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June 25, 2008
Dasavatharam – the debate goes on!
This is my third blog on the movie Dasavatharam. This time I got another mail, which explains the movie better, and from an altogether different angle. In fact I am not sure if Kamal himself thought about the story in these many angles, or it is just his intelligent interpreters who keep giving more and more meaning to his not so good movie. I think the final verdict about the movie could be – a good story, a good screenplay, a good direction, but a bad movie.
Interesting observations mentioned in the mail -
*The 1st scene is perfectly connected to the climax, remember what Kamal says in the 1st scene, that he will not say "Om Nama Shivaya", but Asin tells him to chant it, but still Kamal refuses , (in this Kamal in his story tries to tell that) Nambi believes in his God more than anything, but Asin feels "Its ok if we change the god or chant other god's name, its life thats most important."
Now if you see the climax its JUST OPPOSITE.... Kamal doesn't believe in God much and values lives of people the most.... but Asin deeply believes in God and that too this dialogue comes when both Asin and Kamal's hand is on the God which came from the sea , and it also means that they are getting united from the place they departed hundreds of years back (Kamal and Asin).The connection between the 1st scene and the climax in the movie shows the generation circle combined with supernatural powers of GOD and destiny..... !!!
*If you watch it closely you can also find another actor who has done double action other than Asin and Kamal. Asin's father Sahasranamam [12th Century], in the beginning he says to Nambi "Panchatchira manthirathai sollitu vaango mappillai" and at the End [After tsunami] he says "Avar enna jathiyo inga vaanga paati ".Another Eg. of Chaos Theory and circle of life.
Nambi’s explanation -
Okay, this is slightly outside the chaotic system driving the film as a whole. From what I could gather he says that this story is about ideologies like God, the madness surrounding such ideologies and decides to tell the story of the Shaivite-Vaishnavite conflict to show how people go crazy in the name of God as an example.
As a loose end, it gets tied up in the end, when the Ranganathar idol is thrown out of the sea due to the Tsunami, which highlights the cyclic nature of life. Actually the Nambi character highlights both Chaos and Karma which I explained. That is the brilliance of this film, there is so much to see and understand.
Another explanation (and this is slightly far fetched--- as explained earlier) is that Govind is in fact the reincaranation of Nambi. As Nambi he couldn't protect God and died in the name of God. In order to fulfill his Karma, he is reincarnated as Govind Ramasamy who ultimately saves the world from destruction. The idol in the end somewhat hints to this theory; his story began with the idol and it ends with the idol.
As far as the connection with Nambi character and events in 12th Century goes...The connection is based on the "Butterfly effect ".
*When Govind and Andal go to the bury the idol in the sands, Andal stumbles on a particular stone couple of times...This is the same stone as the one from 12th Century hen Kothai rips her Thaali and flings it at Kulothunga Chozan...it will end up hanging on the stone. So, the implied message here is Andal is Kothai reborn in the 21s century.
*During the encounter with Santhana Bharathi in the sand quarry, it is repeat of the incident from 12th century. Instead of Kulothunga Chozhan, it is the Sand Mafia who tries to inflict damage on the land. This movie is a brilliant juxtaposition of independent characters whose paths cross, if only briefly, which is stunning example of Chaos Theory.
*The idol that is drowned in the sea along with Rangarajan in 12th century by Chozha king results in a fault being developed at the bottom of the ocean and creates tremors more than 800 years later. These tremors result in the Tsunami. This again is a classic case of Butterfly Effect wherein a seemingly inconsequential event (the drowning of the idol) saves Tamil Nadu from being wiped out off the face of the earth.
But actually Kamal has not left anything for our imagination .. Explanation struck the right chord, Kamal does tell to Asin in a dialogue that idol which gets sunken back then gets struck between the tectonic plates under the sea and causes Tsunami...
Many people missed this dialogue I guess. Kamal's accent was so very perfect Tamil, that many people missed it.... Being perfect is a problem by itself !!! :)
Although the explanation is a least possible theory, that is what "Chaos Theory" and "Butterfly Effect" are all about. Its not just the statue that caused the Tsunami, but it just started a large chain of effects which kept multiplying exponentially and finally lead to it after 800 years....!!
The story line is that things going wrong are made to be right which involves many people and countries knowingly or unknowingly.
Knowingly
-Bush, Manmohan Singh, Govindh, Fletcher, Balaram Naidu, Mallika Sherawath.
Unknowingly
- Nambi's drowning to death with the heavy statue causes simple changes to the seabed that causes a devastating tsunami 800 years later [Acc. to Chaos theory it is possible.... although it is least probable... It is possible.. so nothing TOTALLY WRONG About it ]
- Poovaragan (actually saved Kamal unknowingly- --when Poovaragan enters Kamal and Asin were caught by those manal kollayargal. There Poovaragan distracts the gang helping Kamal to escape),
- Avatar Singh(gave way to Fletcher to escape in the airport unknowingly),
- Japanese (saved govind from Fletcher, he knows he is saving but he doesn’t know about the play and was there only for revenge),
- Kallifulla and family (saved Govind unknowingly) ........
- Vincent is a dalit leader of a lower caste but saved an Iyengar Girl ......and at the end becomes the son of the Iyengar Paati !!
- If Shingen Narahashi's sister was not killed, Fletcher could have killed Govind and used the virus for wrong purpose..
This is based on Chaos Theory..!!!!!
Posted by Kenni at 05:25 AM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2008
Dasavatharam – an interesting analysis!
I got this mail from one my clients, where someone explains Dasavatharam in a more meaningful manner. I honestly never watched the movie, keeping all these factors in mind….if that was so, then the movie is an interesting attempt.
The mail was….
One thing we had noticed is why people didn't get the real subtext and reason for the various roles and hence the title. If you knew the real dasavatharams of Lord Vishnu and their characters you can appreciate the script more.
Let me explain, starting with the best adapted role:
1) Krishna avatar - Vincent Poovaraghavan Lord Krishna is actually a dalit, he is dark-skinned (Shyamalam)]. He saved draupadi when she was being violated and he was the actual diplomat in Mahabharatham. Lord Krishna dies of an arrow striking his lower leg. Now look at how Vincent was introduced. He appears when Asin is about to be molested and he saves her like Draupadi.
Vincent is the dalit diplomat, fights for land issue [soil issue to be exact] and dies from the metal rod striking his leg. Oh even five of Vincent's men are drugged at P. Vasu's.. sounds familiar???
2) Balarama avatar - Balarama Naidu This is an easy given. As the name suggests and the role personifies you can easily get it.
3) Mathsya avatar - Ranagaraja Nambi Nnambi is thrown into water in an act of trying to save lord from being thrown into sea, though vainly. What more clue do you want?
4) Varaha avatar - Krishnaveni Paatti. During the Mukunda song, Krishnaveni Paatti does Varaha avatar in the shadow puppetry. The frame freezes on it for a second. there is the clue. Moreover, in varaha avatar lord actually hides earth so as to protect life forms. Here too Krishnaveni hides the germs - life form inside the statue so as to protect.
5) Vamana avatar - Kalifulla Khan remember in Vamana avatar, lord Vishnu takes the Vishvaroopa, that is the giant form! Hence the giant Kalifulla here symbolizes Vamana avatar.
6) Parasurama avatar - Christian Fletcher. Parasurama is actually on an angry killing spree and killed 21 generations of the particular kshatriya vamsa. Hence the real KILLER... Guess what thats what our Fletcher is! He comes around with the gun [modern upgrade for axe] and kills everyone around. I have to check if he kills 21 people though. :-D
7) Narasimha avatar - Shingen Narahashi first of all the name itself is a play on the words Singam [means lion in Tamil] and Narasimha [the avatar being symbolised]. LordNarasimha manifests himelf to kill the bad guy and he also teaches Prahaladha. In the movie, he shows up to kill the killer Fletcher! and is also a teacher.. Lord Narasimha had to kill the Asura with bare
hands and hence the martial arts exponent here.. get it?
8) Rama avatar - Avatar Singh Lord Rama stands for the one man one woman maxim, kind of symbolising true love.. Here Avatar portrays that spirit by saying that he loves his woman more than anything and wants to live for her.
9) Kalki avatar - Govindaraj Ramasamy As you know, the hero in kaliyug can be none other than the Kalki avatar!!!
10) Koorma avatar - Bush This is the most loose adaptation I couldn't clearly comprehend. But if you look at the real Koorma avatar, the lord is the turtle/tortoise that helps in stirring the Ksheera Ssagara and bringing out the amruth. This essentially creates war among the devas and asuras.
Similarly today Bush facilitates war between you know whom... May be Kamal also indicates that this avatar is a bit dumb like the tortoise...
Posted by Kenni at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2008
Dasavatharam – my view!
The story is simple. It is about the chaos theory – which states that no event in this world takes place without a reason. And all those events, which happen – how much ever small or big they may look – have a cosmic purpose. A butterfly fluttering in the remotest part of Africa can be reason for the downfall of stock market in the US. And also you reading this particular blog need not be a mere accident, but it could be a part of a bigger divine plan, which we will understand better in the future.
As said previously - the story is simple, but then Kamal Hassan and his team have complicated it to the extent - beyond repair. The story begins with a 13th Century incident where a Vaishnavite (Kamal) is drowned alive on the orders of a Shivaite King. 1st character.
A scientist (Kamal) in the 21st Century is working on a virus, which could kill people in millions. His boss wants to pass it on to the wrong hands for few crores. The scientist runs away with the virus sample, and the chaos starts. 2nd character
An American (Kamal) agent is recruited to chase the Scientist (Kamal) to get the virus sample back. And rest of the movie is all about how the American Kamal chases the scientist Kamal – right from the US to Chennai. And in between there are 7 other Kamals who are introduced one by one in different roles and characters. But for Mallika Sherawat’s butt nothing is noteworthy, and Asin is too loud in the second half. The sad part of the movie is – post interval the movie takes a Crazy Mohan twist, where it looks like a comedy flick.
The whole of movie gives you a feeling that you have come to see some mela - ‘exhibition.’ May be Kamal Hassan’s obsession towards of self-exhibitionism. Both Kamal and K S Ravi Kumar probably thought that they could walk home with credits for a bad story and a bad script, by keeping people busy in Kamal’s make up, which end of the day make him look like rubber dolls.
I didn’t understand, what was the necessity for Kamal to take up 10 roles on the first place, where you don’t look like yourself. It is like you wear a mask of monkey, and say you acted like a monkey in one movie, you wear a mask of Amitabh Bacchan – and say I acted like Amitabh Bacchan in another movie. I think characters are all about you looking yourself, and enacting someone you aren’t.
The movie left me with few questions to ponder too –
*How is the 13th Century Kamal connected to virus and also Tsunami?
*Dr Kamal wants the people to believe in God or he doesn’t want to?
*Who is more powerful – Lord Narayana or Lord Shiva?
My verdict – after a long time I got a headache after watching a movie. I am an ardent fan of Kamal Hasan – but still the movie is badly made.
Posted by Kenni at 02:44 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2008
Mayajaal Multiplex – a mere cheater!
My friend downloaded the movie “Sarkar Raj’ from one of the torrent sites, and watched it in DVD quality sitting at home on the very 2nd day the movie was released. And I think he would have also downloaded ‘Aamir’s by this time and watched it too. I had a debate with him, where I said what he was doing was wrong. He had few valid points with him for counter argument. “Rs 200 for ticket, Rs 25 for bottled water, Rs 5 extra on petrol – why should I spend so much money, when I get DVD quality sitting at home?” I didn’t agree with him, but then I think I would after this particular incident!
I have been a regular visitor of Mayajaal – a multiplex on the ECR Chennai – owned by Pentamedia, and I have been watching movies there for the last 8 years I guess. I am not sure about how much profits they make – but then that isn’t anything that I should bother about.
Before the government intervened on the cost of movie tickets in multiplex, they had the liberty to increase the rates depending on the desperation of entertainment seekers of Chennai. On weekdays the tickets used to be Rs 80 and on weekends it was Rs 200. None had any problems in paying. I pity Indians for they don’t have any other mode of entertainment in India.
I went to Mayajaal to watch Kamal Hassan’s ‘Dasavatharam’ yesterday. Thankfully I got the tickets. For 4 tickets, the guy asked me Rs 800. I asked him, why is it Rs 800 and he said we have this combo offer – Rs 120 for movie ticket and Rs 80 for snacks. I said I don’t want the snacks, and he said it is compulsory. I asked what all can I get – he said a can pepsi (which is Rs 15 in the market), one Lays packet (which is Rs 5 in the market), and one pop corn (which cannot be more than Rs 15 in the market). So they wanted to sell Rs 40 ka stuff for Rs 80 – and that too compulsorily.
I didn’t fight with the ticket counter guy - I know he is just a slave working there. My sister and me went to meet the manager. Our debate was – why are you forcing us to buy snacks? If we want we will buy – who are you to tell us what we should eat and for how much we should eat? The manager replied – this is a combo offer we are running, and this will run for the first 10 days after the release of any new move! So logically the people who will come to watch movie in the very first 10 days of its release – will be assholes, who will be cheated, and forced to eat what this multiplex wants them to eat.
We didn’t take his words. We said, if you are running a combo offer, then you should also give us an alternative. It is my decision again – whether I want to take the combo offer or not. And also I said I don’t drink Pepsi or Coke for the last 6 years, you cannot make me drink that shit. For this the manager said, “I will give only you guys an option. You need not use this coupons just for Pepsi, Lays and Popcorn, you can use this to eat whatever you want to in other eateries inside Mayajaal.” We refused to take this option too. We said, why should we spend Rs 320, because you want us to spend - that too forcibly? He lost his cool, and said then you take a refund. And we said fine.
I had lost my cool long before. I said, “I am from the press, and I blog too. I will make this an issue, and if need be sue the multiplex.” He took our tickets, and also the coupons with him, and asked us to wait. Another guy came back, gave us our movie tickets, and also refunded Rs 320 in cash.
We weren’t happy yet. Getting Rs 320 back from him wasn’t what we wanted. In fact we were against getting cheated. And the bad news was – except for us none other was unhappy about being cheated. I could see, the same Pepsi can, Lays packet and Pop Corn – in hands of almost all – right from kids to old people, who otherwise would have chosen to eat something else!
After this particular incident I have decided – not to watch new releases in first 10 days of its release. And secondly if this kind of cheating persists – I surely will succumb to torrent sites. And last but not the least – I will show my middle finger to all those ugly people who come on the TV channels to ask us to fight against piracy.
Moral 1) – You aren’t a loser if you fight and lose, but you surely are a loser if you don’t fight at all!
Moral 2) - Criminals are made, and not born
Posted by Kenni at 06:38 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2008
My visit to the Golden Temple – Vellore!
I came to know about this 300-crore Golden temple through media, and also through 2 of my friends who had already visited the shrine. More than the temple, I was curious to know about the person behind the whole project. I gooogled and found the answer. It is Sri Shakti Amma - a man who is an ardent devotee of Lord Narayanee. (Google - Narayanee Peedam - for results).
We drove down to the temple, and the temple was crowded as expected. I am sure it will attract more people in days to come, and would fetch more money than Tirupathi for sure. The initial experience of shutting people in cages reminded me of Tirupathi. But then I think there isn’t any better way to handle animalistic Indian crowd.
After some decent waiting the doors were opened. The walk towards the main shrine was interesting. It is a star shaped pathway, which is surrounded by lush green gardens, where the sayings of this 32-year-saint are displayed. They are good to read. The main shrine is made completely of Gold, with the main deity as lord Narayani.
The darshan was good, and after the darshan I realized that anything is surplus is ugly. Gold looks beautiful only when there is a contrast or it just looks like a yellow metal. May be that is what the saint intended to convey.
One of my clients had told me that you could meet the saint, who performs puja in a normal temple, which is located opposite to this Golden temple. Very few knew about this fact. Hence out of 10,000 and odd people who came to see the Golden Temple, only 100 and odd people came to the opposite temple to meet the saint.
We waited for some 2 hours, and witnessed the saint performing puja. The puja went for an hour or so. And it was part of the schedule that after the puja was over he would sprinkle some holy water on the people who attended.
He called 2 people on to the stage and gave them blessed lemons. And came down to sprinkle the holy water. On his way, he looked at me, stopped near me, gave me a cosmic smile, and asked - so where are you from. I said from Chennai. He smiled again, sprinkled water and moved on.
In fact I was a lot flattered. Out of 200 and odd people, he spoke to only 1 person and that was me. More than the temple, I liked his cosmic smile – may it will have some bigger meaning, which will manifest in the near future!
Posted by Kenni at 07:55 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2008
What bloody nonsense is this?!
I had a friend in the last organization I worked for. And the friend was a girl. She had a relationship with a guy, who wasn’t as qualified as the girl was, didn’t make as much money as she made, and also wasn’t as confident as the girl would be. These were reasons enough for the girl to ditch him someday or the other. I wasn’t a full time astrologer then but was learning about human life patterns from my teacher.
The girl had already sent few signals to the guy that she is about to leave him for good. And she had already stated that one in a million dialogue, which most girls use to put themselves on guard and put them in a safe position – “I like you as a person, but then let us remain friends forever!”
The guy lost his cool, attempted few suicides, and became a lot violent in nature. Once he even barged into the office, and slapped my friend in front of her colleagues. This was the time when I was called to do the negotiation! I think God has created me to solve others problems! Well I enjoy it too.
I spoke to the guy, and also pacified my friend’s mother who was about to file a police complaint against the guy. I spoke to the guy, and made him aware about the nasty sides of women, I called my friend aside, and warned her – not to play with men’s emotions in the name of love or intimate friendships. She agreed, but then she took it a lot personally too. Thankfully the problem was solved temporarily, but a cold war had already begun between me and her….
Months passed, I had quit my job, my friend went abroad, and none knew the whereabouts of the boyfriend. Things looked peaceful, and I thought it was all over.
After few months, I got few messages on yahoo messenger from my friend saying, “I am not one among those, who would use men for personal benefits. I am not the kind who would ditch anyone.” I said fine, so. She asked me, “so what is your prediction about my marriage with him (let us call him Ritesh – name changed).” I said, “impossible.” “You surely won’t get married to him, and also my intuition says your spouse will be tall, fair and handsome – and not dark, thin and average looking like Ritesh.” She broke the suspense now. She said, “Kennedi, you are wrong. My marriage is fixed with Ritesh, and I will send you my marriage invitation so please attend my marriage.” I was a bit taken aback. In fact I wasn’t bothered about my wrong prediction, but then I started admiring my friend - who in spite of all odds, decided to get married to the guy who she loved! And my conviction about distant relationships going for a toss had a bad hitting already.
I kept asking her about how did it all happen? You were abroad, and he was in India, and you guys weren’t in touch for many months, then how come you are getting married. And she coolly replied, “the guy did everything for her. He met her parents, convinced them for marriage, and I agreed too.” I told myself – what a wonderful love story and what a wonderful people to fall in love.
I got the marriage invitation, and she had called me specifically. I don’t know whether she wanted me to attend the marriage as a friend, or she wanted to prove me wrong about what I told her and what I had thought about her. And honestly I forgot to attend the marriage. And I thought the episode is all over now.
Just yesterday I got a call from a common friend of ours. And I had told her about this girl who is going to get married to Ritesh. And I had told her how I admire her conviction. And the common friend laughed her heart out. I asked what is wrong? And she said, “it isn’t the same Ritesh! Just the names are same. The guy she got married to was tall, fair and handsome!!!”
I told myself, what bloody nonsense is this?!
Posted by Kenni at 10:24 AM | Comments (0)
June 10, 2008
The mysterious 14th Century saint – part 2!
Days passed, and I had stopped thinking about this particular issue. One fine day, my sister asked me to drop and pick her up from a particular place. And I had 1 hour in between. I thought I would visit the Sai Baba temple on ECR, Chennai in the meantime. Thankfully I was carrying one of Osho’s books – Krishna – which I could read there.
I reached the temple in 30 minutes, and was now standing in front of Lord Dattatreya’s idol. Neither did I come to see Lord Dattatreya, nor was I thinking about my friend’s case on that particular day. I kept staring at the idol, and something told me to open the book. I opened the book, and noted the page number – it was 3&%
I picked up my sister, hurried to my house, put 13&% as year of birth, put the time at which I was at the temple as time of birth. Date, and month I put according to the placement of Sun and Moon. And I got a different chart altogether. Now I matched the events I had already confirmed with my friend with the earlier chart about the saint, and it matched with this particular chart too.
I knew, that I could be a bit subjective and also partial in this particular case. Hence to double confirm I asked my friend to consult some other good astrologer about the chart I had chalked now. I asked her to ask the astrologer only about the saint’s past using this new chart. If they match with what I had told about his past – then we can confirm that we have broken the code!
And as expected looking at the new chart the other astrologer told exactly what I had told about the saint’s past looking at the previous chart. And I confirmed to my friend his date & time of birth. Thanks to Lord Dattatreya!
Posted by Kenni at 05:07 AM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2008
The mysterious 14th Century saint – part 1!
“I will give you the chart details and the planetary positions. Will you be able to tell me the person’s date and time of birth?” One of my Express days friends asked me over Yahoo Messenger. I said very much possible. She gave me 3 other clues – one that the person was a saint, secondly that he was born in the 14th Century, and third that he was born in Maharashtra!
I drew the horoscope on a white paper and looking at the planetary placements she had given I said few events of his past, and my friend agreed to most of them. So I presumed that the chart was right, and now I just need to find his date and time of birth. But things weren’t as easy as it looked initially.
My friend’s mother has zero knowledge about astrology. And she hasn’t read a single book about astrology but then the chart details and the planetary positions were given to my friend by her mother. She needed the birth details for a thesis she was doing on the Marathi saint. And how did the mother get to know about the chart details? Here is the mystery…
My friend’s mom has a unique power to connect with any saint – dead or alive. She speaks to literally every saint – right from Ramakrishna Paramahansa to Swami Vivekananda. And one of her closest was this 14th Century Marathi saint. It was this saint who gave her his birth chart when she asked for it. The saint for some peculiar reason just gave her the chart details, but then never revealed his date and time of birth.
Now the case was passed on to me, and I felt like a Tom Cruise of Mission Impossible! I broke my head over the chart. And I also spoke to another experienced astrologers I knew. The conclusion was – the details of the chart and the planetary placements were an impossible planetary combination. I tried to find the combination right from 10th Century to 15th Century – and I could not find it out.
After good amount of effort I understood that logical approach wouldn’t help me much now. I decided to take some major divine help to crack this cryptic code. I told my friend that I will have to meditate on the case, and asked her 2 important things again. I asked her to confirm the Century and also I asked her to let me know the saint’s personal deity. She said it surely was 14th Century, and his deity was Lord Dattatreya. I said fine, and told her – if God helps me, I will get in touch with you. Or else think I have failed in the mission.
To be continued....
Posted by Kenni at 06:41 AM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2008
My salute to the West!
I have a friend turned client, and thankfully most of my predictions for him have been on the dot – with month range I should say. While in India, he would call me, fix an appointment and never turn up. Many a times I have cancelled all my other commitments just for him, and he never had the courtesy to call me and say that he won’t be coming. With time, whenever he called me - I would give him a date, and then carry on with my work – going out for a movie for instance- for I knew he would never come. And my guesses were always right!
He went to the US a couple of months back, and visited India for a couple of days recently. He called me from India, and said he wanted to meet me. This time I cancelled all my other commitments for I knew I would surely come. The appointment was at 11 am, and he called me at 11.10 am saying he was on his way. A marked improvement I should say. I am sure if he spends few more months in the US he will reach my home on time the next time. So what brought the change?
In India we have been tuned to “sab kuch chalta hai” attitude. We don’t bother about other person’s time. And we have forgotten courtesy long back. This plight of a country, which was at his peak of civilization when the Americans were living in the caves, is shameful by all sense. We aren’t Indians anymore, and we have lost all our Indianess but we still want to bask in its glorious past. We have lost in the race of development, and we have stopped getting civilized too.
As on date we need to visit the US to understand the basics disciplines of life. We need to visit the US to learn that – we should not spit in public places. We need to learn from the West that we should throw litter only in the dustbin, and we need to watch Hollywood movies to understand what lane disciplines actually are.
I met my ex-neighbour - an activist - in Chennai recently, and I happened to meet him at Chennai railway station. And the railway tracks of the IT hubs we Indians boast about were flooded with human shit. The place stunk like hell, and the guy said – if this place stopped stinking, we would fail to recognize the place! They have more or less become synonyms today. “There is so much to learn from the West,” he said. “And one of the first is – cleanliness!”
We usually laugh at the Westerners saying they don’t wash their butts with water - they use toilet papers to wipe it off instead. I think we have been trained only to wash our butts properly – rest everything we have started to take it for granted.
Posted by Kenni at 07:54 AM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2008
Should I or should I not?
Someone sometime back told me that I should have so much work that I should not have enough time to complete them. Today I don’t know whether it was a blessing or a curse. For the last 15 days orders poured in so much that I could not blog, I could not come on yahoo messenger and also I could not reply to many mails. Well thankfully I completed all of them, and could find some time finally…
Now on to the blog…
Recently my sis started a new business. And as the business would grow she would need something called VAT (Value Added Tax) registration number for all her business transactions. She thought it would be ideal if she gets its now to avoid problems in future. We are new into this hence we consulted few accountants about the process involved. They coolly said it would cost Rs 9000 to get it done.
Of course we thought that an investment of 9 k was a bit high to get VAT number. It is like you spending 9 k to get your driving license. My sister googled to find the exact cost involved and it said Rs 500! So what about the rest Rs 8500 – it is corruption charges! Of course no asshole in the Indian government office will ask you openly but then you will never get a VAT number until and unless you shell out 9 k.
So the rule is - before you start something on your own, you have to corrupt the bloody system. And the government expects the businessmen to pay their taxes properly after they start minting money. For this very reason – no businessman shows his salary more than Rs 1.5 lakhs! Who are we fooling in the long process? Ourselves?!.
My mom – now a widow pensioner - built a house out of the PF money my dad had left behind. She needs a 3-phase electric connection. The government charges are Rs 9000 and the corruption charge is Rs 6000. So unless she shells out 15 k – she will never get a 3-phase connection. Thankfully she has a single-phase connection already, or I am sure the government would have never minded she spending her life in darkness.
My mom then got a water connection – Rs 5000 government charges and Rs 5000 corruption charges. And her pension is Rs 4 k per month!
I am not against people making money. Money is good. Money can buy you luxury and money can buy you happiness too. But making money in this way, where you drag people to a stage where they become utterly helpless and are forced to pay - I think is a sin. I think these corrupt bastards should run a brothel in their houses instead – at least they can get some content customers.
I spoke to many people, and all said me the same thing that you cannot get things done in government offices without corruption. You have to pay Rs 50 to the electrician or he won’t climb the pole, you have to pay the cylinder delivery boy Rs 20 – or he will delay delivering the cylinder next time, you cannot get a ration card if you don’t pay Rs 2000, and the khakhi clad joker will never accept you exist if you don’t give him Rs 500 to get your passport.
I agree that in the present Mahaan Bharat, where like choots we are expecting it to be a developed country in 2020 – nothing moves without corruption. But I strongly feel that it should stop somewhere, sometime. Of course I am responsible too - I have corrupted the system once. I have thrown Rs 100 to get my dad’s death certificate or else he would have been a living entity till date, I have thrown Rs 100 to the Village Administrative Officer of Tiruppur to prove my parenthood, I have thrown few 100s in Taluka office of Tiruppur to get my mom her pension - all these corruption even after having all the documents in place.
And now I have decided - I won’t. I won’t give out a single ‘Rupee’ to any of the government employee to get my things done. I might die homeless or even penniless – but I won’t let them win!
I have decided another thing too. I know this small decision doesn’t make much difference to people alive and also to the world - but still. My charges for consultation for all are the same at it is shown here -
http://www.askenni.com/archives/vedic_astrology/index.html
But for corrupt government officials of India, and all the corrupt politicians it is 45 per cent higher (33 per cent tax and 12 per cent VAT). (The extra 45 per cent money collected will be donated in the form of Anna Dhanam to poor children of India)
God Bless All
Posted by Kenni at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)