Purpose of Art?

Often, I have come across statements, written or verbal, discoursing on the purpose and usefulness of art. To me, from point of view of consumer of the art, art has one and only one objective - experience of beauty, and of the joy which naturally comes out of it.

In assessment of an object of art, it is only this criteria - of creating something beautiful - which we should consider. Nothing else. That art which we often say as serving towards some kind of "education" or "message", etc. should be considered as no art at all, unless it stays uncompromisingly true to its primary purpose - beauty. At best, such items can be called a sophisticated tool of the same purpose.

Using as its foundation 'truths', truths which otherwise might even be constructed as undesirable or gross when seen through the filters of thousands of years of human civilization, art transcends them into something beautiful. It shows us beauty where we never might have perceived it. This sense of beauty and truth is perceived not through our knowledge, but through a sense very primitive, a sense we might not understand, a sense awakened by the object of the art. This awakened sense, encompassing among its ingredients both the basic human instincts and our own comprehension of the world around us, born from our life experiences, is independent and particular to individuals, allowing each of us to perceive the beauty and the truth in sublimely different ways suitable to our own psychs.

Even that art which is just a fanciful picture draws from something true - even though the truth may only be the feelings which we might have experienced.

The feelings and realisations we take away from the experience of an object of art are capable of transcending the layers of thousands of years of social engineering. That which we learn through the astonished experience of beauty, even though we might not rationally be able to articulate it, it stays within, deep rooted, forever.

Maybe it is only art which is capable of fighting the social engineering depicted in 'Brave New World'?

A New Class Divide - 'Knowledge is Power'

A new and wonderful mode of human subjugation and domination is on the anvil. Forget about the age old ways of muscle power or capital power. Forget about the widening gap between haves and have-nots, between third world and first world, forget about the hypocritical nature and world domination whims of the some governments! These are matters of the past. The information age is empowered with a mean much more sophisticated and powerful.

Let us see why and how.

We live in a web today. Literally. A web of connectivity - of 'connected devices'. What is it about this web which is making life easier for us? Every little thing happening on this web, every occurrence, anywhere and everywhere, is available and traceable everywhere else on the web. Leveraging this core principle, we translate the information available towards various services making life easier for us.

Let us now consider that all the information which is traceable about an individual is made available for study. This would include everything a person has ever done on his/her mobile, credit cards, bank accounts, internet, tv,  etc. What programs he watches, what articles he read on the net, what sites interest him, how much time he spends in his activities - everything is captured somewhere. Now, some expert, studying all these data spanning across a length of some years on an individual, would be able to formulate a very accurate psychological footprint of the person, complete with his strengths, weaknesses, seduction points, etc. Using these, the individual's reactions to the external world or any external stimuli can be predicted with considerable accuracy. He, henceforth, can be totally socially engineered to act as a puppet. In short, he can be 'mapped'. This is no science fiction or fantasy.

Till the present information age, neither the data, nor the expertise had been available in adequate scale to make such a social engineering really feasible. Today, the data is there. The technique is partially there - and it is only a matter of time until the full expertise spectrum gets developed.

This staggering information - constituting the footprint of individuals - is currently getting accumulated everyday, every hour, every second. As for the techniques, sophisticated data mining techniques are already in place. Identification of characteristics and patterns are happening everywhere - currently, for example, in targeting advertisements, assessing reliability or credit ratings, etc. From the social engineering perspective, the only things probably not yet fully matured are the exact techniques of leveraging this mined information towards social manipulations. But it remains only a mater of time until these become a reality.

A class divide - one of the most foul, but one which also had perhaps always existed in this world, yet never in such staggering proportions - is shaping up. The divide between the ones who have access to this information (with the capacity to use them), and the ones who do not. 'Knowledge is power' will assert itself in the coldest and truest way possible.

Going by present trends, this data availability will get concentrated on a handful of individuals. The likes of Google, (or Facebook?) for instance. If the corporates decide to pool and mine this information, and can come up with the expertise to leverage this towards social engineering, can one imagine the staggering power over human beings they would yield? People would be puppets without even being aware of the same!

Brave new world?

Self depreciative comments on news articles...!?

I was reading the comments at a new article posted on one of our leading sites. As always, the comments depressed me, somehow enough to trigger this article musing on the cause of this discomfiture.

What would you expect in the discussion following a news article of political relevance? Well articulated relevant facts, opinions, discussions and debates? But here are snippets of the flavour you get, consisting an overwhelming majority of the comments:
"feku, tu mard nahi hai" (at a fellow commenter), "Terrorist by heart..." (at a Lok Sabha contestant), "Muslims are taught to lie and cheat", "bloody traitors, her ancestors are congressi dogs"... and the list goes on.

This is not an one-off incident. Most comments (unmoderated ones, I guess) on news articles from many popular Indian houses show the same trend.

What is wrong here? The very fact that a person is able to log in using a connected device and post comments on a news article assures a minimum level of education. Why, then, this kind of self depreciative displays?

Venting of anger? But this is not a vocal exchange - and the time taken to type and publish a comment skims off the edge of possible instantaneous temper flares. Venting of frustrations? What frustration - against whom, and venting it where towards what effects? It does not really take an Einstein to comprehend that it is only the self, the commenter himself, who stands debased through such renditions!

Edit: I just realised that this is a post I'm doing a gap of more than 16 months! Long time!

18th Kolkata International Film Festival

The 18th Kolkata International Film Festival (10-17 Nov, 2012) has, as of today - after 6 running days and 11 watched films, already proved a success to me. Let me jot down briefly my experiences so far - before the memories turn stale.

1. Pogodak u glavu (Headshot) [Dir:  Pen-Ek Ratanaruang; Country: Thailand/France; Lang: Thai]:
This was a good experience - one of those which numbs your thoughts so that at the end of the movie, you have to force yourself with all your will to clap, and which leaves you walking like a zombie as you come out of the hall. I myself was haunted for quiet 20-30 minutes - and I was thankful that the next movie on my schedule had about 2 hours gap. The movie walks us through the mind of a cop turning into something like a hitman to do justice for cases where law fails owing to its stringent procedures, and finally turning a Buddhist monk towards salvation. After a headshot in such a hitman endeavour, which he survives with difficulty, the protagonist sees everything with his eyes upside down. This is a dark theme - but the movie is not fully dark in that sense - it is treated quiet gracefully and accommodating some beautiful sequences.

2. Tot Altijd (Time of My Life) [Dir: Nic Balthazar; Country: Belgium; Lang: Dutch]:
This, I should say, was a mediocre experience as per my Film Festival Expectations. This was a real life story about a man who legalised euthanasia in Belgium, himself fighting his own battle for the cause. Of course the film was good, but somehow it did not appear that 'fresh' - which it should have been given the number of films already made on the issue. My experience of 'Mar Adrento' obviously came in comparison, thereby rating this one down. Oh - I must mention that the opening 10-15 minutes of the film were absolutely great - rendering an utopia of youth in a group of friends.

3. Nocni Brodovi (Night Boats) [Dir: Igor Mirkovic; Country: Croatia; Lang: Croatian]:
This was a more pleasant experience. The storyline involved two elderly people, staying in elderly homes, re-discovering love, and then re-living their youthful spirits through an adventure of running away together from the the home and reliving their absolutely juvenile and carefree instincts. This was a nice happy film.

4. Melancholia [Dir: Lars Von Trier; Country: Denmark; Lang: English]:
I loved the experience of this one. The film had an opening musical 'prelude' of about 10 minutes, showing videos (with a lot of special effects) primarily in slow motion with an excellent background score, which really enthralled me and the audience. The movie used a 'story' of a planet called 'Melancholia' on its course to crash with earth, and showing the events of a family as they become aware of the impending destruction. This is not a science/action movie - the focus is entirely on how the family members go through these days. The name of the movie has been very adeptly prevailed throughout the movie in its screenplay and characters. The experience of this film will be remembered for a long time.

5. Polvo (Dust) [Dir: Julio Hernandez Cordon; Country: Guatemala; Lang: ?]:
I have nothing to say for this except that the start was somewhat boring and slow, as a result of which I fell asleep, and as a result of which I don't really know what happened thereafter.

6. Narenji Poush (The Orange Suit) [Dir: Dariush Mehrjui; Country: Iran; Lang: Persian]:
This one I'd rate as the best experience so far. The theme/story is simple and light - environment awareness - social responsibility of not littering the environment with trash and disposing them as they should be, and a father-son relationship with a mother whose commitment to her career goes against to that to her family. But the way the story was developed provided an excellent experience - containing humour enough to send the audience laughing out loud multiple times, and sentiments enough to bring them to tears. This is one of the movies which you come out of feeling all good positive and happy about it.

7. B A Pass [Dir: Ajay Bahl; Country: India: Lang: Hindi]:
The director came before the audience and made a speech in which he mentioned that this film was a defiance against the Indian Censor Board. That indeed it was - by virtue of the plot which basically rests on a college youth's adulterous relation with a elder married woman, and his subsequent foray in being a male prostitute with the woman filling in for the pimp. The movie had ample sleazy scenes - though not full exposure. The plot and the scenes perhaps do justice to what the director said, but the movie fails totally to do any kind of justice at all to the audience. This one had nothing to make it eligible for any kind of film festival!

8. Gibier d'élevage (Shiiku, the Catch) [Dir: Rithy Panh; Country: Cambodia; Lang: Central Khmer]:
[To be updated...]

9. La mer à l'aube (Calm at Sea) [Dir: Volker Schlondorff; Country: Germany; Lang: German/French]:
[To be updated...]

10. Where the Road Meets the Sun [Dir: Yong Mun Chee; Country:Singapore ; Lang: English/Japanese/Spanish]:
This movie showed a set of people coping their own situations, connected together by the same lodging hotel they are staying at. There is a bit of guns and bloodshed towards the end, culminating from mental tension. Overall, a below expectation experience.


11. Wo 11 (Eleven Flowers) [Dir: Wangxiao Shuai, Country: China; Lang: Mandarin]:
This was a better experience. The protagonist is a 11 year old boy walking the audience through his experiences - involving his fight to get and keep a new shirt, his confrontation with a murderer, his dynamics with his friends all through these, etc. This had a strong direction and adept screenplay keeping the audience hooked in rapt attention even without too much complex plot or drama.

More films will be added as they get consumed....

Riverside Reverie

Some time back, in February to be exact, one day I had gone up to the Ganga river side, alone, and suddenly feeling somewhat literarily inclined and desiring to write something, had bought a small notebook and a pen on the way. The time was afternoon, approaching sunset, and choosing a less crowded spot, I had sat down, the little notebook and pen in hand. And indeed, after a little time, I started to write. Putting up here what followed:

I see the orange sun just above the skyline across the wide river. I see the tranquil river, flowing, with ripples on it caused by the gentle breeze.

I see people strolling about, mostly in pairs, hand in hand, with a sense of peace and serenity in their faces.

I see the birds, some flowing across the river, some near the water surface, some high up in the air.

I see the lazy smoke coming out of the chimneys, in a formless metamorphosing form, across on the other distant side of the river.

I see boats and launches, moving slowly and tranquilly over the river surface, leaving a faint trail of water ripples on their wake.

I see - I see everything occurring - occurring, it seems, with the soothing certainty of having been occurring ever since eternity, and which will continue likewise everyday, at the same times in the same ways, forever - till eternity.

I now see a young woman, alone, strolling lazily a few yards in front of me, alongside the railing of the park against the riverbank, looking out into the river, talking on her mobile held by her hand pressed against her ear.

She is then done with her mobile and talking, and stands along the waterside railing, which comes up to her slender waist, leaning on it facing the vast stretch of the river, her arms folded casually across her chest. She stands there, in a graceful relaxed poise, almost still, only her head swaying sidewise now and then, spanning the vast stretch of the river in front of her. Some undefinable feeling holds me to her spectacle.

I see her taking one of her feet off the slippers, and rub the bare foot lazily on to her other foot. A gentle breeze blows in and touches her hairs lightly.

Her figure forms a dark silhouette against the dusky background of the silvery grey river surface and the greyish white sky. I see her - standing there - oblivious - or perhaps lost in her own reverie?

Suddenly, she takes her mobile to her ear, turns around, and talking in the phone with a smile on her lips, starts walking, and is gone. Has her partner, her friend, arrived?

Will she ever know that I have stolen about ten minutes of her life, made them my very own, capturing them, forever, in the form of words?

A few minutes go by. The place remains empty, incomplete. And I then see a young strolling couple come and unassumingly take the place where she was standing. Natural entropy working in its own ways to fill vacuums.

Suddenly, I notice that the other side of the river is dotted with little bright orange spots. With the falling dusk, the shore lights have been turned on. In the distance, I can see the stretch of the mighty Second Hoogli Bridge. The bridge's span, too, is now dotted with similar equidistant bright orange spots.

The full structure of the bridge is still visible as a hazy outline. I stare at it. What a mighty and imposing structure it looks! Making a statement of its own. Asserting its existence night and day, loud and clear. I try to imagine the haughty pride and delight of the architect who had earned the privilege of pointing to that high and mighty structure and saying to his friend - "I built that"!

The light is growing darker. It is difficult to see and write any more. And suddenly, from somewhere (or nowhere) mosquitoes have also started asserting themselves. I wonder - where were they all these time? Having their lazy slumber perhaps? Siesta?

Well, can no more comfortably go on writing here. So I'll stop now.

Re-Living the Past?

I have learnt - learnt in the truest way possible - by personal experience and feelings - a very important lesson.

One can never 'go back' in life expecting to re-live the past, hoping to experience the same again. Because the past does not exist any more. It is as simply practical as that. If one ever returns to the same places, things, people - the very same artefacts would provide for a new and different experience. The past has already gone - and only new experiences and things await you in every forthcoming second of your life. The path of life is a strictly one-way road. One has to always remain in open embrace for the new, the inexperienced.

The only place where the past still exists nearest to its original form is in your mind. So any time you want a stroll backwards in the journey of life, just let your imagination wander - maybe with a few external material stimulants in the form of mementos, photographs, writings, etc.. Only this will take you nearest to what you seek.

Follies in this perspective while setting expectations will only leave one with unbalanced equations..

With every new step, it will always be a new unknown experience. The step is always a step forward, and never the opposite. (And thank God for that!!) One has to always stay open, uninhabited and ready to make the best of whatever awaits round the next corner in the journey of life.

The journey of life is the flowing waters of a river. There is never any retracing of steps. Every additional yard always brings forth a new place - hitherto unseen and untraversed. There may be 'similarities' - but it is never the same. And what has been flown past can never be revisited - they are gone - for ever.

The course can be long or short, ferocious or mild. It will be adorned by variations and wonders all along. But at the end, akin to the unalterable certainty of the beginning, the infallible certainty of emptying into the sea - the death - awaits all.

Assortment of Quotations

Some quotations I had landed upon or collected:

The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened. - Orkut 'Today's fortune'.

Never let your sense of morality stop you from doing what is right. - Orkut 'Today's fortune'.

... with everything that happens to you, with every pperson you meet who is important to you, you either die a little bit or are born. - 'The River' (film by Jean Renoir).

The tears we shed in our sleep are the only genuine tears we shed in our lives. The waking tears are self pity. - From 'The Golden Notebook', by Doris Lessing.

"My dear Anna, your attitude to art is so aristocratic that you write, when you do, for yourself only."

"And so do all the others, " I heard myself muttering.

"What others?"

"The others, all over the world, who are writing away in secret books, because they are afraid of what they are thinking."

- From 'The Golden Notebook', by Dorris Lessing.

... words are like the wind that blows ripples on the water's surface. The river itself blows beneath, unseen and unheard. - From 'The Hungry Tide', by Amitava Ghosh. (Interpretation: Words one manages to utter only touch the surface of the deepest expressions, the true meaning and feeling lies underneath.)

... the whole world is asleep - everybody you know, everybody you see, everybody you talk to - ... only a few people are awake and they live in a state of constant total amazement. - 'Joe Vs The Volcano' (film).

I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. - DH Lawrence (discovered from the movie 'The Debaters').

For whatsoever from one place doth fall,

Is with the tide unto another brought:

For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.

- Edmund Spencer (discovered from the movie 'Sense and Sensibility').

What is wisdom, but metamorphosised fear?

Living in a perpetual state of false hope is better than living with no hopes at all. Because, at least,all through the time while the hope lasted, you would have truly lived.