A mind once stretched...

I just realized that my titles end with a question mark, usually. This is a fine example of what people point out in me, being over analytic of things. Numerous times I have had conversations with people about things that they (or the mass) might have enjoyed, such as a Shah Rukh/Karan Johar/Bhansali film, or a recent bestseller which I usually am not impressed by (or is it impressed with?). My two cents usually include the same old, "There was nothing new in the film/book. You could almost guess what the next scene/dialogue was going to be and I don't call that tasteful direction/writing" or"He/she acts/cries/laughs the same way in every film and that is not versatile acting". Classic examples of the former include Mani Ratnam's Guru and for the latter include Shah Rukh in almost every movie and Jyothika in Mozhi. (I wouldn't waste this serious piece criticizing Karan Johar) This reminds me of an anecdote that happened about 3 years ago. We were listening to some song from the movie Chalte Chalte and I said that the song reminds me of several songs (because the tune was clearly a rehash of some similar songs). Needless to say, a girl next to me said, "That's because this is a melody and good melodies sound alike." Oh! How blissful are the ignorant.

There was a recent conversation about Jyothika's performance in Mozhi and I simply did not find her performance very scintillating, unlike my friends. Personally, I find that she does the same bloody thing with her big eyes, rotating them from side to side. In fact, try this. Take shots of her eyes alone from several movies where she is anything but smiling and try to identify the character she is playing. It will all be the same. Her possessed Chandramukhi's eyes had the same fury her mute Archana had. Ditto for Shah Rukh's Rahul/Raj (heck he doesn't even change his name). The same goes for Bhansali's direction. I, for one, have never found any of his movies original, except Khamoshi (to the best of my knowledge). But people like these performances. A lot!

And they say that I cannot enjoy even the simplest of these things because I am over analytic. I would like to find out if that is wrong. Maybe, I am missing the simplest pleasures of life. Maybe, I cannot see American Football as more than a game where one person has to carry a ball from one end of the field to the other while being beaten to death. Maybe, I cannot forget myself and watch a Priyadarshan movie (BTW I do enjoy some David Dhawan movies which declare at the outset that you keep your brains at home and I like that openness). Maybe, I cannot give the 7th part of Harry Potter another read because it has become so mundane.

But at all these instances I cannot but help compare what I see to the best of things. Of course I think of people like Audrey Tautou, the late Smitha Patil and Shoba, Tabu, and Meera Jasmine who act(ed) with the motto, "Less is more". They didn't have to cry to make you cry. I compare them with the mainstream Bollywood and Tamil actresses and think that there is no way, these women are even trying. And pardon me for making that judgment. Yes, I do think of some fine artistes such as Ilayaraja, Anthony Hopkins, Mahendran, Charles Dickens, and Wodehouse and conclude that what I witness does not compare to these people in their respective fields and pardon me for that! But as someone once remarked, "a mind once stretched cannot go back to its original shape"! No one who has beheld the real beauty or real talent can and should settle for anything less. None who have read Wodehouse or Dickens would say that Sidney Sheldon or Dan Brown is a great writer!

By setting your goals high, I only believe that you are constantly expanding your taste and mind. That is not to say that you cannot encourage anyone who is below these maestros. But it is to declare a spade a spade! This is not to say that Shah Rukh/Mani Ratnam/Jyothika are not good artistes. Yes, they are. But they are celebrated so much that they have now even stopped trying since whatever they do is accepted as the norm. You can still encourage Shah Rukh/Rani Mukherjee to act better instead of calling him the King Khan and her the Queen of Indian Cinema, or Bhansali to be a little more real/original instead of calling his "Black" a milestone in Indian cinema (sigh!). I do accept that I miss out on several simple pleasures being over analytic. I did enjoy some things ten years ago that I now find mediocre and maybe ten years from now, I will find my current taste mediocre. One could go back in time to enjoy mediocre things and it does give a refreshing change. But that doesn't require celebration. If one is compelled to celebrate such stuff continuously, soon he/she will not know the difference between superior skills and mass celebrated mediocrity, be it in cinema, writing, dance, or any art form. Weighing the two sides, I'd rather be on my side! As Mr. Incredible says when his son "graduates from 4th to 5th grade", "Why should we celebrate mediocrity?"

Missing Margazhi

I am back after a month-long hiatus! Feels good taking that time off, while it also feels like I have not achieved anything in the past month. But anyway, this month gave me a lot to think about, especially being the Thamizh month of Margazhi (Between the 15th of December and the 14th of January). A lot to miss about too! It is that wonderful time of the year that, if you are a fan of the Vaishnavite literature, will make you feel so nostalgic, evoke memories of early morning Thiruppaavai (a collection of 30 songs by Thamizh poetess Aandaal) and the proceeding prasadam at the nearby Vishnu temple too! If you are a fan of classical music, dance, or theatre, it will bring back memories of the music season in the sabhas where you can see anybody from the novice to the best artistes perform everyday. If you don't like the heat or the rain, it is that time of the year when you experience a pleasant weather for the most part. And finally, if you are none of these, it is still a good time of the year because as a student this was the time you had a month-long vacation!

Margazhi means a lot to me, being a fan of Aandaal (Kodha devi) and her Thiruppaavai. Her poetry is filled with her love not just for Vishnu, but also for the language, for her community, for sharing, and for the richness of the culture. You can be an atheist and still love her writing. Allow me to illustrate. Her "koodaarai vellum" verse is a fine example to choose. In this verse Kodhai says that when a morsel of paal soru (pongal) is taken in hand, it will be so rich that the ghee in it will flow along the forearm and to the elbow. But such indulgence is not done alone, but with the community which is when it is the most joyous.

Each verse of the Thiruppaavai is dedicated to each day of Margazhi. At the end of the month, Aandaal is taken in a procession and is given in marriage to Vishnu. Although, I am agnostic most of the time, I cannot help but feel touched by the marriage of a human who devoted herself so much that she finally became one with the almighty. But besides all that, one is filled with wonder when reading her verses and remembering that she wrote a 143 of them before she disappeared. She was about 12 years old then. Her writings meant so much that they became a part of the Divya Prabandham, the 4000 verses for Vishnu, one of the richest Vaishnavite literature pieces. You dont have to believe in god. You don't even have to believe the story of Aandaal. But you just cant ignore those 143 verses filled with love, metaphors, imagination, and superior language (and by love, I don't mean the feminine kind of romantic love, but a divine one).

The month of Margazhi in the part of India where I come from, is a month of celebration of arts and culture. Every house front is adorned in the morning with big kolams (rangolis) that almost fill up the street, some with colors and some without, some with flowers and some with grains, but all beautiful. The evenings are filled with cultural programmes throughout the city. Those that are rare presentations, performed by artistes from literally all over the world. Yes, it is a month where usually no new businesses are started, houses built, or weddings arranged, for it is not considered auspicious. But yet, it is the most wonderful season there can be. Filled with literature and culture, it is clearly the month I miss the most.

Currently living in a western country, we usually end up taking vacations with friends, either visiting them or having them visit us which is a wonderful tradition. And yet, you cannot compare the joy of beholding the Margazhi Utsavam to skiing or laying down on the beach, or the beautiful mornings filled with Thiruppaavai to staying up for the New Year's countdown!