"Because it's there...."

Of late, I have been seeing a lot of documentaries around mountaineering. For some reason, I am hooked into the experiences of these folks whose sole purpose in life is to conquer the mountains of the world. I don’t know if it’s their perseverance to reach the top or their restless energy (adrenaline rush) or their sense or just pure ego that enthralls me. It’s just captivating to see them go against all odds to and beat Mother Nature in her own game.

A recent documentary I watched was around the journey that George Mallory took to summit Mt. Everest in 1929. He was the one who said the most famous three words in mountaineering. When someone asked him why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, he said “BECAUSE IT’S THERE”. He was one of the first climbers to find a way to summit Mt. Everest, even though, till now, no one has conclusively proved that George Mallory reached the summit. His body was found 75 years later a few feet below the summit, surprisingly very well preserved. This movie was about how another mountain climber took the same journey that Mallory took 75 years back to see if he could prove that Mallory did indeed summit Mt. Everest.

While I was watching this movie, the one question that kept coming back to me was “Why would anyone do anything when there is so much risk involved in it?” The reason this journey was so risky was because this mountain climber was trying to use the gears that Mallory used 75 years back to climb the most difficult terrain in the world.  I saw with wonder and irritation, how a sense of adventure turned into an obsession for both Mallory and this mountain climber. That’s when I understood why these folks do what they do. It’s not just a hobby for them. It’s just not about passion and love for mountain climbing. It’s not just about adrenaline rush. It’s more than that. It’s about supremacy. There’s nothing powerful than Mother Nature and nothing comes closer to attaining that power than being as closely as in touch with nature and conquering her. It not only gives you a sense of accomplishment, but it also proves to the world and to yourself, that for a moment in your life, a single moment in your life, you have achieved the impossible. The truth is that, they deserve to feel that way, because, the kind of perseverance they need, to summit tallest peak doesn’t come easily. It’s in-born.

I don’t know how it feels to reach the tallest point in the world or say the toughest terrain in the world and I don’t think I will ever know. But, maybe, just maybe, one day, I will at the least get the opportunity to climb a few mountains and if I do, one of my long pending dreams will come true.

Is it time for a Revolution?

Wondering why I haven't blogged for a while; Well, I guess it's the writer's block. I have been trying to get ideas out of mind into paper/screen for quite a while and haven't been inspired anything so far. I am not sure if it's because of the weather in my city or monotony of routine. I think I am going to blame the weather in this instance.

So, in order for me to get started somewhere, I have decided to broach a sensitive subject. Unfortunately, I can no longer live in a world of pseudo- reality when I fully know where India- country with the largest democracy is heading.

Given the recent bomb incidents that have taken place in Mumbai, I tend to wonder where “Law & Order” and in turn justice is hiding in our constitution. We boast ourselves as the largest democracy in the world. We boast of India as the one of the most “happening” places in terms of economy and job market. We boast ourselves as a country with rich culture and family values and one of the most peaceful countries in the world. Why, then, is it difficult for citizens of India to feel safe secure? Why is it difficult for common man to find justice in a place filled with high rates of crime that includes child abuse, child labor, rape and murder? Why is that scams and corruption have become the norm with people fully knowing that the politicians and their aides who participate in acts of corruption, scams and even murder will never be punished? Is India cursed for the fact that she have never invaded another country or fought a war ? Has our motherland paid too much for being called one of the most peaceful loving countries?  Have we become such apathetic and cowardly that we are totally indifferent to what happens next door or to our fellow citizens?

I don’t have answers to these questions. I wish I did. I really don’t know the direction in which the country is heading. All I know is that people can no longer live under the pretext of accepting things as they are and carrying on the human spirit because I am not sure if there’s any left. I used to be an idealist who thought that one person can make a difference. Now, I know that is never going to happen. When the powers to be (celebrities, buiness tycoons etc..) themselves remain neutral and not want to make a difference, which commoner will step forward? It won't just take another Gandhi to free India from the termites that live within the country, but billions of people coming together for their motherland to retain the value she once had.

Wisdom for the day: The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.

Let Go

To "let go" does not mean to stop caring. It means I can't do it for someone else.

To "let go" is not to cut myself off. It's the realization that I can't control another.

To "let go" is to admit powerlessness, which means the outcome is not in my hands.

To "let go" is not to try to change or blame another. It's to make the most of myself.

To "let go" is not to care for, but to care about.

To "let go" is not to fix, but to be supportive.

To "let go" is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being.

To "let go" is not to be in the middle, arranging all the outcomes, but to allow others to affect heir own destinies.

To "let go" is not to deny, but to accept.

To "let go" is not to nag, scold, or argue, but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.

To "let go" is not to adjust everything to my desires, but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.

To "let go" is not to regret the past, but to grow and live for the future.

To "let go" is to fear less and to love more.

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Poems from my Past

For reason unknown, I am always mighty impressed by folks who have a talent for expressing their inner most feelings in the most elegant way - through POEMS. I am spellbound by the power of words that are so fluently expressed through them. Fortunately, in my lifetime, I have known a few people who are very good poets. One of them was a school friend of time. I was going through some of my old diaries when I came across some beautiful Tamil (my native language) poems written by this dear friend of mine. I was a great admirer of her during school days and I was so happy to find these poems since it brought back all the memories we shared. I really hope that she hasn't stopped writing poems.

Here are a couple of them for the world to read..

Poem 1:

காந்தமாய் நீ வந்து இழுத்த்ச் சென்றுவிட்டாய்

என் மனதை !

ஆனால்,

முதற் இறுக்கத்திற்கும்

முதற் இணக்கத்திற்கும் இடையில்

நான் படும் பாடு

என்னை யன்றி யார் அறியக் கூடும்

மெல்லத் திரும்புகின்றேன் நான்

என்னையறியாமல்!

உன்னோடு ,

தொட்டும் தொடாத்துமாக

உறவு வைத்துக்கோள்ள!

கண்டுபிடிக்க முடியவில்லை!

அம்முகத்தின் உணர்ச்சிகளை

படித்தறிய முடியவில்லை!

ஓவ்வொருவரிடமும் குறும்புத்தனமாக

பேசிச் சிரிக்கும் அம்முகம்

உண்மையில் எதை நினைத்துதான்

உணர்ச்சிகளை காட்டுகின்றது என்பதை

அறிய முடியவில்லை!

Poem 2:

நான் நாடி சென்ற நட்பு

எளிதில் கிடைக்காதபோது

நான் சிலருக்கு மறுத்த என் அன்பு

என்னைத் தீயாய் சுட்டது !

World's toughest Job!

Isn’t it true that we “really”, really appreciate things in our life once we experience them ourselves? We cannot appreciate friendship without being a friend; we cannot appreciate love without falling in love; we cannot appreciate marriage unless we are in one (or divorced); we cannot appreciate humor unless we know how to laugh at ourselves and the list goes on…. We don't live through other experiences. We live through ours.

So, even though I have appreciated my parents a lot, until the point when I actually held my son and saw that little bundle looking at me with helplessness and wonder, I never ever, even for once think how big of a role my parents played in my life. Not even for a second did it pass my mind that the life that I am living today was given by them. I just took my life for granted, but the truth is that they shaped it from the moment I came screaming into this world. They may not be as influential in my life now as they used to be, but God, where will I be without them? It’s a question that I never want to find the answer for.

Parenting is such a tough job. At no point can you just shrug your shoulders and say “I am done. I am outta here”. Once you get into it - that is it. It takes different sort of courage to keep working on a relationship that lays the foundation for a human life when there’s no incentive for the parents in the long run. That’s why I admire my parents or for that matter, any parents, who made their relationship work through thick and thin for their kids.

I have had a wonderful life and I owe that to my parents and my family. I was not an easy child to bring up and never once have I seen my parents rattle or give up. I have a tough task ahead of me and the one question that keeps coming into my mind frequently is: Will I give for my son, what my parents gave me? Honest and truthful answer is – I DON’T KNOW. But I am hopeful, because, I realize that parenting is something you learn through years. There’s no “Idiots guide to Parenting” or “12 quick steps to Parenting” guide out there. I read somewhere that the job description for parenting goes like this:

“You need to show affection without sentiment, authority without abuse of power, discipline without aggression, humor without ridicule, sacrifice without obligation and companionship without possessiveness. “

Ugh?!!?? Sounds like a fun job!!!! Well, I need another post to explain how I have become helpless now in my son’s hand and so you can see what this job does to you!!!! :-0

Bigger is not always "Better"

Well, I am back. Life has been so busy that I haven’t had the time to pen (I mean type) my thoughts. Let me say that every time I decide to blog, I draw a blank on the subject that I want to blog on. I know there are lots of topics, but for some reason, I always draw a blank.

Having said that, I thought I will blog about the “Movie of the Year” in the Indian Movie Industry – Endhiran- The Robot. I was thinking of watching this movie once the DVD or Blu-ray got released, but the hype around it and the way my friends talked about it, I thought I will give it a shot. As usual, my husband was least interested and I had to drag him to the theatre to watch this movie. We were 20 minutes late, but realized that we didn’t miss much. In fact, my brother-in-law’s comment on my going late was that I missed the best part of the movie (the first 20 minutes:-o!!!!)

By now, everyone would have read like zillion versions/reviews of this movie in the web. So, I am not going review this movie. What I want to ask, basically, is this: Is Bigger better? Do you really think that Endhiran is a landmark movie in Indian Cinema?

I realize that this movie is supposed to be the land-mark movie in terms of special effects/technology usage in Indian movie making, but does it mean that this movie is one of the better movies that get released in the Indian market and in the international market?

I found nothing innovative in the storyline. There were absurd scenes in the second half that made me wonder what had happened to Shankar, the director of the movie. To me, this is one of Shankar’s mediocre movies and we all know most of Shankar’s movies have tight screenplay and wonderful storyline. The only other Shankar movie I wasn’t impressed with was “Boys” and I am sure it’s on everybody’s list. And not to say the least, the special effects were not definitely “Hollywood Standard”. Some scenes stood out and kudos to Shankar for that, but on the whole, this was just another love triangle with stitched special effects that didn’t fit into the canvas drawn by Shankar.

The only thing that kept this movie together was Superstar’s performance, charisma and screen presence.  If this movie didn’t have Rajni, it would have flopped. Period. If anyone thinks otherwise, let’s have a debate. My, what a screen presence!

I appreciate the effort put in by the team to make this movie and I know it’s easy to criticize and difficult to innovate, but if we need to gain international market, we need to do far better than “Endhiran”. We still have only 2 genre in our Indian Cinema – “Masala Action” and “Love”. With just these 2 genre, Indian Cinema will never be able to compete with World Cinema, no matter how tech savvy the Indian Cinema becomes.

Endhiran is not a sci-fi film. It falls into the former category I mentioned above. Endhiran is also a  good example of why bigger is not always better.I just wish Shankar had put in some thoughts to the screenplay and brought in some innovations to the story. Instead, he spent in on special effects that just didn’t make sense. Endhiran is just another attempt to move Indian Cinema in the right direction. My guess is that we need to wait for quite some time to see the “landmark” movie that changes the landscape of Indian Cinema.

TIME TO COOK

I was watching the movie Julie & Julia, which is based on two true stories and realized how much I missed cooking. The movie is about the protagonist, Julie, whom, in order to prove herself decides to cook 564 recipes in 365 days from Julia Child’s cookbook. The movie was fun, interesting and in a way, inspiring. I don’t cook as much as I want to and I give excuses like work, managing a toddler, blah, blah and blah…. Watching this movie made me think as to why I don’t cook as much as I used to. The truth is that I don’t manage my time as effectively as I would like to. I do know a few folks who manage time so well and I envy them. Seriously, I really don’t know how they do it - manage a family, house and be a gourmet cook at the same time.

Take my sister for example. She has such a busy life and still, she finds time to cook; a task she loves as much or sometimes more than her family. Every time I call her home, she is in the kitchen cooking something or the other. She always compliments her own cooking in nothing less than superlative terms and somehow she manages to put me in agony and bewilderment at the same time. I feel agony because I want to eat whatever she is cooking and bewilderment because she will be focused on her task of cooking in the midst of the chaos around her caused by her kids and husband. Literally, I can hear laughing, crying, running, throwing, violin, music and the blender running at the same time.

You would think that she will do something else during the weekends when she is at home (this is rare, trust me), but then, you call anytime during the day, the same thing happens. On top of it, she will cook in abundance, that, the chance of leftovers lasting for more than month is not an exaggeration. When I visit her, there's always a lot of food with a lot of choices at any time of the day. I really don’t know how her kids and her husband manage to stay in shape, in spite of all her cooking. When I visit her, it becomes worse. She cooks and cooks and cooks. In fact, it will be odd if she is not in the kitchen.

The truth is cooking is a stress reliever for her and for many folks who love to cook. I haven’t seen her at ease as much in the kitchen as anywhere else. She is so relaxed that I don’t feel surprised, when she ends up cooking so much within such a short span of time. I think it gives her a sense of accomplishment at the end of a hectic day filled with uncertainties, ups and downs. Sometimes, you feel this void, no matter, what you do in a day and I think cooking fills this void and relieve you of the stress you go through during the day.

So, after writing this post, I should be inspired by my sister and start cooking every day so that I can become this super cook someday. Will I do that? Only time and my husband will tell : -). Till then, I will keep on piling excuses on why I don’t want to cook every day and look up to my sister to do the cooking for both of us!!!!