The Lion King

Being all excited with my first post, I was on the look out for something good to blog and it seems like I have the Alchemist's 'beginner's luck' with this! Only a day had passed by, and I witnessed a wonder, a show I had witnessed never before. That very moment I knew what my next post would be. So, here it goes!

It had been a usual week at work and to everyone's delight, it was Friday. I was just about to plan something for the evening and that's when I noticed a rather unusual card lying in my wallet. A black card, hosting a lion's face. It said 'The Lion King, Friday, 7pm'. It was an invitation I had received a week back, from a friend of mine. Wrapping up work early, I made way towards the violin-shaped Chowdiah memorial hall that was hosting the show.

This was turning out to be a different Friday for me. A dinner with friends and a movie later generally make way to the evening agenda. I am not a fan of plays in general and hence I was not very sure how the experience was going to be. After a slightly rough ride to the hall, I met up with my friends who were hoping that the traffic would let me reach there in time. The atmosphere was cheerful and everyone was all smiles. Smiles have their own nuances. Some were reflecting a sense of achievement and some, a sense of respect. The show was about to begin and we grabbed our seats. On the seat, a small brochure greeted us and announced the cast of the play. It was going to be a stage adaptation of one of the most brilliant efforts in animation history - 'The Lion King'.

The curtains raised and a brilliant array of lights lit up the stage. It was the first scene and in the middle of the stage was Simba, a special one. I say he was special, for a reason. For it was not his limbs, but his mind, his heart which supported him. Yes, it was a show marking the silver jubilee of the 'Spastics Society of Karnataka' and it was its students who were performing the act. The wheel chair, making its place between him and the ground grabbed the first attention. But it took no time for Simba's presence and dialogues to shift my focus. My emotions were following the shift too. Pity gave its way to admiration and a heavy heart turned light as the show progressed. At one point, the wheel chairs just blended into the scene losing their semantic existence all together. The show went on and more special people introduced themsleves as lively characters on stage. It was turning out to be a great show and I was enjoying it thoroughly.

My level of involvement in the show had reached such a level that it was hard to believe the show had actually come to its end when it did. It was amazingly brilliant and more enchanting was the jubiliation of the kids performing. A standing ovation greeted the performers and the expression of achievement the kids had on their faces is inexplicable in words. We were then introduced to the woman behind the show, a free-lance show director who has spent 8 years of her life training such kids to perform on stage. A passion was visible in her eyes and in her words. She inspired a different outlook towards special people in the society and that has probably changed my perception of life in ways more than one.

Later in the evening, the performers of the show were still making rounds of the illusionary stage in my mind. They were making a point, about life. Its said that life is not fair and no one can change that fact. But what one can change is the approach to the underprivileged part of it. Its all about believing that there is a good approach and finding it. Once you have found the right approach, what follows is natural and just a part of you. It applies to all of us. Its visible in some cases and just implicit in others.

I have never seriously thought of doing charity in life but the bit I did by buying the ticket that day really made me feel good. From Saturday on, life caught up to its usual self but this show has definitely changed something inside me and the impact is there to stay. That evening went far in strengthening my belief in wonders!

What's in the name?

I have always wondered what a name describes about the one who holds it. Is it merely for the sake of nomenclature or there's more to it? On first thoughts, one may think that for all practical purposes, it's just a means of an initial level of distinguishability. On deeper thought, however, the word 'name' appears more profound. Had it not been indeed, names like 'Alpha2031' and 'Delta9029' (remember 'The Island') would be more common than 'Rahul' or 'Neha'!

Names hold a substantial amount of cultural information. Naming sons/daughters after Gods has been an age old tradition in India. Probably this tradition is primarily based on religious grounds where one seeks 'PuNya' by uttering God's name as often as possible. In some cases, a child is considered as a gift of God and hence he/she inherits the name from the Him (One of my friends is called 'Sai Prasad' ). The time and date of birth also has a role. I was born a day before MahaShivratri and hence the name which is one of the many names of Lord Shiva.

Some names somehow relate to the parents' perception of the newly born baby or metaphorically to what they want the kid to be in his life. 'Snehal', for example points to the perception of the child spreading love and happiness and 'Akshay' on the other hand reveals the parents' dream of their child being a winner! Others resemble the reflections of nature. 'Sameer' would make a good example for this.

I have not been exposed to the basis of western names but I guess most of the impressive ones probably come from the names of great people in the past (Now where did they get their names from in the first place!) 'Alexander', I feel is rather impressive! From a practical perspective, I feel western names are good since they are generally short :) (Or atleast the forms of names used are. 'Alex' is rather short, isn't it?)

Name transformation is another interesting aspect of the word. I would say this is rather common among friends. Sometimes its just for ease of use ('Siddharth' becomes 'Sid'!) and sometimes its just for the fun of it ('Nishant' becomes 'Nishti'. Well, I can't find a logic here!). Sometimes transforms can get rather wierd, but interesting. For example, who would imagine my name can be transformed to 'Kaddu'. However, I think that's really sweet :)

While writing this, I realised there are more dimensions to the word than I had imagined and now I think I should constrain the randomness of my thoughts on it :) This is my first blog and I don't even know why I chose this topic. But looks like blogging is going to be fun!