What does it mean to be human? Day 13.

I watched a really interesting Malayalam movie today called Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 and I loved it. It reminded me a lot of the  2013 English movie Her,

Both deal with Artificial intelligence. Both involve the human element. The settings of both movies are several worlds apart. One is set in a tiny village in Kerala (it reminds me of my book A Hundred Little Flames) . The other is set in Los Angeles.

Both these movies made me ponder on what it means to be human. How do humans form connections? Why does this happen? Do we need a person to form a connection? Or is something 'resembling' a person enough? In Castaway, We saw how Tom Hanks forms a connection with a volleyball  which he personifies, and even gives a name. The Volleyball keeps him sane in years of isolation.

To be human means to be lonely. We're born alone, we die alone. We form parterships , we marry, we have kids--all in an attempt to escape this loneliness. We hope our children will 'be there for us' when we are old. But no one can really fill these empty feelings forever. For a brief while (maybe even for a few years) we delude ourselves that we are not alone.
Things change. People change. Circumstances change.

Death is the ultimate transformation. This is the truth. We all die someday, leaving behind families, connections, grief, loneliness, unfinished businesses and sometimes we live on in other people's memories even after we die.

Hopefully I will have a more optimistic post for you tomorrow.
Come back to find out!

Also please DO WATCH the movies I have linked in this post. (and read the book too ;-))