Yada Yada Yada

Some people I know write when they get bored, some get bored while writing. I sit here at 4 in the evening and write this when everything else has taken a halt.  This would probably explain which group I belong to. Usually my favourite topics to write are, movies and off late I have been watching quite a few of them but I won’t write about them. Why because I am not in a state to think too much still I will write. As I have reached the epitome of boredness (this isn’t even a word) and I am too lazy to find an alternate, lets just dedicate this post to my favourite things to kill boredom (there I go, found it, but I still wont correct the earlier one). Why? because I like it that way, brings variety to my dull post.

1. I build a castle in the air. I think about how perfect the life would be when I stop behaving the way I do and do something about it.
2. I talk to people: I am not sure if I am introvert or an extrovert but I agree with what the famous writer once said “A man who is lonely when alone is in a bad company”. I would rather be on my own than talk to people who make no sense
3. I philosophize:  Again, one of the writers once said “when everything else fails, philosophize”.  So I analyze the life, the people around me eventually turning into a queen of blahdom
4. I watch Bollywood movies: Last movie I saw was “tum Mil to Sahi” and that explains everything. The movie should rather have been called “Tum Na Milo to Hi Sahi”.
5. I write a post like this

I think, I feel and then the feeling disappears

You ask me what I think of us,

when we both know we don’t care

Our feelings were never defined,

yet we got lost with time

We thought we were lovers,

when we were not even friends

We discuss Nietzsche and listen to Kurt Cobain

Get euphoric after some wine and champagne

You look at me, I look away and smile

Go away and continue with my exile

For the past few days, I was buried in “Shantaram” when a friend of mine asked me if I had read Stranger. I certainly had read that one and to my surprise I couldn’t remember anything about that book. For me, a book is worth a read when it has “OhMyGodIwanttomarryhim” characters or it has a philosophy that moves you in a way like Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged et al.  So after being coaxed by this friend, I read the book again and whether I will remember the story of the book even now. Really can’t say. Stranger, written by Albert Camus is a short novel that may even go unnoticed in the first read. It’s not insipid, far from being so, only the author is not trying to impose any moral beliefs and is just as indifferent in his viewpoint, as he is while narrating the story.

The book begins with “Mother died today. Or, maybe, yesterday; I can’t be sure.” It’s the story of a guy who is to attend his mother’s funeral and then how the turn of events gets him involved in a homicide of a person who he barely knew. He is then convicted of the murder and during the trail is questioned more about events related to his Mother’s funeral, which include not remembering her age, sending her to the Old Age home, smoking next to her dead body and going for a movie next day after the incident. You wonder if his crime is the murder, for which there has been no inquiry or the fact that he didn’t cry during the funeral. During the scrutiny for him being apathetic, he is well aware that such behavior is despicable in the society and makes no effort to defend himself apart from  stating the truth.

The book has quite a few quotes, which justify why he behaved the way he did, however my favourite is “I reminded myself, its common knowledge that life isn’t worth living, anyhow. And, on a wide view, I could see that it makes little difference whether one dies at the age of thirty or threescore and ten—since, in either case, other men and women will continue living, the world will go on as before”.  Another one, simpler one in fact ”when I want to get rid of someone whose conversation bores me, I pretend to agree”.

If you are looking for a book that is not too didactic on moral or social grounds, yet looks at life from a different perspective then this is one you definitely shouldn’t miss.

As mentioned in one of my previous posts, one of my New Year resolutions is to explore more music. I am too proud to say that I am quite happy with the way it is going, if only other things were going by the same pace. I think my career/MBA/CoA trouble would come to an end if listening to music becomes an occupation. Nyhoo, I stumbled upon the song “Just like a woman” forwarded by one of my hearties and then there was no looking back discovering “Bob Dylan’s music.

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman) began his music career in 1962 and launched his latest album in 2009. To say that he is a living legend would be an understatement. Not only is he a singer, but a songwriter, musician, painter and poet. In 2008 he was bestowed upon with a Pulitzer Prize for his profound impact on music and American culture, “marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.

Usually I would pick one, two, three or at max 5 songs of an artist that could be categorized into favorites. It’s impossible to do that with his music. Every song has a different theme and lyrics are so powerful yet mellow.

“It Ain’t me babe” would top the list from the songs I have heard so far,. This song has an old country feel, which describes how he is not the perfect choice for a lover and is rather a stone. It starts with

Go ‘way from my window,

Leave at your own chosen speed.

I’m not the one you want, babe,

I’m not the one you need.

You say you’re lookin’ for someone

Never weak but always strong

Then “Like a Rolling Stone” talks about how a girl who is used to the luxuries of life goes through harsh lessons and lives like an unknown

http://bubblesoftstore.com

“Don’t think twice, it’s alright” talks about how he wasn’t treated the right way in a relationship and is now leaving his girl

I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind

You could have done better but I don’t mind

You just kinda wasted my precious time

But don’t think twice, it’s all right

Idiot Wind, Angelina, Beyond the Horizon, Desolation Row are a few of other songs that I have fixed my heart upon at the moment. Now I would not go on and rant about the description of each song as I think it would be unjust and may squander the purity of the song. And oh how could I forget “Knocking on Heavens Door”. As far as I can remember, it is without a doubt, one of the songs with maximum number of covers. When I was a teenage I thought it was Avril Lavigne’s original. Talk about being naïve.

If you are someone who loves simple things in life and appreciates the beauty of nature, you will dig this movie. You will do more, if you do not beleive in the concept of society. However, if you don’t belong to either of the categories, you will apprecaite it anyway.

Directed by Sean Penn, this movie got nominated for 2 Oscars and you wouldn’t wonder why. The movie as a narrative by his sister, is about Chris McCandless who shuns the conventional life ahead of him, which includes donating his college fund to charity and further education at Harvard, only to travel Alaska.  An adventurer at heart, or more so an “aesthetic adventurer” as proclaimed by himself, he does so to get away from his family and society to find solace and joy in nature.

As he begins his journey, the voyager in him gets a pseudo name “Alexander Supertramp” and his life is aptly divided into 5 parts starting from Birth, followed by adolescence, manhood, family and getting wisdom as the last stage. During this journey, he meets people from various stratas of life which includ a hippie family,  a guy in his 40s, a teenage who develops a crush on him and an old man. Alex leaves an impact on everyone and becomes a prt of their family even though for a short while, however you only wish that he was a little less stoic when dealing with people especially with the old man. Everyone in the movie has played his character with sheer ease and moulds in so easily to set the mood. Eddie Vedder’s music only adds to the theme of the movie where each song fits to the situation and adds value, my favourite being “Guaranteed”.

The end of the movie is tragic but the movie is hardly so and it does get you thinking, more so as it based on a real life story. As he gets to THE place, he realises that life isn’t as rosy. Some of the scenes are quite depressing especially where out of starvation and after having consumed the poisonous plant, he is completely helpess and is void of any reaction to the bear, which could have easily been his next meal.

I am in complete awe of the movie however what I failed to understand was the climax. Since it is based on real life, it can’t be questioned.  However you do feel a little preplexed. Just before he is about to die, he mentions that “happiness real only when shared” which totally contadicts the reason for his journey and that is solitude: to get away from the hustle bustle. More so, it is said shortly after he mentions that “relatrionships are not the only source of happiness”.  So is it the case of epiphany or does he realise that the path he chose wasn’t the right one or was the director trying to say too many things at the same time ?

The movie has many dialogues worth remembering, my favourite being “Sometimes in life, it is not necessary to be strong but to feel strong