That Friday the 13th feeling On popular culture, society and the incredible lightness of being

That Friday the 13th feeling

On popular culture, society and the incredible lightness of being

Today happens to be Friday the 13th — the date is ominous in superstitious minds, a twilight zone when the connection with the preturnatural is more enhanced than otherwise, a date that hearkens to foreboding, traditionally. And yet, the part about the foreboding, the part where we all clutch out talismans closer, or entreat higher beings for divine intervention — that happened two days before Friday the 13th, a Wednesday in fact. When, acutely attuned to the two massive earthquakes in Banda Aceh on the coast of Indonesia, a Tsunami alert was sounded across coastal zones in the assumed path. It seems the Gods heard the collective prayers this time, there was no wall of water, no marauding wave that devastated all in its path, as it had way back in 2004. The alert was called off a couple of hours later. But it makes me wonder — should we be taking greater note of shifting weather patterns, all unnatural seeming, globally — the subzero cold wave in Europe in February, Mumbai’s odd cold spell continuing into March this year, the freak tornadoes hitting parts of North America? Such a time also brings into focus the importance of what matter most in a life path. And therefore, focusing on the essentials as opposed to trivialities. Because disaster never gives a warning grace period, it simply appears, testing nerves, resilience, structures, material or otherwise, like Japan understood only too well last year. It has been a heavy week personally, even before the Tsunami scare, my family having lost our beautiful black Doberman, Caesar. Of the many lessons I learned from him (as we tend to learn, from the pure-hearted), one of the foremost was optimism in the face of adversity — no burden can be so heavy that it won’t be lifted with a deft lick for silent understanding or a cold nose pushing into a palm for attention. On that premise, despite it being a traditionally heavy date, despite all the negativity associated with Friday the 13th, would it be so unwise, instead, of the fearful fantastical, to focus on the fantastic? Or the fanciful? As popular culture seems to be doing at present, in both Hollywood and B-Town. I happened to catch We Bought a Zoo, Matt Damon’s single father indulging his impulsive streak, and buying of all things, a property with animals attached. Fanciful certainly, but the gamble comes with revelations (and the lush Scarlett Johansson’s animal warden character) attached, and remarkable resolutions at the end. Or then, whilst on both fanciful and the fearful fantastical, Balan’s money-spinner, simply titled Kahaani, still going strong —- wherever you’d like to slot it, the film has underlined that one inescapable reality in all the fancifulness of both tinselville and life — raking in the moolah.