We watched 127 Hours yesterday. As usual, I had to sit right next to a moron who kept wondering throughout the film why Aron Ralston didn't use his mobile to call someone. Maybe he thought Abhishek Bachchan would pop in from somewhere and suggest that Ralston make use of mobile portability and get Idea for better network coverage. The moron also kept texting someone and then asking the guy sitting next to him (very loudly) what he'd missed. Apparently, the moron had thought 127 Hours was a comedy and he was sorely disappointed to know that it was all about a man jammed in between a rock and a hard place. It is a testament to how zen I've become with age that I did not ask him to shut up despite the continuous stream of "Arrey yaar, uska haath blah blah". In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud. I am the captain of my soul.
Cutting off a limb to live another day sounds like something straight out of a Saw movie. But that's pretty much what Ralston had to do. I found myself asking if I'd have done the same. Okay,to start with, I'd never be in this situation because my parents always know where I am despite the fact that I've moved cities and all. Also, even if I go missing for a while, my mother has an imagination that can map out all the possible tragedies that could have befallen me and sooner or later, a harassed squad is sure to come after me. Like the time she thought I was lost on a beach in Kerala and sent a committee of bearded men after me when I was happily watching the sunset with N and A a few metres ahead. My mother is the queen of Paranoid Activity. But let's say hypothetically that I'm caught in a Ralston-like situation, what would I do?
My first instinct is to say that I'd never be able to chop my hand off. But again, you never know what you're capable of until you're plunged into a situation. Would I want to stay alive that badly? Maybe I'd give up if I was drowning or something because it'd be over quickly...but to slowly starve to death...maybe I would rip my arm off, after all. This made me wonder if the idea that scares me is death itself or the process of dying. And no, I'm not suppressed and depressed and oppressed in life. It was a purely philosophical rumination,all Nietzsche-like. What if a chimpanzee who can handle tools was caught in a similar circumstance? Would it chop its hand off? If it didn't, would it be because the thought never occurred to it or because it was unable to hurt itself in order to survive? Is it only a human being who can go through such unimaginable pain to see another sunrise? I don't really know because I don't experiment with chimpanzees and such like, but it certainly made me feel poetic for a while.
I also watched The Stepford Wives this week. The term keeps cropping up in gender discourses and I quite enjoyed the movie, especially because I know quite a few Stepford Wives in real life too! The ending was a little disappointing though. I should probably get the book and read it. The other movie I watched was Harishchandrachi Factory, a Marathi film (with English subtitles, of course) on the life of Dadasaheb Phalke, the man who made the first Indian movie. It was a light-hearted take on Phalke's life with no attempt to discuss racism or poverty or colonialism or any other ism that would have made it more profound. Which I felt guiltily grateful for.
I've been reading the Stieg Larsson trilogy and I'm enjoying myself. It is far better than the Dan Brown kind of fare though it falls under the same genre. I was reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the train to Goa and the title kept running in my head in rhythm with the beat of the train. The-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-chuku-chuku-choo.
On our way back, this bunch of guys kept talking loudly late into the night and M shouted, "SILENCE PLEASE! LOG SOGAYI HAI!" Inexplicably, this highly boring Lata Mangeshkar song from Zubeidaa that goes 'SOOOOOGAAAYYYYIII HAAAIIINNN' a million times started running in my head and I kept giggling in my sleep despite the headache that I'd developed.
The brother came over for the weekend and we played cards and stuffed ourselves and also congratulated each other on how much more cooler we are than our parents. Yippie.
Mayil Will Not Be Quiet, the book that N and I wrote together, is going to press in the first week of February. After four years and numerous drafts, it is finally happening. Clap hands, clap hands. We're novelists, bitch.
Okay, that's all for now.
Oh wait, we went para-sailing and also saw dolphins in Goa. Now isn't that something?
Okay, that's all for now.
Cutting off a limb to live another day sounds like something straight out of a Saw movie. But that's pretty much what Ralston had to do. I found myself asking if I'd have done the same. Okay,to start with, I'd never be in this situation because my parents always know where I am despite the fact that I've moved cities and all. Also, even if I go missing for a while, my mother has an imagination that can map out all the possible tragedies that could have befallen me and sooner or later, a harassed squad is sure to come after me. Like the time she thought I was lost on a beach in Kerala and sent a committee of bearded men after me when I was happily watching the sunset with N and A a few metres ahead. My mother is the queen of Paranoid Activity. But let's say hypothetically that I'm caught in a Ralston-like situation, what would I do?
My first instinct is to say that I'd never be able to chop my hand off. But again, you never know what you're capable of until you're plunged into a situation. Would I want to stay alive that badly? Maybe I'd give up if I was drowning or something because it'd be over quickly...but to slowly starve to death...maybe I would rip my arm off, after all. This made me wonder if the idea that scares me is death itself or the process of dying. And no, I'm not suppressed and depressed and oppressed in life. It was a purely philosophical rumination,all Nietzsche-like. What if a chimpanzee who can handle tools was caught in a similar circumstance? Would it chop its hand off? If it didn't, would it be because the thought never occurred to it or because it was unable to hurt itself in order to survive? Is it only a human being who can go through such unimaginable pain to see another sunrise? I don't really know because I don't experiment with chimpanzees and such like, but it certainly made me feel poetic for a while.
I also watched The Stepford Wives this week. The term keeps cropping up in gender discourses and I quite enjoyed the movie, especially because I know quite a few Stepford Wives in real life too! The ending was a little disappointing though. I should probably get the book and read it. The other movie I watched was Harishchandrachi Factory, a Marathi film (with English subtitles, of course) on the life of Dadasaheb Phalke, the man who made the first Indian movie. It was a light-hearted take on Phalke's life with no attempt to discuss racism or poverty or colonialism or any other ism that would have made it more profound. Which I felt guiltily grateful for.
I've been reading the Stieg Larsson trilogy and I'm enjoying myself. It is far better than the Dan Brown kind of fare though it falls under the same genre. I was reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the train to Goa and the title kept running in my head in rhythm with the beat of the train. The-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-chuku-chuku-choo.
On our way back, this bunch of guys kept talking loudly late into the night and M shouted, "SILENCE PLEASE! LOG SOGAYI HAI!" Inexplicably, this highly boring Lata Mangeshkar song from Zubeidaa that goes 'SOOOOOGAAAYYYYIII HAAAIIINNN' a million times started running in my head and I kept giggling in my sleep despite the headache that I'd developed.
The brother came over for the weekend and we played cards and stuffed ourselves and also congratulated each other on how much more cooler we are than our parents. Yippie.
Mayil Will Not Be Quiet, the book that N and I wrote together, is going to press in the first week of February. After four years and numerous drafts, it is finally happening. Clap hands, clap hands. We're novelists, bitch.
Okay, that's all for now.
Oh wait, we went para-sailing and also saw dolphins in Goa. Now isn't that something?
Okay, that's all for now.
14 comments:
I haven't watched the movie yet.
Congrats on the novel(I have been saying this to too many people of late)...
Well 2+2=5.
Nor have I watched it. But yeah, you're right when you say we never know what we are capable of until we are "up against it" as they say. As for chimpanzees in particular, and non-human animals in general, and their ability to go through pain to see another sunshine - I loved that line by the way - I have always thought survival is more a question of instinct than rationale; perhaps they have their own ways.
About the "moron", well there are several such around. I used to belong to the texting from a hall category too but all of a sudden I realised the importance of civic sense and all that; and quit. :D
Blah-ing is good; keep blah-ing. :D Oh, yes great to hear about the novel. Toast to that! :)
Thats some title..Mayil will not be quiet!
GB will not be quiet should be your autobiography's title then..lol
Hi there GB - Congrats on the novel.
Any pics of parasailing?
I thought you were writing something with N that was supposed to be a gender education aid for school children? Sorry if I am totally off the mark.
Congratulations anyhoo! I shall look forward to the book.
You do know 'So gayi hain' is wrong in the gender sense??
:)
Congrats on the book.:)
Congrats on Mayil! I'm going to gift it to quite a few people! they all need gender education :D
Congratulations! I can imagine how happy you are feeling after giving a shape to four years of your hard work!
Hey, Why don't you talk with the NSA kids and mothers one day, about your work, how you plan? how you proceed? glimpses of some of your work. 'J" calls you author aunty! I am sure others will be get great inspiration too. I don't have your phone number also. Can you mail me that.
@Vishesh- Thank you! I quite liked the movie. It's a difficult film to write and I thought the screenplay was great.
@Srini- Really? Did you ever sit next to me in Satyam? We shall never know :D
@CMCK- Intriguing title, no? Buy!!
@The Visitor- No pictures, we flew together. Anyway, you have pictures of me doing far riskier things...like getting married.
@Vini- M tells me that "Sogayi hain" is wrong in several ways and that's not what he ACTUALLY said. But that's what I heard :D
And yes, this is the same gender book, except, it's not in the form of a resource book. Our publishers felt it'd be easier to market it as a growing-up kind of book so we redid it. But gender does figure prominently in the book.
@Heathcliffs Girl- Thank you!
@Hams- Hooray. Bulk order and make us reeech :D
@Chandrima- M and I have been meaning to invite you guys over for dinner sometime. What's your email id? Wasn't able to find it on your blog...shall send you my number. Don't see you downstairs these days...are you busy driving around Aundh?? :P
Congrats!! :)
"SILENCE PLEASE! LOG SOGAYI HAI!"
is my new favourite line of all time.
bellowing 'silence please' is the obvious smart thing to do when log sogayi hai, illa? anyway, it has a certain je ne sais ennamo, so i am adopting with permission of M and yuvargoodself.
okayva?
I entered the catamaran just for the experience of catamaran especially after the old prof who invited promised to pay and we sat along ... dolphins were a total sweet surprise. So we did it again ourselves and enjoyed it and I went mad reading up and rejoicing about dolphin migrations. For me the dolphin watch ride in catamaran is more scary than almost smooth parasail! :)
Books and movies cant comment until I read and see them! :)
Hmm... I accidentally stumbled on your blog [from a comment of TheVisitor in one of my friend's blog]... The first title seemed like it is a Hindi Blog and I was about to skip your blog, but saw this post about 127 hours... it is funny and interesting... and read the previous one which haunted me (will comment on it soon). About the book... Congratulations... it is one of my dreams to write a book too :P
Who is N? This is the first post I am reading and I am quite lost...
Congrats on the book.
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