When it all ends...

Leave the World Behind (2023)

Director: Sam Esmail

(based on the novel by Rumaan Alam)

A Tamil proverb goes like this. 'Never live in a town without a temple'. 

The main structure of a Hindu temple, specifically those from Southern India, which is placed above the central area, the sanctum santorum, is a gopuram. On top of the gopuram is a golden vessel containing nine types of grain. 

Besides being a lightning conductor, the gopuram is a storage area for various grains for use as a starter pack in the event of a major catastrophe, like massive flooding when seeds are destroyed or even a nuclear meltdown. These reserves are said to be good to use for 12 years, after which they have to be replaced. In temple nomenclature, the act of replenishing new seeds is a kumbabishegam.

With everyone in their comfort zone, having the illusion of being in control of it all, they built certain biases around them. They confirm their biases by reading materials reinforcing these preconceptions and hanging around people in an echo chamber who trumpet their sentiments. They say they are kind, care about the world and the poor, and recycle trash. Deep inside, are they really the same people they want others to be?

Others believe charity begins at home. Takers keepers, they say. And they have no qualms, showing a lack of social etiquette to get their agenda off into orbit. Life is a race, and they do not want to lose.

Then there are the doomsday prophets. They 'cry wolf' so many that crying had lost its sting. These are the conspiracy theorists.

Now, when the end of days really comes to our doorsteps, which by each day appears more and more inevitable, how would we react? Would we shed off our prejudices and go out to save mankind? Would we still be immersed in our bigotry and eyeball at our fellow brother with scorn? Will we still act so high and mighty and look down upon those beneath us?

Or would we be only interested in satisfying our simple pleasures rather than worrying about what tomorrow may bring? Like the youngest character in the film who is only interested in knowing what happens in the last episode of 'Friends'.

When the end becomes a reality, how will our fellow dwellers of Earth, i.e., animals, treat us? Will we be a threat to them? Will they depend on us for protection? Or, as per the Law of the Jungle, they would push the idea of the survival of the fittest? Even the docile of animals, e.g. deer, would turn against us with their alpha male turning up with daunting antlers. 

Life is so dear that species fight tooth and nail to stay alive.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.