A Fervent Wish....

Like NSA Ajit Doval ji, I hope to roam & travel freely without fear in Kashmir. I'd bow before the mighty & pristine Himalayas, admire the numerous gardens of Mughals, and follow the route charted by the legendary Adi Shankaracharya all the while traversing through the simple dargahs, mosques of Kashmir & the great Buddhist monastries of Ladakh.

I'd dearly love to see a day when insurgency becomes a thing of past, when all the slogan-shouting & stone-pelting anger melts into an intellectual debate - about the development of Kashmir as a part of India, or remembering the great historical figures of Kashmir - it's benevolent rulers of the past like 'BudShah' Sultan Zainualabidan, or the return & rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits or unlocking the tourism potential with no impact on beautiful kashmiri ecology or heritage.

I'd like to see a day when I could sing the telugu poem ''అటఁ జని కాంచె భూమిసురుఁ డంబర చుంబి శిరస్సర్ఝజరీ" as visualised by Allasani Peddanna's hero Pravarakhya, gazing upon the beauty of Himalayas in Kashmir! One day in the near future, I'd be happily comparing our spicy Mango pickle 'Avakaya' with the Kashmiri Apple Pickle!

It's a dream in the past, now it's a wish of the present but in the near future, who knows... 

On the Greatest World Cup Final...

 (Poem)

Respect to both teams for the Greatest Cricket World Cup Final ever played...

An unscripted tale of woe and warmth played at Lord's,
as some fickle twists of irony rattled billion hearts.
A fine game of cricket in the very home of the gentleman's game,
between victory and defeat, a struggle of an unrelenting aim.

No fine line could separate the victors and the vanquished,
no same mind could anticipate the thrill without an anguish.
Great men speak of balancing triumph and disaster,
but in terms of action, no one's the wiser.

Sheer luck takes a lion's share - in the battle of nerves,
The game's cruel - a mirror of what life serves!
When dusk fell, only one team won the cup...
But I saw two sets of champions, down yet unbowed, at glory's cusp!

But I see two sets of champions.. 

A clean 'Agent' with content

(No Plot Twist)

Be it Hercule Poirot with an egg face, the Belgian detective, a creation of Agatha Christie or the lanky and lovable resident of 221B Baker street, Sherlock Holmes - detectives are known for their eccentricities. To the legion of loyal fans immersed in detective fiction, a good book/a good film of this genre is immensely pleasurable. In Telugu, very few films belong to this genre.

Then came this one - Agent Sai Srinivas Atreya!

I watched it with my family and it's a really interesting film. Kudos to the director Swaroop RSJ for taking this genre and juxtaposing it with a warning on superstitious beliefs. It's an outright clean film which is based on content, plot, plot-twists and actors' performances rather than hype and cheap theatrics. No cuss words, no unnecessary close up shots of ugly details and thoroughly enjoyable to watch with family - a trait of films that's disappearing. There was always a danger that films of detective fiction could be just brainless spoofs/comedy takes on eccentricities of the protagonist. But, this film stood clear of such a danger.

Naveen Polishetty is fantastic! He did, what we say in telugu as "పాత్ర లో పరకాయప్రవేశం". The change in facial expressions as he's about to solve the case for one final time - that's brilliant! Shruti Sharma remains an assistant to the detective through out the film, graceful and neat. It felt very good that the film did not have a mandatory song where she'd play the love interest to hero. The music was superb. The supporting cast and crew did a commendable job!

Sherlock Holmes is fictional, but Agent Sai Srinivas Atreya is not! - At least for us and at least for now!




Film - Agent Sai Srinivas Atreya (Telugu), https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10214826/
By- Swaroop RSJ, Navin Polishetty.

Aurangzeb

'Historians seek to comprehend people on their own terms, as products of particular times and places, and explain their actions and impacts. We need not absolve those we study of guilt, and we certainly do not need to like them. But we strive to hold back judgement long enough so that the myth of Aurangzeb can fade into the background and allow room for a more nuanced and compelling story to be told.'

- Audrey Truschke in 'Aurangzeb The Man and the Myth'

I am always fascinated by the subject of History although I am not a student of it. One recurring theme which somehow captures my imagination is that of 'Zindapir' Alamgir Aurangzeb, the last of the Great Mughals. His policies are perceived to be the single major factor responsible for the fall of the Mughal Empire. Under his reign, the empire stretched to it's geographical limits but the saying goes - 'Deccan ulcer ruined Aurangzeb'. He was personally a man of many contradictions, perhaps a prisoner of his times. Yet, his legacy is sealed owing to his purported 'bigotry' and 'tyranny'. Right from the beginning - seizing power after a bloody civil war to the end - death after sheer dejection, he was a text book case of a classic villain, and is held in contempt for that. In the ever growing eager perversion of bracketing historical personalities as either completely good or disastrously evil without studying history as it is in a nuanced manner, Aurangzeb's legacy got entangled.

I've read this work by Audrey Truschke merely for the sheer pleasure of it. It's indeed a sheer, bold perspective and a welcome step in understanding about the life and times of the last Great Mughal in a much more objective way. It is very unfortunate that she was the subject of some brutal trolling and vicious hate mail, for which there is absolutely no justification. Hope I'd read more of her works and may her future projects on South Asian History be more fruitful than Aurangzeb's Deccan Campaign.

Book - Aurangzeb The Man and the Myth

Author - Audrey Truschke

On Durand's Curse

“When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers”  - Kenyan Proverb

‘Durand’s Curse’ by Rajiv Dogra details the events and circumstances leading to the fateful agreement of 12^th November, 1893CE when the Durand’s Line separating the present day Afghanistan and Pakistan came into existence. It also encompasses a comprehensive and contemporary view of present day Afghanistan, lamenting the monumental injustice meted to Afghans, especially the Pathans.

 

In mid 20eth Century, as many countries across Asia, Africa and South America emerged Independent from the clutches of Colonialism, lines were arbitrarily drawn by few powerful men, separating and creating nations. Sykes-Picot, Radcliff are to name among a few. But, perhaps the most chaotic and arbitrary one was the ‘Durand’s Line’. In a crazy and concocted ‘Great Game’, Afghanistan was envisioned as a buffer zone separating British India from Tsarist Russia rather than an Independent country.

Spooked by unsubstantiated claims of Russian Invasion of India, the British (then East India Company) replaced the immensely popular King of Afghanistan, Dost Mohammad Khan with Shuja Shah. However, the fiercely independent Afghans struck back, and what followed for the next century was an era of trickery and bloodshed. After Partition of India, Afghanistan’s position went from bad to worse, as vouched by it’s recent history. A disastrous civil war, ambitious neighbors and changing geopolitical scenario means that another ‘Great Game’ is at play!

It is a must read for anyone interested in the Indo-Afghan Foreign affairs/Afghanistan/Geopolitics of Asia.

Book – Durand’s Curse by Rajiv Dogra (English)

Badshah Khan

“But you are deserting us now, and throwing us to the wolves.”                 
- Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan admonishing members of the Congress Working Committee after they agreed for the partition of India. (c.1946)

‘My Life and Struggle’ is the autobiography of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, regarded as ‘Fakhr-e-Afghan’ (Pride of Afghans) and ‘Badshah Khan’ (Emperor among Khans), with a foreword by Jayaprakash Narayan. The Indian freedom struggle, especially the Gandhian Phase attracted people from all walks of life and Badshah Khan was the most famous leader from the North West (the then NWFP). Born in a rich Pathan family, he stood out for his broad-mindedness and patience. He was instrumental in establishing the organization - ‘Khudai Khitmatgars’(Servants of God, more popular as ‘Red Shirts’). He was later awarded the Bharat Ratna. Those were the facts that we all know.

But, he was a man whose long & cruel years in imprisionment are only marked by respect and civility towards his British Captors. During the Civil Disobedience movement, when the Empire struck back in Peshawar, it was his Khudai Khitmatgars who paid with their blood. And his quest for freedom and self-determination led him only to prison, first as a guest of the British Empire, and then under the new nation of Pakistan. When the Partition of India became imminent, all his concerns were swept under the carpet, and a much respected leader was maligned for his ‘Pakistan or Pakhtunistan’ remarks. 

Being an autobiography, the book is straight forward; fact based and sporadically sketches lots of people who are in awe as well as in disgust of the Badshah Khan.

By the time of his death, there was no peace in South Asia. India and Pakistan were involved in a conflict over Siachen Glacier. And his beloved people, the Pathans (mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan) were drawn into a civil war which never stopped and no one understood.

When he was old, he wandered and spoke in Afghanistan, as the country was getting torn to pieces. But, it was a tribute to the man that when he passed away, the Afghan Civil War had a temporary truce for 3 days so that the people can pay their respects to their beloved ‘Badshah Khan’.

 

If only the partition of India and Pakistan never took place, Or

If only the partition place in a much humane and leisurely way, with the NWFP province getting more provincial autonomy, Or

If only the Afghans had a leader like the Badshah Khan whose tolerance could outwit and outgun the murderous rage of the Taliban…..

If Only.

Book - My Life and Struggle - Autobiography of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan with foreword by Jayaprakash Narayan

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacha_Khan 

The Spy who asked for the Holy Basil Plant

(No Spoiler Alert)

Spy!

James Bond, Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt - for someone who grew up watching these kinds of films and reading Frederick Forsyth's thrillers, I always had a question - Why are there no worthy Spy thrillers in Telugu? A few attempts were made steeped in sarcasm and copy-paste (‘inspiration’) despite no lack of motivational tales all around (Remember ‘Kaoboys’ –R&AW, tales and exploits of India’s spies which are still hazy viz, the likes of legendary Rameshwar Nath Kao, Ajit Doval etc,). Maybe it all boils down to lack of interest and succumbing to a safe commercial template.

And then came ‘Goodachari’.

Adivi Sesh garu’s story and the taking of the film, basing on the technique of the ‘Unreliable Narrator’ are simply awesome! To be a good thriller, a film should have some inevitable ‘twists’, but they should not be the sole point of the film as people rapidly lose interest after watching it once. ‘Goodachari’ does a fine balance of being a classic and ‘twistyful’ (sic). Even small details were attended to with great care as evidently, a lot of research went into the film. Kudos to the director Sashi Kiran Tikka garu and for once the BGM is apt and spine tingling for such a flick.
The ensemble cast does justice – Sobhita, Mahdu Shalini, Prakash Raj, Vennela Kishore (shout out), Surpiya Yarlagadda, Anish Kuruvilla, Jagapathi Babu and Adivi Sesh himself. The screenplay, the chases and goosebump inciting fights – just wow!

As Agent Gopi (Trinetra 116) traverses with ease at Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, Chittagong – a style and panache hithertho associated only with 007 at Tijuana, Paris or Tangiers – my cravings are satisfied!

Film – 'Goodachari' (Telugu) by Sashi Kiran Tikka & Adivi Sesh
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7758160/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodachari