Lady Bird

The grey cell pulverizer, my personal best at the Oscar's this year.

The crux of Lady Bird ought to remind you of the short tele film series Penn, made in 1991, by Suhasini Maniratnam, specifically the one, discussing the mother(Srividya) and daughter,(Revathy) relationship. (Sadly except for one episode of Penn, where Shobana's acts, all the other episodes seem to be missing in Youtube. Somebody ought to upload the entire series of (12?) shorts.)

in 96 minutes of roller coaster ride with the mother and daughter relationship in the background, Greta Gerwig, examines the challenges of parenting, the pains and pleasures of a young girl discovering herself, the demands of running a family in a world which makes it increasingly difficult for its inhabitants to eke a livelihood, things which we take for granted but which we truly love and the difficulties in communicating. There could be more layers to the whole experience, but it is just offered into a lovely seamless story.

For me this was sheer exhilaration, it just baffled me that, how could so much content be packed in those 96 minutes.

Lady Bird, you were so real. I believe you were the best movie that was nominated, at the Oscar's this year.

Padman, A Cause driving the destiny

I am sure quite a few of my friends, may have already seen Padman. I was lucky to see Padman today. I would recommend every student of life to see Padman, if you have not already seen it.

Padman focuses on the work of Arunachalam Muruganantham.

The movie goes on to demonstrate the magic that can be achieved once the cause possesses the person.

Great work has always been driven by a good value system. 

Empathy here is with a big and bold E. 

Empathy helps sows the seeds of concern.  

It is the concern that triggers the restlessness that gnaws the individual and propels him to prolonged period of agony and discomfort. It is the discomfort that imbues him with a resolve. 

It is the resolve which helps the cause germinate.

The honesty in trying to solve a problem on the basis of the true merits of the problem illustrates that there are no shortcuts to success.

It is always the constraints that are the true blessings of life, the true pleasures of problem solving and it is always the constraints that help you innovate. The greatest innovations have always happened in the face of adversity.

The life of Arunachalam Muruganantham should be an eye opener to the millions of youth, that the system will be what it will be, but if an individual puts his heart to a cause, they can truly find ways and means to beat the system. This has been the story of change agents, who truly believed in their cause. 

The human race is what it is today, thanks to the innumerable, 'PadMan' s who were able to focus on a cause and think above and beyond themselves.

A life then has to be necessarily more about giving than receiving!!

And as Robert Frost averred,  There are miles to go before you sleep.....

Arunachalam Muruganantham: Take a bow, Sir. Proud to be connected with you on Facebook Sir. May God bless you with all the energy to continue to accomplish your mission of reaching out to every nook and corner of this blue planet.