Karan Johar Ki Prem Kahani

Saw Karan Johar's movie Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani.

A wonderful light  movie with cutting humour. A buffed up Ranveer with a six pack and Alia who is her own cute self are of course good. 

Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi and Jaya Bhaduri play their age. The love story between Dharmendra and Shabana is a nice side plot. 

The story is of course boy meets girl, families oppose, etc. etc. like every third Hindi movie. 

But the script is still the best part  of the movie, at least  before the interval. Full of  cutting takes on tradition, modernity, feminism, toxic masculinity, gender roles... with a typical Karan Johar irreverence. 

After the interval it turns into some typical Bollywood melodrama but thankfully never too heavy. 

What a relief to watch a nice non intellectual fluffy Bollywood movie, especially within a week of watching Oppenheimer which is a total intellectually pretentious dimaag ka dahi. 

Highly recommended for those who go to the movies just to have a good time.

Disclaimer: Karan Johar behind the camera is ok, but I can't stand him in front of it. Watching him in Koffee with Karan  almost makes me puke

The Power of Now - Part 1

Just picked up Eckhart Tolle's acclaimed book 'The Power of Now' to read.

Am about one-third of the day through the book - it seems very similar to yoga philosophy. Nothing really new, but like all universal truths, these are thoughts that can bear any amount of repetition, and any amount of retelling. 

Am paraphrasing ( this is not a book summary in the strict sense, it is more a condensation of the thoughts expressed in the book ) the thoughts in the book, as I am reading - a stream of thought kind of book review in a sense.

Here is Part 1: 

----------+++++++----------

The mind is in constant chatter.

Chatter creates turmoil.

There is a higher You which can detach itself from this you which is the sum of your thoughts,

This higher you , can it watch the other you,

And tell it to stop chattering

Watch your thoughts,

Watch your feelings,

Watch your emotions,.

From whence this fear, this deep seated dread?

From whence this need to be right? 

Whence the anger? 

Whence this anxiety and dread? 

All this is Pain. Why are you living in constant pain?

All desire arises from the ego which has a deep seated lack, a feeling of being incomplete. To make the ego whole, you chase desires. Desires of money, fame, possessions, relationships. The ego needs constant external validation. The ego's needs are endless. It feels vulnerable and threatened and so lives in a constant state of fear and want.

The root of unconsciousness is identification with the mind.

Cease that identification. Become conscious.  Realise that you are not the mind. 

The mind entangles you due to thoughts that arise from fear, and thoughts are of the past or the future. 

Do not be trapped in time, the past is memory and the future is anticipation. 

Get out of that trap. Be in the present moment, acknowledge it, allow it to be. 

Be in the Now. Just Be. Now is the most precious thing there is, don't squander it by being elsewhere in time. 

Now is the intensely alive state that is free of time, free of memory, free of anticipation, free of pain, free of thought. 

At this moment, nothing is lacking. 

Use "clock time", learn from your past and plan for your future, but don't dwell on the past or hanker for something - avoid "thought time". 

The future is always the same as the past. You are your ingrained thoughts, patterns, and beliefs. To get out of that mould, to break that pattern, you need to break the shackles imposed by the mind. Your accumulated negativity stops you from breaking those shackles. 

All problems are illusions of the mind, they are only "situations" that you are dwelling on. 

Be in the present, and discover a space of joy , ease and lightness.

( To be continued)

Dinesh Gopalan,

3 August, 2023

Oppenheimer

Just back from seeing Oppenheimer. I don't know what I was expecting, but given all the hype around it, I was surprised.

The movie could have been shot in a drawing room, which it probably was. There's a lot of who-dun-it kind of suspense and intrigue, except that I could not figure out what was done. At random points in the movie, when two characters are talking, the music builds up to an insane crescendo, for what is, forget climax, not even a damp squib. 

The hero ultimately seems to have triumphed, but I don't know in what. 

The team that created the Bomb at Los Alamos is legendary. I think it is that awe that the Director is counting upon, for the audience to think that some epic things are happening. 

For about half an hour, just before the interval, I even slept off. 

The problem of course could be that I am not the intellectual kind. I need simple plots, some straight fights, a little bit of romance, and I am happy. I am not saying I like only Govinda movies, but Christopher Nolan may be too intellectual for me.

Wife and son were also there and they liked the movie, and as the  designated driver, I had to stay till the end. 

Perfect waste of a Monday  afternoon. Now don't ask me what I was doing watching a movie on Monday afternoon. A very good friend gifted us three IMAX gold class tickets, since he realised he had booked it at the wrong theatre. And on most Monday afternoons I am essentially doing nothing anyway.

Ruminations on a Tuesday morning

Your innermost beliefs are at variance with your speech and behaviour,  which is dictated by survival considerations. 

As a result, you suffer from severe internal conflict which warps your personality.

Society does not care if you are warped or not, so long as you talk the talk and walk the walk.

The inviolable spiritual law says that you will be at peace only if your thoughts, speech and actions are all aligned. 

Therefore, those who need to progress on the spiritual path need to distance themselves from society, family, and all such structures that being them into proximity with other people.

When you are young, a balance that is tilted more towards society and less towards spirituality seems more  rewarding and is probably essential. 

As you grow older, the balance has to shift. You need to tilt more and more towards spirituality. That is the logic behind the four "ashramas" in Indian philosophy, Brahmacharya / student life, Grihasta / fulfilment of worldly desires, Vanaprastha / giving back to society while being still in it, and Sanyasashrama / giving up everything and focusing on Moksha,  rather than Kama and Artha. Underlying the whole thing is Dharma, which one must not forsake throughout one's life.

But the template of "modern life", with its emphasis on "achievement", "wealth", and "success" keeps us trapped in the grihasta stage like a person on a hedonistic treadmill who is unable to step off. 

So, where lies the answer? How does one strike the right balance? That is an eternal question that needs to be constantly reinterpreted in line with shifting ages and times...

Oh, the chemicals we eat!

Ah there! One more article on food additives. This one  outlines how aspartame, an artificial sweetener, widely used in all the foods we eat, is a deadly poison. 

Isn't it depressing, reading all this? 

Actually no. Who said aspartame is poisonous? It is FDA approved!, you think. 

We insist on consuming chemicals. In what way is aspartame, a toxic mix of chemicals, food? 

But it is FDA approved, right? All that FDA approval means is that the stuff will kill you slowly.

This is just one food "additive". Our processed and packaged foods contain thousands of additives. In varied combinations. 

"Processed and packaged food" includes table salt, white sugar, and refined oils. And ready to eat foods. Maggi. Biscuits. Ready to eat ( add only hot water) kind of meals. 

No corporation cares for us. No government does either.  No regulator gives a damn. To all of them, we are "consumers", lab rats meant to consume their poisons in order to fatten their wallets. 

The food industry makes us sick, in body and mind, chronically, perpetually sick. And the Pharma industry stands ready to feed us more poisons that will make us sicker. 

The doctors, dieticians, nutritionists ( always add a prefix "so called" when you talk about them) further compound the problem. They are a product of the same system, and whatever they learn is guaranteed to further the interests of the chemical, food, and Pharma companies.  The system ensures that. 

All this is scientifically approved, you say. What science? The reductionist Western science is of no use when it comes to food and health. It is that same science that says that salt is sodium chloride, just a mixture of two elements forming a molecule. But it is, you say! What else is it if it is not sodium chloride! Ok, do one thing, have one box of sodium and one canister of chlorine in your kitchen. Just add both to all your food. You will be fine, trust me, it is scientific. 

But there's a ton of information out there. It's very confusing. What should I do, you ask. 

Well, for starters ignore what the system tells you. Listen to your common sense, and your grandmother. Unless your grandmother happens to be "educated" of course, in which case , don't listen to her.

And follow a few golden rules. Like this one: 

Today's golden rule: 

*Buy only things that grow. (Biscuits don't grow, and neither does Maggi). And cook them yourself, in your own kitchen.*

Did I hear you screaming at that nightmarish suggestion? And, to de-stress, reaching for the phone to order pizza and diet Coke? Since you are off sugar, sugar is unhealthy you see, and only have zero calorie diet coke which has aspartame, that has been approved by FDA as totally safe. 

You eat that pizza, drink that coke, belch, and you are happy... 

God bless you. May you live a long and healthy life!