RIFLE RANGE BOY

Dedicated to a follower, HS, who enjoyed the post on Lotus and asked whether a 'one world' can ever exist where we do things for the greater good of mankind and where the need of the collective supersedes that of an individual. We are told that race is healthy. The human race is moving forward from cave-dwelling nomads to space-exploring nations by this very trait, the race to be better than the other. Nature is hostile. It does not care two hoots for the weak and the slow. It shows its mighty fury to those who cross its path. Only the fittest survive. Biology transmits this survival trait to the next generation so that the memory of how to thwart that adversity is implanted in their DNA. But we are told we have six senses, unlike members of the animal kingdom. We have developed empathy and compassion for the weak and the downtrodden. Still, the only thing keeping us from killing each other is the law, fear of retribution for our actions in this life, the next, or the afterli...

Metamorphosis (Verwandlung; 1915) Author: Frank Kafka A Tamil saying goes like this -  செய்யும் தொழிலே தெய்வம்  - your job is your divinity. Therefore, one is expected to perform his work to perfection as it is as if he is serving God, as it is divinity to serve. It may be his reason for existence.   This is probably what Appa held close to his heart. Without taking a single leave from his bank job, which he worked for 40 years over, the same place of work after leaving school, he must have been an exemplary worker. But, with the ease of mobility and money jingling in his pockets, it must have been the freedom he missed so much in the latter part of his life when his eyesight failed, and body broke down after repeated strokes. After reading Kafka's 'Metamorphosis, I realise that narrating a story is not just telling an event and shocking the readers with bizarre storylines and twisted endings. Instead, it matters that many untold nuances and symbolisms lie buried som...

Kafka (1991) Director: Steven Soderbergh No, this is not a biography of Franz Kafka or a part of a time of his lifetime. It seems that it is like a fictitious account of making Kafka-like a superhero in a setting reminiscent of his stories. Like in 'The Trial' he appears to be working in a large office doing purposeless paperwork. He looks like a bored reclusive office worker who finds more joy in his hobby, writing fictions between his free time and after-works. Incidentally, he is writing about a man who had transformed into a roach! (think 'Metamorphosis'). All through the film, he is writing a letter address to his mother, inking his thoughts and relationship with his father. In real life, Kafka's over domineering and aggressive father is said to have contributed to Franz's perpetual melancholic predisposition to life. History has it that his mother, the weak one, never got around passing the contents of the letter to his father. Franz never resolves ...

Synecdoche, New York (2008) Learnt a new word today. Synecdoche is linguistic tool used to explain things. Smaller parts of an object is used to explain  the object as a whole. For example, wheels to refer to a car, barrel to barrel of oil and No. 10 refers to The British Prime Minister’s Office. In the same vein, the character  in this parable to symbolically denote the cycle of life of Man. The film also illustrates the various trials, tribulations, psychological challenges and nihilism that modern man goes through. It has a wealth of Jung's theories. We all aim for the unachievable but at the end and want to leave forever but at the end of the end of the day, our needs are simple. It tells the story of a self centred theatre director who has many challenges in his personal life and his attempt to create a larger than life account of himself in a play that never gets played over the years. The director writes the story of himself, hires doppelgängers to portray himse...