THE CORE OF THE TEACHINGS BY J KRISHNAMURTI - MY INTERPRETATION IN TELUGU

"సత్యము"  అనేది మనిషికి ఏ వ్యవస్థ ద్వారానో , లేక మతం, సిద్ధాంతం, పూజ లేదా కర్మ ద్వారానో  తెలియదు.  ఏ తాత్విక జ్ఞానం లేదా మానసిక చర్య ద్వారా కూడా సత్యం బోధపడదు. "సత్యము"  అనేది తన ఆలోచనల సమూహాన్ని, తన సంబంధాలను అద్దం లాగా చేసి వాటి పరిశీలన  ద్వారా, తన మనస్సులోని విషయాలను అర్థం చేసుకోవడం ద్వారా, విచక్షణ లేదా స్వీయ పరిశీలన ద్వారా తెలుసుకోవాలి. 

మనిషి తనకు తానే రక్షణ కోసం మత, సామాజిక, రాజకీయ, వ్యక్తిగత కంచెలను, గోడలను నిర్మించుకున్నాడు. ఇవి చిత్రాలు, చిహ్నాలు, నమ్మకాలుగా వ్యక్తమవుతాయి. ఈ చిత్రాల భారం మనిషి ఆలోచన, అతని సంబంధాలు మరియు అతని రోజువారీ జీవితం పైన అధికారం చూపిస్తాయి. ఈ చిత్రాలు మనిషిని మనిషి నుండి వేరు చేయడానికి, మన సమస్యలకు కారణాలు. జీవితంపై మనిషి అవగాహన ఈ చిత్రాల నుండి అతని మనస్సులో ఇప్పటికే ఏర్పడిన భావనల ద్వారా రూపొందించబడింది. 

మనిషి యొక్క స్పృహ, వివేకం తన అస్తిత్వానికి, ఉనికికి ఆధారం. సాంప్రదాయ అనుసరణ ద్వారా అతను పొందిన పేరు, గౌరవం మరియు సంస్కృతి పైపై మెరుగుల వ్యక్తిత్వం. మనిషి యొక్క ప్రత్యేకత సంప్రదాయ అనుసరణ లో లేదు, అతని స్పృహ లో దాగి ఉన్న విషయంలో  ఉంది. అంటే ఎప్పుడు అయితే చిత్రాలు, చిహ్నాలు, నమ్మకాలకు మనిషి అతీతుడుగా ఉంటాడో అప్పుడే పూర్తి స్వేచ్ఛ ఉంటుంది, ఇది మానవాళి అందరికీ సాధారణం. కానీ సాంప్రదాయ అనుసరణకి, కట్టుబాట్లకు మనం బానిసలం అయిపోయాం. సాంప్రదాయం లో ఒక హాయి ఉంటుంది, "సృష్టి ఎలా సంభవించింది?" అనే ప్రశ్నకు "దేవుడు" అనే సమాధానం హాయినిస్తుంది. ఆ సాంప్రదాయపు హాయిని త్యజించి నప్పుడే నిజమైన స్వేఛ్ఛ దొరుకుతుంది. కానీ మానవాళి నుంచి మనం మానవ మంద అయిపోయాం, దిగువ జీవులం అయిపోయి, ఆ సాంప్రదాయపు హాయిలో కాలం గడిపేస్తున్నాం.

స్వేచ్ఛ అనేది ప్రతిచర్య కాదు; స్వేచ్ఛ అనేది మనం ఎంచుకునేది కాదు. నేను స్వేచ్ఛగా ఉండాలి అనుకున్నాను కాబట్టి స్వేచ్ఛగా ఉన్నాను అనేది మనిషి యొక్క భ్రమ, నటన . స్వేచ్ఛ అనేది ఒక నిర్దిష్టమైన దిశ లేకుండా ,  ప్రతిఫలం ఆశించకుండా, శిక్షకు  భయపడకుండా జరిగే స్వచ్ఛమైన పరిశీలన. స్వేచ్ఛ అనేది మనిషి చివరి పరిణామం కాదు, అతని ఉనికి యొక్క ప్రతి దశలో ఆలోచనలో  ఉంటుంది. నిశితంగా పరిశీలిస్తే మనలో స్వేచ్ఛ లేకపోవడాన్ని మనం గ్రహిస్తాం.

ఆలోచన అనేది సమయం. ఆలోచన అనేది సమయం ఇంకా గతం నుండి విడదీయరాని అనుభవం ఇంకా జ్ఞానం నుండి పుట్టింది. సమయం మనిషి మానసిక శత్రువు. మనం  చేసే ప్రతి పని, అనుభవం నుండి వచ్చిన జ్ఞానం మీద ఆధారపడి ఉంటుంది. కాబట్టి మనిషి ఎప్పుడూ గతానికి బానిస. స్వేచ్చ అనంతం - ఆలోచన ఎప్పుడూ పరిమితం కాబట్టి మనం నిరంతరం సంఘర్షణ ఇంకా పోరాటంలో జీవిస్తాము దాని వల్ల మానసిక వికాసం లేదు. మనిషి స్వీయ ఆలోచనల కదలిక గురించి తెలుసుకున్నప్పుడు, అతను పరిశీలన చేసుకున్నప్పుడు మాత్రమే ఆలోచనకి - ఆలోచించే వాడికి,  గమనిస్తున్నవాడికి - గమనింపబడే వాడికి , మధ్య వ్యత్యాసం చూడగలుగుతాడు. 

గతం లేదా సమయం యొక్క ప్రభావం లేకుండా అంతర్దృష్టి ఉన్న స్వచ్ఛమైన పరిశీలన మాత్రమే స్వేచ్ఛ ని  ఇస్తుంది. ఈ కాలాతీత అంతర్దృష్టి, మనస్సులో లోతైన, తీవ్రమైన పరివర్తనను తెస్తుంది.

సంపూర్ణమైన నిరాకరణ అనేదే సానుకూల పరిణామం. మానసికంగా సైద్ధాంతికంగా మనల్ని మలిచిన - సాంప్రదాయాన్ని,  గతాన్ని నిరాకరించినప్పుడు మాత్రమే నిజమైన ప్రేమ, కరుణ,  మేధో సంపత్తి కలిగి స్వేచ్ఛని అనుభవిస్తాం.  అప్పుడే సత్యాన్ని గ్రహిస్తాం. 

THE PHOENIX PROJECT

 

Thanks to my boss and best buddy HARI SHANKAR for recommending this book. It's a wonderful read for IT Professionals in general and those involved doing DevOps in particular.

This book is like an Ayn Rand novel in which the protagonists Howard Roark or John Galt are giving lectures and work on DevOps, ITIL LEAN MANUFACTURING. Well, Ayn Rand is my favorite author hence the reference.

This book is about the most important project named PHOENIX PROJECT in PARTS UNLIMITED company

Below figure represents the cast of the company in which the protagonist BILL PALMER has become the VP of IT Operations much against his will and this book is about how he manages daily activities and with the help of his colleagues and bosses brings the culture of DevOps into IT Operations and helps the company and turnaround from a hopeless state back to a profitable state.

Also to mention that the cover of the book gives each character an avatar

Takeaways : 

1. The concept of a work center that is made up of four things and each are equally important:

• The machine 
• The man
• The method
• The measures

2. THE FOUR TYPES OF WORK

When Bill is struggling to understand what is going wrong within his organization, he is taken under the wing of what appears, at first, to be an eccentric mad-man but ends up being a voice of reason (represented by a character named Eric). He explains that Bill doesn’t truly understand what work is. Furthermore, Bill doesn’t understand that there are four types of work. What are these four types of work?  

Business Projects

These are initiatives that directly add value to the business, such as adding new features to increase growth or capture market share. This “work” comes as a result of the organization defining its objectives and thinking about what it takes to accomplish those objectives.

Internal IT Projects

These projects are those which are needed to either support or enhance the business projects mentioned above, such as the internal management dashboard.

Changes

Changes can be projects in and of themselves and are generated as a result of working on the two kinds of work above, that is business projects and internal IT projects.

Unplanned Work

While the 3 kinds of work above are types of planned work, there exists a fourth category of work called unplanned work. This work results due to operational incidents and issues, or due to the unforeseen or unplanned consequences of the first 3 kinds of work. Working on unplanned work comes at the cost of working on planned work, and is sometimes referred to as “anti-work” because it prevents us from working on meaningful tasks. 

3. THE THREE WAYS OF WORK

Once the types of work have been identified, they can be minimized and mitigated by following The Three Ways.

The first way is about the left-to-right flow of work from Development to IT Operations to the customer.

The second way is about the constant flow of fast feedback from right-to-left at all stages of the value stream.

The third way is about creating a culture that fosters two things: continual experimentation and understanding that repetition and practice is the prerequisite to mastery.

Identifying the kinds of work we do and implementing the Three Ways to elevate how we engage with our work is the key takeaway of this book.  

A book is hard to be justified in a tiny blog post, but I’m hoping you see enough wisdom in The Three Ways and how they apply to you. 

A grouse if I had any was that the time spent on the overhaul of the ways of working is too less. The change that they're able to achieve in the book in the given timeframe is, well, quite unrealistic. Most companies don't face extinction and are not forced to relook at the way services are delivered. And if they do, changing the whole value stream and culture of a company is probably something that takes years and not weeks and months (if we talk about a normal mid-sized company). Having said that, I very much like and appreciate the thinking model behind the novel, as expressed in The Three Ways was startling.

MY FAVORITE QUOTES FROM THE BOOK: 

“Improving daily work is even more important than doing daily work.”

“In any value stream, there is always a direction of flow, and there is always one and only constraint; any improvement made anywhere besides the constraint is an illusion.”

“A great team doesn’t mean that they had the smartest people. What made those teams great is that everyone trusted one another. It can be a powerful thing when that magic dynamic exists.”

“repetition creates habits, and habits are what enable mastery.”

“Left unchecked, technical debt will ensure that the only work that gets done is unplanned work!”

“As the saying goes, if your colleague tells you they’ve decided to quit, it was voluntary. But when someone else tells you they’ve decided to quit, it was mandatory.”

1917 (2019) - ENGLISH

                                                

The best film of 2019 technically. A must watch for those who love camera work.

Brilliantly shot and edited to appear as a single take, every camera movement is intelligent and serves a purpose as the mission unfolds.  The edits are camouflaged behind the camera work which is combined with precise time blocking.

The performances of the two young leads Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay are engaging, with both leads swapping the narrative focus from each other in meticulously planned storytelling beats. The mission is the key focus as the two soldiers make their way through increasingly dangerous situations. Along the way, they encounter key army personnel, played by a cameo row of British actors, including Andrew Scott, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Richard Madden who put in brief like a single frame, but impressive performances

The cinematography by Roger Deakins is mesmerizing, choreographed, and executed to perfection around the horrific elements of war. Some of the frames are visually breathtaking, and demand to be revisited to absorb everything they have to offer. Thomas Newman’s score escalates the experience of soaring heights. This film could easily sweep up all the technical awards at the Oscars this year. All these factors firmly put director Sam Mendes in the upper echelon of directors currently working today, if he wasn’t there already. ‘1917’ is tense, captivating, meticulous, horrifying, and stirring – an exceptional achievement in filmmaking.

A 5/5 for this film.

RAAT AKELI HAI (2020) - HINDI

A classic whodunnit mystery that’s well performed and meticulously directed.

When it comes to writing a whodunnit story, the biggest aspect is the concealment of the motive of the murder until it’s revealed. This film did that job very well. Till the climax neither the murderer nor the motive was revealed although it’s sprayed all over the film that there are politics involved. For 2 and a half hours it just went on and on without giving any breathing space and kept me hooked. So that’s definitely a winner.

The acting by the ensemble cast is just perfect the casting is done nearly perfectly. A butcher looks like a real butcher, the policemen look real and even the maids are near perfect. Kudos to the casting director and a big thank you for selecting the OTT platform superstars Nawazuddin and Radhika Apte. These folks are ruling the roost I must say be it ‘Sacred Games’ or ‘Ghoul’ or this exclusive Netflix film.

Editing is a big factor that differentiates a great mystery film from a mediocre one because you got to know how much to show and when to cut to keep the suspense going. This film does not let us down in editing. Now, the editor, the master Sreekar Prasad. He is just getting better and better I guess.

The screenplay is tight and the direction is classic. There is a Hitchcock in there and I could see references for David Fincher too. So I must say this is a fine debut by Honey Trehan and hope to see more from him.

The use of lights just amazed me with not one moment having under or overly lit. They are just right setting the claustrophobic mood perfectly.

All in all, this is perhaps the best of the year so far from Hindi Cinema. Now the sad part of these whodunnit stories is that you rarely watch them a second time because once you know the mystery you may not like to revisit. 

So it’s a terrific one time watch that demands 4/5.

GULABO SITABO (2020) - HINDI

A charming film that conveys a strong message subtly embellished with fun and realism. It's a satire that's realistic and hilarious.

First and foremost, there needs to be a mention of the setting and backdrop. The Haveli (Mansion) named Fatima Mahal in Lucknow becomes the central character of the film, it's contrary to the modern world. It stands tall against the forces of modern materialistic and greedy beings like archeologists and lawyers albeit the collapsing walls. Also greedy are the two main men Mirza played by the ever-reliable Amitabh Bachhan and Baankey played by the flagbearer of new-age Hindi films Ayushmann Khurana. I will talk about these two in a while.

As if the backdrop and the two main characters are not, it's the smart women who outsmart these men and runaway with few jaw-dropping moments. The ending is smartly done by the smartest lady in the film. Not just the octogenarian Farukh Jafar the smartest I believe is the writer Juhi Chaturvedi. Juhi has a knack for the low-key realistic stories and the way she brought this story to life is worth many accolades.  

This is the fourth film I have liked from this writer-director combination. The others being Vicky Donor Piku and October. Hope that Shoojit Sircar(director) and Juhi Chaturvedi(writer) give us many more such films. Shoojit's placing of scenes and setting up the mood and getting the right emotion is pretty perfect. There is never an off-beat moment in the film and that credit I give to the director. I believe he is getting better at his craft. 

The cinematography is worth a mention, the ambiance set up the mood. Although I watched this film at home it made me travel through the streets of Lucknow and took me to almost every corner of the haveli. The detailing is just right and blends well with the narrative and the usage of light is wonderful. Tungsten filament lamps, torches, and neon street lights, they give a strong feeling that there is still a long way to go for us as a country. Also, a mention to Vijay Raaz (Gyanesh) and Brijendra Kala (Christopher) who have done a fabulous job. Indeed all the artists have done wonderfully well.

Now, getting back to the two main characters - Mirza and Baankey who fight relentlessly and never give up a fight are the amazing aspects of this film. They hold the film and yet are split apart by their own vested interests. They own each and every frame they are in. When both are in one scene then it's electric. Thanks to the team for bringing these two great actors together in a meaningful film. 

The title is taken from the puppet show "Gulabo Sitabo" and it's wonderful to see that puppet shows are still being referred to albeit as a metaphor. 

A definite watch. A 3/5.

MARRIAGE STORY (2019) - ENGLISH

A movie that moved me for the way it depicted contemporary relationships.

Marriage is part of life but family is definitely life. This is what I believe. Now the definition of family will differ from person to person. For a few 'family' includes their parents and for a few 'family' to begin after marriage. But once we decide what is family, we hold on to it, despite our own flaws or the spouse's flaws. Family means being there for each other and holding on what we made.

It is definitively one of the best productions I have ever seen by Netflix and on Netflix. Thanks to the director Noah Baumbach and the actors Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver who have given superlative performances. Adam Driver brought tender nuances to his highly self-centric character that made his performance stand out and kudos for such portrayal.

Also, I am appalled and astonished by how biased the system is for women. Empowering women does not have to weaken women but in reality the world over, men got to pay a lot more than women do. Just another day when my friend said 'Separations are tricky', I didn't get it fully but now after watching this film, I got it to an extent.

The separation ordeal between Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) and Charlie (Adam Driver) is extremely realistic and indeed highlights today's existing reality. That part although, the most sensitive in the film was also the most hard-hitting. Applause to the director for the way he handled this.

In one dialogue, Nora the lawyer of Nicole says that "The idea of the caring father who dedicates to uprising children and enabling his partner to follow a career is a very recent one as recent as last 30 years" And yet surprisingly, they got to pay hefty sum to the women and this I believe is the take away of the film. This film is a critique of the current legal system for divorce and the way it's all played out is interesting.

The pace is a bit slow and I understand that the content demands it that way. Apart from the pace, I loved all aspects of this film.

A 4/5 for a superb drama on marriage and the legal system.