Opening pandora's box

Epic, blockbuster, award winning, five stars etc etc etc. These are the words which are being associated with James Cameron's Avatar, mind you some of these words were associated before the film had actually been released in theaters.

So what makes the film so special? why are people watching this film? what are the interpretations drawn from this film?

It's a story about an indigenous population of humanoids called Na'vi fighting against a large earth based corporation who are on Pandora for a metal called 'unobtainium' which apparently sells for 20 million USD per kilo. The Na'vi stand between unobtainium and the corporation. So the corporation has its own army who wants to take the resource by aggressive means. However a diplomatic solution is attempted through the Avatar program designed to have Na'vi bodies remotely operated by humans to gain trust and negotiate terms of their relocation. So, the negotiator, while negotiating with the Na'vi falls in love with their princess and fights against the corporation to kick them out of Pandora.

Now my intention was to give you a very simple description about the story, but tell me, all this while do you feel that this story seems all too familiar?

Does East India Company ring a bell ladies and gentleman? They had their own army, they came for our resources, we fought them, we were indigenous, we had our kings, queens and princess as well. This resource driven quest for power has been a strong feature of the westerners. No one in the western world has accepted this fact and probably never will but its ever present in their subconscious mind and Avatar is one of its interpretation.

Perhaps the most compelling quote from the film for me was when Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) says "they already killed their mother", he was referring to planet earth which we all know is going to be a hard fact very very soon.

Pandora is a dream world, so much nature on the screen in 3D made me feel so fresh. Those shades of green,blue and brown relaxes your mind gravely. I wonder if Mumbai was the same some 40-50 years ago. The graphics used is the best I have seen for quite sometime, notice the sweat on the characters face, notice the mud on their face as well kudos to the animators.

So Avatar is a must must must watch. It has deep connection to our history and also is a great entertainer. On a lighter note our Mangal Pandey may well be comparable to Jake Sully :-D but the fact remains Pandey is a real life character who died for our independence.

Cheers

Vin

Where the wild things are

I am finally in Mumbai and it's been a week boy it feels so good. I feel like I have left some extra baggage (54 kilos aprrox ;-) back in Melbourne. So here I am and it looks like I am standing at that start line of my career, after all this is the place I dreamed about all my ambitions and it's ironic I am back here only this time I am armed with a Master's degree.

In one half years the city has changed radically, to be more precise the infrastructure development seems like they are in a rush for the olympics and where the hell is the bloody recession? Oh yes it was just an excuse to fool fresh and vulnerable graduates to work for lower salaries. Anyway the infra looks modern but not world class just like the people of this city, modern but not world class.

Anyone who has been abroad knows the amount of patience you gain from those world class folks and this patience thingy has rubbed on me big time. At one point of time I was the angry frustrated mumbaite with my middle finger being on active duty all the time. Now I am happy to accept our city's limitations and uncivilized mannerisms exhibited by almost everyone. What makes me really sad is everyone looks so unsatisfied, frustrated and mindless.

Sometimes you should try and observe random people and you will find many interesting behavioral patterns. From here I discovered a common problem called the rat race syndrome. Guess what even my sister exhibits this syndrome :-P. People suffering from this syndrome want to be first and thats it. Overtaking, cutting the queue, pushing, shoving, dodging, putting their hand forward to claim their stake or whatever. People suffering from this syndrome don't even exhibit human like behavior and would have been perfect candidates for Charles Darwin and his theory of 'survival of the fittest'. Obviously these folks still feel that we are in medieval times and too some extent it is understandable. It is no surprise to me that our medieval education system doesn't teach us the basics of civic sense.

There is a theory that every city has a life of 300 odd years and after that the city becomes deserted, fast forward to another 250 years and this bloated city will be deserted. Unfortunately none of us will be alive to see this but hopefully this blog could go on and prove my point.

Till then you know where the wild things are......

Vinay

In pursuit of happyness

I have two days remaining in Melbourne and it was Melbourne where I started my pursuit of happyness. Coincidentally I watched the movie in pursuit if happyness in Melbourne and thats why I have misspelled happiness just like in the film.

The word happy, probably the easiest word to learn and spell. Happy birthday, happy diwali, happy anniversary and so on.

What is happy anyway? I look at my Facebook and I look at moaners and groaners and yes I am one of them. But as I said I am in pursuit of happyness and I begin to wonder has anyone reached that elusive little place. Some say, yes I have cause I just got married, and I ask are you sure?

Happiness, I have a very eccentric example of happyness, in the movie Dark Knight Alfred (michael caine) says to Batman (Christian Bale) and I quote "some men just want to watch the world burn". Isn't it scary ? but when he said that I felt yes one could feel that way, sometimes I feel like watching a part of this world burn. I don't know why but this thought crosses my mind but only sometimes. Happiness is spread across sanity and insanity but insanity is not bad at all. Insanity is a version of happyness the world does not want to pursue, it wants money, safe financial future, apartment, merc, armani etc.

I am still in pursuit of happyness and therefore I am heading back home to start from the start. I don't know if I will ever find it or may be I might stumble upon happiness and fail to recognize it. This could be the same for anyone who is in pursuit of happiness however there is a difference between me and them. I am not looking for money or fame in my pursuit, I am looking for someone who will be my sheath. A sheath is a container for a sword or a dagger and I am looking for my sheath, I don't know how she looks, I have never seen her but I know she is out there may be looking for me.

I cannot tell you how important this person is for me and my mind tries to connect with hers in my dreams.

I am in pursuit of happyness and I hope to find her and I hope to find my happyness in her.

Vin

Seven days and seven lessons from Melbourne

It was 29 July 2008 I stepped out of tullamarine airport and saw Melbourne for the first time, to be very honest it was not very majestic simply for the fact its located in outskirts, but the very sight of my friends waiting for me made it special.

Melbourne makes you uncomfortable especially if your from Mumbai, because there is hardly anyone around you and when my friends left me at home and left for work, for the first time in my life I felt what only elderly people feel, the fear of being alone.

Not a soul in sight and guess what I was living in suburb, oh our definitions of suburb is just like chalk and cheese. This is the day when I learned my first lesson, "never be alone and never let anyone be alone".

As I struggled through this journey, I remembered how easy it was for me back home, I had a job, had a bike and had home it made me realized how established I was even though it was a small achievement. My bike is my first asset and I regret selling it till this day I have dreams of her crying out to me asking me to stay with her. I loved my bike and no one can take her place ever. This taught me never to let go of anything special and treasure it for the rest of my life.

Melbourne taught me what friendship really means, they are not just people you hang out, party with, goof around with. They are the hand that reaches out to you when you're down, they are people who tell you like they do in Liverpool "you'll never walk alone". Now I know what they mean and now I know really what friendship means.

Melbourne is the great leveler, It doesn't care if you are a master's student, it doesn't care what you have achieved back home and it always asks you "show me what you can do here!!". It made me shut up my big mouth and taught me to talk through my actions and work.

It taught me how everyone is equal, it just the human mind the elevates itself. Humility is the greatest achievement a man can achieve.

It showed me how vulnerable we all are and no one was bulletproof. It taught me how to protect myself first and then to protect everyone.

Finally, Melbourne asked me never to give up and it reminds me of one the greatest quote Rocky Balboa made;

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done."

My friend Sujit is not philosophical nut like me, but he gave me one of the best philosophy's I have heard in a long time "You don't have to make others lose, You have to make yourself win!"

I will dedicate these seven learnings from Melbourne through a tattoo, so that I wake up everyday and let these learnings guide me through those 24 hours.

A friend I tried to save....

It's true when people say we are living in fast times, leading fast lives. I tried counting how many hours I spend everyday doing stuff, like how many hours I sleep, surf, eat. What I never realized is I was not spending any time reflecting. It's clear, I am no good at it and I believe lot of people don't think in retrospect, may be it decreases their "social value" I am not sure, just speculating on this one.

All these days I have been going through a very tough time but its my inner strength that kept me going, I didn't exactly put on a poker face but my strong humor bone kept my smiling and laughing. When I reflected on this whole fiasco, I realized I had failed. I had failed to save a person who was my dearest and closest friend. I failed to protect my friend from getting sucked into so called reality, failed to show the way, failed to show what humility means, failed to show what forever and forever means, failed to make dreams a reality, failed to show how to keep true to oneself .

My biggest failure in life is to lose this friend and I wish I could show that there was always another way to do things. I was told once by that same friend that I was too idealistic too value oriented, I wish my friend could understand why I was like this.

I will carry this failure with me like I carry all my other failures in life and try not to lose a friend again, especially with this world waiting to lure them to a place which has no values, no ethics and no honor.

To my friend, I will always miss you, I am sorry I failed you, please remember me in a small corner of your heart cause I tried for you......

Vin

Hilarity of lies!!

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction and does not relate to any person living or dead ;-D

I don't know who came out with this proverb "to hide one truth you need 100 lies to cover it" but it is a kick ass one. As time has gone by and man and his lies have advanced and evolved and today technology and public relations management is serving the function of the "100 lies".

So what do you get when you combine public relations and technology? The answer is Facebook!! Yes this social networking site is our mini PR manager and does the same function as any well paid PR agent does for those rich bastards.

Well you must be asking why is vinayak talking about facebook, the answer is I am trying to use this PR tool to reveal one ugly truth in a way which is political correct and non offensive.

So what is the ugly truth I want to reveal ?? Well I am planning to use discreet viral marketing for that.

Stay tuned

Vinay

If i know you ...

I always wondered if one day there could be a song that would resonate a critical incident or a part of my life through it but I could not believe the timing of that song would be so accurate. I don't know if the song finds the person or is it just destiny.

Presets are on of the new wave duo's from Australia who are creating masterpieces. The song is called If I know you and is a break up song, oh yes it relates to me, I am not bulletproof nor did I needed to be bulletproof, its the enemy inside that did it for me. Suddenly I feel the word TRUST should be placed on the extinction list and years don't really matter cause there are JUST NUMBERS.

Coming back to that wonderful song it is not just your typical break up song according me. Here it's the girl who has broken up with the guy who is cheating on her. We all cheat right? My dear friend Sujit believes that the law karma never fails and I am an atheist which makes me very skeptical about this theory but I believe in my friend and I believe in what he believes. I am adding a youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zkjDBQwalw) link for this song and if your listening STOP listening and start feeling. Also below is the lyrics for this song P.S Presets won 'Best song writers of 2009 Award'

Cheers

Clever liar, foolin' us all
Never thought I'd work it out
How could I have known it was ever about you boy?
Now there's nothin' to say, cos there's no words
And we're not talkin' anyhow
You must have known I was never to doubt you boy

If it was so fine, it was so good
Oh you're unbelievable
All this time I've been living without you boy
But not your lyin'
It felt so good, the world don't know
Now they'll never find out
How all these years she must've been beside you boy
Don't forget that I

Was the one that you found
And if I know you
You'll find me someplace new
I hope I never, I hope I never have to
We're a waste of time
And if I know you, learned long ago it's true
I hope I never, I hope I never have to

Go and explain, explain it again, boy that this all started
Found you lying in the arms of another girl
So stop your crying
Day after day, year after year
Far too long it lasted
You must have thought I was nothing without you boy
Don't forget that I

Was the one that you found
And if I know you
You'll find me someplace new
I hope I never, I hope I never have to
We're a waste of time
And if I know you, learned long ago it's true
I hope I never, I hope I never have to

And tonight, if we learn that the world's on fire
I guess I'll turn to you
I hope I never, I hope I never have to

I fail to find
So hard to find
And I can't find a way for you and I to go far...(?)

I'm always learning things the hard, hard, hardest way.

Cos I was the one, that you found
And if I know you, you'll find me someplace new
I hope you never, I hope you never get to

Tonight, if we learn that the world's on fire
I guess I'll turn to you
I hope I never, I hope I never have to