Encounters with Reality

  'Darlings' is a dark comedy worth your time. It might be even more worth if you have a part that enjoys philosophical churning about human behaviour.  Against the run of play, Darlings turns somewhat preachy at a very critical moment in the movie. Perhaps there was no other way to go about. The critical moment gives us an intriguing question: Will we be permanently haunted by our conscience if we choose to commit an evil act consciously and when committing such an act is against our nature? By evil act, we can assume an act that leads to physical, very likely a bodily harm to others. The argument goes as follows - sooner or later your conscience will make you aware of the evil act you have committed. And once we are aware, we cannot be at peace. And then the utilitarian implication follows- if you do not want to lose your peace, do not commit evil.  In some sense, the argument is demeaning. It asks us not to be evil because that is better than being an evil. If somehow,...

 Somewhat famous Netflix series ‘Ozark’ has come to an end. Right from the start, Ozark has been hailed as next in the line from ‘Breaking Bad’. Ozark does not come close to the cold-blooded excellence of ‘Breaking Bad’, but it managed to create a world of its own, mostly due to impactful portrayal of Wendy Byrde. The end was quite classic, where Wendy has dialogues which capture the essence of her and Marty’s actions and of the theme of the series.             What captivates us in series like ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Ozark’ (and spin-off likes ‘Better Call Soul’) is supposed descent into the cesspool of immorality of the characters, the way they break into world of being bad. The way central character makes apparently ‘wrong’ choices, starting with justified ends like self-survival or helping the family, but eventually realizes the power that such wrong choices can confer and then takes that path to the end story has. The story ...

For last 100 days, I am living in the shadow of epidemic. What exactly is this shadow? Part of this shadow, a small part, is death. For my age, the threat of death is not large. The great part of the shadow is possible agony of being helpless if I or my dear ones must access the health facilities. From what neighborhood WhatsApp and Social media gossip is, the hospital bed is new elite consumption. It is only one’s access to influence that can fetch a Covid-19 patient in my town a hospital bed in my town. Patients are being admitted to hospitals in other towns, sometimes 60 or more km away. Relatives often have to frantically call hospital after hospital, seek any outlet for help, all the while worrying about prospect of the patient. Possibility of this experience is the great part of the shadow. The remaining part is the boredom induced by being stuck at home.             Plague is not really a great metaphor for Covid-19. Covid-...

This is the conversation I heard between two auto-rickshaw drivers who were just fooling around. One of them have made a negative remark about other, say B.  B: Your name will be put in the NRC list. And then you will be standing on the Pakistan border.  A: I have all the documents. How will I be on the NRC?  B: Anyone who is not with us is against us. And anyone who is against us will be on NRC.  An onlooker, C, who was standing and listening to this exchange nearby jumped in discussion, asking A about how right it is to beat the students. (The incident has occurred previous night.)  A: It is a quarrel between left and ABVP regarding registration. Left has shut down the sever. ABVP made it work. Left closed it again.  C: But who were the masked ones?  A: The masked ones came later.  I had to leave the lively scene for livelihood reasons. Yet, I cannot forget the striking piece of conversation. Why?  1. The binary notion of ‘us’...

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...

It’s about that time the Sun went down And city woke up to illuminating darkness  It rained that evening  And through drenched clouds,  Wind sang an eulogy for time That sublimated, brick by brick  In the towers that rule the world now.  It’s about time when dozen of the last birds flew over a broken home Their wings spread through contours of memories  Chanting the hymn to erase the marks of hungry past  It’s about time when the last of dusty roads Kissed the goodbye to nameless flowers  And burned them all in aimless tar. 

A : See, the news item says that in Patna, most of the users used Rail wi-fi to watch porn. B: See! See!! A: What? B: First, there is railway and wi-fi everywhere in India, even in Patna! Prabhu, tussi great ho. Second, if Nitish hasn't banned alcohol despite the deep cultural tradition that prefers inebriation of Bhakti that strikes all vices, people wouldn't have turned to Porn. You see, the power of Sanskar and vengeance of sanskar over those who forget our roots!! Third, mobiles are everywhere, that's the basis of JAM, which is the basis of financial revolution waiting in the wing. Forth, the Vatsayana and Konark temple are from this land and you liberal moron, were saying these are days of moral policing. You still say so? A: I guess my vision is now illuminated my multiple meanings that I never saw. B: Yea. Sages have already said it my friend. It's called अमेध्यादपि काञ्चनम्! A: जय हो! जय हो!! http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analys...