Happy Monday!
A song I’m listening to —
CEZA — Gelsin Hayat Bildiği Gibi feat. Sezen Aksu: Despite none of the words making any sense to me, I love the music, the flow and the way the voice of Sezen Aksu is woven into the song. Some people have the most soulful, heavy, powerful, young voice that makes you want to learn the language just so you can appreciate the singing and the song.
A short film I’m watching —
Float: I watched this movie quite a few months back. I think I watched it even before I started with this newsletter. And again today. If I were a parent a few decades ago, I’d be this version. Safety over differentiation. Support over fear. Acceptance over confusion. Love over fear. I love Pixar and it’s team. I think if I personified Pixar, I’d see me. Experimenting, expanding, experiencing.
A book I’m reading —
The Denial of Death by Earnest Becker: This book is heavy and to be honest was stressful for me to get through. Every time I read it, I got pensive and felt a million different things. At first I tried to power through it. But you can’t power through it. It’s not possible. I now realize that I might not even have absorbed 5% of what I’ve read. Shame, guilt, and perhaps confusion are just some words that came to my mind when I pondered on the ideas. But also, they’re true and very real interpretations. Some true. Some far fetched. This book definitely needs to be read a few times. And then maybe I can have a genuine and authentic feedback.
A quote I’m pondering —
“I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.”
— Plutarch
A movie I’m watching —
Ship of Theseus: Ship of Theseus was suggested to me by a friend. To be honest, this is not a movie everyone will be able to appreciate, not because it’s heavy, it just needs an open mind, patience and time to sink in. But if you give it a chance, the experience and the subtle visual metaphors (I knew the concept but didn’t know the term until yesterday) will take you on your own personal philosophical journey.
The Theseus’ paradox (The Ship of Theseus) is a thought experiment that explores the question of whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object. This question was raised by Plutarch, a Greek biographer and philosopher from the late first century, who asked whether a ship that had been restored by replacing every single wooden part remained the same ship. In this Indian movie, written and directed by Anand Gandhi in 2012, Gandhi explores the same question in a slightly different context. He asks the question in the context of the human body and its parts. What if a person is the ship and the wood, bolts and screws its parts? When you replace a failing liver with another person’s liver and a cornea by someone else’s, have you changed? And if we slowly replaced each of your organs by somebody else’s, are you the same person? Will you remain the same? Since the donor’s lungs are now breathing in your chest or their heart is beating in your cavity, are they alive or you?
The story takes a look at three different people living very different lives. The first story is of Aaliya (played by Aydah El-Kashef), a blind, young, talented photographer. Her inability to see makes her a photographer of sound. In an attempt to compensate for her lack of sight, she listens to moments and captures brilliance in the process. Soon she gets a donor for her cornea replacement. She gets her sight back but when her lens caps falls into the gushing river as she desperately tries to find her inspiration, drive and edge, you know she has lost a lot more in the process.
The second story is about this resolute monk, Maitreya (played by Neeraj Kabi). He seems clear about his beliefs. He has a purpose and a cause he is fighting for. He is educated, open minded, modern and very confident. When Maitreya is diagnosed with liver cirrhosis, he refuses to take medication since it goes against his principles of using products tested on animals. However, in the end he is desperately holding on to life and has to decide if he will take the help of the very people who he’s been fighting against. The conversations between him and his friend and follower, Charvaka (played by Vinay Shukla) are definitely the high point of the film.
The conversations remind you of the everyday philosopher you meet on the streets, in your office, in a coffee shop or a train ride back home. The chemistry between the two is delightful and fresh, the dialogues have width and depth, there is humour and sarcasm, friendly banter and disagreements.
The final story is about a stockbroker, Navin (played by Sohum Shah), who has recently had a kidney transplant. While his grandmother thinks of him as a money minded guy focused on himself rather than upliftment of society, he goes above and beyond to ensure justice is served to a poor man who’s a victim of an illegal kidney theft.
The movie ends with all the 3 characters meeting one another and paying tribute to the donor, the first person who donated 8 organs to 8 different people after his death. As the audience witnesses the video in which the donor, a cave-explorer, walks into a dark cave capturing it’s beauty and details, you’re left to wonder whether he is still around in parts…his eyes, kidneys, skin…and he himself in body and spirit.