The Portrait of a President as a (Dubya)Man

"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

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

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

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

"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

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?

"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

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....

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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

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

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

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?

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.