YouThink (2024)

27/10/2020

The evolution and development of language is considered a very important milestone in the human evolution. Language is considered to be one of the primary features that distinguishes human beings from other animals. It gave us the ability to communicate beyond our needs and create emotional attachments with fellow humans. Evolutionary archeologists believe that our language was developed in a way of what is known today as gossiping.A lot of researchers and behavioural analysts have tried to understand the nature of Gossiping, but the most interesting theory of gossip is given by Yuval Noah Harari in his book - 'Sapiens- A Brief History of Humankind'Harari, in his book tries to view language and gossiping as a way of life, that is not restricted for any specific situations. "it is not enough for individual men and women to know the whereabouts of lions and bison. It is much more important for them to know who in their band hates whom, who is sleeping with whom, who is honest and who is a cheat.""The new linguistic skill that the modern sapiens acquired about seventy millenia ago enabled them to gossip for hours on end. Reliable information about who could be trusted meant that small bands could expand into larger bands, and Sapiens could develop tighter and more sophisticated types of cooperation."A lot of researches today have drawn a basic conclusion that gossiping is a normal human tendency, it is an effective way of sustaining communication even though a lot of times gossiping has led to spreading of rumors and wrong information.The world we live in today is filled with wrong information and disturbed communication. Gossiping has contributed in violation of privacy and confidentiality. But it has also helped us keep our human spirit intact. It has helped us in venting out our emotions, form close friendships and in planning and discussion of our future goals. For our ancestors "gossiping" did help to strengthen the communication, but is this evolutionary skill still helping us to develop? What do YouThink?

10/10/2020

Mental health is one of the most neglected topics. Most of the time we just tend to ignore mental health issues. Youthink media brings you the opinions on mental health from across the country. Youthink media celebrates Mental Health Day.

02/10/2020

Dear Bapu,

I find myself in quite a predicament when it comes to addressing you. Should I call you 'Mahatma' or 'Father of the nation' or rather simply 'Mr. Gandhi'. In fourth grade, when I wasn't part of any ideological bloc, I referred to you as 'Bapu'. More than any other title, 'Bapu' truly stands apart for me. After all, it was what the masses called you, right?

Bapu, there are more than one lakh books written on you and your thoughts. No other political leader in the world can match you in this case. For more than a hundred years, the contemplation of your thoughts continues all over the world. Gandhi and Gandhism are taught in over 600 universities all. over the world. The number of followers you gained during a lifetime has remained unrivalled, even after you left. Einstein has said that future generations won't believe that a man like you, ever in flesh and blood, walked upon this world. Bapu, did you know? We have proved him right. You have inspired the freedom movements all over the world. However, in our country, in your beloved India, your identity has become 'someone who weakened the country with his lessons of Ahimsa'. Did you really weaken this country, Bapu? The youth of this nation knows you only as a worshipper of Ahimsa and an adulterer.

You have been ridiculed with phrases like ‘Majboori ka naam Mahatma Gandhi.’ You have been blamed for partition. You have been accused of being a Muslim-sympathiser, an orthodox Hindu and even blamed for making Nehru as Prime Minister. Bapu, why are you so quiet today when a barrage of accusations is hurled at you?

Bapu, we have stopped celebrating you. We have geared up to wipe out the history of the people's movement built by you and the sacrifices you made for it. Father of the nation, Mahatma aka Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi stands in the trial dock today. Bapu, do you have answers for these questions? Or are you going to give me the usual mantra of 'time will tell'?
We remember you as the humble servant of the British rule who was awarded the 'Kaiser-i-Hind' Medal. And yet, the same person went on to tear down the same kingdom. The person who advocated the varna system in his initial years later allowed inter-caste weddings in his ashrama and refused to attend endogamous weddings. Bapu, why did you keep changing each day? Change has been a constant thing for you. Is that why many found you to be mysterious? Bapu, how do you come with different interpretations to the new scholars?

Gandhi from 21 years in Africa; the one who returned to India in 1915 and was till 1919; the biggest leader in India from 1920 till 1936; and Gandhi, who fought against the British rule from 1939 till 1948, I find all of these Gandhis different from each other. Which out of these represents your true message? The first one or the final one? Or the one who answers our questions?
Nehru was a youth leader, Sardar a farmer’s leader, Maulana a Muslim leader, Rajagopalachari was the leader of the South and yet, for all of them, you were their one true leader. Bapu, How did you manage it while spinning wheel? All these leaders used to say that lakhs of people visit their rallies to listen to their speeches and heap praises but left shouting ‘Gandhi ki Jay.’ Today, leaders have to spend millions to gather a crowd of thousands. This makes me wonder, why did so many people congregate to listen to you?
Bapu, how did you manage to fight against the mammoth empire? You neither had a weapon nor resources and yet, how did an unarmed person like you help us attain freedom. How did you manage to rock the foundation of the British empire by picking up a handful of salt?

While there was a rejoice of Indian Independence on 15th August the country, thousands of countrymen were dying in the riots at the other side. Lakhs of people were becoming homeless. The communal politics was overpowering winning over humility. Unfazed by the bloodied stories, Jinnah was taking oath as the head of Pakistan. Where was Gandhi at the time? Where was he? He was diffusing the riots in Noakhali, unarmed. How did you manage all of this, Bapu?

While making a film on Gandhi, Sir Richard Attenborough was asked why he chose to make a film on Gandhi instead of other leaders like American revolution hero George Washington, Russia’s Lenin, Italy’s Garibaldi, and China’s Mao. He answered that there has been a leader in every country who has fought for the freedom of his country. However, the only one who fought the Independence struggle unarmed happened to be from your country. And that was none other than Gandhi.

Bapu, please forgive us for not giving you the honour that you deserve. We gained independence because of you. You deserved a treatment like a king because you did not belong to any particular group. We should have crowned you on the throne, but you were busy stopping the riots. Bapu, you are the only leader who paid the price of independence when a self-proclaimed orthodox Hindu, Nathuram took your life silencing the whole nation. You were still greeting him when he fired at you. Why did you do that, Bapu?

Why are we still known as the ‘nation of Mahatma Gandhi’ all over the world? Why is it that even after killing you, your thoughts are still alive? Why is it that the world, including those who don’t agree with your thoughts, still respect you while uttering Sabarmati? Why does the world think that it can be saved only by following your path? Why is it that from Martin Luther King to Nelson Mandela and from Barack Obama to Aung San Suu Kyi, consider you as their source of inspiration?

Bapu, the gun that killed you still has many bullets left. Kalburgi, Pansare, Gauri Lankesh, Dabholkar and perhaps tomorrow will it be my turn? I still wouldn’t feel bad about it because one can kill a person but not their thoughts. Bapu, you fought to create one single caste called ‘Indian’, but do you know a politician once called you a ‘chatur Baniya’. We are discussing the caste of the Father of the Nation who made efforts to remove caste-based discrimination. On that day, many other Indians like me couldn’t think of having a meal.

Bapu, answer my questions. Bapu, don’t look at me so compassionately. I can’t bear it! You shouldn’t be this forgiving. Bapu, answer me...!
Author: Vishal B Dole

(The article has been published originally in Marathi on the online portal, Aksharnama)

Translation credits: Pratik Aswalkar

Image credits: Vishal B Dole (Aga Khan Palace, Pune)

01/10/2020

While you are busy making tomorrow's to-do lists,
One woman reports r**e in India every 15 minutes.
Some courageously fight society's loathsome gaze and lodge a report;
The rest quietly slip into their beds, weeping, bleeding !

Why is it that you stare?
Right from her bosom down to her thighs,
Why do we live in a time
Where 'asking for consent' is like
Living in a fool's paradise'?

Till where will you go to prove your might?
Till when will you stop gripping her so tight?
A girl child it is, who you bury alive
She seemed to bear a lot of weight, while she literally was five pounds light.

You gagged her mouth
You cut her tongue
You r**ed her till she breathed her last
Now, only fearful lullabies are sung

I question you,
The hundredth time you stabbed your own two-day old girl child,
The last push of iron rod into her ge****ls because you went wild
The last part of her flesh that was left to be put alight?

I question you,
The uncle who s*xually abused his neice,
The bosses who always touch and tease,
The men standing at the bus stand, ready to sleaze?
Oh stop, please!

I question you,
Was it the rejection you couldn't stand?

Or the lethal weapon in your hand?
Was it the urge to satisfy your beastliness?
Where does your humanity stand?
I question you,
Those of yesterday who burnt her body down
And those of today who look at the newspaper with a frown
What will serve her justice?
When the whole country is a circus and it's women seen as clowns.

Was it her caste that you wanted below your feet?
Was it her gender you wanted to see beg and weep?
Why did you feed her the poison,
Now that her mother has lost a lifetime's sleep?

I question you, alas
You broke a spine, you cut a tongue?
How will you face it ?
When crores like your own daughter will ask for your head to be hanged?
By Devastuti Mukherjee

30/09/2020

The love story of a transwoman and a man. Kaushik Ganguly has both, written and directed this film with sheer excellence. Nagarkirtan is a film which breaks through boundaries of both the mind and the body. But the biggest milestone that this film has achieved is in its portrayal of how ordinary a transwoman's life can be, even through the daily struggles and discrimination. The director shows how playful she is or how quickly she falls in love. Even how she desires care and affection just like you and me.

In Indian context, eunuchs are shown as discomforting to one’s sight and in a derogatory manner but this film takes us to a world where the protagonist could be anyone who is trying to break through the stigma attached to their ge****ls being different to their s*xual orientation.

Puti (Riddhi Sen) is one such unfortunate, for the world, to be born as a transgender, in India. The movie till halftime keeps shuffling between the past and the present, how did she end up here, when Puti gives her heart to Madhu Da, a flutist in kirtanas (prayers). The way they exchange their first glance at night through the flame of a candle in Puti's hand, showing reflections of their feelings in their eyes.
Or that scene where Madhu Da's first reaction is captured, a mixture of shock and delight and admiration upon seeing Puti take her wig off to reveal the hidden reality in bed. Or how ever-so-gently she keeps her head on his shoulder. Such tiny moments of their love has been slipped in between scenes very wisely by the director.

The real story unravels when they run away from Calcutta to meet the famous personality Manabi Bandhopadhyay, India's first transgender to be the Principal of a College, to know about the s*x reassignment surgery for Puti. Seeing Madhu's dedication towards helping her without expecting anything in return, plants a seed of respect and adoration. Afterwards, Madhu decides to takes Puti to his house. Madhu's family accepts her whole heartedly and even asks her to join them in the kirtan at night.
Sadly, she is accepted only because he introduced Puti as a woman to his family and hid the truth that led the family to accept her. She rejoiced at how welcoming everyone was.This particular scene is really thought provoking, when, amidst the chants and loud music of the tabla and the flute, Puti loses herself and begins crying out of happiness, realizations, pain and sorrow. The music and the environment is just beginning to heal her when accidentally her wig slips from her head and that was the end of it. This changes the entire pace of the film.

Out of utter shame and fright, being differently born, of wanting different things, of having to hide her own self identity and to not be able to love Madhu Da openly, tore through her heart as she ran for her life.That moment of stillness and the actors' expressions couldn't have been better documented by the director. The eerie stillness depicted in the scene is inexplicably beautiful and horrifying at the same time for the viewers.
The film comes full circle with Puti taking up a huge step in her life.The shock, the pain and the realizations thereafter push Madhu Da to transform into a new being, like Puti. He wishes to live in the essence of Puti for the rest of his life or to experience her experiences, to live with the memories of Puti. Her anklets have been music to him and even for the entire film . So, when it stops tinkling.....

"A beautiful love story for the world remains undiscovered. 'Nagarkirtan' which translates to the ' prayers that echo throughout the town' in Bengali, can not be missed and is revolutionary in its own way."

29/09/2020

Hamid was born in 1932 on the same Konkan coast where Gokhale and Tilak first saw the light of day. He had the courage to stand against unjust beliefs and traditions in Muslim religion. On 18 April 1966, Hamid led first protest in the country against triple talaq. There were only 7 women who came out and supported his efforts. His short lived but lasting contribution has affected many, especially women of muslim community.He founded 'Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal' in 1970. The organization was inspired by Maharashtrian reformer Jyotiba Phule's Satyashodhak Samaj. The organization strived hard for the rights of Muslim women. Along with that, he was a renowned writer and journalist. His literary work which consisted a novel 'Fuel' (Indhan) and essays were later translated to english by his friend Dilip Chitre. It is unfortunate that Hamid Dalwai is barely known outside of Maharashtra.

On his 88th birth anniversary, YouThink is making a small attempt to introduce this important social reformer. Hamid Dalwai had the courage to oppose communal forces.

Dilip Chitre has written that " in addition to being a Yavan to Hindus, he has achieved the distinction of becoming a Kafir to Muslims". This legendary social reformer devoted his whole life for the betterment of people.
Sources- Makers of modern India by Ramchandra Guha.
Indian Express
Image restoration by Shivam Khandejog

17/09/2020

Celebrating 142nd birth anniversary of Periyar E.V.Ramaswamy

E.V. Ramasamy was one of the most important social activists. Born in Erode in Tamil Nadu in 1879, he studied for only five years before joining his father's trade at the age of 12. He travelled to different parts of India which enhanced his knowledge about several brutal prejudices that existed against people belonging to the ‘so-called’ lower castes. Throughout his life, he fought against caste and gender-based discrimination and for the rights of the common people.

He headed the Self-Respect Movement, demanding equal human rights and self-respect for the backward castes in a society where they were ranked the lowest in the hierarchy. His followers weren't limited to just Tamil Nadu and spread wide across entire India. He was in the forefront of the Vaikom Satyagraha, a struggle for the entry of the Ezhavas and other castes ‘considered’ lower into the Mahadeva temple. He was later titled as ' Vaikom Warrior'.

His power lay in his commitment to the cause of the people. Ramasamy also promoted symbolic superiority of ‘Black’ over ‘White’, as the latter colour was supposedly only associated with the upper castes. All of his life he widely promoted humanism and rationality. He began the 'Dravidar Kazagham' movement to eradicate the ills of the society and to obtain a ‘Dravida Nadu’ (Present Tamil Nadu) from the Madras Presidency. In 1967, after the decline of Congress government in Tamil Nadu, all the parties in power have originated from the Dravidian Movement and his ideas. The movement continues to influence the present policies by the state. Later, his followers presented him with the title 'Periyar' which means the 'respected one' or the 'elder one’.

17/09/2020

brings you brief facts and details about 'Zero Hour', which has been curtailed by half an hour, by Indian Government in the view of Covid-19, at the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament.

Opposition has raised some of the important issues like unemployment, state of economy and students suicides in Tamil Nadu.

13/09/2020

Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, former Union Minister and a veteran socialist leader, passes away at 74.
Singh had also worked as the Union Rural Development Minister and was one of the key persons behind the launch of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Singh had a clean, high esteemed personality and was among the few Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders to never promote his family in politics.
He was a long-time associate of Lalu Prasad Yadav, later upset with the party's functioning. Singh had announced his resignation in a letter to Lalu Prasad, which was not accepted by RJD.

Source: The Print, The Indian Express

09/09/2020

YouThink brings to you the news for today

Source: the Indian Express, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Quint, Onmanorama

07/09/2020

YouThink brings to you the most important updates of the day in a simplified format!

Sources: Al-Jazeera, BloombergQuint, Lokmat, IndianExpress

06/09/2020

YouThink brings to you the important news of the day in a simplified format.

Source: The Print, The Indian Express, The Wire

06/09/2020

Kesavanada Bharati, a petitioner whose fight led to SC's landmark decision upholding basic rights under the Constitution, passes away.

A throwback to the details of the case.

Sources: The Indian Express, The Hindu, The Wire

04/09/2020

YouThink brings you the most important news from the day. Simplified for you.

Sources:

04/09/2020

To the Trains,
Did you know? You have given us some unforgettable scenes.
For the ‘Gen Z’, you have always been so integral to Bollywood.

To begin with the iconic ‘DDLJ’ sequence, where a strict father finally allows his daughter to follow her heart. The way she rushes at Raj and the climax depicting the successful love story is still remembered for its emotional and joyous moments.

Moving to the afresh, Gully Boy’s Safeena conveys how important individual acceptance and love is over material things when Murad says he cannot gift her something expensive.

You haven’t just brought to us the stories of romance but also of dreams and aspirations. You have given us life messages to live with.

‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ might be the story of many more Naina’s, who have lived as ‘good girls’ of the society crashing their hopes for long. But by showing us that there are no limits to explore oneself, the impromptu trip allowed Naina to not just do adventures with her friends but also some self-liberating moments.

May it be plotting real-life emotions ranging from enthusiasm to depression through ‘Jab we Met’, assimilation of two cultures in ‘Chennai Express’ to the recent ‘Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan’ and many more…You have been a perfect setting for drama, mystery, comedy and action. You have taken us through mountains, forests, fields, rivers, man-made bridges and more. You have never failed to amaze us with your unbiased love to capture both, the beauty of rural outskirts and that of a city life too!

You have exhibited the fragrance of a rare Indian cinema through ‘Sholay’ and ‘The Burning Train’. The song ‘Pal Do Pal Ka Saath Hamara’ shows the very native style of how friendships form during the long journeys. I am sure that might be an all-time favourite for many!

One feels a sense of belonging through your stunning appearance with the ‘common man’. ‘A Wednesday’, ‘The LunchBox’ and the award-winning Marathi film ‘Dombivali Fast’ have surely left us to reflect as an individual and society.

I must say you are a feeling. You are many emotions. You give solitude not just in films but in real sense. You teach us to associate with the crowd. You help us traverse through the diversity.

For the trails that’ll stay forever, Thank-you!

(P.S: We know you have marked this anniversary without passengers for the first time in 167 years, but we really really miss you.)

03/09/2020

Jallikattu: A Film Review

The film is basically one hour thirty-four minutes of a ‘chase’ for a buffalo that is to be butchered by Varkey, the butcher. But it escapes and then it becomes a sheer ‘spectacle’ as the chase has been beautifully captured in its visuals and long sequences by Girish Gangadharan, its Director of Photography.

The film begins with close shots of closing and opening of the eyes of individuals as they wake up to the sound of clock ticking behind and the noise of mornings. It shows the routine of Keralite households and the whole village that visits Varkey’s shop to buy meat by means of repetition in shots to establish the story that is to unfold.

The protagonist is the buffalo. Yes! And an animatronic one. It is created with some unbelievable VFX effects with such precision that one would not even identify that it is truly 'animatronic' one. And this protagonist, that has gone amok and wild is being followed by its antagonist i.e. the villagers.

It’s a thumping film with unusual music, more like theatre, full of noise of beating drums and the running of bulls and human breathing where one might be forced to think that it’s a battle sequence because your heartbeat always keeps rising and falling throughout the film.

The film is built with sequences of rivalry and feuds between chasers and a parallel narrative of the man wanting to arrange the best of food and most importantly buffalo meat for his daughter’s wedding. It portrays lust and testosterone that is driving the chasing men.

However, it is the mammoth climax sequence (in every possible way) with an unusual end that would move you. This climax sequence has no parallel in Indian Cinema and probably tells us the reality of human beings.

It is what a crowd or a mob is.

The fundamental question for someone would be, does it comment on the issue of Jallikattu that was banned by the government? Yes, it does but in a metaphorical way and also through the words of wisdom of the village elderly. It happens to be the singular close frame shot of a human in the film who isn’t really involved in conflict and it is probably due to his acquired wisdom.

‘Lijo Jose Pellissery’ - okay remember this name; because we would be sharing many ‘reviews’ and ‘FromtheFrame’for his movies, as we see him as a person building different taste and new language of cinema through his films.

Indian Cinema is beyond bollywood. In fact, the calling for Cinema Lovers is now Regional Cinema.

Today, reviews Jallikattu by Lijo Jose Pellissery who has directed several other films like Mayanadhi, Angamaly Diaries and Ee.Ma.Yau.

Girish Gangadharan

02/09/2020

Most of us experience casual s*xism either on a daily basis or at multiple occasions in our routine lives. Casual Sexism includes s*xist comments that are passed quite casually without knowing that they propagate gender-based prejudices.

All these comments and remarks aren't as 'casual' or simplistic as they may sound. There's a need to understand, recognise and respond to the discrimination that happens through all these 'short' or 'light' conversations. Women are commented for the clothes they wear, the lifestyle they live, the career choices they opt for and even on their physicality. Men too, face the remarks of 'boosting their masculinity' and for 'becoming a man'.

The commentor may not realise that the remarks are discriminatory and necessarily wrong. Our socio-cultural norms are so ingrained that we tend to normalise and accept such s*xist comments. Most of us neither question nor give a firm response to such comments and choose be quiet by ignoring individual suffering. Eventually as these conversations continue to smoothly happen, we rarely think any of this is wrong.

However, we must acknowledge such acts of Casual Sexism and speak against the discrimination. Things won't completely change overnight but by bringing the conversation and making realise the depth of such comments, we can put our small effort.

Created by: Abha Jamadagni
Made using: Storyboard That

*xism *xist *xism *xistcomments *xism

31/08/2020

WHO IS KAMALA DEVI HARRIS?

On August 11, 2020, Kamala Harris became the first black woman and the first person of Indian descent to be nominated as a candidate for vice-president for any major party. Joe Biden, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee for the US Election 2020, picked her as his running mate. Together they’d most likely be running against President Donald Trump.

Born, in 1964, to immigrant parents Shyamala Gopalan Harris(Indian) and Donald Harris(Jamaican) in Oakland, California. Her mother, born in Chennai, did her Bachelor’s in New Delhi and was selected for her Master’s degree in University of California, Berkeley. Harris did her schooling in Berkeley and graduated from Harvard University. She went on to follow her mother's footsteps and did her masters at the University of California.

Harris had been the District Attorney of San Francisco from 2003-2011. She was elected Attorney General of California in 2010 and went on to be successfully re-elected in 2014. In 2016, she became the third female senator of California. She is said to be a ‘barrier-breaking prosecutor’ before being elected to the Senate in 2016. And later, during her Senate years, she was known for her ‘intensive interrogations’ of the Trump Administration.

Her advocacies include:-
1. Suggestion for requiring federal preclearance for state abortion. She is the first candidate ever to raise this concern.
2. Before joining the Democratic Party, Harris supported the ‘Medicare for All’ bill.
3. She has strongly backed the proposals to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
4. She has also proposed to revise the country’s ‘bail system’.

Harris, being a former prosecutor, seems to be going strong with the citizens over her ‘hauling the justice system’ pitch for the elections. For Joe Biden, in such a crucial time for America with the largest protest movement against racist policing, Harris seems to be the safest pick. With 'Top cop from California' by Biden's side, it is going to be an interesting contest between Donald Trump and Biden. Former President Barack Obama also thinks that Biden has 'nailed the decision' by picking Harris as his running mate.

Now the question is:-
How well do you think Joe Biden will fare against Trump with Harris on his side?

As the relations had been warm between India and the previous four US Presidents, if elected, how is Harris going to handle the Indo-US relations' graph?

How will the recent uprising of Black Lives Matter protests for George Floyd and recently killed Trayford Pellerin and the pandemic crisis affect the US Elections 2020 ?

What kind of role will Harris play being a 'woman of colour' in the coming elections?

Given India’s current socio-political scenario, can we envision an immigrants or religious minority person compete for the top posts in government?
What do YouThink?

Sources: BBC.com, The Indian Express, The Washington Post

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