Mystics of the horror world

I have always been a die-hard fan of horror movies and scary stories. The whole idea of getting scared and keeping a look-out for supernatural creatures used to thrill me and there have been innumerable times when I used to sleep with my eyes steadily focussed on the door to ensure no strange out-of-the world creature sneaks in. I slowly drift off to sleep mainly because of my tired eyes.

But, why do people enjoy watching horror movies and scare the shit out of themselves – jump at every small noise, refuse to enter a dark room, worry about sleeping alone and so on. Speaking for myself, I enjoy listening to and watching anything related to supernatural power – doesn’t necessarily have to be an evil entity. At a tender age, most of us are introduced to many villainous characters in the form of ghosts, monsters, vampires, zombies, ghouls etc. We grow up with these ideas etched in our mind and how they would harm the humans if evoked. I do not entirely believe in the world of ghosts, but they sure exist. When a person dies or rather when the spirit leaves the body, it is believed to me hovering about in space until it is summoned to take up a new life. If that is the case, there ought to be fixed number of souls or spirits which keep getting transported from one body to another. Or do new spirits emerge and if yes, how does a new spirit come in being? Once a spirit leaves a body, shouldn’t it be devoid of all the attachments that it had with that person? Then, how can it fester vengeance towards the humans? In most of the horror movies that I have watched, innocent people are harmed by ghosts. Ghosts go on a killing spree – for no valid reason.

I, sometimes wonder, would a ghost or an evil spirit attack me? It would probably try to scare me by its presence to get rid of me from its abode if disturbed, and I would certainly leave it alone rather than invoking it. Would it try to possess me? How can it invade my body if I do not allow it to? Thriving on positive energy and thoughts would keep anything evil at bay.

For me, anything horror is pure entertainment with an over-dosage of thrill and excitement and take great pleasure in it. Fortunately or unfortunately, I have never had an encounter with the other world yet and if I do stumble upon any such being, guess my feet would be plastered to the ground with fright!!!

Yoga - A priceless form of science

Yoga has become a household term and is very rampant across the globe. It is a known fact that Yoga originated from India and had been practiced for centuries together. I am yet to learn the details of its historical evolvement, but it has already fascinated me deep enough to begin my research.

Few years back, I had attended the Art of Living beginner’s workshop mainly due to pressure from an aunt who is a sincere and devoted follower. Somehow, it lacked to create an enthusiasm for me and I failed to pursue it further after the workshop. I could blame it on my age or my disinterest in just breathing exercises. I know a lot of people in my family who have benefitted tremendously out of it but, I was not motivated at all. Over the years, I realized there is more to Yoga than just the breathing exercise. I watched videos where people twist and turn and bend like an elastic band and this caught my attention and I longed to be as agile as those people.

By enrolling for the yoga class, I also got to know many more benefits of this great form of exercise. The human body is quite mysterious and the mechanics that goes into its formation is mind-blowing. The pressure points on the soles of the feet or on the back of your hand has the ability to control different pain areas in the body because those are the places where the nerve ends. We know the heart or the brain is the most critical organ in the human body and the failure of which could result in immediate death, but the area just below the cheek is also sensitive enough to end one’s life when hit hard.

Yoga is an ancient form of science and there exists an answer for every question regarding the functioning of any body part. It also explains the science behind every naturally grown edible product and its curative properties. The whole concept of Ayurveda , which means the ‘science of life’, is to ensure one’s well-being and to provide longevity to one’s life. It also eliminates and protects the human body from various illnesses.

The most surprising element is that though Yoga orginated from India, in modern times, the Indians failed to realise and understand the importance of this form of science. The Europeans and Americans caught on to this from across the ocean and promoted to a large extent which ultimately opened the eyes of the Indians to the most priceless jewel that has been bred in their very own soil.  

One other interesting fact that I learnt today which I cannot resist from sharing is that a child’s education begins from the womb and ends once the baby comes out into the world. Though most of us know that a child’s behaviour can be moulded in the first few formative years, it is just a misconception. A child develops its inherent traits based on what it hears, feels and senses when in the mother’s womb. This would probably answer why there are people who are a boon to the society and others who are miscreants. This is definitely worth a research and I shall blog about this soon.

The inexplicable mind

I think this is the longest I have gone without blogging. I am not a regular blogger but I do make a sincere effort to get one out once in a week. I write when something really inspires me and when that happens, words start forming in my head and thoughts run to and fro and I perform in depth analysis inside my head.

I have always enjoyed tracing back to the root of my thoughts – like how I ended up thinking about what I am right now and how one thought led to another. It has never failed to amuse me how my  train of thoughts move along in my head.

A human mind can never be idle for even a second. And, an idle mind is a devil’s workshop. Is that the reason for the wrong doings in this world? Right from terrorism to murders to rapes to thefts. Most of the time, these acts require meticulous planning and a lot of time. These crimes also are instantaneous. But what if this energy is directed for good causes? What is the root cause for the crimes? It cannot just be an idle mind. It could also be due to psychological issues, exposure to anti-social elements, influence of wrong-does etc. But, again every human is gifted with the sense to think and choose between right and wrong. There is no straight-cut definition between right and wrong and it all lies in the perception of the individual.

I have always wanted to understand the mind of a person who commits a crime – what goes on in their mind before they do something wrong. Here when I say ‘wrong’ it means any act that would hurt others or cause destruction.  The mind plays tricks sometimes and an act of murder or other similar heinous acts may be committed rashly. Does that mean the mind has the ability to over-power us? The human mind sure is a mystery and that is the reason they have a stream of science entirely dedicated for its study. The human mind is web of tangled thoughts and I guess when a string is cut off the mind goes bonkers and the person tends to commit insane things.

So, it is always better to keep one’s mind occupied in a healthy manner and keep the brain engaged with some positive and result oriented activity.

Now,  I am trying to analyse on how I started to write about me not being a regular blogger which led on to idle mind and to the ugly side of crimes. Human mind sure is unpredictable.

Cooking is not just a chore

Since the advent of mankind, cooking has been a necessity. The early man times consisted of very crude methods of cooking mainly because the sole purpose of cooking was to suffice hunger. Times have changed and cooking has evolved into a form of art, providing a very rich and out-of the world experience. Food is forever under scrutiny to understand every ingredient and its importance in a dish.

Cooking is a blend of art and science which needs to be experimented with and refined and mastered perpetually. The whole process of studying and analysing every edible raw ingredient and its properties with respect to the colour, aroma, flavor, texture and the best method of cutting, cooking and serving requires all the senses to act at once. This is because, when we feast our eyes on a dish, all our senses are activated simultaneously. Our eyes capture the colour of the dish along with the way it is presented; nose inhales the aroma of the dish; sometimes the sizzling, stirring, whisking of the dish during the making also captivates our interest through our other sense of hearing. Hence, before our sense of taste is put into action, all the other senses play their part which will signal the brain to proceed with the dish or turn away with repugnance or disinterest.

Though we consider the world to be a small place, the type of cuisines that exist today is over-whelming. Moreover, the creation of new cuisines with a mélange of traditional ones keeps the list going on.

Molecular gastronomy is one of the advancement in the world of food science and a quick google search can tell you what it is all about. I was awe struck when I had a first-hand experience of one of the techniques of molecular gastronomy. It is called spherification – where liquid is made to undergo some sort of modern culinary process to transform it into a sphere.

 In one of the gourmet restaurants we visited last year, we were offered a very cute looking wobbly orangish-yellow ‘sphere’ on a typical Chinese soup spoon. It was a special creation by the chef in-house and the waitress went on describe that it was a mango-ginger spherification and all we had to do was just put it in our mouth and it would pop. Now that sent like 100s of questions to my mind. What does she mean by ‘pop’? Would it burst in my mouth like those popping candies which I used to love as a child? Its appearance was gelatinous with a glossy look. But what interested me most was the flavor – mango and ginger concoction. That sounded so exotic to my ears and I was trying to imagine what it would taste like. So with great anticipation, my husband and I took our respective mango-ginger spherification and slowly popped it in. What happened next was the most remarkable thing I have ever felt! Now I need to choose my words accurately to describe what I felt because it is really difficult to word it. As soon as I closed my mouth, all I felt was a very delicate crack or a tear or maybe a “pop” which was extremely gentle. It was so swift that it felt like it never really happened and then I got a tang of the mango and ginger which lasted for few beautiful seconds. The whole experience did not even last a minute, but it was so tantalising and splendid that we had to sit back and take a recount of what just happened.

For me, cooking is a beautiful experience and food science is just another world out there which has always spellbound me.

What are the most important days in your life???

The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.

- Mark Twain

I stumbled upon this quote one sleepy morning while scrolling through one of the communities in Google + and it sure did make quite a forceful impact on my brain to get me fully awake. Many thoughts rushed into my head when I read this over and over again and like always it doesn’t take my brain long to pull out all the ‘forgotten and buried’ incidents in my life.

Ideally, the day you were born would have been your parents’ most memorable day in their lives. But that doesn’t stand true for every life being born into this world. We do not have control over our lives when we arrive into this world from the cosy womb of our mothers. Today, I am writing and you are, in turn reading this because our parents vowed to take care of us. Well, I cannot really comment about the unfortunate who have lost their lives before they could see themselves grey and old. What I have been meaning to touch upon is the children who are smothered, poisoned and killed in the most cruel ways that is hard to imagine – infanticide. So the most important day in one’s life goes unrecognised and is snatched away from the very people who are meant to safeguard the life until it is strong to be on its own.

I believe everybody is born with a purpose and it is our duty to identify our purpose, but can we make it our sole purpose in life to keep seeking the purpose or just go with the flow and expect to realise our purpose during the course of our life? Our purpose in life need not be something that would alter the world for good – our life does not have to affect the world at a large scale. ‘Five people you meet in heaven’ by Mitch Albom beautifully depicts the purpose of life and explains how we affect and in turn get affected by others in life. What goes around, comes around is so very true! The force of karma definitely revolves around the cosmic realm and touches every life on this earth. This is the reason we are taught at an early stage by our parents and teachers to always do good to people around us, help the needy, respect elders and all the other moral sciences. The cycle of life is exactly the same for everyone and the case of Benjamin Button is curious as ever.  

So how do we find the purpose of our birth? Rewind your memory to the most possible extent and recollect all the incidents that stand out. There would be some which you wouldn’t have considered important enough to be remembered but there is a plausibility of it being to the person it had an impact on. Or you might not have to go that far. Think about who you are with now and consider how you have influenced him or her for the better. I have matured tremendously in life and for me, now life is all about enjoying what I have in hand now, living in the present and trying to spread the joy to as many people I can around me. I am not aiming to change the world – but I would be happy if I can bring a smile to at least one person, when I am being remembered.

Does gender matter???

God made man and woman. Boy grows up to be a man and girl, a woman. This is one of the first facts of life that we teach every child. Despite we being aware of another gender existing, we choose to snub the very existence of eunuchs. The dictionary meaning of a eunuch is a man who is castrated or who is not masculine and something on similar lines. If they are neither masculine nor classified as woman, then it is quite natural to given them an identity of their own and treat them just like any other human being. Over the years the fairer sex, woman, have been ill-treated in many ways and in some parts of the world, they are still fighting for what they deserve – RESPECT!  Does anybody think of eunuchs in this fight for justice and respect? They are shoved aside and glared at.

In a country like India, we often get to see many eunuchs recourse to begging or prostitution and most of us screw up our face in repulsion or turn away quickly in fright. How many of them have a respectable job and how many of us would treat them equally if they were to be our colleague or even employ them? Documentaries, movies, social groups and movements portraying eunuchs in a good light and also, asking for support from men and women are abundant.  But can we really empathise with them? Will we ever be able to imagine their plight of facing every new day? Is it sufficient for us to just understand their condition and feel sorry for them and not abuse or taunt them? Will that prevent them from being considered as an outcast? Will that improve their life? Well, I am not really sure how I can make a difference to their life other than expressing my sympathy for their ill-treatment. In fact, there are eunuchs in India who have made a name for themselves. I can recollect a person by name ‘Rose’ who was educated in the US and got back to India and hosted a talk show in one of the regional languages about flaws in the society. I can also think of a celebrity hair stylist named ‘Sylvie’ who was very popular in the film industry. So what about the other 1000s of eunuchs in India?

The other fact of life that we learn quite early is man and woman love each other, get married, have kids and live happily ever after. Again, we do not teach our children about some people who have a sexual preference quite different from what is generally assumed to be. We do not consider a man having a relation with another man, or a woman with another woman to be a natural occurrence. Though same–sex relationships and marriages have been accepted and approved of in some parts of the world, it is still a taboo to most of us.  Sexual orientation is one’s personal choice and nobody can be judgemental about it. The very mention of the word ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ raises eyebrows and an exchange of an un-called for conversation is unavoidable. There are special pubs and bars for the homosexuals which the others might not step foot in. Again, isn’t this a type of social outcast?

There are many celebrity homosexuals in the world of films, sports, art, literature and others, but they sure would have faced unmentionable abuse and discrimination during their formative years. There are many people who try to live ignoring their preferences and hence, end up ruining their life. Everybody deserves to love and be loved in this world. If God created humans, then we should understand that there are different kinds of people with different set of preferences and opinions. Everybody is unique and deserves to be treated with respect. We should be non-judgemental because we have no rights to judge anybody and everybody has the right to live their life their own way. Accept people the way they are and be accommodating is the least each one of us can do.

Definition of beauty

Life is an irony. Every other day, we come across a sardonic event, maybe in its most subtle form that it is hard to recognise it instantly. Contemplating on these with a humorous attitude makes life more enjoyable.

One such fact of life that pops up in my mind right now is the definition of ‘being beautiful’. As it goes ‘Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder’, which I am completely for, else every person on the face of this earth would seem beautiful to each other. This is also the reason why we find some people looking outrageously ridiculous in an attempt to be good-looking. What one person finds attractive will seem unacceptable for another person, and it is not a question of right and wrong because people have their own preferences and they nobody can be critical about one’s personal choices. But does that stop us from passing comments? It is the human tendency to critique and appraise others and it is pretty natural for us to be scrutinised as well.

The perception of people about the aspects of beauty differs significantly and I still cannot really figure out what influences these perceptions. I have always been aware of the Indians’ obsession with fair-skin, though there are many unprejudiced Indians who think being dusky is beautiful.   The myriad of fairness cream advertisements throws fuel to the raging fire and takes the thoughtless people who fall into the trap for a ride. On the other hand, our white-skinned counterparts are in a perpetual attempt to get tanned and would not think twice before shelling out money for the tanning parlours. The funny part is that these white-skinned mortals find the dusky-skinned Asians attractive and vice-versa. The realisation and acceptance of the natural tone of one’s skin may not happen in the near future, mainly because of the lack of awareness of the demand of the other’s attributes. All of us have to understand that there are people from other lands who would be ever ready to switch shoes with us.

I have my favourites in all ranges of complexions and I will not be dishonest in saying that beauty only lies in the heart and not on the skin. But beauty without brains would be a major disaster and the stupidity and immaturity may turn out to be so overpowering that the beholder would gradually change the outlook of his insight. Hence, beauty does lie in the eyes of the beholder!