Move On: The Great 21st Century Innovation

“Sooner or later we've all got to let go of our past.” ― Dan Brown, Deception Point

Science has progressed tremendously over the last few decades, the mysteries of universe, origin of life, complexity of time and space, several aspects of death, analysis of life in other planets, constant danger of global warming. Science has transformed our lives in every sense. The world now exists within our palms and in a way has become our reliable alternative route to escape the mundane portion of life. Yet, despite all the advances made in the field of technology to simplify our lives, there is something unique and a multifaceted idea formed in the twenty first century. The idea to “Move On” in life amidst all the prevailing circumstances. This feeling of going ahead in life, leaving back the unfortunate series of events in the past, and pretending that tomorrow, the dawn will pronounce a fresh start to life, an unquestionable conjecture packed with hope that the morning choir of birds will reboot our previously unresponsive, unhappy and melancholic existence, and initiate the same sketch of our existence again with anticipation, that this time it will not crash. Just think about it, this idea to Move on or shall I say more precisely voluntarily or involuntarily adaptation in response to the surrounding environment is perhaps one of the most significant discoveries of this generation. Yes, the core idea have existed back to the time of evolution of mankind, and that human nature, after a certain point is acclimatized to this approach. It does present a great argument to my fictionalized assumption that this idea belongs to the twenty first century, but the way the outlook of Moving On is represented in today’s time is quite popular and not just superficially layered in our normal day to day life but has become an assured choice to restart something and lastly it also appears to be the only path to get rid of the sorrow driven through any possible means, be it heartbroken in love, personal loss, failure and rejections in life, the fear of mediocrity, the lust and pressure to succeed professionally, the exponentially growing competition and many more factors.

Now, I am not going to catalog the virtues and demerits of moving on, I am simply trying to emphasize on the connotation of the idea, which has become so relevant in our lives. It’s like we are lost at an unknown railway station during peak hours among thousands of crowds and we do not have an iota of an idea what to do, and we are told through a computerized female voice to get over to the train named Move On. It will not take you to your desired station, but will guide you to a safe space where you can actually re-plan about your journey. Has commerce and involvement in our work lead us to this point that moving on has attained such a vital importance in our lives, does not matter how reluctant we get to move ahead in life, there is a modulus of elasticity, where the resistance of reluctance is broken, and ultimately we are gravitated into fast paced world.

The idea of moving on also reflects the time we live in, where relationships have evolved in a different way with time, and love holds a lot wider definition. The dynamics of relationships have changed substantially, and moving on constitutes a critical role in holding onto that course of action. There is so less at stake and yet we are forced to one way or another feel the magnitude is incalculable. In a way, the maturity of this astonishingly crafted, weird and wonderful emotion in our present day lives have started to act as a catalyst on how we perceive our relations, because somewhere somehow there is this unfussy solution that is lying in front of us, which can be used through either immersing ourselves into the idea, or letting it grow organically into your thoughts. In Imtiaz Ali’s 2009 film ‘Love Aaj Kal’, Jai Vardhan Singh argues with Veer Singh about being practical, whereas Veer Singh is still confused about the equation of love that has unrolled over time. He then goes ahead and explains to him that there is no shortage of complicated issues to get our minds to ponder over, why make love a part of that list. Obviously, an underlying tone is observed in Jai’s words that hint at the central value that moving on from a person or a relationship holds over this generation.

Have we become too impatient in our lives about our career, relationships, and sensibilities?

The reason I ask this question is that after the occurrence of a certain string of actions in our lives, the basic and most widely used words we might hear in order to make us come out of that silent zone are “Move On” in life. And without any second thoughts, subconsciously we board the train named moving on, and by the time we realize that we are moving on, we constantly tell ourselves “Let it go” to remain focused on the process. So have we become too impatient to actually sit down in silence and ponder over those events that lead to this particular situation? Can’t we just simply think about that event and try and analyze that situation which might throw a light on a flawed characteristic that we possess, to eventually come out as a less flawed person or are we way too self centered to accept any inherent flaw in ourselves?

That does not mean that we have to obsessively think about those moments in the past, and unnecessarily cramp our mind with senseless scenarios. No, but rather accepting the situation and relinquishing the artificial denial that we build during the time gap is a far better option. One might argue that no matter what, it is pointless to stray towards the events in the past and to analyze it further; rather it is comparatively less tedious (emotionally) to just move ahead in life. However, doesn’t that represent moving on as simply running away from the real life situation, looking for a safe space where our actions are not be questioned in any sense?

Moving on in its simplest of forms corresponds to an initiative we take internally to get away with a certain form of grief, and programme our minds that there is a better world out there with better people, with which we can end up with better moments in life. It’s like a layer of different emotions, which gradually breaks down over the course of time, be it guilt, regret, sorrow, memories, and all of them amalgamate in some unrecognizable part of our memory center, never to resurface again (unless triggered by similar circumstances). The intuitive optimism is what drives the moving on process, I mean yes, the driving force can also be external such as our friends, or our situations that we have no other alternative but to go ahead in life and involve ourselves in something else. There could also be a situation where there is not enough motivating force to start that process, then as I said before, it grows gradually, slowly reaping in our actions and our thoughts.

Moving on is also symbolized as a form of progression in different context, for the opportunity to look for a personal growth which also highlights its divergence in terms of placing the process under the actual whole milieu. The tough times of competition, the urgency to climb up the ladder of success, the tricky urge to involve oneself in some kind of emotional bonding and yet not actively entrusting it in any way whatsoever. The byproduct in this scenario is always enticing, be it growing out of particular emotions, or growing into a something more elusive, something that is not vulnerable to any sort of emotional triggering

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Hate it, ignore it, deny it, accept it, thrash the whole argument, but the whole practice of moving on has been accepted by our generation, and yet not fully explored in terms of its actual use, or its consequences. 

Angamaly Diaries: Survival in the Chaos

Director Lijo Jose Pellissery’s “Angamaly Diaries” opens with plenty of mouth-watering images of the region’s exquisite food, as if telling the audience that the pathway to anyone’s heart is through stomach, or hinting us about the unconditional love and fondness that the people of Angamaly have for their food. Amidst the various shots of the streets busy eateries, we feel a thunderous crescendo of brass bands, as if indicating a world of chaos, we are about to enter. The brass bands, which I much later realized was the sound of violence used to enhance or probably dramatize the action sequences in the film. A gay man wearing a butterfly’s printed colorful shirt enters the frame, and act as a catalyst to initiate the tale of Angamaly. 

   

Vincent Pepe, the supposedly principle protagonist introduces himself in two sentences and is instantly likeable, what follows next is just an ordinary routine day on the streets of Angamaly, a fist fight between “Teams” (a term regularly used to define bunch of hooligans of a particular area in the town) and people watching it for few minutes, and getting back to their work. On my initial viewing of the film, I thought the story narrates the journey of Vincent amidst all the chaos and utter madness that surrounds him. It felt more like a coming of age drama for this character, but somehow what stayed with me long after watching the film was the vibe of the city that oozed complete lack of moral preconceived notions in a society, and it came through the virtues of madness, violence, survival, pork meats, gambling dens and alcohol. The film chronicles the journey of Vincent, right from his childhood where he tells us that his name ‘Pepe’ means Joseph, father of Jesus Christ, quite an amusing fact considering the irony in one of the scenes in the film. He is infatuated by a fascinating figure named ‘Babuji’ who leads a local football team, and has a consistent track record of wining either by scoring more goals, or by beating the living hell out of opposition team or the referee who by any means tries to bestow upon yellow or red card to Babuji’s team. Pepe’s respect for Babuji can summoned up from the fact that butchers will not slice up meat for even the chairperson of the municipal corporation but for Babuji and his team, they will. This ordinary act seems a mark of respect and in a way influences Pepe, and sets a benchmark of power and influence.   

It doesn’t take Pepe too much of time to understand the dynamics of the town, he gets into to building his own team, like a recruitment organization starts enrolling guys who are bold, maverick in their nature, applicants who enjoy their food and know the nuance of eating with precision which brings utmost pleasure gets an upper hand in the process, and lastly people with some special abilities like able to act as a compromise manger. Hence, forms the Palliyangadi Team. The adolescent period of the team remains influenced towards Movies, festivals, Beer and Romance, after a certain point the team ends their virginity to be legitimately known as a Team, a point where they engaged in an altercation, and practice their skills to fight and prove their strength as a team.

To look as another perspective, Angamaly Diaries is sort of a memoir about the tales of a city, highlighting the journey of a particular team out of many. To understand the spirit of the town, there is a scene in the film where a man is explaining the procedure to make a hand grenade to the member of Palliyangadi while hugging a tree, his rationalization to such an awkward position is that while tying the thread across the rocks, if it explodes, only his hands would face injury, that logic explains the mentality, members of the various teams have. There are bizarre instances in the film, which appears so ridiculously funny, yet they form such an important part of the narrative to give us a brief insight into the existing scenario of the town. Breaking dead body’s arms just so that it can fit in the coffin easily, fighting over the issue who gets to eat the last plate of rabbit meat, stealing the wallet of a man going through seizures, Wishing Happy New Year in the month of October, just to appear classy and resounding in their meetings, Stealing a python from a school exhibition and making curry with eat, and happily announcing that it’s considered good to nourish the skin.  

Love, in Angamaly forms an important part of a person’s life, however to know it more deeply, people often are found using analogies of food combinations to retrospect it. The love life of Pepe in the film has certain charm to it, a sort of coolness, be it a girl going to the hospital everyday to give her love interest daily dose of kisses. Love, for Vincent Pepe is important, but he does not make it a primary motive of his life, he knows when to let go and move ahead in his life, and when he least expects it, love come back knocking at his door. There is an exceptionally well executed scene in the film, where Pepe understands the situation and circumstances in his life, and tells a girl to think practical and move on with her life, he leaves the girl who just sits alone looking through the busy streets of Angamaly.

The film’s soundtrack is an integral part of the narrative that the director is trying to indulge us in, the background score, and songs are rustic in nature and are portraying the nature of the town. Songs takes the narrative ahead, and are clear in their intentions of displaying the importance of food in the town whereas he background score including the brass bands edges more towards the violent nature of the town. There is another important aspect that is used couple of times in the film by many characters, it’s called “For Effect”, it can be more broadly described as phenomenon used to sound more authoritative in tone, even if the words said are utterly false, it’s more like a psychological trick to be thrown into the talk to get an upper hand over the person. Just like in Gangster films, the more commanding you sound, the more solid persona you built for yourself. The film’s climax is a single shot and involves a large crowd into a cramped space, despite these obstacles, Director Lijo and Cinematographer Gireesh Gangadharan pulls of an amazing feat and provides us a memorable end to the roller-coaster ride. 

Angamaly Diaries is about the survival in the chaos surrounded in the town, the violence in the film is the byproduct of the circumstances that the characters get absorbed into, which are probably affiliated to the excessive masculine pride associated in the situation. The protagonists as well as the antagonist after a certain time realize that survival is far more important than dominance. The latter facet is used from time to time to make sure people around you do not forget you, while the former feature is the necessity, even in the volatile nature. People in the town love their food, by the end of the day, they want to end the truce and settle the issue with 10ML alcohol and some pork meat.