February Winks

When the calendar was invented why were those people in a hurry to let the second month of the year have lesser days than the other months.

February has 28 days and 29 days in a Leap year.

Why?

Mind boggling.

So many theories are related to the beginning of the calendar. But, it were the Romans who gave the calendar to the world and we follow; the days and the months conscientiously. Why not, the name of the months, show the different seasons that come and go.

The widely believed -- but possibly erroneous -- story has it that February is so short because a day was borrowed from it to add to the month of August. July was renamed to honour the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar and had 31 days. August had earlier 30 days and when it was renamed to honour Emperor Augustus Caesar, he did not want his calendar month to have a lesser day than July. So a day was snatched away from February, the winter month, and added to it to make it 31 days.

Just imagine the fate of one born on 29 February. Hesitation? The Roman Emperors are to be blamed for the fate of such a child. Isn’t it?

If there are more problems its better to catch hold of Julius Caesar.

But where?

In Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar.

True. Isn’t it?

Slumdog—Jai Ho

After all Slumdog has kept up to the expectations of the Indian people. At last it has happened. With eight awards in its kitty will it be right to say “Slumdog Millionaire” is a Bollywood win? Was it the depiction of poverty that still stinks in the slums across India the cynosure for the Oscar nominations? How well would this topic have done if it was filmed by an Indian director? Doubts and questions have come up and will haunt people of this country time and again when this topic is discussed.

But in all totality, the slums of Dharavi and the poverty that sticks in the heart, soul and the walls of each house, the question that echoes in my mind, “How are the children involved in this film going to face the challenges of this world having faced the lights and cameras in the process of the making?” Surely it will make a lot of difference in their lives.

In all sanity Danny Boyle has shown our poverty to the world but the remedial measures lie in our hands. We may brag about Rehman, Gulzar and Pookutty as winners at the Oscars, but the nameless children who have made all this happen in the small roles they have played will remember that they have been a part of it and will have stories to tell their next generation.

Who knows what happens next?