Another Kannadasan composition...

Movie: Avandhaan Manidhan
Poet: Kannadasan
Music Director: MS Viswanathan
Singer: TM  Sounderajan

This is another song written by Kannadasan for the movie ‘Avanthaan Manithan’ (அவன்தான் மனிதன், Only He is Human). The film tells the story of an industrialist with a tragic past. His wife died in childbirth, and his child drowned as a toddler. Despite his sorrows, he puts on a happy face and carries on his earthly duties, manning his matchstick plant and helping his employees.

Tragedy strikes again when the cargo ship transporting his merchandise goes down. Due to some technical issues, he does not get any compensation. He soon turns a pauper. His mansion is auctioned off.

His philanthropy elevated his favourite worker, who bought over his house and offered it to his boss. Unfortunately, the industrialist is too proud to take handouts. He downgrades himself to live with his faithful butler. The charity bug never left the industrialist. Despite being in dire straits, his addiction to giving charity never waned.

The above song appeared when the industrialist was sitting down, reflecting on the life he had lived.

Kannadasan thought his life, giving and giving even at times of trouble, was comparable to that of Karna’s in the Mahabharata. Hence the composition.

(1)ஆட்டுவித்தால் யாரொருவர் ஆடாதாரே கண்ணா
 ஆசையெனும் தொட்டினிலே ஆடாதாரே கண்ணா

Somebody is initiating the dance; no one is exempt, Kanna?
Nobody escapes the trap of desires. 

Interpretation: In the dance called life, God starts the ball rolling. Everyone has no choice but to partake in the reverie. But beware, we are entwined in it by the lure of pleasures. We are kept trapped in these chains of interpersonal bonds and worldly materials.

(2)நீ நடத்தும் நாடகத்தில் நானும் உண்டு
 (3)என் நிழலில் கூட அனுபவத்தில் சோகம் உண்டு

In the dance that you organise, I am also in it, 
My shadows, too, feel the experience of melancholy.

Interpretation: The emotions that life brings affect every part of our body. Our mannerisms, the way we move, and our general appearance are testimony to the fact. 

(4) பகைவர்களை நானும் வெல்வேன் அறிவினாலே
 ஆனால் நண்பனிடம் தோற்று விட்டேன் பாசத்தாலே

I will win over enemies with intelligence,
But I lost to my friend because of affection.

Interpretation: We think we are logical and use our thinking sense to act wisely. The fact of the matter is, we are biased. The bonds that we build cloud our actions.

(5)பாஞ்சாலி உன்னிடத்தில் சேலை கேட்டாள்
 அந்த பார்த்தனவன் உன்னிடத்தில் கீதை கேட்டான்
 நானிருக்கும் நிலையில் உன்னை என்ன கேட்பேன்
 இன்னும் நன்மை செய்து துன்பம் வாங்கும் உள்ளம் கேட்ப்பேன்

Panjali (Draupadi) asked you for saree,
That Partha (Arjuna) asked you for the Gita,
What can I, in this situation, ask from you?
Even now, a heart to do good to be returned with tragedy.

Interpretation: This is easily the most meaningful message in this song. It relates to the story of the Mahabharata. When Yudhishtra, the Pandava king, gambles off his kingdom and property, he also loses his wife, Draupadi (aka Panjali). When the Kaurava thought it was alright for them to disrobe and humiliate a menstruating queen, she pleaded to the Gods for a longer saree to protect her honour. On the eve of the Kurushetra War, Arjuna had cold feet. The idea of combating, mortally wounding or outright killing his uncles and cousins was confusing. For that, Krishna started what can now be termed a counselling session. The conversation was immortalised as the Bhagavad Gita (Gita). In the real world, when someone asks you what you really want, what do you say? First, you would think it is a trick question. What is the catch, and what is it for you? In the verse, the Poet quotes Karna's supposed request, 'the ability to continue helping people in next births'. Apparently, this was not mentioned in Valmiki's original version of the Mahabharata. 

(6)கடலளவு கிடைத்தாலும் மயங்க மாட்டேன்
 அது கையளவே ஆனாலும் கலங்க மாட்டேன்
 உள்ளத்திலே உள்ளது தான் உலகம் கண்ணா
 இதை உணர்ந்து கொண்டால் துன்பமெல்லாம் விலகும் கண்ணா

Even when I get wealth as deep as the ocean, I won't be inebriated,
Even if it's just a handful, I won't be sad,
Only what is in your heart is your world, Kanna,
Only when this is realised does sadness go away, Kanna.

P.S. Krishna is also affectionately called Kanna, amongst many other names. 

Interpretation: This is another life lesson. When endowed with great wealth, one should not be intoxicated by the pleasures it can offer. Even if it is hardly enough to go around, one should not falter. One should contend with what one has. This realisation leads to happiness. Be happy with what one has.

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Who is your favourite Mahabharata character?

Kurukshetra: The Great War of Mahabharata (S1; E1-18)

Animated Miniseries

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt38235589/

This is an excellent animated miniseries that tells the story of the 18 days of the Kurushetra War across 18 episodes. It is a tightly edited series that narrates each day of the battle, then swings back in time to illustrate the background that culminated in the war. As we know, the Mahabharata, which includes the Kurukshetra War as only a small part, is 10 times longer than the Iliad and Homer combined. The series gives a very clear view of what the  War was all about. It is not all about killing and winning, but there is always a great reason and justification for why things happen the way they do.

Every now and then, the story backtracks to remind us of significant events from the Mahabharata: the iconic dice game in which the Pandavas lost their kingdom and even their wife, Draupadi, to the Kauravas; Draupadi's disrobing and humiliation; their exile; and the princes' childhood.

With too many characters and almost similar-sounding names, it can be pretty confusing for a newbie. Names like Bhisma and Bheema, Krishna and Karna, Dhrirashtrata and Duryodhana can sometimes give a mind freeze.

In war, everyone loses. Neither warring can claim to be just or otherwise, as that is the meaning of war when all decent manners to solve a problem have failed. In ancient India, however, it seems. The warring factions had specific rules of war. No war could go on after the sun sets. A soldier is only allowed to engage in combat with someone of equal rank. Combat should be face-to-face. Attacking someone from behind or killing someone unarmed is scorned. They were expected to attack gentlemanly. The Kurushetra War was the mother of all wars, where war codes were broken and marked the beginning of a new yuga, Kaliyuga.

Gemini's visualisation of Karna

Out of all the numerous characters who participated in the Kurushetra War, the one who plucked the strings of my heart is definitely the tragic Karna. Born out of wedlock to the Pandavas' mother, Kunti, he was disposed of at birth to float aimlessly in a river, only armed with some celestial markings. He was adopted by a childless charioteer. Because of his unprivileged upbringing, he was deprived of so many things in life. He was not accepted to learn sorcery from the best teacher of the era, Dronacharya. He had to lie about his background to learn it, instead of from Parasurama, who cursed him after discovering the truth about his parentage. He was disqualified from competing in certain events (e.g. Swayambara). Only after the leader of the Kaurava brothers, Duryodhana, gave him a kingdom did he attain the status of a warrior. For that, he was eternally indebted to the Kauravas.

So, when the war broke out, it was natural for Karna to support the Kauravas. By then, Karna had earned a reputation as a formidable warrior, admired for his skills. He was also revered as a kind person who would not refuse alms to the needy at any time. His nemesis had always been Arjuna.

Karna was dragged into the war as the Commander-in-Chief on the 16th day, only after Dronacharya was mortally wounded. Before that, because of their prior animosity (between Karna and Dronacharya), Karna did not fight alongside the rest. The shocker came to him just as he was going to war. Kunti appeared to reveal that she was his mother, that Karna was her firstborn. She pleaded with him not to kill any of her five sons, the Pandavas. To Karna, that was the most illogical thing. After all, he was also her son, and why should he comply with the demands of a mother who abandoned him? To Karna, Arjuna (the third of the Pandavas) was his mortal enemy. Arjuna was said to be of equal standing to Karna in war.

Karna replied to his mother, Kunti, "Either way, you will have five sons at the end of the war." His implication was that, even if either Arjun or Karna died, she would still have five sons!

The part about Karna's experiences just before he was downed was glazed over, without highlighting the philosophy surrounding his death. Karna had chosen King Shaliya as his charioteer. King Shaliya was an expert charioteer, uncle to the Pandavas, and was tricked into joining the Kauravas. Shaliya grudgingly became Karna's charioteer, sabotaging and irritating him at every level. He, being a King, felt insulted charioteering for a lowly 'low class' soldier. When the chariot got stuck in the mud, Shaliya booted off, claiming that it was not his job to pull the wheel up.

https://utkarshspeak.blogspot.com/2012/06/
karna-and-his-karma.html

This was another war travesty. While Karna was extricating the wheel, he was shot by Arjuna, who was in turn prompted by Krishna. This was unethical, shooting an unarmed soldier, but even the Gods did not follow rules in this war. 

The scriptures give a detailed account of how, at this stage, Karna's soul did not perish and how all his good deeds in life prolonged his life. There was an extensive discussion on how our actions shape the future. It was essential to be kind and charitable, but not to the point that it undermined us. In Karna's case, he had previously donated his protective armour and earrings, which made him invincible, simply because someone asked for them. 

Karna's story is the tale of one who is wronged at birth. His kind nature led him into much trouble, and he had to lead a frustrating life. Even the Gods played him out. All his good deeds are of no consequence. His life story tells us that we become the company we keep,

And there is a final lesson we learn when Karna finally succumbs to his injuries in the later versions of the Mahabharata. Krishna reveals his proper form and asks for a boon. Karna requests a life in which he can support others even at his lowest point. The philosophy of life is summed up in one statement: the purpose of life is to help those in desperate need.

An essential watch for those who want to learn about the Mahabharata and the Kurukshetra War but do not know where to start, this is it.

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

Time to go?

Awakening (1990)

Director: Penny Marshall

In this film, we see Robin Williams portraying his Patch Adams character. To be honest, he adopted the Patch Adams role much later, specifically in 1998. Here, Williams plays the part of a doctor, Dr Malcolm Sawyer, who has social anxiety and works at a hospital with patients suffering from chronic illnesses, predominantly post-encephalitis cases. It is based on a true story that took place in a Bronx hospital during the summer of 1969. 

He develops a keen interest in a man, Leonard Lowe (Robert De Niro), who had been in a catatonic state for 30 years following a brain infection. Dr Sawyer uses a newly discovered drug, L-DOPA, originally used for Parkinson's disease, to try it on his patients. He achieves remarkable results. All the post-encephalitis patients—those who contracted the illness during the 1930s epidemic—in that centre recover, striving hard to adapt to the chaotic world of the late 1960s.

Soon, the effects of the medicine fade, and the patients slip back into their previous dull states. The core of the story revolves around Leonard, who, having arrested development at about eight years old, is thrust into a life thirty years ahead, akin to being tossed into the deep end of the pool without floaters. Before he can settle into his new life, it is time to go.

The story is an allegory of life itself, suggesting belief in rebirths. One is thrust into this birth, essentially with a clean slate. As the ancient Greeks believed, as mentioned in Plato's Republic, the souls of the dead must drink from the River Lethe to forget the memories of their previous births. The process of birth is a process of re-learning knowledge, in other words, re'mind'ing ourselves about life on Earth. 

Similarly, the characters in the film, who recover from the stupor of the unknown realm, are given a chance to live life. Before they become comfortable in their role, the opportunity is taken away unceremoniously. Such is life. One has a whole lifetime to learn how to live. When they are at their most vigorous, they lack wisdom. When wisdom arrives, the body loses its vigour to fight. This recurring cycle of forgetting and re-learning is an exercise in futility. If the karmic cycle is meant to punish past shortcomings, where will learning from and correcting previous mistakes take effect if memory is wiped clean? Only a select few souls are given the choice to draw from Mnemosyne (the River of Memory) to recall past life experiences and thus reach the end of the transmigration journey more swiftly. 

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

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In search of the Garden of Eden...

Eden (2024)
Director: Ron Howard

https://www.imdb.com/it/title/tt23149780/

This is another philosophical film. This time, it explores the formula for living life. Is it through inquiry, probing, and teasing out the best way to live based on collective thoughts, or by accepting that life is hard and meeting the challenges it throws at us? Or do we simply not care, embracing hedonism, indulging the senses, and enjoying as if there is no tomorrow? We have the choice of living like Plato, Sisyphus, or letting Dionysus be our guiding light.

While watching, I drew a parallel to 1966 Kollywood's 'Saraswathi Sabatham,' where the celestial troublemaker Narada incited the three goddesses of the Hindu pantheon—Parvathi, Lakshmi, and Saraswati—to quarrel among themselves. These three goddesses are said to govern courage, wealth, and knowledge, respectively. A turmoil ensued, with each goddess conferring her virtues onto subjects on Earth and testing them. Ultimately, it was concluded that no one virtue is more important than the others; man needs knowledge, wealth, and courage in equal measure to succeed.

Set between the two World Wars, the story begins with a disillusioned German civil servant, Heinz Wittmer, who arrives at the Galapagos Islands to start anew with his docile wife and their sickly son. Dr Frederick Ritter, another disillusioned soul dissatisfied with worldly pursuits, had previously settled there. He was a well-known figure in Germany through his writings and life experiences. Having abandoned his practice and modernity, he lives with his wife on the island, surviving through planting and hunting, with few necessities. Ritter and his wife are not pleased with the new arrival, fearing that soon the island will mirror the modern world they had left behind. They even suggested the most inhospitable place for them, hoping they would simply give up and return whence they came. Surprisingly, they persevere and survive through sheer hard work. 

Meanwhile, the island receives another unwanted guest. Baroness, a suspicious character with two lovers and a questionable past, arrives. She aims to construct a luxury hotel. She brings trouble along with her.

All three teams end up attempting to sabotage each other's efforts to reach their respective goals. Each believed their intentions were noble and justified, confident they would attain their ideal society. Yet, they failed to see the evil lurking within every individual. Ultimately, ego, greed, hubris, and the desire for power undermine their purported utopia. 

The Wittmer family of Floreana
https://happygringo.com/blog/the-galapagos-affair/

The question now to be answered is this: are humans so feeble-minded and weak that they need an objective code on how to live, or can they, through repeated trials and errors, find a common way to share their space here on Earth? Can utopia ever become reality? Will they ever find their Garden of Eden, or will they mess that up, too? Every utopian project carries the recurring risk of doom due to human frailties, stemming from the dormant reptilian mind that is waiting to be triggered by our primitive needs. 

No one mantra works all the time. One has to take a step back, reassess their progress and make amends. Sometimes these corrections may question the foundation of one's belief. For example, when his crops are invaded by wild boar and he is hungry, Dr Ritter, a self-proclaimed lifelong vegetarian, decides to barbecue a bull's head. 

(P.S. This is based on the real-life experiences of the Wittmer family, one of the pioneer white settlers of Floreana Island of Galapagos.)

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Parenting Tips from a Quintessential Nerd

https://borderlessjournal.com/2025/09/15/parenting-tips-from-a-quintessential-nerd/

The question is, why are we here? What are we doing, and what is expected of us? Is the purpose of our existence merely to continue the propagation of the species? Is there a higher calling to elevate our souls? Can we correct our karmic order to a better footing? Unfortunately, if only we knew where we went wrong last time, we could fix our past mistakes. Sadly, we do not. Is our presence on Earth to raise our species a level higher, whether intellectually or technologically, than a generation before? Is there a greater plan in the pipeline, to consume more and more, heading towards entropy? The less wise among us will be sure of their existence, convinced that this is a testing ground for more magnificent things to come.

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Decide and chug along...

Revelations (Korean, 2025)

Director: Yeon Sang-ho

Although the ratings for this one were not very encouraging, the storyline made its viewers think.

No one knows the right course of action or what is contained in their recipe for good deeds. We merely drag our unfortunate selves along, clinging to straws, persuading ourselves that our actions are virtuous. No one can say whether our actions will lead to the best outcome in the grand scheme.

The movie explores what goes through the minds of three individuals who are somehow involved in the killing of a young girl and the kidnapping of another. There is a possible paedophile out on parole, wearing an ankle monitor. He seems to be following a young girl who enters a church. The paedophile follows into the church. The pastor notices him as a newcomer to the church and tries to woo him to join the congregation.

The pastor has a lot on his plate. He hopes to be promoted to a larger church, and he is troubled by his wife's infidelity.

One day, he forgot to pick up his son from school. Both he and his wife assume that their son has been kidnapped. The pastor suspects it must be the peculiar man with an ankle monitor. He hunts him down, believing he has killed him. Shortly thereafter, the wife informs them that a friend has collected their son.

The paedophile is also being followed by a police officer whose sister died after being kidnapped by him. Although she was released later, she took her own life due to social media shaming and PTSD.

The latter is assigned to investigate the paedophile after he went missing, having been assaulted by the pastor. Then it gets interesting…

So we end up with three people who want to do things beyond the bounds of decency but somehow find justifications for their actions.

The pastor wants to make sure that the paedophile is killed off before the police find him. The paedophile might say that the pastor tried to kill him. An arrest would destroy everything he had built for himself, work-wise and in his family life. He seriously sees signs from God that tell him he is on the right track. When he sees the clouds, an apparition resembling Mother Mary, and Jesus tells him to carry on, so he thinks, What else could he ask for?

The police officer thinks she failed the first time when her sister died. So, hunting down and killing the sadistic weirdo is justified. The question of her being a police officer does come into the equation. She sees images of her crying sister asking to seek revenge.

The criminal does not think he is doing anything wrong. All the voices in his head tell him so. His learned experience from his abusive childhood taught him so, too.

In the end, all three people have justifications to do all the things they want to do. While all these are happening, this church-going mother has lost her daughter. The pastor has to sit down with her to pray for the safe return of her child, who may have been abducted by the same criminal.

There is no secret formula for us to follow in this voyage of life. Every time the wind blows, we just hoist the sail, catch the wind and make intelligent guesses about where to navigate the boat. No self-proclaimed expert navigator can help you on this one.

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