Another weekend, another excuse
One of the things I truly admire about Mangalore is monsoon. It has a personality of its own. Some mornings, it will rain as if Noah is waiting with his ark. Some afternoons, there will be a clash between the sun and the dark clouds, creating temporary rainbows. Some nights, the sky will thunder with extra Dolby sound effect, making Ranga (our old dog) jump from his bed. You can’t be sure until it happens. Putting the clothes out to dry is risky and so is not putting the clothes out to dry. These jugalbandis between sun and rain can cause your house smelling like a teen’s socks. Either way, there must be confusion for the plants in our balcony too: should they enjoy the incessant rain or bask in the sun? What does science say about photosynthesis? I don’t really know. Just like the weather.
Last week, this blog predicted that the Wimbledon’s men’s final will most likely be between Djokovic and Alcaraz. And as expected, both the top seeds are in the running for the title tomorrow. Anybody can expect a showdown of the highest calibre given both the players’ grit. One is experienced and already a GOAT while the other is young and raring to wear the crown. Amazing feat for tennis fans. Since we are predicting stuff, let me forecast that in the middle of the match, Djoko will raise both his hands to rile up the spectators. It might seem like he is signalling his fans to cheer for him. But, no. That is not what would happen. Apart from being a world-class athlete, Djoko is also an entertainer. When he communicates with the crowd—asking his fans as well as Alcaraz’s fans as well as the neutrals—he wants them to keep cheering after every point. Electric ambiance works for his fighter mindset.
If you’ve followed me on Instagram, you’d have noticed that I seldom talk about food. In fact, I very rarely post food pics. Why? Because what we eat can turn into a touchy topic and there is no point opening the doors for debate on food morality. We live in a complicated (not just complex) world and it’s plain blindness to assume that there is a binary in place. In the ongoing mix-up, the vegetarians are struggling to be vegetarians but that doesn’t stop them from being obnoxious about their choice. To make matters worse, the vegans have started sounding militants without even realizing it. The non-vegetarians pretend to be cool just because (they think) they are being non-pretentious but they turn deaf about the insane suffering animals/birds go through to become ‘meat’. The very science that they are otherwise very proud of doesn’t really help them understand the following scenario: a cooped up chicken (with barely any space to move) can be seriously injured and what do the fellow chickens do? They peck into her flesh without noticing the irony of it all. In simple words, our species is quite fucked up.
Last weekend, I joined Threads out of peer pressure (still better than beer pressure), and found the place to be interesting but not well thought out. The feed algo is vague and there is no clear direction for the app: perhaps the emphasis has been on moving people en masse from IG to Threads and in the bargain, even reel in regular Twitter users as well. Millions tuned in, and then a week later, they tapered off. So far, there has been little progress on how we consume content on Threads. Random threads—Zuckerberg actually thought people are interested in framing long threads as if they are some suppressed writers—show up on my feed and I wonder, “Who are these people?” I hope my content is showing up on others’ feed randomly too, making them wonder the same.
What makes a good show great? I don’t know the formula but you’ve got to watch The Bear (2022-). It’s all about cooking and running a rundown restaurant but more importantly, it’s about you and me and us working together to fix something broken, something deeply rotten. The bear in question here is a metaphor for overcoming our fears, our moments of self-doubt, our days in maudlin. It’s such a tightly scripted show that you feel anxious as the many characters let us into their space of deep insecurities. Not one character in this show is fully set. All need repair, just like the restaurant. Which explains the camera quite literally digging into their faces every now and then. Hello. You are looking at yourself.
When I was a boy, I didn’t know what it meant to be a man. My understanding was limited to my absolute love for my father. In my little innocent eyes, he was what I wanted to be when I grew up. Fast forward three decades, here I am, trying to figure out an old man who can be grumpy and detached and sweet at the same time. He either maintains silence (doesn’t pick up my calls) or chooses to say hurtful things. Time is a strange medicine; it cures too little, it festers too long. And when you genuinly feel like you are in control now, it will kick the back of your knees. Both at once.
Regardless of how far cinema advances, with or without technology, it will never get two aspects of human lives correct: sex and death. You might have watched thousands and thousands of movies so far, so you must agree with me that what they show us is not what really happens for the most part. There is a fake poetry associated with cinematic intimacy, which is difficult to establish in real life. But then, one can argue: what is real about cinema anyway? I concede, a lot. It’s just that, in my observations, I’ve seen that the scenes pertaining to sex are hurried—five strokes and both climax, seriously?—whereas the death scenes are dragged out. Something is not adding up here.
As I’ve mentioned earlier on this blog, I’ve been seeking a new job and I am currently in transition of sorts. This is a fascinating phase for me because I am not used to relaxing, or spending time on things I want to do. Me being me, I’ve always been on my toes, constantly fiddling with my to-do list. But it’s alright. Nothing earth-shattering is happening anywhere that wouldn’t do without me. We lay too much significance on ourselves and act like the world can’t do without us. I’ve been off the engine for a while and the trains are running fine. That said, I am excited about my next route.
If you genuinely care about our country, it’s high time you showed interest in our judiciary. Follow the law and the executors of law. Follow the petitions filed, the litigations heard, and the verdicts delivered. India is vast and there is a possibility for any paradigm here: so many districts and states and territories to deal with. And this makes our courts a tense but an interesting place to check out. If you don’t know where to start, Bar and Bench should help: they share latest updates straight from the rooms inhabited by our judges and lawyers. The more you read, the more you will become convinced that there is a serious overhaul required in our judiciary. Colonial hangover, if you please.
What’s common to The Office fans? They tell you that Jim and Pam are couple goals. No doubt about it. How their love story shaped up in that circus of a workplace was a delight to watch. Inspiring, too. However, it’s also necessary to point out that Jim was a shitty boyfriend. Not once but twice. The way he cruelly dumped Amy Adams’ character and then did the same with Rashida Jones’s was inexcusable. But then, we overlooked his crude behaviour because we chose to see the gleam in his eyes for the receptionist. All is fair in love, apparently.