The Descendants

It is somehow strange that all the hoopla surrounding this movie about the awards Clooney has already won and is yet touted to win has instigated neither any curiosity nor the usual “urgency” of watching a new movie in me. And something that doesn’t create any expectations will almost certainly impress me if it is good enough. So in short, I loved the movie.

Devil, they say, is in the details. If that is true, then going by yin and yang, there needs to be something Godly in the details too. And this is exactly what The Descendants attempts to delineate. It is an honest portrayal of the emotions any normal human being goes through when hit with tough times. The movie doesn’t attempt to preach Godliness nor does it try to glorify immorality. And there is a kind of foreign beauty in this nonchalance.

One might get bogged down by the challenges in life. One might learn a lesson or two from the suffering therein and move on. One might even enjoy the challenges for the heck of it. Whatever be the approach, it is certain that every mind goes through a predictable set of emotions in a given circumstance. There might be actors who are very good at portraying such roles and George Clooney was the last name that might have come to my mind, till now. No wonder there is so much of online hearsay about the awards he deserves for this role. It is not the role of an insurgent gay rebel. Nor is it the role of the face of law enforcement in America for almost 50 years. And heck no, it is not the role of an intimidating psychopathic rival to an equally intimidating superhero. And to come up with such a fine, containing and empathetic performance whilst playing the role of “just any other” normal person obviously deserves all sorts of praise there can be.

I would not like to talk much about the plot/story because frankly, there is none. The movie is just a series of unfortunate events that throw the life of a moderately moral guy (who, by the way is the descendant of a very rich family of royals) out of the ruts he has built for himself and makes him face some responsibilities he has ignored thus far in his life. It is not the sympathy you feel for the guy which makes you slowly but surely like the unfolding, but rather the familiar but uncomfortable tingle caused by what he goes through and does in those situations, which, by the way is occasionally faintly humorous. Talk about the irony in life!

This movie will be perceived differently by different people, depending on the gamut of emotions and sufferings they might have experienced. But I would risk a guess that it will become and stay popular. I have been craving for a good movie for the last few months, a state greatly aggravated by the deluge of incongruous (oh, calling them substandard would be giving them great praise) Telugu movies in the recent past. Maybe that’s why I really liked The Descendants so much. But then, maybe not! Anyway, don’t let me judge the movie for you!

Event: Flower show @ Lalbagh

Relationships or business??

Most people confuse emotional relationships with professional relationships and as a result contribute to the agony of all those involved. "Give only what you want to get back" works only in business. 

If there is a person who does you favors only expecting similar favors back from you, better keep the relationship with that person strictly formal - irrespective of the person being a blood-relative to you or not.

There usually is a code of conduct for every human life.* And how people respect their relationships is mostly based on this code. The lack of common sense in this code turns into the lack of least concern to others' existence and their equality in their relationship.

So, if you are expected by people around you to impress them by behaving like they want you to, you need to realize that their behavior too is governed by expectations - their own expectations of you and others' expectations of them. This is not a healthy barter system in case of emotional relations because such relations are above these lowly parameters. They are dictated not by expectations but by comprehension - a mutual comprehension of thoughts shared and not shared, of deeds done and not done, of words meant and not meant.

My experience of relationships so far has largely been restricted with only one very strong emotional bond with a family person who was not chosen by me. The rest of the relations that give me strength in life are all chosen by myself. In fact, the relations in which people not chosen by myself expect me to think of them the same way as they do of me have only caused me lot of trouble and mental pain.

*Every such code is governed by a certain set of moral values and principles. These rules are formulated by the kind of upbringing and the education you are made to receive (academic) and the education you choose to receive (literary and multimedia). This Code largely dictates what you perceive of your fellow human beings and hence what your fellow human beings perceive of you. (Some make conscious attempt to write the code for their lives and some unknowingly let external influences like movies and sensational news write the code for their lives.)

A welcome new year break to Wayanad

A few glimpses of God's own country:

An Insight Inside

     What makes a person?

     Is it the people who love you and the people whom you love?

     Is it your achievements in life or the hardships you have gone through to achieve them

     or is it what you have become in the process of achieving them?

     It might be a mixture of all of these...

     Whatever you have gone through to achieve your goal not only gives you a dollop of ego

     but also boosts your self-respect. And I don't think that's bad. Being proud of what you have

     accomplished is a very healthy ingredient of "living" life. 

     But expecting people to acknowledge your pride is obviously very foolish.