Mind over matter

You know what?

The mind is a vile, corrosive, self-destructive time bomb just waiting to lead you head-on to your doom. It fills your head with despicable thoughts, it makes you stay awake all night thinking of all the abysmal things you have done and are doing in life, in compels you to lie in a foetal position all day watching mindless, borderline funny sitcoms huddled up inside your blanket like a cat, and it makes you gulp down cups of coffee hoping it might put some energy into your system.

 You know what else it does?

It secretes all the wrong hormones at all the wrong times; it makes you stare at a million open tabs on your screen without making you do any sort of work; it makes you want to cry out loud for the sheer impossibility of the situation it has put you into; it makes you feel like the days are long, but secretly the evil thing makes the time seem to move faster than ever. Why we had to be the ‘superior’ species with more intelligence than all the other animals, I fail to understand. I would rather be frolicking about naked in a jungle hunting for food, scratching my head, infested with termites and fleas with predators lurking around me than be in this situation. Or you know what? Maybe we are not as intelligent as we think we are. Seriously, is any one of us completely happy in this concrete, swarming, claustrophobic, noisy, blood-thirsty, stinking world we have created around us? A quote by Douglas Adams comes to mind at this juncture:

“On the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”

Let’s get back to the vicious little thing the mind is.

It makes you write down pretentious text-book words like ‘juncture’ that you had learnt in high school; it makes you over-analyze things so much that you end up taking the wrong decisions; it makes your very survival on this planet seem almost impossible; it makes you want to scream, and say horrible things to people, and screw your life over. It makes you cry. Oh my dear GOD how it makes you cry.

Rock, paper, scissors. If only it was that simple. If only there was a Backspace button. If only people had a better control over the devil that resides inside their skulls. It also plays tricks on you. As a friend put it, it makes you feel “confused, angry, dejected, randomly optimistic and happy, then suddenly completely blah and fucked in the head a few minutes later”. It makes you go back in time and repeat scenarios differently over and over in your head till you feel you’d go insane. It has the potential to make every situation, every face, every song seem hollow. It is the one that makes you write such optimistic blog posts at 6:45 in the morning when your sleep-deprived body screams for some sleep.

And then it has the nerve to slyly sneak up on your shoulder and whisper “You got what you wanted. Are you happy now?”

The Elephant Man

Don't you just hate it when you get a gross pimple on your face? Somewhere prominent, like on your nose or above your lip? Don't you hate the way people react? How ashamed you feel and how many things you try to get rid of it. Now imagine, if your entire body was like one big pimple, only much, much worse and painful. What would it be like, to be an abomination of nature? To be ugly beyond mere ugliness, with no fault of yours?

I happened to see David Lynch’s ‘The Elephant Man’ tonight. What a movie! It’s a true story based on the life of John Merrick, a severely deformed man as a result of his mother getting mauled by an elephant while he was still in the womb.

Doctor Treves, a surgeon at the London Hospital first spots John at a carnival, being exposed and exhibited as a freak by an abusive, cold man. He offers to examine him and brings him to his hospital; at first assuming that he probably is an imbecile, but realizes later what an admirable, intelligent and a sensitive man he really is. Because he is so grotesquely distorted, people run away from him in terror, look at him with disgust and laugh and make fun of him. He always has to wear a hood when out in public. Dr. Treves, played remarkably by Anthony Hopkins, proves to be kind enough to realize the man beneath the hideous skin abnormalities and becomes his friend.  It’s the story of the journey of John Merrick, from the brutal beatings in the rusty dungeons of a carnival, to elite tête-à-têtes with high dignitaries and going to the theatre with the Princess of Wales.

Little things have been paid attention to in the movie, playing with human emotions, and making the audience’s hearts leap out of their chests to hug John Merrick despite his obvious repulsiveness. It makes you wonder what life would be if you had a similar fate. If you were scorned and jeered and spat upon simply because of a physical malfunction which you had no control over. What can mere misfortune do to people. It helps you realize what such people go through and would perhaps change your attitude towards them. If you usually cry in movies, then be prepared with a big box of tissues when you’re watching this one. It’s not for the faint-hearted, like me. Seldom do movies manage to touch me this much, but this one did. One hundred percent and more. It’s truly a masterpiece and I admire the makers of this movie to portray human sentiments and ruthlessness in such a convincing and raw manner.

I respect them for taking care of every miniscule thing and working so very hard to get the make-up and costumes right. The make-up of the Elephant man took SEVEN hours every time it was applied. Can you imagine the amount of patience and hard work?!

Definitely one of my favourite movies so far. If you like true stories, especially the ones that throw light on human psychology, then this movie is for you. 

"'Tis true my form is something odd,
But blaming me is blaming God;
Could I create myself anew
I would not fail in pleasing you.

If I could reach from pole to pole
Or grasp the ocean with a span,
I would be measured by the soul;
The mind's the standard of the man."

 —poem used by Joseph Merrick to end his letters.