Random...

The all famous George Cham of PhD. Comics is coming to the University of Illinois on March 1st. Catch him at 100 Material Sciences and Engineering Building. Also of interest - Purdue, Feb 28th and PSU, April 7th. His full schedule is here.

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Came across some articles on the internet. Should be interesting to you, especially if you are a desi in the US.

• My America by R. K. Narayanan
• The X=X+1 Syndrome - Desi's Life in USA
• Arranged Marriage - Finding a Wife in India

More here. I especially like R. K. Narayan's. Simple, nicely written and very true.

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Feb 14th was Valentines Day (apparently). I didn't realize it till about 6 in the evening, when I saw a guy walk with a bouquet of flowers. Though, this is not an especially unusual thing to see, it was a Tuesday evening. Otherwise, the day was as normal as any other. No stupid offers at the coffee shop. No garish irritating signs at the Chinese restaurant. No one even mentioned it in conversation. I feel its status abroad (i.e. in India)is much overhyped. Here, it is no more important than St. Patrick's day (March 1st). He was the Saint of Booze (I guess), because everyone gets stoned then.

I think what these guys have done is smart. If you say, 'Saint died today. Remember him. Be sad and sincere', no one is going to look twice. However, if you associate some alchohol or romance with it, everyone would want to be in on the game. Not because they actually care about the saint. Well, who isn't looking for an excuse to goof off? Heh.

However, what escapes me is the newly acquired Indian obsession with all things Western. I didn't know this day existed till a few years back. I found it a really absurd day to remember. Totally didn't get it. I think I actually got around to rememering the date only last year. Anyway, I had this rather funny conversation with my friend Vishnu.

vishnu: in chennai theyve suddently started hyping out valentines day majorly!
me: what? really??
vishnu: the best was when my servant asked my mom if she would have a holiday on the 14th at school!!
me: what?? ha ha ha ha man. this is too much..

I think the fundamental issue here is ignorance - we have no idea what this day really means. Not many realize its a day when this guy called Valentine got his chopped off for possibly getting on the nerves of the local bigwigs. It has nothing to do with the Indian context. We seem to be celebrating it based on how we think people in the West celebrate it. That image is of course fed to us by the media, and needless to say when we imitate we overcompensate.

I have another theory why these days were created. Western society is to a large extent capitalistic. (I once read this in a newspaper, "Heart disease costs the American economy $25 billion in lost revenue". Though the statement makes perfect logical sense, I couldn't help smiling. Do you get it?) In the winter, people tend to be caught indoors and are not that happy. So, invent Christmas, the biggest festival of the year, and keep it in peak winter, to ensure people are up and about, not that depressed, and most importantly spending. Thanksgiving was invented to drum things up a little before the winter set in. Valentine's day was invented to prevent things from slowing down post winter. People are going to anyway spend during the summer. This way, you keep the economy active all year round.

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Saw Rang De Basanti (today) and Bluffmaster (a few weeks back). I usually judge Hindi movies 'locally', i.e. I compare them to other Hindi movies. Global judgement would be disastrous. However, these two are as good as any film from anywhere. Good cinematography. Well told story. Not too many inconsequential scenes. Not overly melodramatic. If Indians can make such nice movies, why do they make half baked crappy nonsense with Kareena Kapoor and Sunny Deol prancing around like a pair of Energizer bunnies on steroids.