Yes or No, Right or Left, You are correct!

Vikram Vedha (2017)

Source: Wiki

Whenever one goes back to his wayward ways, I remember Amma would say, "See, Vethalam has gone up murunga tree!" The story of Vedhalam (Vetal) goes back to the tales of King Vikramaditya and the fables of moral dilemmas. In one instance, the mighty King had to capture Vetal, a demon, from a cemetery. He was supposed to keep a code of silence and not utter a single word, or the creature would retreat back to the tree it was hanging. The King followed suit. The imp was such chatty chap who kept telling stories upon stories and demanding answers. He asserted that if the King knew the answer and did not reply, his head would explode. If the answer were correct, the devil would jump back to the tree. The devil would stay if the answer were wrong. Like that the devil escaped captivity as the wise King could his tales that ended with riddles. 25 stories were told. The King could answer all 24. The demon dodged and the sorcerer caught him, and the cycle went on. The last one proved too complicated even for the wise king. Vikram brought Vetal back.

This is the basis of this film; Vikram, a hotblooded police officer and Vedha, the dangerous criminal he is trying to nab who attempts to justify the path that his life turned out to be.

Gangland fights in North Chennai are becoming nasty. Abandoning their traditional steely knives, the gangsters find guns more damaging. The bodies are piling, and the police had set up a special force of cops to keep the situation under wraps. Everybody in the team was specially handpicked for their dedication. Despite all the obstacles, they persevere. The team members all have their own sorrows to wallow; the chief was injured in an encounter, Vikram's buddy, Simon, has a child with a chronic debilitating disease, another with sex addiction, another who wants to give the best education to his child and yet one with a gambling addiction.

The team gets the opportunity to seize the gang leader, Vedha, but he gets out on bail. Thanks to Vikram's wife who happens to be a junior lawyer. Then a cat-and-mouse game starts as Vikram gets near to apprehending  Vedha. Vedha, in the meantime, engages in a 'catch-me-if-you can' routine whilst telling him stories of moral dilemma and his own justification for the predicament that he (Vedha) is in. Being born in the unfortunate side of the society with scant of opportunities, he had to do what he had to do to survive.

We all talk about one's own dharma*, the reason he is sent to Earth; the correct path that he is supposed to follow as it is what he is supposed to do.  But who is to know - that this is the path and that is the destination. We are all thrown into the deep end of the pool, some of us in cesspools, others in a seemingly nectar-filled rose scented pool. We are made to made to grope in the dark and make sense of what we are supposed to do. Irrespective of muck or rose petals, keeping afloat is a struggle, nonetheless. As we go on with the journey of life, we absorb guidance and knowledge from those around us and convince ourselves that that is our dharma, our reason for our existence. But who knows whether we made the right decision. We make up our minds as we wobble along. 

People in positions of power also go through the very same quandary.  A leader has to take the tough call to steer his downlines towards the right track. Decisions are not mere flowcharts guided by arrows, but different approach needed for different situations. There is no right or wrong decision; only bad choice in retrospect! In case our decisions proved less favourable, we convince ourselves that our conscience is clear. We did what we thought was best at that time and space.

Credit: devdutt.com
Vikramaditya and Vetal

# A king was performing the funeral rites for his father. As he was about to drop the funeral offering in the river, as ritual demanded, three hands rose from the water to receive it. The first hand belonged to a weaver, to whom the king’s mother had been forcibly given in marriage. The second hand was of a priest who loved the king’s mother and had made her pregnant. The third was of a warrior who had found the king abandoned on the riverbank and had adopted him and raised him on his own. “Now tell me Vikramaditya,” said the Vetal, “On which hand should the king place the funeral offering? On the hand of his mother’s husband, his biological father or his foster father? On the palm of the weaver, the priest or the warrior? 

#25. The unanswerable question. If a father and son conquerers seize a kingdom and marry the princess and the queen in captivity respectively, what would be the relationship between their children? (Hey it reminds of P Ramlee's 'Keluarga 69' and K. Balachander's 'Apoorva Raagangal'.)

* Dharma has multiple meanings in different religions. It is said that there is no one single-word that translates dharma in Western languages. It was in use in the Vedas and had evolved over the millennia.  In Hinduism, dharma signifies behaviours that are in accordance with the natural order of the Universe. It encompasses duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and "right way of living". In Buddhism, dharma is the "cosmic law and order" and is also applied to the teachings of the Buddha. In Jainism, it is the teachings of Tirthankara (spiritual teacher) and the body of doctrine about the purification and moral transformation of human beings. For the Sikhs, dharm is the path of righteousness and proper religious practice.

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Sitcom for nerds?

The Good Place (Seasons 1-2; 2016+ )

Yes, Ted Danson of the 'Cheers' is at it again. No, not a remake of the 1980s sitcom but he stars in another sitcom. Danson does not reprise his role of Sam Malone, the bartender. Maybe for old time sake,  he gets to the back the counter to serve in one scene.  

This show deviates from your typical offering of American comedy where canned laughter spliced with unimaginative jokes weaved with sexual innuendoes rule the day. Interestingly, this show deals with something out-of-the-world, literally, that is.  

It delves into the meaning of life and talks a lot about philosophers who gave their input trying to explain our existence,  the purpose of it all and the way one should live it. Questions like mortality, morality, telling white lies, mindfulness and inter-human relationships are dealt in a playful yet profound way. 

Bartender, at your service!

The first episode starts with a group of misfits dying and landing on the other side. The place is 'The Good Place' (vs 'The Bad Place') where people enjoy eternity in bliss after earning their brownie points on Earth. Michael (Ted Danson) is the Architect who masterminded the genesis of the area and is on-site to run the place as well. He is assisted by an A.I. being called Jenny. 

The four main characters in the show are Eleanor, a frustrated delinquent with deprived childhood, who is mistakenly taken in for an environmentalist; Chidi, an indecisive and 'too intelligent for his own good' professor of Ethics and Philosophy; Tahani, a haughty, name dropping and narcissistic Pakistani-British socialite with overt sibling rivalry issues and a drug-dealing social outcast and an amateur DJ, Jason Mendoza, who is mistaken for a Buddhist monk. 

Eleanor and Jason know that there must be a glitch in the system for being there as they know they do not deserve that heaven! Chidi, at first he thought that his admission was due to his knowledge and his deed on Earth. He soon discovers that his indecisiveness and procrastination brought harm to others. (His death was due to it too!) Tahani thought her philanthropic work did the trick but was made to realise that she did it for self-interest, not altruism.

With many psychological tests and examples, the series takes us to the end of the first season when the story takes a twist. (No spoilers). It becomes more interesting towards the second season when 'The  Good Place' goes through a turmoil.

The trolley problem: should you pull

the lever to divert the runaway trolley

onto the side track? (Phillipa Foot,1967)

We do good because it is the right thing to do as we, humans, set it to be; not because so and so said so. The inquisitive nature of Man is the one which would carry our race through time. Even though on the surface, we appear disjointed and in packs, in time of adversities, we join forces to combat a common enemy. The thinkers amongst us spur us to come up with answers and justifications for our action.

In many psychological dilemmas, there is no one 'correct' answer. Sometimes, there are no answers, but we still seek them with our nimble minds.

In the trolley conundrum, the answer is not so straightforward. Other parameters play a role too. The quandary of sacrificing a sole individual over five may seem easy enough. What if the one is a professor or a scientist who is the verge of a breakthrough discovery or a national leader or someone known to you and so on.  This issue is also dealt with when it comes to self-driving cars.
Can self-sacrifice be accepted as another form of solution to this enigma? Like God giving His Son, which is actually a part of Him, to die on the Cross to wash Man of his original sin and save him?

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An old scribbling...

All it takes is for someone to snoop around to look for another destination. A place where people lead an idyllic life living in symbiosis with the elements of nature, with the divine forces as their guiding light. Venture capitalists move in. They show them the carrot and the lure of what money can do to enrich their 'impoverished' lives. They influence the elders who steamroll all oppositions who want to maintain the status quo. The general public thinks the opposers are just spoiled sports, reminiscing the old times, living in the past and not moving with times. The time to live, the new kids on the block say is now, and they do not want to be left behind.

So builds a frenzy, to join the bandwagon to draw sightseers to see what they had to offer. The natives were willing to play dance monkey to the tune of the first world revellers. Slowly, the natives' lives change. Their age-old tradition of caring for humanity rather than worldly materialistic things is but a thing of the past. Rituals and prayers are only for display like a caged animal in a zoo or a museum piece. Hey, it draws the crowd, and it pays for 'modernity' and 'development'. They all want to move forward in life, what to go one step ahead of what our forefathers left them. The world is changing, and they have a lot of catching up to do! They want modern education, modern amenities, industrialisation and avert the laborious unproductive ways of their fathers. They want to catch up with the rest of the world.

"For how long are they going to be cocooned on their so-called glorious past?" they ask.

Just like that modernity embraced the society.

Fast forward. What they see now is their people in the same helplessness. The only difference is that it had become worse with the introduction of greed as the primary armamentarium to prosper. Gone are the community spirit and need to live for continuity of the clan. They, instead, have become chess pieces in the game of the rich. Their way of life has become a hedonistic indulgence of the affluent to spread their beliefs as if they are too stupid to understand Nature and to live to respect it. The 'bearers of miracles' give them things under the pretext of bringing them out of the yoke of ignorance but time has shown that their shrewdness. See how many of theirs have been disillusioned with 'progress' and joined blindly to chase the mirage? There must be some wisdom in the words of the forefathers!

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What you want vs. what you need

Just as much as people love to indulge in seemingly unproductive activities like shopping, I like to just stand idle in the street somewhere and see how the world go at that corner of the planet. In fact, it is a form of mental callisthenics that stimulates the mind to think what possibly happened behind the persona that people portray as they walk head held high in confidence.

Down in Amritsar, Punjab, where the land is fertile, and the name of the town takes after the substance, honey, that has healing qualities and are soothing to the palate, my friends decided to bring home some of its produce.

To spice up your life, indulge in some people watching and let your mind go wild!

Walking down the rows of shops accompanied by the symphony of honking motor vehicles and enthusiastic shop assistants trying their level best to entice potential customers into their shops, I found the job in indulging in my occasional pastime of people watching. Engrossing oneself in this activity can also be self-defeating as it makes one vulnerable to the prying eyes of pickpockets and snatch-thieves on wheels.

Wise men always chide people who go on a rampage acquiring lands and properties as if we all carry all these to our graves. Sages insist that at the end of the day, we only need a 6' X 2' plot of land. The truth of this is so apparent in the case of many shop owners in India (or at least in my imagination).

Many provision shops owners work long hours sitting at the mouth of their joints in their 3' X 3' square behind their cash boxes. From this corner, they have the perfect hawkish view of their establishments. They can see the customers coming in, be able to invite them in; order their assistants to get the merchandise; oversee their activities and be ready to collect the moolah from clients. Even though this arrangement may appear claustrophobic to the uninitiated and potentially stifling to the knee joints, these people are perfectly at ease at such an arrangement. If you think they would need those occasional walkabouts, you are wrong. They even have their pre-packed meal there within the confines of their working 'desktop'.

I envisage that after work, they would go home and sit on their couches spending quality time with their loved ones, reading the newspaper or watching TV serials. Sitting again! At the end of the day, they would retire in their 6' X 3' space within their king-size or queen-size beds just to repeat the whole exercise the following day.

So, how much personal space do you really need?

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

What you want vs. what you need!

Just as much as people love to indulge in seemingly unproductive activities like shopping, I like to just stand idle in the street somewhere and see how the world go at that corner of the planet. In fact, it is a form of mental callisthenics that stimulate the mind to think about what possibly happened behind the persona that people portray as they walk head held high in confidence.

Down in Amritsar, Punjab, where the land is fertile, and the name of the town takes after the substance, honey, that has healing qualities and is soothing to the palate, my friends decided to bring home some of its produce.

To spice up your life, indulge in some people 

watching and let your mind go wild!

Walking down the rows of shops accompanied by the symphony of honking motor vehicles and enthusiastic shop assistants trying their level best to entice potential customers into their shops, I found the job of indulging in my occasional pastime of people watching. Engrossing oneself in this activity can also be self-defeating as it makes one vulnerable to the prying eyes of pickpockets and snatches thieves on wheels.

Wise men always chide people who go on a rampage acquiring lands and properties as if we all carry all these to our graves. Sages insist that we only need a 6' X 2' plot of land at the end of the day. The truth of this is so apparent in the case of many shop owners in India (or at least in my imagination).

Many provision shops owners work long hours sitting at the mouth of their joints in their 3' X 3' square behind their cash boxes. From this corner, they have the perfect hawkish view of their establishments. They can see the customers coming in, be able to invite them in, order their assistants to get the merchandise, oversee their activities and be ready to collect the moolah from clients. Even though this arrangement may appear claustrophobic to the uninitiated and potentially stifling to the knee joints, these people are perfectly at ease at such an arrangement. If you think they would need those occasional walkabouts, you are wrong. They even have their pre-packed meal there within the confines of their working 'desktop'.

I envisage that after work, they would go home and sit on their couches, spend quality time with their loved ones, reading the newspaper or watching TV serials. Sitting again! At the end of the day, they would retire in their 6' X 3' space within their king-size or queen-size beds just to repeat the whole exercise the following day.

So, how much personal space do you really need?

 https://asok22.wixsite.com/real-lesson 

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

What do we really really want?

In the heat of the midday sun and 

the congestion of late morning 

midtown Lucknow traffic, two 

bosom buddies apparently of 

different faiths as evidenced by 

their choices of garments, tread 

the cracks between vehicles to 

reach their destination on the 

back of a motorcycle.

The thing about Lucknow that fascinates me is how the Lucknowites keeps alive their past history despite the pressures from external forces, namely the political leaders, who are hellbent on re-writing the nation's history to fit into their political agenda. With the heightened inclusiveness and fear of domination around the world, it is indeed enlightening to learn that people here relish upon their past. They must be thinking that to go forward in life, one should not forget where one has come from. Our future is determined by our history. If we do not remember where we came from, how are we going to know where are we heading to? History teaches us to avoid mistakes that Man had made as history has that bad habit of repeating itself.

When we look around, Lucknowites accept the differences in people. They appreciate the fact that their not so distant past had been different than today, somewhat unfathomable by the government of the day. Just like in many regions in the world, given a chance, the leaders would jump at the idea of re-writing history as deemed fit to fit into their narration.

The general public is least bothered of which is the correct path to salvation. All that they really really want is peace of mind, to survive, to care for their ones and to meet their biological needs. True, we are social animals, but animals are also known to respect each other's boundaries and have learnt to live with mutual acknowledgement of the other. Have we transgressed? Zigazig-ah?

The Launch of the book '2017 Best Asian Short Stories' in Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University, Lucknow @ 8.4.2018

Some scenes around Lucknow... 

Asfi Mosque in the sunset

Yet another view of Asfi Mosque.

Asfi Mosque Dome

And another, too fabulous to resist!

Frontal view of Bara Imambara complex

A soldier's birdseye view from the top storey of Bara Imambara building of its perimeter. The white-hued monument is Chota Imambara. The relics of the Nawabs sorely lack funding for upkeep. Structurally, it is claimed to be more intricate than the Taj Mahal. Unfortunately, this UP structure requires the political voice to garner funds from local or international concerns.

These passageways bear witness to the many turmoils and shenanigans created by Man in the name of nationalism, race, power, wealth, greed and wanting to dominate. Its secrets are lost in the annals of time. Who says the truth will slowly but surely prevail. Time and tide wait for no Man. We just hoodwink ourselves of the wheel of justice will correct injustices. Perhaps the spokes of its wheel are too large. Changes may occur only after a lifetime.

The interior of the Nawab 

Castle which also became a 

dargah, a Shia shrine to

commemorate a Saint. 

The curved ceiling is made 

of clay honey, moong dhal,

chickpeas and other 

mucilaginous emulsifiers.

The Stairway to the harem. 

In its heydays, there used to 

be a bathing pond for the beauties. 

Upon the water also reflected the image of the castle.

The mixture of light or dark background of the Bara Imambara Complex brings out the mysticism of the Muslim Nawabs and their Shia sect. They wanted to outshine the Mughal architecture. The main building is a work of accidental architecture. It boasts of many confusing labyrinths (bhulbhulaya)  and a secret tunnel to the Gomti River. The bhulbhulayas are unintended features of the building which were constructed to support the ceiling. It ended as a maze to confuse enemies and an escape route to the occupants.

It is said to be an engineering and architectural marvel superior to Taj Mahal, but like a stepchild gets none of the deserved attention.

The Rumi Darwaza. An imposing gateway modelled after a similiar structure in Turkey.

It is the night that our senses are heightened. Lurking shadows, however, conceal ugliness and alter judgement.

The road to Perdition is paved with unsavoury events, ruins, destruction and death. The Residency remains a reminder of India's first War of Independence in the form of 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. Annexation of Awadh, abdication of the Nawab to Calcutta, the controversies surrounding usage of pork and beef oils to grease Enfield bullets as well as the uprising in Meerut, spearheaded resistance in Lucknow. The building is still in a disused state with cannonball pock-marks still present on its wall.

The iconic female figure in the Indian Independence, Jhansi Rani, came to fore during the time of the Indian Rebellion. The British try to take over her region after the demise of her husband and the British's non-approval of her adopted son's ascent to the throne. Jhansi Rani rose to the occasion only to succumb to her injuries fighting.

Memorial in Residency

The Compound

Jhansi Rani

The Ruins, building not spirit!

What is Culture without Food? Food to the soul is not possible on a hungry stomach! Mental stimulation begins with gustatory stimulation!

Vegetarian Lucknow Cuisine

Chicken Tandoori (Mughal)

Thunde Kebab Mutton, Romali 

Roti, Chicken Afghani.

Chikan is a traditional fine embroidery that is specific to Lucknow. It is said to have been inspired by Nur Jahan, the wife of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir.

                          

Lucknow after dark. Traffic over River Gomthi

               

The skyline and its silhouette over River Gomathi

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