Airlift: There is the Impact!

There are only a few Bollywood movies which I have watched on the first day, for the first show; they are rarely my first choices. There are even fewer number of such flicks which actually worked for me. I had to watch terrible movies like Besharam and Tamasha just because I made the choice to go for Bollywood on a day of release. But things do change, and it was proven by Wazir earlier, and now with Airlift, making sure that the year started well at least when concerning the Hindi movies.

As most of you already know, I don’t watch many Bollywood movies on the first day, and it is surely not my interest to watch one for the very first show. I wasn’t confident about watching these movies, but I decided to go for Wazir because of the cast and due to the fact that it was a thriller; a different one too. The same applied to Airlift too, as it was also going to be different and also belonging to the same genre. Along with the same, I had the feeling that this was going to work so well.

Yes, the trailer helped, and the fact that the last two movies of Akshay Kumar which I had watched were Brothers and Baby, both being among my favourites. So, I decided to let Airlift do the job this weekend, and it was supposed to make an impact – what I can gladly say about it is that the movie did make that impact really well. It turned out to be a great relief from those usual Bollywood movies which have been terribly affected by meaningless romance and mindless action with absence of good stories.

The best impact that Airlift makes on you is by providing the realization about who you are. It reminds us of the people whom we are, as part of a great nation. The movie nicely makes the point that despite the differences that we have, we are all Indians, and it is something that we should be proud of. Each one of us is different, and the opinions will vary, but in the end, it is by our identity, and the roots that we will be known. At some point of time, it will define us as people because we never really leaves that behind.

I have personally felt that there is no place like home. I couldn’t be the same if I was at some other nation, because my heart is here and so are my people. Every second I was outside the nation, there were so many moments when I really wanted to be back home. Yes, we are lost in many things, but being at the place where we were born and raised, is something that we have a certain feeling for. Maybe some of the new generation people do have more love towards other nations, especially those born outside, but I won’t take it. Well, it is the nation which has made me what I am, and it will always be there in my mind. My patriotism will not be based on cricket matches like some fans, and about that, I am sure.

There are some moments in the movie which really make that impact – the most significant one is by the finish, with the tri-colour flag flying in the final moments, and everything else that happen around the situation. The movie also makes a big impact with its message, for the sacrifice and the courage to do the right thing when facing terror. Goodness is not easy to find when facing terrifying and tragic situations, but this movie has a protagonist who finds it, and the fact that it is based on real incident and related to the real-life heroes named Mr. Mathews and Mr. Vedi is another boost for Airlift.

It is once again up-to Akshay Kumar to create that desired impact with another movie. In the end, we have the right impact of patriotism, and it is not forced on us – this particular thing just grows inside us instead. While going through this movie, the one thing that was so much above the rest in impact, along with Akshay Kumar’s performance, was surely the feeling; that of being an Indian, and that desire to see this movie among the one hundred crore grossers because it is never the mindless entertainers that deserve to be there, but those like Airlift which not only has its brain but also the heart and the soul at the right place.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Page of the movie of the time, Airlift.

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.

TeNy

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FPFS5: Through the Window

Here is a small part of the speech that Uncle Dracula made for the All-Vampire Conclave at Transylvania. The same is part of the Grand Vampire Studies syllabus which has been approved for eighty seven percent of the vampire academies around the lands that operate between the humans. It was titled “Looking Through the Window During the Season of Chaos and Destruction”, and the Vampire Bat has chosen to share this one here. If you have any problems with the same, you are free to travel to the Dracula Castle and give him your opinion.

“…..still, it has been my duty and privilege to make sure that we get to equality as soon as possible. Do forget what I said before the word ‘still’ though, because it is not really a word that suits the vampire leadership and what came before that rarely becomes the right point. We were chosen, and we are highly experienced leaders, as it is known. So, kindly choose to forget what I said before the word ‘still’. I do choose to see you as my equals on this day. I am chosen for this post by all of you only due to my experience, and we are equals otherwise. I have never forgotten that fact throughout my eternal life.

I want you to look at a few humans. They speak of equality, but there is none. You go anywhere and you can see the same. It is not there in the places of worship or among the people outside the religion who preach the same. There is only a life based on vanity which has no place for equality. People pretend, and in the end, they can say that inequality and hatred are my choice; that much they can achieve for themselves in the end. Humanity stands divided more than the vampires do, and the divisions will only increase as time passes. There will be more people who pretend to work hard for equality because that is to bring them fame, and they will be more equal than the others.

Then, what do these people who pretend to strive for equality really want to achieve? Is it your choice to pretend and hate? There are the some people who deny that men could ever be harmed, and that they could ever face prejudice, because these people think that men can have anything or do anything whenever they want. For some of them, men are not really people who deserve equality. According to them, only one section can be wronged. The biggest shame is that most of these people come from a higher strata and have found it easy in their lives, and when they see the common man who struggle with their problems, they have this tendency to preach equality more, knowing nothing of the struggle that a human being has to go through in a society which demands more and more.

They think that men are born with ease through their lives. Yes, some of them are, but the big shame is that when they look through the window, they can only agree to have seen a few things and they pretend not to be aware of a few others. They look out through the bloody window and see only the tides coming towards the beach on which they have parked their expensive cars with ease. They say that these tides are always against them without setting their feet on the sand. We see other people who are losing almost everything in the tides, but these people which I have mentioned never really see those who are certainly more subaltern than them. How can they see and talk about the same as they were born with silver spoons in their mouths and vanity covering their eyes. Everything comes with power, and these people are with the power of self-created blindness. Hypocrisy comes out of nowhere, doesn’t it?

All those who have used something that they have gathered through a certain type of reservation have absolutely no right to talk about equality. The true equality has to be checked right between every type of people, and if you are talking about one caste, community, religion, social/economic group or gender, you have no right to call for equality. Don’t use the past to justify your right to hate others. You learn a few words like patriarchy, chauvinism, nationalism, racism, misogyny, communalism, socialism, patriotism, empowerment and so on just for using them here and there, and starts preaching for something on which you have no idea about – what do you gain by preaching hatred with your evil minds?

It was never about hatred, and it was never to be achieved alone or for one particular group. The first thing to do here is to treat the other as your equal and understand that another person in another category can have the same problems as you; support him and don’t hate him just because you have a bloody generalized opinion about him. Can equality thrive when based on the hatred for the other? Shouldn’t equality have roots in love or something more lasting than the eternal hatred which is easy just for now? You can come to the cemetery tomorrow and I will show you what equality really is as you look at those tombs of…..”

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 friend and awesome blogger, Anoop on Day Five, as part of the challenge, and this ends the series. 

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

TeNy

Dealing with Poverty

Poverty has been rising in the world despite all the steps which have been taken, and it is such a disappointment that Uncle Dracula almost decided to resign from the World Vampire Organization secretary post. I would like to take this opportunity to go deeper into the situation, and see how this “particular poverty” has become a major reason for vampires not being able to live in harmony with the humans yet. There has been the rise of intellectual poverty, spiritual poverty, and now the rise of a new one, the “blogger poverty”.

Where to find?: So, a major question remains where to find this blogger poverty? It is found everywhere, and it is so common among the bloggers who can’t really find any fun in blogging, but still exist as bloggers. You can check for the forums related to contests and campaigns where some people just cannot stand the fact that others are doing good. So what all do we know about their poverty? There should be reasons for their disappointment. Here are a few things they could say for justification:

Some great people want to shoot everyone else down just because they didn’t win.

I need some online vouchers to buy rice at home: Yes, they should be so poor in real life too. A fair complaint is decent, but some people makes me think that they are in charge of buying necessary things for home with the vouchers that they have to win from contests and campaigns for survival. Yes, these are the people who can’t respond in a reasonable manner, but wanders around the forums making noise. We have all missed chances due to server errors. It is not the end of life.

Winning is integral part of my perfect life: They ask the very significant question about how they can lose. They were born to be winners in this world of lesser mortals. They feel that their post is so awesome as usual, and so they deserve to be winning every single time. They don’t care about the rules or how well the others have written. They are perfect and needs to keep winning until the end of the world. For them, money is the most important thing in this world followed by fame and it is how things work. After all, they are still poor.

I don’t care about anybody else as they all write nonsense: Here is the natural thing from these people: “Somebody won instead of me and I don’t like it. How can someone who is inferior to me win something that I didn’t? I am so awesome, and only I have the skills necessary for winning”. They use “I” so many times that it makes no sense at all. According to them, “I” always have it unfair, and it is my right to win that prize or voucher. They are like zombies asking for brains and are part of an irritating force. They are so poor and may be they need reservation.

Listen to the Vodafone Zoozoos and understand that they make more sense here.

I hate writing, but can do that for money: Yes, they have to work so hard as a blogger, and they find blogging no fun at all – this should be why they keep complaining about the amount of effort they put into writing. Here is the difficulty of being so poor. They simply can’t take the work as a creative activity or say anything good at other blogs. Yes, register the complaint, but why taking to another level and blaming your own creative work or try to consider others “less creative”? I keep what I posted on my blog despite how the reception is, whether there is no positive result or not; a voucher doesn’t define my writing.

Winning or losing is just part of the game. Some people need to accept loss with grace. It can be because of many things, sometimes because of reasons which are not acceptable. Yes, it can bring disappointment, but can’t we all try again? Do all the contests and campaigns stop with one? Stop showing the attitude of a little kid who always wants his or her chocolates and toys. Grow up, register a complaint in a fair manner and raise the voice in the forum like some decent people do, and if you can’t, just leave it. This repeated declaration of “I”, “me” and “myself” is getting irritating. Also please stop making us feel that the world is going to an end due to the same reason.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Facebook Pages of the movie The Last Stand and Vodafone Zoozoos. *I have been part of a number of quiz competitions, and it is a known fact that you can’t win them all. It could be due to the scoring system, time of the programme, the questions asked and the choice of seats, along with the lack of knowledge. There is the tendency to blame those who conduct the programmes, but the truth is that luck (or God’s grace) plays a major role everywhere, and we should learn to appreciate the chance which was given to us for participation.

*I am a nobody. So the great legends of the blogging world needn’t take me seriously 😀 May be this attitude is because I am more of a loser – not deserving to be in the elite class 😉

TeNy

Six and One Quarter Sins

Haven’t we all learned or at least heard about the Seven Deadly Sins? It has been a major part of Christian teaching for a long time, and was also featured in the movie Se7en about which most people should be aware. Here, I would like to think about them as a blogger with the Latin names also added. The first one should be the Blogger Lust/Lechery [fornicatio] – this has been something that is less related to blogging, and I would like to keep it as a low-profile sin which can stay outside the hell in a camp on the banks of Styx, thus leaving to option to drink tea with Charon when he is free. Some of the other sins will also have the elements of this one in detail. So, this is the one half-sin.

Blogger Sloth/Laziness [acedia]: This is actually a lesser sin among the seven, as it doesn’t affect others. But I would say that the laziness associated with blogging is a sad thing. You have started a blog and you have the skill; then when you choose not to write is a disheartening thing. There might be many things that might stop you, including those idiots who will say that your blog is bad and other terrible people who say that you do useless blogging. No, none of the blogs are bad or useless, because it is a personal thing and the first reason behind it is to bring out our thoughts and feelings. Everyone with a blog needs to write, and lets get rid of our laziness. This one is three quarter of a sin.

Hieronymus Bosch’s depiction of The Seven Deadly Sins with sides cropped.

Blogger Wrath/Rage [ira]: I am actually surprised that this still exists. Yes, there are some hate comments which come up here and there just because they can’t stand another blogger, and it is not limited to bloggers, but also to those who just comment with their e-mail id. The usual sinners of this kind are the fans of certain movies, bands or celebrities in the case of movie or music review blogs. They can also be the fans of certain politician, sportsperson or religious fundamentalists depending on the type of content you blog on. They have the tendency to be fully brainless in wrath, and being dumb is just routine for them. Beware, this brings the worst in you, and makes you not yourself.

Blogger Gluttony/Selfishness [gluttire]: Even as it is usually used with food, we can relate this more to selfishness. Take your time to help other bloggers, and leave the “I” side behind. Blogging is something that should feature mutual help and understanding. Some people will say that we should only support awesome posts and the rest should be hated. But I would say otherwise, because all people can’t write the same way – I do see a lots of them with grammar mistakes, but if they are trying their best and their idea is good, who are we to judge someone who had lesser chance to learn English? Then there are people who has some of their post not as good as the rest, but that also should have reasons – lets accept that without being egocentric.

The Holy Spirit and the Seven Deadly Sins shown here. Read if you can 😀

Blogger Greed/Avarice [avaritia]: This is something that works on many levels. There is the line which is drawn between the greed and the need, and that line is something that I wouldn’t like to draw myself, because it is something of personal nature. Yes, blogger Greed does exist, and it will only get stronger as time passes. It will be only later that we will come up with the right definition of the same, as the separating line has to be clearer. May be I can update this section later or write another post completely about this one. With the rising number of bloggers who only look for material gains, I am sure that the time will come much earlier than I expect. Plagiarism can come as a result of this greed.

Blogger Envy/Jealousy [invidia]: This envious side has had a powerful existence. I have been blogging for quite a long time on my former blogs which I had the problem of weird commentors who thought that others shouldn’t blog at all. This kind of breed still exists, mostly as a hybrid between envy and the next sin Pride, which has these people hating the achievements of others. I might not win a major prize in any contest sooner or later, but I appreciate those who win, and have seen these people who are envious of the achievements of others and hope they didn’t win, also posting on forums about it – you don’t win contests or get noticed and you start complain about it because of envy. Yes, you feel that it is not your incapability, but someone else’s fault.

Tower of Babel by Pieter Brueghel the Elder – structure that is a sign of human pride.

Blogger Pride/Vanity [superbia]: The devil’s favourite sin and very much popular among bloggers, there will always be that kind of people who think that they are the best of them all. The problem with this kind of people is that they always want to change the rules to suit them. Whichever site they join, they want people to visit their blog only, and for the same reason, they want to feature on the front page and win contests by degrading others or the basic idea behind the site when they can’t win. They keep having problems with other bloggers winning just because they believe that only they should win. What does it take to know that you are a part of the blogger community and doesn’t stand alone? Is it difficult to understand that the world doesn’t revolve around you?

*All the images used in this blog post are from the wikipedia page of Seven Deadly Sins. **In this blogging world, lets be respectful of others’ works and not complain that others get more recognition or some other person wins more contests. Lets write, and support those who support us, as well as those who need support. If someone thinks “I am so awesome and everyone should read my posts, and I shall not read theirs because they all write inferior posts”, think again. Remember, everyone might not have had the opportunities in education that you had. 

TeNy