Movie Review: 'Virus'

After the late night show yesterday, I had an unusual urge to pen my thoughts on 'Virus', a recently released Malayalam movie. Directed by Aashique Abu, it tells the story of how a group of dedicated professionals succeeded in containing a dangerous contagion. Nipah virus remains relevant with a recent stray incident of infection reported in Kerala, a year after its original mushrooming.

The movie provides a complete cinematic experience with a subject that many would consider at best suitable for a documentary. The movie portrays the sensitive topic with a sense of quiet positivity. The mood is enthralling, the flow invisible, and the passion undoubted. The events are chained flawlessly to avoid any drag, at the same time losing none of the emotions. A lot of credit to the impeccable screenplay and direction. The grill to watch some of the bloody and pukey scenes at the hospital is more than worthwhile as one gets reminded of the thankless routines of the medical fraternity. The music carrying the message of inevitability adds to the masterpiece.

No words about the movie would be complete without a mention of some seamless acting by an ensemble of seasoned performers. To give a context, I was watching an old cult movie 'Manichithrathazhu' earlier in the day and noticed that the camera seldom captures in close the expressions of pain on the character Nakulan's face (for a reason). In stark contrast, the camera dives into every bit of the life and emotion on the character Vishnu's (stunningly played by Asif Ali) face in 'Virus'. Among the others, Parvathy and Soubin strike the most, not to say that the others are left behind.

'Virus' is a must watch.

Mumbai Train Blast and the Car Seat Conundrum

I recently read something about the 2006 Mumbai train blasts. It took me to a few sweet and sour memories on my not so short stint in Mumbai. One of them, in fact, intertwined with the Mumbai blasts is still fresh in mind. We were four friends taking a taxi from the Lower Parel office to respective homes. The traffic then was probably worse than now. I was sitting by the left window at the back with S* sitting in the middle. S* has been dilly-dallying on taking a train instead of going through the traffic turmoil. When we reached Mahim, he made up his mind to get off. And for some reason, I, generally an accommodative soul, declined, half-jokingly, to give way for him to get off. S* sportingly stayed on, and the traffic torture continued.

Around the same time when S* wanted to get down at Mahim and take a train, blood spewing explosions took place at the station. The next day, he reminded me of how I refused to give way, disregarding his wish to go to Mahim station.

Among the muddle of superstitions of lucklessness and self-condemnatory thoughts of being a carrier of misfortunes, the memory stands out.

Book Review: 'Philosophy for Busy People' by Alain Stephen

Alain Stephen's book, true to the title, is a real quick read. The book is a summary of the salient philosophies that have evolved over the years. It is divided based on themes. It highlights contributions of the most prominent philosophers to each theme. The writing has a formal tone and does not delve into the depths of each philosophical arguments.

I felt the book has an academic bend to it. Maybe the author meant to write an academic thesis spanning the subject. The book failed to deliver the messages in its entirety, specifically as it ignored the story or anecdotes that bring life to the philosophical arguments. In particular, the coverage on politics and language seemed superficial. I would expect a typical reader of this book to be busy to the extent that he may not have much of a background in philosophy. From that perspective, the ideas presented in these two chapters failed to register.

The author does a much better job at some of the other themes such as ethics, science and love. Here too, at times the writing is bereft of emotions, but the author effectively communicates the ideas, possibly as they are more palatable compared to those related to politics. What I liked the most about the book is the appendix in which the various 'isms' of philosophy are defined in less abstract terms, forming a layman's reference.

Book Review: 'Still Loved Still Missed' by Mridula

The book with the name on the post title is a collection of beautiful vignettes. It takes not more than an hour to read it unless one repeats some of the stories like I did. It has a beautiful thread holding it together - the bitter-sweet pain of separation.

Separation, mostly by death, is scary, especially if you are old and lonely. The author permeates the feelings in very few words and successfully gets the reader experience between the lines. The characters are warm and life-sized. The stories flow uncluttered like the bamboo coracle (the protagonist in the title story) does in its yore. I thought these lines in the poem, 'Love under the Lavender Tree' (part of the book) encapsulates the emotions well:

You went out first as always to help,
And I was left here to melt.

Each spring I longed,
To see you back strong.
None who went out returned,
And, I was overturned.

Book Review: Captivated than Consoled by 'Consolations of Philosophy'

In one of the podcasts hosted by Tim Ferriss, he interviewed Alain de Botton. de Botton is a writer-philosopher. He makes the subject accessible to lesser mortals like me (I hardly understood anything from the little I had read so far). de Botton's book, Consolations of Philosophy is quite a light take on philosophy. It takes us quickly through the lives and ideas of six philosophers. The highlight of the book is its relevance to mundane life without sacrificing depth. de Botton's enterprising commentary is interspersed with quotes by the six immortal thinkers.

The book touches upon the valleys of life - frustrations, inadequacies, difficulties, love failure, poverty and unpopularity. It makes the reader think. Solutions offered by the book are not set in stone, as the author mixes it up through contributions from different directions. I did not enjoy some of Schopenhauer's ideas but did not have to wait long as Nietsche's embrace of struggles made me feel at home. Philosopher's thoughts seem quirky at times, like the connection between intellect and tolerance for noise, and worse when it relates to the length of sleep. One of the six great men has excellent advice on education and on the kind of books one should read, the latter an eye-opener for a parent (guess who) who likes to choose books for his offspring.

de Botton travels treacherously close to preachiness at times, especially when he tries to bang in the most significant ideas.

Fair to have a favourite among the six, the heart-touching account of Socrates and impressive ideas from Seneca come to mind. But for me, Nietzsche is the winner, because he embraces life in all its pitfalls.

Does Chicken Shout?

Recently my dearest friend pointed out the ills of eating non-vegetarian food. His point was simple: look at any of the carnivores, many of them are highly aggressive to the extent of being ferocious. On the other hand, herbivores are generally gentle. Now there could be exceptions, but he pointed out the example of the elephant, benign despite being the largest land animal.

I looked around for further explanation. A theory says that certain chemicals produced at the point of slaughter remain in the muscles which are passed on to us when we eat the meat. These chemicals are produced when the animal goes through severe pain and the resulting emotional upheaval at the time of slaughter. And the chemicals lead to a more aggressive behavior among the eaters (http://www.celestialhealing.net/mentalveg2.htm).

I can think of two ways to escape this. Avoid eating non-vegetarian food or devise ways of killing animals without causing pain. I believe there are already numerous ways to do the latter, but the mode of slaughter in most of the places (especially in the less developed areas) remains painful.

Now the bigger question: is killing animals fair, assuming the process does not cause any pain. Here are some thoughts:

One could very well argue that the universe follows a natural order. Living things are born to die. Some die early, some late. Predator and prey have been inherent to the natural order from time immemorial, or at least based on what we know. In a way, the equation plays an important role in controlling the population of each type (remember the economic model - predator-prey - dealing with populations of rabbits and foxes, based on Lotka Volterra equations). The context is clear. The natural order plays a critical role in balancing the world.

And we know that human beings and not necessarily at the top of this natural order. At least there were not as powerful as some of the wild animals before they evolved their order of cognition to a different level. Science fictions proliferate with imaginary powerful creatures that can spell doom on humans. In a way, things add up, form a circle. Killing animals and eating their meat does not sound unnatural.

To be on the safer side and to stop the cruelty in a slaughter house I advocate the immediate adoption of painless ways to kill the animals. As an aside I remember Peter Diamandis mentioning in the podcast with Tim Ferris about cell culture which can lead to the production of meat without killing animals. The concept sounds futuristic but does not look too far away considering the range of artificial environments we deal with. So maybe, we have a ticket waiting for remorseless cannibalism.

The Couple in the Train

The cabin in the train was fairly full by the time they came in. They looked husband and wife and there was little conspicuous about either. The guy was lean and upright, had a stubble. He wore a white shirt. His demeanor was more on the rustic side. She was short and plump, wore a long black robe that highlighted her religion. He looked around 40 and she must have been about five years younger (assumption by convention). The only time I conversed with them was through an apology when I mistook their bottled water for mine. He shrugged it off with a friendly smile. I noticed them having dinner soon after, from the same box, not conversing with each other during the time.

The train had three berths on each side to sleep in, one above the other. They had one ticket on the top, and the other middle. Soon after, she ventured to get on the middle berth; she could not, her bulk restraining her. He quickly went close to her, held her with both hands and helped her mount the berth. It was a natural thing that any guy would do for his girl, but the expressions on their faces were priceless. He had the calmest expression, his attention solely on her, oblivious to everything else in the world. She had a demure smile, looking around consciously, the beautiful look of uneasy coyness.

I am not sure others in the cabin noticed, but I felt the unhindered love flowing between them. It was beautiful and uncommon 'in these days of degenerating decency' (courtesy a famous regional movie dialogue). It was a minor moment to treasure and I wish them lots of love all their life.