The 3 Stooges

This is the story of 3 friends, a la Dil Chahta Hai. Let's call them A, S, V. They studied in college X which is where they met and became friends for life. College X had a system of having a test every saturday. Everyone knew that the tests didn't matter but they still had to take it. If someone were to miss a test they usually told a friend to submit a piece of paper with the name of that prticular student with or without a few lines so as to give an impression that he was present. Life went on.

On one occasion, A had to miss a test. Casually, he told S and V to write a paper for him and submit it. All of them knew that this was a joke and they won't do it. However, on the D-day, S told V to write a few pages for A which S would submit. Reluctantly, V wrote 4 pages and gave it to S. As fate would have it, S was caught while submitting the paper. When asked where the A was, he said that A had left after giving him the paper. The prof. L would have nothing of it and he went to the office to look at A's picture to see if he had come. It was the last day before Christmas vacations and all 3 of them spent sleepless nights during the entire vacation.

After College reopened all of them missed classes the first day for fear of what might happen. Next day during one of the classes A and S were called to the Vice Principal F's office. After a few minutes V was also called up. He was surprised to get the call as he was nowhere in the picture. Upon reaching F's office, he saw A and S standing in front of F and L. F asked V whether he had written the paper for A but foolish V didn't realise that his bluff was over and said no. S immediately refuted V's statement and said that it was V who had written the paper. V was caught!

Here is what happened behind the scenes. A and S went down and confessed their crime before F and L. F was getting ready to announce a punishment for them when suddenly L said "This doesn't look like your writing S. Who wrote A's paper?" Then he noticed poor V's paper lying below theirs and the resemblance in writing could not go unnoticed. Thus, A and S had to tell the truth.

What happened to them after this is irrelevant. The important thing is the effect of the incident on their friendship. They will never forget this for the rest of their lives. This incident acts as the glue which binds them for the rest of their lives...

P.S. - As Barney Stinson would say in HIMYM, "True Story!"

P.P.S. - I am back after a bit of a hiatus as I was preparing for an exam and then had to take care of a few important matters. I hope to be regular once again.

Terminator Salvation

When I saw the trailers of Terminator Salvation I was amazed at the action sequences and the CGI displayed. I thought this might be a superb action film and hopefully will be much better than Terminator 3. The movie delivered exactly as was promised in the trailers - a thorough action film without much of a story. Let me first give a short synopsis of the movie.

The movie is set in 2018 showing a full-fledged war between man and the machines (does that sound familiar?). John Connor (Christian Bale) has grown up and is one of the main leaders of the resistance against the machines. Skynet (the evil computer) has perfected the A.I. and is trying to do everything to stop the humans (seems like the humans are trying to take over the machines and not the other way round!). The efforts of Skynet include destruction of property and life as well as taking human prisoners (God knows what they are going to do with them). John Connor's (JC from now) primary mission in the movie is to find his teenage father, Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) and save him from the machines so that he can be sent back in time to impregnate Sarah Connor (JC's mom) which will help in JC's conception.

Another subplot involves Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington) who was a death-row convict and had donated his body for scientific research in 2003. He comes back to life and is essentially a machine in man's body. He helps JC break into Skynet's facility to rescue Kyle who has been captured.

The movie is so action packed that at some point one starts thinking as to what is the point of all this. Don't get me wrong. It is thoroughly enjoyable as long as you don't care about the story. However, one must not forget that this is a franchise and a new movie is expected to add something to the storyline. This movie fails to do that. To quote Roger Ebert, one of the most reknowned film critics, this is "a movie that raises many questions about the lines between man and machine. Raises them, and then leaves them levitating." The quintessential question that I wanted answered was "why is John Connor so important? Why would Skynet go to any extent to prevent his conception first and later on plot his death?" Alas, the movie doesn't add any information to answer this question. In fact at some point the viewer feels as if this movie is more about Marcus Wright than about John Connor!

I am a big fan of Christian Bale and his movies. However, I was disappointed by his performance in this movie. May be, it wasn't his fault. A look at the characters around him returns the same disappointment except for Sam Worthington. All in all, if you are a hard core Terminator fan or an action movie lover, you can go and see it but even if you don't, you haven't missed much!

The Thums Up Kid

This incident happened just a little over a year ago and I had written this small piece to describe it.

I was attending a friend's marriage party and decided to have a masala Thums Up. I went to the counter and asked the guy behind it to make one for me. He prepared it very diligently and gave the glass to me. I took it and moved away sipping away to glory. Nothing wrong with it eh! I think I forgot to mention a small part of the story. Let's rewind.

I was attending a friend's marriage party and decided to have a masala Thums Up. I went to the counter and asked the guy behind it to make one for me. He was already making one for someone else. There was a small kid standing at the counter hoping to get one for himself. While the guy was busy making one for me this kid tried to reach for the glass in the guy's hand. When the guy was done he gave the glass to me instead of the child. I moved away sipping away to glory while the kid stood there hoping to get the next glass!

I still can't reconcile to the fact that I took the glass instead of giving it to the kid. Though it might seem like a small thing but I have been unable to put this out of my mind. I don't know what got into me. On 99% of the occasions I would have given the glass to the kid!

The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption is a movie about hope, faith and friendship. The friendship that is depicted in it is of a different kind as compared to most of the other movies. It is a story about two friends, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a white banker wrongly charged with his wife’s murder and Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding (Morgan Freeman), a black convict.

The movie starts with Andy being convicted with the murder of his wife and her lover. He is sentenced to a double life imprisonment and he lands up in Shawshank prison. Here he meets Red who is also serving a life sentence. Red is a guy who is ‘known to locate certain things from time to time,’ i.e. get things for a price in prison. The ‘sisters’, a bunch of homosexual guys, take a liking for Andy and are always after Andy. Andy lives the usual prison life without ever losing hope. Red, on the other hand, says to Andy that ‘Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.’

One day Andy uses his knowledge to help one of the officers in saving some taxes. Thus, begins a new chapter in his life. News spreads about Andy’s expertise in taxation matters and he starts doing the tax returns for all the prison guards. Warden Samuel Norton (Bob Gunton) comes to know about Andy and engages him in his own financial matters, bulk of which involved covering the illicit money which he earned from various sources. If I say any further I will be spoiling your experience of watching the movie. So all I want to say is go and see it for yourself.

The Shawshank Redemption is an adaptation of the novella ‘Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption’ by Stephen King. Like all the movies adapted from books this arouses the question as to which is better. I have had the opportunity to read the novella as well as watch the movie (the latter a great many times). I liked the novella as well as the movie but I find the movie better. The novella fails to maintain the suspense which is brilliantly done in the movie. Also, the novella isn’t as successful in depicting the friendship of Red and Andy.

The Shawshank Redemption was nominated for 7 Oscars but was unable to win any of those. The best film award went to ‘Forrest Gump’ that year. There has been a lot of debate about which is a better movie and whether Shawshank should have won the Oscar instead of Forrest Gump. I will present a few facts here which or may not mean anything. American Film Institute has ranked Shawshank at number 72 in the list of all time top 100 movies while Forrest Gump has been placed at number 76. IMDb, which is an internet database of movies and ranks movies based on the ratings given by millions of users, puts Shawshank at number 1 (till last year it was at number 2, second only to The Godfather) while Forrest Gump is around 42.

Shawshank was a flop at the box office. There can be many reasons which can be attributed to this. The name in itself was considered to be inappropriate for a movie; most of the movie being shot inside a prison didn’t inspire people to go to the theatre and watch it. As word spread around that this was a really good movie people started renting the VHS and the following year it became the highest rented movie of the year.

Most of the people who have seen the movie will agree with me that for almost 3/4ths of it you enjoy the movie but the last half an hour simply blows you away. Most of the movies which have a twist ending end up not being seen twice but that’s not the case with this movie. When I saw the movie for the first time I liked it but my respect for the movie has been growing with the number of viewings. The more I see it the better I feel about it. There was a period of 4 months when I saw it 3 times. Also, I loved the movie so much that I went on to buy the book ‘Different Seasons’ which contains the novella. By this time I guess most of you would have understood that Shawshank is my favourite movie of all time and I believe that there can never be any other movie which comes close to this.

50 First Dates

‘Imagine having to win over the girl of your dreams…every friggin day’ says the tagline of this movie. ’50 First Dates’ is a romantic comedy featuring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore in the lead where Sandler has to win over Drew everyday. He plays the role of ‘Henry Roth’ who is a vet and enjoys the company of several women but never commits himself to any one in particular. This sequence is broken after he meets ‘Lucy’. He is immediately smitten by her and hopes to win her love. However, the very next day itself, Lucy seems unable to have any remembrance of meeting him altogether. Henry finds out that Lucy is suffering from short-term memory loss and forgets everything the next day. This begins a series of attempts by Henry to win over Lucy everyday.

Henry Roth is every woman’s dream for who would take so much trouble to win over someone’s love knowing well enough that he/she has to perform the same ritual once again, the next day and every following day! Adam Sandler may not be renowned for his romantic acting abilities but he comes up with a very convincing performance. In fact, he possesses a good mix of humour and romance to play the character of Henry Roth. Opposite him is Drew Barrymore who may not be regarded as a great actress by most people but has done a fair job of playing Lucy. Supporting them are Rob Schneider and Sean Astin who account for a lot of humourous moments in the movie.

Though this movie is supposed to be a romantic comedy there are moments where you actually feel very sad. The scene where Henry comes to know about Lucy’s condition and then his confrontation with her dad and brother makes you feel sorry for the poor guy. One wouldn’t like to be in his shoes. Similar is the case when Lucy finds out about her illness from her dad. Those scenes are really touching.

I have seen a lot of romantic movies right from the black & white to the modern era. However, if someone were to ask me to pick one romantic flick it is going to be this one. The movie makes you wonder whether you would have been able to do what Henry Roth does. For me this is the ultimate challenge where your love is put to test everyday!

Nostalgia

Today I was chatting with a friend from campus and nostalgia engulfed me. How I longed to meet him and re-live those moments. Some of the good times we had had include those daaru parties when we would get extremely drunk and danced chanting langda tyaagi bahubali and what not, those petty fights, helping each other with studies, watching cricket together and abusing the hell out of the cricketers, late night visits to the canteen, playing Counter Strike among others. How I wished I was in India so that I could go and meet some of those guys with whom I had spent 2 of the best years of my life. Alas, my quest for money and success has a price!

Let me try and describe some of these characters:

D - An IITian from Bihar, most of whose sentences would start with M^&%%^$#%. An extremely brilliant chap with equal proficiency in academics and P***. He never had a glass of drink for he would always gulp, straight from the bottle.

P - Another IITian who spent hours everyday watching P***. My mistake was always asking him what he was up to! Understood everything in first reading. Spent at least 2 hours playing soccer everyday and still cracked amazing grades. He was always after the ar** of the next guy in this post, of course jokingly :)

S - My neighbour and my partner in crime as far as Counter Strike was concerned. We spent hours playing the game with others on campus. As someone rightly said that in the wee hours of the night a noise emanated from his room while he played CS; noise which upon closely observing would tell you that some poor fellow's ancestors were being dragged out of hell to be subjected to very colourful language.

Sc - The typical Gult who had no passion in life but to get a job in Hyderabad. Political and cricket database who could recount any record or any match details at the blink of an eye.

Ph - The guy who was surrounded by a huge group of girls but none as girlfriend. Loved to play loud music. He never took any sh** from anybody, not even the most dreaded profs on campus.

CC - The farmer who had the body of a dwarf but would make a fox run for shelter with his cunningness. He was the guy most of us fought with the most. He was so irritating that he was called ChamanC (As per him C stood for Champion).

Yours truly - The lone CA in the dorm who was supposed to know everything under the sun relating to accounting. Developed a very bad illness known as moviemania. There were times when I saw 4-5 movies in a day. I loved to host a lot of daaru parties for my friends group.

There were a few others as well. That's it for now or else I will never be able to reach office at 6:30 tomorrow for the beginning of a very rough 4-5 days...

Believe it or not

There is no neutral ground in the Universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter claimed by Satan

- C.S.Lewis

Do you believe in God? If yes, then please continue reading. If you don't then I am not sure how much of this is relevant but you can continue reading for academic purposes.

Do you believe in the Devil/Satan? I am guessing that a lot of people would answer this question as 'no'. I would like to argue here about the existence of a Devil.

First, let me try and provide a perspective about this philosophical discussion. As expected it is a movie which prompted me to raise this question. Sometime back a friend of mine had suggested a movie called 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose'. He told me that it's not the usual cliched horror movie. Recently I gathered the courage to watch this horror movie alone in my apartment.

The premise of the movie is that a priest is being tried for causing the death of a possessed girl by performing an exorcism. This girl starts having visions and is diagnosed with epilepsy. When the medicines don't help, her parents are convinced that she is possessed. They ask the local priest to perform an exorcism. One fine day the girl refuses exorcisms and stops taking her medicines. Naturally, she dies very soon, thereafter. The priest is charged with criminal negligence.

I found one particular scene in the movie particularly disturbing but worth mentioning. Although it may not add to the original purpose of the post but I think that was the one scene I will remember forever. When the priest is performing the exorcism, he asks the demon to name itself. Instead of speaking out the name she starts saying, "1,2,3,4,5,6 take your pick". Then she starts speaking 6 names and it dawns upon the viewer that there is not one but six demons inside her. The last name she says is that of Lucifer. Even the thought of Lucifer possessing one is scary to me!

After watching this movie I had a long discussion about the movie with the friend who had recommended it to me. I asked him what was it that he liked about the movie and this is what he said:

"The movie is not judgmental. It does not take a stand whether the "ghosts" exist or not it just tells two different points of views which are equally strong and leaves it to the audience. A very thought provoking movie "

He continued:

"Also, I have always believed that there is nothing absolute truth in life and this movie brings this thing to the fore. Second, I never believed in ghosts and supernatural things but this movie gave me a different tangent to think on. There are things which you might not have experienced till date but might exist around you."

Coming back to the discussion at hand. My argument in favour of the devil's existence is summarised in the lines I wrote to my friend:

"I really don't know why the world is out there to prove that there is no such thing as the devil...even the bible says that there is Satan...our holy books...The Bhagvad Gita gives instances of evil...from a more rational point of view...the world is bipolar...there always has to be two sides to everything...so if there is God then there must be a devil..."

What do you say?

P.S. - I started writing this post yesterday and it became a difficult night for me...hope it's not the same today...

Ahem Ahem...

Here is what a friend of mine said to me recently:

sometimes i feel india doesn't deserve ppl like singh and sonia gandhi...

Now it's very easy to figure out which Singh he was referring to...comments please...

Movies and Books

I used to be a voracious reader till I was in school but stopped after I got into serious studying. Recently I started reading books once again. The recent reading spree has a trend to it - I have been reading a lot of books which have movies based on them and have been seen by me.

There are loads of movies based on books. Some examples that come to mind immediately are The Godfather and Lord of the Rings. It is a widely held opinion that a book is always better than the movie based on it. There is no way to prove this.

The books that I have read recently include 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas' and 'Silence of the Lambs'. Currently, I am reading 'The Reader'. I had also started reading 'Lord of the Rings'. My shelf has books like 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest', 'Oil', 'No Country For Old Men' and 'Revolutionary Road' which are yet to be read. The only book I can remember having read before watching the movie is 'The Godfather'.

The reason I have written the above is because I find it no fun reading a book after watching the movie. I know the story and there is no suspense left. Since I do not have ample instances of watching the movie after reading the book I can't generalise that it's the same in that case too. However, my gut says that it should be a lot better in the latter case. What do you say?

12 Angry Men

Sydney Lumet's 12 Angry Men (1957) is one of the finest movies of all time. Recently I saw it again and just couldn't help writing about it. It is a movie based on human prejudices and emotions and how they affect our judgement.

If I were to tell you that almost the entire movie takes place in one room with just 12 people you might think that it must be boring. The truth cannot be any further from that. It provides a fascinating display of interaction between 12 diverse personalities and how one man (Henry Fonda) stood against the prejudices of the others and brings them on his side one by one.

The movie starts with a court scene where a young slumdog (couldn't resist using the term) is charged with the murder of his father and the judge asks the jury to come to a unanimous decision about the guilt or innocence of the accused. The case is heavily stacked against the defendant and seems like a no-brainer. The jury takes a preliminary vote and 11 of them think that the boy is guilty while one is not sure. Upon asked by the others he replies that he wants to discuss the case for a small period of time to see if there is any room for doubt, afterall the jury must be convinced that there is no scope for any reasonable doubt. Most of them are outraged by this but he says that it is a man's life they were deciding and they could at least spare some time to it.

The movie has some very fine distinguished characters in it. The jury comprised a person who was biased against the slumdogs, a person who was hell bent on giving a guilty verdict because he thought today's youth are spoilt, a person who wanted to go to the ball game and just wanted it to be over soon, a person who had lived all his life in the slums, a very polished gentleman, an immigrant, a person having prejudices against immigrants and a few others. You can imagine the task ahead of the juror who stood against them. He started evaluating the evidence one by one and found out the doubts in them. Each piece of evidence was examined to pose a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors. Ultimately they return a 'not guilty' verdict.

Even though this movie is made in black and white I would strongly suggest people to see it. If you are not into black and white I suggest you watch 'Ek Ruka Hua Faisla', a 1986 TV movie which was an exact copy of this one. This has a fine bunch of actors including Pankaj Kapur and Anu Kapoor. I am sure that you will not be disappointed.

13 Tzameti

A few days back I saw this Georgian movie called '13 Tzameti' and there was something in the movie which I haven't been able to throw out of my mind. I warn readers that reading further may lead to spoilers about the movie, not that I expect any of you to go and see it :) However, reading further has more interesting things than just a movie review.

The movie starts with the young protagonist finding an envelope which was meant for someone else. Inside are some travel tickets and a hotel reservation. Sensing a way to make a quick buck he sets off on the journey. Somehow, he manages to reach the intended destination. Upon reaching there he finds out that he has taken a very dangerous path as what lay ahead was not something a sane person would do!

A bunch of rich men played a deadly game where all of them would bring a player and bet huge sums of money on their player. Our protagonist is forced to replace the originally intended player for whom the envelope was meant. What game can be so deadly? 13 players stood in a circle and played Russian Roulette! Everybody was given a gun and one bullet. After the bullet was put in the cylinder it was rotated so that no one knew which cylinder had the bullet. Each person aimed for the head of the person standing in front. As soon as the signal was given everyone pulled their trigger once. Some guns fired while others didn't. This game continued for a few more rounds till there were only 4 players left. What's interesting was the fact that the number of bullets increased in some of the rounds, highest being 3 bullets at a time. Of course only one shot was allowed. In the end 2 of the 4 people left were selected for a duel out of which the one who survived was declared the winner. What barbarism isn't it!

What happened after that is not too relevant for what I wanted to write here. The Russian Roulette left me curious about something. Say, you are playing a game where you have to shoot at a target. You are given a revolver and 3 bullets but only one shot is allowed. It is upto you to decide how you want to put the bullets in the gun cylinder, e.g. together or spread out. After you put the bullets in the cylinder it is rotated. How would you arrange the 3 bullets in the gun cylinder which has 6 chambers so as to maximise your chances of hitting the target. Remember you are allowed only one shot. Think of the answer before you read ahead.

I thought about this and my mind was confused. Intuitively, I wanted to put the 3 bullets together but mathematically speaking it doesn't matter how the bullets are arranged. There is an equal chance in case of any arrangement. Though I am a rational person who knows the laws of probability but given a choice I would still put the bullets together! What was your answer?

Solve this simple one for some brownie points. Let's just modify this and say you are given 2 shots instead of one. Also, in between shots you do not rotate the cylinder. How would you arrange the bullets in this case to maximise your chances?

Paths of Glory

I just finished reading 'Paths of Glory' by 'Jeffrey Archer' and liked it. I wanted to share my experience and some information about the book with my readers.

'Paths of Glory' is not the usual Jeffrey Archer novel which depicts a ruthless rivalry between two people. It's a story of a man who attempted to climb the Mount Everest in the 1920s. Although there is some rivalry between the protagonist of the novel and another person, it is very healthy. I am not going to write whether he was able to achieve it or not. For that you need to read the novel.

What the novel does is present before the readers how ambition can drive a man to do anything irrespective of the risks it involves. It also shows how our decisions affect others around us and the kind of sacrifices they have to make for us to pursue our ambition.

I have always been fascinated by books and movies which ask us to pursue our dreams. Though this book didn't try and do so, it certainly had its elements. It doesn't have breaknech speed narrative and is pretty easy to read. Do try it.

NYC to Kolkata

After 6 months in NYC I finally got to come to Kolkata, my home. I was really excited because I really needed a break from work. The last 3-4 days before I left for home were very hectic with loads of work and shopping. I barely managed 14-15 hours of sleep in the 3 days prior to my departure and was hoping to get some sleep on the flight.

When my flight was ready to leave I noticed that there was no one sitting in the 2 seats next to me and I was happy thinking that I would get to stretch. This was the first time I was traveling Economy as on previous occasions my company had paid for my trips. However, my happiness was short-lived as within 10 minutes of flying, an old Caucasian lady came and sat there saying that her entertainment system was not working...I had to make do with just one seat :(

Even after trying my best I just couldn't sleep. My situation was such that I was extremely sleepy but I still found no sleep. After 14 hours of torture I landed at Delhi Airport and had to wait there for about 3 hours to catch the connecting flight to Kolkata. At the airport there was a guy who kept on staring at me. Finally after some time he approached me and asked me whether I was from Kolkata and I replied yes. After a couple more questions he introduced himself saying that he knew me but I didn't recognize me. There was a friend with him. I was glad to have found some company to spend time at the Delhi Airport.

Throughout my stay with them I kept on cribbing about the administration at the Airport. To my dismay I could make out that they found me snobbish. They felt that I had been in the US for only 6 months and I was making those comments. However, I have been cribbing about these things since ages and there was nothing wrong about my cribbing. Just because we are Indians doesn't mean that the poor administration is tolerable.

Finally, after another 2 hour journey I landed at the Kolkata Airport. Luckily, I was the first person in the immigration queue and even better that I was the first one to get my suitcase. I rushed outside to see my parents standing there...

Everyone is an expert!

After reading this some people might think that I am a snob but I don't care because I feel very strongly about it. So here it goes...

'It's the best movie of all time'

'This was definitely the best film of the year and should win the Oscar for the best picture'

I am sure you must have heard similar lines being spoken quite often by people around you (some of you may have actually said so yourself). I find it ok if these lines are spoken very casually but it is blasphemous if the speaker is quite convinced and is willing to debate about it. I am not referring to someone who's a film critic or someone who watches loads of Hollywood movies. I am talking about the average joe who watches 10-15 Hollywood movies in a year and has probably not seen a single movie of a period before his / her birth.

I have met loads of people who make this mistake of giving their 'expert' opinion on the above subject matter. My question to these people is 'Have you seen enough movies released during the year to say that a particular movie was the best of the lot?' or for simplicity's sake 'Have you at least seen all the nominated movies to form such an opinion?' I am sure one can easily guess that in most of the cases the answer will be 'no'. How can then one make a statement like the ones above!

Just to illustrate my point, while watching the Oscars a few days back my flatmate made a comment that Slumdog should win the award as it deserves it. This comes from a guy who, given a choice, would probably rate any Adam Sandler movie as the best movie of the year (Just to make it clear, I too, am a huge fan of Sandler). This guy sees all the lowly rated comedies of the year and thinks that they are the best. He thinks that Mark Wahlberg is the best actor out there and has made the best movies around. What do you say to a guy like that!

Most of us Indians have been bred on a whole lot of stupid Bollywood movies (I am not saying that all of them are stupid) and haven't seen enough Hollywood and other language cinema to comment on these movies. Yet, people think it is intelligent for them to comment! I am not lamenting that people shouldn't give their opinion about a movie. There is no problem if someone says that 'I didn't like the movie' or 'It was boring' but to make statements like the ones above is simply not acceptable.

Everyone might think that they are connoisseurs of films. I, too feel the same but I will leave it up to my readers to decide whether I am one or not. To help you decide here are a few facts about myself:

1. I have seen 700+ Hollywood and Foreign Language movies

2. So far, I have seen 39 movies released in 2008

3. I have seen 72 out of top 100 movies on IMDb and 142 out of top 250. That is as of today - the list is very dynamic esp. the last 20 slots

4. I have seen 29 foreign language movies which include German, Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, French, Swedish, Chinese and Italian

5. I have seen the following number of films in each decade:

1930 - 11

1940 - 16

1950 - 26

1960 - 27

1970 - 43

1980 - 67

1990 - 168

2000 - 381

What do you say...

Results of the Experiment

This post describes the events that took place during the experiment as shown in the movie and not as it happened in the Stanford Prison Experiment. Also, the events may not be in perfect order as mentioned below.

When the prisoners were escorted to the mock prison cells by the guards everyone was very cheerful and expecting it to be an enjoyable experience. They didn’t know what was going to befall them. Out of 20 volunteers, 12 were chosen as prisoners while the others were guards. There were 4 cells with 3 prisoners each. The guards were wearing uniforms while the prisoners were wearing a single piece gowns which looked like sacks. Thus, the experiment began.

The prisoners were having fun initially but got bored very soon. Some started mocking the guards, knowing that they can’t hit back physically. The guards didn’t take it well and decided to retort. Some of the things which they did were gassing the prisoners, undressing them, parading them nude among others. The prisoners were supposed to eat everything they were served. One of the prisoners was allergic to milk and didn’t want to drink it. The guards said that if he didn’t drink it every one of the prisoners will have to do push-ups.

Here I’ll describe the experience of one of the prisoners. He was abused the most by the guards. He had abused one of the guards as a homosexual and the guard didn’t like it at all. Also, this guy was kind of becoming the leader of the revolution by the prisoners. Thus, the guards took it upon themselves to teach him a lesson. He was made to clean the toilet seats with his gown and then wear it without washing. The guards took him to a secluded room which was not monitored and beat him up. After this they all decided to pee on his face. Later they locked him up in a small locker kind of black box, barely big enough to hold a guy.

The whole thing became an ego game between the prisoners and the guards. The guards became obsessed with their roles and tried to maintain order at all costs. They became sadistic and started enjoying the misery of the prisoners. When one of the guards showed sympathy towards the prisoners they beat him up and locked him up with the prisoners.

On the fifth or the sixth day the events culminated into total madness with the guards beating up a guy and then strapping him up to a chair. He was bleeding profusely which ultimately lead to his death. I must make it clear that in the actual experiment no one was killed. It was the same day they had locked up the other guy in the box. Somehow, he managed to get out of it and freed the other prisoners. All hell broke loose with the prisoners running for their lives with the guards chasing them ultimately a few guys on both sides losing their lives.

Just before the pandemonium one of the doctors tried to intervene by declaring that the experiment was over. When she went down the cells one of the guards caught her and took her in one of the cells. He tried to rape her!

The experiment raises a lot of questions and observations. It seems like the dark side of man takes over as soon as it gets a chance. The guard who tried to rape the doctor would have wanted to screw her but couldn’t while he was living in the actual world. When he saw that there is utter chaos and found the opportunity he went for it. Why did the prisoners behave like real prisoners and abused the guards? They knew that it was just a game and when it’s over, all of them will be their own self. Why did the guards forget that they were not supposed to use physical force? Why did they take offence to the expletives hurled at them when they too knew that the prisoners were just having a bit of fun? I guess it’s too difficult for anyone who’s not experienced it to understand the reasons behind what took place.

Experiment, Das

Let's say you are playing a live practical game where some of the players are to act as prisoners while the others as prison guards. If you are given a choice which one would you be? Take a decision about this question before you read further.

Let's add a bit of excitement to the game - the prisoners are given some compensation per day while the guards are given none. Now which one would you like to be?

Here is the best part - the prisoners are to suspend all their civil rights and stay in a mock prison for a few days while the guards have to ensure that all the prisoners follow the rules of the prison - without resorting to physical means. So, what's your final choice?

Interesting isn't it?

What would you say if I told you that your selection as a prisoner or as a guard was decided by some arbitrary psychological tests? Would you still want to play the game?

This is what the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by a group of researchers at the Stanford University in 1971 was all about. They wanted to see what happens to good people when you put them in an evil place. Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? The results were astounding. The experiment had to be stopped prematurely after only six days because the situation had become very bad; the guards became sadistic while the prisoners became depressed.

Here are a few more questions for you to ponder. Let's take them based on whether you were a guard or a prisoner.

If you were a guard

- What would you have done if some prisoner tried to be friendly with you? Would you do any favours for him?

- What would have been your reaction if some prisoner abused you?

- What would you have done if the prisoners didn't obey the rules, rather specifically disobeyed your commands?

- Even after trying your best if the prisoners do not follow the rules will you resort to violence?

Tough ones, aren't they? Now let's see what you do as a prisoner.

If you were a prisoner

- Will you be friendly with the guards?

- The guards are just a bunch of players like you. Would you obey them?

- Think about a particular food item which you don't like. What would you have done if the guards forced you to eat it?

- What would you do if the guards come and truncate your free hour and ask you to go to the prison?

- Will you abuse a guard if you don't like him knowing that he is not supposed to use physical force on you?

- What would be your reaction if the guards start taking their role too seriously?

Too many questions and tough ones, right? Most of the situations described above are extremely probable in a scenario like the one mentioned above.

Human psychology is extremely complex and studies have been going on for decades and I don't think it would be blasphemous to say that they will continue for as long as one can imagine.

If you want to know how things panned out in the experiment I would recommend that you watch Experiment, Das (2001). It's a german movie based on the above real life experiment and shows how the dark side of man takes over, given a chance. I am not going to write anything further to spoil your experience of watching the movie. Given below are some links which might be of use to you in case you are interested in knowing more about the experiment or the movie:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250258/
http://www.prisonexp.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment

Reservation Road

I am curious to know what I would do if I were responsible for an accident. Let’s say I am driving a car on a dark night and suddenly on a bend I see a child standing in my way. It’s too late for me to swerve around and save the child. I try my best but still hit him! What should I do? Should I stop the car and check on the child or just run away from the scene of the accident? Stopping the car wouldn’t be an easy task as I might be charged for reckless driving and sentenced to jail! Running away seems easier – let’s do it!

Let me change places with the father of the child. I stand there near the road and suddenly I see a car hurling towards my dear child. There is nothing I can do about it! My son is hit by a car and it doesn’t stop to help! I rush to my son who is lying in a pool of blood but it’s too late. A few minutes later the police are there and my son’s body is taken away for post-mortem.

What do you think would be my mental state in either case? Let me tell you what happens in ‘Reservation Road’ from where this scene is taken.

Dwight Arno (Mark Ruffalo) is the guy who was driving while Ethan Learner (Joaquin Phoenix) is the father. Dwight’s life becomes miserable. He is so affected by guilt that he decides to hand himself over to the police. Ethan is burning with rage to find out the perpetrator and punish him. He even tries to take things in his own hands. Such is the irony of fate that Ethan goes and hires Dwight as his lawyer to help him in this case. There is no running from it as far as Dwight is concerned.

I don’t know what I would do if I was Dwight. May be I would be as affected as him but whether I would decide to hand over myself to the police is a matter of conjecture. If I was Ethan I guess I would have been enraged and bayed for the blood of the guy who was driving.

What would you do if it was you in place of Dwight or Ethan?

Earnings Season

Sounds weird, isn't it? This definitely doesn't mean that I earn during some seasons while not in others :) The phrase makes it seem like it is something to look forward to but it is quite the opposite. I and others like me dread the earnings season.

At the end of every quarter, most companies release their earnings for the quarter. Basically, they state the activities of the company during the quarter and the profit or loss they made. Now, you must be wondering what does that have to do with me. I would say a lot!

I work in the Equity Research division of one of the biggest financial institutions in the world. My work involves analysing the financials of some companies and giving an opinion on whether the clients should buy or sell the stock. We have our estimates for the quarterly earnings of the companies and as soon as the companies announce their earnings my work begins. We are supposed to prepare a report stating where and how the company's actual earnings differed with respect to our estimates and what are our new estimates going forward.

Every firm tries to come out with their report as fast as possible so that they are the first to tell their clients how the company fared. It's a mad rush! Most of the companies report their earnings way before the markets open at 9:30 which means you have to be in office before 7. Some companies choose to report it at close of market at 4 in the evening which means sitting in the office till almost midnight. A lot of times what happens is that there are multiple companies within your coverage reporting on the same day. When this happens it makes your life miserable. I remember last quarter when we had 6 companies reporting the same day! We were 3 associates in the team and each handled 2 companies which was still bad. That week I had spent 70 hours working in office! That's the total, the range being 10 to 18!

This Thursday was one of those days when 2 companies reported, one in the morning while the other in the evening. I knew I had to reach office by 6:30 so that I am not late for the release. I could hardly sleep at night trying to make sure that I get up on time. I reached office at 6:30 and found that the company had just released their earnings report. At 4 in the evening the other company also reported. This was a conglomerate with many divisions making life really difficult for anyone trying to analyse the company.

At 9, my boss came up to me and said that he was going home and expected me to complete the rest of the report so that when he comes at 6:30 the next day, it is ready for edits. Before you jump guns, I must say that he had had a rough week with the previous 2 days also being earnings days for him. He also asked me to be in office at 6:30 the next day so that I can submit the report for publication once he is through all the edits. It was a Hobson's Choice really and I agreed! I worked till midnight at which time I felt the report was ready for my boss and took a cab home. I slept at 1 and was up once again at 5 to be in office by 6:30. Thankfully we didn't have any company reporting on Friday and I had an easy day. I left office at 4 in the evening to meet a friend and watch a movie...

Why is there so much hype about Slumdog Millionaire?

I just don't understand the hype surrounding the movie! It has got the Golden Globe for the best picture; It has got 10 Oscar nominations; some Indians are all praise for the movie while others are too critical. I don't think it is worth the attention.

The first time I heard about it was about 3 months back when I read Roger Ebert's review of the movie and how he had said after a viewing in Toronto that it would win the Audience Award. I was intrigued by the storyline and saw it as soon as I got the opportunity. I found it good and entertaining but not as great as it was being made out to be.

I have seen far better films during the year which should beat this hands down. Talking about Oscars I feel that they are a bunch of jokers. Though they honour some good performances from time to time they are not the best judge of which are the best performances of the year. Just as an example, would you believe that a movie like 'The Shawshank Redemption', which has been voted as the number one movie of all time by millions of IMDb users, didn't receive a single Oscar!

About all the criticism showing India in a bad light, it's a Goddamn movie! If you didn't like it just ignore it. If someone says that westerners don't show the dirty side of their country I will point out many movies which clearly do the same.

Another thing which amuses me is that loads of Indians, esp. the Indian media, seem to feel proud that this movie has been nominated for Oscars. I don't understand why the pride! The movie has been made by a Hollywood studio and by a Hollywood Director. This is not an Indian movie, period!

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Apocalypse Now is probably the best war (or shall we say anti-war) movie ever to be made. It is one of my favourite movies if not the favourite (it’s difficult to decide with Shawshank and a few others coming close).

If I were to be very honest, I didn’t like the movie when I saw it for the first time. The reason being I was thinking it to be a war movie which would have grueling war scenes with gruesome battles ala Saving Private Ryan. Alas that was not to be! All it showed was a journey of a young captain through the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia. I had failed to understand that the movie was beyond the usual war movies. It was much more than that!

Though I had not liked the movie I kept on thinking about it, such was the impact of the movie. I decided to watch it once again and there was no looking back after that!! The movie is set during the Vietnam War. A young captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is sent on a mission which officially 'does not exist - nor will it ever exist'. The mission is to ‘terminate with extreme prejudice’ a renegade Colonel Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando). This colonel had set himself up as a local God in Cambodia and was waging his own war. The movie shows the journey of Captain Willard where he experiences different adventures ranging from a surfing crazy Lieutenant Colonel (Robert Duvall was simply amazing) to Playboy bunnies. Most of Captain Willard’s thoughts are communicated to us through his voice-over which provides for a really gripping atmosphere throughout the movie. As the journey progresses, sanity evaporates his and his fellow travelers’ minds. The dossier on the Colonel makes him wonder why it is that the powers that be want to kill the Colonel. The closer he gets to his destination the more confused he becomes about what he is going to do when he comes face to face with the Colonel.

The movie shows the insanity that prevailed during the Vietnam War and the way the war affected the minds of the people involved in it. It shows the inner battles which take place within all the participants in a war. It shows the horrors of the war without becoming a gore fest!

Francis Ford Coppola has made a masterpiece and proved once again that he is a genius. The acting was superb with Martin Sheen giving a very convincing performance as the young Colonel. Excellent performances by his boat crew as well especially by Sam Bottoms as Lance B. Johnson. A special mention needs to be made regarding the cinematography and sound effects for which the movie received Oscars. Some of the scenes are simply breath-taking while the music is amazing, haunting at times. The opening sequence is probably one of the best with the bombing of the jungle with ‘The End’ by ‘The Doors’ in the background.

The movie was released in 1979 but a new ‘Redux’ version was released in 2001 with an added footage of about 45 minutes. There have been a lot of debates as to which is better – the original or the redux version. I have never seen the original (though I have read about the differences between the two versions) but I agree with some of the critics that some of the scenes in the redux version could have been done away with. However that does not, in any way, reduce the greatness of the movie.

I have seen a lot of discussion regarding the ending of the movie and how disconcerting it is for some of the viewers. All I can say is that the ending only adds to the eerie atmosphere of the movie and it results in the culmination of the madness that this entire movie is all about. To sum it all up, I will use the words of the director, 'This film isn't about Vietnam. This film IS Vietnam'.

Fermat's Enigma

A few months back I read a book called ‘Fermat’s Enigma’ by Simon Singh. For the uninitiated, Pierre de Fermat was one of the greatest mathematicians of all time. The book describes the quest to solve the world’s oldest mathematical problem called Fermat’s Last Theorem. It states:

It is impossible to separate any power higher than the second into two like powers

In other words,

If an integer n is greater than 2, then the equation a^n + b^n = c^n has no solutions in non-zero integers a, b, and c

Though this seems very apparent and simple it took mathematicians more than 350 years to prove this! This was called the last theorem because all the other theorems of Fermat were proved except for this one which went on to become the greatest mathematical challenge ever. The man who finally proved it is Andrew Wiles, a British mathematician and a professor at Princeton University. Wiles claims that it was his childhood dream to prove this theorem.

I would urge people, who have the slightest bit of interest in mathematics, to get a copy of the book and read it. It is a very simple account of everything that went on to prove the theorem without ever becoming a nerd fest. For people who are not interested in mathematics this book can serve as an account of someone who went on to live his childhood dream. Go get it!

Mumbai and New York

Life in New York is not very different when compared to Mumbai. In fact, it is said that New York is the future version of Mumbai, except no one knows how many years in the future. The reasons why I think Mumbai and New York are similar are given below:

§ Both are financial capitals of their respective countries
§ Both are cosmopolitan
§ Life is fast paced in both the cities

There might be quite a few other similarities which I can’t recollect right now. Whether Mumbai can become like New York is a matter of conjecture. No one knows whether it is going to take 10 years or 100 years for this to happen. If you ask me I think it might take even longer, perhaps it may never happen!

There are tangible as well as intangible reasons why I believe this. Tangible reasons are for everyone to see and are usually a function of the intangible reasons. The main tangible reason which I can see is the infrastructure. One doesn’t need to spend 10 years in Mumbai to find out that the infrastructure is not sustainable. It just takes a few days. However, this can be corrected if we take care of the intangible reasons.

The intangible things I am talking about is the attitude of the people, not just of the people residing in Mumbai but of the whole country. Let me come to each attribute one by one.

This is public property and I have a right to abuse it – No one cares about public property in India. If there is something in public domain it is there for everyone to abuse. We make sure that we don’t throw the waste in the dustbin after all what is the road there for! Oh the dustbin just disappeared, seems like someone stole it! It has been observed time and again that even if the Government tries and puts dustbins for everyone to use, it is either not used or stolen. We need to stop this attitude if we want to develop.

This city belongs to my community and I will drive out the other people – I am sure everyone reading this knows what I am talking about. India is a collage of many cultures and if each one of them starts talking about breaking away there is no India left! Why do we need to have separate states for separate communities? Why can’t we live in harmony along with others? It is easy to blame the politicians for everything but it is the people’s support which drives them to perform radical actions.

I can go on and on about the above points but as Shakespeare has put it in Hamlet: Brevity is the soul of wit. I can only hope that the above is corrected before it is too late.

Love, Lust and Rape

What is love? Is it mere lust for someone or is it something altogether different? Can you rape someone you love? These are the questions I want to ponder over in this piece and I would like my readers to give their views on this topic. The third question might seem a little odd to people but let me tackle the first two and then I will give the context on which my third question is based.

I believe that love is much more than lust. For me it is not a physical longing for anyone. In fact it is platonic and does not encompass lust at all. I don’t think that both, love and lust can co-exist. Many have claimed to have experienced the feeling of love. Alas, it is a mere illusion for most of them! For what most of these people have experienced is not love but lust or infatuation.

I have heard of the phrase ‘love at first sight’ and have often wondered as to how can can someone fall in love with someone just by looking at them. It’s a fantastical phrase and sounds good only in movies. All those who claim to have experienced the above phenomena have just put up a façade to cover lust. One can fall in love and experience physical attraction towards the other and vice versa but the two are not substitutes. Thus, love is not lust.

Before I come to the third question, read this small story. David is a young street punk and is head over heels in love with Deborah. He secretly watches her while she practices dance. Deborah has high ambitions and wants to become an actor. She too likes David and knows that he watches her while she practices but doesn’t say anything to him. Things take a wrong turn for David and he is impirsoned. He comes out of jail after a decade and meets Deborah who is on her way to success. He joins his old friends and becomes a gangster. One day he takes Deborah out for a lavish dinner. During their conversation she tells him that she has higher plans for her career and David wouldn’t allow her to pursue them. He nods in acknowledgement and realises the fact that Deborah wouldn’t accept him as her life partner in spite of the fact that she loves him. While on their way back he rapes her in the car!

This story is from a movie called ‘Once Upon a Time in America’. I was horrified when I saw David raping Deborah. My heart cried when I saw it. I have since been asking myself the question ‘Was David ever in love with Deborah?’ I can’t believe that anyone who is in love with someone can go to the extent of raping her! People who might have seen the movie will agree with me that the events before and after the rape point in the direction that David was in love with Deborah. Yet he couldn’t control his lust and went on to do the heinous act described above! I can’t ever imagine myself doing what David did in spite of the fact that I know that the love of my love will never be reciprocated…

Why this blog?

I just wanted an outlet for my thoughts; thoughts which come when I am watching a movie or when I am reading a news article or an editorial; thoughts which come to my mind when I am sitting and contemplating or dreaming or thinking about how my life has progressed. This is not a means to flaunt my literary abilities. In fact, I expect most of my posts to be unstructured. Occasionally I will post movie reviews as well. That is the scope of this blog which may be expanded as and when I want.

I had been posting on another blog but there were a lot of issues and finally I have decided to switch. I will start initially by posting some of my old posts from that blog.

Let's begin!