Social media  – India as a country has been making definitive changes in the way it works. Drastic laws are being planned and huge protests are being launched. As it seems, some vital and long overdue changes are being put in place. There are those who approve and there are the ones who don’t.

Earlier, as it happens in most democracies, these debates and oppositions were limited to Parliament. Yes, some protests did come out in the streets, but then the reasons were often justified.

Now, all sorts of opinions, accusations and oppositions, have started coming up on the outlets of social media, especially Twitter. And most vocal on social media seem to be some film personalities. It is not as if they take a stand against all the wrongdoings that happens around us or in India in general. None of the things they opine affects them directly or indirectly. In fact, when a matter affects the film industry, or one of them personally, they have nothing to say, for or against. A recent example is that of actor Payal Rohtagi. She was arrested and put in jail for nine days because she posted something against erstwhile Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. There was no protest from the social media coterie against this. Nobody raised the intolerance issue!

They are too busy worrying about national issues to spare time for fellow actors. In my column last week, I wrote about filmstars endorsing brands, and the idea was to convey that they don’t really help sell a product. Same is the case on social media. At times, it is also television where these film people get to air their views. But, television does not care to indulge smalltimers who raise issues, while the print media gives them space as and when. What happens is that, two sides take positions and that finally leads to mudslinging and name-calling.

Protesting is a way of life in a democratic country. However, this is about the film folk airing their opinions they can well avoid.

Suddenly, they become experts on just about everything that happens in the country, though what they demonstrate through their arguments is a total lack of knowledge as well as low IQ level. They always seem to be in a great hurry to react to everything that happens around them, especially what governments do. Never care to verify the details.

What has been observed from the posts of the self-styled experts on all the issues is that, their careers in filmdom are in the doldrums or are limited to an insignificant level. Only social media keeps them in the public eye — not that it amounts to much. Because, whatever little following they enjoy on Twitter never reflects on their box-office draw. Twitter following does not materialise in ticket sales at a cinema.

Talking of ‘following’ on social media, it does not actually reflect popularity. People follow to check on you, to counter you, abuse you or just as a pastime. Talking of ‘following’, can any of these create a following in real life and lead a crusade? The other day, Farhan Akhtar went and joined a protest meet at Mumbai’s August Kranti ground. Now, that is like boarding a running train, a photo-op.

Looks like Twitter has become the hotbed for venting frustrations as well as drawing attention. The print and the electronic media being what they are now, amplify the views posted on social media and takes them further to a larger audience. They plan their evening debates on Twitter posts! The problem with TV and print media is that they have slots to fill and, for that, anything goes.

There were occasions like demonetisation, GST, Article 370 and, now the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). And, soon as the Bill was passed in both houses of Parliament, the coterie got busy on Twitter. No matter what it was, no matter the details. They had to oppose it! The only place where their posts were acknowledged was on TV debates.

Major stars who matter — like Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone — are among the most followed twitterati in the country from the film field. Why are none of these crusaders rated among the top? And, the most followed don’t get involved in petty social media posts. They know they can’t indulge in arguments with nonentities who seek attention. They also know there is nothing to defend from these crusaders.

However, there is one person, Kangana Ranaut, who always takes up the cudgels on social media for issues against the biggest of bosses of the film world. According to her, those who don’t react are cowards. That is not really true, every dignified and successful film personality cannot get into an argument with somebody on the basis of his or her posts on social media.

There have been a few dissenting voices from some actors like Aamir Khan and Naseeruddin Shah. Not on Twitter but in public. Shah, who played a man blowing up terrorists in “A Wednesday” in 2008, thought his family was not safe in India. If you read his biography, he is not even a first-generation Indian! Then there was Aamir Khan whose wife feared for her family in India! He lost some ad-assignments as a result. Earlier, he had joined forces with social activist Medha Patkar, suggesting the blocking of Sardar Sarovar Dam. His film, “Fanaa”, and the film’s producer (YRF) paid the price, since the film could not be released in Gujarat. I’m not sure if Aamir even knew the background of the project!

Eventually, he ended up making a fool of himself. He was anchoring a TV serial, “Satyamev Jayate”, based on social issues or injustice done to a common man. May be, he expected his standing up against Sardar Sarovar would further his image as a crusader for the deprived! At times, stars use such public platforms to promote their films. At most times, such ideas backfire.

Amitabh Bachchan was among the first to take to the Internet when he started writing a blog which he still continues. Writing a blog needs content and a valid topic. Not many who do the rabble-rousing on Twitter will do so because that would need elaborating on what they want to convey. On Twitter, it is easy because there is a limit on characters one needs to use, so no need to use brains.

The irony is those who cry about democracy being in danger and complain about freedom of expression enjoy all the benefits of both — democracy as well as freedom of all kinds. Save for a few, no wonder, filmstars turned crusaders are not taken seriously.

@The Box Office

* Salman Khan’s “Dabaang 3” releases this week to take advantage of the Christmas holidays. Might as well, for the film stretches the “Dabaang” exploits further and has nothing new to offer that one has not seen in previous instalments. Salman Khan’s draw and the holidays will help.

* The week past saw four releases. “Mardaani 2”, “The Body”, “Mudda 370 J&K” and “Unfriends”. The last two remained nonstarters.

* “Mardaani 2” performed okay, resting wholly on the shoulders of Rani Mukerji, with no known faces to support. The film has closed its first week with a total of around Rs 28 crore.

* “The Body”, though an interesting film, suffered from total lack of promotion. It just about survived with collections on the lower side, with about Rs 3 crore to show for its first week.

* “Pati Patni Aur Woh” has added about Rs 19 crore in its second week, to take its two-week tally to about Rs 70 crore.

* “Panipat” has proved to be a major disaster, collecting about Rs 30 crore in two weeks.

Children  – A nine-year old amateur detective and his young team try to solve the mystery of children going missing from their sprawling basti in Deepa Anappara’s debut book, “Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line”. Anappara has crafted an engrossing story seen through the eyes of Jai, the young protagonist that focuses on the disappearance of young children in India. Anappara is an engaging writer, her language is coloured with vivid imagery, and she uses banter and humour to leaven the darkness of the subject and its setting.

She intertwines the ghastly crimes with tales of ‘bhoots’ (ghosts) and supernatural happenings, involving a female ghost who protects young girls from assault and a decrepit palace haunted by djinns who act as healers. Jai clings to the belief that the missing children have been abducted by a djinn because to accept the option is too horrific to think of.

A former journalist, Anappara won much acclaim for her debut novel, winning several prestigious work-in-progress awards for her early chapters. The debut book was published internationally in early February, hailed as the best find of the year and backed with laudatory endorsements by world renowned writers like Anne Enright and Ian McEwan.

According to Anappara, as many as 180 children go missing every day in India. Having worked as a journalist in Delhi and Mumbai, she is familiar with the conditions in Indian slums. She writes: “The idea for this novel was sparked by my anger and disappointment at a system that had failed the very people it was supposed to protect.”

Her story brings in shades of the Nithari killings in Noida, where children from the basti went missing while local police brushed aside complaints, labelling the children as runaways.

The infamous Nithari crimes came to light in 2006 after a number of children and young women disappeared from the Nithari urban village in Noida. Faced with police inaction, villagers filed cases in court. A court appointed investigation led to the arrest of the owner of a bungalow and his domestic servant after body parts wrapped in plastic bags were found in a drain adjoining the house.

Jai lives in a one-roomed makeshift hut with a corrugated metal sheet for a roof with his parents and elder sister, Runu didi. Addicted to crime shows on television like “Crime Patrol”, he decides to investigate the crime when a school friend goes missing. He takes the help of two friends, the bright and clever Pari and not so enthusiastic, Faiz.

Their basti lies next to a towering block of luxury apartments where ‘hi-fi’ people live and where their mothers go to work as maids and nannies for exacting mistresses. The gleaming, brightly lit towers are separated from the sprawling slum by a large garbage dump, and the lives in the two areas seem to exist on different planets.

Jai is a cheerful, sometimes naive and often cheeky fellow. As he watches people and mulls over different facets of life in the crowded slum, his narrative brings to life the chaotic living in the basti with its oppression and hardships without turning morbid. He has an observant eye and inventive turn of phrase as when he describes chewing a twig to fool his body into thinking that more food is on the way. The three young detectives wander the narrow alleys where goats and hens are clothed hand-me-down sweaters that are in better shape than Jai’s own and the smog “keeps its coat zipped up and doesn’t let out even a sliver of light”.

The trio search the smog-ridden lanes of the Bhoot Bazaar (Ghost Market), and ride the Purple Line Metro to its last stop on the other side of the town. They sift through the large rubbish dumps and question the little army of garbage collectors and appeal to their gang leader, Mental who remains a protector for the small boys and girls even after his death.

Children continue to disappear and the police are unresponsive to complaints and bribes, and instead threaten to bring the bulldozers to demolish the basti if they were pestered too much. Suspicion turns within and tensions rise between Hindu and Muslim basti-dwellers. There is threat of violence as Muslim residents are accused of kidnapping the children, and the young detectives have to find ways to protect their friend, Faiz. More children are abducted, one of them a Muslim child and then, suddenly the abductions come closer home when Jai’s sprinter sister, Runu didi, does not return home. And it is no longer a game as the story moves swiftly towards a conclusion.

Happiness  – The philosopher Aristotle’s homily, “happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence”, might seem a tall order given the complexities of everyday life but a new book aims to “teach the principles of happiness from a holistic perspective”, says its author, who draws much inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita and Buddhism.

Aristotle’s ideals “seem far off in the distance as we face complexities (like) bills to pay, a family to raise, health problems to endure, a job we don’t like, and on and on it goes, seemingly without end. Obviously, there needs to be a solution for cultivating peace, love, and joy for the modern age without having to sit in a cave meditating for the rest of our lives,” entrepreneur and a philanthropist Joseph Rodarick Law writes in “Authentic Power and Greatness” (Orient Publishing).

“Through a sequence of what seemed like coincidental events, I was inspired to write this book…a book that could break down complex, timeless spiritual principles and truths into understandable and practical applications for our modern times…(and) teach the principles of happiness from a holistic perspective, one that includes family, career, spiritual growth, and one’s purpose in life,” told IANS in an email ahead of his visit to New Delhi and Mumbai for the release of his book later this week.

Written in a question-and-answer format through a series insightful interviews, Law hoped the book “will give readers private access to the ideas, thoughts, and advice of some of the world’s top thinkers in diverse fields”.

Among those whose brains Law picked for the book are corporate trainer and bestselling author Jack Canfield, philosopher and behavioural expert Dr. John Demartini, quantum physicist Fred Alan Wolf, leading thinker and inventor Dr. Edward de Bono (who invented the term ‘lateral thinking’), psychiatrist and expert in the science of human happiness Howard Cutler and the late financial advisor, Bill Bartmann, once listed in Forbes magazine as one of the 400 richest people in the US.

The book has been two years in the making as the author embarked “on a journey of intense inner and outer discovery, through deep meditation, travelling to sacred places in India, learning from many wise teachers, and studying many of the world’s traditions (Eastern and Western) in spirituality and wisdom”.

“I began asking myself the same questions that have been asked by philosophers for as long as recorded human history: Who am I? What is my purpose in life? What legacy do I want to leave the world when I depart from this life? Such deep pondering led me through a process of redefining the true nature of success; I no longer thought of it merely as material success,” Law explained.

He hoped the book can serve “as a pathway to help you live an ordinary life in an extraordinary way. This is your birthright, and it is possible for you to attain such a life”.

Admitting that the book will not give you all the answers you need, he said “it will open you to new questions. Through the application of the many principles in this book, you will feel happier, achieve more with less effort, and find deep inner peace without losing your effectiveness in the real world. You will wake up one day to realize you are no longer haunted by a sense of dread but are living a life inspired by purpose”.

What of the future?

“I still have a few more books in development, one is a short fiction and another one on ancient Eastern philosophy for the modern times. As I delved deeply into my studies, I came across sacred texts of ancient Eastern wisdom, mostly from India and China. I discovered they offer many solutions we desperately need in the world today, and there is significant merit and benefit in the revival of these for constructive use today.

“Many ancient books inspire me deeply, but I am particularly drawn to the Tao Te Ching, the Bhagavad Gita and the teachings of Buddha. These works are dedicated to reaching our highest human potential and attaining peace of mind. The transcendent wisdom in these texts dates back thousands of years. It goes beyond knowledge, a function of the mind, and delves into the domain of the heart,” Law concluded.

Spring sneakers in winter  – With its shimmering sequins and soles compensated, HAPPYRUI for men by Christian Louboutin stands out as the worthy heiress of the tennis shoe, star of the 70s. Launched worldwide on November 13, it’s time to put replace them Gucci styles for this.

The Christmas season, calls for a new sneaker. Following a longstanding tradition, the HAPPYRUI low-top is set to spearhead Maison’s sneaker offering for Spring/Summer 2020. With this line, the designer pays tribute to the iconic tennis shoe that made fashion history both on and off the courts in the 70s. Boasting a new specially developed rubber platform outsole and a singular upper, the low-top sneaker is as stylish as it is easy to wear.

From its new metallic CL signature that echoes 70s varsity letters to its contrasting toe cap and singular eyelet system, every detail on this low-top sneaker nods to vintage retro style. True to Maison’s design codes, the HAPPYRUI mixes materials and textures including suede, lamé leather, and a shimmering sequin body, whilst some versions also come with signature spike-adorned a toe cap.

GST Slabs – A panel of officials on ways to augment Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue has suggested two GST slabs of 10 per cent and 20 per cent and the transfer of some goods from the 18 per cent slab back to the highest 28 per cent category.

The GST council has fixed over 1,300 goods and 500 services under four GST slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. This is besides the tax on gold which is at 3 per cent and rough, semi-precious and precious stones that attract a special rate of 0.25 per cent under GST.

The panel has made a presentation to the Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi who is heading the panel on GST revenue augmentation.

The recommendations could be discussed at the next GST Council meeting provided they make to the agenda, which has to be approved by all the states.

In its presentation, the committee alerted that there could be a shortfall of Rs 63,200 crore in GST collections in the current financial year and a deficit of as much as Rs 2 lakh crore by 2021.

Citing the suggestions made by the officials’ panel, informed sourcs here said that its recommendations on increasing the GST revenue include moving items from 5 per cent and 12 per cent tax slabs to higher ones like 18 per cent, such as moving mobile phones from 12 to 18 per cent and precious metals from 3 to 5 per cent.

The paNEL also called for revising rates on certain items which were earlier taken higher to 18 per cent, and withdrawal of exemption for certain items.

The GST Council had cut rates on a number of consumer durables and paints to 18 per cent from 28 per cent in July 2018 in a bid to lower prices and boost consumption.

Modi, who is the Bihar Finance Minister and head of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Integrated GST (IGST), had ruled out the possibility of changes to the rate structure at a time when exchequer revenues have moderated owing to the economic slowdown.

Aparna Jain is not only a certified Integral Master Coach but has also authored two female-centric books – one that takes a searching look at women in the workplace and the other showcasing role models for young girls, as also their parents – and a volume on family recipes. She has now turned her attention to men who broke the mould as males are also subject to partiarchy and tropes.

“Since the publication of ‘Like A Girl’ (in 2018), there have been a number of books about Indian women. There was a time I was thinking of doing a Volume Two of ‘Like a Girl’. But Karthika, my publisher, rightly observed that there what we needed now were some stories about incredible and inspiring men,” Jain told IANS in an interview of the just-published “Boys Will Be Boys” (Context/pp 175/ Rs 799).

“I thought about it, and you know, men are also subject to the patriarchy. Not just tropes like ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ or ‘Boys Don’t Wear Pink’ but how men are subject from a very young age to be ‘successful’ to live their lives; to pursue a certain type of career; to be a certain type of man; toxic masculinity actually. So, it was important to showcase men who broke the mould,” Jain added.

To this end, the book chronicles the lives of 45 Indian men who followed their heart and dared to be different – soldiers (Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, 2nd Lt. Arun Khetrapal), a sailor who circunavigated the globe (Commander Abhilash Tomy), a designer who took Indian fashion to Paris (Rahul Mishra), a doctor who revived rivers (Rajendra Singh), a barefoot artist (M.F. Husain), rocket scientists (A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Homi Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai), entrepreneurs (J.R.D. Tata, Azim Premji), engineers (E. Sreedharan), sportspersons (Bhaichung Bhutia, Vishwanathan Anand), journalists (P. Sainath, Josy Joseph), writers (Perumal Murugan, Vikram Seth, Anant Pai) and activists (Sunderlal Bahugana), among others.

Speaking about the research that went into the writing of the book, Jain said this was of two types.

“Secondary – reading people’s biographies and autobiographies. Then going to YouTube and seeing their interviews. And then primary – which was interviewing whoever I could. I would record the interviews, my colleague would help with transcriptions and then I would put together a skeletal story. It seems simple – the final product – but it was arduous. Getting interviews also was tedious,” Jain explained.

As with “Like A Girl”, 27 artists showcase their arresting interpretations of the individuals featured in the book. This involved Jain, Art Director Ayesha Broacha and the artists working as a close-knit team.

“Surprisingly for this book, many stories started coming in after I had commissioned the art. Oxfam thankfully agreed to come aboard as Art Patron for the book again. So based on my secondary research, I would send artists cue words or articles. Some were fairly straightforward. But the minute I interviewed someone, I would send an artist the unedited story so they would get a sense of the person in the way I wrote about them.

“That helped. Or I would call the artists and give them a sense of which part of the person’s story I was going to focus on. For example J.R.D. Tata. The man is incredible right? He has accomplished so much. Which facet of him would I cover? So in the beginning the artist was trying to put an entire lifetime in the picture. Ayesha gave her art feedback and since we asked all artists to send us rough compositions it was fair to change it. So we had to work with the artists quite carefully.

“When the artist read the story she made this stunning picture of J.R.D. with a Puss Moth (in which he made India’s inaugural airmail flight from Karachi to Bombay via Ahmedabad)! It was perfect and such a long way from the initial sketches,” Jain explained.

What’s next on the cards?“Hah. Good Question. I was working on a book in millennials which was pushed to the back burner two years ago. I have pulled it back but it may take on a different shape or form. I have done 60 interviews for that so you know – the data is rich. But I am figuring out what would work now – two years later. No fixed address yet,” Jain said.

Her first book “The Sood Family Cookbook” of traditional ‘pahadi’ recipes was published in 2013. Her second book “Own It: Leadership Lessons From Women Who Do” (2016) was based on interviews with over 200 women professionals in senior managerial and leadership positions and leveraged on her experience as a certified Integral Master Coach, where she draws on the themes and teachings of master coaches from a variety of disciplines.

“Own It…” was awarded a Laadli Prize and was shortlisted for the Tata Literature Live Business Book Award, while “Like A Girl” was shortlisted for the Crossword Popular Prize.