Its Vacation!!!

Wow.. Can't say how happy I am! Throughout the entire year of MBA education, I get a 20 day vacation all for myself.. Oh, its party-time. I can find out time for myself from the projects and can relax in solace.. Happy Diwali to me! Njoy everyone!!

Technology, a part of life!

Hi all, today I lost my mobile and then I realized how much a part of life that little piece has become.. I only realized its value and importance when I lost it. Technology has made life so much easy and getting connected with others at faraway places was never so simple. It became so much an integral part of life, I just ponder over the wonders technology brought into normal way of living.. Kudos to all techies!

Tea with Girish Karnad..

I have been fortunate enough to meet Girish Karnad and listen to his first hand experience of making Samskara and writing Hayavadana, which are my all time favorites.. He presented a different perspective to my understanding of Indian drama and arts and it had be a thoroughly exhilarating experience for me!

Some of his opinions..

Girish Karnad said that what differentiates Bollywood and Hollywood is our music which is distinctly different from other parts of the world. He talked about the difference between Bhava and Rasa saying that Bhava is the base emotion and rasa is an aesthetic experience, all these so intimately ingrained in our culture. He spoke about the western, particularly British influence in Indian Drama during our freedom struggle period and how he has used Indian drama to express his views on freedom movement subtly. Being interested in Indian Mythology, he gave his story about the creation of drama by Brahma as fifth Veda.

Karnad gave his opinions on Hayavadana, a story of transposed heads of two persons where in the woman has to choose one from the transposed heads of two persons, one being her husband and another her husband's friend. The play he wrote explores different dimensions to identity with a humorous undertow. Oh! How I love that play!

It was truly an amazing experience to know him as a person and his opinions on Indian Drama. Those are the moments of my meeting with a great Indian Playwright which I would treasure for life..

Expectations n Relationships!

It may happen with us that I may want the company of the person without whom I cant live or my life may seem incomplete. But it can also be true that later I may feel constrained in the relationship or my illusions may get shattered. Well all I want to say is the real culprit here is my mind. It makes expectations, and creates an aura or image of an ideal person whom I want, without any connection to the real person. And all the life I may try to fit that person into that image. No wonder there are ripples in the relationship. Here what I have to consider first is whether I am flexible and open enough to consider and understand the person as he is? Or else that perfect marriage with a perfect person would be nothing but a MIRAGE. Think about it!

Actually, expectations in relationships increase because of repeated behavior of the other person and also on your own emotional attachment with her. But,when you have expectations, you are bound to be either satisfied or dissatisfied. The way you react will alter the relationship, and may even constrain it when you try to restrain or bound the other person. Well, I guess you can be aware of the expectations you have and hence so you can actually discover the joy of the relationship.

Everyone may share different perspectives, but I can at least examine my own assumptions as I don't think that expectations form the basis of relationships. Well, there may be an inherent need to associate with others, still will it lead to expectations? May be I have to look in myself..

Samskara, A movie on Funeral Rites!!!!

I just watched Samskara(Funeral Rites), a movie by Girish Karnad. Its actually a Kannada play written by ananta Murthy, which is translated by Girish Karnad. A lovely movie depicting the moral dilemma of a Acharya over the funeral rites of a Brahmin who didn't heed to Brahmin community rules. There is this Brahmin Narayanappa, who drinks liquor, ate meat and kept a sudra mistress. He dies suddenly. Now there is discussion in the community about his cremation, and the Acharya, the head of the Brahmin community fails to answer and meanwhile he sleeps with Narayanappa's Mistress and then he feels bad about it and runs away from his place. In the due course, plague broke out in the village and everyone deserts it where as the Acharya gets his head right about what he wants to do and returns to cremate the dead body. The ending is kept ambiguous and whether he returns to Narayanappa's mistress or not is an open question.

The movie depicts the past society in all its glory and gives a beautiful count of the political, social and moral issues involved in the funeral rites. Girish Karnad is simply fabulous and the depth of emotions portrayed was touching.. Truly a touching Movie!!!Its probably my first experience of an Art movie and I am at loss to mention the range of emotions it stirred. A movie which was of worth every inch of its National Award.

Ethics in Reality?!!

Can we really define ethics? Is it something that has to be understood and accepted as such. Whenever I think of ethics, mixed feelings come to play.Though I have my own understanding of ethics, they are formed by my interaction with the society. What you digest is what you follow and the residue which is left in the mind forms our ethics. I personally feel that they play a very great role in our daily interactions and are often so ingrained in me that I seldom stop to even examine the underlying beliefs existing in me.

I personally don't think that being what you want to be and acting the way that you should not hurt anyone constitute ethical conduct. What about the person who is giving death sentence to a person who murdered 50 children? Here, we define ethics for the common good of the society. Now tell me, who wins finally in the tussle between the individual and the society? One may either follow the bandwagon or he can pursue his own path. But my choice should be based on my being aware of my decision process and the consequences. I am not born with ethics, rather I came into a society with predetermined ethical values.. So I have to use my own judgment to decide what's ethical for me, right?

Symbols in life!

I personally opine that symbols are used because they are convenient. On a more serious note, they stand for shared beliefs and since people make their own associations of it, they become individualized too. Well, by creating symbols out of a person, we may reduce his identity, but still, it can be used as recall for certain quality, like Gandhi stands for truth.

Symbols can be manipulative.. Its easy to change the notion associated with the symbol, right? Somehow I think of it as brand logo.. And the associations inherent. Its easy to change them.. But do symbol stand for actual truth.. Its an emphatic NO.. The perception is in mind, and over a period of time, you tend to own the symbol in the sense, you will cultivate your own personal associations. If you are aware that its not reality, what's wrong with it? After all, we are not exactly rational beings..

What First, Instinct or Emotion?

I wonder if the basic emotions like love and fear are actually instincts, Or is it our experience of these emotions which can trigger our instincts?

When a speeding car comes towards you, your instinctive reaction may be to jump. Later only you may notice the thumping of heart or fear inside you.But here, though your instinct is for self survival.. Isn't it connected to fear of death?

Given a situation, a person may react in N no of ways. We name his action based on his choice as courage or cowardice, intelligent or dumb, smart or dowdy. All these are concepts which we assign to a particular type of action. You can show courage and its usually associated with an action. Then tell me, is courage really an instinct? Which comes first, is it Instinct which leads to action or is it emotion which goads the instincts?

Commitment to Society-BIG Question!

Commitment is for those people who are obliged or bounded to work.. Now where as expressing commitment for action.. Now it goes off my head. If everyone is true to oneself, your contribution to the society is already done. Now if you actually feel that you are committed and hence have to do that, then it goes against the spirit of the question. What's genuine will be expressed with pure love, as I will be guided by none other than MYSELF.

Memories Never Die!

An unfortunate incident happened on Saturday, where in two of my batchmates met with a fatal accident. One died on spot and another suffered Multiple facial fractures. Uh! It makes me wonder about the transitory nature of the human life. Such a waste of human potential and all this could have been avoided had they took proper measures in driving.. Well, the blame cant be laid on a particular issue and always on looking back, I find myself pondering over a lot of "IF'S"
They are such wonderful persons with so much of energy, now he doesn't even exist in this world. Only what remains with me is the memories which keep them alive. The memories which can't die.