The finger ?

I really have a question in my mind after watching my hits on the blog and traffic flow on 6 Oct 2012. Usually my blog is very relaxed and tends to get 200-300 hits on average days worldwide, but that day on 6 Oct 2012. It went WILD with 1024 hits, for a time I thought it must be 1024 bytes of memory.

If we look at the above pic “imaginatively” , the stat standing out really seems to be like a finger standing up, atleast that was what my friends suggested to me when they saw the stats page.

The amazing thing being that I got maximum hits from Canada ie 752 or as many north Indians like to call KANEDA (a slang word for Canada motor-mouthed by village bums in north India)

I fail to understand the correlation between  6 Oct 2012 and KANEDA going viral on my blog !

Surprising to me is why would that be ? Is someone trying to tell me something or as It appears on my stats window, SHOWING ME THE FINGER  ?

The Madman —Kahlil Gibran

The following lines are from the book “The Madmen” by Khalil Gibran, one of my favorite authors:

DEFEAT

Defeat, my defeat, my solitude and my aloofness;

You are dearer to me than a thousand triumphs,

And sweeter to my heart than all worldglory.

Defeat , my defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance,

Through you I know that I am yet young and swift of foot

And not to be trapped by withering laurels.

And in you I have found aloneness

And the joy of being shunned and scorned.

Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield,

In your eyes I have read,

That to be enthroned is to be enslaved,

And to be understood is to be leveled down,

And to be grasped is but to reach one’s fullness

And like a ripe fruit to fall and be consumed

Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion,

You shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences,

And none but you shall speak to me of beating of wings,

And urging of seas,

And of mountains that burn in the night,

And you alone shall climb my steep and rocky soul.

Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage,

You and I shall laugh together with the storm,

And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us,

And together we shall stand in the sun with will,

And we shall be dangerous.

Brothers

There have been many movies made on the life of soldiers all across the globe. Few dealing with the post traumatic stress of the war. The war doesnot always returns a soldier home in glory, sometimes for some soldiers the horrors that they encounter in war remains with them. The most important thing of all is the suffering of the soldier’s family namely wife, children and Parents.

I think I saw Brothers (2009) movie in 2011. The story and concept is really nice and deals with real issues. It deals with an American soldier who is given up for dead in Afghanistan war but return home with post traumatic stress. There is uneasy feeling with his wife and his two young daughters since his return. The main characters are played by Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman.  Tobey Maguire plays the role of the soldier, Natalie Portman is his wife and Jake Gyllenhaal is his good for nothing brother, who is criticized by his father for not being like his elder brother.

The story deals with Tobey Maguire’s character feeling that his wife slept with his brother, this issue gets fueled when his own daughter shouts on him saying that “you are just mad, that mom would rather sleep with uncle tommy than you” . ( I bet that would send any man into madness leave alone a soldiers who goes out to protect and fight for his nation.) Eventually Tobey’s character opens upto his wife after been taken to mental hospital, as previously he tried to commit suicide. The problem being that he killed his fellow American soldier in Afghanistan. The movie truly captures the emotions of a soldier and his family, it also speaks about how lives of men (soldiers to be precise) are tough if only the world is willing to listen and understand them. The silent pain that they go through for the nation and the people they love and want to protect.

This movie was earlier made in danish as Brødre directed by Susanne Bier. Staring Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Connie Nielsen and Ulrich Thomsen. Connie Nielsen is the partner of Metallica band drummer Lars Ulrich. She also started in the Gladiator as Marcus Aurelius’s daughter.

It is good movie and one would recommend it to people. Though it had a moderate success at the box office grossing $43 Million on a budget of $26 Million.

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