Apocalypto

Well, I'd thought I'll never watch THIS one! I'd almost believed it wasn't "my type" of a movie. But boredom is a far bigger motivator than anything else. Result : watched the much talked about 'Apocalypto' yesterday. WOW!! What an experience. Here I am, writing about whether or not I'll fit into the corporate world and what, in my opinion, was missing from the office life of a corporate executive, when there are people around the world just struggling to live. I know the Mayan civilisation was another time and place altogether but they were people, right? I struggle with choices that seem very trivial when compared to theirs. When we talk of advancement and the march to progress of human civilisation, are we actually moving towards something better or mere trivialities? Do we really need to make life more and more complicated in order to pretend that we are making some progress when we manage to disentangle ourselves from the webs we ourselves weave?

Most of us would call what Apocalypto had to show as 'gross', 'uncivilised' or even 'inhuman' but I felt that the people the movie portrayed were infinitely more human than we ever would be. They had a greater sense of honour and more importantly, a greater sense of purpose in life. They might not have known what caused the solar eclipse but they sure knew the 'how' of almost anything. They knew how to survive in the jungle, they knew how to protect their young ones, they knew exactly how to train these young ones to survive in the forest. They knew how to celebrate life and mourn death, how to pray and how to bless. Their methods might have been different, aye, even 'weird' but the sentiments were the same. They feared the unknown (don't we?). The only difference was that at that time there was A LOT that was unknown. Does that give us any right to think we are in any way more 'advanced' than they were or 'better'? I think not. I sometimes miss being close to nature. The life of the tribal people, right there in the heart of the jungle fascinates me sometimes. Yes, their lifestyle apparently borders on 'brutal' to onlookers sometimes, but their oneness with nature makes up for it all.

Its amazing how just one brush with a harsher reality makes you see your life in a clearer perspective. I feel blessed to live in an age and time of extreme comfort but I also understand that it's come at a BIG price. Its come at the cost of tall trees with lush green leaves, meadows with cows grazing in the distance, hilltops with lots of sheep milling around, small wooden bridges over brooks, gently flowing rivers whose bottoms are visible from the surface, houses with attics and gardens in front, small whitewashed fences and backyards. Was it a good bargain? I think not. But then I don't really have a choice in the matter. Like everyone else before me, I too have been placed in a time and a place, my only option being how I choose to live in it. So, here's to days gone by, forever cherished as memories!!