In Life, Zen Moment doesn’t come when you take a break, go hide and meditate or go in search of answers in the Himalayas(figuratively) - its when you say -’what the heck, I am a fighter, I am going back to the battlefield and let me deal the beast - eye to eye’. In this mind set, when you jump back, you will surely without your knowledge, find the Zen Moment - I experienced it today!

Sometimes what you say, do or achieve has no significance to the outside world. Only when you think you want to rant about your sorry state of affairs that people take notice and become Avatars of Advicerama. I am not going to write whether advice is good or not.

I have gone through my own share of ups and downs and the other kind(which I dont know what it is called). I have tried to be very receptive to subtleness that life communicates through various means. I have tried to be mindful of repercussions that could evolve as a result of arrogant and not-well-thought-through type of decisions. I have been scared of making intellectual decisions because I have found myself time-in and time-out to be the recipient of the invisible help at the 11th hour.

I am again not going to talk about free will or the will of the Invisible Invincible Incarnations that people call by different names.

I am going to be random and  never to the point directly or intentionally in this post. I just want to be a renegade who has tried normal methods of follow-up, introspection, evaluation and self-appraisal but has consistently been mis-represented or not clearly understood. No matter how much I try, I return to sleep thinking I had to compromise because I need to survive the day owing to responsibilities.

We are indeed a victim of our past decisions that holds the future down to an extent you wonder when will there be light(forget the tunnel), inside a room where there is electricity available, light source fixtures in working condition but plagued by unscheduled power cuts.

As I sit here compelled to write something positive which is usually a feature of my posts, I am overwhelmed by the status-quo of many things that have overshadowed a lot of good things I am continuing to witness in other walks of life.

I have been called arrogant and all sorts of names that I want things yesterday. While I have never claimed credit to any goodwill gesture I have done, I have not whined about not having the best of best either.

It is clear people do see or take note of you when you are not in the best of your spirits, behaviour or mood. It sort of seems cynical of me to think of a human mind ever ready to pounce on something that is worthy of being a case of judgemental prognosis(forget if the last two words actually make sense). But then what does it teach you? It probably teaches the same lesson it taught you the day before, the week before, the month before…and it will continue teaching you the same until you are down on your knees begging for mercy or get a brain flash erasing of any neuron-power that can help you fight the thought of resistance against the very crux of why that lesson is being delivered to you.

Alright, digressing….as much as there is a philosophical answer to any situation life, it more often than not a lasting solution for someone who is looking for a practical way of dealing with things. There should definitely be a better method to the madness called ‘I get it and it is correct’. There should be a more natural way of catering to the ‘today’s mind’ that which typical self-help books cant cater to. Today’s mind needs exercises that constantly evolve to meet the threshold criteria that compels one to progress in three directions, namely tactical, logical and in accordance with common sense…..and it has to be at the intersection of all the three.

I offer no solution as I am looking for one.

I hold no grudges as they have not helped me much.

I have no arrogance as I know what goes around comes around.

Ideas and Random Fart – Intended for relief and not for prognosis!

Ideas sprout as it should from time to time. If you don’t really feel connected when someone communicates his or her idea, just shut up. Communication is a two-way street where sometimes it might be enough if you just let the other pass by with a smile. Don’t try be Ms. Smarty Pants or Mr. F%%% Face all the time. Tap in to your common sense… It can be pretty interesting journey should you need a break.

I took my daughter to Vandalur Zoo(in Chennai) today and she had a good time. We were almost done(with enough reasons to take rest for a week), we came across a very famous poem about a tree. Here is an improvised version of the painter in Vandalur Zoo’s.

…if you have not already figured out after reading this…please re-read lines 1, 2, 7 and 9.

For other pictures from the trip, please check

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24604489@N07/sets/72157623188934447/

Its my strong belief that we should learn to appreciate new things or new presentation of old subjects that is common in Indian Movies. Forget logic, forget the actors…appreciate the screenplay where you can as well as the framing of each scene. It could be ‘inspired’ by other movies or even literally ‘stolen’. Unless its a movie that’s dubbed, it warrants watching the movie for the good things that the team behind the movie could have done in this movie.

I recently saw an article on Aayirathil Oruvan on Kollywoodtoday.com. It claimed that the movie was sort of inspired from this movie ‘Time Line’ released in 2003. While I don’t want to even comment on the credibility of the article, I would like to list that various aspects that I liked in the movie.

1. Brilliant thinking of Selvaraghavan
2. Excellent music and background score by G.V. Prakash
3. Good spot selection for all the scenes. Kudos to the research and team work in to selecting the spots.
4. Certain parts of the screenplay had my neurons jump out and take notice.
5. Reasonable credit to the graphics compared to other ‘Tamil Cinema’ films I have seen
6. While Reema Sen’s lip sync in the first half was pathetic, she stole the limelight in the second half. Especially when she finds the statue she was looking for in  the ‘godown’ of sorts.
7. Karthi had a mediocre outing in the first half but has done a kick-ass job right from the ‘fight scene’ with the big stone ball and the beast-like man. I believe it could be termed as ‘macho-ism’ exhibited in Indian Movies. But for a person getting beaten till the moment before and suddenly transform, in a sort of fluid state, into someone who turns out to the saviour.
8. Parthiban was fresh without his usual mannerisms. I strongly believe Selva has brought out the best in Parthiban. My friend with whom I saw the movie felt the intro scene for Parthiban was not needed. For me, it was scintillating to watch how an emperor’s entry, i.e., emperor from age-old civilization, but still alive in this new-age civilization, has been visualized and portrayed.
9. One scene that moved me(apart from the look of Parthiban when he realized Reema betrayed him) was the lady asking emperor that she have the first right to get some flesh(as she has only blood coming from her breast instead of milk to feed her infant).
10. The military guy following Reema and group suddenly has iPhone and get connectivity to call for back up. I believe that was sort a dud.
11. I will have to see the movie one more at least to follow some of the old-tamil dialogues in the second half.
12. The war scene towards the end was very tactical and strategically visualized/executed to perfection. Nothing ‘filmy’ about it – that’s a great thing.
13. The scene where, during the war, Parthiban pauses to ask why Karthi did not tell  him about the weapons and other war capabilities of Reema’s army…and follows up with a witty comment - ‘were you worried that we will be startled hearing about it?’. Very Nice!
14. Call it a Zombie movie, a thriller, a fiction or an adventure movie, I think it had everything in it.

Mr. Selvaraghavan, I don’t know if the movie will be money-minting one but you have a WINNER here.

…so finally…

India Time – 5.40 PM, Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010

I have been trying to hold back in talking about LinkedIn, but today is the day.

This status update about one of my connections, which is about my connection having changed his current title. Now, LinkedIn says ‘their’. My english might be bad, but this doesn’t sound correct.

Here is another one, this connection of mine has left his previous job and is tagged as being ‘Between Jobs’. I go to click ‘send a message’ to check on it by sending a message to him.

And this…

Damm it…every status update is NOT worth congratulating LinkedIn!!!!

May be its time for some AI here…

I found this on Facebook. Unless you are talking about Dec 2010 and expecting ‘3 Idiots’ to be running in theatres still, this is wrong. I have seen many such ads on Facebook and other social networking sites. There seems to be no sanity check on dates/validity of an offer via ads. I agree it probably is not up to FB to check it but then it shouldn’t be called ‘Sponsored Ads’.

Just as you sit down to take a deep breadth catching up with normalcy after a period of unexpected events, remember its always how we are around people who have lost dear ones that counts. Its not about you, its not about the departed, its not about the crying ones…its about being there. Words don’t have to be spoken, just silence and nearness should do it.

To all the departed ones, may your soul rest in peace and I assure you that we will strive to create a better world for near and dear ones back on earth – to the best of our efforts.

P.S: This is dedicated to my dear friend(s) who lost one of their loved family member in the last few days.