Fight Club - A Lesson To Live

Yesterday, late night, I was watching one of my favourite film starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton, once again! It's an adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's literary novel of the same name; FIGHT CLUB.  I still have to read the novel though. By the way, the film is considered one of the best adaptations of a novel.

This film / novel is a piece of art which makes you think about deeper issues of our lives. I think you should read the novel or watch the film if ..... :

• If you're a common man 
• If you're trapped in the fake reality of security
• If you think culture is a phenomenon to fuck your happiness
• If you're living in a world with shit load of material possessions that you don't know why you bought?
• If you have been 'educated' in schools then colleges then B-schools (Is there really value addition in your life)
• If your life has been 'guided' in a pattern that lives of our parents have been, i.e. go to school, go to college, get a job, get married, have kids, be a loving parent, educate your kids, ask them to study well and get a job and get married and ........ you know the cycle continues.
• If you're working for some corporation with bosses hovering like eagles waiting for the right moment to peck some flesh off you. (and if you're not, eventually most of you will)
• If you have lost the 'real you'
• If you want to be free.

The novel / film appeals a lot to men because the issues discussed is very close to their heart and all men understand it without exchanging a single word. Women may never understand it. 

The novel / film will enlighten us of our entrapment by vicious corporations. I somehow felt that its a direct slap on American capitalism. It's a slap on the readers / viewers face for being a moron and leading a pathetic life where we feel we're in control, but actually are not. It will make you realise that only when you accept that you're going to die, than will you really start living. 

There's a fantastic scene where Brad Pitt pulls out a guy working in some restaurant and points a gun at his head and asks him what he wants to do in life? He replies, he wanted to be a veterinary doctor. Brad Pitt takes his license and lets him go and tells him that he'll check on him in 6 weeks whether he is on his way to achieve his dream or not. If he isn't, he'll kill him! The poor guy runs and the next scene shows Brad's empty pistol! And then he tells Edward Norton that, that next day's breakfast will be the poor guy's tastiest breakfast, ever! He will learn to live! (Only after disaster can we be resurrected)

The basic premise is one needs to hit the abyss to rise up to the highest point. Unless you haven't lost everything, you will never know your true potential. The lower you'll fall, the higher you'll fly.

The film is very very intelligent and appeal to people  who think on their own and can question the status quo. If you are one of the kind, where you never question and do what you have been told, avoid the film and the novel, as you will not understand it and get a rude shock!

It has some quotes which will hit you as bad as a guy being hit by a speeding truck! I'm leaving you with a set of quotes which I feel, will make you think and hopefully read the novel or watch the film.

• We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

• Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes. Working jobs we hate, so we can buy shit we dont need.

• You are not your job, you're not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You are not your fucking khakis. You are all singing, all dancing crap of the world. 

• You do the little job you're trained to do. Pull a lever. Push a button. You don't understand any of it, and then you just DIE.

• Generations have been working in jobs they hate, just so they can buy what they don't really need.

• At the time, my life just seemed too complete, and maybe we have to break everything to make something better out of ourselves.

• Only after disaster can we be resurrected. It's only after you've lost everything that you're free to do anything. Nothing is static, everything is evolving, everything is falling apart.

• You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you.

• If you don't know what you want, you end up with a lot you don't. 

• The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do anything.

• Maybe self-improvement isn't the answer, maybe self-destruction is the answer.

• Reject the basic assumptions of civilization, especially the importance of material possessions.

• You know, the condom is the glass slipper (like Cindrella story) of our generation. You slip it on when you meet a stranger. You dance all night, then you throw it away. The condom, I mean. Not the stranger.

• We don't have a great war in our generation, or a great depression, but we do, we have a great war of the spirit. We have a great revolution against the culture. The great depression is our lives. We have a spiritual depression.

• The lower you fall, the higher you'll fly.

• This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time.

The best one from the novel is the last

• Don't you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can't think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it? Do you read everything you're supposed to read? Do you think every thing you're supposed to think? Buy what you're told to want? Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned.

  

Why Women Want Commitment And Men Dread It ???

In a relationship the woman wants commitment and the man dreads from the big ‘C’ (commitment). There are a lot of ‘relationship experts’ who have hundreds of cure for men to turn from commitment-phobic to commitment devotee, but none works. The men have just one problem with the women, that is, commitment.

Commitment to one woman doesn’t exist in a man’s dictionary! We men are admirers of ‘women’, not ‘a woman’, though there are some exceptions where the man commits himself to a woman right from the start. The majority of the men, however, just accept sticking to one woman, quite late.

Men are labeled dogs because they hop from one woman to another time and again. We are pure admirers of beauty; we just can’t resist the womankind. Besides, if the man leaves a woman for another woman, then the woman should blame the woman! Competition is always there. It’s not the man’s fault! We are weak creatures. We are either in search of new adventures (men who actively search for new women) or just plain curious (when a woman approaches us).

Anyway, enough of this stupid justification! Why are men the way they are? Why are women the way they are? I have a simple answer!

A girl grows up to be a woman with stories of a (mark it’s ‘a’) prince charming on a white horse who will sweep her off the feet and they’ll live happily ever after in their magical kingdom. Right?

The story for the boys is a little twisted!

A boy grows up to be a man with stories of Casanova stealing the hearts of so many women. (Please mark, its ‘women’) For a man, Hugh Hefner (Playboy founder) is the ultimate MAN!!! (For obvious reasons – Playboy mansion full of young girls strutting in their birthday suits!!! It can’t better than this) Men all over the world are just proud of Mr. Hef for living an ultimate man’s life! FYI, he is 80 and currently has 6 Playboy bunnies as his girlfriends with an average age of less than 20!

So you see, the basic psychology towards the opposite gender is completely opposite! Women want one man and men can’t think of being with just one!

So men and women, lets not blame each other! Let’s blame the society for putting stories into our head which messes us up. (: p)

Gujjus Rock !!!

If there is a community that laughs on itself, it is the Gujjus! They have a heart as big as their pockets and as refined as their insatiable taste buds.

Nupur, who blogs about them is a Gujju herself. She has written extensively on the irritating habits of the community and how she dislikes the habits. But I feel, Gujjus all over the world need to be saluted for their valour, for facing constant criticisms!

• Yes, they are loud!

• Yes, they have a funny twang which can even be identified by the aliens! Sample this - Eminem kya rape (rap) karta hai?

• Yes, the men wear such clothes that Govinda seems like a style icon!

• Yes, their food is sweet, including bitter gourd (karela)!

• Yes, they TALK TOO MUCH, including the men!

But, that's their USP. Al Ries and Jack Trout said 'Differentiate or Die', the Gujjus knew it before marketing gurus like Ries and Trout! Think about it! At any given chance, we can spot a Gujju correctly 90% of the time with the help of their cues, a few of which I stated above. [ Click here for an extensive list by Nupur (I'm waiting for the goody bag for publicising you :P ) ] That's what makes them so special.

You can't ignore them, they are everywhere!!! EVERYWHERE you go! I remember going to Matheran with a friend, and more than 80% of the visitors there, were Gujjus! How do I know for sure? Simple. They talk everywhere they go, in Gujju and LOUDLY!

They are an innately funny people. I don't know whether they know this or not. Let me give you a small proof how funny they are.

"Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmaa" is rated the best comedy show since 2 years (!!!!!) and viewers find Daya bhabhi just awesome. (I hardly watch TV so I could just seen 2-3 episodes ever since the show is on air. Daya bhabhi truly rocks)

A family full of dazed, stupid and moronic people, with no common sense made us laugh for 2 seasons. Remember Hansaa and Praful from "Khichdi". Damn! They were stupid but we loved them because they were Gujjus. They were so good that their presence was sorely missed and they were exalted to the silver screen recently.

And how many times have we seen the re-runs of "Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai"? Do I have to say the words?

Kal Ho Naa Ho had an entire Gujju sequence in the movie, which I have heard, is often played at Gujju get togethers and weddings! Also, picture the sequence where Satish Shah, playing Saif Ali Khan's father takes him to a strip club and when Saif asks "Papppaa, suu karuu che?" and Shah replies, "Naangii ladki jo-uu che!" Who can be funny even in a strip club? Gujjus!

Kareena Kapoor in the biggest Indian blockbuster 3 Idiots immortalized their snacks. (Remember, Tum Gujarati kitne sweet hotay ho naa! Par tumhare khaane ke naam itne ajeeb kyun hotay hain? Khakdaa, Faafda. Aaj Bush ne Iraq par dhoklay gira diye...lol)

I say, Gujjus are fun and second to none :)

P.S.: Nupur, what do you have to say? (: P)

Political Parties - A Joke

Off late a dear friend, Mihir, is getting a bit perturbed about my constant rants on a political party called Shiv Sena (SS). Let me clarify that I don’t intent to hurt anyone’s sentiments.

So, this is for all of the readers. I don’t hate the SS in particular. I don’t hate any political party. It would be really tough for anyone to believe it, but I usually don’t hate people or anything. There’s only one person that I have managed to ‘hate’ and that is ‘myself’, for acting moronic regularly and screwing around other people’s happiness quite regularly, mistakenly off course!

It’s just that with my new found perspective, I find all the political parties jocular. It’s better to laugh about stuff than to be angry.

The SS has been hogging the media limelight in the past few weeks regularly and has taken the ‘top of mind’ position in the grey matter inside my cranial cavity. So it got obvious that most of my chatter was about this one party. I’ll ensure that if any of my upcoming posts features a political party, I gave due respect to all and babble on equally, not just any one party. (But somehow the SS has become the pet peeve of Mumbaikars, so maybe I gave them the extra coverage)

The Congress has proved itself as a gaffe prone party courtesy the Delhi CWG 2010 whereas I try to find gaffes for other parties and try to look at them in a jovial light.

Hope you like what you read, if not share my enthusiasm.