serendipity
i watched serendipity for some Nth time last friday.. i was really in that philosophical mood thinking what and why of the events that happen in life.. the movie is very interesting and emphasises the idea that everything happens in life according to a pre-destined plan.. the word serendipity means a fortunate accident and the movie shows that the accidents (whether good or bad) which happen in our everyday life keep giving us some signals and ultimately lead us to our fate.. it is upto us to read & interpret these signs carefully and accept them to maintain a harmonious balance with universe..
so far so good.. i do believe in these metaphysical concepts of fate & destiny.. but does that mean there is no point in putting efforts ? if everything is supposed to happen as per a plan, will it happen automatically even if we keep sitting all the while.. what happens in the movie confuses me to some extend.. Sara Thomas is a strong believer in this "theory of fate" and so tells Jonathan Trager that if they are destined to meet again, they will meet again in future and so they shall wait for the appropriate "signs".. Jonathan tries to desperately search for her in the ensuing years but all in vain and ends up accepting the fate that they are not destined for each other.. in one of the discussions with his good friend where Jonathan explains that he has got many signs that he and Sara are not meant to be together and his friends argues that the so called "signs" do not fulfill the definition of a sign, Jonathan retorts that in that case even the absence of signs is also a sign in itself..
what i fail to understand is whether he would have discovered these signs or "absence of signs" if he was just resting at his home all the while and not tried to search for Sara.. ?? i think not.. so if he had not put efforts, he would not have been able to accept his fate that they are not made for each other..
but then the story takes a turn.. Jonathan's fiancee gifts him the first edition of "love in the time of cholera" as a wedding gift, the same book in which Sara had written her full name and phone number.. now Jonathan thinks this is a sign and restarts his search for Sara and even though he couldn't find her this time also, he ends up calling off his wedding..
my initial thought is his fiancee would have gifted him this book and so he would have come to know of Sara's details anyways.. whatever search he did for her earlier or his interpretation of signs would not have been of any use.. he could have waited all this while for his fiancee to gift him the book and now only started looking for Sara.. but on the other hand his fiancee gifted this particular book because she had seen him looking for this book in every possible bookshop.. why was he searching for this book ?? because Sara had told him that she will write her details in the book and sell it to a bookshop and he will find it only if they are meant to be together..
similarily, when Sara started seeing some signs (poster of the movie "cool hand luke" which was Jonathan's favorite movie), she decided to search for him.. she didn't think that since one sign had come, she can keep on waiting for more signs to materalize.. clearly both the protaganists made some efforts from their sides (inspired by signs or no signs whatever) and ended up being together..
conclusion is, even though we can't change our fate, we can always put some efforts from our side to try to achieve what we are destined for, rather than just waiting for things to happen as mere spectators.. in the end, we will achieve our goal only if it was meant for us, but at least we won't have the regret that we never made efforts to achieve it.. and in fact we can always look at it from an optimistic perspective, that the goal was way below our standards and there must be some good if we haven't been able to achieve it.. i must say that this last suggestion is more to boost the morale at that time just like the apple on top of the tree story :)
though not directly related to the above concepts of fate, but still a beautiful discussion in the movie life in a metro.. it goes something like this when roughly translated in english.. "if you have bought a brand new car but you keep it in your garage waiting first for all the traffic signals in mumbai to go green, then you will keep on waiting forever because unless you bring your car out of the garage onto the roads you will never find out if the traffic signals are green or not.. you have to take a chance"
i will end it here.. i have a feeling that this has been a very confusing writeup.. i hope that at least i am able to understand it if i read it again in future :)
so far so good.. i do believe in these metaphysical concepts of fate & destiny.. but does that mean there is no point in putting efforts ? if everything is supposed to happen as per a plan, will it happen automatically even if we keep sitting all the while.. what happens in the movie confuses me to some extend.. Sara Thomas is a strong believer in this "theory of fate" and so tells Jonathan Trager that if they are destined to meet again, they will meet again in future and so they shall wait for the appropriate "signs".. Jonathan tries to desperately search for her in the ensuing years but all in vain and ends up accepting the fate that they are not destined for each other.. in one of the discussions with his good friend where Jonathan explains that he has got many signs that he and Sara are not meant to be together and his friends argues that the so called "signs" do not fulfill the definition of a sign, Jonathan retorts that in that case even the absence of signs is also a sign in itself..
what i fail to understand is whether he would have discovered these signs or "absence of signs" if he was just resting at his home all the while and not tried to search for Sara.. ?? i think not.. so if he had not put efforts, he would not have been able to accept his fate that they are not made for each other..
but then the story takes a turn.. Jonathan's fiancee gifts him the first edition of "love in the time of cholera" as a wedding gift, the same book in which Sara had written her full name and phone number.. now Jonathan thinks this is a sign and restarts his search for Sara and even though he couldn't find her this time also, he ends up calling off his wedding..
my initial thought is his fiancee would have gifted him this book and so he would have come to know of Sara's details anyways.. whatever search he did for her earlier or his interpretation of signs would not have been of any use.. he could have waited all this while for his fiancee to gift him the book and now only started looking for Sara.. but on the other hand his fiancee gifted this particular book because she had seen him looking for this book in every possible bookshop.. why was he searching for this book ?? because Sara had told him that she will write her details in the book and sell it to a bookshop and he will find it only if they are meant to be together..
similarily, when Sara started seeing some signs (poster of the movie "cool hand luke" which was Jonathan's favorite movie), she decided to search for him.. she didn't think that since one sign had come, she can keep on waiting for more signs to materalize.. clearly both the protaganists made some efforts from their sides (inspired by signs or no signs whatever) and ended up being together..
conclusion is, even though we can't change our fate, we can always put some efforts from our side to try to achieve what we are destined for, rather than just waiting for things to happen as mere spectators.. in the end, we will achieve our goal only if it was meant for us, but at least we won't have the regret that we never made efforts to achieve it.. and in fact we can always look at it from an optimistic perspective, that the goal was way below our standards and there must be some good if we haven't been able to achieve it.. i must say that this last suggestion is more to boost the morale at that time just like the apple on top of the tree story :)
though not directly related to the above concepts of fate, but still a beautiful discussion in the movie life in a metro.. it goes something like this when roughly translated in english.. "if you have bought a brand new car but you keep it in your garage waiting first for all the traffic signals in mumbai to go green, then you will keep on waiting forever because unless you bring your car out of the garage onto the roads you will never find out if the traffic signals are green or not.. you have to take a chance"
i will end it here.. i have a feeling that this has been a very confusing writeup.. i hope that at least i am able to understand it if i read it again in future :)
posted by himanshu agrawal | 8:51 AM
|
1 comments
