When @radhabharadwaj decided to tell the story of women in India’s space programme, she innocently started talking to Bollywood production houses.
Little did she know that Bollywood thrives on thieving ideas and scripts. 1/n #SpaceMoms
Her script was taken, idea stolen and without as much as a nod, a hackneyed version was produced by Bollywood behind her back.
Radha was not going to take it lying down. She proceeded legally against the producers while committing to produce her own script. #SpaceMoms 2/n
The outcome is #SpaceMoms , a wonderfully original take on the ordinary Indian women at ISRO who do extraordinary work.
It is a depiction of characters as they are, NOT as caricatures.
You know that Akshay being a scientist route, dont you? #SpaceMoms
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It is a defiant move against the Bollywood Cartel and their incestuous thuggery.
Radha has now released her film #SpaceMoms online, because Bollywood will NOT let her reach the theatres.
She made her film using her own resources, completely bypassing the Bollywood cesspool.
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It is as true as the scientists at ISRO. It celebrates Indian women and their spectacular achievements.
Make use of this weekend and watch this film. And while you are at it, thumb your nose at Bollywood too.
Let me know how you found it. #SpaceMoms play.google.com/store/movies/d…
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It is a rather old story.
Few generations back, our affluent ancestral home was attacked by unknown immigrants.
They robbed our home, set fire to the barn, looted what they could, tried to misbehave with the womenfolk and ran away into the night.
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My ancestors fortified their home, made better provisions for security, kept 24 hour guards. A few years later, again one night an attack happened. This time the guards were killed, the cattle stolen, large part of the house burnt down. My ancestors survived but barely so.
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The village came to offer succour, even some financial help to rebuild. But there was no finding the attackers. They just vanished into the dark.
Life gradually began to come to a normal. Hardwork and effort brought the household back to normalcy.
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Since the time of these agri reforms, it has become convenient to blame Adhatia/middlemen/commission agents for every ill of farming.
NOTHING CAN BE FURTHER FROM TRUTH.
Middlemen exist because they serve a purpose. It deep rural communities, they are a single point source of 1/n
loans and advances, guidance and help. Yes, there are people who may exploit, but that doesn't make the entire system malafide. Where does a poor farmer get advance in emergency? The adhatia who knows him, his farm, his crop and his credit reliability.
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The adhatias also are the farm produce aggregators, much like Amazon/Bookings etc. Large buyers place their order with adhatias. They are ones who buy from small farmers, sort pack and make it acceptable quantity for the buyer. How would you imagine a 2.5 acre farmer trying 3/n
If all subsidies and govt support to farmers is removed, agriculture in India will crash in less than one crop season.
It is an artificially sustained system to help 80% people to sustain their work.
Can any country whose 80% people survive on artificial income progress?
We have the lowest land holding per family than most agri nations and it is dwindling with every generation. We have poor yields and mechanisation. Poor crop diversity. Non existent demand intelligence, meagre cold chains.
And agriculture in India is not yet deemed an industry.
But this artificially sustained sytem accounts for 80% votes in most elections, so no govt wishes to touch it.
Time to take stock and dismantle an artificial, rotten system. Agriculture needs to completely reboot.
But it wont because of political considerations.
Let me share this interesting story I heard last night. Tucked around a bonfire on a hill top forest guest house, our Forest Personnel host shared this little episode. The backwaters that you see here, dry up at a lot of places to no more than 3-5 feet depth. 1/n
Most shoreline is Tribal villages where no change can happen. Folks are poor and rear cattle. Across the waters is the Satpura National Park with a healthy tiger population. Even yesterday, there was news of 2 ox attacked by tiger. So here is how the story goes. 2/n
In summers, some cattle cross over and get into the reserves of the tiger. Now the poor owner cant afford to lose his cattle.
There is this young tribal boy, who is an expert of finding lost cattle. His skill is informally acknowledged by the Forest Dept too. The cattle owner
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A legend that walked the earth passes away.
Not sure how many of you had the opportunity of interacting with the man behind the maestro.
35 yrs back I had a brief but indelible exchange with him.
It was mid 80s. A music appreciation group had invited Panditji to Bhopal. 1/n
It was a small gathering of people who profess to appreciate classical music at Bhopal’s Ravindra Natya Grih. Half actually did, the other half thought it fashionable to attend the concert.
A friend from the organisers persuaded me to design an exhibition on Panditji’s life.
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With zero wherewithal and no budget I set about doing it and could make it reasonably presentable.
When Panditji reached the venue, he was pleasantly surprised.
I was introduced to him and he was full of praises.
I took it as a generous elder encouraging a young man.
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