That is where the problem lies. Religion has behavioral consequences on it’s followers. Those consequences are a direct result of the basic tenets of the religion and it’s surrounding traditions. Having said that, there are always exceptions. There are people who drive nicely despite being drunk and there are some people who cant drive enough if they are not drunk, these cases fall on the either side of the bell curve but for most people there is a good correlation between alcohol in blood and inability to make good driving decisions.

Fundamentals of religion reflect in individual’s behavior by a degree of his belief. A word “fundamentalist” is often used in media without much sense but what it is supposed to mean is “someone believing in the most fundamental form of the religion”. It is perfectly fine for a person to be fundamentalist as long as he keeps it to himself. When fundamentalism is coupled of zeal to enforce it on others we call it “fanaticism”.

A fundamentalist Christian believes that abortion or even use of contraceptives like condom is blasphemous. He/she will not use it. In her noble prize acceptance speech (Mother) Teressa described contraceptives as a threat to world peace.

That is how religions impact society. More religious the society more it’s principles affect the behavior. If we look at Tibet which happens to be a Buddhist society you will notice that despite a serious oppression by Chinese the Buddhist monks have not picked up Ak-47. You dont see monks blowing up innocents in Chinese buses and markets. Instead we have seen self-immolation. That is because Buddhism is a true religion of peace. It’s teachings create a mental barrier for it’s followers to accept violence as a method of showing unhappiness. At the same time, patience happens to be another characteristic of the religion and we have seen despite all that chinese have done they have not managed to destroy the spirit of Tibetians.

There is a lot of propaganda by media that Islam is the religion of peace. But see Islamic societies are brutally violent. Ak-47 is the first weapon they seem to use. That has got nothing to do with oppression but is due to the teachings of Islam. Yes, convoluted arguments may be presented to show how the verses of Quran are to be interpreted but as one notices that is not the way the majority of the Islamic society  interprets it.

Yes, many teachings of most religions are problematic. A civilized society must seek to mitigate this problem. Thomas Jefferson showed us the way when he clearly separated religion from state and since than the American state and law has mostly stuck to it without coming in a way of personal freedom.

India is a screwed up story. Gandhi and Congress have traditionally made communities as the focal point of their policy making. Congress party has consistently showed disrespect to the individual freedom while upholding community  opinions. That has got nothing to do with socialize or compassion as they would like us to believe. In a largely retarded country like India it is much easier to influence a mob than to influence each individual.

The results are here for all of us to see. Today any mob which demonstrates its ability to inflict violence and disturb peace gets its way. They manage to stop Salman Rushdie from coming here, attack Taslima Nasreen, stop some book and stop some movie.

I have deliberately avoided passing any comment on Hinduism here. Unlike monotheist religions Hinduism does not have a fixed ideology. Hinduism is very fluid will adopt to survive the situation. A vedic traditions built around a set of philosophies evolved into a much  larger ecosystem of religions accomodative of tribal and pagan practices once the vedic people came in touch with the tribals realizing that their participation was essential for everyone’ well being. Every vedic god had animal gods as their servants in the process. A varna system was developed to accommodates all kind of people and to maintain social harmony. As the survival was assured and focus turned on consolidating power and wealth, the varna system degenerated into a caste system. The case system itself was very fluid as shown by various British census reports. However now after independence certain castes saw a benefit in staying in the same caste and hence today we have a very rigid caste system.

Hinduism is certainly not a religion of peace like Buddhism. It is a religion that is capable of violence and war. But mostly this violence comes a retaliation or as revenge.

Now a days we see Hinduism hitting back in the same Islamic fashion. People asking books to be banned, hitting some painter, beating up girls in pubs and so on. This is just a part of it’s internal evolution process. Hindus are realizing that if they need importance in matters of power, they need to demonstrate their ability to be violent. It is just that this violent phase is in it’s infancy. We had seen it’s potential during Gujarat riot and we might see even worse in future.

The solution to the problem is to first take us out from the delusion that all religions are peaceful and equal. We must build an environment where religion can be discussed in purely philosophical point of view. Let the reason win over mob rule. If some people get offended in process so bit. If the offended people take up violence the state must put them behind bars without any mercy. Hope for humanity lies in the fact that with time reason prevails in the mind of people our blind faith. If we incentivize faith then reason will never find it’s way through.

One good thing about geeks is that they are very good at whatever they do. Michell describes why SOPA and PIPA is bad for all of us in this beautiful article here.

He provides a physical world analogy:

Assume there’s a corner store in your neighborhood that rents movies. But the movie industry believes that some or even all of the videos in that store are unauthorized copies, so that they’re not being paid when people watch their movies. What should be done?

SOPA/PIPA don’t aim at the people trying to get to the store. SOPA/ PIPA don’t penalize or regulate the store itself. SOPA and PIPA penalize us if we don’t block the people trying to get to the store.

The solution under the proposed bills is to make it as difficult as possible to find or interact with the store. Maps showing the location of the store must be changed to hide it(1). The road to the store must be blocked off so that it’s difficult to physically get to there(2). Directory services must unlist the store’s phone number and address(3). Credit card companies(4) would have to cease providing services to the store. Local newspapers would no longer be allowed to place ads for the video store(5). And to make sure it all happens, any person or organization who doesn’t do this is subject to penalties(6). Even publishing a newsletter that tells people where the store is would be prohibited by this legislation(7). [Source]

Many things that happen on internet are illegal, but then instead of just questioning them we should try to see if something is wrong with our laws.

SOPA claims to prevent piracy, but is piracy really a problem? All evidence suggests that piracy has not caused any loss of the original owners of the content. For example, most pirated films are never the blockbusters.

Star Wars Revenge of the Sith was one of the most awaited movies of it’s time and also happened to be one of my favorite. It will take anyone less than 5 minutes to find it’s illegal copy on internet despite that it remains the maximum sold DVD on Amazon.

More such examples can be shown that piracy is not really such big problem that needs such radical laws. I know nothing about American law making process but based on bias I wonder if this legislation is backed by non technology companies who want to gag the technology companies which seem to have much better future in the new world.

Until few years the largest companies in the world were unquestionably the Oil companies. They still continue to dominate that space but Apple is currently the number one. More and more technology companies are entering this top space pushing oil and other companies down. As these companies grow, they will have more control over government and other companies will tend to lose their hold. Technology companies can survive even if government is not really ready to help them grow and maintain monopolies, in fact technology companies generall see leap in growth through disruptive changes in the market. Take example of iPhone and iPad. They dont need government to keep their business running.

Other companies however want government as their sleeping partner everywhere. Banks, Infrastructure companies, Oil companies can increase their profits by just letting government change some decisions. As technology companies tend to influence government decisions this may not happen that easily for them.

Of course this theory comes from someone who knows nothing about America and how it functions so dont take it seriously. The unquestionable point however is that SOPA is bad for internet and as a consequence of it bad for every one of us.

Now that wikipedia was blacked out I am sure even ordinary people must have started thinking about the whole thing.

I was more then overwhelmed with the protests. The scale was simply too much. When Google, yahoo , IBM, Facebook come together to do something you should realize that it is a force to reckon with. It is likely that US legislators will bend before this.

However in Indian context I dont think such protests will have much meaning at least in the present times. The main reason in on 9% of India’s population has used internet. So for all those who are on internet a protest like this will matter but when it comes to ballot box it will prove useless. My hypothesis will be proven during the upcoming elections in UP and Goa. While a vocal minority on internet showed so much concern about corruption the general population is likely to vote the corrupt men in again.

Plato was a very smart man even for today’s age. The above quote is often misquoted as “Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber” which sounds cool, is shorter and simple to understand. However it does not really capture what Plato is trying to say.

Plato gives two reason’s why good men may not willing to rule, that is to participate in politics or exercise their authority. It is either money or honor. More I see people more I see these two trends.

Businessmen happen to be the most powerful entities in society because they have a lot of money. But they are extremely cautious not to get caught on the wrong foot with the government because that can hurt them in short term hence they prefer the long term doom.

There are far too many intellectuals who sit on the shore and give us instructions about swimming. These people are full of wise words. Pretend to be people of character but when it comes to taking a stand on any controversial issue push other people instead of taking a stand.

These are the people who wear mask of honesty, integrity and honor. The integrity which was never subjected to difficult choice and virginity that was never subjected to an easy temptation is not a virtue. It is just outright stupidity. I have no respect for such people. The best example of this class of people is our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The moment you take a hard stand on a controversial issue the opposing camp becomes your enemy and it tries to search skeletons in your cupboard. If anyone manages to find something, the mask of honor is torn apart and you stand exposed. So the best idea is to claim ignorance. Justice is a casualty in the process.

Having said this all, the real point that I want to make is that, politics affects our life deeply. The choice of ruler will determine the quality of life we live 10 years ahead. Many people especially the middle class is under the impression that they wont be affected. “We have a government job”, ” We are friends with so and so minister”, “CM is a family friend”, “I live in Mumbai most of the time” etc. etc. there are plenty excuses for this apathy.

When I speak to people in Goa most of them say that they will vote for Congress government. Now, every one among them accepts without any arguments that the Digamber Kamar government is the most corrupt government we has seen so far. Their argument is they are not interested in an honest government they are interested in a government that will give them personal gains. So and so MLA gave my son a job (either free or for Rs 5 Lakh), he helped me ge tout of the jail, he helped me grab public land, he helped me building my illegal house and so on. The mining issue might be a burning issue but everyone sees a personal benefit in continuing with the same system.

There is nothing wrong in people being selfish. That is the basic human nature. However the real problem I feel is that people are not being selfish enough. They lack intelligence and foresight to understand the importance of governance and overall well-being of the society.

Let us understand what as an individual I really care about. Firstly, I care about my bank balance. Higher is better. Secondly, I care about safety and well-being of my family. Thirdly, I care about the future of my family. I want a better future than the present for myself and my future generations. Our society is full of retards. They think that these objectives are easily achieved by staying close to the politician and participating in his corrupt practices.

Yes, in relative terms it is absolutely true. If you keep yourself in good books of the corrupt local M.L.A. it is likely that you will earn more money than others, be more safe than other and have better future than others. But remember all these three terms are highly relative of others. It is because most people out there are pathetically poor you feel like rich. It is because overall law and order situation is so horrible that you feel safe by staying close to that politician.

If our government was truly committed to people, if it was run by honest and competent men interested more in people’ welfare than their own. The average income, average law and order situation would have been much better than what it is now. Without sucking up to a politician you could have earned a lot more in a more free and conductive environment than now.

Unfortunately, people lack that foresight to see these things. People fail to see that a government that looks after the whole society is much more beneficial to everyone than a government that helps chosen few.

Revenge of the Sith

A face-off between the Guru and his disciple who is lost to the Dark Side of the force.  A battle of perhaps the best Jedi’s left. For someone who is watching it for the first time, it may appear that the deciple eventually killing the guru to establish himself as the supreme villain. Since the later 3 parts of the movie had come before may be the viewer knows that both of them dont really die but the transformation of Anakin into Darth Vader remains a mystery until you see this climax. This last fight sequence and the the event afters that was one of the finest cinematic pleasure I had ever experienced.

Star wars has certainly transcended beyond the boundaries of a mere movie and reached a stage where it can be called an epic or legend forming part of creative best of humanity in general.

The movies ends only to tell you that it is the beginning of something even larger.

Million Dollar Baby

There is no tragedy like Million Dollar Baby. When I watched it first I was expecting a female Rocky Balboa to achieve her dreams. What I got in return was a sad surprise. Suddenly the dark shade of the movie makes sense. A typical Clint Eastwood movie which highlights loneliness, relationships, faith, comeuppance and tragedy. Like most great movies it leaves a lot gaps which you are supposed to fill through your imagination.

Hilary Swank also happens to be one of my favorite actresses. I simply loved her in The Next Karate Kid.

Unforgiven

I have been a die hard fan of young Clint Eastwood’s testosterone filled western movies where he would kill 5 people in a blink of his eyes. With unforgiven I expected something similar and got a punch in the face in return. A deadly cowboy settled as a farmer in his last few years around some godforsaken countryside. He apparently married a woman which everyone thought will die in his hands, but the effect was reverse she changed this man and eventually died of chickenpox. She does not appear anywhere in the movie.

However one day this cowboy is requested by another young man to join him for a bounty hunting expedition. What lies ahead nothing but realization that despite all these years he still remains unforgiven.

It got the well deserved Oscar Prize that year for the best movie. It will make sense to watch this movie only if you have seen Eastwood’s previous western movies.

I have been a great fan of mythology right through childhood. I really love the way people put complex ideas in simple form and vice-versa. In school we had this complete bullshit concept of stories with moral. I remember kids even by-hearting morals of some few popular morals. A story that has got a moral has got to be an uninteresting story and hence no story at all. This does not mean stories are not meant to leave and impact. But that impact should always be in a very subtle way, only the person who is looking for that meaning gets it others just get entertained. At the same time real good art is the one which has got more than one meaning. Sometimes the meaning might even extend beyond what it’s creator wanted to imply.

What is that subtle learning we get from Mahabharata?  Most of the people will sing the usual “victory of good over evil”  tune. As a matter of fact, the message of Mahabharata is very different. Most of the people get lost in the action packed war of Mahabharata and dont go beyond that to see the climax of the legend. Original name of Mahabharata is Jaya. For the uninitiated there are 18 parvas (volumes) of the story. The war is over by the 10th volume. In the last 18th volume. The protagonist of the story (reall? you might ask) Yudhishteera reaches the heaven. There he sees that the so called evil Kaurav’s are enjoying in heaven where as his brothers and wife are in hell. The kind who was known for his behavior suddenly loses his temper. He asks God why this injustice, why the adharmi Kaurav’s are in heaven but his dharmic brothers are in hell. He is told that Kaurav’s died on land which was sacred. By the stroke of luck they are in heaven where as Pandava’s need to suffer for some of their sins. God also advices Yudhishtira that he should get rid of his enmity for Kauravas because it is really futile at this point of time. He needs to win himself. That is “Jaya”. “Vijaya” means victory over others where as “Jaya” means victory over self. That is the climax of this great epic only those who stick till the end see it but most stop at B. R. Chopra’s rendition.

Coming back to the original topic, I find the superhero comics as enthralling as Ramayan and Mahabharat. Three popular superheros are Superman, Spiderman and Batman. For the unfamiliar crowd these are those people who jump over rooftops to save kids from fire and catch the bad guys. For the fanboys however there are more subtle differences to focus upon.

Superman is not human. He is from a different planet Krypton. He is by default a superhero. That is his default nature has got all those powers. That blue clothes are his real clothes. However to hide among us mortals he has to take up and alter ego called Clerk Kent. Clerk Kent is exact opposite of Superman. He is un-confident, goofy and a critic of superman.  Superman does have weakness and pain. His planet was destroyed where his parents to were killed. There is no one left in this universe of his kind. But almost everyone deeply loves him that ensures that he does not feel lonely.

In reality superman became a cultural icon. (think of R. K. Laxman’s Common Man in India). He even influence politics in United States.

Spiderman is a smart but otherwise ordinary kid getting superpowers by accident. He is a normal human being with normal emotions. While this superpowers help him do amazing things as spider-man, in reality he is still an emotionally vulnerable Peter Parker. He has to carry this burden of superhero whether he likes it or not. Because of that he has to make a lot of sacrifices. Unlike superman he is by default weak human being called Peter Parker, he has to wear that costume to become a superhero.

My favorite of the lot is however Batman. Batman’s alter ego is Bruce Wayne. Son of millionaire (and then billionaire) and a thorough gentleman Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne. His life suddenly changes when one day his parents are shot dead right in front of his eye by an ordinary roadside thug. The case remains unsolved for years but that has deep impact on Bruce Wayne. Dr. Thomas also own a large company called Wayne Enterprises which young (10 year old) Bruce inherits when his parents are killed. Most people worry that Bruce will not be able to live up to this trauma and to some extent he does get affected.

Their faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth however takes good care of Bruce. Bruce is blessed with great intelligence and good body. He takes up the task of taking both these gifts to it’s supreme perfection and travels all around the world to master martial arts, meditation techniques and also learn to be the worlds best detective. Two things however never leave him. His fear of bats that arises from one childhood accident and the scene of his parents dead before their eyes. He blames himself for their death and that guilt is his perhaps only weakness yet strength.

Bruce returns to his city Gotham to fight crime in all possible ways as the caped crusader. He dresses like a bat because to strike terror in the hearts of the criminals. Bruce is always a human being with no special superpowers. He gets hurt and injured every now and then. He fails several times. It is never about the action but all the things he has to go through to survive. One major difference between all other superheroes and Batman is that Batman is a Dark Knight. That is, the people dont really love him. They think he is a nuisance or a criminal himself. Batman doesn’t mind that, he knows in his heart that he has not killed anyone or committed any crime.

Batman has all the traits of the yogi. He is he perfect man. Gives importance to duty over personal emotions, has not attachment to anything, doesn’t show anger or act on emotions and so on. Batman is also a geek and his comics are full of nonlinear stories that will be generally beyond comprehension of a 16 year old kid.

Personally I like Batman because I look at him as an ideal example of how one should learn to deal with one’s pain and suffering. I dont mean that one should become a caped crusader but one should put his suffering to work. Developing a sense of empathy and compassion one’s pain should get converted into strength to turn things right. Pain and suffering should not make you inactive and despondent but instead should become a driving force to do something better for others.

Batman is also about pushing your own limits to go beyond what is expected out of you. It is also about silently working for good without expecting any credit in return. Batman will always remain an inspiration for me.

Today I wonder if it was just the difference in skin color. We thought freedom means being rules by someone who resembles us in appearance.

What happens under a foreign rule ?

1. You are not treated as equal to those who are in power.

2. You need to take explicit permission from government before doing whatever you want, from building the house to purchasing a gun and govern tries to discourage you from it to the extent possible.

3. There is no assurance of your life and property.

4. There are restrictions on things you can talk about and write about.

5. Women in your house are not really safe.

6. Natural resources are exploited mindlessly to benefit those in power.

7. The entity in power does build roads, railways and so on but only to addresses their own concerns and interests and not those of people.

Now wait for a second and think our current situation. Almost all above point applies to current government as well.

We lack the freedom to achieve our dreams. You are thinking of building a home? Take a zillion permissions and bribe 100 people. I dont see why that fucking clerk in government office is entitled for monies when you build a house out of your hard earned money.

We are far away from the freedom that a society needs to prosper. We are growing but that growth is of cancer which will eventually implode if we dont ampute the cancerous parts of our society.

The genre of his books is Historical Fiction. In my opinion historical fiction is interesting if it connects historical facts through fiction to give us a fabulous story. If you bend history to suite the convenience of your story the whole story is so less appealing. A good example of how a good story gets ruined by shoddy research of history is “Immortals of Meluha”. Acharya Chatursen however does a very good job, at least for an untrained person it is very difficult to figure out which of his assumptions are not consistent with known facts. You have to also keep in mind that the books were written more than 50 years back.

There are very few Indian authors who have dared to venture into the genre of historical fiction, especially related to the ancient history. When I was reading through वयं रक्षामः  I could visualize an India that resembled so much to Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypso”. I am sure a good competent person can make some fascinating movies out of Chatursen’s novels.

Another aspect of his books is the very high Sanskrit influence. The only book with so much Sanskrit influence I have read before is “Banabhatta ki Atmakatha” by Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.

Respect for this man.

Let us look at few examples.

Political achievements

1. Education ministers educational qualifications were questioned.

2. His son was involved in alleged rape of a minor.

3. There were allegations of home ministers son being involved in drug trafficking.

4. Chief minister was seen partying with a person charged with rape.

5. One minister went absconding after charged with murder. Later he surrendered.

6. Allegations that PWD minister is charging 15% over every tender awarded.

Given these serious crimes, other crimes such as PWD minister distributing free water tanks without any scheme or approval from government money would seem like petty thefts.

Current congress government has been taking pride in it is so called “inclusive growth” and “secular” (whatever it means) principles. Let us look at achievements in that direction.

Society and Culture

1. Two people belonging to SC/ST category were burned alive. This almost Bihar/UP type incident happened few months back.

2. Goa’s first riots (in recent times) took place in Savordem under Digamber’s rule.

3. Margao escaped a similar riot almost twice.

4. Community stands divided over the medium of instruction issue. Despite sever opposition from majority of the population the government tried to force it’s policy under people’s throat.

5. Uncountable number of temples in Goa were vandalized be elements that are yet to be caught.

6. MINING. This is single most important problem of Goa.

Law and Order

1. A major drug traffickers was caught and let off by Goa police.

2. DGP Arya was illegally transferred because of his tough stand against prostitution and drug trafficking.

3. A lot of Goan land was usurped by land sharks and mafias.

4. Several tourists raped and killed.

5. Serial killer Mahanand is being let off over many murders because of lack of evidence.

6. Once the police attacked an MLA’s home and ransacked his house, in another incident two Police group fought among themselves.

The real problem I feel is yet to come to public notice. Ask yourself the simple question. Who are the richest people in Goa? What is their source of income? How they are benefiting the society ?

Let me be very clear that I do not subscribe to the thinking that rich people are bad. But in the current scenario the richest people in Goa are the people who owns mines. They are not engineering firms, service firms , retailers and so on. This suggests that we have not climbed up the value chain at all. Secondly, this source of income is not entirely legitimate. Few miners have colluded with politicians to form a nexus where very few of them control all aspects of the business which involves digging the earth, transportation and export. These few people have created their monopoly via every possible means.

There is a lot of money in mining and a lot of mining activities are not fully legal. Hence the MLAs and other people in the power have developed a rent seeking attitude. They think that because they are in a powerful position it is their right to seek commission over everything. What is started and encouraged by mining industry is spreading to all other aspects of the governance.

I feel the rent-seeking attitude of people in power is at it’s maximum today. This is counter productive to economic activity and hence single biggest hurdle that Goans need to overcome before they pull themselves out of poverty.

People are to be blamed for this. They elect the people who gives them maximum dole. They themselves have legitimized this rent seeking attitude. The moment government advertizes a job, there are people who line up to “bid” for the post. These people are loathsome and in a way they get what they deserve. It is just that I feel bad for them for they dont know what they are doing.

Living on earth is a difficult thing. As human beings we face a zillion sort of problems. We need inspiration to go through these problems. So we develop God, an all powerful entity that has the power of removing all obstacles from our path. Winning trust of this powerful entity is all about praying, performing a ritual and so on. Over years the problems humanity has faced have been changing and so is the nature of religion and rituals. Once upon a time people were too concerned about natural forces and hence there were rituals that people believed can control the Gods of those natural forces. Now a days, most of humans face completely different kind of problems. These problem are related to stress, feeling of incompleteness, emotional and other kind of insecurity and so on. So we have people preaching “come to Jesus he will solve all your problems” and so on.

There is a famous Akbar Birbal story where the King declare a contest where a person who can stand naked in a frozen lake for an entire night would get a reward. Many try but only one succeeds. When the king asks him the secret of his success he says he looked at the light coming out from the palace and convinced himself that it will help him keep warm.

Now, rationally speaking there is no way those distant lamps could have provided any heat to the man. All those who failed before him too probably might have done the exact same thing, the real reason why the man succeeded was because his body was strong enough to endure that environment. But that doesn’t really matter. Human psyche needs that distant lamp, it needs that inspiration , it needs a source from it has to derive it’s strength. No matter how we evolve I believe that this fundamental need will always exist and as long as it exists will keep searching for those distant lamps and build an fantasize that it is actually affecting him. That will take a more sophisticated form and will become a religion.

I like Hinduism and I keep criticizing mono-atheist religions such as Christianity and Islam because these religions do not offer a choice other their disciples. Hinduism on the other hand lets the person decide his own religion. I feel that freedom is essential for any human being. It is because of that freedom the religion has survived for so long. There is no way you can destroy it because it lives the everyday life of it’s people. Look at Mahabharata. It is said that it was written by one man Vyasa, but we have thousands of versions of Mahabharata, there is a rich folklore around it each modified by it’s creators to suite their needs.

During India’s freedom struggle, Marathi authors use to write “what appears to be” a mythical drama such as “Keechak Vadh” and so on. These dramas would pass the censor board easily because they would appear to be mythological stories but in reality inspired people to fight against the foreign rule.

The objective of this blog post is not dissect idea of religion but to talk about those little things that give us strength, compare them to religion and then argue that each one of us can build our own version of religion.

If I have to describe my religion the 4 part series of movies named “Karate Kid” would easily feature in one of it’s cannons. There is a fifth movie too released a few years back but I dont count it in because it is not really original.

Whenever I feel distressed Karate Kid is one of the movies that I watch. The movie is about a wise Buddhist soldier Mr. Miyagi who is also a Karate Guru. Each movie dwells on his relationship with his student Daniel and in last part a girl Julie. It is about a wise man and rebellious and/or beleaguered student trying to team up. I am not sure if this movie will appeal to many people because it is not as glossy as the modern movies, there is not much action either but yes, there is a lot of philosophy delivered by Mr. Miyagi.