Friday, May 27, 2016
What is literature, to me.
Literature to me is the promise that my mind will take journeys along, and every now and then touch the pinnacle of, every conceivable mental dimension. Reaching the pinnacle of sadness at the ending of Atonement when Briony spills it, of excitement during Mike Martin's desert adventures in Fist of god, of mirth reading of Cuthbert wooing Adeline (Wodehouse), of mental processing when cracking cipher's in The Code Book, of romance in Smithson's taboo pursuit of Sarah in French Lieutenant's Woman (or Noah's belief in Allie in the notebook), of wonderment at Rowling and Tolkien's magical worlds, of inspiration when peeping into Jack Ma's life (the house that Jack Ma built). The books that take me to the pinnacle, to the very extremes of the axis on a dimension, are my favorites, while I am happy to walk some distance along different dimensions in every book I read.
Written in response to a Facebook post asking the question by my English Literature prof from IIT days. Introduction to English literature in second year, and Reading fiction, in the fourth year. Among my most memorable courses in IIT (if not the most).
Sunday, May 15, 2016
"Nil battey Sannatta"- great watch; remarkably timed for yours truly
I watched last week an offbeat movie called Nil Battey Sannatta. A hindi phrase which means "absolutely nothing"- word by word translation gives you: Nil divided by zero. Mathematically it should mean infinity but linguistically in hindi it means a superlative of zero (zero, zero-er, zero-est). Great acting, cinematography and music, decent storyline- overall a very good watch. It's about a girl in 10th grade who is struggling in math mainly because of a lack of motivation to study. She tells her mother, a housemaid, that she'd rather literally follow her mother's footsteps in entering the very same houses in the very same capacity- as the maid. This leaves the mother aghast and the movie follows the sacrifices of the mom as she attempts to set her ward on the path of aspiration and hardwork. I went with a bunch of friends to Phoenix, had a good time.
For me the movie was remarkably timed, for two reasons. Firstly, that very same morning I had had a fruitful discussion with a volunteer organization called "The Lighthouse project"- do check it out and consider joining. If all goes to plan- I will start in July. It pairs you as a mentor with a mentee from an underprivileged community for a year or so. This one-one mapping creates a bond and gives the mentee a personal peep into the what might seem, especially in India, the distant world of material comforts and organized economy and career planning and whatnot. I think this is a great idea. In fact, during my discussion with them I learnt that 10th standard is a key decision point for families sending kids to government schools, because the way forward after 10th is not clear. This is in fact exactly what I'd heard from our housemaid here, regarding the education of her daughter who is now in 9th. Now this movie is all about that- this girl is unmotivated, and frustrated with the idea of studies, because she has no clear understanding of the way forward- her friends are from the same background as her, and her mother has not much of a clue either. The Ma gets enamored by the whim of her daughter becoming a District Collector- just because the Collector treats her kindly when she is crossing the road and lives in a princely mansion, and thus becomes her only exposure to Organized economy life. They need a more organized and personalized introduction to this world.
Secondly, it was Mother's day the very next day. I'm pretty sure the movie was not planned around Mother's day for it was in its third week running. The Ma in the movie does put herself through some immense sacrifice for the sake of her kid, and it's quite heart warmingly depicted. I did make the phone call after the movie.
Credits: J, AC and AK for company during the movie; SA for telling me about the Lighthouse project.
For me the movie was remarkably timed, for two reasons. Firstly, that very same morning I had had a fruitful discussion with a volunteer organization called "The Lighthouse project"- do check it out and consider joining. If all goes to plan- I will start in July. It pairs you as a mentor with a mentee from an underprivileged community for a year or so. This one-one mapping creates a bond and gives the mentee a personal peep into the what might seem, especially in India, the distant world of material comforts and organized economy and career planning and whatnot. I think this is a great idea. In fact, during my discussion with them I learnt that 10th standard is a key decision point for families sending kids to government schools, because the way forward after 10th is not clear. This is in fact exactly what I'd heard from our housemaid here, regarding the education of her daughter who is now in 9th. Now this movie is all about that- this girl is unmotivated, and frustrated with the idea of studies, because she has no clear understanding of the way forward- her friends are from the same background as her, and her mother has not much of a clue either. The Ma gets enamored by the whim of her daughter becoming a District Collector- just because the Collector treats her kindly when she is crossing the road and lives in a princely mansion, and thus becomes her only exposure to Organized economy life. They need a more organized and personalized introduction to this world.
Secondly, it was Mother's day the very next day. I'm pretty sure the movie was not planned around Mother's day for it was in its third week running. The Ma in the movie does put herself through some immense sacrifice for the sake of her kid, and it's quite heart warmingly depicted. I did make the phone call after the movie.
Credits: J, AC and AK for company during the movie; SA for telling me about the Lighthouse project.
Labels: Cinemas
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