Adipurush – Controversy or Confusion?

Adipurush is finally out in the theatres, and the controversy around the movie shows no sign of coming to rest. Despite a lot of negative publicity around its dialogs, the movie took a very good start on the Box Office over the weekend, but it seems to be coming down on Monday. Are the people opposing the movie without any reason or are they not watching it with an open mindset? I watched the movie today to find out for myself and here is what I felt about the film after watching it.

Somehow, the movie failed to impress me, and when I tried to pinpoint the reason, there were more than one. Overall, it seems to be a poorly made film, with bad storytelling, patchy effects, and feels like a khichdi with stuff blatantly copied from many movies and cartoon films.

But the key flaw in the movie is lack of clarity about the purpose of making this movie. It was not clear if the filmmakers wanted to tell the story of Rama or just wanted to make a blockbuster film like RRR or Bahubali with a fictional story. This lack of clarity resulted in the havoc that is making people angry about it.

Case 1 - Movie is depicting Ramayana

Let us first assume the case when the filmmakers are trying to tell the story of Rama. Before the release of the film, film makers also gave a statement that they have depicted Ramayana as it is, which supports the above assumption. However  people are already well familiar about all aspects the story and there are several blunders in the movie that offends and hurts the sentiments of the people:

• The offensive getup of characters, trying to modernize the look with haircuts, tattoos, no crown, etc
• Vaanar sena having monkeys of different looks, borrowed from western movies. 
• Tapori dialogs from the people who are worshipped as God
• Movie style fights in the name of war
• Ravan riding a Bat, feeding it red meat, repairing his own sword, getting a massage from Pythons
• Liberties taken with the plot at several places, depicting events that are not there in Ramayana, or showing them incorrectly.

These are some of the aspects that does not allow this film to qualify as a version of Ramayana. It is not  surprising that people who are watching the movie with this mindset are getting disappointed and offended.

Case 2 - Movie is not about Ramayana

Recently, the film makers changed their stand and made a claim that this is a fictional story of Raghav, loosely inspired by Ramayana, but it should be seen as a fresh story, not as a version of Ramayana. Let us review the film with this mindset. First of all this argument is not very convincing for many reasons:

• Chanting of Jai Shri Ram in the background
• All characters with 1-1 mapping with Ramayana, Ram, Sita, Lakshman, Ravan, Mandodari, Sugriv, Bali, Vibhishan, Shabri... there cannot be so many coincidences.
• All places mapped to Ramayana - Lanka, Ayodhya, Ashok vaatika
• A seat reserved for Hanuman ji in every show 

While watching the film, you do not get a feeling that the makers are trying to tell a fictional story not connected to Ramayana. The film needed much more effort in that direction to steer clear of any controversy. 

If you try to compare the film to a Bahubali or RRR, it is nowhere close to them in terms of the production quality, storytelling, or entertainment value. The writer-director takes no attempt to introduce and establish any of the characters in the film. Somehow they assume that people know the characters already, but if people are watching it with complete open mind, how can you expect them to apply their knowledge of Ramayana? Even Rama’s aura was not adequately established. There is no adequate explanation of the magical powers of different characters. The film’s plot is very basic, not able hold the viewer’s interest, and the unduly long fight sequence fails to get the audience involved and hold their interest. 

Overall, it seems that this is a poorly executed attempt to make a regular commercial movie, and the touch of Ramayana is added as a crutch to cover the poor execution, and a marketing gimmick.

Will the movie succeed in exploiting the religious faith of crores of people for commercial gains? Initial trends show that the attempt has boomeranged, but let us wait and watch as the saga unfolds. 

The Pilgrim - Inferno Redux - Four Point Review

I recently read this interesting book, available at Amazon in ebook and paperback formats. I will give 5 out of 5 stars to the book. Whether you like to read fiction or non-fiction, I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to you, as it has a bit of both.

Point1 - Book Summary

On the fateful day of 9/11, the protagonist Roy Aron had to take a long walk from ground zero to his home, due to the chaos and disruptions all around in the city. Lost in his thoughts during the walk, his mind wanders around and comes across nine sins: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud and treachery. Each of these sins are visualized through its own story. 

After reaching home, he is a changed man who sees this as an indelible lesson for life about the folly of sins. To reinforce the learning, he takes this walk every year on the same day, with the spirit of a pilgrim going on a holy journey. 

 

Point 2 - Organization & Pace

The book gets to the central theme of the nine sins very quickly after the initial introduction. The story of each sin unfolds in its own chapter. The pace of the story is like a whodunit detective novel, with incidents keep unfolding at a regular pace.

Point 3 - Narration Style

The author has adopted an easy to read storytelling narration style for the book with the protagonist being involved in most of the stories in some way of other. At times there is a story inside story (recursive stories?) to make it more interesting. The language is kept free of unnecessary embellishments to give the book a contemporary feel. I felt hooked to the book after reading the first few pages and the interest was maintained throughout the book. 

Point 4 - What I Liked Most

The author has very effectively painted the picture of the grim situation and the mindset of the people after the 9/11 tragedy. I could relate to it as if I myself is in the midst of the situation. Several stories revolve around the life in campus and early job in India and it added a nostalgic touch for me. 

Above all, what makes this book compelling to me is its overarching but subtle message about turning even the extreme crisis to an opportunity for positive reflection and learning, and the wisdom of living a life based on principles, avoiding all sins.

How to Set Up Your Home Karaoke System for Best Sound

Are you using or planning to buy a Karaoke System like MagicSing ET23KH, Kortek Magic Mike, or Persang Karaoke New Dzire Plus, like the one shown above? These systems generally have the following features.

• Built in karaoke tracks with lyrics display
• Microphones with echo effect to sing

These are very convenient all-in one systems for creating an affordable Karaoke setup at home. Just connect it to a TV and your home karaoke setup is ready. Pick a song, and its background music is played on the TV along with the scrolling lyrics. Sing along the track using the microphone and your voice is also relayed to the TV speakers. Its very easy to setup, simple to use, and provides hours of fun at home.

However, setting up your karaoke system at home still needs careful steps, else you may encounter poor sound problems. For example, you may hear two distinct sounds for your own vocals, one what you sing and one from the TV speaker, and this creates an undesired echo effect that makes it difficult to sing and also results in a sound that is not very pleasant to hear. Let us go through some points to know while setting up your Karaoke System at home so that you get best sound from your system.

How Does a Karaoke System Work?
Let us first try to understand how a Karaoke machine works. The Karaoke system plays your selected background music tracks and outputs the scrolling lyrics as a video signal, and the music as audio signal. These audio / video signals need to be played on an external device. When you connect your TV to the Karaoke machine, the video is displayed on TV screen and the audio is played on the speaker built in the TV. As you You look at the lyrics on the screen, listen to the background music and sing along, the Karaoke machine takes the vocal sound picked up by the mic, mixes it with the music track and sends it out as audio signal. So you can hear the mixed song sound on TV speaker. 

Analog Audio/Video
These Karaoke systems were originally designed for older generation TVs that have Analog Video and Audio. The Analog Audio / Video from Karaoke system was connected to the TV using the RCA Audio/Video (3 connector) cable as shown below. This system has good sound quality as the delay in analog system is negligible. 

Digital Audio/Video
Later on as digital TVs came in the market, we started connecting the digital audio / video output from the Karaoke system to the TV via an HDMI cable. Please see the figure below. This causes a problem in the sound quality as the digital audio processing in the TV adds some delay to it. Hence the sound coming out of the TV speaker is delayed. When you sing, you will hear two sounds, your own voice and a delayed output from the TV. This results in a very poor quality sound experience from the Karaoke system.

Analog Audio / Digital Video
What can you do to restore sound quality? We cannot get analog TVs anymore in the market, but analog sound amplifiers and speakers are commonly available. Therefore, the solution requires adding a speaker with built in analog amplifier to your system. One possible choice is Persang Octane 9 Premium Trolley Speaker, available easily from Amazon. However, you can pick any speaker with a built-in amplifier that fits your budget. Just make sure it supports RCA aux audio inputs.

Recommended Home Karaoke Setup
Connect the digital video from Karaoke machine to your TV using HDMI cable and keep your TV on mute so that no sound comes from its speaker. Now use the RCA cable to connect the analog output from Karaoke machine to the external speaker. Usually white and red plugs are used for audio. Leave the yellow video plug unconnected. Check the manual of your Karaoke machine if in doubt. Go to settings on your Karaoke machine and select analog audio output. Your home karaoke system is ready now. Enjoy karaoke singing at home. 

One more thing, if you buy an speaker like Persang Octane 9 Premium Trolley Speaker, you will also get two wireless mics with it that have very good quality. You can use these mics also to sing along.

Try this setup for yourself and if you have any questions, let me know through comments on this post. And if you find this post helpful, remember to follow my blog.

मतदान - गणतंत्र का सर्वप्रथम त्यौहार

आज हमारे यहाँ चुनाव के लिए मतदान था। वोट डालते समय एक विचित्र सी सुखद अनुभूति हुई।  मन में ये विचार आया कि यही तो है हमारे गणतंत्र की शक्ति और इसका सबसे महत्वपूर्ण त्यौहार। 

कभी कभी हम अपने आस पास की स्थिति या घटनाओं से नाखुश होकर यह मान बैठते हैं कि कुछ नहीं सुधरने वाला यहाँ। परन्तु यदि विचार करके देखें तो ये सिस्टम ऐसा है कि जिसमे किसी भी सुधार करने का बटन हमारे ही हाथ में दिया हुआ है। ये सब वाकई बहुत सरल है और इसे भली भांति समझना हम सभी के लिए जरुरी है। 

आप पूछेंगे कि मेरे हाथ में कौन सा  बटन है भला? मेरी सड़क ख़राब है, मैं कौन से बटन को दबा कर इसे ठीक करवा सकता हूँ? 

यह बात बिलकुल सही है कि ये सब सुधार मेरे और आपके सीधे अधिकार क्षेत्र (Direct Circle of Influence) में नहीं आते हैं। परन्तु ये बात तो आप मानेंगे कि हमारे नेता जैसे पार्षद, मेयर, विधायक, सांसद, मंत्री, मुख्य मंत्री, प्रधान मंत्री के अधिकार क्षेत्र में वे सभी चीज़े आती हैं जो हमारे प्रतिदिन के जीवन को प्रभावित करती हैं। कहने का अर्थ यह कि सभी स्तरों पर सकारात्मक प्रगति लाने की क्षमता हमारे माननीय नेता गण की है, और यह एक जिम्मेदारी भी बनती है उनकी। 

और गणतंत्र हमें इस बात का अधिकार देता है की हम सभी प्रत्याशियों का अपने विवेक से आकलन कर उस प्रत्याशी को वोट दें जो हमें इस कार्य के लिए सबसे उचित लगे। नगर निकाय से लेकर संसद तक बड़े से बड़े पद के लिए व्यक्ति के चुनाव में हम अपना योगदान देते हैं जब हम वोटिंग मशीन का बटन दबाते हैं। 

तो है न ये powerful बटन हमारे पास जिसे दबा कर हम अपने क्षेत्र, राज्य, देश को मनमानी दिशा देने में सहयोग कर सकते हैं? ये कोई जरुरी नहीं की जो issue मेरे लिए महत्वपूर्ण है वह औरो के लिए भी हो। परन्तु मैं अपना वोट देते समय यह ध्यान रखूं कि मेरे issue का समाधान करने के लिए कौन सबसे योग्य है। इसके लिए यह भी जरुरी है कि मैं अपने क्षेत्र के प्रत्याशियों के बारे में जानकारी रखूं और उनसे बिलकुल अनजान न रहूँ। 

परन्तु याद रहे कि यदि यह एक अधिकार हमारे पास है, तो साथ ही एक जिम्मेदारी भी बनती है कि वोट जरुर करूँ। आज भी लगभग तीस प्रतिशत लोग वोट डालने नहीं आते हैं। इसका अर्थ है कि वे न सिर्फ अपने महत्वपूर्ण कर्तव्य को अनदेखा कर रहे हैं, बल्कि अपने पास जो अधिकार है उसका प्रयोग करने में भी उनकी कोई रूचि नहीं। ऐसा भला क्यूँ कर हो सकता है?

आज सुबह सुबह वोट डालकर मैंने तो अपनी मर्जी का बटन दबा दिया है। अब आप कब वोट डालने जा रहे हैं ? 

A beautiful Prayer

Take a look at the following beautiful shloka:

यं शैवा: समुपासते शिव इति ब्रह्मेति वेदान्तिनो

बौद्धा बुद्ध इति प्रमाणपटव: कर्तेति नैयायिका:।

अर्हन्नित्यथ जैनशासनरता: कर्मेति मीमांसका:

सोऽयं नो विदधातु वांछितफलं त्रैलोक्यनाथो हरि:।।

It means the following in Hindi and English:

हिंदी भावार्थ 

वे तीन लोक के नाथ श्री हरि हमें मनवांछित फल प्रदान करें जिनकी उपासना 

- शैव, 'शिव' मानकर करते हैं, 

- वेदांती 'ब्रह्म' मानकर उपासते हैं, 

- बौध्द 'बुध्द' की तरह 

- तर्क-पटु नैयायिक जिसकी 'कर्ता' मानकर आराधना करते हैं

- जैन लोग जिसे 'अर्हंत' मानते हैं

- मीमांसक जिसे 'कर्म' बताकर पूजते हैं

English Meaning

May the Lord of the universe grant us our wishes who is worshipped by  

- the Shaiva as Shiva,

- the Vedantins as Brahman

- the Buddhists as Buddha

- the Naiyaayikas who specialize in knowledge as 'Karta"

- the Jains as Arhant

- the ritualists of the Mimamsa school as Karma

There is a very powerful implication behind these simple words. This prayer holds the key to bridging the religious differences and the resultant problems. It implies that it is a myth that we worship different Gods; instead, we worship the same God in different forms, and give Him different names. Every religion says that God is all powerful being, present everywhere. How is it possible to have more than one instances of such an all powerful being? It has to be the same God for everyone. 

And when it is the same God for both of us, can there be a reason for any difference between you and me? 

Just think about it.

What is All This Stuff about God?

The choice of topic for this post may surprise you, what is there to discuss about it? We are already well versed with our God; what else can we possibly talk about in this post? The following lines inspired me to write this post:

हरी हरी वसुंधरा पे नीला नीला ये गगन

के जिसपे बादलो की पालकी उड़ा रहा पवन 

दिशाये देखो रंग भरी चमक रही उमंग भारी

ये किस ने फूल फूल पे किया श्रृंगार है

ये कौन चित्रकार है, ये कौन चित्रकार

Looking at the beauty of nature around us can make us wonder about the greatness of its creator, the Almighty God who has created the sky, clouds, stars, Sun, Moon, Earth, mountains, flowers, rivers, ocean, and everything we see around us. 

We have already learnt a few things about the God whom we worship from our religion, which is a different picture for each of us based on our religion. Some of us have learnt that He is an invisible being, while others believe that He has a form, and this form itself may be different for each of us. 

People worship God, give Him different names, or even deny His existence, but let us face it, no one can ignore Him. Does it not point to a strong possibility that such a mighty being is more likely to exist than not?

Most religions advocate that God in some form created the universe and looks after it. If you ask a scientist, he may give you an altogether different answer, talking about the big bang theory, evolution, and other scientific principles that govern the creation and running of the universe, denying the role of any supernatural being in the process.

Let us first look at this important question – did God create everything in the universe? Actually if we change our viewpoint a little, there is no conflict between the scientific view and the religious view on this subject. Imagine that a boy throws the ball in the air we can look at the ball going up and explain the phenomenon in different ways, not really in conflict with each other:

We can pay attention to the ball following the laws of motion. It went up in the air since it had a vertical velocity under the influence of a force and countered by gravitational force etc. 

We can also explain it simply as, "The boy threw the ball in the air, that is why the ball went up".

Similarly, the scientific view that Big Bang started the universe may be true, but it does not deny the possibility that God Himself started the Big Bang process, similar to the boy throwing the ball. 

The existence of God is established, but how do we reconcile different positions taken by different religions about Him?  Which one is correct? Are the Gods worshipped by people of different faith are really different? By the very definition of an Omnipotent God, it sounds logical that it is the same entity, who is given different name and form by different religions. Also, it seems that God Himself does not mind the diverse views people take about Him.

That brings another vital question, Did God create religions? This looks unlikely as why would He create so many different versions in that case? Religion seems to be an attempt by man to understand and explain the universe around him. God does not want people to follow any one particular faith only. The evidence for this is that even after thousands of years people following different faiths and beliefs still co-exist happily together.

How can one experience God? When you go out and see the beautiful nature around, think about its creator and you can begin experiencing Him. Prayer is another established way to experience Him. Taking time to pray as per your belief is the most direct way to experience God. When good things happens in life, remember to thank Him, and when you are in trouble, take your problems to Him in prayer.

Disclaimer: The discussion above is just my attempt to form a simple common view about this very complex topic. No disrespect is meant for any faith, religion, or belief. Advance apologies if anything in the post sounds offensive to you. 

Examination Stress - How to Beat it?

Going through the education process can be so much fun but the fear of examinations takes away all the enjoyment. The goal and the focus of students and teachers shifts from learning to ensuring good performance in the exams. Any chapter that is not important from the point of view of the exam is ignored, and the learning is mostly centered around the questions expected in the exam paper. Exams cause major stress in most students, and board exams cause even more stress. And these days there are exams throughout the year, keeping the students stressed all the time.

The education authorities have tried several changes to improve the situation. They did away with the board exams in class X to encourage learning at that level, but that increased the stress at XII level as the students had no prior experience of a board exam. They tried to do away with marks and switched to grades in class X, but that did not help the situation either. The National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023 is another step towards rationalizing the education process. Let us see how it works out in the years to come.

Let us face it, exams are an essential part of the education process, we can not do away with them completely. But if we change the way we look at the exams, it will help reduce the stress associated with it. Currently we see our education as a race and the exams a hurdle in the middle. Our only goal is to win the race, hence we believe that we must crack each and every exam with outstanding marks. Failing an exam or scoring low in it is not at all an acceptable option.  

Now think about how you approach the situation when you go through a medical examination or health check in a hospital. What is your main concern? Is it to crack the medical test with flying colors or to find objective assessment of your health that may help your doctor take the necessary action? Why can’t we view the school exam also in the same way? 

First of all, change your focus to learning as much as you can in every subject you are taught in school. This itself will bring back the joy of learning back. Do it every day, bit by bit, build your true knowledge of the subject. 

Armed with this knowledge, take the test or exam, to assess how well you have learned the subject. It will provide you feedback about the strong areas you know well, and weak areas that needs more work. Use this feedback to work further and improve your knowledge. 

When you take this approach, the continuous evaluation schemes followed in school these days will no longer be a problem for you, and you will start looking forward to the tests, rather than feeling stressed about them.

You may be thinking, how will this approach help me prepare for an entrance exam competition in which I have to perform well to get selected? Well, competitive exams are cracked by students who have learned the subjects well, not just practiced answering a fixed set of questions. Hence, you may find that the shift of focus to learning will help you do better in competitions, and the knowledge you acquire today will come handy throughout your career in future. 

What is All This Stuff About Career Success?

If you are a student, you aspire to have a successful career as you grow up, hence a vital question popping up in your mind may be, “What are the essential ingredients of a successful career?” Choosing a direction for your career is probably one of the most important decisions of your life, and you may be unsure of which way to go. What line of study / career should you choose to ensure a successful career? A successful career depends on multiple factors such as Talent, Opportunity, Efforts, and Affirmation, and each of these play an important role. Let us discuss these factors one by one.

Talent

Talent is the key ingredient, the most important factor that contributes to success in any endeavor. If you possess a natural skill or ability to do something well, it is obvious you have a good chance to succeed. You can see numerous examples of talented people around who do well in different fields like music, arts, writing, finance, science, engineering, medicine, management, etc.
How can you find out if you are talented or not? Actually it’s a wrong question to ask. Each of us is unique and has our own unique talents. If you struggle with math, do not view this as a lack of talent. Your talent may lie in a different field, and you need to try and discover the fields where your special talents lie. These are the things that you can learn quickly, perform with ease, and enjoy doing.
While making the choice of career, give adequate weightage to your talents. This is why education today has so much emphasis on aptitude tests. Testing your aptitude for a field can help determine if it goes along with your inherent talents. However, do not view this as a limit on the choices you have. Even if aptitude test shows otherwise, you can still choose a field against your aptitude, as long as you are prepared to put in extra effort to learn and master it.

Opportunities

If Talent indicates what you have to offer, Opportunities are about what the world needs, and what you can be paid for. It plays an equally important role in a successful career, business, or profession. From a business viewpoint, this is the demand or market for your product. Opportunities vary with time and place. Disciplines like Engineering, CA, Medical, MBA, etc have been popular choices as they offered well-defined opportunities due to the demand. This is why we used to see lakhs of aspirants taking the JEE, NEET and CAT entrance tests every year to become a successful engineer, doctor, or manager.
However, the canvas is much bigger today, with more choices than ever. Today you have new age choices like Finance, Data Analytics, Journalism, Music, Arts, Dance, Graphic Design, Ethical Hacking, Fashion Designing, Content Writing, Blogging, Social Media Management, App Development, Film Making.. the list goes on and on. Take your time to understand the opportunities available in different areas and the ones that are relevant to your aptitude.
Try to choose a field that is aligned with your talent and has good opportunities, as it is the best of both worlds. If that’s not possible, try to strike a good balance between these two key aspects while making your choice. Finally, avoid the following two extremes at any cost:

• The field is very much in demand, but not at all aligned with your aptitude. You may find it difficult to cope with the demands, and the work may be too taxing and unpleasant for you.
• You are super talented in this area, but there is no demand for it. In such a case, you will shine in your chosen field, but it will not create an impact, hence will not result in a successful career. Probably this thought was behind the thinking of parents through the ages who discouraged their children from taking up the careers that were seen ‘unconventional’ at that time.

Efforts

Hard work is the fuel that powers the vehicle of your career. Be it in studies for learning, or preparations for competitive tests to get admission into the program of your choice, getting through the placement, or doing well at work.. you need to put adequate effort at every stage. In some way, your success is directly proportional to the efforts you put in.
A key point to remember is that your efforts contribute in two areas – to produce results and for your development. Examples of results are academic grades, score in competitive tests, contribution to your work etc. Equally important is to spend effort to develop yourself, which includes learning, gaining experience, developing expertise, etc. This is like a woodcutter taking time to sharpen his saw, which makes the task of sawing easier.
Another important point to keep in mind is that effective effort has to be sustained and regular. A sudden cramming of the books on the night of test can help you get good results, but the real learning will not happen. Almost all successful aspirants in any competitive test talk about working everyday towards their goal as the secret of their success.

Affirmation

This is one factor that can multiply the impact of all others. If Someone believes in your success and positively affirms you, it provides you the much needed encouragement and boosts the chances of your success. It does magic to your self-image, which makes you put in even greater effort. It has been established through studies that a child that receives affirmation performs better at studies.
The parents and teachers play a vital role in providing this affirmation. At work, this can be done by seniors, peers, or mentors. Finally, as a grown up, once you understand its importance, you can also use self-affirmation techniques.

Talent, Opportunities, Efforts, and Affirmation are four key components of a successful career. Understanding them well and keeping them in mind can help you make right choices throughout your career. It can also help you analyze where you need to apply more focus at any point.