Wall-E(d) ?!

Just saw the movie Wall-E by Pixar. And since it has led to unexpected waves in the creative cesspool resulting from long durations of monotonous and non-creative routines, the result is: THIS BLOGPOST.

Having clarified the circumstances leading to this now increasingly recurrent phenomena, I must give vent to the thoughts surging inside, lest I suffer from 'internal hemorrhage'  due to the incapacity of the brain to 'hold it' anymore!

Hmm...so where were we ?

Wall-E

The movie touches upon many issues - commercialization, increasing dependence on automated amenities and machines, homogenization by brands which are coming up in an increasingly consolidated industrial world, no opportunity for individual expression/ choice/ creativity/ entrepreneurship, pollution, insensitivity of the capitalistic system, Lōve :-) ..etc etc.....

However the thing which touched me a lot, and I believe it's an interpretation which perhaps wasn't even intended as a metaphor but is only a result of having nothing exciting to do in the past few days. And that is the buildings of waste which Wall-E walls on the now-defunct earth.

It's like, in our professional lives, most of us, sift through loads of dirt, and then like machines (like Wall-E), diligently make blocks of those (dirt). And then religiously, arduously we make buildings (of dirt) of those blocks.

Of the dirt. By the dirt. For the dirt.

:)

Work. Jobs. 

And in that, like Wall-E, our remaining sentience finds some intriguing tit-bits here and there to value. Those small tit-bits give us minute doses of excitement and exhilaration to drudge on with the otherwise mundane crap producing/assorting process. Often we also force us into enjoying some irrelevant processes/tasks in order to keep our selves high enough...hour after hour...day after day..month after month..year after year..

.... Wall-E(d) in ?! 

At a distance

Life happens to us in all it's alarmingly dramatic and sudden shifts occuring anywhere and anywhere, especially when you expect them the least or may be expect quite the opposite. However,after having been THROUGH a situation or having REACTED to one in a way you never wanted to, all you are left with is a philosphical afterthought that it is better to just see what's happening and keep your responses away in some quiet hidden corner from where you can dispassionatelyand wisely  extricate them at your convenience and as you choose.

Unleashing your sword in the heat of the battle (images which we grow up with ..thanks Hollywood and Bollywood :), in real life is perhaps one of the most foolish things to do. Kiddish people like me often realize that after being badly bruised in a duel.

What' s even worse is that when the opponents are not really enemies but friends or even worse your own kith and kin, your own blood, it mirrors back 5000 years with Arjun standing perplexed in the battle field. Where both, those who are with and against him are his own relatives. Where the blood to be shed, the losses and victories are all the same for whoever we hurt will ultimately hurt us.

Where you can see Bhisma pitamah pitted against you. The Pitamah on whose shoulders you have ridden your childhood. You can see Dronacharya ready to kill or be killed. The Guru who taught you to wield the bow and arrow you currently hold in your hands. And these are the people you have to defeat/to kill.

With me it's even worse for I find my rath in the middle of two armies, and I don't even know which army am I fighting for and why?

All I can think of in such a situation is to run from the battlefield to a quiet corner with Krishna and beg him to show me the way. For it seems much worthier to surrender to him than to slay those whom I love. To hurt them and thus get hurt myself.

Dispassion. Detachment. Perhaps those are the pre-requisites for any Mahabharata. Physical, mental or spiritual. I guess it always is inside out.

So perhaps this is Lesson 101. Watch the show. Do what you want to do (by letting the intellect ride over emotions). Trust him. And not ever speak your mind out.

I for one have opened my trap much more than is required in my life. And perhaps it is time to shut up and grow..

To look at life at a distance. And quietly dig the hole where the founadtion for the future is to be laid. One thing which I  have discovered of late is that more than where you dig, and who helps you dig, what is more imp. is that YOU DIG and long enough that a structure which shall be erected would last long enough and be able to withstand earthquakes, storms...and other unexpected calamities. And be a launching pad for operations in all directions...and of all kinds.

How and where life will lead you to discover your dreams is something which life chooses to keep a secret (perhaps thats what makes it worth living), all the while looking at how sincerely you are digging the well to your heart..your soul.

So....sshhh...dig...dig...dig

And keep watching life and its characters (even yourself) at a distance.

Rock On....Gain with Pain

Had an exhilarating weekend with Rock On, a long lost batchmate, Mumbai Meri Jan and the vibrations which follow a 20 something...!

In the end, what stuck on was ROCK ON !!

What a movie! So moving, so real.

Now what I do know though is that even though I was impressed in equal measure by the characters of Farhan Akhtar and the guy who goes on to head Channel 'V', I would vouch for the latter, for with lesser pain he get's a life and not to forget, a decent wife!

But what rubs in, after you settle back in office and back to a Farhan Akhtar like routine (well not as bad!!...just one screen..and in my case..I avoid numbers) is that to be either of the two, it takes a lot of pain and patience.

The movie doesn't show how the Channel 'V' head, aformer 'rocker' himself, and a competitor who lost out to Farhan's band with bad blood, went to head V. But one thing which I can say is that he managed to not let go his passion for music completely (V), avoided risk with an executive's life, probably the passion for music (not to mention a new found GF..Farhan's ex) drove him. The lady does have a few good words about him by the
end of the movie.

Farhan too eliminates risk, but takes on a bitterness which elevates him to a solid financial situation but his personal life sucks...and that's what the movie was about.

As for the music industry strugglers, like the film industry, they are a different breed, I have mt them and realized that I didn't have it in me. If you seek security, want a life (especially family life)..that's not the path. So my mind kind of switched off after I saw Arjun Rampal's wife selling fish and Rob having to wag his tail in front of Anu Malik.

Not that you do not wag your tail in the corporate world, but perhaps it's a little more elegant with a little more ROI (Investment = hard work+ass work+emotional).

And as a lady friend pointed out, Farhan's wife is anoyone's dream and hard to find in the real world but my belief is that it depends on where and who is searching. This gal seems an arranged marriage kind (by parents) as Farhan had kind of switched off his personal life after going to Delhi.

Now, in the educated, elite, professional, career-oriented lot we move around in, such gals are not to be found. I know a few but they are pretty desi, homely with different priorities in life.

Now what would such a girl do whole day when her better half is in office?

Well...the only solution which comes to me is a joint family where family and eventually kids give the lady a life outside of his husband. As for satisfying the urge to creativity..is

that she can be indulged in creating and shaping a new life (which is also creativity)

only thing the creativityis a biological and social one. But is that enough?

Perhaps that question can be answered by only someone who has been a mother. So I choose to stay shut on that point.

But somehow I just cant look at the person who brought me up and my brothers and say that she wasted her time or did nothing. To this day, in the worst hour of crisis, we look up to her and we can see the satisfaction of being there for her loved ones.

Now that's a lot of emotion but once again, that's my take on it.

Again..like men..there's gain with pain. Be it professional or personal..men or women.

How satisfied are professional women? I don't know. My stay in US for 2 years couldn't change my views about my mother and what gives her (or her family) happiness.

Now..that's a lot for one blog. So bye for now. Do watch ROCK ON !!