Few years ago, i saw this motion picture called the, "Julie & Julia", a motion picture based on a blog of Julie Powell featuring all the 524 recipes of Julia Child, tried, tested and documented by Julie on her blog. The film contrasts the life of chef Julia child in the early years of her culinary career with the life of young New Yorker Julie Powell, who aspires to cook all the 524 recipes in Child's cookbook in 365 days, a challenge that she describes on her blog, "the Julie & Julia Project". When i had seen this film the 1st time, i had loved the unsaid bonding between Julie & Julia, their fiery attitude and undying love for cooking.The ever charming and fluid Meryl Strip (who played the role of Julia child in this version) was simply outstanding in her role. She had a peculiar way of expressing herself and frequently rolled her body around to say things. Whereas Amy Adams (who played the role of Julie Powell), very convincingly portrait the role of city dweller caught up in her boring 9 to 5 job. No matter how boring the job was, Amy had to keep the job as it enabled the couple to pay the bills and somewhat prevented them from going back to the caravan (where the couple were living earlier). This is all i could gather, when i had first seen this film. Well at that juncture (or perhaps a point in life), i failed to realise the underlining message that the film was trying to deliver through the two lead characters.
Recently, i again happened to see this film by chance. Behind this comedy-drama, i unearthed the poignant message that the film was trying to convey. The two foremost messages that came nicely through the film were, (#) finding your passion, interests or true calling and (#) finding ways to nurture the passion, interests. So for instance, when Julia Child (a childless but happily married women in her 40s) relocated to Paris along with her husband, she didn't want to become another social butterfly. She wanted to utilise her life well and do productive work. This led to her exploring various hobby classes to find her true interest. She finally found her calling in COOKING. She chopped, boiled, pouched, and baked her way through several dishes and finally collaborated with fellow cooking enthusiasts to document all the recipes in writing. Julia's life story presents us with a very important lesson of life, that is, finding out what interests you and then working towards that interest.
Similarly, when Julie Powell (a happily married New Yorker, stuck in a boring job) was having hard time connecting herself with her work (where she answers telephone calls from the survivors of the September 9/11 attacks and members of the general public complaining about the controversial plans for rebuilding the World Trade Centre), she decided to revive her old passion of, "WRITING". She enjoyed COOKING and so she decide to cook and write about all the 524 recipes in Child's cookbook in 365 days. Julia gave a deadline to herself so that she could see this as a time bound project. Julie's blog not only became the most popular blog on Salon.com but also established her as a prolific writer. So, what did Julie do right! Julie decided to put her life back on track and not get drown in her boring job. She carefully evaluated as to what interests her and then worked towards that interest (finding ways to realise it). Being aware of the fact that she never complete things, Julie set herself a deadline. Julie's story presents us with yet another lesson of life, being aware of oneself and finding ways to overcome the limitations or self inflicted barriers. Well putting a deadline can be pressuring but it disciplines you.
Many a times, i have tried to start blogging but each time for some reason i discontinued. After watching this film, i realised that to follow your passion you need to have a disciplined and systematic approach just like both Julia and Julie had. They were passionate, aware, hardworking, disciplined and absolutely honest to their work.
Cheers to Julia & Julie for igniting the writer within me and showing that disciplined approach is essential to realise anything.
Khushboo
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