Why We Should Read Kafka?

Introduction

Franz Kafka was a Czech novelist who wrote in German. He is considered to be one the greatest novelists of the 20th century. His notable works include The Metamorphosis, The Trial and The Castle.

Life of Franz Kafka

Born in a Jewish Family on 3 July, 1883 in Prague, he was not his father's favorite boy. His relationship with his father was not a bright one. Franz tried to tell his father several times by his letters of how his presence has affected his life. How he had influenced him for the worst and never gave him a chance to justify himself. But he couldn’t gather up the courage to send the letter.  Franz was born a meek and a weak kid and suffered various problems during his life. He had several unsuccessful relationships with women though he got engaged, all these events shaped his literary career. He started writing at a very young age though particularly he didn't attach much value to his work. His works disgusted him. He worked at an insurance company for nearly a year but left it to join a writing firm. He was never married and he was always frustrated with himself. He even wrote his friend Max Brod to burn all this books and manuscripts and not to publish them. Kafka died young at the age of 40.

The Kafkaesque

The Kafkaesque is a term which was introduced by Franz Kafka. It describes the concepts and situations similar to his literary works. It depicts a situation where the protagonist or the central character is utterly helpless under the power of bureaucratic governments and totalitarian regimes. The character is lost in a maze or sort of a labyrinth and lack clear course of action in their lives. It mainly deals with the ideas of Existentialism with a nightmarish reality.

The Metamorphosis

This novel is greatly influenced by Kafka's own life. The situations he faced with his life, with his intimidating father are similar to the protagonist Gregor Samsa. Samsa wakes up one morning and finds himself transformed into a disgusting loathsome creature. His family betrays him and try to get rid of him. A nightmare in the truest sense.

The Trial

The extent of powers the Bureaucratic governments and Totalitarian states possess are endless. Here K. finds himself getting arrested for no reason and is soon allowed to stand trial. He finds himself totally helpless under the mysterious court and goes in search for finding answers.

The Castle

"By the authority of the castle, you are ordered to leave this place immediately". A small village run by the Castle and it's members who refuse to come out of the shadows. A mysterious novel full of suspense and the lack of decisions we can make in our lives under a such a powerful force as the Castle.

Kafka's works still continue to influence societies or people all together. The inescapable fate of our lives, the work, the corrupted governments and the meaningless existence of our lives are all what Kafka teaches us. We are all  characters of a Kafkaesque world.

5 Must See Motivational Movies

Are you ready to get inspired people?

Here are 5 movies that inspire up to do something. They motivate us go beyond our limits and perhaps maybe change the World!

5)Rocky

This sports drama chronicles the rise of struggling Philadelphia heavyweight boxer Rocky Balboa. While working as a debt collector to make end meet, Rocky gets the opportunity to fight World Champion, Apollo Creeds and sees it as the only chance he'll ever get to escape his meager existence. Despite the overwhelming odd stacked against him, with a little support from his supportive and hard-nosed trainer, he gives Apollo Creeds an unexpected run for his money and serves as an inspiration for underdogs competing in sports of all kinds.

4)The Blind Side

This biographical film depicts the upbringing of real life NFL player Michael Oher. Escaping from the foster care system he is saved from homelessness by a wealthy family who eventually become his legal guardians. With the help of his adopted family and supportive teachers, Oher improves his grades, joins the High School's football team and parlays his physical prowess on the field into a College Scholarship. This uniquely American rags to riches tale is a one motivational journey that is assured touchdown.

3)Good Will Hunting

This drama follow 20-year old Will Hunting, an unnoticed and reluctant genius who works as a janitor at MIT. When faced with incarceration when he assaults someone, Will trades his jail time for tutelage under a Maths professor as well as therapy, discovering in the process that no amount of mental capacity can save him from confronting his demons, his past and his dysfunctional relationships. With stunning performances from Matt Damon and Robin Williams this tale of overcoming inner demons is one you don't need to be a genius to understand.

2)The Pursuit of Happyness 

Starring Will Smith and his real life son Jaden this biopic tells us the story of down-on-his-luck salesman Chris Gardner. After investing his entire life savings in state-of-the-art bone-density scanners and taking an unpaid internship in an attempt to climb the Corporate ladder, Gardner finds his family's financial stability falling apart, leaving him and his son homeless. Despite their dire circumstances, Gardner's ability to stay focused on his goals while remaining a supporting and caring parent helps him escape his financial difficulties and is a perfect demonstration of inspired tenacity that also tugs at the heart strings.

1)Pay It Forward

After receiving an assignment from his Social Studies teacher encouraging him to start a project that might change the world, 11-year old Trevor McKiney devises a plan to set up and ever-expanding network of good deeds. The idea is that every beneficiary of an act of kindness must pay that favor forward to 3 other people. This network has significant consequences to Trevor's family and helps resolve many of the problems affecting his mother's life. This allows her to regain her self-worth and leaves behind many other Karmic gifts he never could have imagined.

Hope you would enjoy these movies as much as I did and in the process probably change the world.

😀😁😁

Chanakya – The man of wisdom

Chanakya,also known as Kautilya or Vishnugupta was an Indian teacher, economist,writer and philosopher.He was the royal advisor in the court of Emperor Chandra Gupta Maurya and later served his son Bindusara at the same post.He played a major role in destroying the Nanda Dynasty and establishment of the Maurya Dynasty.

He was the Guru (teacher) of Chandra Gupta Maurya and he started training him how to take over the Nandas and become a great ruler at a very tender age.He was considered utterly intelligent and was very well versed in all the three vedas.He had his specialized strengths in the feilds of classic economics and political science.All the works of Acharya Chanakya was lost by the end of the Gupta Dynasty and were only found at the begining of the 20th century.Hence it is said that there are basically four legendary accounts of Chanakya.

Birth

According to the Jain version which is the oldest one Chanakya was born to a lay couple,Chanin and Chaneshvari,at Chanaka village in Golla.The identity of Golla is not certain in current maps, however it is believed it was somewhere in south India.

Chankya was born with a full set of teeth and had an ugly appearance . When the learned monks of the age saw the infant they pridicted that the child would grow up to be a great his royalty.However Chanakya’s mother felt insecured and feared that her son would ditch her after acquiring all the riches.Thus,his father Chanin,wanted to pacify the predictions and wanted to defy his wife’s belief,which is why he broke the child’s canine teeth and added to his ugly appearance.

The Revolutionary Oath

Chanakya grew up to be a great scholar with immense knowledge about the vedas and the 'Dharm – granthas’ and was married to a Brahmin woman who was very learned and beautiful.However his in-laws were not happy with his poor state apart from his appearance which offered a contrast to that of their daughter.Chanakya thus went to Patliputra to gather some ‘bhiksa’( holy offering to the brahmins during early age ) , where lived a very generous king,Dhanananda,about whom he had heard a lot.

However,the story took a drastic turn and the king came out to be very shrewd and cunning.He aked his men to throw Chanakya out of his palace and called him an ugly looking beggar.Chanakya felt humiliated and insulted . In his anger he broke his holy thread and untied his hair.He pledged not to tie his hair until he distroyed the king’s empire.He took an oath to put an end to the Nanda Dynasty.

The aim of United India
      ( Akhand Bharat )

Chanakya’s oath led to a revolution phase in the history  of India . Chanakya found a young boy Chandu and trained him to be a legendary worrier and emperor.To him,the boy was the ultimate weapon to destroy the Nanda Dynasty and the accomplishment of a superior goal , that was the the aim of Akhand Bharat.Chanakya realised the threat to India from foreign troops due to which he wanted to unite India against foreign invasion.

The boy later acquired the throne of Magadh after defeating Dhanananda and became the first ruler of the Maurya Dynasty where Chanakya became his royal advisor.

Chanakya’s Death

The story behind Chanakya’s death is uncertain.In one version of the Jain account,it is said that he accompanied Chandra Gupta Maurya to the forests as an ascetic.Where as in another account,it is mentioned that the reason behind Chanakya’s death was Subandhu.He was a minister in Bindusara’s court who had hard feelings against Chanakya.When Chanakya finally decided to starve himself to death as he considered himself old enough to put an end to his life,Bindusara asked Subandhu to convince Chanakya not to do so.Subandhu burnt Chanakya alive instead.
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