Archive for August, 2009

Harry Potter still retains its streak of magic

{ August 28, 2009 @ 6:36 am } · { Harry Potter, book review, movies }
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Its been a long time since I have read HP, I used to be an addict once. It was a compulsion to read it every day over and over.I know so many people like me. In fact we must count in millions.Over a period of time HP seemed a bit childish.I grew out of it.HP works its charm best when you are in school simply because in your life you can pick people out of JKR’s famed collection.There’s always a teacher you dont like ,a teacher who is indulging,a phony and most of all you have your friends too, just like Harry does. And we all want to live in that world or at least delude that we do.Thats what makes us read it when we actually fall of the cliff like the one in the catcher in the rye. This is the same formula that makes movies like DCH,JTYJN or the umpteen teen age romantic flicks clickeven among adults.
The books have always been far better than the movies.Perhaps the best movie amongst them is the latest one.Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Its the first movie better than the book. The movie is dark,thrilling and even has an art house -cinema- like quality about it at times. Daniel Radcliffe comes off age.Its the only movie in which his presence overshadows the more talented watson and grint.It may also be because this book is Harry-centric more than the first five.Whatever be the reason he is the star of the movie. he is sensitive,funny,serious,melancholic and angry without going overboard even once.He manages to pull all the strings the right way.
The plot is gripping enough and simple enough for even the non-HP junta to follow but then no one really cares about the latter.Bonnie wright fits perfectly as the tongue in cheek yet so pretty Ginny.there is not much for Ron to do and hence for Rupert too.That brings us to Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman. Rickman as usual plays Snape the way we imagine the character to be.with a touch of arrogance,disgust and a quality of mystery around the character.I am not a fan of Gambon. Albus Dumbledore is not a character written as Gambon has played it.In fact he was painful to watch in the fourth installment.However,like Radcliffe he does a majestic work this time around.Horace Slughorn is alright,maybe a little less thin than you would have imagined.He plays the character well. Slughorn is one of the characters with a strong tragic quality about him and yet he evokes no pity from you.The young hero tiffin plays that brooding,dangerous kid well.You could sense the evil lurking beneath the ice like exterior. He plays it a bit gay. But then Voldemort is probably gay. He is pretty,smart and not shown to have any sexual interest in a woman. Perhaps the young Tiffin could have played the role a bit less sinister.Afterall young Tom Riddle was supposed to have been charmingly convincing that even Harry falls for him.
Tom Felton is looking so dashing these days that its difficult to hate the character.In fact Draco seems almost likable looking at Felton!

This is the best film yet.Visually appealing with very convincing performances.A plot that rises above what JKR provides. It teases and leaves you waiting for more.

the truth

A grand daughter writes…

{ August 21, 2009 @ 4:29 am } · { on and off }
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I have often been stumped on, for what most people would be a simple question to answer,who is your idol/inspiration in life? The reason I say stumped is because I don t have any particular source of inspiration ,i have never felt the necessity to have one. I have always set my goals and worked hard towards them.Its only lately I realised that though I may not have a single source of inspiration in life, a lot of my views on life has been significantly influenced by my grandfather.
When I used to debate,I always used to oppose the nuclear family notion because it robs a child of the love and affection a grand parent can bestow.That indulging love is different from what a parent offers and often most important to a child’s development in today’s world where both the parents work.Grandparents are often I have found the most effective shield against an angry parent.
My Grandfather was my best friend for 18 years.its not that I did not have friends.I had a lot of them from my own age but as a child I preferred reading over playing and not surprisingly talking and writing over going out. I learnt the Mahabharath,Shakespeare,Wordsworth, Sanskrit from my grand father.It would give me great delight in discussing Shylock’s legendary speech on organs,dimensions and senses.I remember the long winding discussions I used to have on the Mahabharath,Tamil Nadu politics,on Gandhi,On Sanskrit Grammar,On Kalidasa and so forth. Today I can safely say that I am well read with a decent knowledge of the general affairs of the world. Its always important for me to read the news,ponder about the right and wrong,take a stance on an issue,have my own view on a topic and these were the qualities that helped me to successfully debate or give a speech .
I also loved to go shopping with him. He would get me the latest ice creams,soft drinks,chocolates,biscuits. Those were the big moments when I was small. An evening walk I used to wait for every day.I would take him to my school canteen when he would come to pick me up from school.Those are the small precious moments I cherish.
I wanted to convey this and thought it best to do the way he would have liked -openly expressed but under stated. This is to say that the grand daughter shall always remember and cherish.

Lectures,Sermons & Musings

{ August 20, 2009 @ 8:34 am } · { QTB, hinduism, musings, ramblings }
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The past few days I have been reading Ayn Rand and her lectures and views on various topics.I am not an Ayn Rand fan ,in fact I consider her philosophy and take on most issues a collection of hog wosh.I consider her views insidious and harmful to the functioning of society at large.While her premise of using rationality as a basis is worth admiring and accepting ,her subsequent take on numerous issues such as morality,freedom of speech, Man vs Woman,God vs Man, State vs People are too insular.Her views directly contradicts the Hinduism view of life.Its not that which bothers me ,its an application of pragmatic principles in an ideal manner discounting any medians between the extremities that disconcerts me. the irony in her philosophy is that its probably the only one that brackets the left and the right in the same set.If I have to repudiate Ayn Rand it would take a large amount of time and blogging space,So I leave it to rest here.ayn_rand1
I have also listened to considerable amount of sermons on Vaishnavite philosophy the past few days. I realized I have hardly ever read anything related to this.I should have read substantially on it considering I belong to that tradition. It would help explain our views on God,on salvation,on life,on significance of rituals and so on.So if anyone knows any simple book that I can read up on it please do let me know.
The last of the lectures I wanted to blog about is the one I attended at the faculty hall of IISC yesterday.It was a lecture that sought to explain the presence of sensuality in sacred temple art throughout the country.It was a highly interesting and engrossing lecture that had as its basis that presence of erotic art in temples was normal back then and nothing is licentious or bad about it as people saw it as a symbol of fertility. Fertility the lecture sought to tell was the central motif.It was a method of transcending the barrier between the real(physical) and the surreal(divine or spiritual), a celebration of both.
The lecture was delivered by Ms.Vidya Dihijea(I am not sure of the spelling). Anyone interested in this can buy and read her book The body Adorned.
khajuraho7I have a few reservations though. If you were to look at the temples of India (atleast the ones in South) and the Khajuraho temples theres a glaring difference.While all temples have voluptuous dancing girls tanatalizingly poised and copulating pairs on its pillars none of them brazenly celebrate it as the ones built by the Chandela dynasty at Khajuraho.The erotic art there in its scale,intimacy and number out does most other temples.I said South because I have seen only those temples. I have wondered why.Its known that the Chandelas were there during the height of Tantrik following. Tantrik philosophy is different.it speaks of attainment of salvation through sensual pleasure. Obviously as a nation we were not uncomfortable with the idea at all. afterall a substantial part of Hindus,infact most of them are Phallic worshippers.I wish she had explained the phallic worship and the tantrik ideology after all its integral to the theme of the sacred and sensuos.
The lecture was peppered with quotes from ancient Hindu texts on Gods.the example of soundaryalahiri and bhagavad dhyana sopaanam were given to show that detailed physical description and a celebration of it is also a way of acknowledging the spiritual one I think. The thing is these are intended as mere physical descriptions. Both adi shankara and shrimad thoopil vedanta desikar are ecstatic describing the beauty of the blemishless(what Rajaji called korai illadha govindan) God. both the names of sopanam and soundarya lahiri stress on this aspect.There is no hint of anything uncomfortable in those lines even for the devotee who reads them. a better example could have been the description of lord shiva and parvati by kalidasa in his kumarasambhavam.
Interesting lectures are always a welcome change, I was not entirely convinced though.

Where’s the sense in the reality?

{ August 5, 2009 @ 9:17 am } · { QTB, on and off, ramblings }
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the recent furore about sach ka samna evoked some strong responses from both sections of the case. While,freedom of media should not be curbed it needs to be checked and regulated from an administrative point of view and on high moral grounds.whats so disgusting about this show or for that matter media’s coverage of the arushi murder case is that underneath all the guise of reporting there is a deliberate ploy by the channels to get the public hooked to something thats not right,not needed and morally wrong. some one asked me why not sach ka samna when people read freely about actors and public figures. in short we are a group of people who love gossip. we are interested to know if shahid kapur is dating priyanka chopra or if Mr. X across the street is cheating on his wife. But the problem here is that there is a significant difference. actors,politicians or sport stars are public people. that sets a limit to the privacy they can enjoy because they are made by audiences and followed by millions and adored by people throughout the nation and sometimes globally. Thus its necessary to know if the late michael jackson has been convicted of paedophillic charges or not,its equally important to know if gaguly was distracted because of some illicit affair during his captaincy.As a cricket fan or a music lover you are entitled to know why you are not getting your money’s worth.Gossip about actors is not necessary in the strict sense and can be avoided but there’s always a fascination amidst the public for larger than life icons.That curiosity may be bad but its present naturally and substantially.

Now,moving to Mr.X across the street ,it should be strictly none of your business whom he shares his bed with unless of course you are Mrs.X ,but even if you do gossip it should not be on a grand scale on national television. It was wrong to begin with,to aggrandize it and popularise it is profane. you are not only degrading by washing people’s dirty linen in public but you are letting those people taking part denigrade themselves. It sort of reminds me of two things1) the roman mobs that immensely enjoyed gladatorial contests where men and beasts tore at each other in all the glory of bloody brutality.This show is somewhat similar just that its more emotional while those bloody contests of yore were starkly physical.2)the movie requiem for a dream.watch it you will understand why.

As for the high court’s order on switching off your television sets, it does not make complete sense. We see it necessary to have censorship boards to monitor movies. No one told the catholic community to just not watch the Da Vinci Coide or the Hindus to simply boycott the Fire and The Water.From parental guidance to ratings we see it necessary to monitor entertainment to secure the fabric of the society.Then why not ban this show? No one told the people to just not visist that orkut community when some arbit bloke wrote some not so nice things about Mrs.Gandhi!Why? because its necessary at all times to see that a sense of decorum prevails.
Maybe one day pornography would be telecast on national television and the supreme court will just ask you to turn your sets off, by then of course the sense of reality and the sensibility behind it would have gone for a toss!