Mediocre Mika

A poll on the Queen community, touting someone called Mika as the next Freddie Mercury, got me searching on the net for more information about this new kid. After repeatedly listening to Mika’s music (both on YouTube and on VH1) and hours of wading through the comments columns of the various online Mika forums, I have to admit I’m Laughing My Fuckin’ Ass Off. I’m LMAO not as much by Mika’s music but by his being so undeservedly compared to someone as awesome as Freddie Mercury. Their Asian origins apart, their childhood spent as emigrants, introverted childhoods, their interests in opera, their love of the piano and similar voice modulations in their songs may all be suggestive of both being cast in the same mold, but it would be plain common sense to see that Mika has modeled himself on Freddie. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Mika is the “sincerest” singer I’ve come across. But, to pass a judgement that Mika is the next Freddie is pure misinformation, not just for the simple fact that there just cannot be another Freddie Mercury - ever, but because Mika is still a one album wonder and still has a long way to go to merit any comparison with any decent musician let alone the Queen great.

As for Mika's songs, “Grace Kelly” has a freshness associated with it, something I haven’t seen for a long time (11 million plus views on YouTube and still counting). It is No.1 on the billboards, maybe a deserving position, but I feel that the rating is something it owes to the lack of more appropriate contenders than its own merit. “Love Today” has a nice video and is a bubbly song with a good guitar work in the background and is bearing the brunt of overkill on VH1 of late. “Relax, Take It Easy” (horrible video) and the others are typical pop songs predominantly inspired by Queen though I could detect other influences as well. Just hearing “Lollipop” was almost enough to make me, as Monica Geller of Friends would say, “Laugh So Hard That A Little Pee Came Out.” No, I’m not a Homophobic Bigot, but if you still want to compare Mika with Freddie after hearing such a catastrophical song as “Lollipop”, you need to see a shrink at the earliest. Mika has been very lucky to have a hit like “Grace Kelly” so earlier in his career unlike the long struggle Freddie had before “Killer Queen” came along. Freddie had his inspirations in Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin and Led Zeppelin too, but he never modeled himself or his songs on them and nor was he ever compared with them. Freddie's originality, in his songwritings and his onstage antics, was what made him what he is today, a legend. Freddie, as a performer, was what other singers strived to be, a fact enviously acknowledged by even Kurt Cobain in his suicide note.

Mika’s genre is Pop, maybe too much of a pop for my tastes, and even the inkling of a comparison of him with the multi-facetious predominantly rock star like Freddie Mercury would seriously put the question of ones sanity in jeopardy. Whatever little similarity that exists between them, ends with their voices, unless one wants to include Mika’s Sexual ambiguity as something common with Freddie’s open Bi-sexuality. Mika may have been the best Pop artist to come out in the UK after the Spice Girls, but he merits no comparison with Freddie even in his wildest dreams; he just doesn’t have the versatility or the personality of Freddie Mercury especially on-stage. If Mika can bring about songs that are even half the class of “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “We Are The Champions” or “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, I’ll not only eat my words but, give up listening to Queen, for ever.

God's Own Controversy

Two recent asinine controversies vis-à-vis two of the most holy places in God’s Own Country have yet again brought out the rift between the conventional and the progressive thinking populace; the reasons for all the hullabaloo created being neither new nor novel.

The first case of whether women (more specifically pre-menopausal women) can be allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum at Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala is the more hotly debated of the two and the one argument for which I see no immediate or rational conclusion. The main basis of the controversy, the 41 day vow of celibacy, cleanliness and self-discipline being observed prior to undertaking the pilgrimage, is anyways shirked by most people nowadays. This also negates the argument against allowing women. Why would a woman’s periods cause her to become impure (sic) and lose her cleanliness status? How can a religion which considers fertility to be a blessing, look down upon the menstrual periods which are the very symbols of fertility? I feel it is time the Temple authorities and the religious heads looked into the relevance of such religious practices (incidentally most of them biased against women) if they want to ensure the continued existence of the Hindu way of life. The other counter arguments to allowing women like Lord Ayyappa being a Bachelor God and women being unable to make the tedious journey to the temple are as frivolous as they can be. Lord Ayyappa is a God, for Heaven’s sake and to say that He can be distracted by the entry of a woman who has come to worship him is nothing short of sacrilege.

The second controversy is the existing ban on the entry of non-Hindus in the Guruvayur temple. My take on it is very simple… Everybody, irrespective of their Religion, Caste, Creed or Gender should be allowed entry into Hindu temples as long as their intentions are noble. Hinduism is more a way of life than a religion. A Hindu doesn’t have to live by a strict code of conduct as set by other religions. Yes, there are scriptures, traditional beliefs and practices but whether they are followed is left to the individual’s choice. Also, there were no other organised religions in existence when Hinduism first came into being (I don’t believe in the All Religions Are Equal Bullshit) and I can’t understand why people, whose ancestors were lured away by unscrupulous theories, and who still want to retain the link with their erstwhile way of life, are being discriminated against. The ban on non-Hindus entering the Guruvayur temple is also futile because there is no way of identifying a non-Hindu from a Hindu more so if he is following the temple practice of being shirtless and wearing a dhoti. The Tirupati Temple authorities have devised a better approach towards avoiding such controversies by allowing non-Hindus into the Tirumala-Tirupati temple if they sign in a register stating their faith in the Hindu God. Maybe the Guruvayur Devaswom Authorities can consider such an arrangement. I only hope the Guruvayur Devaswom board realizes that such a magnanimous gesture will certainly do no harm to the Temple’s sanctity or growth of its popularity.

These indifferences of the two temples (and many more temples all across the length of Kerala) make me wonder if God still consents to residing at such places where Man discriminates against his fellow Man. For a state which boasts of the highest literacy rate in the country, these religious intolerances do not bode well and the sobriquet of “God’s Own Country” may very well be a misnomer and I’m pretty sure that for once God will agree with me.

To all the people who have been or claim to have been at the receiving end of either of the two temples’ bigotry, I cannot understand why you cannot worship Lord Ayyappa at any of the dozens of other Ayyappa temples all around you which do not discriminate between genders and why you need to visit only Guruvayur and not the other Hindu temples where there is no religious discrimination. Could it be that you people are publicity crazy or just a bunch of communists trying to find a credulous cause to further your personal welfare or indulge in the now popular game of Hindu-bashing???