November 14, 2019
Disclaimer: This 5BF is very
long, so bear with me.
Here are the things I have
learned and pondered upon in the past week…
1: HUMAN (Volumes 1 & 2)
“By all rights, she (Agnes)
should hate me”, says the man who had murdered Agnes’s pregnant daughter, “but
– she didn’t. She taught me love.” And then tears roll out of his eyes, and
travel downs his chin – this is the first scene of HUMAN: a documentary about
what is it that makes us human beings. It is a project about HUMANITY, a word
we so often use – a word I so often use – but after you watch this documentary,
only then could you peak into the trails of this very, very complicated word.
Being human is tough yet fulfilling, and lovely yet horrifying, and strange yet
sweet, and wise yet cruel, and haunting yet divine – this 3 hour documentary
captures that starkly. People interviewed in this documentary are from all over
the world – ordinary, poor, rich, young, old, presidents, billionaires, women,
blacks, Muslims, Hindus, it really does bring a viewpoint of all human beings
alive today and their true insights to what does take it to be human. A must
watch! (Available on YT)
2: Go big or go home
(I have been watching MasterChef Australia for about 3 years now, and it
is hands down my most favorite TV show of all time. I watch a lot of TV shows
and series, and I don ‘t cook at all, so for this to be my MOST favorite show
of all time, it has to be quite more than just 24 participants cooking for the
1st spot for 61 episodes – and it is more than that. It teaches me a
lot about hopes, and the breaking of those hopes, going against the odds and
giving it all you have got. It starts with 24 participants and only 1 wins – so
that is 23 hopes shattered – but you learn, don’t you?)
Anyways, season 6 episode 6 – it
is an elimination round. 11 contestants competing and 1 has to go home at the
end of the day. They each have 1 big fish to cook for three rounds. So you have
to use your fish calculatedly if you want to keep competing. For the first
round 5 people would be safe, 3 for the second, and the remaining 3 would
compete in the final round from where one would go home. The understandable
decision is to leave behind some part of your fish just in case you have to
cook in the 2rd round, right? But there is Stacy (a woman in her
late 40s) and she thinks – if I use the WHOLE fish in the first round, I
believe I can win! THAT IS ABSURD. The judges stop her from doing this – but
she does it anyway. And the moment she puts that whole fish in the frying pan –
my God, it is so satisfactory. She knows if she doesn’t win, she will
automatically go home because she has no fish left to cook with. And guess
what? She is not in the 5 people safe at the end of 1st round; she
loses. So what do we learn here? That the only thing to fear is the fear
itself. Think of the worst outcome possible, and guess what, even that is
bearable. This gives you that courage to do the right thing at the most crucial
parts of your life – at parts where you have to be on your side, otherwise, you
lose that self-reliance and self-confidence. Stacy did it, and she lost, but
she went home knowing that she can do it. I bow to her!
3: Diet Update
I don’t think I made a big enough
emphasis on what you have to stop eating, so let’s do it again:
SUGAR: Sugar is in everything.
Tea, biscuits, snacks, juices, cakes, and so on, and these are the things you
eat daily – which makes it every tough to follow the diet with full discipline.
I have been successful actually for two weeks now, and it really gives you that
psychological boost, even if you stomach is not shrinking at all – yet. By now,
you willingly refuse sugar because from the research, I know how bad it is yet
how often we use it.
To avoid oily foods, I had to
give up burgers (andey-wala), French fries, breakfast Lahori chooley, and the
normal meals that had even average oil in it. Rice has been the replacement for
most of my meals because it helps with keeping away much oil, as well as,
bread/naan. I do actually miss eating naan.
But it is not all easy. You get
cravings, you get desirably hungry, you want to cheat and sometimes do, but you
have shut those doubts that is it really helping you or not, and keeping
relying on fruits and dry fruits. I will keep updating about the results. And
yeah – run, or exercise.
4: True Materialism
So many sales are taking place
right now: Winter sales, holiday sales, Black Friday and so on – and we buy in
bulks! I mean see some videos of these superstores opening, and you’d see sea
of people just rushing in, fighting for TVs, Toys, Cute Socks, more Dresses and
all sort of things. We do buy all of these extra, or at least more than
necessary products because we believe it is just this one time, so it is okay
if I buy this and with it, that as well. We may be called materialistic in this
sense that we purchase a lot, but never in its truest sense and meaning. Being
materialistic means to respect the products we use and get the maximum value
out of it. However, all of our clothing and tech have become mere symbolism; we
buy them because of the brands. Yes it does fit nice and feels comforting, but do we really need cloths of these high prices when we can avail a ‘good enough’
local product instead, or even better, a used one? Wouldn’t we then be helping our
economy, and better, helping the world as a whole? The key here is, I believe, to
understand the tricks of advertisements and not fall into them, and then, it is
in accepting that ‘good enough’ is indeed, ‘good enough’.
5: Quote:
“A conservative is a man who sits
and thinks, mostly sits.” - Woodrow
Wilson
First of all, how beautifully
sarcastic it is! And it nails the point too, I guess. Being conservative means
avoiding change, thus avoiding the potential of progress and betterment. He
thinks of all the things he would lose if he adapts change, ergo he fears. And
then he mostly sits, getting more naive in his conservation. The opposite of it
is both action and liberation. We are not who are we are right now – to be one
person in whole of our lives is next to impossible, so why carry a very scared
mindset everywhere? Let us liberate ourselves, and take action in the wake of the chaos happening in our lives, embracing what is and making a meaning out of it. Now that
is a better way of living in my opinion.