Here a dog, there a dog...

Dogs are said to be the species with maximum variation in physical appearance. Even in their behaviour too, I feel dogs are the ones that cover the entire spectrum of temperament ranging from dullard to uncontrollable. Without getting into the nature-nurture debate, we can safely say that a Rajapalayam breed is not likely to be as a friendly as, say a Great Dane. On the other hand, say a tiger is the very same captivating and dangerous animal, be it in the icy areas of Siberia or the evergreen forests of the hilly Mundanthurai. Talking of Danes, I was exposed to Baasha (Tamil/Suresh Krissna/1995) much earlier than I got a chance to know Scooby Doo. So, I had always associated Danes with terror, power and aggression. But nothing can be far removed from the reality. These lovable giants are child-like and social by nature. These fellows do not consider themselves to be dogs - instead they truly feel like a member of the family that keeps them. I have come across three of them in my life. Whisky and Gundu are the Danes I had got to play with recently. Both these fellows are not even a year-old, but they are already half as tall as me. Whisky boy has a shiny, jet-black coat; the other little giant is brown with the typical black nose. Quite contrary to our expectations, these gigantic dogs are quite comfortable living in apartments. They do not need any imposing bungalows situated at the centre of a vast ranch. And, if my memory serves right that seemingly deadly dog that comes charging at Saktivel in the end scenes of Thevar Magan (Tamil/Bharathan/1992) is also our affable giant. I guess the Danes need a thorough image makeover in Tamil Nadu. But yes, I am happy that I did not know about the real nature of the Danes before Baasha. Else it would have been quite embarrassing to see the superstar posing as a tough underworld don - but with a cutie dog next to him.

Talking of deceiving appearances, I cannot afford to miss Husky. These dogs that can be easily mistaken for wild wolves, were originally created to pull sledge in the tundra areas. Huskies love to run around and in most cases they pull load not just because they do not have any option but to obey their masters - but mainly because their motto is "Work is fun!" Sometimes I wish I were a Husky somewhere in Alaska. Ice and snow; tall trees with needle-leaves; fresh fish; and loads of fun with friends! I got a chance to be around with a Husky for a day. I am not able to remember the fellow's name; but just like any other Husky this boy too was sociable. But if you were to go only by his looks - for sure this wolfish beast will send a chill down your spine. Strangely, till the end of the day I did not hear the fellow bark even once. Though occasionally he tried to make some sort of noise. I was curious. Then, it was surprising to know from the owner that Huskies do not bark like our normal domestic dogs. Instead, they prefer to howl. Given that I am pretty sure people in our country will try to avoid this breed. For us, if a dog howls it is bad omen; for dogs have the power to see spirits or ghosts and - dogs howl when they see one! Even otherwise, I am not comfortable with the idea of keeping someone who was born in the ice-capped areas in the tropical areas of our country where it is difficult even to differentiate between the summer and winter. Then you may say, going by that logic - as many of the famous breeds have come from Europe or the Central Asian regions, they are not suited for our land, more specifically the Southern parts of our country - we should not go for any foreign breed. True in many ways. But life should not be seen in black and white.

Talking of black, on a couple of recent nights I got to meet this gentleman with Blaze- the Rottweiler. The well-built boy with perfect black and brown coat is really intimidating. The clipped tail adds to his violent image though it is not required to chop off a pup's tail anymore. Rotts are supposed to be one-master dogs. And forget patting or playing -  I do not have the guts to go even within 5-6 feet of the master-dog duo. The gentleman master also cautions you against proximity. With a Rott around please respect the concept of personal space. Do not show your affection by a hug. Well, that might end up to be your last hug ever! Blaze comes with a thick leash, solid collar, strong limbs and mighty bite-power. I do not find it convincing to buy the fact that these dogs were developed for herding cattle and sheep. I strongly feel, the early Rott litters as a whole have conspired against humans and made us believe they were in deed good at herding - while they were actually merrily devouring the best livestock every night. You see, it is difficult to keep track of the number of sheep in a big herd on a daily basis. The job gets further complicated as there will be natural deaths and frequent birth of lambs! Coming to the fiery Blaze, the master says he is such a lovely boy, who enjoys to hang out with close friends. But all said and done, I am not ready to break in the 5-feet circle. There is another episode of a Rottweiler that always keeps running in the back of my mind. During my days in Goa, I had a chance to have a chat with a dog trainer. He was in a lush green unused football ground giving basic lessons on discipline to a friendly GSD pup. Then the trainer also had a Rottweiler back at home. And that bulky fellow was quite attached to the trainer's little son. He says, it is not easy for even him to go near his kid unannounced or show impromptu acts of kindness. Before he can lift his kid, the trainer has to necessarily cool down the strong Rottweiler, or else...

This Rott is getting ready for a show:

As a species, we humans have been inflicting the worst possible damage to this planet. We have been and are still ruthlessly wiping out many other species from the face of earth. This is a collective shame on us; unforgivable cruelty by us. But if there is one single thing that we can be proud of - it is the number of breeds of dogs we have developed. Be it the Mongrel or the Ovcharka - our lives cannot be complete without these best buddies.

My history book

Some expert some time said that cinema is an important art-form that acts like a history book of the contemporary society. If no one has actually said it earlier, I take this chance to make that profound statement. But cinema is not just a history book. It is something more. To take a page from an old chemistry book, cinema and society are in a constant state of dynamic equilibrium. In simple English, it means there is a lot of steady give-and-take happening between the movies and society. There is always a two-way impact. Over the past few days I happened to watch a couple of movies across English, Malayalam, Hindi and Tamil. Three of them stand out - Chinna Veedu (Tamil/K.Bhagyaraj/1985), Shuddh Desi Romance (Hindi/ Maneesh Sharma/2013) and Marupadiyum... (Tamil/Balu Mahendra/1993). I am astonished by the history-book aspect of cinemas. These movies have been made in different decades and the history they tell us is pretty interesting. 

Chinna Veedu ("Mistress"), a box-office hit, is about a middle-class bachelor with beautiful and lofty dreams about his future wife - getting married to a normal-looking lady. He hates her. She cares for him. He insults her. She is generous. One fine day in spur of the moment she asks him to find a mistress to suit his taste. The intelligently done script, laced with nice humour, makes the audience accept this bold proposition. We don't sit back and think about this great attack and plunder of our ancient culture. "What?! An India/Tamil wife asking her husband to have an affair? No way!". But it happens and the husband naturally ends up having a sensuous mistress.  (No. Silk Smitha has not done this role.) He has a good time with her. He enjoys; his wife cries. As the plot unfolds the other lady is shown to be a fraudster. She earns her livelihood by honey-trapping such easy targets. Then lots of troubles befall both the man and his wife. Finally the wife - with the help of her father, brother and the outside support of her in-laws - frees her husband from the mistress' cage. The husband has learnt his lesson. He is reformed. The couple have babies and - with the blessings of the elders - start a happy married life.

Marupadiyum... ("Once again...") is a critically-acclaimed movie by the master film-maker Balu Mahendra. Revathi as Tulasi and Nizhalgal Ravi as Muralikrishna have done the leading roles. Tulasi is a home-maker; Krishna, a small-time film director. (He is more of the art-types and less of the box-office-types. Bottomline - he does not earn in millions.) The couple have been married together for quite some time (But they don't have a kid). Tulasi's parents were against the wedding and she had left them to live with Krishna. But for the average income level, they live goody-goody lives till that day - when Krishna reveals that he has been having an affair with a film actress, Kavitha. Tulasi is too shocked to know how to react. She even pleads with the actress to leave her husband. Tears flow and things happen. Tulasi does not have anywhere to go; anyone to fall back. In the mean time Kavitha, skillfully done by Rohini, presses Krishna to wed her legally. Tulasi agrees to Krishna and signs the divorce papers. But she loses hope on life. Now enters Gaurishankar - a budding singer and a perfect gentleman. He helps Tulasi get back the hold on her life. She improves. But Krishna's downfall begins. Kavitha's guilt of destroying a happy family makes her mentally unstable and wild; Krishna gets to bear the brunt of it. Soon, Kavitha drops the wedding plans with Krishna and asks him to leave her home. Around the same time, Shankar proposes a wedding with Tulasi. Thrown out of house, Krishna gets back to Tulasi. He begs her to accept him. The final equation - Kavitha - unstable and single by choice; Krishna and Shankar - waiting for Tulasi's nod; Tulasi - back to life and two offers at hand.

As per the tenets of our deep-rooted culture, what should be Tulasi's move now? During such a testing time how should a married woman carry herself? Come on! This is a no-brainer. Of course, she should definitely forget that while she was inconsolably weeping, her husband was having an exciting time with a cinema artist. She is supposed to just forgive her husband - just like the women folks of our land were said to have done over thousands of years. The institution of family will have to endure such tests. <<//DETOUR BEGINS>> K.Balachander is a legend. He is known to be a radical film-maker. He is also known to place his characters at the centre of mazes created by confusing and peculiar human relations. Even he had taken the time-tested Indian route in Sindhu Bairavi (Tamil/1985/three national awards). Here the wife does not stop at just forgiving everything and falling at her husband's feet - she goes a step further and even makes a tempting offer to her beloved husband. She asks him to marry his lady-love or mistress or whatever we may label her. The wife is comfortable being a co-wife along with the mistress under the same roof. The husband appears to be (secretly and naturally) happy about this proposition - but here is the twist. Unexpectedly, the lady/mistress does not approve of this set-up. Come on! This is too much! In spite of everyone around convinced and comfortable about the idea, the mistress just refuses to be a co-wife or for that matter a wife. She gives a long, traditional and moral lecture to justify why she should not marry the man. Everything else is quite fine sir; but marriage? No, No! I hate the M-word. Oh! Then? Instead, as if tradition and our popularised values have not been upheld enough, now the director goes one more step further. The mistress - in the presence of a whole lot of people and the family members - presents the wife with a beautiful gift. The wife is moved to tears; she is not able to find any word to thank the mistress. She is just dumbstruck. Everyone is happy about the gift. The movie is almost over. The audience is happy. By the way - this is the gift - the baby born out of the illicit relation between the mistress and the wife's husband. Wow! <<//DETOUR ENDS>>

Back to Marupadiyum...(Recently, got to know that this was a remake of the 1982-Hindi movie Arth), okay, firstly what is Tulasi supposed to do with the person who salvaged her out of the quagmire? As we see it, such people are real gentlemen and they do not mind if their offers are rejected. They move on anyway. So she can easily decide on Shankar's proposal; as expected she rejects it with immediate effect. With her reformed husband, we expect her to forgive, forget and resume the family life complete with kids. But against all precedents of our land of the seven rivers - she decides to ignore him. She does not forgive him. She does not forget the wrongs of her husband. More than that, she is confident enough to lead a life without a male support. She prefers to stay single. Now, that is like a breath of fresh air! We got to know even such an option exists for a married lady. But just to be in touch with the tradition and provide some kind of continuity to the system of family - the script creates some situations that makes Tulasi end up adopting a girl. So in that sense she is not alone. She has a girl to look after and that would make her experience motherhood - the supposedly ultimate goal of any woman. But yes, it was like a breath of fresh air.

Coming to SDR that got released only a few months back. The bottomline of the plot - enjoy life; but avoid the M-word. The question of forgetting and forgiving the adventures of husbands does not even arise - as there is no concept of Marriage in the first place. The guy is about to get married. But he does not seem to be comfortable with the idea of a wife and a family. Just before he garlands the bride (Girl No.1) he falls for another, equally attractive girl (Girl No.2) in the crowd. So he quietly escapes from the wedding place. He follows his heart. After painstaking pursuit and times spent living together, the boy and the Girl No.2 decide to get married. They are in love with each other. But history repeats and the boy gets jittery just on the day of this wedding too. But it is of no use as by then - the Girl No.2 had escaped from the wedding hall. The boy is devastated. His life was coming to a full circle. He experiences what it means to be ditched by someone on the day of wedding. Soon, Girl No.1 gives a re-entry in the boy's life. Very soon, this girl and the boy start roaming with each other. They kiss and things happen. Then they decide to get married. At this point, their jobs take them to a wedding function. As life would have it, the Girl No.2 too comes for the same wedding. The boy initially avoids her. But soon they meet up and old passions start flying again. But the Girl No.1 appears on scene and spoils the party. Confused! What next? 

Then both the girls sit together and reflect on their lives and what the boy has done to both of them. They are about to decide something. As per our tradition how should the story end now? Does the boy belong to Girl No.1 (to whom he was originally supposed to be married) or Girl No.2 (for whom he had ditched his original bride). Soon Girl No.1 decides to leave. Probably that is understandable given the premium we place on the characters who follow their hearts. So Girl No.1 is out of the equation. Things are simpler now. Only the Girl No.2 and the boy are left. So they decide to get married. All are happy. At last, after many hiccups, someone is about to marry someone! Here is the final twist - the crowd realises that the boy and the Girl No.2, who were about to get married, have gone missing! The girl and the boy have once again escaped from the wedding venue. Come on! Enough! 

No solution in sight yet. Everyone is fed-up by the drama. The escaped girl gets back to her home - only to realise that the boy has been waiting there for her. They both love each other. They decide to resume their commitment-free relation where the doors are always open for anyone to move out. Movie ends. This is something on the lines Salaam Namaste (Hindi/Siddharth Anand/2005) but for glaring fact that the relations have got more fluid and the changes are happening - not far away somewhere in Australia - or not even in the cosmopolitan and cutting-edge Mumbai - but of all places - in the forts-filled town of Jaipur. 

What next? I am waiting to turn more pages of this history book. In the mean time someone can remake SDR in Tamil. The movie can be set in Thanjavur.

Fishy tales - 1

"How do you clean and maintain the tank every week? It's a big work!", that's what many of my friends who have a look at our aquarium say. But before I say anything I will make it very clear that I am not an expert in aquarium matters; nor do I manage a 40-50 gallon tank. Though during my school days I have grown fish in an earthen tank and even seen the tiny guppies getting delivered in it, I am still a beginner as far as a glass aquarium (fish tank) is concerned. Well, it is only during the last winter I got to know that fish tanks need a heater. Yes, they do. Some of the tetras that I had, developed white spots all over their bodies. Heard from informed people that it was due to the Bangalore winter. These tropical fish are happy with water temperatures in the range of 22 - 28' C. But in this city, winters make the tanks pretty cool and these tiny fellows suffer. So I ended up getting a heater with a thermostat. We set the temperature at 24' C. 

A few months before that, I had kicked off Project Aquarium in Bangalore with a renewed vigour - with my old fish tank and 3-4 kilos of laterite in neat packs. My earlier attempts in Goa to have a good aquarium had failed. (For many reasons that I get to realise these days). But this time I wanted the Project to sail well. Therefore I decided it will have to be a planted aquarium. Generally most of us are used to seeing flawless designer plastic plants neatly placed, beautiful shells forming the bed and colourful toys giving out air bubbles in the aquarium. Usually such tanks had a pair or two of gold fish, a few (white or black) molly couples, and probably some guppies. These fish were fed twice a day. On a weekly basis the aquarium was thoroughly washed and made sparkling clean. Vim or Rin was used.  I heard some of them use even the Pril. But we learnt it was not the way the "hobbyists" did it. In the first place, the hobbyists did not buy goldies. 

I fell in love with the term "hobbyist". I did not want to be some X, Y or Z having a fish tank; I loved to be a hobbyist. So, to begin with, we decided not to have the "usual" gold fish. Then came the most important paradigm-shifting advice - the tank should not have goody-goody plants made of plastic; the tank needs live plants. To qualify for being a hobbyist the very basic thing is to have a planted tank. That's how I ended up opening 3-4 kgs of dull red laterite into my small, 10-gallon tank. There was a real shock in store for me when I slowly started pouring mugs of water into the tank. The whole tank looked bloody and dirty - like those after-wash buckets they show in washing powder ads. Oh, God! By then I had already sank 5-6 Rs.100 notes in my tank and I could not retreat. Some frenetic visits to the nearby aquarium shops brought me some solace. They asked me to be calm for the next 2-3 days; they said by then the dust particles too would settle down. In the mean time I was advised to go ahead with the planting task. 

Which plants? There are hundreds of varieties and most of them were know only by their botanical name - Vallisneria, Cabomba Caroliniana, Hygrophila polysperma, Cryptocorynes etc. It is like talking in terms of Mangifera indica, Nelumbo nucifera and Solanum lycopersicum instead of simply saying mango, lotus and tomato. Come on, it makes a lot of difference. Anyway, I was too worried about the dirty water than memorising the Greek and Latin names. So I just got some "good-looking" plants. It was a quite an experience planting in the tank; in water. These stuff are delicate and you got to be careful while filling the tank with more mugs of water. We should avoid creating unintentional whirlpools and tornadoes for these small, adorable under-water saplings.

I forgot to mention something more important. In a zeal to have the tank up and running over-night, I had bought the packets of laterite, bunches of plants - and also a variety of fish at one go. I think I got neon tetras, rummy-nose tetra and Singapore guppies. But I had a peculiar problem at hand. Though there were about 4-5 pairs of attractive fish in my small tank, nothing was clearly visible. Yes, blame it on the muddy water. It was terrible. I just hoped that I did not have visitors that time. They would have thought I was one crazy man to maintain a fish tank with murky waters. Unable to take it, I quickly switched on the sponge filter and went out with a hope that by the time I return at least some of the little fellows will be visible. Or rather, all of them will be alive till the mud settled. I got back to the spot after some hours. Luckily, things were better. And over the next 2-3 days, things did settle down. I too calmed down. 

Over the next 6-7 months I had bought a bottle of Japanese Do!aqua liquid nutrient for the plants (I have to apply 1/2 capful of this green liquid to the aquarium on a weekly basis) and a small Hajmola-type bottle of Chinese-made CO2 tablets (One tablet every two days, before food. I mean before I have my dinner I try to finish this work). This liquid supplement and the white tablet ensure that my Ambulia (or is it Cabomba Caroliniana?) and Amazonia sword survive - in spite of our struggle to find them a good source of light. That is a separate episode by itself! But never did I have the problem of "cleaning" the tank every week. Planted tanks are not to be washed and cleaned. In fact, that does not make any sense. It is like changing the soil of your potted rose plants every week. It kills the entire life-system. Instead, you just have to replace a few litres of water every week. It is as easy as that. So, don't worry about spending on more bars of Rin for your aquarium. Turn into a hobbyist.

But one fine evening, we got some other problem in the tank - our big, bovine, black Balloon molly was munching the white CO2 tablet...

Maryan

I am back at writing about a cinema, after a long gap. Cinema - back then we used that word to refer to the motion pictures. Now it is "movie". Cool! In fact, long long years ago, especially from the state where I come from, "Going to a theatre" meant "Going for a movie". Maryan, takes me to those years. Those years when life was simpler; early 90s. Specifically 15/08/1992 - the day when Roja was let loose from a unknown corner of the country to rapidly conquer the whole nation. Smartest hero of the day and a young, new music composer combined by the master director Maniratnam to bring to the audience a never-seen-before hostage drama, with a strong female character, kindling fierce national sentiments. Director Bharat Bala has decided to keep the music director and the hostage drama plot. But instead of directly having a central heroine character to reclaim the hero from his captors, the director uses love. Love - only that makes the hero leave his dear sea and sea food and travel all the way to the African deserts; also only that keeps the hero alive through his journey back home across the deserts. The highlight of the return trip is a dry song in which the heroine's figure flashes amidst the sand-dunes and hand-holds the hero to the great escape back home. In this process a great movie (cinema) is lost. So towards the end, after his return to the beautiful coastal hamlet, when Maryan (hero) tells Panimalar (heroine) that he had been held captive for 21 days and he had wandered the deserts for nine days at a stretch, you tend to react, "Oh! We never knew!". ("Sollavee illa!" in Vadivel style)

Dhanush has excelled as Maryan. My safe bet is that he will surpass the ultimate creator and performer of our times - Kamal Hassan. Of course, given his physique, Dhanush might not be able to play the lead roles as diverse as in Kuruthu Punal or Devar Magan or Avvai Shanmugi, but somehow this chap is going to catch up - at least in all other areas of film-making like lyrics, playback, music, direction and script. Dhanush is simply extraordinary. Just two scenes - Maryan's reaction to his best friend's death at the hands of the Sri Lankan army and the way he reacts when one of the other hostages is shot in the brain in front of Maryan - speak a lot about his potential. Incidentally, there are no dialogues in both these scenes. Waiting for the actor's Naiyandi.

The director has got his team and execution right. But, after the intermission he miserably fails with the script. With only a few characters, the hero-heroine away from each other and the hero not able to communicate with any of his African tormentors - the director does not have many options, but to throw up a dream song in the desert or place the hero in the middle of some imaginary cheetahs in the middle of the desert, to move the story. If Roja was a mega hit, due credit goes to the terrorist leader character played by Pankaj Kapoor. The terrorist has a story; he has a family; he has some ideals; he has emotions and is unable to even pray well after his kin gets killed; he talks with the hero; he develops a strong bond with the hero that ultimately paves way for the hero's escape across the bridge. But our terrorist leader here in Maryan knows only one word "Mo-ney". Incidentally Maryan's English vocabulary is confined to only that word. They don't have anything else to share. But the story has to be moved and Maryan has to be back with Panimalar. So, throw in some dunes, guns, fire song, duet song, cheetahs, villain back at home, dying friends, phone calls etc - and Maryan is happily back with Panimalar on the same old huge cliff-rock. 

The director has failed even to capitalise on the popular under-water trailer sequence where Dhanush dives deep with some kind of spear clinched in his hand. Rather than meaninglessly placing this bit in the "introduction" song, the director could have easily - and powerfully - used this in the climax. Or some more strong characters, say someone in the oil company that had taken Maryan on contract or say someone among the terrorists, might have been used to save the second half. But then it would have been another Roja. So Maryan could have moved only this way - limping in the desert. And Dhanush and Parvathi have given their best to make our journey easy.

A R Rahman is brilliant in songs as well as the background score. But as the sea-theme of Maryan over-laps with his recently released Kadal (again a Maniratnam movie), the composer still shows some hangover. But nothing much to complain as long he too does not take us back to the good old days of "cinema".

Overall, this is a good movie that has failed to leap to greatness.

e-Maharaja

At last, Dancing with Maharaja e-book is here...

http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-with-Maharaja-ebook/dp/B00CJD4QG0/ref=tmm_kin_title_0

e-Maharaja

Looking forward to getting more reviews from abroad.

Many are behind me - inspiring, motivating and even troubling - asking about my next book. "Come on, its high time!" I am extremely thankful to them - for the simple fact that they haven't got bored with Maharaja. Their words make me to set the alarm at 6:30 in the morning. But beyond a point I am not able to manage multi-deadlines. (By the way, I have lost count of things I had planned to do this summer) I am trying to put things (read life) in place before I start to create something. Until then, every morning, I will be helplessly switching off the alarm to enjoy straddling the cusp of dreamy sleep and cozy wakefulness. But thank you all, I will continue to set the alarm at 6:30 AM.

The dance continues...

Surprised to see more book reviews on Flipkart. Happy!

"one of the best..

Dancing with the maharaja is a sheer master work by sundar.. He being himself in the civil service have written a beautiful and touching story.. reading it will take you to a whole new dimension and you will start feeling for Satish's(the lead). Will recommend it to everyone. Enough of reading the same Love Stories from our young Indian writers.. Dancing with the maharajas is here to steal the show..! " - Saugat Bhattac... 24 April 13

"makes a good reading

good price, and makes a good reading ,interesting and short, u can finish it in one sitting. But I wish some details are more elaborate like the Orissa incident and much is left to speculate what happens. Would recommend. " - Thanglianmang... 11 April 13

"INSPIRING AND NOVEL!!!

ever since i came across the information on this book on news article I always wanted this but I was not able to get it from anywhere. DWM is actually a tremendous novel with unbelievable accuracy of its content.The data is so accurate and i could hardly remember any loophole or incorrect data.presentation of story is simple and effective.One of the things stand out in the novel is the the interrelating of the events.Only thing i thought could have been better had it been written from 'I' perspective instead of the view from a third person. 

On the whole the novel is perfect and go on to show that if you believe you can do something extraordinary and strive for it things will automatically fall in place for you.It also go on to show how the half of our beauracats are being churned out in the intense atmosphere."    - Shivashish Swami,  21 February 13

Thanks a lot!

The pressure for the next work is going up day by day...

Stay on please...

'…It is this missing ingredient that I helped to provide by undertaking a search for genes for non-lodging plant habit…’– taken from a recent newspaper article by Prof.M.S.Swaminathan. Even a sincere googling did not help me figure out the meaning of the line; especially the term given towards the end of the line. But for that, the Prof has inimitably articulated what he has been yelling whenever he got a chance: “Guys, we will run short of food very soon”. It is a common knowledge that right from hinterlands of Haryana to the Kaveri delta, swathes of agriculture land is being gobbled by non-farmers like us. The answer lies in “productivity enhancement”, we say. Compared with the comparables (!) we easily have a scope of cutting down our cultivated area by half and still maintain this day’s level of production. In other words, we can quickly double the yield levels. We can also manage the farm growth at a level that will be good enough to feed our yearly addition to the number of mouths. (By the way, the per hectare consumption of fertilisers has more than doubled in the last twenty years) There is a whole of lot technology available these days. Right from GM crops to mobile apps with live updates on rates at the nearest mandi, technology is there to our rescue. Why bother brother? There is no problem with the malls and apartments eating into the erstwhile farms teeming with food crops and associated birds, worms, rodents, snakes, frogs and farmers. Anyway, Indian agriculture has been a classic example of disguised unemployment i.e. more than required number of people are loitering in sun and rain on the pretext of sowing, weeding, irrigating, harvesting and the like. Efficiency is the name of the game. The slack should be sucked out. In the whole bargain more economic activity is generated in the system– the huge malls keep thousands of people employed, the money and material that go into the construction of apartments keep alive many men, women and their kids, the aroma of urbanisation will be there for the villagers to fill their lungs and most importantly – the land-owning farmers get attractive prices good enough to get fully settled in their lives. It is a win-all situation. QED. 

Well, not so. Among the many reasons that come in between us and the QED, two stand out. Firstly, though we boast of surpassing the landmark figure of 250 million tonnes of food grain output, we can realise the hollowness of our achievement when we look at the availability of food per person. Without getting into the rigour of statistical models (which I am anyway weak at), we can safely say that – nothing has changed in the past 50 years. Each one of us still has only about 160 kg of food grains per year. So what? The consumption pattern is changing, you see? More and more are shifting from rice and wheat to cereals, pulses and other protein-rich diet. There is a transformational shift happening. Oh, is it? Yes, definitely with those of us visiting the McDs and the KFCs in the weekends that start from Wednesdays these days. But, shockingly, for the country as a whole – each one of us gets only half the amount of cereals and pulses of what we got in 1950. To put things in perspective, grams and pulses put together, what I have for the whole year is only less than 15 kg. Had I been born with my father I would have enjoyed double the availability. Sad truth. But happy for my dad! The short point being, productivity levels are not going to go up drastically. There is going to be a deficit between how much we can get from the shrinking farms and how fast we propagate our species. 

The other problem is more serious. It is going to cripple us. Thanks to many things including the fundamental neglect of the farms by our policies and support systems – not many from the Gen-Z are ready for the treacherous ordeal with nature. They have seen their parents suffer and kill themselves in silence. They have experienced the pain of treading the thin line that separates life and death with every passing day of the delayed onset of monsoon. They have heard, seen and known that all it takes to escape the wrath of agriculture and the uncertainty it brings is – a train to the nearest city. Even with all its visible hardships and hidden vices, you just have to fight with people and concrete in the cities. It is much easier than facing the ire of nature head on, year after year - alone. In a city, there is no need to keep cravingly staring in the direction of the seas with folded palms. There is no stress of the intimidating interest-counter that starts ticking from the very first day you got the first bag of urea with a hope that Varuna will keep up his timing. It is also not necessary to be at the mercy of the government staff, traders and middlemen. Yes, in the cities there is a real threat of getting killed by a stranger at the wheels of a brand new poison-spitting SUV – but it is far better than being pushed to consume pesticides purchased with borrowed money. So, we find the Indian Railways bringing in more and more youngsters from villages to towns and cities. The rotting cities of our country are their land of milk and honey. The urban slums keep swelling and the farm lands gets converted to plots for sale. We keep buying. It appears that the process has become irreversible. Nobody wants to miss a chance to leave the farms.

The whole set of problems that we have given the farmers is sadly bringing about an attitudinal change in the minds of the rural teenagers. They feel it is not their sole burden to carry this huge country on their shoulders. Rightly so. We need not understand what the Prof means by ‘non-lodging plant habit’. But it is high time we had realised the importance of his closing line: ‘If agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right.

(All views are personal. All facts are almost real.)