Alternate Universes

I've lived in India for several years, and I love the country, the people, and the culture. So, every once in a while, I fulfill my travel fantasies of returning the the sub-continent by watching Hindi movies. I love the dancing, the songs, and color, and the wild plots that make most Indian films a unique treasure in human culture. My most recent viewing, however, left me wondering how in hell I could recover the three hours I lost by watching this film. The movie in question: Luv Ranjan’s Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, a film made in 2018. The story is a simple one. A young man (Titu, played by Sunny Singh) is going to marry a young woman (Sweety, played by Nushratt Bharuccha). It’s an arranged marriage, approved of by both sets of parents. The problem is, Titu has a “brother” (Sonu, played by Kartik Aaryan) who has been his constant companion for most of their lives, who disapproves of the arranged marriage. Sonu does not believe that Sweety is the perfect match for Titu. He res

 I posted a comment on Facebook about writing my memoirs and how depressing it was. I guess here, I will explain why it is depressing.  When I was in the eighth grade, I had a chance to meet new people, to bring them into my life. Yet it seems that everyone I brought into my life, I either ended up ignoring, discarding, or even alienating. I wish there was some way I could blame this on other people, but the truth is, I did it to myself. Now I wonder, am I alone in this deficiency? Or is this just the nature of being human? To take advantage of others, to ignore the people who are nice to us, and to fail to notice those around us who might actually make a positive impact on our lives. I am not a huge fan of Facebook (and even less a fan of Twitter). Yet Facebook had brought back into my life some people that I didn't pay much attention to. And the amazing thing is, once I started seeing them, truly for the first time, I realize that they are really wonderful people. People I should