Redefining Horizons

Life is intriguing, yet most go through it without casting a second glance. Many amongst us spend a lifetime content enough eking out an existence, dying many a daily death.  Rich or poor, few dare to look beyond livelihoods and wealth accumulation. When one dares to ask questions to oneself about oneself, the quest begins.  Quest  gives meaning to life and questions that arise, on their own slowly reach their answers. A persistent question, the ‘why’ of people’s behaviour came up in a late evening discussion with two friends, a young couple both achievers, located in San Francisco. The cause and effect notion of life, means with which it gains currency and its short lived utility found home in that discussion.   Weeks later by sheer coincidence, another persistent one ‘ purpose of life ’ came up for discussion with, a spiritually evolved, material minimalists and unbelievably large hearted couple, our hosts in Tustin, California. It was in one of many such discus...

Newport in Rhode Island is a beautiful place. Situated by the Atlantic Ocean it offers visitors with frames for perfect pictures. It also houses some stunning mansions.  I had never heard of Newport before, but was the recipient of the large heartedness of Issac Simon, my brother-in-law who not only suggested the trip but even offered to take us on the eighty-five  mile drive to the mansion town. The drive, one of the many such, he graciously hosted so far, was beautiful from the word go with the fall painting the entire route with colours, I had seen never before. With tickets in hand, we actually walked into a piece of American history. Ahead of its times, each room stood out well appointed carefully planned and exquisitely executed. In fact, everything about the mansion was bathed in audacious opulence and grandeur, all funded by slices from the immense riches the individual had amassed over his lifetime. We spent almost three hours within, what was once, someone’s summer...

  It is often said that a movie is a reflection of the society. The narrative of a movie normally reflects the society’s beliefs, thoughts and practices. Thus the storyteller picks up something from the society and weaves it into a story, the limiting factors being the narrator’s skills and imagination. Each piece of the story, its characters and narrative along with all that is integral to it is picked up from the society. This helps every person at the movie hall, generally relate all characters to someone he or she knows. Those movies set in planes alien to the society were either science fiction movies or horror movies. But normally all movies told stories that were set in contemporary society and could easily be related to.      Movies are great catalysts for change. Trivial or worthy, films played a major role in shaping the opinion of the society. There are films that espoused nationalism and patriotism. There were movies that espoused faith to ove...