glorious bastards

Today Deepak and myself went for Inglorious Basterds. It was a typical Tarantino movie. A well made movie. It had lots of comedy, fresh story line, interesting twists. All the actors have come up with amazing effort. The camera had fresh angles. It was an amazing movie. Worth watching another two times at least.

I am not going to say anything more. Do yourself a favour and watch it. I would tell you this, the actor playing Hans Landa of SS has done an amazing job. Watch it, Watch it, and Watch it!

Sketch once more!

Another sketch by Siddharth. I am sure he would like to know your views. So please feel free to drop in what you think about his sketches. It would help him to improve.

Tomorrow?

During the school days, we used to hoist the Indian flag and sing the national anthem every Friday. I always felt goose-bumps when I sang the national anthem. I am not sure about the people who heard me! I was learning about Indian Freedom struggle. The fight against the British oppression made my spine tingle. I used to feel a bit sad at having missed out the freedom struggle. I remember distinctly feeling unlucky for having not fought for freedom, for not having done my bit. It was then that I realised I wanted to join the army. I wanted to fight for my country, spill my blood for India.That was my first ambition.

Then in my tenth grade, I got this fascination for Astrophysics. I am still not sure what triggered it. I wanted to look at stars, I wanted to do the math behind them. I am sure I did not comprehend what the field was about. But I wanted to be an Astrophysicist. And this dream was there with me for 2 years or more. This was my second ambition.

I finished my 12th grade. All my friends were writing the exam for Engineering selection. But I did not want to do that. I was different from them. I wanted to prove it. I did not take those exams. I wanted to pursue pure science. I felt pure science was somehow purer than engineering. It was during that time I wanted to get a PhD. Did I know what it meant? No way. Why did I want to do it? No idea. I did not ask anyone either. I was partly afraid of knowing the answers for some reason. By now I was no longer sure about astrophysics, but I came down to at least physics.

I joined my Bachelors in science degree and I wanted to graduate with a BSc Physics. In my second year, I realized that Physics was tough job and I did not like it that much. Also many of my classmates were better than me in Physics. I always liked Chemistry but I never felt at home in a chemistry lab. For some reason I was alright in mathematics. When it came to the end of second year it was time to choose between the three. I remembered many of my friends saying I was good in mathematics, and I chose it. I did alright. I enjoyed it too. It was right down my alley. I was at home, did not have to sweat at all. Right now my ambition was only getting a PhD. Did I know what it meant – NO.

 

I loved analysis and algebra. After sometime I started not liking the application part of mathematics. It was like adding water to milk, adding applications to mathematics. I felt applied mathematics was like adding impurity. I realised all my classmates wanted to do applied mathematics. I felt left out, I was odd man out there. If I stayed there for my masters, I would be doing programming and applied maths. I would not be doing any analysis or algebra. This thought made me decide to come out.

I came back to chennai for my Masters in mathematics. How fast time runs. I still had not much clue about PhD. But did not want to accept that. The first year of my Masters was very easy, I did not have to work hard. I became lazy and this did not help in my second year. I always loved Logic, so I took a course in Logic. The professor was the best. He was also my project guide, a very brilliant man. A lot of the students in my masters were applying for PhD in many foreign countries. I did not want to be left out.I don’t think I really wanted to do it anymore. But I did not have any other idea. I did not even attend the campus interview. Why? My professor knew another professor in Australia and told me to apply here. And I did, and I came over here. I still had no idea what PhD involved.

 

After two years of working, I now know about the research life. It is nice. But do I want to continue doing research for the rest of my life? Right now I do not know what to do? What is my goal right now? At present I just want to finish my PhD and graduate. What next? No idea.

Sometimes I toy with this idea of becoming a writer. I do not know what else to do. My head tells me to be optimistic and look at the present. My heart sometimes has real trouble in listening to my head. It wants to feel secure about the future. My heart is justified in feeling that way, but my head says “You are just 24, plenty of time to make mistakes.”

Another sketch

Another sketch by Siddharth. It is a self-portrait of how Siddharth will look in another 40 years.

He has been very generous to himself with the hair ;)

A sketch by a friend

This is a sketch by my friend Siddharth. I was amazed when i first saw it. Beautiful one. 

Keep it up Siddharth. Keep sending more of your sketches.

Happy birthday, Chennai @ The Hindu

Happy birthday, Chennai @ The Hindu

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Belief

I recently watched a very old movie “Chariots of fire”. Made in 1981, it is the story of Olympic Athletes representing GBR. It is a very well made story of how two athletes, a Jew and a devout Christian, find success in Paris. Yes, this is the story line. But the director tells a lot more.

 

It is a story of two athletes with different characters. One wants to win, the other just wants to run fast. One wants to run to prove a point to the world, another wants to run because that is his purpose. One who is ready to sacrifice everything for a medal, another ready to sacrifice running for God. One who doubts himself before the final battle, other believes that God is with him. Both find success by the end of the story. The story has been told in a very simple and touching manner.

The most important piece of the story, to me, was about the Christian from Scotland. There is a lot to learn from this character. He was fast, and he believed God made him fast to run. He says that when he runs, he feels His pleasure. Eric Liddell believed that God was on his side, he believed. He believed with all his heart. He would die but will not forsake his believe, such was the strength of his belief. When one believes in anything with such a fierce strength, it makes life a lot simpler. Think about it, when you believe – it is one less thing to reason about, one less thing to be logical about, one less thing to take stock and be sure about, one less thing to worry about. When you got one less thing to worry about, it gives you more time to enjoy whatever little pleasure one can take from life. Belief is a gift. Not everyone can have such unwavering belief.

 

Eric Liddell got me thinking. Am I lucky enough to believe in something? Do I believe in anything with such fervour. I was feeling miserable for an hour, trying to figure out if there is anything at all that I believe in. Right when I was about to give up and start cursing about everything that is wrong with my life, I realised (this was in the shower!) that I do believe in something. To me life is already complicated, why complicate it more. I believe in living simple. Not wanting too much, not asking for too much. Trying to enjoy and having fun in the littlest of things. Not being bogged down by the bleak future. I find, to my own surprise, that I have changed into this mindless optimist. Mindless? because there are times I just plain refuse to look into future. What does future hold? It is meant to be a surprise, let it be! All I need to know is everything is meant to be. This is what I believe in. And it makes my today easy to bear.

Believe – it is the most difficult thing to do, but it makes everything very easy.

Review of Before Sunset

 

This review written by Sachin.

 

I love creative & weird script and a 77 min movie !

"What if you had a second chance with the one that got away?"

It was a enthralling experience to watch a movie 'Before Sunset' - directed and produced by Richard Linklater.
When the movie ends, you end up thinking..... Is that the end of the movie? (May be waiting for one more sequel)

Can you imagine a movie ending on a dialogue as below:
Celine (slowly to Jesse): "Baby ... you are gonna miss that plane."
Jesse (slow pan in): "I know."

How simple can a movie be. It tells you that, you do not require money to make a movie :)
Just kidding ... it is one of the low cost and best movies I have ever seen.

The movie is shot in Paris, and only has two characters. The pace at which the movie unfolds is amazing.
No jazzy costumes, no heavy music, no sets, no locations ... only a dialogue between two persons.
Cafe, garden, a car and a small house ... that is it .. that is where is movie has been shot.

Refer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_Sunset for the plot. Read this, pretty interesting.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381681/

Memories are wonderful thing when you do not have to deal with the past!
I liked this statement very much ... The heroine of the movie says so ... Watch it to know the background of this :)

Mind well, this movie is not for the people who do not like (or probably understand) off-bit movies.
That's why I am sending this email and recommending to selected friends of mine. :-)

After watching the movie, I came to know that it was a sequel of 'Before sunrise'.

Do watch both, if you a get a chance.

Cheers

Sachin.