Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Nostalgic feelings of a time traveller

Stories of time traveler part-1
I have loved & fantasized about the concept of time machine, the philosophical part of & the theoretical astrophysics part of it, seen it in several films & hence a kind of obsession. I was just wondering if I get a chance to time travel, how wonderful would that be. Probably I can go back to my high school days; they were probably the best days of my life, not very best to associate myself singing the ‘summer of 69’ for those memories, but they were worth a good recollect & enjoy feeling nostalgic about them. I would time travel back to my class & look at myself when I was an 18yrs old kid. So I continued imagining. A series of thoughts ran across my mind. The first period was Maths & Kulkarni started to explain factorization. Well there was nothing much exciting about it as myself along with few more others in class would have learnt the same in his tuition class few days earlier itself. I did not hate or dislike maths but just believed that unless you are a genius you cannot achieve anything great in it as it’s quite tough. That’s why I instantly appreciated Charles Herman’s (John Nash imaginary roommate) dialogue in the movie A beautiful mind which goes “Mathematics is never gonna lead you to higher truth, because it’s boring”. Sometimes the understanding would go void like division by zero is not defined. I wondered if there are any researches going on that understanding? On that day, I had factorized it so much some a2(a2+b2) equation that I went ahead un-factoring it & arriving at the question itself & wondering what was going on ? Accidentally I had scored 25 out of 25 in 1st test & kind of needed to maintain my reputation or impression n class, oh come on whom am I kidding? It was all for maintaining impression for girls; I took extra interest in learning things. I had heard that beauty & brains would not go together & I was happy with the thought that a beautiful girl would be interested in me. What to do with herself being intelligent anyway? There was this girl Neeta whom I used to ask doubts. She was too brilliant in maths that I often wanted to tell her that she must seriously think of going for higher education in some good university abroad. I never told her this I suppose. Some times we fail to tell things which we regret later in life. Then the science teacher walks in. she is kind of reading the science book & explaining things, not that interesting though. But the contents were my favorite as it was astronomy. It was more of astronomy fact book than a book intended to arouse curiosity & excitement in young student’s mind about the mysteries of universe. But since I loved astronomy from I don know like from second standard or something so I loved it anyway. That was the time when Pluto enjoyed its status as a planet; I feel pity for Pluto now. Lot of things have changed about mankind’s understanding & hence perception of universe since then, We have Hubble’s telescope encircling the earth & doing pretty good job taking very nice pics of deep sky objects which were never seen with best telescopes on earth, thus confirming the fact that galaxies are moving from each other, in other words our universe is expanding. Now we have observational evidence backed with statistical data to confirm the big bang theory which tells that our universe was created in big bang & since the bang galaxies are moving away from each other, also farther the distance between them the faster they are moving apart. I learnt more astronomy reading articles in newspapers than the science text book.
I was always a last bencher & wondered whether it was just owing to height, but still managed to get a pretty decent rank. I have always loved the last benches, because the probability of getting Line of Sight eye contact with teacher is less & you can be in your world exploring the humorous aspect of the things taught in class. the front seats are for the intelligent kids who are too ambitious & have clear goals in mind of what they wanna do in their lives, but as I have observed they end up doing quite the opposite of it. I had couple of friends telling that would join Army or navy & couple of them telling they would be astronauts. All of such kids have ended up in Infosys, TCS, and Wipro nowadays. The back benches are holy they are for the intellectual people like us who like to have their space & time to interpret things in their own way. Well in engineering classes the competition for getting back benches is more as suddenly the number of intellectuals tends to increase apart from the fact to avoid being asked for submission of assignments.
Then was the games period, the much awaited one, like the Vardan given by god after getting impressed for the morning prayers for so many years. Sir asked to count randomly 1 & 2 & made 2 teams to play football. After a while I forgot who my teammates were & after a while I forgot where my goalpost was. Probably I think others had forgotten as well, as everyone seemed to be running behind the ball. So I followed the rest, ran fast behind the ball wherever it went just trying to grab an opportunity to kick it & this was fun !!
Then as usual we went late to the moral science class as the sir would not scold about that. The subject was considered passé even then. He told some story centered around the concept of hope & at quoted at the end “We should have hopeful hope not hopeless hope” which was more practical as we can hope for things we can really achieve I life. Neither the school nor the students give much importance to moral science. I now believe that this should be given importance as these lessons make us more human. Make us realize what we want out of life, identify ourselves & our place in society which are very important to lead a good & happy life. Then we had the social science history class, we put the “F” word to right use the first time “Who the fuck cares when the battle of Plassey was fought or arrange bunch of such nonsense happenings in chronological order”. I seriously believed that we should not mug up things which we can always look up in book. Come on what is the purpose if preserving books for then? If we feel the need to throw away the book then we no longer need the things contained in the book.
The hindi class was always good as hindi teacher would read a line in the book & go on telling some interesting story & at the end of class she would always tell “dekho mein kahan se kahan pahoonch gaye” we all used to reply Kahin nahi pahoonche madam, bas chapter ke pehle line mein he hai ! & then there were tests & marks comparision. This was the time india was blessed with evergreen bollyhood hits like DDLJ & KKHH & DPT & it was good to imagine ourselves as hero & fall in love with beautiful girl in class.
I took a deep breadth & realized I don’t wanna return to present life’s mindset which is more of a routine & responsibilities etc. There is not much fun & we cannot do childish things anymore. ....

Saturday, November 14, 2009

The big fat corporate lunch

        “Did you like the Pizza Sir?” : A voice came from behind my head from waiter boy at pizza hut. “Ya absolutely, we enjoyed our pizza, especially the cheese toppings were delicious!” I replied in american ascent, something which I had gained just for kicks by watching loads of pirated hollywood movies !
But I had this deep thought...switching over to my original UK style.No No it’s not United Kingdom English, but my original Uttara Karnataka accent from the American ascent... en pizza no eno? namma hubballi-dharwad avarege jwaladda rotti, badnikaye palye, menacinahindi, kotra eshto khushi aage bidteve....esht divasa aat nodu tinlarada. Baddemaga....ondu tundu bread piece kottu myala eno palle haaki, bissie made noora aivathu rupaye bill hachtaan....ishta rokkadaga mane mande ella oota maadbahudittu...meaning for people from north Karnataka would like to have Jowar roti & brinjal curry, red chilli chutney which makes us delighted as its our food style. What's there in a circular piece of bread to overprice it to Rs 150, whole family could dine with with Rs 150.
      As I am not a foodie, I generally tend to enjoy eating anything in veg served with love. People tend to enjoy the food from the area they originate from probably because of the emotional factor involved with it. They connect to the people there, lifestyles, food styles etc, thus making eating a pleasurable experience. You may not admire to the extent when you daily eat your ethnic food items, but when you have it after many days...you certainly will love it lot after missing it for sometime.
              You know, when i was a kid, my mom used to tell interesting stories while she tried to make me eat. i can still remember the story of probably because i listened to it like over a million times ...may be was my favorite then ! Dad was coming to home from office after hard work & getting Mishra Pedha laddu or sweets for home. He met an ant on way which was a kind of our family friend. the ant asked about family members about me etc, this basically included the day to day activities which made the story new everytime, clever trick haan ! mom used to include what i did at school what she did recently etc. Dad after briefing the friendly ant asked about its family children etc & gave a piece of laddu for it to take it back home. It wrapped & headed for its home which was the corner near our house entrance. When the food on plate was almost getting over, she told the hard work & the pain that goes behind the scene : the scene of her making me eat. the story behind every rice seed. A farmer ploughs the field with hard efforts day long in hot sun, puts the seeds in the soil waits desperately for the rain, prays to god that rains should be sufficient & at the right time, cuts the crop cleans it & sells to shopkeeper, dad earns for it with hard work in office, mom brings it from shop & cleans & cooks it...so this is the story behind every rice grain. After hearing this who would even think of wasting even one grain in plate after finishing the lunch. not even a child right ? I would get a bit scared & simply finish the last pieces of food on the plate. What I gained was respect towards food in general & the wisdom or realization that there could be hundreds of hungry stomachs which can get the food if I don’t waste it. Things were simple to implement this funda when i was kid as mom used to eat in same plate, so technically i did not waste any food. Generally Moms have weird ways to make their kids eat anyway, so food for me has always been an emotional factor rather than an enjoyment or passionate sort of thing. Hundreds of farmers in India even today commit suicide owing to their situation of debts no rains  etc & we so called while collar people assuming that we do lot of hard work sitting in front of computers for the whole day, reading some statistics on internet about these stuffs, dine at costly restaurants ordering the things we aspire & passing comments over every item we eat, scolding the waiter for not making it exactly as you had told him. Well, I feel all this very uncomfortable to be a part of this scene. In really appreciate the process followed in our office the left over food is taken in Omni to to NGO. So we need a process to prevent the wastage of food, which is so precious. If somewhere the food is extra, it should reach the hungry stomach somewhere else. Please just spare a thought when you eat the next time. This is so true isn't it ?

The Shayari Scratchpad

Well, why follow the rest in naming a compilation as diaries like the 'The Motorcycle Diaries' or 'The Basketball Diaries' etc. So here it is the shayari notepad or scratchpad, as you know there always exists a possibility of improvising on the same.
I am not a scholar, I am not a writer...
I am not a Shayar, its just that my words are on fire !

Pyar ke rahon mein chalna tumne sikhaya....
Pyar ke haseen ehsaason ke sapne sajana tumne sikhaya....
Zindagi ke najane kis ajeeb mod pe, jab tum chal diye apne raaste, tanha hum reh gaye...
Tere intezaar mein hum khade hai unhe raahon mein, jahan hum judaa ho gaye.....

En haseen lamhon ke ehsaason mein kho jana hai
Bas tere intezaar mein waqt guzaarna hai
Jo bitaya tha humne pyar ke do pal
Unhe jeevan bhar yaad karna hai

Tere Khamoshi ne woh saare baatein keh diya
Tere dil ke dhadkanon ne dard ko bayan kar diya
Dil ne to chaaha tha ke tera har sapna poora ho
Ab to dil bas itna chaahta hai ke tera dard kam ho

Humne muskurake saare Gham chupa liye
Zindagi ke savade mein saare sapane bech diye
Zindagi ke in tede mede raaston mein aise ulaj gaye ke manzil bhool gaye

Chhaha hai tume sacche dil se
maanga hai tume rab se badi mannat se
phir se aaoge tum mere zindagi mein
ban jaaoge tum sur mere jeevan se sangeet mein

Aaaj Shaam samudra ke teer par chalte chalte yeh khayal aaya....
samudra ke lehroon ke tarah, mann mein ashaein uth rahe hai
dil ke dhadkane tumse milne ke khushi mein tez ho rahe hai
yeh dil to pagal hai, jo samjhata he nahi
bas tere aane ke intezaar mein sapane sajata hai

Tumhare ek haseen ehsaas ka ek lamha bana do humme..
Tumhare khayaloan mein guzara hua kal bana do humme.. 
Tumare kahani ka kissa na ban sake...
Bas itni se dua hai khuda se
Tumhare ek muskaan ke vajah bana do humme...Amen

Iss dard ko humsafar banake hum chale 
Najane kahan le jayange yeh zindagi ke raahein 
Tumhare bina na rasate ka na manzil ka hai humme pata
Tasalle milli iss dil ko... 
Jab tum mere parchayi mein nazar aaye.

Aasun beh gaye iss baarish mein
Jise saare armaan ghul gaye ho 
zindagi ke majbooriyon mein
Ek diya dikha tha door se
Ek toofan se usse bachane hum chale
Najane kaise hai yeh kismat 
aakhir mein hum teeno humsafar ban ke chale


Monday, June 8, 2009

random thoughts.....

i wanted to write something interesting but can't think of any interesting topic...suddently an idea came to my mind ..why not just pen down whatever coming to my mind without caring for spelling mistakes , improvising on english, grammer etc....so jsut write down....just going with the flow..like a leaf in the wind..without direction or destination....wow this is coming pretty good.i suppose ...my english improved i feel after all that hard efforts of sleepless pirated movie watching...well what to write...whatever i write should be interesting enough for others to read..come oonmind soon think of something interesting somehitng catchy ...i know nothing of topics like cricket sports politics bollywood gossips etc..only i know is about astronomy which is kind of weird thoughi sometimes find it so interesting & yet cant devote much time to it....whatever it is i am feeling sleepy after a day's hardwork ..hardwork or hardly work...just giving brain some thought process...Ah !! drifting away mind control urself...come to somehtng interesting ...somehting about soulmate...somehitng about innovative idea that ewould have prevented the plane crash...somthing good technolgy that would have avoided the accident ...may be pre-knowing of approach when such a situation occurs....exit criteria...just like a king who knows well that he is gonna win the war but just prepares fopr the worst i.e an escape exit plan when totally unexpected happens...what i am talkking about king ? war !! oh brain brain u need some rest but y u persist...to continue..on this...i picked uop a book today ...buying a house..i wondered it would have sold many copies may it had been home instead of house but well this gives an introduction to build upon ur dreams to buy a house..home loan fundas etc etc..it tells u how u screw ur life for next 20 years by hopelessly depending on the salary to pay back ur home loan installaments... god give me a break..these weekends are an illusion they simpy dwindle away so fast...time seems to fly away...on weekends..& on weekdays its snail pace...with work like a bee...& some1 stealing all our honey in one go.... oh whats happenning to me...i am driven by some unusual interest to check my gmail....& i shall continuw writing in time slots between checking mail...wait whats it called in OS terminoligy...hann context switching.....i can see many mails from members of BAS- bangalore astronomy society..there is one mail from my good friend colleague...oh fuck whats the spelling of collegue..i still don know...ya from nishigandha...but i remember by calling her nishi itlsef..may be it is her nickname...wahtever..wow !! its her marriage invitation card...wow am so happy for her...when is the marriage...june 14th !! oh no icant atend it is in pune & i have a workshop on Asteroids & meteorites by Vishnu reddy in planetaruim here....anyway i will have to congrtulate her & ask who is the luck one...then there are several mails from BAS akarsh, amar etc some1 has observed NGC 7000...whats was the full form of NGC..oh i seriously dear, sorry fear that i have amnesia...i tend to forget the technical things even at office told by my teamamtes smitha vinayaka Arzu & deepak..they often tell "i told you na? " oh i should get cheked with a doctor...hope i will remember this & not forget it right away...forget what? what was i trying to remember?? oh no again forgot...if i remember again then this would not be called forgetting as i could be able to recall it ..so forgetting is same as remembering then !! Ah lookin in internet....NGC googling...oh no buddy its not national geographic channel...google woiuld have been unbeatable company if it were able to read mind for searching the required info....let me try NGC, astronoomy...in search box..Ah there it is New general catalogue...NGC 7000 is a some nebulae...its just a book of facts & figures of iobservations over a period of years...its like god has kept us busy blindfolding fromt he truth by keeping us occupied in catalouging these figures...which does not take u anywhere...there are mails about upcomign solar eclipse trip to varanasi on arounf july 22nd .this eclispse is very rare event & i want to fly to see it ...with my freinds fromn astronomical society...have to apply for leave..there is one mail from amari who has accepted my yesterday;s comment oin her blog saying that technology needs to be much advanced to eliminate such accidents...i say advanced to the extent as in minority report where travelling in a vehicle is fully automated without any interference from humans as human actions are always subject to errors...oh i am feeling thirsty ..but i remember i must not drink much water because i am too lazy to get uop midnight to pee...anyways i am feeling very sleepy now...zzzz...bye....gn...hey wait gotta post this...anyway who will read it anyway..anyway will post...

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

So long & thanks for all the mystery !!



This post is under construction

God is like a magician. In a magic trick say for e.g. named something pretty as ‘The vanishing elephant’, the magician shows an elephant on stage. The audience is wondering how could possibly the elephant disappear when their sense of sight is confirming fully on the presence of elephant. The magician covers a black cloth or something which possibly & intently diverts the attention, not letting go of the attention of the presence of elephant though & removes the black cloth & the elephant is disappeared. Though quite amazed in a refusal to believe their senses the audience wouldn’t clap because it’s not enough to make the elephant disappear. He has to bring it back. He covers the cloth & elephant reappears & the audience is truly amazed seeing the elephant back same time wondering how can he possibly do that? God is just like this magician or bigger magician than him & knows all the tricks & never ever reveals his tricks because if he does, his importance would vanish away in the story of universe. Our universe is just like this elephant except for the fact that we & our consciousness are an integral part of this universe. The god makes the disappearing & reappearance of the elephant can be compared to the non existence & existence of the universe. The eyes see it the ears hear it & the mind believes it. God uses this covering of a black cloth as a means of misdirection to just bring about a change in the scenario i.e. the presence of the elephant. Our consciousness is the audience which believes whatever is the conclusion of the processing of the information by sense organs. The universe merely exists as a collection of concepts as understood by our brain. A set of theories put forth by physicians which mind accepts & believes in it without a choice. A collection of facts & figures which the human mind tends to believe. Just like the black cloth we are blindfolded from the truth by engaging us in exploring the things which are too complex for human intelligence. Cataloging the stars, galaxies etc would never come to an end as there is simply infinite number of them. Solving the equations with assumptions made for them experimenting the conclusions putting forth high fundamental theories would never come to an end. Exploring the micro world of atoms & molecules will never lead us to the absolute truth. This is a world pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. A truth so vague like this the elephant is truly present or truly absent in the first place itself. What importance the first place has when the magician performs this trick multiple times. And the audience stress their mind to explore the trick & probably some of them may ask the magician in person. But the magician would not simply tell the truth because his purpose & ofcourse his business is gone if he reveals the trick. Instead he successfully misdirects them think about the covering black cloth & this is the exact situation the mankind is today struggling hard to find the way universe works.

It has been said that something as small the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world ….Chaos theory

Universe can be considered as a chaos, where things happen in random probably not following any laws or almost all following physical laws except with exceptions like black hole etc where the known laws of physics break down.

Indeed true…everything in the universe happens as per the physical laws the laws that were formed in beginning of time. Even the entropy increases at increasing rate this also follows all the laws. They may be complex enough because human mind may not be capable of accounting for all the parameters involved in it, same may be the case with super computers. Probably our brain may evolve to the extent of processing speed of supercomputer but that’s not gonna happen now as we already have super computers, so there is no need for the brain to run anyways !

Our universe is 13.7 billon years old…what do I make of the universe ? A great sense of mystery…a truth so magnificent & so profound yet so obscure. I still make the same sense of mystery which the stone age man could have made. With all this intelligence understanding gathered over ages contributions from intellectual minds in science & philosophy..still I don’t understand the universe. I am driven by the void desperate feeling seeking answers to the mysteries of universe but cannot help in anyway coz I am lost completely in the fabric of consciousness which is supposedly made up not to discover the ultimate truth.

Or perhaps not so easily & soon. . We have come a long way ahead in scientific & technological terms but yet so little we know how universe operates?

The vastness of the space itself behaves like a time machine which allows us to see the past. Our sun we look at is 8 minutes older as light from sun takes that time to reach uslight rays from distant galaxies etc are in their path reaching our telescopes still. When they reach a new object is discovered which you can probably name after your sweet heart. That object may be there or may have vanished in the cosmic evolution by now.

Monday, May 4, 2009

A never ending story….



     I have always loved ice cream, though not tasted all the flavors, probably because I always end up with having butterscotch as this is my favorite. I never visited ice cream parlor exclusively to eat one, but it happened on one pleasant evening, I was once hanging out with a couple of friends in an ice cream parlor….One of the modern, colorful one, with background music & stuff you know so that they can overprice the menu owing to all the nice ambience...just like CCD's which I think are too show-off as what’s there in a Rs80 or Rs100 coffee? Do they put gold & silver powder in it? I think you can visit sometimes when you are pretty sure if something could happen over a coffee, may be when your astrologer has told that you would meet your special someone soon or something like that, as their punch line says ‘a lot can happen over a coffee’....I would be rather happy if ‘kuch kuch ho gaya’ rather than ‘bahut kuch ho sakta hai’ . Yeah, Hindi movies really liberate us!!

So, coming to my story, there I was in the ice cream parlor. We sat next to a table occupied by bunch of girls of almost same age group as ours I suppose. I sat besides a girl whom I could make out was very pretty by just observing her head from backside..Oh yes we had gained this expertise or intuition by improving on our observational skills on girls over a long period of time. Though not intentional, I could overhear her sweet voice, she was telling to her friend that she was not ready for it yet, there are signs everywhere & she is looking for them to find the one meant for her. I could instantly figure out that she was talking about soul mate. Well, I have myself believed in soul mate funda, you start to believe in such things when you remain single for many years hoping that the right one will come along soon. I have felt “she is the one” kind of feeling for at least four girls I ran across in my life. And because of this number, the faith in this idea was dwindling away. All of a sudden, I gathered courage & turned around & asked her,” Can you tell me what time it is”? She looked at me & as I looked into her green eyes & realized she was the most beautiful person I have ever seen. She was just perfect with that smile, simple yet so charming face with open hair, that moment took my breadth away. Most of the girls would give a plain or angry look when strangers asked this question. But probably owing to my polite voice, fortunately I received a sweet smiling look. “There is a clock on wall right in front of you & don’t you have a mobile?” she said smilingly looking at my wrist ensuring that I did not wear a watch. I instantly replied that “I felt time stopped after seeing you….you are so beautiful” & just was checking the same. Wow!! That was pretty nice! Probably the most romantic thing I ever came up.
          ”Well thanks, its 6 0 clocks & time’s still running, probably I am not that beautiful” she replied again with her cute smile. “Hey all that sign stuff, is it a religious thing or you started believing after feeling it somewhere, sometime !! ? “Do you often hear to other people's conversations”? She asked pleasantly. “Why do you want to know? “I just thought this was too deep in a place like this. I have had this feeling of soul mate couple of times before & now I don’t believe in it too much. “Oh! that’s bad, Well it was not a true feeling then” she said. By this time our friends had noticed us & let us free to talk, without interrupting. She further explained that she believed our destiny was already decided & we have to just read the signs for it.” I happen to think there is an explanation beyond every reason, beyond logic that brought you here besides me...the exact day & time when I dropped at this place having wonderful time with you”!! From the blank look on my face she asked “you don’t believe in all this, do you?” I said “There is no master plan as it would be too complex as it will involve so many people”. She asked “Was it not fate that you were sitting in this chair besides me?” I said “No, this was no fate, this was just the fun to have ice cream that brought us both here” & I asked why would fate take all this trouble? “So that I can eat ice cream next time with you” came the reply. Sure, shall we sneak out for some fresh air? I realized the feeling when I said the word ‘both’, that there a special connection between us. I knew she was the one, though I felt she was way out of league for me, but I held onto “both being perfect is not important in a relationship, being perfect for each other is the one that really matters!! She seemed like an angel just placed on earth for me & it was wonderful to believe that I was her angel. She agreed, as she was beginning to enjoy us being together i suppose. This was so filmy you know like a guy meets a girl in a bar & they wake up in bed the next morning, except we ended up in true love. As we walked, we talked a lot about these soul mate stuff, likes dislikes of each other & found so much similarity in our life styles, until the end of the road, where we could see the setting sun. With great courage I held her hand & this was the most wonderful thing ever occurred to me for I knew exactly what I needed in life, I needed her!! I felt, that she was the one for me though I knew nothing about her just like seeing a signboard in her hands saying soul mate, it’s these little abstract beliefs that matter the most when you are in love with someone & keep you bounded. You just tend to go with the flow. The time spent was like a short moment, hoping the sun to take a little longer to set. It’s not the ice creams that brought us together, but the melting of hearts…in the warmth of one another. She said “So, aren’t you going to ask me out again?” I would love to…just was wondering about your reply, She said “I would love to meet you again”. That gave me relief, so can we meet at this place again? Sure, here I shall write my number, she started writing in my palm. I could feel the tickling & suddenly I heard the voice of my friend “saale uth jaa be …saala din mein bhi itna soota hai !!. I immediately saw my palm & there was nothing on it!! Yes, I was awake from my dream & now I was so upset that this all was a dream. I wondered if I had slept a couple of seconds more I could have got her number & her name!! At least possibly could call her in next time I dreamt about her in the dream world. So, there she was just a dream girl in a dream world. The only regret is, I did not kiss her goodbye before I was awake. Now often I insist on visiting ice cream parlors hoping I may run across that girl in my dreams!! Probably I may meet her again in a day dream itself I suppose!! It’s so wonderful, isn’t it? Bits & pieces of aspirations orchestrated so nicely to form a beautiful dream that I wish could have been a reality.
Someday sometime you will be mine baby !!
Some where sometime I will meet you baby !!




Kitne door door ho un dono ke rasate...
mil jaate hai jo bane ek duje ke vaaste...ek duje ke vaaste....
haqeeqat mein na mile to na sahi, sapane mein he sahi....
someone somewhere is made for u....

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Movie review: The man from the Earth.


I have seen a lot of sci-fi movies, all centered on different unusual concepts, but this one sets itself apart & is really quite unusual, simply lets u appreciate your sense of logical reasoning....guiding, misguiding, until the point where you are completely involved & lost.

This may not be classified exactly as science fiction, but it’s just a collection of logical & intellectual discussions happening somewhere sometime…..

There is this young history professor, John who is kind of famous or favorite among his colleagues for his profound knowledge, suddenly mysteriously disappearing or leaving the town. His colleagues, who are also his good friends, are very much concerned about him & curious to know the reason behind this decision, drop by his house, also to wish him good luck.
Upon being asked several times for his decision, he refuses to reveal the reason & just replies that he likes to move on in life. His colleagues who are quite experts in their respective domains like Anthropology, religion, biology, philosophy etc are simply not willing to let him go without telling the reason behind his moving from there.
An artifact, a stone found in his home leads to discussions on an interesting topic that how would a man be if he is not ageing, say from Paleolithic time. Just consider the possibility that somehow some mechanism kept him alive: A perfect detox mechanism & perfect regeneration of his body cells & organs, recovery mechanism from various diseases. He should have learnt to fight the predators & just simply keep moving on in life without attachments. He would have seen civilizations born, flourish & get extinct, he would have wandered over mountains, valleys, learnt a lot of languages, seen different tribes, of course protecting his life somehow against all the possible dangers.
John claims that he is this man who has lived from 14,000 years. Of course no body believes him, but the topic is so interesting that everyone starts asking him questions on various topics likes geography religion, beliefs etc. this leads to a series of logical arguments & John is having an instant convincing answer every time. They all realize that that there is no way to prove or disprove his hypothesis, instead go with the flow of his story asking his experiences in his lifetime that stretched over vast bounds of time & places. His arguments can be obtained from any history book read in school & that’s what John exclaims that when he read the book, he correlated with his own life & understood the reality. This fact is simply difficult to digest that such a thing could have happened with him, he just simply lived endlessly !! Considering this scenario, the knowledge of such a man would be tremendous. He says he traveled a lot just like any normal man would do. He learnt a lot & was considered God by some tribes owing to his non ageing feature. He once met a man who he felt was like him never ageing to die but no way to prove the same, lost contact with him & moved on in life. He is just logically correct all the time in his arguments. He even proclaims that he was with Buddha, & goes on to say that he was Jesus. He learnt a method to slow down the body processes so that he suppressed pain & preached good things like humanity & brotherhood etc; he recollects the important historic events so well in their original form which can be possible by a person who has actually lived in those times.
He says that he has kept moving on in life overcoming his attachments & emotions, & that is why he is moving on now. They discuss various subjects like science religion, medicine, etc & are just taken by & lost in the arguments. His friends are very much disturbed by his arguments, lost in their logical reasoning to an extent that they want to believe him but that’s just not acceptable to their senses. He finally admits that he made this all up as a play & his friends played & supported him in continuing the game everyone throwing the dice in turns. But guess what is the truth !! our John is a cave man surviving from thousands of years.


Probably this movie in some way teaches that unlike John, we have a finite lifetime. ....& we should enjoy to the fullest.


What could a prehistoric man make of when he looked up at the sky? The vast streatch of darkness, the twinkling of stars etc would have made a great sense of mystery engulfed by his thoughts about his own consciousness.
Probably he believed there are gods & demons up there, helplessly trying to let go of feelings which never seemed to find an answer. He can’t make up his own mind that what he is seeing is an illusion or reality when the concept of real & virtual itself is unknown to him.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Movie review : Slumdog Millionaire

I was fascinated by this dialogue from Forrest Gump when Forrest's mother tells him....

"Each of us have a destiny & we have to figure it out for ourselves…."

I realize sometimes there is nothing to think through or figure out what life has in store for us, but to just wait & watch destiny unfold itself into the aspired good for us. Well, the good may not be the exact 'ideal' good you may have aspired for but the best destiny could ever offer & you are deeply thankful for it considering the facts that the aspiration was too high in the first place itself. This masterpiece of art goes based on above simple yet elegant concept, which is narrated in simple situations with just a handful of characters...the harsh realities of life in a slum being told in a way that will reveal the truth & agony to its very core, at least making you finally relax in the comfort of thought that..."thank god, it's not me".

The story is centered around life of Jamal Malik, candidate in hot seat of English version of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'.
As a ordinary slum boy Jamal grows up in Dharavi, largest slum of Asia where life teaches him to accept the things which cannot be changed & make the best of what is present. Those innocent young hearts become victims of anti social elements like Hindu Muslim riots, they are made to beg etc. Jamal & his brother manage to lead a life by petty things like robberies…the one in which Jamal becomes a fake guide of Taj Mahal is hilarious.

With no schooling, unlike his brother Jamal grows into sensitive, compassionate kid, manages not to get into the world of serious crime but lands up as a modern Chaiwala (modern chotu) in a call centre. He gets onto the 'Who wants to be a Millionaire', host being Anil Kapoor not because he wanted lots of money but because he aspired for something which was more valuable to him than money.

How true is that ? Even for others, money is just a means to ends. Money is not the ends itself. When the ends are met the value of money seems to dwindle away.

The story is beautifully presented, the core being the harsh realities of slum life & the shell being the glamour & fame of kaun banega crorepati TV show.
It's a difficult to digest the typical English ascent in the entire movie. A typical Mumbai Hindi or Marathi would have been better, but nonetheless it's a wonderful piece of art.
Altogether a must watch…

Note: Thanks to piracy which lets you enjoy the show even before weeks of official release & lets you have your say in the news channel's discussions nowadays on topic : "Indian poverty sells well".

Movie review: Rock on is Rocking on

I usually write English movie reviews which get published in a couple of places since they appeal to me more than Hindi ones….

But Rock On is not the same old Hindi movie containing love polygons, but its quite refreshing & inspiring having a style of its own to convey its message with the correct blend of realities of life & passions i.e. “It’s never too late to live your dreams”

A movie touches your heart when you share a similarity with the theme of movie & your life. People tend to enjoy in doing what they are good at.

The movie starts with Sakshi, a modern house wife, who just wants to see her husband Aditya(Farhan Akhtar) to regain his long lost happiness by rediscovering his passion i.e Rock music. They were a band of four friends who had rocked the world ten years ago though it was an amateurish attempt.
Then their lives take them on very different routes away from their passion owing to some incident which occurs in course of trying to make their passion their profession. They don’t hear from each other for quite a long time after their breakup. Obviously they are not happy in life that has been chosen by destiny. They wanted to be rock singers but life has made them such as an investment banker, jewellery businessman etc….

I especially like the dialogue when Aditya exclaims: 'When the past bad memories will stop chasing me' & his wife’s friend replies ‘when you stop running from them’. This is so true indeed.

Owing to Sakshi’s attempts to reunite them, they come together with the reason which can none other than an opportunity to relive their all time passion.

They perform on stage with all the modern rock band instruments with superb lyrics composed by them to find their true happiness.

I do not know whether anyone would be inspired enough to dare to return to their past dreams & aspirations by watching this movie, but I know for sure is that it brings out a couple of tears from an emotional heart who has compromised with destiny trying to forget the aspirations to live in the harsh realities of life.

Music is pretty good (especially the song "tum ho to") & story line flows well with present & 'flash backs' with well defined characters with brilliant performances. But the theme does not take you away like Dil chahta hai. That’s a classic for ever. Arjun Rampal could have had more ex-pressions on his face.

A must watch in a weekend break….

Hum to shayar hai nahi par itna inspiration mil gaya ke pal japakte he hum chaar line likh diye: I wrote these lines after seeing the movie:

Zindagi mein hum najane kitne samjhote karte hain,
Majbooriyon se apne khushiyon se muh mod lete hain,
Apne aakhon ke samane anginat sapne toot jaate hain
Beete lamhon ke yaade humme tadapate hain
De jaate hai gham umar bhar ke liye.....

Value the Valuable........

When I brought the newly launched N73 mobile recently I was the happiest guy becaue it was very expensive, ‘high end’ and I had all my friends flocking around me telling how wonderful a device it was and I too never felt bored extolling its features a million times.
But now, I realized a lesson of a lifetime. Things like this will come and go and get outdated. I was giving values to wrong things in our life. We often compare our friend’s salaries working in various companies & aspire to earn more & more like them. What we need to compare is our happiness packets. What we fail to realize is that how happy we are with the money we are getting. If a person is very busy in earning more & more money & not getting time to enjoy that money then what’s the use?
More happy is a person who earns half than him & takes out time to enjoy with family & friends. Money is just a means to get happiness, money itself is not happiness. Many a times we recall a person not by his name but by something he possessed like a bike etc. And we'd refer to him as "u know that guy in our college days with the imported bike..” What we need to realize in life is to raise ourselves higher than the feelings of comparison with others in terms of money, power etc..It's the detachment from such false valuables which will be a reason for happiness & after all what we all want from life is happiness.
We came in this world with empty hands & take nothing whicle leaving. All the things we earn are to be enjoyed & utilized for our personal & society’s happiness. Our mind is occupied by thoughts most of the times as to what others may think about us & these thoughts make us happy or sad. Why are we paying so much importance to thoughts of probable thoughts of others which are in anyway uncertain? What needs to be valued in life is various forms of ‘Love’. The love of parents, partners, friends etc…..if a person has learnt to give value for the correct things in his life he has learnt the path to achieve happiness.

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