Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?

   If there were ever a place where I was perfectly content, it would be on the beach. It’s the sort of environment where I’m most happy. Because I grew up in Delhi, a land so congested and filled with pollution, and dirt, every time we visited a coastal area my life felt blissful. The fact that seafood is one of the main reasons I live is just a bonus. Everyone is so at peace over there.

Most of my memories of being on vacation as a child are either in Sri Lanka, or California. In between I’ve been to plenty of other beaches as well, and I find the same soothing, relaxing vibes in each. Although all those places have their own individual personalities, they all create the same atmosphere that relaxes everyone over there. I guess the sudden change from all the drama, and madness in Delhi, to the relaxing sandy beaches and the calm soothing sounds of the ocean made my getaways so much more pleasant. Although I loved going back home, and catching up with my friends at the end of every vacation, I always felt a strong sense of melancholy and defeat every time I left the beach. Something about the shore pulls me back there whenever I’m away from it.

Growing up, every child has many fantasies about what they want to do when they grow up, and most of their desired professions rake in serious money. Me being materialistic as hell was leading the pact of ambitious children dreaming of huge paychecks. But surprisingly, the thought of just moving to a quite beach, and running a shack has always been a secret dream of mine. The fact that most girls in those areas are gorgeous is a bonus. Who knows maybe I’ll grow up to be a corporate slave, who lives in a big city just like Delhi. But then again, beachfront property is really expensive, and perks of being a work-a-holic, the huge paychecks will allow me to buy some. Point is, no matter what I do in the future, hopefully someday, maybe its when I’m old and wrinkled, I wish to go back and live on the beach forever.  In the most content, stress free, chilled out life one could possibly imagine. 

• Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?

Like most people my age do these days, I questioned religion. The reason I did so was due to the exposure I’ve had to world religions. My mother comes from the Zoroastrian religion, my father from a strict Hindu family, and I’ve been studying in a devout Christian school for the past 5 years. Apart from that, I’ve had the privilege of meeting, conversing, and building relationships with people of many different religions. In today’s world, with the Internet and social media, my generation has had more exposure to the rest of the world then any other generation before us. Today, a person who has never left his/her tiny hometown can learn about the whole world by just a few simple hits on Google. Such exposure taught us all to question, and learn about the world on our own, and not take anything on face value. Such is the reason why I have my beliefs today.

 

Growing up, Hinduism was the religion that influenced my upbringing the most because I grew up in a joint family, with a bunch of religious relatives. I never really looked at Zoroastrianism for faith. But when I was about 11 years old, I thought maybe I should learn a little more about my mother’s religion. I thought it was generally a good thing to be aware of all of the beliefs around me, and maybe find one that suited me more then Hinduism (I found certain beliefs regressive and senseless).

            I already knew the basics of most religions, but I wanted to learn more. As I began to learn more my attraction towards the religion grew more and more. That same year, for summer break my family and I went to Europe, where we visited a bunch of museums/churches like most do, at first I just liked Christianity because of the grand renaissance art, but when I joined Woodstock I actually began to learn more and more of the religion. There was also a phase in my life where I found Buddhism to be appealing, even though I knew nothing of the religion it seemed like converting to Buddhism would be a rather ‘cool’ thing to do. 

           

            All this happened over such a short span of time, and was so much to take in that I felt overwhelmed by my options. I found so much that I liked, and also a lot that I completely opposed. As I dug deeper I found more that I liked in each religion, as well as ideologies that I despised. I eventually came to the conclusion, (and hopefully it doesn’t sound mundane and doped) that every religion is mesmerizing in its own way.  And I can’t stand religious nut-jobs so it’s best on my part to avoid organized religion. However, I do feel that there is a God in the world, or at least a superior power who will judge me when the time comes (hopefully he/she/it/they/whatever wont be too harsh). I don’t want to label my beliefs with terms like, ‘agnostic’, ‘deist’, or the common, ‘spiritual’, but I do want to make it clear what my beliefs are, and I don’t think any person/group/religion has the right to tell me to think otherwise. However, I am open to learning about their views.

 

            I questioned my religion because I wanted to know more about the world, and I don’t regret it at all. I am now comfortable with my beliefs, especially since I know about all the options there are out there. Whether I’d question something else in the near future or not depends on whether I find something worthy to question or not. But I’m completely up for the challenge.

Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.

 

Growing up my father always encouraged my sister and myself to be independent. Not in the sense that we had to make our own beds, and learn to cook (we did that too occasionally). He wanted us to be able to make mature decisions, think for ourselves, and not be reliant on others. This being his mindset he always treated us as adults, but it was only recently that I felt like I had reached adulthood.

 

                  Let’s go back in time a bit, to understand this situation better. Before going to Woodstock I went to Sanskriti School, one of the most prestigious schools in New Delhi. Some of my best friends were the children of very wealthy and influential people. It became normal to see my friend’s parents on television, and in the newspapers. Of course, we were just children and didn’t care, but as my friends and I grew older, our lives took different paths. Their parents had accumulated enough wealth to last lifetimes, and so their parents didn’t think it was necessary to push them to study and excel. My father, although having an equal amount of wealth, had a different opinion.

 

                  At this point I’d like to dwell a little further back, to my father’s childhood, in order to understand why he thought the way he did. My grandfather was a very successful man. During the mid-20^th century, he started a small jewelry store that prospered into one of the largest jewelry companies in India. My grandfather, being one of the most successful men in India, felt no need to teach his son’s the importance of an education. He felt he just needed to train them to run the family business. Luckily, my father knew the importance of an education and sought after it. Even though my grandfather didn’t appreciate the importance of an education like my dad did, he didn’t stop my father (or my uncles) from seeking one. Because my father and uncle made the decision to pursue college degrees, when they were faced with hard times, they were able to face the hardships with intelligence and maturity. My father never wanted my sister or me to ever be in a similar predicament. God forbid we were to face such times, he wanted us fully prepped, and enforced the need to be educated.

 

                  Back to today, and how this relates to me reaching adulthood. I’d heard the stories multiple times, but never valued them. I was jealous of how my friends’ parents always gave them liberties that my dad saw as frivolous. It was never a big deal if they failed a test, but hell broke lose if I did. I resented this, and him so much growing up! Until about 2 years ago, when my sister was rejected almost unanimously from all the colleges she applied to. I then understood exactly how important my father’s advice was. My sister thought the same way I did, and didn’t value his advice, but had to face the ugly truth with her college results. She then took his advice, went to community college, and studied her ass off. She just recently received admission to Berkley, with substantial financial aid. I too began to value my father’s advice, understand it, and why see why he preached it extensively.

 

The day I started to understand and respect his viewpoint is when he first truly noticed my transition from child to adult. Although my dad thinks I’m going to be greater than him, I don’t think I’d be half the man my grandfather is, or even a tenth of the man my dad is. But I do look forward to discovering myself, and wish to make them both proud. This is only the beginning of my journey as an adult, there’s still along way to go. But at least I’ll have some expert advice to take along with me. 

What are the differences between how I see myself and how others see me?

 

            When a student applies for the Honor Council, one of the questions asked in the application form is what they think the difference in between honor and integrity. The answer, according to me, is that honor is how others see you; integrity is how you see yourself. If a person buys his/her way to the top (and this is kept secret from the public) the person is seen as honorable, but he/she has no integrity! A person knows themselves better than everyone else; they know a more honest version of themselves. Everyone has a different perception of people. Some think you’re better then who you really are, some think you’re worse, some come close to knowing you fully, but they never know you as completely as you know yourself.

 

There are always some people looking for you to crash and burn, they always see you in a bad light without knowing what you are like. Even if you do something for pure goodness, the observing party may conclude that you had a hidden agenda, or are doing the action for attention. They see you in the worst light possible. Similarly, you have loved ones; friends, parents, family, etc. who see you as an angel sent from above. Even if you’re a bully, who is rude and ill-mannered, you’re loved ones will never accept this truth. They’ll always look for an excuse or explanation to make you seem as innocent as a lamb.

 

 How is it, that 1 person has 2 extreme perceptions? It’s because neither of the two parties truly know you. The way you see yourself is far more accurate, and on a far more personal level. A person knows their flaws as well as their aces; whichever one they chose to focus on is their business. But as far as recognition goes, you can recognize each trait in yourself better than anyone else if you try. Other people will never be able to see you as honestly and as bare as you see yourself. 

Atonement Part 2 Reflection

 

                        In the second half of Atonement, McEwan writes about the novel through Robbie’s POV. A few years have passed since the incident, and Robbie was given an alternative for prison that seemed somewhat crueler, join the war! The whole of part 2 is about Robbie’s time in the Dunkirk retreat in the beginning of World War II. The scenery is no longer posh and grand like the Tallis household; it’s grey, and tough. Robbie is living in unbearable circumstances, like most men did during World War II. Through the whole second half all I could think of was how this could have been avoided had Briony not been such a stupid little girl. Evidently the Cecelia and Robbie feel the same way, as they have expressed so in the novel.

           

                        We see Robbie’s decency once again but this time through his eyes. Particularly in the scene with his comrades Nettle and Mace, and the scene where he’s helping the mother & son during the aerial bombing. His gentle nature is again emphasized by the way he thinks about Cecelia. His one hope to get out of Dunkirk and continue living. The reason for her love for him (his goodness) is reinforced through these acts. However the scars that Briony’s slipup left on his personality are also evident. He’s more closed-up as a person, and has lost all his goals and ambitions.

 

                        The second half shows how Robbie slowly grew more and more exhausted and over-worked in the second half of the novel. In the beginning of the second half he is shown as tired but by the end of the half he seems to be drained of all his energy. McEwan even ends the second half by showing Robbie going to sleep. McEwan wrote the second half in a prolonged manner, where every successive paragraph seemed longer, and more clustered then the previous. This style of writing had the reader exhausted by the end of the second half, so the reading gets an idea of how tired Robbie really became through this journey. It was tough to read this part of the novel, due to both the lengthy style of writing and the rough material, it wasn’t as interesting as the first half but was still commendable. 

My review of the Goodfella’s | Extra Blog # 1 |

            There are a number of films people always say one must see. These movies are the one’s that define generations and go down in history as classics. One of these movies is Martin Scorsese’s, The Goodfella’s. A film that is arguably the greatest gangster flick of all time after The Godfather, and is often considered Scorsese’s best work. Recently, I had the chance to finally watch the masterpiece and have the privilege of critiquing it myself. My expectations for this film were sky-high and thankfully, it did not disappoint.

 

            The film is told as a narrative from the point of the protagonist, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta). Scorsese divides the film into two (unequal) halves. The first half shows the film from Hill’s perspective as an outsider for the mafia, when the world looks glitzy and enticing. Hill see’s these men as Godly creatures, the most powerful being’s in the world, and we get to see why. In the second half, Hill is now an insider and experiences the brutality and savageness this world really possesses.

 

            All the characters in the film have extremely meaty roles. Robert DeNiro plays Jimmy Conaway, the lovable gangster with panache who displays great passion for theft. Joe Pesci essays the role of the short-tempered quick-witted Tommy, another gangster who rose to prominence alongside Henry. DeNiro, Liotta, and Pesci are essentially the goodfella’s. DeNiro plays Conaway with charm and style, but also gets to show his strength in the scenes where he demands money, and expresses his emotional side at the scene where Tommy dies. Pesci walks away with the strongest part; his anger is greatly displayed in the scene when he shoots a kid in the foot for not bringing him a drink.   Liotta also brings integrity and conviction to his role, but falls short in front of the other two characters. Henry’s wife Karen is the most prominent female character, played by Lorraine Bracco, who goes from playing a normal-young girl to playing a shameless, irrational older woman. She shows her intensity in the scene where she so boldly points a gun to her husband’s head. The rest of the supporting cast also does justice for what they’re meant to do.

 

            Scorsese’s method of story telling seems to be the real hero of the film. It starts off as this film that glorifies the gangster life, he then gradually gets under the skin of one of the gangsters until the movie turns into a cocaine-snorting-white trash fest. In the end, the gangsters all leave their lifestyles and Hill leads a new, more normal lifestyle. That’s when Scorsese messes with you and starts making the gangster life seem more interesting once again. I really liked the goodfella’s, to be honest, no matter how pompous that may sound for a person my age. It was definitely worth watching. 

The Burden of today’s youth!

            Through the course of my adolescent life, if history has taught me anything, it’s the hardships that people have had to face. The Africans were forced into slavery, women have had to bare with being used for nothing more then domesticity, countries have fought for their independence (including my own home nation India), the generation before us had fought for equality, people have fought for stability, it seems like they have faced more difficulties then my own generation. Then why do we complain about being faced with the harshest problems known to the world? We are probably the most liberated generation the world has seen, but often times we take it for granted.

 

We complain vigorously about almost everything we have. We complain about having too much work, yes having a lot of work is irritable but that’s what our ancestors fought for! They were deprived from having educations from oppressive governments, and they fought for these freedoms in order to provide this work for us, their children. We complain that our parents don’t allow us to do what we want, but that’s because there is a difference between giving a child liberties and plain stupidity. Our parents probably had more restrictions then us growing up, and felt the same way towards their parents. Maybe, probably, one day we will realize they’re right and treat our children the same way. But right now, what we do is bicker and whine about how we are practically jailed.

 

Maybe it’s the concept of a revolution that excites us, about being part of an iconic period in history. Fighting for our rights. Of course there are things that we can fight about, there’s many things to fight for. We’ve seen revolutions happen over and over again, with the renaissance, romanticism, the bohemian movements, beat poetry, the hippie frenzy! We feel it’s our birthright to revolutionize the world, we probably will, and when we do it will be glorious. But until then, it’s not fair to act like it’s the generation before us who’s burdened us. They’re the reason we’ve come this far. They haven’t created burdens for us; in fact they’ve cut down the burdens on us. The only burden that’s gotten larger is to continue their legacy.

 

I hate to end this cheese-ly but, the world is like a long road, the generations before us have been paving it until now, and its our turn to pave the rest of it, until the next generation takes over and so on and so forth. They’ve helped us get this far, but we act like they destroyed the road and we must star from scratch. We will just be adding small improvements to the world, not building it afresh. We are burdened for sure, but not as severely as we make it out to be!

Connections made with 1984!

George Orwell’s 1984 is one of those books that fancy people keep blabbing on about and refer to as ‘great literature’. What’s interesting about 1984 is that it was Orwell’s last book, published about a year before his death. Like Orwell’s other novel Animal Farm, 1984 is also a satire. What I really liked about Animal Farm was that you could easily draw connections between the book and the reality of his time, and felt the same way about 1984. This novel is based in a futuristic society (although it’s 30 years in the past), where the society is monitored by Big Brother and the Party, and revolves around a man named Winston Smith and his subtle rebellions, or at least that’s what he thinks it is.

 

Big Brothers character resembles the dictators of Orwell’s time, like Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini. The most likely inspiration for Big Brother would be Stalin, a mustached man who keeps the country under strong surveillance, re-writes history to benefit himself, and rules the country with an iron-socialist-fist! Orwell’s British heritage explains the name of his good-willed character, Winston, after the then English Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Orwell also writes about the proles. The majority of the population are the proles, Orwell writes about them from two perspectives, from the Party, and from Winston. When described by the party, they are low creatures who have no structure and follow capitalism, while through Winston’s eyes they are seen as free-er then those in the party. This sort of goes to show the two views on capitalism, one sees it as slavery, the other as freedom.

 

This use of perception is probably the strongest literary technique Orwell uses in the book. Notice how the book is written from an omniscient viewpoint. Where the minds of the characters can be read. This way we can get into the mind of Winston, and actually feel the fear he has for thinking. Its ironic how the readers know what Winston is thinking, we can read the crimes he’s committing. We’re sort of invading the mind of the character (forget for a second that he is fictional) it shows the death of privacy, and eventually the death of individuality when all are required to think the same way. Orwell’s style of writing in his novel is probably why the book is called, ‘Great Literature’. 

Perks of Being a Wallflower: Movie Review

            Earlier this week I watched a movie called, Perks of Being a Wallflower. Based on the popular novel by Stepen Chbosky (Also the director of the film), the movie revolves around 3 friends, 2 in their senior year of high school, and 1 in his freshman. I personally feel high school dramas are like mills-&-boon novels, redundant, flowery, and predictable. So when I planned on watching the film I didn’t really have any expectations.  When I was done watching the film, I couldn’t help but feel overcome by so many emotions at once. Perks of Being a Wallflower is our generations The Breakfast Club.  It may even become a generation defining film, the ultimate hipster film. We finally have a film that’s at par with one of the brat packs. Logan Lerman leads the narrative with such grit, as the awkward, shy, and somewhat disturbed Charlie.  Emma Watson and Ezra Miller, play the quirky, hipster ‘misfit’, stepsiblings Sam and Patrick. Emma Watson is so calm, and cool as the music loving Sam, completely unrecognizable from her Harry Potter days. Ezra Miller is the clown-y gay rebel Patrick, and quite literally breathes life into his role. The trio gives undoubtedly the strongest performances in the film and their short careers.  The supporting cast too give strong performances, notably Nina Dobrev as Charlie’s hippy-environmentalist sister, Candace, Mae Whitman as the spoilt, artistic, Mary Elizabeth, Johnny Simmons as the in-closet quarter-back Brad, Paul Rudd as the nerdy and friendly English teacher and Melanie Lynskey as the mentally disturbed Aunt Helen. The 80’s music soundtrack adds to the fresh vibes of the movie, a certain Bowie song plays an important role in the lives of the 3 leads. The writing of the film is so unique, and original and really strikes a chord with todays youth. Even though the story is based in the late 90’s, it has a strong connect with the new generation, our generation. Watching the movie gives the viewers a certain sense of mild enlightenment. When it ended, in that moment I did truly feel, “infinite”.

Book Review: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD

Steig Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the 1^st chapter of the 3-part millennium trilogy. The trilogy chronicles the mysteries solved by the two lead characters, Mikael Blomkvist and Lisabeth Salander. This book revolves around the 1^st mystery they solve, of the missing Vanger child, Harriet.

 

The book starts slow with just the introduction of the main characters, but picks up pace not long after. Mikael is introduced as the bankrupt publisher longing for completion in life, Lisabeth is introduced as the mysterious, quick witted, gothic, tech-savy, uber-sleek, misfit who lives a life that no one can understand.  At first, it seems like Larsson is trying too hard to make Lisabeth seem cool, but as the reader gets to know more of her, through a situation with sexual abuse and rape involving a sleazy lawyer, we see that Lisabeth is way more then just some misfit. Instead of reporting the crime she uses her wit and cunningness to gain revenge on the sleazebag, in possibly one of the most engaging revenge tales of all time. She has a lot more valor, independence, and intelligence then any other femme fatale in fiction. Just pages into her introduction and we realize she is not at all trying to be cool; it’s just natural.

 

 Mikael on the other hand is much older then Lisabeth, and not half as mysterious. He doesn’t have the suaveness that Lisabeth has, but he does have wisdom, and is possibly the only intellectual match of Lisabeth. His life too has its fair share of problems, his marriage was ruined by an affair with a business partner, and a legal battle that took most of his money drove the remainder of his life into the gutter. Ever since he is not the same person. He divulges himself in work to get his mind off of things. 

 

Mikael is brought in by Henrik Vanger to find out what happened to his favorite grandniece, Harriet, who went missing a number of years prior.  Soon enough Mikael requires help and learns of Lisabeth, and hires her assistance. In digging up the mystery we learn some dark secrets about the affluent Vanger family. However the book focuses more on the relationship between Lisabeth and Mikael is way more fascinating than the mystery itself. From professional, to lustful, to erotic, to emotional. But as the case ends, so does the relationship (temporarily).

 

Larsson’s literary techniques are not note-worthy (then again this is a translation from Swedish to English) but the characters he creates, specifically Lisabeth, Mikael, and Harriet, as well as the meaty plot, the mind-boggling twists, and provocative issues dealt with in the book, make the novel incredibly enthralling.  This is the mother of all dark-crime-mystery novels. It’s a shame Larsson passed away before the publication of the book, if he were still living maybe the world would be blessed with more twisted novels involving Lisabeth and Mikael. But alas, we will have to deal with the 3 we have.

 

*Published and translated by MacLehose Press in 2008