Picnic

Picnic is a unique movie by Japanese director Shunji Iwai who also brought us Swallowtail Butterfly, April Story, Hana and Alice, Love Story and All About Lily Chou Chou. Very entertaining films, all these. But somewhat tragic. Very few Japanese films (if any) are as unambiguously happy as the typical Bollywood crowd pleaser. Take for instance, Fall Guy. Would you believe that a comedy can feature a gratuitous rape?

Anyway.


Suppose I give you this deal. You will give me Rs. 50,000 upfront. Thereafter you will spend 10 years in a limited activity arrangement, your food and clothing will be modest, you will have to wake up early and exercise everyday. You will have a small community room to watch TV in the evenings - no porn though. You will have access to books and newspapers. At the end of it, you will get Rs. 30,000 crore. Yes, you got that right. That's the deal. Picnic, right?

Well, that's the kind of deal Abdul Karim Telgi, the mastermind of the infamous stamp paper scam got.

Here's another:

The Income Tax department claims to have traced unaccounted wealth valued at Rs 35,000 crore to accounts operated by a Pune-based businessman Hasan Ali.

Stud farm owner Hasan Ali, stamp paper scammer Telgi, notorious criminal at large Dawood Ibrahim. Now, the socialists and seculars claim that there are as many criminals among Hindus. Sure there is, but last time I checked, no one had drawn up a Sachar report on them. Everyday we read about how terrorists have penetrated the Indian financial system deep and wide. Every once in a while a train blows up somewhere. Then the riots happen. Then you and I get blamed. Apparently we look at Muslims funny, so they get mighty upset. Then Madame Suzanna Roy writes flamboyant articles, her fans lap them up. People win prizes at essay competitions. Research to study Muslim discrimination at the hands of murderous Hindus (that's you and I) are funded across the country in educations institutes. Awards are give, speeches made. The walls feature a dusty photograph of Mahatma Gandhi.

The problem is not about Muslims. The issue is not of Dalits or OBCs. The question is, where the fuck are my fundamental rights? I don't want to subsidize these problems just because Nehru and Gandhi wanted to play house and ended up creating an absurd nation.