From shadows to the stars

When I feel that my life is getting a little too boring or monotonous, I generally take long walks in a nearby Railway Campus that is pollution (all types) free and peaceful. These walks give me time to think and I usually come back home feeling a lot better. So on one such walk, while I was still near the traffic filled roads, I happened to pass by a blind man. He must be in his sixties at least. He also is a beggar. I observed this man for a while. The ease and grace with he managed to navigate his way on this busy, chaotic road stunned me. He was feeling what was ahead of him with his stick and was moving a decent pace. After that one walk, I noticed him 3-4 times again. And always he looked at peace, happy and content with what he is. Looking at him, I felt ashamed that I complain about my life. I thought, "If this poor old man with nobody to help or care and even no eyes can live happily, what right do I have to complain?" So after that, when I feel that my life i...

Christopher Nolan is one of my all time favourite directors. I love his films very much and he is probably the most talented film maker of his generation. I have watched each of his films many times. And at some point during the re-watching of his films, I noticed that most of his films have a recurring theme - guilt. The lead character in general can be seen to have a heavy feeling of guilt for something that he (I'm no sexist, all of Nolan's leads are males, so you can see why I did not type he/she) had done. Human emotions are rather compelling and they seem to intrigue Mr Nolan. This theme can be observed in his films "Insomnia" (2002), "Batman Begins" (2005) and it's two sequels, "The Dark Knight" (2008) and "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012) and also in the film "Inception" (2010). "Insomnia" deals with the guilt of the character of Al Pacino, Will Dormer - a cop, for mistakenly killing his partner. The ...

When in 1994, Bruce Willis - who was one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood - decided to do "Pulp Fiction", it came as a surprise to many. Pulp Fiction was rather atypical of Bruce Willis' films. Willis was a "Die Hard" and "Last Boy Scout" kinda action flick hero. "Pulp Fiction" was a revolutionary film that was nominated by the AMPAS for the "Best Picture". Bruce Willis had taken a gamble to act in an low budget, story based film to overturn his recent miserable run at the BO (box office, not body odor). And it paid off big time. Willis was once more the top dog. This started off a similar trend amongst most Hollywood action heroes. Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp all took the same route, with varying degrees of success. Pitt is acclaimed to be one of the finest actors of his generation, along with Johnny Depp. But Tom Cruise, who had earlier delivered powerhouse performances in films like "Rain Man" and ...

When I was in one of those "hip" and popular places in the city (Hyderabad, India) a few days ago and I noticed something strange. I was there with a couple of friends of mine. We were talking casually in our mother tongue, Telugu. A "high class" couple (yeah those people with their fake accents and goggles tucked up in their hair) started looking at us in a strange, condescending way. It seemed to me that they thought of me and my friends as lepers. All this because we were speaking to each other in Telugu. But the high class couple speak only in English. They pronounce "h" as "aich". And Hyderabad is Hydra Bad for them. I found this to be ridiculous and funny. This is Hyderabad! Telugu and Hindi are the native languages here. How can someone who speaks these languages be considered lowly? In fact it is those people who speak in fake accented English who should be considered lowly. I like talking in Telugu. It is my native language and ...