Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Getting Old at 24
To some people, the age
of 24 years might seem as far away from being termed old as it could possibly
be. But getting old is more of a mental state of being than a physical one. You
could still be able to walk miles at a stretch and not feel tired, but even as
you walk, the past and future haunt you even as the present seems uncertain.
And not so long ago, I found the whole concept of a Mid-life crisis a bit vague
and out of place.
I guess I am beginning
to enter that age when nothing on Facebook seems interesting anymore. My
friends keep requesting me to get out there and solve some criminal cases,
perhaps play some Poker, but I guess I am too old for games now...maybe in a
few months my Facebook Timeline will look like that of all the other "old
people" who maintain Facebook pages for God knows what reason!
Instead, all I ever seem
to want on a weekend is a good book to read and a nice, peaceful nap that goes
on and on.
It doesn't hit you like
a brickbat, mind you. It creeps up onto you and before you realize you are introduced as
"uncle" to small kids, and addressed similarly by certain ladies with
a distorted sense of the passage of time.
It occurs around the
time you file your first Income Tax Return. Your family starts taking you
seriously and your advice on financial and social matters is eagerly sought and
duly noted, instead of being brushed off as immature as should have been the
rule before having filed said return.
Money matters take the
first hit. Unlike earlier, when money would have at best been associated with a
smartphone or laptop budget, you start contemplating your investment portfolio
and devising tax-saving schemes to save some hard-earned money from ending up in government coffers.
Then come fairly small, almost
unnoticeable things. One day you miss an eagerly awaited cricket match due to
work, and the next thing you know, you have lost all interest in such childish
pursuits. I do not even remember the last time I watched a cricket match on Television
or even cared to turn to the Sports page at the end of the newspaper.
It is the time when you
contemplate life-altering decisions while walking to office eating an apple,
standing in the shower, waiting for your Burger at Mc Donald’s (on second thoughts,
they have a pretty decent service and plenty of distractions (:P) around so let us count that out). You no longer care
about the stares from the onlookers while you stare straight ahead of you deep in thought like
a perpetual visionary.
Well, to be fair, I have
always been a bit out of place for my age group. My idea of "Aaj Kuch
Toofani karte hain" (Let's do something rash today!) still involves
reaching the Bus Stop 5 minutes earlier instead of the standard waiting time of
15 minutes. Minus all the Harry Potter, Disney and Batman movies, I am a pretty
intense character.
It is just that for the
first time in my life I am missing the innocence of my childhood. Back then,
life was pretty simple, you do your homework on time, watch Disney Hour, write
your exams, and play for 1 hour in the evening.
But now, there are such
a large number of variables involved in my life, I can’t comprehend the order
of the differential equation that shall solve my woes! And all this when the
most potent complexity (or so I have been told), the Female conundrum is yet to
hit me!
I hope that this
complex, uncertain phase ends as quickly as it began. But for now, it seems
like a particularly long wait!
Saturday, March 16, 2013
The Star Wars Conundrum
The Star Wars movie series is widely
believed to be one of the greatest movie franchises ever created. So, when in
my Third year of Engineering I finally decided to give it a shot, I was faced
with a rather awkward question: Where do I start from?
For the uninitiated, George Lucas, the creative “Force” behind the Star Wars released the movies in two installments of three movies each over a period of 2 decades, with the last three movies serving as a prelude to the once released in the mid-80s.
For the uninitiated, George Lucas, the creative “Force” behind the Star Wars released the movies in two installments of three movies each over a period of 2 decades, with the last three movies serving as a prelude to the once released in the mid-80s.
The films in chronological order of their
respective releases are:
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope May
25, 1977
Star Wars Episode V:
The Empire Strikes Back May
21, 1980
Star Wars Episode VI:
Return of the Jedi May
25, 1983
Star Wars Episode I: The
Phantom Menace May
19, 1999
Star Wars Episode II:
Attack of the Clones May
16, 2002
Star Wars Episode III:
Revenge of the Sith May
19, 2005
So, for someone beginning a decade too
late, this question becomes a bit difficult to answer.
The people who watched the movies in their
intended order, who should now be in their mid-thirties are obviously biased
towards the 80s movies that they grew up around. Though low on the technology
front by today’s standards, the old Star Wars movies must have been visual
marvels in their time.
But for all of their originality, these movies had a very simplistic and predictable narrative, out of tune with the complex, multi-dimensional stories of movies like Inception and The Dark Knight.
But for all of their originality, these movies had a very simplistic and predictable narrative, out of tune with the complex, multi-dimensional stories of movies like Inception and The Dark Knight.
The relatively younger crowd, of which I am
a part as well, that saw the last three movies released in the 21st
century first and watched the so-called “sequels” only out of curiousity, we
are obviously enamoured by the superior use of technology and better, more
complex narrative in the recent movies, which are almost unanimously panned by
the older generation.
Having made my preference towards the
recent movies clear, I shall give you an example that will help you in your
choice for the sequence of Star Wars movies you wish to see.
For doing that, I shall make an assumption.
That you have already seen another one of the greatest movie franchises of all
time: the Harry Potter series. The next assumption is that you liked them and
are a crazy fan like me.
Now, suppose, after 10-15 years, Warner
Brothers comes out with a movie franchise that traces the childhood and life of
Tom Riddle until the time he turns into Lord Voldemort. The movies, with the
strength of hindsight and superior technology, shall obviously boast of a
stellar, more intelligent and complex narrative and a visual extravaganza.
Now, for people like us, who have already
been witness to Lord Voldemort’s cruelty and have had our childhoods and
adolescence years filled with happy memories of Harry Potter’s adventures, many
of us might still prefer the original Harry Potter series, and shall obviously
recommend them to be seen first to a beginner.
But would it not still be awesome for the
stranger to find out for himself how a seemingly innocent kid first discovers
magic and then turns into a fearsome Dark Lord, before moving on to, out of
curiousity of course, what happens next, when a similar kid endeavours to bring
him down.
Now, you have to choose, what you would
rather see first in such a circumstance and apply the same logic to Star Wars.
Believe it or not, you will find the analogy strangely similar.
A word of caution: The Star Wars movie
series is going to blow your mind, whichever way you watch it!
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