The argument that Arundhati needs to live in a chawl (hovel establishment) so she be allowed to comment on the political establishment is much like the one which says an artist need necessarily be a poor one to portray pathos. True, she enjoys luxury. Why not? Aren't we all asking for sustainable development? Dams, my friends, are not the flags of the nation (5th class, St. Anns High School, Secunderabad, India)as we were taught. True they are "environmentally palatable" but not at the cost of human lives and livelihood. Im not vicariously arguing on Arundhathi's behalf. Many times, I have myself found myself questioning her claims. But what gets me every time is when we say that "some people will suffer" for the benefit of many more. No! we are not talking about "some people." We are talking of thousands of people. We are talking about people who have lived for many hundreds of years in their ancestral villages and have bulit their economies and livelihoods around the rivers. And incidentally, and I wonder why?, most people affected are the tribals and Dalits(the supposed lower caste of Hindu society.)According to
"Instead the project would displace more than 320,000 people and affect the livelihood of thousands of others."
We are also not talking about a one-time suffering. We are talking about sustained and prolonged displacement. We are talking about apathetic, corrupt government officials who care a shit about the displaced communities. And yes, lest I forget, I bet we wouldn't be talking about looking at the larger picture when there is a million tonne river staring at you and your home, threatening to flood and yes, kill you.
Research has shown that large dams are not only unsustainable but the only National Interest they are serving is interest of those ones with the power and money and enough corporate stake in the building of these large dams.
And why should organizations who are fighting for the residents be the ones to propoerly rehabilitate them? Isn't it the government who is displacing these people be responsible?
Before I came to the US, I made a documentary film about a similar situation in Hyderabad, India. Hundreds of families living on the banks of the river Musi, which runs through the city, were forced to relocate to tinderbox shelters about 30 kms away from the city. There were promised beautiful homes, schools and community centers. They got nothing. They continue to live today in the same conditions, while governments come and go. The reason for this being that the government planned to beautify the city by constructing amusement parks and multi-storey bulidings on behest of the World bank.
Big bucks ride on these big projects. Skewed developement reports from traditionally biased agencies like the World Bank are held up as the basis of equitous distribution of natural resuorces and wealth. And that is not acceptable, and to that effect Roy, who writes magically, writes.
And Ajay, ofcourse the BJP is "Hindu." They proclaim themselves to be that. They do not deny that so why should anybody, hmm?
As I wrote in my ealier post, the Congress is no better in their nationalistic agenda than the BJP. However, optimistic fool that I am, hope that there are no more progroms and genocides embedded in party ideologies anymore. And the more people talk about it the better.

And yes, Dalrymple, I love the guy. I am reading The White Mughals now. It is the most beautiful love story set in Hyderabad, India, (MY CITY.)

In the nice and cool burrow that I have dug for myself bad tidings threatened. Big keepers of somatic selfs pronounce omnious diagnoses that have me dig deeper into the aforementioned burrow. These days are green and blue and a lighter shade of yellow. Ah yes, dreaded moneylessness, you got me babe!
Ajay, it'll get better surely?

The green bills that is. I just calculated and found that the money ill be paying in students loans would have fed me for the next 20 years in India. Besides, my activist self (been dormant for many months) was very happy when I saw Moore's latest. Wept ofcourse. It should'nt be happening.

Everybody Tells Me Everything
by Ogden Nash

I find it very difficult to enthuse
Over the current news.
Just when you think that at least the outlook is so black that it can grow no blacker, it worsens,
And that is why I do not like the news, because there has never been an era when so many things were going so right for so many of the wrong persons.

This really defines the attitude of many of my countrymen/women towards gay and lesbian people. The issue in question is about the release of a new "progressive" film about lesbianism, called Girl Friend. The filmmaker defines it that, while the ultra right wing protectors of India's culture and tradition, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, [not the link on top!]), are rampaging theatres across the country in protest of the film. Below is some info about the film and also an open letter to the filmmaker!


Subject: Girlfriend Protest
From: "Humjinsi Cluster" <humjinsi@hotmail.com>

Dear all,

This is an urgent and serious matter. Tejal and Sheba saw the
premier
of the film 'Girl Friend' yesterday. The film portrays Isha Koppikar as
a
sexually abused, violent, obsessive, killer, psychopath lesbian. The
film
claims to address the issue of 'lesbianism' but operates from a totally
homophobic, hetero- patriarchal viewpoint. It will do
unspeakable damage for the movement and simply put, it is downright
dangerous for those of us trying to survive in an already hateful
world.
The movie tears away the anonymity of lesbian existence; the word
lesbian is actually used in the film and the image created is a ghastly
and revolting one. The character is not a lesbian, she is a woman
hunter, a man hater, there are so many things in the film that are
absolutely despicable that one cannot even begin to describe them.

The absolute folly is that this movie is going to show in movie
theatres
all across the country. So while the film capitalizes on the lesbian
angle
(there is even a sleazy bedroom scene) the axe comes down so fast and
so
hard on the lesbian (she dies a gruesome death, which is
obviously retribution) that there is not even a sliver of doubt. Women
who
hate men become lesbians- who are bloodthirsty, abusive killer- who
finally bring on their own annihilation.

We have to take a stand and make a statement against this film and we
have
to come up with strategies to make a strong protest. We urge all of you
to
make time and suffer through the film this weekend so that we are well
aware of what we are up against.

Tejal has reviewed this film for MID-DAY. What she has to say and that
reflects how the rest of us feel as well, is written below. Do go
through it as well.

We urge everyone to come together. We will continue posting minutes of
every meeting and action taken.

In Solidarity,

Shruti, Tejal, Sheba, Aditi
Humjinsi

o o o o o


FROM THE FIRE INTO THE FRYING PAN

Dear Mr. Karan Razdan (director of Girlfriend),

This was supposed to be a film review. If the Shiva Sena and the
Bajrang
Dal go on a rampage yet again, to protest your film 'Girlfriend', ask
for
the film to be banned or sent back to the censor board, I might even
forgive you.

But I know, that six years after Deepa Mehta's film 'Fire' was
released,
the right wing will see no reason to protest your film because your
portrayal of a lesbian as 'a psychopath' sexually abused, man hating,
murderer and killer&acirc;€™ fits just fine into their hetero-patriarchal
agenda
of portraying lesbians & gays as freaks, abnormal and as people who
must
die at the end of the film, so they are aptly punished for their
unnatural existence.

On the out set, it must be stated that the ''Lesbian' issue is a hot
topic; it attracts audiences, creates a curiosity and definitely
impacts
the box office collections. I mean, if you were to tell me that you
made
this film because you care so much about lesbians and the issues
affecting them, that you wanted to bring this issue into the public
realm,
into every Indian household, surely you mean it as a
devasta
ti
ngly, nasty joke!

Your film is a presentation of the worst possible misnomers (I
consciously refrain from using the word 'stereotype') about anyone who
may
be attracted to a person of the same gender. The male, macho but normal
(read heterosexual) hero has no qualms about playing a
hyper-exaggerated, sissy, gay man when he needs to seduce the simple
minded, generous at heart, 'one-night' lesbian, but basically reformed,
heterosexual heroine, Amrita Arora. The straight heroine who is being
continuously misled by the lesbian villain must be saved by the
good-boy-hero. In the end, values of heterosexual love, marriage and
'normal' families must be upheld. The character of Tanya, acted by Isha
Koppikar is nothing short of a 'lesbian animal' aided as it is by the
background score to help us see her as a wild, almost cannibalistic
man-eating/man-hating woman who dares to behave like a man, a Sahela.
All
this of course is explained by the simple truth that she was
sexually abused as a child simultaneously implying that what makes
women
&acirc;€˜this way&acirc;€™ is possibly, abuse at the hands of men!

After watching a film like this, it is impossible for anyone to think
of
'women who love women' as normal human beings with two hands and two
feet,
who may be a friend, a sister, a mother, an aunt, a neighbour, a grand
mother and least of all a caring lover.

It must be pointed out that under the section 377 of the Indian Penal
Code, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are looked upon
as/considered criminals, existing against the order of nature. Hey! and
if
you thought it was just about 'those guys & their lifestyles', let me
remind you that anytime you have non peno-viginal penetrative sex, you
are
as much of a criminal and can be put in the prison for 7 years or
heavily
fined or both.

Mr. Razdan, the next time you say that you are taking a neutral
position
in this film and portraying the case of just one lesbian, let me remind
you precisely, that the fiction you are choosing is a cleverly
developed
and thought out story that carries a clear message. This message is a
dangerous and retrogressive one. It is a message that endangers the
life
of any woman who may look or behave boyish, any woman who chooses to
experiment with her sexuality, and any woman who asserts her right to
different choices, even those women who are good friends and hold hands
when they walk down the street.

Welcome to the world of blatant hate crimes based on your sexual and
gender orientation!

As men or women, homosexual or heterosexual, films like these take us
many
steps backwards. More than two decades of work done by Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender groups, feminists groups, human rights groups,
women's groups and progressive artists groups, is going to suffer as
this
film is commercially released in every part of India from small towns
to
big cities.

Every time I hear of another lesbian suicide, another girl who hanged
herself for being teased about her 'best' friend, another hijra woman
raped in police custody, another woman sent for shock treatment and
aversion therapy to cure her of her homosexuality, another couple put
under house arrest by their parents when they find out about their
same-sex love, I will think of this film and I will be reminded of the
power that Bollywood wields in creating a mass consciousness of one
sort
or the other. In this case, it will be a conscious, articulated,
homophobia.

Thank-you very much Mr. Razdan, but we, as progressive citizens are not
interested in lip-service. I can assure you of one thing: the
homosexual
community in this country would much rather live in quiet anonymity
than
be mis-represented in such a ghastly, contorted fashion. Even a little
bit of research on your part would have revealed that
there
are at
least
three active lesbian and bisexual women's groups in Bombay city alone
and
hundreds of 'women who love women' leading their lives openly and
happily
but that's only possible when one makes a film on a hot issue (like
lesbianism is in India) when you foresee beyond profits and
publicity and see, real lives and real people who will live the
consequences of your doing.

It&acirc;€™s time that we stopped separating the issues that films address and
their impact on the audience/citizen within a given socio-political
context/environment. It is also high time that we stand in protest
against
any film that causes damage to the rights of any minority group.

Tejal Shah
(The writer is a visual artist and the co-founder, organiser and
curator
of Larzish - tremors of a revolution, International Film festival of
Sexuality & Gender Plurality, India since 2003)

BBC News, 14 June, 2004
'Girlfriend' causes India storm
By Jayshree Bajoria


The Telegraph, June 16, 2004
Two Women - Editorial


The Times of India, June 16, 2004
The XY-rated Film: Thought Police are Oxy-morons
Bachi Karkaria


see also the the URL for the official website on the film:

my long hibernation has resulted in me losing my belly button. i cannot find it. here's a lil love song for the newly dissapeared:

Oh my lovely button
where have you gotten
my lifes rotten
oh my belly button!

P.S: extreme poverty and many chocolate chip cookies have contributed to my slowly losing my mind too. But more on that later...
Liz, im in town, I shall call tonight! Do not fear I am here (Tagline of famous Hindi film)

Hey terry

Just read your post on POTA. I think its a horrible thing too. I agree completely. however, Sonia gandhi is not the daughter of Indira. She is infact the daughter-in-law, the wife of Rajiv Gandhi who was assasinated while he was Prime Minister. Also, Sonia has decided not to take up the Prime Ministership, owing to the fact that she is Italian and that there was a whole lot of objection to that from some Nationalistic assholes who wanted to uphold the "tradition and culture of Indian (read Hindu) society."
Also, Sonia's party is the dynasty-like political party, the Congress. They are hardly left-of-center. They are as right as right can be, only slightly less jingoistic than the present government.
thats it.. sorry to bore you with the many details but its just that Indian politics gets my gut everytime, just as i suppose you guys feel the same about your government!
as an aside, i love arundhathi roy.

There's a beautiful old Hindi song, which goes...
Mein zindagika saath nibaatha chala gaya
har fikrako duweh mein udaatha chalagaya....

meaning...
I have walked along with Life,
let my worries float away with the smoke of a cigarette.
truly, so much is lost in translation! Its beautiful though. Reminds me of the many nights at bars in India, drinking Kingfisher Beer and smoking my favorite Gold Flake cigarettes. And then ofcourse driving many miles to go to the dhaba(outdoor, rustic food place serving authentic Punjabi food.) There are no tables and chairs in these dhabas, just old cots with woven ropes and the smell of the ovens and the amazing night skies, naked and open.
I really do have a better perspective of my life in India now. For many years having everything I wanted was not enough, I wanted to get out of there, see what life had to offer me.... ok, I've seen it for the past year now and i long to go back now. its not merely about feeling displaced and lonely, it is rather the smells, the sights i crave. miss my friends, my family. this newfound perspective includes some career decisions too. more later... doston, alvida khudaphis!

mapping threads so bare
i lay in a maze
that casts a shadow threatening to drown
suck me in, drown me, don't leave me
i need to die now so i do not wake