A Fleeting Glance Backward

What distinguishes real life from a dream is our ability to recollect how things began, where we came from and what we are or will do. Frankly, I do not find it really pleasing to stop for a moment and rewind the years that have gone by. Some of them are depressing ones, I’m waiting for a fact for even this year to end. Each of us await something new in life, we are like children eagerly looking forward to our Christmas toy or new clothes for Diwali. But a moment, just that one fleeting moment draws upon some kind of a realisation like never before.

I walk backward for a moment, the time when I was in school. Sometimes you would laugh at yourself when you know what thoughts or ambitions ran in your head at a certain age. I wanted to become an engineer back then, pursue my MBA and then wanted to do a job and earn my salary in lakhs. Had just one simple three letter word struck my head, I would not have spent two years of my life under depression. Why? Why did I want to do what I wanted to do? It was only after I took up science for two years that I realised I had to look for another alternative. Poof. All those thoughts of becoming an engineer vanished just like that.

In a way, I hadn’t questioned myself then for the better for my decisions henceforth are well thought of and not hasty. Now my eye looks for a clear vision of things, any venture before it is begun has the output or at least a vague output decided.

It is a way of life that when you have things sorted out, something has to go wrong. You only learn things one at a time, sometimes one experience or one phase is enough to teach you number of things. I had so far learnt only one and missed the others. As a boy I learnt quite early never to jump into a relationship with a girl. My disastrous experience was enough to teach me this. Again, looking back, there was only word that failed to occur in my head. What? What was I thinking back then? Why did I like her? I didn’t know. It’s not a big task to ask yourself what and why you are doing something. People often dislike me for asking a lot of questions, either to myself or to others. I take my lesson that these questions that I put and the answers that I learn from it take me forward. They make my way forward smoother.

Drifting away from questions, there are times when you do things right yet they go wrong. I chose BMM to do journalism. It is not often when new ideas occur in your head and you discover yourself and your passions a little more. I had always wanted to write, a collection of short stories or even a novel; for that matter even for a daily. Yet what am I doing right now? Clearly, that was rhetoric; I’m not one bit enjoying my job. Yet I’m at no fault for having to spend a few months at my workplace. My graduation choice was well thought of, my plans ahead too are quite well decided, however a simple University error has my year wasted. Yet, my perception tells me it’s not all bad an experience for I have my own funds and an additional year to plan further and strengthen my base for life.

The most important things that my past has taught me is to get things right and sorted out. Eventually what makes one happy is what one must do. A smile is a necessity. Of what use that life spent in sorrow, we live life yet learn nothing out of it? A fleeting glance backward might just be the tonic that one needs.

What’s in a Name?

For long I have been delaying on my piece about my recent trip to Kerala. I knew while I was travelling that I would be a writing a piece, but on what topic exactly, I wasn’t sure, for Kerala is so green and such beauty on every nook and corner, you can’t help but feel an urge to write. But well, I’m not here to talk about the beauty of the land and perhaps compel you to take a trip or make you regret about not travelling to the God’s own country. I’m here simply to state a few of my observations and perhaps amuse you a little with them.

In case you are visiting the place for the first time, be assured, you shall be confused, for the place, or to say, the state looks identical, you would find similar winding roads, the same old tea stalls, similar toddy shops, identical houses, and what’s more, identical houses with similar colours! This was still not my first observation; my first observation was about the paint. I do not give here credit to me for my observations for it was the colours that were strong; the observation was forced upon me. There was a mixture of myriad colours that were forced upon me like a cop flashing a torch into my eyes in the dead of night to check if I’m drunk. There were mild colours adjacent dark ones, and fluorescent ones here and there, all for the same house, each competing amongst themselves as to which one’s more disgusting than the other. Each house gave me something to smile, to grin and sometimes even to laugh aloud making people around me wonder about my mental stability. I found it all the more amusing that there weren’t people outside or around the house as if the owners were ashamed of showing themselves in public- “No sir, we aren’t the owners of the bungalows you are laughing at!”

My frequent bus travels allowed me to sight-see not just bungalows but shops too. Some of the names were really interesting, it is perhaps the lack of creativity or perhaps sheer laziness, I feel, that forced them to keep such names. One shop carried the name Linkin Park Shoes. I surely admired the band once and still like listening to their music, but wearing Linkin Park shoes doesn’t seem quite acceptable to me. Boyzone is another band that was converted to a Boys’ Club. Some of the hotels and towers there were self-proclaimed. Smart Tower, yes, the tower was smart or maybe you suddenly felt smart after you got inside it. Famous Hotel, yes, everyone knew about it, or so they claimed. Silly Bakery, well, need I add anything to that? Spicy Hotel, no, you don’t get anything else there. With such specifics mentioned, people would perhaps already know whether they ought to visit the place!

But my trip was enjoyable, you can easily deduce that. Alas, I couldn’t feel like writing about the waterfalls, mountains and greenery, the social life interested me more. All the same, I ended my sojourn happily remembering all the names I had encountered and what I planned to do with them!

Mind Your Tone

I can’t help but start this with a cliché- language is a very funny thing. Verbal or written, the tone matters more than the words. People do talk about the invention of technology but for a common man like me, it only adds to the misery. Communication has taken turns in a similarly different manner. Allow me to explain. When once there were letters written to one another, today it is mails, and a much faster version of the same has appeared, which the social networking sites and its users call chat.

I was not a big user of Facebook or Yahoo Messenger until recently when these sites impressed me by finding some of my old friends. Whether you want it or not, a window pops up every time you log in; it could be any of your friends, your best ones or the ones you secretly despise. And once you start chatting, it becomes a serious murder of the English language and a series of signs and symbols which would take longer time to convey its meaning and message than the old telegram. Language, however, is not the topic here, though I had initially thought I would write a piece about it. Tone is the issue at hand.

I believe I would not have had this fight with this good friend of mine had it not been for these sites and the mobile phone text messages. Understanding the tone of a person becomes extremely difficult and sometimes funny too. When I had once remarked on a friend’s hairdo, she replied, ‘Very funny (sarcastically)!’When I thought the exclamatory mark should have done it, I realized brackets conveyed the tone better, though I’d still like to believe it was more humorous than sarcastic. A simple line like ‘No thanks, I’m busy’ could make you look arrogant and you try to spend a lot of time explaining your tone. And a tone misunderstand hampers your relations with people; I have spoiled a few in these few years.

Ah, the older, simpler communication was better for me, or perhaps, I don’t fit in with the new complex means of communication. In any case if you meet people personally and you find them ignoring you, realise that you must have written something ‘offensive’ on chat.

The Creative Mind

THE CREATIVE MIND- Part I

I start this article by giving you a glimpse of what I shall be talking about next week than today. But, the reference I am making has a connection. In simple words, Forster says that for any plot to sustain, it must have the necessary curiosity aroused in the reader, a human feeling, a sense of value for the characters, intelligence and memory for the plot. True enough, what Forster says, for if these aspects be observed in the plots of all the novels we have discussed so far, you find the genius of each author. Connect this to the poems, so few in words, yet touching one very effectively.

We take a detour from what we have read so far and consider the term “imagination” for a while. I shall be discussing books of course, but along with it I shall be talking through the words of Forster today on Fantasy which is one among the many aspects of the novel. Beauty of language is an aspect that compels us to stick to the plot (and of course the plot itself and other aspects are just as important). Consider the beauty and magnificence in the use of language from an excerpt from Zuleika Dobson:

Through the square across the High, down Grove Street they passed. The Duke looked up at the tower of Merton. Strange that tonight it would still be standing here, in all its sober and solid beauty- still be gazing, over the roofs and chimneys, at the tower of Magdalen, its rightful bride. Through untold centuries of the future it would stand thus, gaze thus. He winced. Oxford walls have a way of belittling us; and the duke was loth to regard his doom as trivial.

Aye, by all minerals we are mocked. Vegetables, yearly deciduous are far more sympathetic. The lilac and laburnum, making lovely now the railed pathway to Christ Church Meadow, were all a-swaying and nodding to the duke as he passed by. ‘Adieu, adieu, your Grace,’ they were whispering. ‘We are very sorry for you, very sorry indeed. We never dared suppose you would pre-decease us. We think your death a very great tragedy. Adieu! Perhaps we shall meet in another world- that is, if the members of the animal kingdom have immortal souls, as we have.’

The Duke was little versed in their language; yet, as he passed between these gently garrulous blooms, he caught at the least the drift of their salutation and smiled a vague but courteous acknowledgement, to the right and then left alternatively, creating a very favourable impression.

I need not explain more. Flecker’s Magic is another example of an author’s creativity, although at first if I were to explain the plot to you, you might perhaps pass an early judgement. The plot goes like this: Flecker, an American boy who is learning to paint in Paris, is given a ring by a girl in a café; she is a witch, she tells him; he has only to be sure what he wants and he will get it. To prove her power, a motor bus rises slowly from the street and turns upside down in the air. The plot proceeds with a growing tension and the boy starts thinking by something obvious, like Rolls-Royce, or a beautiful lady? Or money? Ah, that’s more like it- he is almost a beggar, but how much? One million, two, or ten?

This way we find out the boy isn’t sure what to ask for. Once again I am tempted to talk about the plot and its aspects, but I shall strictly stick to the creativity part. The plot is obviously quite plain but it becomes strong when the author plays with the character’s mind. The story proceeds developing a curiosity in the reader by letting him know what he already does. The human mind is such, the more details of the mind we dwell into, the better the story becomes. We have seen how Lawrence is an excellent writer in terms of description, especially descriptions in terms of every minute detail of the character’s mind. An emotional connection with the reader is another aspect of creativity.

The Lord of the Rings offered the reader plenty of quality, creative reading. If one were to think about the creation of various creatures, one would marvel at the conception of the idea. Consider the language used, so attractive and the creativity with regards to the creation of creatures. The simple fact that enough value and meaning is assigned to a mere object as a ring shows the author’s creativity. In every assignment we do, we learn from this that simplicity holds the key to most problems. The ring is symbolic of power, temptation and greed. These are elements effectively used to exploit human nature. And it is only when we read creative masterpieces our mind starts thinking in those lines. If you don’t believe me, I will tell you how. J R R Tolkien and C S Lewis were good friends and Lewis created his Narnia after he drew inspiration from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I shall not dwell into the conflicts between the two authors in Lewis’ works and neither shall I talk about the symbols used or about the portrayal of Christianity because we are talking about the mind here.

However, if new books be compared to that of the old ones, the Harry Potter series seem to be one with some originality in it. Now, I am comparing the series with The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. Paolini’s work is an inspiration by different authors which can be evidently seen and which is also said by too many reviewers and critiques; the writing style matches strongly with that of Tolkien’s. The plot remains by far original but seems as if written just for the sake of writing because of its length. Harry Potter books have simple themes evident for anyone in them, but it has an emotional quotient in it that forces readers to stay glued to the books.

I shall talk at length about the nature of plot (Forster has an entire chapter dedicated to it) and the killing of characters (I have a detailed analysis of it through comparison of different books); and of course how writers connect with the readers through their writing style and plot. But all this I shall talk next week with further excerpts on the topic, “The Plot and Killing of Characters”.

Frozen

FROZEN: A TREASURY OF SYMBOLISMS

In case you wonder how to put symbolisms in a movie, watch Frozen to learn it. For if there is one movie in which one thing is symbolic of another, it is Frozen. Technically, the direction has been outstanding or perhaps if there had been a better word for class then it befits the direction. Specifically watch scenes/shots that are shot from above focusing on the roads or trucks. These shots symbolise the vastness and emptiness of the place (which is Kashmir). Speaking about trucks, we see a number of trucks coming in from outside which symbolises the entry of the army.

Invasion of privacy is a very strong theme portrayed in the movie. The scenes where the trucks enter are the beginning of it all. Lights flashing into the house from the lighthouses while the family sleeps at night emphasise the theme of invasion of privacy. Wheel is another symbol used which signifies the passage of time.

The script has been good if not outstanding. Certain dialogues like “Wheel is harmony between man and the life he lives” strengthen the script and stress on wheel being a symbol for continuation and forward movement. Another point that strengthens the script is the subtle irony used in it. At one point towards the end of the movie, Lasya comments on things being the same and no change whatsoever taking place in their lives. From one angle what she says is true for their debts seem only to increase with the passing days and months and their struggles and hardships too, in direct proportion to their debts. However if looked from another angle, then enters the irony. Since Lasya is the one saying this, let’s take up the change in her. When the movie begins we see Lasya as someone who needs a bit of psychological help and throughout the movie, the viewer knows her as a highly immature girl; this is proved on many occasions. Let’s take up one. There is a scene in the first half an hour where she enters into the house and snatches the cup of tea from his hands and drinks it. The latter half of the movie (the point where Lasya makes these comments) she promises her father she shall take good care of him. When her father offers her the tea that he is drinking, she refuses knowing that he is the one who needs it more. This is where we encounter change first. The slow transformation of an immature Lasya into a maturing one. And why Lasya is still a “maturing” girl rather than a “matured” girl is her act of ignorance displayed when she goes out for a ride with a complete stranger. Another part where change takes place is an obvious one. The family or the place in general loses its privacy and freedom. Lasya and Chomo are refused their regular visits to their mother’s memorial. The final part where change occurs is yet again a bit too obvious. This is the end where Lasya and the pet dog enter into “colour” which symbolises clarity about things. Another symbol could be the climate of the place (now, it is always cold in Kashmir). The biting cold could be symbolic of the family’s intense struggle.

Now, we come across an interesting character through Karma. He is a person who has strong will power and good temperament, somebody who could be compared with Santiago (from Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea) who never gives up come what may. Though Karma shows enough resilience throughout the movie, we see on a couple of occasions bouts of anger. Karma has a peculiar (non violent and unharmful) way of venting his rage. He smashes his jam bottles while making it look rather like an accident. Here are examples: first when he tries to sell his jam bottles to the shopkeeper who refuses to buy, he tries to get up from his seat smashing the bottles in the process. Somewhat similar is the situation when he is refused help by the landlord who in turn remarks of Lasya’s youth in a rude fashion.

Romeo (aptly named) is a character we come across who acquires roughly 10-15 minutes (or perhaps a little more) of screen space. The time he occupies, the viewer might feel, is a total waste since he follows, fruitlessly and without purpose, Lasya. In the end he is shown going abroad and returning back, however showing no concrete role of the character. On this character, Shivaji Chandrabhushan himself says, he was a random character who is too common in the area and that, though he wished to give it some solid role, he couldn’t due to lack of time.

Now, we enter into the interesting part: the plot of the movie, and Chomo as a character. The plot is rather plain and we observe it was not given much of an attention. It follows the story of a family that is debt-ridden and struggling due to poverty, with the eventual death of Karma, and Lasya gaining deeper understanding and insight about things. Throughout the movie, we hear Chomo’s (who is Lasya’s brother) narration and believe he is one of the major characters of the movie. But in the end we come to know that Chomo was, in fact, a non existent character. He was something that Lasya made up or rather he was someone who she wished had existed. One question that arises with this revelation is why the character was created. The immediate answer could be, out of loneliness. Lasya’s immature behavior could be attributed to lack of company (her father would be away most of the time). Therefore comes Chomo into the picture. The viewer might feel a bit cheated in the end with the truth about Chomo being revealed but the writer cannot be blamed and the plot remains without flaw. Surely there were hints that were definitely missed leading to the eventual surprise or shock.

In the beginning we see a scene where the family (Karma, Lasya and Chomo) having their noonday meal. It could well be asked why the father’s attention was only on Lasya nd not on Chomo: because he did not exist at all. Also throughout the movie we see only Lasya talking to Chomo and vice versa. Chomo never shared a conversation with any other character.

Overall, the movie is good enough and could be rated eight on ten. However under further criticism marks could be detained because of the overdose of symbolism, but nevertheless, a chest full of “treasure”: Symbolisms.

Dead Poets' Society

Dead Poets’ Society

What the movie has in case you have not watched it is an interesting title; it keeps you wondering what the movie is about. And in case you watched the movie, it still leaves you pondering over a few things.

An immediate theme it exhibits, right at the start of the movie, is an individual’s feeling when he is associated with a reputed institution. Another theme in display is the age old one of creating a difference. It is a statement that the movie makes which could be summed up in just two lines written by Frost:

Two roads diverged into the woods and I,

I took the one less travelled by.

Dead Poets’ Society is a movie that has a simple plot yet it is wonderfully written. The story revolves around a group of seventeen year olds who are inspired by their English professor to do something different and revive an old society known as the dead poets’ society which read poems by the great poets of America. You would get to hear a lot of great poets and their quotes, Whitman and Byron are ones you would hear almost always. Apart from some great American poets you also would get some display of originality by Keating (played by Robin Williams).

When professor McAllister mocks him about his teaching practices and says, “Show me the heart unfettered by foolish dreams, And I’ll show you a happy man.” Keating replies, “But only in their dreams can men be truly free; ‘twas always thus and always thus will be.”

Closely looking at Keating as a character he was more of a romanticist than a realist. This is evident as he covers the romantics from the syllabus but does not teach the realists, skipping even the essay by Pritchard (a fictional character who wrote an introduction to poetry).

Coming to think of the climax of the movie, it left some questions unanswered, like what became of Keating, what became of the boys who stood up on their desks in support of Keating, what became of Knox and Chris. I guess abrupt would be the word many might use for this ending but I choose two words- full and complete. Of the latter word, I make it to an adverb and say that the ending was completely left to ponder by the viewer. An ending left to ponder is one that is thought over and over again and remembered later for the same reason: the ending. Of what use are questions if they are always answered by someone or another? It becomes real only when you seek to find that answer.