Veronika Decides to Die

Are you ready to be uncomfortable?

Because that is exactly what Paulo Coelho's Veronika Decides to Die does to any reader. Challenge heavily their pre-set notions about life, death and insanity and explore the psyche of human beings in a deep and disturbing manner. If you think you have had insanity figured out well, then this book will do well to make you question yourself- because unlike Paulo's previous works, VDTD doesn't coat itself in a fairytale nor fable sequence that makes it an escape metaphor for a reader- instead, this book is straight out of life- by a matter of fact, it is indeed inspired by the real life story of a Slovenian woman.

VDTD deeply reveals and explores the system of working in human's minds, our systems that we set for ourselves, and also our notions- and the film equally travels in depth within the minds of psychiatric patients as well as the doctors and nurses who work in a psychaitric hospital.

Veronika is a young woman who works in a library in Slovenia and believes that her life is of no significance at all. The novel starts in a pulsating manner- straight up with a suicide attempt. Veronika attempts to kill herself, only to be admitted in the city's most notorious pyschiatric hospitals after surviving, and discovering that she actually has less than a week left to live because her heart has been severely damaged by the poison that she had consumed.

The novel deeply explores the psyche of many other patients in the hospital, including 'The Fraternity', a group of patients who are medically healed but choose to stay on in the hospital as they have gotten used to the inside environment.

This book will leave you disturbed for one, and will open you up to avenues of questioning life and the regular notions of the 'normal' society to add up.

A provocative, powerful novel this is. Brilliant work from Paulo!

What is beyond us?

A couple of days ago, I received a shuddering phone call from a dear female friend and colleague of mine who had had her house burglared by two amateur robbers, who, instead of literally burglaring the house and snatching all the money they could take from the house, were more intent in getting to her, while she managed to lock herself inside her kitchen door. The story certainly suggests a much more perverted intent in the mind of these robbers instead of doing what they came to do. And there’s little surprise in guessing that these robbers are Indians. I wished I was going to be wrong when I asked her whether ‘they are Indians?’ but unfortunately my instinct is right.

For me, it begged a huge disappointment knowing yet another event has occurred that will not help the already huge stereotypes I face as an Indian, even though that incident will only as much as add as little pint of darker paint in the already large canvas of a very, very bad drawing of all the Indians of Malaysia. Talk about robbers, gangsters, drugs, and any-kind of rowdy attitudes, Indians almost automatically almost immediately come first to the picture of many other Malaysians, and not to exclude the higher-class well-educated Malaysian Indians, from which a certain portion of them try to alter their identity as much as possible so that they do not be identified as Indians. Another female friend of mine- who is a lifelong critique of Indians’ general attitude in this country; is also a person who feels uncomfortable being spotted in public wearing a saree or a Punjabi suit for that matter. Even though it disappoints me that she doesn’t find her own heritage appealing enough, it is logical enough to understand why she decides to be as distanced as possible from being Indian. Not to forget how I felt when a high-class Chinese girl scouting the house I’m renting to rent a room for herself (at a time when I wasn’t in the house), scoffed after learning that an Indian lives downstairs in the house, and rejected the house ‘just because’ she has to live with an Indian boy, whereas she was more than comfortable living with two other Chinese guys. I could brand this as a racist attitude, but let’s not forget that part of racism stems from how we carry ourselves in the social spectrum. The death of A.Kugan that stormed the layman Malaysian Indian community in the country recently is another proof that there is little use of Indians complaining and getting disgruntled. We are being stereotyped as criminals? Yes, it is sad, but it also the truth that many of us are indeed resorting to crime when life doesn’t offer a road of escapism, and we find it convenient to place the blame on the government, on the alleged marginalization, and the racism that surrounds us.

As Malaysian Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam has quoted, unemployment is easily pushing Malaysian Indians to the furor of crime. But we seek help from all the external factors around us- it is of essential need for us to help ourselves before expecting a hand from others. As the famous saying goes- ‘God only helps them who help themselves’. No matter how far we go in arguing the core to our problems, it is beyond denial and the best solution will always have to be attained ‘within’ us rather than around us. We can’t expect the society to paint a much better picture of us unless we demonstrate our will to be the change rather than just expecting change around us. Gandhi didn’t say ‘be the change’ for no valid reason.

Our wrath and dissatisfaction has been more often than not been focused on the government and also on the bumiputra quotas that are existent in this country. But little do we acknowledge the fact that we are not the only non-Bumis who reside in the country, there are many others- especially the Chinese community. Why, then, do we come across as the community with the most problems, most issues, and also as the community which occupy the bad pages in the annals of the Malaysian community?

I used to bounce a shadowing, indirect question to my regular Indian former schoolmates during short conversations- why Chinese people always seem to be better off? And in most of the times, I would get the same reply- because they are Chinese. Are Chinese men born with special wings that stamps them as gifted businessmen from the word go? When the Chinese community are always able to better and improve themselves and survive in this society- why, then, can’t we do the same? There is nothing here which is racially born. No traits were born specifically for one skin color- we merely create those traits and confine ourselves to those traits- we set a certain limit, and we think that is as far as we can go. Probably the time has arrived for us to take a step further and see for ourselves what our real potential is. All we need to do is to stop blaming external forces for our failures or turbulences- we are the reason for everything happens around us. And if we change our attitude, that is all it takes to see a different society all together. We throng within the thousands of crowds to offer a prayer to God every now and then, and spend loads of money that could, so easily, instead be spent in contributing those in our own community who are in need of it. We contradict ourselves as we find convenient time to gamble, get into financial trouble, get drunk and creating havoc and painting a bad picture of you and everyone of your kind. If we quit whining and get our acts straight, then our potentials are limitless.

Another worrying aspect is the level of unity among our community. The so-called ‘class gap’ is pretty apparent in our society- from an English-speaking Indian couple scoffing and ridiculing a bunch of fellow Indian workers who do not know how to speak proper English, and in return, incurring the dissatisfaction of the working-class individuals who perceive arrogance from such a couple. Before you scoff at your own kind, you might as well consider the cirmcumstances that the person you are talking with might have gone through in his/her childhood. And in return, the individual across the spectrum might as well take will to improve him/herself so not to get ridiculed again instead of holding a grudge against people who think they are better than him/her.

And what happened at my friend’s house is just yet another addition to the long list of self-destructive acts we have done so successfully in curbing our own potentials, and in clamping down a potential hand that will aid us so that we will grow together. Why do we give up so easily? That is the question we need to start asking ourselves. And if you have not given up, show the people of your kind that you have not given up on them instead- a little lamp in a room full of darkness indeed lights up the whole room.

Lets all together knock on life’s door so that it will open up for us- and later we shall earn the respect and dignity we all think we deserve. Let’s not expect a hand to carry us out from mud, let’s all offer each other the hands to get ourselves off the mud. Let’s all realize our potential.

Ram Anand,

30 March 2009

Finally gotcha!

I had been seriously lamenting the fact that HBO, Cinemax, and Star Movies seem to have gone on a little stale procedure during the week in which I was back at my hometown- and there was no denying, watching these three channels are among the main things I look forward to everytime I return. It was more of a case of I asked a table, and I was given a chair. Repeated showings of Stuart Little as if it was a film released just last year, Norbit (gross comedy), and also Failure to Launch certainly didn't serve my purpose of going back. Add to that Cinemax's sudden obsession with showing Steven Seagal flicks repeatedly around primetime, and also a prolonged showing of M. Night Shyamalan's second worst work to date- Lady in the Water.

I waited and waited and almost gave up everytime I see the info for primetime- it has always managed to dissapoint me- up until Saturday, when I got what I bargained for, even though not completely.

First up, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

This 1988 comedy stars two of the most enigmatic screen actors I have become fond of seeing in Hollywood- Steve Martin and Michael Caine. The very fact that those two were featuring was a good enough reason for me to finally sit through an entire movie (something which I did not do the previous week), and I have to say I enjoyed it to the tilt. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is simply your regular popcorn movie with enough twists and turns to make it and engrossing watch, and two power packed performances by Caine and Martin carries the film to the highest echeleon of entertainment. This film could have so easily have become another one if the many slapstick comedies in offering, but the duo both give a restricted yet utlimately and intelligently funny performance as two con men who try to outdo each other in conning a 'soap queen'. The film's setting in a small French town also helps the film a great deal, and even though at one point the film seemed to drift into a humanity prospect with Caine's pity for the woman he is cheating- the track soon reveals itself to reach a perfect crsecendo to a good entertainer.

And then, came In Bruges.

If a small French town and two con men was the anthem of DRS, the small, historic Belgian town of Bruges and two hit men is the anthem of 'In Bruges', a 2008 dark crime comedy which marks the film debut of Irish playwrighter Martin McDonagh. Colin Farrell has done well to put his notorious image behind him finally, with a performance that really revels the actor in him in this silent, slow film about a hit men's desperate questions about redemption, life, sins and goodness after killing a child accidentally in London while completing his first assignment. I've been waiting to see it for quite some time now given the fact that the film is in the IMDb's top 250 list, and thus to be seeing it on the eve of my departure back to KL is like a goodbye blessing. And I wasn't dissapointed a bit. At times I thought the film is the kind of film I have seen before, but the film's distinctive setting and mood always offer something different, and needless to say, it is really funny at most parts, and tragic (almost heartbreaking) at the others.

And within the one and half hour span, the film excellently explores three characters that of Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, and also Colin Farrell and also portrays the relationship they have with each other magnificently.

In Bruges certainly comes close to one of my all-time favorites- Punch Drunk Love- in terms of unique presentation that sees the film create a mood of its own not stuck into any particular genre.

And then the mini movie fest. Another tick in my list of having watched a top-ranked Hollywood flick. End of.

Everybody's fine, finally

Its been a really long time since I last blogged, because it indeed has been an awful long time since I had a clear conscience regarding my ideas- few convoluted feelings here and there- for which the answers I'm still searching for- certainly didn't help much.

Thankfully, Madhavan did the trick to have me writing as my usual self again, after watching 'Yavarum Naalam', his horror thriller directed by Vikram Kumar. After watching a dud named 'Ayan' last week, I was left starving with the prospect of watching a good film and hence finnaly came in 'YN', and brilliantly so. Of course, Yaravum.. is no Sixth Sense, but it is by far the best horror film I have seen in Indian cinema in the past 10 years in which I have been watching this cinema industry.

Thanks to some fancy cameraworks by PC Sriram and some slick editing by Sreekar Prasad, the veterans certainly did their job well in adding oomph to this thriller- given the fact that the film doesn't have many aspects about it which are too novel in comparison with other horror films. This is not the film that will scare you nevertheless, so we could take out the horror equation a little, however, the film does have a fair share of twists and turns that keeps you glued to your seat till the final reels.

I had hoped to catch the Hindi version though, as much of the film has the characters speaking more Hindi than Tamil, thus the Hindi version might have looked more original in every sense, rather than the Tamil one which looked like a modified dubbing. Madhavan is terrific in his lead role, and he carried the entire film convincingly on his shoulders. I had just said this to my friend recently- and I would repeat it again- Madhavan is a very successful actor in his own ways- somebody who knows how not to get stuck in a certain image mould. He may not rake in as much moolah or star power as the Vijays or Vikrams or Ajiths do, but he certainly knows what he is doing, and YN is a good testament to this. Vikram Kumar's directorial abilities is surprising given the fact that he was the same person who unspectacularly directed the 2005 Simbhu- Trisha flop 'Alai' (Yes, I know its shocking). From somebody who made 'Alai' to somebody who made 'YN', definitely he has grown immensely in stature over the years. Hope to see more good work for him. But certainly for someone who directed such a dud as his first, he is fortunate enough to have a bandwagon of veteran technicians coming into vital roles in this film, and taking it a notch higher in terms of picture quality.

Shankar Ehsaan Loy's music is adequate, though the film could have done without songs.

Everybody's fine, Dr. Balu.

Rating: 8.5/10