This job is keeping me busy and am not able to write as frequently as I would like to but anyway here I am back with some random thoughts. Thanks all for your comments - esp. Debu, Ritesh bhai and VJ - thanks for writing in. It is very encouraging.
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Have you ever thought about why we get into this debate of whether a movie based on a book is better or if the book is better. Invariably I have seen people saying the book was better but I beg to differ. Most of the times, in my opinion, the movies have been markedly better, at least the ones I have seen - couple of examples I can think of at the top of my mind - Godfather (my all time favorite), Shawshank Redemption, Guide, even Malgudi Days (the tv serial) to some extent. And no, I have neither read nor watched the Harry Potter series.
I have always thought about why this discrepancy in people's opinion and recently I think I came up with the answer.
As always, a lot of our thoughts and actions are due to our prejudices and unconscious mind. And this is no different. From the very beginning of one's existence and as soon as the thought process takes shape, all over the world, the written word is accorded more intelligence and more importance compared to what we can watch - and for good reasons for kids as that helps develop their mind. But this prejudice stays with us even when we grow up and we tend to look down upon movie and television as a medium compared to books. And mind you, I am a book snob and connoisseur myself so I am not saying this lightly.
Tell me what you all think - join the debate.
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Another question that has intrigued me recently is this - can humans continue to make the progress that we are making these days and continue to push the boundaries in every field? Or is there an end to our ingenuity, a limit to our intelligence? Consider this - we have made more progress in the last 100 years than we made in the last 200,000 years of our existence; more progress in the last 25 years than the last 2500 years and so on. Where will this stop? What is the limit? Can we solve global warming? Can we colonize other planets and increase our chances of survival from climate change, meteorite crash or similar other disasters? As I am thinking and I am reading - science and philosophy continue to evolve - the two main branches of thinking that I think make progress possible. Miniaturization is helping us do more and more with less and less. I believe our kids in their lifetime will go to other planets - and their kids may be first ones to be able to go out of our solar system. The possibilities are endless.
I used to be fascinated with the concept of time travel - which in simple terms is possible if we can travel faster than light. But recent studies have shown that even particles of light cannot travel faster than light, putting a dampener on the concept. But we live and learn. We will see what happens in the next 20 years. We already can create live beings, short changing evolution, so I will not be surprised if we are able to find more laws of universal physics that we don't know yet and that can help us get ever closer to the limits.
I get giddy just thinking about it and there are just too many possibilities to discuss - maybe more details in a later blog but wanted to bring this thought out now.
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How the mighty have fallen - and yes I am talking about the Indian cricket team. After securing the sanity of a generation earlier this year, now they cannot hit a watermelon with a bed sized bat. What happened? Is this the old inconsistency, or the complacency or the impact of some "outsider" and just to remind everyone and make it interesting - sports betting is legal in England. Somehow it just evokes a shrug from me these days and that raises another question - can we train our mind to stop being involved and stop getting impacted by what is going on around us. How powerful are we? And that is with a smirk on my face.
But somehow I am more interested in the new Premier League season starting than the travails of our cricket team and I hope the Red Devils win the Champions League this year beating the divers from Catalonia and yes I will happily give the League Crown for that. Amen!! But all you "mad about cricket" folks - what do you think happened here?
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Just saw the news of Shammi Kapoor passing away. Here goes another great man - may God rest his soul!! I am a big admirer of Shammi Kapoor not only for his contribution to movies, but more for the trailblazer he was in all the walks of life. I remember reading about him in either school or college as a key pioneer and one of the first users of internet in India to name just one of his many interests. World will be so much poorer without him.
Till the next one,
Rajnish.
3 comments:
those are some good random thoughts Rajnish :).
Adding on to your book vs movie..When any one reads a book he/she creates his/her own image of the entire plot and rarely it matches to the plot what the director has to create with time and the commercial success in mind. I think this agreement/dis-agreement will continue for ever :)
Nice blog - I feel that books offer a level of detail and nuances that movies cannot convey in a short time span. But the newer generations, unlike me, are more at ease with visual media than books and times are changing surely.
I got your link via Rashmee who works with me - you can check out my cricket and music blogs below - not quite as eclectic as your topics though.
Vidya
Cricket: http://cricketloversblog.blogspot.com/
Music: http://earformusicblog.blogspot.com/
you have given too many topics to think about.ok i will go one by one.
As of the controversy regarding books and movies i think that people's opinion is based on what they have done first, read the book or watched the movie.mostly they read the book first so they like it better.
Now coming to the topic of human progress i think that the possibilities are endless.everytime we think that nothing better can be done something comes up beyond expectations.
The reason behind such unexpected downfall of team india is their complacency.everytime in some scary situation somebody came for rescue.but this time this is just not happening.last test match of this series is going to start tom and i hope that this time they will play for pride.
Shammi kapoor was way ahead of his times.and he was one of the best looking men of india.his unique style separated him from his colleagues.may his soul rest in peace.e.
As of the controversy regarding books and movies i think that people's opinion is based on what they have done first, read the book or watched the movie.mostly they read the book first so they like it better.
Now coming to the topic of human progress i think that the possibilities are endless.everytime we think that nothing better can be done something comes up beyond expectations.
The reason behind such unexpected downfall of team india is their complacency.everytime in some scary situation somebody came for rescue.but this time this is just not happening.last test match of this series is going to start tom and i hope that this time they will play for pride.
Shammi kapoor was way ahead of his times.and he was one of the best looking men of india.his unique style separated him from his colleagues.may his soul rest in peace.
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