Power of Support

I often come across a lot of people who I find extremely talented. However, I get a feeling that their current vocation is not justifying or say utilising the talent. And the reason for having such a feeling is when they answer my simple question - ‘Whats up, Hows work?’. The usual answer I get is ‘all fine…’; ’going good’; ‘very fine’... There isn't much excitment in the answers, as such, probably because:

• A habit of under-playing


• Lack General Intelligence, required to think of an interesting answer and/or to have an interesting conversation


• Being a part of herd-mentality – every one gives such an answer, so I should also


• Dissatisfied (not happy) with what they are doing, but do not want to show it to the world

This blog is not about the first three points as I think no one can do anything with respect to those points. It is about the last one - ‘Dissatisfied (not happy) ...'.

And here I feel that this answer may be completely justified but still justifiably incomplete. Elaborating

There are 2 kind of people, broadly:
- Those who do what they enjoy doing
- Those who enjoy what they are doing

And as the cliché goes ‘no one knows what one wants to do’ and so people pursue all kind of vocations / professions (time pass :-)). And hence there will be no sermon on this blog about ‘go out, try searching for what you want to do’.

Rather, what I have gathered through innumerable interactions with my dad & other people is that what support (or unconditional support, if someone is blessed) can do for / to a talented individual, is something which has always been undersestimated / inexplicable. It can help realise the potential of talent one has, it can provide an unimaginable happiness and it can make the going smooth, irrespective of the situation.

Imagine if you have a supportive boss at work, a supportive sibling at home or for that matter a supportive acquaintance – your entire day changes and you look forward to every event / day at work / home. Whether you work in the administrative division of a school but want to be a rock-artist, support can make your journey enjoyable, even if it can't assure you of the destination.

No doubt, one need to be pro-active and persistent but even if one is lost or lacks the required pro-activeness, support from an external entity can help change the track of an individual - support can give confidence - the confidence one gets, when his/her decisions get the complete support, can act as a strong boost.

But yeah, supporting is a very tough task - it requires sacrifice & it has to come from within. As a result, stories of support, especially unconditional support, is not common - why else, audiences loved the support that John Nash's wife gave him, as shown in The Beautiful Mind or Anupam Kher's support to SRK's character in DDLJ.

Everyone needs support, everyone deserves support but everyone can't offer support, because expecting support needs honesty while offering support needs listening, empathy and slightly higher level of selflessness.

Hope the above makes sense and support continues to prevail.

An All Time Favourite Movie - Khuda Kay Liye

KHUDA KAY LIYE
A Must Watch Movie

Khuda Kay Liye (KKL) is a Pakistani movie that showcases problems that Muslims are facing today both in their homes and globally, for simply being Muslims. And contrary to expectations, the story does not hover around the 9/11 incident. It is an integral but not the whole part of the storyline.

The Storyline:
KKL is a story of two Muslim families, based out of London and Lahore respectively being headed by two real brothers. The two brothers have not had any interaction for a long period of time.

The London family faces tough time when one of the brothers (the head of the family) gets his daughter married to her cousin (first cousin who is elder brother’s son) in Pakistan, against her knowledge and wishes (she is having an affair with a British). He does this as he comes under irrational attitude of his fellow community members and subsequently adopts a fanatic and unreasonable outlook towards Islam. He feels that by getting his daughter married to a Muslim will ensure that Islam remains as a religion of his family for generations to come. And after carrying out the act in Pakistan, he comes back to London without any regret as he firmly believes that what he has done is truly a religious and hence a justified act.

The other family, based in Lahore, Pakistan follows a very liberal lifestyle and because of this, it faces a lot of difficult challenges.
- The younger son gets influenced by a fundamentalist priest who, in the name of religion, misguides the boy to such an extent that the boy changes his lifestyle and outlook completely. He leaves music (a passion shared between him and his elder brother), marries his cousin and even leaves his family. And he ends up being dragged into the infamous ‘war against terrorism’.
- While the elder son of the family, gets falsely implicated by the American forces in America on charges of being a member of Al-Qaeda group and having a role behind the 9/11 tragedy. He faces all this because being a Muslim he is accused of being a terrorist.

Reasons To Watch:
# With an extremely ‘balanced’ storyline, it becomes a must watch movie. It talks about how Islam is being misinterpreted, misused and how Muslims, in general, are getting traumatised without any reason. It doesn’t take any sides and neither blames any particular country / community / religion for the same. The movie has an interesting court room climax featuring Naseer Ud Din Shah’s (the Indian actor) acclaimed performance.

# The movie is well paced, in accordance to the screenplay, based out of Pakistan, U.S., U.K and little bit of Afghanistan.

# Realism in movie - dialogues, characters and locations.
- There are no loud or preachy dialogues and the characters, shown attired in a usual manner, speak colloquially. The dialogues are in Hindi (predominantly), Urdu and English making it easy to comprehend the story.

- The way the Pakistani family is shown is going to be a pleasant surprise for a lot of Indian viewers as they are going to find a lot of similarities between the two lifestyles. And, unlike typical Hindi movies, there is no use of sets or artificial structures, further adding to the realism element.

An extremely engrossing movie with a fine musical score, it has multiple messages for global society. It is my all time favourite.

Random Thoughts

I think we live in a country, society and an environment which has never been health conscious and hence has never been knowledgeable enough to understand how to handle situations like cancer, diabetes and physical handicap. For instance, rather than understanding the meaning of ‘keep patient away from external entities, including human being’, we surround the patient thinking that this is the only way to show love and empathy. Actually we misunderstand the role of relations, love, social obligations at this time and hence challenge the science of medication and nature. While nature wants us to express love and be loved, we believe in showing off love and getting acknowledged for the same (rather immediately) especially during someone else’s illness. Some call this as hypocrisy while I call it the inherent nature of our society and let’s face it - we all are part of it.

It is not that only an individual gets effected by a disease. A family is equally, rather more strongly effected by the disease since it has to take care of its member. I don’t think we, at large, understand this statement because despite us claiming to be educated, we are actually getting roboted. We get education to act like a robot - earn money, get married, have kids, travel, enjoy (or suffer) old age and then die. We don’t get educated thinking on how to contribute - spread knowledge, happiness and progress for the society. We were, we are and we will always remain myopic in our thinking. For us, life starts and ends with MY FAMILY, MY HUSBAND / WIFE, MY KIDS etc. There is nothing wrong in this school of thought provided in a day-to-day life one does think of someone / something else beyond his/her own immediate relations / need. I guess this is asking for too much. How does education matter, when we don’t even know how to lend our ear with patience to someone else’s point of view,.

We, as a society are driven by a strong desire for social stature and materialism because in our history, there was never a regular supply of basic amenities like electricity, water or health care. Hence, for survival we had to become selfish (a natural step for any human facing such a situation). Unfortunately, we have become selfish enough to completely ignore solidarity in fundamental term. What we see during weddings and funerals is nothing but superficial solidarity. Grief is not about being sad or about being depressed. It is about introspection – to make oneself stronger and adaptable to lead a new and changed life, after losing someone / something. And once again, unfortunately our society doesn’t even know how to experience grief. It has always and I guess it will always ‘celebrate’ grief.

Life is strange and will always remain so. Hence one should, at times, allow it to unfold itself. And while it gets unfolded, one should continue living life and that too to the best, because after all there is only one to live.

Cheers,
Navneet.