Rich and developed...

There is an advantage of being born into an aristocratic family - you can afford to not work and do whatever it is you want to do. But, being born into a not-so-rich family will preclude this option, and if you still choose this option, you will be called a useless hopeless loser.

While everyone realizes this, what they fail to realize is the following, which, in my opinion, is an immediate analogue to the above.

There is an advantage of being born in a developed country - you can afford to think about yourself throughout your life and still be considered a successful citizen, patriotic even. But, being born in a developing country will preclude this option, and if you still choose to not bother about your country, you will not necessarily be called a useless selfish loser, sadly...

Stated differently, being born in a developing country inherently puts you in a situation where the quality of your life, in terms of the way you conduct yourself, the way and the number of people you influence, is required to be exemplary. If I can call a developing country a worse place to be than a developed country, it is like the expectation is more from you if you are in the worse place. But then again, every place went through this period where a few generations had to stand up against their challenges and slog to push the country into the 'developed' bed so that the following generations could afford to doze comfortably.

So, I guess the point I am trying to make is that being born in a developing country, we cannot afford to put ourselves before the country, we cannot afford to be near-sighted, to not think about what we can do for the country, to just sit in our living rooms and rant about the government's flawed policies, to see the consequences of the divisive politics in play today and not do anything about it, to see the petrol prices rising and not try to brainstorm for workarounds, to see our cities being bombed and remain silent when we see the government do nothing about it, to see our institutes which were once the best schools to learn being ruined and keep quiet. We cannot afford the status quo... This is our time, we are the generation required to work hard to push our country ahead in the right direction, we are the ones required to take up this daunting task, we are the ones required to make the sacrifice, the ones required to revert to our principles, the ones who have the opportunity to do things that will make our future generations thank us, the ones who have the chance to change the way things work, the ones to push India into the 'developed' bed. We are the 'chosen ones'...

Why So Serious?

I believe "The Dark Knight" deserves the top spot it has earned on IMDb. This post is more a testimony to the characters Batman and Joker themselves than to Chris Nolan and Heath Ledger.

Though I don't like superheroes, Batman has grown to be my favourite. The reason is his strength - his anonymity. It is the purest form of service - to fight for justice and to expect nothing in return, not even recognition. To be able to satisfy oneself with the only fact that justice is being reinforced. To be called a wealthy industrialist with no big concern for the city when actually risking one's life for the betterment of the city. He is an embodiment of service in its purest form.

And that is exactly where the Joker scores. The kind of lunatic who could do outrageous acts for no reason, commit crime not for money or power, but for the establishment of anarchy, for reigning chaos. To fight against justice and expect nothing in return. To be able to satisfy oneself with the only fact that lawlessness is the only law. To be called a lunatic, a freak, when actually risking everything for what one believed in, and rightly so, for the Joker's doctrines are those of a lunatic, a freak. He is the true 'Professor Chaos'.

As the Joker himself says, the conflict is like when an irresistible force meets an immovable object. The concept kind of reminds me of the movie 'Seven' which also has a similar theme. But, unlike there, the Batman makes the Joker lose by losing himself, by sacrificing his options to prove his vigilante image wrong - another point that reinforces the Joker's claim that the Batman 'completes' him. The underlying theme is heavily inter weaved with ironies and seemingly paradoxical situations. The whole Batman-Joker battle has been elevated to an ideological stratagem, and that is what makes the movie brilliant. And Chris Nolan has proved his genius thus. But, it would be unfair not to mention Ledger's owning of the role of the Joker. The body language, the dialogue delivery are exemplary, perfect even. A must watch. Probably more than once!

Long time no see...

Usually, the reason I am out of the blogosphere is because I don't have much to talk about. But, this time, it has been because I have too many things to talk about. In fact, I cannot list the things I would like to talk about - starting from the education system in India, to the traditional Indian mindset, from the Nuclear deal to Dhoni sitting out of a Test series, from coalition politics to marriage and life. But, I have refrained from writing here as I have felt the need to organize my thoughts before I scribble them here - I am thinking I should have a personal blog where I could scrap my thoughts often, organize them and put them here. But, I guess that will be too much work, and knowing me, I would rather wait till I am more organized in my mind...

Cyberchondriac?

When I first put up this status message, I never expected it to turn into another post on my blog... But here's the interesting thing. I came across this new word - Cyberchondriac, somewhere on the net. And I learnt that it referred to a person who suspected that he had a certain illness after reading about it on the internet. Now, the first time I read that, it rang a bell. I have done that on numerous occasions. For instance, I believe I have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and the belief originated after I read the Wiki article on it. There have been other cases which I will safely omit here. But, it seemed fairly clear to me that I was a Cyberchondriac.

I took an instant liking to the word, and because I believed I was one, I put it up as my status message on GMail. And then, it struck me... I was suspecting that I am a Cyberchondriac after reading about Cyberchondriacs on the internet! And that, in my opinion, is testimonial enough to me being one... The subtle recursion, or positive feedback associated with the word left me fascinated, and so the post.

Births and lives...

I was kind of outraged when I saw this news article on IBNLive। There is no doubt that this kid has had a birth not usual among her classmates. There is also no doubt that whatever compensation her parents were supposed to get (which I guess is for trying out something that wouldn't be tried normally especially in the superstitious days of the 80's) they should. I sympathize her for whatever promise has not been kept. But, does that mean this girl can proclaim herself to be "सब्से अलग"? I mean, it was courageous on part of her parents. But, how can she say since she was the first Indian test-tube baby, she expects a life out of the ordinary? I think there are a lot of people in a similar situation. It is right on part of the media to highlight this issue as an example of the government's negligence but totally unacceptable as an example of a 'special' life going awry, which seems to be the motive behind the article.

Phew!

Its been a tiring quarter, and being on the other side of it makes me glad. If there is one thing I have learnt this quarter, it is that one shouldn't take four courses in a quarter.

Being jobless after a long time, I have sped through the first three seasons of 24 in record time. Have also watched a number of movies. But, two movies impressed me particularly - Philadelphia and Jodhaa Akbar.

Philadelphia was quite different from the movies I have seen recently. The story was backed by a strong theme - highlighting the discrimination against homosexuals and people suffering from sexually transmitted diseases, and was strengthened by some amazing acting by both Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. One of those movies that would've forced me to think about Law had I seen it before I delved into Science - "Every now and again, not often, but occasionally, you get to be a part of justice being done. That really is quite a thrill..." - Inspiring!

Jodhaa Akbar was good in its own way. Though there were a few things that could have been done better, the message the story had, and its relevance to contemporary India almost obscured the shortcomings. Whether it is historically sound or not, the story reminds people of, what has today become one of the very badly needed qualities in a man - religious tolerance. That morality and humanity supersede religious formalities has been upheld finely by Akbar's character.

I like movies that teach me something, movies with morals. And both these movies reminded me that I had forgotten one very important essence of life in the diverse world I live in today - tolerance...

Godsend?

No, I don't suddenly believe in God. But, there has been a sudden change, because of a series of revelations, and a serendipitous incident. I have been pained with the way I lived for the last few months (years, may be) I was perfectly fine, except for that little something that I missed. I couldn't put my finger on it. But, I knew something was missing. And now, I think it is the single biggest testimony to what Tom Hanks had to say - "Hope is a good thing. Probably the best of things."

I was not very happy with my routine. Got up everyday and cursed myself for being up so late - almost every day, except when I was driven by the enthusiasm of getting to listen to some genius in some class. Something happened yesterday. I am a fan of Ashutosh Gowariker. In my opinion, he is the ideal director - one who works on films that have a message, a message forgotten and much needed. His films have always had a positive influence on me. And the only reason why I thought he might have done a film like Jodhaa Akbar was to remind people of Akbar's tolerance to views, faiths, beliefs, ideas of people while sticking to the principle he believed in. That is one of the biggest problems in today's world - people becoming intolerant. And in a flash, I realized that that was what had changed - I had really become intolerant, of many different things. Though I backed myself to be an open-minded person, I could see that I wasn't really one. Having had this revelation, I decided to try and be more tolerant. Though the sleep had interluded my decision and the actual time when it would be tested, I stuck to it.

Today was something different. No, I didn't get up early. I got up as usual, at around 11. The strange thing was, I was not pained! I was happy, about something. I don't know what. But I was. It seemed like all my problems had somehow just vanished, and I was set free. Though my day started late, I found time to make myself a breakfast, got some physical exercise other than running to catch the bus, and enjoyed my time under the shower. It was like I was a kid again. Nothing could make my day bad. After a small snack, I decided to attend the party thrown by a lab mate, ignoring my usual instincts, which would be to send a congratulatory email and ditch it. I thought I ought to wish him in person for becoming a father. I thought I ought to be friendly, I thought I ought to socialize. So, I called up JD (my friend), and we went looking for a greeting card. The party was a nice break from the routine. And I found myself cheerful. The discussion between JD and me, that had concluded yesterday with a "One can never be truly happy", flipped over today, for some reason. It just felt right...

Another revelation dawned upon me, earlier today, that the reason I am not able to go to sleep as soon as I laid my head on the pillow was not because I had become an Insomniac, which I kind of used to boast about, weirdly, but because I was really not exhausted enough to be retiring for the day, physically. The time I had decided to take out for some exercise made me feel good, again, for some inexplicable reason.

I was pulled along to another 'Infosession' by my friends, mainly for food. Since I wasn't really hungry, I wasn't interested. And then I thought that since it was Cisco, I could drop my resume and see if I had any chance for an internship. Though I usually joined my friends in ridiculing the pitches put across by the recruiters, I tried, and was successful in being open to whatever they had to say. Though I didn't find it of much use, I stopped myself from rubbishing it. I was happy that though there was hardly any food that I am OK with, I at least got a 1GB flash drive. Little did I know that today would be the first day in my life that I would win a lottery!

Because of this series of events - deciding to be tolerant, more cheerful, and being lucky enough to beat odds of 1 : 100 - for the first time in many months(years), there was the hope that things would be right. I think it was some weird concoction of hope and luck that did the trick. I can say "I am happy" and mean it, after a long time!