RIFLE RANGE BOY

Every living day is a new learning experience. Thanks to Hollywood and the various sci-fi movies they produced, Joe Public is cognisant of time travel, the concept of time, and the expansionary nature of the Universe. Still, we have a long way to go to be well-versed in these areas. It is mind-boggling how some ancient Indian scriptures, which some quickly label as unbelievable mythological tales, carry some of the most fantastic astronomical knowledge with them. Forget about their authenticity; the wisdom embedded in them warrants a second look. Perhaps these tall tales are mere side dishes to the main course that they serve. Let us not be swayed by unbelievable events that defy logic. Let us have the know-how to differentiate the trees from the forest. Two recent concepts that piqued my interest come from two stories mentioned in the Mahabharata, Srimad Bhagavatam and Vishnu Purana. They discuss time dilation and the cyclical nature of time. Legend had it that King Kakudmi had a mult...

Monarch Legend of Monsters (2023) Miniseries S1, E1-10. There was a time in our childhood when gigantic creatures roamed the streets of Tokyo, and superheroes like Ultraman and Golda manifested to save the day. The storyline was predictable. A benign creature, having been exposed to the effects of the A-bombs, undergoes mutation but stays underground. A freak event would bring it to the surface. The beast then would go on a rampage. Just when there is no hope, the Japanese superhero appears to save the day. Yay! Looks like much has changed since I last viewed them. Godzilla and contemporaries, MUTOs, massive unidentified terrestrial organisms from Japan, have gone mainstream. A narrative has been created to link many seismic events worldwide over the years to these monsters' activities. It is called the Monsterverse. For example, the H-bomb detonation at Bikini Atoll was not a military exercise. It was meant to neutralise one of these monsters, but it had got away. The story timeli...

Kadavul Irukindran from the movie 'Ananthi Jothi' (1963) It seems that poet Kannadasan started off as an atheist. With time, through his voracious readings and research for his songs, he claimed to be an avid practitioner of Sanathana Dharma (Eternal Duty) or Hinduism in his later years. Many of his later compositions brilliantly express the entity we assume to be God - the Force that puts order to things around us, the seen and the invisible, the heard and the silent, the felt and the void. Here, Mahakavi Kannadasan, in a 1963 composition, tries to explore the meaning of God, which carries different visions to different people, from an external force that oversees every move to an internal mechanism so intricate that it does its own checks and balances. You say He is not there because you cannot see Him. When you float but cannot see the air, you are hovering upon. When you close all your senses to the external stimuli, is the something you feel is God? In the crypts of darkn...

Old (2021) Director: M. Night Shyamalan This may not be the best of his movies to watch. After The Sixth Sense (1999)  and Unbreakable (2000), his films have been unremarkable. The dialogue is much to be desired, and the plot may have a few holes here and there. Nevertheless, it stays true to most of Shyamalan's movies that explore the paranormal. It even makes one think. In this offering, one is made aware of the dangers of freebies, the subversive nature of Big Pharma and the triviality of our holding of ill feelings and grudges.  The main protagonists, Guy and Prisca Cappa, are going through a separation. To break the news to their two preteen children, they thought the family could have one final memorable outing together. Prisca is delighted to have found a fantastic bargain for a beach vacation online. Interestingly, as the movie involves Time and ageing, the couple has contrasting occupations - Prisca is a curator in a museum (purveyor of ancient relics), and Guy is an ...

Kala Bhairava The slayer of Time with a dog as his companion. Hence, dogs are given due reverence . Maybe the nihilistic part of me cannot stomach all these. My athymic insides cannot stomach the idea that someone can be so cocksure about everything. I have come to understand that Time and Tide wait for no man and that Time is the greatest killer of Man. Time flies; Man's hopes go! No Man has yet to win over Time; Shiva, a wandering seeker, is the exception and was conferred the title 'Kala Bhairava' - the conquerer of Time.  I just cannot fathom how a group of people are forever pleased with themselves, knowing very well that they have covered all the potential glitches in life. They act as if they have in their possession a crystal ball through which they have a clear view of what lies in front of them in life's journey of uncertainty. They have the acquaintance of an experienced seer. Using ancient astrological knowledge, he can precisely point out times they must be...

Oslo, August 31st (Norwegian; 2001) Directed by Joachim Trier Day to day living is complicated enough as we straddle through it aimlessly, wondering, "What is my mission ?". A certain semblance of certainty is pushed on upon us when we are told to follow the dotted lines left by those who traversed the road before us. There is a particular time to do this and that. Do what is expected of you at a specific time but do not jump the gun, they say. Like a fleet of migrating birds, the current of the path is paved by the synchronicity of the flutter of the leader of the flock. Get into the stream and go with the flow. A recalcitrant starling who misses the spring schedule cannot possibly dream of finding greener pastures all by himself. This must surely be a cruel way of Nature to punish those not in line. One small falter, and the individual gets decimated. There must surely be an alternative for outliers on either extreme of the Gaussian curve. But, Nature has been known to be e...

Vinodhaya Sitham (Strange Decision, Tamil; 2021) Director, Screenplay: Samuthirakani They say Time heals skirmishers, and loggerheads get forgotten over time. At the same time, they condemn Time as a cruel curse. Time dries, shrivels, slows, ages and eventually kills for the next generation to take charge. We like to think that we are all indispensable. We assume our dependents are waiting for us to care for them. We feel that we are far from completing our pre-set ambitions. We are convinced the world, like a grandfather's clock, will stop short never to work again the moment we drop dead. There is news for us. Nope, the Universe does not revolve around us. We are a mere speckle of a minuscule of stardust in the grander scheme of things. We do not matter. Things just go on beyond, despite our absence or presence. It is what it is. Que sera sera, what will be will be. We are just passing through. The rest will live, with or without us.  It is only our ego that feeds us this sense o...

  Loki (Season1, E1-E6; 2021) Marvel Cinematic Universe When Loki was apprehended and transported after Avengers: Endgame, in the confusion of Hulk creating a tantrum for needing to use the stairs and Iron Man faking a heart attack, Loki escapes captivity through a Tesseract and enter a different realm. He lands in the headquarters of Time Variance Authority (TVA).  Here, the narcissistic Norse God of Mischief Loki learns of variants of himself floating in the multiple timelines creating havoc. The Time-Keepers had set a Scared Timeline for events to happen, but somehow variants have made branches from the main timeline. The TVA's job is to ensure that the correct path of the Sacred Timeline is followed. Some of the variants are evil alter-egos and are hellbent on creating chaos. As he is charged against the 'Sacred Timeline', Loki's plea bargain is to hunt down another Loki variant who had killed TVA officers and stolen the time resetting devices. Time, as we perceive,...