The underdog phenomenon called Rocky

So yesterday I did with some anxiety went to see Rocky Balboa. And and it did not belie my expectations.

Rocky has like many of us born in that era evokes a nostalgia. Especially growing in India of 80's, the movie when I first saw, and with teenage curiosity and fascination meant the movie weaved the silver screen super hero wit elan. And when we saw the movie I could still see the magic of the dream in the middle aged women who saw the while movie on he edge of her seat. And no doubt this movie as lot of others have also said it's the among the best sequel the epic Rocky.

But one of the enduring theme that this movie certainly captures is the cajoling the underdog feeling and then stretching oneself to achieve an almost impossible dream. The Rocky and its sequel gives a human perspective to this enduring theme. Every time an ordinary mortal who is certainly is not an intelligentsia ( "his comment about steps father's lineage being European as he is from Caribean"), and who comes in limelight not because he wants fame but because he has to prove to himself("as said to his son after the insecure son devours his insecurity of being brought up under the shadows of Rocky").

And all these appeals to the good portions of life. Living for something bigger. And as good and especially popular movies are, one identifies with the movie and lives the Balboa vicariously. To some degree enamouring the the American spirit of "man for himself".

And so at the end even though one knows that movie certainly will not be any masterpiece like a Kubrick, Rocky will forever make a person feel happy as Lincoln said "God likes common man so he created so many of them", and all the ordinary mortal have one thing common, feeling underdog and for once in their lives strech themselves to their limit to acheive the unachievable.

Saunter Down The Backroads

And as it happens many times, you enjoy moment that suddenly befalls you, when you least expected it.

It was a usual day at work, meeting deadlines, etc. Took a short lunch and then as had time took a walk. And who knew burning a bit of calories could also open mind to those memories.

It was a perfect Sunny autumn day on cust of incoming winter in Florida. When in sun the heat is invigorating, and when in shade you would stretch for a light jacket. All this added to a natural pond made by the Hillsborough river, a common geography of this part of Florida. A pond with lotus leaves and lively algae filled water, took me back to old times.

Days in Calcutta in the winter in Mamas place. Besides the pond, or visiting them for vacation. When the afternoon sun was a treat to latch on unlike the fiery and sultry afternoon of the summer. And just like dryness that had replaced the near recent wet August. And road covered with fall leaves it reminded of the old days. And how in our business of work and relationships we sometimes do not even have time to connect to so many of things. Touch and feel the world that is just outside our car windows. And with it all I felt a sense of connection with not so old past, which to many like us immigrants means distance from known land and people. And suddenly there were a connection to this place and something we knew, where one could feel a more holistic emasculation of things around us. When we could soak in many of the softer moments that a day provides outside our windows of fleeting moment and speed. Where we often never touch and feel what being a human is like, of connecting to the nature.