What`s in a name.?

We have an adage by Bard which goes something like:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)


But imagine having to go through your life named as "Apple" or "Big toe"(Red Indians must really hate their kids inorder to name them as big toe.!!)or something absurd.!!I know essentially speaking,our identity is much more beyond the concatenation of a few syllables.Infact,understanding that our identity is much more beyond a name and what our identity truly is ,would be more of a spiritual awakening..

But for lesser mortals,who are not yet in the higher spiritual plane,like me,name does hold a lot of prominence in our life..I mean for heaven`s sake,it is my damn identity!But strangely,such an important thing which in a way shapes our life and decides who we turn out to be is something which have absolutely no say in!These days parents say that they support their kids in every decision they take and wouldn`t want to influence their offspring`s life.But come to think of it,they unknowingly decide what their kids turn out to be.Not just by instilling life values and morals but by just naming them.!As soon as you hear a name,you get a mental picture of a person..Say,I hear of someone called:'Martin',the first thing which comes into my mind is banker..Martin the banker.!Or say,"May flower",then the first thing that comes into the mind is guitarist in an Indie Rock band or perhaps a tarot card reader or even a psychic..But definitely not a Quantum Physicist!

So i guess,in a way,a name does influence what we want from our life.I guess,your sub conscious mind gets tuned to choose certain paths,as you keep responding to being called by a particular name.

Do you think,The Bard would have come up with this popular line from Romeo and Juliet if he was not named William Shakespeare?..

Juno....

There have been many movies which have handled the story of birds and bees and the predicament of being a teenager.But what Juno does is,it handles both of them magnificently with the right touch of comic sarcasm.This is what makes this Oscar nominated movie a class apart from movies belonging to this theme,which treat the subject of teenage pregnancy in a maudlin fashion.
Quirky acting by Ellen page,who plays the protagonist,Juno is definitely one of the key ingredients making this movie a winner with both critics and the viewers.The very punk meets comedy touch is just impeccable.Juno`s decision of going ahead with pregnancy because her Asian friend tells her that the baby has finger nails,shows the brilliant screenplay methodology of underplaying emotions associated with moral convictions.In a way you also see a theme of feminism running throughout the movie..Not in terms of characterization,but the idea underlying the etching of both Jennifer Garner`s character and that of Juno..The dialogue"We all know ,whose idea it was"[Juno telling Paulie it was her idea to "do it" ] in a way is all about female empowerment in a very strange way!!

But anther interesting thing is Juno`s Hamburger-Phone,which has become something of a fashion statement now..But for me the best part was the soundtrack..Being a big fan of Indie Rock,listening to Kimya Dawson,Moldy Peaches,Belle and Sebastian,Barry Louis as part of the movie`s soundtrack is a big thumbs-up form me..You couldn`t have asked for a better ending than Juno and Bleeker`s rendition of "Anyone else but you"..

Jam..Jam..Jam!!

"Aah! What a pain in the neck!"..This is something, every Banglorean would moan and tell,when asked about Bangalore traffic.Yeah,commuting for 2 hours to reach your workplace is a common thing here.We could go on and on ranting about this everyday menace but come to think of it,it does have a bright side to it..Yeah,I know...It sounds crazy to say something nice about traffic jams..But every quintessential "swalpa adjust madi" Bangalorean would definitely nod with me in accord.After all we Bangloreans always look at the sunny side up..Don`t we.?

So when stuck in a traffic jam what is it that we do?.Yell in frustration,mumble on and on about how the flyovers, instead of easing our traffic jams are adding to the woes..Hmm.. yeah we do..But how long .Once we take out our frustration and have taken a "chill pill"(Yeah,am on a roll with Bangy slang..),there is a whole new thought process running in our grey cells.

Contemplating on our lives or how the colleague in the next cubicle is damn cute(!!) or pondering about finally hitting the gym to get in shape or perhaps even calculating a new proposal for the next client meeting.

After all it`s like a much needed avenue for venting out your anger,I mean when you yell or curse in frustration,you are getting rid of all the pent up anger.bitterment . It`s like a psychological clean up process..Apart from that i would have to say you also get much needed time to introspect..The best of my poetic works have their genesis in the ring road jams..


I am not endorsing the traffic jams or anything, especially in winters,when i would have to get up early in the chilly morning to be on time in office....But definetly saying that it ain`t all that bad for in our otherwise jam-packed life,we get a breather for a minute..

What if..???

Have you ever wondered:"What if I had taken another route.?.How different would life have turned out to be!"..Well if you did,you would definitely identify with this post...

I have always had a tough time deciding about things, when bestowed with plethora of options. At the end of it all, more often than not, I end up wondering, what if I had not chosen the other option. How different, would have life turned out. Tsk...Tsk...Highly irritating, I know... :-))
All my life I have had the "privilege" of having multiple opportunities. But I am the kind of person who hates having to decide, I mean why life can’t be kind enough to atleast make something easy. The more the choices, higher the stakes I have to play with,higher the agony and the pain of having to decide..Higher the number of crib sessions,on how the other option would have been better....!

Well,with this temperament of mine,you know,how much I would appreciate second chances.And gawd..!I recently got one..A second chance..Yay.!!It meant actually getting to live a "What if?" situation....Well,the fact that I was getting to chose an option which I had thoroughly discarded owing to conflict of interest(or something like that)..Not once, but many a times,I had revisited this option and me being my usual self ,did cost-benefit analysis(:D) to regret the fact that I had chosen the wrong option(As usual..:-))..)..And now i was getting to live life with this profitable(?) option..My joy knew no bounds(Exaggeration..:-) )

Finally,I though,since the matter was of paramount importance,this must be some sort of a divine intervention(Ha!..Ha!..Yeah!..Sometimes I do come up with such conclusions)..No wonder,I actually got a chance.Finally no regrets and all that....But little did I know that,I was actually going to learn a valuable lesson in decision making..A personality trait changing lesson..(Yeah,I have successfully given up on analyzing every single situation..Cost-Analysis-Sober since 1 month..)..The second chance proved to be a major dud.!The impact of this hit me like a Armageddon..Little did I expect this..I mean an option meant to do good,actually turned my world topsy-turvy..With all the damage done,I started my analysis again..No..Not on other options..!But on the circumstances and decision making ..Though I wanted my life to take the route as it would have been with second chance ..It did not work out..No amount of regret and not even the second chance of chosing another option changed the course of life..Man..!That is when I realized the laws of metaphysics:Options do not govern life,Life govern options!!

No matter,what option I chose,life will take it`s own course..


Well,i came out unscathed at the other end but lot more positive..So all in all no more "What if??" ...:)

E.T.-A monster..?

Being an amateur astronomer ,i have always been fascinated with the various theories concerning the existence of Extra -Terrestrial(E.T.) Life..But one thing which fascinates me is the human perception of E.T..Why, in every movie,every sci-fi book ,they are depicted as evil monster like beings..After all if "GOD" ,as per most of the philosophies (except Paganism,i suppose) has always had a heavenly abode..Then our approach to non-Earthlings must have been a positive one..

Strange.!!,is the way that human mind works and relates,isn`t it..?

An interesting story......

I read this somewhere,long time back..

An important task was assigned to Everybody..Everybody was sure Somebody would do it.Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job.Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it.It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when actually Nobody asked Anybody...

Ugly(??) Betty....

Today while flipping channels on TV, an interesting thought crossed my mind ,which made me think about the human perception of beauty.

We all love six-pack abs of SRK and aspire to look like that Kate-Moss like “thingies”. (I am not really sure if some of these uber thin models are humans as they look like badly done experimental humanoids with their emaciated looks) .Yet Ugly Betty happens to be one of the top rated sitcoms and America Ferreira’s character goes on to win an Emmy as well as hearts of people worldwide.

So what is the conclusion..?Are we really in love with these perfect bodies? We all love to say we are size 0, but yet adore Betty’s character. The bushy-browed, gaudily-dressed, sloppy Betty! Why it is that such a fashion faux pas is the main protagonist. May be this shows that we still have some amount of grey matter not yet influenced by fashion mafia!(err. I mean fashion media).

Is it because we all pretend to be superficial but actually are not as shallow as we like to be! After all I have always believed that we are genetically programmed to be nice but just try to act otherwise. May be somewhere deep down in our mind we actually want to be like Betty –a carefree person free from hassles of trying to be someone else.

Go Betty..!!! :)