Do we Care?

While going through TOI online yesterday, I stumbled upon a blog by Sukanti Ghosh ‘Should we really feel embarrassed of our parents?’

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/time-travellers-log/entry/should-we-really-feel-embarrassed-of-our-parents

It was a nicely written blog on his accounts of people belonging to the modern generation behaving callously to their parents in public (also in private). It touched me when I read the article as it was something I haven’t thought about. Though, I had seen instances of this behavior among many people including some of my (old) friends, I still am unable to grasp the real reason behind such disrespectful behavior. I do not mean that I behave like an ideal son since I too have conflicts of interest with my parents, very often on various matters but I don’t remember any instance of crossing the line; verbally or physically. Mr. Ghosh, in his post narrates an incident in which a young man abusing his old parents of being scared to use an escalator in a mall. In his desperation, he was embarrassing his parents as well as himself. I had a sudden rush of anger as I read this and personally wanted to strangle the guy in a reverse headlock all by myself but my behavior might cause extreme pain to his parents as opposed to the extreme embarrassment their own son had caused them because parents are always parents and will always pardon their children’s mistakes one day or the other. My problem is with the people who take their parents for granted and hurt them repeatedly.

Talking about that, I had a similar experience once. One of my friend’s parents was visiting him and they decided to take some of us (his friends) for lunch. We gladly obliged and went for it. We all belonged to different parts of India so obviously the lingua franca of the conversation was English. His father spoke English although his son, my friend, thought of it as bad English and was visibly uncomfortable. His mother did not speak English but was very much part of the conversation through spot translation. Later, after the lunch we all went our separate ways but accidently met up in a park restaurant again and continued our conversation over tea and snacks. His father, who assumed himself of being in an older generation, started giving us career advices much to the dismay of his son, who was already irritated with the fact that the former lacked language proficiency and talked a bit louder. For every sentence his father uttered, my friend started making gestures meaning to stop or slow down or control your voice or enough…! His father was visibly upset because he was waved aside by his own son in front of us but he stayed silent. His mother kept smiling probably because she was embarrassed by the whole episode. For us friends, we were shocked, especially me, unlike the others could not really succeed in hiding my emotions. If I had tried to cut off my father from saying anything, the last thing I’d remember is the whole world going blurry in a shot which could defeat any 3D experience!

It’s not fear but the respect you learn to give to the elders that matters. It might have started with inducing a little fear in your childhood; threats of possible punishments if you misbehave by speech or actions, but there’s a certain level of behavior that you shouldn’t cross however close you are to your parents. The friend that I was talking about was from not so good background, possibly from a middle class slum in the outskirts of a large city in the Eastern part of India. His father looked like a hard-working man, with more than enough share of experiences and an innocence which was not corrupted by a smoke spitting, rotting city. He must have spent a fortune sending my friend to get a good education, giving him everything he had; unfortunately, also making him the thickheaded swine that he is, daring enough to wave his own father down in front of his own friends! I lost respect for the guy the moment he did it and whatever he did later was not helping either.

I am not really that type who respects my parents in the traditional/mythical way. I don’t remember the last time I touched my parents’ feet in search of blessings. According to my father, you don’t really have to do something like that for something which is always there. He had also added once that if I really wanted to touch his feet for blessings I should do it with a little bit of ‘Moov’ and he will think of doubling the amount of blessings!!! I happily obliged. J My mother had put serious restrictions on both I and my Sister about certain things. We were not supposed to raise our fingers and voices against elders and whatever we had to say and however bad it is, we were supposed to speak straight and without lies. There were a lot of other things also, which I forgot over the years. These are the only two things I remember straightly. Even among them, the first thing got narrowed down from ‘elders’ to just my parents and grandparents!!!  The thing about lies stays on…

I have heard one of my friends talking to his parents. ‘Talking’ is the humblest term I can use in this case. It includes threats at times, voice raised like he is addressing a rally of neo-Nazis, shouts, screams and all sorts of things that you should not be doing when talking to your parents, however close and buddy-buddy you are with them. If I say that it was like over hearing a business conversation in a fish market, I am not being wrong. His conversations mostly end in skimpy amount of money extortions for satisfying an unending need of ghastly gadgets and entertaining girls which mostly ends in benefit for them in many ways but put my friend in a battered condition. I am not Gandhi or the Hindu mythical emperor Shibi who worshipped truth as the highest virtue. But, even in my opinion, it’s impossible to trust someone who lies even to his own parents. It doesn’t matter anyway because over my last two –three years, I haven’t met a single person who can trust my above mentioned friend in anything except for the numerous private jokes running among us which has made this guy an equal in standards to the character Kasim from ‘Arabian Nights’ or even to the recent Malayalam character, ‘Tintu Mon’!

Each time I have this painful experience of listening to his phone conversations (you have no choice when you are in the same room) I’d imagine what will happen if I ever have such a conversation with my parents. Even in my meekest imaginations I cannot imagine an outcome in which I get out unhurt. There was this incident once when I strongly disagreed with my Dad following a stupid thing I did in the public; to shove a guy off my car! I started talking a little fiercely and my Dad just raised his hands. I did not feel like talking anymore may be because there wasn’t any saliva left in mouth or brain was sending me signals to stop…

There could be a variety of reasons for why people belonging to this generation behave to their parents in a blindly distressing way. It could be because they think of themselves as a generation who has seen it all in such a short time. In our parents’ younger years they needed to build everything slowly and painfully… starting from a family to their children’s future and most probably in the end, their own future. The current generation is faster and everything comes planned and easy to a level that it is possible for them to think of themselves a step ahead than their parents. It’s not always about what you do for them but how you behave and show that you care. Most parents capable of catapulting us to this level, the way I understand it, does not really need caring on a monetary level… what they need is our presence when they want it, the feeling that they are not alone with their children gone to different places. I guess, the only way we can do it, if at all to do it from a distance is to talk nice and jovial… to make them happy not agitated with extortions and threats like some kind of a thug from a smelling slum, which some of us might actually qualify quite handsomely, if there’s a chance given.

I think it is about time we should recognize our duties to our parents. All it needs is a little looking back into our deeds towards a generation which did not have computers, escalators, huge air conditioned shopping malls and a liberated economy but substandard roads, less electricity, transportation and painful experiences of dying socialist principles yet succeeded in taking us to wherever we are or whatever we are. All it takes is a little care…

Remember… it could happen to you.

The Terminator – A Tribute

No other film series have enthralled me like the Terminator Series. By the ‘Terminator Series’ I mean the first three films came out; ‘The Terminator‘ (1984), ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) and ‘Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). I do not want to include the fourth film Terminator Salvation because for me, it doesn’t really feel like the part of the franchise in any sense. There could be a variety of reasons for that which I will be entering in a short while.

The Terminator series unveils a science fiction story which basically revolves around the battle for survival between the human race and a group of humanoids controlled by SkyNet, a computer programme capable of Artificial Intelligence. In the first film, The Terminator, SkyNet is shown as a US computer programme for defense purposes, created by the Cyberdyne Systems. But at some point of time, the system declares itself as self-aware and start perceiving the entire human race as a threat to be wiped out. It strikes USSR (it was before USSR’s political self-destruction) with a nuclear weapon and the U.S suffers a heavy counter-attack. In the Nuclear winter that follows Skynet builds its own defense mechanism by creating autonomous attack modules (which also includes humanoid robots called Terminators) to take on the surviving human population.

From the human side, they form a community against these robotic demons called, The Resistance. They find out that the SkyNet with its Artificial Intelligence capability has achieved ‘Time Travel’ and seek to use it for the purpose of ‘going back in time’ and preventing the whole catastrophe from happening. SkyNet, in turn use the same method to stop John Connor, the leader of The Resistance from taking birth!

The first film, The Terminator, shows Arnold Schwarzenegger as a Terminator send back in time to kill Sarah Conner, (John Connor’s mother) before she gives birth to John Conner. Also send back in time to protect her is Kyle Reese, a soldier of the Resistance. The story revolves around the running of Sarah Conner from Terminator whose mission is to kill her. During the run, Reese has a hard time convincing Sarah of the apocalyptic future awaiting the Human race. He also says that he was sent back in time to protect her by none other than her own son from the future, John Connor. In due course of time, they fall in love leading to an intercourse. An attack from the Terminator make them run to a road. Kyle blows up a tanker driven by the Terminator to run Sarah over. But, the outside flesh melts away and the very much functional metal skeleton chases them into a factory and wounds Kyle. Before dying, Kyle blocks a bomb into the skeleton of the Terminator and succeeds in blowing it apart. Still partly functional, the halved metal skeleton crawls through a hydraulic press to fulfill its mission of killing Sarah Conner. A heavily injured Sarah, operates the Hydraulic Press and crushes the Terminator and kills it, finally. The film ends with the shot of a pregnant Sarah, driving off into Mexico with storm clouds forming ahead of her. She records tapes of her story intending to tell her unborn son that Kyle Reese is his father.

The second film, Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), happens eleven years after the incidents of the first film. A young John Connor (Edward Furlong) is shown doing anti-social things like stealing money from ATM’s etc to have a taste of life. A new advanced terminator (T-1000) composed of liquid metal is send by SkyNet to kill John Connor. It can achieve the shape of anything that it touches and it assumes the identity of a LAPD police officer and pursues John Connor. Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger arrives as a re-programmed Terminator (T-800) from the future, send by John Connor. His mission is to save John Connor from getting killed by the SkyNet’s advanced assassin terminator. He teams up with the young Connor and saves Sarah Conner from a mental asylum. Sarah and John is enlightened by the T-800 about the dark future of the human race and SkyNet’s attempts to make a micro-processor, which unknowingly triggers everything. Sarah decides to stop it from happening by killing the enginer responsible for the development of the programme chip. But, she fails to do that in front of his family and a timely intervention from John Connor and the T-800 ensures that Miles Dyson, (the engineer) is made aware of the horrific results, his work is capable of producing. With the help of Myles, they attack the Cyberdyne Systems and a mortally wounded Myles blows up the building to destroy his work from getting complete. Sarah and John gets away with the help of T-800 and is chased into a steel factory by T-1000. In the end of an adrenaline-pumping-edge-of-the-seat action sequence, the T-1000 is shot in the face with a grenade which explodes and make him fall into a well of molten steel, which destroys it. In the climax, the terminator explains that everything is not over the technology still exists. He points his brain showing that if it falls into the wrong hands, all of this could happen again. Then he sacrifices himself by lowering himself into the molten steel. The films ends with Sarah saying that if a machine (T-800) can learn the human values, after all humanity still has a chance.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines opens in a very intriguing way with John Connor (Nick Stahl) living off-the grid in Los Angeles while SkyNet sends an advanced Terminator (T-X) to take him out along with people who could turn out to be his future lieutenants. Now, this one is an amazing work of art with liquid metal skeleton (like the previous T-1000) with an ability to control other machines and also capable of in-built weaponry. Also comes back in time is a re-programmed T-850 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to protect John Connor and Katherine Brewster, his future wife. John believes that the Judgement is not averted but only simply postponed. The attack on Cyberdyne Systems (shown in the previous film) did not really stop the future from happening but simply delayed it a bit. T-850 says that the new date of Judgement Day is July 24, 2004. It is also revealed that the SkyNet programme was taken over by the United States Air Force (after the attacks) and now headed by Lieutenant General Robert Brewster (Kate’s father). By the time they arrive at the Cyberdyne Systems, SkyNet takes over the systems and start killing off people by assuming the command over various attack modules. Its attempt to kill John and Kate is averted and they take off to Crystal Peak in Sierra Nevada Mountains as per the instructions of a dying General Brewster. T-X takes control of T-850 (Schwarzenegger) and it tries to kill John but comes to a still as the decision was contradicting with its own real mission. Once John and Kate arrives at Crystal Peak, they are attacked by T-X but a rebooted T-850 comes back and crashes a helicopter on to the T-X. A seriously injured T-X pursues John and Kate but is stopped by the T-850 who shoves its last remaining hydrogen cell into the mouth of the T-X and detonates it to kill them both. Inside the caves, John and Kate realizes that they were send to a cold-war era shelter as they start receiving radio reports of nuclear attacks from all over the world. They realize that Judgement  Day has come while John responds to a civil defense group in Montana.

What makes the Terminator films interesting is not just the cycle of time which comes in a circle but also the theory behind it. The special effects, the notion of a nuclear holocaust and grim future might appeal to a few but for me, its majorly the story. The first few films had a solid story but the third one despite a good screenplay fails to grip in. It seriously lacks the touch of James Cameroon, who decided not to hold the mike for the third film. In a few online communities that I am also a part of, people had selected the second film as the best film of the series. But, I clicked the option for the first film, The Terminator. For me, that had a solid story and intriguing dialogues which could hold you on to the seat even if an earthquake hits your house and home theatre! Second film, of course, was a giant in the history of film making with advanced special effects (which actually became a benchmark CGI effects) and bold action sequences and thrilling chases. But, it doesn’t really explain much of a scientific theory unlike the first film. Okay, action freaks might say that all the theory was explained in the first film but this series being under the science fiction genre and the time travel being an important question in the contemporary science, the film fails to give a solid answer for that time. Viewers had to wait till the disappointing ‘Terminator: Salvation’ to understand how and why the T-800 was send by John Connor.
‘Termination: Salvation’ turned out to be a disappointing twist to the whole franchise, trying to bank on two really good actors (Christian Bale and Sam Worthington) but the director failed to draw any powerful performance from them. Bale, as John Connor leading the Resistance is more or less shown as some sort of a pawn in the hands of a bunch of rotting elder leaders mixing their politics into the fight for human survival, by sitting in an underwater submarine. Sam Worthington, is good in his role as Marcus Wright, a prisoner awaiting death penalty, who signed his body over for scientific research. He wakes up later in 2018, as a Cyborg, in the aftermath of a tactical nuclear explosion caused by John Connor while leading an attack on a prisoner site of the Machines. Worthington has done a good job performing as someone who is trying to find himself in the middle of a battle unknown to him.

Both, Bale and Worthington, have proved their acting styles in different films but somehow this film doesn’t really bring out the actors in them as it doesn’t really focus on acting, but action, which anyone in the industry could have pulled off. Sam Worthington was amazing in a recent film, ‘Texas Killing Fields’ and Bale was at his best in ‘The Fighter’. Both of them are young and have a lot of time left to choose good films for the future and I hope, they’ll use it well.

After all, I shouldn’t forget the fact the best of the Terminator series is nobody other than Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is reportedly making a coming back soon.