Dance

Today evening, while lazing in the cold waters of the swimming pool at my bro’s place after few consecutive laps, I saw what I thought was art: a jet trail high above in azure skies, an eagle gliding and circling right below the trail, a small cirrus cloud hovering near the jet trail, seven coconut trees swaying in the breeze, and to complete this picture, a praying mantis awaiting its next meal by the pool side.

A still-life painting… of Life presented itself to my feasting eyes in a glance. A moment across time and space. I thought it would have been great, if Gopu was here to photograph this scene…

Meanwhile, before the previous thought could make its way out of my mind, another one played itself on the screen:

• I am not a painter or sculptor.
• You are my dance; I am the dancer.
• What you see is me in creative motion; I do not exist separately from my creation.

Contented, I dipped into the cold water once again for my dance to continue.

Arunachala, a most silent muse

The mystic mountain is at works as always. 

Five months since i started dwelling near its visible shadow, unknowingly it has been silently seeing me in motion from afar... It peeps into my humble abode. On both full moon and new moon nights alike, it pours love into my overflowing heart. 

It is by far my most silent muse; the others chat or chatter. Over facebook, over email, in personal conversations, or in my imagination. 

It knows that my memories still rise and heave with deep sighs between mammaries where I had snuggled, nestled, laughed, and cried in the past. 

It knows all my intricacies, my 'what ifs', my unasked questions, and its unanswered answers. 

Sometimes, when the power goes off and the world is silent and sleepy, i hear His whispered words along with the soothing breeze and a mosquito's hum: Om shanti... shanti... shanti hii.

Raining muses

It's raining this winter; and it is not raining cats and dogs. It is not just another drizzle. 

This season, it's raining muses! 

Is this yet another seasonal shower?

Your Self

Whatever is done should be done not for yourself, but for your Self.

Whatever you want

i can be whatever you want me to be... for all relationships are nothing, but labels put by minds unable to understand them.

Diamond Necklace

His wicked smile. His guilt-ridden look. His infectious energy maybe fueled from years of subdued life with his mother in Kerala. These stay with me as a reflection of a part of me that was once me.

Theft, betrayal, guilt, fear, embarrassment, friendship, love, longing, acceptance, and confession are portrayed pretty well. And temptation… well, don’t we know that very well?!

Fahaad Fazil has given good montages and reactions in this film: Diamond Necklace. A movie that grows with repeated viewing; my interpretations adding up to make it better than intended, perhaps.

And in to this ‘happening’ life of Dr. Arun in Dubai, three women enter one by one. Pretty uninvited but without resistance too…

First, he falls in love with a charming, innocent village girl (working as a nurse) and takes her to bed. She is falling in love for the first time; he does not give it much thought.

He goes through life with all its motions. He is in debt: bad debt. He marries one of the girls thinking that that will end his financial worries and hoping that at least his mother will be happy. But life is not about solutions and borrowed happiness alone, as he discovers.

His heart falls for another woman, an interior designer. I think she is what he was looking for but by then he is married. But he loves her and so does she. They make love.

Even when loved truly by three women, he has no choice. Or so it seems.

After this what happens is… Few twists and turns but life takes care of everything.

Venu ettan, the quintessential Malayalee in the Gulf, helps him out. For Dr. Arun, life comes full circle.

He is just a pawn and dances according to strings being pulled by circumstances. Maybe, there is free will; maybe, not.

But do we control our 'free' will? Can we?

Anyways, in the end, we see:

• A simple village girl can make a big difference.
• A sinner can inspire a saint.
• A married woman can choose love over diamond.

Yes, these things happen.

Usthad Hotel and Adaminte Makan Abu

Ever watched a Zen movie? Apart from The Last Samurai or Seven Days in Tibet, etc.?

Usthad Hotel is a very contemporary Zen movie. The movie is a coming-of-age film wherein the lead actor finds his true calling and pursues it practically. He finds help and support from unexpected quarters. He receives his training, initiation, and instructions from his own grandfather, who is a chef and runs a small but popular seaside restaurant.

Thilakan, who plays the grandfather’s role, like only he can, has given one of his finest performances in years in a highly restrained role. His voice modulation is apt and so is his dialogue delivery. The way he mouths a dialogue while sipping sulaimani is worth watching the movie for.  

He trains his grandson, hands over the restaurant to him (his only legacy), and leaves on a final pilgrimage to Moinuddin Chisti’s dargah in Ajmer. Much earlier in the movie, he had talked about watching rainfall in a desert…

The cinematography and photography are top-notch. It reminds me of another recent classic: Adaminte Makan Abu. A simple story of a Muslim couple and their lifelong wish of going to Hajj. The film shows the struggles and travails they go through to fulfill their wish. How honesty and principles come in the way of fulfilling their dream makes your heart weep. Well, do they manage to fulfill their wish at the end of the movie?

“Do they need to go to Hajj?”… For me, that was the question answered by the end of the movie. 

Thanks, AMMA

The last half of this year has been a jolly good ride.

Chandrabadni is where your silence is loud and your soul will find a sound. It was here that it echoed: "Gar Firdaus rōy-e zamin ast, hamin ast-o hamin ast-o hamin ast."

After a pilgrimage to Haridwar, Hrishikesh, Chandrabadni, Triyuginarayan, Kedarnath, Badrinath, Hemkunt Sahib, Joshimatt, and Vaishno Devi, it was time for a pilgrimage from Devbhoomi to God’s Own Country.

Visiting the ever crowded Guruvayur temple to the serene Triprayar to the magnificent Koodalmanickam to the imposing Padmanabha temple was a blessing. Near the Padmanabha temple, we also visited an ancient temple home to the trinity: Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. 

This temple reminded me of Kailashnatha temple, Kancheepuram. Yes, for a moment, I did miss her. But then, I smiled at His leela.

Well, the highlight of this pilgrimage was meeting my 50-year-old cousin from Singapore who had joined us for this pilgrimage along with her mother. Before I forget, her mother has an amazing sense of humour!

We were meeting each other for the first time. So after the usual pleasantries, we started opening our flood gates. We talked, debated, discussed, and read… Osho, Matruvani, Ramana… et al. Day in and day out, we were exchanging notes, observations, and animatedly pointing to statues and carvings on some temple walls.

Finally, we decided to be ‘inmates’ at AMMA’s Ashram, Vallikavu, Kollam. Also, known as Amritapuri. This ashram is an experience by itself. For me, it’s just different from any other ashram I had ever been to or stayed at. You must visit this ashram at least once before you die. Better to visit the place when AMMA is not around because it is quieter and more peaceful. Plus, from what I observed, people are more open to talk to you. They are less busy.

Both of us talked to a lot of ashram inmates serving out life sentences completely out of love, utter devotion, and maybe in blind faith! ;-) They had a lot to say about AMMA and her leela. Her mysterious ways and her projects. It was nice meeting Sindhu, Srija, the French-bearded man in the garment store, and the beautiful coffee-makers in the Western cafe. What a way to begin your day… sipping smoking, hot coffee.

We witnessed a sunrise, a sunset, and a quite walk to the beach, and a guided tour through Amritapuri campus. Well, including the ‘Where is the beach and where is the kayal?’ joke, it was a good communion between souls.

AMMA, thanks for the three days spent there; I guess, we needed it and you being in Europe was like icing on the cake. J And frankly, la… the sharjah shake served at your ashram is awesome too.

Om Puurnnam-Adah Puurnnam-Idam Puurnnaat-Purnnam-Udacyate

Puurnnashya Puurnnam-Aadaaya Puurnnam-Eva-Avashissyate ||

Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||

(500) Days of Summer

There are two types of movies that stand out from among the many types of movies made and watched: 

1. A movie that is so complete that you should watch it only once; repeated viewing may spoil the experience.
2. A movie that grows on you every time you watch it. Repeated viewing reveals a bit of your own self. (500) Days of Summer belongs to the latter category.  

Yesterday, I watched it for the second time. It’s awesome how you live/relive multiple lifetimes while watching certain movies.

 

The first time I had watched it, I was rooting for Tom.

I could relate to him. It was like random incidents from my love lives being played out in front of me and I was all out supporting Tom. I wanted him to be happy even though the movie hinted otherwise. I was disappointed with Summer not being able to love Tom the way he loved her.
 
I got angrier when Summer finally marries another guy when she adopts Tom’s belief in soul mates, love, and fate. She reveals this to Tom while they are sitting in Tom’s favorite spot in the city. Tom says that he can never understand how she can feel something for another guy which she never felt for him! Even I couldn’t.

 

Yesterday, I felt miserable for Tom.

I could see the other side.

Though most of the movie is shown from Tom’s perspective, a balanced viewer can see Summer’s side too. There is even a scene where the screen is split into to two: one showing Tom’s expectations and the other showing reality!

Summer always looked upon Tom as her best friend with whom she can share anything: secrets, time, sex, window shopping, etc. Acts and activities that Tom misunderstood as intimacy, romance, and love. There are plenty of scenes where Tom’s friends and sister tries to show him the truth and reality and he just refuses to believe that Summer does not love him. He roots for his stupid belief that because he loves her so much and so consummately, there is no way that she does not love him back! Most of us have been there and done that, right?

I saw Summer as a free-thinking, independent, and fun-loving girl who lives life in the present moment and does whatever she feels. Summer was always honest with him and, in the beginning of their relationship, had already revealed to him that she does not believe in love and she was looking for a casual relationship. Her relationships were not bound by generic labels and boundaries put down by the majority. For example, for her being friends with Tom also included having quality and experimental sex with him. But she never lied to him.

The movie also shows that once you set up a premise, a background… you can tell a story in a non-linear sequence because life and memory is a string of events, which may not necessarily move along with passage of time and space. Events in life may not have a cause-and-effect relationship. Memories may not be stored sequentially.

If you were in love, (500) Days of Summer is a must-watch. And then, please watch it again and again.

Tukaram

Tuka manhe! A very simple saying from a very simple man. His life, his village, Dehu, and its villagers.

In the movie, Tukaram, not only do we get a glimpse of the life and times of Tukaram, one of most revered saints of India, but also of Tukaram, the man, the husband, the brother, the child, the son, the trader et al.

Just like Lord Ram had to undergo all that an average human being undergoes in life when he/she dons several roles, Tuka too underwent a lot: education, apprenticeship, marriage, famine, hardships, pilgrimages, separation, death of loved ones and one of his beloved.

The movie does not portray Tukaram as a saint nor do we see a halo behind him. But we love him anyway.

His moment of enlightenment during a drought has been captured very simply and brilliantly. Brought tears to my eyes. Watching Tukaram made me cry many times.

I needed that.

First, the man drowns his materialistic wealth into the Indrayani river; later, the saint drowns his spiritual wealth (all his abhangs and kirtans) into the river. He becomes silent. He did not need words anymore; his words are etched in the hearts of those blessed to be in his presence.

The movie lifted itself from being an art form to being an experience. Very few movies have succeeded at this level.

After a long time, I felt cleansed after watching a movie.