The Twist of Fate

It was a long time ago that I had this doubt in choosing between English and History for graduation. The problem was that I liked both of the subjects almost equally, and couldn’t figure out a choice between them. I was also not confident about choosing between these two also because I was a very doubtful person, and wondered which of these would do me good and which one won’t be that good for me. There was not going to be much difference in the studies for me, but there was going to be certain change in the results.

I used to read both English Literature and History works, and so that was going to be a problem. So, I decided to ask a few people. The result was all on one side though, in favour of English. I tried tossing a coin, and even that showed English. Only the time spent in the games Age of Empires, Rise of Nations, Civilization and Caesar had me with another ideas. People were all so much in favour of English that I wondered why they hadn’t recommended Humanities to me for Plus Two. Still, I was closer to one of my two favourite courses then.

We need lighthouses in our lives to show where to go without hitting the rocks.

I was still going to tell these people when I joined and where, because letting too many people know things was the reason behind most of my problems. So, I called my friend who was studying outside Kerala, and as many of the others and almost every friend whom I had from school or neighbourhood, he was also going through Engineering. If he wasn’t going through that course, that would have been a surprise, because I have had the title of being the only one strange non-Engineer, non-Doctor person.

He told me to go on with English because he knew that I wrote something which none of my friends wanted to read or understand. I felt that it was a fair suggestion because I had often wondered what I wrote about and why. Choosing English could give me a better direction at that time. There was the need to read more and direct my writings better. So, choosing English was the right thing to do, and History could happen on another day. So, the friend went back to the procedure of collecting supplementary exams, and I made clear about the choice again.

During these days, I wonder about the decisions, but choosing English hasn’t really bothered me at all, even as I couldn’t find a job after that; it is just that the route doesn’t make me sad. It is something that I had wanted and with both the BA as well as the MA, I have never really felt any big trouble during the course. Even now, I find happiness in being MA English graduate rather than any other, and this also meant that I could study in the one college where I always wanted to study. It was the right choice; may be History would have done just okay, but the choice was still fine.

Choices do make things happen – what if we take that wrong turn instead?

But I did take my second degree in History too, and so it wasn’t really a loss even there. In the end, it was about which degree to come first and which one to follow. With nothing lost in the end, the #SachchiAdvice worked better because the language had given me more power, and I could use a good amount of this acquired strength while writing for the History exams too. History had also come as one of the extra subjects to study for the English graduation. So everything was related.

Nowadays, when I wonder what I should have done different or what I could have chosen in another way, this choice doesn’t come to the list of bad decisions, and it happens to be the #SachchiAdvice which has made things work. There is always the need for some confirmation related to the decisions from people we trust, and I haven’t been that good in making decisions. But here, the decision was the kind which still inspires me to write. I feel that if I was not MA English, I wouldn’t have even started a blog at WordPress.

I am participating in the #SachchiAdvice Contest by MaxLife in Association with BlogAdda.

***The images used on this blog post were taken by me only.

TeNy

Of Fans and Cinema

We have always known that celebrities have blind fans, and some of them are a long way ahead in the level of stupidity. We have had our own ridiculous cricket fans, and there are those fans of the movie stars who take things to the next level. These days, we can see the bad and the more terrible fans as they are everywhere. It is hard to even recognize a good fan – it is a rare thing.

I have been watching less Malayalam movies these days. It has never been the plan, and there was never such an idea to avoid them. But the tendency to watch these movies are becoming so less. Some people say that the piracy is the reason for people not coming to the theatres to watch Malayalam movies, but the truth is that, it is the fans – they are the ones who are responsible for the decrease in the number of viewers in the theatres.

The multiplexes in the malls are better choices, but can you guess for how long?

These fans make life miserable for others who try to watch the movie in peace. The only thing which they can do is to keep yelling, clapping and howling depending on whose movie it is, and to which celebrity do they have that feeling of worship. It is a terrible feeling to be there at the local theatres, and even in multiplexes, they often try to create a pathetic situation. Yes, they do that when they are not abusing people who don’t like the movies of their favourite stars.

Well, sitting in the darkness of the theatre and between a number of friends, some people think that they can say anything even in the presence of families with kids. They have the privilege to make that kind of noise which makes it difficult for the others to watch the movie. They also got the right to shower abuses in the darkness of the movie hall because they think that the world is only theirs – they are like “Bane” with the exact meaning and also as that villain of Gotham.

A list without the presence of Malayalam movies is also possible in the future.

You get to watch Malayalam movies at any theatre near you and it is an advantage for the industry, but why are people, especially families and those who actually have a working intellect stay away from the movies for most of the time? It is because of these so called movie fans who provide a very unpleasant movie watching experience. When some people even choose to smoke inside the theatre, why are the authorities not ready to throw them out?

Is being decent too much to ask for? Is the use of respectable language that difficult? We keep watching that no smoking advertisement, and I have seen people smoking through it. We need an advertisement against indecent talks and behaviour, but that too will go over the head just like those smoking advertisements. Do these people even respect the views of others? The answer would be another question – why do they?

It is not easy for the fans to respect the opinions of others, but the more surprising thing is that they can’t even respect their fellow human beings. It is time that the theatre owners take a tough stand, and the movie stars should also try to make the situation better. The family viewers have already begun to prefer the multiplexes only, and with the same, they are moving to Hollywood and Bollywood. It is time for the Malayalam movie industry to have a cultured young audience, and in the absence of the same, there will be almost no family audience. The families have been the strength, and if the Malayalam movie industry no longer seems to feel the need for that section, it is a definite reason for a future downfall.

TeNy

Theory of Relative-IT

So many years have passed since Albert Einstein came up with that theory of relativity, and even now it is thrown at us through the science fiction movies like Interstellar. Remember those theories that we hated in Physics? Well, I don’t usually remember the theories that I hate, especially belonging to Physics and Mathematics, but here is one exception, as for me, it becomes more of a theory of Philosophy than Physics.

This different thing, the new derivative is called the Theory of Relative-IT. This theory brings to light a problem rather than bringing a solution to anything. It acknowledges the trouble of the common man, the person who hasn’t studied IT, but has got many relatives in that field. The concepts introduced by the Theory of Relative-IT includes the following, but is not limited to them, and are open to further additions:

1. Measurements of various qualities of a person are dependent on the velocities of older observers. In particular, it includes the parents of those working in the IT field.

2. All other courses (not including medicine and other engineering fields) should be combined together and should be considered inferior to IT.

3. The power of IT is nonetheless beyond all comparisons, and is always the most superior thing, considered with that much respect as one would have for medicine.

The light is reserved only for the IT, not applicable for us (taken on my DSC W310)

Applications of the Theory in human life (Warning: Fictional situations and parts of my nightmares included):

Aunt no.1: Your life is wasted because you didn’t study engineering like my son. Look how well he is doing. See the girl in the neighbourhood with twenty five back papers. Even she is doing so well. After all, she is an engineer too.

And I remembered the Theory of Relative-IT, and that it was beginning to affect me like garlic on a vampire. But the silver bullets and the stake through the heart are yet to arrive. I am pretty sure that even that Oracle of Delphi could have predicted this.

Uncle no.1: You have one big fault.

I wondered what I was doing so wrong, and I thought it was going to make me a better person; but then the words of wisdom came out.

Uncle no.1 (continues): You didn’t study engineering. So you don’t have a job. It is ruining you right there. You should have studied engineering, and even if you had back papers, you would have had a job by now. My son already had two jobs in the IT field and is not at his third.

Uncle no.2: See, everyone including your cousins younger than you are now married. You should have tried engineering or medicine, and you would have been working and married by now. Why would someone study arts? It is rubbish. Do you know how ridiculous it is when the elder cousins get married before you do?

Uncle no.3: May be you should study BEd. It is your only hope now. Then, may be you can somehow get into a low class school and teach the students. But even then, you shouldn’t have taken language. Anybody can teach language. Social science is so stupid. You should have taken Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Zoology or Botony even in that case.

Aunt no.2: Why should he do anything now. It is quite certain that he won’t get a job now. He will simply waste his time, thats all he can do with a Masters in English. He should do some business instead. If he was any good, he would have gone for engineering or medicine. He doesn’t even have an MBA. Everyone has an MBA. What is it that he can do that engineers can’t?

Uncle no.4: How can we blame him though? We are all just average and below average people in intellect. It is a great achievement that we have engineers in our family. Nobody thought that it was possible. He will never get a job, and will remain just another post-graduate of no use. I think we should live with it and concentrate on getting our engineers married to high families so that we will have good connections with big, respected, rich families.

Aunt no.3: This is exactly what we should do. Lets put the profiles of our engineers in the matrimony websites and get them married. After all, only engineers are worthy people. Who cares about the rest. Look at these people studying B.Com, BSW and BBA – whats the point? Lets make sure that the families that we find also have enough people in the IT field. A certain number of doctors will also be nice. It doesn’t matter if they are good or bad, no problem if they are anti-social; they just need to be of these fields.

It is a sample of illuminated life for everyone except me (taken on my DSC W310)

Dad: There are so many people in the IT field that I know. I am proud of all of them. They are so awesome. They are so brilliant. I should go to their houses and congratulate them every-time they come home. They should be given the hero’s welcome every time they arrive at the railway station. They are the only intelligent people in our family because they belong to the IT field. Why would anybody study anything else?

This is indeed why Suarez bites people. This is also why aliens won’t talk to us. This means we are no longer the favourites of the Divine One. This is also a reason for Uncle Dracula not to retire from his biting business. My prayer to God these days is this: “Never provide a good person who takes a graduation in the arts subjects with a relative who is in the IT field”. The relative-IT is a dangerous and terrible situation. It is disappointing and makes you hopeless. It makes you not want to live life like you should. It is like putting ice in a fire-breathing dragon’s mouth. I wonder what would Albert Einstein say about this Theory of Relative-IT.

TeNy