The Power of Words

The other day, my friend JJ forwarded me a link for a short film titled "The Story of a Sign" and suggested that it is a must see. It is a Spanish language short film that won the first prize at the 4th Annual Short Film Online Competition at Cannes Film Festival 2008. And she was right.

Very moving indeed! I cried – not only because the story is touching and but also because I felt a certain kind of pain of incompleteness. A pain of not being able to live a purpose-driven life. A purpose exemplified by the way this guy in the movie changed the old man's afternoon. A purpose higher than my daytime job.

Words have a wonderful way of touching other people’s lives, of transforming others. When I was young, in our composition exams in India, one of the popular questions used to be: Expand upon the thought "A pen is mightier than sword." Truly, the way the director used the pen in the film, showed us a partial glimpse of the letters scribbed by the young man, brought home the meaning of this old phrase so much better. If I were to take the exam again, in a multimedia world like today's, I would be showing this movie to expand upon that thought. The transformation of the old man's afternoon - the over-pouring coins into his pan - is no less than a "tipping point" (to borrow from the title of Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.") Same feeling, expressed differently, did it for the old man.

So many revolutions have been ignited by flaming writings. So many freedom fighters during India's struggle for independence had given their lives, moved by the hypnotic power of the two Sanskrit words "Vande Mataram" (translation: bow to thee mother.) Transformational!

Often I wondered if the gift of oratory separates those with success and significance from those drowning in mediocrity and obscurity, separates the leader from the followers. Don't know for sure but the director Alonso Alvarez Barreda made me think again. Hats off to this young filmmaker.

© 2008 Sanjoy Haldar

The Eye of a Photographer

This poem is inspired by a series of photographs I saw in a catalog that best exemplifies what the eye of a photographer looks for, who a photographer essentially is. Photography is a passion of mine and I agreed with what the images had to say. This effort is a result of my appreciation of that body of work.

Please click on the image for a larger view.

© 2008 Sanjoy Haldar