Interstellar: Of Galaxies, Stars, Black Holes and Love

Finally, after several weeks of its release, I got to watch the much appreciated and much debated 'Interstellar' yesterday. Though I was planning to watch the movie since the first time I saw the trailer on IMDb, the initial post-release word-of-mouth kinda left me quite confused. Apparently, one had to take a refresher primer course in Physics, Theoretical Physics, Relativity, Time-Space curve, Science, Intergalactic Travel, Gravity and what not depending on the people you spoke with. Someone was kind enough to even put a big chart on Facebook trying to explain the timeline of the movie. Which I simply did not understand. Considering that my science is rusty these days, I felt that even if I were brave enough to watch it, any attempt to understand the movie's plot would be an exercise in futility. On the other hand, since I religiously follow Neil DeGrasse Tyson on twitter (mainly to enjoy his humorous tweets, if not his science), watch 'The Big Bang Theory' without missing an episode, understood Stephen Hawking's 'A brief history of Time' (in parts) and last but not the least, consider myself a 'Star Trek' fan (a. k. a. trekkie), there was this little voice inside my head telling me that the movie should be worth a dekko. Plus there was also this little thing of choosing between 'Exodus: Gods and Kings' and 'Interstellar'. So there wasn't much choice.

So finally, when the time came, me and my movie buddy fortified ourselves for a 3-hour, no-restroom-break, movie expecting nothing more than an visually spectacular Chris Nolan film on a big screen. But how wrong was I proved to be! And I'm glad that I got it all wrong. On various counts. The movie did clear some of my misapprehensions about the story and the science behind it. First of all, it is not a sci-fi flick. I repeat, it is not a sci-fi flick! At least so far as I am concerned. Yes, it talks about wormhole travel for finding habitable planets in other solar systems in other galaxies and what happens to time in space and so on, but for me, the main undercurrent was about a Dad trying to get back to his daughter (on time) as promised. In time. Literally. For that, he is even ready to venture into a black hole and beyond. Sweet.

Some parts of the movie really tug at your heartstrings. For example, the daughter not ready to let her Dad go, but the Dad going out (of the galaxy) nevertheless intending to save his daughter's future despite the fact that he knows that he might never see her again, receiving blurred videos from earth indicating how time is running for earthlings and the explorers even as the explorers are caught in a gravity-of-black-hole-slowing-down-the-time conundrum and running-out-of-fuel dilemmas. And of course, a dad reaching out to his daughter from another dimension.... Christopher and Jonathan Nolan must have realized that  movies these days need a bigger canvas than Manhattan to portray human drama. And according to me, they were right. The tall skyscrapers were getting a bit, well, time worn. No pun intended.

Coming to the Physics, Theoretical Physics, Relativity, Time-Space curve, Science, Intergalactic Travel, Gravity and what not part, I think the debate will go on and the scientific community has been prompt to explain the science behind the movie. So I won't talk much about it. I am not the expert. You can hear the expert speak here and here. Like I said, for me, the movie was not about science fiction. But about human drama. Relativity might be a cool science speak but we humans are all about relations. I just wish we kept our egos aside and let bygones be bygones and cherish our life.

Which brings me to the crux of the issue. The value of time. And love. Yes, Love. That one emotion, - as Dr. Brand (played with such finesse by Anne Hathaway)  aptly summarises - the one thing we are capable of perceiving that transcends time and space. Beautiful.

I'll know when I get there...

For the past few months, things just have been moving at an uneven pace. Some days just whizzed by, some crawled on and some just stood at standstill waiting for me to kickstart the day. I had some highs and some lows but hardly a day that could be described as boringly quiet. Thankfully, since Newtonian laws do not apply to human emotions, I can safely say that such sudden drastic changes of direction, speed and momentum did not physically affect my limited grey matter. But there were some simple but valuable lessons learnt. I for one am not a preacher, but I definitely would want to note down the gist of these disparate but useful lessons for my future reference. Hence this post.

Hard work pays, but smart work pays better

All these days, I was being told that hard work pays. And pays well. But then the myth slowly started to crumble. Like an over baked cookie. Apparently, if you are a slave of your work then you get paid like a slave as well. History corroborates this fact. A valuable revelation indeed. Of course, there was this exception of the slave dynasty that ruled India for a while but still, not all slaves were that lucky. And as every slave toiled to survive, the only bonus he/she got was, you guessed it, more work. While I got more and more depressed with this thought, along came a wise man who  helped me tweak the saying a bit. Thus said the wise man, 'In reality, hard work might pay well, but smart work pays better. When you do the right thing at the right time, the rewards versus effort put in ratio is obscenely and disproportionately high.' But there is a slight catch here. And that is, figuring out what is the right thing to do at the right time? And sometimes, it takes a while figuring out if it is really the right time to do the right thing till the right moment passes by you. At other times, right things and right times just do not coincide. In short, the odds of the right thing and the right moment coming together and me grabbing that moment by the scuff of its neck seem to be astronomical. So if it is bound to happen, then it will be one darned lucky coincidence! I'd no longer be a hard worker but a smart one. So till I get all these things right, I have no option but to work like a slave. And get paid like one.

There are more important things in life than a nice view

Every morning I spend some time going through my twitter account checking out what's happening in the world. I particularly look forward to what beautiful picture of a beautiful place @ThatsEarth has posted for the day. Needless ot say, the views and landscapes in these pics are awesome. And so I look out of my window daydreaming about these places. But then there are more important things in life than dreaming about these views. Important things like, being there. Important things like saving for a ticket to travel to be there. And other important things like earning to save for a ticket to travel to be there. Till such important things occupy my mind, a nice view is well, just that. A nice view. Sigh! How much I wish right now I was at the 'Seven Sisters Waterfall' in Norway!

 

Courtesy: @ThatsEarth

People like to tell people about things they shouldn't be telling them

Such a profound observation. People (Doctors excluded) like to tell people about things they shouldn't be telling them. I first came across this phrase in one of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy books. It happens to you. It happens to me. It happens to everybody. Psychologists and anthropologists might have done a lot of study on this strange trait of humans but we are yet to find a cure for it. We just can't resist the urge of telling people things we shouldn't be telling them. Sometimes we don't realize the damage it does to the people we tell. For instance, I cannot digest someone discussing how their bad tummy ache finally resulted in a long drawn throwing up marathon while having my morning cup of tea.

 

There are better anti-depressants than anti-depressants

Finding what anti-depressant (not of the drugs variety) suits you is always a good thing. It not only makes you happy, but also helps you get back on to your feet when the odds are piled against you. You get up to fight another day. And that's not a bad thing. In one of my posts, I mentioned that I always enjoy reading 'If Tomorrow Comes' by Sidney Sheldon when I am feeling a bit low. I think it is one of the best anti-depressant in my medicine cabinet. But there are others too. The other important one being 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara', a Bollywood movie that rekindled my faith in light hearted Bollywood fare. Its been one of the important go-to movies in the past few years. For some reason, I always feel refreshed after watching it. And just today, a friend of mine recommended 'Golmaal', another great movie from yesteryears as happiness therapy. I wholeheartedly agree. And will add it to my 'medicine cabinet'/video collection.

Show the world how beautiful it is. Sometimes, it just doesn't know.

Sometimes, people and the world around you just don't know how beautiful they are. Its your responsibility to show them or remind them of that particular strength of theirs. And one of the best ways to express it is with your photography. This was the lesson I learnt from a photographer friend of mine. I wouldn't argue with that. Photography gives you a great opportunity to praise and compliment someone or something. Which is why, I think everyone should have a go at it. As long as they capture the moments and help letting the world around them know how beautiful it is, it will become more tolerant and enjoyable. The world as we know it, will be beautiful once again. Even if it does not know that it is beautiful.

So, from a slave in a dull world to a person who is able to tell the world how beautiful it is, there has been quite a change of thought process already. I think these five mantras should be good enough to help me tide over my daily journeys for now. The list is not exhaustive or contiguous but as I learn more lessons out of life, I will keep adding them to this list or maybe add them in separate posts. It is a work in progress but I'll know when I get there....

Distant Sun, Distant People

An evening at a beach not far away

Free Fallin'

Having a little bit of time on my hands, I am nowadays devising new ways to amuse myself. For instance, today I suavely convinced my friend to get myself invited to his friend's housewarming just because the invite extended invitations to family AND ('AND' being the operative word here) friends. Similarly over the weekend, on a whim I asked some of my friends from school to get together for a dinner. Though such things might not seem unusual for a guy who's always been popular, for a guy like me (who's not popular), they are quite unusual.

If you knew me well enough, then you would know that me trying to gatecrash events or hosting a get together is kind of like, well, me not being me. When I am me, I spend much of my time doing things such as figuring out ways to crash my PS3, keeping away from important conference calls and social affairs (or networking as they call it), checking out how the companies I have not invested in are faring (because invariably the stocks I buy never fare well), reading or YouTubing car reviews of cars I can't afford (because my stocks didn't fare well) so that I can cite bulletproof reasons for not buying them, or simply plucking overgrown hairs out of my ears (and nose too sometimes) ...  well, you get the drift. Most of the activities involve me interacting with erm... just me. The kind of status updates I scrawl or the sad selfies I post on facebook and instagram and WA, I won't be surprised if one of these days I will get a mail from Mark Zuckerberg politely asking me to take my profile someplace else, or else...

Hardly surprising then that all these years of non-partying and non-wild weekends are beginning to take their toll on me.

Not adding social events to my calendar has not taught me how to live a proper sinful life. I'm beginning to notice that age is no longer a number. My knees are still strong for a good sprint to catch a city bus every once in a while. And I haven't developed bags under my eyes or got any crow's feet due to excesses of youth. Not good. Not fair. I curb any wild urges I get by using the miniscule wisdom and reason I have developed over the years. I think twice, thrice, and keep thinking till I find enough reasons to stop myself from buying a ticket to somewhere out there. And the little travel I have done has conclusively concluded that I was never meant to be an outdoorsman. Or for that matter even a regular city slicker. When I'm driving, I don't like people darting across my right of way. When I'm not driving I don't like vehicles darting across my right of way. I just travel like a mouse and return home without a squeak. And when I'm partying, I don't like loud music. So much for travelling. So much for partying.

But I am getting used to it. Slowly but surely, I am beginning to see some sense in getting off my couch and exploring the world around me. I am also enjoying with amazement as to how rapidly the world is changing. Which is why I felt it was high time I changed. I had to start somewhere. Inviting friends for a get together or getting myself invited was a kind of a start. A start I had to make. And so by killing a few grey cells to curb my age-induced wisdom, I am making a fresh start. A start that will no longer stop me from doing what I do best. Be myself. In a new avatar. Or better still, be myself version 2.0. So bags under my eyes and those craggy Clint Eastwood-ish crow's feet, here I come!