Anjali - We Don't Know What Will Happen In the Future

I guess I got what I was asking for. In one quiet moment between a game of cricket with the young lady I asked her - "Anjali, when you grow up, will you fight with me?" I would not be telling the truth if I said I did not expect her to say that she would not fight and that she would love me forever and all that.

But she took a rather simplistic view of the whole thing. "We don't know what will happen in the future na?' she said very practically. "We only know what happened in the past. So I cannot say if I will fight with you or not. I may or I may not. So what is there. Okay let us play."

Thank you Anjali my dear. That does make immense sense. Live the present. And shut up.

In Bruges - Movie Review

Fantastic stuff. I loved it. There's not a moment when you feel you know what's going to happen and its the weirdest plot, the most original of characters and motives. And its dark comedy which I love. Super stuff.

Two hit men are sent to Bruges (where's that?) in Belgium, by their boss. One older, Ken (Brendan Gleeson), and Ray (Colin Farell), a new recruit who has just botched his first attempt at murder, killing  a little boy by accident. He is completely remorseful and has turned suicidal. The older man consoles him and comforts him but not for too long - the boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) wants Ray dead. It's a matter of principle you see - cannot kill small children. But the younger hit man had found some love in Bruges (a town he finds unbelievably boring) a drug dealer with a psycho boyfriend. She is peddling stuff to a movie being shot in Bruges - to an American midget.

Ken goes to kill Ray, finds him committing suicide, and stops him. He sends him off, confesses to Harry that he has flouted the orders and is willing to die. Harry comes to Bruges to find and kill Ken and ends up in the end killing the midget who he thinks is a little boy too. Will he kill himself on principle?

Brilliant, brilliant stuff and wonderful screenplay. The way he introduces the two hit men, their back stories, their inner feelings, the principles of their boss and the irony of the entire thing is fabulous. Must watch.

Thought For The Day - Slow Down But Don't Stop

"Slow down but don't stop", is one of my favorite lines from 'The Men Within'. And I experienced the full meaning of that recently. Aren't we learning all the time?

Recently I set myself a one hour walk-jog routine for 21 days. Typically one of my main excuses to skip the walk (and thereby muck up the whole program) is the time constraint on days when you hit the park late. "I can't do the entire one hour if I go now. Let me go in the evening," is one of my favorite excuses. It never happens of course.

So this time I set a new rule. Whatever happens I go to the park. Even if it is for 5 minutes.

The day came. 5th day. Very little time. But I stuck to the new (and empowering rule). Went for 5 minutes - or that's what I thought. You never stop at 5 do you? Once I went there I saw that I really had fifteen or even 22 minutes if I squeeze in every moment - chuck the newspaper time, the chai time, the breakfast - and I could get myself another twenty minutes. And I did fit in as much as I could in that time.

Fact of the matter is - once you go there, you will find ways to make it happen. The mind needs to be sold the idea exactly as we sell these ideas to little children. The key then is to slow down, but not to stop.

I think I can do anything now - for 5 minutes at least!

Story Idea - Egoistic Lovers

Hook:
Two super egoistic lovers and the lengths to which they go to boost their ego after a petty fight.

It's about two people who go to great lengths to prove they are in love and finally find out that they are not. They are in love with themselves!

Story:
The story dives headlong into the romance and makes it sizzle. Its the ideal romance, and the two lovers are so pleased with themselves. But all through this romance there are indications that give away their real selves - Mr. and Ms. Egoistic. And then over a seemingly small issue they take off on their egoistic journeys, going to great lengths to boost their egos - each wants to prove to the other that he /she is capable of great sacrifice and in the end they find, after losing everything, that the only person they loved was themselves. The treatment most certainly has to be funny - the type where telling the truth is the funniest type.

Need to push the envelope of course and show them both for being what they are - hollow. I remember the 'War of Roses' but that's about married people. This is a cliched theme too but the only thing that is probably different is that the entire story dwells on their egos.

The Best of Maupassant - Book Review

Another one that I got from Indialog's nice collection of classics. "The Best of Maupassant" has 37 short stories of the most delightful kind, each with a gentle twist at the end that stays with you. Guy de Maupassant, born in 1950, died young,  at 42. Having served in the army in the Franco-Prussian war, he has a few stories set in the war time. His body of work includes 300 stories, six novels, three travel books and one volume of verse, according to back cover. He was rich but led a tortured life apparently and even tried to commit suicide and finally died of syphilis.

The first thing that struck me was his style of writing which has a nice, soothing lilt to it. He also dwells deeper into the man-woman relationships, something that O. Henry did not, and with a softer and nicer approach too. Be it the unwed mother who was cheated by her boyfriend, the suffering husband in the Jewel, the object of affections of the pig of Morin, women are a central theme and so is man's attractions to her. Maupassant is equally understanding of human nature, man and woman alike. The story of the army lads who find a hidden reserve to make it back home because they find the company of a young girl is nicely told, just as those poor souls who invite women to the party and are horribly disappointed at what the priest gets along. The son who negotiates on his mother's death, the solitude of snow and the tricks the mind plays on one who is alone, the paradox of having a wife of easy virtue who actually keeps the husband happy and the home fires burning as opposed to the wife who is virtuous and makes the husband's life hell are brilliant stories with characters that somehow stay on like ghosts. His stories are very visual too for someone who uses few words.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the stories. Inspired now to write some short stories based on my story ideas. 

Thought for the Day - Match Ability With Belief

If you have ability, but no belief, you will under perform. You will be seen as talented but not good enough for the big league. A loser.

If you have no ability but have belief, you are better off than the first lot. You will use your limited ability to its maximum and do better than you are expected to. You will rise above your weight. You will be successful.

But if you have ability, backed by equal or more belief, you will soar. You will be a champion.
(Assuming that hard work is constant.)

Anjali - Art of Gratitude

Once again a knock on the head. Ever since my barber for the last three decades passed away last year, I have been on the quest to find a suitable and convenient replacement. Not having found one who fit my exacting requirements (i.e. my old barber), I have been complaining, cribbing since then. The saloon near my home does a fair job but unfortunately they get the most of my cribbing.

But I went there again last week and got my hair cut. On my return I showed the new development to Anjali and asked her how she liked it. She is never one not to like anything (except vegetables) so she enthusiastically said "It's very nice nanna. It's looking good." I nodded, skeptically.

Sensing the despondent mood and my persistent unhappiness perhaps, she shot off the next question. "Did you thank the barber?" That got me started. Frankly, that was the last thing on my mind. Though he had done a good job, I must admit grudgingly, I was still caught up in my drama of not finding the right barber.

She was not done.
"You could not have got your hair cut without him na? You should thank him," came the whack on the head.

How many times do we ignore these things in our lives? Taking the small things for granted and not expressing our gratitude for that. I silently sent my thanks to the barber who had done a good job. And a not-so-silent thanks to Anjali who was already busy doing something else.