Random Juxtapositions

The Making of Angst

2011-12-05T06:57:00.001-08:00

To say that I had been eagerly awaiting 'Rockstar' would be an understatement. It had all the right names associated with it; Imtiaz Ali, A R Rahman and the music was just mind blowing, as if you needed one more instance of a master reinventing himself yet again. But most of all I was very curious about the whole take on the Rockstar persona. I mean, which cultural phenomenas of our times have been more intriguing, ironic and tragic than the Rockstar.

'Rockstar' as story-telling is average. The plot jumps far too often, the performance of the leading lady is a big let down, although Ranbir Kapoor just shines through. As a concept, an exploration, however, 'Rockstar' is awesome. Yes, I said it out loud - Awesome.

'Rockstar' is an exploration of Angst. Although angst as a theme has existed for centuries, be it the existential angst of Hamlet - 'To be or not to be..' or Captain Ahab's mad obsessive angst against an indifferent, amoralistic universe symbolized by the White Whale. Hell, angst might very well be one of the favorite themes of literature in general. And while the past few decades seem to have been more about an irrational exuberance than angst, the biggest cultural icons of our times to symbolize angst is the Rockstar.

Be it against an overbearing society, corrupt and cruel state, violence, puritansm etc. the Rockstar has used his rebellion as an effective tool to express his, oft misplaced, angst. Morrison, Cobain & co. were not just about sex, drugs and rock n roll, but also about a basic existential angst against the world. I think in 'Rockstar' Imtiaz Ali has tried to explore the same angst. Jordan can't really understand or control his doomed love or the frenzy of an icon hungry society which builds him up just to pull him down. The angrier he gets inside, the better his music and he keeps getting caught in the vicious cycle, a totally different Rabbit Hole if you may.

All of us have known angst at some point of time in our lives. To say that it is doomed is a fairly obvious statement to make. At its worse it is self obsessed, destructive and childish. At its best however, it simply innocence lost, a Naadan Parinda bewildered by a complex and strange world it can neither comprehend fully nor control.

Ladakh

2011-09-19T07:09:00.001-07:00

The land of White, Brown and Blue

Tibetan Prayer Flags

Ladakh had always been a dream destination for me. Partly because of its very distinct landscape and beauty but mostly because Ladakh held this strange aura, this unexplained fascination for me. It was the land of monasteries, Tibetan prayer flags, where Buddhism and Silk Route had crossed parts and a culture which was so different from anything I had seen had survived through the centuries. Ladakh had a very unique combination of historical importance and cultural uniqueness, which was the main reason I had been wanting to visit that place.

It had taken me three years and four attempts to finally be able get a trip to Ladakh going (which was, very ironically, corroborated by my hotel manager as "It's not a question of when you want to visit Ladakh, it's about when Ladakh calls you). Not having enough time to make the road trip from Manali, we decided to fly to Leh from Delhi. Now a word of caution for anyone flying from Delhi: taking adequate precaution against AMS (acute Mountain Sickness) can help. Infact, you would most likely be recommended to rest completely for 1-2 days so that the body gets used to the high altitude.

A Ladakh Monastery

There were three things that I mainly wanted to see in Ladakh: the monasteries, the vast open expanse and the lakes. There are three main monasteries near Leh: Thiksey, Stakna and Hemmis which can be covered in a half days time. While Thiksey and Stakna, overlook the Indus, Hemmis is nestled a little bit inside the mountains. Most of the monasteries is in Ladakh are at least 300-400 years old. The influence of Tibetan art forms in monasteries are clearly visible, with the images of Padma-Sambhava as common as those of the Buddha.The white of the monasteries appears as a strange radiance juxtaposed against the brown ruggedness of the mountains; signifying the light of true understanding that monks must have sought in the rugged simplicity of Ladakhi mountains.

Pangong Tso

Pangong Tso (Tso: lake in Ladakhi) is a lake at the altitude of 15000 ft which could be famous for any number of reasons: it being at India's border with China, one of the highest altitude lakes in the world and simply for being very beautiful. But what it is purportedly famous for now is the location where 3 Idiots was shot! Reaching Pangong takes about 6-7 hours of drive through the vast open expanse of Ladakh. Although the drive is a tad tiring, it is one of the most scenic I have been through: along the Indus for some distance and passing through the third highest motorable pass in the world: Chang la (17,586 ft). Seeing Pangong for the first time is a little surreal an experience, yet again bringing out the strange play of colors which happens so often in Ladakh, maybe because of the stark images you see: a deep blue set against the brown which is just a sight to behold.

Pangong deserves at the minimum an overnight stay. Not the least because it's too far to do a decent trip in one day but i'd say mostly because of the chance to see the night sky. For the light pollution ravaged city folks and for the stars loving me it was absolutely magical.

Ladakh's beauty is primal, untouched. Driving through the vast expanse of Ladakh, visiting the monasteries and Ladakh's mountains (which Kerouac would refer to as Buddha Mountains) got me thinking about Buddha and attachment and loss. Loss can be debilitating. How does one deal with loss? Loss whether it's of a small object we hold important to us or that of a deeper kind which shakes our beliefs to the very core. I was searching for some answers in the white, brown and blue of Ladakh; in its antiquity, in its expanse and its purity. All i found was a perspective, a deep sense of humility which the expanse instills in you as your smallness makes you realize that as yet you don't have all the answers. It's only time that can heal and answer. Every travel is an experience and there's one thing this one taught me: that at times in life, its important

Just.To.Be.In.Motion.

When the Lamp is Shattered

2011-07-01T12:08:00.002-07:00

When the lamp is shattered
The light in the dust lies dead -
When the cloud is scattered,
The rainbow's glory is shed.
When the lute is broken,
Sweet tones are remembered not;
When the lips have spoken,
Loved accents are soon forgot.

As music and splendour
Survive not the lamp and the lute,
The heart's echoes render
No song when the spirit is mute -
No song but sad dirges,
Like the wind through a ruined cell,
Or the mournful surges
That ring the dead seaman's knell.

When hearts have once mingled,
Love first leaves the well-built nest;
The weak one is singled
To endure what it once possessed.
O Love! who bewailest
The frailty of all things here,
Why choose you the frailest
For your cradle, your home, and your bier?

Its passions will rock thee,
As the storms rock the ravens on high;
Bright reason will mock thee,
Like the sun from a wintry sky.
From thy nest every rafter
Will rot, and thine eagle home
Leave thee naked to laughter,
When leaves fall and cold winds come.

- Percy Shelley

P.S. I shall miss you, Withnail

Hampi - Desolate Beauty

2011-03-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

The first thing that strikes you while entering Hampi is landscape: stark and rocky; and this pretty much sets the mood for the rest of the trip. Hampi is where the ruins of a once mighty empire Vijaynagara stand, still largely untouched by the ravishes of time and human encroachment.

It is said that at its peak, under Krishna Deva Raaya, half a million people used to leave in this city and that it was the second largest city in the world at that time (after Beijing); circa 1500s. It is not too hard to imagine this looking at the vast expanse of the ruins. From big market places to the King's Palace, the ruins are well spread out and some of them are still in use to this day. The highlights are of course those that project the imperial grandiose and the God like stature that the kings wanted to project : Achutraaya temple built by the namesake king for himself, Zainana enclosure, housing the King and his Queen and the Royal Enclosure from where the king used to run his empire and the massive Virupaksha temple which is used for worship till this date.

Hampi is a photographer's delight. The stark landscape is just complemented by the fact that all the monuments are carved out of solid rocks. Although the architecture is predominantly Hindu and Jain style, its interesting to see influences of Islamic architecture in the forms of domes and arches.

The ruins at Hampi are magnificent. But here's the thing about Hampi: its strange mixture of grandness and desolation fill you with a sense pf melancholy, a feeling that what was once a mighty empire and a great city, thriving with imperial majesty, art and all manners of human activity has also withered and has been reduced to its present state of ruins. And on the last evening, as I was sitting and watching a beautiful sunset (and for some unfathomable reason listening to Trent Reznor's haunting score for The Social Network obsessively) it felt as if the Sun in its act of setting was mocking the folly of human desire to build for permanence while ironically at the same time showing just how beautiful that folly can be nevertheless.

P.S. Photos courtesy Bhandara

Desi Superheroes

2010-12-11T23:55:00.000-08:00

One of the fondest memories of my childhood was waiting eagerly every other week for the new issue of Raj Comics to come into the store. I remember asking my auto-waallah to change his route just so that I could quickly pop-in to the comic book store to check out if the latest issue of Nagraj or Super Commando Dhruv had arrived, and how i used to read almost half way through it even before we reached home. Ah, those were simpler times, when a cricket bat and a comic every other week was all that was needed for me to be extremely happy, in my own self-sufficient way.

I used to read a lot of comics, English and Hindi: Tintin, Asterix, Disney, Archie's, Raj Comics etc. But my favorite was Raj Comics and within that most definitely Nagraj (Snake Man) and Dhruv. It was mostly because they were the most prolific and had the best descibed universes amongst all the others (In hindsight I can add that they also had the hottest girlfriends). But by no means were they crude or simplistic even. In fact i will stick my head out and say that Raj Comics could rival DC or Marvel in terms of creativity and story-telling. Each hero had its own well defined set of Villians, Mythology and side kicks and often had complexly layered stories and relationships. (e.g. Dhruv's girlfriend's father was his arch enemy: Crime Master Robo). I'm sure a lot of inspiration came from DC/Marvel in terms of motifs etc. but the Indianisation of these comics was what made them special. They were home grown and ingenious; and in their own way, they were also intelligent.

There were other heroes like Bhokal, Doga, Gojo and the solitary Raj Comics funny man Baankelaal. But pocket money being finite, I spent more on my favorite two.

Over time I stopped reading them and having been in the South for more than 8 years, I completely lost touch with Raj-world. The last time around when I was in my home town, I went to the store but to much dismay it had closed down. I did manage to get my hands on a few new issues but something didn't exactly feel the same; maybe it was because of the lacuna in between.

Last heard, Anurag Kashyap was planning to make a movie on Doga (quite an anti-hero, only one who wears mask, troubled childhood, vague morals: in short a Batman in Dickensian world). If it works out, it's a hugely good news as it would put into limelight the immense talent in these comics and the fact that we have good indigenous material to make movies on that will become maybe as popular as Batman / Spiderman.

Nostalgia is a funny thing; it pops in the most unexpected places. The next time I'm home, maybe I'll take down the stack of old comics and rediscover the mystery of Nagraj's powers or Dhruv's adventures. I hope the soda still has the fizz.

A Trek to the Valley of Flowers

2010-09-11T02:23:00.000-07:00

There is something about the Himalayas that has always kept me in awe. It had been four years since I had last been to the North and so yearning for another view of the majestic Himalayas and finding company in the ever willing Gutkha, I set out for a trek that had been on my radar for quite a while, the Valley of Flowers.

Towards August mid we set off from Haridwar. Much like the actual trek, getting to the beginning of the trekking route demands patience, perseverance and above all a willful suspension of (the city bred) control over situations. Although August is the perfect time for seeing the valley as most of the flowers bloom right after the rains, Uttarkhand is notorious for landslides during this time. And so bracing for uncertainties, we set off towards Joshimath, a 250 km drive through circuitous mountain roads. Most of the drive runs parallel to Ganga, and what a majestic view she is. Along the way come Rudra Prayag, Karna Prayag and Dev Prayag (confluence of dhauli Ganga and Alaknanda). 10 hours later we were in Joshimath

To start the trek, you have to reach Govind Ghat, which is an hour's drive from Joshimath. Although I had known that it's 14 km uphill trek from Govind Ghat, here's the thing about it: for people with fitness levels like mine, average at best, its tougher than it looks. Thankfully we packed light (and Gutkha used to play footer back in college).

The trek was a lot like real life situations: the first 3 and the last 3 kms were really, really tough, specially the last 3. But what a beautiful, picturesque route it is, dotted with mountain peaks, waterfalls, little villages and Lakshman Ganga. Most of the trekkers however are there on a Sikh pilgrimage, going to Hemkhund Sahib and so there's plenty of energy in the air. Having somehow managed to complete the 14 km trek, we reached Ghangria, the base camp for the trek to the valley. Hot chai, food and a tube of Moov later, i was merrily asleep, already dreaming about tomorrow.

The next day was the big one, and so a hearty breakfast later we set off for the valley, now just 4 kms away, only to be told at the entrance that heavy rains last night had destroyed two bridges and the valley might open in a few hours. Now, 2500 km and 3 days later, might is not a very good word to hear. But there was not much we could do about it other than waiting and hoping that mother nature would be a little benevolent that day. Luckily, the path was restored and off we went once again.

Those 4 kms were the most beautiful ones ever in my life. It's like partly being in a Tolkien dreamland, partly on a adventure trail of Tintin and totally, stunningly beautiful. But, also the toughest stretch of trekking till then. However, entering the Valley of Flowers is worth all the pain; it's overwhelming, and a little surreal. It is literally so beautiful that for my work-read-sleep monotonic mind it was a little difficult to grasp the beauty of the place. I'll let the pictures do the talking, although to be honest even they don't do the justice.

The return was uneventful, barring a nagging pain in my knee, and a shortcut detour trek to reach Joshimath due to a landslide. Somehow, we finally reached Joshimath. Staying overnight, we left for Haridwar the next morning only to be stopped after a few kms due to another landslide. 5 hours and all my patience later we were back on the road. Compounding to this was a driver going at breakneck speed, 'high' in the mountains and a few close shaves. But as we approached Rishikesh, I saw possibly one of the most beautiful sights of my life: a foggy, misty Ganga entering Rishikesh through the hills and a lit up, nocturnal Rishikesh welcoming Ganga with a silence, signifying the devotion. Ganga at Rishikesh is powerful, fast yet peaceful and mysterious. Looking at the foggy, almost as if shrouded in mystery Ganga in Rishikesh I realised why she has been worshipped for centuries; such a sight can only evoke devotion.

I have never been a true blue traveller; A part of travelling for me is always wishing that I was back home, safe in my comfort zone. But this time, inspite of the landslides and the painful knee and near misses, it felt strangely serene and comfortable. It felt like connecting to nature in its most magical manifestation and to a culture thousand years old which has all but disappeared from my city life.

P.S. Owe special thanks to Gutkha, who btw has become quite fussy about food :D

A Red Herring and a Leash

2010-06-07T09:20:00.001-07:00

"That government is best which governs the least"- Thoreau

I have always felt that a more astute observation about governance has not been made. At a time when the national ego seems to have been bruised by the Maoist onslaught, the Indian identity challenged, it is important to question if justifying state violence to appease a collective consciousness is a sign of Indian mentality degenerating into rabid nationalism.

Very few public personalities in India have been lambasted more in recent memory than Arundhati Roy. She's been labelled an intellectual bitch, commie, and has been accused of romanticizing violence. But having read a lot of her work off late, I'm pretty convinced that she's the voice India needs to listen to right now, not the least because in this intellectually bracketed warfare (either you're a Maoist or State) and for this complex problem, of Corporates implicit in dispossessing the tribals and of caste politics, she's one of the few voices bringing out the aspect of the human suffering of tribals. Let's face it, what has been happening here is systematic oppression of the tribals for the mineral rich land and the are just striking back. The maoist just happen to be taking advantage of the mess.

The only place I differ with her are on her deep biases against free markets. What's happening here is not capitalism gone mad, but the merger of the State and the Corporate interests - the original definition of fascism. In free markets (ideally) the power to decide lies with the local communities as a result of private property. Unfortunately, because of poor land reform in India, people living for thousands of years in the land are being evicted for the sake of corporate interests.

For some years now, there have been dangerous trends emerging in the behavior of Indian state. The UID is one of them. Purportedly, to root out corruption and improve delivery of government schemes, every individual in India will be given a Unique Identification card, forcibly if required. At an estimated spend of $35 B, this program looks like a totalitarian's dream come true. Not only is it a gross violation of civil liberties that the state is poking around in your life too much, but its a potential tool for mass control (and transfer of wealth from people to the governments IT stooges). Oh no, don't you think this is paranoia; in UK public concern recently made government cancel such a program. In other countries, such a move would be met with mass protests, but we Indians trust our government a tad too much. This can happen only when technocrats like ManMohan Singh and Nandan Nilekani think that the solution to a social problem is rooted in technology, and not in social changes.

What is needed is more liberty, land reforms, lesser power to babus and decentralisation. I always thought that the Indian state was somewhere between active benevolence and passive malevolence. Not so sure about that anymore. But one thing I'm certain of; changing an age old way of life forcibly in the name of development is not progress, regardless of what GDP says.

P.S. I would direct anyone who is interested in knowing about how central planning is detrimental to personal liberty to read F.A.Hayek's seminal piece 'The Road to Serfdom'

Let's Talk

2010-04-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

"I think, by optimizing the integration of the synergies, we can channelize the utilization of the energies."

What the ... ? Checking my response in time, I tried to comprehend whatever I had just heard. Bracing for getting confounded again, I mustered up enough courage to ask

"I beg your pardon. I got a little lost in the verbiage, Would you be kind enough to repeat that?"

"Hmm. Uhmm. Yeah..What i said was that...umm...by integrating the optimization of the synergies, we can utilize the channelization of the energies"

I gave a dumbfounded look.

"Or maybe...By synergising the integration of the optimization, we can energize the utilization of the channels...or utilize the energies of the channels?"

He looked down hopefully. Registering zero comprehension again, I looked around to see disdainful looks. Fearing public rebuke I chided myself for not having taken that business minor in college seriously. Afterall, this is the Newspeak. Gathering about my wits, I began thinking in this Newspeak. Before long i blurted out -

"But what about internalizing the efficiencies of the new paradigm?"

Silence. Stunned at my loquacity, I managed a grin. Impressed, he said -

" That's a great point. Let's connect on this later, do you have my co-ordinates?"

Sensing something dreadful was to happen, I realized that he meant to discuss this again. Frantically searching for a pen and a paper, to write down whatever I had spewed I realised that it was totally unnecessary. I had the formula, I could always come up with something in this Newspeak.

I had indeed internalized the efficiencies of the new paradigm

"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you,
trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our
players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines." - Hamlet

P.S. A Dilbertian rambling

The Ecstasy of Gold

2010-03-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

Music is very often an important part of cinema, an important part of the story and the vision of the filmmaker. Whether its the haunting violin piece from 'Requiem for a dream' or the innumerable songs interwoven in the hindi movies, music has an important role of conveying a certain mood, an emotion at that point in the movie. However, rarely is the soundtrack of a movie so outstanding that it develops a life of its own, a work of art complete within itself.

Ennio Morricone's soundtrack for 'The Good The Bad and The ugly' is one of those brilliant achivements in cinematic scores. The eponymous title song, resembling the howling of coyote, is one of the most popular soundtracks, but the rest of the track is just as good, if not better. Ennio Morricone's use of synthesizer, mouth organ, guitar and his slow, sweeping style were instrumental in giving the 'Western' feel to the movie.

Not only do the tracks sound great, but their nomenclature also conveys the true genius of this soundtrack. Whether its the solemn 'The Story of a Soldier' and 'Il Forte' or the soulful 'Il Tramanto (The Sundown)' each soundtrack is simply a beautiful evocation of a mood and almost like a complete musical story in itself. But my favourite is the climactic 'The Ecstasy of Gold', a depiction of the epic showdown between the three characters and a culmination of all the chasing, adventure and the greed. It stands out as one of the best climaxes ever filmed simply because of this powerful and sweeping musical play of emotions.

'The Good The Bad and The Ugly' is one of the greatest soundtracks ever.

P.S. Just a layman's interpretation of some beautiful music.

The Cove

2010-01-30T01:48:00.000-08:00

"The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality." ~Schopenhauer

The Cove (2009) is an eco-thriller documentary that sets out to expose the cruelty to dolphins in Japan.

Well, the Japs, they like their fish. And they are not particularly kind to animals. I mean if you actually listen hard enough, you might hear a lot of dead whales complaining. However, strange as the Japs are in their ways, they kill a lot of dolphins when the dolphin meat isn't even the preferred food there. Most of the dolphins are captured to be exported to the various marine entertainment parks around the world. The Cove sets about as a band of 'Environmental Crusaders' are trying to expose the slaughter of the remaining dolphins in the small fishing village of Taiji, Japan.

The most stunning aspect of the documentary is the compassion and collaboration of these people in trying to uncover the cruelty to dolphins in the face of many dangers. Whether it is Ric O'Barry, one of foremost dolphin activists or Charles Hambleton, a sailor and diver, their zealous activism is inspirational to say the least. They end up exposing not only the cruelty meted out to the dolphins, but through their compassion also end up making us realise the sensitive and intelligent nature of dolphins and how captivity itself is cruel to them.

Its the same story everytime isnt it? Ignorant and cruel humans leading to collapse of eco-systems, endangering their own health and survival, and the inefficacy of government and institutions in taking any kind of moral decisions, governed as they are themselves by the diktats of money. Prone to cynicism as I am, it is an example like this, where the passion of individuals makes about a difference, that is a reason for hope and inspiration.

Theres a scene towards the end of the documentary when an underwater camera, planted by this team suddenly starts seeing red, even as you hear (and understand, somehow) the pain in the squeal of a dolphin which is being slaughtered with the most cruelty. Compassion, ironically needs a glimpse of cruelty sometimes to be kindled. And it is this scene really, which makes you relate to the intense ardour of these activists.

The Cove will shock, disturb and inspire you. Must watch

P.S. I'm back.

Ad Finem

2009-05-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

"You hear that Mr. Anderson?... That is the sound of inevitability"

In another perspective, if Neo were to signify the "great" US, then Agent Smith would be the agent of karma, propounding but the obvious, if "slightly" unpleasant truth to the country: Its time your karma catches up with you.

US continues to be an oft analysed and written about topic of my blogposts, but its only because its truly one of the most interesting places and at a cusp in its history, not really an inflection point as it has long gone past but definitely in an accelerated slide. As history would like us to remember, in vain, that the fall of an empire is because of its hubris, irrespective of what political, economic or cultural foundation it has. No empire, without exceptions has been able to sustain the path of excess as Rome, Britain and the Soviet would testify.

The Economic Fall: A lot has been written about it, i wrote a blog myself. But as i have read more and more about what American capitalism has truly come to stand for, the major culprit has been excluded from almost all anlysis of the current crisis: the government, state or the system, The Party if you must. America is really a nation of one party; the elites that control most of the political power. The Fed, or the central bank's loose monetary policy is what caused the housing bubble and debt problems in the first place. By keeping interest rates artifically low at almost 1% for a long time, it encouraged reckless borrowing. This caused both the sub prime crisis and the debt crisis as the easy credit encouraged people to borrow money they never really could repay.

The role of any central bank is to reduce the impact of business cycles of recession and boom and to keep inflation low. Earlier, when money used to be tied to gold, i.e. the gold standard, the money supply in the economy was pegged to something tangible i.e. the gold, which was directly related to how productive your economy was (goods produced, no. of workers, amount of trade etc.). This kept a check on misuse of monetary policy. However, once the gold standard was repealed, the Fed has been endlessly used for political motives, like wars by creating artificial or fiat money, out of thin air! What this loose monetry policy does is cause inflation which erodes savings and devalues the currency. Thus the central bank has been dangerously manipulated to achieve political goals and at the same time to discourage people to save and promote endless consumption as a result of inflation.

The status quo thus far was that American Dollar was the most trusted currency because of the belief in the nation, but now the Fed has created trillions of dollars of debt, out of thin air, and given it all to the bankers. This is the biggest, illegetimate transfer of wealth in history of mankind and shows the compliance of politicians with the bankers. And just as the Japanese lost decade would indicate, this policy is not going to work. The major difference is that the Japenese were big savers.

Thus the dollar has been debased, the wealth has been transferred to the very people who were partly reponsible for the debacle and the unemployment keeps rising and they have more debt than ever, in the history of civilsation. America sits at the edge of economic disaster of hyperinflationary depression

The Political decline: One of the common characteristics of Empires is their intention of imposing their ideologies on other countries, by the means of wars and force. The two disastrous wars America is fighting is an example. Not only are they responsible for so many deaths, but they don't have any real reason to fight the wars in the first place. Just like the Afghanistan war expedited the fall of Soviet Union, so will these wars. Needless to say, wars are expensive, damaging to a country's reputation and start a vicious spiral of violence and animosity.

And their political system is in shambles. A system of politicians brought to power by the corporate elite through their money has resulted in America becoming a Corporate Entity, with all the political decisions favoring the big corporates. Be it the gun industry, the finance industry, the big pharma, everyones part of the faceless 'system' resulting in a concentration of wealth and power in a few hands.

The Societal decline: A significant proportion of the population is on anti-depressants, a large number have no health care, young students fall into huge debt burdens because of enormous college fee, millions losing their homes, one-fourth of the incarcerated people on earth are in US prisons, gun violence is increasing, wealth is concentrated into a few hands and is increasingly getting concentrated. The list is long and scary and shows the extent to which the American society is damaged. The financilisation of every aspect of life has resulted in a society alienated and largely dependent on the 'Corporate Gods' for every aspect of their survival. And a media which is again controlled by the Coporates has facilitated this fall, instead of being the saviour of truth and liberty.

The Soviet analogy: The Soviet had a lot in common with the US , as an empire. External wars, huge debts and a society suppressed by the state. And all these resulted in the collapse of the mighty Soviet empire. And its not just communism or totalitarianism which resulted in its fall, but the hubris and the excess pride and the military misadventures and overreach. Soviet had a relatively soft landing as whatever was there (housing, transportation) was created by state and came to be owned by people directly. And they were net exporters of oil. And lets face it, the Russians have seen some shit in their lives so they know how to handle it. The US on the other hand imports 65% of its oil, has little house ownership at a national scale and depends woefully on cars. Its a recipe for disaster.

An American would be indignated at a random guy forming judgments on his 'great' nation, and he has a right to do so. But if history were to tell us anything, the fall of the might US is inevitable, much as like Agent Smith proclaims. In the movie Neo turns out to be the 'one'. In the real life however, you have to answer your karma. The paths of excess are just not sustainable. Much as even the wonders of capitalism would want to, they cannot defy the second law of thermodynamics and endlessly expand seeking profit in every which way without facing the consequences.

In the meantime, if i were American, i'd buy gold, start community farming and drink beer. Oh wait, i can still drink the beer.

Burp!

The Portrait of a President as a (Dubya)Man

2009-02-05T06:10:00.000-08:00

"I think we agree, the past is over" - George W. Bush

Usually, history renders a larger than life hue to our leaders, the intense evil, tales of bravado and overachievers, we have read all about these. Rarely are the portrayals as they should be, treating them more as people that existed also with their less flattering (or loathsome) selves; with their fair share of strange motives, insecurities and stupidity. W. by Oliver stone is such an attempt. By no means is it a great movie, but its the portrayal of George W. Bush as he was; a man.

The movie follows the story arc of Bush's life, from a college student to his ascendancy as the president and the most powerful (?) person in the world. In between, he is shown with all his insecurities and motives. Whether it is his obssession of his father's approval, his love for baseball, his tryst with religion and his alcoholism of youth and how each of these things contribute to the decisions he makes in his life. What the movie doesn't do is try to justify or defend his actions by adding a humane aspect to his persona, but what it does do is to present him as a man who like most of us committed mistakes (colossal) and is imperfect, and in that sense only, succeeds in evoking some sympathy for this mostly reviled and lampooned person.

And it yet again enforces the thought that how dangerous power is in the hands of anyone as nobody is really free from his biases, imperfections, insecurities and vested interests. And that power and stupidity is a lethal combination.

I would like to see a similar movie made on Indira Gandhi, she's just perfect for such a portrayal.

And clearly, past is never over.

P.S. Josh Brolin as George W. Bush is outstanding.

8 things i realised in 2008

2008-12-30T22:37:00.000-08:00

1. The only reason refrigerators were invented is that you should have a never ending supply of chilled beer.

2. Being lazy is more satisfying than stocking up your fridge with beer.

3. One is either presented with the stupidity of stupid news or the depression of depressing news. Is it so dumb and dark out there?

4. The only true prophet of our times is Barney Stinson; the Bro Code, the Crazy-Hot Graph, the Chain/Circle/Pyramid of screaming, he's got an answer to everything. Legen-wait for it-dary!

5. The easiest way to make people read a blog is to make a list.

6. There are two ways to feel happy, satisfied and fulfilled with your life. Neither of them works.

7. Remember the great things science taught you about life; the stars, planets, physics, atoms, motion, geology, psychology, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle? Now remember credit cards, Java, Sensex? How things change.

8. Well, Whatever. Here's to life; take it with a pinch of salt...a dash of lemon and a shot of tequila! :D

A Happy New year.

Mumbai: 26/11

2008-11-29T22:50:00.000-08:00

The only thing i have been doing over the past two days is to follow the events in Mumbai, either over T.V or the internet, the rescue operations and stories of courage in this terrible tragedy. The sheer audacity, barbarism and magnitude of these attacks was overwhelming. This was not just an attack on life, property but on the collective confidence of a nation, a psychological warfare so to say. The image of those terrorists; with their AK-47s, of the fire at the Taj, and the Oberoi and NSG commandos carrying out their operations flashing across T.V. channels is going to dominate our collective conscious for a while now. The sheer shock value of these attacks was a bit overwhelming.

The stories of courage shown by people, not just elite commandos, but the hotel staff who risked their lives for the guests showed us what true heroism is. And even as we mourn, we must ask, where does India go from here? This is not just some attack happening to someone else. It happened in India's backyard, and it can happen to anyone, anywhere. Do we forget it after a week with the quintessential Indian reponse chalta hai/hota hai? Or do we ask questions and seek answers? This is big.

I don't know what solution this problem entails. But from the face of it, we atleast need better and dedicated disaster management, and a federal body focussing on terror. And have political will to take military action, if necessary. This is India's 9/11. How our country goes from here depends on whether we learn from it this time or not.

Disaster Movie

2008-11-16T00:52:00.000-08:00

For cinema lovers, one of the hotly debated and followed lists is the IMDb top 250 movies, its like the holy grail of lists about movies. From checking how many movies one has finished off in the list, to debating on the Godfather vs. The Dark Knight positions, i can fairly admit that its an integral part of our lives (however lame). But an equally (if not more) entertaining and largely overlooked list is the IMDB bottom 100 movies; the so-bad-that-its-good list of movies. Outrageous titles, obnoxious plots and well an allround lameness that indeed is so bad that it can be termed creative, to say the least. Sample this: Die Hard Dracula, The Tony Blair Witch project, Santa with muscles, 3 Ninjas: High tea at Mega mountain; yes these movies have actually been made and named so!

Funnier yet are the plots of some other movies:

The Maize: The Movie - "A father's psychic abilities are put to the test when his two daughters are trapped inside of a corn maze haunted by the spirits of two young girls who disappeared a year earlier." Ah, look at the clever pun, corn-maze -maize ?! Woh.

Super Babies: Baby geniuses 2 - "A group of smart-talking toddlers find themselves at the center of a media mogul's experiment to crack the code to baby talk. The toddlers must race against time for the sake of babies everywhere." The baby talk code??! that must be a national priority.

Aztec Mummy vs. the Human Robot - "A mad doctor builds a robot in order to steal a valuable Aztec treasure from a tomb guarded by a centuries old living mummy." This is like a The Mummy meets the terminator. True convergence of past and the future!

Barney's Great adventure - "Mom and dad dump son Cody, daughter Abby, her best friend Marcella and a baby on the farm with Grandpa and Grandma. Purple dinosaur Barney soon appears to entertain kids, and when a large colorful egg deposited on a farm by a shooting star is accidentally carted off, Barney and kids start their chase for it." Purple dinosaur?! shooting star?! did a very stupid person do LSD to write the script?

Chairman of the Board - "A surfer becomes the head of a major company" Ah, clever pun again. True creativity, i say.

And my personal favourite -
It's Pat - "Pat Riley, an obnoxious busybody of undeterminable sex, meets and falls in love with Chris, a sensitive, caring person also of undeterminable sex. Their relationship suffers because Pat's a lout, and cannot decide on a direction for its life. Meanwhile, Pat's neighbor Kyle falls further and further into obsession with Pat, fascinated by its indeterminate sexuality." Fascinating. With its layers of uncertainty and obbsessions with indeterminate sexuality, this movie would have explored a hitherto unknown kind of ..umm.. indeterminate relationships!

And not to be left very far behind is our very own desi Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag. Legendary movie must say. Only Indian movie in any IMDb list!

As Ed Wood would articulate about such a movie:
"This story's gonna grab people. It's about this guy, he's crazy about this girl, but he likes to wear dresses. Should he tell her? Should he not tell her? He's torn, Georgie. This is drama."

Humpty Dumpty sat on The Wall

2008-10-03T23:02:00.000-07:00

"Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with, and then the different branches of arithmetic -- Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision." - The Mock Turtle, Alice in wonderland

You would be forgiven to think that this post is an ode to the days of nursery rhymes, what with all the reference to Humpty Dumpty and Alice in Wonderland. As quaint as these analogies might sound, i couldn't but help invoking them in the context of Wall Street and The financial mess for the sake of irony; who would imagine a nursery rhyme to have lessons for few of the smartest people on Earth?

As most of us know, the entire thing started with housing bubble, loans were given to people who couldn't afford it and had dubious payment histories and it was assumed that house prices would rise indefinitely thus providing a security against any loss. Well, if only Economics 101 was studied more carefully! Not to be left far behind, Wall Street jumped into this by buying Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) from lenders, thus spreading the risk of such sub-prime borrowers. Since these people couldn't afford their payments, they started defaulting on their loans, causing a viscious spiral resulting in the sub-prime crisis and the fall of the Wall Street. To cut a long story short, Greed was not good.

This is a larger problem, one of consumption driven by borrowed money and an entire culture of credit. Where you earn 100 but spend 200. And one which is beginning to unravel as America (and the rest of the world) begins to understand that such greed is simply not sustainable. Now, i have been opinionated about the government-industry complex, but this problem is far more critical as it is a reflection on an entire culture of the populace not understanding what consumption within their means is.

Economics they say is the science of incentive. When the incentive is growth, it leads to prosperity. But when greed (and not to mention lack of common sense!) supersedes growth, it leads to destruction of financial values and institutions and can have large reaching effects. While the way forward is definitely through tighter regulations of such complex financial instruments like MBS, it would do America (and the world) a whole lot of good to understand that such unmanageable debt (American debt is over $ 11 trillion! thats 15 times India's economy), as a way of economy, is not sustainable.

Will the Humpty Dumpty be put back again? America still does have strength in their educational institutions and democracy (so called) and i do really hope it is as my daal roti to a certain extent depends on Americans' propensity to spend. But Humpty Dumpty's great fall might just be the biggest stories of our times!

P.S. "When Genius Failed" by Roger Lowenstein is an excellent read on Wall Street, its businessmen and bankers, and its uninhibited greed

Yes, On The Dark Knight

2008-09-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

The most talked about movie of the year. The most reviewed movie of the year. The most written about movie of the year. But i'm still going to write about The Dark Knight because its the best movie to come out in years and because i feel there's a need to defend its No. 3 spot on IMDB.

The Dark Knight starts off from where Batman Begins left off, only its a whole new level of movie making and characterisation altogether. If BB explored the origins and beginning of Batman, TDK explores Batman's flaws, limitations and still yet the symbology of what Batman stands for.

Let me do away with the conventional praise of effects, technical brilliance and acting. The movie truly hinges and revolves around the manic and brilliant performance of Heath Ledger as The Joker. There are some actors who understand their roles like seasoned performers and come up with great performances. And then again, there are some who just possess the character, make it their own. The Joker as a performance and as a character is truly complete in itself. The Joker begins of as somewhat of a loony, with fuzzy intentions. But as the story progresses we realise what he's doing; playing with the psychology of Gotham and its heroes, turning good into bad, order into chaos, rules into anarchy and hope into despair. While his origins are very cleverly hidden (multiple stories on his scar) to make the character complete; an agent of chaos, we come to realise that here's a villian who's not motivated by money, greed or revenge but simply by a desire to see the world burn and turn into madness. Joker is the true story teller here, conjuring up a master psychological play.

However, the essence of the story lies in the symbology of Batman. As a physical entity we come to realise that he's vulnerable, not limitless. But as a symbol; of hope or despair he can be anything. And he understands this precisely by saving Dent's image in the end. Batman is what Gotham needs him to be. A flawed hero for a flawed world.

What Nolan has delivered here is an Empire Strikes Back of a Batman movie; a masterpiece depicting a superhero as he would be in a true world and a morality which is real, not out of a comic book. And we're likely to see a Batman redeeming himself in the next; The Return of Batman perhaps?

What's your story?

2008-07-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

"When the doors of perception are cleansed, man will see things as they truly are, infinite" - William Blake

Story telling is one of those great art forms, which not only entertains but also has the ability to render different perceptions of this world to us. But when it comes to oneself, most of us don't have a very fertile imagination. Reality is pretty mundane isn't it? Why is finding a story for your life elusive?

Being unofficially rechristened as IMDB, it should be no surprise when i use cinema as my muse. Big Fish (2003), King of California (2007) & Kung Fu Panda (2008) are movies that are great stories in themselves. But the point they are trying to drive is larger, and one which makes story telling such an effective medium. Big Fish is about a son learning about his dying father through stories and myths about him. Stories which seem to be concocted out of a fertile imagination are actually very clever metaphors. King of California is about a mentally unstable father trying to convince his daughter that there is Spanish treasure buried somewhere below California. And well, Kung Fu Panda is one of those totally kickass Jack Black movies about your dreams and purpose in life (with awesome kung fu, awesome dialogues and sheer awesomeness). Now, before you start branding me an escapist with rose tinted glasses, theres something common to all these movies, and at the heart of these movies. And thats the use of stories,myths and imaginations to tell us how important perception is to the way we see reality. So whether its having an adventurous life, a purpose in the madness or achieving awesomeness (:D got to see that again). That perception is the looking glass through which we see this world. And that our lives can be just as special, just as full of story as we want it to be. And thats a very powerful message, existential even, that we have the ability to change the perception.

Now theres a difference in thinking that everything is hunky-dory always and things will always work out. But we, all of us, do have the answer to our existential concerns in ourselves. Just open the different doors.Infinite doors.

Into the Wild

2008-04-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had the feeling of giving it all up; the money, the society, the comforts , the purpolessness and just get away from the madding crowd? Well, i have had that feeling now and then. But stand alone impulses are little more than escapist thoughts. That someone my age actually had the courage and conviction to do this and test his own limits of existence is the subject of this blog.

I recently got a chance to watch the incredible movie 'Into the Wild' by Sean Penn. Its based on a true story of a 23 year old guy Christopher McCandless. Christopher was a top student, athlete and a generally liked guy. The kind you would expect to end up with a college degree and become the alpha male he is expected to be. But contrary to every expectation, Christopher donated all his life savings to charity, burnt all the money he had and set off on a journey; in search of 'truth'. Its partly a spiritual quest and partly a journey to get away from the society that has put him in the bondage of money and comforts. The movie deals with his journey across US, the people he meets and his ultimate sojourn in the wilderness in Alaska, where he tragically perishes.

The story is more than that of a lost youth, or of a rebel going against conventional wisdom and family. The soul of the movie is in this spiritual journey that Chris undertakes to know 'truth' and the various people he meets on this journey that leave an indelible mark on his psyche and vice versa. And ultimately, in the wilderness, Chris realises the utter helplessness of a man faced with the raw power of nature.

This spiritual quest of Chris makes him realize that happiness is true only when shared. But ironically, the ruthlessness of the wild leads to his untimely death, all of 23 years, alone in the wild. The parting shot of the movie is easily one of the tragic ones i have seen.

Full marks must go to Sean Penn, Emil Hirsche, the cinematographer for the awesome use of camera to portray both the beauty and power of nature and Eddie Vedder for a soundtrack that'll blow your mind away. And although the movie ends on a tragic note, the heart of the movie is anything but tragic, its one of intellectual freedom, the spirit of questioning and the enormous courage of one man faced against this crazy world. Watch it. It'll change the way you think.

It's been a long time since i rock n roll....

2008-02-06T10:58:00.000-08:00

So sings Robert Plant. Yeah, that Led Zeppelin guy. What a band, and what an era of music: Classic rock. It was a period when guitars were used as weapons, mass collaborators, medicines and simply to blow your minds away. A time when Woodstock was a message, of rebellion, of change and simply of awesome music. Being a huge fan of classic rock, i thought it might be fun compiling "My favourite Classic Rock songs" list. Ah, but that would tend to run into a few hundreds and in keeping with my principles of laziness (more of that later), it would be the top ten. Yeah, i hear you, that's .. umm .. tough (and needless to say, subjective). But what the heck. I love lists. So here it goes:

Rock n Roll - Led Zeppelin : The sheer energy in this, or for that matter any Led Zep song, is unmatchable. Plant sings with a rabid fervor. But its Page's electrifying guitar and Bonham's insane drumming that makes Led Zeppelin The Band and this song, the quintessential Zeppelin song.

Achilles Last Stand - Led Zeppelin : This song probably has the best drumming, ever, in any rock song. It faster than you can think, but not without a rhythm. And what guitaring: Its almost like Page and Bonham conspire to take rock music to another level. Ah, with Led Zep, I could go on.

Freebird - Lynryd skynryd : Starts off slowly. But somewhere along the way, it just ..explodes. Insanely fast guitaring and drumming which matches up to it. But if you want a real feel of Freebird, watch Forrest Gump.

Born to be Wild - Steppenwolf : The bikers and any free soul's anthem and the benchmark song for metal. But for me, the reason this song is so special is because of the lyrics and the liberating feel to it. With words like :

Get your motor runnin'
Head out on the highway
Lookin' for adventure
And whatever comes our way
Yeah Darlin' go make it happen
Take the world in a love embrace
Fire all of your guns at once
And explode into space

you have to love this song. Perhaps, watching "Easy Rider" will make you realise what i'm saying.

All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix : When Hendrix strums, its like a musical epiphany. Are you experienced?

Roadhouse Blues - The Doors : The Doors is not quite like any other band. That is perhaps why they stood out. And when Morrison Sings "A keep your eyes on the road.." , its a call for beer, fun and some more beer and fun. Ah, i love this song.

Another Brick In the Wall 1,2,3- Pink Floyd : Its not just an anthem for rebels. Its a masterpiece of a conceptualization by Roger Waters. I mean, "Hey, teachers, leave the kids alone!". Where all the words gone now?

Highway Star - Deep Purple : Now this song is a style statement. Heavy guitars and smart ass lyrics. Deep Purple at their best.

Heartbraker - Led Zeppelin : Ok, so by now you have gathered that Led Zep is my favourite band. :D. But seriously, what a riff; guitar speaks its own language here eh?

Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan. There once was a man. Neither could be sing very well, nor play guitar like a magician. But he nevertheless turned out to be the most enigmatic and influential of rock musicians. Theres something about Dylan isn't it? And its amply evident in this song. An ode to the underdog in himself perhaps? Whatever. He's not there.

P.S. CCR, Dire Straits amd other songs i'm ignorant about aren't bad either.

The Trip

2007-12-31T01:08:00.000-08:00

An account of my recent trip to Kerala, the God's own country:

Lily Darling

The trip started off with a bus to Ernakulam. The night was bumpy and sleepless and Ernakulam, well, was every bit disappointing (congested, hot and you would be forgiven for getting confused on whether it is Chennai or Bangalore) and we had to endure one more bus journey to Alepy. But all this was vindicated by Lily Darling. Ah, bless you Lily darling. Don't get me wrong, Lily Darling was the name of our houseboat in the Alepy backwaters. If you thought money can't buy you peace, well then try this. Coconut trees, paddy fields and a vast expanse of waters is just the thing a person used to city life requires for a break. And ofcourse, no trip of mine can ever be complete without Himesh crooning off a 'melody' of his. Perfect start. It was strange, the way we were trying to capture all this beauty around us using our cameras, when actually its so fleeting and we should rather have just sit down and see as much of it as possible. Its like memories are our real experiences. Memories are us.

Of Broken Bacardis and Peace

From Alepy we headed off to Varkala, a relatively unknown beach resort near Trivandrum. The hotels are situated on a cliff providing a panoramic view of the ocean. The first thing that'll strike you is that almost all the tourists there are foreigners. Just goes to show how unexplored some parts of India are really. On our way there, we befriended two Canadian Tourists, who also ended up in the same hotel as ours. Thus were made plans for some alcohol in the evening. Pratik managed to get some rum from the town (which is 6 kms away). Now thats a lot of fight considering that this was a vacation and considering that he doesnt drink. And now comes the part where anyone who has ever had alcohol and is reading this, kicks me. No, really. By a quirk of fate, irony and simple human stupidity, i broke the damn cursed bottle. At 9 o clock , when you had grand plans for alcohol, and you no longer do have the alcohol, now that is really sad. But in the memory of the deceased alcohol, we went to the town again, and after 3 shady bars and a hundred rupees on the top, we managed to get alcohol once more. Victory. And what a time we really had. It always piques my interest, how people from different places and cultures, strangers can connect and bond and how different they are really. and turns out people are not that different really. We all are in search of our broken bacardis and peace.

Man on the moon

And finally we headed to the last leg of the trip : Munnar. Some shady breakfats and an evil bus conductor (pure evil) later we finally managed to find our destination, which ironically was a treehouse in the middle of nowhere. Now for two guys, Munnar is not the ideal of spots. But it was too late for us to realise that. But staying in a treehouse in the middle of nowhere, thats perfect 'Away from the madding crowds' place. Munnar otherwise, is beautiful but boring. If anything, the trip raised more doubts in my mind about life that settle them. Probably so much leisure time gets you thinking more. And sometimes these things strike you so ramdomly that you just dont have any response. But it did make me realise that inspite of all their collective irritation, you need people around you. And on the last night, in the pitch darkness, as the moon shone brilliantly, as an act of desperation and seeking the lost faith , I was searching for the man on the moon. Didn't find him this time though

The Lives of Others

2007-11-10T14:22:00.000-08:00

It was 3 am and sleep was proving to be as elusive as subtlety in Govinda's movies or news in Times of India. Being a sound sleeper usually, I was at a loss of alternatives. I did consider ringing up people and asking them , even as they fumbled for my identity, the most impertinent question you can ask a person who is sleeping: "oh, i am sorry, were you sleeping?". But sleep (my sleep i.e.) being one of those few precious things in my life, i decided to forego such a great opportunity out of fear of repercussions. Tried to read a book, watch some TV, but somehow they just made me feel more awake. That is when it struck me; it being the art of online voyeurism : Orkut.

For some reason (vague, again) I decided to be a peeping tom in my school's community. School. Seemed like a different lifetime. I browsed through profiles of old friends, some of whom i hadn't spoken to in years, of acquaintances, of people who used to be popular back then and of course the random hot chick. And the amount of transformation , in people and their lives (whatever i could make out of their profiles) just astonished me. People who held great promise, still seemed to be struck in their old ways, some, who were mediocre back then had achieved remarkable success. Some had got married, had children while some had travelled far. Some had undergone unbelievable physical transformations while some had strayed off the beaten track and done different things. It was just a whole lot of change everywhere.

And that is when it hit me that anybody's life, viewed from the vantage point of view of time, is full of changes and twists and turns. People that we once thought we knew, change evolve and move on. In our day to day mundanity, we somehow never realise the changes that we all have gone through. Our everydays somehow hide the enormity and the story of our lives.

Life is strange afterall. Here i am, sitting at 3 am and taking a virtual stock of the lives of people i had known, seen but lost; and wondering what the story of everybody's lives would eventually turn out to be.

"It Goes On" - Robert Frost

Life in a hostel

2007-08-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

An insider's perspective on hostel life and why its fun in the small ways that only hostel life can be:

1) You can talk to someone while taking a shower. Believe me its fun. That is on the rare occasions that you do take one actually. Which is a huge advantage in itself and should have been covered in a different point.

2) Had a bad day? The prof wants to see you for having not submitted an assignment in a course you never knew you had registered for? Your friend borrowed the most expensive books on your library card and cant find them? No problem. Catch hold of a random guy. Instigate people against him and treat him to the holy grail of hostel rituals...bumps.Never was a better way discovered to relieve your pains. Just pass it on to somebody.

3) Hungry at 3 in the morning? Feeling lazy too? And the wallet is empty? Just go to the next room and pick up stuff. Oh and in case nothings there in the next room you have 16 other rooms to try. Like they should say..'The hostel never sleeps'.

4) The proverbial 'Fart sessions'. Not to be taken literally. Whether it is talking about 18th Century German Philosophy or the perpetual human stupidity, its all covered in here. And if someones talking borders on being soporific, just give the royal treatment.Bump him.

5) For all the obvious disadavantages of having 300 guys staying in a building, you always have the company for a coffee and the fart sessions. Which is the best part of it all.

Spaceman Spiff Speaks

2007-06-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

Have you chased Zargons across the galaxy? Have you asked profound questions about life, but realised that watching T.V. is probably more interesting? Have you ever thought that your principal was probably a space alien spy? Ah, welcome to the world of Calvin and Hobbes.

As one of the most loved and sustained comic strips, C & H needs no introduction. But just why do we love C & H ? Well, admit it. Calvin is the kid you always wish you were. He's curious, imaginative, rebellious, innocent, profound, funny and lazy, all at the same time. Calvin and his imaginative tiger friend Hobbes (both named after European philosophers) are a reflection of the world as seen from 6 years innocence and adult skepticism at the same time. Whether its war, religion, girls, or homework , Calvin's honesty of innocence shines in the way he questions everything with the simplicity only kids can conjure. He has no baggage of adult hypocrisy or complexity. And yet, hes a kid also in the way he's lazy, loves saturday mornings , loathes homework and lives in a world created by his own imagination; limitless and self-sufficient. In Calvin and Hobbes, not only has Bill Watterson created the magical realm of childhood, but he has also created a caricature of the world, seen with an innocence and curiosity, that for us adults is lost. And never has things so profound been said with such brevity.

But to me, the best thing about it is that it makes me laugh and think at the same time. And wish that i was a kid all over again. This one.

Love, hypothetically

2007-05-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

"Have you ever experienced love?"

"344"

"What?"

"That's our bill. You owe me 181"

"Oh. Yeah, whatever. I asked you something"

"What?"

"Have you ever experienced love?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of course i have. I love my books. And my Macintosh"

"Not like that. I mean with real people made up of tissues, cells, mitochondrias and emotions"

"Oh, that? Sure, i love my parents. I love my friends. Come to think of it i even ...."

"Hey brother! I mean, have you ever been in 'love' ?"

"Oh that! Umm , you know there was this very cute girl in my school...she even had blue eyes. What was her name...? Dor...? ...? Nope, I've never been in love"

"Hmm"

"Have you? I mean been in love and all?"

"I think so"

"What was it like, being in love and all?"

"It was ... good. I felt wanted. I was oblivious to the larger part of the world. I even thought that i looked good. It was like having some purpose in life. I was ... just happier."

"Dude, whats with all the 'i-talk'? You almost sound as if it was a one way experience. Were you in love with that person or yourself?"

"I guess both. I did love her, you know, with all her quirks. But I guess it was fairly selfish. At the end of the day, she did make me feel good"

"This reminds of me this book The Selfish Gene. What it basically postulates is that the ultimate purpose of life, from the point of view of evolution, is to replicate itself. The main aim of the genes is to selfishly spread themselves via reproduction. that is why it makes you enjoy things like love , sex, happiness . By doing this it is strengthening the chance that it gets a representation in the next generation."

"Yeah i've read something similar too."

"Its interesting, you know. Its like our brains are some kinds of complex mathematical tools. By some calculation, you estimate that a particular person is more suitable to be your mate. I guess your genes figure out somehow that their propagation has more chances with that particular person's genes. Its all hardwired up there man. How are we then any different from robots? We too have some basic codes running up there trying to figure it all out. So much for free will!"

"You know, we are very different. First of all, robots' lives are not governed by chances. Our lives are...The precise fact that im sitting here, talking to you, is a ramification of millions of chances compiled over each other. Say, if your parents had put you in a different school, or if you were working in a different city, or if Ms. Sen had made you sit with Smita in class 7, we might have never known each other. Infact, most of our choices also are half chances."

"And free will is indeed flushed down the toilet"

"No, no. We do have choices in life. The fact that i decided to have a coffee with you is a choice. Or that, if i want, i do have a choice to step out of this mundanity and maybe join some NGO or make documentary films. I know, its not easy, but i definitely do have a choice! which brings me to my second point. The genes indeed are selfish and we indeed are hardwired to an extent, but humans have an ability to circumvent the selfishness of genes. Infact love is a testimony to that!"

"How?"

"There are so many people out there who fall in love for reasons other that physical attraction. Maybe for some qualities that we, humans, deem as qualities, but not nature. Like companionship and friendship"

"But isnt need for companionship a natural trait also? We need company because community living is easier in propagating a species."

"Hmm, i guess so. But community living is not a direct consequence of our reproductive needs, I guess it was an evolution of some kind. Thats what evolution is all about isnt it? Survival of the fittest. Community living sure makes that easier by giving you security against predators"

"Hmm"

"Coming to love again...as i said there are reasons for falling in love, that just our basic instincts cannot explain. People fall in love out of guilt, for redemption, even for the sake of power. It all depends on what circumstances you have gone through in your life!"

"So what is love then? Again a product of chances? Because the circumstances you go through in your early life are definitely out of our control. You might be born into a nice family or a dysfunctional one or your father might alcoholic and so on. On top of that, you have your selfish genes acting all the time. What is it then? Do we have any free will at the end of the day?"

"We do. Or at least an illusion of it. Just like love. But I'd still like to believe that love has something in addition to selfish genes and chances. I'd like to be in the illusion"

"So what happened?"

"Where?"

"With her"

"Oh , we grew apart. Got bored of each other, i guess. Coming to boredom...."

"5:30"

"What?"

"My bus. I have to rush. You owe me 181"

"Yeah. whatever."

Tolkien, the king

2007-04-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

Literati have loathed him and consigned his work to the level of juvenile balderdash. Readers, worldwide, have loved him. Surveys have named his book 'The Lord of the rings' as the best work of fiction of the 20th Century. The man in question is JRR Tolkien, the visionary author and (almost) the creator of fantasy genre. Even 50 years after the publication of LOTR, Tolkien's works remain as popular as ever. What do we attribute this to? And why is Tolkien the definitive 20th Century author?

To those people who have read his works (and even to those who have watched the movies, for they were brilliant adaptations) Tolkien appeals to us at different levels. The form of his story telling, romanticizing everything from friendship to valor, his lyrical prose, his settings in lands far removed from our age and times in fantastic settings appeals to the escapist, the adventurer and the romantic in us. We love the stories of friendship, camaraderie, sacrifice, love and valor. We also , somewhere relate to the ultimate underdog spirit of the book, in which Frodo, a small (and therefore weak) Hobbit ultimately triumphs against such a big evil. To some, the descriptive nature of his writing, is his quintessential hallmark. But there is an instinctive appeal in the book, which can not be described as easily.

For this, we have to delve into Tolkien, the man , and try to find our answers. In many ways The Lord of the Rings was Tolkien's reaction to 20th century and the horrors he witnessed in it. Tolkien served in the British Army in the World War 1. The horrors he witnessed then, and later on in the World War 2 had a lasting impact on his works. There are subtle undercurrents of his political inclinations throughout the book. While he describes The Shire as an idyllic society, with no concentration of power and fair amount of de-regulation, Mordor is described as the place having power concentrated in one hand (Sauron) with evil and obsessive focus on industialization (vis-a-vis the fascist powers of Germany and Italy). This is not to say that he was against technology, but owing to its misuse then, definitely suspicious of it. And the ultimate theme of the book is that power corrupts, in the form of the ring. Whoever has ring, gets seduced by its power and ultimately turns to evil. Even strong and good characters like Gandalf and Galadriel, realise this and refuse to bear the ring. Through this Tolkien is telling us that power, even in the hands of good people, ultimately corrupts them. And is this not what human political history is about? Specially the 20th century is full of such examples: Hitler, Stalin, Mao and now Bush. And even though philosophers (like Plato in The Republic) have argued in favour of such a concentration of power, albeit in good hands, if history is anything to go by, the concentration of such power is the biggest perpetrator of human misery.

Thus, at heart Tolkien was a libertarian, who deeply believed that a decentralised, liberal society, without any concentration of power, where humans are left free to pursue happiness, is the only solution of our political problems. And though the book does end in Aragorn being crowned the king, Tolkien's heart is always in The Shire and in peaceful Hobbits. Tolkien, with this book, conveyed his deep understanding of the political problems of 20th Century, in a way that captivates us and speaks to us intuitively, no matter what the literati and the critics have to say. And ultimately we are all suckers for a good vs evil story, specially the one which has an underdog triumphing in the end.

Tolkien is the defintive 20th century author.

P.S. His publisher, fearing that LOTR would never make money, made the contract such a way that profits would be split 50:50. To this date his literature alone has earned over 2 billion pounds, half going to the publisher. This is the difference between foresight and luck; Tolkien had foresight and the publisher luck!

My post is heavily influenced by these articles.

The blue suede shoes

2007-03-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

Monday mornings. Hot Monday mornings. Hot Monday mornings in Traffic. Bangalore traffic. These four phrases convey a whole lot of emotions; Of a weekend wasted, of five working days staring at you with a lethargic boredom common to babus. As i zipped around on my bike, a thought of 10's of Mondays gone by in similar fashion and 1000's more to come struck me. Man, Monday mornings sure make your life look as interesting as Citizen Kane. But then again, we owe it to life for being strange, random and almost useless.

And then my eyes fell on the Blue suede shoes. Not many one would notice these days. The shoes were adorning some girl's legs, but stretch as much as i might, shoes was the only thing i could see. An inch here, an inch there but nope. Blue suede shoes. And as i said, on a hot Monday mornings in Bangalore traffic one would do anything to make life look interesting. And so i decided i had to see her, come what may. So a docile, traffic obeying driver, me, suddenly got transformed to a congenital Road Rash expert as soon as the traffic got anarchic again. Gear. Accelerate. And ah, break! Damn the Honda City! Umm...where's the damn auto? There it is! I almost catch up with it and Blue suede shoes are Nike officially now. But green turns yellow turns red. Break? Accelerate?

Throw the rules to the wind, and the world will be your oyster (?).

So i ditch the break and break the signal. But my target remains elusive. Dodging cars, autos cycles and sundry I follow it with as much attention as when I stare at my monitor during coffee breaks. Blank and complete. The chase is relentless and unrelenting. Its not about the girl, the shoes or the adventure in it. Its just about a change, a deviation from the routine. A small and trivial digression in this huge random life. But irony is life's sense of humour. And finally it happens! Blue suede shoes take a right and i am compelled to take a left lest i get imbroiled in one way politics.

Life is strange, random and almost useless. I would never see that girl ever. Maybe she had blue eyes as well. And as long as i am dreaming, maybe she would have smiled seeing me. But, all i would remember is the blue suede shoes, Nike.

Well, its one for the money,
Two for the show,
Three to get ready,
Now go, cat, go.

But dont you step on my blue suede shoes.
You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes

Bad Medicine

2007-02-16T22:40:00.000-08:00

News is how News looks. If you got bored of Shilpa Victim Shetty's tryst with "fame" or Anna Nicole Smith's, tragic as it was, death, well then go ahead, read this post.

At the risk of sounding redundant; medicine is one of the oldest industries of mankind. Well not in the contemporary meaning of the word, but something akin to a systematic labor for some useful purpose. But in the modern sense, it truly is an "industrialised" industry, where profits rule the roost.

At the heart of the medicine, or rather, pharmaceutical industry's future is a court case currently being fought in Madras, India over India's patent laws. Now here is what it is all about very briefly: In the 1970's India stopped issuing patents for medicines. This allowed its many drug producers to create generic copies of medicines still patent-protected in other countries - at a fraction of the price charged by Western drug firms. But in 1994 India signed up to the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips), a deal that required all WTO member countries to grant patents on technological products, including pharmaceuticals, by 2005. Drug companies have since been queuing up to patent their brands in India. Up to 9,000 patents await examination. A big pharmaceutical company, Novartis, is now arguing that India's requirement for drugs to be new and innovative is not in line with the TRIPS.

But here's the catch: Owing to its patent laws earlier India became a "pharmacy for the world's poor", providing generic variations of expensive drugs for diseases like AIDS at very cheap prices. A geneva based NGO, MSF (medicines sans frontiers) says generic manufacturers have helped bring the cost of AIDS treatment down from $10,000 per patient per year in 2000, to just $130 now. Now the geo-political spread of AIDS is such that its the worlds poorest living in Africa, India and so on that will be affected most by this case.

Novartis, however, points out that nations are entitled to over-ride patent protection in the case of a national emergency. However, the countries that are trying to issue compulsory licences, which in some instances have been some of the more powerful middle-income countries, come under enormous pressure, and that pressure is noticed. Brazil has threatened compulsory licences three times. The drug companies have jumped up and down, and [the US] Congress has threatened to withdraw Brazil's trade preferences. So much for the humanisation of WTO.

At the face of it, I am not totally against Novartis. After all they have invested millions of dollars in making these medicines and if nothing, they at least deserve the rights over their intellectual property. After all it was someone's hard work.Or is it this simple?. Rather, this is more so a case of twisting some clauses in TRIPS agreement and pseudo-imperialist-capitalism. Like presenting medicines with just slight variations over the older ones as patentable.

And at the heart of it all, is the scary picture of capitalism that has emerged. The one where big companies form bigger lobbies and influence government decisions in their favour at the pretext of pseudo-intellectualism. Where the capital P is profit not people. And where company policies might as well be renamed as double standards.

Don't get me wrong. I am not denying them their intellectual credit or the amount of effort put in by them to make life saving drugs. Neither am i morally defending generic manufacturers. But the world, as we see it has such an intrinsic complexity that sometime arguments which are more irrational and humane are more sense also. Sometimes we should step back from viewing the world with a business, scientific or intellectual perspective and just have humane common sense damn it!

The Critique of Pure Compassion

2007-01-30T07:22:00.000-08:00

On Nietzsche, Darwin and Bill Gates

Compassion : Sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.

In a world in which Darwinism theory of "Survival of the Fittest" is enacted in all walks of life, compassion, as a concept, is almost antithetical. It is almost like an oasis in a desert. Why is compassion an emotion experienced by humans then? Lets try to get a historical perspective.

Circa early 19th Century. The glory and democracy of French revolution has given way to an anarchy, which only the obstinate optimists will term as a success. Over the period of next few decades, Napoleon would, in a way exploit, this chaos to establish his supremacy over France. Needless to say, this seminal event changed Europe and the World, not only politically, but also in the way people started thinking. This is as brief a premise as i could possibly give.

Circa late 19th century. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) was a Prussian-born philosopher, who though was largely overlooked by the contemporaries of his time, came to be regarded as a highly significant and influential figure in modern philosophy. Much of Nietzsche's philosophy has a critical flavor to it; two concepts associated with a more constructive project are the Übermensch (variously translated as superman, superhuman, or overman) and the eternal return (or eternal recurrence), though in this context, its the former we are interested in primarily. The former is posited as a goal that humanity can set for itself, or that an individual can set for his- or herself; Nietzsche basically was of the opinion that society's and mankind's only role should be in the development of a Man who is perfection personified. And consequently, he rubbished democracy. The anarchy that followed French Revolution and the "heroic" role played by Napoleon thereafter, seems to have contributed to Nietzsche's philosophy, as did Schopenhauer's "The World as Will and Idea". Contentiously, though, Nietzsche never clearly outlined the role this Superman was to play in such a hypothetical society.

Circa 2006. The world is a lot different place. The new weapon is money, but strife, as a part of life, is one of the few constant factors. In this increasingly complex world, some acts just shock you by their sheer audacity and surprise quotient. The world's richest man, Bill Gates, decides to not just donate most of his wealth close to $50 b, but actively involve himself in philanthropy. And helping him in this endeavor is another of the world's richest men, Warren Buffet who gives most of his wealth to Gates for this purpose. And all this happening in the intensely competitive Corporate society. Gates, in a lot of ways, is the modern Übermensch visualized by Nietzsche. He is a product of his society, achieving success not by inheritance, but by sheer talent and diligence. The implication here is not that he is perfect (ok, there are plenty of Gates detractors), but if there's anyone who fits the bill in this world, its him. And such a man, when in his prime devotes himself to such a cause as philanthropy and compassion, the world takes notice.

Maybe after centuries of power struggles and strife, humans have finally started realising that strife, though necessary, has only worstened human plight in this control-less way and mindless wars. And maybe its people like Gates, who consciously or unconsciously are realising the fact that its not always survival of the fittest which leads to an evolved species, but survival of the weakest which strengthens the pyramid of our societies and our species as a whole. And the most remarkable and striking of all things is that, this time the agent of change is not the Aristocrat, or the Nation state but one of the finest products of a society , where strife is relatively controlled.

And although inequity is still ubiquitous, we still fight over things as inane as land and religion and future appears unstable, but maybe Compassion and humanity is the new mantra in evolution, pioneered by Gates-like-Übermensch.

Nietzsche take a bow.

My Fair Ladies

2007-01-13T09:05:00.000-08:00

There are two things that interest me a lot : Cinema and any "Top 10" lists (eg. the top 10 ways not to tear off your hair in desperation in a Karan Johar movie ; of which atleast two would be a) not to watch it and b) be bald). And so the idea for this blog ; although i would limit myself to "top 5" as 10 would be too much of a strain on my mental faculties and to English movies only. So without further ado, my favourite five female characters in English movies :

1) Clementine Kruckzynski (Kate Winslet) ; Eternal Sunshine of the spotless mind : Everything about her is different (rather eccentric?) . She colours her hair Orange (and blue). Her name is Clementine Kruckzynski (whoa!). She has that crazy spunk in her which makes her talk to complete strangers. She likes going to the frozen lake, on a freezing night, to watch the frozen stars. And...she listens to hindi songs (she does!). And it is this arbitrary craziness about her which makes her so likeable. Its the likeability of the uncertainty (and chaos) in her. And the amazing chemistry with Jim Carrey only makes the contrast in their personalities all the more stark. O my darling, O my darling, O my darling Clementine....

2)Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) ; When Harry Met Sally : The quintessential "Girl next door" with a difference.The sometimes confused, sometimes finicky , yet always likeable girl with a penchant of placing food orders in an excruciating detail. What makes you like the character is also the fact that you see her over a period of 12 years , in all her transitional glory. But truly speaking, its Meg Ryan that makes it really memorable. She makes it believably real. Sally is the "Girl next door" we all wish we had.

3)Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) ; Roman Holiday : Audrey Hepburn. A princess. That about sums it up i guess. But its that innocence, purity and grace of the character played superbly by Hepburn that makes it stand apart. Its rare to find such portrayals now. And its impossible to find Audrey Hepburns in this age of publicity beauties. I guess i have mixed up the character and the actress ; but its rather difficult to speak of them in different terms, isnt it? To me, they are the same

4)Celine (Julie Delpy) ; Before Sunrise/Sunset : The French accent does make me biased. But jokes apart, she is the woman who is intelligent, has a sense of humour and is beautiful too. Now that defies the whole beauty*brains=constant logic (feminists, have a sense of humour or a bad memory atleast :D). And again, you see such contrasting dimensions of her personalities in the two movies; the young hopeful one and the older pragmatic and cynic one, that the dual traits of strength and vulnerability make this character appear really feminine. And of course, the song sung by Julie Delpy : " Let me sing you a waltz....."

5) Beatrix Kiddo/The Bride/Black Mamba (Uma Thurman) ; Kill Bill : For the record, I never really liked the movies that much. So , its a revenge saga, done in style, with a twist, but nothing really great. But Uma Thurman makes it worthwhile. She is a gangster, bride and a revenge seeking woman in the same movie. She rides bikes, knows kung-fu and ruthlessly kills legions of enemy single handedly. And all with great style. She is the suave ruthless chic with an agenda of vengeance. Beatrix Kiddo rocks!
P.S. My personal fav? O my darling..... la la la la... can you beat blue hair? :)

Where's the Witch?

2006-12-11T09:09:00.000-08:00

Art, they say, imitates Life.

But Life, in its myriad avatars must be a tough customer, to know and judge, let alone imitate with precision. Yet, now and then, you find seemingly unrelated pieces of Art, born out of different circumstances, alluding to the same facet of this sometimes enigmatic, sometimes repugnant Life. And this makes you realise that you dont need a Theory of eternal return ala Nietzshe to learn from life. You just need to have the willingness to observe and learn.

With this somewhat vague premise i would like to knit a thread through three pieces of Art i have seen/read recently, all of which reflect the same skewed image of Life

1) Die Blechtrommel - The Tin Drum - This German masterpiece by Gunter Grass is an account of the world as seen through the eyes of a dwarf, Oscar Matzerath, who decides to stop growing at the age of three because he is disgusted by the hypocrisy of adult world. Set in years preceding and following WW2 , its a scathing dissection not only of the tragedy and insanity of war but also the general decadence and hollowness of modern lives.

2) The Catcher in the Rye - J.D.Salinger - "Its a phoney world"
A book which at the same time appears as an honest account of teenage angst against the "system" and also a delusion with the way this world works. Set in the 40's, this book broke all stereotypes; be it with the use of language by its protagaonist - Holden Caulfied-or the theme. But what to most, might appear, as a delusioned adoloscent, was simply a guy fed up with the moral hypocrisy of the world.

3) The Taxi Driver - directed by Martin Scorsese - "You talkin to me?"
A masterpiece in its own right. Robert De Niro plays the taxi driver Travis Brickle, who, again, fed up with the moral decadence, decides to take things into his hand and rescues a young prostitute from a brothel. Not much of a story at surface. But the portrayal of the angst of a common man and the reality of the world is hard-hitting.

Three seemingly different works of Art dealing with things as different as Holocaust, teenage angst and moral decadence, somehow give an image of Life thats not too different. However different might the circumstances be, but you can see Oscar morph into Holden or Holden growing up to become a Travis with ease. They are all rebels, against the hypocrisy and ideological double standards of our societies. And they are all heroes in their own ways. Not your quintessential supermanesque heroes, but humans who see truth and react to it, not necessarily mitigating things wrong with our society, but atleast reacting.

And this teaches us one more lesson about human nature. That deep down, somewhere, we are all part of that moral decadence. All of us.

Always somewhere behind me, the Black Witch.
Now ahead of me, too, facing me, Black.
Black words, black coat, black money.
But if children sing, they sing no longer:
where's the Witch, black as pitch?
Here's the black, wicked Witch.
Ha! ha! ha!

P.S. I am not a fatalist/pessimist. I observe, therefore i write.

Anonymous Proprietary

2006-11-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had the feeling of owning something, that does not belong to you, isnt intended for you, yet no one has known it better than you? And what if that thing is as abstract as beauty? For namesake, lets address this feeling as Anonymous Proprietary. You dont own it, yet you own it.

I have lived this feeling. I have seen it, heard it, smelled it. When i first saw her face, it was, well, just another job for me and it was just another pretty face. But time enhanced my perception of her beauty. I saw those eyes speak and smile and cry. I saw her lips smile in sympathy and happiness. I started knowing when she wanted to say no, but said yes. I saw her dreams and her pain. In the wilderness of 'our' solitude, I started imagining myself as an owner of those emotion, sometimes aimed at no one in particular, yet never aimed at me. It was as if they were meant for me, since no one could see them as i could, yet they werent meant for me. I was in love, with my imaginary property.

Years have passed, yet my detached love is intact. I am still mesmerised by the silent talking her eyes do, and still saddened by those, sometimes fake, tears. Faces have come and gone, yet thhose unclaimed emotions still belong to me. In anonymous proprietary, I found that beauty, which otherwise, would have been lost in the infinity.

P.S. This is entirely fictitious. If you think it is non-sense, you might be right.

Dude, where's my car?

2006-10-11T09:17:00.000-07:00

Bangalore, they say, has traffic woes. Bah.Traffic, on the contrary is very organised.So organised that you can classify it into different type of drivers:

Type 1 : Ah let me just stop the car and count the number of stars in the sky. What was the count last time -3387?
Type 2 : I got my accident cover today! well how much will it practically cover? lets test it!
Type 3 : What is the maximum degree rotation of my steering wheel. Let me just turn it so that i reach the right end of the road from the left.
Type 4 : What did they teach us in school? Red is for Go right? (The first course i flunked.)
Type 5 : I have played Road Rash half of my active adult life. Want any proof?
Type 6 : Will my bus start automatically by the sonic energy of the honking?umm...
Type 7 : Why is the girl with THAT guy? My bike is better!!
Type 8 : Is that a plane? Is that a bird? No thats Superman!!
Type 9 : Smiling at traffic policemen and breaking rules doesnt amount to bribery does it?
Type 10 : The remaining, scarce, drivers who actually follow the traffic rules! philistines!

Dedicated to the traffic policemen and the unsung heroes of type 10. I most likely resemble Type 1.

Carpe Diem

2006-10-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

You are 22. Listening to your favourite song, you are without a tension. No backlogs. No responsibilities. No worries. Heaven? Aha..but something is amiss. Something inside you keeps on knocking at the portals of your intellect, asking the same question each time - " Are you doing what you wanted to? Are you content?"

For most of us passion and occupation tend to be mutually exclusive sets. The real seeds are sowed when ironically you dont even have full knowledge of the effects of your decisions, while choosing your 'career' at 18. Maybe its herd mentality or maybe parental pressure, but the victim is always the same - your individuality. The way you think.

When i was in class 9, my class teacher once asked me "What do you want to be when you grow up?". I was naive. I was stupid. But i was hopeful. I stood up and replied proudly "An astronaut". And now the only similarity between me and an astronaut is that we both look at stars with fascination, he a bit closely. Maybe i never had the courage to follow my dream or maybe i didnt have enough opportunities. But i could have tried.

All our lives we never really listen to ourselves. We tend to create an image of ourselves based on how we want others to perceive us. Theres a constant struggle between this image and our honest self..what we truly want. But more often than not, the former wins. And the voice of individuality is drowned amidst the din of expectations. Again.

Ok, i am not an idealist. Heck, if not for my job, i wouldnt even have money for such self indulgence as blogging. But passion is equally important for sustaining life. And for a change, we must listen to ourselves. Carefully. And Live

“Carpe Diem! Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary.” - Dead Poet's Society (1989)

P.S. I am still not sure what i want to be at 22 but at 70, definitely Hugh Hefner :D

The Big Brother is Watching You

2006-09-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

Unforgettable lines from the hauntingly prophetic 1984 by Orwell?
Or reality?

Disclaimer: You are bound to brand as me a cynic. But i'll take the chance.

Look at the world around us. Technology has broadened the horizons. Distances have shrunk, communication has been revolutionised and on the face it seems George Orwell was a bit off the mark in his 1984. Look deeper and you see traces of 1984 materialising everywhere, most observably, in our (so-called) democratic societies.

Read an article recently. Excerpts from it:

Big Brother is not only watching you - now he's barking orders too. Britain's first 'talking' CCTV cameras have arrived, publicly berating bad behaviour and shaming offenders into acting more responsibly.

The system allows control room operators who spot any anti-social acts - from dropping litter to late-night brawls - to send out a verbal warning: 'We are watching you'.

Law-abiding shopper Karen Margery, 40, was shocked to hear the speakers spring into action as she walked past them.

Afterwards she said: 'It's quite scary to realise that your every move could be monitored - it really is like Big Brother"

Hehe. Must be funny to take orders from a machine. But thats besides the point.

So this is limited only to UK and what possible effect it can have on you? Sample this. What you search on say, google, can be used to make a profile of you. And in the near future , it will be. So if you, say, search for rockets, grenades or "how to build a nuclear reactor in your backyard" , it can be inferred that you are not exactly the biggest fan of Gandhi, and if you say search for Paris Hilton ,then, well ahem..

And all this without your knowing it. This indeed is true democracy.

The concept of newspeak in '1984' which is basically the use of false information and fear by state to keep the citizens suppressed, has been given a modern dimension by Bush and party with blatant lies and a conniving media ( Fox et al) in the past 5 years to commit crime in the name of war. I dont think i need to elaborate on Bush's dubious record or his Gunatanamo escapades but if you are more interested you can probably check this link out to understand newspeak in modern day context:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/higgs/higgs48.html

And with more technology the use of GPS and other satellite technologies for spying on people in the name of security is never too far. Of course all this can be indeed for genuine use. Just like the pre-cogs of Minority report. But History begs to differ. Or to paraphrase it, History shares a linearly increasing relationship with Murphy's Laws.

So am i just another paranoid cynic? Is it too far fetched? Thats the best we can hope for.

"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could igve you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face… was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime…" -1984 - Orwell

P.S. I tend to be apolitical but couldnt help myself from this post. Orwell stirs up the cynic in me.

The Seeker

2006-09-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

Grigori Perelman. A name not too familiar a few days ago. And a name unlikely to be synonymous with headline stories in this world of blatant 'celebritydom'. But some people are born to defy and be different. So who this guy and what did he really accomplish?

Grigori Perelman is a Russian mathematician who was recently conferred with the Field Medal in mathematics (Nobel of math) for his contributions towards solving Poincare conjecture. Now to quote straight from wikipedia :

"Grigori Perelman is a Russian mathematician who has made landmark contributions to Riemannian geometry and geometric topology .The Poincaré conjecture, proposed by French mathematician Henri Poincaré in 1904, is the most famous open problem in topology.

His early mathematical education occurred at the world-famous Leningrad Secondary School #239, a specialized school with advanced mathematics and physics programs. In 1982, as a member of the USSR team competing in the International Mathematical Olympiad, an international competition for high school students, he won a gold medal, achieving a perfect score.

In 1999, the Clay Mathematics Institute announced the Millennium Prize Problems – a one million dollar prize for the proof of several conjectures, including the Poincaré conjecture. There is universal agreement that a successful proof would constitute a landmark event in the history of mathematics, fully comparable with the proof by Andrew Wiles of Fermat's Last Theorem, but possibly even more far-reaching.

In November 2002, Perelman posted to the arXiv the first of a series of eprints in which he claimed to have outlined a proof of the geometrization conjecture, a result that includes the Poincaré conjecture as a particular case."

So he's just another geek ... whats the big deal?

The Big Deal is:

He refused (yes , turned down) the Field Medal.
He posted his solution , for free, on the internet to be accessed by anyone.
He lives a totally ascetic life in Russia and shuns fame and money instead of basking in the glory (and money) which he could have had.

Now topology is , let's just say, esoteric math. Not only is his genius striking , but his ideas, principles and humility unbelievable, and in a way, anachronistic (or should i say alien to human nature itself?). What is it about genius and eccentricity? Is the pursuit of knowledge so seductive that a man forgets and shuns the worldly charms for this ascetic life? If Gregori Perelman is anything to go by, it is. For some people life is all about truth and knowing it whether it manifests itself in the form of Mathematics, Science, Music et al.

While for the rest of us mortals, its about chasing green papers which will ironically oulive us.

To these 'Seekers' , i bow.

"11:15, restate my assumptions: 1. Mathematics is the language of nature. 2. Everything around us can be represented and understood through numbers. 3. If you graph these numbers, patterns emerge. Therefore: There are patterns everywhere in nature." - Pi (1998)

2006-09-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

The first one. Its always difficult. Its like myriad of ideas a second before and as soon as you get down to the task , zilch. So lets make this an introduction. My posts will be mostly ; random. Movies , books , philosophy , mathematics , mythology and armchair criticisms mostly.

Right now, i am just another brick in the wall. A bit more perceptive than the rest. Patterns interest me. So do colours, brevity (read optimum use of words), photographs, eyes, solitude, nature. I have a knack for losing pens and smiling inexplicably on full moon nights. I like getting drenched in the rain and walking through a bustling sea of unkown faces. I like tragedies. I like throwing stones at an angle of 45 degrees in lakes and seeing them bounce. When i was a kid i wanted to become an astronaut. Nice Try. I loved it when Saif gives a wicked smile in Omkara. Pure Evil. Or even Anthony Hopkins in 'The Silence of the Lambs'. I loved Ethan Hawke exult (in Gattaca)

"They've got you looking so hard for any flaw, that after a while, that's all that you see. For whatever it's worth, I'm here to tell you that it is possible. It is possible."

or Murray Abraham (Amadeus)

Salieri: "I heard the music of true forgiveness filling the theater, conferring on all who sat there, perfect absolution. God was singing through this little man to all the world, unstoppable, making my defeat more bitter with every passing bar. "

I adore Calvin and Hobbes. Work of Art.

Now the point is : are all these thoughts random? Or is there a method to the madness in all these random juxtapositions. An Intention?

As Mr. Morrison once crooned

"Riders on the storm
Riders on the storm
Into this house we are born
Into this world we are thrown"

And by now you must have realised im hopelessly self indulgent.
Thank you.