“Sometimes you think we’re in the normal world and then something happens and you realize we’re not,” says Paul Safranek.
The dialogue is from the movie Downsizing played by Matt Damon the guy who decides to downsize with his wife to start a new and better life. Only to find out later that his wife has decided to pull out. Moreso he later finds out that downsizing gave him material pleasures but transformed him into a unhappy man. He no more knows who he was.
And then enters Ngoc Lan Tran, a Vietnamese political activist who was jailed and downsized against her will. Played by the cute Hong Chau, helps Paul to realise who he was. As the movie proceeds, Paul and Ngoc realise that the downsized world is also going to get extinct. But there is an exit so that the humans can be saved and Paul is excited to try it. However, Ngoc decides not to join him and has an interesting conversation with him.
Ngoc Lan Tran: Other night on the boat, what kind of fuck you give me?
Paul Safranek: What?
Ngoc Lan Tran: What kind of fuck you give me?
Paul Safranek: What kind? I, I don’t…
Ngoc Lan Tran: American people, eight kinds of fuck. Love fuck, hate fuck, sex-only fuck, break-up fuck, make-up fuck, drunk fuck, buddy fuck, pity fuck.
Paul Safranek: Okay, I have no idea where you heard that, but…
Ngoc Lan Tran: Third host family.
Paul Safranek: Okay, that is just wrong. There’s a whole spectrum of emotions and motivations. And don’t say fuck. It’s vulgar. Say something else. Like, you know, make love, or something. I don’t know.
Ngoc Lan Tran: So, was love fuck?
Paul Safranek: Okay, what is this all about?
Ngoc Lan Tran: You look for me, you want help me, you make fuck with me. Now you go down a stupid hole. So I try to think what kind of fuck you give me. I think maybe pity fuck. For leg.
Paul Safranek: No. No. Ngoc Lan, I care about you, deeply. You are such an extraordinary person, and I just admire you so much. More than anything.
Trust me this was the most awkward but the loveliest romantic scene I have witnessed recently.
The movie ends with Paul assisting Ngoc in her duties of providing needed aid and supplies to the people of the slums.
Paul gets his answer to his question: Who am I? I am Paul Safranek and I love helping people.
“Why did I downsize? So that I could be here right now. I finally have a chance to do something that matters.”
(The movie is available on Netflix. I gave it a shot for one of my favourite actor Matt but I loved it because of Hong)
In the Malayalam movie Manoharam, the protagonist Manoharan played by the brilliant actor and multi-talented Vineeth Sreenivasan tells his struggle as an artist to find himself in the digital world. The movie is also about his failed startup, being labeled as the egoistic man, and his inability to confess his love. The movie has all human emotions and in the end, will leave you moist. It is also a story of finding himself or Who am I. The ending of the movie is cute (It is available on Prime with subtitles.)
Who am I?
If you had asked me three or four years ago. I would have been the most excited person and kept on going for hours. Today I might slightly get excited but overall I will ignore it.
I might come across as a person who is serious, arrogant, rude, self-centered, and overall an asshole but there are slight variations to it. All of the above is true. But I am also a fun-loving guy, who can talk for hours with like-minded people and I have a very dry sense of humor.
At the start of 2020, I had this vision that from now on till the time I am alive I will thrive for a fit mind and body. One of the things I also decided that I will be genuinely nice to people and control my anger. But off late I have realised that the moment you are nice and keep doing things without answering then people start taking you for granted.
I have witnessed this in my startup days. The majority of people disliked me because I wasn’t sweet and accepting the way industry worked. Giving awards for money or doing stupid PR stories or praising the marketers and I had too many rules. The moment you speak up or don’t play the regular cards then people start calling you rude, arrogant, and zero business sense.
I don’t have the skills to run a business. Idealism and profit-making especially in a publication can’t go hand in hand.
Today also hardly people like me or my big mouth. But do I care? No, it isn’t arrogance. There are consequences but I will be who I am rather than just dying a copy. I make an effort to be humane and I fail most of the times.
I know who I am and I have nothing to prove anyone. (Irony is that I am writing and saying here. But I can, it is my space :))
Who are you? Don’t have to tell me, just tell yourself.
Are you still with me? I am happy if you are. And I am completely fine if you are not. Now a quick summary of articles that I earlier wrote this week. You can read them if you haven’t.
Globally, the average inbox placement rate was 83% in 2019—meaning one out of every six messages failed to reach the inbox. “Global deliverability saw a slight decline of two percentage points from the 2018 average of 85%,” says the 2020 Email Deliverability Benchmark study done by Validity. In my article, I share my learnings from the study and what it means to get in the consumer’s inbox.
Read: 2020 email deliverability
How can I motivate people to donate more or how can people buy more products or services? There are two ways and I am a believer in the Content to Commerce play. In my article, I share my thoughts on how brands and nonprofit organizations are adopting the play.
Read: Content to commerce play
That’s all for now. Enjoy your weekend and take care of yourself and your loved ones.
Peace be with you ♥️