Never too soon.

Yeah, they are finally releasing movies on the events of that day. 9/11. The day that changed the way a lot of people perceived things for sure. The day that launched a thousand ships and a billion excuses. The day that has been hyped and used and misused in so many ways that it is hard to get back to the tragedy that it represented initially. And yet people don’t want to hear the story, I’m told. I read somewhere that a theatre in New York had to pull the trailers to one of the upcoming movies following calls of “too soon”? Too soon? Is it ever too soon to remember days like that? For all I know right now the world needs to remember days like that because the real message from that day has been lost amongst piles of lies and filth that have surrounded the recent events.

I am surprised usually by people trying to ‘act’ sentimental, especially a tendency in the affluent societies of the world. If you are from an African or middle-eastern country you are supposed to disregard the fact that your loved ones are dying and that you life is hell and your country screwed up. But if a person in America feels alone and can’t talk to people out of his/her own shyness we have on hand a hundred shrinks and prescription drugs and all the big mound of stinking crap that goes along with the pretentiousness. People die in Iraq and Kashmir and Somalia and Sudan everyday and who gives a rat’s ass right? Your friend’s mother just died of old age and you need psychiatric sessions to overcome the trauma.

Being a Matrix fan, I tend to draw parallels to the story from The Animatrix called “The Second Renaissance” where we see a society bloated and distended off of its own greed and ego. A lot of the affluent societies of today seem to remind me of things like that. Also interesting is the fact that it is never, as a rule, the individual that indulges in such affectation or pretense. It is usually a society. An individual is a very intelligent and unique entity; several individuals together however, paradoxically, seem to make a society that is just as dumb and stupid. It seems that the more resources we have for improving our intelligence, the more we sink into the depths of idiocy.

But we come back to the screening of the movies. I’m not saying the movies are going to be good. I mean considering that Oliver Stone is making one, and his last movie was Alexander, going by his form I don’t have high hopes about the quality of the movie. The movie in itself may be pretentious and pompous and full of itself really (a bunch of these deep “artistic” movies seem to be that). But that’s not the point. The point is at what point should someone try to tell the story of a tragedy? At what point would pretentious and pseudo sensitive people shut up? At what point is it ethically proper to tell a story that affected a country, a society, a collective…the world really, in a way that 9/11 did? My take is, as soon as possible. Get the message out there. Get the truth out there (ahhh…X Files!!!) and at least let people know what and why and how it happened.

I also realize that these movies are naturally going to have an American perspective on things. But at least it’s a perspective. At least people would be able to see it and say, “Hmmm…that makes sense” or “that was absolute bullshit”. Ever wonder how interesting an orthodox Muslim perspective on the issue would be? But it would be almost utopian, the day when two perspectives on the same issue can be put forth without facing bias or prejudice. Today we have to fight to put forth just one of these. Makes the difference between humans and ostrich seem that much lesser doesn’t it? So much for evolution, maybe the logical ape theory should be traded for the new ostrich one…who knows those creationists might just agree to that one. It’s definitely absurd enough…

... and then there were none ...

Wrote this one a while back...but thought I was being too sentimental about the sport. I guess I will let it be read though...maybe I am being too senti. Who gives a crap...:)

also posted at cricket-center.blogspot.com (a friends blog, that's actually what I wrote it for)

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So what happened to Tendulkar again? Oh that’s right; he failed to win India a match once again. Really, he’s over the hill now isn’t he? He is the mediocre shadow of his colossal self. He is the worst player in the Indian team today. He does not even warrant a place in the eleven. Let’s boo him come on…boo Tendulkar boo. Boo for being the hero of a sick team for so long. Boo for almost being the god amongst men for as long as most people remember watching cricket. Boo for being there when the team went through hell and boo for being there when you took on other teams single handedly to make up for the mediocrity and insincerity of your other players. Come on lets boo him..

But can you boo a person like that and not feel a slight bit immoral about it. A man who has borne the brunt of the expectations of a hungry nation. A person whose achievements bear no count. A person who stood alone in the ruins once and saw an empire built around himself. The fact remains that the emperor of that empire was once Ganguly and now it’s Dravid, who’s been the logical successor. But the fact also remains that the empire was always built around one person. There was one constant in a team plagued by controversies ranging from betting and fixing to corruption and politics. There was one person you would always look up to and say – please perform a miracle today…please make us happy. There was this one person people trusted would save any game. Any game…absolutely any situation. He could make your day, he could move the nation…he could even move the stock market they said. Let’s boo him today?

Now the incident where the hero was booed has been exaggerated to a hype by the press and commentators. It is always fun to see the mighty fall; it is always spectacular to see a hero become human, breathtaking to see the wings of an angel clipped. The fall of the one Sourav Ganguly was magnificent wasn’t it? It sold more newspapers than any political downfall. We saw one mighty hero fall and that was a thrill. Lets do it to the mightiest one of them all next.

Now let’s face the facts. Sachin Tendulkar has been playing a game for sixteen years. A virtual eternity when talking of sports and sportsmen. Heroes have their time and heroes have a mortal soul. Michael Jordan fell, so did Mohammed Ali. Babe Ruth’s gone and so is Donald Bradman. Sachin Tendulkar is not yet spent but one day he will be. I think that the boos some people heard in Mumbai recently were a sounds of things to come. Indian public have never been very good at retiring heroes. In any field (not just cricket or sports) they have always taken their heroes off pedestals and thrown them away like toys they don’t want anymore. They did it to Sourav Ganguly recently. Much as he deserved to be out of the team, he did not deserve to be the joke that he became in media and amongst “pundits”. They will do it to Sachin Tendulkar one day and Rahul Dravid after that. Oh but they will remember these guys…once the fog of time clears things, they will remember these three. How can you ever forget the three massive figures in Indian cricket who stood in filth once and who proudly shone in their blue armors a decade later?