Shiuli the fulcrum of The Movie October- A Tale of a Highly Sensitive Person

Nyctanthes arbor-tristis, the night-flowering jasmine or parijat
Shiuli Flowers

The night-flowering jasmine is named in biology as Nyctanthes Arbor-Tritis, known in different names across the regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia. 

We are considering here it's bengali name Shiuli to take it forward. Shiuli flowers have five to eight white petals arranged above a vibrant orange tube like a pinwheel. Shiuli is highly fragrant, open at night, and the surrounding area become smoothly and intensely aromatic. These flowers drop down from the branches at the first rays of sunlight.
Often the Shiuli Tree is called as Tree of Sorrow because of its extra-ordinary character, the scientific name Arbor-Tritis also means 'Sad-Tree'.

Middle month of the season of Shiuli blossoming is October, gives the birth of a story about Shiuli and Dan.

October


We prefer pleasure over pain, happiness over sadness, positive experiences over negative ones, so and so forth. Often we also face a dilemma that is negative experience actually make us happier in the long run ? The movie October says a lot, without saying lot.

Varun Dhawan in October
Varun Dhawan as Danish Walia aka Dan

The movie suggests that yes, we can use those tough experiences to build ourselves up instead letting them control and  tear us down. In fact any experience like a fight with a romantic partner or losing a loved one - has the potential for helping us gain a greater sense of meaning in our life.
Primarily, yes it can be marked that October is the story about love constructed from Dan's simple and innocent world-view and Shiuli's silent , stoic stares.
But calling October only a love story, we will miss to its resilient tone. It is the battle of life from various angles, it's about how far we can go for the things we believe in. It is about main character's endless search of one thing that define himself.
Hotel management intern Dan is very careless in his attitude, he does not like his job, and has a strained relationship with most of his colleagues, seniors. Dan's story is heart wrenching and nursed notions that no one expects anything from him including his parents.
Dan's life takes a giant leap when his fellow trainee Shiuli Iyer accidentally falls from the Hotel's roof

Banita Sandhu played as Shiuli Iyer in October
Banita Sandhu as Shiuli

on New Year's Eve and eventually when Dan knows that Shiuli's last words before falling was
"Where is Dan ?"
This words actually make a twist into Dan's mind.
Dan and Shiuli forge an unlikely bond in the most trying of circumstances . The plot is gentle unfolding of love and loss and longing, and takes its time to getting to where it's headed. In slow rhythm of Dan's life, romance opens up in low-key and unusual speaking glances rather than high pitched words and drama.
              

Dan the Highly Sensitive Person


It is not until much later that we see in the very first appearance of Dan's character and his reactions after Shiuli's accident that he is a highly sensitive person and then things finally make sense.

A slower, simpler pace of life

Highly Sensitive persons (HSP) process information deeply, and may move little slower than others and also experience the world little differently than others. Images of violence or stories of heartbreak can be excruciating to them. Sudden impact of any thing like loud noises, news or busy schedules have the power to rattle HSP's profoundly.
They may need time to do certain tasks, like getting out of the house in the morning. They may take a little longer time to make decisions, such as which item to buy at the grocery store, because they are taking in not just the mountain of choices, but also nutrition information, price and how they feel about chicken noodle soup. Suddenly their mind flashes to chickens being cooped up in tiny cages and then slaughtered ... and they must take a few beats to ponder if they can live with this reality on their dinner plate . All of this take time.
Dan, the young man is trying to figure out stuff too. Dan is fairly a trying fellow, always reluctant to buckle down and do the back-breaking scutwork that comes with his territory, always trying to cut corners.
His realization that he may have meant something more than just an irritating colleague to limpid eyed Shiuli is a bit sudden.      
     

Space to get emotional

Not only are HSPs extra sensitive to environmental situation, they are also sensitive emotionally.

Extra sensitive to emotions
Dan after the trauma of Shiuli's fall

According to Dr Elaine Aron, author of The Highly Sensitive Person, sensitive people tend to cry more easily than others. She told the Huffington Post 
Sensitive people can't help but express what they're feeling. They show their anger, they show their happiness. Appreciating that is really important.
In our case Dan have not cried on screen but tries very hard to establish the meaning of Shiuli's last words before her fall
"Where is Dan ?"

Intimate and meaningful relationship

HSPs crave deep connections with others. In fact, according to Aron, they may get bored or restless in relationships that lack meaningful interaction. However, this does not mean they're prone to relationship hoping, Rather, they may actually work harder to strike up a meaningful conversation with their partner, create intimacy.
This also means HSPs tend to be selective about the people they let into their lives. A surface-level and give-and-take relationship will simply not cut it. An HSP wants to dive deep into the soul his/her selection and connect with him/her in a profound way.
Knowingly the fate of Shiuli after her accident Dan dives deep into her soul, to know her more and more in a profound way and act as a pillar for her survival mechanism.

Extra-Sensitive to Subtleties


Little rearrangement in room, remote talk in a gathering by a relative or colleagues, HSPs can sense many subtle shifts, whether they are tangible item or emotional talk. Aron says
"There's just this intuition they have about their environment that other people generally aren't aware of"
That intuition also guides them in their own relationships as well.
While haunting for the answer of the question
"Where is Dan?"
Dan finally took an extra ordinary step to offer Shiuli's love, the flower Shiuli -  Nyctanthes Arbor-Tritis. He places a handful of Shiuli in a manner that its aroma reaches to Shiuli who is sleeping deep in coma.
And it works Shiuli senses Shiuli and probably the heart of Dan.


HSPs do not mind to go solo


HSP's  functions best when they are in quieter environments - particularly in the workplace. They may also avoid group activities because they feel like their every move is scrutinized.
In several occasions Dan shows this trait in his job environment. After Shiuli's accident Dan is the regular visitor of Shiuli in the Hospital though other friends and colleagues are off. Dan makes and continues his solo presence in a bid to rouse his colleague from her vegetative state, despite ongoing warning to be fired from his job.

              

Outlet of Creativity


Many highly sensitive people have a strong need to create. They channel their poignant observations, insights and emotions into art, poetry, music and more. Deborah Ward, author of Overcoming Low Self-Esteem With Mindfulness writes
"Sensitivity can be overwhelming, but it is also like having extra RAM on my personal hard drive … Creativity is the pressure valve for all that accumulated emotional and sensory data.”              

A strong sense of purpose


Some people seem to drift through life without direction or purpose. For HSPs, this is unthinkable. Rather, they think deeply about the big things in life. Who are they, why are they here and what were they put on this planet to do?  Whether it is writing a novel, traveling the world, or leading the way for a cause they believe in, sensitive people crave meaning.

Loved Shiuli who understand and respect Dan's sensitive nature

Because most people are not highly sensitive, they simply don't understand what it's like to get very

Varun Dhawan and Banita Sandhu
Shiuli with Dan

stressed out by from a situation. But for HSP Dan need a person who truly understand his sensitivity, certainly Shiuli plays the role till her last breath.Shiuli protects Dan from over-stimulation. And Shiuli observes all the wonderful gifts that come with this rare trait of highly sensitive Dan.

Final Thought


HSP or not, our environment affects us. But for HSPs, the response is even more profound. For them, the way things look really matters. Cluttered, chaotic or just plain ugly environments may unsettle them. Beauty, love, understanding are the balm that rejuvenate and soothes.
The film October demands feeling from the viewers.
With feeling October can be watched several times.                             

When it comes down to it, Aron says the key sensitive people is to embrace their personality trait rather than work against it.
"Highly sensitive people make excellent leaders, friends and partners "
In other words - Keep on  experiencing those emotions HSPs - even if they do make us cry.   
On the film's perspective the overall catch is found on the two reactions :


Some More Articles on Film Review in different Angle


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Write it, Pick it, Dream it, Play it And Become IT- A movie 'Bareilly Ki Barfi' underlining the Law of Attraction

      
A Real Life Story

LION - A Fascinating Real Life Story Plays Law of Attraction

Nil Battey Sannata

My understanding of the Law of Attraction through the movie Nil Battey Sannata








Leadership

What I have learned from Judy and Jack C Gilles

Taoism

How The Movie Rock On and it's Sequel encompass the essence of Taoist Philosophy

The Job

14-Minute Short Film The Job Explains The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Horror


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What happens When We Make A Wish

When We Make A Wish
We all live under the blessing of our own thought process. We sometime think life is like ice. We should enjoy it before it melts.
Photo by Richard Jaimes on Unsplash
I serendipitously standing in-front a temple wished for a guide. I found it. I desired for food, dreamt of good job, spouse, children, assistance, and all my dreams were fulfilled. One day I feared, what if I loose some of things I got. One day I had to resign from my job. Everything happened as I had willed. Was it my karma (destiny) or my thoughts that made my wishes come true?


Our Wishes and its Stand


We all live under the blessing of our own thought process. We sometime think life is like ice. We should enjoy it before it melts. But most of us seldom feel cheerful and fulfilled because we worry about inconsequential matters and thus sapping peace and pleasure out of our life. Many of us are very discontented and disgruntled, whining about everyone and everything around us. Under fear and worry, incapable of exploring our own immanent potential and savoring the splendor of life, we are busy cribbing about anything and everything. In such occasions, we don't spare even the Almighty, cursing Him for all the mess in our personal and public life. We become indifferent towards the good things around us. Blindly we compare our fate and fail to recognize our pattern of thoughts we carry in different situations.

Template of Our Life


Life actually comes as a package. If there are many pleasant features, there are many hideous and morbid aspects, as well. We will have to accept them cheerfully, just as we need to accept difficulties and problems. All such things together provide the template for testing out mettle for chiselling away our imperfections to enable us to gradually merge with the Supreme Being.
So all the dramatis personae in our life form an inalienable part of the cosmic drama with whom we share the 'Give and Take' account generated through present and past lives as per our karma. It is entirely up to us to make the best of a distressing situation.

Undying Nature of Thoughts


Swami Vivekananda asserted that each thoughts has a life and whatever one thinks even sitting in a Himalayan Cave is bound to happen. Even if a person fails to realize his/her thought in one lifetime, his/her prayers will take shape in some birth. One reads about law of persistence of force, law of conservation of energy, law of indestructibility of matter, so too mental activity, willing, and wishing cannot be destroyed.

Human Actions and Thoughts


Wishes forms samskaras in the mind. These wishes may take several births to come true and some may not bring happiness. Psychologists advise people to think positive and visualize their dreams coming true because positive thoughts help us in realizing our dreams. Sage Vasistha declared in Yoga Vasistha that human actions can overcome destiny. He instructs that by right thinking and discrimination cultivated by self efforts - one can achieve anything , even salvation.

Conclusion


Each human is given a chance to exercise free will to get liberation. With intense will power we can do anything that we dream about.
Have we ever paused to reflect on the bounty that God has blessed us with and how many of our wishes have been granted by him? Despite positive developments in our lives, we are dissatisfied if certain wishes are not fulfilled. We have our plans but the Almighty has His own plans. If things happen our way, we should be happy. But if they don't happen our way, we should be happier because they are happening God's way.

See how a true wish came true, when a mother wished a dream retirement scene in her life, which inspired me to write this article.                        
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Hygge - Denmark - A show of Happiness

Intentional Intimacy
Superkilen Park, København, Denmark

The ultimate urban playground for kids. Superkilen was designed by superstar architects Bjarke Ingels Group and arts group Superflex and opened in 2012. It celebrates the diverse nature of Nørrebro through design and artefacts from around the world. The park is divided into three main areas: Den Røde Plads (red square), Mimers Plads (black square) and The Green Market. Each plays its own role in creating a diverse playground for locals.
Photo by Sam Poullain on Unsplash
 

Denmark has been ranked as one of the happiest countries among the 155 countries surveyed, for the seventh consecutive year!

Evaluation of Happiness


Scientists generally argue about how to measure things, But when it comes to happiness (or 'subjective well-being' as they call it) a general consensus seems to have emerged. Depending on the scope and purpose of the research, happiness is often measured using objective indicators (data on crime, income, civic engagement and health) and subjective methods like asking people how frequently they experience positive and negative emotions.

Why do Danes evaluate their lives more positively ?


Yes, Danes have a stable government, low levels of public corruption and access to high-quality education and healthcare. The country does have highest taxes in the world, but the vast majority of Danes happily pay. They believe higher taxes can create a better society.

Hygge


Most importantly, however, they a cultural construct called hygge (pronounced 'hue-guh' with a hue as the first syllable).
The Oxford Dictionary added the word in June 2017 and it refers to high quality social interactions. Hygge can be used as a noun, adjective or verb. Events and place can also be hyggelise (hygge-like).
Intentinal Intimacy
Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Hygge can be translated as 'intentional intimacy', which can happen when we have safe, balanced and harmonious shared experiences. Instances that quality could include a cup or coffee with a friend, or a summer picnic on the park. A family might have a hygge evening that entails board games and treats or friends might get together for a causal dinner with good food and gossip. Spaces can also be described as hyggelige ( a new house is hyggeligt), A common wat of thanking a host after a dinner is to say that it was huggeligt ( meaning we had a good time).

The Basics


Research on hygge has found that in Denmark, it's integral to people's sense of well-being. It acts as a buffer against stress, while also creating a space to build camaraderie. In a highly individualized country like Denmark, hygge can promote egalitarianism and strengthen trust.

Hygge is fully integrated into the Danish cultural psyche. But it has also become a global phenomenon - Amazon now sells more than 900 books monthly on hygge and Instagram has over 3 millions posts with hashtag #huggie. Google trends data show a big jump in searches for hygge beginning in October 2016.

Many European cultures have a word for a concept similar to hygge - Norwegians have koselig, the Swedish mysig, the Dutch gezenlligheid and the German gemutlichjeit.

Social Factors in Happiness


The importance of social factors in happiness is emphasized in the happiness bulge in the data collected from Latin America. Happiness in this region is found to depend on the greater warmth of family and other social relationships and on the greater importance that people attach to these relationships.

In contrast, do India have any real cultural equivalent of hygge, especially in recent times, consequent with nuclearisation of family and urbanization of population? Progressively India have come to associate income with happiness. Yet even though the country's GDP has been rising, levels of happiness in India have been steadily decreasing. Same like situations are being observed in China also. Population of China and India and its subcontinent put together is almost one third of worlds population.

 What could be the reason for this ?


Income inequality is major issue. People are happier living in societies where there is less inequality in means of achieving happiness. There has also been a marked decrease in trust. Interpersonal trust, as well as trust in institutions, such as the Government and the media, is getting eroded rapidly. Most importantly, we ought to realize that more disposable income does not compare to having someone to rely on in a time of need.
Isn't it interesting to note that 95% of Danes believe they have someone to rely on in trying times ?

Final Thought

At the core, hygge is about building intimacy and trust with others. If the Danes can achieve such marvelous psychological benefit from a temporal interpersonal relationship. imagine the life-outcomes from establishing a pure, personal relationship with a spiritual being. This makes a strong case for urgently conveying to one and all, all over the world, the promise of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi 
"Know that you have at least a Mother, if none else"
Against the bulwark of this relationship, we could raise a social superstructure better than any that history has ever seen. 
   
           
                 
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Anthony Bourdain - The Rocker and The Shocker

Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Bourdain
I was thinking to write about my most admired chef Anthony Bourdain. the gonzo chronicler of food and culture in far-off places,  in my series of articles labelled as 'Global Citizen'.  But then came the devastating news of death of the master story teller on June 8, 2018 which shocked the world. I had dropped the idea to write about him  but two weeks later I really cannot resist myself. To be fare I never met him in person but his shows are so powerful that makes my grief more personal.

Parts Unknown


He had been working on an episode for the 12th season of his CNN shows 'Parts Unknown'. Which literally has opened up his unknown parts when he was found unresponsive and dead, at age 61, by his good friend and chef  Eric Ripert in eastern France.
He argued, traveling the globe meant visiting areas of conflict and also intense poverty and he didn't shy away from either. In 'No Reservations' in the Travel Channel, he went to Haiti after devastating earth quake in 2011 and reflected on his ambivalence at being there.
I'm there talking about local cuisine and that means I'm shoveling food into my face ... that a lot of those people can't afford.
He described how his well-meaning efforts to feed locals around him led to chaos and
hungry kids being beaten with stick
There was, of course, a more lighthearted side to his travels including some wild and bizarre eating experience. In Morocco, it was that roasted sheep's testicles. In Canada, it was a raw seal's eyeball. In Namibia, it was the wrong end of a warthog ( he wound up with a parasite). In Vietnam it was the still-beating heart of a cobra that had just been sliced open. The Dawn has summed up Anthony Bourdain's eating experience.
Behind the Glamour
Anthony Bourdain 
 
Bourdain although undoubtedly was at pick of his carrier at his 50s but he didn't break through until he was in mid-40s. He experienced years of both struggle and success in varied ratio.
In a chilling 2016 interview to Todd Aaron Jensen of Biography.com, he told,



I should have died in my 20s. I became successful in my 40s. I became a dad in my 50s.





In his early days he dropped out of college to pursue his carrier with Culinary Institute of America in New York. To earn some money he put 12 hours shift, six days a week schedule.


Another heart filled confession of Bourdain


I feel like I've stolen a car - a really nice car - and I keep looking in the rear-view mirror for flashing lights. But there has been nothing yet.





Bourdain told WealthSimple,
I didn't put anything aside, ever. Money came in, money went out. I was always a pay-check behind, at least. I usually owed my chef, my paycheck; again, cocaine.
Until I was 44, I never even had a savings account.


Then that year everything had changed. He wrote an article for the New Yorker Don't Eat Before Reading This was in line of his massively popular Book Kitchen Confidential.



He told to Jensen

Oh, man, at the age of 44, I was standing in kitchens, not knowing what it was like to go to sleep. without being in mortal terror. I was in horrible, endless, irrevocable debt.
I had no health insurance. I didn't pay taxes. I couldn't pay my rent.

He added

It was nightmare, but it's all been different for about in last 15 years. If it looks like my life is comfortable, well, that's a very new thing for me

In last 17 years he told lot of things to us while presenting his shows or to different other persons

But what actually went wrong behind the glamour


It is very clear that we probably never know what are the causes that transpire him to take his last decision. 
Many of us wondered publicly, how could people with unimaginable success, good looks, admiration and incredible wealth feel unhappy enough to end their lives. But silently, a lot of us already understood, because we've experienced the darkness too.

No one is immune to despair and millions of people in the world are currently experiencing severe anxiety and depression, too often with thoughts that the world will be better off without them. Unfortunately due to the stigma surrounding mental illness, a lot of them hide their pain and feel ashamed. We can speak freely of cancer diagnosis ant its treatment but it remains taboo to discuss someone's psychological well-being, therapy or medications publicly. Because of this, it is important to remember that there is no shame in mental illness. The only shame is that we can't be more open. honest and compassionate about it.

The shame of suffering from anxiety and depression is only one of the numerous, complex factors that contribute to the epidemic of suicide in our society today.
Celebrities face more difficulty to express their anxiety to anybody.
Public Confession Therapy
Oprah Winfrey

That is why probably Oprahfication becomes so popular, which is attributed
public confession as a form of therapy
When we do something wrong or something wrong had happened to us, make a significant impact in our subconscious space. In these scenarios we may choose to hide or make a confession which draws the destiny of our mental conditions.
  
Let us try to relate June 8, 2018 incident of Bourdain's life and his interview with The New Yorker magazine, where he told
I have the best job in the world
If I'm unhappy it's a failure of imagination
A clear contrast of thought and action which stunned the fans of the globe-trotting food-tester and culinary storyteller.  
          

Parts Unknown Finale and Death Ritual


Darren Aronofsky and Anthony Bourdain had been friends since 2014, their last trip together to Bhutan in December 2017 for the season finale of Parts Unknown was a pivotal moment in their friendship.
Darren wrote a touching tribute A road trip through Bhutan with Anthony Bourden for CNN, where he wrote
Bhutan was where I really got to know Tomy
He also told
It seems ironic now that on our last day of shooting we performed a Bhutanese death ritual. We debated the fate of the country, the fate of the world. He was perplexed as to how mankind's endless hunger to consume could be curtailed.
that they concluded their visit to the Himalayan country Bhutan by filming a Bhutanese death ritual.  

Bourdain touched on mortality throughout the episode He says in a voice over
It is considered enlightening and therapeutic to think about death for a few minutes of the day. Life is but a dream.

Final Thought


Apart from his many piercing insights into the world of restaurants. Bourdain will be remembered for his enthusiasm for other culture and cuisines. With his wry smile and his world-weary demeanor Bourdain was prepared to try anything once.    

He had left lot of his followers who wanted and want to be like him. On June 25, 2018, Cia Bernales of FastCompany wrote in her article   Here's how Anthony Bourdain changed my life.
Cia Bernales
Cia Bernales

I started obsessively writing about food and travel because I so wanted to be like Bourdain. Because of him, I wanted to learn and experience other people's cultures and traditions through the food they eat
Cia could not make her a part of the show No Reservation around Philippines , her own country . But no matter her friends texted her it should have been she and she thought it was herself.

I choose her quote to conclude

But even though I never really got the chance to work with Bourdain, I wanted to be the one who tries to eat everything too. Because he taught me that it's a privilege to be given the chance to eat everything; an honor to be invited into peoples' homes and fed;  an advantage to be able to share tastes  with strangers . Everywhere I've traveled so far, I have walked. hiked, run and biked to eat because of him.
According to Bourdain, his job at a Greek restaurant helped build character, as well as the patterns that he has relied  on since ;
I learned to love work and find meaning in it. To this day, I like going to work, clocking in and clocking out , the satisfaction of job well done.
   
Anthony Bourdain always adventured to try anything once. He probably tried on June 8 to experience his life once and succeeded.

An Update on July 13, 2018
At last I have found something to relate a cause to his death. But certainly I am not certain, may be it is one of many unknown possibilities. Please read
An open letter to anyone who loves Anthony Bourdain and what he stood for                      
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LION - A Fascinating Real Life Story Plays Law of Attraction

Visualization a method of Law of Attraction
Sunny Pawar as Child Saroo

A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley, who was lost accidentally, at age five, penned his life story how he was adopted by an Australian couple and later found out his biological mother after 25 years at a remote village in India.
Lion is the biographical drama film (2016) which is based on the story of Saroo.. Garth Davis, the Director of the film fared well to spread out the message of love and attraction. In an interview he told
It's a story that could work at any time in history I think. 

Story-line of  Lion


They were living at Ganesh Talai in Khandwa India. When Saroo was young his father left home. To feed the family, the mother of three children had to work in a construction site.
Raising Vibration is a method of manifestation
Guddu and Saroo

To support their mother, the brothers duo Guddu and Saroo took the responsibility to earn something in whatever possible way including stealing coal from Goods Trains. One day Guddu decided to go for a  haunt a job , but Saroo was also adamant to go with his elder brother. In a nearby by Railway Station.  Saroo was felt asleep on a bench of the station, Guddu went to search for a job, telling Saroo to stay at the same place. When Saroo woke up, he could not see Guddu around and boarded a train and felt asleep again in the compartment. The train took him to Howrah which is 1600 KM away from his remote village Ganesh Talai.       
After some harrowing experience and applying his presence of mind, Saroo eventually found a person who took him to Police Custody and then he shifted to a home for destitute children. He could not name the place of his residence but dreamed to return to his mother. Finally the authority of the home found a couple from Australia who were eager to adopt him.
With the help, love and care of Sue and John Brierley, Saroo could settle himself in the new environment. One year later, the Brierleys adopted another boy Mantosh, who had trouble adjusting as he was suffering mental illness.        

After 20 years Saroo grown up and become a businessman. He went to Melbourne to study Hotel Management. He found Lucy, an American Student and developed a relationship with her.
Dreaming is a tool of Law of Attraction
Dev Patel as Young Saroo
But he was always thinking about his lost home and his own mother. In a home get together with his friends he found jalebi  a delicious Indian street food, a favorite in his childhood. 
Jalebi - Indian Delicacy
Jalebi

Jalebi  helped him to recapture some childhood memory with his brother Guddu with full resolution. Finally in full house he confided that he was adopted. His friends suggested him to search his place with the help of Google Earth. With lot of effort and painful experience he finally found some images that prodded his memory and led him back to Ganesh Talai.                 


Making the Story into the Movie and Genesis of Lion


Saroo's story was covered extensively by the media all over the world on and after the release of Lion. The director of the movie Davis accounts his feeling
Just to feel the power of the love in this story was just overwhelming. There was a spiritualism and a sense of miracle in the story, which I actually loved. I also loved Sue (Saroo’s adopted mother). I love the mothers. For me, they were the pillars of this film that the story kind of bounced between. It was this great celebration of mothers and that primality was really moving. I got very excited about it. There was a lot of layers to it. You could've made this movie in a way that very simple, but I saw a lot of complexity in it and that got very exciting.
When Davis was accompanied the real Saroo and Sue to Ganesh Talai on the day that Sue met Saroo's mother Kamla for the first time , recalls Davis
It was incredible because I suddenly saw these people at a really important moment in their lives. Obviously Sue wanted to ask Kamla so many questions, so it was such a sensitive moment. I just witnessed so much in that moment. The love that both mothers had for that son that day that I was witnessing actually set me for the rest of the movie. I'll never forget it when Saroo was standing there, these two mothers crying, and just holding him…that was the image that I held for the whole development of the movie.
This movie is all about unconditional love which we sometime call God gifted or to reach the God's kingdom its the only path.  

Heartwarming and Heart-wrenching moments 

It is obvious that  the movie overall shows heartwarming moment when after the turmoil of being lost and finally the overwhelming joy of reunion.
But the fate and stories of two brothers of Saroo are really heart-wrenching . After the separation with Guddu at the Railway Station, Saroo did not know that his brother was killed in a railway track while he was asleep on the bench of the Platform, the day when he was also lost.
Mantosh, the other adopted child of Brierleys is mentally challenged, He is depicted as a symbol: a touching reminder that not every child lives a life as full as Saroo.
In a podcast Sue describes the story of Mantosh -

Every parent’s nightmare: the untold story of Mantosh from Lion.

The Story that relates Law of Attraction


Sufferings, which is inevitable in our life. These come to us in different form and leave marks in our life. Question is how we see these sufferings and experience in our own life. The full story is a reflection of Thich Nhat Hanh's   No Mud No Lotus : The Art of Transforming Suffering.


The Art of Transforming Sufferings
Abhishek Bharate as Guddu

Guddu the Dreamer and loves to Visualize


Guddu is the character that amplifies the notion
of Lotus. He is always smiling, hardworking, caring for his family, no matter how poor are they. Takes every opportunity to earn something to help his family. Guddu always helps Saroo to pass the hardship in smile. By his loving care, Guddu becomes the best guide of Saroo.
It is also pathetic that Guddu never returns home either. He fell to his death from a moving train.
But the legacy is kept intact with Saroo, that is why Saroo never forgets to dream and visualize going back to his mother and home.   
Guddu focuses on the acceptance of the presence of suffering. He knows the consciousness of suffering is the first step in living a happy life. Saroo in turn, when he becomes Brierley, never denies the presence of suffering. He always keeps the dream of his own mother and home alive in his mind consciously and for this reason the dream becomes implanted into his subconscious platform. Eventually this subconscious helps to create circumstances and Saroo finds his own mother.
As Thich Nhat Hanh points out
Most people are afraid of suffering, But suffering is a kind of mud to help the lotus flower of happiness grow. There can be no lotus flower without the mud.
Saroo acknowledges the darkness in order to see light. Saroo declares in full house get together that he is adopted, never loses his courage to tell his identity.

Lion shows Dream can be manifested as reality

Dreaming is a tool of Law of Attraction
Priyanka Bose as Kamla, the mother with Saroo when they reunited after 25 years
Kamla always dreams that one day her child would return, In an interview the real mother confirms that she never gave up hopes and lived her life with firm believe on her dream.
Kamla as if spends her life in a prison (of hope) after losing two of his sons in one day. But harvest her psychological passion differently. As Viktor Frankl, in his book Man's Search for Meaning, expressed his experiences as an inmate of Auschwitz Concentration Camp with a description of psychotherapeutic method , which tells about identifying a purpose in life to feel positivity and then immersively imagining that outcome.
According to Frankl, the meaning of life is found in every moment of living. life never ceases to have meaning even in suffering and death.
Kamla faces death of his elder son Guddu and suffering for her missing son Saroo. Probably death of Guddu makes her stronger to haunt for the purpose of her own life.

Frankl accounts this in his own words
A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth—that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way—an honorable way—in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words, The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory..
Saroo also still wonders about his own mother and how heartbroken she still might be over his disappearance from the face of her world  
Hence the mother and son duo makes it happen.

Daughter and Son of God - the real Brierleys 


What John and Sue does here, cannot be expressed in words. They adopt Saroo and later Mantosh

God sends them to the earth for a purpose
The Real Brierleys and Saroo in their home in Tasmania
and give utmost care to be successful in their life. Sue's account on the process of adopting Saroo is a heartwarming experience. Sue tells about Saroo when he arrives to Australia first time,
He was just very happy to have this amazing, clean little bed, to have toys, you know? We came home from the airport, within an hour he had a beautiful meal laid in front of him, he was just so happy to be there, and just to see his little face relaxing, enjoying those comforts, was quite amazing really. Very special times for us as a family.
For the full interview please click the link on the cation of the above photo.

And also read and see the faces of Real Vs Reel here - Lion Movie vs. the True Story

Only thing we can make up here that we come across various events not by chance but there is a purpose of everything.

Conclusion

Saroo's mother never looses her believe that her son would return and never moves away from the village. Saroo never looses his identity when he left for Australia and being adopted their. He grows up as Brierley and keeps hope alive in the mind to meet her mother one day.
There is so much reality in the story that coincide the principles of Believing.
  • Believing that it will happen - it works in each and every main characters of the story.
  • Visualize it - starting from Guddu, Saroo , their mother and Sue and John visualize their dreams as if it had already happened to them.
  • Acting as if - Saroo is very consistent in his feeling, wishes, dreams and has never given up. Her mother lives her life on strong hope and Sue and John extend their full support to reach out.
  • Taking actions towards the Goal - Saroo took all possible steps to find out his biological origin.
At the end of the story Saroo comes to know that his actual name is Sheru. The name Sheru comes from the Hindi word Sher which means LION.  
     
Saroo Brierley
Saroo with his two mothers
 
The book  A Long Way Home can be read and the movie LION can be watched AGAIN AND AGAIN.  

 
           
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