Lockdown and Leisure

Leisure

noun

Time when one is not working or occupied; free time.

The fact that I am writing this post after more than a year of writing anything else on this Blog is testament of the fact that I have too much time on my hands. I was lucky enough to have come back home before all of India went into a lockdown. I am now with my family and we divide our chores – my mother does most of the cooking and I do the dishes and cleaning. Thankfully, my office is making us work from home so that keeps me occupied on most days of the week. I never thought I would be glad about having office work but I really am. I am the kind of person who doesn’t like sitting free for even a second. I am constantly reading, watching something, surfing through the internet, or doing something or the other.

In the first few days of the Lockdown, I thought it would only last a month. I was reading and wathcing shows like a maniac. Trying to finish as much as possible. I thought this is the best time I could ever get to read and watch as much as I can. Then the Lockdown kept getting extended. It’s been more than 2 months now and I am falling into a rut again. Though I am still more productive then when I was before the Lockdown.

I had always wondered what would I do if ever I went on a sabbatical. I always thought it would be the best version of my life. I got to experience a mini version of it with this Lockdown and I guess it isn’t so bad.

Of course I realize all the privileges I have, to have a nice home, to be with family, to have access to all essentials and to have a steady job (for the time being *fingers crossed*). I count my blessings for that every day.

With all the free time I have had, I have started reading more than I have read in years. I have watched at least a 100 of hours of content – TV shows and movies both. I have started meditating – which is new for me and I manage to workout once in every two days. There was a week when I worked out for a week straight (alternating yoga with cardio). These were some of the pros of the Lockdown.

The cons have been few but have a drastic effect on my life. I have retreated into a shell and do not have the urge to talk to people or to socialize. I had read something about Introverts which talked about how when they have stayed away from people  for too long, they want to stay away even more. It is a paradox but it is true in my case. But I have an incredible set of friends who help me come out of the shell with their constant calls and efforts to have a conversation. I truly feel blessed to have them.

Going forward, all I want to do is to keep up or better the productivity levels and to maintain them post the Lockdown as well if possible. I would also want to maintain a better equilibrium of my social life and productivity – which is going to a difficult exercise.

Mehrooni

It’s one of the best short movies I have watched in a very long time. And trust me, it will make you shed a few tears – minimum. The narration – beautiful beyond words, the music – so touching, the story – very natural. This movie will make you regret all those moments when you wasted time being upset with your loved ones.

The love for Bombay, it’s little stories, hidden in every nook and corner, specially in it’s lifeline – comes out through the narration. I looked up the director and there was a quote by him which said “We don’t live in Mumbai, Mumbai lives in us.”

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It’s presentation is what really appealed to me. It really reminds you of the era of Charlie Chaplin, and more recently of the movie ‘The Artist’. It’s good to see Indian movies experimenting with this form. Royal Stag, you are doing some good work. 😛

Shaitan and The Bling Ring

These two movies are one of my favourite movies in this genre. They are kind of like crime thrillers, but then, not really. Have a look at the trailers first, in case you haven’t seen the movie, maybe you will get a vague idea of what they are about.

Maybe I am wrong when I say they are very similar but the characters definitely are. Teenagers/Young Adults with the will to live life to the maximum on their own terms with not one care in the world. The former are compulsive thieves and the latter get pulled into it due to a series of accidents. But the way they both begin with a larger than life lifestyle and the former ends with kind of a resolution and let’s just not talk about the ending of Shaitan. It’s also about the hidden evil in everyone. The youngster of Bling Ring, the characters will keep you on an edge and will keep you thinking about what will happen next. The ones in Shaitan take one wrong step and this one step leads to a hundred other wrong ones. What they don’t realise is some things can’t be reversed.

What both talk about is the what is considered “cool” by the youngsters of today. What could happen if they stray from the right path and the usual question “Is youth wasted on the young?”

Also check out these two similar-ish music videos from the movies.

P.S. The soundtrack for both of them is simply amazing.

Books v/s Movies

No this is not a debate about whether books that are adapted into movies are better. It has always been an unresolvable debate. What I want to talk about is whether people who read books are more knowledgeable or people who prefer movies. I might be a little prejudiced here but I really really want to go with the answer – BOOKS!

I was just looking at an Instagram account of a girl from EFLU (English and Foreign Languages University) and she was very very well read. All of that reflected in the way she wrote her comments and captions. I know I shouldn’t be judging all this given such a small sample but it just began a stream of thoughts that have now translated into writing. And this is also what I have seen in my meetings with people. Not to stereotype but people who read books were a walking bank of knowledge and slightly more introverted then movie aficionados. Also it should be noted here that I feel more people find watching movies easier than reading books for pretty obvious reasons. Isn’t that proof enough that books require more stress on your mind and makes you think more than a movie ever could. Maybe except if it’s a Nolan movie. 😛

This wasn’t meant to hurt any sentiments. I love both equally, it is just something to be pondered upon.

Happy Reading! 😉

Dussehra

When I was a little girl, every Dussehra I used to visit my Grandparents’ house. The festive season was celebrated in all its glory in the village. There was a local Ram-Leela held by the children of the village. My Grandmother used to give me 10 rupees to spend in the fair and I used to be so happy about going there with my uncle. I used to think about how I will spend my 10 rupees the whole day and then when I finally reached the fair I could never make up my mind. I usually ended up buying something stupid every time. I remember watching the Ram-Leela with what you would call pure amazement – the songs and the costumes, the lighting and of course the Raavan-Vadh in the end.

This year on Dussehra, I was on my way to Kasol and when I heard the sound of festivities, I was instantly reminded of this memory and yes, I made a note to write about this later. Right now, while I watch the movie “Inside Out”, I look at the way they portray the working of brain and memories and it all seems plausible. My own Joy, bringing up a memory from deep down the Memory Lanes. While my Sadness brings back the Nostalgia of those carefree childhood days. I wish I could go back and yet stay here. Life is full of such dilemmas ain’t it?

Que Sera, Sera

 Whatever will be, will be.

Is this not what all of us should believe in and trust our faith in? Thanks to Alfred Hitchcock for making the song popular so that I can put my feelings in words easily – whatever will be, will be.

I was inspired by the song (and by Dumbledore) to write something really random:

When I was young, I read a book
I asked my heart, do these worlds really exist?
My heart replied, maybe it is only in your head,
But that doesn’t mean, that it doesn’t exist.

Here’s the song which also won the oscars. Some lyrics from the song:

When I was young, I fell in love
I asked my sweetheart what lies ahead
Will we have rainbows, day after day
Here’s what my sweetheart said.

Que Sera, Sera,
Whatever will be, will be
The future’s not ours, to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be.

An A to Z of Movies

Here is trying to list movie(s) from each alphabet that I have seen (sometimes the first one that comes to my mind) and I have loved! Fun exercise no? 😀

A – American Beauty/American Psycho

B – Brave/Batman Begins

C – Charlie’s Angles’/The Castway

D – Death Race/Dallas Buyers’ Club

E – Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

F – Fight Club

G – Grave of the Fireflies

H – Her

I – Irreversible

J – Jumanji

K – (The) Kite Runner

L – (The) Lives of Others

M – My Neighbour Totoro

N – Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

O – On the Road

P – (The) Pursuit of Happyness/Paranormal Activity

Q – Quantum of Solace

R – Ratatouille

S – Seven Pounds/(The) Shawshank Redemption

T – The Terminal

U – Underworld: Evolution

V – Vicki Cristina Barcelona

W – Wreck it Ralph

X – X-Men: First Class

Y – Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani

Z – Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara

P.S.: I didn’t refer to the internet even once to find any, and these were the first ones that came to my mind. Had the hardest time with ‘O’, ‘T’ and ‘V’. Maybe a short review will follow later.

Movie Review: Broken

For starters, it beats Boyhood! It is a lesser known but beautiful movie about the story of a 12-year-old girl who tries to figure out things about life, love and everything else. The story is actually not just about her, but life in general. She witnesses the unravelling of various adult relationships and the dilemmas that a child in the world today faces about what to accept and what to let go, how to behave and how not to. The portrayal of instinctiveness and innocence of the protagonist Skunk (Emily) is just adorable.

The movie is shot very well, it begins with the interrelated stories of 3 neighbours and the motifs in the story are sewn in so well, you won’t even see the stitches. Skunk goes on to be the connecting thread in all these stories and her story is an absolutely intriguing one. There is tension and drama throughout the movie but also points where she will make you fall in love with her despite everything so much so that you can’t find faults in the perfection that a child carries by default.

“There are different moments in your life, some of them are sad but most of them are happy.”

Everybody Reading books (formerly Hot Guys Reading Books)

So I was surfing the web aimlessly (as usual) and I came across this Tumblr page: Everybody Reading Books. I could just spend hours and hours going through the posts on this page! There are poetry readings by Ben Whishaw, pictures of people reading at the most unusual places, beautiful quotes about reading, adorable memes on books and so much more. All these pictures gave way to a many different streams of thoughts.

I wondered about all the times I have seen a person reading and wondered how they would be like in life, based on the book they were reading. I have always asked fellow book-lovers about the books they would want to recommend me to read and surely, even that has a lot to say about the kind of people they are.

While watching movies, there are several instances when a person is reading a book. I think that the director has a solid reason behind why he places a particular book at a particular time in a particular way in the scene. One such movie that I remember is Interstellar where the bookshelf is a very important part of the movie’s plot. You can check out this link to know more and more. In short, the books in the shelf housed some books which were also the names of the characters in the movie. There were poems by T. S. Eliot talking about concepts of space and time, One Hundred Years of Solitude (for obvious reasons), etc. I am sure Nolan had a reason behind placing each book there. I believe like a picture says a thousand words, a book also says a thousand things about the person who is reading it.

Here is a list of movie characters reading books in a movie. Go check it out. I am sure it will be interesting to figure out how the movie’s plot is related to the book that appears in the movie.

A picture from the initial post.

Documentary Fever

Poster for Ai Weiwei

Poster for Waste Land

So today after a long time we had our Visual Media class and hence I have stuff to write. We were shown two movies: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry and Wasteland.

Must watch documentaries for art and culture enthusiasts! I need not give you the summary since

you will easily find it anywhere. I will just talk about some things that struck me.

Ai Weiwei is a beautiful and intriguing documentary about the struggle of a Chinese artist and activist. He beautifully expresses the need for individualism in his art. The thing that struck me the most was the destruction of neo-lithic vases by him. It was really intriguing because when someone commented on how it happens everyday when the world destruct something or the other, I realised that how even culture is a social construct. It doesn’t matter if we destruct something that’s really old and antique because what we are destroying today could also be antique some day if preserved.

Then there was this other movie, Wasteland made on the art of Vik Muniz. I am sure anyone who watches the movie would be struck by the character of the old man and his quote that “Ninety nine can never be hundred.” What I gathered from it was that you either give your all or it is thing at all. To get something you want, this is the least minimum you are expected to do but then there is again the fact that this least minimum actually demands perfection that is hundred!