TIME IS ANOTHER NAME OF LOVE

Remembering G Aravindan

2010-01-29T22:52:00.000-08:00

[Introductory remarks prior to the G Aravindan Memorial Lecture by Amos Gitai at IFFK 2008]

Like cinema, remembrance is an act of love. To remember is to love and also to live. To live is also to imagine and to create. Imagination and images are the two most important elements of human existence and human civilization. Without images and memories there will be no love, no history. Without imagination there will be no civilization.

Today we are here to remember one of the most loved and respected filmmakers of Kerala – G Aravindan. Every film festival in our small but beautiful city evokes the gentle and enigmatic presence of a creator and a great human being. Whoever had the fortune to interact with G Aravindan, will never forget his compassionate and benevolent presence.

G Aravindan lived his life and created his multi faceted work of art based on the principles of love and sacrifice. He once said, “If there is any aim for art it is to create a compassionate and strong humanity”. Yes, from Uttarayanam to Vasthuhara all his films made us remember the need for a compassionate and strong humanity. Like any other great artist G Aravindan’s film also spoke to us about the absence of a loving and compassionate society, and the need for love.

Biographical sketch:

Born in Kottayam, Kerala, G Aravindan was well known to the readers of Kerala through his cartoon serial Cheriya Manushyarum Valya Lokavum (Small Men and the Big World), which appeared in the Mathrubhoomi weeklyduring the early 1960s, even before he started with films. The cartoon serial chronicled the adventures of its characters, Ramu and Guruji and noted for its piercing humor and socio-political comments. At a point of time, Aravindan also got engaged with theatre and music. He loved to sing Tagore songs. Later he became associated with eminent theatre figures like CN Sreekantan Nair and Kavalam Narayanan Panikker. Avanavan Kadamba born out of association with Kavalam has become a major theater production in Kerala and it is still remembered by Malayalees.

Aravindan was part of a group of modernist artist based in Kozhikode, represented particularly by artist Devan, playwright Thikkodiyan and writer Pattathuvila Karunakaran. Aravindan's first film, Uttarayanam came out of this associations and his early association with Chitralekha Film Society.

From his first film Uttarayanam (1974) to his last film Vasthuhara (1990) Aravindan kept changing his cinematic forms consistently during his film career spanning almost fifteen years. Aravindan successfully went beyond the limits and styles of filmmaking created by the new wave filmmakers of that time. This journey towards new facets of narrative included current incidents, history, myths and traditional stories. He also occasionally composed music for other filmmakers like Pavitran’s Yaro Oral and Shaji’s Piravi.

His feature works Include: Uttarayanam, Kanchana Seeta, Thampu, Kummatty, Estheppan, Pokkuveyil, Chidambaram, Oridathu, Marattam, Unni and Vasthuhara. His documentary films include: Sahaja, The Seer Who Walks Alone, The Brown Landscape, Contours of Linear Rhythm and Anadi-Dhara

In a personal level Aravindettan is the one who taught me the meaning of true spirituality. He through his life and creations showed me the interconnectedness of all things. He showed me the interconnectedness of man to man and man to nature. Observing his life I too learned how to be compassionate and loving towards fellow human beings. His cinema taught me to be big-hearted among men with tiny souls.

I was always attracted to the cinema of Aravindan from the day I saw Uttarayanam. I still remember the image of the dead face of the father with crawling ants. I still remember the dialogue from the film ‘Asking questions is more important than finding answers” or ‘There will be a time when the spoken word of the other will be appreciated like music” etc.

Is it not the two fundamental principles of art itself? Asking questions [to be active] and trying to evoke the essence of beauty. Asking questions about the essence of hope and harmony that which creates this beauty? It is no wonder that Dostoyevsky once said “Beauty will save the world”.

Please, it is not my intention to say that an artist should always show only the beautiful. No… Never…

How can be the images of fleeing refugees from a war in Vasthuhara be termed as beautiful? How can the agony written in the faces of two great artists – Gopi and Smitha Pattil in the climax sequence of Chithambaram be termed as beautiful? How can be the dispossessed wailings of a displaced humanity in the end of Vasthuhara be termed as beautiful? This essence of beauty lies in the final moments of the experience of that work of art. At that moment of absolution a work of art reveals the beauty of creation and becomes a “Mirror of Love” like the “Mirror” of Sri Narayana Guru.

I have always thought that any great work of art is a ‘mirror of love’ and Aravindettaan’s films always stood as one fine example. From my experience, I have seen more spirituality in a cinema hall than in a church. As Andrei Tarkovsky said, cinema or any other work of art is probably the evidence of a Creator. Aravindettaan’s cinema also evoked that higher connection to the Divine.

It is not my intention to dwell deep into the aesthetics of Aravindettaan’s cinema. Many critics have eloquently and scholarly wrote on his cinema. From my experience of seeing 100 classics cinema at one go in the 1995 Soorya Film Festival, G Aravindan’s films stand among the best cinematic creations of the world. He is our most poetic, original and truly experimental filmmaker. His cinematic genius lies in the power of simplicity. Like a Zen monk he is a master of the principle of ‘MINIMUM’. His cinema always tried to chisel out the inessentials. Like a haiku poem his cinema revealed the true essence of nature and people. It is a paradox that we tend to forget that the long lasting creations of human civilizations like pyramids are made from the art of simplicity.

Let me now recount one incident. I was shooting with him for a documentary on Bharathanatyam. It was a three-day shoot of just clouds, wind, grass, light etc. And we were going to Ponmudi to shoot the jungle in different moods. I reached his home early in the morning at 5 am. As he came to the car, he gave me a paper cutting and said, “Sunny you must read this interview.” I just glanced at the paper in the back seat light of his black Ambassador car. I managed to read the name of Vilmos Zigmond. One of the finest cameramen of Hollywood!! I was very surprised at why Aravindettan gave me a Hollywood cameraman’s interview to read!!! Well, after the shoot I went back and read the interview in its entirety. One line from that interview became my guiding principle in cinematography. Vilmos Zigmond says, “No image can be more beautiful than its meaning”

My evolution as a cinematographer and Piravi

2009-11-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

My love for cinema started at the age of ten - i.e.; in 1967. Later the very first person I became acquainted in film industry was G Aravindan, who became my mentor and inspiration, in 1975. I was eighteen then and madly obsessed with cinema.

Just to see films daily, free of cost, I joined as an apprentice projectionist in our local cinema hall "BHAVANI THEATRE" - learning the first lessons of film industry from my projectionist

guru Mr.Rajappan. And in that period of 1972-1974 I was seeing more than 365 films a year! That was my beginning. [Much earlier to this period when I was a little boy of seven or eight, Rajappan Chettan used to give me many frames from the films that were screened in the theatre and I took those home and projected it for my friends, using a water filled electric bulb and a small mirror]. I was already imagining myself as a film director!! I did really enjoy those projections. Later when I was in 8th standard I even had a hand cranked film projector - with which I used to project small strips of films - it even had a real electric bulb and a mirror!

In 1979, I joined the institute to study Editing, and then to do my post diploma in direction course. In fact I went to editing only, in our final year specialisation. But my teacher of cinematography, Mr. Bhanumurthy Alur advised me to shift to cinematography as my specialisation subject. At first, I was reluctant and then I did change my subject.

It was ten years after meeting Aravindan only I met Shaji in 1984. I was with Madhu Ambat and Vijay Menon, working on Vijay Menon's film 'Nilavinte Nattil' in Madras. There I received the news of my Diploma film "The Clown and The Dog" [photographed stunningly by my class mate Anoop Jotwani] winning the National Award for Best Experimental film. The same day I also received a call from Aravindan to join him as a cinematographer for a documentary shoot in Kottayam. It was my plan to join Aravindan as an assistant director and those days I never thought I would become a cinematographer! Anyway this opportunity to work with him even as a cameraman was a dream come true. I took a bus from Madras and reached Kottayam only in the midnight of the appointed day. Not having any sign of me, Aravindan has already left to Trichur for shooting with KG Jayan who was working as an assistant to Shaji. Shaji was in Kottayam too, to shoot a film with KG George, ‘Panchavadi Palam’. In the middle of the night thesecurity man from the hotel put me into Shaji's room. So I met him and we talked very little that night. He asked me to assist him for two days till Jayan comes back from Aravindan's shooting. I agreed and our association and friendship started unexpectedly, at that midnight.

Later I assisted Shaji in four feature films including Aravindan's 'Chitambaram'. More often, in the sets, Shajichettan and myself talked more about experiences in life rather than cinematography. I think this was the prime reason for Shaji to choose me as his cameraman in ‘Piravi’.

To be frank, Shaji never told me that I was doing the cinematography of ‘Piravi’ - till the first day of the shooting... till the coconut being broken on the first day of shoot!! Yes we had lots of discussions on the script. Many interactions... and one day both of us went and saw Andrei Tarkovsky's 'Stalker' in a cinema hall... there were only two of us in the hall. We just saw the film together and enjoyed the film together and we talked about the ambience created in the film. Even then I did not know the intentions of Shaji. I thought, at the most he would ask me to do the camera operation.

Then on the first day after the poojas and breaking the coconut,Shaji quietly told me "Why don't you just start...?"

I was pleasantly surprised...then slowly started lighting up the first scene in our shoot... the scene where the old man was waiting for the bus in front of the small tea shop in the morning and the owner opening the shop! The first shot was of the shop door from inside, darkness to begin with and the owner opening one plank, there by we see the outside. Light enters. After that first shot I had no nervousness. By the time of 'Piravi' I had photographed three feature films - all this films were initially supposed to be shot by Shaji and later given to me as independent assignments. So, because of Shaji I got this three films one after another and people started noticing my work.

Since most of the day exterior shots were to be done in actual rain, we did not use any lights neither any reflectors for those scenes. It was really interesting the way we started our day. All will wear a rain coat and plastic hat and just move out. The camera had a big umbrella and a plastic sheet to protect it. What we used to was if we saw any rain approaching [we can actually hear it nearing] then we will get ready for a scene with rain.I must also mention Madhu Ambat's contribution in getting my first film 'Theerthom'. Even though Shaji send me to the location of 'Theerthom', I didn't know anybody in the production. Not even the director - Mohan! Unfortunately when I reached the Location Mohansir was not there and the producers were doubtful about my abilities. Remember that I was a skinny little fellow, looking like a student rather than a cinematographer. The producers immediately wanted to get some other cameraman and they called Madhu Ambat in Madras. But when he knew that I was in the location, he told the producers to let me shoot the film. He later telephoned me and said "Sunny must do the film. I have told the producers that if Sunny is there, I am not coming." That boosted my confidence and I shot the film. After seeing some parts of the rushes, for the first time Shri. Adoor Gopalakrishnan also talked positively about my work, which encouraged me a lot.

The lighting equipment in Piravi was very minimal - we had 2 Mini-brutes, 6 Multi 20s and 4Multi 10s for Day scenes. For night scenes we had 6 Juniors and six Babys! After 3-4 days we stopped using the Mini-brutes because all the bulbs in it were getting fused and we thought that we can’t afford it. In any case there were no replacement bulbs for them and what was left was 'half a Mini-brute'. This indeed came to my help in the very last scene of the film.

The biggest luck I had with Piravi was finding the 'house'. It had
un-plastered red bricks for walls/as background and that enhanced the lighting a lot. A face against a darker background will be more
attractive. Lighting will be more pronounced, isn't it? And the limitation of the number of lights also becomes a blessing in disguise. There was never a danger of over lighting a scene :-).

The negative stock we were using was Kodak 5297 [250D] for day scenes and Agfa high-speed film for Night + late evening scenes. We actually used two cameras too! An Arri III for 5297 and an Arri IIC for Agfa high speed film. Because, Agfa negative running in the Arri III was producing a lot of dust. In the IIC it behaved normally! The light meter I had then was a Spectra Professional gifted to me by Thomas Esaw who was the director of my second film "Eenam Maranna Kattu". The strangest thing we did in the film was using the samples from Rosco swatch book as camera filters for the twilight scenes, that too cut and pasted behind the lens with cellophane tape! :-) Of course we thought that, even if we loose some sharpness because of this, it will be to our advantage. Twilight time we actually see less clearly. I selected the 5297 for day scenes because I had earlier seen 'The Shy People' by Chris Menges and liked it a lot. The choice of Agfa for night was simply because Kodak high-speed film then was giving a very inconsistent performance.

I still remember Subrata Dada’s shock when I narrated the ‘swatch book’ story to him. Meeting Dada after Piravi and his encouragement was my prime strength to move on in the path I was treading. One day he asked me, “Sunny do you know why I like your cinematography?” I was puzzled and said “No Dada I don’t know!” Then slowly he said, “I like your cinematography because it doesn’t look lit up”. For good or bad, that became my guiding spirit in all my works.

Most importantly by now I know that a cinematographer achieves his best when he is supported by an intelligent gaffer and skilful lighting assistants. Another person one should mention in ones development is the Colour Grader in the lab. He is our right hand man giving the excellence to the look of the final image. My many thanks to all who assisted me in my career, who helped me, grow in my understanding of cinematography.

The EYE - I

2009-07-01T04:36:00.000-07:00

I have always wondered about the eyes which creates the perspective and there by the vanishing point. Through this ability of man he creates a space around him, making him the center of cosmos - the I.

If man had only one eye?

Cinema is The art of ‘NOW’

2009-07-01T04:25:00.000-07:00

[My comment on Shri. Mani Kaul’s presentation http://www.cinemadebate.org/Site-1/VIDEO-1.html ]

If the visual is dead, then the eye also is dead. I must say that even the idea of time can only be conceived/understood through the EYE. I don't think that Mani Kaul is really saying what the debate heading says - 'Visual is dead!'...He is, arguing against ascribing an 'intention' to an image, and not against image itself. Well all Zen art deals with 'NOW’ / ‘TIME'. Our own Upanishads and philosophy also speak about the truth of NOW - "The greatest disease of mind is to see time divided into past, present future."

In that sense Cinema makes us experience the ‘adwaitha of time' or for that matter ‘adwaitha’ itself. I have always considered the short film ‘Cosmic Zoom’ as the best commentary on Adwaitha philosophy. Cosmic Zoom so wonderfully makes us experience the interconnected of Universe from the microscopic level to the cosmic level. It is no wonder that when the great quantum physicist Dr. George Sudharshan gave a lecture on time – “Does Time Move Forward?” [Schrödinger Memorial Lecture, New Delhi organized by Austrian Embassy], he was constantly referring to cinema.

After the first screening of Lumiere Brother’s films in Paris a critic wrote, “Death is no more an absolute truth”. For the first time mankind was able to negate the tyranny of time. Because cinema like a Haiku poem is the art of NOW and not an art of ‘duration’ as Mani Kaul argues. 'passage of time' is anti-zen. Zen only talks about 'SABA', the imprint of time. Like the texture and shape of a stone in the river seen now.

When Basho is talking about ‘An old pond’, ‘frog jumping’ and ‘plop’, he is not describing an event happened in duration, but the event in NOW. As the great Malayalam writer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer once said - “one plus one is a little big One”, Basho is describing a ‘now plus now plus now as a little big NOW’. Precisely this is the true quality of cinema.

In cinema we are constantly experiencing the phenomena of time in a constant resonance of ‘Now’. In that sense we can argue that the purest cinema is the ‘single shot’ films of Lumiere Brothers. The idea of a shot after a shot creating a 'juxtaposition' in the viewer's mind or the idea shots in duration is also a kind of ‘visualization’, which is the other side of the coin that Mani Kaul wants to negate. Probably another example of pure Lumiere like cinema is films of Charlie Chaplin!

By the way Dr. George Sudharshan ended the lecture stating that "time does not have arrow of direction". And answering to the last question from the audience he said, "time is the quality of God". Of course this was a hypothetical discussion on Time.

Is Spirituality and Materialism Truly Opposites?

2008-12-11T04:40:00.000-08:00

Three years ago when I read a poem of Japanese Buddhist monk Ikkyu [1394-1481], I was pleasantly surprised to discover a marxist writer centuries before Karl Marx was born. Particularly in one of his poems he echoes Marx’s ideas, in a few lines. If I remember correctly, the poem expressed the following idea – “The cause of all illness of this nation lie in the accumulated wealth of the few.” [Wild Ways, Shambala/ White Pine Press] In another poem, seeing the sufferings of the peasants, he asks the landlords – "Harvest after harvest, taking and taking, from the peasants how will you live?" Surely, these words came from an enlightened Buddhist monk.

Now, the problem for me was a doubt, whether, the root of all these ideals of equality and freedom only based on science and scientific materialism. Why did Ikkyu talk about those ideas much before ‘scientific materialism’ was discovered and ‘industrialization’ happened?

Frankly, can anyone give me an absolute scientific reason or principle to prove that men should be equal? Or am I wrong, if I were to believe that man’s high ideals are also rooted far beyond the materialistic principles? Why should we deny the ‘spirituality’ [I am not talking about God or religion] that is inherently present even in marxism? Isn’t this denial of ‘spirituality’ within marxism, which caused the set backs for such a humane proposal?

Karl Marx categorically says that “Money is the alienated ability of mankind.” He also asks: “Is it not, therefore, also the universal agent of separation?” [Money and World Culture, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844.] Aren’t all his theories and proposals meant to restore this lost ability, back to humankind?

Unless we subvert the oppressive power of the ‘money’, how will we achieve the state Marx hoped for, i.e. for all, 'work' will be of joy and not a necessity for daily survival? Will it be correct to say that whatever organizational system we device and keep ‘money’ as the substitute for the social transactions will eventually fail? What would have been Marx’s idea?

Did he ever think that even in communism the social transaction will be still through money, even if it was distributed ‘to each according to his/her needs’? Is this one of the reasons for the disintegration of the communist governments? Is it time to think about an alternative to ‘money’ in the practice of socialism and communism?

Finally, did Marx have an alternative to ‘money’? What was this alienated ‘ability’ which Marx wanted to recover? Was it the feeling of ‘Oneness’ among fellow human beings? Is it also called spirituality? Or is it called Love?

Isn’t it a paradox that even in Bible, it is categorically said that “The root cause of all evil is the desire for money”? Is spirituality and materialism truly opposites?

Will I be wrong if I say that in its manifestation, true spirituality, is none other than the understanding and acceptance of humanity’s ONENESS. If the principles are based on universal human values and aspirations of ONENESS, can the methodology be based on the principles of divisions and conflict?

Marx concludes his article on money with these words: “Assume man to be man and his relationship to the world to be a human one: then you can exchange love only for love, trust for trust, etc.... Every one of your relations to man and to nature must be a specific expression, corresponding to the object of your will, of your real individual life. If you love without evoking love in return – that is, if your loving does not produce reciprocal love; if through a living expression of yourself as a loving person you do not make yourself a beloved one, then your love is impotent – a misfortune.” Will these observations on ‘money’, also stand good for the practice of socialism and communism?

Marxism, as a knowledge source and its methodology is developed within a specific geography and time. Can India with its heritage of 5000 years of knowledge, propose any alternatives? Can knowledge be disregarded because it is old? Then marxism itself is 150 years old and surely old enough to be discarded. Does that sound correct?

What will happen to marxism, say if we were to practice it anew in India, if we incorporate the spirituality of Buddha or Sree Narayana Guru with marxian principles? We have already seen that a Buddhist monk talking truly marxian principles before Marx!

We are taught and we learn that the new science is all about the harmonization of contradictory principles. If, so, it is time that we apply the same scientific principles also to political theory. Isn't it time that we re-examine marxism and re-model it under new scientific discoveries and vast knowledge generated after Marx's time?

Is spirituality and materialism truly opposites?

In this context I would also like to bring to your notice what Tom Paine, in the 18th century said of himself: "I view things as they are without regard to place or person; my country is the world; my religion is to do good, and all humans are my brothers and sisters." Do you know that there is a ‘World Government’ functioning today and for which the theoretical support is given by none other than Nataraja Guru? And this World Government is functioning based on the principles of Sree Narayana Guru, adopted for the political world.

After all, a ‘unified theory’ in the political world is also possible in the new scientific age. Nataraja Guru writes in the memorandum: "The World Government is an accomplished fact…Humanity is one. This is the a priori given basis of the World Government outlined in this memorandum."

Gary Davis of the World Government writes: The crucial question then is: If the world's people are in legal fact already sovereign, how are these global bodies to be created?

We have an answer from the past, again from Citizen Tom Paine: "It has been thought a considerable advance," he writes, "towards establishing the principle of freedom to say that government is a compact between those who govern and those who are governed; but this cannot be true because it is putting the effect before the cause; for as men must have existed before governments existed, there once was a time when governments did not exist, and consequently there could originally exist no governors to form such a compact with. The fact therefore must be that the individuals themselves, each in his own personal sovereign right, entered into a compact with each other to produce a government."

Isn’t it evident that no Government or System of governing can claim any sovereignty above the Individuals?

Let me quote again from Tom Paine: “There never did, there never will, and there never can, exist a Parliament, or any description of men, or any generation of men, in any country, possessed of the right or the power of binding and controlling posterity to the "end of time," or of commanding for ever how the world shall be governed, or who shall govern it; and therefore all such clauses, acts or declarations by which the makers of them attempt to do what they have neither the right nor the power to do, nor the power to execute, are in themselves null and void. Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself in all cases as the age and generations, which preceded it. The vanity and presumption of governing beyond the grave is the most ridiculous and insolent of all tyrannies. Man has no property in man; neither has any generation a property in the generations which are to follow.” [‘Rights of Man’]

Is spirituality and materialism truly opposites?

Zeitgeist-Addendum

2008-12-11T04:34:00.000-08:00

Zeitgeist and Zeitgeist Addendum are two thought provoking films - directed by Peter Joseph. Both available from net... free to download. I have not seen the first part the Zeitgeist. But yesterday watched the second part - Zeitgeist-Addendum. It surely is a thought provoking film. Looking into the US monetary system and beyond it argues about a revolution in consciousness, the opening argument is from the dynamic image/voice of none other than J Krisnamurthy. In the US this film is condemned as a shameless communist propaganda. But I doubt whether Communists will ever support this film. Yes it is a must watch film. Must be willing to go through 2 hours of it though. It is up to everyone to decide on the arguments put forward in the film.

The film is interesting because it really is addressing a very important next step in human civilization. It is arguing for a society, which is money less and not oriented to profit making. It is surprising that such an argument has to come from USA. And is there anything new in the form? Well I doubt. A film like Hitler - Our Hitler, Hearts and Minds etc comes to my mind. And what was the title of the film, where we see Che's dead face for about 5 minutes in the end? How can I forget the name? Yes, Hour of the Furnaces.

I was very thrilled to see it because MONEY is also a subject, which I am pursuing for a documentary. Ever since I have read Marx's words - "Money is the alienated human ability." I wanted to make a film on money. When I talked about this to Zanussi, he said that bible has said it before Marx i.e., - "Desire for money is the root cause of all evil." Later when I read Ikkyu [1394-1481] the most venerated master in Japan, I was astonished to see the essence of Marxian philosophy in a poem of a spiritual master - "Root cause of all illness of this nation is in the accumulated wealth of the few."

Is Materialism and Spirituality truly opposites?

What is another name of Death?

2008-01-05T01:57:00.000-08:00

Friends,

About a month ago I lost a younger sister of mine, Lissy, after a two year struggle with cancer. This was an immediate instance of death visiting us siblings of nine, within a time span of 50 years. When Lissy was critically ill, I was shooting a Hindi film in Himachalpradesh and she did ask me to visit her immediately, before five days of her death. I was wanting to meet her, but my professional duties made me continue for another three days finishing some critical shoot, and by the time I reached home, Lissy was no more in this life. What frightened me at the funeral was that even after I couldn't honor my promise of meeting her, I still couldn't feel sad about her demise. I was not feeling anything and I was getting nervous about my inner feelings!! What all I could remember was her following me on my fingertips everywhere when we were children and she asking me a lot of questions and I had to answer her in detail... And behind her funeral procession i followed her, holding her coffin asking silently many questions on life. There were no answers.

Who will answer us? As I write this note, few teardrops have rolled down my cheek... what is another name of death?

warm regards, Sunny

Telivision

2008-01-05T01:45:00.000-08:00

Hello friends, I am publishing a poem by my Orkut friend Athiran below. Hope it makes you think for a momment... I am also a die hard anti-TV person. Cheers...

Television by Athiran

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!

thanks Athiran for this wonderful thought... Sunny

Da Vinci's 7 principles on life and art

2007-07-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

[Letter to my students on their first day]

One day I was in the Landmark bookshop, and a particular book called for my attention - "Da Vinci Decoded". First I thought this book was a sequel to the other famous book – “Da Vinci Code”. Anyway, I bought it and when I read the book I realized that it was altogether something else. I recommend this book to all, especially aspiring cinematographers, to read it. After all, Da Vinci is the first person who designed a light meter [photometer] 300 years ahead of Benjamin Rumford who invented one! Da Vinci Decoded talks about the seven principles that Da Vinci applies to the ‘art and life’ which is so close to Indian philosophy. It is rumored that in fact he was in the east for some time. Like Ramana Maharshi, he respected all beings including the ants and insects. He declared for the first time in the western world, the "interconnectedness of all things and beings" way before modern quantum physicist. Da Vinci’s seven principles are:

1. Seek the truth

2. Take responsibility

3. Cultivate awareness

4. Engage the shadow

5. Balance the masculine and feminine principles

6. Integrate body and spirit

7. Practice love

We know that all religions talk about God as Love. In my opinion CINEMA is Love 24 times Per Second and the closest art form which connects the human being to the divine and universal. And listen to the great poet and philosopher RUMI:

" Both light and shadow are the dance of love".

And now listen to a prayer of Leonardo Da Vinci:

"May God, light of all things, deign to enlighten me, who here treat of light."

Isn't it a beautiful prayer for cinematographers? Let us now look into two verses from Bible and Upanishads:

"There is a light within a person of light, and it shines on the whole world." - The Gospel of St. Thomas.

Is it not the cinematographer/film maker with his creation traveling all around the world?
Yes human beings craving for light in its physical and spiritual form are well known to us. In the hour of darkness we can turn to our own Upanishads for reassurance:

“There is a light that shines brighter than the sun, brighter than the light in the heavens. It is the light that shines within your heart." - Upanishads.

In God We Trust

2006-04-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

It has been three months that I am away from my blog... that is an awful lot of time!! Where did I disappear? Doing what? Is there an answer? Not really... But, today when I am back, I want to share with you something which I wrote during the peak of Iraq war. I was almost becoming hopless and mad... and I had to write this.

In God We Trust - An Open Letter To My God
---------------------------------------------------------

To begin with, it seems so funny to send you an appeal like this. You are the knower of all things beyond past, present and future. In that sense you already know everything that I am going to write in this letter. That is your power and authority. And, I live in ‘now’ and I am going through my worst moments of despair and hopelessness.

God, I was born into a Christian family in the year of 1957, in Kerala. We proud ourselves as one of the ancient Christian people on this earth. Your beloved son Jesus was an inspiration for me all through my life. I listen to his teachings in many times of despair and hopelessness, as much us I listen to your other beloved sons like Buddha, Dostoyevsky, Gandhiji, Ikkiyu, Sree Narayana Guru, Tao, Karl Marx and many others.

Now let us get straight to the matter. I am sure that this is not a new question to you. But I suppose I have the authority of a free will to ask you this again and again. God why do you allow this war? Why so many innocent children are sacrificed in this brutal show of violence. I simply can not understand how You could teach us about compassion and love through such inhuman and unjust events. Above everything it was ghastly to see Mr. Bush appearing on the cover page of Newsweek as the crusader for your infinite Love. Why all this? Does the suffering of the hundreds of innocent Iraqi children make you happy? Is not the pain of all these mothers not equal to our Holy Mother? Why all this terrible things dear God?

I have always doubted that ‘selfishness’ is the foundation of your creation. Probably you didn’t want to be alone and unknown. Does the fathomless emptiness and silence become unbearable even to you? Are you taking pleasure in giving us also a taste of that emptiness and unbearable silence through these wars?

Is it not utter selfishness and greed for money that drives government of United States of America to engage in this war? The most incorrigible and vulgar thing I have seen in my life is the claim of the President of USA that he conducts this war on behalf of you. How incredible! Have you ever looked into the US dollar bill? Do you read English? [Because I am taught in the Sunday school that we talk different languages because of a curse from you.] They have printed your name on their currency. It read like this “IN GOD WE TRUST”!!

It is the most sacrilegious and blasphemous thing I have seen in my life. I have no authority to comment on this matter except my trust in you. But I know that it is against you. Haven’t the President of USA read the Holy Bible? I read your words clearly. “The root cause of all evil is the desire for money”. By printing your Holy name on their Dollar bill, are they not making you the messenger of evil? This is the time I must ask this question loudly and bravely.

Dear God, with the help of your wisdom, I am making the following statement.

“I protest with my moral authority of my trust in my God, and as a world citizen representing and voicing the peoples will and hopes; demand to the government of United States of America to immediately withdraw these words [In God we Trust] from the USA dollar bill with an unconditional apology to my GOD who is the supreme commander of this universe. I don’t think that the bully headed US president Mr. Bush would be listening to you, my God. If he trusted you he would not have waged this war. Even Pope’s words did not fell on his ear. But when I see tears in Popes eyes, it kindles in my heart some hope about your wishes. Dear God was it you who were crying? But I openly challenge Mr. Bush to defy this command of my God, there by revealing the true face of his self and government of USA.”

I believe that it will be proper to quote here from one of your beloved son’s teachings:

“Humanity is one by its common origin, one in its common interests
and motives of happiness here on earth in everyday living, and one
in its relation to the aspirations and ideals which bind human beings
together by bonds of sympathy for each other. A Unitive and
Absolute Value is at the basis of human life. This High Human Value
knows no frontier either actual or ideological. It makes no
discrimination between rich or poor, high or low, civilized or
backward. Sympathy for suffering and indignation against injustice
to fellow men transcends time and clime, and reaches out evenly or
pointedly, as the case may deserve, to the uttermost recesses of the
one world which man inhabits.”

By Nataraja Guru - from the Memorandum on World Government

May the dream of your dear son Garry Davis become a reality soon. Let there be a ‘World Government’ of world citizens.

The Eye

2006-01-20T20:50:00.000-08:00

What a marvellous sense ability which we have, called the 'vision' or 'sight'. That is the ability to see the world around us. And the eye makes it all possible. Eye is sometimes described as the outwardly visible part of our brain. Each waking second the eye send some one billion pieces of fresh information to the brain. The human eye can sense some ten million gradations of light and seven million different shdes of colour. Eyes are responsible for about 75% of all that we perceive. Few creatures could boast of eyesight as power full as man's. An Astronaut orbiting the earth could spot the Pyramids of Egypt.

And today I have learned that there is a part of human body which receives most of the oxygen directly from atmosphere rather than from blood!! What a wonder!! The 'cornea' in the eye receives most of its oxygen directly from atmosphere through tears! If it was to be from blood that would diminish the transparency of the cornea....

In 1957, intrigued by the dual purpose of tears [irritant tears and emotional tears], chemist Robert Brunish analyzed the ingredients of irritant and emotional tears.. Tears induced by onion fumes and strong wind, he discovered, contained a lower concentration of the protein albumin. In the 1970s the biochemist William Frey began investigating whether this protein was related to the chemical changes in our blood stream caused by stress. Tears might well play role in filtering out the body's stressful chemicals. The machismo ethic of suppressing tears, Frey thinks, might induce peptic ulcers and other stress related diseases. By not allowing himself to weep, the strong, silent male might not take advantage of natural relief. Guys, dont hold back your tears... let it flow naturally.

Happiness is...

2006-01-10T00:31:00.000-08:00

Here is a nice quote I read on the first day of 2006 which made me very happy about evrything.

"Happiness is not a destination. It is a way of travelling."

And few days ago I saw Ozu's "Early Summer". What a spiritual film! No wonder Tarkovsky admires Ozu so much. It was astonishing to see how he manages to make space and beings/objects into one whole. That is unique to Ozu. I think that is achieved both through the lensing and the elevation of the camera. He is not just keeping a low angle shot!!

And I was also somehow thinking of music.... why man invented music? I believe it was to overcome the tyranny of time. Music allowed man to conquer the time, rather music allowed man to travel parallel with time... and cinema allowed man to conquer space and time.. and who said space and time is one entity?

“To live -and die- without regret”.

2006-01-09T19:09:00.000-08:00

It has been 48 days since I have written anything here. It also looks like yesterday! I wanted to write about death, after I heard about the road accident which put my dear friend Pamela Rooks in a coma. And I never sat at the computer to do so… I was not able to concentrate... may be I was reluctant to be face to face with the only definite thing in our life.

Suddenly I was remembered of another accident which happened during the shooting of the film "Train to Pakistan". We were on the banks of Sutlej river near a rail bridge preparing for some early morning shoot. It was still dark. As we were discussing about the shot standing on the tracks looking towards the bridge, I heard a loud shout from my assistant… “Sir…jump...move away”. He was in fact sitting on the rail and warming himself with a small camp fire he made. Pam and I suddenly moved away from the tracks and within a second or two a goods train zoomed across the bridge. I still tremor about that instant. Unfortunately one of the production assistants in the unit was walking on the rail bridge, against the instruction to use the parallel road bridge to cross the river. His dead body was found in the river after 10 days.

We were told by the production people that there will be no train traffic along that bridge till 8am in the morning - supposedly after confirming with the railway authorities! I am still doubtful about that. The train was approaching the bridge frighteningly silent! If my assistant Vinayan was looking towards us, even, he would not have noticed the approaching train. Luckily for us he was looking the other way. Unfortunately Vinayan died of asthma a year later. I still miss him. He was such a help to me. I am sure he will be wishing me all the best from the heavens.

With in a fraction of seconds the fate saved our life on that fateful day. As I understand it was a strange accident which happened to Pamela. The car radio which flew away from the other car which met with an accident came and hit her on the head. I pray to the God for a speedy recovery. Pamela, be a brave women as you were always.

Accidents are always a matter of a split second. Of course, none of us can avoid death. It is inevitable. And we don’t know when it will happen. All that we can do is to live ‘now’ with total awareness. In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole, where death is the beginning of another chapter of life. Death is a mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected. As Tibet’s famous poet saint, Milarepa, said: “My religion is to live-and die-without regret.”

Back in the Academy

2005-11-23T04:30:00.000-08:00

From 22nd of this month I am in the academy, assessing the continuty excercise of the students and developing the structure of cinematography syllabus in detail. It made me think of my own continuity excercise. In it, 'Heart Beats 24 Times per Second' I have even mixed live action with the screen image!... yes I did follow the screen direction :-) when I moved on to the stage and moved in front of the screen!!

Back to the student films in LV Prasad Film & TV Academy. This was the first excercise the students did with actors. So they also felt it like their 'first film'. Most of the films I liked eventhough one was looking out for mistakes!!

What a difficult thing to do, judging other peoples work :-(

All this made me think on our own acceptence of other people's criticism of our work. How many of us genuinely accept other person's views? Very rarely in the first instance. At first we will try to defend our position with all possible arguments, though we know that the other person is well meaning and he has a sound logic in his view points. May be after two three days we will accept the other persons view! But rarely we will confirm it with him!!

Well, at least we cinematographers have a relatively objective analysis of our own work. I may be wrong in assuming this :-) Probably that is why on many occassions we are also able to step in for 'clash works', for fellow cinematographers. Or even two or more cinematographers working for the same film. When I worked with Shri. Mangada Ravi Varma, in Adoor's "Nizhalkuthu" it was a very fullfilling experience. I am sure even Adoorji enjoyed working with us two cameramen in the film, so that he duely gives credit to both of us :-)

It was the same with working in Fazil's "Manichitra Thazhu". Venu, Anandakuttan and myself worked in the same film as cinematographers! Of about fifteen days I worked in the film, I ended up shooting with three directors in the same film - Priyadarshan, Sibi Malayil and Fazil himself!! Well this film had two units parallely shooting in the same location, and five directors [the other two were Siddhiqe Lal duo] working univocally under the guidence of Fazil.

I must admit that such experiences are rare but very enriching. Many people do not beleive that such efforts and accomplishments are possible. Well, at least in Malayalam Film Industry, such nice co-operation among the fellow technicians and artists do happen. I do wish that it will be so in the future too.

Indian Railways? Yes...

2005-11-19T06:01:00.000-08:00

This is just to tell you that I received my train ticket [which I booked online] today morning. That was less than 48 hrs after I booked it!. Considering that it came from Delhi, that is an achievement for our Railways. So take note of the web address were you can book your ticket from home, spending less time and effort. For me it was even economically cheaper, I mean instead of spending Rs. 50/= for auto and 40 minutes, I got it for Rs. 40/= and 10 minutes... :-)

www.irctc.co.in [Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation Ltd.]

Truth as Falsehood

2005-11-18T05:57:00.000-08:00

The day after my violence, I came down from the hostel to canteen by around 11am. By then I was feeling guilty of what I have done. I think the department had no clue about why or who did such a thing. Hanging around canteen, I gathered that VK Murthy [then director] and John Shankaramangalam [then Dean] were on a fact finding mission and already questioned many others whom they thought must have done this 'criminal' act. I remember vaguely that one of the students questioned was my dear friend Sudhanshu Mishra. {Susu are you listening from out there? Thinking of Sudhansu also brings in the memories of Uma... How is life out there?}

By, lunch time I became more remorseful and wanted to go in to the directors office and confess that I have done the wrong doing. Finally I gathered the courage and went to the director and dean and confessed to them that I am the real culprit. Surely, they did not beleive it!! I still don't understand why they thought I am telling a lie!! They told me to report to them later. So finally what happened was amazing! They really thought that I was deleberately owning it up to save someone else!! Due to their own convictions about me, to accept that 'Sunny' did the 'wrong doing' was also impossible for them. Finally they have written off the case, and let me go free!! if only they have seen me at nights at the partys in the hostel... :-)

So what is knowledge? What is truth? Isn't it Godard who said that "Cinema is truth 24 times per second" ?

Waves and Trains 2

2005-11-18T05:52:00.000-08:00

Before I go into the confession story, let me share some random thoughts on film editing, triggered by 'The Conversations'. At one level film editing is all about guiding the audiences attention on the screen... Guiding the 'anchor point' of their looks etc. And sometimes I think that, the ordering of image is also part of the creation of image. Well, I am not rationalizing my jump from editing to cinematography, :-) but merrily cherishing the interconnectedness of cinematography and editing.

I also wondered about the Lumiere's train during my journey. Thinking about how strong the impact must have been when the first audience were jumping out of the window, or crouching under the chairs in 1895, witnessing the 'arrival of train'. Is it possible to create such wonderous feelings in cinema today? I must confess that when I saw people flying in the sword fights in "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" or in the lake scene in "Hero" it was a child like wonderful experience. Well you also feel such wonder, when playing the internet game 'Second Life'.

To a certain extent the knowledge about any thing takes away the wonder from it. Actually, every youngster today think that he/she is a film maker. Of 5ooo odd registrations in IFFK, about 3500 claim that they are film makers!! So today we have to actually cater to a new kind of 'film-maker viewer'. Talking about knowledge brings me to a question... How do we know? - or is it "How do we know?" or is it "How do we know?" or is it "How do we know?" Narayana Guru says that when one becomes the knowledge itself, transcending the duality of knower vs knowledge, that is the ultimate experience of non-dual/oneness.

Sometimes, correctly presented truth will also be percived as a falsehood, like what happened with my glass breaking adventure. :-)

Waves and Trains

2005-11-17T05:50:00.000-08:00

Last monday I was in Kannur [north Kerala] scouting locations for a short film which I will be shooting in the first week of December. Our main location is an old fort by the sea-side. There was some rennovation work going on and it was interesting to note the marks of passage of time imprinted on that area. On the seaside edge, I was looking over to the sea and into the waves for a long time. But, it is so strange that I never thought about the 'tsunami' when I was near the sea.

On the way back to Trivandrum in the train I was reading 'The Coversations' - conversations of such depth and magnitude on the art of film editing with Walter Murch. [I always secretly imagined that I am a better editor than a cinematographer :-)]. I recently met Bhanumurthy sir at the LV Prasad Academy. And he alone is the man responsible for me becoming a cinematographer. May be, now I must put it in writing why I selected cinematography for specialization after doing three weeks of specialization in editing [which was my original choice]. Well, one day I was sitting under the wisdom tree and suddenly Bhanumurthy sir comes near me and offers a seat in cinematography!! That was so strange because it was never done. I was really reluctant to change, because somehow, this was a compomise on my orginal plan to do editing and then do the post diploma in direction. But, Bhanumurthy sir was so convinced about my future and so he was also able to convince me about it.

If I remember correctly, one day I just stopped going to editing class, and cut, I was in the cinematography class. It was rather a jump cut. I still wonder about how Rao sir thought about my 'betrayal'!! Actually it took some time for me to reconcile with myself. During that period of angst I even became very violent!! To the extant that one day I got very drunk and in the middle of the night went to cinematography department and pulled down all the notice boards and broken the glass panes. I was crushing those glass panes with my feet. And nobody saw me doing this. I still have a scar on my right foot... Next day...

Before that, talking of trains, today for the first time I reserved a train ticket via internet and got it confirmed. So far so good!!

Anyway what happened next day at the institue after the night of my adventure was unlikely!! That is the story of a confession which ends up in an anticlimax :-)

Mirror of Love 2

2005-11-15T07:13:00.002-08:00

When I presented Aravindettan's 'Vasthuhara' at the FTII, I was talking of Vasthuhara as an example of a 'mirror of love'. What does it mean? I believe that any creative expression of an artist, from music to literature to painting to drama to dance to cinema is an attempt primarly to show the lacunae of life-supportive/life-nurturing qualities in our life, especially of love. Art by its mystical power, whenever shows an absence, makes us feel the desire for its existence. Conversly it also projects a desirable harmonious beauty which is not present today. Please remember that 'beauty' not necessarly always denote only the beautiful. For me, when there is a balance achieved, or resolution made even after a chaotic conflict, there is beauty. 'Beautiful' also does not always mean to negate the not-beautiful/ugliness.

A beautiful person of character may be ugly-looking physically. The compassion generated by a photograph [ex. photo of the girl burned by napalm bombs] or by a cinema [ex. Night and Fog] liberates the viewer and makes his/her heart yearn for a society where such things never happen. That yearning is a distilled occurrence of beauty - the source of creation. That is why Dostoevesky says: " Beauty will save the world" Even the 'anger' felt by a viewer after watching 'Hearts and Minds', is of 'beautiful' in its roots.

In fact a 'mirror of love' more often needs to show the ugly and the marginal. Striving for beauty or an ideal, questing for the truth and focusing the spirituality of our being does not mean that we shun our immediate reality and all questions related to it. In fact a 'hightened awareness leads us to the very 'here' and 'now' of our daily existence. I am empowered with a new vision, a new hearing and a new touch with which I take part in this very fight of our existence and resulting realization. The very existence of mine interconnected with my neighbours and the multitude of unseen humanity. Within this trancended spirituality, making of a film and completion of an image becomes 'an act of love' as Truaffat said about film making. The work of art becomes a testimony to the artist's ultimate faith in humanity's salvation. Here lies the posibility the cinema to become a unifying, life-nurturing force in our disintegrating world. Such a possibility makes a film, a "Mirror of Love".

The Mirror Of Love

2005-11-12T23:53:00.000-08:00

When one of my classmates [6th std] told me that there was a temple at Kalavomkodam, little away [3km] from my home where there is a "MIRROR" installed by great Narayana Guru in the sanctum sanctorum instead of any statue of a God or Godess, I was very eager to visit this temple. I remember going to the temple and seeing that mirror inside the sanctum sanctorum. This was the most defining moment in my life. All my interest in Indian philosophy and my urge to learn about Narayana Guru, later meeting Guru Nithya, all this has the root in this visit. Or does this visit happened only many years later when I visited the "Kannadi Prathishtta" with Swami Ascharyacharya?

The 'guru parampara' [lineage] from Narayana Guru continued with Nataraja Guru and to Guru Nityachaithanya Yathi and now with Guru Muni Narayana Prasad. Ascharyacharya was also a disciple of Nataraja Guru. Nataraja Guru wrote the 'memorandum of association' of the 'World Government' established by Garry Davis [www.worldservice.org]

So when I started learning the philosophy of Narayana Guru, it was very clear to me that all philosophies, all art and living itself, everything, as an expression of 'love', which was the essence - the heart and soul of God.

I was planning to make a documentary at that time [1983] on the vision and philosophy of Narayana Guru. I anchored my script in and around the 'mirror installation' and named the film "The Mirror Of Love". From this point to the understanding of cinema as a mirror of love, is all about my journey in life so far. I am always facinated to think of cinema as a mirror of love. Yes, cinema's role in the midst of human beings are destained to be more than an industry or a medium of entertainment. I am sure cinema's growth as an art form is directly connected to the spiritual growth of man and his ultimate understanding of time and reality. - to be continued

Mirrors and Reflections 2

2005-11-11T20:38:00.000-08:00

Becoming a projectionist was the third ambition in my life. Which immediately filled within me a transformed urge to become a film maker. Yes, by my 10th standard [1972] I have decided to join FTII. Those days in my dreams I would see myself wearing a 'mundu' [dhoti] and directing the cast! he.. he.. If I remember correctly from the first year of my degree classes only I started wearing 'pants and shirt'. And what shirts I used to wear!! I am sure that for 1972 it was ultra-modern. I still remember two shirts vividly - one a bright red with different shades diffusing within and with merging yellow and dark islands scattered all over the red. The second shirt would look like made of a news paper sheet. That was a hit at college :-) [my first ambition in life was to become a priest, secondly it was to become a magician]Coming back to the profession of a projectionist, the most important skill to learn was to bring in the carbons to the right positions as it is burned and moreover adjust the 'mirror' of the projector very delicately so that you get an even illumination across the screen. I was very pround of the projections I did because there weren't many cat calls from the viewers due to any un-even illumination on the screen.I still feel the knobs of the 'Devi' projector and its matte green colour. And i fondly remember my projectionist guru, Rjappan Chettan. He was a very kind person who allowed me to learn from his vast knowledge of the art of projection.It is amusing to look back at the mirror connections in my life!! Its finality was my recognition of cinema as a 'mirror of love'. When I presented Aravindettan's 'Vasthuhara' for the film-appreciation students at FTII in 1992, I presented the film as an example of my idea of 'mirror of love'. And where did this idea of 'mirror of love' come from? That again is related to one of my most intense and defining experiences during my boyhood days in Cherthala, my native town. Another mirror story. - to be continued

Mirrors and Reflections

2005-11-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

When I was a boy [12yrs old], one of the toys I used to play games with was something which I have discovered myself! Nothing but a simple mirror. My game too was a simple one. I used to place the mirror at my waist-level and walk around the house looking into it!! What an incredible thrill it used to give me... as if I am walking upside down hanging on the roof. It was as if I could alter the reality!

Before this play with mirror, when I was studying in 6th standard, I had another use for the mirror. That was to direct a parrallel beam of sunlight into the water filled electric bulb [which was part of a makeshift 'magic lantern' made by my own hands] placed inside the darkened room to projcet that very precious 'film frame' which I collected from the local cinema theatre - Bhavani Theatre...

Behold, there was these black and white images of stars from popular malayalam films of sixty's looming out into the whitewashed wall of my room. That was pure magic... probably, for the first time I was also falling in love with those images. Possessing those little pieces of celluloid made me feel like a king... I used to have 'projections' for other kids in the neighbourhood too. It was no wonder that my first occupation in cinema industry was of a projectionist, when I was 16 years old... - to be continued

Once upon a time

2005-11-08T00:23:00.000-08:00

As I breathe into this new world of blogs, I am very skeptical about its fruitfulness. Yet, the beauty of the unknown pulls me into this. I am remembered of my Guru's words, "Aakarshikunnavan Krishnan. Ramippikkunnavan Raman." [Guru Nitya Chaythanya Yathi] Translated roughly it means that "That which attracts you to this world is Krishna and that which involves you in this world is Rama."

A blog has the same quality of attraction and involvement.

So, like millions of others, here is a being trying to reach out to many others. But if we truly follow our ancient knowledge, that attempt itself is a flawed proposition. Because it assumes that the one and many are different entities. It is not to be true.

So does the internet and all this blogs a game of Maya?

Who knows? But, in another way, internet also gives us a glimpse of the interconnectedness of our world. The one and only Earth and its inhabitants.

So how can the internet be an agent of unification and seperation at the same time? Or like Marx once said of 'money', is it only an agent of seperation?

I beleive that Internet isan agent of unification, which will truly make our world a ONE WORLD.