From Cheenu. 4th sep2022

It is said, all that is yet to happen has already happened. That the future is but the past waiting to reveal itself. It is said, all that is past is but the future waiting to conceal itself. That all there is but the now, the moment that holds in itself the powers of revelation and concealment. It is in this moment all of space, time and matter exist. What existed a moment ago and what is yet to exist do not exist in this moment. And yet, all that existed and all that is to exist are concealed in this moment. 

It is said that all there is to know is already out there. That there is no such thing as new knowledge. Knowledge births itself over and over again in the minds of men, each time adapting itself to suit their perceptions, styles, and sensibilities. It shrinks itself to the size of a pea or grows itself vaster than the universe in a moment, depending on what men do with that moment. Some have wrought miracles, others have discovered great mysteries and yet others have created great works of art with that moment. Billions have frittered the moment when offered it. 

In each moment, we walk across the chasm of ignorance from life to death to life across the rickety bridge of time. With each step, the bridge behind us dissolves into nothingness, revealing only the next step.  At long last, one fine day, when there are no more steps to be revealed or taken, we pass into the yonder, perplexing those we leave behind. “I only wish she could have willed herself to take a few more steps,” they wail.

There have been men and women who have swum across the canyon of ignorance and reached the heart of truth in that moment that occurs before before time splits itself. Upon reaching, they gazed deeply into the soul of truth itself. Some went stark raving mad because it wasn’t what they had prepared themselves for. For truth isn’t meant for anyone but those with the gentlest of minds that bend like grass in a gale. It is said that the strongest of minds on seeing the truth are broken easily like tall, proud oaks in a hurricane. 

Some of these men and women survived the seeing of truth. Only a handful were left with the courage to talk about it. Kapila, Vyasa, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad and so on. They were scribes, teachers, prophets and indeed parents of mankind. They came and they went. Their words have survived. For how long, who knows. It doesn’t matter because words are poor substitutes for truth. Words may disappear someday. But truth lingers on. And it will rise yet again in another era of men and women. Krishna, Jesus and Mohammed will emerge again in this new era. They will be known by other names but the truth they will bring forth is the truth that always was, has been and will be. 

What is this unyielding truth, you ask? If it could be expressed in words, that would make words immortal. If it could be experienced by minds, minds would become eternal. There is really no way to get to it other than to shrink of all space into one place and to collapse all of time into a single moment where everything everywhere happens all at once. 

It is said that this truth does not exist. It is existence itself. It is said that truth is not conscious. It is consciousness itself. It is said that truth isn’t blissful. It is bliss itself. It is the silence in creation that occurs between the death and rebirth of creation itself. 

Om tat sat.

Be careful what you pray for; because you may get it.

Modi has won the parliamentary elections with a decisive mandate on the plank of development. Congress lost humiliatingly. Yet, we now see that even a popular government can be made to be not functional and progressive. Hitherto, whatever issues that were raised on the floor of the parliament were no issues at all and they were there just to make parliament not function. Congress seems to be in the vanguard,in spite of knowing that they just want the present government to undo whatever they did when they were in power.

English news channels India discuss nothing but trivia and we could not find one newsworthy item in their telecasts. There is no objective news analysis. In the name of discussion the anchors try to force their bias on the panelists,most of whom are not even fit to be there on the panel. I have known that an Anchor introduces a subject and invites the panelists,maximum four, to offer their views. Mostly he will pose the question and stay without interrupting the panelists while they talk. But, the anchors I find now on these discussions keep interfering, many a time migrating them to different lands.
Politics and news channels are two diversionary outlets if one has nothing to do but mope.
I trust and still have faith in Modi’s government to deliver on its promises. Time is running out and before one realizes it will be2019. Whether it will give Congress the mythical status of a Phoenix remains to be seen.

Indian General Elections 2014

As it would have been, the exit polls went wrong this time too. Even though NDA as such was projected to get 282 seats,with BJP's individual tally pegged at 220/230, the results proved otherwise.NDA got 336 and BJP 282,thus putting off speculations as to the would be allies. The biggest disappointment was to the media,esp. TV that was banking upon a spicy debate for days. Their hopes were dashed by the public verdict. And the  Tamil Nadu chief minister who was waiting for this opportunity to have the ruling dispensation at her mercy. The results proved her triumph in her state was inconsequential. I am sure she must be smarting and  cursing that fate handed over such a "Tantalus" effect. Her wishes might not be true. Modi might be genuine in his reciprocation,but he knows,he will be cautious. "There you see a lean and hungry looking man. Such men are dangerous". These were the words of Caesar to Mark Antony. Here you replace the adjective lean with its opposite,and man with ........

Thank God, he escaped the clutches of people like her and Mamta. Pawar, in spite his willingness to choose any side that is better buttered,got an almost empty plate.

This is going to have a domino's effect. Wait.

Finally,when Modi gives a good accountable governance and the nation and its people start to have better times,these so called secular parties would have to scratch their heads and split their hairs to find out a way of outmaneuvering him,since the communal and secular cards would not be valid hereafter.  The fact is Modi is better prepared and always prepared. The leaders of Congress et al could not even guess or reach within a striking distance.

Quo Vadis,Monsieur le Directeur?

Quo Vadis,Mr.Director

Just a day ago I watched the movie "Invictus",starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.It was based upon a true story.Throughout the movie,I was conscious of Nelson Mandela and Francois Pienar only, and not those who played the roles.The film was well knit,begins and ends aptly,with superb editing and screeplay.I saw that the Director of the movie was Clint Eastwood. My goodness.He has never failed as a Director.

What is the role of a Director in a movie?

The movie's excellence,its appeal and perfection depend upon him. He starts a movie witha bang and ends it very logically.As I feel,he is the pivot and all others who work for the production of a movie are subservient to him,including the heroes and heroines.Why a movie is successful at the boxoffice,why people praise a movie? Because we see the hands of a great Director there.Great Directors from Hollywood  in the past as well now attest to  this. They handle their actors, supervise editing and cinematography,keep costume period and continuity.Typically, the producers decide to make a movie and buy the film rights from the author of a published and well received fiction or novel.Then they look for a Director who would steer the ship ably.That is where the Director's importance comes.From there on the Director calls all the shots. I just happened to know that John Huston's first directorial venture was "The Maltese Falcon".Producers wanted George Raft in the lead role,a detective;but Huston stood for Humphrey Bogart.He was very firm on that.Finally,that movie made history and Bogart shot into stardom. Of course. when Kirk Douglas made Spartacus he first hired Anthony Mann for its Director spot,but fired him and brought Stanley Kubrick instead.It was not a good move and yet it passed with Kubrick doing pretty little.
I used to hear that in Ben Hur,during the chariot race,someone  saw a car in the corner of the movie frame and wondered what  William Wyler was doing.Till now, I dont know of this, in spite of seeing the movie more than once.Incidentally,Kirk Douglas was disappointed with Wyler for not casting him in the lead role in Ben Hur,  as he expected.Charlton Heston instead got the role.As a spite Douglas produced Spartacus,which,however, turned out to be a mega boxoffice hit at that time,I believe 1960.

This led me to think,well, what is happening here in Chennai  movieworld.They call it Kollywood.Supposing Hollywood were to be Hollyholly,it would be followed by  Bollyholly ,Kollyholly,and Tollyholly
.How good are the Directors here;what control they have over the production of a movie?

With what I gather and understand, many a Director has become one on his own assumption, and anyone who could put money in the front can elevate himself as a Director too.There are a few good directors,really.Some are made to look like good directors.Recently I heard in a television talk program that the producers decided upon a story and fixed the would be and heroine and finally started looking for a director.Note that a  story for a movie is concocted here,and not based on any published work. In this case,the movie was a supposed hit.Hero cornered all the glory and praise of the director was incidental.This is where I want to come.In Hollywood they choose actors according to the characters to be played and the Director does this.Morgan Freeman comes so close to look like Mandela, Damon  almost near Francois.

Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienar

Most of the tamil movies excel in cinematography and that is a redeeming feature.Excepting a few, other Directors do not seem to have done anything that befits the name of a good Director.That is why most films are sloppy and uninspiring.Violence,inane comedy, tin music,the eternal equation only seem to dominate the movie.There is no storyline, an offbeat attempt.Exceptions are there,Mozhi was a lovely movie.Case number 18/9[I think}was exceptionally a good movie.Looks like that,if the actors are new  faces,Directors  can have full control over them and bring their best into the film.This might not happen with the biggies and wellestablished.The same tantrum throwing guys were in Hollywood too.The producers of Godfather never wanted Marlon Brando in their production as they knew what it would cost them.Cuppola somehow as a Director prevailed and convinced them to have Brando as Vita Corleone.We  know the rest.The movie was a thunderous hit.So, a Director knows how his cast should be chosen.Well, whether it happens in Chennai?I should say 'No'..Some directors are praised beyond their worth and if you look at their work you wouldn't find anything extraordinary that rivets your attention.To put it precisely, a few directors here are born, some are made and many are living in a lotusland. And,whenever they come on a television screen it more than confirms my view.

Nelson mandela and Francois Pienar in 1995 Rugby World Cup.

South Africal wins trophy.Mandela gives the nation a champion.

Sometime ago, I was installing an update to Java,when it stopped abruptly with an error note no.1606 saying that network location could not be found.I went to java site to find a solution.It asked me to uninstall the program and download the offline installer and start reinstalling from there.
First,the program could not be ininstalled.The same error showed up again.I visited geek.com and found that the problem was caused by msi and hence I could download windows uninstaller and remove the program.But, the uninstaller removed the program entry from the control panel,without removing all other files relating to java.When I started reinstalling from the java offline installer ,a message came that the program was already installed.
Finally,I found out this software on microsoft.com called 'fix it' and downloaded it.When I clicked on the downloaded file, fix it opened and showed all the installed programs and asked me
to choose the program that was the problem.I chose java and then the fixt went on to put the correct registry values and remove the wrong ones and then asked me to install java again.And,java installed properly, and from that time onwards the updates installed themselves peacefully and without any supense.
This was my experience.I am learning and this was one of the lessons.Though I do not have any technical knowledge,I understood it was wrong registry values that caused the problem,from getting to know how the fix it worked.