Inception, Ending Explained

Yes finally saw inception and here is my take on the ending. SPOILER ALERT, If you haven't seen the movie then please don't read any further.
This is the most logical explanation that I can think of and is a very convincing analogy. Before I start, let us assume few things which is very vital to arrive at my analogy. Initially, I felt that the entire movie was Cobb's dream and the characters were Cobb's projections. I felt his subconscious was helping him with a plot to escape limbo that he was already in. Well this would defeat the purpose of the movie itself. Hence lets assume that Cobb was in a mission to plant an idea. And on succeeding he would end up meeting his children as Saito promised.
We are not sure if the Totem topples at the end. Also his children does not appear to have aged and are wearing the exact same clothes that they were wearing when he saw them in his dreams which is very unlikely in reality. There are more reasons to say that the ending scene is a dream and not reality. After credits people have heard the totem fall but is not shown and hence we have to assume that the totem is still rotating.
Now here's my take. Cobb goes into limbo and will bring himself and Saito back to reality. With the help of Ariadne during the entire process of inception he is successful at convincing himself that he can no longer think about Mal as she is dead. The plane scene at the end and the immigration scene is very much real. Later Cobb meets his children and this is not shown in the movie.
You might have noticed that a group of old people regularly visit Chemists place to experience shared dreams. Also Cobb regularly hooks himself to sedative to dream alone. This clearly explains that dreaming is addictive and necessary for any person who is into shared dreaming
The final scene happens after Cobb meets his children(which is not shown in the movie). He might have started dreaming and since he has met his children he is able to see there faces clearly. And of-course as explained earlier, Mal is no longer there in his dream. This way we can logically conclude that it was an happy ending after all
Please share your thoughts in comments :)

Massage, anyone ?

The last couple of weeks were spent in a state of confusion and I desperately needed a break. After a series of failed trek plans I ended up doing nothing apart from sitting alone in my room. My latest plan to trek in coorg did not materialize. Was not really in a mood for group activity or going out with friends. This is pretty much the case from past couple of months. I chose the one activity that involved the least amount of exertion, and the least amount of company – a massage. Well I always wanted to get one from many years. From my sole experience of this relaxing activity, a massage has three essential components: 80% is excruciating torture, 10% is serious concentration at not sleeping, and 10% of feeling taken care of that almost makes up for the remaining 90% of un-fun-ness. I suppose I could’ve told masseuse that he was hurting me, but am always confused about whether it’s OK protest. And there’s also the “it’s good for you” sort of pain – the idea that present agony is going to save you untold future agony… all hogwash, if you ask me – because all they’re saying is that you’ll be in pain no matter what. At the end of the hour, I emerged, feeling and looking like an oily rag. The masseuse commented on how relaxed I looked. I was too tired to protest. I nodded along and let it be known that I felt wonderful. Now it was not just my metal state, I was physically drained as well.

It was not long before I realized, u should be mentally relaxed to truly enjoy a relaxing activity. Isn't it funny when I got a massage something that i craved to get from many years could not help lift my spirits up. Thankfully the massage had so tired me out that I fell asleep for at least 6 Hrs at a stretch, something I haven’t done from past few months, if not longer. From all this I saw so much truth in a phrase that I came across lately "HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN IT IS SHARED". When you are trying to fight a war within yourself, no matter what you do to be happy it just wont help you.

Over-analysis

I learnt this the hard way

"Our hyper-consciousness often separates us from our surroundings. It erects a barrier that severs the pleasure and immediacy of visceral experience. Imagine the bird watcher who spots a rare woodpecker and immediately buries his nose in his bird ID handbook to confirm the find. The bird flies away. He gets to add a bird to his logbook, but he missed out on seeing a rare animal peck for grubs, stretch its glorious wings, and take flight in search of the next tree. Does a checkmark in a bird logbook compare to the memory of a majestic feathered beast? Ever take a literature course that was so chock full of analysis and essays that you were never able to actually enjoy the great books you were reading? Ever go to the movies with that guy who simply cannot suspend an ounce of disbelief and won’t shut up about the admittedly glaring plot hole the entire ride home? Seeking a deeper understanding of a fascinating and important subject is one thing; over-analysis is another entirely, and it can remove us from the enjoyment of a pleasurable pastime."

Decisions

If I could do it all over again I would, needless to say I would change something’s while leaving others the way they turned out. If I only had to worry about getting up in the morning, going to school, hanging out with friends, doing a few chores then homework and bed, that would be paradise right now. But we cannot stop growing up and as you grow up you would realize there are so many things to take care of and its not just ourselves. There are so many choices in life; we all make them, some good, others bad… Once you make them you can’t go back but you hope that you made the right one not just for us but for the people involved in our lives and if you didn’t you can learn from the bad choices and go on.

Life is a matter of happiness and sufferings. I didn't know whats happening in me and kept moving on in life without even realizing who I was last time. Am I changing? Lately, I've always look at the sky and gaze at the stars when night falls. Questions filled my mind. Life is definitely tough.

Making a decision to do something new usually involves giving up something else. That's what makes it hard—there's a loss to deal with as well as the uncertainly of the future. Our choices make us who we are. For me, many of the choices that I made were not easy and came at a cost. Some choices in my life didn’t work out as well as I thought. Some really hurt especially when it was done instinctively.

Life boils down to just one simple thing….Choices. Yet I always know that when tomorrow comes I will have the ability to do that one simple thing: make choices.

Preservation of Arecanut

Lately I'm working on a project for which we require fresh arecanut(Beetle-nut). As arecanut is seasonal we are working on how to preserve it for a period of 3 months. As there are no known techniques we are working on preservation from scratch. The best part about this R&D is meeting various people in the same field and documenting each and every method that is being tried. I'm just enjoying every part of it.

Recently I had a very interesting discussion with Prof. Maache of CFTRI pertaining to respiratory behavior of perishable fruits. A very interesting method used to preserve fruits is by restricting the rate of respiration which would eventually slow down the ripening process. Also it helps by storing the fruits at very low temperature which slows down the chemical reactions. Its very much similar to hibernation in animals. Prof explained that the same technique is being used by sadhus in Himalaya who just learn to control their breathing in very cold temperatures which helps them to live a little longer. Slower an animal breaths, longer it lives. This in fact helped me relate to few things and incidents that are mentioned in a book "Living with the Himalayan Masters" by Swami Rama that I'm reading. All of a sudden the content and the authors experiences made so much sense.

Still working on various technique to preserve the last harvest of the season. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that the nuts will last a little longer then the previous batch.

Ettina bhuja

After a very long gap went for a trek near Dharmastala. Its a beautiful hill called ettina bhuja and just loved the experience

There is so much to write about the trek. Every thing was just right and a swim in crystal clear river Kapila at the foothills was out of the world experience. Will be back with more.