What “Captain Philips” talks about?

Not being a big fan of English movies, I usually miss out on watching fine and creative movies. This also means that I end up watching really dumb movies rather than exploring new stuff. So when my husband decided to play a movie called “Captain Philips”, I decided to sit it out and watch through it. I was told once by a friend that “Anything good has to be appreciated”. I totally agree with him but I would add – “and has to be shared”. We live in the era of sharing tiniest bit of news and information.

Anyway, there are some movies which you simply cannot watch through, some that you immediately forget, and some that linger on your minds for a long time. Captain Philips is one such movie that opened my mind to a whole new arena of excitement and thrill. The Tom hanks starrer is a gripping movie that speaks about fear-laden courage and a strong presence of mind.

Based on a true story – A container ship sailing through a port get hijacked by Somali pirates who threaten the captain of the ship with weapons. As the crew and the captain try their best to outwit the pirates, the coin somehow overturns and the captain ends up being kidnapped by the pirates into a lifeboat. The rest of the story is about how the captain is rescued when the SEAL team steps in. Eventually, they succeed in rescuing the captain who showed his wise presence of mind in times when needed the most.

Of course, the story might sound simple and unimpressive. What is impressive here is the gripping force which splashes from the movie right from the beginning till the climax. The actors have given their best of efforts which makes the movie stand out. With amazing background and visuals, I would vote it as the most creative and inspiring movie of the year.

Bottom-line: Go for it if you like thrillers. Captain Philips is all about courage, determination and striking at the right time.

The “J’ feeling that creeps from nowhere….

Oh, the mixture of endless feelings that stir up a human heart. With a heart that beats constantly, we humans have been gifted with a constant free-flow of feelings as well. Deny as you might, at every second, you are “feeling” something or the other. And yes, you have choices out here as you can choose from a different variety of feelings.

Even when you decide to choose a feeling, most of the times a feeling just springs up and tugs at your heart even before you could be warned of it. So does the feeling of being ‘J’ that rents a space in your mind and heart when you least need it. While some feelings make you feel heavenly good, there are some which are designed to make you feel miserable and wretched. Yeah, blame the wonders of the man above!

There is more. There are some feelings that make you feel evil, spiteful, devilish, wicked, sinful, vicious…oh, the dictionary has a number of words for a feeling. But yeah, I know you are denying feeling any of those because we all want to feel saintly. Yet, the mother of all these feelings – jealousy has definitely crept into your head at least once like an uninvited, uncalled guest.

When you see that friend of yours marrying an attractive hot female whom you have only dreamt off, when your neighbor ends up owning the latest Mercedes, when your colleague grabs the latest I-phone model…omg, you say, it’s going to be hard ignoring the ‘J’ feeling if such people exist around you who somehow meddle with life’s challenges and end up being on the receiving end unlike you, who is still strolling on the wishing end.

Welcome to the ways of life. Now is the time to invite the grandmother of all feelings, Good. Yeah, as simple as it sounds, feeling “good” will come to your rescue when you tangle your heart and mind into the web of ‘J’ feeling. When you try to apply the feeling of goodness, you will see the difference that calms your peace of mind.

Next time, if your driver wears a Rado watch, you will triumphantly crush the ‘J’ feeling and replace it will the good feeling because you will also get what you need. Someday. Somewhere. For now, you can float in your dreams.

A task for angels - Paulo Coelho

Many years ago lived a man who was able to love and forgive everyone he met.
Because of this, God sent an angel to talk to him.
“God asked me to come and visit you and to tell you that He wants to reward you for your goodness,” said the angel.
“Any favor that you desire will be granted. Would you like to have the gift of curing?”
“By no means,” answered the man. “I prefer that God Himself choose those to be cured.”
“And what about bringing sinners to the path of the Truth?”
“That is a task for angels like you. I don’t want to be venerated by anyone and serve as an example all my life.”
“I can’t go back to heaven without granting you a miracle. If you don’t pick one, you’ll be obliged to accept one.”
The man reflected a little before answering: “Then I want Good to be done through me, but without anyone noticing – not even myself, so that I don’t commit the sin of vanity.”
And the angel gave to that man’s shadow the power to cure, but only when the sun was shining on his face.
In that way, wherever he went, the sick were cured, the earth became fertile again, and sad people regained their joy.
The man traveled many years over the Earth without noticimg the miracles he worked, because when he was facing the sun, his shadow was always at his back.
In that way he could live and die without being aware of his own sanctity.

Two girls eloped- Did you know that?

I am kind of not happy with the news bits which newspaper TOI posts because some of the news items seem to be a mockery of Indian public, or I would rather say too revealing about a person’s intimate details. Of course, the tag “the citizens have the right to know everything” must be their motto. Damn that. Who I am to care anyway? I’ll just come to my point.

I just read this bit “Two girls elope, marry each other in Bihar” a couple of days back in a cornered section of TOI. And the comment section seemed to be more interesting. I picked a few of them and posted them below. You should see how concerned some people are.

“Times are changing! live with it people!” – Yeah, we should learn to accept the changing times. Whoever didn’t say that!

“When the two fight, which one of them is going to use the WOMEN FRIENDLY LAWS of India?”- Wow, this one does seem concerned about one hilarious problem.

“It's their life and let them decide their ways to happiness? Who are we to determine their rightness or wrongness? Request to media to follow the story as to protect them from social butchery.”- The voice of reason which we have heard a dozen times before. Yawn, pass on.

“It seems lesbianism is fast catching up with Indian women as they have lost all faiths with their male counterparts who always have exploited them.”- Gee, now the males finally have a real issue they have to wonder about.

So, you see the “Gay” concept no longer raises eyebrows because we are seeing gays and lesbians being portrayed in movies and just about everywhere. They are now a part of our lives. Yeah, I know a thousand people over there are denying it. Some people find it challenging the laws of nature, some find it disgusting, some have accepted, some want to ignore it, some detest it, some want to keep analyzing it….phew, people do have a hundred points of view for a topic. May be that’s why we are called humans.

Even as we try and argue passing our judgments, one thing is clear and obvious. Our generation is changing, be it for good or bad. The last time I read a news, it was about a boy eloping with a girl. And now, it’s a girl eloping with a girl. I guess, we better get used to the ways of life until we get new subjects for our arguments.

Meanwhile, we are gonna be like this for a decade – husssh, did you hear that? A girl ran away with a girl. My grandma nearly had a heart attack. What’s gonna happen to this world?

A time to protect...A time to realize...

“When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.”
― Paulo Coelho, Brida

Did you know that finding a path which is your life's destiny doesn't happen by chance? Did you know that being passionate about a dream doesn't happen to most of us? Yeah, not everybody has a dream. Reality check!!! You have known people of having dreams but not pursuing them but what about who do not have a dream at all? Imagine how plain and boring their lives must be. So, if you have a dream and yet are still not able to pursue it, just pat yourself on the back because it takes courage to have a dream.

Now that you realize that you are one of those fortunate ones who have chanced to treasure a dream, do not let life's battles ignore your dream and dump it away in some box of mess. It definitely takes a considerable amount of will power and willingness to realize a dream, of course the challenges depend on the kind of dream that you want to achieve.

The good news is that, no matter how hard or impossible your dream seems to be, there have been people in the past and in the present too who have achieved great heights which you thought were impossible. And guess what, they are simple human beings just like you and me. Whoa, you have heard that one before and you say, yes, I know that. So what?

Well, two things are clear. Your dream is not impossible and it can be realized because crores of other people have made it happen. Of course, you will be warned beforehand that the path is not going to be easy so that you are mentally prepared for the obstacles. But with profound faith and hope, you actually can make it happen. I keep telling this to myself daily because now and then, my faith shakes as well but end of the day, I usually come around to it and restore it again.

So, treasure your dreams because they are yours and they need you the most to realize them.

Does life really go on?

There are sometimes when you don't want to write or talk about a few topics. And there can be a number of reasons why you may not want to do so.

Even as I write this blog post, I wonder if it will make any significance at all. Yet, I cannot let go of the nagging feeling that tugs at my heart when I read the news about a juveline ( the accused from the dec 2012 rape incident) being released of a punishment he rightly deserved.

As I read the mother's plight who is clearly unhappy with the verdict, I can only imagine the pain she has to undergo as she waits for her daughter's rapists to be punished. 

I wonder why her daughter was chosen to have embraced death in the most brutal way. I wonder why her mother was chosen to fight for her dead daughter's injustice. I wonder why we are chosen to undergo situations in life of which we don't interpret to be of any meaning at all.

As usual, there are simply no answers to the questions we pose to nature or the Gods. Yet, "LIFE GOES ON" seems to be the only truth man has ever known. 

Does life really go on for the mother of the girl who patiently waits for justice fighting against the odds?

Rest in Peace dear TELEGRAM

Over the recent years, we have noticed the leap of evolution that has occurred in the communication industry. Since the advent of mobile phones and e-mails, we are now living in the era of skype and whatsapp (which are currently the mostly used forms of communication modes added with a number of other apps that support only FREE video chatting and messaging).

Even as we move ahead leaving behind the paper mode of communication and switch to the feel of an instrument in our hands to receive a message, the good old telegram has served its purpose for the best. Invented in the nineteenth century, the telegram was once the only mode of communication to deliver messages.

In fact, I recently learned that the news of my birth was delivered to my relatives through a telegram. I laughed when I heard that they had sent only two words in the message. “BABY BORN”. It is understandable given the fact that the cost was calculated from the size of the message.

It is funny that we are able to write long texts and pages of information now for free of cost. All we have to own is a computer or a latest smartphone and communicating becomes that easy. In fact, we are exchanging information so much that the instrument has become a part of our lives without which we can no longer think of existing. (At least, until the next invention takes over the current modes of communication).

Before the mobile phones and e-mails become extinct, let’s make the most of it so that we live long enough to tell stories to our future generation about the “first smart phone I used” or “the days when we used to e-mail”. I know it’s funny to think of someday when e-mails and mobiles become extinct. Not that it will occur right away but it will, someday, centuries ahead.
For now, let’s just put the good old Telegram to rest.