Fireworks or phusss?

At the outset, I would like to confess that I haven’t seen the original Amitabh Bacchan starrer “Agneepath” and hence I went to watch the new avatar with an uncontaminated perspective devoid of any comparative mental blocks. I simply went to enjoy my Sunday morning but…

…but as the most overused online clichéd one liner goes, “S**t happens”.

To cut a long story short, although the trailers claim that this season it will be all about revenge, I found it quite surprising that the film itself is not as gory, raw or gut smashing vengeful.

The length:

First of all, the movie is longer than Kim Kardiashan’s ex husband’s monstrous height and yet the wow moments in the movie are as short lived as Kim’s marriage.

The songs:

With the only exception of “Chikni Chameli”, the movie could have done without each and every insipid song.

The climax:

The climax is boring. Period. I expected the final scenes of an action movie about revenge to be much more…wait…much much much more exciting. It was as if by fluke that the main protagonist finally drew some heavenly strength and somehow managed to lift a heavy stone and smash the gut of his overpowering enemy: all in 2 mins. That’s it. If you rewind the movie 10 minutes backwards, you’ll witness how brutally the antagonist kicks the hell out of a visibly stupid hero, stabs him multiple times, knives him, drags him down the village.

"Kancha, Spraymint kiss ready ki kasam, your breath smells like rotten eggs"

Let me try to understand what must have happened.

The director started off with a plan in mind: Sanju baba kicks the hell out of Hrithik for 2 minutes and then Hrithik beats the bald old baddie to death (for another 10 mins).  And the audiences get their kicks. Nice plan, I would say.

But what exactly happened is when Sanjay Dutt started to bitch slap poor Hrithik, the director shed a silent tear of appreciation and got so carried away that instead of the original 2 minutes plan, he kept on dragging the scene. Finally KJo bola, “Abe Karan, sathiya gaya hai kya? Khatam kar movie, already 3 hours ka ho gaya hai”. Then they wrapped it up in haste and hence Hrithik didn’t get his chance to beat bad Kancha.

The logic (or the lack of it):

1. Why did Vijay Chauhan’s mother and sister go to the police station to identify a dead baddie from their village?
2. While Vijay bombed the entire village, why did he go empty handed to meet Kancha?(when he knew he hasn’t beefed himself up in 15 years to take on a visibly fatter, chillum smoking 40 something man)

There are a lot of loose ends in the movie. But given that it’s not an intellectual movie, we can ignore some logic but not everything. In the end, the movie doesn’t make much sense. I would have been much happier if Vijay could have brutally beaten the heavens out of Kancha, dragged him down the entire village, maim him and make him cry for death & finally recollect his father’s words of wisdom: A weak man can never forgive a powerful man, he has to become powerful first to forgive the other. Then Vijay could have forgiven Kancha to die in agony and pain and could have lived with his mother and sister. But no, he got slapped and died. In between, he somehow managed to pull off a trick and hang Kancha. So what, we are not impressed! You need not wait for 15 years to kill a man like that.

Silver lining?

On the brighter side, the cinematography of the movie is amazing. Some great performances by Rishi Kapoor, Om Puri, Priyanka Chopra & the child artist that portrayed Hrithik. Some intermittent touching scenes grace the movie especially when Vijay’s mother invites him to dinner and after an argument asks him to leave at the dinner table. Vijay quickly grabs some food off the table and rushes out. The sheer emotion of relishing the taste of his mother’s food after a span of 15 years is emotionally overwhelming.

We all have seen worse movies. This ain’t one of them. But this ain’t good enough too. This is one of those movies that leave you the moment you exit the theater. You don’t feel bad, you don’t feel good, you don’t feel sad, you don’t feel euphoric, you don’t get tensed, you don’t get angry, you just feel that although justice is done, kuch maza nahi aya.

Final verdict:

One time watch. Catch it on DVD or TV. Not worth your hard earned money.

“That’s my seat”, I kind of freaked out.
“Do you have your name written over here?” she screamed back at me. Her eyebrows squeezed together. A sliver dumb-bell on her left eyebrow gleamed while she spoke. I was taken aback at her behavior.
I was like, “Excuse me?” Still wondering & surprised that she really said those words to me. “My name over the seat”, my mind wondered and then went numb, blank and started swiveling around dozens of questions & exploring numerous possible answers. Yes, I was embarrassed. My ego & reputation as a Dude was at stake. Ok, I panicked.
And whenever I panic, I’m at a loss of words & my English starts to exponentially follow the logarithmic curve, downwards off course.
I cleared my dry throat & mustered the last flinders of my shattered Dude-ismic charisma & replied, “My seat…written over (pointing to my ticket)..is this..no that..ummmmm…YES!!”
The look on her face said it all. I rolled my eyeballs to scan my neighborhood to make sure no one else heard those ghastly combinations of English words devoid of any grammar or meaning.
Phew!! The stout middle-aged man, with a belly that would put a pregnant woman to shame, was snorting mildly, sleeping and the lady with the weird hairstyle on the aisle seat was busy listening to music. I thanked God.
“Stop staring at me, haven’t you seen a girl”, she threw the last nail on my coffin.
I still managed to squeak, “I wasn’t staring”

*************************** 15 minutes earlier ***************************

Like a possessed Urmila from Bhoot, I was staring at her (read checking her out). Nothing was happening though. My Sherlock Holmes instinct didn’t help either. It had been almost 30 min. since I started examining the strange but beautiful creature to my left, but in vain. The fundamental question which haunts every male in their 20s is still elusive: How to strike off a conversation with a beautiful stranger? (of opposite gender, off course). Still beats me why, after years of preaching Dude-ism, I’ve always faltered at making the right first move. I prayed to Barney Stinson and Joey Tribbiani (just in case they shower some divine flirting energy).

The red checkered cotton 3/4^th, which I was wearing, didn’t help either: what if she doesn’t appreciate hairy legged men? Do I resemble a cave man with those red Puma slippers on? But who cares? Dudes are supposed to follow that dress code. We are innately attractive to the opposite sex. Aren’t we? I was confused. Maybe the artificial orange juice served by the skinny stewardess is at fault. Why am I losing focus? Focus. Focus Tonmoy!!
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, imagined myself as a combination of Johnny Depp & Antonio Banderas and *BOOM*……..she looked at me: my knees went weak, butterflies mistook my tummy for a kick-boxing ring, I sighed. She was indeed beautiful. With a bunch of red dyed streak of hair over her forehead, anyone would mistake her for Avril Lavigne for a moment. I had already opened my mouth & she looked at me expecting a dialogue.

“Ummm…that’s my seat!!” I did it again.

*************************** 15 minutes earlier ***************************

I’ve always been an ardent admirer of Sherlock Holmes & after I watched Robert Downey Jr. portray the historic hero so immaculately, my euphoria wasn’t short lived. I tried copying his style of observing people & inferring conclusions from it.
This situation wasn’t an exception. What better subject than a beautiful girl sitting next to you on a mundane flight.
1) She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans, carried a Louis Vuitton handbag & was flaunting her iPhone.

Deduction: Stylish

2) Her t-shirt had a pic. of Marilyn Monroe, pink on white. The hair was poker straight (not natural though, the Dudes can make it out, huh), unevenly chopped, red streaks.
Deduction: Probably a Punk wannabe.

3) Striped long socks, emo pink shoes, black nail polish & black bangles.
Deduction: 100% Punk wannabe.

The whole exterior was so colorful that anyone would mistake a peacock for her father. Poor jokes apart, she looked stunning though. She reminded me of the Black Eyed Peas, so disgustingly colorful, yet peppy.

She realized that I was checking her out & as usual started her ‘nakhrebaazi’. She swiftly opened her expensive purse & there came out a shiny little electronic monster (which was infact more attractive than she was) – plugged in a Bose head phone (Yes, I noticed. How often do you hit upon people using Bose originals) – clicked a button here & there – and she closed her eyes (which was mostly dabbed in deep black mascara). The gizmo lying on her couch looked attractive. I almost fell for the bait.
Deduction: High maintenance girl. Bose speakers, huh!!

I was falling for this colorful creature.

*************************** 30 minutes earlier ***************************

“I never fall for any girl. They fall for me.” has been my tenet since time immemorial. So when I woke up the other morning to board my flight from Guwahati to Pune, I chose the blandest of apparels possible to drape myself. A cotton 3/4th (like the one the Jeff Bridges wore in classic The Big Lebowski), a white T with a small superman print, a retro summer jacket & a pair of red slippers. Carrying a backpack, which essentially has everything a man needs to survive for 30 days.

Stepping on the airplane, my spiked hair drew some orthodox eyeballs; some elderly lady gazed in amazement at my choice of apparel. The air-hostess smiled. I smiled back at her, shaking my head.

It would be a lie if a guy would never anticipate a beautiful, hot, and direct from angel’s den kinda girl sharing the seat next to him. But the more I used to expect, the worse it used to get. In my short span of flying history, I’ve shared my seat with old aunts squeezing me, middle aged men irritating me, young but married ladies fidgeting around to keep her naughty kid in control, poor kids tearing their tonsils apart, silly grown up kids spilling water & not to forget a Baba Ramdev practitioner too. So no wonder, I was not at all expecting or even thinking about my co-passengers. I was too busy thinking nothing. Yes, we men can do that.

A teenager girl stared at my hairy legs & transmitted the visible disgust directly at my face. I was the last man on earth to care. The media has stereotyped real man as a smooth & hairless, 8 packed macho man, clean shaved (remember Shave India Movement) & wearing undergarments that bear the name of another male?
A hairless, shaved, six packed man running in the beach wearing nothing but undergarments bearing the name of another male? Tommy Hilfiger, anyone? Does that what real man looks like?
That’s exactly how a woman should look like!! Period.

So the dude navigates to find his seat: 14B. Middle seats irritate the hell out of me. An old lady with running shoes & a naught kid with running nose, I wondered.
12, 13…ok, 14..A B….hmmm…hold on a sec: is that a beautiful girl sitting at 14A?

It edified my spirit, but I acted as cool as a cucumber; my heart thumping louder than ever. Hell yeah!! I gave God a virtual High-5.

*************************** xxxXXXxxx ***************************

Quoting from my favorite movie ‘The Big Lebowski’, “Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you”, which essentially means that sometimes you come out on top, and sometimes you lose big time.

Life’s a series of airplane journeys; you never know when you find your perfect peacock! Somebody somewhere will eventually land up sitting next to you & together someday you’ll fill up the middle seat of your 3 seat family.

Till then, keep enjoying the tasty ‘Fiery grilled chicken’ from KFC.

This is my entry to KFC fiery grilled ‘Sets You On Fire!’ contest on Indiblogger.

I leave it to my readers to speculate if the story is real or a work of fiction.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean if there is a God, is he so self obsessed that he needs to be appeased first!” he chuckled.

It wasn’t at all surprising to hear that argument coming from an atheist. But being agnostic myself, one who claim neither faith nor disbelief in God, I put forwarded my opinion.

“That’s where religion get’s interesting, buddy” I replied back.

“What do you mean?”

The person who had theorized the concept of religion was a really smart. Religion was introduced as a tool to unite people. Almost every ancient religion proposes that the creation of the universe and of living things is best explained by an intelligent cause or an intelligent omnipresent being. In this way an illusion of larger than life intelligent powerful image of an invisible super-power is created and passed onto newer generations. This was done to keep people in check. While most would listen to the church/temple/which is turn will preach the sermon from the king/ruler (let’s say). For those who still commit crimes, disrupt the harmony of the state etc, religion provided another powerful alternative: paap dhona (to wash away ones sins). While in Christianity, one can confess her sins to a padre; the Hindus prefer to take a dip in the Ganges or likewise.

The concept was bound to be a hit. It provided the ruler of the state to have control over his/her masses by imbibing the fear of God in them. And it was the best tool to foster unity.

But the problem arose out of worshiping the so called God. People started worshiping him and started thinking of ways to appease him. People started to consider God as a watchdog who flinches at the slightest of unethical or immoral act. Or worse still, the keeper of luck and destiny.

So appeasement of God is but a natural phenomenon, I explained.

“That’s alright. So, Tonmoy, you mean to say that there’s no God and the whole concept is actually a philosophy?” he asked looking at me.

I chewed on the salad hastily to clear out his doubt, “No, that’s not correct”

If there’s no God or Intelligent design, then what explains the concept called life? Theory of Evolution? Darwin theory? Natural selection? Survival of the fittest?

Probably yes & probably no.

Evolution:
Even Darwin, near the end of his life, said, “Not one change of species into another is on record… we cannot prove that a single species has been changed” (Source “My Life and Letters”, Volume 1)

Intelligent power/being or God:
If God created us and this earth/universe, is it believable that It/He/She caters to the prayers/thoughts/life of 6 billion human beings?
If It/He/She doesn’t care or cater to our prayers then why did It/He/She created us in the first place?

Intelligent being/ super power from space/advanced alien species:
This concept is similar to the God concept mentioned above, but here we don’t generally attach emotions to these beings. They might have inhabited our planet, played around with our DNAs, created a multitude of life forms, domesticated some animals & studied us for some time. And they left. They are least concerned about us. Or maybe they are watching us from above as a scientist looks at his lab mice! Probably. Or probably they simply stranded us.

I believe in the concept of Evolution and Intelligent Super power form space. And I don’t challenge the concept of God because who knows, God must be crazy enough to actually watch each one of us and listen to our prayers. And probably laugh at us.

So I’m happily AGNOSTIC.

oOo

Dev reached home a good one hour past midnight. He tip toed into his bedroom to find his wife asleep. His two year old daughter looked like an angel cuddled up in a white beautiful frock tightly hugging her mother while asleep. He kissed her forehead, reached for his mobile phone in his pocket and went out of the room.

“Dialing Adi” said his cellphone.

“Hey Adi, I was thinking the whole time about the man you told me about yesterday; what about we visit him tomorrow evening”

oOo

Aditya kept his phone down and started picturing the man. The wise guruji from the cave; The Wise Man.

oOo

Situated on the Pune-Mumbai road, Karla caves are approximately 40 km away from the city of Pune. Aditya and Dev took half day leaves from office to drive to the Karla Caves. The caves date back to the 2^nd century BC and represent the golden period of Buddhism in India.

Aditya had been to the caves before and had met the Wise Man. Dev could feel his heart pump faster as they neared the entrance of the cave. They took a right from a pillar that had four lions at the top. After walking through the hallway, they reached a dark corridor that lead to the virahas, the dwelling place of the monks. The place was warm and was beautifully lit with earthen lamps.

Near one of the carved out pillars sat a fragile white bearded man in grey robes. He was reading some scriptures.

Aditya and Dev touched his feet and sat down beside him. The Wise Man smiled at them and bowed. “What brings you here?” spoke the Wise Man in a deep baritone voice, quite atypical for a man who looked visibly weak.

“O, Wise Man, my name is Aditya and this is my friend, Dev. We have come from Pune. Both of us are married and have small kids at home. We work tirelessly for the welfare of our families. Yet there’s a problem…” spoke Aditya and looked towards Dev.

Dev continued, “..Guruji, the harder we try to work, the harder we fail. We have so many things in our head but are unable to achieve them due to lack of time.”

This was abruptly interrupted by the Wise Man, “What do you seek?”

Aditya, folded his hands in front of him and said, “O, holy man, we have heard about your miracles; they say that you’ve solutions to every problem and you grant wishes to the poor and the pure. We just have a simple plea”

“Please grant us a solution to our time crunch and end our dilemma so that we can lead a better life”, said Dev.

The Wise Man looked at Aditya in his eyes and asked to follow him to the chaitya, the prayer hall, while Dev was asked to wait at the viraha.

At the prayer hall, the Wise Man held Aditya’s right hand and told him, “I grant you two extra hours in a day. However there’s a condition. You can’t tell Dev anything about this and both of you should return together tomorrow after your day is over.” Aditya readily agreed, visibly ecstatic and excited.

Then the Wise Man took Dev to the prayer hall and told him, “Son, I’m taking away two hours off your day and granting it to Aditya. However tomorrow, I might reverse the roles but on one condition: You can’t tell Aditya anything about this and both of you should return together tomorrow after your day is over.” Dev was confused and let down. However he agreed.

oOo

The next evening, both Dev and Aditya arrived at the cave together. The Wise Man smiled at them. He asked Aditya, “Tell us, how you spent your day?”

Aditya seemed a bit disappointed and mumbled in a low voice, “O, Wise Man, my day was just fine, but I could have done much more. Infact, I became so carried away with the fact that I have two extra hours a day, that I became complacent. I also procrastinated and kept pushing my work and daily chores. To be frank I lazed around thinking that I can easily match my peers because I had the extra couple in my hand. At the end of the day, I didn’t actually achieve anything more than I would have done in a normal day. But later realized that it if only I had one more hour in my day…”

The Wise Man smiled as if he was expecting that answer.

“How was your day, Dev?” the Wise Man asked.

Dev replied, “At first, when I realized that I have two hours less than anyone else in the world, I was feeling a bit low. But while driving back from here to Pune last evening, I was so charged up in my head that I decided to make the best out of the time at hand. So I started my day by getting up earlier than usual. I ate a nutritious breakfast as I would need all the energy to finish my daily work on time. I even started multi-tasking e.g. I read the newspaper while having breakfast; a small innovation which lead to saving precious time. I reached office early & started working on my tasks with a renewed vigor. I started squeezing 70 seconds into every minute. I was inspired. I tried to innovate at my regular tasks and it paid off quite well. After lunch, I took a quick power nap of 15 minutes in the afternoon. By the end of the day, I had completed more than the tasks I would have done in a regular day and it took me by surprise. I realized that I was not doing different things, I was just doing my regular things differently: more effectively. I was not doing anything in a hurry, I was doing everything at my own pace, but the only difference was that I tried to improvise and that helped.”

The smile crept up the countenance of the old wrinkly face of the Wise Man. He said, “Yesterday, I extended Aditya’s day by two hours. On the other hand…”

He looked at Dev and continued, “…would you be surprised, Dev, if I tell you that I did nothing to your day. I didn’t reduce your day by two hours. I simply tricked your watch. I lied. You still have two more hours to your day.”

Dev was flabbergasted.

The Wise Man continued, “Time is not decided by the hands of the watch, my son. Time is a concept. Time saved is time gained. You can’t manage time; you can only manage yourself in time. Always remember that. There can always be twenty-four hours in a day, nothing more and nothing less. But you can bend time to your convenience. And as you rightly realized that time can only be saved by managing your chores more effectively and that can only be achieved by innovation. In earlier days, the distance between far lands were covered in years, then months and today we fly over oceans in matters of hours. That’s called evolution. That’s called innovation. And as you also rightly pointed out, innovation need not be something huge, it can be as small as reading your newspaper together with your breakfast.”

“So Dev, what would you like to do with these two extra hours you’ve today?”

Dev was taken aback at the naivety of the solution but was equally numbed down with the ferocity of it. His knees felt weak and he drooped down to support his body with his hands. He broke down.

Dev said, “Guriji, I would like to hug my little daughter, hold and kiss my dear wife, take care of my parents and enjoy the falling leaves. Yes Guriji, I would like to enjoy the falling leaves, close my eyes and feel the morning nip in the air, the cool breeze running through my hair. I would like to seek peace in solitude. I would like to climb the highest peak in the world and shout till my voice breaks, I would like to shout Guriji…shout till tears roll down my cheeks, tears of happiness, tears of peace, tears of realization. I would like to live my life in those two extra hours I saved”

“Then what are you waiting for” said the Wise Man.

oOo

This post is my entry to the Surf Excel Matic #GetSmart contest conducted by IndiBlogger. Surf Excel Matic is smart enough to get rid of stains while your clothes are inside your washing machine, so you don’t have to spend your precious time doing it separately. That’s what the Wise Man meant by innovation at small levels. Time saved is time earned.

Happy because it started a healthy debate on one of the most debated topics : Being a Vegan Vs. Non-Vegan & it led me to do a research on the Internet over the lazy weekend.

Before arguing the points I would like to clarify my own stand point in this whole debate: It really doesn’t matter & is a personal(often by birth, religion etc.) choice. IT’S A MATTER OF CHOICE. None is better or worse & we shouldn’t try to impose our behavior or eating habit on others. Period.

p.s. Btw, I’m a hard core non-vegan & love to savor my taste buds with anything except beef. (Again, not beef because my decision to stay non-vegan is what I got through birth. We are Hindus and we don’t eat beef. As simple as that)

So let’s start with the most widely stated argument by any hardcore Vegan: We should not eat animals because they are sentient beings. Sentient means awareness: state of elementary or undifferentiated consciousness. As we all know(because we as humans are scientifically proven to be sentient: we feel pain, we have a nervous system etc.)

So the vegan club believes that plants don’t have a nervous system or they are not sentient & hence it’s a better way way of living. Although they are alive, it’s ok to kill them coz they don’t jump out of your frying pans when you try to dip your uncut potato into the boiling water.

Firstly, let me take a unscientific approach. How many of you have seen that a potato kept at a basket for a long time grows buds & if we bury it in the ground, it will grow. That means it still has life in it.

See, the basic premise is that it is violent to kill any life form. Jain priests(who follow Mahavira) wear face masks around their mouth because they fear that by talking or coughing they might kill life forms in the air like bacteria & other microorganisms. Point noted.

So by eating plants aren’t we also killing a life?

The hard core vegan might still say no because the plant can’t feel anything, right? They are merely there for our relishing?

Let me counter argue this point scientifically now.

Back in 1966, a fellow named Cleve Backster(research scientist) did an interesting experiment. He connected a plant to a polygraph(which is used as lie detectors). He said the machine registered changes as soon as he began to contemplate burning the plant’s leaves.

He reported observing that a polygraph instrument attached to a plant leaf registered a change in electrical resistance when the plant was harmed or even threatened with harm. He argued that plants perceived human intentions, and as Backster began to investigate further, he also reported a finding that other human thoughts and emotions caused reactions in plants that could be recorded by a polygraph instrument. His work was in part inspired by the research of Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, who claimed to have discovered that playing certain kinds of music in the area where plants grew caused them to grow faster.

There will always be another section of researchers who would like to counter argue him & that’s exactly what happened. The article was met with wide criticism of his research methods. However Backster gained the interest of other researchers and expanded his experimental range to test for primary perceptions in other life forms such as yogurt, bacteria and human cells.

More recently, in 2004, scientists in Italy & Genmany conducted various experiments that suggests that plants under threat can marshal a positively devilish measure of cunning. They communicate the danger to plants nearby; and also call in help from other creatures.

Biologists at the University of Turin and the Max Planck Institute in Jena were reported to have found evidence that plants sensed — and reacted to — the presence of hungry, leaf-chomping grubs. Their response was to emit an odour similar to lavender. This alerted other plants to the presence of a predator. The intriguing question raised by the study is whether, at the start of the process they describe, there is something that can be termed fear in plants?

The only real difference, that we know of between animals and plants, is that they don’t move like we do, cant really communicate like animals do, and cant look you in the eye during slaughter. That is it. Otherwise there is NO real difference. And they have different means, mechanisms & maybe not yet discovered methods of doing these same things. We need not have the same methods. Dissimilarity doesn’t mean absence.

So to make an argument that since we are compassionate being we should not kill animals. This same argument can be applied to plants too. Even they feel. Just because it’s not widely accepted or ‘proven’ by the scientific community doesn’t mean they aren’t sentient beings.

As an analogy let me put forward a classical argument: the earth is flat. Earlier people believed that the earth is flat & later it was confirmed that we were actually wrong. So ignorance can’t be taken as an argument. Science today can’t be said to be at it’s peak. We are not in a position that science has done it’s work, discovered everything & now is sipping iced tea watching Simpsons. Absolutely not.

As Newton beautifully sums up my above argument in his famous quote: “I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

No wonder he was a great scientist. He understood that science is a vast ocean full of mystery which is yet to be fathomed into.

So the question is : Is a vegan lifestyle better than a mixed(sometimes called omnivorous) diet?

Its a privilege we have as humans to choose to be a vegetarian or not. It’s a matter of choice. There really is no right or wrong way to go about it. And since at this point in time its a matter of choice, it doesn’t matter. You eat what you choose to eat. Just like we have the right to believe in whatever we wish, religion wise.

After a bit of research, I even found out that it’s not good to switch from one side to the other(veg to non veg or reversal) without seeking medical advice. Our systems are used to a diet since our birth & to switch abruptly is not recommended. A slow medically advised transition is what is always recommended.

I have a quite chilled-out way of looking at the whole debate. It’s like religion.

When you’re born: you get a religion by default. You didn’t have a choice.

When you’re born: you get a diet by default. You didn’t have a choice.

Finally, even AR Rahman was Hindu by birth. But who cares? It’s the music he makes that makes him the legend he’s today, not his religion.

Hope I made sense.

Source:

http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=13162

http://www.hindu.com/seta/2004/04/22/stories/2004042200331600.htm

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/plants/news-feeling-plants-how-sensitive-flora

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleve_Backster