Soniah: talk, talk, talk

Shikha, who seldom posts, and I are going to rebirth our blog in the form of a dialogue instead of individual postings. Talk, talk, talk, it's all we do anyway so why not here too. Hopefully it'll be interesting and if not then at least different, although isn't different just another word for interesting?

Soniah: Passing Away

Pakistani comedian and film icon Rangeela passed away at age 74 from a kidney disorder on May 24th. Sunil Dutt passes away at age 75 from a heart attack on May 25th. And Ismail Merchant at age 68 also passes away on May 25th.
Anne Bancroft passed away on 6th June of uterine cancer. I think she grew even more beautiful with age.

No doubt others too have died on these days too but we won't know who or where because they aren't celebrities in some capacity, and for this very reason when a celebrity takes up a cause during life he/she is usually heard just as diligently. However do the famous have the duty to adopt a cause and speak up for it? After all fame does not necessarily equate with a great moral or social conscience.

Pakistan's Female Fighter Pilots

Until recently, most women in this conservative Muslim society would more likely have imagined marrying a dashing fighter pilot than being encouraged to become one.

Forever the land of contradictions. Pakistani society is changing so rapidly, blink and five years go by. However my brother reminds me of the adage 'The more things change, the more they remain the same.' True: shalwar or jeans, dupatta or tank top the, body and soul remains the same.

Soniah: General Dyer

Anyone who's read anything on the the history of the British Raj in the Indian Subcontinent is familiar with the name General Dyer and the place Jallianwala Bagh, where GD ordered open gun fire on an assembly of Indians in an enclosed space. Nigel Collett has written a tome about the man. Apparently it his personality that is to blame for the event than any inherent indicitive of the British colonists attitude.

...he advanced on the enclosed heart of the city with his Gurkha and Pathan soldiers. He deliberately avoided bringing British officers with him for fear that his orders might be challenged.

I find this terribly fascinating. Your own people might not question orders... but fire away. Which, as history attests, they did. And let's say there was a bit of a Nuremburg afterwards, what might the Gurka or the Pathan have said, "But I'm just a soldier under orders."

Soniah: Angry Young Man Hero

Sudhanva Deshpande stipulates that today's Indian movie heroes have no past and memories per se versus those of yesteryear. Amitabh Bachan was angry on account of being illegitimate or his parents were murdered when he was young etc... Today screen Salmans and Shahrukhs are rich, young, Nike wearing hotshots who get slightly flustered when their cell phone batteries run out. These are consumable heroes- men which the Indian masses do not relate to but then apparently movies are no longer made for the masses.

Soniah: Terrorism Queen- M.I.A.

The artist known as M.I.A. is doing pheomenally well in the US. Her Dad was a freedom fighter in Sri Lanka, before moving to England then moving back. She's confused about the dichotomy between terrorist/freedom fighter....as we all should be, but aren't. Better to be confused, I say, then pigeon hole people, for that she's worth listening to, she's worth reading about...it takes courage these days to say hey, maybe these mobsters and 19 century slaves owners and mad dudes who blow themselves up are people too'....and ultimately ever so difficult to understand. If you hurt me, my family, or my country I don't care how much 'people' you are- if you laugh, if you like candy, and if you get constipated like the avergae Joey-Janey.
And there in lies the problem: if you murder my baby, how the hell can I find it in my heart to consider you any thing but a monster.

Soniah: 'Fuck Off You Old Dyke'

Camille Paglia and Julie Birchill are known for thier outspoken, irreverant feminist points of view. Since they are also adults one supposed petty squables, egos and one-up-manship should be traits no longer displayed, at least not in public. But they are. I suppse it's human to be mean spirited and want the last word, and only mature to not.