Welcome To Life

The notion of duality is ingrained in my perception of life. It is both the crux of my identity and its nemesis; but nevertheless it guides me on my path of being a writer and director.
In the small town of Starnberg, Germany, my existence was brought forth to the world by a curious Indian couple. They were far away from their familiar home, and they would raise me in a world more complicated than anything they had ever seen. My family and I eventually moved to the States, and during my process of growing up in America, the duality between Western society and the Indian world my parents came from became ever present in my conscious. I would often travel to India to visit my relatives and during my time in the country I would keenly observe the modest life they lead—a life ruled by simple codes of conduct and specific cultural restrictions. During my many returns from an extended period in India to my small town near Seattle, the stark difference in the cultural nuances between the two worlds would reveal itself to me. Coming back to America would present to me a level of complex Victorian interactions that would have never occurred to my relatives in India. The delicate interplay of intricate exchanges in the United States compared to the conventional conversations amongst people in India made me realize the extent to which people interact differently globally.
These interactions were presented to me in a new light with my involvement in the life sciences. My parents had both come from a field of biology, and they had initially pushed me to pursue such a career. The technical side of biology had never appealed to my tastes, but the applicable side of the field had presented to me a new window in which I could observe social interactions. When I began to observe the concept of “reciprocal altruism” in society (the theory that individuals build relationships and give favors only to benefit their selfish biological goals), my reflections on the world became increasingly cynical and perplexing. It seemed cold and unforgiving to discard the intangible aspects of soulful and affectionate bonding between people in order to uphold a dystopian world controlled by the absolute decrees of biology. My reality began to embody a world guided by the principles of Thomas Hobbes, and this pessimistic outlook on the human condition was taking a toll on my happiness. It was at this point in my life that I began to write screenplays and short stories, illustrating both my positive and negative interactions with the people in my life. I began mentally organize the dichotomy between heartless biological relationships and genuine, emotional social interactions. Through my work, I was determined to construct a reality different and more complex than that of Hobbes, while still maintaining the scientifically sound belief of reciprocal altruism in society.