Movie Review

Hello Hum Lallan Bol Rahe hain ****


Living true to the adage that "Every dark cloud has a silver lining", this silver lining of a movie emerges out of the darkness of  the recent clashes between Mumbaikars of Marthi and non-Marathi origins.  It is wonderful to see efforts to bridge this artificial divide between people of the Mumbai Metroplex who share a common destiny as Mumbaikars - no matter what accent they may have.

Lallan Prasad Prajapati (played by Ram Pal Yadav) is a security guard with a private security company.  He is waiting for his lot to improve before he can approach a girl in his home town of Bijapur, who he loves secretly.  Lallan and his mentor, Tiwari ji are very down-to-earth practical people.  The viewer empathizes with Lallan and comes to realize that however hard the rotten eggs of Shiv sena try, they can't tear asunder the heart of Mumbai - which has already melted in the melting pot of cultures. The viewer realizes that it is India that has been depicted in the test tube of Mumbai.  The movie is highly recommended for every NRI family, as it gives a very much needed message - to see us all as one people despite our diversity. Whether it be Gujarati Hansa ben, Lallan, the bhaiyaa, or Punjabi Sharmaji, they are all us!  NRI's, despite their high level of education, could very well take this valuable lesson away from this movie.

This is a light hearted movie, with good humor.  It is a very clean family movie -  and these days I allow three stars for that reason alone.  This movie is very enjoyable.  The depiction of our value system rooted in good ol' traditional Indian culture is wonderful.  Watch this movie with the whole family. It is really nice!

What a layman should know about Guns

It really does not matter whether the reader opposes or supports gun control.  In either case, there are some things that we all should know about guns – even as lay men.  I hope you find this article informative and enjoyable.

Guns are not toys

Guns are devices that throw out pieces of lead at supersonic speeds.  Guns may, in certain cases, be small, but they are not toys and should be kept locked and away from where children can reach them.  People, who feel that they lose their temper when angry, should also not keep guns.

Types of Guns.

First, there are long guns and there are short guns.  The long guns can either be a rifle or a shotgun or be a combination with one rifle barrel and one shotgun barrel.  The difference between a rifle and a gun is primarily in the barrel. 

The rifle barrel (see image on left) has long spiral grooves cut on the inside that spins the bullet.  For this reason, the bullet from the rifle is more accurate. Rifles can have a variety of bore sizes. 

The shotgun has a smooth tube-like bore and is usually utilized to shoot either a slug or a few small shots that shower the target.

Among the long guns, rifles are used for hunting and target practice, while shotguns are used for self defense or recreationally, for shooting skeet.

The handguns can either be revolvers or pistols.

There is a further classification based on the way a rifle / gun is loaded.  There is the single shot, double barreled, bolt action, lever action, pump action, semi automatic and fully automatic guns.   The fully automatic guns are banned in America.

The rules and  protocols of handling / owning guns

Rule 1.             Treat every gun as if it is loaded. Never point a gun at anyone.

Rule 2.             Never keep your finger on the trigger. 

Rule 3.             Check to see the gun is unloaded before handing it to anyone – even if you know that the gun is unloaded.

Rule 4.             Never keep a round in the firing chamber.

Rule 5.             Always use a trigger lock for rifle and guns and always keep handguns in a safe.

Rule 6.             Always keep the safety lever in the ‘safe’ position.

Rule 7.             Educate your family about these rules

Rule 8              Never keep a gun around if someone is emotionally / mentally unstable or loses his/her temper when angry.
Rule 9.             If you are a kid and see another kid with a gun, quickly put as much distance you can put between yourself and him and go tell the nearest adult you can find.

If you have kids with a thoughtful and serious temperament who are able to comprehend that the gun is a lethal weapon, it is best to teach them gun safety.  It is a good opportunity to explain that the way gun-handling is shown in the movies is not the way guns are handled in real life.  There is nothing very ‘manly’ or ‘romantic’ about them.

Once you present them with the safety rules and once they see you observing the protocols in handling the weapons, it immediately sinks in their minds that handling guns is a serious matter and they understand that the lock on the trigger is to be respected.  You must let them handle unloaded guns in a safe way and make them observe all the rules pertaining to the safe handling of guns.  Once they hold the gun their curiosity is quenched and a lot of their misconceptions get cleared.  First they wonder that if the gun is so heavy, how does Bobby Deol or Bruce Willis fire them while in mid jump with the gun held sideways in a horizontal position?!

Movies and Video games have done a lot of disservice to mankind by portraying guns as casual symbols of manliness or valor.  When you have bought ammo a few times, you realize that, as expensive as ammo really is, the rapid fire on the screen is either virtual fire of a videogame or taxpayer paid ammo being expended by the military.

Most people own guns for target shooting or hunting.  Guns are also deterrents to crime.  People don’t go harassing others in Texas because of the ‘conceal and carry’ law which lets you carry a gun concealed on your person - if you have had training in handling the gun, are familiar with the laws and have had a background check.  Guns have no doubt been abused by stupid and psychotic people, but if that excuse is used to yank the gun out of the hand of the law abiding citizen, then one must remember - the only segment of the society that will still be armed will be the crooks and the police – and the police can’t be everywhere all the time.

At the confluence of Cultues

A lot of funny eddies are created when streams of two different cultures meet at a confluence. Here is a real life experience of a friend of mine

A friend of mine, who hails from Iran, belongs to the generation of Iranians who were studying in the US when the Iranian revolution took place.  Most of these students found monetary support yanked due to the uprising and had to fend for themselves in America.  Many were forced to work hard to finance their education.  My friend recalls how he and some of his other Iranian friends drove taxi cabs in the Washington DC area for a shiny nickel.

He recounts a very funny incident when he, along with a few of his Iranian friends, was sitting 'benched' at a Taxi Cab dispatch center waiting to be called.  The dispatcher, a black guy, was partial and kept them waiting while he kept giving dispatches to  his own friends.  Now we know that in our part of the world, an insult to a man's wife is taken as a direct attack on a his honor- and is considered to be 'extreme provocation'  for which proverbial "khoon ki nadiyan" often flow.  The same is true for Persians.  Finally out of frustration, one of the Iranian guys, made a vulgar snide remark about the dispatcher's wife in Farsi.

 The dispatcher asked one of the other Iranian guys, "Hey, what did he just say ?".

In an attempt to get his friend in some hot water, his friend jokingly translated the remark ad verbatim into English.

At that, the dispatchers face lit up.

He smiled and said, "Hey! you want her man?!!! Take her !  I am tired of her big fat *** anyways.  You can have her, brother.  I am looking for a way to get rid of her.  You want her phone number ?"

Everyone broke out in laughing.  One of the guys quipped back..... "Well, you know what Joe, I might just think about it, but first you have got to give me a dispatch!"

Is Towercam a Wild Goose Chase?

.

By bringing you Towercam without any strings attached or without any vested interest I have surely puzzled a lot of my readers. I talk to a lot of you as family and friends and I get feedback (I haven’t gotten a written one formally so far, I’ll admit). I am unaware of how many people are reading forwarded copies of the Towercam. Do I care? No. I don’t.

The reasons I decided to start Towercam were several. I felt I could write well enough to hold peoples’ interest. One impediment was out of the way. Now many can write well, but of all why me? Well, because my experience of life has taught me that there is a human need – at the very top of Maslow’s pyramid of human needs – and that is the need for ‘Self actualization’. Per Maslow, when one’s basic, emotional and security needs are satisfied, one feels the need to make one feel, “happy for his deeds”. I am not, for a moment, alluding that all my needs lower down in the pyramid of needs have been fully met. They have somewhat been met, and I filled the voids that remained with contentment. As you age, contentment comes easier and easier – mainly because of your inability to change the status quo you accept the ‘cruising altitude’. I could go hankering my remaining years increasing my cruising altitude, but heck, I have a lot of ground to cover and a lot of lovely vistas to enjoy. Flapping wings hard messes all that up. So, one has to spread the wings like and eagle and soar…

I find writing to every one of my family and friends on a frequent enough basis is quite an impossible chore. For that reason, months used to go by without any contact. Now with Towercam, you all know regularly enough what is going on at my end, what movies I liked and what has been giving me joy – or been tormenting me!

I feel it is important to pass on the cultural torch to the next generation so that they grow up aware of their cultural wealth and traditions. If a young person grows up firmly planted in his culture, he carries on the values. And while I root for heritage, I like to weed out the evil / stupid beliefs / rituals in our socio-cultural system, because I feel that the ‘free format’ structure of our philosophy has allowed a lot of con-men to infect it with mindless rites, superstitions and rituals, that like viruses in a computer system, just take over and proliferate. While scientists like Carl Sagan and Jack Oppenheimer could peel the layer of filth and see the truth of our philosophical system, most of the world still labels us as the way many of us have projected our image – as savage slum-dogs. Are we that? I don’t think so.  Towercam always aims at peeling the filth off our philosophical core – most of which has accumulated during the age of ignorance when wars were waged against Hindus – just to kill them for a place in heaven, and in turn the Hindus raised the pitch of their fervent prayers so that a divine force would destroy the attackers. Well, history tells us otherwise. I want the generations to succeed us to be more united in order to defend themselves and demand their rightful plate of gruel at the table, more proud, in order to hand over the torch to the generation that will follow them and more rational and humble to understand the larger picture of life and find their place in it.

So, really, that’s what the Towercam is all about. I will still write, even if no one reads it. Coming to work, riding by myself, I often like to sing. No one hears it but me. It makes me happy. So I sing. For similar reasons Towercam comes to you.

Why Towercam ?

The Towercam is a no-profit community building effort. The idea is to increase awareness of current events, the lessons from our history which were never taught in school, share tips and ideas so that a discourse gets started and our community is strengthened and starts seeking to participate and assert itself in the political processes of the lands we live in. We want a piece of the pie and we shall have to learn to stand up and be noticed. Share Towercam with other community members. It is a win win for all of us.

 Please feel free to send your comments as to how you think the end of community building can be better achieved.