The Guide: Movie vs. Novel

            Everybody who has ever read a book and seen a movie-version of the book, or a movie based on the book, knows that it is almost impossible to make the two identical. Of course movies have to cut things out of books to fit the whole film within a certain time slot, but movies also usually have tendencies to add things that spice up the movie, or things that would supposedly make the movie more appealing than the book. This is no different in the case of reading the book, The Guide, by R.K. Narayan and watching the corresponding movie. Certain different events happen all throughout the movie as compared to the book, but probably the biggest and most important difference lies in the ending of each work.

            In both the book and the movie, the main character, Raju, has fasted in order to bring rain to his “people”. He is almost tricked or guilted into doing so because he told a messenger boy that he was going to fast until the people of his village stopped fighting. The messenger misinterpreted this and told the villagers that Raju was going to fast for rain, just like in the stories of old that he had told them. The end of the fast in both the novel and the movie leaves Raju in an extremely weak and frail position.  In the book, Raju walks into the river to perform his daily prayer ritual, although he is barely walking and is supported on one side by his most devoted follower, Velan, and is supported on the other side by an unnamed person. Once Raju is in the river, he begins to mutter his daily prayers, while being held upright solely by those supporting him. Raju then turns to Velan and says, “Velan, it’s raining in the hills. I can feel it coming up under my feet, up my legs –“ Narayan then chooses to leave the ending of the book wide open to reader interpretation by then saying, “He sagged down.” As a reader, it is impossible to know for sure whether or not Raju dies or not. Earlier in the paragraph it mentions how Raju had frequently flopped down into the river, because he was so weak. We therefore don’t know whether he is simply exhausted, or if he has indeed died in the river. Another thing is that he says that “it’s raining in the hills”, which means that the reader never has factual evidence whether or not it is actually raining like Raju says. Is Raju reverting back to his tendency of lying to please himself and/or others? Or is Raju sincere in the fact that it is indeed raining in the hills? No one will ever know for sure because Narayan leaves it so wide open.

            The movie, however, ends more concretely, or leaves much less room for audience interpretation. In the movie, Raju is praying in the temple, not the river, and it begins to rain all of a sudden. This is already greatly different than the novel because we actually see the rain come. Once the rain comes, the villagers are filled with jubilation as they begin to cheer and dance. Raju then goes to a different room in the temple to lie down. Here he speaks with God, in an enchanting scene, which never happens in the novel. Rosie then rushes into the room to discover that Raju has indeed died, and is immediately stricken with grief. In the case of the movie, the audience is clearly able to see that Raju has indeed died, but not before bringing rain for the villagers.

            The differing events in the book and the novel are not what make the two different, but instead the true difference lies in what these events mean and portray. The novel leaves Raju’s last moments open to interpretation, meaning that the reader is free to decide whether or not Raju has truly changed and whether or not he actually able to bring rain. This paints Raju in an air of mystery, because the reader never knows for sure what happens, and therefore doesn’t exactly know how to see Raju at the end of the novel. Rather than seeing Raju as purely good, or purely unchanged, the reader is left to formulate their own opinion as to how they see Raju. The movie, however, paints such a concrete view of Raju, that the viewer isn’t able to formulate his or her own opinion of Raju, because he is portrayed as being purely good by the end of the film. Rosie, his mother, and even Gaffur come back and immediately accept Raju back into their lives, which show that even the people in the story think that Raju is purely good. This is furthered by the fact that Raju actually brings rain to the villagers, and because he talks with God before dying. How can you be more concretely portrayed as good and pure, than by receiving confirmation of your good deeds from God?!

            Like I said earlier, I believe that The Guide is no exception to the common differences between movies and novels. Movies tend to glorify things and make other things easier for viewers to understand, such as in The Guide. Novels, however, tend to leave things more open to interpretation, such as in The Guide. I think that it is important to note the differences in between the two, and to make sure that if you see the movie, that you also read the book, because movies tend to change things. In the case of The Guide, the book and the movie leave you with one burning question: Which Raju did you see?

Almost There...

It has now been 10 weeks (yeah, that’s right, double digits) since I set goals to work towards during my first semester here at college. This past week has been unique because for the first time since starting college, I had a week off of classes, thanks to Thanksgiving break. This being said, it was pretty hard to work on my goals, because they involve school and interacting with others at school. Considering the situation, I still think I made progress, even in the short amount of time I have been back at school since Thanksgiving break.

            Like I said in my blog last week, I feel as though I have largely accomplished my goal of studying for classes and have instead changed my goal to finishing the year strong. I have already hit the ground running in terms of finishing the year strong, because I have a large load of homework due this week or next week. After arriving back on campus at about 5:30 Sunday night, I unpacked all of my things, ate dinner, and began working on homework. I had to work on a 6-page report for my technical communications class. I was then in the library for about six hours the next day working on my report, and another two and a half hours today after 5 straight hours of classes starting at 8am. Now that I finally have that report done, I have to make a PowerPoint and prepare a presentation on that same report, due Thursday. Not only that, but I have two blogs to do and I have to continue to work on my Global Journeys project, which is due Monday along with all of my campus connections and my reflection on our class service project. This work sprinkled with some homework from other classes means that it is really time to grit my teeth and get work done whenever I’m not in classes. I really have no choice but to finish strong, so it’s time to get to work.

            Even though I have had very little time around others since Thanksgiving break, I still made some progress in opening up and talking with people. Since getting back from Thanksgiving break, I have really connected with one of the guys that lives across the hall from my dorm room. We’ve talked about working out before because when I do certain workouts, I have to use a pull-up bar, which in my case slips in and out of my doorway. This means that when I do pull-ups, I essentially do them in the hallway.  So naturally he knows that I work out, which gave us something to start talking about. We’ve talked bout working out and also protein shakes, and he’s even asked to borrow some of my protein shake powder. We also talk occasionally talk about hunting and that’s exactly what we talked about for a while on Sunday night. Considering the fact that I hunted five or six times over the break, we definitely had a lot to talk about. It was also interesting to hear his hunting stories because everybody hunts using different methods, and it’s just good to hear other hunters’ stories. We’ve definitely grown more familiar with each other and it’s always nice to be able to talk to somebody who shares my interests.

            Thanksgiving break also gave me a great opportunity to clear my mind of negativity and focus on the positive. I told myself that I would try to relax as much as I could over break, so I decided not to mix homework and a weeklong break from school. I knew that thinking about homework would just make it impossible to totally relax, so I pushed it out of my mind. I did make some progress by completing rough drafts of two campus connections, but nothing other than that. I really began to think about homework just before I started the drive home, and even though I only got a little work done over break, I feel like it has left me in better condition to finish the year strong. I came back to school ready to work, which I think will pay off more in the long run rather than completing more work over break. My mind felt clear coming back to school, that is until I got hit with the amount of work I still have left to do. My mind goes from being clear, to being filled with thoughts of homework, and more homework. Even though I still have a lot of homework facing me, clearing my mind over Thanksgiving break has left me as prepared as possible to get all my work done.

            When I think of finishing strong, several motivational songs and movies come to mind, but I think that one song especially fits the bill and the mood I am in. That song is Last Man Standing, by Lansdowne. The song talks about what the title implies: being the last one standing and outlasting all others. It gets me pumped up whenever I hear it, and it definitely applies to completing the end-of-the-semester workload that I currently have. Here is a link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPn8zLZvE5c

Finishing Strong

It has been nine weeks since I set my three goals for the semester, and since Thanksgiving break is only two days away, that means that the semester is almost over. Working on my goals throughout the semester has really helped me to more easily adjust to college life. Being able to open up more easily has helped me to talk to people, which essential considering the large number of people here at college. Studying for my classes has really made the transition to the college workload a lot more manageable. Clearing my mind has also helped me to focus and to maintain my sanity when certain stressful circumstances.

            I think that my first goal of studying for classes has actually been accomplished because I can’t think of anything more that I can do to study for my classes. I’ve been making flashcards, reading ahead, taking notes, flagging passages, studying in “adverse” conditions, and starting my work ahead of time among other things. These techniques have worked for me so far, so I have good reason to believe that they will continue to do the job. I guess I now have to modify my goal so that it now is to finish out the year strong. This means that I have to keep putting in the big effort studying outside of class as well as the effort of paying attention and participating in class. I basically just have to guard against growing complacent and I should be fine for the rest of the semester. I have to make sure that I relax over Thanksgiving break, but I have to be ready to work again once break is over.

            Although I have largely accomplished my first goal, my goal of being more open to others has continued on. Once again I have met some interesting people while working out in the dance room. I was doing a plyometrics (jump training) workout and was about halfway through, which means that I had just over thirty minutes left, when two guys walked into the room. I had talked to one of them in the dance room while working out before, but I don’t’ think that I had ever seen the other one before. I turns out that they were in the dance room to do an Insanity workout. Insanity is a lot like the P90X program that I do, in the sense that they are probably the two hardest workout programs currently available. It was nice to talk to these guys because we obviously shared a common interest: challenging workouts. It was just nice because everybody finds their own little niche in college, which is usually based on their hobbies and what they like. Considering the fact that working out is a big part of my day-to-day life, it was nice to fall into my niche with some other people for a change.

            This week it has actually been pretty easy to work on my goal of clearing my mind of negative thoughts and focusing on the positive. This has been the case because whenever I had a bad moment this week (which were few and far between), I would simply think of Thanksgiving break, which starts on Friday night for me. Once I’m all packed and I hit the road on Friday, I instantly start to relax and instead of homework and tests, I can begin to relax and think about how much I will enjoy myself over the break. True, driving for six hours isn’t exactly the most relaxing thing, but once I get home and go to sleep, the relaxation begins. I also try not to think of the fact that I will have to get up at four in the morning on Saturday for opening day of shotgun season, because nobody wants to think about getting up that early. Instead, I will think about possibly harvesting a deer, which makes me very excited to go hunting, and therefore clears my mind of negative thoughts.

            Well, we’ll see how my goals go for the rest of the year. Hopefully I will be motivated enough to continue to pursue them rather than letting up too soon. This reminds me of a quote by my high school basketball coach Mark Ryzda. He said, “There’s no point in playing the first 31 minutes hard if you don’t play the last minute just as hard as the first.” This not only applies to basketball, but to my academic goals this semester. I have to continue working hard until he finish, or all my work so far will be for naught. 

Thanksgiving As A College Kid

Seeing how only a couple days of classes remain before Thanksgiving break, I think that it would be appropriate to blog about Thanksgiving and even a little about what I will probably be doing during my break. Thanksgiving will be different this year as compared to other years simply because of the fact that I now go to college six hours away from home. I consider myself to be more changed going into this Thanksgiving, because of the fact that I have been living on my own and have been solely responsible for myself. Not only is it just the responsibility factor, but for the first time I am technically an adult because I am eighteen and I have noticed how my childhood has been fading away. I still hope to have a traditional holiday, because being home will provide a great opportunity to get back to my roots and to enjoy myself.

            One of the things that I’m looking forward to the most when I think about going home is the chance to hunt. I was only able to bow hunt one morning this year, when I would normally have hunted around a dozen times by now. That one time that I did get out in the woods, I was pleasantly surprised to see a good amount of deer. This has made me extremely excited to get back home and hunt some more. What is even better about hunting this week, is the fact that this week is a week of shotgun hunting. The only reason that I couldn’t take a shot at the deer when I hunted this year is because they were too far away for me to get a good shot with my bow. However, this week I probably won’t have that problem because I will be hunting with a shotgun instead of a bow. I will also be able to hunt on the best day to hunt all year: the opening day of shotgun season, which is Saturday, or the first day of the break. This day is by far the best day to hunt because there will be more hunters out on Saturday than any other day. This means that there will be a lot of deer being pushed around the woods, meaning there is a much better chance of seeing and possibly getting a shot at one.

            I also can’t wait to be home for Thanksgiving because I can’t wait to do all the things that my family and I traditionally do each year. As a kid, Thanksgiving would always start with lunch over at my Grandparents’ house. This was no normal lunch, but it was actually called a “Snoopy Picnic”. The meal was of course named after the Peanuts movie, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”. My mom and grandma are huge Peanuts fans, so naturally my sister and I were big fans as well when we grew up. This meal is different because we eat it on a blanket that we spread out on the living room floor, which is to resemble the impromptu thanksgiving meal that Charlie Brown threw for his friends in the movie. After eating, we would lie around the room and groan while watching “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving”. I haven’t eaten this meal in about four or five years because it was always tradition that the men (my dad and his dad) would hunt every Thanksgiving morning, because it is one of the only days my dad gets off of work. When I was old enough, I began hunting Thanksgiving mornings too, and afterwards we go over to my grandparents’ to clean up the leftovers. We then spend the rest of the day at their house and eat Thanksgiving dinner there at night.

            I’m counting down the days until thanksgiving break because I can’t wait to slip back into tradition after the giant changes that college has brought. Here is a clip of “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” that my family tries to emulate in our own way (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DME_Hpk8IeU&feature=related). This is a great movie, that I hope to be able to even pass on to my kids one day. It makes my Thanksgiving holiday better, and I hope it can do the same for you.  

Finding Personal Identity

“Finding yourself” is often a task undertaken by kids in middle school, high school, and even college. It is an essential part of growing up because everybody needs to find that niche where they feel as though they belong, and therefore feel extremely comfortable with themself. Many people believe many different things when it comes to evaluating someone’s true identity, which is a function of the fact that everybody is different and has different ideals. Some people think that factors such as relationships and culture are the determinants of someone’s personal identity. 

            In my opinion, someone’s thoughts and actions are what shape their identity. There’s that famous quote about character that goes a little something like, “character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking”. I believe this quote carries some weight and truth along with it. A person shouldn’t always be defined by what other people see them doing, because we all know that impressions can be inaccurate. What somebody does when nobody is looking truly determines their personal identity because they are free to act as they would without being affected by any outside forces. Thoughts follow the same suit. Thoughts are basically actions that just aren’t acted out physically. This means that someone could be thinking about doing something that shows good character, but they may not follow through and act out the thought. Just because somebody may never act out their thoughts, does not mean that they don’t have good character, just that they may be too shy to display their thoughts.

            Although thoughts and actions are the true measure of someone’s personal identity, I believe that culture helps to shape these identities. A culture’s values truly do shape peoples’ personalities because they ultimately make people more conscious of themselves and what they do. Thoughts and actions are still the best indicators, however, because they transcend cultures and geography. Someone from Russia can have the same amount of character as someone for Brazil for example, even though they may be viewed differently by a third party.

            This applies to Raju in The Guide, because of the way he is judged by the people of Malgudi and how he is judged by the people in the town where he is swami. It is almost a bit ironic because physically, Raju is the same man that he has always been, even if he has changed mentally and emotionally. The people of Malgudi now only have negative feelings for Raju because of what he has done. He let his father’s business fall apart, lost all his money, and he chose a dancer named Rosie over his own mother. However, the people in the town where Raju is swami think nothing but endearing thoughts of Raju; they even compare him to Gandhi. This goes to show that somebody’s true identity remains the same, even when the public perception of that identity may change. True, Raju is a better man after his experience as a swami, but at the root of it all, he is still Raju, the man who gave up everything for a dancer named Rosie.       

            At the heart of things, somebody’s personal identity usually doesn’t change even though things around them will always be changing. The only thing that can change is how other people perceive your personal identity. Your personal identity is what makes you unique from everybody else, which is why it must remain untainted. I found an anonymous quote online that kind of talks about how your personal identity gives you a purpose, or direction in life. The quote says, “Committing yourself is a way of finding out who you are. A man finds his identity by identifying.” To me this means that once you truly commit to something, you will be building on your personal identity because you will now have purpose. This is similar to when Raju basically committed himself to Rosie. He gained a purpose in life, and thus modified his personal identity. So the word of advice would be to go out and find your personal identity and try to give your life some purpose. 

Sleep and homework at the same time?

This blog comes a bit early, but it’s actually part of my plan to accomplish my goal of studying for classes. It has been about eight weeks since I picked three goals to pursue here at college. As the semester starts to wind to a close, I feel as though the quest to accomplish one of my goals is coming to an end as well. The other two goals could be classified as longer-term goals, so chances are that I will never fully accomplish them.

            This blog becomes part of one of my goals because when I thought about how I could study for my classes in a new way, I realized that I should just do my work ahead-of-time. It seems like I’ve already done just about everything to better study for my classes, so I thought I should just do my work and study ahead of time, which in turn should make me more relaxed when it comes to be time for the actual class. If I have work to do, it is very hard for me to feel relaxed because I’ll always have the thought of the work in the back of my mind. Even though I’ve always thought like this, I was a chronic procrastinator all throughout middle school and high school just because I couldn’t get motivated to start doing my work. Now I have been trying to get my work done ahead-of-time, which has actually allowed my to relax and made college life all that much easier. I’ve realized how much added pressure comes with procrastinating and how it isn’t worth it.

            This week instead of talking to someone new, I actually talked to somebody that I met a while ago at an open house here at Paul Smith’s named Mark. It just so happens that Mark lives about thirty minutes away from my house, even though that’s about a six-hour drive from Paul Smith’s. It’s always good to talk to people who are from nearby towns especially when you’re as far away from home as I am. It was nice because we could talk about all of the unique Western New York things such as saying, “pop” instead of soda, Tim Hortons coffee/donut shops, and sports teams like the Buffalo Bills and Sabres. It’s just nice to know that my two lives (college life and home life) aren’t so separate after all; that they can actually be intertwined. Talking to Mark made me feel more comfortable and willing to open up, because it’s just more comfortable talking to somebody that you can relate to.

            When it comes to my goal of clearing my mind and focusing on positive things, I have made an interesting discovery. It just so happens that sleeping is a great way to clear your mind. We all know that disoriented feeling you feel for the first couple of minutes after waking up from sleep. That feeling is almost like an eraser, and the mind a chalkboard. The “eraser” wipes the mind clean of any negative thoughts and thus makes the mind into a clean slate. I discovered this while doing homework, because I tend to lie down on my bed when I do homework. Sleepy college student plus a comfortable position on a bed, equals a very high chance of sleep. I find that I usually fall asleep when I have hit a mental wall, or when I just can’t think clearly. I’ve found that after I wake up, I develop several ideas that I could never get myself to think of before. This is a risky tactic to use when doing homework, but if you have enough time to try it, I highly recommend it.

            I researched sleep and if it can actually help to clear your mind, and little did I know that there was actually a scientific term for the concept. The homeostatic theory of sleep describes how your brain’s resources are actually balanced during sleep, which makes sense of the fact that you can get new ideas for an old topic after sleeping. The article that describes this in more detail can be found here (https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/sitnflash_wp/2011/08/issue100/). Now if only college students could somehow convince their teachers that there were only trying to comes up with new ideas by sleeping in class…