Today when I called home somehow the talks surfaced about my being a follower of my own wishes. Well yes I agree I am like that. But I also like to make sure I don't hurt people because of that. Some days back my boss told me about this something called Landmark forum and how it brings about changes is people's lives. How people get so influenced by it that they get associated with it for the whole life. And that I should do it. They talk of the concept of being someone to be doing something. ( it is one of the to do is to be or to be is to do thingy).
And when I declined, the first defense (as they say) my boss told me I have are my thoughts that why should I change at the first place. Let me mention other defences now.
1) Why should I pay money to get transformed into someone among thousands of those who do the landmark forum course. Who talk the same language and follow the same rules of leading life. Nature made us all different. We all are like different sculptures admired for our unique existence. Why should we smoothen all the corners in us to become similar looking piece of rock. Smooth, harmless but also useless. Why do I need to undergo this transformation.
2) My religion (and for that matter I think any religion) tells me:
Either be spiritual or follow the spiritual
Well let me choose to be spiritual here. Let me myself decide the way I want to lead my life. Let me myself choose to be happy and sad whenever I want. Let me enjoy the power I regained after a long time.... or perhaps for the first time.
No smoking is a movie which leaves us different, not because it changes us but because it gives us reasons why we should not change. Why we should value our antaratma (soul). The moment we surrender, there are lots of other forces which try their best to leave us first deaf and then soulless... Inerestingly, I am not the only one who drew analogy between landmark forum and no smoking's prayogshala. I have one more friend who thinks the same. When my boss saw the movie he even wondered if Anurag Kashyap was influenced by Landmark forum's way of functioning. Well let me add a disclaimer here:
The thoughts expressed are completely personal and may not apply to every individual. Please don't use this text as a reason/way to judge the credibility of Landmark forum.
Now coming to 'No Smoking'. I read a lot of reviews on the movie, some were pathetic. All this guy did was making a fool of himself. Let me not get into reviewing his review. I wish I had seen black friday. Then I would have seen this movie in theatre at the time it released. The first impression I had about movie was that it is against smoking and about spreading public message. Well the messages indeed are good but movies end up as a tele serial or public interest message more than movies. Good part about standard public interest messages is that they are short and effective. I am also amazed why did John Abraham say what he said in this interview. I
can only derive two possible meanings out of it. Either Anurag is much more intelligent than I thought after watching No Smoking or John Abraham is also very intelligent. Second part is hard to believe looking at the kind of statements he gave in this interview.
For those who haven't watched the movie, I'd say if you can make sense of what I have written here, then go watch the movie. It has hundred times more to offer than what I have written here. If you think its a remake of Quitter's Inc. and Cat's Eye then you are wrong. I haven't read the story or watched the movie but No Smoking can't be written down within a shot story. It needs a full fledged book written in autobiographical style. Its much more than that. The story is for viewers who need it. But the movie is way above its story. I read somewhere that John Abraham is not so influential at acting. And I thought oh is it... I didn't notice. All I saw in the movie was 'K'. 'K' as in 'anurag Kashyap'.
I felt sad that movie failed even in multiplexes. And thats because people like me didn't go to watch the movie perhaps because of getting deceived by such interviews. I wish I had read the review. Even then I would have watched the movie.
And by the way... I am a non-smoker.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
24 years after 1984
He was sitting in his bed. Lights off. The music was playing at the loudest possible volume. Or maybe it were just the earphones which were creating such effect. Yes it had to be from earphones. Because it was already 11:30 pm and no-one was supposed to play music or even stay awake beyond 11:30 pm in night. The police believed that it was the best way to decrease crime rate in the city. He was sitting by a wall in the darkness. He didn't switch off lights to follow the rules, he just chose to stay in darkness. Maybe he didn't want to see dark stains on the world which used to appear clear and flawless to others. Oh yes maybe the floaters in his eyes are to be blamed for this. Maybe...
And he hummed while he was holding the newspaper in his hands.
"You are nearly a laugh, But you're really a cry"
He didn't need light to read what was there in the newspaper. He had already spent the whole day reading the same thing everytime hoping that it was all the way he had always wanted it to be. Hoping that the truth of past couple of years could be nothing but a passing dream. A nightmare.
And he tried to recall what he remembered word by word by now. The MarathaManus state(Maharashtra name was changed some years back) had just built a wall around itself to restrict the animals from neighbouring state from entering into the state. The dispute was over the height, the state development sena was arguing that the wall should be few feets higher so that the passage of birds from neighbouring state can be minimized. One of the proposals stated that animals should also be issued visa similar to humans. They were not under threat of entry of animals from Bihar because it was too far for animals to travel. Humans from Bihar anyways were not allowed as they were a special threat to MarathaManus state. Similarly all the other states had introduced the concept of Internal Visa for visit.
He was staying in Bengaluru on a work permit for which he had to undergo a rigorous examination on Kannada language and culture. He was also not allowed to use any vehicle as outsiders' vehicles congested the roads and were considered to be spoiling the culture of the city.
As he thought about all this, a faint smile occured to the corners of his face. He threw the newspaper in the adjacently lying stack of newspapers. And he switched on the light. In the corner was lying another newspaper which read some news about Bihar. Yes thats the state he hailed from. The column was by some activist from Bengaluru who expressed pity on the disturbed state of Bihar amidst fresh naxal violence.
He went right upto his music player increased the volume to full and pressed play button. Within a few minutes the police was there and they charged him of ruining the culture by playing non-kannada music, of listening to music in the night after 11:30 and helping the robbers by giving them a chance to rob him by staying awake. As they declared the charges he broke into laughter. He kept on laughing till they started beating him up and fined him heavily for misbehaving. And then they threw him into the bed, switched off his lights and left the place.
He plugged the earphones back into his ears. His laughters were heard whole night by the neighbours. They knew that he had done it again.
And he hummed while he was holding the newspaper in his hands.
"You are nearly a laugh, But you're really a cry"
He didn't need light to read what was there in the newspaper. He had already spent the whole day reading the same thing everytime hoping that it was all the way he had always wanted it to be. Hoping that the truth of past couple of years could be nothing but a passing dream. A nightmare.
And he tried to recall what he remembered word by word by now. The MarathaManus state(Maharashtra name was changed some years back) had just built a wall around itself to restrict the animals from neighbouring state from entering into the state. The dispute was over the height, the state development sena was arguing that the wall should be few feets higher so that the passage of birds from neighbouring state can be minimized. One of the proposals stated that animals should also be issued visa similar to humans. They were not under threat of entry of animals from Bihar because it was too far for animals to travel. Humans from Bihar anyways were not allowed as they were a special threat to MarathaManus state. Similarly all the other states had introduced the concept of Internal Visa for visit.
He was staying in Bengaluru on a work permit for which he had to undergo a rigorous examination on Kannada language and culture. He was also not allowed to use any vehicle as outsiders' vehicles congested the roads and were considered to be spoiling the culture of the city.
As he thought about all this, a faint smile occured to the corners of his face. He threw the newspaper in the adjacently lying stack of newspapers. And he switched on the light. In the corner was lying another newspaper which read some news about Bihar. Yes thats the state he hailed from. The column was by some activist from Bengaluru who expressed pity on the disturbed state of Bihar amidst fresh naxal violence.
He went right upto his music player increased the volume to full and pressed play button. Within a few minutes the police was there and they charged him of ruining the culture by playing non-kannada music, of listening to music in the night after 11:30 and helping the robbers by giving them a chance to rob him by staying awake. As they declared the charges he broke into laughter. He kept on laughing till they started beating him up and fined him heavily for misbehaving. And then they threw him into the bed, switched off his lights and left the place.
He plugged the earphones back into his ears. His laughters were heard whole night by the neighbours. They knew that he had done it again.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Neither Political Nor political
Lets start with an irony. A politically challanged floater read countless pages of politics today.
As I scanned through the pages of wikipedia while my vision kept shifting its focus between the two floaters in my eyes and the text on the screen, Murphy's Law again tried its best to dominate. However I atleast was determined to gather the bare minimum of it before closing my browser.
No it didn't start as an ode to my preparation for IIM interviews. These days I am listening to Pink Floyd of the order I used to listen few years back. And it all started when for the first time I seriously listened to Pink Floyd's album Animal. Oh yes the album deserved to be successful as soon as it was released (The Rolling Stones magazine outrightly rejected the album).
The album runs parallel to Orwell's "Animal Farm"(now I'll have to read this book) though it can't be considered as an adaptation. Animal Farm is about communism and Animal is about people in power or people who try to push things on society. Anyways I loved the rhythm of ha ha charade you are... in the song Pigs and the meaning is awesome... Could relate to loads of things in Indian context... Irrational fundamentalism, Reservation etc etc.
So this is how the context got set and my imaginations did some rounds of thoughts about the difference between Communism and Socialism. I do understand Capitalism well but Communism and Socialism have always sounded same for me like so many other politically challanged people. So to put it in simple words, Socialism is when people work as per their capability and earn proportionately. However, Communism is when people work as per their capability butearn as per their needs. Obviously communism needs to be enforced and that gives rise to a single party political system in communist ruled countries like China and former USSR.
Another interesting thing I learnt was the difference between Communists (a member of a Communist Party) and communists (a proponent of Communism).
A lot of controversial history of communism exists involving USSR and China. And as of today only four countries run with communist government. It indeed is dying. China is also realigning its stand with the changing scenario in the world keeping globalization in mind.
And then I learnt about Marxism. It is about observing communism/socialism with the class element missing. There should be no existence of "Class" element. So what beats me is why CPI(M) supports caste/religion based reservation. Isn't it a serious flaw.
Anyways enough of politics for a poor dark soul like me... Let me get back to where it started.
Hey you, Whitehouse Ha, ha, charade you are
You house proud town mouse Ha, ha, charade you are
You're trying to keep our feelings off the street
You're nearly a real treat All tight lips and cold feet
And do you feel abused? You got to stem the evil tide
And keep it all on the inside Mary you're nearly a treat
Mary you're nearly a treat But you're really a cry
Mary Whitehouse is more than just a name here, it is a class of people who like to tell us what we should be doing. So you might like to play this song this Valentines Day...
hey you *$^*&*# ha, ha, charade you are...
As I scanned through the pages of wikipedia while my vision kept shifting its focus between the two floaters in my eyes and the text on the screen, Murphy's Law again tried its best to dominate. However I atleast was determined to gather the bare minimum of it before closing my browser.
No it didn't start as an ode to my preparation for IIM interviews. These days I am listening to Pink Floyd of the order I used to listen few years back. And it all started when for the first time I seriously listened to Pink Floyd's album Animal. Oh yes the album deserved to be successful as soon as it was released (The Rolling Stones magazine outrightly rejected the album).
The album runs parallel to Orwell's "Animal Farm"(now I'll have to read this book) though it can't be considered as an adaptation. Animal Farm is about communism and Animal is about people in power or people who try to push things on society. Anyways I loved the rhythm of ha ha charade you are... in the song Pigs and the meaning is awesome... Could relate to loads of things in Indian context... Irrational fundamentalism, Reservation etc etc.
So this is how the context got set and my imaginations did some rounds of thoughts about the difference between Communism and Socialism. I do understand Capitalism well but Communism and Socialism have always sounded same for me like so many other politically challanged people. So to put it in simple words, Socialism is when people work as per their capability and earn proportionately. However, Communism is when people work as per their capability butearn as per their needs. Obviously communism needs to be enforced and that gives rise to a single party political system in communist ruled countries like China and former USSR.
Another interesting thing I learnt was the difference between Communists (a member of a Communist Party) and communists (a proponent of Communism).
A lot of controversial history of communism exists involving USSR and China. And as of today only four countries run with communist government. It indeed is dying. China is also realigning its stand with the changing scenario in the world keeping globalization in mind.
And then I learnt about Marxism. It is about observing communism/socialism with the class element missing. There should be no existence of "Class" element. So what beats me is why CPI(M) supports caste/religion based reservation. Isn't it a serious flaw.
Anyways enough of politics for a poor dark soul like me... Let me get back to where it started.
Hey you, Whitehouse Ha, ha, charade you are
You house proud town mouse Ha, ha, charade you are
You're trying to keep our feelings off the street
You're nearly a real treat All tight lips and cold feet
And do you feel abused? You got to stem the evil tide
And keep it all on the inside Mary you're nearly a treat
Mary you're nearly a treat But you're really a cry
Mary Whitehouse is more than just a name here, it is a class of people who like to tell us what we should be doing. So you might like to play this song this Valentines Day...
hey you *$^*&*# ha, ha, charade you are...
E Sharp
What used to be reason for dreamer to grow sad is a reason for floater to grow furious. A mild strum on the broken E string and the result was some fresh cuts on old wounds...
And I went through another round of paani poori averaging around one plate a day with hopes that the spicy paani of paani poori will cause some hormone secretion leading to feeling of amusement and it clicked... Its working....
ha, ha, charade you are...
And I went through another round of paani poori averaging around one plate a day with hopes that the spicy paani of paani poori will cause some hormone secretion leading to feeling of amusement and it clicked... Its working....
ha, ha, charade you are...
Friday, February 1, 2008
Introduction
A dreamer... a Floater... I am modifying this text because time has overshadowed my anticipation... yet again. And here I am with the dual existence again. You might like one of them or none of them. If you like them both... we should talk :)
Welcome to my new (read another) world of dots. Least does it have a place for dreams. Its all about reality. The was it stands... with lots and lots of imperfections what I call as dots.
Welcome to my new (read another) world of dots. Least does it have a place for dreams. Its all about reality. The was it stands... with lots and lots of imperfections what I call as dots.
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