The Invasion

I saw the movie The Invasion and as ridiculous as the movie is, it is thought-provoking. Humans are, seemingly, the only creatures who truly appreciate colour, art, design, music, emotions, intelligence, discovery, etc. When I sit at times and stare at the world around me I see how improbable it is that humans exist, how improbable it is that we are such a dominant species and how improbable it is that all of this is real.

When I say that, I immediately think of, 'Does it matter?'. Does it matter whether everything around us is real ? Would we be different if we were slaves inside a matrix? See, we wouldn't know would we?
Why is this post here? Because, the movie made me think of what humans would be with their humanity stolen... everybody systematic, everything in harmony, no emotions. You see, pleasantness is appreciated when the unpleasant phase is passed through. Happiness is appreciated when bad times are driven away. It is magical to be human and still so disgusting.

We spend our time in atrocious ways and it saddens me deeply. I was happy when I spoke to my American friend the other day and he told me about his 8 day hike to the summit of Mt. Whitney in California. He works for ADM but he loves the rough life, may be it's a great escape to that which is actually real. I have written about the futility of life earlier and this movie reminded me of how precious humanity can be. I miss my crazy laughter. When did you last get out of your city and see something utterly gorgeous? When were you last truly alone?

The Tank Man

The tank man. After the division that had begun and was continued, through aristocracies, the capitalistic world seemed on its way towards greater prosperity. But off late, it seems to me that the division is growing wider.
The tank man stands as an anonymous hero representing the human spirit. I see the conditions under which ordinary 'urban' Indians live their lives; prosperity has been seen but infrastructure is woeful and it also seems as though we Indian really can't do anything to change the way the government is treating us. Isn't there something woefully despicable about this previous statement?

This article has been well written and it talks about the mirage that is the democracy in China.
I see the world moving towards a sorry brink. Nutrition, sanitation and comforts are being spread across a more gentle curve which seems to be flattening out a little more. It makes me sad and I hope we find a way around the upcoming brink.

Woman

The past is important and reading from the past brings us closer. Tagore had thoughts and these thoughts gave rise to speeches around the world. I am currently reading Speeches by Tagore in the book called "Race Conflict and other Speeches". An excerpt from a speech titled Women's Place in the World:

"A man's interest in his fellow beings becomes real when he finds in them some special form of usefulness or striking gift of powers, but a woman feels interest in her fellow-beings because they are human, not because of some particular purpose they can serve, uncommon talent which they may possess. Her exuberance of vital interest is spontaneously expressive; it makes her speech, her laughter, her movement, graceful and picturesque: for the note of gracefulness is in this harmony with all our surrounding interests."

...

"Woman has her natural power that penetrates through the surface to the heart of things, where in the mystery of life dwells an eternal source of interest; and therefore her love has not necessarily to wait for the excitation of surprising qualities. God has sent woman not merely to explore or exploit but to love the world which is a world of ordinary things and events. She is not in the world of fairy tale where the fair woman sleeps for ages till she is touched by the magic wand. In God's world women have their magic wands everywhere, which keep their hearts awake, and these are not the golden wands of wealth nor the iron rods of power.
Of late, with the help of science, civilization has been growing increasingly impersonal in character, so that the full reality of the individual is more and more ignored."

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Tagore wrote well and thought better. It's important for us to look back at what he wrote and from what I have read thus far, this essay has struck me most.

Find your call

A loss of passion and illiteracy describe our time. Machines we be and disillusioned we are.
We understand how to work on excel sheets and write codes; we know how to sell products and how to design buildings but we know very little of who we are, who our ancestors used to be and what the world used to be a mere 200 years ago.
Knowledge of that which is capitalistically useless is quite crucial. There is no crawl and no bewilderment. We are not amazed with new buildings, new machines or new infrastructure. We are enchanted by nature only to capture it in our small photographs. Conversations are restricted to daily chores and mind-numbing gossip sprinkled with the occasional 'knowledge' of that which is useful for success.
Success as a term has lost its relevance because we just cannot sit still. Just look at yourself when in a movie theatre or at home. Things have changed and society has become a glazed shadow of its glorious past when people worked for something truly mighty.

Unshackle

There is something horribly wrong about spending a large chunk of one's day on a computer as opposed to society-oriented work like film-making or reviewing art forms, but not something like cold-calling or boring marketing...
The glory of life is so easily shut out under numbing conditions like succumbing to a work-life. The pursuit of money and of filling up a day with something that is meant to be meaningful (and which very often isn't) may ruin me which is why I take steps to think rationally (something I hope I'm good at but am sure most are not).
Knowing what work can be in a place like Bombay, it pains me to see so many people enslaved, ignorant of the raw beauty of meeting somebody new or seeing something new or at least something different.
It is so easy (as I have seen myself there) to get engaged in a mundane activity which bears no real fruit - but in that moment, it means a lot. "I'm learning" or "I'm getting paid for this" or "I have to do this quickly so my boss is not unhappy with me".
I miss my vacation. It's time for another trip. Going next Friday :)

The Futility of it All

"We are fated to pretend" - MGMT
There is a monotony to life which was encapsulated well by an older man I once spoke to; he said, "Everyone lives like that, why does he think he can live differently."
As one grows older, and I have seen it with a few people, one tends to accept the flow of life and the fact that the ambitions and freedom of a younger age are momentary.
Too many people succumb and hopefully I (and you) don't look back with disgust at this post. Fighting is important and fighting the norm is crucial, it's what makes life - for humans, at least.
'Recreation' has an odd place in Indian diction; outings are social events and social events are largely mandatory.
There is a strong global movement of people going back to themselves and nature, to independence and solitude, to self-actualization and respite from the race - the race that has eaten the very essence of our desire to live.
The futility is in the pursuit of that extra unit of currency. It is a topic I think of ceaselessly and speak of continually. At the expense of hoarding more space on the internet I will say that making a living is essential but forgetting to live is sacrilege.
Earning a living becomes a habit and people refuse to look back or look away or step back to get a better view - the same society, the same neighbourhood, the same commute and yet people get by. Why? Because getting by is what everyone, and I mean everyone, does.

Some of my friends have lambasted my thoughts and/ or my actions for being outrageous or naive or privileged. Many believe that I am a 'wannabe' - with a negative connotation. But I am a wannabe with a whatever connotation. I want to be closer to nature, I want to experience a few of nature's showcases, I want to meet new people and I want to breathe some fresh air, I want to go for Oktoberfest in September of 2011 and I will find a way to go there.

I was writing yesterday, it's something I love; I wrote of limiting restrictions. I hate being answerable to a boss and may be that is a very Gujarati trait in me... I hope that I don't fall for a girl who is ever going to truly doubt my sincerity or restrict my simple desires for travel - that is a massive expectation. So I'm going to be single till I am 47 years old. Alas. Not something I want, which is why I will change my behaviour and limit my eccentricities.

This is an example of letting go of something glorious for something more glorious.
Somewhere, people have it all down in a weird way... "I will take 2-day break from office even though my boss hates it and I will go to Lonavala!!! There, I will eat at Smokin' Joes." Exaggeration - yes. Is it alright to be afraid of being frowned upon and ridiculed for being too carefree with life? Yes. Only because we live in a country where people are aggressive about attaining things - the competition is so fierce that one has to continually outperform. It's a miracle that the IT related jobs came to India, otherwise the pay scales used to be hilarious (They still are I should say).
People don't realise it often but they work for a pittance even though companies can afford something more wholesome for their employees. But people are commodities in India and hence, are not valued. It's something, I believe, that will never change.

So, do we accept this sitting down? We don't have much of a choice do we? Leaving the country is daunting - O with all the burden of family and marriage and Indian food and Indian customs.

My request to all the deadening souls out there - spend a little of what you are earning on something that will last you well. My friend exclaimed the other day, "What fool spends 15 Lac Rupees on a car??!!! - that's insane." And I thought, "Yes, it is. And that same person will think twice about buying a plane ticket to Goa for the weekend. That same person will be outraged at a proposition of spending Rs 50,000 for a vacation."
That is the sad reality of Indian behaviour. It's sad because there is a melancholic monotony to our lives.

For all its evils, I love India and I love what Indians are capable of enduring and creating. I hate the culture that values rote-learning and discipline. I hate the system that encourages paperwork and long lines. I hate the apathy that people have towards things more than 5 minutes away from them - I belong to this club.

I might have to endure terrible pain in the very near future - I might be diagnosed with cancer or suffer from a life-changing injury. I might become a pauper or I might lose my sight. I might have to suffer the loss of people close to me and may be this world ends in 2012. I might suffer from bronchitis or my liver might fail (I won't be able to have wine, bourbon or wheat beer then :( ). Is it wrong for me to want a little adventure and dream just a little? If it's not wrong for me then it isn't wrong for you.
Yes there are restrictions. But please put your foot down and find your spine. Rebellion is glorious. Pain is cruel. Rebel before you succumb.