Head Light - Keep Your Head Down!

Every night, when I start my bike from office towards home, there are about 15-20 people who would’ve got my curses. Especially the ones who drive 4 wheels. They are cursed because they think they’re driving in a highway and unleashes their high beam on the road. These high beams affects almost all of the bikers coming in the opposite direction with their helmet vipers down. The effect is too high when you go near the source, it causes a momentary blindness on the road and you know what will happen when that happens. I understand why high beams are used on the highway – you are driving at high speed (like it or not) and there’s no lights other than your own vehicle’s. But, when you are driving in the city, especially in a city which is one of the metropolitan in India where there’s hardly a street without lights – why do you need to turn your high beam on? Are you blind? Or, you just show the world your car’s high beam power?

The effect’s extremely high when you drive in a road where there’s no divider. It’s worse when the person who’s got the high beam starts to turn towards his right – either to overtake someone or to take a right turn. I have even noticed the speed that I have to reduce during this effect and before I hit someone without knowing of this madness. Normally, I drive at a max of 60 kms/h and I’ve to drive at the speed of 20 km/h (driving on the 2nd/3rd gear) to pass through safely. What’s more annoying is when you signal the idiot who has a high beam (by either switching off your light and switching it on or enable your high beam for a second and off) to put it down, he probably has no idea why I’m doing that! Those are the people who gets curses (like கேனா பூனா / மூனா கூனா!). Bikers are also not the one who’s saint in this. They do that too. There are times when I got too much frustrated with these guys that I started to switch on my high beam at them when I see one and switch it off when they pass – just to give them a taste of their own medicine. The effect, with the Honda Shine that I have, wasn’t that good though!

When you drive in a city where you have absolutely no street lights and no one is coming opposite to you, then that’s when you use them. If you are reading this and you drive with a high beam, please put them down from now on. Drive with a sense and drive with a smile! Remember:

The driver of a motor vehicle shall at all times when the lights of the motor vehicles are in use so manipulate them that danger or undue inconveniences is not caused to a person by dazzle.Dazzling light- restriction of : (Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicle Rules 1989)- Section 405.

More on the rules here.

Image & Links Courtesy: Google.

My Favorite Movie - The Shawshank Redemption

No wonder it’s been the top movie on the International Movie Data Base (IMDB) for years – The Shawshank Redemption is indeed the best ever movie I’ve watched till date. “Flawless” is the one word comes into my mind when I think about the movie. There is a strict warning for people who love ‘fast moving movies’ or expects ‘suspense on every scene’ – this movie is not just for you. This movie is in fact, slow, but never lets you get the feeling that you’re bored. After all, how would you expect ‘fast moving scenes’ on a movie which spans inside a Prison?

The movie revolves around Andy Dufresne – our hero, who was arrested and sent for “Shawshank”, a high security prison, for killing his wife. Although he did not kill his wife (have you ever seen a movie in which a hero kills heroine?), he accepts his prison life as he feels he drove her away and essentially, responsible for her death. In other words, we could call that a ‘Guilt’. Inside the prison, he makes friends – Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding – the one who has ‘power’ (or source) to get you anything inside a prison (like a cigarette, wall paper, a hammer etc.). Before his prison life, Andy used to be a Banker. The movie then progresses on what will happen when an educated and handsome fellow like Andy is sent to a place where nothing is ‘fair’. His education helps him get a ‘respect’ inside the walls which are very rare to come by. He starts by helping an officer who faces some tax issues. Then he helps a senior officer and in no time, he becomes the auditor for all the officers inside the prison. After a year, he becomes the unofficial auditor for the nearby prison guards as well! He also earns some benefits by helping these officers – like setting up a library inside prison. The warden of the prison however has other ideas for Andy. He uses him to run a scam inside the prison, by using almost all the prisoners’ work. Money starts flowing and all Andy has to do is to channel that to the Warden. The day comes when the truth is revealed – that Andy is actually, not the killer (by this time, Andy would have spent about 20 years in the prison!). The witness however is also a prisoner. When the warden comes to know about this, he fears that his scam might be discovered or stopped short before he could make more money. So, he kills the witness and makes Andy stay in the prison for life. In the end, you’d know if Andy accepted the bitter end or fight back to find a new path, when you watch the movie.

After you finished watching the movie, you’ll have the impact so hard that it’ll take atleast a week for you to sink in. The characters, none unwanted, were apt and remember-able towards the end. Although the hero is ‘Andy Dufresne’, Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding or simply ‘Red’ is the character that you’ll like most. He’s the one who narrates the movie and I especially liked for the voice of Morgan Freeman – acted as ‘Red’. The movie also tells you the hard fact that if one, who spent almost a life time in prison, and is released towards the end of his life – how he’ll be able to face the life beyond prison! Brooks Halten’s final letter to ‘Red’ almost wets your eyes. Don’t worry, the movie isn’t only about the ‘hard’ truth, but it also talks about ‘hope’ and ‘music’ in their very own way. Following are few dialogues from the movie which I liked very much. The dialogues below are not continuous, they’re my favorites.

——–0000——–

Red: “Let me tell you something, my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane. It’s got no use on the inside. You’d better get used to that idea.”

——–0000——–

Andy: “The funny thing is, on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook.”

——–0000——–

Red: “These prison walls are funny. First you hate ‘em, then you get used to ‘em. Enough time passes, gets so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized. They send you here for life, that’s exactly what they take.”

——–0000——–

Andy: “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.”

——–0000——–

Red: “I find I’m so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it is the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.”

——–0000——–

Movie dialogue courtesy: Wiki Quotes.

Image Courtesy: Google

I’d rate the movie 10/10. If you haven’t watched it yet, I’ve got three words for you – “Go for it!”

PS: This is once again, for a contest in CTS Blogs - this time I'm not competing. This is just a guest entry for the folks!