bad-naseeb

 "Tum mujh se aksar kehte hona ke bad-naseeb woh hai jis main mohabbat kerne ki his (sense) na ho! Tum galat kehte ho! Duniya main sab se ziyada bad-naseeb woh hai jis main mohabbat ko mehsoos kerne ki taqt - aur use 'accept' kerne ki salahiyat na ho. Aese log huwe bhi to kiya, na huwe to bhi kiya"  

The Tree of Life!

Before I write anything about this many awards-winning movie, let me warn you that this is a painfully (I mean painfully) slow movie and is a kind of experimental movie. Even it took years for the makers of this movie to bring the concept into visual form. It is said that Sean Penn was very disappointed with the translation of the solid script to the screen. I read the first unedited original script on the net, and I agree with him.

The movie's theme is a little complicated. There are two ways to nourish the Tree of Life. Either you follow the rules of 'nature' and live a strictly disciplined life. Another way is to live with 'grace,' where you follow the path of love. Ultimately, the writer argues that the course of 'love is the right path.

Plot: The movie rotates around a family of husband, wife, and three young sons based in Waco, Texas, somewhere in the 1950s. Brad Pitt is a loving but strict father. He has his own issues. He loves his kids, but he believes in strict discipline. He wants them to get prepared against the cruel world. And in the process, he destroys the harmony of the whole family, exceptionally when his older son (Jack) starts hitting puberty and so as rebellion. On another side, Mother tried to raise kids with love and play. Sounds like a typical Indian/Pakistani family back home? (Originally, the movie was supposed to be based in India).

So what makes this movie complicated? The abstract use of colors (not computer generated but the actual use of oil) shows the origin and evolution of life, portraying anger and grief as burning lava, showing dinosaurs doing an act of grace, symbolic death of older son Jack at the age of 19, the psychological journey of a young boy and how childhood experiences linger on till old hood (played by Sean Penn), symbolic use of a tree in the backyard, symbolic use of resurrection at the end when his father realizes his unfairness..........(Juziaat)

The most interesting part (for me) was when Mother told her daughters-in-law that: "I gave you my sons"

(MohabbatoN ka safar aage barhta hai).

*

Saath Saath!

Kabhi kabhi aap ko aesa nahi lagta hai ke - hum akele nahi hain! - Koi hai! - jo hamare saath saath rehta hai - Hum se bataiN kerta hai - hume samjhata hai - hume daantta bhi hai - hume sikhata bhi hai - hamare liye raaste banata hai - hamare liye waqiyaat ko bhi zahoor main laata hai....
......Ye sab kuch sirf dimag ka fatoor to nahi ho sakta......
......Ye saara gorkh dhandha sirf 'neuro-psychiatry' to nahi ho sakti....

Andheri raat hai, saaya to ho nahi sakta
ye kaun hai? jo mere sath sath chalta hai

Baal!

"Tum apne itne lambe baaloN ko 'maintain' kese kerti ho?" 
"Amma kehti haiN! Aurat ke baal jitne khubsurat aur haat jitne sugghar hon (cooking) - mard usse utni hi ziyada mohabbat kerta hai!" 

 (being a man I can testify above as true - but can't speak from women's perspective)

No! He didn't have affair!

Life seemed nearly perfect for Catherine and John Graves, who married in 2001 and lovingly merged two families that included six children. The couple also joined forces in a masonry business in Phoenix and looked forward to a bright economic and emotional future. But just a few years into their new marriage, John Graves showed signs of having an affair. He seemed to lose interest in his wife, squandered company money and disappeared for hours at night. Catherine Graves, now 45, even hired a private detective. 

But it wasn't another woman who was the problem -- it was an aggressive and fatal brain tumor that had slowly caused personality changes and eventually killed her husband of only five years ...............................................

"First of all, we had a year of a really horrible marriage -- he went from loving me more than anything in the world to seeming like he didn't care about me at all," Graves said.

When the private detective turned up nothing nefarious, the couple sought counseling and John was diagnosed with depression. But after he suffered a seizure while in residential treatment, counselors sent him off to a hospital emergency room where a brain scan revealed a virulent glioblastoma, commonly called a glioma.

John Graves' tumor was located in the frontal lobe, which controls personality and emotion -- "the things that make you who you are," according to his wife. His short-term memory had started to fail and "he honestly didn't know where he was and how to get home," she said. "He'd be on the phone and not know who he was talking to. "I thought maybe he was doing drugs and drinking or he was depressed and gambling," she said. Her husband underwent surgery to remove the tumor, but, like a lobotomy, it rendered him emotionless. The steroid medication made him irritable and angry. He suffered repeated seizures.
Graves was sent home to care for him, not knowing when he would die...........

(Source: ABC News via Yahoo here)

Shukar..

(overheard)

"Baji! aap ke bhayya har chutti wale din, poora poora din bethe video games kehlte rehte hain....unko koi baat hi samjh nahi aati"

"Are bibi shukar karo! ghar pe tumhari aankhoN ke saamne hote hain....Mere Mian ki tarah poori poori raat strip club main nahi pare rehte"

Brainwashing...

Out of many, one thing which I found very intriguing that how easily human mind(s) can be manipulated. At personal level it happens all the time in any given human relationship. But how media, political leaders and just a wave of stereotyping can sway millions of mind is extremely disturbing. It may sound crude - but I call it F****ing with brains. Alarmingly, there are very few fortunate who can see out of box in middle of any given crisis.

(On same note but at different frequency other posts were psychological dyslexia and dusra sawal)

Noticer

 "Noticer" - one of the finest book I read in recent memory, written by Andy Andrews. In one way this book is just a story but in actuality it explores different situations of life where just looking things from different 'perspective' - makes the whole difference. It discusses situation of a young teenager plunged into depression, a couple near divorce, a middle age hard working professional who is just not sure why thing are falling apart despite sincere hard work, young college graduates confused about picking right life partners, a person who is trying to reach success by short cuts, an old lonely lady who now feels worthless.....and many others.

My favorite line from book:  "Logic warned him to keep quiet, but something more powerful gave him a sense of well-being, of trust."

Fetal Heartbeat!

Nothing is more mesmerizing, amazing, mystifying and miraculous than watching the fast beating heart of fetus in mother's womb!

A Physician's Diary!

Last week while driving on highway, I had acute abdominal pain, I felt dizzy and I forcefully puked on windscreen. I was barely able to take exit and parked in a parking lot. As I felt better, I drove myself to  hospital (a stupid thing to do instead of calling 911).

Since my arrival to ER, sitting on wheelchair, going through triage, watching staff working under pressure, other emergencies arriving, going through the registration process while puking, a new nurse desperately trying to put IV on me, getting medications, watching physicians, paramedics, loved ones waiting in lobby, other patients, one violent psych patient lying next to me, a CNA trying to give comfort while putting extra blanket on me, going through various tests, watching technicians, transporters and other staff calmly taking frustration of patients. Dealing with first year confused intern, resident, surgeon.....And above all while lying there as a patient......

I realized, how privileged and blessed I am, to put my white coat every morning and go to work. Nothing could be more rewarding. That explained to me one unanswered query of my life that why over centuries - sages, saints, sufis and other religious men have so much interest in medicine as nothing could be more nobler than bringing comfort to an human's misery.....

Ibne maryam huwa kare koi
mere dukh ki dawa kare koi

I had nothing but to say thank you in my heart!!

Goodbye

 A man never knows how to say goodbye; a woman never knows when to say it. (Helen Rowland)

Mom reunites with daughter 77 years later

For most of her 100 years, Minka Disbrow tried to find out what became of the precious baby girl she gave up for adoption after being raped as a teen.

One amazing story of human relationship. click here