I admit it. I don't know although the ubiquitious thing is now a given part of my life just like the T.V. or the computer.
Are we less in awe of technology and invention than what we were a few decades earlier? Movies of the 1980s seem so quaint now..I know when a movie has been made in the 80s or early 90s just as we would recognise movies made in the 50s, 60s or 70s - because they are not using cellphones (!) along with certain other hints such as the costumes, the computers they used, and so on. 'Time' magazine recently had a story about how kids are too wired these days..what with IM, cellphones, iPods, laptops, etc.
A lot of us know who invented the telephone, the radio, television, evolution of computers, the transistor, the printing press, the electric bulb, alternating current, rubber, the steam engine, the aeroplane and many other pathbreaking discoveries. But, technology today is getting scaled at a rate never imagined before and probably, we are living life in such a fast-paced lane that we do not have time to 'stand and stare' (to quote a famous poet -
What is this life but full of care?
We have no time to stand and stare)
stare at the wondrous discoveries and inventions that have made our lives so much more convenient.
But, some inventions are more entrenched in the public imagination and gave birth to more inventions in their genre. Maybe that is why some scientists fade into oblivion even after winning the Nobel whereas some remain in our consciousness even when they have not, long after their time is past.
Take alternating current, for example. Till then, humankind knew only of direct current. Although alternating current was another type of electric current, the implications and the effect it would have on human society were humongous.
Alternating current is the reason why turbines are able to provide electricity to millions of homes and offices worldwide. There was this programme on Science Channel, I think, which showed the intense rivalry between Edison and Nikola Tesla and how finally, Tesla teamed up with Westinghouse. ( Aha! I just found out I share my birthday with Nikolas Tesla..whoopee! Makes me feel capable of achieving something in life:) ).
Maybe, the media must have had a field day and indirectly promoted science.
Think of any modern day discoveries or inventions that have been truly earth shattering.
The discovery of the DNA, the Internet, the first heart transplant, the cloning of Dolly the sheep come into mind. But do the majority of us know of the countless others that walk away with Nobels year after year? Do we know the names of those men and women who have made them possible, slogging away day after day, holed up in labs?
Is the media to blame for only highlighting the names of actors, models, politicians and sportstars?
Okay, this post continues later. Let me google who really invented the cellphone.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Got my driver's license!!
I am way older than 16 but I never needed to learn to drive till I came to the U.S.
Finally, today, I cleared the road test and have the license to venture out on my own. This is one of the most important practical skills in life and feels like an achievement. I was all rosy and smiling on the picture of the license:).
Is it that we procrastinate things because we have a deep fear somewhere inside? I remember reading somewhere that procrastination may have some deeper cause such as fear of failure or something else.
One thing I have learnt is to get going and attempt whatever it is you are trying to accomplish. A friend of mine talked about "inertia" - apparently Newton's first law applies to us living beings, too. When you are trying to get back to work after a hiatus or going back to school after a long, long time, you might feel you are not able to do things that effortlessly. However, achieving smaller targets can set you on course and once the momentum builds up, you again reach another inertia - the inertia of motion. How true my friend was!
Finally, today, I cleared the road test and have the license to venture out on my own. This is one of the most important practical skills in life and feels like an achievement. I was all rosy and smiling on the picture of the license:).
Is it that we procrastinate things because we have a deep fear somewhere inside? I remember reading somewhere that procrastination may have some deeper cause such as fear of failure or something else.
One thing I have learnt is to get going and attempt whatever it is you are trying to accomplish. A friend of mine talked about "inertia" - apparently Newton's first law applies to us living beings, too. When you are trying to get back to work after a hiatus or going back to school after a long, long time, you might feel you are not able to do things that effortlessly. However, achieving smaller targets can set you on course and once the momentum builds up, you again reach another inertia - the inertia of motion. How true my friend was!
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Indian film heroines
A lot of others have been blogging about Bollywood (the Hindi film industry) and I also want to chip in with my thoughts.
I was watching a movie the other day called "Red Eye" starring Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy. Rachel McAdams plays this very dedicated, into-her-job, smart hotel receptionist - Lisa Rivers, who is travelling back to Florida after attending a family funeral (I think her grandmother's). Her father lives in Florida, too, and she works for the Lux Atlantic Hotel in Miami. Cillian Murphy plays a friendly (at least initially) co-passenger who later on turns out to be the villian, blackmailing her to be part of the assassination of a top government official and his family.
At the airport, her flight is delayed and after speaking up for an airline official who is berated by another passenger for the delay (after all, she has faced this several times, too!), she strikes up a conversation with Cillian Murphy standing right behind her. Later on, they have a drink at the lounge bar before the flight and he ends up on the aisle seat beside her.
Suddenly, after Lisa who seems to get sick whenever the plane takes off or lands or sways in turbulent weather, has settled down, the conversation takes a sinister turn. He starts blackmailing her, asking her to change the reservation of a government official in her hotel to another room - the number of which he gives her or else...her Dad would be taken out by a hired assassin camping out at her doorstep.
The entire movie is about how she outwits this guy and saves her father in the process, all withOUT the help of cops or a strong boyfriend/fiance/husband. Now, some scenes are far-fetched, like when she esacpes at Miami airport, takes off with somebody else's car and goes staright to her house rather than call 911. What was she thinking? That the cops would not be chasing her for stealing a car? Or that the assassin would be stupid enough to let her go? Well, she does ram into him and kill him when she gets there. Not only that, almost a wall gets knocked down with the impact and not a single neighbour hears. All this happens in broad daylight in a leafy suburban neighbourhood which definitely seems to be the abode of many families.
Okay, but I have to appreciate the girl's guts and wits. She tries to mark certain words in a book that she as lent to another co-passenger, an elderly lady, who has stopped by her seat when Mr. M (let me call him that since I don't know the character's name) has been called upon to help another woman with her cabin luggage. But, Mr. M gets suspicious, flicks the book from the lady when she has dozed off and finds out. Once when she manages to get permission from him to go to the bathroom in the plane, she tries to get him caught by scribbling a warning with his seat number on the mirror in the bathroom. But, just as she opens the door, he is right outside, he pushes her in and hits her ruthlessly. The stewardesses think they are making out:).
There is a scar below her shoulder that he asks about.
At the very end, just as the plane is touching down and after she has made that dreaded call, she lies down pretending to be sick, gets hold of something like a valve from underneath her skirt.
she tells him something on the lines of,
"It happened in a parking lot two years ago in broad daylight. The man held a knife to me all the while. From then on, I have been trying to convince myself (pause).."
Mr. M : "That it was not your fault?"
Lisa: "No, that it would never happen again."
Then, as the plane touches down on the runway. In a lightning second, she pulls out the valve-like thing from beneath her skirt, clips it to his throat, takes off her seat belt and bolts away to the shock of fellow passengers out of the gate and into the throes of the public at the airport.
Now, can you imagine a Hindi or any other Indian film heroine doing anything of the sort? Except for a Zeenat Aman (Don) or Hema Malini who played the spunky Geeta (Seeta Aur Geeta) and Basanti (Sholay), we rarely have anyone who can at least put up a fight. In the Southern films, it is even worse. All the heroines seem to have a standard dubbed voice that they use to screech for help while they are about to be molested/raped/killed, all the while thinking of NOTHING, absolutely nothing to help themselves. This applies even if they are not tied and gagged or taken away in a speeding vehicle. Our heroines seem to always want a man to save them and the hero can fight against a gang of 50 even if he is unarmed and the others are carrying hockey sticks, knives, etc.
When will we get our version of Lara Croft/Xena/Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or at least, a smart, brave woman who at least makes an attempt to get away? Producers and directors, given the high rate of crimes against women, at least give women some role model to look up to.
I was watching a movie the other day called "Red Eye" starring Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy. Rachel McAdams plays this very dedicated, into-her-job, smart hotel receptionist - Lisa Rivers, who is travelling back to Florida after attending a family funeral (I think her grandmother's). Her father lives in Florida, too, and she works for the Lux Atlantic Hotel in Miami. Cillian Murphy plays a friendly (at least initially) co-passenger who later on turns out to be the villian, blackmailing her to be part of the assassination of a top government official and his family.
At the airport, her flight is delayed and after speaking up for an airline official who is berated by another passenger for the delay (after all, she has faced this several times, too!), she strikes up a conversation with Cillian Murphy standing right behind her. Later on, they have a drink at the lounge bar before the flight and he ends up on the aisle seat beside her.
Suddenly, after Lisa who seems to get sick whenever the plane takes off or lands or sways in turbulent weather, has settled down, the conversation takes a sinister turn. He starts blackmailing her, asking her to change the reservation of a government official in her hotel to another room - the number of which he gives her or else...her Dad would be taken out by a hired assassin camping out at her doorstep.
The entire movie is about how she outwits this guy and saves her father in the process, all withOUT the help of cops or a strong boyfriend/fiance/husband. Now, some scenes are far-fetched, like when she esacpes at Miami airport, takes off with somebody else's car and goes staright to her house rather than call 911. What was she thinking? That the cops would not be chasing her for stealing a car? Or that the assassin would be stupid enough to let her go? Well, she does ram into him and kill him when she gets there. Not only that, almost a wall gets knocked down with the impact and not a single neighbour hears. All this happens in broad daylight in a leafy suburban neighbourhood which definitely seems to be the abode of many families.
Okay, but I have to appreciate the girl's guts and wits. She tries to mark certain words in a book that she as lent to another co-passenger, an elderly lady, who has stopped by her seat when Mr. M (let me call him that since I don't know the character's name) has been called upon to help another woman with her cabin luggage. But, Mr. M gets suspicious, flicks the book from the lady when she has dozed off and finds out. Once when she manages to get permission from him to go to the bathroom in the plane, she tries to get him caught by scribbling a warning with his seat number on the mirror in the bathroom. But, just as she opens the door, he is right outside, he pushes her in and hits her ruthlessly. The stewardesses think they are making out:).
There is a scar below her shoulder that he asks about.
At the very end, just as the plane is touching down and after she has made that dreaded call, she lies down pretending to be sick, gets hold of something like a valve from underneath her skirt.
she tells him something on the lines of,
"It happened in a parking lot two years ago in broad daylight. The man held a knife to me all the while. From then on, I have been trying to convince myself (pause).."
Mr. M : "That it was not your fault?"
Lisa: "No, that it would never happen again."
Then, as the plane touches down on the runway. In a lightning second, she pulls out the valve-like thing from beneath her skirt, clips it to his throat, takes off her seat belt and bolts away to the shock of fellow passengers out of the gate and into the throes of the public at the airport.
Now, can you imagine a Hindi or any other Indian film heroine doing anything of the sort? Except for a Zeenat Aman (Don) or Hema Malini who played the spunky Geeta (Seeta Aur Geeta) and Basanti (Sholay), we rarely have anyone who can at least put up a fight. In the Southern films, it is even worse. All the heroines seem to have a standard dubbed voice that they use to screech for help while they are about to be molested/raped/killed, all the while thinking of NOTHING, absolutely nothing to help themselves. This applies even if they are not tied and gagged or taken away in a speeding vehicle. Our heroines seem to always want a man to save them and the hero can fight against a gang of 50 even if he is unarmed and the others are carrying hockey sticks, knives, etc.
When will we get our version of Lara Croft/Xena/Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or at least, a smart, brave woman who at least makes an attempt to get away? Producers and directors, given the high rate of crimes against women, at least give women some role model to look up to.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
What Hindus should not expect
A dinner-table discussion that I had about a month ago suddenly veered to religion. It suddenly occurred to me that some Hindus have been having all the wrong expectations of other religions. Some Hindus complain that while they see the same God everywhere and visit mosques, churches of every denomination and pagodas, gurudwaras, etc., their reverence is not reciprocated. We got to see the facts as they are and not get emotional and expect everyone to fall in line with an all-embracing way of thinking. People of other religions who do not bow down to Hindu deities are not bad people or do not want to take away your right to worship (except the fanatics who resort to crooked means to get their point across). Not everybody will like you or your religion. If the holy book of some other religion prohibits idol worship, why would they ever want to be a part of your religious ceremonies even if they respect you as a human being and your right to your way of life? If their book claims that theirs is the only route to salvation, why will they ever take you as an equal?
It may be hurtful to be told that you are a heathen/pagan doomed to hell because you do not believe in so-and-so but hey, when one is sure of one's beliefs, that we are going to be judged by our deeds and not by our creed, why should we bother? The more all-embracing one does not lose out on anything as long as s/he is not physically threatened.
Don't have unrealistic expectations - you will not be disappointed.
Blogaholic!
I've become a blogaholic - I have ravenously devoured the blogs of so many people that I better acknowledge them. Not fair of me - just reading and not even writing to them to tell them how great I think they are. Also, it might get my blog an audience when my name appears in the form of a hyperlink:).
There are days when I seriously want to write something and I want to spout out all the outrage I feel onto a page to be read by other people. But, I fret and fume and pace about my room. After that, there are chores to be done around the house and then the whole thing is totally lost! You've got to have that passion to write for the creative juices to flow. The fruit of thought has to press against the compartments of your grey cells, waiting to explode, turn into juice. I must seize the moment. As they say "Carpe Diem" (seize the day!) ... what is Latin for "Seize the moment"?
There are days when I seriously want to write something and I want to spout out all the outrage I feel onto a page to be read by other people. But, I fret and fume and pace about my room. After that, there are chores to be done around the house and then the whole thing is totally lost! You've got to have that passion to write for the creative juices to flow. The fruit of thought has to press against the compartments of your grey cells, waiting to explode, turn into juice. I must seize the moment. As they say "Carpe Diem" (seize the day!) ... what is Latin for "Seize the moment"?
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