Weekend notes

It turns out our DSTV subscription expired Saturday night. I got up at around 5 AM this morning. For the first time in my life, I have started to experience sleeplessness. I remember my parents and other adults complaining about not being able to sleep or not being to sleep for a stretch. I never appreciated that this age-related calamity could ever strike me, too. So, too frequently, I find I can't fall asleep or I get up in the middle or early morning, having to take a leak and then not being able to fall asleep. I sometimes read or sometimes become a couch potato. 

This morning, I was not only unable to sleep but was also suffering my a hang over. Last night we were at our dear friends Justin and Jyoti's for a Thanksgiving dinner (complete with a slow roasted turkey and typical American side dishes like sweet potato pie and cranberry sauce). We were literally the last guests to leave and I was throwing back wine like I have not done in a long, long time. Inevitably, I came home and threw up. I felt like crap for a while but it was also nice to be tipsy for a while and enjoy the buzz. 

So anyway, I woke up at 5 AM this morning and pottered around the apartment. I first went to check the voltage and, saw that it was still quite low. For a few weeks, now, since the dry season has arrived, LEC voltage is too low in 2 phases and, so we can't sleep with the AC on in our bedroom. We've been running the generator at night. 

I put on the TV and saw that our subscription at expired. I was only able to watch CCTV. It was quite amazing because I learned about China's 'Oprah Winfrey' (Jin Xing) and a Hanggai, a Chinese band who hail from inner Mongolia. The band Hanggai was in Vancouver and were recording an album, being produced a famous producer. 

Anyway, after that I turned off the generator, switched to LEC and went back to sleep in the bedroom. Of course, too soon, it was too hot to sleep in the bedroom and Kavita and I shifted to the living room sofa where I turned the AC on because the phase it's on is still receiving enough voltage (it hovers between 177 or 180 or 190 and sometimes 200). We slept until 1 PM. Haresh appeared to be annoyed we slept so long but I think he had a good time because he played online chess all morning. 

We quickly got dress and took our staff Farman for a farewell lunch as he's going home to Pakistan for a month. We went for lunch at the funky new café next to the New Era Supermarket. What a nice funky café and what's more the food was actually good. The staff was well dressed and courteous. We had Liberian and Filipino staff waiting on us, who even changed $ 700 'dirty' American bills into clean ones. 

We watched people as they came to shop. It's so funny how small Monrovia is and how many familiar faces one can see in this town. We even met folks we know and made some small chit chat. 

We dove back to town, dropped off sometime at our friend Rukshan's. He had come down to pick it up with little Mateo in his arms. When we handed back Mateo to his father, Kavita complained we should have driven away as she's patiently waiting for a younger sibling. 

Farman handed over work and machines to Haresh and bid farewell to him. He was very emotional and too happy to be going home after what I think is 1 1/2 or 2 years. Haresh told me he told him that 10 folks were going to be at Islamabad Airport to receive him. He will definitely have an emotional family reunion and, he is elated he's going home. He said he didn't have the words to thank us for arranging his home trip and, I also can't imagine the struggles, longing and, emotions migrant workers go through. 

The rest of the afternoon was pure laziness. We dozed and watched movies on our DVD player. First I played Ratatouille for Kavita: an animated movie that really only gets better and better each time you watch it.

After this, Kavita wanted to watch another animated movie but I convinced her I needed to watch a movie. I agreed it would be something children could also watch. So, I popped into Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland which I have never actually watched from start to finish. I finally realised today why I never bothered to watch all of it. Sure, it features some stunning technical special effects and famous actors and voices but it's too depressing and drab. This sounds contradictory because Tim Burton is famous for celebrating the macabre but twisting such a famous story into a frightening landscape did not evoke any love in me. I suppose the animated Disney film of 1951 has a very special place in my childhood and, I love it because of its sweetness. Sure, the characters are crazy but there is such a wonder and magic to the film. What happened to the wackiness of the Cheshire Cat in Tim Burton's version? The Mad Hatter is not mad at all but dazed and limp. Really, what was the point? I think only the Red Queen retained some of the wackiness. Everything else seemed to be post - apocalyptic world. That's not Wonderland. And insult on injury, in the end when Alice returns to her world, she turns into a pioneer of the criminal East India Company, suggesting her father in law and her go into business together. This is after she dumps her fiancé. So much for not only destroying the sweetness and childishness of Alice and Wonderland but also turning Alice into a bloody colonialist. Oh but maybe Tim Burton had a subversive idea to actually lift the veil off Victorian England which was living an idyllic life, getting richer and fatter, spinning fairy tales for its children, while England looting, pillaging rest of the world. 

After this, I popped in Into the Wild. I picked up this DVD from Videocon, the local DVD shop in F-10 Market, close to my house in Islamabad. I don't know why I picked this film up in my previous trip because this is a 2007 movie and the English titles are the latest ones I pick up from this store. I didn't realise this is a 10-year old movie. I hadn't even heard of it so it was nice to watch it with a completely fresh mind. The film is pure poetry, meditation, joy and wonder. Haresh also watched the film from beginning to end, and, we keenly followed the story. 

Among all the various thoughts and reactions that the movie invoked in me, I really enjoyed realising and guessing how much the wilderness, the vastness and sheer beauty of the United States has defined its literature, films, and music. I remember reading My Side of the Mountain in 5th or 6th grade. Who can forget the Little House on the Prairie books? The main character runs away to live in the Catskill Mountains. What a great book for kids and for imagining the American countryside. I remember reading about the American transcendalists  such as Thoreau and Emerson in 9th grade and how they spoke about the beauty of the environment. In so many countless American films, the sheer grandeur of the American mountains, rivers, lakes, deserts, fields, and ocean line is celebrated. It's almost a character in itself: refuge, challenge, terrifying, indomitable, beautiful, etc.

The main character's quest to reject his expected path of job-seeking and further education; to get away from the anguish of his parents' deception; and to find himself is remarkable. That a  young man could so firmly cast aside material wealth and status and be so determined to experience a simple living is astounding. He believes humans are made from experiences and joy can be had from  solitary experiences. He wants to seek out his true self. It's an admirable journey. That he died in the end is tragic and depressing. But Haresh commented, "He did exactly what he wanted to do."

One line I really enjoyed from the line was that money makes you cautious and, it rang so true!

I once had a conversation with my brother in December 2004 in Edinburgh. We had gone for New Year's and I remember asking him, who are we really? Nationality? No. Religion. No. Personal traits? No. I kept saying no to all his answers. Even to Male or Female. I didn't have the answer then and, still think about what makes our Self unique to us. Is it our experiences, desires, and actions? And, if we are led to believe certain frameworks, ideas, concepts and ideologies from so early on  - almost indoctrinated - than, are we really ourselves? Are we defined by these inherited beliefs and the resulting actions, even if we didn't come up with them ourselves? And, how many of us question anything we are taught? Who is who? 

The film is utterly beautiful, even with its non-linear structure, it's sense of intimacy with the main character, the stunning shots of natural world, and the voice of the hero's sister. And what a soundtrack. 

It was only at the end I realised this was a true story!