Musing on X-Men: First Class October 15, 2011

Just finished the movie “X-men: First Class”. What can I tell, it was an awesome experience to witness the roots of it all. The spectacular show of the mutants simultaneously showed me yet another truth of our existence. I know I sound melodramatic, but beneath all these drama I have this unshakable realization of certain phenomenon that is just equally mind blowing to me. The power struggle between Charles and Magneto just reemphasizes the age-old hunger for power in man. These two individuals show us that many among mankind may work the same methods but with dynamically different goals. In the end it’s the goals that set our courses. The fraternity begotten from being homogenous gets broken by the pull of power and the inner urge to follow our own paths. I was hoping desperately that Charles and Magneto would join their forces to become this unified source of power so magnificent that they would lead with utter glory to guide the future generations of mutants and forever shape the course of their lives. Instead they had to get divided; these twin towers of power would be working against each other until they burn each other out. Isn’t it the reinforcement of the fight between the good and evil that the mankind has been burdened with since the beginning of time? Of course there is no telling who is better or who is worse, Charles was the compassionate one, but then again he had not been faced with Magneto’s experience of the death of his mother before his own eyes. There is no telling if Charles would have been equally vengeful like Magneto were he to be in his place, we really do not know. But Magneto, being Erik, and with those horrendous experiences from his teenage days, could hardly escape being who he would be in the future days. That is how destiny plays such a strong hand in our lives. Experiences of a certain event, at a certain moment can totally redefine the courses our lives. And there is simply no right and wrong in these matters. Things will be as they will be.

It is amazing how one can find symbolism from any source. I suppose it comes easily if we just keep our minds open. I love these movies which emanate powerful messages so easily. Coming back to the movie, there is this amazing special power of these mutants. While Mystique was changing her shape and metamorphosing into different persons I thought, “Lord, if this isn’t the best mutant power of all, one could literally do anything by being anybody!” But then again when the Pixie (not sure what she is called) flew in the sky and spat fire I thought to myself, “Well, well…..i suppose a lot could be done with this one too”! While Charles exercised his telepathy, there seemed to be no other power to top his one, but then again when Magneto stopped all the missiles from coming to hit them on the Island, he was the one who seemed more powerful. In the end I got another humble message from this movie, and that is, every single individual is unique…..and special. There is no comparison between two human beings. The combination of our unique qualities gives our individuality, and makes the man or woman that we are. Every man is what he or she is, and will be. There is no changing this fact or resisting it or manipulating it. All that is needed is acceptance.  Only then we can stop wasting our energies in wanting to influence others into our way of thinking. That is a futile effort in the end anyways. If change is to come, it must come from within, from one’s own experiences and sensations, not by somebody else’s experiences and sensations. It all goes back to the same logic that we, being who we are, are shaped by various incidents that happens to us or to our surroundings at certain moments in our lives that shape our beliefs and ideas. This truth is as absolute as the existence of God.

As individuals we search for our calling, and when we find it, we choose our path, and follow either Charles or Magneto.

I thank heartily the producer and the director and the actors of the movie for doing such a splendid job to evoke such powerful emotions in me. Thank you.

Life’s little lessons June 12, 2011

Hit the pool today the first time this summer and the water felt oh so refreshing in the hundred degree Texas heat! As my daughter swims, I sit in the water and watch. Little pint size swimmers, bustling in the pool, make me wistful for the feel of effortless strokes in the blue water.  But first thing’s first.  How do I hide my embarrassment at being the only adult in the pool who cannot swim? However, I can float for a little time, and I can swim up to as far as one single breath can take me. So I move about in the water, in the guise of a supervising adult and let water wash away the day’s weariness.  For a few years now I had gone to the pool, a few times during the summertime, in the hopes of getting swimming. But swimming has eluded me. I hear all the time about people who jump in the water and ‘get’ swimming in a few days. Why couldn’t I? Not everybody is a natural with water I suppose.  Then my daughter wanted to play little water games, and she raced me to touch the bottom of the pool. I raced too, and I tried to touch the bottom of the pool.  I failed. And I tried and I tried, and I failed and I failed. It was ridiculous. I had a clear view of the bottom, I was within a feet of it, and I wanted to touch it so hard, but the force of water just wouldn’t let me go there! How frustrating! O ye water, how daunting your force! The task seemed easy, yet so tough! It bore so much analogy with real life.  In life too we dream, things seem easy, so much within the reach!  But when we stand on our toes with the purpose of catching that special star, we find that we just caught air, and the star eluded us. And then we strive and struggle, we break bounds, we toil and tread. And then finally, if we are lucky, we catch our star. And there is nothing in the world like that sense of accomplishment. Some things in life may come easy. But easy come and easy go. Because it is so easy to fail to fathom the value of it. But lucky are the ones who have to labor hard to reach their goals. The rewards are so much sweeter. With that thought, with a single and powerful push of my head, I dive into the water towards the bottom of the pool, and finally, touched the bottom of the pool. Yay! Glory is to me! What great accomplishment! So what if it’s a kiddie pool just four feet deep…….

Random reflections April 1, 2011

Just saw the news that a 29 year old Olympic silver medalist from Austria committed suicide. Her name was Claudia Heill. I opened her profile on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Heill and saw the picture of a young, beautiful and vibrant girl smiling back at me. I never knew of her before, but it was just sad seeing such a young and promising life to come to an abrupt end. I pondered on what pushes people to resort to suicide. Is it something that people do out of a momentary loss of all senses, or an acute depression, or an extreme desperation when life loses its appeal to them and no longer seems worth living? Unfortunately it is absolutely impossible for one to comprehend and judge somebody else’s life, and the state of mind that they were in at some particular moment when they took the decision to desert this world. It is unfathomable what circumstances they were in, and what finally drove them to choose to end their lives. It mustn’t have been easy. Or was it? As I came to analyze these points, I thought, haven’t many of us been in situations in one point or other in our lives when forsaking EVERYTHING and escaping seemed the most desirable thing to do? When we were so weary and so devoid of energy that we got tempted to end this battle we call life? I’m sure we did. But the next moment we come back to reality, because there is no escaping it, because that is the most logical thing to do. Because despite everything, we all know that our lives are precious. And that the challenges that life throws at us are worth tackling. In fact that is what we were born to do, weren’t we? Well this is the logical side of my brain speaking to ME and directing MY course of actions. But sadly we will never know of the mystery of those people who went ahead and gave in to their urge to terminate their lives. I had known two people who were the object of envy for the person next to them, and had everything going for them regarding all aspects of their lives; but had chosen to end their lives. So apparently not everything was going well for them as we had anticipated. In the fight between emotion and logic in their psyche, emotion had won over. What was apparently a good life, an enviable life in others’ eyes, were not good enough for them. And I believe therein lies the mystery of human nature, the uniqueness of us all. Our upbringing, our experiences, our surroundings, our circumstances, our expectations and our emotions dictate our actions, and nobody will ever know what triggers a particular person and how. Speculate and justify, that’s all we can do.

 

So the gist of the article? We need to allow ourselves the chance to find the answer, “for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong” (H. L. Mencken). The storm HAS to make way for the rainbow eventually. All we need to do is stick around. Living and fighting is where all the fun is, dying is too easy……

Spring is in the air March 16, 2011

I was choosing the annuals at the Home Depot nursery one morning with my kids during the spring break. The fragrance of the flowers filled up the air. The plethora of colors all around me taking my breath away as always. Amidst all these happiness something suddenly stabbed at my heart. The Tsunami-ravaged and grief-stricken Japan flashed before me. The joys of a beautiful spring morning as if blended into the cries of so many who had suddenly found themselves bereft of all joys in life in the blink of an eye. So this is how joy and sorrow walked hand in hand. Two sides of the same coin. Where one stops the other begins…..

In the afternoon I sat in the backyard. Surrounded by the kids’ joyful cries at planting their own plants and watering them, I was reminded of the cries of little Japanese children whose lives had forever been changed for the unthinkable. Their orderly lives disordered beyond any recognition. I looked up the sky, and felt the existence of the Power that was so beyond our imagination. My eyes watered at the thought that I was being allowed so much joy at the face of so many calamities. My meticulous life went on without a single slip. Yet life had turned upside down for so many. But didn’t we all have an equal right to a good life? As I acknowledged the blessings that I had been bestowed with, I thought on the same note how easy it was to forget to stop and think and be thankful for all that we had. Because all that we have is so fragile.

That night as I prayed for my children’s health and happiness, I prayed for those Japanese children whose lives had forever been changed. May God give them the strength to endure the pain and overcome this adversity.

The spring has arrived and brought along hope with it. Hope for renewed lives and new beginnings……

Straight from my heart January 27, 2011

Hello World! With Bryan Adams playing in the background, here I am, blogging my first blog. And it feels great!!! Been thinking of penning my thoughts in a suitable site for quite sometime. And WordPress looks to me the best one out there!! Can’t wait to explore all the wonderful features within this site. Superglad to find a place to share the thoughts that will be coming “straight from my heart”;).
Ciao!!!!