Sax and Violins
Its been a very long time since I have entered something here. Not that I was really busy, just too lazy. I am having the QWERTYphobia with all the typing I have to do in college! gak! But after getting placed in a leading software company, I can breathe a bit easier.
Anyways, getting to the topic at hand. Just about two weeks back, I visited the Kitab festival happening in Mumbai. I finally got the opportunity to see a film that I wanted to see for a very long time. War and Peace. It is a documentary by Mr. Anand Patwardhan ( http://www.patwardhan.com/ ) mainly revolving around the Nuclear weaponry acquired by nations across the world. The film is divided into two parts - the first part concentrates mainly on the nuclear cold war between India and Pakistan and leads back to 1999 when India had successfully completed five underground Nuke tests in Pokhran ...and the Buddha smiled! Following this, Pakistan conducted six tests of its own.
Mr Patwardhan points out how each aspect of the tests had pinched the sentiments of various sections of the society. Some of them are -
Anyways, getting to the topic at hand. Just about two weeks back, I visited the Kitab festival happening in Mumbai. I finally got the opportunity to see a film that I wanted to see for a very long time. War and Peace. It is a documentary by Mr. Anand Patwardhan ( http://www.patwardhan.com/ ) mainly revolving around the Nuclear weaponry acquired by nations across the world. The film is divided into two parts - the first part concentrates mainly on the nuclear cold war between India and Pakistan and leads back to 1999 when India had successfully completed five underground Nuke tests in Pokhran ...and the Buddha smiled! Following this, Pakistan conducted six tests of its own.
Mr Patwardhan points out how each aspect of the tests had pinched the sentiments of various sections of the society. Some of them are -
- The Buddhists were annoyed by the code word used for determing the success or failure of the tests. Their argument was that the Buddha was a peace loving being and the Nukes were weapons of war.
- The people living in the villages near Pokhran saw a sudden increase in the number of patients of cancer. They suspected that this rise was caused by the nuke tests.
The urban and suburban middle class however thought of this as a good thing as this blotted India on the world map.
In the second part of the film, Mr Patwardhan shows us how the rest of the world was affected by nukes. Beginning with the nation that was the first and the only one to actually use nukes in warfare. The United States of America. He shows us how over 55 years after the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, the Japanese were still trying to cope up with the after effects of the bombs. (The film was made before 2005).
In conclusion, we understand that the development of Nuclear Science has brought more misery than human advancement. In India, for example, just about 2.5% of the total electric energy produced is generated by nuclear power plants in contrast to 6% from wind.
Why are we the Monkeys?
After the film, Mr Patwardhan showed a small music video. The message of the music video was that the "lower caste" people were depicted as monkeys in the Ramayana as Hanuman. Now I am getting too bored to elaborate on that. That too for just one reader. Ahem.
Anyways, I will be updating soon.
Till then, goodbye!
In the second part of the film, Mr Patwardhan shows us how the rest of the world was affected by nukes. Beginning with the nation that was the first and the only one to actually use nukes in warfare. The United States of America. He shows us how over 55 years after the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, the Japanese were still trying to cope up with the after effects of the bombs. (The film was made before 2005).
In conclusion, we understand that the development of Nuclear Science has brought more misery than human advancement. In India, for example, just about 2.5% of the total electric energy produced is generated by nuclear power plants in contrast to 6% from wind.
Why are we the Monkeys?
After the film, Mr Patwardhan showed a small music video. The message of the music video was that the "lower caste" people were depicted as monkeys in the Ramayana as Hanuman. Now I am getting too bored to elaborate on that. That too for just one reader. Ahem.
Anyways, I will be updating soon.
Till then, goodbye!
posted by Apurv Kulkarni at 7:20 AM
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