Quote Challenge Special: Carroll

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
― Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)

I don’t have the book with me anymore, and I loved the 2010 movie having the same name with Mia Wasikowska as Alice Kingsley. Lets first look at those impossible things which she talks about in the movie. “I try to believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast. Count them, Alice. One, there are drinks that make you shrink. Two, there are foods that make you grow. Three, animals can talk. Four, cats can disappear. Five, there is a place called Underland. Six, I can slay the Jabberwocky.” Lets ask each member of the Vampire Team about one impossible thing for humans these days.

Vampire Owl: It is love. It is almost non-existent. What you see nowadays is a lie. People act so much that some strange feelings and dramatic performances are often misjudged as the result of love, but they are not. There is infatuation in romance and the random creation of love and care which leads to no good. This is the same reason why people don’t like fairy-tales these days. It is just not possible, and some people are really working hard to make sure that there is no effort. Love as an impossible things will be instant success if you share on social media.

Vampire Bat: It is equality. It is more impossible than many other things combined. When was the last time you saw equality? Other than when Lady Death came to take the souls, when was the time? The equality in death is not transferred to life. What is it about life that death doesn’t have? It has the same beauty in the form of after-life. Life is full of inequalities, of wealth and of opportunities. No matter how hard you try, some opportunities will always be reserved, and this denial of opportunity is a human rights violation which happens only life and not with death.

Vampire Crocodile: It is forgiveness. It has never been an easy thing to do, if you look deep into the pages of history. People are only losing any remains of that skill further these days, because they are not taught to forgive, but to have that revenge which becomes their sweet little thing. Actually they watch too many revenge movies like Kill Bill and Django Unchained and have rather so much of addiction. People are even worried about having revenge for even the simplest of incidents, and one has to wonder how much humanity has learned after so many years of existence.

Vampire Alligator: It is tolerance. The situation is only getting worse. People just don’t like the other, the one who is not him or her. Intolerance is a Jabberwocky which cannot be slain, and so it is a permanent Mission Impossible. There are too many things happening around the world, and people always find a new reason to kill the other. It is religion at times, and even in the absence of the same, they find many other. These days, the lack of religion is even more intolerant. People just can’t stand the customs and traditions of others and their set of beliefs which they are following without troubling anybody else.

Vampire Penguin: It is appreciation. With those Seven Deadly Sins taking over humanity, how can there be appreciation? When there is too much avarice and vanity, how can the achievements of others be appreicaited? It is all about being better than others, isn’t it? Then how can we appreciate others because it is all about showing that you are better than others in front of the people you know? Too much ambition is fed to the children by the parents, and this is what should be expected as they grow up. At least everyone is moving together towards the same grave? Can’t at least that truth be accepted?

Vampire Panda: It is freedom. We long for it and we keep preaching the same, but we never strive hard enough to attain it. Instead, we are happy with the shadow of the same and being bound with the chains which have followed us. Some of those chains follow us, and the rest are provided to us by the society. It is not about what you want to be, but what society makes you. There is the need for civilization and education, but if they don’t make you a better person whom understands the significance for freedom and a number of other things, what is it?

***All images used in this blog post are from the official Facebook page of Alice in Wonderland movie.

This is a special extension of the three day quote challenge for which I was nominated by Kiran, and also dedicated to the challenges by my other friends who tagged me, Simran, Moon, Somali and Sreesha (at FB). I also declare that I shall not do any more quote challenges until further notice, because I am already surrounded by too many quotes 😀

TeNy

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Quote Challenge Extra: Orwell

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
― Animal Farm (George Orwell)

Even though I loved the vampire fiction, my initial feeling was fear for them. But things had to change. But I then realized that they were better, as never do they discriminate in their lives. It is more of a result of the later knowledge that I will never be considered equal to others, and I can never demand that status from people around me. I was always the person who scored more for the wrong subjects, and I was never as good as others in acting the love and care. Acting was not my department, because it never really came to me naturally.

I was never to have the same status again, because I never studied any science after I got rid of the shadow of the forced courses over me. I would never be considered as good enough because I didn’t study science. With so many engineers and doctors around, how can I be of any good in this society? Then I thought that may be getting a job will be my key to getting closer to equality. It could make some relatives consider me to be of any good. For them, Bachelor of Arts go far below everything, with commerce also coming a long way above it.

My favourite demon; even he doesn’t discriminate in taking souls.

Then I thought that I will apply for Phd after MA. I saw the reservations list and realized that the only way I can study in any university from the General category is by death and later becoming a ghost. I am not denying that people do get admissions from every category, but people deserve more chances as humans and not due to belonging to a caste. Even the questions are like helping people who want to learn things byheart. I want to earn knowledge and not study things byheart. I want to know and not to memorize.

Death was pretty much a fine solution, but I did wonder if souls are allowed in such classes because they won’t be considered equal too. I have met so many people who have got admission for Phd and still struggles to write one full essay. Such people get admission to Phd and despite scoring a long way above and despite being the one to help all these people with grammar and spelling, I will get nowhere near. You get prepared for a Phd and for that you need to take a memory test through which people who can’t write an essay gets in.

Souls are taken without any reservation; all are devoured in the right order.

May be I should burn my books. There is no point in all these. When you go to write to English NET exams, you see an objective question paper which make sure that people who don’t know English grammar become the “qualified”. The rich Reserved gets in and the poor General category tries again and again. Things in life gets repeated, and I was again told that I am not equal. All Indians are my brothers and sisters, but I am not close to being equal to a good number of them. Well, it could be because I am useless and I should apply for equality after death.

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it”. Seriously? Paulo Coelho, you should be from another world. The only thing that the universe has already decided is to mess up people’s lives. May be it is how things work at Brazil, but calling a nation a universe is rather extreme a step, isn’t it? The universe here already got the reservations ready and will provide even more for vote banks. Yes, we have the equality in death, and is it the end that we should conspire to achieve?

PSC does the same thing, and it is like a struggle till death. This is that kind of a world where if you want to study, you are not allowed. Everything is bloody reserved. I am still glad that Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code is repealed. There is always the last chance. There is provision for suicide, and even a mental institution is a lot better than being in a world in which there is no equality. Why would someone read and study so much for absolutely no result when ending everything is so easy? How can someone blame the British before the independence while treating one’s own people without equality? Why should there be legal discrimination based on one’s religion, community or caste?

***All images used in this blog post are from the official Facebook page of Diablo game.

This is a special extension of the three day quote challenge for which I was nominated by Kiran, at https://drkiranacharya.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/day-three-quote-challenge.

TeNy

Quote Challenge 2: Tennyson

“We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
― Ulysses (Lord Tennyson)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson – that name itself had a lot to do with my life. I was often asked about by name by my English teachers, and they have always loved my name while I was in school. I never really realized that it would mean that I could be doing a degree and also the post-graduation in English Language and Literature, but yes, even though late, I did realize what I was supposed to do. Even then the name helped; having the same name as the greatest poet of an era and the longest reigning Poet Laureate has its advantages.

To add to it, I do love his works, and my favourite among them is Ulysses which I studied more than once, and read so many times – then there is this quote “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”. Well, it is a nice quote, but among those which I want to talk about and wish to relate with life includes most of the lines in Ulysses rather than anything else. Among them, the one I have mentioned here has a lot more significance, at least for this period of my life.

The quote is about something that we all face, about not being good as we used to be. I have always thought about the same. I am sure that as of now, I am able to write better and with more variety than I used to, just an year ago. I am able to write about things that I never thought I would write about. Two years ago, when I began my other blog with the pen name, The Vampire Bat, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Why The Vampire Bat? I had no idea. But then things got better. I never knew I could bring anything new to my writing style.

But there are things with which I am not getting any better. They include most of the things which are not related to writing. I know that I won’t have the stamina to play more than one singles game in Badminton if I give it a try after such a long time. I know that I might not be able to bowl two consecutive deliveries without sending one for a wide. I also know that I might not have the energy to withstand one single football game any more. I am not that good, and I am not of that strength as I was when I was doing by degree.

I know that I don’t understand things that well as I used to, and I feel that I won’t be able to memorize things that well. I keep having that feeling that I have done with reading, studying and all; and even when writing about a movie, I feel that I might not be able to do justice. When I understand that almost everyone that I know from my college got a job and a good number of them are married, I do feel that I am trailing, and when I get to do one of these things, I won’t be as good as they are now, because I will be tired and older.

I am always reminded of the same, by one person or the other, being the oldest person without a job, and about the rating in the marriage-alliance market going down as I get older. The strength of that old days – we all miss them, and I miss my friends from those wonderful days too. I also feel made weak by time and fate, but I hope to do well, and overcome the weaknesses that have come upon me. I am surrounded by two things, immortality of one world which I love and the mortality of the other which I have to embrace.

I cannot take a step backward, not at this period of time. May be we can dig through the dead end. There are people who want me to, and events which are fair enough to make that call for me. Inspired by my favourite single line of all-time, “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”, I still leave myself with some hope for miracles, and at the same time keep doing what I hope that I can do well till the end end of time. In the name of the great poet with whom I shares my name, it might really be depressing for his soul if I gave up. Ulysses had a sea, and I have an ocean. But I am still younger. The last times were used to inspire athletes for London Olympics 2012, so why can’t it continue to do so for me?

***The images used in this blog post are from the game Age of Empires III which I used to play.

I have been nominated by Kiran, at https://drkiranacharya.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/day-three-quote-challenge, for the three day quote challenge. Thanks for the tag 🙂

Rules for the challenge:

• Post one of your favourite quotes (different quote on each day) on three days. The quote can be from your favourite book, author, or your own.
• Nominate three bloggers to challenge them.
• Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

For my day two, I nominate my blogger friends:

Ranjini (http://rangelz.wordpress.com)

Tara (http://crimsonapril.com)

Archana (http://drishti.co)

TeNy

Quote Challenge 1: Rice

“Revenge is the concern of those who are at some point or other beaten. I am not beaten, I told myself. No, not beaten. And victory is far more interesting to contemplate than revenge.”
― The Tale of the Body Thief (Anne Rice)

***250th post, btw 😀

Revenge has been something which managed to create superhit movies out of average flicks. What would have been Kill Bill, Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds, I Spit on Your Grave and The Last House on the Left without the power of revenge? Vengeance has been too sweet in the movies, and the same has been reflected in literature and glorified by fans because there is that feeling of satisfaction that people have when they see the protagonist managing to finish the act of vengeance.

The lesser humane of the two main vampires from Interview with the Vampire, Lestat de Lioncourt says these words in the novel. He always has stories to tell us, and here we see his lack of interest in revenge. It is not something which he learnt from holy books or wise men, but from his experience. He is a man who creates his own interesting quotes, and we can see that from the different books of Vampire Chronicles series that he brings some nice quotes of wisdom for the readers.

Interview with the Vampire – there is more to that talk with quotes of wisdom.

Lestat not seeking revenge doesn’t mean that he is not angry, but he never accepts that he is beaten. In Interview with the Vampire, we can see that he keeps coming back, and his ultimate desire was never vengeance. He wants to be victorious every time, and a case of revenge will mean that he was once beaten and he is trying to turn the tables. He wouldn’t stand the chance of being beaten by anybody as he considers himself to be good enough to thrive in any environment.

Even for the death of his vampire daughter Claudia, he only blames himself, and as he has the results of a revenge which was brought upon her by other vampires in the name of what she did to him, he has only nightmares about it – the one revenge which happened in his name doesn’t give him any feeling of happiness. Once again, if that was a revenge, that would mean that he was beaten by a child vampire who tricked him into being a dumb vampire even with all his experience.

The Embrace of the Vampire – Why don’t you choose this one instead of revenge?

Well, if you have read Interview with the Vampire, you will know things from the viewpoint of the more humane vampire, Louis de Pointe du Lac. There is more to Lestat than what is written there; even the movie follows that path as the interview of the one vampire who proves to be the man with more conscience than most of the modern humans combined. It might seem that revenge was in his list there, but it never really was, as Lestat had risen above that already.

So, the quote of the day is not an invitation to be like Lestat. He will never be my favourite vampire character, and neither will Louis even though this one is closer. Claudia is actually even further closer. There are Clara and Eleanor from Byzantium if you are looking for movies alone, and in the case of books, there is the need to pay reverence to the legendary characters from Dracula, Carmilla, The Vampyre and a number of others. So, the quote can be taken outside the vampire world.

I have been against taking revenge, even though I cared less about those little ones. There is nothing that interesting in having vengeance, as it is something which has to be left to God, or fate if you want to think that way. If you try to take revenge, it is more of your weakness, and only by rising up from that state and moving towards victory can the replacement to revenge be done. Yes, be the better person, and your achievement is the true vengeance which is not evil, but a good result of an indirect inspiration provided by the evil which has been done against you.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Facebook Page of the movie Interview with the Vampire.

I have been nominated by Kiran, at https://drkiranacharya.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/day-three-quote-challenge, for the three day quote challenge. Thanks for the tag 🙂

Rules for the challenge:

• Post one of your favourite quotes (different quote on each day) on three days. The quote can be from your favourite book, author, or your own.
• Nominate three bloggers to challenge them.
• Thank the blogger, who nominated you.

For my day one, I nominate my blogger friends:

Anoop (http://anooppillaiz.wordpress.com)

Amreen (http://painttheworldwithwords.wordpress.com)

Namrata (http://namratakumari.blogspot.in)

TeNy

FPFS1: Wars of the World

Vampire Owl: Why did you teleport me here? I thought we would be travelling through India.

Vampire Bat: Isn’t it because William Shakespeare’s work, Henry VI, Part 3 Act 1, Scene 2 is set here? I can smell history and literature here.

Uncle Dracula: No, it is because I am going to use this imagery of the ruins as a base for what I am going to say. I can’t say this at most of the historical monuments in India because some people will consider me as an anti-nationalist at one place and some others will consider me against their religion at another place. This is more of a safe place and it is rather a civil war area. So, I can talk about this in peace.

Vampire Owl: Okay, then. Lets come to the point. My zombie minions are waiting. There are big plans for the weekend.

Uncle Dracula: I am speaking about your owlification procedure. Do you really need that? It is more like a war. We have our own vampire divisions among us, and being an extremist is not the right thing. Be a moderate. It is in our blood, as extremism is for the humans, and many other groups like werewolves. See how the humans have been going through their wars. See the remains of this battle or any of those meaningless things of hatred that the humans have committed, and they don’t even live forever.

Vampire Bat: Humans have been caught in their web of hatred for centuries. They will only kill each other for one reason or the other. When they don’t have religion, they will only find another reason. It has been going on through centuries as we have seen them.

Vampire Owl: But I am planning to save the world through a superior owl ideology.

Uncle Dracula: It is exactly the same as all those war-mongers say. There is no superior ideology which you can force into others through violence. Anything that is spread through violence cannot boast to be the right thing.

Vampire Bat: And the shedding of blood; it is the waste of our elixir of life, don’t you realize that feeling?

Uncle Dracula: If they like your ideology, they will follow you. For now, you seem like that person who forces your religion up-on others through swords, guns, daggers, dynamites and bombs. Don’t ever do that being part of the vampire family.

Vampire Bat: And stop trying to add special owl worship by spreading the idea that owls were the first creatures on Earth. That won’t sell.

Vampire Owl: What? Who told you that?

Vampire Bat: It was the Vampire Crocodile. He saw you installing a bronze statue of an owl with a sword on the eastern side of the Werewold prayer centre.

Vampire Owl: He is everywhere! One day, I am going to take him to Lake Placid.

Uncle Dracula: This is not about him; this is about you and our community. On this place where the Battle of Wakefield occured on 30 December 1460, I want you to take the pledge that you will never go extreme like the humans, and that never will you try to go for owlification again. I request that you never go for violence which can devastate the name of the vampire kind and make them seem as terrible as the humans. On this place where Richard, 3rd Duke of York, a great-grandson of King Edward III had fallen, you will take the oath of peace and non-violence.

Vampire Owl: Can I just do that tomorrow? Today is Good Friday, a holiday.

Vampire Bat: I see that he wants to start the war today itself after you enter your coffin.

Uncle Dracula: Right now, and you know that I don’t count days. I have lived in a coffin for so long without thinking about the days of no significance which passed through my immortality.

Vampire Owl: Okay, I take the oath in the name of our vampire elders not to be a violent extremist who goes for war and bring shame to the vampire-kind. Sounds good?

Uncle Dracula: I don’t like the way you said it, but I still want to believe that you can keep that oath.

Vampire Bat: Can we just go through this historical site, please?

Uncle Dracula: Why not? Lets add another chapter to our immortality lessons.

I have been tagged by Maniparna to take part in the Five Photos Five Stories (FPFS) challenge. This challenge works like: You post pictures for five consecutive days (with possible discounts like sometimes changing to alternate days :D) and attach posts to it, fiction, poem or short write-up. It can be anything that suits your taste. I am also tagging my wonderful blogger friend, Ranjini on Day One, as part of the challenge, and I will tag a new person on Day Two. 

***The image used in this blog post was taken by me on my Sony Cybershot DSC-W310 camera.

TeNy

Return of the Emperor

Roger Federer still remains the one big reason why I watch tennis, and even at this age, what he is still managing to achieve remains pretty much awesome – despite the blind fans of many other tennis stars still not willing to see the same and those who don’t know tennis failing to look at it doesn’t make it any lesser. With the most grandslams in men’s tennis and the most number of weeks as the world number as well as the most consecutive weeks holding the same, plus so many other records, Federer has got not much to prove.

Yes, this is another one of those years in which he hasn’t won a grand slam, and has reached only one final of the same, that too of his favourite slam. He was without slams in 2011 and 2013 too and compared to last year, this one is a big improvement. He was number six last year, the lowest for him in ten years, and also with the lowest win percent and having no grand slam finals – the worst year since his rise to the top.

Federer with the ballboys and girls after winning the trophy 🙂

Consider this year though, as he is back to the world number two, gaining four spots from last year. He also has the best win percent since 2007, and could throw the miserable 2013 behind him. With only Novak Djokovic in front of him, he has also beaten the current world number one multiple times. With Rafael Nadal struggling to find form and time without injury, it is brilliant how Federer can manage it at this age.

Imagine Federer at one of our malls in front of his photo 😀

This year, he won Dubai Tennis Championships beating Tomas Berdych in the final, and followed it with the titles Halle Open, Cincinnati Masters, Shanghai Masters and Swiss Indoors, plus almost winning Wimbledon in a comeback which was almost not there for him. He was also close to winning Monte-Carlo Masters and Indian Wells Masters. Time to retire? I wouldn’t think so, and neither should anyone else. See how he is still evolving his game and adapting – there is more to see from him.

The Roger Federer Foundation – beautiful stuff 🙂

The ATP World Tour Finals is yet to come with four hundred points to defend for Federer, and an year end number one is quite far away with Djokovic in nice form. But being the world number two itself is an achievement. Whether some miracle strikes and makes him the year end number one again or not, this year has been big for Roger Federer, and it is not based on slams or the number of finals he has won, it is based on how well he has played among his younger opponents.

Players with Wilson racquets – theres Simona too 😀

There is also the Davis Cup World Group Final coming up, with France vs Switzerland as Federer’s home country look forward to their first title, and France looking for another title to add to their long list. As Federer teams up with Stanislas Wawrinka (finally a worthy partner from home) to who he had lost his Swiss number one spot which he has now regained, it is certain that there will be a lot to cheer for as far as the fans are concerned – this is going to be good.

Meanwhile, IPTL (Indian Premier Tennis League) is coming up, and Roger Federer is coming to India. He will play for Indian Aces teaming up with Pete Sampras, Ana Ivanovic, Gael Mofils, Sania Mirza, Rohan Bopanna and Fabrice Santoro, and sparks are going to fly for sure. It is known that the tickets for Federer’s matches in Delhi were sold in twenty minutes, and that is the beauty of having the maestro here, and that was despite the ticket prices being so high. Federer is not done yet, know that! *All the photos are from Roger Federer’s official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Federer).

TeNy