New Killing Fields

Killing of enemy soldiers on a battlefield one can understand. But killing of innocent people in a university is something that at least I fail to understand. The gun law is obviously a culprit in the U.S. But is that the only culprit? Is there something dehumanising about our existence, like the nightmarish sci-fi stuff where humans were taken over by machines? Do we really not care about other people's right to live? Can anything be done to reverse the trend? Or are we destined to see a lot more of Virginia Techs and Northern Illinois' happening all around? Some people always felt that the veneer of humanity we wear is pretty thin. Maybe it's started wearing out.

Obama vs. Hillary

It's not clear why, but the time for America to choose a different President from its traditional white male seems to have come. Going by Africa's track record, not many blacks have governed their countries well, but maybe Obama will set the record straight if he wins. Hillary has already been a senator and first lady, so it may be only a marginal stretch for her. Whether the average American stands to gain anything with any of them in power is hard to say, but they are both infinitely more interesting to listen to and watch than their Republican counterparts, as of now. I remember Gary Hart who probably would have swept to power but for a scandal during his campaign. Whatever happens, America will join the ranks of many 'backward' countries if they elect one of these two to the top job.

Look-alikes

Ishant Sharma, the Indian bowler, reminds me of Zayed Khan, the cocky brother of Shah Rukh in 'Main Hoon Na'. How and in what ways are look-alikes formed? Are they genetically related? Initially, I thought Deepika Padukone looked a lot like Eesha Deol. But on seeing her movie, I found she looked bettet, in addition to looking different. Was just watching Rajesh Khanna's debut movie, Raaz, in which he plays a judwaa role, which is the Raaz kept from us till the end. If you could clone a human, whom would you want to clone? There was a book by Tom Holt (called Falling Sideways) about multiple clones of a human running around all over, which raises a lot of possibilities. Thought-provoking? You bet.

Taare Zameen Par

This is a very well-made film about a child and some adults forcing him to become an adult at 9 years of age. It's also about parents having expectations that their child is going to be a corporate honcho like the father who doesn't seem to be enjoying anything at all-including raising his children! The burden of parental expectations hangs heavy on every Indian child (the western children run away before they get hanged). It's possible to see the Indian child's life as a series of tutorials to get him to the next tutorial! And at the end, he probably lives a well-tutored life! All this is starkly depicted in the movie, with minimum of dialogue (I liked this facet a lot), a lot of expressions, acting and smart editing. Very unlike a Hindi movie that we are used to. But its context is the current Indian child. I am not sure if anyone else forces children through so much of useless muck in one lifetime, in the name of a tough education.

Weekends

The thought of weekends create a tranquility of the mind that few other things can. Why is it so? A weekday is supposed to be productive, rewarding, blah, blah. Then why don't we get the same thrill when a weekday approaches? Is it that humans are lazy genetically, or have we conditioned ourselves to be so? Even in school, holidays conjured up fantasies that rarely materialised. School was considered drudgery, something that one has to go through in order to reach the holidays. Seems to me something is seriously wrong with the way schools are run (and workplaces), if all we are thinking is escape from them.