LAW MAKERS AND AN EPIC

City police chief C V Anand has only the city denizens in mind when he talked about the action plan to improve the flow of traffic. He would follow ROPE (Removal of obstructive parking and encroachments) he said because of the increase in the number of vehicles on the roads since Covid times. If your public transport was in place and your pavements well paved why would people buy so many cars. Unless of course you were vulgarly rich, like many are in Hyderabad and those who need to commute to work.

ROPE is already in practice, when I saw a traffic truck standing near Himayath Nagar and remove all the small time vendors who were selling lunch to hungry persons, for this kind of eating out is definitely easier on your pocket. And they selected 1.30 pm, peak lunch time to remove these people from the pavement. 

There is a necessity to organise the traffic, especially since we are an unruly bunch and really do not respect any rules or regulations. But I do hope Anandji knows that most people remember it is the end of the month because that is when the traffic cops are over enthusiastically challaning people. Time for some pocket money for the cops too. It is a standard joke. Hey, don't mistake me when I make light of this, for hats off to the traffic guys for handling all the jams and irritated car drivers, over smart bus drivers and so on....Today in fact I saw another traffic lorry carrying steel boxes of one of these lunch guys....I mean really? Aur koi nahi mila....

Take our CM's residence for that matter. It is almost two kms from the road, deep inside (I exaggerate, but you know what I am saying) and yet, half of the main road on a thorough fare is occupied by the barricades. In fact I can swear that slowly they are occupying more and more space. Traffic jams are bound to occur at this junction for those who want to go on to the fly over and those wanting to take the left turn. And when there is a press conference, this place is full of press vehicles, because the CM's house has no parking space. Get rid of those unnecessary barricades first. 

ROPE is such a late thought. We built a Metro in the given space, we are building fly overs in the given space and all the Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills and Prashasan Nagar occupants are extending their little gardens on to the single road, sloping little mounds so that parking is also difficult. Has Anandji travelled on the inside lanes of Jubilee Hills to see how difficult it is to manoeuvre on these roads because of the number of vehicles parked outside each of these bungalows. Yes, traffic has increased because everyone is buying bigger vehicles.

Why give permission to all those sari shops in the lanes of Jubilee Hills and the cafes and pubs in Banjara Hills and now say pubs should shut down their sound early in the night. Did the police not know that pubs are noisy and did the residents not realise that any public drinking space would be lively? Why did it take five to six years for them to realise all this? And now when you are getting all these investments and awards for Hyderabad being the best place to live in, you will stop the music from flowing?

I am not a bureaucrat and neither am I a law maker but this definitely smells of being a nexus between the rich and the richer. It is not that you only give the farmers some money. When you grow a city like Hyderabad and increase its radius almost two fold, please remember that there will be a huge population of the urban poor, for whom everyday is a struggle. It is easy to remove them for they are unorganised and do not have a platform to voice their agonies, but they are also a voting population and maybe that will help these higher ups think more sympathetically.

But why take it out on the small time guy, who is feeding other small time guys with a square meal. Only because you can, right? So, given a chance all the small time guys in Ameerpet will also be removed because they sell on the road? Your heart goes out to these guys who struggle day in and day out to barely eke out a living.

In direct contrast saw an epic movie called Poniyin Selvan, in Tamil at Prasads. I had to see it at the earliest for I have heard every Tamil speaking candidate that I know and love, including dear Murali who has read the book and in one sitting. Good Lord! I am just tired hearing them all say it.

I am still reading volume I (total Five volumes) and am stuck at some odd page No 123,  and the entire movie was about that only, except a little towards the ending, which has been left in the lurch for part 2. Did I like the movie? Yes, when I did not question the geography and the history of it all. Or when I did not make an attempt to remember the names of the characters. Difficult and not pronouncable.

Mani Ratnam had lost it quite some back, but here he is in the middle of it all and has no sense of direction. Who am I to speak like that of a great director like him, you may point out. But my argument is that if you are into making a mass film, then make one unapologetically. But you cannot get on to the classic high ground and then wallow around because you have lost the plot. 

The two grand ladies, including Aishwarya Rai and Trisha hold their ground. Glass like complexions and the camera loves them. These two are opulent, the insides of the palaces are lit enough to make you think like a conspirator and the guys are cute, especially Karthi. Vikram's introduction is awesome. Everything else is drowned in terrible music. Not one song is memorable.

I came away feeling guilty that I did not like the movie as much. Considering half the theatre was empty for just the second show in Tamil. Will I see part 2? Most definitely and that too in a theatre for the spectacle that it is and will be.

Loved the popcorn.