chaotic order

Introspection into the plight of Prisoners on both sides of the border - The assault on Sarabjeet The already tenuous political relationship between India and Pakistan has further been muddled by this needless controversy over the death of Sarabjeet- a convict imprisoned for an alleged terrorist attack that killed nearly fifteen people many years ago. While I have been reading and listening to endless debates, points, coun terpoints, denials, affirmations, duplicities and countless other peregrinations of arguments and facts; what puzzles me entirely is the utter lack of commonsense in dealing with such an issue. Yes, the man was brutally assaulted within the walls of a high security prison and later suspiciously allowed to languish in pain and bleeding, before he was administered any medical help; which did not stall his inevitable descent into irrecoverable comatose condition and his death subsequently. It is not my intention in this essay to argue on the innocence or otherwise of s

If one a winter’s night a traveler - by Italo Calvino, translated from Italian by William Weaver Latin American writers have always had this tremendous flair and gift of surreal storytelling. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, Jorge Luis Borges, to name a few – all of them possessed this uncanny ability to paint a vivid canvas of emotions, psychological subtleties and a deep sense of existentialism into a story; without the demanding rigor and structure of methodical and linear narration. This book by Calvino is a pure experiment in the art of magical fiction. The impetus for this work lies in the author’s need to understand the synergetic link between “I” the reader and the mysterious process of understanding the written word, and weaving an imaginary world of causes and probabilities that could arise from  an impromptu trigger of common place incidents. Every beginning in a story could have a million different endings. Like the prince in “Arabian nights” who needs to be fe

“The last Temptation” - by Nikos Kazantzakis (Review of a book) Men have always cherished their prophets and messiahs as divinely ordained, with a penumbra of blessings and grace surrounding their heads. We isolate them as freaks of nature, descended into the realm of human consciousness to fulfill a divine prophecy. The Christ’s, the Buddha’s, the Mohammad’s are always venerated as other worldly human beings, who task upon this earth is merely to luxuriate in their perfection. Every act, every incident in their lives has a moral to tell, a value to extoll and path for others to follow.  The very nature of these incarnations and the caricatures that we have made of them, can sometimes be a terrible burden on our lives. They are represented as ideal human beings who have cut through the bonds of existence and its eccentricities, and stand on a pedestal for whole of mankind to look up to.  Institutionalized religions need such props; otherwise their edifice would give away. Entire mo

The beginnings of Learning - The aftermath of a rigorous formal education Many years ago, I had the opportunity to teach a bunch of fresh and young graduates from a very reputed college in India. These boys and girls were the crème-le –crème of the education system. Having worked and slogged their way for the last fifteen to eighteen years: beating competition at school, meeting parental expectations, becoming the envy and pride of their family – they had finally stepped out of their educational incubation with an fruity offer letter in their hands, and with the firm satisfaction tinged with a liberal dose of arrogance, that they finally made it to the “real” world. The company that had hired these kids was in its own right a maverick organization, and they were very clear in their minds about the kind of talent they wished to recruit. I had meticulously prepared a fourteen day agenda based on the requirements and was scheduled to meet with the director to finalize the contents and fi

“The Words” – the movie.   (Review of a brilliant theme) This is the third piece of review that I am penning over the last week. “The Words” is a film that talks about the state of a mind of an aspiring author, who struggles to find words that are original enough. He lacks that spark within that can give birth to a story that is worth telling. All that he writes smacks of artificiality and a lack of deep feeling. He words do not leap out of the pages with a passionate intensity and consequently his books do not ring true. He desperately seeks inspiration in Love, marriage, sex, had work -  but nothing motivates him to produce an original piece of work, until he stumbles upon a novel long abandoned in a decrepit leather bag;  and all of a sudden finds the novel reflecting the story that he always wanted to write, but couldn’t.  What follows then is the hero’s journey into a discovery of the true nature of storytelling, and his utter ineptitude for such an enormous task.   This movie

“The Interpreter” - the last masterpiece by a gifted director (Sydney Pollack)  Many years ago, In one of the longer flights from Los Angeles to Sydney, I casually tuned into a movie named “The way we were”, starring the debonair Robert Redford along with Barbara Streisand. It was a romantic film set during the early thirties, and explored the intricate yet tender relationship between a social activist waving a flag for every possible cause, and a talented writer, who will not take his talent seriously enough. In the hands of any other director, the film and the narrative would have stooped to mundane levels, but not so, in the hands of Sydney Pollack - the maverick genius; in whose direction, a story assumes a dimension and an inner depth that lesser mortals can only aspire to achieve. The performances of Ms Streisand were molded to perfection, and her innocent guile and beseeching looks linger long after in our memories as a tribute to the spirit of freedom and just causes. It is

“The Sessions” - The movie:  a brilliant portrayal of surrogate Sex I have always admired Helen hunt for her mercurial brilliance on screen. She may not be the typically voluptuous American idol with a curvaceous body and sultry looks, but then she belongs to that rare breed of actors whose deep blue eyes can reflect a thousand unspoken words in a single gaze. Her role in “Cast away”, which quintessentially is a Tom Hanks movie, was pivotal to the story line, and in those final frames of the film when her pent up emotions erupt and she runs desperately to hug Tom, besieging to take her with him: is a study in histrionics. “The sessions” then, is a movie about sexual emancipation of an invalid; bedridden, dying, and yet passionately seeking vent to his sexual stirrings. His need to feel the warmth of a female body and the experience the catharsis that sexual intercourse offers, leads him to take the help of a priest to justify his inner urge and achieve inner fulfillment.  In a r