Disturbia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_vVmeUf6QU

It's here. Yet again.

Never felt so helpless in my life ever before.

We all can overcome personal problems: a bad marriage, divroce, a bad job, a bad relationship, bad finances - anything. But when it comes to the falling rupee against the dollar or women getting raped, kids being molested, there's nothing we can do, except to feel outraged, tired, disturbed, and ultimately, helpless. For crimes against humanity, we look at the people who control the law and order or the economics of the nation. And it is not a pretty picture.

Every problem has a root. The problem of gang rape - especially 16 Dec 2012 and 22 August 2013 -
are deep rooted in our social and mental ethos. It's hard even to blame. Boys from affluent families don't do such things. Yet boys from downtrodden families go on to achieve a great many things. Not all Muslims are bad people. Not all women want attention. Not all cops take bribe. It's so hard to generalize. So where must we begin to understand the problem? It is important because we must solve it.

Family is the basic unit, or so we were taught in Sociology. The values a person imbibes - or fails to - determines his character in the long run. And no matter how uncomfortable our families make us feel, we always return to our nest to trace our first emotions and reactions.

So what goes wrong with our mentality? Didn't the mothers of rapists teach their sons to respect women? I find it hard to understand that a sexually deprived man would go out and rape a lone woman.

Man cannot fall to such levels. But he has. Is sex so important that he is willing to beat the genitals of the opposite sex, that would take a woman's life? Is anything worth that? What exactly goes wrong in the minds of these criminals?

We hear of suicide bombers taking the lives of innocent people. This justification of mass killing can be found in the hands of a calculated, misled belief and conveniently misconstrued doctrines of religion, economics and politics. What about rape, crimes against women and molestation of new born babies? What justification can lie beneath this lust? And to what end?

Why cannot a woman go out and watch a movie with a friend/ lover/ colleague at 7PM in the Capital? Why cannot a woman go and wander, explore for aesthetics at 6PM in the country's financial capital and the most developed city? We all know the lengths photo-journalists go to capture a stunning scene that holds our breaths on magazine covers. Why cannot a woman take a lone bike ride on a highway, see the sky complete its journey from dusk to dawn?

There were answers to these questions. A woman must always look after her shoulder, must not wander alone at odd hours or step out in the night, or apply make-up, or wear anything that would make a man want to lust after her. So will wearing a burqa rid our society of all the crimes? What about molestation of kids aged 6? What kind of make-up do they apply? Or what kind of soliciting clothes do 5 month old babies wear that makes men want to violate them?

Or a woman is only allowed to live - and not met by female infanticide - for the sake of amusing men, for procreation, for doing laundry, cooking. She cannot go and watch movies, she cannot be a daring photojournalist, a traveler. She is here to meet the demands made by man. She is a mother, sister, a wife. That's all. Is she not a human being, a person in her own right?

A man can walk safely at night, alone. At the most, he might be mugged, or murdered. But he won't be violated or left to die because of his biological anatomy.

And though we didn't ask our maker for this anatomy, we will have to always look over our shoulder when we walk the streets of this country.

"When the stars go blue"

However impossible it may seem to know that there are somethings that are still sacred, and the heart's always scared of spoiling things, people and their spirits.

Lately, the pursuit of love - so synonymous with happiness - has become that. A fearful path. It is a fearful one because there's always a question.. a possibility what would happen if things went bad and what all things would be at stake when the destruction (that seems alarmingly possible) happen. It will become a catalyst to destroy a spirit - a yearning to do better and be better in life, because that is what the ultimate purpose is: to rise. Just, simply, rise.

We have often heard as much that life is a journey where we are supposed to make mistakes - and learn from them and try never to repeat them. If falling in love is a mistake, how does one avoid it? Why is this path the most difficult to walk?

The thing is, we can make mistakes in finding love... not look in the right places- but how in the world are we to know which place is right? They say the heart will guide us, but what happens when you start living so much in fear that you overpower your heart. Translate opportunities into threats. Risks, that will destroy other people's lives, emotions, perspectives, spirit if you were wrong.

That is a huge responsibility. I think it's a part of one's integrity, then, to be hated, or worse, to be misunderstood. You're just doing the world a favor.

Lincoln - Movie Review

I've always been scared of watching Steven Spielberg's movies. They are unnaturally and unnecessarily long; I seem to agree with Alfred Hitchcock's view: the duration of a film must be directly proportional to the bowel holding capacity of men. But then, there was Daniel Day Lewis too, and I hadn't seen him since 'My Left Foot'. That's what prompted me to watch this film in the first place.

Now, here's a personal confession - I loved Daniel Day Lewis since I first saw him in 'My Left Foot', and I don't know till day how he really looks. It's just hard to imagine him anything beside the character or role he plays. And that must be the true hallmark of an artist: he has no face. And that's where I find affirmation to my personal motto: handsome is what handsome does. Looks really have nothing to do with it. I don't even want to find out how he looks, there's just no inclination.

Now, about the movie. This film is an extensive summary of the political and social atmosphere in 1865 in America for the abolishing slavery. The best description of the plot, the movie and what really happened then is provided by the party head for Radical Republic front in the Republican Party, by Thaddeus Stevens, -

The greatest measure of the Nineteenth Century. Passed by corruption, aided and abetted by the purest man in America. 

The movie flows at an appropriate speed, with a few witty sequences, enough to keep you engaged and entertained. The screenplay was also intense, the make-up and characterization was perfect. I am confident for Daniel Day Lewis' Best Actor Oscar; but the film doesn't deserve as Best Director or a Best Film nomination. Surprisingly, there were some hitches in direction and production values. I wonder if the Academy didn't notice or skipped it... 'Cloud Atlas' was a better choice for both Best Direction and Best Film categories. But am used to it now: every year one such masterpiece gets the famous Oscar snub (Remember INCEPTION?)

Tommy Lee Jones did great justice to the role of Thaddeus Stevens, complimenting Daniel Day Lewis beautifully on screen. His dialogue delivery was the best, bringing laughter in an otherwise "serious, war drama". His earnest retorts were sometimes more interesting than the quotes and short stories by Lincoln himself. Joseph Gordon-Lewitt once again made me feel he's over-rated, as Lincoln's first born.

Apart from the history lesson, there's so much to be learnt here. The very things that we take for granted so easily, without a thought, was actually thought of worth fighting for - and dying for - back then. One speaker took the floor and remarked opposing President Lincoln's 13th amendment to abolish slavery, " [...] He's asking us to free these Negroes today... tomorrow he'll ask us to give them voting rights... what's next? Voting rights for women???!"

That moment everyone in the House of Representatives stood up unanimously against the illogical, "unnatural" thought on the mention of voting rights for women. Can we imagine what kind of a world it would have been had Lincoln's 13th amendment would have never seen the light of the day? No, we cannot fathom such a travesty. Because we are far too used to freedom and the idea of being equal. Many women still pass their right to vote as if it was nothing. But it is certainly a perspective to see men dying for a principle... and hundred thousand corpses being laid down for yet another principle of justice.

Abraham Lincoln was corrupt too, but that corruption was for a purpose - something higher to aspire for; and I can't help but contextualizing the man and his principles in the times that we live in today. If we thought our political system is bad, well take a look at that social and political environment - where they made history out of a challenge so immense and so important. If you thought your own life was hell, take a look at the conflict and curse of being a man, husband, father and a President.

The job of a compass is to point to true North. That's all it does. Now, it doesn't tell you about the rocks, cliffs, and swamps that you might encounter while pursuing that direction. And if you, let's say, get stuck in the swamp, what is the point of knowing true North??"

Am just glad to have my idea of a true man converging with the man and the man who played his character.

This film shows us how important history is, and why honesty is such a virtue even today, when there's none to be had or given.

And then there were people who snored, and the ones who left the theater after 10 mins. Or so.