Elephants can remember, can we?

A dvd on John McCain was lying on the shelf. A piece of paper taped to the shelf said "Free to take"...

I had gone with Bing to check out the Ann Arbor District Library book sale. Generally a good place to be. Anything from cheap novellas to the classics available for a dollar or less! Second hand (or worse) of course but who cares! Among the hundreds of, well, mostly unreadable books and cds/dvds is a shelf for free stuff. These are for things that attract so little attention that it is inconceivable people would be willing to spend even a dollar on them. This is where I saw the dvd on John McCain's life lying around. I felt sorry for him. No not politically but because here was the story of a man who fought for, arguably, the most powerful position in the world and came up second best. As a consequence, today, no one is willing to spend even a buck on him! Would a dvd on Obama's life be 'sold' for free (or even a dollar) anywhere? No way! and that's cos he won, bottomline! Are we humans, as a species, so unforgiving to those who are second best? Are people who come up second best not worthy of being remembered? Are we that critical of failure? I felt a tinge of sadness thinking how unfair this was to the 'runners-up'...but , then, on deeper thought realized that it is not necessarily true that we forget...

The first example that struck my mind were Puskas' Magical Magyars. They lost the 1954 world cup soccer final to a ruthless Germany. How many remember the 1954 dour German team? Not many. How many, however, still talk fondly of Puskas and his team of magical Hungarians?

Then I remembered another instance when the runners-up became way more famous than the winners. The Titans (of 'Remember the Titans' fame) won the State Football championship but were runners-up in the National Championship. How many even know the name of the team that won the national championship that year? Not many I guess. But how many remember, remember always the Titans to this day?

So, I think, its not that history only remembers the winners. I think history only remembers those who manage to capture our imagination. Perhaps Obama managed to do this and McCain didn't. That would at least rudimentarily explain the difference in price and popularity of their lives on dvd.

The Page Turner

I just watched La Tourneuse de Pages (The Page Turner in French) a 2006 psychological thriller by Dennis Dercourt. Absolutely amazing! Very rarely have I seen a movie pan out so effortlessly and naturally in the course of 90 minutes without being loaded in heavy dialogues. Just strong visual imagery, compelling music and gripping sexual tension.

Melanie Provoust's (played by the beautiful Deborah Francois) career as a pianist is nipped in the bud as a 10 year old kid when she fails to win a scholarship to a prestigious institution. Reason: Ariane Fouchecourt (played by Catherine Fort), a celebrated pianist and judge who decides to sign an autograph in the middle of her audition fatally disturbing the fragile child's concentration. Now, I have had this done to me during an elocution competition and I know how pissed off something like this can make you feel...for a day, maybe even two...but then you get over it obviously, right?...but Melanie never does!...and that is what the movie is about...

Years after the incident, Melanie grows up to be a beautiful, polite, reticent, woman who takes up an internship in a law firm with no clear future in mind. She doesn't even look like the type who wants a future...she still looks like the defeated and wronged kid at the audition whose world just ended. Anyways, soon she gets the job of a nanny at her boss's house. The boss's wife is none other than the famous Ariane who has been left a little nervy because of a car accident and is preparing for her make-or-break concert. Slowly Melanie becomes an important part of the household. Her knowledge of piano gets her the job of a page turner for Ariane. This is where I thought that the movie would proceed with Melanie wanting to screw up Araine's concert for revenge but would, in the end, not do so because she was incapable of hurting anyone. How wrong I was!! Not only was Melanie not the quite, good girl that she was shown to be but she turned out to be a cold, calculating woman whose only desire in life was to destroy Ariane and everything around her. By the time she leaves the Fouchecourt household she destroys the entire family - Ariane, her husband and even their little kid.

I took this movie expecting an Autumn Sonata (a quiet, reflective, mother-daughter Ingmar Bergman movie I really enjoyed). The movie turned out to be a fantastic, unpredictable thriller albeit cold and chilling!

Quote, Unquote

A collection of quotes I found (mostly on the web) and really liked ... a trifle pedantic if you are not in the right mood but really good if you think about 'em a little ... so here they are and ofcourse please mention your fav quotes in case you have some ...

• 'Character' is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. - J.C. Watts
  
• Humility does not mean you think less of yourself. It means you think of yourself less. - Ken Blanchard
  
• When I hear somebody sigh, 'Life is hard,' I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?' - Sydney J. Harris
  
• Worrying is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere. - Unknown
  
• Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian. - Dennis Wholey
  
• Why can't life's problems hit us when we're seventeen and know everything? - A.C. Jolly
• If you want something you've never had before, you've got to do something you've never done before. - Drina Reed
  
• No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. - Eleanor Roosevelt
• Only that in you which is me can hear what I'm saying. - Baba Ram Dass
• Don't miss the donut by looking through the hole. - Unknown
• Alice came to a fork in the road. "Which road do I take?" she asked.
  "Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat.
  "I don't know," Alice answered.
  "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
  - Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
• No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head. - Terry Josephson
• The future influences the present just as much as the past. - Friedrich Nietzsche
• When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. - Friedrich Nietzche

The Bucket List

Two terminally ill men (Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman) decide to pen down and then realize their dreams before they 'kick the bucket' in The Bucket List. Just saw it. Nice movie. Pushed me to finally start writing this list ... my own bucket list!

Well, I'll keep updating my bucket list with every new dream that I have. Of course I'll refrain as much as possible from writing about really personal goals ... since they are really personal goals and would make bad reading. Many of my dreams will be doable, many of them too fantastic to be achievable, but then that's fine isn't it? ... after all its a list of wishes and not a list of deliverables! So here they are and not in any particular order:)

1. Travel to Space
2. Visit all the New Wonders of the World: Chichen Itza, Christ the Redeemer, Colosseum, Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, Petra, Great Pyramid of Giza, Taj Mahal (check).
3. Watch an opera in Europe and at the Sydney Opera House
4. Act in a Broadway production
5. Go Skydiving! (atleast tandem)
6. Snowboarding, Sandboarding, Skiing
7. Play the Guitar
8. Understand Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem
9. Get a tattoo (will probably get it on my arms, need to work out a cool design though)
10. Parasailing (check)
11. Drive (or atleast sit) in a Formula 1 car
12. Drive a Lamborghini (ooooh! i love this car)

More later...

Does God Exist?

I get quite peeved [though not visibly!] when some people [including some of my friends] claim that they are atheists because they are men/women of science. Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against atheism. It's a matter of personal opinion. I can't change it, nor do I wish to, simply because there is no reason for me to believe that I am right and the atheists are wrong. I get peeved, however, by people who use science as an excuse to dismiss God and become the "Look I am so cool, I am an atheist!" type. Usually this conversion to atheism is accompanied by a wave of pomposity and condescension...almost as if any person trained in science should logically cease to believe in the existence of God. In fact throughout history there has always been a staunch demarcation drawn between science and religion. Science needs empirical evidence to prove or disprove the existence of God. Religious perceptions of God do not allow empirical observations of the 'omnipresent being'. Hence science and theology remain, till this day, at loggerheads and can't seem to coexist in peace.

So what point am I trying to make here? Simply this. This distinction between science and religion is, in my mind, dubious and manufactured. This is because my perception of God does not violate the principles of science nor the convictions of theology. What is this perception? Here goes ...

I believe that God is not an omnipresent being ... what i really mean is that God is not a being at all. IT (God) is energy, cosmic energy, the entire cosmos itself (note: not HE/SHE but IT). God is everything this Universe is made up of. The sum of every single thing - from living beings to inanimate objects to every single molecule or atom or string (sorry i am a little geeky and also a little touchy about String Theory:)) makes up God. In short, God is the Universe itself. Pause for a second and imagine God as you see HIM/HER. Most of the time when we pray we probably think of an idol (or a messiah) with a face and nose and eyes. We perhaps forget that they are merely a symbolic representation of God, they were really made up only to help us pray - don't you think that it would be a little too presumptuous to imagine that God assumes humanly shape and features? I think God is formless, shapeless and everything that we know of and don't know of, everything in the Universe and everything beyond it if there is anything beyond ...

So how does this perception tie up Science and Religion? This is how:

By assuming that God is not a being but the entire Universe and its energy we immediately make God empirical. Everything that we see around us is by definition tangible, right? Since what we see around us is a part of the cosmos, it is, by our new definition, a part of God itself and hence science has to agree that since a part of God is observable and tangible God definitely exists! On the religious side of things, defining God to be the entire expanse of the Universe makes God by definition omnipresent (theologists happy?:)). Statements made in religion like "We are all a part of God etc." now make sense because we are all clearly a part of our Universe, aren't we?

So I think that science and religion need not be, after all, as contradictory to each other as they are made out to be. If you think about it defining GOD = COSMOS & COSMIC ENERGY is nothing sinister at all. It makes perfect sense. God is supposed to be all powerful, all containing right? Well, the cosmos, the cosmic energy is all powerful and contains everything animate and inanimate in it...

Taking molehills and making mountains out of 'em :)

This post is about a small group my friends and I started in our university. I'll keep the activities of the group a secret (for now that is) but I will tell you that we proudly called ourselves the Parasites. We were like any efficient organization, complete with constitution and all and boy were we 'para'ticular about our names! I was the Parasident of the group :D ... other illustrious members were Parawais(Awais), Paravana(Saravana Dinesh), Parasapien(Krispian), Paranoia(Sonia), Paraditya(Aditya), Paratik(Pratik) etc. ... we also had an email group that was dedicated to discussions and the airing of grievances! So much for utter joblessness!!

What I am about to reproduce [I know it's long, so please bear with it!] is an 'almost verbatim' copy of one mail I had sent to the parasites email group. The story behind the mail is that Dinesh had called up Awais one winter day to find out whether he could catch the Ride bus to the Post Office. Awais convinced him there was no bus and made him walk all the way when there actually was a bus he could have hopped onto. Such an otherwise minor issue is, however, considered to be a serious breach of trust by the Parasites and hence it was decided to have a hearing to decide Awais' punishment. Everything below this para (in italics) is from the hyper-exaggerated mail I sent explaining to the group why we need to have a hearing against Awais. Ofcourse I was not present when Dinesh and Awais talked on the phone, so I just made up a blown-up fictional account of what might have happened! I totally enjoyed writing this. Hopefully you'll find it funny as well! Here goes the mail:)

Fellow Parasites,

Herein I have mentioned the circumstances leading to Parawais' hearing to take place during dinner. The defendant Parawais would be represented by Parasapien if present or Parawais himself, if Parasapien is absent. The prosecution Paravana will be represented by Paranoia. The proceedings will be presided by the paronorable Paraditya.

To all those of you who have not yet been witness to a Parasite Case of Justice, it is a must watch! The judgement is usually predecided before-on by the Parasident. At the end of the proceedings, the testimony is duly considered by the presiding parasite. If the evidence is in conjunction with the Parasident's judgement the matter is closed. If not, then all forms of evidence are strongly condemned and the pronouncement remains the same. This system has been borrowed from the great Saddam Hussain of Iraq.

Story behind the hearing:

It was a bitterly cold morning. For 22 year old (feels like 60) Paravana Thogulua, it was an especially cold and bleak morning....but the job had to be done, his OPT had to be posted today, kya pata kal ho na ho? Standing outside Kroger, he looked at the heavens above, probably begging for mercy. The Clouds above were obviously deaf or even if they were not, they were certainly not willing to listen to a near-frozen parasite. As if to mock his abject state, the snow thickened....Slowly, painfully Paravana took a hand out of his pocket and dialed the number of his 'trusted' friend, Parawais.

"Hey Parawais, is th-there a b-bus to get to the Green Road Post Office?", Paravana was now struggling to get the words out.

"No bus goes there", replied Parawais from the comfort and warmth of the sofa at his home. As always he was sure of himself.

"Are you s-sure?" asked Paravana. It was more of a statement made in disappointment than a question. For members of the Parasite group, Parawais' words were Gospel, "What's t-the w-way to g-get there?" By now Paravana's shivering had almost made way to an advanced form of St. Vitus' dance.

"You will have to walk, comrade", again the same voice, cold, sure, almost mechanical."You will have to walk along blahblah road to reach the Post Office. Don't worry its only 5 minutes."

Suddenly, Paravana cheered up. He had been trained, ruthlessly trained in the NCC in his undergrad. He had trained in temperatures of 40 degrees centigrade, hour after hour without breaking down. Here he needed to walk for 5 minutes only and the temperature was only 45 degrees less than what he was used to. In the cold of the morning, Paravana's chest suddenly swelled up as he steeled himself for the walk. "I'll make it", he told himself, "Its just five minutes, I'll make it".

Five minutes passed. The dull grey granite of the Post Office showed no signs of appearing. Five minutes passed to ten; ten to twenty. Slowly Paravana's hopes turned to disbelief. Could Parawais his trusted friend have lied to him? No, No that was impossible...O wrethched mind! that maketh a friend distrust a friend!...but yet.......

After a painful walk for 40 minutes, Paravana finally arrived at the Post Office, and what should he see there but O lord!....a ride bus no. 2 stop right opposite the Post Office!? Suddenly, Paravana's doubts turned to certainty, his love and respect for his friend into anger...he had been betrayed! betrayed by his own friend! O God! Let not the man of mind trust a friend again.

With tears burning down his cheeks, Paravana remembered all the nights he and Parawais had spent together talking balderdash...but what had to be done, had to be done ... such irresponsibility could not be pardoned. He decided to report the matter to his Parasident and leave it to his fine judgement to decide Parawais' chastisement.

Parasident


Ofcourse the only punishment it led to was that Awais paid the bill for the dinner! :) I agree the pronouncement was somewhat light compared to the ones meted out by the late great Saddam Hussain of Iraq but then I always was a benevolent Parasident :)

A want always ...

Nitin has been telling me to do it. Yesterday Dinky convinced me. So here goes ... henceforth I shall write a blog!

Shoot! Don't think I could have come up with a campier, cheesier, more conceited beginning than this, could I have? "henceforth I shall write a blog!" :D ... I mean, really, with all due respect this ain't exactly Dali announcing his new whim ... and yet, this is in some way momentous to me ... momentous because I have always wanted to do this ... momentous because I somehow seldom do what I always want to do ... Yes it's strange, strange how I find it weirdly satisfying to just stand on this side of the bridge and just want to be on the other side ... just stand, stare and want ... always just want ...