Thursday, September 28, 2017

On Prescription: SOS Acknowledgement.



I know of so many people around me who do what they do…which is all so weird to me, is just to get generally accepted. I am going to list some characters and their gesture without taking any real names…because ‘sue’ is a word I would like to keep away with.
She is a 6 year old. She loves to visit her good friend’s family. When she is with them she gets to be stupid, weird, babyish and dumb. Cuteness many a times in our society is mistaken as idiocy, insanity or even for silliness in kids! Hence her folks send her to their house just so that…she feels that it is even OK to be dumb. We mock her childishness but she looks fwd to meet them just to feel their foolishness and also to showcase and be revered for her own childishness.

He is past his retirement age. But does not want to submit to that fact. He still slogs out every day in a very crowded public transport, wherein he overtly discerns that his income is way lesser than the investment of both time, energy and money he is putting in. But because he gets to be the boss of his own mind, gets to give orders, gets to suggest, gets to find faults in mute machines and gets to be the Jack of all his trades, he continues to work. His children are married and have a mind of their own. When they lived with him, they only listened to him, since they flew away and are nesting differently, they for a good reason do not want to listen to him, and they have their own reasons, now they have their own experience. That makes his experience outdated. He wants others to listen to his suggestions and take his advice very earnestly. His requisites only get fulfilled when he is ‘the employer’, ‘the boss’ and using his expertise and authority.

She has always been a house wife. She has nurtured her two children and set them off on their journeys. Now one of her children is in need of her. But because of her health, she is unable to travel, hence is being of no use her beloved child. Her child with the grace of God is managing well without any help. The helpless mother should be at ease. But her guilt makes her call her child every night, ask her the same set of routine questions, show sympathy, show regret, express concern. Which in turn only fades her child’s spirit. Now her child is learning the art of diplomacy of listening to the mundane questions and worry every day to her best ability.

Being a retired personnel, she should be staying with her family, not only that, having come from a town and employment which required a lot of people interaction, she should have been amongst people in her old age. But she is not! When her known ones visit her, she starts speaking non-stop. She does not even realize that some talks and facts she has re-re-reiterated already. She just would talk, until, if you being her listener, soon will only see her lips moving and cut the cord from that moment and turn a deaf ear and nod and say Haanji, bilkul, wahi to, Achha!
She is again a very laborious mother. Has always belonged to a conservative, tight knit family. But her DNA along with her better halves gave birth to very progressive children. These children in turn married likeminded people like themselves. This multiplication brands her to be the only conservative in a tribe of progressive predators (these people hunt her biases). She feels lonely and left behind. She likes to be amongst such people who follow her rituals and mannerisms no matter how depreciative they are. She relishes the company of such kin.  Because of her uncompromising beliefs and convictions she feels less esteemed and endangered by her own blood. Which is so unfortunate. She craves attention, she isn’t wrong at that…or is she?

Complete unbiased count of a patient visiting a doctor. At home no one takes his/her illness gravely. But as soon as you visit the Doctor, because you are paying the Doctor, you can spill your heart out about how you feel and how painfully you are going through this hard time of illness. There there ! The doctor reassures. You feel all better.

What has clearly happened in all the above ambiguous references? There is a feeling, an act an expression which is evident throughout. It is acknowledgement!

Human nature craves acknowledgement. When you are new born baby, you need your parents touch to and you feel acknowledged. That makes you stop crying. When you have fever touch of a dear one on your forehead makes you feel a tab bit better. That is again acceptance from your loved one…and showing their presence in your problem. The 6 year old goes to her friends’ house as she is being accepted the way she is. She does not have to modulate herself to her parent’s desire and discipline. The father craves attention, he wants to go back to the time where he was the top lineage, and his authority was everything. He breathed and still breathes like boss. He only wants to be accepted, acknowledged like how he was in his early years. The mother expresses her sympathy to her child because she wants to rub it in that she is so sorry for not being there. Hence she repeats the same sentences every day. She is sorry the child understands, but she cannot accept that she is not being helpful when required. The religious mother feels unhooked as none of her ideologies are accepted. Hence she feels dejected. The patient too pays an opportunity cost (a fee) because of which he is heard and registered by his Doctor.

Acknowledgement is a much disguised sort of a noun. Starting with a touch, saying hello on phone, greeting Good Morning, repeating Achha, Haanji, or even being quiet when you do not agree with someone…are all forms of acceptance. Each one feels happy and content on realization /acknowledgement. Virtually a SMS flashes in one’s mind –“Feel happy! You have been acknowledged”!
                 “The acknowledgement of a single possibility can change everything.” 



Thursday, May 11, 2017

Camera ….Action…Cut!!!




Off late I am at a juncture where I have an aptitude to guess if a film is of my likes or dislikes. I have had chances of watching some amazing movies…such movies…that sojourn in my conscience even after their ‘The End’. Their kinesthesia lingers in my thoughts in complete awe of what I imbibed from them. There were a few Serials too that have really touched me and have proved to be the reason of… why I think differently.

Allow me to give you a sneak preview of the films and daily soaps that have softened my inner self for good. The motive of writing this blog is just to share the hugeness I felt about really common or day to day topics shown with a very creative kick.
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The Dark Knight Rises.

I was always exposed to watching Batman films. But being in my fairyland the thoughtfulness or insight of the film was never arrested by me. Twists and turns in our life rub reality on our face. Life gives us a reason to believe in ourselves…that the strength lies in us…Mind over matter…Health is wealth…and the like. From 'Batman Begins' I am fond of the scene where the young Bruce Wayne falls into the dark well and his father rescues him saying ‘why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.’ The way Bruce was led in the Ra's Al Ghul’s...camp…even in Batman Rises…in the well of death, where the words still echo in my mind…


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Bruce Wayne/Batman: You told me a child did it

Prisoner: But no ordinary child. A child born in hell, forged by suffering, hardened by pain. Not a man from privilege.

Prisoner: He says the leap to freedom is not about strength.
Bruce Wayne/Batman: My body makes the jump.
Prisoner: Survival is the spirit. The soul.
Bruce Wayne/Batman: My soul is as ready to escape as is my body.
Prisoner: Fear is why you fail.
Bruce Wayne/Batman: No, I'm not afraid. I'm angry.
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Bruce Wayne/Batman: I do fear death. I fear dying in here while my city burns.
Prisoner: Then make the climb.
Bruce Wayne/Batman: How?
Prisoner: As the child did. Without the rope. Then fear will find you again.

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These quotes if understood to its core, mean a world. It certainly lightened my cords This is ‘Zen’ to me.
             Tamasha
I was never akin to this movie. Also its reviews were dark and dull. In addition I was not in India when this movie released. Nonetheless, there is something about Imtiaz Ali’s films that I have always honored. Love Aaj Kal, Jab We Met, Highway, Rockstar, Cocktail (still to watch). Yes…it rang to me that I had to give this film a shot. I absolutely was overwhelmed by this Muslim Director’s depiction of Hindu Mythology in his movie. Moreover, the way he has shown the effect of what one see’s/feels in one’s childhood…stays with them till eternity, he remaining unaware about it many times.
The young Ved is shown to be adrift from his rich & disciplined family. He loves listening to stories, he even see’s those character’s from those mythological tales in real time. His mind functions differently than others. All the way he has a mad, free spirited personality. Unlike that, his father always wanted him to be seasoned and rooted as a professional. Just like most of the parents want their child to the ‘run of the mill’. Ved travels abroad, to a nation, where nobody knows him, so that he can animate his true self, his spectrum of cynosures. To add on to that, he meets a girl ‘Mona Darling aka Tara’ who is a perfect match for his disguised identity. They spend time together on a condition of not plunging in love. However, cupid wallops them. When they meet in India, Tara is dazed to see the mischievous Ved to be a simple, man of ethics who has a routine to follow and does not body even one vein of fun. She divulges him in his true personality. The whole transformation from a mellow, adapted, good boy image to himself as a man of different colors…style and tone, is really fascinating to me.
I am enslaved by the songs, lyrics and music of this movie. Each and every song is supplementary to the story line. The lyrics are meaningful and vivid. The picturization of songs with Ram Sita Lakshman(in thermals J), Pharaohs, Aurangzeb, Heer Ranjha, Laila Majnu…in the back drop is outlandish.                                        
                                         The Pursuit of HappYness
Literally… the pursuit of happiness is defined as a fundamental right mentioned in the Declaration of Independence to freely pursue joy and live life in a way that makes you happy, as long as you don't do anything illegal or violate the rights of others.
The pursuit of happiness is the right that you have to live your life in a way that brings you joy. We all have one common desire: the desire for happiness. As we build our life, taking steps towards the pursuit of happiness, we come closer to the realization that happiness lies in the pursuit. I other words when we chase or hunt ‘Happiness’ we dismiss from our minds that the permanent address of happiness is stationed in ourselves. All we got to do…is keep doing our Karma (action) and on realization of Karma…we will be HappY. Our pursuit lies indoors, in us. This beautiful movie tells a story of struggling father who wants happiness for himself and his son, for whom he fought for, for having his custody divorcing his wife. The father knows he is poor and has no shelter, how he manages his son and work is shown beautifully. Some lines from the movie that have made taken refuge in my subconscious:
Christopher Gardner: [after playing basketball] Hey. Don't ever let somebody tell you... You can't do something. Not even me. All right?
Christopher: All right.
Christopher Gardner: You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period.

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Christopher Gardner: [narrating, at a payphone, raining, after learning Linda is taking Christopher away from him] It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Martin Frohm: [during the interview room, with Twistle, Frakesh, and Frohm present] What would you say if man walked in here with no shirt, and I hired him? What would you say?
Christopher Gardner: He must have had on some really nice pants.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Christopher Gardner: [voice-over] This part of my life... this part right here? This is called "happyness."------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christopher Gardner: [narrating] I met my father for the first time when I was 28 years old. I made up my mind that when I had children, my children were going to know who their father was.
The Serials/ Soaps
I never watch serials…I don’t remember even if I did, was I loyal to all of them? But yeah I have loved and lived on some soaps. We still watch these soaps when we have the time. I will not go Ga Ga about it all the way, but however will just ink a few words about them.
I love, love, loovvee this series. Hugh Laurie stars as Dr. Gregory House, a paradoxical physician who loathes his patients but is a genius at treating mysterious ailments. Its title track is anesthetizing. The characters around him too have a breadth in the whole series. Although not everything about in this series is about House, howbeit…revolving around the cast, everything ends up being about House. The drama, misery and suspense are just perfectly prescribed for this Doctor series. An element of freshness also is introduced when the entire old cast…House, Willam and Cuddy being constant a spectrum of new medical students enter…Thirteen, Taub, Dr Park, Amber, Kutner... Certainly, they must have kept the levels of TRP’s on the right track.
I was all ears and eyes for this one. A drug-addicted nurse struggles to find a balance between the demands of her frenetic job at a New York City hospital and an array of personal dramas. Very subtly it showed the white and grey areas of human nature. The yin and yang of our inner selves. Knowing about one’s good and doing ‘good’ are two distant aspects. The lead in this, Jackie, being such a substantial character, her goodness in very petite ways affected the way I thought or did for others. And I won’t lie…I did feel saintly! Most dottingly I adored the character of Zoey. She is very raw and naive in the entry episodes, albeit how idiotically smart and astute she becomes is wonderful.
John River is a brilliant police inspector whose genius lies side-by-side with the fragility of his mind. He is a man haunted by the murder victims whose cases he must lay to rest. River is a six-part British (BBC)television drama series, created and written by Abi Morgan and starring Stellan Skarsgård and Nicola Walker. I was in awe of this elfish series… In all it has just 6 episodes but really enslaving 6 affairs I must say! The song ‘I love to Love but my baby loves to dance ’ is a startling one…it gets you on your toes just the moment you hear it. Again …drama and suspense is what makes this my darling as well.
All season favorites: There are some soaps that I love and can watch anytime and anywhere…I will never ever get bored out of them. Friends, Seinfeld, Everybody loves Raymond, Big Bang Theory, Breaking Bad, Better call Saul, Wallander…will keep computing as and when.

Monday, May 8, 2017

Camera ….Action…Cut!!!


My Shelfari Bookshelf

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog