|| Swanta Sukhaya ||

Greetings! While, each of the senses we have, carry unfathomable spectrum of perception and associated emotions, the two that take the crown (generally), are the visual and aural.  Within these two, the visual surpasses aural on most counts. This is the very basis of entertainment industry and our collective fascination of movies. However, there are a chosen few, who have taken this medium to its pinnacle, especially visually.  One of such rare breed is Conrad L. Hall, ASC. And arguably one of his ultimate masterpieces, completed just before his death, (for which he got his last Oscar Academy award, posthumously,) is "Road to Perdition" Full Disclosure: I consider - every aspect of this movie, the graphic novel that inspired it, the creator of this graphic novel,  Max Allan Collins, and the manga that inspired Max to pen this graphic novel, 'Lone Wolf and Cub' and the creators of this manga viz. Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima - as an endless source of awe and inspirati...

Greetings! Recently, we have been watching episodes of an immensely interesting series, based on (equally engrossing) quartet of books by Trenton Lee Stewart. It has an awesome name that would attract any child reader in a heartbeat - The Mysterious Benedict Society! The premise, while exciting for children is intriguing for the grownups too. The book is peppered with awesome puzzles, enigmas and secrets and all that will keep the reader hooked to it. It all starts with extremely talented twin brothers, who grow up to be polar opposites. Of these two, one (Mr. Benedict) cherishes the pursuit of truth while the other (Mr. Curtain), turns out evil and wants to gain power on humankind by brainwashing them with negative thoughts of emergency.  Mr. Benedict, surmises that the only way to foil the vile designs of his twin is by getting four exceptional orphans to infiltrate the school run by his nemesis and sets up confounding tests to find the right ones. One of the four who make it to ...

Greetings! A book that I recently read proclaimed that "What things are, doesn't really matter, but what they mean to us is what matters".  As if by cue, (or in other words, as the invisible hands of coincidences would have it), it clicked with a movie that was being reminisced by a good friend recently! And here I share with you how the twains met, but before that, little bit about the movie. Every once in a while, a masterpiece of a movie is created that brings out fundamental human qualities vs. fallacies, are acted brilliantly, cinematographed richly and directed impactfully – “Men of Honor” is one such masterpiece. If you haven't watched it, then please do - I would definitely recommend it.  This is the story of Carl Brashear, who joins U.S. Navy to become the first African American Master Diver and a no-nonsense, bitter but a true patriot "Master Chief" Billy Sunday. These are the two "Men of Honor". While they alternately spar and respect ea...

Greetings! In rocketry, "staging" means mounting multiple separable parts (with their own engines and propellants) to create a multistage rocket. These stages might be in tandem (that is one above other) or in parallel to each other. The most popular is a 2-stage rocket but there could be 5 (or even more) stages.  For a rocket, the ultimate aim is to put the payload in orbit. Each of the stage plays it's part in giving it the right speed and proper height. These parts do their "part" (literally), and then usually get jettisoned away, with explosive bolts. The rocket launch is successful, when each of these stages fire up, burn out, remain attached, as well as get detached, in the right place and at the right time (which is usually not a moment before nor a moment after they are supposed to do so) You may say, this is all good, but why write a blog on it? Well, because i think this entire process maps to life and growth as each one of us experiences it. As we gro...