Mediocre Perspectives

Signing off is an important part of few scenes in movies, especially the ones involving intense conversations where the one who wins the talk, usually leaves like a boss. That is not to be so in the real world. It is especially true for men irrespective of their age. The art of saying a poor good-bye is ingrained in men so strongly that I have rarely seen one take off without a fuss. I have personally done it so many times possibly more than the number of twinkles in a starlit sky. The number of things a man carries when he leaves a place never crosses the single digit. The mobile phone in one pocket, wallet in the other and key in third are the principal items. Yet there is always one which is let off and he has to return to fetch it.  Photo Courtesy: Brian Evans When he leaves for the first time he does it like a hero, thoroughly prepared, ready to face it be it day or night, so confident that he is ready to take on the world felt through the ‘bye’ he recites wh...

A few days ago my friend told me that he didn’t finish the biscuits we had bought last night. Not owing to lack of appetite, but the act of finding an odd insect inside it usually found in swamps. Well, it was a major biscuit brand and hence things like this are not supposed to happen. But we just purchased another one of the same brands after carefully discarding the one with the insect corpse. This was not the first time that a so-called premium product has failed to live up to its expectations. I remember products marketed with extensive life unable to maintain durability beyond six months. But that doesn’t change the fact microeconomics works in India. We Indians have a high but false perception that only companies which can shell millions of rupees and get Miss World to market them are the only ones which could assure quality. I personally cannot vouch where this mindset comes from but I am pretty sure that such thoughts are ingrained from an early age possibly by the way ...

Few incidents reveal malaise plaguing the society. The responses generated on social media and alike after a child actress was allegedly molested in an airplane indicate how deeper misogyny, distrust, chauvinism etc. are entrenched in the aspiring superpower of the world. The reports on the incident were straightforward. A middle-aged man on the seat right behind the actress had allegedly molested her. The actor had documented the incident and posted it on her Instagram account. The alleged offender has been taken custody and investigation into the incident has begun. There was expected support for the actor from personalities from different domains condemning the incident. But it was something else altogether which indicates the nature of beings which populate our society. Trolls were hurled at the actor on various accounts. Mean tweets are nothing new to actors. Comedy shows even has heads of states sharing mean tweets. Nevertheless, the timing and the nature of tweets are fo...

My friend had gone to Bengaluru for an internship a few months ago. When she was conversing on infrastructure arteries on Bengaluru she told me that Chennai’s traffic was bearable. I personally cannot vouch for this opinion as I have not been to the cosmopolitan city. But there is certainly one thing I could, as one who uses a cycle to commute in Chennai.  Indian metropolitan cities are unfit for bicycle transport. I do realize that I am not stating a Nobel-worthy scientific fact but having experienced instances of ‘road-bullying’ I am forced to repeat it. I believe I was gifted my first bicycle when I was 10. I vaguely recall it being fitted with miniature supporting wheels for balance which my parents did not have (kudos to capitalism). After I grew up, I got a new cycle which I used for several years in school and college. Having found employment I bought my third one to commute to my workplace. Though I have used a bicycle for several years for commuting to school in a Ti...

Having a nonvegetarian meal on a Sunday afternoon is one of the conventions of Indian life. Though I protest most conventions I never shy away from a good meal. It was not the first time I have seen someone using a tissue paper in the hand-wash section of the hotel, but it was not the usual sight too. The mother asked the child to drag the tissue paper from the suspended box above. It drew one for its left hand, one for its mouth and the last one for fun. The child cannot be above six years of age meaning the brain is still at a very nascent stage and attitudes and behavior register deeply in the neural networks. If capitalism wanted to promote consumerism for the next generation and induce growth it is definitely on the right track by molding the next generation by a simple tissue paper. The tissue paper is the manifestation of our use-and-throw behavior. A few weeks ago, I received a sympathetic stare for housing an ink pen in my front pocket. The stare conveyed that I belo...

There are times I wonder about the purpose of art. There are multiple perspectives on what art is supposed to achieve, the most accepted being a tool for making life worth living. Art could do this in two ways – either transporting one through a portal beyond reality or painting his mind using complex tools to reveal the harsh truths on life using different forms as reality is not hard hitting. Art has always seen challenges and the recent protests to prevent the screening of the movie Padmavati is only an extension of what it has faced since time immemorial. The protesters claim that the movie is disrespectful to the Queen Padmini. The irony lies in the fact that she never existed. The earliest fictitious account was by Malik Muhammad Jayasi which is dated to the 1540s, more than 200 years after Alauddin Khilji, the emperor of the Delhi Sultanate passed away. There is no historical account that Alauddin Khilji decided to conquer Chittoor lured by the beauty of Padmavati, who wa...

I could not remember when I entered the network but I have certainly lost track of time. There is a reason watches are not allowed in here. Time is relative, it has always been and going by the fact that it has been a long time I have begun my search, I feel time is moving slowly. I rested my back on the steam tainted walls of the current room I am in. The fact that I was wearing a bark textured shirt did not help ventilation. I chose it as I expected to reach the desired room in comfortable time. The room I am in currently is relatively large. Its deconstruction shows that it is not something visited regularly. The room is dying a slow death, the blinking table lamp, the teary scraps on the walls, the melting table and the slimy armchair indicate that it comes from ages beyond. Its silence is what I needed to regroup my thought process. The desired room has the information which is absolutely necessary for combat. It has the tools to organize the next move without which ther...

This is not a movie review. Yet Spoilers Ahead… I remember Director Mysskin’s talk in a reality show that a creator is one who uses a torch light to show the common man what he has to see or missed in his hazy observation. Globalisation has affected our lives so radically that we have seen its impact on our culture too. Kaaka Muttai by director Manikandan which talks about the aspiration of two boys who reside in a slum to taste a Pizza is my favorite. There were few other films which tried to capture such conflicts between the haves and have-nots. But I certainly believe that Director Ram’s trilogy is an important one. I don’t intend to evaluate the cinematic credentials of his movies which I am thoroughly incapable and incompetent of. The following paragraphs intend only to narrate what as a common man I observed in his movies,  what his movies tried to honestly convey, to see where he shone the light. The sharpest criticism which his three films face are on the rarity ...

We were in Love Photo Courtesy: Dennis Skley The sound of the gavel, Ringing in my ears I still cannot feel, That it finally has. We might just be, One in today’s hundred. But for us, it will be, The one day, we dreaded. I looked across the sea, Of black coats. Your eyes refused to see, Even my shadows. When I exited the entrance And nowhere to go The Sky began to fall, In a melancholic flow. The first time we met, Is still infant fresh. Yet, the stage is now set, To depart marriage mesh. You never told me Why you like me, I just assume It had to be me. Is that the same, Reason you hate me? Or I shouldn’t assume, It must be me. Our Marital alliance was Born out of war What we endured was Worse than sore Where When What, Nobody knows. Love Like Lust, Lost in Egotistic snow. Lips and Ears Failed To convey. What our Eyes Used To do one day. Pleasure and Joy Nowhere to find, Pain...

The squashing of the Tamil Nadu government’s order providing space for State Board Students for Medical counselling is actually not surprising. Maybe the TN government was too optimistic hoping a repeat of last year when there was a relief.  Lacunae and structural problems are abounding in government policy. Understanding them is not difficult but proposing feasible and better solutions is an uphill task. At times, the solutions proposed are complex and give rise to more problems than the issue itself. The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the all India entrance examination for medical colleges causes more problems than it solves especially for UG. Beating existing problems NEET was primarily envisioned to tackle corruption in allocation of seats in private medical colleges. Private medical colleges which have their own quota of seats which are not filled with government counselling charge exorbitant money which is not tracked in official channels. Further ...

The Transporter Twins Photo Courtesy:  Fedeanimation Floating along The open sky The cloud looks At its twin Wishing a cloudy morning Good, Rides the cycle Which sounds Like tin Born as Kin Transporting things One, the Elixir The other, an Enigma. Clouds go Along wind driven paths Cycles row On man drawn lines Smoke provides resort to River abandoned drops While the ringing bell Carry money-dry droops Fluffy and lean The sponges fly undisturbed Smooth and silky The cycle manoeuvres unhindered Cirrus stratus Nimbus and Cumulus Comes the clouds With Howard given Names Mountains Cities For ladies and Babies Cycles match the smoke With diversified names Behold the thunder Which wakes you from slumber When warring white balloons Flex their muscles Few mild sounds Could make your spine shiver As ringing bells do In a dead night They are twins They live in different realms O...

Waves of Agony Photo Courtesy: AJ Cann Do not know from Where they come. Every time they have They devastate one. From the Depths of mind to The Days we grind A bleeding heart and The Piercing Dart Sources aplenty They don’t feel guilty. Driving a dagger, In the soul’s center. They know no module and Work Without a schedule. Disrupting lives with Wet knives. Churning and Breaking Constructs Along the way Dashing and Stomping Dreams Of the day Running is no use as They are there Don’t try staying as They are here. People tell you Joy is So Pure. But I am too blind, To say it is True. The waves you see Can drown you sore Cause about Agony I am Damn sure. Photo Courtesy: (External Link) AJ Cann

Since childhood, we are subjected to a spell. The music played on the radio, editorials scripted on the newspaper, the principle of punctuality cultivated from school are just a few of them. It is a spell which you break when you find yourself standing in a contour which the society terms a misfit. The spell of the mainstream is the mightiest of all employed by the powerful. Pseudo-Globalization You are supposed to fall in line no matter what. The concept of mainstream became a powerful force after Globalization, or should one say Pseudo-globalization. The Anglo-American world controls almost everything you see, that you are fooled into believing that life is lived in the same way everywhere in the world. How many stories have we heard from the dry lands of Chad? The experience of a daily commuter in Chile, lost love in the ravaged land of Afghanistan, friendship in the island of Madagascar, brave soldiers from the lands of Russia are far away from our purview.  Sav...

Sporting greatness is a very difficult thing to settle much more when you consider the element of time. Time is possibly the arch rival of any sporting legend feeding over his prowess with each passing day. When it is difficult to maintain even a shadow of yourself when you are past your prime what unraveled on Wimbledon Centre Court yesterday was a chapter which will go down as ‘The One Where Greatness is Re-defined’. Roger Federer won his 19 th Grand Slam title the highest by a male player in the Open Era of Tennis (i.e. from 1968 when professionals were also allowed to play Grand Slam tournaments). The achievement is Himalayan when one realizes that this man will turn 36 next month and that he did not play six months of competitive tennis after a knee surgery last year. Federer in Wimbledon 2009. His elegance and aggressive style of play was most expressive on Grass Photo Courtesy: Justin Smith Game: Even before this victory, Federer was agreed by most as the...

It has been more than a decade since the idea of a holistic indirect tax was pitched. After a considerably long time of deliberation and significant compromises, a newly envisioned Goods and Service Tax (GST) will make its way into the records from the first of July. The last one year has witnessed a significant amount of literature devoted to the phenomenon what is now GST. But as happens usually in India questions which ought to be asked was never raised and when sounded was drowned in the clamor of what should be the right tax rate for GST. Fundamentals: To understand the right questions we are obliged to revisit the fundamentals of taxation. Tax is a compulsory levy by the government for the services it provides to its citizens from security to sanitation. The government decides the different levies through which it can raise its revenue. The fundamental classes of taxes are two – direct and indirect taxes. Direct taxes are progressive in nature they are levied in proport...

Photo Courtesy:   Mark Jensen The more I devour you the more you become, Isn’t there a way to swallow you whole? I envy your brightness and rightly so. A moment you are in, and then out, To put it simply you are everywhere. I scale the mountains you dwarf me You know deep trenches to sink me I soar in the sky to be blinded by your light Darkness is no respite as you own the night I droop at your vastness and rightly so. Why am I crude? Though I sharpen my weapons, Can’t I beat you good? As I follow my sessions. Maybe I get it all wrong? Maybe I will never get it right. I wow at your knots and rightly so. Romancing you is way beyond joy Which I desire Till my last breath Trailing you is a never-ending ploy The sole reason I postpone my death I love your flatness and rightly so All times I feel  I am too small I lift my heel, Yet too short. The Firefly has no answers to the Sun When you tease, I don’t ru...

Photo Courtesy: Randomthoughtstome The heart brims with anger My face covered in blood The night sky calls to me But how will I fly? The palm feels the hammer Chain link is cold Stars await my sheen I can’t simply glide I aspire to leap From the decaying heap To fulfill myself Or try dying one self My will is too weak And the chain wouldn’t shriek I lie here in tears Felled by my fears Will there be will Would the chain unshackle? Or would wings wither feigning? With not enough trying Will I be my saviour Will there be a saviour? Photo Courtesy: (External Link) Randomthoughtstome

This was not the first time I am being introduced to the character Wonder Woman. I was pretty familiar with her from Justice League since school. And Gal Gadot was not new to the screen either. She has already made an appearance in the global franchise Fast and Furious. This wasn’t the first time when Gal Gadot was playing Wonder Woman either. She adorned the role with panache in the movie Dawn of Justice which released earlier. She was simply reprising the role which she had done earlier. But walking out of the theater it would be hard to deny the fact you definitely saw something spectacular, or should I say wonderful. It took me a few moments to realize what had brought about that sense of awesomeness on screen. It was neither the character sketch of wonder woman nor the stellar performance of Gal Gadot alone but a symphonic fusion of both which left you with the sense of wonder. Official Poster (from Forbes website) The innocence of the superhero defined the movi...