TRAFFIC COPS AND ANIMALS AT SIGNALS

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 Driving on a busy street, I see a traffic policeman waving me to stop. The signal lights are green. I can’t see any pedestrians but, of course, I stop. So do the other cars all around. Oh dear, maybe, some procession or a VIP entourage. Looking around gets no answers: no people, no convoys. 

 So just what we busy souls stopping for?! The answer comes after adjusting my eye level a little lower to see a cool stray strut across the zebra stripes reveling in its safety.

 Close on heels I was involved in another incident of an animal-friendly traffic policeman. I am not complaining. In fact, hurrah to that!

 This time it was a flock of sheep at an intersection. Yes, in the heart of the city. Yes, in Bangalore it still happens. The traffic waited while some 50 odd sheep and lambs tried to cross the road. And we waited…

 The poor little babes out of their first trip could not get the hang of street-crossing. They would follow their experienced seniors but lose courage mid-way and race back. When their herder physically carried them and put them on the other side, they followed him back! The drama continued. 

 I don’t know how long it took for the mission to be accomplished because the policeman let us go a few at a time as the little ones were being initiated into the intricacies of city life.

A BELATED RESPONSE TO AVATAR

Avatar is a visual wonder. But the script line is of fairytale simplicity; perhaps intentional to reach out to a wider demographic. The movie's theme is the White Man's invasion of indigenous populations for material gains. Where unthinking ecological destruction for capital gains is disguised as imparting education and civilization. In front of the ultra-advanced technology most people are helpless. Or are they? Not, if you are ready for a good fight with the help of champions from the other side.

Avatar could be a typical product of America discarding eight years of Republican war-mongering and welcoming a pro-peace/no-appetite-for-war Democratic party. Otherwise, nothing explains the super success and award-winning spree of this movie.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS...

"It is a strange fish that is aware of water."

- Proverb

A fish that is aware of water is a strange fish: because a fish can never know what it must feel like out of water. Culture, in sociological terms, is our water. But writer-types (from rarefied authors to minor ones) like to think of themselves as existing outside of society as neutral observers.

This is one such watery illusion.