February 2017 – Ramana's Musings

Lion (2016) Movie,

My children Manjiree and Ranjan insisted that I see Lion, and I am glad that they did. I would have gladly given it a miss had I depended on just the kind of publicity that it has received here. In fact, till I sat down to write this post, I did not even know that this film is a multiple award nominee and winner. I had vaguely heard that Dev Patel got some award for his performance in this film but other than that, I was totally ignorant.

Briefly, this is a real life story of a five year old boy from the heartland of India who gets lost, is sheltered in a foster home and eventually gets adopted by an Australian couple. He eventually returns as an adult after going through a traumatic life of memories, to find that his mother has never given up on him.

The story does everything possible to pluck at your emotional strings. Joy, amusement, anger, pity, frustration and so on and I must complement the director who has been able to do so successfully in his debut film. The child actors perform so well that they overshadow Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman. The very effective music score at the background soothes and excites by turns and the overall effect is a pleasant experience, somewhat like a roller coaster ride that ends well.

If ever there was a movie that strengthened my belief in the theory of Karma, this is it. Many questions like why the young lad gets separated, and unlike more than hundreds of thousands of young children who go missing every year in India, why he gets adopted by an Australian couple, why the other child adopted by the same couple becomes a disappointment etc, can be answered only with the logic of Karma.

If you can, you must see it.

Incidentally, this is the third Indian film that has featured Australia that I have enjoyed seeing. I have written about UnIndian but not about Bhag Milka Bhag, a song from which keeps bugging me as an earworm on and off. Let me share that song with you.

Life With Social Media

Zero without it, is how I would start.

I don’t use twitter unlike the guy in the cartoon. I however am quite active on FaceBook and WhatsApp. These two are enough to give me sufficient activity to keep me out of mischief. It has now come to that stage where I wonder how I lived without these two tools and also the facilitator that makes it possible, the smartphone!

Shackman had suggested the topic for this week’s LBC Friday post. You can see what the other writers of the LBC have to say in their respective blogs. Maria, Pravin and Shackman.

Irada.

Two of my favourite actors, Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi act in Irada and that was the sole reason for my deciding to see it.

I am glad that I did.

It is not anything like the other films where these two actors have paired, It is far more serious. Arshad tries to bring in some humour without much success as the story does not allow for any humour except of the dark variety like when the Chief Minister’s mother asks her to eat with her mouth closed!

The subject matter is contamination of underground water sources and resultant cancer in one particular geographic area. Collusion between Corporate interests and politicians, murder, hear break, suicide etc all come together in a fast paced presentation to make it a worthwhile experience.

Excellent direction and cinematography makes it technically very sound. All the other actors produce professional performances and if you can get to see it, please do not miss the opportunity.

Voting For Our Municipal Elections.

Elections to various local bodies were held yesterday in many parts of our state.

Like I inevitably do, I voted too and here is proof!

To those who are unfamiliar, in India, people returning to vote more than once can happen and has happened in the past and so, a preventive measure is to apply an indelible ink mark on the left forefinger of the voter just before s/he enters the booth to register the vote.

Indians however are famous for their jugaad. A very innovative solution has been found to overcome the problem of the ink mark by this simple device!

Accident Report.

I had come across this story through a forward from a cousin and had shared it with a number of my friends via email.

“SAD…BUT FUNNY

Possibly the funniest story in a long while. This is a bricklayer’s
accident report, which was printed in the newsletter of the Australian equivalent of the Workers’ Compensation board.

This is a true story. Had this guy died, he’d have received a Darwin Award
for sure….

Dear Sir,

I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block
3 of the accident report form.

I put ‘poor planning’ as the cause of my accident.

You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be
sufficient.

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone
on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found
that I had some bricks left over which, when weighed later were found to be
slightly in excess of 500 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I
decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley, which was attached to
the side of the building on the sixth floor.

Securing the rope at ground I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and
loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it
tightly to ensure a slow descent of the bricks. You will note in Block 11
of the accident report form that I weigh 135 lbs. Due to my surprise at
being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and
forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate
up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the
barrel, which was now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed.

This explained the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collar
bone, as listed in section 3 of the accident report form. Slowed only
slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my
right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley.

Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to
hold tightly to the rope, in spite of beginning to experience pain. At
approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground
and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the
bricks, that barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my
weight.

As you can imagine, I began a rapid descent, down the side of the building.
In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This
accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and several lacerations
of my legs and lower body.

Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel seemed
to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks
and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked.

I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in
pain, unable to move, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let
go of the rope and I lay there watching the empty barrel begin its journey
back down onto me. This explains the two broken legs.

I hope this answers your inquiry.”

The story was much appreciated by some who responded with their comments, some of which were quite hilarious on their own merit. One from the irrepressible Conrad, particularly tickled my fancy which read as “That sounds kind of like your leap out the second floor window that caused your hip problems, lol!”

For those of you who do not know about the leap out of the window, both my hip joints have been replaced and revised a few times. The joke is that I fractured my hip joints by jumping out a second floor window. The cause for the leap was not a fire as most people would suspect but the husband coming home unexpectedly.

Moonlight.

I was persuaded to watch Moonlight by a post that Anna has written reviewing it. Like in her post, the climate here too has changed to an unusually warm late February and it was nice to be in an air-conditioned theatre for a show that started at 12.00 noon. Another very unusual and inconvenient timing but the movie itself and the five people who were in attendance explained that timing.

This is a much critically acclaimed and many nominations and award winning film which to its credit has excellent story line, direction, acting, cinematography and background music. The story is unusual because it depicts an African American boy’s boyhood, teenage, imprisonment, growth and adulthood. It is a very sensitively made film and is not the run of the mill entertainment genre. More on lines of an art film high on aesthetics, it still depicts reality and conveys brute truths very well.

I had gone to the movie with a dear friend who has been housebound due to a fracture in the leg for a long period and who was quite excited about getting out of the house and going to a movie in a mall. For her, it was a disappointment as she was looking forward to some entertainment whereas I had to keep explaining the dialogues, rather unusual for her. While I appreciated the movie, I cannot honestly say that I was entertained.

If you like seeing serious films and can be comfortable with African American diction, you may watch it. Otherwise, giving it a miss will not be a big deal.

The saving grace was a late lunch at a Rajasthani restaurant which compensated for the dull movie experience.