Of integrity, coinage and inner devil of Man.

Naanayam (நாணயம், Tamil; Integrity/Coin, 2005)

It is ironic the very thing that makes one loses his integrity bears the very same name that gives confidence. In the Tamil language, நாணயம் (Naanayam - the title of the movie), could indicate either integrity or coins as well as currency. The root word tells it all; coin/currency works based on trust. Once someone loses his trust in the economy of a, say banana republic, its whole financial institution collapses.

There is no problem that a little moolah cannot solve, they say. In a Tamil saying, it is mentioned that even a corpse would open its mouth at the mention of money. There is no stronger bond than the love for money. Even motherly love can be bought over. At the same time, money unleashes all the evil feelings that have been suppressed over the million years of our civilisation and the code of conduct that evolved from it. At the sight or suggestion of easy money, all integrity goes out of the window. When wealth is small, Man is its master. Conversely, money becomes the Master to man when it is humungous.

This movie came to the limelight after passing of the legendary SPB. He plays a pivotal character in the film and his son, SPB Cheran is the producer.

The plot of the film is nothing new. We have seen the same theme in umpteen Hollywood offering in various twists and turn. Here, the storyline gets marinated with lots of masala and music to whet the local appetite. It is a forgettable feat but makes one realise that any full proof security system is as good as the last. Sometimes one wonders, like the makers of COVID vaccine who could have conjured up the Wuhan virus in the first place, perhaps the security firm break their own 'unbreakable' system to market their next product.

The desire to usurp wealth is so great that positive human virtues like integrity, honesty, loyalty and such just get thrown off the window. Money buys everything. The similar attraction must apply to hunger, power and erotic ambitions.

Ravi, an ambitious young man, has his future set when he helps a banker in trouble. The banker employs him and plans to use the young man's security proposal for his bank. Ravi thought everything was falling in place when he met a pretty journalist. The next thing he knew was that her ex-husband appears and makes a ruckus. The ex-husband ends up dead, and Ravi is blackmailed and accused of killing the ex-husband. Then starts the cat-and-mouse game for Ravi to find out what was going on and hence prove his innocence. 

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

Trust and Conviction

cgsociety.org

I heard a strange comparison between cryptocurrency and religion the other day.

When we look at the number of people who invest a significant amount of their hard-earned savings into multiple blockchain technology schemes, we sometimes wonder what makes people place so much trust into something so intangible. How many times in the history of man have we seen promises of easy wealth through a yet another newer and more novel way to beat the system? How predictably have the bubble repeatedly burst when people, like rats, followed Piped Piper to the caves?

Even with the knowledge of previous mayhems and follies, with their great reluctance to be detached from their world material wealth, the promise of multiplying their already burgeoning opulence is too much to resist.

There is no central control, hence the lure of concealment. There must be a reason the Blockchain technology is cryptic. Is going to be so mysterious that everything may just go up kaboom into thin air? There is nothing to claim possession, just a series of an algorithm to assert ownership. Right now, the proprietor can just sleep well convincing himself that he may be superrich one day. The day of a real cashless society who would pay for their coffee with Bitcoin is quite remote. It is a promise, no doubt, it may materialise one day, but till then, it is just promises written on water!

What do you know? The premise of religion is not much different from the above. The tenet of most religious practices is based on trust. The conviction that the elders in their faith have discovered a path to protect their interest when their time on Earth is up. That the promise of a figure who would be just out there judging our souls after keeping a tab on our good deeds whilst on Earth.

In both cases, there are no documents to uphold our interests on the day of reckoning. The future rests on mutual trust and blind faith that things will be all alright!