I

In spite of the variety in shape, size, habitat, etc, there are four things common to all living beings.
1. Food
2. Air
3. Water
4. Sexual Union

Any sane man will be able to validate the above statements. But, it would also be the same as saying that us, humans, are like the billions of creatures that inhibit this planet. But no sane man will say that the humans, who have infected the land all over the world like an epidemic, are just the same as the common snail.

It is said that GOD created the world in one go – you know, the Big Bang. He was pleased and proud of what he created. But the problem was how long one can hear oneself speak good of himself. Eventually, after a few million years, he got bored. That’s when he decided that “Enough is enough. I’ll give a special gift to one of my creations. “

And so he gave MANKIND the gift of KNOWLEDGE. And it’s with that, we built this world. And for each step we took – from taking the first step on moon to passing the last university exam, we thanked him in different forms – as Krishna, as Jesus, as Allah, etc. Though all of us say “Thank You” to different persons, basically, we are saying that to the same person.

But, right now, I’m not here to talk about religion. I’m here to try to find a few answers. Recently, a friend asked me about a good topic for an amateur blogger. Among the topics we discussed, the one which really interested me was “Why would you live for another day?” Or in simpler terms, “What makes you drag yourself to college every day?”

Think of all the reasons anyone would live for. Take my case. For the person I love, for the people who love me, for the dream that I have. These reasons are different for different persons. But they are all based on one common reality. It’s all about “I”.

‘I’ is the purest form of selfishness. Me, mine, my, etc are used to emphasize it. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the whole world was built on the selfishness of our ancestors, and it runs on our selfishness. All the good and the bad in this world are the result of some selfish act.

There is selfishness when a Jawan says, “I’ll die for MY country.” There is selfishness when a thief says, “Give ME your money.” There was selfishness when Gandhiji asked for OUR freedom. There will always be selfishness when a politician asks for OUR vote for OUR uplift.

Returning to our simple lives, you may not have noticed selfishness, but surely, after just thinking about it, you would clearly accept the fact that SELFISHNESS is everywhere. Words fail me to explain this. It’s something that has to be experienced – the selfishness in helping a friend, in writing an exam, etc can’t be actually taught by word.

So, to sum everything up, the answer to my question is “Selfishness”. The type of selfishness defines the person we are. I can say honestly that I’m selfish in a good way. What about you??

The Pirates are coming

Q. How did the video ‘Pinneyum Palavattam’ come to be??

1. Perfectly planned by the Pirates.

2. Fools striking gold.

3. Parents pressurized us into doing it.

4. Its destiny.

Ans. 4. It’s DESTINY.

 

Actually, it’s just that all the things fell into place in such a manner that even we were dumbstruck to see it come out to perfection.

How it all started off...

It all began in another eventful lunch break, when some of us guys were seeing the original ’Palavattam’. After the video was over, Krishnadev aka Kichu said jokingly that I would be the apt choice for the protaingoist, if a second video of the same song was made. Even though he had reasons beyond similar looks for saying that, the idea just clicked with us pirates. We were the ones who wanted to make a mark on the map of CET, and this was the mother of all opportunities looking at out face. After showing our skills in the technical side, we wanted to do something that could be called cultural. And that’s when we decided to make ‘Pinneyum Palavattam’

 

Start Camera Action

It was just wonderful. Dlp took up the job of being the creative head. He was to be the script writer, director and cameraman, all rolled into one. And he did this mini-Balachandra Menon act to perfection. Cak was going to be the choreographer and I was to be Technical support. While Cak searched the net for cool dance moves, I downloaded video and sound editing softwares in Gbs. (Lucky that I had no download limit). Sid, Shiv and Dpk were to give inputs to us.

The biggest problem we faced in the beginning was what to shoot with.  No one had a digicam. Next choice was mobile phone. We did a few trials with the phones we had, and found out that Nokia 6233 was the best choice we had.

So with a 2.0 megapixel camera and 640 X 480 pixels resolutions, we started shooting some dummy scenes to get some experience. Sad to say, I had only a not-so-good actor in me. And he was pulled out with great effort by Dlp. He had patience and faith that only a saint would show.

 We took every free hour, every strike and even the precious lunch hours to work on the video. Doing this meant that, we missed cricket, pancharayadi and delicious food for work. But we knew. For gaining the better, the lesser has to be sacrificed.

Cut or Pack-Up??

The whole video was of three and a half minutes. Even after five months into shooting, we had completed only about a minute of it or so. The rate at which we were shooting was slower than the storyline of art films, courtesy our university and our college.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Obviously we weren’t the tough type. And we weren’t the professional type either. Or else, we would never have mixed work with personal life. And once that happened, to say that all hell broke loose would be an understatement.  Just picturise this. If we went for an hour of shooting, we would spend 8 minutes pratizising it, 2 minutes shooting it, and the rest I would spent fighting with Shiv. This went on so much that Sid decided to leave. He said,” I came here for having some fun, not see you two bickering.” Next thing we saw was Sid leaving. And with him went Shiv, making me feel like I was the worst possible case of Homo sapiens.

The course of events that followed were such that we didn’t shoot for the next few months. Was it just another ‘Cut’ or the final ‘Pack-Up’, we didn’t know then.

 

The Phoenix rises

The unceasing flow of exams and other work, sponsored by the evil forces, made sure that the video couldn’t be completed even though the differences between Shiv and me were cleared.  The year 2008 passed away without fulfilling our hope, and we sort of lost our urge to shoot.

But when the Phoenix rose in CET, we decided that being CETians meant one thing – NEVER GIVE UP. By undergoing countless exams, hell-like labs, never ending records, not-so-humane teachers and unfulfilled love lives, we CETians learnt never to give up. So when the college decided to host DHWANI ’09 in four weeks time, we decided to finish the video. Our urge was back, b’coz Dhwani provides a stage like none other to showcase your talent.

Unfortunately, the final phase of shooting and Raagam coincided. That meant Sid and Shiv couldn’t attend the shooting. Anyways, the rest of us went through the shooting, editing, title creation, etc, and the Video was completed on 3^rd April 2009 at 4pm, just hours before the opening ceremony of Dhwani.

Thanks to the event organizers, we could get the video to be screened in the opening night itself. At 8 in the night, the ceremony began, and the pirate started waiting.

 

11pm

We had been calling one organizer after another. No positive response, other than the “Please wait”. Three hours into the show, they hadn’t put up our video. It was supposed to be a filler. Even though, we saw numerous chances for it to be put up, they just didn’t. I lost my appetite. Dlp went home. The spirit of showing the world what we could do was gone.

 

12pm

My watched beeped. I saw that it was 12 in the night. That meant  4^th of April had come. The show would last not more than an hour now.

“Oru mobillum, kurachu bhavanayum, pinne alppam thollikattiyyum undengil enthokke cheyyam. Itha njangallude utharram.”

When the loudspeakers burst these into our years, we jumped up howling. How else could you relieve the tension, the desp-ness that finally turned into happiness.

And so, at the stroke of midnight, the video “Pinneyum Palavattam” was screened. J