Archive for January 2018
The Man from Earth: Holocene: Movie Review
With great expectations, I sat to watch the sequel to 2007 movie, ‘The Man from Earth’. Popcorn and all arranged. The original movie has gone on to attain a cult status. A story of a man who is 14000 years old, who was Jesus, hung out with Buddha and what not. Story told in a fairly scientific manner with proper research. I had many expectations with the sequel.
However, I found the Holocene underwhelming to say the least. First of all, it didn’t add anything to the story. Seemed more like a filler. I understand low budget and all, but the story was missing. Even the first movie was made on 200k budget, but had a solid plot.
Holocene is built upon nothing. 4 students at Johns new college find out his true identity and then he slips away. Writers tried to add a bit of religious discussion to it, but nothing substantial. I so wish they would have left the movie alone and never created this sequel or whatever it was.
Post credit message suggested they want to take it forward as a TV series. But that is no justification to leave the only new plot mystery unexplained. Not only Oldman’s starting to age destroys the soul of the first movie, but not explaining the reasons behind was pure cheating.
If the idea was to explain it in next movie or TV series, it should have been introduced towards the end. You cannot open with him starting to age and then leave it a mystery after 90 mins.
Much as I admire the first movie, I have no feeling towards the sequel. I don’t love it, I don’t hate it. I love the character of John Oldman so much, I would have liked even a fan service movie. But this was not even that. This seemed to be a 90 mins long snooze fest which served God knows what purpose.
Tea boys in India
Tea boys are a common figure in India. Young boys working at a road side hotel and distributing tea to shops and businesses nearby. This phenomenon is so ingrained in the society that no one even cares about the illegality of it. They are under the legal work age.
There are a few reasonings I have heard in support of the tea boy’s being employed. First is that it is a reasonable safe job for the poor kids which at least provide them two square meals. In a society devoid of foster home culture and without working orphanages, these young boys have to provide food for themselves. Most of them are abandoned kids or runaway kids. Instead of working in factories under slave conditions, its better to work out in open.
Another reasoning is for the kids who have to support their families from the very childhood. Either a drunk father or dead parents and number of kid brother and sister. What else will they do but to work. Given the lack of qualification and young age, where else will they get employment?
As I am writing about this topic, I feel miserable as I don’t see any path for them. I remember having a conversation with Mahesh (name changed), a kid in city of Agra, who was a tea-boy. He had no parents and lived on the street. Income from serving tea was keeping him alive.
Unless we get rid of poverty and expand the welfare, more and more children would be deprived of the childhood and forced to be a tea boy. A silver lining is that our PM himself used to be a tea boy in his childhood. The hope is there.
Happy Happy Self
I was feeling it of late, but good that someone pointed it out. There is a kind of negative vibe I have been giving. A bit can be attributed to the novelty wearing off the school experience. But a lot can be attributed to not being intentional. Intentional, a funny but important word.
It’s very important to be clear in outlook in what you want to do. In personal life or career wise. Have something to drive you on. Since I folded up my startup, there was a sort of void that engulfed me. I spend time studying for GMAT, writing B-school essay’s, CFA, FRM etc. But all those were short term. Having finally arrived to school, I never planned what to do next.
I let myself be driven by what others were doing and let myself be herded in. As time went by, it became increasingly hard for me to admit it. And it feels nice to admit it and break the shackles. Feels fresh.
Have finally sat down and started to plan how I want to spend my next 1.5 years at school. Whatever it might be, I have promised myself it will be intentional and something that makes me happy happy.
अंत करो
मैं तो आखिर एक पंछी था,
जिसके पर थे कुतर चुके,
पिंजरे को घर था मन किया,
आह की चाह की टीस जिया,
पर तू ओ जालिम आयी क्यों,
अपने संग आस ये लायी क्यों,
अब पशोपेश में उलझा मैं,
कोई आये इसको सुलझा दे,
तब तक बैठा मैं तड़प रहा,
या शुरू या इसका अंत करो|
20 MLA’s disqualified: Immaturity doomed Kejriwal
I remember 2014 when Kejriwal broke news that Amit Shah was trying to poach AAP MLA’s in order to install BJP Govt in Delhi. There was huge outcry not just in Delhi but country at large. Kejriwal commanded huge level of trust. He was the first one to stop the Modi wave. 2015 Delhi election was the time when Kejriwal rivalled Modi in trustworthiness. How times have changed.
I kind of feel for Kejriwal because I understand the reasons behind. It stems from immaturity. I have personally lost a lot due to it. With age people expects a level of maturity from you. They give you some rope when you are young but it only goes so far. Post Anna movement, a daring Kejriwal was people’s favorite. He was the son every mother wanted.
With 67 MLA’s, he had a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, but he continued to delegate it to common man. Attacks after attacks on Modi were done to instigate people. It worked for some time but people were fed up after. His continued attacks were seemed as his immaturity. If Delhi CM had not powers, why did you want to get elected?
A mature person is expected to get things done. If only he would have been responsible. Being ambitious is not a crime. Wanting to come to power in Punjab was a reasonable target but the way AAP went about it was immature. In a diverse nation such as India, you have to earn the trust. And it takes time. Daily name calling did not help.
From being the chosen one, he has been relegated to a wasted potential and dreams unfulfilled. I still don’t think his intentions were wrong but what I feel does not matter. It’s the perception of immaturity that matters. It has wasted a lot of opportunities for me. I just hope AAP and Kejriwal wins back the trust. Believe me the path is not easy.
हँसना सिखा दिया
मेरे दिल ने दर्द के साथ रहना सीख लिया था,
आँखों ने हमदर्द का खोना देख लिया था,
बातों ने खामोशी का गहना ओड लिया था,
क्यों तूने इस सोते दिल को जगा दिया,
क्यों तूने घायल अरमानों को हवा किया,
क्यों तूने आंखों को टिमटिमाना सिखा दिया,
क्यों तूने बेगाने को पशोपेश में फसा दिया|
मेरे नासूर जख्मों ने तड़पाना छोड़ दिया था,
मेरे मन ने भारी गम से समझौता किया था,
मेरे सपनों ने अपनों का खोना भांप लिया था,
मेरे रातों ने ओझिल हो जाना मान लिया था,
क्यों तेरे स्पर्श ने घायल मुझको दवा दिया,
क्यों मुझको फिर से हँसना सिखा दिया,
क्यों मेरे सपनों की महफ़िल को सजा दिया,
क्यों रातों में फिर बातें करना बता दिया||
Political Discussion: Something people are avoiding
Given that open discussion is the essence of democracy, it’s scary to find that people today avoid discussing about politics. I found it at the college campus at least. Given the polarized times we live in, it’s hardly surprising. Lack of discourse is something that makes the election results seem surprising and makes the society even more polarized.
It is the cardinal rule of human emotions, if we keep things pent up inside, they tend to blow up sooner or later. Same goes with discussion about politics.
Society has become so fractured that people have started living in their own silos. Everyone think his/her own beliefs are the absolute fact and others are wrong. For example, let’s compare a Hillary and a Trump supporter. There is so much hatred for each other that real issues and need for discussion goes out of the window.
Hillary is the evil or Trump is the devil. It’s either or with nothing in between. If we think rationally, we would realize it’s not practically possible. Each person Hillary or Trump will have mixed personality, some good, some bad with shades of grey.
But given the broken communications and deep hatred, no one is ready to discuss the details. People are only concerned about the headlines, which are binary. What newspaper you read, will decide what news you get. If you read CNN, you would feel that Trump is an abomination. If you watch Fox news, Hillary is the personification of Satan.
If the media is so polarized, then what would you expect of the common folks? It’s time for some open and honest discussion to make democracy strong. If Trump does something wrong, call him out and do the same with Clinton. If they do something good, that must be acknowledged too.
To begin with, people should boycott biased media such as CNN and Fox. Once they lose eyeballs, they lose everything. If we aim for balanced news, they discourse will become balanced.
Else the democracy is in peril and it is because we are running away from discussion.
The charm of Star Trek
Even after 50 odd years, the charm and fan following of Star Trek is ever growing. Apart from the general attraction of sci-fi and the lure of the unknown, what is it about the Star Trek in particular that attract the fans?
The answer is not so simple. It comes from the 60’s, the race to the moon, improved film technology etc. The characters that Star Trek created and the format of space travel with a new adventure every week, was something that made Star Trek unique.
If you go back to The Original Series (TOS) from 60’s, even today you won’t find it too dated. And the credit goes to the issue based stories that Star Trek told. With the sci-fi genre, the series explored concepts of gender equality, racial discrimination, existence of God. It also gave cool new gadgets in phasers, technology such as transporters and the chance to meet the other intelligent organisms in the vast cosmos.
And the charm is still strong due to the fact that however advanced we have become, we still are bound by the speed of light and haven’t been contacted by any alien race. Thus, the attraction of meeting a new alien race in each new episode still sounds fresh.
The characters that were created are still fresh, be it Kirk, Spock or McCoy. Specially Spock, the pointy eared logical being was nerd of the nerds. No surprise that he is adored by nerds all over. An outcast and intelligent being, not able to understand that emotional people around him.
The flirty leader Kirk, the nagging McCoy, the loyal Scotty, all characters were rooted in stereotypes and hence easy to follow.
The era of race to the moon made common people informed about space. Star Trek came at the right moment. It monetized that curiosity and created a generation of space enthusiasts, many of them went on to become great scientists.
My advice to all developing nations is to have such shows on public broadcast regularly. It might be just the thing their nation needs to generate scientific curiosity amongst the children who will eventually help in nation building.
Blockchain for novices
Disclaimer: This is an over simplification of blockchain concept. Just for starters.
Since the story of bitcoin has picked up, there is a rousing interest in blockchain technology. I have put together a quick write-up for the novices.
Stop feeling intimidated, block chain is a very simple concept just like the concept of internet. Practical uses of that concept are something that makes blockchain awesome.
What is blockchain?
It is noting but a chain of blocks. Wasn’t that simple! For people having no knowledge of algorithms, consider 10 boxes, each box containing some data, and each box stacked on top of one another. This is blockchain in non-technical term for you. This information can be anything we store in a computer file. Or in terms of bitcoin, can be a digital currency.
If it’s just a chain of information. What’s so unique?
Well, the idea to make the digital information non-duplicable. Consider you have a file on your computer. If you copy and then paste that file, it creates a copy of that file. With blockchain, all information about a particular record is incremental. Which means the size of the file keeps on increasing with every passing second and every passing transaction (grows into a large chain of blocks). And the information is all in public domain visible to millions of people (just like a Wikipedia article). Ever tried putting some bogus information on any Wikipedia page. It gets corrected soon enough by one of millions of users just like you.
Block chain uses a similar logic, keeping data in check.
Use in bitcoin
Bitcoin uses block chain technology. When the digital currency was first visualized, problem was how to stop someone from copy-pasting the digital file. It was solved via blockchain. The information/transaction of a digital currency keeps getting added as a chain to the original file. Over the years bitcoin blockchain size has grown over 100GB in size, with every transaction being verified by millions of users on a distributed network. It still can be corrupted if we copy paste the entire 100GB file, but it’s very difficult due to millions of eyes checking and being in public domain.
Introspection
Have you ever wondered that you have already encountered the feeling that you are experiencing right now? People called it déjà vu. I call it cyclicity of life, borne out of out innate nature. It happens to me time and again and I start facing similar dilemma, similar choices that I have already faced few years back. I used to wonder why.
It is due to our characteristic behavior. We make certain decisions, take certain steps in our life which lead us to a certain point. And since we are the same person, we would come to the similar point in life if we keep taking similar decisions, making similar choices.
Question would be why as humans are we not able to change. Well the answer is not so simple. We keep on learning things, we feel we are changing, but not so much. We are born with certain genetic makeup which is not susceptible to change, however much we try. It’s true for us common folk at least. And it seems there is not much we can do about it.
So, what can be done? I think the best we can do is to take time out and introspect. Most of us get so caught up in the rat race of life, we never take a pause and recollect what we have done till now. It helps a lot if we do. It might not change that subconscious setup of ours, but would give too much fodder to build upon. Faced with similar choices, we might be able to tinker little bit and diverge from “what could have been”.
More than our deeds, the postmortem of the actions is useful. If we make it a routine to introspect, it would help us grow.
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