A mistake is a mistake.

Netrikann (Third Eye, Tamil; 2021)

By placing thilak/pottu/kumkum on one's forehead, one is constantly reminded that they should look beyond the mirage of Maya and seek to look inwardly beyond physicality. The sensory eyes are outward-oriented, whilst the third eye sees the nature of oneself and his existence. It helps to distinguish what is right and what is wrong. As the legend goes, the sensory eyes are influenced by lust, ego, and the twirl of our past births (kama and karma).

Logical precision can easily be distorted whilst perfect clarity arises only when the inner vision, called the third eye, opens up. 

Some say that the third eye corresponds to the pineal gland, which histologically looks like embryonic lateral eyes. As early as the ancient Egyptian era, the pineal gland gained its unique status as the bridge between the physical and ethereal worlds. The sketch of the Eye of Horus corresponds to the anatomical placement of the pineal gland in the brain.

The pineal gland is a photo-neuro-endocrine gland. It secretes melatonin which controls sleep and sexual maturity, serotonin which controls mental wellbeing and minute amounts of DMT (N, N, dimethyltryptamine), a psychotropic substance that evokes psychic phenomena. Many cultures in South America include DMT infused tea as a ritual of worship. There was a Supreme Court case in New Mexico in 2005 which had to decide whether a small congregation should be allowed to worship with the said hallucinogenic tea. 

The pineal gland also helps to set diurnal and circadian rhythms in the body. As mentioned by Swami Vivekanda in 1899 in Chicago about neuroplasticity, specific Shiva worshipping techniques are said to increase blood flow and neural connexions around this gland. This would subsequently alter all its functionalities as desired. It is an eye of wisdom that provides us with the faculty to distinguish what is right and wrong.

It is said that there was a debate in the royal courts of King Pandiya one day. The Royal Poet Nakeeran admonished a poem that claimed a lady's mane is naturally fragrant. Nakeeran insists that it is hair tonic and care that does the trick. An unkempt hair of a slave would not. Unknownbest to Nakeera that the phrase was penned by Lord Shiva himself. When challenged by Siva on this, the fearless Nakkeran is said to have said, "A mistake is a mistake even if you are God (One with the Third Eye). [Netrikkan thirappinum kuttram kuttrame] It has somehow become the rebel yell of the oppressed against the powers-that-be.

The title 'Netrikann' has its origin from this phrase; that a wrong is a wrong, no amount of rhetorics can justify otherwise. Back in 1981, there was a Rajnikanth-starred movie with a similar name. In that movie, a son confronts his father for his skirt-chasing habit. A wrong is a wrong even if your father does it. 

Netrikann (2021) tells about an impotent gynaecologist who finds sexual prowess through violence and ends up kidnapping his young unmarried patients who turn up at his clinic for termination of pregnancy. Somehow, the protagonist of the film, a blind Nayanthara, resembles the gynaecologist's wife, and he has a score to settle with her. The gist of the movie is how a blind police officer defeats a serial killer. A blind police lady also has her own issues to handle with. She is blaming herself for getting her brother killed in a jeep she was driving.

This 2021 film is based on a Korean movie made in 2011 named 'Blind'. The story is the same, but the Tamil version is more thorough, with ample space for dramatisation. Enjoyable, though 3.5/5.

P.S. With so much stupidity exuded by our politicians these days via their statements, we should behave like Nakeeran. We should develop the fortitude to chide idiocy every time it shows up. A mistake is a mistake, even it is done by the One with The Third Eye.

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

Real life Batman

Heard about a Daniel Kish, a blindman who goes trekking, climbs trees and rides bicycles unaided. He had taken a radio interviewer on the trekking expedition deep into the jungle. The interviewer became worried as it was becoming late in the evening and she feared being lost in the dark. Then she remembered that her guide was blind. It does not matter to him; it was always night for him!

Daniel had his eyes enucleated for retinoblastoma at a young age. Growing up with an abusive father, the mother decided that her son should be left to fend for himself. He should not be restrained or mollycoddled as the world is indeed a cruel place, no place for weaklings.

As a young boy, a blind boy, he used to climb trees, fences and do all the things that his able bodied sibling used to do. Quite many a time, this wandering boy was escorted home by community policemen. He went to regular school and hated being treated as a second class student. He grew up independent after he self taught the science of echolocation which gave him spatial orientation to move around. In fact, he never knew what he was doing was complicated science!

After seeing a homeless blind man who had lost his eyes and job after a chemical explosion in a factory, he decided to start an NGO to help to train the blind to be independent.

His endeavour was met with much resistance - it is a known fact that the blind cannot be leading the blind!

Neurologists scurried to ascertain why some visually handicapped individuals are so independent whilst others are truly handicapped. The consensus is that in some other areas sensory perception  of the brain develop connexions to the visual area of the brain making the blind 'perceive'. Other undetermined stresses and demands in life could just push these synapses. In other words, there must be a push for the blind to want to see!