Inception and Beyond

Thank you Mr Christopher Nolan for the wonderful movie that Inception is. Rarely does a movie get released that defies conventional thinking yet appeal to masses. Nolan doesn't underestimate the intelligence of the audience unlike his Bollywood counterparts; rather he places his movie a notch above our thoughts, challenging us to think. And that is the true victory of Inception - it keeps us on the edge of our seats and makes us audience think during the entire one hundred and forty eight minutes, and after as well. Leonardo Dicaprio is becoming that Tom Hanks kind of actor whose name itself is reason enough to go and watch a movie. He has not disappointed a bit in the last four movies of his that I have watched - The Departed, Blood Diamond, Revolutionary Road, and Shutter Island. 

There is this weird thing with me and landmark brilliant movies - I don't get to watch them when the whole world can't stop raving about. I watched Jurassic Park years later after it was released, that too on television. I haven't watched The Matrix yet. I got to see Avatar much later after the initial hype died down, and almost everyone I knew had watched it. Fortunately, Inception has defied this trend and I couldn't be gladder. Inception has also prompted me to look for other movies that explored mind, mystery, and dreams. I hit upon this wonderful list of cerebral sci-fi movies that look worth watching over and over again . Another find, though not on that list is Mullholland Drive. Hope I would get to watch at least few among these one day.

Do Aam Kahaniyaan

The summer rain fell pitter-patter across the front yard and the fields and over the canal. The trees swayed caught in the gusty winds, making a whooshing sound. Small streams of brown muddy water drained down to join the big stream flowing outside. Now and then, we heard the rumbling of thunder. And sometime later the rain stopped as abruptly as it had started. We barged out of the front door, running to the thodi to pick mangoes that had fallen off the old moovandan maavu in the rain. It sometimes reminded me of gold rush. After collecting the mangoes, we looked up at the tree - it was indeed sweet victory for us over the high and mighty branches of the mango tree. The celebrations then culminated with an indulgent mango-eating ritual that truly reinforced theories of evolution, for all of us resembled our tailed ancestors in the wild way in which we ate mangoes, licking the juice dribbling down our palms sometimes beyond the wrists. 

* * *

The yellow fruit almost looked plastic neatly arranged on the fruit stand in the store. A clear handwriting in black ink below it said - Rs 40 per kg. It took me a lot of time to decide on two from the lot. I quickly paid for those, and rushed to my room. I washed one, peeled its skin, and diced it into small pieces, on to a plate, and gulped them down like I had been deprived of mangoes for long. 

Gosh, when did I forget how to eat mangoes? Like they say in that ad - why grow up?

PS: For the Malayalam challenged, thodi is typically the yard adjoining the house, abounding with trees and plants of all kind. Moovandan is a mango variety, and maavu means mango tree.

Shadows

The shadows of the day don't disappear as the darkness descends. They haunt my nights. A thousand of them. 

Near the Nila

The Nila doesn't advocate Carpe Diem; seizing the day being too dynamic a proposition for a slow-moving river. Instead it urges you to freeze the moment...

This is just a line from a beautifully written travelogue by writer Anita Nair that I stumbled upon, in which she describes her journey along  the bank of the river Nila. I haven't read many travelogues to judge one, but I found this one interesting enough to capture my attention long enough despite the familiarity of what she was describing. I have seen Nila at various points along its length - Palakkad, Thiruvilwamala, Ottapalam, Shoranur, Pattambi. May be it was this familiarity that made it so easy for me to identify with the article. Thanks to her, I came to know of the existence of an organization set up to save the neglected river - the Nila Foundation. The foundation is funded partially by The Blue Yonder, and intends to revive the dying rivers in Kerala, in particular Nila. To quote the author,

"And amidst the shrubs a lone firefly drew neon green smileys in the dark.." 

PS: You can read the complete travelogue here.

Backwaters of Kerala

This is just a picture I took during a train journey from Trivandrum to Bangalore last month. Pardon the  picture quality - I took it using my mobile phone camera.