Another tribute to Kiarostomi

“Will someone come and shower earth

when i have done with living this life,

Tomorrow with the silver dawn?

No conditions, but advance payment,

No police, reporters or TV channels,

Around me, only swaying fields of corn..”

The lone man stands and asks  again,

The passers-by turn down their heads

And move on.

One curious young man stops and stands,

Hears the question and the request,

And is gone.

The aged man,looks through muddy eyes,

at the incandescent questioner,

And scratches his heart.

The dusty wind stutters and circles,

From far away, many suns ago,

Lakes lie still and insects dart.

He looks at his infirm arms,

his wrinkled skin and the spade besides,

he shakes his head.

The lone man, puzzled,looks around,

the street hawkers cry, medley sounds,

“Funny,  not allowed to be dead.”

NEXT DAY----

Deep down, where dirty nails scratch,

Fingers try to open a rickety latch,

The smell of  lemon leaves come.

The earth falls in a stream,

I feel the ageless dreams,

the return evermore to warmth….

INDRAJIT

Inspired by Anupam’s Tribute Song

(Press on Play)

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Tara—some stars do not shine!!!

It is often said that one should not change their areas of expertise—as skill in one cannot be transferred to another so easily. Bratya Basu is a brilliant theatre director. He is not that in his films.

He is the Director, Scriptwriter, Screenplay writer, and Lyricist in this film “TARA”. So when the film stutters and loses way, he has to take responsibility.This film has obvious political statements—a reflection of the director’s point of view.In a state where cultural matters were  controlled with a rigid hand by the leftists, the release of such a film with the villains now as Leftist Party members (as contrasted with the Congress Gandhi caps of yesteryear) is a novelty. However the characters are larger than life, jatra-styled, and lifted straight from the theatre stage to the front of an unforgiving camera.There are traces of the masala Hindi film of the nineties.

The story is too idealistic and romanticised. Prosenjit(Indra Bosu) used to live next to Paoli     ( Madhuja), and fell in love with her but could not convey the same to the girl!!!! Prosenjit becomes a murdering Maoist and continues to paint pictures of Paoli in his jungle hideout!!!!! This idealised view of the terrorist is quite unbelievable. Madhuja’s father is picked up as a suspected Maoist and tortured in jail. Madhuja’s friends, servant etc are scared away by the red goons, and she finds herself seeking the help of maverick police officer Tota Roychoudhury (Jahangir Khan), whose life story resembles that of Nazrul Islam , the blacklisted police officer of the Left Front Government. The Cops are as usual corrupt, in league with party leader Subir Sen and the Chief Cop is also seen to be in the same league.Prosenjit tries to issue a statement that Paoli’s father is not a Maoist. This is opposed by his leader Bratya Basu (Naidu) who wants to keep him in jail and garner further popular support.

Now there are two groups trying to capture Paoli—the State and Party machinery and the South Maoist machinery. Jahangir Khan and Prosenjit are trying to save her. Prosenjit wipes out the baddies, gifts Paoli a drawing of her and hands Paoli over to Jahangir.The corrupt police officers under threat of a change of government, confesses to their mistake and Paoli’s father is released by the Court. Bratya tells Jahangir that he behaves like them (the Maoists). Finally Prosenjit and Bratya make a temporary truce and go the jungle as Tota takes Paoli with him—with all and sundry giving us,(the poor audience) the V-sign!!!!!

The script is very empirical and seems to be driven by a purpose of showing the current government and its policemen to be the source of all evil. The dialogues are acceptable in theatre where some amount of hyperbole and stylisation is rampant to drive home some message. The acting has to be a bit unreal, specially in jatra. The gestures and movements have to be exaggerated.  Situations have to be contrived to make them sentimental and emotional.The net result however has been to  have a film which is recording theatre by a camera!!! In the process however, the common man who is exploited in the villages of the Jangalmahal have not been fleshed out properly.

Prosenjit again in consonance with his new found desire of being an Actor primarily has performed brilliantly in a badly contrived role. Paoli is too busy trying to look beautiful.  Tota performs his he-man stuff convincingly but the cake is taken by the other side actors who performs to a T as to what the Director wants.

The editing is poor in parts with no attention being made to match colour and light. The Cinematography is patchy with camera shakes and very poor framing in parts.

The music (by Tapan Sinha) is interesting with the modified “We shall Overcome” (Rupankar) and intelligent use of a Rabindrasangeet (Srikanta Acharya and Lopamudra versions). Rashid Khan sang an impressive song (Megh Jome Aache) which is great for a rainy day.Click on the links below to hear the songs.

http://www.box.net/shared/5umz6zf433

http://www.box.net/shared/0ixt4ifqhv

 http://www.box.net/shared/31v9z95pu9

Bratya however deserves kudos for his direct protest and message in a state where cultural dissent was pounced upon and wiped out quickly and mercilessly. He highlights the dichotomy of a Party who came to power on the promises of being a common man’s party, being transformed into an ordinary corrupt party like any other. He  boldly brings out the prediction that this government will change and then the sycophants and vindictive policemen will get their due.

If this film is meant to romanticise the Maoists , then it succeeds. If it is meant as a Pre-Election method to swing voters around—then it succeeds.If it means to say that the Left parties and its Police department are totally corrupt and debauched, then also it succeeds partially. But if it is meant to be a film of significance—then it fails. Perhaps Bratya deliberately made it a propaganda film, sacrificing filmic sensibility and targeted the rural audience.This was never a film for the multiplexes. It was meant for a hall like Chabighar, where the ticket prices are Rs.30 and Rs. 40, where the seats are fixed, there is no airconditioning—only overhead slow-whirling fans, where projection and sound systems leave a lot to be desired, where a bell indicates that the show is beginning and where at the intervals ,vendors sell chips for Rs. 10 and Popcorn for Rs.5.

Are films now getting segmented and targetted? Are we going to get a new classification—good films , bad films and targetted films?

But the conclusion is inevitable. Bratya Basu is a far better  director of theatre  than that of a film.

Autograph—not a Signature Film

Creative frustration is most irritating for a viewer.When all the ingredients are right and yet the final product falls a little short of the high expectations –the feeling of so near and yet so far is like a headache refusing to go away.

The Film Autograph is precisely that.

Srijit Mukherjee’s maiden directorial venture (he also wrote the screenplay, dialogues and a lyric) started off well, meandered later on and recovered somewhat in the second half.

The story is of an aspiring debutant director Shubho(Indraneil—that’s how he writes it !!!) whose script, based on Satyajit—Uttam Kumar’s NAYAK, and called  AAJKER NAYAK is approved by the famous film star Arun Chatterjee(Prosenjit) for production for the wrong reasons. Prosenjit wants to prove that a star is the essential factor in a hit and NOT anything else.He therefore chooses the script of the rawest person available.He tests Indraneil by suggesting that conventional inclusions like songs, item numbers and a villain is necessary. Indraneil responds by saying that that is not possible. Prosenjit likes his attitude and approves the project.

Indraneil is living in with an aspiring theatre actress Srinandita(Nandana). In a bold initiative,and in one of the high points in the film, the relationship between the two is shown fearlessly.The easy camarederie, the tuning and the sexual relationship is tastefully and boldly shown  in a language which is realistic and modern. The viewer however is surprised how their lifestyle can be maintained without a visible source of income.

Indraneil however cannot find a heroine and finally latches on to his partner Nandana to essay the role.Nandana is terrified about acting with Prosenjit, her  adolescent hero but finally consents. She acts as a spunky journalist who tries to delve deep into the persona behind the star.Even though she puts on large glasses, she is not a patch on the role performed by Sharmila in Nayak.

The relationship between the two develops through several dinner encounters.Prosenjit is haunted by his past where he has often used and thrown away his near ones.There is a forgettable and crude dream sequence which is a disastrous takeoff on Satyajit Ray’s classical depiction in Nayak, and represents the lowest point in the film.

There is now a mutual admiration and a developing understanding which leads to  Prosenjit baring his private thoughts and revealing how he used and betrayed Rudraprasad (his acting guru) and an aspiring starlet.That episode is unwittingly recorded in a videocamera by Nandana. Indraneil meanwhile is completing his film and is obsessed about how to publicise this film. He is tensed, starts changing his nice-boy image and starts castigating the crew and Nandana publicly. Prosenjit displays maturity and guides the film through.

Indraneil meanwhile latches onto the video recording ,steals it from Nandana’s locker,and gives it to a TV Channel (Star Ananda). Nandana ,shocked at Indraneil’s betrayal, leaves him.She tries to explain to Prosenjit who cuts her off. Indraneil tries to reason with Prosenjit who as a Producer announces his scrapping off the film. Indraneil tries to rationalise saying that a star can brush off these minor hiccups. Prosenjit replies by saying that he can sell his smile, his face, or his characteristic postures—but he can never sell his soul. Indraneil however clarifies that Nandana was never a part of this and had already left.Indraneil walks out and contacts a parallel producer and Prosenjit’s critic and bitter rival, whom he had rejected in the past.

Prosenjit discovers that Nandana had returned his old ID card ( unrealistically left with a Dhaba boy!!!!!!) and had settled the unpaid bill.

Autograph is a different movie. It is an important movie. It is a movie which deserves a viewing. Yet at the same time, there are some extremely awkward, amateurish, cliched moments which are irritating and irrational.

First, the cinematography.Though reasonably competent with some outstanding moments, the shots are reminiscent of many previous films. Indraneil sitting in a dark studio with the light on him and the gradual entry of personnel has been used by Guru Dutt and a host of others.The hand held camera sequence in a scene with Nandana and Indraneil gives a severe eyeache and is a split second behind the actions. It is so jarring to the rest of the film, that it spoils the mood instantly. This required ruthless editing or reshooting. Some of the shots blurred occasionally (maybe it was the projection at Swabhumi INOX).

There is a fine credit introduction with a hilarious use of a sugar crane pressing machine with the appearance of the Line Producer’s name. The first half drags occasionally. The Editor Bodhaditya has done a good job. This film is an Editor’s dream and he maintains interest and precision. However fast cuts do not mean a fast pace. It is here the script fails.The reason Satyajit Ray used a moving train as a backdrop was to generate pace.

 

Here, there is a visible lack of actions or story progress as the interactions are mainly verbal and indoors. The film within a film concept needed more characters. We only saw an aging actor and a few hyper females.Retention of the subdued dialogue of the assistant to the Extra in the plane scene” Keep the suit well as we need it tomorrow” was one example of intelligent editing.

The high points of the film was the acting. Prosenjit surpassed himself. Probably this is his best to date. The expressions, the wonderful dialogue delivery, the timing was brilliant. Every line of his face and his expressive eyes, his muted gestures in the “confession” scene spoke and how. Kind yet ruthless, scheming and yet with inner spontaneity, his imitations and sudden questions were a treat to watch.The final confrontation with Indraneil was a revelation.With his glittering eyes, restrained violence and command, this scene makes the film complete. This is a classic performance. With the burden of comparison with Uttam Kumar, Prosenjit creates his own ,unique identity. However, it is clear that the Actor dominated the Director. In NAYAK, Satyajit  controlled Uttam Kumar in the famous ego clash.

Indraneil is a brilliant counterfoil. Easy, modern, relaxed, he reveled in his role. Casual, and charming in the beginning and ruthless and cunning in the end, this is an actor with presence and intelligence.

Nandana was a bit off tune. She is not conventionally beautiful but she makes up with verve and originality.Her dialogue delivery is a bit awkward and stilted.But she has delivered the slightly wild unconventional character with sincerity. Rudraprasad, Piyush, Rathin, Biswajit, and others have done their job competently.This was veteran Dilip Roy’s last shots on film and therefore is poignant.

The music is outstanding. The lyrics penned by Srijato, Srijit and Anupam will be remembered fora long time. This is Debajyoti Misra’s best chance for a National award. The singers specially Sreya and Anupam fill the heart. Rupam is a revelation. He thinks that Beche thakar gaan is his best song to date. He is right!!! But strangely there is a mismatch in the Credits in the film and in the Website.

Overall, the film is there but not quite there. It is recommendable but not a classic. It creates moments of great beauty and involvement. It should have done more. Some of the dialogues are corny. “A man makes mistakes” !!!!! “You are my hero” !!!! Maybe there were too many advisors. Maybe it needed a more prominent Directorial stamp.

The film was watched by only 60 persons on Saptami in the 2PM show at Swabhumi Inox. But I am sure that the numbers will swell as the days progress. The film deserves it.

Of fixers and fixing…

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/video/?vxSiteId=6d2e103b-e170-4f86-9c51-6eac37f8a93e&vxChannel=News&vxClipId=2160_925610&vxBitrate=300

Click on link above to see the original video…

The cricket fixing scandals have shaken the world of sport. Righteous faced journalists, hyperventilating thwarted girl friends, holier than thou ex-cricketers and glum faced officials have all been seen 24x7 on multiple channels. However the undeniable fact is that fixing whether it be spot ,line ,match or series -- existed, is existing,  and will continue to exist—no matter what  steps are taken by the authorities.

Suraj Randiv bowled a deliberate no ball to deny Sehwag a century, apparently under instruction from Dilshan and maybe Sangakara. Teenager Md. Amir bowled a no ball under instruction from his skipper and senior colleagues. Both the no balls had no effect on the outcome of the game. Both of them did it for gain—one for psychological vindictive pleasure, the other probably for money—though there is no evidence it reached him. Look at the different fall outs. One is banned for an inconsequential match—the other is facing a loud howl for a lifetime ban. Cricketers take money to play like any other worker anywhere. If they do a little bonus on the side which does not affect the overall game—then what is the harm?? After all, everybody likes to make money on the side—don’t they? So if you cannot fix the fixers—then  accept them!!!

SURAJ RANDIV         MOHAMMED AMIR

Translate this into the commercial world.Look at the ‘facilitators’ and the ‘Commission’ fees. See the hangers on near all political personalities and government offices. Look at the sweat equities of millions of dollars before you sweat. Simpering ,tainted ex-ministers marry the anti-perspirant stake holder for which he ‘merely' picked up the telephone and had a chat in the IPL !!! Backdoor manoevuring was going on to legitimise auction fixing—and the players were the very same officials who sit on disciplinary committees. The  cricketer who allegedly made Rs. 220 crores is now a ruling party MP who speaks in  rallies exhorting youths to sacrifice their all for the country!!!! The man banned for 5 years now is an expert commentator from the studios, commentating on this current scandal for a hefty fee…Confirmed cocaine users are regularly seen on TV giving their comments with gusto. Bowlers with a clear illegal action gets the laws of the game changed to suit them, and goes on to create world records..

VEENA MALIK    MOHAMMAD ASIF

Which all goes to show that only the foolish get caught. The less powerful are paraded. The developed world cricketers say that it never happens in their country, though a couple were socked for giving information(sic), to bookies about weather conditions and quite a few were caught with their hands in the till!!! .These holier than thou countries used Vaseline, jelly beans etc with aplomb to swing the ball and were agitated when the Pakistanis did it better than them!!! This was however only ball fixing!!!

Cricket and all the other sports have become horribly tainted and we would forever be left contemplating that the great vagaries of cricket like a dropped catch or a No ball were fixed or not . Were the nail biting finishes contrived? Have all of us been taken for a ride again and again???

So how can we solve this? Simple, I would say. The cricketers are paid more than they are worth. Hitting a ball ensures jobs, fees, ads, film shoots,women, apart from match fees and contract fees-- in droves. Penalize them severely when they fail. Penalize them the amount that betting circles would give. That is all that is required. Too long have they taken advantage of the glorious uncertainties of the game. If Sachin scores a duck, he is penalized. If he scores a 50 or a hundred he gets more.If Yuvaraj drops a catch, penalize him. If Zaheer bowls a no ball, penalize him. You will then see the clear improvement in them. If they are getting paid handsomely for their achievements, then surely they should be penalized if they fail.That is what professionalism is all about.

If doctors, engineers, financial investors, etc can survive by these rules, so can cricketers.Sports Entertainment is not a an absolute necessity for living. These guys call themselves professional and calmly fail in game after game after game.There is no penalty except the prospect of getting dropped from the team.One good performance in 5—6 outings will ensure selection. Imagine if the surgeons had such a track record….One good operation in 3 cases??? If the anaesthetists failed in such a ratio?? If the bridges built by the engineers collapsed in such a ratio?? Disregard  the fact that a majority of  such professionals get a fraction of what the cricketers get. This type of performance would ensure that the surgeon will get no patients and will spend all his life in courts. Contrast this with how  the Indian cricketers behave after a loss.

This is the only way of stopping whatever-fixing making a mockery of our time , intelligence and our money!!!

Friends ,what do you say??

Independence Day and the Common House Sparrow

This Independence day, I suddenly recalled my childhood days.Waking up in the mornings to the chirping of the birds ,quickly getting ready, rushing to the rooftop to be one of the first to raise the National flag, and the singing of the National anthem,  with parents. cousins, aunts, uncles and the servants watching us with beaming indulgence. Invariably, we would turn to feed the birds, the common house sparrows and the crows, before diving into hot singaras and jilipis.

A familiar sight in our childhood

Today, as we descended to the lawn in front of our multistoryed building, there were a lot of pigeons and crows, but the house sparrow seems to have disappeared.

There has been a systematic decimation of this once-so-familiar bird all over the world.Europe and specially England have seen a significant reduction and a lot of theories have evolved as to why this happened.In India, the cities in the South and North have been particularly affected.

A disappearing sight.

Why and how did this happen?

The first reason was the changing nature of the buildings. There is no tiled roof, no hay covered bungalows. In an effort to utilize  every inch of the expensive land, covered crevices and corners have simply disappeared. Scattered grains from gunny bags are no longer available, as it is the age of sealed plastic bags. Old buildings with abundant gardens and bushes have disappeared.The sparrow simply does not have a place to breed.

Looking for a place to breed

Adding to this was the introduction of unleaded petrol. Methyl Nitrite was released all over, leading to the deaths of small insects which were the staple food of the sparrows.The increasing use of pesticides were another cause of the reduction in the number of small insects and worms.

Then came the mobile towers sprouting here and there. The introduction of 3G systems with higher radio frequency waves, played havoc with the sparrow’s breeding abilities and reduced their flying time. If the male bird sings less, mating cycles are grossly disturbed.Moreover eggs take more than a month to hatch (double the normal time) and some do not hatch at all.This has been scientifically proved by studies in Belgium.

Waking up to this problem, March 20 of each year has been named World Sparrow Day. The Postal department is bringing out a stamp on this disappearing chodai pakhi.

Meanwhile several pleas are being circulated that all ground and first floor residences lay out a shoe box filled with hay and a little water, so that this familiar remnant of our past can be resurrected.

One lady recalled that when she had a long illness and was confined to the house, her mother thoughtfully placed a wooden box on the window sill, and regularly sprinkled some grains there. It was the continuosly chirruping spunky sparrows which saw her through those difficult times.

Let us all come together in this difficult times for the Common House Sparrow.

Listen to this beautiful song by Simon and Garfunkel…..

Udaan—Flying Higher-some hiccups!!

Let there be no doubt about this. Udaan is a magnificent film. In fact it is perhaps the most important direction—finder of Hindi films for a long long time. With a spate of crisp stoytelling like Aamir, A Wednesday, Mumbai Meri Jaan, in recent times, our appetites were being whetted. Udaan shows how Hindi films are maturing.Directors are now writing and filming their stories—and they are not being pressurised to take stars, include dances, stage violent ‘Ackshun!!’, and incorporate unnecessary songs and unrealistic costumes.

There is a story here of a teenager growing up with an autocratic and mentally depraved father. The father’s Hitlerian approach and his conception of a mard smacks of mental deficiencies, and in an effort to bolster up the story, Ronit Roy is made larger than life, though stopping short of a caricature. Jamshedpur men, as we would believe from this film assault their wives and children, drink, and do not care for the Arts, even if they study in the best schools of India. And the one man who betrays some humanity from the older generation is the one who is impotent.

This tinkering with the script would have us believe that the best way of having a good time, is to sneakily take the family car, steal money from your father’s wallet, go to a bar, drink, deliberately get into fights, stick out your body from a car, wave your arms and curse repeatedly at the top of your voice. And a father will  consider his son as a Macho Mard only if they smoke, drink and have sex by the age of 17!!!!!!!

Is it mandatory for films (Three Idiots etc) to deliberately ignore the millions of hard working parents who sacrifice all their lives so that their children can have a better, financially assured life, and who do not curse, drink, smoke, marry repeatedly,and beat up their children. Flying (Udaan) requires training, knowledge and skill which a boy of 17 does not have.And persons who do badly at school. will NOT get into a decent college. Certainly not in premier Arts Courses of premier Colleges. So, there is a necessity for the children also to assume some responsibility and accountability to their parents.I cannot imagine a parent not visiting his son for e-i-g-h-t years!!!! Another cinematic licence to bolster up the need for Rohan(the protagonist) to break rules deliberately and get expelled.

However, these are aberrations in a film of sublime directorial touches—the recurring barbed wire in front of Ronit Roy’s(Rohan’s Father) house is a case in point. The daily ritualistic race to the house, and Rohan’s final winning run away from his father’s clutches.—is another. The failure of the car to start at one go is wisely used in the climax seen. Jamshedpur has never been portrayed so well.The mix of hard work, hard drinkers, hard disciplinarians, in a palpably small town setting is sometimes frighteningly accurate. The high point of the boy smashing his father’s old irritating car could have come better as an apex of a vertex of small frustrations piling up till something broke at the top. Again , one is left wondering, whether the director believes that smashing your father’s car is a valid option of protest—because there is a distinct possibility, after this film, of a number of teenagers  subjecting their parent's vehicles to the scrapheap.

Vikramaditya Motwane, the director and class friend of Abhisekh Bacchan(really!!!!) scores full marks in the casting department. Rohan( Rajat Barmeccha) is disarmingly innocent faced who switches from his rebel behaviour to a talented wannabee writer with consummate ease. When he is on the receiving end of his father’s ire—his demeanour brings lumps to the throats of the middle aged Moms in the audience. The child actor ( Aayan Boradia) who plays Arjun , Rohan’s stepbrother is one of the finest selections in Indian films with touches of  Shekhar Kapoor’s Masoom boy Jugal Hansraj. But the acting honours are taken away by Ronit Roy in a role of a lifetime. Undertoned voice, lurking danger in his eyes and demeanour, supremely fit at his age, restless, intense, one track mind, obsessed with male macho image, and yet in his own misguided way trying his best for his sons and yet feeling defeated by them in a competition to get attention from their mothers.Ronit treads the swaying wire between a caricature and a believable oversized ,larger than life character with aplomb. His brother’s role is enacted with  great skill by Ram Kumar who shows remarkable sensitivity and underplays to form a perfect foil to the hyper reacting Ronit.What a wonderful talent pool of actors are being wasted by Bollywood and their masala films with their terrible masala recipe….

The greatest achievement of the Director was that never, even once did he let the film drift. That is why, there  are no female actors except in absentia –no dances, no lipped songs, no distractions or deviations.

Music Director Amit Trivedi  did not create any memorable songs. Cinematographer Mahendra Shetty was competent and did capture the essence of Jamshedpur. However shots sometimes were ill lit and very stock shottish.The print at INOX Swabhumi Kolkata had as much as 6 black screens!!! If this is also in the best prints, then the Editor, Dipika Kalra has done a bad job.  These type of shoddy prints could have ruined this film. But it flies too high—albeit with a few hiccups—a magnificent lighthouse to millions of viewers and budding directors and scriptwriters.

Inscrutable smiles

What is common to The Sphinx, Mona Lisa, Buddha, and Manmohan Singh? This quiz question could stump a few, but the answer of all things, is the title above.

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Most people smile most of the time , which is a tribute to their goodness. Some smile incessantly, which makes them look silly and recognised as a permanent asker-for-favours person.

Some never smile at all—because they considered smiling as a letting down of the guard. But EVERYBODY gives the inscrutable smile at some time or other—when they smile but that smile has nothing to do with their inner feelings.

When do we give the inscrutable smiles? Mostly when you are not listening to what the other person is saying. Yet you are too polite to turn your face away. So you smile (some may say that is a vacuous smile) and think about more important things.

(see the central lady in black)

The other time is when you are in a crowd and hardly know anyone. Your smile can change instantly when someone recognises you and become a welcoming grin—or if not recognised, quickly change into a neutral expression. Most people in a crowd are actually in this mode and it is quite revealing to see the variety of these inscrutable smiles in these gatherings.

(See the lady in red behind the man in the bandana)

The inscrutable smile is very much in display in group photos of famous personalities among the background persons. Knowing fully well that the focus is on the star , others smile without interest but smile they do, otherwise they may fall into the bad books of the star.

(Note the lady in blue at the back)

Obviously the most inscrutable smiles come from actors when they are confronted by photographers at a social gathering.  In a photo shoot they do everything that the photographer requires, but in these “free-shoot” situations, they give these inscrutable smiles and nothing else (i.e. when they are not arguing with or hitting them).

The law enforcers like policemen smile like that when they cop you on a blank morning for something which you  have not done. the bank official gives that smile when you start arguing with them over their faulty services, and the doctor has to do so for most of his clinical patients, because he is not sure what news the XRay or blood count may give.

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The animals of course are past masters at these. See the picture below.

In brief, do perfect the inscrutable smile. It will stand you in good stead!!!!!!

The Issue of Disresponsibility

Many times we dither between taking responsibility for an action. If it is work that we have done directly and solely, then we have to take responsibility and face the consequences –beneficial or harmful. If we have not done the work properly, we are deemed to be irresponsible. We are not good enough to have taken up the job. We have failed to perform according to certain standards.

Being responsible is a terrific burden on a person. Superiors just love them. Many persons therefore try and avoid it by showing disinterest or nonavailability.

However there are certain areas in which we should have taken responsibility, but we did not—either due to passivity or laziness or because we did not feel like it. There are also certain areas, where we have no choice but to step in and take responsibility. For example, how can we avoid being a parent or a son or a daughter?? How can we stop being a doctor or an engineer or a Minister or an economist? Can we be a professional for 16 hours and unprofessional and nonprofessional (another debatable word) for 8 hours??

When we do not take responsibility and evade or avoid it, I propose the word “Disresponsible”. I also toyed with the word “Unresponsible”.

However, I immediately ran into a roadblock. Many dictionaries (Oxford and Cambridge et al) do not have these words. The Urban Dictionary however recognises one. Unresponsible is defined as :-

An entity which denies responsibility simply by the act of claiming they are not responsible, whereas from other logical reasonings they would take responsibility. Unresponsible is not responsible, but still should be.

Disresponsible isn't defined yet.

So what is disresponsible?

It is basically being disinterested in taking responsibility or in some cases disowning responsibility. It is a slinking away. Unresponsible  is a positive action of walking away from taking responsibility and not merely avoiding it.

You are walking down the road and see two people being killed by a group of murderers. You know that taking responsibility for intervention will be dangerous, time consuming and counterproductive. Besides it is the job of the authorities to enforce law and order. So you become disresponsible and walk away.

You see the neighbour’s teenaged son taking drugs, and do not tell his parents. You avoid responsibility for being a good social person because you are not sure what the reaction would be.

You see your best friend being corrupt and avoid informing any one. Your friend gives enough indication  of his irritation as you indirectly broach the topic. You do not want to break a friendship and yet you act disresponsibly as a friend.

You see your associate cheating his family by carrying out an illicit relationship. Do you inform his wife? You do not reason with him for he will simply deny it and accuse you of being nosy. You let things drift. You are acting disresponsibly.

If you look at the big scenario, then you are acting disresponsibly for a significant part of your life. Yet this disresponsible part is an integral part of  your life.

How can you ignore it in real life, and not put it in the language that we use?