Such-isms

A few days down, my mind wandered off to unexplored ruins and returned with tales galore. I felt,” What is the point of everything? Why are we here on Earth? A part of a whole? Or just pure randomness?”. A mid-life existential crises, you might think. But “mid-life” seems to have come faster than seems normal. If everything is pointless, then there is no meaning to our lives. No value. We might as well commit suicide.(No need to call the hotline. Pure philosophical digging.) Then, inspiration strikes. WIKIPEDIA! I find a little someone called Albert Camus. He reached a conclusion faster than me, apparently.  So Existentialism exists already. What a pun. And Absurdism too. If true exists, so does false. If light exists, so does darkness. Such dualisms he presents. He might as well have called it “Life”-ism. So my dear Albie, if mortality exists(and since you reject nihilism with such fervor), so does immortality? Then, I wandered off to Murakami’s “Kafka on the shore” and between cats talking and cows mooing and me sleeping, he introduced me to the concept of astral projection. Japanese culture. Simply put, the “soul”, again not being a nihilist at the forefront but believing a soul exists, is separate from the physical body and, with enough will power, can separate itself and wander off to a French café in Champs de Elysees, while you are soundly sleeping back home in Mumbai. Or while being completely conscious. An orgy would be so much simpler, if astral projection were true. Multiple orgasms for man. Whew. This has been achieved by a lot of yogi’s and a lot of authors(Travels by Michael Crichton). The astral projection part, not multiple orgasms.(They might have. I wasn’t there, thankfully. Asaram Bapu, any inputs?)Finds mention in the Bible, no less. St.Paul. And here I was down in the dumps thinking that Nicolas Flamel was the only one who lived a lot longer than other humans. 700 years, wasn’t it, JKR? So, here on now, all my effort would be to try and bend a spoon with only my mind. Or try to invade someone else’s mind like Professor X. Apparently, he was capable of astral projection as well. Surprise, surprise. I would return with more interesting stories if I achieve this feat. But, why would I tell you, when I can tell your greatⁿ-grand-children? Ciao, mere mortals. Oh wait, I am going to make this into a musical. Sing along. This one’s titled “Nirvana”.

This relentless assault of nature,

Tears frozen in half.

A dangling sword upon my neck,

Yet, a wry smile upon my mouth.

Are you going to kill me, I asked,

Oh yes, for sure, He said.

Better make it slow and painful then,

For I am here and alive.

Sun, shine, and snow, upon my cheek,

Flash by in a second,

As His Evil Laugh proliferates,

I disappear in Transcendence.

Sacred Games : Pointless, Meandering.

Author: Vikram Chandra

Rating: 5/10

Genre: Crime/Mystery

Sacred Games is a grandiose, pompous, and a highly embellished story about a Sikh Inspector in Bombay, Sartaj Singh, and his colleagues who are investigating the circumstances leading up to the death of the leader of the G-company, Ganesh Gaitonde, and the subsequent aftermath of it. Gaitonde is an unwitting accomplice in a ‘sacred’ game which threatens to wipe out Bombay from the face of India, so life can start afresh.

Written by Vikram Chandra(brother-in-law of the acclaimed Bollywood director Vidhu Vinod Chopra), tries hard, very hard, to go the Shantaram route. But it fails miserably. Chandra is a master storyteller and styles his characters with exquisite craft. But, everything converges on aggrandization of Bollywood, Bombay mafia and especially the skill(or the absence of it) of the Bombay Police, covered with a thinly veiled veneer of philosophical pretense. Read it. Get frustrated. And tear out your hair for reading it in the first place.

The Sense of an Ending : Imperfections of memory

Author: Julian Barnes

Rating: 9/10

Winner of the Booker Prize, 2011

The Sense of an ending is a head-scratcher, and a very difficult one at that. It is not remotely surprising that it was written by Barnes, also known for other head-scratchers(Read: Flaubert’s Parrot,Metroland).

In inimitable Barnes’ style, wry humour combines with teenage pretentiousness as we follow a master manipulator(and narrator) Tony Webster who guides us through his typical oh-so-English life with philosophy and wit thrown in for good measure. Now, Tony is in middle age with a satisfactory career, average marriage, and a bovine life until a lawyer’s letter turns everything upside down. Adrian Finn, childhood friend(too intelligent for his own good); Veronica, his former girlfriend, both combine destructively leaving Tony to pick up the pieces and follow the trail.

With trademark precision, Barnes does in 150 pages what Robert Ludlum couldn’t do in 800. He captivates, enthralls and shocks you with an ending you wouldn’t see coming. Read it. And re-read it. You would need it to pick up the clues you initially missed. And be glad that you were born in the same era as Barnes. Period.

Quotes:

1) History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meets the inadequacies of documentation.

2) History consists not only of “the lies of the victors,” but also of “the self-delusions of the defeated.”

3)  A₂+v+a₁*s=b.

Shantaram : In search of the ultimate complexity.

Author: Gregory David Roberts

Rating: 7/10

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured."

So begins an epic, mesmerizing debut novel by Gregory David Roberts, an Australian bank robber and a heroin addict, who flees from Pentridge prison in Australia and spends a tumultuous portion of his life in Bombay, a teeming mass of chaotic potpourri of cultures, philosophy and emotions, before being captured in Germany. In Bombay, Roberts meets Prabaker, the man with the radiant smile and whose family rechristens him as Shantaram. He meets Abdel Khader Khan, mafia-don, philosopher, jihad leader : all rolled into one. He meets Karla, Swiss-born, beautiful and with enough secrets to send a shiver up Roberts’ spine. Murders, betrayals(note the plural), Bollywood, Bombay mafia and the mujahedeen guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan are few of the situations Roberts finds himself entwined in, voluntarily or otherwise.

 
Set at approximately 930-pages, this novel is a tad too long, albeit with some extraordinary characters fleshed out. Give it a whirl and you will not be disappointed.

Intouchables : Haunting, Beautiful.

Cast : Francois Cluzet, Omar Sy.

Rating: 8.7/10

Inspired by a true story of Phillippe Pozzo di Borgo and his caregiver Abdel Sellou, Intouchables is an emotional, poignant ode to the goodness that each person has in his heart, irrespective of his past.

Driss (Omar Sy), is unemployed and intends to remain that way when he gatecrashes an interview for potential candidates to take care of quadriplegic millionaire Phillippe(Francois Cluzet). Driss, who is there to get rejected and thus receive his welfare benefits, gets hired and is challenged by Phillippe to survive a month of caring for him. A job, that starts as a total disaster, gradually becomes easier for Driss as he teaches and is in turn taught by Phillippe, to enjoy the finer nuances of life. Overcoming his fear of paragliding(which made him a quadriplegic in the first place), relationships(with his daughter Elisa and ‘friend’ Eleanore) are few of the situations where Driss helps Phillippe glide through. In return, an appreciation for modern art, opera, music(Vivaldi, Chopin et al) is developed in Driss via his contact with the aristocratic crowd. Ludovico Einaudi’s music is hauntingly beautiful (listen to ‘Una Mattina’) and the direction by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano is breathtaking. The world is now divided into two groups of people: those who have seen this movie and those who haven’t. Miss it at your own peril.