A Happy Death

First Novel of Albert Camus, Last Published posthumously in 1971.

Read in Tamil, Difficult translation to read (!)

Writing to conflate many parallel readings and reflecting on personal experience.

Meursault, Escaping from Work , seemingly a regular desk regime to earn a living, what shackles and feelings one goes through adjusting to the regime, Through Meursault we start with this initial question and continue following him through out his journey.

In following Meursault, we reflect on How do we reconcile with what we are born around with, Past,Surroundings and Responsibilities ? Should we plan a escape based on some philosophy ? Or without changing much must we face a natural inevitable death ?

Having cut off the past and Surroundings we are left to negotiate with the Family, where inevitably all are apt to be called children, as Meursault calls them. Most beautifully placed home amidst fond children, is it enough for a Man ? 

As fate or freewill would have it Meursault escape again to loneliness to face himself all alone, With economics of simple living taken care, Meursault left with oceans of time to himself without any responsibility, without any additional words to digress, He has to face himself all alone ? Do we aspire to be in Such a situation as Meursault. Meursault still needs company but it does not seem Mandatory.

Having come this far, Meursault faces the Inevitable death with tremendous grace and happiness, He fears disease, for it dampens his freewill, but faces death without any fear or anxiety.

My thoughts waver to many touch points but mainly hover around Escaping, Not opposing the freewilling existence and Religious Introspection.

On Escape, Iam always reminded of Ashokamitran s indicative words that we always escape in the pretext of living. Escape and Freedom are now interchangeable words whose meanings are almost similar yet different.

On Unopposing the burden of existence, wonder if Camus had any connection with JK, JK, A master of words to inculcate a sense of being amongst those who listen or read him.Many passages in this Tamil translation reminded of JK, especially the phases where Meursault comes to term with his own loneliness. 

On Religious Introspection, Camus as we knew cannot be pigeon holed as existential writer alone, for he is surely one, But apart from that, that unbearable pain he feels while reflecting on his loneliness, He opens the door of Introspection for us. From the basic questions on Meaning or Meaninglessness of existence to yearning for a graceful, undisturbing, contented, silent, unconsuming life, we see tremendous similarity in his aforesaid resolve to Vairagya or Sankalpa Part of Religious Introspection.

Having conflated many things similar and dissimilar to relish the text, I wish to read the English Translation of "Happy Death".

Two Lives - Vikram Seth

 

Portrayal of two complete lives with tremendous details , perspectives spanning across the entire twentieth century.

Tracing the lives of Shanti and Henny acting as a mirror of their daily lives, the book unfolds with reflections on many facets of their lives, how they lived, what they liked, what they felt and what they did and what they spoke about.

Book's form is mosaic of many touch points. Author Vikram's direct relationship with his Uncle Shanti and his aunty Henny forms the bedrock. Vikram does a series of Interviews with his Uncle to unfold Shanti's Life while his Aunty Henny s life unfolds through series of letters she wrote and received. Picture gets completed by Shanti's relatives view points , all three masterfully emotionaly woven to the book by the author turning it into a fantastic and humbling read.

Novel offers a precious window to see how a person grows, from the spring of youth to the firmness of the middle to the frailties of the old to the senility of last, a complete view of a life lived with all its highs and lows evened out.

This Novel is Double biography, as the author puts,  throws light of  two persons in exile , both exiled under completely different circumstances, One by choice or chance of fate to other by political developments.

This book helped author to overcome his understandable bitterness on how things turned out, perhaps there in lies a life lesson of able to see things as is with a degree of detachment. 

In Author s Own words....

"What is Perfect? In a world with so much suffering, isolation and indifference, it is cause for gratitude if something is sufficiently good".

Kottukkaali

Beauty of well constructed scenes keep you in awe. What we knew already from what we see is the premise of a Hyper Male against an Adamant Female. This Premise is aptly decorated by Family Members's idiosyncrasies and gossips.

Thus a Journey begins for the family, a rally to seek remedy to the current plight with prayers on either sides. Journey across Villages, Forests, barren lands leads us to the final destination. Journey is fillled with curious, inadvertent, stereotypic, touchy obstacles until we reach the finish mark.

A Road movie similar to Madras to Pondicherry done aesthetically. 

Frames, admirable, Rally view from the top, from the sides, from the front, Staccato Shots, Hyper walks, Justapoxing two or three Characters in a single frame, All these frames waiting for the viewer to interpret, leads us to the end of Journey with no apparent indication or suggestion. All these frames above does not in any way indicate the upcoming subtle transformation or about the Open Choice every one has to make in the end. Instead those Frames end up as a Outsider Gaze on a family, seeking remedy to a dispute, Viewed with curiosity and enjoyed with Silly Jest.

Frames though intelligent rarely evoke any emotion or movement within us. Frames does not add up to the overall Philosophy of the film if there was one.

End of Journey, the original Premise still remains nascent without flowering into any depth or Subtext. This left a gasping feeling of incompleteness at the end.

Film may pretend itself to be Open ended, it could also be because it could not grasp any depth all along during the Journey. All the movement that happens until the end is a mild indication to us that this Adamant girl is indeed a freedom loving girl where as the erstwhile hyper male is a doubting male now.

Thangalaan

Life of the individual juxtaposed with Life of the society in euphoric drama. 

Eventful journey of self discovery going back in time remembering the promise and responsibility.

Promise closer to truth whose voice we repeatedly hear throughout. Euphoric clarion call by the unmatched energetic force to stand by the promise and responsibility. Voice of the primordial power making us feeling safe and all consuming at the same time.

Promise in the form of pangs of conscience, dreams and inner voices you can neither ignore nor listen to. Journey undertaken demands to listen such voices and also demands to ignore the same voices to  chart your own intuitive path.A classic case of past leading us to the future. A habit to look back to arrive at now.

Standing out from the society but taking them along, Real Hero Arrives at the light dazzled by the complete truth of it only to carry a part of the whole to the show the world how it needs to be done.

Most famous hymn invoked here with all its grace.

Journey to achieve the material need brings within it the seed of contentment to bring freedom and everlasting peace. Movie beautifully captures that pursuit of wealth and contentment are inseparable and are intertwined with one another unimaginably. Unimaginably Dual.

Inversal of any folk tale or archetype is an excellent opportunity to learn more about our human nature. To arrive at the light we need to fight venomous desires, vigorous passions, Ruthless death has to be slain. but the same desires,passions and fear of death teaches us like no other , they are not to be shunned but faced and won. Nature in its splendid duality to teaching and taking us to the one light.

Buddha watching over centuries of similar lessons left unlearned. people Repeatedly left high and dry about the illusive goal of freedom and peace.

Should we move forward or go back in time to learn to keep the promise ? Was there a heavenly content society before us, long before us, Going by the stories we grew with answer seem May be. Individuals seem to have been arriving waiting for the Society.

Extraordinary film, with multiple layers of Retelling history, Retelling Social Order with a diligent eye for Individual liberation amidst all the euphoria.

The Delinquents

Who are these Delinquents ?

It begins as 

A common bet perhaps

Amongst the Delinquents,

Life time savings under the table,

But can only be used after, always,

Hidden amongst the rocks of time.

A pursuit not so uncommon

A pursuit not so greedy 

A pursuit in desparation 

A pursuit of promise

A pursuit of minor criminality

Pursuit is the bet

Bet is the pursuit.

Pursuit filled with 

So much tyranny 

So much distress to self and others

So much cunning and

So much anxious.

Pursuit broken by

Wonderful sunny day under the sky,

With love and company amidst the nature,

Unhinged flowing love brightly beauty, 

Moved by dreamy love,

Moved by arrangement of words, 

Moved by Silence and Movement.

Such days extended to eternity is

The Heaven

A dream, a promise, a yearning

of these Delinquents 

To keep things this simple.

Searching, a bet forgotten 

Waiting, a bet remembered 

Who are these Delinquents?

Teen Couple Have Fun Outdoors

Funny one-liners about predicaments kept coming and eventually ran out. Story developed midway into a single melodramatic rocking to and fro motion of "Knock-reject-comeback-knock" mode until all the melodrama ran out too. Then we enter the actual novel of the protagonist middleman who has been painfully trying to keep the peace and piece together, His intent and eventuality forms the bedrock of this novel.

What is a family ? 

We get a lightning brief glimpses of what it is when protagonist brother comes back home not willing to stay away from family for a short course on personality development happening at a different city. Once the brother arrives after giving up on the planned travel Everyone in the family seem happy for no reason.

Another glimpse when mom keeps calling the protagonist every one hour and when ever she is outside.

Another glimpse when the middleman makes one of those rocking attempts to make peace with family and Individual, A door which is kept open as way of insult eventually becomes the path to Freedom and Evacuation for the Individual. Freedom from the past, Evacuation from the present. 

As he begins his Individual Sojourn, Protagonist from the Emerson generation learns that Wells of Family and Friends dry up at the same time, one following the other, much to his surprise, Contrary to the popular perception and mostly due to the same reason.

கஸாக்குகள்

 

இரு வேறு வாழ்க்கைகளின் எல்லைகளை படம் பிடித்து காட்டும் நாவல் கஸாக்குகள்.

கூட்டத்தோடு ஒன்றி வாழும் ஒருவன், தனி மனிதனாய் வாழும் இன்னொருவன். இருவரும் பெறுவதும் இழப்பதும் என்ன? இருவரின் மகிழ்ச்சியும் துன்பமும் எதில் இருக்கின்றன ? சக மனிதர்கள் விரும்புவது கூட்டத்தில் ஒருவனையா தனி மனிதனையா ? கூட்டத்தில் இருக்கும் ஒருவனுக்கான நியாய தர்மங்கள் வெற்றி தோல்விகள் ஐயத்திற்க்கு இடமின்றி தெள்ள தெளிவாக வகுக்கப்பட்டு இருக்கின்றன. பெரும்பாலான மனிதர்களுக்கு இவை குறித்து எந்த குழப்பமும் இல்லை. தனி ஒருவனுக்கோ அப்படி இல்லாமல் கூட்டத்தின் இலக்கணங்களை விதிகளை ஏற்று கொள்வதில் ஆயிரம் குழப்பங்கள். அறம் சார்ந்த குழப்பங்கள் இன்பத்தை தள்ளி வைக்கவே வலியுறுத்துகின்றன.ஆனால் இன்பம் தவிர்த்த வாழ்வு அடிப்படையிலேயே தவறான ஒன்றாக மறுக்க முடியாத வகையில் தனி மனம் உணர்கிறது.  இன்பம் நாடாத வாழ்வில் சக மனிதர்களுடன் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ள தனி மனிதனுக்கு என்ன தான் இருக்கிறது, அவனது குழப்பங்களும் தெளிவுகளும் தொடர்ந்து அணிவகுத்து வந்து தனி மனிதனை எங்கே அழைத்து செல்கின்றன ? அவன் கூட்டத்தினருக்கு தேவைப்படக்கூடிய எதைத் தான் செய்வான் ? தனது மன சஞ்சாரத்தின் மனவிகாசத்தின் மனத்திரிபின் முட்டாள்தனத்தின் எல்லைகளை முழுமையாக அறிவானா அவன் ? எதை நம்பி அவன் இன்பத்தை தவிர்க்கிறான் ? வாழாது தப்புவது மட்டுமே அவன் செய்ய வேண்டியதா ? ஏனெனில் முனைப்பின் கூர்முனை செயல்களில் இறங்க அவன் செயல்களின் வேகம் குறித்தும் நிச்சயம் குறித்தும் பயம் கொள்கிறான். எங்கே தனது செயல் ஆணவம் மிக்க சுயநலத்துடன் அழித்தொழிக்கும் இயல்புகளுடனான வகையில் அமைந்து விடுமோ என்ற அச்சத்தில் செயலிழந்து நிற்கிறான். செயல்களின் விளைவுகளை தனது மன சஞ்சாரத்தின் முடிவுகளையும் வாழ்க்கை சாராம்சம் என அவன் கொண்டுள்ள முன் முடிவுகளையும் சீர் தூக்கிப் பார்த்தபடி தொடர்ந்த உழற்சியில் இருக்கிறான். இந்த உழற்சியே அவன் தனி மனிதன் என்பதற்கான ஒரு அடையாளமாகவே அமைந்து இருக்கிறது. உழற்சி சில நேரங்களில் அவனை செயலின்மையில் சென்று சேர்க்கிறது. சில நேரங்களில் கூட்டத்தில் சென்று சேர்க்கிறது. இத்தனைக்கும் பிறகு  தனி மனிதன் பெறுவது தான் என்ன ? அவனது மகிழ்ச்சி எதில் ? தனிப்பட்ட அவனுக்கே உரித்தான வகையில் புலன் தேவைகளை அவன் நிறைவேற்றிக் கொள்வதிலா ? வாழ்க்கை சாராம்சம் குறித்த தனித்த வகைமையில் வாழ்வை நடத்தும் சுதந்திரத்திலா ? உழற்சியை உணர்ந்த ஆன்மீகத்திலா? முனைப்பிலாது அன்புடன் அவன் கூறும் சில சொற்களிலா ? அந்த சில சொற்களையும் தவிர்க்கும் மௌனத்திலா ?தனி மனிதன் பெறுவது தான் என்ன ?