Sahi

The discipline of the written word punishes both stupidity and dishonesty.
~ John Steinbeck

Fiction writing which does not acknowledge the uncertainty of the narrator himself is a form of imposture.
~ W.G. Sebald

He Just Wanted To Be A Real Boy

What Would You Do?

I'm very excited about the Discovery Network's new series 'Curiosity'. They're doing some brilliant & inspired work in popular non-fiction. As someone who's worked in the Indian non-fiction industry for over a decade and is severely jaded, this series gets me energized. So of course, I'm going to plug it like crazy.   
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Writer-Director Eli Roth hosts the second episode of Curiosity that asks - 'How Evil Are You?'
It's a topic I'm captivated by - acts of evil (especially mass destruction) and how evil-doers reconcile themselves to their actions.
Not all the answers can be found in this film, which focusses primarily on a famous experiment from the '60's called the Milgram Experiment, but it's still a fascinating watch.

The film's basic premise (as I understood it) is:

In terms of biology, evil isn't as far removed from 'good' people, like you & I, as we'd like to think.
And that critical moment when you decide between right & wrong action? It's not quite as straightforward as we'd imagine.

Turns out that at crunch time, it's not so much our moral beliefs we employ but those of the top dog who controls our environment. Nearly 65% of us will act, not in accordance with our conscience, but in accordance with the accepted 'code' of that time (Sounds a lot like Twitter, doesn't it?).

Turns out that even if women ran the world, the Holocaust could still have happened. (Sigh. There goes my favourite unsubstantiated theory.)

Turns out that decades of widespread 'sensitization' & awareness about things like genocide, murder, torture etc. have had very little effect on our collective sense of right & wrong.

Turns out empathy is one of the most difficult emotions to feel and even more difficult to act from.

Turns out that you & I will commit acts of evil even as we bury ourselves under excruciating guilt. That we, in the words of Eli Roth, are willing to be 'the torturer & the tortured all at once, never quite comfortable in our own skin'.

This isn't a comfortable realisation: because not only does this mean that you & I could plausibly run death camps, it also means that we can't be quick to judge or distance ourselves from those who do commit acts of evil.

But don't be sad. Turns out that the reverse is also true: that if someone intervenes with positive role-modeling, you & I will suddenly grow balls, rebel against provocative authority figures and refuse to commit evil acts.

To this I'd like to add my own little theory (which is based on little to no research data): I think empathy is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. At its strongest, it can overcome the compulsion of cowing to authority & prevent you from becoming part of the mindless herd. At its best, it can return to you, your sense of self.

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John Steinbeck's work touches frequently upon themes of good & evil and what makes us act in one or the other way. His epic novel 'East of Eden' is a generational story that suggests evil is a genetic predisposition (as do certain segments of the Discovery film) but eventually hinges on a biblical word 'timshel', which is a game changer.
In the latter half of 'East of Eden', various characters debate the correct English translation for 'timshel'. One translation of the Bible interprets it as 'thou shalt' but deeper study reveals its true meaning lies in the phrase 'thou mayest'. 'Mayest' offers man a choice in his actions that the word 'shalt' doesn't. Out go any notions of religious compulsions, out goes the excuse 'I commit this act in the name of God'. Steinbeck makes a powerful suggestion that free will exists in holy scriptures and there is no basis for using religion as justification for doing evil (or good, I suppose).

In another of his famous works 'The Winter of Our Discontent', the 'good' protagonist grapples with a critical choice. To commit an act of evil or not. He is torn straight down the middle and, as a reader, one doesn't know what he will decide to do. But once he (and a very likeable 'he' he is too) goes down a path, he commits to it in its entirety. In the final chapter we get a glimpse of the price he's had to pay to make his choice. It's beautiful and devastating and to be frank, even though I've read the book several times, I'm yet to fully grasp it.
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Also read: Does Evil Exist?: Neuroscientists suggest there is no such thing (as evil or free will). Are they right? (link via @culdivsac)

The Best Opening Lines Of All Time...

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and the scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants, and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses. Its inhabitants are, as the man once said, "whores, pimps, gamblers and sons of bitches," by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, "Saints and angels and martyrs and holy men," and he would have meant the same thing.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968)

My Contribution to the English Language

Some crazy guy on You Tube has taken a still image of (my one true love) John Steinbeck and animated its features against his voice talking about the Grapes of Wrath. It's really well done and just a little bit creepy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aRxZDKTo1s

Anyhoo, I'm reading his Journal of a Novel nowadays. At one point he bemoans the fact that young authors are no longer inventing new language. No one's coming up with new words or phrases to keep English fresh. So I thought that if I call myself a writer, that's the least I can do. Here is my contribution to the English language.

1. Spacey Cutlet. As in: I left the stove on when I left for work this morning. Now everything I own is carbonized. I'm such a spacey cutlet.

2. Bledy Feck. As in: Bledy Feck! I left the stove on when I left for work this morning. Now everything I own is carbonized. I'm such a spacey cutlet.

I have no doubt in mind that long after I'm gone, these little contributions of mine will ensure that my good name is interred in the annals of history.
Annals...hehehehe....

Just Like Steinbeck

When Steinbeck was writing East of Eden, he kept a journal alongside. Every morning, before he began work on the novel, he would pen down his thoughts on the left hand page. I don't know if this is true of many writers but, like my idol Steinbeck, it is difficult for me to jump right into my work for the day.

I work from home, which means I have to be especially vigilant about waking up at the same time everyday and developing a routine that brings order to my day and forces me to be ready and at the computer at a specific time each day. This 'routine' changes every couple of weeks but while it lasts, it gives me the balance I require.
So, at this specific time each day, I sit down at my computer and open up the document I've been working on. I'll stare at it for a bit and then minimize the window. Then I'll check my mail, I'll facebook a while or maybe blog for a bit.

I can't speak for Steinbeck but this bit of time wastage that lasts for anything from ten minutes to an hour is absolutely essential to ease me into the task of being useful. Believe me, if I were being paid to write this blog, I'd start a new time-wastage blog to write before I opened this one up each morning. I can only theorize that I, like Steinbeck, have an inherent fear of being trapped by the forces of capitalism. That these few minutes of babbling (well, the babbling's mostly me, Steinbeck's Journal of a Novel is somewhat of a bestseller) are somehow liberating me from the shackles of mindless moneymaking. "Haha! Take that you filthy capitalist pigs...you think you own me? Huh? Huh?"

Often it's a way to tease and trick myself into doing the work that needs to be done. So I'll be writing this blog, when unbeknownst to me, I'll open up another window containing the latest script that needs to be completed. I'll continue to blog but I'll keep going back to the script to review yesterday's work. Back to the blog, all ready to post. Click on Publish Now, read what I've written, shut the window and voila! There's my script, all reviewed and ready to be worked on.

Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. Whatever's left to be done is taken care of by one angry phone call from the client.