Sham And Genuine Art

An art collection and its display have become status symbols, particularly for the nouveau riche for many of whom art is akin to Greek and Latin as they do not even know that visual art is a human activity that can be grouped under painting, sculpture, and architecture.

That styles of painting include mannerism, impressionism, abstract expressionism, post-impressionism, abstract art etc; architectural styles include baroque, rococo, romanesque, norman, gothic, early english, etc. That modern art such as cubism makes mincemeat of traditional forms.

This apart, replication is the basis of learning. If one visits the ruins in Hampi and Aiole, students can be seen sketching the temple structures, monuments and getting inspired by the exemplary fine art. Unfortunately, ancient treasures and artefacts find a place only with international art dealers. Smugglers of “repute” remain unchallenged by the archeology department.

Fakes are being sold as orginals. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. We can get from scrap brass utensils, mould-casts of different images of gods etc made by families proficient in this trade. If one wants to make money by cheating, as was revealed to me, one has to dip these in pure castor oil and bury them under the earth for 3 – 4 months. Take them out as they gather greenish fungus, dust them, tag them marking them “artefacts” and price them between Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000.

Those who bemoan the sapping of Indian politics of its energies by politicians eager to promote their own interests over those of the nation should take a close look at the world of Indian art. A cabal literally controls the domestic market, subverting critics and blackmailing galleries, refusing to allow space to others. Such is their manipulative skills that domestic prices have long ceased to serve as an indicator of the true value — in monetary terms — of Indian art. Collectors who made the mistake of being misled by domestic price tags and intellectually corrupt art critics are now owners of what would be referred to as “penny stocks” in bourse jargon.

Consider granite. Most of it is as old as the earth’s formation. Carvings at Mahabalipuram shore temple, can become treasures only if they are in black granite. Buy one, break a leg or hand and or disfigure it, put it on a pedestal and it may fetch thousands of dollars.

Even carbon dating will not reveal age! We are back to square one so far as art is concerned. Let prudence prevail.

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Too much fuss and debate here over ‘'Shilpa Show’'

Recently the engagement of Abhishek Bachchan with Aishwarya Rai was blown out of proportion by the TV channels. They were competing among themselves over TRP ratings. The other thing is about our desi starlet Shilpa Shetty being called “a dog” in the Big Show in the UK.


An endless debate has erupted in the media and among the people on Shilpa Shetty being insulted in London. The Indian government has made its sentiments known to their British counterpart.

Everyone should remember that 'Celebrity Big Brother' is a game show with hidden cameras. It strongly resembles its tamer version 'Bigg Boss' on Indian television. Fights, abuses and prejudices are common in such shows. Majority of the participants, if not all, are professional actors in one way or the other and 'histrionics' are part and parcel of them.

At the same time, we should not forget that Shilpa was humiliated in a foreign country by a foreign participant. Britain is not India; so it would not be prudent on our part to expect an Indian culture and attitude there. “Athithi Devobhava” is famous mostly in India. Also, Shilpa was paid a whopping Rs 3 crore to take part in the show. There have been, therefore, mixed and cautious reactions to the whole episode globally.

Shilpa's mother and sister have downplayed the incident. Some have termed the whole imbroglio as a “publicity stunt” by the organisers of 'Celebrity Bigg Brother'.

Well, the racist insult (if at all) to Shilpa Shetty is not justified, but the issue does not deserve to be the prime story of all the major newspapers and TV channels. It has really gone the whole hog about racist remarks.

As it turned out, Shilpa has denied any racism. So what was the brouhaha all about? It seems that Shilpa retracted under pressure. This proves that she is only interested in the huge pay and fame she will get on this show. There is no need for her or our media to be involved in nationalistic sentiments.

Shilpa has boosted her career by hogging the limelight and projecting herself as a damsel in distress and her family says that she is brave and a tough nut to crack. If that is so, then why did she cry on the show? She says that she won’t entertain any derogatory comments against her country. If so, then why is she still participating in the show after all the comments against India and Pakistan? Just because of her celebrity status, should the government show so much concern for her? Has the government ever stepped in whenever the common man was racially abused? It is time for us to do a reality test.

Famous actor Sylvester Stallone has said, “Shilpa is a beautiful woman and the game should go on.” Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown has gone to the extent of saying that, for the game and organisers to salvage some pride, Shilpa has to be voted a winner. All these confirm one thing: It would be foolhardy for Indian personalities to expect the same type of “reverence” in foreign soil as in India.


After pocketing Rs 3 crore, Shilpa is now getting free publicity. All this makes one think about the role of the media in present times. The day is not far off when the viewer will get fed up with these gimmicks and he/she will stop watching or reading the news on TV or newspapers. Hope good sense first prevails and the media will do its job responsibly.

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US Policy On Iraq Backfires

I was recently browsing through a few blogs to see the general reaction regarding George Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq in the aftermath of the execution of Saddam Hussein. I came across ModernOpinion's editorial on the troop surge from which i quote the following text:

I think we should be totally committed to restoring peace in the nation, as much as we are reasonably able, or simply fly our boys home. Yet, if we withdraw now, as the president mentioned, the unstable Iraqi government would collapse and likely cripple the entire nation for decades to come. Understandably, however, we don't want to spend so much time, funding, and military energy on this little country that we endanger our ability to face other threats, even more serious threats, in the future.

Isn't that very far out from reality? Here is what i believe is the reality and what should be America's policy.

The exasperation has been wearing thin among the American public at large as the sobering milestone of 3,000 American deaths was reached on the last day of 2006.But Bush did not have any immediate cheery word. “Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq.”, he commented.

Mr Bush welcomed Hussein’s hanging as “an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy”. Washington invaded Iraq by inventing lies about “weapons of mass destruction”. It brutalised Iraqi society, imposed collective punishment on its people, and carried out terrible atrocities in Abu Ghraib and Fallujah. An overwhelming majority of Iraqis regard US troops at an inimical force. A University of Maryland poll says 78 per cent of Iraqis believe US troops are “provoking more conflict” than they’re preventing; 71 per cent, including 74 per cent of Shias, and 91 per cent of Sunnis, want them out. Sixty-one per cent of Iraqis actually favour attacks on American troops. Unsuprisingly, Iraq has a flourishing insurgency. The average number of daily attacks on US troops have risen from 14 in July 2003, to 70 two years later, to 185 now. Today, the Iraqi regime’s writ does not run beyond the four-mile square known as the Green Zone.

NOBODY could miss noticing that during his recent visit to Amman, the capital of Jordan, where he met the Prime Minister of the embattled government of Iraq, Mr Nuri al-Maliki, the United States President, Mr George W Bush was a markedly diminished man, notwithstanding his overblown rhetoric. Nothing could have demonstrated his misery more vividly than that he had to receive his Iraqi “ally” and protégé in the Jordanian capital, not in Baghdad. He just could not dare step into the city the US-led coalition forces claim to have “liberated” from Saddam Hussein’s “misrule”. Baghdad has indeed become a byword for seemingly uncontrollable violence and anarchy.

On his way to Jordan, Mr Bush attended the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit at Riga, where he proclaimed that US troops would not leave the battlefield in Iraq, “Until the mission was complete.” After his meeting with Mr Maliki in Amman, he claimed, “This business about ‘graceful exit’ simply has no realism to it at all”. Many of his listeners laughed in their sleeves. They knew that if anyone was out of touch with reality, it was the US president.

I do recommend you to visit the site ModernOpinion and read a few articles that give opposing perspectives to what the world thinks.

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Nano Medicine - Part 2

Nano technology tools permit users to visualize and manipulate items at the nanoscale such as cells, bacteria and viruses. Raw nanomaterial can be used as biocompatible materials or coatings in drug encapsulation, bone replacement, prosthesis and implants. This fascinating nano technology envisages far reaching concepts, such as tiny robots called as nanorobots or nanobots, to be injected into the body to attack infections or undesirable cells, retinal implants, cochlear implants, smart instruments, tools for genetic testing or imaging devices. Drugs can be encapsulated, delivered, and after the drug arrives at its destination it can be released at an appropriate rate for it to be effective.

New generations of biocompatible nano materials can be used to repair or replace human tissue. Both soft tissue and hard tissues like bone or teeth can be healed. Nano polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) can be used to coat areas in contact with blood such as heart, vascular grafts, for dispersing clots or preventing their formation. Nano structures are being researched to act as scaffolds for tissue repair and regeneration. High strength nano ceramic material in the form of flow able and moldable nano particle paste would help to inter digitate with bone, helping bone repair. Bio-reabsorb able materials and micro technologies are being developed to restore lost vision and hearing function. More over these devices collect and transform data into precise electrical signals that are delivered directly to the human nervous system. Operating tools, smart instruments can reduce the physically demanding procedures on both the surgeon & patients. Surgical systems are being developed to provide surgeons with unprecedented control over instruments and surgical procedures. Nano and micro technologies offer new imaging technologies that can provide high quality images not possible with current devices.

Acoustic signals could help to detect a cancer cell and further broad cast instructions to the cancer killer to attack. Also a very precise control over location of the cancer killer activities could be achieved. Poor blood flow caused by a variety of conditions can result in serious tissue damage. A major cause of tissue damage is inadequate oxygen. A simple method of improving the levels of available oxygen despite reduced blood flow would be to provide an artificial ‘red blood cell.’

Supply of artificial mitochondria, slowing or blocking deteriorative reactions or deliberately, turning off the metabolism of the cell to prevent further damage could be made possible. Autonomous molecular machine could be made to operate in the body and help to gather information of the changing conditions inside the body. Later these molecular machines could be filtered out of the blood supply and the stored information could be analyzed to provide picture and information of the activities within healthy or injured tissue, aiding medical research.

Nano technology, “the technology of the 21st century” is gradually walking into our lives. “When might we see these systems actually used? It is predicted by the researchers in the field that the molecular manufacturing will begin by 2020 and some additional time will be needed for its application.

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Nano Medicine - Part 1

Would it not be wonderful to detect and destroy the very first cancer cells that would otherwise cause a tumor to develop in the body? A broken part of a cell would be removed and be replaced with a miniature biological machine? Pumps of tree size of molecules could be implanted to deliver life saving medicines, precisely when and where they are needed? Such is the future prospectus for Nano Medicine.

Nano Medicine is an off shoot of nanotechnology, referring to highly specific medical intervention at the molecular levels for curing diseases, repairing damaged tissue, such as bone, muscle or nerve. This knowledge, will lead to the development of new tools that will work at ‘nanoscale’ levels and allow scientists to build synthetic biological devices such as tiny sensors to scan for the presence of infectious agents, or metabolic imbalance and to fix the broken parts in the cell.

Simply, nanotechnology is the space at the nanoscale i.e. one billionth of a meter, smaller than ‘micro’ one millionth of a meter and larger than ‘Pico’ one trillionth of a meter. Nano is a miniaturisation beyond micro. Transforming materials from micro level to nano level is referred to as ‘top down’. At the other extreme, where atoms and small molecules at the Pico level are constructed or assembled to the nano level, is referred to as ‘bottom- up’.

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