Idle musings

INTERPRETATIONS     This blog is about interpretations of stories.     I have been watching "Mahabharat" on Star Plus for the past month or so. The website http://www.starplus.in/mahabharat/ has more information about the serial. The last few days saw drama in the serial as a cunning Shakuni and Duryodhana defeated Yudhistira in a game of dice, leading to the humiliation of Draupadi. What I liked was the fierce independence demonstrated by Draupadi.     As my blog http://fewidlethoughts.blogspot.in/2008/10/review-of-mahabharat-on-9x.html explains, I am a huge fan of the Mahabharat, simply taken as a story. Apart from the ambiguities of dharma and the lessons of the Bhagavad Geeta, I love the way that boons granted to people and curses bestowed culminate in a 18-day war that sets the stage for a new beginning. Different versions of the Mahabharat exist, particularly among its lesser known stories. To me, all of them are fascinating ! The sa...

MAHABHARATA REVISITED     TV channels in India have caught on to the fact that mythological serials will attract viewers. NDTV Imagine has a daily dose of Ramayan while 9X Hindi entertainment channel is showing its daily version of Mahabharat called "Kahani Hamaray Mahabharat Ki".     How do the new versions of the serials compare with the older ones ? To begin with, I feel that the comparison is unfair. The older versions were telecast when there was only one national channel. The audience then had little choice to compare the serials with. To me, Sunday mornings were initially reserved for Arun Govil in Ramayana and then Mukesh Khanna in Mahabharat. The acting is not remarkable in either version, to be honest !     As a story, I prefer the Mahabharat among the two epics. Ramayana is purely "linear", with the story moving like the flow of a river. One incident leads to the rest : King Dasharath killing Shravana accidentally, Rama's promise ...

    I saw the end of Star Trek Voyager on the day before yesterday. I have become more than a casual fan of the serial. One of the reasons I like the serial (or so I tell myself !) is for the ideas it introduces. I have mentioned what I like in the entire Star Trek series in my previous blog. Another aspect that I find in the serial is that there are lessons that I find I can apply in my life as well !     Of course, it is actually the other way around. The creators of the serial and the screenplay writers borrow lessons and incidents from life and depict it on the small screen, extrapolating the incidents. Still, the way the packaging in the serial has been done is to my liking !     The final episode of Star Trek Voyager illustrates what I mean. The starship Voyager is originally adrift 70,000 light years from home. The story of the serial is one of an odyssey to come back home. Along the way, there are adventures, enemies and friends to be...

NOTE:     I had originally written this blog in another site. Since that site is no longer accessible, I am uploading it in this blog at http://fewidlethoughts.blogspot.in/ using (or attempting to use) the same date as the original blog dates. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-     I am a fan of Star Trek. This blog contains my impressions on the serial, as a whole. If you want to learn more about the show, go to http://www.startrek.com .     When television was first launched in India, one of the highlights of Sunday morning (before Ramayana and Mahabharata, of course !) was Star Trek. For many aficionados of Star Trek, the original show (TOS) is the best of the series. After TOS, there have been four other in the series, viz. Star Trek : The Next Generation (TNG), Star Trek : Deep Space Nine, Star Trek : Voyager and Star Trek Enterprise. In India, TNG and Voyager are currently being shown in private televisions chann...