I first came across these lines while watching the movie Invictus (2009). The poem was originally written by Victorian poet William Ernest Henley in 1875, while lying on a hospital bed at the age of 25 and battling the idea of living with an amputated leg for the entire life ahead of him. The impact these powerful lines have had on me is probably second only to the one caused by another of my favorite poems, ‘The Road Not Taken‘ by Robert Frost.
It has helped me make some important choices in life, especially in times when my mind has been shrouded in conflicting thoughts about the past, and veiled by doubts about the consequences of my actions. I hope I can keep drawing inspiration from it in the future, and I think you too will share the same perspective once you take in these lines.
A recitation of the eternal poem by late Sir Alan Bates –
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
These are two songs I absolutely love. Music-wise and lyrics-wise they are gems in their own right. I must have seen and listened to them many times over the years, on TV, on the computer, or on the iPod, but as I listened to them yesterday I couldn’t help but sense a connection between the feelings and emotions in both of them…. calling out to the ‘one’.
Both these songs are generations apart, and have been used to portray relatively different scenarios in the respective films, the 1969 classic ‘Khamoshi‘ (IMDb link) and the 1998 movie ‘Dil Se..‘ (IMDb link), one of my favorites.
Why I felt the connection only yesterday, or has anyone else felt it up till now, I do not know. I have always believed that as you go about in life having different experiences, from different people, and at different places, you tend to find new meanings to the world and the media around you and sort of re-evaluate your feelings about the articles you’ve read before, the songs you’ve listened to earlier, the movies you’ve seen in the years gone by, or the words of advise given by a friend or a family-member. Perhaps due to certain happenings in my life in the past few months, I could sense that connection yesterday.
Ok, so how do you brand a day as ‘strangely fulfilling’? Well, here’s my take on it. You go into a day feeling a little down on your health. Also, you aren’t exactly in a great frame of mind since the past few weeks so you don’t expect anything miraculous to happen that day either, plus you know you have a long week ahead full of work and the little health problem I mentioned earlier might unnecessarily impede your best efforts. You seek some random inspiration, maybe from the people and happenings around you, but aren’t quite sure where to find it from.
This Monday (well, it had to be a Monday, right 😉 ), I started my day exactly like that. I had been ‘under the weather’ for the whole of last week; got rain-wet once to often and paid the price by having a sore throat and a slight fever over the weekend. The project I’m working on for a client is in its final stages so I couldn’t really stay at home. I almost dragged myself to the workplace, unshaven and all, and settled down in the day’s planned tasks. About half-an-hour after lunch-time I got a call from the technical advisor (the person whom I work with in the company) saying that he wanted to test my software program for some live calculations. Well, this program I’m developing is an optimized, automated substitute for an extremely lengthy and tedious manual calculation process for Crane design. We started running some tests on it, and after a few tweaks to the output we got the required results in absolutely no time. He was satisfied. I too was satisfied.
Gantry Crane (Image courtesy: Emech.in)
The number of calculations I’ve had to code in to this software program easily outnumber the sum total of the Math problems I solved as homework during all my schooling years put together! So you can see I was on tenterhooks while we were running the tests, hoping for them to succeed. I realized later that these tests made it possible for the sales team to answer the queries of a particular client and give him a quote by the end of the day – a task which seemed difficult that morning. It was sort of fruition for my efforts during the last 3 months.
Along the way I also interacted with a few people from the sales team and got to know them better. Being a person who loves to interact and make friends with like-minded people, I relished this opportunity. In a high-pressure job environment driven by a world of cut-throat competition, I guess it means a lot to these guys if something helps in quickening their response to their respective clients.
For some time, I almost forgot about my sore throat. Ironically it didn’t forget me 😦 , and by the end of the day it caught up with my growing enthusiasm. I drove back home, carrying a slight temperature. I really needed something different to divert my attention away from body-ache, paining-throat and medicines. “A good, light, comedy movie would be great”, I thought. I picked up the TV remote and flicked to the movie channels section, and there it was! They were playing a 1980’s classic, the tremendously hilarious Airplane!. Full of sarcastic humor, it reminded me of another of my favorite movies belonging to the same genre – Hot Shots!. Really, I couldn’t have asked for a better remedy that evening!
It was almost time for dinner when I finished watching the movie, but due to the nauseating feeling I didn’t really feel like having normal food. “Something different?”, I though to myself and peeped into the kitchen. I realized that we had Foccacia bread in there. Mom and me then embellished it with some Tomatoes, Onion and Chillies, put it in the microwave oven and after a few minutes I had an absolutely wonderful dinner ready for me!
Focaccia bread with toppings of Tomatoes, Onions and Chillies
Believe me, it tasted GOOD! The tummy was full by now, but the exertion had taken its toll on my physical-condition, which was quite bad to begin with. As I headed toward the warmth of my bed, though, I began thinking about the day. It had started out as any other day, and could have ended just the same without any special mentions anywhere, but it didn’t. It wasn’t as if I had discovered a new chemical element or had achieved something just as ground-breaking, but 3 very different things had made the day ‘fulfilling’ in their own strange way! 🙂
I was reminded of a quote from the movie Peaceful Warrior (2006) –
“There are no ordinary moments.”
Well, I think there are no ordinary days either! In the end, everything boils down to your perspective.
Sometimes it is good policy to use lyrical songs rather than mere words to present a situation or project a state-of-mind; and when the song is as good as the one mentioned, it is bound to paint a perfect picture.
This song is from the critically acclaimed 1991 movie Lamhe (IMDb link) directed by the highly successful Yash Chopra. The music has been composed by legendary Santoor maestro Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma and Flute genius Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia (known together as Shiv-Hari), so undoubtedly, it has got to be melodious. Combine that with lyrics from Anand Bakshi, and you have one of the best songs ever recorded in the history of the Hindi film industry.
Full lyrics:
“ये लम्हें, ये पल हम बरसों याद करेंगे,
ये मौसम चले गए तो हम फ़र्याद करेंगे.. (1)
इन सपनो की तस्वीरों से,
इन यादों की जंजीरों से,
अपने दिल को कैसे हम आज़ाद करेंगे,
ये मौसम चले गए तो हम फ़र्याद करेंगे,
ये लम्हें, ये पल हम बरसों याद करेंगे.. (2)
ये लम्हें तो है बहुत हसीं,
इन लम्हों पर कुछ लिखा नहीं,
ये आबाद करेंगे या बर्बाद करेंगे,
ये मौसम चले गए तो हम फ़र्याद करेंगे,
ये लम्हें, ये पल हम बरसों याद करेंगे.. (3)
ये लम्हें, ये पल हम बरसों याद करेंगे,
ये मौसम चले गए तो हम फ़र्याद करेंगे.. (4)”
Some moments are so beautiful and unique that we cherish them for a lifetime. Memories of trips and vacations, a sweet little prank during school, an hour of solitude with a loved one, a few conversations which lifted your spirits.. are just a few examples I can think of at this instant. Generally, attempts to free ourselves from these moments always come to a naught; obviously we’ve got to be honest enough to realize that.
Sometimes the people involved in these memories have long drifted away from our lives, but that doesn’t dilute their sweetness. There is neither an upper limit to how many of these experiences we can have during our lifetime; experiences which are automatically crystalized into ‘indelible impressions’. Whether they actually help us grow or drag us down by their sheer weight, is a matter of personality; but as they say, “when you can’t loose them, use them”, and that is where perhaps lies their real beauty combined with practicality.
A few lines from another one of my favorite songs.. ‘Beetein lamhe..’
“आज भी जब वह पल मुझको याद आते है,
दिल से सारे गमों को भुला जातें है..
आज भी जब वह मंज़र नज़र आते है,
दिल की वीरानीयों को मिटा जातें है..
दर्द में भी यह लब मुस्कुरा जातें है,
बीते लम्हे हमे जब भी याद आते है..”
I always pray and hope that such lovely moments are somehow rekindled one day!
It has got to be one of the most honest and genuine, yet under-rated, and lately an almost ‘endangered’ kind of emotion from mankind.
Its a general perception that women tend to be more emotionally mature than men and are therefore naturally inclined to provide selfless love in most cases, which is true, but in an age of fast-track relationships and numerous counts of infidelity by both sexes you would be lucky to find a genuine one fitting the description, almost deprecating the idea to the realm of impracticality. Its strange that even in such an environment we do hear random cases of selfless love, and especially when it is from a man towards a woman it can form the foundation of a beautiful and incorruptible relationship which can definitely go the distance.
“Through the good times. Through the bad times. When a Man Loves a Woman its for all times.”
Here is the song from which the movie’s name was inspired. The original hit was written and performed in 1966 by Percy Sledge. You can watch a video of Sledge rendering the song in his voice by following the link. Here I’ve shared a video of Michael Bolton performing the song. The lyrics, well, speak for themselves.
“When a man loves a woman
Can’t keep his mind on nothing else
He’ll trade the world
For the good thing he’s found
If she’s bad he can’t see it
She can do no wrong
Turn his back on his best friend
If he put her down
.
When a man loves a woman
Spend his very last dime
Tryin’ to hold on to what he needs
He’d give up all his comfort
Sleep out in the rain
If she said that’s the way it ought to be
.
Well, this man loves a woman
I gave you everything I had
Tryin’ to hold on to your precious love
Baby, please don’t treat me bad
.
When a man loves a woman
Down deep in his soul
She can bring him such misery
If she plays him for a fool
He’s the last one to know
Lovin’ eyes can’t ever see
.
When a man loves a woman
He can do no wrong
He can never own some other girl
Yes when a man loves a woman
I know exactly how he feels
‘Cause baby, baby, baby, you’re my world
.
When a man loves a woman…..”
This song has to be one of the most romantic yet simple renditions emphasizing the importance of feelings and happy moments in relationships and life in general. Credits for this old hit single must go to its songwriters Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss.
I first came across this song while watching the movie Everybody’s Fine (2009) starring Robert De Niro. The movie is a ‘must watch’ for all age groups, teens and elders likewise, since it portrays the warmth of family relationships and its intricate expectations in a moving yet beautiful saga.
This is a single written by singer-songwriter John Ondrasik, better known by his stage name ‘Five For Fighting‘. The song features prominently in his fifth album ‘Slice‘ (released in October 2009) and can also be heard during the end credits of the hit movie ‘The Blind Side‘ (2009). It is here that I first came across the song, and instantly fell in love with the beautiful lyrics. I feel that it is one of the most practical renditions of the purely optimistic idea of ‘taking a chance’ and measuring it by success or failure. The background music too is foot-tapping and memorable.
As is always the case with great lyrics, these words too seem to behave like a prism; they may hold different meanings for different people and inspire each person reading them in separate ways.
“Chances are when said and done
Who’ll be the lucky ones
Who make it all the way
Though you say I could be your answer
Nothing lasts forever
No matter how it feels today
Chances are we’ll find a new equation
Chances roll away from me
Chances are all they hope to be
Don’t get me wrong, I’d never say never
‘Cause though Love can’t change the weather
No act of God could pull me away from you
I’m just a realistic man
A bottle filled with shells and sand
Afraid to look beyond what I could lose
When it comes to you
And though I’d see us through
Chances are we’ll find two destinations
Chances roll away from me
Still chances are more than expectations
But possibilities over me
8 to 5 we’re 2 to 1
Lay your money on the sun
Until you crash what have you done
Is there a better bet than love
What you are is what you bring
You gotta cry before you sing
Chances
Chances lost are hopes torn out pages
And maybe this time
Chances are we’ll be the combination
Chances come and carry me
Chances are waiting to be taken
And I can see
Chances are the fascination
Chances won’t escape from me
Chances are only what we make them
And all I need…”
Racial hatred, in it’s meanest form has been around for hundreds if not thousands of years. I first read about it in school history textbooks and it was quite difficult to grasp the seriousness of such events then.
A few glaring examples I’ve read about over the years are – the slavery of African black persons and the subsequent American Civil War in the 1860’s, the animosity towards ethnic Jews in Nazi Germany during the 1930’s and 40’s and the eventual Holocaust resulting in the gruesome mass-murders of approximately 6,000,000 innocent people in Europe, the military crimes purported against certain Vietnamese towns during the Vietnam War, the racial genocide during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990’s, the long-drawn civil war in Sri Lanka between the Tamil minority and the Sinhalese majority. Back home too racial and caste discrimination has been entrenched in the heart of Indian culture and religion for centuries, though it has been abolished under the Indian Constitution. Branding people as ‘untouchables‘, restricting their entry into temples and other places of divine worship are just a couple of examples of how deep rooted this notion is.
For many years now I have thought hard on what creates this prejudice and how our mind segregates people into the good and the ugly. I’ve often wondered whether it does this intuitively or methodically. Though one cannot downplay the role good and bad experiences play in the formation of this racial bias, the ‘intuition’ factor cannot be neglected. I’ve tried in vain for some time now to come up with an explanation for this intuition, until I came across a few dialogue lines from a movie I saw recently, which really hit the nail on the head!
The following lines are from Quentin Tarantino‘s 2009 directorial venture ‘Inglorious Basterds‘ (which along with winning many awards till date, has also been nominated for 8 ‘Oscars’ categories including Best Motion Picture).
A still from the scene in the movie –
The scene is when SS (German) Colonel Hans Landa, a character brilliantly portrayed by Austria-born actor Christoph Waltz, arrives at the countryside house of farmer Perrier LaPadite in Nazi-occupied France to search for Jews hiding in his sanctuary. Here he explains why Hitler and most of his contemporaries hate the Jewish race. He starts by comparing the Germanic race with ‘hawks’ and the Jewish race with ‘rats’, claiming that he doesn’t consider the comparison as an insult. Then he says…..
COL. Hans Landa: Consider for a moment the world a rat lives in. lt’s a hostile world, indeed. lf a rat were to scamper through your front door, right now, would you greet it with hostility?
Perrier LaPadite: l suppose l would.
COL. Hans Landa: Has a rat ever done anything to you to create this animosity you feel toward them?
Perrier LaPadite: Rats spread disease. They bite people.
COL. Hans Landa: Rats were the cause of the bubonic plague, but that’s some time ago. l propose to you any disease a rat could spread, a squirrel could equally carry. Would you agree?
Perrier LaPadite: Oui (Agrees in French)
COL. Hans Landa: Yet, l assume you don’t share the same animosity with squirrels that you do with rats, do you?
Perrier LaPadite: No.
COL. Hans Landa: Yet, they’re both rodents, are they not? And except for the tail, they even rather look alike, don’t they?
Perrier LaPadite: It’s an interesting thought, Herr Colonel.
COL. Hans Landa: However interesting as the thought may be, it makes not one bit of difference to how you feel. If a rat were to walk in here, right now, as l’m talking would you greet it with a saucer of your delicious milk?
Perrier LaPadite: Probably not.
COL. Hans Landa: l didn’t think so. You don’t like them. You don’t really know why you don’t like them. All you know is you find them repulsive.
Credit must be given to Tarantino (screenplay) for stating this analogy so plainly! Quite frankly, this is the best analogy I’ve ever come across describing the basic notion of racial hatred and it’s intrinsic nature; it is something which comes naturally to everyone of us. Once we accept and understand this fundamental idea, overcoming it becomes a fair bit easier. Obviously, gaining proper knowledge is the only way to stop this racial discrimination and co-exist with each other without brewing hatred in our hearts; only then can we call ourselves a civilized society.
Many recent studies (e.g. the early human migration theory) have proven that we all are descendants of a small group of people who originated in the northern part of the African continent over 70,000 years ago and eventually migrated all over the world. The various races and different physical appearances (e.g. skin color, height, physique, eating habits) we experience in the world population today are due to the varying local environmental conditions these tribes faced during the acclimatization process during these 70,000 years. A recent BBC documentary illustrated this study in more detail. This theory in itself should end the racial debate forever.
As for the movie, I hope it fares well at the ‘Oscars’!
Rarely have I come across marathi films which have portrayed the great human qualities of enthusiasm and resourcefulness in a way that Paresh Mokashi’s movie ‘Harishchandrachi Factory‘ has depicted. As I was walking out of the theatre yesterday after watching a matinee show of this movie, I couldn’t help but admire not just Mokashi’s work but also the vision and spirit of Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (popularly known as Dadasaheb Phalke) who was the founding father of Indian cinema, a person lightyears ahead of his time.
‘Harishchandrachi Factory’ – First Theatrical Trailer
Without giving away too many spoilers, I’ll try to convey my impressions about the movie and the life and times of Dadasaheb Phalke. Mokashi could have very well made a documentary-type film about the legendary Director-Producer-Scriptwriter, but by inducing the element of comedy and sarcasm in the movie, he has perfectly captured the personality of Phalke – a sort of Charlie Chaplin touch by the Director in illustrating social apathy through comedy. The movie never lingers on any incident for more than five minutes, which is great when you realize how much of his life they had to portray and the amount of research the creative team would have to do to achieve this. In fact many scenes (especially during Phalke’s first London tour) run in a sort of 2x speed, giving you the general idea about how Phalke went about learning the art of film-making without drifting away from the basic idea of the movie. The traditional setting of British-Raj ‘Bombay’ has been wonderfully rendered in the sets and costumes of the actors. The casting is good too, in fact this is one area in which the Marathi film industry is looking into seriously nowadays. Some scenes, like the shooting of (probably) India’s first ‘home movie’ when Phalke’s wife shoots a motion-picture of their three kids, or the scene where Phalke allays the fears of his crew by asking them to describe their workplace as a “picture factory” (using English words to add weight to their argument), add lightness to the story.
Phalke’s early ventures with different forms of stage entertainment, like still-photography and magic shows (using a pseudo-name which was an acronym of his actual surname), and his craving for knowledge of new stuff is excellently represented. The unwavering support he got from his family is rightly highlighted throughout the movie, especially in the dialogue where Phalke is leaving for his London tour and whispers in his wife’s ear – “He sagla tuzhyamule hou shakala..” (All this was made possible because of you). The fact that his wife not just looked after the meals for the entire crew but also looked after the editing and development of the actual film rolls shows how much she was involved in her husband’s dream! She was a perfect mix of traditional values and modern thinking. The way Phalke, against all odds, stuck to idea of creating a motion-picture and later crossed each hurdle in his path with a perennial smile on the face, faith in his mind and a solution in his head is simply awesome. For me, the portrayal of his resourcefulness is the main selling point of this movie. If ever you needed a strong-willed person to create a piece of history, you had that person in Dadasaheb Phalke.
The commitment he showed during the entire endeavor of making his first film was nothing short of spectacular, sometimes even choosing work before the health of family members. He had realized the fact that in a silent film, emotions on the actor’s face and the overall body language of the performer would be of utmost importance. This is illustrated in how he forced male actors doing female roles to practice draping the Indian ‘saree’ and work in it all day so that the movements and actions would come naturally to them.
At that time the idea of moving-pictures-on-a-screen was as bizarre as the modern idea of having human settlements on planet Mars. The way Phalke convinced other people, including some suspicious and cynical friends, and the way he marketed the finished product to the masses shows how he used his wit to his advantage. His wish to continue making films in India despite receiving lucrative offers from Producers and film-makers to make them in the United Kingdom shows his attitude.
For an industry which churns out a staggering amount of movies each year, you might have thought that a film about how the juggernaut started would have come long time ago. I think Paresh Mokashi has tried to fill that void with this movie. Believe me, it still seems unbelievable sometimes that not too long ago Marathi movies were generally shunned by big multiplex theaters. Movies like Amol Palekar’s ‘Anahat‘ changed this for the good and today Marathi movies are given slots in competition with mainline Hindi movies. Whether ‘Harishchandrachi Factory’ should have been included in the award category for Best Foreign Language Film at the Annual Academy Awards (Oscars) this year is up for debate. I personally think this decision is subjective, and depends upon the taste of the jury and the knowledge of the cultural background and chronological time in which the story is based.
I’m not complaining though, because if it would have been selected in the above mentioned category at the Oscars’, we would have had to wait for some time before it started playing in theaters here. In a funny sort of way I’m glad that didn’t happen!
A couple of weeks ago I saw the movie ‘Stranger Than Fiction‘, starring Will Ferrell and Maggie Gyllenhaal in the lead roles, and backed up by great performances by Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman (one of my all time favorite actors.. remember ‘Kramer vs. Kramer‘ and ‘Rain Man‘?). As much as I was impressed by the performance of Will Ferrell, the movie’s story-line didn’t appeal a lot at the start, but as I watched on, it just turned out to be one of those “need-to-take-a-look-at-the-quality-of-your life” type of movies. Another such movie which immediately comes to memory is ‘Groundhog Day’ (starring Bill Murray), another masterpiece.
Right, so now that I have finished showing off my movie-memorization skills, let’s move on. Beyond the original message of this movie, there was one dialogue / conversation between the lead actors which stuck with me long after I had finished watching it, so I thought I should share it with all of you. The conversation takes place in the bakery which is run by Ana Pascal (Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character). Harold Crick (Will Ferrell’s character), a habitually non-enthusiastic IRS agent working for the US government, audits Ana’s business one day, and being a huge hater of taxmen and the government’s policies, she makes sure that he has a lousy time auditing her.
But somewhere inside she is slightly impressed by Harold’s genuineness and his commitment, in what he feels is his way of making the world a better place by helping the government in collecting taxes, which would then use the money to implement social welfare schemes. As night falls, he decides to call it a day and leave for home. Just then she offers him some fresh cookies that she has just baked. He reluctantly accepts the offer and strikes a conversation with her about how she ended up being a baker.
Harold: So when did you decide to become a baker?
Ana: In college..
Harold: Oh, like in a cooking college?
Ana: I went to Harvard Law actually.
Harold: Oh, I’m sorry, I just assumed it was..
Ana: No, no, that’s fine. I didn’t finish.
Harold: Something happened?
Ana: No, I was barely accepted. I mean, really, barely! The only reason they let me come was because of my essay – ‘How I was going to make the world a better place with my degree’. And, anyway we would have to participate in these study sessions.. my classmates and I.. sometimes all night long.. and so I baked.. so that no one would go hungry while we worked. Sometimes I would bake all afternoon in the kitchen in the dorm and I would bring my little treats to the study groups.. and people loved them. I made oat milk cookies, peanut-butter bars, dark chocolate, macadamia nut wedges, and everyone would eat and stay happy and study harder and be better on the tests.. and then more and more people started coming to the study groups.. and I’d bring more snacks.. and I was always looking for better and better recipes.. until soon it was.. apricot croissants.. and mocha bars with a almond glaze, and lemon chiffon cake with a zesty peach icing.. and at the end of the semester I had 27 study partners.. 8 mead journals filled with recipes.. and a ‘D’ average. So I dropped out. I just figured that if I was going to make the world a better place I would do it with cookies.
For me, this was the hidden message in the movie. We often decide our career path very early in life, and follow it so staunchly that we easily turn a blind eye to all other opportunities and gateways which can take us to the same destination, albeit using a different path, often the less trodden one. It’s not as if one path is better than the other, the point here is to recognize the one to which we are best suited to – the one that can give us the most satisfaction at the end of the day. Sure, earning a bit of money along the way doesn’t do much harm either.
In our society, people with unconventional careers often have a very different backgrounds. Persons in the music and theatre industry are prime examples. Some people I know in this field have been trained to become engineers and doctors. Most would admit that as time went by, their life was shaped by designs and events much beyond their control. Still, many would say that they have not drifted a lot from their original ambitions, only the means to achieve those have changed. They still manage to put a smile on the face of the people in front of them, if not by using a healing-hand and a stethoscope, then by using witty humor in their plays or by some melodious piece of music that they have created.
I think this still contributes to the task of ‘making the world a better place’!
Credo in between the lines 