The Magic Lives Forever

Today is Harry's birthday - and quite apt to launch Pottermore to the fans far and wide. While it all ended in 2007, I am still mulling over the Deathly Hallows part 2 movie. It does a fantastic job of taking us through the finale of a journey into the world we have come to learn and love. To ardent Potter fans, it is indeed an empty feeling that the movie ends with - "What next?" would be the most obvious question. Again, being an ardent Potter fan, the end could not have been any better. A review of the movie of the book series for that matter, is meaningless. Albeit delayed, this post is thus a tribute to Potter-World and relives some of the fascinating moments (IMP) that have made it an everlasting phenomena. When my dad reads this, he would think I have all the time in the world to pen such stuff, yet the hope is that he would atleast read this post if 'nothing-Potter'.

As I reminisce some of the moments of this series, I wonder where to begin. While several scenes flash in my mind, the one dear to me (especially after watching the movie) is that of Snape's dying words, "You've your mother's eyes". Being the under-dog of the entire series, he never really gets the recognition that he truly deserves, especially when alive. His purpose of being thus serves as a classic example to strive for greater good.

I also loved Harry and Dumbledore's brief interaction 'in between Heaven and Earth' (is how I had portrayed it): "Professor, tell me one thing", said Harry. "Is this real? Or is it happening inside my head?" Dumbledore, with his voice strong and clear, "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry. But why on Earth should it mean that it is not real?" Dumbledore, to me, epitomizes the sanctity of being - a perfect Godfather for life.

Harry never really excelled in any specific activity and epitomizes the normalcy of a hero in him. Yet, he shows the true spirit of heroism - when every challenge brings in him the goodness factor - saving his fellow competitor or tipping them off prior to specific challenges - an advantage he could have clearly kept to himself. Why would he save his enemy from day one? Malfoy, left to die in the Deathly Hallows, "could not be left behind" during the fire in the Room of Requirement. This itself reaffirms our faith in righteousness and is only restored all the way through.

The bond between Harry and Sirius simply cannot be described and wish it could have been better justified in the movie. Even Sirius' death was abruptly shown in the movie while it would have been worth it to give some due to the times they spend together, considering the relationship they share.

The word 'detention' itself gives you shivers and worse of all, when it comes from none other than the most artfully crafted character Professor Dolores Umbridge. While she comes in much later in the story, the character who plays this role has performed the task flawlessly - and does a fantabulous job of letting the viewers naturally hate her to the core. Hence, "we must not tell lies" does go down well for all the Potter fans.

"Dobby has come to save Harry Potter. Harry Potter must not go to Hogwarts". This character comes to life in a form that defines the very essence of the story - friendship, courage, love and above all, respect. This right to be free has existed in us living beings since time immemorial, and is reflected well through our little elf.

To go through more minute details of this epic is futile - covering Hermoine, Luna, mirror of Erised, Elder Wand, and so on. Overall, Potter symbolizes a cultural imagination that has provided an entire generation not just entertainment but also a movement encompassing spells, charms, hoarcruxes and more. Hope K enjoys this fantasy world like the way his parents do.

Finally kudos to J.K.Rowling for creating such an epic story - a story of life less ordinary, of courage, fear, friendship and above all, love. The magic does live forever!

Do The Work - Review

***May contain book spoiler***

"On the field of the Self
stand a Knight and a Dragon.
You are the Knight.
Resistance is the Dragon.
The only intercourse possible between
the Knight and the Dragon is
Battle"

I love the above scenario and by simply imagining it in my mind over and over again makes me want to win such a 'battle'.

When I read Do The Work (from where the above is quoted) by Steven Pressfield, it felt like the writer was hammering a nail in my head with his narration. The language of the book could not be any more blunt (and in some instances offensive too) but it is aimed at kicking you in the 'right spot'. Also, imagine reading the line "I was 30 years old before I had an actual thought". While this may sound skeptical to some, having read this book, I consider this statement to be a powerful confession.

Do The Work is a short book but leaves you in a trance for long. I can compare its impact to that when reading The Alchemist and what I particularly like about this one is that it is a quick read with a tone more conversational than prescriptive and the fact that it leaves you energized to fight that Resistance. It is quite easy to fall into the trap of inertia when pursuing an idea or that the outlier in you is shunned due to various opinions from outside (and inner) sources thus falling into the rut of "letting the unconscious do its work". I am thus glad I got to read this book as it has made me look at what I would want to do 'differently'. Not only that, it has suddenly forced me to reflect whether I face Resistance around me or that more often than not, I truly could be the 'Resistance' to someone else around me.

We all have our own sources of inspirational reading and I find this topping my list for now. A strong message emanating from this book is "the last thing we want is to remain as we are". I thus strongly recommend this book to you whether you are working to improve yourself or in pursuit of a new venture or wanting to accomplish your goals.

Further, this is part of Seth Godin's Domino Project and if that is not attractive enough, it is free on Kindle until May 20, 2011.

So grab the (e)copy now, read it and if you like it, Do The Work and spread the word.

Review: The Blue Sweater

"If you move through the world with your intellect, then you walk on only one leg. If you move through the world with your compassion, then you walk on only one leg. But if you move through the world with both, intellect and compassion, then you have wisdom"

These were the wise words of a Buddhist Monk Maha Ghosananda to Jacqueline Novogratz, as stated by the latter in her book titled The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World. I finally got around to completing the book, long overdue but worth the time it took to absorb the accounts of her experiences about her intellect AND compassion. For once, this book takes philanthropy at a different level, not in a prescriptive manner - one that defines charity and those anachronistic terms that look at 'social issues' from a sympathetic perspective - but with a personal revelation of life and times of those 10,000 hours spent as a healer, investor and an entrepreneur of social change.

"They say a journey of thousand miles begins with a single step. I took mine and fell flat on my face" -
This indeed is a strong beginning not only to the book but also to the journey that Novogratz embarked upon her own as she moved out of her comfort zone from the Manhattan skyscrappers to Hamlets across Africa and Asia. The book is an extension of its title '....in an interconnected world....' with a fascinating tale taking the author to Rwanda - the Switzerland of Africa, a land of 1,000 mountains with sharp contrast of poverty and political upheavals; region that made her realize that in order to contribute, she would 'have to be ready to take Africa on its own terms, not hers'!.

Novogratz presents her book in the form of a memoir through numerous tales of social enterprise, each with a flow of emotions, perceptions and ideas on issues of poverty. These stories are gripping and in that, Novogratz leaves no loose ends. Her writing style brings out the transformation within her, the kind of philanthropic direction she drives herself into and who she goes on to become. She describes the Rwandan genocide in a manner so powerful and poignant that it leaves the readers distraught by the end of it. Her take on founding the Acumen Fund resonates the unconventional wisdom of philanthropy, a trend made more meaningful thanks to the likes of (among many others) Muhammad Yunus and Bill Drayton. Needless to say, these individuals including Novogratz, in their own way, are now monuments of social entrepreneurship.

Don’t get me wrong here. The Blue Sweater is not only about lessons of poverty and social enterprise but indeed about utmost honesty that instigates sense of hope and optimism. Of course, there are parts in the book that are left abruptly, areas where she could have further elaborated on strategic processes that were the result of her work or given a glimpse of the individuals whom Acumen later supported. Further, certain parts in the book seemed quite cliché according to me – quotes of prominent individuals at the beginning of almost every chapter. One can get quotes from Nelson Mandela, Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, even the Qoran. She may be inspired by them all but they do appear out-of-place especially in some of the chapters. Yet, my favorite of them all -

“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future"
- George Bernard Shaw

Overall, The Blue Sweater is a fascinating read especially for those involved in international aid and development. It is a paradigm-shift from what we already know – social enterprise, economic sustainability, poverty – to empowering leadership, dialogue and social change.

Want to know whether the book is for you? Find out here.

Wondering if The Blue Sweater does exist? Read the book and find out more.

Review: Six Suspects

Jessica Lal, Manu Sharma, Sanjeev Nanda, Salman Khan, Barkha Dutt, petty-criminals from UP, the 'Page-three' celebrities, the Underdogs of Indian Political System - What you get when you combine these pieces together? Vikas Swarup's latest - Six Suspects - adds these together (in a fictitious sort of way) to give yet another piece leading the reader into the nooks and corner of India which we daily witness, discover and revel.

In this one too, Swarup presents a style similar to that in Q&A, in that the story looks back from a particular event and then uncovers its way to describe the present. As the title goes, Six Suspects revolves around these six (of course!) characters, distinct in every way, each of their stories compelling enough with whodunnit at the core. One thing they all have in common is Vivek aka 'Vicky' Rai - complete playboy industrialist and bollywood producer - who is killed on the eve of his birthday party at Number Six, his famous farm house at the outskirts of Delhi. And as a matter of fact, our six protagonists happen to be at that party, and some of them with the intention of killing the casanova! So while the book takes us through the journey of these unique individuals, it goes way beyond 'who killed Vicky Rai'.

So who are these six suspects?

1. An American tourist whose tales take us through the realms of being cheated by the 'Indians', the country's call centers in Mumbai to the peak of terrorism in Kashmir and above all, his 'Americanism' in between all that. About to marry his 'pen-friend', he lands into this 'inscrutable' country not knowing what likes ahead; oh and he also happens to share his name with the Google entrepreneur - Larry Page.

2. An indigenous tribal from Andaman whose travelog involves cutting through the gritty regions of the 'non-tribal' India that he is bewelidered by and somehow this character makes the reader realize the facets of India not known to its own people.

3. A corrupt bureaucrat who serves on the board of Vicky Rai's company and by a sheer accident of sorts, is amusingly transformed into the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi that leads him to Gandhigiri in splits.

4. A Bollywood starlet for whom Vicky Rai has a special inkling, an indecent proposal of sorts, that she reluctantly accepts. Maybe, there is a hidden motive there?

5. A small-thief caught in the angst of rich versus poor, love versus hatred; whose fate leads him into a situation that is beyond what he could fathom.

6. Finally the father of the deceased and also the home minister of UP - Jagannath Rai - who has very strong inclination in having his own son dead.

With a gun found from each of these suspects at the scene of the murder, the book takes us through a roller-coaster journey into the lives of these individuals (and those that link them all to Vicky Rai) from the partially-narrative eye of an investigative journalist, Arun Advani.

Having read Indian authors the likes of R.K.Narayan, Amitav Ghosh, Salman Rushdie and Shobha De, they all provide diverse outlooks on India, its people and the culture that defines them both - be it the rural authenticity of Malgudi Days or the Sunderbans described romantially by Ghosh, the mythical fantasies associated with Rushdie or the upper class turbulences by De. Infact, Swarup does none of that and when you read this book, it sems like an expose of characters taken from those we see through our rear-view mirrors. He brings to life an intermix of people, culture, race, religion all derived from one mass, and yet so distinct!

Not many may approve of his style of writing wherein the characters are not succinctly defined or the fineness in the plot but in my opinion from his two books, both the language and the outline are gripping and total page-turners. Fast-paces dialogues make it surreal and extremely entertaining but maybe not from a literary perspective. It is said that too many ingredients (or is it cooks?) spoil the broth but this one spices up some bizarre twists of fiction and weaves them together with a vast breadth of information thus making it totally worth a read.

Slumdog Millionaire

*******May include spoilers*******

While it is fun to watch movies of books that are read prior, the flicks rarely do justice to the author’s rendition of characters, stories and genre. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is this rare film that has not only captured, in perfection, Vikas Swarup’s interpretation of Q&A but also depicted the underlying authenticity of ‘developing’ India ranging from unacceptable forms of poverty, child abuse, gang wars, ethnic uprising to hero worship, outsourcing, ever-increasing skyscrapers.

In the middle of it all is our hero – the protagonist Jamal Malik (aka Ram Mohamed Thomas from Q&A) - and his roller-coaster journey of brotherhood, humanity, acceptance and most of all, love. “Come with me”. “And live on what?” “Love”. Such daring conversation in the movie but with extreme simplicity and in true earnest is the essence of the movie. One question away from winning Rs. 20 million at the popular game show ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ but accused of cheating, our Jamal is tortured by the Mumbai police (entirely different arena of existence!!). In response, he narrates, to each question on the show, how he simply knew every answer. So for every question on the show is flashback account of occurrences that has led to Jamal knowing the answer. Worth Rs. 1,000/2,000/20,000, stories of these questions transport us to Jamal’s (and our very own) reality of clutching lifestyle in the poverty-stricken regions of the urban phenomena. With misfortune in each of the incidents, one would only wonder if it made Jamal less righteous and also wicked (like the path his brother chose) but his penchant for taking the ‘right’ path as opposed to the ‘wrong’ (as we are made to believe) was indeed the result of his inspirational faith and love for his childhood mate Latika. No matter where instances took her in the movie, or the situations she was faced with, Jamal has a pious adoration for her that, we see, does not go in vain. He is the Forrest Gump in the movie, on the run throughout, with her always! This is also what leads him to take part in the show, not for the money but for love.

Heart-rendering percussion from A.R.Rahman fits well with each of the scenes in the movie. While there is portrayal of sadness and calamity, there is equal amount of humour in all of that which never ceases. With scenes of urban India, one aiming to rise and shine in the 21^st century and the other grappling with the daily existence, Slumdog Millionaire is by far one of the finest movies of the year.

It is written.

The Kite Runner - Part I

[If you intend to read this book, I strongly advice not to peruse this post]

The Kite Runner is a read that creates a lasting impact, especially if followed by the movie (that gives due justice to the book)! Story of strained relationships between two (almost brothers) friends, a father and a son, about guilt and forgiveness, about a total debacle of rich and vibrant culture and the emotional drama of lives entangled in Afghanistan from the late 1970s to early 2000s. Considered as the first novel written by an Afghani writer in English, it has surely touched upon many sentiments of courage, betrayal, ego, guilt, loyalty, identity, resilience. In awe of the way the writer brings out succinctly each of these emotions, below are some of my favorite parts from the book:

· “There is a way to be good again...”

· “I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it’s wrong what they say about the past, I’ve learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years.”

· “There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft... When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness.”

· “Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors.”

· “Quiet is peace. Tranquility. Quiet is turning down the volume knob on life. Silence is pushing the off button. Shutting it down. All of it.”

· “The shootings and explosions had scared us badly, because none of us had ever heard gunshots in the streets. They were foreign sounds to us then. The generation of Afghan children whose ears would know nothing but the sounds of bombs and gunfire was not yet born.”

· “I dream that my son will grow up to be a good person, a free person. I dream that someday you will return to revisit the land of our childhood. I dream that flowers will bloom in the streets again and kites will fly in the skies.”

· “He walked like he was afraid to leave behind footsteps. He moved as if not to stir the air around him.”

· “… I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded, not with the fanfare of epiphany, but with pain gathering it things, packing up, and slipping away unannounced in the middle of the night.”

· “I brought Hassan’s son from Afghanistan to America, lifting him from the certainty of turmoil and dropping him in turmoil of uncertainty.”

· “Happiness like this is frightening. They only let you be this happy if they are preparing to take something from you.”

· “You see, General Sahib, my father slept with his servant's wife, and she bore him a son named Hassan. Hassan is dead now. That boy sleeping in the other room is Hassan's son. He's my nephew. That's what you tell people when they ask. And one more thing, General Sahib: you will never again refer to him as "a Hazara boy" in my presence. He has a name, and it's Sohrab.”

· “War doesn't negate decency. It demands it, even more than in times of peace.”

And of course,

“For you, a thousand times over”

The Truth Shall Set Us Free

As I think about an intellectual figure that has most influenced my philosophical and political thinking (not too inclined though), there is one person who flashes in my mind. Not even closely related to me (except for my maiden second name I inherit from my ancestors which we both happen to share), I do know of him because I have read about him in my history books and I am beginning to know of him more closely, while reading the book ‘Mohandas: A True Story of a Man, his People and an Empire’ by his grandson Rajmohan Gandhi. I have seen the movie where Ben Kingsley played his part. I have seen his statues in my city and his photographs that often adorn magazines and newspapers. I see him in postal Stamps, in currency notes. He is an idol I would have loved to meet, and a role model whose principles I aim to follow. Almost every city in India has a colony or a street named after him. This is Mahatma Gandhi for the world, and Father of this Nation for me. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 and lives forever.

Wonder why is he known as Mahatma? Is it because he had the key part to play for India’s independence? I do not think so and I am sure that if his soul is reading this, he too would disagree on that. Reading this book answers my question. He is a man who stood by his words and his ground for what he truly believed in. He indeed fought for what he believed in. It must have surely been a remarkable victory using the weapon of Ahimsa (non-violence) to attain independence. I admire him for his courage. To add to that, his simple lifestyle and absolute standards that made a lasting impact on a lot of people of his time. Almost an entire nation was ready to follow him at his call.

Reading through the book, one finds shocking revelations in the life of the Mahatma. He has written those in his own autobiography ‘My Experiments with Truth’. Over all, you will see that he was just a common person like you and me are. During his boyhood days, he took to some barbaric habits (according to me) and filled with guilt, even decided on ending his life. He even seeks forgiveness in a letter of confession of his crimes to his father. The book talks about his life in London – with situations leading to live up to the typical standards of Englishmen and not indulging in those due to his words given to his mother.

One incident that I remember reading about (not sure if it was in his autobiography or some other), not yet mentioned in this book, about a lady who brought her son to Gandhiji. Her son’s craving for sugar troubled her. The boy just wouldn’t stop. Gandhiji told the woman to bring the child back in a week’s time. When the woman approached Gandhiji after a week, Gandhiji just told the boy to stop the habit and he did. When asked as to why he took a week, he said something to the effect that if he were to tell someone to stop something, he himself had to stop it.

Only a Mahatma could do that. Without a blink of an eye I would agree that he indeed is a Mahatma. For the Mahatma, truth was his principle, his religion and devotion. Not just in India, many in the West refer him as an example for truth and honesty. If simplicity was his lifestyle, you can see that in many of the books written about him. Indeed, his Life was his Message and in there, we find some of the best examples of Truth That Shall Set Us Free!

Reflections of a Comic Freak

Most of us like to read books of one sort or another; but very few are really able to resist the lure of a good comic! Comics require no understanding of the story. They can be taken up and left off whenever one pleases. After a long day, not many of us can digest ‘Types of Ethical Theory’ or ‘Zen and the art of the motorcycle maintenance’. Hence for cool dudes who want to have a good time and just keep on laughing helplessly, I recommend my all-time favourite: CALVIN and HOBBES!

Written by a genius named BILL WATTERSON, it is about a six year old boy CALVIN and his stuffed tiger (you guessed it right!) HOBBES, who comes to life only where there is no one else around. Calvin’s parents are average middle class Americans though his dad has a special streak of weird humour in him which gives the reader an idea of how Calvin will be if he ever grows up. Calvin himself an over smart precocious brat has an amazing vocabulary and an outsized imagination in which he takes on roles like fearless inter-planetary explorer or a masked super-hero. Hobbes, for his part, is a tiger who constantly ogles at the tigresses in the National Geographic, spouts stupid one- liners and claims that tigers are the epitome of creation.

Bill Watterson, through his amazing comic strip, manages to portray childhood as it really is. Unusual titles to the Calvin comics like “ Scientific Progress goes Boink”, “Attack of Deranged mutant killer”, etc. only add to the aim of sheer idiocy that surrounds the Calvin persona. One can go on and on about the myriad of unusual phenomenon which lie inside the Calvin comic books. Perhaps the one that illustrates it the best is the one where Hobbes doing Calvin’s Maths homework,puts down Alabama as the answer to the subtraction question or the one where Hobbes is all worried about tigers being endangered species and this being the reason for he is not meeting the babes.

The true way to enjoy Calvin and Hobbes is to experience the sheer magic of good humour your self. So go out, read it and have a good time!

(Pic taken from Google Images)

Review: Five People You Meet in Heaven

Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven weaves together three stories, all told about the same man: 83-year-old Eddie, the head maintenance person at Ruby Point Amusement Park.

As the novel opens, readers are told that Eddie is only minutes away from death as he goes about his typical business at the park. At the time of his death, Eddie was an “old man with a barrel chest and a torso as squat as a soup can,” writes Albom. Wearing a work shirt with a patch on the chest that reads “Eddie” over “Maintenance,” limps around with a cane thanks to an old war injury. He spent most of his life maintaining the rides at Ruby Pier, greasing tracks and tightening bolts and listening for strange sounds. The children who visited the pier were drawn to Eddie. Yet Eddie believed that he lived a “nothing” life doing work that “required no more brains than washing a dish”.

On his 83rd birthday, however, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. Albom then traces Eddie's world through his tragic final moments, his funeral, and the ensuing days as friends clean out his apartment and adjust to life without him. In alternating sections, Albom flashes back to Eddie's birthdays, telling his life story as a kind of progress report over candles and cake each year.

Thereafter, Albom Traces Eddie when he wakes up in heaven, where a succession of five people are waiting to show him the true meaning and value of his life. These sequential encounters are five pivotal figures from his life. He is informed, “there are five people you meet in heaven. Each . . . was in your life for a reason. You may not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth.” One by one, these mostly unexpected characters remind him that we all live in a vast web of interconnection with other lives; that all our stories overlap; and that loyalty and love matter to a degree we can never fathom. Each of these souls has a story to tell, a secret to reveal, and a lesson to share. He learns here that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where his life is explained by five people, some of whom he knew, others who were strangers. One by one, from childhood to being a soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his “meaningless” life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: “Why was I there?” Through these people, Eddie understands the meaning of his own life.

Simply told, sentimental and profoundly true, this is a fable that will be cherished by a vast readership. Bringing into the spotlight the anonymous Eddies of the world, the men and women who get lost in our cultural obsession with fame and fortune, this slim tale reminds us of what really matters here on earth, of what our lives are given to us for.

Albom takes a big risk with the novel; such a story can easily turn sugary, and this one does in moments. But, for the most part, Albom's telling remains poignant and is occasionally profound. Even with its falws, The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a small, pure and simple book.

Review: The Alchemist

I recently finished with reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – the third time that I had a go at it. This, I must say, is by far my favourite book – A fable about the wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens along life’s path and above all, following our dreams. Cannot go wrong there! It was two years ago when I had bought a copy of this book and finished it in a jiffy. As one can tell, I’ve been reading it again too. The book details the journey and realization of a shepherd boy’s dreams. Santiago, from Spain, dreams of finding a treasure in the pyramids of Egypt. A gypsy woman and an old man claiming to be a king advise him to pursue it. To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation is what the old man tells him. The book is written in such a lucid manner that I felt that I was on the journey myself. The Alchemist remains my favourite as I can relate to the series of fundamental truths in life that Santiago learnt while going through his share of experiences. Perhaps the best part of the wisdom gained is how one needs to live the experiences, happy or sad. Living out one’s life is not difficult. Similarly, we all talk about dreams, but how many of us actually believe in them? Dreams do happen. You need to believe in them and follow a certain course of action. I have underlined certain lines in the book that I refer to now and then. For example: You will never be able to escape from your heart. So it is better to listen to what it has to say. There are times when I have not quite done what my heart might have warned me. I’m not sure whether I’d get a second chance to compensate for what is lost but I would surely be more cautious now. It is a belief I now carry that when you undertake your heart’s desire – not sure if I can answer whether that is conventionally right or wrong – it will become right for you because you will make it right for you. There is also another quote: God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens he left for you. There are insights that I mull over after each reading of the book. Each day in itself brings with is an eternity. Someone once told me – God has created you to do the things for which he has already prepared you. The Alchemist prompts you to thrive on every moment of your life.