Children of Heaven

It’s about the plight of a nine-year-old boy named, Ali and his younger sister, Zahra. In the first Scene, the boy loses his sister's shoes through a mishap. And in the last scene, he wins a 4-kilometer running race. In between, the director has laid every scene like bricks one after another. Even for a minute the movie does not digress and everything revolves around the nucleus of the story, 'the lost shoes'. Entire flow of story can also be viewed as rippling effect caused by the lost shoes. Besides the screenplay, the strong backbone for the movie is the kids. It is like watching children next door. They are so realistic and adorable on their expressions.

In the first few frames where the shoe being repaired, Ali doing groceries, mother's quarrel with house owner and Zahra babysitting depicts the condition of the family. And also, it shows responsibilities on the little shoulders. After a vein search for the lost shoes, Ali returns home. He begs and convinces his sister not to tell their parents. He also comes up with the idea of sharing his sneakers with her. And following scenes explain the practical difficulties of sharing on both Ali's and Zahra's end.

In particular scene, I was in my seat edge, biting my nails. Like everyday, she runs back from school to return the sneakers to her brother. When she jumps casually, one of the sneakers falls into the gutter. It travels down with the sewer water. She runs along with it to catch. It is nothing like a Hollywood car chase, in spite of it the girl’s desperation on the face made me nervous.

Another twist comes, when she sees her lost shoes in the school assembly. Sneakily following the footsteps, she traces the girl wearing it. Ali and Zahra follow her home but only to know that her dad is blind. Everyday, Zahra sees her wearing the shoe cravingly. The Kid’s every expressions, be it happiness, misery, contentment, failures worth every single penny.

The movie is like a silent stream flowing continuously. I don’t want to get into nuance of every scene. But, it might bring back some of your old memories. So you better watch it.
Part I:

Part II:

K for ????

We have all been there. I could sense you nodding partially and, partially suspicious. But I am sure we have all been there. When we start searching for something but finally end up being somewhere. It happened to me when I ended up at 'How to Kiss' on Youtube. The feature was not to provoke your senses. But it presented good theoretical and practical approaches about it. Many say Kiss as 'Keep it straight and simple'. I don't think it is that simple. It has always fascinated me from the time I started seeing it on celluloid screen.

In the video, they discussed about variety of kisses ranging from the shy type to French ones. They also presented statistical survey about different methods. In a way, it is a language. It can communicate affection and love. Different one conveys different meaning and defines the relationship between the communicator. Out of all presented, the useful one was 'Make up Kiss'. That might come handy for all men since we know why. I had seen almost all the varieties showed in the video, thanks to cinema. But never expected the funny one named "Electric Kiss". I thought they named it metaphorically, but later learned that it was based on literal meaning. Here, the concerned parties charged themselves with static charge by rubbing against wool or carpet. Then, they drained the charge through a sparkling smooch. Could you believe people actually tried this? However I have my doubts of hygiene about the French, I better deter not. But 'Neck' and 'Ear' are the most romantic ones for me. Hmm, they showed many different types, but it wasn't complete enough. The video lacked some heroic ones like- the hanging upside down Spider-man kiss. Probably, they could have added it with a disclaimer note 'not for humans'.

Everyone who experienced their first kiss would definitely be cherishing it in their memory. Anyways, I am still waiting to make that memory. I am looking for the window of ...

Reservation

All men and women are created equally. But, they cannot be treated equally in order to create equal opportunity. That is the basis for 'Reservation' system. Many argue that reservation system should be abolished. I would also say so, in an ideal world. In a country like India, which is so diverse economically and socially, requires reservation in every field right from schools, colleges, hospitals, jobs etc. There is nothing wrong with the concept of reservation; indeed it is the only way to improve standards of underprivileged to acceptable limits. It is a fact that every country has some kind of reservation for underprivileged.

In India, when it was introduced, the idea was to iron out the difference. And in course of time, abolish the system. So far, we have not ironed out but produced more wrinkles. Everyday, commotion on reservation system is increasing. Political parties use that as weapon for their gains. If something needs to be blamed, then it should be the implementation but not the system or concept. I was looking for an analogy to demonstrate the success of reservation. I couldn't get a better example than world cup 2007. Though minnows are being battered in league and super eight matches, the intermittent upsets throw some light on the system. When you think of reservation in education, it is not a jump pad for person entering through the backdoor. It is rather a proving ground. They definitely have to raise their levels in order to compete with others and to stay alive. When the person fails to coupe up with demands and standards, it cannot be attributed as a system failure. Instead, administrator should work to improve the system. They should not just give the route guide, but also should make sure the journey.

Any system, which is running for long needs over hauling, so does reservation. Reservation should be based on demand and supply chain. We need to provide support for people who are in need. The foundation for reservation should be based on a strong evaluation system. How can reserving jobs for religious minorities serve the purpose? Whom should the seat in bus be reserved? For a disable or a religious minority? The example sited may seem trivial, but I see no difference. Everyone who is rational will agree that the disable is the one in need of seat irrespective of caste, creed, and religion. Here, the evaluation parameter is 'Ability'. When it comes to education & jobs, the evaluation parameter should be even stronger. Many years ago, in TamilNadu reservation was based on income, so called 'Cream layer' concept. Cream layer based on income will work in certain areas but not for education. We need even stronger evaluation system to fit most important areas like education. For instance, each person should be awarded an ability score based on parent's education, job, economic strata, resource availability etc. Then, reserve seats for the under privilege. It is not an easy task for the administrator. But that does not grant them to throw reservation easy.

In many cases, people who are in need are not aware of the system. Only law twisters bend it for their gains. Administrator should also create awareness about the opportunities through reachable mediums. Currently, statistics shows vacant area (to be filled) in the current configuration itself. In that case, increasing the percentage for backward classes or some minorities will be bring only pan-demonic reaction. Reservation is an aid and is not all. Therefore, the root cause for issues like low literacy among backward classes needs to be identified and addressed duly.

Cats Eye

Brain remembers and recollects things not just by storing entities, but also by adding various attributes like sound, colour, feature etc. to it. Like wise, the feel of going to gym starts when I first hear the distinct sounds- galloping beat from the treadmill, the 'ting' of the dropping weight, the continuous rumbling of motors. Even though the gym wouldn't be far from where I hear the sounds, the sounds serve as a beacon. At times, the noise proof glass doors turned off the beacon. But still, I would have a visual reasoning of why. Not just the sound, the people, and their traits are another feature of it. The middle-aged women walking in with a cookie, the fit guy who runs with small weights, the girl who lifts heavy weight, the lean man who walks past the window and, the earphone women who comes and leaves by the stroke of clock hands are never changing signs.

After a brief hiatus, I resumed gym today. When I was walking towards the Gym, I could not hear the beacon. But, the doors were wide open. I entered the gym, to my surprise it was just filled with air and equipments. It seemed like devoid of energy. I had been to it through lean and rush hours, but it was never empty. Though I started my routine, I could not control the soliloquy. I asked myself serious of questions. Like, "Is the world coming to an end? And I am the only person who was not informed about it. Or, Is it because of Good Friday? People wanted to save the day for their families rather then spending time here." But it didn't sound right, because I could still see people jogging outside through the window. “Or, people just quit because I was missing for more than couple of days". When I was still thinking on that line, Gym started flocking slowly. I laughed at myself. In many occasion, we think we are the drive for even natural causes. It is like a cat thinking that the world becomes dark, when it closes eyes.