Nature and its reset button!

2018: Everyone is a Hero (Malayalam; 2023)
Written and Directed: Jude Anthany Joseph

This must surely be the first successful full-length disaster movie ever done by filmmakers of Indian cinema. Unlike the usual endeavours where the final outcomes appear inferior to an average B-grade Hollywood flick, this one is for real; it looks it anyway. It is India's entry to the 96th Academy Awards under the Foreign film category.

It tries to recreate the 2018 significant floods that hit Kerala. Monsoon was particularly bad that year, with unusually high rainfall that resulted in the worst floods in the century. 483 people died, and 15 went missing. In the aftermath of the floods, Keralites realised and feted not only the government-sanctioned rescue teams but also the role of the general public in helping each other out. The fishermen were particularly mentioned for rising to the occasion with their fishing boats. This movie is also to honour these people. Everyone is a hero when he acts selflessly.

Many characters' lives get entangled when a small village gets badly flooded. As strong as Nature is, it resets the order of things. A discharged Army is sometimes sniggered upon by villagers. He leads a quiet life, waiting for his visa application to Dubai to be ready. The ex-soldier turns out to be a hero later. A patriarchal fisherman family is upset that the second son is not interested in the family profession of fishing but is interested in modelling. Even his girlfriend's family rejects him mainly because he is from the lowly fishermen clan. The fishermen community became heroes later when they went around rescuing stranded villagers, including the family who looked down on them.

A long-distance grumpy interstate lorry driver from an arid-dry region of Tamil Nadu who is transporting dynamite to a group of dam protestors has a change of heart after seeing so much devastation. He becomes a hero and distributes ration food. A couple amid separation renew their bond. A couple who had built a new home is devasted their house is destroyed but is happy that they still have each other.

The thing that struck me about the movie is the part where the managers of a dam and their decision to control the release of water to balance between preventing the breakage of the dam and flooding of human habitation. Not that it had not happened before. One of the reasons cited for the recent massive floods in Pakistan was precisely this. Unable to pay for the maintenance of their dams, torrential rains caused dams to overflow and cause devastation.

Quite recently, the tragedy that befell Libya comes to mind. In an arid country like Libya, the dams that were built were like heaven-sent. Unfortunately, after years of neglect culminating from internal infighting and corruption, this oil-rich nation with the most enormous reserves in Africa never saw Nature giving them a curveball. An unprecedented storm and rainfall resulted in the dam being filled to the brim. A lackadaisical, contented attitude led to a chaotic warning system. Poor maintenance showed when the dam burst. Floods killed over 4,000 people.

Some say building a dam can be a curse. Perhaps it is just fighting back. The world over, many ambitious dam projects have proved disastrous. On top of all the news of dams overflowing with heavy monsoon and glacial waters, the ill-thought King Zahir's ambitious plan to build a massive dam to change Afghanistan to a little America only turned the country into a poppy-planting lawless one. Meanwhile, Russia has been embarking on projects where rivers flowing towards the Arctic regions are diverted artificially to irrigate lands where it is needed.

Worth the watch.

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Living simply, not simply living!

Live to 100 (Secrets of the Blue Zones)
Netflix, Docuseries

 We always complain that life sucks and hope our next life will improve. If rebirth is not an option, then perhaps less time in purgatory or hell. For that, however, we have to leave our mortal bodies. That nobody wants. Instead, we cling to our dear lives as long as we can, 80, 90 or beyond a century.

Society has always revered our senior citizens. We may be giving our salutations to the years of experiences they have learnt and life lessons they have acquired in their time on Earth.

With increasing life expectancy worldwide, we noticed there are certain zones on the globe where people not only lead long lives beyond 100 but happy, independent ones.

Endurance cyclist Dan Buettner, who has cycled the world many times over, has a keen interest in this subject. In this 4-episode documentary on Netflix, he identifies areas (Blue Zone) on the map with the most centurions, makes a trip there, interacts with its people and explores the possible reasons for their excellent health and longevity.

Buettner visits Okinawa, Sardinia, Ikaria in Greece, Costa Rica's Nicoya, Loma Linda in California and Singapore. Each zone has different things to offer for good health. Some of the ideas overlap.

A common thread in all these people is that they are active and walk a lot. Walking uphill, downhill everywhere they go. Some of the terrain explored is hilly. In Singapore, the exorbitant price of owning private cars makes its citizens use public transport and incorporate walking as a compulsory need to move around. Even though Singapore is not a Blue Zone, its vast improvement of citizens' health in such a short duration, i.e. within a generation, the documentary makers thought, was worthy of mention.

Exercise does not mean going to the gym. These centurions do a lot of walking as they perform their own chores. Personal maids or caretakers are aliens in these societies. Joint flexibility is universal. Many indulge in gardening and even plant their own food. Gardening involves squatting and active movement of joints.

Many hardly consume meat. Their diet is predominantly greens, fruits, cereals and nuts. In Singapore, the Government control the amount of sugar in drinks and food. Another common observation is the lack of fast food. Caloric intake is also low. Most of the proteins are acquired from nuts.

Family support is essential. Regular sharing of meals with family members and friends is another commonality. Social interaction with friends cannot be overstated.

Above all, our citizens get up in the morning with a purpose. In Japan, the term used is Ikigai. In Costa Rica, it is 'plan de vida' (life plan). It is the reason they get up in the morning, living life with a purpose.

100-year-old rider

We also hear of a 66-year-old person with terminal cancer proving his oncologist wrong by living to be a centenarian by migrating to one of the blue zones. And we see a 100-year-old riding on a horseback. 

No one common factor connects all the blue zones. There are tropical islands, Mediterranean islands, highlands, and even modern places like California and Singapore. The Blue Zone in California is a 7th Adventist retreat emphasising moderation, community living, exercise, service and fellowship. Wine and merry-making are just fine, but moderation is key.

Improving socioeconomic opportunities and access to medical services indeed increases life expectancy; it merely increases the occurrences of non-communicable diseases and eradicates communicable diseases. It is more prudent to have a more preventative approach toward a healthy and long life.

Wisdom extrapolated from the people of the Blue Zones

• Move naturally - use your hands, do gardening, walk and walk.
• Have a positive outlook on life - learn to unwind, have religious faiths, have a purpose for living.
• Eat wisely -plant-based, take wine moderately, moderation in consumption.
• Connect - family is essential, partnership helps, have friends with the same wavelength.

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Love is all of hard work.

Love At First Sight (2023)
Director: Vanessa Caswill

Things don't just happen. They say matches are made in the stars and that destiny decides that one is born for the other. Life brings them together. True love will find its way, no matter what. They say that too. 

These simply cannot be right. At a different time, maybe. Anyone plunging into the holy union of matrimony must realise that there is a 50:50 chance that their dream wedding that they so thought destined to happiness forever and ever may just turn pear-shaped. 

Maybe this type of thinking should not drive couples to refrain from matrimony but rather remind themselves whenever they get all riled up with the antics of the other half. Marriage is hard work, and it takes a lot to make it last. 

It is easier said than done, especially when external influences instigate. And there may be an innate desire by each party to dominate and steer the union towards a specific direction. Again, it takes work. It is not as the pop song goes, 'It's so easy to fall in love!', (Buddy Holly and The Crickets) but the problematic part comes afterwards. The pair may grow apart, pursuing different personal goals and finding satisfaction in other areas. The challenge is finding common ground. Seeing things through the same lens is another! Priorities change over time. Logging along is easy when one is young. Adding a few years to the grindmill of life, one becomes dogmatic in wanting to do things in a particular way, unwaveringly.

But we can't let all these cloud our judgement, can't we? There is little of a decision going on here. The rational mind is hijacked by the spring of youth and hormones. Thinking comes afterwards. The blind sees later. The deaf hears, and the mute speaks. The meek grows horns. Everyone develops an opinion.

My other half and her girlfriends thought this rom-com was a world apart from the usual Hollywood fare and worth a watch. The unromantic me failed to appreciate the art or the wisdom it tries to impart. Nevertheless, poignant scenes stirred the fuzzy feeling embedded inside called emotion. 

The set starts at JFK Airport, seeing Hadley miss her flight to London. Hadley is off to London to attend her father's second wedding. Though she hates the idea that her parents went separate ways, she thought she should attend the wedding as it would make him happy. Almost immediately, she gets a ticket on the next flight. A Yale PhD statistics student, Oliver, is on the same flight. He is returning for his mother's memorial. His mother had a recurrence of cancer. Long story short, after a few turn of events, they both end up sitting side by side in the business class. 

The rest of the story is about how they fail to exchange numbers at the destination, discovering their love and going in search of each other. Sounds straightforward but exciting still. Oliver's mother is not dead yet, but the family decided to have a memorial anyway, as it made more sense for the dying to hear what others thought of them. It is better than to speak behind their back, after their death, so to speak. Is it fate, or will it bring them together? Statistics, probability and possibilities are just numbers. One has to take the initiative. 

The realist in me recommends viewers to catch a glimpse of a Swedish flick 'En dag och en halv' (One Day and Half) (2023). This one paints the ugly truth behind the Maya of matrimony. How the reality of extended family, dependence, dependants, expectations, economics, pressures of work and loss of freedom all screws up what the hormonal-infused doe-eyed young adult dreams of on this bliss of conjugal relationships. Not to forget the black dog lurking in the corner, waiting to pounce at the most inconvenient time. 

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Civilisation does not assure civility!

Civilisation does not assure civility!

So, what is it that makes someone great? Is he the one who has conquered all his animalistic desires and knows that his real needs are beyond the realm of physicality and materialism? This man seeks knowledge and is satisfied when the lock of the meaning of life and the hidden secret of the Universe is unlocked. Such a man is fiction. Nietsche described him as Ubermensch; Hindus referred to him as Rama or Krishna, as the revised 2.0 version of a complex man.

Another version of understanding how life works is to look at Hinduism's representation of the Universe - Trimurthi, the Trinity - Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and their consorts. Brahma, the creator, has to work in tandem with his consort, Saraswathi. Saraswathi is the Goddess of education and creativity. The take-home message is that one must have enough knowledge and creativity to create anything.

Once the creation is done, life does not just go on unabashed. It has to be preserved and preserved well. For this comes Vishnu, the divinity assigned for this purpose, operates with his consort, Laxmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity. The point here is that to conserve any creation, we need affluence. Wealth is required to ensure the continuity of anything that we create. Maintenance takes money.

At the same time, to guard any property, one should have the power to destroy evil and negative forces. The guardian of this is Shiva, the destroyer. To assist him in his task is Goddess Sakthi or her manifestations Parvathi or Kaali, the most ferocious form of divinity. To maintain the status quo and to keep one's possessions intact, He needs to have the power to destroy. Power is necessary to stay in charge.

One cannot go on destroying everything in sight forever like what the jihadists are doing. Nothing would left to protect or protect for. Hence, the creation, preservation and destruction cycle needs to be repeated.

Military Museum Vienna

The Austrio-Hungarian Empire has the
dubious reputation of sending Napoleon
packing (to St.Elba)

Belvedere Palace, Vienna

Military Museum Vienna

Natural History Museum, Vienna.

Russian Orthodox Church in Vienna, built by prisoners. Gifted to the Coptic Christians.

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Chinese Top Gun?

Born to Fly (Chinese, 2023)

Written, Directed: Lin Xiaoshi

The ending says it all. Anyone who invades Chinese airspace will be resolutely shut down. Some will label it as China's reply to Hollywood's 'Top Gun' and 'Maverick' while others would brush this movie as another of the CCP's propaganda projects. Thanks to the USA's brilliant plan to outsource, China has leapt by leaps and bounds. Trying to save on their budget, it appeared then that getting China to handle military networks was a bright idea.

In 21st-century China, she can send a rocket to the dark side of the Moon and match the US fighter and stealth planes. Hence, the silver screen is the best avenue to showcase their prowess in the sky. Hopefully, the offspring of the one-child policy families would be impressed to lose their sons to become fighter and test pilots.

Surprisingly, after an initial screening, which drew record box office collection, CCP decided to withdraw the permit for its screening. Rumours had it the special effects and the computer-generated images were inferior to Top Gun's. If you ask me, it is probably because, in the movie, the Chinese plane ran into trouble way too many times, causing a crash twice, killing a commander and injuring another. It gave the impression that Chinese products were unreliable. What's more, when it comes to precision engineering like planes, there is no place for error, even if it is occasional, even at the test flight level.

This movie starts with a foreign (US) F35 fighter plane encroaching into Chinese airspace. Even though Chinese soldiers warned them politely, the foreign pilots sniggered at them and teased them into a dogfight. The enemies gave the Chinese a runaround with their modern 5th-generation fighter planes. The Chinese were embarrassed with their 4th-generation planes.

The rest of the story is about how an elite team is recruited to test out a new fleet of planes and devise ways to combat certain shortcomings in its design. After an emotional turn of events, the new recruits turn heroes manning their 5th-generation J20 planes and proudly intimidating and chasing away the foreign intruders.

 

China marking their territories after the new map?

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The end is nay, but when?

Knock in the Cabin

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Interestingly, the throb of the world's end and a man riding a white horse is a recurring theme in most eschatological studies. We all know of a leader with 666 tattooed on his forehead who would be the proverbial anti-Christ who would ride on a white horse. Then there are the four Horsemen who would be riding in to right the wrong of a decadent world on the brink of extinction.

In Kalki Puranam, the end of kali-yuga will be marked with events signifying the loss of piety and goodness the world over. It will be climaxed with the total annihilation of Earth. The Big Bang would have reached the point of entropy. The reset button would be initiated for time to restart. Lord Vishnu would assume his last avatar, Kalki, to expedite this process by slaying the terrorising asuras. Again, Kalki would be marching in on a white horse. Kali-yuga will be replaced with Satya-yuga. Graham Hancock's research suggests that time is cyclical. One major civilisation is replaced with another.

Most world belief systems have an eerie commonality about a nihilistic future where civilisation would decay and meet a fiery end. The trouble is that no time frame is given for this end, but many are cocksure that he knows that end is nay.       

Depending on which scriptures one reads, the rider on the white horse can be a saviour or a villain. And they had different names. The founder of the Ahmeddya sect may have proclaimed to be Kalki. In the Shia sect, at the end of times, they believed Imam Mahdi would unite the believers and help to rule the world. In Buddhism, Maitreya, a messianic-like saviour, would rule the world.

Some historians believe Kalki Puranam is a later production, unlike other Hindu scriptures. It is said to have been penned in Bengal around 1500-1700CE when a Muslim Sultanate was in power. Are they saying the Muslim reign was terrible and the ordinary people dreamt of a saviour on horseback to rescue them?

In modern times, many doomsday prophets sniff around for gullible souls to convince them the end is near. Like Chicken Licken, they holler around, yelling the sky is falling down, asking people to join in the reception party that greets the Lord when His Kingdom reigns after Armageddon. Every now and then, we hear cults interpreting certain everyday occurrences as proof that the end is near. Many are in the corner for fake news or a brush with the law, like in the cases of Branch Davidian under the tutelage of David Koresh in Waco, Texas, or Jim Jones 'People's Temple' in Jonestown, Guyana.

In the film, when a vacationing same-sex couple with their adopted young daughter is visited by four people talking about the end of the world, they think the four people are nuts. They insist that one of the couple must kill the other or the girl to stop the multiple air crashes and the raging natural calamities. Even though the plot is hollow and the script may not be the best I have heard of late, the movie managed to grab the attention of its viewers via its ability to create suspense. It makes one think.

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