More on ethics
One another question I had about ethics is a question I think everyone of us needs to ask and find the answers for – Why do we all need to look outside of us for approval on anything we do? Are we all so lacking in self-confidence that anything we do should be approved by the society? Isn’t that what social ethics are for? Forcing us all to be tied down by what the society thinks is right or wrong, without giving us the chance to form our own impressions of right and wrong.
For instance, why shouldn’t I take pride in my achievement? Why shouldn’t I say I am good? I have the confidence in my own success and my abilities, and I don’t mind trumpeting the fact I am good. But I am immediately reprimanded – I am told that I shouldn’t be saying that I am good, others ought to.
Is that stupid or what?
Questions
Am still searching. Am still stuck in a quandary. When will I ever find answers to those million questions that plague me daily? Will I ever know who exactly I am? Where exactly I come from? Is there an identity of me beyond I I beyond me?
On a tangent – I am proud of the fact that I am Tamil, and an Iyer. I love the legacy and the history that comes with being a Brahman, (but will not have any part of it) and were it not for a few things that happened to me and my own thought processes, I would prolly be as devout an Iyer as any one else in my family. I am more proud of the fact that I am Tamil. Prolly, I am more Tamil than I am Iyer.
Two great, unique, independent history and culture and literature and belief systems come together. What could be better?
On a further tangent – what am I writing? Who on earth is interested in all this pseudo intellectual babble? Not I, for sure.
Ethics
As is usual with me, this particular post is an extension of an argument I had offline with a friend.
Who, my contention was, is to say what is ethics? Who is the arbiter of what is ethical and what is not. Shouldn’t each one of us be the judge of our own system of ethics? How can one man or one group of people impose their idea of behaviour on a whole bunch of people? To me, culture, ethics and social systems were invented by person or persons, who, physically weak, would have absolutely no chance of winning war or love, and had to level the playing field a bit by imposing certain restrictions on who can do what.
Aren’t ethics then an imposition of one man’s idea of his life – and archaic at that?
The other point, as I’ve already mentioned, is that shouldn’t each one of us decide our own system of ethics, and it should be flexible and adapt to situations – I call it being amoral – not having a moral system – rather than being immoral. A person can be immoral according to public perception, but be absolutely true to his own system of beliefs. The point is, one man’s perversion is another man’s kink is another man’s daily routine. And what’s taboo in one society is ritual in another. Shouldn’t I then adapt my own system of ethics to reflect what is current to the society. I will have a better chance of living happily that way, instead of staying rigid to one school of thought.
I digress. What the point I was going to make is, shouldn’t I stay true to what I, under no external influence or duress, think is right?
About Me
Folks, just to say, you know, like, I’ve updated my “About Me” section. Apparently, all blogs ought to have something like that, and though I had one, nobody ever knew, and not many were interested. But still, it doesn’t hurt to talk about me. SO I did. What’s more, I’ve just updated it. To get to the section About me, just click the photo that appears right on top of my sidebar.
Now, being a writer who revels in words, and not really knowing what to put in there, I went in for an interminably long read kind of description. So bewarned. If you have a heavy day ahead, and have a masochistic streak in you, and don’t really mind spending half an hour reading through some-one’s ego laden writings, check the page out.
Thank you.
Madras rocks
Well, if anybody has any doubts whatsoever of Madras’ greatness, take this. The top two bloggers in India are from Madras.
Barefoot in the park
Finally managed to catch the play version of the movie version of the play “Barefoot in the park” – By Evam.
Many words have been written of the play, of the group and the production of the play. I shall add a few more words.
#1 – It’s brilliantly stage managed. Those of you who’ve managed to catch the film version of it, I can safely tell you that Evam’s version on stage was a lot, lot better – and funnier. They (as in Evam) have managed to create a very small New York apartment on the stage, with functioning doors and lights and all, that, if you overlook the people in the audience, you feel like you live in the room shown on stage.
#2 – They’ve managed to take a film, added half a dozen layers to it, and still retained the film’s pace, and place. Difficult, I tell you. To those who’ve seen the movie, and come expecting to see something watered down, (I watched the film first, and was wondering how they’ll manage to keep my attention), the play came as a revelation. All the scenes (the important ones) from the movie are in it, and they’ve added a few dialogues to make it funnier and to compensate for the stage.
#3 – Evam seem to be masters in the art of marketing plays – and in the art of packaging it, and keeping the audiences guessing. The play moves from stage to the portico to the stage to a LCD projector.
I am also impressed with the way the scenes and the props were moved. The play depends heavily on heavy props and was wondering how it would be managed. In school and college, I was a part of many plays and stuff, helping out on stage and back, and had to move stuff around. The propensity to bump into each other and inanimate stuff is pretty huge. Especially in the dark. But the Evam people not only managed to move props around, with the lights on, but got the audience’s attention away from the moving. Two dancers come on stage, and do a little number, while the stage team does its job, in full view. Nobody seems to notice them. A friend was actually surprised when he suddenly saw the stage was changed.
Oh I could go on, but it just wouldn’t match up to the real thing. So I suggest you people who read me, and who are in Madras, catch the play. It’s running at the hotel Savera on the 19th and the 20th of February.
About
Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan is a copywriter, photographer and goofball from Chennai. He is also an archaeologist, historian and a city lover. He is currently a documentary film-maker and desk-monkey for a film production house.
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