3 Lessons from the Movie 'Cast Away'

No one watching a beautiful movie like 'Cast Away' can miss out on these three life lessons.

1. Love isn't about those romantic cuddles, walking into the sunset holding hands, or dancing with a gang of hundred people clad in flashy attires. It is about being 'together' even while staying away from one another, even when there is nothing more to offer to one another, physically or emotionally.

2. Loneliness isn't just about sitting alone and sullen. It is about taking the time to evolve, learning from that solitude, taking it as a chance for deep contemplation and personal betterment.

3. Hope isn't just about hanging in there and believing that things will improve on their own. It is about grabbing the initiative, performing one's own little part in the great chain of events and trying one's best to improve the situation.

 

No wonder this movie remains one of those beautiful ones in my 'all-time favorites' list!

Book Review – On Writing, Stephen King

‘What is the point of reading the Scriptures anymore, now that I have listened to the Sermon on the Mount?’

This exact line came to my mind when I finished reading this book. Who else can teach you the art of writing better, if not one of the best writers of our times? Now, Stephen King may not have won Nobel for literature, but tested in terms of the number of readers and monetary success, he is one of the top ten authors in the world currently. In fact, one of the recent issues of Forbes placed him fifth in the list of world’s highest paid authors for 2016.

I haven’t read even a single book of Stephen King prior to this nor am I a big fan of his brand of fiction. But that didn’t deter me from picking up this book, when it popped up in my Amazon recommendation list. I am glad that I did.
 

This book consists of three parts. The first part forms the memoirs of Stephen, starting from his not-so-happily-memorable childhood of having been raised by a single-mother struggling to make ends meet by doing every odd job available. Stephen’s love and admiration for his mother subtly shines throughout the book. His formative years as a writer and his journey towards the pinnacle have been captured in good measure as well. Any person who goes through all that Stephen has and still retains his passion for doing the thing that he loves deserves to win, I would say.

The second - and more important - part for which I picked the book is filled with suggestions and tips about the art of writing. I didn’t want to go through a formal, boring list of Do’s and Do Not’s that would make a dent in my natural flow as such and Stephen King has stayed true to his reputation. If you are looking for a formal course on the art of writing, sorry, this book is not for you. If, on the other hand, you want to listen to a senior and accomplished writer sitting by your side and sharing his wisdom with you in a matter-of-fact manner, then this is a book that you must read. I was really impressed going through the pages. Dreaming of becoming a writer myself, I could identify my flaws, ascertain my strengths and get some warm affirmation while reading through these pages.

In the last part Stephen shares his harrowing experience in a van accident that threatened to hamper his physical movement, and his recovery from it, both physical and mental. Aptly titled ‘On Living’, this chapter is a touching end to a lovely book. As I finished reading, I couldn’t help admire his ability to keep even a non-fiction book so riveting. An interesting book on the art of writing, starting from framing ideas in the mind to putting them on paper, to handling that dreaded disease called ‘writer’s block’ which every person successfully wielding the pen has gone through at least once in his/her writing career.

A must read, if you’re a budding writer or are wanting to become one!

Happy Independence Day - 2016!

Seven decades ago, the Sun coming up on the Eastern horizon of this country would have noticed joyous scenes all around. All through His whole sojourn up there, He would have noticed people waving the tricolor, chanting, dancing and jumping with joy, for it was the day when this nation woke up redeeming its pledge, fulfilling its 'tryst with destiny'.

The Sun, 70 years older today, would be witnessing the same nation going through the motions with the spirit of Freedom and patriotism watered down, manipulated and moulded to fit each of our own narrow interests.

While it is easy to get carried away and feel a bristling sense of 'patriotism' amidst all the special events and symbols of the nation freely flaunted today, the real patriotism is what we carry in our hearts and display on a daily basis.

Go through the lives and letters of all those leaders and little-known freedom fighters that gave their all for attaining freedom for this nation of theirs and we will know that we are incapable of the level of ethics, honesty, grit and morality that they displayed as a matter of habit.

While it may not be possible for us to follow them in their giant footprints, having become the corrupt and selfish puny ones that we are all today, we may try to emulate as little of their deeds as possible to us.

There are 364 days more for the next Independence Day and let's make a pledge today. For the next 12 months, let us try to become the worthy citizens of this great land. Let's fight corruption and let's equally fight pollution. Let's obey the traffic rules and also the tax laws. Let's learn the lives and words of the past giants, while trying to shake off our petty interests. Let's work for the common interest, while working on overcoming our human selfishness. Let's treat our women with equality, while they learn what their real freedom is. Let's take a pledge to protect the national monuments, while caring also for her natural resources and ecological system. Let's burn our narrow caste and religious identities, while evolving spiritually, brightening the beacon of spiritual wisdom that this glorious land of ours was once for this whole world!

Overall, let us be the real patriots that silently and solemnly keep working for the welfare of this land as well as that of this whole beautiful world, instead of reserving our 'patriotism' for some special days or for sports matches.

Let's ensure that the pledge we made with the destiny and our tryst are consummated to the whole, instead of wilting away as just another failed affair!

Jai Hind!

Modern-Day Rishyasringas!

Those who have a fair idea of Hindu Mythology and Puranas would have definitely known about the sage Rishyasringa. Brought up only by his father Vibhandaka, a sage who hated the entire womenfolk due to the treatment meted out to him by the celestial dancer Urvashi, he never knew the presence of the opposite gender. He grew up without even knowing about the existence of women and the pull of the primal instincts. Having been brought up as a perfectly chaste and unique celibate, he fell face down at the first sign of 'trouble'. He was very easily seduced by a courtesan from the kingdom of Angha, whose mere sight unleashed all the unfelt desires deep inside his mind and he was very easily conquered by the lure of physique.

These days, I am feeling that all of us are being turned into Rishyasringas of a different kind. Have you ever noticed the increasing amount of advertisements for sanitisers and washes - ranging from face to body to 'intimate'?! Now there is even a special sanitiser for use after cutting vegetables!

Where is all this senseless and hedonistic hygiene headed?! What are we trying to protect ourselves from? Are we growing so insensible to the fact that the more we keep ourselves hidden from something the less immune we become towards it? And, any person with a very basic idea about the human body will be very much aware of the fact that this whole human body is teeming with micro-organisms of varied kinds, that having a 'clean' body without the proverbial 99.99% 'germs' is impossible. While basic hygiene is essential and a good thing for our own sakes, as for the sake of those around us, splashing the chemicals on our bodies and splurging on such cleansers and sanitisers is definitely not the right thing to do. It may be good for those companies that make such products, but for us mere mortals, such hedonistic indulgences in personal 'hygiene' will end up only in our turning more flimsy, fragile and vulnerable to the first signs of 'trouble'. After all evolution and immunity work by facing the challenges and overcoming them, not in such superficial measures and methods!

Book Review - Nationalism, Rabindranath Tagore

What a bore! Rabindranath Thakur might have been a great poet and philosopher, but he seems to have known little about the art of conveying the ideas succinctly so that they can reach their target audience.

Nationalism is another sick form of vile separatism that keeps the humans away from one another. While writing about such a critical concept shouldn't he consider the vast majority of laymen that might benefit by reading and contemplating on such topics?!

Agreed, these were lectures delivered by him for an elite audience at the West and the East, but I doubt that even those 'elite audience' would have kept rapt attention on his words. Once you cross some 20 lines you lose track of what you're reading about. I couldn't read it more than two pages at a time. Too wordy and tiresome.

Wish Thakur had known that no idea, however great it might be, would be driven home clearly, when presented using words that are too poetic and too abstract for attention!

Book Review – Rajmohan’s Wife, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

One of the resolutions that I had taken for this year was to improve my reading habits and expand the range of topics and authors. Bengali literature was one of the targets that I had kept for myself. Though I have already dabbled a bit with Tagore’s writings, this book of Bankim Chandra is my first proper foray into this much romanticized portion of Indian literature. I am happy in the end for having taken up this book.

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay is one of the leading names in Bengali Classical literary stage and this novel ‘Rajmohan’s Wife’ is his only work in English. There are quite a lot of debates about why he didn’t continue writing in English choosing instead to write only in his mother tongue, Bengali. Let’s leave the debate for others and get into knowing about this much-acclaimed work of his.

Matangini, the character that lends the title to the book, is the wife of Rajmohan, a good-for-nothing brute, incapable of earning a living in honest and proper ways. Matangini, being a woman of virtues, bears his oppressive nature silently. Madhav Ghose, the heir of a rich family, is the husband of Matangini’s sister Hemangini. Caring for Matangini’s family, he takes them with him to his native place where he offers a job to Rajmohan, thus providing for his family. Rajmohan is paranoid, unethical, and of the nature that can bite the very hands that feed him. One day when Rajmohan conspires against Madhav, joining with some other forces that want to grab the wealth of Madhav, Matangini makes an uncharacteristic journey alone in the dark and dangerous night to Madhav’s place to warn him, thus warding off the calamity that could have befallen Madhav. It turns out also to be the night when her love and pent up passions for her brother-in-law Madhav are expressed for the first time. What happens after these two events is what the novel is all about.

As for the quality of writing, there was never a dull moment in the book. Starting from the portrayal of the characters to the climax, it is an absolute roller-coaster of a book. Emotions, virtues, melodrama, peeks into the culture of bygone days, thrill, humor, sarcasm – it is all there in this book. But there are some occasional grammatical errors, which, when pointed out by English readers, could have been a cause in Bankim’s dropping his attempts to write in English. Remember, this book was written in 1864, more than 150 years ago, when it was a thing of astonishment to see an Indian using the language of his rulers to express his ideas and opinions, let alone attempt a full-length novel.

There are some negative points though. This is not a ‘full-length’ novel, in fact. For all his vivid ways of depicting characters, building up the tempo and portrayal of the emotions, Bankim ends the novel in an abrupt fashion. Just as you start warming up for a more delicious feast, the climax is brought up, as if somebody waved the checkered flag just on the tenth lap of a Formula One race. He finishes the book in a hurry, noting down the fate of the characters in a line or two. Just imagine! Having the chance to dwell on the emotional high-drama of the pure love between Madhav and Matangini, the possibility of setting an example for the womenfolk of those days by letting us know the decision of Matangini about her relationship with the villainous Rajmohan, are just two reasons that could have added at least another couple of interesting chapters to the book.

But the book having come at a time it did, it wouldn’t have been possible for Bankim to portray the heroine as anything less than the highly noble and virtuous female that she is. Not just Matangini, some of the other characters in the book, Kanak and Tara, are also portrayed to be women of virtue and moral courage, who nevertheless abide by the customs of the time, leading silent and submissive lives in the shadows of their unworthy husbands. Also, the way in which the author finishes off his note on the life and future of our lovable Matangini, proves that this was not a book that intended to break a new path for the women of high character stuck in a moral dilemma, but a book that wanted to glorify the oft-praised qualities of women – sacrifice and chastity.

All in all, this book will be a breezy read and a worthy addition to your collection.

Book Review – India’s Struggle For Independence, Bipan Chandra

It is said that history is written by the victors, which means that the facts are often twisted to suit the needs and to the advantage of the writer. While Bipan Chandra does nothing to twist the facts, he has managed to take a partial view of the facts, as always. This is the second book by this same set of authors that I have read and just like the first one – ‘India Since Independence’ – this book also stands as a glaring testimony to the author’s/authors’ parochial attitude towards Congress.

While I am not one of those growing majority who take special pleasure in bashing Gandhi, Nehru and innumerable Congressmen who had given their all for the freedom struggle, what I cannot accept is projecting Congress as the one and only organization that brought freedom to the country. Never!

It is really a good work by the authors. Documenting the history of the freedom struggle of our country spanning a period of almost a century is no easy task. The authors deserve appreciation for even taking up such a big task. But what is not good about the book is the way in which the history is presented.

The efforts of anyone other than Congress is puffed away as puny or not paid as much attention as it deserves. Bhagat Singh, Bismil, Azad and other such daredevil youngsters have all got tagged as ‘terrorists’. Truth it might be, for their having taken up the violent methods to attain freedom, but something is not right about the way in which he belittles the efforts of even people like Bose. To prove my point, the entire episode of INA is given only one page with the overall part of Subhas Chandra Bose being reduced to just another also-ran!

The book should be renamed as ‘Congress’s Struggle for Independence’, because that is all you will ever read in this book. The author’s having a special liking to Nehru is quite apparent from his way of writing.

I would suggest that one can go for much better books than this, if one wants to read about the struggle for Indian independence in an unbiased manner.