Inception

BEGINNING, START, COMMENCEMENT… That is what dictionary.com tells me is the meaning of inception. MS Word helpfully adds INITIATION.

Ignorant me, I had absolutely no clue about what the movie inception was going to be all about. So the first ten minutes had me totally befuddled. What with flying stalls, shattering glass and bursting buildings and then a beaten young man talking to a weird looking old one, I could make neither head nor tail of the movie.
Suddenly I caught on.
This is his dream and I am within it.

And then we have this whole near believable scientific theory about how you can train yourself to enter another man’s dream and plant a seed of thought there. How you can cajole the dreamer to nurture that thought till he develops a concept that you actually intended him to have in the first place.
Gosh that became a mouthful
Actually you make him think but in such a way that he thinks it was his idea in the first place.
Did that make it simpler??

The direction is superb and the locations breathtaking. Photography and effects. mmmm amazing. You duck to miss the chilling spray of water or veer to escape shards of shattering glass!
I look around me in the theatre. The movie has everyone in a dream like trance. No one, believe me, no one walks out at interval. A hush descends as everyone is glued to their seat.
Soon the shooting, the collapsing of buildings and the unabated violence begins all over again, holding us in its firm grip.

Is this an inception happening?

I see on screen ... Pure violence, gunfire without the visible and deterring aftermath of bloodshed, brutality without license of purpose, aggression that achieved what could easily have been achieved by any other kind of dream…..

Hey what is happening?

Is this a subtle method of initiating seeds of violent thought in vulnerable young minds?

Is this a method of lulling the conscious mind into defenceless acquiescence  and inducing it to accept that seed of violent thought?

Inception

Who is really at the receiving end? Poor Fischer? Or the clueless audience?

Want an ice cream,

Ask for it. You go to a cafe. You read the menu card. You tell the waiter to get you one scoop of butterscotch and one scoop of strawberry with chocolate sauce and sprinkle of roasted nuts on top.

You don’t expect him to read your mind. Do you?

Why then are personal relationships so tenuous? I mean you like people and expect them to like you back. That is the most obvious response a human can give. Provided no money is involved!!
You stretch your hand out and the other stretches out a hand, making a handshake.
You smile and the other smiles back.
You make a call and the other picks the call and says hello.

Communication is complete.

Success!

But notice what happens when we are with spouse, child or parent……or even uncles, aunts and friends. We assume that since they are family, since they know us so well, since they profess love for us they must understand.

I may not stretch my hand out, still you got to stretch out yours and complete a hand shake.
I may not tell you I want an ice-cream, but gosh, you love me, you need to read my mind.

I may frown at you but you got to smile. Or may be today I am in a grumpy mood ... so what are you smiling at?
A hug or a chat will set my mood right. But why should I tell you? You say you love me. Then you are supposed to guess.

An aunt enjoys your visits to her place. But when you take time to visit her she hurts you with words like, “so now you are thinking of me. Did you think I was dead?”
She could have said she feels happy when you take time to be with her. But no.

We like playing with words.

This is so typically eastern and more so Indian. The method worked well, 50 years ago, when everyone thought and spoke like that. The guest said no to proffered tea, when he wanted it, and the host who knew, forced the guest to have at least one cup,  to which the guest reluctantly agreed, and all izzz well.
The rules of this word play were known to all and they all played it to perfection.

No one has time for that now. Change the rules of the game. Begin by telling people you love what you really want. That way you are giving them a fair chance to keep you happy.

(Of course, it goes without saying; you need to know, what makes you happy…. And knowing us humans … that may be a tad difficult)

Like they taught us in kindergarten...

if you are happy and you know it

and you really want to show it

if you are happy and you know it, clap your hands.

Once more, here

Hope you all missed me. Sorry I disappeared without a word.
We had been on a vacation to Bangalore and I assumed that I would keep up the chatter from there. But I failed to do so. Should I list some excuses?
The usual ones come quickly to mind reminding me of my days at school: dog ate my homework ...kid sister scribbled on the page....rain soaked by schoolbag...
These obviously will not do for we have moved into the virtual world. I need to think of new ones. How about?......
no PC and
I do not like typing into laptops and
cyber cafe is unfriendly and
I had no time and
I had too much to say

I realised one thing. We met up with more people in this one month than we would have if we had  remained in Bangalore for the past one year, and not shifted to Delhi!!
Absence makes the heart grow fonder?
Let's muse on that for a few more blogs