Hindustan Times
Majority of one
The Issue: Other people
The Soundtrack: The Safety Dance
In my attempt to be one with the gigantic creature called ‘Other People’, there have been countless occasions when I have felt guilty for having a taste for things that don’t match at all with the aforementioned ‘Other People’. Cases in point: I prefer a convoluted start to a piece I write (just to weed out the patient from the impatient reader); I dislike Bollywood movies and harbour a soft spot for some old ones only because of nostalgia and the sense of ridiculousness that they ooze; I like reading literary fiction while abhorring boring bestselling ones that have anything to do with ‘Rising India’ and self-help books.
My welcome hand
All this, on a good day, I can keep quiet about. On a bad day - on which I am struck by complete lucidity - I don’t. If it’s suddenly decided that Lagaan>is the best Indian movie to go to the Oscars ever, I would very much beg to differ. If it’s declared that English newspapers in India should also cater to a readership that goes beyond the living rooms, then I’ll break into a grin not too unlike that worn by Jack Nicholson playing the demented author Jack Torrance in The Shining when he breaks down a door with an axe ready to chop his wife.
Now don’t get me wrong. People like me don’t want to read only about people like me (just as children don’t only want to read about children in books, please note children’s books editors). But our take on the ‘real world’ outside - and that includes Lalgarh or Mango Men (aam admi) or farmer suicides - is of anthropological interest: the way we look at Mayan culture on a National Geographic documentary. To deny this is to welcome bullshit with a red carpet.
On a bad day, when I am most sure of what I am (as well as who I am), I immediately think of that 1982-83 pop nugget, ‘The Safety Dance‘, by the one-hit wonder Canadian band Men Without Hats. The words ring like a giant bat in a belfry with ghungroos tied to its wings: “We can dance if we want to/ We can leave your friends behind/ Cause your friends don’t dance/ and if they don’t dance/ Well they’re are no friends of mine.”
So when papers tell me about how the budget or some government policy or some law affects me, I simply curl up with my copy of Mahasthabir Jatak (go check out what it is on the internet!), pop a few beers, put on the Pixies’ ‘Levitate Me’ as loud as I can (to drown out the neighbours’ CD machine playing ‘Masakkali Masakkali‘) and hang a sign on the door that says, ‘Keep out’ — till I get into a good mood and pretend that I care about the outside world again.
As the not-so-famous frontman of Men Without Hats, Ivan Dorostchuk, sings in the song: “I say, we can act if want to/ if we don’t nobody will/ And you can act real rude and totally removed/ And I can act like an imbecile.” Hell yes, hell is other people.
(6 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by Indrajit Hazra on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Filed under Music · Tagged Bollywood movies, harbour, Jack Nicholson, Jack Torrance, Lagaan, Other people, The Safety Dance
Who knows what motivates humans ,better than moods, neither can rationality be not subjective for anyone acting consistently would be a rational fool.Beyond the urge to achieve,acquire and pass on there is an urgencency to rebel against conformity and break free .I believe its the new male agenda beyond,what’s ur take?Listen to Sting to feel better . Believe me its not the great things but the simple things that touch us that we deny to ourselves
[Reply]
indi Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I once listened to Sting (his solo stuff). They took me away in a van and I returned home after six months. Since then, I haven’t heard Sting. Since then, I haven’t been suicidal. Roxanne knows what I mean.
[Reply]
amy Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I mean the new albums and yes Roxanne (first one esp) is good .
[Reply]
indi Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
What do you by “Roxanne (first one), Amy”? I thought there was only one song by the Police called ‘Roxanne’…
Hi
i love the way you write. I don’t know how many fans you have given your way of hating everything under the sun, but i definitely am your fan.
I love the quirky humour in your writing. I love the way you give vent to your frustrations about the world around you. I guess we have a lot in common. I think we deserve a different world.
Looking forward to read more of your writing.
Bye
[Reply]
indi Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Geeta, there is another world apparently. But the ticket prices are beyond my reach. Perhaps it’s time for us to pool in and give it another shot at the counter. What say?
[Reply]
indi Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
And thanks
[Reply]
sounds like a very frusti and a very honest post.but a man of ur fame and readership cannot afford such things(even on a bad day).better confine such things within yourself and pretend to be interested.u never know where brutal honesty can lead u to.follow the middle path, i say.
[Reply]
indi Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Honesty is overrated. But that’s a lie.
[Reply]
gookypoop Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
If Indi would start taking the middle path in his writing, he would loose the patient readers and be left with only the impatient ones
[Reply]
amy Reply:
July 11th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
That’s why even believe has a lie in it!!!!! see it?
[Reply]
indi Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
it also has a be, an eve, an eli, a belie, not to mention an eliev in it! Also it has ‘psychiatrist’ in it, but it’s totally silent.
amy Reply:
July 15th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Well Indi, I was relating ur honesty statement with my believe statement. Only,’ an eve; made sense to the silent psychiatrist ha ha!
your welcoming hand is out on days of lucidity. mine is my defence.
[Reply]
Lovely post…All the ppl commentg here are your patient readers…(Gud that u hav weeded us out!)
Btw…I think I mst b the only person who actually googled the meaning of Mahasthabir Jatak!
[Reply]
indi Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Good on you Ashima! Now to get an English translation of the book so that everyone here gets tp read (and hopefully love) it!
[Reply]
Well, you’ve got me with your Sartre and Pixies references and of course the Safety Dance.
Being the socially awkward hermit I am, I totally understand how you feel. While I am interested in the typical Indian passtimes of cricket, bollywood (the tackier the better) and lechery, I find it very hard to find much else in common with most other people. Most people I meet are either uninterested in my interests or don’t have a clue about them. I’m not trying to sound like I’m all indie or have very sophisticated but obscure tastes. Lets just say that boyfriends, weightloss and Twilight isn’t in my scene.
[Reply]
indi Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
It’s what we do with the fact that we might be on a silly desert island. Funnily enough, I hate people who want to show the world that they are oh-so-different! Which sort of makes me a self-loather… but only on Tuesdays. (when, coincidentally, I have to file my blahg)
[Reply]
Ashima, you have company;me too googled Mahasthabir Jatak.And Mr.Hazra, I wonder if anybody has told you this-you erm.. look very similar to Nagesh Kukunoor. And umm..’Masakkali Masakkali’ itna bhi bad nahi hai..
[Reply]
indi Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Ok, Pullma. I’ve got a rope that’s tied to the fan and now am kicking the chair from under me so that I can die and hopefully stop looking like Nagesh Cuckoo! (Before I cop it, I’ve pulled my too front teeth out so that I DEFINITELY don’t look like the man!)
[Reply]
who says it’s bad? I was talking about the people who were listening to it. But that was last week. Now I love them! Again!
[Reply]
Well I know you tried your best to weed me out but here I am again reading your drivel.Sometimes I wonder should I compare you with Quasimodo. And then I change my mind again. Apparently there are people who can relate with you. Here is the living testimony. p.s.I did check out that Bengal commerce thing.
[Reply]
indi Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Amrita, That’s so funny. The last book I ever shoplifted was ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame!’ And go with your gut instinct. You were right the first time round. And I have enough relatives who can relate to me.
[Reply]