Category: Journal

“Vandi Chodai”(Tamil) play review – (3.5/5 – Hit)

Guru-sishya, Chiranjeevi, Adayaalam, vaitthiyam/thozhil, mooligai, etc.

So full of hidden and explicit meanings!

The failure of education to enlighten – wisdom vs. knowledge –> ignorance

So happy to be able to get engaged with the arts, in my own vernacular at last!
Many thanks to The Hindu for promoting local culture(s)

Comparing the insights of this play with the truths of Christian theology is very exciting.
E.g. The eschatological judgment of the various social classes – the poor/victims are vindicated with everlasting life and the middle/upper class which was complicit in the sustaining and promoting of dehumanizing systems are condemned to be born as goats (to be butchered) in their next generation.

The transformation of the goat to man, and the man to goat, is a central metaphor for understanding the play as a whole.

Sage ~ Messiah ~ Lamb-Man!

The Hindu Theatre Fest

“Mundhirikotte” (Tamil) – play review (Hit – 3.5/5)

Slowly but surely sucks you in, and before you know it, the sucker punch is delivered!

Is something like childhood friendship powerful enough to challenge and even overcome entrenched evils like caste?!

The ending is both tragic and comic – tragicomedy
The mother commits suicide, but KP is “adopted” by Ahmed (& family)…
Conservative relationships
Vs.
Radical partnerships

Now, do you understand the meaning of the title?
The hero (Karuppannasamy) is the one who hastens progress (through his incredulous faith in the new friendship), therefore moving ahead of his time (or place in the line)…!

What made Ahmed, who was initially hostile to KP, become his true friend??

The acting was outstanding. It is not dazzling or gripping, but subtle and powerful

The Hindu Theatre Fest

BROWSING

​16.8.16

– Distinguish:

Specialty

&

Speciality

– Fulfillment > achievement

– Wisdom:

Insight

Vs.

Skill

– Christian ~ traditional ~ orthodox ~ conservative

– To live, is to believe, to learn, to be present, to love & to work…

– Distinguish:

Danger

&

Suffering

– The medicalization of death

The romanticization of poverty

The spiritualization of tragedy

– Change – events & processes

Birth >> growth >> decay >> death >> ……

– Distinguish:

Reproduction

&

Generativity

– Identity:

Reverence –> integrity

– Seánce parlor

Hospital resuscitation

– Praise ~ exalt ~ magnify

– Annunciation, visitation & assumption

– Faith – I believe in the GOD who has made the promise, so I will yield with expectation……!

“Let it be unto me, according to your word.”

The courage to remain, rejoice & serve

17.8.16

– Courage, sacrifice & violence

Jn. 15:13 + Mat. 26:52

Nobility & justice

– Patience & thoughtfulness

– The momentous momentary & the momentary momentous

Fuck the momentum (inertia)!

18.8.16

– Who are the Parsis?

Are they related to Jains?

– Critical realism

– cockles

– repechage

– CBMs – Confidence Building Measures

– ad hocism

– Personal

&

Personnel

– Balochistan

– putsch

– lockstep

19.8.16

– It is the ones who “love to sit at the feet of the LORD” who find it most difficult to let go of the LORD! The ultimate challenge (& failure) for the devotee is the Cross (like Peter’s rebuke of Jesus & the disciples’ total abandonment of Jesus during his passion) – the self-annihilation of the Messiah. GOD himself is the greatest idol & addictive drug in the history of the world. That is why Christianity is NOT a religion, just like many other faith traditions! The final greatest act of worship is the iconoclastic act – the renunciation of any absolute image of GOD (Scripture, theology, mystical experience, miraculous events, charismatic gifts, etc.) & the placing of one’s trust & desire in the absolutely unknowable ONE.

This is why the progressive revelation of GOD is first as Law (OT), then as person (Jesus) & finally as Spirit (NT)!

Spirit > person > law

But are Christians today ready for the final stage??

I think most Christians are in the first stage still, glorying in their confidence & attacking those who lack their simplicity & clarity!

Even Karl Barth says that the one true GOD of the Gospel cannot be reduced to the object of evangelical theology, since he/she/it is a living subject!

The more we know, the more we know we don’t know.

The less we know, the more we think we know!

– “Cultivating disconcertment”

20.8.16

– Leviathan – Job, Thomas Hobbes and Andrey Zvyagintsev

– gurney

22.8.16

– Special needs

– geoglyph

– repartee

adroit

– bandana

– Lucid dreaming

– Lament as wisdom

– Is there a difference between privacy and secrecy?

– Feeling the tension between my emphasis on individual freedom and the consideration of my social context

– Mourn ~ moan

– A loud homiletics without a critical hermeneutic

– Personal(ized) canons

– Narcissistic obedience

– Distinguish:

Coercion

&

Submission

– GOD-talk that is NOT self-delusion

– Eeyore

– Puzzlement need not always be associated with sadness

– The audacious insanity of prayer!

– The canonizing community

– Lament

Vs.

Cynicism

– Obedience as wisdom and criticism as faithfulness

23.8.16

– Balance:

Gaining control over my life (proactive) 

&

Taking things as they come (responsive) 

Distinguish:

Reactive

&

Responsive

– Develop, transform & create! 

– When you’re relaxing, try walking back & forth, instead of sitting or lying down.

– Moving from answer/solve to respond/address

– Truthful > faithful > loyal

– integral

– Remote intimacy

– Not all contradictions are nonsense!

– detente

– Screws & nuts

– plaintive

– tortuous

– Social media, gaming & pornography 

– I don’t know what is lacking/wrong in my lifestyle.

Why do I feel sad or restless so often??

How can I do something about this, if I don’t have a clue about what’s going on inside/underneath it?

– Beatitudes – notice both the present & future tense of the blessing. It is definitely a guaranteed destiny (eschatological state) & a deeper spiritual reality, that is being spoken of here! 

– GOD ~ Heaven ~ Kingdom

– “Poor in spirit” – pious & needy

– Detaching my consciousness/will/awareness from (being identified with, & therefore determined by) my feelings, thoughts & circumstances 

Self-transcendence! 

How does this relate to self-realization? 

“God of Carnage” play review (3.5/5 – good) 

Review

Who/what is the God of carnage? 

The id/nature/animal/child

Vs. 

The superego/culture/moral/adult

What is human nature, & how is it to be understood & expressed? 

Bourgeois hypocrisy

The repression of conflict/sex, denial of death, etc. –> evil/violence!

“Why are we still in this house?!”

Trailer

Theater: “Dear Liar” review

DEAR THEATER

– The performances by both the actors (real life husband-wife!) was excellent. The fact that this was a true story added to the seriousness and enjoyment.

– The meaning of the title could be interpreted as falling in love with theatre (fiction that brings out the truth of life)!
– The last few lines also give closure to the long relationship, and finally we realize that the main theme of the play is not romance, but the art-form that brought the two protagonists together (a playwright and an actress) – theatre!
– Finally, the attraction of the contrasting characters can be seen as archetypal – the tense, yet passionate dynamic between the intellect and the affect. And what facilitates their inter-communication is humor/wit – the secret ingredient that sustains our desire for life in the midst of intense personal tragedies and social calamities!
– But I thought that, after the first act, the momentum had picked up and the flight was ready to take-off, but it never came in the second act! Maybe this reflects the nature of (the first and second halves of) life itself…
– And, did they (ever) have sex??