Freud Ab Initio

J: So ... I got something.
A: What?
J: An inter-lingual pun.
A: An inter-lingual pun?
J: An Inter-Lingual pun.
A: What's an inter-lingual pun?
J: Its a ...
A: ... and don't say its a pun that's inter-lingual
J: ...
A: ...
J: Well, it is....
A: Brilliant. What is it?
J: 'Ab Initio'
A: Ab Initio?
J: 'Ayb Initio'
A: I don't get it.
J: It's a vice that exists from the beginning. 'Aib Initio'
A: That's stupid. And don't say I need to know a bit of Urdu to get it.
J: Maybe.  But you'll be using it.
A: Oh I dont think so.
J: Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not the day after that, maybe not the ...
A: oh stop already. What's next?
J: I've been reading Story - 

"As a story begins, the protagonist is living a life that's more or less in balance. He has successes and failures, ups and downs. Who doesn't? But life is in relative control. Then, perhaps suddenly but in any case decisively, an event occurs that radically upsets its balance, swinging the value-charge of the protagonist's reality either to the negative or to the positive.... The climax brings about absolute and irreversible change."

I mean my highs compared to my lows are ... one in a million, I mean, thats ... thats not true, i mean thats an exaggeration, more like, you know, one in, like, five hundred

J: The positive climax in my life would have to be getting telekinetic superpowers, destroying the world and then walking alone...
A: ooh. 'Disstrawying the wurldd'. Seriously?
J: I don't know, maybe all the people were already dead or something. You know, I just ... I have this image of smashing up cars against each other; walking forward in front of a backdrop of telekinetically orchestrated mass destruction
A: Charming. What movie?
J: Who the hell knows anymore.
A: Certainly not you.
J: Yeah.
A: I bet the negative climax is even more ... er ...
J: Charming?
A: I was going for creepy, but sure...
J: The negative climax would be giving up all effort, all thought. Suicide by alcoholism.
A: Really?
J: Yeah. 'Overwhelmed by soul crushing failures in all avenues, our protagonist, deeply defeated, distraught, disturbed, demoralized, deranged and depressed decides to de-exist himself by drinking himself to death'
A: uh huh. uh huh. um ... I have a question.
J: Shoot.
A: I will. But first, have you even ever had alcohol?
J: No... But I loved Leaving Las Vegas. I think I could do alcoholism. ... Yeah. I can definitely wrap my head around it.
A: Dear lord.
J: Look, the proverb goes, "the dude who has worries, has alcohol too" ...
A: Actually it goes, "Whoever has cares, has liquor too"
J: Aalu, aalu; dude. Point is, I got cares, and stuff ... I could use some liquor
A: Yeah, not the worst idea you've had. Freud even said something of this sort was indispensable. But it's not your Aib Initio. ... Damn it!

Walker: It's perverse, isn't it? people spend years developing their minds and educating themselves, but in the end, they just want to shut them off.

Ask yourself if you're happy ...

[nusrat fateh ali khan - sanu ik pal chain na aave]

Returning home after my final day at my first job, I lie down, switch off the lights, and listen to this song, doing nothing else.

sanu ik pal chain na aave
sanu ik pal chain na aave
sajna tere bina
saada kalliyan jee naiyo lagna
saada kalliyan jee naiyo lagna
sajna tere bina

Haven't been able to find the lyrics to this version of the song anywhere through 'the algorithm'

ik pal chain naa aave
sajna tere bina

"Ask yourself, if you're happy, and you cease to be so" - revolves in my mind, for some reason.
I take stock and I don't compare, but how do I complain when I have this song?

raati main jalaavan diva
hanjhuan de tel da
hai rabba sajna nu chheti kyon nahi bhejda

In Shawshank Redemption, there's a scene where Andy locks the guard in the toilet, locks himself inside of a room, and plays a recording of The Marriage Of Figaro: 'Duettino - Sull 'Aria' - Karl Boehm/Deutsch Opr Berlin (I think thats the recording) at full blast. He lies on a resting chair savouring the voices as the guards and the warden threaten consequences. Finally, they break the window and escort him to to 'the hole', but not before the whole of Shawshank has experienced those time-slowing moments.

rog vajog te sog hazaaran
sajna tere naa de
ohna bhaane roz kayamat
vicchre yaar jina de

Red: [narrating]

I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I'd like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free

o kaaga tainu chooriyan paavan
kade saade vi baith banere
de paigaam koi sajna vaala
ve main shagan manava tere
o kaaga baith banere saade
shayad aa jaan saajan mere
addiyaan chuk chuk yaar farida
raah takkan main shaam savere

those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream.

The segments in 'Sanu ik pal...' bring the same phrase to mind. The vocal callisthenics of NFAK and the accompanying singer need to be heard to be believed. (2:50 - 3:50; 5:25-5:40; 6:58-7:48; 7:09-7:16)

yaar yaar kookaan
chhadd yaar gaya
labbhaan yaar nu labhda yaar naahi
bulle shah jahaan de yaar bajhon
mazaa yaariyan da vajhon yaar nahi
khair deen shah yaar bin bhatt jeevan
kol yaar de je kar yaar naahi

And then, another day, another chapter, same tripe.

.....


raati main jalaavan diva
hanjhuan de tel da
- wouldn't a translation just kill the spirit?