The Life Lens

The spirit of life was partly instilled in me due to exposure to songs and dialogues from old Hindi movies. In fact, it's only when I had moved to another country, I realized how much of my vital belief of 'everything will be alright in the end' was due to assumptions from this early knowledge. Let me introduce you to some of these ideas, particularly if you were born after the 1990s. Some of these notions saw me through life, others weren't an accurate description of the real-world.

'Jeena isi ka naam hai' (This is what is the meaning of life): This is a popular song in which Mr. Raj Kapoor is found walking as a happy loner conveying the message of what life really means, and why considering universal human happiness should be part of our vision. No matter how many life years may pass, keeping in touch with a child-like stance toward life, while knowing the harsh atrocities, is a good skill.

'Sachai aur pyaar ki jeet hogi' (The truth and love prevail in the end): This was in every other movie I recall watching particularly if the theme dealt with good people caught in bad situations. In real life scenarios though, the meaning of truth and love may shift depending on perspectives and where you stand, who you represent, and people deemed as worthy of protection versus others. I wouldn't recommend expecting this belief in a crude competitive Western setting, not because they don't believe in these ideas. They simply just believe more in grabbing a large coffee and driving for five hours to their next destination instead because most experiences aren't meant to last.

'Mere sache pyaar ne usay badal diya' (True innocent love healed the meanest person, even the criminally minded': Again, don't try this outside India. This is a highly cliched 90s idea found in many Hindi movies of the time. It may work on some juvenile foreign people and children only with some sisterly intent, not on men and women who may have seen way too much by their 20s and people who may not even comprehend what this sentence means.

'Woh aayega (ya aayegi)' (He'll come (or she'll come)': This I usually apply only when deciding my own actions toward others. This has served me well. However, this may not happen as a recipient of similar behavior. People live by different values and norms, for their own good reasons.

The reason I decided to write this fairly informal and less intellectually inclined blog this Friday afternoon is to show how a lot of what we think to be rational may after all just be lasting imprints from some scenes and songs you may have seen as a child. Because the first ten years of my life were marked by an afternoon-shift school (not because of any disability), I was impacted more by the movies than the typical school-going children of the time. Surprisingly, this helped me tremendously later in life because I could at least dive into quite challenging situations with sure confidence even though oftentimes later I had to use some newly and quickly built strategies to get out of problems. Plus, the decade of 20s and 30s is such that the naivete conveniently helps not understand half of what you deal with, until much later such as your 40s when you realize what you got out of eventually at the time.

The Indian spirit of movies made me remain optimistic about human beings, and even if I was ever disappointed, I could always come far enough to complete my walks gracefully, regardless of winning or losing.