Encounters with Reality

 The Odyssey leaves a trace of disappointment when one goes in with the expectation of being stung by a poison whose effects will last longer. It is the work of a master who knows his medium — an intellectual mastery of storytelling that keeps you engaged, shifts tempo deftly, and ties witty loose ends together for key plot points. It is a film that won’t leave the engaged, curious viewer without deserved fun. And yet, the departure from the original plot, and the burden of making a commentary on civilizational fall, mean that what we get is not a lasting kick to our worlds of thought. The choice of putting Xenia, or Zeus’ law, as the central plank on which the story stands does not come off convincingly. It makes the ending of an otherwise good story fall away from the crescendo it had built so well. Odysseus’ lament about his acts in the war is a typically modern, individualistic, analytical perspective — a defining feature of modern literature, a point of departure from the clas...

For last two years or so, I am watching serials, more than movies. It started from GOT, and now I am really hooked up. I look forward to what I am going to watch in my homeward train journey. I typically watch episode or two daily.  On the day, when I don't have to travel and work, I watch more episodes.  I was watching 'Transparent' because I read about it in one of the articles that was discussing shows for LGBTQ+. I watched it mainly for how it has treated the sexuality. The sex scenes are like toppings, they attract, but they can't retain viewers to the series unless they are backed by a captivating storyline.  'Transparent' is not the series I will typically watch. I do not like serieses where an individual's messed up decision making is the concurrent theme. Most likely these messed up individuals are sufficiently rich and that's what makes their messing up visually beautiful and consequences stay mostly emotional.  'Transparent' is no...

Everything seems uncertain and ambiguous. I might be using two words for the same flux form I see around. But precision of words is not my thrust; I am trying to be precise about meaning of environment around me. is it environment around me, consisting of past, present and future of people, is itself ambiguous or it is my nature reflected on environment? I feel the effect is in space and time around me. The age of absurdity, the age of uncertainty, the age of disintegration of values is taking its toll on me. Let me explain all these three phases, one by one. They are not mine, but now I feel them exactly as their originator would have thought. Meaning has been discussed too much. With growth of media, both in reach and depth, it was expected that human expression will find new avenues, it will find new patterns, and it will find new expressions. But the ease of reaching out made urge of expressions shallow and shallow. The honesty of artist becomes debatable, when it seems that ...