Stories

Marguerite Theophil beautifully explains as to how stories can be our teachers. Authentic living is a very uncommon phenomenon in today’s world. Several traditional ‘teaching stories’ indirectly bring us to the awareness that we are not giving due attention to authentic living. Authentic living may not at all times get us what we want but it will surely benefit us in the long run. If we say to ourselves that there is no use in living an authentic life and begin to live an inauthentic life, then we will not only get an outward reputation of being unreliable but also damage our internal ways of being. 

Among different types of stories trickster stories are among the most effective devices in almost all cultures. A trickster is a person or an animal who tricks other people to get what he wants, in this process he doesn’t follow rules. The trickster can be clever or unintelligent; he often gets away being more clever than wise.

In the Mayan culture there is the rabbit who usually manages to outsmart animals larger than him. The story of the rabbit and the crab goes thus. Once a rabbit got together with a crab to grow some carrots. They worked in harmony right from selecting the seed to harvesting the crop. However there was a verbal tussle between them when it was time to divide the crop. The rabbit got a cunning idea of deceiving the crab with sweet talk. He told the crab, “We have two piles there, a big one and a little one. You can have the big one and I’ll take the small one.”

The crab saw that the big pile was only filled with the leafy tops and that the small pile that had actual carrots. The crab smartly said: “Thank you very much for that proposal my dear friend, but let’s divide the two piles in half. I’ll divide and you choose, or you divide and I’ll choose, as you prefer.” The rabbit was upset at this smart suggestion of the crab and disagreed with his proposition. The rabbit suggested a race from 20 paces afar. He said that the first one to get there would get the carrots and the other pile would be for the loser, the crab agreed to this proposal. They lined up at the starting point from where the race was to start.

No sooner did the race begin, the crab used his brain and seized the rabbits tail with his claws without the rabbit realizing it. The rabbit bolted like lightning and arrived at the carrot pile. He turned around with pride thinking that he had left the crab far behind. Meanwhile the crab opened his claws and quietly fell on top of the carrots. The rabbit was very happy at the thought that he had won. He called out, “Where are you, friend?” the crab responded from atop “I got here before you, so I get the carrots.” The rabbit was dumbstruck.

At the end of this tale, you are probably smiling understanding that the story teaches that inauthentic living brings its own impact. Stories do teach us many values but only when we turn them inward. In many traditions and cultures, humor is used while narrating stories so as to drive home a lesson. At the end of it all what matters is whether we have taken home the lesson and acted upon it or not. 

Marguerite Theophil takes this point further by illustrating it with another story from ancient China. There were two men who were in the worst moments of their life. They tried all different types of schemes but nothing seemed to work out. Finally to make it even more worse there came a time when they became homeless and hungry. They began wandering on the streets until they came across a monastery. Since it was close to lunchtime, the smell of the food lighted up their nostrils which made them feel desperate. 

They began discussing with each other as to who will ask what and what would come back as a reply. This, that and so many details; they carefully studied different situations and before the first one could tell him anything further he knocked on the door.

When a monk opened the door the one who knocked immediately said ‘My merciful Buddha bless you. I bring you greetings from the temple in my hometown, where I am a patron of the monastery belonging to your order.” On asking the second one, he replied saying that he was not a devout religious man. The monk told both of them to enter in. He took the second one and told him to join the other people in eating. Calling the first one the monk said “You can join us in the inner chamber; since you belong to our group; you know that today is a day of complete fasting. We pray and chant all day. We are so happy you chose to join us.”

This story has a lot of significance provided we do not stick to the humorous aspect of it. When we turn the story inward i.e. the story of the two men, we see that we too are always hungry. However this hunger is not always for food but also for attention, love, recognition, connectedness or wealth. At times we get so desperate that we lie or bend the truth to get what we want.

We need to identify the hunger that we have at this very moment. We need to examine all that we have done and also plan as to how we will ‘feed’ our hunger. At the same time we also need to be sensitive to the ‘hunger’ of others. There are so many in this world of ours who are craving for love, attention, peace and many other things.

Money

 

It’s a long time now from the time Narendra Modi made trash of our 85% cash. The politics of our country seems to have gone haywire. The ones who are the rulers are acting like they are the opposition while the opposite is happening with the opposition who are acting like the rulers. R. Prasannan says that we have been taught to believe that people in the government are like the good boys in the class. Being good boys the sit in the Parliament, debate bills, make laws and take decisions for the good of all in this country.

On the other hand are the bad boys who disrupt Parliament, go out during the sessions, go out into the streets, hold hartals, damage offices, block roads, close shops and do many things that trouble our everyday life. However according to R. Prasannan the roles have now been reversed where the bad boys are sitting tight for class while the good ones are bunking classes.

The P. M’s mind is that we go e- shopping and make less use of currency. It makes sense to a certain extent, but for the poor who are cardless are left clueless. As soon as the news was broken by our P. M, Indians began lining up at banks and at ATM’s. It was a sight to admire! It was like a ration shop scene where cash was rationed to poor people. It is funny to note that the rich are cashless while the poor are cardless. The question to ask here is: are all people belonging to different classes taken into consideration in the demonetization programme?

Soon the ATM’s ran out of currency and many ATM’s shutters were pulled and a note was put ‘ATM closed, out of currency’. All people including Modi, since then have been asking us to bear with him for 50 days, not to mention the many times he became emotional (as per what appeared in the newspapers) when he was addressing the poor. Hopefully the New Year will begin on a corruption and black money free note. 

The ones who have been severely affected due to this are the poor people who live from hand to mouth. The people selling vegetables, milk packets and other groceries were left without anything because the amount of the new note is too high for them to give change to the customers who came to them. The waiters and waitresses in all dhabas, hotels and other eateries must have surely faced customers who have told them that they didn’t have change.

Also, many people have had to skip their working hours so as to stand in the never ending queues so as to get money. Due to the problem of change common people get thrown out of the buses, hospitals and other public places. To add to this, the lucky few who managed to get the 2000 rupee notes feel like they have a cheque in their hand. According to me, the ones who made the most during this time were the oil supplying (petrol, diesel etc) companies who told the people to fill petrol worth 500 or 1000 rupees as they too were short of change.

This was actually the best moment for the opposition to strike. All legitimate forms of protest namely which opposition has been claiming for decades namely taking to the streets, shouting slogans from ATM queues, blocking roads, addressing street corner crowds, picketing banks, closing shops and sitting for a fast could have been done. All this would have brought the economy to a halt and the government on its knees. However nothing of this sort has taken place. To add to all this, if I’m not mistaken the P.M and the government can’t even be criticized. This is like the infallibility of the Pope.

The P.M has been making speeches to make known to people that things have been bad in our country and that this demonetization will soon clear off the mess created by black money. This is precisely the paradox i. e. he speaks outside the Parliament to people with wonderful language beyond description, but doesn’t even ‘make an explanatory statement in the Parliament, which is the highest forum of democracy’ says R. Prasannan. 

All hope that the best may come out of this situation.

Demonetization

            

 

Our Prime Minister will always be remembered for the change that he brought in the country through demonetization. He said that 85% of the money that we hold in our pockets, purses and so on would be fit for the bin from November 8- 9 midnight onwards. The wonder of this event was in the drama that was seen. ‘The very people who are involved in printing our money and managing our economy were working on this project of demonetization for three months’ says R. Prasannan.

            When everything was in place Modi made a night appearance and announced that most of our cash would be trash in three hours. Our currency has been changed in the past by Morarji Desai in 1978. However ‘What Modi has done is much kinder’ says R. Prasannan. Demonetization i. e. cash scrapping that is taking place this time won’t leave us cash strapped. He has made arrangements for new notes in exchange for the old. 

            Demonetization was also done by our former PM Manmohan Singh in the year 2014. However he did it in such a way that most people don’t even remember it. He demonetized/ scrapped all the 500 rupee notes that were printed before 2005, and like Modi is doing, gave new notes for old. He too by the demonetization process managed to flush out a lot of fake notes that was said to have been minted in Peshawar.

            Despite all these efforts a lot of fake notes still remained. According to an estimate, it is said that out of 10 lakh notes that are in circulation 250 of them are fake. Our neighboring countries ISI get money on the minting that they do. Our RBI spends 29 rupees to print a 1000 rupee note whereas the Pakistan ISI spends rupees 39. After having minted the currency, the Pakistan ISI sells it for 300 to 400 rupees and according to an estimate Pakistan ISI makes a decent profit of 500 crore a year. 

            ‘Modi’s demonetization has threefold goals’ says Prasannan. His first goal is to push out all the Peshawari cash with the Kalashnikovs. The minting presses in Peshawar will take some time to copy the new notes that are now in circulation. His second goal is to dig out all the black money which he had made as a poll promise. In passing he had said that the money that is there in the Swiss accounts will be enough to fill each of our Aadhar accounts with 2 lakh rupees. Whether or not the black money really comes out, Modi has created a wave with the demonetization scheme. 

            Some feel that most of the black wealth is secreted in real estate and metals. When that (black) money comes out, it will be shining white or gold. Modi’s third goal is the real one. This one is more on the administrative side rather than anything else. He wants Indians to deal more on cards and other electronic means rather than cash. This according to me is a very smart move that has been taken by our PM. When the mode of money exchange is electronic rather than cash then there is less possibility of minting or duplicating of notes. The only thing that can happen is hacking of accounts and stealing of money via e- transfer. India is and I suppose will be the world largest cash cow. However India is not the largest economy, because there are much larger economies than ours that exist. Those economies trade less in cash and more through e- ways (This is the third goal of Modi’s demonetization process). According to some reports one- eighth of our GDP is floating as cash, whereas most of the other economies keep only 1/ 16^th in cash. This in a way prevents duplicating or minting of notes.

            Modi has done many good things like strengthening the direct- benefit schemes of Manmohan and has been smart to bank- role the poor people. He has also launched the Jan- Dhan scheme whose purpose is to bank the unbanked. Now through the demonetization process he is telling us to do more e- dealing and less of cash dealing. 

            The main question that R. Prasannan raises is: ‘Why Modi is offering us 2000 rupee notes when the rich and the smart moneyed Americans don’t have a bill of more than 100$; when the British who keep more money than the rest of the world, don’t have anything larger than £50 in their pockets. Even the Europeans don’t have anything larger than €50. 

Why is Modi offering us 2000 rupee notes?

THE FUNCTIONING OF THE HUMAN BRAIN (INSIDE OUT)

 This movie depicts a wonderful concept of the working of the mind. It begins a 11 year old girl who experiences daily life and how her mind functions in different situations. She has just recently shifted rom her home in Minnesota to San Francisco, where her dad’s job has taken him. All these things happen against her will.

The girl’s moods are regulated by a coalition of five characters who function from a control room behind her eyes. The leader of this group  is Joy. She is true to her name; she is effervescent and always on the move. Externally her skin glows depicting her liveliness and vigour. Her companions are Anger, a fiery red –lady finger shaped figure; Disgust, a green Amazonian filled with virulent hatred; Fear, a nervous type character who dresses like a librarian, and Sadness, a moping, pessimist young woman with pale blue skin and a very chunky.

These five characters as depicted in the movie are in the headquarters, trying to keep the girl in balance by all that they do. The most vital thing that they are in charge of is her memories, which are kept in small marbles at the rear side of her mind. At times when Sadness silently manages to touch them, they turn blue. Somehow or the other, when the others are paying attention elsewhere, Sadness wanders out into the rear of Riley’s head and unattentively starts fingering the marbles, thereby spoiling the girls mood.

The parents of the girl are in their own world and hence aren’t aware of what’s going on with their daughter.

With the absence of joy from the headquarters; matters keep moving on from bad to worse. Joy and Sadness try their best to reach the headquarters before the islands collapse but unfortunately are unable to do so. Finally after a great loss of islands they manage to reach the headquarters, Joy tells sadness to take over and she manages to bring the situation under control.

What is interesting here to notice is the role emotions play in the normal functioning of us all. Joy and Sorrow are emotions which are equally important.

BEAUTY UNLEASHED (KHOOBSURAT)

KHOOBSURAT depicts very well the power of love and laughter, joy and happiness, which can bring healing to an ailing person, bring family members together and most of all, assist a person in realizing ones true love. The film begins with the introduction of a professional physiotherapist Mili Chakravarthy is depicted as a person who is very spontaneous. She is the one who is in charge of treating the players of the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. She chips in for her friend who is unable to go to the royal palace to treat the King. From the time she enters the palace there is utter chaos because of her city lifestyle.

One scene that stands out is that of Milli's first dinner at the palace, where she shows up late, follows no etiquettes, enquires about the young princess' relationship status and eventually her phone buzzes with the ringtone 'Maa Ka Phone Aaya'. The Queen’s life revolves around her family, besides taking care of all the business and maintenance of the royal legacy. Mili turns the house upside down in the course of the treatment of the King. Slowly Mili realizes in due course of the treatment that, it is not the body of the king that is paralyzed but the mind of the King.

She diverts her energies to changing the mindset of the King for the better. In the meantime the King’s son and Mili get attracted to each other and the rest of the story follows.The admiring facts of this story are the way in which humans fall in love with each other. It is also wonderful to see how a mother supports her daughter in spite of all odds. Milis mother is like a friend unto her; she speaks her heart out to her and takes in her wisdom filled suggestions.

THE ILL EFFECTS OF REVENGE (EK VILLAIN)

The movie ‘Ek Villain’ is inspired by the South Korean revenge film: I Saw the Devil. However the action is brought down to a great level so as to suit the Indian screens.It's an interesting story of a serial killer who chooses the wrong man's fiancee to murder.The bad guy with a good heart Guru works for a local gangster in Goa. His life takes a sweet turn as he meets the outspoken Aisha who wants to live her life to the fullest and has a witty joke for every moment in life. Aisha's life is centered on doing things for others (other centered) and interestingly for one of her many cases she wants to take Guru's help.

However he doesn't seem to be interested; but she for some reason is damn sure that he will fall in line and predictably, he does. After some time, Guru and Aisha are married. The story gets a turn when a serial killer Rakesh on the loose kills Aisha. He is one of the many rude characters which are brought out in this movie. Right from the doctors to the ticket collectors, all of them for some reason or the other are rude and arrogant.

Now it becomes clear and sure that Guru will take his revenge on Rakesh come what may, to such an extent that even the best security officers from the CBI are concerned and worried, not because there is a serial killer on the move but because they fear Guru's revenge which can be quite disastrous. Irritated and fuming with anger, Guru manages to find Rakesh; however he decides not take his life and instead to search him out and torture him every day.

The most useless lot in this film are the cops. They intentionally fail to catch the serial killer and to add to this at one point when they have information about him they shamelessly pass it on to Guru so that he can seek revenge.

HUMAN ACCEPTANCE (ACCEPTED)

Truly I tell you, if the message of this movie is put into practice there will be a change for the better in the world. As the title of the movie goes ‘Accepted’, I totally agree that this is THE thing that we look for when we are in a society along with the feeling of being great or a person who is important. This movie begins with a good family scene and slowly goes on to show how the son is rejected admission by all the colleges in the vicinity. He tells his parents of many other options which would not only save their money but also add to the income of the family because he would                                                            be working.

His parents reject this idea and tell him that it is the custom in the society that all should go to college. He is tensed, he gets the help of his friend to make a fake college website and get a temporary college residence. In the meantime many get accepted in this college and he is confused with the situation and doesn’t know what to do. He tells the students the whole truth. He accepts them in his so called college. He gives them the freedom to make their own syllabus and learn by allowing their creativity to take charge of themselves. The original college by which this college was named after sues him and takes him to court.

In the court there is an exchange of words or a kind of a debate where both the parties discuss about the true meaning of education. Many accusations were made against this young boy. He was not the least concerned about all that. He said that they didn’t need the approval of the court because it wasn’t that which made them so creative.

Finally the court gave in to their cast giving them a trial of 1 year to see how they are faring. According to me this system of education was approved because the court saw that they were not only learning basics but also becoming creative in the bargain. Creativity today is a rare artifact, we are used to doing things like robots that are ordered or programmed. We still have hope because we have the greatest power of self- confidence to bring to light what our creative mind imagines. Let go of your old routine habits and get out into the open to allow yourself to be creative.