Are we blinded?

Andhadhun (Hindi, Blind Melody; 2018)

The movie starts with an empirical question “What is life? It all depends on the liver." At one look, it looked like an awkwardly constructed question. It may appear like it is grammatically incorrect. Or perhaps it could refer to how much one could hold his drink dependent on the neutralising effect of his liver. Maybe, it could refer to a time in Mankind's history when he was wondering where consciousness was situated. Some thought it was the brain while others placed it in the heart. Islamic philosophers gave credence to the liver for what we are. We are what we eat, and the liver plays a pivotal role in our digestion.

As it turned out, it was none of the above. In the context of this movie, it referred to the illegal organ harvesting trade! This is the gist for its viewers - a film full of double speaks. In fact, the title also could denote the blind rage that one experiences at the height of anger.

Andhadhun is based on a French short film, L'Accordeur (The Piano Tuner).

A blind pianist, Akash, with a sob story of how he was hit by a cricket ball which damaged his optic nerves. He goes by doing small gigs playing his music and has big plans to go off to the UK. He befriends a motorcyclist, Sophie, who almost knocks him down. The real truth is that he is not blind, and he is doing it for sympathy or for a social experiment, as he calls it.

Is that a blind rabbit?

Everything was going on fine. He had his cake and ate it. He had a beautiful girlfriend in Sophie, earned large tips, and everyone enjoyed his music. Until...

He came in to perform for a client's wife, Simi, to surprise her on her birthday, only to find the client sprawling in blood out cold, dead. The client apparently caught his wife in bed with her lover, and he ended up dead. Akash continued acting blind despite everything happening under his nose, the dead body being bundled by the lover etcetera.

This scene could hold the answer to the final ending.

The next day, he went to the local police station to report the murder. To his bewilderment, the lover turned out to be a police officer. Suspicious of Akash's movement, so started a cat and mouse chase -Simi and her lover hunting down Akash, Simi actually blinding him, Akash getting caught with a crooked doctor and his assistants who are keen to harvest his organ and a devious plan to outwit Simi of her money. The twist at the end of the movie where the ending of the story is left to everybody's imagination as Akash stays alive to narrate his life story to Sophie two years later in Europe.

As Akash walks away after telling Sophie about his life adventures, the audience realises that Akash is seen voluntarily hitting a crushed can. That is when we wonder, 'Hey, what is real and what is fake anymore?' Interesting storytelling.

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

Respect the distance!

The basic rule of running is to respect the distance. Whatever it is a long track, a short trail or a marathon, the distance must be be respected. This, I learnt from the Salomon trail held on the grounds of the agricultural university at the area which houses the the dairy cows.
This time around, what used the playing field of aspiring veterinary students was our running ground. Tuned to most appropriate tunes of the 'Best of Eagles' country rock tune befitting the environment, to the smell of decaying cow manure and early morning dew, running in the muddy and sometimes slippery, sometimes uneven ground of latterite soil, we struggled through the trail of country road to the amusement to the masticating bullls and cows! Probably, they must be amused at our follies at running fast but wary to the deceiving slippery wet trail.
The trail initially took us through a puddle of mud as seen above. Some how, most runners managed to keep their feet dry by going around it. On the way back, however, most runners did not bother. What is a trail run if you do get dirty. Anyway, they all had splatters of mud on the calf and back and the shoes were all in different shades of brown.
If running the miles is not difficult enough, running on this kind of terrain makes it triply difficult.  It was made even more difficult by the never ending climbs. If you think coming down is easy, it is not. You are afraid of losing grip as the soil was slippery. And the mud that sticks to the sole of the shoes ensures that grip is at minimum.
Some of the runners still managed to find time to take photo shots of the cows which they would have never seen in their lifetime. They would only know them by taste!
The initially promised 10km run turned out to be 11.3km but it was in good fun. As like in any police drama series, where the cops would gather in the local pub to celebrate the solving of their case, we ended our day by stopping at a thosai shop.

kl marathon 2009

Wow! Finally Rifle Range boy finishes the 10 km race in the KL Marathon in 1h 04mins. Yet another feather on his cap... The race is not about the position but more of a personal achievement. Next year I will give a shot at the Half Marathon (21km). Will try to do it under 2h.
The first 20 minutes is crucial, then the next 20 minutes to set the tempo and the rest is just dancing and the will power to complete. I felt small and weak whenever I overtook a runner just to be overtaken by several other younger runners.