FromShelf

Magazines have a very interesting way of attracting our attention to the ‘headlines’ on the cover page. With loads of photos, interesting information given in short words and research information from across the world, it does a fantastic job of keeping the readers glued to it every month.

The book ‘Emotional Intelligence’ by Daniel Goleman, is interesting for the same reasons. Most of the chapters in the book begin with a ‘true story’ sort of anecdotes. We get glued, period. And hen there are loads of researches discussed in the book.

When any psychological technique is supported by a sentence like “ The research was carried out with 10,000 college students……….”, we immediately sort of trust that technique. And that is what the book is all about. It gives you the information about lots of different researches carried out by learned people and then talks about what we can learn from those researches. Simple aspects like hope, anger and positive attitude are discussed with the aid of researches. This makes the book very interesting to read and gives it a magazine like feel.

For simple insights regarding your behavior and behavior of people around you, this book is a good tool.

This movie disturbs you to the guts. The movie has brilliantly captured the helplessness, hallucinations, depression and the frustrations of the addicts. The best part of the movie is the portrayal of Sara Goldfarb. Sara is a lonely housewife who is an addict of the TV show and is obsessed with her dream of getting on the show. Later on, in an attempt to reduce weight she becomes addict to the pills. Eventually, she loses her sanity and ends up getting hospitalized.  

This is what makes the movie so disturbing. It is not just about the addiction of the pills but also about the addiction to the artificial lifestyle we are getting used to. Most of us watch TV, play video games, are glued to our comps and try to find pleasure in the virtual world. It seems we are losing our life here. The scene where Harry comes to meet his mother and finds out that she has become an addict to pills is quite devastating. That scene haunts you for days to come. Harry desperately feels a need to talk to his mom and help her out and Sara is desperately in need of a human being who will listen to her agonies. But because of lack of communication, they are not able to express their love and pain to each other. This is a scene where you desperately feel that they talk to each other, because deep down in your heart, you know (and you know it from your own life) that saying ‘I love you’, is the only solution for most of the pain and problems in life.  

I understand that this movie is about drugs and addiction. But more than that, this movie is also about relationships. Our world is becoming defined by machines. The obsession of chatting, checking e-mails every 5 minutes, creating a different world on the net and finding confidence in the faceless identity in the web world is as serious a problem as drug addiction. The unreal virtual world is killing our living world.  

This movie makes you to think about your life. More than your addictions it is about relationships. You get identified with the characters so much that you feel their helplessness. 

 If your idea of watching a movie is fun then do not watch this movie. However, if you want to see how a sane person can go insane and gets in the vicious cycle of habits, then this movie is for you.  

Good Will Hunting is one of those movies that make your life beautiful…where you feel blessed to know that simple characters can touch you deep and stay  with  you for a long time. You feel like watching them again and again and again.

I saw Matt Damon’s interview in ITAS. In that interview, when talking about “Good Will Hunting”, he said that he wrote some three hundred pages to come up with this script. Being in writing myself, I know how tough it is to come up with those numbers of pages, and especially when you are creating a story.

Damon and Ben Affleck wrote the screenplay and the movie is directed by Gustav Van Sant.  Movie won two Oscars, and both were extremely well deserved; Matt and Ben for screenplay writing and Robin Williams for supporting role. The nomination for the best movie was lost to Titanic.

It is awesome when you have movies that have just 4-5 characters, no guns, no revenge, no special effects, no action, just simple life; simple life with simple characters and simple problems.

Matt Damon plays Will who is lonely, orphan and lost. But he is not just that …he also is a mathematics genius. He works as a cleaner at the university and solves the math problems written on the board for the students to solve. Professor Lambeau discovers this and gets in touch with him. Meanwhile, Will gets into a fight and gets imprisoned. Professor takes the permission of the judge to get him out on probation on a condition of getting Will into counseling and improve his behavior. Will agrees with that but the attempt to get him to talk to the counselors fail. There remains only one option with Lambeau and that is to get a help from an old classmate Sean, who is a professor of psychology at the college.

Sean, played by Robin Williams, is one who believes in trust and patience rather than hurrying someone into a change. He takes the responsibility of helping Will out of his troubled life. This leads to a relationship with its ups and downs and a new life for Will.

Robin is a man with no hassles. Authentic and genuine to the core with no alternate intentions, he encourages Will to identify with the self rather than identifying himself with his genius mind. Will slowly starts opening and his emotionally muddled life gets an outlet. He gets into a relationship with a girl (played by Minnie driver) and this time rather than destroying it, he decides to save it. That’s how the movie ends. Or should I say a beautiful movie ends.

Every scene in Good Will Hunting has a special touch.  Scenes of finds hanging together, Lambeau’s restless attempts to get Will on a right track and the counseling sessions with Sean; all the scenes are shot with great care and simplicity. And that is the best thing about a movie, its simplicity. A scene where Sean and Will are sitting at the lake and Sean kind of bares the real Will, is worth watching. For the first time in his life Will listens without having any word to say. The truth hits him so hard that he simply remains silent. And watch a controlled and effortless way Robin has acted there. Simply awesome.

There are some movies that remain with you for weeks. And there are others, that do not have a time span. They just become part of you. Good Will Hunting is one of those movies.

 “Gentlemen, welcome to Fight Club”

And when it is Brad Pitt saying it, you better listen.

To call ‘Fight Club’ a sexy and a bold masterpiece would be like confining it to limits. It is much more than that. You have to be completely involved with the characters to enjoy this one. It is a pure cult classic.

Movie is about an insurance agent Jack (played brilliantly by Edward Norton) who is an insomniac and is leading a dead boring life.

His job, his business trips, the brands that he uses, in short the whole material possession that defines him and his mundane life becomes dead and boring.

 The movie is a narration by Jack. He narrates it without any complaints or any criticism. It is a simple narration with no emotions involved. And that actually help us to know how darned bored he is with his life.  The materialism of everything causes him to do something that can make him feel that he is alive. 

 He thinks he is the most miserable person on the earth. His doctor advises him to go to testicular cancer group if he wants to see what real pain means. And that’s how his addiction of going to the support group and finding a solace there, begins. To find some sort of excitement and to feel that he is ‘alive’, he visits the support groups of cancer, alcoholism, testicular cancers etc. Looking at sad depressed people in these groups, he thinks that he is happier compared to them.  However, he again starts feeling uncomfortable when he encounters a girl called Marla Singer who is faker like him. Now instead of getting peaceful sleep, he gets nightmares of Marla Singer. 

Jack wonders, “if you wake up at different time, in a different place , could you wake up as a different person.?” And this is where his life takes an interesting turn. He meets Tyler Durden on plane. Jack finds Tyler ( a soap maker by profession) very interesting. Tyler looks cocky, mean and selfish and ‘alive’.  

When Jack reaches home, he finds that his condo has been blown by an explosion. He finds himself calling Tyler durden and meets him in a bar. After some insightful talk, Tyler says that Jack can live with him on one condition.

Tyler: I want you to hit me as hard as you can

Jack:  What? Why?

Tyler; How much can you know about yourself if you have never been I fight. Just like that. Hit me..

Jack: Where?

Tyler : Surprise me

And Jack hits him on the ear. That’s where the movie really starts. They start hitting each other. The perfect background music gives rhythm to the fight. From this point on, the movie captures you completely.

Tyler’s home is a deserted building with nothing working around. It is dirty, shabby with everything malfunctioning and everything as ugly as it could be. Jack gets shelter and enjoys the ugly lifestyle they live, enjoys the conversations and the fights that they conduct.

Slowly and steadily, the number of fight club members increase. Rules are set, they are declared and the clubs form throughout the city. The movie takes a look at the raw, violent, primal male mind. Along with the underground development of the fight clubs, Tyler starts a group Mayhem whose task is to destroy the corporate world, the big brands, their office , shops and products.

Aim is to show them that they don’t own people and they do not define the world. The ‘soldiers’ are trained, selected and prepared for the nocturnal activities. They start a rampage of destruction, all involving the destruction of brands and their display shops, cars, antennas and everything that can lead to a luxury or show that this makes you feel wealthy. And all these activities are just watched and enjoyed by Jack. He does not participate actively.

Things start going wrong for Jack when his close friend Bob dies in one of the police shootouts when they were trying to explode a company. He asks for explanation and everyone says that they are not supposed to answer that as one of the rules set by Tyler was not to talk about fight club.

This upsets Jack and he starts looking for Tyler. He goes to every place, every hotel and every other city where he thinks he has visited with Tyler. But instead of getting any information about him, he just gets a mum response. How he finds Tyler finally and what happens between them is a juice of the movie.

Movie is an absolute brilliant look at the male mind, its rawness, the inclination for wild behavior and the neuro-association with violence as pleasure. The graphics in the beginning show the nervous system. And when you watch the whole movie, you realize how appropriate they are to this movie. The fights shown are deliberate. They are fights for the sake of fight, no personal rivalry, no relationship with the other, a fight taken just to let out the frustration and anger, a fight to make you primal and alive, a fight to bring you out of the social hypnotism and remind you that you are still an animal and only that can give you satisfaction.  It is taken as a need of the body to feel alive.

The external things become dead. As Tyler declares, “They make you feel dead. The things that you own end up owning you.” So fight to know what you are.

Brad Pitt is a pure visual treat. And more so as his looks are raw. Watch him declaring the rules to the group of men and flashing ‘attitude’. Edward Norton has done a fantastic job. His body language is brilliant and his facial expressions are just amazing. Marla Singer, is one other interesting character played by Helena Carter.

It’s better if you see this one on DVD or laptop, with no commercial breaks. The movie handles a subject of surrealism with great finesse. Surrealism has a profound sense and David Fincher has been successful in handling the subject with great expertise. This is a man who knows how to treat the scripts that dive in your mind and question the set beliefs. The movie is nothing but a picture of how a mind wants to be wild and primal. What can one do if one is taken out of the social mannerism and social set ups? Watch this one if you want to know what a great script and a great director can do to a complicated subject like surrealism. A pure art it is.

Day seven was supposed to be juices and brown rice day. Well, the surprising thing is, by the time you reach here your desire for food decreases a lot.

So on day seven, I had 1 bowl of rice with some cucumber and curd. I had 10-12 glasses of water. By this time I had reduced 2 and half kg of weight. It was an amazing feeling. The whole outlook changes and you start feeling a little confident about yourself.

The best thing that this diet gives is an opportunity to experience a world without sugar and salt. And if you are strong enough to stick to it, you will realize that it is easy to survive without salt and sugar.  My intake of tea and salt cut down to half the quantity than what I used to have earlier.

To experience the wonderful feeling of lightness, this is an amazing food program. Highly recommended!!

I reached the 6^th day with…

 this diet. “Great work!” I told myself. I checked my weight and had lost half a kg. I was looking fresh and was feeling very happy.

I had half a cup of tea in the morning. It was again…

 sprouts and vegetables with no restrictions on the amount. That was fantastic right? But I think the real magic starts here. You don’t feel like eating anything. You don’t crave sweets or salt. I don’t know the reason behind it. I survived on three small bowls of sprouts today. The water intake increased to 10 glasses and I was not feeling hungry at all. My mom had a party and she had prepared a desert and two spiciest dishes that I love eating. But the amazing thing was I did not miss eating it. In fact when my mom asked me to taste it, I refused without any hesitation.

The whole experience of diet….

 had a wonderful effect on my eating habits. I think what happens is that your association with food does not remain emotional anymore. You stop eating to fill your emptiness or to fill your emotional needs. This pattern break helps you a lot to increase your confidence and the light weight helps you in gaining a positive attitude towards your life. This is an amazing diet that I encountered and I am damn sure to finish off the seventh day successfullyJ.

So the day 6 finished with…

 3 small bowls of sprouts and more than 10 glasses of water, that too happily with no feeling of missing anything.

Fifth day  was the feast day. But it turned out to be … 

a no-feast day for me. Beef and 6 six tomatoes were allowed to eat. I am a non-vegetarian, but I have never had beef. So I decided to replace it with sprouts. I checked my weight and there was no additional reduction.

As I said, I cannot eat raw tomatoes at all. In spite of that,…. 

 I had a raw tomato early in the morning.  This was after I had my usual cup of tea. I also boiled some sprouts with a little bit of salt added to it. By 10 am I felt hungry and had another tomato. This time I could not bear eating it. I added a pinch of spice to it and gulped it down. It was such a bad experience that I decided not to have more tomatoes.

In the whole day… 

 I had just 2 tomatoes and 2 bowls of sprouts. I also had some 9 glasses of water.

I realized that it is a good idea to fill… 

 a water bottle and keep it with you rather than waiting to feel thirsty and then have water. The rule with water is to finish that amount prescribed whether you feel thirsty or not. Many of us have a habit of turning to cold drinks when actually what our body needs is water. This habit can be broken by keeping a water bottle with you. And that’s what I did. According to the amount of water that I had to finish in a day, I had to fill the bottle three times and drink it off. This helped me a lot for cleansing my system and also feeling filled the whole day.

So my day ended with very less … 

amount of intake of solid food. Next day was also a feast day, the only addition was vegetables. I was waiting eagerly to see if I lose any more weight

This was the toughest day till now. I thought ….

its going to be easy but I was wrong. I mean I could not imagine that the banana day will be tough. I love bananas and milk. And I thought I will have all the eight bananas that were allowed. I was in for surprise. I was not able to go beyond 4 and half.

I checked the weight ..

early morning. I had lost half a kg that day. So from the first day till the fourth, I had reduced 2 kgs. It was amazing news.

I had two glass of water…

 in the morning. This made me feel full. I had half a cup of tea. By 10 am I felt hungry. I had a banana. After one hour I had a cup of milk with no sugar added to it.

Fourth day proved to be the toughest…

 because I did not have any option for salt. On fruits and vegetables day, I added a pinch of salt to whatever I ate and had it. But I could not add salt to the banana. It would have tasted yuck. So, complete absence of salt from the diet made me feel little weak. And also there was no option for adding spices. The salty taste that comes from spices was also missing badly.

By the end of the day…

 I had 9 glasses of water, 1 cup tea, 4 and a half banana and two cups of milk. I felt little weak by the night. I was not able to concentrate on my work. I realized that I should have had two more cups of milk to feel strong. But I was a little bored with milk as I did not add any sugar to it. So the day ended well. I slept little early and dreaded the next day as it was all about raw tomatoes and beef. I hoped for the best. Survival of fourth day motivated me very strongly to stick to the diet for the whole of seven days.

I thought third day was going to be wonderful. The GM diet… 

instructions said you can have “A mixture of fruits and vegetables of your choice. Any amount, any quantity.” I was thinking of stuffing myself with loads of it. However, I did not realize that past can have a bad influence on my mind.  

I checked my weight in the morning. I had lost half a kg. This motivated me….. 

to great extent. I was feeling light and energetic. And moreover, telling my brother that I was still going strong with the diet was giving a huge boost to my ego. (whisper: That’s why I said in the beginning. Declare it to the world. It helps)

So day 3 started with a positive note. But as I started …

to think about the stuff that I was going to eat, the positive attitude got a little shaky. I didn’t want to have apples or oranges. The memory of the first day was still lingering in my mind. No, I didn’t want to eat the boiled vegetables too. I had it just yesterday. I thought third day will be pretty easy but it was turning out to be a tough day. When I was given a choice of having both, the fruits and vegetables, I was all confused.  

 I was thinking of having some ….

other vegetables. But the idea did not work as I realized that Indian gourd was the only vegetable which can be gulped down when boiled. I mean I can’t think of spinach, cauliflower, lady finger or any other vegetable in a boiled state. And I was very firm on not eating oil at all.

So Finally…

I decided to have just the boiled Indian gourd. I had half an apple and I was done. In the evening I had a cucumber.  

Let me stress here that having 10 glasses of water ….

(If you sincerely stick to that quantity) does not leave any empty space in your stomach. You don’t feel hungry as such. So spending a day with just half an apple, two bowls of boiled vegetables and a cucumber is not that hard. This is my experience. I know that everyone’s body reacts differently to diets and this is mental more than a physical thing. Mind plays a vital part in any habit cultivated by body. Some people like tomatoes and others don’t. I have never had a raw tomato in my life. And the fifth day in the GM diet is all about raw tomatoes. In the whole of the seven days, I thought fifth day was the toughest. 

However, as I said it is all about …

mind. If you can shut your mind and be a little stubborn, you can survive. I survived the third day. And the idea of next day kept me alive. I love bananas. And I can have as many as 8 bananas. I was sure that I can make it through that day. Now that I got through the 3^rd day, my only challenge was going to be the fifth day. Raw tomatoes?!! That was going to be bad.

I was very excited that morning. I must have reduced at least 2 kgs, I thought. I got out of my bed, went to the weighing machine, stood on the top of it and like an eager child looked at the measurement scale. And what the hell did I see?! No more than 1 kg reduction! I was frustrated.

I mean just 1 kg?! How can that be? I did not eat anything, I mean, apart from fruits. That too I did not stuff myself with fruits. So what the hell went wrong? It was time to think. Because if this was the way it was going to work then I was not going to do it.

I went back to day one. Apart from the fruits that I mentioned I had, did I have anything else that might have mattered? No, I did not. And did I drink anything that I was not supposed to drink? Well..mmm… yes, I said that I had tea.

(Whisper: I had three cups of tea which is absolutely not allowed in this diet. The tea was made with sugar and milk added to it. )

So who was being unfair, me or the GM diet? Obviously, it was me. I not only had tea but also a dash of salt on orange. Salt has a tendency to retain water in the body. This leads to weight gain. I am not a nutritionist to know this but I have read it somewhere. So I decided to be fair that day.

The ‘s’ supplement (salt and sugar) had to be removed from my diet completely. I knew it was going to be very tough. I am aware of my needs. And tea is one of my needs. I need tea to survive. I decided to have tea but only ¼ of cup and add only a pinch of salt in the cooked vegetables. Why to torture myself when I had only few calories to get rid of? Moreover, I knew that I can stop the diet if starts killing me.

So after checking my weight, I pondered over the vegetables that I was going to have. I had my tea first. Then I had a small cucumber. It was a breakfast. I had it raw without salt or any dressing. Eating vegetables raw can tire you. In the afternoon, I had Indian gourd, boiled with a pinch of salt and pinch of red chilly powder.

By 4pm I started feeling little uncomfortable. Going to the kitchen was a torture. I took out a small cucumber again and had it. By the time I finished the cucumber I realized that it is not going to work. I again took out Indian gourd from refrigerator, chopped it, boiled it and had it. (Of course with salt and red chilly powder added to it). By this time my mind started arguing about the necessity of the diet. My mind was trying all its methods to dissuade me from carrying on. Right from playing the pictures of pizzas and fried vegetables in front of my eyes to making me remember the aromas of pickles. It took loads of efforts not to go to the kitchen and have the lunch that was cooked for others.

The second day was not as bad as I thought it would be. The vegetables can be eaten raw or cooked. And one tea spoon of oil is allowed. I decided not to use oil so I just boiled the vegetables and added some butter milk to it so that I can at least gulp it down the throat. Adding a pinch of salt and chilly powder made things very easy and added some taste to the boiled vegetables.

I had 8 glasses of water during the day and ended my day with one more cucumber. Cucumber is one of the zero calorie vegetables as our body burns more calories to digest and assimilate it than gain calories from eating it. I was planning to have only cucumbers on the second day but could not stay away from the Indian gourd for long. I wanted to continue the diet and not to feel weak. So I cancelled my plan and had two bowls of boiled vegetable during the whole day. It helped a lot.

Next day was going to be fruits and vegetables day. I was all excited! Second day and still going strong, with one kg less!! I was happy with my performanceJ