The Perfect Villains!

A lot of novels/movies make their villains powerful enough or in some cases, much more powerful than the hero himself, yet the villains somehow end up being beaten to death.
Ever since I saw the movie megamind, I have been thinking a lot about villains. Well, to be honest, I always felt villains are better thinkers, better attackers and better in all possible ways than the hero; still authors (mostly) end up killing them.  So, what goes wrong? Why do villains fail?
Putting on my evil hat let me present to you some flaws I found.

Flaw number 1 : Villains always leave trails.
Whenever the villain commits a crime or something bad, he leaves certain subtle insinuations that make the hero or in most cases the supporting hero suspicious. Surprisingly, the hero’s assistant or sidekick sees those trails, interprets those simple hints incorrectly, making a hero, THE hero!
 If the villain would forget such dumb mistakes, he could actually come out as the winner.

Flaw number 2 is more illogical. villain always go after the hero’s girlfriend.
Yes, that reminds me to state it clearly that the hero always gets the prettiest girl of the lot and the villain starts lusting after her. Common man! There are other fish in the sea. Go get one. Also, it’s puzzling the hero almost always saves her or hero’s sidekick end up dying trying to save the girl.

Third flaw would be, even if the villain, is succeeding in all his plans, he ends up telling his cruel methods to the hero somehow, which ultimately proves fatal for him.
Well, in this case the saying “Don’t count the chickens before eggs hatch” stands true. First let the plan execute then tell him that you won, that it was the work of your mastermind. It’s absolutely ridiculous how the villain is so confident of his future and ends up gossiping everything.

Fourth flaw would be, villains are mostly dependent on machines or wingmen.
The author first shows him to be the most powerful person on this planet and as the book/movie unfolds he ends up surrounded by bodyguards and men with guns. Act like a proper villain who can beat the heck out of any hero. Also, what’s with the taglines a villain ask to follow or their signature movements, like hail mogambo, shakal moving his hand over his bald head, or saara shehar mujhe LION k naam se janta h….and of course, AAaooooo!!

Fifth flaw, mostly villains are normal in their childhood and then something bad happens that transforms them.
An old ideology. The sufferings make them tougher and vengeance grows in their mind along with biceps. But, ironically if a person is evil from his childhood itself, circumstances never make him better. 
  
Sixth flaw would be Villain’s avarice for money is insatiable.
Villains love money. They can’t get enough of it. Even if they have looted thousands of banks still they would go for another one hoping to be a tad richer. I say, get enough and run away. Be satisfied. Leave some for hero, and get the hell out of there.

Seventh, well, I absolutely hate this one, The villain “laugh”.
huhuhaha.. or muhahaha ..  it just shows immaturity. Also the smirk villains possess shows how overconfident they are. And this laugh has existed for centuries, for instance ravan, kansa etc.

P.S : The article is the creation of the darker side of me and was written for fun. I like heroes and I wish heroes only win in the end.  If you wish to improve villains and have some ideas, do comment.

Book Review || The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

A good read.

It's a ride on the relationship tracks traveling one's entire life, first seen through the adolescent eyes, then married and finally with weak old eyes which frames a blurry picture (when it's hard to walk again on the memory lanes). The storyline runs parallel with philosophy and mild humour. I loved the ending.

    Barnes puts the adolescence part first which makes the story appear as another "catcher in the rye" type story but he slowly unfolds it into a deeper storyline.

It's a short and crisp read. The book has some good quotes which fits everyone’s life.

The adolescence described in the first part is worth mentioning, “eager-to-learn as well as ready-to-deny-with-absurd-reasoning” attitude followed by arrogance.  
I quite agree with Margaret’s version of “two kinds of women” but then I also second tony, it doesn’t matter to men.
The “sixities” mentioned in the book were probably the “later nineties” in India. The present stage of youngsters playing with mobile phones, emails and FB etc makes me sad inside and in retrospect somehow I feel happy that I liked playing out with “real” friends rather than having a match onscreen in real-time with my “virtual” friends.
“How times Change!” ..This contrast is wonderfully shown in the book.

Most of us react the way Tony does and even perhaps get with it. I mean how often does one gets a letter/mail from the ex-bf/gf's parent(s) saying you are left with $500 by “will” which ultimately makes you re-think the past relationship you were in. I wonder, do people in old age regret about everything they said, did in past (without any such reminders like “will” etc)? isn't it sad?

Don't we sometimes over think a situation forming conclusions, images on our own? Interpretations are so different from the reality.

Our actions/words today will decide whether we regret the “today” as our “past” then. Relationships sometimes workout and at times don't, but should be remember the bad times forgetting all the good times when we actually enjoyed each other's company? Isn't it unfair?

And we incidentally forget as we continue blaming the "ex" for all the cr*ps in life, that he was "my own" choice to begin with!

Also, words that slip during those fights often end up twisting the situation into one of those knots that takes nothing less than a blade or scissors. Anger is one letter short of danger.

P.S : I often do this, when i am angry with my friend i write a mail with all kinds of incentives and put it in my drafts... I NEVER send them. It takes the anger out of me and gives me hard "laughs" as i go through it after few days and see the insanity in me before finally deleting it. Plus, It saves me the embarrassment of facing my own words through his mouth.

The Simple World

When i was little, everyone around me acted as if the world was the most excited place to be. They were so very excited to show me how the moon, the chapatti, the cycle tyre, the coin and of course our earth itself is round in shape. Everything was happy, colourful and/or was magical. Fountains were beautiful, birds were sweet, trees were shady and the butterflies were lovely. Smiles surrounded us, and people respected each other. But with time, as I grew up, I entered a different world: the dirty one, a world full of strange feelings, jealousy, fear, hatred, hypocrites and a little love. So, for a long time I have been wondering why people hate others. What made all that sweetness and happiness vanish? Where did that smiley world disappear?   Why do people taunt or belittle? I never found the correct answers. I have been taunted a lot of times, i never mind, but i fail to understand what they possibly gain by passing such derogatory remarks. One of my friends once said me, "just make some peace and Say it!" Here "it" refers to the cursive expletives or the "swear" words. But, how can saying "bad" things give someone peace? Bad words and peace don't sound analogical to me.

What i found is words can be as beautiful and harmless as they can be, but the tone adds the real sense. For instance, "So, finally u came? What took you so long?" is spoken by a lady in a worried tone. And imagine the same sentence said in a husky interrogative manner. The essence of the words changes automatically. First shows care and sympathy while the second reflects doubt and jealousy. Harsh tones add hatred to the words apart from its meanings. Bad words sound worse and good words are spoiled by the rough tone. Often people try to disparage others in order to get some self-respect or help their personal worth. But, how will anyone gain respect by not respecting another person? The grown-up’s world is surely hard to understand.

The other day, I had to take an auto. After traveling a short distance the meter flashed “40”. I thought there was something wrong with the meter but I gave the auto driver the benefit of the doubt. I paid him a 100 rupee note and told him to give me change as I didn’t have any. He said “I’ve change, wait”. But within seconds after I stepped out of the auto, he drove away without paying me back. First, I was upset about the 60 he didn’t pay but then I thought why did he do it? Was he in need of money? If he’d have asked for it, I would have given him the 100 anyway. He obviously can’t spend the next 30 years with those 100bucks. What if some passenger catches him someday? People are deceitful. Soon after, I boarded a bus. I sat next to an old gentleman. He gave a 500rupee note and asked for his ticket. The ticket cost 50, the conductor returned him 400 and said he didn’t have the remaining 50. The old gentleman smiled and said, “Chai-paani samajh k rakh lo, beta” . In contrast to what I saw earlier, I found love and smile still have some power.

This made me realize that the world we live in is still simple. What has made the world more tangled and perplexed is the urge of some people to make their life simpler at the expense of others’. They want to maintain that simplicity and in doing so, they cross every extent even if their actions make others' difficult and complicated. Some realize it, yet continue to do so while some unknowingly hurt others. I am not perfect either, there's a possibility that i may have come under the second category a few times. But we must make it a point that we should never fall under the first category. If you don't believe in the karma-crap, remember, "What goes around will come back around". Your actions should make life simpler for you as well as for others. Even if you can’t make your own life simpler, do try to make others’. It’ll somehow come back to you only.

Feed your Soul, MEDITATE

Lately, with routine meditation, I've realized how much the "difficult times" are important in our lives. If we don't have sadness, we'll never pray. Sadness makes us realize life is not perfect, and neither can it be perfected by us. There's always some bigger power working silently, behind everything happening to us. It's mysterious in its own way. Call it God or Call it fate, it's up to you. So, every time we don't get what we want, we pray. Last time i was contemplating i realized, how very few people pray to God asking for forgiveness without actually committing any sin, another small number pray to him thanking him for what he has given even though the person praying doesn't even get one meal a day, and a very few pray to him because they believe he's the only TRUTH. With meditation you'll realize so many things, reason for your existence, why you laugh, why you cry, and the “virtual essence” of the real world. And with time you'll reach a stage when you will be able to see things/happenings superficially, and not get affected by the sadness/happiness factor attached to it. No, I'm not talking about death. It's experienced only if you trust, have faith in him. Advanced stages may also help you realize the hidden potentials in you, like some write poetry, draw sketches, make music etc after meditating. Meditation will straighten up the tangled thoughts.

Meditation is not the path to god, it is God. Meditation is like the food for your soul. A beautiful exemplary would be a baby, he laughs and smiles a lot although we all know he doesn’t understand a thing, neither  does he speak. Practically, he has no thoughts, yet is happy. He thoroughly enjoys the purity. But as he grows, he is made to realize "his" parents, "his" room, "his" toys; this possessiveness eventually kills the innocence. We all were babies once, with time we forget the "Speechlessness" we enjoyed in our baby-hood. Our soul cries for that silence, thoughtlessness, emptiness. Meditation helps us rejuvenate our souls and we are filled with energy. I'll talk about ways to meditate in some other post, as for now, if you really want to try meditation as a beginner, lie straight on the bed or sit in the most relaxed position and SEE the thoughts in your mind. Act as a monitor, watching and minding the thoughts. You'll be surprised to discern that how if even for 1second you stop noticing your mind, the mind starts to coagulate thoughts again. You can sit for 10-20 minutes daily in the beginning and keep augmenting the time, with time.

An year after .. .The legend Departed ..

Maqbool Fida husain born on “17^th September 1915” was an iconoclast who found the brushes to be better swords than pen or the real swords. Known as the Picasso of India, his imagination, depiction and choice of colors were impeccable. M F Husain was a brand name in the world of art, and he’ll always remain so. Some of his accolades include Padma Shri (1955),Padma Bhushan (1973) and Padma Vibhushan (1991). Although he had been the victim of several controversies which includes accusations from the shiv sena party and various other hindu samities for his depiction of hindu god and goddess in their nude forms, his movie “Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities” was removed from the silver screens within two days, as one of the songs played in the movie had lines from the Holy Quran which was set for the central character of the film, played by Tabu. Not only this, but also one of his painting which he did for “India Todays” a popular magazine, titled “Art for Kashmir ” in which he presented Mother India as a nude woman and her body parts as the states was protested by various organizations. Husain apologized for the same. Though the painting was denigrated yet it was sold for Rs. 80 lakhs. Ultimately as a verdict several protests were held against him throughout the country and he was forced to leave the country. Art is a global language, though India couldn’t vindicate Husain’s paintings, he was welcomed by Dubai, where he took his new citizenship and became a Qatari national. Despite of all this, Husain never blamed his origin instead he always mentioned he missed his motherland in several interviews. It is a shame for the whole nation that he died an expatriate.  It is such a pity to see people who don’t even understand art, stand against it and display meaningless aggression. Apparently India is getting famous for creating a mess out of nothing. Though the paintings might have hurt religious sentiments to some level but apparently people failed to understand their real value. These protests questioned the right to expression, right to creativity and innovation. I wish India was more supportive to artists, musicians, poets and dancers. Husain was a prolific artist and his cubist style was very popular. My dream of meeting him(ever) was buried with his burial on June 9^th 2011. He died in exile. India lost more than “just” an artist; India lost an “identity”.  One of the most celebrated and internationally recognized Indian artists of the 20th century, he also received recognition as a printmaker, photographer, and filmmaker. May he RIP.