Movies have been dramatically evolving, starting from the silent movies ending up with the astonishing special effects. Many genres were established by creative writers who had the courage to write these movies, and then hand them to directors and producers to make them. Yet, Bollywood movies still have the same routine in every movie no matter what was its genre. What one find not shocking is that Bollywood movies use the song-dance routine in all their movies. Also the actors are mostly white with colored eyes, and they use this song-dance routine to break down the way they feel towards the other person or the society. The song-dance routine is a way for actors to express their feelings. Bollywood movies usually last for a long period of time and that is because of the climate. Because of the low wages and the hot weather, people tend to go to a 3 hour movie just to prevent being outside in the hot weather, and enjoy a nice movie from their culture. Are Bollywood movies the same as Indian movies? The answer would be no. India a country that has many different cultures and Bollywood is one of them.
In sociology, Bollywood movies are a way to convey a message to others using the song-dance routine, and as mentioned above it is a way to express the actor’s feelings without having a dialog. We can say it is a musical movie. Last Thursday, I grabbed my camera and went to the Student Center at Education City to interview some people and see what they know about Bollywood movies.
I was shocked that only few people thought that Indian movies are different than Indian movies, but one of them mentioned that Bollywood movies are what define India as a unique country with a unique culture. I think the people of Qatar are not really interested in Bollywood movies because the songs take a long time. People here tend to admire dialog and action scenes. Based on my previous experience, there was a cinema theater in Qatar – Gulf Cinema - that shows Bollywood and Indian movies or if I may call them Desi movies. One would go and see the theater jammed with workers who are fighting over to have an admission ticket. It might seem weird, but unfortunately the cinema theater was shut down for no specific reason. Every single one of us has a different taste of what movie they want to watch, and that what creates diversity among us.
What's the one thing that pertains in every part of the world for decades and centuries long and changes form with time? It would be hard to dispute that this dangerously prevalent "thing" is stratification. We are all too familiar with stratification based on factors such as economic capacity, class into which one is born etc., so much so that the statement " All men are created equal" never seemed more obsolete. Even if they were, the present state of the world would ensure that they aren't treated as equals. As a consequence, we constantly find ourselves in pursuit of a social mobility, moving up the ranks to the superior, more dominant class. What intrigues me is how this idea of an existing social inequality, eventually leads to a desire to move up the social ranks has impacted several important factors; in particular, education.
The Indian higher education system has always been known to be akin to a rigorous rat race, where only the best of the best survive the onslaught of the many examinations thrown at them. With a system like this, anyone would expect to churn out high-achieving candidates year after year. Yet, what it doesn't take into account is the disparity in access to basic education for students. A significant portion of India's student population even today; either reside in downtrodden areas that have been overlooked or are financially incapable of granting themselves a good education, either due to monetary limitations or caste-based discrimination. Thus, they might not just be spending nights under lamps preparing for their exams, they might also have to take up odd jobs to make their ends meet. How about the wealthy, affluent kids then? They get to go to the best schools, get tutored in addition to regular schooling; can afford to buy more books and also have resources such as the internet to enhance their chances of making it big. Totally unfair right?
Reservation is the solution that the government proposed to quell this conflict between the privileged and the under-privileged students. In other words, it is that missing link in the system that would finally even the field. The following table reflects the typical caste-based reservation profile for entry into institutions :
SC and SC Converts to Buddhism
13.0%
STs
7.0%
Vimukta Jati
3.0%
Nomadic Tribes (NTI)
2.5%
Nomadic Tribes (NT2)
3.5%
Nomadic Tribes (NT3)
2.0%
OBC(Other Backward Castes)
19.0%
Total
50.0%
What this table essentially represents is an opportunity for students from the repressed groups to resume their career aspirations by earning a college degree. So, while this move by the government alleviates the issues faced by these students, it reduces the chances of those that do not belong to those groups. A direct consequence of this stand taken by the government has been insane minimum requirements for students who aren't guarded by reservation. So a student not from one of the groups listed above would have to get a score of around 10-20% better than a student who was from those groups, to be admitted to the same university, for the same program! Is this not unfair to the students from the latter category?
The ideal question to ask is how one would deal with a double edged sword like the reservation policy being implemented at present, in Indian education. Amidst all of the debate regarding this issue it is quite obvious that the central aim of improving education has been ignored. If for once, as suggested in the controversial movie "Arakshan" which translates to reservation; authorities looked at ways to improve the standards of education for the less fortunate students, the issue of unequal resources could be dealt with and so would the issue of unfairness. Be it by establishing remedial coaching centers, or providing cheaper computers to these students, the Indian education system needs to be rethought and planned with the best interests' of both groups of students in mind.
Here is a video of a debate involving the cast of Arakshan that explains the reservation system in Indian education in a nutshell :
Here are some articles describing different opinions' on the same :
Over the Spring Break I went to Soug Wagef with my younger brother for some gelato from La Dolce Vita. While we were there, we
met the shop owner, Giovanni and began talking about what ended with me
thinking of the socialization of people in Qatar’s public spaces on the
weekends and the Indian culture and movies.
Last class we discussed Masala films, Indian society and culture, and tradition versus modernity. Generally, Masala films last for three hours, which
is much longer than the amount of time a typical Western movie would last. The
reason for this is because during Indian summers, the weather gets very hot
making it difficult to spend most of the day outdoors and many of the people
living their come from poor backgrounds. Therefore, what many Indians do is purchase
theatre tickets and spend three hours indoors watching a movie in air
conditioned environment.
During our conversation with Giovanni we talked about
weekends at Soug Wagef and how labor
workers who consist of mostly Indians are not permitted inside because of
“family day”. The reason for this rule is because many women feel uncomfortable
because these labor workers just hang around and “stare”. However single males
who are not labor workers are permitted into the soug. This is not just the
case in Soug Wagef but also in all
the malls.
The reason labor workers just hang around in public spaces
and “stare” instead of going to a movie during the hot hours of the day is
because they cannot afford to given the low wages they are paid. 30QR is a
large sum when you are paid a monthly wage of only 600QR –some of which you
want to send back to your family. All these labor workers are looking for are
air conditioned cheap or free spaces.
There exists a problem for both women and labor workers
living in Qatar. The labor workers want to avoid the hot sun during their free
time and the women want to feel comfortable. Since going to the movies and
watching three hour long Bollywood productions is what Indians do back in their
home country to avoid the summer heat, I am sure they would not mind doing that
here either. Currently, the cheapest movie theatre in Qatar is Gulf Cinema, which also happens to play
many Masala films. As a solution, the
companies in sponsoring the labor workers could look into this matter and
consider opening another lower priced movie theatre for their workers so that
they could spend their free time –maybe even in the Barwa project by the Industrial area.
A well respected industrialist with the perfect family of three sons and a daughter, a palace to house that family and an army of servants to follow their every bidding. Such is the image of a well off Indian extended family that the movie Hum Saath Saath Hain(1999) (We Seven Stand Together) portrays on the silver screen in front of the billion or so viewers.
For the 178 minutes, the audience witnesses this family going through their lives with at most luxury. They are left drooling with the hope that they too could be like the ones in the movie. The hope then fades away to burning jealousy that at this very moment there is such a family that lives in the exact same conditions as portrayed in the movie.
The Indian movie-making machine is notorious for showcasing such abnormalities. I call them abnormalities because no such family in the Indian subcontinent with enough money to live in a palace can be free from legal disputes and other ugly internal confrontations. As my proof for this statement, I take the example of the Ambani Brothers whose father owned the Reliance Industries with the net worth of over Sixty Billion Dollars. The Ambani family disputed over the distribution of wealth for years. This even lead to various court cases that finally resulted in a settlement.
Here is my proof that Bollywood sticks to a fantastical depiction of the Indian rich. This is again because the people want to see the way the rich live and imagine themselves in such a situation. The people want to see how the rich saahabsspend their days. To satisfy this voyeuristic pleasure, Bollywood keeps the fantasy alive.
Its rustic-red metallic body gleamed in the summer sun, giving it the sheen of a glazed cherry. Behold, I thought to myself, the bus of Mumbai. Mumbai, by the way, is the financial capital of India and the country’s most populous city, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million. In terms of population statistics, Mumbai ranks fourth in the world. Well, that is what Wikipedia has to say about it.
To me, the city is all about hype, color, traffic, movement, flow, people, pollution. And Bollywood.
Anyway, back to the bus. The time I speak of is about four years ago, when my family had just left Muscat and we were back on apni zameen, our own homeland.
And I was, for the first in my life, all alone at a bus stop, waiting for a ride back home.
No, actually I was with a couple of friends. How else was I to understand the fancy numbers in Hindi that were no more meaningful to me than an assortment of lines and curves? These numbers told you which route the bus would follow. Until you are a headstrong adventurist, you do NOT want to get on a wrong bus.
I remember standing there and watching as the bus continued to slunk sulkily in the traffic. My thoughts went something like, God, this thing could put a snail to shame.
Finally, it was at the bus stop.
So what you had to do was continue to stay in the line and then get in the bus as your turn came.
Wait.
Line? Turn?
Whoa, let’s not forget this is Mumbai we are talking about. Here, there ARE NO LINES!
Each time, I remember how everyone would just clutter around the narrow opening of the bus, trying to clamber in as quickly as if there was a prize for the one who did this the fastest. So now I find myself in a flock of citizen- sheep, pulling and pushing as everyone tries to scramble in at once.
It is a miracle how I can even get in here, I would think each time, as the bus would begin to pull away.
An example of flow, that. Be it at a bus stop, or a railway station, you just stand in the crowd and flow with it. For all around you would be such a huge ocean of people, ki cheenti ke chalne ki bhi jagaah na ho. That not even an ant can pass through, my grandma would say. (She, by the way, has been an active Mumbaikar for about 50 (and counting) years now).
On my very first bus ride, I was awed. Later all sorts of adjectives—not very positive, I’m afraid—could be used to describe how I felt.
On that trip though, I must have looked like a bright bubbly girl of seven, thinking quietly to myself, Whoa, look at all these people!!! For there were all sorts of people around you, brushing against you. You spent three quarters of your journey standing, mostly sandwiched uncomfortably. That is the condition of Mumbai buses everyday early in the morning and then again late in the evening, when the populace is on its way to work, or returns from work. It’s remarkable just how the number swells. So, in the mornings, the bus is flooded with the mild scent of beauty soap and cologne. Come dusk, it is salty with the smell of sweat and exhaustion.
Well, the rickety mobile lumbered ahead. I stood where I was, dutifully, not so sure now that I was enjoying it. Just then, pushing his way through the mess of men, women and children, came the burly old conductor.
I know how this goes, I thought to myself. I just tell him where I need to go, give him the money and the guy punches me a ticket.
Right?
Wrong.
There are a thousand things that could go wrong, as I discovered on that fateful day.
“Airport Stop” I said.
“Huh?”
“Airport Stop.” I said a little more louder.
“Das Rupiyaa” he muttered gruffly.
Ten Rupees. Right. I had to give him the money and get the ticket.
So I wriggled a little until I had space enough to take off the bag hanging on my shoulder and hunt for the das rupiya.
It happened just then.
The bus suddenly braked to a halt.
Inertia played its part, and the next thing I know, I am thrown forward mercilessly.
It was like being in a free fall. I didn’t know when I would stop falling. I remember feeling the silk of someone’s saree, the coarseness of someone’s jeans, as I fell through all those people, unable to brake, unable to stop.
Honestly, I cannot think of another time I must have felt that hot around the neck. I knew I had gone red as a beet.
The bus, meanwhile, continued forward.
I hauled myself up, flustered but unhurt. I could feel eyes looking at me.
“Uh, I’m okay” I wanted to say but I’m glad I didn’t. Because then I would have looked like a complete moron. On a busy day in a crowded Mumbai bus, people have neither the time nor the inclination to care.
That was the good news (though I dare say, I did catch a few giggles).
The better news was that I had learnt “my goddamn lesson,” as I told my amused mother at dinner that day, “Always, always hold on the handrails of a bus when you stand.” *
Analyzing this form a social perspective, it is evident that there are several factors at play, influencing the way people behave and interact. Consider, for one, the question of inequality. In a city with a teeming population and relatively scarce resources, there is a wide economic disparity and uneven resource allocation. This leads to inevitable inter- societal competition for limited reserves. Middle and lower middle class Mumbaikars, for example, are heavily dependent on buses and rickshaws as their primary mode of transport, since these are highly cost effective. But the available transport facilities cannot satiate the ever-increasing demand of the booming population. This leads to a rat-race where everyone tries to utilize the existing capital to the maximum. But in case of the bus, an innumerable number of users are pitted against a limited number of seats, causing unavoidable friction. According to latest statistics, Mumbai public transport carries about 5.5 million people per day. Mumbaikars today have become rather indifferent to the pitiable quality of local buses, their low frequency and poor maintenance. They are habituated to the unending traffic jams; to the indescribably large crowd packed inside. They are unconcerned about how painful and exhausting it can be to travel back and forth in a suffocating human mess.
What matters to them most is that the bus can carry them over long distances for only das rupiyaa. Ten Rupees.
At first, I found it really difficult to digest the hustle- bustle of the metropolitan city. But the interactions I had largely helped define perceptions of my own looking- glass self. This concept was very well explained by Sociology Professor Geoff Harkness as: “Our identity is based on what we think of ourselves and what we think of what others think of ourselves.” This socio- psychological concept of how one perceives oneself has largely to do with his/her level of integration with a society. In my case, Mumbai initially made me conclude that I was naïve and inexperienced; that I was an alien trying hard to fit in an entirely different culture (which ironically, was my own).
Propounding on the concept of identity definition, it is fascinating to note that one’s identity continuously keeps changing, with respect to society, people etc. “ Not the whole of our identity,” said Professor Harkness, “but certainly, a part of it.” In other words, there is always an element of our identity that chameleons other people’s attitudes and behaviors. Every new experience adds to our knowledge base, influencing our identity inconspicuously.
Maintaining a social status in the 21st century is a tricky business. Back in the day when the birth of a child into the right family guaranteed it’s “enhanced” social status, people were fully aware of their places in the society. Now however, in many parts of the world, simply having ancestors who once held an important position in the society doesn’t fully guarantee the same to the successors. With the increasing flow of money in the global economy, money has become an increasing factor in achieving a higher degree of social status. In other words, money has become a symbol of power worldwide. I think at this point in time, it is okay to generalize the fact that the money has become a material culture which influences the social status of everyone. This form of achieved status has become very common in developing countries like India. A man with riches gets greater attention from the people around him than a mild-mannered reporter, even if he turns out to be Superman’s cousin.
But to be more exact, its how a person carries around his money that makes all the different in the world. In India, a rich family is expected to have at least two expensive cars at minimum along with drivers. The other wealthy people would almost always shun the one driving a car by a local manufacturer.
But this does not mean that there are only two status in society - rich and poor.
There are those which lie in between. For example, taking the example of Indian farmer, there is a gradient of distinction between the rich farmers and poor ones; even though, farming is considered a completely different status in society. A farmer is considered wealthier in society depending on his possession of land, his cattle, and other living stock.
A social status in general creates various interesting things to the economy of a country. In some Asian countries like China, large corporations hire Caucasian men to be the face of the company while expanding across borders. This is done to increase the “validity” of the company. The person is hired simply because he is Caucasian (white-skinned) and speaks good English. The person need not even have any commendable qualifications. This can be seen as an example of a master status overshadowing even that of the CEO (in certain cases). This can also be seen as impression management.
In Qatar, its interesting to see how perceived social statuses can play out on the road while driving. Drivers generally tend to give way to more expensive looking cars than ones that seem like they were made in a shed by Jeremy Clarkson (an observation my father and I share in common). And also, similar to the Indian culture, the possession of multiple cars is another indicator of a higher social status. This generally goes the same for other third world countries wherein the difference between the rich and poor is large.
My relationship with Qatar goes back to the day I was born, which means I have been in Qatar all my life. I was born and brought up in a street named Al Nasr (nearby Al Sadd). However, I was not educated in a Qatari school, but in an Indian school. I am not writing a biography about my life, or me, but I am going to explain how I have become a part of Qatar, culturally and socially.
As a little kid, I used to hang around with some of the Qatari kids. As a result I got to learn the Qatari version of Arabic language, their culture and it was religiously easy for me to integrate with them because I am a Muslim like most of them. I am at a stage where I love Arab food more than anything. I even got some of their passion for football, which I think is a blessing because Indians are crazy about cricket and I despise that sport. Most importantly, I was able to get rid of the culture shock. For instance, I was used to being a guest at my friends’ Majlis, a place basically where all the Qatari men gather to drink coffee, watch football and gossip. I was aware of the folkways and the accepted behaviors in such a place.
At the same time, I am also in touch with my mother culture. I can speak my mother tongue fluently, still love the Indian food that mom cooks and I am well aware of Indian history, culture and heritage. Many of the Indian folkways are still foreign to me because there are a number of them, but I am still very comfortable with the Indian way of doing things. However, I do not play cricket.
If I had to make a choice between Qatar and India, I think I would choose Qatar, the reason being my emotional attachment to this country. With globalization, I can still relate to my Indian backgrounds with ease and at the same time be a part of different social and cultural groups.
