Madness & Freedom!

A friend sent this some time back. Liked it a lot!


Alexis Zorba: Damn it boss, I like you too much not to say it. You've got everything except one thing: madness! A man needs a little madness, or else...

Basil: Or else?

Alexis Zorba: ...he never dares cut the rope and be free.


Zorba the Greek
Nikos Kazantzakis

The Boss, Truly!

Watching a Rajni movie in the opening weekend is indeed an experience in itself. All the more, when there has been hype and publicity like never before and U watch it with this die-hard Rajni fan.

The face of the whole theatre seems to have changed – there are posters, cutouts, garlands over the cutouts, colourful banners- all with Rajni’s face and some stylish posture along with some incredible lines...Sample this : “There is only one god; there is only one mother; there is only one superstar” ! All this in Bangalore, what would be the scene in Chennai? Some grand entry to a carnival, for sure.

After jostling through the crowd, we manage to find our seats. Lights dim.
A huge roar of whistles, cheers and claps erupts. There is this teeny weeny trailor of his next movie 'Sultan'! The roar gets louder this time.

The Film Certificate “Sivaji” appears. The roar is now at a feverish pitch and I am simply caught up in the exuberance and excitement of the moment. And then after the titles, the hero makes his superstar entry. The roar has reached a frenzy and I sink deeper into my chair.

The movie has the usual Rajni elements. His style being the overriding factor. Of course, to keep up with his modern image, instead of playing with a cigarette, our hero has progressed (admirably) to Mentos Chewies. :)

When our hero is stuck alone with the gang of the villains, about to be beaten up, one man sympathetically asks him, “Yen thaniya vandenga?” (Why did you venture out alone?) And there our amiable hero with his trademark grin, cheekily utters – “Kanna, panningathaan senthu varum, Singham eppovum thaniyathaan varum!” (My dear, only pigs come together. A lion always walks alone!)

No other hero could have said this with that right mix of arrogance, confidence, aplomb and STYLE!

Some memorable dialogues, self-deprecating humour at its best and a socially relevant storyline with the Shankaresque brand of treatment. The typical struggle of the Hero and the final victory! Add that with Vivek, good music and very trendily shot songs in amazingly done up (ostentatious) sets! (Watch out for the first night scene spoof and the stylishly shot song thereafter).

So this die-hard fan asks me as we step out: Sivaji pidichudha? I grudgingly reply : Illa, only MGR!

Nijamaave oru athiradi thaan!

PS: Scriptwriter to please note that FERA is now defunct and FEMA rules the roost ;)

Beautiful!

My favourite city in the world!

Journeying through misty, dark and "full of phlegm" clouds... and to get this bird's eye view of the place I am so fond of :)

Its always the journey which is amazing and then the destination also becomes something to look forward to ;)

Took this when my flight flew over Chennai's coast before landing.

Can't think of something I read in recent times which uplifted me as much as "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel.

Simply Unputdownable from beginning to end... magical realism!

All about a 15 year old boy with a very imaginative name - Piscine Molitor Patel who is stranded on a lifeboat after his ship sinks on the Pacific.

Along with him in the lifeboat, there is a zebra with a fractured leg, a female orangutan, a Hyena and well, sharks swim by the lifeboat nudging the boat.

He spends a whole night wondering how he is going to die - whether the orangutan will assault him or the hyena will bite off his leg or the sharks will devour him or by some mercy of God, he would merely drown, which seems to be the best way according to him, all of a sudden.

After one day on the life boat, he discovers to his utter shock and fear, what he missed noticing all along on the life boat - a 450 pound three year old Royal Bengal Tiger!!!!

And then I just had to hop onto the bandwagon struggling to stay afloat on the Pacific!

Richard Parker, Why did you botch it up finally ?

"There is an eagle in me that wants to soar, and there is a hippopotamus in me that wants to wallow in the mud" - Carl Sandburg

Think I'd settle for the enigmatic blue whale living in the ocean!

The Hmm & the Wow Factor.... never ceases ;)

Irresistible.

Masterpiece!

Most of us who follow the game of cricket are well aware of Glenn Mcgrath - the Australian fast bowler. Often in the news for his match winning exploits and for sledging, I recently read something very interesting about him.

In his autobiography, Steve Waugh vividly describes how Glenn Mcgrath arranges his breakfast on tour:

"Eats the same breakfast each morning on tour. He places his two fried eggs on separate pieces of white toast before making sure the yolk is perfectly positioned in the middle, before trimming the overhanging egg white edges with surgical precision. The contents are then cut into quarters after being doused with a three second barrage of salt. It's a real shame to see him eat it such is the masterpiece he creates."

I find it amazing....(for want of better descriptive words). The closest I have come to experience something of this sort is with this friend of mine who loves Chilly cheese toast. She is very particular (to the point of being finicky) about the exact amount of cheese and chillies. One thick spread of cheese, evenly spread out, and just 2-3 very small cut pieces of green chilli spread across - so it gets melted along with the cheese and there is a mild chilli flavour. 4 small chilli pieces would make it spicy and 'unenjoyable' - our lady won't touch the toast. And a dash of tomato sauce. For her masterpiece :)

Contentment

A beautiful full moon dancing her regal dance in the dark sky,
the rhythmic serenity of the waves splashing on the shore,
the cold breeze bringing goosepimples to your skin,
stretching into the vast expanse of sand and sea, glistening in the moonlight...

And to capture that moment!

Extraordinary events sometimes call for extraordinary decisions and demand extraordinary remedies!

Sanctity of Human life

"There's something I would like to understand. And I don't think anyone can explain it.... There's your life. You begin it, feeling that it's something so precious and rare, so beautiful that it's like a sacred treasure. Now it's over and it does n't make any difference to anyone, and it is n't that they are indifferent, it's just that they don't know, they don't know what it means, that treasure of mine, and there's something about it that they should understand. I don't understand it myself, but there's something that should be understood by all of us. Only what is it ? What ?"

We the Living, Ayn Rand... an enjoyable novel about the sanctity of human life set in Soviet Russia.

The girl who utters these lines is sentenced to imprisonment in Siberia and knows she will never return home.

Ramblings

Was reading this strip of Calvin & Hobbes where Calvin has a really rough day in school being bullied and harassed by his classmate Bully -Moe.

Walking in the woods with Hobbes, he says : I don't understand it.. What makes some people so greedy and mean? Why is it that some people don't care what's wrong and right ? Why don't people try to be nice to each other ?

Hobbes, in his trademark philosophical style, comments that the problem with people is that they are only human after all!

Simple yet so profound...

It is human I suppose, to err and yes, it does hurt and pain a lot, when we go through such times. We never realise the latent power within us which hurts someone close to us, before it is too late. We are so caught up in our worlds, in our sense of what's right and what's wrong that we do not think twice before uttering a word or acting indifferent and unconcerned... but is this all there is to life?

There is a time, flavour and season to everything life offers. Seasons change and so do people.
Like how a bud blossoms and grows into a beautiful flower, only to wither in a short while...Then a new bud comes in its place and the cycle of life goes on and on....

And we need to adapt to that and move on. Keep shedding the extra baggage of hurt & grief accumulated over a period of time, feel light and continue walking on this wonderful road, with its everchanging terrain of plains, plateaus, valleys and hills , called life.... oops.. I realised I somehow missed the Beach out there in the middle :(

It aint worth holding grudges and sulking for too long!!

"I must launch out my boat.

The languid hours pass by on the shore- Alas for me!

The spring has done its flowering and taken leave. And now withthe burden of faded futile flowers I wait and linger.

The waves have become clamorous, and upon the bank in the shady lane the yellow leaves flutter and fall.

What emptiness do you gaze upon! Do you not feel a thrill passing through the air with the notes of the far-away song floating from the other shore?"

Gitanjali, Rabindranath Tagore

In search of Truth?

Standing in the witness box in a court hall (thankfully not that crowded) was quite an experience to me, despite my being in the legal profession.

Things always appear different when it happens to you.

So there the judge ushers me to the witness box and the clerk asks me to swear, pointing at a dirty cardboard piece on which a white piece of paper is stuck....I am asked to read it aloud : "I swear in the name of God that I would speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth"

I muse to myself.. what if i object to swear in the name of God? then I swear by the Constitution of India ? Should I really swear on something?

What is truth? Is it merely confirmity with Fact and reality ? so abstract, it is, I can almost feel its weight on my shoulders....

And then The Bible says " And the Truth shall set you free"

Freedom.... now, this shall be a separate post some other day.....

My favourite colour last two weeks has been blue… seriously …..

Lying down with degenerated back muscles, writhing in pain, looking at the white ceiling and the rotating fan does seem to put life in perspective…. when I mention this to a dear friend of mine, she immediately chirps, can I bring pink stars and put them on the ceiling so you can not look at the dreary white but at the glittering stars!

I guffaw and tell her make it blue stars! Not pink – I just don’t like pink too much!

She’s assured me she is going to take me shopping and buy me a beautiful pink dress.

Lets see….. :))

I am instant messaging with my Boss in the US and updating him about a prospective client (Big one).

After the discussion, I type "Hope we get them."

And my boss immediately replies, "no not like that...Hope is not for Winners! We got them, end of story."

Wonder if this holds true for most times in life?

Maybe Hope is really for Losers.... who are so conditioned by their loss to hope for something better in their lives, jobs etc..Not sure

We go where our minds take us... so what if the mind is unable to make up its mind?

Never mind.

We have our own versions and interpretations of "Love" and I came across an interesting one from an unexpected quarter recently....


"Love is not an object with an ISI stamp that we buy thinking it will be strong and long lasting.....

Love is a fragrant breeze that touches and passes by, its fragrance unrecognised.

And sometimes having felt it we still choose to remain strangers......"

Yashoda, 18 years, lives in a slum in one of the cities of India, in "If I were rain", celebrating the spirit of India's disadvantaged urban child.

(this is a translation from Hindi, which I liked reading and found it to be profound!)

...for no man lives in the external truth among salts and acids, but in the warm, phantasmagoric chamber of his brain, with the painted windows and the storied wall.

RL Stevenson

Reminiscences

Walls remind me, among other things, of the Great Wall of China, the Berlin wall and the the supposed “impregnable” forts built around cities to protect them, with their walls stretching on for acres and moats separating them from the rest of the territory. (And No! after our lacklustre world cup outing, The Wall is no longer in this list of walls!!)

So how does one break a thick impenetrable wall built around a person who is not swayed by emotion, reason and logic? The wall lets nothing in and nothing out! It just acts as a protective chunky armour used to protect oneself from the hurt and insinuations thrown at you by the world at large.

And how do we demolish the old walls in our minds, strongly rooted in our fears, insecurities and past experiences, blind to reason and hope of a better world ?

A friend tells me “Just let it be! Trust, love and patience will do the demolition job!”

And then the journey from the dry dreary desert to the lush green forest with its flowing waters and the diversity therein is worth all the adventure, promise and hope it offers!

“How high must we build these walls - Around the fields of Paradise ?”
Ricardo Pinto in 'The Chosen'.

"I refuse to be victimised by notions of virtuous behaviour"

If it is to be, it is really upto me!