chaos-the magic of it and the logic behind it

I lead a chaotic life, fun filled, indulgent and frantically moving from one type of activity to another...it has its magical moments, but the truth is that I belong to the small percentage of people who don't actually have to slog for food. And I can be more useful than this. 

Good decision. How to implement it? How to be a useful person? or more useful than I am now?

The first thing is to change  my attitude. Adopt a serious attitude. So I searched for asanas that improve concentration and here is one that might be useful to all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDWkcquMA3s

I watched the movie "The Help". A good watch. It was about racism in the late fifties and early sixties of the twentieth century. The camera, screen play, acting were all above average. Not too predictable, but definitely a feel good film. Like all average non intellectual movie watchers, I love feel good films. The face of the actresses who played the stoical, talented and loving black nannies and maids made an impression. One  of the faces was unforgettable, that of Octavia Spencer's. I later read that the film won an award for outstanding performance of the cast.
Reading this made me realize that the 'bad' white women in the film had acted extremely well and looked extremely good and well dressed. Wiki said that some black people's human rights organization had considered the film and the book on which it was based, to be an unrealistic portrayal of the plight of black people, as it did not portray the sexual harassment the women were subject to. The article in Wiki points out that there is a discussion in the film about such ill treatment meted out to some other characters.
It was a feel good film. It portrayed a social evil, but focused on the funny side,and at the same time made the more spirited, kinder, cleverer people its main characters. The aim of the film was to entertain and make people feel that we were once racists and had been cruel to a whole race, but were over that part. I realize that but let me repeat! It was a good watch. A very visually strong film with faces and images lingering on in my mind.

Today I listened to some songs sung  by M.L.Vasantha kumari. How original, creative, refreshing her singing is! I also listened to a song she had sung for a film. The difference in presentation was great. The film song had an elementary rhythm and MLV had dutifully fitted the song to the rhythm. But it did not carry the flavor of the raga. It was monotonous when compared to the song sung in the traditional carnatic style. In the carnatic song, she had let herself go in a relaxed way and come up with variations that brought life to the words. And the irony was that, the lyrics for the film song was by Bharathiyar and had a life of their own. Even someone like me, passionate about language, had to accept that language became subservient to music, when some one like MLV took over the lyrics.

Staged magic

I watched a play on mythical Hindu Gods and Goddesses.It is impossible to portray Gods. Gods are perfect Humans are not. The play was much appreciated and I would probably write a review of it highlighting its success with the audience, but here i will record how men failed in appearing like Gods.
1. Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, had a slightly manly voice.
2. The actor portraying the all powerful Narayana, was plump.
3. The Rain God, the Wind God and the Fire God had common features and were so obviously men in their twenties.
4. Hiranyakashipu, the mighty villain, was a handsome young man, who should have been at least ten years older,
5. Thilottama, the celestial temptress, famed for her beauty was obese, although she danced quite well.
6. For some unfathomable reason, the mask of the lion faced God was a bright white. The actor had the structure of a short teddy bear, This was the strangest looking Narasimha that  have ever seen.

 Hard, isn't it? for humans to look godly? However, some veteran actors bring out the divine through their acting skills, although they look far from perfect. Tamil actor, Shivaji Ganesan for instance, could portray any God or king , young or old , very convincingly, although he had a typical short statured, broad shouldered, plump structure typical of the majority of average looking people.

lack of logic is -----eccentric

One of my old students called me an eccentric...He is a young person and my middle aged line of thinking must have appeared crazy to him. But when I come to think of it, there are some things i do, which others don't and can be called , yes, "Eccentric"
1. I prefer to stay and work in dark places. When I was a kid, my mom used to yell at me for sittinginside a dark room, near the door, and reading with the lights from another room. The other members of my family constantly tell me to switch on the lights when i work in the kitchen.
2, There are pictures of me on facebook. But thats it. I took them because i was enamoured with it when i saw the cell phone which could also take photos, for the first time. There are no other pictures of me in my house. I dont keep photographs safe. When i am photographed on public occassions, i just dont collect these pictures.Exceptions are photos of me on a visit abroad and my daughter's wedding.
3. I dislike dressing up. I am often underdressed because I dislike the ritual so much.

Anyway this turned out to be a boring topic. As I took the trouble and time to write it, am gonna post it anyway.
BTW the pic of me on blogger was my experimental first picture on a laptop.

Arun came to see me today. If any of my students read this, they would see a different Arun each, because every batch has an Arun. In fact, one of the batches with just fifteen students had five aruns.This one was a baker and was in charge of a bakery in a well known restaurant. A tall skinny young person in his early twenties, with an army hair cut and moustache. He was from a village and told me that he had gained admission in college in the U.K. This was in 2009. So he wanted to speak in English.
As we got to know each other, he told me that he had paid an exorbitant sum to his consultant in Mumbai. I asked to see his admission letter. It was a photo copy of an admission letter for a diploma course. He told me that his consultant would get him into the country and that he would get him a job, and that he really did not plan to attend college. I saw the hope in his eyes but did not hesitate to tell him that I suspected a scam there. Educational consultants do not charge such fees, as the universities pay them.There was a remote possibility that someone would smuggle bakers into U.K in an organized way. But it was most probably a scam.
He then told me that his consultant was postponing the process everymonth. We wrote several mails to the consultant.
Arun had got his sister married, but she was sent home by her family, as he could not give her the promised dowry. She was now nursing a baby and he was intent on working abroad and paying the dowry, so that his sister would be united with her family.The young man was miserable. I was sure he had been cheated. His progress in English was tolerable.Then one day he stopped coming. I did not hear from him till today.
He told me that he was now working in the U.S base in Russia.He also told me that he had got his money back from consultant. His story went like this. He had  chanced to meet an Underworld dada from Mumbai, in his native village at a wedding ceremony. He and his friend had shared their woes with him. The dada had invited them to Mumbai. They had stayed with him for a month, working in his theatre, issuing tickets. Finally, the dada had found time to investigate his case. He took them to a lawyer, who had contacts in a telephone network. they found where the consultant lived. Abducted him. Had the police inspector threaten him.At first the villain had refused to pay up. Then when he came to know that his wife had also been abducted, he gave in and paid the two young villagers.
 Arun had stayed on in Mumbai and attended several interviews before he got the job in Mumbai.What a delightful story i got to hear today, because i would often think of Arun and wonder what had happened to him. I never imagined even once that his story would have a happy ending. He's flying back to Russia at the end of his vacation this friday! God Speed!

When you have a vision....

I read somewhere that having a very high goal is a great motivator. True! It can make all the difference. We can  easily identify a person who has set his heart on the skies. The way he moves about, the way he walks, talks, looks, makes him stand apart from his peers. He does not get bored or frustrated easily, for in his mind , he sees not just the drab physical reality around him, but the superior vision, which provides him with a psychological reality, that goads him forward.His vision helps him in two ways. First, he keeps moving forward, despite the odds, because he is not discouraged. Secondly, he solves his everyday issues better than his peers, and because of this attitude and reduces , however marginally, the drabness of his circumstances.

I also read somewhere (bad acknowledgement again) that people have problems with goals because they think goals are boring work oriented things and dreams are unattainable fun fantasies. But goals and dreams are one and the same. I totally agree with this.