Television: Les Misérables (2018) - BBC TV Series - Colonel Pontmercy

Yesterday, I wrote about BBC TV Series ‘Les Misérables’ and the story of Fantine Thibault. One more touching character is of Colonel Georges Pontmercy.

Colonel Georges Pontmercy is an officer of Napoleon's Army and has a great military record. He takes part in the Battle of Waterloo where Napoleon’s army was finally defeated. He was lying in a pile of dead soldiers but he somehow survived. His wounds are yet to heal, but he returns to the city.

A tragedy in the life of Colonel Pontmercy is that his wife had died, and his very "rich" father-in-law hated him, and repented why he allowed his daughter to marry him. One reason could be that he hated Napoleon and hence he also hated his son-in-law who was part of Napoleon’s army. Another reason could be due to jealousy, since his daughter loved him. Perhaps all father-in-laws are jealous of their son-in-laws; and some may even hate them for it. 

Colonel Pontmercy had a young son who was under care of his wife’s father when he went to war. After he returned from the war with injury, he goes to meet him. But his father-in-law insults him, does not allow him to meet the boy and asks him to get out of his house. 

Later, the old man tells bad things about Colonel Pontmercy in front of his young son and asks the young son to insult him too. Scared of the old man’s ruthless mannerism, the young boy also starts hating his father. In one scene, the old man teaches a speech to the young boy and in front of a group of guests asks the boy to recite it. The boy gives the speech in which he denounces Napoleon and also his own father. It was sad.

The rich father-in-law does not allow Colonel Pontmercy to meet his son and threatens him of dire consequences including confiscating his family property if he tries to meet the boy. But sometimes Pontmercy goes to the Church where the young boy goes on Sundays, hides behind a wall, and sees him.

Denied access to his son and family, Colonel Pontmercy lives a neglected life, alone. After a few years he becomes sick and from his deathbed he sends a message to his father-in-law asking his son to be sent to meet him for the last time. The old man asks his grand-son as to what he thinks about his father on deathbed. The young son replies, “Good.” It was too sad to see the extent to which people can be evil and play with the minds of children.

The old man declines to send the boy to meet his father, but the lady servant of the house convinces him to send him since that would be the last time the boy would see his father. The old man agrees. The boy goes to see his father on deathbed. Colonel Pontmercy blesses him after seeing him and takes his last breath. Thus ends the unfortunate story of a brave man who fought and won many wars with Napoleon.

After many years when the boy is adult, he meets an old man who knew his father. The old man tells the truth about his father and shows him newspaper cuttings from the time of the war. The boy realizes that his father was a good man and not a coward like his maternal grandfather had taught him. He goes to his home, picks up a fight with the evil old man and leaves his house. He goes on to live in a shoddy slum, since he could afford only that with his money. His old material grandfather is heartbroken seeing him go away.

- Rahul Tiwary

Television: Les Misérables (2018) - BBC TV Series - Fantine Thibault

I am watching BBC TV Series ‘Les Misérables’ (2018) on Tata Sky. This is based on a novel by Victor Hugo with the same name. This is one of the most moving stories I have ever come across. There are many characters but within the first three episodes, the story of Fantine Thibault, one of the characters, is over and hence I want to briefly write about it.

Fantine is a beautiful young lady who is out with her friends and there is a group of rich young male students who take interest in them. They become friends, choose their partners and start spending time together. Fantine becomes pregnant due to her boyfriend Felix, a baby girl is born and she gives her baby girl to someone for care. It was going fine and the girls were expecting that the boys would propose one day for marriage. But one day, Felix and his other male friends disappear after sending a letter to the girls, telling them that it was "all over". The girls feel stupid, but Fantine is most devastated because she had a baby to take care of now, as a single parent and without marriage or family protection. Young people are stupid. What happens next gets more devastating with time.

With boyfriend gone, Fantine had to find a job in order to be able to support herself and the baby. After her baby girl turns 3 year of age, she leaves Paris and goes to a smaller town where she takes rest in an Inn and finds its owners having twin baby daughters of her own daughter’s age. The owners behave nicely with her, while actually they are evil people, and she falls into their trap. She proposes that she would go out for work in the town while the couple could take care of her daughter along with their own twin daughters. She thought her daughter will be safe under protection of this “family”. In exchange, the couple extract good money from her and agree on a monthly “fee” for taking care of her daughter. She leaves her daughter crying.

She is able to find work at a place, earns good salary and sends some money back to the couple to take care of her daughter. She thinks that her daughter is safe; but in reality, the couple had made her daughter a servant, beat her, treated her badly and she was always scared or crying. It was pitiful to see such a small girl wipe the floor with a piece of cloth. The couple keeps asking for more money by writing letters to Fantine; telling her stories about her daughter not keeping well. Time passes but Fantine is not able to bring her daughter back with her, fearing how she would be able to take care of her since she was all alone.

After some time, Fantine loses her job. At the same time, the evil couple taking care of her daughter ask her for some more money saying that the baby was ill. She is trapped and finds no ways to get money. Then she comes across a road-side amusement truck, where a weird guy asks her to sell her hair to him and also two teeth for 50 bucks. She has no other means of earning and hence decides to sell. In a horrible scene, her beautiful hair is cut; several of her teeth are taken out brutally with the help of a metal tongue; and she is left bald and bleeding. She gets money which she sends to the couple. She is still not able to find any job and hence as suggested by someone, she goes into prostitution. Since she is a road side prostitute, she has no support, is treated brutally and is under-paid. Whatever she earns, she sends it for her daughter’s care. Then on one occasion she gets into fight with a rich person who beats her up and then the Police arrest her.

But her former employer who is the Mayor of the town comes to her rescue and takes her home and promises to bring her daughter back. By then because of living under pitiful conditions in prostitution, she had contracted tuberculosis and becomes sick. She wanted to see her daughter before her death, but her daughter could not be brought back and she dies alone and crying, longing for her daughter.

After she is dead, her body is thrown into a public grave and her baby daughter keeps working at the Inn as a slave servant.

It is one of the most wretched stories I have ever come across. And then there are more such stories in this TV series.

- Rahul Tiwary

India: Doctors and their Social Responsibility

As per news from today's Financial Express, 75% of villages in India have access to at least one health care provider (doctor). But only 8% of those are MBBS degree holders. Yes, only 8%!

This is a known problem with medical profession. Even though all of us praise and glorify medical profession, one harsh truth about doctors is that they chase money, better lifestyle and luxuries of life over social piety. Perhaps it comes from the background of how they become doctors.

First of all, doctors work too hard to qualify; since the medical education is very-very exhausting. Then, in the beginning years they do not see good money; since the hospitals and society prefer experience over qualification. After a long gestation period, they start earning money, and huge money. Once they start earning huge money, they would like to be able to spend it and maintain a certain lifestyle. Rural areas and village areas hardly fit their lifestyle aspirations.

I said the above without telling about thousands of doctors who abandon our country altogether and migrate abroad to countries like the UK or USA.

This is a system failure.

Government has been trying to fix this problem by insisting on "rural stint" for doctors-to-be; but it is never been made "mandatory" because of huge opposition from the medical fraternity. Then how can this problem be solved? How can India ensure that our villagers have access to good medical facilities? Increasing the salary of doctors working in rural areas won't help, since the doctors would still not prefer rural area because of the "lifestyle" aspirations.

Should government make it mandatory for all doctors to serve in rural areas for at least n number of years, e.g. 3 or 5, before they can start practicing in a "city"? But then rural areas will get only "inexperienced" doctors! Still, will having inexperienced MBBS doctors be better than having quacks and unqualified doctors? And how about the "forceful" nature of this decision - it can certainly lead to more doctors migrating out of our country to Europe or USA!

This problem is a difficult one and there are no easy solutions to it. We can only wish that doctors' bodies grow some conscience and take their social responsibility too seriously. At individual level, a few doctors may go to rural areas if we spread social awareness about this problem, but perhaps it won't happen at a large scale. We know that doctors are not saints. And often, their lifestyle aspirations are not for themselves but for their families. How would doctors ensure quality education and growth for their children, for example, if they stay and work in the rural areas?

All said and done, something needs to be done. I know that "rapid urbanization" is a way, but it is a continuous process and would take long time, perhaps a century to give some fruitful result.

Our heart goes to the patients from rural areas who can't afford to get sick.

- Rahul Tiwary

Television: Maigret (2016)

Maigret is a British television series from ITV set in the mid 1950s France. I watched its Season 1 and 2 on Tata Sky recently. Its each episode has a different story and the stories are based on novels by Georges Simenon. The main character is of a fictional French detective Jules Maigret and the role is played by Rowan Atkinson of Mr. Bean fame.

At first I could not believe that Rowan Atkinson could play any other role after playing Mr. Bean. After all, he has immortalized this character. How could he play the role of a super intelligent Sherlock like detective? I started watching the series with a doubt and the doubt kept confirming itself.

I don't know if Rowan's voice is original in this TV series or if someone else has given his voice. But it is perfect. Even the role played by Rowan is good. It is just that whenever a "closeup" scene of his face comes up in front of the screen, it starts feeling as if he will make a "Mr. Bean" face again! I kept waiting for Mr. Bean to come out; and it was spoiling the fun. Apart from that, everything is perfect in this show. The crime and investigation stories shown are all very good.

Season 1, episode 1 (S1, E1) is the story of a serial killer of women who turns out to be an artist. Episode 2 is the story of a murder of an unknown person whose face was smashed. S2, E1 is about the body of a jeweler found in the car of an eccentric Danish national. S2, E2 is about twin-murders of a female dancer and a countess.

Maigret has only 4 episodes so far and currently there is no plan for Season 3. But Maigret would be remembered for the interesting detective stories.

- Rahul Tiwary

Television: The Split

Recently I watched the first season of ‘The Split’ on Tata Sky and then I just read about the next season to get to know what happened next. And somehow, I did not quite like the S1.

‘The Split’ is a British television legal drama series, written and created by Abi Morgan, and it was broadcasted in the UK in 2018. It follows the lives of the Defoe family, who all work in their family divorce law firm, except that the eldest sister Hannah (played by Nicola Walker) works for a rival family law firm and the youngest works as a nanny. Hannah is the protagonist in this story.

Ruth Defoe is the matriarch running her family. Her husband Oscar Defoe had left her long back and she raised her three daughters alone. She did not tell her daughters about the real reason why she got separated from her husband. She had put the entire blame on her husband for “abandoning” her and the daughters because, as she said, he did not want to live with them. The daughters grew up hating their father. They hated their father, whose memory they did not have, to the extent that one day when the old man turned up after 20 years, they did not even want to see him. What unfolds next is touching.

Hannah is the strongest of the three sisters and has a harsh nature. She did not get along well with her mother too, that was why she was working for a rival law firm. (Near the end of season-1, a time comes when she could let her mother’s law firm win a case and it would have helped her survive; but she chooses to defeat her knowing very well that it would result in her mother’s company getting bankrupt. I think the mother-daughter duo: Ruth and Hannah embody the ruthless, stone women which feminists want to converted everyone into.

When Oscar, their old father, arrives after 20 years in order to get their consent to sell his stake in the family business, they all hate him, thinking that “it was all about money”! Later they get to know that he was in fact dying with an ailment and perhaps the money could help him get a better treatment. And the second woman he was staying with, was actually a fragile and weird looking woman who looked and acted more like his nurse than his partner.

In one touching episode, Hannah gets to know that her father used to send her messages and gifts on the major occasions of her life. But her mother did not allow her or others to know about those! The sisters realize that their father did not want to abandon them; but their mother had pushed him away and told bad things about him to them to make them hate him. It also appeared that the person to blame for the separation was their mother herself.

But, by the time the daughters realize that their father was a nice person who actually loved them, it was too late. Oscar dies of a heart attack.

There were many parallel stories going on and at times the story lines got confusing. The pace of the TV series is also fast. I did not enjoy this TV series much, not because the stories were not interesting, but mainly because I could not connect with any of its characters. The characters looked weird and I did not like watching any of them.

Still, I got to know many things from this TV series. One revelation was how the divorce lawyers enjoyed whenever someone decided to file for divorce. In fact, when a major scandal broke out, they started telephoning the wives of each of the culprits, expecting the wives to file for divorce. They were like jackals trying to snatch flesh from an injured animal. Second, when a rich man decided to divorce his wife, she started behaving so rudely and abusively with him, and at the same time she tried to snatch every bit of his wealth for her alimony. Third, it looked too bad seeing old people divorce each other. If people must divorce, they should do it as soon as they could while they are still young. Otherwise, everyone loses.

‘The Split’ would add to my list of TV shows watched but not liked. Still, this was a new kind of show and I had watched anything on this theme before. Hence, it works fine.

- Rahul Tiwary

Television: Chanakya on DD Retro

Recently due to Lockdown, many of the DD’s old television serials were re-telecasted on several DD channels. While Ramayan and Mahabharat got the maximum limelight, Chanakya was another big TV serial which was aired on DD. I watched most of its episodes on ‘DD Retro’, which is a free to air television channel and telecasts old TV serials. I noticed many things unique about Chanakya TV series.

First of all, the language used was so authentic. Most characters spoke in very good Hindi. People also addressed each other in a different manner. “Arya” was a popular salutation. For example, “Arya Bhagurayan”, or “Arya Sidharth”. “Arya” was a replacement of “Shri” which we use today. But in popular culture, we do not even use any salutations. And due to the influence of Western culture inside the corporate environment, we are encouraged to even call seniors and elders by their “first names”.

Next, the names were so different. “Bhagurayan”, “Abhinavgupt”, “Sidhartak”, “Rudradev”, “Sharangdev”, these names looked so natural in it. It felt good hearing those names.

The songs and dances in the episodes were also so unique. There was no repetition of any Bollywood style dance, or any casual dance forms. We are talking about a period 375 years Before Christ. It is really interesting to know that our ancestors were running such fine cities and kingdoms during that era and there were big universities and Gurukula system.

Now that the final episode is over, for some time to come, images from the TV serial will keep coming in front of my eyes. I shall miss watching Chanakya and listen to the characters. Chanakya will remain a literary delight, even on television.

- Rahul Tiwary

Importance of Fathers: Things That Feminists and Leftists Won’t Tell You

In this weekend’s Dainik Bhaskar, an article was published on the occasion of Father’s Day. The article told a few facts about the importance of fathers; which opened my eyes. I had never read about these facts so far. There is perhaps no need to argue over the fact that today, our books, magazines, newspapers, TV programs, movies, songs, all are filled with stuff glamorizing mothers and women. And this should not happen at the cost of ignoring fathers and men.

Let me first summarize the points mentioned in the article:

1. The word “dad” for fathers has originated from Welsh word “tad” which also means father. The word “father” finds its origin in Sanskrit word “pitri”.

2. In the catfish species, the male catfish keeps the eggs in its mouth until children come out of those. It takes several weeks and the father catfish starves and remains hungry during that period. Similarly, male penguins tolerate severe hunger and cold in order to take care of the eggs.

3. As per a University of North Carolina study, mammals are genetically more similar to their fathers than their mothers. Humans are mammals too. Humans get the same quantity of hereditary traits from their fathers and mothers, but they “use” more DNA of the fathers as compared to mothers. This forms the basis of why families or lineages are run in the name of fathers.

4. When a woman becomes pregnant, her body undergoes several hormonal changes. Similarly, men also undergo hormonal changes. A father’s testosterone hormone level comes down, which helps him interact better with the mother and child.

5. 72.2% of the USA’s population thinks that absence of fathers in the families is a social problem. 32% children in the USA are being raised without their real fathers with them.

Reading these facts, our brain which has been conditioned by decades of gender-biased media exposure glamorizing women and defaming men should get some balance. Stuff like “Men are trash”, or “Men are irresponsible” are nothing but gender bias. Men should get their due respect in the society. We won’t create a better world by promoting only one gender (women) and defaming and guilt-trapping the other gender (men).

What do you think about above points? What are your conclusions?  

- Rahul Tiwary

Viral Fact Check: Al Kabeer Exports is Not a 'Hindu' Slaughter House

I came across a social media post recently which accused Hindus of being hypocritical on the issue of “cow slaughter”. As per the social media post, which has been spread as a viral post, most of the largest slaughter houses in India are run by Hindus or Sikhs and not by Muslims. As we know, as per Hinduism, cows are worshiped and are to be always protected. All the native religions of India have respected cows in similar manner. On the other hand, beef eating is prevalent among Muslims and hence the community is often accused of being disrespectful towards Hindus’ sentiments. Perhaps this social media post tried to “correct” the perception.

The social media post specifically mentioned about one “Al Kabeer Exports Pvt Ltd.” whose expert oriented slaughterhouse is based at Hyderabad. Here is the viral (fake) post which mentions that “all the directors of the company are Hindus”: 

Searching with Google, I came across this petition on Change.org asking it to be banned. The petition also mentions that most employees of this slaughter house are Hindus and the director of this company is a Hindu.

I searched with Google to find more about this company. I came across its official website which is: http://www.alkabeerexports.com/about/

The above company website clearly mentions that the company “is a Muslim (owned) company”. It also mentions that the company’s slaughterhouse in India “does not slaughter cows, bulls or bullocks”. It only slaughters buffaloes. Buffalo’s meat is also called “beef” and hence this confusion has been created.

The website also mentions that there are false pictures of this slaughterhouse shared on social media in order to defame the company. It also hosts a scanned image of Government of India certificate showing the name and picture of its Director who is a Muslim: 

Therefore, it is clear that the viral posts on social media including the pictures shared of the slaughterhouse and the religion of the director of the company, all are false information.

I am sharing this on my blog so that you are aware of this and in case you come across any viral social media post sharing false information about this company, you can share the correct facts and information about this.

- Rahul Tiwary

Television: Babylon Berlin

I recently watched first two seasons of ‘Babylon Berlin’, a German TV Series, on Tata Sky. I read that its third season was aired only this year in 2020 and perhaps that’s the reason it was not hosted on Tata Sky yet. The TV series is based on novels by German author Volker Kutscher. Its language is German, but I made it out based on the English subtitles.

I found this TV series way better than any Hollywood crime-thriller and different in many ways. This is the first time I watched a German program and was highly impressed by their quality of work. Perhaps television industry in Germany is very advanced. The background sound was effective and raised goosebumps at many places. Although at many places it was similar to some World War theme movies I have seen. The story is of 1920s and the scale at which it has been picturized is massive. Be it the riots scene, or war scenes, or scenes of some police chase or a train fight, everything looks very natural.

The main character is of Police Inspector Gereon Rath (played by Volker Bruch). He is not a flawless character and there is no attempt to hide his flaws too. That makes him appear vulnerable and real. His role reminded me of Sherlock Holmes at many places. The next big character is of Charlotte Ritter (played by Liv Lisa Fries), a poor girl who wants to join the Police. Liv has played this role so brilliantly; hats off to her. Detective Chief Inspector Bruno Wolter (played by Peter Kurth) is a corrupt police officer and I hated him watching what all he did all through the story. Then there is Councillor August Benda (played by Matthias Brandt), a character I loved immensely.

At one place near later part of season 2, there is a small story which I would like to share.

Greta Overbeck is a childhood friend of Charlotte and like her, she is also very poor. She is looking for a job and standing on the side of a street with a placard. Charlotte sees her and immediately takes her out for lunch. (In this respect, perhaps the poor people are different from the rich, because if a rich person would have seen his or her childhood friend jobless and homeless, one would have perhaps avoided the friend instead of trying to help). So, Charlotte tries to find some jobs for Greta and in the end she comes to know that Councillor Benda and his wife are looking for a house maid and hence she recommends Greta and Greta gets the job. Greta is very happy and grateful to find a place of work and she works with full sincerity. Mr. Benda and his family are also very kind to her.

After some time when everything is fine with her, Greta starts going out during her free time and interacts with some boys who become her friend. One boy especially likes her and both enjoy roaming around together whenever she has off time. The boy is a Communist and Communists were trying to topple the national democratic government. After becoming friends, he and his friends play a trick on Greta.

One day, they inform Greta that the police have killed Greta’s boyfriend and Councillor Benda had given that order to kill him. Greta believes in the story and becomes furious. Then one boy asks for her help in assassinating Councillor Benda and she agrees. While Mr. Benda is out of home, she opens the door of the house, the boy enters and plants a bomb below the desk where Mr. Benda used to work. Then the boy goes away and asks Greta to switch on the bomb when Mr. Benda comes and move out of town.

That day, Mr. Benda’s wife and kids had plans to travel to somewhere. Before leaving, Mr. Benda’s baby daughter sees Greta sad and gives her doll to her so that she could remember her. Greta is touched and starts feeling guilty about her plan to kill the baby girl’s father. Greta was the baby girl’s nanny and hence used to love her. But despite feeling guilty, she carries out her plan, because of the pressure to execute the plan which was already made. Mr. Benda’s wife and kids leave the house. And just before Mr. Benda was to reach home in the evening, Greta switches on the bomb and goes to the railway station to catch a train to get out of town.

But at the railway station, she spots her boyfriend; this time in some other disguise. She goes to him and asks how he is still alive. The boy refuses to identify her! When she challenges him, he throws her away and she is hurt. She realizes that she was cheated by her boyfriend who was a fraud and she had carried out plan to kill her master (Mr. Benda) as per his communist party’s plans. She rushes towards Mr. Benda’s house in order to save him from the bomb.

In the meanwhile, Mr. Benda’s wife and kids had to cancel their trip and returned home because Mr. Benda’s son was not feeling well. Mr. Benda had returned home too and went to his study room and worked on his desk. Then his baby daughter came and started playing below the desk. She sees the bomb’s wires and asks her father what it was. Before Mr. Benda could look, there is a big blast and Mr. Benda and his daughter both are killed. Greta had just come near to the house and sees the bomb blast.

Greta is arrested by the police suspecting her role in the blast and goes to jail. But worse, she is under great pain because she had caused the murder of her master and his little girl whom she was supposed to take care of. The little girl’s image comes to her mind and also how Mr. Benda had been so kind to her. She is pained by guilt. At the jail she is also treated harshly by other inmates. Due to her foolishness, she had not only ruined her safe and happy future but she had taken two lives and destroyed the life of Mr. Benda’s wife and son.

This is just one of the touching side-stories in the TV series.

- Rahul Tiwary 

Mother Goat and Her Last Kid Standing

I happened to witness a beautiful scene at my village recently.

Every afternoon, some small boys from the village came to feed their goats in the area near our home, since it had plenty of green grass. They would tie the goats with a long rope so that the goats could move around and eat as much as they wanted. In the meanwhile, the small boys would play games together nearby. And when it would start getting dark, the boys would take away the goats to their homes. That day, I noticed something interesting.

I saw that there was a mother goat along with five of her kids, and all were grazing grass in the same area. Only the mother goat was tied to a rope and the kids were allowed to remain free; since they would anyway never dare to go away from their mother. The goat was of creamy white color with some black in the legs. But the kids were of interesting shade. They were totally white except that they were black in every ‘bordering’ area of their body. It was like someone had made a drawing with black crayon – only the outlines were black while everything inside was white. The mother goat was grazing grass and her kids played all around her. Every once in a while, two of the kids used to jump and reach out to their mother to drink some milk. But perhaps that was not the right time – and hence mother goat would always retreat or push them away.

It had started getting dark, but that day, the boy was not coming to take the goats away! The kids did not know any complexities of the world and hence were just playing unconcerned. But the mother goat clearly looked worried. She had stopped eating and constantly looked in the direction in which the boy had gone, and she would make a shout out – Mee.. Mee.. Mee.. But that day, the boy was nowhere to be found! Perhaps her constant shout-outs were what had attracted my attention in that direction.

It went on for a long time. By now I had got concerned too – what would happen if the boy did not return? I wondered if the mother goat was thirsty – a concern I share whenever I see any stray – where do they get to drink water from? Anyways, the scene kept repeating – the mother goat had stopped eating; she would look in the direction where the boy went and make a shout out. The kids would still play around and jump to drink her milk while she would avoid them. I kept watching them wondering what happened next.

After a long time, finally the boy came back running. He must have got late due to some game he was playing with other kids. He quickly took out the wood with which the mother goat was tied, gathered the kids and left for his home. I felt relieved. But the story was not to end there! 

After a while, I noticed some sounds and looked in the same direction. I would never forget what I saw. The mother goat and her kids had left and were nowhere to be seen. The boy was standing at some distance. And one small baby goat was still standing near the place where her mother earlier stood; and it was crying! Yes, by the sound of it you would know that the baby goat was “crying” and not just shouting or making a sound. It became clear that while the boy rushed away the mother goat and her kids, one of the baby goats was left out! The baby goat would have got scared due to being left all alone; and hence it was crying.

The boy made signs at the baby goat to come in his direction, but the baby goat was not moving! It just stood where it was, totally still, and kept “crying”. After a while, the boy came, picked up the baby goat and carried it in his arms and walked away. Have you seen people carrying small goats in their arms? It is a lovely scene.

In the end, I was happy and touched with what I had seen. Next day, same time and same place, I just looked around to see what was happening. And I was shocked at what I saw!

That day in the evening when the time had come to return home, once again the boy had taken the mother goat and her kids towards his home; and once again one kid appeared left out; was just standing and again seemed to be “crying”! “Is it all over again?” I wondered. This time, the boy’s sister came and picked up the baby goat in her arms and walked away.

How could this keep happening daily? Or at least two days consecutively! Several thoughts crossed my mind. Was the small goat not the real kid of this mother goat and hence she was not taking care of it? May be the small baby goat was an orphan but attached to her for care? Or did the baby goat suffer from some physical problem due to which it could not walk? Or was it a different baby goat this time; and it was a common thing for baby goats to be left behind incidentally? I had no idea.

I could not think of a proper explanation to what had happened over those two evenings. But what happened did open my mind to a different world around us. The animal world... 

Hence ends the story of a mother goat and her last kid standing.

- Rahul Tiwary

Television: War and Peace (2016) by BBC; Based on Leo Tolstoy's Novel

I watched BBC’s historical drama TV series “War and Peace” which is based on Leo Tolstoy’s novel of the same name. This is a fascinating series of 6 episodes of approx. 1 hour each. I love reading about history and this TV series brought to me history of French invasion of Russia in year 1812 in the form of a wonderful motion picture.

Paul Dano as Pierre Bezukhov and James Norton as Andrei Bolkonsky are two primary characters and have both done wonderful job in their roles. Jessie Buckley as Marya Bolkonskaya has done a great job too.

I liked the way portrayals of family members have been done. The Bolkonsky family paints a picture of strength as well as tragedy. I liked the character of Andrei Bolkonsky; and was touched by the way he finds this life and world not worth living. And just when he was dying in the battlefield, he looked at the sky and noticed that the world he was so dispassionate towards was actually so beautiful! I also liked the character of Pierre Bezukhov, although I could not connect with it. I felt relief and happiness seeing that he survived. Andrei, unfortunately did not and perhaps that is the theme of many novels where they let principle characters die. Love between Andrei and his sister Marya as well as with his son was touching. I did not like the character of Sonya Rostova who cheats on Andrei. Hélène Kuragina on the other hand is pure evil. It is interesting to see that even during those times people married just for money and after marriage they tried to grab money and run away. Prince Vassily Kuragin is pure evil as well.

The historical account of French invasion of Russia is realistic. After watching this series, I went on to read a lot about this war and also about Napoleon. Napoleon Bonaparte looked like in the league of Alexander the great. I wish we had such leaders today who would stop menaces like global terrorism by punishing the countries which are harboring terrorist groups and threatening the civilized world.

This is a wonderful TV series, recommended for all history lovers.

- Rahul Tiwary