Life's Strange Ways...!!!

   In the Season 2,Episode 1 of the TV series, 'The Brokenwood Mysteries'(2014), Detective Inspector Mike Shepard (the main character) asks Jared Morehu (Shepherd's Māori neighbour) , " I mean to ask, what does Quantum Physics have to do with gardening? ".  Jared: " Well everything.... Quantum Physics is the theory that logically leads to the conclusion that everything is inter-related and that, what we see with our eyes is only a shallow outer form of a much deeper reality ".  Mike: " What we see is ...".  Jared: " What we see is, what we think we see. But, what's really there is most likely something, we haven't even seen yet " That line made me think deeper, not because it’s about quantum physics, but because it’s about us and how shaky our view of reality, really is. It reminds us that perception is not truth; it’s a lens, a filter, a story we tell ourselves about the world. We move through days convinced we know what’s h...

In the 2025 TV series 'Paradise' (Season 2, Episode 3), there’s a conversation between Dr. Louge and Samantha Redmond aka. Sinatra, the tech billionaire, about the imminent apocalypse on earth, that feels less like fiction and more like prophecy. Sinatra, insists that she can shield her family from the apocalypse: “ I have the motive and the resources to do whatever it takes. ”   Dr. Louge listens, almost amused. He replies: “ Billionaires are amazing. You think your money gives you superpowers. You don’t like traffic, you buy a helicopter. You don’t like strangers, you buy an island. There’s only one thing that can fix this. And it’s the one thing even you can’t buy. ” Sinatra asks, “ And what’s that? ”   Dr. Louge replies, “ Time .”   Time,  the simplest word, the hardest truth. Because isn’t that the paradox of our age? We live in a world where money bends reality—shrinks distances, builds fortresses, buys convenience. Yet, when it comes to the most...

The other day, I stumbled upon an Instagram reel that transported me back to the late 90s. It was a clip from 'Movers and Shakers', the late-night talk show hosted by Shekhar Suman that aired on Sony TV between 1997 and 2001. For those who remember, it was one of those shows that carried both wit and warmth, a cultural marker of its time.   This particular reel featured actor Ashutosh Rana, narrating his early struggles in the world of cinema. He recalled a piece of advice someone had given him:   " Ek cheez dhyaan rakhna. Kaam… kaam hota hai. Kaam chota, bada nahin hota. Aur avasar hamesha chote hote hai. Aur parinaam uske vilakshan hote hai. Vilakshan parinaam ke liye, tum bade avasar ki talaash mat karna. Ishwar ka sanket chota hee hota hai, kyuki wo bahut bada hai ."  Translated, it means: “Keep one thing in mind. Work is work. No job is small or big. Opportunities are always small, but their results are extraordinary. For extraordinary results, don’t go sea...

 In Season 3, Episode 5 of the web series  'Tehran',  Eric Peterson, the nuclear scientist, sits in the safehouse, freshly freed from captivity, yet burdened by a deeper captivity of thought. He tells Tamar: “I feel like leaving Iran, with unfinished business. We don’t really control the course of our lives…do we? How can a person escape from what is written? How can he flee his destiny ?”. The words are borrowed from Ferdowsi’s 'Shahnameh', where kings and warriors wrestled with the same truth: “ How shall a man escape from that which is written? How shall he flee from his destiny ?”. What fascinates me is how a modern spy thriller pauses to let an ancient Persian truth seep through its narrative. The rebels, the Mossad agents, the scientist — all pawns in a larger game. Yet beneath the geopolitics lies the same question that haunted kings and warriors a thousand years ago: " is fate a script, we merely perform? "  Fate, in Ferdowsi’s telling, is not a chain ...

 In Season 3, Episode 2 of the web series "Tehran(2020)", Mossad agent Nissan(nicknamed 'Owl') kidnaps Tamar, the lead character and fellow Mossad agent and wants to know what all she knows. When Tamar refuses to reveal what she knows to him, insisting she will only speak to Yulia, the head of Mossad, Nissan recalls a line from his father:  “ There will always be work for those who know how to fix things. ” That line triggered a chain of thoughts about employability in today’s world. It’s one of those deceptively simple truths, that suddenly feels relevant to everything happening around us. Today, the job market is more uncertain than ever for so many reasons—Automation and AI replacing roles we thought were secure, people struggling to keep up with the skills the jobs demand and the traditional idea of a stable career feeling more fragile than ever.  In such a scenario, the question isn’t just about 'how to get a job', but 'how to remain employable at any...

  In the movie 'Breathless(1983)', there’s a raw, unfiltered exchange between the lead characters Monica Poiccard(Valérie Kaprisky) and Jesse Lujack(Richard Gere), when they're getting ready to leave for Mexico. Monica  searching for certainty,  asks Jesse, about their future in Mexico. Jesse, restless and defiant, snaps back:  “ What do you keep asking me these questions for? About the future, which I don’t know, you don’t know! Nobody knows it! So f#$% it, roll the dice! ”  On the surface, it sounds reckless!!!  But Jesse isn’t entirely careless. He knows he needs money. He takes action — even if through questionable means. What stands out is not irresponsibility, but his refusal to be paralyzed by uncertainty.  He doesn’t wait for guarantees before living. And that made me think, how often do we do the opposite? Jesse’s words cut through the illusion of future. The future is unknowable, no matter how much we plan or predict. His response is reckles...

  In the movie 'Superman (2025)' there’s a scene that quietly reframes the role of parents. Superman, devastated by the revelation that his Kryptonian parents sent him to Earth, not to save but to rule; sits at his adoptive parents’ house in despair. “I am not who I thought I was! They sent me here to hurt people,” he says.   His adoptive father responds with words that cut through generations of parenting philosophies:  “ Parents aren’t for telling their children who they’re supposed to be. We’re here to give you all tools, help you make fools of yourselves all on your own. Your choices, your actions, that’s what makes you who you are .” This perspective casts parents as facilitators—providers of tools, values and resilience, rather than sculptors of destiny. Children are given space to stumble, to experiment, to define themselves through choices. Mistakes aren’t failures; they’re part of the becoming. Superman’s adoptive father embodies this model. He doesn’t dicta...

 In the movie Superman (2025), there’s a quiet scene that speaks louder than any battle. Superman, shaken to his core, discovers that his Kryptonian parents didn’t send him to Earth to be a savior, but to rule. Sitting in quiet despair at his adoptive human parents’ home, he confesses: “I am not who I thought I was! They sent me here to hurt people.” His adoptive father’s response is simple, yet profound:   “Parents aren’t for telling their children who they’re supposed to be. We’re here to give you all tools, help you make fools of yourselves all on your own. Your choices, your actions, that’s what makes you who you are .” We all carry stories of where we come from—family histories, cultural expectations, inherited dreams. Sometimes, like Superman, those origins feel heavy, even suffocating. They whisper definitions of who we’re “supposed” to be. But identity isn’t a hand-me-down garment; it’s something we stitch together with our own hands.  What Superman’s fa...

  There’s a scene in *Revolutionary Road* (2008) that has forced me to reflect upon our life choices. The lead characters  Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (Kate Winslet)  announce their plan to move to Paris, when  John (Michael Shannon) and his parents visit them at their home. Afterwards when,   Frank, April and John  are walking in the woods, in the midst of casual conversation, John asks them, what they’re running from and what's in Paris?. April answers, “A different way of life.” Frank, after a pause, admits: “Maybe we’re running. We’re running from the hopeless emptiness of the whole life here. ”  When we reflect on this, Frank’s words are not just about them—it’s about us too. Many of us know what that hopeless emptiness feels like. The routine of a job we don’t enjoy, dreams that never take off, relationships that lose their spark. Life starts to feel like something we just go through, not something we live.  April’s failed acting ca...

 There’s a scene in the movie "Song Sung Blue" (2025) that seemed like deja-vu. The lead character, Mike Sardina, after sitting through an alcoholics therapy group, joins the circle as they recite the following words that feel almost too familiar:   " God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. " I’ve heard this prayer before, but in that moment it didn’t sound like a ritual.  It sounded like a truth earned the hard way. When we’re young, we don’t think much about serenity or wisdom. We’re restless, eager to conquer, convinced that every wall can be broken if we just push harder. Courage is the only virtue we recognize and we wear it like an armour.  But life has a way of softening that armor. Defeats arrive, sometimes quietly, sometimes with a force that leaves us shaken. Dreams bend, ambitions stall and the world reminds us that it isn’t ours to command. Slowly, a...

 In "Landman" series season 2, episode 7, there’s a scene where Tommy takes his father TL for lunch reluctantly, since he's in a hurry to attend to some issue at his oil company. When TL is eating slowly enjoying the food, Tommy urges T.L., to eat faster. T.L. looks at him and replies:  “What’s your hurry, son? All those problems you’re racing home to fix is problems, when you get there. And once you solve them, there’s a whole new set right behind them. You got to enjoy the moments between the problems. Otherwise… problems is all you’ll have. ”  Isn’t this exactly how most of us live today? Always rushing—racing from one task to the next, one deadline to another, one ambition after the other. We convince ourselves that once we solve this problem, life will finally settle down. But the truth is, problems never stop lining up. They just change shape and colour. And in that endless race, we forget the small pauses—the laughter over dinner, the slow walk at sunset, the joy o...

 One of old post from wordpress ... Dec 2017.... ******************************************** With Diwali gone by and Christmas coming soon, this is the season of Love and Sharing 🙂 Recently, I was witness to the spirit of giving in action. It so happened, I was returning from my hometown to my workplace in a train. There was this young boy(maybe aged 15-17 yrs) who was seated in my opposite seat(lets call him X). I didn’t observe the boy much till the time, the train reached (maybe) Tumkur station. Here one boy(lets call him Y) and his father got into the train and they sat next to this boy. The two boys were having some usual conversation for sometime. At one point the boy Y, asked boy X what was pinned to his bag?  There was a smiley sticker pinned to boy X’s bag. Boy X said its a smiley and he had many of them and after giving some of them one was left with him 🙂 . At this point boy Y, asked if he can get that smiley? Boy X, immediately took the smiley from his bag and g...

  The other day, I was watching Season 2 of the series "Landman". In this series, T.L. (father of the lead character Tommy Norris) has spent decades grieving the loss of his wife, the mother Tommy was never fond of. After the death of their daughter, her soul broke and she slipped into alcoholism and abuse. That tragedy scarred both Tommy and T.L. alike. In its aftermath, T.L. stopped living in the present. He clung to the past, surviving on memories of the “joyful woman” he once married, instead of creating new ones by setting his life straight. Because of this, Tommy and T.L. grew estranged for decades, only reuniting after the death of Tommy’s mother.   In Episode 6, there’s a moment that struck me. Tommy is driving with T.L. and mentions that he needs to decide about re‑marrying his ex‑wife, Angela, who has returned to his life after their divorce. At this point, T.L. tells him:  “ Your making‑memory days is about behind you, son. And trust me, living off of...