BlogOwner Rants About Happy Endings

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I’m all for happy endings. Now, tell me, what’s wrong with happy endings? That they aren’t real enough? Too fairytale-ish? They happen only in movies? What are we clashing on here? A) that happy endings are not possible in real life or B) you and I won’t have a happy ending?

I was watching Pretty Woman today and what struck me the most was that there actually are very few movies that make any sense at all and have a happy ending. A happy ending that is could be real. There are also very few books that seem to satisfy these criteria. Cynical writers? Or is it really so that happy endings are rare and hence we don’t write about it? Is it not so that we tend to write about that which is not or that what one wants or that which is, but with a certain degree of spin to it? What we are living, what is here and now is so difficult to write about. There is probably no novelty in that. Why would I want to read a book which describes, accurately and with every single detail, what it is to be Sneha and what it is to wake up at 8.20 am, shower at top-speed, rush to class, sleep (mentally) in class, have lunch, go to the library and work, ‘bond’ with people in the library, go back to the room at midnight and sleep? Well, I’d say that I would indeed read such a book if it were not written by me, which obviously wouldn’t happen because I wouldn’t do such a thing. But then again, I would read it to see my life, no, my daily chores (that’s not my life) through someone else’s eyes because there would certainly be some spin on it. It wouldn’t be what I live. And who else would read it? Nobody, except my stalker, if any, perhaps. And in any case, this wouldn’t be a book about what is, because it’s not written by me and nobody but I knows what is. So even if anybody else read it, it would be because it is not about what is. So either way I win. You get what I’m saying, don’t you?


Happy endings happen in real life. Now, there is really no ‘end’. Hence, there are no endings. Hence happy endings aren’t possible. What is possible is just, well, being happy. And that happens. So why are people saying all the time that happy endings are not real enough? Of course, they’re real if you assume there’s an end. This leads us to ask, what is an end? If we are to assume an end, then that end would be more of a turn or a culmination of certain events. There actually is a problem in the terminology and not in the idea itself. When two people fall in love and tell each other that, that’s a happy event, a happy turn, a happy end assuming both of them die that instant. Assuming they don't,they get married, that’s another happy turn. Then they have problems. They get, what is called, real. They take each other for granted. But they do come to some agreement at the end of each such set of events and live this way. Loving each other, hopefully. If they’ve managed to do that, then they’ve been happy. This brings us to the very definition of ‘happy’. What is being happy? I won’t define it, because it means something tangibly different to each one of us, but is the same in essence. A lot of people have tried, and failed, to define it. That’s not because – in the words of some idiot- that we’re not good enough to define what it is, but because the language we communicate in not equipped to define it. Everybody knows what it is and I say peace to that.

Anne of Green Gables is one movie, where there’s no such ‘end’. Anne and Gilbert do get married, but that’s only their happy turn, not their happy ending. When the knight in shining armour comes and rescues Vivian in Pretty Woman, it’s not the end, it’s the beginning of the story. A happy turn. So why is such a thing so unreal? We all get a taste of that feeling a lot many times in life. I’m sure you can recount at least 5 such turns which really made you feel that you’re special and that you’re you, a distinct soul in this sea of human beings, then why are happy turns, or if we can to accept the faulty terminology and proceed, happy endings unreal or rare? If it can happen to you, who may be at the most, say 24, 5 times already, then what makes you think happy endings aren’t possible? Why is pursuing your love so different from pursuing what you want in your work-life? I’ll tell you why. Because you value the former a little bit more. So you don’t want to make mistakes. But you know what? You have to go for it. You have to do as the 8 of coins says. You have to work towards it and glory will be yours. You will have a happy turn, a happy ending. And guess what, it’s not only you who wants that. The other person also wants it. It’s just so absolutely idiotic to not do anything about it and say happy endings are unreal and rare. Don’t be like Celine and the guy (I’ve forgotten his name) in Before Sunrise. Be like Edward and Vivian, like Anne and Gilbert, like Oliver and Jenny, like all those who loved love enough. You do not want to live all your life thinking “Oh, I should’ve done that, I should’ve tried that.” If Edward had not gone ahead in Pretty Woman and they’d have met after 10 years, they’d probably have been like the two in Before Sunset. Full of regret. Do you want that to happen to the story of your life? Or do you want your sequel to be like Anne and Gilbert’s where they don’t ‘live happily ever after’ because ‘ever after’ is not one day. They do live happily, yes. But they are not regretful. At the worst, they may fall out of love and become indifferent to each other. They may even start hating each other. Then, they’d think they rushed into it, or that they were foolish. But they wouldn’t regret not having done something. At the worst, they’d think they made a mistake. But they’ll certainly value their days of happiness because they did have that happy turn. They were happy at some point. It’s better to have that burst of happiness for a few days or months or years than not have it all AND have regrets. So even on a cost benefit analysis, going for it wins. Because this way, happy turns are guaranteed.

Please, do it, ok? Thanks. I had to say this.

Adoption and Pengy

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

There is a certain strange phenomenon which oft takes place at my place of study, law school (henceforth, PoS). People adopt other people as their ‘kids’. There are natural kids as well. First, there are rank kids, rank parents- rank genealogies. These are people who share the same rank in the entrance test conducted by PoS through which certain 80 victims are chosen to be tortured in a manner that you, oh innocent reader, cannot imagine. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t say this torture is bad or undesirable. This is the pain is pleasure kind of torture, if you know what I’m saying *sage like grin*Then there are roll kids and roll parents. Roll genealogies are rare because people are generally too lazy to calculate who their roll parent is.

The norm is to take your ‘kid’ out for lunch/dinner and ‘get to know’ him/her. It’s a very warm thing to do, especially in the kid’s first week at PoS when he’s all confused and harrowed and doesn’t know what to do types. Now I’ll tell you about my experience. My roll dad was taking me for lunch this one day but I had to cancel at the last minute because I had to attend a moot feedback session which basically consisted of a general 5 minute speech intended to encourage us first years to moot. So I missed that lunch. My rank dad (yea, I know, I have 2 dads. No mom.) tried scheduling lunch a zillion times in trimester I but it didn’t work out because either of us was always busy with something. So now the plan is that he’ll take me for lunch when I’m taking my kid. It’ll be like a Rank 6 family thing. Three Glorious Generations.

Now, people often adopt people- even people from their own batch. For fun. So this Virgo debate buddy of mine who I shall henceforth refer to as Pengy, the Penguin because she strongly resembles one (we have conducted surveys to affirm this) and very cutely flaps around while mumbling indecipherable noise type things, decided to adopt me. Now, Pengy had to take me out to seal our bond. So this once during a break between classes, Fish casually asked whether we could go out for dinner that night. Pengy and I were okay with that. Chick, a certain Scorpio friend who along with her roomie, Nepali, are the funniest people on my floor, was randomly roaming around looking lost and aimless. So Pengy asked her if she wanted to come along. Chick was game. So this is how it happened. We went to a lovely place called Casa Del Sol and if you’re in Bangalore you should definitely try it. It’s right above Casa Picola on Residency Road.


The four of us happened to have a moniker which was the name of a bird of some sort. Chick is chick. Pengy is well, a penguin. Fish looks like a duck and they say I look like a sparrow- small and chirpy. So we decided to call ourselves the Birdies or the Avian Society. The mandate of the Avian Society is to try new and jazzy restaurants in Bangalore and pamper self by doing such. Birdies Dinner happens once a month.

You may brace yourself for my next post which will detail out the various monikers that some rather indescribable characters have. So I won’t get into that in this post. It’s funny how we rarely call each other by our name. Putting spins on people’s name is so much fun. Something special by each person, for each person *sigh* Okay, disregard that last sentence. I’m in one of those moods, you see.

BlogOwner's Happiness and Movies

Monday, June 16, 2008

After a long drawn conversation with S (the sis-tah, remember?) which basically revolved around BlogOwner’s happiness (yes, she’s slightly self-obsessed) it has been decided that the mandate of this blog shall be upheld and it will be used as a place to make fun of all the serious things that happen to BlogOwner as she goes about doing her thing. Some news that you, as an inquisitive reader, might want to updated on:

1. BlogOwner has resumed her pilates sessions. Now, now, for the uninitiated, Pilates is NOT some sort of a coffee blend and it’s NOT pronounced as pie-lates. It’s pi (as in timid)-lah-tays. Thank you very much. It is a form of exercise which is usually practised by ballet dancers and suchlike who need strength in their core, need to be able to balance while performing and need long, lean muscles. Well, heh, BO is neither a ballet dancer nor does she have long, lean muscles *sigh* however, she will practise pilates till she gets them. Do not snigger the way S does! I shall pursue this cause with passion. Thank you very much.

2. She’s been watching movies obsessively. The ones that she’s seen of late are-

1. The Mistress of Spices- It was quite terrible, to put it in mild terms. BO loved the sarees Ash wore, though. They were simple and beautiful- quite like Mrs. Gandhi’s. BO loves her sarees as well. Don’t you think they’re gorgeous? BO would kill to get those sarees.

2. The Graduate- Awesomeness oozing from every frame.

3. Four Weddings and a Funeral- Bleh. Not funny.

4. Rounders- Very interesting movie. BO got all excited about it after streaming and watching it at some 4 in the morning. So she wikied Texas Hold ‘Em and is now all inspired to become a poker champion. Must watch! In fact, BO watched it after it was highly recommended by someone.

5. Little Miss Sunshine- BO fails to understand why it inspires the oh-my-god-this-is-so-cute feeling. It certainly did not succeed in making BO, who happens to be a soft-hearted, harmless type creature who cries at the end of Meg Ryan movies, feel that way. Quite a disappointment. She did like Twain’s character though.

6. Love Story- Really, really, really….. (to infinity) nice. Much better than the book, in BO’s humble opinion.

7. The Pianist- Good movie. Mild, yet leaves an impact.

8. The Devil Wears Prada- Good chick flick. Really entertaining. S recently told BO that she (i.e. BO) looks thin and BO reacted just the way Emily did. BO likes Emily!

9. Night at the Museum- Funny. Loved the “Hey octavus/octopus/whatever.” “It’s Octavius.” bit! Octavius was obviously BO’s favourite!

10. Before Sunrise- Too good. Perfect BO flick. She totally related to Celine and agreed with almost everything she said in the movie.

11. Before Sunset- The sequel to #10. Wonderful. BO is now suppressing the extremely strong urge to discuss it here so that it doesn’t spoil the movies for you. Absolutely BO type flicks, these two, I tell you!

12. Half of Across the Universe + Half of Thank You for Smoking- Yes, they do not make one whole movie, but still. BO loved both of them till they went off and made her sad. Now she shall stream them online and finish watching them.

13. First 15 minutes of Trainspotting- Absolutely gross. Couldn’t get past 15 minutes. Why subject self to such unpleasantness?

14. Father of the Bride- For the nth time. Good fun and really funny. BO loves Steve Martin.

15. When Harry Met Sally- For the mth time. Love love love. However, BO’s favourite Meg Ryan movie is Sleepless in Seattle.

Well, BO might have seen another movie or two which she cannot remember now. Yes, it’s become quite an obsession especially when one considers the fact that BO had never been a movie-person. She can’t sit through movies. She gets restless and keeps looking at her watch. That still happens though. She keeps checking how much of the movie is left.

Fish has been pestering poor BO to ‘watch a movie with her’. There are certain logistical constraints which Fish refuses to acknowledge. For instance, one can plug only ONE pair of earphones at a time. How are 2 pairs of ears supposed to share that? Further, BO likes watching movies alone. Peacefully. Also, Fish loves those scary thriller morbid terrifying screech-scream-inducing movies. On the other hand, BO loves anything that’s NOT that. Not that she doesn’t like thrillers and suchlike, but she simply prefers happy and/or interesting ones, not necessarily romcoms. BO is NOT a sucker for only romcoms. Thank you very much. So Fish, dearie, BO must break your heart. We can always go shopping together, right?

3. BO wants to listen to some good, fresh music. Please suggest your all-time-favourite type music.

4. BO loves Simon and Garfunkel.

5. BO loves blogging! Well, this isn’t news, but BO simply wanted to state this.

Until next time, most intelligent reader (since you chose to read this), may all be well with you!