It is all Mimesis
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Historical Monument of Kalinga at Dhauli. The ferocious Emperor Asoka was moved by the crimson hue of the river water nearby. Only then did the realisation of his tyranny came fore. He became a pacifist, a Buddhist and built stupas and pillars to remind himself and his subjects on the value of life. They keep telling me that I am insignificant; that I am inconspicuous to the grander scheme of things around; that I am just passing through. My existence in time is less than a millimicrosecondth of the 13.8 billion years since the time Big Bang happened. They ask me to be humble, to bow to the forces of Nature and to remember that I am weak; all just flesh, blood and bone. I am so brittle, organic and living on borrowed time. At the bat of an eyelid, I may be down and out. I remain but just dust, a part of the galaxy. I am told to invoke the blessings of the celestial bodies that govern our every move and not to incur their wrath. This message of humility is apparentl...
Kedi (Turkish, documentary; 2017) Director: Ceyda Torun They gaze into the horizon without a care in the world. If a dog wags its tail and jumps around your legs for attention, it is because it thinks you are God. A cat, on the other hand, does not give two hoots to your presence. Cats have perfected the way to strut the posterior in front of your face in defiance in an art form humans call 'catwalk'. The cats do not think of humans as God but instead perceive themselves as the intermediaries to the Gods. Thanks to their ancestors who were placed on a pedestal by Queen Cleopatra and her band of rulers, as well as the unique place conferred to members of the Cat Family in ancient belief systems (Al Uzza with her cat and Durga with her Bengal Tiger), cats wander with a chip on their shoulders. With their eight other lives to spare, they roam haughtily with their snouts high in the air as if breathing on imported air. Like in Boy George's 'Karma Chameleon', they...
As it happened on 22nd November 1963... https://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/arts/television/as-the-world-turns-interrupted-by-kennedys-shooting.html?referer=https://www.google.com.sg/ The Day the World Stopped Turning ‘As the World Turns’ Interrupted by Kennedy’s Shooting Clockwise from top left, Helen Wagner and Santos Ortega in the episode of “As the World Turns” that was interrupted by a CBS News Bulletin, as Walter Cronkite began reporting on Kennedy’s assassination. Cronkite’s updates were followed by commercials, like one for Nescafé. PHOTOGRAPHS FROM CBS By THOMAS VINCIGUERRA NOVEMBER 22, 2013 As usual, on that Friday afternoon, Mable Snodgrass, a 19-year-old first-time mother, was at home in Echols, Ky., watching “As the World Turns.” Ten minutes in, at about 12:40 p.m., the soapy drama was bubbling. Nancy Hughes, played by Helen Wagner, had just told Grandpa (Santos Ortega) that her son, Bob, had invited his ex-wi...
Aramm (அறம், Deed, Tamil; 2017) This must be one of few attempts of Kollywood at a disaster movie; one which delves into the procedural intricacies of a rescue mission. It probably goes in the vein of great Hollywood flicks like 'Earthquake!', 'Jaws' and even 'Apollo 13'. On top of dealing with the nitty-gritty issues of rescuing a child trapped in a disused well, the film managed to bring to light many of the issues plaguing the common man in Tamil Nadu, may be in anywhere in the world. It is the eve of the launch of a rocket in India. The euphoric mood is palpable everywhere, but nobody seems to know what the hype is all about, but they join the revelry, nevertheless. On the one hand, the country appears to be at the zenith of technological know-how. At the same time, the state fails to satisfy its citizens' fundamental necessity, water supply. The film then focuses the plight of villager plagued with extreme water shortage. In this urgent situatio...
I grew up in an environment where it was ingrained in us that a man can be a man only if he is productive. He has been sent to Earth on a mission and that purpose is to do his age-appropriate duties. Amma used to remind us to keep a keen eye on the task at hand and not to be swayed by idle banter and purposeless chats. Her favourite Tamil proverb drove home her point - 'A talking dog is no use for hunting'! Appa, being the non-verbal one, asserted his teaching through his actions. In his 42 years' career, he never once called in sick, barring the times our family were stuck in floods when we were stuck in a relative's house when we visited them on a Sunday and the time he was admitted for diabetes. So, these thoughts came to my mind as I was passing through Singapore airport. If one had been to Singapore, he would not fail to notice the high numbers of members of the geriatric population still engaged in economic activities namely the service industry. In a food co...
Get a copy of the book 'Real Lessons in Reel Life' here... Your entry into the elusive world of Maya, the stage set by Man to learn from to live on the stage set by Nature. https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson Asoka Chakra, quintessentially Odiyan For 17 years, I have been receiving referrals from the world over. On the morning before my long procrastinated maiden trip to India, to Bhuvanesvar specifically, where did I receive a referral from? Well, what do you know? It is from Bhuvanesvar! If you do not call it coincidence, what else? Or is it that I am specifically on the lookout for these quirky incidences. Perhaps if I were to look at other tiny unimportant data, I would surely see a pattern and claim synchronicity! [ Referral ] Am I so important to the Universe that it decides to indulge in some kind of divine game? A mystical prank. That would be putting own self as a point of reference as if Nature gives a damn to the single individual. In fac...
(...Cont.) ALAN TAYLOR JAN 10, 2018 https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/01/50-years-ago-in-photos-a-look-back-at-1968/550208/ A half-century ago, much of the world appeared to be in a state of crisis. Protests erupted in France, Czechoslovakia. Germany, Mexico, Brazil, the United States, and many other places. Some of these protests ended peacefully; many were put down harshly. Two of the biggest catalysts for the protest were the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and the ongoing lack of civil rights in the U.S. and elsewhere. Two of America’s most prominent leaders, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, were assassinated within months of each other. But some lessons were being learned and some progress was being made—this was also the year that NASA first sent astronauts around the moon and back, and the year President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. It’s fitting that I post this retrospective today, since it is the day I was born—Ja...
(...Cont.) ALAN TAYLOR JAN 10, 2018 https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/01/50-years-ago-in-photos-a-look-back-at-1968/550208/ A half-century ago, much of the world appeared to be in a state of crisis. Protests erupted in France, Czechoslovakia. Germany, Mexico, Brazil, the United States, and many other places. Some of these protests ended peacefully; many were put down harshly. Two of the biggest catalysts for the protest were the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and the ongoing lack of civil rights in the U.S. and elsewhere. Two of America’s most prominent leaders, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, were assassinated within months of each other. But some lessons were being learned and some progress was being made—this was also the year that NASA first sent astronauts around the moon and back, and the year President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. It’s fitting that I post this retrospective today, since it is the day I was born—Ja...
(...Cont.) ALAN TAYLOR JAN 10, 2018 https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/01/50-years-ago-in-photos-a-look-back-at-1968/550208/ A half-century ago, much of the world appeared to be in a state of crisis. Protests erupted in France, Czechoslovakia. Germany, Mexico, Brazil, the United States, and many other places. Some of these protests ended peacefully; many were put down harshly. Two of the biggest catalysts for the protest were the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and the ongoing lack of civil rights in the U.S. and elsewhere. Two of America’s most prominent leaders, Dr Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, were assassinated within months of each other. But some lessons were being learned and some progress was being made—this was also the year that NASA first sent astronauts around the moon and back, and the year President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. It’s fitting that I post this retrospective today, since it is the day I was bo...