Information, knowledge & wisdom.
Our ancestors insisted on wisdom. Our previous generation insisted on knowledge but the current generation is neck deep in information if not already drowned in it.
As far as my understanding goes, information is just a means to a reach a particular point. I guess it can be named as knowledge, which in turn is another means to reach the destination called wisdom. The trick is to shift from the pursuit of information to the pursuit of knowledge and eventually to become wise as quickly as possible.
If information is writing on the waters, then knowledge is like writing on the papers. But wisdom is like writings on a stone tablet, I guess.
We are in an age where information is voluminous but at the same time access to it is instantaneous. Given this reality, there is a danger of getting lost in it if we don't know what we need exactly. We allow ourselves to be overawed by it, thus by losing sight of our actual goal.
Luckily if one gets past the stage of information gathering and steps into the realm of acquiring knowledge, there is another type of danger here. Once a person starts to acquire knowledge the result as most of the people think isn't confidence, but overconfidence and inflated ego. I guess the true purpose of knowledge is to realise how little you know and until then one has to engage in the pursuit of knowledge.
Miraculously if someone crosses even this hurdle too, then he or she can be considered to be on the threshold of wisdom. It is at this time a guru is needed. Recently I had the opportunity to hear a lecture by a swami emphasising the importance of a Guru. Following are some of the points that made some sense to me.
A Guru is neither a guide nor a teacher, though we usually use them one for the other. It's literal meaning is the destroyer of darkness or in other words the vanquisher of ignorance. There isn't any need for him to teach you because you already know everything, you are that very thing that you want to know. (Tatvam asi). Then why is he given so much importance even to the extent of being hailed as Brahma, Vishnu & Maheshwara? The answer is also equally convincing. The thing is that what we consider as real is just series of thoughts playing in our minds. For example when we think of a beautiful flower it's an act of creation(srishti). When we imagine its colour, fragrance etc, it's an act of existence(sthithi) and when that thought vanishes it's an act of destruction(laya). Thus the entire process of birth, existence & death are happening within our minds and a guru makes us realise just this. That's why he is being equated to the three Gods. Actually they are not Gods but three important manifestations of divinity.This he does in different ways depending on the maturity or readiness of the student. Moses from being a prince had to become a slave, roam around the desert for years before finally facing his Guru in the form of a burning bush. Swami Vivekananda though incredibly knowledgeable had to come to a normal priest called Ramakrishna. Shankara the proponent of Advaita had to kneel down before a hunter. A saint had to listen to a butcher's words which later became "Vyadhageetha". Sadguru in his memoirs says his guru met him only once and touched him not by hand but by a stick and still he considers him as his Guru. In all the above instances the Guru actually didn't teach anything, but they made the disciples realise that they know everything, that they are everything.
A guru breaks the endless cycle of maya and that cycle is
karma begets misery.
Desire begets karma.
Discontentment begets desire.
Ignorance begets discontentment.
PS: When Alexander was asked as to why he respects his teacher Aristotle more than his parents he says that he is greatful for this parents for giving him life but it's temporary and perishable whereas he is indebted to Aristotle as he had given him life eternal. In a sense we all have embarked on our own spiritual journeys. Hopefully a Guru comes our way and GU-RUs our ignorance.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Marital landmines!
Have you ever walked in a mine-field fully aware that it is a mine-field, but totally oblivious to the placement of the mines?
Well those who are married would have had the opportunity of being in a situation like that though not literally. If I am allowed to compare marriage to a mine-field (just a metaphor) then following are some of the mines that one might risk stepping upon.
Is this dress ok?
When can we go to my mother's home?
Will you buy me that ... (err,,whatever...)
Who is that girl in the photo standing beside you?
Did you drink? Did you smoke?
Do you drink now? Do you smoke now?
I think I have added more salt in the curry, haven't I?
Just like in our school days when we were informed about one sure shot question that would come in our exams, the following in my opinion is a sure shot question all the husbands would have been asked by their better halves.
"I have become fat, haven't I?"
Kindly observe the pattern of the question. It's not "Have I become fat?"
but "I have become fat, haven't I?"
You can simply give a no as an answer for the first question, but for the second one you can't simply give a "no" because you are contradicting her statement that she has become fat. That itself draws an angry look from her and the mine under your two legs will go off.
But on the other hand if you answer her with an "YES" then the highly destructive C4 explosive that's tied to your chest will just go off. Don't bother to ask me why I haven't informed you about the bomb. You have more important issues at hand :-)
Recently I had to counter one such situation and by God's grace (I started to believe in God after this incident), I managed to come out of it with flying colours.
The question was "The circles under my eyes are too dark, aren't they?" It was a catch22 and amazingly I managed to say this.
"I don't know if the circles are just dark or too dark, but they certainly seem tired with all the hard work you put in since early morning. Wash your face and take a nap"
This time I managed not to step on the mine. Let's see how it goes in this endless mine-field. :-)
Well those who are married would have had the opportunity of being in a situation like that though not literally. If I am allowed to compare marriage to a mine-field (just a metaphor) then following are some of the mines that one might risk stepping upon.
Is this dress ok?
When can we go to my mother's home?
Will you buy me that ... (err,,whatever...)
Who is that girl in the photo standing beside you?
Did you drink? Did you smoke?
Do you drink now? Do you smoke now?
I think I have added more salt in the curry, haven't I?
Just like in our school days when we were informed about one sure shot question that would come in our exams, the following in my opinion is a sure shot question all the husbands would have been asked by their better halves.
"I have become fat, haven't I?"
Kindly observe the pattern of the question. It's not "Have I become fat?"
but "I have become fat, haven't I?"
You can simply give a no as an answer for the first question, but for the second one you can't simply give a "no" because you are contradicting her statement that she has become fat. That itself draws an angry look from her and the mine under your two legs will go off.
But on the other hand if you answer her with an "YES" then the highly destructive C4 explosive that's tied to your chest will just go off. Don't bother to ask me why I haven't informed you about the bomb. You have more important issues at hand :-)
Recently I had to counter one such situation and by God's grace (I started to believe in God after this incident), I managed to come out of it with flying colours.
The question was "The circles under my eyes are too dark, aren't they?" It was a catch22 and amazingly I managed to say this.
"I don't know if the circles are just dark or too dark, but they certainly seem tired with all the hard work you put in since early morning. Wash your face and take a nap"
This time I managed not to step on the mine. Let's see how it goes in this endless mine-field. :-)
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Beat this configuration!!!!!
Recently I read a piece about the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) which I thought of sharing with you all. This is related to a previous post about particle physics which I posted on April-2010.
The LHC is a super machine in every sense. It is large, with tunnels of 27 km in circumference, but it is built with the precision of the finest of Swiss watches. A 100 megapixel camera at the junctures of two tunnels captures images of the collisions, taking 40 million pictures a second, each of them one megabyte in size. A processor farm of 50,000 cores processes these images and selects 200-300 each second. The pictures create 10 million gigabyte of data a year (enough to fill three million DVDs), and this data is processed by 1,00,000 computers in 34 countries. Then 10,000 scientists pore through this data. The four experiments at LHC together form the biggest collaboration in the history of science.
Now tell me if anything beats this configuration!
The LHC is a super machine in every sense. It is large, with tunnels of 27 km in circumference, but it is built with the precision of the finest of Swiss watches. A 100 megapixel camera at the junctures of two tunnels captures images of the collisions, taking 40 million pictures a second, each of them one megabyte in size. A processor farm of 50,000 cores processes these images and selects 200-300 each second. The pictures create 10 million gigabyte of data a year (enough to fill three million DVDs), and this data is processed by 1,00,000 computers in 34 countries. Then 10,000 scientists pore through this data. The four experiments at LHC together form the biggest collaboration in the history of science.
Now tell me if anything beats this configuration!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
180
The movie 180 will be etched in my memory forever not because of its excellent cinematography or beautiful picturisation and not even for two beautiful damsels one can die for, but simply because this is my first movie with my wife and because she said so :-).
180 is a nice romantic drama. Sidharth who looks unbelievably charming throughout the movie gets proposed by two "out of the world beauties". But because of his medical condition, he runs away from Priya anand who is his wife; and avoids Nithya menon who is his friend. The film title makes sense in two ways to me. One as per the movie and the second is as per me; what happens when the course of one's life changes by an angle of 180 degrees? Though the performances and the feel of the movie are good, it falls short of making a deeper impact.How does Sidharth react to his medical condition is what the movie is all about. But to my surprise I don't understand why a character like Sidharth who is a doctor could react the way he reacts in the movie. Had it been any common person it's understandable, but a doctor?
The movie in the second part simply takes the oft treaded path of trying to invoke pity and there it becomes a bit dull. Anyone who has watched Maniratnam's "Geetanjali" in telugu or "Idhayathai thirudadae" in Tamil could find similarities with this movie. It seems that Jayendra the director couldn't come out of his mentor's shadow completely.
I heard that there's one movie called "Ikiru" by Akira kurosawa. In that the protagonist comes face to face with his mortality and in his remaining days he struggles with bureaucracy & society to get a playground so that the children could play there. I want to watch it someday mainly because it's simple and hits the nail on the head without any paraphernalia. "180" inspite of good performances and visual appeal lacks this simplicity. Otherwise it makes a good viewing with your loved ones :-)
180 is a nice romantic drama. Sidharth who looks unbelievably charming throughout the movie gets proposed by two "out of the world beauties". But because of his medical condition, he runs away from Priya anand who is his wife; and avoids Nithya menon who is his friend. The film title makes sense in two ways to me. One as per the movie and the second is as per me; what happens when the course of one's life changes by an angle of 180 degrees? Though the performances and the feel of the movie are good, it falls short of making a deeper impact.How does Sidharth react to his medical condition is what the movie is all about. But to my surprise I don't understand why a character like Sidharth who is a doctor could react the way he reacts in the movie. Had it been any common person it's understandable, but a doctor?
The movie in the second part simply takes the oft treaded path of trying to invoke pity and there it becomes a bit dull. Anyone who has watched Maniratnam's "Geetanjali" in telugu or "Idhayathai thirudadae" in Tamil could find similarities with this movie. It seems that Jayendra the director couldn't come out of his mentor's shadow completely.
I heard that there's one movie called "Ikiru" by Akira kurosawa. In that the protagonist comes face to face with his mortality and in his remaining days he struggles with bureaucracy & society to get a playground so that the children could play there. I want to watch it someday mainly because it's simple and hits the nail on the head without any paraphernalia. "180" inspite of good performances and visual appeal lacks this simplicity. Otherwise it makes a good viewing with your loved ones :-)
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Why marry?
It's not often that you find yourself married to a woman whom you are supposed to love and take care for the rest of your life. It normally happens once in our lifetimes and for some, more than once :-). For the later someone famously quipped that remarriage is the victory of hope over experience :-).
Coming back to my first line, I always questioned the logic behind it. If love is such a great thing, why should it be limited with one person or for that matter why should it be tied with anything at all?
Jokes apart, all married guys must have had the experience of facing an unavoidable question and an inescapable situation called marriage. I am no exception and was given lot of reasons as to why I should marry. I like to list some of them.
You have someone who cooks and takes care of you and the home.
You have someone to talk to.
You have someone to share your responsibilities.
You have someone to satisfy your physical and emotional needs.
You have respect in society. (We all know what look a house owner would give you if you are single trying to rent a house or how police would behave with you when there is just you instead a woman at the rear of your vehicle.) But still I couldn't buy these arguments.
It is undeniable that a woman brings respect and good status to a man in society. In other words she completes him. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpWAlvWNZj0)and the man cares for her and provides security to her. But still the reasons I was given didn't satisfy me and was about to give up when suddenly out of nowhere something struck and I formulated a theory of my own as to why one should marry. This certainly is not the ultimate reason, but for me it made some sense. Give it a read and find out if it makes any sense at all.
Remember the last time when you felt good about possessing something. It could be any household item, an electronic gadget, a car or even a home of your own. When I think why the act of owning something made me feel good I think it's because it satisfies my ego.It makes me feel like I am the master and in-charge of it, something which I can claim to be my own. If that's in great demand, then it pampers my ego because of the knowledge that not many possess that thing. But in time that feeling fades and before you know it one is in search of something else or at-least trying to upgrade the existing one.
Now think of owning a robot which listens to all your commands (only programmed commands) and executes them. It doesn't complain or even ask you to take it out during the evenings either. One may feel ok with this help in his daily chores, but the underlying fact is it's still a robot.
Now think of your family and friends. This is an interesting part because in here, one feels like being owned rather than owning them. You listen to your parents (ideally :-) ), you learn to give because of your siblings, you share almost everything with your friends and these are the things that define you as a person and prepares you for the world. But only in marriage does one feel like he/she owns and at the same time being owned by his/her spouse. You do things for your spouse and you get some things in return from your spouse. It's a two way and that too a dynamic relationship that's constantly evolving. Unlike in fantasies there are no "Happily everafters" in marriage, but only constant and also consistent effort to work on one's marriage. Your imperfections may not be the critical factor in your relationship with your family & friends as they tend to overlook them. But in marriage they are the key. You have to find your way through these imperfections and this makes it challenging and hence interesting. What's life without challenges and marriage is a perfect tool to make it interesting.
In the movie "Bicentennial man" the robot character played by Robin williams proposes to his beloved and she turns him down for the obvious reasons. She says though he does everything for her, she can not marry him because he is too perfect and predictable. Perfection is not a human trait but imperfection is. Predictability results in boredom, whereas unpredictability spices up things in our lives. The situation and the context through which the scene unfolds before us is fantastic. Watch it to understand it better.
NOTE: Watch the below scene in "Shall we dance" where Susan sarandon wonderfully says why one needs marriage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbsBV9v3TRo&feature=player_detailpage
Coming back to my first line, I always questioned the logic behind it. If love is such a great thing, why should it be limited with one person or for that matter why should it be tied with anything at all?
Jokes apart, all married guys must have had the experience of facing an unavoidable question and an inescapable situation called marriage. I am no exception and was given lot of reasons as to why I should marry. I like to list some of them.
You have someone who cooks and takes care of you and the home.
You have someone to talk to.
You have someone to share your responsibilities.
You have someone to satisfy your physical and emotional needs.
You have respect in society. (We all know what look a house owner would give you if you are single trying to rent a house or how police would behave with you when there is just you instead a woman at the rear of your vehicle.) But still I couldn't buy these arguments.
It is undeniable that a woman brings respect and good status to a man in society. In other words she completes him. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpWAlvWNZj0)and the man cares for her and provides security to her. But still the reasons I was given didn't satisfy me and was about to give up when suddenly out of nowhere something struck and I formulated a theory of my own as to why one should marry. This certainly is not the ultimate reason, but for me it made some sense. Give it a read and find out if it makes any sense at all.
Remember the last time when you felt good about possessing something. It could be any household item, an electronic gadget, a car or even a home of your own. When I think why the act of owning something made me feel good I think it's because it satisfies my ego.It makes me feel like I am the master and in-charge of it, something which I can claim to be my own. If that's in great demand, then it pampers my ego because of the knowledge that not many possess that thing. But in time that feeling fades and before you know it one is in search of something else or at-least trying to upgrade the existing one.
Now think of owning a robot which listens to all your commands (only programmed commands) and executes them. It doesn't complain or even ask you to take it out during the evenings either. One may feel ok with this help in his daily chores, but the underlying fact is it's still a robot.
Now think of your family and friends. This is an interesting part because in here, one feels like being owned rather than owning them. You listen to your parents (ideally :-) ), you learn to give because of your siblings, you share almost everything with your friends and these are the things that define you as a person and prepares you for the world. But only in marriage does one feel like he/she owns and at the same time being owned by his/her spouse. You do things for your spouse and you get some things in return from your spouse. It's a two way and that too a dynamic relationship that's constantly evolving. Unlike in fantasies there are no "Happily everafters" in marriage, but only constant and also consistent effort to work on one's marriage. Your imperfections may not be the critical factor in your relationship with your family & friends as they tend to overlook them. But in marriage they are the key. You have to find your way through these imperfections and this makes it challenging and hence interesting. What's life without challenges and marriage is a perfect tool to make it interesting.
In the movie "Bicentennial man" the robot character played by Robin williams proposes to his beloved and she turns him down for the obvious reasons. She says though he does everything for her, she can not marry him because he is too perfect and predictable. Perfection is not a human trait but imperfection is. Predictability results in boredom, whereas unpredictability spices up things in our lives. The situation and the context through which the scene unfolds before us is fantastic. Watch it to understand it better.
NOTE: Watch the below scene in "Shall we dance" where Susan sarandon wonderfully says why one needs marriage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbsBV9v3TRo&feature=player_detailpage
Sunday, March 27, 2011
A friend's stomachburn
Tonight one of our friends much to our dislike and contempt is leaving for USA. This being his second time to that country makes the occasion more irritating and inconsolable for the rest of us. As if spending 10 months isn't enough, this time he will be gone for about a year if not more.
What's wrong with this world? Why God is so blind? Why doesn't someone else get that opportunity? preferably me? I never said I won't go! I would never dream of refusing to go and still I am not going.
"USA; every Indian's dream". Indians may not have a dream girl but do have a dream country and that country is USA. People say that cricket is an Indian game accidentally discovered by England. Similarly USA is the home country of Indians but for some unknown reasons inhabited by Americans. There is even proof that Indians actually lived there before Europeans occupied it. They were called Indians, Red Indians! :-)
However bygones are bygones. As the famous line goes, the empire is about to strike back and India is about to conquer USA within few decades, not by force, not by coercion, not even by economic power but simply by going and settling in that country. Just like USA, which at present claims the piece of land called Alaska as its own though separated from its mainland, similarly India will lay claim on USA and will rename the country as USI. Wait one correction. When it comes to India there is no unity. So it should be CSI (not Crime Scene Investigation) but Chaotic States of India. The wheels are set in motion towards achieving that goal and our friend's departure tonight is going to be the curtain raiser.
I am sure that as soon as he touches the ground, its economy will cease its downward spiral and rocket towards the stars. All its people will disassociate from worldly pleasures and will associate with otherworldly endeavours. People will stop cursing, and will start blessing and more importantly Hollywood will stop churning out meaningless sequels and will bring out original stories.
Amidst all these positives one disconcerting fact is that my friend is going to earn insane amount of money and I am left with nothing to say except "Farewell my friend!" with a big sigh!. :-)
What's wrong with this world? Why God is so blind? Why doesn't someone else get that opportunity? preferably me? I never said I won't go! I would never dream of refusing to go and still I am not going.
"USA; every Indian's dream". Indians may not have a dream girl but do have a dream country and that country is USA. People say that cricket is an Indian game accidentally discovered by England. Similarly USA is the home country of Indians but for some unknown reasons inhabited by Americans. There is even proof that Indians actually lived there before Europeans occupied it. They were called Indians, Red Indians! :-)
However bygones are bygones. As the famous line goes, the empire is about to strike back and India is about to conquer USA within few decades, not by force, not by coercion, not even by economic power but simply by going and settling in that country. Just like USA, which at present claims the piece of land called Alaska as its own though separated from its mainland, similarly India will lay claim on USA and will rename the country as USI. Wait one correction. When it comes to India there is no unity. So it should be CSI (not Crime Scene Investigation) but Chaotic States of India. The wheels are set in motion towards achieving that goal and our friend's departure tonight is going to be the curtain raiser.
I am sure that as soon as he touches the ground, its economy will cease its downward spiral and rocket towards the stars. All its people will disassociate from worldly pleasures and will associate with otherworldly endeavours. People will stop cursing, and will start blessing and more importantly Hollywood will stop churning out meaningless sequels and will bring out original stories.
Amidst all these positives one disconcerting fact is that my friend is going to earn insane amount of money and I am left with nothing to say except "Farewell my friend!" with a big sigh!. :-)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Mission Vellayangiri !!!
What I am about to write consists of all the elements fit to make a block buster of all times. To put it simply if Tom cruise is to star in the 5th installment of his MI franchise it can certainly be named as "MISSION VELLAYANGIRI" (play the theme music in your heads).
It's not often in a man's life, having taken an outrageous decision turns out to be one of his best decisions and this is one among those rarest of rare decisions. We have been planning eons for a trip like this and it took considerable time and good fortune in the form of the co-trekkers to materialise. People say travelling teaches more than a collection of books and that too in a short duration that lasts longer than anything that you could come across. This trip is the perfect example for it.
Vellayangiri is just a one hour drive from Coimbatore. One look at it, I consented to its reputation of Kailash of the south.(It doesn't matter even if I haven't seen the actual Kailash).
A few steps into the trekking and I realised it's not going to be just another difficult endeavour, but an impossible endeavour. All the doubts whether you can complete the trek in time, all the second thoughts to abandon the trip if the going gets tough(I guess subconsciously I wanted to fall sick so that I can return midway) popped in my head. An hour into the trip I began to ask some of the fundamental questions like "why was I born?, what's the purpose of my life?" and the most important of all "Why the heaven did I agree to come here?" They remained unanswered.
There are 7 hills to be trekked and at the end of the second hill with 3 to 4 short breaks in between we settled for our breakfast. We had bread and biscuits for breakfast and resumed our journey. It had been almost two and half hours since we started our journey at 5:30 am and most of it had been under trees and shade. Once we crossed the third mountain it was clear sky and bright Sun greeted us and reminded us of the gravity of the rest of the journey. 4th & 5th peaks by themselves are not draining but after you have crossed first three peaks you start to clamour for your breath. Standing straight becomes impossible partly because of the steepness of the terrain and mainly because your hips and back can't hold your body any longer.
It is at that moment of helplessness you arrive the 6th peak and there you will find a stream forming a small puddle. Drinking that water I would rather say is next to divinity. The location of the puddle and its purpose is nothing less than perfect. We even took a dip in that icy cold water and as soon as I got out believe it or not, pain in my legs vanished. It's amazing to know that you can feel refreshed and rejuvenated within minutes after four and half hours of arduous journey. That gave us the impetus to continue and complete the penultimate peak whose terrain is mainly dominated by descent. But our luck ran out at the foot of the seventh hill. One look at the seventh hill and I couldn't help but revere its beauty and and at the same time feel apprehended at the challenge it posed.
After enduring so much it felt that scaling the seventh peak alone is equivalent to scaling all the previous 6 peaks. It's very steep with no shade with a pathway that has no grass and a bit slippery if I might add. At that moment nothing else mattered. Pain is so much that senses stop working. It's like trying to measure the speed of a sports car with an instrument whose limit is just 60km. The car may be travelling at a speed of 200km/h but the instrument shows only 60km/h. My situation was similar to that.
But amazingly I made it to the top of the mountain. I did overcome the pain which I thought I couldn't bear. I did cross the sea of fear I had, about the condition of my health while climbing. I did get up whenever I slipped though I wanted to take rest. It was a constant battle between stronger me and a weaker me and to my surprise and disbelief stronger me prevailed over weaker me and in the end I was standing in front the three lingams. It's only then I felt like that moment is worth all the efforts.
In a way this journey through 7 peaks personifies the spiritual journey through 7 major chakras from "Mooladhara" to the "Sahasrara". More than just trekking it is the culmination of what one thinks as his optimal physical, mental and spiritual tendencies and then taking a step further. It may sound dramatic or you may even say that I assumed, but I wold still reiterate that it taught me many things.
Life just like this journey has many highs and lows but with a purpose.
Always have good people around you. That makes the journey interesting.
Always have less baggage i.e, minimal or no emotional attachments. This enables to sustain the energy for your journey.
Make hay while the sun shines or in other words make sure to complete major part of your journey during the night and plan to reach the ground in the morning hours. This way you can avoid the unforgiving Sun. :-)
EPILOGUE: In the end this experience is not meant to be known but it's meant to be felt and this is a feeling that surely will stay with you for at-least two days if not for a life time. (For, two days is the minimum duration for which the pain in your thighs lingers :-) ).
You can check out some of the photos in the link mentioned below.
https://picasaweb.google.com/prasad.che/Vellayangiri?authkey=Gv1sRgCKy76t-eu_KhJA#
Those who have missed the trip, just have a look at the unexpected trekker and our inspiration for the journey. :-)
It's not often in a man's life, having taken an outrageous decision turns out to be one of his best decisions and this is one among those rarest of rare decisions. We have been planning eons for a trip like this and it took considerable time and good fortune in the form of the co-trekkers to materialise. People say travelling teaches more than a collection of books and that too in a short duration that lasts longer than anything that you could come across. This trip is the perfect example for it.
Vellayangiri is just a one hour drive from Coimbatore. One look at it, I consented to its reputation of Kailash of the south.(It doesn't matter even if I haven't seen the actual Kailash).
A few steps into the trekking and I realised it's not going to be just another difficult endeavour, but an impossible endeavour. All the doubts whether you can complete the trek in time, all the second thoughts to abandon the trip if the going gets tough(I guess subconsciously I wanted to fall sick so that I can return midway) popped in my head. An hour into the trip I began to ask some of the fundamental questions like "why was I born?, what's the purpose of my life?" and the most important of all "Why the heaven did I agree to come here?" They remained unanswered.
There are 7 hills to be trekked and at the end of the second hill with 3 to 4 short breaks in between we settled for our breakfast. We had bread and biscuits for breakfast and resumed our journey. It had been almost two and half hours since we started our journey at 5:30 am and most of it had been under trees and shade. Once we crossed the third mountain it was clear sky and bright Sun greeted us and reminded us of the gravity of the rest of the journey. 4th & 5th peaks by themselves are not draining but after you have crossed first three peaks you start to clamour for your breath. Standing straight becomes impossible partly because of the steepness of the terrain and mainly because your hips and back can't hold your body any longer.
It is at that moment of helplessness you arrive the 6th peak and there you will find a stream forming a small puddle. Drinking that water I would rather say is next to divinity. The location of the puddle and its purpose is nothing less than perfect. We even took a dip in that icy cold water and as soon as I got out believe it or not, pain in my legs vanished. It's amazing to know that you can feel refreshed and rejuvenated within minutes after four and half hours of arduous journey. That gave us the impetus to continue and complete the penultimate peak whose terrain is mainly dominated by descent. But our luck ran out at the foot of the seventh hill. One look at the seventh hill and I couldn't help but revere its beauty and and at the same time feel apprehended at the challenge it posed.
After enduring so much it felt that scaling the seventh peak alone is equivalent to scaling all the previous 6 peaks. It's very steep with no shade with a pathway that has no grass and a bit slippery if I might add. At that moment nothing else mattered. Pain is so much that senses stop working. It's like trying to measure the speed of a sports car with an instrument whose limit is just 60km. The car may be travelling at a speed of 200km/h but the instrument shows only 60km/h. My situation was similar to that.
But amazingly I made it to the top of the mountain. I did overcome the pain which I thought I couldn't bear. I did cross the sea of fear I had, about the condition of my health while climbing. I did get up whenever I slipped though I wanted to take rest. It was a constant battle between stronger me and a weaker me and to my surprise and disbelief stronger me prevailed over weaker me and in the end I was standing in front the three lingams. It's only then I felt like that moment is worth all the efforts.
In a way this journey through 7 peaks personifies the spiritual journey through 7 major chakras from "Mooladhara" to the "Sahasrara". More than just trekking it is the culmination of what one thinks as his optimal physical, mental and spiritual tendencies and then taking a step further. It may sound dramatic or you may even say that I assumed, but I wold still reiterate that it taught me many things.
Life just like this journey has many highs and lows but with a purpose.
Always have good people around you. That makes the journey interesting.
Always have less baggage i.e, minimal or no emotional attachments. This enables to sustain the energy for your journey.
Make hay while the sun shines or in other words make sure to complete major part of your journey during the night and plan to reach the ground in the morning hours. This way you can avoid the unforgiving Sun. :-)
EPILOGUE: In the end this experience is not meant to be known but it's meant to be felt and this is a feeling that surely will stay with you for at-least two days if not for a life time. (For, two days is the minimum duration for which the pain in your thighs lingers :-) ).
You can check out some of the photos in the link mentioned below.
https://picasaweb.google.com/prasad.che/Vellayangiri?authkey=Gv1sRgCKy76t-eu_KhJA#
Those who have missed the trip, just have a look at the unexpected trekker and our inspiration for the journey. :-)
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Yudham sei
Why should one have friends? Of all the reasons I could imagine, the best that strikes me is that they will buy you the tickets for a movie on any given weekend. Topping it up with crunchy pop corn and icy cool drinks. What else does one need in life? :-). As a consequence I had a chance to watch "Yudham sei"; the latest flick from the staple of Myshkin.
The movie is a dark take on the sexual abuse and exploitation, the twin shackles today's teenage girls are fettered with. The director adds elements of mystery, drama, and tragedy in this crime investigation narrative and fairly succeeds in holding audience's attention for the major part of the movie. This movie appears to take off where his earlier film "Anjadhey" had left and in my opinion this could easily be called as "Anjadhey-2".
In my opinion Myshkin can be Kollywood's Anurag Kashyap. Anurag who is an acclaimed bollywood filmmaker reminisces one of his experiences with the censor board during the certification of his recent film "The woman in yellow boots" which as you might have guessed is again a dark movie with sexual overtones and wide use of expletives. He says that one of the censor board persons had asked him to get his mind checked for only a disturbed person can make this kind of movie. In the same breath he also says that when the movie was screened in an European country (the name I forgot)one filmmaker had actually asked him why the movie was so subdued and why had he made the film so polished despite the content being so raw.That's how our Myshkin too has treated this film.
If movie is a way to let people know something, then Myshkin surely lets us know that he is angry. Very angry over the way women are treated in our society. How decency and virtue are crushed under the juggernaut of power, corruption and muscle power. This movie though looks like a crime thriller on the outset the director emphasises on the emotional turmoil of the investigator the subject of investigation throughout the movie. All his usual touches like low angle shots, scene establishment through the movement of the feet, low light shots, wide angle shots, scenes sans dialogues etc, all are present. These make him one among the directors whom one can guess by just watching a few scenes in his movie. The performances especially that of the character "Judas", the police inspectors are top notch. In one scene Judas actually looks directly into the camera and justifies that it's not wrong to take law into one's own hands and weed out the scum breeding in this society and it's bound to become a reality if people are pushed to the edge. That's a highlight which reminds me of a similar scene from the classic "Rathakanner" in which M.R.Radha looks directly into the camera and justifies that it's not wrong for a married woman to remarry if the husband turns out to be a pain in the err... neck. Though dialogues are different, both scenes reflect the times and challenges of the society in which they are actually set.
Mainly on the flip side, the climax song at the end of the movie was totally unnecessary. It was so absurd that even the very beautiful and sensuous Neetu chandra bending and gyrating to the song actually made me cringe and at one point I thought of going out and have a fag to let out some steam.
Psychiatrists say that today's abominations of gender mistreatment are as a result of projecting women just as objects of sexual gratification and not as human beings with mind, intellect and bodies just like men. Though this movie shows the consequences of the tumour present in our society, when it comes to projecting women, in one single stroke or should I say in one single song, the director fails miserably. The song is so ridiculous that the guy even address the woman as paramour and the woman along with other group dancers go on with their pelvic thrusts unmindful of how they are addressed.
EPILOGUE: Nice movie depicting pain, suffering and deprivation albeit a bit violent. But a total waste because of the one song. Good attempt by the director but unfortunately he himself makes a mockery of his film and his characters with that one bullshit song.
The movie is a dark take on the sexual abuse and exploitation, the twin shackles today's teenage girls are fettered with. The director adds elements of mystery, drama, and tragedy in this crime investigation narrative and fairly succeeds in holding audience's attention for the major part of the movie. This movie appears to take off where his earlier film "Anjadhey" had left and in my opinion this could easily be called as "Anjadhey-2".
In my opinion Myshkin can be Kollywood's Anurag Kashyap. Anurag who is an acclaimed bollywood filmmaker reminisces one of his experiences with the censor board during the certification of his recent film "The woman in yellow boots" which as you might have guessed is again a dark movie with sexual overtones and wide use of expletives. He says that one of the censor board persons had asked him to get his mind checked for only a disturbed person can make this kind of movie. In the same breath he also says that when the movie was screened in an European country (the name I forgot)one filmmaker had actually asked him why the movie was so subdued and why had he made the film so polished despite the content being so raw.That's how our Myshkin too has treated this film.
If movie is a way to let people know something, then Myshkin surely lets us know that he is angry. Very angry over the way women are treated in our society. How decency and virtue are crushed under the juggernaut of power, corruption and muscle power. This movie though looks like a crime thriller on the outset the director emphasises on the emotional turmoil of the investigator the subject of investigation throughout the movie. All his usual touches like low angle shots, scene establishment through the movement of the feet, low light shots, wide angle shots, scenes sans dialogues etc, all are present. These make him one among the directors whom one can guess by just watching a few scenes in his movie. The performances especially that of the character "Judas", the police inspectors are top notch. In one scene Judas actually looks directly into the camera and justifies that it's not wrong to take law into one's own hands and weed out the scum breeding in this society and it's bound to become a reality if people are pushed to the edge. That's a highlight which reminds me of a similar scene from the classic "Rathakanner" in which M.R.Radha looks directly into the camera and justifies that it's not wrong for a married woman to remarry if the husband turns out to be a pain in the err... neck. Though dialogues are different, both scenes reflect the times and challenges of the society in which they are actually set.
Mainly on the flip side, the climax song at the end of the movie was totally unnecessary. It was so absurd that even the very beautiful and sensuous Neetu chandra bending and gyrating to the song actually made me cringe and at one point I thought of going out and have a fag to let out some steam.
Psychiatrists say that today's abominations of gender mistreatment are as a result of projecting women just as objects of sexual gratification and not as human beings with mind, intellect and bodies just like men. Though this movie shows the consequences of the tumour present in our society, when it comes to projecting women, in one single stroke or should I say in one single song, the director fails miserably. The song is so ridiculous that the guy even address the woman as paramour and the woman along with other group dancers go on with their pelvic thrusts unmindful of how they are addressed.
EPILOGUE: Nice movie depicting pain, suffering and deprivation albeit a bit violent. But a total waste because of the one song. Good attempt by the director but unfortunately he himself makes a mockery of his film and his characters with that one bullshit song.
Friday, January 21, 2011
DHOBHI GHAT
"Once upon a time there lived a king, a farmer, a merchant..." is the manner in which a story would normally begin and it never fails to grab my attention no matter how many times I might have heard the same story till then. The interesting part is that you would still come out of that experience with something new. That's how one feels or atleast that's how I felt after watching "Dhobi ghat".
This is neither a mainstream commercial bollywood potboiler nor a serious art cinema. It provides an alternative for those longing for something different and in my opinion it fairly serves the purpose.
With 95 minutes of running time, it was appropriate to not to have an intermission and this gives a sense of continuity which in my opinion is its USP. The debutant director Kiran rao has shown Mumbai in all its colours which is rare to see in a hindi movie. I guess she is more of a story teller than a movie maker for that's how I felt during the course of the film. I don't know how this film ranks on a scale of 10 on movie watching experience, but scores pretty high when it comes to her prowess of story telling skills.
Except for the character of Yasmin who is the personification of innocence and all that's good in this world, all the other characters have shades of grey. Just as it's almost impossible to come across an out and out good person in real life, the same applies to the character of Yasmin. She too isn't real and yet she is a prominent character in the story. You have to watch this movie to know what I am blabbering.
This movie exudes emotion subtly and in right proportions. The dynamics of human emotions has always been an enigma and it's difficult to answer why one person likes another person. The obsession of Aamir's character for Yasmin and how he undergoes transformation as a person is example of how people think and relate to others.
In terms of screen presence Monica dogra & Prateik have lion's share and hats off to them for their acting, which is nothing less than natural.Kriti Malhotra as a muslim girl named Yasmin and the diction of her lines deserves a special mention. Surprisingly Aamirkhan's performance except for few scenes looks just good which is not what we normally associate with him, "just good". In this movie Prateik's & Monica's & Kriti's importance and performances overshadows Aamir's which never happens in a bollywood movie with any of the top heroes. Poor chap he is even the producer of this movie. Well, the director Kiran rao happens to be his wife. Need I say more?
Jokes apart, if you are open to something different, something good that you want to feel inside watch this movie. Just like a flower which remains shut until one fine day it would have suddenly bloomed, this movie also seems normal until it reaches its climax.
How do you feel when you see a beautiful flower? That's how I felt at the end of this movie.
EPILOGUE: All of you would have listened to the background music of "Mouna raagam" in which Ilayaraja cast a spell. Get prepared for another such spell. I came to know that the music is by a two time oscar winner Gustao and you will agree why he got them in the first place. Well, I agreed.
This is neither a mainstream commercial bollywood potboiler nor a serious art cinema. It provides an alternative for those longing for something different and in my opinion it fairly serves the purpose.
With 95 minutes of running time, it was appropriate to not to have an intermission and this gives a sense of continuity which in my opinion is its USP. The debutant director Kiran rao has shown Mumbai in all its colours which is rare to see in a hindi movie. I guess she is more of a story teller than a movie maker for that's how I felt during the course of the film. I don't know how this film ranks on a scale of 10 on movie watching experience, but scores pretty high when it comes to her prowess of story telling skills.
Except for the character of Yasmin who is the personification of innocence and all that's good in this world, all the other characters have shades of grey. Just as it's almost impossible to come across an out and out good person in real life, the same applies to the character of Yasmin. She too isn't real and yet she is a prominent character in the story. You have to watch this movie to know what I am blabbering.
This movie exudes emotion subtly and in right proportions. The dynamics of human emotions has always been an enigma and it's difficult to answer why one person likes another person. The obsession of Aamir's character for Yasmin and how he undergoes transformation as a person is example of how people think and relate to others.
In terms of screen presence Monica dogra & Prateik have lion's share and hats off to them for their acting, which is nothing less than natural.Kriti Malhotra as a muslim girl named Yasmin and the diction of her lines deserves a special mention. Surprisingly Aamirkhan's performance except for few scenes looks just good which is not what we normally associate with him, "just good". In this movie Prateik's & Monica's & Kriti's importance and performances overshadows Aamir's which never happens in a bollywood movie with any of the top heroes. Poor chap he is even the producer of this movie. Well, the director Kiran rao happens to be his wife. Need I say more?
Jokes apart, if you are open to something different, something good that you want to feel inside watch this movie. Just like a flower which remains shut until one fine day it would have suddenly bloomed, this movie also seems normal until it reaches its climax.
How do you feel when you see a beautiful flower? That's how I felt at the end of this movie.
EPILOGUE: All of you would have listened to the background music of "Mouna raagam" in which Ilayaraja cast a spell. Get prepared for another such spell. I came to know that the music is by a two time oscar winner Gustao and you will agree why he got them in the first place. Well, I agreed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)