Why This Kolaveri?

A friend of mine – S.Ganesh – send the link to the song “Why this Kolaveri-di”, with an additional information that more than 2.7million people have viewed it on You Tube as of 23^rd of November, 2011.

I heard it and liked it for it's novelty and unique style. But its’ instant popularity among students and young people is rather surprising.

This slang was popularized by the comedian Vadivelu. But none seems to give credit to him. May be because everyone knows it, why to waste time?

Carl Jung talks about the concept ‘synchronicity’. It basically means that simultaneously without any planning, number of factors come together and create a new phenomenon, and nothing can stop its’ popularity.

I was just thinking about what are the factors which contributed to the instant success of this song?

1. The tune is very simple, almost like a nursery rhyme, repeating the same word or similar words rhythmically.The music appeals to the emotional brains rather than the neo-cortex.

2. Since the song is not based on complex ragas, anyone can sing it easily without much strain. Since one can’t be worse than the singer of the song, it boosts ones confidence.

3. The lyrics of the song belong to the genre called ‘tragic comedy’ or dark humor. It appeals to the dark side in us.

4. It is a song of an underdog, and we like to be identified with underdogs. Unconsciously many of us feel that we are all underdogs and the world is not being just to us.

5. It portrays girls in a negative light. If you look into the history of music, any song that degrades woman is instantly appealing to men’s psyche. And it gets instant popularity. 

Male chauvinism gets manifested either directly or indirectly. If a man says that women are weak and inferior, they need to be protected and controlled, then it is called direct male chauvinism. Till 1950s, what manifested in the society was direct male chauvinism. But after that it became very subtle and indirect. 

Now one can’t say that women are weak and get away with it, so attack has to be indirect. Men are portrayed as victim of women. Many marriage jokes belong to this category. Girls are shown as cunning and opt for better choice by leaving high and dry the previous person, whereas the boy, gets into drinking and dies in love. 

This song is indirect manifestation of male chauvinism and there is no wonder it is popular among men both young and old.

But, what I can’t understand is how come Suriti Hassan and Aishwarya Dhanus enjoy the song immensely? Both were mesmerized with the song which attacks them and indirectly promotes male chauvinism. 

May be they are saints, they take insults and appreciation in the same way or they must be masochists who derive pleasure from pain.

Rajni Mania

When I was a student of 6^thstd, Rajni entered the film world as a villain then progressed to the role of a hero. He somehow captured the imagination of boys of my age group. Those who were studying plus two and above were die-hard fans of Kamalahassan.

Rajni’s style was unconventional: toss  the cigarette and light it in an outrageous way, comb the hair with fingers and never with a comb, not wearing washed shirts, keep shaking hands and legs for no reason at all (similar to epileptic attack), and when you speak to others always look sideways in the vertical dimension. I and my friends were mesmerized by these antics. We imitated those behavioral challenges religiously. And people called us mavericks or mad (in today’s time they would have called as mentally challenged, in fact it was very challenging mentally). We were not discouraged by their comments instead we felt honored since our hero was also addressed as mad maverick.

Rajni was diametrically opposite to Kamal. Kamal was very fair looking guy, and he can dance and act but always was running after heroine (both on and off the reel). Rajni was dark complex, and he couldn’t dance even to save his life, and he was running after only villains, of course to beat them up. When kamal’s fans criticized rajni’s dance movement, we pointed out that dancing is not men’s profession. And in fight sequence, Kamal was pathetic and Rajni was too convincing. And in every movie Rajni either will die or go to jail at the end of the film. The sight of Rajni being hand gulfed or dyeing was exhilarating.

As long as I stayed in my native town, I was a dedicated follower of Rajni. People used to call me Rajni and I was almost forgetting my original name. Life was full of adventure. But then every good thing must come to an end, I moved out of my town for higher studies (not for Phd, just for Eleventh std). Thereafter, my association with Rajni came to an end.

I just don’t know what magic Rajni did; people who called us mad have become Rajni fans when returned after few years to my home town. Rajni too has changed a lot today; he puts on lots of makeup, he dances reasonable well, runs after heroine (sometimes more than one), performs comedy and above all, he neither dies nor goes to jail at the end of the film. It is so disappointing, No wonder that I do not like to be called as a Rajni fan. Yet there is some soft corner for him, and for the sake of old time, I continue watch his movies in theater.

Now he has fans even in Japan, watch the video below:

illusion

Richard bach with the book ‘Jonathan seagull’ reached the cult status. Then he came up with his second title “Illusion”. This too became a best seller. What I liked most was the parable with which the book begins.

“Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. “The current of the river swept silently over them all - young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way, knowing only its own crystal self.  

“Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging were their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth.  

“But one creature said at last, ‘I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom.’  

“The other creatures laughed and said, ‘Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!’

“But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.  “Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.  

“And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, ‘See a miracle! A creature likes ourselves, yet he flies! See the Messiah, come to save us all!’  

“And the one carried in the current said, ‘I am no more Messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure.’

“But they cried the more, ‘Saviour!’ all the while clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone making legends of a Saviour.”

It is not that we do not know what we are or what we want. Problem is that we know it too well. What we lack is the courage to believe in it and make it real. Just like those creatures we too wait for some leader to save us and to establish corrupt free world, thus we live in our self-created illusion and become shadow of our own shadow.

Translation

Computer translation is not a new phenomenon. In one such effort, computer experts were creating a program which will translate sentences from English to Russian and also from Russian to English. When the program was ready, they wanted to test it. They picked up the bible phrase, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” and made the computer to translate it to Russian and then back to English. The final result was, “Meat has gone bad, but the liquor is still fine”.

So we can conclude that the computer programmers are vegetarians and also love drinks. (Looks like that the computer translation is better than the human interpretation)

Taxi Driver

Expert taxi drivers invariably do this. As they reach the taxi stand, they switch off the engine and reach the stand with the current momentum, tactfully stirring through the traffic.

Teachers start the course with much enthusiasm, thinking new batch of students can be formed and changed for the better. Convinced of the importance of the subject they teach, they prepare, at times over prepare for the class. Revising the materials and adding new topics, they want to bring revolution through their teaching. But in the midway through the course, they do make some compromise, they forget about any revolution; and the aim becomes to finish the course successfully (whatever it means I am not sure). But as the course is nearing the end, like the taxi driver, they too switch off the mind and use the existing momentum to complete the course.

But in case of students, they follow the reverse order. Till the end, they keep the mind switched off, as the course is getting over and the examination comes near (usually it means previous night) they look for the key to switch on the engine. Most of the time, most of them manage to pull it off. They reach the destination by hook or crook.  

 Why do teachers and students approach the course in opposite direction: The former is charged with energy in the beginning and the latter is full of energy only towards the end? This phenomenon can’t be explained by psychology; rather economics can throw some light. The teacher gets paid for reading the books whereas students pay to read the books. You can’t expect a person to spend money and energy at the same time, double spending is too taxing.