'Cars' : WOW !!!

Ahhh... it's got that new movie smell
!!!

Friday night is always movie time.. and that's been the only constant thing in our schedule thus far, this summer. 'Cars' was by far the best movie I have seen this summer (in fact, for quite sometime). Considering that list contains movies of the likes of Da Vinci Code, MI:III, X-Men III, The Break-Up & Just My Luck, that's quite an achievement for Lightning McQueen (makes up for his Piston Cup loss, I hope).

And behind all the precise and fantastic animation, the take-home really was the message the movie carried and the beautiful, innocent way in which it was presented. It was a genuine portrayal of the concern amongst more and more Americans about increasing urbanisation, about moving too fast, about forgetting to enjoy the sweet simple things life has to offer.

One major thing that I have observed in the people in Redmond (and I would generously generalize it to all Americans) is their attitude towards life. They always have a smile on their face. They are always ready to help. And of course, with all the money they have, they can afford to be pretty helpful. They greet you at every possible opportunity, and apologize for the slightest inconvenience caused (even if they son't have much to do with it).

Back in India, people are just as nice. But bare survival is so very demanding, that most people don't really have the energy or the time to be nice to everyone around them. Of course, we Indians are nice to a fixed set of people (more specifically, the people we know). But when was the last time you went out of your way to help a stranger? When was the last time I went out of my way to help a stranger? Maybe even before I turned 21 !!!

Slow down .. take a breath, look around .. see if anyone needs you .. find out if you can actually help someone today .. live for someone else and it will be a day well-lived. Appreciate the nice people around you .. if you can't do anything more, you can still smile when you meet someone .. these simple things make such a difference!!

So, I was just thinking what my life would be like, in ten-fifteen years .. what I would want to become? Yeah, I'd surely like to be a billionaire, win a couple of Nobel Prizes and a bunch of Turing Awards, be wooed by supermodels, acknowledged by the whole CS community and blah-de-blah-de-blah ... But what I want more than anything else, is simple happiness .. to be loved and appreciated by the people who matter the most to me, and to give back something to my country (seeing the US, I realize just how much work remains to be done in India).

And all this thought evoked by one simple movie, that too an animation movie. That's why 'Cars' is such a special movie. It makes you want to be a better man. I just hope that the little goodness in me (which just loved this cute movie) never dies out. I just wish to be a better man :)