The Finer Imagery in Life

A mere sentence with about ten words can either inflict a lot of injury to one's soul or inject them with a lot of happiness. If a statement can create imagery in the minds of readers, it goes without saying that this sentence must comprise a language which is very simple but at the same time very powerful.

Till now, I am content to say I have read less than 1.0% of this world's literature. However, the flow of writing that some of these authors exhibited have left me spellbound. So, I decided to conduct an experiment. I randomly flipped through the pages of some of the most famous novels (that were within half a meter radius, forgive me I am lazy)  and plucked out a statement from there... and now you are about to see how even a random statement written by these wonderful people has so much efficacy.

"The first two dances, however, brought a return of distress; they were dances of mortification."

-Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice)

"The secret of remaining young is never to have an emotion that is unbecoming." 

-Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray)

"Dawn made itself felt in a gathering whiteness eastward and over the river and an intermittent cheeping in the near-by trees." 

-F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Beautiful and Damned)

" Now, is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not whether for good or for ill."

- Arthur Conan Doyle (The Hound of The Baskervilles)

"And far away from the South, beyond the white woods of the birches of Nimbrethil, from the coast of Arvernien and the mouths of Sirion, came rumour of the Havens of the Ships."

- J.R.R. Tolkien  (The Children Of Hurin)

"I dreamed a lot, and most of it I only remember as a hodge podge of images, snippets of visual memory flashing in my head like cards in a Rolodex..."

-Khaled Hosseini ( The Kite Runner )

"You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato."

-Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol )

And from my absolute favorite children's book:

"They are forbidden by Peter to look in the least like him, and they wear the skins of bears slain by themselves, in which they are so round and furry that when they fall they roll."

-James Matthew Barrie (Peter And Wendy) 

Perhaps the bunch of statements I have just made you put up with make no sense when they stand alone from the actual text. But, what delights me is the sweetness of language and the imagery they form in my head. I think the characteristic of a good author is that even when you do isolate such descriptive lines from their paragraphs, you can still imagine a great deal. That's why the likes of Rowling, Lewis, Stevenson, Dickens (and so on and so forth) make so much sense; that is how they won over Readers.

Westlife once sang,
 "And Words are all I have to take your Heart away." 
I believe.

Goodbye, dear Summer.

Travel, Books and Movies. This is Life. 

Except there is a tiny glitch. They say you never get everything you want at the same time.
But I found a way to make that happen this Summer. This inescapable lovely time of the year when everything is sunny and bright and needless to say...absolutely cheerful.

And that is precisely why, dear Reader, I'd like to bring this season to an equally joyful end with this little post.

1. It started with getting drunk.  

                                                     

                                         

No, not the lying-on-the-floor-puking kind of drunk; I'm talking about the intoxicating Indian-ness. Singapore is really diverse, but I prefer experiencing the culture of one country at a time. There's so much to learn from this colourful, Bollywood-crazy, fast-paced nation. Whether you skim the lush green fields, watch the river twisting it's way to the sea or immerse yourself into the smoky concrete laced with a British touch, Kolkata has an appeal of it's own. There's an enthralling beat to every step you take, there's a blend of pinks, reds and corals in the clothes you wear and last but not least, there's a spice in every meal you take. The music is shimmering, the language is sweet; and despite all this flowery description what I REALLY did is this: I learnt a couple of swear words, some dramatic Bolly dialogues, ate a lot of butter chicken and paneer and inhaled tons of carbon monoxide. Way to go, I say.

2. Then it escalated to singing in the rain.

                                                          

                                       

                                         

Not like literally singing of course. I didn't want to ruin my chances of having immeasurable fun by lying bed-ridden with the flu or pneumonia or the like. BUT what I did was sing all day until lunch. Singing actually elevates your work efficiency. I sang while painting, played a bit of soft rock while reading and of course sang out loud on car rides. How can you really avoid singing when you're sticking your head out of that window, or playing The Beatles when you sit down with a cup of hot coffee near the window. Impossible so far as I know. And also impossibly good.

3. I went to War.

                                                             

Game of Thrones really, really got me going. I mean few books take more than kingdoms and battle to increase the adrenaline rush. This introduced me into a new fandom, and I cannot be more thankful. It also got me interested in Monarchy, a system of government I always thought more fascinating than a Republic. Kings, queens and knights. Oh, the wonder. IF ONLY I could wear chain mail and run into battle. It took me a while to wonder which House I really fancied but I think I made my decision fast enough. Lannisters everyone. Followed by Targaryens. That pretty much sums up everything. And yes you can hate me if you want to. 

4.  I came back to Earth with a thud.

                                                           

 I crash-landed on Europe, diving right into Dan Brown's bio-terrorism wrought thriller Inferno. It got me thinking and I transcended from the dreamy world of fighting on battleground to actually facing current world problems. This is not a problem which can be solved single-handedly by an intellectual. Rather, it's a maze which only has a visible exit for a team player. We need to rise above the petty issues of selfishness to combat real-world problems. There are terrors which are huge in magnitude and can bring down mountains to dust. For the love of God, this book opened eyes. 

5. And then there was this affair with the memory of Clark Gable.

                                                 

I am not really a movie person. I could do with a few classics now and then, but I'm not a regular and I will never be. But this actor just raised the bar so high for other men, I'm finding it hard to digest the fact that I will find my special someone after all. It's not about the looks, (in which case I would have chosen a certain Mr. Pitt) but I guess it is the acting which matters. Flawless acting, flowing like watery silk in between your fingers. Although Casablanca's Humphrey Bogart made romantic drama seem effortless, I still feel Gable (with his Bugs Bunny iconic act) tops my list of favorites. And he sure as hell deserves it. 

6. Finally culminated in falling in Love.

                                                              

No matter how hard I try to consider stoicism (it's good for health, you know) I almost always end up melting after a touching tale. With my annual pilgrimage to the doctor done, (all organs intact) I was led to believe that I had toughened up after all. But I had no idea what was in store for me until I watched Sherlock. That brought the roof down. While I dashed through this nerve-wracking, mind-boggling mystery of a roller coaster, I realized something. The steel resolve I had formed of not watching mystery fiction or crime drama had gradually melted away. Thanks to fabulous acting and of course, extraordinary plots. And well, who can forget, Benedict Cumberbatch. I swear it should be  illegal for someone to be this good-looking.  

And now finally as I embrace The Hunger Games, I realize that nothing can be this exhilarating. Waiting for your favorite movies, books, episodes. Travelling from Venice to Istanbul to Paris to New York and then London. What really matters is being everywhere in spirit. This summer is marching to a wonderful end. 

While many people aspire to create an eternal happiness, I choose to find happiness in little things. 

This by itself, is enough motivation for me to go on. 

Will he? Won't he?

Why I will never get over my Childhood Crushes. Note: This is a result of complete boredom. 

There's a reason why that tiny moment of infatuation is not termed as love. Whether the crush was on a person or an activity. And there's a bloody good reason why this post is not one of those soppy memoirs of kiddy crushes. The loves of my life ( as a 12 year old ) don't matter anymore, but the consequences lie heavy on the mind. And here I am, trying to recreate a little bit of those days when everything was a lot easier.

There are a hundred billion reasons why I won't get over my childhood, and all the mistakes I made and all those stupid crushes. But let me spare the boring introduction.

1. My first crush was on books. This is probably the only crush that evolved into love. Nothing else really mattered. Waiting like a restless moron outside Popular/Crossword for the release of Harry Potter, drowning into those fragrant pages,  behaving like a lunatic after reading it etc. People are blind when it comes to love BUT I think my eyesight improves drastically while reading. I seem to notice stuff hidden between the lines, swallow fiction like food, and that means a lot because I really love food.

I cemented my relationship with books after a while; I got to build a small home library. So far, so good. This marriage is one which won't end in divorce.

2. The second and most wavering crush was on a person. And till date this is the most incredulous piece of fact in my life. It probably never went beyond a "Hi" and a "Bye" but till the time I left school, it had evolved into a "Will he? Won't he?" scenario. People say that kids fall for looks. I think that's wrong. As a kid, the sheer innocence of the mind falls for character. He was so intriguing and well so amusing. He was a world of his own and I loved that. I hardly ever spoke to him, but when I did it was a magical kind of FUN. And this is probably the ONLY guy who will never know how much I liked him. And perhaps the only person who would never read beyond a line or two of this post; he always had better things to do.

3.  The last and most unexplained crush was on anime. I spent a good amount of time fixing beyblades. There was this phase of life when cracking open the weight disk of a beyblade and screwing together the parts ignited a delight unlike any other. We switched and exchanged beyblades, we had tournaments and I even succeeded on getting one of them to catch fire. The consequent result was love for Japanese culture and language. Soon enough, I was infected by the 'cute' craze and everything from my best friends to my bed sheet had something cute about them. I never got over this one really. And if you presented a kimono to me (bonus: with flowers) I'd probably keep that in a safe. My most prized possessions.


So the undeniable result of this post is nostalgia. God knows I should have stopped time in my childhood. But the unfair fact of life is that nothing ever stops for us. Although slipping into the delusions and fantasies of childhood can give me a momentary peace, there's nothing less permanent than change. I'll never get over some phases of my life, but then again who really does?

Now you Hate him, now you don't. ;)

The Absolute Anti Hero

I want to be completely honest about this post. How did I actually get to this topic anyways?

The first, and most obvious, thing I did is this. I used the unflattering search engine called Google. (No, I don't mean to be rude, but Google does give brutally honest answers at times.)

And I had before me a list of some of the most fascinating people who have shamelessly managed to puzzle us every time. Most of us will stand by the fact that as far as heroes and villains are concerned, most movies are categorized like this:

1. There's a hero who shows off, there's a villain who gets kicked real bad.
2. The opposite happens i.e the villain stamps on the skull of a dying emotional (patriotic?) hero.
3. No hero, no villain. Everybody is a winner!
4. A Doomsday-type of film, where everyone ends up -well-doomed.

Yeah A Justin Bieber Type Apocalypse, it's plausible

But we forget, that in this constantly developing branch of entertainment, there are characters who step into the shoes of the hero, but never really live up to the characteristics of a true hero. They are the ANTI HEROES. Neither are they agreeable, honest, brave, courteous and kind nor are they patriotic, handsome, virtuous, idealistic or noble. In fact, they are absolutely the opposite and yet they stand out, because even if we don't acknowledge it, we all love a share of someone who is grounded in reality. Who has flaws, and problems and is yet triumphant.

Whether he is a supporting act, or a protagonist, he is still a hero. So let's have a look at his illustrious history.

Shakespeare's Anti Heroes

Whether Shakespeare actually ever wrote about anti-heroes is a debatable topic. Most men often consider his characters to be classical tragic heroes. However, I think there is a difference between them. Shakespeare's anti-hero acts out of his own will and (more often than not) brings about his own downfall. But his tragic hero is a target of worldly (or unworldly) circumstances and usually dies anyways. 

Macbeth for instance is awfully greedy, power-hungry and -let's face it- easily manipulated. The root of the anti-hero's vices is his own feverish brain. So when Macbeth, knee deep in guilt and gore, says :

The Famous Banquet Scene

"I am in blood 

Stepp'd so far, that should I wade no more, 

Returning were as tedious as go o'er."

He is pretty convinced of his own wrong-doings. He fights with his evil genius for a while, but he cannot stop the villain in his mind from taking control. But what makes Macbeth a hero too, is his unstoppable courage and resolve. He goes into battle nevertheless and dies by a sword; remarkably a hero's death. Thus he is, the quintessential anti hero. 

However, I would not classify Hamlet as an anti-hero despite his faults in behavior. The surrounding environment and his insecurity are what actually drive him to do what he did. Unlike Macbeth, he stayed true to himself till the end. He wore a mask of madness, but deep within he was perfectly in his senses.

Literature's Minion - The Coming of The Byronic Hero

I haven't read John Milton's Paradise Lost, but hey, even a baby knows about God and The Devil. While Lucifer (better known as Satan) is 'heralded' as a fallen angel, few know that he is also the world's oldest anti hero. And Milton's voluminous book makes sure Lucifer finds his own place in the underworld too. After all, a hero always finds his place.

Fallen Angel?

The name Byronic Hero originated from Lord Byron's literary work, which gave us a passionate yet ill-tempered short cut to an anti hero. Authors went on to write about Byronic heroes too.

Charlotte Bronte got the world thinking (and women sighing) after her depiction of Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre. A man, torn in frustration over the fate of his mad wife, his own love affair and his near-fatal accident, are what makes this anti hero tragically perfect. Bronte's own sister, Emily was not further behind in her portrayal of Heathcliff, perhaps one of the most destructive and dangerous literary creations till date.

It's quite a pity that Twilight took a reference from Wuthering Heights. While Stephanie Meyer struggles to make an anti hero out of Edward, the latter has already succeeded in becoming the world's most bold and extraordinary novel AND I cannot name a book which portrays an anti hero better.

Mystery fiction lovers will definitely agree that Sherlock Holmes is another category of anti hero by himself. He is definitely the most profound, yet brilliant (bordering on sardonic) anti hero the world has ever known. I'm a self-confessed non-follower of Sherlock (yes, I know all you Sherlock fans, I will pay for this) but this is one man who certainly gives me the goosebumps.

I would also categorize Boromir (of the Lord of The Rings trilogy) and The Lannisters (A Song Of Ice and Fire) as anti heroes. And by now, you know why.

The Lannisters Send Their Regards?

                                             

The First Love of our Childhood - Comic Books, Animated Movies and Anime

How unfair would it be to miss out on the mysteriously superb Batman! For everyone out there who has skipped the 'I-wanna-be-a-superhero' stage of life, you missed out on A LOT. Most superheroes are the stereotypical winners. But some of them come with a blend of tragedy. 

Let's take for instance the ferocious yet 'well-meaning' Wolverine. A slightly more debatable option is the Black Widow.  One of my favorites is The Hulk! How can you not admire this huge green giant who is also largely kind-hearted. Among the X-Men comics, I'd vote for Magneto (despite all) as an anti hero too. 

Wolverine and The Hulk

                                         

I won't delve into the details of Animated Movies. But to name a few of the anti heroes that Disney has come up with -I know it's still a big injustice to this category -but here we go. The best known is The (soft-hearted) Beast, followed by an admirable Timon, Peter Pan's Tinker Bell, a charismatic Flynn Rider and - wait for it - the one and only Donald Duck.  

Don't you antagonize me!

                                                       

Anime is not a topic I would like to discuss here, as most of the work in this category is unknown to a major audience (including myself). But there is one anti hero I cannot miss, and partly because I must be the only female (that I know of) who enjoyed watching this show. Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z never fails to amaze me. He's the only brilliant candidate I could think of. 

The Anti Hero on The Silver Screen (And well the TV too)

Movies have given us some of the most intelligent (and comical) anti heroes till date. In fact, it very much started off with adaptations of classical novels. But now it has evolved into a list of splendid characters, some of which I am still unaware of, YET. 

Fight Club's Tyler Durden to begin with. How can we forget Oskar Schindler? And let's not overlook the famous Severus Snape from Harry Potter. Or the ambitious Zuckerberg from The Social Network. 

OR the dashing Jay Gatsby from Fitzgerald's book on New York's flashy society. All this to name a few. (I can't keep going on, this could fill books!)

The traditional definition of an anti hero got a twist with the introduction of Jack Sparrow. We all know him, we all love him unconditionally. We all will walk the plank for Johnny Depp's adorably crazy pirate. He is a generation apart from every other anti hero we know, because he does all the right things in the wrong way. But the man's got his heart in place (well, not in a jar at least, phew to that). 

Saavy? 

                                                    

Another memorable character is Ellen Page's Juno, who despite being an indifferent teenager, is an absolute sweetheart. Modern anti hero qualities flood through this coming-of-age film, where Juno deals with an incorrigible mistake - pregnancy. And lets not forget her love for gross horror films. But she wins your heart anyways.

It would be wrong to conclude this list without mentioning our TV anti heroes. From a chilling Dexter Morgan to the hilariously AWESOME Barney Stinson, the sitcoms have never been far from entertaining us with these contemporary anti heroes. 

That pretty much summarizes my take on the Anti Hero. What began as a steady development of idealistic perfect heroes soon grew into a bunch of characters who are SO WRONG in half the things they do. But nowadays, the reason why film-makers, authors and playwrights harvest anti heroes is because we, as spectators, have grown tired of watching the 'good' men. Success does not only come to virtuous people. It comes to real people and real people have deficiencies. As do our anti heroes. 

To conclude, we all know how much we love the badass. I mean, he never fails to steal the show does he? ;)

The Essence of a Woman?

So, it turns out that most of the works of Literature I have browsed through recently have a 'thing' for women. And by the 'thing' I mean an irrevocable grudge towards the gentler sex. Or should I actually say, the problematic sex?

Here's an elaborate list (for the Reader's benefit), of a few classical and contemporary examples of a variety of difficulties, ranging from wars to murders, caused by women. And they are taken from the books that I recently read, each of which have depicted characters of women who are vastly different from one another.

1. The Iliad (and the same goes for all those War Epics)

Few people actually know that the Iliad, is not just the re-telling of the abduction of the beautiful (but unfaithful) Helen, it is also a book on war strategies and power- wielding.Why, had it not been for her escape with Paris, Prince of Troy, there would have been no bloodshed, no battle, no loss of great heroic men. While we read about the painful death of Achilles, it pinches the Reader's heart to acknowledge that this squabble over a woman could really kill off the sons of God.

2. King Arthur and The Knights of The Round Table

Guinevere, the legendary Queen of Arthur, was said to have betrayed her husband by carrying on a love-affair with Sir Lancelot, his most beloved Knight. This cascaded into the downfall of the Kingdom. Poems and adaptations have been written about these star-crossed lovers, the gorgeous Guinevere and the handsome Lancelot, but what really remains of The Round Table? Nothing but the misery and wrath of Arthur.

3. Gone With The Wind

Set in the plantations of the glorious South, during the US Civil War, Margaret Mitchell's novel brings to light what a woman's childish affection could do. While Scarlett counts three husbands in her lifetime, her relatives and friends suffer from the effect of her greed, selfishness and vanity. All for her desire to be comfortable, fueled by the 'love' she had for Ashley. In the end, she loses all of what she had accumulated by losing the man who truly loved her. And of course destroying multiple households on the way.

4. The Great Gatsby

Can it be any clearer? Fitzgerald doesn't need this gorgeous story set in the Roaring 20's to prove to us how destructive love can be. But he does, and he does it marvelously. The careless Daisy suffers from a state of confusion, thus endangering the Life of a great gentleman like Jay Gatsby. And her cowardice later kills him. You can almost feel, as Nick Carraway narrates, the bubbling hatred and resentment towards Daisy for her gutlessness. And it's aptly felt.

5. The Phantom Of The Opera 

This French classic stole hearts as a play, a musical and a film. However, when we get to the root of this we realize that had it not been for Christine's mad obsession with a fantasy, there wouldn't have been any disastrous torture on the part of the Phantom. Had it not been for her blindness and folly, there would have been no innocent lives lost. No heartbreak. In short, no chaos.

My list ends here, but not my thoughts. What actually calls for people to scream and blame women for the cause of almost all problems in history, is actually a baseless cause. Even though I have listed 5 literary works that have raised a question as to the role of women, we still cannot deny that without women there would have been a stark void in fiction. All the women in these books are related by one strong thread of feminine virtues : beauty, delicacy and grace.

 My favorite character in this period of time while I read these books, is Scarlett. She's the clear example of what a real woman is. She's ruthless, and yet charming. She's a married woman who fights a mental battle, who draws up a transparent profile of frankness. And yet she realizes her mistakes and repents for it all. While Christine's sacrifice in Phantom and Guinevere's boldness in King Arthur also sets them apart, it cannot be denied that Scarlett remains startlingly the most brilliant of them all.

I credit these authors for their portrayal of women, but I also raise a toast to the women of the world...for their kind contribution to mankind. And of course, for all those wars and murders. :)