Every night, by 11.30 pm, all the pubs and bars in Bangalore shut down. They are required to by law. Everyone agrees it’s a stupid law. Across the world, adults are free to party for as long as they want to. At 3 am, 4 am, 5 am in any progressive city, in any country, you can get a drink. In India, Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta have a healthy night life, with pubs and bars open up to 3 am or later.
This law is supposed to cut down the crime rate in the city. If it was such an effective method, how come cities known for their high crime rate, like New York, Chicago, etc., haven’t adopted it?
Also, for the short time that the pubs and bars are open no one is allowed to dance. Yes dancing is a crime in Bangalore.
These rules have been in place for quite a few years now. Bangalore is used to having the police enter a pub by 11.15 and kicking you out. It is used to the police carrying away amplifiers (and sometimes DJs) from a pub in case they play music beyond 11.30.
Once Bangalore was like any other modern city. You could party till 2.30, 3 or even 5 am, depending on where you went. It was called the pub city of India. The crime rate wasn’t any higher then than it is now.
It’s been 4 years or so since the new ‘shut down by 11.30 pm’ order has been in place. Oddly no one has ever protested much against it. There have been stray articles in the papers. There was a token protest by partygoers. A TV channel covered the issue once. In 4 years that’s all that has happened. It’s obviously not enough. Why is it so? What are we so busy with that we can’t fight for our rights? Would a city like Mumbai tolerate such a law? Are we in the south too docile, too timid, too accepting? Or do we just not care?
Bangalore’s answer to the 11.30 rule is the after party. It begins once the pubs are shut. People buy their individual liquor, gather in someone’s home, and the party goes on.
The after party is not a real answer. It’s a make-shift solution. The real solution will only come from making the authorities abolish this absurd rule.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Simple ideas
A safety pin is reshaped to make the outline of a car. Below is Volvo’s logo. It was an ad for Volvo whose positioning was: The safe car. The ad won a lot of international awards ten or so years ago.
Another ad showed a single musical note with its dangling limbs bent, so it seemed like a note in the middle of a jaunty little walk – it was ad for Sony Walkman.
An antique store ran an ad with just a huge blurb that instead of saying ‘New’ like a lot of ads do, says ‘Old’.
An ad for FedEx showed an open FedEx courier box, inside it was another box on whose sides you could just about make out the DHL logo. There was no line, no copy. It was beautiful because it said FedEx is so reliable, even the competition uses it.
An ad for The Samaritans, a helpline for the suicidal, showed a close up of an ear. A line below said ‘Open 24 hours’.
A TV ad showed a lady flipping through the papers. She has hiccups. She stops to stare at one page. Her hiccups disappear. Close up of the page. It says - Surprisingly ordinary prices. Volkswagen . Only L 8175.
An ad for Club 18-30, a tourism package promoting sex among its customers, simply carried two words: Roger More.
Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Reality check
How did the second World War start? One day when Hitler was trimming his mustache the queen of Austria pinched his bottom. A surprised Hitler fell and broke his ass in two. Hitler was very angry. He brought out his Panzers and the Luftwaffe and attacked Austria, Poland, Russia, France and all the Jews in Europe. In 1972 Churchill hit Hitler on the head with a huge speech about blood and sweat and defeated him.
Who was Fakruddin Ahmed? Fakruddin Ahmed was the prime minister of India during the 14th century. He was so named because he really liked women.
What is a quark? A quark is the worst kind of street thug you can find. Quarks usually hang out near bars in Cox Town and are very dangerous. The best way to deal with a quark when you see one is to lie flat on the road with your hands covering your ears. Quarks are fond of ducks since they quack.
These were the kind of answers some of my classmates used to write in school test papers. Our teachers would read them out loudly in class, much to our amusement.
But what’s really funny about these answers is the fact that they could be real. Scientists now believe the workings of the human mind are weirder than was earlier thought. They claim that each of us could have a different reality.
We do know that different people see the same thing differently. For instance, for a neo Nazi, Hitler is an infallible demi-god. For you and me, he’s an evil clown. But is it possible that for some Adolf is a hot waitress in a topless bar in Berlin? Can our realities be so different that each of us is living in his or her own universe? Some scientists are suggesting that it’s possible.
Who was Fakruddin Ahmed? Fakruddin Ahmed was the prime minister of India during the 14th century. He was so named because he really liked women.
What is a quark? A quark is the worst kind of street thug you can find. Quarks usually hang out near bars in Cox Town and are very dangerous. The best way to deal with a quark when you see one is to lie flat on the road with your hands covering your ears. Quarks are fond of ducks since they quack.
These were the kind of answers some of my classmates used to write in school test papers. Our teachers would read them out loudly in class, much to our amusement.
But what’s really funny about these answers is the fact that they could be real. Scientists now believe the workings of the human mind are weirder than was earlier thought. They claim that each of us could have a different reality.
We do know that different people see the same thing differently. For instance, for a neo Nazi, Hitler is an infallible demi-god. For you and me, he’s an evil clown. But is it possible that for some Adolf is a hot waitress in a topless bar in Berlin? Can our realities be so different that each of us is living in his or her own universe? Some scientists are suggesting that it’s possible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
