Skip to main content

100 years later

Wonderful premise to write any story you want and claim its quite possible it might be so.  Who is going to argue?  Even if they did its only an opinion.

So today I watched DIVERGENT (the movie) - with my adolescent daughter who is already a fan of the Hunger Games trilogy.   She made it a point to watch it as soon as she had put down the book version of this story a day ago.

So we all did.  And while the characters are watchable the premise leaves you thinking about what you really did for the two hours in that dark hall with popcorn eating and gum chewing denizens.

This story is a metaphor for what life actually was 100s of years ago in places like India - it was called the Caste System where labor and lifestyle was divided based on some kind of innate ability to perform a function - and do so well.  Potters never went to battle and Warriors never took to Professorial duties.  Each to his or her own and it functioned in an orderly manner or so I was told - when my grandmother narrated some tales of Yudhishthira, Lord Krishna, Chokha Mela, Tukaram et al.

We know today that there is no such predefined life path for anyone with a drive and sensibility to achieve what they set their minds to.  Accidents in life certainly play a role in what you do or where you end up.

Labels:

Comments

  1. RajendraMarch 24, 2014 at 4:43 AM

    Now we have a voluntary caste system, with one choosing a caste and mostly sticking to it for life.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...
2 comments
Read more

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language.  Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds.  The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic.  Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'.  This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...
2 comments
Read more

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected.  I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot.  It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is.  Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy.  It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff?  Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality.  So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing?  Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...
2 comments
Read more