not only for the little master but I feel for the Indian dressing room as well. There seems to be a sense of psychological block around. The tenacity was missing. The big names did not fire. The attack was grossly impotent. The frailties on foreign soil were very visible. The upcoming tri series with Australia and Sri Lanka will no doubt be another stern test.

At the other end, Ricky Ponting revived his fortunes in the series with brilliant knocks including a ton and a double ton. Michael Clarke proved himself a more than capable leader. And Australia once again showed that their entire cricketing system is capable of coming out of dips relatively quickly. There is still much more work to be done to regain top spot but they seem strong enough to get there.

What was hyped and billed as Australia’s new blunder down under proved to be in fact India’s. And I won’t be surprised if Sri Lanka join that banner in the tri series. Nonetheless it should be an interesting watch and for us in Pakistan as my friend often puts it, the race to 100 will be on between the price of diesel, the US Dollar exchange rate and Tendulkar’s ton of tons! Any takers? :p

Pakistan 2011: The Year That Was….

And so comes to an end a year which can easily be described as a b-grade romantic thriller novel. With not so much of the normal romance that one would expect from these novels. Pakistan’s 2011 has been full of headlines from covert US CIA agents killing civilians to the extraordinary feat of our cricketers heroics in the world cup to reach its semis amidst the clouds of match fixing.

The topsy turvy ride of 2011 started with the killing of the then Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer at the hands of one his bodyguards. That there were sections of our country that actually cried in outrage at the killers arrest and detention was indeed a low point. Then towards the end of the same month the Raymond Davis fiasco ensued. The ‘Diplomat’ who was working as a covert CIA agent who killed two Pakistanis in Lahore. Who then was freed from our prison after paying blood money to the victims families.

These two points would of course continue to remain thorns through the course of the year. Salman Taseer’s murder under the banner of Blasphemy was not an end to this unfortunate extremist mindset. The Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti was also gunned down for ‘Blasphemy’ in March. What was their blasphemy? They spoke against the abuse and misuse of the Blasphemy Law against minorities. Both these men were killed by extremists for saying the right thing. For saying what our mullahs should ideally be preaching: being just and fair. The rights of minorities are not exactly at their best in our country. It might not occur to us as much because they aren’t exactly reported as much as the happen in our mainstream media. There have been many cases where families have had to uproot from their home towns and flee to another one because the locals had started persecuting them for ‘blasphemy’.

What our mainstream media was and always has been more focused on is the soap opera-ish love affair between us and the Americans. Davis was just the start of a year which would prove to be really record dipping low point of the US-Pak relationship. He killed two Pakistanis in Lahore, was in jail for a little while and the US cried Geneva Convention. Somebody paid blood money to the families and the guy went back to the US without so much as another word on the matter. Then of course there was the whole OBL incident. Somehow a delta strike team of the US Army managed to make it all the way into Pakistan all the way to Abbotabad and take out Osama Bin Laden in the deep of the night. Apparently they were using the cloak from Lord of the Rings which Frodo used to hide outside the black gates of Mordor because surely our military capability is enough for us to see an intrusion like that and stop it. It was a debacle. Osama was in the Military’s backyard for 5 years apparently and we didn’t know? We were not informed of this strike before hand even thou we are ‘allies’ in the ‘war on terror’? Many questions but very few answers. Then American Military Chief of that time, Mike Mullen said the Haqqani Network was a ‘veritable arm of the ISI’ which was apparently taken in the wrong context but not out-rightly apologized for by the Obama administration. Then memo-gate and the NATO strike on one of our outposts as a response to which Pakistan avoided the BONN conference as a protest. It has really been one thing after another which has just been pulling this love affair down from rock bottom to rock bottom. Cyril Almeida puts it brilliantly in his article published on 31st December, 2011 in the Dawn:

‘The US doesn’t trust Pakistan and Pakistan is massively suspicious of the US. The US has fundamental doubts about both the will and capacity of Pakistan to fight the war against militancy. And the Pakistani Security establishment is convinced that the US was seeking to do more than just dismantle the Al Qaeda network’

Clearly the tone doesn’t look rosy for 2012 in all things Pak-American.

The internal political scenario hasn’t lagged behind from our media focus of course. I mean how else would the likes of Kamran Khan and Hamid Mir maintain their ‘mojo’. MQM’s walkouts and make-ups with the PPP government. Nawaz’s rants and playing the typical opposition party of Pakistan. The Q-league doing what it does best: shifting alignment as and where required without have any morals or actual ideology of their own. They did so again when the PPP required a message to be given to the MQM that they have other options for forming a majority Government and to bring an end to their dramatic walkouts and then making ups. The Qatil league happily accepted the role after being promised things like deputy prime minister and other cabinet positions. Those did not materialize but then most promises in the politicking are ever held. What they did manage to gain was the release of Moonis Elahi from prison and the end of the corruption cases against him in the NICL scam.

But the drama of MQM and PPP was hardly over. No one knows who let him loose –the liquor or Zardari – but Zulfiqar Mirza took it upon himself to create a storm in Karachi. It started with a drunk, fiery and uncontrolled speech at ANP Leader Shahi Syed’s house. But continued through the course of days and weeks. Speech after speech. Not just targeting the MQM anymore but also some PPP leaders as well especially Rehman Malik. To his credit Zulfiqar Mirza did entertain and keep those media ratings going through the roof. The words were bold. The accusations and poking was very much for all to see. It instigated violence in the the city by the sea. Target killings, ethnic violence and complete shut downs. But that didn’t stop him. For he had taken it upon himself to eradicate what he called the menace of Altaf Hussain, MQM and Rehman Malik. The PPP of course distanced itself from all that ZM was doing and eventually after a flying back and forth from KHI to ISL ZM has now gone to London. To this date leaving people unclear who gained what from that entire drama. Was it Zardari who wanted him to go up against MQM and time the Qaatil league handshake accordingly? Was it a reminder to Rehman Malik not to be too ambitious about where his sights may lie for the future? Or was it a case of ZM being redundant for the party and not really having control on his liqour? No one knows. There are theories of course. But no one knows for sure.

The months unfolded a trajectory in politics which bore a staunch resemblance of the Pakistani ‘democratic’ scene of the 90’s. The opposition party creating enough hue and cry for the incumbents to be eventually dismissed and then take their own turn in the opposition. It seemed the same. The ingredients were all there. But then, a new kid (well not so much new but more like a rejuvenated) arrived on the block.

With a inexplicable rise, Imran Khan started what he now calls the Tsunami for Pakistan. A tsunami which will only destroy corruption and all things bad for this country. Imran Khan and his PTI now boasting names like Javed Hashmi, Kasuri and Shah Mehmood Qureshi, started representing a hope … the only hope under the circumstances, for a change to come to this country. They used the social media and marketing tools at their disposal to very good advantage and to their credit they have managed to get the urban centres (especially the youth) more involved. If nothing else there will be change in the form of more voter turn out in the next elections. Gathering sizeable crowds in Jalsas in the hearts of PML-N and MQM in Lahore and Karachi respectively is also a change. It is a testament to the fact that people are really desperate for change. They are desperate for any thread of hope dangling in front of them. I am still sceptical of the PTI. Especially because Imran Khan has ‘had’ to induct into the party people with questionable pasts. Imran Khan himself of course cannot be questioned in terms of his will and desire to do something for the nation. His resume boasting of the Shaukat Khannam Hospital and the University are proof of this. Along with of course the more popularly discussed achievement of winning the word cup as our cricket captain. I will vote for him but as I keep saying not out of choice but by the lack of it. Nonetheless he has caused concern to Mian sahab, the chesire cat of Isloo and Bhai in London. And he does pose as a much better option than any of the other parties. We can but only hope that mine and a few others’ concerns are unfounded and that he will actually bring real change.

Our year in sports has gotten better as the year has progressed. For one thing the PCB has not been in the news much since the end of Butt’s tenure as Chairman. Afridi has returned to the One Day side after his self exile from national cricket over what he termed as mismanagement and differences with former coach Waqar Younis. We have played 4 series since the world cup and won them all. Given that 2 of them were against minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe which is hardly a test. And there was West Indies as well who are not the giants they were once. But we did also play Sri Lanka and completely dominated them in the tests and ODIs. Regardless of Sri Lanka being off their game it was still an achievement and credit to the team. The Feb-March world cup heroics were also something the nation should be proud of.

Afridi led a divided team to the semis where we lost to the India (the eventual World Cup winners) at Mohali. There have been negatives of course with the tussle between Ejaz Butt and Afridi. And the spot fixing scandal from Lords last year still looming over our heads. The three players involved had been slapped bans and fines by the ICC and now have also been sentenced to jail time by the courts for bribery. The constant switching of captaincy and continued policy of of not naming a long term permanent leadership setup for the team by the PCB remains a sore point. Mohsin Khan who is currently head coach of the side is not a permanent choice and there are still reports of Dav Whattmore getting the job. However the year has ended on a positive and we start 2012 against England with high spirits.

Apart from the major categories of Sports/Politics/Foreign Policy there have been other positives and negatives as well and well some just downright embarrassing stuff. Veena ventured for overseas work and twice made the media focus. Once with the whole Big Brother saga and then the FHM magazine shoot. It isn’t cute and well its just too much tabloid.

The brilliant geniuses at PTA actually tried to come up with (i say ‘tried’ in hopes that the idea has now been abandoned) a list of english and urdu words that would be banned for texting. The list was not small and clearly indicative of a llloooottt of spare time for the people at PTA. The bloody thing turned into a joke not only in our own country but some foreign channels also caught the speculation. In a gist their reaction was ‘Are you fucking serious? hhhahahahaha’

Pakistan was again hit by floods this year and the worst of it was in Sindh. The response and awareness for this was encouraging to see. The effort put in by some organizations was really good. I mean even if we are as a nation hypocrites and emotionally irrational by and large – the spirit to come together to help the fellow man in natural disaster situations. If only this same spirit would be so evident for other things as well. Civic sense for one.

The culture for theatre is on the rise in Karachi which is great to see. I have come across a few programs varying from teaching, to kids being involved in community work, the citizens archive has held various exhibitions on factual history of Pakistan and etc etc. Point is that the overall avenues for increasing one’s awareness has increased in the last year. At least that’s how I feel about it. Social Media has of course played its part. Imran Khan can be tied into this with getting the youth involved as well. That is also good to see. People motivated and pumped up and involved. Awareness before change.

I feel I have covered most of the important stuff. If I have missed out on anything please feel free to point it out.

Moving on to 2012 now. Looking at the way things have been in terms of the political scenario and still largely unattended matters like energy, employment and rising inflation one can only hope that there is some … SOME improvement in those areas. That there is actually some work in Public Development, education, energy. Better utilization of our natural resources and actually working towards making our economy self sufficient. That our political leaders will move on from just doing Jalsas where they make highly captivating and dramatic speeches and talk more about what needs to be done and HOW it needs to be done. I seriously do hope the army continues to stay out of the governing of the country (or as it would seem for no one really knows what goes on behind closed doors) and that the democratic setup is allowed to run its own course. Let the bad blood flow out of it naturally. What the army should actually do is focus on getting there own image corrected. The incidents with the Mehran Base attack, OBL raid in Abbottabad and the NATO strikes haven’t really left a pretty picture on the army. Including the memogate incident.

Let us hope that 2012 will be a better and more consistently positive year. Let us pray for the best of Pakistan.

Happy 2012.

 

Beaching with an Endless Horizon

I can feel the calmness around me. Nothing but stretches of sand to my sides and the vast open waters to the front. A cool breeze and soothing sounds of nature. Waves sliding on and off the beach. The leaves moving. Water splashing against the rocks. And I am just sitting and taking in the awesomeness of this paradise. People generally look at a clear night sky and the millions of stars on view and the inherent feeling of being smaller than a tiny speck in this universe sets in. I saw the endless horizon and felt the same. But it was beautiful. It was amazing. It was and is one of nature’s greatest pick me ups. Add a nice spot to sit, your best music collection, earphones and the moment is complete.

If you haven’t gathered as much so far then me me state what should have been obvious. I love beaches. They are fantastic. And a regular visit to them would do one very good. But it has to be a completely committed visit. Isolation from your normal 24/7 routine. Getting away from life to enjoy it more.

Beach visits are a different experience in summers and in winters. In summers it’s more like an activity based visit. Like beach sports and going into the water for a bit. Winters is just about taking it all in. The elements around you.

One more reason why I love my city – the beach is only ever 20-40 minutes away depending on which one I am going to. It’s my city by the sea. My view of an endless horizon.

Emotionally yours, Human

I know that in general the difference between man and beast has always been put down to the intellectual capacity that humans posses. We have opposable thumbs and a brain which thinks, applies logic and rationalises all situations. We process the information given to us. But somehow that just doesn’t complete it. I mean yes the obvious physical differences are there. But that’s not what we are driving at. In fact this blog isn’t about the difference about humans and animals at all. It’s about how we are incredibly emotional creatures. About how really when it comes down to the battles between our heads and hearts then really the overwhelming and awesome power of our hearts has no match. Our EQ holds supreme over the IQ.

We have all, I am sure, had many points in time in our lives when we have had to pick between the two. And not just for any particular situation. It is not restrictive to relationships. It could be work. It could be something one is very passionate about like their works of art, their life’s dream etc. I know I have been through situations pertaining to my job / career which demanded of course a rational and logical choice. Now that would really be the domain of the head. The grey matter. But even then if I think back it came down to what my heart was telling me. Why? In a very simple explanation our ability to feel or know what we really want is in our heart. Our entire emotional content and baggage is stored there. Our personality is half defined from their. Our words are conceived in our hearts. The brain just gives them the language and shape to come out coherently.

We feel welled up while watching incredibly made and directed emotionally critically movie/tv show scenes. We feel our hearts sink during stories of struggle and strategy. We feel excited during stories of triumph and giddy when we see a really good love story.

For some people work is their life. In such cases the work would be their passion in life. The drive for this passion comes from our emotional hubs i.e. the heart. Sports athletes are a good example of passion. They play with heart. They get emotionally invested into their teams or their individual sport when they step onto the field. Music comes from our souls. Our souls are just an outlet display of sorts or distributive channel of our hearts. Artists, social workers, humanitarians, chefs, adventurers, entrepreneurs all have passion. And that passion is driven by our emotions and feelings. Our hearts, our emotions and our feelings is who we are, is our life.

We love people because of emotional interactions with them and not because we can sit down and do math with them. Nor is it because we can intellectualise trivial things. We love people because we get emotionally connected to them.

Now because we are so we also seek validation for our feelings and emotions. We seek clarity. We look for a sign in almost everything. We look to relate ourselves with almost anyone (mostly fictional characters). We want signals. Omens even if superficial end up creating some degree of chaos in us.

This is who we are. This is what makes us human. It defines us and drives us and makes us who we are. It is the ink to writing our life story.

P.S. the title might not make sense to some. It is the best I could come up with at 2.30 AM.

Another Night….

And so he sat at the beach front again. Trying to make peace with the dark still night. Nothing but water and sand in front of him. And the thoughts that are his curse. The thoughts and the whole thinking process that doesn’t let him be. Hand in hand with emotions. The two enjoined together since the dawn of his existence never to leave him. Never to let him be rid of them. And they play themselves out on a canvas of a star less night.

Why he thought (the irony ever so blatant)? Why won’t these thoughts abandon me? Why can’t emotions not construe a scenario with much fewer possibilities, permutations and combinations? And why do they come in every time? Is the ability to be objective so hard to attain? Question after question just racing through and before he knew it, the chance to make peace with the dark night was gone. Lost before his eyes as sand slips through the grasp of one’s hand. And he is still stuck the same questions rooting out from his emotions to become the fodder for his continuous and cursed thinking.

Playgrounds

I went to a playground park a couple of days back with my nephew in Phase 8, DHA. The park is really well made with all sorts of swings and other playground obstacles. The nephew and other kids over there were having a ball and looking at them just sent me back to my own childhood and how everyday at the playground would be a new imaginary adventure. From make belief fairy tales of a prince fighting monsters to a band of super heroes going through the gauntlets and mazes put forth to them by the evil villains of yore.

From the ropes and chains of the wobbly logs over the demonic fires of mount doom to the slippery slopes before the fortress of the evil black knight.

We didn’t really have the tons of gadgets and gaming consoles back then. I mean there were no ps3′s or iPhones. We had a defined outdoor time in our heads in which we would go and play with our friends. To have wonderful adventures engineered by innocent imaginations. We couldn’t wait to come up with the most fantastic tales and games, form our teams and take our gear (toys) and begin our journeys.

Of course there were times we didn’t imagine any tales, just grab our water guns or bows and arrows and then use this playground as a battlefield. Point is the playground was the centre of our evening time universe! I couldn’t wait for the clock to strike 5 (for most of the year) so I could make my way to the ground of goodness. This of course faded with time and as I grew but from age 5 to age 10 it was a thrill.

Even today kids enjoy the playgrounds but maybe more in a way of exercise. I don’t see the same adventurous sparkle in the eyes of kids today in playground that was there when I was their age. Today’s kids are the iGeneration with their apples, playstations and Dora games.

Anyways to each generation their own.

Of Office Idiots, Morons and ‘Paindu Productions’

I came upon an article titled ‘Working with idiots can kill you’ a couple of days back. Some good people of an institute in Sweden carried out a survey of people who suffered heart attacks and a staggering 60% were not caused by bad habits ( smoking etc) or physical lifestyle habits. They were caused by stress. And this was further noted to be not because of work pressures like deadlines or sales targets etc. but rather because of having deal with idiots at work who would do things like putting files in the recycle bin of the computer because she thought it would actually recycle the documents into new.

I would really to continue on this thought and expand the selection of work place aggressors from just idiots to morons, stupid people, dumb asses and doofuses. Now I am not saying that each of them require a separate definition but it’s just that we tend to refer to them all in basically the same pool of annoying people at work. It’s actually quite fascinating that if you think about it you can identify so many of them in your Organization. And even more who are senior managers. Leading teams of people unfortunately having to follow their fearless leader into abyss.

It gets worse when one of these brilliantly wonderful morons or idiots gets off on an ego high. All hell breaks loose on the unfortunate world and concept of logic. It actually becomes scarce and common sense becomes not so common. One of the best anecdotes for this of course is something that a colleague said to me once “you see that window? Well we are on the 5th floor so continuing straight through that window will have judicious results”.

For me the two biggest factors for categorising people into morons or idiots are a)the lack of logic b) dumb blondes. I am sorry, but if you tell me that ‘excel might be running slow on the projector processing wise but it must be running normally on the laptop the projector is connected to then you are nothing else but a dumb blonde. And not even a blonde blonde. Just the dumb aspect of being a blonde! It is criminal. Also as I was writing I thought of a third category i.e. c) the paindu productions. If you come to office wearing large eye sore of a flower headband on top of your head and a dress which looks more like a fancy table cloth with holes cut in it then I am going to give you a nick name and I will judge you. Oh and trust me the clothing horrors aren’t just limited to women. Little did you know that guys make a simple thing is casual Fridays into a freaking beach party with their shredded jeans and patched up round neck t-shirts. It is infuriating. It’s casual Friday not the rave at the office.

Nick names are actually one way which eases the tension of dealing with all these people. Also rants and imitations in front of a fellow bitcher are extremely helpful. Having a good desk neighbour is also awesome. Not everyone is lucky that way since most don’t get to choose.

If only there was some provision in law which would make it justifiable for us to get away with murder. Hmmm maybe self defence since those nice Swedish people did say that working with the idiots can kill me? Yes, no, maybe?

Anyway cheer up, it’s Thursday tomorrow and the weekend is near. ! And I know I know. Some of you are thinking I could have done so much more with this post, been more sarcastic and unforgiving but this was completely written on my iPhone and well the length of writing a big post through this can be challenging :p />

Of Palmists, Tarot Card Readers and knowing the future

I had mentioned in a blog last month that in my need to improve myself I will start writing on random topics. One of the ways I have started doing that is picking out stuff from conversations or discussions that I have with various people – friends, colleagues etc. Why the disclaimer you ask? Well because my next like, and the way the blog will essentially start will point to the fact that the last couple of my blogs start with ‘I had an interesting conversation with my friend the other day’ or ‘I was discussing something with a work mate’ or stuff like that. Anyways let us get to the topic at hand.
 
I was having a conversation with a friend of mine yesterday on whether people would like knowing about their future, just a getting little sneak preview to know where one will be 5 years down the line either professionally or otherwise. While that will be very useful information and yes it will give one a severe case of ease of mind wouldn’t it take the fun out of living? It would be like reading a thriller you’ve read before or even written yourself. You already know how it ends so there are no surprises. There is no emotional journey. Now I am not saying that all emotional journeys are good or pleasant. They aren’t all ones which you would want to go through again. But then it is these experiences which define us. It won’t really be an experience if you’ve lived through it. There will be no discovery. There will be no rush of feelings upon meeting that special someone. There would be no anxiety of getting your dream job. You would already know. Somewhere in the back of your mind you would know that the palmist sitting at Abdullah Shah Ghazi Mazaar already told you that you will meet your ‘soul mate’ in 2 years. Now of course the temptation of being able to plan for things that will happen in 2 years time (guaranteed) will be so much easier and much more efficient. And trust me that is even more so for someone like me who likes to plan and think and over think things. Personal life decisions of some significance (I mean I am not taking into account decisions like what I want to have for lunch) are a really back and forth and over analyzing process for me. But I would still leave it that way because I want life to remain a continuous process of discovery. I want pleasant surprises even if I have to take culture shocks along the way. It’s the whole ying yang thing… you can’t have the good without the bad. The bad exists so that good is what it is.
 
I like having that mystery in life. I like meeting that someone without actually knowing it is her. The whole process of going from interesting person to someone I like to well the next step. Yes … I am floozy romantic at heart. I like going through the gears of feeling evolution. Similarly I don’t want to know where I’ll be sitting 2 years from now work wise. I like the challenge at work. I like feeling proud of achievements for which I have worked through trying and testing environments. For e.g. if I have closed a client while in the sales team… I felt really happy about it. If I would have known that I WILL close that client already… it would not have been the same. Even if you look at sports… a win is so much more gratifying when you sweat over it and bite your nails. In a crude way it isn’t so if lets the match was already fixed (which could be taken as an equivalent as knowing the future from the Tarot Card Reader and Palmist).  So anyways… to cut it short… I like not knowing.
 
Now coming to the Tarot Card Readers and Palmists. The other aspect about this ‘knowing the furutre’ business is that it can’t really be credible. I mean yes there are books on it and some people have claimed for their readings to be true but really the readings in those cases are pretty generic. Like you will be doing well in work in the next 2 – 3 years. It’s a coincidence really. If you have worked hard and know how to handle people then DUH you will be doing well in your work life. So a bunch of pictures on some cards that a parrot in a mystifying sense of spiritual wisdom picked out for you to tell you your future is:

A)     For me not really credible. He could have blabbered anything that he wanted to and you wouldn’t really have a way of knowing if it is accurate or not but would be parting with some money nonetheless. And there is no way for you to claim ‘mis-selling’ either. There are no money back guarantees. Not that you would actually come back hunting for the person in 5 years time because he charged you 500 bucks for something that didn’t come true. If you do… you have other issues that you need to deal with first.
B)      This whole thing even if we say has a 100% true result it just adds to the burden of over thinking about stuff. Especially for people like me who already plan and think and over think and analyze and over analyze. Why would anyone want that on their head?
C)      I find that it is much more fascinating for someone you don’t know from jack to tell you exactly what your life has already been about. Now that is well … some serious mojo. It is awesomely creepy.
 
One has to admit thou that these guys probably do make a lot of freebie cash. As do some other people of varying skills in our society … (please … I meant the whole ‘designer’ bakers and wedding planners and wedding clothes designers etc). But that is for another day and another blog. For now rejoice for Wednesday is almost at an end and the weekend is just 2 days away. And hey I didn’t even have to get my palm read to know that! J

Of Super Heroes and Villains

A couple of days ago I had an interesting conversation with a work mate on ‘heroes’ and their types as they have evolved in popular literature over the years. From the super Gods to the reluctant humans.

There are many types of heroes in this modern day and age. Of course the journey to get to these many took time and it evolved as the world evolved. It started as a simple notion: the person who saves us from all evil and harm and who is flawless. Nary a scratch on the moral character and loved by all. It was black and white. Good vs evil. Simple. But when the world of heroes came to life in fictional terms, we, the readers didn’t demand much more. A lot to do with the fact that life and society in general was simpler back then. The advent of many things has changed that over the course of time. People were satisfied at the beggining with heroic Gods or Super Gods battling with evil entities. Motives didn’t need a lot of detailed definition. The villain simply wanted to take over the world (the in depth motivation of that wasn’t questioned nor needed). The hero didn’t need any reason other then being the utmost symbol of justice and nobility and the fact that he could to save the world. It didn’t matter in the beggining of this hero / super hero culture if the character in question was alien, or a Greek God. Superman for example; the alien from another planet who adopted earth as his home. Man of steel. Or captain america. Not invincible but my lord, was he noble. The problem I have with these kinds of heroes is that they are too perfect. I mean for example the only damn weakness super man has is kryptonite (all things considered fashion not being held as a weakness otherwise that silly red underwear over his tights……it should be enough to guarantee a lifetime of embarrassing public crucifiction). And captain america’s character cannot be questioned or rather could not. Batman in one of his ealrier tv serials was a 6-7 year child old friendly joke. The series being batman and robin where the fighting was done with a lot of ka blam and both batman and robin were like characters right of out of some nut head town called pleasantsville with a stupid dopey smile on everyone’s face. The imagination of these ‘flawless’ Barbie doll heroes was not a difficult task and in most cases a very limited exercise. They were nothing more then symbols. You were either a hero or a villain. That’s it. The world lived by those two definitions and hence by black and white. Such heroes are actually defined as paragons. Although in more common terms

But then it got old. It got tiring this concept of absolutely perfect soldiers of justice. Humans changed in their outlook in general. They wanted to use their imaginations more perhaps when it came to crime fighters or saviours. They wanted more human elements in this. Perhaps they wanted to relate with them just a wee bit more. Like they were good and pure at heart but their life wasn’t in perfect order as in reality no one’s is. And thus dawned the age of Super Heroes. They weren’t perfect invincible symbols. They were closer to being human then paragons. Their life served as a struggle of choice between their life and their alter egos. It was a cruel balancing act barring a few. Villains changed as well. Their motives evolved from being simple ‘oh I am strong, I want power and want the world’. Their was a story to who the were and why they were. Just as was the case with the heroes. Spider man to this day is one of the most popular marvel characters and captures the imagination of his fans wonderfully. He has for quite some time been the face of marvel. Why? Maybe the most simplest answer is that at the end of the day spider man was just a kid who worked as a photographer to make ends meet and go to college and then also play the part of the hero. Life for him wasn’t all hunky dory and simple. It was a constant struggle for survival. The fans saw his pain and agony. They saw vulnerability as a human. They related to him. At the other end the villains were also somewhat relatable. They weren’t just people who popped out of the woodwork demanding world power. Take Magneto for instance. A mutant with a Jewish background. Persecuted for both those since the beggining – his were not intentions of taking of the over the world just like that. I mean one could say ‘I can see where he is coming from’. Rejected by the world at large for not understanding what mutants were his was a hatred for humans. But their was a backdrop to it. It wasn’t quite simple. He wasn’t born evil. And in this the comics did adopt the mantra which at least I believe is true for real life as well. No one is born evil. No one can be inherently evil. It is all that happens around them as they grow that defines them. Magneto and his utter hate and distrust for humans is proof of that. Now coming back to the struggle of the super heroes, in most cases they would also run into trouble with the law themselves while ‘taking the law in their own hands’ and breaking or bending it themselves as well. Especially when some of these comics had corruption as a theme as well. But despite their run ins with the law, they remained the good and pure hearted heroes they were.

A little more was required perhaps as no one is perfect right? So therefore the concept of anti heroes evolved. They weren’t the orthodox heroes loved by all. They did not really care much for the law. They went by their own code and served justice as they saw fit themselves. Some saw it the same as legal system in place. Some differently. Punisher for example. An anti hero. Get the bad guys and serve the punishment yourself, that was his midis operandi. They were brutal and rough around the edges. I’m not sure but hulk could perhaps be part of this category as well. But I might be wrong.

So super heroes and anti heroes made our heroes more human. Not perfect but human. The struggle against society was there. The struggle to balance their own life was their. The sacrifices and emotional vulnerability was their. But their was still one aspect missing. One which was ever so evident in the world of men as the world grew, as it advanced and became more complex. As it became more competitive and demanding. As it became more obvious that with light their will always be the dark. That not everybody simply gets some power and understands immediately that with great power comes great responsibility. Their are some who struggle not with their ability but with their inner self. Some who must undertake a journey to become who they are. Some who must win the struggle between the poison of power and mantle of morality. Nolan’s depiction of Batman in his two movies batman begins and the far knight is such a brilliant exams of this. He h managed to do what no other previous Batman movie did. He has added those shades of grey. He has shown the hard and long path that Bruce Wayne had to undertake to come to terms with being a hero. One which he still struggles with and one which will continue for some time to come. At constant battle with his inner self, the dark knight is extremely well brought out this way. And the villain – the psychotic unexplainable joker. In the words of Alfred ‘because there are some men you cannot explain. Because they just want to see the world burn’. They want constant chaos. They don’t want to rule the world. They want to bring it to ruin. And they don’t just seep out of the woodwork, they bring with them a disturbing background. And in this way the modern day heroes became more human. They had emotional constraints just as much as the next guy. The very human trait of a weakness against the poison of power, which they must overcome. They have fears which they must struggle against, fight against. They are not invincible but vulnerable. Emotionally, physically and morally. What entertains the readers most today, in the age of social networks i.e. the 2000s, is the story leading up to ours truly becoming the hero. How he earned being what he has become. And so is the case for the villains.

Readers want the emotional complexity to make it more intellectually stimulating. To make our imaginations more active. To make our perspectives more holistic. To make these fictional characters seem more closer to life then they did before. So that a tiny part of our brain would have our here’s believe in some conspiracy theory and outlandish idea that somehow this might just be possible. Ordinary people with extraordinary powers.

The fictional comic heroes and villains have always fascinated me and I admit, they have a tiny part of my brain thinking maybe it’s possible. And don’t deny it, you all want to be flying in the clouds and swinging in webs as well. Acknowledge the geek in you!

Of Blogging…

I was asked recently as to why I blog. That this blogging might be an easy route for some one to get an insight into who I am without having to make much effort. I suppose from one angle it’s true. People could get an idea about my perspective and opinions on various things, but the real personal stuff , the stuff that would actually be helpful in knowing who I am as a person is not going to be evident to the reader of this blog. At least I don’t think so. This should address the second part of the query. But what about the million dollar question? Why do I blog?

This isn’t something that has not been asked before. Nor has this thought not crossed my mind. Why do I blog? Do I do it for fame? Hardly. Do I get paid? Not a chance. So then why?

I’ve found over the past couple of years that I find blogging to be a good channel to achieve multiple objectives. It helps me express my opinions or put my perspective out there. I tend to get at times moments of inspirational thought which gets translated into some sort of philosophical gibberish. At other times something happens in this world (and mostly in our land of the pure) that stirs me enough to put my 2 cents out there. At othe times it’s just thoughts in my head that tend to start coming together to become comprehensible blabber. Whatever the case, I love writing. It makes me feel good. I believe everyone needs those one or 2 things which makes them feel like they have stepped out of their reality. In a weird way writing helps with that even though I don’t really write fiction that much. I have started publicising my blog more in the past year or so because I have also wanted to improve more and more. I feel that this way I will be able to get positive criticism and improve myself as a blogger. There are so many different things one can do through blogging. Become on the move journalists blogging the news as it happens from anywhere in the world. Become a conspiracy theorist with a sort of a cult following. A marketing guru constantly putting out ideas to better market brands. A short story writer. A poet. A photo blogger: let the pictures do most of the talking while you use the few words to put the icing in the top. Food blogger, sports blogger, book critic, movie critic etc etc. the world is open to your imagination.

Where did this love of writing come from? The closest answer would be my genes I guess and also because I love reading and that in turn inspires me to write myself. One of my favourites in this regard has always been PG Wodehouseand his Jeeves & Wooster series. The first person narrative full of wit and humour is presented simply and is one which will in my opinion transcend generations to come.

Anyways, I’ve blabbed too much. Happy blogging