Friday, December 27, 2013

Panchgani Mahabaleshwar Visit

Some pictures taken during our visit to Panchgani and Mahabaleshwar near Pune. Last two temples are Panchganga Temple and Mahabaleshwar Temple in Old Mahabaleshwar

All pics (C) Rahul










Panchganga Temple

 Mahabaleshwar Temple in Old Mahabaleshwar

All pics (C) Rahul

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Singhgarh Fort Visit

Pictures taken during our visit to Singhgarh fort near Pune. Last two pictures are of Khadagwasla Dam which falls on the same route. 

All pics (C) Rahul



























All pics (C) Rahul

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Made in India Dream

I had to buy something and I wanted it to be Indian, so I searched about each available brand to discard all foreign brands. Found many Indian companies with nice websites, which were selling "high quality imported" products. Finally found one Indian company which had a manufacturing plant in Uttaranchal; so I became very happy about it. I ordered it through an Indian online retail portal. Finally the product arrived through an Indian courier company which was like icing on the cake. When I checked and turned the product bottom-up, I found a "Made in China" sticker!

History: Mandela was Not Gandhi

When Nelson Mandela died, a lot of media houses said and people repeated “This is the end of Gandhi of SOUTH AFRICA”

When I read him being called Gandhi of SA, I wonder. Because even India’s Gandhi was born in SA and in fact South Africa had made Gandhiji out of young barrister Mohandas Gandhi.

The differences between Gandhi and Mandela are many. For example, Gandhiji never took any position; Mandela became President of SA. Gandhiji fought for freedom of a country; he fought for freedom of a race. Mandela had supported violence while Gandhiji never supported violence but his was Satyagrah.

I think Mandela should be more appropriately called Dr. BR Ambedkar of SA. Though the difference being that Mandela was born into a royal family and even founded a militant org as I read about him. I think it is fair to compare Mandela (who fought for rights of a race) with Ambedkar (who fought for rights of a category/castes). Gandhiji had a universal vision. What is Mandela’s vision – do you know?

Fighting for rights of race is a limited vision, is not it so? Whereas Gandhiji had universal vision. When he was in South Africa, he started agitation there against racial discrimination. Gandhiji would have stood for rights of Blacks, or even Whites if discriminated against in a land dominated by Blacks, whoever was downtrodden.

I am reading this from wikipedia’s assembled article on Mandela:

“Inspired by Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution, in 1961 Mandela co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”, abbreviated MK) with Sisulu and the communist Joe Slovo. Becoming chairman of the militant group, he gained ideas from illegal literature on guerilla warfare by Mao and Che Guevara. Officially separate from the ANC, in later years MK became the group’s armed wing. Operating through a cell structure, the MK agreed to acts of sabotage to exert maximum pressure on the government with minimum casualties, bombing military installations, power plants, telephone lines and transport links at night, when civilians were not present. Mandela noted that should these tactics fail, MK would resort to “guerilla warfare and terrorism.”

“After the conference, he travelled to Cairo, Egypt, admiring the political reforms of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and then went to Tunis, Tunisia, where President Habib Bourguiba gave him £5000 for weaponry. He proceeded to Morocco, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Senegal, receiving funds from Liberian President William Tubman and Guinean President Ahmed Sékou Touré.[107] Leaving Africa for London, England, he met anti-apartheid activists, reporters and prominent leftist politicians.[108] Returning to Ethiopia, he began a six-month course in guerrilla warfare, but completed only two months before being recalled to South Africa.[109]“

I think calling Mandela Gandhi of SA is insult of Gandhiji who gave up his life for non-violence. Mandela sounds more influenced by second-hand ideas like communism and ran a militant organization running around bombing places.

I think apartheid was very bad. Mandela fought against it, that is very good. I am sure Blacks never cared about the “means”, all they cared about was the “goal”. But Gandhiji was class apart. He cared for means as much as for the goal. As I read, Mandela’s popularity gained after his release from the jail. He would have got all the credit for anti-apartheid movement. People conveniently forgot his methods and violent means in his younger days. He went into the jail being called terrorist (as I read about him) but came out of the jail as a saint. It is fine, in totality he achieved something which was good. But he was not all white but his life appears more of grey. I somehow don’t like his comparison with Gandhiji; in fact no mortal can be compared with Gandhiji who was a real saint… he was real superman; something which we can be but are not…

Gandhiji’s goal was not limited to freedom of India; it was for universal freedom from misery through non-violent methods. That is why he fought for non-white’s rights in South Africa; he fought for rights of Pakistan after division of India also. But Mandela was not fighting for freedom of any nation, he was fighting for rights of a race, and that also using violent means. Where is his international role or universal idea; apart from going around the globe collecting funds for militants to buy more guns? And it is true that Gandhiji was not the only person responsible for India’s freedom. I think Gandhiji himself would never have taken that credit. It is more of a Congress party’s propaganda to make Indians do hero-worship. But similarly, a huge credit for end of apartheid goes to de Klerk government in SA. And for roles of US/UN and the whole world who funded Mandela’s party with money. I read even Gaddaffi of Libya gave him some money (Mandela and Gaddafi were personal friends). Mandela was given Nobel Prize; Gandhi never; Mandela enjoyed being President of the country; Gandhiji seeked no position. These are entirely different personalities with entirely different vision. But since the whole world wanted Mandela to become a saint from being a terrorist; they perhaps used Gandhiji’s brand name to do the magic; and they have succeeded.
Note the differences in tastes between these two great men: “Very conscious of his image, throughout his life Mandela sought fine quality clothes, carrying himself in a “regal style” stemming from his childhood in the Thembu royal house, and during his presidency was often compared to a constitutional monarch. Considered a “master of imagery and performance”, he excelled at presenting himself well in press photographs and producing soundbites.”

Mandela was married three times, fathered six children, had 17 grandchildren[339] and a growing number of great-grandchildren.[340] He could be stern and demanding of his children, although he was more affectionate with his grandchildren.[341] Mandela’s first marriage was to Evelyn Ntoko Mase, who was also from the Transkei, although they met in Johannesburg before being married in October 1944.[54] The couple broke up in 1957 after 13 years, divorcing under the multiple strains of his adultery and constant absences, devotion to revolutionary agitation, and the fact that she was a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a religion requiring political neutrality.[86] The couple had two sons, Madiba “Thembi” Thembekile (1946–1969) and Makgatho Mandela (1950–2005), and two daughters, both named Makaziwe Mandela (known as Maki; born 1947 and 1953). Their first daughter died aged nine months, and they named their second daughter in her honour.[citation needed] Mase died in 2004, and Mandela attended her funeral.[342] Makgatho’s son, Mandla Mandela, became chief of the Mvezo tribal council in 2007.[343] Mandela’s second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also came from the Transkei area, although they, too, met in Johannesburg, where she was the city’s first black social worker.[344] They had two daughters, Zenani (Zeni), born 4 February 1958, and Zindziswa (Zindzi) Mandela-Hlongwane, born 1960.[344] Zindzi was only 18 months old when her father was sent to Robben island. Later, Winnie would be deeply torn by family discord which mirrored the country’s political strife; separation (April 1992) and divorce (March 1996), fueled by political estrangement.[345] Mandela was still in prison when his daughter Zenani was married in 1973 to Prince Thumbumuzi Dlamini, a brother of both King Mswati III of Swaziland[346] and of Queen Mantfombi of the Zulus.[347] Although she had vivid memories of her father, from the age of four up until sixteen, South African authorities did not permit her to visit him.[348] In July 2012, Zenani was appointed ambassador to Argentina, becoming the first of Mandela’s three remaining children to enter public life.[349]

Mandela remarried on his 80th birthday in 1998, to his third wife, Graça Machel (née Simbine), widow of Samora Machel, the former Mozambican president and ANC ally who was killed in an air crash 12 years earlier.[350]

A grandson of Nelson Mandela is named Gadaffi.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

We Can't be Great in Everything!

We all can be experts in some areas while not being good in some others. I read that in 1720 Sir Isaac Newton had shares of the South Sea Company, the hottest stock in England at that time. The stock had risen too much and Newton said "I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men", and sold out all his stocks, earning £ 7000 which was 100% profits on his holding. But a few months afterwards, when he saw the stock still rising, he got lured and bought the stock again at much higher price. This time South Sea Bubble burst and Newton lost total £ 20000!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Malnourished Kid Vs Pet Dog

What if you see a malnourished kid on the roadside begging for food while you are walking your pet dog around?

 

I used to think about it many times but I think ever since I got to know that challenging such a situation by seeing the rich who keep pets as doing some kind of a sin could be called a socialist/communist idea and these tags are so dreadful like plague that I stopped even thinking about it. But every time you see a person walking one's well-fed pet off a poor malnourished kid, it is too painful and we realize that this world is not perfect. But again, even if we banned such practices and snatched Peter to pay Paul, most likely that system will also get corrupted with time. 

I think until we are noble and kind from the heart and soul, misery will remain in this world. If this world is a stage and we are actors, script writer has written each character with some motive and purpose... But still, why should one suffer so much while other enjoys life full of pleasures? 

I know that Karma provides an explanation and it is noble. Since we can't change our circumstances that we get by birth and only thing we have control of is our present, we should do good work and that will decide our future including future lives. 

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Attacking the Root Cause

In reference to the USA attacking countries like Iraq and Afghanistan in order to destroy their terror support infrastructure, a friend made the following remark. He said that if one's house was infested with bugs, one has to fumigate it rather than going to neighbors house and start exterminating those bugs there. But I had a different view on this: 

Acharya Chanakya showed how to deal with an enemy as little in appearance as a thorn. When a thorn hit his leg, he did not just pull out his leg out from thorn (or the other way around) and moved on, but he pour sugared milk over the place so that ants could eat up and destroy the root of the thorn inside the ground. That was his way to deal with a problem - always solve the root cause. Therefore, if fumigation of our own house is the way, perhaps we would need daily fumigation till eternity. On the other hand it might be better to get the root cause exterminated even if it lies in neighbour's house! In any civilized country law allows that - you can't play music too loud or you can't be a threat to the neighborhood and law would deal with us if we pose threat to others. So I think there is nothing wrong in curing the root cause. 

So we can't blame USA entirely in what it is doing. 

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Funds for Orphanage

A lady came to our door collecting funds for an orphanage. I contributed but then thought to google the orphanage's name to ensure that the amount did not go to a wrong place; since we keep seeing news of orphanages used for religious conversions and even for human trafficking. I found an Art of Living member sharing her experience at the link below; which came as a relief. Because if you believe in karma then we have puzzles in store. If you donate some rupees to a beggar who goes on to buy liquor and harms someone in drunken state, will you not get your karma account debited a bit? I think this is why our scriptures have many shlokas where sages tell about importance of donating to "supatra" सुपात्र (the deserving). They say that if we donate to "kupatra" कुपात्र (ill minded and undeserving persons), the person taking the alms as well as the one giving it will go to nark नर्क (i.e. have to suffer). 


Btw, this Orphanage is "Matoshree Niradhar Bal Ashram" run by Matoshree Pratisthan. The Art of Living member who went there has posted pics of her celebrating with the kids which can be found in the email on the same above link, or else you can click here. This is a local orphanage and in google search I found that it did not have good web-presence. I think this is where Indian NGOs and organizations have to learn a lot. Otherwise how can they compete for funds with NGOs with international links and hence good marketing strategy?

Friday, November 29, 2013

Shankaracharya Sri Jayendra Saraswathi


Have you heard about Sankara Nethralaya? I guess most of us would have. This not-for-profit institution (website) was awarded "Best Eye Hospital in India" and it is world renowned; a pride of India. But do you know who established it? It was brainchild of His Holiness Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, the Sankaracharya of the Kanchi Peeth.  Kanchi Mutth runs it along with many other schools and hospitals. Kanchi Sankaracharya himself is one of the most respected religious leaders of Hinduism of our time. So what happened in 2004 that our Shankaracharya was arrested on a Diwali night while performing puja? You can read old news and analysis searching on google, e.g. [Link1], [Link2]. We had Karunanidhi M as CM of Tamil Nadu, India, who is a self-declared atheist. Both atheism and secularism mean "anti-Hinduism" in India. So it seems Karunanidhi wished and Hindus' Shankaracharya was arrested - as simple as that. A few days back, he is acquitted by the court of law and here is his interview. When we read his interview, we shall realize how pious, pure and positive his thoughts are!

Testing times for truth, says Sankaracharya
 
November 29, 2013 12:13:01 AM | By FPJ Bureau
 
Chennai : A day after being acquitted in a murder case, the Kanchi Mutt pontiff Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal described his experience during the last nine years when he faced arrest and trial as ‘testing times for truth’.
 
The seer and his junior Sri Vijayendra Saraswathi Swamigal were acquitted along with 21 other accused in the 2004 murder of a temple manager Sankararaman by a trial judge in Puducherry on Wednesday for lack of evidence.
 
The seers had avoided talking to journalists on Wednesday. However, in a full page Q&A advertisement released by the Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam in select newspapers on Thursday, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi answered a host of questions raised by the Mutt, which he heads.
 
To a question about the verdict, he said, “Dharma has prevailed. Truth has won. That is what matters”. According to him, the last nine years were more or less the same except that the Mutt officials had to spend more time on the case related issues.
 
Asked if it was tough, his response was “I have been trained by my Guru to bear everything. There is no question of the situation being tough. Times were challenging because we were facing a completely new set of situations.” The case had led to disruption of routine work in the early days but over a period of time he understood how to carry on work in spite of disruptions.
 
Commenting on several devotees stopping their visits to the Mutt, the seer said: “Is it not to be expected? What would a lay person do when there is a concerted campaign by all the influential segments of society? Many people played safe and reduced their frequency of visits to the Mutt.”
 
According to him, after he was released on bail, he was under constant surveillance and every devotee was scanned. “There were plainclothes men all over. I myself told visitors to take it easy, in the early days. Now people have started coming as before. In recent times the devotees thronging the Mutt has increased manifold and in fact more than during normal times,” he said.
 
On whether he would drag to court those who had indulged in “character assassination” and published “sensational” reports, he said, “I have lost nine precious years, and there is so much to do. I have to use the remaining years in fulfilling the directive and wishes of my Guru.”
 
To a question if the incidents (of the past nine years) would not permanently be a blemish on the Mutt, he said: “What was perpetrated on the Mutt has been termed as an act of vandalism by several people.”
 
Source: http://freepressjournal.in/testing-times-for-truth-says-sankaracharya/ 

Today's Times of India also carried out some of his thinking under Speaking Tree; you can read it here which shows his wisdom and understanding of Hinduism and its philosophies.

Theism As Basis of High-End Hinduism
 
By Kanchi Sri Jayendra Saraswathi; as told to Narayani Ganesh; Posted 28.11.2013; 05:12 pm
 
Since we believe in the Paramatma or Supreme energy that is beginningless and endless, it is clear that Hinduism in its purest form is theistic. Theism is its basic premise.
 
Some people ask: "What came before the Paramatma? Who created the Supreme energy?" The answer is that it is something that is ever-present and everlasting; it has neither beginning nor end; it is infinite. When something is born, it has to die. This applies to planets, stars, humans, animals and all other things which have a beginning. But the Supreme energy is all-pervasive.
 
How does one access or experience this divine energy? The Vedas show the way. The Vedas are like spiritual primers — they introduce you to the wonderful world of spirituality. Like all primers, the Vedas, too, only help you infer the divinity aspect, for the experience can only be yours. So the verses, rituals, are all designed to help you understand their import and then move on to a higher plane of consciousness. Here, you draw from the wisdom of Vedanta. Literally, the term 'Vedanta' means ‘ved ka anth’ or ‘end of the vedas’. You can call vedas the Part One of ‘do-it-yourself’ spirituality and vedanta, as Part Two.
 
Every religion has three components: rituals, cultural and spiritual aspects. There is scope for differences only in the first two. But the third, the spiritual element, helps us overcome conflicts arising from differences in the first two. Rituals including ceremonies relating to birth, marriage and death are important constituents of all faiths. Culture springs from the way of life, and its nature hinges a great deal on heritage and environment. The spiritual aspect is free of all differences and so is able to help us direct our mind towards Paramatma.
 
Dharma, artha and kama refer to good deeds, material wellbeing and desire respectively. But the fourth, moksha, cannot be accurately described because it is an atma-anubhav — an intensely personal experience. So only the one who experiences moksha will know what it is like. Adi Shankara said that one should rise above the first three and get liberated from them via moksha. The moksha experience cannot be described. Try describing the sweet taste of misri (sugar crystals) to someone who has never tasted it — and you'll find that the best way to make him understand its taste is to let him eat it. Moksha can be understood only with direct experience. An enlightened person who has experienced moksha can try and guide a seeker to the path that leads to moksha.
 
Can one transcend even the desire for moksha? Once moksha has been achieved, can we seek moksha from moksha? No, because that would be a contradiction. For it signals not merely the end of suffering. In Hinduism moksha refers to the simultaneous end of suffering and the experience of ananda or bliss — what we call sat-chit-anand.
 
It is the experience of the eternal and unchanging truth, revealing the universal limitlessness and our nature as the source of infinite peace and joy. So there is nothing beyond this state. This is the ultimate, when the atma unites with the Paramatma, when the individual energy merges with the Supreme energy. Why should one seek release from such a state? Moksha is not something to be attained but that it is a state to be experienced, a natural state. Moksha is not a ritual like bathing or offering flowers. That is why the Bhaja Govindam says don't look for moksha outside but search within.
 
Source: http://m.speakingtree.in/spiritual-articles/new-age/theism-as-basis-of-highend-hinduism 

From being one of the highest figures of Hinduism, to being arrested accused of murder; tolerating all and still keeping the spirits and faith intact - this is a splendid example of inspiration, faith and conviction. Sat Sat Pranaam. My thousand salutations to this great soul... 

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Buying Made in India (Part-2)

This comes after my first post on the topic on June 27, 2011, titled "My Experiments with Made-in-India Brands!" (http://rahulbemba.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-experiments-with-made-in-india.html)

This is just a placeholder for recording my infatuation with buying Swadeshi (Made in India brands/products). I don't aim to show this off for ego-boasting, but it is just for me to recall and feel good about it. Even if my efforts are like a drop in an ocean, I have something priceless - a feeling that I did something good for my nation. For my thinking on this topic, above mentioned blog post provides the details. 
  1. Bought only Usha fans for all rooms of our house.
  2. Bought only Bajaj Water Heaters (Geysers) for both bathrooms of our house.
  3. Bought only Saffola Oats and not any other foreign brand. Though I think even this Oats is imported, at least this is from the house of an Indian company Marico. 
  4. Bought a Hero Bike and not any other foreign company's brand.
  5. Bought a Dr. Morepen weighing machine even if more attractive foreign brands or imported products were available in the market.
  6. I have my Credit Cards and banking only with Indian companies, even though ICICI and HDFC have majority stake from foreign entities since these were founded by Indians and have Indian management and stake-holding, I am counting these banks as Indians. I would love to see a better wholly Indian bank, but so far have not seen one better than or at par with ICICI/HDFC and hence I can't switch. I had also taken a Credit Card with a foreign bank, and I was always conscious of it, so ultimately I stopped it. I am running House loan from LIC Housing Finance and even though they charge me higher than market interest rate, I secretly imagine the money going to government or in India and hence have tolerated its not-so-great service so far.
  7. ... (to be continued)


Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Narendra Modi - Time Person of the Year 2013

There is a great news for admirers of Mr. Narendra Modi, one of the Prime Ministerial Candidate in India for the upcoming general elections. Mr. Modi is the only Indian who has been shortlisted and nominated for Person of the Year (POY) Award 2013 by the prestigious TIME magazine. You can read about the award here: 



The selection will happen through online vote and you can use your Twitter/Facebook login to vote for Mr. Modi. You can visit the page on the Time's website here. Request you all to definitely vote:

http://poy.time.com/2013/11/25/vote-now-who-should-be-times-person-of-the-year/slide/narendra-modi/


Let us hope Mr. Modi wins it for all Indians and make us proud!

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Today’s Indian Express

Wonderful articles like these are what make me wait for Indian Express everyday. It is not only a newspaper but also an overall guide on art, literature, health and science.


Apart from this in today's edition there is another good one here:


Sunday, November 17, 2013

Remembering Late Shri Bal Thackeray



Today is first death anniversary of Balasaheb Thackeray. Last year during this time I had written this piece in his memory, to share a few of his contributions towards national causes in India: 




Friday, November 1, 2013

Happy Diwali!

Like tiny Diyas take us from darkness towards light, may this Deepawali bring wisdom, health and prosperity to you and family. May Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi bless us all. Happy Diwali!



Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Irony of life and its achievements



Life can be seen in many ways. We can make different inferences about life depending on the angle from which we choose to look. If we look at it from freedom point of view, then I wonder how much freedom we actually have. Connect it with our likes and it gets quite depressing. In childhood we want to spend time with our parents and little friends at home but we are sent to school. In teen age we love to play sports and want to live freely but we are burdened with competitive exams. And then most of us spend our entire energetic life (below 60 years of age) in office, always working for someone else or for goals set by our aspirations which are in fact shaped by outside influences. Even entrepreneurs have to work and they have no choice in this aspect. If we want to spend all time with family, most of us can’t afford it. Is it a provocative thought that we can’t “afford” it? We take time “out of” usual work for some hours, days, weeks, and in case of a few of us, even some years, but we have to go back to work. Work to earn money. Earn money to survive. Earn money to live. Struggle to survive is one of the inherent things of this world; it is part of the package; it comes by design and it seems no one can escape it except those who follow paths of great souls like Adi Shankar and renounce this world full of miseries. In fact this world is full of miseries till we are seeking something. The moment we stop seeking, this world becomes a world full of gifts and abundance. What an irony…

I think it is a pity that we have to compromise on what we want and how we want to spend time just to survive. There are some who take it to the level of rat-races but no matter how we claim to be “free” most of us are not. In a way we are slaves to the “ways of life” already set before we arrived here. A genuine soul search will make us realize this irony. In this aspect all of us are in the same pool; only the extent to which we are inside water varies… I know we can think of it as a challenge. How best we can manage our life so that we have to compromise the least and we enjoy the finer aspects of life and not only the ones benchmarked for us. Only I am not sure how much we can actually succeed; and the biggest question is why not fully? Why we are condemned to waste our life in things as undeserving as working to earn money (no matter how we glamorize our profession and try to claim it is not about money).

Thoughts: Irony of life and its achievements

Life can be seen in many ways. We can make different inferences about life depending on the angle from which we choose to look. If we look at it from freedom point of view, then I wonder how much freedom we actually have. Connect it with our likes and it gets quite depressing. In childhood we want to spend time with our parents and little friends at home but we are sent to school. In teen age we love to play sports and want to live freely but we are burdened with competitive exams. And then most of us spend our entire energetic life (below 60 years of age) in office, always working for someone else or for goals set by our aspirations which are in fact shaped by outside influences. Even entrepreneurs have to work and they have no choice in this aspect. If we want to spend all time with family, most of us can’t afford it. Is it a provocative thought that we can’t “afford” it? We take time “out of” usual work for some hours, days, weeks, and in case of a few of us, even some years, but we have to go back to work. Work to earn money. Earn money to survive. Earn money to live. Struggle to survive is one of the inherent things of this world; it is part of the package; it comes by design and it seems no one can escape it except those who follow paths of great souls like Adi Shankar and renounce this world full of miseries. In fact this world is full of miseries till we are seeking something. The moment we stop seeking, this world becomes a world full of gifts and abundance. What an irony…
 
I think it is a pity that we have to compromise on what we want and how we want to spend time just to survive. There are some who take it to the level of rat-races but no matter how we claim to be “free” most of us are not. In a way we are slaves to the “ways of life” already set before we arrived here. A genuine soul search will make us realize this irony. In this aspect all of us are in the same pool; only the extent to which we are inside water varies… I know we can think of it as a challenge. How best we can manage our life so that we have to compromise the least and we enjoy the finer aspects of life and not only the ones benchmarked for us. Only I am not sure how much we can actually succeed; and the biggest question is why not fully? Why we are condemned to waste our life in things as undeserving as working to earn money (no matter how we glamorize our profession and try to claim it is not about money).

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Movie: The Woman in the Fifth



‘The Woman in the Fifth’ is a movie based on a novel in the same name. It is the story of struggles of a writer in getting reunited with his daughter and family in the backdrop of his mental illness. At one point in the movie, we hear a statement which is often heard in many places. The idea is that the more personal disasters and tragedies a writer goes through, the more depth his writing acquires. The same can also be said about some other artisans like painters, singers and musicians. After I heard about this and realized it to be a commonly accepted proposition, I have sort of started disliking these creative fields. It is true that the more personal experiences a writer will have, one would be more in command of the variety and depth of one’s creations. But to make it a precondition or assumption about its necessity looks unfair. I think if there is one most powerful skill that a writer has, it is one’s power of imagination and observation. It can easily be believed that any writer can’t have all the varieties of personal experiences oneself, that exist in this world. There comes the importance of observation – writers can simply role-play or map someone else to develop a character for one’s book. Or else one can simply imagine and imagination knows no boundaries… In that respect power of imagination compensates for or even transcends the benefit of personal experiences in the literary fields.

It is not necessary that a writer or an author should have gone through personal tragedies oneself to get to write about things. It is definitely an advantage, but I not necessarily a precondition. Though, very often we notice that debuting authors do miracle with their first book but never get to repeat the magic afterwards. I think many times it is because the first book was based on their personal experiences and hence had that depth; while next books were written on demand and used more of imagination than experiences. If a writer is not that brilliant, one’s second or next books won’t be of same quality as one’s first book. But there have been so many wonderful authors who have written about character dissimilar to the ones experienced in their personal lives, through the power of observation and imagination.

If one needs a failed personal life to become a celebrity writer, I think it is not worth it. A life lived in simplicity and containment, which often leaves new members for our human civilization who inherit the noble virtues and ethics, is very precious. Fame is temporary and is a double edged sword.