Weekend musings - 01

A harmless list from my end on what to watch, read, and listen to.

Death is my bae for 2021. 

Two months ago Wired published the story of “Nameless Hiker” who went by the name “Mostly Harmless.” No one knew who he was, where he came from, no phone, no credit card, and no pictures of loved ones. Only to be found dead in a yellow tent by complete strangers. Basically, in his last moments, there was no one with him. Wired started a manhunt to find who this man was since someone needs to miss him.

I asked myself who will miss me while I am gone. I guess by and large when people die no matter who he was only the very few miss him or her. However, when the English professor Richard Brown played by the talented Johnny Depp is told that he is in an advanced stage of cancer he decides to go on a sabbatical. He decides no medication and not to be a burden upon his wife and daughter in his final months of life as his cancer rapidly progresses.

But before he begins telling his students about the urgency of living life to its fullest. And in his final speech, he stresses the importance of seizing one's own existence. “To truly acknowledge the fact that we are all going to die and appreciate the (little) time we each have left.”

“In each and every moment we're composing stories of our lives, let's aim to make it a meaningful read... or at least an interesting one.”

The movie is on Amazon Prime.

Demolition, the 2015 American comedy-drama is also on the same lines. Davis played by another supremely talented Jake Gyllenhaal has just lost his wife in a road accident. Sitting in the hospital, he wants to use the vending machine but the machine fails to work.

And this starts a journey of venting out his personal frustrations to the customer representative of the company. In doing so he realises how he has missed out on things in life and basically being happy. He even discovers he didn’t love his wife and this begins the madness or the joy in demolishing things that serve no purpose in his life.

Eventually, he finds meaning in his life. The movie is on Amazon Prime.

If there is life then there is love. I tend to avoid love stories but Sir the romantic drama directed by Rohena Gera is not your typical Bollywood love story. The ravishing and talented Tillotama Shome aka Ratna plays the role of live-in maid employed by Ashwin and his girlfriend.

Circumstances bring both of them together under one roof and that begins a journey. A journey where Ashwin wants Ratna to be her love of life and she thinks that she will become a joke in front of society.

The story is simple but if you watch the movie closely it is in small chapters that will make you feel the pain. For instance, when Ratna is coming from her village she wears bangles and while she returning she removes them. She is a widow.

Or when she is called by Ashwin’s mother to make fish curry for a party. Ashwin fights with Ratna on why she is eating in the kitchen with other house helps. The reply from Ratna is hard-hitting but that is the truth.

We will talk about equality on social media and tell how we provide tea to the world but in a separate glass that is not to be touched by other family members. We also have different lifts for maids, drivers, and all those who help us. Because they don’t fit with us in real life.

The movie is worth watching. It is on Netflix and I watched it with my Malkin. She loved it. 

And if you want to watch a web-series then my current favoruite is another one from Amazon Prime - The Forgotten Army. It is a mini series made with a lot of love, great execution, and a bunch of talented people. It is a pity that such shows don’t get the media attention and hence they have to be discovered. 

So far I had avoided the show because I knew it was not a joyful watch. I grew up listening to the stories of Netaji and celebrating the glory of the true Indian freedom fighter. But like Netaji even his army was never treated with respect and even after independence they were looked upon as traitors.

The series talks about the injustice, how the army was formed, how it ended up being a forgotten army, and a painful love story. Sunny Kaushal is a hidden gem and so is Sharvari Wagh.

By the way, the “Mostly Harmless Hiker” has been identified. Wired has figured out why was he running from life. The sad part is that no one is missing him. Obviously, it has to do with how he was as a person. 

"I'll give you a reason not to like me,” the hiker had written on Slack before vanishing into the woods.

Nicholas Thompson, Editor in chief at Wired who has been covering this story from day one ends his piece with this thought:

Yet it’s hard not to look at this story with anything but sadness. The boy who raised his hand to get help from a passing truck—and whose body still bore the scar of that Louisiana field—had grown into the man who didn’t seek help as he died in a Florida swamp. A man was able to disappear in no small part because no one was looking for him. A man was harmed and may be harmful. And then he went into the woods and became Mostly Harmless.

I hope that is enough for the weekend to watch and read. I don’t know if you would connect to the stories that I have shared. If you do so then you can write to me. Just reply to this email. Also if you are reading something that is interesting or watching or listening then happy to look at it too.

I wish you have a good weekend and spend time with your loved ones. Don’t take them for granted.

And here is a beautiful song from Jagjit Singh. This is my father’s favourite. He loved Jagjit.